those that are acquainted with St. Hierome's Writings well know that this Passage was intended to beat down the Usurpation of the Deacons at Rome who then began to out-top the Presbyters on this Account he was tempted to magnifie and extoll the Place and Dignity of Presbyters in the Church And though he said that Bishops and Presbyters are all one He yet in other places excepts the Office of Ordination and Government And does at other times plainly and frequently assert the Authority of Bishops over Presbyters and did himself constantly live in Communion with and Subjection to Bishops John Calvin could not advance himself at Geneva without the Bishop's Fall and yet had all things belonging to a Bishop but the Name As Old Noll had in the Monarchy but the bare Title of King The Geneva or Presbyterian Discipline was begotten in Rebellion born in Sedition and nurs'd up by Faction Aerius was one of the worst Friends you cou'd have produc'd he was vex'd to see himself slighted and not preferr'd to a Bishoprick as his Companion Eustathius was And this made the haughty Man start aside and talk extravagantly against Bishops â—â—at the Church branded and excommunicated him for an Heretick and Epiphanius represents him little better than a Mad-man distemper'd by Pride Emulation Envy Covetousness Ambition These were the Causes of his opposing Episcopal Government If you consult Blondell Salmatius and Daillé whose great Parts Learning and indefatigable Industry cou'd if any thing have made out the contrary you 'll see they have been forc'd to grant That Episcopacy obtain'd in the Church within a few Years after the Apostolick But our Church can safely carry it higher even to the Apostles themselves so much you urg'd me to speak concerning the Antiquity and Dignity of Bishops in the Church Dissent We all acknowledge we have had Freedom enough to speak for our selves we have but one thing more to plead and then we shall submit to your Lordship's Determination Our Separation from the Church must be allow'd because there are in it many wicked People scandalous ill Livers who for want of due Exercise of Discipline or by the Inadvertence or Connivence of its Governours do remain in it and so give us just occasion of Offence and Separation There are two Texts of Scripture for us in this Case 2 Cor. 6. 17. Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing so Rev. 18. 4. Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues Judge This I take to be none of the least Absurdities the Dissenters are guilty of Are there no such Mixtures no Offenders no ill Livers amongst you Are they all holy harmless and pure that come to your Congregations If not you have the same Reasons to separate to come out from among them as to withdraw from the Church for fear of Pollution and by the same Argument you must never join in any Communion while the World endures The want of Discipline we may thank you for You You Dissenters are the Cause that so many Immoralities are now tolerated That Excommunication and other necessary Censures of the Church which formerly kept People in good Order and preserv'd the Honor and Reputation of Religion are by your Encouragement of Disobedience both omitted and mock'd at And were you truly Men of tender Consciences this one Consideration would make your Hearts ake Look into the State of the Church under the Jewish Administration and you 'll find that the Sins of neither Priest nor People owning the True God became at any time the occasion of Separation to them What Sins could be greater than those of Eli's Sons And yet did not the People of God Elkanah and Hannah by Name refrain to join with them in the Publick Worship 1 Sam. 2. 17 24. In Ahab's time when all Israel halted betwixt God and Belial yet then did the Prophet Elijah summon all Israel to appear on Mount Carmel and held a Religious Communion with them in Preaching and Praying and Offering a Miraculous Sacrifice 1 King 18. All along when both Prince Priests and People were very much deprav'd and debauch'd in their Manners we don't find that the Prophets at any time exhorted the Faithful and Sincere to separate from the rest or that they themselves set up any separate Meetings but continu'd in Communion with the Church preaching to them and advising them to Repentance Look into the New Testament you 'll see in the Apostolick Churches of Corinth Galatia and the seven Churches of Asia many of the Members were grown very Bad and Scandalous yet we don't read the Example of any Good Man separating from the Church or any one Precept rightly understood from the Apostles so to do They don't tell them that the whole Body was polluted by those filthy Members and that if they would be safe themselves they must withdraw from their Communion but exhort 'em to use all Means to reclaim them And if neither private nor publick Admonitions and Reproofs wou'd do then to suspend them from the Communion of the Church till by