Apostles from visiting one another for if there had been but one congregation then of necessity Paul and the other Apostles should have met there in so long a space and therefore it stands with all reason that there were many congregations of Believers in Jerusalem if we had no testimonies of holy Scripture for to prove it For if any credit may be given to the Historians that write of these times there were above three of four hundred Synagogues in Jerusalem I speak within compasse and common understanding dictates that there were some hundreds of assembling places where there was so many hundred thousand people and such multitudes of Teachers And in those Synagogues the people met together to hear the Law and Prophets both read and interpreted unto them and the Synagogues both in Jerusalem and through all Judea and Palestine were the places of the morall worship as the Temple was the principall place of the cerimoniall service And as here in London Pauls was the place where after the Jewish or rather Heathenish fashion and manner they had their ceremoniall imployments which consisted in outward performances as crouchings and cringings capings and kneeings pipeing and tooting in Popes Surplices and their four square Cow-turds and crotchets windings and turnings Altars Crosses and Crucifixes and a thousand other such trumperies the acting of all which made the judicious Christian-beholders think themselves rather in the school of Numa Pompilius or in the Colledge of the old Roman Priests then conversant in the Church of God so the other Churches through the City were the places where the Morrall worship was chiefely exercised as the reading preaching and hearing of the Word chatechising exhortation admonition prayers thanksgiving c. So after the same manner it was in Jerusalem The Temple was the principle place of the Ceremoniall Worship and the Synagogues were the places of the Morrall Service where Moses and the Prophets were read and interpreted unto them every Sabbath day And it followeth of necessity that there must needs be a very great number of Synagogues in Jerusalem where there were many hundred thousand people and such multitudes of Rabbies and Doctors and such a number of Priests Levites Scribes Pharisees and Lawyers all Interpreters of the Law and such as sat in Moses his chair who our Saviour commanded the people to hear Now as in the dayes of King Edward and Queen Elizabeth after their Latine Service and their Idolatrous Masses were cast out of all the Churches and the reformed Religion was set up in the severall Congregation in place of that fals Worship and all the people repaired still and more willingly and more abundantly unto their severall Parish Churches and Chappels to hear the Word Preached and as the meetings and meeting-places were still continued whereas they onely heard Masses before which they understood not now they heard the Gospell purely preached unto them in lieu of that and the people came more abundantly unto those assemblies Even so whereas before the comming of John the Baptist and of our blessed Saviour they had the Law Psalms and Prophets read and Interpreted unto them in all their Synagogues after the Gospell began to be published to the Law and the Prophets the glad tidings of Peace was Preached by Christ and his Apostles and the other Primative Christian Mininisters and by many of the Priests that imbraced the faith and that in all their Synagogues every Sabboth day especially where the people upon all occasions in great multitudes met together for it is said That the Kingdome of heaven suffered violence and the violent tooke it by force Now to any man that will not resolve to shut his eyes and refuse to see the Sun-shine of the truth it may appear that all the Synagogues in Jerusalem as in all other Cities after the Christian Religion was so generally imbraced and the Jews were turned Christians were the places where they still continued to meet in to hear the Gospell as formerly they had done to hear the Law and there is many testimonies out of holy Scripture to prove this Assertion neither can we in charity think that they being made Christians were lesse zealous to hear the Gospell then they were to hear the Law yea their diligence in that good work is often mentioned in the holy Scripture to their praise and honour as that they met dayly in the Temple and in every house to hear the Word and to partake in all the Ordinances And it is well known that Paul into what City soever he came was as diligent in preaching as the people in hearing Now when he remained in Jerusalem fifteen dayes he would not be idle and it is to be beleeved that the other Apostles were as diligent in their severall Ministries as Paul was as I said before so that their much imployment without doubt was the onely cause that hindred the Apostles from comming unto him and retarded Paul from saluting of them for we may not conceive that so famous an Apostle as Paul was could lye hid in Jerusalem or be unknown so long from the other Apostles neither in charity may we think that there was any love wanting either in Paul towards them or in the Apostles towards Paul but we most impute their not visiting of each other to the multiplicity of their imployments that so hindered them that they could not finde convenient time each to see other So that by this I have now said it is evident to any rationall man that there were more Christians and beleevers in the Church of Jerusalem then either could or did meet together in one place for all Acts of worship for they met every Sabbath day together in their Synagogues to hear Moses and the Prophets read and Interpreted as the Scripture affirmeth yea from house to house dayly and therefore we may easily gather that as many Synagogues and meeting places as there were in Jerusalem to say nothing of the Temple so many Churches and Congregations of beleevers there were in Jerusalem for Synagogue and Church are all one in Gods dialect and they that were Jews before the preaching of the Gospell were now made Christians and beleevers Neither had the Christians and beleeving Iews any cause to separate themselves from the congregations for there was nothing in their Synagogues to scruple them without the law of Moses should offend them and that the Scripture testifies they were very zealous of and many of them that were converted perswaded the Gentiles after their conversion and illumination to joyn the Ceremoniall Law to the Gospell which although it was not permitted unto them yet for a time it was connived at and tollerated in the weak Jews yea in the tenth of the Hebrews the Christians are blamed for forsaking of the assembling of themselves together and it was counted a fault in them and therefore it may without any error be concluded that there were as many if not more Assemblies and Synagogues of beleevers
