them all as no Christians but a deformed church and not cast into a church mould For my brother Burton peremptorily affirmes and that in the name of all the Independents pag. 11. that following the expresse Scripture the first formed church we finde is in Acts the 2. So that they all profâ—sse they reade of no formed church nor of no church cast into a church mould according to the new-testament forme till after Christs death and that expr sly set down for the time of it Acts the 2. So that the Christian church before Christs death and ascension was deformed that is to speake plainly that Iohn the Baptist Christ and his holy Apostles and all Christians made by them were not moulded up as they ought to be and formed into a Church or Churches which if it be not the height of blasphemy I refer to the judgment of any intelligent Reader Amongst them in their new moulded congregations a Pastor a Teacher and two Elders and a Deacon and five or six brethren more and three or four Sisters can make up a formed Church after the New Testament form Now is there any man so stupid and brutish as will not conclude that where Christ was the great Pastor and Shepherd of our Soules and where there were James and John the sonnes of Zebedee two Teachers or Doctors those Bonaerges those sonnes of Thunder and eight or nine Elders with seventy Disciples all Saints all whose names were writ in heaven with multitudes of Beleevers with many women that followed Christ the great Shepherd of our souls who had also a Decon amongst them Judas by name that all these could not or did not make up a formed church or churches when ten or twelve in their whibling congregations so qualified as formerly can make a formed church after the New Testament form I say he that shall not beleeve that the Lord Jesus Christ the great shepherd of his sheep and all his Disciples Schollers and followers cannot as well make a formed church as a few in our new founded or rather confounded congregations is voyd of all reason and understanding And they that shall peremptorily and rashly affirm that they were not a true formed church I proclaim them guilty of blasphemy and deserving most condigne punishment And therfore when my brother Burton and many of the Independents are guilty of this heinous and facinorous crime they ought severely to be dealt with as prevaricators against the divine Majesty of the King of Saints and King of Kings and against the honour of the Saints in Christs time and ought by all Christs true Disciples and such as love the honour and dignity of their King and Saviour Jesus Christ to be abominated as a company of false teachers calumniators and horrid seducers how godly soever they seem to the wrold to be And as all such teachers as my brother Burton and his complices are ought by Christs Saints and Servants to be looked on as a company of grand impostors and juglers So the poor and despised Presbyterians who they terme sinners and carnall people and men of earth and enemies of Christ and his Kingdome may comfort themselves in this that they are like their master and his Disciples and all that were converted by John the Baptist and by the Ministry of Christ and his Apostles and Disciples and baptized by them for they pronounce of us all that we are not formed into a church or churches nor cast into a church mould according to the New Testament forme and that we are not members of any true church nor Saints but enemies of Christ and at best but converts in part as if Christ the authour and finisher of our Faith wrought his worke to the halves this I say may comfort all us the poore despised Presbyterians for the same they say of Christ and his Disciples and of all that were converted and baptized by Johns and their ministry and such as partaked in all Ordinances of all which they affirm That they were not formed into a Church or Churches according to the New Testament form for in their babble there was not a formed church till that we reade of Acts the 2. So that neither Christ nor his Disciples nor John the Baptist and his Disciples nor the hundred and twenty names we read of Acts the 1. in their learning were a formed church nor all the other worshippers the Scripture speaks of Act. 2. nor thought worthy by them to be taken notice of for a church or churches So that by this bold assertion of my brother Burton and I. S. they do not only oppose the truth but indeed many of those of their own party and tribe howsoever they pretend they write in the name of them all who I am most assured will give them little thanks for this their pains for to my knowledge the learnedst of them are against them in this point and disavow their opinion For the principallest of them hold that the hundred and twenty names we read of Acts the first were a true formed church as all their writings and disputes declare and therefore my brother Burton and I. S. affirming the contrary in this they oppose many of their brethren as well as the Presbyterians and for this their temerity I am most confident they will be highly blamed by all the Judicious of that party And truly if the hundred and twenty names were not a true formed church there was then none upon Earth And if they had not been a formed church according to the New Testament forme they could not have given a forme to other churches for all learned christians agree in this That it must be a true