by seducing their simple followers But they that are such St. Jude tells us there is a sad reserve of vengeance allotted for them Jud. Ep. v. 13. 2. They say they have read over all the Books c. But do they bring minds prepared to receive the truth and Patient of convictions Lavater as was observed above tells us of Zelots in his time that would write and publish Answers before they had well considered or so much as read the Discourses they did oppose And one would think that some of these Dissenters dealt so by their Adversaries for they call their Arguments weak many times when they cannot answer them and their Reasons Futilous when they find them too convinceing to be eluded What their performances have been when they menaged this Province before that Learned Prince King James at the Conference at Hampton Court his Majesty has told us in his Proclamation of March 5. in the first year of his Reign in these words we found mighty and vehement Informations supported with so weak and slender Proofs as it appeared to us and our Counsel that there was no Cause why any Change should have been at all in that which was most impugned the Book of Common Prayer containing the form of the publick service of God here established neither in the Doctrine which appeared to be sincere nor in the Forms and Rites which were justified out of the Practice of the Primitive Church Thus saith that Learned and Judicious Prince And whatever Partial men may think the Judicious and well discerning will conclude that our present Dissenters after all their great pains and study have made very little accession of advantage to their Cause by Argument and sound Reason whatever may accrew to it by Noise Tumult and importunity 3. For Rayling 't is so much our Authors own Talent I know no man will claim it from him especially finding that the Spirit which acts in him prompts him not only to Scoff and Rail but now and then to be Smutty and Obscene 4. This Author seems to be very kind in allowing his Adversaries to have Rhetorick And 't is a quality so ornamental and useful I shall not wish them to part with it but to make use of it still to better purposes then he does his Witt and Reading to advance Obedience Peace and Piety But for contradicting themselves by which we are not to understand any ingenuous Retraction upon second thoughts and better information 't is a new Observation of this Authors never before collected out of their Writings 'T is true we have read of Richard against Baxter in 80 Pages but never of Richard against Hooker or any the like in all my time If he has found him out let him name the party 5. But the main Quaere will be How these Dissenters come to be hardened in their Errour for tho he calls it a Going astray into the right way there is no less truth in this his Drollery than in their Conviction who are mentioned Wisd. 5. 6. They have erred from the way of Truth and how so Malunt perversis Vocibus veritati reluctari quà m confessis erroribus Paci restitui as St. Austin says of the Donatists They had rather perversly resist the Truth than Confess their Errours to be restored to the Peace of the Church Let Scripture and Antiquity let the best Authority and the highest Reason urge what they can they will not be convinced or perswaded the Reason is given by the Learned Davenant They are Inscitiâ occaecati or Malitiâ abrepti or Philautiâ fascinati Either blinded by Mistakes and Ignorance or hurried away by Envy and Malice or bewitch'd by Self-love and Vain-glory. They are pre-engaged and having embarqued themselves upon other Principles and drawn so many well-meaning Souls into Association with them they are resolv'd to keep possession for their own Reputation and Interest For this Reason they study not to be inform'd but to contradict They read what is Writ against them not with a preparation of mind to receive the Truth in the love of it but to contrive the better to justifie their Separation with the odd pranks which have been plaid upon that account This makes them to Gavil at little things and to rest in nothing nor will they ever be satisfied but in the use of Forms and Canons of their own devising For to such as have read them thorowly in the opinion of their own personal Infallibility they come not much short of the Pope himself and had they Power in their hands we have some reason to believe they would no less imperiously impose the effects of it I need go no further for Evidence than the Front of a Book written by Mr. B. which bears this Arrogant Title The true and only way of Concord of all Christian Churches which puts me in mind of what Bullinger observed of the like sort of Men which pesterd the Church of God in his time Invenias hodiè saith he Morosos quosdam qui tametsi non negare possint alios Paria docere unum cum ipsis Christum praedicare cupiunt tamen se Religionis Dominos appellari imò à se profectum esse Evangelium Christi You may find saith he at this day certain froward men who though they cannot deny but other men Preach the same Christ and the same Truth with themselves yet they ambitiously affect to be called the Masters of Religion yes and to have men believe they stand engaged to them for the light and purity of the Gospel To such Arrogant Pretenders we are taught what Reply to make by the expostulation of the Great Apostle to those deceitful Workers as he calls them among the Corinthians 1 Cor. 14. 36. What Came the Word of God from you or came it unto you only But of this place we have given some account already I shall conclude this Section with the Words of the Reverend and Learned Professour who was not then Bishop Prideux Haud scio an filios alat Magis degeneres quaevis Ecclesia quam Anti-Synodicos nonnullos Novatores qui seorsìm saperent à Majoribus aut Fratribus satis ducunt ad Contemptum si quis non statim se incurvet ad eorum vestigia Hisce plerunque familiare est Transmarina longè Petita admirare Domestica extenuare Ignotos deperire praepositis vero suis quibus debito tenentur obsequio quavis arreptâ occasione recalcitrare sua tantùm deosculari quae non pallam astruunt sed occultò disseminant Tantum abest ut tales Ecclesiam audiant ut indignantur plurimùm si ipsos non audiat Ecclesia saltet ad ipsorum fistulam etiamsi incertissimum edat Modulamen Hujusmodi Superstitiosi factiosi furiosi insidiosi destinandi vel debellandi sint à vobis Dilecti Filii si Benedictionis Coelestis Messem uberem pacatam optatam expectetis I know not saith he whether any Church can
protect and succour the Church of God Vnde observandum est c. Whence we may observe saith he That besides the common Profession of the Faith there is required of Princes something more because God gives them Power and Authority to Protect the Church and to advance God's Glory This indeed concerns all Men but for Kings the greater their Power is the more they are obliged to lay out themselves for the Interest of the Church and the more carefully to regard it Vnde Videmus saith He quà m alieni sunt à regno Christi c. Hence we may see how repugnant they are to the Kingdom of Christ who would take away the Authority and Power of Kings in Church affairs that they may transfer it upon themselves But here we are to observe that the Power of Kings in Ecclesiastical matters is not Privative but Cumulative not design'd or intended by Almighty God to infringe or weaken the Authority of the Church but to fortifie and assist it To this purpose the Professors of Leyden tell us it is the Duty of the Prince or Magistrate to settle the Worship of God according to his Ordinance by the Ecclesiastical Ministery and when it is setled to preserve it intire and pure per judicia Ecclesiastica and when corrupt or depraved to reform it by the advice and judgment of Ecclesiastical Officers and as much as in him lyes to prevent and suppress all Seducers and false Teachers that would hinder the practice and progress of true Religion In hoc enim reges sicut eis divinitùs praecipitur Deo serviunt in quantum reges sunt si in suo regno bona jubeant mala prohibeant non solum quae pertinent ad humanam Societatem verumetiam quae ad divinam Religionem Herein Kings serve God according to his Command when they enjoyn what is good and forbid what is evil not only in things relating to Humane Society but in Matters of Religion And this is all the accompt needful to be given to that inquiry what we mean by the Church in this Article That the Church hath a Power to decree and settle Rites and Ceremonies to support her own Government and Administrations and to promote the publick and solemn Worship of God may be proved irrefragably out of the premisses 1. What things are needful or expedient to be decreed appointed and settled in the Church to support her Government and Administrations and to promote God's publick and solemn Worship those things the Church hath a Power to appoint decree and settle otherwise Christ hath not been faithful in his House is deficient in things expedient and necessary and has not provided for the well-ordering of his Church and Kingdom But some Rites and Ceremonies are expedient and needful to be decreed and settled in the Church to support her Government and Administrations and to promote God's publick and solemn Worship This has been proved already by Reason and Authority in the former part of this Disquisition I shall add but one or two Authorities more the first shall be Mr. Calvin's who delivers himself fully in the point Hoc primum habeamus saith He Let us lay down this for a Rule That if in every Society of Men we see some government necessary to preserve the common Peace and Concord if in the performance of all Matters some rite or other is in force which it concerns the publick honesty and humanity it self not to reject that is more especially to be observed in the Churches of God which being best supported by the well-composed Constitution of all things therein administred when they are without Concord they fall to nothing wherefore if we regard the safety of the Church we must take care of St. Paul's Injunction that all things be done decently and according to order and appointment But seeing there is such diversity in mens manners so great variety in their Minds such opposition in their Wits and Judgments No Government can be firm and stedfast unless it be establisht by certain Laws Nec sine statâ quadam formâ servari ritus quispiam potest Nor can any Rite be preserved without some set Form Huc ergo quae conducunt leges tantum abest ut damnemus ut his ablatis dissolvi suis nervis Ecclesias totasque deformari ac dissipari contendamus Such Laws therefore and Decrees as tend to this effect we are so far saith he from condemning that if these be taken away we may avouch that the Nerves and Sinews of the Churches are dissolved and that they are all deform'd and shattered to pieces Thus Mr. Calvin and we find it by sad experience whereupon Whitaker does acknowledge Habuit Ecclesia semper authoritatem leges ecclesiasticas condendi sanciendi easque aliis imperandi ac eos puniendi qui non observarent The Church had always a Power and Authority to make Ecclesiastical Laws and to establish them to injoyn them to others and to punish such as would not observe them 2. That Power which hath peculiar Officers assigned and special Rules prescribed to direct the exercise of it in the Church That Power is invested in the Church otherwise that assignation of Persons and Prescription of Rules would be nugatory trifling and to no purpose But to direct the exercise of appointing and settling Rites and Ceremonies in the Church peculiar Officers are assigned and special rules prescribed Of the Officers assign'd to exercise this Power in the Church we have said enough already and of the Rules prescribed I shall add no more than what is said by one or two Protestant Writers upon that Text Let all things be done decently and according to order Hinc colligere promptum est saith Mr. Calvin from hence we may gather That those Ecclesiastical Laws which concern Discipline and Order are Pious and not to be accounted humane Traditions because they are grounded upon this General Command and have a clear approbation as out of the mouth of Christ himself My next Authority shall be out of David Dickson a Scotchman and a Presbyterian He reckons it the seventh Precept touching Good Order Vt decorum observetur in personis ad publicum Conventum Ecclesiae accedentibus in rebus ad publicum cultum necessariis ut omnia cum gravitate modestia sine Superstitione sordibus peragantur partes Cultus Divini inter se ita Ordinentur temporibus suis disponantur ut Dei gloriae aedificationi Ecclesiae inserviant Maximè That a Decorum be observed of all Persons that come to the Assemblies of the Church and in all things allyed to the Publick Worship that all things be performed with Modesty and Gravity without Superstition and a Clownish sordidness and that all the parts of Divine Worship be so ordered among themselves and so disposed to their proper times that they may be inservient as much as is possible to the Glory of God
will never edifie the Church but most certainly deform it Rome we say was not built in one day The Apostle left something unsettled till a further consideration 1 Cor. 11. last And when he departed from Crete he left Titus his Vicar saith Crocius to supply what the shortness of his stay would not allow him to accomplish and as St. Hierome observes to super-correct what he could not then bring to perfection Zanchy observes very well That it is the Duty of the Bishops to take care of the whole Church and whatsoever may conduce to the welfare of it whether it be in point of life and manners in the Ministery of the Word and Sacraments or in the Discipline of Pennance or in the wants of the Poor or in matters of Ceremonies and to give diligence that whatsoever has been constituted in such matters either by the Lord himself or by his Apostles or by the after-Church may be observed But if there be any thing that is not appointed and yet may concern the edification of the Church Let Laws be appointed concerning those things that they may be confirmed in the Name of the whole Church and by the Authority of Pious Princes and be observed of all respectively subject to their Jurisdiction 2. I Answer That according to the Common Prayer-Book in King Edward the Sixth's time the Church injoyn'd the Priest at the Consecration of the Eucharist to sign the Elements with the sign of the Cross and so if she did not declare her Power in her Articles yet she declared it sufficiently in her Practice In ordering the Priest to make the sign of the Cross upon the Symbol in the Patin and Chalice she did exercise her Power in decreeing and practising that Rite which has since been taken away tho' it has proved of very little consequence to avoid Scandal and consequently the Terms of Communion have been somewhat contracted since those times and not inlarged as is pretended However that Rule of St. Austin will certainly hold His enim causis id est aut propter fidem aut propter Mores vel emendari oportet quod perperam fiebat vel institui quod non fiebat For these Causes that is either for the Faith or for Manners sake that ought to be amended which was done amiss or appointed to be done which was not done at all But this is not all in this Section They object also against the Doctrine in the Rubrick That it is certain from the Word of God That Children baptized and dying before the commission of actual Sin are undoubtedly saved The Scripture the Protestant Churches nor any sound Reason have yet given them any tolerable satisfaction of the Truth of the Doctrine about the Opus Operatum of Sacraments That Doctrine laid down in the Catechism That Children do perform Faith and Repentance by their Sureties is also saith he as great a stumbling to our Faith and we cannot get over it How the Adult should believe and repent for Minors or Infants believe and repent by Proxy Thus the Dissenters The Answer 1. The silence of other Protestant Churches if they be all silent herein is but a Negative Argument from Authority and that 's of no validity But we are sure the most Learned amongst Protestant Writers do favour this Article The Form of a Sacrament they say is the Sacramental Conjunction of the signs and the things signified which Conjunction consists not only in the signification and obsignation but also in the exhibition of the things signified by the signs So Wendelin And he makes the effect and end of the Sacraments to be not only The Confirmation of our Faith in Christ but also the Obsignation of his gracious Promise touching our Communion with him and our participation of the benefits purchased by his death And particularly among the effects of Baptism Zanchy reckons these 1. Our admission into Covenant with God 2. Our ingraffing into his Church and the Communion of Saints which are the Faithful 3. The Remission of Sins and the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness And Calvin upon those words 1 Cor. 7. 