Things we ought to suppose are all that Christ was appointed to do in reference to the ordering of the Church seeing we read of no more and therefore having fulfilled the appointment of God therein we ought to beleeve him as faithfull in his house as Moses was in his because he omitted nothing for the establishment of it which the Father thought necessary for him to do in his own person As for other things which were necessary to be made use of in after-time for the gathering and ordering of particular Churches in divers Cities Towns or Countries he left them to the ordering of his Apostles to whom before his Ascension he gave a promise of the Spirit for their Direction and Assistance which after his Ascension was performed for when he ascended up on high he gave Gifts unto men to that end and purpose and therefore he was faithfull in all his House as Moses was in his though he and his Apostles left not Rules and Direction at such a Latitude as to answer so many particularities of Affairs and occasions as Moses did Nor indeed was there the same Reason for it for if it may be lawfull to guess at the ground of Gods proceeding thus in this particular who transacts all things according to the best and most excellent dictates and proportions of wisedom there appears to be a great deal of Reason why Christ and his Apostles having left such Institutions Rules and Directions which are foundational and absolutely necessary for the Constituting of the Church in general should not descend to the inferiour points of Regulation touching particular Churches so as to leave Rules for it as amply as Moses did or to prescribe means and Expedients unto the use whereof all men should be tyed up who endeavour to propagate or promote the Gospel For that Christ did not mean to set down positive and particular Laws of so wide an extent for all things as Moses did the very different manner of the delivering of the Laws of Moses and the Laws of Christ doth plainly shew Moses had command to gather the Ordinances of God together distinctly that concerned the Jewish Church and orderly to set them down according to their several kinds for each publick duty and office the Laws that belong thereunto as appears in the Books themselves written of purpose to that end On the other side the Laws of Christ about the affairs of his Church we finde rather mentioned by occasion in the writings of the Apostles than any solemn Thing directly written to comprehend and Record them in a Legal method and form which I mention not and therefore let no envious eye make such a construction seeing it cannot be construed in diminution of the said Gospel-Laws which with a devout heart I reverence as of the most sacred and most transcendent Divine Authority but I hint this onely to intimate that the very different manner of the delivery of the Laws of Christ and Moses touching Church-affairs doth shew that the one had no intent to leave Laws which might answer the variety of Gospel-occasions in particulars of so large a compass as the other did to supply Church-occasions in the time of the Law Besides be pleased to consider that when Moses gave those positive Laws and Ordinances both Ceremonial and Judicial they were intended onely for that particular Nation who then were the sole People House or Church of God and accordingly God in the framing of those Laws had an eye and regard to the nature of that people for whom they were made and peculiar and proper Considerations were upon that account respected in the composure to answer most of the Occasions that might fall out in the administration of the Affairs of that Church and State which end might indeed easily be attained by prescribing Rules in and to a particular Nation But when Christ came the Case was much altered for whereas the House or Church of God in Moses time was confined to one single Nation now it was to be made up out of all Nations The Laws of the Common-wealth were then made conformable to the Order of Church But the Church under the Gospel being to spread through all States and Common-wealths was so formed as it might without prejudice to the Civil Peace be entertained in any Nation and therefore as the framing of positive Laws Rules or Directions of the same nature with those of Moses which might serve to fit the different Tempers and Constitutions the various necessities Affairs and Occasions of all the Nations of the World or of those Remnants which should be first converted in all Nations and oblige them to a very Puntilio as Mr. G. pretends was in the very nature of the thing altogether impracticable so it must have proved no less inconvenient then unnecessary For Christ himself having appointed the principal Ordinances before his departure such as might be conveniently made use of by the Church Universal and his Apostles having left divers Rules and Directions which are of the same general concernment and which may indifferently serve to the principal parts of