YOur most obliging Resentment of the late un-Neighbourly usage which I have publickly received from that strange Person , whom you mention so severely under the Title of Mr. Waspe , is that for which I must thanke you , but chide you too . For what use do you make of your Philosophy , and that Government of the Will which we are wont to talke of , whilst you appear to be so deeply and oversensibly concern'd in any mans swaggering against the innocent and careless MOON ? The very worst that you can say of my Dear Antagonist ( whose pretious Soul I do protest is dearer to me then my Eyes ) is in effect and substance no more then this , that he is vehemently Angry without a Cause , and bitterly reproachful without a Reason , and most Inventive of Accusations without the least Ground . But what necessity could there be that you should express his misdemeanours by such an austere Hypotyposis , as [ That He foames upon my Name , and offers violence to my Closet , and committed great lewdness with my bashful-reluctant-unwilling-Papers , and that now in a Libel of above thirty sheets He even tears and scratches and incessantly biteth my Reputation ? ] might not this have been cloathed with cooler words , if you had not been a little heated by his great Fire ? I for my part will not answer him according to his Folly . And whilst in Revenge of my Doctrines , [ That Sin is none of the Objects of God's Absolute Decrees , but of his real Hatred and sincere Detestation ; that God decreed to punish no man without respect unto his Sins , nor to save him any otherwise then as being in Christ ; that Christ is intentionally the Saviour of all ; and that none can continue to have an Interest in Christ without Obedience as well as Faith , or without Repentance , New Life , and Perseverance unto the end , ] I say , whilst Mr. Barlee doth , in Revenge of these Innocent Doctrines , load my Person and my Papers with such unfriendly Appellations , as [ unconscionable , and Graceless , Proud , and Stomackful , Insolent , and Malepert , Frontless , and Impudent , of an Adulterous Forehead , and Atheistical , Slanderous Dragon , and Satanical Blasphemer , raging against Heaven , and belching out Blasphemies against the Scriptures , Poisonous , Triobolarie , and Diabolical , nay , worse then Diabolical wittily wicked , ] with an innumerable company of such like things , I am content to expresse them after the manner of the Psalmist , by saying that he hath a a Psal. 35. 21. opened his mouth wide against me , and b b Verse 20. devised deceiptfull words against them that are quiet in the Land . A c c Verse 11. 12. false witness is risen up , and ( rewarding me evil for Good ) hath laid to my charge things that I knew not .

And I pray Sir tell me , why should you be so offended with his irreverence towards me , who ( in his Doctrine of Decrees ) speakes much more * * If you desire some examples without the labour of searching for them , you may turn to that which I have spoken in my following discoveries , Chap. 1. Sect. 5. p. 23 , 24 , 25 , 26. and chap. 3. Sect. 31 , 34 , 35. and chap. 4. Sect. 21. 24. 28 , 29. and from Sect. 33. to the end . and Sect. 28 , p. 110 , 111 , 112 , 116. hardly of his Creator ? If he hath been so unhappy as to abuse himself , and me , ( but most himself , because me , ) the first should only serve to exercise your pity , and the second only your pardon . For in this we should follow the example of David ; who however impatient of a prophane Goliath that offer'd indignities to his God , and affronts to his Religion , yet he slighted the railings of cursing Shimei , because they reach't no farther then to his Person . I confesse it is my duty , when I finde a slander cast upon the will of our God ( whom we have the honour and the happinesse to serve and worship ) to be affected as David was , and as you your self now are , with equall resentment and Indignation .

