the Jewish Church is not so well known in our days as when our Saviour spake the words we may justly be excused if we plead and demur thereunto Take Text and Context together Moreover if thy Brother shall trespass against thee go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone if he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy Brother v. 15. But if he will not hear thee then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established v. 16. And if he neglect to hear them tell it unto the Church but if he neglect to hear the Church let him be unto thee as a Heathen man and Publican v. 17. Verily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound on Heaven and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven v. 18. Again I say unto you if two of you shall agree on Earth as touching any thing that they shall ask it shall be done for them of my Father which is in Heaven v. 19. For where two or three are gathered together in my Name there am I in the midst of them v. 20. What is here meant by the Church whether the Church of Christ then only in fieri not yet planted as some would have it or the Jewish Church then planted and setled or the Civil Assemblies that God ordained in the Commonwealth to govern his People and determine their Quarrels breeds great Questions amongst Divines themselves which alone is some Justification to us if we make further Enquiry and try Spirits especially having a Command so to do and to beware of false Prophets The Reason that prevails with some to believe that the Church of Christ is not by these words meant are 1. This was a Direction to the Jews serving them for their present State and Time 2. Christ had then no Church in Jewry to which they might address themselves and complain for he ever preached in the Synagogues and Temple whither all that would resorted John 18.20 Much less did he gather Churches sapart from the Jews to receive and consider and redress the Complaint and Injuries of their Brethren and if he did yet is there not one Syllable in the Text to induce us to believe that such Church or Assembly was constituted only of Ecclesiasticks of Popes or of Presbyters or that it was to continue and remain in force for ever in the Church 3. The Matters to becomplained of are of that nature as Priests of Christ may not challenge Judicially and Authoritatively to hear and determine Private Wrongs and Offences betwixt man and man must be redressed by compromise or judicially by Laws and consequently belongs to the Civil Magistrate The Church of Christ quatenus a Church hath no Warrant to make Laws or give Judgment in Civil or Private Wrongs and Trespasses and therefore I suppose that no Clergy except the Romish will pretend to this Christ himself when he was desired to make peace to end a Strife about parting an Inheritance answered Man who made me a Judge or Divider among you Luke 12.13 14. What Christ refused as no part of his Calling the Bishops Pastors and Presbyters of his Church must not challenge as annexed to their Commission and Vocation The Disciple is not above his Master Luke 6.40 Mat. 10.24 As his Father sent him so sent he them John 20. â—1 but not with a farther or larger Commission 4. That Church is here spoken of which abhorred Ethnicks as unclean persons and shunned all Society with Publicans but neither Christ nor his Church did ever so therefore the Church of Christ is not probably meant by these words Let him be to thee as an Heathen and a Publican for they never refused nor declined to converse with either To the Baptism of John came the Publicans Luke 3.12 and were received of him Our Saviour was accounted a friend unto them Mark 11.19 Matthew the Apostle was chosen sitting at the Receipt of Custom Mat. 9.9 Zackeus a chief Publican was the Child of Abraham Luke 19.9 The Publican that prayed in the Temple was justisied before the Pharisee Luke 18.14 and told by Christ that they should go into Heaven before the Scribes and Elders that despised them Mat. 21.21 The Publicans then were Members of Christs Church and Inheritors of his Kingdom and therefore by slying and sorsaking the Fellowship of Publicans the Church of Christ could not be described nor thereby meant The like may be said of Ethnicks and Gentiles who though they were Strangers to the Commonwealth of Israel when as yet they knew no God yet never were they persons excommunicated and since the Incarnation of Christ they became partakers of this Promises and true Members of hiâ— Catholick Church so that this can be no Rule for Christs Church to ground Excommunication upon nor yet to measure persons excommunicated by Gentiles and Publicans seeing that amongst the Jews Publicans believed and entred the Kingdom of God and after the Rejection of that Nation the Church of Christ consisted chiefly if not wholly of Gentiles and Ethnicks converted Others argue thus 1. They were Jews to whom Christ spake 2. Bidding them tell it to the Church he sends them to some Judge or Judicature to which they could go and were bound to obey 3. It is certain the Mosaical Judicial Law was then in being and to them obligatory and stood so till Christs Death he and his Apostles living under the Obligation of it 4. They say for certain the Christian Church was not then Constituted so that it is irrational if not ridiculous to say that he sends them when he bids them tell it to the Church to any Episcopal Presbyterian or Independent Judges when there were no such things in the World 5. It is then evident that he sends them there to some Jewish Judges to whom they could go and were bound to obey And the Jews had then as also before and after three Courts of Judicature 1. The Supreme the Sanhedrim which sate only in Jerusalem 2. The Consessus-viginti-trium-viralis which consisted of 23 persons in greater Towns and Cities 3. Consessus trium-viralis wherein the Judges were only three and such a Judicature they had in all lesser Towns and every one of those Courts was usually called Ecclesia a Church so that to those so opinionated it seems certain that the Persons and the Cause an Action of Trespass only considered it was the Consessus triumviralis he sends them unto The Christian Church say they cannot for the Reasons above-said be meant in those Words Tell it to the Church though with the same Breath they cannot deny but acknowledge that wherever Christ taught and converted men there was a Christian Church yet say that while he lived it was under the Legal Oeconomy and not that of the Gospel for that when our Saviour spake that the Sacrament of Baptism which only makes a Member of the Christian
