Horse-Raceing meaning at another Time and Place Again if I say the King forbids that men should keep Grey-Hounds to Ride with Swords and Pistols c. meaning Persons of an Inferiour Rank and Quality and another say the King does not sorbid Men to keep Grey-Hounds or to Ride with Swords and Pistols meaning Persons of a Higher Rank and Quality here 's no Contradiction no giving of the Lye to one another And thus it is between St. Paul and Meisner for St. Paul speaks to private Persons whom he forbids to Usurp Power to give Law or to Judge and Censure where they have no Authority But Meisner speaks to Governours who are invested with Authority and Obliged to keep out Schisms and to preserve good Order within their Jurisdiction 2dly St. Paul speaks of a Church which was Inorganical that wanted a due Settlement of Laws and Governours but Meisner speakes of a Church that was Organized in all its Parts and Members having Rules of Decency and Order and a setled Discipline with Governours and Officers to execute the same And this among such as have a little skill to apply it will be sufficient to justify at least Meisners first and second Arguments without giving the Lye to the Apostle In his second Answer Pag. 156. and 157. the Reconciler would oblige our Governours to betray their own Consciences out of Commiseration and to betray the Dissenters too by a pitiful Gratification for he would have our Governours quitt the stedfast Perswasions of their own Minds in Favour to the Dissenters not to Correct the Errour of their Judgments but to Caresse them in their Superstition At Meisners third Objection Pag. 158 the Reconciler grows very Froward and somewhat Ruder again than becomes him towards such an Adversary but as 't was observed of the Cynick that he checkt the Pride of his great Visitant but with another Pride no less Insolent so may we truly say that this Reconciler checks those things which He 's pleased to call Fooleries in Meisner He Loves to Rhetoricate but is not very good at distinguishing which makes him at a Loss and Blunder in his Answers he was told in the Verdict Pag. 125. that a man has a Lock and Key in his own Bosom and there he may keep his Christian-Liberty safe enough from being plundred and there also he may Lock up his Private Opinion when the Broaching of it may Offend but cannot Edify But what 's this to a Publick Constitution When See 2 Mac. 6. 24. c. Multa sunt quae de se seu natura sua sunt Adiaphora licent quidem sed dedecent quia viro probo indigna quia viro sunt incongrua Christiano the Authority of Prudent and Careful Governours has established Rule and Order if it be in my Power I hold it my Duty to defend them In calling the denial of this Gospel Truth a Work of Darkness Meisner saies no more than Calvin doth whose words are these Necessitate servandae Legis obstringi piorum conscientias silentio sepeliri Libertatis Doctrinam haec erat indigna merces Unitatis Ad Galat. 2. 14. He has no Patience at his own Suspicion of Meisners Sawciness for here he charges him with giving the Lye unto the Fathers especially to St. Chrysostom who sayes that St. Pauls advice to the Romans was not Dissimulation but Condescention pag. 159. and Dispensation Her 's Ignoratio Elenchi the Reconciler snar'd in his own Fallacy for we are discoursing what is fit to be done under the State of Christianity where the Church is daily setled by Authority with Convenient Liturgy and Discipline but the Reconciler carries us back to reflect upon what was rather conniv'd at than Establish'd what was tollerated by Condescention and special Dispensation when the Church was in her Non-Age This is just as if upon an Enquiry what Orders were given out to be observed and what the Custom and Practice was when the Temple was Erected and God's Solemn Worship fetled and performed in Jerusalem I should run back and give him the History of what was Permitted in the Wilderness But it may be a Question whether the Rcconciler does perfectly understand what St. Chrysostom means by Condescention Chrysost ad Gal. 2. apud Massut in Vit. St. Paul Lib. â— Cap. 7. and Dispensation for St Peters dissembling at Antioch He calls a Dispensation as Massutius has observed of him Et duo inquit per Dispensationem agebat Petrus Alterum ne offenderet eos qui erant ex Circumcisione Alterum ut Paulo justam proeberet occasionem increpandi Unde et Paulus Objurgat et Petrus sustinet ut Dum Magister objurgatus obticescit facilius Discipuli mutarent Sententiam Two things saith he St. Peter did by Dispensation One that he might not offend those of the Circumcision The other that he might give St. Paul a just occasion to reprove him Hereupon St. Paul rebukes and St. Peter bears it that while the Master takes his chideing with a meek humble Silence the Disciples may the more easily be brought to change their Opinions By the Reconcilers Doctrine St Pauls Rebuke was a rash Affront for St. Peter was not Blame-Worthy the Dissimulation of his Belief was out of Condescention to the Jews Weakness his practice was a Dispensation and fit for his Successors and all worthy Governours to imitate And it would make good Hierom's Argument Cur damnasset in altero Paulus quod sibi laudi ducit nam gloriatur se Judaeis factum esse Judoeum 1 Cor. 9. 20. But Mr. Calvin Answers Longe aliud Petrum fecisse Neque enim aliter se accommodabat Judaeis Paulus quam salva Libertatis Doctrina Calvin ad Galat 2. 11. But whether Commiseration should out-weigh the peace of the Church and of a good Conscience as the Reconciler would have it whether the Bowels of Compassion towards such as call themselves Weak-brethren be sufficient to supersede all the obligations that lye upon Christian Governours to advance God's Glory in the Settlement of his publick Worship I shall leave them to consider who are so highly concern'd in it If we may believe the Assembly of Divines the Civil Magistrate hath Authority Confession of Faith cap. 23. Num. 3. and 't is his Duty to take Order that Unity and Peace be preserved in the Church that the Truth of God be kept pure and intire that all Blasphemies and Heresies which include Schisms too be suppress'd all Corruption and Abuses in Worship and Discipline prevented or reformed and all the Ordinances of God duly Setled Administred and Observed This is the Magistrates Duty according to the Faith of the Presbyterians who shall acquit them from it It is Mercy sayes Mr. Hales to pardon Serm. on Rom. 14. 1. in Fine wrong done against our selves but to deny the Course of Justice to him that calls for it Peccatum in Deum Vocatur quod imediate in Contumeliam Dei redund at P.
