envyings are of the flesh and they that do such things shall not enter into the Kingdome of God A double misery follows those that do these things misery here and misery hereafter it excludes men out of heaven The contemplation of the sad condition that will inevitably come upon that Land Kingdome and Church where those variances and heart-burnings are and where there is such diversity of opinions and by reason of them such difference in affection put me chiefely upon this imployment to see and try if by any possible meanes I could by shewing wherein the difference between the brethren lyeth be an instrument of a good accord amongst them resolving with my self by Gods assistance whatsoever others do to observe to the uttermost of my abilities the royall Law Jan. 2. 8. I do conceive that if there were a right understanding one of anothers opinions the world would wonder there should be such invectives in every pamphlet one against another and such varience among those that are joyned together and that with nighest relations The truth is the mis-understanding of each others opinions and the mis-prisian of each others intentions is the onely cause of this diversity of affection which to the dishonour of God and of our holy profession and indeed to the disgrace of Christian Religion every where too much venteth it selfe And therefore as Abraham said unto Lot so say I to all those that love the truth in sincerity and wish the Peace of Zion Let not us contend especially with evill language for we are brethren we have one father we worship one God we have one light one truth one way And this I professe to all the world That I contend not for victory but for that ancient light the faith once delivered unto the Saints Iude 3. For that truth which we have heard from the beginning 1 Iohn 2. ver 14. for the old way verse 6. The way the truth and the life Ioh. 14. and for the honour of that Church against which the gates of hell can never prevaile in the which there are all those undeceiveable marks as are able for ever to declare her to be built upon the foundation of Peter in which the Gospell of Jesus Christ is purely and sincerely both preached and beleeved and where the Sacraments are rightly administred and in the which there is the true invocation of God and all other requisites that make her a true Church and from which there is no just cause of separation That I have dedicated this Treatise to no man nor sought the patronage of any Authority no mortall creature I presume will blame me knowing my Reasons For writing in defence of the Prerogative Royall of Kings against Papall Usurpation I dedicated my booke unto the King of great Britaine France and Ireland supposing my selfe safe under his protection whose honour and imperiall dignity I maintain but all men know what misery to the ruine of me my wife and many small children came upon me by it through the power and exorbitant authority of the Prelates so that for my duty and Loyalty to the King I had a prison for my reward and the scornes and contumelies of the world to comfort me in it And when I most humbly petitioned his highnesse complaining against the injustice done me and most submissively supplicated his Majesty who was the Caesar to whom only I could then appeal that he would be pleased to grant me one of these humble requests either That his Majesty would be pleased but for one houre to give me a hearing of my just defence or if that could not be granted That at lest he would then grant me that liberty in his Kingdome that he denyed not to Crows and Kites and other Vermine that I might provide for my young ones and if his highnesse would not be pleased to condescend unto either of the former just demands That then he would give me leave to depart the Kingdom and to go into any other Country where I might enjoy my Liberty and provide for my poore distressed family I am most assured there was never a more equall Petition put up to any Prince in the world yet his Majestie vouchsafed not to yeeld unto any of these my requests nor to any other Petition put up either by my poor distressed wife or calamitous children so that without any wrong unto his Majesty I may truely say That Paul found more favour from a Heathen Roman Caesar then I had from a Christian King the defender of the faith After I saw all possibility of releefe was now taken from me I writ my Apology to the Bishops themselves discovering unto them their unjust proceedings in their Courts and their unrighteous dealings towards my selfe and gave them my reasons of all I spake without any offensive language and without any perturbation of Spirit and Dedicated this my Booke to the Lords of his Majesties Privy Councell expecting ayde and reliefe from them and indeed I had no hope of succour from any other nor knew none to whom I could better apply my selfe earnestly imploring their patronage but they as it is well knowne of Patrons became my unjust Judges and after they had made me a spectacle to Men and Angells and exposed me to the scorne and ludibry of the world sent me into banishment where I lived a living death and a dying life and suffered such intolerable misery of all sorts as would exceed beliefe to relate and I am most confident if all the particulars were truly known the world never heard the like and there I had ended my dolefull life had not God of his infinite mercy called this Parliament and put into their hearts to redeem me from my captivity for the which incomparable favour I do as of duty I am ever bound professe my selfe to the last drop of my blood to be their servant in the Lord and in all their most just and honourable imployments I hope with all fidelity to answer to the expectation of the world and shall in life and death shew my selfe to be one that without all by-respects shall ever aime at the glory of God the honour of them and my Country and the common good of all and shall never by Gods assistance do any thing in their concernment that shall be unbeseeming a Man and a Christian Now because by my sad experience I found that I could neither from King nor Nobles have protection I resolved never any more in Gods matters to shroud my self under any covert but Divine Providence and that I with an assured confidence promise my self especially when I now maintain the prerogative royall of the King of Saints King of Kings the Lord Jesus Christ Who is our Lawgiver upon whose shoulders the government of his Church is laid who is the wonderfull Counseller the Prince of peace whose dignity and royalty in all this dispute between me and Mr. Walter Mountague I have to the uttermost of my power maintained under the
