hath produced sad events and given their Enimies great advantage so they hav work enough to keep the Lepry from their own Heads which they told the People had so fouly infected Bishops hands as could never be clensed unles cut off but al mortals are apt to doo amiss and 't is never too lat to rectify miscarriages Most Men confes nor can impudence gainsay it that the Order or Office is lawful wherby al Christian Churches were Governed however som inconveiniences yea mischiefs too arise from corruption of finful Men in al Professions Tho then Episcopy hath bin much shaken or depressed by power passion or privat ends to the impairing and indangering of the whol fabric or function yet wise Men may after this thick dust of disput see what is of God therin and regulat it by paring off what is depraved or deformed and restore it to primeval purity 'T is now no need to fear or flatter Bishops faces whos glory is gon but meer matter of Conscience to testify truth sith thos of different judgments take freedom to bespatter them so unjustly and unsavourly as they hoped by their il breath to blast that venerable caling and render it odious or execrable to weak Christians which to wise Men was ever like Aarons Ointment poured out Nor doth it lose divine fragrance by the fracture of il times which passionatly break the Alablaster boxes of civil protection which preserved it for many ages from vulgar insolence and Schismatical violence The like liberty is lawful to vindicat it by pregnant places of Scriptural precepts and precedents secunded with Catholic custom and practis of the Church and confirmed by the Laws of this Land To omit the main controversy of its lawfulnes and to whiten two Wals with one Trowel two points principaly shal be handled 1. To remov a popular Odium or Plebeian passion and prejudication taken up by weak yet haply wel minded Christians against Bishops Presidential authority over Presbyters 2. to justify the holy Ministerial Ordination duly doon by their hands One rub riseth from their lat disasters whom if Arguments and Words could not yet Arms and Swords hav suppressed For vulgar minds are apt to judg thos unjust that are unprosperous and cursed who are punished as Turcs use to doom Yet in tru sens their many miseries may no more be urged against their Persons or Places then Jobs afflictions which Satan never alleged against his integrity Many wish that al Prelats and Presbyters were chief Suffâ—rers yea that the Word Sacraments and al holy Ministrations should ceaf but Religious Rites must not be mesured by Mens passions or prevalences nor any secular sanctions For ther were pious Prelats preposited abov Presbyters before any Civil power protected them and by Gods Grace may so continu maugre al oppression or persecution The things of Christ and tru Religion may not be received or refused as Ushered in or crowded out by Civil power nor doth Christ steer his Ship by that compass sith at the same rate of Worldly frowns we should hav no Scriptures Sacraments sound Doctrins or holy Ordinances but al had bin turned into Heathenish barbarity Hereticla errors and Schismatical confusions if conscience to God and Christ had not conserved thes sacred things by the pious patience of holy Bishops and Ministers whom wicked Worldlings ever hated seeking to destroy root and branch through the sides of Episcopacy Bishops Government as referred to the chief office of Ordination is no way Popish or Antichristian as too many ignorantly or malitiously chatter tho the pride ambition or avarice of some Prelats might make them justly odious becaus contrary to Christs precept and patern whos place Bishops as cheif Pastors or Parents among Presbyters hav alwais since the Apostles eminently held in the extern polity or Regiment of the Church So that the antient Presidentship over the Clergy in several Diocesan precincts as it was justly exercised in pâ—rer times is no less Christian then several Churches in al ages and places of the World Yea far beyond any form which hath not charity to brook or bear regulated Prelacy suting with Scripture and Antiquity For Lutheran Superintendents are Bishops in truth tho not title yea the most learned Genevins Calvin Beza Moulin Salmatius Bochartus Blundel acknowledg Episcopat a pious institution succeding in the Apostles steads by the Churches counsil and Consent So far is any sober impartial uninteressed Man from dooming or deeming it unlawful unles they be blinded with blockish ignorance or possessed with peevish arogance Certes the learnedst Presbyterians are best Friends and blind Zelots bittrest Foes to tru Episcopat who want science prudence humility and charity which is the best condiment of Christianity Orderly Presbytery which admits one to Preside is a lesser Episcopy to oversee particular Flocks yet not to expel or extirp Bishops nor is headless or many headed Presbytery necessary by divine right but primitiv Prelacy which imports one grav worthy Person chosen by consent and assisted by counsil of sundry Presbyters to preside over them is to be preferred before al other forms for many weighty Reasons insuing 1. Becaus al Apostolic Antients Ignatius Justin Martyr Reason 1 Polycarp Tertullian Cyprian Irenaeus jointly attest that one stil Episcopized in every City For at first a few Presbyters served in ech by Apostolic appointment but as converts increased they constituted several Colleges Companies or Consistories as the Churches Colonies which one Supervisor as Captain or Commander overruled Aerius upon envy against Eustachius who got a Bishoprick from him was the first that pressed Clerical parity contrary to the Churches old Order but if the Apostles had not instituted it how could al Churches uniformly conspire therin al the World over For tho at first the name was common to al Church Ministers even Apostles yet after their deaths it was peculiarly confined to their Successors in place and power 2. To avoid scandal of other Churches which for far a major part are governed by Bishops in degree dignity and authority abov Presbyters For 't is no prudence or piety to widen differences wherby Papists gain great advantage to esteem us less Christian in utterly abolishing that Catholic Order and by consequent tru Ordination of Ministers together with sacred Ordinances Yea Reformed Churches allow a Presidence among Presbyters nor doo the learned hold it caus enough to seperat from any Church for having Bishops as Peter Martyr Zanchius Vidâ—lius Gerard Groâ—â—us Dâ—oâ—at and Alsted agree 3. To preserv the power of Ministerial Ordination and Succession which som sober Presbyterians specialy Blondel hold to be best strengthned by Episcopy becaus it was the universal way wherby Ministry and Christianity hav bin derived to this day the resecting wherof is most advantageous to al Cavillers against Godly Ministry 4. Tru Episcopat never had had a free ful or fair hearing as so great a matter requires nor was it ever convicted to repugn Scripture as som shamelesly assert
long Lord holy and tru dâ—ost thou not judg and avenge our Blood on them that dwel on Earth Thes had whit Robes given them and were bid rest a smal season til their felow-Servants or Brethren which were to be killed should be fulfilled This denots the grand persecution by Dioclesian which was longer and crueler then al former as Orosius observs Rev. 14 1. 4. For in Egypt only were massacred 144000. sutable to the Virgins number as Ignatius relats beside infinit multituds in al other Provinces The sixth at whos opening was a great Earthquake the Sun 6 Seal Rev 6. 12. ad sinem becam black as hairy Sackcloth and Moon red as Blood begins when the fifth ended A. 311. when Constantin initiated the persecution ceased and heathen Idols with their Priests Temples and Sacrifices vanished which is the finishing or fulfilling of Christs victory founded in the first Seal By the Earthquake is understood the change of things turned topsy turvy which tends not to the Empires Politic state as the former Seals did sith 't is not yet to be dissolved but as 't is subject in a Religious respect to Satan and his Angels which was now broken in peeces with great nois The Suns blacknes and Moons rednes betokening their Eclipses design the Dragons downfal with al Pagan Priesthood The Stars fel to Earth as a Fig-tree casts hir fruits being shaken by a mighty Wind Heaven departed as a Scrole roled together viz. the Stars appeered not as letters rold up in a Book are not seen This is taken from Isaiah The Heavens shal be roled up as a scroâ—e and al their Isai 34 4. Host fal as a leaf from the Vine and Fig from the Figtree Al Mountains and Ilands were moved from their places â— Men of eminent quality and inferior or by Iles may be meant their Temples invironed with Wals like roâ—ks Thos Ethnic Temples Constantin only shut up which Julian soon opened but Theodosius quit demolished and abolished al reliques of Idol worship The Kings of the Earth great Men rich Men cheif Captains mighty Men bond and free hid themselfs in dens and rocks saying to them Fal on us hide us from his face that sits on the Throne and from the Lamb. For the great day of his Wrath is com and who shal be able to stand This shews that al Christs Enemies Maximian Galerius Maxentius Martimian Licinius Julian Emperors with Eugenius and Arbogastes Tyrans shal perish most miserably and the Lamb get a signal victory For most persecutors feeling Gods judgments heavy on them confessed Christ to be only tru God and gav him glory Here betwixt the sixth and seventh Seal is interposed a Vision Intâ—rslice Rev. 7 4. of Gods Servants sealed viz. 144000. which are the elect faithful Church contemporizing with thos said six sails This Vision is twise cited 1. At entrance of the Trumpets wher 144000. of al Israels Tribes are sâ—aled for their preservation amidst the Trumpets destruction 2. In opposition to the Rev. 4 1. 4. 5. Beasts reigning wher they are caled Virgins in whos mouth was found no guile being free from fault before Gods throne for prais of their alleigance to God and the Lamb when the rest of the World revolted and received the Beasts mark Hence 't is cleer that the Prophecy of the Beast synchronizeth with the Trumpers yet no further then going forth of the sixth when the Beasts forty two months ended with the Witnesses Rev. 11. 14. 1260. dais Now touching the first Vision of the Sealed wher their preservation is handled After this I saw four Angels Rev. 7. 1. Jer. 49. 36. stand on the Earths four corners holding the four Winds that no wind should blow on the Earth nor Sea nor any Tree The Angels who are not the same with the Trumpeters had Jer. 51. 1. 2. power to restrain the winds or tempests of war for the Parabol of winds among Prophets imports martial motions hostil Dâ—n 7. 1. 3. invasions and violent impulsions which thos Angels could curb out of what coasts or corners soever they rose til it pleas God to giv leav or liberty that wars shal rage and reign for Rev. 7. 2. 3. correcton of sin I saw another Angel haply Christ ascend from the East having the Seal of the living God who cried loud to the four Angels which had power given by setting the Winds free to hurt the Earth and Sea saying hurt not Earth Sea nor Trees til we hav sealed Gods Servants in their Fore-heads to sever them from the plagues of others as som at Jerusalem werâ— marked which must be preserved lest they should be damnified For 't is a wonder how in that Empires grand vastation by barbarous Aliens to Christ the Church could continu amidst thos storms when al conspired hir ruin and the Beast polluted al places Rev. 7. 4 c. with fals worship untainted and unstained I heard the number of the Sealed which were one hundred forty four thousand of al the Tribes viz. twelv thousand of ech or twelv times twelv thousand in al. Here the Gentils Church to be fenced with Gods Seal is figured by the type of Israel the twelv Apostles aptly answering to the twelv Patriarchs nor is it doon without good caus specialy sith the Church since the Jews rejection is to be gathered of the Gentils and fitly stiled surrogated Israel whom God owned a while til the fulnes of the Gentils was com in stead Hence S. Paul saith The Jews Rom. â—11 11. â—5 fal brought salvation to the Gentils and their casting off was the Worlds reconciling Not that els they should not be caled in du time for al the Prophets proclaim it but not by way of substitution or surrogation to the Jews unles they had first renounced Christ So St. Paul tels them It was necessary the Acts 13. 46. Word should be opened to you first but sith ye reject it and judg your selfs unworthy of eternal life Lo we turn to the Gentils This number of 12 multiplied by 12 times 12 is an Ensign of Apostolic Race or Prosapy for as the Beasts number 666 denots thos which folow him so the Apostles number designs their legitimat of-spring The Analogy of new Jerusalem Rev. 21. 12. 14. 16. shews the same in the frame wherof the dimensions of Gates Foundations Courts compas of Wals Longitud Latitud Altitud express the number of 12 or multiplication by 12. Of the Tribe of Juda Reuben Gad Aser Nepthali Manasses Simâ—on Levi Isachar Zabulon Joseph Benjamin were sealed twelv thousand in ech which Tribes are no wher in Scripture so reckoned yet diversly registred for Dan and Ephraim are here excluded and in the rest no birth-order observed but the last mix'd with the middle and younger Sons of Handmaids set before the elder-born of Wifes Sons This no doubt Judg. 17. Judg. 18. is doon for som mystery hid in so unusual order for Dan
