THE WOLF STRIPPED of his SHEEP'S CLOTHING OR The Antichristian Clergyman turned right side outwards.  
Wherein is briefly discovered and laid open their subtle and wicked ways and practices to deceive and destroy not only private people, or particular Societies, but whole Nation and Kingdoms, and all under the plausible vizard of Reformation, Church-Government, punishing of Heretics and Sectaries.  
By R. LAWRANCE Marshal General.  JEREMIAH 23.16. 
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, harken not unto the words of the Prophets that prophecy unto you: They make you vain, they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord.  
LONDON, Printed in the year 1647.   

TO The cruel, wicked, Antichristian, bloodthirsty Clergy, by what name or title soever dignified or distinguished.  
SIRS,  
AS ye are men, or as ye are learned men, I have no prejudice against you; but if that were the worst fault ye had, I could both love and honour you, the one bearing the image of God, and the other being the chief natural excellency of that image, but as you do exalt your humane natural excellencies, and set them up above and against the divine and spiritual excellencies of Jesus Christ: And have brought in all your humane learning and wisdom so varnished and coloured over into the Church of God, that the world hath taken it for spiritual; and thereby have deceived and deluded millions of poor souls for this many ages: Who thought, when they had attained to read and say their Catechism, Creed, and the Lords-prayer by heart, they had been Christians good enough, because it was all their Parsons were able to teach them: so that all they have learned from you hath been only the history of Christ: and both you and they have been altogether ignorant of the mystery of Christ, which hath been hid from ages and generations; which the wisdom and learning of this world, in you, have always been at enmity against; So with that faith which gives life they lived and died ignorant of, and so perished in their sins; whose blood will be required at your hands, which led them on in their ignorance, and told them they were Christians, and had faith, when there was no such matter.  
And as you have thus been and still are the professed enemies of Jesus Christ in his people, the great dark black cloud which hath shadowed those glorious spiritual shinings of that sun of righteousness in the Gospel upon the world; which have not only been at enmity against it in yourselves, but have endeavoured with all your Antichristian power to suppress it, wheresoever you have found the least glimmerings of it in others, under the name of Heresy and Schism: So that Christ himself hath pronounced a woe against you, Math. 23.13. But woe unto you Scribes, and Pharisees, Hypocrites, for you shut up the Kingdom of heaven against men, for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering to go in.  
So thus considering of you as the great subtle wicked cruel adversary to the glorious spiritual power of Jesus Christ in his people; therein I must declare to you I am your professed enemy: and shall say unto you, as the Prophet said in the same case, Shall I not hate them which hate the Lord; and am I not grieved with them that rise up against thee? yes, I hate them with a perfect hatred, I count them mine enemies, Psalms 139.22.  
And let me tell you what all your trade is, almost at the best; your work is almost at an end: you may continue some years, but not many ages: For if Antichrist be once down in the world, whose destruction draweth nigh, you will not be up: If once Antichrist be thrown out of the Church with all his humane traditions; I am sure you must not be in it. And truly his time is very short; he is breathing his last gasp: the stormy night of afflictions is almost past with the Church, the flowers begin to appear on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land: Though you, like bloody wretches, are telling the powers of the world, that these turtles are birds of prey; to the end they might set you a-work to shoot at them and destroy them: but let me tell you, the hairs of their head are all numbered, they are of more value than many sparrows: You may shoot your bolts at them but ye shall not hurt one of them further than their heavenly Father shall see it good for them. Ye may do, as your bloody predecessors did, in the Marian days, overcome and destroy the bodies of some thousands of them: for the devil, having but a short time, will have great wrath: but they have an eternal spirit in them, you shall never overcome: they have learned not to fear them which can but kill the body, and then can do no more: nay, you shall destroy yourselves instead of destroying them: The little stone cut out of the mountain without hand, cannot be broken in pieces with your hands: Christ, in his people, shall only be a stone of stumbling to you, and a rock of offence; till you have filled up the measure of your iniquity; and then the stone, which you bvilders have refused, shall become the head of the corner: Then shall you see and be ashamed of all the ungodly deeds which you have ungodlily committed against the poor Saints of God. And let me tell you they can suffer with more rejoicing than you can persecute: and this shall be the increase of your present torment, to see that all you can do against them will be but like pitch thrown on the fire; it will make them shine the brighter, and yourselves the more odious.  
Many a precious spirit, which sits silent in the dark corners of this Kingdom, when once stirred up by your journey-men-persecutors which begin already in many parts of this Kingdom to dance after your pipes, will then hold forth the glory of God by witnessing a good confession, They will then tell of the loving kindness of the Lord, in the land of the living; that the dead may hear the voice of the son of God and live. They will then come to know what it was that made Paul and Silas sing in prison: that made Stephen when he was a stoning say, he saw the heaven open and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God: That made Paul say he was not only ready to be bound but to die at Jerusalem: that the sufferings of this life is not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed: that he desired to be dissolved, and to be with Christ. These breathe have been but slow and cold in the Saints of God for many years, especially these five or six last years, since their persecutors have had no leisure to look after them.  
