great Learning and good Life was chose in his stead who after the Election declared himself to be a Catholick whereupon they persecuted him grievously causing the Circumcellians to pull out his Tongue and to cut off his Hand They dragged Restitutus a Presbyter Aug. de gestis cum Emerit through a Channel of Mud and after twelve days cruel Torment killed him They murdered Maximianus Bishop of Vaga in like manner for nothing but demanding of them the Possession of a Church which they had took of him and which he recovered of them at Law They put out the Eyes of others and poured Lime and Vinegar in the Holes Aug. Concresc Possid in vit Aug. in Hist of the Don. They terrified with Fire and Sword all the Churches of Africa insomuch that the Catholicks were afraid to Travel for fear of their Circumcellians They not only silenced the Catholicks but proclaimed it by the common Cryer that whoever did Communicate with Maximianus Aug. Ep. 166. lett E. should have his house burnt They laid wait for Possidius Bishop of Calame with a design to kill him and because he escaped their Snares as St. Augustines word is they fired the house twice in which he took Sanctuary The like outrages did these Pseudo-Zealots commit upon Marcus a Presbyter of Caspalia on Marcianus Vrgensis Ibid. and innumerable others In a word so long as they had Power no good Catholick that lived among them could be secure of his Possessions or Life its self C. 62. Obvios quosque erroribus suis alienos saies Danaeus all that were not of their Party and Opinion they made no Conscience of Killing and yet themselve would cry out of Persecution upon the least touch of restraint A further account of these Donatists may be seen in the 48 50 68 166 167 168 170 171 172. and others of St. Augustines Epistles shewing the great agreement of the modern Schismaticks with those of St Augustines time AERIANS AND PRESBYTERIANS PRESBYTERIANS were so called at first for the great share that they assigned to the Lay-Elders in the Government of the Church and State as also for a Parity that they would have among Ministers or a Coaequality between Bishops and Presbyters The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is best rendred an Order of Elders an Ecclesiastical Senate or Clasis and so the word Presbyterian signifies one that is for the Government of the Church by Lay-Elders But custom which commands the propriety of words has made it appropriate to such Protestants as are for a Parity among Ministers in opposition to Episcopal Government Some perhaps may frame the Denomination from Aerius the first of that Opinion thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 old Aerius or Presbyter Aerius who was the first of any Sect that stood up for a Parity among Ministers in opposition to Episcopacy which was on this occasion Dan. on Aug. de Haeres c. 53. Aerius being ordained Presbyter by Eustathius Bishop of Sebastia was afterward by the Bishop made Master of an Hospital as I understand those words of Danaeus Ptochodocheio preficitur The Bishop controuling him in the managery of the Hospital He first quarrels the Bishop and then separates from him broaching this Error Presbyterum ab Episcopo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ibid. ordine gradu non differre sed qui Presbyter est Episcopum dici c. that a Bishop and a Presbyter differ not either in Order or Degree but that a Presbyter is a Bishop c. On which very account Danaeus himself tho a sworn Enemy to Episcopacy confesses that Epiphanius Augustine and Isidore accounted him and his Followers Hereticks Aerianos Haereticorum albo ascripsere Epiph. Aug. Isid in eo quod Presbyteri Episcopi parem dignitatem constituerunt and Epiphanius Adv. Aerium calls the Aerians the most brainsick Hereticks that ever were for holding that Presbyters may ordain Presbyters and that Bishops and Presbyters were all one About the Year 1561. the Presbyterians began to be called Puritans on this account Queen Elizabeth having published a Book of Orders injoining strict Conformity to the Orders and Discipline of the Church in Opposition to Popery and Presbytery both Such as proceeded in Opposition to the Queens Injunctions relating to Presbytery or Nonconformity were called Puritans as the Novatians were Catheri as men professing the greater purity in the Worship of God which they placed chiefly in a shew of great Detestation of the Ceremonies and Corruptions of the Church of Rome above other men But taking the word Presbyterian in its first and most proper Acceptation for all such Protestants as are for a Parity among Ministers in Opposition to Episcopacy and to such Church-Ceremonies as the Episcopal Government requires there is this following account given of them Their first rise was in Geneva a City not above two miles compass governed by a Duke Heyl. Hist of Presb. l. 1. n. 2. n. 4. and a Bishop chiefly a Bishop who as Mr. Calvin confesses had not only the Ecclesiastical but Civil Jurisdiction over it till Viretus and Farellus exceeding studious of a Reformation in Religion laboureth with the Bishop for such Alteration as had been made in the Church of Berne But not able to prevail with the Bishop they practiced on the inferior sort of People and that so effectually that in a tumultuous manner they drove the Bishop and Clergy out of Town and not only alter'd every thing that displeased them in the Church but changed the Civil Government disclaiming all Allegiance to their Bishop or Duke either Ibid. n. 4. for which rebellious Atchievement Calvin calls Farellus the Father of the publick Liberty The Government of the City being thus put into the hands of the Common People by the endeavours of Farellus N. 5 Mr. Calvin was chose one of the Preachers of Geneva and soon after Divinity-Reader which done he presently negotiates with them to abjure all Obedience to their Bishop for the time to come Beza on the Life of Calvin and to admit of such a form of Discipline as he and his Colleagues had devised for them And having prevailed herein the said Discipline viz. the Presbyterian Discipline was generally sworn and subscribed to on July 20. 1537 the very same Year as I remember that the Order of Jesuits was founded and this was the first Extract of Presbytery as my Author says begot in Rebellion born in Sedition and nursed up in Faction No sooner was it setled in Geneva Hist of Pres lib. 1. n. 6. but Calvins next endeavours were to promote it in other places which he did effectually notwithstanding the Jars and Discords that it occasioned by these and the like means N. 11. 1. By the great Reputation that Calvin had attained to for his diligence in Preaching and Writing whereby he became the Oracle of the Times 2. His imposing it on the People on pain of Gods high displeasure and Beza after
but false lights and wandering Stars that seduce and mislead into error so wandering Stars for the irregularity of their motion they separate themselves on the account of greatest purity yet allow themselves in greatest Impieties like those who have a Conscience so tender as to boggle at a Ceremony and yet so tough as to bear a Schism and make light of the great Doctrine of the Gospel that great essential of true Religion Subjection for Conscience sake Dr. Manton 4. Their tumultuous Turbulence verse 13. raging waves of the Sea so called for their boysterous Violence saies Dr. Manton in enraging mens minds against all Government and Rule in Church and State putting all Places into Confusion and Combustion by Schism and Sedition Whenever the Winds of Power Mr. Jenkins on the place Ecclesiastical or Civil Word or Sword blow against the Tide of their Factious Errors they presently grow boisterous like raging Waves of the Sea 5. A fifth mark the Apostle gives of the Gnostick Sectary is their proud scorn and contempt of others for which they are called mockers verse 18. They having incircled their heads with their own Phantastick rays and having swoln their imaginations into a self-conceit of their greater Spirituality and more Knowledg than others did hereupon separate themselves and despise the true Church and all sober Members of it as a People of low form and unacquainted with the Heighths and Spiritualities of the Gospel 6. A sixth Character St. Jude gives the Gnostick-Sectary is their specious pretences and shew of Piety and Knowledg above others notwithstand their emptiness of it For which they are called Clouds without water verse 12. with the specious Title of the spiritual and knowing People the only true Church and People of God they reconciled Rebellion and all Licentiousness were Religious without Religion Godly without Goodness Christians without Christianity Clouds without Water Clouds which tho shining with a counterfeit Light which nothing exceeds but the Sun that lent it yet when turned black and grown numerous discharge themselves of most dangerous and terrible Principles of Thunder and Lightning Storms and Tempests on the places of Religion the High-Towers of Government and whatever is great and eminent 7. Another Character St. Jude gives of these Separatists of his time is their successesness in projecting against Governors and Government v. 11. They perished in the gainsaying of Korah 8. Their Ignorant malice ver 10. They speak evil of things they know not 9. Obstinate in their perswasion v. 16. Walking after their own lusts 10. Canting and Mysteriousness of Phrases ver 16. Their mouth speaks great swelling words With as many more distinctive Characters which the Apostle Jude gives in that one Chapter whereby to know the Gnosticks the Schismaticks of his time who admired themselves and withdrew from the Communian of the best Christians under pretence of greater knowledg and holiness than others NOVATIANS THis Sect commenced when Decius was Emperor Danaeus's comment on St. Aug. de Haeres cap. 38. and Cornelius Bishop of Rome in the year of Christ 220 which was 78 years before that of the Donatists They had the Denomination from Novatus the first Author of the Sect who was a Presbyter of St. Cyprian Bishop of Carthage and afterwards by Cornelius Bishop of Rome was made a Presbyter of the Church But saies Danaeus on St. Augustine Ad Episcopatum aspirans dolore repulsae c. Aspiring at the Bishoprick of Rome i. e. endeavouring to thrust Cornelius out for holding Communion as they falsly accused him with Trophimus one of the Thurificati and to make himself Bishop in his stead was sadly disappointed in the attempt whereupon in grief and discontent at the disappointment he joyns himself with Novatianus once his Scholar and afterward his Fellow Presbyter who having drawn many after them Secessionem ab Orthodoxis fecerant seorsim suas Ecclesias Basilicas habebant Refused Communion with the Orthodox and met in their Basilicae which St. Augustine frequently calls Conventicles They made the Separation on the occasion of the Orthodox Bishops