14. else were your children unclean but now are they holy Comments after this manner This is a high point of Divinity For it teacheth that the Children of the Faithful are segregated from others by a special Prerogative and are accounted Saints in the Church And to reconcile this with those other words of the same Apostle Eph. 2. 3. We are all by nature children of wrath He saith thus Aequalis est igitur in omnibus naturae conditio The condition of nature is alike in all They are all obnoxious both to sin and death eternal But this privilege which the Apostle attributes to the Children of Believers that flows from the benefit of the Covenant upon the intervention whereof the malediction of Nature is blotted out and they are consecrated to God by Grace who are Prophane by Nature From which Testimonies we shall draw an Argument presently that Children baptized and dying before actual Sin are undoubtedly saved But first let us consult the holy Oracle The Scripture tells us That Christ tasted death for every man Hebr. 2. 9. for Children vers 14. And to what end did he do this to reconcile them vers 17. to sanctifie them v. 11. to free them from the bondage of the Devil v. 14 15. and to bring them unto glory v. 10. Can Christ fail of his end without any Obstacle in the Subject Has he done enough to save a drunken Noah an incestuous Lot an idolatrous Manasses and a perjur'd Peter and yet left a poor innocent Babe without a Remedy 'T is our Saviour's comfortable assertion with a gracious invitation thereupon Mat. 19. 14. Suffer little Children and forbid them not to come unto me for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven If these Dissenters be of a Cross opinion That of such is the Kingdom of Satan They should in modesty keep their faith to themselves till they can find a better proof than the Post-poning of Esau whose person notwithstanding Learned Men do think was saved In the Discourses of our Saviour little children are Candidates for Heaven and set forth as a pattern to such as shall undoubtedly inherit it Mat. 18. 3. and he tells his Disciples v. 14. It is not the will of your Father which is in Heaven that one of these little ones should perish which in all Reason must be understood of little Children literally according to the first intention of the words But 2. Baptism is the Laver of Regeneration Eph. 5. Tit. 3. Hereupon St. Peter makes his Exhortation to the People Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost For the promise is unto you and to your children Act. 2. 38 39. Whence I argue thus such as are admitted to the benefits of the Covenant remission
given to these Rites and Ceremonies by Learned men are these Retinacula Adminicula Incitamenta Ornamenta They call them the hold-fast the helps the Incitements and Ornaments of Religion and Piety These were the Traditions mentioned by the Apostle 1 Cor. 11. 2. Precepts left by Christ to the wisdom of the Governours and Presidents of his Church pertaining to good Order and Decency There were many of this kind saith Grotius of no great moment to Piety but therein 't was fit and profitable that something should be setled in common lest a different use and custom should blemish the Church beget disputes and as it often happens of disputes and Schismes So that these Rites are like the Leades in a Glass-window not design'd to let in Light but to hold the Quarries of Glass together to keep the Window tite and strong and make it the more serviceable to keep out storms and cold That these things in the esteem of the Church stand upon even ground with such things as are certainly Divine is so great an untruth that a modest man would blush at it They have not the same Author not the same end nor the same necessity nor the same obligation 1. They have not the same Author Divine things have God for their only Author but for these Ecclesiastical Rites and Ceremonies they ow their Original either to the customes of several places as standing in sign of Reverence Judg. 3. 20. Eglon stood up when Ehud told him he had a message to him from God When the word of God was mentioned Eglon gave honour to it by rising up saith Pet. Martyr And he says it is to be believed that it was the custom of those Countries at that time Or else 2. They derived their Original from the Authority of Superiors as 1 Cor. 11. 2. 34. and Tit. 1. 5. and the Practice of their institutions in process of time become customs too 1 Cor. 11. 16. Upon these words The rest will I set in order when I come St. Austin saith that Christ commanded no-nothing in these matters but left them to the ordering of the Apostles with whom he entrusted the disposal of the Churches c. Read the Epistle at large Or 3. The Rites and Ceremonies may take their rise from the Devotion of Pious Persons as the Practice of the Publican and Mary Magdalen Luke 7. 38. c. 18. 13. 2. As they have not the same Author so they have not the same End The end of Divine institutions is internal Grace and Sanctification This is said to be the end of Christ's Dispensation to his Church That he might Sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of Water by the word Eph. 5. 26. But the end of these Ecclesiastical Rites Ceremonies is not to confer Grace but to preserve good Order and Decorum to procure reverence and as objects fit for that purpose to help Devotion 3. They have not the same necessity For as touching Divine things an absolute necessity is laid upon us to observe them and it may be a double necessity Praecepti Medii not only because they are under command but also because they may be means without which salvation is not to be had But for Ecclesiastical Rites the necessity is not absolute they may be changed they may be abolished and we may be saved without them and that they do not stand upon equal ground the Church professeth in her Articles and this is clear upon an other account For Lastly There is a great difference in their Obligation Divine Commands and Institutions do bind the Conscience immediately and of themselves under peril of Eternal Death Ecclesiastical Rites doe not so And where there is no breach of Charity and that is where there is no contempt of Authority or Scandal to our Neighbour the Omission does not wound the Conscience nor incur the guilt of deadly sin as the Reverend and Learned Davenant has determined But perhaps there lies a Fallacy in the expression for to stand upon even ground does not always argue an equality 'T is said Exod. 14. 31. The People believed God and his Servant Moses Likewise 't is commanded Prov. 24. 21. My Son fear thou the Lord and the King There God and Moses may seem to stand upon even ground in the term Believed and here the Lord and the King stand upon even ground in the term Fear yet he were little less than a mad man that should conclude from hence that God and Moses or the Lord and the King are of equal consideration when notwithstanding the difference between them is no less then infinite We read in the book of Josuah of an unlucky jealousy which did arise in the heads of some of the Tribes of Israel against their Brethren and this begat a Dissent and that Dissent had ended in a Fatal and deadly Breach if it had not been made up by interposing the Innocent Parties Protestation The Two Tribes and half when they left the Camp of Israel in their return to their own Inheritance they built an Altar for Memorial and a Testimony Hereupon their Brethren lookt upon them as Apostates and Idolaters and took up Armes as they imagined to avenge God's quarrel When the Children of Ruben and God and those of Manasseh had heard by their Legates of their preparation for War and their bitter expostulation they calmly made their Defence The Lord God of God's knoweth and Israel shall know our Innocency If we have built this Altar in Rebellion or for Sacrifice to turn from the Lord let the Lord himself require it but we have done this only to intitle our selves and our Posterity to a share in God's Publick and Solemn Worship and to an Interest in his Tabernacle and Altar When the Priest and Princes of the Congregation had heard their Apology they were well pleased and declared their hearty satisfaction This day we perceive that the Lord is among us and they blessed God and all was concluded in a happy Peace Calvin reflecting upon Phinehas and the Ten Princes which were with him he commends the temper of their zeal that they did not insist upon the prejudice which they had conceived against their Brethren but admitted their excuse with kindness and alacrity For there are many saith he if they take offence no Apology can be calm them but they will always be finding out something unjustly to carp at rather then yeild to reason 'T is Lavaters complaint in treating of this story Hodiè reperies Magnos Theologos qui tam sunt importuni praecipites ut nondum auditis aut lectis aliorum argumentis statim responsiones fabricent in lucem emittant We see great Divines at this day who are so importune and precipitant that before ever they have considered or read the Arguments of other men they are busy at framing Answers and sending them abroad in publick But both Parties ought to be
very Famous in his Generation 'T is Mr. Perkins in his Cases of Conscience concerning the Gesture to be used in Prayer wherein he lays down these Three Rules he speaks of Publick Prayer 1. When Publick Prayer is made in the Congregation our Gesture must always be comely modest and decent 2. All Gesture used publickly must serve as much as may be to express the inward humility of the heart without Hypocrisy Now these kinds are manifold saith he some concern the whole Body as the bowing thereof the casting of it down upon the Ground Some again concern the Parts of the Body as lifting up of the Head the Eyes the Hands bowing the Knees c. Touching these the Scripture hath not bound us to any particulars 3. Therefore we must saith he in publick Prayer content our selves to follow the laudable fashion and Custom of that particular Church where we are For to decline from Customs of particular Churches in such Cases often causeth Schism and Dissentions And what he says upon the Epistle to the Galatians to the same purpose is worthy to be noted and seasonable for our Christian Practice The use of the Law among the Jews saith he was to shut them up into the Unity of one Faith and Religion For this Cause they had but one Temple one Mercy-seat one Highpriest c. Hence it follows saith that Holy man that in a Godly and Christian Common-wealth when true Religion is established there may be no Tolleration of any other Religion For that which is the End of God's Laws must also be the end of all good Laws in all Common-wealths and Kingdoms namely to shut up the People into the Unity of one Faith The Church of the Jews saith he is called a Fountain Sealed a Garden enclosed Cant. 4. 13. a Vineyard hedged in Isai. 5. 5. Psal. 80. 13. And here viz. Gal. 3. ver 23 24 25. we see what is the Hedge or Wall of this Garden or Vineyard namely the Regiment or Policy of Moses by a Threefold kind of Law This admonisheth us saith he to respect and with care to observe good Laws because they are as it were Hedges and Fences of all good Societies and the breaking of them is the pulling down of our Fence Thus Mr. Perkins from which principles of his good God! How much are these times degenerated and let all the World judge who honours the Reformation most they who professedly violate or they who zealously maintain the Laws and legal establishment of it 7. We may add That the Church hath this Power not only in Sacred Rites and Acts of external Worship but also in such as are civilly decent and such is the Womans Vail which I look upon not as a thing properly Religious or Sacred but only as a decent Habit according to custom common estimation and the Law of Nature especially in Ecclesiastical Assemblies whereupon Bullinger concludes his Commentary upon that head thus Haec verò de Habitu Ecclesiae ingredientium dicta sufficiant This shall suffice to have spoken touching the Habit of such as approach the Church of God And now one of the Apostles Instances when he is giving Orders to establish Decency in publick Assemblies being in the matter of Habit methinks this should be warrant enough as a General Rule for the use of the Surpliss by Ecclesiastical Ministers in the Publick Offices and Administrations of the Church For to Officiate naked is against Natural Decency and so dishonest to Officiate in a Fools Coat or some singular Habit taken for it is ridiculous and scandalous And such as are peculiarly seperated to the Service of the most High God why should not they be distinguisht by special Habits in the publick and solemn Administration of their Sacred Offices as well as Civil Judges Mayors and other Publick Officers Does this make any alteration in the substance of Religious Worship Quòd veteres Episcopi coenam administraturi aliam induerint Vestem ad Mutationem Coenae nihil pertinet saith Zanchy That such as Administer the Holy Office do put on another Vesture this does not change the Worship but adds solemnity to it To prevent indecency we have the Order of a just Authority to determine the Point And our Governors for their direction besides the light of Nature and common custom where any Religion was in Vogue had the Rule of Analogy from the Vests of the Priests and Levites in their Solemn Assemblies under the Law and an Invitation by a fair Allusion to that Practice in the Vision of St. John Apoc 7. 13 15. And what Habit more Decent then White to represent that Holiness becomes both the Priest and the Christian Profession aswell as the House of God However this being about the use of a Habit in Ecclesiastical Assemblies as was the Womans Vail which the Apostle gave special Order for it must certainly be comprised under the General Rule of Decency and consequently as such under the command of God according to the Observation of Hemmingius In 1. ad Cor. 14. 37. Sunt Mandata Domini quae hîc à Paulo praecipiuntur quantum quidem ad Genus attinet quatenus praecipiunt Decorum Ordinem in Ecclesia Publicae aedificationis Pacis gratia They are the Commandments of God which are there injoyn'd by St. Paul as to the Genus or Generality of them inasmuch as they require Decency and Order in the Church of God for Edification and Peace-sake As to Kneeling at the Sacrament a Ceremony much scrupled at heretofore much need not be mentioned to Judicious Persons For Kneeling it self is undoubtedly an Act or Part of God's External Worship and not a Mere Rite or Naked Ceremony 't is suggested by the Law of Nature dictated by Common Sense and the Reason of all Nations and declared to be our Duty by the Second Commandment of the Decalogue A Gesture so familiar and frequent at our Prayers that 't is many times put for the whole Duty aswell-under the Old as under the New Testament Micah 6. 6. Ephes. 3. 12. Zanchy makes it a Part of Adoration or External Worship Where the bowing of the Knee to Baal is disapproved and they are commended who did not bow the Knee to him Whereever we find a Command that every Knee should bow to God and Christ In all those places the Speech is not of Internal but of External Adoration Whence 't is easy to Collect that God requires External Adoration also and External Worship as the Testimony and Fruit of that which is Internal Zanchy and Mr. Perkins is clear and express for it Adoration in general saith he is outward Worship signifying and testifying the inward Worship of the heart More especially by it we must conceive the bowing of the Head and Knee the bending and prostrating of the Body the lifting up of the Hands Eyes and such like And a little after Adoration that is due to God the Creator must not be social
