18 20. Hos. 4. 4 9. Mal. 2. 7. Ergo None ought to confound them ANABAP ANSWER By the Leviticall Law the Priests were distinguished from the people but that distinction is now taken away and by the Gospel any who hath the gift of Prayer and Interpretation of Scripture may both expound and dip and doe all such things as the Clergie of late have appropriated to themselves REPLY 1. The distinction of Priest and People is more ancient then the Leviticall Law and founded in the very Law of nature for the Indians have their Brackmans the Turks their Mufieâ—s the Heathen Romans had their Flamines and Arch-Flamines the Britaines and Galls their Druides Before the Law given we reade of Priests in Egypt and in Canaan and in Midian Melchizedech was a Priest to the most high God Gen. 14. 18. The Priests in Egypt had a portion by themselves Gen. 47. 22. Onely the land of the Priests Pharaoh bought not for the Priests had a portion assigned them and they did eat their portion which he gave them And Exod. 2. 16. there is mention of a Priest of Midian which had seven daughters 2. In the New Testament though the Leviticall Priesthood be taken away yet there still remaineth a distinction betweene the Clergie and Laitie for Christ Mat. 28. 19. giveth commission to his Apostles and their successors to teach all nations and baptize them and Iohn 20. 22. to remit and retaine sins and the Apostle evidently distinguisheth the Flock from their Pastours Act. 20. 28. Take heed to your selves and all the flock over which the holy Ghost hath made you overseers And Gal. 66. Let him that is taught in the word communicate to him that teacheth in all good things And Heb. 13. 17. Obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch over your soules as they that must give account that they may doe it with joy and not with grief ARGUMENT II. That for which God inflicted most severe punishments in the Law ought not to be attempted by any that feare God But God inflicted severe punishments upon Lay persons for usurping upon and intermedling with the Priests function as namely upon Corah Daâ—han and Abiram Num. 16. 31. and upon Vzza 2 Sam. 6. 7. and upon Vzziah 2 Chron 26. 21. Ergo None that feare God ought to attempt any such thing ANABAP ANSWER These plagues and judgements fell upon the persons above named for other crimes namely upon Corah and his complices for their conspiracie against Moses and Aaron Uzza for his presumption and Uzziah for his pride not simply for those acts done by them which seemed to trench upon the Priests and Levites office REPLY 1. It is true that the former delinquents were guilty of other crimes For as Angels often appeare single but Devils by legions so eminent vertues are for the most part single and rare in men but enourmous vices are seldome alone Yet this no way dulleth the point of the argument For the Text is expresse that the particular punishments above mentioned were laid upon them for those illegall acts done by them to the wrong and prejudice of the Sacerdotall function For what saith the Text Corah and his company said to Moses and Aaron You take too much upon you seeing all the congregation are holy every one of them Ver. 18. They took very man his censer and put fire on them and that hereby they encroached upon the Priests office it is evident by Moses reproofe ver 9 10. Is it a small thing that God hath appointed you to stand before the congregation to minister unto them and he hath brought thee neere unto him and seek ye the Priesthood also Likewise it is said of Vzza that he put his hand to the Ark of God and that therefore the Lord was wroth with him and smote him in the same place And for Vzziah the case is yet clearer for the Priests withstood him and said unto him 2 Chron. 26. 18 19. It pertaineth not unto thee Vzziah to burne incense to the Lord but to the Priests the sonnes of Aaron yet Vzziah will be medling with the censer and be burning incense contrary to the Law and thereby he incensed the wrath of God against himselfe and immediately the leprosie rose up in his forehead before the Priests in the house of the Lord besides the Incense Altar 2. I grant Corah and his complices couspired against Moses and Aaron but the cause was Moses and Aaron withstood his ambition and would not suffer him to arrogate to himselfe the Priests fâ—â—â—tion Vzza was presumptuous but for ought appeares in the Text he shewed it in nothing but this that he without any calling from God presumed to touch his Arke and doe the office of a Priest Vzziah was proud and it was the height of his pride which moved him to burne incense and not content with his Scepter to meddle with the Censer I shall adde no more to enforce this Reason then the Application of the words of the Oratour to Mark Anthonie I wonder Anthonie that thou art not frighted at their ends whose courses thou followest So I very much marvaile that they who doe such things as Corah Vzza and Vzziah smarted for feare not that they shall suffer in the like kind or a worse without repentance For although the earth open not her mouth and swallow them up as she did Dathan and his fellow Conspiratours yet Hell will open her mouth and swallow them body and soule And though God smite them not with temporall death as he did Vzza yet he will with eternall And though their flesh be not infected with leprosie as Vzziah's was yet their consciences are most foule and leprous in the sight of God ARGUMENT III. All that take upon them to execute the office of a Priest or Minister of the Gospel ought to have a calling thereunto Heb. 5. 