receiving lapsed Penitents into Communion in opposition to which Novatus and his Adherents taught that the Church of God was to consist of none but Saints and therefore if through infirmity or the rage of Persecution any lapsed into Idolatry or the like gross Sin after Baptism they would never receive them more into Communion with them but gave them up as damned Persons and such as were never capable of Repentance notwithstanding the greatest and most infallible signs of true repentance that could be shewn Upon this most strict and rigid most censorious and uncharitable Opinion they separated from the Orthodox Christians because they received the Penitents into Communion upon sufficient Evidence of their Repentance given And this was soon improved into such a Schism that lasted from the Reign of Decius to the Reign of Archadius which was a 148 years and much longer All that while disturbing the Peace of Church and State to the great prejudice of Christianity in most places of the World especially Italy These Sectaries were also called Cathari i. e. Puritans a name not given them by others but arrogated to themselves saith St. Augustine Se ipsos isto nomine quasi propter munditiem superbissime Lib. de Haeres odiosissimè nominant They were so called says his Commentator because they separated from the Orthodox as more Pure and Holy as the only true Church and People of God accounting all the Church-Assemblies of the Orthodox Christians polluted with the Communion of the lapsed Penitents on which very account Danaeus calls them Fanaticks Comment on Aug. de Haeres c. 38. Haecuna ratio vel maxime Fanaticos istos impulit ut se Catharos appellarent And on which very account the Orthodox Christians were called Catholicks in opposition to that uncharitable Opinion of the Novatians Donatists and other Sectaries of old as the Papists do of late in confining the only true Church and People of God to their own party These Novatians or Kathari looked upon the poor Orthodox Penitents as so many Reprobates calling them in scorn Thurificati but themselves and their party Purificati and as Danaus Ibid. Sub specioso illo Purificatorum sanctorum nomine fuco turpissima tum in Doctrina tum in vita scelera tegebant That under the specious name and disguise of the Purificati and the Saints they did cloak the basest Villanies both in Life and Doctrine By Doctrine meaning chiefly that of their barbarous rigor to'ards the lapsed Penitents For they were at first for the most part sound in the Faith As St. Augustine said of the Donatists De sola communione infaeliciter litigârunt They separated on the account of not receiving lapsed Penitents into Church-Communion on the account of their conceited purity above all others which is that Danaeus calls Perniciosissimum illud dogma quod in ecclesiae
exitium cudit Novatus Ibid. A most pernicious Principle framed by Novatus on purpose to destroy the Church which Principle prevailed very much floruit saies Danaeus in Arcadius's Reign which was 148 years after it's first broaching and was at last exploded by the Preaching and Disputing of St. Chrysostom Bishop of Constantinople Cyril Bishop of Alexandria and Innocent the first Bishop of Rome but especially St. Cyprian Bishop of Carthage As also by the severe Proceedings of the Orthodox Bishops against them particularly in the Council held at Rome in which were 60 Bishops besides Presbyters where they were by the common Vote of the Church excluded the Communion of the Church Dr. Cave Life of St. Cyprian not so much on the account of their different Sentiments about pardon of Sin and Ecclesiastical Penance as their insolent and domineering Temper their proud and surly Carriage their rigorous and imperious Imposing their way upon other Churches their bold denying the Governors of the Church that great power lodged in them and particularly in remitting Crimes upon Repentance which seems to have been the very Soul and Spirit of Novatianism The Schism was also vehemently opposed by Dionysius Alexandrinus of which there is particular instance in his Pathetical Epistle to Novatus which in regard of its brevity it may not be grievous here to subjoin Dionysius to Novatus our Brother greeting For as much as you your self confess you were unwillingly drawn into this Schism make it appear so by your willing and ready return into the Church for better it were to suffer any thing than that the Church of God should be rent assunder Nor is it less glorious to suffer Martyrdom on this account than in the case of not sacrificing to Idols yea in my wind much more honourable For in the one case a man suffers only for his own Soul but in this he undergoes Martyrdom for the whole Church of God and if now thou shalt perswade and reduce thy Brethren to Peace and Concord thy merit will outweigh thy Crime The one will not be charged to thy reproach and the other will be mentioned to thy praise and suppose thou shalt not be able to persuade them yet however save thy own Soul I pray that thou mayest live peaceably and farewell in the Lord. Dionys Ep. p. 247. MELETIANS THE Meletian Schism began about the year 286 when Constantine was Emperor and Sylvester Bishop of Rome The Meletians were for the most part the same with the Novatians the whole difference between them lies in these three particulars 1. The Novatians denied to the lapsed any possibility of Repentance Danaeus on St. Aug. de Haeres cap. 48. these allowed them a possibility of Repentance but agreed with the Novatians in denying them Church-Communion notwithstanding the most infallible marks of true Repentance that could be given 2. They differed in time as Danaeus Hi plane similes sunt Novatianis a quibus sunt profecti sed tempore posteriores This Schism not commencing till 66 years after the Novatian 3. They differ'd in their Founders or first Authors their Origine or first rise As the Novatian Schism was first made and promoted by Novatus so was the Meletian Schism by Meletius Bishop of Lycus in Thebais in Aegypt a Person of greatest Authority and Power And next to Peter Bishop of Alexandria was Director General of all the Affairs of the Church The Schism arose in this manner The severity of the Dioclesian Persecution tempted many of all orders of men to renounce the Faith Epiph. adv Haeres Melet. 68. p. 306. ap D. Cave Life of Athan. and comply with the Gentile rites who afterwards repenting of what they had done applied themselves to the Martyrs and Confessors in prison for Absolution that they may be restored to peace and Communion with the Church This Meletius and others would by no means yield to Peter acted with the Resentments and Compassion of a common Father was for the more mild opinion That a time of penance being assigned they might be re-admitted into the Church But not being able to prevail he hung up his Mantle cross the prison crying out They that are on my side let them come hither they that are for Meletius let them go to him whereupon some Bishops came over to him the rest remained with Meletius which widened the difference into such a breach that ever after they kept their separate Assemblies refusing to communicate with the Orthodox Bishops But it was not long before Meletus himself stood in need of that Mercy which he had so uncharitably denied to others being through the infirmity of his Faith betrayed to sacrifice to Idols Socr. l. 1. c. 6. For which as also for his Schismatical proceedings he was deprived of his Bishoprick by Peter in a common meeting of Bishops Meletius having got out of Prison still bore up himself with the Reputation of a Bishop gathering Churches of his own Party ordaining Presbyters and Deacons to his Schismatical Assemblies and refusing to communicate with the Orthodox Churches on pretence of greater Zeal for the Glory of God Commen c. 48. and stricter Discipline to'awds the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Epiphanius calls the lapsed By which specious pretences this Schism which Danaeus calls Poyson had infected most parts of the Christian World and was a lasting Plague Latissimì sparsum èst a Monarchis pretextu severioris in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disciplinae Zeli in Deum majoris Epbatum adeo ut omnes pene Christiani nominis regiones labifecerit Diutissime etiam duravit venenum hoc in Aegypto c. Arianis Haereticis sese Meletiani adjunxerunt c. Dan. on St. Aug. de Haeres c. 48. and of very long continuance in the Christian Church They stiled themselves the Church of the Martyrs Tho Meletius himself died a Schismatick and Apostate when Peter the Orthodox Bishop that opposed him received the Crown of Martyrdom Athan. Apol. 11. As Arrius himself was at first a Meletian so the Meletians were at last Arrians As Schism generally useth to terminate in Heresie They were at first sound in the Faith Primum cum Orthodoxis in Doctrina fidei plane consentiebant saith Danaeus and when they differed from the Orthodox in nothing but Church-Communion even then did they join with the Arrians against the Orthodox Bishops Petitioning the Emperor against them and slandering them in most Diabolical manner Athanasius Bishop of Alexandria whom * Orat. 21. p. 378. Nazianzen after great commendation of his incomparable Learning and strict Piety in constant Watchings and Fastings Prayers and Praises calls A Comforter to the Miserable a Staff to the Aged a Tutor to the Youth a Benefactor to the Poor a Steward to the Rich a Patron to the Widows a Father to the Orphans a Harbour to the Stranger a Physician to the Sick a man of such Apostolick sanctity and Angelick Disposition that his Doctrine was accounted the Rule of