worth In Arts Wit and Learning to set it forth No one Mans Ey tho sharp and sound al doth see Many known things you know yet retractant be Postscripta subjuncta Postscripts subnected MAn's Soul at first Creation on the sixth day was infused 1 Thesis or breathed into Adam by God a Living Rational Intellectual Spirit distinct from the Body Invisible Immaterial Immortal having a power dower or faculty by his general blessing of Increas and multiply to beget a substance like Light from Light endued with the same qualities of intellect Rationality and Immortality as al other Creaturs doo in their several kinds God can doo no wrong nor ly nor sin being contrary to 2 Thesis his Nature who is Essentialy and Abstractly Justice Verity and Goodnes it self Al that he doth is just but to say 't is al just becaus he doth it is a pure error for Justice is a cardinal Moral virtu the same to God and Man by Nature nor can God make an unjust act just becaus he doth it A Pope in Consistory having denounced Fiatur which a Cardinal whispered was fals Latin broke forth furiously into thes words in contemptum omnium Grammaticorum Fiatur 'T is not so with God who wil not make an unjust thing just nor untruth truth but if he should Reprobat Men of meer free pleasure by absolut irrespectiv Decree to shew his power Soveraignty or Dominion over al his Creatures it were a flat unjust act which al the water in Thamis cannot wash whit becaus he did it but to make Man a free Creature able to stand or fal and foreseing in his simple intelligence who wil embrace the means ordained by him for salvation and who refuse or resist his Grace to elect the one and reject or Reprobat the other is tru Justice mixd with Mercy which is al that God doth in his Decrees of Election and Reprobation Before Kings converted to Christianity the Apostles held 3 Thesis al Ecclesiastic power in their hands and after them such as they ordained to succed who appointed others subordinat caled Elders to preach the Gospel by imposition of hands which imports a giving of the holy Ghost or Spirit of God inabling them with gifts fitting to discharge that office as Moses laid his hands on Josisa being to succed him Now the Divine Trinity Mr. Hobbs in Unity is that the Person of God was represented by Moses and the high Priests in the old Testament but by Christ during his abode on Earth and by his Apostles with their lawful Successors ever since The holy Spirit wherby the Apostles spake is God the son who represented his Father is God and Man but the Father as represented by Moses and the high Priests is the same God Hence thos terms Father Son holy Ghost or Spirit are never used for God in the old Testament becaus they be Persons denomined of representing which could not be til divers Men had born Gods Person in â—uliâ—g or directing under him The holy Spirit is somtime stiled Paracletus properly Assister or caled to help but commonly translated a Comforter who givs gifts or graces to Men fit for such spiritual offices wherto they are ordained Presbytery or Ministry is of divine right instituted by Christ in calâ—ng seventy Disciples whom he sent as Harbingers to Preach and prepare the way and confirmed by the Apostles to whom they were subordinat in ordaining Elders every wher So is Episcopat by the same right of Christs chusing twelv Apostles and their substituted Bishops to succed them but Presbyterial single Government without Bishops by a motly mixture of Ministerial and Laic Elders a meer novity deviâ—â—d by Mr. Calvin when the Genevans had expeld their Soveraign Prelat which exigent was caus of this change This is most tru in point of fact VLTIMAT END Valedictio ad Lectores A Farewel to the Readers Pro libito Lectoris habent sua fata Libelli Noster expectet publica Fata liber On Readers pleasure Books doo depend And let my Book the Fate attend Opinion is a lofty Roial Dame Who 's plumes are raisd on Air of vulgar Fame Who Courts hir Grace shal with Ixion find In Juno's stead an empty Cloud or Wind. Let such as list hir giddy favor curry I like not to be tossd with common whoorry Fair Readers which to take or leav are free Scorn to return base Censures for a fee. Let Critics Momes and Mimics doo their worst He that regards their scoss shal be accurst My resolution fears not Censors knocks Nor shal this Book unles it fal ' mongst Blocks VALETE FAREWEL Postscriptum dc Formis A Postscript of al Forms Mr. Pemble a late learned Oxford Man holds which few els doo that al inanimat Forms and two Souls Vegetant Sentient are no distinct substaances but only the crasis or temperament of qualities in every Compouâ—d or Subject His grounds or proofs are thes if the Form of a natural Boâ—y be a substance it must be either material and corporeal or immaterial and spiritual but 't is neither Som say 't is an imperfect substance in a middle degree between it and an accident which is a silly shift or shelter For an imperfect substance wil require a new Predicament and Peripatetics repute Form most sublime yea the perfection of matter in it self most imperfect but a middle nature betwen both is a meer Chimaera or Catamountain not contained in any Category nor hath it any Entity That Form is no material substance thes Reasons evince 1. That which informs the matter i. so pierceth into al parts and principles as to giv specifical essence is not material or corporeal becaus one Body cannot penetrat another nor material substance matter 2. Every corporeal thing is of it self quantitativ and divisible but a form according to Aristotle is indivisible void of quantity 3. Nothing generable or corruptible is material or corporeal sith matter according to Aristotle cannot be begot or perish but al forms except Mans Soul vanish or perish and new are ingendered 4. Principles of Constitution are divers or distinct in essence and proper passions els al things generable would be uniform and homogeneal but if forms be material they differ not from matter sav in som degrees of subâ—â—ety and purity which suffice not to take away uniformity nor diversity 5. A form is the fountain or origin of al actions but if it be material matter is also activ not purely passiv for it hath that activ virtu from matter not elswher or els cannot be a Principle That 't is not an Immaterial spiritual substance thes pregnant Arguments prov 1. Whatever is bred of matters essence must be material as what is generated of pure Air is Aerial but a Form is not material as foreproved or being Immaterial cannot be bred from the essence of matter nor can Principles be ingendred one of another 2. A Form cannot proced from the accidents of matter sith no
Dominions to whom the chief Government of all estates whether Ecclesiastic or Civil in al Causes doth appertain nor ought to be subject unto any forren Jurisdiction Whereas we attribute chief Government to the Kings Majestie wherby we understand the minds of som slanderous folks to be offended we giv not to our Prince the ministring of Gods word or Sacraments which thing the Injunctions also somtime set forth by our late Queen Elizabeth doe plainly testify But that only Prerogativ which was ever given to al Godly Princes in holy Scripture by God himself which is That they shal rule al Estates and Degrees committed to their charge whether Ecclesiastic or Temporal and restrain with the Civil Sword al stuâ—born and evil doers The Bishop of Rome hath no Jurisdiction in this Realm of England The Laws of the Land may punish Christian men with death for hainous grievous offences It is lawful for Christians at commandment of the Magistrat to wear Weapons and serv in Wars Article 38. The Goods of Christians are not common touching the right title and possession of the same as Anabaptists falsly boast yet every man ought of such things as he hath liberaly to give Alms to the Poor according to his ability Article 39. As we confess vain and rash swearing to be forbid in Christian men by our Lord Jesus Christ and James his Apostle so we judg that Christian Religion doth not prohibit but a man may swear when a Magistrat requires it in a caus of Faith and Charity so that it be done as the Prophets teach according to Justice Judgment and Truth for the composing of strife Articuli Lambethae cusi The Articles of Lambeth An Appendix of nine Articles touching Praedestination agitated by John Archbishop of Canterbury and others An. 1595. at Dr. Whitakers instance against three Propositions of Dr. Baro a Frenchman Lady Margarets Professor at Cambridg Article 1. GOd from eternity predestinated som men to life and reprobated the rest to death or damnation Article 2. The moving or efficient caus of Predestination to life is not any foresight of Faith Perseverance good Works or any thing in the persons praedestinated but only in the Wil of Gods good pleasure Article 3. Of the Predestinat ther is a prefined certain number which can neither be increased nor diminished Article 4. They that are not predestinat to salvation shal necessarily be condemned for their sins Article 5. Tru livly justifying Faith and sanctifying Spirit of God is not extinguished doth not fall off nor vanish in the Elect either finaly or totally Article 6. A man truly beleeving or indued with justifying Faith is certain by or with ful perswasion of Faith of his sins forgivenes and everlasting salvation by Christ Article 7. Saving Grace is not given nor communicated nor granted to al men whereby they may be saved if they will Article 8. No man can come to Christ unles it be given to him and unless the Father draw him nor are al men drawn of the Father that they come to the Son Article 9. It is not in the free choice and power of every man to be saved These Assertious or Positions like many mo are obtruded in general obscure ambiguous terms subject to divers interpretations Animadversio apposita A usefull Animadversion THe first Proposition is tru de facto but treats not of the order and manner why God elected som and reprobated the rest which is the debate The second designs the moving efficient caus of election but mentions not the object whether it be man simply or man a sinner or man repentant or man persisting obstinat and obdurat which is al the question for Gods foresight is no efficient caus of his Predestination but his Wil. The third of a set number not to be increased or diminished is a very verity in regard of Gods infallible foreknowledge and immutable Wil. The fourth is a bifront Janus most ambiguous for if it suppose non-praedestination to necessitat condemnation for sin it puts non causam pro causa but if it make non-praedestination a meer negativ in God and supposes sin unrepented the caus God may in true Justice condemn the sinner that neglects the remedy for every one perisheth by his own default as Preachers inculcat dayly The fifth is generally granted That the elect doo not fal away finaly or totaly but who they are no mortal man knows and al men may fal The sixth in a tru sens is tru That Beleevers being reconciled to God by repentance may be certain of their present condition by a ful perswasion of Faith yet must not presume of infallible perseverance sith many Saints through frailty have faln dangerously The seventh is tru in part That effectual saving Grace is not given to al that they may be saved if they wil but sufficient is offered to al and that seriously or intentionaly if they wil use and not refuse reject or resist the means working out their salvation with fear and trembling The eighth is to be rightly expounded that no man can com to the Son unless the Father draw him and al men are not drawn by him but 't is becaus he foresees that they be obdurat and wil not com when caled for his prescience is the condition not the caus of proceeding The last is indubitat that 't is not in every mans nay in no mans free choice and power to be saved without Grace but by help thereof and use of the means prescribed in the Gospel any man may be saved if he wil cooperat with Gods Grace and not wilfully reject the same Dr. John Rainolds at Hampton-Court Conference beside many mo both before and since petioned that thes 9 Lambethian Articles might be annexed to the other 39 by public authority but could never obtain it becaus their meaning or construction was very dubious or dissonant to the tru sens of our Churches seventeenth Article which handles the point of Predestination more plainly and perfectly then thes 'T is said that Dr. Whitgift Archbishop granted this discussion to gratify Dr. Whitakers importunity and pacify that present Cantabrigian fury but left it in such doubtful terms that no prejudice might occur to the said Article of Predestination predefined THESIS I. Animae Humanae productio Production of Mans Soul 1 A solen Question Whether every Mans Soul since Adams be created or procreated THE Case is cleer for creating Adams Gen 2. 3. Soul God breathed into his nostrils the Spirit of life whereof S. Austins Axiom respect stil had to this first Souls production is infallibly tru 't is created in infusing and infused in creating Of Eve 't is said God in a deep Gen. 2. 21. 23. sleep took one of Adams ribs closing up flesh in its stead and the Rib he made a Woman The learned say it was no dead bone but animat the material part being extended to a shapeful human body and the spiritual at the same instant diffused over