4. 1 Tim. 4. 14. But Lay persons whether Merchants or Artizans or Husbandmen or any the like have no calling to execute the office of a Priest or Minister of the Gospel Ergo they may not assume or arrogate it to themselves ANABAP ANSWER Gods conferring gifts upon any man is a sufficient calling as for the imposition of Episcopall hands it is an Antichristian rite and giveth the partie ordained no power at all REPLY There is a double calling necessary to a dispenser of the mysteries of salvation Inward and Outward The Inward enableth them the Outward authorizeth them to discharge their sacred function Where thers are gifts if God encline the heart of the party to enter into the Ministery there is an inward calling yet this alone sufficeth not without an outward calling either ordinary or extraordinary Extraordinary callings sith Miracles are ceased we are not now to expect nor if any pretend easily beleeve or give way thereunto and therefore wee must stick to the ordinary calling by the imposition of the hands of the Presbyterie
either by the Roman lawes or in the opinion of the Magistrate those things of which they were accused were esteemed crimes and they punished as Malefactours their examinations and trials are truly said to bee proceedings in criminall yea and capitall causes and the patient is as much prejudiced and infinitely more wronged if he suffer death or bonds upon his confession of the fact if it be no crime at all Therefore this example serves to that end for which it is brought If it had been either unlawfull for the high Priest to require Christ to answer upon oath concerning that which the high Priest judged a capitall crime or for Christ to have given a direct answer in such a case he would have reproved the high Priest for adjuring him in such manner as he did or at least answered him with silence as he did Pilate and him also in other questions ARGUMENT III. What was appointed by the law of God cannot be in its own nature sinfull or repugnant to the law of nature For though some part of the law of God delivered by Moses doe not now bind us to the performance thereof yet wee are bound to beleive that law was just and holy and good and commanded nothing in its own nature sinfull or repugnant to the law of nature or right reason But answering upon oath in casues criminall which might tend much to the prejudice and dammage of the examined was appointed by the law of God Ergo answering upon oath in causes criminall is not sinfull and repugnant to the law of nature ANABAP ANSVVER Neither are the judicials of Moses now in force neither was any oath ex officio administred to the Jewes like to ours REPLY This argument is not brought to prove the necessity of taking an oath now in those very cases as namely of jealousie loan and the marriage of strange wives but the lawfulnesse of demanding and taking an oath in causes criminall in generall All these instances come home to the point in question and the argument holdeth strong à comparatus after this manner No sufficient reason can be alleadged why oathes may not bee imposed and taken as well by Christians under the Gospell as by Jewes under the Law in causes criminall reflecting upon themselves but oathes were lawfully demanded and taken by the Jewes in causes criminall therefore they may be so by Christians That such oathes were by Gods law injoyned to the Jewes appeareth first in case of Ioane or trust Exod. 22. 10 11. If a man deliver to his neighbour an Asse an Oxe or a Sheep or any beast to keep and it die or be hurt or driven away no man seeing it then shall an oath of the Lord be between them both that hee hath not put his hands to his neighbours goods and the owner of it shall accept thereof and he shall not make it good but if it bee stolne from him he shall make restitution unto the owner thereof In the case of jealousie Numb 5. 19. And the Priests shall set the woman before the Lord and uncover the womans head and put the offering of memoriall in her hands which is the jealousie offering and the Priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse and the Priest shall charge her by an oath and say to the woman if no man hath lyen with thee and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleannesse with another instead of thy husband be thou free from this bitter water which causeth the curse c. In the case of trespasse 1. Kings 8. 31. If any man trespasse against his neighbour and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to sweare and the oath come before thine Altar in this house then heare thou in heaven and doe and judge thy servants condemning the wicked to bring his way upon his head and justifying the righteous to give him according to his righteousnesse In case of prohibited marriages Ezra 10. 5. 