Persecutors are as useful to the Saints as the rod is for the child: but as there is a time for the father to correct the child; so there is a time when he will burn the rod too: I say no more, but as ye are men, whom Christ hath shed his blood for, and thereby hath opened a way for mercy for all that come to God by him; but that the Lord would be pleased to open your eyes and let you see the evil of your do: that ye may no longer go on to deceive and destroy those whom Christ hath paid so great a price for: that they may be no more so hateful in your eye, which are so precious in the sight of God: that ye may not hereafter be so cruel to those whom God is as tender over as the apple of his own eye: that ye may not be so forward to destroy and spill the blood of those whom the Lord jesus Christ was so forward to give his own blood to save: and that the Lord would give you hearts to confess to the world how they have been deceived and deluded by you: tell them you are not the men they have so long taken you for: that you are, and ever were, as subject to err as other men: and that the more of your humane learning you have had or made use of, the more you have been subject to err and be misled: If they will not believe you, wish them to consider what is become of the consultations and results of all your learned Counsel and holy Synods that ever sat to the beginning of this Parliament: and whether the most purest of them all were not determined Antichristian by the most pious and learned Assembly that ever sat? And tell them again that these are but men subject to the same infirmities the former were, and then counsel them to have their thoughts pitched upon something above Counsels and Synods for their spiritual teachings and building up in the faith of the Gospel. And thus doing ye shall do but your duty: So desiring your acceptance, I rest, as much your professed enemy as you are jesus Chrst's, and no more.  
R, L,   

The Wolf stripped of his Sheep's clothing: OR, The Antichristian Clergyman turned rightside outwards.  
IT hath ever been the sad condition of the Church of God in all ages to suffer and receive most injuries and unkindnesses from those who have pretended greatest love, and have seemed to have nearest relation to them: especially, when any such have had opportunity to gain place or power over them. This we find begun in Cain against Abel, and went on in Ishmael against Isaak; so in Esau against Jacob, the ten Brethren against Joseph: and after the Church of God came to be a corporated people, and had a Temple with Ordinances and Officers, than it was pestered with false Prophets, wicked and idolatrous Priests: thus ye find Isaiah complaining, Isa. 28.7. so Jeremiah, Chap. 2.8, 26. & 5.31. & 26.7. to 11. so chap. 16.13. & 9.10. & 23.11, 21, 22. & 25.26. so the Church in the Lamentations, chap. 4.13. Hos. 6.9 so Ezek. 22.26. and 34. the beginning: and in divers other places ye find the sad complaints of the Church and people of God against the wickedness of their false prophets and wicked priests.  
And as it is the practice of our false Prophets and wicked priests, not only to deceive and delude the multitude, and lead them into superstitious idolatrous practices and worships, and take them all in to be their disciples; but likewise to set up themselves, and use all the interest they have in the people in opposition to the true Church of Jesus Christ, to persecute and destroy them: So was it of old. Thus ye find the 400 false prophets all against Micaiah, and Zedekiah that false prophet smiting him on the cheek for speaking the truth to the King, 1 King. 22.24. This was the condition of the Church of God in Elijah's time, 1 King 18.19 to 23. when there were 850. prophets in Israel; and yet saith Elijah to the people, ver. 22. I, even I only remain a prophet to the Lord: so 1 King. 19.10.  
Thus if you please to observe in Scripture, wherever ye find the Church of God before Christ's incarnation in apostasy, or declining from the true worship of God to Idolatry and superstition, the original cause of it arose from the lying spirit in the mouths of their false prophets which led them.  
And so ye find, when the Lord Jesus Christ himself came in flesh to bring the word of Reconciliation to us, to make them that were afar off nigh by his own blood, and to break down the partition wall betwixt Jews and Gentiles; to abolish or take away the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, Ephes. 2.13, 14. who were then his greatest opposers? were they not those whom he might have expected to have been most welcome to? namely, the Jews, who were then a people who had been in covenant with God for many ages; a nation whom God had chosen to himself out of all the nations in the world to be his peculiar people, Deut. 14.2. yet these were the people which were the most cruel persecuters of Christ in the flesh. The first news that ever they heard of him put them all into an uproar, Herod and all Jerusalem was troubled, Matth. 2.3. and the Lord Christ, the Saviour of the world was forced to fly into Egypt, to a people that were aliens to the Commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, to save himself from his own people: which makes the Evangelist sadly complain, He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not; he came to his own, and his own received him not, Joh. 1. ver. 10, 11. So Christ himself sadly complains, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me: the ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his Master's crib, but Israel doth not know me, my people doth not consider, Isa. 1.23.  
