course at Law with him and bring a Clausum Fregit or Action of Trespass against him before the Roman-Magistrates in their Courts of Judicatory as you may against a Heathen-man that is a Gentile or a Publican For the Publicans though many of those Excise-men Toll-gatherers or Custom-gatherers were Jews by Nation and Religion too and some of them Jewish Christians yet they were Herodians that is true Conformists to the Roman-yoke and Government and therefore odious to the Puritanical-Bygots the Hypocritical Pharisees that lookt with scorn upon all Man-kind and as Dogs despis'd and hated all if they were not of their Religion or rather foolish Superstition The best Comment upon Holy-Scripture is its self and the best Interpreter of our Blessed Saviour's sayings are his own and his Apostles Words and Actions A like Saying to this of Matt. 18.17 we have in Luk. 17.3 4. where our Saviour says If thy Brother trespass against thee if he repent forgive him that is if he pay the Trespass and make thee satisfaction and confess his fault and be sorry for it and promise amendment for without these there is no true Repentance then forgive him seven times and seventy seven times even as often as he shall sin against thee and neither Court him nor Sue him in the Spiritual-Court before the Sanhedrim or High-Priests-Court nor yet in the Temporal Courts of the Gentiles or Heathen-men and Publicans For our Blessed Saviour does not say Let him be to the Church as a Heathen-man or a Publican which the Pope to colour the Authority and Jus Divinum of his Excommunications as he does that of Christ to Peter Thou art Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church does without any ground or colour as politickly as sencelesly Construe and Interpret But our Blessed Saviour only says Let him be to thee to thee not to the Church as a Heathen-man or a Publican that is thou mayst lawfully then Sue thy Brother Jew at Law as well as any Gentile or Heathen-man or Publican Nor did ever any solid Scholar or Divine that was not prejudic'd and forestall'd in his Judgment which is usually the same with that of their Mothers and Catechisers for few men have wit enough to see and chuse their own way and know why and wherefore following like Horses in a Teame with Nose in Tayl of their Predecessors I say never an unbyass't man that ever I yet met with could prove Excommunication out of Matt. 18.17 But what may be concluded from the next Ver. 18. shall be examin'd by and by But Matt. 18.17 to my understanding sounds much like that of St. Paul 1 Cor. 6.1 2 3 4 5 6 7. Dare any of you having a matter against another go to Law before the unjust and not before the Saints Do ye not know that the Saints shall judg the world and if the world shall be judged by you are ye unworthy to judg the smallest matters Know ye not that we shall judg Angels how much more things that pertain to this life If then ye have judgment of things pertaining to this life set them to judg who are least esteemed in the Church I speak this to your shame Is it so that there is not a wise man amongst you no not one that shall be able to judg between his brethren But brother goeth to Law with Brother and that before the unbelievers Now therefore there is utterly a fault amongst you because you go to Law one with another Why do ye not rather suffer wrong Why do ye not rather suffer your selves to be defrauded So that when Jews or Christians happen to live in subjection under a Gentile or Heathen-Government than that of our Saviour Matt. 18.17 and this of Saint Paul 1 Cor. 6. is a Rule for them to walk by as to going to Law But if the Romans had not Conquer'd and given Laws to the Jews as they did in our Saviour's time and also if Christians do not live under a Heathen-Government then Matt. 18.17 and 1 Cor. 6. has no place nor is there any occasion for those Rules but they are Rules only in such cases nor is it heard of in an Age I know it that have liv'd amongst the Jews that the Jews go to Law one with another before the Christians or put them into a Court-Christian or Court-Mahometan But in a Kingdom or Country where the chief Magistrates are Christians or Jews there is no place nor occasion for this Rule namely Let him be unto thee as an Heathen-man or a Publican And therefore this Text is nothing to prove or colour Excommunication at this day nor ever was in our Saviour's time 't is nothing to the purpose but a foolish Popish groundless Comment But as this Comment arose from Popish Politicks and Prelatical Usurpation so it was grounded and is yet countenanced by and from a vulgar error Namely That the Synagogue or Sanhedrim amongst the