such as is common to the Laity in private offences i.e. to every Individual of the Church For what concerns Binding and Loosing the Words are plain and demonstrative viz. Whatsever ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven which must have reference to the parties grieving and grieved it cannot be denied and those are every individual of the Church and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven Again I say If two of you in general without denoting or pointing at the Clergy shall agree on Earth as touching any thing that they shall ask it shall be done for them of my â—ather which is in Heaven for where two or three indefinitely and not limited to the Pope or to those of the Presbytery only are gathered together in my Name there am I in the midst of them Mat. 18.18 19 20. These are general Precepts and purport a general Duty binding every Christian and not especial or applicable only to Popes or Presbyters Christ then in these places speaketh of private men and offences which he only that is oppressed and wronged hath most right to reprove and forgive and therefore not only the Judgment of Pope and Presbyter making whom they please Banditi of the Church but the reprehension and admonition of our meanest Brother offended and injured by us must be regarded and reverenced for so much as the Lord on high heareth the desires and granteth the Prayers of any two joyning together for his Glory and others Good and in their own debts and trespasses private persons have more right to bind and loose their oppressors before God than either Pope or Presbyter This power here attributed to all Christians is no new Doctrine but hath been acknowledged for good by St. Austin Theophylact and others and it doth not in the least derogate from or impeach the publick use of the Keys in the hands of Bishops and Pastors for they had also their particular Commission John 20.23 Whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose sins soever ye retain they are retained yea speaking particularly to one of them Mat. 16.19 I will give unto thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven so that the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven all Priests received in Peter before Christ's Death and after his Resurrection he gave all his Apostles the like power as Cyprian and Jerome observe and that is a power which no Temporal or Civil Magistrate or Prince can confer it is derived unto them from a higher Power § I am not ignorant that these Doctrines are held as Heretical at Rome and that they that hold them are cursed with Bell Book and Candle which is obvious to every intelligent Reader that consults the first fifth and sixth Canons of the sourteenth Session of the Council of Trent and the Anathemaes following who shall find it to be so and I humbly conceive not without grand reason of State-Papal for should these Doctrines and these that depend upon them be received for Orthodox Adieu to all the Picklocks of all the secretest Councils of all Kingdoms and States where Romish Doctrines prevail and also Adieu to a world of Merry-pence that else would thereby come into their Sanctuary Sanctum Sanctorum their Coffers for commuting and mitigating of Penance c. For by their Institution of their Sacrament of Penance their Church understands it to be instituted by Christ an entire full and Sacramental Confession of all sins to be made by all persons of the years of discretion lapsed after Baptism and that Jure Divino it is absolutely necessary so to do and that because Christ before his Ascension into Heaven lest his Priests to be his Vicars tanquam Praesides Judices unto whom all mortal Sins ought to be brought and confessed whereby by vertue and power of the Keys of remission and retention of Sins Mat. 16.19 John 20.23 they pronounce Sentence and give Judgment which they cannot rightly do if you will believe themselves nor justly proportion or impose Penance upon a general Confession only except the lapsed declare their Sins unto them in specie sigillatim particularly and in kind Can. 5. This to me seems wonderful strange that if Christ would have introduced a Rite to confess our Sins so particularly and punctually to Romish Priests as that no Use was ever the like that yâ—â— he would be so understood by words ambiguous from which it must be drawn by very disjointed and unlinckt consequences very far fetcht consequences as incoherent as are Churton Sands of which the Neighborhood do merrily story that the Devil himself could never make Belropes thereof and not by most plain and perspicuous Terms as when he instituted the Eucharist there being not one plain word in the whole New Testament to command us so to do James indeed c. 5. v. 16. exhorts us to confess our faults one to another but what is that to Romish Priests James writ not to them but to the Twelve Tribes scattored abroad This Text is an Argument to perswade us to confess our faults one to another and to pray one for another that we may receive reciprocally the Councils Benefits and Consolatinos of each others Prayers but this institutes no Sacramental Confession to be performed to Romish Priests nor any power of pardoning to the Pope or his Priests nor any greater obligation on the Laity to confess to the Priest than on the Priests to confess to the Laity Mark the enforcement The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous man Priest or not Priest availeth much Though these Canons make the Priests the only Ministrators of Absolution and Remission and that the Act in them is not Nudum Ministerium a naked Ministery of pronouncing and declaring Sins to be forgiven to the confessed but that it is in the Priest Act us Judicialis a Judicial Act by whom velut à Judice as by a Judge Sentence is pronounced Canon 6. They farther make the very Circumstances of Sins to alter the kind of them and therefore they have made two kinds of Sins viz. Mortal and Venial Canon 5. which is more than ever God himself made though he made two kinds of Sinners voz Penitent and Impenitent And in the conclusion they have Anathematized all those that are of contrary Opinions though there be not one plain Text of Scripture to warrant their so doing Now I would very fain know why the Institution being made by the Word Remitto the Form also was not Remitto I remit thy Sins rather than absolvo te I absolve thee and that if by these words a Sacrament of Absolution is instituted with this Form Absolvo te by which one is absolved why it doth not follow by an irresistable necessity that another Sacrament of Binding be not instituted in which this Form should likewise
be Ligo te because it cannot by any right Reason be understood how the same Authority to loose and bind founded upon the words of Christ absolutely alike doth require in Absolution the pronouncing of the words Absolvo te and that other of Binding doth not require pronouncing of the words Ligo te nor by what reason to execute that which Christ hath said Whose Sins ye retain c. and whatsoever ye shall bind c. And it is not necessary to say Ligo te but to execute whatsoever ye loose on Earth c. and whose Sins ye remit it is necessary to say Absolvo te And the same Canon doth also declare that Christ by the same words did constitute the Priests sui ipsius Vicarios tanquam Praesides Judices c. Can. 5. Judges of Sin and therefore that it is necessary to confess them all absolutely and in particular which is impossible for him that confesseth to know together with the Circumstances which speciem peccati mutant alter the kind seeing that it doth appear by the words of the Lord that he hath not distinguished Two sorts of Sins one to be remitted the other to be retained whereby it would be necessary to know of which sort the Delinquent is guilty but one only which doth comprehend all and therefore the word Peccata Sins in general is only used but he hath distinguished two sorts of Sinners saying Quorum Quorum one of the Penitent unto whom Remission is granted another of the Obstinate or Impenitent to whom it is denied therefore they are rather to know the State of the Delinquent than the Nature or Number of the Sins but concerning the Circumstances which they say alter the kind certainly every good Christian may swear with a very good Conscience that the holy Apostles and their Disciples most skilful in things spiritual not regarding humane subtilties did never know what were the Circumstances which alter the kind and yet there is made of