Creatures without respect to foreknowledg But for Election to Life being his free Gift they more confidently ascribe to his meeâ— Wil without Prescience which they hav more color for if the Saints glory were only a Gift of Grace and not also a retribution of Justice But God makes it a retribution of Justice upon foresight of their laboring to attain the end and a gift of free Grace too knowing what wil bring them to happines if he grant them thos benefits wherby he shal also attain his end even the glory of his free Lov in giving eternal life to whom he wil which is the tru harmony This Judgment being ex praeteritis Predestination must be ex praevisis for the judg ordained by God is the Lord John 5. 22. Jesus that al may honor the Son as they doo the Father John 3. 19. becaus as the Father created so the Son redeemed Mankind even the universality The grand crime for which the World shal be judged is that Men loved darknes more then light and John 12. 48. Christs Word shal judg him at last day whoever rejected or contemned Marc. 16. 16. Christ Since the Gospel is preached the rule of judging is He that beleeveth and is baptised shal be saved he that 2 Thes 1. 7 8. beleeveth not damned Which S. Paul more fully explicats When the Lord Jesus shal be reveled from Heaven to recompence 2 Cor. 5. 10. thos that hav suffred for his truth and in flaming fire take vengeance on them that know not God nor obey his Gospel The severity of this Judgment to render vengeance the specification Rom. 2. 16. of persons we must al appear before his seat the assignation of causes to be judged the very secrets of Mens hearts with the maner of judgment when such as hav sinned without the Law shal perish without the Lâ—w having a Law written in their hearts but thos that hav sinned in the Law shal be judged by the Law semblably such as hav not obeied the Gospel shal be judged by it Al this argues that original sin which is one just caus of death shal be alleged against al who hav no other caus of condemnation but this as Infants which dy having not this sin purged by the Laver of Regeneration either in act or vow of the Church but to lay it unto them that liv to ripe yeers of knowing God obeying the Gospel or haply had forgivnes of sins sealed by Baptism this seemd strange to Doctor Whitaker that any shal be Reprobated for sin remitted so 't is strange that any should be condemned for such sins as he was not Reprobated for sith the sentence of Reprobation is the hardest and heaviest that can be which draws with it the sentence of Condemnation Surely such sins as the wicked shal be judged of at last are the same they were Reprobated for at first being Jude v. 4. eternaly foreseen specialy their final impenitence and inobedience els what needs this exact differencing of Causes or how are the guilty more burdned to hear their several crimes if al be rejected in the common Case of Mankind lapsed and unable to rise having no Saviour to dy for them nor Spirit to cal them nor help to heal them but are excluded or debarred by Gods absolut irrespectiv Decree God wil overcom in Judgment yet not by pleading his Soveraign power or Prerogativ and silencing Men with his dominion els was Abram too bold to expostulat Shal not the Worlds Judg doo right but by Justice and Equity rewarding every one according to his works els he would not put himself on trial Judg I pray between me my Vineyard what more could I doo then I hav doon God wil Isai 5. 3. convince the ungodly putting them to silence and shame by their own stubborn ingratitud against his abundant Goodnes Patience and long suffering not by his own plenipotence or Prerogativ Sadolet to an Objection We being born of corrupt original are by Nature made to perdition that thos whom God passeth by and caleth not might hav no just caus of complaint answers thus I conceiv that Christ Jesus sitting in Judgment for his Father on them whom he hath conâ—emned wil not so pass or pronunce Sentence sith ye proceded from Adams corrupt loins and contracted your Parents guilt doo I condemn you to endless torments but wil say Go ye cursed into everlasting fire for ye saw me hungry and fed me not c. which are not the common sins of al Mankind but particular faults of ech several person which shal be alledged and wherby they shal be judged lest in that sharp torture and grief they presume to ask Mercy of God who denied it to their poor Brethren begging it Mr. Plaifer handles al thes deep points at large wel worth a serious survey which are here succinctly summed up and conduce much to the main subject If any mislike his Tenets as many of different Judgments wil let them seek satisfaction of him who can best resolv al scruples But if I hav misprised any material circumstances through insciousnes not wilfulnes let me bear the blame who undertake to be his faithful eccho Now for fuller application and farther addition take what folows in a more confused maner To found Predestination on Prescience of simple Intelligence best consorts with al conditions consequents and circumstances therof wherby al divine Attributs are best accorded and advanced the sole scruple rests which Opinion best agrees with the Holy Ghosts tru meaning For al Sects arrogat to sens the Scriptures best if they may be Judges or Interpreters to preach the Gospel purest if faith be given to their bare words and to administer the Sacraments sincerest if their new cuts daily varied may pass for current coin as three main marks of their Church caled the little Flock when al others censure or condemn them for fals Teachers as every one doth ech other and al tort or distort Gods Word to serv turns Howbeit for trial of truth the chief Texts shal be brought to test or touchstone for Prescience these places are pregnant S. James saith Known unto Acts 15. 18. God are al his works from everlasting S. Peter To the Elect 1 Pet 1. 2. Rom. 8. 29 30. according to the foreknowledg of God the Father S. Paul Whom he foreknew he predâ—stinated whom he predestinated he caled whom he caled he justified whom he justified he glorified Again Blessed be God who hath blessed us in al heavenly things Eph. 1. 3 4. through Christ as he hath chosen us in him before the Worlds foundation Ergo we are eternally Elect by Faith in Christ foreseen which preceds Predestination To conceiv rightly the maner and order of this high mystery according to Gods Mind reveled in his Word we must consider somthing of his Nature who predestinats and therin revere his infinit â—intellect just Wil matchless Mercy and soveraign Dominion with
Know preceds but to Wil coms orderly Gods Decrees folow his Wil continualy Novit ab aeternâ— Deus omnia tempore danda Aâ—iâ—tâ— Postea dâ—crevit quae fabricare velit God knew eternaly al in time to be And Decreed after what he would frame free Ordine Naturae Omnisciens prius omnia vidit Alâ—aâ— Quà m quid decrevis mente creare Deus Al-knowing God did al in Nature see Yer he in Mind did to creat Decree An lapsu praeviso Elohim praedestinet Adae Aut mâ—ro ex libito lis gravis orta fuit Sâ—â—â—â— Whether God predestind knowing Adams Fal Or of meer Pleasure great strif did befal Simpliei in intuitu certo omnia praesciit antâ— Sive Quam statuit Mundum fabrificare Deus In simple intellect God al foreknew Yer he would make the World what would insu Antea quâ—m Decreta feâ—at Deus omnia praescit 〈◊〉 Progreditur constans ordine namque suo God foreknows al before he doth decree For he proceds in 's order constantly Quos Deus aeternum praescit praedestinat hosque Aut. Eligit aut reprobat pro bonitatâ— sua God foreknows and foredooms eternaly And elects or rejects for 's clemency Vulâ— salvare aliquos reliquos damnare Jehovah 〈◊〉 Sed cur sic voluit non bene causa patet God som wil sav and th' rest damn to Hel But why he wil the caus appeers not wel THESIS III. Verum Ecclesiae Regimen The Churches tru Polity T Is a known verity That Paternity was the prime Hâ—story val Polity among the Protopatriarchs both in sacred and secular matters as Adam is said to be ordained a Priest by God becaus Cain and Abel only brought their offerings til they were ordained to that office by their Father and so in succession one from another Which form continued in the Postpatriachs til their Progeny becam a Nation under Moses and Aaron who promulged Laws by divine dictat both for Civil and Spiritual causes For the Israelits had distinct Courts of different persons one for Church matters â—aled an Ecclesiastic Consistory another for Common-wealth causes termed a Temproal Judicatory Moses speaks of both in general He that wil not hearken to Deut. 17. 1â— 2 Chr. 19. 5. or obey the Priest or Judg shal dy but Jehosophat put a more precise difference who appointed through al Cities secular Judges wherof Zebadiah was chief and at Jerusalem a Spiritual Court of Levits Priests and Elders over whom Amariah high Priest presided so Jeremy was condemned by Jer. 26 8 16. the Priests Consistory but acquited by the Princes Judicatory Yea tho by Antiochus tyranny and the Jews slavery under sundry Nations no evident distinction appeers in the new Testament yet som prints of both remain specialy wher the chief Priests and Elders are cited as two divers Courts the Mat 21 23. Mat. 26. 3. secular caled a Council the spiritual stiled a Synagog For the Ecclesiastic was to discern things holy and unholy clean from unclean and to determin Appeals in difficil debats being as a representativ Church Hence Christ said Dic Ecclesiae Mat. 1â— 17. becaus excommunication pertained to them In civil Courts of seventy Judges being the suprem Sanedrim two sat chief viz. the Nasi as Lord chief Justice and Abbethdin as Father of the Senat so in the Consistory the high Priest and his Sagan or secund like a Bishop and his Suffragan as suprem but the high Priest was not necessarily chosen Nasi unles for eminent worth and extraordinary Wisdom For they had two civil Courts 1. The grand Sanedrim or suprem Senat 2. The lesser or inferior which in after ages had subordinat branches whence Christ said Who ever is angry with Mat. 5. 12. his Brother causlesly shal be culpable of Judgment meaning the lesser Court who cals him Racha in scorn shal be liable to a Council or chief Consistory but he that cals him fool malitiously shal be guilty of Hel-fire The Sanedrim excelled the rest 1. In number of Judges being seventy besides the Exod. 24. 〈◊〉 Nasi or Prince as God at first institution said to Moses Gather to me seventy Elders Rulers of the People and let them stand at the Tabernacle with thee implying seventy besides him but the lesser consisted of twenty three at Jerusalem and three only in smal Cities 2. In place for the seventy sat within the Temple-court in the paved Chamber or Pavment John 19. 