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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51155	An enquiry into the new opinions, chiefly propagated by the Presbyterians of Scotland together with some animadversions on a late book, entitled, A defence of The vindication of the kirk : in a letter to a friend at Edinburgh / by A.M., D.D.	Monro, Alexander, d. 1715?	1696 (1696)	Wing M2439; ESTC R7	25,403	65

triumphantly Atheism and Impiety lift up their Banners every where Let us endeavour as much as is possible to preserve some Remains of Religion amongst the People Let us assert the ancient Order and Piety that made the Christian Church so beautiful in former Ages The Apostle informs us that the time would come when men could not endure sound Doctrine but after their own lust shall they heap to themselves Teachers having itching Ears and they shall turn away their Ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables The great Founder of our Religion sent his Apostles by found Doctrine to enlighten the World and they convey'd this Spiritual Authority unto others who should transmit it by an orderly Succession and as their Mission was Heavenly in its Original so their Doctrine was pure and holy in all its Tendencies They considered themselves as the Ambas adors of Jesus Christ and Delivered their Commission without any Mixture or Hypocrisy They treated the People with all Humility and Tenderness but in the mean time took great care to mortifie their Lusts and their Passions but when they grew wanton and headstrong and thought themselves too wise to be led by their Spiritual Guides and Rulers then they would have teachers of their own Men chosen by themselves such as were taught to calculate their Doctrines to popular Fancies and Humours such as would prostitute the Gospel to promote Error and Delusion and make the Kingdom of Light subservient to that of Darkness and instead of serving our blessed Saviour they became Slaves to the People by whom they were originally employed and because they were so unhappily successful as to gratifie their Lusts they were therefore voted the most edifying teachers The Primitive Ministers of Religion had their immediate Commission from Heaven accordingly they endeavoured by all means to restore the Image of God in the Souls of Men to raise their Thoughts and Designs to that Happiness and Treasure which the World cannot give which God truth promised and made sure by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead The other had their authority from Men and therefore they must needs please the People who sent them They must reconcile the Rules and Morals of the Gospel to the Wicked Practices and designs of the World they must change the strictest Maxims of the Evangel into looser Theorems and the severe Discipline of the Ancient Church unto all Licence and Luxury the true faith that works by love unto airy Notions and Mistakes Thus the People were pleas'd and the Gospel was defeated the Church is ruin'd and God dishonour'd Every Man in his own station is obliged to contend for the Faith once delivered to the Saints When the Foundations of Ecclesiastical Unity are shaken loose and the Antient Constitutions trampled upon with great Insolence and Impiety then the hedge of t●●e Religion is not only Invaded but Demolished and without those Sacred Vehicles it must Evaporate into Giddiness and Enthusiasm the Extravagance of these last days is boundless as it Sceptical and Christianity it self is more dangerously wounded by the Delusions of some that are Baptiz'd than by the open Blasphemies of Infidels The last may be assaulted by Reason at least in their more Lucid Intervals but the first are altogether inaccessible we must not presume to instruct them who pretend to extraordinary Illuminations their Errors are made strong by their vanity they plead a Divine Right to every New Opipinion and if we approach them in the ancient Paths of Modesty and Humility they look down upon us with Scorn and Indignation Nay they are inflexible to the plainest and most convincing arguments I have frequently with Grief and Sorrow considered the Decays of Religion and the Difficulties of our Employment We must pull down strong Holds and lofty Imaginations and grapple with the rudest Oppositions the Avenues of Mens Souls are blockaded by passion and prejudices and they are fortified in their Error not only by the Corruption of their Nature but by the artifice of Seducers their itching Ears are pleased their Lusts are gratified their Passions are made more unruly their Envy Hatred and Malice are indulg'd and they are allow'd to distinguish themselves from all others by special Titles of Division and Singularity by which alone they think to make their Calling and Election sure Yet notwithstanding that we are thus resisted by the Multitude of their Follies and Delusions we must not give over by Faintness and Despondency We must plead with them who have left the Unity of the Church by the words of Truth and Soberness and exhort others to continue in that Doctrine that was reveal'd by our Saviour taught by his Apostles and received by all Churches in the first and best Ages that the present Generation may not rise in