which manyfall into onpretence ofavoiding Popery. 9 us, and fo we fet: than onplotting revenge againft us,as implacable injurious enemies ; when we Mould deal soberly and righteoufly with all men, and fleck to win them by truth and gentlenefs: 19. And duck dealings with them do draw Perfecution on the Prote fiants that live. under their Dominions q and if we refufe to ufe them here as chirifiians, no wonder if abroad they ufenot the Proteftants as 2 o. And by fuchgreat abufes ofReformation, men hinder Reformation for the time to come, and do their part to make it hopelefs 5 .while they difcourage fuch attempts, by difhonouring the Reformation which is pail; Even as DavidGeorge, and &iuntzer,and theMunfter Dotages and Rebel- lions, do hinder the revivingof Anabaptiflry in the world , and the fhame of their old pra&ices and fucceffes, isas a Grave-atone upon the Sepulcher of their Caute ; fo do theft men do their part to make it with the whole Reformation, that none hereafter may dare to own or meddle with fuch work. Thefe that I have opened briefly to you, are the real fruits of faife, in- jurious and ignorant zeal and over-doing againft the Paps : And ifPope- ry revive, it's like to be by fuch men. S. But Popery is an heinous evil; and corrupt nature is fo prone to evil, that you neednot thus diffwade men from going too far from ir, or from over-doing againfl it, no more thanfrom being overmuch religious. P. You may fay the fame as truly pf the errors on the contrary ex- tream; All of them are evil, and men are prone to evil : But s, Little know you how common it is in the world to Ipend mens zeal againft the real or fuppofed evil of other mens Opinions, and thereby to tlrengthen the mortal evil of their own carnal affcitions and paffions, and worldly lives, and to take a zeal for Truth and Orthodoxnefs for real Holinefs; while ufually fuch mifs of Truth it felf. 2. And you know not thewiles ofSatan, how ordinarily he betrayeth a good Caufe by the ill manage. ment of its molt zealous friends, and doth undo by over -doing. When hewill play the Devil indeed with Eve , he will feem to be more than God himfelf for Knowledge of Good and Evil, and for theadvancement of mankind to be likeGod ; and God (hall be accufed by him as if he were untrue, and envyed our perfetion. Whenhe will play the Devil indeed with Chrfl, he will feem tobe more for valiantnefs and trufting Godthan Chrift was, and pleadeth Scripture for tempting God. When he will, play the Devil indeed in the Pherifees, he will be ftric`ter for the Sab- bath, and for Difcipltne in avoiding the company of the Publicans and finners , and ftriéter in failings and dyet and other obfervations than Chrift himfelf; And he will be a zealous enemy to Blafphemy, and a zealous Royalift for cater, and a zealous honourer of theTemple and the Law, when Chrift, or Paul, or other Apofiles are to be deftrbyed by it. And when he will play the Devil in the Nicolaitans, Simonians, and Gnoflick Hereticks, he will kern to be for higher knowledge, and greater liberty than the Apottles were And fo when he would foiv difcord among Chriftians, and would kill their Love, and divide Chrifts Church, and fet them in a mental andoral War againft eachother, he will aggra- vate the errors and faults of others, and he will feem a more zealousfriend of Truth, and enemy to Popery, Heretic, Error, Superftitión, falfeWorfhip, or other faults thanChrift is : But he knoweth why. S. But God telleth us himfilf that he is jealous about his worfhip, and bath inScripture more feverely executed his 3uflice upon the corrupters of hisworfhip, thanelmoft any other crime. n. No
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