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Show ( J ~0 ) atrainfi: the Truth and Pooplc of God , and to his Judgment to de<;Il with them. ,An~ how many wild St01·i~s might we rub up agamft _rhe . 1 Presbyterians ~s (to go no farther) t:h~ P.t cs- ,(~Ier~, s ' 1 1 H g'd m Lon ... n nt that byterian Priefl:, that was ate Y· an f the ~arne don, for kiiling a Woman,. under pr~tence o ~r!ntthat the late Q}Jcen Mary, ( whJCh {hews his Bloody, 1', 10 Pa· Murderous Spirit, if it had been fo) and anopl~ s aPro· ther that hang'd himfelf ? But would they ~:fta~ts? €Otmt this Juft? yet much Julter than they do by us. jF.lo ~a- And for his Entertainment of two or thrte vtry ti!SfilC- rve/1 attefted Stories more, and then ~e fl!a/la&k LMve to tion in have done 1vith a Generatiop, tvhJc~ 1t can (fays he) ~aetl- be "0 great Sat£~faEtion to meddle wtth. .Anf It had lllfng been better thou hadft never meddled with th~m lllitb a£ all, at the rate th.ou h.aft done.; for t.hou wilt tJ)esn. have little Satisfachon m meddling With them a)l be as thou haft and abufing them· ~s thou haft J]afb done, but w'ilt fi.Rd it ·to . be thy Bur.den on~ O.Ont. day : For the Lord is makmg them ( hke 1ema falem of old) as a BHrdenfom Stone, to all that bur- Zac.I2.3· d~n themfclves with them; and none ever me~dled with them in this manner, but to their own hurt : So that it had been much better for t{lee to have let them alone, ~xcept thou hadfi: treated them better, , and w1th more .Tru~h; which would have been more to thy Sansfatbon in the end, ,when thou mufr give an account, n~t only for every 'Idle W·ord, but for. thy Hat,d Speeches which thou haft lmgodhly utter d againft t\,e Trut~ and People of th,e Lord. ~ut fomewhat., it's hke, thou th?ught fi: thou rnuft (3.y of them, or elfe thy ·Hlfl:ory would look bald, they having been fo much perfecuted and abufed in Nctv·England; and Tather than thou would'ft confers the Truth, as thou ough~'~, or r:peak the Truth of them, thO\l thought ft tq 11 ·' • • • • ~ brave I ( Ill ) brave it out ~ith a. high hand over tl1em, by a:b.ufing them further; thinking thou wilt never Bo~k vt; confefs (as than fay'ft) many a hard· hearted Sin- p. 3 ~. c.:z.· ner thinks, but to e~cufe it, and the;ir Perfccu-tors; which. wjll but increafe tbine and their Burderi, inftead of Satisfaction to ym1; and add to your Account in the Day of the Lord., which will be gr~at, if thou and th~y Repent not.- Bnt oofl: thou, d1ink, Cotton, that thy . Lyes and Malice againft them, and . the Truth they pro-fefs, fha/1 fo effiEt it, as to h\al your Wound, Jer.4~tr ' and cover the Blood of the Slain, or to ex:tinM guifh their Tefi:imony, .and hinder the Profpc-.. r.ity of the Trmh for the future ? 0 nay! Do not deceive ·thy felf, it will but add to thy Account, which is too Great already, and tend to manifeft your Deceic further. And' tho' thou may"ft deceive fame for the prefent, , ~nd blind their Eyes, by thy Deceit and Lyes, ~ppc- 1 (roiR feeing the Beauty of the Truth, as now fitton . broken forth; yet thou wilt not be able to blind tutn not ~hem, . or keep them under thine and Y.oHr De- altllap!J· aeit always; but that their Eyes will be open, p:ebail to fee both it and you; and then tfley will but anatnft abhor thee, and their Deceivers and blind G~ides, tbt the more (as I perceiye, . by thy Difcourfe in the ~tu~. next Chapter, they do begin to flight · already, by being fo ready to run after lmpofror~, in dif-eft~ eiU to their Teachers) and hope in time they will (when they have wearfd themfelves, for very Vanity) return, and receive· the Truth, aud the Meifengers of it, yett more than they have done; through the Deceit of their Blind Guideli;. aQd the~ they will be efl:eemed no more, burr abhorr'd, as the former Perfecutors and Op-pofers of the Truth, and People of God, are at this day.. · |