Baptisme and the Lords-supper are not Ordinances commanded by the word of God or that the baptizing of Infants is unlawfull or such baptisme is void and that such persons ought to be baptized again and inpursuance thereof shall baptize any person formerly baptized or that the observation of the Lords day as it is enjoyned by the Ordinances and Lawes of this Realm is not according or is contrary to the word of God or that it is not lawfull to joyn in publick prayer or family prayer or to teach children to pray or that the Churches of England are not true Churches nor their Ministers and Ordinances true Ministers and Ordinances or that the Church-government by Presbytery is Antichristian or unlawfull or that the Magistracy or power of the civill Magistrate by law established in England is unlawfull or that all use of Armes though for the publick defence and be the cause never so just is unlawfull and in case the party accused of such publishing and maintaining of any such errours shall bee convicted as aforesaid he shall be ordered by the said Iustices to renounce his said errors in the publick congregation of the same parish from whence the complaint doth come and in case he refuseth so to doe then he shall be committed to prison by the said Iustices untill hee find two sufficient suretyes that he shall not publish or maintain the said error or errors any more With this Proviso that no attainder by vertue hereof spall extend either to the forfeiture of the estate reall or personall or the corruption of blood of any such person Fifthly Though we acknowledge divers of our brethren of the Independent way to be learned godly charitable and kind even to their Presbyterian brethren and (o) Mr. Burroughs in his Iren. cap. 6. p 30 32 34 35 36 37. some of them to be adverse in a great measure to such a Toleration as * Test to the truth c. p. 29. you might truely terme intolerable and abuminable which that Catholick Advocate and Patron (p) In his booke called the Bloody Tenet of all irreligious Religions proposeth yet as we take the tenet of Independency to be an error in it selfe so doe we find it by sound reason and sad experience to bee if not the naturall mother yet such a tender Nurse and Patronesse to hereticall opinions of all kinds that to it we may for a great part ascribe the luxuriant growth and spreading of errors heresies c. so far over this Kingdome as on the contrary the freedome of the Kingdome of Scotland from the like evills (q) Eccles Scotican privilegium rarum in quo ejus nomen apud exteros fuit celebre quod circiter annos plus minus 54. ante an 1602. sine schisinaâ—e nedum haerâ—si uâ—â—â—itatem cum puritate doctrinae retinuerit in prin Syntag. Câ—nsess p. 6. edit Gen. 1612. in 4. which is recorded as their happinesse and to their honour to the firme establishment of a subordinate Presbyteriall Government among them Sixthly Notwithstanding we are far from the rigorous resolution of (r) Haeretices incorrigibiles posse deâ—ere temporalibus paenis aâ—que â—psa â—tiam morâ—e muliart Bell. de Laicis l. 3. c. 2. Bâ—llarmine who is peremptorie for the punishment of heretickes with death without any such distinction or difference as is made in the Ordinance of Parliament (s) Haereâ—icis obstinatis beneficium est quod de hac vita tollantur nam quod diutius vivunt eo plures errores excogitant plures pervertunt majorem sibi damnationem acquirunt ibid. p. 225. col 2. affirming also it is a kindnesse to them to cut them off because the longer they live the more errors they will invent the more persons they will pervert and so to procure themselves the deeper damnation Which conclusion of his we account the more cruel because of the large extent of the title Heretick in his sense comprehending all Christians who professe not subjection to his Antichristian Caiphas the Pope But we conceive the Spirit of Christ breatheth into his more meeknesse and moderation towards such as are contrary minded though their simplicity have sometime been so far wrought upon by the subtilty of others as (t) Mâ—dicamenta nesciunt insani sunt adversus Antidotum quo sani esse potuissent Aug. Confess l. 9. c. 4. p. 262. 263. to become mad against the medicine that should cure them of their madnesse At whom when wee are moved to bee angry wee must turne anger into pity as (u) Quam vehemenâ—i aeri dolore indignabar Manichaeis miserabar eâ—â—â— Aug. ibid. Augustine did towards the Manchichees and when we oppose them wee must as he (w) Sine superbia de veriâ—ate praesumiâ—e sine saevitia pro veriâ—ue certaâ—e Aug. contra lit Petil. Donatistae lib. 1. Tom. 7. par 1. p. 104. adviseth without pride presume of the truth and without cruelty contend for the truth not abridging them of any liberty either of opinion or of practise which may be proved by the word of God to be a part of their Christian right Which we professe without all prejudice to such necessary and salutary severity as by just and lawfull authority is already or hereafter shall bee thought meet to be exercised upon those who by their sedulity in solliciting to perillous opinions as by their obstinate persisting in them may deserve that SECT III. THus far for the first point how farre you have our consent We are next to shew our reasons