No More Learning

C. I am resolv'd to have one of them ; for this is what I knew not before. I have some more questions to afc concerning the matter we are now upon. But I'll re serve these till next time.
From &at. Oct. 6, to Cfiurs. Oct. n, 1705. N° 63.
The present subject interrupted for a play-day to the coun tryman, who tells of a dispute 'twixt a park-keeper and deer-stealer. 1. The decr-stealer woud not let the
park-keeper mend the pales ofhis park. 2. The deer- stealer pleads a title to the park, from some liberties had been allow d him in the park. 3 . Herw he managed a park he had seiz'd beyond Trent. 4. And how he treat ed a brother of the park-keeper'/ there. 5. He bullies the park-keeper ; and talks learnedly of laws, liberty, and levelling. 6. He will not suffer the park-keeper to look beyond Trent ; though he himself does. 7. And gives good reason for it. With the true meaning of law, right, aWjustice.
Ce«». T7'OU deal a little hardly by me, master, in J, keeping me, who am but a young convert, so long
The REHEARSAL.
387
long upon the stretch, wholly upon the serious, as you have done ; and I perceive it will be some time yet be- sore you have gone through that work you have cut out for yourself. And I must not intermix any of my foolish
fiories, when you are upon your serious discourse. It wou'd interrupt and break the links of your chain, and it wou'd be trouble to join them together again ; and great part might flip out of my mind, and I consess wou'd make it less useful to me.
Therefore I desire you wou'd give me a play-day now and then to refresh me, and bear a little with my fimple way ; and then I shall hearken afterwards more atten tively to your lectures.
R. For once, and not to make a custom of I'll gra tify you, countryman. For they fay, All work, and no piay, makes Jack a dull boy. Now this day yours, you shall have the whole discourse to yourself upon what subject you please, and will hear you patiently.
(i. ) C. I'll tell you dispute happen'd lately in our country betwixt park-keeper and deer-sealer. The case was this The wind had blown down some of the
pales of the park, and the park-keeper was about repairing them. No, faid the deer-sealer, you shan't do that for
'twill make quarrel. mews you suspect me, and that's
an affront! Besides, 'tis to no purpose; will only
tempt me to break your pales. But what reason have you for for, upon my word, have not stole deer out of your park these three days. shall do you less mischief when freely in my power, than you make more troublesome to me. You know, forhidding thing creates an appetite to it. Orchards are often robb'd but seldom the apples that grow on hedge-rows in the high-way.
However, to shew my moderation, I'll compoundw'ithyou
There yoarpales are lying, look ye. there they are: Now do not you touch them, and will not. Let them lie as they
are only do not put them up again, that's all ask.
Said park-keeper, not put them up
put them up. •
what do they signify to me, Sr
do My park lies open Therefore will
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The REHEARSAL.
338
If you will, faid deer-stealcr, I take all the world to
witness, that 'tis you make the quarrel! That you are an unreasonable man, and have no moderation in you ! nothing will serve you but to have the park all to your
self! Am not Ia man as well as you? and may not I have a hit, when you have full meals ? Come ! come ! he that wou'd engross all, may lose all! here are no neigh bourly dealings at all with you !
(2. ) Besides, I must tell you (since 'tis come to that) that 1 have as good a title to this park as yourself. Hey day! said the park-keeper, that's news indeed ! pray, how comes that to pass ?
Why ? Don't you remember, reply'd deer-stealer, (with a brisk air) that, some time ago, you, to make up the old difference betwixt us, and to settle a better correspon dence for the future, gave me the running of so many horses in your park, and likewise so many bucks every season ? Therefore I fay, and I infist upon it, that this liberty or toleration you have given me is an establishment. And that I have as much right to myshare of the park, as you have to yours ; and there is no difference, but that you have a larger share, and more deer to dispose of
than I have.