it an Article of Faith necessary to Salvation But as it is approved by the Papists that Absolvo was a Judicial Word and reputed a good Consequence that if the Priests do absolve they are Judges so it appeareth to be an inconsistency to condemn those who say it is a naked Ministery to pronounce and to Anathematize those that so think Canon 6 9. It being plain that the Office of a Judge is nothing but to pronounce him innocent who is so and the Transgressor guilty and that this the Metaphor of the Judge doth not bear that the Priest can make a Just man of a Delinquent as is ascribed to him The Prince indeed may pardon Traitors and other Offenders and restore them to their good Names and Blood to whom he that maketh a wicked man just is more like than to a Judge who doth ever transgress his Office when he pronounceth any thing but that which he findeth to be true according to Allegata Probata But that which is most wonderful they prove the Doctrine of Specifical and singular Confession of Sins with the Circumstances by affirming out of Can. 5. That the Judicature cannot be executed without knowledge of the Cause nor Equity observed in imposing punishment if the faults be known only in general and afterwards that Christ hath commanded this Confession that they may impose the condign punishment What is this but plainly to mock the world and to think all men void of understanding but themselves and to perswade themselves that all their Absurdities must be believed upon trust how absurd soever For who knoweth not and seeth not daily the Confessors enjoyn Penance not only without weighing the Merits of the Faults but without having the least consideration of them It would seem by the words of the Canon and Council that the Confessors should have a Ballance to make difference of every Grain and yet oftentimes to recite five Pater nosters shall be a Penance for many Murders Adulteries and Thefts and yet the most learned Confessors and generally all in giving Penance do say to every man that they do impose only part of the Penance therefore it is not necessary to impose that exact Penance which the Faults do deserve nor to have a particular enumeration made of the Sins and Circumstances But what need one go so far when the same Council in the Ninth Chapter of the Doctrine and the Thirteenth Anathematism doth ordain that satisfaction is made by voluntary Penance Sponte susceptis Sesf 14. cap. 9. De Operibus satisfactoriis can 13. and suffering Hardships Therefore it is not needful nor yet just to impose in Confession the Punishment which is correspondent and by just consequence not to make a Specifical Enumeration which is said to be ordained for this end And that not considering any thing spoken before the Confessor though most learned attentive and wise having heard the Confession of any ordinary man for one Year much more of a great sinner for many years it is impossible he should judge aright though he had Canons of the punishment due to any Sin whatsoever without danger to err very much For a Confessor seeing all in Writing and considering many days of it could not make a Ballance to decide justly much less hearing and resolving presently as the Custom is What is this else but to scorn vilifie us and as if insensible Brutes Horses or Mules which have no understanding to impose such Absurdities upon our Reasons Belief and Consciences § Thus you see what work what strange work the Papists make with Binding and Loosing by drawing wrong Conclusions and Consequences from Premises which will not yield them That which is clear and apparent without the help of any Sophistry or false Arts is That Christ before his Ascension having commanded his Apostles to preach the Gospel c. he left also to them and to his Disciples as Representatives of all the Faithful this Principle and Catholick Precept viz. To love one another John 13.34 Charging them amicably not judicially to make peace between dissenting and discording Brethren and for the Dernier result and remedy giving the care thereof to the * Mat. 10.15 18. Body of the Church promising it should be bound and loosed in Heaven whatsoever they did bind and loose on Earth 1 Cor. 5.4 13. and whatsoever two did ask with a common consent should be granted by the Father Mat. 18.18 19. In this charitable Office 2 Thes 3.14 to give satisfaction to the offended and pardon to the offender the Primitive Church was always exercised And unto this Rule did St. Paul conform when he ordained that Brothers having Civil Suits one against another should not go to the Tribunals of the Infidels but that wise men not Priests should be appointed to judge the Differences and this was a kind of Civil Judgment as the other was the similitude of a Criminal but were both so different from the Judgment of the world that as
The Prince on the other side though he pretend not to Preach Baptise impose hands administer Sacraments use the Keys or the like yet deems it more particularly and more especially within his Province to take care of these Priests and Priestly things to see that the Persons be able and well quallified and that they execute the Mandat according to the Doctrine of Faith and of the Gospel of Jesus Christ And as to countenance and maintain these that do perform their Function accordingly so to silence and punish those that do not else why should he be blamed for giving liberty to a Popish Priest or Phanatick Quaker more than unto an Independant or Presbyterian § A King is he that Ruleth others and the relation of the Word doth teach us that there can be no King but in respect of his Subjects and his duty towards them is to direct to command and punish in all things needful Where God chargeth the King to keep and observe all the words of the Law keeping and observing are not there referred to his private Actions as a Man but to his publick Functions as a King and therefore the Kings in these words received the charg and oversight of the whole Law that is an express command from God to see the Law kept and every part thereof observed of all men within his Dominions and the breakers of it Prophets Priests and People to be punished Now the Law contained all things that any way touched the true Service and Worship of God and therefore the Kings had one and the self same power to command and punish as well in the Precepts of Piâ—ty as other points of Policy neither did God favour or prosper any of the Kings of Israel or Judah but such as chiefly respected and carefully maintained the Ordinances of Religion prescribed unto them in Moses Law This Power is granted to belong to Princes even by some Papists themselves witness that moderate and learned Servite Padre Paolo throughout his History of the Inquisition where he complains and avers that amongst the perverse opinions of which this our unhappy Age is full this also is preached that the care of Religion doth not belong to the Prince that in other times Holy Bishops did not preach nor recommend any thing more to Princes than the care of Religion they warned them of nothing nor modestly rebuked them for any thing more than for their carelesness in it And now nothing is more preached than that to the Prince belongeth not the charge of Divine things though contrariwise the Holy Scripture be full of places wherein Religion is commended to the protection of Princes by the Divine Majesty which also promiseth Peace and Prosperity to those States where Piety is savoured and Desolation and Destruction threatned to those States wherein Divine things are held as Alien David