why we thus joyn with you both in our judgments and in our publick profession thereof to the world For though we thinke with Ambrose (x) Plurimum prodest unicuique bono jungi Ambr. de Offic. l. 2. cap. 20. princ that it is matter of advantage to sort and associate our selves to every good man much more to so many and so worthy Divines as are united in your subscription to the Testimony to the Trtuth c. Yet we conceive it will be rather a support to the cause then a prejudice to you or in us to any other who have appeared in this complyance before us and who might bee so much shorter as they were quicker in their Attestation if we put off the reproof of (y) Sapientiam sibi adimunt qui fine ullo judicio invenâ—a majorum probant ab aliis pecudum more ducuntur Lactant. Inst l. 2. c. 8. p. 139. Lactantius by subjoyning to our former Assent such confiderable reasons thereof as these that follow The first we take from the just zeale we ought to bear to the glory of God which is much opposed by error herefies and blasphemies and the Toleration of them For albeit (z) Socr. c. hol l. 4. c. 27. p. 336. Themistius told the Emperour Valens that variety of Sects tended to the glory of God though they amounted to more then 300 as did the opinions of the
Ralph Smith just volume for vindication of his glory against the hereticall traducement of this wicked and wretched age wherein we live SECT II. As we are called Divines and under that Title and in relation to our great and gratious Lord whose Ambassadors wee are 2 Cor. 5.20 we stand obliged to be affectionately sensible of every thing wherein his honour is concerned So in our relation from him to the people as watch-men over their soules Heb. 13.17 we may take a second reason from the tender care we ought to have of their eternall welfare which must needs be deeply endangered by such erroneous hereticall and blasphemous opinions as have been too boldly divulged and but too tamely tolerated in our dayes The Apostle and Disciple whom our Saviour especially loved professed in his epistle to Gaius that hee had no greater joy then to heare that his children walke in truth 3. Epist of John v. 4. It must needs then be one of his greatest griefs to heare that they wandred and went aside out of truths high-way to by-paths of errors and heresies For the word of hereticall seducers fretteth or eateth into the soul as a canker or as the originall hath hath it a Gangrene 2 Tim. 2.17 doth the body Which (g) Nominant Gangranas eas quae ex magnitudi ne inflammationis fiunt mortificationes quae nondum integrae factae sunt nam cum omnino membrum affectum est emortuum ut punctum vel sectum vel adustum non sentiat quae patitur statim recidere opor tet quae sanam partem vicinam attingunt Gal. de art Curat Tom. 6. operum col 403. Galen treateth of as two distinct evills And of the Gangrene he saith it kills where it infects making the flesh dead that is infected by it so that whether prickt or cut or burned it is unsensible of any paine Yet proceeding with so much perill from one part to another that unlesse the part corrupted be cut off it will goe on to bring the whole into the like desperate and deadly condition (h) Depravant quae sunt Dei adulterant verbum Dei lacte gypsum male miscetur Iteneus adv haeres l. 3. c. 19. p. 281. Irenaeus compareth the doctrine of heretickes to milke mingled with lime or plaster and that such a potion is poyson (i) Exemplum illustre C. Proculeium in maximo stomachi dolore gypso conscivisse sibi mortem Plin. Nat. Hist l. 36. c. 24. p. 512. Pliny sheweth by experience upon C. Proculeius a familiar friend of Augustus Cesars who making triall of it upon him got his death by it In respect of both these bad effects the one without the other within both of them deadly and destructive to the souls of men the accusation of (k) Vir Sanguinum omnis haereticus qui quotidie animarum sanguiném fundit Hieron in Psal 5. Tom. 8. p. 4. col 2. Hierom may be justified against an heretick which is that hee is a man of blood who dayly is guilty of the blood of soules and so should we be if we should be silent when we have a strict charge to watch over them to forewarne them of their danger that they may take heed of it and we conceive this way of warning may be very usefull as a common shout of the Shepheards together against the Wolfe in Sheeps clothing though a Lion feare it not Isay 31.4 Thirdly A third reason which engageth us to a publick attestation of those truths whereunto you have given testimony and the disclaiming of errours as you have done is the respect which of duty we ought to bear to the publick welfare of the Kingdome both in point of safety and of honour First for safetie and that from a double danger the one of corruption of faith society and civill justice (l) Haud scio an pietate adversus deos sublata fides etiam societas humani generis una excellentissima justitia virtus tollatur Cicer. Tusc quaest lib. 1. p. 197. for if piety towards God be takere away and with toleration of all opinions in Religion it cannot consist as the Roman Oratour inferreth faith and that excellent virtue Iustice which upholds humane society will fail for the administration whereof the decision of differences and the stinting of strife is