he is not offended Hence proceeds that tremulous aversion to such things as God has no where forbidden as if the use of them were sinful This the Apostle reproves in the Colossians Touch not taste not handle not Coloss. 2. 20. Whence this Observation does naturally arise That such as are afraid they should offend God and wound their Conscience by the use and practice of such things as God hath not forbidden are Superstitious And into what absurdities and extravagant Whimsies this humor will carry men we may read as has been said in Mr. Calvin if our own Experience were not pregnant with Examples to that purpose How many men have formerly and do still trouble themselves and the Church of God upon this account Sensi enim saepe dolens gemens multas infirmorum perturbationes fieri per quorundam fratrum Contentiosam Obstinationem Superstitiosam timiditatem c. They are the Complaint of the Great St. Austin I have seen with grief and sorrow that the weaker sort are much disturb'd by the Contentious Obstinacy and Superstitious timorousness of certain Brethren who in matters of this indifferent nature which can be brought to no issue either by the Authority of the Holy Scripture or the Tradition of the Universal Church or upon the account of their being beneficial towards the amendment of life but only because they fancy they have some reason for them or some forreign practice which they esteem so much the more learned because it is the more remote Tam litigiosas excitant quaestiones ut nisi quod ipsi faciunt nihil rectum existiment They raise such litigious Questions and Disputes hereupon that they will allow nothing to be right but what they do themselves Which is as true a Character of our Dissenters as if St. Austin had been alive and acquainted with their disposition and practice before he wrought it Fear is a Passion very apt to enthral us and a fear upon the account of Religion most of all This Fear many times sets up strange Opinions in mens minds and when these are once framed Humanum ingenium quod suum est illic recognoscit recognitum libentiùs amplectitur quà m optimum aliquid quod suae vanitati minùs conveniret 'T is the Nature of man to recognize his own Conceptions and not only to acknowledge them but to be fond of them and prefer them before the best things which contradict their Vanity 3. Being wedded to these New Fangles the issue of their own imaginations out of devotion to them they Sacrifice they offer up the very Commandments of God and perhaps by this means they run into Idolatry as well as Superstition though such as are most concern'd therein are not presently sensible of the guilt of it I am sure St. Austin and St. Hierome are both of this Judgment Perverse Opinions says Hierome are the Graven and Molten Images which are adored by such as frame them in their Imaginations Comment l. 1. in Habak 2 and in Dan. 3. Qui falsum Dogma componunt They which set on foot a false Opinion set up an Image and as much as lies in their power by their Perswasion they compel others to fall down and worship the Idol of their Falshood And again in his Commentary upon Jerem. 32. Sed usque hodiè in Templo Dei quae interpretatur Ecclesia c. Even at this day saith he in the Temple of God which is interpreted to be the Church or in the hearts and minds of Believers an Idol is set up when a New Doctrine is broached and as is said in Deuteronomy the 4th is worshipped in secret Nor does that Doctor rest here but he saith further in that second of Habakuk Si quando videris aliquem nolle cedere veritati c. When thou seest a man that will not yield to Truth but persist still in his Error and studied opposition when the falshood of his Doctrines is made manifest thou maist very fitly say Sperat in figmento suo facit simulachra muâ—a vel surda He puts his trust in his own figment and frames to himself dumb or deaf Idols Nor does St. Austin differ in his Judgment for he says plainly They are involved in a baser kind of Superstition Idolatry and Servitude who worship their own Fancies than they who worship the Host of Heaven His words are these Est alius deterior inferior cultus simulachrorum c. There is another inferiour and baser kind of Idolatry when men worship their own Fancies and whatever the Imagination sets up in the mind through pride or fear Religionis nomine observant They observe it strictly as their Religion Now whether these Dissenters out of zeal to their Negative Superstition Touch not a Surplice sign not with the Cross kneel not at the Sacrament c. do not peremptorily reject the express Command of God for Obedience to their Governours let all sober men and the World judge 4. I would ask this Question Do these Dissenters value those Homilies or do they not If they trust our Reformers for that Observation they have reason also to believe them that there is no such peril of Superstition in those Ceremonies which the Church then enjoyned and they themselves practised for I hope their insinuation should not be more prevalent to keep them from Superstition than their constant practice to keep them in Obedience especially when 't is evident that their Disobedience runs them into one sort of Superstition which in the general they pretend to be so very shy of that they can overlook an express and necessary duty to avoid it The Dissenters Tenth Section THey say they have read over all the Books that have been written in justification of those things and they find their Arguments so weak their Reasons so futilous that setting aside Rhetorick and Rayling there 's nothing in them but what had been either answered by others or is contradicted by themselves which hardens them in their Error who are gon astray into the right way The Answer 1. He saith they are gon astray into the right way This is no time for Bullbaiting therefore if they have a mind to gad let them take their jest along to make merry with But Corah had as fair a way and as safe a Convoy too in his own conceit Yet St. Jude was of another Judgment and we know he fell into the Pit at last And 't is somewhat an unlucky expression To go astray into the right way For we read of wandring stars whose Motion if we may believe any old Philosophy is very Regular in respect of the first mover and so they are in the right way But they have Erratick Motions of their own and to these were those false-teachers resembled by St. Jude who are said to wander because really they do so by their fluctuation in their Doctrines Deviation from the common Practice of the Church and
the exercise of that Right and Power in every Christian Common-wealth ought to depend upon the Authority of the Supream Civil Magistrate Wherefore that Learned and Ingenious S. P. in The Case of the Church of England p. 264 265. hath very well observed That the Bottom we build upon is this That the Church own'd by the Law of England is the very same that was establisht by the Law of Christ. For unless we suppose that the Church was Originally settled by our Saviour with Divine Authority we deny his Supremacy over his own Church and unless we suppose that the Supream Government of the Kingdom has power to abet and ratifie our Saviours establishment by Civil Laws we deny his Majesties Supremacy over his Christian Subjects and therefore both together must be taken into the right State and Constitution of the Church of England There are some Rites and Ceremonies whose Original cannot be trac'd out having bin in use in the Church of God at all times and places These are supposed with great Reason to have been derived from the Apostles themselves for such an Vniversal practice could not be introduced but by a Common and Vniversal Authority as an Vniversal effect must have a Cause of no less efficacy to produce it Now for any Particular Church to attempt a Change of such Rites and Ceremonies is as if a Quarter Sessions in a private Corporation should take upon them to dissolve or over-rule what has been regularly done and settled in a Full Parliament 3. We should consider whether there be any need of such Reformation as they endeavour There are some Rites and Ceremonies which no Person no Particular Church should presume to alter because the Vnity and Vniformity of the Catholick Church is preserved hereby and if we will possess our selves to continue in her Communion we must observe them upon the account of our Conformity to her practice But other particular Rites and Ceremonies are left to the prudence of Particular Churches to exercise their Power and Liberty with respect to the Manners and Temper of the People But That there is no Necessity of Reformation of the Publick Doctrine of the Church of England hath been made good against Doctor Burges by the Right Reverend Learned and Judicious Doctor Pearson now Lord Bishop of Chester And that there is no Need of such a Reformation of the Publick 1. Doctrine 2. Worship 3. Rites and Ceremonies 4. Church Government 5. Discipline as is pretended hath been proved by H. S. D. D. 1660. But we shall not take it for granted tho we know no Answer returned to these and several other Learned Men who have wrote in Justification of the Church of England to that effect but give our proof for it That Church which is already Reform'd and establisht according to the Word as far as a state of Frailty and Humane Prudence will admit That Church hath no need of further Reformation But such is the Church of England I would not be mistaken For I know there ought to be a proficiency in Grace and Holiness and the practice of all Christian Vertues till we arrive at such a Degree of Perfection as this Mortal condition is capable of But for a further Reformation of Doctrine or Government of Liturgy Rites and Ceremonies or of Laws and Canons if what are already enacted were duly inforced and executed we have no need of it It is duly observed by that Worthy Person even now mentioned That if every defect from Christs Institution should forfeit the Rights of a Christian Church there never was as we may find by the Apostles account of the Churches in their times nor ever will be such a thing as a Church in the World For in this life it is not to be expected that any thing should be absolutely perfect the very nature of Christianity supposes Imperfection and accepts of Integrity and as long as with sincere Affections men adhere to the Principles of the Church they are within the Promise of the Grace of God That the Church of England is not Reformed up to those Principles who can make good the Charge against her Where was the failure Did not our Reformers use sufficient Means 1 Did they not search the Scriptures according to the Rule of our Blessed Saviour Did they not understand the sense and latitude of the Scriptures Had they not an eye to the Rules of Decency and Order to God's Glory and the Edification of the Church 2 Did they not consult Antiquity according to Divine Direction Job 8. 8 10. Jer. 6. 16. 3 Did they not use a Moral Diligence to search into the nature of things for their full satisfaction 4 Did they not make this Inquiry after the Truth with a Christian Simplicity and Godly Sincerity We appeal to the Searcher of Hearts to witness this and to their own Learned and Judicious Writings to assert the other 5 Had they not as full Authority both Ecclesiastical and Civil as was needful to establish that Reformation And 6 and Lastly Have we not had God's Blessing while we Conform'd obediently to it to assure us he was well-pleased with that Establishment King James tells us in his Proclamation even now mentioned We had no reason to presume that things were so far amiss as was pretended because we had seen the Kingdom under that Form of Religion which by Law was established in the days of the late Queen of Famous Memory blessed with a Peace and Prosperity both extraordinary and of many years continuance a strong Evidence that God was therewith well-pleased But 't is an ill sign of a growing Reformation when the times afford us as they have done a long while so many Evil men and Seducers who wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived 2 Tim. 3. 13. A Reformation of Manners and Practice we acknowledge highly needful but for Ecclesiastical Orders and Constitutions about the Worship and Service of God there wants nothing but a hearty Observation to improve them 4. It is to be considered with great attention Whether such as are in Authority and are satisfied that there is no need of Reformation should alter Legal Constitutions to gratifie whether the Humor or Importunity of Dissenters In the management hereof I shall consult no Passion or Interest nor be swayed by any prejudice resolving only to give the sense of other Protestants and I shall begin with the Lutherans 'T is the Resolution of David Rungius After a faithful account given of the free use of things indifferent such as will not submit to a just Authority nothing is to be done in their favour but as Persons persisting in their purpose out of Hypocrisie or Stubborness out of a love of Contention or some other Mental distemper they are sharply to be reproved Brochmand another eminent Man of that Party saith Some respect is to be had of the Weak in order to their Information but to such as are obstinately Superstitious
a Discovery of Puritan-Papisme And after him David Owen wrote another 1610. which he stiles Herod and Pilate Reconciled or The Concord of Papist and Puritan for the Coertion Deposition and Killing of Kings To the Dutiful Subject in his Epistle he observes that The Puritan-Church-Policy and the Jesuitical Society began together The one in Geneva 1536. and the other in Rome 1537. and the last Chapter of his Book contains the General Consent of the Principal Puritans and Jesuites against Kings from the year 1536. until the year 1602. out of the most Authentick Authors I shall refer the Reader to the Book it self which if it be out of Print does very well deserve a new Impression 3. My Third Proof of this Assertion may be found in a late Book being A short view of our late Troubles Whereof any man that desires a full and impartial account of those affairs may please to Consult the Parallel in the Second Chapter Lastly We do affirm That these Dissenters and such as so eagerly abet them doe carry on that very design which they pretend to abhor with so great a detestation in the Jesuites And in order to the proof of this let me take leave to propound a question viz. Whether to abolish those Decent Rites and Customes which were generally in use in the Primitive and purest Ages of the Church and to grant a Toleration of all Religions or to allow Conventicles for the free and publick Worship of Protestant-Dissenters as they will needs call themselves be not an Argument of great Levity a dishonour to the Reformation a Scandal to our own and forreign Churches and a means as well to betray our own profession as to gratify the Common Enemy by Complying with such Methods as they have from time to time contrived and practised for the Subversion of the Church of England which through Divine Providence hath been so happily Reform'd and setled and so long preserv'd and prosper'd to the envy of some and the admiration of others of our Neighbours The Reason of this Quere is 1. Because it is the practice of the Popish Party to promote Change and Innovations among us and then to disparage our Religion upon the account of Novelty And by that Argument many times they prevail to make Proselites and to draw men from the Communion of our Church 2. Because they have made it their great business to purchase a Toleration and to this effect they have used all the Arts of Bribery and Crafty Insinuation 3. Because it is a matter of Fact and clearly evident that their Priests and Jesuites creep into Conventicles and frequently make use of such Meeting to pervert the Nation For all which we have sufficient evidence and that solemnly deposed upon the Corporal Oaths of the King's Witnesses First Mr. Smith doth Depose That Abbot Mountague told him The Popish Religion would very soon come into England and upon his demanding a Reason for it he was pleased to give him these two 1. That they did not doubt but to procure a Toleration of Religions by which they should bring it in without noise 2. That the Gentry which went abroad did observe the Novely of their own Religion and the Antiquity of theirs and the advantages that were to be had by it A Second Witness is Mr. Jenison who deposeth thus That Ireland and Jenison did Declare That for the Destruction of the Protestant Religion he means that establisht in the Church of England they hop't to procure a Toleration And the way was they said by procuring a Sum of Money to bribe the Parliament But suppose the Parliament will not be brib'd Why It is the same thing in effect whether we be brib'd by Papists or Cajol'd by Dissenters who have imbib'd their infusions whether we take Money or be insnar'd by insinuation if we deny a Toleration yet if we set open a Door to Conventicles we give them as fair an opportunity to do their business as if a Toleration were granted To this purpose the Evidence of Dr. Oates is very full and clear For speaking of the Popish design for the Reduction of England to the Popish Religion and Obedience among other means he tells us it was to be done By Seditious Preachers and Catechists set up sent out maintained and directed what to preach in their own and other private or publick Conventicles and Field-meetings And he Deposeth That Father Moore and Father Saunders alias Brown were sent into Scotland with instructions to carry themselves like Non-Conformist Ministers and to preach to the disaffected Scots the necessity of taking up the Sword for the defence of Liberty and Conscience These the Deponent saw dispatcht and ordered to go by Father Harcourt in the name of Thomas White Provincial He deposeth likewise That Richard Strange Provincial John Keins Basil Langworth John Fenwick and Mr. Harcourt Jesuites did write a treasonable Letter to one Father Swiman an Irish Jesuite at Madrid in the Kingdom of Spain in which was continued their plotting and Contriving a Rebellion in Scotland of the Presbyterians against the Episcopal Government In Order to which they had imploy'd one Mathew Wright and William Morgan and one Mr Ireland to go and preach under the notion of Presbyterians and give the disaffected Scots a true understanding of their sad state and condition in which they were by reason of his Episcopal Tyranny exercised over them and withall to tell them they had now a fair opportunity to vindicate their Liberty and Religion and that it could be done by no other way but by the Sword and that now the King was so addicted to his pleasure that he would and could take but little care in that concern That the Popish Plot is carried on by the Schismatick whom he calls the Jesuite in Masquerade is noted by Machiavil Redivivus p. 68. For saith he The Principal Contrivers of that Machination are now removed the Jesuites hang'd the Lords in the Tower and the Great Men secured from Action yet nevertheless the same bloody Tragedy is still acting and the cursed design carried on by the Popes other Engines and the Spirit of Antichrist is sifted from the Conclave to the Conventicle And this is further Evident from that late Plagiary who has stol'n Materials out of Parsons the Jesuite under the name of Doleman to shew that the Monarchy is rather Elective than Hereditary The design of that Book in Queen Elizabeth's time was to distract the People and make way for the Spanish Conquest and Inquisition And this Presbyterian Transcriber proves himself of the same Jesuitical Principles and with equal honesty pursues the same ends Usurpation and Slavery From which Testimonies it does undeniably follow That such as do attempt 1. Either to introduce a Toleration for the exercise of all Religions Or 2. To support Conventicles for the free and publick Worship of all Dissenters Or 3. To abolish those Decent Rites and Customes which were