1â— wher Pilat gav Judgment 3. In power for the Sanedrim received Appeals from al but from them was none 4. In causes to be tried For the seventy Judged al matters of life and death yea a whol Tribe the high Priest and fals Prophets but the twenty three lighter crimes and thos of three only pecuniary mulcts whippings and pety punishments Many make doubt whether in Christs dais they had power of life and death sith they said Wee cannot doâ—m any to death John 1â— 31. Late Jews say al capital censure was inhibited forty yeers before the Temples destruction which is about Christs Baptism but Josephus saith Herod suppressed the Sanedrim before L. 14 Antiq. c. 17. yet thos words to Pilat prov not as if they had no such power for he bids them take and judg him according to their Law Yea they pressed or pleaded we hav a Law and by it he ought John 19. 7. to dy but the holines of the time being the Passovers vigil and preparation of the Sabbath made it unlawful to meddle with matters of blood Indeed the Romans bereaved al power to judg civil capital crimes but suffred them to try transgressions against Moses Law as Blasphemies or the like and such they cried that Christ committed in caling himself the Son of God but with Barabas and the two Theefs they had nothing to doo For Gallio when Paul was brought before him said If it were a matter of wrong or wickednes O ye Jews reason Acts 18. 14. would I should hear or bear with you but being a question of words or names in your Law look ye to it Distingue res seu causas Concordabunt Scripturae Among them who were Gods chosen People and sole Church were three orders of Ministers in the temple over whom the high Priest being Aarons first born was chief 1. Priests Aarons younger Progeny 2. Levits Levies posterity 3. Nephenims who hewed wood and drew water being Gibeonits doomed to that drudgery by Josua for their craft or cunning At 〈◊〉 9 〈◊〉 Consecration the high Priest was annointed with Chrism 〈◊〉 8. 〈◊〉 â—0 powred on his head which ran down his beard and borders of his robe but the Priests only sprinkled with this oil and blood of the Sacrifice At ministration in the Sanctuary the high Priest wore eight sorts of raiments which the Rabbins cal golden Vestments but the Priests only four They differed also in office For the high Preist entred the Holy
created none til afterward to rule in their rooms For S. Paul caling the Elders of Ephesus to Miletum bid them Take Act. 20. 17. heed to themselfs and the Flock wherof the Holy Ghost made them Overseers naming no particular Prelat sav himself as Head over them Hence grew thes Schisms saying I am of Paul 1 Cor. 1. 12. 〈◊〉 of Apollos c. becaus no ruling Elders were then setled as S. Ambros aptly observs The reason why he yet set no Superintendents is becaus he self took care or rule of al Churches whence Tertullian terms Corinth Ephesus Philippi Thessalâ—nica and the rest of that rank Apostolic Churches becaus he presided over them But in process of time as occasion served they ordeined Episcopal Supervisers to supply their steads for 2 Cor. 11. 28. Paul being caled by the Spirit to attend the West parts passing Acts 19. 21. through Macedonia and Achaia toward Jerusalem and so to Rome never to see the East again sent Titus to Corinth and going by Sea put in at Cret to preach the Gospel wher meeting 2 Cor. 8. 6. 16. Ep scopat â—â—â—cted Titus back from Corinth he left him ther to ordein Elders in every City while he went to Epirus and Illyricum before he cam to Rome About that time he besought Timothy to abide at Ephesus who attended him first into Macedon but at his return resided there He was indeed an Evangelist yet a Bishop too as Philip who converted Samaria was a Deacon and Evangelist yet asterward Bishop of Tralleis in Thracia Som cavil That Saint Paul trusted Titus and Timothy with a temporar Commission only becaus he employed them elswher but the rules prescribed for continued government to al Bishops cleerly convince that filly shift For his Instructions how Elders and Deacons Titus 1. 5. should be qualified plainly purport them to be Superiors to thos whom they shal so ordein and rule Thus S. Paul leaving two of his Disciples in two principal places to plant Presbyteries and propagat Churches gav a patern or platform to al who acted accordingly For S. John reputed longevest of the S John ordeined Bishops Apostles wrot long after to the Angels or Bishops of the seven Asian Churches most of which are named by Apostolic Men in Ecclesiastic Histories Such saith Clemens Alexandrinus and Eusebius S. John constituted Bishops in divers Cities after his return from Patmos Exile planted whol Churches and ordeined Presbyteries in several places as Paul and Timothy used to doo The like did other Apostles before their deaths in divers Dioceses as Dorotheus Demochares Eusebius Petrus de Natalibus Volateranus and many mo contest For Gaius and after him Onesimus sucâ—eded Timothy at Ephesus Apelles and after him Polycarpus becam Bishops of Smyrna Lucius of Laodicâ—a Clemens first of Sardis which are four of the said seven Churches and after of Rome as Ignatius Tertullian Irenaeus and other Fathers positivly aver To whos authentic affirmation more Faith is du then to thousand Novelists negativs wholy possessed with prejudicacy philauty and partiality The next Apostolic See is Antioch wher Beleevers were first 2 Antioch caled Christians which Church Peter and Paul jointly founded as Ignatius attests For two Christian Congregations coexisted ther one of the Circumcision wherof Peter took charge another of converted Gentils which Paul by mutual agreement supervised who being employed elswher committed the charge of both being concorporat in one to Evodius Antecessor of Ignatius Thes two are also accompted Cofounders of Rome 3 Rome Church by Irenaeus but writers differ much about their successors Som set Linus and Cletus or Anacletus next after them and som Clemens which dissent in circumstance cannot frustrat or falsify their consent and harmony in substance as partialists infer Haply ther being two Congregations as at Antioch of Jews and Gentils Clemens Peters Disciple succeded him in the first and Linus Pauls Deacon in the last til both uniting in one devolved on the Surviver Clemens as Mr. Thorndike probably conjects by comparing semblable cases However ther was afterward a constant succession of Bishops most part Martyrs til Constantins dais as al Antients agree But none are so absurd to say they were al bare Presbyters as if thos great Cities had one only Minister to Officiat In the Apostles dais before S. John died Denys Areopagit S. Pauls Convert becam Bishop of Athens as Denys Bishop of Corinth avers Lastly S. Marc was made Bishop of Alexandria in Egipt 4 Alexandria haply by S. Peter whos Disciple he was as S. Jerom saith That from Mare to Heracla and Dionysius in his dais mark wel Epest ad Evag. the words the Presbyters stil chos one in higher degree and dignity to be Bishop It was long after yer Corinth had any which caused such Schisms or strifes among the Elders yet many Apostolic Men Titus at Cret Timothy at Ephesus Clemens at Rome Denys at Athens presided in Neighbor Sees who in time placed Bishops at Corinth and other Cities which is a pregnant pedigree of Episcopal History for the first Century of Christ Afterward when question aros which Churches should hav Bishops which not It was regulated by the greatnes of Cities or multitud of Presbyters requisit to such charges and by slow degrees setled through the world Hence Sardinia Can 6. Synod ordered That no smal Towns shal hav Bishops wher a few Priests may serv but only Populous places that deserv one or antiently had one And the Chalcedon Council provided That Can. 17. when the Emperor established a City annexing the Territories adjacent or appendent it should hav a Bishop which made Itaely so ful of Bishops becaus so Cityful Now as Presbyters assisted the Apostles who caled them felow-Elders though not equals So they assisted Bishops in sacred matters specialy of Ordination as Ignatius informs So saith Cyprian He did nothing of himself without Counsil of his Clergy and consent of the People And S. Ambros That nothing was doon in the Church without the Elders advise Hence Bishops and Elders are oft caled by the same names yet of distinct degrees becaus both concurred in functions being stiled Priests Sacerdotes in respect of divine service Elders in regard of age or gravity and Presidents or Prelats in relation to their rule Thus their Phaesbytert Antistices titles were oft confounded but Orders and Offices stil distinguished which no brass-brow can gainsay S. Ambros renders a reason why S. Paul instructing Timothy passeth from Bishops to Deacons becaus every Bishop is a Presbiter and Deacon not convertibly but he chief over both Many maintain That Presbyteries primarily consisted part of Clerics part of Laics as the Jews Sanedrim had som Priests and Levits som Elders of the People but 't is fals for that was a mix'd Judicature of spiritual and secular persons like our old high Commission Court becaus al causes of Church and Common-wealth passed under their censure wheras
Balthasaer being stil pure silver So our Ministry is Ezâ—a 7. 〈◊〉 non 〈◊〉 Ministe iâ—m holy and divine if refined from superstition as al other Ordinances are though derived through corrupt chanels of the Romish Church Hence our Reformers did not dig new Wels of Ministerial Ordination as Papists falsly aspers which Mr. Mason refuts but purified the puddle water according to Apostolic Institution not requiring more of any ordeined in the Church of Rome then to renounce their superstitious errors Which doon they were admitted to exercise the Ministry received both truly as to the substance and duly to succession without reordination For though that Sword had contracted Rev. 2. 12. rust yet was it the same with two edges which cam out of Jesus Christs mouth nor may it be broken or cast off becaus rusty but cleered clensed furbished from dulnes or bluntnes Ministers may stil continu Gods Laborers though Loiterers Mat. 26 40. as Christ owned his Disciples when they could not wake or watch one hour in his heavy horrid agony Our Antiministerial Antagonists hav less color to argu it Antichristian from Papal usurpation then ther is Reason Scripture and Experience beside common consent of al Reformed Churches to prov it Authentic For if envy teen and avarice did not blind their bloodshot eys they might cleerly see som mighty works wrought on Mens Souls by the Ministry without which thos cavilling calumniators had not bin so much Christian as they boast to be nor so able to contend with specious shews of Piety against the learned Ministry with whos Heifers they plough having nothing but what they received from them and are most ingrat wretches to their pristin Teachers We know that many Churches beside Reformed Gallican Popes Primacy began A 604. Venetian Grecian Russian Asian African deny the Popes universal Primacy of power being bought by proud Boniface 3. of proditorious Phocas the Parricid abov 1000 yeers ago who by Divine Right had no Jurisdiction farther then his own Dioces or Patriarchat limited by general Councils wher four other Patriarchs of Jerusalem Antioch Alexandria Constantinople had equal authority assigned in their several Precincts or Provinces as al know This Antichristian arrogation which gav first hint of revolt to Henry 8. our Bishops and Ministers stil abhorred so much as their Adversaries doo the Genevan Presbytery But it may be feared lest their preposterous zele or prepensed malice may prov the Popes best Engin if they can so far prevail to cashire al learned laborious duly ordeined Ministers which God forbid For then our Church wil becom a falow unfenced Feild fit for Papal subtlety which he wil Plough with an Ox and Ass coâ—yoked politic Jesuits with fanatic Donatists Seminary Priests with gifted Brethren Friers mendicant with Prophets predicant who condog or comply in consortship under divers disguises as is wel known So that no wise Men judg otherwise of this conjuncture but that Jacobs hand is in the py and Ahitophel assistant in counsil with Absolon whos sly plots and practises against tru Ministry good Lord confound Reformations may bend so far on one hand til they meet on the other forsaking that rectitud of the mean in which the truth and honor of Religion consists Antichrist which som fear in name and in others more then in the thing or themselfs is at both ends of extrems of Prophanes defect and confusion on one side and excess of superstition on the other Every Man may suspect Antichrist in his own bosom sith the Kingdom of Christ and Antichrist is specialy within us but 't is better for the Church to retain what is Christs though in common with Antichrist then passionatly to cast off al under color of detesting him sith Men may fal into sacrilege which is too frequent while they seem to abhor Idols 'T is the same evil Spirit which rents the Church by Schisms and that which casts into the fire of persecution and water of superstition But as the Spirit of Idolatry may be cast out for a fit so he may soon return with seven Devils wors then himself Papal darknes and Mat. 12. 