resolved in the Testimony of an oath as the Apostle sheweth Heb. 6.16 And what assurance of an oath if it be not rooted in Religion how unstable will that root be with many when they are subject to be shaken with multiplicity of windes of erroneous doctrine Eph. 4.14 The other danger is of the ruine of the weal publick which is hastened sometimes suddainly brought on to the destruction of Cities by evill studies and evill doctrines (m) Vetus Graecia longe providens quam sensim pernicies illapsa civium animos malis studiis malisque doctrinis repenie totas civitates everterit Cicer l. 2. de legibus p. 330. med Heathen yet very prudent Moralists have observed although perhaps they were not so wise as to know the radicall or originall cause thereof which is the just judgement of God for the wickednesse of men in particular for their licentiousnesse in fond and false opinions and impious practices And for the honour of our Church and State how much is it impeached both at home and abroad by the infamy of so many errors heresies and Sects as have been and yet are too much tolerated among us What a shame and reproach is it to our nation at this day to see it in print from beyond sea and that not by a Papist but (n) Anglia his 4. annis facta est colluvies Lerna omnium errorum sectarum nulla a condito orbe Provincia tam paâ—vo spatio tot monstrosas haereses protulit Atque haec Honorus Reggus Commentar de statie Eccles in Anglia p. 1. praefat a Protestant Divine That England within this four yeers is become the sinke and lake of Hydra for all errors and sects no Province from the beginning of the world in so short a space hath brought forth so many so monstrous heresies as England hath done Against these two great evills both of danger and disgrace the best remedy and apologie we can hope for is this that publick persons doe openly professe against errors and heresies The Parliament hath done it thrice in most publick manner once in their first Declaration where they say and a worthy (o) Mr. Leigh Ep. ded before his treatise of Divin p. 6. Member of the Honorable House of Commons remembers them of it in an epistle dedicatory to them It is far from our purpose to desire to let loose the golden reynes of discipline and government in the Church to leave private persons or particular congregations to take up what forme of Divine service they please for we hold it requisite that there should he throughout the whole Realm a conformitie
differences betwixt them wee conceive a Parliament of Legislative Senators and an Assembly of Divines are fitter to decide them then two opposite Armies for the rest we had rather be resolved then determined by the Long Robe then by the Buffe Coate by the Judges of the Law in a diliberate way of inquiry and tryall then by (i) Inter arma silent leges lawlesse swordmen in a way of haâ—â—ie hostility and violence which will allow of no leasure for distinction of causes and persons nor for conviction of errours or offences before execution SECT V. ANd though the breach of Covenant bee pretended as a just provocation for unsheathing the Sword in a second war and God we confesse may as hee threatneth Levit. 26.25 send a Sword to avenge the quarrell of his Covenant yet as the forementioned Commissioners well observed the Covenant is rather ratified and confirmed then violated by the Representatives and Ministers of the Counties or Provinces as they speake whose owning and avowing of it is more considerable for keeping of peace betwixt the two Kingdomes then the neglect or contempt of it by others for breaking out into a new Warre And wee are assured that such a Warre as some would stirr up and carry on under pretence of asserting the Covenant against Independent Sectaries and Hereticks would make the breaches of the Covenant wider both in the Doctrinall and Practicall part thereof For first for the Doctrinall part though many errours were brewed in the Bishops times by occasion of their tyranizing rule over the consciences of Christians which made them sneake into corners where ordinarily the truth dwelleth not yet those and many others have beene more boldly broached and more generally propagated by the progresse of Warre and under the protection of the Sword they who hold and publish them make account they may bee more secure from censure and restraint then in times of peace they can expect to bee And for the practicall part which is too much slighted by most while the other is in a manner onely infisted on as that it is our true and unfaigned purpose desire and endeavour for our selves and all others under our power both in publique and private in all dutie wee ow to God and man to mend our lives and to goe before one another in the example of a reall Reformation that the Lord may turn away his wrath and heavy indignation and establish these Kingdomes in truth and peace Can this bee expected by the Warre now projected can wee hope for any helpe towards the restraint of prophanenesse and promotion of the power of godlinesse by such an art as consisteth as (k) Praeclara ars incendere domos diripere Templa violare virgines spoliare miseros occidere innoxios Erasm Colloque Milit. confess p. 34. Erasmus noteth in burning of houses battering downe of Churches violation of Virgins spoiling even of those that are in misery killing of the innocent c. May wee not rather feare that a Civil War of the second Edition will bee set forth like a Masse Booke in red and black letters of cruelty and uncleanness much corrupted augmented and that if the (l) Matt. 12.45 evill Spirit cast out return upon us hee will bring with him seven other Spirits more wicked then himselfe and so should they prevaile which God forbid our last state would be worse then the first Matth. 