do they not as they falsly accuse them first prove them to be enemies of Jesus Christ and his Kingdom and not a godly and an honest Presbyterie and then as in duty they are all bound earnestly in the first place seeke to God that he would send faithfull Labourers into his Vineyard and secondly to authority that they would set up an honest and a godly Presbyterie and give unto them full power that they may be as so many Angels to gather out of Christs Kingdom every thing that offends according to the Word of God which all the knowing godly Presbyterians Ministers and people do heartilydesire that so no truly tender consciences may be scandalized this I say were the duty of them all and not to make suppositions needlesse requests to those that have neither power nor authority to doe it But the Independents are so farre from this that they have made it their designe hitherto to hinder the worke of Reformation by raysing up questions continually as being alwayes unsatisfied and by seeking to stirre up the people in their preachings and Pamphlets against the Presbyterians and that meerly to oppose retard and keepe off a setled government in the Church of God saying what haste is there of that and in the meane time they fish in our troubled waters and yet their strongest and most effectuall baits wherewith they allure and catch the poore silly fishes I meane the simple and unstable people is this to tell them that there is not any Church government setled and that as they have waited many years already so they may waite as many more and be as farre off from Discipline and a through Reformation as they now are saying withall if they doe waite to have a Presbyterie set up what if it be not a good one and what if they have not power to gather out of Christs Kingdome every thing that offends affirming that as it is uncomfortable so it is absolutely sinfull to live without the Ordinances which amongst the Saints and none but Beleevers in their Congregations they may injoy Thus whiles the Independents doe labour and endeavour with all their might to oppose the setling of Church government they make the want thereof the most powerfull and prevalent Engine and Argument to draw the people into their way and upon the occasion of these Interrogatories or queries and of these Ifs and An ds of my Brother Burton and his confedertes I shall set downe some of their Independent practises well known to many thousands in this Kingdome besides my selfe by which their ingratitude both to God and men and the restâ—esnesse of these mens spirits will the better appeare to all such as are not blinded with a previous or prejudicated opinion So that all men of discerning spirits by beholding their juglings and unwarrantable proceedings may learne to shun them and to take heed of them and all their by-wayes It is well knowne that in the time of the Prelats power the removall of a very few things would have given great content unto the most scrupulous consciences for I my selfe can speake thus much not only concerning the conscientious Professors here in England but the most rigid Separatists beyond the Seas with many of which I had familiar acquaintance at home and abroad and amongst all that ever I conversed with I never heard them till within these twenty yeares desire any other thing in Reformation but that the Ceremonies might be removed with their Innovations and that Episcopacy might be regulated and their boundlesse power and authority taken from them and that the extravagances of the High Commission Court might be annihilated and made void and that there might through the Kingdom be a preaching Ministery every where set up This was all that the most that I was then acquainted with desired in the Reformation of Church matters Indeed within this sixteene yeares I met with some that desired a more full Reformation and yet if they might have injoyed but that I now mentioned they would have beene very thankfull to God and authority and have sate downe quietly But yet I say the extreamest extent of their desires reached but to the removall of all the Ceremonies and Innovations the taking away of the Service Booke and the putting downe of the High Commission Court which was called the court Christian though it was rather Pagan and the removall of the Hierarchy root and branch and the setting up and establishing of a godly Presbyterie through the Kingdome this was I say all and the uttermost Reformation that was required by the most scrupulous men then living that I knew yea I can speake thus much in the presence of God that Master Robinson of Leiden the Pastor of the Brownist Church there told mee and others who are yet living to witnesse the truth of what I now say that if hee might in England have injoyed but the liberty of his Ministry there with an immunity but from the very Ceremonies and that they had not forced him to a subscription to them and imposed upon him the observation of them that hee had never separated from it or left that Church This I can depose so that all men may see the very dispensing with the ceremonies would then have given great content to the most austere professors how much more may any man suppose would they have sate down satisfied if but the very ceremonies then might have bin removed Surely if the Prelats had not beene infatuated and had they but in those things a little connived and would have abated somewhat of their rigour for ought I know they might have never been questioned but they might have injoyed all their honours and greatnesse and whatsoever they could have desired and that with the good liking of all the people had they I say but dispensed with those needlesse vanities and had they but favoured honest and godly Ministers and set up Lights I meane good Preachers in the darke places and corners of the Kingdome they would have beene beloved and reverenced of all men and no man would have envied their Magnificence yea I am most assured had they but favoured good and godly men the whole Kingdome would have beene their friends and whereas they all at last petitioned against them they would have supplicated in their behalfe that they might still have continued in their authority But through their owne pride and from an ambition of Lording it over their brethren and by their tyrannicall practices and licentious living they have brought confusion upon themselves and beene one of the principall causes of all the miseries and distractions and of all the blood-shed that the three Kingdomes are now involved with and for ought I can discerne our Independent Predicants now treading in their steps and seeking to be the sole and onely men and to set up their new government which is more groundlesse then that of the Prelates if the Lord of his infinite power and goodnesse prevent