Oeconomy in the Churches in all the Nations of the world it s to be supposed he hath by himself and his Apostles done all that the Father judged necessary for him to do on the behalf of the Gospel and thereby approved himself faithfull in all his House as Moses was in his And whereas I maintain that in particular matters of lesser Importance concerning the way of carrying on the Gospel there are no positive Laws or Rules to be found of so vast a Latitude and comprehension as to reach all Purposes Occasions Accidents and Emergencies in all succeeding times all over the world so as for ever to exclude altogether the use of humane Reason and discretion from assisting about the way and means of publishing the Gospel this Assertion of mine is so far from occasioning any man thereupon to infer or imagine any defect of wisdom and providence on the part of our Lord and Saviour that it is rather a clear Evidence he hath as becomes his Divine wisdom and faithfulness therein so ordered the matter as was most agreeable to right Reason which is a ray of the Divinity and to the nature and scope of His and his Fathers own great design and intendment which was and is To gather unto him self a People out of all Nations upon the face of the Earth So there is an end of his fourth Argument in the confutation whereof it was necessary to enlarge thus a little more than ordinary because as 't is a supposition too much rooted in the conceptions of men in these times so he seems to build much upon it and with many flashes of Ostentation to dazle the eyes of the Reader The residue of his Arguments which follow import little else but matter of scandal to which though there be no other Answer due than what Michael the Archangel gave the Devil yet somewhat must be
wherein Old men are twice Boys because he trifleth like any young Lad priding himself all along from page to page Ludere par impar equitare in arundine longa his whole Work being but a kind of Boys-play Insomuch as I must profess in dealing with his Arguments I was possessed with an equal Temperature of Indignation and Pity Pity to see him an antient Minister of the Gospel and one who a good while ago had a reputation of being Consciencious so plainly to prevaricate in point of Conscience to the reviling of Authority and abuse of his Brethren even while he is as it were sounding the trumpet to his own final dissolution or the great day of Account how little these things were in his thoughts when he penn'd his Book you are left to judge by his carriage and this my Answer On the other side my Indignation arose to observe that a man whose Writings shew him to be a Scholar should yet write so unlike a Scholar as he hath done observing neither Rule nor Mood in matter of Argument but rambling through a wilderness of Talsities Tautologies Slanders Self-contradictions and malicious Declamations instead of Reasons or Instances to make proof of what he pretends to he loseth himself and leads the unwary Reader quite out of the Road of Commons Sense and Honesty I would not willingly be tedious but I must needs have you a little more intimately acquainted with the Man and his Character He is worse than a Common Nusance for he doth not only stink and annoy savoury Christians by his rotten Opinions but by plain Lyes pardon the expression and Slanders endeavoureth to make others of all sorts as unsavoury as himself His Scribling Faculty is his disease which he labors under continually and happy it were for him if it would turn to the Hand-gout His Reason usually rides post with pride or passion and so is the more easily over-ridden by a vaporing Phant'sie this is it which gives Law to his Understanding cuts out work for all the other Faculties makes his Pen a ready writer and the Windmill in the Brain keeps the Press always going as if it were his Handmill for rather than it shall stand still he travels through all Shops like a Knight-errant to find out the Gyants in Print making Adversaries rather than want them that he may grinde them to powder Of a very Paper-worm there never was a verier Tyrant in the world He hath a Tool betwixt the Fore-finger and Thumb with which he scrues all things to his purpose he hath made crooked things strait and strait things crooked at pleasure killed all men of same with as little remorse as Domitian didFlies and Nebuchadnezzar like those whom he would he slew and whom he would he kept alive and whom he would he set up and whom he would he put down It hath been the wretched imployment of these his latter days and is still to go forth in the glory of this his strength and either to take or make an occasion to conflict with whatsoever persons or things he lights upon especially if the men be in any repute or acceptation above himself Then it is he bends his Bow makes ready bitter Arrows and feathers them at the Press that he may take them down a pin lower There is not an Instance to be found in this Age of such another Hector a