Orthodoxy and his Life the very Standard of the Episcopal Function He was saies that Encomiast the most holy Eye and Light of the World a Pillar of the Faith and a second John the Baptist yet did these Meletian Schismaticks when they were otherwise sound in the Faith join with the Arrian Hereticks in loading this holy man with false accusations and hell-bred Slanders calling him Sathanius accusing him as Arsenius Euplus Pachomius and others of the Meletian Schism did of Murder Dan. on Aug. de Haeres c. 48. and the like hellish Crimes as in the Council of Tyre and other places till at last by that black art of Slandering they prevailed with the Emperor to banish him Of the notoriousness of their Slandering there is among many others which a late Writer gives from Sozomen Dr. Cave the Life of Athan. Sect. 5. n. 3. Theodoret and Ruffinus this instance The Meletian Bishops in the Synod of Tyre accused Athanasius of ravishing a Woman whom they had prevailed with to come into the Council and to own and attest the Fact who accordingly declared that Athanasius in her own House violently forced her into lewd Embraces Athanasius came into the Court attended with Timotheus one of his Presbyters who was by agreement with Athanasius to take his part upon him The Judg calling upon Athanasius to Answer to the matter of Fact he stood silent But Timotheus turning to the Woman Woman saies he was I ever in your house did I ever as you pretend offer violence to you Yes yes saies the Woman you are the man that forcibly pressed upon me and stained my Chastity and Honour The cheat thus plainly discovering it self put the Contrivers of it to the blush but no end to their false Accusations They proceed to accuse him of Oppression Murder and like the modern cry of popishly affected of compliance with the Thurificati till at last he was deprived of his Bishoprick and Banished Ibid. Sect. 4. n. 6. The like they did to Eustathius Bishop of Antioch and others of the Catholicks that opposed them and endeavoured the Unity of the Church And tho the Arrian Hereticks joyned with the Meletian Schismaticks in these Diabolical practices against the Orthodox Christians yet were these principal in it Vt Meletiani saies Danaeus pene Soli divinum illum Athanasium conarentur opprimere c. In the first General Council of Nice in which were 318 Bishops besides innumerable Presbyters Deacons and Acoluthi an Assembly of men so venerable for their Age their confessions and constancy in the Faith for the Gravity of their Manners the Wisdom Learning and Reason of their Arguments and Discourses and meeting out of all parts of the Christian World was certainly the most August and Venerable Assembly that ever the World saw either before or since In this Council the Arrian Heresie being condemned they proceeded to take into consideration the Meletian Schism Ep. Synod Nice ap Socr. l. 1. c. 9. ap Dr. Cave the Life of Athan. they deprived Meletius of all his Episcopal Jurisdiction and Power lest he should excite the same Troubles and Factions which he had formerly raised in the Church of God And tho the Meletians were at that time sound in the Faith yet on no other account then the Separation did this venerable Council declare in their Letter to the Church of Alexandria That in strict Justice they deserved no Pity The Council of Sardica did the like Having deposed Gregory a Meletian Bishop they decreed in that Council That all Ordination made by him should be null and void which is in effect to decree that a Schismatick is ipso facto divested of his Ministerial Function and no true Minister on the account of his Schism DONATISTS THE light of the Gospel had scarce been well fix'd and diffused in the World but the Devil stired up the Pagan Emperors of Rome to extinguish it by persecuting the Professors of it with the most grievous Torments and Tortures that the most twisted Malice and Subtilty of Earth and Hell could devise and that in such measure that in the Dioclesian Persecution which lasted for ten years there were put to Death Seventeen thousand in a Month. And of the Decian Persecution Nicephorus saies It was as easie to number the Sands of the Sea as to reckon up all that suffer'd Martyrdom in that one Perscution under Decius This bloody work continued with its little Intermissions for about 250 years viz. from the Reign of Nero Anno Dom. 54. to the Reign of Constantius Clorus Anno Dom. 304. These Flames of Persecution were scarcely extinguished and peace and quiet restored to the Church but new Heats and Lights were raised by the pride and discontent of Schismaticks which infested the Church of God till Mahometanism and Popery divided the greatest part of the World and were more pernicious to Christiany than all the ten Persecutions Among these Schismaticks the Donatists were chief who were as St. Augustine shews at large sound in the Faith but as ‖ Ep. 50. let O. P. he saies De sola communionae infaeliciter litigarunt contra unitatem Christi rebelles inimicitias perversitate sui erroris exercuerunt They quarrelled only about Church-Communion as the Novatians and Meletians in another part of the World did and through the Perversness of their Error exercised saies he Rebellious enmity against the Unity of the Church For the right understanding of the rise and progress of this Schism we must note that Dioclesian in the heat and heighth of his Persecution had put forth an Edict that Christians should deliver up their Bibles and the Writings of the Church to be burnt which Edict was prosecuted with so much rage and vigor that many Christians to avoid the Storm deliver'd up their Bibles to the great Scorn of their Enemies for which they were called Traditores The Persecution being over some of the Orthodox refused to receive them into Communion notwithstanding the greatest evidence that could be given of their true Repentance the difference broke out into open Schism and Faction and gave Birth to that unhappy Sect of the Donatists in the year 298 which was about twelve years after the Meletian Schism was made when Constantine the Great was Emperor and Silvester Bishop of Rome in this wise Botrus and Celesius two Presbyters being in Competition with Cecilian for the Bishoprick of Carthage Cecilian a man of note for Learning and Integrity was by the general Suffrage of that whole Church chosen Bishop Botrus and Celesius discontented hereat Opt. p. 14. Danae on Aug. de Haeres c. 69. with some others that had been proceeded against by Cecilian refused to hold Communion with him and particularly Lucilla a Spanish Lady rich and factious thinking her self affronted by Cecilian's sharp reproof of her Superstitious practice in kissing the Reliques of some Martyr before her receiving the Sacrament in Discontent and Anger joyns her self to Botrus and
as to oblige all after-times to any particular form of Rituals is certain And also that they gave only general Directions but left it to the Power and Prudence of Church-Rulers to determine of Particulars as the various Conditions of People Time and Place should respectively require This is evident from hence that the Apostles instituted several things in the Primitive Churches which were in after-times to be used or disused as Church-Rulers should think fit For instance the Agapae or Love-feasts the holy Kiss the order of Deaconnesses and several other things which are now utterly disused and laid aside tho of Apostolical Institution Nor doth any man scruple the Disuse or Abrogation of them which is a palpable evidence that the Apostles never designed a certain form of Rituals to all after-ages but left it to the Prudence and Power of Church-Rulers to appoint as they see fit And thus Mr. Calvin himself Calv. Inst l. 4. c. 10.30 In externa disciplina Ceremoniis non voluit Christus c. Christ would not prescribe singularly and specially concerning external Discipline and Ceremonies because he foresaw these things were to depend on the occasions and opportunities of times and ought to be accommodated to the Edification of the Church according to the different disposition and custom of Times and Countries He adds Page 10. I think it will be very difficult for any man to make it appear that for some hundreds of years after the Apostles the Orthodox Christian Church did ever require any more then common Christianity as a term or condition of Church Communion or that any Ceremony was for so long a time imposed on the Church The Orthodox Christian Church did require it as the term or condition of Church-Communion That the lapsed Penitents should perform the five several Stages of Penance in such Posture and Gesture as the Church imposed and no other wherefore one sort of Penitents were called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the Prostrate because they were to perform their Penance in the Gesture of Prostration and no other They wore certain Marks of Penance about them with several other Ceremonies that I could name which were imposed on them as terms of Church-Communion Ignatius Bishop of Antioch and Martyr who lived in the Apostles times Socr. Hist l. 6. c. 8. is reported by Socrates to have heard in a Vision the Angels celebrating the Praises of God in Alternate Hymns and in Imitation thereof appointed the ceremonious way of Antiphones or responsal Hymns in the Church of Antioch which was immediately appointed in or imposed on most Christian Churches in the World The Ceremony or Order of reading the two Lessons after the Psalms is mentioned in the Apostolick Canons Ap. Can. lib. 2. can 57. as a thing decreed or appointed injoined or imposed which Cassianus mentions as the Ancient custom of all the Egyptian Churches Cassian l. 2. c. 4. which he saies was not taught by men but by the Ministry of Angels from Heaven Epipha adv Aerians Epiphanius calls the Aerians the most Brainsick Hereticks that ever were for holding that Bishops and Presbyters were all one and that they were not bound to keep Lent and the Holy week as the Laws of the Holy Church required Sozomen speaks of standing up at the Gospel History lib. 7. c. 19. as a thing very anciently and universally imposed He saies it was a new Fashion in Alexandria that the Bishop did not rise up when the Gospel was read and that he never heard of the like elsewhere And the Council of Toleta ordained Con. 11. c. 3. That all Governours of Churches and their People should observe the same Rites and Order of Service which they knew to be appointed in the Metropolitan See In the early days of Tertullian who lived near the Apostles times there was distinction of Garments bowing to'ard the East and innumerable other Ceremonies and among the rest there 's no question to be made of what Mr. Bolde has such a spight at the Cross at Baptism since the Church saies Canon 30. that it was used in the Primitive and Apostolical Churches with one consent All which Ceremonies Tertullian calls * Harum aliarum ejusmodi Disciplinarum si legem expostules Scripturarum invenies nullam sed traditio est auctrix consuetudo conservatrix fides observatrix Disciplines which implies that they were imposed yet there was then no such thing as scrupling of Ceremonies but obedience active and passive even to Pagan Governours and conformity to Christian Church-Orders was a Characteristical mark of primitive Christianity Whatever the Pleaders name be to shew that his Temper is daring he tells us p. 11 12. He dares affirm That if the Rights and Ceremonies now in use in the Church of England should be alter'd some changed and some wholly laid aside by the same Authority that did at first injoin them the Church of England would still be as impregnable a Bulwark against Popery as now she is and I am fully satisfied saies he there is no man will deny this unless he be either a real Papist or an ignorant superstitious Fool. The King Parliaments and Convocations have denyed it and I am fully satisfied they must and will deny it on these accounts following 1. On the account of the great danger that universal Observation and Experience have found to be in such Innovation as he pleads for in altering the Constitutions of a Church that have heen composed and setled by wise men and Christian Martyrs reverenced and admired by others incorporated into the Laws of the Land rivetted by Custom and long Prescription for the sake of such novel Notions and inconsistent Alterations as no dissenting Party could ever yet agree in and such as is inseparably twisted with seditious and penicious Alterations in the State It being much more true of England what Optatus said of Milevis Res publica non est in ecclesia sed ecclesia in republica and therefore that the Church being contained in a Civil Society must conform its self in externals to that which contains it for Safety and Preservation Which made King Charles the first call such Alteration 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. 11. The old leaven of Innovation under the mask of Reformation which in his two last Predecessors days heaved at and threatned both Prince and Parliaments They first desired Alteration of him and then obtruded it on him with the point of their Swords with such a trusting to their Moderation which he there calls abandoning his own Discretion and shews throughout that they who began with nothing else but such desires of Moderation and Alteration as Mr. Bolde Pleads for ceased in nothing else but utter Subversion and Dissolution And Arch-Bishop Bramhall whom Mr. Baxter truly calls Lett. to Mr. Militier that clear-headed Metropolitan teaches That it is a rule in prudence not to alter no not an ill custom when