Repentance and Amendment they render'd themselves capable of being restor'd to Peace and Pardon Our Blessed Saviour knew the Jewish Church to be a corrupt Church Priests and People lewd and vicious yet kept in Communion with it and commanded his Disciples so to do We read that the Scribes and Pharisees who rul'd the Ecclesiastical Chair at that time had perverted the Law corrupted the Worship of God were blind Guides devoured Widows houses were Hypocrites and such as only had a Form of Godliness yet did not our Saviour separate from their Communion but was made under the Law freely submitted himself to all the Rites and Ceremonies of it He was circumcis'd on the Eighth Day redeem'd by a certain Price being a Son and a First-born observ'd the Passover and other Feasts enjoin'd by their Law Yea and that of the Dedication too which was but of Human Institution was baptiz'd amongst them preach'd in their Temples and Synagogues reason'd with 'em about Religion exhorted his Disciples to hear their Doctrine though not to follow their Practices Now what greater Cause on the Account of Corruption and Manners could be given to separate from a Church than was there Yet how carefull was our Saviour both by his Example and Precept to forbid and discountenance it Consider the Representations of a Church given in Scripture and elsewhere to shew that it is a Mixture of Good and Bad 'T is call'd a Field in which Wheat and Tares grew up together a Net wherein are Fishes of all sorts a Barn wherein there is Corn and Chaff a Vine that has fruitful and barren Branches an House in which are Vessels of Gold and Silver and of lesser Value a Marriage-Feast at which were wise and foolish Virgins c. St. Hierome compares the Church to Noah's
Repentance Yet you know Gentlemen That the Son is not to bear the Iniquity of the Father to be punish'd for it if he does no way partake in the Fathers Sins 'T is very rare I confess but not impossible for such a Son to turn Honest in making full Restitution to every injur'd Man though he leaves himself as naked Aesop's Crow And if Miracles are not ceas'd this may be Mr. Mouth 's Case and when 't is so the Church has no farther Cause to grate upon him for his unfortunate Descent but be over-joy'd at the true Conversion of so great a Sinner The Book finds mighty fault with the present Choice of rude and illiterate Commissioners few real Gentlemen being employ'd in that Province And what of all this Tho' 't is true an honourable Cobler should not go beyond his Last nor by ill Management make the publick Taxes over-grievous to the People yet there wants not a Salvo or two for this sore Inadvertence It serves if for nothing else to take off the Odium and Blame from the Gentry and does good that way It gives us a bitter Taste of Popular Government creates a nobler Esteem for the Gentlemen of the County than if we had never known the difference betwixt Rudeness and Civility by the Carriage of these Men. Is 't not a great Incivility to force a Knight and Baronet to confess he 's no true Friend to a Corporation where he expects Favour That he never did or can do good there What Boldness is this Gentlemen of the Jury to assert a thing so apparently absurd Pray who was it that remov'd the Soldiers Who that procur'd the Assizes Ask the General consult the Judge they 'll tell you perhaps they heard nothing of our Knight in all this But may we not believe Sir Anthony's Letter before their Sayings Litera scripta manet when Words vanish into Air and are forgotten I desire our Trusty Secretary A. B. to produce that Letter in Court shew publickly that 't was no Sham And then The Book prates about one John Ponteus There 's no such Man now living and 't is a great Rudeness if not Inhumanity to disturb a dead Man's Ashes Was he here you 'd see how much he resents this Indignity to have an ingenious Man's Name fix'd on an illiterate Broker This Man snuffs at the sign of the Devil 's cloven Foot very unwilling to own that this Emblem of Mischief is made out by his endeavour to rend and divide the Church He denies his having the Pictures of a Woman and Child in the Book mention'd and thinks it time to forget the old Story of the poor Widow and Orphan so much talk'd of to his disgrace He gain'd nothing by that Bargain his offering Twenty Pounds for their Goods above his own Appraisement when he was entrusted in that Affair as the most Righteous Man that cou'd be found among the Saints should be look'd on only as his Charity to the Widow and Orphan and not to conclude from that Offer that he had left room in the Valuation to be a Knave to them Another of the Book 's Errata's is the bringing a sweet innocent Babe upon the Stage of Contempt to expose him so soon as born Poor Creature uncapable of making the least defence for himself 't was unfairly done no Man knows what Barr or Obstruction this may prove to his ensuing Fortune Friend Henry was too plain beyond Good Manners in telling