man so full of Quarrels and Contests with men of Conscience and worth as this Mr. G. not sparing even such as he himself owneth for such I mean the Commissioners for Approbation as you may see in his Epistle and tells the world before hand he esteems them such yet as if it were because they are such or at least because they are esteemed by others as such he lifts up his Pen with all his might against them 'T were pitty such a Champion should lose the glory of his Atchievements and therefore to do him right I shall give you a short Story of his Duels and his other publick Engagements wherein I am to inlarge a little and yet no more than needs must The single persons he hath been in the Field with i. e in Print as his Adversaries and whom he used accordingly when he got them under the Presse are these Viz. Mr Gataker Mr Walker Mr Roborough Dr Williams Bishop of Ossory Mr Pryn Sir Francis Nethersole Mr John Geree Mr Herbert Palmer Dr Thomas Goodwin Mr Resbury Dr Hammond Dr Burgess Dr Hill Mr Jenkins Mr Edwards Mr Barlow Mr A. Steward in particular Books printed besides several Members of his own Church that he hath written against and divers others Thus you see what a notable Duellist he hath been But this is not all for this Tenth Worthy hath been so adventurous as to engage also with whole Troops and Regiments in the confidence of his own personal and single valour viz. The Parliament the Assembly of Divines the Ministers of the Province of London the Ministers of Sion-Colledge those Ministers that subscribed a Petition to the Lord Fairfax part of the Company of Stationers the Assembly of Dort and in this Treatise he challengeth forth the Commissioners for Approving and those for Ejecting of Ministers men of the greatest Eminency and worth His Highness with the Advice of his Council could pitch upon in and about the City and in every Shire throughout the Nation Nay he goes further yet and ventureth hereupon to provoke his Highness and Council in a most uncivil and unchristian manner causing them to undergo the Ordeal of his fiery flying Pamphlet turning the edge of his Pen against them and shamefully reproaching them in the eyes of the People as he himself in his Postscript to the Reader acknowledgeth his words may bear such a Construction viz. as savouring of an undue liberty and want of reverence to those that are in Authority yet instead of excusing the matter he goeth on in the same Postscript to justifie and exalt himself above all Authority and undertakes to give several Reasons for it As 1. Because the great men of the Earth might he in danger if he should not give them seasonable smitings 2. That these smitings are more the Reproofs of Jesus Christ than of man by which you see how he spares not even Christ himself but endeavours to entitle him as Patron of his lewd extravagancies against our Rulers 3. Because Kings Princes and Rulers are liable to these Reproofs or smitings as well as meaner men 4. Because Reprovers or Smiters in the Name of Christ are not in this to respect persons 5. Lastly Because the Author viz. himself stands particularly and publickly engaged to this for he boasts he hath formerly defended their Authority and therefore ought now to have a License to smite them Excellent good He in the pride of his heart looks upon himself as the man that is and ought to be exalted above all that is called God on earth being no less than the Pope or Christ's Vicar in
the Name of Christ to censure the proceedings of Princes and reprove or smite the Potentates Rulers great men of the Earth they being in their Actions subject to his Judgement and Correction he being the man out of all the Tribes and Kindreds of the People separated and set apart in his own conceit for the exercise of this Pontifical Authority over his Highness as if he meant to usurp the Papal Chair and turn out Pope Alexander the seventh And yet this is not all for as if he meant also to be no less than Alexander the great it was well observed lately by a Gentleman in my hearing that as King Alexander having conquer'd the world is said to have sighed because there were no more worlds to conquer so he having in his own Opinion triumphed over a world of Penmen and Powers wanting work elsewhere hath now turned his Arms against a greater in his own eyes than all these put together even against his sacred self most shamefully contradicting himself in many places and thereby hath given the world to understand what a Shuttle-cock this Mr Goodwin is who hath so set out himself with his own Pen and in Print too that the Nation may know he careth not to have his wit and reason and honesty and all obscured together rather then his sparkling Phantsie should not shine in its brightness And these things he hath done not in Anonymous small Kites and Pamphlets but in grave and as he thinks goodly Treatises which he hath set his name to in Capital Letters and out of which I shall give you three or four Instances of the