in Jerusalem after the preaching of the Gospell and in the Apostles times as were before of the Jews for they after they were Christians continued still to assemble themselves if not dayly every Sabbath day at least in their Synagogues as they were wont to do where the Apostles were all so taken up in preaching as they had no leisure for reciprocall salutations and therefore of necessity there were more congregations in the Church of Jerusalem and a greater multitude of Christians them could all meet in any one or a few places even as it was here in England in King Edwards and Queen Elizabeths dayes as I specified before there was no fewer congregations and assemblies of Protestants in London then was before of Papists for as many Parish Churches as there were in the city of London so many severall congregation of Protestants there were then through the city and they that profest Popery before did now imbrace the Protestant Religion and made so many congregations and severall Churches of Protestants as there were congregations of Papists before and as it would be accounted great absurdity yea a ridiculous thing in any man to affirm that there was but as many Protestants in London in King Edward his time or in Queen Elizabeths dayes as could all meet in one place or in one congregation so to any understanding and intelligible man it is as absurd to conclude that there were no more christians and beleevers in Jerusalem then could all meet in one place and congregation when the Scripture it self affirmeth that all Jerusalem was turned Christians and had their meetings and assemblies in the Temple and in every house and that there was many assemblies there and it stands with all reason that if there had been but one Congregation of beleevers in Jerusalem when Paul went to visit Peter that then he of necessity should have seen some at least of the other Apostles besides Peter and Iames for without doubt Paul was dayly among the Christians a preaching to them in their Synagogues or meeting places and the other Apostles also whose duty it was to be continually taken up in praying and preaching amongst them would not so long a time have layen idle and private but in that neither Paul saw them not the Apostles Paul it is a sufficient Argument to prove there were many congregations and assemblies of beleevers in Ierusalem which so imployed them all in their severall Ministeries as they had no time for mutuall visits and that was the onely cause that hindred them from saluting one another so that I conceive by that which I have now said all understanding men will gather that there were more congregations of beleevers in the Church of Jerusalem then one and that all these severall assemblies made but one Church and were all governed by the joynt consent and common councell of one Presbytery whatsoever the Independent Ministers perswade the poor deluded people to the contrary for the upholding of their imaginary Presbyterian Government which is against all Scripture Antiquity Reason and Ordinary sense And therefore I may boldly assert in their dealing with their severall Congregations when they set before them their Churches of Ierusalem Ephesus c. as consisting of but one Congregation and Assembly a peece they juggle with them for no other end but to make themselves Lords and masters of them and to get the Soveraignty in time over the people into their own hands while they would seem to be their servants And therefore it highly concerns all men that desire the peace and welfare of Church and state duly to weigh and seriously to consider the danger of Schisms and rents in either which ought to move them to study by all means how rather they make up the breaches already made and how now to unite themselves together in love and unity against the common enemies of them both then to follow such blind leaders and guides as by their factions and fractions will bring us all into the pit of destruction and expose us and our posterities to as great misery and slavery both for souls and bodies as ever Nation groaned under And as it is the duty of every private Christian in his particular family to teach and instruct his children and servants in the nurture and fear of the Lord and with all singular care to purge his house of all such as may misleade them and seduce and corrupt them that are in their tender years and not well grounded in the principalls of Religion to give them speciall charge to haunt no such places and company as by which they may be viciated in their manners or poysoned with fals and erronious doctrines and opinions as the Word of God commands both in the Old and New Testament So it is the duty of all Magistrates and Ministers in their severall places who are the Pastors of the people the one for their bodily preservation and the common peace and the other for their spirituall good to joyn together for the setting up of Gods true Worship Government and Service in all Cities Towns and Parishes through the Kingdome the one by their power and authority and the other by lifting up their voyce like a Trumpet as all the holy Prophets and Apostles did in all their generations against all false teachers and to warn the people under their severall charges to take heed of them and shun them as they either desire Gods glory their own eternall Salvation or the publike present good and the prosperity and tranquility of their off-spring in succeeding ages and to be as sedulous and diligent in suppressing errours and schisms as all the godly Magistrates and faithfull Ministers have been in their severall times