It is needless to give you a relation of their carriage towards Christ in the flesh, the four Evangelists being but a brief history of it; of their persecuting him from one City to another, of their cruel mockings and scourge; of their haling of him before Magistrates, and at last crucifying of him: and all this he suffered from them as an evil doer, as a sour of sedition, a destroyer of their Temple and Law, as a blasphemer etc. And among these poor blind zealous Jews, who were the chief ringleaders of them, and stirrers of them up against Christ and his Apostles but the priests? or, according to our Popish distinction, the Clergy, the Learned, the University-men, those which were best read, and most knowing in the law; namely, the high-priests, Scribes and Pharises: these ye shall find at all times, and in all places endeavouring to render odious to the world the precious Gospel of Jesus Christ, calling the word of Reconciliation sedition, the very truth of God himself heresy and blasphemy: following of Christ from place to place, to stir up the people against him to destroy him; this ye find Matth. 26.3. & 16.5, 21. & 15.1. & 20.18, 21. so Mark 8.11, 31. & 14.1, 43. so Luk. 5.21. & 6.7. & 9.22. & 20.1. & 22.2, 66. & 23.10. And since the time of Christ's finishing his work in the world, which he did upon the cross, John 19.30. since the Captain of our salvation hath been made perfect through sufferings, Heb. 2.10. Whereby he hath given all that are his, sufficient testimony, that if they will follow their Lord Christ, they must take up his cross, Luk. 19 23. and All that will live godly in Jesus Christ shall suffer persecution, 2 Tim. 3.12. that In the world they shall have tribulation, but in him they shall have peace. For (saith Christ) the disciple is not above his Master, nor the servant above his Lord; it is enough for the disciple to be as his Master, and the servant as his Lord. If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household? Matth. 10.24, 25. I say, since this chaste spouse of Jesus Christ the spiritual Church of God hath been left in the world, as the Ark of God was among the Philistims, as Daniel in the lion's den, or as Ionas in the whales belly, void of all hope and help in the world, as far as sense and reason, or any thing below faith was able to apprehend, the flesh, the world, and the Devil hath ever since proclaimed open war against Christ in his people, though the gates of hell could never yet, nor ever shall prevail against them, Matth. 16.18. For no sooner had they done crucifying Christ, but presently they began to persecute the Apostles and Saints at Jerusalem: And they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the Apostles, Acts 8.1. and they which were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word: and the Apostles did not go about to stir up Jerusalem to petition the Magistrate against them then: but what was then the duty and practice of the Saints, is now punishable by our learned Presbyters for Schism and Heresy; and because they have neither precept nor practice, neither Scripture nor good reason to convince their differing Brethren, therefore are they procuring laws. and ordinances, that then they may cry out to the Magistrate as the Jews did to Pilate, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die.  
Those who are the drivers of this design, let us pray that the Lord would not lay this sin to their charge; but that he would open their eyes, and let them see the evil of their do, that they may put it far from them; and take this into their consideration, that England hath too much innocent blood upon its score already, which hath cost it very dear lately. God hath given our Nation blood to drink in great measure, as if he would tell us every drop of the blood of his saints which this Kingdom for many years hath been destroying and banishing, should cost us a fountain; and hath so dispersed and scattered all our former persecutors, as if he were minded to let them see how good persecution and banishment were; or to make them as forward to fetch those home again whom they have formerly banished and forced out of the Kingdom, as he did the Egyptians, to thrust the Israelites out, whom they did formerly force to stay in their Kingdom. I shall here only use David's words in the very same case, In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul. Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law? They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood. But the Lord is my defence, and my God is the rock of my refuge: And he shall bring upon them their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness; yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off, Psal: 94.19, 20, etc.  
It hath been the sad condition of the Church of God for above a thousand years last passed, ever since the falling away spoken of 2 Thess. 2.3. to suffer by her enemies as an evil doer; truth hath ever since been persecuted for error, light for darkness, Christ for Belial: and therefore this last hath been the most cunning and cruelest way of persecuting that ever the adversary attained to; therefore saith Christ, prophesying of this last and greatest adversary to the Church, Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. So, Behold, I send you forth as sheep among wolves; be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. As much as if he should say, ye have a subtle and cruel adversary to deal withal, therefore arm yourselves with wisdom and innocency. Or thus, Ye have been formerly persecuted by open enemies, such as have not been ashamed to appear against you in, their own likeness; but now your enemy shall be your pretended friend, such as shall be in your own likeness: they will be wolves still, but they will be in sheep's clothing, Matth 7.15. They will still kill you, but they will pretend to do God good service by it, John 16.2. Christ further prophesieth of the Saints sufferings under the Gospel by this wicked cruel devouring adversary, Mark 13.19. For in those days shall be afflictions, such as were not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be: And then if any man shall say, Lo here is Christ, or lo there is Christ, believe him not: for false Christ's and false prophets shall arise, and shall show signs and wonders, to deceive, if it were possible, even the very elect. And if ye will believe the Scripture, those false Christ's and great deceivers spoken of so much, are not such kind of creatures as we are, crying out against poor illiterate mechanic fellows, as we call them; for such were Christ and the Apostles esteemed of by the world; Is not this the Carpenter's son? Matt. 13.55. Mar. 6.5. So in Acts 4. when the Apostles Peter and John were brought before the high priest and his kindred to be examined: When they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled, and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. These priests had more goodness in them then many of our priests; for they will not take notice of any whom they call unlearned and ignorant men, to have been with Jesus, if they have any Christian boldness in them; but call it audaciousness, and out facing Authority, meaning their own Antichristian power: as if there were no coming to Jesus but by Rome, the same way by which themselves come. But those false Christ's and false Apostles spoken of in Scripture are not unlearned mechanic fellows; but such as have in them all the humane learning and wisdom the world can afford: not such men as are forced to run up and down the Country, skulking here and there in private places to broach their opinions to some poor despised people; for there is no possibility that these men, if deceivers, should be persecuters too. But these deceivers have in their hands all the power the earth can afford, to stir up Nation against Nation, and Kingdom against Kingdom, to bring before and deliver up to Counsels, to beat you in their Synagogues, to hale you before Kings and Rulers, Matth. 10.17, 18. Mark 13.8, 9 These deceivers are of that man of sin, that son of perdition spoken of 2 Thess. 2.3. Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God, ver. 4. These deceivers are they whose coming is like the working of Satan, with all power, and signs, and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness.  
