acknowledge that as well for particular application to special occasions as also in other manifold respects infinite Treasures of Wisdom are over and besides abundantly to be found in the holy Scripture yea that scarcely there is any noble part of knowledge worthy the minde of man but from thence it may have some direction and light yea that although there be no necessity it should of purpose prescribe any one particular form of Church-Government yet touching the manner of governing in general the Precepts that Scripture setteth down are not few and the examples many which it proposeth for all Church-Governors even in particularities to follow yea that those things finally which are of principal weight in the very particular Form of Church-Polity although not that Form which they imagine but that which we against them uphold are in the self-same Scriptures contained If all this be willingly granted by us which are accused to pin the Word of God in so narrow room as that it should be able to direct us but in principal points of our Religion or as though the substance of Religion or some rude and unfashioned matter of building the Church were uttered in them and those things left out that should pertain to the form and fashion of it Let the cause of the Accused be referred to the Accusers own conscience and let that judge whether this accusation be deserved where it hath been laid 5. But so easie it is for every man living to err and so hard to wrest from any mans mouth the plain acknowledgment of Error that what hath been once inconsiderately defended the same is commonly persisted in as long as wit by whetting it self is able to finde out any shift be it never so sleight whereby to escape out of the hands of present contradiction So that it cometh herein to pass with men unadvisedly faln into Error as with them whose state hath no ground to uphold it but onely the help which by subtil conveyance they draw out of casual events arising from day to day till at length they be clean spent They which first gave out That nothing ought to be established in the Church which is not commanded by the Word of God thought this principle plainly warranted by the manifest words of the Law Ye shall put nothing unto the Word which I command you neither shall ye take ought therefrom that ye may keep the Commandments of the Lord your God which I command you Wherefore having an eye to a number of Rites and Orders in the Church of England as marrying with a Ring Crossing in the one Sacrament Kneeling at the other observing of Festival days more then onely that which is called the Lords day enjoyning Abstinence at certain times from some kindes of Meat Churching of Women after Childe-birth Degrees taken by Divines in Universities sundry Church Offices Dignities and Callings for which they found no Commandment in the holy Scripture they thought by the one onely stroke of that Axiom to have cut them off But that which they took for an Oracle being sifted was repeal'd True it is concerning the Word of God whether it be by misconstruction of the sense or by falsification of the words wittingly to endeavor that any thing may seem Divine which is not or any thing not seem which is were plainly to abuse and even to falsifie Divine Evidence which injury offered but unto men is most worthily counted heinous Which point I wish they did well observe with whom nothing is more familiar then to plead in these causes The Law of God the Word of the Lord Who notwithstanding when they come to alledge what Word and what Law they mean their common ordinary practice is to quote by-speeches in some Historical Narration or other and to urge them as if they were written in most exact form of Law What is to add to the Law of God if this be not When that which the Word of God doth but deliver Historically we construe without any warrant as if it were legally meant and so urge it further then we can prove that it was intended do we not add to the Laws of God and make them in number seem more then they are It standeth us upon to be careful in this case For the sentence of God is heavy against them that wittingly shall presume thus to use the Scripture 6. But let that which they do hereby intend be granted them let it once stand as consonant to Reason That because we are forbidden to add to the Law of God any thing or to take ought from it therefore we may not for matters of the Church make any Law more then is already set down in Scripture Who seeth not what sentence it shall enforce us to give against all Churches in the World in as much as there is not one but hath had many things established in it which though the Scripture did never command yet for us to condemn were rashness Let the Church of God even in the time of our Saviour Christ serve for example unto all the rest In their Domestical celebration of the Passover which Supper they divided as it were into two courses what Scripture did give commandment that between the first and the second he that was chief should put off the residue of his Garments and keeping on his Feast-robe onely wash the feet of them that were with him What Scripture did command them never to lift up their hands unwashe in Prayer unto God which custom Aristaus be the credit of the Author more or less sheweth wherefore they did so religiously observe What Scripture did command the Jews every Festival day to fast till the sixth hour The custom both mentioned by Iosephus in the History of his own life and by the words of Peter signified Tedious it were to rip up all such things as were in that Church established yea by Christ himself and by his Apostles observed though not commanded any where in Scripture 7. Well yet a gloss there is to colour that Paradox and notwithstanding all this still to make it appear in shew not to be altogether unreasonable And therefore till further reply come the cause is held by a feeble distinction that the Commandments of God being either general or special although there be no express word for every thing in specialty yet there are general Commandments for all things to the end that even such cases as are not in Scripture particularly mentioned might not be left to any to order at their pleasure onely with Caution That nothing be done against the Word of God and that for this cause the Apostle hath set down in Scripture four general Rules requiring such things alone to be received in the Church as do best and nearest agree with the same Rules that so all things in the Church may be appointed not onely not against but by and according to the Word of God The Rules are these Nothing scandalous