12.45 Can we look for any better of such as are impetuously spurred on as the same (m) Ego nihil aliud conjectare possum quam illos agi malis furiis seseque totos malo daemoni miseriaedevovisse Ibid. p. 32. Author saith of them by wicked furies as if they had devoted themselves to devillish malignity and misery and if such a destructive hostility should be prosecuted as some purpose it what ever become of the sectaries and hereticks most spoken of the grand hereticks of the Popish faction would bee much incouraged and advanced by it for if the most zealous Antipapists should assault and slay each other they needed but to bee lookers on untill both sides being mutually weakned they might have hope to have both for a prey and would take it as if God had set us together by the eares to make some sportfull spectacle for them to behold so much Genebrard meant when he said (n) Deus haerericis haereticos committit ut Catholicis tacentibus se mutuo conficiant Genebr Chronogr l. 4. p. 766. inter an 1572-74 God sets hereticks against hereticks that the Catholiques might bee silent spectators of their mutuall massacres Whereby they may expect so farre to prevail as to compasse their most destructive designes upon the Protestant party That moved Calvin with passionate admiration to say upon the contentions of Evangelicall professors in his time (o) Deus bone quantos quam jucundos lusus praebemus quasi illis locaverimus operam nostram Calv. Ep. Melanthon p. 55. Good God! what delight and sport doe wee make to Papists wee could not gratifie them more then wee doe by our differences if they had hired us to doe them some acceptable service For they make account that our conflicts will hasten their conquests and they would bee sure the more to glory in our sinnes and sufferings because they make (p) Septima nota est unio membrorum inter se cum capite Bellarm. de notis Ecles l. 4. c. 10. Tom. 2. p. 78. col 2. unity their own unity a note of the true Church and (q) At haeretici dissentiuni unus habet alium pro haereitco Bell. ibid. p. 80. col 2. dissention our dissention which they observe and aggravate beyond all measure a marke of heresie Besides there is a prelaticall and otherwise Malignant party among us to whom such as are in debt distresse and discontent will bee ready to sort themselves as they did in Davids time 1 Sam. 22.2 who would make as ill an use of our discord especially if they could heighten it to a warlike hostility of the religious of both Nations as the Papists would doe whereof our (r) The humble Representation of the Commissioners of the Generall Assembly forecited p. 14. Brethren of Scotland have a jealous apprehension and so have wee and therefore what (Å¿) Heu mihi qui vos simul invenire non possum ut moveor ut doleo prociderem ad pedes vestros flerem quantum vale rem rogarem quantum amarem nunc utrunque pro seipso c. Aug. Hieron inter opera Hieron Tom. 2. p. 355. Augustine would have done to reconcile Hierome and Ruffinus though but particular Antagonists to take off the disgrace of their contentions that and much more according to the proportion both of scandall and of danger would we doe rather then that any pretended difference betwixt Presbyterians and Independents or any conscientious Non-Covenanters should be so far exasperated as to bee put to the blinde and
Philosophers God is jealous of honour and as hee is but one so he allowes but of one Lord one faith and one baptisme Ephes 4.5 and being most true and holy he cannot but be vehemently incensed against errors heresies and blasphemies especially when they are presented under the name and notion of Religion for then he is twice dishonoured First in contradicting his truth by falshood his glory by reproach and then in ascribing erroneous and hereticall opinions unto him as to the author of them whereas indeed they are the dictates of the Devill For as (a) Videns Diabolus templa deâ—rum deseri in nomen Liberatoris eurrere genus humanum haereticos movit qui sub vocabulo Christiano Doctrinae resisterent Christianae Aug. de Civit. Dei l. 8 c. 51. par 2. p. 459. Augustine well observeth the Devill seeing his Temples forsaken and that mankind began to runne after the name of a Redeemer or delivering Mediatour he stirred up heretickes under the name of Christians to undermine and oppose the Doctrine of Christ For (b) Mar. 5.17 Luke 10.26 and c. 18.21.18 19 20. Mar. 10.19 Christ in the Gospel confirmed the Law and the hereticks as the Marcionites and Manichees besides others opposed it Whereupon they are posed with this question by Athanasius (c) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Athan. disput prema contra Arian Tom. 1. p. 113. What hath Marcion or Manichaeus to doe with the Gospel when they abrogate