Celecius and by the help of her money calls in Donatus à casa nigra with some others to strengthen the Party much after the same manner as Viret and Farellus did Calvin at Geneva This Donatus was presently made the head of the Faction who tho himself and most of his Party had been Traditors i.e. such as to evade the Dioclesian Persecution had delivered up their Bibles to be burnt yet accuses Cecilian of being a Traditor and on that account not fit to be Bishop of Carthage whereupon they set up Majorinus a Presbyter and Mock-bishop in the stead of or rather against the good Bishop Cecilian and thus the Schism began by erecting Altar against Altar Dan on Aug. de Haeres c. 69. in setting up Majorinus a Pseudo-Bishop against Cecilian the lawful and good Bishop of Carthage But this Majorinus died immediately upon the first broach of the Schism and was succeeded by Donatus à casis nigris and he by Donatus Magnus from whom they were called Donatists priding themselves much in this Denomination è parte Donati The Schism increased daily and began by the Conduct of Donatus to set up private meetings Ibid. which they called the only True and Holy Church of God but which St. Augustine commonly calls Conventicles and after a short time began to build for their Meetings basilicas non necessarias as Optatus calls them And this pernicious Schism being thus founded in proud and ambitious Discontent it was propagated much after the same manner and by the same means as well as all other Schisms usually are as 1. Pretensions to greater purity and stricter piety than others Thus they taught The Church is to consist of none but such as be holy and that such were not to be found in the Church of Carthage but in the Donatists separate Congregations only for which St. Augustine frequently reproves them and particularly in that one ⸫ Ep. 48 lett c. lett p. Epistle to Vincentius of boasting of themselves as the only Persons in whom the Son of Man should find Faith when he came and in the same Epistle compares them to the Pharisees on this very account For justifying themselves and despising others which he calls an establishing of their own Righteousness c. That which was at-first pretended by the Donatists as the ground of the Schism was that Cecilian the Orthodox Bishop of Carthage was a Traditor that he and the other Catholick Bishops had admitted lapsed Persons into their Church-Communion whereby all their Churches were defiled and ought not to be communicated with and therefore separated from them on the account of greater purity Hist of the Donat. In the Meeting which the Emperor Honorius appointed at the Gargilian Baths between the Catholicks and Donatists for the composing of matters between them the Donatists refused so much as to sit in their Company Primilianus the Donatist Bishop of Carthage his Words were Indignum est ut filii Martyrum est progenies Traditorum in unum coeant i. e. It is not fit that the Sons of Martyrs as they called themselves and the Sons of Traditors as they called the Orthodox should sit together and another of them Odi Ecclesiam malignantium cum impiis non sedebo I hate the Church of the Malignants the very same Name that the Schismatick-Rebels of 43 called the Orthodox and Loyal English by Such were their great pretensions to strict Purity and holy Ordinances that they washed the very Walls and Pavements of their Religious places where any of the Orthodox Christians had been 2. A second Expedient that they used for the propagating of their Schism was their proud and censorious slandering and traducing the Orthodox This Donatist Schism was first of all founded in the discontent that Donatus had took at his not being preferred to the Bishoprick of Carthage before Cecilian whereupon he separated and propagated the Schism very much by this very means Dan. on Aug. de Haeres cap. 69. traducing Cecilian as a Traditor as no Minister of Christ nor the people that adhered to him true members of the Christian Church that they had no true Sacraments nor saving Ordinances that all were corrupted by Idolatry and Superstition Opt. p. 47. and thus they generally called the Catholicks Pagans and Idolaters But more particularly the venerable St. Augustine having in publick Meetings soundly baffled Petilian Cresconius and others of their Ring-leaders and many ways mauled their Schismatick Cause for which he has been always stiled Donatistarum mallaeus him they traduced as a contentions Disputer a wrangling Sophister and a Perverter of Souls rather to be avoided than disputed with and to be dealt with as a Wolf or any beast of Prey and accordingly they employed their Circumcellions to murder him but that the Providence of God did so miraculously preserve him once by misleading him out of his way and at other times in miraculous manner The Emperor they traduced as misled by Hosius the famous Bishop of Corduba by Stilicho the great Staes-man and others whom they stiled Evil Counsellors Hist of the Dona. 135. of Mensurius Cecilians Predecessor they said he was Tyranno crudelior carnifice sevior more raging than a Tyrant and more cruel than a Hangman against the Magistracy it self says Danaeus they did multa emovere impie blatterare C. 69. tanquam ecclesiae lupi pestes magistratus essent lye muttering and vomiting out wickedly accounting the Magistrates the very Wolfs and Plagues of the Church and all this to promote the Schism by keeping up prejudice in the minds of People and to maintain in them an ill opinion of their lawful Ministers and Magistrates who otherwise might have reduced them to Unity and Communion with the Orthodox Christians 3. Obstinacy in their Perswasion they had been so oft condemned in full Councils and yet persisted in their error Ep. 167. let O. that made St. Augustine in indignation say Puto quod si ipse diabolus autoritate judicis quem ultro elegerat toties vinceretur non esset tam impudens ut in eâ persisteret I think that if the Devil himself had been so oft condemned as these Dotists have been by Judges of their own chusing he would not have been so impudent as to persist in such a Cause 4. A fourth Expedient which they used in propagating the Schism was Phanaticism or Enthusiasm When Donatus had a mind to engage the Circumcellians in any barbarous Enterprize his Custom was to pretend that an Angel had appear'd to him and assured him of success in answer to his Prayers Oravit Donatus respondit ei Deus says Optatus and of all the Donatists saith Danaeus C. 69. Jactant Revelationes Entheusiasmos ut sua dogmata plausibilius confirment se sanctos perfectosque sumosius glorientur to the end they may make their Opinons in Religion the more plausible and may the more speciously boast of themselves as
the Saints and perfect ones they pretended Inspiration and Revelation from God that their Cause was the Cause of God and that whosoever died for it received the Crown of Martyrdom and by this very means did they encourage themselves and their Party in their contempt of Magistrates and put the Circumcellions on Massacres and the like most barbarous Outrages 5. Their Seditious possessing the people with Jealousies and Prejudices against the good Emperor Constantine For instance Hist of Don. p. 67. when he sent Paulus and Macarius with his gifts and largesses about Africa and with them his own Effigies intending nothing hereby but some Expression of his good Affection to the people and his endeavour of promoting that Peace and Unity in the Church which he so extreamly desired These Donatists hereupon as Schismaticks always use to put the worst construction on their Princes best Actions brute it all over Africa that the Emperor had sent Images to be set upon the Altars and that he was setting up Idolatry and Superstition in the Churches 6. That which conduced as much as any thing to the growth and continuance of this Schism was the great Toleration and Liberty that they enjoyed and the want of Laws inflicted rigorously upon them Thus Danaeus Cap. 69. Gregory the great complains saies he of the Bishops and Magistrates of his time that this grievous and pestilent Error of the Donatists did so long prevail and infest the Church through their fault and negligence it being heavy Penalties laid upon them that must reduce them this he saies did effectually Suppress them formerly when Arcadius and Theodosius were Emperors To all this may be added innumerable instances of secret Fraud and open Violence as the ordinary means of promoting the Schism such as that of Ingentius's forging Letters containing the Testimony of Alfius Cecilianus Hist of Don. concerning Faelix Bishop of Aptung's being a Traditor and other the like instances which made the Emperor call this Sect Officinam Diaboli when they were convicted of Schism in the Council of Arles So also their beating and killing any that opposed them yea or that were not of their wicked Party and Perswasion saies Danaeus Obvius sibi quosque in plateis agris homines à suis erroribus alienos caedunt jugulant furiosè Cap. 69. maximè ij qui inter eos Circumcelliones appellantur In a word notwithstanding their greatest Pretensions to Purity and Holiness above all others they stuck at nothing tho ever so barbarous and flagitious to strengthen their Party and promote their Schismatical interest which they did succesfully till the good Emperors Constantine Theodosius Arcadius c. put a stop to and suppressed them by the same infallible means and method that Queen