THE VERDICT UPON THE Dissenters Plea Occasioned by Their MELIVS INQVIRENDVM To which is added A LETTER from Geneva to the Assembly of Divines Printed by His late Majesties Special Command with some Notes upon the Margent under His own Royal and Sacred Hand ALSO A POSTSCRIPT touching the Union of Protestants LONDON Printed for Robert Clavel at the Peacock in St. Paul 's Church-Yard 1681. THE INTRODUCTION TO A Person of HONOVR ASSoon as a tedious Distemper would give leave I have returned you the Inquisition taken at your Command upon the Melius Inquirendum which you sent me To deliver my Opinion freely as you have Conjur'd me The Author seems to have very little of that Tender Conscience which he pleads sor If we may take our Measures from him who is a Judge beyond exception such as will strain at a Gnat and swallow a Camel scruple at a Ceremony and play the Wanton with deadly sin Schism and Rebellion who with the Scribes and Pharisees of old will make no difficulty to sacrifice the Fifth Commandement to their own superstitious Phansies These are Men of no Conscience Matt. 23. 24. with Chapter 15. 5 6 7. This Author makes himself an Advocate for the Dissenting Party and he manages their Cause with as much artifice and advantage as his Confidence Wit or Malice can afford He takes upon him all shapes and insinuates himself by Fables Metaphors and Similitudes He is often Scurrilous and sometimes worse He drolls quibbles and makes sport for Men of no Religion the Tribe into which he seems to be adopted and this is the farce of his Discourse as if he were not serious or the Subject he treats of not worth a sober Thought This begets a vehement Suspicion His design is not to satisfie the Judicious but to impose upon the Weakness of the Common Reader and by tickling his Imagination to delude his Understanding To follow him step by step is no part of my concern let the Compassionate Enquirer who trod out the way for him look to that if he thinks fit But to make short work He hath reduced All the Dissenters insist upon to Eleven Sections And if this their Advocate understands their Principles their whole Cause and Plea being so concisely sum'd up and comprised within the compass of less than four Pages in Octavo I shall attentively consider it to give you and my self the better satissaction And herein I shall neither Cant nor Rail nor Rhetoricate but with such Arms and Weapons as the Holy Scriptures the light of Reason and the Writings of Learned Men especially those of the Protestant Churches have provided I shall presently approach the Trenches of these profest and implacable Adversaries of this most Primitive and excellent Church of England MELIVS INQVIRENDVM Page 163 164 165 166. What Dissenters usually insist upon for their Justification I shall reduce to these Heads Section 1. THey plead That some things are imposed upon their Faith tendered to subscription as Articles of Faith which are either false or at best they have not yet been so happy as to discover the truth of them In Art 20. They are required to subscribe this Doctrine The Church hath power to decree Rites and Ceremonies which clause of the Article as we fear it has been by some indirect means shuffled into the Article it not being found in the Authentick Articles of Edward 6. so it proves also that the Terms of Communion have been enlarged since the First times of the Reformation p. 1 They Object also against the Doctrine in the Rubrick That it is certain from the Word of God that Children baptized and dying before the commission of Actual Sins are undoubtedly saved The Scripture the Protestant Churches nor any sound Reason have yet given them any tolerable satisfaction of the truth of the Doctrine about the Opus operatum of Sacraments That Doctrine laid down in the Catechism That Children do perform Faith and Repentance by their Sureties is also as great a stumbling to our Faith and we cannot get over it How the Adult should Believe and Repent for Minors or Infants Believe and Repent by Proxie I omit many others Sect. 2. They plead That they are not satisfied in the use of any Mystical Ceremonies in God's Worship and particularly they judge the use of the Cross in Baptism to be sinful A Sacrament of Divine Institution according to the definition of the Church in her Catechism is an outward and visible sign of an inward and invisible Grace given to us ordained by Christ himself as a means whereby we receive the same and a Pledge to assure us thereof Where we have 1. The Matter of a Sacrament An outward and visible sign of an inward and Spiritual Grace 2. The Author of a Divine Sacrament Christ himself 3. The End of it to be a means to convey the thing signified and a Pledge to assure us of it Hence it 's evident that it 's simply impossible that any Church should institute a Divine Sacrament because they cannot give it a Causality to those Graces it is instituted to signifie Nevertheless it 's possible for Men to institute Humane Sacraments which shall have the Matter of a Sacrament that is An outward visible sign of an inward Spiritual Grace and they may pretend to ascribe an Effect to it also To stir up to excite or increase Grace and Devotion And yet because it wants the Right Efficient Cause it 's no lawful Sacrament though it be an humane Sacrament Such an Institution say they is the Sign of the Cross. An outward visible sign of an inward Spiritual Grace ordained by Men as a means to effect whatever Man can work by his Ordinance Here is the matter without Divine Signature which is the thing they condemn it for p. 49. Sect. 3. They plead That since Communion with the Church is suspended and denied but upon such terms as take away Christian Liberty in part and by consequence leave all the rest at Mercy they dare not accept of Communion upon those Terms There are some things which in the General God has left free and indifferent to do or not do yet at some times and in some Cases it may be my great sin if I should do some of them as when it would wound the Conscience and destroy the Soul of a weak Christian. If now I shall engage my self to the Church That I will never omit such an Indifferent thing and the Soul of that weak Christian should call to me to omit it I have tied my hands by Engagements I cannot help him though it would save his or a Thousand Souls out of Hell because I have given away my freedom to the Church p. 60. Sect. 4. They plead That they ought not to hazard their Souls in one Congregation if they may more hopefully secure them in another for that their Souls are their greatest concernment in this World and the next Now say they there 's no question but
Rule a just Authority and a due Appointment The Order must first be duely made and then carefully observed 1. For this cause left I thee in Crete saith St. Paul to Titus that thou shouldst set in order the things that are wanting The foundations were laid and the men instructed in all the Articles which concern'd the sum of Salvation what concern'd the Government the Order and Decorum of the Church These things were yet wanting and great care was to be taken lest these Cretians should forget the Truth they had been taught or suffer themselves to be drawn from it by perverse and wicked Teachers Therefore to supply what was requisite to the Conservation external Discipline and Ornament of the Church of Crete Titus was left there and impower'd by the Great Apostle Such Orders we find made among the Corinthians 1 Cor. 7. 11. 14. 16. and among the Colossians Col. 2. 5. And when such Orders were made the Apostle was very strict to have them observed 2 Thess. 3. 11 14. Let all things be done decently and according to order 1 Cor. 14. ult He had scattered some Notions about Rites aud Ceremonies in the former part of his Epistle but here he collects all into one short sum He does establish an Order to avoid Confusion and preserve a Decorum in God's publick Worship and Service and this Mr. Calvin makes the Rule Ad quam omnia quae ad externam politiam spectant exigere Convenit which is to measure all things that belong to the outward Polity and administration of the Church The Power to Decree and make such Orders is lodged in the hands of such as are in Authority The Bishops who are called Stewards and Rulers who have the Keys of Christ's Kingdom intrusted to them A power of Jurisdiction both Directive and Coercive This power we find exercised by single persons and persons Convened in Councils whose Authority is of greater extent and veneration The rest will I set in order when I come saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 11. ult from whence Grotius does very well infer that the Apostles had Right and Authority to appoint such things as served for Good Order the Liturgy of the Church and the Ministery about Holy things Haec est Origo Canonum qui dicuntur Apostolici Here saith he is the Original of those Canons which are called the Apostles which tho' not all written yet were brought into use by them And we see St. Paul invested Titus with the like Power For this cause left I thee in Crete that thou shouldst set in order the things that are wanting This charge the Apostle gives that no man might think Titus undertook any thing of his own head or the desire of vain glory but according to the mind and at the command of the Apostle saith Crocius But it may be objected That the Apostles and Apostolick men were inspired of the Holy Ghost and did act by Revelation To this I answer If they had done all by immediate Inspiration there had been no need of Ocular Inspection But St. Paul did not only receive Information touching the state of particular Churches but he comes to see their temper and observe their wants and what will be most convenient for their present Condition before he offers to establish Orders to regulate their practice 1 Cor. 11. the last The rest will I set in order when I come But if he had made Orders by Revelation he might have done it at a distance That the Apostles and Revelations is out of question And that they took pains to search the Scriptures and had been instructed in them by Christ himself cannot be denied 'T is certain also That after such instruction and search of Scriptures as wise men they knew how to use their Reason better than others of their quality Hereupon when they Taught being endued with more than a vulgar stock of Grace and Divine assistance they propounded not only those Revelations which they had received but also whatever they had attain'd to under the Discipline of Christ and by a continual search of Scripture and the Prudent use of Reason And so in a different respect they may be call'd Prophets and Divine Doctors That Title was due to them as they had their Prophetical Revelations This as they confirm'd their Doctrine after an infallible manner both by a Divine assistance above the vulgar rate and by holy Scripture and their own Reason But that St. Paul did not order all things by immediate Inspiration is evident from his own Text 1 Cor. 7. 25 And herein Mr. Calvin makes him an example of a faithful Teacher Fidelis hîc veracem Significat qui non tantum pio zelo agit quod agit sed etiam Scientiâ praeditus est purè fideliter doceat such a one as is a Man of Truth who acts not only out of a pious Zeal but out of a pure and stedfast Knowledge Neque enim in doctore sufficit bonus animus nisi adfit prudentia veri cognitio For a good meaning is not sufficient in a Teacher unless he be endued with Wisdom and the knowledge of the Truth It will be a very hard matter to prove that Titus who had Authority to make Orders in the Church did act by inspiration The whole Epistle which St. Paul wrote to him being a kind of Ritual or System of Canons for his direction in the management of his Episcopal Office speaks otherwise And yet if we speak of a more general assistance of the Holy Ghost I doubt not but the Bishops and Prelates of the Church when they weigh and establish their Decrees and Canons according to the Rule of God's Word have a fair Title to it from the Promise of our Saviour Mat. 28. 20 Loe I am with you always to the end of the world This Power is essential to the Church and inherent in the Governours thereof who did exercise the same when there was never a Christian Magistrate in the world 'T is true God was pleased to supply the want of such Civil Administrations by a miraculous assistance for such as were delivered up unto Satan by the Censures of the Church He had Power grievously to afflict them and many times did torment them bodily How long this miraculous assistance lasted or whether it be in any measure in the Greek Church now under Persecution as some affirm I shall not take upon me to determine But this I am sure of Christ did not intend to leave his Church always exposed and like an Orphan for he has promised her Thou shalt suck the breast of Kings Isa. 60. 16. that is v. 10. Kings shall minister unto thee And to the same purpose Isa. 49. 23. Kings shall be thy nursing Fathers and their Queens thy nursing Mothers which signifies saith Mr. Calvin their Ministery and obsequiousness to
