The case of the kingdom stated according to the proper interests of the severall parties ingaged : I. Touching the interest of the King and his party, II. The interest of the Presbyterian party, III. The interest of the Independent party, IV. The interest of the citie of London, V. The interest of Scotland, not extant before now : a peece of rare observation and contexture, wherin all men are equally concerned.

The Interest of the Presbyter and his Party.

PResbiterie was no sooner born at Geneva, but it was nurst up here in England in the Wishes of many, as Heir apparent of Episcopacie, For it's usuall ever in all wordly Church-reformations (as well as those of the State) to finde some men, either out of conscience or envy, disaffected to the settled Government: Out of Envy, when they misse of that Prefer∣ment which they expected by a change; out of conscience, when they see a greater glory of Light and Purity beyond it, and therefore will not live by it, but beside it, or above it; The truth whereof Experience hath told us in all the degrees of Reformation in this Kingdom, from Popery to Pre∣lacie, from the Bishop to the Presbyter: And I shall willingly allow the Presbyters (who reckon themselves for the old Puritans of England) so much charity, as to think their disaffection proceeded meerly from a con∣science well-informed, because I observe now an Impressa of divine glory and excellency in many of their Practises; But yet I would have them to know, that They are not yet come to Mount Zion, till they be able to prove the Chaire of a generall Assembly the very Throne of Christ: And ex∣cept they shew all the lineaments of their Government derived naturally from Scripture, it will fright mens Consciences and make Them disclaim it for a monster: For, the Discipline now contended for, is (as was the

Bishops) but externall, prudentiall, matter of Form and Policy, and it is look't upon as so much the more intolerable, if rigidly prest, by how much it opens a far wider gap for Tyranny; because if the Bishops made us grone under 24 Diocesses, and but one High-Commission, what will be∣come of us under almost 10000 Presbyteries, beside the Torment of Clas∣ses, Provinciall Junto's Synods, and Assemblies? Were they able to prove one of them Scripturall, it were a little honester bandying against men of dif∣ferent judgement, but since the continuation of that ridiculous Plea for a Ju•• Divinum with compulsive power, can gain nothing but hatred from both the other parties, and must of necessity by disobliging their friends in∣crease the number of their enemies, and in time exasperate both so far, that nothing will satisfie but an abolition of the new Form as immode∣rate, and a reestablishing the old, upon more assurance of liberty: There∣fore the onely Interest of the Presbyters is to allow the Independents their liberty of Church-way, to esteem them as Brethren, and not to make dif∣ference in circumstantials, a ground for persecution. And this I shall fur∣ther illustrate by reason. First, it's as much madnesse to persecute men, because they are not like us in opinion, as it were to quarrell with them when they resemble us not, in outward complexion. For, since we lost perfection in Adam, what ever knowledge we attain to now, is either mo∣rall, by the improving of naturall indowments; or else Divine, which is an influence from Heaven upon the Soul: For the former, we are be∣holden mediatly to the bounty of Nature and our own Industry; for the latter, immediatly to God. Therefore where we see any weaker in judge∣ment then our selves, we ought to look upon them as deplorable, rather then damnable. Vain man! What made the difference betwixt thee and thy weak Brother? did not Free-grace? For, what hast thou that thou didst not receive? and God may reveal it to him also in due time. Secondly, the design of Conformity or Ʋniformity in the Church, hath been, and is the grand Cheat whereby the Devil makes men run a madding; and though it ever pretend a plausible end of Cementing the State against Division, yet pull off its Visard, and you shall finde it to be both the Mother and Nurse of all Division (as it ever was) throughout all Europe in matters of Religion: The witchcrafts of this Jezebel [it is] that trouble our Is∣rael. For, it is against common sense and reason to expect, that ever men will be one in opinion (the Heathen said, Quot Capita, tot Sensus,) so that those which endeavour it seem to me, as if they meant to imprison Aeolus and all his Sons [the 32 winds] in a Bag (as it is said of the Lapland∣ers) since Opinion blows from every point of the Compasse: And as a con∣finement of the Wind torments Nature with an Earth-quake, so to rob

the Soul of its Freedom (which is far more agile and diffusive) must needs cause a Colick (with inflammation) in the bowels of a Kingdom. And therefore till Ʋniformity-mongers be pointed at as the only Enemies of a State, and this wicked perswasion be wrought out of the hearts of men, that they ought to make all men walk that way par force which their Priests cry up for the right; till men be lesse in the Letter that they may be one in the Spirit (which none but the Spirituall can apprehend) and untill they leave crying, Fire from Heaven against Brethren in the Faith, we shall alwayes have the Kingdom in a Flame, and (perhaps) themselves may be the first in Ashes. Thirdly, men under oppression (though sometime wise enough) become mad, and usually trample down all Relations to make way for a deliverer, that gives hope of the least remedy, and as the condition of B••ing alters, so all men do vary their Interests, and Principles. Fourthly, if a rigid course should be prosecuted, and so a Breach be made betwixt those who (for the major part) are one by Solemn Covenant, the Independent having that invincible Plea of Se defendendo on his side, the whole Scandall will retort upon the Presbyter: And if it be objected that the Independent occasions the Breach, by opposing the Letter of the Covenant for an uniform Reformation, I answer, that the Covenant in its extent hath this ultimate Limitation, viz. according to the Word of God: No otherwise; The whole resolves in∣to that, as being all in all. And then, if both Parties be reduced to that Rule, let God and good men judge (for the World cannot) whose will be the Breach. Lastly, a Moderate Condescention in the Presbyter will by keeping the other from extremes stop all new designs, and when there is more of the Spirit of Love in their proceedings, they will draw lesse of Enmity. It will for ever confirm a Brotherly Union, which must prevent the forenamed Insinuations of the Royall and Episcopall Party, and prove a Bulwark within, and a Wall of Brasse about the Nation. From whence I once again infer, the sole Interest of the Pre∣sbyters is, to counter-work the King in his Interest, as their grand op∣posite, by complying with the Independent, and it ought to be their wisdom to look upon all men and Counsells in their own Party, [whether of the Purple or Sable robe] that Thunder in the behalf of a rigid Presbytery, as very Malignants, lurking among them under pre∣tence of a Reformation to draw in the lesse wise and more worldly fiery Zelots, to Act for that Party under a disguise which they pretend most to hate, and by Fulminating against our fast friends, as Heretiques and Schismatiques, &c. to shipwrack us in the Haven, and Casse all the suc∣cesses of this Parliament by Division.