Combats he hath had with himself upon the open Stage One while you have him for the King as in that Book of his called Anticavalierism page 10 11. where you may read this following Passage As for offering violence to the person of a King or attempting to take away his life we leave the proof of the lawfulness of this to those profound disputers the Jesuites who stand engaged by the tenure of their professed Doctrine and Practice either to make good the lawfulnes thereof or else to leave themselves and their Religion and abhorring and hissing to the world As for us who never travelled with desires or thoughts that way but abhor both Mother and Daughter Doctrine and Practice together we conceive it to be the just Prerogative of the persons of Kings in what case soever to be secure from the violence of men and their lives to be as consecrated Corn meet to be reaped and gathered onely by the hand of God himself David's Conscience smote him when he came but so neer the life of a King as the cutting off of the lap of his Garment Not long after contrary to all this he wrote that Book entituled A Defence of the Honourable Sentence passed upon the late King by the High Court of Justice In the 73 Page whereof writing against such as would not have had the King put to death he adviseth them to retract that Inhumane Tenet of exempting Kings from Punishment whereby they encourage Kings to turn Tyrants commit murthers and all abominations that Tenet of theirs saith he I mean wherein they deny unto Kings the help of that Bridle for the ruling of their lusts more needfull for them than for any other sort of men the fear of death by the Sword of Civil Justice upon any occasion whatsoever At the latter end of the same Book he concludes thus The late wars wherein the King by the sword of those men of blood who cast in their lot with him shed so much innocent blood in the land being causelesly and contrary to the frequent obtestations earnest sollicitations grave advisements of his Great Council the Parliament commenced by himself are so far from mediating on his behalf for the bloodshed that they open the mouth of it the wider and cause it to cry so much the louder for vengeance upon Him and His both unto God and men Sic idem jungat vulpes mulgeat hircos A second Instance may be taken out of a certain Letter of his written to T. G. against Independencie which was printed Anno 1643. condemning Separate Congregations so he terms them in his Preface I am saith he as confident as Confidence it self can make me that their way of a Covenant is a mere humane Invention and a strain of that wisdom that desires to exalt it self not only against men but against God himself p. 1. And p. 10. saith he If you have the Truth with you woe to my Wits Reason and Vnderstanding never poor man so strangely misused by such Friends in this world Again p. 13. he hath these words I do profess in the sight of God and in as great singleness and simplicity of heart as ever man in this world spake word unto you that I do as clearly apprehend Error and Mistake throughout the greatest part of your way that is Independencie as I do truth in this Conclusion That twice Two makes Four A lusty Confidence indeed Yet notwithstanding now his twice Two doth not make Four For within a few moneths after he changed his Judgment from the Presbyterian way wherein he then stood and professed himself for this way which he had so confidently decried and took up the practice of it gathered a Separate Church in Coleman street and wrote divers Books in defence of this way and with as much confidence as before as may be seen in his Books against A. Steward Mr. Edwards and other Presbyterians A Third Instance and which is most pertinent to our purpose is in reference to these two Commissions which he flies out against with so much fury the one for Approving and the other for Ejecting and which he in this Pamphlet of his makes the abhorring of his soul and is angry with his Governers about them and tells us he ought to be angry and to smite them with as much shame and reproach before the World as his Pen is able to load upon them Nevertheless both these Commissions are no other not only for substance but also in each material circumstance then what was laid down in certain Proposals for propagation of the Gospel and there distinctly commended one after the other to a Committee of Parliament appointed to receive such Proposals Febr. 8. 1651. as may be seen in Mr Scobels Office in these Words We whose Names are subscribed do with others humbly desire that these Proposals be presented to the Honourable Parliament c. To all which Mr. John Goodwins own self and Mr John Price one of the Elders of his Church together with divers others then subscribed And yet the Tenor of his present Book is against the Magistrate for granting such Commissions as having in his opinion nothing to do with propagating the Gospel and extream severe he is in his language against the Commissioners though the purport of their Commissions to be act according to such Instructions as Mr G.