Now those deceivers which the Church of God hath been troubled withal for these many ages are such kind of deceivers as these are, men of great places and high esteem in the world, having had all the power of the world to back them, which never were able to carry on their business with any strength of argument, the Scripture hath been so point-blank against them, and therefore they have made use of the power and strength of Emperors and Kings; and where the Magisteriall power hath failed them, they have made use of the Military, and have stirred up Emperors and Kings to war one with another, and by this means these bloody deceivers have been the cause of thousands of millions of Christians lives to be lost, and their blood to be spilt to maintain their Antichristian power and domination over the whole Christian world. And all this hath been done under the pious pretences of Reformation, Church order, punishing of Heretics, etc. pretending zeal to God's glory and the Churches good in the most bloody enterprises that ever they undertook.  
They have always pretended to reform the Church of its Heresy and Schism, etc. and on the contrary, have deformed it into formality, superstition, and idolatry: And when their wicked practices and false worships have begun to appear so visible to the eye of the world, that the very light of nature hath been ashamed of their abominations; then for fear that the mystery of iniquity should fully discover itself to their utter ruin, they have again transformed themselves into some other likeness or shape, thereby to deceive the world, and make them believe they were a reforming themselves and the Church, out of their zeal to God's glory, when they always stayed in their old Idols Temple, while it were ready to fall on their heads, and then built themselves another of the same materials, only painted over with some other colours: And this ye shall find to be the centre of all Synodical Reformations to this very day; never countenancing nor suffering more of the power of godliness in any, where they could suppress it, then what would serve them for a stalking horse, to destroy their dissenting Brethren by. And as they have sought the exaltation of their own glory, the establishment of their own power, and the manifestation of their own humane wisdom and learning in all their undertake, and have despised, the wisdom, power, and glory of God in his people, because God hath hid that treasure in earthen vessels, 2 Cor. 4.7. because it is the good pleasure of the Father to hid those things from the wise, and prudent, and reveal them unto babes, Matth. 11.25. because not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble are called, but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world, to confound the wise, 1 Cor. 1.27. Therefore hath God likewise refused them, and hath given them up to the pride, and deceit of their own heart: Therefore hath God pronounced a woe against them, Isaiah 30.1. woe to the rebellious children, that take counsel, but not of me, that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit: So in the 29. of Isaiah 13. Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear towards me is taught by the precepts of men: Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. Is not the sin and punishment of the Prince of Tyre met in our days? Ezekiel 28. Is it not visibly discovered to us, that our learned Wise men, such as have endeavoured to confine all the true knowledge of God, and the mysteries of his Kingdom to their learned capacities have ever been our deceivers, and seducers: Such as have been our leaders into all manner of Superstition and Idolatry; may we not well say with the Apostle, Where is the wise, where is the scribe, where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? 1 Cor. 1.20. Doth it not appear, That Christ is made by God alone unto us wisdom? 1 Cor. 1.30 Have not those which have called themselves the Reverend Clergy, the Learned Tribe of Levi, the Bishops, Pastors, and Ministers of Christ's Church, been for above a thousand years, to the beginning of this Parliament, the great deceivers, the grand Sectaries, the chief sowers of Sedition, the very Throne and Body of Antichrist, and the proudest enemies to the Church of God?  