Jews was only a Spiritual-Court or Kirk-Administration and that all the weapons they had was putting out of the Synagogue or debarring and excluding from the Sacraments Ordinances Divine-Service and all Spiritual and Ecclesiastical-Communion And not one of a thousand at this day but so accept it Whereas in truth the Sanhedrim Kirk or Synagogue was no more a Spiritual Ecclesiastical Court than those amongst us in Westminster-Hall or at the Assizes For the Sanhedrim or Synagogue acted by a standing Commission of Oyer and Terminer there was not amongst the Jews especially in our Saviours time when he spoke those words Matt. 18.17 two distinct Jurisdictions Ecclesiastical and Temporal one for the Soul another for the Body for such differen Courts are apt to clash and keep a quarrelling or ado with Prohibitions Consultations and I know not what But the Lord-Chief Justice was also High-Priest and Chief Magistrate and all the Inferiour Courts had Jurisdiction over all Persons and in all Causes Ecclesiastical and Temporal called the Sanhedrim the great the less and sometimes and usually the Synagogue Which Synagogue I say was carried on by Commission of Oyer and Terminer and never Excommunicated any man that is never debarr'd any man from the Sacraments Sacrifices and never shut any man out of the Church or Temple if he was a Jew though never so prophane But the Kirk or Synagogue Church or Judges or Justices of Peace Magistrates call them what you will for they were one and the same men as they are at this day in Turky Persia and the greatest part of the well-govern'd World as well as in the Theocratye of the Jews the Government of Gods own making Moses was Lord-Chief-Justice and Priest too and Consecrated and Ordain'd Aaron and his Son Moses Promulgated Canons and Constitutions not only temporal but Ecclesiastical Joshua nor Eleazar was commanded by God to look to and take care that the Israelites should be Circumcised the second time neither was he to except any amongst them or debar them from the Ordinance although
Father never taught them thus to fight and quarrel upon the Road to Heaven Why suppose a Man will not go our way or think his Business rather lies another way a shorter cut a nearer way and a better Road. Must we because we think the Man is in an Error and Mistake draw our Weapons whether carnal or spiritual upon him where 's the Reason the Conscience the Christianity of it Does not every Man best understand his own Concern or if he doth not 't is not our loss but the harm is his own We may advise him friendlily and tell him of the dangerous way he is in of which yet none of us the wisest of us are certainly infallible and assured But if he will not take our Advice fare him well curse him not but pray for him and say God bless him and teach him and us the right way Indeed if our Actions and Manners be against the indisputable and unquestionable Laws of God and Nature as Blasphemy Adultery Drunkenness and Rebellion Treason c. Then take him Goaler and let the Magistrate correct him But to curse whip lash flash and Bridewel a Man for not thinking as we do Opinion and Thought being free and impossible to be compell'd is a Spanish Inquisition High-Commission and Romish Tyranny and a Lunacy to boot beyond that of Bedlam God grant us to be all of one Heart and Mind in God's Worship and Service and to keep the Unity of the Spirit at least in the Bond of Peace and Comprehension But if thus Praying will not do cursing and excommunicating and damning should not do I am sure Which makes me think of a Gain and I 'll not think it Battology to recite it again namely That admirable and Christian-like Direction and only safe Prescription of the said Incomparable Sir Matthew Hale amongst his said 18 Caveats given to himself in these Words That I be not too rigid in Matters purely consoientious where all the harm is Diversity of Judgment and if in Criminals it be a Measuring-cast to encline to Mercy and Acquittal This is true Plety indeed and the only true Christianity but the contrary is true Impiety and the only true Antichristianism Besides 'T is true Policy too no Man quarrels with another that is not just of his Size Complexion and Pitch and why not Because there 's no Law to sine every Man that is not of such a common Standard Size and Pitch if there were Covetousness and Tyranny would set the Uniform and common Sandard-men at work if it were but for the Fine sake to hale in the Nonconformists and dissenting Scanltings and then what old tugging and quarrelling goaling and baleing would there be to the perpetual Disturbance of the Neighbourhood and the Kingdom as well as to the