of the other Ubi videbat cruentum facinus Idem ibid. cap. 1. ibi rursum timebat reatum perjurii Ne Deum offenderet peâ—erando Deum offendit saeviendo Where he saw a bloody villany there he feared the guilt of perjury and lest he should offend God by forswearing there he offended God by cruel murdering saith the same Author Subsect 2. What the Covenant obligeth to THus far hath been shewen that the Covenant in reference to the performance of the contents of it bindeth not Yet doth it bind and oblige very strongly For Ecce sanctus David non quidem juratus sanguinem hominis fudit sed eum falsum jurasse negare quis poterit de duobus peccatis elegit miâ—us sed minus fuit illud in conparatione majoris Nam per seipsum appensum magnum malum est falsa juratio Behold holy David Aug. ubi supra cap. 3. he would not shed a mans blood though he had sworn it But who can deny but that he was forsworn of two evils he chose the least It was indeed the least in comparison of the greater but else of it self false swearing is a great sin Saith the same St. Austin Now great sins do bind and oblige unto deep repentance As Paul in another case 2 Cor. x2 ult I must bewail saith he those that committed these lasciviousnesses and have not repented Job 42. We must as Job did after he had spoken words that he understood not to God even abhor our selves and repent in dust and ashes And with the blessed Apostle we must be humbled as oft as we reflect upon it and think the worse of of our selves as long as we live as he did for his sin though not committed in light as ours was 1 Cor. 15. I am not worthy saith he to be called an Apostle because I persecuted the Church of God So every one of us I am not worthy to be called a Christian a subject of the Kings or a son of the Church because I entred into this Covenant But yet with his comfort and some kind of recompence where he had cone the wrong viz. Yet by the grace of God I am what I am that is a penitent and a convert and as a token of it I laboured more abundantly then they all that had not so offended As 't is also prophesied in this cause some should do Eicon Basilic Medit. 27. Prov. 24.21 22. And let us for the future fear God and the King and not meddle with them that are given to change the government of Church and State for their destruction hath come suddenly and who foreknew the ruine of them both i. e. those that have both deserted God in his Church and the King in the State and Common-wealth Prov. 1.10 And if hereafter sinners in that kind entice thee consent thou not no though they should say Come we will have all one purse For they lay wait for their own blood as we have seen And let us not deceive our selves one horn of this dilemma will wound us Either the Covenant is to be literally kept or else repented of Remember palliations expositions and evasions here will do no good Prov. 28.13 Psal 32. Numb 32.23 For he that covereth this sin shall not prosper And whilst we hold our peace our bones will consume through Gods heavy hand upon us And our sin will find us out For there is no darkness nor shadow of death Job 34.22 where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves saith Elihu And thus far of the general exceptions against the Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government of the Church of England viz. That they are unnecessary inconvenient humane inventions Apocryphal Popish not established by Law And an Engagement and Covenant for the removing or reforming of them CHAP. III. Grounds of Separation and Exceptions particular against the Matter of the Premises SECT I. Against the Articles or Doctrine 2. Exceptions particular against the matter of the premises Independents excepts not Apologet. narrat pag. 29. PRoceed we now unto the Exceptions particular namely against the matter of the Doctrine Worship Assemblies Discipline and Government And first of those against the Articles or Doctrine The Independent or dissenting Brethren acknowledge That in the review and examination of the Articles of our Church so are their words our judgments say they have still concurred with the greatest part of our Brethren neither do we know wherein we have dissented Some Presbyters now do But certain of the Presbyterian Brethren do dissent and object against them first doubtfulness secondly error thirdly tyranny in the act requiring subscription Necessity of Reform pag. 1. c. 1. Doubtfulness and fourthly defectiveness and imperfection First doubtfulness because in the book of Articles now printed and ever since 10 Carol. 1. there is a declaration of his late Majesty to the Articles to this effect 1. That those Articles contain the true Doctrine of the Church of England agreeable to Gods Word 2. That the Clergy upon just occasion may have liberty from the King Kings deelar before the Articles under the Broad Seal to deliberate on such things as make for the establishment of the same doctrine yet so that no varying in the least degree should be endured 3. That no man should put his own sense upon them but take the Articles in the literal and grammatical sense pag. 2. whence the Brethren infer that by this Declaration no Minister shall have liberty to interpret any one of these Articles And therefore they will remain doubtful But first Answ 1 this doubtfulness is not per se and in the Articles themselves but per accidens and in reference to this declaration Again though they are prohâ—bited to put any Answ 2 new sense as the King speaks or their own sense as the Judge in Smiths case Necessity of Reform p. 5. yet are they not forbidden to explain the literal and grammatical sense The Scripture in the fundamentals of salvation also the Laws and Acts of Parliament are so to be taken and yet Divines there and Judges here have ever been allowed to open those senses or else the one must not preach nor the other declare Law Thirdly when unto that liberty Answ 3 granted to the Clergy there is this restraint expresly put upon it viz. That from the Doctrine established the least varying shall not be endured and that nothing shall be concluded contrary to the Laws and Customs of the Land is there not a fair assurance that the present doctrine shall remain fixed and that if any heterodox sense shall be put upon them it shall be lawful to oppose the literal and grammatical sense whether in the Article or Explication Fourthly when the Declaration Answ 4 saith We will that all further curious search be laid aside and these disputes shut up in Gods promises as they be generally set forth unto us in the holy
salus in summi Sacerdotii dignitate pendet cui si non exors quaedam ab omnibus eminens detur Potestas Hieron adâ—ers Luciferiaâ— Circ Med. tot in Ecclesiis efficientur Schismata quot Sacerdotes unde venit ut sine Chrismate Episcopi Jussione neque Presbyter neque Diaconus jus habeant baptizandi The safety of the Church saith hee depends upon the dignity of the chief Priesthood so hee calls Episcopacy unto which unless there be granted an exempted and above all eminent power there will bee so many Schisms in the Churches as there are Priests whence it comes to pass that without the Ordination â—hrismate and Authority Jussione of the Bâ—â—hop neither Presbâ—ter nor Deacon hath power to baptize Which last words exclude the notion of this place its being understood of Christs Again Ut Pontifices Christi qui tamen rectam fidem praedicant Ad Theophilum advers Error Jo. Heros Tom. 2. non Dominorum metu sed Patrum honore reveremur non sumus tam instati cordis ut ignoremus quid debeatur Sacerdotibus Christi c. That wee may saith hee those namely which preach the Orthodox Faith prosecute such Bishops not with the fear of Masters but the honour of Fathers For wee are not so swollen with pride that wee understand not what is due to the Priests of God Now in these places Although hee do sometimes imply Episcopacy to be of divine Authority as where he compares it to the office of Aaron Sometimes Apostolical as where hee saith it of their Tradition And sometimes Ecclesiastical but by the Authority of the whole world yet in all hee acknowledgeth such power in the Bishop to do that in the Church that none other may either in the nature of the thing as the extirpation of Schisms which could not be done before or in the right of Authority as Ordination and imposition of hands without which the Presbyters have no power at all not so much as to baptize So that let Episcopacy and Presbytery differ in order or in degree onely so long as some main parts of Jurisdiction can be performed onely by him or not without his pre-eminent Authority why struggle wee with that truth and that sword of the Spirit on which edge soever whereof wee fall wee are certainly wounded The General is but a souldier to use the Brethrens own comparison but may hee not do something that a common souldier yea the whole Council of Commanders cannot do So the Pylot in a ship not onely for his skill but for his place Magistrates may be said all to bee in the same order and to differ in degree one y But what Protestant is so weak of head and wilde of heart as to top Tyburn for denying the Kings Supremacy It being granted that there is the same use of a Bishop in the Church as of an Emperour or Commander in chief in an Army For the Church is an Army with banners as both Hieron Cant. 6.4 and the Brethren yeeld the question is not in what raâ—k or file but in what pâ—ace and power Not what Name but what Authority hee hath But too too much of this Criticism SUBSECT III. Necessit Ref. p. 44. TO that which the Brethren oppose viz. That there are examples of Ordinâ—tion in the New Testament without a Bishop if the assertion were strong yet is the proof weak For the laying on of the hands of Simeon Niger of Lucius of Cyrene and Mana en mentioned upon Paul and Barnabas Act. 13.1 was no Ordination for the one was an Apostle and the other an Evangelist before It was but a special and solemn mission Imposition of hands in which case laying on of hands was usual in that * Eam ceremoniam mutuati fuerant Apostoli ex veteri gentis suae consuetudine Cal. in 2 Tim. 1.6 Heb. 7. Nation even by those who were not properly Ecclesiastical men as Jacob laid his hands upon Ephraim and Manasseth and even among our selves wee often lay our hands on the head of a childe when wee pray God to bless him This imposition of hands therefore doth not argue â—urâ—sdiction in this place but the symbol of Blessing For if it were and that without controversie the less is blessed of the g eater Then must these Brethren be superiours to the Apostle Paul and Barnabas none of them beiâ—g an Apostle themselves which I suppose the Brethren will not say Mat. 18. Our Saviours laying his hands upon the children and blessing them was according to the custome though with more than common efficacy and authority That afterward it was applied to Ordination and by a Metonymy set for Ordination it self 〈…〉 doth not make it proper unto that but makes that the more solemn by this Again it might be said that these named in the Church of Antioch were Prophets as the Text calls them and Teachers but such as were Apostolical men such as Barnabas who afterward visited in his own name being accompanied by John Mark Act. 15. for societies sakes the Churches of Cyprus and 't is like several others also So that such persons are sometime called Apostles Rom. 16.7 Andronicus and Junia were of note among the Apostles Titus and the Brethren sent to Hierusalem are said to be the Apostles so in the original of the Churches And some were tryed 2 Cor. 8.23 which said they were Apostles but were not Rev. 2.2 which could not be understood of the Twelve nor of Paul Thirdly What might be done by extraordinary power or precept of the Holy Ghost doth not prejudice the observation of order where there is no such foundation Numb 23. Else every man that sees such a thing as Phinees did might do present execution Fourthly What might be done by such as were no Bishops where no Bishop was appointed doth not justifie the usurpation of those who contemn such Authority Moses did consecrate before Aaron was instituted but afterward it had been intrusion for him so to do Exod. 24. And the young men did sacrifice before the institution of the Priesthood might they do so also afterward 1 Tim. 4.14 Calvin in loâ— That Timothy was ordained by the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery The text saith But Calvin saith that hee rather thinketh it was the office than the Colledge of the Presbyters But howsoever yet this excludes not the Apostles presence who elsewhere saith it was by the Imposition of his hands Yea so 2 Tim. 1.6 that huc magis inclinat conjectura unum tantum fuisse qui manus imponeret That the conjecture leads rather to think that one onely laid on hands though in the name of the rest saith Mr. Calvin Sole Oâ—dinâ—tion Which may obstruct the Brethrens confidence that say there is no example in Scripture of sole Ordination but for this we contend not To say that the Ordination by the Presbyters made him a Preaching
that power into executâ—on Now in the former sense neither the Scripture so far as I understand nor the Church of England hath asserted such power in any Ecclesiastical persons since the Apostles who onely under Christ had a power 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and autocratical Or thirdly For an eminent degree of power in Government so as that some acts thereof do solely belong unto him to perform regularly and in common order Now in this sense omitting the name as Zanchy said above and keeping our eye upon the thing it self seeing both the Scripture and the Church of England as also the practice of the whole Church through the world formerly and the most learned men of the reformed Churches of late all which have been evidenced above have constituted an order or degree of persons who of right had and ought to have the Regiment and Government over other Ministers as is plain not onely by the Apostles but also by the Evangelists Timothy and Titus as also by the perpetual necessity of the Church I must needs refer unto that fore-quoted sentence of Cyprian to this purpose and add here another of like effect out of him Haec sunt enim initia haereticorum ortus atque conatus Schismaticorum malè cogitantium Cypr. l. 3. Ep. 1. ut sibi placeant ut praepositum superbo tumore contemnant Sic de Ecclesiâ receditur sic altare prophanum foris collocatur sic contra pacem Christi ordinationem atque unitatem Dei rebellatur These are saith hee the beginnings of Hereticks the rise and struglings of ill minded Schismaticks to please themselves and with proud stomach to despise the Bishop for so this word must here be meant thence men depart from the Church thence the prophane altar of separation is placed elsewhere thence against the peace of Christ and against the Ordinance and unity appointed by God rebellion is raised Fourthly Sole Jurisdiction may be taken for exercising those Acts that of right belong to him to do wholly of his own head without ingagement to consult and advise with any or else for the sole power of acting but upon ingagement of taking with him the Judgement and opinion though not the governing power of others also Hence the Apostle in the former sense admonisheth that the Bishop as well as any other Minister and Elder Tit. 1.7 must not be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one that in the Government of the Church goeth upon his own head And in the latter sense is it that Cyprian than whom no man was more for the priviledge Episcopal and for entire obedience thereunto yet saith Cypr. l. 3. Ep. 10 Ad id vero quod scripserunt mihi compresbyteri nostri solus rescribere nil potui cum a primordio Episcopatus mei statuerim nihil sine consilio vestro sine consensu plebis mea privatim sententia gerere Unto that saith hee that my fellow Presbyters wrote unto mee I can alone return no answer for I determined from my first entrance into my office privately and of my own head without your counsel that are the Ministers and without the consent of the people to do nothing For the true understanding of which sentence and other like as also for a resolution of the question it self a few things must be severally and distinctly noted First That hee doth not in this overthrow what several times hee said before L. 1. Ep. 3. l. 3. Ep. 1. touching the obedience due from the whole Church to the Bishop but onely signifies that hee thinks it his duty to advise with them as theirs to be obedient unto him Secondly That this course of use then is not so necessary now when as all the motions and actings of the Bishop are laid forth and determined and hee obliged to operate and govern onely by them by the Laws and Canons which was not so fully done in that Fathers time Thirdly That this order is not observed therefore by those who are most Antiepiscopal not by the Brethren or Presbyters neither here nor beyond the Seas who do not call the people to all consultations but onely Presbyters either sacred or civil Lastly That this practice of Cyprian is ad amussim and exactly performed by the Bishops of England For The Bishops in the Church of England do nothing but by the advise of their Brethren and of the people First seeing they arrogate no power but what the Scripture the Canons of the Church and the Laws of the Land do allow and secondly that by these all whatsoever materially they do is already prescribed to them And in the third place those powers in Scripture Canons of the Church and Laws of the Nation are approved and confirmed both by their Brethren the Ministery in Convocation and by the people in the Parliament by their delegates it follows truly and really that the Bishops in England act nothing but in effect according to that Fathers example by the counsel of the Ministry and consent of the people Thus much for their assertion Brethrens proof As to their proof It is from Antiquity from the book of Ordination from the Common-prayer-book and from the Law First For Antiquity P. 47. they say in Cyprians time there were in Rome a number of the Clergy Answ who acted with the Bishop By this argument wee may infer strange consequences For the Parliament acts with the King So Acts run the Kings most excellent Majesty with the advice of the Lords and Commons c. And the Counsel acts with the King for that is common in proclamations The King by the advice of the Privy Counsel The question is not with whom the Bishops act as who hath the primary Power The Justices on the Bench act with the Judge but can they declare Law give the charge and pronounce sentence Wee heard above what Cyprians judgement was of the power of the Bishop what also out of tenderness and indulgence and to avoid offence and for better light not for more jurisdiction hee condescended unto also Next Proof 2 for that out of the book of Ordination that because it is asked the Minister to bee ordained whether hee will obey his Ordinary and other chief Ministers c. therefore there are other Ministers that have the power of jurisdiction As if this did not refer unto the Archbishop Answ or other officers of the Bishops To which because they cannot answer they object a place out of the Liturgy which shall bee spoken to in its time P. 48. The other place in the book of Ordination That because it is asked the Priest to be ordained if hee will administer the Doctrine Object and Sacraments and Discipline of Christ as the Lord hath commanded and as this Realm hath received the same therefore they say it was the intention of the Church to admit all Presbyters to have a share in Ecclesiastical jurisdiction That is It was the intention of the Church Answ to
Repentance and return 1 Pet. 3. I am obliged to render VVithall for the honour of those that went before us and have setled the things that here I plead for it is not amisse to shew 1 Cor. 7. that they had also the Spirit of God Besides it is requisite to Evidence that those that have not hearts to love this Church and Kingdom yet to hate them they have no Cause Add hereunto 'T is not perhaps impossible that some Eye by Gods direction may fall on these Lines who may thereby not only with a more steddy foot walk himself in the good and the old Paths Jer. 6.16 which I point at but may be of Influence also to cause others to do it likewise and not to suffer them to stumble in their ways from the ancient ones Jer. 17.15 to walk in paths in a way not cast up Lastly there is nothing new under the Sun Eccles 1.9 that which hath been may be again to the prevention whereof I have endevoured to contribute somewhat in this Treatise After some Recovery purging is most requisite Nam quae in Morbis relinquuntur post crisin Hipp. l. 2 Aph. 13. recidivas facere consueverunt Dreggs of Diseases if not digested or expelled do cause Relapses Especially in such distempers as are malignant Of which sort if any are Schisme and Sedition Fare thou well Septemb. 27. Anno Dom. 1661. The Contents of this Treatise The Chapters Sections and Pages are referred to as they are here Printed which sometimes but not often are amiss LIB I. Of the Civil Controversie CHAP. I. 1. OF the Right of Retractations allowable unto all men 2. Evidenced from the General Causes of Error 3. and of some great Examples of them Ancient and Modern CHAP. II. How far only the Author declined how he behaved himself therein and what awakened him unto Recovery pag. 15. CHAP. III. What the Author doth Retract both in General and in Particular 1. The War 2. Independency p. 24. CHAP. IV. Causes of the Authors falling and first the Negative p. 28. CHAP. V. The Causes positive And first in General p. 39. to 58. CHAP. VI. Causes particular to each Controversie And first of the VVar. SECT I. Cause general and privative Not obeying the Spirit of God p. 56. SECT II. Particular Motives to the VVar with their Refutation p. 58. to 83. CHAP. VII Reply to certain general Grounds for the VVar being the chief heads of a Book Entituled Scripture and Reason pleaded for Defensive Arms. p. 90. to 106. The Contents of the Second Book Of the Church Controversie CHAP. I. Of Independency SECT I. THe Occasion of the Authors lapse into it p. 109. SECT II. Causes 1. Privative viz. not obeying the particular Word of God p. 112. SECT III. Causes Positive p. 113. SECT IV. The Contents of Independency p. 114. CHAP. II. Of the Grounds of Separation And first in generall p. 119. CHAP. III. Particular Exceptions against the matter of the Premisses 1. Against the Articles or Doctrine p. 174. CHAP. IV. Of Worship and the Directory thereof the Common-Prayer-Book SECT I. Of Worship 1. In it self p. 195. 2. In the Ceremonies p. 196. SECT II. Objections particular against the matter of our Worship p. 204. SECT III. Exceptions against the Body of the Common-Prayer-Book SECT IV. A Vindication of the Compilers of the Liturgy in this particular p. 231. SECT VI. Exceptions against the Ceremonies pag. 270. CHAP. VI. Of the Assemblies their matter and mixture SECT I. The means in the Church of England of preserving them from Corruption p. 266. this number and some following are to be looked for in the 6. Chap. of the Second Book p. 269. SECT II. Causes Constitutive of the Church of England p. 270. SECT III. Apostolical Churches vitiated but no separation p. 273. SECT IV. The Primitive Churches also p. 275. SECT V. The Reformed Churches p. 280. CHAP. VII Of Discipline CHAP. VIII Of Government 1. By the Ministery in general and 2. by Episcopacy in particular Sect. 1. The Conditions requisite to the constitution of a Ministery p. 301. Sect. 2. Of Episcopacy It s Right and Title p. 304. Sect. 3. Exceptions against the former Government and Discipline 1. Episcopacy established by Law in Engl. p. 325. Subsect 2. Whether Episcopacy be a different order from Presbytery ibid. Subsect 3. The Question not of order but of Power p. 332. Subsect 4. Whether Ordination in the N. Testament without a Bishop p. 334. Sect. 4. Of the Book of Ordination Subsect 1. Bishops Imposition of hands upon Deacons p. 338. Subsect 2. Apostles choose Deacons ibid. Subsect 3. That phrase Receive the Holy Ghost defended p. 339. Subsect 4. Consecration of Bishops and Archbishops p. 346. Subs 5. Episcopal Jurisdiction p. 349. Sect. 6. The Close of the Church Controversie CHAP. IX The Proof and Trial of these Retractations CHAP. X. The Conclusion 1 A Petition p. 367. The Elder Son ibid. 2. An Admonition of Zanchy p. 368. 3. The Prediction of his late Majesty p. 370. CHAP. XI Additionals The Scope and Protestation of the AUTHOR Containing also an Explication of the FRONTISPIECE MY ayme is to perform by way of Retractation some small service Principi Patriae to the King and to my Country My allegeance to the one and engagement to the other and my lapsing in both so much obliging me Now a] Psal 20. the Kings honour is great in Gods Salvation And b] Psal 144. blessed are the people who have the Lord for their God But c] Amos 3. how can two walk together unless they be aggreed We d] 1 Joh. 3.5 must be like him if we would see him as he is Now God is a righteous God Psal 11. his countenance will behold onely the thing that is JUST This was the end of our Redemption viz. e] Tit. 2. to deliver us from the practise of all iniquity that we might live a godly righteous and sober life Now the the onely rule of this righteousness and justice is the f] Tit. 1. will of God Which will is revealed either generally in the Scripture and in the Law of Nature or particularly in the constitutions of every Nation which contradict not the former Hence g] Dâ— Sibbis Souls conflict cap. 17. what is agreeable to Law is agreeable to Conscience said once the Lawyers Casuist Hence also h] Ro. 13.1 he that resists the Laws of particular Nations resists the Ordinance of God and he be he head or tail branch or rush as the i] Isa 3. Prophet phraseth it shall receive to himself damnation k] Eccles 10. He that brakes this hedge a serpent shall bite him he that removeth these foundation stones they shall fall upon him Laws therefore being the sacred impress of the will of God and the observance of them the obligement and security both of Majestrate and Subjects of Prince and People my onely scope is the