the same work of Gospel-propagation For if so be that Christ neither immediately of himself nor mediately by his Apostles established such obligatory Rules and Directions as are pretended to exclusive of all other means by vertue of any Precept or exemplary Practice then judge ye whether this bold Assertion of his be like to hold right in conclusion The first observable Medium that the Apostles made use of for the propagation of the Gospel and augmenting the number of Converts and Professors was the exercising a Community of Goods so we may read Act. 4. 34 35. That as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices of the things that were sold and laid them down at the Apostles feet and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need This is one Instance of Apostolical practice and example which no man that knows the manner and condition of Mr. Goodwin will so much as imagine 't is his opinion that this is one of the Rules binding himself or the Magistrate or any other to observe in promoting the publication of the Gospel 'T is believed neither the Credit nor the Conscience of the Man will rejoice in such an Assertion and therefore having him herein I dare say confitentem reum and Marsupio consulentem it shall be pressed upon him no further Another means that the Apostles made use of for the spreading of the Gospel was that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Laying on of hands whereby the extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Ghost were in those days usually conferred upon such as they converted to the Faith and these again made use of it in order to the converting of others that men seeing those miraculous Gifts breaking forth in several Operations and being thereby convinced of that supernatural and mighty power which then attended the ministration of the Gospel might be brought in to the Faith of Jesus Christ and be confirmed in it But in all the Prints and grave Determinations hitherto published by Mr. Goodwin our great Master of Sentences we do not find that he hath concluded us and all the World under the observance and imitation of the Apostolical practice and example in this particular as absolutely necessary for the work of Gospel-propagation And so I pass it over at present till it be known how his Infallible self will be pleased to pass a Judgment in the matter A third means that the Apostles made use of for promoting the Truth of the Gospel was That when occasion of difference did arise among the Primitive Christians touching Gospel-affairs to the hinderance of its progress they to wit the Apostles and Elders assembled together and by Decrees of their own made an authoritative positive decision in the Case and gave Laws to be observed by all the Churches as you may read Act. 15. And it 's conceived Mr. Goodwin never yet maintained but rather hath openly avowed the contrary that this Example of the Apostles is to be received as a Rule universally binding all men in all Ages to do the like and to assume the same power of Legislation and Determination in the way of Synods or Assemblies in order to the promoting of the Gospel These are the main observable Practices mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles and some other there were which related to things reputed of an indifferent nature as the eating or not eating of certain Meats using or not using of Circumcision and of divers Rites and Ceremonies of the Mosaical Law as you may read Act. 21. and Gal. 2. which sometimes were admitted sometimes rejected as may be seen by Pauls circumcising of Timothy when as the same Paul at another time was stiffly opposing and pleading against the practice of Circumcision Now we suppose Mr. Goodwin will not say That this kind of liberty so assumed and practised is one of the standing Rules which he with so much confidence commends unto the Reader as necessarily to be observed in the promoting of the Gospel And therefore unless our Reveernd Author can produce some other Examples and Practices of the Apostles which yet we have not seen and with good evidence propound them to the World as universally obligatory upon men to follow he will seem to be as a man beating the air and that hath made a noise to no purpose For the truth is whereas in all the Acts of the Apostles other men can perceive no such Examples of theirs from whence such positive Rules as he pretends to are either directly or by consequence deducible so among all the Precepts of the Apostles contained either in that Book or in any of their Epistles no Rules will be found of so comprehensive a nature as to give direction in all particulars that may fall out so as to exclude all use of humane reason and discretion in the Magistrate or any other towards the advancing so good a work As to the main concernments of Church-Oeconomie and Administration they