look about you, OR The Fault-finder, and critical Observer, Characterising himself and others. — Licuit semperque licebit Parcere personis, dicere de vitiis. I Never was so cleanly a cook, as to wear white sleeves; I never delighted to add water to the Ocean, and like the wren to piss in the Sea, neither yet have I ever stopped the mouths of Gods Ministers for his glory, I am no Arminian, neither was Canterbury and I ever yet so intimate, that I now fear his doom. I am no Independent, for the truth is, I depend more then I would, I fancy not neither Goodwin, Gorton, or Saltmarsh, shall I tell you why? the * All is trash. anagram of his name doth distaste me, I list not to make a third party, I once was zealous for Episcopacy, my conscience assuring me, that the Government of the Church by Archbishops and Bishops was according to Gods appointment, they taken away, I should conceive of no Religion as Religion, but that I find a presbytery. I never left my first love, nor ever wore two faces under one hood, neither I must confess, have I hitherto had that fine policy to be hic et ubique, still to be of the strongest side, and therefore I have not yet been poutraied with a windmill on my head, and a chameleon on my fist, I hate a preaching soldier and a fighting Minister, nor do I now grieve to think that I have fooled myself out of the affection both of King and Parliament. I never took on me to fill the seat of justice, onely like * A drowsy Senator. Boston, to take my ease, nor with an intention, only to administer justice, to those gave the largest bribe, nor ever counted it glory to advance my brothers son to the gallows. P. Rupert. I never forsook Holland, sailing over to England with an intention to bury myself in the ruins thereof, and to win the epithet bloody, I never drew my sword against them who have been and must bee my preservers, I never was more proud then valiant, nor hath my Uncle now rather cause to curse then extol me. I am no Pamphleter: you will say, how came we by this then? I answer, even as you came by that same Pamphlet which smelled so unsavoury in the nostrils of some, and so odoriferously in the nostrils of others perfume, but I disclaim myself ever to have been the Author of any puny Chronicle or empty diurnal, full fraught with Legends and Responds, with Letters and Orders; I never had my intelligence from the Westminster-Walkers, wrapped it up over a pint of Sack at the devil tavern, a place meet for such a purpose, for he is the father of lies, nor ever issued it out at the day appointed, for I should have feared the passage of it currently, nor would I have the world think that I patched up Civicus, a medley of stolen Verses, and fitched Prose, or that I road post over England and Scotland in one week, and yet could make no certain relation of things done, that when I should have been on my shop-board, I have been compiling in one volume( and that not amounting to above one sheet and half) domestic and foreign news brought me by my customers, Knights, sworn at Duke Humphrey's tomb, I ever held it a gross crime, if my pen had made any false report of my own countrymen, but I should have mourned in sackcloth and ashes, if I had ever belied the Hollanders, Moderate Intelligencer. Venetians, Polonians and Russians: in plain terms, I verily believe should I have uttered falshoods in never so moderate a manner, there would have been found some, who in plain English, would have termed them lies, but the Proverb is true, some may steal a horse better then others look on. I never was a Dove in appearance, and an owl in substance, I have hitherto had enough moisture in my brain, wherewith sufficiently to lengthen out my ink, matter enough to compile the volume of a sheet, not bumbasting it out with borrowed sayings, stolen from Plutarch, Cicero, and Theophrast. I am no Anabaptist, for I fear to enter into a hopsacke, and in it to bee plunged over head and ears in new Jordan, I dare not to presume so to tempt God, for fear least the liquid element should over-whelme me, I affect not Green no more then I adhere to Poclingtons tenants, nay I wish the Anabaptists either conversion, or the fate of Leyden, their grand instructor. I never libeled against Church and State, neither was I the author of the Answer to nine Arguments, nor did ever rail against the Church-Ministers Worship, Government, terming them Antichristian and diabolical, Englands Birthright took not its birth from me, nor was I the broacher of that unheard of and monstrous Doctrine, that the State universal, the Body of the common people, is the earthly sovereign, Lord, King, and Creator of the King, Parliament, &c. all Officers and Ministers of Justice, underived majesty, and Kingship inherently resides in the State universal, &c. neither am I at this time immured in a cage of ston, nor in fear of the wrath both of Prince and State. I attribute not the fate of things, to chance or fortune, nor yet do I conclude, that from the benevolent, or malevolent aspects of the Planets at the time of birth, man hath his after good or evil, and yet I despise not Astrology with some, nor abhor it with others, but esteem it, as a noble and excellent science, not to be attained without undefatigable pain, and the professors thereof worthy respect and honour. I never exclaimed against those things which I once defended; for so I should but discover mine own imperfections: it is sufficient to me, that I have revolted, without horror to my