Let us leave England a little, and observe the greatest part of the World, called Christendom, as Italy, Spain, France, Germany, etc. and do they not at this very day, generally live in the very darkness of Popery, making it their very Religion to maintain the Pope's supremacy, the authority of the Church, and a few idolatrous Superstitions Ceremonies; and are otherways altogether as ignorant of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, as the very Heathens? And who are the Leaders of these people in their ignorant superstition, and idolatry? Is it not the Clergy, the Learned, the University men? Is it not they which are their Popes, Cardinals, Jesuits, Friars, Monks, & c? Is it not they which hath broached, and imposed all those damnable Heresies, and Errors, now in the Church of Rome? And have they not to fill up the measure of their iniquities, caused to be presented, and put to death many thousands of Christians, for not believing, and receiving their damnable Superstitious Errors? Nay further, hath it not been they which throughout all Christendom for these many ages, have been the chief and only contrivers, and ploters of all the bloody barbarous plots, wicked insurrections, and traitorous rebellions, against Kings and Kingdoms? Hath it not been their constant practice to stir up Nation against Nation, and Kingdom against Kingdom, under pretence of Holy War, to the destroying and ruinating many thousands of good Christians: the whole Histories of Christendom being but a brief story of the bloody wicked barbarous practices of these bloodthirsty Clergymen; there would be no end if I should come to particulars, whole Volumes not containing them. But thou mayest object and say, We know the Romish-Clergy are bloody deceivers, cruel persecuters of good Christians: We have heard often of the Spanish Inquisition, and the bloody massacre in France, etc. But what is this to us? we have had a Learned, Pious Clergy in England for many years. Let me entreat thee to consider a little, what pious men they have been; where shall we begin? in Henry the eights time, or in Queen Mary's days? For till those days they were all as Romish as the other are now. Let me entreat thee to peruse well the Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland, Master Fox his Books of the Acts and Monuments of the Church, his History of Martyrs; and when thou hast done, then tell me, whether the Clergy of England hath not been more wicked, bloody, and cruel, than all the Clergy of Christendom besides: How many thousands of precious Christians have had their blood spilt, and been put to cruel torments, such as ye hardly read of in any other story by our cruel bloody English Clergymen? And this is chief observable in them, wherein they have exceeded all others, That they have not only been as Popish, superstitious, and cruel, as others in other Kingdoms, when the stream hath run that way; but that they were never true to their own principles, wherein they have been always a shame to their cloth; for as their Popish Superstition and Idolatry, hath declared them to be not Christians, but Antichristians: so their turning like the weathercock, with all winds, hath declared them unworthy cowardly people, as they are meet natural men. Thus ye shall find them in Henry the eights days, when the Kingdom was under the height of Popery, they were all cruel Papists; when the King denied the Pope's supremacy, and went about to demolish the Abbeys, and Monasteries, which they all knew was not out of any pious zeal he had for Reformation, but out of wrath, pride, and covetousness; yet how did they all fide with him, except the Cardinal, and the poor Friars, and Monks, that were all undone, and beggared by it? Then in the days of Edward the sixth, by reason of the King's pious disposition, though young, they feared a turn, and presently a great part of them fell a Preaching against some particular points of Popery; and such as defended them, did as if they had not greatly cared what Religion they were on: but in the mean time, the Lord Protector, with several others, were resolved to reform the Church; and presently abolished the Mass with most of the Popish Service, and caused the Common-Prayer Book to be read in English to the people; and presently all the Clergy were zealous Protestants, great Common-Prayer Book men, except some four or five of their chief Bishops, as Gardiner, Bonner, Toustal, and Day; and about three or four years after, at the most, when Queen Mary was made Queen of England, they presently all turned about again, except such another number, as Cranmer, Rogers, Hooper, Ferrer, Ridley, and Latimer, and grew more cruel throughout the whole Kingdom against the poor Saints then ever they were; Bonner being then Bishop of London, did drive the very same trade Master Edward's is about now; for if ye observe it, the first officer Antichrist entertains when he is beginning a new design, is a good Scout-master General, to keep a correspondency with all the rest of the wicked Clergy spread abroad over the Kingdom, as ye may see by those many wicked Letters, and accusations, which daily he received from all parts of the Kingdom, against one poor man or other; so that friends durst not talk together for fear some words should slip, and Bonner should come to hear of it, which was the bloodiest minded man that is upon record, for persecuting the poor Saints, and inventing punishment for them, or I hope we ever shall hear of, if God keep but Master Edward's and his ungrateful bloody faction out of authority: And in this rage did those wolves continue devouring the poor sheep of Christ all the days of Queen Mary; and how many thousands of good Christians were destroyed and banished by them, would make a Jews heart bleed to consider off; and all those suffered by them as evil doers, as Heretics and Schismatics; and themselves then, as they do now, assumed the name of Christ's Ministers, and Ambassadors: Then after Queen Mary was dead, and Queen Elizabeth swayed the Sceptre, in six months the whole tribe of them, except some few of their Bishops which had gotten money enough to live upon any where, and so did not care much for their trade, turned quite about again, and all turned Protestants: in which shape, and under which visage, they have continued to the beginning of this Parliament; who then presently discovered to the whole Kingdom, that they had been as deceitful, and as cruel in this shape, as ever they had been in the former; that they had only got on sheep's clothing, but were all inwardly ravening wolves: they had got a trick to call all their Antichristian