whose praises for this their good work is frequently recorded in holy writ and in all the Ecclesiasticall Records to their eternall honour and renoune and for our instruction And truely if the examples of the holy Prophets blessed Apostles and godly Magistrates and of all the deer servants of God whose names and fames are glorious to all posterity in the holy Word of God will not move us then at least let us learn of the very enemies of the Papists Sectaries and Hereticks in all precedent and fore-going Generations for they as all histories and dayly experience teacheth us not onely labour to remove all such out of their families and Churches as be of a contrary opinion to them but study also to exterminate them out of their very territories if they have strength or policy so to do And if none of their examples may yet perswade us to our duty then let the example of all those that now differ from us in opinion but in the matter of government teach us what to do in this point for they will not willingly entertain any into their families that is not of their own minde and opinion nor suffer their children to be instructed in any other way then their own and shun in as
man never hears so much as the mention of them he may very well go to Heaven and hold fast the truth and be fully perswaded in is heart of the truth of his religion and this truth the Word of God holdeth out to all those the god of this World hath not blinded their eyes that they should not see the glorious Light of it so that there needs not a tolleration of all Religions for their illumination to finde out what Religion they will make choice of as this presumptuous gain-sayer infers who peremptorily concludes That it is impossible for a man to hold fast the truth or be fully perswaded in his own heart of what he does or of what religion he makes choice of unlesse it be left arbitrary to him to reject or chuse what seems good to him in his own judgement which if it be not a piece of blasphemy I never read any or any thing more tending to the overthrow of the authority of holy Scripture and to subject the Will and pleasure of God to the will pleasure and judgement of man then the which there 〈◊〉 be nothing more intolerable for God teacheth us one thing and this Doctor teacheth the clean contrary and by his doctrine leaves not only a gap a possibility of sighting against God but it is a doctrine in it self that fights against God and gives the Spirit of God the lye which confirmes the contrary And if such doctrines as these may be tolerated and such Teachers as these go unpunished they will in time reject the whole Scripture both Law and Gospell as many of the Sectaries have already attempted to do to the unsufferable dishonour of God and to the provoking of his displeasure against the whole Nation And such doctrine as this is is hereticall and so is a great deale more of the Independent doctrine which is one of the reasons which makes me so much oppose it For as the false Teacher Acts 15. vers 1. and Gal. 5. taught the Brethren besides the Gospell that except they were circumcised after the manner of Moses they could not be saved which was a Heresie and that that Saint Paul speaking by the Spirit of God told them would exclude them out of Heaven as is evident Gal. 5. vers 2 3 4. So now the Independent Ministers impose their own inventions and traditions upon the people as things necessary to salvation which makes it a Heresie And therefore when they preach up their own novelties as necessary to life eternall proclaiming unto the people that their way is the straight way to Heaven and that they that are out of it are in the broad path to destruction as can be proved by a cloud of witnesses and indeed their daily practise teacheth it and when they urge this doctrine upon the people as necessary to happinesse I affirme it is an hereticall doctrine and ought of all Gods people as much to be detested as any Popery for it is Popery it self in new clothes which all the faithfull in the Land have taken a covenant to expell and so much the more they ought to have a singular care that this doctrine spread not too far nor that this Faction get not a Head For I heard it not long since from the mouth of a very godly Gentlewoman of a good Family who affirmed it in the presence of an Independent Ministers Wife That to her knowledge there was an hundred pound at one time sent up to London or at least procured to be paid by some from Oxford for the gratifying of some here that were very great Sticklers and Promooters of the Independent party for their farther incouragement and animated them by any wise to uphold that faction for they conceived it would be one of the best means for the attaining of their own ends and the common design for the ruin of us all and the enslaving of the whole City and Kingdome Now I say if this Independent Doctrine be so prejudiciall to us all for soul and body and so dangerous in every respect it concernes not onely the Parliament and great Councell but the whole City and Kingdome to looke about them and take heed how they have their hands in supporting of it or any way how they soment it as they tender either the glory of God or the present or future good of soul or body of this Nation and the good of the Church and State And truely if there were nothing to bring a man into a detestation of their wayes but their uncharitablenesse unto their brethren it were enough to make any good christian dislike them for they never speak of them but with contumelious names and with vilifying and blasting language such as is too low for any people of virtue reputation and honour using to call them all at every word the enemies of Jesus Christ Presbyterian Persecutors dehorting people from hearing our Godly Ministers or for reading any thing written by them or any other against their opinions after the manner of the Jesuits slighting the most learned Preachers and their Orthodox writings as things of nothing saying that every boy and silly woman in their Congregations can answer any thing any Presbyterian can write and then set one or other of their confounded widdows or some such creature upon that imployment who scrible non-sense as familiarly as a Jackanapes