Superstition that riseth voluntarily and by degrees which are hardly discerned mingling it self with the Rites even of very Divine Service done to the onely true God must be considered of as a creeping and incroaching evil an evil the first beginnings whereof are commonly harmless so that it proveth onely then to be an evil when some farther accident doth grow unto it or it self come unto farther growth For in the Church of God sometimes it cometh to pass as in over-battle grounds the Fertile disposition whereof is good yet because it exceedeth due proportion it bringeth forth abundantly through too much rankness things less profitable whereby that which principally it should yield being either prevented in place or defrauded of nourishment faileth This if so large a discourse were necessary might be exemplified even by heaps of Rites and Customs now superstitious in the greatest part of the Christian World which in their first original beginnings when the strength of vertuous devout or charitable affection bloomed them no man could justly have condemned as evil 4. But howsoever Superstition doth grow that wherein unsounder times have done amiss the better ages ensuing must rectifie as they may I now come therefore to those accusations brought against us by Pretenders of Reformation the first in the rank whereof is such That if so be the Church of England did at this day therewith as justly deserve to be touched as they in this cause have imagined it doth rather would I exhort all sorts to seek pardon even with tears at the hands of God then meditate words of defence for our doings to the end that men might think favorably of them For as the case of this World especially now doth stand what other stay or succor have we to lean unto saving the testimony of our Conscience and the comfort we take in this that we serve the living God as near as our Wits can reach unto the knowledge thereof even according to his own will and do therefore trust that his mercy shall be our safeguard against those enraged Powers abroad which principally in that respect are become our Enemies But sith no man can do ill with a good Conscience the consolation which we herein seem to finde is but a meer deceitful pleasing of our selves in errour which at the length must needs turn to our greater grief if that which we do to please God most be for the manifold defects thereof offensive unto him For so it is judged our Prayers our Sacraments our Fasts our Times and Places of Publick meeting together for the worship and service of God our Marriages our Burials our Functions Elections and Ordinations Ecclesiastical almost whatsoever we do in the exercise of our Religion according to Laws for that purpose established all things are some way or other thought faulty all things stained with Superstition Now although it may be the wiser sort of men are not greatly moved hereat considering how subject the very best things have been always unto cavil when Wits possessed either with disdain or dislike thereof have set them up as their mark to shoot at safe notwithstanding it were not therefore to neglect the danger which from hence may grow and that especially in regard of them who desiring to serve God as they ought but being not so skilful as in every point to unwinde themselves where the shares of glosing speech do lye to intangle them are in minde not a little troubled when they hear so bitter invectives against that which this Church hath taught them to reverence as holy to approve as lawful and to observe as behoveful for the exercise of Christian duty It seemeth therefore at least for their sakes very meet that such as blame us in this behalf be directly answered and they which follow us informed plainly in the Reasons of that we do On both sides the end intended between us is to have Laws and Ordinances such as may rightly serve to abolish Superstition and to establish the service of God with all things thereunto appertaining in some perfect form There is an inward reasonable and there is a solemn outward serviceable Worship belonging unto God Of the former kinde are all manner of vertuous Duties that each man in reason and conscience to God-ward oweth Solemn and serviceable Worship we name for Distinction sake whatsoever belongeth to the Church or Publick Society of God by way of External adoration It is the later of these two whereupon our present question groweth Again this later being ordered partly and as touching Principal matters by none but Precepts Divine only partly and as concerning things of Inferiour regard by Ordinances as well Human as Divine about the substance of Religion wherein Gods only Law must be kept there is here no controversie the Crime now intended against us is that our Laws have not ordered those inferiour things as behoveth and that our Customs are either Superstitious or otherwise amiss whether we respect the exercise of Publick duties in Religion or the Functions of Persons authorised thereunto 5. It is with Teachers of Mathematical Sciences usual for us in this present question necessary to lay down first certain reasonable demands which in most Particulars following are to serve as Principles whereby to work and