are sufficiently provided for by the Precepts and Directions left by the Apostles in Writing but as to Church-edification and the gathering in of Beleevers through the preaching of the Gospel by employing and encouraging men to that work there are no Precepts by them recorded to Posterity but what make in justification of those two Commissions of Approbation and Ejection which were given out by his Highness and the Councel as will be made evident by and by when Mr Goodwin comes to fall more directly upon the Commissions and those reverend and worthy persons that are impowered by them In the mean time it is submitted to the Reader what to think of Mr Goodwins first Hypothesis or Supposal and whether he can imagine it was the intendment of Christ either immediatly of himself or mediatly by his Apostles to make such large Provision either by way of Precept or Example to be as standing Rules in perpetuity utterly exclusive of the use and assistance of humane prudence in order to the publication of the Gospel Now to the second false Hypothesis or Supposition upon which the Argument is founded and which is implicitely contained in the Minor Proposition falsly supposing and insinuating as if our Commissioners for Approving and Ejecting were an Authority constituted by his Highness and the Councel in and over the Church and People of Christ For Confutation of this the onely way is to make enquiry into the nature of the Ordinances or Commissions themselves by the genuine scope and drift whereof it will be certainly known of what kind they are and what was the Intent of our Governours in the establishment of them that thereby they should deserve to be scandalized and so rudely handled by him who would be thought a man of Ingenie and most high Ingenuity To this end that the truth may be cleared let both the Ordinances speak for themselves The First is that which he is pleased to call the Commission of Tryers rightly entituled An Ordinance
make a ratling noise in Rhetorick to please childish fancie but what are these things to men of solidity and sobriety that would inform their understandings But 't is all one with him he is every jot as light and toyish also in managing matter of Argument And this appears by his trifling with another Scripture which he hath drawn in I know not how to prove that Christ hath left Rules enough of such a nature as there needs no help of any prudence to promote the preaching of the Gospel But what trow ye is the proof Even such another Text save only it makes less if that were possible to his purpose than the former It is Luk. 12. 49. I am come to send fire on the earth and what will I if it be already kindled This he tells us signifieth that Christ desired nothing in this world at least comparatively before his departure from it but only to see that fire kindled which he came to send on the earth that is to see the Gospel as it were to have gotten footing and taken some hold in the world Well admit this be the right interpretation what doth he infer from it Ergo doubtless the Lord Christ who was desirous to see this was sollicitous and provident enough by himself or by his Apostles at least to order and enjoin all things necessary or meet for the spreading of the Gospel upon terms of the best advantage after him and not to leave so important an affair to the care and contrivance of the Secular Powers Doubtless while Christ and his Apostles were upon the earth they neglected not to order things which were then necessary and meet for the then spreading of the Gospel So much of Inference may be admitted But Mr. G. stretcheth it further and inferreth from this Text what it never intended to import His Argument stands thus Christs great desire was while he was on earth to see the fire of the Gospel kindled Ergo He by himself or his Apostles laid down such Rules and Directions so full in all circumstances that the Magistrate hath no liberty left to use his discretion for the kindling or promoting of it upon any occasion in After-Ages I shall not now resume the debate whether there are such large Rules and Directions to be found or whether the Magistrate may exert his Civil power and wisdom to settle any Course upon a Civil Account for the publication of the Gospel the former part of this Discourse having sufficiently cleared the Truth already concerning those Particulars but the matter under question here is this whether from such an Antecedent as this That Christ desired to see the Gospel take footing while he lived any such Consequence as this do naturally clearly follow Therfore he by himself or his Apostles left such universal Rules to promote it as exclude all endeavour and care of the Magistrate from assisting thereunto in succeeding times and generations It must be a rare Logical Engine that can serue in such a Consequence without the mighty help of Mr. G. who seems to have an extraordinary faculty of tormenting his own Brains and the Scripture to bring about