74 The L IFE o f the Y, iB. 1. Among otherparts of their Truft, one wasto approve of all that Ihould be ad- mitted into any ChurchLivings. They had no Power to put out any, but only to judge of the fitnefs of suchas were taken in. The Power of Caning out un- worthy Men, was partly in a Committee of Parliament Men at London, and part- ly in the Committees of each feveralCounty, accordingto anOrdinance of Parlia- ment expreffing theCrimes : Hereink was laudable that Drunkards, Swearers Curfers, Blafphemers, Hereticks, Fornicators, and fuch fcandalous Perlons were to be ejedied : but it was not well done to put in thole among them that had been againfl the Parliament in the War : For the Work of God fhould not give place to the Matters of their Secular Intereft and Policy, as long as the Beir4g of the Commonwealth is fecured : And all the Learned Minifters in the Land,on one fide and the other, are few enow to do the Work of Chrift : And I believe that thole that were a ainft them, would have done them lets hurt in the Pulpits where there were fo manyWitneffes, than they did in private. But yet I mull needs fay, that in all the Countreys where I was acquainted, fix to one at leaít ( if not ma- ny more ) that were Sequelred by the Committee , were by the Oaths of Wit- neffes proved infuffcent, or fcandalous, or both efpecially guilty of Drunkennefs or Swearing : and thofe that being able, godly Preachers, were cath out for the Was- alone, as for their Opinions fake , were comparatively very few. This I know will difpleafe that Party ; but this is true. And though now and then an unworthy Perfon by infer means crept into their Places , yet commonly thofe whom they put in, were filch as fet themfelves laborioufly to feek the Saving of Souls : Indeed the one half of them werevery young; but that could not be helps, becaufe there were no other to be had. The Parliament could not make Men Learned norGodly, but only put in the learnedeft and ableft that they could have. And though it had been to be wilht that they might have had leifure to ripen in the Univerfities, yet many of them did as Ambrofe, teach and learn at once fo fuccefsfully, as that they much increafedin Learning themfelves, whilf they pro- fited others; and proportionably more than many inthe Univerfities do. § x18. To return from this Digreflion to theProceedings of Cromwell, when he was made Lord Protellor, he had the Policy not to deteâ and exafperate the Mini - Pers and others that contentednot to his Government, .(having feen what a flit. the Engagement had before made ): but he let Men live quietly, without putting any Oaths of Fidelity upon them ; excepthis Parliaments; for thofemuff not en- ter the Houfe till they had fwornFidelity to him. The Sedtarian Party in his Ar- my and elfewhere,he chiefly trufled to and pleafed, till by the Peoplesfubmillion and quietnefshe thought himfelf well fettled : And thenhe began to undermine them, and by degrees to work themout : And though he had fo often fpoken for the A- nabaptiis, now he findeth them fo heady, and fo much againft any fettled Go- vernment, and fo let upon the promoting of their Way and Party, that he doth not only begin to blame their unrulinefs, bat alfo defigneth to fettle himfelf in the Peoples Favour by fuppreffrng them. In Ireland they were grown fo high, that the Soldiers were many of them rebaptized as the way to Preferment: and thofe that oppofed them they credit with much uncharitable Fiercenefs. To fupprefs there, he lent thither his Son Henry Cromwell, who fo difcountenanced the Anabaptiis, as yet to deal civilly by them, repreffingtheir Infolencies, but not abufrng them, or dealinghardlywith them; promoting the Work of the Gofpel, and letting up good and tuber Minifters; and dealing civilly with the Royallifls, and obliging all ; fo that he was generally beloved, and well fpoken of. And Major Ge- neral Ludlow, who headed the Anabaptiis in inland, was fain to draw in his head. In England Cromwell connived at his old Friend Harrifan, while he made himfelf the Head of the Anabaptiis and Fanaticks here, till he faw it would he an ap- plauded acceptable thing to the Nation to fupprefshim, and then he cloth it eafily in a trice, and maketh him contemptible who but yeferday thought himfelf not much below him : The fame he cloth alto as eafily by Lambert and layette him by. 4 r t9. In thefe times ( efpecially Once the Rump reigned ),fprang up five Seas at leafl, whofe Do&rines were almoft the fame, but they fell into feveral Shapes and Names : r. The Vanif s: z. The Seekers: 3. The Ranters: 4. TheQuakers : S. The Behmeniis. r- The Vanifte, (for I know not by what otherName to snake them known ) whowere Sir Henry Vane's Difeiples, firth fprang up under him in new England when he was Governor there : But their Notions were then raw and undigefled, and their Party quickly confounded by God's Providence; as you may fee in a little
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