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 SAN FiUNCI^^, CAL. 
 PREFACE. 
 
 ^^^.^^ HE Prose Writings of Milton, insp- -.ed 
 li' /-l^ ■ by the stirring events amid which ihev 
 JiK-^JHl; j:l , were written, form his contribution": to 
 ^"~'^*^^'*'^^ the Uterature of freedom. To them 
 were given the matured powers of a mind en- 
 riched by varied studies, and ripened by medita- 
 tion. They form the labors of his life, grand in 
 thought and expression, as the poetic recreations 
 of his earlier and later years are sublime and 
 beautiful. In them his opinions, character, mo- 
 tives and conduct are portrayea with singular 
 fidelity. 
 
 It is the aim of this volume to present a se- 
 lection from Milton's Prose Writings, comprising 
 some of the author's best thoughts, and setting 
 forth as clearly as possible Milton himself, show- 
 ing impartially his merits and faults as a writer
 
 vi PREFACE. 
 
 and as a man. It will not have been prepared 
 in vain, if it shall serve to make more widely 
 known the Treasures of truth and beauty in 
 these Prose Writings, and the true greatness 
 of soul in their much abused author. And 
 may the principles of civil and religious free- 
 dom, here so eloquently defended, triumph everj-^- 
 
 where. 
 
 FAYETTE KURD. 
 
 iuij IS. 1865.
 
 CONTE NTS. 
 
 Pia 
 
 Fbom the Treatise ok Reformation in England . . 1 
 
 From tife Treatise of Prelatical Episcopacy . , 26 
 
 From the Reason of Church Government croed against 
 
 Prelatt 28 
 
 Froji Ani5iad\'ersions upon the Remonstrant's Defence 
 
 AGAINST SmECTYMNUUS 63 
 
 From an Apology for Smectymnuus .... 77 
 
 From the Tractate on Education 100 
 
 From Areopagitica 107 
 
 From the Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce . . 132 
 
 From Tetrachordon 161 
 
 From the Tenure of Kings and Magistr/.tes . . 170 
 
 From Observations on the Articles of Peace, &o. . 189 
 
 From Eikonoklastes 193 
 
 From a Defence of the People of England . . 256 
 
 From the Second Defence of the Peoplp, of England 296 
 From a Treatise of Civil Power in Ecclesiastical 
 
 Causes 866 
 
 From Considerations touching the Likeliest Means 
 
 TO remove Hirelings out of the Chlrch , . 862 
 From the Ready and Easy Way to establish a Free 
 
 Commonwealth 87€
 
 riii CONTENTS. 
 
 From the Histokt of Britain 888 
 
 From the Treatise of True Religion, Heresy, Sciiism, 
 
 Toleration 401 
 
 From the Familiar Lettees 400 
 
 From the Letters of Statb ...... 417 
 
 From the Treatise on Christian Doctrink . . 43C 
 
 A List op Milton's Pbosb Wouu 467 
 
 Udu ATI
 
 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 OF REFORMATION IN ENGLAND. 
 
 1^^ MIDST those deep and retired thoughts, 
 which, with every man Christianly in- 
 structed, ought to be most frequent of 
 God, and of his miraculous ways and 
 works amongst men, and of our rehgion and 
 works, to be performed to him ; after the story 
 of our Saviour Christ, suffering to the lowest bent 
 of weakness in the flesh, and presently triumph- 
 ing to the highest pitch of glory in the spirit, 
 which drew up his body also ; till we in both be 
 united to him in the revelation of his kingdom, 1 
 do not know of anything more worthy to take up 
 the whole passion of pity on the one side, and joy 
 on the other, than to consider first the foul and 
 sudden corruption, and then, after many a tedious 
 age, the long-deferred, but much more wonderful 
 and happy reformation of the Church in these 
 latter days. Sad it is to think how that doctrine 
 of the Gospel, planted by teachers divinely in- 
 spired, and by them winnowed and sifted fi-om the
 
 2 FROM TILE TREATISE 
 
 chaff of overdated ceremonies, and refined to such 
 a spiritual height and temper of purity, and knowl- 
 edge of the. Creator, that the body, with all the 
 circumstances of time and place, were purified by 
 the affections of the regenerate soul, and nothing 
 left impure but sin ; faith needing not the weak 
 and fallible office of the senses, to be either the 
 ushers or interpreters of heavenly mysteries, save 
 where our Lord himself in his sacraments or- 
 dained ; that such a doctrine should, through the 
 grossness and blindness of her professors, and the 
 fraud of deceivable traditions, drag so downwards, 
 as to backslide one way into the Jewish* beggary 
 of old cast rudiments, and stumble forward another 
 way into the new-vomited paganism of sensual 
 idolatry, attributing purity or impurity to things 
 indifferent, that they might bring the inward acts 
 of the spirit to the outward and customary eye- 
 service of the body, as if they could make God 
 earthly and fleshly, because they could not make 
 themselves heavenly and spiritual ; they began to 
 draw down all the divine intercourse betwixt God 
 and the soul, yea, the very shape of God himself, 
 into an exterior and bodily form, urgently pretend- 
 ing a necessity and obligement of joining the body 
 in a formal reverence and worship circumscribed ; 
 they hallowed it, they fumed up, they sprinkled it, 
 they bedecked it, not in robes of pure innocency, 
 bat of pure linen, with other deformed and fan- 
 tastic dresses, in palls and mitres, gold, and gew-
 
 OF REFORMATION IN ENGLAND. 3 
 
 gaws fetched from Aaron's old wardrobe, or the 
 flamins vestrj : then was the priest set to con his 
 motions and his postures, his Hturgies and ms lur- 
 ries, till the soul, by this means of overbodying 
 herself, given up justly to fleshly delights, bated 
 her wing apace downward : and findmg the ease 
 she had from her visible and sensuous colleagiie, 
 the body, in performance of religious duties, her 
 pinions now broken, and flagging, shifted off" from 
 ierself the labor of high-soaring any more, forgot 
 ner heavenly flight, and left the dull and droiling 
 carcass to plod on in the old road, and drudging 
 trade of outward conformity. And here, out of 
 question, from her perverse conceiting of God and 
 holy things, she had fallen to believe no God at 
 all, had not custom and the worm of conscience 
 nipped her incredulity : hence to all the duties of 
 evangelical grace, instead of the adoptive and 
 cheerful boldness which our new alliance with 
 God requires, came servile and thrallike fear : for 
 in very deed, the superstitious man, by his good- 
 will, is an atheist ; but being scared from thence 
 by the pangs and gripes of a boiling conscience, 
 all in a pudder sliuffles up to himself such a God 
 and such a worship as is most agreeable to remedy 
 liis fear ; which fear of his, as also is his hope, 
 fixed only upon the flesh, renders likewise the 
 whole faculty of hi& apprehension carnal ; and all 
 the inward acts of worship, issuing from the native 
 strength of the soul, run out lavishly to the upper
 
 4 FROM THE THE A TISE 
 
 skin, and there harden into a crust of formahty. 
 Hence men came to scan the Scriptures by the let- 
 ter, and in the covenant of our redemption, mag- 
 nified the external signs more than the quickening 
 power of the Spirit ; and yet, looking on them 
 through their own guiltiness with a servile fear, 
 and finding as little comfort, or rather terror, from 
 them again, they knew not how to hide their 
 slavish approach to God's behests, by them not 
 understood, nor worthily received, but by cloak- 
 ing their servile crouching to all religious pre- 
 sentments, sometimes lawful, sometimes idola- 
 trous, under the name of humility, and terming 
 the piebald frippery and ostentation of ceremonies 
 decency. 
 
 But, to dwell no longer in characterizing the 
 depravities of the Church, and how they sprung, 
 and how they took increase, when I recall to mind 
 at last, after so many dark ages, wherein the huge 
 overshadowing train of error had almost swept all 
 the stars out of the firmament of the Church ; how 
 the bright and blissfiil Reformation (by Divine 
 power) struck through the black and settled night 
 of ignorance and antichristian tyranny, methinks 
 a sovereign and reviving joy must needs rush into 
 the bosom of him that reads or hears ; and the 
 sweet odor of the returning gospel imbathe his 
 soul with the fragrancy of heaven. Then was the 
 sacred Bible sought out of the dusty corners wliero
 
 OF REFORMATION IN ENGLAND. 5 
 
 profane falsehood and neglect had thrown it, the 
 schools opened, divine and human learning raked 
 out of the embers of forgotten tongues, the princet, 
 and cities trooping apace to the new erected ban- 
 ner of salvation ; the mart^'rs, with the unresist- 
 uble might of weakness shaking the powers of 
 darkness, and scorning the fiery rage of the old 
 red dragon. 
 
 He that, enabled with gifls from God, and the 
 lawful and primitive choice of the Chui'ch assem- 
 bled in convenient number, faithfidly fii'om that 
 tnue forward feeds his parochial flock, has his co- 
 equal and compresbyterial power to ordam minis- 
 ters and deacons by public prayer, and vote of 
 Christ's congregation in like sort as he himself was 
 ordained, and is a true apostolic bishop. But when 
 he steps up into the chair of pontifical pride, and 
 changes a moderate and exemplary house for a 
 misgoverned and haughty palace, spiritual dignity 
 for carnal precedence, and secular high office and 
 em])loyment for the high negotiations of his heav- 
 enly embassage, then he degrades, then he un- 
 bishops himself; he that makes him bishop, makes 
 him no bishop. 
 
 Thus then did the spirit of unity and meekness 
 inspire and animate every joint and sinew of the 
 mystical body : but now the gravest and worthiest 
 minister, a true bishop of his fold, shall be reviled
 
 6 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 and raffled by an insulting and only canou-wise 
 prelate, as if he were some slight, paltry com- 
 panion: and the people of God, redeemed and 
 washed with Christ's blood, and dignified with so 
 many glorious titles of saints and sons in the Gos- 
 pel, are now no better reputed than impure ethnics 
 and lay dogs ; stones, and pillars, and crucifixes 
 have now the honor and the alms due to Christ's 
 living members ; the table of communion, now 
 become a table of separation, stands like an ex- 
 alted platform upon the brow of the quire, forti- 
 fied with bulwark and barricado, to keep off the 
 profane touch of the laics, whilst the obscene and 
 surfeited priest scruples not to paw snd mam- 
 moc the sacramental bread, as familiarly as his 
 tavern biscuit. And thus the people, vilified and 
 rejected by them, give over the earnest study of 
 virtue and godliness, as a thing of greater purity 
 than they need, and the search of divine knowl- 
 edge as a mystery too high for their capacities, and 
 only for churchmen to meddle with ; which is 
 what the prelates desire, that when they have 
 brought us back to popish blindness, we might 
 commit to their dispose the whole managing of 
 our salvation ; for they think it was never fair 
 world with them since that time. 
 
 I AM not of opinion to think the Church a vine 
 in this respect, because, as they take it, she can-
 
 OF REFORMATION IN ENGLAND. 7 
 
 not subsist without clasping about the ehn of 
 worldly strength and fehcity, as if the heavenly 
 city could not support itself without the props and 
 buttresses of secular authority. 
 
 How should then the dim taper of this Emper- 
 or's* age, that had such need of snuffing, extend 
 any beam to our times, wherewith we might hope 
 to be better lighted, than by those luminaries that 
 God hath set up to shine to us far nearer hand V 
 And what reformation he wrought for his own 
 time, it will not be amiss to consider. He ap- 
 pointed certain times for fasts and feasts, built 
 stately churches, gave large immunities to the 
 clergy, great riches and promotions to bishops, 
 gave and ministered occasion to bring in a deluge 
 of ceremonies, thereby either to draw in the hea- 
 then by a resemblance of their rites, or to set a 
 gloss upon the simplicity and plainness of Chris- 
 tianity ; which, to the gorgeous solemnities of 
 ])aganism, and the sense of the world's children, 
 seemed but a homely and yeomanly religion ; for 
 the beauty of inward sanctity was not within their 
 prospect. 
 
 But it will be replied, The Scriptures are diffi- 
 cult to be understood, and therefore require the 
 'explanation of the fathers. It is true, there be 
 
 * Constantinc's.
 
 8 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 some books, and especially some places ir. these 
 books, that remain clouded ; yet ever that which 
 is most necessary to be known is most easy ; and 
 that which is most difficult, so far expounds itself 
 ever, as to tell us how little it imports our saving 
 knowledge. Hence, to infer a general obscurity 
 over all the text, is a mere suggestion of the devil 
 to dissuade men from reading it, and casts an as- 
 persion of dishonor both upon the mercy, truth, 
 and wisdom of God. We count it no gentleness 
 or fair dealing in a man of power amongst us, to 
 require strict and punctual obedience, and yet 
 ffive out all his commands ambiguous and ob- 
 scure : we should think he had a plot upon us ; 
 certainly such commands were no commands, but 
 snares. The very essence of truth is plainness 
 and brightness ; the darkness and crookedness is 
 our own. The wisdom of God created under- 
 standing, fit and proportionable to truth, the ob- 
 ject and end of it, as the eye to the thing visible. 
 If our understanding have a film of ignorance 
 over it, or be blear with gazing on other false glis- 
 terings, what is that to truth ? If we will but 
 purge with sovereign eye-salve that intellectual 
 ]-ay which God hath planted in us, then we would 
 believe the Scriptures protesting their own plain- 
 ness and perspicuity, calling to them to be in- 
 structed, not only the wise and learned, but the 
 simple, the poor, the babes, foretelling an extraor- 
 dinary effusion of God's Spirit ui)on every age
 
 OF REFORMATION IN ENGLAND. 9 
 
 and sex, atti'ibuting to all men, and requiring from 
 them the ability of searching, trying, examining all 
 things, and by the Spirit discerning that which is 
 good ; and as the Scriptures themselves pronounce 
 their own plainness, so do the fathers testify of 
 them. . . . •. 
 
 But let the Scriptures be hard ; are they more 
 hard, more crabbed, more abstruse, than the 
 fathers? He that cannot understand the sober, 
 plain, and unaffected style of the Scriptures, will 
 be ten times more puzzled with the knotty Afri- 
 canisms, the pampered metaphors, the intricate 
 and involved sentences of the fathers, besides the 
 fantastic and declamatory flashes, the gross-jin- 
 gling periods, which cannot but disturb and come 
 thwart a settled devotion, worse than the din of 
 bells and rattles. 
 
 It is a work good and prudent to be able to 
 guide one man ; of larger extended virtue to 
 order well one house ; but to govern a nation 
 piously and justly, which only is to say happily, 
 is for a spirit of the greatest size, and divinest 
 mettle. And certainly of no less a mind, nor of 
 less excellence in another way, were they who, by 
 writing, laid the solid and true foundations of this 
 science, which being of greatest importance to the 
 life of man, yet there is no art that hath been 
 more cankered in her principles, more soiled and 
 slubbered with aphorisming pedantry than the art
 
 10 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 of policy; and that most, where a man wouM 
 think should least be, in Christian coTnmonwealths. 
 They teach not, that to govern well, is to train up 
 a nation in true wisdom and virtue, and that which 
 springs from thence, magnanimity (take heed of 
 that), and that which is our beginning, regenera- 
 tion, and happiest end, likeness to God, which in 
 one word we call godliness ; and that this is the 
 true flourishing of a land, other things follow as 
 the shadow does the substance : to teach thus were 
 mere pulpitry to them. This is the masterpiece 
 of a modern politician, how to qualify and mould 
 the sufferance and subjection of the people to the 
 length of that foot that is to tread on their necks ; 
 how rapine may serve itself with the fair and hon- 
 orable pretences of public good; how the puny 
 law may be brought under the wardship and con 
 trol of lust and will ; in which attempt, if they fail 
 short, then must a superficial color of reputation, 
 by all means, direct or indirect, be gotten to wash 
 over the unsightly bruise of honor. To make 
 men governable in this manner, their precepts 
 mainly tend to break a national spirit and courage, 
 by countenancing open riot, luxury, and igno- 
 rance, till, having thus disfigured and made men 
 beneath men, as Juno in the fable of lo, they 
 deliver up the poor transformed heifer of the com- 
 monwealth to be stung and vexed with the breeze 
 and goad of oppression, under the custody of some 
 Argus with a hundred eyes of jealousy. To be
 
 OF REFORMATION IN ENGLAND. \\ 
 
 plainer, sir, liow to solder, how to stop a leak, ho\Y 
 to keep up the floating carcass of a crazy and dis- 
 eased monarchy or state, betwixt wind and watei', 
 swimming still upon her own dead lees, that now 
 is the deep design of a politician. 
 
 A COMMONWEALTH ought to be but as one huge 
 Christian personage, one mighty growth and stat- 
 ure of an honest man, as big and compact in virtue 
 as in body ; for look what the grounds and causes 
 are of single happiness to one man, the same ye 
 sliall find them to a whole state, as Aristotle, both 
 in his Ethics and Politics, from the principles of 
 reason, lays down: by consequence, therefore, that 
 which is good and agreeable to monarchy will 
 appear soonest to be so, by being good and agree- 
 able to the true welfare of every Christian ; and 
 that which can be justly proved hurtftil and offen- 
 sive to every true Clmstian will be evinced to be 
 alike hurtful to monarchy : for God forbid that we 
 should separate and distinguish the end and good 
 of a monarch from the end and good of the mon- 
 archy, or of that from Christianity 
 
 Seeing that the churchman's office is only to 
 teach men the Christian faith, to exhort all, to 
 encourage the good, to admonish the bad, pri- 
 vately the less offender, publicly the scandalous and 
 stubborn ; to censure and separate, from the com- 
 munion of Christ's flock, the contagious and incor-
 
 12 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 rigible, tc receive with joy and fatherly compas- 
 sion the penitent: all this must be done, and 
 more than this is beyond any church-authority. 
 What is all this, either here or there, to the tem- 
 poral regiment of weal public, whether it be pop- 
 ular, princely, or monarchical? Where doth it 
 entrench upon the temporal governor ? where does 
 it come in his walk ? where doth it make inroad 
 upon his jurisdiction ? Indeed, if the minister's 
 part be rightly discharged, it renders him the 
 people more conscionable, quiet, and easy to be 
 governed ; if otherwise, his life and doctrine will 
 declare him. If, therefore, the constitution of the 
 Church be already set down by divine prescript, 
 xs all sides confess, then can she not be a hand- 
 maid to wait on civil commodities and respects ; 
 and if the nature and limits of church-discipline 
 be such as are either helpful to all political estates 
 indifferently, or have no particular relation to any, 
 then is there no necessity, nor indeed possibility, 
 of linking the one with the other in a special con- 
 formation 
 
 Well knows every wise nation that their libert}' 
 consists in manly and honest labors, in sobriety 
 and rigorous honor to the marriage-bed, which in 
 both sexes should be bred up from chaste hopes to 
 loyal enjoyments ; and when the people slacken, 
 and fall to looseness and riot, then do they as 
 much as if they laid down their necks for some 
 wild tyrant to get up and ride. Thus learnt Cy-
 
 OF REFORMATION IN ENGLAND. 13 
 
 rus to tame the Lydians, whom by arms he could 
 not whilst they kept themselves fi'om luxury; with 
 one easy proclamation to set up stews, dancing, 
 feasting, and dicing, he made them soon his slaves. 
 I know not what drift the prelates had, whose 
 brokers they were to prepare, and supple us either 
 for a foreign invasion or domestic oppression : but 
 this I am sure, they took the ready way to despoil 
 us both of manhood and grace at once, and that 
 in the shamefullest and ungodliest manner, upon 
 that day which God's law, and even our own rea- 
 son, hath consecrated, that we might have one day 
 at least of seven set apart wherein to examine and 
 increase our knowledge of God, to meditate and 
 commune of our faith, our hope, our eternal city 
 in heaven, and to quicken withal the study and 
 exercise of charity ; at such a time that men 
 should be plucked from their soberest and saddest 
 thoughts, and by bishops, the pretended fathers of 
 the Church, instigated, by public edict, and with 
 earnest endeavor pushed forward to gaming, jig- 
 ging, wassailhig, and mixed dancing, is a horror 
 to think ! Thus did the reprobate hirehng priest 
 Balaam seek to subdue the Israehtes to Moab, if 
 not by force, then by this devilish policy, to draw 
 them from the sanctuary of God to the luxurious 
 and ribald feasts of Baal-peor. Thus have they 
 trespassed not only against the moiiarchy of Eng- 
 land, but of Hea\en also, as others, I doubt not, 
 can prosecute against them.
 
 14 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 The emulation tliat under the old law was \i\ 
 the king towards the priest is now so come about 
 in the gospel, that all the danger is to be feared 
 from the priest to the king. Whilst the priest's 
 office in the law was set out with an exterior lus- 
 tre of pomp and glory, kings were ambitious to 
 be priests; now priests, not perceiving the heaven- 
 ly brightness and inward splendor of their more 
 glorious evangelic ministry, with as great ambition 
 affect to be kings, as in all their courses is easy 
 to be obserred. Their eyes ever eminent upon 
 worldly matters, their desires ever thirsting after 
 worldly employments, instead of diligent and fer- 
 vent study in the Bible, they covet to be expert 
 in canons and decretals, which may enable them 
 to judge and interpose in temporal causes, how- 
 ever pretended ecclesiastical. Do they not hoard 
 up pelf, seek to be potent in secular strength, in 
 state affairs, in lands, lordships, and domains, to 
 sway and carry all before them in high courts and 
 privy-councils, to bring into their grasp the high 
 and principal offices of the kingdom ? . . . . 
 
 But ever blessed be He, and ever glorified, that 
 from his high watch-tower in the heavens, discern- 
 ing the crooked ways of perverse and cruel men, 
 hath hitherto maimed and infatuated all their dam- 
 nable inventions, and deluded their great wizards 
 with a delusion fit for fools and cliildren ; had God 
 been so minded, he could have sent a spirit of mu- 
 tiny amongst us, as he did between Abimelech and
 
 OF REFORMATION IN ENGLAND. 15 
 
 the Sechemites, to have made our funerals, and 
 slain heaps more in number than the miserable 
 surviving remnant; but he, when we least de 
 served, sent out a gentle gale and message of 
 [)eace from the wings of those his cherubims that 
 fan his mercy-seat. Nor shall the wisdom, tl>e 
 moderation, the Christian piety, the constancy, of 
 our nobihty and commons of England, be ever 
 forgotten, whose calm and temperate connivance 
 could sit still and smile out the stormy bluster of 
 men more audacious and precipitant than of solid 
 and deep reach, until their OAvn fiiry had run it- 
 self out of breath, assailing by rash and heady 
 approaches the impregnable situation of our liber- 
 ty and safety, that laughed such weak enginery to 
 scorn, such poor drifts to make a national war of a 
 surplice brabble, a* tippet scuffle, and engage the 
 untainted honor of English knighthood to unftirl 
 the streaming red cross, or to rear the horrid 
 standard of those fatal guly dragons, for so un- 
 worthy a purpose as to force upon their fellow- 
 subjects that which themselves are weary of, the 
 skeleton of a mass-book. Nor must the patience, 
 the fortitude, the firm obedience, of the nobles and 
 people of Scotland, striving against manifold prov- 
 ocations, nor must their sincere and moderate 
 proceedings hitherto, be unremembered, to the 
 shameful conviction of all their detractors. 
 
 Go on both hand in hand, O nations, never to 
 be disunited ; be the praise and the heroic song
 
 16 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 of all posterity ; merit this, but seek only virtue, 
 not to extend your limits, (for what needs to win 
 a fading triumphant laurel out of the tears of 
 wretched men ?) but to settle the pure worship 
 of God in his Church, and justice m the state ; 
 then shall the hardest difficulties smooth out them- 
 selves before ye ; envy shall sink to hell, craft and 
 malice be confounded, whether it be homebred 
 mischief or outlandish cunning: yea, other na- 
 tions will then covet to serve ye, lor lordship and 
 victory are but the pages of justice and virtue. 
 Commit securely to true wisdom the vanquishing 
 and uncasing of craft and subtlety, which are but . 
 her two runagates : join your invincible might to 
 do worthy and godlike deeds ; and then he that 
 seeks to break your union, a cleaving curse be his 
 inheritance to all generations. .' . . . 
 
 Thus then we see that our ecclesiastical and 
 political choices may consent and sort as well 
 together without any rupture in the state, as 
 Christians and fi'eeholders. But as for honor, 
 that ought indeed to be different and distinct, as 
 either office looks a several way ; the minister 
 whose calling and end is spiritual ought to be hon- 
 ored as a father and physician to the soul (if he 
 be found to be so), with a son-like and disciple-like 
 reverence, which is indeed the dearest and most 
 affectionate honor, most to be desired by a wise 
 man, and such as will easily command a free and 
 plentiful provision of outward necessaries, without 
 his further care of this world.
 
 OF REFORMATION IN ENGLAND. 17 
 
 The magistrate, whose charge is to see to our 
 persons and estates, is to be honored with a more 
 elaborate and personal courtship, with large sala- 
 ries and stipends, that. he himself may abound in 
 those things whereof his legal justice and watchi'ul 
 care give us the quiet enjoyment. And this dis- 
 tinction of honor will bring forth a seemly and 
 graceful uniformity over all tlie kingdom. 
 
 Then shall the nobles possess all the dignities 
 and offices of temporal honor to themselves, sole 
 lords without the improper mixture of scholastic 
 and pusillanimous upstarts; the Parliament shall 
 void h'ir upper house of the same annoyances ; 
 the common and civil laws shall be both set free, 
 the former from the control, the other from the 
 mere vassalage and copyhold of the clergy. 
 
 And whereas temporal laws rather pmiish men 
 when they have transgressed than form them to 
 be such as should transgress seldomest, we may 
 conceive great hopes, through the showers of di- 
 vine benediction watering the unmolested and 
 watchful pains of the ministry, that the whole in- 
 heritance of God will grow up so straight and 
 blameless, that the civil magistrate may wath far 
 less toil and difficulty, and far more ease and de- 
 light, steer the tall and goodly vessel of the com- 
 monwealth throucrh all the gusts and tides of the 
 world's mutability. 
 
 We must not run, they say, into sudden ex- 
 tremes. This is a fallacious rule, unless under-
 
 18 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 stood only of the actions of virtue about things 
 indifferent : for if it be found that those two ex- 
 tremes be vice and virtue, falsehood and truth, the 
 greater extremity of virtue and superlative truth 
 we run into, the more virtuous and the more wise 
 we become ; and he that, flying from degenerate 
 and traditional corruption, fears to shoot himself 
 too far into the meeting embrace of a divinely 
 warranted reformation, had better not have run 
 at all 
 
 Let us not dally with God when he oft'ers us 
 a full blessing, to take as much of it as we think 
 will serve our ends, and tm-n him back the rest 
 upon his hands, lest in his anger he snatch all 
 from us again 
 
 But in the evangeUcal and reformed use of this 
 sacred censure,* no such prostitution, no such Is- 
 cariotical drifts, are to be doubted, as that spiritual 
 doom and sentence should invade worldly posses- 
 sion, which is the rightful lot and portion even of 
 the wickedest men, as frankly bestowed upon them 
 by the all-dispensing bounty as rain and sunshine. 
 No, no, it seeks not to bereave or destroy the 
 body; it seeks to save the soul by humbling the 
 body, not by imprisonment, or pecuniary mulct, 
 much less by stripes, or bonds, or disinheritance 
 but by fatherly admonishment and Christian re- 
 buke, to cast it into godly sorrow, whose end is 
 joy, and ingenuous bashfuluess to s':i: if that can- 
 
 * Excommunicatiou.
 
 OF REFORMATION IN ENGLAND. 19 
 
 not be wrought, then as a tender mother takes Lier 
 child and holds it over the pit with scaring words, 
 that it may learn to fear where danger is ; so doth 
 excommunication as dearly and as freely, without 
 money, use her wholesome and saving terrors: 
 she is instant, she beseeches, by all the dear and 
 sweet promises of salvation she entices and wooes ; 
 by all the threatenings and thunders of the law, 
 and rejected gospel, she charges and adjures : tliis 
 is all her armory, her munition, her artillery ; 
 then she awaits with long-sufferance, and yet ar- 
 dent zeal. In brief, there is no act in all the 
 errand of God's ministers to mankind wherein 
 passes more lover-like contestation between Christ 
 and the soul of a regenerate man lapsing, than be- 
 fore, and in, and after the sentence of excommuni- 
 cation. As for the fogging proctorage of money, 
 with such an eye as struck Gehazi with leprosy 
 and Simon Magus with a curse, so does she look, 
 and so threaten her fiery whip against that bank- 
 ing den of thieves that dare thus baffle, and buy 
 and sell the awful and majestic wrinkles of her 
 brow. He that is rightly and apostolically sped 
 with her invisible arrow, if he can be at peace iu 
 his soul, and not smell within him the brimstone 
 of hell, may have fair leave to tell all his bags 
 over undiminished of the least farthing, may eat 
 his dainties, drink his wine, use his dc.ights, enjoy 
 his lands and liberties, not tlie least skin raised, 
 not the least hair misplaced, for all that excom
 
 20 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 niunication has done: much more may a king 
 enjoy his rights and prerogatives undeflowered, 
 untouched, and be as absohite and complete a 
 king as all his royalties and revenues can make 
 him 
 
 O sir, I do now feel myself inwrapped on the 
 sudden into those mazes and labyrinths of dread- 
 ful and hideous thoughts, that which way to get 
 out, or which way to end, I know not, unless I 
 turn mine eyes, and with your help lift up my 
 hands to that eternal and propitious throne, where 
 nothing is readier than grace and refuge to the 
 distresses of mortal suppliants : and it were a 
 shame to leave these serious thoughts less piously 
 than the heathen were wont to conclude their 
 graver discourses. 
 
 Thou, therefore, that sittest in light and glory 
 unapproachable. Parent of angels and men ! next, 
 thee I implore. Omnipotent King, Redeemer of 
 that lost remnant, whose nature thou didst as- 
 sume, ineffable and everlasting Love! and thou, 
 the third subsistence of Divine infinitude, illumin- 
 ing Spirit, the joy and solace of created things ! 
 one Tripersonal Godhead! look upon this thy poor 
 and almost spent and expiring Church, leave her 
 not thus a prey to these importunate wolves that 
 wait and think long till they devour thy tender 
 flock ; these wild boars that have broke into thy 
 vineyard, and left the print of their polbit'ng hoofs 
 on the souls of thy servants. O, let them not
 
 OF REFORMATION IN ENGLAND. 21 
 
 bring about their damned designs, that stand now 
 at the entrance of the bottomless pit, expecting 
 the watchword to open and let out those dread- 
 ful locusts and scorpions, to reinvolve us in that 
 pitchy cloud of infernal darkness, where we shall 
 never more see the sun of tliy truth again, never 
 hope for the cheerful dawn, never more hear the 
 bird of morning sing! Be moved with pity at the 
 afflicted state of this our shaken monarchy, that 
 now lies laboring under her throes and struggling 
 against the grudges of more dreaded calamities. 
 
 O thou, that, after the impetuous rage of five 
 bloody inundations, and the succeeding sword of 
 intestine war, soaking the land in her own gore, 
 didst pity the sad and ceaseless revolution of our 
 swift and thick-coming sorrows ; when we were 
 quite breathless, of thy free grace didst motion 
 peace and terms of covenant with us ; and, having 
 first wellnigh freed us from Antichristian thraldom, 
 didst build up this Britannic empire to a glorious 
 and enviable height, with all her daughter-islands 
 about her; stay us in this felicity, let not the 
 obstinacy of our half-obedience and will-worship 
 bring forth that viper of sedition, that for these 
 fourscore years hath been breeding to eat through 
 the entrails of our peace ; but let her cast her 
 abortive spawn without the danger of this travail- 
 ing and throbbing kingdom : that we may still re- 
 member, in our solemn thanksgivings, how for us 
 the Northern Ocean even to the frozen Thule was
 
 22 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 scattered with the proud shipwrecks of the Span- 
 ish Armada, and the very maw of hell ransacked, 
 and made to give up her concealed destruction, 
 ere she could vent it in that horrible and damned 
 blast. 
 
 O, how much more glorious will those former 
 deliverances appear, when we shall know them 
 not only to have saved us from greatest miseries 
 past, but to have reserved us for greatest hap- 
 piness to come ! Hitherto thou hast but freed us, 
 and that not fully, from the unjust and tyrannous 
 claim of thy foes ; now unite us entirely, and 
 apjiropriate us to thyself; tie us everlastingly in 
 willing homage to the prerogative of thy eternal 
 throne. 
 
 And now we know, O thou our most certain 
 hope and defence, that thine enemies have been 
 consnltmg all the sorceries of the great whore, 
 and have joined their plots with that sad intelli- 
 gencing tyrant that mischiefs the world with his 
 mines of Ophir, and lies thirsting to revenge his 
 naval ruins that have larded our seas: but let 
 them all take counsel together, and let it come 
 to naught ; let them decree, and do thou cancel 
 it ; let them gather themselves, and be scattered ; 
 let them embattle themselves, and be broken ; 
 let them embattle, and be broken, for thou art 
 with us. 
 
 Then, amidst the hymns and hallelujahs of 
 saints, some one may perhaps be heard offering
 
 <)F REFORMATION IN ENGLAND. 23 
 
 at high strains in new and lofty measure to sing 
 and celebrate thy divine mercies and marvellous 
 judgments in this land throughout all ages ; 
 whereby this great and warlike nation, instructed 
 and inured to the fervent and continual practice 
 of truth and righteousness, and casting far from 
 her the rags of her whole vices, may press on 
 liard to that high and happy emulation to be 
 found the soberest, wisest, and most Christian peo- 
 ple at that day when thou, the eternal and shortly 
 expected King, shalt open the clouds to judge the 
 several kingdoms of the world, and, distributing 
 national honors and rewards to religious and just 
 commonwealths, shalt put an end to all earthly 
 tyrannies, proclaiming thy universal and mild 
 monarchy through heaven and earth, where they 
 undoubtedly, that by their labors, counsels, ana 
 prayers have been earnest for the common good 
 of religion and their country, shall receive, above 
 the inferior orders of the blessed, the regal addition 
 of principalities, legions, and thrones into their 
 glorious titles, and in supereminence of beatific 
 vision, progressing the dateless and irrevoluble 
 circle of eternity, shall clasp inseparable hands 
 with joy and bliss, in overmeasure forever. 
 
 But they contrary, that by the impairing and 
 diminution of the true faith, the distresses and 
 servitude of their country, aspire to high dignity, 
 rule, and promotion here, after a shameful end in 
 this life (which God grant them) shall be thro^wn
 
 24 OF REFORMATION IN ENGLAND. 
 
 down eternally into the darkest and deepest gulf 
 of hell, where, under the despiteful control, the 
 trample and spurn of all the other damned, that 
 in the anguish of their torture shall have no other 
 ease than to exercise a raving and bestial tyranny 
 over them as their slaves and negroes, they shall 
 remain in that plight forever, the basest, the low- 
 ermost, the most dejected, most underfoot, and 
 down-trodden vassals of perdition.
 
 
 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 OF PRELATICAL EPISCOPACY. 
 
 ,F it be of divine constitution, to satisfy 
 us fully in that, the Scripture only is 
 able, it being the only book left us of 
 divine authority, not in anything more 
 di\nne than in the all-sufficiency it hath to fur- 
 nish us, as with all other spiritual knowledge, so 
 with this in particular, setting out to us a perfect 
 man of God, accomplished to all the good works 
 
 of his charge To verify that which St. Paul 
 
 foretold of succeeding times, when men began 
 to havt' itching ears, then, not contented with tlie 
 plentifu' and wholesome fountains of the Gospel, 
 they began after their own lusts to heap to them- 
 selves teachers, and as if the Divine Scripture want- 
 ed a supplement, and were to be eked out, they 
 cannot think any doubt resolved, and any doctrine 
 confirmed, unless they run to that indigested heap 
 and ny of authors which they call antiquity. 
 Whatsoever time, or the heedless hand of blind 
 chance, hath drawn down from of old to this pres-
 
 26 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 ^nt, in her huge drag-net, whether fish or sea- 
 weed, shells or shrubs, unpicked, unchosen, those 
 are the fathers 
 
 How can they bring satisfaction from such an 
 author, to whose every essence the reader must be 
 fain to contribute his own understanding? Had 
 God ever intended that we should have sought 
 any part of useful instruction from Ignatius, doubt- 
 less he would not have so ill provided for our 
 knowledge as to send him to our hands in this 
 broken and disjointed plight; and if he intended 
 no such thing, we do injuriously in thinking to 
 taste better the pure evangelic manna, by season- 
 ing our mouths with the tainted scraps and frag- 
 ments of an unknown table, and searching among 
 the verminous and polluted rags dropped over- 
 worn from the toiling shoulders of time, with 
 these deformedly to quilt and interlace the entire, 
 the spotless, and undecaying robe of truth, the 
 daughter not of time, but of Heaven, only bred 
 up here below in Christian hearts, between two 
 grave and holy nurses, the doctrine and discipline 
 of the Gospel 
 
 He that thinks it the part of a well-learned man 
 to have read diligently the ancient stories of the 
 Church, and to be no stranger in the volumes of 
 the fathers, shall have all judicious men consent- 
 ing with him ; not hereby to control and new- 
 fangle the Scripture, God forbid ! but to mark how 
 corruption and apostasy crept in by degrees, and
 
 OF PRELATICAL EPISCOPACY. 27 
 
 tc gather up wherever we find the remainiug 
 sparks of original truth, wherewith to stop the 
 mouths of our adversaries, and to bridle them 
 with their own curb, who willingly pass by that 
 which is orthodoxal in them, and studiously cull 
 out that which is commentitious, and best for their 
 turns, not weighing the fathers in the balance of 
 Scripture, but Scripture in the balance of the 
 fathers. If we, therefore, making first the Gospel 
 our rule and oracle, shall take the good which we 
 light on in the fathers, and set it to oppose the 
 evil which other men seek fi*om them, in this waj 
 of skirmish we shall easily master all superstition 
 and false doctrine ; but if we turn this our discreet 
 and wary usage of them into a blind devotion to- 
 wards them, and whatsoever we find written by 
 them, we both forsake our own grounds and rea- 
 sons which led us at first to part from Rome, that 
 is, to hold to the Scriptures against all antiquity ; 
 we remove our cause into our adversaries' own 
 court, and take up there those cast principles 
 which will soon cause us to solder up with them 
 again ; inasmuch as, believing antiquity for itself in 
 any one point, we bring an engagement upon our- 
 selves of assenting to all that it charges upon us.
 
 FROM THE 
 
 REASON OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT 
 URGED AGAINST PRELATY. 
 
 'N the publishing of human laws, which 
 for the most part aim not beyond the 
 good of civil society, to set them barely 
 forth to the people without reason or 
 preface, like a physical prescript, or only with 
 threatenings, as it were a lordly command, in 
 the judgment of Plato was thought to be done 
 neither generously nor wisely. His advice was, 
 seeing that persuasion certainly is a more win- 
 ning and more manlike way to keep men in obe- 
 dience than fear, that to such laws as were of 
 principal moment, there should be used as an in- 
 duction some well-tempered discourse, showing 
 how good, how gainful, how happy it must needs 
 be to live according to honesty and justice ; which 
 being uttered with those native colors and graces 
 of speech, as true eloquence, the daughter of vir- 
 tue, can best bestow upon her mother's praises, 
 would so incite, and in a manner charm, the mul
 
 REASON OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 29 
 
 titude into the love of that which is really good, 
 as to embrace it ever after, not of custom and 
 awe, which most men do, but of choice and pur- 
 pose, with true and constant dehght. But this 
 practice ve may learn fi'om a better and more 
 ancient authority than any heathen writer hath to 
 give us; and, indeed, being a point of so high wis- 
 dom and worth, how could it be but we should 
 find it in that book within whose sacred context 
 all wisdom is unfolded ? Moses, therefore, the 
 only lawgiver that we can believe to have been 
 visibly taught of God, knowing how vain it was 
 to write laws to men whose hearts were not first 
 seasoned with the knowledge of God and of his 
 works, began from the book of Genesis, as a pro- 
 logue to his laws ; which Josephus right well hath 
 noted: that the nation of the Jews, reading there- 
 in the universal goodness of God to all creatures 
 in the creation, and his peculiar favor to them 
 in his election of Abraham, their ancestor, from 
 whom they could derive so many blessings upon 
 themselves, might be moved to obey sincerely, by 
 knowing so good a reason of their obedience. If, 
 then, in the administration of civil justice, and 
 under the obscurity of ceremonial rites, such care 
 was had by the wisest of the heathen, and by 
 Moses among the Jews, to instruct them at least 
 in a general reason of that government to which 
 their subjection was required, how much more 
 ought the members of the Church, under thr
 
 30 REASON OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT 
 
 Gospel, seek to inform their understanding in the 
 reason of that government which the Church 
 claims to have over them ! Especially for that 
 Church hath in her immediate cure those inner 
 parts and affections of the mind, wherje the seat 
 of reason is having power to examine our spiritual 
 knowledge, and to demand from us, in God's he- 
 half, a service entirely reasonable. 
 
 There is not that thing in the world of more 
 grave and urgent importance throughout the 
 whole life of man than is discipline. What need 
 I instance ! He that hath read with judgment of 
 nations and commonwealths, of cities and camps, 
 of peace and war, sea and land, will readily agree 
 that the flourishing and decaying of all civil so- 
 cieties, all the moments and turnings of human 
 occasions, are moved to and fro as upon the axle 
 of discipline. So that whatsoever power or sway 
 in mortal things weaker men have attributed to 
 fortune, I durst with more confidence (the honor 
 of Divine Providence ever saved) ascribe either 
 to the vigor or the slackness of discipline. Nor is 
 there any sociable perfection in this life, civil or sa- 
 cred, that can be above discipline ; but she is that 
 which with her musical cords preserves and holds 
 all the parts thereof together. Hence in those 
 perfect armies of Cyrus in Xenophon, and Scipio 
 in the Roman stories, the excellence of military
 
 URGED AGAINST PRELATY. 31 
 
 skill was esteem 3d, not by the not needing, but by 
 the readiest submitting to the edicts of tlieir com- 
 mander. And certainly discipline is not only the 
 removal of disorder ; but if any visible shape can 
 be given to divine things, the very visible shape 
 and image of virtue, whereby she is not only seen 
 in the reo-ular gestures and motions of her heaven- 
 ly paces as she walks, but also makes the harmony 
 of her voice audible to mortal ears. Yea, the 
 angels themselves, in whom no disorder is feared, 
 as the apostle that saw them in his rapture de- 
 scribes, are distinguished and quaternioned into 
 their celestial princedoms and satrapies, according 
 as God himself has w it his imperial decrees 
 through the great provinces of heaven. The 
 state also of the blessed in paradise, though nevei 
 so perfect, is not therefore left without discipline, 
 whbse golden surveying-reed marks out and meas- 
 ures every quarter and circuit of New Jerusalem. 
 Yet is it not to be conceived that those eternal 
 effluences of sanctity and love in the glorified 
 saints should by this means be confined and cloyed 
 with repetition of that which is prescribed, but 
 that our happiness may orb itself into a thousand 
 vagancies of glory and dehght, and with a kind of 
 eccentrical equation be, as it were, an invariable 
 planet of joy and felicity ; how much less can we 
 believe that God would leave his fi-ail and feeble, 
 though not less beloved Church here below, to the 
 pei-petual stumble of conjecture and distui'bance
 
 32 REASON OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT 
 
 in this our dark voyage, without the caid aii4 
 compass of discipline ? Which is so hard to be of 
 man's making, that we may see even in tlie guid- 
 ance of a civil state to worldly happiness, it is 
 CDt for every learned or every wise man, though 
 many of them consult in common, to invent or 
 frame a discipline : but if it be at all the work of 
 man, it must be of such a one as is a true knower 
 of himself, and in whom contemplation and prac- 
 tice, wit, prudence, fortitude, and eloquence, must 
 be rarely met, both to comprehend the hidden 
 causes of things, and span in his thoughts all the 
 various effects that passion or complexion can 
 work in man's nature ; and hereto must his hand 
 be at defiance with gain, and his heart in all vir- 
 tues heroic ; so far is it from the ken of these 
 wretched projectors of ours, that bescrawl their 
 pamphlets every day with new forms of govern- 
 ment for our Chiu-ch. And therefore all the 
 ancient lawgivers were either truly inspired, as 
 Moses, or were such men as with authority enough 
 might give it out to be so, as Minos, Lycurgus, 
 Numa, because they wisely forethought that men 
 would never quietly submit to such a discipline as 
 had not more of God's hand in it than man's. . . . 
 Public preaching indeed is the gift of the Spirit, 
 working as best seems to his secret will ; but dis- 
 cipline is the practic work of preaching directed 
 and applied, as is most requisite, to particular 
 du'y ; without which it were all one to the benefit
 
 URGED AGAINST PRELATY. 33 
 
 of souls, as it would be to the cure of bodies, if all 
 the physicians in London should get into the sev- 
 eral pulpits of the city, and, assembling all the 
 diseased in every parish, should begin a learned 
 lecture of pleurisies, palsies, lethargies, to which 
 perhaps none there present were inclined ; and so, 
 without so much as feeling one pulse, or giving 
 the least order to any skilful apothecary, should 
 dismiss them from time to time, some groaning, 
 some languishing, some expiring, with this only 
 charge, to look well to themselves, and do as they 
 
 hear 
 
 Did God take such delio-ht in measuring out the 
 pillars, arches, and doors of a material temple ? 
 Was he so punctual and circumspect in lavers, 
 altars, and sacrifices soon after to be abrogated, 
 lest any of these should have been made contrary 
 to his mind? Is not a far more perfect work 
 more agreeable to his perfections in the most per- 
 fect state of the Church Militant, the new alliance 
 of God to man ? Should not he rather now b'f 
 Ids own prescribed discipline have cast his line 
 and level upon the soul of man, which is his 
 rational temple, and, by the divine square and 
 compass thereof, form and regenerate in us tha 
 lovely shapes of virtues and graces, the sooner to 
 edify and accomplish that immortal stature of 
 Christ's body, which is his Church, in all her glori 
 ons lineaments and proportions ? And that thi* 
 indeed God hath done for us in the Gospel w( 
 
 2*
 
 m REASON OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT 
 
 shall see with open eyes, not under a veil. We 
 may pass over the history of the Acts and other 
 places, turning only to those epistles of St. Paul 
 to Timothy and Titus ; where the spiritual eye 
 may discern more goodly and gracefully erected, 
 than all the magnificence of temple or tabernacle, 
 such a heavenly structure of evangelical discipline, 
 so diffusive of knowledge and charity to the pros- 
 perous increase and growth of the Church, that it 
 cannot be wondered if that elegant and artful 
 symmetry of the promised new temple in Ezekiel, 
 and all those sumptuous things under the law, 
 were made to signify the inward beauty and splen- 
 dor of the Christian Church thus governed 
 
 And therefore, if God afterward gave or per- 
 mitted this insurrection of episcopacy, it is to be 
 feared he did it in his wrath, as he gave the 
 Israelites a king. With so good a will doth he 
 use tc alter his own chosen government once es- 
 tablished. For mark whether this rare device of 
 man's brain, thus preferred before the ordinance 
 of God, had better success than fleshly wisdom, 
 not counselling with God, ia wont to have. So 
 far was it from removing schism, that, if schism 
 parted the congregations before, now it rent and 
 mangled, now it raged. Heresy begat heresy 
 with a certain monstrous haste- of pregnancy in 
 her birth, at once born and bringing forth. Con- 
 tentions, before brotherly, were now hostile. IMen 
 went to choose their bishop as thev went to a
 
 URGED AGAINST PRELATY. 35 
 
 pitclied field, and the day of his election was, like 
 the sacking of a city, sometimes ended with tlie 
 blood of thousands. Nor this among heretics 
 only, but men of the same belief, yea, confessors ; 
 and that with such odious ambition, that Eusebius, 
 in his eighth book, testifies he abhorred to write. 
 And the reason is not obscure, for the poor dig- 
 nity, or rather burden, of a parochial presbyter 
 could not engage any great party, nor that to 
 any deadly feud : but prelaty was a power of that 
 extent and sway, that, if her election were popu- 
 lar, it was seldom not the cause of some faction 
 or broil in the church. But if her dignity came 
 by favor of some prince, she was from that time 
 his creature, and obnoxious to comply with his 
 ends in state, were they right or wrong. So that, 
 instead of finding prelaty an impeacher of schisni 
 or faction, the more I search, the more I grow 
 into all persuasion to think rather that faction and 
 she, as with a spousal ring, are wedded together, 
 
 never to be divorced 
 
 Do they keep away schism ? If to bring a 
 numb and chill stupidity of soul, an unactivo 
 blindness of mind, upon the people by their leaden 
 doctrine, or no doctrine at all, if to persecute all 
 knowing and zealous Christians by the violence of 
 their courts, be to keep away schism, they keep 
 schism away indeed ; and by this kind of disci- 
 pline all Italy and Spain is as purely and politicly 
 kept from schism as England hath been by them.
 
 36 REASON OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT 
 
 With as good a plea might the dead-palsy boast 
 to a man, It is I that free you from stitches ana 
 pains, and the troublesome feeling of cold and 
 heat, of wounds and strokes : if I were gone, all 
 these would molest you. The winter might as 
 well vaunt itself against the spring, I destroy all 
 noisome and rank weeds, I keep down all pesti- 
 lent vapors ; yes, and all wholesome herbs, and all 
 fresh dews, by your violent and hide-bound frost : 
 but when the gentle west winds shall open the 
 fruitful bosom of the earth, thus overgirded by 
 your imprisonment, then the flowers put forth 
 and spring, and then the sun shall scatter the 
 mists, and the manuring hand of the tiller shall 
 root up all that burdens the soil without thank to 
 
 your bondage 
 
 It may suffice us to be taught by St. Paul, that 
 there must be sects for the manifesting of those 
 that are sound-hearted. These are but winds and 
 flaws to try the floating vessel of our faith, whether 
 it be stanch and sail well, whether our ballast be 
 just, our anchorage and cable strong. By this is 
 seen who lives by faith and certain knowledge, and 
 who by credulity and the prevailing opinion of the 
 age ; whose virtue is of an unchangeable grain, and 
 whose of a slight wash. If God come to try oui- 
 constancy, we ought not to shrink or stand the 
 less firmly for that, but pass on with more stead- 
 fast resolution to establish the truth, though it 
 were throucrh a lane of aects and heresies on each
 
 URGED AGAINST PRKLATy. H'! 
 
 side. Other things meu do to the glory of God : 
 but sects and errors, it seems, God suffers to be 
 for the glory of good men, that the world may 
 know and reverence their time fortitude and un- 
 daunted constancy in the truth. Let us not 
 therefore make these things an incumbrance, or 
 an excuse of our delay in reforming, which God 
 sends as us an incitement to proceed with more 
 honor and alacrity: for if there were no opposi- 
 tion, where were the trial of an unfeigned good- 
 ness and magnanimity ? Virtue that wavers is not 
 virtue, but vice revolted from itself, and after a 
 while returning. The actions of just and pious 
 men do not darken in their middle course ; but 
 Solomon tells us, they are as the shining light, 
 that shineth more and more mito the perfect day. 
 Eut if we shall suffer the trifling doubts and jeal- 
 ousies of future sects to overcloud the fair begin- 
 nings of purposed reformation, let us rather fear 
 tliat another proverb of the same wise man be not 
 upbraided to us, that " the way of the wicked is as 
 darkness ; they stumble at they know not what." 
 If sects and schisms be turbulent in the unsettled 
 estate of a church, while it lies under the amend- 
 ing hand, it best beseems our Christian courage to 
 think they are but as the throes and pangs that go 
 before the birth of reformation, and that the work 
 itself is now in doing. For if we look but on the 
 nature of elemental and mixed things, we know 
 they cannot suffer any change of one kind or
 
 38 REASON OF CIWRCII GOVERNMENT 
 
 quality into another, without the struggle; cf con ■ 
 trarieties. And in things artificial, seldom any 
 elegance is wrought without a superfluous waste 
 and refuse in the transaction. No marble statue 
 can be politely carved, no fair edifice built, with- 
 out almost as much rubbish and sweeping. Inso- 
 much that even in the spiritual conflict of St. 
 Paul's conversion, there fell scales from his eyes, 
 that were not perceived before. No wonder, then, 
 in the reforming of a church, which is never 
 brought to effect without the fierce encounter of 
 truth and falsehood together, if, as it were, tlif 
 splinters and shards of so violent a jousting, there 
 fall from between the shock many fond errors and 
 fanatic opinions, which, when truth has the upper 
 hand, and the reformation shall be perfected, will 
 easily be rid out of the way, or kept so low, as that 
 they shall be only the exercise of our knowledge, 
 not the distm'bance or interruption of our faith. . . . 
 
 In state many things -at first are crude and hard 
 to digest, which only time and deliberation can 
 supple and concoct. But in religion, wherein is 
 no immaturity, nothing out of season, it goes far 
 otherwise. The door of grace turns upon smooth 
 liinges, wide opening to send out, but soon shut- 
 ting to recall the precious oflfers of mercy to a na- 
 tion : which, unless watchfiilness and zeal, two 
 quicksighted and ready-handed virgins, be there 
 in our behalf to receive, we lose ; and still the 
 oftener we lose, the straiter the door opens, and
 
 URGED AGAINST PRELATY. 35 
 
 the less is offered. This is all we get by demur- 
 ring in God's service. 
 
 How happy were it for this frail, and as it may 
 be called mortal life of man, since all earthly 
 things which have the name of good and conven- 
 ient in our daily use, are withal so cumbersome 
 and full of trouble, if knowledge, yet which is the 
 best and lightsomest possession of the mind, were, 
 as the common saying is, no burden ; and that 
 what it wanted of being a load to any part of the 
 body, it did not with a heavy advantage overlay 
 u])on the spirit ! For not to speak of that knowl- 
 edge that rests in the contemplation of natural 
 causes and dimensions, which must needs be a 
 lower wisdom, as the object is low, certain it is, 
 that he who hath obtained in more than the scan- 
 tiest measure to know anything distinctly of God, 
 and of his true worship, and what is infallibly good 
 and happy in the state of man's life, what in itself 
 evil and miserable, though vulgarly not so es- 
 teemed, — he that hath obtained to know this, the 
 only high valuable wisdom indeed, remembering 
 also that God, even to a strictness, requii'es the im- 
 provement of those his intrusted gifts, cannot but 
 sustain a sorer burden of mind, and more pressing 
 than any supportable toil or weight which the body 
 can labor under, how and in what manner he shall 
 dispose and eniploy these sums of knowledge and
 
 40 REASON OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT 
 
 illumination, which God hath sent him into thia 
 world to trade with. And that which aggravates 
 the burden more is, that, having received amongst 
 his allotted parcels certain precious truths, of 
 such an orient lustre as no diamond can equal, 
 which nevertheless he has in charge to put off at 
 any cheap rate, yea, for nothing to them that will, 
 the great merchants of this world, fearing that this, 
 course would soon discover and disgrace the false 
 glitter of their deceitful wares, wherewith they 
 abuse the people, like poor Indians with beads and 
 glasses, practise by all means how they may sup- 
 press the vending of such rarities, and at such a 
 cheapness as would undo them, and turn their 
 trash upon their hands. Therefore, by gratifying 
 the corrupt desires of men in fleshly doctrines, they 
 stir them up to persecute with hatred and con- 
 tempt all those that seek to bear themselves up- 
 rightly in this their spiritual factory : which the}' 
 foreseeing, though they cannot but testify of truth, 
 and the excellency of that heavenly traffic which 
 they bring, against what opposition or danger so- 
 ever, yet needs must it sit heavily upon their spir- 
 its, that being, in God's prime intention and their 
 own, selected heralds of peace, and dispensers of 
 treasure inestimable, without price, to them that 
 have no peace, they find in the discharge of their 
 commission that they are made the greatest vari« 
 ance and offence, a very sword and fire, both 
 in house and city, over the whole earth. This
 
 URGED AGAINST PRELATY. 41 
 
 is that which the sad prophet Jeremiah laments : 
 *'Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne 
 me a man of strife and contention ! " And al- 
 though divine inspiration must certainly have been 
 sweet to those ancient prophets, yet the irksome- 
 ness of that truth which tliey brought was so 
 unpleasant unto them, that everywhere they call 
 it a burden. Yea, that mysterious book of revela- 
 tion which the great Evangelist was bid to eat, as 
 it had been some eye-brightening electuary of 
 knowledge and foresight, though it were sweet in 
 his mouth, and in the learning, it was bitter in his 
 belly, bitter in the denouncing. Nor was this hid 
 from the wise poet Sophocles, who in that place of 
 his tragedy where Tiresias is called to resolve 
 King (Edipus in a matter which he knew would be 
 grievous, brings him in bemoaning his lot, that he 
 knew more than other men. For surely to every 
 good and peaceable man it must in nature needs 
 be a hateful thing to be the displeaser and molest- 
 er of thousands ; much better would it like him 
 doubtless to be the messenger of gladness and con- 
 tentment which is his chief intended business to all 
 mankind, but that they resist and oppose their own 
 true happiness. But when God commands to take 
 the trumpet, and blow a dolorous or a jarring 
 blast, it lies not in man's will, what he shall say, 
 or what he shall conceal. If he shall think to be 
 silent as Jeremiah did, because of the reproach 
 and derision he met with daily, — "And all hi»
 
 42 REASON OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT 
 
 familiar friends watched for his halting," to be re- 
 venged on him for speaking the truth, — he would 
 be forced to confess as he confessed : " His word 
 was in my heart as a burning fire shut up in my 
 bones ; I was weary with forbearing, and could 
 not stay." Which might teach these times not 
 suddenly to condemn all things that are sharply 
 spoken or vehemently written as proceeding out 
 of stomach, virulence, or ill-nature, but to consid- 
 er rather, that, if the prelates have leave to say 
 the worst that can be said, or do the worst that 
 can be done, while they strive to keep to them- 
 selves, to their great pleasure and commodity 
 those tilings which they ought to render up, n« 
 man can be justly offended with him that shall 
 endeavor to impart and bestow, without any gain 
 to himself, those sharp but saving words which 
 would be a terror and a torment in him to keep 
 back. 
 
 For me, I have determined to lay up as the best 
 treasure and solace of a good old age, if God 
 vouchsafe it me, the honest liberty of free speech 
 from my youth, where I shall think it available in 
 so dear a concernment as the Church's good. For 
 if I be, either by disposition or what other cause, 
 too inquisitive, or suspicious of myself and mine 
 own doings, who can help it ? But this I foresee, 
 that should the Chm'ch be brought under heavy op- 
 pression, and God have given me ability the while 
 to reason against that man that should be the author
 
 URGED AGAl.NST PRELATY. 43 
 
 of so foul a deed, — or should she, by blessing from 
 above on the industry and courage of faithftil men, 
 change this her distracted estate into better days 
 without the least furtherance or contribution of 
 those few talents which God at that present had 
 lent me, — I foresee what stories I should hear 
 within myself, all mj life after, of discourage and 
 reproach. Timorous and ungrateful, the Church 
 of God is now again at the foot of her insulting 
 enemies, and thou bewailest. What matters it foi 
 thee, or thy bewailing? When time was, thou 
 couldst not find a syllable of all that thou hast 
 read, or studied, to utter in her behalf. Yet ease 
 and leisure was given thee for thy retired thoughts, 
 out of the sweat of other men. Thou hast the dil- 
 igence, the parts, the language of a man, if a vain 
 subject were to be adorned or beautified ; but 
 when the cause of God and his Chui'ch was to be 
 pleaded, for which purpose that tongue was given 
 thee which thou hast, God listened if he could 
 hear thy voice among his zealous servants, but 
 thou wert dumb as a beast ; from henceforward be 
 that which thine own brutish silence hath made 
 chee.. Or else I should have heard on the other 
 ear : Slothful, and ever to be set light by, the 
 Church hath now ovei'come her late distresses 
 after the unwearied labors of many her true ser- 
 vants that stood up in her defence ; thou also 
 wouldst take upon thee to share amongst them of 
 ttieir joy: but wherefore thou? Where canst
 
 4 REASON OF CHURCH UUVERiVMENT 
 
 thou show any word or deed of thine which might 
 have hastened her peace ? Whatever thou dost 
 now talk, or write, or look, is the alms of other 
 men's active prudence and zeal. Dare not now to 
 say or do anything better than thy former slotli 
 and infancy; or if thou da rest, thou dost impudent- 
 ly to make a thrifty purchase of boldness to thysell", 
 out of the painful merits of other men ; what be- 
 fore was thy sin is now thy duty, to be abject and 
 worthless. These, and such like lessons as these, 
 J know would have been my matins duly and my 
 even-song. But now, by this little diligence, mark 
 what a privilege I have gained with good men and 
 saints to claim my right of lamenting the tribula- 
 tions of the Church, if she should suffer when 
 others, that have ventured nothing for her sake, 
 have not the honor to be admitted mourners. 
 But if she lift up her di'ooping head and pros- 
 per, among those that have something more than 
 wished her welfaz*e, I have my charter and free- 
 hold of rejoicing to me and my heirs. Concern- 
 ing, therefore, this wayward subject, against prel- 
 aty, the touching whereof is so distasteful and dis- 
 quietous to a number of men, as by what hath 
 been said I may deserve of charitable readers to 
 be credited, that neither envy nor gall hath en- 
 tered me upon this controversy, but the enforce- 
 ment of conscience only, and a preventive feai 
 lest the omitting of this duty should be against me, 
 when 1 would store up to myself the good provis-
 
 URGED AGAINST PRELATY. 45 
 
 ion of peaceful hours: so, lest it should be still im- 
 puted to ine, as I have found it hath been, that 
 some self-pleasing humor of vainglory hath incitea 
 me to contest with men of high estimation, now 
 while green years are upon my head, fi'om this 
 needless surmisal I shall hope to dissuade the intel- 
 ligent and equal auditor, if I can but say success- 
 fully that which in this exigent behoves me ; al- 
 though I would be heard only, if it might be, by 
 the elegant and learned reader, to whom principally 
 for a while I shall beg leave I may address myself. 
 To him it will be no new thing, though I tell him 
 that if I hunted after praise, by the ostentation of 
 wit and learning, I should not write thus out of 
 mine own season, when I have neither yet com- 
 pleted to my mind the ftdl circle of my pnvate 
 studies, although I complain not of any insufficien- 
 cy to the matter in hand ; or were I ready to my 
 wishes, it were a folly to commit anything elabo- 
 rately composed to the careless and interrupted 
 listening of these tumultuous times. Next, if I 
 were wise only to my own ends, I Avould certainly 
 take such a subject as of itself might catch ap- 
 plause, whereas this hath all the disadvantages on 
 the contrary, and such a subject as the publishing 
 whereof might be delayed at pleasure, and time 
 enough to pencil it over with all the curious 
 touches of art, even to the perfection of a fault* 
 less picture ; whereas in this argument the not de 
 ferring is of great moment to the good speeding,
 
 46 REASON OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT 
 
 that if solidity have leisure to do her office, art 
 cannot have much. 7 *stly, I should not choose 
 this "manner of writi-/, wherein knowing myseH' 
 inferior to myself, led by the genial power of na- 
 ture to another task, I have the use, as I may ac- 
 count, but of my left hand. And though I shall be 
 foolish in saying more to this purpose, yet, since it 
 will be such a folly as wisest men go about to com- 
 mit, having only confessed and so committed, I may 
 trust with more reason, because with more folly, to 
 have courteous pardon. For although a poet, soar- 
 ing in the high reason of his fancies, with his gar- 
 land and singing-robes about him, might, without 
 apology, speak more of himself than I mean to do ; 
 yet for me, sitting here below in the cool element 
 of prose, a mortal thing among many readers of no 
 empyreal conceit, to venture and divulge unusual 
 tilings of myself, I shall petition to the gentler sort, 
 ;t may not be envy to me. I must say, therefore, 
 that after I had for my first years, by the ceaseless 
 diligence and care of my father, (whom God recom- 
 pense !) been exercised to the tongues, and some 
 sciences, as my age would suffer, by sundry mas- 
 ters and teachers, both at home and at the schools, 
 it was found that whether aught w^as imposed me 
 by them that had the overlooking, or betaken to 
 of mine own choice in English, or other tongue, 
 prosing or versing, but chiefly by this latter, the 
 style, by certain vital signs it had, was likely to 
 live. But much latelier in the private academies
 
 URGED AGAINST PRELATY. 47 
 
 of Italy, whither I was favored to resort, perceiv- 
 ing that some trifles which I had in memory, com- 
 posed at under twenty or thereabout, (for the 
 manner is, that every one must give some proof 
 of his wit and reading there,) met with acceptance 
 ibove what was looked for ; and other things, 
 vhich I had shifted in scarcity of books and con- 
 veniences to patch up amongst them, were re- 
 ceived with written encomiums, which the Italian 
 \s not forward to bestow on men of this side tho 
 Alps ; I began thus far to assent both to them and 
 divers of my friends here at home, and not less to 
 an inward prompting which now grew daily upon 
 me, that by labor and intense study, (which I take 
 to be my portion in this life,) joined with the 
 strong propensity of nature, I might perhaps leave 
 something so written to after-times, as they should 
 not willingly let it die. These thoughts at once 
 possessed me, and these other ; that if I were cer- 
 tain to write as men buy leases, for three Uves and 
 downward, there ought no regard be sooner had 
 than to God's glory by the honor and instruction 
 of my country. For which cause, and not -only 
 for that I knew it would be hard to arrive at the 
 second rank among the Latins, I applied myself to 
 that resolution, which Ariosto followed against the 
 persuasions of Bembo, to fix all the industry and 
 art I could unite to the adorning of my native 
 tongue ; not to make verbal curiosities the end, 
 Ctkat were a toilsome vanity,) but to be an int-er-
 
 48 REASON OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT 
 
 preter and relater of the best and sagest thing* 
 among mine own citizens throughout this island in 
 the mother dialect. That what the greatest and 
 choicest wits of Athens, Rome, or modern Italy, 
 and those Hebrews of old did for their country. 
 I, in my proportion, with this over and above of 
 being a Christian, might do for mine ; not caring 
 to be once named abroad, though perhaps I could 
 attain to that, but content with these British isl- 
 ands as my world ; whose fortune hath hithertc 
 been, that if the Athenians, as some say, made 
 their small deeds great and renowned by their elo- 
 quent writers, England hath had her noble achieve- 
 ments made small by the unskilful handling of 
 monks and mechanics. 
 
 Time serves not now, and perhaps I might seem 
 too profuse to give any certain account of what 
 the mind at home, in the spacious circuits of her 
 musing, hath Hberty to propose to herself, though 
 of highest hope and hardest attempting ; whether 
 that epic form whereof the two poems of Homer, 
 and those other two of Virgil and Tasso, are a 
 diffuse, and the book of Job a brief model : or 
 whether the rules of Aristotle herein are strictly 
 to be kept, or nature to be followed, which in 
 them that know art, and use judgment, is no trans- 
 gression, but an enriching of art : and, lastly, what 
 king or knight before the Conquest might be cho- 
 sen in whom to lay the pattern of a Christiai? hero. 
 And as Tasso gave to a pnnce of Italy his choice
 
 URGED AGAINST PRELATY. 49 
 
 whether he would command him to write of God- 
 frey's expedition against the Infidels, or Belisa- 
 rius against the Goths, or Charlemain against 
 the Lombards ; if to the instinct of nature and the 
 emboldening of art aught may be trusted, and that 
 there be nothing adverse in our climate, or the fate 
 of this age, it haply would be no rashness, from an 
 equal diligence and inclination, to present the like 
 ofier in our own ancient stories ; or whether those 
 dramatic constitutions, wherein Sophocles and Eu- 
 ripides reign, shall be found more doctrinal and 
 exemplary to a nation. The Scripture also af- 
 fords us a divine pastoral drama in the Song of 
 Solomon, consisting of two persons, and a double 
 chorus, as Origen rightly judges. And the Apoc- 
 alypse of St. John is the majestic image of a higli 
 and stately tragedy, shutting up and intermin- 
 gling her solemn scenes and acts with a sevenfold 
 chorus of hallelujahs and harping symphonies : 
 and this my opinion the grave authority of Pare- 
 ns, commenting that book, is sufficient to confirm. 
 Or if occasion shall lead, to imitate those magnifi< 
 odes and hymns, wherein Pindarus and Callima 
 chus are in most things worthy, some others ir 
 their frame judicious, in their matter most an end 
 faulty. But those frequent songs throughout the 
 law and prophets beyond all these, not in their di- 
 vine argument alone, but in the very critical art 
 of composition, may be easily made appear over 
 All the kinds of lyric poesy to be incomparable
 
 50 REASON OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT 
 
 These abilities, wheresoever they be found, are 
 the inspired gift of God, rarely bestowed, but yet 
 to some (though most abuse) in every nation ; 
 and are of power, beside the ofHce of a pulpit, 
 to imbreed and cherish in a great people the seeds 
 of virtue and public civility, to allay the perturba- 
 tions of the mind, and set the affections in risht 
 tune ; to celebrate in glorious and lofty hymns the 
 throne and equipage of God's almightiness, and 
 what he works, and what he suffers to be wrought 
 with high pro\'idence in his Church ; to sing vic- 
 torious agonies of martyrs and saints, the deeds 
 and triumphs of just and pious nations, doing val- 
 iantly through faith against the enemies of Christ ; 
 to deplore the general relapses of kingdoms and 
 states from justice and God's true worship. Last- 
 ly, whatsoever in religion is holy and subhme, in 
 virtue amiable or grave, whatsoever hath passion 
 or admiration in all the changes of that which is 
 called fortune from without, or the wih'- subtleties 
 and refluxes of man's thoughts from within ; all 
 these things with a solid and treatable smoothness 
 to paint out and describe : teaching over the 
 whole book of sanctity and virtue, through all the 
 instances of example, with such delight to those 
 especially of soft and delicious temper, who w\\\ 
 not so much as look upon truth herself unless they 
 see her elegantly dressed ; that whereas the paths 
 of honesty and good life appear now mgged and 
 difficult, though they be indeed easy and pleasant,
 
 URGED AGAINST PRELATY. 51 
 
 they will then appear to all men both easy and 
 pleasant, though they were ragged and difficult 
 indeed. And what a benefit this would be to our 
 youth and gentry, may be soon guessed by what 
 we know of the corruption and bane which they 
 suck in daily from the writings and interludes of 
 hbidinous and ignorant poetasters, who, having 
 scarce ever heard of that which is the main con- 
 sistence of a true poem, the choice of such per- 
 sons as they ought to introduce, and what is moral 
 and decent to each one, do for the most part lay 
 up vicious principles in sweet pills to be swallowed 
 down, and make the taste of virtuous documents 
 harsh and sour. But because the spirit of man 
 cannot demean itself lively in this body, without 
 some recreating intermission of labor and serious 
 things, it were happy for the commonwealth, if 
 our magistrates, as in those famous governments 
 of old, would take into their care, not only the de- 
 ciding of our contentious law-cases and brawls, 
 but the managing of our public sports and festi- 
 val pastimes ; that they might be, not such as 
 were authorized a while since, the provocations of 
 drunkenness and lust, but such as may inure and 
 harden our bodies by martial exercises to ah 
 warlike skill and performance; and may civilize, 
 adorn, and make discreet our minds by the learned 
 and affable meeting of frequent academies, and 
 the procurement of wise and artful recitations, 
 sweetened with eloquent and graceful enticementa
 
 52 REASON OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT 
 
 to the love and practice of justice, temperance, and 
 fortitude, instructing and bettering the nation at 
 all opportunities, that the call of wisdom and vir- 
 tue may be heard everywhere, as Solomon saith : 
 " She crieth without, she uttereth her voice in 
 the streets, in the top of high places, in the chief 
 concourse, and in the openings of the gates.'* 
 Whether this may not be, not only in pulpits, but 
 after another persuasive method, at set and solemn 
 paneguries, in theatres, porches, or what other 
 place or way may win most upon the people to 
 receive at once both recreation and instruction, let 
 then: in authority consult. The thing which I 
 had to say, and those intentions v/hich have lived 
 within me ever since I could conceive myself any- 
 thing worth to my country, I return to crave ex- 
 cuse that urgent reason hath plucked from me, by 
 an abortive and foredated discovery. And the 
 accomplishment of them lies not but in a power 
 above man's to promise ; but that none hath by 
 more studious ways endeavored, and with more 
 unwearied spirit that none shall, that I dare al- 
 most aver of myself, as far as life and free leisure 
 will extend ; and that the land had once enfran- 
 chised herself from this impertinent yoke of pre- 
 laty, under whose inquisitorious and tyrannical 
 duncery no free and splendid wit can flourish. 
 Neither do I think it shame to covenant with any 
 knowing reader, that for some few years yet ] 
 may go on trust with him toward the payment of
 
 URGED AGAINST PRELATY. 53 
 
 what I am now indebted, as being a work not ta 
 be raised from the heat of youth, or the vapors of 
 wine ; Hke that which flows at waste from the pen 
 of some vulgar amourist, or tlie trencher fury of 
 a rhyming parasite ; nor to be obtained by tlie 
 invocation of Dame Memory and her siren daugh- 
 ters, but by devout prayer to that Eternal Spirit, 
 who can enrich with all utterance and knowledge, 
 and sends out his seraphim, with the hallowed fire 
 of his altar, to touch and purify the lips of whom 
 he pleases : to this must be added industrious and 
 select reading, steady observation, insight into all 
 seemly and generous arts and affairs ; till which 
 in some measure be compassed, at mine own peril 
 and cost, I refuse not to sustain this expectation 
 from as many as are not loath to hazard so much 
 credulity upon the best pledges that I can give 
 them. Although it nothmg content me to have 
 disclosed thus much beforehand, but that I trusf 
 hereby to make it manifest with what small will- 
 ingness I endure to interrupt the pursuit of no 
 less hopes than these, and leave a calm and pleas- 
 ing solitariness, fed with cheerful and confident 
 thoughts, to embark in a troubled sea of noises 
 and hoarse disputes, put from beholding the bright 
 countenance of truth in the quiet and still air of 
 delightful studies, to come into the dim reflection 
 of hollow antiquities sold by the seeming bulk, 
 and there be fain to club quotations with men 
 whose learning and belief lies in marginal stuff
 
 54 REASON OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT 
 
 ings, who, when they have, hke good sumpters, 
 laid ye down their horse-loads of citations and 
 fathers at your door, with a rhapsody of who and 
 who were bishops here or there, ye may take off 
 their packsaddles, their day's work is done, and 
 episcopacy, as they think, stoutly vmdicated. Let 
 any gentle apprehension, that can distinguish 
 learned pains from unlearned drudgery, imagine 
 what pleasure or profoundness can be in this, or 
 what honor to deal against such adversaries. But 
 were it the meanest under-service, if God by his 
 secretary Conscience enjoin it, it were sad for me 
 if I should draw back; for me especially, now 
 when all men offer their aid to help, ease, and 
 lighten the difficult labors of the Church, to whose 
 service, by the intentions of my parents and 
 friends, I was destined of a child, and in mine 
 own resolutions : till coming to some maturity of 
 years, and perceiving what tyranny had invaded 
 the Church, that he who would take orders must 
 subscribe slave, and take an oath withal, which, 
 unless he took with a conscience that would retch, 
 he must either straight perjure, or split his faith ; 
 I thought it better to prefer a blameless silence 
 before the sacred office of speaking, bought and 
 begun with servitude and forswearing. Howso- 
 ever, thus church-outed by the prelates, hence 
 may appear the right I have to meddle in these 
 matters, as before the necessity and constraint ap- 
 peared
 
 URGED AGAINST PRELATY. 55 
 
 Who is there ahnost that measures wisdom by 
 BimpHcity, strength by suffering, dignity by lowli- 
 ness? Who is there that counts it first to be 
 last, something to be nothing, and reckons him- 
 self of great command in that he is a servant? 
 Yet God, when he meant to subdue the world 
 and hell at once, part of that to salvation, and 
 this wholly to perdition, made choice of no .other 
 weapons or auxiliaries than these, whether to save 
 01 to destroy. It had been a small mastery for 
 him to have drawn out his legions mto array, and 
 flanked them with his thunder ; therefore he sent 
 foolishness to confute wisdom, weakness to bind 
 strength, despisedness to vanquish pride : and this 
 is the great mystery of the Gospel made good in 
 Christ himself, who, as he testifies, came not to be 
 ministered to, but to minister ; and must be ful- 
 filled in all his ministers till his second coming. . . .• 
 
 For truth, I know not how, hath this unhappi- 
 ness fatal to her, ere she can come to the trial and 
 inspection of the understanding; being to pas;j 
 through many little wards and limits of the sev- 
 eral affections and desires, she cannot shift it, but 
 must put on such colors and attire as those pathet- 
 ic handmaids of the soul please to lead her in to 
 their queen : and if she find so much favor with 
 them, they let her pass in her own likeness ; if 
 not, they bring her into the presence habited and 
 colored hke a notorious falsehood. And contrary, 
 when anj falsehood comes that way, if they like
 
 56 REASON OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT 
 
 the errand she brings, they are so artful to coun- 
 terfeit the very shape and visage of truth, that tlie 
 understanding not being able to discern the fucua 
 which these enchantresses with such cunning hive 
 •laid upon the feature sometimes of truth, some- 
 times of falsehood interchangeably, sentences for 
 the most part one for the other at the first blush, 
 according to the subtle imposture of these sensual 
 mistresses, that keep the ports and passages be- 
 tween her and the object 
 
 But there is yet a more ingenuous and noble 
 degree of honest shame, or, call it, if you will, an 
 esteem, whereby men bear an inward reverence 
 toward their own persons. And if the love of 
 God, as a fire sent from heaven to be ever kept 
 alive upon, the altars of our hearts, be the first 
 principle of all godly and virtuous actions in men, 
 this pious and just honoring of ourselves is the 
 second, and may be thought as the radical moist- 
 ure and fountain-head, whence every laudable and 
 worthy enterprise issues forth. And although I 
 have given it the name of a liquid thing, yet it is 
 not incontinent to bound itself, as humid things 
 are, but hath in it a most restraining and powerful 
 abstinence to start back, and glob itself upward 
 from the mixture of any ungenerous and unbe- 
 seeming motion, or any soil wherewith it ma\ 
 peril to stain itself. Something I confess it is to 
 be ashamed of evil-doing in the presence of any ; 
 and to reverence the opinion and the countenance
 
 URGED AGAINST PRELATY. 57 
 
 of a good man rather than a bad, fearing most in 
 his sight to offend, goes so far as almost to be vir- 
 tuous ; yet this is but still the fear of infamy, and 
 many such, when they find themselves alone, 
 saving their reputation, will compound with other 
 scruples, and come to a close treaty with their 
 dearer vices in secret. But he that holds himself 
 in reverence and due esteem, both for the dignity 
 of God's image upon him, and for the price of his 
 redemption, which he thinks is visibly marked 
 upon his forehead, accounts himself both a fit per- 
 son to do the noblest and godliest deeds, and much 
 better worth than to deject and defile, with suclj 
 a debasement, and such a pollution as sin is, him- 
 self so highly ransomed and ennobled to a new 
 friendship and filial relation with God. Nor can 
 he fear so much the offence and reproach of 
 others, as he dreads and would blush at the re- 
 flection of his own severe and modest eye upon 
 himself, if it should see him doing or imagining 
 that which is sinful, though in the deepest se- 
 crecy 
 
 Thus therefore the minister assisted attends his 
 heavenly and spiritual cure : where we shall see 
 him both in the course of his proceeding, and first 
 in the excellency of his end, from the magistrate 
 far different, and not more different than excel- 
 Ung. His end is to recover all that is of man, 
 both soul and body, to an everlasting health ; and 
 yet as for worldly happiness, which is the proper 
 
 3*
 
 58 REASON OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT 
 
 sphere wlierein the magistrate cannot but confine 
 his motion, without a hideous exorbitancy from 
 law, so httle aims the minister, as his intended 
 scope, to procure the much prosperity of this hfe, 
 that ofttimes he may have cause to wish much of 
 it away, as a diet puffing up the soul with a slimy 
 fleshiness, and weakening her principal organic 
 parts. Two heads of evil he has to cope with, 
 ignorance and malice. Against the fonner he 
 provides the daily manna of incorruptible doc- 
 trine, not at those set meals only in public, but as 
 oft as he shall know that each infirmity or consti- 
 tution requires. Against the latter with all the 
 branches thereof, not meddling with that restrain- 
 ing and styptic surgery, which the law uses, not 
 inaeed against the malady, but against the erup- 
 tions, and outermost effects thereof; he, on the 
 contrary, beginning at the prime causes and roots 
 of the disease, sends in those two divine ingredi- 
 ents of most cleansing power to the soul, admo- 
 nition and reproof; besides which two, there is nc 
 drug or antidote that can reach to purge the mind, 
 and without which all other experiments are but 
 vain, miless by accident. And he that will not 
 let these pass into him, though he be the greatest 
 king, as Plato affirms, must be thought to remain 
 impure within, and unknowing of those things 
 wherein his pureness and his knowledge should 
 most appear. As soon therefore as it may be 
 discerned that the Criristian patient by feeding
 
 URGED AGAINST PRELATY. 59 
 
 Otherwhere on meats not allowable, but of evil 
 juice, hath disordered his diet, and spread an ill- 
 humor through his veins, immediately disposing 
 to a sickness, the minister, as being much nearer 
 both in eje and duty than the magistrate, speeds 
 him betimes to overtake that diifused malignance 
 with some gentle potion of admonishment; or if 
 aught be obstructed, puts in his opening and dis- 
 cussive confections. This not succeeding after 
 once or twice, or oftener, in the presence of two 
 or three his faithful biethren appointed thereto, 
 \c &inses him to be more careful of his dearest 
 uealth, and what it is that he so rashly hath let 
 down into the divine vessel of his soul, God's 
 temple. If this obtain not, he then, with the 
 counsel of more assistants, who are informed of 
 what diligence hath been abeady used, with more 
 speedy remedies lays nearer siege to the en- 
 trenched causes of his distemper, not sparing such 
 fervent and well-aimed reproofs as may best give 
 him to see the dangerous estate wherein he is. 
 To this also his brethren and friends entreat, ex- 
 hort, adjure ; and all these endeavors, as there 
 is hope left, are more or less repeated. But if 
 neither the regard of himself, nor the reverence 
 of his elders and fi'iends prevail with him to leave 
 his vicious appetite, then as the time urges, such 
 engines of terror God hath given into the hand 
 of his minister, as to search the tenderest angles 
 of the heart : one while he shakes his stubboi'n-
 
 60 REASON OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT 
 
 ness with racking convulsions nigh desnair; other - 
 whiles with deadly corrosives he gripes the very 
 roots of his faulty liver to bring him to life 
 through the entry of death. Hereto the whole 
 Church beseech him, beg of him, deplore him, 
 pray for him. After all this, performed with 
 what patience and attendance is possible, and no 
 relenting on his part, having done the utmost of 
 their cure, in the name of God and of the Church 
 they dissolve their fellowship with him, and, hold- 
 ing forth tlie dreadful sponge of excommunion, 
 pronounce him wiped out of the list of God's 
 inheritance, and in the custody of Satan till he 
 repent. Which horrid sentence, though it touch 
 y.either life nor limb, nor any worldly possession, 
 yet has it such a penetrating force, that swifter 
 than any chemical sulphur, or that lightning 
 which harms not the skin, and rifles the entrails, 
 it scorches the inmost soul. Yet even this terri- 
 ble denouncement is left to the Church for no 
 other cause but to be as a rough and vehement 
 cleansing medicine, where the malady is obdurate, 
 a mortifying to life, a kind of saving by undoing. 
 And it may be truly said, that as the mercies of 
 wicked men are cruelties, so the cruelties of the 
 Church are mercies. For if repentance sent from 
 Heaven meet this lost wanderer, and draw him 
 out of that steep journey wherein he was hasting 
 towards destruction, to come and reconcile to the 
 Church, if he bring with him his bill of health,
 
 URGED AGAINST PRELATY. 61 
 
 and that he is now clear of infection, and of no 
 danger to the other sheep ; then with incredible 
 expressions of joy all his brethren receive him, 
 and set before him those perfumed banquets of 
 Christian consolation ; with precious ointments 
 bathing and fomenting the old, and now to be 
 forgotten stripes, Avhicli terror and shame had in- 
 flicted; and thus with heavenly solaces they cheer 
 up his humble remorse, till he regain his first 
 
 health and felicity 
 
 I cannot better liken the state and person of a 
 king than to that mighty Nazarite Samson ; who 
 being disciplined from his birth in the precepts 
 and the practice of temperance and sobriety, with- 
 out the strong drink of injurious and excessive 
 desires, grows up to a noble strength and perfec- 
 tion with those his illustrious and sunny locks, the 
 laws, waving and curling about his godlike shoul- 
 ders. And while he keeps them about him undi- 
 minished and unshorn, he may with the jawbone 
 of an ass, that is, with the word of his meanest 
 officer, suppress and put to confusion thousands of 
 those that rise against his just power. But laying 
 down his head among the strumpet flatteries of 
 prelates, while he sleeps and thinks no harm, they 
 wickedly shaving off all those bright and weighty 
 tresses of his law, and just prerogatives, which 
 were his ornament and strength, deliver him over 
 to indirect and violent counsels, which, as those 
 Phihstines, put out the fair and far-sighted eyes
 
 C2 HEASOy OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 
 
 of his natural discernmg, and make him grind in 
 the prison-house of their sinister ends and practices 
 upon him ; till he, knowing this prelatical i-azor to 
 liaA'e bereft him of his wonted might, nourish 
 again his puissant hair, the golden beams of law 
 and right; and they sternly shook thunder with 
 ruin upon the heads of those his evil counsellors, 
 but not without great affliction to himself. .... 
 