cracks nuts and this is admired amongst all the Independents as an incomporable peece and their authorities are often cited in the Pamphlets of their learned Ministers Neither is it among themselves onely that they count all the Presbyterians the children of the Devill but publikely also and that in presence of Noblemen and Peers of the Kingdome and in the hearing of many Gentlemen of the Parliament and others and in their very Companies they can slight all the faithfull of the Land besides themselves for I being not many dayes since at Westminster where there was a Sagomore of the Independents amongst some honourable company I formerly mentioned and I taking an occasion to speak to him about Independency and the Noble man also speaking to him about it and others in the presence of them all he uttered these words That all the godly in the Kingdome and all such as were well affected to Religion were of that way and this I say he speaks in the hearing of them all to which the Nobleman and one of the Parliament men replyed Then it seems say they that all that are not Independents in your opinion are neither godly nor well affected to Religion and so the Noble man departed the roome and left the great Independent there Now if this their opinion of themselves be not a most Pharisaicall proud and uncharitable one I leave it to the judgement of any advised Christian so that they cannot look upon their brethren with any love who they think ungodly and men not well-affected to Religion and in their writings call the profest enemies of Jesus Christ and enemies of
in their childhood and infancy and doe those daring actions against the great Councell of the Kingdome they dayly exercise abusing all authority that is not of their own moddell in word and deed in writing and preaching to the very scandall of Religion all which they could not be suffered to do if there were once a learned Presby try set up as they well know and such a Church government as was in Ierusalem and in all those Primative Churches the which were so many severall corporations every one of them consisting of severall Congregations and all governed by the joynt consent and common councell of their severall Colledges of Presbyters to the which every particular member and every severall Congregation and Assembly in their particular Precincts and Jurisdictions had their appeals upon all occasions and that by divine institution and stood to the arbitration of every severall Presby try or else appealed upon non satisfaction or conceived wrong to their severall and more generall Classes higher Presbyters or Synods as we see in Mat. 18. and Acts 6. 15. where we have both precept and presidents of so ordering and ruling the Church to the end of the world for Christ who is the Law-giver of his Church hath so appointed it and whatsoever the Apostles did in the ordinary way of governing the Church they did it for example to future ages as they in their writing declare and invite all Ministers and people to their imitation And if Christians under the New Testament had not severall places to appeal to and higher Courts of judicature then their particular Congregations and Churches they should be inferiour to the Synagogues of the Jews and to that Nation in many respects for it is well known to those that have ever read the holy Scripture that they had severall Courts to appeal to upon conceived wrong and in all difficult businesses and this was no ceremoniall way of Government but a morall and permanent way of ordering things to the end of the world and our blessed Saviour constituted the same manner of Government Ecclesiasticall the Leviticall Priest-hood and that Order being abolished with all their Ceremonious services that was in all the Cities of Judaea and Isarel and through all their Synagogues who were all Aristocratically and Presbyterianly governed who were moderated and Ordered by severall Colledges of Judges in their severall Precincts cal'd Rulers of which there were some inferiour and some chiefe Rulers or Judges as it is in all Courts of judicature through the world and this manner of government is that that was established by Christ and his blessed Apostles and was continued in the Primitive Churches till Antichrist that Man of Sinne began to put up his hornes and who advancing himselfe above all that is called God not only pusht down that Presbyterian government and manner of ruling and trampled it under his poluted feet but most tyrannically inslaved all Kingdomes and Nations and brought them under his unsupportable yoke And now through the goodnesse of God his power is abrogated and abolished the Independent Ministers with Diotrephes would usurpe the same over every congregation which ought to be managed by the joynt consent and common-counsell of every Presbytery to which every Member in every Church and every particular congregation under their severall Presbyteries ought to make their addresses and to which they ought to have their recourse upon all occasions And if the Gentlemen the Independent Ministers had that knowledge in Divinity History or very politicks that they would perswade the world they were so great Masters in they would never have spake preached and writ that they have done against common reason all antiquity and the expresse Word of God it self in defence of their fond opinion For what man of ordinary judgement ever read what the word or a name of a City meant and what is understood by it was so stupid as to conceive where Paul appointed Titus cap. 1. That he should ordaine Presbyters in every City that the Apostle there meant by City one congregation or particular assembly in every City when if we take notice of that word we shall finde in all Histories both Divine and Humane that by City is meant not only the compasse of ground and houses and streets inclosed within the wals of any place and the inhabitants dwelling in it but by City the whole country is to be understood and comprehended whose inhabitants are governed by the same law that those within the City are And this manner of speaking is so frequent in all Histories both sacred and prophane as nothing is more common as all learned men know and therefore I cite not authorities to prove