vindication of them especially in hypothesi and in reference to the late controversies in this Church and State Laws I say Gods first in Scripture as the foundation stone and Man 's as a firm superstructure thereupon as being by man Gods own Law and so avouched by him Hence l] 1 Pet. 2. that of the first teacher of the Gentiles submit your selves to every Ordinance of Man for the Lords sake Laws I say either formal or virtual express or by apparent consequence The former two sorts of laws Scriptural and National are the foundation of the Church among us and the firmitude of the Common-wealth as is represented in the Frontispeice m] Gal. 6. And those that walk according to this rule peace shall be upon them and mercy and upon the Israel and England of God For n] Psal 37. mark the just man and bebold the upright the end of that man is peace Vale. RETRACTATIONS AND REPENTINGS LIB I. The Civil Controversie CHAP. I. Of the Right of Retractations allowable to all men evidenced from the General Causes of Errour And of some great Examples of them Ancient and Modern Sect. I. Of the Right of Retractations COnsidering that sin and errour are so near of kin as that the a] 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 peccare aberrare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 errare peccare S. Jarchi in Judic 20.16 in Job 5.24 names are oftentimes reciprocal and that the voice of one touching the former is the truth in all b] Ps 51. I was shapen in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me who can deny concurrence with him in that exclamation of his in reference unto the latter Who can understand his errours c] Ps 19. Cleanse thou me from my secret faults And yet this was a man d] 1 Sam. 13.14 after Gods own heart in matter of Godliness His son and successour whose heart was e] 1 King 4.29 enlarged as the sand on the Sea-shore in point of wisdome leaves posterity this Apophthegme f] Eccles 1. ult He that increaseth wisdome increaseth sorrow To wit for the knowledge of his folly g] Cic. Tusc 5. As the Antient Sages were first styled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wise men Afterwards 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lovers of wisdome Last of all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 plain fools that is they perceived themselves to be so Hence that of the reputed wisest of them h] Socrat. ap Cic. in Academ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Elenchi l. 2. c. 8 Hoc unum scio me nihil scire one thing I know that I know nothing viz. as I ough◠to know Sect. II. The first Causes original of our obnoxiousness to Errour The Rise and first Original whereof if we inquire for the great Apostle of the Gentiles will explain unto us Corrupt Nature Who lamenting his surprisals and being deceived though not in Doctrine even after he was in the faith according to i] Aug. Retract l. 1. c. 23. c. 26. ad Bonisac l. 1. c. 10. S. Austin's reformed judgement lays the fault on the k] Rom. 7.11.24 body of death or Law in the members that is on nature it self as it is now corrupted And l] 1 Cor. 13. elsewhere he professeth That the most perfect here do know but in part and see truth but as in a glass darkly Implying in both that without especial grace we are by the principles of our very nature now obnoxious to imperfection in our judgments to be imposed upon and to erre Consonant whereunto is that of m] Aug. de Civil d. l. 22. c. 22 à principio A second general Cause Ignorance him next unto that order in spirit and judgment rendring a nearer and more particular cause of errour nam quod ad primam originem pertinet omnium mortalium progeniem fuisse damnatam Quid aliud indicat horrenda quaedam profunditas ignorantiae ex qua omnis error extitit qui omnes filios Adam tenebroso quodam sinu suscipit ut homo ab illo liberari sine labore dolore timore non possit That at the first all mans posterity saith he was condemned What else shews that certain horrible abyss of ignorance from whence all errour doth arise which receiveth into its dark bosome all the sons of Adam so that a man without labour sorrow and fear cannot be delivered from it The nearer yet 3. Cause our Incapacity of the greatest truths and natural reason hereof is given by the head of all Philosophers as the Learned n] Hook Eccles Polit. l. 5. § 71. Hooker styles him because saith he o] Aristot Metaph l. 2. c. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Because as the eyes of a Bat are unto the day-light so is the eye of our souls unto those things which are in themselves the clearest But the supernatural 4. Cause opposition unto spiritual things and nearest cause in reference unto matters of Religion is rendred by the Apostle p] 1 Cor. 2.24 for that the natural man receiveth not the things that are of God for they are foolishness unto him Errour therefore and lability thereunto being congenious to our very nature and not wholly cured by grace it self without particular protection who shall forbid this common remedy unto this Universal and Epidemical Disease of mankind especially where we have been contagious unto others Repentance and Retractation Unless we force them on this temptation to cover their sin to save their credit and so bring that curse upon themselves q] Prov. 28.13 He that hideth his sin shall not prosper Oppose not therefore that of the Apostle r] Gal. 2.18 Object Answ If I build again the things that I destroyed I make my self a transgressor Unto which Austins reply shall be my answer s] Aug. Epist 48. Vincentio ad finem Confusio autem adduoit gratiam gloriam cum erubescit quisque de propriâ iniquitate poenitendo in meliùs commutatur Quod te facere piget illâ perniciosâ confusione superatum nè tibi ab hominibus nescientibus quid loquantur objiciatur illa Apostolica sententia si enim quae destruxi c. quae si etiam dici posset in eos qui veritatem correcti praedicant in ipsum Paulum primitùs diceretur c. Honest shame saith he brings grace and glory when any is ashamed of his own iniquity and by repentance is changed to the better Which thou art loth to do being vanquished with sinful and destructive shame lest by men that know not what they say there should be objected against thee that sentence of the Apostle If I build again the things that I destroyed c. which if it might be applyed to those which being reformed do publish the truth then it should first be verified of Paul himself for whom the Churches glorified God t] Gal. 1. penul for that he now preached that Faith which
Christian Churches asserted in Answer to Mr. Hudson I may add this caution That for substance they are both of them Orthodox and useful and such in the composing whereof industry was used somewhat more than ordinary A few passages at the latter end of the Sermon in reference of the defence of the War against the King I do here retract And though I suppose I have evinced in the other Tractate that there is no Catholick or universal visible Governing Church and so laid ground for the Independency of the Church of England and other National Christian Churches yet that new practised Independency beginning at Separation and collecting themselves thence into small bodies and afterward assuming a right of non-subjection to any Juridical Superior Power Ecclesiastical I do also recal by these presents and retract CHAP. IV. The Causes of the Authors falling and first the Negative and such as were not AS in the Creation Gen. 1. Negations did precede the formation of things darkness before light and emptiness before repletion And as in Procreation privation goeth before So the Apostle writing to the Churches 1 Thess 2.3 begins at Negatives and what were not the causes of his preaching Our exhortation saith he was not of deceit nor guile Give me leave therefore to imitate both Nature and Religion here and to represent what were not the motives of my falling Lest any man should think that corrupt designments either in respect of persons or of things have tempted me And first for persons both those I have departed from as also those I now adhere unto No personal offence at the one or flattering notion of the other have at all provok'd me Neither despair of gaining by those now gone nor hope of vintage by these rising Luminaries do attract or draw me For I do not now begin my Retractations having then published them as we saw above when neither clowd from heaven nor vapour from the earth did seem to promise any shower of blessing When neither Sun nor Moon nor Star appeared but all hope that we should be saved was even vanished Sect. 1. Neither distaste of nor affection unto persons And first for persons To which I shall the rather speak because there is danger of falling into Scylla whilst we would avoid Charybdis and that a * Matth. 23.18 Proselyte may by Pharisaism and hypocrisie become two-fold more the child of hell than he was by profaneness Therefore that I may not seem to commit the same error against some now that was admitted against others before I shall represent my spirit and opinion touching persons of the side I have deserted and then of those whom in these cases I return unto Matth. 5. 1 Pet. 2.17 Gal. 6. First We are obliged to love and honor all men though especially the houshold of faith St. Austin not onely styles the persons he wrote against or had departed from sometimes * Dominis praedicalibus dilectissimis fratribus medaurensib ep 42. Dilectâ—ssimo fratri vinientio epist 48. honored or reverend or beloved brethren but also expresses his ' spirit toward them which I desire may be mine also in reference unto those I have now reflected on Illi in vos saeviant qui nesciunt cum quo labore verum inveniatur quam difficile caveantur errores Illi in vos saeviant qui nesciunt quà m rarum arduum sit carnalia phantasmata piae mentis serenitare superare Illi in vos saeviant qui nesciunt cum quantâ difficultate sanatur oculus interioris hominis ut possit intueri solem Illi in vos saeviant qui nesciunt quibus suspiriis gemitibus fiat ut ex quantacunque parte possit intelligi Deus Aug. contr epist q. voc Fundam cap. 2. Pastrento illi in vos saeviant qui nullo tali errore decepti sunt quali vos deceptos vident Ego saevire in vos omnino non possunt quos sicut meipsum illo tempore ita nunc debeo sustinere tanta patientiâ vobiscum agere quantae mecum egerunt proximi mei cum in vestro dogmate caecus errarem Let them saith he rage against you who do not know with what labour truth is found 1. The difficulty of Truth and how difficult it is to avoid errors Let them rage against you who know not how rare and hard a thing it is to scatter fleshly fancies by the light of a pious heart Let them rage against you who understand not how choice a thing it is so to cure the eye of the inward man that it may be able to behold the Sun Let them rage against you who know not with what sighs and groans it is effected that even the back-parts of God may be known Lastly Let them rage against you who have not been deceived with any such error as they see you to be deceived with For my self I can by no means be violent against you he means their persons and the persons of those that were not turbulent whom I ought now to bear as I did then my self and to deal with you in the same degree of patience that my friends did with me when I blindly wandred in your opinions 2. Besides the persons and worth of some 2. The worth and unworthiness of persons on both sides R. Hooker presat ad Pol. Eccles n. 2. from whom I now decline challengeth all due respect and some of those whom I now adhere unto as little We should be injurious to vertue it self saith Mr. Hooker if we did derogate from them whom their industry hath made great Bucer acknowledgeth both the usefulness of the labours even of the very Heathens toward Religion and highly predicates the Religion and piety of some of them Neminem verò offendat Bucer in Joh. 4.31 c. quòd Philosophorum laborem profuisse ad Evangelium puto omnis enim veritas à Deo est veritas sanè plurima in scriptis Philosophorum Poetarum legitur Jam quantulumcumque id fuerit quod de veritate Philosophi tradiderunt ad Deum certè animos hominum attraxerunt eosque ad Evangelium praepararunt sed quid opus est verbis Qui vel non in Cicerone Cicero miram Dei solidaeque pietatis cognitionem agnoscit eum necesse est ignorare quid sit Deus pietas Let no man saith he be offended that I judge the labours of the Philosophers to have been useful unto the Gospel for all truth is of God and verily there are many truths in the writings of the Philosophers and of the Poets Now how little soever it were of truth that they delivered surely it drew the minds of men unto God and by that did prepare them unto the Gospel But what need words he that doth not acknowledge even in Cicero a wonderful knowledge of God and of sound he meaneth serious not saving piety it must needs be that he knoweth neither what God nor piety
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 high detonations and thundrings Of it what the Antients thought we shall hear from Austin Aug. contr Epist Parm. l. 3. c. 2. Consilia separationis inauia sunt pernitiosa atque sacrilega quia impia superba sunt Thoughts saith he of separation are vain and pestilent yea sacrilegious because they are ungodly and presumptuous Tom. 7. part 1. And one half of a whole Tome of his is on this Argument 2. But more especially Five things in the Church pretended as grounds of separation There are five things in the Church from whence there might be pretended ground of separation viz. the Doctrine the Worship the Assemblies the Discipline and the Government Now there are against them Exceptions both general and particular First generally in no less than seven accusations First that many things in â—hem are unnecessary 1. General exceptions against them Secondly inconvenient and of ill consequence to the Church Thirdly for their rise but human inventions Or fourthly at the best but Apocryphal not Scriptural Yea fifthly Popish superstitions and taken out of the Mass-book Moreover sixthly such as are not established by the Laws of this Church and Nation Seventhly and lastly that there is an engagement for the removing or reforming of them all in the late Solemn League and Covenant I might for answer unto all these as also to the particular exceptions against any of the premises and the matter of them refer the Reader unto that elaborate and in my judgment unanswerable work of the learned Hooker In which Argument I may truly say of him Prefat in Ecles polit n. 2. as he doth of Calvin in reference to his Commentaries and Institutions viz. In which whosoever after him bestowed their labour he gained the advantage of prejudice against them if they gain-said and of glory above them if they consented So fully hath he therein vindicated the Worship and Discipline of this Church Colon. in Compend Calv. Inst in prefat And therefore Quem tu studiosa juventus Nocturnâ versate manu versate diurnâ To be commended to the diligent perusal of all that love the peace of this Jerusalem But because new pens must be apposed to Neoterick Opponents and my Argument engages me I shall speak something SECT I. Unnecessary TO begin with the first viz. That many things in them are unnecessary For answer Answ It should be considered that 't is easie for private men Private men and those in a lower station to mistake in judging of the motions of superior Orbs and Intelligences A man that stands upon the Watch-tower and such are publick persons sees what those should do who are beneath him Ezek. 3.17 and what is necessary better than a wiser man that is below The reason is that men of inferior place are not assisted with the advantage of so much information with the presence and general view of so many things nor ordinarily with that measure of the Spirit as being to act both in a narrower and a lower sphere which God doth usually Publick persons and as it were pro formâ communicate unto men of higher place who for the good of mankind and of his Church doth commonly furnish men according to the places he calleth them unto 1 Sâ—m 10.6 Saul being appointed King was forthwith indued with another spirit So the High Priest that crucified the Lord Jesus Joh. 11.51 uttered a mysterious and most precious Oracle touching the extent of the death of Chrâ—st for all the children of God scattered abroad in all Nations And 't is expressly added Being the High priest that year as representing the cause And a divine sentence saith Solomon is in the mouth of the King Prov. 16.10 his lips do not transgress in judgment Now if he assisted the former and such like How much more then is he the Author of those Laws injoyning what is necessary in his Church which have been made by his Saints indued further with the heavenly grace of his Spirit and directed as much as might be with such instructions R Hook Eccles pol. lib. 3. sect 9. as his sacred Woâ—d doth yield saith my Author And I may add and several of whom have laid down their lives for his truth SECT II. Inconvenient and of ill consequence A Second general Exception against the premises is that they are Inconvenient and of evil consequence first scandalous to the weak occasions of silencing able Ministers and of troubling many good people To the first Answ Scandal what Rom. 14.21 13. 1 Cor. 8.9 scandal is not that which some persons may be offended at but properly that which makes our brother to offend and stumble as it is implicitely described by the Apostle Now the things we speak of are for the keeping of them from falling and in the right way If any will censure before he see and understand the matter we must object unto them the Apostles own practise who did boâ—h circumcise Act. 16.3 with Gal. 2.3 5. and refuse also to circumcise yea and sacrifice too as he saw it made for more general edification Though it could not be without offence to some both Jews and Gentiles Act. 21.26 and seem'd unto them scandalous insomuch that the Apostles at Jerusalem perswaded him to use certain of the legal Ceremonies and to sacrifice for the satisfying of some that were so prejudiced against him To the second 2. Able Ministers silenced That the premises are occasions that some able Ministers not conforming are silenced They must remember that it is not the goodness of the timber nor bigness of the piece that makes it useful for the building but its fitness If it be knotty or crooked or otherwise unproportionable a less and of meaner stuff may do better When the Apostle saith 2 Cor. 11. that certain Ministers were transformed into Angels of light doth he not imply that they were men both of parts great and piety very specious and yet for the rents that they made in the Churches calleth them the ministers of Satan and else-where wisheth Gal. 5. that they were cut off It is not the skill of a soldier nor his courage but his obedience unto government that makes him capable of an Office Metall without breaking makes the Horse to cast hâ—s Rider And St. Austin Contra Parmen l. 1. c. 1. when he commends Tichonius the Donatist as hominem acri ingenio praeditum uberi eloquio himself a man inâ—ued with a sharp wit and fluent eloquence Rom. 16 1â— would not yet have had him his Colleague at Hippo for men by sweet preaching as was noted before may cause such divisions in the Church that the brethren may be warned to beware of them And it will lie at their own and not at the Churches dore if their Talent have been wrapped up in a napkin And it had been better both for this Church and Nation
truly defined by St. Paul to be a departing from the faith it shall be evident that these are no Popery It is prudently uttered by King James Conf. Hamp Court pag. 75. Answ when the like was before him objected of some of these matters That no Church ought further to separate it self from the Church of Rome I may add or from any other Church either in Doctrine or Ceremony than she had departed from her self and from Christ her Lord and head And indeed it is a Popish and superstitious principle to take nothing of those Churches that are opposite to them which is an issue of their pride and arrogance R. Hook Eccles pol. l. 5. §. 68. p. 368. Calv. Epist ad Socinum 1549. vid. Et Instiâ— lib. 4. cap. 2. § 11. which some now imitate on the other side Now it must be noted ' Thot those that hold the head the confession of faith do all joyn in the root though they separate above and in the branches Hence Ecclesiam aliquam manere in Papatu There is some Church remaining in the Papacy saith Calvin Others I might name but take Zanchy's notable word for all Nescio quo singulari beneficio Dei hoc adhuc boni in Romanâ Ecclesia servari nemo non vidit nisi qui videre non vult Quod nimirum sicut semper sic nunc etiam constans firma in verâ de Deo deque personâ Domini nostri Jesu Christi doctrinâ persistit Et Baptizat in nomine Patris Filii Spiritus sancti Christumque agnoscit praedicat pro unico mundi Redemptore futuroque vivorum mortuorum judice qui veros fideles secum in aeternum vitam recepturus incredulos autem impios in aeternum ignem cum diabolo Angelis ejus ejecturus sit Quae causa est cur Ecclesiam HANC pro Ecclesia CHRISTI etiamum agnoscam sed quali Qualis ab Osea aliisque prophetis Ecclesia Israelis sub Jeroboamo deinceps fuisse describitur nunquam enim resipuit à suis fornicationibus That is I know not by what kind of special mercy of God Zanch. ep dedic ante confess suam Tom. 8. but so it is that thus much good remains in the Church of Rome which every man sees but they that will see nothing Namely that as always The Roman Church what remains found in it so now it persists firm and constant in the true doctrine concerning God and concerning the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ And Baptizeth in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost And doth acknowledge and preach Christ for the onely Redeemer of the world and he that shall be the Judge of the quick and the dead Who also shall receive unto himself all true believers unto eternal life and who shall reject unto everlasting fire with the devil and his angels all unbelievers and wicked men For which reason I do in some sort acknowledge THIS for a Church of CHRIST But what kind of one namely such as the Church of Israel is described to be under Jeroboam and afterwards by Hosea and other Prophets for she never repented of her fornications Thus he Some kind of Church of Christ then it being Hence it follows first that all things in Popery are not superstitious for if a Church there must be somewhat of the Spirit of God and of Christ in them Joh. 1. Joh. 16. to guide and keep it in these truths Else why do these Brethren read the Popish writers the Jesuites and Schoolmen as some of them have the best spoak in their cart from thence and preach much of their matter and notions to their people The superstition may be either in the opinion that they had of them or the abuse they made of them which being removed the thing may be lawful even in individuo As the flesh that had been consecrated to an Idol 1 Cor. 8. even that very flesh might have been bought or eaten by the strong and those that knew the truth As God be praised our people do in the things excepted against no man putting any confidence in them but in Christ alone observing them onely for order edification and decency Secondly Some kind of respect must have been given to that Church as a Church of Christ in some sense by the Reformers both for preventing offence in respect of them abroad and for the regaining of the brethren of this Nation amongst us misled that way as the Apostle saith I become all things to all men 1 Cor. 9. ad fin that I might by all means win some If therefore what could not be thâ—n or cannot be now without danger in those respects left off be retained still the doctrine of the Church in the mean time being fully opened and professed it is charity not Popery and wisdom godly not superstition ' for we must have respect unto the weak 1 Cor. 14. Object Before we leave this If it be objected that the Church of * Homily on Whitsunday part 3. Homily of Rebellion in several places and in other Homilies England doth seem to hold the Church of Rome the seat of Anti-Christ and the Pope to be his very peson It is answered suppose it do so Answ yet doth it not therefore follow but that the Church of Rome hath something in it of a true Church 2 Thess 2. else how should Antichrist sit in the Temple of God which is his Church if the seat of Antichrist were not in some respects a Church And that the Church of England doth acknowledge that Rome hath something of a Church in it it s retaining the Baptism and Ministery of that Church it s not re-baptizing or new-ordaining those that come to it from that 2. The Mass-book doth plainly shew This for Popery and the Church of Rome in general Secondly for the Mass-book in particular Cic. Joh. 1. De Justific lib. 5. cap. 7. sit tertia propositio Missale Rom. edit Paris 1787. The Mass-book against merits Let us see whether any gold be in Ennius dung whether any good thing can come out of Nazareth and whether any truth and piety out of the Mass-book Bellarmine who knew its meaning well and in a cause wherein if any where he should have pass'd it by proves out of the Mass-book that we can have no trust nor confidence in our own work and merits for salvation but onely in the mercy of God In which as in the Master-vein doth run the life-blood of all Religion The words are a] Collectâ in sexagessimâ Deus qui conspicis quia ex nulla nostrâ actione confidimus Item b] Collect. secreta dom Adventus 2. ubi nulla suppetunt suffragia meritorum tuis nobis succurre praesidiis Item c] In canone post consecration in orat prox post comemorat pro defunct de multiâ—udine miserationum tuarum sperantib c.