maintain their own publick Communion and protested Doctrin for in their Jus Divinum Regiminis Ecclesiastici pag. 16. they lay down this for a Rule in Divinity That the ordinary examples of the Godly approved in Scripture being against no general precept have the force of a general Rule and are to be followed and p. 22. they say Those examples in Scripture are obligatory whose ground reason scope or end are obligatory and of a Moral Nature and as much concern one Christian as another whether they be the examples under Old or New Testament Now I say that by a parity of Reason the command and practice of the Church for the use of the sign of the Cross in Baptism is obligatory because the ground reason scope or end of it which is the confession of our Faith and Protestation of our Christianity is obligatory and of a moral nature and as much concern one Christian as another one Church as another one time as another Having thus briefly shewed the nature of those impositions which this Reconciler does condemn and given a short account of the temper of those weak Brethren on whose behalf he so earnestly solicites an indulgence I cannot but reflect upon his Preface wherein he does little less than traduce many worthy Persons by alledging their condescentions as if they had been the yielding up of a Right to those Dissenters against that Authority and Government which themselves did constantly assert and manage Indeed their Charity and Compassion carried many of them very far that way They saw us in a storm and our condition to be much like to theirs in the 27th of the Acts 15. 18 19 20. When the Ship was caught the Church assaulted hy a violent Faction and could not bear up into the Wind we let her drive And being exceedinly tossed with a Tempest the next day they lightned the Ship and the third day we cast out with our own hands the takling of the Ship And when neither Sun nor Stars in many days appeared and no small tempest lay on us all hope that we should be saved was then taken away And this upon the matter was the case of the Episcopal and Loyal Party who were Embarqued in the Established Church of England their crafty Adversaries to raise a Storm against them had put a conceit into the light heads of the Rabble that they were bound for Rome too as S. Paul was in another sense Hereupon their Frantick Zeal push'd them with an impetuous fury into Tumults wherein the poor distressed Barque was so tossed She was in danger to be sunk or split and dash'd to pieces In this forlorn condition no wonder their danger should prompt them to cast Anchor upon the unsteady sands or comply with any course or method that might be thought expedient for their present safety Sometimes empty Casks are thrown out by the skilfull Mariner to make diversion for the ungovernable Leviathan when he threatens to overturn their Vessel And if a liberty of Prophesying be not sufficient to divert their rage and make them at a loss and stop their cry then an Irenicum may be thought a pious charm to allay their heats to appease their animosities and to bring them to a more calm composure Perhaps this Reconciler thinks we are in a Storm still and 't is no wonder if he be of that opinion having taken so much pains to raise a blustering wind to blow up his Euroclydon of Fanatick Zeal amongst us But 't is observable in experience that such well-meant attempts at such a season do for the most part give advantage to the watchful Adversary seldom answer their expectation and never take effect to the obtaining that pious end which their worthy and learned Authors aimed at 2. I find that learned and good men may be mistaken and 't is an error of the right hand when Charity leads them to it We are told that Mr. Hales found occasion to bid John Calvin good night and whatever Essays of wit might come to his Friends hands when his Fancy was brisk and sprightful I doubt not when he came to a more mature judgment he took a solemn leave of many of those unhappy hallucinations which had been more to his honour if they had been buried in his ashes I am sure his Tractate of Schism has been confuted no less than three four times over And for some others of a much higher rank than He to my knowledge they retracted those opinions which had given so much encouragement to the Factious Party and bewailed their mistaken charity with great remorse upon all occasions to make amends for the Scandal their well-meant tenderness had given to the Loyal and true Conformist 3. There are none of them I dare be bold to say that ever intended such dismal disapidations of the Church as the Dissenters had Projected dream'd not of the introduction of such confusions as were the necessary product of their pernicious practices and were so far from adhering to them in the prosecution of their wicked Designs that for the most part of them they were sufferers under that 11th Persecution For 4. Their constant Practice in the use of the Liturgy as it witnessed their stedfast affection to the Church Established so it betrayed them to the Spight and Malice of the Faction who were carrying on a design to overthrow it To say they acted herein against their Judgment would bring their sincerity into question and make their Authority of no value and consequenty insignificant as to that purpose this Reconciler produces it for We must conclude therefore that whatever their condescentions were they were intended meerly to gratifie the present weakness of such as they believed to be conscientious but not all to countenance their Non-conformity 5. For Foreign Churches and Universities we very well understand both their Principles and their Practice And we are well assured that the Doctrine and the Discipline the Customs and Observances of the present Church of England are fully justified by them both what esteem they had for us before the late times of Deformation we may learn from the pen of the learned and noble Deodate in his Epistle to the late Assembly wherein he gives us this Encomium That Flourishing England the very eye and excellency of all the Churches Christs own choice purchase and peculiar the Sanctuary of the afflicted the Arcenal of the faint-hearted the Magazine of the needy the Royal Standard of good hope p. 6 7. p. 17. He does acknowledge and solemnly declare it That on the Theatre of the Vniversal Church the Kingdom and Church of England have hitherto excelled and out-shined all the Churches upon Earth in Holiness and Glory Such as well understand the happy constitution of this Church of England cannot but have the like value for Her and they that are of that perswasion can never with a sober judgment and deliberation utter any thing in Derogation to Her Dignity If this Reconciler can