though being entred into a Kingdom out of Order both internally and externally and being very busie both in Wars and framing a politick Government yet did set his chief care on matters of Religion Solomon entring into a quiet and exceeding well ordered Kingdom regarded also Religion more than any other part of the Government The Princes most applauded in former Ages as Constantine Theodosius Charlemain St. Lewis and others made it their chief care and travail to protect and rule the Affairs of the Church It is a great deceit to set forth this part as a thing of less moment since the neglect of this doth provoke the divine wrath experience tells that a State cannot stand untroubled where change of Religion cometh for that true Religion is the foundation of States He that ruleth over Men must be just ruling in the fear of God 2 Sam. 23.3 It is an abomination to Kings to commit wickedness for the Throne is established by righteousness 16. Prov. 12.14 It were a great absurdity to leave the total care of it to others under pretence that they are spiritual where temporal Authority will not reach or that a Prince hath any greater charge or imployment than this § As it is manifest that the Prince is not Pretor nor Prefect nor Proveditore no nor Priest nor Bishop So it is as true that he is to oversee and cause them to do their duties both the one and the other And here lieth the deceit that the particular care of Religion is proper to the Officers of the Church as the Civil Government is to the Prince who ought to do neither the one nor the other but is to direct all and to take heed that none do fail in his Office This being the Princes charge as well in matters of Religion as in any other part of the Government And as in other matters the Prince is to be informed of all occurrences so ought he to be particularly advertised of all that happeneth in matters of Religion And I conceive that therefore a Prince is more bound than a private Subject to fear and to serve God to be both zealous and jealous of his holy Faith to honour cherish and defend Gods true Church that he as Pope Eleutherius writ to King Lucius being Christs Vicar in his own Dominions should discharge Christs Place and Commands and also more bound to avoid Hypocrisie Superstition and all open and scandalous sins to preserve his Dignity and maintain his State and Royalty in the exercise of Religion Because Regis exemplum in numerabiles populos catervatim secum ducit and least that happen to his People which sometime fell out to the Jews through Moses long absence who thinking that in him they were deprived of the true God made themselves one of Gold § It is agreed by all That God hath not left humane Nature destitute of such remedies as are necessary to its conservation and that Rule and Dominion being necessary to the conservation where that Rule and Dominion is granted there all things necessary for the support of that Rule and Dominion are granted also It is farther granted also that supreme power ought to be entire and undivided and cannot else be sufficient for the protection of all if it do not extend over all without any other equal power to controul or diminish it and that therefore the supreme Temporal Magistrate ought to command Ecclesiastical persons as well as Civil Look back a little into the old Testament and consider the Jewish Church and Republick of which the Lord himself doth testify 4. Deut. 7.8 That his people hath Statutes and Laws so just and wise that the Institutes of no people that the Sanctions of no Republick that no Ordinances howsoever wisely constitute were able to compare with them therefore methinks that the Church and State should be most divinely and wisely ordered that cometh as near as the circumstances of the present matter will permit to the Constitution of the Jewish Church and State in which matters were so ordered by God that we find not any where two diverse Judicatories concerning manners the one
smiting their Bodies separating them from the People and chasing them from the place pulling off the hair and taking an Oath of them by God not to commit the like do plainly shew the Civil Use of the Sword in the Princes hands not the spiritual force of the Word in the Priests Mouth and therefore the one can be no Argument nor President for the other § Unto me the most Natural and Genuine Sence of Mat. 18.15 22. seems to import The proper sence of Mat. 18.15 22. that Christ well knowing that his Apostles and Disciples which were to survive him and whom he intended to Commissionate to Teach and Baptize all Nations and to gather a People unto himself by declaring the Mind and Will of his Father by preaching his Gospel and that out of the very bosom and bowels of Kingdoms and Commonwealths which then were and also likely so to continue for many Generations then to come prophane and sworn Adversaries to his Gospel and unto the Preachers and Embracers thereof and consequently would be in as great dangers and Troubles as Sheep among Wolves and therefore his all-seeing Wisdom thought fit to prescribe them such a Government and Discipline which they might exercise among themselves in much peace and quietness suitable to the Gospel of Peace and without any noise or disturbance to the Magistrates or Subjects of any Nation or Kingdom or to the Government thereof how wicked or adverse soever they should be to Christ and his Kingdom and therefore here he prescribes them some Rules more particularly relating unto private Offences which must needs be whilst men are men If thy Brother shall trespass against thee c. 18. v. 15 c. The Party grieved must be Man not God If thy Brother trespass against thee not against God reprove him The first Admonition must be secret and friendly as between Brother and Brother between thee and him alone Again if the wrong-doer repent himself the Sufferer must forgive him and not seven times only but seventy times seven v. 21 22. and elsewhere viz. Luke 17.3 4. This together with the Lords Prayer teacheth us to forgive the Sins that are committed against our selves but we have here no directions nor power to remit other mens sins and harms much less to remit and pardon the Injuries offered unto God 2. If he repent not we must yet give him a second Admonition with one or two witnesses before we tell it to the Church and if he then repent we must then also forgive These be no Precepts for open and notorious sins dishonouring God and scandalizing his Church for such the Rule is given 1 Tim. 5.20 Those that sin rebuke openly that the rest may fear but for private Trespasses between man and man This is no Judicial proceeding in Episcopal Audience in the Conclave or Consistory but a charitable warning in secret by him alone that is grieved and oppressed with wrong or reproach This is a general Duty binding every Christian and not a special Authority to Popes and Presbyters There is no Command that the open and scandalous Sinners should be reproved in secret or twice admonished before they be censured by the Church The incestuous Corinth had neither private nor double warning before he was delivered to Sathan by the Church according to St. Paul's Advice Though Christ declined intermedling with the Judicial part of ending Controversies and differences between man and man yet he prescribes them Rules to compose them themselves 1. By private admonition of the Party grieved 2. By admonition of two or three of the Brethren of the Church 3. If they prevail not then to communicate the wrong done to the Church i.e. to the whole Congregations