it with which I might fill a Volume So that when the Apostle Paul commanded Titus to ordaine Presbyters and Bishops in every City he then established a Presbytery or Colledge of Ministers that might with wisdome and in knowledge governe all those severall congregations and particular assemblies of Believers that then were in these severall Cities and as many as in future time should be converted to the faith by the preaching of the Gospell within these Cities and Villages about the City as far as the jurisdiction and limits of the secular government did stretch and extend it self for the Secular government and the Ecclesiasticall went alwayes together as it doth at this day through the world in all well ordered Principalities and Common-weals and therefore as far as the Teritories of every City in those dayes extended it selfe so far did the Presbyters authority spread and extend it self and therefore when the Apostle enjoyned Titus to ordaine Presbyters in every City he established there a Councell Senate Court or Colledge of Presbyters and an Ecclesiasticall Magistracy to the which he gave power to exercise their authority over all the particular congregations and severall assemblies that were then already converted and that should be converted afterward both within the wals of the City and within the circumference and bounds of the whole jurisdiction to the end of the world and ordered that that Presbytery and Colledge by joynt consent and common counsell should governe all those severall congregations And this is Gods Ordinance And as all the Cities in Judea and Israel under their severall Kings were notwithstanding governed by a secular Presbytery as all Corporations are here in England so they were also by an Ecclesiasticlal and had their Rulers of their Synagogues and appeals from inferiour Courts to superiour upon all just occasions and that by Gods appointment and by Christs own ratification as the Scripture doth frequently specifie in many places And indeed if any man of mature judgement and with deliberation would but consider what all Histories relate concerning the originall of Cities and the cause of their building and how farre their Territories and their Lines if I may so say of communication extended with their inhabitants which were alwayes counted Citizens they could never be induced to
vers 18. he saith That the sound of the Gospell went into all the earth and their words meaning of the Apostles unto the end of the world And in the 15. chapter and vers 18 19. he affirmeth That Christ so wrought by him as he made the Gentiles obedient by word deed through mighty signes wonders by the prower of the Spirit of God so that from Jerusalem and round about all Illericum he had fully Preached the Gospell and that he had so strived to Preach the Gospel not where Christ was named least he should build upon another mans foundation And in his 1. Epistle to the Thessalonians vers 8. He teacheth That from them the Word of the Lord sounded not onely in Macedonia and Achaia but also in every place saith he your faith to God-ward is spread abroad so that we need not to speak any thing Here we see whol Cities and Countries were converted and became Christians And in the Acts of the Apostles there is frequent mention of whole Cities and Countries converted by the miracles and Preaching of the Apostles who the people thought of and looked upon as gods come down from heaven so that all Asia in a short time was converted by the Apostles Ministery for the people seeing the Apostles raise the dead and cure all diseases and that by their very shaddows and by touching but the garments and handcarchiefs or any thing that came from the sick and observing that they were by and by restored unto their former health and beholding their godly life and holy conversation and hearing them preach nothing but those things that tended to make them eternally happy they came in in mighty multitudes through Cities and whole Countries to beleeve the Gospell and were made Christians dayly so that by some one of their miracles they converted more then could meet well in any one Congregation to partake in all acts of worship and to edification and there was still dayly increase upon increase of Christians through both Cities and Countries as both the Scriptures and all the Ecclesiasticall histories relate so that all reason dictates unto any intelligible man that in a short time there must of necessity in every City and through the severall Countries be many Congregations and Assemblies and many Presbytors ordained over them for the ruling and governing and dayly instructing of them and for the building of them all up in the holy faith for all these the Scripture speakes of were such as were really converted or at least made profession of the saith as Simon Magus and were therefore admitted into the bosome of the Church and into the fellowship of the Saints And all good reason will teach men that the Apostles and those Primative Ministers had a more excellent faculty of converting men then our Independent Pastors teachers by whose Ministry yet I never heard of any that were converted for their Congregations al of them consist of such as were converted to their hands but if a few of them without miracles have been so powerfull through City and Country to gather so many congregations and severall Churches here in London and through all the Cities and Towns where they have been preaching their Novelties shall we be so blockish and stupid to think that all the Apostles together and so many other famous Ministers as were for many years alwayes resident in Jerusalem they could all convert no more Christians then could meet in one place or congregation and that at Ephesus and in the other Cities and Countries where the Scripture relateth that there was such infinite multitudes dayly converted and additions of new beleevers upon new beleevers added to the Church that they might ever meet in one Congregation and in one Assembly to communicate in all the Ordinances no reason will perswade this to any man that hath not promised to himself to beleeve nothing but what he seeth with his own eyes But that I may again return to the Church in Jerusalem the pattern