SCOTLAND then we should be abundantly thankfull to God and to the Parliament and we would rest satisfied for ever This to my knowledge was the language of all the Independents and all that I now say can be proved by a cloud of witnesses Now I desire all men to take notice how these men are satisfied with that Reformation which they so ambitiously desired and that is now established amongst us when God and the Parliament hath granted them all they could or did then desire and crave for they are yet as unsatisfied and as covetous for more things as that Doctor was of more money and so for ought I can conceive no state in the world will ever be able to satisfie their vast and unlimited wishes I may truly say of them that an unthankfuller generation both to God and authority never appeared in the world then these Sectaries are but withall I shall ever beleeve that their Teachers and Itinerary Predicants have been the principallest cause of all their unsatisfiednesse and of all their destractions and especially those Homothumadon brethren those fugitives that ran into Holland and New-England that cowardly left the cause and since have brought over their New Lights here amongst us to the darkning of the truth it selfe and disordering of all things and hindring of Reformation for they chiefly and those that have followed those ignes fatuos that they set up have occasioned these miserable distractions and divisions that are now every where through the Land which if they be not speedily lookt unto will bring desolation upon the three Kingdomes all the which giddy-headed unstable men I can compare to nothing more fitly then to the Turkish Drums Trumpets and Whissels and that in two respects They that have read but the History of the holy War shall find that when the Christian Princes went up to fight for the Sepulcher that many thousands of them found graves there for themselves which happened unto them not from any want of valour in the Christian Army but by the disordering of their ranks and files which gave occasion to the Saracens and those barbarous people to break in upon them and to cut off many thousands of them which disorder happened unto them upon this occasion The European horses being onely acquainted with the warlike musick of their own holy Army never having heard so much as the very sound either of the Turkish drums trumpets or whiffels those unsanctified instruments when the Christians and Infidels came to joyn battell and that the Armies approached one to another the Turkish drums trumpets and whiffels made such a barbarous noise in the European horses eares that they were so scared and affrighted that they began to run like madd and brake through all their own ranks and files and so disordered the whole Army that it was a thousand to one they had not been all cut apieces at the first encounter And even after the same manner have the Homothumadon brethren and all their disciples those their I tinerary Tub men like so many drums trumpets and whiffels with their barbarous noises out of their severall Tubs in the ears of poor creatures both men and women that were acquainted with no such musick as is exercised by those of this new militia as that of the Congregationall way and Church fellowship and the Church way and the way of the Saints and of new Lights and new borne Truths and of the great things of eternity which come only out of the womb of God and from between his leggs from Gods immediate hand by providence not to be explained just as a lot c. For these with many such are the noises they have now made in the ears of the poor silly creatures that they have made them all run madd to the disordering of all things and disturbing of the whole Christian Army that might by the power of God if we had been well ordered without these divisions and distractions they have made amongst us been able to have encountred with the whole host of Antichrist but there is this difference onely between the Turkish drums and whiffels and these our whiffellers that they onely scared a few horses and made them madd but these have made men and women madd amongst us with these their new and barbarous sounds of those their new wayes and this is the first thing wherein they are like the Turkish drumms and whiffels Now as those Turkish instruments though they made a terrible noise yet there was nothing in them but wind and ventosity so these our whiffellers Tubmen for the most part if they be but looked into there is nothing in them but meer vapour and frothy windiness which they spread blow abroad in the ears of simple creatures perswading them that the Presbyterians will be more tyrannicall and lordly then ever the Prelates were and that they are an Antichristian brood the sons of Belial the enemies of Iesus Christ and his Kingdome and that the people ought not nor cannot lawfully hear them or read any thing they write or publish to the world perswading them that all they write or preach tendeth to nothing but the disthroning of Christ the setting him up as a Pageant King but indeed all their indeavour is but while they cry hail Master to crucifie him as the wicked Jews did and with such uncouth barbarous noises as these they have put the people generally into such a heat fury and distemper against all the Presbyterians as they have deterred many thousands from so much as hearing them or coming into their presence yea if at any time any of them but accidentally happen into their company they find them more barbarous towards them then the very Turks were toward many Christians even when they had them at their mercy and I am confident were the Presbyterians at their mercy they would find lesse courtesie from them then from the very Saricens and I have very good grounds for this my perswasion from that insolent behaviour I my selfe have seen them exercise towards all sorts of Presbyterians but principally towards the Ministers whō they affront often and that in an unseemly manner in the very Churches whiles they are in their Ministery and when they go and passe along the streets and when they passe but through the Towns where there are any store or company of them for they cannot ride by any of them without some reproachfull calumny or other or without some uncivil behaviour which would not be tolerated in very barbarous Nations And as for my selfe it is well known that neither mywife nor my poor children can passe quietly by the streets for them without some contumelious disgracefull language from them and for my own particular though I never wronged them I can truly say and can also prove it that I have and that often after they heard I differed from them in opinion suffered such inhumanity from many of them as scarce ever any man did from