shadowie pretences of Reason and Religion to cover the peevish designs and odd purposes of an angry spleen But he goeth on to tell us Experience hath manifested in all Ages that for men whoever they be to compound the wisdom counsels and institutions of Christ for the advancement of the Gospel in the world with their own devices and Inventions is the next way to obstruct the course of the Gospel And yet the professing powers of this world have always had itching desires to be officious unto Christ in this kind to obtrude upon him their own Projections and Inventions to accommodate and help him through the world with his worship and Gospel It is readily granted that the Civil Powers of the world have been too much engaged in mingling their own Inventions with the Institutions of Christ and Gospel-worship which hath been the great hindrance to a progress of the Gospel in the Truth and Power of it But why is this brought in here to be insinuated against the Civil Powers now in England and why is such a heap of words erouded in here to incumber the Reader and countenance the Insinuation Certainly Mr. Goodwin cannot charge the present Governors for mingling their own Inventions with the Institutions and Worship of Christ Could he have done it we should have seen him descending to particulars to prove the charge and have heard of him in a more lofty tune but knowing in his Conscience there is no such matter it serveth his turn well enough by packing and shuffling a company of words together thereby slily to cheat and instill an ill Opinion of the present Authority into the unwary Reader as if they compounded their own Inventions with Gospel-worship and Institutions But take away the Boxes and then what becomes of the Jugler Remove the deceptio visus Viz. the Mist of words from before the eyes of the Reader and then Mr G. his tricks and slights of Insinuation signifie nothing at all to the meanest understanding The Ordinances for Approbation and Ejection made by his Highness and the Councel are the present Subject of this bold mans discourse and therefore we are to suppose his meaning is that by those they have compounded their own devices with Christs Institution and worship If it be so he might have done well to have shewn us wherein they have so done by naming to us some Particulars in the mean time the very Title and Text of the said Ordinances do evince the contrary there being not the least 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or tittle that so much as mentioneth any thing concerning any Institution of Christ or concerning Worship further than this that the Ordinance for Approbation is purposedly directed to the encouraging and preserving of that Institution of Christ which is called Preaching in the power and purity of it according to the sence and meaning of Christ and his Apostles and the Ordinance for ejecting takes especiall care beside other things to preserve the sincere instituted Gospel-worship free from any humane mixtures or additions whatsoever by appointing the ejection of persons that frequently use the common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book or who are superstitious and Popishly minded which is a manifest evidence not only of this mans licentious boldness against Authority but also how much his Highness and the Councel abhor the mingling of humane Inventions with the Institutions and Worship of the Gospel and yet such strange stuffe he is fain to make use of to fill up the number fourteen ARGUMENT XV. THis pious Pretender having in the former Argument begun to give us a proof of his extraordinary faculties in speaking evill of dignities now in this takes upon him to dispute the Pedigree of their power and as if he were possessed with the Ghost of Plato or Aristotle very sagely determines what is the right
Malignancie they be enclined to Treat the State contumeliously That is a small matter in the eye of Mr G. because therein himself may shake hands with them as a brother having in this Book made as bold that way as any of them and therefore 't is contumeliously done of the State to animadvert upon their Malignancy and a crime in the Commissioners because they will not break their Trust by giving an Approbation to enable them to Treat the State with contumelie in publick before all the People This is the Inference and the sum of his Discourse about the matter amounts to this When Preachers are enclined to the highest mischief that may be in a Nation if the State or their Officers do take a reasonable Course to prevent the mischief they thereby contumeliously handle those Preachers and it were better to let them be actually doing mischief than irritate their malignant Inclinations by depriving them of the opportunity to rob the State of the hearts of the People This would make an Argument to prove as well that Robbers should be let alone upon the Rode and Cut-throats in the City rather than the Inclinations of them and their