4â— Human eclipsings are no warrant to extinguish the light of tru Ministry set up by Christ Nor can Men pleasure Satan more then to put out the Churches Candles instead of snuffing them but som hate our Ministry not for lighting their Lamps at the Popes Taper but for out-shining their dimnes for 't is madnes to cut their Fathers throats becaus they were once sick or descended from diseased Parents if they are becom in sound perfect health Vulgar Spirits are uncouth Reformers who beat down or break in pieces with Axes and Hammers having no Chissels or finer tools to clens and polish as som pul down Crosses to set up Weather-coeks and batter Church windows becaus painted in time of Popery Mans usurpation cannot prejudice Gods dominion nor Human traditions or additions vacat divine Commands nor Antichrists superstitions cancel Christs Institutions nor the heady intrusion of som on Churches rights caus Christians to remov the antient Land-marks of tru Ministry du order and good Government fixed by Christ 'T is much more madnes to abolish the use of holy things then to lerat som abuses with it but right reforming is a staid sober restauration of antient venerable sorms which is never wel handled unless Men hav honest hearts good heads pure hands and cleer eys to discern direct and dispose it but when al meet they wil seriously sincerely and succesfully doo the work of Christ and his Church Christians hav no caus in Reason or Religion to reject our reformed Ministry for any succession from relation to or communion with the Roman Church or Clergy no more then the Objectors hav to pul out their eys becaus Papists see with theirs or destroy themselfs becaus issued from Popish Parents or Progenitors For we may so wel refuse al Leagues Treaties or common Commerce with them as al Rites of Christianity and even that as lawful Ministry or holy succession originaly derived from Christ and his Apostles So far of Ministry in general now of Episcopacy Ob. Som at first brunt oppose that our Ministry being conveied Epictâ—pacy by the hands of Bishops who are not of Christs planting and now supplanted by power the whol order as slips or branches of one stem or stock must needs fal or fail together with the trunck of the Tree Ergo both to be annulled Sol. Lo how thes Antiministerials cudgel Presbyters with the same staf which som of them put into Vulgar hands to beat their Reverend Fathers and banish Episcopat but what ever thos rigid Reformists secret or sinister intentions were surely they wanted the Serpents wisdom to sav the main Head whence life motion and direction descends to al parts wherby the lesser hurts or bruises might easily be recured For the envious and ambitious zele of such Antiprelatical Spirits aspiring to step up into their steads
as they approved may be set over them which was somtime granted somtime not but to ordein of themselfs Saul and Vzziah had so much right to offer Incens as they to doo it Al humble Christians look to the rock whence they were hewen and pit wherout they were digged who did not make Ministers but they sent by Christ made People Christians Such as sat in darknes had light brought them and were found of God by his Ministers sent as Shepherds to the lost Sheep which sought not God So ther is no caus for People to embrace that fury folly and faction which would lay al in common sith Levellers can allege nothing to repeal the divine approbation of Ministry which hath continued a peculiar peaceable possession to Church Officers by Christs Institution for sixteen Centuries without cessation in a constant successon of Ordination We grant People in a particular Parish or Congregation may desire a special Man to be their Prelat or Pastor as thos of Milan did St. Ambros but cannot chus by their proper power much less Ordein as Souldiers may petition the General for one to be their Captain but cannot chus creat or constitut any without Commission They may so wel set up a new Christ or new Gospel as new Ministry or new Ordination which Christ hath doon once for al times and places to the Worlds end without Peoples interest A wise Spaniard said 'T is better in a State to prefer corrupt Men then silly Sots the one like a Theef in a Vinyard wil only take ripe Grapes til he be satiat but the other as an Ass eats ripe and green treads down al with his heels and being filled tumbles in it to spoil al such is the unskilful Vulgar in Church affairs Quest Som scornfully ask what can Bishops confer in Ordination more then other Men what charm is in their praiers or imposing of hands to invest Church power or how can they giv the Graces of the holy Ghost why doo they claim to be caled Clerics as peculiar to that Tribe and contemptuously cal others Laics sith al the Lords People are the lot of his Inheritance being spiritualy annointed to be Kings Priests Prophets Answ Thes Scarrows are soon repelled 1. Touching the term or title of Clergy and Laity which captious Critics imput as pride in Ecclesiastics to incens People against them this distinction was ever used ab initio as al antient Fathers Councils and Histories ratify nor is the one upbraided as a badg of vainglory to the Ministry nor the other aspersed as a brand of infamy to the People but only to difference both calings as 't is in our Laws and Language Nor is it avers to Scripture sens which cals them Pastor and Flock Doctor and Disciple Ruler and Ruled yea al Faithful in general are stiled Clerus a Church or portion of the Lords heritage but Ministers in special Clerus Ecclesiae a lot given by the Lord to his Acts 2. 6. Acts. 13. 2 3. Church as consecrat apart to his service So the Apostles chos Matthias by lot and the holy Ghost after said Separat Barnabas and Paul for the work wherto I hav caled them who having fasted praid and layd on hands sent them away Gods Ministers disdain not to be counted or caled his People as Children of one spiritual Father and brethren of the same Family of Faith Nor wil humble Christians covet to be clyped Clerics or scorn the appellation of Laics to avoid confusion of Calings who accompt or acknowledg tru Bishops and Ministers as their Fathers Overseers and Instructers Men may so wel bogle at the words Trinity three persons and Sacraments which are not found in the letter but truth and sens of Scripture Nor is Logomachy or word-war fit for wise Men being a meer Sciomachy or shadow-fight like stumbling at straws and syllabical scruples No Religion bars convenient compendious terms to distinguish degrees but thes word-Carpers hav a malitious meaning to make People abandon both Name and Thing even the Office and Ordination 2. To the demand what charm is in Bishops hands or praiers to confer the holy Ghost more then in others so wel or better gifted It may so wel be asked as Atheists and Apostats use what virtu is in Baptism water to wash away sin regenerat sinners confer Grace or represent Christs blood more then in other as proud Catabaptists contested Or what efficacy in Bread and Wine at the Lords Supper more then in the same Elements at usual Tables or Taverns How doth the form of consecration by using Christs words ad or alter them At this rate of carnal reasoning Men may cavil at Christs Deity and Humanity for the outward poverty of his life and death which made many doubt or deny him to be the tru Messias So this fond futilous frivolous question fals to ground with its own weight or weaknes as if there were more light in lat modern Meteors then in the great Lamps Sun Moon and Stars of Scripture Church and antient Christians who with the same holy humble Faith as they beleev Jesus to be the promised Messias maugre al which blind Jews and babarous Infidels obtrud doo also religiously reverence al his holy Orders and Ordinances how poor or plain soever setled in his Church Nor doth the means of outward appeerance weaken their duty or devotion who liv by Faith see with the ey of Faith and act with Faiths hand in al divine mysteries For God makes foolish things effectual by his spirit and Grace to thos high holy ends for which they were ordeined So 't is not any Magic charm which makes common Accedit Verbū Elemento fit Sacramentum Elements becom Sacraments being consecrat by Ministers nor in Bishops hands and praiers to ordein them but his powerful Word and Spirit who commands the duty confirms the Order and givs a blessing to Ministerial Ordination so wel as to al other Ordinances The result is That Ordination makes nothing to Ministers Natural Moral or Spiritual endowments nor doth it confer any Physical power no more then the Office of a Judg Ambassador or martial Commander to their personal abilities but invests them alone with authority to exercise thos Functions which none els may presum to perform who hath not that order of Office consigned to him Nor can any power in Men make a Gospel Minister though never so gifted to consecrat holy duties sav only such as are set apart or separat therto by du Ordination The benefits therof are manifest and manifold 1. For Gods glory and salvation of Mens Souls by beleeving tru Ministers testimony that Jesus Christ is sole Saviour of the World who began this Ordinance and sent som special witnesses to proclaim him by a constant continual succession in al ages and places til his secund coming 2. It evidenceth the Churches care and fidelity both in preserving the divine Oracles and in celebrating holy Mysteries as Seals to confirm
nexts Lords day not for contempt but as guilty of the fact so if Malefactors in France fly they are hung up in figure This is round work to Excommunicat for superseding one Citation in Causes of Life and Death judging him guilty untried How if the Magistrat pardon this Murderer Yet wil not they receiv him upon repentance under 40. dais trial and satisfaction given the next Allies of the party slain So they take on them al kind of power Al other offenses not capital Lechery Ebriety Swearing Cursing Scolding Fighting Fencing Sabbath-breaking wanton words or gestures neglect of Sermons and Sacraments suspition of pride or avarice superfluity of Fare riot in Raiments Dancing Dicing hanting Taverns Tipling houses Theatres May-poles Morrices and al Merriments with many mo are left to the Elderships discretion So are contentious persons which veâ— their Brethren sans caus wherin they wil be sole Arbiters How can thes Men know unless they examin the facts and be skilled in the Laws of the Land Or who wil run to temporal Courts if he may be righted at Consistory Bar Nay if he doth he shal surely smart for it Beza saith Al sins are subject to their censure as being scandalous to godly Men for if one wrong me in goods or good name he commits a duple crime one in wounding my heart by breach of Gods Law and giving il exemple wherin I must complain to the Elders to work his repentance another in damaging my fame and fortunes which Magistrats must right Is not this a brav devis to inlarge their Jurisdiction when al actions of the Case com within their compass and al persons must be Informers to their Court If I complain to the Consistory that one hath wronged me and they enjoin him to ask me forgivnes how can he commence a Law-suit against me He may quoth Beza but 't is an il sign of repentance or tru remission Is not this a bar to civil Justice The wrong is confessed and forgivnes asked ther needs no trial of Fact but the Magistrat may award damages and tax costs which is al he can doo Avant then Common-Law and Chancery the Consistory alone can doo al. Al the ground of this Divinity is drawn from the Jews Sanedrim which Cartwright saith Christ transferred to his Church as a patern for the Elders Beza concurs That the Priests were Lawyers who decided any doubt arising among the Judges If it be asked what they had to doo in causes meerly Civil He learnedly resolvs That matter of Fact is Civil which the Judg sentenced but al points in Law the Ecclesiastic Elders decided or determined Is this probable or veritable Doubtless the Jews had not two Courts one of Fact anotheâ— of Law nor any