points but for convelling and tearing up the foundations of many generations in * As the invisibility of the Catholick Church c. Doctrine Worship and Discipline without legitimate Authority and for other things which need not here be named Their third instance of the defectiveness of the Articles Object 3 is that they speak nothing of the creation of providence fall of man of sin of the punishment of sin of Gods Covenants effectual calling Adoption Sanctification Faith Repentance Perseverance of the Law of God Christian Liberty and liberty of conscience Religious worship of the Sabbath or Lords day of Marriage and Divorce the Communion of Saints Church-Government and Discipline of the Resurrection or of the last Judgment All which the Scripture teach as necessary and are comprised in the Apostles creed That the Assemblies Confession hath all these and that with proofs of Scripture which the Answ 1 Articles want But they should consider that a Confession of faith is one thing and a Catechism or a common-place book to refer ones reading unto is another If the Church shall think fit to compile one of these for the help of young students no doubt but all those shall be expresly treated on though perhaps not in the same form or titles But to constitute a Confession of Faith of all these heads with the several Articles which the Assembly hath subjoyned would doubtless have excluded many more from subscription than the Articles ever did Especially where they have made that an Article of faith which never was a Protestant doctrine viz. That the Church Catholick is a visible and organical body Assemblies Confess ch 35. Artic. 2. whereas it is an article of our faith in the Apostles Creed and not of sense And that which is laid as the foundation of the usurpation of the Bishops of Rome Bellarm. de Eccles l. 3. c. 2. by Bellarmine for either that or somewhat like it must follow upon that ground so that a fair Bridge is hereby laid from Thames to Tiber for his Holiness to walk upon A point universally opposed by the Protestant party except Peter Ramus and perhaps one or two more althongh of late owned by some of them of which * Vindicia Catholicae in answer to Mr. Hudson else-where I instance in this that be it true or false yet a point of this nature should not have been made an Article for the not subscribing whereto men must have been rejected from the Ministry others there are that would have stuck no doubt with many men orthodox able and godly 2. As to the things themselves they are all in effect touched either in the Articles Articles of Ireland Anno 1615. whence taken or the Homilies which are approved by the Articles or in the Liturgy or in the Book of Ordination a branch also of the Articles And the Articles of Ireland which are more full in themselves than ours and comprehend in terminis most or all these heads they are taken verbatim out of the books now mention'd And to give some instances The Creation and Providence is mentioned in the first Article of God and in the Catechism in the Common-prayer-book And more largely in the Homily for Rogation week part 1 2. The fall of man his sin and punishment of it professedly discours'd of in the Homily of the misery of mankind and is touched in the Articles Artic. 9. 10. of Original sin and Free-will Gods Covenant may be understood in the Articles of Justification and Predestination Artic. 11. 17. and is discours'd on largely in the Homily of Salvation Effectual calling also in the same 17th Article and more largely in the Homily of Faith Where also of Adoption as likewise in the lesser Catechism in the Liturgy Faith in the Article of Justification by faith Sanctification in the Homily of good works and divers others Repentance hath a proper Homily for it Perseverance is expresly set down in the 17th Article Of the Law of God in the Homily of the misery of Man And in the Catechism in the Liturgy so far as concerns practice Christian liberty in the Articles of the Traditions of the Church And the Homily of disobedience and wilful rebellion Religious worship is the subject of the Liturgy And of several Articles and of the Homily of the time and place of prayer The Sabbath or Lords day in the Homily of the time and place of prayer Of Marriage both in the Homily of Matrimony and in the Exhortation at Marriage in the Common-prayer-book Divorce as a point of Law is discoursed in the Canons Communion of Saints is the ground of all Exhortations to Unity as the Homily against Contention and exhortation to Charity as love and good works Church-government is the subject of Artic. 20. 21. of the authority of the Church and of General Councils And for Orders they are in the Book of Ordination For the Rules in the book of Canons and in the Rubricks in the Liturgy about Order and in the Commination there Of the Resurrection the Homily on Easter-day And of the last Judgment in the Homily against the fear of Death Seeing therefore that most or all of these heads are either expresly treated on or occasionally either in the Articles or branches of them how say they that they contain nothing of them Proofs to Confessions Lastly for the proofs added in the Assemblies Confession not added in the Articles they know it is not usual to add Proofs unto Confessions as may be seen in the Confessions of the Reformed Churches where they are rare And even lately their Brethren of the Independent way published their Confession without proofs And unless it be that of New England the Assemblies and those of the Separation I remember not that I have seen any with frequent proofs And if I mistake not it had not been amiss if the Assembly had kept the Track in this in as much as the Proofs sometimes do not infer the Article In a Catechism or Sermon or Dispute they are more proper than in a Confession Because that is a thing supposed to be grounded not in this or that place but on the current of the Scripture Besides Proofs occasion Dispute which is abhorrent from the nature of a Confession The places alledg'd may be clear a proof and yet not so to every less-intelligent Reader I conclude this discourse touching the imperfection and defectiveness of the Articles with that considerable passage of Erasmus to this purpose Summa religionis nostrae pax est unanimitas Erasm presat in Hilarium ea vix constare poterit nisi de quà m potest paucissimis definiamus in multis liberum relinquamus suum cuique judicium propterea quod ingens sit rerum plurimarum obscuritas c. The sum saith he of our Religion is peace and unanimity of which there is little hope unless those things which shall shall be enjoyned as matters of faith be
the Surpliss Touching the Antiquity whereof The Surpliss remitting the Reader to our fore-mentioned * Hooker Pol. l. 5. § 29. Burgess of the three innocent ceremonies Conference H. Court Author and others of the lawfulness and use only thus much That which had once an Institution for such an end and ever a usefulness natural thereunto cannot by any abuse or inversion lose what it hath from God and nature Although our fancies run never so strong in discourse and reasoning in opposition yet can we not restrain nor take off our affections but they will move according to the activity of those objects our senses let in unto our minds God appointed once the Priests in their Functions to use Garments for honour and veneration Exod. 28. and among them this of the white and linnen garment We cannot say that this was more typical then significative in general and exemplary Some things were of common reason and use then White and light are not only the emblemes but the incentives also of purity and chearfulness as are the sadder colours of gravity and seriousness All which are necessary requisites unto Gods service and not only signified by such habits but excited thereby also If there were no impressions upon our minds by such things Joh. 20. Matth. 17. Apoc. 1. why appeared the Angels in white raiment Yea why our Saviour Christ in the Mount in that habit And in his Glory as now in Heaven But because that contraries illustrate one another Suppose we Josuah the High-Priest in his filthy garments ministring the holy worship Zach. 3.4 5. would it not as much disaffect us as it did the Angel who commanded that they should be taken from him Explained namely as undecent for the Object 1 exercise of the holy Function The difference in nature betwixt the worship of God and civil administrations Answ does not hinder but that some useful accidents may be common to both If a Judge should ascend the Bench in his doublet and hose only less reverence surely would his office have though no less authority We are men even in Gods service as well as in civil affairs and cannot but receive impression in it by the outward decency or uncomeliness of administrations As is also implyed Object 2 by the Apostle 1 Cor. 14.40 That the Church of Rome hath abused the Surpliss Answ is its commendation in as much as harlots affect sometime the habit of the gravest Matrons that with the robe they may gain also the reputation Object 3 of sobriety To hate the Garment spotted with the flesh Answ will reach the Church rather then the Surpliss yea the Baptisme and the Priesthood which hath been once polluted This paves a high way to full and plenary Separation But of ceremonies enough SECT II. Objections particular against the matter of our Worship Reas necess of Reform Tit. 2. of Worship OF Worship in particular in respect of the matter of it and the Exceptions made against it discourse wee now And here wee have these former Brethren Assailants also Where we are first to note that the very same and many more and more material exceptions have been taken by their predecessors in these differences as by Cartwright the non-Conformists at the Conference at Hampton Court and others And Replyes have been given Learnedly and largely by Archbishop Whitguift Mr. R. Hooker Against Cartwright Eccles Polit. Conf. H. Court Burgess of the three Innoc. cerem Aliique King James and several more Of which Replyes the Brethren take no notice but put Crambe centies cocta objections that by being often beaten are grown threed-bare and yet as Interpolators and Brokers furbish them up and hold them forth for fresh ware But to the matter which before we come unto we must correct these correctors And first for their unreverent and unchristian Language In the inserted sheet p. 4. reflecting on men who are with God were instruments in the Reformation and laid down their lives to confirm it It is a Proverb among some Qui vitio linguae laborat non sanatur neque in hoc seculo neque in futuro Proverb Rabb ap Drus That he that is affected with a distemper in his tongue is not curable either in this world or in the world to come Take a taste of their gall and wormwood The Br. revilings which they have given Christ to drink in his faithful members namely these speeches They abuse the people yea Inserted sheet page 6. Magistracy and God himself Our bold Masters False and a meer cheat put upon the people of God Taken out of the Mass-book Apocrypha contains meer delusions and lyes Priest a meer superstitious and Antichristian name p. 20. Two Rubricks blind guides that lead into the Ditch p. 23. p. 24. Nonsense or worse Superstitious Antique Crossings That saying At what time a sinner doth repent carryes many to Hell Te Deum taken out of the Mass-book p. 27. To say the three children praised God in the fire is a belying the Canonical Text. Another lye to the Preface The peoples answering the Minister is will-worship p. 28. Because the Collects appointed for certain daies are to be read some daies after it is said to be p. â—9 A horrible abusing of Gods name That in the form of Baptisme it is said that the child by Bapt. receives remission of sins p. 30. is mans falshood When the children are said to perform their Covenants by their Sureties it is say the Brethren a meer tale Touching which speeches p. 31. if we may not say with the Apostle Jam. 3. That such rancorous ones proceed not from the wisdome that is from above which is pure and peaceable but from that which is earthy sensual and devillish even a tongue set on fire of Hell discovering persons whose Religion is vain Chap. 1.26 27. yet surely we may affirm with another That there will come a time when three words uttered with charity and meekness Hook Eccles Pol. in Praefat. n. 2. shall receive a far more blessed reward then three thousand Volumes written with disdainful sharpness of wit Next Their rashness Their rashness is also unexcusable who to satisfie themselves upon their adversaries consider not that they expose the cause and souls of the people to the common adversary by making these believe they have served God all this while in a Superstitious and Popish way and that their Service-Book is so corrupt that they will not know what to fix upon and so overthrow the faith not of some as the Apostle speaks only 2 Tim. 2. but of many Again I would have that charitable opinion of them as to think they did not act wholly against their conscience if so their headiness is the more blame-worthy that they would engage in the face of the world and to the H. Court of Parl. in things in which they were not sufficiently
a reason is demanded seeing every Lords day is celebrated upon the same account that Easter is viz. the memory of the Resurrection of our Lord. Lastly It is non-sense or worse say these sensible men to require that the people should receive the Sacram. and other Rites thrice a year as implying the Popish Sacraments or else Superstitious ceremonies Antique Answ 1 Crossings c. When the Lord did three times enjoyn his Antient people to appear before him three times in the year Deut. 16.16 Exod. 23.14 and 34.24 with Levit. 23.38 whereof Easter was one yet he did not forbid their free-will-offerings much less do they that make this trine-appearance with an ad minimum and at least More they desire and exhort unto less they will nor permit They dispence not with Gods own invitation who hath set no precise time do exhort the people often in his name and bind them to some frequency if exhortation will not serve 1 Cor. 1. Next They that were not sent to baptize but had Answ 2 work of more necessity and haste their silence must not be construed to a Prohibition Gal. 4. explain'd And when they do reprove those that observed times and days and moneths and years As part of Moses Law obligatory to Christians and upon some opinion of righteousness thereby in derogation to the All-sufficiency of Christs righteousness Gal. 2. chap. 3. chap. 5. 6. 1 Tim. 6. they do no more thereby forbid the observation of times as invitements and advantages unto piety then when they exhort to be rich in good works and lay up for our selves a good foundation that we may lay hold on eternal life Rom. 3. do therefore forbid us to believe that a man is justified by the faith of Jesus Christ and that we are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ Rom. 6. ult but for eternal life it is the gift of God When our Saviour forbad to call any Answ 3 man father upon earth he meant not to confute the Law Matth. 15.4 nor his own reproof of the Pharisees who made all things whereby they might gain to be Corban and so suffered not a man to help his father or his mother from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is but a fresh mans consequence To conclude That because our Saviour in one sense forbad to swear at all Matth. 5. interpreted upon viz. the Pharisees exposition and dispensation and that whatsoever was more proceeded of evil he ever meant to condemn himself when he added Amen Amen 2 Cor. 1.21 Revel 10.6 which is literally more or the Saints or Angels both which we find to have taken deep oaths upon great occasions is a Quakers Logick Again Such is the frailty of our memories that Answ 4 without some standing memorials we should not seriously mind the things that do belong unto our peace The use of solemn Festivals And such is the hardness of our hearts that unless these times be solemn and therefore can be but seldome for familiaritas parit contemptum we should have little impression of them Hence ever since we read of any instituted Church we find they had their stata tempora not only hebdomadary but yearly also Yea nature did thus much dictate unto the Heathen that besides those days of the week wherein they did some special worship unto their Idols the footsteps whereof remain still in the appellations of them yet they had also their Annua solennia yea and Olympiads also more rare and solemner Now it is not unknown I suppose unto the Brethren that why Easter to be one seeing every Lords day is in memory of the Resurrection It is a question that should have been put first to our Fathers yea our Universal Mother who were more concerned to answer for they have told us Illa autem quae non scripta sed tradita custodimus Aug. ep 118. ad Januar. c. 1. quae quidem toto terrarum orbe observantur datur intelligi vel ab ipsis Apostolis vel plenariis conciliis quorum est in ecclesia saluberrima authoritas commendata atque statuta retineri The antâ—quity of the four solemn Feastivals sicuti quòd domini Passio Resurrectio Ascensio in Coelum Adventus de coelo Sp. Sancti anniversaria solennitate celebrantur That those things which are not written in the Scriptures but kept by tradition and which are observed throughout all Churches we are thereby given to understand that they were instituted and commended unto us either by the Apostles themselves or by some General Councils who have a Soveraign Authority in the Church as the yearly celebration of the Passion and the Resurrection and the Ascension of our Lord and the coming down of the H. Ghost Thus that Father of whom as was noted above out of Calvin we must learn if we would know the certainty of the judgment of Antiquity and of our Mother the Primitive Church And particularly for Easter The same Author gives us to understand Chap. 1. Aug. ib. cap. 7. Nonnullos probabilis quaedam ratio delectavit ut uno certo die per annum quo ipsam coenam Dominus dedit tanquam ad insigniorem commemorationem post cibos offerri accipi liceat corpus sanguis domini That some are of opinion that the body and blood of our Lord should be offered namely by the Minister to the people and received upon one certain day in the year namely that whereon he himself received it which they do on a very probable ground viz. that the commemoration might be the more solemn Which ground holds with us in celebrating the Communion both upon the day that Christ himself did as also upon that whereon we commemorate that action of his whereby he applyed the efficacy of all his sufferings Easter day his Resurrection for he was delivered for our sins and was raised again for our justification We do it therefore upon these daies specially Hom. 4. ult as well as on others more ordinarily viz. That the commemoration might be the more solemn But they aim at the root whilest they strike at one of the branches and are offended at the genus Festival times besides the Sabbath as well as at Easter specially Of which to that of the Antient Church related by S. Austin I shall only add that They are the splendour and outward dignity of our Religion R. Hook Eccles pol. l. 5. § 72. in fine forcible witnesses of antient truth provocations to the exercises of all piety shadows of our endless felicity in Heaven on Earth everlasting Records and Memorials Wherein they which cannot be drawn to hearken to that we teach may only by looking upon what we do in a manner read whatsoever we believe The last thing they object against this Rubrick is a meer calumny and yet they raise a great tragedy upon it
likeness-sake So are these also called Scripture and holy Scripture yea and sometimes Canonical some of them De doctr Christ lib. 2. cap. 8. by St. Austin But so that aliter Hieronymus accipit vocabulum hoc Canonicus aliter eam vocem Augustinus Innocentius Patres Carthaginuenses interpretanter Otherwise doth Jerom take the word Canonical and otherwise Austin Innocent and the Fathers at the Councel of Carthage saith our Whitaker Contr. 1. Q. 1. c. 4. And so I say otherwise do the Articles of our Church take the word Canonical and otherwise sometimes the Prayer-book and the Homilies But of this more largely above In the answer to the fourth general Exception Secondly These are brought in here not as an interrupting of the reading any more than the singing of a Psalm which though not express Scripture might be sung betwixt the Lessons or reading an Exhortation or Prayer for they are brought in by way of Hymn onely and are sung also in some Churches But in particular they except first against Te Deum Te Deum We praise thee O God c. that it is a piece taken out of the Mass-book and in Popish Churches usually sung Thence brought in by Bishops into Protestant Churches but no where enjoyned or warranted by any Law in force That it shews the Bishops are not able to give thanks themselves for extraordinary mercies That it is a superstitious formal dress c. Answ To the antiquity of Te Deum beyond the Mass-book its reference unto St. Ambrose might be testimony But it s being used there or taken thence doth no more derogate from the matter of it than it doth from the Psalmes Epistles and Gospels or then it doth from the Doctrine of Free-mercy against Merits which is yet there and in the very office of the Mass as we saw above In answer to the fifth general exception It is recorded as a reputation to the old Romans that they disdained not nec ab hoste doceri To learn even of an enemy for we In what is good all friends and fellows be That the Bishops brought it in does not argue want of ability to give thanks themselves but their want of self-conceit and singularity They prudently and modestly choosing to receive and close with what is good and of general reception That they might declare their communion with all Christians in what they might and fulfilling the Apostles prayer Rom. 15. With one mind and one mouth glorifie God with the rest of his Church That it is no where enjoyned and warranted by any Law in force Not established is more than they have charged the Book hitherto with Answ having not nor indeed being not able to do it alledged any one thing added to the body of the Liturgy established by Law pag. 28. n. 6. but an Appendix as themselves reckon of three prayers one for the Queen or King another for the Bishops a third for Queen Anne and the Royal Progeny 2. Act uniform com pr. Besides it is also untrue for themselves acknowledge as it is in the Act for the Uniformity of Common-prayer that the Books of 5 6 Edw. 6. shall be established without alteration except one sentence in the Letany and the addition of two in the Lords Supper c. Now it is evident that TE DEUM is in King Edwards Books and in the Book of Queen Elizabeth established by Parliament as we now receive it with all the Kings Parliaments and Judges since and comprehended by Bucer in that Elogy of his before named viz. That all generally till the Communion was agreeable to Gods Word and the use of the primitive Church Which form of Communion then hath been since reformed in part as he directed So that Te Deum is as well established by Law as any other part of the Book This gross reeling of the Brethren doth not it argue now they were etcaetera To the last which touches the matter of it viz. That it is a superstitious formal dress Seeing this is a high charge not on it but on the Common-prayer-book also yea and on the Church of England it should have in particular been shewed by the Brethren wherein it is so for dolosus versatur in universalibus This is the fruit perhaps of their Law-studies they have learned the course of Chancery to charge heavy crimes and prove nothing But shall I open this mystery of iniquity to be suspected in the breasts of these Brethren they seem to be Socinians and enemies to the Godhead of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the Doctrine of the Trinity both which are there splendidly acknowledged and professed in the Hymn of Te Deum Mr. Cartwright as it seems before Dr Reynolds and the rest at Hampton-Court were ashamed to except against it though they spared not where they thought exception might with any modesty be taken But as I said here is not onely a profession of the doctrine of the Trinity and a kind of repetition of the common Creed by way of Hymn The special use of the hymn TE DEUM but a particular application of prayer unto our Lord Jesus Christ which is done in no other part of the Book so expresly except the Letany Communion This is the superstition it may be feared that the Brethren aim at for other there is none We may now understand them when they call it and other parts of the Book Popish superstitious and Antichristian namely in his sense who writing against the doctrine of the Trinity and the Godhead of the Lord Jesus entituled his book Antithesis doctrinae Christi Antichristi de uno vero Deo An opposition of the doctrine of Christ and of Antichrist concerning the one true God To which the learned Zanchy making answer shews that for strengthning our faith in the doctrine of the Godhead of Christ Zanch. epistol dedic ad Sturm ante Resp suam ad Arrianum Tom. 8. p. 6. Ad hanc fidem in cordibus nostris servandam fovendam augendam quà m necessaria est crebra ad Christum in coelo residentem pro nobis interpellantem mentis elevatio EJUSQUE ac patris invocatio à verâ porrò seriâ contemplatione personae Christi ab assiâ—ua beneficiorum ejus commemoratione denique ab ardenti nominis ejus invocatione quibus fovetur fidos nostra separari non potest studium perpetuum resipiscentiae c. sunt autem haec meditatio invocatio resipiscentia tria praecipua verae fidei effecta c. For the nourishing this our faith saith he in the Godhead of Christ namely in our hearts and for the encreasing and preserving of it Prayer to Christ necessary for the strengthning of faith in him how necessary is the often lifting up our minds to Christ sitting in heaven and interceding for us and as necessary is prayer to him and to the Father Now from the true and serious consideration of the