shameful Scandal of Christianity that makes Doves and Lambs indeed but neither Wolves nor Bloody Bonners or Tygers Whereas now that we have a general Comprehension as to all Sizes of the Body and no Man is bound to grow to just such a Soantling and no higher we have no quarrelling about the Matter no more than there is in Holland about Religion where tho they have different Religions yet every Man being left to God and his Liberty to go to Heaven which way he please they never curse damn excommunicate or quarrel about the matter but leave every Man to stand and fall to his own Master and Creator further than Christian Admonitions and State-Encouragements and Preserments do invite or allure For they admit and courteously entertain like Men and Christians all Mankind except the said Inhospitable and Anrichristian Bloodhounds the Jesuits and those if they catch hunting or resting in any of their Dominions they immediately upon proof boil them to death in scalding Oil. And to this Severity they are forc'd and constrain'd through that Jesuitical Maxime that Dominion is founded in Grace and consequently All the Kingdoms of the World Territories People and Dominions ought to be subject to Christ's only Vicar or Vice-Gerent upon Earth the Pope For Severity and Cruelty may make many Hypocrites but cannot make one Saint it can do much Mischief when in Power the only thing that wicked Men mind but not any Good it can surrogate to Destruction but not to Edification it can like Erostratus get a Name and Fame for destroying the Temple and Church but wants the Heart of Holy David and the wise Head of Solomon and the Apostles to build the Temple and Church of God Our Blessed Saviour came neither to destroy the material or spiritual Temple but if Scribes Pharisees Hypocrites destroy it he said he could build it again in three days But some Mens Arts are like the late Bishop of London Bonner his Arts they can destroy and fire the Spiritual Temples of God in few days more than they will erect and build up all their Life-time Sic facilis descensus Averni The way to Hell is very easie And down-hill all way to 't an 't please ye And therefore away with Mens Prate and Talk vouching their private Malice and Revenge with the Constitutions of the Church The Church if they be not according to the Constitutions of Christ in the Gospel for as Cyprian says Serm. 5. de Lapsis non est Pax fed Bellum nec Ecclesiae jungitur qui ab Evangelio separatur Then trust ye not in lying Words Jer. 7.4 saying The Temple of the Lord The Temple of the Lord are these Behold ye trust in lying Words that cannot profit Will ye steal murder commit Adultery c. and come and stand before me in this Houses which is called by my Name and say We are delivered to do all these Abominations If this House which is called by my Name become a Den of Robbers in your Eyes Behold even I have seen it saith the Lord. But go ye now unto my Place which was in Shiloh where I set my Name at first and see what I did unto it for the Wickedness of my People c. Whence I note that no People or Church how dear soever it has been unto God has a Charter of Priviledges to offend rob or murder their Brethren under the Title Umbrage and Name of the Church the Church which Church is not exempt from God's Visitation and Punishment if not Extinguishment Which brings to my Mind what Heylin in his Geography says of Poland l. 2.150 The King at his Goronation takes an Oath to confirm all the Rights and Priviledges of the Subject granted by any of his Predecessors and also adds this Clause Quod si Sacramentum meum violavero incolae Regni nullâ nobis Obedientiâ tenebuntur That if I break my Oath the Subjects are not obliged to us in Allegiance or Obedience A Clause that seems to me proper only if proper at all for an Elective King as is the King of Poland and not for a King whose Kingdom is Hereditary as Sweden Denmark England France and Spain nor can it or
then made per saltum as at leap-frog skipping over 3 or 4 Heads none vaulted into the Holy See or Seat nor leapt so high at one Jump but mounted as to the Altar and Holy of Holies by Stairs Steps and by Degrees Because a Bishop should be a Preshyter or Elder 1 Tim. 3.