5. 3 12 13. of which we have given account already They may not despise or set at nought a Weak Brother but I hope being invested with a just Authority you will allow them to reprove and upbraid such as are wilfully ignorant upon a supine Carelesness or something worse Upon such an account sure they may say with the Royal Prophet Psal 94. 8. O ye fools when will ye understand and have they not our Lords example to say to such O fools and slow of heart to believe and they have the great Apostles practice I am sure to bear them out if they should say to such as trouble and disturb the Peace of the Church O Gal. 3. 1. foolish Dissenters who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth But so far are they from putting a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in their Brothers way that they endeavour to put him into the right way wherein if he has eyes in his head and will follow their Direction he shall be sure not to stumble But when our Superiours they have made the way plain and smooth and easie according to the truth of the Gospel If such as this Reconciler shall throw in their Rubbish and Stones of offence to obstruct it and then these Brethren will dash their foot willingly against it and stumble at it Their Fall is willful and they must thank themselves for the hurt they take by it I deny not but Governors in some sense are concerned to please the Subjects But a man may please others both to his own and to their destruction as Theod. ad Rom. 15. 1. I must not gratifie him in his Schism and Sedition to please him for that would betray him to damnation I must please him only to his good to his edification in the obedience of the Gospel that he may be saved to this end it may be a Governors Duty to grieve him 2 Cor. 2. 2 for there is a godly sorrow which worketh repentance unto salvation not to be repented of 2 Cor. 7. 10. And he that can bring a soul to this tho his methods may seem severe yet among wise and sober Christians his Discipline as well as his Liberty will be well spoken of When he tells us of destroying him with our meat for whom Christ died that to return him some of those Givilities which he bestows on his Meisner is but one of his repeated fooleries for it can concern no man but a Jew or a Jews fellow in whose account some meats and drinks are still common and unclean and this Reconciler does acknowledge p. 74 75. that now the Apostles instructions of forbearance are out of date as to them their stubbornness having cut them off from all Title to our Charity in that kind And for the Roman-Catholicks tho they abstain sometimes from such and such meats yet they profess they do it Non quod conscientiam polluant suâ immunditie sed inobedientiâ Conte ad Rom. 14. And therefore when we eat with them we see they are in no more danger to be destroyed by our liberty than we are upon the account of their forbearance And thus it was among the Christians in Theodorets * Hee consuetudo in hunc usque diem mansit in Ecclesiis haec quidem abstinentia amplectituri ille vero omnibus esculentis absque ullo scrupulo vescitur nec hic illum judicat nec ille alterum reprehendit sed eos claros insignes reddit Lex Concordiae Theod. ad Rom. 14. Lat. ver Parisiis 1608. time See the Margin If that would serve his turn we readily grant that S. Paul was most certainly an excellent Church-Governor and had as much power as any of his Successors in Church-matters and we will allow him something more but did he never vary his Rules and shift his Battery according to the condition of the Persons whom he attempted to subdue to the obedience of the Gospel He did sometimes condescend when it was Prudence and Charity so to do but when out of weakness he perceived men became Head-strong when from tenderness they grew restive and obstinate then he became resolute and positive He was a notable Orator as S. Chrysost observes of him and used all the innocent Haec autem dicit ut eos anticipet blandiendo ut laudum Cupidine capti tales praestare se studeant ut digni possint haberi quos efferant omnes Laudibus prosequantur Inter. Theophilact ad Rom. 15. 29. Arts of Rhetorick to insinuate and gain upon the people and many times he used Hyperbolies vehemency and excesses of expression that his perswasion might be the more powerful and make the deeper impression Such is that to the Galathians for I bear you record that if it had been possible Gal. 4. 15. ye would have plucked out your own eyes and have given them to me And such is that to the Thessalonians So being 1 Thes 2. 8. affectionately desirous of you we were willing to have imparted unto you not the Gospel of God only but also our own souls because ye were dear unto us Such is that 1 Cor. 8. 13. to the Corinthians Wherefore if meat make my Brother to offend I will eat no flesh while the world standeth lest I make my Brother to offend And of the same 1 Cor. 9. 19 20 21 22. kind is that For though I be free from all men yet have I made my self servant to all that I might gain the more And unto the Jews I became as a Jew that I might gain the Jews to them that are under the Law as under the Law that I might gain them that are under the Law To them that are without the Law as without Law being not without Law to God but under the Law to Christ that I might gain them that are without Law To the weak became I as weak that I might gain the weak I am made all things to all men that I might by all means save some Here was great truth and sincerity in these Condescentions but we must understand these pro hic nunc When he had to deal with a Jew apart he treated him with all possible lenity and sweetness and Christian compliance and so he did by the Gentile when he had him by himself but this was by way of Dispensation to draw them in to embrace the Gospel But when the Jew and Gentile came together these methods of compliance were useless and unpracticable we have the very Case reported by S. Paul himself upon the congress of the Jew and Gentil Christian at Antioch where the Apostle was not nay he could not be so compleasant as to be all things to all men He withstood S. Peter to the face c. Gal. 2. 11 12 13 14. And thus a man may carry himself toward Dissenting Parties he may privately Coax and Flatter a Dissenter in his errors and comply with his weakness thinking
go by the Gospel that very Gospel contradicts their pretence as we learn by a voice from Heaven to S. Peter Acts 10. 15. What God hath cleansed that call not thou common for persons were so esteemed by the Law as well as things and by the resolution of S. Paul in this place Rom. 14. 14. I know and am perswaded by the Lord Jesus that there is nothing unclean of it self 5. And I would have it considered that we have no Rites or Observances in use among us but what are taken up by the light of Nature or purely upon the account of Christianity They never had any Relation to the Institutions of the Heathen as the meats offered to Idols nor yet to the Levitical Covenant as Swines-flesh Circumcision the Jewish Sacrifices and Festivals had Shew me where St. Paul saith one man regardeth a Surplice the sign of the Cross kneeling another man regardeth them not Do not Judge do not grieve do not offend a Brother for these things He did not he could not say any thing to this effect of any of these 1 Cor. 14. 26 Eph. 3. 14. things not of kneeling or bowing for they are suggested to all mankind by the light of Nature and were the Apostles 1 Cor. 11. 5 11. own intimation charge and practice The Surplice he determined in the Womans Vaile by a Parity of Reason and for the sign of the Cross 't is so peculiarly related to Christianity that it can never tempt any man to turn either Jew or Gentile which was the great danger St. Paul so carefully provides against and he hath given us a Reason for it 1 Cor. 1. 