sign it is sufficient that there be the profession of these outward Which yet by a Metonymy and figure of the adjunct or sign for the thing signified may very truly though figuratively be called Repentance and Faith Now this being all that outward Baptism doth require the outward repentance and faith or the profession of them this may be performed by others in the name of the baptized The inward so far as qualifies them for the Sacrament they have after the same manner as they have their sin or guilt that is by others And as the children of the Jews repented and believed in their parents For Circumcision was a Seal of the righteousness of Faith and therefore not to be administred to any but those that did repent and believe Rom. 4.11 in Gods acceptation Of which more in the next Answ 2 Answer Come we to their second mistake viz. in the matter of their Reply and that these things of which mention is made 1. From Scripture may in this or the like cases be performed by the Sureties for the children shall be shewn from Scripture God assisting from Antiquity and from later times First We must here lay for ground that of the Apostle viz. That the old Church of the Jews they did all eat the same spiritual meat 1 Cor. 10.1 c. and did all drink of the same spiritual drink for they drank of the spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ and they were all baptized with the same Baptism that we are though by the hand of Moses in the cloud and in the sea Hoc posito I say if the repenting and believing of one man for another were not sufficient whereby that other did receive all the spiritual benefit exhibited and sealed in the Sacrament how comes it that Abraham's conversion and faith availed for Ishmael Gen. 17. and the faith of his growen servants for their children who were circumcised Rom. 4. which was a Seal of the righteousness of faith for I take the Brethren not to be Anabaptists professed so as to deny that Scripture to define the nature of Circumcision in general And how could the children of a Proselyte be circumcised if the repentance and faith of one man be not accepted for anoâ—her As also we take it and so do all but Anabaptists that there were children baptized in those housholds that are mentioned to be baptized in the new Testament 1 Cor. 10. And all the children of the Jews were in the cloud and in the sea how that was done Mr. Aynsworth as I remember somewhere shews by comparing Psalm 77.17 the clouds poured out water with this of the Corinths Now this could not be but that the Repentance and Faith of one is available for another If it be answered Instance that these were the parents of the children I reply Answ that the Sureties are but onely the Churches and the Parents assistants and do undertake onely upon the supposition of the childs actual right as a virtual believer to be of the houshold of Faith though not actually incorporated So that the undertaking of the Sureties is onely by way of deputation from the Church or Parents and goes upon supposition of their repentance and faith by vertue whereof according to the Covenant Gen. 17. That God will be the God of his People and their seed after them the Infant hath title to the Ordinance So that it is so far untrue that it is never read or heard of in Scripture that one man repented and believed in the room and name of another that it is ever so and never read nor heard in Scripture to the contrary 2. Proof from Antâ—quity Come we to Antiquity Quâ in re satis piè rectéque creditur prodesse parvulo eorum fidem Aug. de lib. Arbit l. 3. c. 23. à quibus consecrandus offertur Et hoc Ecclesiae commendat saluberrima authoritas ut ex eo quisque sentiat quid sibi prosit fides sua quando in aliorum quoque beneficium qui propriam nondum habent potest aliena commodari In which point saith Austin we do rightly and religiously believe that the faith of those by whom a child is offered to Baptism doth avail for the child And this commends the Soveraign Authority of the Church that from hence every one may perceive what his own faith doth profit him seeing another mans faith can be usefull for the benefit of him that hath none as yet of his own he means actual Thus there And elsewhere Epist 23. Bonifac. Quando ad baptismum offeruntur Infantes parentes tanquam fidedictores respondent dicunt illos facere quod illa aetas cogitare non potest aut si potest occultum est Interrogamus enim eos a quibus offeruntur dicimus credit in Deum Respondent credit Et ad caetera sic respondent quae quaeruntur When saith he they the Infants are offered to Baptism the parents as Undertakers for them answer and say that they do that which at that age they cannot think and if they do 't is unknown for we ask those by whom they are offered and say Doth he believe in God They answer He believeth and so to the rest of the Questions they answer what is asked Which testimony of St. Austin Questions in Baptism declares the antiquity of this custom of Interrogatories in Baptism The answer he gives there unto the question made thereupon viz. How could they undertake for them so namely that they do believe by vertue of the Sacrament of Baptism which they receive which is the Sacrament of Faith he doth in the former part of the same Epistle more fully open Regenerans spiritus in majoribus offerentibus parvulo oblato renatoque communis est ideo per hanc societatem unius ejusdemque spiritus prodest offerentium voluntas parvulo oblato The regenerating Spirit saith he in those that offer the child to Baptism and in the child offered and regenerate is one and the same and thence by this fellowship in one and the same Spirit the will of those that offer it doth profit the child And in answer to that which the Brethren touch that the witnesses are not always truly believers he saith Spiritus autem ille sanctus Ibâ—d Unbelieving Witnesses qui habitat in sanctis ex quibus una illa columba deargentata charitatis igne conflatur agit quod agit etiam per servitutem aliquando non solùm simpliciter ignorantium verum etiam damnabiliter indignorum Offeruntur quippe parvuli ad percipiendum spiritalem gratiam non tam ab eis quorum gestantur manibus quam ab universa societate sanctorum atque fidelium Ab omnibus namque rectè offerri intelliguntur quibus placet quòd offeruntur quorum sancta individua charitate ad communicationem sancti Spiritus adjavantur Tota hoc ergo mater Ecclesia quae in sanctis
they alledge the Apostles doctrine practise To the Assertion first which is no less inconsiderately uttered than confidently affirmed if generally taken Absurdities of the Brethrens Assert For so it overthrows Civil bounds National Laws Divine and Ecclesiastical Institutions It overthrows Civil bounds Might not the Brethrens Neighbour say unto them Sirs your Garden your Orchard your Close your Land were once indifferent and common to all men it is not the Authority of any Man or Law that can make that proper to you and necessarily to belong to you which Providence at the Creation left common and indifferent for all men On such a discourse as this the Levellers go And my self knew a man that would therefore pay no rent to his Landlord saying Why should not he have a house as well as he Smile not Brethren for the parallel fully holds all Tenures were at first indifferent and common Secondly It destroys National Laws for 't is in it self indifferent whether for example theft shall be punished by restitution or imprisonment or scourging or death Now when the Law of any Nation hath appointed such a punishment necessarily to be inflicted upon such a Malefactor he may upon this ground say The kind of punishment is indifferent and no Law of man can make that necessary without injustice It everteth also even divine Ordinances The Water in Baptism the Bread and Wine in the Lords Supper are before separation indifferent and common Therefore they cannot in particular by this principle be made necessary and obliging to be used Lastly because they intend Ceremonies in Religion it takes away the ground of Ecclesiastical Institutions whose object is especially things in their own nature indifferent as times place persons gestures habits c. for what obedience can be expected where no Authority can make it necessary in such things which leads me to a Answ 2 second Answer Gen. viz. That though no Law can alter the nature of things in themselves metaphysically and abstractedly considered yet it may and doth alter the obligation of practice about them that what was free before to do or not is otherwise now For example It was indifferent whether Paul would sacrifice or not Act. 21. but after the Church had judged it requisite for him he thought it his duty now to do it Again it was indifferent for him to circumcise or not to circumcise Act. 16. Gal. 2.3 5. yet according to circumstances he did it to Timothy and would not do it to others To abstain from blood and from things strangled I suppose the Brethren count indifferent because the Apostle saith Every Creature of God is good 1 Tim. 4. and nothing to be refused yet the Apostles for that time made it a matter of necessity to abstain from them Act. 15. Whether a Man pray uncovered and the Woman covered might seem indifferent but the Apostle besides other Arguments determines it by the custom and practice of the Church as a matter necessary to go that way he propounded As to that clause Indifferent things cannot be made necessary if they offend tender Consciences and are scandalous to good men It is answered that The due performance of the Worship of God And the general edification of all Consciences When scandal is not to be regarded by directing the reverent performance of their duty And the satisfaction of the Consciences of the greater part of the Church together with the taking away the scandal from profession apt to be cast upon it by the Adversary for omitting these Ceremonies is of more consequence and ought to be more eyed by those in Authority then the satisfying of a few though good men Paul no doubt gave very great offence in sacrificing in circumcising Timothy Gal. 2.5 in not circumcising Titus and in being stiffe against it Yet because the more publick and common good of the Church was concerned his charity directed him to love the Body and tender the welfare of that rather then of some particular Members though otherwise pretious This for their proposition next for their proof from the Apostles Doctrine and Practice Their proof Rom. 14. First his Doctrine All things indeed are pure but it is evil to him that eateth with offence See to the like effect also the Proposit touching Reform of the Liturg. now in the Press And it is good neither to eat Flesh nor drink Wine whereby thy Brother stumbleth or is made weak To take heed lest our liberty become a stumbling-block But if one will use his liberty and the other will take offence then his charge is Let not him that eateth despise him that eateth not and let not him that eateth not judge him that eateth 2. His practise If Meat make my Brother to offend 1 Cor. 8. I will eat no Flesh whilest the world standeth lest I make my Brother to offend Answ But do these things prove that things indifferent may not by Authority be made necessary as to practise Nothing less For the things the Apostle mentioneth were as to any publick Injunction by Authority then in being left free no Law passed on them And they were observed according as Conscience in some and Charity in others did direct But are the Brethren able to shew out of these or any other places of the Apostles doctrine or practice That after the Church hath declared that they seek not to be justified by Works Gal. 2. much less Ceremonies but by the Faith of Jesus Christ That they own but one Mediator betwixt God and Man 1 Tim. 2. even the Man Christ Jesus That they having an eye to decency order and reverence in the Worship of God 1 Cor. 14. to which they are injoyned do judge that such and such Ceremonies without opinion of holiness in the things themselves or of adding any substance to the matter of the Worship are usefull to the better performance of Gods service and edification of his people and not in themâ—elves contrariant thereunto Are they able to shew that the Apostle because either things are in themselves indifferent or because some would be offended at them did in such a case either by doctrine or practice incourage unto disobedience I trow they are not To be sure the places alleadged prove it not as hath been shewed they speaking only of such things as on which no Civil nor Ecclesiastical sanction had passed but were in every mans liberty And the Apostles doctrine and practice as we heard prove the contrary he referring to the custom of the Church 1 Cor. 11. as a determination in things of themselves indifferent and himself also practising divers things Act. 21.16 Gal. 2. that without all question did offend many tender Consciences Certain it is that things strangled and blood were things indifferent yet commanded as necessary for the time by the Apostles Act. 15. So Circumcision sacrificing c. practised by Paul with offence to some Thus of
this Nation soon after the publishing of the Gospel in the Apostles times as may be seen in Tertullian and others of the Ancients And that Popery was rather as a scab or disease that came upon it long after as may be seen by the Writers on our sides particularly in the learned Defence of the Apology of the Church of England by Bishop Jewel and in Doctor James Vssher Archbishop of Armagh his Succession of the Churches his Religion of the ancient British his Answer to the Jesuite and other Writers Secondly We must note Answ 2 That even the Church of England whilest Popish yet held the Articles of the Faith and so the substance of Christianity though much obscured and countervened by other Doctrines they were also baptized and did partake of the Body of Christ in the Sacrament and therefore were Christians not nothing in Religion nor yet Heathens or Jews or Turks and therefore in some respect right matter as we heard before Now the Reformation and the Laws then were not to constrain them to a positive Confession or Profession of Christianity which constitutes the matter of the visible Church Note as we saw above but to reject those Doctrines and Corruptions that had obscured it it was rather a restraint then a constraint Now for the forcing those who own a Profession to perform their Duty in it as to come to Sacraments c. this is not a forcing men to be of a Religion but to answer the Profession of it Thirdly Grant it were so they had at first been Answ 3 forced yet being now under no force they still own it why might not that force occasion true conversion as it did in the Gibeonites Josh 9. and did in many of the Ancient Separatists Aug. Epist 48. ab initio the Donatists in Saint Austins time Nam de multorum jam correctione gaudemus qui tam veraciter Unitatem Catholicam tenent atque defendunt à pristino errore se liberatos esse laetantur ut eos cum magna gratulatione miremur qui tamen nescio quâ vi consuetudinis nullo modo mutari in meliùs cogitarent nisi hoc terrore perculsi solicitam mentem ad considerationem veritatis intenderent ne forte non pro justitia sed pro perversitate praesumptione hominum ipsas temporales molestias infructuosâ vanâ tolerantia paterentur apud Deum postea non invenirent nisi debitas poenas impiorum qui ejus tam lenem admonitionem paterna ftagella contempserint That is We do already rejoyce in the correction of many who holding now Truth and Unity with the Church are glad that they are delivered from their former Error who by reason of custom would never have thought of changing unless being terrified by their sufferings did begin to bend their minds to the consideration of Truth lest they should both suffer here these afflictions fruitlesly and afterward finde with God the punishment of wicked men because they did despise his gentle correction by the hand of the civil power Thus he Object 2 Touching that other Objection That there is no distinction between the Civil and Ecclesiastical Bands Civil and Ecclesiastical Bands Robins Apol. cap. 12. p 81 82. but those that are in a Parish they are all of the Church and have right to Ordinances yea and compelled thereunto And no formal Covenant to constitute them Members of such a particular Church or Parish It is answered That where a whole Nation is of the same Religion as was the Jewish of old and by the mercy of God many others have been and are of which number our own there needs no other Formality to make a Christian a Member of this and that particular Body but their accepting him among them and his practising of communion with them in the Ordinances and Worship of God A free-man of the Nation may inhabit any where without a new Formality and enjoy the liberties of a Subject So he that is a member of the National Church The distinction of Parishes being by publick Order both Ecclesiastical and Civil for the preservation of mens civil Rights And the better conveniency of Edification And the preservation of Peace and Concord in both And he which shall contemptuously violate such Distinctions and refuse communion in the Parochial Church wherein he lives the Word and Sacraments being rightly therein administred cannot avoyd the crime of a Perturber of the Peace in Church and Commonwealth and as liable unto punishment as he that makes a Hedge upon a Common which is both disorderly and injurious SECT III. Apostolical Christian Church vitiated but no Separation NExt come we to the Apostolical Christian Church wherein the Doctrine was more vitiated than in ours till this late Apostacy since the War the Worship defiled Manners corrupted Discipline neglected and Tyranny by the Governors of the Church exercised And no Separation that we hear of 1. Touching Doctrine 1. In Doctrine In what Parish of ours is the Resurrection of the dead denyed as was by many in the Church of Corinth In what Parishes of ours is the Doctrine of Justification by the Works of the Law maintained generally as in the Churches of Galatia Then for Worship 2. Worship 1 Cor. 10. Do ours partake of the Lords Table and the Table of Devils as did many among the Corinthians Are our Assemblies so confused as theirs were so far 1 Cor. 14. that one might have thought them mad as the Apostle saith Do ours come to the Communion drunk 1 Cor. 11. And are so malicious one against another that they will eat the Lords Supper together as at Corinth 3. Manners Next for Manners and life Have we worse than Incest Fornication Covetousness Malice Contentions 2 Cor. 12.21 unrepented of as was in the Church of Corinth And biting and devouring one another exercising the works of the flesh Gal. 5. and Chap. 6. Rev. 2. and Chap. 3.4 Defrauding the Minister of his due as in the Churches of Galatia Permitting of Idolaters boasting of Gifts being neither hot nor cold as it was in the Asian Churches 4. Discipline As touching Neglect of Discipline First In the Apostles own Company The Ministers that should exercise Discipline Philip. 2. they all sought their own and none the things of Jesus Christ And the grossest vices winked at and fomented as we saw before in the Church of Corinth 1 Cor. 5. And should have been so still had not the Apostle been living and exciting them to their Duty 5. Government Lastly Concerning Tyranny We see what oppression the false Apostles used Ye suffer saith the Apostle if a man take of you 2 Cor. 11.10 if a man bring you into bondage if a man devour you if a man exalt himself if a man smite you on the face By which words he toucheth the Tyranny though out of malice against the Apostle willingly submitted unto by
the Church of Corinth And we know that Diotrephes exercised his Government with such insolency that he cast out whom he would 3 Epist John vers 9 â— Cor. 11. admitted whom he would opposed the Apostle John himself yet no news of Separation And all this which much excuseth our Churches even whilest the Church was as it were a Virgin and newly espoused to Christ and in the midst of company viz. the Heathen and under the Rod of Persecution and the Apostle yet living what Degeneration followed we know And yet those that then separated are noted with the highest characters of Heresie and Sedition that can be which leads me to the next the primitive Churches SECT IV. The Primitive Churches TOuching which I shall produce onely a witness or two whereof the first shall be Cyprian a man of rare sanctity who preserved the integrity of his conscience with the loss of his life yet a severe enemy to Separation First He acknowledgeth the corrupt mixtures of the Churches of his time and place and acknowledgeth the just hand of God in the Persecutions of those times for it His words are Studebant augendo patrimonio singuli Cypr. Serm. de lapsis 5. prope ab initio obliti quid credentes aut sub Apostolis antefecissent aut semper facere deberent insatiabili cupiditatis ardore ampliandis facultatibus incubabant non in sacerdotibus religio devota non in ministeriis fides integra non in operibus misericordia non in moribus disciplina Corrupta barba in viris in foeminis formafucata adulterati post Dei manus oculi capilli mendacio colorati ad decipienda corda simplicium callidae fraudes circumveniendis fratribus subdolae voluntates Jungere cum infidel bus vinculum matrimonii prostituere cum gentilibus membra Christi Non jurare tantum temere sed ad hoc etiam pejerare Praepositos superbo tumore contemnere venenato sibi ore maledicere odiis pertinacibus invicem dissidere Episcopi plurimi quos ornamento esse oportet caeteris exemplo divina procuratione contemptâ procuratores rerum seculorum fieri derelictâ cathedrâ plebe desertâ per alienas provincias oberrantes negotiationis quaestuosae nundinas aucupari Esurientibus in Ecclesia fratribus habere argentum largiter velle fundos insidiosis fraudibus rapere usuris multiplicantibus foenus augere Quid non perpeti tales pro peccatis ejusmodi mereremur 1. The state of the primitive Church before Persecution in Cyprians time That is Every one set their minds to increase their means and forgetting what Beleevers either did in the Apostles times or should do at all times they felt themselves with an incredible thirst of covetousness to increase their estates No serious Religion in the Ministers no faithfulness in discharge of their places no Mercy in Works no Discipline in Manners Men through pride new-fangled their beards Among the women the face was painted Their eye-brows after God had done his work adulterated with colours Crafty plots devised to deceive men in bargaining that meant plainly Cunning shifts to circumvent their brethren The marriage bond entred into with Infidels and the Members of Christ prostituted unto the Heathen Not only was there swearing rashly but moreover forswearing The Governors with swelling pride contemned and with a venomed tongue reviled The Bishops and Ministers who should be both an ornament to the rest and an example they neglecting their Spiritual Work their Seats their People flew up and down the Countreys to Fairs and Markets for Gains sake When the Brethren were empty with poverty and hungry they would have full Bags they studied to catch by fraud and force Lands and Livings Use upon Use to increase their Principal We that were such for such Sins what did we not deserve Thus far he as to the first point of corruptions in the Church 2. Bâ—â— no Seâ—â—â—â—n 2. Next for his distance from Separation notwithstanding all this Various are the Allegations that might be brought out of him I shall mention one or two Si videntur in Ecclesia esse zizania non tamen impediri debet aut fides aut charitas nostra 〈◊〉 pâ—t 3. 〈◊〉 ut quoniam zizania esse in Ecclesia cernimus ipsi de Ecclesia recedamus nobis imò laborandum est uâ— frumentum esse possimus c. i. e. It should not hurt our Faith and Charity that we see Tares in the Church so as that we should depart from the Church but we must labour that we our selves be Wheat Again elsewhere Quantus arrogantiae tumor est â—â—b 4. Ep. â— pâ—â—pe sinem quanta humilitatis lenitatis oblivio à rrogantiae suae quanta jactatio ut quis aut audeat aut facere posse se credat quod nec Apostolis concessit Dominus ut zizania à frumento putet se posse discernere aut quasi ipsi paleam ferre aream purgare concessum sit paleas à tritico conetur separare cum que Apostolus dicat In domo autem magnâ non solum vasa aurea sunt argentea sed lignea fictiliae aurea argoâ—tea vasa videatur eligere lignea verò fictilia conterere abjicere Cùm non nisi die Domini vasa lignea divini ardoris incendio concrementur sictilia ab eo cui data est ferrea virga frangantur That is How great a swelling of pride is it how great forgetfulness of humility and gentleness how great a boasting of their arrogancy that any man should dare or beleeve that he can do that which was not granted no not to the Apostles to do namely That a man should think that he is able to separate the Tares from the Wheat or as if it were given to him to carry out the chaff and to purge the Lords floor and so endeavor to separate the chaff from the wheat And whereas the Apostle saith But in a great house there are not onely Vessels of Gold and of Silver 2 Tim. 2. but also of Wood and of Clay he would seem to select the golden and silver ones but to contemn and cast away the wooden ones and those of clay whereas those of wood are not to be burnt but in the Day of the Lord by the flame of divine scorching and those of clay to be broken by him to whom is given a Rod of Iron Thus far Cyprian The other witness both to the mixtures of Church Assemblies and to the opposition of Separation notwithstanding it is Saint Austin who as he wrote whole Volumes on this Argument so for the first 1. Corruptions of the Church in S. Austins time Epist 64. namely the Corruptions of the Members of the Church we have him often among the rest In an Epistle unto Aurelius where he thus writeth Multas carnales foeditates aegritudines quas Africana Ecclesia in multis patitur in paucis gemit consiliorum gravitate tua possit