But , Sir , you know who tell 's us , that * * Muliebre maximè & puerile est vitium , Sene● . de irâ , c. 16. Testinesse is an unmanlike and childish vice . They are feeble and sick bodies which groan and complain upon every touch . Though we cannot say with Seneca , or with Maximus Tyrius , that a wise man and vertuous cannot be a a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Max. Tyr. Dissert. 2. In sapie●tem non cadit Injuria . Sen. ad Serenum . injur'd , yet we may venture to say with So●rates , that such a man cannot be * * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . hurt . Indeed a judgement that is blinded with Pett and Passion is not wont to distinguish betwixt Injury and Harm . Because anger ( as well as Fear ) a a Wisd. 17. 12. betrayeth the succours which Reason offereth . But that that there is a distinction appears by this , that God himself may be injur'd , who yet ( we know ) can take no harme . He hath communicable Attributes , as well as Attributes incommunicable ; not only Impassivenesse , but patience too . And if we will but * * 2 Tim. 1. 6. stirre up the gift of God which is in us , we are able to be patient , though not impassive . Why should you or I be troubled at those extravagant inventions and bitter speeches , which are only cast at me , but do not hitt ? of what concernment is it to me , that an Enemy is sick with the overflowing of the Gall , so long as I ( God be thanked ) injoy my health ? if he * wearieth himself to commit iniquity , the more is Jer. 9. 5. his misery , and my compassion . My compassion ( I say ) of him , who hath done me the wrong , and not of my self who have reciev'd no harm by his injustice . For though he aimes at my head , he strikes nothing but my Helmet . That he hath provok't me above expression , ( as you rightly phrase it ) inferr's nothing on my part , but an occasion to forgive him . And the excesse of his injustice doth but adde to the Lustre of my forgivenesse . Mine indeed is the injury , but his the mischief .

Besides , we may learn so much Christianity among the * * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . &c. Arrian Ep. l. 1. c. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Stoicks , as not to make our selves unhappy by our not being Masters of an other mans Tongue . If a man in Musick shall call Nete , Hypate , or discoursing of Geometrie , shall say the Lines are not equall which are drawn to the Circumference from the very same Center , will a Mathematician be therefore Angry ? why then should you , or I , because my Neighbour mistakes my name ; I am not sure the lesse Orthodox for being called a Pelagian , a Socinian , a Jesuite , or a Ranter , any more then the Apostles were the lesse sober , because they were said to be * * Act. 2 13. full of new wine ; and not only said , but * * Ver. 25. supposed to be drunk . St. Paul was not the worse for being said to be a * * Acts 28. 4. Murderer , nor yet the better for being said to be a * * Ver. 6. God . I am no more a Heretick for being said by Mr. Barlee to lay b b Correp . cor. p. 22. a snare for the worthy Gentlemen of the Country whereby to bring them into Boggs and praecipices , then God himself is a Seducer , for being said by Mr. Barlee to * * p. 79. he saith he is not at leisure fully to open in what sence . But he had partly told us , but 14. lines before , where he saith expresly , God determins that sin shall be done , not as a duty ; but as a fact , that shall fall out by the sinfull will of the creature . Nor can he meane a conditional determination who is all for absolute . And he saith p. 86 , 87. God doth not only determine all things and actions , but their severall modalities too , as to the manner of their being , whether as necessary , contingent , or voluntary . Now sin must needs be a thing , or action , or a modality of thing or action . And withall it must needs be either necessary , contingent , or voluntary . And of all such modalities , he saith that God is the supreme cause , p. 87. Again he saith , ( p. 60 , 61. ) that God doth stir up wicked men to acts as acts which to the Actors are and will be unjust . As if God could stir up David to pollute Bathsheba , without stirring him up to his adultery , or else that Adultery become no sin . See what I shall say . ch. 4. p. 42 , 43 , 44. tempt men unto sin . who instead of excusing , doth commend the expressions of other men , whilst they say that the wicked do run into sin , by God's Impulse , by his command , by his will , by his compulsion , by his Decree , and Prostitution . All which I shall display ( with a desire to convince , and not to shame him , unlesse I shame him by accident in his refusing the glory of true Repentance ) when I discover the sad estate of his 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60. and some following pages . All which shall be consider'd in the ten last Sect. of my 4th . Chapter .