22. in telling us that Christ Crucified was unto the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Greeks foolishness To this I may add 6. The general opinion of Commentators is that the Apostle does not Anon. ad Rom. 14. not 1. speak here Rom. 14. of the weakness of a Brother in doing any thing unlawful or that he should be tolerated by the strong therein When the Apostle saith let every man Rom. 14. 5. abound in his own sense according to the vulgar Latin or let him be fully perswaded Theod. ad Rom. 14. 5. in his own mind as the English hath it Theodoret observes that the Apostle did not speak this in general nor may we be so free in our opinions or perswasions of Gods Word and Ordinances for he doth anathematize or Gal. 1. 8 9. strike him with a Curse who frames his mind to teach the things that are contrary to Divine Truth And Gualter Gualter ad Roman Homil. 80. to the same sense Quae palam contra Dei voluntatem fiunt ea in proximo reprehendere deque illis ex Dei verbo judicare licet What is clearly contrary to the will of God 't is Lawful for a man to judge of that by the word of God and to reprehend our Neighbour for it Now certainly this is Gods Ordinance let every Soul be subject to the higher Powers and this is the will of God even our Submission and Obedience to such as Rom. 13. 1. Heb. 13. 7 17. God hath set over us Wherefore unless the Apostle contradicts his own Doctrine he cannot be supposed to deliver any thing in this case that may derogate from the just power of our Superiors And let it be once proved that the Apostle has set up Liberty above Authority or in opposition to it and I shall yield the Cause but this is a challenge which I dare say none of our Dissenters No nor the Reconciler himself will have the hardiness to answer 3. I say Those Directions of the Apostle Rom. 14. had a special reference to that Critical Dispensation I call it Critical because it was something like that juncture of circumstances which hapned in St. Paul's Voyage to Rome when they came to the place where two Seas met except the Mariners the Guides of the Vessel did abide in the Ship and submit to the Apostles prudent Steerage and Direction They could not be saved For that this Indulgence of the Apostle was in favour of the Jews cannot be denied and he had taken the advice of the Colledge of Apostles and Elders in it who tell him thus Acts 21. 20. Thou seest Brother how many thousands of Jews there are which believe and they are all zealous of the Law Now Exodus 19. the condition of the Jewish Church was this The Religion established amongst them was of Divine Institution and the Rites and Ceremonies thereof imposed with great severity by a dreadful Majesty with an astonishing attendance this they had been bred in and lived under and were prepossessed with an opinion of the Sacredness and perpetual obligation of it But out of this sprang a more refined Religion introduced by the Ministry of the Son of God Whether the introduction of this did abrogate or supersede the Authority of the other was the thing in question The prejudice the Jews had against the abrogation of it for the Reasons now mentioned was so great that it was not easie to be conquered The Apostle was sensible hereof for he lost his own Carnal eyes before he could discern Acts 9. a Reason for it and he was smitten down to the Earth that he might there bury those beggarly Elements of Judaism wherein he had been Disciplined and for which he was so fiercely Zealous before he could learn humility enough to submit to the Voice and Gospel of the Messias and this made him so compassionate to his Brethren of Israel whom he knew to lye under the like prepossession and prejudice 'T is true Moses's Law was out of date de jure upon the publication of John 1. 31. Heb. 10. 1. the Gospel and assoon as our Lord was made manifest unto Israel For the Law was but a shadow of good things to come the Body and the Sun was Christ the Col. 2. 17. Rom. 10. 4. end and the Accomplisher of the Law De Jure therefore the Law of Ceremonies was abolish'd But yet till there was a clear promulgation hereof the old Law retained its force and vigour among such as understood not that it was now void and of no effect For tho the Law ceases by a meer abrogation yet the Subject cannot be free from his former obligation till it does some way appear that 't is his Superiors will and that the former Law be presently revoked which was not yet made manifest convincingly to all the Community of the Jewish Nation And that which increased the difficulty and confirmed if not heightned the prejudices on both sides was this The Jews they received the gifts of the Holy Act. 2. Act. 10 44 45. and Chap. 11. 2. to 18. Ghost under the observation of Moses's Law the Gentils did the like under the omission and neglect of it Hereupon why should we abandon our old Law seeing God hath received us All this the
Reconciler does acknowledge page 74. into favour and attested it by the effusions of his Spirit on us say the Jews And why shall we abandon our Liberty and Privilege say those Gentils seeing God hath done the like to us This was the difference and dispute between them and nothing but the Ministry of a Divine Authority assisted by the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost and agreeing in a Declaration to the same effect and the power of Miracles was able to bring them to Conformity and unite them entirely into one Catholick Communion This I call a Critical dispensation and it can never be the Case of the Christian Church again unless Elias should come a second time as some do vainly dream to make a farther Reformation and then perhaps S. Pauls Rules might be in season again before the World could come to any settlement How far is the Case of Dissenters wide of this were they bred under any other Divine Law than that which we profess and practise Have they any pretence to some other divine Institutions Have they any divine prohibition against any thing the Church observes Do we violate any Ordinance that is known to be prae-establisht by Divine Authority why then do they take up the perverse or peevish practice of those Jews and run upon the same Rock of Judaism and Superstition as if they were called to it by a voice from Heaven when they have not the like pretence for it For either the Law of Moses is in force or it is not If they think it is in force They may scruple at the eating of a black Pudding or touching the Corps of their dearest friend deceased or ploughing with an Oxe and an Asse which conjunction in a Tropical sense they never scruple at If that Law be not in force at all in their opinion why do they plead what S. Paul discourses upon the account of them who believed it was If it concerns us at all it must be either directly or indirectly and by a parity of Reason But 1. not directly because it relates to a Law whereby things were distinguish'd into clean and unclean 2. Not indirectly or by a parity of Reason because the like critical juncture of circumstances is never like to happen Let them therefore set their hearts at rest For those Rules of condescention and forbearance which the Apostle prescribed as a temporary provision to keep those private Christians quiet under that Critical Dispensation can never serve to justifie their Separation upon such groundless doubts empty Scruples and vain Imaginations And now having made it clear to all Rom. 14. 