11. Then arose Ezra and made the chiefe Priests the Levites and all Israel to sweare that they would put away their strange wives of the people of the land and they sware And Ezra stood up and said unto them ye have transgressed and have taken strange wives to increase the trespasse of Israel Now therefore make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers and doe his pleasure and separate your selves from the people of the land and from the strange wives It is true these cases are not everyway paralel to ours for our Priests have no receipt at this day to make the water of cursing nor are we prohibited to marry with forreyners so wee marry in the Lord neither doe we put men to their oathes in actions of trespasse but if the party accused deny it we convince him by witnesses yet this exception cutteth not asunder the sinewes of the former argument For though the cases in particular bee very different yet they agree in this generall that oathes have been lawfully urged and exacted of men touching matters dammageable criminall and penall to themselves and if oathes may be lawfully imposed and taken in this kind to satisfie the humour of a jealous husband or still the clamour of a private person wronged how much more is it equall and just that this be done upon the judges office who is no way privately interessed and for the satisfaction and preservation of the Church or Common-wealth to remove a common scandall and offence by the parties clearing himselfe or his condigne punishment ARGUMENT IV. What is just and equall and may bee done without breach of Gods law in Temporall Courts cannot be unjust nor derogatory to the divine law in Spirituall But oaths ex officio though not known by that name are usually taken held to be just and lawfull in temporal Courts namely Leet-Courts Sessions Assises Chancery and Court of Request For the Jury are upon oath to present all annoyances abuses and transgression of penall Statutes whereof themselves may be and often are guilty and the Defendants in Court of Request and Chancery answer upon oath to bills put against them the particulars whereof often deeply concern them and in case they give not a direct and full answer they proceed against them pro confessis and if they answer directly and fully in case they are faulty either by denying they forsweare themselves or by confessing the matter of fact they consequently condemne themselves nay which is very considerable they who are the greatest oppugners of our Ecclesiasticall Courts and greatest sticklers for the discipline of Geneva are forced to make use of the oath ex officio themselves For Comperell was appointed by the consistorie of Elders of Geneva to be examined upon oath concerning three interrogatories about dancing whereof two concerned what he had in his very purpose and intention of mind and this their practice was agreeable to the decree of a Nationall Synod held in France in the year 1565. whereby by
it is resolved that the faithfull may bee constrained by the Consistorie to tell the truth so farre forth as it derogateth nothing from the authority of the Magistrate This constraint could not be by fine or imprisonment or torturing the body for in so doing then they should trench upon the Civill Magistrates right but by imposing of an oath which is a kind of torturing of the conscience Ergo oathes ex officio are just and lawfull in Spirituall Courts ARGUMENT V. If the oath of purgation whereby a man in a cause criminall is required to take his corporall oath that he is not guilty of such an offence wherewith he is charged bee lawfull the oath ex officio cannot be unlawfull for they are either the same or at least stand upon the same ground But oaths of purgation as they have been very ancient so they have bin alwayes held lawfull and in many cases necessary Ergo the oath ex officio is also lawfull Now for an oath of purgation we find it as ancient as the Trojan warres Agamemnon being suspected to be nought with Hippodamia commanded an Host or Sacrifice to bee brought and drawing his sword he divided it in two parts and passing between them with his bloody sword sware that hee had never defiled Hippodamia by incontinence In the eighth generall Councell Action 5. when Photius the heretick was demanded by the Councell whether he would admit of the Ordinances of the holy Fathers and he answered not any thing thereunto the President of the Synod signified unto him that by that his silence he should not escape but the rather be condemned silence in such a case evidently arguing guilt In a Councell held at Tribur a lay-man in case of vehement suspition is appointed to purge himselfe by his oath and a Priest to be interrogated by the consecration of the holy Sacrament and before this Sixtus the third an ancient Bishop of Rome upon the accusation of one Bassus did willingly make his purgation upon oath and Gregory the great injoyned Leo Memius and Maximus three Bishops to cleare and purge themselves of severall crimes by their oathes ANABAP OBIECT But they object out of the law Nemo tenetur seipsum accusare vel prodere sive propriam turpitudinem raevelare No man is bound to accuse or detect himselfe or lay open his own shame But by taking the oath ex officio he bindeth himselfe if he be a Delinquent to discover his own crimes and so lay open his nakednesse therefore no man is bound to take the oath ex officio No man is bound to goe to the Magistrate and indict himselfe and give the first notice of any crime he hath committed but the case is altered when upon a fame or strong presumptions he is legally called before a Judge and according to forme of law required upon oath to testifie the truth For then as saith Aquinas Non ipse se prodit sed ab alio proditur dum ei necessitas respondendi imponitur per oum cui obedire tenetur He doth not detect himselfe but is detected by another when the Iudge to whom he is bound to answer directly by interrogation upon oath extorts the truth from him Neither doth the law nor the Judge principally nor in the first place intend by ministring such an oath to intangle much lesse condemne him out of his own mouth but find out the truth and clear the party thereby if he be innocent and in such case by refusing the oath he wrongs himselfe and his own cause We cannot follow a better President then our Saviour but he when he was examined of his Disciples and Doctrine Io. 18. 