The use that here I make of it is only this , that we should not think our selves hurt by being rail'd at . Every man is not thunderstruck by a long suffering God that bringeth up an ill report of his waies and dealings . And although we may punish any libeller by making it appear that he is such , yet at the very same time , we must give him our pity and pardon too . The truth is , that if he had done me no greater injury , then to drag my name through the dirt , by telling all the world I am in a state of * * Correp . Cor. p. 43. & 174. damnation , and ( which is more to my prejudice ) that I am neerely allied to the a a p. 15. Jesuites and Socinians , and express my reverence to the Augustan Confession ( which is well known to be Protestant ) meerely out of love to the * Masse of Ceremonies , that ** p. 92. ceremonious * litter , thereby making me lyable ( as much as in him lies ) not only to sequestration , but death it self ( for you know that * * Michael Servetus , procurante id Calvino , vivus exustus est Genevae , Anno 1553. libenter fateor ( inquit Calvinus de se ) ac prae me fero , ex me prodiisse Accusatorem , Gro. in Vo. pro. pa. Ecc. Spero capitale saltem feret judicium . Calvin . in Epist. ad Farellum . Servetus was burnt at Geneva for lesse then being a Socinian , and what would be done to that Papist that should hold a Parsonage here in England ) I say if this had been all , I had not now put pen to paper . For I consider that breeding people are ever apt to be pettish , and I should easily have hoped that all that frowardnesse of Mr. Barlee had been meerely the effect of a teeming brain . Which I can as heartily forgive , as men do their Wives the Qualmes of breeding , or torments of Child-birth . I meane the peevishnesses and petts , which are usually incident to such as beare and bring ●orth . I know , that my Neighbour hath had very hard labours ; once he terribly miscarried with what he had long been impraegn'd against a Manuscript Copy of what I printed ( if yet a thing so mangled may be called mine , ) & it is much more then nine moneths , since he hath been travelling with that which he hath now brought forth . And whether we consider the great * * This I should never have said or thought , if Mr. B. himself had not assur'd me under his hand and seal , [ that being a Prebsbyterian he affected much to proceed by the common counsell of the Presbytery . ] Which makes me amaz'd at the injustice of his Dedicatory Epistle ( p. 7. ) where he accuseth me for suggesting that thing to him , which had been more then suggested by him to me . As if he thought it m●…crime , to beleeve the truth of what he told me : and which however he told me in words at length , yet have I a better opinion of those men , then to think them all guilty of what they were so very early accused to me by Mr. Barlee . company of friends who were imployed in his assistance , or the many and long Teeth with which the childe of his Invention did eat its way , we cannot chuse but conclude that his pangs and throws were very tedious , and that the effects of his Impatience should only be matter of good mens Pity . Which was indeed one Reason , why I resolved at the beginning only to punish him with my silence . For commonly those punishments are most useful to the Offenders which are most opposite to the offence . And therefore as I approve of the Senate at Ephesus which decreed that his * * At bene consuluerant Ephesii , Decreto memoriam teterrimi hominis abolendo : n●si Theop●mpi Ingenium in historiis eum suis comprehendisset . Val. Max. l. 8. c. 14. name should not be mention'd , who had burned their Temple , meerely to be talk't of ; so that ambitious sort of weak scriblers , who ( like unclean and ravenous Birds ) are not affrighted with the stench , but love to feed upon the Carcasse of Reputation , and have an impotent desire that their Names should live , and be immortal , by the woeful preservatives of being loud , and troublesome , deserve ( I think ) to dye in silence , and ( to prevent ill smells ) to be quietly buried in Oblivion .