religionem nobiscum profiteantur cum alioqui nihil minus revera sint quà m fratres propter innumerabilia quibus scatent vitia i. e. We do not deny saith he but that there are very many that for this cause onely are counted brethren because they profess the same pure Religion with us whereas otherwise they are indeed nothing less than brethren by reason of the innumerable vices wherewith they swarm Thus he It is then the Profession of the true Faith that makes a Brother from whom then till ejected from and by the Church we may not in matters of Religion and Worship withdraw and separate although in private converse we may because as Austin notes this may be done without danger of Schism but that cannot Nam in domibus suis quique boni fideles ita disciplinam suorum moderantur Aug. contr Parmen l. 3. cap. 2. regunt ut ibi quoque obtemperent Apostoli praecipienti cum ejusmodi nec cibum simul sumere sed non tam facilè malorum multitudo non potest à bonorum commixtione separari i. e. For in their houses all the Faithful do so order the government of those that belong unto them that they obey the Apostles Precept commanding with such a one no not to eat but not so easily a multitude of bad men are separated from the mixture with the good as to wit a bad member of a family may The next shall be Calvin whom some would make a Patron in their way of separating he discoursing of this point among other vehement expressions hath this Instit lib. 4. cap. 1. s 9. Vbi reverenter auditur Evangelii praedicatio neque sacramenta negliguntur illic pro eo tempore neque fallax neque ambigua Ecclesiae apparet facies cujus vel authoritatem spernere vel monita respuere vel consiliis refragari vel castigationes ludere nemini impunè licet multo minus ab ea deficere ac ejus abrumpere unitatem c. i. e. A true Church Wheresoever the preaching of the Gospel is reverently heard and the Sacraments are not neglected there for that time there appears neither a deceitful nor a doubtful face of a Church whose authority they that despise or contemn its counsels or reject its advice or make sport with its chastenings they shall never escape unpunished much less if they fall off from it and rend the Unity of it And afterward Sect. 16. Quanquam autem ex inconsiderato justitiae zelo haec tentatio bonis etiam interdum oboritur hoc tamen recipiemus nimiam morositatem ex superbia magis factu falfâque sanctitatis opinione quà m ex vera sanctitate veroque ejus studio nasci The Cause of separation That is Although this temptation doth arise sometimes even in good men by an inconsiderate zeal of Righteousness yet this we shall finde That too much strictness doth grow rather of pride and height and a false opinion of Holiness than of true Holiness or a true zeal for it Thus he And he doth in that Chapter Sect. 14 15 17 18 19. by examples not onely of the Church of the Jews and in the time of our Saviour Christ but also in the Apostolical Churches demonstrate That greater Vices in Manners and fouler Errors in Doctrine to have been tolerated than are in those Churches that Separation is now made from And adds this memorable Note viz. Quondam autem sacrum unitatis vinculum solvunt nemo justani impii hujus divortii poenam effugit quin se pestiferis erroribus ac teterrimis deliriis fascinet The punishment of separation i. e. But because they dissolve the sacred bond of Unity no man shall escape this just punishment That he shall intoxicate himself with most pestilent Errors and most pernicious fancies Thus he The truth whereof with horror we see at this day in the Anabaptists and Quakers who first began with Separation But the whole discourse in that Chapter is well worth the serious perusal The last Witness from these Churches shall be his Vide Sleid in lib. 15. Ad Ann. 1543. unto whom as the Forreign so our own Church ows much of its Reformation As besides his other Writings appears in that excellent Liturgy of the Church of Colen composed by him Melancthon and Pistemus of which before As also in his censure of our own Common Prayer Book he as I said Bucer Script Anglic. in his Commentary on Zephany Chap. 3. it is at the end of his Exposition on the Evangelists and the Psalms hath a vivide practical and experimental Discourse most effectual to this purpose part whereof is as followeth Indubiè haud temerè factum est Bucer in Zeph. 3.15 c. ut nullum ferè pietatis exemplum scriptura paulo magnificentius praedicet in quo non uno Christo excepto simul insignem lapsum notavit Quà m foede lapsus fuit Aaron David Petrus sed ne Moses quidem perpetuo stetit aut quisquam sanctorum alius Vult enim Deus ex suorum infirmitate bonitatis suae gloriam illustrare Equidem al quot novi qui proximo sexennio quo Evangelium Christi mundus iterum coepit persequi pro Christo mortem fortissime oppetierunt in quibus paulo ante vitam severiorem nemo non desiderabat ita tamen corda eorum timor Dei possederat ut licet plus nimio carni per omnem fere vitam indulsissent ubi eo ventum fuit ut vel negandus illis Christus erat vel semeltota caro igni tradenda alacri vultu confidenti pectore mortis durissimos cruciatus vitae admodum lautae delicataeque quam eis mundus promittebat protulerint That is Doubtless it is not without cause That the Scripture doth not make mention scarce of any great example of piety Christ onely excepted who is not noted for some remarkable failing For how fouly did Aaron David and Peter fall Yea Moses himself did not always stand no nor any other of the Saints For God will by the infirmity of his Saints take occasion to illustrate the glory of his goodness Truly I have known some within these six last years wherein the world hath begun again to persecute the Gospel who have couragiously undergone death for Christ in whom a little before there was no man but could have wished a more sober life But the fear of God had so possessed their hearts that though they had too much indulged the flesh almost all their life yet when it came to that point that they must either deny Christ or else deliver the whole flesh to the fire at once they did with a chearful countenance and a confident spirit prefer the most cruel torments of death before a dainty and delicate life which the world proffered them Thus he And having mentioned others such who at that time of his writing did undergo most grievous sufferings for the Truth he adds Vt enim
crediderint quà m fecerunt à nobis divortium Vnde haec fides An non ex praedicatione in nostra Ecclesia nunquid autem praedicare quis potest nisi mittatur Rom. 10.13 Quid ergo verbum propter labem aliquam externae vocationis tam perverse respuunt cujus vim divinam in cordibus sentiunt c. Are they ashamed saith he to sit down there where they see Christ is not ashamed Will they be holier and purer than he But why do they not convince themselves by their own experience They cannot deny but that they did beleeve in Christ before they made this divorce from us Whence had they their Faith Was it not by the preaching in our Church But can any man preach except he be sent Rom. 10.13 Why do they therefore so perversly despise the Word for some defect supposed in the outward Call the heavenly force whereof they feel upon their hearts What he there immediately adds Object Etiamsi fructus iste non magis culpa liberat depravationes nostras quà m vera proles adulterium That is Resp Notwithstanding this fruit of conversion doth no more excuse our Corruptions he means in Church Government especially than a true Childe doth Adultery This passage was both inconsiderately and as it implyed untruly spoken Inconsiderate it was for the Separation against whom he there writes do acknowledge That they had their Faith and Grace indeed in the Church of England but according to his own expression Jo. Robins Apol. for Separation cap. 12. p. m. 94. that did no more excuse the Church or prove it to be a true Church than a true Childe doth excuse Adultery or prove that the Woman is a true Wife They retort his own Metaphor upon him But again it was an unproper similitude and untrue in the implication of it for it implieth That there may be a true Conversion where there is no Church as there may be a true birth where there is no wedlock But we must remember That Christ doth not stand in relation to a Church In what relation Christ stands unto his Church as a man doth unto a woman by conjunction of whom there issues a natural birth whether their meeting be matrimonial or no God therein operating according to that course which he hath setled in Nature without respect unto his positive Law in that case provided but Christ stands in relation to his Church as a Husband to the Wife in spiritual and legitimate Matrimony the bond whereof is the Covenant of Grace according to that of the Apostle I have espoused you as a chaste Virgin unto Christ 2 Cor. 11.2 And again Ephes 5.23 The Husband is the head of the Wife even as Christ is the head of the Church wherein he implies that he is the Husband also Now the Childe is not the Husbands unless begotten in Matrimony To imply therefore That there may be Conversion by those who are no Church were to make as it were the Spouse of Christ an Harlot a thing horrid to imagine But to return to our Evidence from the Fruits of our Church and Ordinances There is a demonstration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from effects if they be so properly and not consequences accidentally onely which I say to prevent that crambe non saepius cocta and why was it not so of late when great proof was taken from success and issues careat successibus opto c. To this therefore we may add those speeches both of our Saviour and our Apostle in this way of reasoning from the proper effects unto the causes You shall know them by their FRUITS Mat. 7.16 saith our Saviour Do men gather Figs of Thorns 1 Cor. 9.2 or Grapes of Thistles And the Apostle If I be not an Apostle unto others yet doubtless I am unto you for the seal of my Apostleship are ye in the Lord That is Your Conversion proves me a true Minister of Christ Gal. 3.2 And elsewhere This onely would I learn of you Received you the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith It was good consequence in our Saviours and S. Pauls Logick to prove a true Church and Ministry by the effect of Conversion and why not in ours On the contrary the Assemblies of the Separation 1. None or rare conversion in the Separation Independency Anabaptism First negatively No conversion is found or rarely in them from prophaneness to grace but it is confessed by themselves Salvificam fidem veram pietatem multorum cordibus in Ecclesia Anglicana Robins Apol. cap. 12. p. m. 93. per Evangelii praedicationem ingenerari foveri absit ut vel negemus nos vel non eo nomine ingentes gratias Deo opt max. NOSTRUM ipsorum aliorum respectu debitas fateamur God forbid saith Mr. Robinson of whom we may well say Contr. Parmen l. 1. cap. 1. as Austin once of Tichonius viz. ' That he was a man acri ingenio praeditum uberi eloquio sed tamen Donatista i. e. endued with a sharp wit and good utterance but yet a Donatist a Separatist God forbid saith he that we should deny but that saving Faith and true Piety is both generated and maintained by the preaching of the Gospel in the Church of England yea we give most vehement thanks to the great and gracious God in this respect both for OUR SELVES and others They are generally converted before they fall to those ways and have an actual sense of Religion upon them Habitual Conversion for their habitual Conversion was in their Baptism and in their relation to the profession of Faith under which they were born upon which ground they have a right unto Baptism as we saw above out of Calvin Epist 285. Secondly Positively There grow such sowre Grapes 2. The sowre grapes of Separation such Rents Contentions loose practices especially these three noted above out of Bucer Pride Contempt of others and Opinions Add also what my self by long and much experience have observed of which above Whose Prayers are oft-times Prefaces to other matters as our Saviour hath it Mat. 23.14 Not but that there are such among us also but yet as the Lord noteth A proselyte unto such persons becomes twofold the Childe of Hell more than he was before Vers 15. as adding and colouring his corruptions with Religion and yet perhaps himself not seeing his hypocrisie as he did clearly see his prophaneness and his danger before They indeed do neither enter into the Kingdom of God themselves that is the Church nor suffer others to abide quiet in it Vers 13. as our Saviour in the same place And may in this be compared unto Beggars that steal the children of others and carry them about as their own Object Answ To conclude this point then Seeing Conversion is fully and plentifully had in the Church of England seeing it cannot be shewed to any
purpose among them and yet if it may be How there may be Conversion in a Schismatical Assembly yet it is by that Doctrine and Worship which they had in this Church and have abused unto Separation as Austin once of the Donatists Quasi vero ex hoc generet unde separata est non ex hoc unde conjuncta est Aug. de Bapt. contr Donat. lib. 3. cap. 10. Separata est enim à vinculo charitatis pacis sed adjuncta est in uno Baptismate Itaque est una Ecclesia quae sola Catholica nominatur quicquid suum habet in Communionibus diversorum à sua communitate separatis per hoc quod suum in eis habet IPSA utique generat non ILLAE As if saith he those Assemblies did convert as they are separated and not as they are conjoyned They are separated from the bond of charity and peace with the Church but they are joyned in one Baptism and so in the other Sacrament and Administration of the Word Therefore there is one Church which onely is called Catholick and whatsoever it hath in the Assemblies of those that are separate from its Communion by THAT which it hath of its own in those Companies IT doth beget and generate A Summary of the former Arguments and not THEY Thus he most truly But as I said seeing Conversion is acknowledged by them to be true and frequent in the Church of England seeing it is rare if at all among the Separation seeing if it be 't is by vertue of what they have had from this Church seeing the fruits are fruits of the Flesh and not of the Spirit that grow most among them as such and that of the worst kinde also 1. Against separate Assemblies as we saw before And the Apostle reckons fornications which I have known some among them to defend under the notion of plurality of wives variance hatred heresies seditions Gal. 5. among those works And our own experience in this Nation of late daies hath abundantly lessened us Seeing I say this Church is their Parent and the Ministers of it their Fathers in the Lord 1 Cor. 4.15 as the Apostle saith of himself to a Church that cast him off as these do them And lastly Seeing they do so vilifie though some of them gives good words with their mouth as the Psalmist speaks yet they curse with their heart that is Apol. Narrat pag. 6. Psal 62.4 they labour the division and ruine of it let them remember that Hee that curseth his Father Prov. 30. and chaseth away his Mother the Crows of the vallies shall pick out his eyes as they have done the eyes of some that way of late Isa 45.10 For woe unto him that saith unto his Father what begettest thou or to the Woman Ephes 6.12 what hast thou brought forth There are spiritual wickednesses Those that said unto their Brethren stand off Isa 65.5 I am holier than thou were a smoak in the Lords nostrils all the day Our Lord and Saviour declined those Separatists for that may be the Etymology of the word Pharisee Mat. 9.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Separavit Luke 18.9.14 as we saw above and did eat with the Publicans and Sinners And the Penitent one of them went down to his house justified rather than the other I have insisted the longer upon this point the matter and members of the Assemblies first because in nature it is primum essentiae constitutionis principium the first thing in every being as also because the adversaries do say it is Fundi nostri calamitas prima praecipua ex qua plerasque alias oriundas crederem i. e. Robins Apol. pro separat cap. 12. p. m. 92. The main calamity of our Church the first and chief from whence they beleeve most of the other corruptions do arise To which I have also adjoyned discourse touching the form of it also namely its covenanting with the Lord in the professing and owning the Covenant of Grace both in Baptism and at riper years at Confirmation before admission to full Communion in the Holy Sacrament that so it might appear that the whole Essence of this Church is sound the causes constitutive viz. the matter and form of it being so I shut up this touching the Assemblies and our experience of the presence of God in them notwithstanding whatsoever matter and mixtures of them with that of Mr. Brightman Brightman in Apoc. 3.20 touched in part above to the Separation of his time Quamobrem redite ad unitatem Ecclesiae quae vos genuit aluit si fugiatis hunc Christum qui cum Electis in nostris coetibus coenat ac eos vicissim excipit profecto nusquam invenietis Wherefore saith he Return ye again into the Unity of that Church which hath both begotten and bred you up If ye flee from this Christ who doth sup with his Elect ones in our Assemblies and again receiveth and entertaineth them assure your selves you shall finde him no where Thus Mr. Brightman A man otherwise not over zealous for the Church of England And thus I have done with the first three things considerable in the Church and offences which have been occasions of separation to Independency namely the Doctrine the Worship and the Assemblie CHAP. VII Of Discipline 4. Cause of Separation Discipline I Come now unto the fourth to wit the Discipline wherein I shall indeavour brevity because of the former largeness and because the Main is already dispatched First Therefore to the persons wee deal against 1. The persons for Discipline Buc. in Zeph. 3. 20. pag. ult then to the thing it self for the former Certè ab Amicâ fraternâ admonitione incipiendum est hac pretermissa de excommunicatione quaeritari plusquam Pharisaicum est ne dicam Satanicum saith Bucer that is Certainly man ought in Discipline to begin at loving and brotherly admonition if this be neglected to complain of the want of Excommunication and Discipline is more than Pharisaical that I say not Satanical Thus hee Now with those that depart for want of Discipline they shoot with white powder as they say and the Bolt comes before the Thunder they separate and excommunicate the whole Assembly before they see if they can reform it 2. The Matter Secondly For the matter it self And first for the thing then for the manner and persons that have executed it For the thing There is in the Church of England as much Discipline both in Law and execution before Late-times as is usually executable in so great a body either by the Laws of the Common Wealth or the Canons of the Church Civil Laws in a Church are Church-Laws and seeing Church and Common Wealth are incorporated into one as was that first Church of God the Jewish seeing the work is done in the whole body for the preservation of its being and purity what
necessary in respect of their Ministry might possibly be one But I determine not onely I do from the premisses conclude seeing there is in the Ministries Ordination in England all the essentials observed and that God by his blessing of their Labours and protecting of their Calling declared his owning of them whatsoever defects may be imagined in their outward Calling Brightman in Apocal. 3.20 with Mr. Brightman in the place above noted Quid ergo verbum propter labem aliquam externae vocationis tam perverse respuunt cujus vim divinam in cordibus sentiunt Why do they for some defect in the external Call so perversly reject that Word and Ministry whose soveraign and divine power they feel upon their hearts I dismiss this particular and pass to the other Branch touching the Governors of these and their Regiment the Bishops SECT II. Of Episcopacy its Right and Title IT is certain ever since God had a formal and instituted Church there have been superior Ministers in it distinguished also by some appellations from the rest As the High Priests in the Jewish and the Apostles in the First Christian Church 1. Scripture And it is as evident that the Church cannot want such by the need that the Church of Ephesus 1 Tim. 1. and those adjacent had of Timothy and the Churches of Crete had of Titus Tit. 1. For Non minor est virtus quà m quaerere porta tueri A Common-wealth hath need not onely at first of a Magistrate but ever after And a Bishop is nothing else but an Ecclesiastical Magistrate And though times may require some things or persons extraordinary as the Church had Apostles at the first of unlimited power yet as Calvin observes Hoc Natura dictat Epist ad Reg. Polon 1554. Vnum ex singulis collegiis deligendum cui pâ—ecipua cura incumbat Nature it self saith he teacheth us That in all orders of men some one must be chosen unto whom the chief care must be committed And this is the esse or substance of Episcopacy Elsewhere he gives the reason of it Comment in Epist. ad Phil. cap. 1.1 Fateor quidem ut sunt hominum ingenia mores non posse ordinem stare inter verbi ministros quin reliqui praesit unus I confess saith he as mens spirits and manners are Order cannot stand among the Ministers of the Word unless one be over the rest But he would have first their jurisdiction restrained the name of Bishop common and the limits of their Government confined unto one City though afterward in his Letter to the King of Poland he acknowledgeth what the primitive Government was and seemeth not to disapprove it as we shall see anon And the best Independent extant hath expressed so much in my hearing viz. D. T. G. The Church would ever stand in need of such persons as Timothy and Titus This for Scripture Next come we to the Primitive Church 2. The Primitive Church wherein the practice is known to be both most ancient and universal Hierom indeed but without proof being himself no Bishop and angry sometimes with some of them and particularly with John Bishop of Jerusalem and even with Austin himself a passionate man Vid. Epist Aug. 8. seq and somewhat high in respect of his eminency for Learning especially in the Tongues in those times saith Hieron in Epist ad Tit. 1.5 Idem est Presbyter qui Episcopus antequam diaboli instinctu studia in religione fierent diceretur in populis Ego sum Pauli ego Apollo ego autem Cephae Communi Presbyterorum consilio Ecclesiae gubernabantur Postquam vero unusquisque eos quos baptizaverat suos putabat esse non Christi In toto orbe decretum est ut unus de Presbyteris electus superponeretur caeteris ad quem omnis Ecclesiae cura pertineret schismatum semina tollerentur That is The same is a Presbyter and a Bishop And before that 1 Cor. 1. by the instinct of the Devil Factions began in Religion and these speeches were among the people I am of Paul I of Apollo but I of Cephas The Churches were governed by the common advice of the Presbyters But after that every one reckoned those whom hee had baptized to be his own and not Christs It was determined in the WHOLE WORLD that One chosen out of the Presbyters should be set over the rest unto whom the WHOLE care of the Church should belong and so the seeds of Schism should be taken away Concerning which testimony fore-prizing what others have said there need not be required a better testimony First it comes from an Adversary next it proveth the thing it contendeth against under favour of so great a person for if then and upon that occasion Episcopacy had its rise when Schisms began in the Church and that one said I am of Paul another I am of Apollo and that those whom some had baptized they counted their own Disciples And that this came to pass even in the very Apostles time Vers 12 13 14 15. as Paul complains Epistle to the Corinthians the first chapter the first And that hee grants that it was decreed in the whole world and that for so useful an End It must follow that Episcopacy succeeded the Apostleship And indeed from the end of their institution it appears in Scripture that they did so as to the office by what name soever For Paul saith expresly both to Timothy and Titus To Timothy that hee besought him to abide still at Ephesus that hee might charge some to teach no other 1 Tim. 1.3 and no Heterodox doctrine And to Titus that for this cause left I thee in Crete that hee might stop the mouths of vain that is Tit. 1.5 erronious and schismatical talkers not onely by word and by example but also by authority Hee so commands him to reject an Heretick Chap. 3. that is excommunicate him as may be conceived And indeed wee see by experience in some Churches those that are of latitude where this Government of late hath been suspended what factions have grown As in the Netherland Churches about Arminius so far that had not the Authority of the Magistrate and assistance of Neighbours interposed those Churches and that Republick had been utterly ruined what divisions are growing at this day among the Churches of France some adhering unto the opinion of Amiraldus about these points others opposing of them I hear with grief and have been told that a Minister of no mean note in that Church lately in London and whom I could name should say that some Ministers of France should express so much that had their Churches full establishment from the Civil Power they could not govern them without Episcopacy which it seems both Calvin Beza and of late Diodate foresaw of whom afterward By this Testimony it appears Episcopacy to have been of greatest Antiquity Universality and of such Necessity