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not a young Novice And why And why what stops his Grace The Apostle shews cause for his Non-placet in the next words lest be fall into Temptation or the Condemnation of the Devil by being puffed up with Pride 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 swelled like a Bladder with the Windy and Fanatical Self-conceit of his own merit when in truth that Bigness is nothing but windy Emptiness and being discovered or let out will fall and flag as Lucifer did from Heaven That is the meaning of the Condemnation of the Devil namely the same Sin of being swell'd with Pride and Self-conceit will have the same Punishment that Lucifer had But notwithstanding all this the Church made bold to crack a Commandment in the case of Nectarius who having great Friends and Relations was chosen Patriarch of Constantinople whilst he was a Souldier a Layman and unbaptized And I can tell you the Patriarch or Pope of Constantinople would have scorn'd in those days to have given the Wall to the Pope of Rome Also stout Captain St. Ambrose that would scorn to bend to the Emperour Theodosius but flatteringly cring'd to the Usur per Eugenius was chosen Notwithstanding the Canon-Law to be Bishop of Milan whilse he was a Souldier and Governonr of the same City and Metropolis of Milan nay also unbaptized as I remember Thus when the Church can nail the Canons or crack a Commandment for Men of great Parts Interest Relations and Friends surely to show its Charity it may condescend a little from its rigorous Constitution and reach a helping-hand themselves also being frail and tardy and Indulgence in this my case to me a poor little Man that has neither great Friends great Relations great Parts great Learning nor indeed great any thing save a great Adversary To the 2d Question namely Quest 2. If Christ or his Apostles did ordain such an Ordinance as Excommunication who were the Administrators Answ The Answer is easy namely such as had Ability to judg and discern Right from Wrong Truth from Falshood and an Orthodox-man from an Heretick by the Gift of the Holy Ghost called discerning of Spirits For we shall be in fine taking if upon a fair Trial and Issue what colour is such a Horse white or brown we should place a blind Man upon the Bench or Jury or Men-purblind and short-sighted The Pope craftily foresaw this before ever he applyed that of Tit. 3.10 to his Jurisdiction namely a Heretick after the first or second Admonition reject And therefore he first made himself the Infallible Judge that cannot be mistaken but alwayes discerns Right from Wrong Truth from Falshood an Orthodox-man from an Heretick for then and then only is Excommunicating a Heretick rational when built and only then when built upon Infallibility take that away and down comes the lofty Fabrick or Fortress or Cittadel of Excommunication that has so aw'd and overaw'd the whole Christian World For what a Blunder is it in Ratiocination to say the Church of Rome Alexandria Antioch have erred and the Church of England may erre and yet these same Churches shall as stifly decide and positively assert what is and what is not Truth as if they were not Seekers Searchers and Viatores but Infall ibility men For supposing a Church or Church-men may err as did the greatest Council of Bishops that ever was in the World about 700 at Ariminum Sirmium c. who were Arrians and denied the Divinity of our Saviour the Orthodox and Protestants had a good time of it to be burnt by the Bishops as Hereticks for asserting the Divinity of our Blessed Saviour Lawn-sleeves then nor all those Reverend Habits and Accoutrements of the Bishops whether the Most Reverend or the Right Reverend Fathers in God we see by many Experiments are no infallible Marks or Signs of Truth without all peradventure as if all their Placets must must must needs be right whilst they are frail like other Mortals And therefore Excommunication like Scanderbeg's Sword is but a common Weapon except it be wielded by Scanderbeg's Arm Judgment and Dexterity A Crieple would make but bungling work with it nay perhaps lose it to the Enemy and then we shall have it turn'd upon us fatally Good Crieples sit still and be quiet till you get Apostolical Arms Judgment and Dexterity for fear this two-edged Sword with which you do so cut and hack dismember and mangle the Body of Christ for a Guinee a cut be one day turned upon your selves with the fatal Edge towards you if the Enemy recover it and get it in his hand again The Enemy the common Enemy the Papists first from Tit. 3.10 Excommunicate a Heretick that is they deliver him over to Satan as the Apostles did but finding Satan would not take the Excommunicate as he did in the Apostles days then the Pope by an Arrogance as petulant as the Sarcasme surrogates the Magistrate instead of Satan to take the Excommunicate for the destruction of the Flesh and that in the most compendious way by Fire and Faggot for the destruction of the Flesh Body and Bones in the Flames And though amongst us the Heretick shall not now be delivered over to the