But now in consideration of these few things , first , that my Neighbour hath committed a publick Riot ( I doe not say upon my Name and Papers only , but ) upon all that is dear and pretious to me , my Friends , my Religion , my Reverend Fathers in God , my dearest Mother the Church of England , my Conscience , my Faith , my Saviour , and my God too ; Secondly , That he hath quoted my private Letters by scraps and pieces , not as he ought , but as he pleaseth , and as he hopes may tend most to his Advantage ; Thirdly , that he pretends my Necessity of sending my Notes into the world was not given me by him , but * * page 9. selfe-created ; Fourthly , that under colour of confuting my little Book , he hath only us'd Tricks to write a great one , which he hath fill'd ( not with Arguments , but ) with Invectives and Railings against my Papers ; nor yet so much against my Papers , as against my Person , and my Party , ( to use the cleanest of all his phrases ) against my Name , and my Principles , my Parishioners and my Parsonage ; Lastly , that he referrs his Reader to such and such pages of my Book , where I say the very contrary to what he would have me , ( nor do I speak of any written , but printed Copie , which he falsifies as boldly , as if he took it for granted , either that no body that reads him would read me too , or else that every body would trust before they try him , ) and as if that were not sufficient , is faine to father some * * There is a notable example p. 39. where ●he pretends me to have baosted , that I am above Sin , and by my own power could abstain from it . And p. 73. That I am against all second Marriages of Ministers . And very many the like in other places , which are as groundless as these two , ( enough to let you taste what is likely to be your entertainment . ) Fictions upon bare Report , which have not only no ground , but no similitude of Truth , and for which he cites nothing but a simple Heare-say , and which if the Reader should beleeve upon his bare word , would render me as odious as any Antichrist ; I say in consideration of these five things , I doe consent to publish the discoveries which I have made at twise Reading over the seventy first pages of his voluminous Invention . It being fit that my Judgment should be conformable to yours , which is in this , as in other things , so conformable to Reason . Why I trouble the Press with no more , I shall satisfie my Reader before we part . And shall say to you at present no more then this .

Ajax took it so heavily that Vlysses should be preferr'd Sophocles in Ajace flagellifero . Erasm . in Adag . before him , and that in the Judgment of Agamemnon , as that with overmuch grief he ran quite Madd . Nothing now would content him but sweet Revenge ; both on the wicked Vlysses who had gotten the Armour of Achilles ( which was the subject of their Contention ) and on the filthy Agamemnon , who had decree'd it . Ajax drew out his sword , and ( Fancy succeeding in the place of Reason ) he valiantly charged a Herd of Swine , supposing them to be the Graecian Army . There were two great Sow's of extraordinary Bulk , which he singled out as a peculiar sacrifice to his Displeasure , taking one for Agamemnon , and the other for Ulysses . These foure-footed Grecians he hung up on a Beam , and gave them such Correptory Correction with Tongue and Whipcord , as made them utterly uncapable of any more such Combats . This act of vengeance did so affect him with insultation and laughter , that [ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ] became a Proverb .

What think you , Sir ? should the Graecian Army have face't about , ( and have quitted their main Project towards which they were marching , ) to revenge themselves upon Ajax , because ( in enmity to them ) he had fearfully mangled a Herd of Swine ? or should Ulysses and Agamemnon have set their witts against Ajax , for having cruelly insulted over a couple of dead Sows ? was it not punishment enough , that he lost the Armour of Achilles , and after ran out of his witts ? mistook a Herd for an Army , and a Sow for an Enemy ? Nay , when he came out of his Reverie , and found the grossenesse of his mistake , his vexation and his shame made him Impatient of his Life . For having drawn his Sword at his Fancy , he put it up into his Bowels .

To apply this story were long and needless , and I must now take care , that my Gate be not bigg enough for my City to run out at . Lest Mr. Barlee tell me once more , ( who yet had surely less reason then any man living ) that * * Correp . Corr. p. 44. I am terrible long ere I can get into my Trappings or Geers . I have perhaps already worne out your patience , and presum'd too much upon your leisure . The usual freedom which you allow me must be attended with respect , as well as kindeness ; for although you are not either a Lord , or a Lady , ( as the shrewd Hariolator doth seem to think ) yet you are certainly a Person as well of Honour , as of Integrity . And since I have been so observant of all your strict precepts , That I should never reveal your Name , I may say without danger of interessing your modesty ( how much soever to the displeasure of our Correptory Corrector ) that I honour your vertues and Erudition , more then your Fortune , and your Blood . And that I am equally obliged to speak my selfe