for use that without it the Churches could not be preserved neither in Truth nor Vnity And though Hierome seem to imply that there was some times when the Churches were governed without it yet unless hee mean the time of the Apostles who were themselves instead of it no time by his own words can be assigned when the Church either could or did want it neither doth hee name any certain time or alledge any Author as hee useth to do in case of History neither under correction of men of larger reading do I beleeve hee could Seeing it is evident in the Ecclesiastical History and by the Monuments of the most Antient Writers that Episcopacy was contiguous with the Apostles time as appears by Ignatius Policarpus Vide Eus Hist Hieron de Scriptorib Ecclesiast Clemens Irenaeus and others Whereas Hierome lived in the fourth Century above three hundred years after Christ 'T is true St. Austin that mirrour of Modesty and Humility writing unto this same Hierome when hee had received some contemptuous expressions from him as I said before Aug. ad Hieron Epist. 19. that Father was a little high in answer to him saith Quanquam enim secundum honorum vocabula quae jam Ecclesiae usus obtinuit Episcopatus Presbyterio major sit Object tamen in multis rebus Augustinus Hieronymo minor est Although saith hee according to titles of honour which now the USE of the Church hath obtained Episcopacy be superiour to Presbytery yet in many things Austin is inferiour to Hierome Answ Hee saith it is by use of the Church that Episcopacy is above Presbytery but hee speaketh of the difference of names and tiles implying that in the Scripture they have often all one name Epist ad Evagrium as Hierome had proved in that Commentary upon the first of Titus and elsewhere but doth not deny nor imply that the Office was the same Again hee saith the Use of the Church now this Use may be as antient as the Apostles Lastly Hee knew with whom hee was dealing and on purpose composed his expression to the qualifying of Jerome Vide Epist ad Hieron 15. as appears in his other Epistles to him hee doth not dispute ex professo this point Cyprian the antient of them both in the place now cited carries it very far for the dignity of Episcopacy â—â—pr lib. 1. Ep. 3. and the eminency of one both in Place and Authority Having proved by many examples the preheminency of place and duty of Obedience by the Scripture given to the High Priests among the Jews applying to the Bishop in a Christian Church hee saith Cum haec tanta ac talia multa alia exempla praecedant quibus Sacerdotalis autoritas potestas divina dignatione firmatur quales putas esse eos qui Sacerdotum hostes contra Ecclesiam Catholicam rebelles nec praemonentis Domini comminatione nec futuri judicii ultione terrentur Neque enim aliundè haereses abortae sunt aut nata sunt schismata quà m inde quod Sacerdoti Dei non obtempetatur nec UNUS in Ecclesia ad tempus Sacerdos ad tempus Judex vice Christi cogitatur Cui si secundum Magisteria divina obtemperaret fraternitas universa nemo adversum Sacerdotum Collegium quicquam moneret nemo post divinum judicium post populi suffragium post Co-episcoporum consensum judicem se non jam Episcopi sed Dei faceret nemo dissidio unitatis Christi Ecclesiam scinderet that is Seeing these so great such and so many other examples have gone before by which the authority and power of the Priestly dignity is confirmed by Gods institution what kind of men do you think them who being enemies of the Priesthood and rebels against the Catholick Church are neither terrified by Gods threatnings nor yet with fear of the judgement to come For from no other cause do Heresies arise nor Factions in the Church have their beginning than from hence that there is not given obedience to the Priest of God hee means the Bishop as the words following will shew neither is considered that for the time there is but One Priest namely chief that ought to be in the Church of God and for the time but one Judge in the stead of Christ To whom according to the Doctrine of Christ did the whole Brother-hood give obedience no man would move any thing against the Colledge of Priests by whom the Bishops was chosen no man would make himself Judge not now of the Bishop but of God himself after that hee hath been chosen by the Divine Judgement by the suffrage of the people desired and by the consent of other Bishops confirmed I urge this Testimony being very antient Cyprian lived about the year 250. to shew the judgement of Antiquity touching Episcopacy namely the Institution Use and End of it viz. preservation of Truth and Peace in the Church as wee saw before out of St. Hierome Spurâ—ous testimonies though grayer-headed I pass not at Yea and Hieron himself elsewhere doth imply that a Bishop might ordain which a Presbyter could not do Quid enim facit exceptâ ordinatione Hieron Epist ad Evagr. Tom. 3. Episcopus quod Presbyter non facit that is what doth a Bishop do except Ordination which a Presbyter doth not thus hee but Ordination carries with it some Superiour jurisdiction Since my writing of this De Evangel Ministerium gradib cap. 23. I have consulted what Savania hath observed upon this place of Hierome on Tit. 1.5 against Beza and finde that his cogitations are the same much-what with mine as indeed it is obvious to any one considering of it neither do I see cause to alter them Savania Beza for any thing I finde in Beza his reply unto them whose judgement in this point wee shall hear anon out of the same writing And so I dismiss the Testimony from Antiquity Proceed wee now to the Judgement of the Reformed Churches expressed by their chief Writers and even those who have erected another Government Calvin the supposed Parent of Presbytery 1. The Reformed Christian Churches Judgement of Episcopacy but hee was onely the foster Father for Farel and Viret had before him ejected Episcopacy at Geneva or rather the Bishop hee the ground being as it were vacant raised Presbytery or rather ripened it in the room thereof Hee first argues the right of Episcopacy for the substance of it from Nature it self Calvin 1. Hoc natura dictat Unum ex singulis Collegiis delegendum exi precipua cura incumbat Epist. ad R pol. 1554. 2. Fateor quidem ut sunt hominum ingenia mores non posse ordinem stare inter verbi Ministros quin reliquis praesit Unus Praes ad duc Witemberg ante Epist ad Gal. Epist ad R. pol. 1554. then acknowledges the Necessity of it for the upholding of the order of the Ministery from the disposition and spirit of men both
Vide Epist l. 2. Tom. 8. with all his Titles and hath other Epistles also wherein hee stiles him and Bishop Jewel likewise Bishops and Prelates 5. Melancthon often Valde reprehendimur à nostris quod jurisdictionem Episcopis reddidimus Nam vulgus assuefactum libertati Epist. l. 5. Ep. 15. Lutheâ—o semel excusso jugo Episcoporum aegre patitur sibi rursum imponi illa vetera onera maximè oderunt illam dominationem Civitates Imperii De Doctrina Religionis nihil laborant tantum de Regno libertate sunt soliciti Again Cives tui ex Norico valde succensent nobis quod reddimus jurisdictionem Episcopis Fremunt alii socii indignantur Regnum Episcopis restitui Lib. 3. Ep. 178. Vito Theodoro Ego tamen etiam duriores conditiones arbitror nobis accipiendas esse propter publicam Ecclesiae tranquillitatem concordiam sed FATALIS aliqua necessitas urget Germanos Again Utinam utinam possim non quidem dominationem confirmare sed administrationem restituere Episcoporum Lib. 4. Ep. 104. Camerario video enim qualem simus habituri Ecclesiam dissolutâ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ecclesiastica video postea multo intollerabiliorem futuram tyrannidem quà m antea unquam fuit adhuc nihil adhuc concessimus adversariis praeter ea quae Lutherus censuit esse reddenda re bene ac diligenter considerata ante conventum Again Quo enim jure licebat nobis dissolvere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ecclesiasticam si Episcopi concedent illa quae aequum est eosco c dere ut liceat certè non expedit semper ita sensitipse Lutherus Quem nulla de causa quidam ut video amant nisi quia beneficio ejus sentiunt se Episcopos excussisse adeptos libertatem minimè utilem ad posteritatem Again Velim hoc tibi persuadeas de me deque multis aliis nos optare Ep. ad Episc Augustin Dupl Aberd. 12. P. 115. ut pace constitutâ Episcoporum potestas sit incolumis hanc plurimam prodesse Ecclesiis judicamus We are saith hee much reproved by men of our own side because wee have restored their jurisdiction unto the Bishops For the people being accustomed to liberty and having once shaken off the yoak of Bishops can hardly indure those old burdens to be laid on their shoulders again But those who especially hate that Government are the Cities of the Empire As for the Doctrine of Religion they minde it not only of Lordship and Liberty they are solicitous Again Thy Towns-men of Noricum saith hee to another are very angry with mee for restoring jurisdiction to Bishops other of our friends are in a rage also and are highly offended that the Government is restored to the Bishops But for my part I think that even harder conditions should be accepted by us for the publick peace and tranquillity of the Church But there is a kinde of FATAL necessity that hurries on the Germanes Again O I would to God I would to God I were able to restore unto the Bishops not indeed their Lordly domineering he means such as were exercised by some Popish Bishops but their jurisdiction and government for I perceive what kinde of Church wee are like to have when the Church Politie and Discipline is dissolved Note And I perceive moreover a much more intollerable tyranny in the Church like to arise than hitherto hath ever been we have as yet yeelded nothing to the adversaries Note more than Luther himself judged fit to be restored after hee had weighed the matter with diligence and care before the Convention Again By what right can we lawfully dissolve the Church Government whilst the Bishops will yeeld unto us what they ought to yeeld And if it were lawful yet surely it is not expedient And so Luther ever thought whom I perceive some do love for no other cause in the world but for that they see by him they have shaken off Episcopacy and gotten a liberty no way useful unto posterity Again I would have thee think saith hee to the Bishop of Ausburg and perswade thy self concerning mee and many others that wee desire that peace being settled the power of Bishops may continue unshaken And this their power wee judge to be specially useful for the Churches Thus hee as for the Tyranny hee speaks of it happens to the Church as to the State sometimes For Example The Keepers of the Liberties of England was a specious title yet wee know they left us not a dram of Liberty indeed So it is easie for Tyranny to arise in the Church under a new name and a Wolf in a sheeps clothing But as the former Author saith in the same place Zanch. ubi supra Why contend wee about Names when as hee hath truly noted the Necessity and Use of Episcopacy as to the thing and office is acknowledged and improved in all Christian Churches I have done with Zanchy Let mee subjoyn one more and hee of special note and which wee should the more observe him for Bucer de Regno Christi lib. 2. cap. 12. pag. 67. one of the English Reformers though a foreiner it is Bucer whose praises wee heard above lib. 1. cap. 1. Hear him once and again First Note in that book which hee wrote and dedicated to King Edward the sixth for the special use of this Church and Nation and it were well it might be a little looked into the more whose Title is of the Kingdome of Christ Hee saith Jam ex perpetua Ecclesiarum observatione ab ipsis jam Apostolis videmus Visum hoc esse Spiritui sancto ut inter Presbyteros quâ—bus Ecclesiarum procuratio potissimum est commissa Unus Ecclesiarum totius sacri Ministerii curam gerat singularem eaque curâ solicitudine cunctis praeat aliis Qua de causa Episcopi nomen hujusmodi summis Ecclesiarum Curatoribus est peculiariter attributum Tametsi hi sine reliquorum Presbyterorum Consilio nihil statuere debeant Qui ipsi propter hanc communem Ecclesiae administrationem Episcopi in Scripturis vocentur Hi enim sicut dignitate demandata primaria Ecclesiarum solicitudine reliquos omnes sancti Ministerii ordines antecedunt ita debent voluntate studio Ecclesias rite administrandi prae omnibus aliis flagrare omnique facultate eas aedificandi praepollere Now saith hee by the perpetual observation of the Churches Note Episcopacy from the Holy Ghost from the very Apostles it seemed good to the Holy Ghost that among the Presbyters to whom the care of the Church is chiefly committed there should bee One who should specially sustain the cure and Government of the Churches and of the whole sacred Ministery and in that care and burden to be before all other For which cause the name of Bishop is attributed more peculiarly to these chief highest Rulers of the Churches although they without the counsel of the
repetition of this Testimony Non Crambe bis cocta haec bis repetita placebunt In Musick streins often repeatâ—d are In mental harmony why is' t a jarr nemo post divinum judicium post populi suffragium post Coepiscoporum consensum judicem se non jam Episcopi sed Dei faceret Nemo dissidio unitatis Christi Ecclesiam scinderet c. For from no other root saith hee either Heresies spring or Schisms do arise than from this That Obedience is not given to the Priest or Minister of God so hee calls the Bishop by way of eminency as the words following declare And that it is not considered that there is for the time but One Priest and but ONE JUDGE in Christs stead To whom if the WHOLE Church according as the Scripture hath appointed were obedient no man would move any thing against the Colledge of Ministers no man after Gods sentence the peoples suffrage election or approbation after the consent of the other Bishops would make himself Judge not now of the Bishop but of God himself In which Testimony onely by the way noting that populi suffragium must be according to Calvins observation not properly an Election though in a large sense it may be called so according to that of the former Author elsewhere Quum ipsa plebs maxime habeat potestatem L. 1. Ep. 4. vel eligendi dignos Sacerdotes vel indignos recusandi That the people have chief right either to chuse good Ministers or of refusing those that are bad But either a signification of their desire whom they would have or else an approbation of the Election made by the Bishops and confirmed by the Magistrate So Calvin Instit lib. 4. cap. 4. s 12. Cap. 13. Laodic Concil Est quidem illud fateor optimâ ratione sancitum in Laodicensi concilio ne turbis electio permitteretur primum soli Clerici eligebant offerebant Magistratui tum ad multitudinem res deferebatur Aut si à multitudine incipiebatur tantum id fiebat ut sciretur quem potissimum expeteret It is saith hee I confess excellently decreed in the Councel of Laodicea that the election of Ministers should not be permitted to the people But first the Clergy did chuse then they presented him to the Magistrate and lastly hee was propounded to the people c. But this occasionally onely to prevent mistaking As to the former Testimony of Cyprian out of it wee learne First That the eminency of one Minister above the rest in Government is of Divine Institution Post Judicum divinum Secondly That hee being chosen hath a sole superiour power of judgement in the Church to whom all must be obedient I say not hee hath a sole power absolutely but a sole superiour power over all within his Diocess and Jurisdiction by this Testimony whatsoever is to be said of the thing it self according to the Word of God And indeed the liberty or advantage that Civil Laws give of exercising Episcopal Authority doth not imply they have no other The Church hath taught us they may concur Will you such as be unquiet disobedient and criminous within your Diocess Book of Consecrat Q. At the consecrat of a Bishop correct and punish according to such Authority as yee have by Gods Word and as to you shall be committed by the Ordinance of this Realm 〈…〉 Ecclesiastical whether in order or degree which at present wee dispute not be according to Scripture as before hath been shewn Government and Jurisdiction cannot bee separated from it although the Laws should not confer any yea forbid it seeing the Church cannot subsist without Government which cannot be exercised regularly without Bishops Cypr. lib. 8. Ep. 3 The same Cyprian and in the same Epistle now cited shewing it to be the design of Satan in setting men to oppose godly Bishops that so hee may destroy Discipline and by that the Church it self saith Apparet quis impugnet non scilicet Christus qui Sacerdotes aut constituit aut protegit sed ille qui Christi adversarius Ecclesiae ejus inimicus Ob hoc Ecclesiae praepositum sua infestatione persequitur ut Gubernatore sublato atrocius atque violentius circa Ecclesiae naufragia grassetur Who it is and upon what design that opposeth Episcopacy It appears saith hee who opposeth the Bishop to be sure not Christ who either appointeth or protecteth Bishops But hee who is Christs adversary and his Churches enemy for this end persecutes and infests the Church Ruler that the Pylot being taken off hee might with greater cruelty and violence make spoil and shipwrack of the Church Thus far Cyprian And this here for the Right of this office in humane and divine SUBSECT II. THe next is whether it bee a distinct Order from or a superiour Degree above the Presbytery or ordinary Ministry Whether Episcopacy be a different order Necess Ref. p. 42. Touching the judgement of the Church of England in which point there need not be any great controversie if men that have little else to defend themselves were not too captious of words Of which sort of controversies the Apostle giveth warning viz. 2 Tim. 2.14 That wee should not strive about words without profit Answ 1 The Preface to the Book of Ordination of Ministers saith Preface to the Book of Ordination It is evident to all men diligently reading holy Scripture and Ancient Authors that from the Apostles time there have been THESE ORDERS of Ministers in Christs Church Bishops Priests and Deacons which offices were evermore had in such reverent estimation that no man by his own private authority might presume to execute any of them Where it is plain that saying these Orders and then naming three it is as much as if it had said These three Orders which is the Exception the Brethren have against it And because it calleth them presently Offices But that altereth not what it said before for every order is an office and every office is in some order Again they evidently prevaricate for whereas they say that the passage Almighty God which hast appointed divers orders of Ministers in the Church or in thy Church is in one prayer at the consecration namely of a Bishop It must be noted that it is three times in the book viz. At the ordering of a Deacen of a Priest and consecrating of a Bishop Now applying this word in prayer divers orders of Ministers to every one of those offices Can any man in his conscience doubt but that they took them for several orders who compiled the book and which being confirmed by Parliament and Convocation 8. Eliz. cap. 1. is the judgement of the Church of England in this point although it doth not every time it mentions the Bishop name order but sometime Office and Ministry That the book calls the inauguration of a Bishop Consecration of Bishops not an ordering but a Consecration doth not overthrow what