 Though God for less than ten just persons would 
 not spare Sodom, yet if you can find, after due 
 search, but only one good thing in prelaty, either 
 to religion or civil government, to Kino; or Parlia- 
 ment, to prince or people, to laAV, liberty, wealth, 
 or learning, spare her, let her live, let her spread 
 among ye, till with her shadow all your dignities 
 and honors, and all the glory of the land be dark- 
 ened and obscured. But on the contrary, if she 
 be found to be malignant, hostile, destructive to all 
 these, as nothing can be surer, then let your severe 
 and impartial doom imitate the divine vengeance ; 
 rain down your punishing force upon this godless 
 and oppressing government, and bring such a dead 
 sea of subversion upon her, that she may never in 
 this land rise more to afflict the holy reformed 
 Church, and the elect people of God.
 
 FROM 
 
 ANIMADVERSIONS UPON THE REMON- 
 STRANT'S DEFENCE AGAINST SMEC- 
 TYMNUUS. 
 
 ^E all know that in private or personal 
 injuries, yea, in public sufferings lor 
 the cause of Christ, his rule and ex- 
 ample teaches us to be so far from a 
 readiness to speak evil, as not to answer the re- 
 viler in his language, though never so much pro- 
 voked : yet in the detecting and convincing of 
 any notorious enemy to truth and his country's 
 peace, especially that is conceited to have a volu- 
 ble and smart fluence of tongue, and in the vain 
 confidence of that, and out of a more tenacious 
 cling to worldly respects, stands up for all the 
 rest to justify a long usurpation and convicted 
 pseudepiscopy of prelates, with all their ceremo- 
 nies, liturgies, and tyrannies, which God and man 
 are now ready to explode and hiss out of the land ; 
 I suppose, and more than suppose, it will be noth- 
 ing disagreeing from Christian meekness to handle 
 such a one in a rougher accent, and to send home
 
 64 FROM ANIMADVERSIONS UPON THE 
 
 his haughtiness M^ell bespurted with his own holy 
 water. Nor to do thus are we unautoritied either 
 from the moral precept of Solomon, to answer 
 him thereafter that prides him in his folly ; noi' 
 fi'om the example of Christ, and all his followers 
 in all ages, who, in the refuting of those that re- 
 sisted sound doctrine, and by subtile dissimula- 
 tions corrupted the minds of men, have wrought 
 up their zealous souls into such vehemencies, as 
 nothing could be more killmgly spoken : for who 
 can be a greater enemy to mankind, who a more 
 dangerous deceiver, than he who, defending a tra- 
 ditional corruption, uses no conrmon arts, but with 
 a wily stratagem of yielding to the time a greater 
 part of his cause, seeming to forego all that man's 
 invention hath done therein, and driven from 
 much of his hold in Scripture ; yet leaving it hang- 
 ing by a twined thread, not from divine command, 
 but from apostolical prudence or assent ; as if he 
 had the surety of some rolling trench, creeps up 
 by this mean to liis relinquished fortress of divine 
 authority again, and still hovering between the 
 confines of that which he dares not be openly, and 
 that which he will not be sincerely, trains on the 
 easy Christian insensibly within the close ambush- 
 ment of worst errors, and with a sly shufHe of 
 counterfeit principles, chopping and changing till 
 he have gleaned all the good ones out of their 
 minds, leaves them at last, after a slight resem- 
 blance of sweepmg and garnishing, under he
 
 DEFENCE 4GAINST SMECTYMNUUS. 63 
 
 sevenfold possession of a desperate stupidity \ 
 And, therefore, they that love the souls of men, 
 which is the dearest love, and stirs up the nobles' 
 jealousy, when they meet with such collusion 
 cannot be blamed though they be transported witL 
 the zeal of truth to a well-heated fervency; es 
 pecially, seeing they which thus offend against the 
 souls of their bi'ethren, do it with delight to theii 
 great gain, ease, and advancement in this world ; 
 \)ut they that seek to discover and oppose their 
 ^alse trade of deceiving, do it not without a sad 
 and unwilling anger, not without many hazards ; 
 but without all private and personal spleen, and 
 without any thought of earthly reward, whenas 
 this very course they take stops their hopes of 
 ascending above a lowly and unenviable pitch in 
 this life. And although in the serious uncasino 
 of a grand imposture (for to deal plainly with 
 you, readers, prelaty is no better) there be mixed 
 here and there such a grim laughter as may ap- 
 pear at the same time in an austere visage, it can- 
 not be taxed of levity or insolence, for even this 
 vein of laughing (as I could produce out of grave 
 authors) hath ofttimes a strong and sinewy force 
 in teaching and confuting ; nor can there be a 
 more proper object of indignation and scorn to- 
 gether, than a false prophet taken in the greatest, 
 dearest, and most dangerous cheat, the cheat of 
 souls : in the disclosing whereof, if it be harmful 
 to be angry, and withal to cast a lowering smile, 
 
 B
 
 6G FROM ANIMADVERSIONS UPON THE 
 
 when tlie properest object calls for both, it will be 
 long enough ere any be able to say, why those two 
 most rational faculties of human intellect, anger and 
 laughter, were first seated in the breast of man 
 
 The Romans had a time, once every year, when 
 their slaves might freely speak their minds ; it 
 were hard if the freeborn people of England, with 
 whom the voice of truth for these many years, 
 even against the proverb, hath not been heard but 
 in corners, after all your monkish prohibitions, 
 and expurgatorious indexes, your gags and snaf- 
 fles, your proud Imprimaturs not to be obtained 
 without the shallow survieM'', but not shallow hand 
 of some mercenary, narrow-souled, and illiterate 
 cha])lain ; when Mberty of speaking, than which 
 nothing is more sweet to man, was girded and 
 strait-laced almost to a broken-winded phthisic, if 
 now at a good time, our time of parliament, the 
 very jubilee and resurrection of the state, if now 
 the concealed, the aggrieved, and long-persecuted 
 truth, could not be suffered to speak ; and though 
 she burst out with some efficacy of words, could 
 not be excused after such an injurious strangle of 
 silence, nor avoid the censure of libelling, it were 
 hard, it were something pinching in a kingdom of 
 free spirits. Some princes and great statists have 
 thought it a prime piece of necessary policy to 
 thrust themselves under disguise into a popular 
 throng, to stand the night long under eaves of
 
 DEFENCE AUAIA'ST SMECTi'MXlJUS G7 
 
 houses, and low windows, that they might heai 
 everywhere the utterances of private breasts, and 
 amongst them find cut the precious gem of truth, 
 as amongst the numberless pebbles of the shore ;> 
 whereby they might be the abler to discover, and 
 avoid, that deceitful and close-couched evil of flat- 
 tery that ever attends them, and misleads them, 
 and might skilfolly know how to apply the several 
 redresses to each maladv of state, without trust- 
 ing the disloyal information of parasites and syco- 
 phants: whereas now this permission of free writ- 
 ing, were there no good else in it, yf;t at some 
 times thus licensed, is such an unripping, such an 
 anatomy of the shyest and tenderest particular 
 truths, as makes not only the whole nation in many 
 points the wiser, but also presents and carries 
 home to princes, men most remote from vulgar 
 concourse, such a full insight of every lurkini>: 
 evil, or restrained good among the commons, as 
 that they shall not need hereafter, in old cloaks 
 and false beards, to stand to the courtesy of a 
 
 night-walking cudgeller for eaves-dropping 
 
 Who could be angry, therefore, but those that are 
 guilty, with these free-spoken and plain-hearted 
 men, that are the eyes of their country, and the 
 prospective glasses of their prince ? . . . . 
 
 But he that shall bind himself to make antiqui- 
 ty his rule, if he read but part, besides the diffi- 
 culty of choice, his rule is deficient, and utterly 
 unsatisfying ; for there may be other writers of
 
 68 FROM ANIMADVERSIONS UPON THE 
 
 another mind which he hath not seen ; and if he 
 undertake all, the length of man's life cannot ex- 
 tend to give him a full and requisite knowledge 
 of what was done in antiquity. Why do we 
 therefore stand worshipping and admiring this un- 
 active and lifeless Colossus, that, like a carved 
 giant terribly menacing to children and weaklings, 
 lifts up his club, but strikes not, and is subject to 
 the muting of every sparrow? If you let him 
 rest upon his basis, he may perhaps delight the 
 eyes of some with his huge and mountainous 
 bulk, and the quaint workmanship of his massy 
 limbs ; but if ye go about to take him in pieces, 
 ye mar him ; and if you think, like pigmies, tc 
 turn and wind him whole as he is, besides your 
 vain toil and sweat, he may chance to fall upon 
 
 your own heads 
 
 We shall adhere close to the Scriptures of God, 
 which he hath left us as the just and adequate 
 measure of truth, fitted and proportioned to the 
 diligent study, memory, and use of every faithful 
 man, whose every part consenting, and making up 
 the harmonious symmetry of complete instruction, 
 is able to set out to us a perfect man of God, or 
 bishop thoroughly furnished to all the good works 
 of his charge : and with this weapon, Avithout 
 stepping a foot farther, we shall not doubt to bat- 
 ter and throw down your Nebuchadnezzar's im- 
 age, and crumble it like the chaff of the summer 
 threshing-floors, as well the gold of those apostohc
 
 DEFENCE AGAINST SMECTYMN UVS. (J9 
 
 Buccessors that jou boast of, as your Constantiiiiaii 
 silver, togetlier with the iron, the brass, and the clay 
 
 of those muddy and strawy ages that follow 
 
 "They cannot name any man in this nation, 
 that ever contradicted episcopacy, till this pres- 
 ent age." What an overworn and bedridden ar- 
 gunient is this! the last refuge ever of old false- 
 hood, and therefore a good sign, I trust, that your 
 castle cannot hold out long. This was the plea of 
 Judaism and idolatry against Christ and his Apos- 
 tles, of Papacy against Reformation ; and perhaps 
 to the frailty of flesh and blood in a man destitute 
 of better enlightening may for some while be par- 
 donable : for what has fleshly apprehension other 
 to subsist by than succession, custom, and visibil- 
 ity ; wJiich only hold, if in his weakness and 
 blindness he be loath to lose, who can blame ? 
 But in a Protestant nation, that should have 
 thrown off these tattered rudiments long ago, 
 after the many strivings of God's Spirit, and our 
 fourscore years' vexation of him in this our wilder- 
 ness since Reformation began to urge these rot- 
 ten principles, and twit us with the present age, 
 which is to us an age of ages wherein God is man- 
 ifestly come down amcmg us to do some remarka- 
 ble good to our church or state, is as if a man 
 should tax the reno^'ating and reingendering Spirit 
 of God with innovation, and that new creature 
 for an upstart novelty ; yea, the New Jerusalem, 
 which, without your admired link of succession,
 
 70 FIIOM ANIMADVERSIONS UPON TUE 
 
 descends tVoin heaven, could not escape some sucli 
 like censure. If you require a further answer, it 
 will not misbecome a Christian to be either more 
 magnanimous or more devout than Scipio was, 
 whu, instead of other answer to the frivolous 
 accusations of Fetilius the Tribune, '^ This day, 
 Romans," saith he, " I fought with Hannibal 
 prosperously; let us all go and thank the gods 
 that gave us so great a victory " ; in like manner 
 ^vill we now say, not caring otherwise to answet 
 this unprotestanthke objection : In this age, Brit- 
 ons, God hath reformed his Church after many 
 hundred j^ears of Popish corruption; in this age 
 he hath freed us from the intolerable yoke of pre- 
 hites and papal discipline ; in this age he hath 
 renewed our protestation against all those yet re- 
 maining dregs of superstition. Let us all go, 
 e\cry true protested Briton, throughout the three 
 kingdoms, and render thanks to God the Father 
 of light, and Fountain of heavenly grace, and to 
 His Son Christ our Lord, leaving this remonstrant 
 uiid his adherents to their own designs; and let 
 us recount, even here without delay, the patience 
 and long-suffering that God hath used towards our 
 blindness and hardness time after time. For he 
 being equally near to his whole creation of man- 
 kind, and of free power to turn his beneficent and 
 fatherly regard to what region or kingdom he 
 pleases, hath yet ever had this island under th« 
 special indulgent eye of his piovidence, and pity
 
 I)j:fexce against SMECTYMXUUS. 71 
 
 ing us the first of all other nations, after he had 
 decreed to purify and renew his Church that lay 
 wallowing in idolatrous pollutions, sent first to 
 \is a healing messenger to touch softly our sores, 
 and carry a gentle hand over our wounds : he 
 knocked once and twice, and came again opening 
 our drowsy eyelids leisurely by that glimmering 
 light which Wickliif and his followers dispersed ; 
 and still taking off by degrees the inveterate 
 scales from our nigh perished sight, purged also 
 our deaf ears, and prepared them to attend his 
 second warning trumpet in our grandsire's days. 
 How else could they have been able to have re- 
 ceived the sudden assault of his reforming Spirit, 
 warring against human principles, and carnal 
 sense, the pride of flesh, that still ciied up an- 
 tiquity, custom, canons, councils, and laws ; and 
 cried down the truth for novelty, schism, profane- 
 ness, and sacrilege ? whenas we that have lived 
 so long in abundant light, besides the sunny re- 
 flection of all the neighboring churches, have yet 
 our lieavts riveted with those old opinions, and so 
 obstructed and benumbed with the same fleshy 
 reasonings, which in our forefathers soon melted 
 luid gave way, against the morning beam of Ref- 
 ormation. If God had left undone this whole 
 work, so contrary to flesh and blood, till these 
 times, how should we have yielded to his heavenly 
 call, had we been taken, as they were, in the 
 starkness of our ignorance ; that yet, after all
 
 72 FROM ANIMADVERSIONS UPON THE 
 
 these spiritual preparatives and purgations, have 
 our earthly apprehensions so clammed and furred 
 with the old leaven ? O if we fi'eeze at noon after 
 their early thaw, let us fear lest the sun forever 
 hide himself, and turn his orient steps fi'om our 
 ingrateful horizon, justly condemiied to be eter- 
 nally benighted. Which dreadful judgment, O 
 Thou the ever-begotten Light and perfect Image 
 of the Father ! intercede, may never come upon 
 us, as w^e trust thou hast ; for thou hast opened 
 our difficult and sad times, and given us an unex- 
 pected breathing after our long oppi-essions : thou 
 hast done justice upon those that tyrannized over 
 us, while some men wavered and admired a vain 
 shadow of wisdom in a tongue nothing slow to ut- 
 ter guile, though thou hast taught us to admire 
 only that which is good, and to count that only 
 praiseworthy, which is grounded upon thy divine 
 precepts. Thou hast discovered the plots, and 
 frustrated the hopes, of all the wicked in the land, 
 and put to shame the persecutors of thy Church : 
 thou hast made our false prophets to be found a 
 He in the sight of all the people, and chased them 
 with sudden confusion and amazement before the 
 redoubled brightness of thy descending cloud, that 
 now covers thy tabernacle. Who is there that 
 cannot trace thee now in thy beamy walk through 
 the midst of thy sanctuary, amidst those golden 
 candlesticks, which have long suffered a dimness 
 amongst us through the violence of those that had
 
 DEFENCE AGAINST SMECTYMNUUS. 73 
 
 seized them, and were more taken with the men- 
 tion of their gold than of their starry light; teach- 
 ing the doctrine of Balaam, to cast a stumbling- 
 block before thy servants, commanding them to 
 eat things sacrificed to idols, and forcing them 
 to fornication ? Come therefore, O Thou that 
 hast the seven stars in thy right hand, appoint 
 thy chosen priests according to their orders and 
 courses of old, to minister before thee, and duly 
 to press and pour out the consecrated oil into thy 
 holy and ever-burning lamps. Thou hast sent 
 out the spirit of prayer upon thy servants over all 
 the land to this effect, and stirred up their vows 
 as the sound of many waters about thy throne. 
 Every one can say, that now certainly thou hast 
 visited this land, and hast not forgotten the utmost 
 corners of the earth, in a time when men had 
 thought that thou wast gone up from us to the 
 furthest end of the heavens, and hadst left to do 
 marvellously among the sons of these last ages. 
 O perfect and accomplish thy glorious acts ! for 
 men may leave their works unfinished, but thou 
 art a God, thy nature is perfection : shouldst 
 thou bring us thus far onw^ard fi*om Egypt to de- 
 stroy us in this wilderness, though we deserve, 
 yet thy great name would suffer in the rejoicing 
 of thine enemies and the deluded hope of all thy 
 servants. When thou hast settled peace in the 
 Church, and righteous judgment in the kingdom, 
 then shall all thy saints address their voices of joy 
 
 4
 
 74 FROM ANIMADVERSIONS UPON THE 
 
 and triumpli to thee, standing on the shore of 
 that Red Sea into which our enemies had almost 
 driven us. And he that now for haste snatclies 
 up a plain ungarnished present as a thank-offering 
 to thee, which could not be deferred in regard of 
 thy so many late dehverances wrought for us one 
 upon another, may then perhaps take up a harp 
 and sing thee an elaborate song to generations. 
 In that day it shall no more be said, as in scorn, 
 this or that was never held so till this present age, 
 when men have better learnt that the times and 
 seasons pass along under thy feet, to go and come 
 at thy bidding: and as thou didst dignify our 
 fathei's' days with many revelations above all the 
 foregoing ages, since thou tookest the flesh, so 
 thou canst vouchsafe to us (tliough unworthy) as 
 large a portion of thy Spirit as thou pleasest : for 
 who shall prejudice thy all-governing will ? seeing 
 the power of thy gi'ace is not passed away with 
 the primitive times, as fond and faithless men im- 
 agine, but thy kingdom is now at hand, and thou 
 standing at the door. Come forth out of thy royal 
 chambers, O Prince of all the kings of the earth ! 
 put on the visible robes of thy imperial majesty, 
 take up that unlimited sceptre which thy Almighty 
 Father hath bequeathed thee ; for now the voice 
 of thy bride calls thee, and all creatures sigh to be 
 
 renewed 
 
 As for ordination, what is it, but the laying on 
 of hands, an outward sign or symbol of admission?
 
 DEFENCE AGAINST SMECTYMNUUS. 76 
 
 It creates notliing, it confers nothing ; it is tii<3 
 inward calling of God that makes a minister, and 
 his own painful study and diligence that manures 
 
 and improves his ministerial gifts 
 
 We cannot therefore do better than to leave 
 this care of ours to God : he can easily send la- 
 borers into his harvest, that shall not cry, Give, 
 give, but be contented with a moderate and be- 
 seeming allowance ; nor will he suffer true learn- 
 ing to be wanting, where true grace and our 
 obedience to him abounds : for if he give us to 
 know him aright, and to practise this our knowl- 
 edge in right-established disciphne, how mucli 
 more will he replenish us with all abilities in 
 tongues and arts, that may conduce to his glory 
 and our good ! He can stir up rich fathers to be- 
 stow exquisite education upon their children, and 
 so dedicate them to the service of the Gospel ; he 
 can make the sons of nobles his ministers, and 
 princes to be his Nazarites ; for certainly there is 
 no employment more honorable, more worthy to 
 take up a great spirit, more requiring a generous 
 and free nurture, than to be the messenger and 
 herald of heavenly truth from God to man, and, 
 by the faithful work of holy doctrine, to procreate 
 a number of faithful men, making a kind of crea- 
 tion like to God's, by infiising his spirit and like-* 
 ness into them, to their salvation, as God did into 
 him ; arising to what climate soever he turn him, 
 like that Sun of Righteousness that sent him, with
 
 7C DEFENCE AGAINST SMECTYMNUUS. 
 
 healing in his wings, and new light to break in 
 upon the chill and gloomy hearts of his hearers, 
 raising out of darksome barrenness a delicious and 
 fragrant spring of saving knowledge, and good 
 'f^orks.
 
 FROM 
 
 AN APOLOGY FOR SMECTYMNUUS. 
 
 ftpS^^^'OR doubtless that indeed accoi'ding to 
 
 !||l»^W| ^^'^ ^^ most eloquent, which turns and 
 ftll Wp l approaches nearest to nature, from 
 :JP«I^==^ whence it came ; and they expi-ess na- 
 ture best, who in theii' lives least wander fi-om her 
 safe leading, which may be called regenerate rea- 
 son. So that how he should be truly eloquent 
 who is not withal a good man, I see not 
 
 For as in teaching, doubtless, the spirit of meek- 
 ness is most powerful, so are the meek only fit 
 persons tc be taught : as for the proud, the obsti- 
 nate, and false doctors of men's devices, be taught 
 they will not, but discovered and laid open they 
 must be. 
 
 For how can they admit of teaching, who have 
 the condemnation of God already upon them for 
 refusing divine instruction ? That is, to be filled 
 with their own devices, as in the Proverbs we 
 may read: therefore we may safely imitate the 
 method that God uses, " with the fro ward to be
 
 78 FROM AN APOLOGY 
 
 froward, and to throw scorn upon the scomer, 
 whom if anything, nothing else will heal 
 
 Those morning haunts are where they should 
 be, at home; not sleeping, or concocting the sur- 
 feits of an irregular feast, but up and stirring, in 
 winter often ere the sound of any bell awake men 
 to labor, or to devotion ; in summer as oft with 
 the bird that first rouses, or not much tardier, tcj 
 read good authors, or cause them to be read, till 
 the attention be wear}^, or memory have its full 
 fraught: then, with useful and generous labors 
 ])reserving the body's health and hardiness to ren- 
 der lightsome, clear, and not lumpish obedience to 
 the mind, to the cause of religion, and our coun- 
 try's liberty, when it shall require firm hearts in 
 sound bodies to stand and cover their stations. 
 I'ather than to see the ruin of oui' protestation, anci 
 the enforcement of a slavish life 
 
 But because as well by this upbraiding to me 
 tlie bordelloes, as by other suspicious glancings in 
 his book, he would seem privily to point me out to 
 his readers, as one whose custom of life were not 
 honest, but licentious, I shall entreat to be borne 
 with though I digress ; and in a way not ofteu 
 trod, acquaint ye with the sum of my thoughts in 
 this matter, through the course of my years and 
 studies : although 1 am not ignorant how hazard- 
 ous it will be to do this under the nose of the 
 envious, as it were in skirmisli to change the com- 
 pact order, and instead of outward actions, to 
 bring inmost thoughts into liont
 
 FOR SMECryMNUUS. 79 
 
 I had my time, readers, as others have, who 
 luive good learning bestowed upon them, to be 
 sent to those places where tlie opinion was, it 
 might be soonest attained ; and as the manner is, 
 was not unstudied in those authors which are most 
 commended. Wll^reof some were gi-ave orators 
 and historians, whose matter methought I loved 
 indeed, but as my age then was, so I understood 
 them; others were the smooth elegiac poets, 
 whereof the schools ai'e not scarce, whom both 
 for the pleasing sound of their numerous writing, 
 which in imitation I found most easy, and most 
 agreeable to nature's part in me, and for their 
 matter, which what it is, there be few who know 
 not, I was so allured to read, that no recreation 
 came to me better welcome. For that it was then 
 tliose years with me which are excused, though 
 they be least severe, I may be saved the labor to 
 remember ye. Whence having observed them to 
 account it the chief glory of their wit, in that 
 they we]'e ablest to judge, to praise, and by that 
 could esteem themselves worthiest to love those 
 liigh perfections, wliich under one or other name 
 tliey took to celebrate ; I thought with myself by 
 every instinct and presage of nature, which is not 
 wont to be false, that what emboldened them to 
 this task, might with such diligence as they used 
 embolden me ; and that what judgment, wit, or 
 elegance was my share, Avould herein best appeal', 
 and best value itself, by how muc-h more wisely,
 
 80 FROM AN APOLOGY 
 
 and with more love of virtue I should choose 
 (let rude ears be absent) the object of not unlike 
 praises. . , . By the firm settling of these persua 
 sions, I became, to my best memory, so much a 
 proficient, that if I found those authors anywhere 
 speaking unworthy things of themselves, or un- 
 chaste of those names which before they had ex- 
 tolled; this effect it wrought with me, from that 
 time forward their art I still applauded, but the 
 men I deplored ; and above them all, preferred the 
 two famous renowners of Beatrice and Laura, 
 who never write but honor of them to whom they 
 devote their verse, displaying sublime and pure 
 thoughts, without transgression. And long it was 
 not after, when I was confirmed in tliis opinion, 
 that he who would not be fi'ustrate of his hope to 
 write well hereafter in laudable things, ought him- 
 self to be a true poem ; that is, a composition and 
 pattern of the best and honorablest things ; not 
 presuming to sing high praises of heroic men, or 
 famous cities, unless he have in himself the expe- 
 rience and the practice of all that which is praise- 
 woithy. These reasonings, together with a cer- 
 tain niceness of nature, an honest haughtiness and 
 self-esteem, either of what I was or what I might 
 be (which let envy call pride), and lastly that mod- 
 esty, whereof, though not in the title-page, yet 
 here I may be excused to make some beseeming 
 profession ; all these uniting the supply of their 
 natural aid together, kept me still above those low
 
 FOR SMECTYMNUUS. 8 
 
 descents of mind, beneath which he must deject 
 and plunge himself, that can agree to salable and 
 unlawful prostitutions. 
 
 Next (for hear me out now, readers), that 1 
 may tell ye whither my younger feet wandered ; 
 I betook me among those lofty fables and roman- 
 ces which recount in solemn cantos the deeds of 
 knighthood founded by our victorious kings, and 
 from hence had in renown over all Christendom. 
 There I read it in the oath of every knight, that 
 he should defend, to the expense of his best blood, 
 or of his life, if it so befell him, the honor and 
 chastity of virgin or matron ; from whence even 
 then I learned what a noble virtue chastity sui-e 
 must be, to the defence of which so many wor- 
 thies, by such a dear adventm-e of themselves, 
 had sworn. And if I found in the story after- 
 ward, any of them, by word or deed, breaking 
 that oath, I judged it the same fault of the poet, 
 as that which is attributed to Homer, to have 
 written indecent things of the gods. Only this 
 my mind gave me, that every free and gentle 
 spirit, -without that oath, ought to be born a 
 knight, nor needed to expect a gilt spur, or the 
 laying of a sword upon his shoulder to stir him up 
 both by his counsel and his arms, to secure and 
 protect the weakness of any attempted chastity. 
 So that even these books, which to many others 
 have been the fnel of wantonness and loose living, 
 I cannot think how, unless by divine indulgence, 
 
 4« I
 
 82 FROM AN APOLOGY 
 
 proved to me so many incitements, as you have 
 heard, to the love and steadfast observation of 
 that virtue which abhors the society of bordelloes. 
 
 Thus, from the laureat fraternity of poets, riper 
 years and the ceaseless round of study and read- 
 ing led me to the shady spaces of philosophy ; but 
 chiefly to the divine volumes of Plato, and his 
 equal Xenophon : where, if I should tell ye what 
 I learnt of chastity and love, — I mean that which 
 is truly so, — whose charming cup is only virtue, 
 which she bears in her hand to those Avho are 
 worthy (the rest are cheated with a thick intoxi- 
 tating potion, which a certain sorceress, the abuser 
 of love's name, carries about) ; and how the first 
 and chiefest office of love begins and ends in the 
 soul, producing those happy twins of her divine 
 generation, knowledge and virtue. With such ab- 
 stracted sublimities as these, it might be worth 
 your listening, readers, as I may one day hope to 
 have ye in a still time, when there shall be no 
 chiding 
 
 Last of all, not in time, but as perfection is last, 
 that care was ever had of me, with my earliest 
 capacity, not to be negligently trained in the pre- 
 cepts of the Christian religion : this that I have 
 hitherto related, hath been to show, that though 
 Christianity had been but slightly taught me, yet 
 a certain reservedness of natural disposition, and 
 moral discipline, learnt out of the noblest philoso- 
 phy, was enough to keep me in disdain of far less
 
 FOR SMECTYMNUUS. 83 
 
 incontinences than this of the bordello. But hav- 
 ing had the doctrine of Holy Scripture unfolding 
 those chaste and hio-h mysteries, with timeliest 
 care infused, that " the body is for the Lord, and 
 the Lord for the body " ; thus also I argued to 
 myself, that if unchastity in a woman, whom St. 
 Paul terms the glory of man, be such a scandal 
 and dishonor, then certainly in a man, who is both 
 the image and glory of God, it must, though com- 
 monly not so thought, be much more deflouring 
 and dishonorable ; in that he sins both against his 
 own body, which is the perfecter sex, and his own 
 glory, which is in the woman ; and, that which is 
 worst, against the image and glory of God, which 
 is in himself. Nor did I slumber over that place 
 expressing such high rewards of ever accompany- 
 mo; the Lamb, with those celestial sono-s to others 
 inapprehensible, but not to those who were not de- 
 tiled with women, which doubtless means fornica- 
 tion ; for marriage must not be called a defile- 
 ment. 
 
 Thus large I have purposely been, that if I 
 have been justly taxed with this crime, it may 
 come upon me, after all this my confession, with a 
 tenfold shame : but if I have hitherto deserved no 
 such opprobrious wcrd, or suspicion, I may hereby 
 engage myself now openly to the faithful observa- 
 tion of what I have professed 
 
 If therefore the question were in oratory, 
 whether a vehement vein throwing out indigna-
 
 84 FROM AN APOLOGY 
 
 tion or scorn upon an object that merits it, were 
 among the aptest ideas of speech to be allowed, 
 it were my work, and that an easy one, to make 
 it clear both by the rules of best rhetoricians, and 
 the famousest examples of the Greek and Roman 
 orations. But since the religion of it is disputed, 
 and not the art, I shall make use only of such 
 reasons and authorities as religion cannot except 
 against. It will be harder to gainsay, than for me 
 to evince, that mi the teaching of men diversely 
 tempered, different ways are to be tried. The 
 Baptist, we know% was a strict man, remarkable 
 for austerity and set order of life. Our Saviour, 
 who had all gifts in him, was Lord to express 
 bis indoctrinating power in what sort him best 
 seemed ; sometimes by a mild and familiar con- 
 verse ; sometimes with plain and impartial home- 
 speaking, regardless of those whom the auditom 
 might think he should have had in more respect 
 otherwhile, with bitter and ireful rebukes, if nol 
 teachmg, yet leaving excuseless those his wilful 
 impugners. 
 
 What was all in him, was divided among many 
 others, the teachers of his church ; some to be se- 
 vere and ever of a sad gravity, that they may win 
 such, and check sometimes those who be of nature 
 over-confident and jocund : others were sent more 
 cheerful, free, and still as it were at large, in the 
 midst of an untrespassing honesty ; that they who 
 are so tempered, may have by whom they might
 
 FOR SMECTYMNUUS. 85 
 
 be drawn to salvation, and tliey who are too 
 scrupulous, and dejected of spirit, might be often 
 strencrthened with wise consolations and reviv- 
 ings : no man being forced wholly to dissolve that 
 groundwork of nature which God created in him, 
 the sanguine to empty out all his sociable liveli 
 ness, the choleric to expel quite the unsinning 
 predominance of his anger ; but that each iTidical 
 humor and passion, wrought upon and corrected 
 as it ought, might be made the proper mould and 
 foundation of every man's peculiar gifts and vir- 
 tues. Some also were indued with a staid mod- 
 eration and soundness of argument, to teach and 
 convince the rational and sober-minded ; yet not 
 therefore that to be thought the only expedient 
 course of teaching, for in times of opposition, 
 when either against Tiew heresies arising, or old 
 corruptions to be reformed, this cool un passionate 
 mildness of positive wisdom is not enough to damp 
 and astonish the proud resistance of carnal and 
 false doctors, then (that I may have leave to soar 
 awhile as the poets use) Zeal, whose substance is 
 ethereal, arming in complete diamond, ascends his 
 fiery chariot, drawn with two blazing meteors, 
 figured like beasts, but of a higher breed than any 
 the zodiac yields, resembling two of those four 
 which Ezekiel and St. John saw ; the one visaged 
 like a lion, to express power, high authority, and 
 indignation ; the other of countenance like a man, 
 to cast derision end scorn upon perverse and
 
 86 FROM AN APOLOGY 
 
 fraudulent seducers : with these the in^ incibl* 
 warrior, Zeal, shaking loosely the slack reins, 
 drives over the heads of scarlet prelates, and such 
 as are insolent to maintain traditions, bruising 
 their stiff necks under his flaming wheels. 
 
 Thus did the true prophets of old combat with 
 the false: thus Christ himself, the fountain of 
 meekness, found acrimony enough to be still gall- 
 ing and vexing the prelatical pharisees. But ye 
 will say, these had immediate warrant from God 
 to be thus bitter ; and I say, so much the plainer 
 is it proved that there may be a sanctified bitter- 
 ness against the enemies of truth. Yet that ye 
 may not think inspiration only the warrant there- 
 of, but that it is as any other virtue of moral and 
 general observation, the example of Luther may 
 stand for all, whom God made choice of before 
 others to be of highest eminence and power in 
 reforming the Church; who, not of revelation, but 
 of judgment, writ so vehemently against the chief 
 defenders of old untruths in the Romish church, 
 that his own friends and favorers were many times 
 offended with the fierceness of his spirit ; yet he 
 being cited before Charles the Fifth to answer for 
 his books, and having divided them into three 
 sorts, whereof one was of those which he had 
 sharply written, refused, though upon deliberation 
 giv€'.n him, to retract or unsay any word therein. 
 .... Yea, he defends his eagerness, as being 
 " of an ardent spirit, and one who could not write
 
 FOR SMECTYMNUUS. 87 
 
 a dull style : and affirmed " he thought it God's 
 will to have the invention of men thus laid open, 
 seeing that matters quietly handled were quickly 
 
 forgot." 
 
 Now that the confutant may also know as he 
 desires, what force of teaching there is sometimes 
 in laughter, I shall return him in short, that 
 laughter, being one way of answering " a fool ac- 
 cording to his folly," teaches two sorts of persons : 
 ^rst, the fool himself, " not to be wise in his own 
 conceit,'* as Solomon affirms ; which is certainly a 
 i^reat document to make an unwise man know 
 iiimself. Next, it teacheth the hearers, inasmuch 
 as scorn is one of those punishments which belong 
 :o men carnally wise, which is oft in Scripture de- 
 clared ; for when such are punished, " the simple 
 are thereby made wise," if Solomon's rule be true. 
 And I would ask, to what end Eliah mocked the 
 false prophets ? was it to show his wit, or to fulfil 
 his humor? Doubtless we cannot imagine that 
 great servant of God had any other end, in all 
 which he there did, but to teach and instruct the 
 poor misled people. And we may frequently 
 read, that many of the martyrs in the midst of 
 their troubles were not sparing to deride and scoff 
 their superstitious persecutors. Now may the 
 confutant advise again with Su* Francis Bacon, 
 whether Eliah and the martyrs did well to turn 
 religion into a comedy or satire ; " to rip up the 
 wounds of idolatry and superstition with a laugh-
 
 88 FROM AN APOLOGY 
 
 ing countenance " : so that for pious gravity the 
 author here is matched and overmatched, and for 
 wit and morality in one that follows : 
 
 " Laughing to teach the truth 
 What hinders ? as some teachers give to boys 
 Junkets and knacks, that they may learn apace." 
 
 Thus Flaccus in his first satire, and his tenth; 
 
 " Jesting decides great things 
 Stronglier and better oft than earnest can." 
 
 I could urge the same out of Cicero and Sen- 
 eca, but he may content him with this. And 
 henceforward, if he can learn, may know as well 
 what ai"e the bounds and objects of laughter and 
 vehement reproof, as he hath known hitherto how 
 to deserve them both 
 
 Now although it be a digression from the ensu- 
 ing matter, yet because it shall not be said I am 
 apter to blame others than to make trial myself, 
 and that I may, after this harsh discord, touch 
 upon a smoother string, awhile to entertain my- 
 self and him that list with some more pleasing 
 fit, and not the least to testify the gratitude which 
 I owe to those public benefactors of their country, 
 for the share I enjoy in the common peace and 
 good by their incessant labors ; I shall be so 
 troublesome to this disclaimer for once, as to 
 show him what he might have better said in their 
 praise ; wherein I must mention only some few 
 things of many, for more than that to a digres-
 
 lOR SMECTYMNUUS. 89 
 
 sion may not be granted. Although certainly 
 their actions are worthy not thus to be spoken of 
 by the way, yet if hereafter it befall me to attempt 
 something more answerable to their great merits, 
 I perceive how hopeless it will be to reach the 
 height of their praises at the accomplishment of 
 that expectation that waits upon their noble deeds, 
 the unfinishing whereof already surpasses what 
 others before them have left enacted with their 
 utmost performance through many ages. And to 
 tlie end we may be confident that what they do 
 proceeds neither from uncertain opinion nor sud- 
 den counsels, but from mature wisdom, deliberate 
 virtue, and dear affection to the public good, I 
 shall begin at that which made them likeliest in 
 the eyes of good men to effect those things for the 
 recovery of decayed religion and the common- 
 wealth, which they who were best minded had 
 long wished for, but few, as the times then were 
 desperate, had the courage to hope for. 
 
 First, therefore, the most of them being either 
 of ancient and high nobility, or at least of known 
 and well-reputed ancestry, which is a great ad- 
 vantage towards virtue one way, but in respect of 
 wealth, ease, and flattery, which accompany a nice 
 and tender education, is as much a hinderance an- 
 other way : the good which lay before them they 
 took, in imitating the worthiest of their progeni- 
 tors: and the evil which assaulted their younger 
 years by the temptation of riches, high birth, and
 
 90 FROM AN APOLOGY 
 
 tliat usual bringing up, perhaps too favorable and 
 too remiss, through tlie • strength of an inbred 
 goodness, and with the help of divine grace, that 
 had marked them out for no mean purposes, they 
 nobly overcame. Yet had they a greater danger 
 to cope with ; for being trained up in the knowl- 
 edge of learning, and sent to those places which 
 Avere intended to be the seed-plots of piety and 
 the liberal arts, but were become the nurseries of 
 superstition and empty speculation, as they were 
 pros]-)erous against those vices which grow upon 
 youtli out of idleness and superfluity, so were they 
 happy in working off the harms of their abused 
 studies and labors ; correcting by the clearness of 
 their own judgment the errors of their misinstruc- 
 tion, and were, as David was, wiser than their 
 teachers. And althouo;h their lot fell into such 
 times, and to be bred in such places, where, if 
 they chanced to be taught anything good, or of 
 their own accord had learnt it, they might see that 
 presently untaught them by the custom and ill- 
 example of their elders ; so far in all probability 
 was their youth from being misled by the single 
 poAver of example, as their riper years were 
 known to be unmoved with the baits of prefer- 
 ment, and undaunted for any discouragement 
 and terror which aj)j)eared often to those that 
 loved religion and their native liberty ; which 
 two things God hath inseparably knit together, 
 and hath disclosed to us, that thov wlio seek to
 
 FOR SMECTYMNUUS. 91 
 
 rornipt our religion are the same that would en- 
 ( tirall our civil liberty. 
 
 Thus in the midst of all disadvantages and dis- 
 respects, (some also at last not without imprison- 
 ment and open disgraces in the cause of their 
 country,) having given proof of themselves to be 
 better made and framed by nature to the love and 
 practice of virtue, than others under the holiest 
 precepts and best examples have been headstrong 
 and prone to vice ; and having, in all the trials of 
 a firm ingrafted honesty, not oftener buckled in 
 the conflict than given every opposition the foil 
 this moreover was added by favor from Heaven, 
 as an ornament and happiness to their virtue, that 
 it should be neither obscure in the opinion of 
 men, nor eclipsed for want of matter equal to il- 
 lustrate itself; God and man consenting in joint 
 approbation to choose them out as worthiest above 
 others to be both the great reformers of the 
 Church, and the restorers of the commonwealth. 
 Nor did they deceive that expectation which with 
 the eyes and desires of their country was fixed 
 upon them : for no sooner did the force of so much 
 united excellence meet in one globe of brightness 
 and efficacy, but encountering the dazzled resist- 
 ance of tyranny, they gave not over, though their 
 enemies were strong and subtle, till they had laid 
 her grovelling upon the fatal block ; with one 
 stroke winning again our lost liberties and char- 
 ters, which our forefathers, after so many battles 
 could scarce maintain.
 
 92 FROM AN APOLOGY 
 
 And mi3eting next, as I may so resemble, with 
 the second life of tyranny, (for she was grown an 
 ambiguous monster, and to be slain in two shapes,) 
 guarded with superstition, which hath no small 
 power to captivate the minds of men otherwise 
 most wise, they neither were taken with her mi- 
 tred hypocrisy, nor terrified with the push of her 
 bestial horns, but breaking them, immediately 
 forced her to unbend the pontifical brow, and 
 recoil ; which repulse only given to the prelates 
 (that we may imagine how happy their removal 
 would be) was the producement of such glorious 
 effects and consequences in the church, that if I 
 should compare them with those exploits of high- 
 est fame in poems and panegyrics of old, I am 
 certain it would but diminish and impair their 
 worth, who are now my argument ; for those an- 
 cient worthies deUvered men from such tyrants as 
 were content to enforce only an outward obedi- 
 ence, letting the mind be as free as it could ; but 
 these have freed us from a doctrine of tyranny, 
 that offered violence and corruption even to the 
 inward persuasion. They set at liberty nations 
 and cities of men good and bad mixed together ; 
 but these, opening the prisons and dungeons, 
 called out of darkness and bonds the elect martyrs 
 and witnesses of their Redeemer. They restored 
 the body to ease and wealth : but these, the op- 
 pressed conscience to that freedom which is the 
 chief prerogative of the Gospel ; taking off those
 
 FOR SMECTYMNUUS. 93 
 
 cruel burdens, imposed not by necessity, as other 
 tyrants are wont, for the safeguard of their lives, 
 but laid upon our necks by the strange -snlfulness 
 imd wantonness of a needless and jolly persecutor, 
 called Indifference. Lastly, some of those ancient 
 deliverers have had immortal praises for preserv- 
 ino; their citizens from a famine of corn. But 
 these, by this only repulse of an unholy hierar- 
 chy, almost in a moment, replenished with saving 
 knowledge their country, nigh famished for want 
 of that which should feed their souls. All this 
 being done while two armies in the field stood 
 gazing on ; the one in reverence of such nobleness 
 quietly gave back and dislodged ; the other, spite 
 of the unruliness and doubted fidelity in some 
 regiments, was either persuaded or compelled to 
 disband and retire home. 
 
 With such a majesty had their wisdom begirt 
 itself, that whereas others had levied war to sub- 
 due a nation that sought for peace, they, sitting 
 here in peace, could so many miles extend the 
 force of their single words as to overawe the dis- 
 solute stoutness of an armed power, secretly stirred 
 up and almost hired against them. And having 
 by a solemn protestation vowed themselves and 
 the kingdom anew to God and his service, and 
 by a prudent foresight above what their fathers 
 thouglit on, prevented the dissolution and frustra- 
 ting of their designs by an untimely breaking up ; 
 notv^^thstanding all the treasonous plots against
 
 94 FROM AN APOLOGY 
 
 them, all t.ie rumors either of rebellion or inva- 
 sion, thej have not been yet brought to change 
 their constant resolution, ever to think fearlessly 
 of their own safeties, and hopefully of the com- 
 monwealth : which hath gained them such an ad- 
 miration from all good men that now they hear it 
 as their ordinary surname, to be saluted the fathers 
 of their country, and sit as gods among daily pe- 
 titions and public thanks flowing in upon them. 
 Which doth so little yet exalt them in their own 
 thoughts, that, with all gentle affability and cour- 
 teous acceptance, they both receive and return that 
 tribute of thanks which is tendered them ; testify- 
 ing their zeal and desire to spend themselves as it 
 were piecemeal upon the grievances and wrongs 
 Kf their distressed nation ; insomuch that the 
 meanest artisans and laborers, at other times also 
 women, and often the younger sort of servants 
 assembling with their complaints, and that some- 
 times in a less humble guise than for petitioners, 
 have gone with confidence, that neither their 
 meanness would be rejected, nor their simplicity 
 contemned ; nor yet their urgency distasted either 
 by the dignity, wisdom, or moderation of that su- 
 preme senate ; nor did they depart unsatisfied. 
 
 And, indeed, if we consider the general concourse 
 of suppliants, the free and ready admittance, the 
 willing and speedy redress in what is possible, it 
 will not seem much otherwise, than as if some di- 
 vine commission from heaven were descended to
 
 FOR SMECTYMNUUS. 95 
 
 take intc hearing and commiseration the long and 
 remediless afflictions of this kingdom, were it not 
 that none more than themselves labor to remove 
 and divert such thoughts, lest men should place 
 too much confidence in their persons, still refer- 
 ring us and our prayers to Him that can grailt all, 
 and appointing the monthly return of public fasts 
 and supplications. Therefore the more they seek 
 to humble themselves, the more does God, by 
 manifest signs and testimonies, visibly honor their 
 proceedings; and sets them as the mediators oi" 
 this his covenant, which he offers us to renew. 
 Wicked men daily conspire their hurt, and it 
 comes to notliing ; rebellion rages in our Irisli 
 province, but with miraculous and lossless victo- 
 ries of few against many, is daily discomfited and 
 broken ; if we neglect not this early pledge of 
 God's inclining towards us, by the slackness of 
 our needful aids. And whereas at other times 
 we count it ample honor when God vouchsafes to 
 make man the instrument and subordinate worker 
 of His gracious will, such acceptation have their 
 prayers found with him, that to them he hath 
 been pleased to make himself the agent and im 
 mediate performer of their desires ; dissolving 
 their difficulties when they are thought inexplica- 
 ble, cutting out ways for them where no passage 
 could be seen ; as who is there so regardless of 
 divine Providence, that from late occurrences will 
 not confess ? If, therefore, it be so high a grace
 
 9G FROM AN APOLOGY 
 
 when men are preferred to be but the inferior offt 
 OBrs of good things from God, what iu it when 
 God himself condescends, and works with his 
 own hands to fulfil the requests of men ? Which 
 I leave with them as the greatest praise that can 
 belong to human nature : not that we should think 
 they are at the end of their glorious progress, but 
 that they will go on to follow his Almighty lead- 
 ing, who seems to have thus covenanted with 
 them ; that if the will and the endeavor shall be 
 theirs, the performance and the perfecting shall be 
 his. Whence only it is that I have not feared, 
 though many wise men have miscarried in prais- 
 ing great designs before the utmost event, because 
 I see who is their assistant, who is their confed- 
 erate, who hath engaged his omnipotent arm to 
 support and crown with success their faith, their 
 fortitude, their just and magnanimous actions, till 
 he have brought to pass all that expected good 
 which, his servants trust, is in his thoughts to 
 bi'ing upon this land in the full and perfect refor- 
 mation of his Church 
 
 I shall not decline to speak my opinion in the 
 controversy next moved, " whether the people may 
 be allowed for competent judges of a minister'^ 
 ability." For how else can be fulfilled that which 
 God hath promised, to pour out such abundance of 
 knowledge upon all sorts of men in the times of 
 the Gospel ? How should the people examine the 
 doctrine which is taught them, as Christ and his
 
 FOR SMECTYxMNUUS. 97 
 
 apostles continually bid them do? How should 
 they " discern and beware of false prophets, and 
 try every spirit," if they must be thought unfit to 
 judge of the minister's abilities? The apostles 
 ever labored to persuade the Christian flock that 
 they " were called in Christ to all perfectness in 
 spiritual knowledge, and full assurance of under- 
 standing in the mystery of God." 
 
 We need not the authority of Pliny brought to 
 tell us, the people cannot judge of a minister : yet 
 that hurts not. For as none can judge of a paint- 
 er or statuary but he who is an artist, that is, 
 either in the practice or theory, which is often sep- 
 arated from the practice, and judges learnedly 
 without it ; so none can judge of a Christian teach- 
 er but he who hath either the practice or the 
 knowlediie of Christian relio;ion, though not so art- 
 fully digested in him. And who almost of the 
 meanest Christians hath not heard the Scriptures 
 often read from his childhood, besides so many ser- 
 mons and lectures, more in number than any stu- 
 dent hath heard in pliilosophy, whereby he may 
 easily attain to know when he is wisely taught, 
 and when weakly ? whereof, three ways I remem- 
 ber are set down in Scripture ; the one is to read 
 often that best of books written to this purpose, 
 that not the wise only, but the simple and igno- 
 rant, may learn by them ; the other way to know 
 of a minister is, by the life he leads, whereof the 
 
 & G
 
 98 FROM AN APOLOGY 
 
 meanest understanding may be apprehensive. 
 The last way to judge aright in this point is, when 
 he who judges, Hves a Christian life himself. 
 Which of these three will the confater affirm to 
 exceed the capacity of a plain artisan ? And what 
 reason then is thc*^ left, wherefore he should be 
 denied his voice in the election of his minister, as 
 not thought a competent discerner ? . . . . 
 
 For me, readers, although I cannot say that I 
 am utterly untrained in those rules which best 
 rhetoricians have given, or unacquainted with 
 those examples which the prime authoi's of elo- 
 quence have written in any learned tongue ; yet 
 true eloquence I find to be none, but the serious 
 and hearty love of truth : and that whose mind so- 
 ever is fully possessed with a fervent desire to 
 know good things, and with the dearest charity to 
 nfiise the knowledge of them into others, when 
 such a man would speak, his words, (by what I 
 can express,) like so many nimble and aiiy servi- 
 tors, trip about him at command, and in well-or- 
 dered files, as he would wish, fall aptly into their 
 own places 
 
 Therefore must the ministers of Christ not be 
 over rich or great in the world, because their call- 
 ing is spiritual, not secular ; because they have a 
 special warfare, which is not to be entangled with 
 many impediments ; because their master, Christ, 
 gave them this precept, and set them this ex- 
 ample, told them this was the mystery of his
 
 FOR SMECTYMNUUS. 
 
 99 
 
 coming, by mean things and persons to subdue 
 mighty ones ; and lastly, because a middle es- 
 tate is most proper to the ofBce of teaching, 
 whereas higher dignity teaches far less, and 
 blinds the tea3her.
 
 FROM THE 
 
 TRACTATE ON EDUCATION. 
 
 AM long since persuaded, Master Hart- 
 lib, that to say or do aught worth mem- 
 ory and imitation, no purpose or respect 
 shou'd sooner move us than simply the 
 
 love of God, and of mankind 
 
 The end then of learning is to repair the ruins 
 of our first parents by regaining to know God 
 aright, and out of that knowledge to love him, to 
 imitate him, to be like him, as we may the nearest 
 by possessing our souls of true virtue, which being 
 united to the heavenly grace of faith, makes up the 
 highest perfection. But because our understanding 
 cannot in this body found itself but on sensible 
 things, nor arrive so clearly to the knowledge of 
 God and things invisible, as by orderly conning over 
 the visible and inferior Creature, the same method is 
 necessarily to be followed in all discreet teaching. 
 And seeing every nation affords not experience and 
 tradition enough for all kinds of learning, therefore 
 we are chiefly taught the languages of those peo-
 
 FROM THE TRACTATE OA EDUCAJ J(jy. lUl 
 
 pie who have at any time been most hidustrious 
 after wisdom ; so that language is but the instni- 
 raent conveying to us things useful to be known. 
 And though a linguist should pride himself to have 
 all the tongues that Babel cleft the world into, yet 
 if he have not studied the solid things in them, as 
 well as the words and lexicons, he were nothing so 
 much to be esteemed a learned man, as any yeo- 
 man or tradesman competently wise in his mother 
 dialect only. 
 
 Hence appear the many mistakes which have 
 made learning generally so unpleasing and so un- 
 successful ; first, we do amiss to spend seven or 
 eight years merely in scraping together so much 
 miserable Latin and Greek, as might be learned 
 otherwise easily and delightfully in one year. And 
 that which casts our proficiency therein so much 
 behind, is our time lost partly in too oft idle vacan- 
 cies given both to schools and universities ; partly in 
 a preposterous exaction, forcing the empty wits of 
 children to compose themes, verses, and orations, 
 which are the acts of ripest judgment, and the fi- 
 nal work of a head filled by long reading and observ- 
 ing, with elegant maxims and copious invention. 
 These are not matters to be wrung from poor strip- 
 lings, like blood out of the nose, or the plucking of 
 untimely fruit. Besides the ill habit which they 
 get of wretched barbarizing against the Latin and 
 Greek idiom, with their untutored Anglicisms, 
 odious to be read, yet not to be avoided without a 
 
 ^MIVERr'TY CF CALiFCRlM
 
 102 FROM THE TRACTATE 
 
 well-continued and judicious conversing among 
 pure authors digested, "which they scarce taste. 
 Whereas, if after some preparatory grounds of 
 speech by their certain forms got into memory, 
 they were led to the praxis thereof in some chosen 
 short book, lessoned thoroughly to them, they might 
 then forthwith proceed to leani the substance of 
 good things, and arts in due order, which would 
 bring the whole language quickly into their power. 
 This I take to be the most rational and most profit- 
 able way of learning languages, and whereby we 
 may best hope to give account to God of our youth 
 spent herein. 
 
 And for the usual method of teaching arts, I 
 deem it to be an old error of universities, not yet 
 well recovered from the scholastic grossness of 
 barbarous ages, that instead of beginning with arts 
 most easy, (and those be such as are most obvious 
 to the sense,) they present their young unmatric- 
 ulated novices, at first coming, with the most in- 
 tellective abstractions of logic and metaphysics; so 
 tliat they having but newly left those grammatic 
 fiats and shallows, where they stuck unreasonably 
 to learn a few words with lamentable construction, 
 and now on the sudden transported under another 
 climate, to be tossed and turmoiled with tlieir un- 
 ballasted wits in fathomless and unquiet deeps of 
 controversy, do for the most part grow into hatred 
 and contempt of learning, mocked and deluded all 
 this while with ragged notions and babblements,
 
 UN EDUCATION. 103 
 
 while tliey expected worthy and delightful knowl- 
 edge ; till poverty or youthful years call them im- 
 portunately their several ways, and hasten them, 
 with the sway of friends, either to an ambitious 
 and mercenary, or ignorantly zealous divinity : 
 some allured to the ti'ade of law, grounding their 
 purposes not on the prudent and heavenly con- 
 templation of justice and equity, which was never 
 taught them, but on the promising and pleasing 
 thoughts of litigious terms, fat contentions, and 
 flowing fees ; others betake them to state affairs, 
 with souls so unprincipled in virtue and true gen- 
 erous breeding, that flattery and court-shifts and 
 tyrannous aphorisms appear to them the highest 
 points of wisdom ; instilling their barren hearts 
 with a conscientious slavery ; if, as I rather think, 
 it be not feigned. Others, lastly, of a more de- 
 licious and airy spirit, retire themselves (knowing 
 no better) to the enjoyments of ease and luxury, 
 living out their days in feast and jollity ; which in- 
 deed is the wisest and safest course of all these, 
 unless they were with more integrity imdertaken. 
 And these are the errors, and these are the fruits 
 of misspending our })rinie youth at the schools and 
 imiversities as we do, either in learning mere 
 words, or such things chiefly as were better un- 
 learned. 
 
 I shall detam you now no longer in the demon- 
 stration of what we should not do, but straiehf 
 conduct you to a hillside, where I will point you
 
 104 FRCM THE TRACTATE 
 
 out the right path of a virtuous and noble educa^ 
 tion ; laborious indeed at the first ascent, but else 
 so smooth, so green, so full of goodly prospect, 
 and melodious sounds on every side, that the harp 
 of Orpheus was not more charming. I doubt not 
 but ye shall have more ado to drive our dullest 
 and laziest youth, our stocks and stubs, from the 
 infinite desire of such a happy nurture, than we 
 have now to hale and drag our choicest and hope - 
 fullest wits to that asinine feast of sowthistles and 
 brambles, which is commonly set before them as 
 all the food and entertainment of their tenderest 
 and most docible age. 
 
 I call therefore a complete and generous edu- 
 cation, that which fits a man to perform justly, 
 skilfully, and magnanimously all the offices, both 
 private and public, of peace and war 
 
 But here the main skill and groundwork will 
 be, to temper them such lectures and explana- 
 tions, upon every opportunity, as may lead and 
 draw them in willing obedience, inflamed with the 
 study of learning and the admiration of virtue ; 
 stirred up with high hopes of living to be brave 
 men, and worthy patriots, dear to God, and fa- 
 mous to all ages. That they may despise and 
 scorn all their childish and ill-taught qualities, to 
 delight in manly and liberal exercises, which he 
 who hath the art and proper eloquence to catch 
 them with, what with mild and effectual persua- 
 sions, and what with the intimation of some fear,
 
 ON EDUCATION. 105 
 
 if need be, but chiefly by his owu example, 
 might in a short space gain them to an incredible 
 diligence and courage, infusing into their young 
 breasts such an ingenuous and noble ifrdor, as 
 would not fail to make many of them renowned 
 and matchless men 
 
 By this time, years and good general precepts 
 will have furnished them more distinctly with that 
 act of reason which in ethics is called Proairesis; 
 that they may with some judgment contemplate 
 upon moral good and evil. Then will be required 
 a special reinforcement of constant and sound in- 
 doctrinating, to set them right and firm, instruct- 
 ing them more amply in the knowledge of vu'tue 
 and the hatred of vice ; while their young and 
 pliant affections are led through all the moral 
 works of Plato, Xenophon, Cicero, Plutarch, La- 
 ertius, and those Locrian remnants ; but still to be 
 reduced in their nightward studies wherewith they 
 close the day's work, under the determinate sen- 
 tence of David or Solomon, or the Evangelists and 
 apostolic Scriptures 
 
 The interim of unsweating themselves regular- 
 ly, and convenient rest before meat, may, both 
 with profit and delight, be taken up in recreating 
 and composing their travailed spirits with the sol- 
 emn and divine harmonies of music, heard or 
 learned ; either whilst the skilful organist plies his 
 grave and fancied descant in lofly fugues, or the 
 whole symphony with artful and unimaginable 
 5*
 
 106 FROM THE TRACTATE ON EDUCATION. 
 
 touches adorn and grace the well-studied chorda 
 of some choice composer ; sometimes the lute or 
 soft organ-stop waiting on elegant voices, either to 
 religious, martial, or civil ditties; which, if wise 
 men and prophets be not extremely out, have a 
 great power over dispositions and manners, to 
 smooth and make them gentle from rustic harsh- 
 ness and distempered passions 
 
 Thus, Mr. Hartlib, you have a general view in 
 writing, as your desire was, of that which at sev- 
 eral times I have discoursed with you concerning 
 
 the best and noblest way of education Only 
 
 I believe that this is not a bow for every man to 
 shoot in, that counts himself a teacher ; but will 
 require sinews almost equal to those which Homer 
 gave Ulysses ; yet I am withal persuaded that it 
 may prove much more easy in tlie assay, than it 
 now seems at distance, and much more illustrious ; 
 howbeit, not more difficult than I imagine, and 
 that imagination presents me with nothing but what 
 is very happy, and very possible, according to best 
 wishes ; if God have so decreed, and this age have 
 spirit and capacity enough to apprehend.
 
 FROM 
 
 AREOPAGITI CA 
 
 HIS is not the liberty which we can 
 hope, that no grievance ever should 
 arise in the commonwealth : that let 
 y^ no man in this world expect ; but 
 when complaints are freely heard, deeply consid- 
 ered, and speedily reformed, then is the utmost 
 bound of civil liberty obtained that wise men look 
 
 for 
 
 I deny not, but that it is of greatest concern- 
 ment in the Church and commonwealth, to "have 
 a vigilant eye how books demean themselves, as 
 well as men ; and thereafter to confine, imprison, 
 and do sharpest justice on them as malefactors ; 
 for books are not absolutely dead things, but do 
 contain a progeny of life in them to be as active as 
 that soul was wliose progeny they are ; nay, they 
 do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and ex- 
 traction of that living intellect that bred them. I 
 know they are as lively, and as vigorously produc- 
 tive, as those fabulous dragon's teeth ; and bein*'
 
 108 FROM AREOPAGITICA 
 
 sown up and down, may chance to spring up armed 
 men. And yet, on the other hand, unless wariness 
 be used, as good almost kill a man as kill a good 
 book : who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, 
 God's image ; but he who destroys a good book, 
 Kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it 
 were, in the eye. Many a man lives a burden to 
 the earth ; but a good book is the pi-ecious life- 
 blood of a master-spirit, embalmed and treasured 
 up on purpose to a life beyond life. It is true, no 
 age can restore a life, whereof, perhaps, there is no 
 great loss ; and revolutions of ages do not oft re- 
 cover the loss of a rejected truth, for the want of 
 which whole nations fare the worse. We should 
 be wary, therefore, what persecution we raise 
 against the living labors of public men, how Ave 
 spill that seasoned life of man, preserved and 
 stored up in books ; since we see a kind of homi- 
 cide may be thus committed, sometimes a martyr- 
 dom ; and if it extend to the whole impression, a 
 kind of massacre, whereof the execution ends not in 
 the slaying of an elemental life, but strikes at the 
 ethereal and fifth essence, the breath of reason it- 
 self ; slays an immortality rather than a life 
 
 Martin the Fifth, by his bull, not only prohibit- 
 ed, but was the first that excommunicated the read- 
 ing of heretical books ; for about that time Wick- 
 liffe and Husse growing terrible, were tliey who 
 first drove the papal court to a stricter policy of 
 pro)iil)iting. Which course Leo the Tenth and his
 
 FROM AREOPAGITICA. 109 
 
 successors followed, until the Council of Trent 
 and the Spanish Inquisition, engendering together, 
 brought forth or perfected these catalogues and ex- 
 purging indexes, that rake through the entrails of 
 many an old good autlior, with a violation worse 
 than any could be offered to his tomb. 
 
 Nor did they stay in matters heretical, but any 
 subject that was not to their palate, they either 
 condemned in a prohibition, or had it straight into 
 the new purgatory of an index. To fill up the 
 measure of encroachment, tlieir last invention was 
 to ordain that no book, pamphlet, or paper should 
 be printed (as if St. Peter had bequeathed them 
 the keys of the press also as well as of Paradise) 
 unless it were approved and licensed under the 
 hands of two or three gluttonous friars 
 
 And thus ye have the inventors and the original 
 of book licensing ripped up and drawn as lineally 
 as any pedigree. We have it not, that can be 
 heard of, from any ancient state, or polity, or 
 church, nor by any statute left us by our ancestors 
 elder or later ; nor from the modern custom of any 
 reformed city or church abroad ; but from the most 
 anti-Christian council, and the most tyrannous in- 
 quisition that ever inquired. Till then books were 
 ever as freely admitted into the world as any other 
 birth ; the issue of the brain was no more stifled 
 than the issue of the womb : no envious Juno sat 
 cross-legged over the nativity of any man's intel- 
 lectual offspring : but if it proved a monster, who
 
 no FROM AREOPAGITICA. 
 
 denies but that it was justly burnt, or sunk into 
 the sea ? But that a book, in worse condition than 
 a peccant soul, should be to stand before a juiy ere 
 it be born to the world, and undergo yet in dark- 
 ness the judgment of Radamanth and his col- 
 leagues, ere it can pass the ferry backward into 
 light, was never heard before, till that mysterious 
 iniquity, provoked and troubled at the first en- 
 trance of reformation, sought out new limboes and 
 new hells wherein they might include our books 
 
 also within the number of their damned 
 
 Not to insist upon the examples of Moses, Dan- 
 iel, and Paul, who were skilfiil in all the learning 
 of the Egyptians, Chaldeans, and Greeks, which 
 could not probably be without reading their books 
 of all sorts, in Paul especially, who thought it no 
 defilement to insert into Holy Scripture the sen- 
 tences of three Greek poets, and one of them a 
 tragedian ; the question was notwithstanding some- 
 times controverted among the primitive doctors, 
 but with great odds on that side which affirmed 
 it both lawful and profitable, as was then evidently 
 perceived, when Julian the Apostate, and subtlest 
 enemy to our faith, made a decree forbidding 
 Christians the study of heathen learning: for, 
 said he, they wound us with our own weapons, and 
 with our own arts and sciences they overcome us. 
 And indeed the Christians were put so to their 
 shifts by this crafty means, and so much in danger 
 to decline into all ignorance, that the two Appolh-
 
 FROM AREOPAdlTK'A. HI 
 
 narii were tain, as a man may say, to ccnn all the 
 seven liberal sciences out of the Bible, reducing it 
 into divers forms of orations, poems, dialogues, 
 even to the calculating of a new Christian gram- 
 mar 
 
 " To the pure, all things are pure " ; not only 
 meats and drinks, but all kind of knowledge, 
 whether of good or evil : the knowledge cannot 
 defile, nor consequently the books, if the will and 
 conscience be not defiled. For books are as meats 
 and viands are ; some of good, some of evil sub- 
 stance ; and yet God in that unapocryphal vision 
 said without exception, " Rise, Peter, kill and 
 cat"; leaving the choice to each man's discretion. 
 Wholesome meats to a vitiated stomach differ little 
 or nothing from unwholesome ; and best books to a 
 naughty mind are not unapplicable to occasions of 
 evil. Bad meats will scarce breed good nourish- 
 ment in the healthiest concoction ; but herein the 
 difference is of bad books, that they to a discreet 
 and judicious reader serve in many respects to dis- 
 cover, to confute, to forewarn, and to illustrate 
 
 Good and evil we know in the field of this 
 world gi'ow up together almost inseparably ; and 
 the knowledge of good is so involved and inter- 
 woven with the knowledge of evil, and in so many 
 cunning resemblances hardly to be discerned, that 
 those confused seeds which were imposed upon 
 Psyche as an incessant labor to cull out, and sort 
 asunder, were not more intermixed. It was fi-oro
 
 112 FROM AREOPAGITICA. 
 
 out tlie rind of one apple tasted, that the knowh 
 edge of good and evil, as two twins cleaving 
 together, leaped forth into the world. And per- 
 haps this is that doom which Adam fell into of 
 knowing good and evil ; that is to say, of know- 
 ing good by evil. 
 
 - As therefore the state of man now is ; what wis- 
 dom can there be to choose, what continence to 
 forbear, without the knowledge of evil ? He that 
 can apprehend and consider vice with all her baits 
 and seeming pleasures, and yet abstain, and yet 
 distinguish, and yet prefer that which is truly bet- 
 ter, h^ is _th^ true warfaring Chn^tian. " I cannot 
 praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue unexercised 
 and unbreathed, that never sallies out and seeks 
 her adversary, but slinks out of the race, whei'o 
 that immortal garland is to be run for, not without 
 dust and heat. Assuredly we bring not innocence 
 into the world, we bring impurity much rather ; 
 that which purifies us is trial, and trial is by what 
 is contrary. That virtue therefore which is but a 
 younghng in the contemplation of evil, and knows 
 not the utmost that vice promises to her followers, 
 and rejects it, is but a blank virtue, not a pure ; 
 lier whiteness is but an excremental whiteness ; 
 which was the reason why our sage and serious 
 poet Spenser, (whom I dare be known to thiiik a 
 better teacher than Scotus or Aquinas,) describ- 
 ing true temperance under the person of Guion, 
 brings him in with his palmer tlirough the cave
 
 FR OM A REOPA GITICA . 113 
 
 of Mammon, and the bower of earthly bhss, that 
 he might see and know, and yet abstain. 
 
 Since therefore the knowledge and survey of Aace 
 is in this world so necessary to the constituting of 
 human virtue, and the scanning of error to the 
 confirmation of truth, how can we more safely, and 
 with less danger, scout into the regions of sin and 
 falsity, than by reading all manner of tractates, 
 and hearing all manner of reason ? . . . . 
 
 If we think to regulate printing, thereby to rec- 
 tify manners, we must regulate all recreations and 
 pastimes, all that is delightful to man. No music 
 must be heard, no song be set or sung, but what 
 is grave and doric. There must be liconsino; dan- 
 cers, that no gesture, motion, or deportment be 
 taught our youth, but what by their allowance 
 shall be thought honest ; for such Plato was pro- 
 vided of. It will ask more than the work of 
 twenty hcensers to examine all the lutes, the vio- 
 lins, and the guitars in every house ; they must 
 not be suffered to prattle as they do, but must be 
 licensed what they may say. And who shall si- 
 lence all the airs and madrigals that whisper softness 
 ill chambers? The windows also, and the balco- 
 nies, must be thought on ; these are shrewd books, 
 with dangerous frontispieces, set to sale : who shall 
 prohibit them, shall twenty licensers ? The vil- 
 lages also must have their visitors to inquire what 
 lectures the bagpipe and the rebec reads, even to 
 the ballatry and the gamut of every municipal fid-
 
 114 FROM AREOPAGITfCA. 
 
 dler ; for tliese are the countryman's Arcadias* 
 and liis Monte Mayors. 
 
 Next, what more national corruption, for which 
 England hears ill abroad, than household gluttony ? 
 Who shall be the rectors of our daily rioting ? 
 And what shall be done to inhibit the multitudes 
 that frequent those houses where drunkenness is 
 sold and harbored ? Our garments also should be 
 referred to the licensing of some more sober work- 
 masters, to see them cut into a less wanton garb. 
 Who shall regulate all the mixed conversation of 
 our youth, male and female together, as is the 
 fashion of this country ? Who shall still appoint 
 what shall be discoursed, what presumed, and no 
 further? Lastly, who shall forbid and separate all 
 idle resort, all evil company ? These things will 
 be, and must be ; but how they shall be least hurt- 
 ful, how least enticing, herein consists the grave 
 and governing wisdom of a state 
 
 They are not skilful considerers of human things, 
 who imagine to remove sin, by removing the mat- 
 ter of sin ; for, besides that it is a huge heap, increas- 
 ing under the very act of diminishing, thorugh some 
 part of it may for a time be withdrawn from some 
 persons, it cannot from all, in such a universal 
 thing as books are ; and when this is done, yet the 
 sin remains entire. Though ye take from a covet- 
 ous man all his treasure, he has yet one jewel left, 
 ye cannot bereave him of his covetousness. Ban- 
 ish all objects of lust, shut up all youth in^.o tlio
 
 FROM AREOPAGITICA. 115 
 
 severest discipline that can be exercised in any 
 hermitage, ye cannot make them chaste, that came 
 not thither so : such great care and wisdom is re- 
 quired to the right managing of tliis point. 
 
 Suppose we could expel sin by tiiis means ; look 
 how much we thus expel of sin, so much we expel 
 of virtue ; for the matter of them both is the 
 same : remove that, and ye remove them both 
 alike. This justifies the high providence of God, 
 who, though he commands us temperance, justice, 
 continence, yet pours out before us even to a pro- 
 fuseness all desirable things, and gives us minds 
 that can wander beyond all limit and satiety. "Why 
 should we then affect a rigor contrary to the man- 
 ner of God and of nature, by abridging or scant- 
 ing those means, which books, freely permitted, are, 
 both to the trial of virtue, and the exercise of 
 truth ? 
 
 It would be better done, to learn that the law 
 must needs be frivolous, which goes to restrain 
 things, uncertainly and yet equally working to 
 good and to evil. And were I the chooser, a dram 
 of well-doing should be preferred before many 
 times as much the forcible hinderance of evil doing. 
 For God sure esteems the growth and completing 
 )f one virtuous person, more than the restraint of 
 ten vicious 
 
 If therefore ye be loath to dishearten utterly 
 and discontent, not the mercenary crew of false 
 pretenders to learning, but the fi*ee and ingenuous
 
 116 FHUM AREOPAGITICA. 
 
 sort of such as evidently were born to study and 
 love learning for itself, not for lucre, or any other 
 end, but the service of God and of truth, and per- 
 haps that lasting fame and perpetuity of praise, 
 which God and good men have consented shall be 
 the reward of those whose pubhshed labors advance 
 the good of mankind : then know, that so far to dis- 
 trust the judgment and the honesty of one who 
 hath but a common repute in learning, and never 
 yet offended, as not to count him fit to print his 
 mind without a tutor and examiner, lest he should 
 Irop a schism, or something of corruption, is the 
 greatest displeasure and indignity to a free and 
 
 knowing spirit that can be put upon him 
 
 How can a man teach with authority, which is 
 the life of teaching ; how can he be a doctor in his 
 book, as he ought to be, or else had better be 
 silent, whenas all he teaches, all he delivers, is 
 but under the tuition, under the correction of his 
 patriarchal licenser, to blot or alter what precisely 
 accords not with the hide-bound humor which he 
 calls his judgment ? When every acute reader, 
 upon the first sight of a pedantic license, will be 
 ready with these like words to ding the book a 
 quoit's distance from him : — "I hate a pupil 
 teacher ; I endure not an instructor that comes to 
 me under the wardship of an overseeing fist. I 
 know nothing of the licenser, but that I have his 
 own hand here for his arrogance ; who shall war- 
 rant me his judgment? " " The state, sir," replies
 
 FliOM AUEOPAGITICA. WJ 
 
 the stationer ; but lias a quick return : — " The 
 state shall be my governors, but not my critics ; 
 they may be mistaken in the choice of a licenser, 
 as easily as this licenser may be mistaken in an au- 
 thor. This is some common stuff" : and he might 
 add from Sir Francis Bacon, that " such author- 
 ized books are but the language of the times." 
 For though a licenser should happen to be judi- 
 cious more than ordinary, which will be a great 
 jeopardy of the next succession, yet his very office 
 and his commission enjoins him to let pass nothing 
 but what is vulgarly received already. 
 
 Nay, which is more lamentable, if the work of 
 any deceased author, though never so famous in 
 his lifetime, and even to this day, comes to their 
 hands for license to be printed, or reprinted, if 
 there be found in his book one sentence of a ven- 
 turous edge, uttered in the height of zeal, (and 
 who knows whether it might not be the dictate of 
 a divine spirit ?) yet, not suiting with every low 
 decrepit humor of their own, though it were Knox 
 himself, the reformer of a kingdom, that spake it, 
 they will not pardon him their dash ; the sense of 
 that great man shall to all posterity be lost, for the 
 feai*f\ilness, or the presumptuous rashness of a per- 
 functory licenser. And to what an author this vio- 
 lence hath been lately done, and in what book, of 
 greatest consequence to be faithfully published, I 
 could now instance, but shall forbear till a more 
 convenient season. Yet if these things be not re-
 
 118 F'ROM AREOPAGITICA 
 
 sented seriously and timely by them who have the 
 remedy in their power, but that such ironmoulds 
 as these shall have authority to gnaw out the 
 choicest periods of exquisitest books, and to commit 
 such a treacherous fraud against tlie orphan re- 
 mainders of worthiest men after death, the more 
 sorrow will belong to that hapless race of men, 
 whose misfortune it is to have understanding. 
 Henceforth let no man care to learn, or care to be 
 more than worldly wise ; for certainly in higher 
 matters to be ignorant and slothful, to be a com- 
 mon steadfast dunce, will be the only pleasant life, 
 and only in request. 
 
 And as it is a particular disesteem of every know- 
 ing person alive, and most injurious to the written 
 labors and monuments of tlie dead, so to me it 
 seems an undervaluing and vilifying of the whole 
 nation. I cannot set so light by all the invention, 
 the art, the wit, the grave and solid judgment which 
 is in England, as that it can be comprehended in 
 any twenty capacities, how good soever ; much less 
 that it should not pass except their superintend- 
 ence be over it, except it be sifted and strained 
 with their strainers, that it should be uncurrent 
 without their manual stamp. Truth and under- 
 standing are not such wares as to be monopohzed 
 and traded in by tickets, and statutes, and stand- 
 ards. We must not think to make a staple com- 
 modity of all the knowledge in the land, to mark 
 and license it like our broadcloth and our wool'
 
 FROM AREOPAGITICA. 119 
 
 packs. What is it but a servitude like that im- 
 posed by the PliiHstines, not to be allowed the 
 sharpening of our own axes and coulters, but we 
 must repair from all quarters to twenty licensing 
 forges? .... 
 
 Well knows he who uses to consider, that our 
 faith and knowledge thrives by exercise, as well as 
 our limbs and complexion. Truth is compared in 
 Scripture to a streaming fountain ; if her waters 
 flow not in a perpetual progression, they sicken 
 into a muddy pool of conformity and tradition. A 
 man may be a heretic in the truth ; and if he be- 
 lieve things only because his pastor says so, or the 
 assembly so determines, without knowing other rea- 
 son, though his belief be true, yet the very truth 
 he holds becomes his heresy. There is not any 
 burden that some would gladlier post off to anoth- 
 er, than the charge and care of their religion. 
 There be, who knows not that there be ? of Protest- 
 ants and professors, who live and die in as errant 
 and implicit faith, as any lay Papist of Loretto. 
 
 A wealthy man, addicted to his pleasure and to 
 his profits, finds religion to be a traffic so entan- 
 gled, and of so many piddling accounts, that of all 
 mysteries he cannot skill to keep a stock going 
 upon that trade. What should he do ? Fain he 
 would have the name to be religious, fain he would 
 bear up with his neighbors in that. What does 
 he therefore, but resolves to give over toiling, ana 
 to find himself out some factor, to whose care and
 
 120 FROM AREOPAGiriCA. 
 
 credit he may commit the whole managing of liis 
 rehgious affairs ; some divine of note and estima- 
 tion that must be. To him he adheres, resigns tlie 
 whole warehouse of his religion, with all the locks 
 and keys, into his custody ; and indeed makes the 
 very person of that man his religion ; esteems his 
 associating with him a sufficient evidence and com- 
 mendatory of his own piety. So that a man may 
 say his religion is now no more within himself, 
 but is become a dividual movable, and goes and 
 comes near him, according as that good man fre- 
 quents the house. He entertains him, gives him 
 gifts, feasts him, lodges him ; his religion comes 
 home at night, prays, is liberally supped, and 
 sumptuously laid to sleep ; lises, is saluted, and 
 after the malmsey, or some well-spiced bruage, and 
 better breakfasted than He whose morning appe- 
 tite would have gladly fed on green figs between 
 Bethany and Jerusalem, his religion walks abroad 
 at eight, and leaves his kind entertainer in the shop 
 tradmg all day without his religion. 
 
 Another sort there be, who, when they hear that 
 all things shall be ordered, all things regulated and 
 settled, nothing written but what passes through 
 the custom-house of certain publicans that have the 
 tonnaging and poundaging of all free-spoken truth, 
 will straight give themselves up into your hands, 
 make them and cut them out what religion ye 
 please : there be delights, there be recreations and 
 jolly pastimes, that will fetch the day about from
 
 J-JiOM AREOPAGITICA. 121 
 
 sun to sun, and rock the tedious year as in a de- 
 lightful dream. What need they torture theii 
 heads with that which others have taken so strict 
 ly, and so unalterably into their own purveying t 
 These are the fi-uits which a dull ease and cessa- 
 tion of our knowledge will bring forth among the 
 people. How goodly, and how to be wished were 
 such an obedient unanimity as this ! What a fine 
 conformity would it starch us all into ! Doubtless 
 a stanch and solid piece of framework, as any Jan- 
 uary could freeze together 
 
 For if we be sure we are in the right, and do 
 not hold the truth guiltily, which becomes not, if 
 we ourselves condemn not our own weak and friv- 
 olous teacliing, and the people for an untaught and 
 irreligious gadding rout ; what can be more fair, 
 than when a man judicious, learned, and of a con- 
 science, for aught we know as good as theirs that 
 taught us what we know, shall not privily from 
 house to house, which is more dangerous, but open- 
 ly by writing, publish to the world what his opin- 
 ion is, what his reasons, and wherefore that which 
 is now thought cannot be sound ? Christ urged it 
 as wherewith to justify himself, that he preached 
 in public ; yet writing is more public than preach- 
 ing ; and more easy to refutation if need be, there 
 being so many whose business and profession mere- 
 ly it is to be the champions of truth ; which if 
 they neglect, what can be imputed but theii* sloth 
 or inabihty ? . . . . 
 
 6
 
 122 FROM AREOPAGiriCA. 
 
 There is yet behind of what I purposed to lay 
 open, the incredible loss and detriment that this 
 plot of licensing puts us to, more than if some ene- 
 my at sea should stop up all our havens, and ports, 
 and creeks ; it hinders and retards the importation 
 of our richest merchandise, — truth : nay, it was 
 first established and put in practice by Antichristian 
 malice and mystery, or set purpose to extinguish, 
 if it were possible, the hght of reformation, and to 
 settle falsehood ; little differing from that policy 
 wherewith the Turk upholds his Alcoran, by the 
 prohibiting of printing. It is not denied, but glad 
 ly confessed, we are to send our thanks and vows 
 to heaven, louder than most of nations, for that 
 great measure of truth which we enjoy, especially 
 in those main points between us and the pope, with 
 his appurtenances the prelates : but he who thinks 
 we are to pitch our tent here, and have attained 
 the utmost prospect of reformation that the mortal 
 glass wherein we contemplate can show us, till we 
 come to beatific vision, that man by this very opin- 
 ion declares that he is yet far short of truth. 
 
 Truth indeed came once into the world with her 
 Divine Master, and was a perfect shape most glori- 
 ous to look on : but when he ascended, and his 
 Apostles after him were laid asleep, then straight 
 arose a wicked race of deceivers, who, as that story 
 goes of the Egyptian Typhon with his conspira- 
 tors, how they dealt with the good Osiris, took the 
 virgin Truth, hewed her lovely form into a thou-
 
 FROM AREOPAGITICA. 123 
 
 Band pieces, and scattered them to the four winds. 
 From that time ever since, the sad friends of Truth, 
 such as durst appear, imitating the careful search 
 that Isis made for the mangled body of Osiris, went 
 up and down gathering up limb by limb still as 
 they could find them. We have not yet found 
 them all, lords and commons, nor ever shall do, 
 till her Master's second coming ; he shall bring to- 
 gether every joint and member, and shall mould 
 them into an immortal feature of lov^eliness and 
 perfection. Suffer not these licensing prohibitions 
 to stand at every place of opportunity forbidding 
 and disturbing them that continue seeking, that 
 continue to do our obsequies to the torn body of 
 our martyred saint. 
 
 We boast our light : but if we look not wisely 
 on the sun itself, it smites us into darkness. Who 
 can discern those planets that are oft combust, 
 and those stai's of brightest magnitude that rise 
 and set with the sun, until the opposite motion of 
 their orbs bring them to such a place in the firma- 
 ment where they may be seen evening or morn- 
 incf ? The lijiht which we haA-e o-ained was given 
 us, not to be ever staring on, but by it to discover 
 onward things more remote from our knowledge. 
 
 To be still searching what we know not, by what 
 we know, still closing up truth to truth as we find 
 it (for all her body is homogeneal and proportional), 
 this is the golden rule in theology as well as in
 
 124 FROM AREOPAGITICA. 
 
 arithmetic, and makes up the best harmony in a 
 church ; not the forced and outward union of cold, 
 and neutral, and inwardly divided minds 
 
 Now once again by all concurrence of signs, and 
 by the general instinct of holy and devout men, as 
 they daily and solemnly express their thoughts, God 
 is decreeing to begin some new and great period in 
 his Church, even to the reforming of reformation 
 itself; what does he then but reveal himself to his 
 servants, and, as his manner is, first to his English- 
 men ? I say, as his manner is, first to us, though 
 we mark not the method of his counsels, and are 
 unworthy. Behold now this vast city, a city of 
 refuge, the mansion-house of liberty, encompassed 
 and surrounded with his protection ; the shop of 
 war hath not there more anvils and hammers vv^ork- 
 ing, to fashion out the plates and instruments of 
 armed justice in defence of beleaguered truth, than 
 there be pens and heads there, sitting by their 
 studious lamps, musing, searching, revolving new 
 notions and ideas wherewith to present, as with 
 their homage and their fealty, the approaching 
 reformation : others as fast reading, trying all 
 things, assenting to the force of reason and con- 
 vinceraent. 
 
 What could a man require more from a nation 
 so pliant and so prone to seek after knowledge ? 
 What wants there to such a towardly and pregnant 
 soil, but wise and faithful laborers, to make a know- 
 ing people, a nation of prophets, of sages, and of
 
 FROM AREOPAGITTCA. 125 
 
 worthies ? We reckon more than five months yet 
 to harvest ; there need not be five weeks, had we 
 but eyes to lift up, the fields are white already. 
 Where there is much desire to learn, there of 
 necessity will be much arguing, much writing, 
 many opinions ; for opinion in good men is but 
 knowledge in the making. Under these fantastic 
 terrors of sect and schism, we wrong the earnest 
 and zealous thirst after knowledge and understand- 
 ing, which God hath stirred u]) in this city. What 
 some lament of, we rather should rejoice at, should 
 rather praise this pious forwardness among men, to 
 reassume the ill-deputed care of their religion into 
 their own hands again. A little generous pru- 
 dence, a little forbearance of one another, and 
 some grain of charity might win all these diligen- 
 cies to join and unite into one general and brotherly 
 search after truth ; could we but forego this pre- 
 latical tradition of crowding free consciences and 
 Christian liberties into canons and precepts of men. 
 I doubt , not, if some great and worthy stranger 
 should come among us, wise to discern the mould 
 and temper of a people, and how to govern it, 
 observing the high hopes and aims, the diligent 
 alacrity of our extended thoughts and reasonings 
 in the pursuance of truth and fi-eedom, but that he 
 would cry out as Pyrrhus did, admiring the Roman 
 docility and courage, " If such were my Epirots, I 
 would not despair the greatest design that could be 
 attempted to make a church or kingdom happy."
 
 126 FROM AREOPAGITICA. 
 
 Yet these are the men cried out against for scliis- 
 matics and sectaries, as if, while the temple of the 
 Lord was building, some cutting, some squaring 
 the marble, others hewing the cedars, there should 
 be a sort of irrational men, who could not consider 
 there must be many schisms and many dissections 
 made in the quarry and in the timber ere the 
 house of God can be built. And when every stone 
 is laid artfully together, it cannot be united into a 
 continuity, it can but be contiguous in this world : 
 neither can every piece of the building be of one 
 form ; nay, rather the perfection consists in this, 
 that out of many moderate varieties and brotherly 
 dissimilitudes that are not vastly disproportional, 
 arises the goodly and the graceful symmetry that 
 commends the whole pile and structure. 
 