of Believers whereof both Parties are members and not to the Pope or Priest whereof not one plain Syllable in the Text so that not only by the mouth of two or three witnesses only but also by the testimony and admonition of many even of the whole congregated Church every word may be established that by such publick reproof the wrong-doer might be brought to repentance and amendment 4. If he neglect all private and publick admonition then let him be to thee as a Heathen-man and a Publican i.e. do not own him to be of your Congregation but pursue and prosecute and implead him as thou wouldst do an Ethnick or Publican or any one that is not of the Christian Church and Congregation in any of the Courts of Judicature of that City and Kingdom wherein they live Christ for the Honour and Glory of his Gospel would have none of his to be wrong-doers or be given to strifes and debates or to go to Law before the unbelievers as it is in 1 Cor. 6.1 2 8. If ye have Judgment saith he for things pertaining to this life what then Tell the Pope and his Cardinals nothing less but set them to judge who are least esteemed in the Church in which Rank I dare not place either Pope or Presbyter lest they bring their Action of Scandalum Magnatum for my so doing and make them Judges of your Causes and Quarrels where by the way it is observable that the Word Church in this place also doth not signifie the Pope nor yet the Presbyters only but the whole congregated Church the Sequel will clear it Is it so that there is not a wise man among you no not one that shall be able to judge between his Brethren but Brother goeth to Law with Brother and that before the unbelievers v. 5.6 Where the words Brethren a Wise man not one Vnbelievers are general and indesinite Terms and not limited to Ecclesiastics Then certainly Christ never meant that the Members of his Church should for private Trespasses complain to the Pope or his Parish-Priests and that they should have power sufficient to hear and determine all such Matters as were so offered unto them and to excommunicate those that would not stand unto their Sentence and Determination that would have been an Infringement and incroachment on the Magistrates Office for the Matters of Complaint are of that Nature that the Ministers of Christ might not challenge to hear and determine they were forbid it Man who made me a Judge or Divider over you Luke 12.13 14. And as his Father sent him so sent he them John 20.21 and consequently did belong to the Civil Magistrate Besides neither in Mat. 18. nor yet in 1 Cor. 6. the Word Church whether thereby should be meant Jewish or Christian can possibly signisie the Priests of either or at least not exclusive the Laity whatever the scope and drift of these two places are it cannot be to Authorize the Clergy to intermeddle with matters pertaining to the Magistrate and to exclude those from the Society and Communion of the Saints and Sacraments that obey not their resolution If Excommunication or Binding or loosing be to be proved out of Mat. 18. as the Papalins and Presbyters would have it yet it is
they put such a Hook in the Noses and such a Yoke on the Necks of Laicks and Civil Magistrates that the Papalins themselves have never since been able to shake it off unto this very day And though the Laws of the Emperors remain in the Codes of Theodosius and Justinian and in the Capitulars of Charles the Great and Lewis the Debonaire and though all Stories both Ecclesiastical and Prophane do shew how when and by whom these Powers have been granted adding the Reasons and Causes yet so demonstrable so notorious a Truth hath not had such power but that a bare Ipse dixit of the Popes without any proof at all hath been able to overcome it which the Canonists have so far maintained as to declare those Hereticks who do not suffer themselves that have been thus long blindfold to remain hoodwinkt still Though the Light of this Truth was not so extinguished but that both Learned and Pious men in those very first times did oppose their Doctrine viz. That no Civil Magistrate could meddle in any of those Causes which the Clergy had appropriated because they are Spiritual and that Laicks are uncapable of things Spiritual yet the opposition of the better who had the Truth on their side could not overcome the greater part and so upon the Spiritual Power given by Christ to the Church to bind and loose and upon the Institution of St. Paul to compose Contentions among Christians without going to the Tribunal of Infidels in tract of time and by many gradations a Temporal Tribunal hath been built by their own Industry Arts and Ambition and for their own Use Ends and Interests more remarkable than ever was in the world or can be parallell'd for thereby they have erected Regnum in Regno raised to themselves an Empire independent of the Commonwealth and which is more intolerable established on such grounds such as Jus Divinum is it which have so prevailed with such admirable success that it hath given the Pope of Rome as much at once as former Bishops were getting in 1300 years before and all this by making not the Power to bind and loose the foundation of Jurisdiction but the power of seeding and so affirming that all Jurisdiction was given the Pope by Christ in the person of Peter when he said to him Feed my Sheep § But to return to the other Branch viz. Excommunication Excommunication for the lawful force and use whereof they also plead strongly out of the same Chapter Matth. 18.17 If he neglect to hear the Church let him be to thee as a Heathen man and Publican of which a little more here pretending also that the Antient Writers lean very much that way It may be so yet happily if their full scope sence and meaning were fathomed and comprehended and not this and that Scrap and Sentence here and there expunged and picked out and wrested to serve a turn against the Meaning of the Fathers happily they would not be found so clearly on their side as they ween for but be it so that Excommunication may hereout be drawn and deduced yet certes it must then also be of the same Nature as binding and loosing is of in the same place and will then also belong to Privateers For they belonging both unto one thing and unto the same persons by the self-same words will naturally and necessarily fall into the same Predicament and then the meaning of those words are no more but Pursue them in those Courts that thou wouldest a Pagan and Publican that should do thee wrong and what affinity hath this with Excommunication used in the Church of Rome or else those words may be understood of a private forsaking of all company with the wrong-doer as thou wouldest shun Pagans or Publicans until he repent and reform himself which if you please to call Excommunication be it so but then also it belongs to every Individual of the Church and not unto Ecclesiasticks only and is sutable to many other Precepts of the Apostles viz. to withdraw our selves from every Brother that walketh disorderly 2 Thes 3.6 14 15. 1 Cor. 5.11 13. but that they should be kept from the Word and Sacraments and that Divine Service must cease if an obstinate excommunicate person will not quit the Church there is not any one plain Text nor Syllable in the whole Bible This is an Excommunication of their own making not of Christs Institution And yet Excommunication was declared by the then Brethren Presbyters in the Ordinance of Aug. 29. 