therefore must be before-hand considered The men whom we labour to inform in the truth perceive that so to proceed is requisite For to this end they also propose touching Customs and Rites indifferent their general Axioms some of them subject unto just Exceptions and as we think more meet by them to be farther considered than assented unto by us As that In outward things belonging to the Service of God Reformed Churches ought by all means to shun conformity with the Church of Rome that The first Reformed should be a Pattern whereunto all that come after might to conform themselves that Sound Religion may not use the things which being not commanded of God have been either devised or abused unto Superstition These and the rest of the same consort we have in the Book going before examined Other Canons they alledge and Rules not unworthy of approbation as That in all such things the glory of God and the edification or ghostly good of his People must be sought that nothing should be undecently or murderly done But forasmuch as all the difficulty is in discerning what things do glorifie God and edifie his Church what not when we should think them decent and fit when otherwise because these Rules being too general come not near enough unto the matter which we have in hand and the former Principles being nearer the purpose are too far from Truth we must propose unto all men certain Petitions incident and very material in Causes of this nature such as no man of moderate judgment hath cause to think unjust or unreasonable 6. The first thing therefore which is of force to cause Approbation with good conscience towards such Customs
main the Substance the Form of Baptism in which respect the Church did neither simply disannul nor absolutely ratifie Baptism by Hereticks For the Baptism which Novarianists gave stood firm whereas they whom Samosotenians had baptized were rebaptized It was likewise ordered in the Council of Arles That if any Arian did reconcile himself to the Church they should admit him without new Baptism unless by examination they found him not baptized in the Name of the Trinity Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria maketh report how there live under him a man of good reputation and of very ancient continuance in that Church who being present at the Rites of Baptism and observing with better consideration then ever before what was there done came and with weeping submission craved of his Bishop not to deny him Baptism the due of all which profess Christ seeing it had been so long sithence his evil hap to be deceived by the fraud of Hereticks and at their hands which till now he never throughly and duly weighed to take a Baptism full fraught with blasphemous impieties a Baptism in nothing like unto that which the true Church of Christ useth The Bishop was greatly moved thereat yet durst not adventure to Rebaptize but did the best he could to put him in good comfort using much perswasion with him not to trouble himself with things that were past and gone nor after so long continuance in the Fellowship of Gods people to call now in question his first entrance The poor man that law himself in this sort answered but not satisfied spent afterwards his life in continual perplexity whereof the Bishop remained fearful to give release perhaps too fearful if the Baptism were such as his own Declaration importeth For that the substance whereof was rotten at the very first is never by tract of time able to recover soundness And where true Baptism was not before given the case of Rebaptization is clear But by this it appeareth that Baptism is not void in regard of Heresie and therefore much less through any other Moral defect in the Minister thereof Under which second pretence Doâ—atists notwithstanding took upon them to make frustrate the Churches Baptism and themselves to Rebaptize their own sry For whereas some forty years after the Martyrdom of Blessed Cyprian the Emperor Dioclesian began to persecute the Church of Christ and for the speedier abolishment of their Religion to burn up their Sacred Books there were in the Church it self Traditors content to deliver up the Books of God by composition to the end their own lives might be spared Which men growing thereby odious to the rest whose constancy was greater it fortuned that after when one Caecilian was ordained Bishop in the Church of Carthage whom others endeavored in vain to defeat by excepting against him as a Traditor they whose accusations could not prevail desperately joyned themselves in one and made a Bishop of their own crue accounting from that day forward their Faction the onely true and sincere Church The first Bishop on that part was Majorinus whose Successor Donatus being the first that wrote in defence of their Schism the Birds that were hatched before by others have their names from him Arians and Donatists began both about one time Which Heresies according to the different strength of their own sinews wrought as hope of success led them the one with the choicest wits the other with the multitude so far that after long and troublesome experience the perfectest view men could take or both was hardly able to induce any certain determinate resolution whether Error may do more by the curious subtilty of sharp Discourse or else by the meer appearance of zeal and devout affection the latter of which two aids gave Donatists beyond all mens expectation as great a sway as ever any Schism or Heresie had within that reach of the Christian World where it bred and grew the rather perhaps because the Church which neither greatly feared them and besides had necessary cause to bend it self against others that aimed directly at a far higher mark the Deity of Christ was contented to let Donatists have their course by the space of Threescore years and above even from Ten years before Constantine till the time that Optatus Bishop of Nilevis published