the Saints what the Companion of Vice is little thinking how near it borders upon Impudence for him to undertake the Regulation of Elections or what Mischief he has done by declaring for the Church All this struck such a Damp among the Dissenters that they seem'd for a while to be void of sense It brought so great a Disorder into the peevish Constitution of our principal Patron our modern Thomas Aquinas that in meer Spleen and Discontent he scarce staid to bid adieu to the Saints Ah! had we lost twenty Sir Anthonies and twice that number of hopeful ' Squires if such and so many might be found and kept this Champion of our Cause alive our Sorrows wou'd be dry not half so insupportable as this Loss to the whole Party Old Father Elymas with his empty Porringer looks wondrous sour and uneasie thinks it very hard measure to be damn'd for Feeling He might well hope to be exempted out of the Catalogue of Offenders since so many of his own Saints are guilty of greater Crimes Besides he stifly pleads Predestination for all things and excuses himself and others in this Argumentative Way If Men lie under an inevitable Fate of sinning 't is very unreasonable to condemn them for those Faults not in their own Power to avoid This Book would ridicule Mr. Mouth for his want of Learning He scorns your Bono Fido's or Stattu-Co's these were merely put upon him Pray Gentlemen hear him speak for himself and Friends MOUTHEI ORATIO SI vitae vilitati ut Sanctorum non minimus ausus sim patrocinari Estote Judices plurimùm Amoris nostri infelicis delictum tueri possim Quidni enim id liceat quod Majoribus probatum sancitum Legibus Apud Lydios in morem Filias meretricari nactas eo quaestu dotem adferre sponsis Prostituebantur olim in Templis Virgines si Fides Authoribus victima crat quaeque polluebatur Nonnè scortis quondam Romae Vicus iis Impunitas quamdiu Suburrâ Filias Sodomitis Loth ut Hospitibus parcerent obtulit caedem cogitavit posse stupro redimi An peccavit tradendo aut scelere immunis si Bonum Amor Quorsùm in omnes non diffunderetur Id Leges sinunt quibus corporum usus permittitur nihil Natura fecit quod commune non est Non me tamen latet quid Ecclesiae Reverendi moribus austeri apud suos ob dignitatem in Honore de his statuunt In nos quasi codices sacri pugnarent quod Religioni Communitati sit noxium à nobis tueretur Tali autem Virorum Genere quis pellicatu Lege aut Scientiâ Inclytus tangi volet Trahunt coercent Fata Obest consilio Juvenum Ardor quibus pro ratione Impetus pro virtute Temeritas est Dixi. If Mr. Mouth was no part of a Scholar at the Penning of that Book I 'll promise you he 's wonderfully improv'd in a little time He has said more than could well be expected from him to make it out That a Community of Women is no Sin He likes any thing that 's common but Common Prayers and if that Part of the Book is not sufficiently answer'd I 'm much mistaken so far I believe we have out-done the Church The Church-Party are not generally those very Wise Men as they are represented They daily enrich their Enemies and give little or no Encouragement to their true Friends don't shew any great Love or Regard for their Religion are not
be Impiety because 't is prosperous and permitted that is not hinder'd by Force and Violence inconsistent with a free Moral Agent then the Great Sultan and the Great Cham and the Great Mogull as well as the Great Bishop of Rome are by an equal Sound-Consequence the greatest Favourites of Heaven And then the Argument of Symmachus had been unanswerably conclusive against the Primitive Christians who for 300 Years and upwards lay groaning under the Yoke of the Heathens Tyranny or Lastly If Permission were still a Mark of Approbation then Dionysius or Diagoras had argu'd logically well when having robb'd the Delphick Temple and immediately after escap'd a Shipwrack He gave it out that the Gods had approv'd his Sacrilege Not at all that he believ'd but laugh'd at Providence Riches and Prosperity are not always Blessings to the Enjoyers of them but very often bestow'd on the worst of Men to their hurt The Divine Wisdom reserving a better Reward for his dearest Servants in the World Presb. and Indep My Lord We are not satisfi'd that our dividing and separating from the Church of England deserves so bad a Name as that of Schism if it does we must expect a very severe Sentence and the Court must be justifi'd in its Proceedings against us Judge You have had enough offer'd before by the Church's Advocate but to leave the Matter more clear take the Judgment of your Principal Men who when time was reason'd thus against those that subdivided from them If we be a Church of Christ and Christ hold Communion with us why do you separate from us If we be the Body of Christ do not they that separate from the Body separate from the Head also If the Apostle calls those Divisions of the Church of Corinth wherein Christians did not separate into divers formed Congregations in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper Schisms 1 Cor. 1. 