 Let us therefore be more considerate builders, 
 more wise in spiritual architecture, when grea* 
 reformation is expected. For now the time seem? 
 come, wherein Moses, the great prophet, may sit 
 in heaven rejoicing to see that memorable and 
 glorious wish of his fulfilled, when not 'only our 
 seventy elders, but all the Lord's people, are be- 
 come prophets. No marvel then though some 
 men, and some good men too perhaps, but young 
 in goodness, as Joshua then was, envy them. 
 They fret, and out of their own weakness are in 
 agony, lest these divisions and subdivisions will 
 undo us. The adversary again applauds, and waits 
 the hour : when they have branched themselves
 
 FROM A RE OP A GIT IC A. 127 
 
 out, saith he, small enough into parties and par- 
 titions, then will be our time. Fool ! he sees not 
 the firm root, out of which we all grow, though 
 into branches ; nor will beware, until he see our 
 small divided maniples cutting through at evei'y 
 angle of his ill-united and unwieldy brigade. And 
 that we are to hope better of all these supposed 
 sects and schisms, and that we shall not need that 
 solicitude, honest perhaps, though over-timorous, of 
 them that vex in this behalf, but shall laugh in the 
 end at those malicious applauders of our differences, 
 I have these reasons to persuade me. 
 
 First, when a city shall be as it were besieged 
 and blocked about, her navigable river infested, 
 inroads and incursions round, defiance and battle 
 oft rumored to be marching up, even to her walls 
 and suburb trenches ; that then the people, or the 
 gi-eater part, more than at other times, wholly 
 taken up with the study of highest and most im- 
 portant matters to be reformed, should be disputing, 
 reasoning, reading, inventing, discoursing, even to 
 a rarity and admiration, things not before discoursed 
 or written of, argues first a singular good will, 
 contentedness, and confidence in your prudent 
 foresight, and safe government, lords and com- 
 mons ; and from thence derives itself to a gallant 
 bravery and well-grounded contempt of their ene- 
 mies, as if there were no small number of as great 
 spii'its among us, as his Avas who, when Rome was 
 nigh besieged by Hannibal, beijig in the city.
 
 128 FROM AllKOPAGITICA. 
 
 bought that piece of ground, at no cheap rate, 
 whereon Hannibal himself encamped his own 
 regiment. 
 
 Next it is a lively and cheerful presage of our 
 happy success and victory. For as in a body when 
 the blood is fresh, the spirits pure and vigorous, 
 not only to vital, but to rational faculties, and those 
 in the acutest and the pertest operations of wit and 
 subtlety, it argues in what good plight and consti- 
 tution the body is ; so when the cheerfulness of 
 the people is so sprightly up, as that it has not only 
 wherewith to guard well its own freedom and 
 safety, but to spare, and to bestow upon the sol- 
 idest and sublimest points of controversy and new 
 invention, it betokens us not degenerated, nor 
 drooping to a fatal decay, by casting off the old 
 and wrinkled skin of corruption to outlive these 
 pangs, and wax young again, entering the glorious 
 ways of truth and prosperous virtue, destined to 
 become great and honorable in these latter ages. 
 Methinks I see in my mind a noble and puissant 
 nation rousing herself like a strong man after sleep, 
 and shaking her invincible locks: methinks I see 
 her as an eagle mewing her mighty youth, and 
 kindling her undazzled eyes at the full midday 
 beam ; purging and unsealing her long-abused 
 sight at the fountain itself of heavenly radiance ; 
 while the whole noise of timorous and flocking 
 birds, with those also that love the twilight, flutter 
 about, amazed at what she means, and in their
 
 FUUM AREUPAdlTlCA. 129 
 
 envious gabble would prognosticate a year of sects 
 and schisms 
 
 The temple of Janus, with his two controversial 
 faces, might now not unsignificantly be set open. 
 And though all the winds of doctrine were let 
 iuose to play upon the earth, so truth be in the 
 field, we do injuriously by licensing and pro- 
 hibiting to misdoubt her strength. Let her and 
 falsehood grapple ; who ever knew truth put to the 
 worse, in a free and open encounter ? Her con- 
 futing is the best and surest suppressing 
 
 When a man hath been laboring the hardest labor 
 in the deep mines of knowledge, hath furnished 
 out his findings in all their equipage, drawn forth 
 his reasons as it were a battle i^anged, scattered 
 and defeated all objections in his way, calls out his 
 adversary into the plain, offers him the advantage 
 of wind and sun, if he please, only that he may 
 try the matter by dint of argument ; for his oppo- 
 nents then to skulk, to lay ambushments, to keep 
 a narrow bridge of licensing where the challenger 
 sliould pass, though it be valor enough in soldier- 
 ship, is but weakness and cowardice in the wars of 
 truth. For who knows not that truth is strong, 
 next to the Almighty; she needs no policies, nor 
 stratagems, nor licensings to make her victorious , 
 those are the shifts and the defences that error 
 uses against her power : give her but room, and do 
 not bind her when she sleeps, for then she speaks 
 not true, as the old Proteus did, who spake ora- 
 
 6* I
 
 130 FROM AREOPAGITICA. 
 
 cles only when he was caught and bound, but then 
 rather she turns herself into all shapes except her 
 own, and perhaps tunes her voice according to the 
 time, as Micaiah did before Ahab, until she be ad- 
 jured into her own likeness 
 
 In the mean while, if any one would write, and 
 bring his helpful hand to the slow-moving reforma- 
 tion which we labor under, if truth have spoken to 
 him before others, or but seemed at least to speak, 
 who hath so bejesuited us, that we should trouble 
 that man with asking license to do so worthy a 
 deed ; and not consider this, that if it come to pro- 
 hibiting, there is not aught more likely to be pro- 
 hibited than truth itself: whose first appearance to 
 our eyes, bleared^ and dimmed with prejudice and 
 custom, is more unsightly and unplausible than 
 many errors ; even as the person is of many a 
 great man slight and contemptible to see to 
 
 When God shakes a kingdom, with strong and 
 healthful commotions, to a general reforming, it is 
 not untrue that many sectaries and false teachers 
 are then busiest in seducing. 
 
 But yet more true it is, that God then raises to 
 his own work men of rare abilities, and more tlian 
 common industry, not only to look back and revive 
 what hath been taught heretofore, but to gain fur- 
 ther, and to go on some new enlightened steps in 
 the discovery of truth. For such is the order of 
 God's enlightening his Church, to dispense and deal 
 out by degrees his beam, so as our earthly eyoa
 
 FROM AllEOPAGITICA. 181 
 
 may best sustain it. Neither is God appointed and 
 confined, where and out of what place these his 
 chosen shall be first heard to speak ; for he sees 
 not as m-an sees, chooses not as man chooses, lest 
 we should devote ourselves again to set places and 
 assemblies, and outward callings of men.
 
 FROM 
 
 THE DOCTRINE AND DISCIPLINE OF 
 DIVORCE. 
 
 iF it were seriously asked, (and it would 
 be no untimely question,) who of all 
 teachers and masters, that have ever 
 taught, hath drawn the most disciples 
 after him, both in religion and in manners ? it 
 might be not untruly answered, custom. Though 
 virtue be commended for the most persuasive in her 
 theory, and conscience in the plain demonstration 
 of the spirit finds most evincing ; yet whether it 
 be the secret of divine will, or the original blind- 
 ness we are born in, so it happens for the most part 
 that custom still is silently received for the best in- 
 stinictor. Except it be, because her method is so 
 glib and easy, in some manner like to that vision 
 of Ezekiel rolHng up her sudden book of implicit 
 knowledge, for him that will to take and swallow 
 down at pleasure ; which proving but of bad nour- 
 ishment in the concoction, as it was heedless in the 
 devouring, puffs up unhealthily a certain big face 
 of pretended learning, mistaken among credulous 
 
 1
 
 DOCTRINE UF DlVOltCE. 133 
 
 men for the wholesome habit of" soundness and jjood 
 constitution, but is indeed no other than that swoln 
 visage of counterfeit knowledge and literature, 
 which not only in private mars our education, but 
 also in public is the common climber into every 
 chair, where either religion is preached, or law re- 
 ported ; filling each estate of^ life and profession 
 with abject and servile principles, depressing the 
 liigh and heaven-born spirit of man far beneath the 
 rondition wherein either God created him, or sin 
 liath sunk him. To pursue the allegory, custom 
 being but a mere face, as echo is a mere voice, rests 
 not in her unaccomplishment, until by secret incli- 
 nation she accorporate herself with error, who, be- 
 ing a blind and serpentine body without a head, 
 willingly accepts what he wants, and supplies what 
 her incompleteness went seeking. Hence it is, 
 that error supports custom, custom countenances 
 error ; and these two between them would perse- 
 cute and chase away all truth and solid wisdom out 
 of human life, were it not that God, rather than 
 man, once in many ages calls together the prudent 
 and religious counsels of men, deputed to repress 
 the encroachments, and to work oft' the inveterate 
 blots and obscurities wrought upon our minds by 
 the subtle insinuating of error and custom ; who, 
 with the numerous and vulgar train of theu' follow- 
 ers, make it their chief design to envy and cry 
 down the industry of fi-ee reasoning, under the 
 terms of humor and innovation ; as if the wumb of
 
 134 FROM THE DOCTRINE AND 
 
 teeming truth were to be closed up, if she presume 
 to bring forth auglit that sorts not with their un- 
 
 chewed notions and suppositions 
 
 He who shall endeavor the amendment of any 
 old neglected grievance in church or state, or in 
 the daily course of life, if he be gifted with abilities 
 of mind that may raise him to so high an under- 
 taking, I grant he hath already much whereof not 
 to repent him : yet let me aread him, not to be the 
 foreman of any misjudged opinion, unless his reso- 
 lutions be firmly seated in a square and constant 
 mind, not conscious to itself of any deserved blame, 
 and regardless of ungrounded suspicions. For this 
 let him be sure, he shall be boarded presently by 
 the ruder sort, but not by discreet and well-nur- 
 tured men, with a thousand idle descants and 
 surmises. Who, when they cannot confute the 
 least joint or sinew of any passage in the book ; 
 yet God forbid that truth should be truth, because 
 they have a boisterous conceit of some pretences in 
 the writer. But were tliey not move busy and 
 inquisitive than the Apostle commends, they would 
 hear him at least, " rejoicing so the truth be 
 preached, whether of anxy or other pretence what- 
 soever": for tnith is as impossible to be soiled bv 
 any outward touch as the sunbeam ; though this 
 ill hap wait on her nativity, that she never comes 
 into the world but like a bastard, to the ignominy 
 of him that brought her forth ; till time, the mid- 
 wife rather than the mother of truth, have washed
 
 DISCIPLINE OF DIVORCE. 135 
 
 and salted the infant, declared her legitimate, and 
 churched the father of his young Minerva, from 
 the needless causes of his purgation 
 
 This question concerns not us perhaps : indeed 
 man's disposition, though prone to search after vain 
 curiosities, yet when points of difficulty are to be 
 discussed, appertaining to the removal of unreason- 
 able 's\Tong and burden fi'om the perplexed life of 
 our brother, it is incredible how cold, how dull, 
 and far from all fellow-feeling we are, without the 
 spur of self-concernment 
 
 He who wisely would restrain the reasonable 
 soul of man within due bounds, must first himself 
 know perfectly, how far the territory and dominion 
 extends of just and honest liberty. As little must 
 he offer to bind that which God hath loosened, as 
 to loosen that which he hath bound. The igno- 
 rance and mistake of this high point hath heaped up 
 one huge half of all the misery that hath been since 
 Adam. In the Gospel we shall read a superciUous 
 crew of masters, whose holiness, or I'ather whose 
 evil eye, grieving that God should be so facile to 
 man, was to set straiter limits to obedience than 
 Ciod hath set, to enslave the dignity of man, to 
 put a garrison upon his neck of empty and over- 
 dignified precepts : and we shall read our Saviour 
 never more grieved and troubled than to meet with 
 such a peevish madness among men against their 
 own fi'eedom 
 
 The greatest burden in the world is superstition,
 
 13(3 FllOM THE DOCTRINE AND 
 
 not only ot" ceremonies in the Church, but of imagi- 
 nary and scarecrow sins at home. What greater 
 weakening, what more subtle stratagem against our 
 Christian warfare, when besides the gross body of 
 real transgressions to encounter, we shall be terri- 
 fied by a vain and shadowy menacing of faults that 
 are not? When things indifferent shall be set to 
 ovei-fi'ont us under the banners of sin, what wonder 
 if we be routed, and by this art of our adversary 
 fall into the subjection of worst and deadliest 
 offences ? 
 
 The superstition of the papist is, " Touch not, 
 taste not," when God bids both ; and ours is, 
 " Part not, separate not," when God and charity 
 both permits and commands. " Let all your things 
 be done with charity," saith St. Paul ; and his 
 Master saith, " She is the fulfilling of the law." 
 Yet now a civil, an indifferent, a sometime dis- 
 suaded law of marriage, must be forced upon us to 
 fulfil, not only without charity but against her. 
 No place in heaven or earth, except hell, where 
 charity may not enter : yet marriage, the ordinance 
 of our solace and contentment, the remedy of our 
 loneliness, ■\^'ill not admit now either of charity or 
 mercy, to come in and mediate, or pacify the fierce- 
 ness of this gentle ordinance, the unremedied lone- 
 liness of this remedy. Advise ye well, supreme 
 senate, if charity be thus excluded and expulsed, 
 how ye will defend the untainted honor of your 
 own actions and proceedings. He who marries.
 
 DISCIPLINE OF DIVORCE. 137 
 
 intends as little to conspire his own ruin, as he that 
 swears allegiance : and as a whole people is in pro- 
 portion to an ill government, so is one man to an 
 ill maiTiage. If they, against any authority, cov- 
 enant, or statute, may, by the sovereign edict of 
 charity, save not only their lives but honest liber- 
 ties fi'om unworthy bondage, as well may he against 
 any private covenant, which he never entered to 
 his mischief, redeem himself from unsupportable 
 disturbances to lionest peace and just contentment. 
 And much the rather, for that to resist the highest 
 magistrate though tyrannizing, God never gave 
 us express allowance, only he gave us reason, 
 charity, nature and good example to bear us out ; 
 but in this economical misfortune thus to demean 
 ourselves, besides the warrant of those four great 
 directors, which doth as justly belong hither, we 
 have an express law of God, and such a law, as 
 whereof our Saviour with a solemn threat forbade 
 the abrogating. For no effect of tyranny can sit 
 more heavy on the commonvrealth than this house- 
 hold unhappiness on the family. And farewell all 
 hope of true reformation in the state, while such 
 an evil as this lies undiscerned or unregarded in 
 the house ; on the redress whereof depends not 
 only the spiritful. and orderly life of our grown 
 men, but the willmg and careful education of our 
 childi'en. Let this therefore be new examined, 
 this tenure and freehold of mankind, this Hative 
 (tnd domestic charter given us by a greater lord
 
 138 FROM THE DOCTRINE AND 
 
 than that Saxon kinfj the Confessor. Let the 
 statutes of God be turned over, be scanned anew, 
 and considered not altogether by the narrow in- 
 tellectuals of quotationists and commonplaces, but 
 (as was the ancient right of councils) by men of 
 what liberal profession soever, of eminent spirit and 
 breeding, joined with a diffuse and various knowl- 
 edge of divine and human things ; able to balance 
 and define good and evil, right and wrong, through- 
 out every state of life ; able to show us the ways 
 of the Lord straight and faitliful as they are, not 
 full of cranks and contradictions, and pitfalling dis- 
 penses, but with divine insight and benignity meas- 
 ured out to the proportion of each mind and spirit, 
 each temper and disposition created so different 
 each from other, and yet, by the skill of wise con- 
 ducting, all to become uniform in virtue. To ex- 
 pedite these knots, were worthy a learned and 
 memorable synod ; while our enemies expect to 
 see the expectation of the Church tired out with 
 dependencies and independencies, how they will 
 compound and in what calends. Doubt not, wor- 
 thy senators! to vindicate the sacred honor and 
 judgment of Moses your predecessor, from the 
 shallow commenting of scholastics and canonists. 
 Doubt not after him to reach out your steady 
 hands to the misinformed and wearied life of man ; 
 to restore this his lost heritage, into the household 
 state : wherewith be sure that peace and love, the 
 best subsistence of a Christian family, will return
 
 DISCIPLINE Of DIVORCE. 139 
 
 home from whence they are now banished ; places 
 of prostitution will be less haunted, the neighbor's 
 bed less attempted, the joke of prudent and manly 
 discipline will be generally submitted to ; sober and 
 well-ordered living will soon spring up in the com- 
 monwealth. Ye have an author great beyond 
 exception, Moses ; and one yet greater, he who 
 hedged in from abolishing every smallest jot and 
 tittle of precious equity contained in that law, witli 
 a more accurate and lasting Masoreth, than either 
 the synagogue of Ezra or the Galilasan school at 
 Tiberias hath left, us 
 
 Many men, whether it be their fate or fond opin- 
 ion, easily persuade themselves, if God would but 
 be pleased awhile to withdi'aw his just punishments 
 from us, and to restrain what power either the 
 Devil or any earthly enemy hath to work us woe, 
 that then man's nature would find immediate rest 
 and releasement from all evils. But verily they 
 who think so, if they be such as have a mind large 
 enough to take into their thoughts a general sur- 
 vey of human things, would soon prove themselves 
 in that opinion far deceived. For though it were 
 granted us by divine indulgence to be exempt from 
 all that can be harmftil to us from without, yet the 
 perverseness of our folly is so bent, that we should 
 never cease hammering out of our own hearts, as 
 it were out of a flint, the seeds and sparkles of new
 
 140 FROM THE ^DOCTRINE AND 
 
 misery to ourselves, till all were in a blaze again. 
 And no marvel if out of our own hearts, for tliey 
 are evil ; but even out of those things which God 
 meant us, either for a principal good, or a pure 
 contentment, we are still hatching and contrivino' 
 upon ourselves matter of continual sorrow and per- 
 plexity 
 
 What thing more instituted to the solace and 
 delight of man than marriage? And yet the mis- 
 interpreting of some Scripture, directed mainly 
 Against the abuses of the law for divorce given bv 
 Moses, hath changed the blessing- of matrimony not 
 seldom into a familiar and coinhabiting mischief: 
 at least, into a drooping and disconsolate househokl 
 captivity, without refuge or redemption : so un- 
 governed and so wild a race doth superstition riui 
 us from one extreme of abused liberty into the 
 other of unmerciful restraint What a ca- 
 lamity is this ? and, as the wise man, if he were 
 alive, would sigh out in his own phrase, what a 
 " sore evil is this under the sun ! " All which we 
 can refer justly to no other author than the canon 
 law and her adherents, not consulting with charity, 
 the interpreter and guide of our faith, but resting 
 in the mere element of the text ; doubtless by the 
 policy of the Devil to make that gracious ordinance 
 become unsupportable, that what with men not 
 daring to venture upon wedlock, and what with 
 men wearied out of it, all inordinate license might 
 abound. It was for manv ao;es that marriajre lav in
 
 DISCIPLINE OF DIVORCE. HI 
 
 disgrace with most of the ancient doctors, as a work 
 of the flesli, almost a defilement, wholly denied to 
 priests, and the second time dissuaded to all, as he 
 that reads Tertullian or Jerome may see at large. 
 Afterwards it was thought so sacramental, that no 
 adultery or desertion could dissolve it ; and this is 
 the sense of our canon courts in England to this day, 
 but in no other Reformed Church else : yet there 
 remains in them also a burden on it as heavy as 
 the other two were disgraceful or superstitious, and 
 of as much iniquity, crossing a law not only writ- 
 ten by Moses, but charactered in us by nature, 
 of more antiquity and deeper ground than marriage 
 itself; which law is to force nothing against the 
 faultless proprieties of nature, yet that this may be 
 colorably done, our Saviour's Avords touching di- 
 vorce are as it were congealed into a stony rigor, 
 inconsistent both with his doctrine and his office ; 
 and that which he preached only to the conscience 
 is by canonical tyranny snatched into the compul- 
 sive censure of a judicial court ; where laws are 
 imposed even against the venerable and secret 
 power of natui'e's impression, to love, whatever 
 cause be found to loathe : which is a heinous bar- 
 barism, both against the honor of marriage, the 
 dignity of man and his soul, the goodness of 
 Christianity, and all the human respects of civility. 
 
 Tills therefore shall be the task and period of 
 titis discourse to prove, first, that other reasons of
 
 142 FROM THE DOCTRINE AND 
 
 divorce, besides adultery, were by the law of 
 Moses, and are yet to be allowed by the Christian 
 magistrate as a piece of justice, and that the words 
 of Christ are not hereby conti'aried. Next, that to 
 prohibit absolutely any divorce whatsoever, ex- 
 cept those which Moses excepted, is against the 
 reason of law He therefore, who, by ad- 
 venturing, shall be so happy as with success to light 
 tlie way of such an expedient liberty and truth as 
 this, shall restore the much-wronged and over-sor- 
 rowed state of matrimony, not only to those mer- 
 ciful and life-giving remedies of Moses, but, as 
 much as may be, to that sei*ene and blissful condi- 
 tion it was in at the beginning, and shall deserve 
 of all apprehensive men, (considering the troubles 
 and distempers, which, for want of this insight 
 have been so oft in kingdoms, in states, and fami- 
 lies,) shall deserve to be reckoned among the pub- 
 lic benefactors of civil and human life, above the 
 inventors of wine and oil ; for this is a far dearer, 
 far nobler, and more desirable cherishing to man's 
 life, unworthily exposed to sadness and mistake, 
 which he shall vindicate. Not that license, and 
 levity, and unconsented breach of faith should here- 
 in be countenanced, but that some conscionable 
 and tender pity might be had of those who have 
 unwarily, in a thing they never practised before, 
 made themselves the bondmen of a luckless and 
 helpless matrimony. In which argument, he 
 whose courage can serve him to give the first on-
 
 njSCfPLfXE OF DIVORCE. 143 
 
 set, must look for two several oppositions : the 
 one from those who, having sworn themselves to 
 long custom, and the letter of the text, will not 
 out of the road ; the other from those whose gross 
 and vulgar apprehensions conceit but low of mat- 
 rimonial purposes, and in the work of male and 
 female think they have all. Nevei'theless, it shall 
 be here sought by due ways to be made appear, 
 that those words of God in the institution, promis- 
 ing a meet help against loneliness, and those words 
 of Christ, that " his yoke is easy and his burden 
 light," were not spoken in vain : for if the knot of 
 marriage may in no case be dissolved but for adul- 
 teiy, all the burdens and serv^ices of the law are 
 not so intolerable. This only is desired of them 
 who are minded to judge hardly of thus maintain- 
 mg, that they would be still, and hear all out, nor 
 think it equal to answer deliberate reason with 
 sudden heat and noise ; remembering this, that 
 many truths now of reverend esteem and credit, 
 had their birth and beginning once from singular 
 and private thoughts, while the most of men were 
 otherwise possessed ; and had the fate at first to be 
 generally exploded and exclaimed on by many vio- 
 lent opposers : yet I may err perhaps in soothing 
 myself, that this present truth revived will deserve 
 on all hands to be not sinisterly received, in that it 
 undertakes the cure of an inveterate disease crept 
 into the best part of human society ; and to do this 
 with no smarting corrosive, but a smooth and
 
 141 FROM THE DOCTRINE AND 
 
 pleasing lesson, which received both the virtue to 
 soften and dispel rooted and knotty sorrows, and 
 without enchantment, if that be feared, or spell used, 
 hath regard at once both to serious pity and up- 
 right honesty ; that tends to the redeeming and re- 
 storing of none but such as are the object of com- 
 passion, having in an ill hour hampered themselves, 
 to the utter despatch of all their most beloved com- 
 forts and repose for this life's term. But if we 
 shall obstinately dislike this new overture of un- 
 expected ease and recovery, what remains but to 
 deplore the frowardness of our hopeless condition, 
 which neither can endure the estate we are in, nor 
 admit of remedy either sharp or sweet ? Sharp we 
 ourselves distaste ; and sweet, under whose hands 
 we are, is scrupled and suspected as too luscious. 
 In such a posture Christ found the Jews, who were 
 neither won with the austerity of John the Bap- 
 tist, and thought it too much license to follow free- 
 ly the charming pipe of him who sounded and pro- 
 claimed liberty and relief to all distresses ; yet tnith 
 in some age or other will find her witness, and shall 
 
 be justified at last by her own children 
 
 Lest therefore so noble a creature as man should 
 be shut up incurably under a worse evil by an easy 
 mistake in that ordinance which God gave him to 
 remedy a less evil, reaping to himself sorrow while 
 he Avent to rid away solitariness, it cannot avoid to 
 be concluded, that if the woman be naturally so of 
 disposition, as will not help to remove, but help to
 
 DISCIPLINE OF DIVORCE. 145 
 
 increase that same God-forbidden loneliness, which 
 in time draws on with it a general discomfort and 
 dejection of mind, not beseeming either Christian 
 profession or moral conversation, unprofitable and 
 dangerous to the commonwealth, when the house- 
 hold estate, out of which must flourish forth the 
 vigor and spirit of all public enterprises, is so ill- 
 contented and procured at home, and cannot be 
 supported ; such a marriage can be no marriage, 
 whereto the most honest end is wanting ; and the 
 aggrieved person shall do more manly, to be ex- 
 traordinary and singular in claiming the due right 
 whereof he is finistrated, than to piece up his lost 
 contentment by visiting the stews, or stepping tn 
 his neighbor's bed, which is the common shift in 
 this misfortune ; or else by suffering his useful life 
 to waste away, and be lost under a secret affliction 
 of an unconscionable size to human strength. 
 Against all which evils the mercy of this Mosaic 
 
 law was graciously exhibited 
 
 St. Paul saith, "It is better to marry than to 
 burn." Marriage, therefore, was given as a rem- 
 edy of that trouble : but what might this burning 
 mean ? Certainly not the mere motion of carnal 
 lust, not the mere goad of a sensitive desire : God 
 does not principally take care for such cattle. What 
 is it then but that desire which God put into Adam 
 in Paradise, before he knew the sin of incontinence ; 
 that desire which God saw it was not good that 
 man should be left alone to burn in ; the desire 
 
 7 3
 
 146 FROM THE DOCTRINE AST) 
 
 and longing to put off an unkindly solitariness by 
 uniting another body, but not without a fit soul to 
 his, in the cheerfiil society of wedlock ? Which, if 
 it were so needful before the fall, when man was 
 much more perfect in himself, how much more is 
 it needful now against all the sorrows and casualties 
 of this life, to have an intimate and speaking help, 
 a ready and reviving associate in marriage ? . . . . 
 As for that other burning, which is but as it were 
 the venom of a lusty and over-abounding concoction, 
 strict life and labor, with the abatement of a full 
 diet, may keep that low and obedient enough ; but 
 this pure and more inbred desire of joining to itself 
 m conjugal fellowship a fit conversing soul (which 
 desire is properly called love) "is stronger than 
 death," as the spouse of Christ thought ; " many 
 waters cannot quench it, neither can the floods 
 drown it." .... 
 
 But all ingenuous men will see that the dignity 
 and blessing of marriage is placed rather in the 
 mutual enjoyment of that which the wanting soul 
 needfully seeks, than of that which the plenteous 
 body would joyfully give away. Hence it is that 
 Plato in his festival discom"se brings in Socrates 
 relating what he feigned to have learned from the 
 prophetess Diotima, how Love was the son of 
 Penmy, begot of Plenty in the garden of Jupiter. 
 Which divinely sorts with that which in effect 
 Moses tells us, that Love was the son of Loneli- 
 ness, begot in Paradise by that sociable and helpful
 
 DISCIPLINE OF DIVORCE. 147 
 
 aptitude which God implanted between man and 
 woman toAvard each other. The same, also, is that 
 burning mentioned by St. Paul, whereof marriage 
 ought to be the remedy : the flesh hath other mu- 
 tual and easy ciu:bs which are in the power of any 
 temperate man. When, therefore, this original and 
 sinless penury, or loneliness of the soul, cannot lay 
 itself down by the side of such a meet and accept- 
 able union as God ordained in marriage, at least in 
 some proportion, it cannot conceive and bring forth 
 love, but remains utterly unmarried under a former 
 wedlock, and still burns, in the proper meaning of 
 St. Paul. Then enters Hate ; not that hate that 
 sins, but that which only is natural dissatisfaction, 
 and the turning aside from a mistaken object: if 
 that mistake have done injury, it' fails not to dis- 
 miss with recompense ; for to retain still, and not 
 be able to love, is to heap up more injury. Thence 
 tliis wise and pious law of dismission now defended 
 took beginning : he, therefore, who, lacking of his 
 due in the most native and humane end of mar- 
 riage, thinks it better to part than to live sadly and 
 injuriously to that cheerful covenant, (for not to be 
 beloved, and yet retained, is the greatest injury to 
 a gentle spirit,) he, I say, who therefore seeks to 
 jiart, is one who highly honors the married life and 
 would not stain it: and the reasons which now 
 move him to divorce are equal to the best of those 
 that could first warrant him to marry ; for, as was 
 plainly shown,^ both the hate which now diverts
 
 148 FROM THE DOCTRINE AND 
 
 him, and the loneliness which leads him still power- 
 fully to seek a fit help, hath not the least grain of 
 a sin in it, if he be worthy to miderstand him- 
 self. .... 
 
 Marriage is a covenant, the very being whereof 
 consists not in a forced cohabitation, and counter- 
 feit performance of duties, but in unfeigned love 
 and peace : and of matrimonial love, no doubt but 
 that was chiefly meant, which by the ancient sages 
 was thus parabled ; that Love, if he be not twin 
 born, yet hath a brother wondrous like him, caUed 
 Anteros; whom, while he seeks all about, his chance 
 is to meet with many false and feigning desires, that 
 wander singly up and down in his likeness : by 
 them in their borrowed garb. Love, though not 
 wholly blind, as poets wrong him, yet having but 
 one eye, as being born an archer aiming, and that 
 eye not the quickest in this dark region here below, 
 which is not Love's proper sphere, partly out of 
 the simplicity and credulity which is native to him, 
 often deceived, embraces and consorts him with 
 these obvious and suborned striphngs, as if they 
 were his mother's own sons ; for so he thinks them, 
 while they subtilely keep themselves most on his 
 blind side. But after a while, as his manner is, 
 when soaring up into the high tower of his Apo- 
 gseum, above the shadow of the earth, he darts out 
 the direct rays of his then most piercing eyesight 
 upon the impostures and trim disguises that were 
 used with him, and discerns that this is not his
 
 DISCIPLINE OF DIVORCE. 149 
 
 genuine brother, as he imagined ; he has no longer 
 the power to hold fellowship with such a personated 
 mate : for straight his arrows lose their golden 
 heads, and shed their purple feathers, his silken 
 braids untwine, and slip their knots, and that 
 original and fiery virtue given him by fate all on a 
 sudden goes out, and leaves him undeified and de- 
 spoiled of all his force ; till finding Anteros at last, 
 he kindles and repairs the almost-faded ammunition 
 of his deity by the reflection of a coequal and 
 homogeneal fire. Thus mine author sung it to me : 
 and by the leave of those who would be counted 
 the only grave ones, this is no mere amatorious 
 novel ; (though to be wise and skilful in these 
 matters, men heretofore of greatest name in virtue 
 have esteemed it one of the highest arcs, that hu- 
 man contemplation circling upwards can make from 
 the globy sea whereon she stands ;) but this is a 
 deep and serious verity, showing us that love in 
 marriage cannot live nor subsist unless it be mu 
 tual ; and where love cannot be, there can be left 
 of wedlock nothing but the empty husk of an out- 
 side matrimony, as undelightful and unpleasing to 
 
 God as any other kind of hypocrisy 
 
 As those priests of old were not to be long in 
 sorrow, or if they were, they could not rightly 
 execute their function ; so every true Christian, in 
 a higher order of priesthood, is a person dedicate 
 to joy and peace, offering himself a lively sacrifice 
 of praise and thanksgiving, and there is no Chris-
 
 150 FROM THE DOCTRINE AND 
 
 tian duty that is not to be seasoned and set off with 
 cheerishness. . . . ; 
 
 Tliat there is a hidden efficacy of love and hatred 
 in man as well as in other kinds, not moral but 
 natural, which, though not always in the choice, 
 yet in the success of marriage will ever be most 
 predominant : besides daily experience, the author 
 of Ecclesiasticus, whose wisdom hath set him next 
 the Bible, acknowledges, xiii. 16, " A man," saith 
 he, " will cleave to his like." But what might be 
 the cause, whether each one's allotted genius or 
 proper star, or whether the supernal influence of 
 schemes and angular aspects, or this elemental era- 
 sis here below ; whether all these jointly or singly 
 meeting friendly, or unfriendly in either party, I 
 dare not, with the men I am hke to clash, appear 
 so much a philosopher as to conjecture. The an- 
 cient proverb in Homer, less abstruse, entitles this 
 work of leading each like person to his like, pecu- 
 liarly to God himself: which is plain enough also 
 by his naming of a meet or like help in the first 
 espousal instituted ; and that every woman is meet 
 for every man, none so absurd as to affirm. Seeing 
 then there is a twofold seminary, or stock in nature, 
 from whence are derived the issues of love and 
 hatred, distinctly flowing through the whole mass 
 of created things, and that God's doing ever is to 
 bring the due likenesses and harmonies of his 
 works together, except, when out of two contraries 
 /net to their own destruction, he moulds a third
 
 DISCI PLIXE OF DIVORCE. 151 
 
 existence ; and that it is error, or some evil angel 
 which either blindly or maliciously hath drawn 
 together, in two persons ill embarked in wedlock, 
 the sleeping discords and enmities of nature, lulled 
 on purpose with some false bait, that they may 
 wake to agony and strife, later than prevention 
 could have wished, if from the bent of just and 
 honest intentions beginning what was begun and 
 so continuing, all that is equal, all that is fair and 
 possible hath been tried, and no accommodation 
 likely to succeed ; what folly is it still to stand 
 combating and battering against invincible causes 
 and effects, with evil upon evil, till either the best 
 of our days be lingered out, or ended with some 
 speeding sorrow ! . . . . 
 
 If the law allow sin, it enters into a kind of cove- 
 nant with sin ; and if it do, there is not a greater sin- 
 ner in the world than the law itself. The law, to use 
 an allegory something different fi'om that in Pliilo 
 Judaeus concerning Amalek, though haply more 
 significant, the law is the Israelite, and hath this 
 absolute charge given it, Deut. xxv. " To blot out 
 memory of sin, the Amalekite, from under heaven, 
 not to forget it." Again, the law is the Israelite, 
 and hath this express repeated command, " to make 
 no covenant with sin, the Canaanite," but to ex- 
 pel him, lest he prove a snare. And to say 
 truth, it were too rigid and reasonless to proclaim 
 Buch an enmity between man and man, were it 
 not the type of a greater enmity between law and
 
 152 FROM THE DOCTRINE AND 
 
 Bin. I speak even now, as if sin were condemned 
 in a perpetual villanage never to be free by law, 
 never to be manumitted : but sure sin can have no 
 tenure by law, at all, but is rather an eternal out- 
 law, and in hostility with law past all atonement ; 
 both diagonal contraries, as much allowing one 
 another, as day and night together in one hemis- 
 phere. Or if it be possible, that sin with his 
 darkness may come to composition, it cannot be 
 without a foul eclipse and twilight to the law, 
 wliose brightness ought to surpass the noon 
 
 If it were such a cursed act of Pilate, a subor- 
 dinate judge to Csesar, overswayed by those hard 
 hearts, with much ado to suffer one transgression 
 of law but once ; what is it then with less ado to 
 pubHsh a law of transgression for many ages ? 
 Did God for this come down and cover the mount 
 of Sinai with his glory, uttering in thunder those 
 his sacred ordinances out of the bottomless treasures 
 of his wisdom and infinite pureness, to patch up an 
 ulcerous and rotten commonwealth with strict and 
 stern injunctions, to wash the skin and garments 
 for every unclean touch ; and such easy permis- 
 sion given to pollute the soul with adulteries by 
 public authority, without disgrace or question ? . . . . 
 
 The hidden ways of his providence we adore 
 and search not, but the law is his revealed will, 
 his complete, his evident and certain will : herein 
 he appears to us, as it were, in human shape, en- 
 ters into covenant with us, swears to keep it, bind*
 
 DISCIPLINE OF DIVORCE 153 
 
 himself like a just lawgiver to his own prescrip- 
 tions, gives himself to be understood by men, judges 
 and is judged, measures and is commensurate to 
 right reason ; cannot requu'e less of us in one can- 
 e of his law than in another; his legal justice 
 .•annot be so fickle and variable, sometimes like a 
 devouring fire, and by and by connivent in the 
 embers, or if I may so say, oscitant and supine. 
 The vigor of his law could no more remit, than the 
 hallowed fire upon his altar could be let go out. 
 The lamps that burned before him miglit need 
 
 snuffinjr, but the licrht of his law never 
 
 Whenas the doctrine of Plato and Chrysippus, 
 with their followers, the academics and the stoics, 
 who knew not what a consummate and most adorned 
 Pandora was bestowed upon Adam, to be the nurse 
 and guide of his arbitrary happiness and persever- 
 ance, I mean, his native innocence and perfection, 
 which might have kept him fi'om being our true 
 Epimetheus : and though they taught of virtue 
 and vice to be both the gift of divine destiny, they 
 could 3^et give reasons, not invaUd, to justify the 
 councils of God and fate from the insulsity of mor- 
 tal tongues : that man's own free will self-corrupted, 
 is the adequate and sufficient cause of jiis disobe- 
 dience besides fate ; as Homer also wanted not to 
 express, both in his Iliad and Odyssee. And Ma- 
 nilius the poet, although in his fourth book he tells 
 of some " created both to sin and punishment " ; 
 yet without murmuring, and with an industrious 
 7*
 
 154 FROM THE DOCTRINE AND 
 
 cheerfulness, he acquits tlie Deity. They were 
 not ignorant, in their heathen lore, that it is most 
 godlike to punish those who of his creatures be- 
 came his enemies with the greatest punishment ; 
 and they could attain also to think, that the great- 
 est, when God himself throws a man furthest fi'om 
 him ; which then they held lie did, when he 
 blinded, hardened, and stirred up his offenders, to 
 finish and pile up their desperate work since they 
 had undertaken it. To banish forever into a local 
 hell, whether in the air or in the centre, or in tliat 
 uttermost and bottomless gulf of chaos, deeper 
 from holy bliss than the world's diameter multi- 
 plied ; they thought not a punishing so proper and 
 proportionate for God to inflict, as to punish sin 
 with sin. Thus were the common sort of Gentiles 
 wont to think, without any wry thoughts cast upon 
 divine governance. And therefore Cicero, not in 
 his Tusculan or Campanian retirements among the 
 learned wits of that age, but even in the senate to 
 a mixed auditory, (though he were sparing other- 
 wise to broach his philosophy among statists and 
 lawyers,) yet as to this point, both in his Oration 
 against Piso, and in that which is about the answers 
 of the soothsayers against Clodius, he declares it 
 publicly, as no paradox to common ears, that God 
 cannot punish man more, nor make him more mis- 
 erable, than still by making him more sinful. Thus 
 we see how in this controversy the justice of God 
 stood upright even among heathen disputers
 
 DISCIPLINE OF DIVORCE. 155 
 
 But it wafi not approved. So much the worse 
 that it was allowed ; as if sin had overmastered the 
 word of God, to conform her steady and straight 
 rule to sin's crookedness, which is impossible. Be- 
 sides, what needed a positive grant of that which 
 was not approved ? It restrained no liberty to 
 him that could but use a little fraud ; it had been 
 better silenced, unless it were approved in some 
 case or other. But still it was not approved. Mis- 
 erable excusers ! he who doth evil, that good may 
 come thereby, approves not what he doth ; and yet 
 the grand rule forbids him, and counts his damn* 
 tion just if he do it. The sorceress Medea did not 
 approve her own evil doings, yet looked not to be 
 excused for that : and it is the constant opinion of 
 Plato in Protagoras, and other of his dialogues, 
 agreeing with that proverbial sentence among the 
 Greeks, that " no man is wicked willingly." 
 Which also the Peripatetics do rather distinguish 
 than deny. What great thank then if any man, 
 reputed wise and constant, wili neither do, nor 
 })ermit others under his charge to do, that which 
 he approves not, especially in matter of sin ? but 
 for a judge, but for a magistrate, the shepherd of 
 his people, to surrender up his approbation against 
 law, and his own judgment, to the obstinacy of 
 his herd, what more unjudgelike, unmagistratelike, 
 and in war more uncommanderlike ? Twice in a 
 short time it was the undoing of the Roman state, 
 first when Pompey, next when Marcus Brutus,
 
 156 FROM THE DOCTRINE AND 
 
 had not magnanimity enough but to make so poor 
 a resignation of what they approved, to what the 
 boisterous tribunes and soldiers bawled for. Twice 
 it was the saving of two of the greatest common- 
 wealths in the world, of Athens by Themistocles 
 at the seafight of Salamis, of Rome by Fabius 
 Maximus in the Punic war ; for that these two 
 matchless generals had the fortitude at home, 
 against the rashness and the clamors of their own 
 captains and confederates, to withstand the doing 
 or permitting of what they could not approve in 
 their duty of their great command. Thus far of 
 civil prudence. But when we speak of sin, let us 
 look again upon the old reverend Eli, who in his 
 heavy punishment found no difference between the 
 doing and permitting of what he did not approve. 
 If hardness of heart in the people may be an ex- 
 cuse, why then is Pilate branded through all mem- 
 ory ? He approved not what he did, he openly 
 protested, he washed his hands, and labored not a 
 little ere he would yield to the hard hearts of a 
 whole people, both princes and plebeians, importun- 
 ing and tumulting even to the fear of a revolt 
 
 The political law, since it cannot regxdate vice, 
 is to restrain it by using all means to root it out. 
 But if it suffer the weed to grow up to any pleas- 
 urable or contented height upon what pretext so- 
 ever, it fastens the root, it prunes and dresses vice, 
 as if it were a good plant. Let no man doubt 
 therefore to affirm, that it is not so hurtful or dis-
 
 DISCIPLINE OF DIVORCE. 157 
 
 honorable to a commonwealth, nor so much to the 
 hardening of hearts, when those worse faults pre- 
 tended to be feared are committed, by who so 
 dares under strict and executed penalty, as when 
 those less faults tolerated for fear of greater, hard- 
 en their faces, not their hearts only, under the pro- 
 tection of public authority. For what less indig- 
 nity were this, than as if justice herself, the queei» 
 of virtues, descending from her sceptred royalty, 
 instead of conquering, should compound and treat 
 with sin, her eternal adversary and rebel, upon ig- 
 noble terms ? or as if the judicial law were like 
 that untrusty steward in the Gospel, and instead of 
 calling in the debts of his moral master, should 
 give out subtile and sly acquittances to keep him- 
 self from begging ? or let us person him like some 
 wretched itinerary judge, who, to gi'atify his delin- 
 quents before him, would let them basely break his 
 head, lest they should pull him from the bench, and 
 throw him over the bar. Unless we had rather 
 think both moral and judicial, full of malice and 
 deadly purpose, conspired to let the debtor Israel- 
 ite, the seed of Abraham, run on about a bankrupt 
 score, flattered with insufficient and ensnaring dis- 
 charges, that so he might be haled to a more cruel 
 forfeit for all the indulgent arrears which those 
 judicial acquittances had engaged him in. No, 
 no, this cannot be, that the law, whose integrity 
 and faithfulness is next to God, should be either 
 the shameless broker of our impunities, or the in-
 
 158 FROM THE DOCTRINE AND 
 
 tended instrument of our destruction. The meth- 
 od of holy correction, such as became the common- 
 wealth of Israel, is not to bribe sin with sin, to 
 capitulate and hire out one crime with another ; 
 but with more noble and graceful severity than 
 Popilius the Roman legate used with Antiochus, to 
 limit and level out the direct way from vice to vii^ 
 tue, with straightest and exactest lines on either 
 side, not winding or indenting so much as to the 
 right hand of fair pretences. Violence indeed and 
 insurrection may force the law to suffer what it 
 cannot mend ; but to write a decree in allowance 
 of sin, as soon can the hand of justice rot off. Let 
 this be ever concluded as a truth that will outlive 
 the faith of those that seek to bear it down. .... 
 
 God loves not to plough out the heart of our en- 
 deavors with over-hard and sad tasks. God delights 
 not to make a drudge of virtue, whose actions must 
 be all elective and unconstrained. Forced virtue 
 is as a bolt overshot, it goes neither forward noi- 
 backward, and does no good as it stands 
 
 If any, therefore, hath been through misadven- 
 ture ill engaged in this contracted evil, and finds 
 the fits and workings of a high impatience frequent- 
 V upon him ; of all those wild words Avhich men 
 m misery think to ease themselves by uttering, let 
 him not open his lips against the providence of 
 Heaven, or tax the ways of God and his divine 
 truth ; for they are equal, easy and not liurden 
 some ; nor do they ever cross the just tmd reason
 
 DISCIPLINE OF DIVORCE. 159 
 
 able desires of men, nor involve this our portion 
 of mortal life into a necessity of sadness and mal- 
 content, by laws commanding over the unreduci- 
 ble antipathies of nature, sooner or later found, but 
 allow us to remedy and shake off those e\als into 
 which human error hath led us through the midsl 
 of our best intentions, and to support our incident 
 extremities by that authentic precept of sovereign 
 charity, whose grand commission is to do and to 
 dispose over all the ordinances of God to man, that 
 \ove and truth may advance each other to everlast- 
 ing. While we, literally superstitious, through 
 customary faintness of heart, not venturing to 
 pierce with our free thoughts into the full latitude 
 of nature and religion, abandon ourselves to serve 
 under the tyranny of usurped opinions ; suffering 
 those ordinances which were allotted to our solace 
 and reviving, to trample over us, and hale us into 
 a multitude of sorrows, which God never meant us. 
 And where he sets us in a fair aUoAvance of way, 
 with honest liberty and prudence to our guard, we 
 never leave subtilizing and casuisting till we have 
 straitened and pared that liberal path into a ra- 
 zor's edge to walk on ; between a precipice of un- 
 necessary mischief on either side, and starting at 
 every false alarm, we do not know which way to 
 set a foot forward with manly confidence and 
 Christian resolution, through the confused ringing 
 
 in our ears of panic scruples and amazements 
 
 Hate is of all things the mightiest divider ; nay, is
 
 160 DOCTRINE OF DIVORCE. 
 
 division itself. To couple hatred therefore, though 
 wedlock try all her golden links, and borrow to her 
 aid all the iron manacles and fetters of law, it does 
 but seek to twist a rope of sand, which was a task 
 they say that posed the Devil ; and that sluggish 
 fiend in hell, Ocnus, whom the poems tell of, 
 brought his idle cordage to as good effect, which 
 never served to bind with, but to feed the ass that 
 stood at his elbow
 
 FROM 
 
 TETRACHORDON. 
 
 EN of most renowned virtue have 
 sometimes by transgressing most tru- 
 |- \y kept the law; and wisest magis- 
 trates have permitted and dispensed 
 it ; while they looked not peevishly at the letter, 
 but with a greater spirit at the good of mankind, 
 if always not written in the characters of law, yet 
 engraven in the heart of man by a divine impres- 
 sion. This heathens could see, as the well-read 
 in story can recount of Solon and Epaminondas, 
 whom Cicero, in his first book of " Invention," 
 nobly defends. " All law," saith he, " we ought 
 to refer to the common good, and interpret by that, 
 not by the scroll of letters. No man observes law 
 for law's sake, but for the good of them for whom 
 it was made." The rest might serve well to lec- 
 ture these times, deluded through belly doctrines 
 into a devout slavery. The Scripture also affords 
 us David in the showbread, Hezekiah in the pass- 
 over, sound and safe transgressors of the literal
 
 162 FROM TETRACHORDON. 
 
 command, which also dispensed not seldom with 
 itself; and taught us on what just occasions to do 
 so : until our Saviour, for whom that great and 
 godlike work was reserved, redeemed us to a state 
 above prescriptions, by dissolving the whole law 
 
 into charity 
 
 No mortal nature can endure, either in the 
 actions of religion, or study of wisdom, without 
 sometime slackening the cords of intense thought 
 and labor, which, lest we should think faulty, God 
 himself conceals us not his own recreations before 
 the world was built : " I was," saith the Eternal 
 Wisdom, " daily his delight, playing always before 
 jiiin." And to him, indeed, wisdom is as a high 
 tower of pleasure, but to us a steep hill, and we 
 toiling ever about the bottom. He executes with 
 ease the exploits of his omnipotence, as easy as 
 with us it is to will ; but no worthy enterprise can 
 be done by us without continual plodding and 
 wearisomeness to our faint and sensitive abilities. 
 We cannot, therefore, always be contemplative, or 
 pragmatical abroad, but have need of some delight- 
 ful intermissions, wherein the enlarged soul may 
 leave off a while her severe schooling, and, like a 
 glad youth in wandering vacancy, may keep her 
 holidays to joy and harmless pastime ; which, as 
 she cannot well do without company, so in no 
 company so well as where the different sex, in most 
 resembling unlikeness, and most unlike resem- 
 blance, cannot but please best, and be pleased in
 
 FROM TETRACHORDON. 163 
 
 the aptitude of that variety. Whereof, lest we 
 should be too timorous, in the awe that our flat 
 sages would form us and dress us, wi;>est Solomon 
 among his gravest proverbs countenances a kind 
 of ravishment and erring fondness in the entertain- 
 ment of wedded leisures ; and in the Song of Songs, 
 which is generally believed, even in the jolliest ex- 
 pressions, to figure the spousals of the Church with 
 Christ, sings of a thousand raptures between those 
 two lovely ones far on the hither side of carnal 
 enjoyment. By these instances, and more whicli 
 might be brought, we may imagine how indulgently 
 God provided against man's loneliness; that lie 
 approved it not, as by himself declared not good ; 
 that he approved the remedy thereof, as of his 
 own ordaining, consequently good ; and as ho 
 ordained it, so doubtless proportionably to our 
 fallen estate he gives it ; else were his ordinance 
 at least in vain, and we for all his gifts still empty 
 
 handed 
 
 This I amaze me at, that though all the superior 
 and nobler ends both of marriage and of the mar- 
 ried persons be absolutely frustrate, the matrimony 
 stirs not, loses no hold, remains as rooted as the 
 centre : but if the body bring but in a complaint 
 of frigidity, by that cold apphcation only this ada- 
 mantine Alp of wedlock has leave to dissolve ; 
 which else all the machinations of religious or civil 
 reason at the suit of a distressed mind, either for 
 divine worship or human conversation violated
 
 164 FROM TETRACHORDON. 
 
 cannot unfasten. What courts of concupiscence 
 are these, wherein fleshly appetite is heard before 
 right reason, lust before love or devotion ? They 
 may be pious Christians together, they may be lov- 
 ing and friendly, they may be helpfiil to each other 
 in the family, but they cannot couple ; that shall 
 divorce them, though either party would not. 
 They can neither serve God together, nor one be 
 at peace with the other, nor be good in the family 
 one to other ; but live as they were dead, or live 
 as they were deadly enemies in a cage together : 
 it is all one, they can couple, they shall not divorce 
 till death, no, though this sentence be their death. 
 What is this besides tyranny, but to turn nr.ture 
 upside down, to make both religion and the mind 
 of man wait upon the slavish errands of the body, 
 and not the body to follow either the sanctity or 
 the sovereignty of the mind, unspeakably wronged, 
 and with all equity complaining ? what is this but 
 to abuse the sacred and mysterious bed of marriage 
 to be the compulsive sty of an ingrateful and malig- 
 nant lust, stirred up only fi-om a carnal acrimony, 
 without either love or peace, or regard to any 
 other thing holy or human ? This I admire, how 
 ])ossibly it should inhabit thus long in the sense of 
 so many disputing theologians, unless it be the 
 lowest lees of a canonical infection liver-grown to 
 their sides, which, perhaps, will never uncling, 
 without the strong abstersive of some heroic magis- 
 trate, whose mind, equal to his high office, dares
 
 FROM TETRACHORDON. 165 
 
 lead him both to know and to do without their 
 fi'ivolous case-putting 
 
 All arts acknowledge, that then only we know 
 certainly, when we can define ; for definition is 
 that which refines the pure essence of things from 
 the circumstance 
 
 For no other cause did Christ assure us that 
 whatsoever things we bind or slacken on earth, are 
 so in heaven, but to signify that the Christian ar- 
 bitrament of charity is supreme decider of all con- 
 troversy, and supreme resolver of all Scripture, not 
 as the pope determines for his own tyranny, but as 
 the Church ought to determine for its own true 
 
 liberty I omit many instances, many proofs 
 
 and arguments of this kind, which alone would 
 compile a just volume, and shall content me here 
 to have shown briefly, that the great and almost 
 only commandment of the Gospel is, to command 
 nothing against the good of man, and much more 
 no civil command against his civil good. If we 
 understand not this, we are but cracked cymbals, 
 Ave do but tinkle, we know nothing, we do nothing, 
 all the sweat of our toilsomest obedience will but 
 mock us. And what we suffer superstitiously re- 
 turns us no thanks 
 
 In every commonwealth, when it decays, cornip- 
 tion makes two main steps : first, when men cease 
 to do according to the inward and uncompelled 
 actions of virtue, caring only to live by the out- 
 ward constraint of law and turn the simplicity of
 
 166 FROM TETRACHORDON. 
 
 real good into the craft of seeming so by law. To 
 
 this hypocritical honesty was Rome declined in 
 
 that age wherein Horace lived, and discovered it 
 
 to Quintius. 
 
 " Whom do we count a good man, whom but he 
 Who keeps the laws and statutes of the Senate 1 
 Who judges in great suits and controversies % 
 Whose witness and opinion wins the cause 1 
 But his own house, and the whole neighborhood 
 Sees his foul inside througii his whited skin." 
 
 The next declining is, when law becomes now 
 too strait for the secular manners, and those too 
 loose for the cincture of law. This brings in false 
 and crooked interpretations to eke out law, and 
 invents the subtle encroachments of obscure tra- 
 ditions hard to be disproved 
 
 If these be the limits of law to restrain sin, who 
 so lame a sinner but may hop over them more 
 easily than over those Romulean circumscriptions, 
 not as Remus did, with hard success, but with all 
 indemnity? Such a limiting as this were not worth 
 the mischief that accompanies it. This law there- 
 fore, not bounding the supposed sin, by permitting 
 enlarges it, gives it enfranchisement. And never 
 greater confusion, than when law and sin move 
 their landmarks, mix their territories, and corre- 
 .'ipond, have intercourse, and traffic together. When 
 law contracts a kindred and hospitality with trans- 
 gression, becomes the godfather of sin, and names 
 it lawful ; when sin revels and gossips within the 
 arsenal of law, plays and dandles the artillery oi
 
 FROM TETRACHORDON. 167 
 
 justice tliat should be bent against her, this is a 
 tair hmitation indeed. Besides, it is an absurdity 
 to say tliat law can measure sin, or moderate sin : 
 sin is not in a predicament to be measui'ed and 
 modified, but is always an excess. The least sin 
 that is exceeds the measure of the largest law that 
 can be good ; and is as boundless as that vacuity 
 beyond the world. If once it square to the measure 
 of law, it ceases to be an excess, and consequently 
 ceases to be a sin ; or else law, conforming itself to 
 the obliquity of sin, betrays itself to be not straight, 
 but crooked, and so immediately no law. And 
 the improper conceit of moderating sm by law will 
 appear, if we can imagine any lawgiver so sense- 
 less as to decree, that so far a man may steal, and 
 thus far be drunk, that moderately he 'may cozen, 
 and moderately commit adultery. To the same 
 extent it would be as pithily absurd to publish, that 
 a man may moderately divorce, if to do that be 
 entirely naught. But to end this moot : the law 
 of Moses is manifest to fix no limit therein at all, 
 or such at least as impeaches the fraudulent abuser 
 no more than if it were not set ; only I'equires the 
 dismissive writing without other caution, leaves 
 that to the inner man, and the bar of conscience. 
 But it stopped other sins. This is as vain as the 
 rest, and dangerously uncertain : the contrary to 
 be feared rather, that one sin, admitted courteously 
 by law, opened the gate to another. However, 
 evil must not be done for good. And it were a 
 fall to be lamented, and indignity unsj)eakable, if
 
 168 FliOM TETRACHORDON. 
 
 .kw should become tributary to sin, her slave, and 
 forced to yield up into his hands her awful minis- 
 ter, punishment ; should buy out our peace with 
 sin for sin, paying, as it were, her so many Phil- 
 istian foreskins to the proud demand of transgres- 
 sion. But suppose it any way possible to limit sin, 
 to put a girdle about that chaos, suppose it also 
 good ; yet if to permit sin by law be an abomina- 
 tion in the eyes of God, as Cameron acknowledges, 
 the evil of permitting will eat out the good of lim- 
 iting. For though sin be not limited, there can 
 out evil come out of evil ; but if it be permitted 
 and decreed lawful by divine law, of force then sin 
 must proceed from the Infinite Good, which is a 
 dreadful thought. But if the restraining of sin by 
 this permission being good, as this author testifies, 
 be more good than the permission of more sin by 
 the restraint of divorce, and that God, weighing 
 both these like two ingots, in the perfect scales of 
 his justice and providence, found them so, and 
 others, coming without authority from God, shall 
 change this counterpoise, and judge it better to let 
 sin multiply by setting a judicial restraint upon 
 divorce which Christ never set ; then to limit sin 
 by this permission, as God himself thought best to 
 permit it, it will behove them to consult betimes 
 whether these their balances be not false and 
 abominable, and this their limiting that which 
 God loosened, and their loosening the sins that 
 he limited, which they confess was good to do : 
 and were it possible to do by law, doubtless it
 
 FROM TETRACHORDON. 169 
 
 would be most m )rally good ; and they so believ- 
 ing, as we hear they do, and yet abolishing a law 
 so good and moral, the limiter of sin, what are 
 they else but contrary to themselves ? For they 
 can never bring us to that time wherein it will not 
 be good to limit sin, and they can never limit it 
 better than so as God prescribed in his law 
 
 The New Testament, though it be said originally 
 writ in Greek, yet hath notliing near so many 
 Atticisms as Hebraisms, and Syriacisms, which 
 was the majesty of God, not filing the tongue of 
 Scripture to a Gentilish idiom, but in a princely 
 manner offering to them as to Gentiles and for- 
 eigners grace and mercy, though not in foreign 
 words, yet in a foreign style that might induce 
 them to the fountains ; and though their calling 
 were high and happy, yet still to acknowledge 
 God's ancient people their betters, and that lan- 
 guage the metropolitan language 
 
 For nature hath her zodiac also, keeps her great 
 annual circuit over human things, as truly as the 
 sun and planets in the firmament ; hath her anom- 
 alies, hath her obliquities in ascensions and declina- 
 tions, accesses and recesses, as blamelessly as they 
 in heaven. And sitting in her planetary orb with 
 two reins in each hand, one strait, the other loose, 
 tempers the course of minds as well as bodies to 
 several conjunctions and oppositions, friendly or 
 unfriendly aspects, consenting oftest with reason, 
 but never contrary. 
 8
 
 FROM THE 
 
 TENURE OF KINGS AND MAGIS- 
 TRATES. 
 
 CAD MEN FAVORABLE TO TYRANTS. 
 
 iF men within themselves would be gov 
 erned by reason, and not generally give 
 up their understanding to a double 
 tyranny, of custom from without, and 
 blind affections within, they would discern better 
 what it is to favor and uphold the tyrant of a nation. 
 But, being slaves within doors, no wonder that 
 they strive so much to have the public state con- 
 formably goirerned to the inward vicious rule by 
 which they govern themselves. For, indeed, none 
 can love freedom heartily but good men ; the rest 
 love not freedom but license, which never hath 
 more scope, or more indulgence than under tyrants. 
 Hence is it that tyrants are not oft offended, nor 
 stand much in doubt of bad men, as being all 
 naturally servile ; but in whom virtue and true 
 worth most is eminent, them they fear in earnest, 
 as by right their masters ; against them lies all 
 their hatred and suspicion. Consequently, neither
 
 OF KINGS AND MAGISTRATES. 171 
 
 do bad men hate tyrants, but have been always 
 readiest, with the falsified names of loyalty and 
 obedience, to color over their base compliances. 
 
 It is true, that most men are apt enough to civil 
 wars and commotions as a novelty, and for a flash 
 hot and active ; but through sloth or inconstancy, 
 and weakness of spirit, either fainting ere their 
 own pretences, though never so just, be half 
 attained, or through an inbred falsehood and 
 wickedness, betray, ofttimes to destruction with 
 themselves, men of noblest temper joined with 
 them for causes whereof they in their rash under- 
 takings were not capable. If God and a good 
 cause give them victory, the prosecution whereof 
 for the most part inevitably draws after it the 
 alteration of laws, change of government, down- 
 fall of princes with their families ; then comes the 
 task to those worthies which are the soul of that 
 enterprise, to be sweat and labored out amidst the 
 throng and noses of vulgar and irrational men. 
 Some contesting for privileges, customs, forms, and 
 that old entanglement of iniquity, their gibberish 
 laws, though the badge of their ancient slavery. 
 Others, who have been fiercest against their prince, 
 under the notion of a tyrant, and no mean incen- 
 diaries of the war against them, when God, out of 
 his providence and high disposal hath delivered 
 him into the hand of their brethren, on a sudden 
 and in a new garb of allegiance, which their doings
 
 172 FROM THE TENURE OF 
 
 have long since cancelled, they plead for him, pity 
 him, extol him, protest against those that talk of 
 bringing him to the trial of justice, which is the 
 sword of God, superior to all mortal things, in 
 whose hand soever by apparent signs his testified 
 will is to put it 
 
 JUSTICE AGAINST THE TYRANT. 
 
 But who in particular is a tyrant, cannot be de- 
 termined in a general discourse, otherwise than by 
 supposition ; his particular charge, and the suffi- 
 cient proof of it, must determine that : which I 
 leave to magistrates, at least to the uprighter sort 
 of them, and of the people, though in number less 
 by many, in whom faction least hath prevailed 
 above the law of nature and right reason, to judge 
 us they find cause. But this I dare own as part 
 of my faith, that if such a one there be, by whose 
 commission whole massacres have been committed 
 on his faithful subjects, his provinces offered to 
 pawn or alienation, as the hire of those whom he 
 iiad solicited to come in and destroy whole cities 
 and countries ; be he king, or tyrant, or emperor, 
 the sword of justice is above him ; in whose hand 
 soever is found sufficient power to avenge the ef- 
 fusion, and so great a deluge of innocent blood. 
 For if all human power to execute, not accident- 
 ally but intendedly, the wrath of God upon evil- 
 doers without exception, be of God : then that
 
 KIiXGS AND MAQISTRATES. 173 
 
 power, whether ordinary, or if that fail, extraordi- 
 nary, so executing that intent of God, is lawful, 
 and not to be resisted 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF KINGLY GOVERNMENT. 
 
 No man, who knows aught, can be so stupid to 
 deny, that all men naturally were born free, being 
 the image and resemblance of God himself, and 
 were, by privilege above all the creatures, born to 
 command, and not to obey : and that they lived so, 
 till from the root of Adam's transgression falling 
 among themselves to do wrong and violence, and 
 foreseeing that such courses must needs tend to the 
 destruction of them all, they agreed by common 
 league to bind each other from mutual injury, and 
 jointly to defend themselves against any that 
 gave disturbance or opposition to such agreement. 
 Hence came cities, towns, and commonwealths. 
 And because no faith in all was found sufficiently 
 binding, they saw it needfiil to ordain some author- 
 ity that might restrain by force and punishment 
 what was violated against peace and common right. 
 
 This authority and power of self-defence and 
 preservation being originally and naturally in 
 every one of them, and unitedly in them all ; for 
 ease, for order, and lest each man should be his 
 own partial judge, they communicated and de- 
 rived either to one, whom for the eminence of his 
 wisdom and integrity they chose above the rest, or
 
 174 FROM THE TENURE OF 
 
 to more than one, whom they thought of equal de- 
 serving : the first was called a king ; the other, 
 magistrates : not to be their lords and masters, 
 (though afterward those names in some places 
 were given voluntarily to such as had been 
 authors of inestimable good to the people,) but 
 to be their deputies and commissioners, to ex- 
 ecute, by virtue of their intrusted power, that jus- 
 tice, which else every man by the bond of nature 
 and of covenant must have executed for himself, 
 and for one another. And to him that shall con- 
 sider well, why among free persons one man by 
 civil right should bear authority and jurisdiction 
 over another, no other end or reason can be imagi- 
 nable. 
 
 POPULAR CHECKS ON KINGLY POWER. 
 
 These for a while governed well, and with much 
 equity decided all things at their own arbitrament ; 
 till the temptation of such a power, left absolute 
 in their hands, perverted them at length to injus- 
 tice and partiality. Then did they, who now by 
 trial had found the danger and inconveniences of 
 committing arbitrary power to any, invent laws, 
 either framed or consented to by all, that should 
 confine and hmit the authority of whom they 
 chose to govern them : that so man, of whose 
 filing they had proof, might no more rule over 
 them, but law and reason, abstracted as much
 
 KINGS AND MAGISTRATES. 175 
 
 as might be from personal errors and fi'ailties. 
 •' While, as the magistrate was set above tlie peo 
 pie, so the law was set above the magistrate." 
 When this would not serve, but that the law was 
 either not executed, or misapplied, they were con- 
 strained from that time, tlie only remedy left them, 
 to put conditions and take oaths from all kings and 
 magistrates at their first instalment, to do impartial 
 justice by law : who, upon those terms and no 
 other received allegiance from the people, that is 
 to say, bond or covenant to obey them in execu- 
 tion of those laws, which they, the people, had 
 themselves made or assented to. And this oft- 
 times with express warning, that if the king or 
 magistrate proved unfaithful to his trust, the peo- 
 ple would be disengaged. They added also coun- 
 sellors and parliaments, not to be only at his beck, 
 but, with him or without him, at set times, or at 
 all times, when any danger threatened, to have 
 care of the public safety, . . , . 
 
 KINGS ACCOXmTABLE TO LAW. 
 
 To say kings are accountable to none but God, 
 is the overturning of all law and government. 
 For if they may refuse to give account, then all 
 covenants made with them at coronation, all oaths 
 are in vain, and mere mockeries ; all laws which 
 they swear to keep, made to no pm-pose : for if 
 tiie king fear not God, (as how many of them d<
 
 176 FROM THE TENURE OF 
 
 not,) we hold then our Hves and estates by the 
 tenure of his mere grace and mercy, as from a god, 
 not a mortal magistrate : a position that none but 
 court-parasites or men besotted would maintain ! 
 Ai'istotle, therefore, whom we commonly allow for 
 one of the best interpreters of nature and morali- 
 ty, writes in the fourth of his Politics, chap. x. that 
 " monarchy unaccountable is the worst sort of tyr- 
 anny, and least of all to be endured by free-born 
 men." 
 
 And surely no Christian prince, not drunk with 
 high mind, and prouder than those pagan CsBsars 
 that deified themselves, would arrogate so unrea- 
 sonably above human condition, or derogate so 
 basely from a whole nation of men, his brethren, 
 as if for him only subsisting, and to serve liis glo- 
 ry, valuing them in comparison of his own brute 
 will and pleasure no more than so many beasts, or 
 vermin under his feet, not to be reasoned with, but 
 to be trod on ; among whom there might be found 
 so many thousand men for wisdom, virtue, noble- 
 ness of mind, and all other respects but the fortune 
 of his dignity, far above him. Yet some would 
 persuade us that this absurd opinion was King Da- 
 vid's, because in the 51st Psalm he cries out to 
 God, " Against thee only have I sinned " ; as if 
 David had imagined, that to murder Uriah and 
 adulterate liis wife had been no sin against his 
 neighbor, whenas that law of Moses was to the 
 king expressly, (Deut. xvii.,) not to think so high-
 
 KINGS AND MAGISTRATES. 177 
 
 \j of himself above his brethren. David, there- 
 fore, by those words, could mean no other, than 
 either that the depth of his guiltiness was known 
 to God only, or to so few as had not the will or 
 power to question him, or that the sin against God 
 was greater beyond compare than against Uriah. 
 Whatever his meaning were, any wise man will 
 see, that the pathetical words of a psalm can be 
 no certain decision to a point that hath abun- 
 dantly more certain rules to go by. 
 
 How much more rationally spoke the heathen 
 king Deraophoon, in a tragedy of Euripides, than 
 these interpreters would put upon King David ! " I 
 rule not my people by tyranny, as if they were bar- 
 barians ; but am myself liable, if I do unjustly, to 
 suffer justly." Not unlike was the speech of Tra- 
 jan, the worthy emperor, to one whom he made 
 general of his praetorian forces : " Take this drawn 
 sword," saith he, " to use for me if I reign well ; 
 if not, to use against me." Thus Dion relates. 
 And not Trajan only, but Theodosius, the youn- 
 ger, a Chiistian emperor, and one of the best, 
 caused it to be enacted, as a rule undeniable and 
 fit to be acknowledged by all kings and emperors, 
 tliat a prince is bound to the laws ; that on the au- 
 thority of law the authority of a prince depends, 
 and to the laws ought to submit. Which edict of 
 his remains yet unrepealed in the Code of Justin- 
 ian, (1. I. tit. 24,) as a sacred constitution to all 
 the succeeding emperors. How can any king in 
 
 8* \
 
 178 FROM THE TENURE OF 
 
 Europe maintain and write himself accountable ta 
 none but God, when emperors in their own impe- 
 rial statutes have written and decreed themselves 
 accountable to law ? And indeed, where such ac- 
 count is not feared, he that bids a man reign over 
 him above law, may bid as well a savage beast. 
 
 POWER OF CHANGE RESIDES WITH THE PEOPLE. 
 
 Since the king or magistrate holds his authority 
 of the people, both originally and naturally for 
 their good, in the first place, and not his own, then 
 may the people, as oft as they shall judge it for the 
 best, either choose him or reject him, retain him 
 or depose him, though no tyrant, merely by the 
 liberty and right of fi-eeborn men to be governed 
 as seems to them best. This, though it cannot but 
 stand with plain reason, shall be made good also by 
 Scripture : (Deut. xvii. 14 :) " When thcu art 
 come into the land which the Lord thy God giveth 
 thee, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like 
 as all the nations about me." These words con- 
 firm us that the right of choosing, yea of changing 
 then' own government, is by the grant of God 
 himself in the people. And therefore when tliev 
 desired a king, though then under another form of 
 government, and though their changing displeased 
 him, yet he that was himself their king, and re- 
 jected by them, would not be a hinderance to what 
 they intended, fiu'ther than by persuasion, but thit
 
 KINGS AND MAGISTRATES. 17S 
 
 they might do therein as they saw good, (1 Sam. 
 viii.,) only he reserved to himself the nomination 
 ot" who should reign over them. Neither did that 
 exempt the king, as if he were to God only account- 
 able, though by his especial command anointed. 
 Therefore " David first made a covenant with the 
 elders of Israel, and so was by them anointed 
 king." (2 Sam. v. 3 ; 1 Chron. xi.) And Jehoi- 
 ada the priest, making Jehoash king, made a cov- 
 enant between him and the people. (2 Kings, xi. 
 17.) Therefore when Roboam, at his coming to 
 the crown, rejected those conditions which the 
 Israelites brought him, hear what they answer 
 him : " What portion have we in David, or in- 
 heritance in the son of Jesse ? See to thine own 
 nouse, David." And for the like conditions not 
 performed, all Israel before that time deposed Sam- 
 uel ; not for his own default, but for the misgov- 
 ernment of his sons. 
 
 RIGHT OF TYRANNICIDE. 
 
 We may from hence with more ease and force 
 of argument determine what a tyrant is, and what 
 the people may do against him. A tyi'ant, whether 
 by wrong or by right coming to the crown, is he 
 who, regarding neither law nor the common good, 
 reigns only for himself and his faction : thus St. 
 Basil, among others, defines him. And because 
 his power is great, his will boundless and exor-
 
 180 FROM THE TENURE OF 
 
 bitant, the fulfilling whereof is for the most part 
 accompanied with innumerable wrongs and oppres- 
 sions of the people, murders, massacres, rapes, 
 adulteries, desolation, and subversion of cities and 
 whole provinces ; look how great a good and hap- 
 piness a just king is, so great a mischief is a tyrant ; 
 as he the public father of his country, so this the 
 common enemy. Against whom what the people 
 lawfully may do, as against a common pest and 
 destroyer of mankind, I suppose no man of clear 
 judgment need go further to be guided than by 
 the very principles of nature in him. 
 
 But because it is the vulgar folly of men to 
 desert their own reason, and, shutting their eyes, 
 to think they see best with other men's, I shall 
 show, by such examples as ought to have most 
 weight with us, what hath been done in this case 
 heretofore. The Greeks and Romans, as their 
 prime authors witness, held it not only lawful, but 
 a glorious and heroic deed, rewarded publicly with 
 statues and garlands, to kill an infamous tyrant at 
 any time without trial; and but reason, that he 
 who trod down all law should not be vouchsafed 
 the benefit of law. Insomuch that Seneca, the 
 tragedian, brings in Hercules, the grand suppressoi 
 of tyrants, thus speaking : — 
 
 * Victuna hand ulla amplior 
 Potest, magisque opima mactari Jovi 
 Qaam rex iniquas." 
 
 " There can be slain 
 No sacrifice to God more acceptable 
 Than an unjust and wicked king."
 
 KING'S AND MAGISTRATES. 181 
 
 But of these I name no more, lest it be objected 
 they were heathen ; and come to produce another 
 sort of men, that had the knowledge of true re- 
 ligion. Among the Jews this custom of tyrant- 
 kilKng was not unusual. First, Ehud, a man whom 
 God had raised to deliver Israel from Eglon, king 
 of Moab, who had conquered and ruled over them 
 eighteen years, being sent to him as an ambassador 
 with a present, slew him in his own house. But 
 ne was a foreign prince, an enemy, and Ehud 
 besides had special warrant from God. To the 
 first 1 answer, it imports not whether foreign or 
 native : for no prince so native but professes to 
 hold by law ; which, when he himself overturns, 
 breaking all the covenants and oaths that gave 
 title to his dignity, and were the bond and alliance 
 between him and his people, what differs he from 
 an outlandish king, or from an enemy ? . . . . 
 
 There is nothing that so actually makes a king 
 of England, as rightful possession and supremacy 
 in all causes both civil and ecclesiastical : and noth- 
 ing that so actually makes a subject of England, 
 as those two oaths of allegiance and supremacy, 
 observed without equivocating, or any mental res- 
 ervation. Out of doubt then, when the king shall 
 command things already constituted in church or 
 state, obedience is the true essence of a subject, 
 either to do, if it be lawful, or if he hold the thing 
 unlawful, to submit to that penalty which the law 
 imposes, so long as he intends to remain a subject
 
 182 FROM THE TENURE OF 
 
 Tlierefore when tlie people, or any pari of them, 
 shall rise against the king and his authority, ex- 
 ecuting the law in anything established, civil of 
 ecclesiastical, I do not say it is rebellion, if the 
 thing commanded though established be unlawful 
 and that they sought first all due means of redress ; 
 (and no man is further bound to law ;) but I say 
 it is an absolute renouncing both of supremacy and 
 allegiance, which, in one word, is an actual and 
 total deposing of the king, and the setting up of 
 another supreme authority over them 
 
 If then, their oaths of subjection broken, new 
 supremacy obeyed, new oaths and covenant taken, 
 notwitlistanding frivolous evasions, have in plain 
 terms unkinged the king, much more than hath 
 their seven years' war, not deposed him only, but 
 outlawed him, and defied him as an alien, a rebel 
 to law, and enemy to the state, it must needs be 
 clear to any man, not averse from reason, that hos- 
 tility and subjection are two direct and positive 
 contraries, and can no more in one subject stand 
 together in respect of the same king, than one 
 person at the same time can be in two remote 
 places. Against whom therefore the subject is in 
 act of hostility, we may be confident, that to him 
 he is in no subjection : and in whom hostility takes 
 place of subjection, for they can by no means con- 
 sist together, to him the king can be not only no 
 king, but an enemy. 
 
 So that fi'om hence we shall not need dispute,
 
 KINGS AND MAGISTRATES. 183 
 
 whether they liave deposed him, or what they have 
 defaulted towards him as no king, but show mani- 
 festly how much they have done towards the kill- 
 'ng him. Have they not levied all these wars 
 against Kim, whether offensive or defensive, (for 
 defence in war equally offends, and most prudently 
 beforehand,) and given commission to slay, where 
 they knew his person could not be exempt from 
 danger? And if chance or flight had not saved 
 him, how often had they killed him, directing their 
 artillery, without blame or prohibition, to the very 
 place where they saw him stand ? Have they not 
 sequestered him, judged or unjudged, and con- 
 verted his revenue to other uses, detaininor from 
 him, as a grand delinquent, all means of livehhood, 
 so that for them long since he might have perished, 
 or have starved ? Have they not hunted and pur- 
 sued him round about the kingdom with sword and 
 fire ? Have they not formerly denied to treat with 
 him, and their now recanting ministers preached 
 against him, as a reprobate incurable, an enemy to 
 God and his Church, marked for destruction, and 
 therefore not to be treated wnth ? Have they not 
 besieged him, and to their power forbid him water 
 and fire, save what they shot against him to the 
 hazard of his life ?
 
 184 FROM THE TENURE OF 
 
 RIGHTS AND POWERS OF A FREE NATION. 
 
 But God, as we have cause to trust, will put 
 other thoughts into the people, and turn them fi^om 
 giving ear or heed to these mercenary noisemakers, 
 of whose fury and false prophecies we have enough 
 experience ; and from the murmurs of new discord 
 will incline them to hearken rather with erected 
 minds to the voice of our supreme magistracy, call- 
 ing us to liberty, and the flourishing deeds of a 
 reformed commonwealth ; with this hope, that as 
 'rod was heretofore angry with the Jews who 
 . ejected him and his form of government to choose 
 a king, so that he will bless us, and be propitious 
 to us, who reject a king to make him only our 
 leader, and supreme governor, in the conformity, 
 as near as may be, of his own ancient government ; 
 if we have at least but so much worth in us to 
 entertain the sense of our future happiness, and 
 the courage to receive what God vouchsafes us ; 
 wherein we have the honor to precede other na- 
 tions, who are now laboring to be our followers. 
 
 For as to this question in hand, what the people 
 by their just right may do in change of government, 
 or of governor, we see it cleared sufficiently besides 
 other ample authority even from the mouths of 
 princes themselves. And surely they that shall 
 boast, as we do, to be a free nation, and not have 
 in themselves the power to remove or abolish any 
 governor supreme, or subordinate, with the gov-
 
 KINGS AND MAGIHTRATES. 185 
 
 ernment itself upon urgent causes, may please their 
 fancy with a ridiculous and painted fi'eedom, fit to 
 cozen babies ; but we are indeed under tyranny 
 and servitude, as wanting that power, which is the 
 root and source of all liberty, to dispose and econ- 
 omize in the land which God hath given them, as 
 masters of family in their own house and free in- 
 heritance. Without which natural and essential 
 power of a free nation, though bearing high their 
 heads, they can in due esteem be thought no better 
 than slaves and vassals born, in the tenure and 
 occupation of another inheriting lord ; whose gov- 
 ernment, though not illegal, or intolerable, hangs 
 over them as a lordly scourge, not as a free govern- 
 ment ; and therefore to be abrogated. 
 
 How much more justly then may they fling off 
 tyranny, or tyrants ; who being once deposed can 
 be no more than private men, as subject to the 
 reach of justice and arraignment as any other 
 transgressors? And certainly if men, not to speak 
 of heathen, both wise and religious, have done jus- 
 tice upon tyrants what way they could soonest, 
 how much more mild and humane then is it, to 
 give them fair and open trial ; to teach lawless 
 kings, and all who so much adore them, that not 
 mortal man, or his imperious will, but justice, is 
 the only true sovereign and supreme majesty upon 
 earth? Let men cease therefore, out of faction 
 and hypocrisy, to make outcries and horrid things 
 of things so just and honorable. Though perhaps
 
 186 FROM THE TENURE OF 
 
 till now, no Protestant state or kingdom can be 
 alleged to have openly put to death their king, 
 which lately some have written, and imputed to 
 their great glory; much mistaking the matter. 
 It is not, neither ought to be, the glory of a Prot- 
 estant state never to have put their king to death ; 
 it is the glory of a Protestant king never to have 
 deserved death. And if the Parliament and mili- 
 tary council do what they do without precedent, if 
 it appear their duty, it argues the more wisdom, 
 virtue, and magnanimity, that they know them- 
 selves able to be a precedent to others ; who per- 
 haps, in future ages, if they prove not too degenerate, 
 will look up with honor, and aspire towards these 
 exemplary and matchless deeds of their ancestors, 
 as to the highest top of their civil glory and emula- 
 tion ; which heretofore, in the pursuance of fame 
 and foreign dominion, spent itself vaingloriously 
 abroad; but henceforth may learn a better forti- 
 tude, to dare execute highest justice on them that 
 shall by force of arms endeavor the oppressing and 
 bereaving of religion and their liberty at home. 
 That no unbridled potentate or tyrant, but to his 
 sorrow, for the future may presume such high and 
 irresponsible license over mankind, to havoc and 
 turn upside down whole kingdoms of men, as 
 though they were no more in respect of his per- 
 verse will than a nation of pismires 
 
 For divines if we observe them have their pos- 
 tures, and their motions no less expertly, and \n\h
 
 KINGS AND MAGISTRATES. 187 
 
 rio less variety, than they that practice feats in the 
 Artillery -ground. Sometimes they seem fonously 
 to march on, and presently mai'ch counter; by aud 
 by they stand, and then retreat ; or, if need be, can 
 face about, or wheel in a whole body, with that 
 cunning and dexterity as is almost unperceivable, 
 to wind themselves by shifting ground into places 
 of more advantage. And providence only must 
 be the drum, providence the word of command, 
 that calls them from above, but always to some 
 larger benefice, or acts them into such or sucli 
 figures and promotions. At their turns and doub- 
 lings no men readier, to the right, or to the left 
 for it is their turns which they serve chiefly ; herein- 
 only singular, that with them there is no certain 
 hand, right or left, but as their own commodity 
 thinks best to call it. But if there come a truth 
 to be defended, which to them and their interest 
 of this world seems not so profitable, straight these 
 nimble motionists can find not even legs to stand 
 upon ; and are no more of use to reformation thor- 
 oughly performed, and not superficially, or to the 
 advancement of truth, (which among mortal men 
 is always in her progress,) than if on a sudden they 
 were struck maim and crippled. Which the better 
 to conceal, or the more to countenance by a general 
 conformity to their own limping, they would have 
 Scripture, they would have reason also, made 'to 
 halt with them for company ; and would ptit us ofiF 
 with impotent conclusions, lame and shorter than 
 the premises.
 
 188 KINGS AND MAGISTRATES. 
 
 In this posture they seem to stand with great 
 zeal and confidence on the wall of Sion ; but like 
 Jebusites, not like Israehtes, or Levites : blind also 
 as well as lame, they discern not David from Adoni- 
 bezec : but cry him up for the lord's anointed, 
 whose thumbs and great toes not long before they 
 had cut off upon their pulpit cushions. Therefore 
 he who is our only King, the Root of David, and 
 whose kingdom is eternal righteousness, with all 
 those that war under him, whose happiness and 
 final hopes are laid up in that only just and rightful 
 kingdom, (which we pray incessantly may come 
 soon, and in so praying wish hasty ruin and destruc- 
 tion to all tyrants,) even he our immortal King, 
 and all that love him, must of necessity have, in 
 abomination these blind and lame defenders of 
 Jerusalem, as the soul of David hated them, and 
 forbid them entrance into God's house, and his 
 own. But as to those before them, .... being 
 the best and chief of Protestant divines, we may 
 follow them for faithful guides, and without doubt- 
 ing may receive them, as witnesses abundant of 
 what we here affirm concerning tyrants. And in- 
 deed I find it generally the clear and positive de- 
 termination of them all, (not prelatical, or of this 
 late faction sub-prelatical,) who have written on 
 this argument, that to do justice on a lawless king 
 is to a private man unlawful ; to an inferior magis- 
 trate, lawfiil.
 
 FROM 
 
 OBSERVATIONS ON THE ARTICLES 
 OF PEACE, &c. 
 
