42 The L 1 F E of the Parr i f into oneparty ; than which if prelacy be of God, a' greater injnry coned not be done to it ; being thefurelt tryedway to engage all the Religious, if not the -at- fo of the Land againft it. 6 93. Soon after, Dr.7ohnOwen Silt tryedto have engaged me to anfwer it by- telling meand others that f was the fitteft Man in England for that work (on what account I now enquire not). But I had above all men been oft enough fearchcd.in themalignant fire, and contended with them with fo little thanks from the lode- .pendents (tho they could fay little againft it) that I refolved not to meddle with themany more, without a clearer call than this And betides Patrick and that Party byexcepting me from thofe whom they reproached (in refpe& of Doarine, difpo- fition and praaice) made me the unfitteft perfon-to rife up againft them : Which if I had dohe, they that applaudedmebefore, would-foon have made me feem as odious almoft as the cell : For theyhad fome at hand,that, in evil fpeaking, were f ch Ma- ilers of Language, that they never wanted Matter, nor Words, but could fay what they lifted as voluminoully as they defined. § 94. Whereupon Dr. Omen anfweredit himfelf,felefing themoft odiousDoari- nal Alfertions, (with fome others)Of Parker's book ; and laid them fo naked in the Judgment of all Readers that ever I met with, that they concludedParker could ne- ver anfwer it : Efpeciallybecaufe the Anfwer was delayed about a year. By which Dr. Omen's efteem was much advanced with the Nonconformifts. § 95. But Parker contriv'd to have his Anfwer ready againft the Sellions of the Parliament (in OCob. 1670.) And fhortly after it came out: In which he doth with the molt voluminous torrent of naturall and malicious Rhetorick fpeak over the fame things which might havebeen Comprized in a few Sentences ; viz. The Non- conformii ts, Calvinifts, Presbyterians, Hugonots, are the molt villatious unfufferablefort of fanftified Fools Knaves; and unquiet Rebelsthat ever were in theWorld: With their naughty Godlinefs, and holy Hypocrifie and Villanies, making it neceffary to fall upon their Teachers, and not to fpare them ; for the Conqueringof the refl. But yet he puttethmore Exceptions here of the Soberer, honelf, peaceable fort (whom he loveth but pittyeth for the unhappinefs of their Education) and in par- titular fpeaketh kindly of me) than he had done before. For when he had before perfüaded men to fall upon the Minifters, and fold [What are an hundred men to be valued, in Comparifonof the fafety of the whole.] When Dr. Owen andothers common,- ly underftood him as meaning that there was but a t oo Nonconformable Miniítera (when t Soo were filenced)he foundout this Ihift to abate boththe Charge of malig- nant Cruelty, andUntruth, and faith that he meant that he hoped the feditious hot beaded party that miffed the peoplewere but a few : Whereby he vindicated fifteen hundred NonconformableMintfters againft thofe Charges whichhe and others fre- quently lay onthe Nonconformifts (by that name.) But the fecond part of the Matter of his book, was managed with more advan- tage ; becaufeof all the Men in England Dr. Owen was the Chief that had Headed the Independentsin the Army with the greateft height, and Confidence, and Ap- plaufe, and afterward had been the greater perfuaderof fleetwood, Desborougb and the reif of theOfficers of the Armywho were his Gathered Church, to Compel Rich. Cromwell to dilfolve hisParliament ; whichbeing done, be fell with it, and the King was brought in : So that Parker had fo many ofhis Parliamentand ArmySermons to cite, inwhich he urgeth them to Juftice, and prophefyeth of the ruine of the lVefeern Kings, and telleth them that their work was to take down Civil and Ecclefiaftical Tyranny, with fuck like, that the Dr. being neither able to repent (hitherto) or to juftify all this mofe be filent, or only plead the Art of Oblivion : And fo I fear bis unfitnefs for this Workwas a general injury to the Nonconformifts. § 96. And here I think I ought to give Pofterity notice, that by the Prelatift's malice, and ttnreafonable implacable Violence, Independency and Separation got greater advantages, againft Presbytery, and all felled accidental extrinfickorder and means of Concord, than ever it liad in thefe Kingdomsfnce the World began. For powerful and Godly Preachers(thongh now ntoft hlenced) had in twenty years liber- ty r- brought fich numbers to ferions Godlinefs, that it was vain forthe Devil or his Servants to hope that foffering could make themolt forfake it. And to the Prelatilts they would never turn, while they faw them for the fake of their own Wealth and Lordlhips, and a few Forms and Ceremonies, filence fo many hundred worthy f if- denying111inillers, that had been Inftruments of their Good, and to become the Son of the propbane malignantEnmity to the far greatIt part of the molt f rions Ret liicu
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