formed Church that must make others true formed churches For they cannot give and communicate that to others that they have not themselvs this is one of their own principles and therefore they cannot deny it Now if the hundred and twenty names were a true formed church then all that were baptized by Iohn and Christs Disciples and as many as were converted by their Ministry were a true formed church or churches for they were all formed after one and the same way so that what made the hundred and twenty Names a true formed church made all the other a true formed church or churches if the same cause can produce the same or the like effect And if men would but seriously consider what it is that is absolutely requisite or necessary and indeed abundantly sufficient for the making or forming of a true church or churches or for the making of any man or woman a Member of a true formed church they would soon and without any difficulty perceive That all those that were baptized by Iohn the Baptist and Christs Disciples were as well formed into a church or churches as the hundred twenty names and those three thousand my brother Burton speakes of and which he â—alls the first formed church For all those that were baptized by John
seeing I have upon this occasion began to compare the old Puritans of England with the Independents and Sectaries who their Predicants assert are but the old Puritans over-growne that is Christians in all respects transcending them in all duties of piety and godlinesse and in all offices of Love and Charity towards others and in the whole frame of their lives and conversations and for their uprightnesse and honesty in their dealings and for their sincerity in all their actions and for their moderation in the temperate use of all the creatures and for their humble walking towards others I shall briefly here set downe the practices of the old Puritans concerning some of these particulars and parallel them with the proceedings of the Independents and Sectaries of our times It is sufficiently knowne that the old Puritans of England ever loved and honoured all the Orthodox faithfull painefull and diligent Preachers of the Word of God through the Land whether Conformists or non-Conformists and they never thought they could yeeld them reverence enough and were willing at any time to the uttermost of their abilities to relieve and supply them with all necessary accomodations for the support of themselves and their Families and they were so farre from taking from them any thing or hindring them of their dues either in respect of honour or maintenance that they would run and ride in their behalfe for the maintaining of their reputations and livelyhoods and if at any time they had beene oppressed by the power and tyrannie of the Prelates in any Court or by any wicked enemies of the Church they had the assistance and ever the good word of the old Puritans and their prayers and their purses to support them and sustaine both them and their Families they were never knowne to desert them or to give them an ill word and this was the carriage of the old Puritans of England towards their godly and painfull Ministers of all sorts and they never favoured any hereticall and schismaticall Teachers and this was that way of Righteousnesse they walked in Now if we looke upon the practices of the Independents and Sectaries they are chiefest enemies of all the painefull and godly Ministers through the Kingdome and the only friends of all Seducers schismaticall and hereticall Preachers so that it is well knowne they doe not only reproach and abuse them in words calling them Baals Priests the limbs of Antichrist and the Devils Ministers and a thousand such ignominious names but so persecute them in word and deeds that they cannot safely dwell by them where there is any number of the Sectaries yea there is scarce a Committee through the Kingdome where they have not persecuted their most faithfull Ministers yea it is their chiefe designe to take away their Tythes from them and to deprive them of their Livings by which they should support themselvs and their poor Families and they have made the lives of many of them so irkesome unto them and so wearied them with their calumnies and carriage towards them that though they highly honoured them before they turned Sectaries yet after that they became their mortall enemies and for no other reason but that they continued still to preach those orthodox doctrines they had formerly taught inveighed against the dangerous and blasphemous opinions that were now preached up every where by the Seducers of these times for this cause alone and for no other ground they have wearied many of them out of their very lives and forced others to leave their places of their habitations many presidents of this kind I could produce but one I cannot but instance and that is of one Master Beton of Rye in Sussex a most painefull orthodox and laborious Preacher and a man of no small fame as well for his godly life and diligence in his Ministry as for his singular knowledge in Hebrew and all the orientall tongues and yet this man every way so unblameable and accomplished did the Sectaries joyning with all the Malignants of that place drive from his habitation there The ful story of that particular businesse would make a pretty larg book which would sad the hearts of all such as are truly godly to hear