10. may not your Secession from us and professing you cannot join with us as Members and setting up Congregations of another Communion be more properly call'd Schism You gather Churches together out of your Churches and set up Churches in an opposite Way to our Churches and all this you do voluntarily and unwarrantably not having any sufficient Cause for it In the same Book they tell us of a Twofold Schism Negative and Positive Negative when Men do peaceably and quietly withdraw from Communion with a Church from which they are departed The other is when Persons withdrawing do consociate and withdraw themselves into a distinct and opposite Body setting up a Church against a Church which say they Camero calls a Schism by way of Eminence And farther tells us there are Four Causes that make a Separation from a Church lawful 1. When they that separate are grievously and intolerably persecuted 2. When the Church they separate from is Heretical 3. When 't is Idolatrous 4. When 't is the Seat of Antichrist And where none of these Four are found there the Separation is insufficient and Schism Now we are fully assur'd that none of these Four Causes can be charg'd upon our Congregations Therefore you must not be displeas'd with us if we blame you as guilty of positive Schism All which is as true now as it was then and as applicable to us and them and it was to them and their Dissenters The Presbyterians and Independents are indeed more guilty of Schism in separating from the truly Apostolical Church of England than they could be in dividing from each other Seekers But we think there are some things in the Constitution of that Church might be contriv'd to better Purposes and we would find out a Church that needs no Amendment no Alteration Judge Then you must be of no Church on this side Heaven you seek in vain because such Perfection is not in this World yet as great a Degree of it in the Church of England as in any Church or Congregation on Earth and for ought yet appears much greater But that every suppos'd Corruption in a Church is not a sufficient Ground of Separation or Warrant enough to rend and tear the Church in pieces Let Mr. Calvin judge between us who says That where-ever the Word of God is duly preach'd and reverently attended to and the true Use of the Sacraments kept up there is the plain Appearance of a True Church whose Authority no Man may safely despise or reject its Admonitions or resist its Counsel or set at nought its Discipline much less separate from it and violate its Unity For that our Lord has so great a Regard to the Communion of his Church That he accounts him an Apostate from his Religion who obstinately separates from any Christian Society which keeps up the true Ministry of the Word and Sacraments That such a Separation is a Denial of God and of Christ And that 't is a dangerous and pernicious Temptation so much as to think of separating from such a Church the Communion whereof is never to be rejected so long as it continues in the true use of the Word and Sacraments Though otherwise it be overrun with many Blemishes and Corruptions Which is as plain and full a Determination of the Case as if he particularly design'd it against the Doctrine and Practice of the Modern Dissenters from our Church Quak. I hope the Nation will yet believe us to be very honest harmless Men who deal fairly and kindly with all Persons never oppressing griping or defrauding any Man we are at a Word avoid abundance of that vain unnecessary Talk which others use in Trading and therefore I humbly desire that the Court would acquit us Judge You have forfeited much of that good Opinion that the Nation once had of you and all the Riches you boasted of were gotten by Peoples Credulity trusting you too much before they try'd you All your Religion is now dwindled into a bare Pretence of Honesty which at best is not equal to that of the more Ancient Heathens Your YEA or NAY your Single Word shall bite as much as a Thousand a Lye may soon be told and if the World complains of you for any Dishonesty in over-reaching or deceiving your Neighbours all is put off with your Spiritual Distinction 'T is not say you downright Cheating of Men but a sanctifi'd Out-witting 'em which is own'd and practised amongst you Presbyt My Lord We have two or three Gentlemen to produce in our Vindication Judge Who are they Presbyt St. Hierome Aerius and Honest John Calvin The first says That Bishop and Presbyter are all one The second That they differ nothing in Order Dignity and Power And the last was so offended with Episcopacy That he threw out the Bishop of Geneva and turn'd the Name of Bishop into that of Superintendent and under that Title He and his Godly Successours have there about one hundred Years govern'd that Church Judge Hierome must be a Saint now for letting fall one single Sentence in favour of the Presbyterians But