his Books against Parmenian During which term and the space of that Schisms continuance afterwards they had besides many other Secular and Worldly means to help them forward these special advantages First the very occasion of their breach with the Church of God a just hatred and dislike of Traditors seemed plausible they easily perswaded their hearers that such men could not be holy as held communion and fellowship with them that betrayed Religion Again when to dazle the eyes of the simple and to prove that it can be no Church which is not holy they had in shew and sound of words the glorious pretence of the Creed Apostolick I believe the holy Catholick Church We need not think it any strange thing that with the multitude they gain credit And avouching that such as are not of the true Church can administer no true Baptism they had for this point whole Volums of St. Cyprians own writing together with the judgment of divers Affrican Synods whose sentence was the same with his Whereupon the Fathers were likewise in defence of their just cause very greatly prejudiced both for that they could not inforce the duty of mens communion with a Church confest to be in many things blame-worthy unless they should oftentimes seem to speak as half-defenders of the faults themselves or at the least not so vehement accusers thereof as their adversaries And to withstand itâ—ration of Baptism the other Branch of the Donatists Heresie was impossible without manifest and profest rejection of Cyprian whom the World universally did in his life time admire as the greatest among Prelates and now honor as not the lowest in the Kingdom of Heaven So true we finde it by experience of all Ages in the Church of God that the teachers error is the peoples tryal harder and heavier by so much to bear as he is in worth and regard greater that mis-perswadeth them Although there was odds between Cyprians cause and theirs he differing from others of sounder understanding in that point but not dividing himself from the Body of the Church by Schism as did the Donatists For which cause saith Vincentius Of one and the same opinion we judge which may seem strange the Authors Catholick and the followers heretical we acquit the Masters and condemn the Scholars they are Heirs of Heaven which have writen those Books the defenders whereof are trodden down to the pit of Hell The Invectives of Catholick Writers therefore against them are sharp the words of Imperial Edicts by Honorius and Theodosius made to bridle them very bitter the punishments severe in revenge of their folly Howbeit for fear as we may conjecture lest much
of which appointed all to succeed in the self-same equality of power except that Commission which doth authorize to Preach and Baptise should be alledged which maketh nothing to the purpose for in such things all Pastors are still equal We must I fear me wait very long before any other will be shewed For howsoever the Apostles were Equals amongst themselves all other Pastors were not Equals with the Apostles while they lived neither are they any where appointed to be afterward each others Equals Apostles had as we know authority over all such as were no Apostles by force of which their Authority they might both command and judge It was for the singular good and benefit of those Disciples whom Christ left behinde him and of the Pastors which were afterwards chosen for the great good I say of all sorts that the Apostles were in power above them Every day brought forth somewhat wherein they saw by experience how much it stood them in stead to be under controulment of those Superiours and Higher Governours of Gods House Was it a thing so behoveful that Pastors should be subject unto Pastors in the Apostles own times and is there any commandment that this Subjection should cease with them and that the Pastors of the succeeding Ages should be all Equals No no this strange and absurd conceit of Equality amongst Pastors the Mother of Schism and of Confusion is but a dream newly brought forth and seen never in the Church before 4. Power of Censure and Ordination appeareth even by Scripture marvellous probable to have been derived from Christ to his Church without this surmised Equality in them to whom he hath committed the same For I would know Whether Timothy and Titus were commanded by Saint Paul to do any thing more than Christ hath authorized Pastors to do And to the one it is Scripture which saith Against a Presbyter receive THOU no accusation saving under two or three Witnesses Scripture which likewise hath said to the other For this very cause left I THEE in Crete that THOU shouldst redress the things that remain and shouldst ORDAIN Presbyters in every City as I appointed THEE In the former place the power of Censure is spoken of and the power of Ordination in the latter Will they say that every Pastor there was equal to Timothy and Titus in these things If they do the Apostle himself is against it who saith that of their two very Persons he had made choyse and appointed in those places them for performances of those Duties whereas if the same had belonged unto others no less than to them and not principally unto them above others it had been fit for the Apostle accordingly to have directed his Letters concerning these things in general unto them all which had equal interest in them even as it had been likewise fit to have written those Epistles in Saint Iohn's Revelation unto whole Ecclesiastical Senates rather than only unto the Angels of each Church had not some one been above the rest in Authority to order the affairs of the Church Scripture therefore doth most probably make for the inequality of Pastors even in all Ecclesiastical affairs and by very express mention as well in Censures as Ordinations 5. In the Nicene Council there are consumed certain Prerogatives and Dignities belonging unto Primates or Archbishops and of them it