pA R. T I. Reverend Mr. Richard Baxter. 39 § qf. For my own part I freely confefs, that I wasnot judicious enough in Po- liticks and Law to decide this Controverfie which fo manyLawyers and Wife men differed in. And I freely confers, that being aflonifhed at the kith Maffacre, and perfwaded fully both of the Parliaments good endeavours for Reformation, and of their real danger, myJudgment ofthe main Caufe much fwayed myJudgment in the Matterof the Wars: and the Arguments a fine , 6- d natura' 6- neeellitate, which common Wits arecapable of difcerning, did too far incline my Judgment in the Caufe of the War, before I well underftood the Argumentsfrom our particular Laws : And the Confiderationof the Quality of the Pastier that Tided for each Caufe, in the Countries, did greatly work with me, and more than it fhould have done : And I verily thought, that if that which a Judge in Court faithf nr<nrial: ly is Law, muff gofor Law to theSubje&, as to theDecifion of that Caufe, though the King fend his Broad Seal againft it, then that which the Parliament faith u Law, is Law to the Subje&s (about the Dangers of the Common - wealth) what- ever it beink felt; and that if the King's BroadSeal cannot prevail againft the Judge, much lefs againfl their Judgment. 1make nodoubt but both Parties were to blame (as it commonly falleth out in molt Wars and Contentions) and I will not be he that (hallJuflifie either of them. I doubt not but the Headinefs and Ralhnefs of the younger unexperienced fort of religious People, made many Parliament Men and Minillers overgo themfelves, to keep pace with thole hot Spurs ; no doubt but much Indifcretion appeared, and work than lndifctetion in the tumultuous Petitioners, and much Sin was com- mitted in the difhonouring of the King, and provocationof him, and in the un- civil Language againft the Bithops and Liturgie of the Church : But there things came principally from the eSe&arian feparating Spirit, which blew the Coals among foolil,i Apprentices : And as the Se&aries increafed fo did this Infolencein- creak. I have my Pelf been in London, when they have on the Lord's Days flood at the ChurchDoors while the Common Prayer was reading, laying, We mull flay till be is out of La Pottage. And fuch unchrillian Scorns andJells did pleafe young inconfiderate Wits, that knew not what Spirit they were of, nor whither fuch unwarrantate things did tend. LearnedMr.fobn Ball, though a Nonconformiff, difcerned thefittings of this infolent Seetarian Spirit betimes, and fell a writing againftit ; even then when tome were crying out of Perfecution, and otherswere tender of fuch little Differences : Oneor two in the Houk, and five or fix Mini- tiers that came from Holland, and a few that were fcattered in the City, which were the Br,wniJI,Relies, did drive on others according to their own dividing Principles, and (owed theSeeds which afterwardfpread over all the Land ; though then there werevery few of them in the Countreys, evennext to none. As Bithop Hall fpeaks againft the juflifying of the Bithops, fo do I againft jufifying the Par- liament, Minillers, or City : I believe many unjuflifiablethings weredone ; but I think that a few Men among them all , were the Doers or Infligaters of it. But I then thought that whofoever was faulty , the Peoples Liberties and Safety could not beforfeited : And I thought that all the Subje&s were not guilty of all the Faults of Kingor Parliament when they defended them : Yea , that if both their Caufes hadbeen bad as againft each other, yet that the Subjeûs fhould adhere to that Party which moll [erased the weare of the Nation, and might defendthe Landun- do, their Conduá, withoutowning all theirCaufe. And herein I confers I was then fo zealous, that I thought it a great Sin for Men that were able to defend their Coun- try, to be Neuters : And I have been tempted fence to think that I was a more competent Judge upon the Place, when all things were before our eyes, than I am in the reviewofthole Days and A&ions fo many Years after, when Diflance difadvantageth theApprehenfion. AWriter (againft Cromwel's Decimation) re- canting his great Adherence to the Parliament in thatWar, yet fo abhorreth Neu- trality, that he likeneth him rather to a Dog than a. Man that could (landby when hisCountry was in fuch a cafe : But I confefs for my part I have not fuch cenfori- ous Thoughts of chore that then were Neuters as formerly I have had: For he that either thinketh both fides raifed an unlawful War , or that could not tell which ( if either) was in the right, might well beexcufed ifhe defended neither. I was always fatisfied, t.That the Dividers of the King and Parliament were the Traitors, whoever theywere : and that the Divifion tended to the Diffolution of the Government. 2. And
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