1â— Chapters impartial Readers that the Apostle did not direct this his advice to Governors but prescribed it only as a Temporary provision to keep the peace among private Christians We must expect no Quarter from the Reconciler but to be severely loaden with the reproach of an odious Inference 'T is not enough it seems to prove that the things there mentioned were only Temporary but we are called to a fresh Task to prove that Church-Governors are now at liberty to walk uncharitably towards the weak and to destroy the work of God for meat and drink Do this says he very fairly and we are satisfied This any man would think a fair offer at the first hearing but upon second thoughts we find that by suppressing one of the premisses he hides a sallacy and herein he is either catch'd himself and deceived in his own captious way of reasoning and that betrays his want of Logick or else he designs wittingly to impose upon the weakness or credulity of his Reader and then he shews his want of honesty If we put his Argument into Form for him it must run thus He that says Those Rules above-mentioned were but a Temporary Provision to keep the Peace among private Christians he leaves Church-Governors at liberty to walk uncharitably towards the weak and to destroy the work of God for meat and drink But Dr. Womock says Those Rules above-mentioned were but a Temporary Provision to keep the Peace among private Christians ergo Dr. Womock leaves Church-Governors c. We must give him time to prove the major Proposition and I believe he will take till Dooms-day and then he may have something else to answer for His disturbing the peace of the Church and encouraging an ungovernable Faction in their Schism and Sedition But let us follow him Dr. Womock saith from Catharinus They were Rules to be received till the Apostles had made a perfect determination and truly saith the Reconciler if this were all they were not to be observed at all His Reason follows For in this very Chapter he plainly saith that the things scrupled by the weak were pure and lawful in themselves and that he knew and was perswaded by the Lord Jesus that there was nothing unclean of it self which is as perfect and full a determination of the Case against the weak as words can make Let us take notice 1. that we have here the Key put into our hands by the Apostle himself to open and unlock his meaning and to give us the full account of his design which was to indulge the Jewish Christians who had been bred up under the Mosaical Dispensation wherein days and meats were distinguished into such as were clean or unclean common or holy which cannot concern us who pretend to no such distinction in that Legal sense or of any Divine Authority Having observed thus much 2. I answer That the Apostle did declare his judgment in the Case as to the matters in question de jure but as to the use and practice of them at Rome He did not as yet settle or determine them de facto by his Apostolical Authority But with us the case is otherwise we have a Determination and Settlement against our pretended weak ones both de jure and de facto too For they know there is nothing de jure unclean or unlawful among us and that de Facto Authority hath setled what they dispute against That S. Paul has determined the Case de jure we have his own concession and that elsewhere he did state and settle it de facto he is forced to confess and indeed his concessions are so full when he comes to himself that they are a perfect confutation of his whole Book if a man would give himself the trouble or the leisure to collect them That the Apostle did determine the Case de facto as to other Churches are so full and clear that we have no need of other evidence to prove it The These Epistles were written after that to the Romans Apostle saith he doth in the Epistles to the Galathians and Colossians speak severely against their observation of the Jewish Festivals p. 80. And does he not condemn them for their superstitious abstaining from certain meats and drinks Let no man judge you in meats and drinks and let no man beguile you of your
of Information If it be so the Question is Whether this be not Voluntary and Culpable For unless it be invincible it cannot excuse them it being a Rule amongst the Best and most Learned Moralists Nullam in Gers De. Vit. Spir. Lect. 4. Coroll 3. his quae Legis Divinae sunt cadere Ignorantiam invincibilem He to whom the Divine Law is promulged is under the Obligation of it and therefore cannot be invincibly and inculpably Ignorant of any Precept thereof By the Evangelical Law God has tyed all Men in the same Community to Concord and Vniformity in his Publick Worship and Men are obliged not only to know that Law but to use all Necessary Means to observe it If we want such Knowledge that Defect is Voluntary to us and proceeds from our own default from a Voluntary and Culpable Impediment of our own making For 1. Either we do not resist our own Passions which are apt to blind us Or 2. We do not use sufficient Diligence to procure that Knowledge which should direct us For either we do not study to find out the Truth by a careful Search or we do not consult such as are more skilful to inform us or we do not pray earnestly to God for his Grace of Illumination or else our Impenitence and Stubbornness hinders Him from opening our Hearts to attend to our right Instructors Now all these Impediments of our Knowledge being Clearly Voluntary the Will by Gods Grace may remove them and is obliged to do it If she does not the Omission and Ignorance of the Duty and the Malicious Act which steps up in the room of it are plainly Vincible Voluntary and Culpable Truth and Knowledge are that Intellectual Light which Corrects the Darkness and Disorders of a Depraved Mind But some Men are Wilfully Ignorant and 2 Pet. 3. 5. keep themselves in Darkness that they may enjoy their Carnal Satisfactions without Check and Riot with the greater Freedom They Love Darkness rather than Light because their Deeds are Evil and they hate Knowledge because they hate to be reformed John 3. 