Judgment against us for our Silence nor Posterity censure our Cowardice We must not be ashamed of the truth even when it is contradicted with all possible Violence and Fury I address this short Treatise to you with a design rather to assert the Truth than to reply to what hath been lately published by the Vindicator of the Kirk of Scotland against a certain Book Entituled Apology for the Clergy c. though I think it necessary to make some of his Mistakes a little more apparent There are certain Practices and Rituals received by the Christian Church in all Ages which are not determin'd expresly in the Holy Scriptures in so many Letters and Syllables yet by the plainest and most undeniable Consequences are agreeable to its general Rules and the Uniform belief of all Christians and they that deny those Usages or the Lawfulness of those Rituals venture upon untrodden Paths and do foolishly condemn the Wisdom of all former Ages The special Providence of God hath so watch'd over the Church that since the first Plantations of Christianity we have preserved to us some Records and Monuments of its Doctrine and Practices The Books of such as have been learn'd in every age do plainly demonstrate that the first Christians were agreed amongst themselves in the great Articles of Religion and in the general Rules of Ecclesiastical Discipline and Order and by this Uniformity of Doctrine and Rituals they strengthened themselves against Infidels and Hereticks There is nothing more opposite to the spirit of true Religion than Stubborness and Petulance and when we despise those Constitutions that have been universally received amongst Christians we overthrow the Foundations of Peace and Charity and consequently we exclude our selves from the visible fellowship of Christ's Houshold and Family When we consider the Schisms and Tumults of particular Churches the confusions of so many Revolutions the shakings of so many Nations the boldness and activity of Hereticks we have reason to adore the Goodness of God that so many Monuments of Ecclesiastical Antiquity are preserv'd and whatever is uniformly determin'd by the Wisest and the best of Christians their learn'dst Bishops and Presbyters

to uncommanded significant Ceremonies practised in the Worship of God that we meet with in the Holy Scriptures prove such Ceremonies Lawful beyond all Contradiction p. 254 c. Several Exceptions offered by the Vindicator removed p. 256 257. The Orthodox Principle Prov'd from an Allusion to the Ceremony of Immersion practis'd in the Apostolical Church of Rome proved from Rom. 6.4 pag. 265. Of Presbyterian Ordinations and how little can be said in their Defence p. 276 c. The Doctrine of Non-Resistance truly Understood is safe and Christian in it self and in all its tendencies p. 284 285. The Enthusiastic Singularities of the later Presbyterians in rejecting all Publick Forms in the Solemn Worship of God reproved p. 289 290 291 c. Calvin's three Arguments for Publick Liturgies are Solid and Unanswerable p. 293 294 295. The Vindicator's usual Reproach Viz That the Clergy of our Church are Superstitious examined p. 295 c. The Nature of Superstition explain'd and a Parallel insisted on between the Superstitious Usages of the Ancient Hereticks and the Modern Practices of the later Sectaries p. 296 297 298 c. The Vindicator's Attempt to Justifie his Unaccountable Paradox forc'd upon the words of St. Jerome from some Expositions offered by the Learned Grotius Chastised and Exposed and the Vanity of that Comparison demonstrated p. 305 306 307. The Conclusion Exhorting all the true Sons of the Church to Pray for the Peace and Unity of its Members It is expected the Reader will Pardon some Points and Comma's that are misplac'd The Errors that disturb the Sense most are these following PAge 16. l. 20. r. New p. 20. marg r. locum p. 55. l. 20. r. Praecipue p. 60. marg for Hadriani r. Saturnini p. 74. l. 21. r. genuine p. 81. l. 26. r. needs p. 84. l. 17. r. Hieronymo p. 92. l. 15. r. Smectimnuus p. 116. l. 3. after Angel add as it is render'd by the Septuagint p. 138. l. 21. r. Centesimum p. 159. l. 2. r. a. p. 162. l. 5. r. Saeculi p. 182. l. 19. r. acuteness p. 189. l. 7. r. accurate p. 199. l 3. r. foppish p. 253. l. 28. r. Treatises p. 255. l. 25. after unguarded add and not Supported p. 291. l. 13. after that add it p. 319. l. 2. r. Shadow AN ENQUIRY INTO THE New Opinions c. Sir I Thought that our Enemies had made an end of their Libels but I see that it is not so easie for them to forbear the practices that we complain of The malignity of Faction is endless and there is nothing so apt to be oppressed and reviled as Truth and Innocence We must in these days of Atheism and Confusion arm our selves against Calumnies and Contradictions and if we are not guarded by Resolution and Fortitude we must desert not only the Peculiar Ministries of the Priesthood but the Profession of Christianity it self We are surrounded on all hands by the most ungenerous and spiteful Adversaries the open and scandalous Sensualities of some and the spiritual Raveries of others lay siege to the Foundations of our Faith and it is with great difficulty that the publick Worship of God is not quite extinguished as it is