scandall which was the neglect of their widdowes in the daily Ministration where they applyed themselves unto the Apostles for the particular congregations assumed not the authority into their hands of redressing the abuse nor challenged not any right to the government but appealed unto the Apostles for remedy who ordered that whole businesse by joynt consent to which all the people willingly submitted themselves as it is at large to be seene in the sixt Chapter of the Acts. The third appeale we finde Acts the ninth where Paul assaying to joyne himself to the Disciples and they being afraid of him and doubting whether he were a beleever Saint Paul forth with appeals from them to the Apostles who he knew had the authority in their hands and making knowne his cause unto them they forthwith admitted him into Church-fellow-ship with them without the consent of the people who indeed had nothing to do either in the admitting of members of casting of them out and therefore they allowed of the appeale of Saint Paul to teach all men whether to fly to wit the to Presbytery if they be injured by the people or debard from any Church-priviledge by them for they only are the stewards of the Church and have the Keys of the kingdom of heaven to open and shut the doores to whom they shall thinke fit or unworthy and this is the place of the Presbyters and not of the people for they are injoyned to obey their guids and to submit themselves in the Lord to what they order and appoint according to the Word of God Here we have three presidents of appeales in the mother-church of Ierusalem to the Presbytery upon any abuse so that by the mouth of their witnesses out of the word of truth this truth of appeales is sufficiently confirmed And that the Presbytery at Ierusalem had plenary power over the very Apostles and could call them at any time to an accompt is manifest from the eleventh of the Acts where Peter was convented questionedbefore them and was forced to give an accompt of his going in to the Gentiles and Preaching unto them which he willingly yâ—elded unto knowing it was their place to question any yea the Presbytery in every Church could send the very Apostles Ministers to Preach in any place or city or upon any Message as we see they sent Peter and Iohn to Samaria and the Church of Antioch sent Paul and Barnabas with other Ministers to the Presbytery of Ierusalem as is evident Acts the 14. and Acts 15. and therefore all these examples sufficiently prove that all the people of every Church made their appeales to their severall Presbyteries if there arose any controversies and abuses among themselves and if there arose any difference between Church and Church or betweene Presbytery and Presbyterie about any points of Doctrine or Religion then they made their appeales for the determining of those controversies to Councells and Synods as we may see it Acts the 15. and this is one of Gods Ordinances as the Independents themselves doe acknowledge So that for the Doctrine of appeales it is so cleare that all the learned and judicious cannot doubt of it and I am most assured that those that shall but with due deliberation seriously examine the Scriptures above quoted and those that follow in this discourse for the confirmation of the same truth will wonder that any man that pretends to learning as Master Knollys doth should ever dare say that appeales cannot be made good to be according to the Scripture of truth whereas there is almost no truth in the holy Scripture more cleare and evident than this of appeales Yea this method of dealing and manner of handling of businesses of publike offences and scandals and for the redressing of them is ratified by the very light and Law of nature as we may reade in all the governments under the very Heathens and Paul made use of it by appealing from inferiour Courts to Caesars tribunall And I shall never be brought by all the arte and wit of man to beleeve that Christ hath left his Church under the New Testament in a worse condition then it was under the old where we know they had appeales from one Court to another Nay if Christians now had not the liberty of appeales in matters of conscience and Religion they should be inferior to the Pagan nations and surely Christ hath not left his Church which is his Kingdom in a worse condition then either the Iewish or Ethnicke Kingdomes were and therefore by all reason besides the Testimony of Christ Matth. the 13. and besides the Presidents I produced out of the Word of God to confirme appeales the lawfulnesse of appeales is sufficiently established and ratified So that I hope that which I have now briefly set downe may satisfie any rationall man But before I go on to prove that the people or Church have not power to judge their Ministers which is the last thing I undertake to make good I must say something by way of answer to a vaine and frivolous cavill of Master Knollys which is this If the Doctor can prove these appeales saith he I aske him whether that higher Presbytery or Councell of Divines be not as Independent as the brethren and their Churches against whom the Doctor hath written and if so then such a high Presbytery or Councell of Divines is not Gods Ordinance by the Doctors own confession and affirmation The very reading of this fond cavill had been enough for the confutation of it to any solid man and truly had not I to deale with such a trifling creature as he is in serious businesse who compts every word he scribleth an oracle I would have passed by it with silence as being nothing to the question between us and as little to his purpose as all his other wrangling is except it be to declare to all men that he knoweth not his owne principles nor no good learning But for answer all such as know any thing in the controversie betweene us and the Independents know that it is my opinion and settled beleefe that all Churches and Councels are to depend upon the Word of God and to be ruled and ordered in all their proceedings and Governments according to the direction of the same an Angel from Heaven is not be heard that speaks not according to the written Word Gal. 1. and this Word hath directed us to the law and to the testimony Isay 8. and proclamed all men that speak not according to that to be in darknesse and therefore according to this my opinion no Church or Councell in the world is Independent and therfore all such Churches and Councels as have not either precept or example for their proceedings in the ordering and governing of them out of the Word of God but follow their own vaine and idle phantasies and affect Independency in my opinion they in so ordering their Churches do not according to Gods Ordinances Now when the