Elizabeth did the Schismaticks of her time viz. by strict Laws made against them and executed severely on them So saith the Historian Sozom. Hist Eccl. l. 2. c. 30. Hist trip l. 3. c. 11 Constantine the first Christrian Emperor finding the Church disturbed by Schisms made a Law against all Conventicles by which Law the Memory of Schismaticks was destroyed speaking of the Donatists only And St. Augustine in his Epistle to Vincentius Ep. 48. Let. U. Mine own City saies he which was wholly schismatical of Donatus 's party is now converted to the Vnity of the Church by the fear of the Imperial Laws and do so perfectly detest their former stubborness that you can scarce believe them ever to have been guilty To some of these Donatists the terror of the Imperial Laws hath been so profitable Let. X. that they have thanked God for it saying God be thanked that hath quickened us by the Terror of the Laws to seek what formerly we did not care to find others say We were frighten'd by false Rumors from coming into the Church which we should never have known to be false if we had not come to Church and we should never have come to Church if we had not been compelled Thus did the Execution of Penal Laws when all other means failed effectually Suppress them But when Julian the Apostate Aug. Ep. 166. Emperor designing thereby among other expedients to root out Christianity gave them Toleration the Schism revived and the Schismaticks grew numerous And as the English Schismaticks in 48 when they got Liberty and full Power in their hands were presently divided into Independents Anabaptists Quakers Seekers High-attainers c. So these Donatists had no sooner got Liberty by the Emperors Indulgence but they were presently divided and subdivided as in St. Augustines Epistles passim into 1. Luciferians so called from their Ringleader Lucifer Calaritanus Bishop of Sardinia these differed from the rest of the Donatists on the account of rebaptizing Dan. on Aug. de Haeres c. 69 81. the other Donatists opinioning that in the Catholick Churches there were no true Ministes and consequently no true Sacraments The efficacy of the Sacrament say they depending upon the dignity and sanctity of the Minister did rebaptize all that they received into Communion and which shews from whence the Anabaptists did arise refused to Baptize Children Lucifer Calaritanus differing from them in this heads a party that separated from other Donatists called from their Ringleader Luciferians 2. Another Sect or Faction among the Donatists were the Maximianists who separated from the other Donatists as well as from the Catholicks on pretence of greater Purity they were so called from Maximianus their Ringleader who discontented at Primitianas's being preferred before him to the Pseudo-Bishoprick of Carthage refused to hold Communion with his Fellow Donatists as well as Catholicks and drew many after him 3. From these sprang up soon after the Rogatians and Claudianists who were otherwise called Montenses Campitae and Rupitani Dan. c. 69. from those Fields and Caves where they kept their Conventicles they were much what the same with our English Quakers Optatus speaks of them thus Salutationis officium auferunt c. ne ave dicunt cuique nostrum They salute none of the Orthodox when they meet them nor so much as bid them God speed Thus did Toleration and Liberty make them divide and subdivide every Schismatick being ready to set up for himself as soon as the Schism is made Danaeus mentions two other Sects among the Donatists the Permenianists and the Cirtenses besides the Circumcellians such a superfetation there is in Schism wherever it is tolerated And as all Schismaticks when tolerated and indulged do usually commence Hereticks in the end what St. Augustine said of Donatists himself De Haeres c. 69. his Commentator said of his Followers Arianis consentiunt as the Meletians did before them they at last turned Arrians Another effect of their Toleration or Liberty was the many barbarous outrages that they committed upon the Orthodox as oft as Toleration empowered them for instance Pretextatus a Donatist Bishop being dead Rogatus a man of note for his
him making it as unlawful to recede from the Presbyterian Discipline as from the most Material Points in the Christian Faith 3. The Self-ends and Ambition of some Ministers affecting the Parochial Episcopacy or Supreme Ministerial Power in their own Parishes 4. The Covetousness of some Great Persons who thought thereby to raise to themselves great fortunes by the Spoils of the Bishopricks and for the attainment of these Ends they stuck at nothing whether the deposing of Kings or subverting the Fundamental Constitutions of all Civil States where-ever they came and it 's observable that that very thing which the English Dissenters at this day insist on as the Articulus Stantis vel cadentis Presbyter the very basis on which their Nonconformity doth stand as Popery doth on the infallibility was the main rule which Calvin went by in all his Reformation work viz. That there ought to be nothing and consequently no ceremony in the Worship of God Lib. 6. n. 3. which is not warranted and required in Gods Word or which hath not particular and express command in Scripture for its use An Error which Mr. Baxter himself hath soundly confuted by many substantial Arguments in his Defence of the Principles of Love Part 1. p. 97 98 99 100 c. Calvin having compleated the settlement of his new Discipline in Geneva about the Year 1541. thought himself of such grand assurance that no Church could be reformed without his interposal He offers his Assistance to Arch-Bishop Cranmer as soon as he heard of the Reformation intended here in England but the Arch-Bishop knowing the Man refused the offer whereupon he took Order with Martin Bucer at his first coming into England to give him some account of the English Liturgy which was no sooner done but he presently makes those Exceptions which afterward became the main ground of those many Troubles those horrible Disorders and Confusions with which his Faction had involved the Church of England from that Time to this Prevailing nothing with that Holy Martyr he tampers with the Lord Protector with the King himself and the Lords of his Council had his Agents in the City and Country N. 15 16. the Universities and Convocations all of them Practising in their Several Provinces to decry the use of Kneeling the Cross at Baptism c. and to bring the People to a dislike of the Common-Prayer-Book which at its first composure was looked on by the People generally as a Heavenly Treasure says Mr. Fox in his Acts and Monum Preface sent down by God in great Mercy to the English Nation all moderate Men beyond Sea applauding the Happiness of the Englanders in having such an Excellent form of Gods Publick Worship Lib. 6. n. 3. And an Act of Parliament declared it composed by the special Aid and Assistance of the Holy-Ghost But all Mr. Calvin could do would avail nothing nor could his Presbyterian Discipline get any footing in England till 1. Popery introduced it by Queen Mary's banishing most of the most Eminent of the English Protestant Divines into Embden Basil The first rise of Pres out of Popery Strasburgh Geneva Frankford and where the Presbyterian Discipline and Government was from whence they returned into England tainted when the Persecution was over Lib. 6. n. 14. and had preferment given them in the Churches whereby they got opportunity of preparing the minds of People for such innovations as they hoped when Time served to bring into the Church But the Fabrick of the State was joined together with such ligaments of Power and Wisdom that they were able to act but little and to effect less About this Time died Calvin having sat 28 Years in the Moderators Chair at Geneva and was succeeded in the same Year 1564. by Beza who tho at last he recanted very far at first endeavoured the settlement of the Presbytery in England with more Zeal and forwardness than Calvin had done He presently brought it to an open Schism and a resort to Conventicles which himself takes notice of in a Letter to Bishop Grindal Rem tandem in pertinax schisma evasisse Nonnulli tam seorsim suos caetus habent c. Bez. Ep. 23. Having by this means got some footing in England as also by the connivence of some Bishops and by the Queens indulgence to'ards them particularly in tolerating the French church in London where the Geneva discipline was exercised they became so insolent as to publish those pestilent Pamphlets called the Admonitions wherein they proceeded so far as to tell the Parliament that it should be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for them and that if they would not countenance the Geneva Discipline themselves would be their own carvers Lib. 7. n. 23. 24. Whereupon the Queen issued forth her Proclamation for the further suppressing of them so that by means of the Rigor of the Laws the Government being too strong for them their next Expedient was 2. To dissemble Conformity Lib. 7. n. 33 34 35. thinking thereby to breed up their Presbytery under the Wing of Episcopacy till it should be strong enough to subsist of it self Lib. 8. n. 24 26 Next they proceed to libel the Government with such ridiculing Pamphlets as Mar-prelate Ha' y' any work for the cooper the Epistle to the Confocation house c. in which they far exceeded the railings of the Donatists against the Catholicks calling the Arch-Bishop Pope of Lambeth and Belzeebub of Canterbury the rest of the Bishops petty Popes and cogging Knaves c. and the rest of the Clergy worse To stop the Mouths of these Rabshakehs there were several grave Refutals given but all in vain till Tom. Nash the Observator of those Times a man of Sarcastick Wit by some Pamphlets written in the same loose way such as the Pasquil the Counterscuffle Pap with the Hatchet c. stopped their Mouths for ever medling more in that way About the Year 1592. they were busie in petitioning the Queen Their Petitions were such as gave the Queen a full assurance of what restless Spirits they were Lib. 9. N. 22. and that no quiet was to be expected till they were utterly suppressed In order thereto a Parliament was called at their first Sitting the Queen signified it to both Houses that they should keep themselves to the redress of popular Grievances but that they should leave all matters of State to Her and Her Council and all Ecclesiastcal matters to Her and Her Bishops But contrary to her Command Mr. Peter Wentworth a Member of the House of Commons and a great Zealot for the Presbyterian Discipline with Mr. Bromley and others of the House of Commons deliver'd a Petition to the Lord Keeper Puckering desiring that the Lords would joyn with them of the lower House in becoming Suppliants to the Queen for entailing the Succession of the Crown according to a Bill which they had prepared At this the Queen was so displeased that Mr.
