_Ancient men._--Truly, with due respect to such reverend men be it spoken, those things might well have been spared from putting in print, especially so long after his death, when not only he, but all his friends are taken out of the world, that might vindicate his name. That he was tainted with vices at the court before his conversion and calling, it is not very strange; and if he had lived and died in that condition, it is like he might have gone out of the world without any public brand on his name, and have passed for a tolerable Christian and member of the church. He had hurt enough done him, whilst he lived, by evil and cruel enemies; why should godly men be prejudicated to him after his death in his name? Was not the Apostle Paul a persecutor of God’s saints unto death? And doth not the same Apostle, speaking of scandalous and lascivious persons, say, “And such were some of you; but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God.” And if histories deceive us not, was not Cyprian a magician before his conversion, and Augustine a Manichæan? And when it was said unto him in the voice he heard, _Tolle et lege_, he was directed to that place of Scripture, “Not in gluttony and drunkenness, nor in chambering and wantonness, nor in strife and envying; but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and take no thought for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts of it.” By which it may seem that if God do not make choice of such men as have been infamous for gross vices before their calling, yet sometimes he is wont to do it, and is free to choose whom he pleaseth for notable instruments for his own work. As for other things that have been spoken of him and Mr. Greenwood and Mr. Penry, we leave them as they are. But some of us have reason to think there are some mistakes in the relations of those things. Only we shall add other public testimonies concerning them from witnesses of very worthy credit, which are also in print.