was the generall fear of all the great men in Jerusalem and of all the Courtiers and Officers under Herod therefore it is said that Herod and all Ierusalem with him was troubled So that Tyrants and their complices never have any reall peace But in this sense also it cannot be understood that Ierusalem went out to John and was baptized it must therefore by a Senecdoche be taken for all the common people promiscuously or for a mighty multitude of all sorts and of all ranks of people and of all professions as Publicans Souldiers and the ordinary Inhabitants and in this sense the word Jerusalem must be taken for a mighty multitude of men in Jerusalem that were made Christians for otherwise the Evangelist would have said many went out of Ierusalem also as well as out of other places but in saying that all Iudea and all the Regions round about and Jerusalem went out this metaphoricall expression doth signifie That an infinite number of people in Ierusalem it selfe were made Christians and Members of the Church and that it is so to be understood the places following will evidently evince it for in Matth. 11. 12. our Saviour saith That from the dayes of Iohn the Baptist untill now the Kingdome of Heaven suffereth violence and the violent take it by force then the which there could nothing be spoke more emphatically to set forth the growth and increase of Beleevers and the multitude of Christians as Luke also in ch 16. v. 16. expresseth saying That the Law and the Prophets were untill Iohn since that time the kingdome of God is preached and every man presseth in to it that is the generality of the people became beleevers and were baptized as it is yet more evident from Luke 7. 29 30. by the very testimony of our Saviour who saith That all the people that heard him and the Publicans justified God being baptized with the Baptisme of Iohn but the P harisees and Lawyers rejected the councell of God against themselves being not baptized of him So that by the witnesse of our Saviour Christ except the Pharisees and the Priests all the people or the generality of the people in Ierusalem were baptized and became Christians and imbraced the Gospell and this was accounted among the miracles that was wrought in those dayes and as a thing of speciall observation and as a matter of wonder as we may see in the message our Saviour Christ sent unto Iohn the Baptist by his Disciples when he bad them relate unto their Master what they had seen and heard in the 22. Verse Tell him saith he That the blinde see the lame walke the Leapers are cleansed the deafe heare and the dead are raised and the poore receive the Gospel this I say was among the miracles that the generality of the poore imbrace the Gospel and were baptized and made Believers which must needs import a mighty multitude and a great increase or else it would not have been a thing of such wonder and have been sent unto Saint Iohn as a miraculous thing and a thing worthy to prove Christ himself to be the Messiah looked for for no meere man could have wrought such a work asto draw the hearts of the the people to imbrace the Gospel but the Messiah himself For Paul may plant and Apollo may water 1 Cor. 3. but God only the Messiah must give the increase he must move the heart to imbrace the Gospel and to believe for faith is the gift of God Ephes 2. and therefore this was the wonder that the generality of the people did believe and were baptized and this was the sole work and operation of Christ and therefore proved him to be the Prophet they looked for And it stands with all reason that there were infinites of people in Jerusalem that believed and that Iohn was greatly magnified of the people and publickly followed because for a time Herod himselfe countenanced Iohn Mark 6. 20 and feared him knowing that he was a just man and an holy and observed him and when he heard him he did many things and heard him gladly And although we read not that he was baptized by Iohn yet he highly honoured him till Iohn reproved him and told him it was not lawfull for him to have his Brothers Wife And in this interim of his seeming favour we may conceive that the Courtiers also and the great men would do as their Master did for if we observe the manner of all Courts to this day what the King does the Courtiers also do if the King laugh though there be perhaps a cause of mourning they will all laugh and if he frownes though there be a cause of cheerfulnesse and smiling they will al frown and if the King commends any man they will all admire him and if he hears any Minister gladly they will all heare him willingly and if he when he is reproved be angry and displeased and will cut off his head whom he had so honoured but the day before then all the Courtiers they will helpe him and further the worke as we may see not only in the example of Iohn Baptist but in Haman as soon as the King frownd upon him the Courtiers they covered his face and up they trussed him be it right or wrong it is all one to Courtiers But in that interim I say that Iohn Baptist was in favour with the King without doubt it animated the people greatly to follow him and by hearing him many thousand Saints were converted and the multitudes of them were numerous as is manifest from Matth. 14. 5. for it is said That when he would have put him to death he feared the multitude because they counted him as a Prophet Here are two observables the one That he that feared not God was afraid of his servants The second that it was a mighty multitude of Believers that were in Ierusalem for a few could not have awed the King and kept him in feare and therefore he was forced to defer the cutting off of his head till he had got to him all the strength of Galilee all his Lords and high Captains and his chiefe Estates and Commanders Mark 6. 21. And when he thought himselfe strong enough then he exercised his tyranny Yea when Iohn was taken away yet the multitudes of the people continued stedfast in the faith as we may see in Luke 20. by the confession of the very enemies for when our Saviour asked them concerning the baptisme of Iohn Whether it was from Heaven or of Men And they reasoned among themselves saying if we shall say from Heaven he will say why then believed ye him not and if we say of Men all the people will stone us for they be perswaded that Iohn was a Prophet Here by the confession of the very enemies all the people or the generality of them were Believers and it must of necessity be a mighty multitude that kept all the Priests and all the Elders that had