is said that the antient custom of the Church had been to give them such preheminence but no syllable whereby any man should conjecture that those Fathers did not honor the Superiority which Bishops had over other Pastors only upon antient custom and not as a true Apostolical heavenly and divine Ordinance 6. Now although we should leave the general received perswasion held from the first beginning that the Apostles themselves left Bishops invested with power above other Pastors although I say we should give over this opinion and imbrace that other conjecture which so many have thought good to follow and which my self did sometimes judge a great deal more probable than now I do meerly that after the Apostles were deceased Churches did agree amongst themselves for preservation of Peace and Order to make one Presbyter in each City Chief over the rest and to translate into him that power by force and vertue whereof the Apostles while they were alive did preserve and uphold order in the Church exercising Spiritual Jurisdiction partly by themselves and partly by Evangelists because they could not always every where themselves be present This order taken by the Church it self for so let us suppose that the Apostles did neither by word nor deed appoint it were notwithstanding more warrantable than that it should give place and be abrogated because the Ministry of the Gospel and the Functions thereof ought to be from Heaven There came Chief Priests and Elders unto our Saviour Christ as he was teaching in the Temple and the Question which they moved unto him was this By what Authority dost thou these things and who gave thee this Authority their Question he repelled with a Counter-demand The Baptism of John whence was it from Heaven or of Men Hereat they paused secretly disputing within themselves If we shall say from Heaven he will ask Wherefore did ye not then believe him And if we say of men We fear the People for all hold Iohn a Prophet What is it now which hereupon these men would infer That all-Functions Ecclesiastical ought in such sort to be from Heaven as the Function of Iohn was I No such matter here contained Nay doth not the contrary rather appear most plainly by that which is here set down For when our Saviour doth ask concerning the Baptism that is to say the whole Spiritual Function of Iohn whether it were from Heaven or of men he giveth clearly to understand that men give Authority unto some and some God himself from Heaven doth Authorize Nor is it said or in any sort signified that none have lawful Authority which have it not in such manner as Iohn from Heaven Again when the Priests and Elders were loth to say that Iohn had his calling from men the reason was not because they thought that so Iohn should not have had any good or lawful Calling but because they saw that by this means they should somewhat embase the Calling of Iohn whom all men knew to have been sent from God according to the manner of Prophets by a meer Celestial vocation So that out of the evidence here alledged these things we may directly conclude first that who so doth exercise any kinde of Function in the Church he cannot lawfully so do except Authority be given him Secondly that if Authority be not given him from men as the Authority of Teaching was given unto Scribes and Pharisees it must be given him from Heaven as Authority was given unto Christ Elias Iohn Baptist and the Prophets For these two only wayes there are to have Authority But a strange Conclusion
it is God himself did from Heaven authorize Iohn to bear Witness of the light to prepare a way for the promised Messiah to publish the nearness of the Kingdom of God to Preach Repentance and to Baptise for by this part which was in the Function of Iohn most noted all the rest are together signified Therefore the Church of God hath no power upon new occurences to appoint to ordain an Ecclesiastical Function as Moses did upon Iethroe's advice devise a civil All things we grant which are in the Church ought to be of God But for as much as they may be two wayes accounted such one if they be of his own institution and not of ours another if they be of ours and yet with his approbation this latter way there is no impediment but that the same thing which is of men may be also justly and truly said to be of God the same thing from Heaven which is from Earth Of all good things God himself is Author and consequently an Approver of them The rule to discern when the actions of men are good when they are such as they ought to be is more ample and large than the Law which God hath set particular down in his holy Word the Scripture is but a part of that rule as hath been heretofore at large declared If therefore all things be of God which are well done and if all things be well done which are according unto the rule of well doing and if the rule of well-doing be more ample than the Scripture what necessity is there that every thing which is of God should be set down in holy Scripture true it is in things of some one kinde true it is that what we are now of necessity for ever bound to believe or observe in the special mysteries of Salvation Scripture must needs give notice of it unto the World yet true it cannot be touching all things that are of God Sufficient it is for the proof of lawfulness in any thing done if we canshew that God approved it And of his approbation the evidence is sufficient if either himself have by revelation in his word warranted it or we by some discourse of reason finde it good of it self and unrepugnant unto any of his revealed Laws and Ordinances Wherefore injurious we are unto God the Author and Giver of Human capacity Judgement and Wit when because of some things wherein he precisely forbiddeth men to use their own inventions we take occasion to dis-authorize and disgrace the works which he doth produce by the hand either of nature or of grace in them We offer