19. But there are another sort of Men who are more wilfully Active towards their own Seduction They take Pains to be deceived and bred up in errour they Study Seditious Books and Frequent Schismatical Conventicles which they should avoid as Infection Now their Attention to such Discourses being greedy and perfectly Voluntary the Effect that follows it I mean the Errours whether begotten or bred up by that meanes are also Voluntary And therefore unless those Sins and Errours which are so fully Voluntary and in Practice tends so directly to Schism and Disobedience are come to be counted Venial 't is not want of Charity in me but the Light and Force of Truth that makes me call them Damnable Wherefore let not this Reconciler delude his Dissenting Brethren in attempting to excuse them by a Pretence of Weakness and want of Information 7ly Prejudice I know is a great Obstruction to Truth but it should not be pleaded in Barr to a just Sentence upon a froward Schismatick Commonly when men have entertained other Principles and are prepossessed with a wrong Conceit instead of submitting to better Information they add Stubbornness to their Self-conceit and harden themselves in their first Perswasion against all Sence and Reason You may haply convince them but they will hardly be perswaded Those great Disputants which opposed St. Stephen when they were not able to resist the Wisdom and the Spirit by which he spake yet could they Suborn False-Witness to swear down both his Doctrine and Integrity Act. 6. Sometimes the Prejudice lyes against Numb 16. the Persons Ye take too much upon you Ye Sons of Levi was Corah's objection against Moses and against Aaron They have an Unkindness for their Prince and Prelate therefore neither their Discipline nor Discourses will Relish with them This was Ahabs Obstruction There is a Prophet of great Integrity but I hate him The Apostle becomes the Peoples Enemy because he tells them the Truth Gal. 4. 16. The Prejudice sometimes lies against the Article or Institution This was Naamans Obstruction Are not Abanah and Pharphar Rivers of Damascus better than all the Waters of Israel may not I wash in them and be clean Factions Stubbornness and Infidelity in the suggestions of those Unbeleiving Jews made the minds of the Gentiles evil affected toward Barnabas and Paul whose Doctrine otherwise in all Probability they had embraced Act. 14. 2. Sometimes the Prejudice lyes both against the Person and Dispensation too and this was our Saviours own Case He came to bring them Light and to guide their Feet into the way of Peace but his State of Meekness and Humility deceived their Carnal expectations and the Holiness of his Divine Maximes crossed the Grain of their Avarice and Ambition and They were offended at him Many times the Prejudice lyes only in the Pride and Popularity of the Party when Men have made an interest to carry on some Design and got a Name by courting and Seducing the hearts of the Simple and Headed Faction that Flocks after them For such Men to see their own Errours is to them as the shadow of Death therefore if they cannot break the Glass that shows them such an ugly Spectacle they 'l either lay it aside or turn their Backs upon it To retract and Renounce their Beloved Errour is to deny themselves and to lay their Honour in the Dust which is such a severe peice of Mortification as they have not yet Learned and know not how to practice What hinders Reformation in the Church of Rome so much as the Opinion of their Infallibility For such as are Infallible have no need of better Information and such as are so perswaded whatever their Errours be They are not in a present Capacity of being corrected And have we not many among our selves who tho they pretend not to Infallibility are no less stubborn in their own Opinion than they that do and that is as ill Their Self-conceit makes them Inflexible in their Perswasion and as long as this Impression of Pride and Sel-fconceit of Popularity and Vain-glory sticks upon them their minds are not in a Disposition to receive the Truth and this was the case of many an Eminent Person among the Jews John 11. 42 43. When Hatred and Envy appear in the Contest they heighten the Prejudice exceedingly and this was so notorious in the Preists against our Saviour that Pilate took special notice of it He knew that for Envy they had delivered Him Mat. 27. 18. In the Meanness of his Person and Equipage they were disappointed of their Worldly Pomp and Carnal Hopes yet such was the Innocency of his Life the Regularity and Holiness of his Conversation that his Doctrine gained Credit no less from his Example than the Excellency of his Precepts and Discourses His Miracles also were admirable to a great Conviction but yet for all this their
Martyr in 1 Sam. 2. 25. much more when God calls by whom Kings Reign and Princes Decree Justice and to protect Offenders against his Publick and Solemn Worship may peradventure be some inconsiderate Pitty but Mercy it cannot be In His Answer to another Argument as he calls it I must observe many things First the Distinction between Natural and Christian Liberty He found in the Verdict pag. 125. and I am apt to believe he took it upon Trust from thence because I have not observed him so skilful or ingenious as to use Distinctions when there was just Cause for it and because he takes it up here Impertinently for no Reason in the World but to Cavil at it and that he does Twice for failing Secondly Whereas he saith the Dissenters pag. 160. would put no restraint upon others as to the Ceremonies in Contest but only crave a Freedom or Indulgence to themselves herein I believe as we say he Reckons without his Host No man that has read their Books or observed their Practice or seen their Publick Ordinances can believe it And I doubt whether upon Second Thoughts the Reconciler will believe it himself In their Ordinance of January 1644 the Presbyterian Lords and Commons did declare That they judged it necessary that the Book of Common-Prayer be abolished and the Directory for the publick Worship of God establish't and observed in all the Churches within this Kingdom And August the 29. 1648. They Ordain'd that all Parishes and Places whatsoever within the Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales as well Priviledg'd Places and exempt Jurisdictions as others be brought under the Government of Congregational Classical Provincial and National Assemblies Provided that the Chappel or places in the House of the King and his Children and the Chappels or place in the Houses of the Peers of this Realm shall continue free for the Exercises of Divine Duties according to the Directory and not otherwise Thirdly His Answer is in Effect no Answer at all For he sayes First the Argument it self pleads strongly upon the Principles acknowledged in it against the Impositions of Superiours and even against all Vowes made by us concerning any thing indifferent For both these things do put a Necessary Abstention Restraint upon us as to the use of these things If therefore sayes he by so doing they betray our Liberties Dissenters ought not to yield to them nor should good Christians by a Vow restrain themselves from the Free use of things Indifferent Secondly He sayes the Argument is Evidently Contradictor both to the Doctrine and Practice of St. Paul In Answer to which I must observe that he still abuses his Reader-by his Sophistry how else could he bring in Personal Vows c. into his Answer Among Orthodox-Divines who hath ever Questioned whether a man that is Compos Mentis might not restrain his own Liberty and that as well by a Solemn Vow as a Prudent Resolution Or who ever denied the Power of Governours The not useing of our Christian Liberty renders us not the worse and therefore we may Lawfully not use it when by Superiours we are restrained from the use thereof Prot. Recon p. 131. to restrain the Liberty of such as are under their Jurisdiction Tho he 's confident enough to give the Lye to any thing yet I hope he will not charge the Rechabites with Folly nor their Father with Superstition And if the Sons did add their own