19. would give no direct answer whereof the high Preist might have taken advantage but puts him off v. 20 21. to those that heard him saying I spake openly to the world I ever taught in the Synagogue and in the Temple whither the Jewes alwayes resort and in secret have I said nothing why askest thou me aske them that heard me Therefore we ought not to confesse ought against our selves by oath or otherwise but put our adversaries to the proofe In a case where other proofe may be had there is no necessity for a man to give advantage to his adversary by his owne confession but in case there be no other evidence and the lawfull Magistrate to whom we are bound to give a direct answer in obedience to his lawfull command this example of our Saviour doth not warrant us to use any evasion or tergiversation The example of our Saviour was truly alledged above to the contrary for though upon a bare interrogation of the high Preist hee did not discover himselfe unto him what he was yet upon his adjuration which was a requiring to answer upon oath hee acknowledgeth himselfe to be Christ the Sonne of God Every oath ought to be for confirmation to put an end to all strife Heb. 6. 16. But this oath ex officio is not ministred to make an end of any Litigious suite but rather to begin it and set it on foot for as soone as Articles are put in against a man before any pleading of the cause on either side this oath is usually tendered There are two sorts of oathes promissory of things to come assertotory of things past In promissory there is no respect at all had to compose any difference or controversie but to assure loyalty or fidelity in assertory oathes one end is ending strifes but not the only end neither doth the Apostle imply that every controversy may be decided and ended by a single mans taking his oath For this oath may be suspected and the contrary thereunto deposed by others and sometimes evidence of fact controls his oath but the meaning is that in controversies among men the oath of an honest man is a great meanes to set a period to farther waging of Law Even this oath tendeth to the speedier ending of controversies and oftentimes it stops all farther proceedings when the party burthened by presumptions is cleared and dismissed upon his oath Though this oath be given in the beginning of a suit to lay a firme ground and foundation thereon yet the intention of him that ministreth the oath is by clearing the matter of fact to proceed more speedily to the Quaestio Iuris and the pleading it and more maturely deciding it and so this oath tendeth to the sooner ending of strife Either the crimes objected against any man are manifest or hidden if they bee open and manifest there needs no oath ex officio to discover them but witnesses only are to be produced which in such cases cannot be wanting and if they be hidden and secret then the Apostles rule takes place 1. Cor. 4. 5. Therefore judge nothing before the time untill the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darknesse and will make manifest the Counsels of the hearts and then shall
other his Dominions unto whom the chiefe government of all estates of this Realm whether they be Ecclesiasticall or Civill in all causes doth appertain and is not nor ought to be subject to any forrain jurisdiction The Lawes of the Realm may punish Christian men with death for heinous and grievous offences The summe of all is the Civill Magistrate is a divine ordinance and his chiefe care is or ought to be Religion for the defence and vindication whereof God hath put a sword in his hand to cut off the disturbers of the Peace as well in the Church as the Common-wealth and because he is the Minister of God for our wealth and safety his authority is to be obeyed by all sorts of men for conscience sake and not to be resisted upon paine of damnation And now Christian Reader thou hast heard a Harmony listen not to discords thou hast heard a consort of silver Trumpets hearken not to a single oat-pipe or the harsh sound of Rams hornes thou hast heard the suffrages of all the learned Divines in the Reformed Churches regard not the votes of a few illiterate Mechanicks much lesse the fancie and dreames of fanaticall Enthusiasts who because they are Anomolaes themselves would not by their good will there should bee any Rules because they are wandring Starres they would have none fixt because they are dissolute they would have no bonds of Lawes because they are Schismaticks and Non-conformists they would have no Discipline in the Church because they are dunces