400 The HISTORY of the PUÁITArrs. Chap. VIII. .Q.'ten " fhe.only defended herfelf againft his bulls; but when the was threatened Elizabeth, ac with an invauon, and the papifts were altered from being papifts in i6oz. " confcience to being papifts in faltion, the was then obliged to provide " feverer laws for thefecurity of her people. " For the other party, which have been offenfive to the (late, though " in another degree, and which call themfelves reformers, and we com- monly call puritans, this hath been the proceeding towards them : a " great while, when they inveighed againft fuch abufes in the church, as pluralities, non- reftdence, and the like, their zeal was not con- demned, only their violence was fometimes cenfured. When they re- " fufed the ufe of Tome ceremonies and rites as fuperflitious, they were tolerated with much connivance and gentlenefs ; yea, when theycalled " in queftion the fuperiority of bithops, and pretended to a democracy in the church, their propofitions were confidered, and by contrary writ- " ings debated and difcuffed; yet all tins while it was perceived that their courfe was dangerous and very popular ; as becaufepapifry was odious, therefore it was ever in their mouths, that they fought to purge the " church from the reliques of papifiry, a thing acceptable to the people, " who love ever to run from one extreme to another. " Becaufe multitudes of rogues and poverty was an eye-fore, and a diflike to every man, therefore they put into people's heads, that if " difcipline were planted there would be no vagabonds, no beggars, a thing very plaufible; and in like manner they promifed the people " many of the impotfible wonders of their difcipline; befides, they open- ed to the people a way to goverment by their confiftories and'prefby- teries, a thing though in confequence no lets prejudicial to the Tiber- " ties of private men than to the fovereigntyof princes, yet in firft thew " very popular; neverthelefs this, except it were in forne few that en- tered into extreme contempt, was borne with, becaufe they pretended " in dutiful manner to make propofitions, and to leave it to the provi- " deuce of God and the authority of the magiftrate. " But nowof late years, when there iffued from them, that affirmed the confent of the magijirate was not to be attended ; when under pre- " tence of a confeffion to avoid flander and imputations, they combined " themfelves by clafes and fubfcriptions ; when they defcended into that " vile and bafe means of defacing of the church by ridiculouspafquils ; " when they began tomake many fubjeéts in doubt to take oaths, which " is one of the fundamental parts of juftice in this land, and in all places; " when they began both to vaunt of their ftrength, and number of " their partizans and followers, and to ufe comminations, that their cauee 66 would prevail through uproar and violence, then it appeared to be ', no
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