the Law And (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clemens Alenandr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 189. a sort of heretickes called Antitactae so far contemned and affronted it that because the law said Thou shalt not commit adultery they professed they would commit adultery And this impure purpose and practise of theirs they grounded upon an impious principle of their own holding two Gods a first and a second the second they said sowed tares corrupted mankind and gave the Law in breaking whereof they make account they have revenged the wrong of the first and better God upon the second and worse The same Devill which suggested such wild and wicked conceits to them hath taught some of our times (e) Testim to the truth c. p. 6.7 to make the Chappel of Rome the Church of Christ the brand set in the forehead of the great whore because it is in the Frontispice of all the Catholique Confessions as you have noted in your Catalogue And the Devills Amanuensis doubtlesse he was who not many yeers since wrote the book of Mans Mortality which presents to the world a gallipot of poyson for an Alablaster-box of Spikenard Mar. 14.3 in which pestilent Pamphlet are such blasphemous and absurd assertions as Religion may abhorre and reason deride and that such poysonful pills may be swallowed with the lesse suspition of danger they are sugared over with prefatory praises and the doctrine of the immortality of the soul that it may be distasted and detested blasphemously reproached as if it had been rather raised up out of hell then sent downe from heaven And can wee take notice of such notorious and horrid contempts of the truth and honour of our God and not be so far moved with them as to testifie our consent with our godly brethren against them God forbid yea we hold it our duties in true zeal to his glory rather to become emulous of the melting spirit of David when he said rivers of water run downe mine eyes because men keep not thy law Psal 119.136 how much more when they doe not only not keepe the law but teach men to break and to contemne the law and as much as in them lyeth to disanull and destroy the law not only the law of Faith Rom. 3.27 as this impious miscreant forementioned would doe but the law of workes also the rule of life which is another law of the same Apostle in the same place as the Antinomians goe about to doe both contradicting and blaspheming them as the Jews did Pauls preaching Acts 13.45 and the Anti-Scripturistâ— who doe the like against them both Law and Gospel as you have shewed in your (f) Testim to the truth c. p. 5. 15 16. Testimony It is time for thee O Lord to work for they have made voide thy Law Psal 119.126 and for the Lords servants to worke with him and for him and to contend for the Emphaticall conclusion of the Apostle Doe we make void the Law through faith God forbid yea we establish the Law Rom. 3.31 And while many are so lewdly lawlesse as our late erroneous and hereticall Rabshakeh's have shewed themselves to be We cannot but call to mind the deep sense that King Hezâ—kiah had upon the blasphemous reproaches of the Assyrian Generall when at the hearing of them he rent his cloaths covered himselfe with sackcloth went into the house of the Lord and made other patheticall expressions which shewed how much he was perplexed for the dishonour of his God thereby Isa 37 1-4 Nor can wee but desire and endeavour to be affected as he was with due proportion to the impieties and provocations of our present times and to give such demonstration thereof as the cause requireth and the opportunity affordeth And though Ministers be inferiour to Kings in honour yet in zeal to the glory of God they should not be second to any how great soever but Fore-men rather as the Levites were who when God was dishonoured by that stupid Idolatry in making and worshipping the golden calfe and Moses demanded who is on the Lords side Exod. 32.26 came with their swords by their sides and did present execution upon the principall transgressors and albeit we be no such sword-men as they were nor have any thing to doe with bloody sacrifices as they had yet we are not without our weapons which may bee of use for conviction though not as those in their hands for execution of such as are injurious and blasphemous against the glory of God as that Idolatry was and our modern heresies are with our tongues and pens we may plead for the propriety and purity of Gods honour against all who any way seek to oppose or eclipse it And remembring how great the zeale of Moses was to the glory of God when rather then the Heathen should have any occasion reproachfully to misreport his judiciall proceedings with his people in the wildernesse Exod. 32.12 he wisheth that his name might be blotted out of Gods booke ver 32. We take it to be but a slender testimony of our zeale to the glory of our Maker and Redeemer to subscribe a printed Testimony to the truth of Christ Jesus Nor should we thinke it too much if there were cause to require such a service at our hands to set forth a * Betwixt the penning and printing of this Attestation there came forth a briefe yet sound confutation of errors W. in the name of the Ministers of Devon Printed by William Dugard for