II. TRUE TEXT. FALSE GLOSS.

A HUSBANDMAN, anabaptistically inclined, in a pleasant humour came to his minister, and told him, with much cheerfulness, that this very seeds-time the words of the Apostle, 1 Cor. ix. 10, were fulfilled: That he that plougheth may plough in hope.

Being desired farther to explain himself; I mean, said he, we husbandmen now plough in hope that at harvest we shall never pay tithes, but be eased from that Antichristian yoke for the time to come. It seemeth he had received such intelligence from some of his own party, who reported what they desired.

He might plough in hope to reach his nine parts, but in despair to have the tenth; especially since God hath blessed us with so wise a Parliament, consisting not only of men chosen, but of persons truly the choice of the nation, who will be as, if not more, tender of the Church’s right than their own interest. They have read how Pharaoh, king of Egypt, Gen. xlvii. 22, would in no case alienate the lands of the priests. The very Gypsies, who generally have no good name, (condemned for crafty cheaters and cozeners,) were conscientiously precise in this particular, and they would not take away what was given to their God in his ministers.