Vow to their Fathers Command I know no harm in it I 'me sure God does highly approve of their strict Obedience to the Imposition of things Indifferent But to return and shew that the Reconcilers Answer is Trifling and Impertinent not contradicting Meisners Argument This I prove by Argumentum ad Hominem in this manner That Argument which Pleads strongly against the Impositions of Superiours that Argument the Reconciler does not contradict But Meisners Argument pleads strongly against the Impositions of Superiours Ergo. The Major is evident because the Reconciler himself pleads as strongly as he can against the Impositions of Superiours therefore he does not contradict Meisners Argument which he saies pleads so strongly against them the Minor is the Recomilers own Acknowledgment as the Reader may observe in his Words above mentioned 2ly The Reconciler contradicts himself and yeilds the Cause to his Adversary this is Evident to the Indifferent Reader for if Meisners Argument is evidently contradictory both to the Doctrine and Practice of St. Paul as he saies it is Page 161. then the Argument which pleads strongly against the Impositions of Superiours is Contradictory both to the Doctrine and Practice of St. Paul and consequently both the Doctrine and Practice of St. Paul are for the Impositions of Superiours which is the thing we contend for Here he inculcates again the Necessity of abstaining from some Meats and the observing some Dayes for fear of offending the Weak Brethren Indeed the Apostle's expression runs very high of not eating Flesh which is one of Rom. 14. 21. 1 Cor. 8. 13. his two Instances But does he say the same things of the Time of God's Worship Does he say it is good noâ— to Regard a day to the Lord whereby my Brother Stumbleth or is Offended or made Weak Wherefore if a day make my Brother to Offend I will never regard a day never observe the Lords day never Perform any Solemn Worship or Service to Almighty God while the World stands least I make my Brother to offend To take up such a Resolution savourâ—â— of too much Prophaneness to be Justified and this I hope will convince the Reconciler that in the Parallel Instance of Meats the Apostle was a little Hyperbolical as was formerly observed After a great deal of shuffling and trifling for two or three Pages together to no purpose but to make a Noise and show his Confidence he owns the Pag. 163. Truth at last that the Apostle came to a Point and Positively declar'd against Circumcision when the False-Teachers would have obtruded it as Necessary to Salvation And whatsoever his Practice was out of Condescention and special Dispensation while the Church was any where in Planting yet its evident where ever the Church was Organized and setled with Governours Laws and Discipline There he gave severe Rules as well against those Jewish Dissenters as the False Apostles which seduced them This is easy to be observed in his Epistles to the Corinthians the Galatians and Colossians Nay he commands the Governours of the Church to stop their Mouths who attempted to corrupt the Hyperius Calixtus ad Tit. 1. 11. Simplicity of the Gospel by joyning their Traditions Distinction of â—â—eats and Legal Ceremonies with it And St. Augustine saies expresly that the Opinion Epist 119. that some Meats would render them Unclean that eat them was against the Faith and sound Doctrine and he proves it to be wicked and Heretical from the words of St. Paul to Timothy
is the very Case before us But the Reconciler is of another mind and according to his Principles these two things must follow 1. That Governours are the only Persons that ought not to be fully perswaded in their own minds 2. That Governours are the only Persons that may Lawfully be offended The Address of the House of Commons To the KING Feb. 28. 1663. AFter they had declared their Resolutions for maintaining the Act of Uniformity and given five notable Reasons why the Kings Declaration from Breda could not oblige Him or Them and why he must not be pressed with it any further They added as followes We have also considered the Nature of the Indulgence proposed with reference to those Consequences which must necessarily attend it It will establish Schism by a Law and I. make the whole Government of the Church Precarious and the Censures of it of no Moment or Consideration at all It will no way become the Gravity or II. Wisdom of a Parliament to pass a Law at one Session for Uniformity and at the next Session the Reason for Uniformity continuing still the same to pass another Law to frustrate or weaken the Exeeution of it It will expose your Majesty to the III. restless Importunity of every Sect or Opinion and of every single Person also that shall presume to dissent from the Church of England It will be a Cause of encreasing Sects IV. and Sectaryes whose Numbers will weaken the true Protestant Profession so farr that it will at last become difficult for it to defend it self against them And which is yet further considerable those Numbers which by being troublesome to the Government finding they can arrive to an Indulgence will as their Numbers increase be yet more troublesom so at length they may arrive to a General Toleration which Your Majesty hath declared against and in time some Prevalent Sect will at last contend for an Establishment which for ought can be foreseen may end in Popery It is a thing altogether without Precedent V. and will take away all means of convicting Recusants and be inconsistent with the Methods and Proceedings of the Laws of England It is humbly conceived that the Indulgence VI. proposed will be so far from tending to the Peace of the Kingdom that it is rather likely to occasion Disturbance And on the Contrary that the asserting VII of the Laws and the Religion established according to the Act of Uniformity is the most probable means to Produce a setled Peace and Obedience through the Kingdom Because the Variety of Professions in Religion when openly indulged doth directly distinguish men into Partyes and withall gives them Opportunityes to count their Numbers which considering the Animosities that out of a Religious Pride will be kept on Foot by the several Factions doth tend directly and inevitably to open Disturbance Nor can your Majesty have any security that the Doctrine or Worship of the several Factions which are all governed by a several Rule shall be consistent with the peace of the Kingdom And if any Person shall Presume to disturb the Peace of the Kingdom we do in all Humility declare That we will forever and upon all occasions be ready with our Utmost Endeavours and Assistance to Adhere to and Serve Your Majesty according to our Bounden Duty and Allegiance Addenda Pag. 58. l. 8. TO Gualter I might add Chemnitius and many others who could not believe St. Peter was so early at Rome to plant the christian-Christian-Church I shall name but one more of our own the Reverend Dr. Buckaridge Bishop of Rochester who in a Sermon at Hampton-Court September 23. 1606. upon those words Ye must needs be subject Rom. 13. 