The summe of my Arguments is this Where there was an infinitemultitude or a mighty City of beleevers there they could not all meete together in one place or roome or in one congregation to injoy all acts of worship for edification but in the Church of Ierusalem by the very baptisme and preaching of Iohn there was an infinit multitude and a very City of believers ergo they could not all meete together in any one congregation This is the sum of my first Argument The second is this Where there was such an infinite company and multitude of Christians and believers as kept a tyrannicall King in awe and all the Magistrates and Elders in whose hands was all the power and authority and struck such a terror into them all as they durst not exercise their cruelty and tyranny over them though they were their inveterate enemies there of necessity the number of them must be so great as they could not all meet together in one place or congregation to partake in all Acts of worship But in the Church of Jerusalem there was such a company of believers by the very baptisme of Iohn ergo they could not all meete together in any one place or congregation This is the summe of my arguments which I made good out of the Word of God and from sound reason as they that have read my booke with judgement I am confident will acknowledge Now heare how J. S. setteth them downe with his answer to them pag. the 8. and 9. of his booke The Doctors first proposition is saith he that there were many Congregations and severall assemblies in the Church of Jerusalem c. for proofe whereof saith he he bringeth the multitudes of Converts to Iohns Baptisme the people of Jerusalem all of them and all Iudaea c. whereby saith he all became Christians or members of the Christian Church for Iohns baptisme was into Iesus Christ and the very same with that of the Apostles Thus I. S. sets downe my Arguments which I affirme is not candidly done of him for the ignorant Reader cannot see into the strength of my arguments they being delivered in such obscure tearmes and set down also to the halves the whole truth not being specified For not one of ten thousand had ever seene or read my book I dare say not one of an hundred of the Independents had ever vouchsafed so much as to looke into it for I was made so odious unto them by their blasting language as they abhorred my very name with all howsoever they boasted at the first coming of it out that there were twenty pens at worke in answering of it yet not one of them ever appeared till three moneths after it was printed Now all the Copyes that were printed were all gone in one weeke so that the answers coming out so long after and my arguments not being known to the people and being in this obscure manner and in such darke expressions and but to the halves set down every vulgar understanding can never see into the weight and strength of them especially they having not my booke before them And to say the truth all the Independents ordinarily use this method in their pretended answers as first to let the bookes they reply unto be forgotten and after that to blurte out something against them concealing the truth and then they crow out as victors and conquerers that they have beate up our quarters and puld downe the pillars of our discourse as I S. doth vainly in this his Pamplet when it will appeare to all intelligible men that he hath onely cast a squib or two at them and then as a meere fresh water Souldier speedily ran away and left that worke to others as he unaduisedly in the tenth page and in his wise Epistle confesseth sayning indisposition of body when indeede it was his want of wit learning honesty and courage As I haveset downe the sum of my Arguments and compared his expressing of my meaning with it I will also set downe the summe of his answer to them which he giveth in the name of all the Independents saying we answerd to your reason and then set downe his own words in their full length that all men may see my faire dealing with him For I. S. doth not here deny my minor as Master Knollys did or accuse me of false Musters as he vainely and impiously doth in his answer to my second Arguments But plainly denieth that those that were baptized by Iohn Baptist were Christians to whom my brother Burton assenteth page 16. of his book saying that those beleevers that were baptized by Iohn Baptist into Christ to come according to the Papists doctrine were not formed into a Christian Church or Churches as after Christs resurrection Christians were These are my brother Burtons formall words who not only assenteth to I. S. in this his opinion but also bringeth in the authority of the Papists to confirme this their doctrine and so in this the Independents agree with the Papists to overthrow the truth and to maintain their abominable errors And this I conceive was the cause that moved my brother Burton in the ninth page of his booke in the beginning of his answer to say `as for your indefinite enumeration of those multitudes baptized by Iohn the Baptist and Christs Disciples we take no notice of them This is his expression there concerning the which in due place Surely if my brother Burton had thought them Christians he would have demeed them worthy to have been taken notice of but in this he agreeth with I. S. and the Papists Now I will give you the summe of I. S. his Arguments in way of answer by which he denieth that those that were baptized by Iohn the Baptist were Christians The first is because saith he they were baptised into Christ that was to dye and not dead therefore in his dialect they were no Christians The second they were not baptized with the holy Ghost and with fire therefore thy were no Chrstians The third they were no more Christians then the Iewes that passed through the red Sea but they were no Christians ergo they also that were baptized by Iohn were no Christians The fourth The baptisme of Iohn was not perfect ergo those that were baptised by him were no Christians The fifth those that were baptized by Iohn did not only hasitate but were scandalized at the true Messiah and under the forme of Iohns baptisme did fight against the true baptisme and baptiser the Lord Jesus ergo they were no Christians Sixthly they that were baptized by Iohn were not cast into a Church mould according to the New testament forme neither were they members of one Christian Church at Jerusalem ergo they were not Christians and this Argument is brought in by way of a corallary This must needs be the scope of his answer or else he sayth nothing to the purpose in denying my Arguments which were not only to prove that those