contumely even unto him when we scornfully reject what we lift without any other exception than this The brain of man hath devised it Whether we look into the Church or Common-weal as well in the one as in the other both the Ordination of Officers and the very institution of their Offices may be truly derived from God and approved of him although they be not always of him in such sort as those things are which are in Scripture Doth not the Apostle term the Law of Nature even as the Evangelist doth the Law of Scripture 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God's own righteous Ordinance the Law of Nature then being his Law that must needs be of him which it hath directed men unto Great odds I grant there is between things devised by men although agreeable with the Law of Nature and things is Scripture set down by the finger of the Holy Ghost Howbeit the dignity of these is no hinderance but that those be also reverently accounted of in their Place Thus much they very well saw who although not living themselves under this kinde of Church Polity yet being through some experience more moderate grave and circumspect in their Judgment have given hereof their sounder and better advised Sentence That which the holy Fathers saith Zanchius have by common consent without contradiction of Scripture received for my part I neither will nor dare with good Conscience disallow And what more certain than that the ordering of Ecclesiastical Persons one in authority above another was received into the Church by the common consent of the Christian World What am I that I should take upon me to control the whole Church of Christ in that which is so well known to have been lawfully religiously and to notable purpose instituted Calvin maketh mention even of Primates that have authority above Bishops It was saith he the institution of the antient Church to the end that the Bishops might by this bond of Concord continue the faster linked amongst themselves And lest any man should think that as well he might allow the Papacy it self to prevent this he addeth Aliud est moderatum gerere honorem quà mtotum terraram orbem immenso imperio complecti These things standing as they do we may conclude that albeit the Offices which Bishops execute had been committed unto them only by the Church and that the superiority which they have over other Pastors were not first by Christ himself given to the Apostles and from them descended to others but afterwards in such consideration brought in and agreed upon as is pretended yet could not this be a just or lawful exception against it XII But they will say There was no necessity of instituting Bishops the Church might have stood well enough without them they are as those supersluous things which neither while they continue do good nor do harm when they are removed because there is not any profitable use whereunto they should serve For first in the Primitive Church their Pastors were all equal the Bishops of those dayes were the very same which Pastors of Parish Churches at this day are with us no one at commandment or controulment by any others Authority amongst them The Church therefore may stand and flourish without Bishops If they be necessary wherefore were they not sooner instituted 2. Again if any such thing were needful for the Church Christ would have set it down in Scripture as he did all kinde of Officers needful for Iewish Regiment He which prescribed unto the Iews so particularly the least thing pertinent unto their Temple would not have left so weighty Offices undetermined of in Scripture but that he knew the Church could never have any profitable use of them 3. Furthermore it is the judgement of Cyprian that equity requireth every man's cause to be heard where the fault he is charged with was committed And the reason he alledgeth is for asmuch as there they may have both Accusers and Witnesses in their cause Sith therefore every man's cause is neceiest to be handled at home by the Iudges of his own Parish to what purpose serveth their device which have appointed Bishops unto whom such causes may be brought and Archbishops to whom they may be also from thence removed XIII What things have necessary use in the Church they of all others are
Government is confirmed yea strengthened it is and ratified even by the not establishment thereof in all Churches every where at the first 2. When they further dispute That if any such thing were usedful Christ would in Scripture have set down particular Statutes and Laws appointing that Bishops should be made and prescribing in what order even as the Law doth for all kinde of Officers which were needful in the Iewish Regiment might not a man that would bend his wit to maintain the fury of the Petrobrusian Hereticks in pulling down Oratories use the self-same argument with as much countenance of reason If it were needful that we should assemble our selves in Churches would that God which taught the Iews so exactly the frame of their sumptuous Temple leave us no particular instructions in writing no not so much at which way to lay any one stone Surely such kinde of Argumentation doth not so strengthen the sinews of their cause as weaken the credit of their Judgement which are led therewith 3. And whereas Thirdly in disproof of that use which Episcopal Authority hath in Judgement of Spiritual Causes they bring forth the verdict of Cyprian who saith That equity requireth every man's Cause to be heard where the fault he was charged with was committed forasmuch as there they may have both Accusers and Witnesses in the Cause This Argument grounding it self on Principles no lesse true in Civil than in Ecclesiastical Causes unless it be qualified with some exceptions or limitations over-turneth the highest Tribunal Seats both in Church and Common-wealth it taketh utterly away all appeals it secretly condemneth even the blessed Apostle himself as having