indeed despised and ridicul'd So grievous is our present Calamity that the contending Parties amongst us do impute our Disasters to different Causes and therefore we are the further remov'd from out true Cure If we were so impartial as to acknowledge our Iniquities with Sorrow and Remorse we would quickly find the Exercise of Contrition and Repentance more proper to remove the marks of God's Anger than the other Methods that are most pleasing to Flesh and Blood There is nothing more Essential to Natural Religion than the belief of God's wise and watchful Providence It interposes in the meanest Accidents of humane Life and much more in the remarkable Ruins and Calamities of publick Societies and Churches And if we do not hear the Voice of the Rod and of him that hath appointed it he hath still more terrible Plaues in reserve for us than the spoiling of our Goods or the affronting of our Persons Let us therefore draw near unto him by our fervent Prayers and ingenuous Humiliations for the most Innocent amongst us may find in the view of his Life several Actions and Omissions very displeasing to our Heavenly Father as well as unsuitable to our Baptismal Vows and Engagements therefore the Hand of God is stretched out against us and he is provoked to let loose amongst us a Spirit of Error and Confusion and though we may be very Innocent as to the Accusations of those who have wickedly combin'd to defame us yet who of us can understand his Errors If all things without us are in such disorder then is it high time for us to look within our selves and to fix our Thoughts on their true Objects If we are expos'd to the sadest Toslings and Uncertainties we must endeavour to establish the Tranquillity of our mind If we know not where to lay our head if we have no property upon Earth the natural Conclusion is to seek those things that are above If here we are persecuted and oppressed we must carry our thoughts and desires to that invisible Sanctuary that yields true Ease and Repose under all pressures and afflictions It is worth our while to enquire why we who have been dedicated to the services of the Altar are more particularly struck at than others It is not so much our business to complain of our Persecutors as to look unto him that smites us and if he by the discipline of so many crosses oblige us to consider more narrowly the frame of our Souls we may with greater ease part with our former Conveniencies Let every one of us retire into himself and open up the several foldings of his own Conscience and endeavour hereafter to regulate our Actions by true and Christian Principles knowing that all things are naked and open to the Eyes of him with whom we have to do and to whom we are shortly to give an account of our time and talents and of all things that we have done in the body whether they be good or evil If we must suffer let us imitate the Captain of our Salvation this is Edifying to the Church and it establishes the Composure of our own mind Let us canvass and examine the Doctrines and Practices for which we suffer and enquire whether they be not the Principles of the Catholic and Primitive Church in her first and purest ages We must not think that we are discharg'd from the peculiar Offices of our Ministry because we are forc'd from our Residence and exposed to all sorts of Indignities We must firmly believe that all things work together for good to them that love God and that our Patience and Meekness may be of greater use to the Church than if we had been allow'd to continue in our former Stations We see how much holy things are contemn'd in our days how

must be received as the Infallible truth of God else we have no certain Standard to distinguish the Catholic Church in former Ages from the combinations of Hereticks these are new in their several Errors and Delusions and upon that very account of their Novelty were expos'd and refuted by the Ancients they neither agreed amongst themselves nor with the Orthodox But the Uniform Voice of Christendom in the first and purest Ages is the best Key to the Doctrine and Practice of the Apostles and their Successors If it appear then that the Opinions which we oppose and are propagated by the Presbyterian Societies are such as were never entertain'd in the Christian Church for fourteen hundred Years after our Saviour's Incarnation then I leave it to every sober Christian to consider whether he may safely continue in the communion of that Party that despises the whole Catholic Church both Ancient and Modern CHAP. I. The Novelty and Insufficiency of those Pleas and Arguments managed by the Presbyterians in defence of their New Doctrine of Parity THE first Opinion that I charge with Error and Novelty amongst our Country-men is this That they affirm upon all Occasions that our Saviour hath appointed his Church under the New Testament whether Provincial National or Oecomenic to be govern'd by the several classes of Presbyters acting in perfect Parity and owning no Subordination to any higher Officer in the Ecclesiastical Senate above a Presbyter in the modern and current Notion of the word Such a Doctrine must be of dangerous consequence because it is altogether new and never propagated in any part of the Christian