Doctor might have also considered that the brethren even the whole Church the multitude how many soever the Doctor can make of them were present as well as the Presbyters Acts 15. 4. 12. 22. 23 25 27 28. and so have made the brethren the multitude even the whole Church Independent also and the Doctor might as well have affirmed that the brethren even the whole Church might say it seemed good to the holy Ghost and to us Thus Master Knollys pleaseth his own humour in heaping up a senselesse and confused multitude of words and that onely to delude the people But should I make a full discovery of all the errours of this his babble and nonsense and give a full answer to them truly I might make a very large discourse I will therefore study brevity and answer him in a few words though I will omit nothing worthy to be taken notice of But by the way I may say thus much that this his answer is nothing to the purpose and his reasons are as vain frivilous and fond as by the sequell will appear But whereas he denyeth that the Apostles though they be called Presbyters acted as Presbyters and that they cannot therein be a pattern and president for Presbyters it is a meer begging the question and a fond trifling in a serious and weighty matter when it was sufficiently proved and that out of the holy Scripture that the blessed Apostles were not onely called Presbyters but that they were Presbyters really as well as virtually which the Independents themselves deny not and that they acted also as Presbyters at Jerusalem that is as ordinary rulers and officers in all acts of government as also in that Councell in the 15. of the Acts for otherwise their example could not indeed have been a pattern of government to all Ministers and Presbytes in all succeeding ages if in either of them they had acted as extraordinary men by a transcendent and superlative power and by an inimitable authority and as men immediately assisted by the holy Ghost as when they wrought Miracles and when they writ the holy Scripture Now that the Apostles in all those acts of government were and are to be a pattern to all Ministers in the ages to come all the learnedst of the Independent tribe and all their brethren of New England do acknowledge it and take the ordination of Deacons and Elders in their new Churches from the example of the Apostles in the sixth of the Acts and the fourteenth chapter of the same book and they acknowledge and accord that Synods and Councells in like manner are one of Gods Ordinances and ground it upon the Apostles and Presbyters meeting in the 15. of the Acts and take their example for a pattern and president of gathering into Synods and Councells upon the like occasions all which they could not do if the Apostles in all those acts of Government had acted and managed them onely as Apostles and in an extraordinary way with a transcendent and infallible authority and by a speciall dispensation from heaven and as only peculiar unto themselves as miraculous and extraordinary governours So that whiles Master Knollys fights against the truth and against mee he with the same weapon wounds his own cause and overthrows the Independents doctrine who from the examples of the Apostles though extraordinary men take their ordination of Deacons and Elders and of calling Synods And therefore in the first place this may serve for the discovering of his ignorance and futility As for his reasons of his denyall that the Apostles cannot be a paterne and president for Presbyters because the Apostles as he saith had the care of all churches and the Presbyters were limited and confined to their particular charges they are foolish and vain and make nothing for the enervating or weakning of my argument for it doth not follow as the learned well know that because the Apostles in some respects were extraordinary men and rulers therefore in all acts of Government they did nothing ordinary or for the imitation of other Church governours I say this can never follow with any good reason neither will any judicious man thus argue because the Apostles were extraordinary men and officers therefore they did not the acts of ordinary governours whereas when they assembled themselves about the affaires of the Church and for the good of it it was for this very end and purpose that they might leave an example and president to the ages to come and to all Ministers that should succeed them of doing the like and therefore we are ever to consider the Apostles in all acts of government to have acted as ordinary governours and rulers and for a president and pattern to all Ministers to the end of the world But whereas Master Knollys grollishly saith that the Apostles were Independent in the Government of all the Churches and that the Presbyters of Jerusalem and Ephesus and all the Churches were Dependent upon the Apostles and the Apostles onely Dependent upon Christ by whose spirit they were alwayes guided in the government of their Churches and therefore they said Acts 15. 28. It seemed good to the holy Ghost and to us In every sentence I might say word there is an error For first the Apostles were not Independent at all no more then the Presbyters but they were ever tyed unto the word of God and his revealed will and that by Christ himself who said John 5. search the Scriptures and Luke 14. They have Moses and the Prophets let them hear them Yea Saint Peter 2 Epist chap. 1. v. 19. teacheth us That we have a more sure word of prophecy whereunto we do well to take heed c. So that the Apostles themselves were tyed to the Scriptures And Paul the great Apostle of the Gentiles in the 24. of the Acts and in many other places makes the Law and the Prophets the rule of his faith professing that he beleeved all things according to them So that when Peter swarved from that rule began amongst the Galatians to halt temporize Paul resisted him to his face and accused him openly of prevarication Nay which is more so far they were from being independents that they were alwayes to follow the guidance of the spirit they were not to move but as he directed Act. 16. Yea the Apostles themselves were subject to the Presbytery at Ierusalem and were to give an account of their actions to them at any time as we may see Acts 11. where Peter was questioned and was forced to give in his answer for satisfaction the other Apostles also were subject unto that Presbyterie and gave an account how they had spent their time amongst the Gentiles yea Paul himselfe received orders from the Presbyterie in Ierusalem Acts 21. and was ruled by them yea they were not onely subject to the Church in Ierusalem but to all other Churches also and were sent on their message at any time For Peter and John were