1648. to be shutting out of a person from the Communion of the Church but what Warrant out of the Word of God they had so to do non constat Other Expressions and Powers there are recorded in Scripture of which they make use for the founding and upholding of Excommunication as the Delivery unto Sathan 1 Cor. 5.5 as Hymenaeus and Alexander and the Incestuous Person were the striking of Ananias and Saphira dead by Peter and of Elymas the Sorcerer blind by Paul owning himself to have vengeance in readiness against all disobedience 2 Cor. 10.6 and his professing that he will not spare 2 Cor. 13.2 As also when some for abusing the Lords Supper became weak and sick and fell asleep or became dead These and the like might have been Arguments for the like Powers had they not died with the Apostles but with Excommunication they have no Analogy no Resemblance they were Arrows indeed in the Quivers of the Apostles Tokens as one of them expresseth 2 Cor. 12.12 of an Apostle wrought with Signs and Wonders and mighty Deeds but no Arguments for Excommunication whereby it is evident that in their Days when as yet there were no Christian Magistrates to punish the Sins and Offences of the Brethren the power of God sometimes by himself sometimes by his Apostles did afflict and punish the disobedient more or less grievously according as their Sins were more or less heinous that thereby they might learn not to blaspheme nor yet to detain the Truth of God in unrighteousness and that the rest might fear to provoke his Wrath and Indignation by like Sins and Uncleanness For without all controversie the Delivery unto Sathan the smiting some with Death and others with Blindness and Sickness were Corporal punishments and of a far different Nature from that of Excommunication even according to their own shewing there being not any other punishment belonging to the essence of Excommunication but the sole debarring from the participation of the Word and Sacraments § However let us a little consider the Delivery of the Incestuous person unto Sathan 1 Cor. 5. of which no small use is made to justifie Excommunication Take the Story as it lies plainly in the Text without any Vizards or Equivocations St. Paul understanding that there was such fornication at Corinth as was not so much as named among the Gentiles viz. that one should have his Fathers Wife wrote unto them his first Epistle and
of Humane Authority then there are no things left for the exercise of Christian Liberty but only things indifferent among which Liturgies may be reckoned which Liberty if invaded or infringed by any Humane Authority A great Gospel priviledge is thereby infringed which ought not to be Then I must retort on them also and return their own Weapons upon themselves if every restraint in things indifferent be injurious to Christian Liberty then themselves are no less Injurious by their Negative Restraint viz. use no Liturgy wear not cross not kneel not c. like that Col. 2.1 touch not taste not handle not then they would have the World believe our Church is by her positive restraint unto the use of our Liturgies and Ceremonies therewith used let themselves be Judged whether it is more Injurious to Christian Liberty Publick Authority by mature advice Commanding what may be forborn or Private Spirits through humourous dislikes or at best not upon any demonstrative reasons forbidding what may be used the whole Church Imposing the use Or a few Dissenters requiring the forbearance of such things as are otherwise and in themselves equally indifferent for use or for forbearance Besides if I am not much mistaken the true Nature of Evangelical Liberty as intimated before consists chiefly if not wholly about things of a higher strain and Nature than of matters Indifferent and it will be very hard to prove by any one plain Text of Scripture without Wresting the Liberty so much contended for to be their Gospel and inviolable right when the Power of the Magistrate doth interpose Pro or Con. For if indifferent things be the only subject matter both of Publick Christian Authority and of Christian Private Liberty in every Individual Christian whereon to exercise themselves then the whole Gitt of the Contest will be whether Publick Authority or every Private Person be to be Indulged and Obeyed Judge even ye your selves Judge § Now the best way to my apprehension to understand what the Apostles in their Writings do mean and intend by the Words and Terms of Liberty and Freedom will be to consider them with their opposites viz. Bondage and Servitude and this St. Paul doth as in other of his Epistles so most fully and most plainly in his Epistle to the Galatians where he pursues these two opposite Terms Allegorically under the two Titles of two Mothers the one viz. Agar a Servant gendring unto Bondage the other viz. Sarah a Free Woman gendring unto Freedom thereby signifying the Two Testaments viz. the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace and thereby shewing that the Jews in respect of the Christian Church of the New Testament were as Children differing nothing from Servants but were under Tutors and Governours and in Bondage under the Rudiments of the World i.e. the Law or Ministry of Moses so called in respect of a more full and clear Doctrine in the Ministry of the New Testament Now the Law is a grievous Yoak which none can bear because First it did bind the Church of the Old Testament to the Observation of many and those very costly and burthensome Ceremonies and Sacrifices Secondly because it did bind every Offender to everlasting death Gen. 2.17.3 Gal. 13.3 it is a Yoak as it increaseth Sin not casually but occasionally and as it is the strength of it 1 Cor. 15.56 5. Rom. 20.7 8. and whose property it is to gender unto Bondage But after the fullness of time was come and Christ had Redeemed them that were under the Law they did then receive the Adoption of Sons God had sent forth the Spirit of his Son into their Hearts they were then no more Servants but Sons i. e. such as enjoy the liberty of Sons and were Free indeed because the Son had made them Free John 8.36 so Agar which typifieth the Law is in Bondage with her Children but Jerusalem which is above and typifieth the Gospel is free Gal. 4.25 26. Now Christian Liberty consists first in our being delivered from the Curse of the Law for the breach thereof and from the Obligation of the Law whereby it binds us to bring perfect righteousness in our Own Persons according unto do this and live Secondly From the Observation of the Ceremonial Law of Moses Col. 2.16 Thirdly It delivers from the Tyranny and Dominion of Sin For Sin shall not have Dominion over you for ye are not under the Law but under Grace Rom. 6.14 Fourthly Christian Liberty is to have a freedom in good things we are delivered from our Enemies that we may serve God in righteousness and holiness before him all the daies of our lives without sear Luke 1.47 75. and Paul saith where the Spirit is there is Liberty Cor. 12.3 17. Fifthly It consists in the free use of all the Creatures of God Whatever is sold in the Shambles that Ea◠asking no Questions for Conscience sake 1 Cor. 10.25 27. I have perused these and divers others if not all the places of Scripture urged by several of the Synagogue of the Libertines whereby they lay claim unto their exhorbitant dearly beloved and much Idolized Liberty to do what they list without controle or Inspection into their Actings in and about Holy things and do and whosoever shall soberly and seriously consider them together with their Contexts shall find them all to Center into their own one and the same most naturall and genuine sence and meaning viz. that by