Church until these last days of Separation and Singularity In this Opinion they differ not only from the Uniform testimony of Antiquity but also from the first Presbyterians amongst ourselves who declare in their Confession of Faith that all Church-Polity is variable so far they were at that time from asserting that indispensible divine and unalterable right of Parity All that the first Presbyterians pleaded was that their new form was allowable and not repugnant to the Oeconomy of the New Testament and Primitive Institution and that it came very near to the Original Model of Churches but they never thought to advance such a bold and rash Assertion as to affirm That the Christain Church by the Original Authority of our Saviour and his Apostles ought to be govern'd in all Ages by a Parity of Presbyters or that there was no other Officer in the Church could pretend to any share of Ecclesiastical Government above a Presbyter When a Society of Men set up for Divine Absolute and Infallible Right they ought to bring plain Proofs for what they say else they must needs be look'd upon as Impostors or at least self-conceited and designing Men. To propagate a Doctrine under the notion of a probable Opinion though it should happen to be an Error is consistent with Modesty and the practice of Learned Men in all Ages But to affirm a new Notion to be established by Divine Right and to require Obedience to that Scheme as a thing that is due to Supreme and Infallible Authority is much worse than Speculative Enthusiasm If a man only entertains himself with his Visions and Fancies he alone suffers by it but if I meet with a company of head-strong Fellows who must needs persuade me that they see so many Armies in the Air fighting and with the exactest Discipline of War nay their Banners the shape and colour of their Horses their several Squadrons and the whole order of their Encampment and will certainly knock me in the head unless I take my Oath upon it that I see all this who never saw any such thing in my Life I think I have reason to complain that my Circumstances are very unlucky I had certainly rather fall into the hands of High-way-men than amongst those Spiritual Robbers who divest me of my Senses and the exercise of my Reason If you inform our Country men that their New Doctrine is thus represented they will tell you that none but wicked men oppose their Government that it is Establish'd upon the express Institution of our Saviour that it hath been asserted and prov'd by several Learned Men of their Party beyond contradiction But if you ask by what particular argument you may be convinc'd of the Truth of their New Doctrine then they begin to lead you into a Labyrinth of dark and intricate Consequences obscure and perplext Probabilities several Texts of Scripture they will alledge but sadly wrested and distorted from their genuine Meaning and Design and the uniform Suffrages of all the Ancients And if you are not satisfied with such proofs as they advance you must be contented to submit to their Censure and the New Discipline must be Obey'd where-ever their Power is equal to their Pretences I can give you but a short History of their Arguments by which they endeavour to Establish their Divine Right of Parity When you read their Books I think all their pleas of whatever kind or force may be reduc'd to these three heads First either they pretend that this Parity of Presbyters is expresly commanded by our Saviour or secondly They endeavour to support it by consequences from several Texts of Scripture or thirdly from the Testimonies of the ancient Writers of the Church First I say they pretend that this Parity of Presbyters exclusive of the Superiority or Jurisdiction of a Bishop is expresly commanded by our Saviour This indeed promises veryfair For if our Saviour hath plainly and positively Commanded that Ecclesiastical Affairs shall be managed in all Churches and Ages communi Presbytero'um consilio and by such a College of Presbyters as excludes the Authority and Jurisdiction of a Bishop then without all Controversie all Christians are oblig'd to submit to it The Consequence is plain and undeniable and because our Country-men do insist upon this more frequently than any of the foreign Presbyterians we ought to hear them calmly and deliberately and when they plead the Authority of our Blessed Saviour we must view those Texts with reverence and attention and see if any thing can be inferred from them that may probably support the now Scheme of Presbytery The Parallel Texts of Scripture are Matth. 20. 25. But Jesus called them unto him and said ye know that the Princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them and they that are great exercise authority upon them v. 26. But it shall not be so great among you but whosoever will be great among you let him be your Minister V. 27. And whosoever will be chief among you let him be your servant v. 28 Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministred unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many See also Mark 10. v. 42 43 44 45. and Luke 22. 25. From these parallel Places they plead that the Officers of Chirist's House were by his own express Command establish'd in a perfect