The park-keeper anfwer'd to this, that to give a man
the running of a horse in one's ground, was not to give him any title to the inheritance of the. ground ; and the
bucks I promis'd you (faid he) was my own free gift; and is this the return 1 have for to set up your title to the park man must have care how he grants anyfa
t/ours at this rate at least to whvm to men of your principles there no reason, no gratitude in you how
oft have catch you at deer-fi ealirig, in the very fact and, instead of telling my master of it, and having you prosecuted, wink'd at and made this agreement with you, in hopes to have reclaim you, at least to keep our
park fase from you.
At this the deer-fienler laugh'd aloud and faid, you're sine park-kerper indeed to take upon you to make bar
gains for your Lord's park without his
consent; (who' never
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The REHEARSAL.
389
never gave you any such commission ) and then trust to the truth, and honour and gratitude of a deer-stealer ! what account will you give of this one day ?
(3. ) Though I'm a deer-stealer here, I have a park of my own beyond Trent, where you never shall be keeper ; for I manage it at another guess rate. I suffer not one of your deer-stealers to set his nose within it ; for I know them all ; and will not sufser one of them to cut so much as a bunch ofrushes in it. I know what it is to use a deer-stealer to a park, upon whatever pretence ! To give him but an inch — he'll soon take an ell!
Therefore I have a deer-fiealcr for my keeper ; they are the best keepers ! they know all the tricks that belong to it, and no other deer-stealer dare come near it ; he'll
Jmell 'em at a mile's distance.
At this the park-keeper fetch'd a deep sigh, and faid,
you bring my old fins to remembrance ! You once upon a day ucheedTd and cajesd me to let some of my fins go
a deer-stealing with you into a neighbour's park ; then I gave you that toleration in my park you speak of ; for which I have dearly paid since, and am like to pay more
still !
if not, to lose my place !
(4. ) But I remember full well, that you then gave
me your promise, that my brother, who once had a. park near yours beyond Trent, shou'd have the fame liberty
there that I allow'd you here. And your
deer-stealer, whom you persuaded him to make keeper of his park too, did faithfully premise, and gave it under his hand, which
I have still ready to produce, that he wou'd take all pos sible cart of the park, and not remove any of the under-
and yet he turn'd every one of them out ; and which is more, pull'd down all the pales of the park, he left not one standing ; and let out the park in tenements
to his own crew of deer-stealers thereabouts.
That was because he understood his bufiness ! reply 'd
keepers,
the deer-stealer, with a scornful simile I and you may talk of him what you will , But I'm sure he was true and faithful to me, and shall have my good word the longest day I have to live !
S3
And
390
The REHEARSAL.
And had he stay'd with me a little longer, (but Iris lecsc was out, and he was forc'd to remove to another place! ) your park h=d been, by this time, in the fame condition as your brothers ; though I'm not out of hopes of it yet ; a little comprehenfion w ill do the bufiness ! Let but some of my deer-stealers into your park, you'll see what work they'll make !
(5. ) Nay, I'll tell you more: Mr. Park-keeper, you
dare not refuse it when I please to ask it !
der my feet ! you dare not fay your fours your own f you dcre not stretch out one snger towards setting up your corporation and test pales, which I have blown down with one occasional breach ! there they are lying: Keep them to s:ir your pottage ! that's all they're now
goodfor! butifyouofsertosxoneoftheminthe
I have un you
ground again ; or fay, that they were ever meant to keep me out of your park — I'll break all the bones in yourskin!
I'll raise up the magazine of original power upon you, and deliver you to the discretion of our sovereign lord the mob ! I'll have you tore in pieces for a bloody persecutor! who has a defign upon my life ! for he that wou'd take the bread out of my mouth, wou'd not he destroy me ? I live by my imployment! I'm an honest dear sealer ! and I have thriven well upon it ! And he that wou'd take my office from me, takes away my subfistence, and w ou'd
starve me and my family. I have bred up mysons to
the fame trade ! We have private academies for that up
and down the kingdom; and are taught how to elude ah
your forest-laws! those badges of stavery ! and disturb ers of original freedom! That if a man be never so hun
giy, he dare not steal a dW, or shoot a for sear of spoiling of my Lord's game forsooth! and I must starve to make him sport ! What do ye tell me of old stories of tyrants? Never any thing was like this! every manor, every park is downright tyranny! what is it else? and sets up a tyrant within every three or four miles ! that one cannot travel the road for them ! nor go out of a fough, tho' his cart should break, for sear of trespassing upon
his worship's land ! pretty ! pretty I
The REHEARSAL.