Thousand Souls out of Hell because I have given away my freedom to the Church The Answer Tho' the Church does restrain our Liberty in part yet the whole is not in danger because she does declare That where there is no Sin in the imposition of things Indifferent as to the nature of the things yet Authority may be excessive as to the multiplicity and number of them If the Governours of the Church as the Pharisees of old should lay heavy burdens upon other mens shoulders and not so much as touch them with one of their own Fingers there might be some colour for this Objection But we know They are the first the most eminent and punctual in the practice of what is injoyn'd and to think they will ever incumber and overload themselves with Ceremonies is irrational And God be thanked we have a Prelacy so Moderate so Discreet and Learned there 's no ground to fear it This Author was convinced of this and therefore he sets up his Consequence for a Bug-bear and so perhaps when the sky falls we may have a quarry for his jealousie The mean while we acknowledge that Christ hath purchased a Liberty for His Church If the Son shall make you free then shall ye be free indeed Joh. 8. 36. This is Liberty from a yoak of bondage A yoak that had a heavy burden annext to it From the bondage of the Devil the Superstition Idolatry and Vncleanness with all the Pomps and Vanities wherewith He had inthrall'd the wicked world from the Captivity and Law of Sin in our Members from the Curse of the Moral Law and from the wrath of God the fear of Death and the bondage of Corruption upon that account From the Obligation of Moses Law of the Levitical Rites and Ceremonies with such Humane Traditions as had taken their rise from thence And altho by Analogy some Divines are wont to reduce unto this Head such Ceremonies as become matter of Superstition in their use or burdensom for their variety and number yet this does not impeach the Authority of the Church in commanding such as shall be deemed meet to adorn the Solemnity and procure Reverence and Devotion in God's House and Worship 'T was the design of our Redeemer to make us free from the bondage before mentioned but not to set us at liberty from a decent Habit from a Reverent gesture or from any innocent observance which the Authority of Prudent and Pious Governours shall appoint For the liberty which Christ hath purchased for us is consistent with Civil Servitude 1 Cor. 7. 21 22. Art thou called being a Servant care not for it For he that is called in the Lord being a Servant is Christs free-man Therefore when he saith in the next Verse Be not ye the Servants of Men His meaning is as Bruno hath very well exprest it it a quòd in vobis pereat servitus Christi be not the Servants of Men so as to abandon lessen or depretiate the Service of Christ. Tho' ye cannot serve God and Mammon Christ and Belial yet ye may Fear God and the King ye may serve them both and ye serve the Lord in your duty to your Relations Col. 3. 24. Christ came not to dissolve the Law betwixt any Relations but to tye their Mutual Obligations faster tho' with the silken strings of Love and Charity If we should instance in all Relations the matter of Fact is evident 1. Betwixt Masters and Servants Eph. 6. 5. Col. 3. 22. 4. 1. 2. Betwixt Parents and Children Eph. 6. 1. Col. 3. 20 21. 3. Betwixt Husband and Wife Eph. 5. 22 c. Col. 3. 18 19. 4. Betwixt Prince and People Rom. 13. 1 c. 1 Pet. 2. 13 c. 'T is not probable that He whose Laws do enforce the duty of all other Relations with stronger ties of obligation and endearment should leave his own House and Kingdom to be the only Stage for an unbridled licentiousness Things were never left so indifferent since the first Creation as to leave any man without restraint And did Christ purchase himself a Church with his own Blood did he Espouse her to himself in a Covenant of Peace and loving kindness and then abandon her to the Conduct of blind chance to the extravagant Caprichoes and wild whimseys of Fanaticks or to the Lust Humour or Ambition of Pretenders to Religion No He has establish'd a Regiment and Subordination And altho' the Government he has appointed be not Despotical but Ministerial not Lordly but Paternal and Fatherly yet hath he invested his Pastors and Bishops with a Power to Order and Command and has put his Flock and his Disciples under an Obligation to obey for Authority without Obedience would be trifling and to no effect Dic Ecclesiae has sometimes been the last resort in every difference And the Sentence of the Church like the Oath of God for Confirmation of the Truth has put an end to all strife For 't is God's solemn Promise to His Church Isa. 60. 12. The Nation and Kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish And here we must observe a great difference between the Church of Christ and some Civil Societies For these may have their being first and then frame their Government They are first free and have all Jurisdiction Originally in themselves and then they communicate the same to Kings or Magistrates But the Church did not make it self nor its own Government but Christ who is Prince and Head did first appoint Rules and Orders constitute Laws and Officers by which his Church should be governed and then did call and assemble it and wherein he hath determin'd any thing we are obliged to look upon it as necessary to the support and well-ordering of that Society Whether such Orders were made by himself or determined by his Apostles who were immediately sent by him to that purpose makes no difference For he spent Forty dayes with them after his Resurrection instructing them about the Constitution and Government of his Kingdom Act. 1. 2 3. and after his Ascension he sent down the Holy Ghost to establish and impower them that is not only to make them Prudent but Infallible Hereupon they did not only profess that they had the mind of Christ 1 Cor. 2. 16. Gal. 1. 12. but that they acted all in his Name that is by his Power Commission and Authority From hence it will undeniably follow that such as come under this Apostolical Government which is the Government of Christ's Kingdom have no Christian Liberty but what is restrain'd and limitted by the Laws of that Government because that very Charter by which they claim their Liberty had establish'd that Government before They were called to be Christians and admitted into that Society I say This Authority and Ecclesiastical Government being antecedent to the Incorporation of all particular Churches the Liberty of the Members being Subjects of Those Churches must needs de jure be restrained by the
to be done But as Calixtus and Malcolm have observ'd to give you the sence of them both in the words of the last Necessitas illa non fuit absoluta That Necessity was not absolute but ought to be referred to the condition of the time that there might be the nearer approach and better agreement in their course of life between the Jews and Gentiles Those things were necessary to be decreed respectively to the general Rules of Order and Expedience to take off the aversion of the Jews and to prevent the obduration of the Gentiles and to promote their Coalition into one Body their Association into one Communion in the Church of Christ. Brockman says roundly Quod in se est liberum Propter publicum Ecclesiae Decretum servari debet ut necessarium non necessitate simplici absolutâ sed necessitate Ordinis decori teste Dei spiritu Act 15. 28. That which is free in it self upon the account of the Churche's Decree ought to be observed as a thing necessary not by a simple and absolute necessity but by a necessity of Order and Decorum and he alleadgeth that very Text for it Act. 15. 28. Nothing therefore can be more evident than that our Liberty is restrained both by positive Laws and a standing Authority I shall add yet further That the Apostle did never set up any Liberty against Authority never intended to subject Authority to the designs of false Apostles or the pretences of the Spirit or a tender Conscience He gave this charge Rom. 13. 4. Let every soul be subject to the higher Powers and having the mind of Christ as he Professes he could not forget that decretory Sentence He that will not hear the Church let him be unto thee as a Heathen and a Publican He was sometimes very indulgent out of his great Zeal to gain all that were or might be tractable but when he observed a Faction came in as Spies to find out their Christian Liberty in order to intangle them in a new yoak of Bondage he opposed it with an inflexible stoutness by his Apostolical Authority Again when he saw others put a restraint upon the use of things indifferent for fear of Sin or of offending God or on pretence of Religion He severely checkt them as Superstitious Col. 2. 20. Touch not tast not handle not Whatever Faction was in vogue he ever interposed his Authòrity to quench it When Christian Liberty was invaded upon the account of necessity in order to Justification and Salvation He commands them to stand fast in their Christian Liberty but then lest they should grow high and insolent sleight the Examples of their worthy Presidents and withstand the Laws of a just Authority He refers them to their spiritual Guides and injoyns them to follow their Faith and Practice Hebr. 13. 7 17. Phil. 4. 9. Nor is this all He asserts his Authority at a higher rate than this He tells them he has Power enough in a readiness to avenge all disobedience and to encounter such as were puffed up against his Clemency which makes him put it to their Deliberation what Method of Discipline He should use among them What will you shall I come unto you with a rod or in love or in the spirit of meekness 1 Cor. 4. last And if they will urge him to it if he must use the Rod He tells them he will not spare He will use sharpness according to the Power the Lord had given him to Edification and not unto Destruction 2 Cor. 13. 10. By excusing himself from this severity He makes his threatning the more formidable saith Oecumenius The Power of inflicting Censures he ascribes to Christ and tho' this Power may by accident be destructive to the Flesh yet it is certainly design'd for the benefit of the Church Nam punire peccantes aedificatio Ecclesiae est the Punishment of Offenders is the Edification of the Church while by the Punishment of such others are rendred more stedfast and more approved says the same Author when he made any Ordinances he did expect a due observation of them Now I praise you brethren that you remember me in all things and keep the Traditions or the Ordinances as I delivered them unto you 1 Cor. 11. 2. And 't is observed These Traditions were not Dogmatical but Ritual and about things indifferent nor yet were they Perpetual but Temporary as Sclater notes And when his Ordinances of this nature were neglected or despised He could express himself like a Son of Thunder Witness what he writes upon this Argument 1 Cor. 14. 37 38. and he appeals to such as pretended to the Spirit and to the gift of Prophecy If any man think himself to be a Prophet or Spiritual let him acknowledge that the things which I write unto you are the Commandment of the Lord. But if any man be ignorant let him be ignorant The Apostle does here anticipate the prejudice of proud men saith Sclater who had it in their hearts to object thus Seeing we are spiritual we are able enough surely to judge of these things so that you shall not need to interpose your opinion There were a sort of high-minded men who thought themselves above the Apostles teaching and the only Wise men of all the Church and therefore they prefer'd themseves above all others and here the Apostle does repress their Supercilious arrogance saith Aretius Dickson calls them Sciolists for all their pretended Gifts and tells us the Apostle does here contemn their affected ignorance and a Precept being now given to the Governours of the Church that they should acknowledge these Commands to be Divine He remits these ignorant Contemners of them to the Moderators of Discipline that 's the Phrase it seems among the Scotish Presbyterians to be dealt withal according to the Rule and Judgment of the Apostle In settling these Rules and Orders the Apostle seems to say I have done my duty if any man will yet continue obstinate and will not understand his own Let him affect his ignorance at his own peril Nam spreta Authoritas Apostolica Deum habet vindicem saith Grotius for when the Apostolical Authority is despised God is the avenger of it Atque ita contentiosis qui acquiescere nesciunt nullum finem disputandi faciunt froenum injicit saith Calixtus And thus he casts a Bridle upon the Contentious who know not how to acquiesce or make an end of their disputing By all this it is evident That the Apostle never set up any Christian Liberty against a just Authority never intended to subject Authority to the designs of false Apostles or Pretenders to the Spirit what he hath delivered in favour of weak Christians we shall consider anon In the mean while and in order to that it may be worth our inquiry why the great Apostle should vary so much in his way of handling the same Argument Of Circumcision and other Ceremonies it is observable
he treats more mildly and gently in His Epistle to the Romans but more severely and sharply a great deal in his Epistles to the Galatians and Colossians Was it out of Condescention to their weakness at his first Writing which was not to be continued when success of time might have afforded them sufficient means of better Information So the Author of the Synopsis thinks but then the Epistle to the Romans should be more early written then the Learned do allow it was Soto is of Opinion That the Mystery of St. Peter's Vision which directed him to converse with Cornelius and other Gentiles Act. 10. 10 c. was not yet published to the Romans or at least that they did not understand the meaning of it and thence he Collects also that the Council mentioned Act. 15. was not then assembled In the Epistle to the Romans the Controversie chiefly lay between Grace and Nature but in that to the Galatians it was betwixt the Law and Faith saith Ambianus The Apostle was angry with the Galatians because tho' they were very well instructed yet they were easily seduced But he ought not to be angry with the Romans but to commend their Faith quia nulla virtutum videntes insignia susciperunt fidem Christi saith the Comment of St. Ambrose because they had embraced the Faith tho' they had seen no Miracles and tho' they mistook the sense it was because they had not yet been sufficiently instructed in the Mystery of Christ's Cross. The Epistle to the Galatians was written only to Gentiles that to the Romans was written both to Jews and Gentiles as S. Hierom has observed The Jewish Converts tho' they embraced the Faith yet they thought themselves still obliged to Moses Law to abstain from certain Meats and to observe certain days according to the Jewish Customs On the other side the Gentiles and such as were better instructed in the Truth of the Gospel they embraced the faith of Christ but would not be concern'd in those Mosaical Observances to which they had never been addicted Hereupon heats and animosities did arise which kindled into a despising and condemning of one another Now in this Epistle to the Romans it was the great Temper and Prudence of the Apostle to carry an even hand betwixt the two contending Parties and amicably to compromise the difference between them We must remember St. Paul had not yet been at Rome And altho' upon Information and Complaint from some other Churches He gave Orders at a distance for the redress of some particular Miscarriages yet some other things he thought fit to reserve till his own personal presence should give him an opportunity to inspect the Temper and Conditions of the People that he might be the better able to settle such Rules and Orders as should appear to be most convenient Thus he did in the Church of Corinth Many undecent Carriages he corrected by his Epistle Coetera autem quae ad aedificationem Ecclesiae pertinent praesentiâ suâ Ordinare se promisit saith St. Ambros. ad 1 Cor. 11. ult Other things which concern'd the Edification of the Church He promised to set in order by his presence And thus de did touching the Church of Rome Some Points of Doctrine he carefully stated as Justification by Grace through the Faith which is in Christ Jesus c. He Taught the Jew and Gentile-Converts likewise how they should carry themselves respectively to one another That the strong should not despise the weak nor the weak judge and condemn the strong But these were Directions for Common use among private Christians but for Decrees and Orders of publick use and practice he gave out none to this Church because as yet here was no Jurisdiction settled no Laws made no Governours appointed to put them in Execution This Grotius Collects from Rom. 16. 4 5 17. This makes me believe that there were then no Common Assemblies of Christians saith he or no Presbyterie at Rome Otherwise in stead of commanding to mark such as caused those Scandals or Schisms He would have had them Excommunicated For when the Church is without such Government single Persons can do no more than avoid familiar Conversation with such as live not according to the Rule of Christ. Thus Grotius Catharinus seems to Collect no less from the Apostles expostulation Rom. 14. 4. Who art thou that judgest another man's Servant Cùm non sis Pastor aut Dominus ejus seeing thou art neither his Pastour nor his Lord and therefore thou hast no right to pass Sentence on him And as much is to be concluded from the 22 Verse Hast thou faith have it to thy self before God Had there been a Bishop settled there it had been their Duty in any Matter of Hesitation to consult him to resolve their Doubts and settle their Persuasions But as yet there was no such Establishment hereupon he does advise them to be sincere in their Profession and to carry themselves uprightly between God and their own Conscience Catharinus to this purpose saith thus Thou hast Faith that is thou hast a clear knowledge of thy Liberty in matters indifferent But have this Faith to thy self before God that thou mayest not hurt thy weak Brother And this is always to be the Practice in such things as the Church does tolerate They are to be dissembled or concealed and we must yield to Infirmity for a time till the matter comes to be made more clear But then we ought to dissemble or conceal our persuasion no longer but freely to declare and boldly to follow what the Church hath established Thus Catharinus for then Obedientia praecepti est our Obedience is under Precept as Tolet hath observed The Apostle doth Predict and Promise them a happy Conquest over all adversary Power whether exercised by subtlety and imposture or otherwise Rom. 16. 20 The God of Peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly He means the false Apostles Deceivers and Disturbers of the Churches Peace the signal Instruments of Satan and their overthrow should be by his speedy comming to them to ordain what was wanting to their settlement The design of this Digression is to shew that the Apostle did never give colour to set up Christian Liberty against the Laws and Authority of the Church And 't is further evident that the Church did from time to time prescribe and limit the use of things indifferent as they judged it most expedient to avoid Scandal and promote Edification And to this purpose they did observe times and determine things and distinguish persons 1. They did observe times For the People of the Jews had been so long Wedded unto Moses had so great a veneration for all his Laws Rites and Ceremonies and these were so constantly inculcated into them every Sabbath Day as St. James observes Act. 15 21. That they could not suddenly be weaned from the Practice of them And they were a People so perverse