practices, and Popish ceremonies, the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England; and all their Antichristian proud Prelates, with the rest of their superstitious dumb Priests, must be called the Bishop's Stewards, and Ministers of Jesus Christ; and all the true worshippers of God in the Kingdom, they were all scattered abroad, silenced, and persecuted under the name of Heretics, and Schismatics, etc. Every day growing worse than other, bringing in some new invented Popish ceremony or other, to the end they might have further advantage against such as could not submit to them: sure it will be needless for me to give you any particulars of their insolent proud wicked carriage in our times; it must needs be fresh in your memory; their encroachments upon the Civil power; their oppressions by their wicked Courts in all parts of this Kingdom; their superstition and idolatry, which they were every day inventing and bringing into the Church; their insolency and pride in setting themselves up with, if not above the Nobility of the Kingdom; their wicked and damnable plots, tending to the ruin of both Church and State; doth not all the blood, both of England, and Ireland stand upon the stone of these bloody men? have not they been the great fomenters of this bloody war amongst us, by stirring up the spirits of wicked cruel men, against the poor Saints of God, in the three Kingdoms; and was there ever any wicked plot discovered, either against Church or State, but these men have had a great hand in it, if not the chief contrivers of it? If a Deputy of Ireland be in fault, ye may be sure of an Archbishop of Canterbury: How did they flock to the King's party at the beginning of this war, that in some Garrisons, as Oxford, Newark, York, and several others, there were whole Troops and Companies of black-coats? and where ever the greatest flocks of these learned Deceivers were resident, there were the people most disaffected to the Parliament; as witness the Universities and Cathedrals, which appeared to be the very nests and cages of unclean birds: If the Parliament should have forborn to have given them the tenth of the Kingdom, till such time as the tenth of the Clergy had been of their sides, the Ordinance for Tithes might yet have been unpassed. If I should go on to particulars, of their Malignant speeches and actions, which they have spoken, and done against the Parliament, and their proceed since this war begun, you would not have the patience to read them; of their vilifying the Parliament and all that adhered to them, under the names of Rebels and Traitors; frequently charging them of sacrilege and robbing the Church of her ancient Rites and Ceremonies; extolling the Book of Common-prayer, calling it the Divine Service of God, thereby to render the Parliament odious for taking away such holy things; with abundance more of this nature; so that all these things well considered and laid together, I wonder who will appear the great Sectaries, the grand Heretics, the factious Fellows, the sowers of Sedition, and destroyers of Religion in the Kingdom? whether the Laity or the Clergy? and who we have now most cause to stand in fear of? whether those which are now discovering the superstitious blindness, and wicked practices of the Clergy, or the Clergy themselves? which are driving on their old designs in a new shape, that are building a new Babel out of the old rubbish, that are giving that great scarlet whore, a new dress, thereby to make the world once more wonder after her, that they may once more hear that voice, Great is Diana of the Ephesians; but let me persuade thee not to fear them, neither it is enough for their servants, their vassals, such as stand and fall with them, to live in fear of them: But if thou best one of those which follow the Lamb, wheresoever he goeth, Rev. 14 4. that art willing to carry the cross of Christ, as well as wear his Crown, that art willing to suffer with him, as well as reign in the day of their great calamity, When they shall drink the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his Indignation, and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, in the presence of the holy angels, and of the Lamb, Revel. 14.10. Then shalt thou stand with the Lamb upon mount Zion, verse the first. Then shalt thou sing a new song before the throne, Verse 7. Then shall you sing A●leluia, salvation, honour, and power, unto the Lord our God; for true and righteous are his judgements, for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand, Revel. 19.1, 2. Therefore be not now at all troubled, when thou seest the day begin to grow dark; it is but a cloud that is arising, it will be no more night with the Church; if they have a dark hour, the sun will shine through the cloud; For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over-gone, the flowers begin to appear on the earth, Cant. 2.11. It is now spring-time with the Church, and though there may be many a cold blast, and stormy shower, yet they are rather to be desired then feared. They will cause the figtree to put forth her green-figs, and the vine with the tender grape to give a good smell, Cant. 2.13. What though Truth be yet called Error, and Light darkness, the Saints and faithful servants of God, Schismatics, and Heretics? etc. let not this trouble thee; it is no new thing that hath befallen thee, they never were called by other names yet by this generation of men, called Clergy; and Paul was not ashamed to confess to Felix, that after the way they call Heresy, he worshipped the God of his Fathers; and if thou best ashamed to confess that now, thou mayest come to be ashamed of Christ, and Truth, and so deny both; Therefore do not thou mind so much what men cry up for truth, and tread down for error; for all is not error that is voted so: It hath been the lot of truth in most counsels, if not in all, to have the fewest voices; and thou mayest be sure, they themselves that put truth upon vote, are not themselves satisfied what truth is, till they have done voting: But if they were the sons of truth, or had any love to, or high esteem of truth; if they had ever tasted of that word of truth and righteousness; if they had ever received the truth in the love of it, it would be more precious to them, then to be ventured at one stake:  