And these tyrants engross what God created for the common benesit of all mankind, that is, the imld beasti of the earth, and the wildsowls of the air, and the
sishes of the sea. They are ours! ihepeople! every bo dy's ! And these great men wou'd keep them all to tbe? n-
selvts ! they steal our deer to put into their parks I they are the true deer-stealers I and we must be hanged for seeking after a little of our own ! They steal ou r fish out of the rivers, and put them into their ponds ! and1 will not let us take any that is left even in the rivers! That is my Lord's or his Worship's river! they'll take away our fishing-rods, and hind us over, and plague us at law ! and they call this liberty and property ! Ay marry ! 'tis a good liberty to them ! that is, to a very few of the
who lord it over the rest ; over ten thousands more
people,
than themselves ! But 'tis downright oppression and tyranny over the far greatest /ar/ of the people, who are the wz- ;;»/z/ of government ; but have the least share in the
vantages of it.
Don't tell me of law ! (then cry'd he out in a
ston! ) A legal tyranny is the worst tyranny ! because it is hardest to be refisted, and fivry io^i is against one! A man may in any river in Turkey, or Morocco, and rar a Æos or an elephant, if he can c«fr£ him ; they have no parks or inclosures. That looks like a. face of liberty ! wild beasts, fijh and ,/o-w/ are left common to all, as nature left them. You may talk of /«•w/ what you will ( faid he) but if it were not for the name of liberty, one had as good be without them ! As a man faid, that was gallop ing upon a hobby-horse, if it had not been for the name of riding, he had as good have gone a foot.
For my part (faid he) I'm ter levelling, without that
there's no liberty. Laws and liberty are whig and tory,
high-church and low-church, persect oppofites, the one can not subfist without the destruction of the other. The laiv is a pair of with which the rich and the great take the /oar by the nose, and hold it to the grind-stone, as St. Dunstan serv'd the devil. A poor man cannot go to law , and if he does, he's sure to be undone, whether he
S4
gain
39a
The REHEARSAL.
gain or lose the cause. And after the sirst or second term must sue in forma pauperis ; which is a blessed state !
(6. ) The very state (faid park-keeper ) to which you have reduc'd my poor brother t'other side of Trent, con
trary to your faith and promise solemnly given !
What's your brother to you, reply'd deer-sealer ? If you thought him wrong'd, why did you not complain ?
You have not dar'd to this day so much as to petition for him ! He has a sine brother of you indeed ! No, nor you dare not complain of your own wror. gs ! nor fay that you
are v. rcng'd, or in the least danger, though I have pull'd down your pales before your face ! And therefore I plead as my defence, that you are not wrong' or in
any danger, because you are so tame and who shall
fay you are in any danger, you dare not do your self?
have turn'd your brother out of house and home, and intend to serve you in little time and
not the frfi time you know yet you dare not fay nord on't What then shou'd hinder me O, love these passive, enemies who, when am breaking o-
the doors of their defenfive laws, have not the
pen
courage much as to suspect me of any evil defign or dare not fay so, for sear of raising hubbub, and di
sturhing the neighbourhood though you faw me last night breaking open your brother's doors upon the fame
pretence, and when had got in, turn'd him and his fa
mily
And you know since that, fospccted your brother
of some desgns to nab me, and steal into his owa
house again. And brought the cause to London, and had try V here and laid you by the heels too, as not doubting butjob were in the fame plot and, had not
drift.
should have had more of your friends in limbo, and made as good plot
on't here as there Thus may look beyond Trent but you must not. What have we to do with Trent,
fey when you complain of the doings of any of my friends
miscarryd by being
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The REHEARSAL.
