C.X111. TheAffertors of the Sts Perf. compared with their Adverfari s 314 covering and difcerningofthe Doítrinesthat they bring, efpecially iffuck as confent in anyDo&nine, do alfo concurre in a diflolutenefje ofconverfa- tion- That it will beof no fmall confideration,the experience ofall Ages bath evinced. The Athenians refuteda virtuous Law,becaufe the Perlon was vicious who propoled it and k is generally efteemed that there is acorrefpondency betwixt theprinciples& pra&icesofthofe men, who earneftlyprofes the pro- motionofthofe principles, fohat they are mutual! producersor advanta- gets one ofanother. This is all at prefent that was aimed at in the charge uponMr Goodwin'sDoetrine, which he undertakes towave. It was generally embraced at itsfirft broaching inour world,bymen only ofa000fe & fcanda- lous Converfation, fuperfticious in their wayesof worfhip, and enimies of the power ofGodlineffe: which being confefled, for the Argument from thence, valeat quantum valere poteft. 4 t8, But M. Goodwingiveth us two Keafons, why this Do&rine of his was Co gladly received, and zealoufly afferted by that Generationof men. The firft which he telleth you is plaine and eafy tobegiven in,si this. Being profeffed e- nemies to themoft Religious and Zealous Preachers and Minifters of the Land, with their adherents, whom they termed Puritans, whom they both hated andfea- red, as a generationofmen, bywhom rather than any other they apprehended themfelves in dangerofbeing dethroned, Nec eosfefellit Opine°. upon thisground theyjudged it a very materiallpoint of their intereft tooppofe and keepe sender thisfaá ion, as they termed them; in order thereunto they fludied andcaffabout how toweaken their intreft, and repute, with the gelAwality of thepeople orat leaft with all tholethat wereintelligent and in that refpeá confderable;to this end wifelycoif/doing thatnothing was like to prejudice themmore in theirelfeeeme with mall men, than to deteá themof erroser and unfoundneffe in their Doárine, andperceiving withal!(as with halféan eye they might, beingTo fully difengaged as theywerefrom all high thoughts of thofethat held them) that they were not en any Doárine beides, which theywere generally known to holdand teach, more obnoxious tofilch a deteffion,than in thofé which theyheld & taught in oppofition to the Remon.ffrants, hereupon they politickly fell to profeffe and teach Remon- ffrantifine,thatfo theymight have the more frequent occafion andopportunity to layopen te3ePuritan Doárine, before thepeople, anditoPhew the inconftffencyofit with theScriptures, as alfowith many of the moll manifeft principles as well of Reafonas Religionbeftdes. 4. t9 Anf.. That this is a tnoft vaine and groundleffe conje&ure, I prefame any one that will but caft back his thoughts upon the poftnre ofAffairesdu- ring thereigneofrhat Genetation ofmen, and a littleconfider thewayes and meaneswhereby theywerethrough the righteous Hand ofGod, redúced to that condition and (fatewherein theynow are, will quickly determine. The t ruth is, theywere fofar from advantaging themfelves againfttheir Adver- faryes, and prevailing upon them, in the efteeme ofthemoft rationalland knowing men in the Nation, by their entertainingthe Arminian Doctrine, that utterly on theother fide they difhonoured their caufeofceremonys,difcipline, & conformity,which with fuccesthey had fo long carryed on with theGene ralityofthe Nation,&expofed themfelves to the powerofthepeople ofthe Land in Parliament,fró whenceas to all otherdifferences rhey were fheltered by an appearance ofLegallCon.áitutions;fothat after Comeforward Perfonof that fa&ion, (the moft contemptible indeed as to any reali worth,one or two indiividualls only excepted,ofthewhole tribe) had upon the grounds fore- mentioned,taken up&madeprofeflionofthe Opinions and Doarinewe are (peaking of,they fell dailybefore theirAdverfaries,asto the efteemeofall, or at leaft the greateftpartofthofe who cordially & throughly adhered to them as
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