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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	read_v	see_v	time_n	3,254	5	3.4751	3	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A41074	Lex talionis, or, The author of Naked truth stript naked	Fell, Philip, 1632 or 3-1682.; Gunning, Peter, 1614-1684.; Lloyd, William, 1627-1717.	1676 (1676)	Wing F644; ESTC R20137	30,835	44

were from Heaven and stand upon that Scripture Basis of As my Father sent me so send I you by vertue whereof the Bishops during the first ten Persecutions governed their Flocks in despight of all Secular opposition and retaining part of their administration to themselves disposed of some to Priests and Deacons which is as notorious in fact as any thing in the world The Bishops may do tolerably well with this new word Commission instead of the old of Order Especially since in the close it is confest by our Author that in this order the Apostles left the Church at their death and in this order their Successors continued it as in duty sure they ought from time to time near 1500 years without any interruption wherefore for any to alter this way of Government or to take upon them to ordain not being chosen this way to it they would be guilty of great rashness and high presumption Nor will it be in my Authors power to kick all this down again as he endeavours in the following period by making the orders given by Priests though irregular yet firm and valid for if this power be from Heaven and separate from all Secular Authority as to its Nature and Original though limited by it in its Exercise and Application no man upon any pretence can take this honour to himself or confer it on others but they who were called of God as was Aaron But let us see how well our Author confutes the distinction of Order between Bishops and Priests T is ridiculous says he that the Priesthood which is capable to do the greatest things to Consecrate the Souls of men by Baptism and the Lords Supper yet forsooth cannot Consecrate Oil and Cups I desire to know whether a Deacon cannot Consecrate the Souls of men by Baptism and the Preaching of the Gospel or if they can whether they are of the same Order with Priests Or whether a Judg who has power of Awarding Life or Death which is the greatest thing may also make a Knight which is a less and if therefore a Judg and a King be of the same Order This word ridiculous is very unlucky and commonly returns on him who is most busie with it But since we are faln upon the instance of a King for farther illustration of this matter let us consider the Monarchs of the East who permitted the whole Administration of their Affairs to their Favorites as we read of Pharaoh that he pulled his Ring off his hand and said to Ioseph without thee no man shall lift up his hand or foot in all the Land of Egypt and according to thy word shall all my People be Ruled but for all this Pharaoh and this his Minister of State were not of the same Order for in the Throne he was greater then he Though the King had stript himself of the whole Execution of his Power and put it into the hand of his Favorite yet so long as the Origination of it continued with him he was as absolute and the other as subject as ever T is true the Bishops power is in itself Subordinate and Ministerial he must not Lord it over the Inheritance of God but as to the dispensing of it to the inferior Orders the Parallel will hold they all Act in Subordination and dependence upon him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saies Ignatius No Priest or Deacon for several Centuries ever did it without particular leave given by the Bishop nay the Lector or Reader did not so much as Read the Gospel till first he had brought the Book to the Bishop and had his permission to go to the Ambo or Reading Pu● with it and though the Licence with us be not no● every day renewed yet the dependence is still owned in th● very Form of our Ordination where the Bishop says to the person Ordained take thou Authority to Read the Gospel in the Church of God and Preach the same when thou art thereunto Licenced by the Bishop himsel● But a farther Argument is taken from the promiscuous use of the name of Bishop and Presbyter to prove they are of the same Order which sure is one of seeblest ways of proving any thing the whole force of it amounts to this St. Peter and St. Iohn call themselves Presbyters but were also Bishops therefore Presbyters and Bishops are all one which is as much as to say that his Maj●sty is King of Great Britain and Knight of the Garter therefore to be King of Great Britain and Knight of the Garter is all one Nay St. Paul stiles himself a Deacon as well as an Apostle therefore to be a Deacon and an Apostle is all one but if our Author be not satisfied with this let him Read the Thirteenth Chapter of the most Learned Bishop of Chester's Vindiciae Ignati● and he will see how accurate the first Christian Writers were in distinguishing the three Orders of Bishop Deacon and Priest We will go on and attend him in his Talent of Book Learning wherein he has been hitherto so unfortunate and see how in his following expedition he mends the matter And here he tells us that Aerius whom by the way he constantly calls Arius was not a Heretick upon the account of his introducing a parity between Bishops and Priests but only for being an Arian That is Epiphanius made a List not of several Heresies but a Catalogue of several Arians and the 69. Heresie being assigned to Arius it passes the Muster again in the 75. Heresie under the auspice of A●rius It is agreed on all hands that discontent made Aerius a Heretick for that Eustathius whom he thought a worse man then himself was preferred before him and being in power though formerly his particular Friend considered him no farther then to make him Master of an Alms-house We are then to believe that out of discontent Aerius turned Arian but as ill luck would