393 jriends there ? Then we are strangers, and neversaw one
another.
(7. ) And you would turn my own law and ride
upon me ! Would you ? But I must tell you, that is un-mannerly ! Tis like hitting a man a slap of
the face. And you must not expect to go away with it.
You understand not common language. I pity
your ignorance! That causes most of your I mistakes!
And makes you argue and act too like a child
For when we deer-stealers speak against the law, we only mean those laws that are against us. But we make use of the laws against others, as well as other men.
Indeed, neighbour, you know not the world, though, you have had pretty long experience ; and of my teach
play.
You talk of laws, and constitution, of right,.
ing too !
and reason ; and quote scripture to highway-men !
But power is the umpire ! That determines it !
can make right, wrong; and wrong, right ! There fore, if you would have right done you, you must keep the power! All the rest is chatt, and childrats-
S
? " From
That
The REHEARSAL.
From attjuts. Oct. 1 1, to &at. Oct. 1 3, 1705. N° 64.
I. The division of nations coud never have been upon the popular scheme, of the choice of individuals.
2. How it was determin'd as to every individual, who should belong to -which nation, and governor.
3. Deut. xxxii. 8. particularly explained. Where in 4. Of God's great regard to his church. And 5. Of the theocrasie of the Jews. That it nvas net a commonwealth, or popular government? but the
strict and absolute monarchy. 6. The gross mistake of the desence of the natural rights of man kind upon this head. Wherein of the true notion of liberty. And of conscience towards government-
7. His objections against Deut. . xxxii. 8. as an ob scure text.
I. Coun. ' I ^O begin where we left off last Saturday I
X have been thinking, master, of this di- viston of the world into nations. Ifit had been done by
the vote of the people, of every individual, according to. ". Mr. Lock, I cannot imagine, how they wou'd have all agreed. Some wou'd have lik'd one governor better than another. And one country better than another. Who wou'd have gone into the worst countries, when it was in their choice to stay in the best ? There must have been some bustling work, before all this cou'd have been.
quiet1- and peaceably decided.
(2. ) But how was it determin'd, master, who shou'd be
long to who ? Who should belong to this prince, and who to that ?
R. Upon the dhiston oftongues, every one naturally sorted with those of his own language, where he might
understand, and be understood when he or they spoke . Thus the 70 hngueges made 70 divistons of people. And then Cod set a ruler over every one of them. Ail whose aams, are set down, Gen. x. As it is faid, Eccluf. xvii.
t7-
394
most
.
C. What the meaning of that Are there but 70
angels
R. The word angels apply'd to governors and rul
ers. As the bishops are call'd the angels of the churches,, Rev. 20. And no wonder they are caU'd angels, when,, as told you before, they are call'd Gods. -
' These angels then, according to whose number the nations were divided, are the 70 rulers nam'd Gen. x.
C. But what the meaning of their being divided ac cording to the number of the children of Israel He had but sons. Were there then but nations
R. The number of the children of Israel here meant, the number of those who went down into Egypt. All
whose names you have set down, Gen xlvi. The sons of Leah, 33. ver. 15. Thesons os Zilpah 16. ver. 18. Of Rachel 14. ver. 22. Of Bilhah, ver. 25. in all 70. To which you add the two sons of Joseph born in E-
The REHEARSAL.
395 1J. For in the divifion of the nations of the whole earths
be (God) set a ruler over every people. C. But this is apocrypha.
R. But it is ancienter, and of more authority than any thing can be produc'd on the whig side, for the
popular original ofgovernment. And it shews what was the current notion and tradition of the Jews in this matter.
(3. ) But I bring it only as a comment upon the text of holy scripture. It is repeating almost in the fame words, what is faid, Deut. xxxii. 8. " When the most high di vided to the nations their inheritance, when he separat ed the sons of Æam, he set the bounds of the people ac cording to the number of the children of Israel" The Greek reads according to the number of the angels.
makes 72. And some reckon the sons of Shcm,. Ham, and Japheth to be 72. As some but" because'
gypt,
of doubt about two names in that
(4. ) C. This very observable. Bat master, can you1
help me to reason, why the divifion of nations fhou'd. have respect to the number of the children ' Israel, who* were many ages afterwanL
R. Godi
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The REHEARS AL.