Blood of men the best of men to destroy the Peace of the Church and to set up that Presbyterian Discipline which was no sooner up but down as that which will no more comport with the Constitution of the English Government than Popery or the Mussleman Faith And as this barbarous Regicidy so that which introduced it with so much Murder Perjury and Rapine I mean the Civil War which cost so many millions of Treasury and so many thousands of Mens lives was undeniably the effect of the Presbyterian Schism as is sufficiently acknowledged by the mouth of a modern Dissenter which is Mr. Baxter a dying man and therefore to be believed speaking to a Nonconformist whom he doth so orthodoxly and honestly write against Cathol Communion doubly Defended p. 31. If you know not saies he I do that the principles of Separation were the great cause of the Subversions and Confusions which brought us to what we have felt in England Scotland and Ireland for these forty years and if I may not have leave to say with Bradford Repent O England you should give me leave to repent my self that ever I preached one Sermon with any Biass of overmuch desire to please Persons of the accusing separating humour Thus Mr. Baxter in that late and last of all his Books But to proceed In conclusion of this War and Regicidy the men in Buff fell to Reformation-work in Churches which I cannot but take notice of in this place it being so exactly agreeable to the pattern of Julian the Apostate's reforming Christianity In Winchester Church Collonel Waller with some of his Regiment Hist of Presb. lib. 13. n. 23. threw down the Communion Table broke down the Rails and burnt them in an Ale-house strewed the pavement of the Quire with the Leaves which they tore out of the Common-prayer Book and whereas the remains of several Saxon Kings and Bishops had been by the care of Bishop Fox gathered into leaden Chests they scattered the Dust of their Bodies before the Wind and threw their Bones about the Church The very same that Julian the Apostate did to the remains of John the Baptist buried at Samaria He caused his Bones to be digged up and being mixed with the Bones of Beasts he burnt them to Ashes and scattered the Ashes before the Wind. N. 24 25. In the Cathedral Church of Chichester after they had picked out the Eyes of the portraitur'd King Edward the sixth saying in scorn That all the mischief came from him in establishing the Common-Prayer at first they fell to pillaging and plundering like the Goths at the Sack of Rome and when it was beg'd that they would leave but one Chalice for the use of the Sacrament it was answered A wooden Dish may serve turn The same words almost as of Faelix Colleague to Julian that renounced Christianity in complement to Julian who taking up the Communion-plate which the Religious Constantine had in piety bestowed upon the Church See here saies he in scorn what brave Cups and Vessels the Son of Mary is served in The Church of Exeter they turned into a Jakes leaving their filth on and about the Communion Table whereas the Apostate Julian did but piss against the Communion Table in a Church at Antioch and the Presbyter Euzoius reproved him tho an Emperor sharply to his face And in all this they wrote as after the Copy of the Apostate Julian so with the practice of the Donatist-Dissenters As Optatus relates that in Thipasa Opt. 55. ap Hist of Don. a City of Mauritania the barbarous Donatists assaulted an Assembly of the Orthodox Christians while they were at their Devotions and driving them out of the Church slew a great many of them the Bread of the consecrated Eucharist they threw to the Dogs who having eaten it by the just Judgment of God presently grew mad fell upon their Masters that gave it them and tore them to pieces But in the reforming the Church of Canterbury they exceeded Julian or the Donatists either N. 25. for finding there some Figures of Christ in the Arras-hangings in the Quire they did in the most literal Sence crucifie Christ in Effigie some swearing that they would stab him others that they would rip up his Bowels which accordingly they did so far as the Figures of Christ in the Hangings were capable of it The principal Instrument in framing this Reformation and Hammering out all that mischief of the War and Regicidy was a Tool called the Solemn League and Covenant as appears by the dying words of one of the chief contrivers of it Sir Henry Vane Speech p. 3. at his Execution on Tower-Hill That what the House of Commons did singly by themselves which was their Levying of War Murdering the King proscribing his Son Voting down Monarchy with much more which he saies lay yet in the breast of the House was but a more refined pursuit of the Covenant Thus Sir Henry Vane who being sent hence Commissioner into Scotland was one of the first Contrivers of it and therefore most likely to know the use and design of it and being then ready to die was most likely to speak truth But thus much is demonstrably true that the Covenant put them on altering the Government and that Alteration on the aforesaid Reformation as also upon Warring against the King and that War upon conquering and that Conquest upon Imprisoning and that Imprisoning upon Impowering a rude Conquering Army to Murder him So that their laying all on a rude conquering Army as Mr. Baxter doth is no other Plea for the Presbyterians not killing the King Plea for Peace c. than Pilates was for his Innocency in putting Christ to Death because he left the Execution of it to the Soldiers But to shew what an Engine this Covenant was against the Church what a Solemn piece of Perjury and what a snare of Souls what a mystery of Iniquity and what a bane of Monarchy 't is fit all Posterity should be instructed in these three Articles of it 1. That without respect of Persons they would endeavour to extirpate Popery and Prelacy i. e. Church-Government by Arch-Bishops Bishops Deans c. and all this not only contrary to the Kings Proclamation strictly forbidding it but contrary to an Oath previously taken by a great part of the Covenanters 2. That they would endeavour the discovery of all such as had been or should be Incendiaries Malignants evil Instruments c. whereby they bound themselves and others as the event shew'd to bear false against to Condemn and Murder the Kings best Friends as those that stood most in their way as the Earl of Strafford Arch-Bishop Laud c. 3. That they would preserve the Kings Person in the preservation of the true i. e. Presbyterian Religion and the Liberties of this Kingdom Which was in effect a covenanting to Rebel against the King if not to Murder him in regard that the Covenanters had already
of Hypocrisie was Hacket a man of such desperate Malice that bearing an old Grudge to one that had been his Schoolmaster bit of his Nose when the Schoolmaster begged that he may have it to sow on again before it was cold Hist of Presbyt lib. 9. n. 6. he chewed it with his Teeth and swallowed it down yet did this man attain to that esteem among the People and conceit of himself by his counterfeit holiness and extemporate Prayers that at last his pride improved into such Phanaticism as has scarce been heard of pretending to extraordinary Zeal for the Reformation he pretended also to extraordinary Revelations from God for the accomplishing of it He pretended that God had revealed to him that there should be no more Popes that England would be that year grievously afflicted with Plague and Famine unless the Reformation and the Lords Discipline meaning the Presbyterian Discipline were admitted he bruted abroad that the Queen was an Usurper and the like Seditious Speeches for which he was Hang'd and Quartered about the same time 1593. Penry was Hanged for the like seditious Practices for which in a ‖ The Hist of Korah Dath and Abiram Preface Postscript Book published soon after his Execution he was stiled by the Dissenters A Martyr of Jesus Christ a godly Man Religious and Learned Zealous and of most Christian Carriage and Courage who suffer'd for writing for the Truth of Jesus Christ In the same year Barrow who was Hanged for condemning the Church of England as no true Church Hist of the Presbyt l. 9. and Derogating from the Queens Authority in matters Ecclesiastical and the like seditious Practises speaking to Dr. Andrews and Dr. Parry after his Condemnation 'T is true said he Arch-Bishop Cranmer Bishop Ridley and others were Martyrs in Queen Mary 's days but these bonds of mine shaking his Fetters are much more glorious then any of theirs because they had the mark of Antichrist in their hands And of the same sort are all who suffer on the account of Sedition Rebellion and the like and yet intitle God to those Villanies in calling their just Punishment Persecution suffering for Righteousness-sake c. 2. There is a rank smatch of Phanaticism in that fundamental Article of the Presbyterian Faith That it is unlawful to use any thing in the Worship of God which is not expresly commanded by some Divine Law If the belief of this be a fathering of our Sins upon God then is it rank Phanaticism but that the belief of this is a fathering of our Sins upon God is sufficiently proved by Mr. Baxter himself in his Defence of the Principle of Love Part 1. page 100. 3. A third Instance of Phanaticism is false pretension to the Spirit of God in Preaching as among the Quakers a Spawn of the Popish Franciscans who made unlearnedness a Profession priding themselves in the Title of Fratres Ignorantiae and among the Presbyterians Erasm Ep. 59. ad frat German there is Pharellus of Geneva the first lay-Patron of Presbytery who in pretension to the Spirit called all humane learning The invention of the Devil Somewhat like Quakers in Preaching are some others who in Preaching take boiling Passion for holy Zeal and wild Imagination for Divine Motion when a fiery Fancy mounting aloft flutters in mystical Nonsence and flows into the Tongue in extravagant Ramble abusing the Name and Word of God with sensless Notions phantastick Phrases and unintelligible Cant and all this ascribed to the blessed Spirit of God as the extraordinary Work of that adorable Spirit and as Preaching by the Spirit so of writing by the Spirit Mr. Baxter in his Treatise of Episcopacy P. 1. ch 14. p. 169. gives this remarkable Instance That there are many poor men among us divers Weavers and Ploughmen of his own Church at Kidderminster To disabuse the Weavers of Kidderminster in this matter I must Insert in their behalf that I know them to be for the most part men of such Moderation and Sobriety in Judgment as to disdain such Flattery and resent such abuse as Mr. Baxter here offers them who are able not only to Pray and Teach as well as most of those Bishops and Fathers of the Church who are by Eusebius extolled as the famous Bishops of the second and third Age but to write as methodical weighty pious Tractates as any that were written by men that neither conversed with the Apostles nor had been bred up in Phlosophy no not excepting Clemens Romanus himself Ignatius Irenaeus Cyprian Macarius Ephrem Syrus Isidor c. And as of Preaching and Writing by the Spirit so 4. Praying by the Spirit I mean the extemporate faculty of praying to make this as some do the infallible Mark or Sign Work or Effect of Gods Spirit is that many call Phanaticism God doth undoubtedly vouchsafe to devout and pious minds the special Assistance of his Spirit which perhaps may be properly enough called praying by the Spirit But then this must be placed not in the extemporate