stubborn and inflexible that St. Peter himself was pendulous and knew not well how to handle them yea tho' he had a Vision from Heaven to instruct him in his Duty that way Act. 10. 10. yet still he was sometimes afraid to own the Conversation of the Gentiles and as his fear had once betrayed him to disown Christ himself so in this Case it betray'd him to disown his own Christian Liberty Gal. 2. 11. St. Paul was pendulous too and acted the same part for some time upon the same account for one while to comply with their Zeal for the Law of Moses He circumcised Timothy Act. 16. 5. and purified himself with other Votaries after the Rites and Custom of the Law Act. 21. 23. But afterward he grew more resolved as he perceived the Jews grew more obstinate and malicious and would neither yield to have Titus circumcised nor endure Peter's counterfeit compliance with the humour of the Jews to the prejudice of the Gospel Gal. 2 3. 11. But when certain of the Sect of the Pharisees would needs intail Salvation upon Circumcision and the Law of Moses Act. 15. 1 5. 't was high time to consult the Apostles and Elders about this matter lest the Gentiles in general should be discouraged from embracing the Gospel and such as had embraced it already should be tempted to Apostatize from the Profession of it The Council Convened at Jerusalem to decide this Controversie determines in this Decree That the Gentiles should abstain from meats offered to Idols and from blood and from things strangled and from fornication Vers. 29. Here is a restraint put upon the Gentiles in favour of the Jews and they restrain'd them in one practice which was amongst them as a Foederal Rite of their Religion eating in their Idols Temples and of such meats as had been offer'd unto Idols These things of themselves were indifferent as St. Paul proves at large 1 Cor. 8. 4. and Chap. 10 25 27. And among these they reckon Fornication because tho' forbidden by the Moral Law it was lookt upon as a thing indifferent among the Gentiles In order to a Coalition of Jews and Gentiles into one Communion they would have the Gentiles so far to conform to the Jews in their daily and familiar Conversation as to abstain from such things as the Jews did most abhor the eating of things offer'd to Idols from blood and from things strangled These were not necessary simply and in strict speaking but indifferent yet being so highly expedient to the Edification and Unity of the Church they were pass'd into the Decree as necessary things Act. 15. 28. Here was nothing determin'd as to the Point of Circumcision yet in this very Decree it was tacitly imply'd That after the Death of Christ neither Circumcision nor the Sacrifices or Ceremonies of the Law were necessary either to the Jews or Gentiles toward the obtaining of Faith or Salvation And yet to such Jews as became Christians and lived in Palestine they concluded the observation thereof so far forth necessary till the Destruction of the Temple that they might not seem to have lost their reverence for God's Commands and by that means so alienate the minds of their Countreymen both from themselves and from Christianity To decide the Case concerning the Ceremonial Law St. Austin does distinguish three Periods of Times The first before Christ's Passion wherein those Precepts were alive in vigour and of great obligation The second time was from the passion of Christ to the sufficient Promulgation of the Gospel wherein those Precepts were dead and did neither bind nor profit any body yet they were not deadly but tolerated and exposed to view as a Herse lay'd in state till they might receive an honourable Burial in the rubbish of the Temple But when men began to pay an awful Reverence to this deceased Body of Moses and to put their trust in it for Grace and Salvation then the Rites and Ceremonies of this Law became deadly and began to stink as false signs of a thing to come which really was already past and then this Law was utterly exploded as an Imposture and an object of Superstition To this observation of times by the Apostles I shall add but one thing more There was a time when the Apostle thought fit to tell the Philippians that in some Cases they might then expect a clearer Revelation Phil. 3. 15. But we being so well assured that the perfect Canon of Scripture is Consigned to the Church He will be in great danger of Enthusiasm who now expects a further Revelation 2. As the Apostles did observe times so they did determine things What things were determined by that Council Act. 15. for a temporary observation among the Gentiles you have seen already But the Capital question that about Circumcision was left undecided At this the false Apostles and Sect of Pharisees took advantage That Gentiles might be admitted into their Communion they did not deny but would have Them made Proselytes of the Covenant whereof Circumcision was the foederal Rite This Sacrament therefore they must receive for their initiation else they could not be saved as Act. 15. 15. This makes the Apostle write so sharply against Circumcision which in effect did imply an obligation to observe the whole Law Gal. 5. In short Those Converts whether brought into the Christian Church from the Communion of the Jews or Gentiles Their Case was this The Jewish part of them had been Educated under the Discipline of Moses The false Apostles told them they were yet under the bond of that Dispensation and some were so simple and weak as to believe them Hereupon they had still an eye to those Jewish Rites and Sacraments even in the use of Christ's own Institutions They did Judaize in the Matter of Circumcision and Paschatize in the Use of the Lord's Supper wherein they had a greater veneration and respect for their old Passover than for Christ's Sacrifice and for this reason the Apostle taxeth them That in the Celebration thereof They did not discern the Lord's Body By this means the Apostle tells them they did renounce their part in Christ and were faln from Grace Gal. 5. 2 4. And he says as ill things of the Gentiles For by the Rites and Ceremonies of their Religion and particularly by their Feasts in the Idols Temple they held a Communion with Devils Now to see such as had taken upon them the Profession of Christianity play the Jews and Gentiles in addicting themselves to the Institutions Rites and Ceremonies of that Religion and Worship which those Jews and Gentiles respectively did profess and practise This was such a Scandal to the Conscientious and weak Disciples the Apostle could not dissemble the resentment of it but tells them plainly They did renounce Christ in it they were faln from Grace and were in Communion with Devils and Christ should profit them nothing and the Scandal they gave hereby might harden unbelievers and
is evident he dissents not out of weakness but out of Pride Animosity and Stubbornness Ferus could say very truly and pertinently on Rom. 14. Non loquitur de his quae ex impudentia pertinatia aut destinatâ malitiâ committimus The Apostle speaks not of such things as we commit out of impudence obstinacy or prepensed Malice and Design For if he who takes offence does it out of Malice Nempe quòd vel nullâ offuscatur ignorantiâ vel illâ penitus cujus potest facile convinci sed aut per vafritiem aut per obstinationem Scà ndalizatur neutiquam tenemur morem gerere nequitioe ejus saith Soto if he be not clouded with ignorance or with such ignorance only as he may easily be convinced of and yet is scandalized either out of craftiness or through obstinacy we are by no means bound to satisfie his wickedness For otherwise as he says we should be bound to connive at Hereticks and for instance to abstain from flesh for fear the Jovinians should take offence at us And because the Dissenters take Sanctuary upon all occasions in the Fourteenth Chapter to the Romans we shall the more particularly consider it That the Doctrine therein delivered was peculiar to the Jews is the affirmation of the Learned Estius and he has it twice for failing and our Synopsis says the same after him De Ceremoniis Judaicis non Christianis Apostolus Loquitur The Apostle speaks of Jewish not of Christian Ceremonies saith Matthisius and Mr. Perkins is of the same judgment For he saith That Commandement Rom. 14. 22. was given by Paul for those times when men were not fully persuaded of the use of God's Creatures as Meats Drinks c. but to these times it is not Nor indeed can it directly be applied to us for this Reason The Apostle there gives Directions to accommodate the differences betwixt private persons But among us the contest is between Authority and Faction the Church and Private Dissenters from her Communion Now when from an indifferent action or the omission of it one of two Evils will necessarily follow right Reason dictates that I must so act or omit acting that I may avoid the greater evil But certainly being under her Jurisdiction 't is a greater evil to offend the Church than any private person or persons who are but Members of it And as when the competition is betwixt them I must obey God rather than Man So when the Competition is between the Church and private persons Common Reason will soon determine which is to be prefer'd The right stands presumptively for the Governing Party who are in Possession of their Authority and I am certainly obliged in Law and Conscience to adhere and submit to them because the Law concludes Melior est conditio possidentis They that are in Possession have the fairest Right Especially where the Possession began upon so good a Title and has been of so long continuance without interruption Give none offence saith the Apostle neither to the Jews nor to the Greeks nor to the Church of God 1 Cor. 10. 32. which we must interpret by that other Rule of the Apostle Gal. 6. 10. Let us do good unto all men especially to them who are of the houshold of Faith If I cannot please all I must be sure not to offend the Church to which I stand more strictly obliged than to any Conventicle or private Person whatsoever I would fain know also of these Dissenters under what Form they will place themselves If they be strong in the Faith then they are so well instructed in the Nature of Christian Liberty and things indifferent they cannot be offended at the use or forbearance of such things If they be weak that weakness proceeds from ignorance ' and a proneness to Superstition as was observed above and 't is their duty to seek for better information and acquiesce in the Sense and Resolution of Authority when they have it But they should do well to remember there is another sort of Men a Faction that is a sort of obstinate Men and how little value is to be set on such we have heard from Mr. Perkins 2. But it will be alleadged that the Apostle will have us to receive him that is weak in the Faith but not to doubtful Disputations Rom. 14. 1. We must use them gently as we do by sick persons the weakness of whose Constitution will not indure stronger Medicaments we must apply remedies that are more mild take care of their Diet and attend them with great Care and Diligence But we must not forget that this was only a Temporary provision to keep the Peace among private Christians Itaque suscipiendi erant ad tempus non spernandi saith Catharinus quoad usque securis ad radicem poneretur They were not to be despised but to be received for a time until the Axe was laid to the Root That is saith he until the Apostles had made a perfect Determination and by that means had cut off those Leaves of the Law which were without Fruit and the wholsom Sap of Truth We know it is the office of the Bishop not only to instruct in meekness but to reprove rebnke and by sound Doctrine both to exhort and convince Gainsayers And when Authority hath settled matters of difference The Subjects Rule is express and Positive Phil. 2. 14. Do all things without murmuring and disputing V. Act. 16. 4. 3. But it is objected as the charge of the Apostle That no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brothers way Rom. 14. 13. But this is to be understood of an Active Scandal design'd as a Mouse-trap set and ready baited on purpose to entice and catch the unwary Mouse as Tirinus notes from the word It is to be understood saith Cajetan of putting a stumbling block formally Secundum propriam rationem Scandali according to the proper account of Scandal to the Mortal ruine of another person This Scandal is in a matter that is in my own Choice and Power Rom. 15. 1. And it is to be understood in Cases wherein Authority has not interposed her Determination for that does Supersede my Choice 'T is very well observed therefore by G. Ambianas That Liberty is Promiscuous both to the strong and to the weak but with this Limitation Vbi nec Pietas violatur Conscientiae nec Ecclesiae temeratur Auctoritas where the Piety of Conscience is not violated nor the Authority of the Church infring'd But here we must observe some Rules to direct our Practice 1. I must not omit a Duty to avoid Scandal for that were to do evil that good may come which the Apostle says is damnable Rom. 3. 8. Nor 2. Can I properly be said to give Scandal by performing that which is my duty antecedently to that Scandal for then my duty should be my sin and I should be under a necessity of
