ation,
Naphtali, _jus populi_, &c. Afterwards he speaks of magistracy in these
words, "I believe magistracy to be an ordinance and appointment of God,
as well under the new Testament as it was under the old; and that
whosoever resisteth the lawful magistrate in the exercise of his lawful
power, resisteth the ordinance and appointment of God, Rom. xiii. 1.
&c. 1 Pet. ii. 13. Deut. xvii. 15, &c. The lawful magistrate must he
a man qualified according to God's appointment, and not according to the
people's lust and pleasure, lest in the end he should prove to them a
prince of Sodom and governor of Gomorrah, whom God, in his
righteousness, should appoint for their judgment, and establish for
their correction, &c." Then he comes to be most explicit in testifying
against the givers and receivers of the indulgence, as an incroachment
on Christ's crown and prerogative royal, &c.; protests before God,
angels and men, against all acts made anywise derogative to the work of
God and reformation; likewise protests against all banishments,
imprisoning, finings and confinements that the people of God had been
put to these years by-past; describing the woful state and condition of
malignants, and all the enemies of Jesus Christ. And in the last place
speaks very fervently anent his own sufferings, state and condition,
which he begins to express in these words, "Now if the Lord, in his wise
and over-ruling providence, bring me to the close of my pilgrimage, to
the full enjoyment of my long-looked for and desired happiness, let him
take his own way and time in bringing me to it. And in the mean time, O
thou my soul I sing thou this song, Spring thou up, O well of thy
happiness and salvation, of thy eternal hope and consolation; and whilst
thou art burdened with this clogg of clay and tabernacle, dig thou deep
in it by faith, hope and charity, and with all the instruments that God
hath given thee; dig in it by precepts and promises; dig carefully, and
dig continually; ay and until thou come to the source and head of the
Fountain himself, from whence the water of life floweth: Dig until thou
come to the assembly of the first-born, where this song is most suitably
sung, to the praise and glory of the rich grace and mercy of the
Fountain of life, &c." And a little farther, when speaking of his
mortification to the world, and other sweet experiences, he says, "And
although, O Lord, thou shouldst send me in the back track and tenor of
my life,