 'E accuses first, " That we are the siib- 
 verters of religion, the protectors and 
 inviters not only of all false ones, but 
 Jlsie of irreligion and atheism " ; an accusa- 
 tion that no man living could more unjustly use 
 than our accuser himself; and which, without a 
 strange besottedness, he could not expect but to be 
 retorted upon his own head ; all men who are tnie 
 Protestants, of which number he gives out to be 
 one, know not a more immediate and killing sub- 
 verter of all true religion than Antichrist, whom 
 they generally believe to be the pope and Church 
 of Rome ; he therefore, who makes peace with this 
 grand enemy and persecutor of the true Church, 
 he who joins with him, strengthens him, gives him 
 root to grow up and spread his poison, removing 
 all opposition against him, granting him schools, 
 abbeys, and revenues, garrisons, towns, fortresses, 
 as in so many of those articles may be seen, he of 
 
 * James, Earl of Ormuud, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
 
 190 FROM OBSERVATIONS ON 
 
 all Protestants may be called most justly the sul)- 
 verter of true religion, the protector and inviter of 
 iri'eligion and atheism, whether it be Ormond or 
 his master. And if it can be no way proved that 
 the Parliament hath countenanced Popery or Pa- 
 pists, but have everywhere broken their temporal 
 power, thrown down their public superstitions, and 
 confined them to the bare enjoyment of that which 
 is not in our reach, their consciences ; if they have 
 encouraged all true ministers of the Gospel, that 
 is to say, afforded them favor and protection in all 
 places where they preached, and although they 
 think not money or stipend to be the best encour- 
 agement of a true pastor, yet therein also have not 
 been wanting nor intend to be, they doubt not then 
 to affirm themselves, not the subverters, but the 
 maintainers and defenders, of true religion ; which 
 of itself and by consequence is the surest and the 
 strongest subversion, not only of all false ones, but 
 of irreligion and atheism. For " the weapons of 
 that warfare," as the apostle testifies, who best 
 knew, " are not carnal, but mighty through God 
 to the pulling down of strongholds, and all reason- 
 ings, and every high thing exalted against the 
 knowledge of God, surprising every thought unto 
 the obedience of Christ, and easily revenging all 
 disobedience." 2 Cor. x. What minister or clergy- 
 man, that either understood his high calling, or 
 sought not to erect a secular and carnal tyranny 
 over spii'itual things, would neglect this ample
 
 THE ARTICLES OF PEACE. 191 
 
 and sublime power conferred upon him, and come 
 a-begging to the weak hand of magistracy for tliat 
 kind of aid which the magistrate liath no commis- 
 sion to afford him, and in the way he seeks it 
 liatli been always found helpless and unprofitable. 
 Neither is it unknown, or by wisest men unob- 
 served, that the Church began then most appar- 
 ently, to degenerate, and go to ruin, when she 
 borrowed of the cvn\ power more than fair encour- 
 agement and protection,, more than which Christ 
 himself and his apostles never required. To say, 
 therefore, that we protect and invite all false re- 
 ligions, with irreligion also and atheism, because we 
 lend not, or rather misapply not, the temporal power 
 to help out, though in vain, the sloth, the spleen, 
 the insufficiency of churchmen, in the execution of 
 spiritual disciphne over those within their charge, 
 or those without, is an imputati n that may be laid 
 as well upon the best regulated states and govern- 
 ments through the world ; who have been so 
 pnident as never to employ the civil sword fiu'ther 
 than the edge of it could reach, that is, to civil 
 offences only ; proving always against objects that 
 were spiritual a ridiculous weapon. Our protec- 
 tion therefore to men in civil matters unofFensive 
 we cannot deny ; their consciences we leave, as 
 not within our cognizance, to the proper cure of 
 instinaction, praying for them. Nevertheless, if 
 any be found among us declared atheists, malicious 
 enemies of God, and of Christ ; the Parliament, T
 
 192 FROM THE ARTICLES OF PEACE. 
 
 think, professes not to tolerate such, but with all 
 befitting endeavors to suppress them. Otherways 
 to protect none that in a larger sense may be taxed 
 of irreligion and atheism, may perhaps be the 
 ready way to exclude none sooner out of protec- 
 tion, than those themselves that most accuse it to 
 be so general to others. Lastly, that we invite 
 such as these, or encourage them, is a mere slander 
 without proof. 
 
 ^^(
 
 FROM 
 
 EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 UT the people, exorbitant and exces- 
 sive in all their motions, are prone 
 ofttimes not to a religious only, but 
 to a civil kind of idolatry, in idolizing 
 their kino-s : though never more mistaken in the 
 object of their worship ; heretofore being wont to 
 repute for saints those faithful and courageous 
 barons, who lost their lives in the field, making 
 glorious war against tyrants for the common lib- 
 erty; as Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, 
 against Henry III. ; Thomas Plantagenet, Earl of 
 Lancaster, against Edward 11. But now, with a 
 besotted and degenerate baseness of spirit, except 
 some few who yet retain in them the old English 
 fortitude and love of freedom, and have testified it 
 by their matchless deeds, the rest, imbastardized 
 from the ancient nobleness of their ancestors, are 
 ready to fall flat, and give adoration to the image 
 and memory of this man, who hath offered at more 
 cunning fetches to undermine our liberties, and put 
 tyranny into an art, than any British king before 
 
 9 ' M
 
 194 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 him. Which low dejection and debasement of 
 mind in the people, I must confess, I cannot will 
 ingly ascribe to the natm'al disposition of an Eng 
 lisliman, but rather to two other causes ; first, to 
 the prelates and their fellow-teachers, though of 
 another name and sect, whose pulpit-stuft', both 
 first and last, hath been the doctrine and perpetual 
 infusion of servility and wretchedness to all their 
 hearers, and w^hose lives, the type of worldlinesa 
 and hypocrisy, without the least true pattern of 
 virtue, righteousness, or self-denial in their whole 
 practice. I attribute it, next, to the factious in- 
 clination of most men, divided from the public by 
 several ends and humors of their own 
 
 I NEVER knew that time in England, when men 
 of traest religion w^ere not counted sectaries : but 
 wisdom now, valor, justice, constancy, prudence 
 united and embodied to defend religion and our 
 liberties, both by word and deed, against tyranny, 
 is counted schism and faction. 
 
 Thus in a graceless age things of highest praise 
 and imitation under a right name, to make them 
 infamous and hateful to the people, are mis- 
 called. Certainly, if ignorance and perverseness 
 will needs be national and universal, then they 
 who adhere to wisdom and to truth, are not there- 
 fore to be blamed, for being so few as to seem a 
 sect or faction. But in my opinion it goes not i]' 
 with that people where these virtues grow so iiu-
 
 FROM EJKONOKLASTES. 195 
 
 merous and well joined together, as to resist and 
 make head against the rage and torrent of that 
 boisterous folly and superstition, that possesses and 
 hurries on the vulgar sort. This therefore we may 
 conclude to be a high honor done us from God, 
 and a special mark of his favor, whom he hath 
 selected as the sole remainder, after all these 
 changes and commotions, to stand upright and 
 steadfast in his cause ; dignified with the defence 
 of truth and public liberty ; while others, wlio 
 aspired to be the top of zealots, and had almost 
 brought religion to a kind of trading monoj)oly, 
 have not only by their late silence and neutrality 
 belied their profession, but foundered themselves 
 and their consciences, to comply with enemies in 
 that wicked cause and interest, which they have 
 too often cursed in others, to prosper now m the 
 same themselves. .... 
 
 " He hoped by his freedom and their moderation 
 to prevent misunderstandings." * And wherefore 
 not by their freedom and his moderation? But 
 freedom he thought too high a word for them, and 
 moderation too mean a word for himself: this was 
 not the way to prevent misunderstandings. He 
 still " feared passion and prejudice in other men " ; 
 not in himself: " and doubted not by the weight 
 jf his" own "reason, to counterpoise any faction "; 
 
 * This and quotations following are from the Eikon Basilik^, 
 which claimed to have been written by Charles I.
 
 196 Fll OM EIKONOKLA S TES. 
 
 it being so easy for him, and so frequent, to call 
 his obstinacy reason, and other men's reason, fac- 
 tion. We in the mean while must beheve that 
 wisdom and all reason came to him by title with 
 his crown ; passion, prejudice, and faction came to 
 others by being subjects. 
 
 " He was sorry to hear, with what popular heat 
 elections were carried in many places." Sorry 
 rather, that court-letters and intimations prevailed 
 no more, to divert or to deter the people from their 
 fi'ee election of those men whom they thought best 
 affected to rehgion and then" country's liberty, both 
 at that time in danger to be lost. And such men 
 they were, as by the kingdom were sent to advise 
 him, not sent to be cavilled at, because elected, or 
 to be entertained by him with an undervalue and 
 misprision of their temper, judgment, or affection. 
 In vain was a Parliament thought fittest by the 
 known laws of our nation, to advise and regulate 
 luiruly kings, if they, instead of hearkening to 
 advice, should be permitted to turn it off, and re- 
 fuse it by vilifying and traducing their advisers, or 
 by accusing of a popular heat those that lawfully 
 elected them 
 
 And this is the substance of his first section, tiil 
 we come to the devout of it, modelled into the 
 form of a private psalter. Which they who sc 
 much admire, either for the matter or the manner, 
 may as well admire the archbishop's late breviary
 
 I'ROM EIKONOKLASTES. i^? 
 
 and many other as good manuals and handmaids 
 of devotion, the lip-work of every prelatical litur- 
 gist, clapped together and quilted out of Scripture 
 phrase, with as much ease and as little need of 
 Christian diligence or judgment, as belongs to the 
 compiling of any ordinary and salable piece of 
 Enghsh divinity, that the shops value. But he 
 who, from such a kind of psalmistry, or any other 
 verbal devotion, without the pledge and earnest of 
 suitable deeds, can be persuaded of a zeal and 
 true rigliteousness in the person, hath much yet to 
 learn"; and knows not that the deepest pohcy of a 
 tyrant hath been ever to counterfeit religious. 
 And Aristotle, in his Pohtics, hath mentioned that 
 special craft among twelve other tyrannical soph- 
 isms. .Neither want we examples : Andronicus 
 Comnenus, the Byzantine emperor, though a most 
 cruel tyrant, is reported by Nicetas to have been a 
 constant reader of Saint Paul's Epistles ; and by 
 contijiual study had so incorporated the phrase and 
 style of that transcendent apostle into all his fa- 
 miliar letters, that the imitation seemed to vie with 
 the original. Yet this availed not to deceive the 
 people of that empire, who, notwithstanding hia 
 saint's vizard, tore him to pieces for his tyranny. 
 
 From stories of this nature both ancient and 
 modern which abound, the poets also, and some 
 Enghsh, have been in this point so mindful of 
 decorum, as to put never more pious words in the 
 mouth of any person, than of a tyrant. I ?hal)
 
 198 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 not instance an abstruse author, wherein the king 
 might be less conversant, but one whom we well 
 know was the closest companion of these his soli- 
 tudes, William Shakespeare ; who introduces the 
 person of Richard the Third, speaking in as high 
 a strain of piety and mortification as is uttered in 
 any passage of this book, and sometimes to the 
 same sense and purpose with some words in tliis 
 place: "I intended," saith he, "not only to oblige 
 my friends, but my enemies." The like saith 
 Richard, act ii. scene 1 : 
 
 " I do not know that Englishman alive, 
 With whom my soul is any jot at odds, 
 More than the infant that is born to-night. 
 I thank my God for my humility." 
 
 Other stuff of this sort may be read throughout the 
 whole tragedy, wherein the poet used not much 
 license in departing from the truth of history, 
 which delivers him a deep dissembler, not of his 
 affections only, but of religion. 
 
 In praying, therefore, and in the outward work 
 of devotion, this king we see hath not at all ex- 
 ceeded the worst of kings before him. But herein 
 the worst of kings, professing Christianism, have 
 by far exceeded him. They, for aught we know, 
 have still prayed their own, or at least borrowed 
 from fit authors. But this king, not content with 
 that which, although in a thing holy, is no holy 
 theft, to attribute to his own making other men's 
 whole prayers, hath as it were unhallowed and
 
 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 199 
 
 uncliristened the very duty of prayer itself, by 
 borrowing to a Cliristian use prayers offered to a 
 Jieathen god. Who would have imagined so Uttle 
 fear in him of the true all-seeing Deity, so little 
 reverence of the Holy Ghost, whose office is to 
 dictate and present our Christian prayers, so little 
 care of truth in his last words, or honor to himself, 
 or to his friends, or sense of his afflictions, or of 
 that sad hour which was upon him, as immediately 
 before his death to pop into the hand of that grave 
 bishop who attended him, for a special relique of 
 his saintly exercises, a prayer stolen word for word 
 frouT the mouth of a heathen woman praying to a 
 heathen god ; and that in no serious book, but the 
 vain amatorious poem of Sir Philip Sidney's Ar- 
 cadia ; a book in that kind full of worth and wit, 
 but among religious thoughts and duties not worthy 
 to be named ; nor to be read at any time without 
 good caution, much less in time of trouble and 
 affliction to be a Christian's prayer-book ? . . , . 
 
 However, to the benefit of others much more 
 worth the gaining, I shall proceed in my assertion ; 
 that if only but to taste wittingly of meat or drink 
 offered to an idol be in the doctrine of St. Paul 
 judged a pollution, much more must be his sin who 
 takes a prayer so dedicated into his mouth and 
 offers it to God. Yet hardly can it be thought 
 upon (though how sad a thing !) without some 
 kind of laughter at the manner and solemn trans- 
 a'^tion of so gross a cozenage, that he, who had
 
 200 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 trampled over us so stately and so tragically, 
 should leave the world at last so ridiculously in his 
 exit, as to bequeath among his deifying friends 
 that stood about him such a precious piece of 
 mockery to be published by them, as must needs 
 cover both his and their heads with shame, if they 
 have any left. Certamly, they that will may now 
 see at length how much they were deceived in him, 
 and were ever Uke to be hereafter, who cared not, 
 so near the minute of his death, to deceive his best 
 and dearest friends with the trumpery of such a 
 prayer, not more secretly than shamefully pur- 
 loined; yet given them as the royal issue of his 
 owni proper zeal. And sure it was the hand of God 
 to let them fall, and be taken in such a foolish 
 trap, as hath exposed them to all derision; if for 
 nothing else, to throw contempt and disgrace in 
 the sight of all men upon this his idolized book, 
 and the whole rosary of his prayers ; thereby testi- 
 fying how little he accepted them from those who 
 thought no better of the hving God than of a 
 buzzard idol, fit to be so served and worshipped in 
 reversion, with the polluted orts and refuse of 
 Arcadias and romances, without being able to dis- 
 cern the affront rather than the worship of such an 
 ethnic prayer. 
 
 But leaving what might justly be offensive to 
 God, it was a trespass also more than usual against 
 human right, which commands, that every author 
 should have the property of his own work reserved
 
 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 201 
 
 to him after death, as well as living. Many princes 
 have been rigorous in laying taxes on their subjects 
 by the head ; but of any king heretofore that 
 made a levy upon their wit, and seized it as his 
 own legitimate, I have not whom besides to in- 
 stance. True it is, I looked rather to have found 
 him gleaning out of books written purposely to 
 help devotion. And if, in likelihood, he had bor- 
 rowed much more out of prayer-books than out of 
 pastorals, then are these painted feathers, that set 
 him off so gay among the people, to be thought 
 few or none of them his own. But if from his 
 divines he have borrowed nothing, nothing out of 
 all the magazine, and the rheum of their mellifluous 
 prayers and meditations, let them who now mourn 
 for him as for Thammuz, them who howl in their 
 pulpits, and by their howling declare themselves 
 right wolves, remember and consider, in the midst 
 of their hideous faces, when they do only not cut 
 their flesh for him like those rueful priests whom 
 Elijah mocked, that he who was once their Ahab, 
 now their Josiah, though feigning outwardly to 
 reverence churchmen, yet here hath so extremely 
 set at naught both them and their praying faculty, 
 that, being at a loss himself what to pray in cap- 
 tivitv, he consulted neither with the liturgy, nor 
 with the directory, but, neglecting the huge fardeJl 
 of all their honeycomb devotions, went directly 
 where he doubted not to find better praying to hiii 
 mind witli Pamela, in the Countess's Arcadia.
 
 202 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 What greater argument of disgrace and ignominj 
 could have been thrown with cunning upon the 
 whole clergy, than that the king, among all his 
 priestery, and all those numberless volumes of their 
 theological distillations, not meeting with one man 
 or book of that coat that could befriend him with 
 a prayer in captivity, was forced to rob Sir Philip 
 and his captive shepherdess of their heathen ori- 
 sons, to supply in any fashion his miserable indi- 
 gence, not of bread, but of a single prayer to God ? 
 I say therefore not of bread, for that want may 
 befall a good man, and yet not make him totally 
 miserable : but he who wants a prayer to beseecli 
 God in his necessity, it is inexpressible how poor 
 he is ; far poorer within himself than all his ene- 
 mies can make him. And the unfitness, the in- 
 decency of that pitiful supply which he sought, 
 expresses yet further the deepness of his poverty. 
 
 Thus much be said in general to his prayers, and 
 in special to that Arcadian prayer used in his cap- 
 tivity ; enough to undeceive us what esteem we 
 are to set upon the rest. For he certainly, whose 
 mind could serve him to seek a Christian prayer 
 out of a pagan legend, and assume it for his own, 
 might gather up the rest God knows from whence ; 
 one perhaps out of the French Astraea, another out 
 of the Spanish Diana ; Amadis and Palmerin could 
 hardly scape him. Such a person we may be sure 
 had it not in him to make a prayer of his own, or 
 ttt least would excuse himself tlie pains and cost
 
 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 203 
 
 of his in mention, so long as such sweet rhapsodies 
 of heathenism and knight-errantry could yield him 
 prayers. How dishonorable then, and how un- 
 worthy of a Christian king, were these ignoble 
 shifts to seem holy, and to get a saintship among 
 the ignorant and wretched people ; to draw them 
 by this deception, worse than all his former injuries, 
 to go a whoring after him ! And how unhappy, 
 how forsook of grace, and unbeloved of God that 
 people who resolve to know no more of piety or of 
 goodness, than to account him their chief saint and 
 martyr, whose bankrupt devotion came not honestly 
 by his very prayers ; but having sharked them from 
 the mouth of a heathen worshipper, (detestable to 
 teach him prayers !) sold them -to those that stood 
 and honored him next to the Messiah, as his own 
 heavenly compositions in adversity ; for hopes no 
 less vain and presumptuous (and death at that time 
 so imminent upon him) than by these goodly rel- 
 iques to be held a saint and martyr in opinion with 
 the cheated people ! 
 
 And thus far in the whole chapter we have seen 
 and considered, and it cannot but be clear to all 
 men, how, and for what ends, what concernments 
 and necessities, the late king was no way induced, 
 but every way constrained, to call this last Parlia- 
 ment ; yet here in his first prayer he trembles not 
 to avouch, as in the ears of God, " That he did it 
 with an upright intention to his glory, and liis 
 people's good"' : cf which dreadful attestation, ho■v^
 
 204 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 sincerely meant, God, to whom it was avowed, can 
 only judge ; and he hath judged already, and hath 
 written his impartial sentence in characters legible 
 to all Christendom ; and besides hath taught us, 
 that there be some, whom he hath given over to 
 delusion, whose very mind and conscience is defiled ; 
 of whom St. Paul to Titus makes mention 
 
 But let us hear what that sin was that lay so 
 sore upon him, and, as one of his prayers given 
 to Dr. Juxon testifies, to the very day of his 
 death ; it was his signing the bill of Strafford's 
 execution ; a man whom all men looked upon as 
 one of the boldest and most impetuous instruments 
 that the King had to advance any violent or ille- 
 gal design 
 
 No marvel, then, if being as deeply criminous as 
 the Earl himself, it stung his conscience to adjudge 
 to death those misdeeds, whereof himself had been 
 the chief author: no marvel though, instead of 
 blaming and detesting his ambition, his evil comi- 
 sel, his violence, and oppression of the people, he 
 fall to praise his great abilities ; and with scholastic 
 flourishes, beneath the decency of a king, compares 
 him to the sun, which in all figumtive use and sig- 
 nificance bears allusion to a king, not to a subject : 
 no marvel though he knit contradictions as close as 
 words can lie together, " not approving in his judg- 
 ment, ' and yet ajiproving in his subsequent reason, 
 all that Strafi^brd did, as " driven by the necessity
 
 FJWM EIKONOKLASTES. 205 
 
 of times, and the temper of that people'' ; for tliis 
 excuses all his misdemeanors. Lastly, no marvel 
 that he goes on building many fair and pious con- 
 clusions upon fiilse and wicked premises, which 
 deceive the common reader, not well discerning 
 the antipathy of such connections : but this is the 
 marvel, and may be the astonishment, of all that 
 have a conscience, how he durst in the sight of 
 God (and with the same words of contrition where- 
 with David repents tl;^ murdering of Uriah) j'c- 
 pent his lawful compliance to that just act of not 
 saving him, whom he ought to have delivered up 
 to speedy pmiishment, though himself the guiltier 
 of the two. 
 
 If the deed were so sinful, to liave put to death 
 so great a malefactor, it would have taken nmch 
 doubtless from the heaviness of his sin, to have 
 told God in his confession how he labored, what 
 dark plots he had contrived, into what, a league 
 entered, and with what conspirators, against his 
 Parliament and kingdoms, to have rescued from 
 the claim of justice so notable and so dear an 
 instmment of tyranny ; which would have been a 
 story, no doubt, as pleasing in tlie ears of heaven, 
 as all these equivocal repentances. For it was 
 fear, and nothing else, which made him feign before 
 both the scruple and the satisfaction of his con- 
 science, that is to say, of his mind : his first fear 
 pretended conscience, that he might be borne with 
 to refuse signing ; his latter fear, being more mi-
 
 206 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 gent, made 1 im find a conscience both to sign and 
 to be satisfied. As for repentance, it came not on 
 him till a long time after ; when he saw " he could 
 have suffered nothing more, though he had denied 
 that bill." For how could he understandingly 
 repent of letting that be treason, which the Parlia- 
 ment and whole nation so judged ? This was that 
 which repented him, to have given up to just pun- 
 ishment so stout a champion of his designs, who 
 miglit have been so useful, to him in his following 
 civil broils. It was a worldly repentance, not a 
 conscientious ; or else it was a strange tyranny, 
 which his conscience had got over him, to vex him 
 like an evil spirit for doing one act of justice, and 
 by that means to " fortify his resolution " from 
 ever doing so any more. That mind must needs 
 be irrecoverably depraved, which, either by chance 
 or importunity, tasting but once of one just deed, 
 spatters at it, and abhors the relisli ever after. 
 
 To the Scribes and Pharisees woe was denounced 
 by our Saviour, for straining at a gnat and swallow- 
 ing a camel, though a gnat were to be strained at : 
 but to a conscience with whom one good is. so hard 
 to pass down as to endanger almost a choking, and 
 bad deeds without number, though as big and 
 bulky as the ruin of three kingdoms, go down 
 currently without straining, certainly a far greater 
 woe appertains. If his conscience were come to 
 that unnatural dyscrasy, as to digest poison and to 
 keck at wholesome food, it was not for the Parlia-
 
 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 207 
 
 ment or any oi:' his kingdoms to feed with him any 
 longer. Which to conceal he would persuade us, 
 that the Parliament also in their conscience escaped 
 not "some touches of remorse " for putting Straf- 
 ford to death, in forbidding it by an after-act to be 
 a precedent for the future. But, in a fairer con- 
 struction, that act implied rather a desire in them 
 to pacify the king's mind, whom they perceived by 
 this means quite alienated : in the mean while not 
 imao-inino; that this after-act should be retorted on 
 them to tie up justice for the time to come upon 
 like occasion, whether this were made a precedent 
 or not, no more than the want of such a precedent, 
 if it had been wanting, had been available to hin- 
 der this. 
 
 But how likely is it, that this after-act argued 
 in the Parliament their least repenting for the 
 death of Strafford, when it argued so little in the 
 king himself; who, notwithstanding this after-act, 
 which had his own hand and concurrence, if not hi? 
 own instigation, within the same year accused of 
 high-treason no less than six members at once foi 
 the same pretended crimes, which his conscience 
 would not yield to think treasonable in the earl ? 
 So that this his subtle argument to fasten a repent- 
 ing, and, by that means, a guiltiness of Strafford's 
 death upon the Parhament, concludes upon his 
 owni head ; and shows us plainly, that either noth- 
 ing in his judgment was treason against the com- 
 monwealth, but only against the king's person, (a
 
 208 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 tyrannical principle !) or that his conscience was 
 a perverse and prevaricating conscience, to scruple 
 that the commonwealth should punish for treason- 
 ous in one eminent offender that which he himself 
 sought so vehemently to have punished in six guilt- 
 less persons. If this were " that touch of con 
 science, which he bore with greater regret" than 
 for any sin committed in his life, whether it were 
 that proditory aid sent to Rochelle and rehgion 
 abroad, or that prodigality of shedding blood at 
 home, to a milHon of his subjects' lives not valued 
 in comparison to one Straiford ; we may consider 
 yet at last, what true sense and feeling could be in 
 that conscience, and what fitness to be the master- 
 conscience of three kingdoms. 
 
 But the reason why he labors, that we should 
 take notice of so much " tenderness and regi'et in 
 his soul for having any hand in Strafford's death," 
 is worth the marking ere we conclude : " he hoped 
 it would be some evidence before God and man to 
 all posterity, that he was far fi'om bearing that vast 
 load and guilt of blood " laid upon him by others : 
 which hath the likeness of a subtle dissimulation ; 
 bewailing the blood of one man, his commodious 
 instrument, put to death, most justly, though by 
 him unwillingly, that we might think him too ten- 
 der to shed willingly the blood of those thousands 
 whom he counted rebels. And thus by dipping 
 voluntarily his finger's end, yet with show of great 
 remorse, in the blood of Sttafford, whereof all mew
 
 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 209 
 
 clear him, ho thinks to scape that sea of innocent 
 bloodj wherein his own gnilt inevitably hath phinged 
 him all over. And we may well perceive to wnat 
 easy satisfactions and purgations he had inured his 
 secret conscience, who thought by such weak poli- 
 cies and ostentations as these to gain belief and 
 absolution fi'om imderstanding men 
 
 That the king was so emphatical and elaborate 
 on this theme against tumults, and expressed with 
 such a vehemence his hatred of them, will redound 
 I'iss perhaps than he was aware to the commenda- 
 tion of his government. For, besides that in good 
 goyemraents they happen seldomest, and rise not 
 without cause, if they prove extreme and pernicious, 
 they were never counted so to monarchy, but to 
 monarchical tyranny ; and extremes one with 
 another are at most antipathy. If then the king 
 so extremely stood in fear of tumults, the inference 
 will endanger him to be the other extreme 
 
 The bill for a triennial Parliament was but the 
 third part of one good step toward that which in 
 times past was our annual right. The other bill 
 for settling this Parliament was new indeed, but at 
 that time very necessary ; and, in the king's own 
 words, no more than what the world " was fully 
 confirmed he might in justice, reason, honor, and 
 conscience grant them" ; for to that end he affirms 
 to have done it. 
 
 But whereas he attributes the passing of them 
 to his own act of grace and willingness, (as his 
 
 N
 
 210 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 manner is to make vii'tues of his necessities,) and 
 giving to himself all the praise, heaps ingratitude 
 upon the Parliament, a little memory will set the 
 clean contrary before us ; that for those beneficial 
 acts we owe what we OAve to the Parliament, but 
 to his granting them neither praise nor thanks. 
 The first bill granted much less than two former 
 statutes yet in force by Edward the Third ; that a 
 Parliament should be called every year, or oftener, 
 if need were ; nay, from a far ancienter law-book, 
 called the "Mirror," it is affirmed in a late treatise 
 called *' Rights of the Kingdom," that Parliaments 
 by our old laws ought twice a year to be at Lon- 
 don. From twice in one year to once in three, 
 years, it may be soon cast up how great a loss we 
 fell into of our ancient liberty by that act, which 
 in the ignorant and slavish minds we then were, 
 was thought a great purchase. 
 
 Wisest men perhaps were contented Cfor the 
 present, at least) by this act to have recovered 
 Parliaments, which were then upon the brink of 
 danger to be forever lost. And this is that which 
 the king preaches here for a special token of his 
 princely favor, to have abridged and overreached 
 the people five parts in six what their due was, 
 both by ancient statute and originally. And thus 
 the taking from us all but a triennial remnant of 
 that English freedom which our fathers left us 
 double, in a fair annuity enrolled, is set out, and 
 sold to us here for the gracious and over-liberal
 
 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 211 
 
 gi\'ing of a new enfranchisement. How little, may 
 we think, did he ever give us, who in the bill of 
 his pretended givings writes down imprimis that 
 benefit or privilege once in three years given us, 
 which by so giving he more than twice every year 
 illegally took from us : such givers as give single 
 to take away sixfold, be to our enemies ! for cer- 
 tainly this commonwealth, if the statutes of our 
 ancestors be worth aught, would have found it hard 
 and hazardous to thrive under the damage of such 
 
 a guileful liberality 
 
 Our forefathers were of that courage and severity 
 of zeal to justice and their native liberty, against 
 the proud contempt and misrule of their kings, 
 that when Richard the Second departed but from 
 a committee of lords, who sat preparing matter for 
 the Parliament not yet assembled, to the removal 
 of his evil counsellors, they first vanquished and 
 put to flight Robert de Vere, his chief favorite ; 
 and then, coming up to London with a huge army, 
 required the king, then Avithdrawn for fear, but no 
 further off than the Tower, to come to Westmin- 
 ster. Which he refusing, they told him flatly, that 
 unless he came they would choose another. So 
 high a crime it was accounted then for kings to 
 absent themselves, not from a Parliament, which 
 none ever durst, but from any meeting of his peers 
 and counsellors, which did but tend towards a 
 Parliament. Much less would they have suffered, 
 that a king, for such trivial and various pretences,
 
 212 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 one while for fear of tumults, another while " for 
 shame to see them," should leave his regal station, 
 and the whole kingdom bleeding to death of those 
 wounds, which his own unskilful and perverse gov- 
 ernment had inflicted 
 
 It being therefore most unlike a law, to ordain a 
 remedy so slender and unlawlike, to be the utmost 
 means of all public safety or prevention, as advice 
 is, which may at any time be rejected by the sole 
 judgment of one man, the king, and so unlike the 
 law of England, which lawyers say is the quin- 
 tessence of reason and mature wisdom ; we may 
 conclude, that the king's negative voice was never 
 any law, but an absurd and reasonless custom, 
 begotten and gi'own up either from the flattery of 
 basest times or the usurpation of immoderate 
 princes. Thus much to the law of it, by a better 
 evidence than rolls and records, — reason. But is 
 it possible he should pretend also to reason, that 
 the judgment of one man, not as a wise or good 
 man, but as a king, and ofttimes a wilful, proud, 
 and wicked king, should outweigh the prudence 
 and all the virtue of an elected Parliament? What 
 an abusive thing were it then to summon Parlia- 
 ments, that by the major part of voices greatest 
 matters may be there debated and resolved, when- 
 as one single voice after that shall dash all their 
 resolutions ? 
 
 He attempts to give a reason why it should : 
 " Because the whole Parliaments represent not him
 
 FROM EIKONOKLA&TES. 213 
 
 m any kind." But mark how little he advances ; 
 for if the Parliament represent the whole kingdom, 
 as is sure enouoh thev do, then doth the king 
 represent only himself; and if a king without his 
 kingdom be in a civil sense nothing, then without 
 or against the representative of his whole kingdom, 
 he himself represents nothing ; and by consequence 
 his judgment and his negative is as good as nothing. 
 And though we should allow him to be something, 
 yet not equal or comparable to the whole kingdom, 
 and so neither to them who represent it; much 
 less that one syllable of his breath put into the 
 scales should be more ponderous than the joint 
 voice and efficacy of a whole Parliament, assembled 
 by election, and endued with the plenipotence of a 
 free nation, to make laws, not to be denied laws; 
 and with no more but "no!" a sleeveless reason, 
 in the most pressing times of danger and disturb- 
 ance to be sent home frusti-ate and remediless. 
 
 Yet here he maintains, " to be no further bound 
 to agree with the votes of both houses, than he sees 
 them to agree with the will of God, with his just 
 rights as a king, and the general good of his people." 
 As to the freedom of his agreeing or not agreeing, 
 limited with due bounds, no man reprehends it ; 
 this is the question here, or the miracle rather, why 
 his only not agreeing should lay a negative bar and 
 inhibition upon that which is agreed to by a whole 
 Parliament, though never so conducing to the pub- 
 lic good or safety? To know the will of God bet-
 
 214 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 ter than his whole kingdom, whence should he 
 have it ? Certainly his court-breeding and his per- 
 petual conversation with flatterers was but a bad 
 school. To judge of his own rights could not 
 belong to him, who had no right by law in any 
 court to judge of so much as felony or treason, 
 being held a party in both these cases, much more 
 in this ; and his rights however should give place 
 to the general good, for which end all liis rights 
 were given him. 
 
 Lastly, to suppose a clearer insight and discern- 
 ing of the general good, allotted to his own singular 
 judgment, than to the Parliament and all the 
 people, and fi'om that self-opinion of discerning, to 
 deny them that good which they, being all free- 
 men, seek earnestly and call for, is an arrogance, 
 and iniquity beyond imagination rude and unrea- 
 sonable ; they undoubtedly having most authority 
 to judge of the public good, who for that purpose 
 are chosen out and sent by the people to advise 
 him. And if it may be in him to see oft " the 
 major part of them not in the right," had it not 
 been more his modesty, to have doubted their see- 
 ing him more often in the wrong ? .... In all 
 wise nations the legislative power, and the judicial 
 execution of that power, have been most com- 
 monly distinct, and in several hands ; but yet the 
 former supreme, the other subordinate. If then 
 the king be only set up to execute the law, which 
 is indeed the highest of his office, he ought no
 
 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 215 
 
 more to make or forbid the making of any law, 
 agreed upon in Parliament, than other inferior 
 judges, who are his deputies. Neither can he 
 more reject a law offered him by the Commons, 
 than he can new make a law, which they reject. 
 And yet the more to credit and uphold his cause, he 
 would seem to have philosophy on his side ; strain- 
 ing her wise dictates to unphilosophical purposes. 
 But when kings come so low, as to fawn upon 
 philosophy, which before they neither valued nor 
 understood, it is a sign that fails not, they are then 
 put to their last trump. And philosophy as well 
 requites them, by not suffering her golden sayings 
 either to become their lips, or to be used as masks 
 and colors of injurious and violent deeds. So that 
 what they presume to borrow from her sage and 
 virtuous rules, like the riddle of the Sphinx not 
 understood, breaks the neck of their own cause. 
 
 But now again to politics : " He cannot think 
 the majesty of the crown of England to be bound 
 by any coronation oath in a blind and brutish for- 
 mality, to consent to whatever its subjects in Par- 
 liament shall require." What tyrant could presume 
 to say more, when he meant to kick down all law, 
 government, and bond of oath ? But why he so 
 desires to absolve himself the oath of his corona- 
 tion would be worth the knowing. It cannot but 
 be yielded, that the oath, which binds him to the 
 performance of his trust, ought in reason to contain 
 the sum of what his chief trust and office is. But
 
 21 G FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 if it neither do enjoin, nor mention to liim, as a 
 part of his duty, the making nor the marring of 
 any law, or scrap of law, but requires only liis 
 assent to those laws which the people have already 
 chosen, or shall choose ; (for so both the Latin of 
 that oath, and the old English ; and all reason ad- 
 mits, that the people should not lose under a new 
 king what freedom they had before ;) then that 
 negative voice so contended for, to deny the pass- 
 ing of any law wliich the Commons choose, is both 
 against the oath of his coronation, and his kingly 
 office. 
 
 And if the king may deny to pass what the Par- 
 liament hath chosen to be a law, then doth the 
 king make himself superior to his whole kingdom ; 
 which not only the general maxims of policy gain- 
 say, but even our own standing laws, as hath been 
 cited to him in remonstrances heretofore, that 
 " the king hath two superiors, the law, and his 
 court of Parliament." But this he counts to be a 
 blind and brutish fomiality, whether it be law, or 
 oath, or his duty, and thinks to turn it off with 
 wholesome words and phrases, which he then first 
 learnt of the 'honest people, when they were so 
 often compelled to use them against those more 
 truly blind and brutish formalities thrust upon us 
 by his own command, not in civil matters only, but 
 in spiritual. And if his oath'to perform what the 
 people require, when they crown him, be in his 
 -isteem a brutish formality, then doubtless those
 
 FROM ElKONOKLASTES. 217 
 
 other oaths of allegiance and supremacy, taken 
 absolute on our part, may most justly appear to us 
 in all respects as brutish and as formal ; and so by 
 his own sentence no more binding to us, than his 
 oath to him 
 
 Thus much of what he suffered by Hotham, and 
 with what patience ; now of what Hotham suffered, 
 as he judges, for opposing him : " he could not but 
 observe how God, not long after, pleaded and 
 avenged his cause." Most men are too apt, and 
 commonly the worst of men, so to intei'pret, and 
 expound the judgments of God, and all other events 
 of Providence or chance, as makes most to tlie 
 justifying of their own cause, though never so 
 evil ; and attribute all to the particular favor of 
 God towards them. Thus when Saul heard tliat 
 David was in Keilah, " God," saith he, " hath 
 delivered him into my hands, for he is shut in." 
 But how far that king was deceived in his thought 
 that God was favoring to his cause, that story un- 
 folds ; and how little reason this king had to impute 
 the death of Hotham to God's avengement of his 
 repulse at Hull, may easily be seen. 
 
 For while Hotham continued faithful to his 
 trust, no man more safe, more successful, more in 
 reputation than he : but from the time he first 
 sought to make his peace with the king, and to 
 betray into his hands* that town, into which before 
 he had denied him entrance, nothing prospered 
 with him. Certainly had God purposed him such 
 
 10
 
 218 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 an end for his opposition to the king, he would nyt 
 have deferred to punish him till then, when of »n 
 enemy he was changed to be the king's friend, nor 
 have made his repentance and amendment the 
 occasion of liis ruin. How much more likely is it, 
 since he fell into the act of disloyalty to his charge, 
 that the judgment of God concurred with the pun- 
 ishment of man, and justly cut him off for revolting 
 to the king ; to give the world an example, that 
 Hoi'ious deeds done to ambitious ends find reward 
 
 o 
 
 answerable, not to their outward seeming, but to 
 their inward ambition ! In the mean while, what 
 tlianks he had from the king for revolting to his 
 cause, and what good opinion for dying in his ser- 
 vice, they who have ventured like him, or intend, 
 may here take notice. 
 
 He proceeds to declare, not only in general 
 wherefore God's judgment was upon Hotham, but 
 undertakes by fancies and allusions to give a criti- 
 cism upon every particular, " that his head was 
 divided from his body, because his heart was divided 
 from the king ; two heads cut off in one family for 
 affronting the head of the commonwealth ; the 
 eldest son being infected with the sin of his father, 
 against the father of his country." These petty 
 glosses and conceits on the high and secret judg- 
 ments of God, besides the boldness of unwarrant- 
 able commenting, are so weak and shallow, and so 
 like the quibbles of a court sermon, that we may 
 safely reckon them e'ther fetched from such a pat
 
 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 219 
 
 tern, or that the hand of some household priest 
 foisted them in ; lest the world should forget how 
 much he was a disciple of those cymbal doctors. 
 But that argument, by which the author would 
 commend them to us, discredits them the more ; 
 for if they be so " obvious to every fancy," the 
 more likely to be erroneous, and to misconceive 
 the mind of those high secrecies, whereof they 
 presume to determine. For God judges not by 
 
 human fancy 
 
 "He is sorry that Hotham felt the justice of 
 others, and fell not rather into the hands of his 
 mercy." But to clear that, he should have shown 
 us what mercy he had ever used to such as fell into 
 his hands before, rather than what mercy he in- 
 tended to such as never could come to ask it. 
 Whatever mercy one man might have expected, it 
 is too well known the whole nation found none ; 
 though they besought it often, and so humbly ; 
 but had been swallowed up in blood and ruin, to set 
 his private will above the Parliament, had not his 
 strength failed him. " Yet clemency he counts a 
 debt, which he ought to pay to those that crave it ; 
 since we pay not anything to God for his mercy 
 but prayers and praises." By this reason we ought 
 as freely to pay all things to all men ; for all that 
 we receive from God, what do we pay for, more 
 than prayers and praises ? We looked for the dis- 
 charge of his office, the payment of his duty to 
 the kingdom, and are paid court-payment, with
 
 220 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 empty sentences that have the sound of gravity, 
 but the significance of nothing pertinent 
 
 "But he had a soul invincible." What praise 
 is that ? The stomach of a child is ofttimes invin- 
 cible to all correction. The unteachable man hath 
 a soul to all reason and good advice invincible ; 
 and he who is intractable, he whom nothing can 
 persuade, may boast himself invincible ; whenas in 
 some things to be overcome, is more honest and 
 laudable than to conquer. 
 
 He labors to have it thought, " that his fearing 
 God more than man " was the ground of his suifer- 
 mgs ; but he should have known that a good prin- 
 ciple not rightly imderstood may prove as hurtful 
 as a bad ; and his fear of God may be as faulty as 
 a blind zeal. He pretended to fear God more than 
 the Parliament, who never urged him to do other- 
 wise ; he should also have feared God more than 
 he did his courtiers, and the bishops, who drew 
 him as they pleased to things inconsistent with the 
 fear of God. Thus boasted Saul to have "per- 
 formed the commandment of God," and stood in 
 it against Samuel ; but it was found at length, that 
 he had feared the people more than God, in saving 
 those fat oxen for the worship of God, which were 
 appointed for destruction. Not much unlike, if 
 not much worse, was that fact of his, who, for fear 
 to displease his court and mongrel clergy, with the 
 dissolutest of the people, upheld in the Church of 
 God, while his powej" lasted, those beasts of Ama«
 
 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 221 
 
 lee, the prelates, against the advice of his Parha- 
 ment and the example of all Reformation ; in this 
 more inexcusable than Saul, that Saul was at length 
 convinced, he to the hour of death fixed in his 
 false persuasion ; and soothes himself in the flatter- 
 ing peace of an erroneous and obdurate conscience ; 
 singing to his soul vain psalms of exultation, as if 
 the Parliament had assailed his reason with the 
 force of arms, and not he on the contraiy their 
 reason with his arms; which hath been proved 
 already, and shall be more hereafter. ,. • . . 
 
 He complains '* that civil war must be the fruits 
 of his seventeen years' reigning with such a meas- 
 ure of justice, peace, plenty, and religion, as all 
 nations either admired or envied." For the justice 
 we had, let the council-table, star-chamber, high- 
 commission speak the praise of it ; not forgetting 
 the unprincely usage, and, as far as might be, the 
 abolishing of Parhaments, the displacing of honest 
 judges, the sale of ofiices, bribery, and exaction, 
 not found out to be punished, but to be shared in 
 with impunity for the time to come. Who can 
 number the extortions, the oppressions, the public 
 robberies and rapines committed on the subject 
 both by sea and land, under various pretences ? 
 their possessions also taken from them, one wliile 
 as forest-land, another while as crown-land ; nor 
 were their goods exempted, no, not the bulHon in 
 the mint ; piracy was become a project owned and 
 authorized against the subject. For the peace we
 
 222 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 had, what peace was that which drew out the Eng- 
 hsh to a needless and dishonorable voyage against 
 the Spaniard at Cales? Or that which lent onr 
 shipping to a treacherous and antichristian war 
 against the poor Protestants of Rochelle, our sup- 
 pliants ? What peace was that which fell to rob 
 the French by sea, to the embarring of all our 
 merchants in that kingdom ? which brought forth 
 that unblest expedition to the Isle of Rh^, doubtful 
 whether more calamitous in the success, or in the 
 design, betraying all the flower of our military 
 youth and best commanders to a shameful surprisal 
 and execution. This was the peace we had, and 
 the peace we gave, whether to friends or to foes 
 abroad. And if at home any peace were intended 
 us, what meant those Irish billeted soldiers in all 
 parts of the kingdom, and the design of German 
 \iorse to subdue us in our peaceful houses ? 
 
 For our religion, where was there a more igno- 
 rant, profane, and vicious clergy, learned in nothing 
 but the antiquity of their pride, their covetousness, 
 and superstition ? whose unsincere and leavenous 
 doctrine, corrupting the people, first taught them 
 looseness, then bondage ; loosening them from all 
 sound knowledge and strictness of life, the more 
 to fit them for the bondage of tyranny and su])er- 
 stition. So that what was left us for other nations 
 not to pity, rather than admire or envy, all those 
 seventeen years, no wise man could see. For 
 wealth and plenty in a land where justice reigns
 
 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 223 
 
 not is nc argument of a flourishing state, but of a 
 nearness rather to ruin or commotion. 
 
 These were not "some miscarriages" only of 
 government, " which miglit escape," but a univer- 
 sal distemper, and reducement of law to arbitrary 
 power ; not through the evil counsels of " some 
 men," but through the constant course and prac- 
 tice of all that were in highest favor : whose worst 
 actions frequently avowing he took upon himself; 
 and what faults did not yet seem in public to bo 
 originally his, such care he took by professing and 
 proclaiming openly, as made them all at length his 
 own adopted sins. The persons also, when he 
 could no longer protect, he esteemed and favored 
 to the end ; but never otherwise than by constraint 
 yielded any of them to due punishment ; thereby 
 manifesting that what they did was by his own 
 authority and approbation. 
 
 Yet here he asks, "whose innocent blood he 
 hath shed, what widows' or orphans' tears can wit- 
 ness against him?" After the suspected poisoning 
 of his father, not inquired into but smothered up, 
 and him protected and advanced to the very half 
 of his kingdom, who was accused in Parliament to 
 be the author of the fact ; (with much more evi- 
 dence than Duke Dudley, that false protector, is 
 accused upon record to have poisoned Edwai'd the 
 Sixth ;) after all his rage and persecution, after so 
 many years of cruel war on his people in three 
 kingdoms ! Whence the author of " Truths Mani-
 
 224 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 fest," a Scotsman, not unacquainted with affairs, 
 l)ositively affirms, " that there hath been more 
 Christian blood shed by the commission, approba- 
 tion, and connivance of King Charles, and his 
 father James, in the latter end of their reign, tlian 
 in the ten Roman persecutions." Not to speak of 
 those many whippings, pillories, and other corporal 
 inflictions, wherewith his reign also, before this 
 war, was not unbloody ; some have died in prison 
 under cruel restraint, others in banishment, whose 
 lives were shortened through the rigor of that per- 
 secution wherewith so many years he infested the 
 true Church. 
 
 And those six members all men judged to have 
 escaped no less than capital danger, whom he, so 
 greedily pursuing into the House of Commons, had 
 not there the forbearance to conceal how much it 
 troubled him, " that the birds were flown." If 
 some vulture in the mountains could have opened 
 his beak intelligibly and spoke, what fitter words 
 could he have uttered at the loss of his prey ? 
 The tyrant Nero, though not yet deserving that 
 name, set his hand so unwillingly to the execution 
 of a condemned person, as to wish " he had not 
 known letters." Certainly for a king himself to 
 charge his subjects with high-treason, and so vehe- 
 mently to prosecute them in his own cause, as to 
 do the office of a searcher, argued in him no great 
 aversation from shedding blood, were it but to 
 " satisfy his anger," and that revenge was no un-
 
 FROM EIKONOKIASTES. 225 
 
 pleasing morsel to him, whereof he himself thought 
 not much to be so dihgently his own caterer. But 
 we insist rather upon what was actual than what 
 was probable 
 
 It were a folly beyond ridiculous, to count our- 
 selves a free nation, if the king, not in Parliament, 
 but in his own person, and against them, might 
 appropriate to himself the strength of a whole na- 
 tion as his proper goods. What the laws of the 
 land are, a Parliament should know best, having 
 both the life and death of laws in their law-giving 
 power : and the law of England is, at best, but the 
 reason of Parliament 
 
 But what needed that ? " They knew his chief 
 est arms left him were those only which the ancient 
 Christians were wont to use against their perse- 
 cutors, — prayers and tears." O sacred reverence 
 of God ! respect and shame of men ! whither were 
 ye fled when these hypocrisies were uttered ? 
 Was the kingdom then at all that cost of blood to 
 remove from him none but prayers and tears ? 
 What were those thousands of blaspheming cav- 
 aliers about him, whose mouths let fly oaths and 
 curses by the volley : were those the prayers ; and 
 those carouses drunk to the confusion of all things 
 good or holy, did those minister the tears? Were 
 they prayers and tears that were listed at York, 
 mustered on Heworth Moor, and laid siege to Hull 
 for the guard of his person ? Were prayers and 
 tears at so high a rate in Holland, that nothing 
 
 10* o
 
 226 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 could purchase them but the crown jewels ? Yet 
 they in Holland (such word was sent us) sold them 
 for guns, carabines, mortar-pieces, cannons, and 
 other deadly instruments of war ; which, when 
 they came to York, were all, no doubt by the 
 merit of some great saint, suddenly transformed 
 into prayers and tears: and, being divided into 
 regiments and brigades, were the only arms that 
 mischieved us in all those battles and encounters. 
 
 These were his chief arms, whatever we must 
 call them, and yet such arras as they who fought 
 for the commonwealth have, by the help of better 
 prayers, vanquished and brought to nothing 
 
 As for sole power of the militia, which he claims 
 as a right no less undoubted than the crown, it 
 hath been oft enough told him that he hath no more 
 authority over the sword than over the law : over 
 the law he hath none, either to establish or to 
 abrogate, to interpret or to execute, but only by 
 his courts and in his courts, whereof the Parlia- 
 ment is highest ; no more, therefore, hath he power 
 of the militia, wnich is the sword, either to use or 
 to dispose, but with consent of Parliament: give 
 him but that, and as good give him in a lump all 
 our laws and liberties. For if the power of the 
 sword were anywhere separate and undepending 
 from the power of the law, which is originally 
 seated in the highest court, then would that power 
 of the sword be soon master of the law : and being 
 at one man's disposal might, when he pleased, con- .
 
 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 227 
 
 trol the law ; and In derision of our Magna Charta, 
 which were but weak resistance against an armed 
 tyrant, might absolutely enslave us. And not to 
 have in ourselves, though vaunting to be freeborn, 
 the power of our own freedom, and the public 
 safety, is a degree lower than not to have the prop- 
 erty of our own goods. For liberty of person, and 
 the right of self-preservation, is much nearer, 
 much more natural, and more worth to all men, 
 than the property of their goods and wealth. Yet 
 such power as all this did the king in open terms 
 challenge to have over us, and brought thou- 
 sands to help him win it ; so much more good 
 at fighting than at understanding, as to persuade 
 themselves, that they fought then for the subject's 
 
 liberty 
 
 " This honor," he saith, " they did him, to put 
 him on the giving part." And spake truer than 
 he intended, it being merely for honor's sake that 
 they did so ; not that it belonged to him of right : 
 for what can he give to a Parliament, who receives 
 all he hath from the people, and for the people's 
 good ? Yet now he brings his own conditional 
 rights to contest and be preferred before the peo- 
 ple's good ; and yet, unless it be in order to their 
 good, he hath no rights at all ; reigning by the 
 laws of the land, not by his own ; which laws are 
 in the hands of Parliament to chancre or abrogate 
 as they see best for the commonwealth, even to the 
 taking away of kingsliip itself, when it grows too 
 masterful and burdensome.
 
 228 FROM ElKONOKLASTES. 
 
 For every commonwealtli is in general defined, 
 a society sufficient of itself, in all things conducible 
 to well-being and commodious life. Any of which 
 requisite things, if it cannot have without the gift 
 and favor of a single person, or without leave of 
 his private reason or his conscience, it cannot be 
 thought sufficient of itself, and by consequence no 
 commonwealth, nor fi'ee ; but a multitude of vassals 
 in the possession and domain of one absolute lord, 
 and wholly obnoxious to his will. If the king have 
 ^ower to give or deny anything to his Parliament, 
 .^e must do it either as a person several from them, 
 or as one greater : neither of which will be allowed 
 him : not to be considered severally from them 
 for as the king of England can do no wrong, so 
 neither can he do right but in his courts and by 
 his courts ; and what is legally done in them, shall 
 be deemed the king's assent, though he as a several 
 person shall judge or endeavor the contrary ; so 
 that indeed without his courts, or against tliem, he 
 is no king. If therefore he obtrude upon us any 
 public mischief, or withhold from us any general 
 good, which is wrong in the highest degi'ee, he 
 must do it as a tyrant, not as a king of England, 
 by the known maxims of our law. Neither can he, 
 as one greater, give aught to the Parliament which 
 is not in their own power, but he must be greater 
 also than the kingdom which they represent: so 
 that to honor him with the giving part was a mere 
 civility, and may be well termed the courtesy of 
 England, not the king's due
 
 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 229 
 
 But the " incommunicable jewel of his con- 
 science" he will not give, "but reserve to him- 
 self." It seems that his conscience was none of 
 the crown jewels ; for those we know were in 
 Holland, not incommunicable, to buy arms against 
 his subjects. Being therefore but a private jewel, 
 lie could not have done a greater pleasure to the 
 kingdom, than by reserving it to himself. But he, 
 contrary to what is here professed, would have his 
 conscience not an incommunicable, but a universal 
 conscience, the whole kingdom's conscience. Thus 
 what he seems to fear lest we should ravish from 
 him, is our chief complaint that he obtruded upon 
 us ; we never forced him to part with his conscience, 
 but it was he that would have forced us to part 
 with ours. 
 
 Some things they proposed " which would have 
 wounded the inward peace of his conscience." 
 The more our evil hap, that three kingdoms should 
 be thus pestered with one conscience ; who chiefly 
 scrupled to grant us that, which the Parliament 
 advised him to, as the chief means of our public 
 welfare and reformation. These scruples to many 
 perhaps will seem pretended ; to others, upon as 
 good grounds, may seem real ; and that it was the 
 just judgment of God, that he who was so cruel 
 and so remorseless to other men's consciences, 
 should have a conscience within him as cruel 
 to himself; constraining him as he constrained
 
 230 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 others, and ensnaring him '"n such ways and coun* 
 sels as were certain to be his djestruction 
 
 But " to exclude him from all power of denial 
 seems an arrogance " ; in the Parliament, he means : 
 what in him then to deny against the Parliament? 
 None at all, by what he argues : for, " by petition- 
 ing they confess their inferiority, and that obliges 
 them to rest, if not satisfied, yet quieted, with such 
 an answer as the will and reason of their superior 
 tliinks fit to give." First, petitioning, in better 
 English, is no more than requesting or requiring ; 
 and men require not favors only, but their due • 
 and that not only from superiors, but from equals, 
 and inferiors also. The noblest Romans, when 
 they stood for that which was a kind of regal honor, 
 the consulship, were wont in a submissive manner 
 to go about, and beg that highest dignity of the 
 meanest plebeians, naming them man by man ; 
 which in their tongue was called petitio consulatus. 
 And the Parliament of England petitioned the 
 king, not because all of them were inferior to him, 
 but because he was inferior to any one of them, 
 which they did of civil custom, and for fashion's 
 sake, more than of duty ; for by plain law cited 
 before, the Parliament is his superior. 
 
 But what law in any trial or dispute enjoins a 
 ft-eeman to rest quieted, though not satisfied, with 
 the will and reason of his superior? It were a 
 mad law that would subject reason to superiority 
 of place. And if our highest consultations and
 
 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 231 
 
 purposed laws must be terminated by the king's 
 will, then is the will of one man our law, and no 
 subtlety of dispute can redeem the Parliament and 
 nation from being slaves : neither can any tyrant 
 require more than that his will or reason, though 
 not satisfying, should yet be rested in, and deter 
 mine all things. We may conclude, therefore, 
 that when the Parliament petitioned the king, it 
 was but merely form, let it be as " foolish and ab- 
 surd" as he pleases. It cannot certainly be so 
 absurd as what he requires, that the Parliament 
 should confine their own and all the kingdom's 
 reason to the will of one man, because it was his 
 hap to succeed his father. For neither God nor 
 the laws have subjected us to his will, nor set his 
 reason to be our sovereign above law, (which must 
 needs be, if he can strangle it in the birth,) but 
 set bis person over us in the sovereign execution 
 of such laws as the Parliament establish. The 
 Parliament, therefore, without any usurpation, hath 
 had it always in their power to limit and confine 
 the exorbitancy of kings, whether they call it their 
 
 will, their reason, or their conscience 
 
 He falls ntj:t to flashes, and a multitude of 
 words, in all which is contained no more than what 
 might be the plea of any guiltiest offender : — he 
 was not the author, because " he hath the gi'eatest 
 share of loss and dishonor by what is committed." 
 Who is there that offends God, or his neighbor, on 
 whom the greatest share of loss and dishonor lights
 
 232 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 not in the end? But in act of doing evil, men use 
 not to consider the event of these evil doings ; or 
 if they do, have then no power to curb the sway 
 of theii* own wickedness ; so that the greatest share 
 of loss and dishonor to happen upon themselves, is 
 no argument that they were not guilty 
 
 It must needs seem strange, where men accus- 
 tom themselves to ponder and contemplate things 
 in their first original and institution, that kings, 
 who, as all other officers of the public, were at first 
 chosen and installed only by consent and suffrage 
 of the people, to govern them as freemen by laws 
 of their own making, and to be, in consideration 
 of that dignity and riches bestowed upon them, the 
 intrusted servants of the commonwealth, should, 
 notwithstanding, grow up to that dishonest en- 
 croachment, as to esteem themselves masters, both 
 of that great trust which they serve, and of the 
 people that betrusted them ; counting what they 
 ought to do, both in discharge of their public duty, 
 and for the great reward of honor and revenue 
 which they receive, as done all of mere grace and 
 favor ; as if their power over us were by nature, 
 and from themselves, or that God had sold us intc 
 their hands. 
 
 Indeed, if the race of kings were eminently th» 
 best of men, as the breed at Tutbury is of horse?, 
 it would in reason then be their part only to com- 
 mand, ours always to obey. But kings, by genera- 
 tion no way excelling others, and most commonly
 
 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 233 
 
 not being the wisest or tlie worthiest by far of 
 whom they claim to have the governing ; that we 
 Siiould yield them subjection to our own ruin, or 
 hold of them the right of our common safety, and 
 our natural freedom by mere gift, from the super- 
 fluity of their royal grace and beneficence, we may 
 be sure was never the intent of God, whose ways 
 are just and equal ; never the intent of nature, 
 whose works are also regular ; never of any people 
 not wholly barbarous, whom prudence, or no more 
 but human sense, would have better guided when 
 they first created kings, than so to nullify and tread 
 to dirt the rest of mankind, by exalting one person 
 and his lineage without other merit looked after, 
 but the mere contingency of a begetting, into an 
 absolute and unaccountable dominion over them 
 
 and their posterity 
 
 He imagines his " own judicious zeal to be most 
 concerned in his tuition of the Church." So 
 thought Saul when he presumed to offer sacrifice, 
 for which he lost his kingdom ; so thought Uzziah 
 when he went into the temple, but was thrust out 
 with a leprosy for his opinioned zeal, which he 
 thought judicious. It is not the part of a king, 
 because he ought to defend the Church, therefore 
 to set himself supreme head over the Church, or 
 to meddle with ecclesial government, or to de- 
 fend the Church otherwise than the Church would 
 be defended ; for such defence is bondage ; not to 
 defend abases, and stop all reformation, under the
 
 234 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 name of "new moulds fancied and fashioned to 
 private designs." 
 
 The holy things of Church are in the power of 
 other keys than were delivered to his keeping. 
 Christian liberty, purchased with the death of our 
 Redeemer, and established by the sending of his 
 free Spirit to inhabit in us, is not now to depend 
 upon the doubtful consent of any earthly monarch ; 
 nor to be again fettered with a presumptuous neg- 
 ative voice, tyrannical to the Parliament, but much 
 more tyrannical to the Church of God ; which 
 was compelled to implore the aid of Parliament, to 
 remove his force and heavy hands from off our 
 consciences, who therefore complains now of that 
 most just defensive force, because only it removea 
 his violence and persecution. If this be a viola- 
 tion to his conscience, that it was hindered by the 
 Parliament from violating the more tender con- 
 sciences of so many thousand good Christians, let 
 the usurping conscience of all tyrants be ever so 
 violated ! . . . . 
 
 This is evident, that they "who use no set 
 forms of prayer," have words from their affections; 
 while others are to seek affections fit and propor- 
 tionable to a certain dose of prepared words ; which, 
 as they are not rigorously forbid to any man's pri- 
 vate infirmity, so to imprison and confine by force, 
 into a pinfold of set words, those two most unim- 
 prisonable things, our prayers, and that divine 
 spirit of utterance that moves them, is a tyranny
 
 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 235 
 
 that would have longer hands than those giants 
 who threatened bondage to heaven. What we 
 may do in the same form of words is not so much 
 the question, as whether liturgy may be forced as 
 he forced it. It is true that we " pray to the same 
 God " ; must we, therefore, always use the same 
 words ? Let us then use but one word, because 
 we pray to one God. " We profess the same 
 truths " : but the liturgy comprehends not all 
 truths : " we read the same Scriptures," but never 
 read that all those sacred expressions, all benefit 
 and use of Scripture, as to public prayer, should be 
 denied us, except what was barrelled up in a com- 
 mon-prayer book with many mixtures of their own, 
 and, which is worse, without salt. 
 
 But suppose them savory words and unmixed, 
 suppose them manna itself, yet, if they shall be 
 hoarded up and enjoined us, while God every 
 morning rains down new expressions into our 
 hearts ; instead of being fit to use, they will be 
 found, like reserved manna, rather to breed worms 
 and stink. " We have the same duties upon us, 
 and feel the same wants " ; yet not always the 
 same, nor at all times alike ; but with variety of 
 circumstances, which ask variety of words, where- 
 of God hath given us plenty ; not to use so copi- 
 ously upon all other occasions, and so niggardly to 
 him alone in our devotions. As if Christians were 
 now in a worse famine of words fit for prayer, than 
 was of food at the siege of Jerusalem, when per-
 
 236 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 haps the priests being to remove the show-bread, 
 as was accustomed, were compelled every Sabbath- 
 day, for want of other loaves, to bring again still 
 the same. If the " Lord's Prayer " had been the 
 " warrant, or the pattern of set liturgies," as is here 
 affirmed, why was neither that prayer, nor any 
 other set form, ever after used, or so much as men- 
 tioned by the apostles, much less commended to 
 our use ? Why was their care wanting in a thing 
 so useful to the Church? so full of danger and 
 contention to be left undone by them to other men's 
 penning, of whose autliority we could not be so 
 certain ? Why was this forgotten by them, who 
 declare that they have revealed to us the whole 
 counsel of God ? who, as he left our affections to be 
 guided by his sanctifying Spirit, so did he likewise 
 our words to be put into us without our premedita- 
 tion ; not only those cautious words to be used before 
 Gentiles and tyrants, but much more those filial 
 words, of which we have so frequent use in our ac- 
 cess with freedom of speech to the throne of grace. 
 Which to lay aside for other outward dictates of 
 men, were to injure him and his perfect gift, who 
 is the spirit, and giver of our ability to pray : as 
 if his ministration were incomplete, and that to 
 whom he gave affections, he did not also afford 
 utterance to make his gift of prayer a perfect gift ; 
 to them especially, whose office in the Church is to 
 pray pnl)licly. 
 
 And akhough tlie gift were only natural, yet
 
 FROM EIKOyOKLASTES. 237 
 
 voluntaiy prayers are less subject to formal and 
 superficial tempers than set forms. For in those, at 
 least for words and matter, he who prays must con- 
 sult first with his heart, which in likelihood may 
 stir up his affections ; in these, having both words 
 and matter ready made to his lips, which is enough 
 to make up the outward act of prayer, his affec- 
 tions grow lazy, and come not up easily at the call 
 of words not their own. The prayer also having 
 less intercourse and sympathy with a heart where- 
 in it was not conceived, saves itself the labor of so 
 long a journey downward, and flying up in haste 
 on the specious wings of formality, if it fall not 
 back again headlong, instead of a prayer which 
 was expected, presents God with a set of stale and 
 
 empty words 
 
 We may have learnt, both from sacred history 
 and times of reformation, that the kings of this 
 world have both ever hated and instinctively feared 
 the Church of God. Whether it be for that their 
 doctrine seems much to favor two things to them 
 so dreadful, liberty and equality ; or because they 
 are the children of that kingdom, which, as an- 
 cient prophecies have foretold, shall in the end 
 break to pieces and dissolve all their great power 
 and dominion. And those kings and potentates 
 who have strove most to rid themselves of this fear, 
 by cutting off or suppressing the true Church, have 
 drawn upon themselves the occasion of their own 
 ruin, while they thought with most pohcy to pre-
 
 238 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 vent it. Thus Pharaoh, when once he began to 
 fear and wax jealous of the IsraeHtes, les^t they 
 should multiply and fight against him, and that 
 fear stirred him up to afflict and keep them under, 
 as the onl}'' remedy of what he feared, soon found 
 that the evil which before slept, came suddenly 
 upon hun, by the preposterous way he took to pre- 
 vent it. 
 
 Passing by examples between, and not shutting 
 wilfully our eyes, we may see the like story brought 
 to pass in our own land. This king, more than 
 any before him, except perhaps his father, from his 
 first entrance to the crown, harboring in his mind 
 a strange fear and suspicion of men most religious, 
 and their doctrine, which in his own language he 
 here acknowledges, terming it " the seditious ex 
 orbitancy" of ministers' tongues, and doubting 
 " lest they," as he not Christianly express it, 
 " should with the keys of heaven let out peace and 
 loyalty from the people's hearts." Though they 
 never preached or attempted aught that might 
 justly raise in him such thoughts, he could not 
 rest, or think himself secure, so long as they re- 
 mained in any of his three kingdoms unrooted out. 
 
 But outwardly professing the same religion with 
 them, he could not presently use violence as 
 Pharaoh did ; and that course had with others 
 before but ill succeeded. He chooses therefore a 
 more mystical way, a newer method of aiitichris- 
 tian fraud, to the Church more dangerous ; and,
 
 FROM EIKONCKLASTE.S. 239 
 
 like to Balak the son of Zipper, .'»^Ainst & nation of 
 prophets thinks it best to hire other esteemed 
 prophets, and to undermine and wear oct the xrue 
 Church by a false ecclesiastical policy. To this 
 drift he found the goA-ernment of bishops most 
 serviceable ; an order hi the Church, as by men 
 Hrst con'upted, so mutually corrupting them who 
 receive it, both in judgment and manners. He, 
 by confei'ring bi&hoprics and great livings on whom 
 he thought most pliant to his will, against the 
 known canons and universal practice of the ancient 
 Church, whereby those elections were the people's 
 right, sought, as he confesses to have " greatest 
 influence upon churchmen." They on the other 
 side finding themselves in a high dignity, neither 
 founded by Scripture, nor allowed by reformation, 
 nor supported by any spiritual gift or grace of their 
 own, knew it their best course to have dependence 
 only upon him ; and wrought his fancy by degrees 
 to that degenerate and unkingly persuasion of " No 
 bishop, no king." Whenas on the contrary all 
 prelates in their own subtle sense are of another 
 mind ; according to that of Pius IV., i*emembered 
 in the history of Trent, that bishops then grow to 
 be most vigorous and potent, when princes happen 
 to be most weak and impotent. 
 
 Thus when both interest of tyranny and episco- 
 pacy were incorporate into each other, the king, 
 whose principal safety and establishment consisted 
 in the righteous execution of his civil power, and
 
 240 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 not in bishops and their wicked counsels, fatallj 
 driven on, set himself to the extirpating of those 
 men whose doctrine and desire of Church-dis- 
 cipline he so feared would be the undoing of his 
 monarchy. And because no temporal law could 
 touch the innocence of their lives, he begins with 
 the persecution of their consciences, laying scan- 
 dals before them ; and makes that the argument to 
 inflict his unjust penalties both on their bodies and 
 estates. In this war against the Church, if he 
 had sped so, as other haughty monarchs whom God 
 heretofore hath hardened to the like enterprise 
 we ought to look up with praise and thanksgiving 
 to the Author of our deliverance, to whom victory 
 and power, majesty, honor, and dominion belong 
 forever. 
 
 In the mean while, fi'om his own words we may 
 perceive easily that the special motives which he 
 had to endear and deprave his judgment to the 
 favoring and utmost defending of episcopacy, are 
 such as here we represent them ; and how unwill- 
 ingly, and with what mental reservation, he con- 
 descended, against his interest, to remove it out of 
 the Peers' House, hath been shown already. The 
 reasons, which, he affirms, wrought so much upon 
 his judgment, shall be so far answered as they be 
 urged 
 
 "If the way of treaties be looked upon," in 
 general, " as retiring " from bestial force to human 
 reason, his first aphorism hei'e is in part deceived,
 
 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 241 
 
 For men may treat like beasts as well as fight. U 
 some fighting were not manlike, then either forti- 
 tude were no virtue, or no fortitude in fighting. 
 And as politicians ofttimes through dilatory pur- 
 poses and emulations handle the matter, there hath 
 been nowhere found more bestiality than in treat- 
 ing; which hath no more commendations in it, 
 than from fighting to come to undermining, from 
 violence to craft ; and when they can no longer do 
 
 as lions, to do as foxes 
 
 For if neither God nor nature put civil power in 
 the hands of any whomsoever, but to a lawful end, 
 and commands our obedience to the authority of 
 law only, not to the tyrannical force of any person ; 
 and if the laws of our land have placed the sword 
 in no man's single hand, so much as to unsheatli 
 against a foreign enemy, much less upon the native 
 people ; but have placed it in that elective body of 
 the Parliament, to whom the making, repeaHng, 
 judging, and interpreting of law itself was also 
 committed, as was fittest, so long as we intended 
 to be a free nation, and not the slaves of one man's 
 will ; then was the king himself disobedient and 
 rebellious to that law by which he reigned : and 
 by authority of Parliament to raise arms against 
 him in defence of law and liberty, we do not only 
 think, but believe and know, was justifiable both 
 *' by the word of God, the laws of the land, an i all 
 lawful oaths"; and they who sided with him 
 fought against all these. 
 
 n p
 
 242 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 The same allegations wliicli he uses for hiniself 
 and his party, may as well fit any tyrant in tlie 
 world ; for let the Parliament be called a faction 
 when the king pleases, and that no law must be 
 made or changed, either civil or religious, because 
 no law will content all sides, then must be made 
 or changed no law at all, but what a tyrant, be he 
 Protestant or Papist, thinks fit. Which tyrannous 
 assertion forced upon us by the sword, he who 
 fights against, and dies fighting, if his other sins 
 outweigh not, dies a martyr undoubtedly both of 
 the faith and of the commonwealth ; and I hold it 
 not as the opinion, but as the full belief and per- 
 suasion, of far holier and wiser men than parasitic 
 preachers ; who, without their dinner-doctrine, 
 know that neither king, law, civil oaths, nor religion, 
 was ever established without the Parliament. And 
 their power is the same to abrogate as to establish ; 
 neither is anything to be thought established, 
 which that House declares to be abolished. Where 
 the Parliament sits, there inseparably sits the king, 
 there the laws, there our oaths, and whatsoever 
 can be civil in religion. They who fought for the 
 Parliament, in the truest sense, fought for all these ; 
 who fought for the king divided fi'om his Parlia- 
 ment, fought for the shadow of a king against all 
 these ; and for things that were not, as if they were 
 established. It were a thing monstrously absurd 
 and contradictory, to give the Parliament a legis- 
 lative power, and then to upbraid them for trans- 
 gressing old establishments
 
 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 243 
 
 He would work the people to a persuasion, that 
 " if he be miserable, they cannot be happy." 
 What should hinder them ? Were they all born 
 twins of Hippocrates with him and his fortune, one 
 birth, one burial ? It were a nation miserable in- 
 deed, not worth the name of a nation, but a race 
 of idiots, whose happiness and welfare depended 
 upon one man. The happiness of a nation consists 
 in true religion, piety, justice, prudence, temper- 
 ance, fortitude, and the contempt of avarice and 
 ambition. They in whomsoever these virtues 
 dwell eminently, need not kings to make them 
 happy, but are the architects of their own happi- 
 ness ; and, whether to themselves or others, are 
 not less than kings. .... 
 
 Hitherto his meditations, now his vows ; which, 
 as the vows of hypocrites used to be, are most com- 
 monly absurd, and some wicked. Jacob vowed 
 that God should be his God, if he granted him but 
 wdiat was necessary to perform that vow, life and 
 subsistence : but the obedience proffered here is 
 nothing so cheap. He, who took so heinously to 
 be offered nineteen propositions from the Parlia- 
 ment, capitulates here with God almost in as many 
 articles. 
 
 " If he will continue that light," or rather that 
 darkness of the Gospel, which is among his prelates, 
 settle their luxuries, and make them gorgeous bish- 
 ops ; 
 
 If he will " restore " the grievances and mis-
 
 244 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 chiefs of those obsolete and Popish laws, which tha 
 Parliament without his consent had abrogated, and 
 will suffer justice to be executed according to his 
 sense ; 
 
 " If he will suppress the many schisms in 
 Church," to contradict himself in that which he 
 had foretold must and shall come to pass, and will 
 remove reformation as the greatest schism of all, 
 and factions in state, by which he means in every 
 leaf, the Parliament ; 
 
 If he will " restore him " to his negative voice 
 and the militia, as much as to say, to arbitrary 
 power, which he wrongfully avers to be the " right 
 of his predecessors " ; 
 
 " If he will turn the hearts of his people " to 
 their old cathedral and parochial service in the lit- 
 urgy, and their passive obedience to the king ; 
 
 " If he will quench " the army, and withdraw 
 our forces from withstanding the piracy of Rupert, 
 and the plotted Irish invasion ; 
 
 " If he will bless him with the freedom " of 
 bishops again in the House of Peers, and of fugi- 
 tive delhiquents in the House of Commons, and 
 deliver the honor of Parliament into his hands, 
 from the most natural and due protection of the 
 people that intrusted them with the dangerous en- 
 terprise of being faithful to their coimtry against 
 the rage and malice of his tyrannous opposition ; 
 
 " If he will keep him from that great offence," 
 of following the counsel of his Parliament, and
 
 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 245 
 
 enacting what they advise him to : which in all 
 reason, and by the known law, and oath of his cor- 
 onation, he ought to do, and not to call that sacri- 
 lege, which necessity, through the continuance of 
 his own civil war, hath compelled him to ; ne- 
 cessity, which made David eat the showbread, 
 made Ezekiah take all the silver which was found 
 in God's house, and cut off the gold which over- 
 laid those doors and pillars, and gave it to Sennache- 
 rib ; necessity which ofttimes made the primitive 
 Church to sell her sacred utensils, even to the 
 communion-chalice ; 
 
 " If he will restore him to a capacity of glorify- 
 ing him by doing " that both in Church and State, 
 which must needs dishonor and pollute his name ; 
 
 " If he will bring him again with peace, honor, 
 and safety to his chief city," without repenting, 
 without satisfying for the blood spilt, only for a 
 few politic concessions, which are as good as noth- 
 ing ; 
 
 " If he will put again the sword into his hand, 
 to punish " those that have delivered us, and to 
 protect delinquents against the justice of Parlia- 
 ment " ; 
 
 Then, if it be possible to reconcile contradic- 
 tions, he will praise him by displeasing him, and 
 serve him by disserving him. 
 
 " His glory," in the gaudy copes and painted 
 windows, mitres, rochets, altars, and the chanted 
 Bervice-book, " shall be dearer to him," than the es-
 
 246 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 tablishing his crown in righteousness, and the spirit- 
 ual power of religion. " He will pardon those that 
 have offended him in particular " ; but there shall 
 want no subtle ways to be even with them upon 
 another score of their supposed offences against 
 the commonwealth ; whereby he may at once af- 
 fect the glory of a seeming justice, and destroy 
 them pleasantly, while he feigns to forgive them 
 as to his own particular, and outwardly bewails 
 them. 
 
 These are the conditions of his treating with 
 God, to whom he bates nothing of what he stood 
 upon with the Parliament : as if commissions of 
 array could deal with him also. But of all these 
 conditions, as it is now evident in our eyes, God 
 accepted none, but that final petition, which he so 
 oft, no doubt but by the secret judgment of God, 
 importunes against his own head ; praying God, 
 " That his mercies might be so toward him, as his 
 resolutions of truth and peace were toward his 
 people." It follows then,- God having cut him 
 off without granting any of these mercies, that 
 his resolutions were as feigned as his vows were 
 frustrate 
 
 It being now no more in his hand to be re- 
 venged on his opposers, he seeks to satiate his fan- 
 cy with the imagination of some revenge upon 
 them from above ; and, like one who in a droutli 
 observes the sky, he sits and watches when any- 
 thing will drop, that might solace him with the
 
 FROM ETKONOKLASTES. 247 
 
 likeness of a punishment from heaven upon us; 
 which he straight expounds how lie pleases. No 
 evil can befall the Parliament or citj but he 
 positively interprets it a judgment upon them 
 for his sake ; as if the very manuscript of God's 
 judgments had been delivered to his custody and 
 exposition. But his reading declares it well to be 
 a false copy which he uses ; dispensing often to his 
 own bad deeds and successes tlie testimony of di- 
 vine favor, and to the good deeds and successes of 
 other men divine wrath and vengeance. 
 
 But to counterfeit the hand of God is the bold 
 est of all forgery. And he wdio without warrant 
 but his own fantastic surmise, takes upon him per- 
 petually to unfold the secret and unsearchable 
 mysteries of high providence, is likely for the 
 most part to mistake and slander them ; and 
 approaches to the madness of those reprobate 
 thoughts that would wrest the sword of justice 
 out of God's hand, and employ it more justly in 
 their own conceit. It was a small thing to con- 
 tend with the Parliament about the sole power of 
 the militia, when we see him doing little less than 
 laying hands on the weapons of God himself, 
 which are his judgments, to wield and manage 
 them by the sway and bent of his own frail cogi- 
 tations. Therefore " they that by tumults first 
 occasioned the raising; of armies " in his doom 
 must needs " be chastened by their own army for 
 netv tumults."
 
 248 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 " He cannot but observe this divine justice, yet 
 with sorrow and pity." But sorrow and pity in a 
 weak and over-mastered enemy is looked upon no 
 otherwise than as the ashes of his revenge burnt 
 out upon liimself, or as the damp of a cooled fury, 
 when we say, it gives. But in this manner to sit 
 spelling and observing divine justice upon every 
 accident and slight disturbance that may happen 
 humanly to the affairs of men, is but another frag- 
 ment of his broken revenge ; and yet the shrewd- 
 est and the cunningest obloquy that can be thrown 
 upon their actions. For if he can persuade men 
 that the Parliament and their cause is pursued 
 with divine vengeance, he hath attained his end, 
 to make all men forsake them, and think the worst 
 that can be thought of them. 
 
 Nor is he only content to suborn divine justice 
 in his censure of what is past, but he assumes the 
 person of Christ himself, to prognosticate over us 
 what he wishes would come. So little is anything 
 or person sacred from him, no not in heaven, which 
 he will not use, and put on, if it may serve him 
 plausibly to wreak his spleen, or ease his mind 
 upon the Parliament. Although, if ever fatal 
 blindness did both attend and punish wilfiilness, if 
 ever any enjoyed not comforts for neglecting coun- 
 sel belonging to their peace, it was in none more 
 conspicuously brought to pass than in himself; and 
 his predictions against the Parliament and their 
 adherents have for the most part been verified
 
 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 249 
 
 upon his own head, and upon his chief counsel- 
 lors 
 
 It is a rule and principle worthy to be known 
 by Christians, that no Scripture, no, nor so much 
 as any ancient creed, binds our faith, or our obe- 
 dience to any church whatsoever, denominated by 
 a particular name ; far less, if it be distinguished 
 by a several government fi'om that which is indeed 
 catholic. No man was ever bid be subject to the 
 church of Corinth, Rome, or Asia, but to the 
 Church without addition, as it held faithful to the 
 niles of Scripture, and the government established 
 in aU places by the Apostles ; which at first was 
 universally the same in all chiu'ches and congrega- 
 tions ; not differing or distinguished by the diver- 
 sity of countries, territories, or civil bounds. That 
 church, that from the name of a distinct place takes 
 authority to set up a distinct faith or government, 
 is a schism and faction, not a church. It were an 
 injury to condemn the Papist of absurdity and con- 
 tradiction, for adhering to his Catholic Romish 
 religion, if we, for the pleasure of a king and his 
 politic considerations, shall adhere to a Catholic 
 English 
 
 It happened once, as we find in Esdras and 
 Josephus, authors not less believed than any under 
 sacred, to be a great and solemn debate in the 
 court of Darius, what thing was to be counted 
 strongest of all other. He that could resolve this, 
 in reward of his excellent wisdom, should be clad 
 U*
 
 250 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 in purple, drink in gold, sleep on a bed of gold, 
 and sit next Darius. None but they, doubtless, 
 who were reputed wise, had the question pro- 
 pounded to them ; who, after some respite given 
 them by the king to consider, in full assembly of 
 all his lords and gravest counsellors, returned sev- 
 erally what they thought. The first held that 
 wine was strongest ; another, that the king was 
 strongest; but Zorobabel, prince of the captive 
 JcAvs, and heir to the crown of Judah, being one 
 of them, proved women to be stronger than the 
 king, for that he himself had seen a concubine 
 take his crown from off his head to set it upon her 
 own ; and others beside him have likewise seen 
 the like feat done, and not in jest. Yet he proved 
 on, and it was so yielded by the king himself, and 
 all his sages, that neither wine, nor women, nor 
 the king, but truth of all other things was the 
 strongest. 
 
 For me, though neither asked, nor in a na- 
 tion that gives such rewards to wisdom, I shall 
 pronounce my sentence somewhat different from 
 Zorobabel ; and shall defend that either truth and 
 justice are all one, (for truth is but justice in our 
 knowledge, and justice is but truth in our prac- 
 tice ;) and he indeed so explains himself, in saying 
 that with truth is no accepting of persons, which 
 is the pi'operty of justice, or else if there be any 
 odds, that justice, though not stronger than truth, 
 yet by her office, is to put forth and exhibit more
 
 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 251 
 
 strength in the affairs of mankind. For truth is 
 properly no more than contemplation ; and her 
 utmost efficiency is but teaching : but justice in 
 her ver}' essence is all strength and activity ; and 
 hath a sword put into her hand, to use against all 
 violence and oppression on the eaith. She it is 
 most truly, who accepts no person, and exempts 
 none from the severity of her stroke. She never 
 suffers injury to prevail, but when falsehood first 
 prevails over truth ; and that also is a kind of 
 justice done on them who are so deluded. Though 
 wicked kings and tyrants counterfeit her sword, as 
 some did that buckler fabled to fall from heaven 
 into the capitol, yet she communicates her power 
 to none but such as, like herself, are just, or at 
 least will do justice. For it were extreme partiality 
 and injustice, the flat denial and overthrow of her- 
 self, to put her own authentic sword into the hand 
 of an unjust and wicked man, or so far to accept 
 and exalt one mortal person above his equals, that 
 he alone shall have the punishing of all other men 
 transgressing, and not receive like punishment from 
 men, when he himself shall be found the highest 
 transgressor. 
 
 We may conclude, therefore, that justice, above 
 all other things, is and ought to be the strongest ; 
 she is the strength, the kingdom, the power, and 
 majesty of all ages. Truth herself would subscribe 
 to this, though Darius and all tlie monarchs of the 
 world should deny. And if by sentence thus writ-
 
 252 FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 ten it were my happiness to set free the minds of 
 Englishmen from longing to return poorly under 
 that captivity of kings from which the strength and 
 supreme sword of justice hath delivered them, I 
 shall have done a work not much inl'erior to that 
 of Zorobabel ; who, by well-praising and extolling 
 the force of truth, in that contemplative strength 
 conquered Darius, and freed his country and the 
 people of God from the captivity of Babylon. 
 Which I shall yet not despair to do, if they in this 
 land, wliose minds are yet captive, be but as in- 
 genuous to acknowledge the sti'ength and suprem- 
 acy of justice, as that heathen king was to confess 
 the strength of truth : or let them but, as he did, 
 grant that, and they will soon perceive that truth 
 resigns all her outward strength to justice : justice 
 therefore must needs be strongest, both in her own, 
 and in the strength of truth. But if a king may 
 do among men whatsoever is his will and pleasure, 
 and notwithstanding be unaccountable to men, 
 then, contrary to his magnified wisdom of Zorob- 
 abel, neither trath nor justice, but the king, is 
 strongest of all other things, which that Persian 
 monarch himself, in the midst of all his pride and 
 
 glory, durst not assume 
 
 So much he thinks to abound in his own defence, 
 that he undertakes an unmeasurable task, to be- 
 speak " the singular care and protection of God 
 over all kings," as being tlie greatest patrons of 
 law, justice, order, and religion on earth. But
 
 FROM ElKONOKLASTES. 253 
 
 what patrons they be, God in the Scripture oft 
 enough hath expressed ; and the earth itself hath 
 too long groaned under the burden of their injus- 
 tice, disorder, and irreligion. Therefore " to bind 
 their kings in chains, and their nobles with links 
 of iron," is an honor belonging to his saintsj not 
 to build Babel, (Avhich was Nimrod's work, the 
 first king, and the beginning of his kingdom was 
 Babel,) but to destroy it, especially that spiritual 
 Babel : and first to overcome those European 
 kings, which receive their power, not from God. 
 but ft-om the beast ; and are counted no better than 
 his ten horns. " These shall hate the great whore," 
 and yet "shall give their kingdoms to the beast 
 that carries her; they shall commit fornication 
 with her," and yet " shall bum her with fire," 
 and yet " shall lament the fall of Babylon," where 
 they fornicated with her. Rev. xvii. xviii. 
 
 Thus shall they be to and fro, doubtful and 
 ambiguous in all their doings, until at last, "join- 
 ing their armies with the beast," whose power first 
 raised them, they shall perish with him by the 
 " King of kings," against whom they have re- 
 belled ; and "the fowls shall eat their flesh." 
 This is their doom written. Rev. xix., and the 
 utmost that we find concerning them in these latter 
 days ; which we have much more cause to believe, 
 than his unwarranted revelation hei'e, prophesying 
 what shall follow after his death, with the spirit of 
 enmity, not of St. John.
 
 2->i FROM EIKONOKLASTES. 
 