transgressed the law of Equity by his appeal from the Court of Iudea unto those higher which were in Rome The generality of such kinde of axioms deceiveth unless it be construed with such cautions as the matter whereunto they are applyable doth require An usual and ordinary transportation of causes out of Africa into Italy out of one Kingdom into another as discontented Persons list which was the thing which Cyprian disalloweth may be unequal and unmeet and yet not therefore a thing unnecessary to have the Courts erectted in higher places and judgement committed unto greater Persons to whom the meaner may bring their causes either by way of appeal ot otherwise to be determined according to the order of Justice which hath been always observed every where in Civil States and is no less requisite also for the State of the Church of God The Reasons which teach it to be expedient for the one will shew it to be for the other at leastwise not unnecessary Inequality of Pastors is an Ordinance both Divine and profitable Their exceptions against it in these two respects we have shewed to be altogether causless unreasonable and unjust XIV The next thing which they upbraid us with is the difference between that inequality of Pastors which hath been of old and which now is For at length they grant That the superiority of Bishops and of Arch-bishops is somewhat antient but no such kinde of Superiority as ours have By the Laws of our Discipline a Bishop may ordain without asking the Peoples consent a Bishop may excommunicate and release alone a Bishop may imprison a Bishop may bear Civil Office in the Realm a Bishop may be a Counsellor of State these thing antient Bishops neither did nor might do Be it granted that ordinarily neither in elections nor deprivations neither in excommunicating nor in releasing the excommunicate in none of the weighty affairs of Government Bishops of old were wont to do any thing without consultation with their Clergy and consent of the People under them Be it granted that the same Bishops did neither touch any man with corporal punishment nor meddle with secular affairs and Offices the whole Clergy of God being then tyed by the strict and severe Canons of the Church to use no other than ghostly power to attend no other business than heavenly Tarquinius was in the Roman Common-wealth deservedly hated of whose unorderly proceedings the History speaketh thus Hic Regum primus traditum à Prioribus morem de omnibus Senatum consulendi solvit domesticis Consillis Rempub. administravit bellum pacem foedera societates perse ipsum cum quibus voluit injussu Populi ac Senatus fecit diremitque Against Bishops the like is objected That they are Invaders of other mens right and by intolerable usurpation take upon them to do that alone wherein antient Laws have appointed that others not they onely should bear sway Let the Case of Bishops he put not in such sort as it is but even as their very heavyest Adversaries would devise it Suppose that Bishops at the first had encroached upon the Church that by sleights and cunning practises they had appropriated Ecclesiastical as Augustus did Imperial power that they had taken the advantage of mens inclinable affections which did not suffer them for Revenue-sake to be suspected of Ambition that in the mean while their usurpation had gone forward by certain easie and unsensible degrees that being not discerned in the growth when it was thus farr grown as we now see it hath proceeded the world at length perceiving there was just cause of complaint but no place of remedy left had assented unto it by a general secret agreement to bear it now as an helpless evil all this supposed for certain and true yet surely a thing of this nature as for the Superiour to do that alone unto which of right the consent of some other Inferiours should have been required by them though it had an indirect entrance at the first must needs through continuance of so many ages as this hath stood be made now a thing more natural to the Church than that it should be opprest with the mention of contrary Orders worn so many ages since quite and clean out of ure But with Bishops the case is otherwise For in doing that by themselves which others together with them have been accustomed to do they do not any thing but that whereunto they have been upon just occasion authorized by orderly means All things natural have in them naturally more or less the power of providing for their own safety And as each particular man hath this power so every Politick Society of men must needs have the same that thereby the whole may provide for the good of all parts therein For other benefit we have not any by sorting our selves into Politick Societies saving only that by this mean each part hath that relief which the vertue of the whole is able to yield it The Church therefore being a Politick Society or Body cannot possibly want the power of providing for it self And the chiefest part of that power consisteth in the Authority of making Laws Now forasmuch as Corporations are perpetual the Laws of the antienter Church cannot chuse but binde the latter while they are in force But we