But this doth fully declare to us they hold the truth in unrighteousness, Romans 1.18. These are such as Isaiah speaketh off, Isaiah 48.1. Which are called by the name of Israel, and are come forth out of the waters of Judah, which swear by the name of the Lord, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth nor in righteousness. These men never followed Christ for the love of Truth; it is the loaves more than the miracles that they mind. These Simon Magus' which have purchased their Apostleships by their money, love their wages better than they do their work: The first thing they mind, is how to get a Gospel-maintenance, and then they never fear a Gospel Ministry; they know by experience, the former begets the latter. These are not of the race of that true Shepherd, for his work was to save men's lives, Luke 9.56. But the business of these hath been to destroy men's lives: He came to lay down his life for the sheep, John 10.15. These come to take away the lives of the sheep, John 10.10. His work was to feed the flock, John 10.9. These take the fleece, and starve the flock, Ezekiel 34.2. His disposition and expression to the flock, are full of love and tender bowels, He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, he shall gather the Lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young, Isaiah 40.11. But these like those wicked cruel shepherds, are on the contrary nature. The diseased have you not strengthened, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought again that which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was lost, but with force and with cruelty have you ruled them, Ezek. 34.4. These are of those thiefs Christ speaks off, John 10.10. that come not but for to steal, to kill and destroy: but I am come that ye might have life, saith Christ, and that you might have it more abundantly. These are not only of those hirelings, whose own the sheep are not, which only flee when the wolf comes, and leaves the sheep to the wolf, John 10.12. but these are rather those wolves which Christ forewarned the Church of, Matth. 7.15. These are of that sort Paul prophesieth of, Acts 20.29. For I know that after my departure, shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock: These may be fitly compared to Jerusalem's false prophets and wicked priests, Ezek. 22.25, 26. There is a conspiracy of her Prophets in the midst thereof like a roaring lion, ravening the prey: they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof: Her Priests have violated my law, and have profaned my holy things; they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shown difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Her Princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord, when the Lord hath not spoken. If there were but such a noble spirit in thee, as those Beareans had, Acts 17.11. to search the Scriptures daily, whether those things be true or no that men hold forth to thee, how soon would the vanity and simpleness of these learned deceivers be discovered to thee? If thou wouldst but take the Apostles for an example, not to have regard to the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual, 1 Cor. 2.13. If thou wouldst not believe every spirit, but try the spirits whether they be of God or no, because many false prophets are gone out into the world, 1 John 4.1. How would light break forth to thee, and darkness flee away? but we have been more fearful to scruple or question the testimony of men, and their subtle intricate interpretations of the Scripture, than we have been to question the testimony of God himself, and the plain say of the spirit in the Scripture; and the Laws and Ordinances which these men have procured, and caused to be established against Heresy and false Doctrine, did never run in the defence of the Scripture, as it stands penned by the Spirit of God, but as it were interpreted by them (not thus) If any man shall declare or hold forth any doctrine or opinion contrary to the Scripture, or contrary to the form of sound words delivered by Christ and his Apostles: (but thus) by the Papists, If any man shall hold forth any doctrine or opinion contrary to the holy Catholic Church, or shall deny the supremacy or infallibility of our holy Father the Pope, etc. And among the Protestants thus, If any man shall hold forth any doctrine or opinion contrary to the present government established, or contrary to the doctrine or articles of Faith, received by the Church, etc. he shall be proceeded against as an Heretic, etc. and accordingly, If any have been accused of Heresy or Schism, etc. why they have been proved Heretics, & c.? by those Laws and Ordinances, and not by the Scripture, nor by Christ's precepts and practice, as they stand upon record from his mouth; neither will it avail the accused to plead in his defence any testimony from Scripture, to maintain the lawfulness of his practice; but his adversaries will cry out, we have a law, & by our law he ought to die; and thus hath these men, like those wicked Pharisees Christ proves, Matth. 15.6. made the Scripture, and Law of God of none effect by their own traditions; they have been always striving, and contending with Kings and Parliaments for Laws and Ordinances, pretending them against Heresy and Schism, and hath ever turned the edge of them against the very power of godliness: this being their very way and means, whereby they have destroyed so many good Christians, as you see they have done in all ages; so that they have not been satisfied to persecute and destroy good people themselves, but have hereby imbrued the hands of Emperors, Kings, and Parliaments, in the blood of many millions of God's people, to the ruinating of themselves and their Kingdoms; besides the loud cry of blood to God for vengeance against them, which he will surely require at their hands; and when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar, the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held; and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? Revel. 9.10. And I heard the angel of the waters, say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art, and waste, and shall be, because thou hast judged us; for they have shed the blood of Saints and Prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy, Revel. 16.5, 6. When the Lord shall once come to make inquisition for blood, it is not a pretence of building up Zion, and establishing the peace of Jerusalem that shall satisfy his justice; no, he will avenge it on all hands. Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgement and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the Priests thereof teach for hire, and the Prophets thereof divine for money; yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? none evil can come upon us. Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house, as the high places of the forest, Micah 3.10, 11, 12. And do but compare the practice of these men, to the practice of Christ and his Apostles, and see what little agreement there is betwixt them, and then choose whether thou wilt serve God or Mammon; for no man can serve both, Matth. 6.24. Ye shall find Christ himself, which was not only the great, Prophet and Teacher of his Church, Acts 3.23, 24. but likewise their great King and Lawgiver, Isaiah 33.22. one that hath all the power of heaven and earth committed to him, and yet did he never use any arbitrary power over, or in the Church; but saith he, All things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you, John 15.15. It was his Father's business, not his own, that he came to do, Luke 2.49. John 4 37. & 17.4. His Father's will, not his own, that he came to fulfil, John 5.30. Mark 14.36. And in his Father's name, not his own, did he do all that he did, John 5.43. & 17.6, 26. And so the Apostles which were chosen and ordained by Christ himself, to the work of the Ministry, which had in them an infalliable spirit to guide them, and yet you never find them speaking or doing any thing in their own name, or in the name, or authority of any other, but Christ himself, producing his precepts and practices for all their words and actions, That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, 1 John 1.3. so Acts 4.20. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard (they do not say the things which we have considered and and agreed upon.) So ye read in the first of the Acts and verse the second, That Christ by the holy Ghost had given commandment to the Apostles, whom he had chosen; and in obedience to those commands of Christ, did they act, and do all which they did. This was the doctrine Peter preached, Acts 10.42. And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify, that it was he which was ordained of God, to be judge of quick and dead; and when Peter and John were commanded to preach no more in this name, Acts 4.19. Peter and John answered, and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God, to hearken unto you, more than unto God, judge ye. And as they did not decline the preaching in the name never the more for being commanded to the contrary; so would they not have preached it ever the less or more, for being commanded to do it by any but Christ, who had alone power to enable them to obey his commands; therefore saith David, I will run the way of thy commandments, when thou shalt enlarge my heart, Psal. 119.32. If men could enlarge hearts, as well as give commands, there might be some hopes of their forcing to believe in Christ, and to walk in the way of his commandments. But in vain do ye worship me, saith Christ, teaching for doctrine the commandments of men, Matth. 15.9. Though the commandments which those Pharisees take for doctrine, were commandments of men, to worship the true God, and that after the most strictest manner, according to the Law of Moses, as they judged, Acts 26.5. and yet this was then vain worship, how comes it now to be orthodox? and so you find Paul, that great Apostle, called and chosen to the Ministry by Christ himself, Acts 9.5, 6. and to that end was filled with the holy Ghost, Verse 7. of a contrary spirit to the Apostles and Ministers of our times: when there was several divisions and opinions in the Church of Corinth, he did not side with one or two of them, to see if he could suppress the other; he did not countenance those that cried up Paul, no more than those that cried up Apollo, nor those that were for Cephas, less than those that were for Christ; but his design was to have Christ advanced above Paul, Apollo, and Cephas two; he included them altogether, and writ to them all as Brethren, 1 Cor. 1.10, 11. and the thing which he propounded to them was not, whether any of the rulers, or of the pharisees believed on him, as they did, John 7.48. but, Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were you baptised into the name of Paul? Verse 13. threw himself down that Christ might be set up: He doth not direct his Epistle to them under the names of their several opinions, as they stood divided, neither doth he call them Sectaries nor Schismatics, though they were as really such, as most that are so accounted of among us; but to the Church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be Saints, etc. Verse 2. Neither doth he charge the cause of their divisions, upon their illiterate, mechanic Teachers, though such they had, Verse 26, 27. for if he had, they might have said to him, Paul thou art but a Tentmaker; but all that Paul pressed at, was to tread down, and that with detestation, all humane wisdom and learning; and let them know, it had no share, neither in him, nor in Christ, as you may see in the three first Chapters of this Epistle, which would have been useless at that time, if that had not been the cause of their mistake; they did not know that God would destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent, V 19 That the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God stronger than men: For ye see your calling Brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called; but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world, to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world, to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things which are. They did not consider, that God would have no flesh glory in his presence; that Christ was made alone by God, wisdom, and righteousness, to his people, Yerse 29, 30. But so far have these self-exalting, vainglorious Clergymen been, from using any of these Arguments, or Scriptures, against divisions and opinions, that it is little less than Heresy with them, for any to read or make mention of these Scriptures to them, if it cross their designs: that if Paul were now alive amongst us, and should preach such doctrine as this 〈◊〉 were enough to fill two or three Gangrena's: but though they have hitherto, and still may deceive, and delude the world with their humane inventions, and vain imaginations, so shall they not do the Church; For the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgement to be punished, 1 Peter 2.9. And though the Wolves and Goats may follow them, because they are all of one nature and spirit, yet the sheep of Christ will follow him; For they know his voice, and a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers, John 10.4, 5. Neither shall the time of their deceiving last always, Only he who now letteth, will let, till he be taken out of the way; And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and destroy with the brightness of his coming, 2 Thess. 2.7, 8.  
FINIS.