 He would fain bring us out of conceit with the 
 good success, which God vouchsafed us. We 
 measure not our cause by our success, but our 
 success by our cause. Yet certainly in a good 
 cause success is a good confirmation ; for God 
 hath promised it to good men almost in every leaf 
 of Scripture. If it argue not for us, we are sure 
 it argues not against us ; but as much or more for 
 us, than ill success argues for them ; for to the 
 wicked G(;d hath denounced 111 success in all they 
 take in hand.
 
 FROM 
 
 A DEFENCE OF THE PEOPLE OF 
 ENGLAND, 
 
 IN ANSWER TO 
 
 SALMASIUS'S DEFENCE OF THE KING. 
 
 ALTHOUGH I fear, lest, if in defend- 
 ing the people of England, I should be 
 as copious in words, and empty of mat- 
 ter, as most men think Salmasius has 
 been in his defence of the king, I might seem to 
 deserve justly to be accounted a verbose and silly 
 defender ; yet since no man thinks himself obliged 
 to make so much haste, though in the handliii"; 
 but of any ordinary subject, as not to premise 
 some introduction at least, according as the weight 
 of the subject requu'es ; if I take the same course 
 in handling almost the greatest subject that ever 
 was (without being too tedious in it) I am in hopes 
 of attaining two things, which indeed I earnestly 
 desire : the one, not to be at all wanting, as far as 
 in me lies, to this most noble cause and most wor- 
 thy to be I'ecorded to all future ages ; the other, 
 that I may appear to have myself avoided that
 
 25 G FROM A DEFENCE OF 
 
 frivolousness of matter, and redundancy of words, 
 which I blame in my antagonist. For I am about 
 to discourse of matters neither inconsiderable nov 
 common, but how a most potent king, after he had 
 ti'ampled upon the laws of the nation, and given a 
 shock to its relio-ion, and beo-an to rule at his own 
 will and pleasure, was at last subdued in the field 
 by his own subjects, who had undergone a long 
 slavery under him ; how afterwards he was cast 
 into prison, and when he gave no ground, either 
 by words or actions, to hope better things of him, 
 was finally by the supreme council of the kingdom 
 condemned to die, and beheaded before the "very 
 gates of the royal palace. I shall likewise relate 
 (which will much conduce to the easing men's 
 minds of a great superstition) by what right, es- 
 pecially according to our law, this judgment was 
 given, and all these matters transacted ; and shall 
 easily defend my valiant and worthy countrymen 
 (who have extremely well deserved of all subjects 
 and nations in the world) from the most wicked 
 calumnies both of domestic and foreign railers, and 
 especially from the reproaches of this most vain and 
 empty sophist, who sets up for a captain and ring- 
 leader to all the rest. For what king's majesty, 
 sitting upon an exalted throne, ever shone so bright- 
 ly, as that of the people of England then did, when, 
 shaking off that old superstition, which had pre- 
 vailed a long time, they gave judgment upon the 
 king himself, or rather upon an enemy who had
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 257 
 
 been their king, caught as it were in a net by his 
 own laws, (who alone of all mortals challenged to 
 himself impunity by a divine right,) and scrupled 
 not to inflict the same pmiishment upon him, being 
 guilty, which he would have inflicted upon any 
 other? But why do I mention these things as 
 j»erformed by the people, which almost open their 
 voice themselves, and testify the presence of God 
 throughout ? who, as often as it seems good to his 
 infinite wisdom, uses to throw down proud and un- 
 ruly kings, exalting themselves above the condition 
 of human nature, and utterly to extirpate them 
 and all their family. By his manifest impulse 
 being set at work to recover our almost lost liber- 
 ty, following him as our guide, and adoring the im- 
 presses of his divine power manifested upon all 
 occasions, we went on in no obscure, but an illus- 
 trious passage, pointed out and made plain to us by 
 God himself. Which things, if I should so much 
 as hope by any diligence or ability of mine, such 
 as it is, to discourse of as I ought to do, and to 
 commit them so to writing, as that perhaps all na- 
 tions and all ages may read them, it would be a 
 very vain thing in me. For what style can be au- 
 gust and magnificent enough, what man has ability 
 sufiicient, to undertake so great a task ? Since we 
 find by experience, that in so many ages as are 
 gone over the world, there has been but here and 
 there a man found, who has been able worthily to 
 rtcount the actions of great heroes, and potent 
 
 Q
 
 258 FROM A DEFENCE OF 
 
 states ; can any man have so good an opinion of 
 his own talents, as to think himself capable of 
 reaching these glorious and wonderful works of 
 Almighty God, by any language, by any style of 
 his ? Which enterprise, though some of the most 
 eminent persons in our commonwealth have pre- 
 vailed upon me by their authority to undertake, 
 and would have it be my business to vindicate with 
 my pen against envy and calumny (which are 
 proof against arms) those glorious performances 
 of theirs, (whose opinion of me I take as a very 
 great honor, that they should pitch upon me 
 before others to be serviceable in this kind of those 
 most valiant deliverers of my native country ; and 
 true it is, that from my very youth, I have been 
 bent extremely upon such sort of studies, as in- 
 clined me, if not to do great things myself, at least 
 to celebrate those that did,) yet as having no con- 
 fidence in any such advantages, I have recourse to 
 the divine assistance ; and invoke the great and 
 holy God, the giver of all good gifts, that I may as 
 substantially, and as truly, discourse and refute the 
 sauciness and lies of this foreign declaimer, as our 
 noble generals piously and successfully by force of 
 arms broke the king's pride, and his unruly domi- 
 neering, and afterwards put an end to both by in- 
 flicting a memorable punishment upon himself, and 
 as thoroughly as a single person did with ease but 
 of late confute and confound the king himself, ris- 
 ing as it were from the grave, and recommending
 
 FHE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 259 
 
 nimself to the people in a book published after his 
 death, with new artifices and allurements of words 
 
 and expressions 
 
 " A horrible message had lately struck our ears, 
 but our minds more, with a heinous wound con- 
 cerning a parricide committed in England in the 
 person of a king, by a wicked conspiracy of sacri- 
 legious men." Indeed that horrible message must 
 either have had a much lojiger sword than that 
 which Peter drew, or those ears must have been ot 
 a wonderful length, that it could wound at such a 
 distance ; for it could not so much as in the least 
 offend any ears but those of an ass. For what 
 harm is it to you, that are foreigners ? are any of 
 you hm't by it, if we amongst ourselves put our 
 own enemies, our own traitors to death, be they 
 commoners, noblemen, or kings ? Do you, Sal- 
 masius, let alone what dogs not concern you : for I 
 have a horrible message to bring of you too ; which 
 I am mistaken if it strike not a more heinous 
 wound into the ears of all grammarians and critics, 
 provided they have any learning and delicacy in 
 them, to wit, your crowding so many barbarous 
 expressions together in one period in the person 
 of (Aristarchus) a grammarian ; and that so great 
 a critic as you, hired at the king's charge to write 
 a defence of the king his father, should not only 
 set so fulsome a preface before it, much like those 
 lamentable ditties that used to be sung at funerals, 
 and which can move compassion in none but a cox-
 
 260 FROM A DEFENCE OF 
 
 comb ; but in the very first sentence should provoke 
 your readers to laughter with so many barbarisms 
 all at once. " Pei'sona regis," you cry. Where 
 do you find any such Latin ? or are you telling 
 us some tale or other of a Perkin Warbec, who, 
 taking upon him the person of a king, has, for- 
 sooth, committed some horrible parricide in Eng- 
 land ? which expression, though dropping carelessly 
 from your pen, has more truth m it than you 
 ai-e aware of. For a tyrant is but hke a king 
 upon a stage, a man in a visor, and acting the part 
 of a king in a play ; he is not really a king. But 
 as for these Gallicisms, that are so frequent in 
 your book, I won't lash you for them myself, for I 
 am not at leisure ; but shall dehver you over to 
 your fellow-grammarians, to be laughed to scorn 
 and whipped by them 
 
 Men at first united intg civil societies, that they 
 might live safely, and enjoy theii- liberty, without 
 being wronged or oppressed ; and that they might 
 live religiously, and according to the doctrine of 
 Christianity, they united themselves into churches. 
 Civil societies have laws, and churches have a 
 disciphne peculiar to themselves, and far differing 
 from each other. And this has been the occasioij 
 of so many wars in Christendom ; to wit, because 
 the civil magistrate and the Church confounded 
 their jurisdictions 
 
 You are in perfect darkness, that make no dif- 
 ference betwixt a paternal power, and a regal ; and
 
 THE PEOPLE UF ENGLAND. 261 
 
 that when you liad called kiiigs fathers of their 
 country, could fancy that with that metaphor you 
 had persuaded us, that whatever is applicable to a 
 father, is so to a king. Alas ! there is a great dif- 
 ference betwixt them. Our fathers begot us. Our 
 king made not us, but we him. Nature has given 
 fathers to us all, but we ourselves appointed our 
 own king. So that the people is not for the king, 
 but the king for them. " We bear with a father, 
 though he be harsh and severe " ; and so we do 
 with a king. But we do not bear with a father, 
 if he be a tyrant. If a father murder his son, he 
 liimself must die for it ; and why should not a king 
 be subject to the same law, which certainly is a 
 most just one ? especially considering that a father 
 cannot by any possibility divest himself of that re- 
 lation, but a king may easily make himself neither 
 king nor father of his people. If this action of 
 ours be considered according to its quality, as you 
 call it, I, who am both an Enghshman born, and 
 was an eye-witness of the transactions of these 
 times, tell you, who are both a foreigner and an 
 utter stranger to our affairs, that we have put to 
 death neither a good, nor a just, nor a merciful, 
 nor a devout, nor a godly, nor a peaceable king, as 
 you style him ; but an enemy, that has been so to 
 us almost ten years to an end ; nor one that was a 
 
 father, but a destroyer to his country 
 
 That it is lawful to depose a tyrant, and to pun- 
 ish liira according to his deserts ; nay, that this is
 
 262 FROM A DEFENCE OF 
 
 the opinion of very eminent divines, and of such aa 
 have been most instrumental in the late reforma- 
 tion, do you deny it if you dare. You confess, 
 that many kings have come to an unnatural death ; 
 some by the sword, some poisoned, some strangled, 
 and some in a dungeon ; but for a king to be ar- 
 raigned in a comi; of judicature, to be put to plead 
 for his life, to have sentence of death pronounced 
 against him, and that sentence executed ; this you 
 think a more lamentable instance than all the rest, 
 and make it a prodigious piece of impiety. Tell me, 
 thou superlative fool, whether it be not more just, 
 more agreeable to the rules of humanity, and the 
 laws of all human societies, to bring a criminal, be 
 his offence what it will, before a court of justice, to 
 give him leave to speak for himself; and, if the 
 law condemn him, then to put him to death as he 
 has deserved, so as he may have time to repent or 
 to recollect hunself; than presently, as soon as ever 
 be is taken, to butchei" him without more ado ? 
 Do you think there is a malefactor in the world, 
 tliat if he might have his choice, would not choose 
 to be thus dealt withal ? And if tliis sort of pro- 
 ceeding against a private person be accounted the 
 fairer of the two, why sliould it not be counted so 
 against a prince ? Nay, why should we not think, 
 that himself liked it better ? You would have had 
 him killed privately, and none to have seen it, 
 either that future ages might have lost the advan- 
 tage of 80 good an example ; or that tliey that did
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 263 
 
 this glorious action, might seem to liave avoided 
 the light, and to have acted contrary to law and 
 justice. You aggravate the matter by telling us, 
 that it was not done in an uproar, or brought about 
 oy any faction amongst great men, or in the heat 
 of a rebellion, either of the people or the soldiers : 
 tliat there was no hatred, no fear, no ambition, no 
 blind precipitate rashness in the case ; but that it 
 was long consulted on, and done with deliberation. 
 You did well in leaving off being an Advocate, 
 and turn grammarian, who, from the accidents and 
 circumstances of a thing, which in themselves con- 
 sidered sway neither one way nor other, argue in 
 dispraise of it, before you have proved the thuig 
 itself to be either good or bad. See how open you 
 lie : if the action you are discoiirsing of be com- 
 mendable and praiseworthy, they that did it de- 
 serve the greater honor, in that they were pre- 
 possessed with no passions, but did what they 
 did for virtue's sake. If there were great diffi- 
 culty in the enterprise, they did well in not going 
 about it rashly, but upon advice and consideration. 
 Though for my own part, when I call to mind 
 with how miexpected an importunity and fervency 
 of mind, and wiih how unanimous a consent, the 
 whole army, and a great part of the people from 
 almost every county in the kingdom, cried out with 
 one voice for justice against the king, as being the 
 sole author of all then' calamities, I cannot but 
 think, that these things were brought about by a
 
 264 FROM A DEFENCE OF 
 
 divine impulse. Whatever tlie matter was, wheth* 
 er we consider the magistrates, or the body of the 
 people, no men ever undertook with more courage, 
 and, which our adversaries themselves confess, in 
 a more sedate temper of mind, so brave an action ; 
 an action that might have become those famous he- 
 roes, of whom we read in former ages ; an action, 
 by which they ennobled not only laws, and their 
 execution, which seem for the future equally re- 
 stored to high and low against one another ; but 
 even justice, and to have rendered it, after so sig- 
 nal a judgment, more illustrious and greater than 
 in its own self. .... 
 
 If whatever a king has a mind to do, the right 
 of kings will bear him out in, (which was a lesson 
 that the bloody tyrant, Antoninus Caracalla, though 
 his step-mother Julia preached it to him, and en- 
 deavored to inure him to the practice of it, by 
 making him commit incest with herself, yet coula 
 hardly suck in,) then there neither is, nor ever 
 was, that king, that deserved the name of a tjTant. 
 They may safely violate all the laws of God and 
 man : their very being kings keeps them innocent. 
 What crime was ever any of them guilty of? 
 They did but make use of their own right upon 
 their own vassals. No king can commit such 
 horrible cruelties and outrages, as will not be 
 within this right of kings. So that there is no 
 pretence left for any complaints or expostulations 
 with any of them. And dare you assert, that
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 2G5 
 
 " this right of kings," as you sail it, " is grounded 
 upon the law of nations, or rather upon that of 
 nature," you brute beast? for you deserve not 
 the name of a man, that are so cruel and unjust 
 towards all those of your own kind ; that en- 
 deavor, as much as in you lies, so to bear down 
 and vilify the whole race of mankind, that were 
 made after the image of God, as to assert and 
 maintain, those cruel and unmerciful taskmasters, 
 that through the superstitious whimsies, or sloth, 
 or treachery of some persons, get into the chair, 
 ai'e provided and appointed by nature herself, that 
 mild and gentle mother of us all, to be the gov- 
 ernors of those nations they enslave. By which 
 pestilent doctrine of yours, having rendered them 
 more fierce and untractable, you not only enable 
 them to make havoc of, and trample under foot, 
 their miserable subjects ; but endeavor to arm them 
 for that very purpose with the law of nature, the 
 right of kings, and the very constitutions of gov- 
 ernment, than which nothing can be more impious 
 
 or ridiculous 
 
 I confess there are but few, and those men of 
 great wisdom and courage, that are either desirous 
 of liberty, or capable of using it. The greatest 
 part of the world choose to live under masters : 
 but yet they would have them just ones. As for 
 such as are unjust and tyrannical, neither was God 
 ever so much an enemy to mankind, as to enjoin a 
 necessity of submitting to them ; nor was there 
 
 12
 
 266 FROM A DEFENCE OF 
 
 ever any people so destitute of all sense, and sunk 
 into such a depth of despair, as to impose so cruel 
 a law upon themselves and then' posterity 
 
 If one should consider attentively the coun- 
 tenance of a man, and inquire after whose image 
 so noble a creature were framed, would not any 
 one that heard him presently make answer, that 
 he was made after the image of God himself? 
 Being therefore pecuHarly God's own, and con- 
 sequently things that are to be given to him, we 
 are entirely free by nature, and cannot without 
 the greatest sacrilege imaginable be reduced into a 
 condition of slavery to any man, especially to a 
 wicked, unjust, cruel tyrant 
 
 Every good emperor acknowledged that the 
 laws of the empire, and the authority of the sen- 
 ate, was above himself; and the same principle 
 and notion of government has obtained all along 
 in civiHzed nations. . Pindar, as he is cited by 
 Herodotus, calls the law iravTtov ^aaikea, Idng over 
 all. Orpheus in his hymns calls it the king both 
 of gods and men ; and he gives the reason why it is 
 so ; because, says he, it is that that sits at the helm 
 of all human affairs. Plato in his book De Legi- 
 bus calls it to Kparovv ev ry TroXet : that that ought 
 to have the greatest sway in the commonwealth. 
 In his epistles he commends that form of govern- 
 ment in which the law is made lord and master, 
 and no scope given to any man to tyrannize over 
 the laws. Aristotle is of the same opinion in his
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 267 
 
 Politics ; and so is Cicero in his book De Legibus, 
 that the laws ought to govern the magistrates, as 
 they do the people. The law therefore having 
 always been accounted the highest power on earth, 
 by the judgment of the most learned and wise men 
 that ever were, and by the constitutions of the 
 best-ordered states ; and it being very certain that 
 the doctrine of the Gospel is neither contrary to 
 reason, nor the law of nations, that man is truly 
 and properly subject to the higher powers, wlio 
 obeys the law and the magistrates, so far as they 
 govern according to law. So that St. Paul does 
 not only command the people, but princes them- 
 selves, to be in subjection ; who are not above the 
 laws, but bound by them : " for there is no power 
 but of God " : that is, no form, no lawfiil constitu- 
 tion of any government. The most ancient laws 
 that are known to us were formerly ascribed to 
 God as their author. For the law, says Cicero in 
 his Philippics, is no other than a rule of well- 
 grounded reason, derived from God himself, enjoin- 
 ing whatever is just and right, and forbidding the 
 contrary. So that the institution of magistracy is 
 jure Divino, and the end of it is, that mankind 
 might live trnder certain laws, and be governed by 
 them. But what particular form of government 
 each nation would live under, and what persons 
 should be intrusted with the magistracy, without 
 
 doubt, was left to the choice of each nation 
 
 Do you pretend that kings are infallible ? If
 
 268 FROM A DEFENCE OF 
 
 you do not, why do you make them omnipotent ? 
 And how comes it to pass, that an unHmited power 
 in one man should be accounted less destructive 
 to temporal things than it is to ecclesiastical? Ov 
 do you think that God takes no care at all of civil 
 affairs ? If he takes none himself, I am sure he 
 does not forbid us to take care which way they go ; 
 if he does take any care about them, certainly he 
 would have the same reformation made in the com- 
 monwealth, tliat he would have made in the Church, 
 especially it being obvious to every man's expe- 
 rience, that infallibility and omnipotence being 
 arrogated to one man, are equally mischievous in 
 both. God has not so modelled the government 
 of the world as to make it the duty of any civil 
 community to submit to the cruelties of tyrants, 
 and yet to leave the Church at liberty to free 
 themselves from slavery and tyranny ; nay, rather 
 quite contrary, he has put no arms into the Church's 
 hand but those of patience and innocence, prayer 
 and ecclesiastical discipline ; but in the common- 
 wealth, all the magistracy are by him entrusted 
 with the preservation and execution of the laws, 
 with the power of punishing and revenging : he 
 
 has put the sword into their hands 
 
 Though I am of opinion, Salmasius, and always 
 was, that the law of God does exactly agree with 
 tlie law of nature ; so that, having shown what the 
 law of God is, with respect to princes, and what 
 tlie ])ractice has been of tlie people of God, both
 
 rHE PEOPLE OF ENGL AX 1). i'C,9 
 
 Jews and Christians, I have at the same time, and 
 by the same discourse, made appear what is most 
 agreeable to the law of nature ; yet because you 
 pretend " to confute us most powerfully by the 
 law of nature," I will be content to admit that to 
 be necessary, which before I had thought would be 
 superfluous, that in this chapter I may demonstrate, 
 that nothing is more suitable to the law of nature, 
 than that punishment be inflicted upon tyrants. 
 Which if I do not evince, I will then agree with 
 you, that likewise by the law of God they are ex- 
 empt. I do not pui'pose to frame a long discoiu'se 
 of nature in general, and the original of civil 
 societies ; that argument has been largely handled 
 by many learned men, both Greek and Latin. But 
 I shall endeavor to be as short as may be ; and my 
 design is not so much to confute you, (who would 
 willingly have spared this pains,) as to show that 
 you confute yourself, and destroy your own po- 
 sitions. I will begin with that first position, which 
 you lay down as a fundamental, and that shall be 
 the groundwork of my ensuing discourse. " The 
 law of nature," say you, " is a principle imprinted 
 on all men's minds, to regard the good of all man- 
 kind, considering men as united together in socie- 
 ties. But this innate principle cannot procure that 
 common good, unless, as there are people that 
 must be governed, so that veiy principle ascertain 
 who shall govern them." To wit, lest the stronger 
 oppress the weaker, and those persons, who, for
 
 270 FROM A DEFENCE OF 
 
 their mutual safety and protection have united 
 themselves together, should be disunited and 
 divided by injury and violence, and reduced to a 
 bestial savage life again. This I suppose is what 
 you mean. " Out of the number of those that 
 united into one body," you say, " there must 
 needs have been some chosen, who excelled the 
 rest in wisdom and valor ; that they, either by force 
 or by persuasion, might restrain those that were 
 refractory, and keep them within due bounds. 
 Sometimes it would so fall out, that one single per- 
 son, whose conduct and valor was extraordinary, 
 might be able to do this, and sometimes more 
 assisted one another with their advice and counsel. 
 But since it is impossible that any one man should 
 order all things himself, there was a necessity of his 
 consulting with others, and taking some into part 
 of the government with himself; £,0 that whether 
 a single person reign, or whether the supreme 
 jjower reside in the body of the people, since it is 
 impossible that all should administer the affau's of 
 the commonwealth, or that any one man should do 
 all, the government does always lie upon the 
 shoulders of many." And afterwards you say, 
 "both forms of government, whether by many or 
 a few, or by a single person, are equally according 
 to the law of nature, viz., That it is impossible for 
 any single person so to govern alone, as not to 
 admit others into a share of tlie government with 
 himself." Though I might have taken all this out
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 271 
 
 of the third book of Aristotle's Pohtics, I chose 
 rather to transcribe it out of your own book ; for 
 you stole it from him as Prometheus did fire from 
 Jupiter, to the ruin of monarchy, and overtlu'ow 
 of yourself and your own opinion. For inquire as 
 diligently as you can for your life into the law of 
 nature, as you have described it, you will not find 
 the least footstep in it of kingly power, as you 
 explain it. " The law of nature," say you, " in 
 ordering who should govern others, respected the 
 universal good of all mankind." It did not then 
 regard the private good of any particular person, 
 not of a prince ; so that the king is for the people, 
 and consequently the people superior to him : 
 which being allowed, it is impossible that princes 
 should have any right to oppress or enslave the 
 people ; that the inferior should have right to 
 tyrannize over the superior. So that since kings 
 cannot pretend to any right to do mischief, the 
 right of the people must be acknowledged, accord- 
 ijig to the law of nature, to be superior to that of 
 princes ; and therefore, by the same right, that 
 before kingship was known, men united their 
 strength and counsels for their mutual safety and 
 defence ; by the same right, that for the preserva- 
 tion of all men's liberty, peace, and safety, they 
 appointed one or more to govern the rest ; by the 
 same right they may depose those very persons 
 whom for their valor or wisdom they advanced to 
 the government, or any others tlnit rule disorderly,
 
 272 FROM A DEFENCE OF 
 
 if they find them, by reason of tlieir slothfulness, 
 folly, or impiety, unfit for government : since 
 nature does not regard the good of one, or of a 
 few, but of all in general. For what sort of per- 
 sons were they whom you suppose to have been 
 chosen ? You say, " They were such as excelled 
 in courage and conduct," to wit, such as by nature 
 seemed fittest for government ; who by reason of 
 their excellent wisdom and valor were enabled to 
 undertake so great a charge. The consequence of 
 this I take to be, that right of succession is not by 
 the law of nature ; that no man by the law of na- 
 ture has right to be king, unless he excel all otiiers 
 in wisdom and courage ; that all such as reign and 
 want these qualifications, are advanced to the gov- 
 ernment by force or faction, have no right by the 
 law of nature to be what they are, but ouglit 
 rather to be slaves than princes. For nature ap- 
 points that wise men should govern fools, not that 
 wicked men should rule over good men, fools over 
 wise men ; and consequently they that take the 
 government out of such men's hands, act according 
 to the law of nature. To what end nature directs 
 wise men should bear the rule, you shall hear in 
 your own words : viz. " That by force or by per- 
 suasion, they may keep such as are unruly within 
 due bounds." But how should he keep others 
 within the bounds of their duty, that neglects, or 
 is ignorant of, or wilfully acts contrary to his own ? 
 A.l'ege now, if you can, any dictate of nature by
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 273 
 
 '.vhich we arc enjoined to neglect the wise institu- 
 tions of this law of nature, and have no regard to 
 them in civil and public concerns, when we see 
 what great and admirable things nature herself 
 effects in things that are inanimate and void of 
 sense, rather than lose her end. Produce any 
 rule of nature, or natural justice, by which inferior 
 criminals ought to be punished, but kings and 
 princes to go unpunished ; and not only so, but 
 though gnilty of the greatest crimes imaginable, 
 be had in reverence and almost adored. You 
 agree, that " all forms of government, whether by 
 many, or few, or by a single person, are equally 
 agreeable to the law of nature." So that the per' 
 son of a king is not by the law of nature more 
 sacred than a senate of nobles, or magistrates, 
 chosen from amongst the common people, who you 
 grant may be punished, and ought to be if they 
 offend ; and consequently, kings ought to be so 
 too, who are appointed to rule for the very same 
 end and purpose that other magistrates are. " For," 
 say you, " nature does not allow any single person 
 to rule so entirely, as not to have partners in the 
 government." It does not therefore allow of a 
 monarch ; it does not allow one single person to 
 rule so, as that all others should be in a slavish 
 
 subjection to his commands only 
 
 It is not to the purpose for us here to dispute 
 which form of government is best, by one single 
 person, or by many. I confess many eminent and 
 
 12* K
 
 274 FROM A DEFENCE OF 
 
 famous men have extolled monarchy ; but it lias 
 always been upon this supposition, that the prince 
 was a very excellent person, and one that of all 
 others deserved best to reign ; without which sup- 
 position, no form of government can be so prone 
 to tyranny as monarchy is. And whereas you 
 resemble a monarchy to the government of the 
 world by one Divine Being, I pray answer me, 
 whether you think that any other can deserve to 
 be invested with a power here on earth, that shall 
 resemble his power that governs the world, exce})t 
 such a person as does infinitely excel all other 
 men, and both for wisdom and goodness in some 
 measure resemble the Deity ? and such a person, 
 in my opinion, none can be but the Son of God 
 himself. .... 
 
 What principles, what law, what religion ever 
 taught men rather to consult their ease, to save 
 their money, their blood, nay, their lives them- 
 selves, than to oppose an enemy with force ? for I 
 make no difference between a foreign enemy and 
 another, since both are equally dangerous and 
 destructive to the good of the whole nation. The 
 people of Israel saw very well, that they could not 
 possibly punish the Benjamites for murdering the 
 Levite's wife, without the loss of many men's 
 lives : and did that induce them to sit still ? Was 
 that accounted a sufficient argument why they 
 should abstain from war, from a very bloody civil 
 war? Did they therefore suffer the deatli of one
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 275 
 
 poor woman to be unrevenged ? Certainly if na- 
 ture teaches us rather to endure the government 
 of a king, though he be never so bad, than to 
 endanger the lives of a great many men in the 
 recovery of our Hberty ; it must teach us likewise 
 not only to endure a kingly government, which is 
 the only one that you argue ought to be submitted 
 to, but even an aristocracy and a democracy: nay, 
 and sometimes it will persuade us, to submit to a 
 multitude of highwaymen, and to slaves that mu- 
 tiny. Fulvius and Rupilius, if your principles had 
 been received in their days, must not have engaged 
 in the servile war (as their writers call it) after the 
 Prajtorian armies were slain ; Crassus must not 
 have marched against Spartacus, after the rebels 
 liad destroyed one Roman army, and spoiled their 
 tents ; nor must Pompey have undertaken the 
 Piratic war. But the state of Rome must have 
 ]nirsued the dictates of nature, and must have sub- 
 mitted to their own slaves, or to the pirates, rather 
 than nm the hazard of losing some men's lives. 
 You do not prove at all, that nature has imprinted 
 any such notion as this of yours on tlie minds of 
 men : and yet you cannot forbear boding us ill 
 luck, and denouncing the wrath of God against us, 
 (which may heaven divert, and inflict it upon 
 yourself, and all such prognosticators as you !) who 
 have punished as he deserved, one that had the 
 name of our king, but was in fact our implacable 
 enemy ; and we have made atonement for the
 
 276 FIWM A DEFENCE OF 
 
 death of so many of our countrymen, as our civil 
 wai's have occasioned, by shedding his blood, that 
 
 was the author and cause of them 
 
 After having discoursed upon the law of God 
 and of nature, and handled both so untowardly, 
 that you have got nothing by the bargain but a 
 deserved reproach of ignorance and knavery, I 
 cannot apprehend what you can have further to 
 allege in defence of your royal cause, but mere 
 trifles. I for my part hope I have given satisfac- 
 tion already to all good and learned men, and done 
 this noble cause right, should I break off here ; 
 yet lest I should seem to any to decline your variety 
 of arguing and ingenuity, rather than your im- 
 moderate impertinence and tittle-tattle, I will 
 follow you wherever you have a mind to go ; but 
 with such brevity as shall make it appear, that 
 after having performed whatever the necessary 
 defence of the cause required, if not what the dig- 
 nity of it merited, I now do but comply with some 
 men's expectation, if not their curiosity. "Now," 
 say you, " I shall allege other and greater argu- 
 ments." What ! greater arguments than what the 
 law of God and nature afforded ? Help, Lucina ! 
 the mountain Salmasius is in labor ! It is not for 
 nothing that he has got a she-husband. Mortals, 
 expect some extraordinary birth. " If he that is, 
 and is called a king, might be accused before any 
 other power, that power must of necessity be great- 
 er than that of the king ; and if so, then must that
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 277 
 
 power be indeed the kingly power, and ought to 
 have the name of it : for a kingly power is thus 
 defined ; to wit, the supreme power in the state 
 residing in a single person, and which has no 
 superior." O ridiculous birth ! a mouse crept out 
 of the mountain ! help, grammarians ! one of your 
 number is in danger of perishing! the law of God 
 and of nature are safe ; but Salmasius's dictionary 
 is undone. What if I should answer you thus? 
 That words ought to give place to things ; that we, 
 liaving taken away kingly government itself, do 
 not think ourselves concerned about its name and 
 definition ; let others look to that, who are in love 
 with kings : we are contented with the enjoyment 
 of our liberty ; such an answer would be good 
 enough for you. But to let you see that I deal 
 fairly with you throughout, I will answer you, not 
 only from my own, but from the opinion of veiy 
 wise and good men, who have thought that the 
 name and power of a king are very consistent with 
 a power in the people and the law superior to that 
 of the king himself. In the first place, Lycurgus, 
 a man very eminent for wisdom, designing, as 
 Plato says, to secure a kingly government as well 
 as it was possible, could find no better expedient to 
 preserve it, than by making the power of the sen- 
 ate, and of the Ephori, that is, the power of the 
 people, superior to it. Theseus, in Euripides, king 
 of Athens, was of the same opinion ; for he to his 
 great honor restored the people to their liberty,
 
 278 FKOM A DEFENCE OF 
 
 and advanced the power of tlie people above that 
 of the king, and yet left the regal power in that 
 city to his posterity. Whence Euripides, in his 
 play called " The Suppliants," introduces hiui 
 speaking on this manner: "I have advanced the 
 people themselves into the throne, having freed 
 the city from slavery, and admitted the people to 
 a share in the government, by giving them an 
 equal right of suffrage." And in another place to 
 the herald of Thebes : " In the first place," says 
 he, " you begin your speech, friend, with a thing 
 that is not true, in styling me a monarch: for this 
 city is not governed by a single person, but is a 
 free state ; the people reigns here." These wert 
 his words, when at the same time he was both 
 called and really was king there. The divine 
 Plato likewise, in his eighth epistle : " Lycurgus,"' 
 says he, " introduced the power of the senate and 
 of the Ephori, a thhig very preservative of kingly 
 government, which by this means has honorably 
 flourished for so many ages, because the law in 
 effect was made king. " Now the law cannot be 
 king, unless there be some, who, if there should be 
 occasion, may put the law in execution against the 
 king. A kingly government so bounded and lim- 
 ited he himself commends to the Sicilians: "Let 
 the people enjoy their liberty under a kingly gov- 
 ernment ; let the king himself be accountable ; let 
 the law take place even against kings themselves, 
 if they act contrary to law." Aristotle likewise,
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 279 
 
 in the third book of his Politics : " Of all king- 
 doms," says he, " that are governed by laws, that 
 of the Lacedemonians seems to be most truly and 
 properly so." And he says, all forrps of kingly 
 governments are according to settled and estab- 
 lished laws ; but one, which he calls ira/x^aacXeia, 
 or Absolute Monarchy, which he does not mention 
 ever to have obtained in any nation. So that 
 Aristotle thought such a kingdom as that of the 
 Lacedemonians was to be and deserve the name of 
 a kingdom more properly than any other ; and con- 
 sequently that a king, though subordinate to his 
 own people, was nevertheless actually a king, and 
 properly so called. Now since so many and so 
 great authors assert, that a kingly government 
 both in name and thing may very well subsist even 
 where the people, though they do not ordinarily 
 exercise the supreme power, yet have it actually 
 residing in them, and exercise it upon occasion ; 
 be not you of so mean a soul as to fear the down- 
 fall of grammar, and the confusion of the significa- 
 tion of words to that degree, as to betray the liberty 
 of mankind and the state, rather than your glossary 
 
 should not hold water 
 
 Let this stand then as a settled maxim of the 
 law of nature, never to be shaken by any artifices 
 of flatterers, that the senate, or the people, are 
 superior to kings, be they good or bad : which is 
 but what you yourself do in effect confess, when 
 you tell us, that the authority of kings was derived
 
 280 FROM A DEFENCE OF 
 
 from the people. For that power, whicli they 
 transfen*ed to princes, doth yet naturally, or, as I 
 may say, virtually reside in themselves notwith- 
 standing : for so natural causes, that produce any 
 effect by a certain eminency of operation, do alwa}'s 
 retain more of their own virtue and energy than 
 they impart; nor do they, by communicating to 
 others, exhaust themselves. You see, the closer 
 we keep to nature, the more evidently does the 
 ])eople's power appear to be above that of the 
 prince. And this is likewise certain, that the 
 people do not freely, and of choice, settle the gov- 
 erniiient in the king absolutely, so as to give him 
 a propriety in it, nor by nature can do so : but 
 only for the public safety and liberty, which, when 
 the king ceases to take care of, then the people in 
 effect have given him nothing at all : for nature 
 says, the people gave it him to a particular end and 
 purpose ; which end, if neither nature nor the 
 people can attain, the people's gift becomes no 
 more valid than any other void covenant or agree- 
 ment. These reasons prove very fully, that the 
 people are superior to the king ; and so your 
 " greatest and most convincing argument, that a 
 king cannot be judged by his people, because he 
 has no peer in his kingdom," nor any superior, 
 
 falls to the ground 
 
 Since, therefore, by our law, as appears by thai 
 old book called " The Mirror," the king has his 
 peers, who in Parliament have cognizance of
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 281 
 
 wrongs done by the king to any of his people ; and 
 since it is notoriously known that tlie meanest man 
 in the kingdom may even in inferior courts have 
 the benefit of the law against the king himself, in 
 case of any injury or wrong sustained ; how much 
 more consonant to justice, how much more neces- 
 sary is it that in case tlie king oppress all his 
 people, there should be such as have authority not 
 only to restrain him and keep him within bounds, 
 out to judge and punish him! for tliat government 
 must needs be very ill, and most ridiculously con- 
 stituted, in which remedy is provided in case of 
 little injuries done by the prince to private persons, 
 and no remedy, no redress for greater, no care 
 taken for the safety of the whole ; no provision 
 made to the contrary, but that the king may, with- 
 out any law, ruin all his subjects, when at the 
 same time he cannot by law so much as hurt any 
 one of them. And since I have shown that it is 
 neither good manners, nor expedient, that the 
 lords should be the king's judges ; it folloAvs, that 
 the power of judicature in that case does wholly, 
 and by very good right, belong to the commons, 
 who are both peers of the realm and barons, and 
 have the power and authority of all the people 
 committed to them. For since (as we find it ex- 
 pressly in our written law, which I have already 
 cited) the commons together with the king made 
 a good Parliament without either lords or bishops, 
 because before either lords or bishops had a being,
 
 282 FROM A DEFENCE OF 
 
 kings held Parliaments with their commons only , 
 by the very same reason the commons apart must 
 have the sovereign power without the king, and a 
 power of judging the king himself; because before 
 there ever was a king, they, in the name of the 
 whole body of tlie nation, held councils and Parlia- 
 ments, had the power of judicature, made laws, 
 and made the kings themselves, not to lord it over 
 the people, but to administer their public affairs. 
 Whom if the king, instead of so doing, shall en- 
 deavor to injure and oppress, our law pronounces 
 him from time forward not so much as to retain 
 the name of a king, to be no such thing as a king : 
 and if he be no king, what need we trouble our- 
 selves to find out peers for him ? For being then 
 by all good men adjudged to be a tyrant, there are 
 none but who are peers good enough for him, and 
 proper enough to pronounce sentence of death up- 
 on him judicially. These things being so, I think I 
 have sufficiently proved what I undertook by many 
 authorities, and written laws ; to wit, that since the 
 commons have authority by very good right to try 
 the king, and since they have actually tried him, 
 and put him to death, for the mischief he hath done 
 both in church and state, and without all hope of 
 amendment, they have done nothing therein but 
 wdiat was just and regular, for the interest of the 
 state, in discharging of their trust, becoming their 
 dignity, and according to the laws of the land. 
 And I cannot upon this occasion but congratulate
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 283 
 
 myself with the honor of having had such ances- 
 tors, who founded this government with no lesa 
 prudence, and in as much Hberty as the most 
 worthy of the ancient Romans or Grecians ever 
 founded any of theirs : and they must needs, if they 
 have any knowledge of our affairs, rejoice over 
 their posterity, who, when they were almost reduced 
 to slavery, yet with so much wisdom and courage 
 vindicated and asserted the state, which they so 
 wisely founded upon so much liberty, from the 
 
 unruly government of a king 
 
 But who secluded those ill-affected members , 
 " The English army," you say : so that it was not 
 an army of foreigners, but of most valiant, and 
 &ithful, honest natives, whose officers for the most 
 part were members of Parliament ; and whom 
 those good secluded members would have secluded 
 their country, and banished into Ireland ; while, in 
 the mean time, the Scots, whose alliance began to 
 be doubtful, had very considerable forces in four 
 of our northern counties, and kept garrisons in the 
 best towns of those parts, and had the king himself 
 in custody ; whilst they hkewise encouraged the 
 tumultuating of those of their own faction, who 
 did more than threaten the Parliament, both in 
 city and country, and through whose means not 
 only a civil, but a war with Scotland too, shortly 
 after brake out. If it has been always counted 
 praiseworthy in ])rivate men to assist the state and 
 promote the public good, whether by advice or
 
 284 FROM A DEFENCE OF 
 
 action, our army sure was in no fault, who, being 
 ordered by the Parhament to come to town, obeyed 
 and came, and when they were come, quelled with 
 ease the faction and uproar of the king's party, who 
 sometimes threatened the House itself. For things 
 were brought to that pass, that of necessity either 
 we must be run down by them, or they by us. 
 They had on their side most of the shopkeepers 
 and handicraftsmen of London, and generally those 
 of the ministers, that were most factious. On our 
 side was the army, whose fidelity, moderation, and 
 courage were sufficiently known. It being in our 
 power by their means to retain our liberty, our 
 state, our common safety, do you think we had not 
 been fools to have lost all by our negligence and 
 folly ? They who had had places of command in 
 the king's army, after their party were subdued, 
 had laid down their arms indeed against their wills, 
 but continued enemies to us in their hearts : and 
 they flocked to town, and were here watching all 
 opportunities of renewing the war. With these 
 men, though they were the greatest enemies they 
 had in the world, and thirsted after their blood, did 
 the Presbyterians, because they were not permitted 
 to exercise a civil as well as an ecclesiastical juris- 
 diction over all others, hold secret correspondence, 
 and took measures very unworthy of what they 
 had formerly both said and done ; and they came 
 to that spleen at last, that they would rather 
 enthral themselves to the king again, than admit
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 285 
 
 their own brethren to share in their Hberty, which 
 they likewise had purchased at the price of their 
 own blood; they chose rather to be lorded over 
 once more by a tyrant, polluted with the blood of 
 so many of his own subjects, and who was enraged, 
 and breathed out nothing but revenge against those 
 of them that were left, than endure their brethren 
 and friends to be upon the square with them. The 
 Independents, as they are called, were the only 
 men that, from first to last, kept to their point, and 
 knew what use to make of their victory. They 
 refused (and wisely, in my opinion) to make him 
 king again, being then an enemy, who, when he 
 was their king, had made himself their enemy 
 nor were they ever the less averse to a peace, bm 
 they very prudently dreaded a new war, or a per- 
 petual slavery under the name of a peace. To 
 load our army with the more reproaches, you begin 
 a silly confused narrative of our affairs ; in which, 
 though I find many things false, many things 
 frivolous, many things laid to our charge for wliich 
 we rather merit ; yet I think, it will be to no pur- 
 pose for me to write a true relation in answer to 
 
 your false one 
 
 If any man should question whether you are an 
 honest man or a knave, let him read these follow- 
 ing fines of yours : "It is time to explain whence 
 and at what time this sect [Independents] of ene- 
 mies to kingship first began. Why truly these rare 
 Puritans began in Queen Elizabeth's tune to craw]
 
 286 FROM A DEFENCE OF 
 
 out of hell, and disturb not only the Church, but 
 the state likewise ; for they are no less plagues to 
 the latter than to the former." Now your very 
 speech bewrays you to be a right Balaam ; for 
 where you designed to spit out the most bitter 
 poison you could, there unwittingly and against 
 your will you have pronounced a blessing. For it 
 is notoriously known all over England, that if any 
 endeavored to follow the example of those Churches, 
 whether in France or Germany, which they ac- 
 counted best reformed, and to exercise the public 
 worship of God in a more pure manner, whicli our 
 bishops had almost universally corrupted with their 
 ceremonies and superstitions ; or, if any seemed 
 either in point of religion or morality to be better 
 than others, such persons were by the favor of 
 episcopacy termed Puritans. These are they whose 
 principles, you say, are so opposite to kingship. 
 Nor are they the only persons. " Most of the re- 
 formed religion, that have not sucked in the rest 
 of their principles, yet seem to have approved of 
 those that strike at kingly government." So that 
 while you inveigh bitterly against the Independents, 
 and endeavor to separate them from Christ's flock, 
 with the same breath you praise them ; and those 
 principles which almost everywhere you affirm to 
 be peculiar to the Independents, here you confess 
 have been approved of by most of the reformed 
 
 religion 
 
 " But," say you, " there -w ere added to those
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 287 
 
 judges, that were made choice of out of the House of 
 Commons, some officers of the army, and it never 
 was known, that soldiers had any right to try a sub- 
 ject for his hfe." I will silence you in a very few 
 words : you may remember, that we are not now 
 discoursing of a subject, but of an enemy ; whom 
 if a general of an army, after he has taken him 
 prisoner, resolves to despatch, would he be thought 
 to proceed otherwise than according to custom and 
 martial law, if he himself with some of his officers 
 should sit upon him, and try and condemn him ? 
 An enemy to a state, made a prisoner of war, can- 
 not be looked upon to be so much as a member, 
 much less a king in that state. This is declared 
 by that sacred law of St. Edward, which denies 
 that a bad king is a king at all, or ought to be 
 called so. Whereas you say, it was *' not the 
 whole, but a part of the House of Commons, that 
 tried and condemned the king," I give you this 
 answer : the number of them, who gave their votes 
 for putting the king to death, was far greater than 
 is necessary, according to the custom of our Parlia- 
 ments, to transact the greatest affairs of the king- 
 dom, in the absence of the rest ; who, since they 
 were absent through their own fau-'.t, (for to revolt 
 to the common enemy in their hearts is the worst 
 sort of absence,) their absence ought not to hinder 
 the rest who continued faithful to the cause from 
 preserving the state ; which when it was in a 
 tottering condition, and almost quite reduced to
 
 288 FROM A DEFENCE OF 
 
 slaveiy and utter ruin, the whole body of the 
 people had at first committed to their fidelity, pru- 
 dence, and courage. And they acted their parts 
 like men ; they set themselves in opposition to tlie 
 unruly wilfulness, the rage, the secret designs of 
 an inveterate and exasperated king ; they preferred 
 the common liberty and safety before their own ; 
 they outdid all former Parliaments, they outdid 
 all their ancestors, in conduct, magnanimity, and 
 steadiness to their cause. Yet these very men did 
 a great part of the people ungratefully desert in 
 the midst of their undertaking, though they had 
 promised them all fidelity, all the help and assist- 
 ance they could afford them. These were for 
 slavery and peace, with sloth and luxury, upon 
 any terms : others demanded their liberty, nor 
 would accept of a peace that was not sure and 
 honorable. What should the Parliament do in 
 this case ? Ought they to have defended this part 
 of the people, that was sound, and continued faith- 
 ful to them and their country, or to have sided 
 with those that deserted both ? I know what you 
 will say they ought to have done. You are not 
 Eurylochus, but Elpenor, a miserable enchanted 
 beast, a filthy swine, accustomed to a sordid slavery, 
 even under a woman ; so that you have not the 
 least relish of true magnanimity, nor consequently 
 of liberty, which is the effect of it: you would 
 have all other men slaves, because you find in 
 yourself no generous, ingenuous inclinations ; you
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 289 
 
 say nothing, you breathe nothing, but what is 
 
 mean and servile 
 
 Here you lament his being condemned as a 
 tyrant, a traitor, and a murderer. That he had 
 no wrong done him, shall now be made appear. 
 But let us define a tyi'ant, not according to vulgar 
 conceits, but the judgment of Aristotle, and of all 
 learned men. He is a tyrant who regards his own 
 welfare and profit only, and not that of the people. 
 So Aristotle defines one in the tenth book of his 
 Ethics, and elsewhere ; and so do very many 
 others. Whether Charles regarded his own or the 
 people's good, these fcAv things of many that I shall 
 but touch upon will evince. When his rents and 
 other public revenues of the crown would not 
 defray the expenses of the court, he laid most 
 heavy taxes upon the people ; and when they were 
 squandered away, he invented new ones ; not for 
 the benefit, honor, or defence of the state, but that 
 he might hoard up, or lavish out in one house, the 
 riches and wealth, not of one, but of three nations. 
 When at this rate he broke loose, and acted with- 
 out any color of law to warrant his proceedings, 
 knowing that the Parhament was the only thing 
 that could give him check, he endeavored either 
 wholly to lay aside the very calling of Parliaments, 
 or calling them just as often, and no oftener, than 
 to serve his own turn, to make them entirely at 
 his devotion. Which bridle when he had cast off 
 himself, he put another bridle upon the people : he 
 
 13 B
 
 290 FROM A DEFENCE UF 
 
 put garrisons of German horse and Irish foot in 
 many towns and cities, and that in time of peace. 
 Do you think he does not begin to look hke a 
 tyrant ? In which very thing, as in many other 
 particulars, which you have formerly given me 
 occasion to instance, though you scorn to have 
 Charles compared with so cruel a tyrant as Nero, 
 lie resembled him extremely much. For Nero like- 
 wise often threatened to take away the senate. 
 Besides, he bore extreme hard upon the con- 
 sciences of good men, and compelled them to the 
 use of ceremonies and superstitious worship, bor- 
 rowed from Popery, and by him reintroduced into 
 the Church. They that would not conform, were 
 imprisoned or banished. He made war upon the 
 Scots twice for no other cause than that. By all 
 these actions he has surely deserved the name of a 
 tyrant once over at least. Now I will tell you 
 ivhy the word traitor was put into his indictment : 
 when he assured his Parliament by promises, by 
 proclamations, by imprecations, that he had no 
 design against the state, at that very time did he 
 list Papists in Ireland, he sent a private embassy 
 to the king of Denmark to beg assistance from him 
 of arms, horses, and men, expressly against the 
 ParUament ; and was endeavoring to raise an army 
 first in England, and then in Scotland. To the 
 English he promised the plunder of the city of 
 London ; to the Scots, that the four northern coun- 
 ties should be added to Scotland, if they would but
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 201 
 
 help him to get rid of the Parliament, by what 
 means soever. These projects not succeeding, he 
 sent over one Dillon, a traitor, into Ireland, with 
 private instructions to the natives, to fall suddenly 
 upon all the English that inhabited there. These 
 are the most remarkable instances of his treasons, 
 not taken up upon hearsay and idle reports, but 
 discovered by letters under his own hand and seal. 
 And finally I suppose no man will deny that he 
 was a murderer, by whose order the Irish took 
 arms, and put to death with most exquisite toi- 
 ments above a hundred thousand English, who 
 lived peaceably by them, and without any appre- 
 hension of danger ; and who raised so great a civil 
 war in the other two kingdoms. Add to all this, 
 that at the treaty in the Isle of Wight the king 
 openly took upon himself the guilt of the war, and 
 cleared the Parliament in the confession he made 
 there, which is publicly known. Thus you have 
 in short why King Charles was adjudged a tyrant, 
 
 a traitor, and a murderer 
 
 It would never have entered into the thoughts 
 of this rascally foreign grammarian, to write a dis- 
 course of the rights of the crown of England, 
 unless both Charles Stuart, now in banishment, 
 and tainted with his father's principles, and those 
 profligate tutors that he has along with him, had 
 industriously suggested to him what they would 
 have writ. They dictated to him, "that the 
 whole Parliament were liable to be proceedeft
 
 292 FROM A DEFENCE OF 
 
 against as traitors, because tliey declared, without 
 the kintr's assent, all them to be traitors who had 
 taken up arms against the Parliament of England ; 
 and that Parliaments were bat the king's vassals ; 
 that the oath which our kings take at their corona- 
 tion is but a ceremony " : and why not that a vassal 
 too ? So that no reverence of laws, no sacredness 
 of an oath, will be sufficient to protect your lives 
 and fortunes, either from the exorbitance of a 
 furious, or the revenge of an exasperated prince, 
 who has been so instructed from his cradle, as to 
 think laws, religion, nay, and oaths themselves, 
 ought to be subject to his will and pleasure. How 
 much better is it, and more becoming yourselves, 
 if you desire riches, liberty, peace, and empire, to 
 obtain them assuredly by your own virtue, indus- 
 try, prudence, and valor, than to long after and 
 hope for them in vain under the rule of a king r 
 They who are of opinion that these things cannot 
 be compassed but under a king, and a lord, it can- 
 not well be expressed how mean, how base-, I do 
 not say, how unworthy, thoughts they have of 
 themselves ; for in effect, what do they other than 
 confess, that they themselves are lazy, weak, sense- 
 less, silly persons, and framed for slavery both in 
 body and mind? And indeed all manner of slavery 
 is scandalous and disgraceful to a freeborn ingenu- 
 ous person ; but for you, after you have recovered 
 your lost liberty, by God's assistance and your own 
 arms ; after the performance of so many valiant
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 293 
 
 exploits, and the making so remarkable an example 
 of a most potent king, to desire to return again 
 into a condition of bondage and slavery, will not 
 only be scandalous and disgraceful, but an impious 
 and wicked thing ; and equal to that of the Israel- 
 ites, who for desiring to return to the Egyptian 
 slavery were so severely punished for that sordid, 
 slavish temper of mind, and so many of them 
 destroyed by that God who had been their de- 
 liverer 
 
 And now I think, through God's assistance, I 
 have finished the work I undertook, to wit, the 
 defence of the noble actions of my countrymen at 
 home and abroad, against the raging and envious 
 madness of this distracted sophister ; and the assert- 
 ing of the common rights of the people against the 
 unjust domination of kings, not out of any hatred 
 to. kings, but tyrants: nor have I purposely left 
 unanswered any one alignment alleged by my ad- 
 versary, nor any one example or authority quoted 
 by him, that seemed to have any force in it, or the 
 least color of an argument. Perhaps I have been 
 guilty rather of the other extreme, of replying to 
 some of his fooleries and trifles, as if they were 
 solid arguments, and thereby may seem to have 
 attributed more to them than they deserved. One 
 thing yet remains to be done, which perhaps is of 
 the greatest concern of all, and that is, that you, 
 my countrymen, refute this adversary of yours 
 yourselves, which I do not see any other means of
 
 294 FROM A DEFENCE OF 
 
 your affecting, than by a constant endeavor to out- 
 do all men's bad words by your own good deeds. 
 When you labored under more sorts of oppression 
 than one, you betook yourselves to God for refuge, 
 and he was graciously pleased to hear your most 
 earnest prayer and desii*es. He has gloriously 
 delivered you, the first of nations, from the two 
 greatest mischiefs of this life, and most pernicious 
 to virtue, tyranny and superstition ; he has endued 
 you with greatness of mind to be the first of man 
 kind, who after having conquered their own king 
 and having had him delivered into their hands, 
 have not scrupled to condemn him judicially, and, 
 pursuant to that sentence of condemnation, to put 
 him to death. After the performing so glorious an 
 action as this, you ought to do nothing that is mean 
 and little, not so much as to think of, much less to 
 do, anything but what is great and sublime. Which 
 to attain to, this is your only way : as you have 
 subdued your enemies in the field, so to make 
 appear, that unarmed, and in the highest outward 
 peace and tranquillity, you of all mankind are best 
 able to subdue ambition, avarice, the love of riches, 
 and can best avoid the corruptions that prosperity 
 is apt to introduce, (which generally subdue and 
 triumph over other nations,) to show as great 
 justice, temperance, and moderation in the main- 
 taining your liberty, as you have shown courage 
 ill freeing yourselves from slavery. These are the 
 only arguments by which you will be abh; to
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLA ND. 295 
 
 evince that you are not sucli persons is tliis fellow- 
 represents you, — Traitors, Robbers, Murderers, 
 Parricides, Madmen ; that you did not put your 
 king to death out of any ambitious design, or a 
 desire of invadino; the rights of others : not out of 
 any seditious principles or sinister ends ; that it 
 was not an act of fury or madness ; but that it was 
 wholly out of love to your liberty, your religion, 
 to justice, virtue, and your country, that you pun- 
 ished a tyrant. But if it should fall out other- 
 wise, (which God forbid,) if as you have bee4 
 valiant in war, you should grow debauched in 
 peace, you that have had such visible demonstra- 
 tions of the goodness of God to yourselves, and 
 his wrath against your enemies ; and that you 
 should not have learned by so eminent, so remark- 
 able an example before your eyes, to fear God, 
 and work righteousness ; for my part, I shall easily 
 grant and confess (for I cannot deny it) whatever 
 ill men may speak or think of you, to be very 
 true. And you will find in a little time, that 
 God's displeasure against you will be greater than 
 it has been against your adversaries, greater than 
 his grace and favor has been to yourselves, which 
 you have had larger experience of than any other 
 nation under heaven.
 
 FROM 
 
 THE SECOND DEFENCE OF THE 
 PEOPLE OF ENGLAND, 
 
 ments 
 
 GRATEFUL recollection of the divine 
 
 goodness is the first of human obliga- 
 tions ; and extraordinary favors demand 
 more solemn and devout acknowledg- 
 with such acknowledgments I feel it my 
 duty to begin this work. First, because I was 
 born at a time when the virtue of my fellow-citi- 
 zens, far exceeding that of their progenitors in 
 greatness of soul and vigor of enterprise, having 
 invoked Heaven to witness the justice of their 
 cause, and been clearly governed by its directions, 
 has succeeded in delivering the commonwealth 
 ft'om the most grievous tyranny, and rehgion from 
 the most ignominious degradation. And next, be- 
 cause when there suddenly arose many who, as is 
 usual with the vulgar, basely calumniated the most 
 illustrious achievements, and when one, eminent 
 above the rest, inflated with literary pride, and the 
 zealous applauses of his partisans, had in a scanda- 
 lous publication, which was particularly levelled
 
 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE- 297 
 
 against me, nefariously undertaken to plead the 
 cause 'of despotism, I, who was neither deemed un- 
 equal to so renowned an adversary, nor to so great 
 a subject, was particularly selected by the deliver- 
 ers of our country, and by the general suffrage of 
 the public, openly to vindicate the rights of the 
 English nation, and consequently of liberty itself. 
 Lastly, because in a matter of so much moment, 
 and which excited such ardent expectations, I did 
 not disappoint the hopes nor the opinions of my 
 fellow-citizens ; while men of learning and emi- 
 nence abroad honored me with unmingled appro- 
 bation ; while I obtained such a victory over my 
 opponent, that, notwithstanding his unparalleled 
 assurance, he was obliged to quit the field with 
 his courage broken and his reputation lost ; and for 
 the three years which he lived afterwards, much 
 as he menaced and fiiriously as he raved, he gave 
 me no further trouble, except that he procured the 
 paltry aid of some despicable hireHngs, and sub- 
 Dmed some of his silly and extravagant admirers, 
 to support him under the weight of the unexpected 
 md recent disgrace which he had experienced. 
 Phis will immediately appear. Such are the sig- 
 nal favors which I ascribe to the divine beneficence, 
 and which I thought it right devoutly to commemo- 
 rate, not only that I might discharge a debt of 
 gratitude, but particularly because they seem aus- 
 picious to the success of my present undertaking. 
 For who is there who does not identify the honor 
 
 13*
 
 298 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 of Ills country with his own ? And what can con- 
 duce more to the beauty or glory of one's country, 
 than the recovery, not only of its civil but its re- 
 ligious liberty ? And what nation or state ever 
 obtained both, by more successfol or more valorous 
 exertion ? For fortitude is seen resplendent, not 
 only in the field of battle and amid the clash of 
 arms, but displays its energy under every flifficulty 
 and against every assailant. Those Greeks and 
 Romans, who are the objects of our admiration, em- 
 ployed hardly any other virtue in the extirpation 
 of tyrants, than that love of liberty which made 
 them prompt in seizing the sword, and gave them 
 strength to use it. With facility they accomplished 
 the undertaking, amid the general shout of praise 
 and joy ; nor did they engage in the attempt so 
 much as an enterprise of perilous and doubtful is- 
 sue, as in a contest the most glorious in which vir- 
 tue could be signalized ; which infallibly led to 
 present recompense ; which bound their brows 
 with wreaths of laurel, and consigned their mem- 
 ories to immortal fame. For as yet, tyrants were 
 not beheld with a superstitious reverence ; as yet 
 they were not regarded with tenderness and com- 
 placency, as the vicegerents or deputies of Christ, 
 as they have suddenly professed to be ; as yet the 
 vulgar, stupefied by the subtle casuistry of the 
 priest, had not degenerated into a state of barba- 
 i-ism, more gross than that which disgraces the most 
 senseless natives of Hindostan. For these make mis-
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 299 
 
 chievous demons, whose malice they cannot resist, 
 the objects of their rehgious adoration : while those 
 elevate impotent tyrants, in order to shield them 
 from destruction, into the rank of gods ; and, to 
 their own cost, consecrate the pests of the human 
 race. But against this dark array of long-re- 
 ceived opinions, superstitions, obloquy, and fears, 
 which some dread even more than the enemy him- 
 self, the English had to contend ; and all this, 
 under the light of better information, and favored 
 by an impulse from above, they overcame with 
 such singular enthusiasm and bravery, that, great 
 as were the numbers engaged in the contest, the 
 grandeur of conception, and loftiness of spirit which 
 were universally displayed, merited for each indi- 
 vidual more than a mediocrity of fame ; and Brit- 
 ain, which was formerly styled the hot-bed of tyr- 
 anny, will hereafter deserve to be celebrated, for 
 endless ages, as a soil most genial to the growth of 
 liberty. During the mighty struggle, no anarchy, 
 no Kcentiousness was seen ; no illusions of glory, 
 no extravagant emulation of the ancients inflamed 
 them with a thirst for ideal liberty ; but the recti- 
 tude of their li/es, and the sobriety of their habits, 
 taught them the only true and safe road to real 
 liberty ; and they took up arms only to defend the 
 sanctity of the laws and the rights of conscience. 
 Relying on the divine assistance, they used every 
 honorable exertion to break the yoke of slavery ; 
 of the praise of which, though I claim no share to
 
 300 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 myself, yet I can easily repel any charge whicij 
 may be adduced against me, either of want of 
 courage, or want of zeal. For though I did not 
 participate in the toils or dangers of the war, yet I 
 was at the same time engaged in a service not less 
 hazardous to myself and more beneficial to my fel- 
 low-citizens ; nor, in the adverse turns of our af- 
 fairs, did I ever betray any symptoms of pusilla- 
 nimity and dejection ; or show myself more afraid 
 than became me of malice or of death. For since 
 from my youth I was devoted to the pursuits of 
 literature, and my mind had' always been stronger 
 than my body, I did not court the labors of a 
 camp, in which any common person would have 
 been of more service than myself, but resorted tu 
 that employment in which my exertions were 
 likely to be of most avaih Thus, with the better 
 part of my frame I contributed as much as possi- 
 ble to the good of my country, and to the success 
 of the glorious cause in which we were engaged ; 
 and I thought that if God willed the success of such 
 glorious achievements, it was equally agreeable to 
 his will that there should be others by whom those 
 achievements should be recorded with dignity and 
 elegance ; and that the truth, which had been de- 
 fended by arms, should also be defended by reason ; 
 which is the best and only legitimate means of de^ 
 fending it. Hence, while I applaud those who 
 were victorious in the field, I will not complain of 
 the province which was assigned me ; but rather
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 301 
 
 congratulate myself upon it, and thank the Authoi 
 of all good for having placed me in a station, which 
 may be an object of envy to others rather than of 
 regret to myself. I am far from wishing to make 
 any vain or arrogant comparisons, or to speak os- 
 tentatiously of myself; but, in a cause so great 
 and glorious, and pai'ticularly on an occasion when 
 I am called by the general suffrage to defend the 
 very defenders of that cause, I can hardly refrain 
 from assuming a more lofty and swelling tone than 
 the simplicity of an exordium may seem to justify : 
 and much as I may be sui'passed in the powers of 
 eloquence and copiousness of diction, by the illus- 
 trious orators of antiquity, yet the subject of which 
 I treat was never surpassed in any age, in dignity, 
 or in interest. It has excited such general and 
 such ardent expectation, that I imagine myself not 
 in the forum or on the rostra, surrounded only by 
 the people of Athens or of Rome, but about to ad- 
 dress in this, as I did in my former Defence, the 
 whole collective body of people, cities, states, and 
 councils of the wise and eminent, through the 
 wide expanse of anxious and listening Europe. 
 I seem to survey, as from a towering height, the 
 far-extended tracts of sea and land, and innumera- 
 ble crowds of spectators, betraying in their looks the 
 liveliest interest, and sensations the most congenial 
 with my own. Here I behold the stout and man- 
 ly prowess of the Germans disdaining servitude ; 
 there the generous and lively impetuosity of the
 
 3u2 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 French ; on this side, the calm and stately valor of 
 the Spaniard ; on that the composed and wary 
 magnanimity of the Italian. Of all the lovers of 
 liberty and virtue, the magnanimous and the wise, 
 in whatever quarter they may be found, some se- 
 cretly favor, others openly approve ; some greet 
 me with congratulations and applause ; others, who 
 had long been proof against conviction, at last 
 yield themselves captive to the force of truth. 
 Surrounded by congregated multitudes, I now im- 
 agine that, from the columns of Hercules to the In- 
 dian Ocean, I behold the nations of the earth re- 
 covering that liberty which they so long had lost ; 
 and that the people of this island are transporting 
 to other countries a plant of more beneficial quali- 
 ties, and more noble growth, than that which Trip- 
 tolemus is reported to have carried from region to 
 region ; that they are disseminating the blessings 
 of civilization and freedom among cities, kingdoms, 
 
 and nations 
 
 The prerogative which I deny to kings, I would 
 persist in denying in any legitimate monarchy ; 
 for no sovereign could injure me without first con- 
 demning himself by a confession of his despotism. 
 If I inveigh against tyrants, what is this to kings ? 
 whom I am far fi'om associating with tyrants. As 
 much as an honest man differs from a rogue, so 
 much I contend that a king differs from a tyrant 
 Whence it is clear, that a tyrant is so far from 
 being a king, that he is always in dii-ect opposition
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 303 
 
 to a king. And he who peruses the records of 
 history, will find that more kings have been sub- 
 verted by tyi'ants than by their subjects. He, 
 therefore, who would authorize the destruction of 
 tyrants, does not authorize the destruction of kings, 
 but of the most invetex'ate enemies to kings. But 
 that right, which you concede to kings, the right 
 of doing what they please, is not justice, but in- 
 justice, ruin, and despair. By that envenomed 
 present you yourselves destroy those whom you 
 extol as if they were above the reach of danger 
 and oppression ; and you quite obliterate the differ- 
 ence between a king and a tyrant, if you invest 
 both with the same arbitrary power. For, if a 
 king does not exercise that power, (and no king 
 will exercise it as long as he is not a tyrant,) the 
 power must be ascribed, not to the king, but to the 
 individual. For, what can be imagined more ab- 
 surd than that regal prerogative, which, if any one 
 uses, as often as he wishes to act the king, so often 
 he ceases to be an honest man ; and as often as he 
 chooses to be an honest man, so often he must 
 evince that he is not a king ? Can any more bitter 
 reproach be cast upon kings ? He who maintains 
 this prerogative must himself be a monster of in- 
 justice and iniquity ; for how can there be a worse 
 person than him, who must himself first verify the 
 exaggerated picture of atrocity which he delineates? 
 But if every good man, as an ancient sect of phi 
 losophers magnificently taught, is a king, it follows
 
 304 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 that every bad one is, according to his capacity, a 
 tyrant ; nor does the name of tyrant signify any- 
 thing soaring or illustrious, but the meanest reptile 
 on the earth ; for in proportion as he is great, he is 
 contemptible and abject. Others are vicious only 
 for themselves ; but tyrants are vicious, not only 
 for themselves, but are even involuntarily obliged 
 to participate in the crimes of their importunate 
 menials and favorites, and to intrust certain por- 
 tions of their despotism to the vilest of their 
 dependants. Tyrants are thus the most abject of 
 slaves, for they are the servants of those who are 
 
 themselves in servitude 
 
 Let us now come to the charges which were 
 brought against myself. Is there anything repre- 
 hensible in my manners or my conduct ? Surely 
 nothing. What no one, not totally divested of 
 all generous sensibility, would have done, he re- 
 proaches me with want of beauty and loss of 
 sight,— 
 
 " A monster huge and hideous, void of sight." 
 
 I certainly never supposed that I should have 
 been obliged to enter into a competition for beauty 
 with the Cyclops ; but he immediately corrects 
 himself, and says, " though not indeed huge, for 
 there cannot be a more spare, shrivelled, and 
 bloodless form." It is of no moment to say any- 
 thing of personal appearance, yet lest (as tiie 
 Spanish vulgar, implicitly confiding in the relation?
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 305 
 
 of their priests, believe of heretics) an}'^ one, fi-oni 
 the representations of my enemies, should be led 
 to imagine that I have either the head of a dog, or 
 the horn of a rhinoceros, I will say something on 
 the subject, that I may have an opportunity of 
 paying my grateful acknowledgments to the Deity, 
 and of refuting the most shameless lies. I do not 
 believe that I was ever once noted for deformity, 
 by any one who ever saw me ; but the praise of 
 beauty I am not anxious to obtain. My stature 
 certainly is not tall ; but it rather approaches the 
 middle than the diminutive. Yet what if it were 
 diminutive, when so many men, illustrious both in 
 peace and war, have been the same ? And how 
 can that be called diminutive, which is great 
 enough for every virtuous achievement? Nor, 
 though very thin, was I ever deficient in courage 
 or in strength ; and I was wont constantly to exer 
 cise myself in the use of the broadsword, as long 
 as it comported with my habit and. my years. 
 Armed with this weapon, as I usually was, I 
 should have thought myself quite a match for any 
 one, though much stronger than myself; and I felt 
 perfectly secure against the assault of any open 
 enemy. At this moment I have the same courage, 
 the same strength, though not the same eyes ; yet 
 so little do they betray any external appearance of 
 injuiy, that they are as unclouded and bright as 
 the eyes of those who most distinctly see. In this 
 instance alone I am a dissembler against my will
 
 306 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 My face, which is said to indicate a total privation 
 of blood, is of a complexion entirely opposite to 
 the pale and the cadaverous ; so that, though I am 
 more than forty years old, there is scarcely any one 
 to whom I do not appear ten years younger than I 
 am ; and the smoothness of my skin is not, in the 
 least, affected by the wrinkles of age. If there be 
 one particle of falsehood in this relation, I should 
 deservedly incur the ridicule of many thousands 
 of my countrymen, and even many foreigners, to 
 whom I am personally known. But if he, in a 
 matter so foreign to his purpose, shall be found to 
 have asserted so many shameless and gratuitous 
 falsehoods, you may the more readily estimate the 
 quantity of his veracity on other topics. Thus 
 much necessity compelled me to assert concerning 
 my personal appearance. Respecting youi's, though 
 I have been informed that it is most insignificant 
 and contemptible, a perfect mirror of the worth- 
 lessness of your character and the malevolence of 
 your heart, I say nothing, and no one will be 
 anxious that anything should be said. I wish that 
 I could with equal facility refute what this barba- 
 rous opponent has said of my blindness ; but I can- 
 not do it ; and I must submit to the affliction. It 
 is not so wretched to be blind, as it is not to be 
 capable of enduring blindness. But why should I 
 not endure a misfortune, which it behoves e^ei-y 
 one to be prepared to endure if it should happen ; 
 which may, in the common course of things, hap-
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 307 
 
 pen to any man ; and which has been known to 
 happen to the most distinguished and virtuous per- 
 sons in history. Shall I mention those wise and 
 ancient bards, whose misfortunes the gods are said 
 to have compensated by superior endowments, and 
 whom men so much revered, that they chose 
 rather to impute their want of sight to the injustice 
 of Heaven than to their own want of innocence 
 or I'irtue ? What is reported of the Augur Tire- 
 sias is well known ; of whom Apollonius sung thus 
 in his Argonauts : — 
 
 «' To men he dared the will divine disclose, 
 Nor feared what Jove might in his wrath impose. 
 The gods assigned him age, without decay, 
 But snatched the blessing of his sight away." 
 
 But God himself is truth ; in pi'opagating which, 
 as men display a greater integrity and zeal, they 
 approach nearer to the similitude of God, and pos- 
 sess a greater portion of his love. We cannot 
 suppose the Deity envious of truth, or unwilling 
 that it should be freely communicated to mankind. 
 The loss of sight, therefore, which this inspired 
 sage, who was so eager in promoting knowledge 
 among men, sustained, cannot be considered as a 
 judicial punishment. Or shall I mention those 
 worthies, who were as distinguished for wisdom in 
 the cabinet as for valor in the field ? And first, 
 Timoleon of Corinth, who delivered his city and 
 all Sicily from the yoke of slavery ; than whom 
 there never lived in any age, a more vu'tuous i7ian,
 
 308 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 or a more incorrupt statesman : next Appius Clau 
 dius, whose discreet counsels in the Senate, though 
 they could not restore sight to his own eyes, saved 
 Italy from the formidable inroads of Pyrrhus : 
 then Csecilius Metellus the high-priest, who lost his 
 sight, while he saved, not only the city, but the 
 palladium, the protection of the city, and the most 
 sacred relics, from the destruction of the flames. 
 On other occasions Providence has indeed given 
 conspicuous proofs of its regard for such singular 
 exertions of patriotism and virtue ; what, there- 
 fore, happened to so great and so good a man, 
 I can hardly place in the catalogue of misfor- 
 tunes. Why should I mention others of later 
 times, as Dandolo of Venice, the incomparable 
 Doge; of Boemar Zisca, the bi*avest of generals, 
 and the champion of the cross ; or Jerome Zan- 
 chius, and some other theologians of the highest 
 reputation? For it is evident that the patriarch 
 Isaac, than whom no man ever enjoyed more of 
 the divine regard, lived bhnd for many years; and 
 perhaps also his son Jacob, who was equally an 
 object of the divine benevolence. And in short, 
 did not our Saviour himself clearly declare that that 
 poor man whom he restored to sight had not been 
 born blind either on account of his own sins or 
 those of his progenitors? And with respect to 
 myself, though I have accurately examined my 
 conduct, and scrutinized my soul, I call thee, 
 O God, the searcher of hearts, to witness, that I
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 309 
 
 am not conscious, either in the more early or in 
 the later periods of my life, of having comiuitted 
 any enormity, which might deservedly have marked 
 me out as a fit object for such a calamitous visita- 
 tion. But since my enemies boast that this afflic- 
 tion is only a retribution for the transgressions of 
 my pen, I again invoke the Almighty to witness, 
 that I never, at any time, wrote anything which I 
 did not think agreeable to truth, to justice, and to 
 piety. This was my persuasion then, and I fee? 
 the same persuasion now. Nor was I ever prompt- 
 ed to such exertions by the influence of ambition, 
 by the lust of lucre or of praise ; it was only by 
 the conviction of duty and the feeling of patriot- 
 ism, a disinterested passion for the extension of 
 civil and religious liberty. Thus, therefore, when 
 I was publicly solicited to write a reply to the 
 Defence of the royal cause, when I had to con- 
 tend with the pressure of sickness, and with the 
 apprehension of soon losing the sight of my remain- 
 ing eye, and when my medical attendants clearly 
 announced, that if I did engage in the work, it 
 would be irreparably lost, their premonitions caused 
 no hesitation and inspired no dismay. I would not 
 have listened to the voice even of Esculapius him- 
 self from the shrine of Epidauris, in preference to 
 the suggestions of the heavenly monitor within my 
 breast; my resolution was unshaken, though the 
 alternative was either the loss of my sight, or the 
 desertion of my duty : and 1 called to mind those
 
 310 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OP 
 
 two destinies, which the oracle of Delphi an- 
 nounced to the son of Thetis : — 
 
 " Two fates may lead me to the realms of night ; 
 If staying here, around Troy's wall I fight, 
 To my dear home no more must I return ; 
 But lasting glory will adorn my urn. 
 But, if I withdraw from "the martial strife. 
 Short is my fame, but long will be my life." — II. ix. 
 
 I considered that many had purchased a less good 
 bj a greater evil, the meed of glory by the loss of 
 life ; but that I might procure great good by little 
 suffering ; that though I am blind, I might still 
 discharge the most honorable duties, the perform- 
 ance of which, as it is something more durable than 
 glory, ought to be an object of superior admiration 
 and esteem ; I resolved, therefore, to make the 
 short interval of sight, which was left me to enjoy, 
 as beneficial as possible to the public interest. 
 Thus it is clear by what motives I was governed 
 in the measures which I took, and the losses which 
 I sustained. Let then the calumniators of the 
 divine goodness cease to revile, or to make me the 
 object of their superstitious imaginations. Let 
 them consider, that my situation, such as it is, is 
 neither an object of my shame or my regret, that 
 my resolutions are too firm to be shaken, that I am 
 not depressed by any sense of the divine displeas- 
 ure ; that, on the other hand, in the most moment- 
 ous periods, I have had full experience of the 
 divine favor and protection ; and that, in the solace 
 and the strength which have been infused into me
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 311 
 
 fiom above, I have been enabled to do the will of 
 God ; that I may oftener think on what he has be- 
 stowed, than on what he has withheld ; that, in short, 
 I am unwilling to exchange my consciousness of 
 rectitude with that of any other person ; and that 
 I feel the recollection of a treasured store of tran- 
 quilHty and delight. But, if the choice were neces- 
 sary, I would, sir, prefer my blindness to yours ; 
 yours is a cloud spread over the mind, which dark- 
 ens both the light of reason and of conscience ; 
 mine keeps from my view only the colored sur- 
 faces of things, while it leaves me at liberty to 
 contemplate the beauty and stability of virtue and 
 of truth. How many things are there besides 
 which I would not willingly see ; how many which 
 I must see against my will ; and how few which I 
 feel any anxiety to see ! There is, as the Apostle 
 has remarked, a way to strength through weakness. 
 Let me then be the most feeble creature alive, as 
 long as that feebleness serves to invigorate the 
 energies of my rational and immortal spirit ; as 
 long as in that obscurity in which I am enveloped 
 the light of the divine presence more clearly shines, 
 then, in proportion as I am weak, I shall be invin- 
 cibly strong ; and in proportion as I am blind, I 
 shall more clearly see. O that I may thus be 
 perfected by feebleness, and irradiated by obscurity ! 
 And, indeed, in my blindness, I enjoy in no incon- 
 siderable degree the favor of the Deity, who re- 
 gards me with more tenderness and compasnion in
 
 312 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 proportion as I am able to behold nothing but him- 
 self. Alas ! for him who insults me, who maligns 
 and merits public execration ! For the divine law 
 not only shields me from injury, but almost renders 
 me too sacred to attack ; not indeed so much from 
 the privation of my sight, as from the overshadow- 
 ing of those heavenly wings which seem to have 
 occasioned this obscurity ; and which, when occa- 
 sioned, he is wont to illuminate with an interior 
 light, more precious and more pure. To this I 
 ascribe the more tender assiduities of my friends, 
 their soothing attentions, their kind visits, their 
 reverential observances ; among whom there are 
 some with whom I may interchange the Pyladean 
 and Thesean dialogue of inseparable friends : — 
 
 " Orest. Proceed, and be rudder of my feet, by showing me the 
 most endearing love." — Eurip. in Orest. 
 
 And in another place, 
 
 «' Lend your hand to your devoted friend. 
 Throw your arm round my neck, and I will conduct you on 
 the way." 
 