of all Churches for government I affirm that in that great and mighty city there were more beleevers than could meet in any one or a few places to communicate in all acts of worship and that there were many Congregations of Christians there in the Apostles times and many years after And besides the many reasons I have in the foregoing Treatise specified for a further demonstration of the truth of that Assertion I shall here adde a few more And amongst other that out of Paul in the first of the Galathians which I onely touched in the foregoing Tractate where he signifieth to the Galathians that he received not the Gospell from the Apostles but from Jesus Christ himself that they might the more cheerfully imbrace it and give credit unto it For saith he I preached the Gospell in Arabia to the heathens before I saw the Apostles and had continued my Ministery three years before I went up to Ierusalem to them Indeed after three years saith he I went up to Ierusalem to see Peter and aboade with him fifteen dayes but other of the Apostles saw I none save Iames the Lords brother not that they were absent and therefore I received not the Gospell from them but from Christ himself In the which words we have not onely a singular Argument to confirm the Preaching and writing of the Apostle Paul to be the Word of God against the Papists but we have also an excellent reason against the new opinion of the Independents to prove many congregations in the Church of Ierusalem for Paul was a diligent frequenter of the Synagogues and Assemblies of the Jews and Christians wheresoever he came as it is often specified in the Scripture where he Preached the Word and Gospell unto the people and it is also cleer and evident by the same Scripture as in the Acts of the Apostles and in the Epistle of Saint Iames and many other places that Synagogue and Church were Sunonymaes and are often taken one for another as Bishops and Presbyter are for the ordinary Ministers and Preachers of the Word Now by the very light of reason all men that have not resined their understanding will gather That if there had been but one meeting place or one congregation of Believers in the Church of Jerusalem that Paul remaining there fifteen dayes in all that times he would have frequented the Assembly of Believers at lest if he had not preached unto them who was so diligent both in hearing and in preaching in al other places were he came and if there had then been but one meeting-place in Jerusalem and but one congregation without doubt the Apostles would daily have been at their imployments which were to pray with the people and preach unto them for they never were idle nor deserted not their charge Now when they were alwayes imployed in their severall ministeries it is manifest that there were severall assemblies or congregations of Believers in Jerusalem that hindred the
of the Independent Ministers both in former times and in these our dayes and how faire we offer them and then I am most assured they will see just cause of changing their opinions and returning againe with love and amity into the fellowship and communion of that people who are as truly fearers of God and those that desire Christ may be set up as King upon his Throne and may for ever rule and raigne in all mens hearts as any of those that make the greatest noise of it as if they were the only men that advanced Christs kingdome whereas on the contrary in as much as in them lyes they have rent the seamlesse garment of the Church in pieces and rejoyce at nothing more then to hear and see divisions amongst Brethren For if we consider their former practises and the mutability of many of the Independent Ministers a very few of them excepted they either ranne away when they should have stood to the cause or else temporized and that deeply a crime they lay upon their Brethren the Presbyterians and so changeable they were in their opinions as they manifested unto the world that they were unstable in all their wayes and this many of their followers have themselves confest although they now palliate it over that whatsoever they have formerly done was in regard that the truth was obscured and darkned through the cunning of the Popish and Prelaticall faction and that all men were kept hood winckt and could not rightly discerne it in its full glory and lustre till this sunshine of liberty had now againe returned and sent its raies amongst us by means of which they say they are so illuminated as now they have got the spirit of discerning and by vertue of their New-lights they well perceive their former errors and mistakes and have found that the way of Independency is that way of Church-government that God has appointed in his holy Word This many of their Disciples plead in defence of their Ministers which to say the truth is nothing for the same may be alleaged and pretended by all Hereticks and Sectaries whatsoever who will never want the same or the like answer and so there will ever be a way for the broaching of all new doctrines be they never so pernicious to the truth and never so distructive to all governement But notwithstanding what either they or their Disciples now can speak in their behalfe it is very fit that their former practises in their severall places in respect of their religion should be considered by all judicious and godly men who know that constancy and perseverance in the faith is that that crowneth all for he that persevereth unto the end he shall be saved saith Christ not such as start back like a broken Bow and are never stable and as for some of them it is well known they have been in one sit great conforming Protestants and in another mood great favourers of the Socinian tenents and for their factious spirits and opposition to the Puritanicall way were highly favoured and countenanced by the Prelates and then at another time they were Puritans and that trade growing out of date and Independency beginning to be in vogue they are now of that occupation and are as great sticklers in defence of it as the silver-Smiths of the godesse Diana in Ephesus were for the upholding of their craft and what next they will be the God of heaven onely knoweth for they will ever be following their new lights