have it Eustathius was of that Sect and if he had a mind to quarrel with him nothing could have been so proper as to have turned Orthodox in spight It is manifest he was originally an Arian and the prime part of his Heresie was what his malice naturally dictated and all Writers agree it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He entertained a mad opinion beyond what a man would receive saying What is a Bishop better than a Priest There is no difference between th●m there is but one order the same honour and dignity Since our Authors Greek reading fares no better let us go on to consider his Latine and there is no missing St. Ieroms Epistle to Evagrius which is so clear in the point that without more ado it converted our Author who it seems was once an Episcopal man into that errant Presbyterian that now he is Withal it makes him wonder and if the Reader understand Latine he will wonder to see men have the confidence to quote any thing out of it for the distinction between Episcopacy and

and to say incoheren● things and such as none else would say contradictory not only of all sober men who have wrote before him but of himself also is his Peculiar And so I leave him To the Charitable Admonition THis being addrest to Nonconformists I must confess does not properly concern me and is for the most part so well said that I heartily wish it had been the whole Book but since our Author finds himself oblig'd in Charity to think of those misguided men I must also upon the same Principle have a concern for him and earnestly beg him to revise what he has wrote and see whether he has laid Grounds in it for Socinianism and all kinds of Separation and whether he has done a good Office to Religion to supply Dissenters whom he decla●es to be obliged to obey the Government with all the Arguments he could think of to palliate and countenance their disobedience Surely men are not too well principled that it should be needful to unsettle them nor too dutiful that ther● should be reason to check them in their duty And in a time when as my Author himself observes Separation and many following Divisions have caused many to abhor the Church and turn to Popery It is obvious to apprehend that the doing every thing which the maddest Separatist requires and making Religion slovenly and despicable will not probably retain those who are tempted to Popery or recover them who have revolted to it It will not be enough to say that the Book has every where in it sober and honest truths for so has the Cracovian Catechism and the Alcoran nay there is scarce any Conjuring Book which does not for the greatest part consist of devout and godly Prayers We are told by our Author That it is above two years since he had these thoughts in which time he has read and conferr'd all he could to discover if he were in an Error but for all he could yet meet wi●h does not find it so but hopes all he says is truth and that it may be useful to the Publick in this present conjuncture of Affairs Now this is certainly a most prodigious thing that a man in two years time should never be once awake converse with any good Book or man of Sense or have the least reflexion upon what is either truth or expedience I never read this Book entirely over more than once nor have I had much leisure to consider it And yet I presume any indifferent Reader will see what gross misadventures have been detected by me and probably himself will discover many more For in earnest there are every where such blots that one can hardly avoid the hitting such flaws in Discourse that there needs no picking of holes or looking narrowly to find the Incoherence but the passage lies wide open and one may fairly drive a Cart and Horses thorow Upon the whole matter I cannot but conclude that Pride or Discontent or some other very prevalent Passion has here interposed For what else should make a man think himself fit to renverse the established Constitution of the Church and give his advice to the Parliament how they should evacuate all their Laws What should make him almost in every Period contradict himself pretend to the knowledge of Antiquity and Religion rant against Universities disparage the Ministers and Preaching of the Nation and at the same time discover the grossest ignorance and inconsideration as is imaginable And amidst all this acknowledge obligations to Submission and Conformity and whatever he has spoke against And after two years deliberation not to see that which is evident at the first glance to any one that has but half an eye All this I say mu●t be the Product of some one or many violent Passions Let my Author seriously consider where this Fundamental mischief lies search his own heart and desire the Searcher of hearts to discover it to him He says he has Fasted and Prayed let him do so again but with Humility and Earnestness and the good God be merciful to him FINIS

of the most eminent Propagators of the Christian Faith and at this time when Arianism entred the World merited this Character 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It continues to our times and is celebrated for persons powerful in the Word and study of Divine things What then could be the matter that should hare and lead a poor innocent man into such a Maze of falsehoods Why surely no more than this He had heard from the Parson of the Parish or some other good body in discourse that the Arian Heresie took its rise from Alexandria that it supported it self much with quirks of Philosophy and Sophistical Nicities and that there was a Divinity-School at Alexandria and a notable man one Pantenus had been Master of it and now if this were put together and all the Heresies of the world laid upon the back of this Pantenus and School-Divinity it would make a very pretty story and look like a learned account of Antiquity Just as if a stranger sho●ld have heard that there was a mischievous fanatical Rebellion which overr●n