PART I. ReverendMr. RichardBaxter. dependent on the King, than their Tenants on them ; and many of them envied the Honour of the Parliament, becaufe they were not chofenMembers themfelves. The other fide faid, That the Reafon wasbecaufe the Gentry (who commanded their Tenants) didbetter underftand Affairs of State than half-wittedTradefnen and Freeholders do. Bat though it mutt be confeffed, That thePublickSafety and Liberty wrought Very much with moll; efpecially with the Nobility and Gentry , who adhered to the Parliament, yet was it principally thedifferences about Religious Matters that filled up the Parliaments Armies, and put the Refolution and Valour into their Soldiers, which carried them on in another manner than mercenary Soldiers are carried on. Not that the Matter of Bifhaps or no Bifhops was the main thing, ( for Thoufands that wifhed for Good Bithops were on the Parliaments fide ) though many called it Sellars; Epifcopale; (And with the Scots that was a greater part of the Controverfie.) But the generality of the People through the Land (I fay not al, or every one) whowere then called Puritans, Preciftons, Religious Perfn, , that ufed to talkof God, and Heaven, and Scripture, and Holinefs , and to follow Sermons, and read Books of Devotion, and pray in their Families, and fpend the Lord's Day in Religious Exercifes, and plead for Mortification,and furious Devotion,and ftridt Obedienceto God, and fpeak againft Swearing, Curling, Drunkennefs, Prophane- nefs, Frye. I fay, the main Body ofthis fort of Men, both Preachers and People, adhered to the Parliament. And on theother fide, the Gentry that were not fo precife and ftridt againft an Oath, orGaming, or Plays , or Drinking, nor trou- bled themfelves fo much aboutthe Matters of God and the World to come , and the Miniftersand People that were for the Kings Book, for Dancing and Recrea- tions on the Lord's Days; and thofethat madenot fo great a matter of every Sin , but went to Church and heardCommon Prayer, and were glad tohear a Sermon which lafht the Puritans, and which ordinarily fpokeagainft this fhietnefs and pre. effendi in Religion, and this ftridt Obfervationof the Lord's Day, and following Sermons, and praying Ex tempore, and talking fo much of Scripture and the Mat- ters of Salvation, and thofe that hated and derided them that take thefe Courtes, the main Body of thefe were againfi the Parliament. Not but that fome fuch for Money, or a Landlord's Pleafùre, ferved them; as force few of the firieter fort were againft them, or not for them (being Neuters) : but I fpeak of the notable Divifion through the Land. If you askhow this came topats, it requireth a longer Anfwer than I think fit bere to give : But brïefiy,A&ionsfpring from natural Duofitions and Intereft. There is fomewhat in theNature of all worldly Men whichmaketh them earneftly deft= tous of Riches and Honours in the World ; and they that value them molt will feek them ; and they that Peek them are more like to find them than thofe that defpife them ; and he that taketh the World and Preferment for his Intereft will eftimate and choofe all means accordingly ; and where the World is predominant, Gain goats for Godlinefs, andferions Religion, which would mortifie theirSin is their greateft Enemy : Yet Conlcience mutt be quieted, and Reputation preferved, which an neither of thembe done, without ComeReligion : Therefore filch a Religion is ne- ceffary to fuch as is confiftent with a worldly Mind ; which Outride-formality, Lip - fervice and Hypocrifie is ; but Seriaufnefe, Sincerityand Spirituality is not. On the otherfide, there is that in the new Natureof a fpiritual Believer, which inclineth him. to things above, and caufeth him to look at worldly Grandeur and Riches, as thingsmore dangerous thandefirable; and he is dead tothe World, and the World to him by the Crofs of Christ ; no wonderthereforeif few fuch at- tain great Matters in the World, or ever come to Preferment or Greatnefs upon Earth : And there is fomewhat in them which maketh them more fearful of dif- pleafirg God, than all theWorld, and will not give them leave to ftretch their Confciences; or turn acide when the Intereft, or Will of Man requireth it : And the Laws of Chrift, towhich they are fo devoted, areof fuch a Bream as cannot fuit with carnalIntereft. There is an univerfaland radicatedEnmitybetween the Carnal and theSpiritual, the Serpent', and the Woman's Seed, the flefhy Mind, and the fpiritual Lawof God, through all the World, in all Generations, Gen. p rç. Rom. 8. 6, 7, 8. Thus Enmity is found in England, as well as in other Countries, between the Godly and the, Worldly Minds; as he that was born after the Flelh did perfecute him that was born after the Spirit, even fo was it here: The vulgar Rabble of the carnal and prophane, the Fornicators, Drunkards, Swearers, 6c. did every where hate them that reproved their Sin, and condemned them by a holy Life. This Difference was univerfal, and their Enmity implacable, farther than
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