Nation els but in difficil Cases both of Law and Fact Appeals were made from inferior Courts in the Country to the Sanedrim at Jerusalem which handled Civil Causes so wel as Ecclesiastic Nay Travers and the learned â—iscours hold That the Elders may deal in Civil Causes as they did under Pagan Princes before they Christianized for they receiv no more authority by their conversion then they had before nor may meddle in Church matters yet they may in Civil 2. They found fault That Primats and Prelats were made privy Counsilors of State much more to be admitted Members of Parlement and Convocation yet Beza was of the State Council at Geneva and prescribed to Scotland That in stead of Bishops som grav Presbyters may be present in Parlement to advise in spiritual matters as Judges doo in Law Yea Field supplicated here That twenty four learned Divines might hav votes in Parlement excluding Bishops but for the Convocation if it were such as should be meaning their Eldership the Parlement may establish nothing pertaining to Gods worship without their direction 3. They contemn or condemn al antient Councils and caled our Reformation of Religion doon by Convocation a Deformation branding the 39 Articles Injunctions Canons and Church Ceremonies as contemptible but extol their own Synods Classical Provincial National General as parallel to the Gospel and authentic Oracles of the holy Ghost 4. They inveied against Clergy Men to be Commissioners in the lat high Commission Court yet sued in Scotland That fourty Ministers should hav Commission to suppress their Enemies of Religion So Field petitioned here That his twenty four Doctors might hav power under the Great Seal to censure al Sects Heresies Errors Contempts Misdemeanors against Gods Word and their Ecclesiastic Laws to depriv any Pastor not doing his duty after their wils to examin Witnesses imprison Malefactors and certify their names to the Lords of the Council for farther punishment 5. They disliked the High-Commission should send out Pursevants to summon or imprison Men yet the Genevan Consistorie hath a Beedle to cite Men whom they incarcerat at pleasure 6. They exclamed aloud becaus subscription was required to the Articles of Religion Communion Book and Canons Yet the Disciplinarians at their clandestin Conventicles in joined it to their Decrees or Devises nor can any be chosen a Church-Officer unles he first subscribe to their Disciplin 7. They task the Oath ex Officio used in certain thief Causes becaus Men may not be compelled to accuse themselfs and no accusation is liable against an Elder under two or three witnesses yet when Henrig a Presbyter refused to swear touching dancing at Widow Balthasars hous in Geneva alleging that place Calvin jeered at it and extorted confessions upon Oath deprived Henrig exofficiated one of the four Sinders and imprisoned al the rest 8. They brand the Common-Praier Book as culled out of the Popes Portuis The Ceremonies Surplice and other ornaments as Antichristian rags contesting 'tis better to conform with Turcs then Papists If it be answered that we must try al things and hold what is good using thos things lawfully which were abused superstitiously al wil not serv or satisfy yet when they are charged with Donatism Anabaptism or Papism in perturbing the public peace for saying the Sacraments are not sincerely Ministred that we hav no lawful Prelats or Pastors and Princes may not meddle with Ecclesiastic matters Cartwright a chief Champion answers for al his felows That in the filth of such Heresies som good things are found which they receiv or retain as the Jews did the holy Arc from prophane Philistims 9. They decry University Degrees as the Anabaptists did in Germany whom Melancthon confuts caling them childish Ceremonies borowed from the Pope But Junius a Consistorian contests they are decent and lawful which ought not to be abrogated for any abuse or abandoned becaus borowed from Papists Yea Cartwright sued to be Doctor of Divinity which was denied and the strictest sort took Academical Degrees sans scruple and divers swalowed Lawn sleevs without choking 10. They reprov others for urging the authority of Councils Fathers and School-men yet if any seem to fit or favor their Caus they magnify them highly as Beza stifly
as if their cavilling were sufficient When Cyril saith That Moses Law to punish Adultery with death is out of date he comptrols his Opinion as corrupt May it not more justly be said Nomine mutato narratur fabula de se The Tale change but the Name Of them is stil the same When Theodoret testifies That Chrysostom Patriarch of Constantinople had the charge of other Churches in Asia Thracia Pontus beside his own See and Sozomen saith he deposed thirteen Bishops for Simony Cartwright cogs an answer That he had no other care over them then al Godly Ministers ought to hav over al Churches in Christendom or if he took rule over them he was a proud Prelat like the Pope yet haply he deposed thos Bishops by consent of the Presbytery not by his own authority al which bewray gross ignorance contrary to known truth When the first Nicen Synod which placed Patriarchs over Primats is urged for the antiquity and authority of both Cartwright scofs at it as no famous Council taxing divers Decrees of error specialy in points of Disciplin yet al Churches receiv them as authentic and Arrians or other Heretics may so wel cavil at the Doctrins When Antioch Council caled fifteen yeers after Decreed That inferior Bishops shal not act without their Metropolitan sav what pertains to their own Dioceses He glosseth that a Metrapolitan was only set over a chief City and the name makes no more difference then to say a Minister of London and Newington but by Dioces is meant a Parish so he stil translats the Greec word becaus it bears a Parochial and Episcopal division though generaly used for the later wher a chief Minister had som Mercat-Town with vicine Villages appendent to his Church as at Hitchin and elswher Sic parvis componere magna solebat What fine foists and brazen bolts are thes to bolster a bad caus When Athanasius avers That Denys Patriarch of Alexandria to which Jurisdiction Egypt Thebais Mariota Lybia and other Provinces pertained had the Churches of Panâ—apolis committed to his care as Epiphanius saith the same of Peter another Patriarch to whom the Archbishop of Miletus was subject Cartwright consters it of a voluntary care not authoritiv which every Minister ought to take of Churches round about him When Theodoret Bishop of Cyprus saith Heself had Government of eight hundred Churches Cartwright checks him for a vain boaster upbraiding his writing against Cyril quid ad rhombum When the Councils of Nice Antioch Carthage and Sardis declare that only Bishops hav authority to excommunicat Cartwright from Calvin the chief Coryphee declares That in so doing they fomented ambition Thus they speak Magisterialy from their Chair what they list which their partial poor blind Proselits hold for Oracles When Mr. Fox provs Archbishops to be abov Bishops and them abov Ministers Cartwright givs a dor That he writing a Story was more diligent to deliver what is doon then how wel or il doon Yea he censures al learned Men under Edward 6. that they knew only in part and being sent out in the morning dawn yer the Gospel Sun was risen high might oversee much which som not so quick eyd can better discry for what they had in acutnes of sight others enjoy by cleernes of the Suns light He prescribes two learned observations 1. That in the Nicen Synod and others within two hundred yeers after many Canons and Cautions were made touching a Metropolitan in every Province what honor or title he shal hav what limits of Jurisdiction and what place to sit in which shews that it was opposed in thos dais intimating that som Schismatic Spirits opposed the Ecclesiastic Hierarchy then as Disciplinarians did since which is no warrant so to doo 2. That among Pastors Elders and Deacons in every Church one was chosen by the rest to propone matters whether doubts to be debated censures to be decreed or elections to be determined who gathered voices and was the common mouth to moderat the whol Assembly A learned lesson to shew that Episcopal Government jumps just like Germans lips with Genevan Presbytery as if they should shake hands who shape al to their own cut as an old Dotard at Athens deemed al ships his own which cam into the Haven Howbeit they differ diversly among themselfs For Cartwright 〈◊〉 draws the Elderships origin from Moses and Aaron who assembled the Elders at Gods command which he interprets of Laics but Gallaesius of Preachers Peâ—â—itan Berâ—ram and Siniler of Civil Rulers Senators and Princes Beza brings proof out of Moses Pentateuch Chronicles and Prophets But Calvin the Founder saith The Jews Sanedrim was founded after their Captivity being then inhibited to creat a King yet the seventy being instituted by Jethros advise were a lawful Polity allowed by God to censure maners and Doctrins The titles given to Ministers in the new Testament Acts 10. 28 Acts 26. 16. Rom. 15. 16. 1 Cor. 14. 32. Phil. 1. 1. 1 Tim. 3. 2. Beza Junius and Cartwright ascribe to their Elders which Calvin applies to al Ministers Thus they run som into Egypt before the Law som to Mount Sinai in the Wildernes som elswher to seek their Eldership yet cannot find it but agree like Saâ—sons tail-tied Foxes Wher any mention is made of Elders Congregation Church Court Bishops Rulers Thrones Christs Kingdom c. Beza Junius Danaeus Cartwright and that cru imagin it to ring a peal for their Presbyterian platform suting the Scriptures to their tunes For as poor folks beget Children but know not how to keep them so Sectists breed or broch new Opinions and seek Scriptures to maintain them who as Hilary saith care not what the words mean but put their own meaning on them Lastly Listen how highly they prais themselfs and Hyperbolicaly Eudogâ—es extol their Disciplin We hav Christ and his Apostles with al the Prophets for us We striv for everlasting truth which God hath left and may not leav it the matters we meddle in are according to Gods Wil in his Word We propound his Caus faithfully and for it are persecuted We are his poor Servants painful Ministers zelous Professors feeders of his Flock Christs litle ones the foolish things of this World chosen to confound the wise of immortal seed lawful successors to thos who by Faith quenched the violence of fire unreprovable modest most worthy Watchmen We hold nothing not taught in Scripture but what old and new Writers affirm and exemples of primitiv times confirm We seek not to pleas Men or pleasure our selfs but patiently abide til the Lord bring our righteousnes to light and just dealing as the noon day We merit prais of the Law and of Gods Church seeking only to doo good our zele is parallel to that of Moses Elias the Prophets John Baptist Paul the Apostles and Christ Our side detests sin and wickednes our Ministers suffer al evil at Magistrats hands for refusing to doo evil at their commands professing to