have Liberty to misinform or tell a lie in representing Matters of Fact otherwise than they are Nor has Conscience any Liberty in the Third Office in determining the Case for then it should have Liberty to be an unjust judge to absolve or Condemn that is to pass Sentence contrary to the Evidence and Verdict 'T is true an evil Conscience may now make use of many shifts tergiverses and evasions but at the Grand Assize or time of Judgment God will beat it off from all its Subterfuges and starting holes He will rectifie and refine it and make it a faithful Suffragan to him in that exercise of his Jurisdiction For then the Synteresis call'd sometimes the inward man shall fully consent to the Law of God that it is Holy and Just and Good And for the breach of that Law which is Matter of Fact it will be a thousand witnesses And in the issue of the Trial it will subscribe to the Sentence of the Judge in a due acknowledgment of his Justice saying with the Angel out of the Altar Even so Lord God Almighty true and just are thy judgments Thus it will be at that great Day And now all the Liberty that a good Conscience has or can pretend to is a freedom from the Power of Satan and the Law of Sin from the rigour and yoak of Moses his Dispensation to do our duty to God and Man to work or forbear working without hesitation or scruple according to the Injunctions or Permissions of the Gospel The measures whereof we have already given some account of if I be not much mistaken to a reasonable Satisfaction Here if it be a digression it is very pardonable to take notice of a sort of busie men who seem to carry on a subtil Project and there are more than one o' foot under this disguise of Liberty of Conscience They make love to natural Religion choose her for their Mistress and cry up her Discipline to so great a height as if Christ and his Apostles came out of her School and the Moral of the Gospel were to be taken from the Philosophy of the Heathens I know very well we may borrow Jewels of the Egyptians provided we do not turn them into Idols or value them above the Gospel-Pearl which is truely Orient For the Apostle tells us of the Heathens that when they knew God they did not glorifie him as God That professing themselves to be wise they became fools for their foolish heart was darkned and they changed the Glory of the uncorruptible God not only into an Image made like to corruptible man but also to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things and worshipped and served the Creature more than the Creator In their Theology which was that wisdom which had God for the object They knew not God and generally their Morals were as Corrupt as their Divinity Hence the Apostle saith After that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe 1 Cor. 1. 21. Yet this Natural Religion is laid down with much Art and embellished with great Commendations as an immoveable foundation for Liberty of Conscience And this Liberty of Conscience is by several Engineers set up to supplant the present Church of England And this done the Great Mysteries of our Faith and the Institutions of the Gospel will with little difficulty be depretiated at the first and at last utterly evacuated and exploded Then the Socinian System or Model of Divinity will pass for Currant and That by subtile Wits will easily by degrees be reconcil'd to the Alcoran And what will the issue be but this Men at the long run will be at a loss for their Religion They will see the Holy Sacraments laid aside if not trampled under foot as obsolete or Temporary Institutions the Mystery of the Blessed Trinity accounted a vain Speculation of doting Schoolmen the Incarnation of the Eternal Son of God an incomprehensible and unaccountable thing and an Omnipotent Redeemer with his satisfaction and pretious merits but an useless imagination And in fine what will all this amount to Pious and Sober persons will in time not only be awakened but offended at it and will think themselves highly concern'd also to search tho' it be among the much Rubbish of the Church of Rome to find out the Primitive Christianity This I confess will be the furthest way about but it will advance the Jesuits design as certainly as if it were accomplish't by a shorter Method Which would very well become the wisdom of our Governors to take into their most serious consideration But to return Our great Patrons of Liberty are wont to rely much upon that charge of the Apostle Gal. 5. 1. Stand fast in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not intangled again with the or in a yoak of bondage But what is that Liberty he writes of He is writing unto Gentiles And the Gentile world the creature which the Apostle mentions Rom. 8. 21. was to be delivered from the bondage of Corruption à jugo servitute corruptionis Peccaminosae from the yoak and bondage of a peccaminous or sinful corruption that is from the Bondage of their lusts and depraved affections under which they lay so long inthral'd into the noble Liberty of the Sons of God This is a Liberty not of the brain but of the heart Freedom from the Power of Sin to serve God which is to reign and that is the glorious Liberty of God's Children I shall run the way of thy Commandments when thou hast set my heart at Liberty Psal. 119. The Liberty the Apostle speaks of is opposed to a yoak but 't is not to be understood of every yoak for there is a yoak of Privilege as well as a yoak of bondage such is Christ's yoak and this yoak we are obliged to take upon us Mat. 11. 29 30. This yoak is his Law Mat. 28. 20. which consists of Two Tables and this yoak is made up of both The Commands and Ordinances of the Civil Magistrate are a part of this yoak and we must submit our necks to that 1 Pet. 2. 13 14. Rom. 13. 1. The Orders and Injunctions of the Church are another part of this yoak and we must put our Necks under that too or else we are to be look't upon as Publicans Heathens Mat. 18. 17. And that we may not be at a loss for the Church our Saviour has committed the Keys thereof to certain Select Persons that we may know who have the right and power to govern in his stead And to their Discipline we are to submit 1 Cor. 5. 4 5. And Chap. 14. 40. This is a yoak which we must not shake off Hebr. 13. 17 Obey them that have the Rule over you and submit your selves Mr. Calvin does not doubt at all but the Apostle speaks of the Governours
of the Church and he says He tells those Hebrews that their ingratitude would bring those Governours grief and trouble ut significet to signifie that we cannot be troublesom or disobedient to our Pastours Sine propriae salutis jacturâ without the loss of our own Salvation And Gerhard is very full to the like purpose The word signifies to submit themselves by a most exact and obsequious Subjection And he adds for all the Protestants of their Party That there is none of them denys but Bishops are to be obeyed in their Office and not only when they Preach the Divine Law but when they press such Ecclesiastical Constitutions as are introduced for order and decency And altho' these do not immediately and of themselves bind the Conscience yet in the general they do bind by reason of that general Precept to obey such as have Rule over us And that this is not a whit against the Liberty of Conscience we have Mr. Calvin's Suffrage who thus sums up our Christian Liberty In summa est libera servitus serva libertas Our Christianity is a free service and a servile freedom Nam sicuti servos Dei esse nos Oportet ut hoc bono fruamur for as we ought to be God's Servants that we may enjoy this benefit so Moderation is required in the use of it After this manner saith he liberae quidem sunt conscientiae our Consciences indeed are free sed hoc non obstat quin Deo serviamus qui etiam nos hominibus subjicit but notwithstanding this we must serve God who hath also made us subject unto Men Thus Calvin Thus much of Christ's yoak which is not our bondage but our privilege and ought to be our choice as it is our duty The yoak of Bondage is two-fold 1. That of Moses's Law 2. That of Satan's Tyranny 1. Satan's yoak is a yoak of Tyranny for He is the Prince of the Power of the air the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience Eph. 2. 2. This yoak is made up of the Pomps and Vanities of the wicked world the Superstition and Idolatry with all the unclean and filthy practices which did attend them wherewith the Devil had inthrall'd the Heathen world These Galathians for a long time had had their Necks under this yoak but were now set at liberty by the light of the Gospel yet were there a sort of false Apostles who for their own ease advantage made it their business to entangle them in another yoak which they had not been accustom'd to the yoak of Circumcision and the Law of Moses and therefore he saith be not entangled again in a yoak of bondage quia si vos fideles jam circumcidimini idem est quod ad Idola Converti quibus antea serviebatis saith Bruno for if you who are Believers should now be circumcised 't is the same thing as if you should be turned unto the Idols you served before To iterum non eandem servitutis speciem sed simpliciter generalitèr iteratam servitutem significat quasi dicat Nolite iterum servire ut pridem Idolis ita nunc umbris merosis Ceremoniis saith G. Calixtus This word Again does not signifie the same kind of bondage but simply and generally an iterated or repeated bondage as if he had said be not now again in bondage to shadows and burdensome Ceremonies as you had been formerly to dumb Idols You are actually freed from one heavy yoak be not intangled in another be not insnared and inthrall'd so as to seek your ease your pardon your salvation in another which is of no more validity to that effect than the former which Christ hath therefore equally freed you from But what is all this to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England He that will undertake from the Doctrine of St. Paul to impeach the Practice of the Church of England in commanding the observance of Rites and Ceremonies and thereby restraining the use of our Christian Liberty in things indifferent must make good these two Propositions 1. That St. Paul has set up Christian Liberty above the Authority of the Church For in all things wherein the Church hath not interposed her Authority to determine our Practice we have the use of our Christian Liberty as much and as fully as we can desire But that St. Paul hath set up Christian Liberty above the Authority of the Church can never be made good as long as the Epistles to the Corinthians to Timothy Titus are extant held Canonical 2. He must prove That in the use of those Rites and Ceremonies which the Dissenters impugn we do renounce our Christianity are faln from Grace That therein wé have fellowship with Devils and that Christ shall profit us nothing but we must eternally perish in our practice For those things which the Apostle inveighs against He forbids upon this account as is most evident from all those Texts of Scripture wherein he does professedly and peremptorily handle this Matter But I do challenge the Prudence and Justice as well as the Charity of him who dares say if you wear a Surplice if you sign with the Cross if ye kneel at the Sacrament ye renounce your Christianity and are faln from Grace ye have fellowship with Devils and Christ shall profit you nothing but ye must eternally perish in that Practice To conclude this Section I must put the Dissenting Brethren in mind That the charge or injunction they insist upon Gal. 5. 1. was not written against the Church but against a Superstitious Faction which opposed Apostolical Authority And if they look upon the Superstition and Tyranny of the Church of Rome as a yoak of bondage then by a Parity of Reason They are highly concern'd in the charge upon that account For they do oppose that very Authority by which Christ hath once made them free from that yoak Which Authority doth still with the like Zeal and Courage call upon them also to stand fast in that Liberty But if they will continue to give the Emissaries of that Church advantage by their unreasonable Separations to creep into their Conventicles and make Proselytes with them which I can see no way to be avoided but by their Cordial return to the Communion of the Church of England the Scandal and burden must lye at their doors if we be again entangled The Dissenters Fourth Section They plead that they ought not to hazard their Souls in one Congregation if they may more hopefully secure them in another for that their Souls are their greatest concernment in this World and the next Now say they there 's no question but men preach such as they print with publick allowance and therefore they ought to provide better for their Souls elsewhere Especially they say That the Doctrine of Justification is Articulus stantis vel cadentis Ecclesiae an Article with which the Church falls or stands This Article say they in
the Parish where we live is quite demolisht by the Doctrine of Justification by Works we are bound therefore to provide for our safety and depart and when we are once out we will advise upon another Church not which is tolerable but which is most eligible and in all things neerest the word The Answer That the Soul is a very pretious thing whether we look into its Creation and Original or into the Purchase and Redemption of it we do readily acknowledge We should not hazard it for 't was God's great care and should be ours But we must take heed and we have a Proverb to admonish us that we do not leap out of the Frying-pan into the Fire For in this Case of Seperation we may fitly ask the Question What Authority have you for it and and who gave you that Authority Whatever your Corner-stone be we question whether your new erected Church will be built upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Yet upon second thoughts we find you have something to say out of Scripture for your practice For we find you 1 John 19. They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us We find you again Acts 20. 30. Also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw Disciples after them And we find Predecessors of yours 2 Cor. 11 13. and part of your Character at least is to be seen in St Jude's Epistle Psal. 19. These be they who seperate themselves and whether Diotrephes was not the President of the New Colledge you should do well to consider for he had an aspiring spirit and was imperious and as our Author observes of him his fingers itch't to be tampering for he loved to have the preeminence and set himself to oppose Order and Apostolical Authority But there 's little satisfaction in following such examples That Schism is a work of the Flesh and excludes such as are guilty of it from the Kingdom of Heaven is the express Doctrine of the Apostle Gal. 5. 20. 'T is one of his Rules 2 Cor. 7. 24. Wherein a Man is called to the profession of Christianity whether in a state of Servitude or freedom therein to abide so as he may abide the Servant of God If my Christian Liberty dos not warrant or allow me to desert the service of Man to whom I am antecedently ingaged much less the service of the Church into whose Communion I was baptized and under whose Jurisdiction I was bred and born Quo pax concordia Vndique Constat inter Christianos homines quaedam dissimulanda sunt quaedam ferenda quaedà m benigniüs interpretanda Saith the Learned De la Cerda That Peace and Concord may be kept on every side among Christians some things are to be dissembled some things to be tollerated and some things to be favourably interpreted Where there is nothing injoyn'd to the peril of our Souls or the impeachment of our Salvation we are oblig'd to keep the Vnity of the Spirit in the bond of peace not to break the Communion of the Church but to observe the Orders and Decorum practised in it 'T is the Faith which the Learned Zanchy profess'd and published when he was 70 years of Age in the name of himself and Family Tho Defects and Errors are never to be dissembled yet Peace and Communion is to be held with all Societies as the true Churches of Christ in which the Foundation and Sum of Apostolical Doctrine is reteined and no manifest Idolatry admitted Episcopius who was no great admirer of Rites and Ceremonies says there can be no just cause of seperation from the Church but what seperates from Christ from God's Paternal favour and the Kingdom of Heaven And seeing there can no such thing be charged upon this Church 't is undoubtedly Schism to seperate from her Communion Hence the very worthy Dr. Falkner makes this solemn asseveration I account my self to have as plain evidence from the Laws of God and the constitution of the Christian Church that Schism and unnecessary seperation is a sin in the breach of Christian unity as that Adultery is a sin in breaking the bond of Wedlock And I account my self to be as certain that if ever there was any unwarrantable separation from any known Church since the Apostles time the separation from the Church of England is really such Since our Church is truly as free from any just exception◠in its Constitution Doctrine and Worship as any other since that time either was or is Thus that worthy Author But these Dissenters do alledge That the Doctrine of Justification is Articulus Stantis vel Cadentis Ecclesiae an Article with which the Church falls or stands And that in the Parish where they or some of them live this Article is quite demolisht by the Doctrine of Justification by Works But I must tell them that one Error broacht in one Parish ought not to make them desert the whole Establisht Church That Error tho grievous cannot be deadly to them that have all necessary truth laid before them if they do cordially embrace and profess the same The Error is only his who through the weakness of his Judgment cannot discern that the necessary truth is not overthrown by it But because they alledge a Print and publick allowance this reflects upon Authority and our Governors and therefore the Charge requires a more strict and punctual examination And here we must premise That Justification without Christ's Merits and Mediation or without Faith in his Blood dissolves the Church of Christ because there is salvation in no other Act. 4. 12. The Christian Church is built upon the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Jesus Christ himself being the chief Corner-stone Eph. 2. 20. and other foundation can no man lay then that is laid which is Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 3. 11. Fides est Caput initium Christianismi saith St. Austin Into this Olive-tree we are ingrafted and stand by Faith The Jews were broken off through unbelief But in Justification we find several persons concerned There is something attributed to God Something to Christ and something to Man himself 1. God is lookt upon as the Author and Efficient for who can forgive sins but God only I have blotted out as a thick Cloud thy transgressions Isai. 44. 22. and Rom. 8. 33. Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect It is God that jnstifieth 2. There is something attributed to Christ. We are to look upon him as the Meritorious Cause and Procurer of it He is said therefore to have loved us to have washed us from our sins in his own Blood Apoc. 1. 5. for by him we have received the Atonement Rom. 5. 11. and for his sake God hath forgiven us Ephesians