Liberty and Freedom in them mentioned is mainly if not meerly meant the Liberty from the Yoak Bondage and Curse of the Law it being a Spiritual liberty in all the parts of it freeing the true Christian from the Servitude of Sin and from all other Yoaks of Spiritual Bondage wherewith Sin hath intangled us and from which Christ the Author of this Liberty hath redeemed us and that the Law of this Liberty is the Gospel and that neither in the Texts of Scripture urged by this Author nor in any other that I know of is there any one Syllable of force to support the Liberty that this Author seems to plead for that is Impeached or Contradicted by the Imposition of sound Orthodox Liturgies Mostly all the Texts wherein Liberty and Freedom are but Named are generally Mustred up as a Cloud of Witnesses to shadow and shelter the Pleaders for their fancyed Liberty that under the pretence and umbrage of them and their corrupt glosses upon them they may with the better grace deny obedience to the Lawful Magistrate in Lawful things in and about the Worship of God and so use or rather abuse their true Gospel Liberty which no man can take from them for a Cloak to cover their Non-compliance with the Lawful Commands of the Civil Magistrate which indeed are the Commands of the National Church which to do is certainly not to approve themselves unto God Workmen that need not be ashamed rightly dividing the word of Truth 2 Tim. 2.15 but by thus perverting and shaping Texts of
having no other design herein then to manifest to the World how some kind of Men can take and leave object and refuse at pleasure more I fear to gratifie Humors Parties and Interest then in truth induced thereunto by sound reason Are we bound to these and the like Ceremonies still I say not so but I say that as they are to blame that would oblige us to all Ceremonious Traditions and Practises of Apostles according to the Letter allowing no Church Liberty to swerve therefrom be the Governments or posture of Affairs how different or variable soever So they are to blame and infringers of Church Liberty that will not allow the Church Power to innovate or impose some things in their Judgments necessary and behooful for the better regulating thereof tho there be no express Precept nor Practise of Christ or of his Apostles to Warrant the same Let the Church of God even in the dayes of our Saviour serve us for Example In their Domestical Celebration of the Passover which Supper they divided as it were into two Courses what Scripture did give Command them that between the 1st and the 2d he that was chief should put off the residue of his Garments and keeping on his Feast-Robe only to wash the Feet of them that were with him what Scripture did Command them never to list up their hands unwasht in Prayer unto God which custome Aristaeus de coenatori nuptialio sheweth wherefore they did so religiously observe what Scripture did Command the Jews every Festival day to fast till the sixth hour what Commandment had the Gileadites to erect that Alter which was spoken of in the Book of Joshua what Commandment had the Women of Israel to mourn yearly and lament in the memory of Jephtha's Daughter what Commandment had the Jews to Celebrate their Feast of Dedication never spoken of in the Law yet solemnised even by Christ himself what Commandment had they for the Ceremony of Odours used about the Bodies of the Dead after which Custom Christ was contented that his own precious Body should be Imbalmed In the Church of the Jews is it not granted that That appointment for the hour for daily Sacrifices the building of Synagogues throughout the Land to Pray and Preach in when they came not up to Jerusalem the erecting of Pulpits and Chairs to Preach in the Order of Burial the Rights of Marriage with such like being matters appertaining to the Church yet are not any where prescribed in the Law but were by the Churches discretion instituted The Conclusion § When I Consider through how difficult a Chapter Conclusion through what Contrarieties of Opinions what Contradictions of Men of different Tempers Principles Ends and Interests through how many Enemies both Forreign and Domestick and those of the highest Potency this Reformation did attain its accomplishment I cannot but wonder how any that seemed or thought themselves to have a Beam of Light of equal Lustre c. Should yet to add unto the other difficulties Injicere scrupulum cast in their bones also of Contention by speaking or Writing in derogation of that Reformation and that Liturgy contrary to the very Acts of Parliament made 2 Edw. 6.1 1º Eliz. c. 1. under several penalties which the Wisdom and Zeal to Gods Truth and Glory of that Age was endeavouring to accomplish which could never have been brought to that perfection it was brought unto had not God miraculously Blessed their endeavours by giving them a just ballance and a just weight of all considerations relating both to Church and State and also of moderation For the Parliament conveened in Nov. 1547. consisted of members disagreeing in Religion tho probably they agreed to serve the present time and preserve themselves for tho many both of the Nobility and Gentry stood well affected to the Church of Rome yet consented to all such Acts as were made against it not improbably out of a fear of loosing such Church-Lands and booty as they had got in case that Religion should prevail and get up again and for the rest who were either to make or improve their Fortunes they happily did promote a Reformation for their particular ends and interests § That at the time of Reformation and framing of a Liturgy others besides the Reformers were enlightned with a Beam of Truth of an equal Lustre and Brightness with that which shined in the minds of their Brethren I cannot gainsay nor will deny But by any thing that hath been yet Written it doth not in the least appear that those that then did or since have made the Liturgy a bone of Contention had a more clear beam of Truth in so disparaging that blessed Reformation and Liturgy and therefore more shame for such the Sons of the Church to vilifie and set at nought the Constitution of their Mother who Travailed so long with them and brought them forth with great so very great and exquisite difficulties Probrosa Ales quae Proprium nidum polluit If the Brethren of that Age then had or this Author now hath a new Light a new and clear Beam of Truth it would certainly make evident for the very nature of light is to make manifest 5 Eph. 8.13 But seeing no reasons demonstrative are brought to make good such positions is it not both prudence and duty in us rather to rely on our own Judgments being backt and reinforced with the Judgment of so many Learned Pious Reformers Liturgists that gave Testimony thereunto with their blood and of the Kings Privy Council and also of his great Council of Parliament both of those times and of the succeeding Generations all concurring in the Approbation and Imposition of the Liturgy rather then to follow the Fancy and Opinion of one or of a very few either of that or the Succeeding Ages that pretend indeed more light but in truth have less for ought that hitherto hath been Demonstrated But enough of this Subject I shall only leave all those of the Synagogue of the Libertines seriously to consider if ever such Liberty as is desired by all sorts of men of different perswasions were ever given under any Christian Government and yet if it hath been given if every Sect of them in their several alternate Courses and turns as they have happily got successively the Power and been uppermost have not endeavoured their utmost to depress and keep under all other Sects differing from themselves These things thus premised and well weighed I deem I may conclude without the imputation of much Arrogancy that Christ having Commanded Rem tho not formam Liturgiarum the Subject matter tho not the very Form and Words of our Liturgies that tho neither Christ nor his Apostles did ever Practise or intimate any such thing nor yet the Church of Christ for some Centuries of years next after Christ that they may still be imposed without the least desert of the Scandalous Imputation of being an unwarrantable Abridgment or Infringement of Christian Liberty