the whole Nation and was the cause of the destruction of so many tho●sands of Christians both body and soul fomented and carried on at Westmi●ster in England and likewise that there was a famous School and one Dr. Lambert Osbaston a noted man had been Master of it and then should tack all this together and say that Westminster School was a Seminary of Fanaticism and Rebellion and that Dr. Lambert Osbaston was the first and chief Promoter of it Now this ridiculous Fable is far more probable than that which our Author obtrudes upon us in that several of the Ringleaders in the la●e Rebellion as Sir Arthur Haslerig Sir Harry Vane Scot and others were really Scholars to Dr. Osbaston and Governours of that School nothing of which nature can be truly suggested of the other But our Author goes on and has certainly made a Vow not to say one true word in this whole Paragraph and keeps it most religiously His following period runs thus The Heresies before thi● were so gross and sensual that none took them up but dissolute or frantick people and soon vanisht But after this School-subtil way of arguing was brought into Christianity Heresie grew more refined and so subtil that the plain pious Fathers of the Church knew not how to lay hold of it c. But now what will become of us if there were refined and spiritual Heresies before Nay in a manner if this very Heresie were so What if they were followed by men neither dissolute nor frantick nor did soon vanish And that the Fathers of the Church were not so plain men but that they knew how to encounter this School-Divinity Monster Has not our Author the worst luck of any man that ever put Pen to Paper As to the sensuality and grossness of Heresie no● to look higher than the confines of this Age we talk of surely neither Novatianism nor the Heresie of Sabellius or Paulus Samosatenus of which Arianism was but an off-set were gross or sensual Nor were Novatus Tatian Tertullian and Origen who were all very considerable men and fell into Heresie before this time ever noted for being frantick or dissolute people But on the contrary their very severity of life and zeal for Vertue were the prime occasion of their Heresies Nor did their Heresies soon vanish but continued for several Ages some in their own others under new names and titles And whosoever reads the Controversies of those times will find that the pious Fathers of the Church were not quite baffled by School-distinctions and evasions nor did these Sophisters proud of their conquest triumph and carry away a specious appearance of truth But the advantage of Arius was quite of another kind in application and address 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He was of taking and pleasant conversation always glozing and flattering as Epiphanius tells us then adds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He addrest to each particular ●ishop with insinuating arts and flatteries whereby he drew in many to be Partizans with him And as Sozom●n expresses it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His Party finding it their interest to prepossess in their behalf the Bishops of each City they sent their ●gents to them with confessions of their Faith .... w●●●h practice turned mightily to their advantage But th●●r chief advantage lay in their Court insinuations first with Constantines Sister during his life and after with Constantius his Sons after his death and when the Aria●s had the suffrage of an Emperour on their side we need not imp●te it to Sophistry that they prevailed Our Author having not as he thinks fully enough discovered to us the mysteries of his knowledge goes on with the same ausp●ces of Ignorance and Error to acquaint us farther That this great bane of the Church took its rise from hence Many of the Primitive Doctors and Fathers being converted from Heathenism and having by lo●g and great industry acquired much knowledge in natural Philosophy Antiquity His●ory and subtil Logick or Sophistry were very unwilling to abandon quite these their long studied and dearly beloved Sciences falsly so called and therefore translated them into Christianity c. And now we know perfectly the true cause of all the Heresies that ever came into the Church I will adventure notwithstanding all this to add one more to the number and say in opposition to what is here averred that Christianity received more advantage from Philosophy than ever it did damage from it It is true as Tertullian tells us that the Philosophers were the Patriarchs of Hereticks but it is as true they were the Champions of Christian truth He must be a stranger to every thing that relates to the Church who know not how much Religion ows to Iustin Mart●r Athenagoras Ammonius Pantenus Clemens of Alexandria and notwithstanding all his misadventures to Origen himself The last and most dangerous attempt against Christianity was the setting up Heathen Morality gilded over with Magick against Christian Ethicks laboured by Apollonius Tyanaeus Porphyry Iamlichus Plotinus Hierocles Simplicius and several others And had not the good providence of God raised up the before mentioned and other eminent Christian Philosophers to attaque them in their strengths and fight them with their own Weapons it is to be feared our holy Faith would not have had so easie or so clear a victory over the World But because our Author has so particular a Pique against Sophistry I shall desire him at his leisure to read the twenty ninth Chapter of the seventh Book of Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History the Title of which Chapter is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 How Paulus Samosatenus baffled and confuted by one Malchion a Priest who had been a Sophister was deposed And sure the Sophister may be allowed to have done no small service who baffled and confuted that so considerable Heretick But the stop put to the Donatists Schism by the interposition of