Chap. VII. The HISTORY of the PuRI'rANS. 249 jull:ice of peace, who is required to put the laws in execution againll: them. K. C~a~es 1; Feb. 4• they publiihed an ordinat~ce to prevent the growth, and (preading ~~ of errors, bere!ies, and blafphem1es ; but thefe orders not commg up to their covenant uniformity, the lord-ma)'Or and common council prefented another petition to the two houfes March 17. and appointed a committee to attend the parliament from day to day, till their grievances were redreffed, of which we Gnll hear more under the next year. We have already accounted for the unhappy rife of the.feC!arians in the Further ac-. army when it was new modelled, who were now grown fo extravagant as count of thczr to call for fome proper rdl:raint, the mifchief being fpread not only over foEtanes. the whole country, but into the city of LMdon itfelf; it was firll: pleaded in excufe for this praCtice, that a g(fted brother had better preach and pray to the people than nobody; but now learning, gocd fenfe, and the rational interpretation of fcripture, began to be cried down, and every bold pretender to infpiration was preferred to the moll: grave and fober divines of the age·; fome advanced themfelves into the rank of prophets, and others uttered all fucb crude and undigell:ed abfurdities as came firfl: into their minds, calling them the diCtates of the jpirit within them; by which the public peace was frequently dill:urbed, and great numbers of ignorant people led into the belief of the mofl: dangerous errors. The affembly of divines did what they could to fiand in the gap, by writing againll: them, and publiihing a Deteftation if the errors of the Times, - The parliament alfo appointed a fafl: on that account, Feb. 4· 164 s-6. and many books were publiihed againfi the antinomians, anabaptifls, feekers, &c. not forgetting the independents, whofe infifl:ing upon a tolera– tion was reckoned the inlet to all the refl:. The moll: furious writer againft the feCl:aries was Mr. Thomas Edwards, Edwards's minill:er of Chrifi-Cburch London, a zealous prdbyterian, who became Gangrrena. remarkable by a book entitled Gangrcena, or a catalogue of many of the errors, herefies, blafphemies, and pernicious praCtices of this time; in the epifile dedicatory he calls upon the higher powers to rain down all their vengeance upon thefe deluded people, in the follow'ing language ; " You " have done worthily againll: papill:s, prelates, and fcandalous minifiers, in " cafting down images, altars, crucifixes, throwing out ceremonies, f3c. " but what have you done (fays he) againll: herefy, fchifm, diforder, againll: "feekers, anababtifis, antinomians, brownifls, libertines, and other leB:s ; " you have made a reformation, but wi th the reformation h ave we not " worfe things come upon us than we had before, as denying the fcrip- " tures, pleading for toleration of all religions and worihips; yea for " blafphemy, and denying there is aGod. You have put down the com- " mort-pr~yer, and there are many among us that are for putting down " the fi:nptures. You have broken down the images of the trinity, and we Y -OL. II. K k · · --- ·- -- -- · ·~ have
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=