Magistrate to be burnt since the Abolition of the Writ de Heretico comburendo yet even at this day when holy Church which yet confesses her self subject to error signifies a Man to be Excommunicate for Heresy the Magistrate takes him with the Writ de Excommunicato capiendo for the Destruction of the Flesh not with the fierce Fire and Faggot but still with a lingring death a Goal until he Repent and Recant that his wicked Error As for example Suppose a man should not with both his eyes which are good as other mens and with which he can see as far into a Milstone as any man should assert that though it be the positive Law of the Land to Excommunicate and Deprive men of the blessed Sacrament yet he cannot see in Holy Writ that Christ debarr'd Judas the Traytor nor that the Apostles ever did by Practise or Injunction command such a Discipline by some called an Ordinance of God in depriving them of the Ordinances of God as if a Physician should command that the Patient should never take a Cordial or Sanative Medicine because he is sick Alas Alas Cordial Medicines are made for the very nonce for the sick as the Sacraments for sinners and the whole if there be any such have no need of this Physick but them that are sick And if all sinners must be deprived of the blessed Sacrament and Excommunicate I doubt the Bishop and his Chancellor that Excommunicate sinners must be
lay their Heads together yet with all this Aid 't is impossible to prevail against God and his Truth Did you never see a Grey-Hound stare when he had lost a Hare in an unhappy Bush that stood by the way just when he was at the very clique and gaping to mouth her even so have I seen a cunning Politician stare as if out of his Wits or at least at his Wits end when some sudden cross Providence by him call'd strange acciden has given his Devilship the go-by then then to see him stare and stamp fret and curse rave and roar like a Lyon in a Graté that would be mouthing but for the Barriers Go then you subtile Persecutors fret and be molt in your own fat and live like the Green-land Bears in Winter upon your own Grease as long as it lasts whilst Truth like Muscovy-Wives and th' Walnut-Tree The more they are beaten still the better they be Well this I 'le say for the Pope and a sig for him but we ought to give the Devil his due much more the Arch-Bishop of all Bishops the Pope I say give him his due builds the Fabrick of his Ecclesiastical Policy rationally if his Foundation were true But Protestants do not that consess themselves and their Churches fallible and frail as does the Church of England in her 19th Article of the 39. For what non-sence is it for any Man or Church to Curse and Damn a Man for a Heretick when we confess our selves that we are fallible and consequently may err in our Judgment of the Man or his Faith Shall blind men shoot a Crow I hate this Hitty-missy Whereas the Pope grant him this Theoreme that he and his Church is infallible is in the right on 't let him Curse who he will and from Morning to Night for ever and aye for if he be infallible he only can draw this Sword of the Lord Excommunication and yet be secure that he fights not against God which Protestants that confess they may err even in matters of faith can never be sure of 'Till the Church then can get eyes to see and discern right from wrong infallibly and a Sinner from a Saint and a Believer from an Infidel and Truth from Falshood indisputably and not fallibly and uncertainly let them down on their knees and pray for the Conversion of one whom they judg an Infidel and then leave him to his Maker to stand and fall and pray to God to tye up their hands to the good Behaviour to Charity Meekness and Humility wherein they can never err which would well become them better than all this Ecclesiastical-Artillery which has ruin'd Christendom and rather let them break than uphold this Money-Trade and Merchandize of Souls especially in this her weak and Militant State How have the Churches the Councils the Fathers the Canons Clash't and Thwarted Curst and Condemn'd one another to the Pit of Hell it would make a man's heart ake to read Ecclesiastical Histories and to hear the pious Bishops complain that they never knew any good come of any Convocation of Bishops Councils nor Synod-men and one Guelt himself to make himself Canonically uncapable of Lawn-Sleeves How did the whole Christian World who were all Arrians and deny'd the Divinity of our Blessed Saviour Curse that poor single Non-Conformist Athanasius Nick-naming him Sathanasius Banish't him and Suborn'd false Witnesses against him and try'd him for his Life for Murder whilst on the contrary our