 This extraordinary kindness, which I experi- 
 ence, cannot be any fortuitous combination ; and 
 friends, such as mine, do not suppose that all the 
 virtues of a man are contained in his eyes. Nor 
 do the persons of principal distinction in the com- 
 monwealth suffer me to be bereaved of comfort, 
 when they see me bereaved of sight, amid the ex- 
 ertions which I made, the zeal which I showed,
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 313 
 
 and the dangers which I run for the Hberty which 
 I love. But, soberly reflecting on the casualties 
 of human life, they show me favor and indulgence, 
 as to a soldier who has served his time, and kindly 
 concede to me an exemption from care and toil. 
 They do not strip me of the badges of honor 
 which I have once worn ; they do not deprive me 
 of the places of public trust to which I have been 
 appointed ; they do not abridge my salary or emol- 
 uments ; which, though I may not do so much to 
 deserve as I did formerly, they are too considerate 
 and too kind to take away ; and, in short, they 
 honor me as much as the Athenians did those 
 whom they determined to support at the public ex- 
 pense in the Prytaneum. Thus, while both God 
 and man unite in solacing me under the weight of 
 my affliction, let no one lament my loss of sight 
 in so honorable a cause 
 
 He alone is worthy of the appellation [great] 
 who does great things, or teaches how they may be 
 done, or describes them with a suitable majesty 
 when they have been done ; but those only are 
 great things, which tend to render life more happy, 
 which increase the innocent enjoyments and com- 
 forts of existence, or which pave the Avay to 
 a state of future bliss more permanent and more 
 pure 
 
 My work soon excited general approbation and 
 delight ; the author was lost sight of in the blaze 
 of truth ; and Salmashis, who had so lately been 
 u
 
 314 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 towering on the pinnacle of distinction, stripped 
 of the mask which he had worn, soon dwindled 
 into insignificance and contempt ; from which, as 
 long as he lived, he could never afterwards emerge, 
 or recover his former consequence. But your 
 penetrating mind, O serene queen of Sweden, 
 soon detected his imposture ; and, with a magna- 
 nimity almost above human, you taught sovereigns 
 and the world to prefer truth to the interested 
 clamors of faction. For though the splendor of 
 his erudition, and the celebrity which he had ac- 
 quired in the defence of the royal cause, had in- 
 duced you to honor him with many marks of dis- 
 tinction, yet, when my answer appeared, which 
 you perused with singular equanimity, you per- 
 ceived that he had been convicted of the most pal- 
 pable effrontery and misrepresentation ; that he 
 had betrayed the utmost indiscretion and intem- 
 perance, that he had uttered many falsehoods, 
 many inconsistencies and contradictions. On this 
 account, as it is said, you had him called into 
 your presence ; but when he was unable to vindi- 
 cate himself, you were so visibly offended, that 
 fi'om that time you neither showed him the same 
 attentions, nor held his talents nor his learning in 
 the same esteem ; and, what was entirely unex- 
 pected, you manifested a disposition to favor his 
 adversary. You denied that what I had written 
 against tyrants could have any reference to you ; 
 tvhence, in your own breast you enjoyed the
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 315 
 
 sweets, and among others the fame, of a good con- 
 science. For, since the whole tenor of youi' con- 
 duct sufficiently proves, that you are no tyrant, 
 this unreserved expression of your sentiments 
 makes it still more clear, that you are not even 
 conscious to yourself of being one. How happy 
 am I beyond my utmost expectations ! (for to the 
 praise of eloquence, except as far as eloquence 
 consists in the force of truth, I lay no claim,) that, 
 when the critical exigencies of my country de- 
 manded that I should undertake the arduous and 
 invidious task of impugning the rights of kings, I 
 should meet with so illustrious, so truly a royal 
 evidence to my integrity, and to this truth, that I 
 had not written a word against kings, but only 
 against tyrants, the spots and the pests of royalty ? 
 But you, O Augusta, possessed not only so much 
 magnanimity, but were so irradiated by the glori- 
 ous beams of wisdom and of virtue, that you not 
 only read with patience, with incredible impartiali- 
 ty, with a serene complacency of countenance, 
 what might seem to be levelled against your rights 
 and dignity ; but expressed such an opinion of the 
 defender of those rights, as may well be consid- 
 ered an adjudication of the palm of victory to his 
 opponent. You, O queen ! will forever be the ob- 
 ject of my homage, my veneration, and my love ; 
 for it was your greatness of soul, so honorable to 
 yourself and so auspicious to me, which served to 
 eiSace the unfavorable impression against me at
 
 816 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 other courts, and to rescue me from the evil sur- 
 mises of other sovereigns. What a high and fa- 
 vorable opinion must foreigners conceive, and 
 your own subjects forever entertain, of your im- 
 partiality and justice, when, in a matter which so 
 nearly interested the fate of sovereigns and the 
 rights of your crown, they saw you sit down to 
 the discussion with as much equanimity and conv 
 posure, as you would to determine a dispute be- 
 tween two private individuals. It was not in vain 
 that you made such large collections of books, and 
 so many monuments of learning ; not, indeed, that 
 they could contribute much to your instruction, 
 but because they so will teach your subjects to 
 appreciate the merits of your reign, and the rare 
 3xcellence of your virtue and your wisdom. For 
 the Divinity himself seems to have inspired you 
 with a love of wisdom, and a thirst for improvement, 
 beyond what any books ever could have produced. 
 It excites our astonishment to see a force of intel- 
 lect so truly divine, a particle of celestial flame so 
 resplendently pure, in a region so remote ; of 
 which an atmosphere, so darkened with clouds, 
 and so chilled with frosts, could not extinguish the 
 light, nor repress the operations. The rocky and 
 barren soil, which is often as unfavorable to the 
 growth of genius as of plants, has not impeded 
 the maturation of your faculties ; and that coun- 
 try so rich in metallic ore, which appears like a 
 cruel step-mother to others, seems to have been a
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 317 
 
 fostering parent to you ; and after the most stren- 
 uous attempts to lla^'e at last produced a progeny 
 of pure gold. I would invoke you, Christina ! as 
 the onl}^ child of the renowned and victorious Adol- 
 phus, if your merit did not as much eclipse his, as 
 wisdom excels strengtli, and the arts of peace the 
 havoc of war. Henceforth, the queen of the 
 South will not he alone renowned in history ; for 
 there is a queen of the north, who would not only 
 be worthy to appear in the court of the wise King 
 of the Jews, or any king of equal wisdom ; but to 
 whose court others may from all parts repair, to 
 behold so fair a heroine, so bright a pattern of 
 all the royal virtues ; and to the crown of whose 
 praise this may well be added, that, neither in her 
 conduct nor her appearance, is there any of the 
 foi'bidding reserve, or the ostentatious pai'ade, of 
 royalty. She herself seems the least conscious of 
 her own attributes of sovereignty ; and her thoughts 
 are always fixed on something greater and more 
 sublime than the glitter of a crown. In this re- 
 spect, her example may well make innumerable 
 kings hide -their diminished heads. She may, if 
 such is the fatality of the Swedish nation, abdicate 
 the sovereignty, but she can never lay aside the 
 queen ; for her reign has proved that she is fit to 
 
 govern, not only Sweden, but the world 
 
 I must therefore crave the indulgence of the 
 reader if I have said already, or shall say hereafter, 
 more of myself than I wish to say ; tliat, if I can-
 
 318 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 not prevent the blindness of my eyes, the oblivion 
 or the defamation of my name, I may at least rescue 
 my life from that species of obscurity which is the 
 associate of unprincipled depravity. This it will be 
 necessary for me to do on more accoimts than one ; 
 first, that so many good and learned men among 
 the neighboring nations, who read my works, may 
 not be induced by this fellow's calumnies to alter 
 the favorable opinion which they have formed of 
 me ; but may be persuaded that I am not one who 
 ever disgraced beauty of sentiment by deformity 
 of conduct, or the maxims of a freeman by the 
 actions of a slave ; and that the whole tenor of my 
 hfe has, by the grace of God, hitherto been unsul- 
 lied by enormity or crime. Next, that those illus- 
 trious worthies, who are the objects of my praise, 
 may know that nothing could afflict me with more 
 shame than to have any vices of mine diminish the 
 force or lessen the value of my panegyric upon 
 them ; and, lastly, that the people of England, 
 whom fate, or duty, or their own virtues, have in- 
 cited me to defend, may be convinced, from the 
 purity and integrity of my life, that my defence, 
 if it do not redound to their honor, can never be 
 considered as their disgrace. I will now mention 
 who and whence I am. I was born at London, of 
 an honest family ; my father was distinguished by 
 the undeviating integrity of his life ; my mother, 
 by the esteem in which she was held, and the alms 
 which she bestowed. My father destined me from
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 319 
 
 a child to the pursuits of literature ; and my appetite 
 for knowledge was so voracious, that, from twelve 
 years of age, I hardly ever left my studies, or 
 went to bed before midnight. This primarily led 
 to my loss of sight. My eyes were naturally 
 weak, and I was subject to frequent headaches ; 
 which, however, could not chill the ardor of my 
 curiosity, or retard the progress of my improve- 
 ment. My father had me daily instructed in the 
 grammar-school, and by other masters at home. 
 He then, after I had acquired a proficiency in va- 
 rious languages, and had made a considerable 
 progress in philosophy, sent me to the University 
 of Cambridge. Here I passed seven years in the 
 usual course of instruction and study, with the ap- 
 probation of the good, and without any stain upon 
 my character, till I took the degree of Master of 
 Arts. After this I did not, as the miscreant feigns, 
 run away into Italy, but of my own accord re- 
 tired to my father's house, whither I was accom- 
 panied by the regrets of most of the fellows of 
 the college, who showed me no common marks of 
 friendship and esteem. On my father's estate, 
 where he had determined to pass the remainder 
 of his days, I enjoyed an interval of uninterrupted 
 leisure, which I entirely devoted to the perusal of 
 the Greek and Latin classics ; though I occasion- 
 ally visited the metropolis, either for the sake of 
 purchasing books, or of learning something new 
 in mathematics or in music, in which I, at that
 
 320 FROM TILE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 time, found a source of pleasure and amusement. 
 In this manner I spent five years till my mother's 
 death. I then became anxious to visit foreign 
 parts, and particularly Italy. My father gave me 
 his pei'mission, and I left home with one servant. 
 On my departure, the celebrated Henry Wootton, 
 who had long been King James's ambassador at 
 Venice, gave me a signal proof of his regard, in 
 an elegant letter which he wrote, breathing not 
 only the warmest friendship, but containing some 
 maxims of conduct which I found very useful in 
 my travels. The noble Thomas Scudamore, King 
 Charles's ambassador, to whom I carried letters of 
 recommendation, received me most courteously at 
 Paris. His lordship gave me a card of introduc- 
 tion to the learned Hugo Grotius, at that time 
 ambassador from the queen of Sweden to the 
 French court ; whose acquaintance I anxiously de- 
 sired, and to whose house I was accompanied by 
 some of his lordship's friends. A few days after, 
 when I set out for Italy, he gave me letters to the 
 j'^nglish merchants on my route, that they might 
 show me any civilities in their power. Taking 
 ship at Nice, I arrived at Genoa, and afterwards 
 visited Leghorn, Pisa, and Florence. In the latter 
 city, which I have always more particularly es- 
 teemed for the elegance of its dialect, its genius, 
 and its taste, I stopped about two months ; when I 
 contracted an intimacy with many persons of rank 
 and learning ; and was a constant attendant at
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 321 
 
 their literary parties ; a practice which prevails 
 there, and tends so much to the diffusion of knowl- 
 edge, and the preservation of friendship. No time 
 will ever abolish the agreeable recollections which 
 I cherish of Jacob Gaddi, Oarolo Dati, Frescobal- 
 do, Cultellero, Bonomatthai, Clementillo, Fran- 
 cisco, and many others. From Florence 1 went 
 to Siena, thence to Rome, where, after I had spent 
 about two months in viewing the antiquities of 
 that renowned city, where I experienced the most 
 friendly attentions fi-om Lucas Holstein, and other 
 learned and ingenious men, I continued my route to 
 Naples. There I was introduced by a certain re- 
 cluse, with whom I had travelled from Rome, to 
 John Baptista Manso, Marquis of Villa, a noble- 
 man of distinguished rank and authority, to w'hom 
 Torquato Tasso, the illustrious poet, inscribed his 
 book on friendship. During my stay, he gave mo 
 singular proofs of his regard ; he himself conduct- 
 ed me round the city, and to the palace of the 
 viceroy ; and more than once paid me a visit at my 
 lodgings. On my departure he gravely apologized 
 for not having shown me more civility, which he 
 said he had been restrained from doing, because 
 I had spoken with so little reserve on matters of 
 religion. When I was preparing to pass over into 
 Sicily and Greece, the melancholy intelligence 
 which I received of the civil commotions in Eng- 
 land made me alter my purpose ; for I thought it 
 base to be travelling for amusement abroad, while 
 
 14* U
 
 322 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 my fellow-citizens were fighting for liberty at 
 home. While I was on my way back to Rome, 
 some merchants informed me that the English Jes- 
 uits had formed a plot against me if I retmnied to 
 Rome, because I had spoken too freely on religion ; 
 for it was a rule which I laid down to myself in 
 these places, never to be the first to begin any con- 
 versation on religion ; but if any questions were 
 put to me concerning my faith, to declare it with- 
 out any reserve or fear. I, nevertheless, returned 
 to Rome. I took no steps to conceal either my per- 
 son or my character ; and for about the space of 
 two months I again openly defended, as I had done 
 before, the reformed religion in the very metropolis 
 of Popery. By the favor of God, I got safe back 
 to Florence, where I was received with as much 
 affection as if I had returned to my native coun- 
 try. There I stopped as many months as I had 
 done before, except that I made an excursion for a 
 few days to Lucca ; and, crossing the Apennines, 
 passed through Bologna and Ferrara to Venice. 
 After I had spent a month in surveying the curi- 
 osities of this city, and put on board a ship the 
 books which I had collected in Italy, T proceeded 
 through Verona and Milan, and along the Leman 
 lake to Geneva. The mention of this city brings 
 to my recollection the slandering More, and makes 
 me again call the Deity to witness, that in all those 
 places in which vice meets with so little discour- 
 agement, and is practised with so little shame, I
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 323 
 
 never once deviated from the paths of integrity 
 and virtue, and perpetually reflected that, though 
 my conduct might escape the notice of men, it 
 could not elude the inspection of God. At Ge- 
 neva I held daily converses with John Deodati, 
 the learned Professor of Theology. Then pursuing 
 my former route through France, I returned to 
 my native country, after an absence of one year 
 and about three months ; at the time when Charles, 
 having broken the peace, was renewing what is 
 called the Episcopal war with the Scots, in which 
 the royalists being routed in the first encounter, 
 and the English being universally and justly disaf- 
 fected, the necessity of his affairs at last obliged 
 him to convene a Parliament As soon as I was 
 able, I hired a spacious house in the city for my- 
 self and my books ; where I again with rapture 
 renewed my literary pursuits, and whei'e I calmly 
 awaited the issue of the contest, which I trusted 
 to the wise conduct of Providence, and to the 
 courage of the people. The vigor of the Parlia- 
 ment had begun to humble the pride of the bish- 
 ops. As long as the liberty of speech was ni) 
 longer subject to control, all mouths began to be 
 opened against the bishops ; some complained of 
 the vices of the individuals, others of those of the 
 order. They said that it was unjust that they 
 alone should differ from the model of other re- 
 formed churches ; that the government of the 
 Church should be according to the pattern of other
 
 324 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 churches, and particularly the word of God. Thia 
 awakened all my attention and my zeal. I saw 
 that a way was opening for the establishment of 
 real hberty ; that the foundation was laying for the 
 deliverance of man from the yoke of slavery and 
 superstition ; that the principles of religion, which 
 were the first objects of our care, would exert a 
 salutary influence on the manners and constitution 
 of the repubhc ; and as I had from my youth stud- 
 ied the distinctions between religious and civil 
 rights, I perceived that if I ever wished to be of 
 use, I ought at least not to be wanting to my coun- 
 try, to the Church, and to so many of my fellow- 
 Christians, in a crisis of so much danger ; I there- 
 fore determined to relinquish the other pursuits in 
 which I was engaged, and to transfer the whole 
 force of my talents and my industry to this one 
 important object. I accordingly wrote two books 
 to a friend concerning the reformation of the 
 (Jhurch of England. Afterwards, when two bish- 
 ops of superior distinction vindicated their priv- 
 ileges against some principal ministers, I thought 
 that on those topics, to the consideration of which I 
 was led solely by my love of truth, and my rever- 
 ence for Chi-istianity, I should not probably write 
 worse than those who were contending only for 
 their own emoluments and usurpations. I therefore 
 answered the one in two books, of which the first is 
 inscribed, Concerning Prelatical Episcopacy, and 
 the other. Concerning the Mode of Ecclesiastical
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 325 
 
 Government ; and I replied to the other in some 
 Animadversions, and soon after in an Apology. 
 On this occasion it was supposed that I brought a 
 timely succor to the ministers, who were hardly a 
 match for the eloquence of their opponents ; and 
 from that time I was actively employed in refuting 
 any answers that appeared. When the bishops 
 could no longer resist the multitude of their assail- 
 ants, I had leisure to turn my thoughts to other sub- 
 jects ; to the promotion of real and substantial lib- 
 erty ; which is rather to be sought from within 
 than from without ; and whose existence depends, 
 not so much on the terror of the sword, as on so- 
 briety of conduct, and integrity of life. When, 
 therefore, I perceived that there were three species 
 of liberty which are essential to the happiness of 
 social life, — religious, domestic, and civil ; and as I 
 had already written concerning the first, and the 
 magistrates were strenuously active in obtaining 
 the third, I determined to turn my attention to 
 the second, or the domestic species. As this 
 seemed to involve three material questions, the 
 conditions of the conjugal tie, the education of the 
 children, and the free publication of the thoughts, 
 I made them objects of distinct consideration. I 
 explained my sentiments, not only concerning the 
 solemnization of the marriage, but the dissolution, 
 if circumstances rendered it necessary ; and I 
 di-ew my arguments from the divine law, which 
 Christ did not abolish, or publish another more
 
 326 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 * 
 
 gi'ievous than that of Moses. I stated iny owu 
 opinions, and those of others, concerning the ex- 
 clusive exception of fornication, which our illustri- 
 ous Selden" has since, in his Hebrew Wife, more 
 copiously discussed ; for he in vain makes a vaunt 
 of liberty in the senate or in the forum, who lan- 
 guishes under the vilest servitude, to an inferior at 
 home. On this subject, therefore, I published 
 some books which were more particularly necessa- 
 ry at that time, when man and wife were often the 
 most inveterate foes, when the man often stayed to 
 take care of his children at home, while the moth- 
 er of the family was seen in the camp of the ene- 
 my, threatening death and destruction to her hus- 
 band. I then discussed the principles of education 
 in a summary manner, but sufficiently copious for 
 those who attend seriously to the subject ; than 
 which nothing can be more necessary to principle 
 the minds of men in virtue, the only genuine 
 soiu'ce of political and individual liberty, the only 
 true safeguard of staters, the bulwark of their pros- 
 perity and renown. Lastly, I wrote my Areopa- 
 gitica, in order to deliver the press from the re- 
 straints with which it was encumbered, that the 
 j^ower of determining what was true and what was 
 false, what ought to be published and what to be 
 suppressed, might no longer be intrusted to a few 
 illiterate and illiberal individuals, who refused their 
 sanction to any work Avhich contained views or 
 aentiments at all above the level of the vulgar
 
 J'HE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 327 
 
 Buperstition. On the last species of civil liberty, 
 I said notliincr, because I saw that sufficient atten- 
 tion was paid to it by the magistrates ; nor did I 
 WTite anything on the prerogative of the crown, 
 till the king, voted an enemy by the Parliament, 
 and vanquished in the field, was summoned before 
 the tribunal which condemned him to lose his 
 head. But when, at length, some Presbyterian 
 ministers, who had formerly been the most bitter 
 enemies to Charles, became jealous of the growth 
 of the Independents, and of their ascendency 
 in the Parliament, most tumultuously clamored 
 against the sentence, and did all in their power to 
 prevent the execution, though they were not an- 
 gry, so much on account of the act itself, as be- 
 cause it was not the act of then' party ; and when 
 they dared to affirm, that the doctrine of the Prot- 
 estants, and of all the reformed churches, was 
 abhorrent to such an atrocious proceeding against 
 kings ; I thought that it became me to oppose such 
 a glaring falsehood ; and accordingly, without any 
 immediate or personal ai)plication to Charles, I 
 showed, in an abstract consideration of the ques- 
 tion, what might lawfully be done against tyrants ; 
 and in support of what I advanced, produced the 
 opinions of the most celebrated divines ; while I 
 vehemently inveighed against the egregious igno- 
 rance or effiontery of men, who professed better 
 things, and from whom better things might have 
 been expected. That book did not make its ap
 
 328 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 pearanre till after the death of Charles ; and was 
 written rather to reconcile the minds of the jieople 
 to the event, than to discuss the leoitimacv of that 
 particular sentence which concerned the magis- 
 trates, and which was already executed. Such 
 were the fruits of my private studies, which I gra- 
 tuitously presented to the church and to the state : 
 and for which I was recompensed by nothing but 
 impunity ; though the actions themselves procured 
 me peace of conscience, and the approbation of the 
 good ; while I exercised that freedom of discussion 
 which I loved. Others, without labor or desert, 
 got possession of honors and emoluments ; but no 
 one ever knew me either sohciting anything my- 
 self or through the medium of my fi'iends, ever 
 beheld me in a supplicating posture at the doors 
 of the senate, or the levees of the great. I usually 
 kept myself secluded at home, where my own 
 property, part of which had been withheld during 
 the civil commotions, and part of which had been 
 absorbed in the oppressive contributions which I 
 had to sustain, aiforded me a scanty subsistence. 
 When I was released from these engagements, and 
 thought that I was about to enjoy an interval of 
 uninterrupted ease, I turned my thoughts to a con- 
 tinued history of my country, from the earliest 
 times to the present period. I had already finished 
 four books, when, after the subversion of the mon- 
 archy, and the estabhshment of a republic, I was 
 surprised by an invitation from the Council of State,
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 329 
 
 who desired my ser\dces in the office for foreign af- 
 fairs. A book appeared soon after, which was as- 
 cribed to the king, and contained the most in- 
 vidious cliarges against the ParHament. I was 
 ordered to answer it ; and opposed the Iconoclast 
 to his Icon. I did not insult over fallen majesty, 
 as is pretended ; I only preferred Queen Truth to 
 King Charles. The charge of insult, which I sa\A 
 that the malevolent would urge, I was at some pains 
 to remove in the beginning of the work : and as often 
 as possible in other places. Salmasius then ap- 
 peared, to whom they wei*e not, as More says, 
 long in looking about for an opponent, but imme- 
 diately appointed me, who happened at the time to 
 be present in the council. I have thus, sir, given 
 some account of myself, in order to stop youi 
 mouth, and to remove any prejudices which your 
 falsehoods and misrepresentations might cause even 
 good men to entertain against me. I tell thee then, 
 thou mass of corruption, to hold thy peace ; for the 
 more you malign, the more you will compel me to 
 confute ; which will only serve to render your in- 
 iquity more glaring, and my integi'ity more mani- 
 fest 
 
 John Bradshaw (a name which will be repeated 
 with applause wherever liberty is cherished or is 
 known) was sprung from a noble family. All his 
 early life he sedulously employed in making him- 
 self acquainted with tlie laws of his country ; he 
 then practised with singular success and reputation
 
 330 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 at the bar ; he showed himself an intrepid and 
 unwearied advocate for the liberties of the people : 
 he took an active part in the most momentous 
 affairs of the state, and occasionally discharged the 
 functions of a judge with the most inviolable in- 
 tegrity. At last, when he was entreated by the 
 Parliament to preside in the trial of the king, he 
 did not refuse the dangerous office. To a profound 
 knowledge of the law, he added the most compre- 
 hensive views, the most generous sentiments, man- 
 ners the most obliging and the most pure. Hence 
 he discharged that office with a propriety almost 
 without a parallel ; he inspired both respect and 
 awe ; and though menaced by the daggers of so 
 many assassins, he conducted himself with so much 
 consistency and gravity, with so much presence of 
 mind and so much dignity of demeanor, that he 
 seems to have been purposely destined by Provi- 
 dence for that part which he so nobly acted on the 
 theatre of the world. And his glory is as much 
 exalted above that of all other tyrannicides, as it is 
 both more humane, more just, and more strikingly 
 grand, judicially to condemn a tyrant, than to put 
 him to death without a trial. In other respects 
 there was no forbidding austerity, no moroseness 
 in his manner ; he was courteous and benign ; but 
 the gi-eat character which he then sustained, he 
 with perfect consistency still sustains, so that you 
 would suppose that not only then, but in every 
 future period of his life, he was sitting in judgment
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 331 
 
 upon the king. In the public business his activity 
 is unwearied ; and he alone is equal to a host. At 
 home his hospitality is as splendid as his fortune 
 will permit : in his friendships there is the most 
 inflexible fidelity ; and no one more readily discerns 
 merit, or more Hberally rewards it. Men of piety 
 and learning, ingenious persons in all professions, 
 those who have been distinguished by their courage 
 or their misfortunes, are free to participate his 
 bounty ; and if they want not his bounty, they are 
 sure to share his friendship and esteem. He never 
 ceases to extol the merits of others, or to conceal 
 his own ; and no one was ever more ready to ac- 
 cept the excuses, or to pardon the hostility, of his 
 political opponents. If he undertake to plead the 
 cause of the oppressed, to solicit the favor or depre- 
 cate the resentment of the powerful, to reprove the 
 public ingratitude towards any particular individual, 
 his address and liis perseverance are beyond all 
 praise. On such occasions no one could desire a 
 patron or a friend more able, more zealous, or more 
 eloquent. No menace could divert him fi'om his 
 purpose ; no intimidation on the one hand, and no 
 promise of emolument or promotion on the other, 
 could alter the serenity of his countenance, or 
 
 shake the firmness of his soul 
 
 " The army is a hydra-headed monster of accu- 
 mulated heresies." Those who speak the truth, 
 acknowledge that our army excels all others, not 
 only in courage, but in virtue and in piety. Other
 
 332 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 camps are the scenes of gambling, swearing, riot, 
 and debauchery ; in ours, the troops employ what 
 leisure they have in searching the Scriptures and 
 hearing the word ; nor is there one who thinks it 
 more honorable to vanquish the enemy than to 
 propagate the truth ; and they not only carry on a 
 military warfare against their enemies, but an 
 evangelical one against themselves. And indeed 
 if we consider the proper objects of war, Avhat em- 
 ployment can be more becoming soldiers, who are 
 raised to defend the laws, to be the support of our 
 political and religious institutions ? Ought they 
 not then to be less conspicuous for ferocity than 
 for the civil and the softer virtues, and to consider 
 it as their true and proper destination, not merely 
 to sow the seeds of strife, and reap the harvest of 
 destruction, but to procure peace and security for 
 the whole human race ? If there be any who, 
 either from the mistakes of others, or the infirmities 
 of their own minds, deviate from these noble ends, 
 we ought not to punish them with the sword, but 
 rather labor to reform them by reason, by admo- 
 nition, by pious supplications to God, to whom 
 alone it belongs to dispel all the errors of the mind, 
 and to impart to whom he will the celestial light 
 of truth. We approve no heresies which are truly 
 such ; we do not even tolerate some ; we wish 
 them extirpated, but by those means wliich are 
 best suited to the purpose, — by reason and instruc- 
 tion, the only safe remedies for disorders of the
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 333 
 
 mind ; and not by the knife or the scourge, as if 
 
 they were seated in the body 
 
 Ohver Cromwell was sprung from a hne of illus- 
 trious ancestors, who were distinguished for the 
 civil functions which they sustained under the 
 monarchy, and still more for the part which they 
 took in restoring and establishing true religion in 
 this country. In the vigor and maturity of his 
 life, which he passed m retirement, he was con- 
 spicuous for nothing more than for the strictness 
 of his religious habits, and the innocence of his 
 life ; and he had tacitly cherished in his breast that 
 flame of piety which was afterwards to stand him 
 in so much stead on the greatest occasions, and in 
 the most critical exigencies. In the last Parlia- 
 ment which was called by the king, he was elected 
 to represent his native town, when he soon became 
 distinguished by the justness of his opinions, and 
 the vigor and decision of his councils. When the 
 sword was drawn, he offered his services, and was 
 appointed to a troop of horse, whose numbers were 
 soon increased by the pious and the good, who 
 flocked from all quarters to his standard ; and in a 
 short time he almost surpassed the greatest gen- 
 erals in the magnitude and the rapidity of his 
 achievements. Nor is this surprising ; for he was 
 a soldier disciplined to perfection in the knowledge 
 of himself. He had either extinguished, or by 
 habit had learned to subdue, the whole host of 
 vain hopes, fears, and passions, which infest the
 
 334 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 soul. He first acquired the government of him- 
 self, and over himself acquired the most signal vic- 
 tories; so that on the first day he took the field 
 against the external enemy, he was a veteran in 
 arms, consummately practised in the toils and exi- 
 gencies of war. It is not possible for me, in the 
 narrow limits in wliich I circumscribe myself on 
 this occasion, to enumerate the many towns which 
 he has taken, the many battles which he has won. 
 The whole surface of the British empire has been 
 the scene of his exploits, and the theatre of his 
 triumphs ; which alone would furnish ample ma- 
 terials for a history, and want a copiousness of 
 narration not inferior to the magnitude and diver- 
 sity of the transactions. This alone seems to be a 
 sufficient proof of his extraordinary and almost 
 supernatural virtue, that by the vigor of his genius, 
 or the excellence of his discipline, adapted, not 
 more to the necessities of war than to the precepts 
 of Christianity, the good and the brave were from 
 all quarters attracted to his camp, not only as to 
 the best school of military talents, but of piety 
 and virtue ; and that during the whole war, and 
 the occasional intervals of peace, amid so many 
 vicissitudes of faction and of events, he retained 
 and still retains the obedience of his troops, not by 
 largesses or indulgence, but by his sole authority 
 and the regularity of his pay. In this instance his 
 fame may rival that of Cyrus, of Epaminondas, or 
 any of the great genei-als of antiquity. Hence he
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 335 
 
 collected an army as numerous and as well equipped 
 as any one ever did in so short a time ; which was 
 uniformly obedient to his orders, and dear to the 
 affections of the citizens ; which was formidable to 
 the enemy in the field, but never cruel to those 
 who laid down their arms ; which committed no 
 lawless ravages on the persons or 'the property of 
 the inhabitants ; who, when they compared their 
 conduct with the tiu'bulence, the intemperance, the 
 impiet}^, and the debauchery of the royalists, were 
 wont to salute them as friends, and to consider them 
 as guests. They were a stay to the good, a terror 
 to the evil, and tlie warmest advocates for every 
 exertion of piety and virtue. Nor would it be 
 right to pass over the name of Fairfax, who united 
 the utmost fortitude with the utmost courage ; and 
 the spotless innocence of whose life seemed to 
 point him out as the pecuhar favorite of Heaven. 
 Justly, indeed, may you be excited to receive tliis 
 wreath of praise ; though you have retired as much 
 as possible from the world, and seek those shades 
 of privacy which were the delight of Scipio. Nor 
 was it only the enemy whom you subdued, but you 
 have triumphed over that flame of ambition and 
 tliat lust of glory which are wont to make the best 
 and the greatest of men then* slaves. The purity 
 of your virtues and the splendor of your actions 
 consecrate those sweets of ease which you enjoy, 
 and which constitute the wished-for haven of the 
 toils of man. Such was the ease wdiich, when the
 
 336 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 hei-oes of antiquity possessed, after a life of exertion 
 and glory not greater than yours, the poets, in de- 
 spair of finding ideas or expressions better suited 
 to the subject, feigned that they were received into 
 heaven, and invited to recline at the tables of the 
 gods. But whether it were your health, which I 
 principally believe, or any other motive which 
 caused you to retire, of this I am convinced, that 
 nothing could have induced you to relinquish the 
 service of your country, if you had not known 
 that in your successor liberty would meet with a 
 protector, and England with a stay to its safety, 
 and a pillar to its glory. For while you, O Crom- 
 well, are left among us, he hardly shows a proper 
 confidence in the Supreme, who distrusts the se- 
 curity of England ; when he sees that a^ou are in 
 so special a manner the favored object of the divine 
 regard. But there was another department of the 
 war, which was destined for your exclusive exer- 
 tions. 
 
 Without entering into any length of detail, I 
 will, if possible, describe some of the most mem- 
 orable actions, with as much brevity as you per- 
 ibrmed them with celerity. After the loss of all 
 Ireland, with the exception of one city, you in one 
 battle immediately discomfited the forces of the 
 rebels ; and were busily employed in settling the 
 country, when you were suddenly recalled to the 
 war in Scotland. Hence you proceeded with im- 
 wearied diligence against the Scots, who were on
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 337 
 
 the point of making an irruption into England 
 with the kino; in their train : and in about the 
 space of one year you entirely subdued, and added 
 to the English dominion, that kingdom which all 
 our monarchs, diu'ing a period of eight hundred 
 years, had in vain struggled to subject. In one 
 battle you almost annihilated the remainder of 
 their forces, who, in a fit of desperation, had made 
 a sudden incursion into England, then almost des- 
 titute of garrisons, and got as far as Worcester ; 
 where you came up with them by forced marches, 
 and captured almost the whole of their nobility. 
 -A profound peace ensued; when we found, though 
 indeed not then for the first time, that you were as 
 wise in the cabinet as valiant in the field. It was 
 your constant endeavor in the Senate either to 
 induce them to adhere to those treaties wdiich tliey 
 haa. entered into with the enemy, or speedily to 
 adjust others which promised to be beneficial to 
 the country. But when you saw that the business 
 was artfully procrastinated, that every one was 
 more intent on his own selfish interest than on the 
 public good, that the people complained of the dis- 
 appointments which they had experienced, and the 
 fallacious promises by which they had been gulled, 
 that they were the dupes of a few overbearing 
 individuals, you put an end to their domination. 
 A new Parliament is summoned ; and the right of 
 election given to those to whom it was expedient. 
 They meet; but do nothing; and, after having 
 15 V
 
 338 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 wearied themselves by their mutual dissensions, 
 and fully exposed their incapacity to the observa- 
 tion of the country, they consent to a voluntary 
 dissolution. In this state of desolation, to which 
 we were reduced, you, O Cromwell ! alone re- 
 mained to conduct the government, and to save 
 the country. We all wilHngly yield the palm of 
 sovereignty to your unrivalled ability and virtue, 
 except the few among us, who, either ambitious of 
 honors wliich they have not the capacity to sustain, 
 or who envy those which are conferred on one 
 more worthy than themselves, or else who do not 
 know that nothing in the world is more pleasing to 
 God, more agreeable to reason, more politically 
 just, or more generally useful, than that the su- 
 preme power should be vested in the best and the 
 wisest of men. Such, O Cromwell, all acknowl- 
 edge you to be ; such are the services which you 
 have rendered, as the leader of our councils, the 
 general of our armies, and the father of your coun- 
 try. For this is the tender appellation by which 
 all the good among us salute you from the very 
 soul. Other names you neither have nor could 
 endure ; and you deservedly reject that pomp of 
 title which attracts the gaze and admiration of the 
 multitude. For what is a title but a certain definite 
 mode of dignity ; but actions such as yours sui*pass, 
 not only the bounds of our admiration, but oiu* 
 titles ; and, like the points of pyramids, which are 
 lost in the clouds, they soar above the possibiliti is
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 339 
 
 of titular commendation. But since, thouo-h it be 
 not fit, it may be expedient, that the highest pitch 
 of virtue should be circumscribed within the bounds 
 of some human appellation, you endured to receive, 
 for the public good, a title most like to that of the 
 father of your countiy ; not to exalt, but rather to 
 bring you nearer to the level of ordinary men ; 
 the title of king was unworthy the transcendent 
 majesty of your character. For if you had been 
 captivated by a name over which, as a private 
 man, you had so completely triumphed and crum- 
 bled into dust, you would have been doino; the same 
 thing as if, after having subdued some idolatrous 
 nation by the help of the true God, you should 
 afterwards fall down and worship the gods wdiich 
 you h.ad vanquished. Do you then, sir, continue 
 your course with the same unrivalled magnanimity ; 
 it sits well upon you ; — to you our country owes 
 its liberties ; nor can you sustain a character at 
 once more momentous and more august than that 
 of the author, the guardian, and the preserver of 
 our liberties ; and hence you have not only eclipsed 
 the achievements of all our kings, but even those 
 which have been fabled of our heroes. Often 
 reflect what a dear pledge the beloved land of 
 your nativity has intrusted to yovir care ; and that 
 liberty which she once expected only from the 
 chosen flower of her talents and her virtues, she 
 now exjjects from you only, and by you only hopes 
 to obtain. Revere the fond expectations which
 
 340 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 we cherish, the solicitudes of your anxious coun* 
 tiy ; revere the looks and the wounds of your 
 brave companions in arms, who, under your ban- 
 ners, have so strenuously fought for liberty ; revere 
 the shades of those who perished in the contest ; 
 revere also the opinions and the hopes which for- 
 eign states entertain concerning us, who promise 
 to themselves so many advantages from that liberty 
 which we have so bravely acquired, from the estab- 
 lishment of that new government which has begun 
 to shed its splendor on the world, which, if it bo 
 suffered to vanish like a dream, would involve us 
 in the deepest abyss of shame ; and lastly, revere 
 yourself; and, after having endured so many suffer- 
 ings and encountered so many perils for the sake 
 of liberty, do not suffer it, now it is obtained, either 
 to be violated by yourself, or in any one instance 
 impaired by others. You cannot be tnily free un- 
 less we are free too ; for such is the nature of 
 things, that he who entrenches on the liberty of 
 others, is the first to lose his own and become a 
 slave. But if you, who have hitherto been the 
 patron and tutelary genius of liberty, if you, who 
 are exceeded by no one in justice, in piety, and 
 goodness, should hereafter invade that liberty whicii 
 you have defended, your conduct must be fatally 
 operative, not only against the cause of liberty, 
 but the general interests of piety and virtue. Your 
 integrity and virtue will appear to have evaporated ; 
 your faith in religion to have been small ; your
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 341 
 
 chaiacter with posterity will dwindle into insignifi- 
 can(je, by which a most destructive blow will be 
 levelled against the happiness of mankind. The 
 work which you have undertaken is of incalculable 
 moment, which will thoroughly sift and expose 
 every principle and sensation of your heart, which 
 will fully display the vigor and genius of your 
 character, which will evince whether you really 
 possess those great qualities of piety, fidehty, jus- 
 tice, and self-denial, which made us believe that 
 you were elevated by the special direction of the 
 Deity to the highest pinnacle of power. At once 
 wisely and discreetly to hold the sceptre over three 
 powerful nations, to persuade people to relinquish 
 inveterate and corrupt for new and more beneficial 
 maxims and institutions, to penetrate mto the 
 remotest parts of the country, to have the mind 
 present and operative in every quarter, to watch 
 against surprise, to provide against danger, to re- 
 ject the blandishments of pleasure and pomp of 
 power ; — these are exertions compared with which 
 the labor of war is mere pastime ; which will re- 
 quire every energy and employ every faculty that 
 you possess ; which demand a man supported from 
 above, and almost instructed by immediate inspira- 
 tion. These and more than these are, no doubt, 
 the objects which occupy your attention and en- 
 gross your soul ; as well as the means 'by which 
 you may accomplish these important ends, and 
 render our liberty at once more ample and more
 
 342 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 secure. And this you can, in my opinion, in no 
 other way so readily effect, as by associating in 
 your councils the companions of your dangers and 
 your toils ; men of exemplary modesty, integrity, 
 and courage ; whose hearts have not been hard- 
 ened in cruelty, and rendered insensible to pity by 
 the sight of so much ravage and so much death, 
 but whom it has rather inspired with the love of 
 justice, with a respect for religion, and with the 
 feeling of compassion, and who are more zealously 
 interested in the preservation of liberty, in propor- 
 tion as they have encountered more perils in its 
 defence. They are not strangers or foreigners, a 
 hireling rout scraped together from the dregs of 
 the people, but, for the most part, men of the bet- 
 ter conditions in life, of families not disgraced if 
 not ennobled, of fortunes either ample or mod- 
 erate ; and what if some among them are recom- 
 mended by their poverty ? for it was not the lust 
 of ravage which brought them into the field ; it 
 was the calamitous aspect of the times, which, in 
 the most critical circumstances, and often amid the 
 most disastrous turn of fortune, roused them to 
 attempt the deliverance of their country from the 
 fangs of despotism. They were men prepared, not 
 only to debate, but to fight ; not only to argue in 
 the Senate, but to engage the enemy in the field. 
 But unless we will continually cherish indefinite 
 and illusory expectations, I see not in whom we 
 can place any confidence, if not in these men and
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 343 
 
 such as these. We nave the surest and most in- 
 dubitable pledge of their fidelity in this, that they 
 have already exposed themselves to death in the 
 service of their country ; of their piety in this, that 
 they have been always wont to ascribe the whole 
 glory of their successes to the favor of the Deity, 
 whose help they have so suppliantly implored, and 
 so conspicuously obtained ; of their justice in this, 
 that they even brought the king to trial, and when 
 his guilt was proved, refused to save his life ; of 
 their moderation in our own uniform experience 
 of its effects, and because, if by any outrage, they 
 should disturb the peace which they have procured, 
 they themselves will be the first to feel the miseries 
 which it will occasion, the first to meet the havoc 
 of the sword, and the first again to risk their lives 
 for all those comforts and distinctions which they 
 have so happily acquired ; and lastly, of their forti- 
 tude in this, that there is no instance of any people 
 who ever recovered their liberty with so much 
 courage and success ; and therefore let us not sup- 
 pose, that there can be any persons who will be 
 more zealous in preserving it. I now feel myself 
 irresistibly compelled to commemorate the names 
 of some of those who have most conspicuously sig- 
 nalized themselves in these times : and first thine, 
 O Fleetwood ! whom I have known from a boy, to 
 the present blooming maturity of your military 
 fame, to have been inferior to none in humanity, 
 in gentleness, i:a benignity of disposition, whose
 
 344 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 intrepidity in tlie combat, and whose clemency vo 
 victoiy, have been acknowledged even by the 
 enemy : next thine, O Lambert ! who, with a mere 
 handful of men, checked the progress, and sustained 
 the attack, of the Duke of Hamilton, who was at- 
 tended by the whole flower and vigor of the 
 Scottish youth : next thine, O Desborough I and 
 thine, O Hawley ! who wast always conspicuous in 
 the heat of the combat, and the thickest of the fight : 
 thine, O Overton ! who hast been most endeared 
 to me now for so many years by the similitude 
 of our studies, the suavity of your manners, and 
 the more than fraternal sympathy of our hearts ; 
 you who, in the memorable battle of Marston Moor, 
 when our left wing was put to the rout, were be- 
 held with admiration, making head against the 
 enemy with your infantry and repelling his attack, 
 amid the thickest of the carnage : and lastly you, 
 who, in the Scotch war, when under the auspices 
 of Cromwell, occupied the coast of Fife, opened a 
 passage beyond Stirling, and made the Scotch of 
 the west, and of the north, and even the remotest 
 Orkneys, confess your humanity, and submit to 
 your power. Besides these, I will mention some as 
 celebrated for their political wisdom and their civil 
 virtues, whom you, sir, have admitted into your 
 councils, and who are known to me by friendship 
 or by fame. Whitlocke, Pickering, Strickland, 
 Sydenham, Sydney (a name indissolubly attached 
 to the interests of liberty), Montacute, Laurence,
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 345 
 
 Doth of highly cultivated minds and polished taste ; 
 besides many other citizens of singular merit, some 
 of whom were distinguished by their exertions in 
 tl-e senate, and others in the field. To these men, 
 whose talents are so splendid, and whose worth 
 has been so thoroughly tried, you would without 
 doubt do right to trust the protection of our liber- 
 ties ; nor would it be easy to say to whom they 
 might more safely be intrusted. Then, if you 
 leave the Church to its own government, and re- 
 lieve yourself and the other public functionaries 
 from a charge so onerous, and so incompatible with 
 your functions ; and will no longer suifer two pow- 
 ers, so diflPerent as the civil and the ecclesiastical, to 
 commit fornication together, and by their mutual 
 and delusive aids in appearance to strengthen, but 
 in reality to weaken and finally to subvert, each 
 other ; if you shall remove all power of persecution 
 out of the Church, (but persecution will never 
 cease, so long as men are bribed to preach the Gos- 
 pel by a mercenary salary, which is forcibly extorted, 
 rather than gratuitously bestowed, which serves 
 only to poison religion and to strangle truth,) you 
 will then effectually have cast those money-changers 
 out of the temple, who do not merely truckle with 
 doves but with the Dove itself, with the Spirit of 
 the Most High. Then, since there are often in a 
 republic men who have the same itch for making a 
 multiplicity of laws as some poetasters have for 
 making majiy verses, and since laws are usually 
 15*
 
 346 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 worse in proportion as tliey are more numerous, if 
 you shall not enact so many new laws as you abol • 
 ish old, which do not operate so much as warnings 
 against evil, as impediments in the way of good ; 
 and if you shall retain only those which are neces- 
 sary, Avhich do not confound the distinctions of 
 good and evil, which while they prevent the frauds 
 of the wicked do not prohibit the innocent freedoms 
 of the good, which punish crimes, without inter- 
 dicting those things which are lawful only on 
 account of the abuses to which they may occa- 
 sionally be exposed. For the intention of laws is 
 to check the commission of vice ; but liberty is the 
 best school of virtue, and affords the strongest en- 
 couragements to the practice. Then, if you make 
 a better provision for the education of our youth 
 than has hitherto been made, if you prevent the 
 promiscuous instruction of the docile and the in- 
 docile, of the idle and the diligent, at the public 
 cost, but reserve the rewards of learning for the 
 learned, and of merit for the meritorious ; if you 
 permit the free discussion of truth without any 
 hazai'd to the author, or any subjection to the 
 caprice of an individual, which is the best way to 
 make truth flourish and knowledge abound, the 
 censure of the half-learned, the envy, the pusil- 
 lanimity, or the prejudice which measures the 
 discoveries of others, and in short every degree of 
 wisdom, by the measure of its own capacity, will 
 be prevented from doling out information to us
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 347 
 
 according to their own arbitrary choice. Lastly, 
 if you shall not dread to hear any truth or any 
 falsehood, whatever it may be, but if you shall 
 least of all listen to those w^ho think that they can 
 never be free till the liberties of others depend 
 on their caprice, and wlio attempt nothing with 
 so much zeal and vehemence as to fetter, not only 
 the bodies but the minds of men, who labor to 
 introduce into the state the worst of all tyrannies, 
 the tyranny of their own depraved habits and per- 
 nicious opinions ; you will always be dear to those 
 who think not merely that their own sect or fac- 
 tion, but that all citizens of all descriptions, should 
 enjoy equal rights and equal laws. If there be 
 any one wdio thinks that this is not liberty enough, 
 he appears to me to be rather inflamed with the 
 lust of ambition or of anarchy, than with the love 
 of a genuine and well-regulated liberty ; and par- 
 ticularly since the circumstances of the country, 
 which have been so convulsed by the storms of 
 faction, which are yet hardly still, do not permit 
 us to adopt a more perfect or desirable form of 
 government. 
 
 For it is of no little consequence O citizens, by 
 what principles you are governed, either in acquir- 
 ing liberty, or in attaining it Avlien acquired. And 
 unless that liberty, which is of such a kind as arms 
 can neither procure nor take away, which alone is 
 the fruit of piety, of justice, of temperance, and un- 
 adulterated virtue, shall have taken deep root in
 
 a-18 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 your minds and hearts, there will not long be 
 wanting one who will snatch from you by tro^cli- 
 ery what you have acquired by arms. Wsi has 
 made many great whom peace makes small. If, 
 after being released from the toils of war, you neg 
 lect the arts of peace, if your peace and your lib 
 erty be a state of warfare, if \^'-ar be your only vir- 
 tue, the summit of your praise, ycu will, believe 
 me, soon find peace the most adverse to your in- 
 terests. Your peace will be only c- more distress- 
 ing war ; and that wliich you imagine J liberty will 
 prove the worst of slavery. Unioss by the means 
 of piety, not frothy and loquaciou*. cnt operative, 
 unadulterated, and sincere, you clear the horizon 
 of the mind from those mists of superstitron which 
 arise from the ignorance of true religion, you will 
 always have those who will bend your necks to the 
 yoke as if you were brutes, who, notwithstanding all 
 your triumphs, will put you up to the highest bid- 
 der, as if you were mere booty made in war ; and 
 will find an exuberant source of wealth in your ig- 
 norance and superstition. Unless you will subju- 
 gate the propensity to avarice," to ambition, and 
 sensuality, and expel all luxuiy from yourselves 
 and from your families, you will find that you have 
 cherished a more stubborn and intractable despot 
 at home thar you ever encountered in the field ; 
 and even your very bowels will be continually 
 teeming with an intolerable progeny of tyrants. 
 Let those be the first enemies whom you subdue ;
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 349 
 
 this constitutes the campaign of peace ; these are 
 triumphs, difficult indeed, but bloodless; and far 
 more honorable than those trophies which are pur- 
 chased only by slaughter and by rapine. Unless 
 you are victors in this service, it is in vain that you 
 have been victorious over the despotic enemy in 
 the field. For if you think that it is a more grand, 
 a more beneficial, or a more wise policy, to invent 
 subtle expedients for increasing the revenue, to 
 multiply our naval and military force, to rival in 
 craft the ambassadors of foreign states, to form skil- 
 ful treaties and alliances, than to administer unpol- 
 luted justice to the people, to redress the injured, 
 and to succor the distressed, and speedily to restore 
 to every one his own, you are involved in a cloud 
 of error ; and too late will you perceive, when the 
 illusion of those mighty benefits has vanished, that 
 in neglecting these, which you now think inferior 
 considerations, you have only been precipitating 
 your own ruin and despair. Tiie fidelity of ene- 
 mies and allies is frail and perishing, unless it be 
 cemented by the principles of justice ; that wealth 
 and those honors, which most covet, readily change 
 masters ; they forsake the idle, and repair where 
 virtue, where industry, where patience flourish 
 most. Thus nation precipitates the downfall of 
 nation ; thus the more sound part of one people 
 subverts the more corrupt; thus you obtained the 
 ascendant over the royalists. If you plunge into 
 the same depravity, if you imitate their excesses,
 
 350 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 and hanker after the same vanities, you will 
 become royalists as well as they, and liable to be 
 subdued by the same enemies, or by others in your 
 turn ; who, placing their reliance on the same re- 
 ligious principles, the same patience, the same in- 
 tegrity and discretion which made you strong, 
 will deservedly triumph over you who are im- 
 mersed in debauchery, in the luxury and the sloth 
 of kings. Then, as if God was weary of protect- 
 ing you, you will be seen to have passed through 
 the fire, that you might perish in the smoke ; the 
 contempt which you will then experience will be 
 great as the admiration which you now enjoy ; and, 
 what may in future profit others, but cannot bene- 
 fit yourselves, you will leave a salutary proof what 
 great things the solid reality of virtue and of piety 
 might have effected, when the mere counterfeit 
 and varnished resemblance could attempt such 
 mighty achievements, and make such considerable 
 advances toward the execution. For, if either 
 through your want of knowledge, your want of 
 constancy, or your want of virtue, attempts so no- 
 ble, and actions so glorious, have had an issue so 
 unfortunate, it does not therefore follow, that bet- 
 ter men should be either less daring in their pro- 
 jects or less sanguine in their hopes. But from 
 such an abyss of corruption into which you so 
 readily fall, no one, not even Cromwell himself, 
 nor a whole nation of Brutuses, if they Avere alive, 
 could deliver you if they would, or would deliver
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 351 
 
 you if they could. For who would vindicate youi 
 right of unrestrained suffrage, or of choosing what 
 representatives you liked best, merely that you 
 might elect the creatures of your own faction, 
 whoever they might be, or him, however small 
 might be his worth, who would give you the most 
 lavish feasts, and enable you to drink to the great- 
 est excess ? Thus not wisdom and authority, but 
 turbulence and gluttony, would soon exalt the vil- 
 est miscreants from our taverns and our brothels, 
 from our towns and villages, to the rank and dig- 
 nity of senators. For, should the management of 
 the republic be intrusted to persons to whom no 
 one wOuld willingly intrust the management of his 
 private concerns ; and the treasury of the state be 
 left to the care of those who had lavished their own 
 fortunes in an infamous prodigality ? Should they 
 have the charge of the public purse, which they 
 would soon convert into a private, by their unprin- 
 cipled peculations ? Are they fit to be the legis- 
 lators of a whole people who themselves know not 
 what law, what reason, what right and wrong, 
 what crooked and straiglit, what licit and illicit 
 means ? who think that all power consists in out- 
 rage, all dignity in the parade of insolence ? who 
 neglect every other consideration for the corrupt 
 gratification of their fi'iendships, or the prosecution 
 of their resentments ? Avho disperse their own re- 
 lations and creatures through the provinces, for 
 the sake of levying taxes and confis(!atmg goods ;
 
 So2 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE OF 
 
 men, for the greater part, the most profligate and 
 vile, who buy up for themselves what they pretend 
 to expose to sale, who thence collect an exorbitant 
 mass of wealth, which they fraudulently divert 
 from the public service ; who thus spread their 
 pillage through the country, and in a moment 
 emerge from penury and rags to a state of splen- 
 dor and of wealth ? Who could endure such 
 thievish servants, such vicegerents of their lords ? 
 Who could believe that the masters and the pa- 
 trons of a banditti could be the proper guardians 
 of liberty ? or who would suppose that he should 
 ever be made one hair moi'e free by such a set of 
 public functionaries, (though they might amount 
 to five hundred elected in this manner from the 
 coimties and boroughs,) when among them who 
 are the very guardians of liberty, and to whose 
 custody it is committed, there must be so many, 
 who know not either how to use or to enjoy hber- 
 ty, who neither understand the principles, nor 
 merit the possession ? But, what is worthy of 
 remark, those who are the most unworthy of hber- 
 ty are wont to behave most ungi'atefully towards 
 their deliverers. Among such persons, who would 
 be willing either to fight for liberty, or to encoun- 
 ter the least peril in its defence ? It is not agreea- 
 ble to the nature of things that such persons ever 
 should be free. However much they may brawl 
 about liberty, they are slaves, both at home and 
 abroad, but without perceiving it ; and when they
 
 THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND. 363 
 
 do perceive it, like unruly horses that are impatient 
 of the bit, they will endeavor to throw off the yoke, 
 not from the love of genuine liberty, (which a good 
 man only loves and knows how to obtain,) but from 
 the impulses of pride and little passions. But 
 though they often attempt it by arms, they will 
 make no advances to the execution ; they may 
 change their masters, but will never be able to get 
 rid of their servitude. This often happened to the 
 ancient Romans, wasted by excess, and enervated 
 by luxury : and it has still more so been the fate of 
 the moderns ; when, after a long interval of years, 
 they aspired, under the auspices of Crescentius, No- 
 mentanus, and afterwards of Nicholas Rentius, who 
 had assumed the title of Tribune of the People, to re- 
 store the splendor and re-establish the government 
 of ancient Rome. For, instead of fretting Avith 
 vexation, or thinking that you can lay the blame 
 on any one but yourselves, know that to be free is 
 the same thing as to be pious, to be wise, to be tem- 
 perate and just, to be frugal and abstinent, and 
 lastly, to be magnanimous and brave ; so to be the 
 opposite of all these is the same as to be a slave ; 
 and it usually happens, by the appointment, and 
 as it were retributive justice of the Deity, that 
 that people which cannot govern themselves, and 
 moderate their passions, b.ut crouch under the slav- 
 ery of their lusts, should be delivered up to the 
 sway of those whom they abhor, and made to sub- 
 mit to an involuntary servitude. It is also sane-
 
 354 FROM THE SECOND DEFENCE. 
 
 tioned by the dictates of justice and by the consti- 
 tution of nature, that he who, from the imbecility 
 or derangement of his intellect, is incapable of 
 governing himself, should, like a minor, be com- 
 mitted to the government of another ; and least of 
 all should he be appointed to superintend the af- 
 fairs of others or the interests of the state. You, 
 therefore, who wish to remain free, either instant- 
 ly be wise, or, as soon as possible, cease to be 
 fools ; if you think slavery an intolerable evil, 
 learn obedience to reason and the government of 
 yourselves ; and finally bid adieu to your dissen- 
 sions, your jealousies, your superstitions, your out- 
 rages, your rapine, and your lusts. Unless you 
 will spare no pains to effect this, you must be 
 judged unfit, both by God and mankind, to be 
 intrusted with the possession of liberty and the 
 administration of the government; but will ratlier, 
 Hke a nation in a state of pupilage, want some ac- 
 tive and coiu'ageous guardian to undertake the 
 management of your affaii's.
 
 FROM 
 
 A TREATISE OF CIVIL POWER IN 
 ECCLESIASTICAL CAUSES. 
 
 ^ WO things there be, which have been 
 ever found working much niiscliief tc 
 the Church of God and the advance- 
 ment of truth : force on one side re- 
 straining, and hire on the other side corrupting, 
 the teachers thereof. Few ages have been since 
 the ascension of our Saviour, wherein tlie one of 
 these two, or both together, have not prevailed. 
 It can be at no time, therefore, unseasonable to 
 speak of these things ; since by them the Church 
 is either in continual detriment and oppression, or 
 
 in continual danger 
 
 It will require no great labor of exposition to 
 unfold what is here meant by matters of religion ; 
 being as soon apprehended as defined, such things 
 as belong chiefly to the knowledge and service of 
 God; and are either above the reach and h'ght of 
 nature witliout revelation from above, and there- 
 fore liable to be variously understood by human 
 reason, or such tilings as are enjoined or forbidden
 
 556 A TREATISE OF CIVIL POWER 
 
 by divine precept, wliicli else by the light of reason 
 would seem indifferent to be done or not done , 
 and so likewise must needs appear to every man 
 as the precept is understood. Whence I here mean 
 by conscience or religion that full persuasion, 
 whereby we are assured, that our belief and prac- 
 tice, as far as we are able to apprehend and prob- 
 ably make appear, is according to the will of God 
 and his Holy Spirit within us, which we ought to 
 follow much rather than any law of man, as not 
 only his word everywhere bids us, but the very 
 
 dictate of reason tells us 
 
 It cannot be denied, being the main foundation 
 of our Protestant religion, that we of these ages, 
 having no other divine rule or authority from with- 
 out us, warrantable to one another as a common 
 ground, but the holy Scripture, and no other within 
 us but the illumination of the Holy Spirit, so in- 
 terpreting that Scripture as warrantable only to 
 ourselves, and to such whose consciences we can so 
 persuade, can have no other ground in matters of 
 religion but only from the Scriptures. And these 
 being not possible to be understood without this 
 divine illumination, which no man can know at all 
 times to be in himself, much less to be at any time 
 for certain in any other, it follows clearly, that no 
 man or body of men in these times can be the 
 infallible judges or determiners in matters of re- 
 ligion to any othfr men's consciences but their 
 own
 
 IN hCCLESlAbTWAL CAUSES. 357 
 
 Seeing, therefore, that no man, no synod, no 
 session of men, though called the Church, can 
 judge definitely the sense of Scripture to another 
 man's conscience, which is well known to be a 
 general maxim of the Protestant religion ; it fol- 
 lows plainly, that he who holds in rehgion that 
 belief, or those opinions, which to his conscience 
 and utmost understanding appear with most evi- 
 dence or probabiHty in the Scripture, though to 
 others he seem erroneous, can no more be justly 
 censured for a heretic than his censurers ; who do 
 but the same thing themselves, while they censure 
 him for so doing. For ask them, or any Prot- 
 estant, which hath most authority, the Church or 
 the Scripture ? They will answer, doubtless, that 
 the Scripture : and what hath most authority, that 
 no doubt but they will confess is to be followed. 
 He then, who to his best apprehension follows the 
 Scripture, though against any point of doctrine by 
 the whole Church received, is not the heretic ; but 
 he who follows the Church against his conscience 
 and persuasion grounded on the Scripture. To 
 make this yet more undeniable, I shall only borrow 
 a plain simile, the same which our own writers, 
 when they would demonstrate plainest, that we 
 rightly prefer the Scripture before the Church, use 
 frequently against the Papist in this manner. As 
 the Samaritans believed Christ, first for the 
 woman's word, but next and much rather for his 
 own, sc we the Scripture : first on the Churcli's
 
 ^58 A TREATISE OF CIVIL POWER 
 
 word, but afterwards and much more for its own, 
 as the Word of God; yea, the Church itself we 
 believe then for the Scripture. The inference of 
 itself follows: If by the Protestant doctrine we 
 believe the Scripture, not for the Church's sayhig, 
 but for its own, as the Word of God, then ought 
 we to believe what in our conscience we apprehend 
 the Scripture to say, though the visible Church, 
 with all her doctors, gainsay : and being taught to 
 believe them only for the Scripture, they who so 
 do are not heretics, but the best Protestants : and 
 by their opinions, whatever they be, can hurt no 
 Protestant, whose rule is not to receive them but 
 fi'om the Scripture : which to interpret convincingly 
 to his own conscience, none is able but himself, 
 guided by the Holy Spirit ; and not so guided, 
 none than he to himself can be a worse deceiver. 
 To Protestants, therefore, whose common rule and 
 touchstone is the Scripture, nothing can with more 
 conscience, more equity, nothing more Protestantly 
 can be permitted, than a free and lawful debate at 
 all times by writing, conference, or disputation of 
 what opinion soever, dispvitable by Scripture : con- 
 cluding that no man in religion is properly a heretic 
 at this day, but he who maintains traditions or 
 opinions not probable by Scripture, who, for aught 
 I know, is the Papist only ; he the only heretic, 
 who counts all heretics but himself. .... 
 
 How many persecutions, then, imprisonments, 
 banishments, penalties, and stripes ; how much
 
 IN ECCLESIASTICAL CAUSES. 359 
 
 bloodshed have the forcers of conscience to answer 
 for, and Protestants rather than Papists ! For tlie 
 Papist, judging by his principles, punishes them 
 who believe not as the Church beheves, tliough 
 against the Scripture ; but the Protestant, teaching 
 every one to believe the Scripture, though against 
 the Church, counts heretical, and persecutes against 
 his own principles, them who in any particular so 
 believe as he in general teaches them ; them who 
 most honor and believe divine Scripture, but not 
 against it any human interpretation, though univer- 
 sal ; them who interpret Scripture only to themselves, 
 which, by his own position, none but they to them- 
 selves can interpret : them who use the Scripture 
 no otherwise by his own doctrine to their edifica- 
 tion, than he himself uses it to their punishing ; 
 and so whom his doctrine acknowledges a true 
 believer, his discipline persecutes as a heretic. 
 The Papist exacts our belief as to the Church due 
 above Scripture ; and by the Church, which is the 
 whole people of God, understands the pope, the 
 general councils, prelatical only, and the surnamed 
 fathers : but the forcing Protestant, thougli he deny 
 such belief to any Church whatsoever, yet takes it 
 to himself and his teacliers, of far less authoiuty 
 than to be called the Church, and above Scripture 
 believed : which renders his practice both contrary 
 to his belief, and far worse tlian that belief which 
 he condemns in the Papist. -By all which, well 
 considered, the more he professes to be a triu^
 
 360 A TREATISE OF CIVIL POWER 
 
 Protestant, tlie more he hath to answer for his 
 persecuting than a Papist. No Protestant, there- 
 fore, of what sect soever, follo-vving Scripture only, 
 which is the common sect wherein they all agree, 
 and the granted rule of every man's conscience to 
 himself, ought by the common doctrine of Protest- 
 ants to be forced or molested for religion 
 
 Seducement is to be hindered by fit and proper 
 means ordained in Church discipline, by instant 
 and powerful demonstration to the contrary ; by 
 opposing truth to error, no unequal match ; truth 
 the strong, to error the weak, though sly and shift- 
 ing. Force is no honest confutation, but uneffect- 
 vial, and for the most part unsuccessful, ofttimes 
 fatal to them who use it : sound doctrine, diligently 
 and duly taught, is of herself both sufficient, and 
 of herself (if some secret judgment of God hinder 
 not) always prevalent against seducers 
 
 Ill was our condition changed from legal to evan- 
 gelical, and small advantage gotten by the Gospel, 
 if, for the spii'it of adoption to freedom promised us, 
 we receive again the spirit of bondage to fear; if 
 our fear, which was then servile towards God only, 
 must be now servile in religion towards men: 
 strange also and preposterous fear, if, when and 
 wherein it hath attained by the redemption of our 
 Saviour to be filial only towards God, it must be 
 now servile towards the magistrate : who, by sub- 
 jecting us to his punishment in these things, brings 
 back into religion that law of terror and satisfaction
 
 IN ECCLESIASTICAL CAUSES. 361 
 
 belonging now only to civil crimes; and thereby 
 in effect abolishes the Gospel, by establishing again 
 the law to a far worse yoke of servitude upon us 
 than before. It will therefore not misbecome the 
 meanest Christian to put in mind Christian magis- 
 trates, and so much the more freely by how much 
 the more they desire to be thought Christian, (for 
 they will be thereby, as they ought to be in these 
 things, the more our brethren and the less our 
 lords,) that they meddle not rashly with Christian 
 liberty, the birthright and outward testimony of 
 our adoption ; lest while they httle think it, nay, 
 think they do God service, they themselves, like 
 the sons of that bondwoman, be found persecuting 
 them who are freeborn of the Spirit, and, by a 
 saciilege of not the least aggravation, bereaving 
 them of that sacred liberty, which our Saviour with 
 his own blood purchased for them. 
 
 If
 
 FROM 
 
 CONSIDERATIONS 
 
 TOUCHING THE LIKELIEST MEANS TO REMOVE 
 HIRELINGS OUT OF THE CHURCH. 
 
 Jure on 
 thereof. 
 
 HE former treatise, which leads in this, 
 •began witli two things ever found 
 working much mischief to rehgion, 
 i force on the one side restraining, and 
 the other side corrupting, the teachers 
 The latter of these is by much the more 
 dangerous ; for under force, though no thanks to 
 the forcers, true religion ofttimes best thrives and 
 flourishes ; but the corruption of teachers, most com- 
 monly the effect of hire, is the very bane of truth 
 in them who are so corrupted. Of force not to be 
 used in matters of religion, I have already spoken ; 
 and so stated matters of conscience and religion 
 in faith and divine worship, and so severed thc^n 
 from blasj)hemy and heiesy, the one being such 
 properly as is despiteful, the other such as stands 
 not to the rule of Scripture, and so both of them 
 not matters of religion, but rather against it, that 
 to them who will yet use force, this only choice can
 
 MEANS TO REMOVE HIRELINGS. 363 
 
 be left, whether they will force them to believe, to 
 whom it is not given from above, being not forced 
 thereto by any principle of the Gospel, which is 
 now the only dispensation of God to all men : or 
 whether, being Protestants, they will punish in 
 those things wherein the Protestant religion denies 
 them to be judges, either in themselves infallible, 
 or to the consciences of other men ; or whether, 
 lastly, they think fit to punish error, supposing 
 they can be infallible that it Is so, being not wilful 
 but conscientious, and, according to the best light 
 of him who errs, grounded on Scripture ; which 
 kind of eiTor all men religious, or but only reason- 
 able, have thought worthier of pardon, and the 
 growth thereof to be prevented by spiritual means 
 and Church discipline, not by civil laws and out- 
 ward force, since it is God only who gives as well 
 to believe aright, as to believe at all ; and by 
 those means, which he ordained sufficiently in his 
 Church to the full execution of his divine purpose 
 in the Gospel. It remains now to speak of hire, 
 the other evil so mischievous in religion ; whereof 
 I promised then to speak further, when I should 
 find God disposing me, and opportunity inviting. 
 Opportunity I find now inviting : and apprehend 
 therein the concurrence of God disposing ; since 
 the maintenance of Church ministers, a thing not 
 properly belonging to the magistrate, and yet with 
 such importunity called for, and expected from 
 him, is at present under public debate. Wherein,
 
 364 THE LIKELIEST MEANS TO REMOVE 
 
 lest anything may happen to be determined and 
 established prejudicial to the tight and freedom 
 of the Church, or advantageous to such as may be 
 found hirelings therein, it will be now most sea- 
 sonable, and in these matters, wherein every 
 Christian hath his free suffrage, no way misbecom- 
 ing Christian meekness to offer freely, without 
 disparagement to the wisest, such advice as God 
 shall incline him and enable him to propound : 
 since heretofore in commonwealths of most fame 
 for government, civil laws were not established 
 till they had been first for certain days published 
 to the view of all men, that whoso pleased might 
 speak freely his opinion thereof, and give in his 
 exceptions, ere the law could pass to a full estab- 
 lishment. And where ought this equity to have 
 more place, than in the liberty which is insepara- 
 ble from Christian religion ? This, I am not ig- 
 norant, will be a work unpleasing to some : but 
 what truth is not hateful to some or other, as this, 
 in hkelihood, will be to none but hirelings. And 
 if there be among them who hold it their duty to 
 speak impartial truth, as the work of their minis- 
 try, though not performed without money, let them 
 not envy others who think the same no less their 
 duty by the general office of Christianity, to speak 
 truth, as in all reason may be thought, more im- 
 partially and unsuspectedly without money. 
 
 Hire of itself is neither a thing unlawful, nor a 
 word of any evil note, signifying no more than a
 
 HUIELINGS OUT OF THE CHURCH. 365 
 
 due recompense or reward ; as when our Saviour 
 Raith, " The laborer is worthy of his hire." That 
 which makes it so dangerous in the Church, and 
 properly makes the hireling, a word always of evil 
 signification, is either the excess thereof, or the un- 
 due manner of o;iving and taking: it. What harm 
 the excess thereof brought to the Church, perhaps 
 was not found by experience till the days of Con- 
 stantine ; who out of his zeal thinking he could 
 be never too liberally a nursing father of the 
 Church, might be not unfitly said to have either 
 overlaid it or choked it in the nursing. Which 
 was foretold, as is recorded in ecclesiastical tradi- 
 tions, by a voice heard from heaven, on the very 
 day that those great donations and Church reve- 
 nues were given, crying aloud, " This day is poi- 
 son poured into the Church." Which the event 
 soon after verified, as appears by another no less 
 ancient observation, " That religion brought forth 
 wealth, and the daughter devoured the mother." 
 But long ere wealth came into the Church, so soon 
 as any gain appeared in religion, liirehngs were ap- 
 parent; drawn in long before by the very scent 
 thereof. Judas therefore, the first hireling, for 
 want of present hire answerable to his coveting, 
 from the small number or the meanness of such as 
 then were the religious, sold the religion itself with 
 the founder thereof, his master. Simon Magus the 
 next, in hope only that preaching and the gifts of the 
 Holy Ghost would prove gainful, offered before-
 
 566 THE LIKELIEST MEANS TO REMOVE 
 
 hand a sum of money to obtain them. Not long 
 after, as the apostle foretold, hirelings like wolves 
 
 came in by herds Neither came they in of 
 
 themselves only, but invited ofttimes by a con'upt 
 audience : 2 Tim. iv. 3 
 
 Thus we see, that not only the excess of hire in 
 wealthiest times, but also the undue and vicious 
 taking or giving it, though but small or mean, as 
 in the primitive times, gave to hirelings occasion, 
 though not intended, yet sufficient to creep at first 
 into the Church. Which argues also the difficulty, 
 or rather the impossibility, to remove them quite, 
 unless every mmister were, as St. Paul, contented 
 to preach gratis ; but few such are to be found. 
 As therefore we cannot justly take away all hire 
 in the Church, because we cannot otherwise quite 
 remove all hirelings, so are we not, for the impos- 
 sibility of removing them all, to use therefore no 
 endeavor that fewest may come in ; but rather, in 
 regard the evil, do what we can, will always be in- 
 cumbent and unavoidable, to use our utmost dili- 
 gence how it may be least dangerous 
 
 What recompense ought to be given to Church 
 ministers, God hath answerably ordained according 
 to that difference which he hath manifestly put be- 
 tween those his two great dispensations, the Law 
 and the Gospel. Under the Law he gave them 
 tithes ; under the Gospel, having left all things in 
 his Church to charity and Christian freedom, he 
 hath given them only what is justly given them.
 
 HIRELINGS OUT OF THE CHURCH. 367 
 
 That, as well under the Gospel as under the Law, 
 Bay our English divines, and they only of all Prot- 
 estants, is tithes : and they say true, if any man 
 be so nihided to mve them of his own the tenth 
 or twentieth ; but that the law therefore of tithes 
 is in force under the Gospel, all other Protestant 
 divines, though equally concerned, yet constantly 
 deny. For although hire to the laborer be of 
 moral and perpetual right, yet that special kind of 
 hire, the tenth, can be of no right or necessity, but 
 
 to that special labor for which God ordained it 
 
 What if they who are to be instructed be not 
 able to maintain a minister, as in many villages ? 
 I answer that the Scripture shows in many places 
 what ought to be done herein. First, I offer it to 
 the reason of any man, whether he think the 
 knowledge of Christian religion harder than any 
 other art or science to attain. I suppose he will 
 grant that it is far easier, both of itself, and in re- 
 gard of God's assisting Spiint, not particularly 
 promised us to the attainment of any other knowl- 
 edge, but of this only : since it was preached as 
 well to the shepherds of Bethlehem by angels, as 
 to the Eastern wise men by that star : and our 
 Saviour declares himself anointed to preach the 
 Gospel to the poor, Luke iv. 18 ; then surely to 
 their capacity. They who after him first taught 
 it, were otherwise unlearned men : they who be- 
 fore Hus and Luther first reformed it, were for 
 the meanness of their condition called, " the poor
 
 368 THE LIKELIEST MEANS TO REMOVE 
 
 men of Lyons " : and in Flanders at this day, " le 
 Gueus," which is to say, beggars. Therefore are 
 the Scriptures translated into every vulgar tongue, 
 as being held in main matters of belief and salva- 
 tion plain and easy to the poorest : and such no 
 less than their teachers have the spirit to guide 
 them in all truth, John xiv. 26, and xvi. 13 
 Hence we may conclude, if men be not all their 
 lifetime under a teacher to learn logic, natural 
 philosophy, ethics, or mathematics, which arc 
 more difficult, that certainly it is not necessary to 
 the attainment of Christian knowledge, that men 
 should sit all their life long at the feet of a pulpited 
 divine ; while he, indeed a lollard over his elbow- 
 cushion, in almost the seventh part of forty or fifty 
 years teaches them scarce half the principles of re- 
 ligion ; and his sheep ofttunes sit the while to as lit- 
 tle purpose of benefiting, as the sheep in their pews 
 at Smithfield ; and for the most part by some simony 
 or other bought and sold like them : or, if this 
 comparison be too low, like those women, 1 Tim. 
 iii. 7, " Ever learning and never attaining " ; yet 
 not so much through their own fault, as through 
 the unskilful and immethodical teachincr of their 
 pastor, teaching here and there at random out of 
 this or that text, as his ease or fancy, and ofttimes 
 as his stealth guides him. Seeing then that Chris- 
 tian religion may be so easily attained, and by 
 meanest capacities, it cannot be much difficult to 
 find ways, both how the poor, yea, all men, may
 
 HIRELINGS OUT OF THE CHURCH. 3G9 
 
 be soon tauglit what is to be known of Christiani- 
 ty, and they who teach them, recompensed. First, 
 if ministers of their own accord, who pretend that 
 they are called and sent to preach the Gospel, 
 those especially who have no particular flock, 
 would imitate our Saviour and his disciples, who 
 went pi'eaching through the villages, not only 
 through the cities, and there preached to tlie poor 
 as well as to the rich, looking for no recompense 
 but in heaven. 
 
 But they will soon reply, We ourselves have 
 not wherewithal ; who shall bear the charges 
 of oui* journey ? To whom it may as soon be an- 
 swered, that in likelihood they are not poorer than 
 they who did thus ; and if they have not the same 
 faith which those disciples had to trust in God and 
 the promise of Christ for their maintenance as 
 they did, and yet intrude into the ministry without 
 any livelihood of their own, they cast themselves, 
 into miserable hazard or temptation, and ofttimes 
 into a more miserable necessity, either to starve, 
 or to please their pa^Tnasters rather than God ; and 
 give men just cause to suspect, that they came, 
 neither called nor sent from above to preach the 
 word, but fi'om below, by the instinct of their own 
 hunger, to feed upon the Church. Yet grant it 
 needful to allow them both the charges of their 
 journey and the hire of their labor, it will belong 
 next to the charitv of richer congregations, where 
 16* X
 
 370 THE LIKELIEST MEANS TO REMOVE 
 
 most commonly they abound with teachers, to 
 send some of their number to the villages round, 
 as the Apostles from Jerusalem sent Peter and John 
 to the city and villages of Samaria, Acts viii. 14, 
 25 ; or as the church at Jerusalem sent Barnabas 
 to Antiocli, chap. xi. 22, and -other churches 
 joining sent Luke to travel with Paul, 2 Cor. viii. 
 19 : though whether they had their charges borne 
 by the church or no, it be not recorded. If it be 
 objected, that this itinerary preaching will not 
 serve to plant the Gospel in those places, unless 
 they who are sent abide there some competent 
 time ; I answer, that if they stay there a year or 
 two, which was the longest time usually stayed by 
 the apostles in one place, it may suffice to teach 
 them who will attend and learn all the points of 
 religion necessary to salvation ; then sorting them 
 into several congregations of a moderate number, 
 out of the ablest and zealousest among them to 
 create elders, who, exercising and requiring from 
 themselves what they have learned, (for no learn- 
 ing is retained without constant exercise and me- 
 thodical repetition,) may teach and govern the 
 rest : and so exhorted to continue faithful and 
 steadfast, they may securely be committed to the 
 providence of God and the guidance of his Holy 
 Spirit, till God may offer some opportunity to visit 
 them again, and to confirm them : which when 
 they have done, they have done as r.iuch as the 
 Apostles were wont to do in propagati.--^ the Gos- 
 pel
 
 HIRELINGS OUT OF THE CHURCH. a7J 
 
 To these I might add other helps, which we 
 enjoy now, to make more easy the attainment of 
 Christian rehgion by the meanest : the entire Scrip- 
 ture translated into Enghsh with plenty of notes ; 
 and somewhere or other, I trust, may be found 
 some wholesome body of divinity, as they call it, 
 without school-terms and metaphysical notions, 
 which have obscured rather than explained our 
 religion, and made it seem difficult without cause. 
 Thus taught once for all, and thus now and then 
 visited and confirmed, in the most destitute and 
 poorest places of the land, under the government 
 of then* own elders performing all ministerial offices 
 among them, they may be trusted to meet and 
 edify one another, whether in church or chapel, or 
 to save them the trudging of many, miles thither, 
 nearer home, though in a house or barn. For 
 notwithstanding the gaudy superstition of some de- 
 voted still ignorantly to temples, we may be well 
 assm-ed, that he who disdained not to be laid in a 
 manger, disdains not to be preached in a barn ; 
 and that by such meetings as these, being indeed 
 most apostohcal and primitive, they will in a short 
 time advance more in Christian knowledge and ref- 
 onnation of life, than by the many years' preaching 
 of such an incumbent, I may say, such an incubus 
 ofttimes, as will be meanly liired to abide long in 
 those places. They have this left perhaps to ob- 
 ject further ; that to send thus, and to maintain, 
 though but for a year or two, ministers and teach-
 
 372 THE LIKELIEST MEANS TO REMOVE 
 
 ers in several places, would prove chargeable to 
 the churches, though in towns and cities round- 
 about. To whom again I answer, that it was not 
 thought so by them who first thus propagated tlie 
 Gospel, though but few in number to us, and 
 much less able to sustain the expense. Yet this 
 expense would be much less than to hire incum- 
 bents, or rather incumbrances, for lifetime ; and a 
 great means (which is the subject of this discourse) 
 
 to diminish hirelings 
 
 But that the magistrate either out of that Chui'ch 
 revenue which remains yet in his hand, or estab- 
 lishing any other maintenance instead of tithe, 
 should take into his own power the stipendiary 
 maintenance of church-ministers, or compel it by 
 law, can stand neither with the people's right, nor 
 with Christian ' hberty, but would suspend the 
 Church wholly upon the state, and turn her minis- 
 ters into state pensioners. And for the magistrate 
 in person of a nursing father to make the Church 
 his mere ward, as always in minority, the Church 
 to whom he ought as a magistrate, Isa. xlix. 23, 
 " to bow down with his face toward the earth, and 
 lick up the dust of her feet"; her to subject to 
 his political drifts or conceived opinions, by master- 
 ing her revenue ; and so by his examinant com- 
 mittees to circumscribe her fi'ee election of minis- 
 ters, is neither just nor pious ; no honor done to 
 the Church, but a plain dishonor : and upon her 
 whose only head is in heaven, yea, upon him, whc
 
 HIRELINGS OUT OF THE CHURCH. 373 
 
 is only head, sets another in effect, and, which is 
 most monstrous, a human on a heavenly, a carnal 
 on a spiritual, a political head on an ecclesiastical 
 body; which, at length, by such heterogeneal, such 
 incestuous conjunction, transforms her ofttimes into 
 a beast of many heads and many horns. For if the 
 Church be of all societies the holiest on earth, and 
 so to be reverenced by the magistrate ; not to 
 trust her with her own belief and integi'ity, and 
 therefore not with the keeping, at least with the 
 disposing, of what revenue should be found justly 
 and lawfully her own, is to count the Church not 
 a holy congregation, but a pack of giddy or dis- 
 honest persons, to be ruled by civil power in sacred 
 
 affairs 
 
 Heretofore in the first evangelic times, (and it 
 were happy for Christendom if it were so again,) 
 ministers of the Gospel were by nothing else dis- 
 tinguished from other Christians, but by their 
 spiritual knowledge and sanctity of life, for which 
 the Church elected them to be her teachers and 
 overseers, though not thereby to separate them 
 from whatever calling she then found them follow- 
 ing besides ; as the example of St. Paul declares, 
 and the first times of Christianity. When once 
 they afi'ected to be called a clergy, and became, as 
 it were, a peculiar tribe of Levites, a party, a dis- 
 tinct order in the commonwealth, bred up for divines 
 in babbling schools, and fed at the public cost, good 
 for nothing else but what was good for nothing,
 
 374 THE LIKELIEST MEANS TO REMOVE 
 
 they soon grew idle : that idleness, with fulness /f 
 Dread, begat pride and perpetual contention with 
 their feeders, the despised laity, through all ages 
 ever since ; to the perverting of religion, and the 
 disturbance of all Christendom. And we may 
 confidently conclude, it never will be otherwise 
 while they are thus upheld undepending on the 
 Church, on which alone they anciently depended, 
 and are by the magistrate publicly maintained, a 
 numerous faction of indigent persons, crept for the 
 most part out of extreme want and bad nurture, 
 claiming by divine right and freehold the tenth of 
 our estates, to monopolize the ministry as their 
 peculiar, which is free and open to all able Chris- 
 tians, elected by any church. Under this pre- 
 tence, exempt from all other employment, and 
 enriching themselves on the pubhc, they last of all 
 prove common mcendiaries, and exalt their horns 
 against the magistrate himself that maintains them, 
 as the priest of Rome did soon after against his 
 benefactor the emperor, and the presbyters of late 
 in Scotland. Of which hireling crew, together 
 with all the mischiefs, dissensions, troubles, wai's 
 merely of their kindling, Christendom might soon 
 rid herself and be happy, if Christians would but 
 know their own dignity, their liberty, their adop- 
 tion, and, let it not be wondered if I say, their 
 spiritual priesthood, whereby they have aU equally 
 access to any ministerial function, whenever called 
 by their own abihties, and the Church, though
 
 HIRELINGS OUT OF THE CHURCH. 375 
 
 they never came near commencement or univer- 
 Bity. But while Protestants, to avoid the due 
 labor of understanding their own religion, are con- 
 tent to lodge it in the breast, or rather in the books, 
 of a clergyman, and to take it thence by scraps and 
 mammocks, as he dispenses it in his Sunday's dole, 
 they will be always learning and never knowing ; 
 always infants ; always either his vassals, as lay 
 Papists are to their priests ; or at odds with him, 
 as reformed principles give them some light to be 
 not wholly conformable ; whence infinite disturb- 
 ances in the state, as they do, must needs follow. 
 Thus much I had to say ; and, I suppose, what 
 may be enough to them who are not avariciously 
 bent otherwise, touching the likeliest means to re- 
 move hirelings out of the Church ; than which 
 nothing can more conduce to truth, to peace and 
 all happiness, both in church and state. If I 
 be not heard nor believed, the event will have 
 borne me witness to have spoken truth ; and I in 
 the mean while have borne my witness, not out of 
 season, to the Church and to my country.
 
 /- 
 
 FROM 
 
 THE READY AND EASY WAY TO ESTABLISH 
 A FREE COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 removed 
 
 rFTER our liberty and religion thus pros- 
 perously fought for, gained, and many 
 years possessed, except in tliose un- 
 happy interruptions which God hath 
 now that nothing remains, but in all 
 reason the certain hopes of a speedy and immediate 
 settlement forever in a firm and free common- 
 wealth, for this extolled and magnified nation, re- 
 gardless both of honor won, or deliverances vouch- 
 safed from Heaven, to fall back, or rather to creep 
 back so poorly, as it seems the multitude would, to 
 their once abjured and detested thraldom of king 
 ship, to be ourselves the slanderers of our own just 
 and religious deeds, though done by some to covet- 
 ous and ambitious ends, yet not therefore to be 
 stained with their infamy, or they to asperse the 
 integrity of others ; and yet these, now by re- 
 volting from the conscience of deeds well done, 
 both in chux'ch and state, to throw away and for- 
 sake, or rather to betray a just and noble cause for
 
 A FREE COMMON WEALTH. 377 
 
 the mixture of bad men who liave ill-managed and 
 abused it, (which had our fathers done lieretofore, 
 and on the same pretence deserted true religion, 
 what had long ere this become of our Gospel, and 
 all Protestant reformation, so much intermixed 
 with the avarice and ambition of some reformers ?) 
 and by thus relapsing, to verify all the bitter pre- 
 dictions of our triumphing enemies, who will now 
 think they wisely discerned and justly censured 
 both us and all our actions as rash, rebellious, 
 hypocritical, and impious ; not only argues a 
 strange, degenerate contagion suddenly spread 
 among us, fitted and prepared for new slavery, 
 but will render us a scorn and derision to all our 
 neighbors. 
 
 And what will they at best say of us, and of the 
 whole English name, but scofBngly, as of that 
 foolish builder mentioned by our Saviour, who 
 began to build a tower, and was not able to finish 
 it? Where is this goodly tower of a common- 
 wealth, which the English boasted they would 
 build to overshadow king's, and be another Rome 
 in the West? The foundation indeed they lay 
 gallantly, but fell into a worse confusion, not of 
 tongues, but of factions, than those at the tower 
 of Babel ; and have left no memorial of their work 
 behmd them remaining but in the common lauo-h- 
 ter of Europe ! Which must needs redound the 
 more to our shame, if we but look on our neighbors 
 the United Provinces, to us inferior in all outward
 
 378 THE READY AND EASY WAY TO 
 
 advantages ; who, notwithstanding, in the midst of 
 greater difficulties, courageously, wisely, constantly 
 went through with the same work, and are settled 
 in all the haj^py enjoyments of a potent and flourish- 
 ing republic to this day. 
 
 Besides this, if w^e return to kingship, and soon 
 repent, (as undoubtedly we shall, when we begin 
 to find the old encroachment coming on by little 
 and little upon our consciences, which must neces- 
 sarily proceed from king and bishop united in- 
 separably in one interest,) we may be forced per- 
 haps to fight over again all that we have- fought, 
 and spend over again all that we have spent, but 
 are never like to attain thus far as we are now 
 advanced to the recovery of our freedom, never to 
 have it in possession as we now have it, never to 
 be vouchsafed hereafter the like mercies and signal 
 assistances from Heaven in our cause, if by our in- 
 grateful backsliding we make these fruitless ; flying 
 now to regal concessions from his divine condescen- 
 sions and gracious answers to our once importuning 
 prayers against the tyranny which we then groaned 
 under ; making vain and viler than dirt the blood of 
 so many thousand faithful and valiant Englishmen, 
 who left us in this liberty, bought with their lives ; 
 losing by a strange after-game of folly all the 
 battles we have won, together with all Scotland as 
 to our conquest, hereby lost, which never any of 
 our kings could conquer, all the treasure we have 
 spent, not that corruptible treasure only, but that
 
 ESTABLISH A FREE COMMONWEALTH. 379 
 
 far more precious of all our late miraculous deliver- 
 ances ; treading back again with lost labor all our 
 happy steps in the progress of reformation, and 
 most pitifully depriving ourselves the instant fru- 
 ition of that free government, which we have so 
 dearly purchased, a free commonwealth, not only 
 held by wisest men in all ages the noblest, the 
 manliest, the equallest, the justest government, the 
 most agreeable to all due liberty and proportioned 
 equality, both human, civil, and Christian, most 
 cherishing to virtue and true religion, but also (I 
 may say' it with greatest probability) plainly com- 
 mended, or rather enjoined by our Saviour himself, 
 to all Christians, not without remarkable disallow- 
 ance, and the brand of Gentilism upon king- 
 ship 
 
 It may be well wondered that any nation, styling 
 themselves free, can suffer any man to pretend 
 hereditary right over them as tlieir lord ; whenas, 
 by acknowledging that right, they conclude them- 
 selves his servants and his vassals, and so renounce 
 their own freedom. Which how a peoj)le and their 
 leaders especially can do, Avho have fought so glo- 
 riously for liberty ; how they can change their 
 noble words and actions, heretofore so becoming 
 the majesty of a free people, into the base necessity 
 of court flatteries and prostrations, is not only 
 strange and admirable, but lamentable to tliink on. 
 That a nation should be so valorous and courageous 
 to win their liberty in the field, and when they
 
 3tt0 THE READY AND EASY WAY TO 
 
 have won it, should be so heartless and unwise Id 
 their counsels, as not to know how to use it, value 
 it, what to do with it, or with themselves ; but 
 after ten or twelve years' prosperous war and con- 
 testation with tyranny, basely and besottedly to 
 run their necks again into the yoke which they 
 have broken, and prostrate all the fruits of their 
 victory for naught at the feet of the vanquished, 
 besides our loss of glory, and such an example as 
 kings or tyrants never yet had the like to boast of, 
 will be an ignominy if it befall us, that never yet 
 oefell any nation possessed of their liberty j worthy 
 indeed themselves, whatsoever they be, to be for- 
 ever slaves, but that part of the nation which con- 
 sents not with them, as I persuade me of a great 
 number, far worthier than by their means to be 
 brought into the same bondage. 
 
 Considering these things so plain, so rational, 
 I cannot but yet further admire on the other side, 
 how any man, who hath the true principles of jus- 
 tice and religion in him, can presume or take upon 
 him to be a king and lord over his brethren, whom 
 he cannot but know, whether as men or Christiars, 
 to be for the most part every way equal or superior 
 to himself: how he can display with such van'ty 
 and ostentation his regal splendor, so supereminently 
 above other mortal men ; or, being a Christian, can 
 assume such extraordinary honor and worship to 
 himself, while the kingdom of Christ, our common 
 king and lord, is hid to this world, and such Gentilish
 
 ESTABLISH A FREE COMMONWEALTH. 381 
 
 imitation forbid in express words by bimself to all 
 his disciples. All Protestants bold tbat Christ in 
 his Church hath left no vicegerent of his power ; 
 but himself, without deputy, is the only head there- 
 of, governing it from heaven: how then can any 
 Chi'istian man derive his kingship from Christ, but 
 with worse usurpation than the pope his headship 
 over the Church, since Christ not only hath not 
 left the least shadow of a command for any such 
 vicegerence fi'om him in the state, as the pope pre- 
 tends for his in the Church, but hath expressly 
 declared that such regal dominion is from the Gen- 
 tUes, not from him, and hath strictlv charo-ed us 
 
 ' ' I/O 
 
 not to imitate them therein? .... 
 
 To make the people fittest to choose, and the 
 chosen fittest to govern, will be to mend our cor- 
 rupt and faulty education, to teach the people 
 faith, not without virtue, temperance, modesty, 
 sobriety, parsimony, justice ; not to admire wealth 
 or honor ; to hate turbulence and ambition ; to 
 place every one his private welfare and happiness 
 in the public peace, liberty, and safety 
 
 The whole freedom of man consists either in 
 spiritual or civil liberty. As for spiritual, who can 
 be at rest, who can enjoy anything in this world 
 with contentment, who hath not liberty to serve 
 God, and to save his own soul, according to the 
 best light which God hath planted in him to that 
 purpose, by the reading of his revealed \^ill, and 
 the guidance of his Holy Spirit? That this is
 
 382 THE READY AND EASY WAY TO 
 
 best pleasing to God, and that the whole Protestant 
 Church allows no supreme judge or ruler in mat- 
 ters of religion, but the Scriptures ; and these to 
 be interpreted bj the Scriptures themselves, which 
 necessarily infers liberty of conscience, I have here- 
 tofore proved at large in another treatise ; and 
 might yet further, by the public declarations, con- 
 fessions, and admonitions of whole churches and 
 states, obvious in all histories since the Reforma- 
 tion. 
 