5. saies thus The Soul of the Priest and Ecclesiastical Person as well as the Soul of a Lay-man must be subject to the higher Powers For why St. Paul in this Epistle wrote as well to the Clerks and Priests or Bishops of Rome if there were any then Resident at Rome as to the People We see he doubts it nay he seems to deny it tho he supposes them to be there that he might bring them under the Duty of the Text the duty of Subjection And if St. Peter were litterally in Babylon I know not how he could be in Rome to plant the Church there before St. Paul's coming thither And there are great Presumptions that he was there Take the Judgement of the Learned Gerrard upon 1 Pet. 5. 13. Amongst others of his Arguments I shall only select these three 1. In Babylone Caldaeae erant Multi Judaei ideo Petrus eo sese contalit Evangelium ipsis Praedicavit vi Conventionis cum Paulo initae Gal. 2. v. 7. Congruit ergo cum Apostolatu Petri statuere Babylone Assyriorum hanc Epistolam Scriptam 2. Si Romae hanc Epistolam Petrus Scripsisset non videtur satis justam idoneam afferri causam our Nomen illius voluit dissimulare cum Paulus in omnibus Epistolis nomen Urbis addat 3. Petrus Marcum tunc habuit Comitem cum hanc Epistolam scriberet ut patet ex hac ipsa salutatione Ergo tunc non fuit Romae Marcum enim tradunt Octavo Neronis Anno Alexandriae Mortuum Petrum vero Sex Annis postea a Nerone Romae occisum Quod si Alexandrinam Ecclesiam Mareus constituit diuque illic Episcopatu functus est non potuit Romae esse cum Petro. To Gerrad I shall add the Judgment of Dr. John Lightfoot ad 1 Cor. Addend ad Cap. 14. 14. Cap. 4. pag. 117. 118. Where he hath these Observations Cum celebrentur tres Apostoli Circumcisionis Jacobus Petrus Johannes Gal. 11. 9. hinc Diaecesin unicuique bene distribuas Palaestinam quae ei contigua connumerata Syriam Jacobo Babyloniam Assyriam Petro Hellenistas Asianos praesertim ulterioresque Johanni Babyloniam inquam Assyriam Petro quod ipse firmat cum Epistolam suam primam dictat a Babylone in secunda utitur Idiomate Babylonico Crederes vocem Bosor prolatam pro Beor vel Solaecismum Petri fuisse vel errorem Librariorum 2 Pet. c. 2. 15. sed Chaldaismum sapit plane docet quaenam ea Babylon foret ubi jam tum Petrus Chaldaeis vulgare erat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 immutare vice-versa post varia istiufmodi exempla pergit Quae observata palam testabuntur inquit Petrum in Babylone Chaldaica fuisse Chaldaice loquutum fuisse cum dicerit Bosor pro Beor Nec erat in toto terrarum orbe Regio ulla in qua Congruentius offieto suo consonantius Evangelizare potuit magnus ille Circumcisionis Apostolus quam in Babylonia locis adjacentibus ubi Hebraei purissimi Sanguinis ubi decem Tribus Circumcisio pleno nomine Upon these and many other weighty Considerations I am induced to believe that St. Paul was a Principal Instrument in setling the Government of the
Church at Rome and do concurr with the Learned and Ingenious Dr. Cave who sums In the Life of St. Peter Sect. 11. at the End up the Dispute of St. Peters being at Rome thus Granting sayes he what none that have any Reverence for Antiquity will deny that St. Peter was at Rome he probably came thither some few years before his Death joyned with and assisted St. Paul in Preaching of the Gospel to which I shall add and in establishing the Government and Discipline of the Church and then both sealed the Testimony of it with their Blood Addenda Pag. 108. l. 11. I am the rather induced to believe that the Advice or Injunctions which St. Paul gives in his Epistles were but Temporary and had a peculiar respect to the Jews because they are restrained to the Rites and Observances of the Ceremonial Law viz. to Circumcision to Meats and Drinks and Festivals Which Law tho Dead by the Introduction of another Law that is the Gospel yet the Authority and Reverence it had from God's own Institution and the place it had under his more Peculiar Oeconomy and Government required that it should be laid aside with some Decency and buried with Honour Expediebat enim fieri Differentiam inter Vita S. Pauli Lib. 5. cap. 7. p. 255. A Thom. Massut expl Profanos idololatriae ritus quos Gentiles Evangelicam legem suscipientes statim prorsus relinquere tenebantur tanquam impios abominabiles Legem illam veterem olim sanctam a Deo ipso institutam sancte ab antiquis Patribus observatam a qua proinde Judei quo magis pij eo minus abhorrere subito potuissent Christus Dominus etiamsi non obligaretur tamen in pluribus observavit ut in Circumcisione Purificatione Sacrificio Agni Paschalis aliis Quanto vero tempore Funus illius veteris Legis Duraverit ita ut usus illarum ceremoniarum observantia tanquam Lege illa iam Mortua ad Sepulchrum honeste deducenda permitteretur S. Augustinus non explicavit Communiter autem durasse existimatur a Christi Domini passione usque ad excidium Jerosolymitanum annis videlicet quadraginta quando Judaeorum respublica est eversa Templum Solo aequatum Summum eorum Sacerdotium Magistratus defecerunt Imo valde credibile est cum ante hoc tempus Evangelium sufficienter fuisse promulgatum videatur Apostolos Petrum Paulum ante ipsorum Martyrium fidelibus declarasse observare in posterum Legalia non solum non esse necessarium sed iam incipere esse perniciosum ut in Libro nono de Legibus Franciscus Suarius adnotavit And because 't is evident that many of our Dissenters are prone to play the Jews especially in the Point of a Sabboth and some instances of Negative Superstition Touch not Tast not Handle not I do therefore heartily commend to their perusal A Speech Delivered in the Star-Chamber against the two Judaical opinions of Mr. Traske by the R. R. Father in God Lancelot Lord Bishop of Winchester FINIS To the READER THo Dr. Womock has been perswaded to own this Book he cannot but Disclaim the Errours whether committed by the Printer or Transcriber Yet such as disturb the Sense of the Discourse are here Noted the rest are left to the Judgement and Charity of the Reader to be Pardoned and Corrected ERRATA PAge 13. for 2 Pet. 2. 6. read Gal. 5. 12. p. 14. l. 16. r. so to p. 15. l. 9. r. And. p. 17. l. 14. r. all Rule p. 25. l. 5. r. In. p. 29. l. 21. r. Common p. 34. l. 23. r. at all p. 62. l. 13. r. Was Were p. 70. l. 3. r. Brother Censurer p. 73. l. 17. r. but that l. 21. r. Doubts p. 77. l. 13 14. r. underhand l. 19. r. from the. p. 78. l. 22. r. Wrot p. 86. l. 3. r. as are p. 88. l. last dele they p. 90. l. 2. dele his p. 93. l. 27. r. both Parties p. 122. l. 4. r. his acknowledgements are so full p. 139. l. 13. r. Wit l. 18. dele thereby p. 159. l. 16. r. whom he p. 171. l. 14. r. Gal. 1. 6 7. l. 19. r. Salva Pax. p. 175. l. 5. r. Mal. 1. 8. p. 179. l. 26. r. while p. 185. l. 23. r. And the Anabaptists do so too who will not allow the Civil Magistrate to have p. 186. l. 18. r. Creditable p. 187. l. 13. r. then St. p. 189. l. 19. dele observed p. 200. l. 13. dele I. p. 247. l. 3. r. as to p. 249. l. 24. r. Cruel p. 292. l. 2 27. r. Abailardus p. 301. l. 18. r. impertinent p. 305. l. 1. r. out the p. 307. l. 10. r. Judgment p. 313. l. 25. r. Protestants p. 317. l. 27. r. Faction p. 318. l. 19. r. a Faction p. 323. Marg. r. Acts 2. 47. John 10. 16. p. 336. l. 4. r. end of l. 5. r. if we p. 337 l. 4. r. I may p. 340. l. 24. r. Politiae in Marg. Calvin p. 343. l. 2. r. quarrel p. 344. in Marg. r. Apostolus p. 347. l. 4 5. r. detained p. 363 l. 27. r. duly