Protestant Profession he should have been so far from suffering for it as they would not only greatly have honoured him but also highly have rewarded him for his endeavour and this that I now write I am able to prove by a cloud of witnesses and my unjust suffering in their opinion made me find more favour amongst all the Governours that were Papists which I do ever acknowledge for a singular courtesie from them then ever I found from Protestant Goalers And therefore whereas the Independents do accuse me for the greatest Incendiary of the Kingdome all men may see they speak as untruly so most maliciously c. Now these are my words And herein is observable First that as I say I have been cleared by both Houses of Parliament from being an Incendiary so I mention not commend or speak of the Cavaliers for their undertakings I onely say many of the brave Gentlemen in the Kings Army have also cleared me from that aspersion being convinced that my sufferings were most unjust Secondly that I say many of the brave Gentlemen I speak not of all the Cavaliers in the Kings Army but you silencing my words and omitting to shew the cause which induced me there to speak of them make your complaint in Generall saying He commends the Kings Cavaliers for brave Gentlemen Thirdly in my forecited words I plainly set down the reason which moved the Popish Cavaiiers to shew me favour namely because they were fully perswaded that I having writ so much in defence of the Protestanâ— Religion which was here established had suffered most unjustly and contrary to the Laws of this Kingdome for my own part I look to a higher hand in it but this was the reason that moved them to demean themselvs courteously towards me Now who so deafe as they that will not hear and who so blind as they that will not see for whosoever will hear see and read what I have written and then speak truly they cannot but say that were you not resolved for the venting of your selfe to pretend ignorance the reason there laid down might have informed and satisfied you and so have stopt the mouth of your causlesse Quaeries You having as little reason to question and examine me upon such interrogatories as you have for complaining of me for commending the Kings Cavaliers and for the false Calumnies which throughout your book you have loaded me withall but by these you discover your spirit and what you aime at to say no more Therefore I will give a more full Answer to them and first to your complaint I say That to affirm there are many of the Kings Cavaliers brave Gentlemen is a truth and all ingenuous men that have been amongst them will confesse they have met with many of whom it may be said it is ten thousand thousand pities that such brave Gentlemen should be so seduced and misled as to appear in so bad a cause and further for my selfe know I am not ashamed nor afraid to confesse that Popish Cavaliers did use me courteously and that I might not be ungratefull to God nor man I then did now do and ever shall acknowledge that I found more favour from some of them which I esteem a singular courtesie then ever I found from Protestant Gaolers Therefore as to the gloâ—y of â—od I there made mention of it so I shall here set down the particulars and inlarge my selfe to show forth Gods goodnesse unto me therein For by his gracious assistance I will never cease to declare how that after I had been kept in the dungeon seven days and nights in York Castle and for a year and a halfe underwent great inhumanity was cruelly used uncivilly and most unsufferably abused by a professed Protestant Goaler there a length by the Command of the Earl of Newcastle on purpose if possible to augment my miseries I was all on a sodain removed from York Goale to Hemsley Castle in which he intended evill towards me but the Lord turned it to good and gave me favour in the eyes of a profist Papist Colonell Irington by name the Governour of that Castle who with all in his family used me and my servant very courteously he supplyed me with necessaries and that freely and demeaned himselfe unto me in every respect as a Gentleman while I remained his Prisoner which was but one Moneth for when my adversaries heard thereof perceiving their designe was frustrate they forthwith removed me to Knasebâ—ough Castle the Governour and his Deputy the Captain thereof being profest Protestants where although in some things I was not so inhumanelyly abused as in York Goal yet there I was kept close Prisoner again and I assure you I found no such courteous usage as I received from the other Gentleman Now for my part I am so far from being conscious to my selfe that I have done evill in making mention hereof as by your complaint you would infer that I then did and still do hold my selfe bound in conscience upon all occasions to speak of the merciâ—s of my God unto me and to make manifest the mighty power of the Lord JEHOVAH that so for time to come if any who fear his name should be invironed about with enemies troubled on every side and cast into the depth of miseries in mans imagination as I have been yet by the many experiences which I have had of Gods fatherly mercies the heavenly soul-ravishing and spirit-reviving comforts wherewith the Lord hath strengthned and supported me in my greatest calamitie they may be incouraged to maintain their integritie and be confident of his never failing goodnesse mercies and loving kindnesses unto them For though in my remove I could expect nothing but increase of miserie to the outward man yet to the glorie of God I speak it I found at that very instant as at other times the Lord mightily to uphold my spirit filling me with such inward comforts full assurance of supporting mercies and that his grace was sufficient for me and his strength would be made perfect in weaknesse that in the strength of my God I went willingly and chearfully not fearing what man could do unto me And when I was delivered to Colonell Irington to whom the foresaid Earl had sent me He in my hearing read the warrant which he had received from him wherein he was straitly commanded to keep me close Prisoner and not to suffer any to see or speak with me but God counter-manded this command and moved the Colonels heart to such compassion that he carried himselfe verie nobly and lovingly towards me if any desired it he permitted them to have accesse unto me and gave me liberty to take the Aire which was a sweet refreshing unto me being not thorowly recovered out of a long and dangerous sicknesse whose favors and courtesies I stand bound in the bonds of thankfulnesse and civilitie ever to predicate whereby all men may take occasion to blesse and praise Gods name with me and I may manifest