Faculty not in volubility of Tongue or quickness of Fancy variety of Invention or readiness of Expression but in such devout affections and such reverent Apprehensions of Gods Majesty as do best become the most solemn acknowledgment of him and as are aptest to incite Faith Repentance and a Holy Fear and Love of God this if any thing is Praying by the Spirit and not the extemporate Faculty that is so far from being the distinguishing Work of Gods Spirit that the vilest Profligates may have it and therefore to ascribe it to the Spirit of God as such a Work is properly called Phanaticism And of this there is this remarkable Instance to be given At St. Ives Counterm ch 7. p. 49. in the County of Huntington in the memory of many Persons now alive there was a Woman most Zealously devoted to the Presbyterian Party then called Professors or Puritans a constant frequenter She was of Religious Meetings whereby She became so Eminent especially in this gift of Prayer that she was generally admired and looked upon as a first-rate Saint The noise of her Fame and the boasts of her Party brought many Neighbouring Ministers of the Adjacent Counties of Cambridge and Huntington to hear her Pray which She did in that Ecstatick manner that they never parted from her without excess of Admiration After some time She went with many others into New England for Liberty of Conscience where She lived for some time in greatest esteem but the Devil owed Her a Shame and She owed him a Soul She was at last Suspected and Accused of being a Witch was brought to her Tryal confessed her Guilt and that her Contract with the Devil was That in lieu of her Soul which she had consigned to him he should assist her with the gift of Extempore-Prayer after which Confession Sentence passed upon her and she was accordingly executed for an abominable Witch Many the like Instances of this there
are in a late Book called Ravillack Redivivus Now either we must say That the Devil has Power of disposing of the gifts of Gods Spirit which is Blasphemy or that this Extemporate way of praying is no infallible sign of Gods Spirit and therefore that it is Phanaticism to ascribe it to him In a word as Miracles ceased so did the gift of inspired Prayer and ever since has the Church Worshipped God by allowed Forms or Liturgies not only in the Bohemian and Lutheran Churches but in the Presbyterian Churches of Geneva France Holland c. and that not only allowed but advised by Mr. Calvin himself till of late some Jesuits in Masquerade first set up the way of Extemporary Prayer on purpose to break good Order in the Protestant Churches and especially here in England Foxes and Firebrands as is lately made evident beyond all reach of scruple by a good credible Author 5. 'T is rank Phanaticism to resist Lawful Authority on pretence of Religion or to pretend Conscience for Disobedience to Magistrates hereby God has been intituled to as barbarous Massacres and as horrid Rebellions as ever were committed and this sort of men are so far Phanatick as they intitle God to self-inconsistency in opposing his Will to his Will and his Word to his Word by pretending his Authority for Disobedience to his Commissioners For Conscience is no less than a Divine Authority and therefore not to be pretended without much less against a Divine Law The pretence of Conscience is that we are afraid to displease God and therefore chuse rather to displease men but if we displease men to please God where God has forbid that Displeasing or Disobeying of men as in the case of Disobedence to Magistrates in things not sinful in that case the pleasing of God is but pretended and that pretence is but Fanaticism it being Disobedience on the account of Conscience or Duty to God where there is no Word or Law of God commanding it 'T is eternally true That a Conscience informed and governed by a Divine Law ought not to stoop to the greatest Prince That the Authority of God is to be opposed to the greatest Power upon Earth And that all the Powers in the World cannot deliver us from the Obligation of CONSCIENCE that is when it has Gods Law for its Rule But where that is wanting it is not properly Conscience but Humour and Fancy and pretending that Law and that Divine Authority when we have it not is plain intituling Gods Majesty not meerly to Humour and Fancy but to that damnable Sin of Disobedience which is properly called Phanaticism This Account have I given not to justifie that ill practice of giving odious Names to any Party but meerly to instruct the Vulgar Reader a little in that great evil of Schism and Faction which is so little discerned by such and less made Conscience of by most Remarks on Mr. Bolde's Plea for Moderation THE Arch-Pagan Celsus having wrote a most Pestilent Book against Christianity gave it this specious Title 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And in imitation of him it was that * Not Pythago Commontat Hierocles an Egyptian Governour wrote two Books to prove the Scriptures guilty of Falshood and Contradiction The Apostles to have been Cheats and Impostors The Miracles of Christ to have been the Effect of Magick and not comparable to those of Apollonius Tyanaeus Yet this hellish Book he did Intitle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 As tho its damnable Errors had been Divine Truths and not against but for the Christians In like manner Mr. Bolde a Conformist Minister who declares himself satisfied in the lawfulness of every thing required in the Church of England in imitation of Mr. Baxter's Pleas for Peace has published a Book which he calls A Plea for Moderation to'ards Dissenters which is indeed such a Plea for Licentiousness and Confusion such a piece of Hypocrisie and Church-Treachery and such a perfect Satyr upon the Government as deserves a worse Shammatha than what is ipso facto pronounced against him in the Sixth Canon for impugning the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church Or at least 't is a Plea for such Moderation as Dr. Taylor ‖ Ductor Dubit l. 3. c. 4. says has something of Craft in it but little of Ingenuity that may serve the ends of outward Charity or Phantastick Concord but not of Truth and Holiness Moderation saies Bishop Lany cannot be but between two Extreams Sermon on 1 Thes 4.11 and what Extreams are there in a setled Church as in England unless the Church be one Extream and the Schismatick the other saies the Bishop But to shew further the vanity and emptiness of his promising Title if you take the word Moderation in its forensick and primary Acceptation for that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or gentleness which is placed in relaxing the Rigour of the Laws when they press too hard upon Criminals I do undertake in these following Lines to make it evident That the Moderation of our Church and Church-Rulers is such that it is plain want of Moderation to question their Moderation and that they are utterly lost to all Moderation who attempt such Pleas in that behalf If you take the word Moderation in its Scripture-Acceptation it is no more than Meekness under Sufferings Persecutions c. as appears by the Context of that one and only place where it is used in Scripture Phil. 4.5 Let your Moderation or as the Geneva Translation let your Patient mind be known unto all men q. d. however immoderate your Persecutors are let your Moderation Meekness and Patience be known to all men not only Fellow-Sufferers but your Enemies and Persecutors Shewing plainly that the word Moderation in Scripture-Acceptation is accommodable to none but a suffering or persecuted Party Which makes it a contradictio in adjecto to call this Book a Plea for Moderation to'ards Dissenters And as the Title so the Book Dignum patellâ operculum For there 's scarce a Paragraph in it not fairly reducible to one of these Heads 1. Fraudulent Pleas for Compliance with Dissenters in the Disusance or Non-imposal of Church Ceremonies 2. For Indulgence to'ards them in relaxing the Rigour of the Laws 3. Scandalous Reflections 4. Impertinent Jorgon Remarks on Mr. Bolde's Plea concerning Church-Ceremonies TO see how in this he doth in limine impingere He begins his Book with this Fraudulent Insinuation concerning them Vnnecessary Rites and Ceremonies P. 1. 4. 8. 18. 20. and Zeal about them a Stratagem of the Devils Invention whereby to hinder the Progress of true Christianity humane Devices old Rites and Ceremonies trifling and frivolous Things with much more to the same purpose How far he hath hereby incurr'd the Penalty annex'd to violation of the 6th Canon which saies of the Impugners of the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England Let them be excommunicated And of the 10th Canon which calls them maintainers of Schismaticks who shall
dare to publish that any separated Church has of long time groaned under the burden of certain grievances imposed upon it speaking before of Gods Worship in the Church of England and that whosoever shall presume so to do shall be excommunicated and not restored till they repent and publickly revoke such their wicked error And of the Act for Uniformity 1. Q Eliz. which saies If any declare or speak any thing in derogation of the Common-Prayer or any thing therein contained he shall lose and forfeit for his first Offence the profit of all his spiritual Benefices or Promotions for one whole year and suffer Imprisonment for six Months without Bail or Mainprise and for the second Offence shall be imprison'd one whole year and deprived of all his spiritual Promotions How far he has incurr'd this Penalty let others judg that which I remark is in these following particulars 1. His insinuateing concerning the Church Ceremonies P. 4. 20. as humane Devices and humane Inventions Whereas the Church of England has retain'd but one Ritual or Ceremony that is not of Divine Ordinance and Apostolick practice as Bishop Taylor has observed and that is the Cross at Baptism Ductor Dubit lib. 3. c. 4. which is a compliance with the practice of all Ancient Churches The Church has but this one Ceremony of its own appointment for the Ring in Marriage is the Symbol of a Civil and religious Contract a Pledge and Custom of the Nation not of the Religion As for other Circumstances they are but Determinations of time place and manner of Duty and serve for no other purposes then significations for Order and Decency For which saies he there is an Apostolical precept and a Natural reason and an evident necessity or great convenience And notwithstanding the use of this sign in Baptism has ever been accompanied with the greatest Exceptions Care and Cautions against all Popish Superstition and Error as the 30th Canon shews And notwithstanding the reverend esteem that the Primitive Church had of it in so much saies that Canon That if any opposed it they would certainly have been censured not only as Enemies of the name of the Cross but of the Merits of Christ And notwithstanding the Concessions of the most Eminent Nonconformists granting the lawfulness of its use Mr. Baxter Christ Direct Q. 113. Yet doth this Pleader give it as ridiculous and absur'd a name as any could be thought of calling it in plain English contradictio in adjecto and this on no other then this silly account P. 12. The ill Opinions that it begets in the minds of the Ignorant as tho it were indispensibly necessary and a part of the Ordinance of Baptism and as tho private Baptism without the Cross is not true sound Baptism To this there is this sufficient Answer in the 30th Canon 