Companions should be provoked by a contumelious sending them to Gaol to keep them from doing further mischief It would be every jot as wise a Conclusion for the toleration of them and all other Offenders as that of Mr G. on the behalf of Malignant Preachers Nevertheless he breathes the utmost of his Conclusion in these words ERGO Therefore the Politick Consideration suggested in the Argument in Countenance of the Triers and their Constitution is clearly anti-politick and frowns rather than smiles upon their Consistory And so saith he if Policy having weighed them in her Balance finde them wanting and Religion having weighed them in the Balance of the Sanctuary hath found them yet wanâ—ing more let their Kingdom be divided and given to the Congregations of the Land That is to say to the Parishes for these are the Congregations he intends in this Place By which it is evident that as many of the former Passages of his Book are contradictory to each other so what pretences soever he made before on the behalf of Patrons the Gather'd Churches Presbyteries and others he contradicteth all now 't was not out of any respect to them but onely to colour his corrupt design of exasperating all sorts of men for an overthrowing the present Establishment of Commissioners for Approbation seeing after all he looks over the left shoulder with Scorn and Contempt upon the other Parties and in opposition to them all concludeth on the behalf of Parishes whom in gross he would prefer as the most competent Approvers But notwithstanding all that ever he hath said the foregoing Argument or Objection raised by himself on the behalf of the Commissioners stands yet far more considerable than all his pretended Answers thereunto which being found so mean surely no man will look so low as to frown at them though many may smile but especially at his Eighteen Arguments in the managing whereof he hath you see proved himself no less scandalous than vain in reference to Religion and carried the matter as illogically in this as in most of his other Scripts which whosoever reads with a judicious eye will hardly beleeve the man was ever acquainted with the Schools of Reason and will I dare say readily subscribe to this Censure That they are Thus Piper Scombros metuentia Scripta Such a sort of writings which might be most Politickly preferred if they were duly divided betwixt the Grocers and the Tipling-Schools of the Land A Postscript to the learned Reader concerning Mr J. Goodwin's Temper Mart. l. 5. Ep. 59. In Mamercum UT bene loquatur sentiatque Mamercus Efficere nullis Aule moribus possis Pietate fratres Curios licèt vincas Quiete Nervas comitate Rufones Probitate Marcos aequitate Mauricos Oratione Regulos jocis Paulos Rubiginosis cuncta dentibus rodit Hominem Malignum forsan esse tu credas Ego esse miserum credo cui placet nemo FINIS * 2 Pet. 2. 18. Dan. 5 9. Mr. G. his first Argument Mr. Goodwin's first Argument reduced into Form The Answer Mr Goodwin his first false Supposition His second false Supposition A Thesis in opposition to his first false Hypothesis * Asturam vapich servat sub pector ulpem Mr Goodwin his second Supposition refused Mr. G. his second Argument Answer Answ 2 Tim. 2. 2. 1 Tim. 3. 10. * These are the words of the Ordinance for ejecting * Projicit ampullas sesquipedalia verba Mr. G. his third Argument Mr. G. his Fourth Argument Mr. G. his fifth Argument b Entituled A Voice from Heaven against the Triers Mr. G. his eighth Argument Mr. G. his own expression Mr. G. his Ninth Argument A true State of the design and purport of the Ordinance for Approbation Mr. G. his Tenth Argument Mr. G. his Arminian Tenets Gospel Truths in opposition to Mr G his Arminian Teâ—ers Chap. 1. sect 11. Miserable Absurdities which Mr. G. hath been necessitated to broach to bottles up his Arminian Tenets Chap. 2. sect 1. Ibid sect 2 Chap 2 sect 12. ibid. Chap. 3 sect 1. Chap. 3. sect 3 Ibid. sect 7. Chap 4. sect 23. Ibid. sect 21. Sect 18. Sect. 17. Chap 16. s 14. Chap. 4. sect 8. Chap. 18. sec 37. Chap. 4. sect 30. Chap. 16. sec 15. Chap. 16. sect ult Ibid. Chap 9 sect 16. Chap. 13. sec 33 Mr. G. his eleventh Argument Mr. G. his 12th Argument Mr G. hâ—s 13th Argument Mr. G. his 14th Argument * Mat. 9 38. Luc. 10. 2. 1 Cor. 9. 27. Mr. G. his fifteenth Argument * Touching the truth of this I refer you to a Book written by my self entitulâ—d The State of the Case of the Commonwealth Anno 1650. wherein this 〈◊〉 is made evident by all the great Instances out 〈…〉 Mr G. his 16th Argument The Testimony of his Highness touching the Commissioners for Approbation and Ejection Mr G. his 17th Argument Mr G. his 18th Argument * Offa Cerbero An Objection on the behalf of the Commissioners starâ—ed by Mr. G. A Survey of the Answers brought by Mr. G. against the Objection raised by himself A reply to Mr G. his second Answer A Reply to Mr G. his third Answer A Reply to Mr. G. his fourth Answer Mr G. his pleadings for Malignant Pâ—â—achers