396
R. God forefaw, that the only visible church he was to
have upon earth, shou'd be, for a long time, even to the coming of the Messiah, in the children of Israel. And this was out of respect to his church. Nor will it seem strange, that God shou'd have such regard to his church,
in the divifion of nations, when we sind that the whole creation was made with respect to her, and for her fake. And does sympathize with her both in her state of humili
ation and exaltation. As the apofile speaks Rom. viii. 19, ao, 21, 22. " For the earnest expectation ofthe crea ture waiteth for the manisestation of the sons of God—
Because the creature it self also shall be deliver'd from
the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole cre ation groaneth and travelleth in pain together until now. "
And Isaiah describeth the restoration of the church
new heavens, and a new earth, chap, lxv. 17. Angels axe
given to her for ministering spirits. Heb. i. 14. . And
God hath made Christ, head over all things to the church ; txhich is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in- all. Eph. i. 22, 23. And the apostle fays, to the church, 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23, Allthings areyours Whethee things present, or things to come, all are yours. Andyr are Christ's, and Christ is Gods. We are faid to be heirs of God, and.
joint heirs with Christ. Rom. viii. 17. For as much then as the church is heir of all things, both present and to
come, as well of heaven, as of earth, it is but consonant to this, that a special regard to her shou'd appear 'Sn all the dispenfations of God. As it did remeakahly in
this fignal and wonderful divifion of the world.
And to shew you, that this is the right expedition of
that text, God himself gives the fame. For immedi ately after the words before quoted, Dent, xxxii. 8. That God divided the nations, after the number of the children of Israel, it is added, as the reason, ver. 9. For
the Lord' s portion is his people ; Jacob it the lot of his in- heritance. And the fame is likewise mentioned in what i call'd a comment upon this text, Ecclnf. xvii. 17. For
in the division of the nations of the whole earth, be set a ruler
by
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S97 over every people : but Israel is the Lord's por
answer.
The REHEARSAL.
tion.
(5. ) C. This wou'd seem as if Godhad not set a ruler,
or an angel over Israel, but kept them for bis own por tion.
R. Thus far you are in the right, that God did govern the Israelites in a different manner from any other na tion. He executed the office of king himself. He gave them the miraculous urim and thummim,
whereby they might consult him, upon all emergencies, and receive his
He gave them Moses and Joshua, and after that he rais'd them up judges and captains, U>save thent in times of danger. Therefore this was call'd a theo-
that the government of God himself. And therefore was not successive or hereditary, because God their king did not •//>. But they grew weary of this theo-
and wou'd have /? 'Ȥ. , after the manner of the nations round about. Therefore God faid to Samuel, who was then judge over them, they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected ME, that should not reign over them. And this was not change of the species of their go vernment, from monarchy to commonwealth, for they asked king. And there was no king then in the world,. but what was absolute. . No other government was then known, but absolute monarchy. But they only sought to change their &agy from the invisible God, to mortal
whom they might have always in their eye to go in and out before them, andfight their battles, whenever
they thought there was occasion for as they faw in. Other nations. They would trust no longer in miracles, and the way in which they had all along been preserv'd. They thought that God was now tardy. But Samuel un dertook to justify God, against whom they complain'd, and faid to them, Sam. xii. &c. " the Lord
that advanc'd Moses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. Now therefore stand still that may reason with you before the Lord, of all the righteous acts of the Lord, which he did to you and to your fathers. " Then Samuel goes on, and
repeats
crafie,
crafie:
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398
The REHEARSAL.
repeats the many deliverances which God had wrought for them, from their coming out of Egypt to that day, by the several captains he had given them. And why then they shou'd mistrust him now ! But all wou'd not do : they were bent upon it : and their faith quite saiPai them, as Samuel tells them, ver.