1. That the abuse of a thing doth not take away the lawful use of it or make the use of it unlawful which is the more regardable because spoken as the Church's sense in special reference to the Cross in Baptism 2. The same Canon saies That the use of this sign was ever accompanied with sufficient Cautions and Exceptions against Superstition and Error Common-Prayer Book Preface of Church Ceremonies And the Church has elsewhere fully declared against retaining of any such Ceremonies as are like to be abused to Superstition c. 3. Tho this Proposition private Baptism is no true sound Baptism seem somewhat contradictory yet to shew that it is nothing so to make it what Mr. Bolde calls it contradictio in adjecto there must be incompossibilitas terminorum The Adjecta or Termini here are private sound and who can apprehend any incompossibility or repugnancy in those terms as they relate to Baptism Besides if by sound Baptism may be meant compleat and perfect Baptism then the Rubrick and Directory also doth scarce allow of private Baptism as sound Baptism except in the case of dying Infants And since he speaks of the Ignorant only why may not such take sound Baptism in that Sense So that in plain his hinting the Cross at Baptism by that odious name is such a thick piece of Error as may be felt and in a Conformist such a thin piece of Hypocrisie as the weakest eye may see through and ten times worse then Mr. Baxter's whimsey in questioning whether we do not make the Cross at Baptism A new Sacrament of the Covenant of Grace First Plea for Peace which no one part of the Definition of a Sacrament can be made to agree with He proceeds against the imposing of Ceremonies in general thus Our Saviour lays no stress on any thing but real practical Religion Obedience to lawful Authority in things indifferent is real practical Religion and Inconformity or Disobedience to lawful Authority is damnable Sin He adds Page 9. The Apostles upon mature Deliberation would lay no more on the Disciples then what was then necessary 1. No more do the Apostles and Governours of our Church now But to shew how impertinently this is urged 2. 'T is evident by the Context that those words of the Apostle James relate particularly to Circumcision Acts 15. which was not a Jewish ceremony but a Jewish sacrament of divine institution and alteration both and therefore nothing to our purpose and yet St. Paul circumcised Timothy Acts 16.3 meerly in conformity to the Jews And at that same Council Acts 15. when the Apostles had declared against Circumcision at the same time as in the next verse they declared for the Gentiles abstaining from things strangled and from Blood which there was no Law of God for obligeing the Gentiles to but what the Apostles enjoined them meerly on the account of Peace and Conformity to the Church National of the Jews they lived in according to the grand Exemplar Christ his complying all along with the Jewish Church in their Rites and Customs observing their Feasts and making his own Institutions of Baptism and the Lord Supper as agreeable to their Customs as was possible And according to his example all a long the Apostles not like inflexible starch't Pharisees but like humble complaisant Christians became all things to all to the Jews as Jews and to those without the Law as without the Law In the next place he starts this Question Page 9. as that which he saies some do much insist upon Whether the Apostles had not power to determine indifferent Ceremonies so as to oblige the Church in her several Administrations to the use of some and to forbear the use of all others He resolves it thus They never made use of their power that we read of Page 10. about these indifferent and unnecessary things It was not necessary they should the general Rule and Reason being sufficient to secure the Church against any capital Mistake That the Apostles never obliged the Church to the use of some Ceremonies or the difuse of others so
the Heathens to Christianity by severity and force but by severity and force he endeavoured to keep the Christians in unity and to that end enacted many severe Laws against the Dissenters of those times such says Augustine as did in conventiculis suis separatim congregare And 't is remarkable that though the Laws made against those Donatist-Dissenters were not only great pecuniary mulcts but banishment and seizing their Goods for the Emperours use as I understand those words ut fisco vinâ—icarentur yet doth the holy Father account these laws so favourable as not to punish but admonish only Lit. O. and having spoke of the Paganish Idolaters being punished with death for their Idâ—latry as that seveâ—ity which the Orthodox and Donatists both did approve of and rejoice in he adds Lit. O. P. that the wickedness of Schism is worse than that of Idolatry which is a broad intimation that that holy man thought Schism a Capital crime And here I cannot but take notice of his calling the wholsome execution of the Poenal Laws by the odious name of Persecution and not only so but like the Donatists of old and the Jesuits of late doth wrest and rack the holy Scripture to make it speak its sence of it Witness that very Text on which he preached his printed Sermon Gal 4 29. As he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit so it is now where the Apostle doth plainly make the party prosecuting to be the party persecuted It was Isaac and Sarah that corrected Hagar and Ishmael and yet says the Apostle Ishmael he that was born after the flesh was the party persecuting tho the party suffering By which we may understand says St. Augustine upon the place that the Church rather suffers persecution by the pride and wickedness of carnal men Ep 48. Lit. L. by their Ishmaeliâ—ish reproaches when she endeavours to amend them by temporal punishments and corrections than they by the Church so that whatever the true Mother doth in this case though it may seem harsh and bitter yet she doth not render evil for evil but endeavour by wholsome discipline to expel sin not out of hatred or desire to hurt but out of love to cure Whereby it doth plainly appear that the execution of the poenal Laws against Dissenters for of such he speaks is so far from being Persecution that in that case the party Prosecuting is the party Persecuted with Ishmaelitish reproaches as being Persecutors c But the best account of the true notion of Persecution is in the learned Dr Hick's Sermon of Persecutiand thither I refer the Reader 6. Mr. Bolde's 6th Argument is no more than this It was never known that any Indifferent Ceremonies were universally imposed in a knowing age and the opinions of all good men did agree to them Which is no more in effect than if he had said That because some good men have not agreed to the use of some Ceremonies therefore the Church must prostitute her authority to every Sceptick Innovator in altering her ancient Constitutions 7. Hâ—â— 7th and last is taken from our condescentions to the Papists in a â—â—nâ— our Rubrick Publick Service and Articles in order to the bringing of the Papists to join with us in our worship c. He instance in the Churches expunging that passage in the Littany where we prayed to be delivered from the tyranny and all the detestable enormities of the Bishops of Rome c. 'T is true that for the first Eighteen years of Queen Elizabeth few of the Popish Recusants absented themselves from our Churches till Pope Pius the Fifth by his interdictory Bull would have all communion with us renounced and in meer hopes of uniting and bringing them over to the Reformed Religion there was that condescention and compliance made and the like and greater concessions were indulged or offer'd at least to the Nonconformists in Queen Elizabeths time till it did appear that they would be satisfied with no other concessions than what were judged inconsistent with the safety of Church and State Mr. Bold having finished his Seven Arguments against Imposition of Church-Ceremonies and execution of poenal Laws has this one Story more that when the Emperour took a Bishop in compleat Armour he sent the Armour to the Pope with this word haeccine sunt vestes Filii tui Whereby Mr. Bolde would insinuate again as the Precedent words shew that only Arguments and Reasons and not coercive means are to be used with Dissenters The error of this hath its refutal from some of my last Citations out of St. Augustine Ep. 48. Litt. T. And therefore no more but to return the Story Paulus Emilius Val. Max. a Noble General when several of his Souldiers took on them to prescribe and suggest to him their several models of management and discipline Acuite vos gladios says the General mind you your Swords and your business be ready to obey and execute what shall be commanded you but leave the discipline and management of affairs to me your General q. d. let Governours and Government alone keep you your station and mind your business in opposing the Enemy and obeying your Commanders but do not dare to medle with controlling directing or prescribing to those whom it is your business to obey But if these bold Soldiers that prescribed thus saucily to their General should have turn'd Runagadoes and been caught by him like this Pleader with his Militant Apologies for Dissenting Enemies going over into the Enemies Camp no doubt but he would have given them the very edge of Martial Law Thus have I faithfully remarked all that I judge any thing argumentative in Mr. Bolde's fraudulent Plea which is indeed nothing else but arrogant dogmatizing and prescribing to Superiours instead of Pleading for licentious and disorderly Toleration on pretence of Moderation of the sworn enemies of the Church and Government under the name of Dissenters I see little else in his Book but what is fairly reducible to one of these heads Impertinency or Scandal of the former sort is his spending so many Pages in telling who they are he pleads for they are says he more particularly men of such Learning as Mr. Baxter Mr. Hickman c. Mr. Hickman I know not Mr. Baxter's Learning no honest man will envy He must be acknowledged a Learned man If he had not skill in fencing he could not be so quarrelsom Arrius was stiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was accounted the most logical and one of the most learned in his time But what of that The Orthodox Bishops thought him never the more fit for Church-toleration or comprehension But speaking of Impertinencies the very name forbids me insisting on the thing And so of his scandals also which are so detestable and notorious that it were a scandal to publish but the rehearsal of them witness the Story of the Register p. 40 which for its scandalous reflections on the Ecclesiastical Government there 's nothing in Martin Mar-Prelate H'ye any work for the Cooper or the Cobler of Gloucester can exceed So of those whom he charges with sitting as the Reader must compute it Sixteen or Seventeen Hours together in a Tavern or an Ale-house p 19. His fraudulent suggestions touching the great evil of imposing Church-ceremonies with many the like which run through his Book like a vein through his Body and which I cannot repeat without sin and shame Or if I could that It would even tire an indefatigable Reader to lead him through all the dark and dirty Labyrinth of his defamatory Libel I must therefore be abrupt in this Appeal to the Reader whether it be not the part of a most abominable Church-Traytor to play the CHAM with the Church in such a treacherous and deceitful manner FINIS