that any that pretend unto Christian Religion should practise so contrary unto all Christian principles and the practice of the old Puritans of ENGLAND and yet what those Sectaries of Rye with their complices have done against that godly and learned Minister is generally practiced by all the other Sectaries and Independents through the Kingdome as can sufficiently be proved who generally implacably hate those that they have formerly loved and have still a cause to honour as who next under God have been a means of their conversion if ever they were really converted So that in these their proceedings they are not the old Puritans of ENGLAND overgrown which walked in the way of righteousnesse in honouring their faithfull Ministers according to Gods command 1 Thess 5. and Heb. 13. Which way the Independents do not walk in but in the contrary way of malice and hatred towards them as all their practices proclame Therefore inthis respect also the way of Independency is not the way of Righteousnesse And as for their charity and practice of love and their integrity and sincere dealing towards their brethren the old Puritans of ENGLAND were famous for their reâ—dinesse to pleasure them in any thing who would at any time ride â—un or go to do any neighbour that dwelt peaceably by them a good turn yea though they differed some thing from them in judgement whereas it can be proved that the Independents will take great and dangerous journeys to do any of their Presbyterian brethen mâ—â—chiâ—fe to defame and traduce them and to hinder their preferment yea and they will do it to such also as they seem to be very loving and shew an outward kindnesse to And yet at that very infrant of time they most faune upon them they will fearfully betray them yea it is well known that some of the Independents have betrayed their own fathers their masters their most familiar friends and acquaintance after they have turned from the Tresbyterian way to that faction especially they use exceedingly to hate such as they professed greatly to love if they have found them rigid as they speak or unmoveable in their Religion and would not connive at their Independent wayes I could say much upon my own experience how many of the Sectaries seemed not a little to honour me and spake as well of me as of any man living before they saw they could not prevaile with me to be of their mind nor to favour them in their erroneous opinions but as soon as they perceived that I was immoveable in my resolution their love turned into implacable hatred as it is well known And I am confident there might be thousands of presidents produced of the like nature many of which I know yea I may truly say this
Now as I have shewed you the controversie betweene the two parties and the cause of this dispute and set downe the occasion of bringing all these Armies into the field with the words of their challenge and declared also the two sorts of enemies I have to deale with I will according to my promise ad aram veritatis briefly lay downe the title by which they all pretend a right to Independency and shew the ground and foundation of the congregationall way for the which they doe all of them now as pro aris focis dimicare against their Christian Brethren whom they ordinary stile Presbytyrants But by the way I must say thus much that before there was any breaking out to open Hostility all things in the beginning were carried in an amicable and lovely way and the controversie was disputed con and pro in a legall manner every one bringing in their evidences for their way and cause and that in forâ—â—onscientiâ— before Judges of the spirituall Law where all the Advocates for the Independent cause were fully heard speake and plead for themselves and for their party whatsoever they now pretend to the contrary and they had all of them liberty granted unto them freely to bring in their witnesses which were fully likewise heard Now they had but one witnesse to speake of that made for their cause and he being found doubtfull in his expressions and the truth also of his testimony being fully examined it was abundantly made appeare by the Advocates of the contrary party that should his Affidavit be allowed of as cleare in every particular and punctilio of it as they would have it yet it would not be a sufficient witnesse to prove any just title they had to their Independency nay though they had many such whereupon the Court could neither in iustice or equity admit of that witnesse his testimony and all those that have any understanding in causes of this nature when they shall heare the debate fully on both sides will I am most confident conclude that should the Judges have allowed of their witnesses testimony and so have granted the Independents their cause that they had beene unrighteous Judges and there had beene then just cause of appeale to some higher Court and Tribunall but the Judges in conscience having given sentence according to Law and justice against the Independent party and they notwithstanding still challenging a right and title to Independency although I say it was made apparently evident to all men that they could not justly challenge or claime any right thereunto by the Charter of the great King of his Church they still persisting in their obstinacy and groundlesse challenge and being resolved that they would be either soli aut nulli would admit of no faire