Fire was cast into Sea and a third part becam Blood At the third A great Star caled Wormwood burning as a Lamp fel making a third part of Rivers and Fountains bitter that many died of them At fourth A third part of Sun Moon and Stars was darkned that the day and night for a third part shined not Here intervens as a preparatory transition to the three last Trumpets An Angel flying through midst of Heaven crying a loud Wo Wo Wo to the Earths Inhabiters by reason of the three Angels yet to sound The fift sounded which is the first Ch 9. 1 Wo. of Wo And a Star fel from Heaven to Earth and he opened the bottomless Pit with a Key whence arose Smoke darkning Sun and Air out of which cam Locusts whos effects are notably described together with their King Abaddon or Apollyon The sixt or secund Wo sounded whâ—ch 2 Wo. Ch. 10. loosed four Angels bound at Euphrates who were prepared to slay a third part of Men their Army being two hundred thousand thousand Horsmen which are largely described with their woful effects Here a mighty Angel Jesus Christ descended with a litle Book in his hand open who set his right Foot on the Sea and left on Earth swearing with lifted up hands by him that livs for ever ther should be no more time but at sound of the seventh Trumpet the mystery of God shal be finished as he declared to the Prophets This Angel cried loud as if a Lion roared or seven Thunders uttered their voices which John was about to writ but a voice from Heaven bid him seal it up and eat the little Book which in his mouth was sweet as Hony but made his Belly bitter that he might Prophecy Then â—b 11. was John bid to mesure Temple Altar and Worshipers with a reed but not the out Court for the Gentils must tread the holy City under foot forty two Moneths and he gav his two Witnesses power to Prophecy one thousand two hundred sixty dais clad in Sack-cloth but the beast rising from the bottomless Pit shal kil them whos dead Bodies shal ly in the street of the great City three dais and half unburied who shal reviv and ascend to Heaven to their Enimies great grief and terror The seventh 3 Wo. or third of Wo sounded which finished Gods mysteries and his Churches miseries then were great voices heard in Heaven saying the Kingdoms of this World are becom the Lords and his Christs to whom the twenty four Elders sung a gratulation attended with Lightnings Thundrings Voices Earthquake and great Hail Here the first Prophecy or System of Visions which contains chiefly the fourth Empires condition ends after which the secund contemporar with the former of Seals and Trumpets folows foretelling the Churches future state til the last day Herin three principal points are handled 〈◊〉 1. Hir tribulations 4 Vision by several Enemies 2. Hir deliverance by their destruction 3. Hir happy condition after deliverance Most Interpreters make both Visions one continued Prophecy yet not so properly tho in substance neer one The Churches persecutions Ch. 12. by several Enimies are pourtraied in this fourth Vision but the parturient Womans pursuit by the Dragon most pointly who waged war with the remnent of Hir seed The Dragons Ch. 13. instruments are the Beast with seven heads and ten borns rising from the Sea and that coming out of the Earth which had two horns like a Lamb but spake as a Dragon The events Ch. 14. of this persecution is the Saints victory by their constant confession of Christ even to death which is amplified by the causes and effects The Vision of seven Phials ful of Gods wrath and the seven 5 Vision last plagues poured out by seven Angels declare the Churches Ch. 15. deliverance by hir Enimies destruction The first poured his Ch. 16. plagues on the Earth the next on the Sea the third on Rivers and Fountains the fourth on the Sun the fift on the Beasts seat the sixt on Euphrates the seventh into the Air whos effects see in the context In the sixt Vision many mysteries are manifested being before 6 Vision Ch. 17. but obscurely mentioned which point out the Rise Reign Seat Vassals Success and final fal of Antichrist with al the Churches Enimies Here behold the great Whores judgment and event wherin a lifely description of the Whore to be judged both by visional representation of a Woman sitting on a scarlet Beastful of Names of Blasphemy having on hir forehead a Name writen A Mystery Babylon the Great Mother of Harlots and Abominations and by real explanation that the Beasts seven Heads are seven Hils and ten Horns ten Kingdoms The Instruments which shal destroy the Whore are thos ten Horns or Kings who shal hate and make hir desolat or naked eat hir flesh and burn hir with fire The promulgation Ch. 1â— of Babylons perdition is performed by three Angels one declares the certainty 't is falen and becom the habitation of Devils another warns al Gods People to com out of hir for fear of hir plagues setting forth hir Vâ—ssals sad laments crying alas alas that great City the last seals up hir ruins irrecoverablenes under the type of A great Milstone cast into the Sea Then folow gratulatory Ch. 19. exultations of the Heavenly company singing Halelujah to God both for the Whores judgment and preparation of the Lambs Wife to marry with him together with the Lamb and his Armies total conquest over the Beast fals Prophet and earthly Kings with their Armies wherto al Fowls are invited to eat their flesh The last Vision shews the event of the Whores judgment 7 Vision Ch. 20. which is triple 1. The Saints safety by chaining up the Dragon or Devil for one thousand yeers in the bottomless pit 2. The Martyrs living and reigning with Christ one thousand yeers but the rest of the dead lived not again til thos yeers were finished 3. The Saints miraculous deliverance from the Nations Gog and Magog by fire from Heaven to devour them when their Deceiver is cast into a Lake of fire and Brimstone wherupon folows the general judgment of the dead smal and great according to their works So far the Church Militants future state on Earth next folows the Triumphants happy condition in Heaven for ever which is gloriously decyphered with the Water of Life and Tree in midst of the Street as the Text Ch. 211 Ch. 22. shews The conclusion with its three parts is Analysed at first among the three chief Heads of this Prophecy which shal not be Tautologicaly repeated or reiterated Mr. Dury in a prolix Preface to the German Divines Clavis hath prefixed an ample Analysis which is abundantly abridged and annexed for variety of wit The Title tels that the Book Ch. 1. v. 1. is a Revelation of Jesus Christ who is the Subject-matter sith the sole scope is
less then twenty four hours becaus al time to God is but as a Day to Man In the interim many puzzeling questions may be proposed to them 1. Whether the holy Martyrs and chosen Confessors to com Interrogaâ—s with Christ shal multiply their generations in subordinat successions like the Saints then living here If so then must they marry and giv in mariage which scars sutes or sorts with glorified bodies 2. Whether thos then living shal surviv al thos yeers and not tast of death but be only changed at last day If so then shal they exced Methusalah and al the Protopatriarchs in longevity 3. Whether their Progenies shal be al elect vessels being none of Gog and Magogs race which are to be destroied both Bodies and Souls If so then is Christs Flock no litle Fold sith their Ofspring wil multiply incredibly in one thousand yeers 4. How so many millions of millions can be maintained whether miraculously as Elias was or by industry as al others If so then must every particular person provide for himself sith al servitud wil be cashired 5. Wher such numberless multituds shal inhabit whom the Earth can hardly contain much less sustain Whether al must cohabit in new built Jerusalem to eat and drink at Christs Table wher Infidels shal assiege them or scatteredly abroad wher they shal be subject to the Enimies swords Whether they shal be invulnerable and incorruptible to slay thos with whom they wage war yet never be hurted How they shal liv so gently with al sorts of Serpents and wild Beasts yet hold hostility with Men Lastly how the natures of al Animals shal be so miraculously Metamorphosed as not to fear Mans face nor to feed on prey but al liv familiarly one with another on the same foods Beside sundry such scruples touching eating drinking sleeping voiding excrements and other works of Nature simply in themselfs sinless Haply they wil answer with a vulgar Proverb One Fool may ask mo questions then many wise men can resolv therfore let this by business be buried in silence lest they sting my long ears Stulte cave quid agis noli irritare Crabrones Fool what thou doost take heed Stir not the Hornets breed Be wise or wary too many such nests are roused already and mo wil be when thou ministrest more matter of wrath by future provocation Mr. Burton and som of his Brethren allege a few Fathers Fathers to countenance the Chiliastic caus yet no Sects so much slights or scorns the Antients as they but infinit authorities may be mustred to the contrary were it not lost labor For deaf Adders wil not be charmed nor self wedded Sectists informed or reformed Such as desire to know the primitiv Churches verdict herin may consult St. Austin L. 20. de Civ Dei and L. Vives commentary but let al wise sober Christians reject such vain doctrins or delusions which tend not to amend maners or sav their Souls expecting with patience our blessed Saviours secund and last coming in the Clouds to Judgment not to a temporar reign to begin A. 1650. 1655. 1695. or ad Graecas Calendas being stil prepared like wise Virgins with oil in their Lamps to meet the Bride-groom and sing St. Johns Epithalamion Even so com Lord Jesus the grace of our Lord Rev. 22. Jesus Christ be with you Amen which being the last per close of holy Bible shal be the final upshot or Catastrophe of this harsh Scene sav a Supplement touching their cheif Coryphee Mr. Mede who is much more cautious and curious tho alike Mr. Mâ—â—â— veracious then the rest Therfore his scattred speculations shal be carefully collected and faithfully presented to public examen whos principal proofs are almost al answered plenarily in the premisses 1. The Millenar doctrin was so general in the next age after Apostles that Just Martyr saith both he and al Orthodox beleeved it yea Irenaeus Tertullian Lactantius Cyprian and others defended it from St. Peters words One day with the Loâ—d is as a thousand yeers but it was soon decried or discarded being not rightly understood or corrupted in som circumstances which drew Men diversly into Factions so that the Antichiliasts being pressed with pregnant proofs from the Apocalyps which they could not answer suspended that Book from the Scripture Canon til they found shifts of a spiritual and corporal Resurrection and other such to elude thos places and then allowed it 2. Justin in his Dialog to Trypho a Jew speaks thus You ask whether we seriously confes Jerusalems restauration and expect the gathering of Israel with their Tribes Patriarchs and Prophets or gâ—ant it only to gain us I answer That many pious Professors with my self sincerely assert it but others not so Orthodox deny it For som prophane Atheists and Heretics who blasphemed the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob saying ther is no resurrection gainsay thes things but we know and beleev both a Resurrection of the Body and a thousand yeers reign in Jerusalem which shal be reedified and inlarged as the Prophets testify Isaiah saith Ther shal be a new Heaven Isai 65. 17. 22 and Earth the dais of my People are as a Tree of Life Which last words plainly point out the thousand yeers For God said to Adam In that day thou eatest of the Tree thou shalt dy but he did not accomplish a thousand yeers We also know that saying one day is as a 1000. yeers to be to the same purpose For a certain Man with us caled John one of Christs twelv Apostles prophecied by Revelation that Christs faithful Members should fulfil thos yeers at Jerusalem when the last Judgment and general Resurrection shal be of al jointly together Ergo 'tis no new Opinion 3. The Rabins say the World shal dure six thousand yeers as it was created in six dais the seventh thousand shal be the great day of Judgment or reign of Messiah So R. Ketina the World lasts six thousands yeers and in one it shal be destroied of which 't is said the Lord only shal be exalted in that day Isai 2. 11. 17. Psal 90. 4. David saith a thousand yeers in thy sight are but as yesterday which later Rabbins understand of the general Judgment to be a thousand yâ—ers and then ensues an eternal Sabbath but they differ as Christian Sects doo in divers dogmats at what Millenium this day shal be The School of R. Elias makes the Judgment day the last Millenium of their six thousand but others assign a seven thousandth for that day Hence St. Jerom chargeth Chiliasts with Judaism as a chief brand of error yet to hold their Opinions in tru Tenets as of Paradise Gehenna the World to com c. is not culpable no more then to maintain the Trinity with Papists but to reject al wil harden and exasperat them The 92. Psalm is intitled A Song for the Sabbath wherin is nothing but rest so Tradition agrees that as every seventh