Others of them were very Prelaticall and as much aspired to Church-preferment if the greatest men in the Kingdome be not deceived and some of their own party mistaken as any other but failing of their expectation and falling into discontent turned Puritans and that weather-beaten Religion being now with too too many grown stale they are at this instant great Independents and amongst the supream Champions for that Faction and there is scarce a man of them but has been on all sides whatsoever they make the world now beleeve according as their occasions served and have ever been attempting to bring in one Novelty or other or have laboured to revive some heresie or some miraculous ceremony and all to the disturbance of the Church and for the hinderance of Reformation And therefore all judicious and godly Christians ought duly to weigh and consider with themselves that such unstable men as these are and have been are no guides to be followed for as our Saviour saith If the blinde lead the blinde they will both fall into the ditch They should therefore remember what Christ said to the people concerning John the Baptist what saith he went ye out into the wildernesse to see a reed shaken with the wind Luke 7.24 intimating unto the people that sollid stable and Orthodox Ministers in their judgements should be such as the people ought to follow and listen unto and not those reeds and unstable men that are turned about with every new winde of Doctrine and moved with every stream of opinion and such as follow every new light and that many times for base and wordly ends So that when most of the Independent Ministers are and have been such they ought not any longer by the people to be followed They should also consider their instability not onely in Religion but in the publike affaires they may remember how zealous these men were for the Parliament not long since and how forward they were to promote the publike good and to advance the honour dignity and priviledges of the great Councell and what admirers and lovers not many years since they were of our brethren the Scots and of our noble and brave Generalls and yet now all that reade the scurrilous Pamphlets or are but a little familiar with them shall hear nothing but revilings against the whole Nation of the Scots and traducing of all our gallant Commanders to whom next under God we owe most of that good we now enjoy and hope hereafter to enjoy I lay nothing to their charge but that every man that is acquainted with them can witnesse I know not any one Ordinance the Parliament maketh that pleaseth them but for that pious Ordinance they lately set forth concerning the silencing of all such Preachers and teachers as were not for knowledge and soundnesse of doctrine thought fit to instruct the people wherein the prudent Councell shewed the religious care they had of the peoples good and for which they ought ever to be had in veneration this Ordinance I say so displeased the generality of the Independents as they brake out into contumelious speeches some of them affirming that the High Court of Parliament was worse then that of the High Commission and those of the Bishops others of them in discontent said that the recruting of the Army had stood the state in an hundred thousand pounds and by this new Ordinance the whole Army would speedily be dissolved for now all the brave Commanders of the
Reformation thus long Ye see saith he that a little handfull of Independent Ministers in the Synod have given three Kingdomes imployment these two yeares so that they can do nothing and boasted of this wicked act as a matter of vantation and triumph So that if men well consider the whole negotiation of the Independents in the Reverend Assembly it is to hinder the work of reformation then the which there cannot be a more diabolicall designe And then they spread it abroad among the people that they have not liberty to speak when it is most notorious that one of them speaks more than half a dozen of the other Ministers And they have published it also all over the Town that the Presbyterians durst not let their reasons be set out in Print to the view of the world for they knew very well that as they were unanswerable so that all the people would forthwith have been of their judgement and by this their babble it is incredible how they have strengthned their Faction and gained disciples for their followers beleeve all they say as Gospell And truely if there were nothing but these their under-hand dealings and malicious practises and rejoycing at evill it were enough to make all men abhor their wayes but the truth is they have no certainty in any thing they beleeve to day and by their practises they contradict all their doctrine and tenents And that all men may be yet a little better acquainted with the Independent Ministers juglings I thought good to insert here these sixteen Observations sent me by a learned and godly Gentleman who is very well verst in all their doctrines and manners They are these 1. THey hold themselves the principall Labourers and Pillers of faith when as they professe that their present judgements shall not binde themselves for the future but that they beleeve all things with a reserve to alter their thoughts faith and judgements upon new or better Light 2. They pleade for liberty of conscience yet will impose a Covenant upon every mans conscience they admit into their congregations else exclude him 3. They plead against toleration of any corrupt members c. in a Church and yet plead for a toleration of all Religions in a State under the notion of liberty of Conscience 4. They plead against the Magistrates Coarsive power in matters of Religion and yet banish men in New England and expell all out of their Congregations that are not of their way 5. They pleade against Synods and yet they professe themselves members of the present Synod 6. They speak against Parochiall Congregations as against the Kingdome and Law of Christ and yet some of them accept of such and yet will neither Baptize nor administer the Lords Supper to their Parishoners though they take their tithes 7. They write against Tithes as Jewish Popish c. yet some of them take them and sue for them as greedily as any others 8. They