and ignorant both of Tongues and Arts they would have no learning nor Universities Lastly because they walke inordinately they would have no coercive power in the Magistrate to restraine them There was never more cause then now to take heed what thou hearest and to try the spirits whether they are of God or no for there is not one only lying spirit as in the dayes of Ahab but many lying spirits in the mouthes of Prophets not only Romish Priests and Iesuits who endeavour to seduce thee to spirituall thraldome idolatry and superstition but also diverse sorts of schismaticall Teachers who intice thee to carnall liberty prophanenesse sacriledge and faction When I first heard of the manner of taking Apes in the Indies I could scarce forbeare laughter but now seeing dayly men of worth and parts caught after the same manner by our new Sectaries I can hardly refrain tears The maner of taking those beasts is thus described he that goes about to catch Apes in those parts of America which abound with them brings a Bason with fair water and therein paddles with his hands and washeth his face in sight of the Apes and then steps aside for a while the Ape seeing the coast cleare steales to the Bason and seeing his face in the water is much delighted therewith and in imitation of the man dabbles with his feet in the cleare water and washes his face and wipes his eyes and after this he lyes in wait for him fetches away the Bason powres out the faire water and fills it againe with water mingled with birdlime and puts the Bason in the place where it stood before the Ape returning to the Bason and suspecting nothing puts his feet in the birdlime and with that foul mingled water washes his face and wipes his eyes which are thereby so dazled the eye-lids closed up that unawares he is easily caught In like manner these late Proselytes who invade many empty Pulpits in the City and Suburbs at the first in their Sermons set before thee as it were a Bason of the pure water of life wherin thou maist see thy face wash away the spots of thy soul but after they have got thy liking and good opinion confide in thee then they mingle bird-lime with the water of life the birdlime of Socinianisme of Libertinisme or Antinominianisme Brownisme and Anabaptisme wherewith after they have put out or closed the eyes of thy judgement they lead thee whither they lift and make a prey of thee Praemonitus praemunitus I have forewarned thee bee thou forearmed against them and the Lord give thee a right judgment in all things Gastius de exord Anabap. p. 495. Quia Anabaptistae à veritate avertunt aures idea Deus mittit illis Doctores non qui lingua medica sanarent ulcera ipsorum sed qui pruritum ac scabiem affectuum ipsorum commodè scalperent Because the Anabaptists turn away their eares from the truth God sendeth them teachers according to their desire not such as with their wholesome tongues and doctrine heale their sores but with their nailes scratch gently the itch of their carnall lusts and affections Remarkeable Histories OF THE ANABAPTISTS WITH OBSERVATIONS thereupon THE French after the first course of solid dishes entertaine their guests with Kicke-shoses and wee with fruit In the former part of this Treatise courteous Reader as well in the propounding our arguments for the orthodox faith as in the Refutation of the Anabaptists objections against it I desired to set before thee Solid and substantiall dishes to strengthen thee in the true doctrine of thereformed Church of England but in these ensuing relations and observations I make bold to set on the board Kicke-shoses and variety of strange fruits which though peradventure they will not much nourish thy faith yet eaten with a graine of Salt will some way irritate thy appetite and help thy digestion and concoction OBSERVAT. I. That the Anabaptists are an Illiterate and Sottish Sect. As Macarius who had the care and oversight of erecting that magnificent structure at Ierusalem built by Helena the mother of Constantine the great was happy in his name for Macarius in Greek signifieth blessed and as Theodoret testifieth a blessed man was he so on the contrary many Arch-hereticks and Boâ—tefeux of the Church and State have been happily unlucky in their names their God-Fathers at the Font proving Prophets and the names they gave them being presages of their qualities and fortunes and Characters of their persons Haymo noteth out of Iraeneus that Ebion the Father of the Ebionites signifieth in Hebrew poore and silly and a silly poore man God wot was he Manes the Father of the Manichees derives his name in Greeke from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 insanio or à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 insania madnesse and verily a franticke heretick was he Aërius the Father of the AërianÌ„s carieth wind in his name and a light giddy-braind fellow was hee blowne into his heresie with the wind of ambition as Saint Augustine declareth in his bed-roll of heresies What should I descend to Maldonate whos 's very name speaketh the abuse of his filts Maldonatus quasi malè donatus and to Ignatius the Founder of his Sect Ignatius Layola who as he hath Ignem fire in his name so he and his Disciples have proved the greatest Incendiaries in the Christian world I will trouble thee but with one instance more and that is