OCR Text |
Show t..Mafter John Cottons A_nfwer ·And for fmitin~ wich che fift, and fword ofPerCecudon, if Per: iecmion be affli&i?n for RighceouC.leff. fa_ke, I would willingly learneof the Ex unmer, whom of all che R1ghteous I havdmitten with the fill, or wounded with the (word~ I fpeake according to ·his own meaning, meaning (as 1 fuppofe himfelfe doth) neither :bodily fift, nor material! fword; bm let him then In fiance in fome one, or other, that hath felt the heaviueff.: .of my fift, or the keer.ndle of niy fword,.or elfe let him remember what the Spirit of God hath faid ( Pfal. 31. 18.) concerning fuch, as fpeake bitter things proudly ,andcontemptuoufiy, (and I alfo add e) injuriouf. ly,and falfely ag~infr thofe whom himfelfe in the next line llyleth holy, tz11d be/Qved. To the iecond, tbt Cenfore which he caOeth unrigbteow, and uncharttable; He confijfetb, it pkafed God to bring him neere unto dwb ~ Eut his Anfwer he returneth in two thinga. 1. By deriving the caufo ofb~ jicktJeffi, ~ot from hi1 exct!Jiv• heate in difPuting ag.ainjltbe teflimonrer, and nmtmgr nfthe Churcher,and E/derr,butfromhi1 'l'ceJ!ive Labou;r on. the La;dr da~er, a;ulthrice a "'"ke at Salem, by IJbourJ Jay and mgbt m the field wzth hn own handr, by trave/J da.J and night alfo to got, .md returne from tbe Co11rt. . Reply. The Court being held within twelve or fourteenerni1es <liftance from Salem, travell to, and fro, was no likely caufe of fuch difremper. And whatfoever his Labours were in Towne or · :Field, on the Lords Dayes, or weeke dayes, (I detraCt not from them; 1 but thi.s is all_I wou.ld fay, Thlt that fodaine diftemper fell not upon htm, neither m the field at his labour, nor on the wee~e dayes,or Lords dayes in his Preaching: but in his vehement pubhck ar~;mng againftthe writings, and tellimonies of the Churc~ e,,and Brethren fent to him,and to the Church of Sal<m,againU Ius corrup.t wayes. Wherein though I know, .AU tbingr fall ali~ ~· a~: yet tf Muftr h1mfe!fe (as well as Balaam) meet with a check tn h1s Journey from the hand of God , I beleeve it is a jufr call to confi?er; Is there not a lye in my right hand? Or is there not an 1do! ill my heart? or doc I goe about the worke of God in a way of God? Howfoever, it was farrt from n1e to upbraide 'your fick. fldfe, (as your muginall note taxeth;) but racher to c•ll you tO ..confider of your unprofitable, and perverfe ufe of it. 'fhe fecond part of his Anfwcr is a Recrimination of the OJli<et ' if to Mafter Roger Williams. of Juflice, by whom in thi1 time he wai unmercifully driven from bif Chamber to a wimeri flight. Reply. When he faith, in thir time 5 if he meane (as the words foregoing exp1effe) the time wherein he was neere unto death it is a manifeH untruth. For the Offic:r of Ju llice ( wbu chen was) is a man fearing Gud,and of a tender ConiCicnce , and who dare Jamer Bomze not allow thJt liborty to his tongue, which the Examin" often ufeth in this Difcourfe : He tefHfi<rh, he chen fpake with M'.WiUi-amt, and that he difcerned no tigne of fickneffe upon him, much ldfe of neerneffe unto dcarh He teftifieth further, that upon the mourning complaint of lome of M'. Wi/liamr his neighbours, who did adhere to him, be left onely the Warrant with him, but left him in his houfe to take the time for his departure limited in his warrant, which was not that night, though he doe not well re· member bow many dayes were fet him. But this I have been given to underftand, that the incrcafe of cbncourfe of people to him on tho Lords dayes in private, to the negle& or deferting of publick qrdi?ances,and to the fpread~ng of the Leaven ofhiscorrupt lma-gtnauons, (Yrovoked the M ag1frrates rather then to breed a win· tcts fpir.itJall plague in the Countrey, to put upon him ~ winters journey out of the Countrey. Gangr.onam amovea1, ni parr Jincera trabatur. • 1 To CHAp, I X. TO his 9'h Chapter, I fhall not need to returne any lar~:e R<ply. Let him read over my words againe,which he examineth, and a~fwereth in this Chapter, and they may ferve for a jufr Reply unto his Anfwer, fc farre as it is needful!. Onely let me touch a Palfa~e, or two. When he faith, That after the firjl manifijlation of the countena11ce of God, reconciled in tht b/,ud ofChrijl unto hi1 foule, it hath been with him, ar with one wbom be {airh, I tnld him njf, hi< ~ejliom, and Troubler have not been concmring hU ReconciliatiQn, alld Peacewit/9 God, but con:erni11/!. S.m8ift<• tion, &-c. I wou!d it might pleafe the Lord to perfwa<1e hi! hearr, that, that one of whom I ipake to him, WJS bm one to whom the Lord H h Jif- |