condemne all set formes of Prayer or Preaching and yet themselves plead for a set forme of Church-Government Jure Divino in all particular circumstances whatsoever 9. They condemn non-residency and pluralities yet many of them have divers Livings and Lectures of good value and yet are resident and keep hospitality at none of them 10. They call some Presbyterians Lord Bishops because they ride now then on horse-back by reason of age or infirmity to the Assembly yet many of them ride thither in Coaches and some of them can ride 6. or 7. miles on the Lords day in a Coach and 4. horses to Preach an afternoon Sermon which Christ and his Apostles never did and no Presbyterian practiseth 11. They condemn Presbyterians of harsh language and bitternesse in their writings against them yet none are so desperately Libellous Satyricall and scandalous in their writings as many of them against Presbyterians 12. They professe nothing but truth and yet many of their writings savour with malicious mis-informations scandals forgeries untruths invented by themselves to defame their innocent Christian brethren 13. They pretend themselves the onely propugners of the Parliament Priviledges and Jurisdiction yet none more oppugned them in the hight of opposition as they 14. They professe themselves more estranged from and mortified to the world yet none more covetous oppressive ambitious of honours preferments and hunting after all manner of gainfull Offices and imployments as they nor none more unfaithfull unconscionable in them then some of them 15. They pretend the Scripture to be the onely rule of their way and Discipline and yet can produce no one Text or Example of Scripture for any thing their Church warrants or they hold wherein they differ from the Presbyterians 16. They dare not undertake to binde themselves for the future by any thing they held or concluded touching Church government much losse any of their party therefore it is vaine to dispute with or receive any thing from them in matter of government or discipline who will neither be bound by their own mother-judgements or practice but hold and practise all things only duranti bene placito Out of all the which as out of my former discourse it is easie for any man to gather that of all the Seducers that have yet appeared in the world these are most to be taken heed of whatsoever seeming holinesse they may make shew of to the people But that I may now draw to a conclusion of this my Postscript leaving the narration of many other passages of theirs till their Answer comes out which their followers say is ready for the Presse let me say this to all such as desire the knowledge of the truth in sincerity and that love peace that all men may see how fair we offer the Independents and all such as are affected to their novelties whereas the Independent Ministers have perswaded the people that their Arguments by which they have laboured to prove That in the Church of Jerusalem there were no more Believers then could all meet in one congregation to partake in all acts of worship were unanswerable and have affirmed withall that if it could be made evident or proved unto them That there were more Christians in the Church of Jerusalem then could all meet in one Congregation that then they would relinquish their opinion of Independency I and Mr. William Prynne Esquire my Brother in affliction who the Independents have causelesly maligned and reproached not to take the work out of any learned and godly Ministers hands who we honour for their singular erudition and worth and far prefer before our selves for all sufficiency and accomplished learning shall with all humility undertake to maintaine and make good these ensuing Propositions The first That there were more particular Assemblies and Congregations of Believers in the Church of Jerusalem then one The second That all those severall Congregations made but one Church The third That those severall congregations were all under one Presbyterie The fourth That the government of the Church of Jerusalem is to be a patterne of government to all succeeding ages The fifth That the gathering of Churches after the Independent way together with their Church-covenant and all other their proceedings wherein they differ from the Presbyterians hath neither precept nor president in the whole Word of God All these positions we undertake to make good against all the Independents in the Kingdome not out of any contention for victory but truth and that in the spirit of love and not in our own strength but and in the Name and in the Power of the King eternall immortall the mighty Potentate the Lord of Hosts And if we shall not by the grace of God and his blessed assistance be able to make good what we undertake we shall not refuse to undergoe the greatest censure for this our temerity But if we make good our tenents and evince and prove their Independency and the manner of the gathering of their Churches to be but their own inventions and meer novelties all the persecution that we shall then wish may be exercised against our Brethren for the great distractions and breaches they have made among us is this that we shall desire all the godly people of the City to be humble petitioners with us unto the great Councell of the Kingdome that as they lately made a pious and a godly Ordinance for the silencing of all such as undertook the ministery without sufficiency of abilities and a lawfull call so they would now silence all these novelties and command the Independent Ministers hereafter to preach the Gospell purely and sincerely to the people without those mixtures of their own traditions annexed to it by which they shall bring a great deale of glory to God honour to themselves and procure if not peace to the whole Kingdome yet love amity and unanimity amongst the people which ought to be the prayer of all those that wish the peace of Zion and the salvation of their Brethren and the welfare of the Nation My request to the Independents in behalfe of the Expectants and Seekers LIghts Lights Gentlemen-INDEPENDENTS hang out your Lights your New-lights there hang out your Newborn-lights there That the poore Seekers may finde a Church amongst you Imprimatur Ja. Cranford FINIS