conscience, if I have formerly ere I was thoroughly enlightened, been carried away forcibly with the stream of the times, and worn the surplice and emblem of purity( as some would have it) I should forbear to call it now, the smock of the whore of babylon, lest thereby I purchase mine own shane. I am no Politician, yet aver thus much that the poor are too much kept under, the rich too sublimely triumph, learning is too much neglected, ignorance, too highly exalted, that corruption is too much in use, bribes too far take place, brothels are too numerous, drunkenness too frequent and pride carried more pompously on the backs of men, and women, then ever before. I am no Papist, yet I can endure the picture of a man or woman, painted on the glasse-windowes of a Church, without offence, I hold it * So also to make pictures of Angels. sin to frame the picture of Christ as he is God, then consequently as he is Man, for his Godhead, and manhood are individual; yet I am not troubled to see the picture of Caesar, of William the conqueror and any other mortal in Churches, and I believe with the proverb, that they that are offended thereat, are more nice, then wife. I disclaim the Antinomian heresy, for I believe if I ask not the forgiveness of my sins here, I shall howl for them in hell hereafter, I dare to pin my faith on profound Calvin for this, that though our sins are forgiven in Gods decree, yet they are not actually so, till actually repented of. I am no Seeker, neither ever yet was I sent, by those that term themselves the brethren, with commission, to compass England, from Dan, even to Bersheba, from London to york, to reduce instruct and confirm, ought to seduce, infect and destroy, I want faith to believe, that M. R. S. the Hatter, M. W. D. the Weaver, and M. M.T. the Spectacle maker, are Apostles rightly called, or rightly qualified, I hold it were more tending to the glory of God and the good of his Church, if the one furnished his brethren with hats, the other with points, and the other with spectacles. I am no Poet, nor if I would strive to be one by art, my nature sufficiently inclining thereto, could I get one drop of water from the Thespian font, for the Muses have forsaken Pernassus, and Apollo thrown away his harp, out of mere indignation, that the Poetasters of this Ile, so lately abused their names, while Cutters, Salemen, yea even Tapsters durst( although in grievous verse) celebrate the name of a famous * The earl of Essex. Peer, while they bewailed his death, the Muses bewailed their ignorance, and their own disgrace, and do wish that this Verse were found in the front of our Printers or Stationers shops, to hinder the entrance of so many bald rhymes. — Verum Nihil, securius est malo Poeta. I am no Neuter, for I know when the public good lieth at the stake, he that gathereth not scattereth, and yet I dare not bee too rash or heady, lest while I fight for God, I strike at God, and while I think to augment his glory, I diminish his glory; I have ever bewailed the Kings error next to Gods wrath, as the cause of our afflictions, and yet I never durst bee so impudent, as to revile him in public, or so evill-minded, as to curse him in secret, I have esteemed it my duty to pray for his conversion, but my fall from goodness to wish his confusion, and in brief I disclaim any consent by me to bee given, to that Remonstrance, entitled, a Remonstrance of many thousands of freeborn people in England, but I affectionately consent to the Cities last Petition. I esteem learning next to the Almighty as the prop of the world, yet I take it not to be the sole thing which primarily and immediately fitteth a man for the dispensation of the Word, Gods Spirit is not attain by learning,( so far permit me a Sectary) yet by this conclusion I make not an exclusion, I would have these like Hipocrates twins, still go together: the Sectaries say, because most of the Apostles and Disciples of Christ were ignorant and illiterate men, The common objection of the Sectaries against learnling, and learned men. therefore learning is not requisite for the promulgation of the gospel, but they consider not that before they were sent abroad to teach all Nations, they were miraculously made learned men by Gods immediate inspiration. I am not easy to credit, for so I should esteem myself light, and unsettled, so am I not, obstinately refractory; for then I might suspect myself indocible and sottish, I am easily drawn to believe, that God will discover still more, and more to his servants, yet this I am certainly persuaded, he will do in his own way. I abhor to think, that vain men, should take every Chimaera of their brain for an infallible revelation: in Queen Elizabeths daies the men of that age thought they had perfected a happy reformation, when they had abolished the Popes power, in King james his daies, they thought they had no more to do but, to hold fast what they had gained, but it hath pleased God, to move the hearts of the men of this age to take away the very appearance of Popery; shall we be angry, nay let us rejoice, God cannot be worshipped with too pure a worship, no matter for outsides, the true worshippers worship in spirit and truth. I verily believe, that many will wonder at these few lines; what then; can they charge the Author with the crimes of Berkenhead, Lilburne or Cverton? if not, let them rather wonder how the Author could treat of so various subjects, with so little loss of his own and others credits. FINIS.