they said in the Preface and in the Prayer in both which the book speaks of them as of several orders as wee saw but now for that word of Consecration is used for honours sake onely as being the separation of a person to a more eminent order If the Brethren could make advantage of it they might by the same Logomachy prove that Bishops Priests and Deacons are consecrated also for the Title of the Book saies The form and manner of consecrating Bishops Priests and Deacons Ergo Priests and Deacons are consecrated as well it may bee said as that Bishops are consecrated therefore not ordered This for the judgement of the Church of England and of the Articles whereof the book of Ordination is a branch unto which the Brethren as it seems have also subscribed Artic. 36. For revolting from which Can. 38. they have merited the censures of the Church but that they say those Canons have now no powder but there may bee some in making If Linwood and Anshelme say Linwood constitut Anshelm in Phâ—l 1. that Episcopacy is not an order distinct from Presbyters wee are to note that these and many streams like have but one head which when it issued out this was a little troubled it is St. Hierom whom in this they follow and whose words they use Who being provoaked by John Bishop of Hierusalem Ad Evagr. Tom 2. in Ep. ad Tit. 1. took occasion warmly to make that a general note which hee had but from a few particular instances and the latitude of the word Bishop in Scripture That because there was not at that time any one so constituted at Ephesus Act. 22. when Paul left that Church therefore there was not one afterward when John wrote his Revelation and Christ sent the message to the Angel especially of that Church To say that Angel was the company of the Ministers Apoc 2. is to beg the question not to answer the proof Also because there was none one while more specially designed by Paul at Philippi or at least spoken to therefore there was none at Colosse when as the Apostle directs his speech to bee delivered to Archippus To say there was no other Minister there is to avoid what can not by such evasion be escaped Ephesus had a Bishop or call him what you will a superiour Governour to all the Ministers 1 Tim. 1. when Timothy was there and so had the Isle of Crete when Titus governed it Tit. 1. When the Apostle admonisheth the Hebrews to obey them that have the Rule over them Heb. 13. Act. 15. Gal. 2. 1 Cor. 3 5. 2 Cor. 3.6 Eph. 6.21 Rom. 13.4 cap. 15.8 doth it exclude the government of James or of Peter to whom Paul applyed himself as the pillars and rectors of that Church A speech uttered to many doth not shut out the precedency of some one among them The word Deacon is sometime applyed to the Apostles themselves and to the Evangelists And to the Magistrate Luk. 19.44 1 Pet. 2.12 and to â—hr st himself So the word Episcopacy sometimes signiâ—ies viâ—itation in general in the Scripture sometimes the offiâ—e of A ostleship Act. 1.20 And his Bishoprick let ano her take â—nâ— sometimes the office of a Bishop or Pastor or Presbyter 1 Tim. 3. Hee that desireth the office of a Bishop But this latitude of the Word in Scripture impedeth not but that the thing now understood thereby may be in Scripâ—ure distinct from that of Presbyter and is in all those plaâ—es and persons where and who had jurisdiction over other Ministers as the Apostles the Evangelists and others such as Timothy and Titus were But that Hieron even when hee disputes upon the Word was not so clear against the thing Ep. ad Evagr. in ipso fine appeâ—rs in that hee saith Presbyter Episcopus aliud aetatis aliud dignitatis est nomen Unde ad â—imotheum de ordinatione Episcopi Diaconi dicitur de Presbyteris omnino reticetur quia in Episcopo Presbyter continetur Et ut sciamus traditiones Apâ—stolicas sumptas de Veteri Testamento Qâ—od Aaron silii ejus atque Levitae in Templo fuerunt hoc sibi Episcopi Presbyteri Diaconi vendicent in Ecclesia The name saith hee of Presbyter and Bishops the one is a title of years the other of dignity Whence it is that in the Epistle to Timothy there is mention made of the ordination of a Bishop and a Deacon by the way note Consecration an Ordination that Antiquity doth name the consecration of a Bishop ordination which the Brethren deny but there is no mention there of the ordination of a Presbyter because that in a Bishop a Presbyter is also contained And that wee may understand the postolical traditions taken out of the Old Testament Hieron judgement of Epâ—scopacy whilst he dâ—sputes against it look what Aaron and his Sons and the Levites were in the Temple Let the Bishops and he Presbyters and the Deacons challenge unto themselves in the Church where first we have as much distinction yeelded as was betwixt Aaron and his Sons and the Levites between the Bishops and Presbyters and Deacons Secondly That this distinction is Apostolical and grounded on the equity of the orders of the Ministery in the Old Testament so that it is agreeable unto Scripture both in the Old and New Testament Thirdly That the word Bishop is used for Presbyter sometimes because it comprehends it But hee doth not say it is comprehended also of it SUBSECT II. Answ 2 BUt wee may quit this controversie about the distinction of the orders of Episcopacy and Presbytery for the question is of the power which of men in the same degree is not alwaies the same When the same Father saith in the same Epistle Quid enim facit exceptâ ordinatione Ep. ad Evagr. Episcopus quod non facit Presbyter What doth a Bishop excepting Ordination which a Presbyter doth not and where elsewhere hee saith That imposition of hands or confirmation of the Baptized was proper to the Bishops though hee qualifie it by saying that it was done ad honorem potius Sacerdotis quam ad legis necessitatem ' for the honour of the Priesthood for so by way of excellency hee often as also other of that time call Episcopacy as we saw above out of Cyprian rather than by necessity of the institution ' And when in the former Epistle and elsewhere hee saith Ad Evagr. in Tâ—t cap. 1. In toto orbe decretum est ut unus de Presbyteris electus superponeretur caeteris ad quem omnis Ecclesiae cura pertineret Schismatum semina tollâ—rentur That it was decreed through the whole world that one should be elected out of the Presbyters and set over the rest unto whom the whole care of the Church should belong and the seeds of Schism taken away Also Ecclesiae
Presbyter and Bishop as the Brethren do and that of Paul made him an Evangelist is to make him twice ordained which is not once proved and therefore may as easily be denied This for that they produce out of the Gospel To what they say from Law viz. That the Statute 13. Eliz. 12. binding all men not ordained by the Ordination book to subscribe the Articles before the feast of the nativity then coming and the Brethren thence inferring that the Law did not intend to binde all to this form of Ordination It is easie to see that the Statute refers to those then not ordained by it but by other order or in other places but is no cloak for any since What in the fifth place they add that this affixing the right of Ordination unto Bishops doth unchurch all the Protestant Churches is a cast of their office which is to calumniate For that is law and order in one place which is confusion or Schism in another The Apostles Rule 2 Thes 3. Reformed Churches That every man meddle with his own business may bee in some sense applicable to Churches also Wee know our own duty wee hope charitably they would do theirs had they the liberty wee have or the light They condemn not us wee despise not them but give them the right hand of fellowship and when occasion serves wee declare that wee are with them and they with us one bread and one body SECT IV. Of the book of Ordination SUBSECT I. Bishops imposition of hands on Deacons NExt that they may mark out iniquity and accomplish a diligent search for it and that so the nakedness of their Father and Mother if any were might in no part be covered with the veil of charity or modesty but exposed to the contempt and scorn of those in Gath and Askelon They fall upon the book of Ordination But what Book sure such as is written sententiis vivis The book of Ordination as the Jesuite spake of Savanarola upon the Psalms So composed for strength of Doctrine and piety of expression that there is no religious heart can think but that they were guided in it by the very Spirit of God and which did the Brethren conscionably peruse they would finde as wee say other fish to fry and instead of quarrelling with it fall down and ask God forgiveness for their breach of what they promised when they were ordained by it But to the particulars Omitting their quarrel to the three orders and the word Priest answered before Come wee to their exception against the ordering of Deacons which is P. 45. that the imposition of the hands of the Bishop alone upon them is contrary to Acts the sixth where 't is said that They and not one of them onely laid their hands on them But if it be of necessity that at the ordaining of the Deacon there must be the hands of all the Apostles or Ministers present Then more should be required thereunto than to the making of a Minister or a Bishop for that was done by Pauls hand as himself witnesseth in Timothy or at least it will follow that one Apostle 2 Timothy 2. if the rest were present had not power to make a Deacon Secondly Is it any way probable that all the Twelve laid their hands upon every one May not rather Calvins opinion above cited hee admitted viz. ' that one onely did it in the name of the rest Thirdly How will it follow that if all the Apostles laid on hands that therefore every Minister present with the Bishop must do so too unless they can shew that every private Minister doth come as neer the dignity of an Apostle as a Bishop doth who is a Governour of the Church Fourthly It is well noted in the Articles that some superstitions in the Church though there it speaks in another case have grown Artic. 25. of the Sacrament partly of the corrupt following of the Apostles The Apostles and not one onely might lay on hands because there were several to bee ordained And many occasions did admonish them of expedition Again Their Deacons were not in all points as ours which are admitted into the order of the Ministry Why the sole imposition of the Bishops hands is used in Deacons which because an inferiour one to represent the distinction of it and the dignity of the other viz. The Ministry usually so called or Priesthood it was thought convenient to impose the sole hand of the Bishop in the one But for more solemnity not more efficacies sake to adjoyn other Ministers to the Bishop in the other SUBSECT II. Apostles choose Deacons THey except secondly against that passage in the Except 2 prayer where it is said that God did inspire his Apostles to chuse into this order St. Stephen c. whereas they say Act. 6. the Text saith it was the multitude Now the Brethren say it was by order from the Apostles And it hindreth not but that the Apostles might chuse with them or if not their approbation is their chusing after the multitude had made theirs Where the Brethren say that to say the Apostles chose them directly ' crosseth the Text they give us a taste of their learning and of their Logick With them it seems Except 3 subordinata simul vera are contradictoria and Jonathan and David mortal enemies SUBSECT III. Receive the Holy Ghost BUt that which most offendeth say they is N. 3. Receive the Holy Ghost that in the very act of ordaining Priests or Ministers the Bishop takes upon him to give that which none but God himself hath power to bestow where it saith Receive the Holy Ghost c. which be the words of Christ himself to his Apostles without any warrant from him to bee used by any other Because in other ministrations where the words of Institution in Baptism in the administration of the Lords Supper c. are first rehearsed and then at the Act of ministring a prayer is used not a Magisterial use of the very words of Christ himself in the first institution For answer Answ First the Bishop is not to be laden with this odium alone if any were just but the rest of the Ministers also that impose hands with him the Bishop for orders sake being but their mouth But to the matter First To the thing it self next to their exceptions against it To the former Wee must first remember that the Holy Ghost is Christs Vicar upon earth in the Government of the Church in general Joh. 14. chap. 15. chap. 16. and therefore sent by him for that purpose And particularly assumeth to himself the calling of the Ministry As separate unto mee saith the Holy Ghost Barnabas and Saul for the work that I have appointed them Act. 13.2 And take heed unto your selves and unto the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you over-seers Act. 20. saith the Apostle to the Ministers of Ephesus Whence it
follows that no Minister can be made but hee must have the Authority of the Holy Ghost Secondly It is necessary also that hee receive the Holy Ghost it self in the gifts and abilities of it for the discharge of this calling For no man can say that is effectually teach that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 12. And every spirit that confesseth that is soundly preacheth that Jesus is the Christ is of God 1 John 4.1 2. John 16. For it is the Holy Ghost onely that leadeth into all Truth concerning Christ Thirdly The conveyance of the Holy Ghost in all publick Ordinances is by some Ministerial hand as in Baptism and the Lords Supper wherein at least unto the faithful the Holy Ghost is conveyed So as in respect of the thing it self the Holy Ghost is necessary to bee conveyed to every Minister that is to bee ordained Sense of the words 2. Next for the meaning of the phrase First wee must observe That the word Holy Ghost here may be either taken for his person and gifts or for his Authority or both by a Metonymy It is taken for his gifts where it is said John 7. that the Holy Ghost was not yet because Christ was not yet glorified It is taken for his Authority when the Apostle saith that the Holy Ghost had made the Ministers of Ephesus the overseers of the flock Act. 20. Secondly wee may expound the words by way of declaration and solemn pronouncing as well as imparative or communicative bidding And the other words may bee so expounded also according as in absolution it is in one place in the Common Prayer-Book pronounced authoritatively yet it is expounded to bee onely a declaring and pronouncing Now to apply the former The word Holy Ghost here seems to bee taken for the Authority especially of the Holy Ghost to the exercise of the Ministerial function As if it were said Take thou the Authority of the Holy Ghost which hee hath appointed his Church to communicate and dispense to persons worthy for the Ministry of the Word in binding and loosing and of the Sacraments 3. To their exceptions First To the exception general it self that this form hath no warrant No warrant It is answered Answ That in other things they urge the Letter of the Scripture And surely where there is no incongruity in the thing nor impediment from some other cause from using the very words of Institution there cannot bee desired a better warrant Now that there is no such incongruity nor impediment shall bee shewn in answering unto the Reasons of the former exception whereof the first is that Proof none but God himself hath power to give the Holy Ghost But it hindreth not but that what none but a superiour Authority can have power to give originally may yet bee given ministerially Answ and by delegation from that superiour power Neither Moses had power to consecrate Aaron nor Samuel to confer the Kingdome unto David nor the Apostles themselves to give the Holy Ghost but by delegation and commission Which power if as to that right of the conferring the power and authority of the Holy Ghost to the ordaining of a Minister the Church ministerially hath not for without that power it cannot bee done then must every Minister receive his authority and outward call immediately from Heaven Neither is repugnant hereunto Lib. 1. dist 14. cap. 1. Hic quaeritur Aug. de Trin. l. 15. c. 26. either that of the Master of the sentences nor of Austin himself whence hee hath it viz. Neque enim aliquis discipulorum ejus dedit spiritum sanctum Orabant quippe ut veniret in eos quibus manum imponebant non eum ipsi dabant Quem morem in suis propositis etiam nunc servat Ecclesia Object For neither saith hee any of the Disc ples gave the Holy Ghost but they prayed that hee might come on those upon whom they laid their hands but gave him not themselves which custome the Church even now retaineth in her Bishops For our Church doth pray in laying on of hands and with and under the words Answ 1 of Institution asketh also before and after What form of words the Apostles used in laying on of hands and conferring the Holy Ghost is not expressed but unlikely it is that they used none Now those they used whether they were those used by our Saviour or others in form of praying cannot be determined nor therefore their example urged in that which our Church pretendeth not unto But the former will bee more evident in other ministrations also In Absolution the form is in the Liturgy in the visitation of the sick Imperative and authoritative as I may so speak and in a good sense so it is by his authority committed unto mee I absolve thee from all thy sin c. yet in the general absolution after the general confession at morning-prayer by which the former must bee expounded it is expressed to bee but declaratory by way of solemn and authoritative pronouncing and with the concurrence of prayer for efficacy of such declaration Almighty God who hast given power and commandment to declare and pronounce to his people being penitent the absolution and remission of their sins c. In Baptism the Holy Ghost and remission of sins is given and that by the ministration and the words spoken by the Minister So also in the Lords Supper the body and blood of Christ sacramentally is conferred by the words and action of the Minister none of which is in the power of any to bestow but God onely Shall wee therefore except against the fruits of those Ordinances or against the Minister for pronouncing such words and doing such actions Again as in the Absolution there goeth with the Pronounciation prayer also and so likewise in Baptism and the Lords Supper what hindereth but that the words may be taken under a precatory sense also and as including prayer which more expresly goeth both before and after The words therefore take thou the Holy Ghost do not argue an original or an inherent power but Ministerial onely and so as not excluding a precatory vertue also This to the first Reason The second is because they were the words of Christ himself to his Apostles what Proof 2 then were all Christs words to his Apostles peculiar to them Answ It was to his Apostles that hee gave the command of baptizing and teaching and of giving his last Supper Have none therefore power since to administer these Ordinances Again if no Minister can be made but by the Holy Ghost and his Authority and this Authority were proper onely to the Apostles because the words were spoken to them then is the Church deprived of the Holy Ghost ever since the Apostles nor hath power to ordain a Ministry The third reason is taken from the parallel of other administrations Proof wherein the words of institution in
Baptism in the administration of the Lords Supper c. are first rehearsed and then at the act of Ministring a prayer is used not a Magisterial use of the very words of Christ himself in the first institution First it is untrue that there is any difference in this Answ between Ordination and Baptism or the Lords Supper for as in these there goeth prayer before and after So also in this of Ordination But in the very act there is used a Magisterial if the Brethren will have it so or an authoritative command precept or imperative expression In Baptism I baptize thee in the name of the Father c. not a praying that hee may be baptized The sense whereof is I wash away thy sins or as Ananias to Paul arise and be baptized and wash away thy sins Act. 22.16 which is Magisterial and commanding At the least it is an using of the very words of Christ himself at the first institution as neer as may bee which the Brethren deny to be lawful So in the Lords Supper It is not in the very act I pray that thou mayest be one for whom Christ died and that thou mayest feed on him by Faith But a peremptory assertion that Christ died for him and an imperative command that hee should feed on him by Faith In neither the one Sacrament nor the other is there a prayer used in the very act of administring Neither were it unlawful if the former were in the Lords Supper Take thou the body of Christ take thou his blood which some have used But that our Church for the avoiding of Superstition hath been forced to use other words The Germane and Dutch Churches use a form not unlike that now named The Dutch Form of the Lords Supper in the Dutch Churches The bread which wee break is the communion of the body of Christ take and eat it where they are commanded to take the body of Christ as peremptorily as the Minister is commanded to take the Holy Ghost So in the Cup. But none can give the body and blood of Christ but himself onely And in the Germane Church of Colen Liber Reform Colen in the Liturgy above mentioned in the form of giving the Lords Supper Accipe manduca ad salutem tuam corpus Domini quod pro te traditum est Take and eat the body of Christ to thy salvation c. But secondly as was said above if the words may bear the fotm of a prayer also there needs no altering unless it bee of the Brethrens spirit unto more charity Again wherein wee differ from the very words of Institution it is partly because it would bee incongruous to use them as to say This is my body which is given for you c. And partly to prevent as was said such superstitions as had grown into the use of that Sacrament for want of a more clear explication of those words But it is not incongruous english to say as a Deputy in the name of the Original Author receive the Holy Ghost So also there hath no Superstition arisen upon these words because by Doctrine prevented elsewhere by reason whereof the Church should be constrained to change the very words of our Saviour Especially seeing they serve more emphatically to confirm the assurance of the Minister in his call as also to beget a greater Authority for his person and office in the hearts of the people both which is very necessary Ac uberrimum h. doctrinae fructum quotidie percipit Ecclesia dum pastores suos intelligit divinitus ordinatos esse aeternae salutis sponsoris Cal. in Joh. 20.23 Whilst the people hereby understand that their Ministers are ordained by God to be his Embassadors If it be replied Object that it nourisheth a Popish opinion of the Episcopal and Priestly power to convey the Holy Ghost Object and to forgive sins Answ It is answered that neither of these opinions are Popish but onely the Application of them to unfit persons and the perverse exposition of them as if they had such power in their sleeve to dispense when and to whom they pleased The danger whereof is not such among us who are better taught as that wee should for it alter the words of institution and form of ordaining of which there is such particular use To their third exception that it countenances a sole Except 3 power of Ordination Answ the very form of Ordination answers which appoints that the Bishops with the Priests or Ministers that are present shall lay on their hands and not the Bishop alone To their last of offence to Except 4 Protestant Churches abroad Vide Harm confess they have not declared any such offence in their publick confessions in reference to our Church that I know of nor will if they consider our Doctrine in this particular Answ If some particular men should not be satisfied if for that wee should alter wee should do it rather for the Brethren who are or have been of our own Church But to satisfie a few we may not by unnecessary change scandalize many more To conclude the sense of our Church in these words and this ceremony might be expressed in that of Austin ' on those words Received yee the Spirit by the works of the Law or by the hearing of Faith Aug. in Gal. 3. 2. Tom. 4. Ab Apostolo praedicata est eis fides in qua praedicatione utique adventum praesentiam spiriti sancti senserant By the Apostle saith hee the Faith was preached unto them in which preaching verily there was felt the coming and presence of the Holy Ghost So doth our Church give the Spirit whilst shee repeating the words of Institution intends and prayes that those to whom her word is directed and for whom her prayers Annot. in Joh. 20.22 in Indic Authoâ—it ap Aug. tanquam ex Serm. 11. de verb. dom Tom. 10 quanquam id ibi non invenio sententia tamen proba est may feel the coming and presence of the Spirit I end all with the words of that Author Insufflavit dixit accipite Sp. S. Ecclesiastica iis verbis poâ—estas coâ—lata esse intelligitur inspiratio ergo haec gratia quaedam est quae per traditionem infunditur ordinatis He breathed on them and said Receive the Holy Ghost in these words wee must understand saith hee an Ecclesiastical power is given This Inspiration therefore is a certain grace or priviledge which by delivery in imposition of hands is infused into the ordained which sentence being it takes in both the power and the gift may not unfitly being expounded as a Ministerial act assisted with prayer close this dissertation SUBSECT IV. Consecration of Bishops and Archbishops c. 3. Gen. Exception against book of Ordination THe last Exception they have against the book of Ordination is about consecration of Bishops and Archbishops Where first that because that the same portion of Scripture is appointed to