two faults predominant would tire out any that should answer unto every point severally un apt speaking of School-Controversies and of my words so untoward a reciting that he which should promise to draw a Man's Countenance and did indeed expresse the parts at leastwise most of them truly but perversely place them could not represent a more offensive Visage than unto me my own speech seemeth in some places as he hath ordered it For answer whereunto that Writing is sufficient wherein I have set down both my words and meaning in such sort that where this Accusation doth deprave the one and either mis-interpret or without just cause mis-like the other it will appear so plainly that I may spare very well to take upon me a new needlesse labour here 12. Onely at one thing which is there to be found because Mr. Travers doth here seem to take such a special advantage as if the matter were unanswerable he constraineth me either to detect his oversight or to confesse mine own in it In settling the Question between the Church of Rome and us about Grace and Justification lest I should give them an occasion to say as commonly they doe that when we cannot refute their Opinions we propose to our selves such instead of theirs as we can refute I took it for the best and most perspicuous way of teaching to declare first how farâ— we doe agree and then to shew our disagreement not generally as Mr. Travers his words would carry it for the easier fastning that upon me wherewith saving onely by him I was never in my life touched but about the matter onely of Justification for further I had no cause to meddle at this time What was then my Offence in this Case I did as he saith so set it out as if we had consented in the greatest and weightiest Points and differed onely in smaller matters It will not be found when it commeth to the balance a light difference where we disagree as I did acknowledge that we doe about the very essence of the Medicine whereby Christ cureth our Disease Did I goe about to make a shew of Agreement in the weightiest Points and was I so fond as not to conceal our disagreement about this I doe with that some indifferency were used by them that have taken the weighing of my words 13. Yea but our Agreement is not such in two of the chiefest Points as I would have men believe it is And what are they The one is I said They acknowledge all men sinners even the Blessed Virgin though some of them free her from sin Put the case I had affirmed That onely some of them free her from sin and had delivered it as the most current opinion amongst them that she was conceived in sin doth not Bonaâ— Tature say plainly Omnesfere in a manner all men do bold this â— doth he not bring many reasons wherefore all men should hold it Were their voyces since that time ever counted and their number found smaller which hold it than theirs that hold the contrary Let the question then be Whether I might say The most of them acknowledged all men sinner even the Blessed Virgin her selfe To shew that their general received opinion is the contrary the Tridentine Council is alledged peradventure not altogether so considerately For if that Council have by resolute determination freed her if it held as Mr. Travers saith it doth that she was free from sin then must the Church of Rome needs condemn them that hold the contrary For what thee Council holdeth the same they all doe and must hold But in the Church of Rome who knoweth not that it is a thing indifferent to think and defend the one or the other So that by this Argument the Council of Trent holdeth the Virgin free from sinne ergo it is plain that none of them may and therefore untrue that most of them do acknowledge her a Sinner were for able to overthrow my supposed Affection if it were true that the Council did hold this But to the end it may clearly appear how it neither holdeth this not the contrary I will open what many do conceive of the Canon that concerneth this matter The Fathers of Trent perceived that if they should define of this matter it would be dangerous howsoever it were determined If they had freed her from her Original sinne the reasons against them are unanswerable which Bonaveâ—ture and others do alledge but especially Thomas whose line as much as may be they follow Again if they did resolve the other way they should control themselves in another thing which iâ— no case might be altered For they profess to keep no day holy in the honour of an â—â—â—â—holy thing and the Virgin Conception they honour with a Feast which they could not abrogate without cancelling a Constitution of â—ystem Quoâ—â—â—â— And that which is worse the World might parhaps suspect that if the Church of Rome didâ— amisse before in this it is not impossible for her to fail in other things In the end they did wisely quoâ—â— out their Canon by a middle thred establishing the Feast of the Virgin 's Conception and leaving the other question doubtful as they found it giving onely a Cavent that no man should take the Decree which pronounceth all Mankinde originally sinfull for a definitive Sentence concerning the Blessed Virgin This in my sight is plain by their own words Declarat hac ipsa sancta Synodâ—â— c. Wherefore our Country-men at Rheâ—â—s mentioning this Point are marvellous wary how they speak they touch it as though it were a hot coal Many godly devout men judge that our blessed Lady was neither burn not couâ—â—â—d in sin Is it their wont to speak ainely of things definitively set down in that Councell In like sort we finde that the rest which have since that time of the Tridentine Synod written of Original sin are in this Point for the mostpart either silent or very sparing in speech and when they speak either doubtful what to think or whatsoever they think themselves fearfull to set down any certain Determination If I be thought to take the Canon of this Council otherwise than they themselves doe let him expound in whose Sentence was neither last asked not his Penne least occupied in setting it down I mean Androdius whom Gregory the thirteenth hath allowed plainly to confest that it is a matter which neither expresse evidence of Scripture not the Tradition of the Fathers nor the Sentence of Church hath determined that they are too surly and self-willed which defending their opinion are displeased with them by whom the other is maintained Finally that the Father of Trent have not set down any certainty about this Question but lest it doubtful and indifferent Now whereas my words which I had set down in Writing before I uttered them were indeed these Although they imagine that the Mother of our Lord Iesus Christ were for his honour and