defect then exuberance that way Howbeit thos rigid Rhadamants lov luscious luxurious feasting at al times els specialy on Ashwendsday good-Friday or other fasting dais more then any Christmas Men used heretofore Yea the Scots at first Reformation cashired al Popish customs and ceremonies except their beloved Grece-Cup which was to serv in at end of meals al liquorâ— then used wherof ech drank what he listed In sum Christmas harmless sports in sit seasons are lawful Summary good fires behooful holy Hymns useful New-yeers gifts fruitful begetting mutual amity among Neighbors and plentiful fare without surfet or ebriety cheerful whatever Sectists cavil in their Chairs or Pulpits to the contrary It folows not that every thing which Pagans or Papists doo is Heathenish or Popish for Gentils doo many excellent things by Natures principles which Gospel Principles confirm that are commendable in Christians so Papists retain sundry points of Doctrin Disciplin and maners which Protestants may imitat Ob. Such Fests are not warranted by Christs precept nor Apostles practise nor any authentic authority Ergo 'tis Wil-worship fitto be extirped or extermined Sol. The Lords day hath no warrant of precept or practise in Scripture yet lawful necessary and generaly tho not specialy Moral by the first words of the fourth Commandment but neither this nor Christmas wants authentic authority of the universal Church through al ages nor is one wil-worship more then the other For wil-worship as St. Paul Col. 2. 23. shews hath no Scripture warrant general or special but only the vain wil or phansy of Men as worshiping Angels and placing an absolut necessity of holines in things indifferent The general rule of St. Paul Let al be doon decently in order 1 Cor. 14. 40. is sufficient warrant without particular precept precedent or practise for Christs Spous to ordain occasional Fests in themselfs lawful and laudable tending to Gods glory and Peoples good as som are often appointed among us upon emergent occasions or occurrents So the Jews freely observed an annal Fest of dedicating the Altar instituted by Judas Machabeus 1 Maâ— 4 â—9 after the Temple had bin Idolatrously polluted by Antiochus Epiphanes which yet is not specified much less sanctified in the old Testament or Canon of Scripture but Christ honored it with his presence as he did their septidial John 10 22. mariage Feasts with his first transubstantiating miracle of turning Water into Wine in Cana. So the Catholic Church or any particular may constitut or celebrat set dais for pious purposes yeerly or extraordinary if they shal see good caus Ob. Tatling Tradition tels that Christ was born Dec. 25. then at Solstice immediatly after Midnight as the dais began to lengthen but the Church of England celebrated the Birth day ful twelv dais after the Hyemal Solstice Ergo hir Accompt was erroneous Sol. This is already answered to the first argument and the reason rendered of that deviation becaus we folow the Julian Calendar sans reformation but tho the Church of England doth not observ the tru precise time of the Winter Solstice yet she celebrats the tru day Dec. 25. according to the Julian Accompt stil which is sufficient nor is the time so exactly to be regarded as the thing or benefit to be remembred Ob. No Magistrats can make Dais holy nor impose them Gal. 4 9. to be necessarily or perpetualy observed For the Apostles cal such observances weak beggerly Elements the yoke of bondage Gal 5. 1. and rudiments of the Law which destroy Christian liberty Ergo Col. 2 20. they cannot institut Fests Sol. Indeed they cannâ—t make dais holy or impose them to be observed under pain of damnation which dâ—strois Christian liberty and is a proper privilege of Gods power nor are dais properly holy inherently no more then Churches or Elements of the Sacraments which yet are cald holy being appointed or appropriated to Religious uses so Magistrats may sanctify or set apart certain dais to holy services for Gods glory having free ful power to order things indifferent The Jews ordained occasional Fests which Christ and his Apostles observed with their presence so our Magistrats appoint dais of Humiliation and Thanksgiving which People are bound to keep holy much more Christmas day for many reasons 1. God promised it when he said to the Serpent John 8. 56. The Womans seed shal break thy head 2. Christ saith Abraham rejoiced to see this Day 3. Jacob foretold it that the Scepter Isai 7. 14. shal not depart from Juda til Shiloh com 4. Isaiah saith a Virgin shal conceiv and bear a Son cald Immanuel for unto us a Child is born to us a Son is given the Prince of Peace at whos byrth was public Peace through al the Roman world Saint Paul cals it the fulnes of time when Men and Angels Gal. 4. 4. Luk 2. 10 11 13. were filled with ineffable joy and admiration The Angel which told the Shepherds of his byrth had a multitud of heavenly Host praising God saying Glory to God in the highest and on Earth Peace good will towards Men. Clement an Apostolic man bids Christians keep Fests diligently and in the first Const Apost l. 5. c. 1â— place Christs byrth day which al primitiv Fathers and others from age to age til our mad-brain days hav most devoutly celebrated yea on the very twenty fith of December whos exemple and exhortations in their sacred Sermons Homilies and Treatises the late reformed Churches of Helvetia Bohemia Bremen Auspurg Savoy Poland Hungary Scotland France Belgia Palatinat beside Denmarc Sweden and al Lutheran Churches in Germany or elswer folow both by practise and Precept Ob. The Lords Day sanctified weekly in memory of Christs Resurrection is sole-sufficient in stead of al els Ergo to ad any on work dais without warrant is superstitious wil-worship specialy sith t is commanded six dais thou shalt labor but keep holy the or a seventh day Sol. Thos harsh terms of superstitious wil-worship cast on Anaâ—â—me 〈◊〉 the Service Book Christian Fests are causless calumnies being their common brands or badges bestowed on our public Liturgy which they cal rank Atheism a proud Strumpet a cursed Mass of superstition ful of Serpents bathed in the blood of Bodies Souls and Estats the reliques of Popish dregs the very head not stâ—mp or lâ—â— of the Dragon the jugling or conjuring of Magicians and character of Antichrist who say our thirty nine Articles are stuffed with Popery and Arminianism but scorn the book of Homilies as most cours contemptible kitchin-stuf If to rail or revile be sufficient who cannot be eloquent and how easy is it to cast such base dirt in their deerest mothers face which may fitly be retorted they reviv the Petrusians Heresy who decried al Christian Fests to introduce Atheism which in milder language is stiled Libertinism The Lords day is most necessary and must be doon yet the rest not left undoon sith al tend to
Witchcraft Witches justly punished with death for their fals beleef that they can doo such mischief and a wil or purpose to act it their Trade being neerer to a new Religion then a Craft or Science Such as are content to be poor may easily resolv to Censure be honest so thos that hold Hel to be no real place and Devils meer Metaphors must of cours deny Witchcraft yea many who pretend to be wise pious professors are too incredulous of Witches contrary to the faith of al Gods People Exod. 22 18. both Jews and Christians who wil not suffer a Witch to liv as God commanded The best is only privat persons deny it but al public Princes and Christian Common-wealths make strict Laws against it Saul destroied Wisards and such as had familiar Spirits yet in distres caused a Witch of Endor to rais Samuel as the spectre seemed with whom he consulted Serjeant Glyn who at last Lent Assises in Cornwal condemned eght Witches upon pregnant presumptions and personal confessions can scientiously satisfy any Man that ther be such impious confederats with Satan els al Laws and Magistrats that question them for their fals imaginations or intentions to work mischief if they can doo none were most unjust and to execut them bloody De Regno purae Caliginis Of pure Darknes Kingdom BEside al Soveraign powers Divine and Human precited Eph. 6. 12. Mat. 12. 26. Mat. 9. 34. Eph. 2. 2. John 16. 11. the Scriptures specify rulers of this Worlds Darknes even the Kingdom of Satan and Principality of Beelzebub over Devils or Phantasms in the Air as Satan is stiled Prince of the power of the Air and Prince of this World becaus he rules in this Worlds darknes So they under his dominion in opposition to the Faithful caled Children of the Light are properly Children of Darknes The Kingdom of Darknes is a confederacy of Deceivers who Kingdom of Darknes to get dominion over Men in this World devise erroneous doctrins to extinguish the Light both of Nature and Scripture p. 333. c. therby to seduce silly Disciples and so disprepare them for the Kingdom of God to com Fabula narratur mutato nomine de te Let the name changed be The tale is told of thee The darkest part of Satans Kingdom is without Gods Church among such as beleev not in Christ yet doth not the Church like the Land of Goshen enjoy al Light necessary to the work injoined by God but as Men born blind hav no Idaeâ— of any bodily Light nor can any conceiv greater then he hath perceived somtimes by his own senses so is it with the Light of the Gospel and understanding too that none can imagin any greater degree therof then he hath attained Ther be four causes of spiritual Darknes 1. By abusing or abolishing the Scriptures Light for weer 1 Caus not knowing the Scripture the chief is wherto almost al the rest are consequent or subservient wresting it to prov Gods Kingdom so oft cited to be the Church or multitud of Christians now living or that shal rise at last day but the Kingdom of God was first erected by Moses ministry over the Israelits so saith he but none els cald his peculiar People which after ceased when they refused to be longer governed by God and chose Saul Since which time God had no proper Kingdom by pact or covenant but only as he ever was is and shal be universal King of al Creatures ruling according to his absolut Wil and infinit Power Nor are any now under any King or Kingdom by pact sav our secular Soveraigns til Christ shal com again to reign eternaly on Earth Succedaneal to this said error is that Christ now in Heaven hath som one Man or Assembly by whos mouth he speaks givs Laws and which represents his Person This regal power under him the Pope claims generaly over al the Church but in particular stats the Pastors or Presbyteries of thos places which begets such darknes in Mens understandings Hence results another error that a Christian Kingdom had need to receiv his Crown by a Bishop as if the claus of Dei gratia depended on that Ceremony So al Ecclesiastics assume the title of Clergy caling al others Laity or People simply Hence also arose the distinction betwen Emperors Civil Laws and Popes Canons which last were but bare Canons or Rules voluntarily received by Princes til Charlemaign becam Emperor but afterward as the Popes power increased becam commands or Laws and Emperors allowed them For the Pope pretending al Christians to be his Subjects makes it capital for any not to be of Roman Religion but tolerats Jews Mahometans and Pagans to enjoy their own Rites if they offer no scandal A secund abuse of Scripture is turning consecration into conjuration or inchantment for to consecrat is to offer giv or dedicat decently and devoutly any thing to God by separating it from common use or prophane to be holy and peculiar for Gods service by his Ministers hands but when Papists pretend to change the nature or quality of a thing as in the Lords Supper to make Bread and Wine by saying this is my Body this is my Blood to be Christs very Body and Blood it must either be Gods extraordinary work which 't is not being doon daily and frequently or a vain impious conjuration wherby they would hav Men beleev a change of Natures contrary to the testimony of their sight and other senses If the Aegyptian Sorcerers who turnd their Rods to Serpents and Waters to Blood or at least to seem so had made no change in shew but only outfaced the King that they were Serpents which looked like Rods would not al Men tax them for Liers Thus Priests tel the People that they hav turned Bread into a Man nay a God requiring Men to worship it which is gross Idolatry The words this is my Body or represents my Body can extend soly to the Bread which Christ consecrated with his own hands for he said not the Bread wherof any Priest shal say this is my Body shal be instantly transubstantiated into it nor was this doctrin harched in the Church of Rome til under Innocent the third not 500. yeers ago when the Popes power was at highest and Peoples darknes heaviest that Men could not see the Bread they eat specialy being stamped with Christs figure on the Cross as if the very wood was transubstantiated which they ate together with the Body So at Baptism they use many Charms in name of the holy Trinity with the sign of the Cross at naming ech Person as in consecrating holy Water the Priest saith I conjure thee Creature of Water in the name of God the Father Almighty and Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord and by virtu of the holy Ghost that thou becom conjured Water to driv away al the Enimies powers c. The like is doon in Benediction of Salt and Hony mixd therwith