 This liberty of conscience, which above all other 
 things ought to be to all men dearest and most 
 precious, no government more inclinable not to 
 favor only, but to protect, than a free common- 
 Vealth ; as being most magnanimous, most fearless, 
 and confident of its own fair proceedings. Where- 
 as kingship, though looking big, yet indeed most 
 pusillanimous, full of fears, full of jealousies, startled 
 at every umbrage, as it hath been observed of old 
 to have ever suspected most and mistrusted them 
 who were in most esteem for virtue and generosity 
 of mind, so it is now known to have most in doubt 
 and suspicion them who are most reputed to be 
 rehgious. Queen Elizabeth, though herself ac- 
 counted so good a Protestant, so moderate, so 
 confident of her subjects' love, would never give 
 way so much as to Presbyterian reformation in this 
 land, though once and again besought, as Camden 
 relates ; but imprisoned and persecuted the very 
 proposers thereof, alleging it as her mind and
 
 ESTABLISH A FREE COMMONWEALTH. 383 
 
 maxim unalterable, that such reformation would 
 diminish regal authority. 
 
 What liberty of conscience can we then expect 
 of others, far worse principled from the cradle, 
 trained up and governed by Popish and Spanish 
 counsels, and on such depending hitherto for sub- 
 sistence ? Especially what can this last Parlia- 
 ment expect, who, having revived lately and pub- 
 lished the covenant, have re-engaged themselves, 
 never to readmit Episcopacy? Which no son of 
 Charles returning but will most certainly bring 
 back with him, if he regard the last and strictest 
 charge of his father, " to persevere in, not the 
 doctrine only, but government of the Church of 
 England, not to neglect the speedy and effectual 
 suppressing of errors and schisms " ; among v/hich 
 he accounted Presbytery one of the chief. 
 
 Or if, notwithstanding that charge of his father, 
 he submit to the covenant, how will he keep faith 
 to us, with disobedience to him ; or regard that 
 faith given, which must be founded on the breach 
 of that last and solemnest paternal charge, and the 
 reluctance, I may say the antipathy, which is in 
 all kings, against Presbyterian and Independent 
 discipline ? For they hear the Gospel speaking 
 much of liberty ; a word which monarchy and her 
 bishops both fear and hate, but a free common- 
 wealth both favors and promotes ; and not the 
 word only, but the thing itself. But let our gov- 
 ernors beware in time, lest their hard measure td
 
 384 THE READY AND EASY WAY TO 
 
 liberty of conscience be found the rock whereon 
 they shipwreck themselves, as others have now 
 done before them in the course wherein God was 
 directing their steerage to a free commonweal tli ; 
 and the abandonmg of all those whom they call 
 sectaries, for the detected falsehood and ambition 
 of some, be a wilful rejection of their own chief 
 strength and interest in the freedom of all Prot- 
 estant religion, under what abusive name soever 
 calumniated. 
 
 The other part of our freedom consists in the 
 civil rights and advancements of every person 
 according to his merit : the enjoyment of those 
 never more certain, and the access to these never 
 more open, than in a free commonwealth. Both 
 which, in my opinion, may be best and soonest 
 obtained, if every county in the land were made a 
 kind of subordinate commonalty or commonwealth, 
 and one chief town or more, according as the shire 
 is in circuit, made cities, if they be not so called 
 already ; where the nobility and chief gentry, fi'oni 
 a proportionable compass of territory annexed to 
 each city, may build houses or palaces befitting 
 their quality ; may bear part in the government, 
 make their own judicial laws, or use those that 
 are, and execute them by their own elected judica- 
 tures and judges without appeal, in all things of 
 civil government between man and man. So they 
 shall have justice in their own hands, law executed 
 ftdly and finally in their own counties and pre-
 
 ESTABLISH A FREE COMMONWEALTH. 385 
 
 cincts, long wished and spoken of, but never yet 
 obtained. They shall have none then to blame 
 but themselves, if it be not well administered ; and 
 fewer laws to expect or fear from the supreme 
 authority ; or to those that shall be made, of any 
 great concernment to public liberty, they may, 
 without much trouble in these commonalties, or in 
 more general assemblies called to their cities from 
 the whole territory on such occasion, declare and 
 publish their assent or dissent by deputies, within a 
 time limited, sent to the grand council ; yet so as 
 this their judgment declared shall submit to the 
 greater number of other counties or commonalties, 
 and not avail them to any exemption of themselves, 
 or refusal of agreement with the rest, as it may in 
 any of the United Provinces, being sovereign 
 within itself, ofttimes to the great disadvantage 
 of that union. 
 
 In these employments they may, much better 
 than they do now, exercise and fit themselves till 
 their lot fall to be chosen into the gi'and council, 
 according as their worth and merit shall be taken 
 notice of by the people. As for controversies that 
 shall happen between men of several counties, 
 they may repair, as they do now, to the capital 
 city, or any other more commodious, indiifeient 
 place, and equal judges. And this I find to have 
 been practised in the old Athenian commonwealth, 
 reputed the first and ancientest place of civility in 
 all Greece ; that they had in their several cities a 
 17 T
 
 386 THE READY AND EASY WAY TO 
 
 peculiar, in Alliens a common goveniment ; and 
 their right, as it befell them, to the administration 
 of both. 
 
 They should have here also schools and acade- 
 mies at their own choice, wherein their children may 
 be bred up in their own sight to all learning and 
 noble education ; not in grammar only, but in all 
 liberal arts and exercises. This would soon spread 
 much more knowledge and civility, yea, religion, 
 through all parts of the land, by communicating 
 the natural heat of government and culture more 
 distributively to all extreme parts, which now lie 
 numb and neglected ; would soon make the whole 
 nature more industrious, more ingenious at home, 
 more potent, more honorable abroad. To this a 
 free commonwealth will easily assent ; (nay, the 
 Parliament hath had already some such thing in 
 design ;) for of all governments a commonwealth 
 aims most to make the people flom'ishing, virtu- 
 ous, noble, and high-spirited. Monarchs will never 
 permit ; whose aim is to make the people wealthy 
 indeed perhaps, and well fleeced, for their own 
 shearing, and the supply of regal prodigality ; but 
 otherwise softest, basest, viciousest, servilest, easi- 
 est to be kept under. And not only in fleece, but 
 in mind also sheepishest ; and will have all the 
 benches of judicature annexed to the throne, as a 
 gift of royal grace, that we have justice done us ; 
 whenas nothing can be more essential to the free- 
 dom of a people, than to have the admhiistration
 
 ESTABLISH A FREE COMMONWEALTH. 387 
 
 of justice, and all public ornaments, in their own 
 election, and within their own bounds, without 
 long travelling or depending upon remote places 
 to obtain their right, or any civil accomplishment ; 
 so it be not supreme, but subordinate to the gen- 
 eral power and union of the whole republic 
 
 I have no more 'to say at pi'esent : few words 
 will save us, well considered ; few and easy things, 
 now seasonably done. But if the people be so af- 
 fected as to prostitute religion and liberty to the 
 vain and groundless apprehension, that nothing but 
 kingship can restore trade, not remembering the 
 frequent plagues and pestilences that then wasted 
 this city, such as through God's mercy we never 
 have felt since ; and that trade flourishes nowhere 
 more than in the free commonwealths of Italy, 
 Germany, and the Low Countries, before their 
 eyes at this day ; yet if trade be grown so craving 
 and importunate through the profuse living of 
 tradesmen, that nothing can support it but the lux- 
 urious expenses of a nation upon trifles or super- 
 fluities ; so as if the people generally should betake 
 themselves to frugality, it might prove a dangerous 
 matter, lest tradesmen should mutiny for want of 
 trading ; and that therefore we must forego and 
 set to sale religion, liberty, honor, safety, all con- 
 cernments divine or human, to keep up trading : 
 if, lastly, after all this light among us, the same 
 reason shall pass for current, to put our necks 
 again under kingship, as was made use of by the
 
 388 A FREE COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 Jews to return back to Egypt, and to the worship 
 of tlieir idol queen, because they falsely imagined 
 that they then lived in moi*e plenty and prosper- 
 ity ; our condition is not sound, but rotten, both in 
 religion and all civil prudence ; and will bring us 
 soon, the way we are marching, to those calamities, 
 which attend always and unavoidably on luxury, 
 all national judgments under foreign and domestic 
 slavery : so far we shall be from mending our con- 
 dition by monarchizing our government, whatever 
 new conceit now possesses us.
 
 FROM 
 
 THE HISTORY OF BRITAIN. 
 
 Y this time, like one who had set out 
 on his way by night, and travelled 
 through a region of smooth or idle 
 dreams, our history now arrives on the 
 confines, where daylight and truth meet us with a 
 clear dawn, representing to our view, though at a 
 
 far distance, true colors and shapes 
 
 Worthy deeds are not often destitute of worthy 
 relaters ; as, by a certain fate, great acts and grea* 
 eloquence have most commonly gone hand in hanr''^ 
 equalling and honoring each other in the sain«? 
 ages. It is true, that in obscurest times, by sh?! • 
 low and unskilful writers, the indistinct noise oi 
 many battles and devastations of many kingdoms^ 
 overrun and lost, hath come to our ears. Fcv 
 what wonder, if in all ages, ambition and the love 
 of rapine hath stirred up greeay and violent men 
 to bold attempts in wasting and ruining wars, 
 which to posterity have left the work of wild 
 beasts and destroyers, rather than the deeds and
 
 390 FROM THE HISTORY OF BRITAIN. 
 
 monuments of men and conquerors ? But hij 
 whose just and true valor uses the necessity of war 
 and dominion not to destroy, but to prevent de- 
 struction, to bring in hberty agahist tyrants, law 
 and civility among barbarous nations, knowing that 
 when he conquers all things else, he cannot con- 
 quer Time or Detraction, wisely conscious of this 
 his want, as well as of his worth not to be forgot- 
 ten or concealed, honors and hath recourse to the 
 aid of eloquence, his friendliest and best supply ; 
 by M'hose immortal record his noble deeds, which 
 else were transitory, become fixed and durable 
 against the force of years and generations, he fails 
 not to continue through all posterity, over Envy, 
 Death, and Time also victorious. Therefore, when 
 the esteem of science and liberal study waxes low 
 in the commonwealth, we may presume that also 
 there all civil virtue and worthy action is grown as 
 low to a decline : and then eloquence as it were 
 consorted in the same destiny, with the decrease 
 and fall of virtue, corrupts also and fades ; at 
 least resigns her office of relating to illiterate and 
 frivolous historians, such as the persons themselves 
 both deserve, and are best pleased with ; whilst 
 they want either the understanding to choose bet- 
 ter, or the innocence to dare invite the examining 
 and searching style of an intelligent and faithful 
 wiiter to the survey of their unsound exploits, bet- 
 
 tei befriended by obscurity than fame 
 
 Thus expired this great empire of tlie Romans ;
 
 FROM THE HISTORY OF BRITAIN. 391 
 
 fii*st in Britain, soon after in Italy itself; having 
 borne chief sway in this island, though never thor- 
 onghly subdued, or all at once in subjection, if we 
 reckon from the coming in of Julius, to the taking 
 of Rome by Alaric, in wliicli year Honorius wrote 
 those letters of discharge into Britain, the space of 
 lour hundred and sixty-two years. And with the 
 empire fell also what before in this Western world 
 was chiefly Roman : learning, valor, eloquence, 
 history, civility, and even language itself, all these 
 together, as it were, with equal peace, diminishing 
 and decaying. Henceforth we are to steer by an- 
 other sort of authors ; near enough to the things 
 they write, as in their own country, if that would 
 serve ; in time not much belated, some of equa. 
 age ; in expression barbarous, and to say how ju- 
 dicious, I suspend a while : this we must expect ; 
 in civil matters to find them dubious relaters, and 
 still to the best advantage of what they term the 
 Holy Church, meaning indeed themselves: in most 
 other matters of religion, blind, astonished, and 
 struck with superstition as with a planet ; in one 
 word, monks. Yet these guides, where can be had 
 no better, must be followed ; in gross, it may be 
 true enough ; in circumstances each man, as his 
 judgment gives him, may reserve his faith, or 
 
 bestow it 
 
 Of these who swayed most in the late troubles, 
 a few words as to this point may suffice. The^ 
 had arms, leaders, and successes to their wish, but
 
 392 FROM THE HISTORY OF BRFFAIN. 
 
 to make use of so great an advantage was not theii 
 skill. ' 
 
 To other causes therefore, and not to the want 
 of force, or warlike manhood in the Britons, both 
 those, and these lately, we must impute the ilJ 
 husbanding of those fair opportunities, which might 
 seem to have put liberty, so long desired, like a 
 bridle into their hands. Of which other causes, 
 equally belonging to ruler, priest, and people, above 
 hath been related: which, as they brought those 
 ancient natives to misery and ruin, by liberty, 
 which rightly used, might have made them happy ; 
 so brought they these of late, after many labors, 
 much bloodshed, and vast expense, to ridiculous 
 frustration, in whom the like defects, the like mis- 
 caiTiages notoriously appeared, with vices not less 
 hateful or inexcusable. 
 
 For a Parliament being called, to address many 
 things, as it was thought, the people with great 
 courage, and expectation to be eased of what dis- 
 contented them, chose their behoof in Parliament, 
 such as they thought best affected to the public 
 good, and some indeed men of wisdom and integ- 
 rity ; the rest, (to be sure the greater part,) whom 
 wealth or ample possessions, or bold and active 
 ambition (rather than merit) had commended to 
 the same place. 
 
 But when once the superficial zeal and pop* 
 ular fumes that acted their New magistracy were 
 cooled, and spent in them, straight every one be-
 
 FROM THE HISTORY OF BRITAIN. 393 
 
 took himself (setting the commonwealth beliind, 
 his private ends before) to do as his own profit or 
 ambition led him. Then was justice delayed, and 
 soon after denied : spite and favor determined 
 all ; hence faction, thence treachery, both at home 
 and in the field : everywhere wrong and op- 
 pression : foul and horrid deeds committed daily, 
 or maintained in secret, or in open. Some Mdio 
 had been called from shops and warehouses, without 
 other merit, to sit in supreme councils and com- 
 mittees, (as their breeding was,) fell to huckster 
 the commonwealth. Others did thereafter as men 
 could soothe and humor them best ; so he Avho 
 would give most, or, under cover of hypocritical 
 zeal, insinuate basest, enjoyed unworthily the re- 
 wards of learning and fidelity ; or escaped the pun- 
 ishment of his crimes and misdeeds. Their votes 
 and ordinances, which men looked should have 
 contained the repealing of bad laws, and the imme- 
 diate constitution of better, resounded with noth- 
 ing else but new impositions, taxes, excises ; yearly, 
 monthly, weekly. Not to reckon the offices, gifts, 
 and preferments bestowed and shared among them- 
 selves: they in the mean while, who were ever 
 faithfullest to this cause, and freely aided them in 
 person, or with their substance, when they durst 
 not compel either, slighted and bereaved after of 
 their just debts by greedy sequestrations, were 
 tossed up and down after miserable attendance 
 from one committee to another with petitions in 
 17*
 
 394 FROM THE HISTORY OF BRITAIN. 
 
 their hands, yet either missed the obtaining of their 
 suit, or though it were at length granted, (mere 
 shame and reason ofttimes extorting from them at 
 least a show of justice,) yet by their sequesti'ators 
 and sub-committees abroad, men for the most part 
 of insatiable hands, and noted disloyalty, those 
 orders were commonly disobeyed : which for cer- 
 tain durst not have been, without secret compli- 
 ance, if not compact, with some superiors able to 
 bear them out. Thus were their friends confiscate 
 with their enemies, while they forfeited their debt- 
 ors to the state, as they called it, but indeed to the 
 ravening seizure of innumerable thieves in office 
 yet withal no less burdened in all extraordinary 
 assessments and oppressions, than those whom they 
 took to be disaffected : nor were we happier cred- 
 itors to what we called the state, than to them who 
 were sequestered as the state's enemies. 
 
 For that faith which ought to have been kept as 
 sacred and inviolable as anything holy, " the Pub- 
 lic Faith," after infinite sums received, and all the 
 wealth of the Church not better employed, but 
 swallowed up into a private gulf, was not erelong 
 ashamed to confess bankrupt. And now beside the 
 sweetness of bribery, and other gain, with the love 
 of rule, their own guiltiness and the dreaded name 
 of Just Account, which the people had long called 
 for, discovered plainly that there were of their own 
 number, who secretly contrived and fomented those 
 troubles and combustions in the land, which openly
 
 FROM THE HISTORY OF BRITAIN. 395 
 
 they sat to remedy ; and would continually find 
 such work, as should keep them fi'om being ever 
 brought to that Terrible Stand of laying down 
 their authority for lack of uew business, or not 
 drawing it out to any length of time, though upon 
 the ruin of a whole nation. 
 
 And if the state were in this plight, religion was 
 not in much better; to reform which, a certain 
 number of divines were called, neither chosen by 
 any rule or custom ecclesiastical, nor eminent for 
 either piety or knowledge above others left out; 
 only as each member of Parliament in his private 
 fancy thought fit, so elected one by one. The 
 most part of them were such as had preached and 
 cried down, with great show of zeal, the avarice 
 and pluralities of bishops and prelates ; that one cure 
 of souls was a full employment for one spiritual pas- 
 tor, how able soever, if not a charge rather above 
 human strength. Yet these conscientious men (ere 
 any part of the work done for which they came 
 together, and that on the public salary) wanted not 
 boldness, to the ignominy and scandal of their 
 pastorlike profession, and especially of their boasted 
 reformation, to seize into their hands, or not unwill- 
 ingly to accept (besides one, sometimes two or 
 more of the best livings) collegiate masterships in 
 the universities, rich lectures in the city, setting 
 sail to all winds that might blow gain into their 
 covetous bosoms ; by which means these great re- 
 bukers of non-residence, among so .many distant
 
 396 FROM THE HISTORY OF BRITAIN. 
 
 cures, were not ashamed to be seen so quickly 
 pluralists and non-residents themselves, to a fearful 
 condemnation, doubtless by their own mouths. 
 And yet the main doctrine for which they took 
 such pay, and insisted upon with more vehemence 
 than Gospel, was but to tell us in effect, that tiieir 
 doctrine was worth nothing, and the spiritual power 
 of their ministry less available than bodily com- 
 pulsion ; persuading the magistrate to use it, as a 
 stronger means to subdue and bring in conscience, 
 than evangelical persuasion : distrusting the virtue 
 of their own spiritual weapons, which were given 
 them, if they be rightly called, with full warrant 
 of sufficiency to pull down all thoughts and imagina- 
 tions that exalt themselves against God. But while 
 they taught compulsion without convincement, 
 wliich not long before they complained of as 
 executed unchristianly, against themselves; these 
 intents are clear to have been no better than anti- 
 clu-istian ; setting up a spiritual tyranny by a sec- 
 ulai power, to the advancing of their own authority 
 above the magistrate, whom they would have made 
 their executioner, to punish Church-delinquencies, 
 whereof civil laws have no cognizance. 
 
 And well did then' disciples manifest themselves 
 to be no better principled than their teachers, 
 trusted with committeeships and other gainful ofH- 
 ces, upon their commendations for zealous, (and as 
 they sticked not to term them,) godly men ; but 
 executing their places like children of the Devil,
 
 FROM THE HISTORY OF BRITAIN. 397 
 
 unfaithfully, unjustly, unmercifully, and, where 
 not corruptly, stupidly. So that between them the 
 teachers, and these the disciples, there hath not 
 been a more ignominious and mortal wound to 
 faith, to piety, to the work of reformation, nor 
 more cause of blaspheming given to the enemies 
 of God and truth, since the first preaching of 
 reformation. 
 
 The people therefore looking one while on the 
 statists, whom they beheld without constancy or 
 firmness laboring doubtfully beneath the weight 
 of their own too high undertakings, busiest in petty 
 things, trifling in the main, deluded and quite 
 alienated, expressed divers ways their disaffection ; 
 some despising whom before they honored, some 
 deserting, some inveighing, some conspiring against 
 them. Then looking on the churchmen, whom 
 they saw under subtle hypocrisy to have preached 
 their own follies, most of them not the Gospel, 
 timeservers, covetous, illiterate persecutors, not 
 lovers of the truth, like in most things whereof 
 they accused their predecessors ; looking on all 
 this, the people which had been kept warm awhile 
 with counterfeit zeal of their pulpits, after a 
 false heat, became more cold and obdurate than 
 before, some turning to lewdness, some to flat 
 atheism, put beside their old religion, and foully 
 scandalized in what they expected should be 
 new. 
 
 Thus they who of late were extolled as our
 
 398 FROM THE HISTORY OF BRITAIN. 
 
 greatest deliverers, and had the people wholly at 
 their devotion, by so discharging their trust as we 
 see, did not only weaken and unfit themselves to 
 be dispensers of what liberty they pretended, but 
 unfitted also the people, now grown worse and 
 more disordinate, to receive or to digest any liberty 
 at all. For stories teach us, that liberty sought 
 out of season, in a corrupt and degenerate age, 
 brought Rome itself to a farther slavery : for lib- 
 erty hath a sharp and double edge, fit only to be 
 handled by just and virtuous men ; to bad and 
 dissolute, it becomes a mischief unwieldy in their 
 own hands : neither is it completely given, but by 
 them who have the happy skill to know what is 
 grievance and unjust to a people, and how to re- 
 move it wisely ; what good laws are wanting, and 
 now to frame them substantially, that good men 
 may enjoy the freedom whch they merit, and the 
 bud the curb which they need. But to do this, 
 and to know these exquisite proportions, the heroic 
 wisdom which is required, surmounted far the 
 principles of these narrow politicians : what won- 
 der then if they sunk as these unfortunate Britons 
 before them, entangled and oppressed with things 
 too hard and generous above their strain and tem- 
 per ? For Britain, to speak a truth not often 
 spoken, as it is a land fruitful enough of men stout 
 and coui'ageous in war, so it is naturally not over- 
 fertile of men able to govern justly and prudently 
 in peace, trusting only in their mother-wit ; who
 
 FROM THE HISTORY OF BRITAIN. 399 
 
 consider not justly, that civility, prudence, love of 
 the public good, more than of money or vain honor, 
 are to this soil in a manner outlandish ; grow not 
 here, but in minds well implanted with solid and 
 elaborate bi'eeding, too impolitic else and rude, if 
 not headstrong and intractable to the industry and 
 virtue either of executing or understanding true 
 civil government. Valiant indeed, and prosperous 
 to win a field ; but to know the end and reason of 
 winning unjudicious and unwise : in good or bad 
 success alike unteachable. For the sun, which 
 we want, ripens wits as well as fruits ; and as wine 
 and oil are imported to us from abroad, so must 
 ripe understanding, and many civil virtues, be im- 
 ported into our minds from foreign writings, and 
 examples of best ages : we shall else miscarry still, 
 and come short in the attempts of any great enter- 
 prise. Hence did their victories prove as fruitless 
 as their losses dangerous ; and left them still con- 
 quering under the same grievances that men suffer 
 conquered ; which was indeed unhkely to go other- 
 wise, miless men more than vulgar bred up, as few 
 of them were, in the knowledge of ancient and 
 illustrious deeds, invincible against many and vain 
 titles, impartial to friendships and relations, had 
 conducted their affairs: but then from the chap- 
 man to the retailer, many whose ignorance was 
 more audacious than the rest, were admitted, with 
 all their sordid rudiments, to bear no mean sway 
 among thom, both in church and state.
 
 400 FEOM THE HISTORY OF BRITAIN. 
 
 From the confluence of all their errors, mischiefs, 
 and misdemeanors, what in the eyes of men could 
 be expected, but what befell those ancient inhabi- 
 tants, whom they so much resembled, confusion in 
 the end ?
 
 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 OF TRUE RELIGION, HERESY, SCHISM, 
 TOLERATION. 
 
 RUE religion is the true worship and 
 service of God, learned and believed 
 from the v/ord of God only. No man 
 . or angel can know how God would be 
 worshipped and served unless God reveal it: he 
 hath revealed and taught it us in the Holy Scrip- 
 tures by inspired ministers, and in the Gospel by 
 his own Son and his Apostles, with strictest com- 
 mand, to reject all other traditions or additions 
 
 whatsoever 
 
 With good and religious reason, therefore, all 
 Protestant churches with one consent, and par- 
 ticularly the Church of England in her thirty-nine 
 articles, article 6th, 19th, 20th, 21st, and else- 
 where, maintain these two points, as the main 
 principles of true religion, — that the rule of true 
 rehgion is the word of God only ; and that their 
 faith ought not to be an implicit faith, that is, to 
 believe, though as the Church believes, against or 
 without express authoi'ity of Scrijjture. And if
 
 402 OF TRUE RELIGION, 
 
 all Protestants, as universally as they liold these 
 two principles, so attentively and religiously would 
 observe them, they would avoid and cut off many 
 debates and contentions, schisms and persecutions, 
 which too oft have been among them, and more 
 firmly unite against the common adversaiy. For 
 hence it directly follows, that no true Protestant 
 can persecute, or not tolerate, his fellow-Protestant, 
 though dissenting fi'om him in some opinions, but 
 he must flatly deny and renounce these two his 
 own main principles, whereon true religion is 
 founded ; while he compels his brother from that 
 which he believes as the manifest word of God, to 
 an implicit faith (which he himself condemns) to 
 the endangering of his brother's soul, whether by 
 rash belief, or outward conformity : for " whatso- 
 ever is not of faith is sin." . . . . 
 
 Let us now inquire whether Popery be tolerable 
 or no. Popery is a double thing to deal with, and 
 claims a twofold power, ecclesiastical and political, 
 both usurped, and the one supporting the other. 
 
 But, ecclesiastical is ever pretended to political. 
 The pope by this mixed faculty pretends right, to 
 kingdoms and states, and especially to this of Eng- 
 land, thrones and unthrones kings, and absolves 
 the people from their obedience to them ; some- 
 times interdicts to whole nations the public worship 
 of God, shutting up their churches : and was wont 
 to drain away greatest part of the wealth of this 
 then miserable land, as part of his patrimony, to
 
 HERESY, SCHISM, TOLERATION. 403 
 
 maintain the pride and Inxuiy of his coui't and 
 prelates ; and now, since, through the infinite 
 mercy and favor of God, we have shaken off liis 
 Babylonish yoke, hath not ceased by his spies and 
 agents, bulls and emissaries, once to destroy both 
 king and Parliament ; perpetually to seduce, cor- 
 inipt, and pervert as many as they can of the 
 people. Whether therefore it be fit or reasonable 
 to tolerate men thus principled in religion towards 
 the state, I submit it to the consideration of all 
 magistrates, who are best able to provide for their 
 own and the public safety. As for tolerating the 
 exercise of their religion, supposing their state- 
 activities not to be dangerous, I answer, that tol- 
 eration is either public or private ; and the exercise 
 of their rehgion, as far as it is idolatrous, can be 
 tolerated neither way : not publicly, without griev- 
 ous and unsufferable scandal given to all consci- 
 entious beholders ; not privately, without great 
 offence to God, declared against all kind of idolatry, 
 though secret. Ezek. viii. 7, 8. 
 
 Having shown thus, that Popery, as being idol 
 atrous, is not to be tolerated either m public or 
 private ; it must be now thought how to remove it, 
 and hinder the growth thereof, I mean in our 
 natives, and not foreigners, privileged by the law 
 of nations. Are we to punish them by corporal 
 punishment, or fines in their estates, upon account 
 of their religion ? I suppose it stands not with the
 
 404 OF TRUE RELIGION, 
 
 clemency of the Gospel, more than what ap})er- 
 tains to the security of the state : but first we must 
 remove their idolatry, and all the furniture thereof, 
 whether idols or the mass wherein they adore their 
 God under bread and wine : for the commandment 
 forbids to adore, not only " any graven image, 
 but the likeness of anything in heaven above, or 
 in the earth beneath, or in the water mider the 
 earth ; thou shalt not bow down to them nor 
 worship them, for I the Lord thy God am a jealous 
 God." If they say, that by removing their idols 
 we violate their consciences, we have no warrant 
 to regard conscience which is not grounded on 
 Scripture : and they themselves confess, in their 
 late defences, that they hold not their images 
 necessary to salvation, but only as they are en- 
 joined them by tradition 
 
 St. Paul judged, that not only to tolerate, but 
 to examine and prove all things, was no danger to 
 our holding fast that which is good. How shall 
 we prove all things, which includes all opinions at 
 least founded on Scripture, unless we not only tol- 
 erate them, but patiently hear them, and seriously 
 read them? If he who thinks himself in the 
 truth professes to have learnt it, not by implicit 
 faith, but by attentive study of the Scriptures, and 
 full persuasion of heart, with what equity can he 
 refuse to hear or read him who demonstrates to 
 have gained his knowledge by the same way ? Is 
 it a fair course to assert truth, by arrogating to
 
 HERESY, SCHISM, TOLERATION. 405 
 
 himself the only freedom of bpeech, and stopping 
 the mouths of others equally gifted? This is the 
 direct way to bring in that Papistical implicit faith, 
 which we all disclaim. They pretend it would 
 unsettle the weaker sort ; the same groundless fear 
 is pretended by the Romish clergy. At least, then, 
 let them have leave to write in Latin, which the 
 common people understand not ; that what they 
 hold may be discussed among the learned only. 
 We suffer the idolatrous books of Papists, without 
 this fear, to be sold and read as common as our 
 own : why not much rather of Anabaptists, Arians, 
 Arminians, and Socinians ? There is no learned 
 man but will confess he hath much profited by 
 reading controversies, his senses awakened, his 
 judgment sharpened, and the truth which he holds 
 more firmly established. If then it be profitable 
 for him to read, why should it not at least be tol- 
 erable and fi-ee for his adversary to write ? In 
 logic they teach, that contraries laid together more 
 evidently appear : it follows, then, that all contro- 
 versy being permitted, falsehood will appear more 
 false, and truth the more true ; which must needs 
 conduce much, not only to the confounding of 
 Popery, but to the general confirmation of unim- 
 plicit truth.
 
 FROM THE 
 
 FAMILIAR LETTERS 
 
 To Benedetto Buonmattai, a Florentine. 
 
 AM glad to hear, my dear Buonmattai, 
 that you are preparing new institutes 
 of your native language, and have just 
 brought the work to a conclusion. The 
 way to fame which you have chosen is the same as 
 that which some persons of the first genius have 
 embraced ; and your fellow-citizens seem ardently 
 to expect that you will either illustrate or amplify, 
 or at least polish and methodize, the labors of your 
 predecessors. By such a work, you will lay your 
 countrvmen under no common oblicration, which 
 they will be ungrateful if they do not acknowledge. 
 For I hold him to deserve the highest praise who 
 fixes the principles and forms the manners of a 
 state, and makes the wisdom of his administration 
 conspicuous both at home and abroad. But I as- 
 sign the second place to him, who endeavors by 
 precepts and by rules to perpetuate that style and 
 idiom of speech and composition which have flour- 
 ished in the purest periods of the language, and
 
 FROM THE FAMILIAR LETTERS. 407 
 
 who, as it were, throws up such a trench around 
 it, tliat people may be prevented from going be- 
 yond the boundary almost by the terrors of a 
 Romulean prohibition. If we compare the benefits 
 which each of these confer, we shall find that the 
 former alone can render the intercourse of the cit- 
 izens just and conscientious, but that the latter 
 gives that gentility, that elegance, that refinement 
 which are next to be desired. The one inspires 
 lofty courage and intrepid ardor against the inva- 
 sion of an enemy ; the other exerts himself to an- 
 nihilate that barbarism which commits more exten- 
 sive ravages on the minds of men, which is the 
 intestine enemy of genius and literature, by the 
 taste which he inspires, and the good authors 
 which he causes to be read. Nor do I think it a 
 matter of little moment whether the language of 
 a people be vitiated or refined, whether the popu- 
 lar idiom be erroneous or correct. This considera- 
 tion was more than once found salutary at Athens. 
 It is the opinion of Plato, that changes in the 
 dress and habits of the citizens portend great com- 
 motions and changes in the state ; and I am in- 
 clined to believe, that when the language in com- 
 mon use in any country becomes irregular and 
 depi'aved, it is followed by their ruin or their deg- 
 radation. For what do terms used without skill 
 or meaning, which are at once corrupt and misap- 
 plied, denote, but a people listless, supine, and ripe 
 for servitude ? On the contrary, .we have never
 
 408 FROM THE FAMILIAR LETTERS. 
 
 heard of any people or state which lias not flour- 
 ished in some degree of prosperity as long as their 
 language has retained its elegance and its purity. 
 Hence, my Benedetto, you may be induced to 
 proceed in executing a work so useful to your coun- 
 try, and may clearly see what an honorable anu 
 permanent claim you will have to the approbation 
 and the gratitude of your fellow-citizens. Thus 
 much I have said, not to make you acquainte; 
 with that of which you were ignorant, but because 
 I was persuaded that you are moi'e intent on serv- 
 ing your country than in considering the just title 
 which you have to its remuneration. I will now 
 mention the favorable opportunity which you have, 
 if you wish to embrace it, of obliging foreigners, 
 among whom there is no one at all conspicuous 
 for genius or for elegance who does not make the 
 Tuscark language his delight, and indeed consider 
 ;t as an essential part of education, particularly if 
 he be only slightly tinctured with the literature of 
 Greece or of Rome. I, who certainly have not 
 merely wetted the tip of my lips in the stream of 
 those languages, but, in proportion to my years, 
 have swallowed the most copious drafts, can yet 
 sometimes retire with avidity and delight to feast 
 on Dante, Petrarch, and many others ; nor has 
 Athens itself been able to confine me to the trans- 
 parent wave of its Ilissus, nor ancient Rome to the 
 banks of its Tiber, so as to prevent my visiting with 
 delight the stream of the Arno, and the hills of
 
 FROM THE I' AMI LIAR LETTERS. 409 
 
 FsBsolae. A stranger fi'om the shores of the far- 
 tliest ocean, I liave now spent some days among 
 you, and am become quite enamored of your nation. 
 Consider whether there were sufficient reason for 
 my preference, that you may more readily remem- 
 ber what I so earnestly importune ; that you 
 would, for the sake of foreigners, add something 
 to the grammar which you have begun, and in- 
 deed almost finished, concernuig the right pro- 
 nunciation of the language, and made as easy as 
 the nature of the subject will admit. The other 
 critics in your language seem to this day to have 
 had no other design than to satisfy their own 
 countrymen, without taking any concern about 
 anybody else. Though I think that they would 
 have provided better for their own reputation and 
 for the glory of the Italian language, if they had 
 dehvered their precepts in such a manner as if it 
 was for the interest of all men to learn their lan- 
 guage. But, for all them, we might think that 
 you Italians wished to confine your wisdom within 
 the pomaerium of the Alps. This praise, therefore, 
 which no one has anticipated, will be entirely 
 yours, immaculate and pure ; nor will it be less so 
 if you will be at the pains to point out who may 
 justly claim the second rank of fame after the re- 
 nowned chiefs of the Florentine literature ; who 
 excels in the dignity of tragedy, or the festivity 
 and elegance of comedy ; who has shown acute- 
 ness of remark or depth of reflection in his epistles 
 
 18
 
 410 FROM THE FAMILIAR LETTERS. 
 
 or dialogues ; to whom belongs the grandeur of the 
 historic style. Thus it will be easy for the student 
 to choose the best writers in every department ; 
 and if he wishes to extend his researches further, 
 he will know which way to take. Among the an 
 cients, you will in this respect find Cicero and Fa- 
 bius deserving of your imitation ; but I know noi 
 one of your own countrymen who does. But 
 tliough I think, as often as I have mentioned this 
 subject, that your courtesy and benignity have in- 
 duced you to comply with my request, I am un- 
 willing that those qualities should deprive you of 
 the homage of a more polished and elaborate en- 
 treaty. For since your singular modesty is so apt 
 to depreciate your own performances ; the dignity 
 of the subject, and my respect for you, will not suf- 
 fer me to rate them below their worth. And it is 
 certainly just that he who shows the greatest facili- 
 ty in complying with a request, should not receive 
 the less honor on account of his compliance. On 
 this occasion I have employed the Latin rather than 
 your own language, that I might in Latin confess 
 my imperfect acquaintance with that language 
 which I wish you by your precepts to embellish and 
 adorn. And I hoped that if I invoked the venera- 
 ble Latin mother, hoary with years, and crowned 
 with the respect of ages, to plead the cause of her 
 daughter, I should give to my request a force 
 and authority which nothing could resist. Adieu. 
 Floeence, Sept. 10, (638.
 
 FROM THE FAMILIAR LETTERS. 411 
 
 To Leonard Philaras, the Athenian. 
 
 I HAVE always been devotedly attached to the 
 literature of Greece, and particularly to that of 
 your Athens ; and have never ceased to cherish the 
 persuasion that that city would one day make me 
 ample recompense for the warmth of my regard. 
 The ancient genius of your renowned country has 
 favored the completion of my prophecy in present- 
 ing me with your friendship and esteem. Tliougli 
 I was known to you only by my writings, and we 
 were removed to such a distance from each other, 
 you most courteously addressed me by letter ; and 
 when you unexpectedly came to London, and saw 
 me who could no longer see, my affliction, wliich 
 causes none to regard me with greater admiration, 
 and perhaps many even with feelings of contempt, 
 excited your tenderest sympathy and concern. 
 You would not suffer me to abandon the hope of 
 recovering my sight ; and informed me that you had 
 an intimate fi'iend at Paris, Doctor Thevenot, who 
 was particularly celebrated in disorders of the eyes, 
 whom you would consult about mine, if I would 
 enable you to lay before him the causes and symp- 
 toms of the complaint. I will do what you desire, 
 lest I should seem to reject that aid which perhaps 
 may be offei'ed me by Heaven. It is now, I think, 
 about ten years since I perceived my \'ision to 
 grow weak and dull ; and at the same time I was 
 troubled with pain in my kidneys and bowels, ac-
 
 412 FROM THE FAMILIAR LETTERS. 
 
 companied -vvnth flatulency. In the morning, if i 
 began to read, as was my custom, my eyes instant- 
 ly ached intensely, bnt were refi-eshed after a little 
 corporeal exercise. The candle which I looked 
 at, seemed as it were encircled with a rainbow. 
 Not long after the sight in the left part of the left 
 eye (which I lost some years before the other) be- 
 came quite obscured ; and prevented me from dis- 
 cerning any object on that side. The sight in my 
 other eye has now " been gradually and sensibly 
 vanishing away for about three years ; some 
 months before it had entirely perished, though I 
 stood motionless, everything which I looked at, 
 seemed in motion to and fro. A stiff cloudy vapor 
 seemed to have settled on my forehead and tem- 
 ples, which usually occasions a sort of somnolent 
 pressure upon my eyes, and particularly from din- 
 ner till the evening:. So that I often recollect 
 what is said of the poet Phineas in the Argonau- 
 tics : — 
 
 " A stupor deep his cloudy temples bound, 
 And when he walked he seemed as whirling roand, 
 Or in a feeble trance he speechless lay." 
 
 I ought not to omit that while I had any sight 
 left, as soon as I lay down on my bed and turned 
 on either side, a flood of light used to gush from 
 my closed eyelids. Then, as my sight became 
 daily more impaired, the colors became more faint, 
 and were emitted with a certain inward crackling 
 sound ; but at present, every species of iUumina-
 
 FROM THE FAMILIAR LETTERS. 413 
 
 tion being, as it were, extinguished, there is dif- 
 fused around me nothing but darkness, or darkness 
 mingled and streaked with an ashy brown. Yet 
 the darkness in which I am perpetually immersed, 
 seems always, both by night and day, to ap- 
 proach nearer to white than black ; and when 
 the eye is rolhng in its socket, it admits a little 
 particle of light, as through a chink. And though 
 your physician may kindle a small ray of hope, 
 yet I make up my mind to the malady as quite in- 
 curable ; and I often reflect, that as the wise man 
 admonishes, days of darkness are destined to each 
 of us, the darkness which I experience, less oppres- 
 sive than that of the tomb, is, owing to the singu- 
 lar goodness of the Deity, passed amid the pur- 
 suits of literature and the cheering; salutations of 
 friendship. But if, as is written, " man shall not 
 live by bread alone, but by every word that pro- 
 ceedeth from the mouth of God," why may not 
 any one acquiesce in the privation of his sight, when 
 God has so amply furnished his mind and his con- 
 science with eyes ? While he so tenderly pro- 
 vides for me, while he so graciously leads me by 
 the hand, and conducts me on the way, I will, 
 since it is his pleasure, rather rejoice than repine 
 at being blind. And, my dear Philaras, whatever 
 may be the event, I wish you adieu with no less 
 courage and composure than if I had the eyes of a 
 lynx. 
 
 Westminster, September 28, 1654.
 
 414 FROM THE FAMILIAR LETTERS. 
 
 To THE Illustrious Lord Henry de Bras. 
 
 I SEE, my Lord, that you, unlike most of oui 
 modem youth who pass through foreign coun- 
 tries, wisely travel, like the ancient philosophers, for 
 the sake of completing your juvenile studies, and 
 of picking up knowledge wherever it may be found. 
 Though as often as I consider the excellence of 
 what you write, you appear to me to have gone 
 among foreigners, not so much for the sake of pro- 
 curing erudition yourself, as of imparting it to 
 others, and rather to exchange than to purchase a 
 stock of literature. I wish it were as easy for me 
 in every way to promote the increase of your 
 knowledge and the improvement of your intellect, 
 as it is pleasing and flattering to me to have that 
 assistance requested by talents and genius like 
 yours. I have never attempted, and I should 
 never dare to attempt, to solve those difficulties as 
 you request, which seem to have cast a cloud over 
 the writers of history for so many ages. Of 
 Sallust I will speak, as you desire, without any 
 hesitation or reserve. I prefer him to any of tlie 
 Latin historians ; which was also the general opin- 
 ion of the ancients. Your favorite Tacitus deserves 
 his meed of praise ; but his highest praise, in my 
 opinion, consists in his having imitated Sallust with 
 all his might. By my conversation with you on 
 this subject I seem, as far as I can guess from your 
 letter, to have inspired you with sentiments very
 
 FROM THE FAMILIAR LETTERS. 415 
 
 similar to my own," concerning that most energetic 
 and animated wi'iter. As he in the beginning of 
 his Catihnarian war asserted that there was tlie 
 greatest difficulty in historical composition, because 
 the style should correspond with the nature of the 
 narrative, you ask me how a writer of history may 
 best attain that excellence. My opinion is that he 
 who would describe actions and events in a way 
 suited to their dignity and importance, ought to 
 write with a mind endued with a spirit, and en- 
 larged by an expei'ience, as extensive as the actors 
 in the scene, that he may have a capacity properly 
 to comprehend and to estimate the most momentous 
 affairs, and to relate them, when comprehended, 
 with energy and distinctness, with purity and per- 
 spicuity of diction. The decorations of style I do 
 not greatly heed : for I require an historian, and 
 not a rhetorician. I do not want frequent inter- 
 spersions of sentiment, or prolix dissertations on 
 transactions, which interrupt the series of events, 
 and cause the historian to intrench on the office of 
 the politician, who, if, in explaining counsels and 
 explaining facts, he follows truth rather than his 
 own partialities and conjectures, excites the disgust 
 or the aversion of his party. I will add a remark of 
 Sallust, and which was one of the excellences he 
 himself commends in Ca*'^, that he should be able 
 to say much in a few words ; a perfection which I 
 think no one can attain without the most discrim- 
 inating judgment and a peculiar degree of modera-
 
 416 FROM THE FAMILIAR LETTERS. 
 
 tion. There are many in whom you have not to 
 regret either elegance of diction or copiousness of 
 nan'ative, who have yet united copiousness wath 
 brevity. And among these Sallust is, in my opin- 
 ion, the chief of the Latin wi-iters. Such are the 
 virtues which I think every historian ought to pos- 
 sess who would proportion his style to the facts 
 which he records. But why do I mention this to 
 you, when such is your genius that you need not 
 my advice, and when such is your proficiency, that 
 if it goes on increasing you will soon not be able 
 to consult any one more learned than youi'self? 
 To tlie increase of that proficiency, though no 
 exhoitations can be necessary to stimulate your 
 exertions, yet, that I may not seem entirely to 
 frustrate your expectations, I will beseech you, 
 with all my affection, all my authority, and all my 
 zeal, to let nothing relax your diligence, or chill 
 the ardor of your pursuit. Adieu ! and may you 
 ever successfully labor in the path of wisdom and 
 of virtue I 
 
 Wkstminstee, July 15, 1657.
 
 FROM THE 
 
 LETTERS OF STATE 
 
 To the most Ilhtstrimts and Noble Senators, Scultets, Lax- 
 dam, and Senators of the Evangelic Cantons of Switz- 
 erland, ZuRiCK, Bkkn, Glaris, Bale, Scuaff- 
 HUSEN, Appenzel, also the Confederate." of the same 
 Religion in the country of the Gkisons, of Geneva, St. 
 Gall, IVIalhausen, arid Bienne, our dearest friends. 
 
 OUR letters, most illustrious lords and 
 dearest confederates, dated December 
 twenty-four, full of civility, good will, 
 and singular affection towards us and 
 our republic, and what ought always to be great- 
 er and more sacred to us, breathing fi-aternal 
 and truly Christian charity, we have received. 
 And in the first place, we return thanks to 
 Almighty God, who has raised and established 
 both you and so many noble cities, not so much 
 intrenched and fortified with those enclosures of 
 mountains, as with your innate fortitude, piety, 
 most prudent and just administration of govern- 
 ment, and the faith of mutual confederacies, to be 
 a firm and inaccessible shelter for all the truly 
 
 18* AA
 
 418 FROM THE LETTERS OF STATE. 
 
 orthodox. Now then that you, who over all 
 Europe were the first of mortals, who, after del- 
 uges of barbarous tyrants from the north, heaven 
 prospering your valor, recovered your liberty, and, 
 being obtained, for so many years have preserved 
 it untainted, with no less prudence and modera- 
 tion ; that you should have such noble sentiments 
 of our liberty recovered ; that you, such sincere 
 woi*shippers of the Gospel, should be so constantly 
 persuaded of our love and affection for the ortho- 
 dox faith, is that which is most acceptable and 
 welcome to us. But as to your exhorting us to 
 peace, with a pious and affectionate intent, as we 
 are ftiUy assiu^ed, certainly such an admonition 
 ought to be of great weight with us, as well in 
 respect of the tiling itself which you persuade, and 
 wliich of all things is chiefly to be desired, as also 
 for the great authority, which is to be allowed your 
 lordships above others in this particular, who in 
 the midst of loud tumultuous wars on eveiy side 
 enjoy the sweets of peace both at home and abroad, 
 and have approved yourselves the best example to 
 all others of embracing and impro^^ng peace ; and 
 lastly, for that you persuade us to the very thing 
 which we ourselves of our own accords, and tliat 
 more than once, consulting as well ovu* own as the 
 interest of the whole evangelical communion, have 
 begged by ambassadors, and other public ministers, 
 namely, friendship and a most strict league with 
 the United Provinces. But how they ti'eated oui
 
 FROM THE LETTERS OF STATE. 419 
 
 ambassadors sent to tliem to negotiate, not a bare 
 peace, but a brotherly amity and most strict league ; 
 what provocations to war they afterwards gave us ; 
 how they fell upon us in our own roads, in the 
 midst of their ambassadors' negotiations for peace 
 and allegiance, httle dreaming any such violence ; 
 you will abundantly understand by our declaration 
 set forth upon this subject, and sent you together 
 with these our letters. But as for om' parts, we 
 are wholly intent upon this, by God's assistance, 
 though prosperous hitherto, so to carry ourselves, 
 that we may neither attribute anything to our own 
 strength or forces, but all things to God alone, noi" 
 be insolently puffed up with our success ; and we 
 still retain the same ready inclinations to embrace 
 all occasions of making a just and honest peace. 
 In the mean time yourselves, illustrious and most 
 excellent lords, in whom this noble and pious 
 sedulity, out of mere evangehcal affection, exerts 
 itself to reconcile and pacify contending brethren, 
 as ye are worthy of all applause among men, so 
 doubtless will ye obtain the celestial reward of 
 peacemakers with God ; to whose supreme benig- 
 nity and favor we heartily recommend in our 
 prayers both you and yours, no less ready to make 
 retiuTis of all good offices, both of fiiends and 
 brethren, if in anything we may be serviceable to 
 your lordships. 
 
 Sealed with the Parliament st^al, and subscribed^ 
 Speaker, &c. 
 
 Westminster, October, 1653.
 
 420 PROM THE LETTERS OF STATE. 
 
 Oliver, the Protector ^'f., to the ino^t Serene Prince, I.mm.^jt- 
 CEL, Duke of Savoij, Prince of Piemont, Grectiny: — 
 
 OST Serene Prince : Letters have been 
 sent us from Geneva, as also from the Dau- 
 phinate, and many other places bordering upon 
 your territories, wherein we are given to under- 
 stand, that such of your royal highness's subjects 
 as profess the reformed religion, are commanded 
 by youi' edict, and by your authority, within three 
 days after the promulgation of yoiu* edict, to de- 
 part their native seats and habitations, upon pain 
 of capital punishment, and forfeitiu-e of all their 
 fortunes and estates, unless they will give security 
 to relinquish their religion within twenty days, and 
 embrace the Roman Catholic faith. And that when 
 they applied themselves to your royal highness in a 
 most suppliant manner, imploring a revocation of 
 the said edict, and that, being received into pristine 
 favor, they might be restored to the liberty granted 
 them by your predecessors, a part of your army fell 
 upon them, most cruelly slew several, put others 
 in chains, and compelled the rest to fly into desert 
 places, and to the mountams covered with snow, 
 where some hundreds of families are reduced to 
 such distress, that it is greatly to be feared they 
 will in a short time all miserably perish through 
 cold and hunger. These things, when they were 
 related to us, we could not choose but be touched 
 with extreme grief, and compassion for the suiFer- 
 iiigs and calamities of this afflicted people. Now
 
 FROM THE LETTERS OF STATE. 421 
 
 in regard we must acknowledge ourselves linked 
 together, not only by the same tie of himianity, but 
 by joint communion of the same religion, we 
 thought it impossible for us to satisfy our duty to 
 God, to brotherly charity, or our profession of the 
 same religion, if we should only be affected with a 
 bare sorrow for the misery and calamity of our 
 brethren, and not contribute all our endeavors to 
 relieve and succor them in their unexpected adver- 
 sity, as much as in us lies. Therefore in a greater 
 measure we most earnestly beseech and conjure 
 your royal highness, that you would call back to 
 your thoughts the moderation of your most serene 
 predecessors, and the hberty by them granted and 
 confirmed from time to time to their subjects the 
 Vaudois. In granting and confirming which, as 
 they did that which without all question was most 
 grateful to God, who has been pleased to reserve 
 the jurisdiction and power over the conscience to 
 himself alone, so there is no doubt but that they 
 had a due consideration of their subjects also, 
 whom they found stout and most faithful in war, 
 and always obedient in peace. And as your royal 
 serenity in other tilings most laudably follows the 
 footsteps of your immortal ancestors, so we again 
 and again beseech vour royal highness not to 
 swerve fi-om the path Avherein they trod in this 
 particular ; but that you would vouchsafe to abro- 
 gate both this edict, and whatsoever else may be de- 
 creed to the disturbance of your subjects upon tho
 
 422 FROM THE LETTERS OF STATE. 
 
 account of the reformed religion ; that you would 
 ratify to them their conceded privileges and pris- 
 tine liberty, and command their losses to be re- 
 paired, and that an end be put to their oppressions. 
 Which if your royal highness shall be pleased to 
 see performed, you will do a thing most acceptable 
 to God, revive and comfort the miserable in dire 
 calamity, and most highly oblige all your neigh- 
 bors that profess the reformed religion, but more 
 especially ourselves, who shall be bound to look 
 upon your clemency and benignity toward your 
 subjects as the fruit of our earnest solicitation. 
 Which will both engage us to a reciprocal return 
 to all good offices, and lay the solid foundations 
 not only of establishing, but increasing, alliance 
 and Mendship between this republic and your do- 
 muiions. Nor do we less promise this to ourselves 
 from your justice and moderation ; to which we 
 beseech Almighty God to incline your mind and 
 tiioughts. And so we cordially implore just Heav- 
 en to bestow upon your highness and your people 
 the blessings of peace and tinith, and prosperous 
 success in all your affairs. 
 Whitehall, May — , 1655. 
 
 Oliver, Protector, ^-c, to the High and Mighty f-ords, 
 the States of the United Provinces 
 
 WE make no question but that you have 
 already been informed by the Duke of 
 Savoy's edict, set forth against his subject? Inliabit-
 
 FROM THE LETTERS OF STATE. \2'd 
 
 ing tlie valleys at the feet of the Alps, ancient pro- 
 fessors of the orthodox faith ; by which edict they 
 are commanded to abandon their native habitations, 
 stripped of all their fortunes, unless within twenty 
 days they embrace the Roman faith ; and with 
 what cruelty the authority of this edict has raged 
 against a needy and harmless people, many being 
 slTiin by the soldiers, the rest plundered and driv- 
 en from their houses, together with their wives 
 and childi'en, to combat cold and hunger among 
 desert mountains, and pei'petual snow. These 
 tilings with what commotion of mind you heard 
 related, what a fellow-feeling of the calamities of 
 brethren pierced your breasts, we readily conjec- 
 tured from the depth of our own sorrow, which 
 certainly is most heavy and afflictive. For being 
 engaged together by the same tie of religion, no 
 wonder we shotJd be so deeply moved with the 
 same affections upon the dreadful and undeserved 
 sufferings of our brethren. Besides, that your 
 conspicuous piety and charity towax'd the ortho- 
 dox, wherever overborne and oppressed, has been 
 frequently experienced in the most urging straits 
 and calamities of the churches. For my own 
 part, unless my thoughts deceive me, there is 
 nothing wherein I should desire more willingly 
 to be overcome, than in good-will and charity 
 toward brethren of the same religion, afflicted and 
 wronged in their quiet enjoyments ; as being one 
 that would be accounted always ready to prefer
 
 424 FROM THh lET'I ERS OF STATE. 
 
 the peace and safety of the churches before my 
 particular intei'ests. So far, therefore, as hitherto 
 lay in our power, we have written to the Duke of 
 Savoy, even ahnost to suppHcation, beseeching 
 him that lie would admit into his breast more 
 placid thoughts and kinder effects of his favor 
 towards his most innocent subjects and suppliants ; 
 that he would restore the miserable to their habi- 
 tations and estates, and grant them their pristine 
 freedom in the exercise of their religion. More- 
 over, we wrote to the chiefest princes and magis- 
 trates of the Protestants, whom we thought most 
 nearly concerned in these matters, that they would 
 lend us their assistance to entreat and pacify the 
 Duke of Savoy in their behalf. And we make no 
 doubt now but you have done the same, and per- 
 haps much more. For this so dangerous a prece- 
 dent, and lately removed severity of utmost cruel- 
 ty toward the reformed, if the authors of it meet 
 with prosperous success, to what apparent dangers 
 it reduces our reh'gion, we need not admonish 
 your prudence. On the other side, if the Duke 
 shall once but permit himself to be atoned and 
 won by our united applications, not only our af- 
 flicted brethren, but we ourselves shall reap the 
 noble and abounding harvest and reward of this la- 
 borious undertaking. But if he still persist in the 
 same obstinate resolutions of reducing to utmost 
 extremity those people, (among whom our religion 
 was either disseminated by the first doctors of the
 
 FROM THE LETTERS OF STATE. 425 
 
 Gospel, and preserved from the defilement of su- 
 perstition, or else restored to its pristine sincerity 
 long before other nations obtained that felicity,) 
 and determines their utter extirpation and destruc- 
 tion ; we are ready to take such other course and 
 councils with yourselves, in common with the rest 
 of our reformed friends and confederates, as may 
 be most necessary for the preservation of just and 
 good men, upon the brink of inevitable rmn ; and 
 to make the Duke himself sensible that we can no 
 longer neglect the heavy oppressions and calamities 
 of our orthodox brethren. Farewell. 
 
 Oliver, Protector of the Commonwealth of TSiNGIjASD, Sfc, to 
 the most High and Mighty Lords, the States of the United 
 Provinces. 
 
 MOST High and Mighty Lords, our dearest 
 Friends and Confederates : — We make 
 no doubt but that all men will bear us this tes- 
 timony, that no considerations, in contracting 
 foreign alliances, ever swayed us beyond those 
 of defending the truth of religion, or that we ac- 
 counted anything more sacred, than to unite the 
 minds of all the friends and protectors of the Prot- 
 estants, and of all others who at least were not 
 their enemies. Whence it comes to pass, that we 
 are touched with so much the more grief of mind, 
 to hear that the Protestant princes and cities, 
 whom it so much behoves to live in friendship and 
 concord together, should begin to be so jealous of
 
 426 FROM THE LETTERS OF STATE. 
 
 each other, and so ill disposed to mutual affection ; 
 more especially that your lordships and the King 
 of Sweden, than whom the orthodox faith has not 
 more magnanimous and courageous defenders^ nor 
 our republic confederates more strictly conjoined 
 in interests, should seem to remit of your confi- 
 dence in each other ; or rather, that there should 
 appear some too apparent signs of tottering friend- 
 ship and growing discord between ye. What the 
 causes are, and what progress this alienation of 
 your affection has made, we protest ourselves to be 
 altogether ignorant. However, we cannot but con- 
 ceive an extraordinary trouble of mind for these 
 beginnings of the least dissension arisen among 
 brethren, which infallibly must greatly endanger 
 the Protestant interests. Which if they should 
 gather strength, how prejudicial it would prove to 
 Protestant churches, what an occasion of triumph 
 it would affoi'd our enemies, and more especially the 
 Spaniards, cannot be unknown to your prudence, 
 and most industrious experience of affairs. As for 
 the Spaniards, it has already so enlivened their con- 
 fidence, and raised their courage, that they made 
 no scruple, by their ambassador residing in your 
 territories, boldly to obtinide their counsels upon 
 your lordships, and that in reference to the highest 
 concerns of your republic ; presuming, partly with 
 threats of renewing the war, to terrify, and pai'tly 
 ^ith a false prospect of advantage, to solicit your 
 lordsliips to forsake your ancient and most fjiithful
 
 FROM THE LETTERS OF STATE. 427 
 
 firiends, the English, French, and Danes, and enter 
 into a strict confederacy with your old enemy, and 
 once your domineering tyrant, now seemingly 
 atoned ; but, what is most to he feared, only at 
 present treacherously fawning to advance his own 
 designs. Certainly he who of an inveterate enemy 
 lays hold of so slight an occasion of a sudden to 
 become your counsellor, what is it that he would 
 not take upon him ? Where would his insolency 
 stop, if once he could but see with his eyes what 
 now he only ruminates and labors in his thoughts ; 
 that is to say, division and a civil war among the 
 Protestants? We are not ignorant that your lord- 
 ships, out of your deep wisdom, frequently revolve 
 in your minds what the posture of all Europe is, 
 and what more especially the condition of the 
 Protestants : that the Cantons 9f Switzerland, ad- 
 hering to the orthodox faith, are in daily expecta- 
 tion of new troubles to be raised by their country- 
 men embracing the Popish ceremonies ; scarcely 
 recovered from that war, which for the sake of 
 rehgion was kindled and blown up by the Span- 
 iards, who supplied their enemies both with com- 
 manders and money : that the counsels of the 
 Spaniaa'ds are still contriving to continue the 
 slaughter and destruction of the Piedmontois, 
 which was cruelly put in execution the last year : 
 that the Protestants under the jurisdiction of the 
 emperor are most gi'ievously harassed, having 
 much ado to keep possession of their native homes-
 
 428 FROM THE LETTERS OF STATE. 
 
 that the King of Sweden, whom God, as we hope, 
 has raised up to be a most stout defender of the 
 orthodox faitli, is at present waging, with all the 
 force of his kingdom, a doubtful and bloody wai 
 with the most potent enemies of the reformed re- 
 ligion ; that your own provinces are threatened 
 with hostile confederacies of the princes youi 
 neighbors, headed by the Spaniards ; and lastly, 
 tliat we ourselves are busied in a war proclaimed 
 against the King of Spain. In this posture of 
 affairs, if any contest should happen between your 
 ordships and the King of Sweden, how miserable 
 would be the condition of all the reformed 
 churches over all Europe, exposed to the cruelty 
 and fury of unsanctified enemies ! These cares 
 not slightly seize us; and we hope your senthnents 
 to 1)6 the same ; and that out of your continued 
 zeal for the common cause of the Protestants, and 
 to the end the present peace between brethren 
 professing the same faith, the same hope of eter- 
 nity, may be preserved inviolable, your lordships 
 will accommodate your counsels to those considera- 
 tions, wliich are to be preferred before all others ; 
 and that you will leave nothing neglected that 
 may conduce to the establishing tranquillity and 
 union between your lordships and the King of 
 Sweden. Wherein, if we can any way be usefid, 
 as far as our authority, and the favor you bear us 
 will sway with your lordships, we freely offer our 
 utmost assistance, prepared in like manner to be
 
 FROM THE LETTERS OF STATE. 429 
 
 no less o^rviceable to the King of Sweden, to 
 whom we design a speedy embassy, to the end we 
 may declare our sentiments at large concerning 
 these matters. We hope, moreover, that God will 
 bend your minds on both sides to moderate coun- 
 sels, and so restrain your animosities, that no 
 provocation may be given, either by the one or the 
 other, to fester your differences to extremity ; but 
 that, on the other side, both parties will remove 
 whatever may give offence or occasion of jealousy 
 to the other. Which, if you shall vouchsafe to do, 
 you will disappoint your enemies, prove the con- 
 solation of your friends, and in the best manner 
 provide for the welfare of your republic. And 
 this we beseech you to be fully convinced of, that 
 we shall use our utmost care to make appear, upon 
 all occasions, oui' extraordinary affection and good 
 will to the states of the United Provinces. And 
 so we most earnestly implore the Almighty God to 
 perpetuate his blessings of peace, wealth, and lib- 
 erty, upon your republic : but above all things to 
 preserve it always flourishing in the love of the 
 Christian faith, and the true worship of his name. 
 Your high and mightinesses' most affectionate, 
 
 Oliver, Protector of the Common' 
 wealth of England, ^c. 
 From our Palaoe at Westminster, Aug. — , 1656.
 
 FROM THE 
 
 TREATISE ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE 
 
 JOHN MILTON, 
 TO ALL THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST, 
 
 TO ALL WHO PROFESS THE CHRISTIAN FAITH THROUGHOUT 
 THE WORLD, 
 
 PEACE, AND THE RECOGNITION OF THE TRUTH, AND 
 
 BTERNAI/ SALVATION IN GOD THE FATHER, 
 
 AND IN OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 INGE the commencement of the last 
 century, when rehgion began to be 
 restored from the corruptions of more 
 than thirteen hundred years to some- 
 thing of its original purity, many treatises of the- 
 ology have been published, conducted according 
 to sounder principles, wherein the chief heads of 
 Christian doctrine are set forth, sometimes briefly, 
 sometimes in a more enlarged and methodical 
 order. I think myself obliged, therefore, to de- 
 clare in the first instance why, if any works have 
 already appeared as perfect as the nature of the 
 subject will admit, I have not remained contented
 
 ON CHRISTIAN' DOCTRINE. 431 
 
 with them, — or, if all my predecessors have treated 
 it unsuccessfirlly, why their failure has not deterred 
 me from attempting an undertaking of a similar 
 kind. 
 
 If I were to say that I had devoted myself to 
 the study of the Christian religion because noth- 
 ing else can so effectually rescue the lives and 
 minds of men from those two detestable curses, 
 slavery and superstition, I should seem to have 
 acted rather from a regard to my highest earthly 
 comforts, than from a religious motive. 
 
 But since it is only to the individual faith of 
 each that the Deity has opened the way of eter- 
 \ial salvation, and as he requires that he who 
 would be saved should have a personal belief of 
 his own, I resolved not to repose on the faith 
 or judgment of others in matters relating to 
 God; but on the one hand, having taken the 
 grounds of my faith from divine revelation alone, 
 and on the other, having neglected nothing which 
 depended on my own industry, I thought fit to 
 scrutinize and ascertain for myself the several 
 points of my religious belief, by the most careful 
 perusal and meditation of the Holy Scriptures 
 themselves. 
 
 If therefore I mention what has proved bene- 
 ficial in my own practice, it is in the hope that 
 others, who have a similar wish of improving 
 themselves, may be thereby invited *\. pursue the 
 same method. I entered upon an assi (uous course
 
 432 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 of study in my youth, beginning with the books of 
 the Old and New Testament in their original 
 languages, and going diligently through a few 
 of the shorter systems of divines, in imitation of 
 whom I was in the habit of classing under certain 
 heads whatever passages of Scripture occurred for 
 extraction, to be made use of hereafter as occasion 
 might require. At length I resorted with in- 
 creased confidence to some of the more copious 
 theological treatises, and to the examination of the 
 arguments advanced by the conflicting parties re- 
 specting certain disputed points of faith. But, to 
 speak the truth with freedom as well as candor, ^ 
 was concerned to discover in many instances ad- 
 verse reasonings either evaded by wretched shifts, 
 or attempted to be refuted, rather speciously than 
 with solidity, by an afi^ected display of formal 
 sophisms, or by a constant recourse to the quib- 
 bles of the grammarians ; while what was most per- 
 tinaciously espoused as the true doctrine, seemed 
 often defended, with more vehemence than 
 strength of argument, by misconstructions of 
 Scripture, or by the hasty deduction of errone- 
 ous inferences. Owing to these causes, the truth 
 was sometimes as strenuously opposed as if it had 
 been an error* or a heresy, — while errors and 
 heresies were substituted for the truth, and val- 
 ued rather from deference to custom and the 
 spirit of party than from the authority of Scrip 
 ture.
 
 ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. 433 
 
 According to my judgment, therefore, neitlier 
 my creed nor my hope of salvation could be safely 
 trusted to such guides ; and yet it appeared liighjy 
 requisite to possess some methodical tractate of 
 Christian doctrine, or at least to attempt such a 
 disquisition as might be useful in establishing my 
 faith or assisting my memory. I deemed it there- 
 fore safest and most advisable to compile for my- 
 self, by my own labor and study, some original 
 treatise which should be always at hand, derived 
 solely from the word of God itself, and executed 
 with all possible fidelity, seeing that I could have 
 no wish to practise any imposition on myself in 
 such a matter. 
 
 After a diligent perseverance in this plan for 
 several years, I perceived that the strongholds 
 of the reformed religion were sufficiently fortified, 
 as far as it was in danger from the Papists, — but 
 neglected many other quarters ; neither compe- 
 tently strengthened with works of defence, nor 
 adequately provided with champions. It was also 
 evident to me, that in religion as in other things, 
 the ofiers of God were all directed, not to an 
 indolent credulity, but to constant diligence, 
 and to an unweaiied search after truth ; and that 
 more than I was aware of still remained, which 
 required to be more rigidly examined by the rule 
 of Scripture, and reformed after a more accurate 
 model. I so far satisfied myself in the prosecu- 
 tion of this plan as at length to trust that I had 
 
 19 BB
 
 434 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 discovered, with regard to religion, what was 
 matter of belief, and what only matter of opinion. 
 It was also a great solace to me to have compiled, 
 by God's assistance, a precious aid for my faith, — 
 or rather to have laid up for myself a treasure 
 which would be a provision for my future life, 
 and would remove from my mind all grounds 
 for hesitation, as often as it behoved me to render 
 an account of the principles of my belief. 
 
 If I communicate the result of my inquiries to 
 the world at large ; if, as God is my witness, it be 
 with a friendly and benignant feeling towards 
 mankind, that I readily give as wide a circulation 
 as possible to what I esteem my best and richest 
 possession, I hope to meet with a candid reception 
 from all parties, and that none at least will take 
 unjust offence, even though many things should 
 be brought to light which will at once be seen to 
 differ from certain received opinions. I earnestly 
 beseech all lovers of truth, not to cry out that the 
 Church is thrown into confusion by that freedom 
 of discussion and inquiry which is granted to 
 the schools, and ought certainly to be refused to 
 no believer, since we are ordered " to prove all 
 things," and since the daily progress of the light 
 of truth is productive far less of disturbance to the 
 Church, than of illumination and edification. Nor 
 do I see how the Church can be more disturbed 
 by the investigation of truth, than were the Gen- 
 tiles by the first promulgation of the Gospel ; since
 
 ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. 435 
 
 so far from recommending or imposing anything 
 on my own authority, it is my particular advice 
 that every one should suspend his opinion on 
 whatever points he may not feel himself fully 
 satisfied, till the evidence of Scripture prevail, 
 and persuade his reason into assent and faith. 
 Concealment is not my object ; it is to the learned 
 that I address myself, or if it be thought that the 
 learned are not the best umpires and judges of such 
 things, I should at least wish to submit my opin- 
 ions to men of a mature and manly understanding, 
 possessing a thorough knowledge of the doctrines 
 of the Gospel ; on whose judgments I should rely 
 with far more confidence, than on those of novices 
 in these matters. And whereas the greater part 
 of those who have written most largely on these 
 subjects have been wont to fill whole pages with 
 explanations of their own opinions, thrusting into 
 the margin the texts in support of their doctrine 
 with a summary reference to the chapter and 
 verse, I have chosen, on the contrary, to fill my 
 pages, even to redundance, with quotations from 
 Scripture, that so as little space as possible might 
 be left for my own words, even when they arise 
 fi'om the context of revelation itself. 
 
 It has also been my object to make it appear 
 from the opinions I shall be found to have ad- 
 vanced, whether new or old, of how much conse- 
 quence to the Christian religion is the liberty not 
 only of winnowing and sifting every doctrine, but
 
 436 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 also of thinking and even writing respecting it, 
 according to our individual faith and persuasion ; 
 an inference which will be stronger in proportion 
 to the weight and importance of those opinions, or 
 rather in proportion to the authority of Scripture, 
 on the abundant testimony of which they rest. 
 Without this liberty there is neither religion nor 
 Gospel, — force alone prevails, — by whicli it is 
 disgraceful for the Christian religion to be sup- 
 ported. Without this liberty we are still en- 
 slaved, not indeed, as formerly, under the divine 
 law, but, what is worst of all, under the law of 
 man, or, to speak more truly, under a barbarous 
 tyranny. But I do not expect from candid and 
 judicious readers a conduct so unworthy of them, 
 — that, like certain unjust and foolish men, they 
 should stamp with the invidious name of heretic 
 or heresy whatever appears to them to differ from 
 the received opinions, without trying the doctrine 
 by a comparison with Scripture testimonies. Ac- 
 cording to their notions, to have branded any one 
 at random with this opprobrious mark, is to have 
 refuted him without any trouble, by a single word. 
 By the simple imputation of the name of heretic, 
 they think that they have despatched their man at 
 one blow. To men of this kind I answer, that in 
 the time of the apostles, ere the NeAV Testament 
 was written, whenever the charge of hex'esy was 
 applied as a term of reproach, that alone was con- 
 sidered as heresy which was at variance Avith their
 
 ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. 437 
 
 doctrine orally delivered, — and that those only 
 were looked upon as heretics, who, according to 
 Rom. xvi. 17, 18, " caused divisions and offences 
 contrary to the doctrine " of the apostles. . . . 
 " serving not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their 
 own belly." By parity of reasoning therefore, 
 since the compilation of the New Testament, I 
 maintain that nothing but what is in contradiction 
 to it can properly be called heresy. 
 
 For my own part, I adhere to the Holy Scrip- 
 tures alone, — I follow no other heresy or sect. I 
 had not even read any of the works of heretics, so 
 called, when the mistakes of those who are reck- 
 oned for orthodox, and their incautious handlino; of 
 Scripture, first taught me to agree with their op- 
 ponents whenever those opponents agreed with 
 Scripture. If this be heresy, I confess with St. 
 Paul, Acts xxiv. 14, " that after the way which 
 they call heresy, so worship I the God of my 
 fathers, believing all things which are written in 
 the law and the prophets," — to which I add, 
 whatever is written in the New Testament. 
 Any other judges or paramount interpreters of 
 the Christian belief, together with all implicit 
 faith, as it is called, I, in common with the whole 
 Protestant Church, refuse to recognize. 
 
 For the rest, brethren, cultivate truth with 
 brotherly love. Judge of my present undertak- 
 ing according to the admonishing of the Spirit of 
 God, — and neither adopt my sentiments nor re-
 
 438 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 ject tliem, unless evei]fy doubt has been removed 
 fi-om your belief by the clear testimony of revela- 
 tion. Finally, live in the faith of our Lord and 
 Saviour Jesus Christ. Farewell* 
 
 We must conclude, therefore, that God decreed 
 nothing absolutely, which he left in tlie power of 
 free agents, — a doctrine which is shown by the 
 wfiole canon of Scripture. Gen. xix. 17, 21, 
 " escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. 
 , . . . see, I have accepted thee concerning this 
 thing also, that I will not overtlu'ow this city for 
 the which thou hast spoken." Exod. iii. 8, 17, 
 
 " I am come down to deliver them and 
 
 to bring them up unto a good land," — though 
 these very individuals actually perished in the 
 wilderness. God also had determined to deliver 
 his people by the hand of Moses, whom he would 
 nevertheless have put to death, Exod. iv. 24, if he 
 had not imtriediately circumcised his son. 1 Sam. 
 ii. 30, "I said indeed . . . but now Jehovah 
 saith, be it far from me ; " — and the reason for 
 this change is added, — " for, them that honor me 
 I will honor." xiii. 13, 14, " now would Jehovah 
 have established thy kingdom .... but now thy 
 kingdom shall not continue." Again, God had 
 said, 2 Kings xx. 1, that Hezekiah should die 
 immediately, which event, however, did not hap- 
 pen, and therefore could not have been derreed
 
 UN CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. 439 
 
 without reservation. The death of Josiah was not 
 decreed peremptorily, but he would not hearken 
 to the voice of Necho when he warned him ac- 
 cording to the word of the Lord, not to come out 
 against him ; 2 Chron. xxxv. 22. Again, Jer. 
 xviii. 9, 10, " at what instant I shall speak con- 
 cerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to 
 build and to plant it ; if it do evil in my sight, 
 that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the 
 good wherewith I said I would benefit them," — 
 that is, I will rescind the decree, because that 
 people hath not kept the condition on which the 
 decree depended. Here then is a rule laid down 
 by God himself, according to which he would 
 always have his decrees understood, — namely, 
 that regard should be paid to the conditionate 
 terms attached to them. Jer. xxvi. 3, " if so be 
 they will hearken, and turn every man from his 
 evil way, that I may repent me of the evil, which 
 I purpose to do imto them because of the evil of 
 their doings." So also God had not even decreed 
 absolutely the burning of Jerusalem. Jer. xxxviii. 
 17, &c., " thus saith Jehovah .... if thou wilt 
 assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon's 
 princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city 
 shall not be burned with fire." Jonah iii. iv., 
 " yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be over- 
 thrown," — whereas it appears from the tenth 
 verse, that when God saw that they turned from 
 their evil way, he repented of his purpose, not-
 
 440 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 withstanding the anger of Jonah, who thought the 
 change unworthy of God. Acts xxvii. 24, 31, 
 " God hath given thee all them that sail with thee : " 
 — and again, — "except these abide in the ship, 
 ye cannot be saved," where Paul revokes the 
 declaration he had previously made on the au- 
 thority of God; or rather, God revokes the gift 
 lie had made to Paul, except on condition that 
 they should consult for their own safety by their 
 own personal exertions. 
 
 It appears, therefore, from these passages of 
 Scripture, as well as from many others of the 
 same kind, to which we must bow, as to a para- 
 mount authority, that the most high God has not 
 decreed all things absolutely. 
 
 If, however, it be allowable to examine the 
 (hvine decrees by the laws of human reason, since 
 so many arguments have been maintained on this 
 subject by controvertists on both sides, with more 
 of subtlety than of solid argument, this theory of 
 contingent decrees may be defended even on the 
 principles of men, as most wise, and in no respect 
 unworthy of the Deity. For if those decrees of 
 God which have been referred to above, and such 
 others of the same class as occur perpetually, were 
 to be understood in an absolute sense, without any 
 implied conditions, God would contradict himself, 
 and appear inconsistent. 
 
 It is argued, however, that in such instances 
 not only was the tdtimate purpose predestinated
 
 ON tUlilnTlAN DOCTRINE. 44] 
 
 bit even the means themseives were predesti- 
 nated witli a view to it. So, indeed, it is as- 
 serted, but not on the authority of Scripture ; and 
 the silence of Scripture would alone be a suf- 
 ficient reason for rejecting the doctrine. But it 
 is also attended by this additional inconvenience, 
 that it would entirely take away from human 
 affairs all liberty o'' action, all endeavor and de- 
 sire to do right. For we might argue thus, — If 
 God have at all events decreed my salvation, 
 however I may act, I shall not perish. But God 
 has also decreed as the means of salvation that 
 you should act rightly. I cannot, therefore, but 
 act rightly at some time or other, since God has 
 so decreed, — in the mean time I will do as I 
 please ; if I never act rightly, it will be seen that 
 I was never predestinated to salvation, and that 
 whatever good I might have done would have 
 been to no purpose. See more on this subject in 
 the following Chapter. 
 
 Nor is it sufficient to affirm in reply, that it is 
 not compulsory necessity which is here intended, 
 but a necessity arising from the immutability of 
 God, whereby all things are decreed, or a neces- 
 sity arising from his infallibility or prescience, 
 whereby all things are foreknown. I shall dis- 
 pose hereafter of this twofold necessity of the 
 schools ; in the mean time no other law of neces- 
 sity can be admitted than what logic, or, in other 
 words, what sound reason teaches ; that is to say 
 
 19*
 
 442 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 when the efficient either causes some det<irminate 
 and uniform effect by iis own inherent propensity, 
 as, for example, when fire burns, which kind is 
 denominated physical necessity ; or when the 
 efficient is compelled by some extraneous force 
 to operate the effect, which is called compulsory 
 necessity, and in the latter case, whatever effect 
 the efficient produces, it produces per aecidens. 
 Now any necessity arising from external causes 
 influences the agent either determinately or com- 
 pulsorily ; and it is apparent that on either alter- 
 native his liberty must be wholly annihilated. 
 But though a certain immutable and internal 
 necessity of acting rightly, independent of all 
 extraneous influence whatever, may exist in God 
 conjointly with the most perfect liberty, both 
 which principles in the same divine nature tend 
 to the same point, it does not therefore follow that 
 the same thing can be conceded with regard to 
 two different natures, as the nature of God and 
 the nature of man, in which case the external 
 immutability of one party may be in opposition 
 to the internal liberty of the other, and may pre- 
 vent unity of will. Nor is it admitted that the 
 actions of God are in themselves necessary, but 
 only that he has a necessary existence ; for Scrip- 
 ture itself testifies that his decrees, and therefore 
 his actions, of what kind soever they be, are per- 
 fectly free. 
 
 But it is objected that divine necessity, or a
 
 ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. 443 
 
 first cause, imposes no constraint upon the liberty 
 of free agents. I answer, — if it do not constrain, 
 it either determines, or co-operates, or is wholly 
 inefficient. If it determine or co-operate, it is 
 either the sole or the joint and principal cause 
 of every action, whether good or bad, of free 
 agents. If it be wholly inefficient, it cannot be 
 called a cause in any sense, much less can it be 
 termed necessity. 
 
 Nor do we imagine anything unworthy of God, 
 when we assert that those conditional events de- 
 pend on the human will, whicli God himself has 
 chosen to place at the free disposal of man ; since 
 the Deity purposely framed his own decrees with 
 reference to particular circumstances, in order that 
 he might permit free causes to act conformably 
 to that liberty with which he had endued them. 
 On the contrary, it would be much more un- 
 worthy of God, that man should nominally enjoy 
 a liberty of which he was virtually deprived, 
 which would be the case were that liberty to be 
 oppressed or even obscured under the pretext of 
 some sophistical necessity of immutability or in- 
 fallibility, though not of compulsion, — a notion 
 which has led, and still continues to lead, many 
 individuals into error. 
 
 However, properly speaking, the divine coun- 
 sels can be said to depend on nothing, but on the 
 wisdom of God himself, whereby he perfectly 
 foreknew in his own mind from the begi"^:'ig
 
 ,44 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 what would be the nature and event of eveiy fu- 
 ture occurrence when its appointed season should 
 arrive. 
 
 But it is asked how events, which are uncer» 
 tain, inasmuch as they depend on the human will, 
 can harmonize with the decrees of God, which are 
 immutably fixed? for it is written, Psal. xxxiii. 11, 
 " the counsel of Jehovah standeth for ever." See 
 also Prov. xix. 21, and Isai. xlvi. 10, Heb. vi. 17, 
 " the immutability of his counsel." To this objec- 
 tion it may be answered, first, that to God the 
 issue of events is not uncertain, but foreknown 
 with the utmost certainty, though they be not de- 
 creed necessarily, as will appear hereafter. — Sec- 
 ondly, in all the passages referred to, the divine 
 counsel is said to stand against all human power 
 and counsel, but not against liberty of will in 
 things which God himself has placed at man's 
 disposal, and had determined so to place from all 
 eternity. For otherwise one of God's decrees 
 would be in direct opposition to another, which 
 would lead to the very consequence imputed by 
 the objector to the doctrines of his opponersio 
 inasmuch as by considering those things as neces- 
 sary which the Deity has left to the uncontrolled 
 decision of man, God would be rendered mutable. 
 But God is not mutable, so long as he decrees 
 nothing absolutely which could happen otherwise 
 through the liberty assigned to man. He would 
 indeed be mutable, neither would his counsel
 
 ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. 445 
 
 itand, if he were to obstruct by another docree 
 that liberty which he had already decreed, or were 
 to darken it with the least shadow of necessity. 
 
 It follows, therefore, that the liberty of man 
 must be considered entirely independent of ne- 
 cessity, nor can any admission be made in favor 
 of that modification of the principle which is 
 founded on the doctrine of God's immutability 
 and prescience. If there be any necessity at all, 
 as has been stated before, it either determines free 
 agents to a particular line of conduct, or it con- 
 strains them against their will, or it co-operates 
 with them in conjunction with their will, or it is 
 altogether inoperative. If it determine free agents 
 to a particular line of conduct, man will be ren- 
 dered the natural cause of all his actions, and 
 consequently of his sins, and formed as it were 
 with an inclination for sinning. If it constrain 
 them against their will, man being subject to this 
 compulsory decree, becomes the cause of sins only 
 per accidens, God being the cause of sins per se. 
 If it co-operate with them in conjunction with their 
 will, then God becomes either the principal or the 
 joint cause of sins with man. If finally it be 
 altogether inoperative, there is no such thing as 
 necessity, it virtually destroys itself by being with- 
 out operation. For it is wholly impossible, that 
 God should have fixed by a necessary decree what 
 we know at the same time to be in the power of 
 man ; or that that should be immutable which it
 
 446 ' FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 remains for subsequent contingent circumstances 
 either to fulfil or frustrate. 
 
 Whatever, therefore, was left to the free will of 
 our first parents, could not have been decreed im- 
 mutably or absolutely from all eternity ; and ques- 
 tionless, the Deity must either have never left 
 anything in the power of man, or he cannot be 
 said to have determined finally respecting what- 
 ever was so left without reference to possible con- 
 tingencies. 
 
 If it be objected, that this doctrine leads to ab- 
 surd consequences, we reply, either the conse- 
 quences are not absurd, or they are not the conse- 
 quences of the doctrine. For it is neither impi- 
 ous nor absurd to say, that the idea of certain 
 things or events might be suggested to God from 
 some extraneous source ; since inasmuch as God 
 had determined from all eternity, that man should 
 so far be a free agent, that it remained with him- 
 self to decide whether he would stand or fall, the 
 idea of that evil event, or of the fall of man, was 
 suggested to God from an extraneous source, — a 
 truth which all confess. 
 
 Nor does it follow from hence, that what is tem- 
 poral becomes the cause of, or a restriction upon 
 what is eternal, for it was not anything temporal, 
 but the wisdom of the eternal mind that gave oc- 
 casion for framing the divine counsel. 
 
 Seeing, therefore, that, in assigning the gift of 
 free will, God suffered both men and angels to
 
 ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. 447 
 
 stand or fall at their own uncontrolled choice, 
 there can be no doubt that the decree itself bore 
 a strict analogy to the object which the divine 
 counsel regarded, not necessitating the evil conse- 
 quences which ensued, but leaving them contin- 
 gent ; hence the covenant was of this kind, — if 
 thou stand, thou shalt abide in Paradise ; if thou 
 fall, thou shalt be cast out : if thou eat not the for- 
 bidden fruit, thou shalt live ; if thou eat, thou 
 shalt die. 
 
 Hence, those who contend that the liberty of 
 actions is subject to an absolute decree, erroneous- 
 ly conclude that the decree of God is the cause of 
 nis foreknowledge, and antecedent in order of 
 time. If we must apply to God a phraseology 
 borrowed from our own habits and understanding, 
 to consider his decrees as consequent upon his 
 foreknowledge seems more agreeable to reason, 
 as well as to Scripture, and to the nature of the 
 Deity himself, who, as has just been proved, de- 
 creed everything according to his infinite wisdom 
 by virtue of his foreknowledge. 
 