I abhor the thoughts of it as will appear hereafter there being a Vast difference between such a Tolleration of Idolatry Superstition crying sins and therefore absolutely unlawful and a Remission only of some few severities in some Acts Canons and Injunctions which relate only to Formalities that tho in construction of Law may be exacted yet may be dispensed withal without prejudice to sound Doctrine or good Conversation and without which the Worship of God would be as pure and sincere Indeed all Acts Canons and Injunctions whether they relate unto Uniformity or not ought according to their own Nature to be sincere and free from all Traps and Covert designs to exclude any that Profess the same Faith and Worship tho many cannot perhaps thro meer tenderness of Conscience submit to every thing therein enjoyned In Concerns of this Nature Scripture in a more especial manner ought to be the Rule of Resolutions and that abstractly and purely without mixing and bringing with them Interest Usurpation or Artifices of men else what were it but by Edicts to lay Snares in Mispah and spread Nets upon Tabor to use Laws Menaces and subtleties to keep Gods People from his Court and Sanctuary and Confine them to State-Religion and to Walk after the Mode of the Commands of men Those Non-conformists Non-assenters that have received Order which they could not have had but permissu superiorum by the Licence and under the Authority of the King in our Laws expressed For no Man hath Power to give himself either Orders to be a Priest or Institution to a Pastoral Charge but must depend upon another Power who by Acts Canons and Edicts long since published and extant hath directed the qualifications of the Persons to be Ordained the manner and Form how the Persons who ought to Ordain them c. and they could not be ignorant that the Liturgy and enjoyned Ceremonies were by the Imperative Constitutive Government of this Church and State to be Countenanced and used in publick Churches by the Bishops Presbyters and Pastors either they consulted their Consciences when they entered on the Ministery by taking Holy Orders whether they could Comply and Submit unto the whole Frame of Government and Polity of this Church Constituted by Act of Parliament from whom they were to receive Authority and Licence to Exercise their Function Gifts and Talents or they did not If they did not they are inexcusable for entring on so Sacred a Calling Stamped with an Indelible Character so rashly so unadvisedly without perspect or foresight of Consequences and yet if they were so pur-blind as not to see one step before them yet their neglect herein cannot be Pleaded in their Excuse it being their own Fault in Common Justice no Court will permit any man to take Advantage of his own misdemeanors or failings Besides hath not every Minister that hath receiv'd Pastoral Charge twice or thrice if not oftner witnessed his allowance of all and singular the 39 Articles of our Church once at his Ordination before the Bishop then at his Institution into his Benefice before his Ordinary and both these by Subscription under his own hand and afterwards upon his Induction before his own Flock and that by verbal Approbation he hath not only acknowledged in the Church the Power of Ordaining Rites and Ceremonies 20 Articles But he hath after a sort bound himself openly to rebuke such as willingly and purposely break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church as Offenders of the Common Order of the Church and Wounders of the Consciences of the weak Brethren and hurters of the Authority of the Magistrate Artic. 34. and is it not enacted 1º Eliz. c. 2. that they shall be punished pro ut in the Act that shall Preach declare or speak any thing in derogation or depraving our Liturgy c. Are not then such Dissenters obliged both in Conscience and by virtue of their own Voluntary Acts and Subscriptions to be constant to their own Hands and Tongues if they would be accounted Faithful in Gods House as was Moses And is it reasonable then to hearken unto such Pleading against their own Voluntary Acts and Subscriptions their own Hands and Tongues Besides quo jure with what Face or Conscience can they expect Temples maintenance protection and all things requisite for their Ministery from that Law and Government that they will not Protect Countenance nor submit unto § Indeed it seems to me an old piece of Conscientiousness if not Impiety to enter the Holy Ministerial Function to day when they are sure without Conformity to be silenced to morrow Besides it is Nicety and Indiscretion to exact an express Rule of Scripture or Faith for the Cross in Baptism for standing at the Creed Kneeling at the Lords Beard for Habits in Divine Service the usual sear-Crows of scrupulous men In these cases consent of the Church or Tradition may suffice so there be no express Law of Command to the contrary He that exacts in these Points as express Rules of Faith or Warrant of Scripture for his Obedience to Ecclesiastical Government as he would or as every man ought to do for adventuring upon Worshipping of Images Invocation of Saints c. doth make his Brain or Fancy the chief Seat of his Religion which should be seated in the Heart and Intitles God to the Fancies and Chymaeraes of their own Brains Thus to disobey the Church in these Cases wherein it hath Authority to Command Obedience is to disobey those Mandates of God which give the Body of the Church Authority to make Laws to Govern it self by in things indifferent neither expresly Forbidden nor expresly Commanded by the Law of God I know the Apostles Rule is let every man be fully persâ—â—ded in his own mind 14 Rom. 5. And this full perswasion or assurance of Faith is in the Cases there mentioned necessary because whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin v. 23. This last Maxim is undoubtedly true and the former Precept most exactly to be observed in such Causes as the Apostle there speaks of that is where the positive Practise unless our Warrant be Authentick in it self and evident to us is very dangerous or deadly whereas on the contrary the forbearance of such Practise is either safe or not prejudicial to our Souls but to our Bodies only or State temporal such Ceremonies as be neither against Faith nor adverse to good manners in the Judgment of St. Austin ep 11.8 go for indifferent and may be Born in Christian Unity without Offence or Confusion If God hath left things indifferent what Authority can make them necessary Let them be so still and their nature not changed by any Injunction and Unity will necessarily ensue Quodam modo it may be true that in Ordination there is something which they receive thereby from God Independent of the King or any Civil Power viz. Authority to Tâ—â—ch Baptize and Administer Sacraments by Virtue of Ordination And â—â— is as true that