be read at the consecration of a Bishop Pag. 46. that was read at the Ordination of Priests therefore they infer that the compilers of the book never dreampt of a distinction of orders between Bishops and Presbyters Surely the Brethren are somewhat confident Answ that their readers are very easie either to be perswaded or to be deluded For may not the same Scripture contain matters common to both and peculiar more specially to one of those orders When they have expressed themselves sufficiently before must the appointing of a chapter that containeth precepts for both joyntly yet for the one more eminently argue they meant thereby to confute themselves The next exception is That there is no warrant Except 2 in Scripture for Archbishops Not indeed for the very word as there is not for many other things Answ as for the Trinity Justification by Faith onely Baptism of Infants Women coming to the Lords Supper But for the thing there is The Evangelists as Timothy and Titus had power over other Ministers And the Apostles had power over them If the state of the Church then needed such Superintendents over Bishops and the state of the Church now have the same use and exigency of them There is warrant in Scripture And so there is in Law and Reason viz. to constitute such officers in the Church as well as in the Common-Wealth as whereby the government of it may bee the more conveniently managed The commendation of the wisdome of the Church in this institution of Archbishops wee heard above out of Bucer and Zanchy And may further out of Calvin Calv. Instit. l. 4. c. 4. s 4. Quod autem singulae Provinciae unum habebant inter Episcopos Archiepiscopum Quod item in Nicaena Synodo constituti sunt Patriarchae qui essent ordine dignitate Archiepiscopis superiores id ad disciplinae conservationem pertinebat Si rem omisso vocabulo intuemur reperiemus veteres Episcopos non aliam regendae Ecclesiae formam voluisse fingere ab eâ quam Deus verbo suo prescripsit Now that saith he every province had among their Bishops one Archbishop Archbishops and Patriarchs approved by Calvin and that in the councel of Nice there were ordained Patriarchs which should be in order and dignity superiour unto Archbishops this was done for the preservation of Discipline and Government But if wee will omitting contention about the Word consider the thing it self wee shall finde that the ancient Bishops intended not to frame any form of Church-Government which was in kinde different from that which God had appointed in his Word Thus far hee Go to now yee that pretend to be followers of Calvin and see whether Archbishops yea Patriarchs have not warrant from the Word of God The Brethrens third Exception is against the Except 3 consecration of an Archbishop but upon the former ground that it is but a humane creature Consecration of Archbishops which ground is confuted But if hee were Answ yet consecration may be requisite as a solemn separation of a person to an office in the Church of so much influence of so much consequence As though Kings themselves bee in some sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an humane creation 1 Pet. 2. though by Gods secret appointment yet no man ever quarrelled with their solemn inauguration by prayer other ceremonies suppose them such as are not superstitious into their office That they say our Church seeth no necessity of the consecration of an Archbishop Inst. because it appointeth the same form for both Answ is to stumble at the same undutiful stone to indeavour to make the Church contradict it self To appoint a consecration for an Archbishop and yet to make it a thing of no necessity That it hath not appointed a different form for this is to let the Brethren and all men understand that they did not count this a different order but degree onely in the same order and therefore the same form of consecration might serve for both Because the Church would not multiply services without necessity To the last Exception which they infer from Except 4 the former viz. That seeing the Archbishop is but of the Churches constitution Oath of common obedience therefore they see no reason why he should receive an oath of Canonical obedience from the Bishop But of the Antecedent wee saw above Answ as to the consequent it is untruly gathered For though an Archbishop bee but of Ecclesiastical constitution what hindereth but that having so great an influence upon the Church the welfare whereof doth so much consist in the obedience of the several Governours thereof unto their Superiours and this by men in place so hardly oftentimes performed without more solemn obligation of conscience what impedeth either in Religion or Reason that for the securing the peace of the Church and the exercise of Government an oath may not be exacted of an inferiour degree But that here 's the cramp it argues too much inferiority and subjection unto the Archbishop of a Bishop with whom the Brethren do count themselves equal who are men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and such as cannot bear the yoak especially having now as Caesar once so long ruled that to obey they knew not how But they should remember that a levelling spirit is as dangerous in the Church as in the Common-Wealth and tends to Anarchy and no Government at all What made Diodate else at Geneva come so rarely to the consistory but this that hee said Young men perked up and every one having an equal power there was no place for gravity in the Government which hee expressed to one I know to this effect And thus I have done with their Exceptions against Episcopacy the Government and the solemn initiation thereunto its consecration SECT V. Episcopal Jurisdiction THeir next is against its Right of Jurisdiction Against Episcop Jurisdiction And Except 3 first of sole Jurisdiction Or the exercise of Government alone Where first their assertion not onely that Bishops have not the onely power of Government but also that all Presbyters have a share therein Next their proof of it First to their assertion First Because my scope is onely to vindicate Answ so far as I am able The Doctrine Worship and Government of the Church as agreeable to the Scripture and as received publickly established and practised in this Nation if any do break this fense let the Serpent bite him Eccles 10.8 if hee remove these stones let them fall upon him if hee willingly violate these holy and sacred bonds of Law how weak a Patron soever I am hee shall have no advocate of mee Next the Terms perhaps would bee explained For sole Jurisdiction may bee taken either for sole Right of Government Sole Jurisdiction so that no man else hath any thing to do to govern but himself or by delegation from him or else for the sole Right of the exserting exercise and putting
King James's Proclamation for Uniformity of Common-prayer prefixed to some Editions of the Liturgy which by Law was established in the daies of the late Queen of famous memory blessed with a peace and prosperity both EXTRAORDINARY and of many years continuance A STRONG evidence that God was therewith well pleased The importunity of the complainers was great their affirmations vehement and the zeal wherewith the same did seem to bee accompanied very specious And they began such proceedings as did rather raise a scandal in the Church than take offence away and did other things carrying a very apparent shew of Sedition Upon this double experience when such motions of change were made to him hee * In his Proclamation for unity of Common-Prayer and confer H. Court crushed the chicken here in the shell lest it being hatched by indulgence might pick out his eyes as it did afterward some others and did well King Charls His Majesties Father yeelded in these things to Scotland but doth not obscurely bewail it If any saith hee speaking of Episcopacy shall impute my yeelding to them my failing and sin Icon. Basilic medit 17. p. m. 156. I can easily acknowledge it On the issue whereof no man can without horrour reflect Now Faelix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum O happy hee whom others failings make Wise to become and by them warning take But it may be times are different and am I made of the Kings Counsel I conclude all 2 Chron. 25.16 Erasm in Epist Hieron ad Heliodor Tom. 1. Ep. 1. in Antidot advers calumniam first with that of Erasmus Ad haec video esse non-nullos hujuscemodiingenio ut cùm apicula ad omnem flosculum ad omnem advolans fruticem tantum id excerpat quod ad mellificium sit conducibile ipsi solum hoc venentur si quid sit quod aliquo pacto Calumniari possint His mos est è toto libro quatuor aut quinque verba decerpere atque in eis calumniandis ostendere quantum ingenio polleant Non animadvertunt quibus temporibus cui Causes of calumniating of an Author qua occasione quo animo scripserit ille Neque conferunt quid praecesserit quid sequatur quid alio loco eadem de rescripserit Tantum urgent ac premunt quatuor illa verba ad ea machinas omnes admovent Syllogismorum detorquent depravant aliquoties non intellecta calumniantur That is I perceive saith Erasmus that some men are of that disposition that whereas the little Bee flyes to every flower and to every green thing onely that it may gather that whereof it would make honey these men only hunt after that which they may rail at The custome of such men is out of a whole book to cull out four or five words and in reviling of them to shew what abilities they have They consider not in what times the Author wrote nor to what persons nor upon what occasion nor with what intention Nor do they compare what went before with what follows after what hee said of the same matter in another place Onely they urge those four words they wrest they deprave and sometimes reproach what they understand not Thus far hee Next with that elegant and prudent observation absit invidia verbo of our late Soveraign upon this same Argument Icon. Basilic Medit. 27. To His Majesty that now is Not but that saith hee the draught being excellent as to the main both for Doctrine and Government in the Church of England some liues as in very good figures may happily need some sweetening or polishing Which might have easily been done by a safe and gentle hand if some mens praecipitancy had not violently demanded such rude alterations as would have quite destroyed all the beauty and proportion of the whole Thus the King The close of all Dr. Usher L. Primate of Armagh Serm. before the H. of Com. Febr. 18. 1620. pag. 6 7. Rom. 16.17 I seal up all with the grave admonition of a Primate Bishop and the Authentique Decision of this case by a Prince of Kings Let not every wanton wit saith the former to one of the Houses of Parliament bee permitted to bring what fancies hee list into the pulpit and to disturb things that have been well ordered I beseech you Brethen saith the Apostle mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which yee have learned and avoid them Howsoever wee may see cause why wee should dissent from others in matter of opinion yet let us remember that that is no cause why wee should break the Kings Peace and make a rent in the Church of God A thing deeply to bee thought of by the Ismaels Ismaels of our time whose hand is against every man Gen. 16.12 and every mans hand against them who bite and devour one another until they bee consumed one of another Gal. 5.15 who forsake the fellowship of the Saints and by sacrilegious separation break this bond of peace Little do these men consider how precious the Peace of the Church ought to be in our eyes to bee redeemed with a thousand of our lives and of what dangerous consequence the matter of Schism is unto their own souls For howsoever the Schismatick secundum affectum as the Schoolmen speak in his intention and wicked purpose taketh away unity from the Church even as hee that hateth God taketh away goodness from him as much as in him lyeth yet secundum effectum in truth and in very deed hee taketh away the unity of the Church onely from himself that is hee cutteth himself off from being united with the rest of the body and being dissevered from the body how is it possible that hee should retain communion with the head Thus that most learned Primate Note for whom the Brethren seem to have a special reverence in recommending of his Model of Episcopacy Necessit Reform p. 53. Wherein yet hee did propound but not prescribe his â—udgement according to that Seneca Illi qui in his rebus nobis praecesserunt non Domini sed Duces nostri sunt or as the Apostle as a helper 2 Cor. 1.24 not as a Lord over the Faith of the Church in this particular but especially as respecting the time when more could not well bee hoped for The last word as 't is meet shall bee the Kings and 't was his deciding one in these controversies after hearing of all debates about them at the conference at Hampt Court Proclamat for authorizing the book of Com. prayer at the close And last of all saith hee wee do admonish all men that herereafter they shall not expect nor attempt any further alteration in the common and publick form of Gods service from this which is now ESTABLISHED For that neither will wee give way to any to presume that our own judgement having determined in a matter of this weight shall bee sweighed to
sure that it is not there in any point condemned of Heresie unless it be of the ANABAPTISTS as it is here And I do not think but there be some as well there as in England and it is like enough that SUCH do finde fault with it Who are offended with the Liturgy Dr. Martin Nay even of Mr. Cox himself and other that were Preachers in King Edwards time they have disproved your * This Book established 5 6. Edw. 6. was re-established 1. Eliz. with two or three alterations and is that we now use as was proved above The Alterations are in the Act prefixed before the Service-Book second Book in divers points and have now made a third Book how say you which of these three Books will you allow now Careless Forsooth I say still as I have written that the second Book is good and godly and IN ALL POINTS agreeing to the Word of God and I am sure that neither Master Cox nor any other of our godly Preachers that be fled unto Frankford have condemned that Book IN ANY POINT as repugnant to the Word of God though perchance they have altered something therein according to the usage of that Country where now they are And I have not denied in my Articles but the Church of Christ hath power and authority to enlarge or diminish any thing in the same GOOD BOOK so far forth as it is agreeable to the Scriptures D. Martin But what authority have you or how durst you bee so bold to make an Article of the Faith concerning that Book to be beleeved of all men under pain of damnation Carelesse Ah Master Doctor have I bound any man to beleeve that Article under pain of damnation as you do charge mee I am sure there is no such word in all my Articles I have there written what I hold and beleeve my self as I am bound to do in conscience And now I will add thus much more That the same Book which is so consonant and agreeable to the Word of God ☞ Nore in the fear of God and consider being set forth by Common Authority both of the Kings Majesty that is dead and the whole Parliament House ought not to be despised by mee or any other private man under pain of Gods high displeasure and DAMNATION except they repent 2. Concerning Monarchy and that of this Nation * The Testimony of Mr. Sam. Ward sometime the famous Preacher of Ipswitch the Author of several elegant and useful pieces Hoc enim mihi ratum indubitatum semper fuit hoc semper cum Politicis Theologis gravissimis sensi palum apud omnes professus sum Monarchiam haereditariam sub qua mihi vitales auras feliciter haurine bonis omnimodis frui piè tranquillè degere contigit esse omnium quotquot extant aut excogitari possunt regiminum formae longè multumque praestantissimam utilissimam laudatissimam Cui me ex animo favere ille novit qui perscrutatur renes meos c. i. e. This hath alwaies been with mee a certain and undoubted maxime In his Preface to King Charls the first prefixed before his Treatise in Latine of the Load-stone dedicated unto him intituled Magnetis Reductorium this alwaies with the best States-men and Divines I have ever concluded and openly among all men professed viz. That a Monarchical Government hereditary under which providence hath so ordered that I have drawn my vital breath enjoyed many comforts have had the opportunity to live godly and quietly is of all Governments which are or can be divised by many degrees the best the most beneficial and most commendable to which that I am from my heart a well-wisher hee knows that searches my reins and my heart said that Author Dr. Sanderson the now Right Reverend Bishop of Lincoln in his late treatise intituled Episcopacy not prejudicial to Regal Power as established by Law in the Postscript Lastly Concerning the Divine Right of Episcopacy Though from one in that function yet because it derives it higher and founds it somewhat deeper more solidly and also briefer than is usually done deserves more special notice His words are My opinion is that Episcopal Government is not to bee derived meerly from Apostolical practice or Institution But that it is originally founded in the person and office of the Messias our Blessed Lord JESUS CHRIST who being sent by his heavenly Father to bee the great Apostle Heb. 3.1 Bishop and Pastor 1 Pet. 2.25 of his Church and annointed to that office immediately after his Baptism by JOHN with power and the Holy Ghost Act. 10.37 8. descending then upon him in a bodily shape Luke 3.22 did afterward before his ascension into Heaven send and impower his holy Apostles giving them the Holy Ghost likewise as his Father had given him John 20.21 to execute the same Apostolical Episcopal and Pastoral office for the ordering and governing of his Church until his coming again and so the same office to continue in them and their Successors unto the end of the world Mat. 28.18 20. This I take to be so clear from these and other like Texts of Scripture that if they shall bee diligently compared together both between themselves and with the following practice of all the Churches of Christ as well in the Apostles times as in the purest and Primitive times nearest thereunto there will bee left little cause why any man should doubt thereof Thus that Reverend Author II. Certain other Examples of Retractations In the next place other Instances of Retractations and repentings Beda prefat in Retract suas in Actor Apostol Tom. 6. Cujus Augustini industriam nobis quoque pro modulo nostro placuit imitari Nunc in idem volumen Actor Apostolic brevem Retractationis libellum condamus studio maximè vel addendi quae minus dicta vel emendandi quae socus quam placuit dicta videbantur The ingenuity and industry of St. Austin in his Retractations it is my purpose in my small measure to imitate also Now therefore let us compile a brief Treatise of Retractations with this intent especially either of adding those things which were not sufficiently expressed or of amending those that were expressed otherwise than did seem convenient saith venerable Bede Again For my part saith another though a late Author yet one of good note Good Reader Mr. Whately in his Bride-Bush in his advertisement to the Reader I account it no shame to confess and revoke an errour and will therefore do it plainly and without circumstance Then hee closes with this honest and Austin-like expression viz. From him that had rather confess his own error than make thee erre for company The like whereunto wee heard above out of that Father And Dr. Bishop Brownriggs sentence concerning Retractations Related by Dr. Gauden the now very Rev. Bishop of Excester his successon Brownrigge the late most worthy Bishop of Excester would say that Hee
their general exception The next is against the Ceremonies of this Church and of the Common-prayer Book in particular Of the Ceremonies in partic Against which they except these things First that they are not established by Law Secondly that they are superstitious Thirdly that they are scandalous Fourthly that they have been occasions of persecution Fifthly they are burdensom for their number And lastly even by the consequence of the Article 34. of the 2. Homilie of the time and place of Prayer by the very Preface of the Common-prayer Book it self and also the practice of the Bishops they ought to be removed Touching the first that they are not established they endeavour to prove first generally in that the Common-prayer Book is not established secondly particularly because of the Book of 2. and 5 6 Ed. 6. and the Act of Uniformity of Common-prayer Touching the first that they are not established In the Answ to the sixth gen Except because the Common-prayer Book is not established hath been answered above Touching the particular proof here the Brethren do prevaricate not unpalpably and very undutifully traduce Qu. Eliz. and the Parliament that established the Book of Common Prayer P. 34. For first they say that However the Rubrick before the Book of Common-prayer printed in 1 Eliz. directeth to use such Ornaments as were in use in 2 Edw. 6. Ornaments of service yet that is no part of the Book of Common-prayer which the Parliament of 1 Eliz. established because the Book of 5. 6 Edw. 6. hath no such Rubrick or direction and that Act of 1 Eliz. for Uniformity of Common-prayer injoyns all things to be done according to the Book of 5 6 Edw. 6. and none other nor otherwise therefore nothing according to the Book of 2 Edw. 6. which yet * P. 39. afterward they say is good Law So that they make that Parliament very weak and inconsiderate men Answ and indeed meer C. Combs if that word might be used in reference to so awfull an Assembly that what they appointed in the very entrance of the Book by Rubr. they would establish they did by the Act immediately overthrow They appoint such Ornaments in the Book unto the Minister in Divine Service as was in use by Act of Parliament in the second year of Ed. 6. And in the Act they conform the Prayer-book unto that of 5 6. Ed. 6. and none other or otherwise As if the former were not an Exception and a Provâ—so also in the Act it self Act for Uniformity prope sinem Provided alwayes sayes the Act and be it enacted that such Ornaments of the Church and of the Ministers thereof shall be received and be in use as were in the Church of England by the Authority of Parliament in the second year of the Reign of King Edw. 6. untill other order shall be therein taken note by the Authority of the Queens Majesty Note with the advice of her Commissioners appointed and authorised under the Great Seal of England for Causes Ecclesiastical or of the Metropolitane of this Realm Which latter clause of the Act yields a farther Answer to the Breth viz. that if those Ornaments were not otherwise established either by the Act or by the Liturgie yet by this Act Other Ceremonies if they be established by the Queen and her Commissioners and so by the following Princes Q. hath power to ordain Ceremon Rites and Orders Ecclesiastical it is sufficient The like may be said for Ceremonies Rites and Orders appointed by the Book That Act immediately after the former words subjoyning And also that if there shall happen any contempt or irreverence to be used in the Ceremonies or Rites of the Church by the misusing of the Orders appointed in this Book the Queens Majesty may by the like advice of the said Commissioners or Metropolitane ordain and publish such further Ceremonies or Rites as may be most for the advancement of Gods glory the edifying of his Church and the due reverence of Christs holy Mysteries and Sacraments So that here is establishment enough Next they would prove that the Ceremonies in the Common-prayer Book for of those they are speaking are not established by Law Pag. 38. because the Common-prayer Book of 2 Edw. 6. is in some things referred to And particularly as to Ornaments and Rites both by the Rubrick before Common-prayer in the present Liturgy and by the Statute of 1 Eliz. 2. So that as to this point vâ—z of Ornaments and Rites which they named and as to Ceremonies for of those they are speaking and instance in them presently so much of that Book is still in force by Law But that Book hath expresly given a liberty in some of the things here desired to be no further imposed where in the last page thereof called Certain Notes for the more plain Explication and decent Ministration of things contained therein it saith As touching kneeling crossing holding up of hands knocking upon the breast and other gestures they may be used or left as every mans devotion serveth without blame This say the Brethren is still good Law c. wherein they do as well falsifie as prevaricate for neither the Rubrick before the Common-prayer nor the Act for Uniformity do name Ornaments and Rites as the Brethren recite the words but Ornaments only Now the word Rites comprehends the Ceremonies also which are not referred to in this Act but bounded in the Book it self and further liberty given to the Queen about them as we saw above out of the Act. Again they prevaricate for they know it was far from the meaning of that Rubrick they quote in 2 Ed. 6. when it names kneeling crossing and other gestures as things indifferent to be done or left according to every mans devotion Far it was from them to intend the Crosse in Baptism or the kneeling at the Communion or other gesturâ—s establisht in that very Book and by Act of Parliament and the latter whereof they explain by Rubrick in the Book of 5 6. Edw. 6. But the Brethren know they meant these words of such other Crossings and Kneelings and gestures which were many in those times not appointed by the Book So much for the â—stablishment The next is they are superstitious Superstitious Thirdly scandalous Both which have been replyed to above to which I referre for brevities sake only because this Tract is growen farre beyond what I intended The fourth is they have been occasions of persecution to manâ— able and godly peaceable Miniâ—teâ—s and sober Christians With reference to what hath been said above I add Pâ—â—â—â—â—ble Ministâ—â—s first Touching the Ministers that peacâ—â—ble they are not if like the Brethren Who first endâ—avour to enflame the people as well as Parliament and then to cast questions of difference between the King and Parliament â—ag â—â—â— â—â—â—r â— about Prerogative â— as they not obscurely do by quarrellâ—ng the validity of the