72 The LIFE of-the L I B. 1. which may provoke him to do more; and to approve ofno Evil which is done by 'any, either Ufurper or a lawful Governour. And thus ftood the Affections of the Intelligent fort to Cromwell: but the Sim- pler fort believed that he defigned nothing of all that came to pars ; but that God's Providence brought about all , without his Contrivance or Expecta- tion. le/n.165;. § 11f. The little Parliament having refigned their Commiflîon to Cromwell, that we might not be ungoverned, a funEloof Officers, and 1 know not who (nor ever , could learn, but that Lambert and Berry were twoChief Mersin it) did draw up a Writing; called, The Ingrumenr of the Government of the Commonwealthof England, Scotland, and Ireland]. This Inftrument madeOliver CromwellLord Protector of the Commonwealth : The Lord Mayor and 'Aldermen, the Judges, and the Offi- cersof the Army, were fuddenly drawn together to WJgmenJter- Flall, and 'upon the reading of this In(trement, in(talled Cromwell in the Office of Proteetor, and fwore him accordingly; and thus the Commonwealth feemed once more to have a Head. § rx6. I lhall for brevityover. pars the particularmention of theParliaments fum- mooed by Cromwell; of their difpleafinghim by ravelling his Initrumeny and o- ther means, and ofhis rough and refolute diffolving them. One of the chief Works whichhe did was the purging of the Miniftry ; of which I Ihall fay fomewhat more. And here I fuppofe the Reader to underltand that theSynodof WeJtminfter was diffolved with the Parliament; and therefore a Society of Minifters with force others, were chufen by Cromwell to fit at White- hall, under the Name of Triers , whowere moftly Independants , but Tome fober Presbyterians with them, and had power to try all that camefor Inhitution or In- duttion, and without their Approbation none were admitted:, This Affembly of Triers examined themfelvesallthat were able to come up to London : but if any wereunable, or wereof doubtful Qualifications between Worthy and Unworthy, they ufed to refer them to force Minifters in the Countywhere they lived, and to approve them if they approved them. And becaufe this Affembly of Triers is molt heavily accufed and reproached by fore Men, I Ihall (peak the truth_of them, and fuppofe my word will be the ra- ther taken, becaufe molt of them took me for one of their boldelt Adverfaries, as to.their Oppinions, and becaufe I was known to difown their Power, infomuch that Irefuted to 'try any under them upon their reference, except a very few,whofe Importunity and necefiityy movedme (they beingfuch as for their EpifcopalJudg- ment, or force fuch Caufe, the Triers were like to have rejected) The truth is, that though their Authority was null, and though force few over-buffe and over-rigid Independantsamong them, were toofevere againit all that were Armi- nians, and too particular in enquiring alter Evidences ofSan&ification in chore whom they Examined, and fomewhat too lax in their Admiflion of Unlearned and Erroneous Men, that favoured Antinomianifm or Anabaptifm ; yet to give them their due, they did abundanceof good to the Church : They faved many a Congregation from ignorant, ungodly, drunken Teachers : that fort of Men that intended no more in the Miniftry, than to fay a Sermon, as Readers fay their CommonPrayers, and fó patch up a few goon words together to talk the People afleep with onSunday ; and all the refi of the Week go with them to the Ale- houfe,and harden them in their Sin : Andthat fort of Miniften that either preacht againit a holy Life, or preacht as Men that never were acquinted with it ; all thofe that ufed the Miniltry but as a Common Trade to live by , and were never likely to convert a Soul ; all there they ufually rejected ; and in their f tad admitted of any that wereableferious Preachers, and lived a godly Life, of what tolleratile O- pinion foever they were. So that though they were many of them fomewhat par- tial for the Independents, Separatifis, FifthMonarchy-men and Anabaptills, and againít the Prelatifis and Arminians, yet fo great was the benefit above the hurt, which theybrought to the Church, that many thoufands of Souls hielt God for the faithful Minifters whom theyletin, and grieved when the Prelatifts afterward call them outagain. § r17. And becaufeI am fall'n upon this Subject, I will look back to the Alte' rations that were made upon the Miniftry by the Long Parliament before, both by the CountryCommittees and theSynod at Wellminfer o I know that there are Men in the World that defame both the Arttors and the Work, and would make theWorldbelieve that almollnone but worthy Learned Men were turned our, and that for their Fidelity to çltg ¡S,ipgand pifhops,and tbat almoft none but Unlearned and
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