Church of England declares that no man can be saved that does not believe all the Creed of Athanasius and the Comment in words of his own not in Scripture-words of the Holy and Sacred Trinity made by him Though a man does believe the Holy Trinity declar'd in Scripture yet if he will be saved he must believe all the Athanasian-Creed I do not know any man that does not believe it But all the Common-Prayer-Books in the World and all the Acts for Uniformity nor all the Kings and Parliaments in the World can never make any thing true that is really false nor make any thing false which the Holy Scriptures plainly says to be true As for example suppose there be some mistakes in the Common-Prayer-Book by salfe Printing or in the Table to find Easter for ever yet it is Statute-Law But that cannot make a thing true which is Mathematically false nor can any Statute make a Child of God a Child of the Devil though Anathematiz'd for a Heretick And how good Bishops have bewail'd the Diocesan-frame in our days see pious Bishop Hall's Consession of the Corruptions in Church-Governours and Goternment I am not singular in his Modest Osser and Peace-maker See the Incomparably Learned Bishop Vsher's Model See Mr. Alesbury's Confession especially p. 21 24 28 104 169. See Mr. Baxter of Episcopacy or in short the Postscript thereof See Dr. Stillingsleet's Irenicon how does self-interest hoodwink the wise writ before he became a Dignitary-Ecclesiastical Or see Bishop Ganden's Hiera Epist particularly p. 263 and 287. with which I 'le conclude I neither approve or excuse the Personal faults of any particular Bishops as to their exercise of their Power and Authority which ought not in weighty matters to be managed without the Preseuce Counsel and Suffrages of the Presbyters such as are sit for that Assistance The want of this St. Ambrese St. Hierome and all sober men mark that justly reprove as unsafe for the Bishops and Presbyters and the whole Church Now I have done at the long run with my Naked Truth expos'd to the World without Power without Friends without Worldly Interest to support it It is usually thus those that worst may are often put to hold the Candle to their betters yet like Link-boys many times get not of the Gallants but a kick for their pains But I 'le shift the better having a King to Friend a Glorious King to Patronize me and vouch against all Bloody Religions Charles I. Eik Basil Advice to his Son our Gracious Soveraign Charles II. in these words In point of true conscientious tenderness I have often declared how little I desired my Laws and Scepter should entrench on God's Soveraignty who is the only King of Consciences ' My Counsel and Charge to you is that you seriously consider the former real or objected miscarriages which might occasion my Troubles that you might avoid them Will nothing but Sanguinary Counsels yet please Are we no further yet from Rome Not yet Dost thou not feel me Rome Not yet Is Night So heavy on thee or my weight so light May Church of England say Have we so long Been quitting Rome yet not quite from among Christ and his Church by Blood are glorious grown But not by others Blood but by their own Whilst Antichrist and 's Church are Monstrous grown By shedding others Blood but not their own Bless us the Monster Yawns and Glares don 't start In nomine Domini stand speak say What art A Bishop sayst the Devil thou art more like Or Munster's Bishop made to hew and strike Black mouth to damn and Bloody Arms to fight When Hand-cuff't good we 'll do the Devil right Of Flaming-Comet long since have you heard With Tayl hung down to Earth and grisly Beard I 'm skill'd i' th' Language of the Stars and know That horrid Meteor what it meant 't was thou Thou Bonner London's Bishop seem'd to be Arm'd with this Hellish Black-Guard Cap-a-pee Ordain'd it seems and good for naught but harms Like the French Bishop Odo clad in Arms That Coat of Mail ill suits that Coat so Gay Filii tui Haeccine Tunica Satan once came like a Py'd-Piper now This was a Fiend in Jeast in Earnest Thou By the Black-Regiment Martyrs chose to die That Naked Truth might live and so will I. After the French Religion must we Dance Now Persecution's A la mode de France Or shall the French find fairer Quarter here Than we to one another make appear A Bishop sayst Thou ly'st Him Cornet call Of the Black Regiment that Gaols us all FINIS ERRATA THE Introduction Page 4. Line 30. for every word in that weeks Read most words in the two Weeks p. 42. l. 14. for efflagitantes sollicitescit read efflagitates and sollicites it with several other escapes by reason of the Author's absence from the Press but not many