accommodation as can sufficiently be proved by a cloud of witnesse brake out into open Hostility and war against their brethren and all this contrary unto Covenant and Agreement as is briefly set downe in the Schismaticke sifted set forth by Mr. John Vicarâ— and let fly their arrowes and quils at us and with the poyson and venome of them wounded and slew not a few invading our Frontiers and Territories beating up our quarters plundering and spoyling of us of our best and fattest sheepe and lambs making ever and anon false alarums upon us and upon every occasion sending us challenges to the terrifying of many in so much as they forced some to run into the rivers and Jordans round about starke naked over head and eares like mad men aud that in the middest of winter to the killing and murthering of certaine of them yea they began to rob us of our wives of our children and of our servants and indeed of our very substance so that the Presbyterians were constrained in their owne defence to come out to meet them for the preserving of themselves and their soules and bodies both which would be destroyed and that speedily if these Rovers might goe on without controule and resistance and yet in all this combat the Presbyterians hitherto have used no other weapon but the sword of the spirit which is the word of God But before I come to the main battel I shall here set down the ground and warrant by which they challenge a title and right to Independency and withall I will set downe the manner of their pleading before they came to Hostility with the names of some of their chiefe Advocates and Patrons who lived sometimes in the Low-countries amongst the Countrey Courtiers there where they became excellent Proficients in their art and where they learned this Lesson perfectly well viz. how to spread their bread with the Independents butter which is the chiefest part of their skill and learning which made their tongues in all their pleadings run very glib and these being all very well feed pleaded their cause in manner and forme as followeth The Court being set the chiefe Judge or Prolocutor after the hearing of the debate and cause desired the Advocates for farther satisfaction and for farrher proofe of the soundnesse of their plea to bring in their witnesses and evidences with their reasons out of the holy Scripture the great Charter of heaven by which they would prove their title and right to the Church of Jerusalem and by which they laboured to evince there were no more Beleevers in that Church then could all meet in any one place or congregation to partake in all the Ordinances and that this Church consisting of no more then one Congregation was independent promising and that faithfully withall the other Judges that if they could by sufficient evidence witnesses and testimonies out of the holy Word of God the Charter of the great King make it appeare that the controversie then should speedily be decided betweene them and that they would yeeld the Cause then the which nothing could be spake more honestly Wherupon first Thomas Goodwin a sturdy Advocate produces for witnesse the first v. of the 2. chapter of the Acts in these words when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were al saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with one accord in one place Ergo saith he the Church of Jerusalem consisted of no more Beleevers then could all meet in one place Thus did hee plead and evidence Now before I come to tell how the other Advocates argued their cause I will set downe the Greeke words in Roman characters that the most unlearned may reade them and I will afterwards give the true and genuine interpretation and sense of them and shew how both these Advocates and all the Independents and Sectaries are mistaken in that witnesse and testimony which indeed is the onely evidence they build their whole new Babel upon and shew withall how they with violence force that witnesse to speake otherwise then hee meaneth and that the words taken according to the originall and according to all solid reason bring in no such evidence nor carry no such sense or
Councell and the people were to make a new choyse For my own particular I will speake my conscience in this point and leave it to the judgement of all intelligible and wise men such as love their Religion and Countrey I see no reason that any Sectary whatsoever whether Independent Antinomian Anabaptist Seeker c. or any Fugitives that have ran over into Holland or New-England to set up new Churches there should be suffered to sit in the Great Councill of the Kingdome which without doubt will with al their ability and power labour to maintaine their severall factions all which tend to the ruineâ—of this State and Kingdom and to the destruction of all our liberties and therefore I conceive they are as dangerous as ever the Papists were yea the tenents of many of them are more destructive to all Government then ever those of the Iesuits were or the most inveterate Papist that ever yet put pen to paper and if the Papists were not suffered to sit in Parliament I shall ever beleeve it will not consist with the safety of the Land that any Sectary what ever should sit in the great Councell especially it being daily perceived that all the Sectaries through the land have their incouragement from some of them to doe mischiefe every where but if the people through