 That the will of God is the first cause of all 
 things, is not intended to be denied, but his pre- 
 science and wisdom must not be separated from 
 his will, much less considered as subsequent to the 
 latter in point of time. The will of God, in fine, 
 is not less the universal first cause, because he has 
 himself decreed that some things should be left 
 to our own free will, than if each particular event 
 had been decreed necessarily.
 
 448 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 To comprehend the whole matter in a few 
 words, the sum of the argument may be thus 
 stated in strict conformity with reason. God of 
 his wisdom determined to create men and angels 
 reasonable beings, and therefore free agents ; fore- 
 seeing at the same time which way the bias of 
 their will would incline, in the exercise of their 
 own uncontrolled liberty. What then ? shall we 
 say that this foresight or foreknowledge on the 
 part of God imposed on them the necessity of act- 
 ing in any definite way ? No more than if the 
 future event had been foreseen by any huma.i be- 
 ing. For what any human being has foreseen as 
 certain to happen, will not less certainly happen 
 than what God himself has predicted. Thus 
 EHsha foresaw how much evil Hazael would bring 
 upon the children of Israel in the course of a few 
 years, 2 Kings viii. 12. Yet no one would affirm 
 that the evil took place necessarily on account of 
 the foreknowledge of Elisha; for had he never 
 foreknown it, the event would have occurred with 
 equal certainty, through the free will of the agent. 
 In like manner nothing happens of necessity, be- 
 cause God has foreseen it ; but he foresees the 
 event of every action, because he is acquainted 
 with their natural causes, which, in pursuance of 
 his own decree, are left at liberty to exert their 
 legitimate influence. Consequently the issue does 
 not depend on God who foresees it, but on him 
 alone who is the object of his foresight. Sin(;e,
 
 ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. 449 
 
 thertjfore, as has before been shown, there can be 
 no absolute decree of God regai'ding free agents, 
 undoubtedly the prescience of the Deity (which 
 can no more bias free agents than the prescience 
 of man, that is, not at all, since the action in both 
 cases is intransitive, and has no external influence) 
 can neither impose any necessity of itself, nor can 
 it be considered at all as the cause of free actions. 
 If it be so considered, the very name of liberty 
 must be altogether abolished as an unmeaning 
 sound ; and that not only in matters of religion, 
 but even in questions of morality and indiflerent 
 things. There can be nothing but what will hap- 
 pen necessarily, since there is nothing but what 
 is foreknown by God. 
 
 That this long discussion may be at length con- 
 cluded by a brief summary of the whole matter, 
 we must hold that God foreknows all future 
 events, but that he has not decreed them all ab- 
 solutely : lest the consequence should be that sin 
 in general would be imputed to the Deity, and 
 evil spirits and wicked men exempted from 
 blame 
 
 From what has been said it is sufficiently evi- 
 dent, that free causes are not impeded by any law 
 of necessity arising from the decrees or prescience 
 of God. There are some who, in their zeal to op- 
 pose this doctrine, do not hesitate even to assert 
 that God is himself the cause and origin of sin. 
 Such men, if they are not to be looked upon as 
 
 CO
 
 450 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 misguided rather that mischievous, should be 
 ranked among the most abandoned of all blas- 
 phemers. An attempt to refute them, would be 
 nothing more than an argument to prove that God 
 
 was not the evil spirit 
 
 Generation must be an external efficiency, since 
 tlie Father and Son are different persons ; and the 
 divines themselves acknowledge this, who argue 
 that there is a certain emanation of the Son from 
 the Father (which will be explained when the 
 doctrine concerning the Holy Spirit is under ex- 
 amination) ; for though they teach that the Spirit 
 s co-essential with the Father, they do not deny 
 its emanation, procession, spiration, and issuing 
 from the Father, — which are all expressions de- 
 noting external efficiency. In conjunction with 
 tliis doctrine they hold that the Son is also co- 
 essential with the Father, and generated from all 
 eternity. Hence this question, which is naturally 
 very obscure, becomes involved in still greater 
 difficulties if the received opinion respecting it be 
 followed ; for though the Father be said in Sciip- 
 ture to have begotten the Son in a double sense, 
 tjie one literal, with reference to the production 
 of the Son, the other metaphorical, with reference 
 to his exaltation, many commentators have applied 
 the passages which allude to the exaltation and 
 mediatorial functions of Christ as proof of his gen- 
 eration fi'om all eternity. They have indeed this 
 excuse, if any excuse can be received m such a
 
 ON CHRIST/ AN DOCTRINE. 451 
 
 case, that it is impossible to find a single text in all 
 Scripture to prove the eternal generation of tliu 
 Son. Certain, however, it is, whatever some of 
 the moderns may allege to the contrary, that the 
 Son existed in the beginning, under the name of 
 the logos, or word, and was the first of the whole 
 creation, by whom afterwards all other things were 
 made, both in heaven and earth. John. i. 1 — 3, 
 " in the beginning was the Word, and the Word 
 was with God, and the Word was God," &c. 
 xvii. 5, " and now, O Father, glorify me with 
 thine own self with the glory which I had with 
 thee before the world was." Col. i. 15, 18,," the 
 first-born of every creature." Rev. iii. 14, "the 
 Deginning of the creation of God." 1 Cor. viii. 6, 
 ' Jesus Chi-ist, by whom are all things." Eph. iii. 9, 
 " who created all things by Jesus Christ." Col. 
 i. 16, " all things were created by him and for 
 him." Heb. i. 2, " by whom also he made the 
 worlds," whence it is said, v. 10, " thou. Lord, in 
 the beginning hast laid the foundation of the 
 earth " ; respecting which more will be said in the 
 seventh chapter, on the Creation. 
 
 All these passages prove the existence of the 
 Son before the world was made, but they conclude 
 nothing respecting his generation from all eternity. 
 The other texts which are produced relate only to 
 his metaphorical generation, that is, to his resusci- 
 tation fi'om the dead, or to his unction to the me- 
 diatorial office, according to St. Paul's own inter-
 
 452 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 pretatioii of the second Psalm : " I will declare 
 the decree ; Jehovah hath said unto me, Thou art 
 my Son ; this day have I begotten thee," — which 
 the apostle thus explains. Acts xiii. 32, 33, 
 "God hath fulfilled the promise unto us their 
 children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again ; 
 as it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou art 
 my Son; this day have I begotten thee." Rom. 
 i. 4, " declared to be the Son of God with power, 
 according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrec- 
 tion from the dead." Hence, Col. i. 18, Rev. i. 4. 
 " the first begotten of the dead." Heb. i. 5, 
 speaking of the exaltation of the Son above the 
 angels ; " for unto which of the angels said he at 
 any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I be- 
 gotten thee ? and again, I will be to him a Father, 
 and he shall be to me a Son." Again, v. 5, 6, 
 with reference to the priesthood of Christ; "so 
 also Christ glorified not himself to be made an 
 High Priest, but he that said unto him, Thou art 
 my Son, this day have I begotten thee : as he said 
 also in another place. Thou art a priest for ever," 
 &c. Further, it will be apparent from the second 
 Psalm, that God has begotten the Son, that is, has 
 made him a king: v. 6, "yet have I set my King 
 upon my holy hill of Sion " ; and then in the next 
 verse, after having anointed his King, whence the 
 name of Christ is derived, he says, " this day have 
 I begotten thee." Heb. i. 4, 5, "being made so 
 much better than the angels, as he hath by inher-
 
 ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. 453 
 
 ]tance obtained a more excellent name than they." 
 No other name can be intended but that of Son, 
 as the following verse proves : " for unto which of 
 the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son ; 
 this day have I begotten thee ? " The Son also 
 declares the same of himself. John x. 35, 36, 
 " say ye of Him whom the Father hath sanctified, 
 and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest, be- 
 cause I said, I am the Son of God ? " By a simi- 
 lar figure of speech, though in a much lower 
 sense, the saints are also said to be begotten of 
 God. 
 
 It is evident, however, upon a careful comparison 
 and examination of all these passages, and particu- 
 larly from the whole of the second Psalm, that 
 however the generation of the Son may have 
 taken place, it arose from no natural necessity, as 
 is generally contended, but was no less owing to 
 the decree and will of the Father than his priest- 
 hood or kingly power, or his resuscitation from the 
 dead. Nor is it any objection to this that he bears 
 the title of begotten, in Avhatever sense that ex- 
 ])ression is to be understood, or of God's own Son^ 
 Rom. viii. 32. For he is called the own Son of 
 God merely because he had no other Father be- 
 sides God, whence he himself said, that Crod was 
 his Father, John v. 18. For to Adam God stood 
 less in the relation of Father, than of Creator, 
 having only formed him fi-om the dust of the 
 earth ; whereas he was properly the Father of the
 
 454 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 Son made of his own substance. Yet it does not 
 follow from hence that the Son is co-essential with 
 the Father, for then the title of Son would be least 
 of all applicable to him, since he who is properly 
 tiie Son is not coeval with the Father, much less 
 of the same numerical essence, otherwise the 
 Father and the Son would be one person ; nor did 
 the Father beget him from any natural necessity, 
 hut of his own free will, — a mode more perfect 
 and more agreeable to the paternal dignity ; par- 
 ticularly since the Father is God, all whose works, 
 and consequently the works of generation, are ex 
 ecuted freely according to his own good pleasure, 
 as has been already proved from Scripture. 
 
 For, questionless, it was in God's power consist- 
 ently with the perfection of his own essence not 
 to have begotten the Son, inasmuch as generation 
 does not pertain to the nature of the Deity, who 
 stands in no need of propagation ; but whafeevei 
 does not pertain to his own essence or nature, he 
 does not effect like a natural agent from any phy- 
 sical necessity. If the generation of the Son pro- 
 ceeded from a physical necessity, the Father im- 
 paired himself by physically begetting a co-equal , 
 which God could no more do than he could deny 
 himself; therefore, the generation of the Son can- 
 not have proceeded otherwise than from a decree, 
 and of the Father's own free will. 
 
 Thus the Son was begotten of the Father in 
 consequence of his decree, and therefore within
 
 ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. 455 
 
 the limits of time, for the decree itself must have 
 been anterior to the execution of the decree, as is 
 suJfRciently clear from the insertion of the word 
 
 to-day 
 
 According to the testimony of the Son, deliv- 
 ered in the clearest terms, the Father is that one 
 true God, by whom are all things. Being asked 
 by one of the scribes, Mark xii. 28, 29, 32, which 
 was the first commandment of all, he answered 
 from Deut. vi. 4, " the first of all the command- 
 ments is, ' Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is 
 one I^ord ' " ; or as it is in the Hebrew, " Jehovah 
 our God is one Jehovah." The scribe assented 
 " there is one God, and there is none other one 
 but he " ; and in the following verse Christ ap- 
 proves this answer. Nothing can be more clear 
 than that it was the opinion of the scribe, as well 
 as of the other Jews, that by the unity of God is 
 intended his oneness of person. That this God 
 was no other than God the Father, is proved from 
 John viii. 41, 54, " we have one Father, even 
 God .... it is my Father that honoreth me ; of 
 whom ye say that he is your God." iv. 21, 
 "■ neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, 
 shavl ye worship the Father." Christ therefore 
 agrees with the whole people of God, that the 
 Father is that one and only God. For who can 
 beheve it possible for the very first of the com- 
 mandments to have been so obscure, and so ill 
 understood by the Church through such a succes-
 
 456 FROM TILE TREATISE 
 
 sion of ages, that two other persons, equally en- 
 titled to worship, should have remained wholly 
 unknown to the people of God, and debarred of 
 divine honors even to that very day ? especially as 
 God, where he is teaching his own people respect- 
 ing the nature of their worship under the Gospel, 
 forewarns them that they would have for their 
 God the one Jehovah whom they had always 
 served, and David, that is, Christ, for their King 
 and Loid. Jer. xxx. 9, " they shall serve Jelio- 
 vah their God, and David their King, whom I 
 ■will raise up unto them." In this passage Christ, 
 such as God willed that he should be known or 
 worshipped by his people under the Gospel, is ex- 
 pressly distinguished from the one God Jehovah, 
 both by nature and title. Christ himself there- 
 fore, the Son of God, teaches us nothing in the 
 Gospel respecting the one God but what the law 
 had before taught, and everywhere clearly asserts 
 him to be his Father. John xvii. 3, " this is life 
 eternal, that they might know thee, the only true 
 God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." 
 XX. 17, " I ascend unto my Father and your 
 Father ; and to my God and your God" ; if there- 
 fore the Father be the God of Christ, and the same 
 be our God, and if there be none other God but 
 one, there can be no God beside the Father. . . . 
 Recurring, however, to the Gospel itself, on 
 which, as on a foundation, our dependence should 
 chiefly be placed, and adducing my proofs more
 
 ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. 457 
 
 especially from the evangelist John, the leading 
 purpose of whose work was to declare explicitly 
 the nature of the Son's divinity, I proceed to de- 
 monstrate the other proposition announced in my 
 original division of the subject, — namely, that the 
 Son himself professes to have received from the 
 Father, not only the name of God and of Jehovah, 
 but all that pertains to his own being, — that is to 
 say, his individuality, his existence itself, his attri- 
 butes, his works, his divine honors ; to which doc- 
 trine the apostles also, subsequent to Christ, bear 
 their testimony. John iii. 35, " the Father loveth 
 the Son, and hath given all things unto him." 
 xiii. 3, " Jesus knowing that the Father had given 
 all things unto him, and that he was come from 
 God." Mat. xi. 27, "all things are delivered 
 mito me of my Father." .... 
 
 Christ therefore, having received all these things 
 from the Father, and " being in the form of God, 
 thought it not robbery to be equal with God," 
 Philipp. ii. 6, namely, because he had obtained 
 them by gift, not by robbery. For if this passage 
 imply his co-equality with the Father, it rather 
 refutes than proves his unity of essence ; since 
 equality cannot exist but between two or more 
 essences. Further, the phrase he did not think it, 
 — he made himself of no reputation, (literally, he 
 emptied himself,^ appear inapplicable to the su- 
 preme God. For to think is nothing else than to 
 entertain an opinion, which cannot be properly 
 
 20
 
 458 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 said of God. Nor can the infinite God be said to 
 empty himself, any more than to contradict him- 
 self; for infinity and emptiness are opposite terms. 
 But since he emptied himself of that form of God 
 in which he had previously existed, if the form of 
 God is to be taken for the essence of the Deity 
 itself, it would prove him to have emptied himseli 
 of that essence, which is impossible 
 
 Such was the faith of the saints respecting the 
 Son of God ; such is the tenor of the celebrated 
 confession of that faith ; such is the doctrine which 
 alone is taught in Scripture, which is acceptable to 
 God, and has the promise of eternal salvation. . . . 
 
 Finally, this is the faith proposed to us m the 
 Apostles' Creed, the most ancient and universally 
 received compendium of belief in the possession 
 of the Church 
 
 The intent of supernatural renovation ia 
 not only to restore man more completely than be- 
 fore to the use of his natural faculties as regards 
 his power to form right judgment, and to exercise 
 free will ; but to create afresh, as it were, the in- 
 ward man, and infuse from above new and super- 
 natural faculties into the minds of the renovated. 
 This is called regeneration, and the regenerate 
 are said to be planted in Christ. 
 
 Regeneration is that change operated m
 
 ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. 459 
 
 ITttE WOKD AND THE SpIRIT, WHEREBY THE OLD 
 MAN BEING DESTROYED, THE INWARD MAN IS RE- 
 GENERATED BY God after his own image, in 
 
 ALL THE FACULTIES OF HIS MIND, INSOMUCH THAT 
 HE BECOMES AS IT WERE A NEW CREATURE, AND 
 THE WHOLE MAN IS SANCTIFIED BOTH IN BODY AND 
 SOUL, FOR THE SERVICE OF GoD, AND THE PER- 
 FORMANCE OF GOOD WORKS. John iii. 3, 5, " ex- 
 cept a man be born again, he cannot see the king- 
 dom of God .... except a man be bom of water 
 and the Spirit." 1 Pet. i. 23, " being born again, 
 not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible." 
 
 Is REGENERATED BY GoD ; namely, the Father 
 for no one regenerates, except the Father. Psal. 
 li. 10, " create in me a clean heart, O God, and 
 renew a right spirit within me." Ezek. xi. 19, 
 " I will put a new spirit within you." John i. 12, 
 13, " to them gave he the power to become the 
 sons of God .... which were born, not of blood 
 .... but of God." iii. 5, 6, " except a man be 
 bom of water and the Spirit — " ; where by the 
 Spirit appears to be meant the divine power of the 
 Father ; for the Father is a Spirit ; and, as was 
 said before, no one generates except the Father. 
 xvii. 17, " sanctify them through thy truth." 
 Rom. viii. 11, 16, " but if the Spirit of him that 
 raised up Jesus from the dead — : the Spirit itself 
 beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the 
 children of God." Gal. iv. 6, " because ye are 
 sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into
 
 460 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 jour hearts, crying, Abba, Father." Eph. il. 4, 5, 
 " God who is rich in mercy .... hath quickened 
 us together with Christ." 1 Thess. v. 28, " the 
 very God of peace sanctify you wholly." Tit. iii. 
 5, " according to his mercy he saved us by the 
 washing of regeneration and renewino; of the 
 Holy Ghost." Heb. xiii. 20, " the God of peace 
 .... make you perfect in every good work." 
 1 Pet. i. 3, " blessed be the God and Father of' 
 our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his 
 abundant mercy hath begotten us again — ." 
 James i. 17, 18, "of his own will begat he us.'' 
 
 By the Word and the Spirit. John xvii. 
 17, " sanctify them through thy truth ; thy word 
 is truth." James i. 18, " of his own will begat 
 he us with the word of truth." Eph. v. 26, 
 " that he might cleanse it with the washing of 
 water by the Word." 1 Cor. xii. 13, " by one 
 Spirit we are all baptized into one body." Tit. iii. 
 5, " by the washing of regeneration and renewing 
 of the Holy Ghost." 
 
 The inward man. John iii. 6, 6, " that which 
 is born of the Spirit is spirit." Rom. vii. 22, 
 "after the inward man." 
 
 The old man being destroyed. Rom. vi. 6, 
 " knowing this, that our old man is crucified with 
 him, that the body of sin might be destroyed." 
 V, 11, " likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be 
 dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord." 2 Cor. v. 17, " old
 
 ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. 461 
 
 things are passed away ; behold, all things are be- 
 ccme new." Col. iii. 9-11, " that ye have put 
 otf the old man with his deeds, and have put on 
 the new man." 
 
 In all the faculties of his mind ; that is 
 to say, in understanding and will. Psal. li. 10, 
 " create in me a clean heart, O God." Ezek. xi. 
 19, " I will put a new spirit within you .... 
 •and I will give them an heart of flesh." xxxvi. 
 26, " a new heart also will I give you, and a new 
 spirit will I put within you." Rom. xii. 2, "be 
 ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, 
 that ye may prove what is that good .... will 
 of God." Eph. iv. 23, " be renewed in the spirit 
 of your mind." Philipp. ii. 13, " it is God which 
 worketh in you both to will and do his good pleas- 
 ure." This renewal of the will can mean nothing, 
 but a restoration to its former liberty. 
 
 After his own image. Eph. iv. 24, " put on 
 the new man, which after God is created in right- 
 eousness and true holiness." Col. iii. 9-11, 
 " which is renewed in knowledge after the image 
 of him that created him." 2 Pet. i. 4, " that by 
 these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, 
 having escaped the corruption that is in the world 
 through lust." If the choice were given us, we 
 could ask nothing more of God, than that, being 
 delivered from the slavery of sin, and restored to 
 the divine image, we might have it in our power 
 to obtain salvation if willing. Wilhng we shall
 
 462 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 undoubtedly be, if truly free ; and he who is not 
 willing, has no one to accuse but himself. But if 
 the will of the regenerate be not made fi-ee, then 
 we are not renewed, but compelled to embrace 
 salvation in an unregenerate state. 
 
 A NEW CREATURE. 2 Cor. V. 17, " if any man 
 be in Christ, he is a new creature." Gal. vi. 15, 
 " a new creature." Eph. iv. 24, " the new man." 
 See also Col. iii. 10, 11. Hence some, less proper- 
 ly, divide regeneration into two parts, the mortifi- 
 cation of the flesh, and the quickening of the spirit ; 
 whereas mortification cannot be a constituent part 
 of regeneration, inasmuch as it partly precedes it, 
 (that is to say, as corruption precedes generation,) 
 and partly follows it ; in which latter capacity it 
 belongs rather to repentance. On the other hand, 
 the quickening of the spirit is as often used to sig- 
 nify resurrection as regeneration. John v. 21, 
 " as the Father raiseth up the dead and quicken- 
 etli them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he 
 will." V. 25, "the dead shall hear the voice of 
 the Son of God, and they that hear shall live." 
 
 The whole man. 1 Cor. vi. 15, 19, " know 
 ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy 
 Ghost which is in you ? " 1 Thess. v. 23, " the 
 very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray 
 God your whole spirit and soul and body be pre- 
 served blameless unto the coming of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ." 
 
 For the performance of good works. 1
 
 ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. 463 
 
 John ii. 29, " if ye know that he is righteous, ye 
 know that every one that doeth righteousness is 
 horn of him." Eph. ii. 10, " we are his work- 
 manship, created in Christ Jesus unto good 
 works." 
 
 Is SANCTIFIED. 1 Johu iii. 9, " whosoever is 
 horn of God, doth not commit sin, for his seed re- 
 maineth in him ; and he cannot sin because he is 
 born of God." v. 18, " whosoever is born of God, 
 sinneth not, but he that is begotten of God keep- 
 eth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him 
 not." Hence regeneration is sometimes termed 
 sanctification, being the hteral mode of expressing 
 that, for which regeneration is merely a figurative 
 phrase. 1 Cor. vi. 11, " such were some of you ; 
 but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye 
 are justified." 1 Thess. iv. 7, " God hath not 
 called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." 2 
 Thess. ii. 13. " because God hath fi'om the begin- 
 ning chosen you to salvation through sanctification 
 of the Spirit." 1 Pet. i. 2, " according to the 
 foreknowledge of God the Father, through the 
 sanctification of the Spirit. " Deut. xxx. 6, " Je- 
 hovah thy God will circumcise thine heart, and 
 the heart of thy seed, to love Jehovah thy God." 
 Sanctification is also attributed to the Son. Eph, 
 v. 25, 26, " Christ loved the church, and gave 
 himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse 
 it with the washing of water by the word." 
 Tit. ii. 14, " that he might redeem us from al]
 
 464 FROM THE TREATISE 
 
 iniquity, and purify unto himself (unto himself as 
 our Redeemer and King) a peculiar people." 
 
 Sanctification is sometimes used in a more ex- 
 tended sense, for any kind of election or separa- 
 tion, either of a whole nation to some particular 
 form of worship, or of an individual to some office. 
 Exod. xix. 10, " sanctify them to-day and to-mor- 
 row." xxxi. 13, " that ye may know that I am 
 Jehovah that doth sanctify you." See also Ezek. 
 XX. 12 ; Numb. xi. 18, " sanctify yourselves against 
 to-morrow." Jer. i. 5, " before thou camest forth 
 out of the womb, I sanctified thee, and I ordained 
 thee a prophet unto the nations." Luke i. 15, 
 "he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even 
 from his mother's womb." 
 
 The external cause of regeneration or sanctifi- 
 cation is the death and resurrection of Christ. 
 Eph. ii. 4, 5, " when we were dead in sins, God 
 hath quickened us together with Christ." v. 25, 
 26, " Chiist gave himself for the church, that he 
 might sanctify and cleanse it." Heb. ix. 14, 
 " how much more shall the blood of Christ, who 
 through the eternal Spirit offered himself without 
 spot to God, purge your conscience from dead 
 works to serve the living God." x. 10, " by the 
 which will we are sanctified through the offering 
 of the body of Jesus Christ." 1 Pet. i. 2, 3, 
 " through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obe- 
 dience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ 
 .... which hath begotten us again by a lively
 
 ON CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE. 465 
 
 hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from tlie 
 dead." 1 John i. 7, " the blood of Jesus Christ 
 his Son cleanseth us from all sin." 
 
 Sanctification is attributed also to faith. Acts 
 XV. 9, '* purifying their hearts by faith " ; not that 
 faith is anterior to sanctification, but because faith 
 is an instrumental and assisting cause in its gi-adual 
 progress. 
 
 90« »•
 
 A LIST OF MILTON'S PROSE WORKS. 
 
 ARRANGED IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. 
 
 1641. — 1. Of Reformation in England, and the Causes that 
 
 hitherto have hindered it. In Two Books. Written 
 to a Friend. 
 
 2. Of Prelatical Episcopacy, and whether it may be 
 deduced from the Apostolical Times, by Virtue of 
 those Testimonies which are alleged to that Purpose 
 in some late Treatises ; one whereof goes under the 
 name of James, Archbishop of Armagh. 
 
 3. The Reason of Church Government urged against 
 Prelaty. In Two Books. 
 
 4. Animadversions upon the Remonstrant's Defence 
 against Smectynmuus. 
 
 1642. — 5. An Apology against a Pamphlet called " A Modest 
 
 Confutation of the Animadversions upon the Remon- 
 strant against Smectymnuus." (Better known by its 
 briefer title, An Apology for Smectymnuus.) 
 1644. — 6. The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce : restored 
 to the Good of both Sexes, from the Bondage of 
 Canon Law, and other Mistakes, to the true meaning 
 of Scripture in the Law and Gospel compared. 
 Wherein also are set down the bad Consequences of 
 abolishing, or condemning as Sin, that which the Law 
 of God allows, and Christ abolished not. Now the 
 second time revised and much augmented. In Two 
 Books. To the Parliament of England with the
 
 468 LIST OF MILTON'S PROSE WORKS. 
 
 Assembly. (Two editions were published in the 
 same year. The title given above is of the second.) 
 
 1644. — 7. The Judgment of Martin Bucer, concerning Di- 
 
 vorce : written to Edward the Sixth, in his Second 
 Book of the Kingdom of Christ : and now Englished. 
 Wherein a late Book, restoring " the Doctrine and 
 Discipline of Divorce," is here confirmed and justi- 
 fied by the Authority of Martin Bucer. To the 
 Parliament of England. 
 
 8. On Education. (In a Letter to Master Samuel 
 Hartlib.) 
 
 9. Areopagitica : a Speech for the Liberty of Un- 
 licensed Printing. To the Parliament of England. 
 
 1645. — 10. Tetrachordon : Expositions upon the Four Chief 
 
 Places in Scripture which treat of Marriage, or 
 Nullities in Marriage. Wherein " the Doctrine and 
 Discipline of Divorce," as was lately published, is 
 confirmed by Explanation of Scripture ; by Testi- 
 mony of Ancient Fathers ; of Civil Laws in the 
 Primitive Church ; of famousest Reformed Divines ; 
 and lastly, by an intended Act of the Parliament 
 and Church of England in the last Year of Edward 
 the Sixth. 
 11. Colasterion : a Reply to a Nameless Answer 
 against " the Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce." 
 Wherein the trivial Author of that Answer is dis- 
 covered, the Licenser conferred with, and the 
 Opinion which they traduce defended. 
 1648-9 (Feb.). — 12. The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates : 
 proving that it is lawful, and hath been held so 
 through all Ages, for any who have the Power, to 
 call to Account a Tyrant, or wicked King, and after 
 due Conviction, to depose, and put him to Death, if 
 the ordinary Magistrate have neglected or denied to 
 do it. And that they who of late so much blame 
 deposing, the Presbyterians, are the men that did it 
 themselves.
 
 LIST OF MILTON'S PROSE WORKS. 4r,0 
 
 1648-9. — 13. Observations on the Articles of Peace, between 
 James Earl of Ormond for King Charles the First 
 on the one hand, and the Irish Rebels and Papists 
 on the other hand : and on a Letter sent by Ormond 
 to Colonel Jones, Governor of Dublin. And a 
 Representation of the Scots Presbytery at Belfast in 
 Ireland. To which the said Articles, Letter, with 
 Colonel Jones's Answer to it, and Representation, 
 &c., are prefixed. (Published before his appointment 
 as Latin Secretary, IMarch 15th, 1648-9.) 
 
 1649. — 14. Eikouoklastes : in Answer to a Book entitled 
 
 "Eikon Basilike, The Portraiture of His Sacred 
 Majesty in his Solitudes and Sufferings." 
 
 1650. — 15. Pro Populo Anglicano Defensio, con'ua Claudii 
 
 anonymi alias Salmasii Defensionem Regiam. A 
 Defence of the People of England ; in Answer to 
 Salmasius's Defence of the King. (The translation 
 is ascribed by Toland to Mr. Washington of the 
 Temple.) 
 
 1654. — 16. Defensio Secunda pro Populo Anglicano contra 
 
 Infamem Libellum anonymum, cui titulus, Regii 
 Sanguinis Clamor ad Coelum adversus Parricidas 
 Anglicanos. The Second Defence of the People of 
 England : against an anonymous Libel, entitled 
 " The Royal Blood crying to Heaven for Vengeance 
 on the English Parricides." (The translation is by 
 Robert Fellowes, A. M., Oxon.) 
 
 1655. — 17. Authoris pro se Defensio contra Alexandruna 
 
 Morum Libelli, cui titulus, Regii Sanguinis, &c. 
 Authorem recte dictum. 
 
 18. Authoris ad Alexandri Mori Supplementum Re- 
 sponsio. (These two polemic tracts have, I think, 
 never been translated.) 
 
 19. A Manifesto of the Lord Protector to the Com- 
 monwealth of England, Scotland, Ireland, &c. 
 Published by consent and advice of his Council
 
 470 LIST OF MILTON'S PROSE WORKS 
 
 Wherein is shown the Reasonableness of the Cause 
 of this Republic against the Depredations of the 
 Spaniards. (Written in Latin by John Milton, and 
 first printed in 1655 ; translated into English in 
 1738.) 
 ^669. — 20. A Treatise of Civil Power in Ecclesiastical 
 Causes ; showing that it is not lawful for any Power 
 on Earth to compel in matters of Religion. To the 
 Parliament of the Commonwealth of England, with 
 the Dominions thereof. 
 
 21. Considerations touching the likeliest Means to 
 remove Hirelings out of the Church. Wherein is 
 also discoursed of Tithes, Church Fees, and Church 
 Revenues ; and whether any Maintenance of Minis- 
 ters can be settled by Law. To the Parliament of 
 England, with the Dominions thereof. 
 
 22. A Letter to a Friend concerning the Ruptures ot 
 the Commonwealth. (Dated Oct. 20, 1659, but first 
 published by Toland in 1698.) 
 
 28. The Present Means and Brief Delineation of a 
 Free Commonwealth, easy to be put in practice, and 
 without delay. In a Letter to General Monk. 
 
 1660- — 24. The ready and easy Way to establish a free 
 Commonwealth, and the Excellence thereof, com- 
 pared with the Inconveniences and Dangers of 
 re-admitting Kingship in this Nation. 
 25. Brief Notes upon a late Sermon titled. The Fear 
 of God and the King; preached and since published 
 by Matthew Grifiith, D. D., and Chaplain to the late 
 King. Wherein many notorious wrestings of Scrip- 
 ture, and other Falsities, are observed. 
 
 1661. — 26. Accedence Commenced Grammar, supplied with 
 Sufficient Rules for the use of such as, younger or 
 elder, are desirous, without more trouble than needs, 
 to attain the Latin Tongue ; the elder sort especially, 
 with little teaching and their own industry. (It had
 
 UST OF MILTON'S PROSE WORKS. 471 
 
 probably been prepared some years before it« oub 
 lication.) 
 
 1670. — 27. The History of Britain, that part especially now 
 called England, from the first Traditional Beginning 
 continued to the Norman Conquest; collected out 
 of the ancientest and best Authors thereof. (This 
 work, though published in 1670, was written mostly 
 before the Restoration. The royal licenser expunged 
 several passages, which appeared in a pamphlet by 
 themselves in 1681, and were incorporated into an 
 edition of Milton's Prose Works published in 1738. 
 See a brief notice of this in D'Israeli's Curiosities of 
 Literature, Vol. II., p. 408, and Vol. III., p. 206.) 
 
 1672. — 28. Artis Logicae Plenior Institutio ad Petri Rami 
 Methodum concinnata. System of Logic after Peter 
 Ramus. (Not translated. This too had been ia 
 manuscript many years before publication.) 
 
 1673. — 29. Of True Religion, Heresy, Schism, Toleration ; 
 
 and what best Means may be used against the 
 Growth of Popery. 
 
 1674. — 30. Epistolarum Familiarum Liber Unus ; quibus ac- 
 
 cesserunt Prolusiones qutedam Oratoriae in Collegio 
 Christi habitae. (The Familiar Letters, extending 
 from 1625 to 1666, have been translated by Mr. 
 Fellowes of Oxford. Of the " Prolusiones," or 
 Academical Essays, seven in number, no complete 
 translation has been published. Professor Masson, 
 who has found them "full of biographical light," 
 yet remarks : " I really have found no evidence that 
 as many as ten persons have read them through 
 before me." He has given a full account of these 
 Essays, with copious extracts, in his Life of Milton, 
 Vol. L pp. 204-230.) 
 SI. A Declaration, or Letters-Patent, for the Election 
 of this present King of Poland, John the Third, 
 elected on the 22nd of May last past, A. D. 1674.
 
 472 LIST OF MILTON'S PROSE WORKS. 
 
 Containing the Reasons of this Election, the great 
 Virtues and Merits of the said serene Elect, his emi- 
 nent Sei"vices in War, especially in his last great 
 Victory against the Turks and Tartars, ■whereof 
 many particulars are here related, not publisl)e(i 
 before. Now faithfully translated from the Latin 
 copy. 
 
 1676, — 32. LiteraB Senatus Anglicani ; necnon Cromwellii 
 The Letters of State. These were published in 
 the original in 1676, then translated into English, 
 and published in 1694. 
 
 1682. — 3.3. A brief History of Moscovia and of other best- 
 known Countries lying eastward of Russia as far as 
 ■ Cathay; gathered from the Writings of several 
 Eyewitnesses. 
 
 1823. — 34. Joannis Miltoni Angli de Doctrina Christiana 
 ex sacris duntaxat Libris petita Disquisitionum Libri 
 duo posthumia. The Christian Doctrine. (A Latin 
 MS. bearing the above title was accidentally dis- 
 covered in 1823 by Mr. Lemon in the State-Paper 
 Office. It was edited and afterwards translated by 
 Rev. Charles R. Sumner, Bishop of Winchester. 
 • The Christian Doctrine is generally supposed to 
 have been written by Milton late in life; but a 
 contrary view is ably maintained in an article of 
 considerable length published in the Bibliotheca 
 Sacra, Vol. XVI. p. 557, and Vol. XVH. p. 1.) 
 
 In addition to the works above mentioned, a few fragmenti 
 have lately appeared. It is not likely that any iinpoitant 
 work of Milton remains now undiscovered.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Abraham, 29. 
 
 Absolut© Monarchy, 279. 
 
 Academics, 153. 
 
 Academies, Italian, •M. 
 
 Achilles referred to, 310. 
 
 Admonition, minister's use of, 
 58. 
 
 Advice cannot insure public 
 safety, 212. 
 
 Affections, tyranny of blind, 170. 
 
 Amadis (de (jaul)j 203. 
 
 Amendment of old grievances, 
 134. 
 
 Ancestry, illustrious, 89. 
 
 Angels, orders of, 31. 
 
 Auger, sad, against errors, 65. 
 
 Anteros, 148. 
 
 Antichrist, 189. 
 
 Antiochus, 158 — lifeless Colos- 
 sus of, 68. 
 
 Antiquity, 25, 27. 
 
 Apocalypse of John, 49, 253. 
 
 Apollonius quoted, 307. 
 
 Apostles' Creed, 150. 
 
 Apostolic Scriptures, 105. 
 
 Apostate, Julian the, 110. 
 
 Appollinarii, 110. 
 
 Arcadia (Sidney's), 199, 202. 
 
 Areopagitica mentioned, 326. 
 
 Ariosto, 47. 
 
 Aristotle, cited or noticed, 11, 
 48, 176, 197, 266, 271, 278, 289. 
 
 Armada, Spanish, 22. 
 
 Army, the English, 263, 283, 331. 
 "' under Cromwell, 335. 
 
 Arno, 408. 
 
 Arts, errors in teaching, 102. 
 
 Atheists not tolerated by Parlia- 
 ment, 191. 
 
 Athenian Commonwealth, 385. 
 
 Athenians, 48, 313. 
 
 Athens, 48, 156, 386, 407, 408. 
 " literature of, 411. 
 
 Author's allusions to himsell 
 42-54, 78-83, 258, 296-329 
 409,411-413. 
 
 Author's birth and parentage 
 318. 
 
 Author's blindness, 305, 806 
 313 — described, 411-413. 
 
 Author's bodily stature, 305. 
 " choice to defend liberty 
 with the pen, 300. 
 
 Author's choice to write in Eng- 
 lish, 47. 
 
 Author's early education, 46. 
 " " preparation foi 
 
 the Church, 54. 
 
 Author's early studies, 78, 79. 
 " friends, kindness of, 
 312. 
 
 Author's gratitude expressed foi 
 divine goodness, 296. 
 
 Author's integrity affirmed, 809. 
 " labors gratuitous, 328. 
 " " successful and 
 
 influential, 301. 
 
 Author's life not licentious, 78. 
 " literary hopes, 47. 
 " morning haunts, 78. 
 " opponent, charges of 
 304. 
 
 Author's poetic promise, 47 — 
 hopes, 48. 
 
 Author's promise of a gi'eat poem, 
 53, 74. 
 
 Author's reasons for engaging in 
 controversy, 42. 
 
 Author's reasons for defending 
 the English people, 258. 
 
 Author's Studies in Christian 
 Doctrine, 430 - 432. 
 
 Author's studies, early, 46, 78, 
 319 — in poetry, 79 — in ro- 
 mances, 81 — in philosophy, Si 
 — collegiate and at home, 819.
 
 474 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Author's studies, later, 323. 
 
 " visit to Italy, 47, 320, 
 409. 
 
 Author's ■writings defending re- 
 ligious liberty, 324 — domes- 
 tic, 325 — on education, 325 — 
 Areopagitica, 326 — against 
 Charles I., 327. 
 
 Bacon, Sir Francis, 87, 117. 
 Bad books, use of, to good men, 
 
 111. 
 Bad man, the, a tyrant, 304 — 
 
 men do not hate tyrants, 171 
 
 — misjudge the good, 171. 
 Balaam, 13, 73. 
 
 Balak, 239. 
 
 Baptist, the, 84, 144. 
 
 Basil, St., 179. 
 
 Beatrice and Laura, 80. 
 
 Belisarius, 49. 
 
 Bembo, 47. 
 
 Bible, in the Reformation, 4 — 
 liberal sciences taught from, 
 111. 
 
 Bishops serviceable to tyrants, 
 239. 
 
 Blessings, full, to be received, 2, 
 18. 
 
 Blindness, author's, 305, 306- 
 313, 411 - 413 — historical ex- 
 amples of, 307, 308 — not a 
 punishment from God, 309. 
 
 Books,- care necessary concern- 
 ing, 107 — vital power of, 108 
 
 — value of good, 108 — hereti- 
 cal, when first prohibited, 108 
 
 — Moses and others learned in 
 heathen, 110 — Julian forbade 
 heathen, to Christians, 110 — 
 use of bad, to good men. 111 — 
 all manner of, to be read, 113 
 
 — public teaching by, 121. 
 Book-licensing, origin of, 108 — 
 
 unjust, 110 — absurd, 113 — 
 insults ingenuous minds, 115 — 
 prevents freedom in teaching, 
 116 — an indignity to dead au- 
 thors, 117 — and to the English 
 nation, 118 — promotes lifeless 
 uniformity, 120 — shuts nut 
 truth, 122'— cowardice of, 129 
 
 — truth more likely than error 
 prohibited by, 130. 
 
 Bradshaw, John, eulogy of, 829- 
 331. 
 
 Bras, Lord Henry de, letter to, 
 414. 
 
 Britain, author's history of, 328. 
 " character of inhabitants, 
 392, 398. 
 
 Britain, Roman Empire in, 390. 
 
 Brutus, Marcus, 155. 
 
 Buonmattai, Benedetto, 321 — 
 letter to, 406. 
 
 Burden, knowledge a, 39 — of in- 
 spiration to the prophets, 41 — 
 of superstition, 135. 
 
 Burning (1 Cor. vii. 9) ex- 
 plained, 145. 
 
 Cales, 222. 
 
 Callimachus, 49. 
 
 Cambridge, author's studies at, 
 319. 
 
 Camden, 382. 
 
 Cameron, 168. 
 
 Caracalla, 264. 
 
 Cato, 415. 
 
 Change, struggle necessary in, 38. 
 
 Charity, law of marriage oppos- 
 ing, 136 — is to decide all 
 controversy, 165 — the end of 
 the Gospel, 165. 
 
 Charlemagne, 49. 
 
 Charles L, reputed words of, in 
 Eikon Basilike, 195 -248, ;?as- 
 sini — people virtually de- 
 posed, 182 — complaint of, con 
 cerning elections, 196 — devo 
 tions of, 197 — prayers of, 197 
 
 - 202 — hypocrisy of, 202, 208 
 
 — calling of Parliament by, 
 203 — consent of, to Straflford's 
 death, 204 - 207 — attempt of, 
 to arrest members of Parlia- 
 ment, 207, 224 — conscience 
 of, 206, 208, 229, 234 — dissim- 
 ulation of, 208 — against tu- 
 mults, 209 — on a triennial 
 Parliament, 209 — on tho 
 King's negative, 212 - 217 — 
 against being subject to Par- 
 liament, 215 — concerning Ho- 
 tham, 217 - 219 — " soul invin- 
 cible " of, 220 — fear of God by, 
 220 — on the civil war, 221 — 
 "justice of," 221 — "peace,"
 
 INDEX. 
 
 475 
 
 222 — ■' religion," 222 — sus- 
 pected poisoner of liis father 
 noDored, 223 — " chiefest arms " 
 of, 225 — crown jewels of, 226 
 
 — power claimed by, over 
 militia, 226 — power of denial 
 claimed i>y, 230 — argument 
 of, on liturgies, 234 — hated 
 Riid feared religious men, 239 
 
 — [xilicy of. against them, 239, 
 24u — rebelled against law, 
 241 — clain'.ed power above 
 Parliament, 242 — " vows " of, 
 243 — were rejected, 246 — 
 fancies vengeance on opposers, 
 246 — sorrow and pity of, 248 
 
 — slain by the Englisii people, 
 and wh}', 25G — slain as a pub- 
 lic enemj', 261 — army and 
 people demanded iustice on, 
 263 — trial of, 286 - 288 — 
 condenmed as a tyrant, 289 — 
 traitor, 290 — murderer, 291 
 
 — author's works concerning, 
 327 — charge of, to his chil- 
 dren, 383 — conduct likeh' 
 from the son of, 383. 
 
 Charles Stuart (aft. Charles 
 
 II.), 291. 
 Charles V. (of Germany), 86. 
 Chastity, excellence of, 81 - 83 
 
 — and love, 82. 
 Cheerfulness, use of, in Christian 
 
 teaching, 84 — fitting in Chris- 
 tian duty, 149. 
 Christ, kingship cannot be de- 
 rived from, 381 — meekness of, 
 63 — ministering, 55 — only 
 head of the Church, 381-^ 
 praises to, 73 — prayer to, 72 
 
 — precept of, 98 — public 
 preaching of, 121 — sufferings 
 and glory of, 1 — vehemence 
 of, 64 — words of, 143 — zeal 
 of, 86. 
 
 .Christian thought, fit themes for, 
 1 — cheerfulness, 149 — liber- 
 ty, 234. 
 
 Ciiristianity, early, 373. 
 
 Christina, Queen of Sweden, eu- 
 logized, 313 - 317. 
 
 Chroniclers, monkish, 391. 
 
 Chrvsippus, 153. 
 
 Churcli, allegiance commanded 
 
 _to none by name, 249 — Christ 
 only head of, 381 — civil help 
 harms, 191 — early unity and 
 meekness in, 5 — Ezekiel's 
 temple a type of Christian, 34 
 
 — goverinuent, reasons of to be 
 examined, 29 — God's care in, 
 32 — in all churches original- 
 ly the same, 249 — history, use 
 of learning in, 26 — harmony 
 in, 124 — kings not supreme 
 over, 234 — hate and fear true, 
 237 —policy of, against, 239 — 
 progress of corruption in, 2 - 
 reformation in, 4 — secular au- 
 thority not neccssniy to, 6 — 
 spousaJs of, with Christ, 163 — 
 supplications for, 20 — wealth 
 in, 365. 
 
 Churchman, true office of, 11 — 
 not to encroacli on temporal 
 authority, 12. 
 
 Cicero, cited or named, 105, 154, 
 IGl, 267. 410. 
 
 Citizens of England, addressed, 
 347-354. 
 
 Claudius, Appius, 308. 
 
 Cl-ergy, prelatical insolence over, 
 6 — evils of hireling, 373. 
 
 Comnenus, Andronicus. 197. 
 
 Commons (House of), have juris- 
 diction over a kitig. 281. 
 
 Conjmonwealth d(!fined, 228 — 
 enjoined by our Saviour, 379 — 
 like a great Chiistian person- 
 age, 11 — tower of, 377 — pro- 
 tects libertv of conscience, 
 382 — fosters merit, 384 — 
 goodly vessel of, 17 — schools 
 and academies encouraged by, 
 386 — trade flourishes in, 387 
 
 — folly of renouncing for 
 kingship, 387 — counties to be 
 a subordinate, 884 — stages of 
 corruption in, 165. 
 
 Commotions, sectaries active in, 
 130 — noble men raised up in, 
 130. 
 
 Communion, table of, 6 
 
 Corruption, progress of, in tXe 
 Church, 2 — stages of, in com- 
 monwealth, 165 — in officers of 
 state, 351. 
 
 Conformity, outward, 2,
 
 47G 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Conscience, forcers of, 359 — 
 God's secretary, 54 — liberty 
 of, 356 — protected by a com- 
 monwealth, 382 — rights of, in 
 interpreting scripture, 357. 
 
 Constantino, 7, 365. 
 
 Controversial works, profit of 
 reading, 405. 
 
 Corpoi-al punishment not proper 
 in religion, 403. 
 
 Council of Trent, 109. 
 
 County a subordinate common- 
 wealth, 384 — controversy in, 
 how settled, 385. 
 
 Craft in ti-eaties, 241. 
 
 Crassus, 275. 
 
 Crescentius, 353. 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, eulogium to, 
 333 - 347 — birth and early life 
 of, 333— in Parliament, 333 — 
 military exploits of, 333, 334 — 
 memorable actions of, 330 — 
 dissolves Parliament, 337 — 
 Protectorate of, 338 — address 
 to, 338 — warned against tyr- 
 anny, 340 — is counselled to 
 employ wise men in council, 
 342 — to leave the Church 
 free, 346 — to foster etiucation, 
 
 346 — to permit free discus- 
 sion, 346 — to hear any trulh, 
 
 347 — Protector, letters of 
 state from, to Duke of Savoy, 
 420 — to United Provinces, 
 422, 425. 
 
 Crown jewels of Charles I., 226. 
 
 Curiosity, in vain things, 135. 
 
 Custom, influence of, 130 — asso- 
 ciated with error, 132 — tyr- 
 anny of, 170. 
 
 Cyrus', 13, 30, 334. 
 
 Dandolo, Doge of Venice, 308. 
 
 Daniel, 110. 
 
 Dante referred to, 80, 408. 
 
 Darius, 249. 
 
 David, 90, 105, 161, 176, 179, 
 
 205, 217, 245. 
 Dawn of light in British history, 
 
 389. 
 Decency, so called, in worship, 4. 
 Decrees' of God respecting free 
 
 agents not absolute, examined 
 
 by laws of reason, 440 — cou- 
 
 tingent, inaintained, 140 — 
 framed to permit human free- 
 dom, 443 — not the cause of 
 divine foreknowledge, 447. 
 
 Defence (Milton's) of the people 
 of England, referred to, 297. 
 301, 309, 313, 329. 
 
 Definition, 165. 
 
 Delphi, oj-acle of, 310, 
 
 Demophoon, 177. 
 
 Deodati, .lohu, .323. 
 
 Desborough, 344. 
 
 Dillon, " a traitor," 291. 
 
 Dion, 177. 
 
 Discipline, nurse of truth, 26 — 
 importance of, 30 — the image 
 of virtue, 31 — in the Church 
 divinely oniained, 31 — gifts 
 required in framing, 32 — re 
 lation of to preaching, 32 — 
 set forth by Paul, 34. 
 
 Disloyalty, divine punishment 
 of, 23. 
 
 Dissent not to be persecuted, 
 402. 
 
 Divines, time-serving, 186, 395 — 
 subprolatical faction of, 188 — 
 judgment of Protestant, on ty- 
 rannicide, 188. 
 
 Divorce, when permissible, 142 
 
 — better than hate, 147 — al- 
 lowance of, approves, 155 — 
 for frigidity, 163 — Moses lim- 
 its not, 167 — author's works 
 on, noticed, 325. 
 
 Doctrine, nurse of truth, 26 — 
 use of, against ignorance, 58 
 
 — primitive purity in, 40 — 
 author's studies in Christian, 
 430-432. 
 
 Dramatic constitutions, 49. 
 Dudley, Duke, 223. 
 
 Ecclesiasticus, 150. 
 
 Education, 100-106 — bad sys- 
 tems of, 101 — evil results in, 
 102 — better way of, 103 — a 
 complete, 104 — author's work 
 on, noticed, 326. 
 
 Edward VI. 223. 
 
 " St., law of, cited, 287. 
 
 Ehud, 181. 
 
 Eikonoklastes mentioned, 829. 
 
 Elegance iu language, 407
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Rli, 166. 
 
 Klisha, 448. 
 
 Eliiah, 87, 201. 
 
 Klizabeth, Queen, 382. 
 
 Kloquence, daughter of virtue, 
 28 — best, nearest nature, 77 — . 
 the hearty love of truth, 98 — 
 flourishes with great acts, 389 
 — just conquerors honor, 390 — 
 declines with civil virtue, 390. 
 
 Knemies, force to be used against 
 domestic, 274. 
 
 England and Scotland, natives 
 in, addressed, 15 — liberty of 
 speech lost in, 66 — reforms in, 
 70 — God's favor to, 70 — signs 
 of new reformation in, 124. 
 
 England, citizens of, addressed, 
 347-354. 
 
 English armv, 263, 283, 331- 
 333, 335. 
 
 English language, why chosen by 
 the author, 48. 
 
 English nation, indignity of li- 
 censing to, 118 — blessings of 
 God to, recounted, 294. 
 
 English people, appeal to, 293 — 
 fortitude ana sobriety of, 299. 
 
 Englishmen, 124. 
 
 Kpaminondas, 161, 334. 
 
 Ephori, 277, 278. 
 
 Epic poems, 48. 
 
 Episcopacy, permitted in God's 
 wrath, 34 — source of schism, 
 34 — arguments for, examined, 
 69. 
 
 Episcopal war of Charles I., 323. 
 
 Error, united with custom, 133. 
 
 Ksdras, 249. 
 
 Eternal generation, doctrine of, 
 examined, 451. 
 
 Euripides, 49, 177,277, 298, 312. 
 
 Eusebius, 36. 
 
 Evangelists, 105. 
 
 Evil mingled with good. 111 — 
 knowledge of, joined with tliat 
 of good, 112 — restraint of, not 
 always wise, 114. 
 
 Evil doers harm themselves 
 most, 232. 
 
 Excommunication touches not 
 jiroperty nor life, 18 — true 
 method aj\d purpose of, 10, 
 60. 
 
 Exercise, faith and knowledge 
 
 grow bv, 119. 
 Expurging Indexes, 66, 109. 
 Extremes, sudden, 17. 
 Ezekiel, cited, 403 — temple of, 
 
 34— visions of, 85, 132. 
 
 Fabius, 410 — Maximus, 156. 
 
 Ffesolje, 409. 
 
 Fairfiix, eulogy of, 335. 
 
 Falsehood colored, like truth, by 
 feelings, 56. 
 
 Fathers, the Church, 9, 26, 27, 
 54. 
 
 Fear in worship, 3 — in religion 
 towards magistrates, 360. 
 
 FeeliuM color truth, 55. 
 
 Fines for heresy not permissible, 
 403. 
 
 Flanders, les Gueux in, 368. 
 
 Fleetwood, 343. 
 
 Florence, author's visit to, 320, 
 322. 
 
 Force, lawful against domestic 
 enemies, 274 — and hire, harm 
 of, to the Church, 355 — 
 against conscience, wrong, 359. 
 
 Forefathers, deeds of, against 
 tyranny, 211. 
 
 Fonnality in worship, 3. 
 
 Free agents, acts of, not decreed 
 absolutely, 438. 
 
 Free people, hereditary right 
 over, 379. 
 
 Free writing, permission of, good 
 for the state, 67. 
 
 Freedom, truly loved only by 
 good men, 170, — nature of, 
 353 — in what consisting, 381 
 — of speech in things of relig- 
 ion, 405. 
 
 French people, 302. 
 
 Frigidity, divorce for, 163. 
 
 Fulvius and Rupilius, 275. 
 
 Gehazi's lepros.y, 19. 
 Generation of the Son of God by 
 
 the Father, 450-545. 
 Genesis, a prologue to laws )f 
 
 Moses, 29. 
 Geneva, author's visit to, 323. 
 Germans, 301. 
 Gcrinanv, 387. 
 Gluttony, 114.
 
 478 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 God, appealed to, 308, 309 — 
 cares for civil affairs, 268 — 
 check of, on custom and error, 
 133 — popular impulses from, 
 257 — knowledge of, 100 — not 
 confined to place or mode, 131 
 recreations of, 162 — ways of, 
 equal, 158 — will prepare and 
 send ministers, 75 — wisdom 
 of, 162 — decrees of, see De- 
 crees — the Father, generation 
 of the Son by, 460 — not eter- 
 nal, 451 — not necessary, 454 
 — in time, 455 — the only true 
 God, 455 — author of regenera- J 
 tion, 459 — foreknowledge of, 
 444 — not caused by decrees. 
 447 — does not impose necessi 
 ty, 448 — will of, the Fu-st 
 Cause, 447. 
 
 Godfrey (of Boulogne), 49. 
 Good and evil mingled, 111 — 
 known by evil, 112 — men only 
 love freedom, 170 — misjudged 
 by the bad, 171. 
 
 Gospel, civil interference abol- 
 ishes. 361 — great command 
 of, 185 — mystery of, 56 — 
 preachers of, 367. 
 
 Government, talents needed in, 
 9 — false teachings in, 10 — 
 origin and object of, 173 — re- 
 quires knowledge of the limits 
 of liberty, 135 — form of, left 
 to each "nation, 267 — kinglv, 
 174— of the Church, 29, 32 
 — of all churches originally 
 the same, 249. 
 
 Grace, the door of, 38. 
 
 Grammatical labors, value of, 
 406. 
 
 Gravity in Christian teaching, 
 84. 
 
 Great, men and things truly, 313. 
 
 Greece, literature of, 411. 
 
 Gri>ek poets, quoted by Paul, 
 110. 
 
 Greeks, 180,298. 
 
 Grotius, 320. 
 
 " Gueux, les," 368. 
 
 Guion, 112. 
 
 Happiness of a nation, in what 
 consisting, 243. 
 
 Harmony i_i the Church, 124. 
 
 Hate, enters in ill-assorted mar 
 riages, 147 — divorce better 
 than, 147 — natural, efficacy 
 of, 150 — the mightiest disor- 
 der, 159 — marriage cannot 
 bind, 160. 
 
 Hawley, 344. 
 
 Hazael, 448. 
 
 Heathen, testimony to God's jus- 
 tice, 153 — views of divine 
 punishment, 154, — prayers 
 used by Charles I., 199. 
 
 Hebraisms in the New Testa- 
 ment, 169. 
 
 Hebrews, poets among, 48. 
 
 Helps to understand Scripture, 
 371. 
 
 Hercule.--, 180. 
 
 Heresy, increased by Episcopacy, 
 34. 
 
 Heretic in the truth, described, 
 119 — who is the, 357. 
 
 Heresy in New Testament times, 
 436." 
 
 Hezekiah, 161, 245, 438. 
 
 Hire, and force, in the Church, 
 355 — dangerous to the Clmrch, 
 362 — not in itself unlawful, 
 364 — excessive evil of, 365. 
 
 Hirelings, 364, 366— Judas the 
 first, 365 — how diminished, 
 372. 
 
 Historical composition, 415. 
 
 Holstein, Luke, 321. 
 
 Homer cited or noticed, 48, 81 
 106, 150, 153, 310. 
 
 Horace cited, 88, 166. 
 Hotham cited, 217. 
 Huss, 108, 367. 
 
 Ignatius, fragmentary writinf> 
 of, 26. 
 
 Ignorance, how cured by the 
 minister, 58. 
 
 Ilissus, 408. 
 
 Immanuel, Duke of Savov, letter 
 to, 420 — on the edict of, 422. 
 
 Independents, consistency of, 
 285 — words of Salmasius con- 
 cerning, 285 — growtii of, 327 
 
 Indexes, Expurgatorious, 66, 109. 
 
 liuli (Terence, 93. 
 
 liujuisition, Spanish, 109.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 •179 
 
 Inspiration the burden of the 
 
 prophets, 41. 
 Invocation, to the Divine Trinity, 
 
 20 — to Christ, 72 — to God, 
 
 258. 
 lo, 10. 
 
 Ireland, 336. 
 Isaac, 308. 
 Isis, 123. 
 
 IsraeUtes, 13, 34, 238, 274, 293. 
 Italian language, 409. 
 Italians, 302. 
 Italy, 35, 48 — academies in, 46 
 
 — commonwealths of, 387. 
 Itinerary preaching, 387. 
 
 Jacob, 243, 308. 
 
 James I., 224. 
 
 James, temple of, 129. 
 
 Jeremiah, 41, 42. 
 
 Jerome, 141. 
 
 Jesuits, English, 322. 
 
 Jews, laws of, 29 — at Christ's 
 time, 144 — slew tyrants, 181. 
 
 Job, Book of, 48. 
 
 John, apocalypse of, cited or no- 
 ticed, 31, 41, 49, 85, 253. 
 
 Jonah, 439. 
 
 Josephus cited, 29, 249. 
 
 Josiah, 439. 
 
 Judas, 365. 
 
 Judgment of nations, 23. 
 
 Jalian the Apostate, 110. 
 
 Jnno, 10, 109. 
 
 Justice may not compromise with 
 sin, 157 — the sword of God, 
 172 — to be executed on the 
 tyrant, 172 — strongest of all 
 things, 250. 
 
 Justinian, Code of, 177. 
 
 King, accountable to law, 175 
 
 — blessings expected from re- 
 jecting, 184 — checks to the 
 power of, 175 — Commons have 
 jurisdiction over, 282 — diflfer- 
 ent from a tyrant, 302 — ex- 
 cels not other men by nature, 
 232 — hates and fears true 
 Church, 237 — law superior to, 
 277 — likened to Samson, 61 — 
 may not do as he pleases, 264, 
 303 — negative of, 212 — not 
 supreme over the Church, 234 
 
 — Parliament may limit, 231 
 
 — People and Senate superior 
 to, 279 — policy of, against the 
 Church, 239 — relations of, to 
 Parliament. 212 - 216, 225 - 2.'.!i 
 
 — to subject, 181 — tyrants 
 often subvert, 303 — nnlimite.l 
 power of, injurious, 268. 
 
 Kingship, many wish return to, 
 876 — evils of returning to, 
 377-379 — not derived from 
 Christ, 381 — does not protect 
 liberty of conscience, 382. 
 
 Knighthood, English, 15 — oath 
 of, 81. 
 
 Knowledge a burden, 39 — of re- 
 ligion easy, 367. 
 
 Knox, Johnj 117. 
 
 Lacedaemonians, kingdom of, 
 
 279. 
 Laertius, 105. 
 
 Laity, prclatical insolence over, C. 
 Lambert, 344. 
 Language, elegance in, 407 — 
 
 Tuscan, 408 — Italian, 409 — 
 
 Latin, 410. 
 Languages, use of learning, 100 
 
 — mistakes in teaching, 101 
 
 — best mode of learning, 
 102. 
 
 Latin, religious controversies to 
 be permitted in, 405 — author's 
 use of, 410. 
 
 Laughter, use of, in refuting er- 
 ror, 65, 87. 
 
 Laurence, 344. 
 
 Law, cannot limit sin, 167 — per- 
 mit sin, 168 — remit its vigor, 
 151, 157 — dissolved by Christ 
 into charity, 162 — faithfulness 
 of, 157 — God's revealed will, 
 152 — may not covenant with 
 sin, 161, 157 — some have best 
 kept by transgression, 161 — 
 superior to king, 216, 266. 
 
 Lawgivers, eminent, claimed Di- 
 vine inspiration, 32. 
 
 Laws, a check on authority, 174 
 
 — in the hands of Parliament, 
 227 — the locks of Samson, 61 
 
 — of God and of Nature agree, 
 268 — reasons of, to be pob- 
 lished with them, 28 — set
 
 480 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 above magistrates, 175 — supe- 
 rior to kin^s, 216, 266. 
 
 Learning, revival of, in Reforma- 
 tion, 5 — end and method of, 
 100. 
 
 Legislative power wisely sepa- 
 rated from executive, 214. 
 
 Loo X., 108. 
 
 Liberty, Claristian, depends not 
 on a king, 234 — civil limits of, 
 107 — double edge of, 398 — 
 few truly desire, 265 — harm- 
 ful to bad men, 398 — in Swit- 
 zerland, 418 — national, 12 — 
 of man independent of Divine 
 necessity, 444 — of speaking 
 lost in England, 66 — religion 
 and, knit together, 90 — re- 
 stored to English nation, 298 — 
 those unworthy of, ungrateful, 
 352 — worth of, 67. 
 
 License, allowed by tyrants, 170. 
 
 Licentiousness, author's denial 
 of, 78-83. 
 
 Liturgies, 3, 197, 234, 237. 
 
 Logic and metaphysics, teaching 
 of, 102. 
 
 Loudon, references to, 124, 284, 
 318, 411. 
 
 Loneliness of man, God's pro- 
 vision against, 163 — marriage 
 a help against, 143. 
 
 Love, and Anteros, 148 — hidden 
 eflBcacy of, 150 — in marriage 
 to be mutual, 149 — of God 
 and man a motive, 100 — ori- 
 gin of fall of Plato, account 
 of Moses, 146 — true, and 
 chastity, 82. 
 
 Low Countries, 387. 
 
 Luther, 86, 367. 
 
 Luxury, Lydians enslaved by, 
 13. 
 
 Lycurgus, 82, 277, 278. 
 
 Lydians, 13. 
 
 Lyons, poor men of, 368. 
 
 Lyric poesy, 49. 
 
 Magistracy, a divine ordinance, 
 
 267 — form of, discretionary, 
 
 267. 
 Magistrate, duty of, 17 — should 
 
 not compel the maintenance 
 
 of ministers, 372. 
 
 Magna Charta, 227. 
 
 M«gus, Simon, 19, 365. 
 
 Malice, treatment of, by the min> 
 ister, 58. 
 
 Manilius, 153. 
 
 Marginal stuflSngs, men learned 
 in, 63. 
 
 Mariso, John Baptiste, 321. 
 
 Marriage, a covenant, 148 — de- 
 signed for man's solace, 140 — 
 evils in, not chargeable on God, 
 158 — hate in, 147 — a help 
 against loneliness, 143 — law 
 of. against charity, 136 — make 
 it miserable, 140 — needs to be 
 new examined, 137 — love in, 
 must be mutual, 149 — once 
 in disgrace, afterward held a 
 sacrament, 141 — the remedy 
 of solitude, 146 — when not 
 true, 145. 
 
 Marston Mooi*, battle of, 844. 
 
 Martin V., 108. 
 
 Martyrs, 5 — deriding persecu- 
 tor's, 87. 
 
 Medea, 155. 
 
 Meekness, spirit of, necessary to 
 receive instruction, 77. 
 
 Men, naturally born free, 173 — 
 leagues of, to prevent injury 
 173 — made in God's image 
 and free, 266. 
 
 Metellus Csecilius, 808. 
 
 Micaiah, 130. 
 
 Militia, power over, 226. 
 
 Ministers, aid afforded by, to 
 magistrates, 17 — duty of, 16 
 — early, distinguished by 
 sanctity, 373 — evils of wealth 
 to, 98 — God's inward calling 
 makes, 75 — God will raise up, 
 76 — in the cure of souls, 57 — 
 evils to be met by, 58 — reme 
 dies of, 59, 60 — maintenance 
 of, 363, 867 — people competent 
 to judge of, 96-98 — recom- 
 pense of, 366. 
 
 Minos, 32. 
 
 " Mirror, The," an old book re- 
 ferred to. 280. 
 
 Miseries of men chargeable on 
 themselves, 139. 
 
 Monarchy, absolute, 279 — why 
 de*"'"ided by good men, 274.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 481 
 
 Monkish chroniclers, 48, 391. 
 
 Montacute, 344. 
 
 Montfort, Simon de, 193. 
 
 Morus, (Alex. More, supposed 
 author of the anonymous libel,) 
 322, 329. 
 
 Moses, cited or referred to. 29, 
 32, 110, 126, 139, 146, 438 — 
 law of, 29, 138, 139, 141, 142, 
 14.5, 167, 176, 177, 178, 326. 
 
 Music, use of, in education, 105 
 
 — power of, 106. 
 
 Naples, author's visit to, 321. 
 
 Nation, a noble and puissant, 
 128 — triumphs most honora- 
 ble to a, 349 — happiness of, 
 in what consisting, 243. 
 
 Nations, judgment of, 23 — un- 
 worthy of liberty, conduct of, 
 852. 
 
 Nature imposes not kings, 265 
 
 — zodiac of, 169. 
 Necessity, Divine, in relation to 
 
 free agency, 441 -444. 
 Nero, 224, 290. 
 New Jerusalem, 31, 69. 
 New Testament, idiom of the, 
 
 169. 
 Nicetas, 197. 
 Nimrod, 253. 
 Nomentanus, 353. 
 Numa, 82. 
 
 Ocnus, 160. 
 
 Odes and hymns, 49. 
 
 (Ed i pus, 41. 
 
 Opinions, numerous, in active 
 times, 125. 
 
 Opponent, author's, ridiculed, 
 260, 276, 306. 
 
 Opportunity in religion, 38. 
 
 Opposition to truth may be ex- 
 pected, 143. 
 
 Oratory, a vehement vein in, 83. 
 
 Ordination, right of, 5 — a mere 
 sjTnbol, 74. 
 
 Origen, 49. 
 
 Ormond, James, Earl of, 190. 
 
 Orpheus, 104, 266. 
 
 Osiris, 122. 
 
 Overton, 344. 
 
 Palmerin, 203. 
 
 21 
 
 Pandora, 153. 
 
 Papists, 190, 358, 359. 
 
 Pai-eus, 49. 
 
 Parliament, ancient laws con- 
 cerning, 210 — legislative pow- 
 er of, 227, 242 — may limit 
 kingly power, 231 — peers of 
 king in, 280 — relations of. to 
 kin?, 212-216, 225-229, 230 
 -231— triennial bill for, 209 
 
 — Long, praise of, 15, 88 — 
 time of, the jubilee of the 
 state, 66 — ancestry of, 89 — 
 education of, 90— ^labors of, 
 for civil liberty, 91 — against 
 ecclesiastical tyranny, 92 — 
 gave liljerty to "the people, 92, 
 93 — overawed king's armies, 
 
 93 — permanent sitting of, 93, 
 
 94 — affability of, 94 — God 
 honors, 96 — action of, without 
 precedent, justified, 186 — has 
 not countenanced popery, 190 
 
 — defended true religion, 190 
 
 — why called by Charles I., 
 203 — did not repent judgment 
 against Strafford, 207 — at- 
 tempt to arrest members of, 
 207, 224 — king's trial by, 288 
 
 — vigor of, 323 — wisdom 
 wanting in, 392 — evil acts of, 
 393, 394 — state of religion un- 
 der, 395 — corrupted the peo- 
 ple, 397. 
 
 Parliaments, Cromwell dissolves, 
 
 337, 338. 
 " Parricide " of Charles I., 259, 
 Patriotism, rewards of, 23. 
 Patriots, training of children for, 
 
 104. 
 Paul, cited or mentioned, 25, 34, 
 
 36, 38, 83, 110, 134. 145, 147, 
 
 190, 197, 199,204,267,373,404, 
 
 437, 440. 
 Peace, restored, dangers of, 348 
 
 — in Switzerland, 419. 
 
 Peers of the King in. Parliament, 
 280. 
 
 People, civil idolatry by, 193 — 
 competent to judge of a minis- 
 ter, 96 - 98 — English, idolized 
 Charles I., 193 — may choosa 
 or reject a king, 178 — may 
 slay a tyrant, 180 — powei
 
 182 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 of, to change their government, 
 184. 
 
 Peripatetics, 156. 
 
 Perkia Warbeck, 260. 
 
 Persuasion to obedience, 28. 
 
 Petition, nature and right of, 
 2-30, 231. 
 
 Petrarch, referred to, 80,408. 
 
 Pharaoh, 238. 
 
 Philaras, Leonard, letter to, 
 411. 
 
 Philistine forges, 119. 
 
 Philo Judaeus, 151. 
 
 Philosophy, author's studies in, 
 82. 
 
 Phineas, 412. 
 
 Pickering, 344. 
 
 Piedmont, sufferings of Protes- 
 tants in, 420, 427. 
 
 Piety, necessary to a nation, 
 348. 
 
 Pilate, 152, 156. 
 
 Pindar, 49, 266. 
 
 Pius IV., 239. 
 
 Plantagenet, Thomas, 193. 
 
 Plato cited, 28, 58, 82, 105, 113, 
 146, 153, 155, 266, 277, 278, 
 407. 
 
 Plinv, 97. 
 
 Plutarch, 105. 
 
 Poetasters, libidinous and igno- 
 rant, 51. 
 
 Poetic abilities the gift of God, 
 50 — use and abuse of, 50, 
 61. 
 
 Poets, smooth elegiac, 79 — chief 
 glory of, 79 — ascribe pious 
 words to tyrants, 198. 
 
 Policy, governmeutal, false 
 teaching and corruption in, 9, 
 10 — wisest, 349. 
 
 Politician, the modern, 10. 
 
 Pompey, 155, 276. 
 
 Pope's claim of political power, 
 402. 
 
 Popery, how to remove and hin- 
 der,'403 — idolatry of, to be re- 
 moved, 404 — not tolerable, 
 402 — Parliament has not 
 countenanced, 190 — twofold 
 power of, 402. 
 
 I'opilius, 158. 
 
 Praise to God, 14, 21, 70 — to 
 Christ, 72. 
 
 Prayer, to Christ, 73, 71 — 
 Lord's, 236 — set forms of, f-'A 
 
 — tyrannv in prescribing, 235 
 
 — voluntary, 234 -237. 
 Preaching, itinerary, 369 - 872 — 
 
 public, 32— of Christ, 121. 
 
 Predestination, 440. 
 
 Prelates, insolence and usurpa- 
 tion of, 6 — abuse Sabbath, 13 
 
 — flatter kings, 61 — acts of 
 Parliament against, 92 — 
 beasts of Amalec, 220. 
 
 Prelatical Episcopacy, autlior's 
 work on, 327. 
 
 Prelaty, does not prevent schism, 
 35 — palsy of, 36 — wholly 
 evil, 62 — defenders of, to be 
 rebuked sharply, 63. 
 
 Presbyterian Reformation, 382. 
 
 Presbyterians, correspond with 
 Royalists, 284 — jealous of In- 
 dependents, 327. 
 
 Presbyters in Scotland, 374. 
 
 Presbvtery, Charles L opposed, 
 383." 
 
 Priests, emulous of kingly pow- 
 er, 14 — not to minister^ sor- 
 rowing, 149. 
 
 Princes disguised, 06. 
 
 Proairesis, 105. 
 
 Prometheus, 271. 
 
 Prophets, inspiration a burden 
 to, 41 — zeal of ancient, 86. 
 
 Protestants, principles of, 356, 
 357, 381 — tyranny and incon- 
 sistency in, 359 — war among, 
 deprecated, 426, 427. 
 
 Proverbs, 77. 
 
 Providence, unsearchable mys- 
 teries of, 247. 
 
 Public faith, violated by Parlia- 
 ment, 394 — preaching, 32 — 
 of Christ, 121 — teaching by 
 books, 121. 
 
 Punic War, 156. 
 
 Pure life necessary to a great 
 poet, 80. 
 
 Puritans, 286. 
 
 Psyche, 111. 
 
 Pyrrhus, 126, 308. 
 
 Queen Elizabeth, 383. 
 Queen of Sweden, 313. 
 Queen Truth, 329.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 483 
 
 Reason of Church Government, 
 author's, referred to, 324. 
 
 Recreations should be cared for 
 by magistrates, 51 — necessa- 
 ry, 162 — how best attained, 
 163 — of God, 162. 
 
 Reformation, 4, 69 — errors in, 
 soon amended, 38 — morning 
 beam of, 71 — in England, 70 
 
 — author's work on, 324. 
 Regal, diflferent from paternal 
 
 power, 260. 
 Regeneration, 458 - 465 — God 
 the author of, 458 — agents of, 
 459, 460 — object of, 460, 461 
 
 — in God's image, 460 — ex- 
 ternal cause of, 464. 
 
 Regicides, wisdom of, 263. 
 
 Rehoboam, 179. 
 
 Relations of King and Parlia- 
 ment, 212-216,226-229,230, 
 231 — of king and subject, 
 181. 
 
 Religion and liberty knit togeth- 
 er, 90 — author's training in 
 Christian, 82 — by proxy de- 
 scribed, 19, 20 — knowledge of 
 Christian, easy, 367 — matters 
 of, 355 — opportunity in, 38 — 
 permits vehement oratory, 84 
 
 — real subverters of, 189 — 
 rule of, given in Scripture, 
 401. 
 
 Remonstrances to Charles I., 
 
 216. 
 Rentius (Rienzi), Nicholas, 353. 
 Repentance the aim of discipline, 
 
 60. 
 Reproof, 58. 
 Restraint, requires knowledge of 
 
 limits of liberty, 135. 
 Revolution, English, sobriety of, 
 
 299. 
 Rh^, Isle of, 222. 
 Richard 11., 211 — m., 198. 
 Riches, evil of, to ministers, 98. 
 Rienzi (Rentius), Tribune, 353 — 
 Robert de Vere, 211 — Rochelle, 
 
 223. 
 Romances, author's reading of, 
 
 81 — several mentioned, 202. 
 Romans, 48, 125, 127, 180, 276, 
 
 298, 353. 
 Roman slaves, 66. 
 
 Rome, 128, 321, S22, 408. 
 Rubbish from work, 38. 
 Rupert (Prince), 244. 
 
 Sabbath, abuse of, 13. 
 
 Salamis, sea fight of, 156. 
 
 Sallust, 414-416. 
 
 Salmasius, cited, 259, 266, 269 
 270, 271, 272, 273, 276, 277, 2S3 
 285, 291 — Latin of, ridiculed, 
 260 — arguments of, from law 
 of nations, 266 — from nature, 
 269 — greater arguments of, 
 276 — on the Independents, 
 285,286 — on the King's trial, 
 286 — work of, dictated by 
 Charles Stuart, 291 — author's 
 reply to, mentioned, 329 — 
 success of, reply to, 297 — cha- 
 grin of, at defeat, 297, 313 — 
 disfavor of, with the Queen of 
 Sweden, 314. 
 
 Samson, King likened to, 61. 
 
 Samuel, 179. 
 
 Sanctification, effected by the 
 Father and by the Son, 463 - 
 465 — external cause of, 464 
 — attributed to faith, 465. 
 
 Saul, 217, 220, 233. 
 
 Saviour, our, 1, 84, 135, 137, 206 
 308, 379. 
 
 Savoy, sufferings of Protestants 
 in, 420, 422, 427. 
 
 Schism, not prevented by pre- 
 laty, 35 — terrors of, 125, 126. 
 
 Schools in a Commonwealth, 
 386. 
 
 Scipio, 80, 70, 335. 
 
 Scotch war, 344. 
 
 Scotland, nobles and people of, 
 commended, 15 — apostro- 
 phized, 15, 16 — war with, 
 283, 323, 336, 344 — danger of 
 losing, 378. 
 
 Scots, 283, 290, 323, 336. 
 
 Scriptures, alleged difficulty of, 
 7 — authority of, superior to 
 that of the Church, 367 — dis- 
 cussions on, allowable, 358 — 
 freedom of conscience in in- 
 terpretii g, 358 — gro.ind of 
 faith, 356 — helps to under- 
 standing of, 371 — measure of 
 truth, 68 — plainness of, 8 —
 
 4d4 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 studies of youth in, 105 — 
 sufficiency of, 25. 
 
 Scudamore, Thomas, 320. 
 
 Sechemites, 15. 
 
 Sectaries, busy in times of com- 
 motion, 130 — men of true re- 
 ligion called, 194. 
 
 Sects, try faith, 36 — hinder not 
 reformation, 37 — groundless 
 fear of, 125 - 129. 
 
 Seduceraent, how hindered, 360. 
 
 Selden, Hebrew Wife by, 326. 
 
 Self-preservation, 227. 
 
 Self-reverence, restraining pow- 
 er of, 56 — author's, 80. 
 
 Seneca, 88, 180. 
 
 Service, God's honor on, 55. 
 
 Severity, allowable in defending 
 sound doctrine, 64. 
 
 Shakespeare, quoted, 198. 
 
 Sidney's (Sir Philip), Arcadia, 
 199. 
 
 Simon de Montfort, 193. 
 
 Simon Magus, 19, 365. 
 
 Simplicity in God's great works, 
 55. 
 
 Sin, always exists in excess, 167 
 — an outlaw, 152 — expelled 
 only with virtue, 115 — not re- 
 moved with its occasion, 114 — 
 not to be limited by law, 166- 
 169 — punished with sin, 154. 
 
 Slaverj' a sacrilege, 266. 
 
 Smectymnuus, author's Apology 
 for, noticed, 325. 
 
 Bocieties, civil, object of, 260. 
 
 Bocrates, 146. 
 
 Bolomon, 37, 62, 64, 87, 105, 163. 
 
 Bolon, 161. 
 
 Bong of Solomon, a pastoral dra- 
 ma, 49 — a figure of Christ and 
 the Church, 163. 
 
 Bongs in the Law and Prophets, 
 49. 
 
 Son of God, eternal generation 
 of, considered, 450 - 454 — not 
 coessential with the Father, 
 454 — testifies to the Father's 
 unity, 455 — receives name 
 and' attributes from the Fa- 
 ther, 457 — equality" of, with 
 God, no robbery, 467 — faith 
 of saints respecting, 458. 
 
 bophocles, 41, 49. 
 
 Soul, ministers cars of the, B7 
 61 — distemper of, 59. 
 
 Spain, 35 — king of, alluded to 
 22, 428. 
 
 Spaniards, 302, 426, 427, 428. 
 
 Spanish Armada, 22 — inquisi- 
 tion, 109. 
 
 Spenser, 112. 
 
 Sphinx, 215. 
 
 Sports and pastimes, fit subjects 
 of legislation, 51. 
 
 Statesmen, wise, worthy of higli- 
 est praise, 406. 
 
 Stoics, 153. 
 
 Stories of the Church, use of, 
 26. 
 
 Strafford (Thos. Wentworth, Earl 
 of), consent of Charles I. to his 
 death, 204. 
 
 Strickland, 344. 
 
 Subjects, relations of, to king, 
 181. 
 
 Success, confirms a good cause, 
 254. 
 
 Sun ripens wits, 399. 
 
 Superstition, guardian of tyran- 
 nj', 92 — burden of, 135 — of 
 the Papist, 186 — of imagina- 
 ry sins, 136, 159. 
 
 Sweden, queen of, eulogized, 313 
 -317 — troubles of United 
 Provinces with, 425. 
 
 Switzerland, king of, 428 — let- 
 ters to Senators of, 417 — can- 
 tons of, 427. 
 
 Sydenham, 344. 
 
 Sydney, 344. 
 
 Tacitus, 414. 
 
 Tasso, 48, 321. 
 
 Teachers, Christian, differ in na- 
 ture, 84. 
 
 Teaching, errors in, 101, 102 — 
 public, by books, 121. 
 
 Temperance, Spenser's allegorv 
 of, 112. 
 
 Temple, measured by God, 33 — 
 of Ezekiel a type of the Chris- 
 tian Church, 34 — rubbish iu 
 building, 126 —of Janus, 129. 
 
 Tenure of kings and magistrates, 
 author's reference to, 327. 
 
 Tertullian, 141. 
 
 Tbemistocles, 156.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 485 
 
 Thcodosius the younger ITT. 
 
 Theoloj^', Treatises cf 43'' — d".- 
 fects in, 482 — freedom of Jis- 
 oussion concerning, 434,485. 
 
 Theseus, 277. 
 
 Thetis, son of, 310. 
 
 Tiber, 408. 
 
 Time, the midwife of truth, 13i 
 
 — toiling shoulders of, 26 
 Timoleoii, 307. 
 
 Fjresias, 41, 307. 
 
 Tithes, law of, not binding under 
 the Gospei, 367. 
 
 Toleration cf religious opinions, 
 484. 
 
 Trade flourishes in comc^on 
 wealths, 387 — interests o*". in- 
 ferior to religion and liberty, 
 387. 
 
 Trajan, 177. 
 
 Travel, 414. 
 
 Treaties, craft in, 241. 
 
 Trent, 239 — Council of, 109. 
 
 Trinity, invocation to, 20. 
 
 Triptolemus, 302. 
 
 Truth causes dissension, 4C — 
 colored bv feelings, 55 — 
 daughter of' Heaven, 26 — dan- 
 ger of prohibiting by licensing, 
 130 — a flowing fountain, 119 
 
 — gains by contest, 123 — 
 gem of, 67 — given freely, 40 — 
 given U3 to gain further truth, 
 123 — heretics in, 119 — im- 
 possible to be soiled, 134 — 
 licensing shuts out, 122 — lik- 
 ened to Osiris, 122 — never 
 fully attained, 123 — nurses 
 of, doctrine and discipline, 26 
 
 — opposition to, at first, 143 — 
 plainness of, 8 — preciousness 
 of, 40, 122— Queen Truth, 329 
 
 — the richest mercn'andise, 122 
 
 — robe of, 26 — Scripture the 
 measure of, 68 — should not 
 be bound, 129 — strength of, 
 124, 250 — time the midwife of, 
 134. 
 
 * Truths Manifest," author of, 
 quoted, 224. 
 
 Tuscan language, 408. 
 
 Typhon, 122. 
 
 Tyrannicide, right of, 180 — ex- 
 amples of, 180, 181 — judg- 
 
 ment of Protestant divines con 
 cerniiig, 188 — resisted by Par- 
 liament, 91, 92. 
 
 Tyranny of custom and aflfec- 
 tions, 170. 
 
 Tyrants, abject slaves, 304 — 
 bad men hate not, 171 — bish- 
 ops serviceable to, 239 — de- 
 fined, 179, 289 — deposing law- 
 ful, 261, 262 — difi'er from 
 kings, 302 — hypocrisy of, 
 197 — justice to be inflicted 
 on, 172 — mischiefs of, 180 — 
 punishment of, agreeable to 
 nature, 269. 
 
 Ulysses, 106. 
 
 Unchastitv in man, deep dishon- 
 or of, 83. 
 United Provinces, 877, 385, 418 
 
 — letter to, concerning pei-se- 
 cutions in Savoy, 422 — con- 
 cerning their trouble with 
 Sweden, 425. 
 
 Universitu^s, English, reference 
 
 to, 90. 
 Uzziah, 23S. 
 
 Vaudois, pers^cntions of, 420 
 425. 
 
 Vehemence of Christ, agair.sl 
 opponents, 64 — in oratory, 83 
 
 — examples of, 84. 
 Venice, author's visit to, 322. 
 Virgil, 48. 
 
 Virtue, the charming cup of true 
 love, 82 — a cloistered, 112 — 
 confirmed value of, 116 — not 
 a drudgery, 158 — strengthen- 
 ed by trial, 112 — to be taught, 
 104. 
 
 Warriors, just, honor eloquence, 
 390. 
 
 Wars, civil, men ready for at 
 first, 171 — wasting and ruin- 
 ing, 389. 
 
 Wealth, in the Church, 365. 
 
 Whitlocke, 344. 
 
 Wickliffe, 71, 108. 
 
 Wisdom, call of, 52 — the Et«r 
 nal, 162 — of God. 162. 
 
 Wootton, Henry, 320. 
 
 Worship, corruptions in, 2.
 
 486 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Worthy deeds have worthy re- 
 lators, 389. 
 
 Xenophon, 30, 82, 105. 
 
 Youth, corruption of, by poetas- 
 ters, 61. 
 
 Zauciiias, JcTOme. 808 
 
 Zeal for truth, 65 — fiery chariot 
 of, 85 — examples of, in the 
 Church, 86. 
 
 Zealots, 195. 
 
 Zerubbabel's opinion of trutk 
 250. 
 
 Zisca, Boemar, 308. 
 
 Zodiac of nature, 160.
 
 Date Due 
 
 UM- 
 
 <^ - 1 > 
 
 iMX 
 
 JUN 3 1365 
 
 MAY 1 7 . 
 
 ftPR 
 
 4- 
 
 MAY 4 
 .JAN 2 9 
 
 1:1966 8 
 
 1973 
 1973 X 
 
 1573 6 
 1974 
 
 £ • 19"^,^ Q
 
 \ \\N \ ^"