the Kingdom will not humbly perition the Parliament that all such with all Minors and Novices should be put out of the Parliament it being proclamed by God himselfe as a curse to that people who have children for their Princes Isa 3. whether they be children in respect of years or discretion then it is a sad presage of that kingdoms and countries ruin where the people are not only divided amongst themselves but their councels also which they are through the whole land in all their Committees by reason of these Sectaries and Independents on all sides who are the only fomenters of factions and divisions and by this meanes have got all the wealth and riches of the Land into their own hands with most of the strength with the ruine and miseries of many The Lord open the eyes of all the people that they may timely see into their danger and petition the Great Councell that all the Sectaries may be removed out ofall offices and Committees and places of trust through the Kingdome But if any of them shall brag of any service done for the State it is well knowne they were not the only Actors in that imployment but ten to one better Christians then themselves did the worke though they have got all the honour from them and have beene ever well paid for it when the other wanted their monies and therefore they having bin so well regarded already above others they may hold their peace and be latisfied for it is well knowne that not one of a thousand of them before the warres begun was worth any thing yet now they are knowne to be very rich and wealthy when such as were borne to great estates and were as serviceable to the Parliament and faithfuller to it with fewer selfe ends then they have beene are many of them destitute of Livelyhood and many more of them by the calumnies and lyes of the Independents and Sectaries are now in disgrace and all their service is forgotten all the which things besides the dangerousnesse of these mens Doctrines should teach all men to avoid and shun both their teachings and teachers and complices and abetters This I thought fit out of my love to my countrey and out of my desire of all mens salvation to speake If my words shall find any esteeme or any shall for sake the errors of their new wayes by seeing the truth I shall rejoyce and count my selfe happy but if men resolve to persist in their erroneous opinions and by-paths of ignorance I will say with the Apostle 1 Cor. 14. 38. He that is ignorant let him be ignorant still THE Vtter Routing of the whole Army of all the INDEPENDENTS and Sectaries with the totall overthrow of their Hirarchy that new Babell more groundlesse than that of the Prelates THe Apostle Saint Paul in the fourth of the Ephesians exhorting all Christians to walk worthy of the Vocation whereunto they were called and to behave themselves as beseemed Brethren wisheth them with all lowlinesse and meeknesse with long suffering and patience to bear one with another in love And useth a forceable Argument to move them to brotherly kindnesse Because saith he there is but one body and one spirit and one hope of Salvation We all worship one God we are all consecrated to him with one Baptisme and we all hope for one and the self-same glory Therefore as there is but one Lord one faith one Baptisme so be yee also of one minde live in love and keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of Peace If ever there was need of this exhortation there is now singular use of it especially in this distracted Nation wherein we live For the division of a Kingdom is the ruine of it the division of a family destroys it the division between brethren brings a confusion amongst them It hath ever bin observed That diversity of judgment opinion hath made a difference in affection The difference between the Iews and the Samaritans in points of Religion made the Disciples desire That fire might come down from heaven to end that controversie The difference between us and the Papists and the diversity of opinions between us made them because they could not bring down fire from heaven fetch it out of hell to blow up the Parliament and because that had not the desired effect and the diversity of opinion stil remaining makes the difference of their affection from us so great that nothing can expiate their indignation against us but the utter internetion and destruction of us all and this and this only next unto our own sins is the cause of all those fatall calamities this miserable kingdome is now imbroyled with And therefore all care and diligence among brethren should be used to get a right understanding one of another and to move them to bear one with another and ever to call to minde the saying of Abraham to Lot Gen. 13. Let not us contend together for we are brethren I am most assured if there were a right understanding of the differences that are now among brethren there could not be such bitter expressions one against another and such alienation of affection as is now too frequent and too well known to the common enemy We are commanded If it be possible as much as lies in us to be in in peace with all men Rom. 12. 18. And the fruits of discord are set down in the 5 th of the Galathians verse 15. If saith the Apostle ye bite and devoure one another take heede yee be not consumed one with another and in the 20. verse Hatred saith the Apostle varience emulation strife heresies c. and