respondeant Paulo qui nobis hodie imaginariam quandam fidem fastuosè jactant quae secreto cordis Contenta Confessione or is veluti re supervacaneâ inani supersedeat Nimis enim Nugatorium est asserere ignem esse ubi Nihil sit Flammae neque Caloris Let them consider what they can Answer to St. Paul who at this time do proudly boast of a certain imaginary Faith which being conteined secretly in the heart Supersedes Confession and all good works as vain and needless things For it is too grosly Nugatory and trifling to affirm there is a fire there where there is neither heat nor flame In the Doctrine of Justification let these Dissenters take Faith in the general Gospel-sense or in the sense now mentioned from Dr. Owen and there will be no Dispute much less Offence about this Article But there are very Learned men who return this Objection upon at least some of these Dissenters who overthrowing the remission of sins do utterly demolish as our Author words it the Article of Justification as well by Faith as by Works and the necessity of New obedience For if the satisfaction and death of Christ were suffered and made in our stead and formally made ours they do certainly expiate all our sins and free us from all guilt as well of Omission as of Commission And upon this account being made not only innocent as free from all Commissions but also actually just as omitting no part of our bounden duty we have no need of Pardon or Remission because here remains no sin to be remitted And then we have Christ's Obedience and Merits for a surplusage and consequently have no need of Repentance or New obedience but a fair title to eternal life upon Christ's account without them So that this Authors Argument turns clearly upon themselves For they who take away the necessity of remission of sins do demolish the Article of Justification But these Dissenters or a Sect of them do take away the necessity of remission therefore they do demolish the Article of Justification which consists in remission Rom. 3. 7 8. Eph. 4 ult Colos. 1. 14. We appeal therefore to all Protestant Churches to judge how well they provide for their safety by departing from our Communion Yet depart they will and as this their Advocate saith when they are once out they will advise upon another Church not which is tolerable but which is most elegible and in all things nearest the word But suppose you mistake the word 'T is possible men may think themselves nearest when indeed they are furthest off from it for you dare not pretend to be infallible 'T is Calvin 's Observation Tanta est ferè in omnibus Morositas There is among men such Morosity Envy contempt of others and such an immoderate esteem of themselves that were it lawful every man would erect a Church to himself because he finds in his own disposition some difficulty to accommodate himself to the Manners of others Some thought themselves as near the Mark certainly as these Dissenters so near that they took upon them to controul the Orders about matters of Indifferency and Decorum of the great Apostle and t is worth our Observation to take notice how severely he checks them for it 1 Cor. 14. 36. What Came the word of God out from you Or came it unto you only Objurgatio asperior Calvin calls it a sharp objurgation or chiding but no more than what was needfull to abate and blunt the pride of those Corinthians who studying nothing but themselves would defer or allow nothing to the primary Churches from whom they had received the Gospel But carried themselves saith D. Dicson as if they had been the only Christians in the World to whom the Apostles had been sent and to whom alone it did belong to judge of matters of Order and Decency in the Church The Apostle therefore does justly expostulate with them Are you the prime and only Christians No you are not there are other Churches besides yours and of more Antiquity It is not meet therefore that you should despise them their Customs and practice to do all things according to your own Way Mode and Arbitrement Thus the Learnud Calixtus To separate from any Church of an Apostolical Constitution which cannot be justly charged with Heresy Idolatry or the practice of any deadly sin with allowance or without controul as from a body full of Wens and Vlcers to the great scandal of many of that Communion is undoubtedly Schism For the Church and such a Church is undoubtedly the Spouse of Christ Who gave himself for it that he might sanctify and clense it with the washing of water by the word That he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it might be holy and without blemish This is the end of Christ's dispensation tho not accomplisht to perfection till she comes to Heaven The mean while if she be chaste and loyal he does embrace and cherish her not give her a bill of divorce for little faults and curable infirmities no more must we Mr. Baxter himself could once tell the World I confess I have no great zeal to confine the Church to the party that I best like nor to shut Christ out of all other Societies and coop him up to the Congregations of those few that say to all the rest of the Church Stand by we are more holy than you He therefore that separates from such an Orthodox Church out of a real intent to be take himself to another which he thinks more pure he ought to be very sure that it is so and not to stand in need to advise about it whether it be or no and he ought also to observe these two rules 1. That he do not profess a total separation from it much less to do it with reproach as if it were not a Member of Christ's Body for that will defame the Spouse of Christ of whose honour and safety Christ is very tender and jealous 2. That he does it so as may give no scandal to those truly pious tho but weak ones of that Communion which he deserts Solius enim puritatis Majoris amor tanti fieri non debet quanti unius fratris infirmi Scandalum atque Offensio For the love only of greater Purity ought not to be so much regarded as the scandal and offence of one such weak Brother when by such a breach of concord he gives scandal also to his Superiors and by that means may hinder that Reformation which in due time if need were his sober carriage and example might promote in that Communion Hereupon the Apostle exhorts Heb. 10. 24 25. Let us consider one another to whet and provoke unto love and to good works Not forsaking the assembling our selves together but exhorting one another He that forsakes the Church whether it be out of
a damnable neglect or the fear of persecution or a perswasion of greater perfection falls soon into Schism and Apostacy and cannot perform that duty of Charity which he is obliged to by his Christianity Vult Deus adorari nos in verâ congregari charitate saith Oecolampadius God will be worshipped and will have us to be assembled in true charity Qui ab Ecclesia Dei se scindit non orat versus Hierusalem quando quidem illam non cupit reparatam a qua ipse seperatur He that cuts himself off from the Church does not pray with his face towards Jerusalem as the Prophet Daniel did because he does not desire that the Church should be repaired from which he is seperated Thus Oecolampadius These Dissenters may reform and purify the Church they are to advise about till they leave it naked not only of Rites and Ceremonies but also of useful Truth faederal Conditions and holy Duties as others have done and do still to this day Here Mr. Baxter shall vouch for me and I will instance in the great Article of Justification He charges not a small party with misunderstanding of the nature and use of Christ's Death and Obedience as he says thinking that Christ obeyed or satisfied by suffering or both as in our persons so that the Law takes it to all ends and uses as done by us our selves as when a man payeth his debt by his Delegate This opinion saith he if I understand it blots out Law and Gospel at one dash And he adds a little after That from that Doctrine this opinion follows That we are justified before we believe nay before we sin nay before we are born nay that it is an immanent Act in God and therefore eternal and that Infidels are justified as Infidels And a little after he says The beginning of these mens misery is usually pride of their supposed graces This leads them first to a seperation from their Brethren and contempt of their Guides next to Anabaptistry and at last they turn Antinomians and Libertines and are given up to a Spirit of Madness As Luther observ'd in his time eo feruntur Spiritu Satanae ut rideant doceri a nobis fidem charitatem They are carried with such a Spirit of Satan that they deride we should teach them Faith and Charity But to return to Mr. Baxter who goes on thus When men will so horribly abuse thSe on of God as to make him a friend to sin who hath done and suffered so much to destroy it and to make his blood the chiefest defensative of transgression and the price of a Lawless and Licentious life which was shed to demonstrate God's hatred of sin and to purge the Souls of men from its power and pollution c. It 's no wonder then as he concludes if God bears no longer but do appear against them from Heaven Excommunicate them and deliver them up to Satan the Spirit of Delusion It appears by the Confutation of that Physician that Mr. Baxter thought Dr. Lewis Moulin had taken too strong a Dose of that pernicious Doctrine And he tells us further that my Lord Brooks made this the Basis of all their Vanity Pride and Insolence They have the Spirit and so know more than all the Learned Pious Godly men in the World They have the Spirit they cannot sin they cannot err Adultery is but an Act of the Flesh but they are all Spirit and no Flesh. In this case if they be Traitors heady highminded c. Who will wonder What may they not be carried up to by the imagination of the Spirit That Lord as Mr. Baxter cites him goes on with their Character and concludes How can these things be spoken of Arminians Socinians or our Prelates These Dissenters should resolve the World whether these be the more eligible or only the tolerable party they communicate with in their separation from the Church of England But because they Appeal to the word to the word let them go That word tells us of Prelates and refers us to their Authority and sets forth their Faith and Practice for our Pattern Heb. 13. 7. 17. It tells us also of false Apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ 2 Cor. 11. 13 14 15. But it charges us not to follow their pernitious ways And so I leave them The Dissenters Fifth Section THey plead that ther 's no Obligation upon them to own the Churches Power to impose New Terms of Communion unless the Church can prove her Power from Christ It 's not for them to disprove it it lies upon her to prove it and to prove it substantially too or else it will be hard to prove it their duty to own it The Answer 1. That Power which the Church had from the Apostles she had from Christ for the Apostles as was proved above had the mind of Christ if they did not deliver what they had received they were unfaithful And if they were unfaithful in this they might be unfaithful in all the rest and so our whole Christianity will be call'd in question 2. The Church hath not only made her Claim to a Power but has bin in actual Possession of it for more than 1600. years without interruption That Plea is enough for her to keep possession and many Rules of Law will Justify her in it 1. Melior est conditio possidentis He that is in possession has the best Title and 2. Cum Partium Jura sunt obscura favendum est Reo When the Rights of the Parties Litigant or Contesting are obscure and doubtful we are to favour the Defendant that is the Party whom the Actor or Accuser desires and labours to thrust out of Possession or lay a Guilt upon And the Law says further in dubio favendum est Superiori imperanti in doubtful Cases we are to favour the Commands of our Superiors That the Church is not Bonae Fidei Possessor and comes not honestly by her Title and Possession of this Power cannot by the Rules of Law or Equity be determined by the Melius Inquirendum of an Adversary The Actor Aggressor or Plaintiff must bring his Writ of Ejectment to try the Title and if these Dissenters have not yet been sufficiently bafled in this attempt let them at last offer us substantial Proofs to this effect and I dare promise them we shall not follow the example of this Author we will not be scurrilous not droll or quibble upon him about a substantial proof of circumstantial matters 3. This Power is not pretended to be such a plenitude of Power as they claim in the Church of Rome not a Power to all intents and purposes No not a Power to make any new Articles of Faith or institute any new Sacraments or parts of Divine Worship But only to make Orders touching Circumstances Rites and Ceremonies in the publick performance of God's service and the Administration of Discipline amongst the Members
of the Church To me it is incredible that Almighty God should appoint an Order of men to be the Guides of Souls and the Stewards of his Divine Mysteries and the means to bring them to Eternal bliss and yet not intrust them with sufficient Power for the due and worthy Administration of that Office 'T is the great charge laid upon Bishops to feed the flock of Christ Act. 20. 28. And in Scripture-sense this is to be done not only by Preaching the Gospel but also by wholsome Laws and Discipline Some means they must have to accomplish this end which can be no other then a Legislative Power And this is evident from Matt. 16. 19. What ever ye bind on Earth c. Which is understood not only of Absolution but of Excommunication and inflicting Censures And in those words of the Synod Act. 15. 28. It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no other burden than these necessary things Hence it is manifest that the Apostles imposed a Law upon Believers which they were obliged to observe else they would never have called those things necessary and a burden And why did our blessed Lord establish Superiority and Subordination in his Church some Persons to Govern and others to Obey but to keep good Order and prevent Confusion and this is no less needful in ours then it was in the Apostles times This Power therefore is to be continued in the Church to the Worlds end Matthew 28. For a full and clear Demonstration hereof These several particulars have been proved in some other Papers 1. That Christ and his Apostles intended Vnity and to obtain and preserve that Vnity They enjoyn'd Order and Vniformity in Churches 2. That the Apostles at their first preaching of the Gospel did not presently establish that Order which the state of the Church did afterwards require 3. That the Apostles expected such a settlement should be made by such as were entrusted with the Government of the Church 4. That they gave certain general Rules or Canons to direct the Governours of the Church in making such establishmenrs 5. That they left it to the Judgment and prudence of Church-Governours to determine the particulars to be established in such cases Now let us lay these Principles together 1. That the solemn Worship and Service of God cannot be performed without some Rites and Ceremonies as was observed above from Zanchy Rungius and others 2. That these Rites and Ceremonies are to be observed according to the Rules of Decency and Order And 3. That these Rules are to be adjudged and determined by such as are invested with Authority to that effect From hence it will follow unavoidably that all Subjects and Members of the Church are obliged to obey such Laws and Establishments For 't is most certain where some are impower'd to Command others are injoyned to obey else the Power given to Superiors were Nugatory and given to no effect Whereas they mention New Terms of Communion I confess the word New to my self is somewhat scandalous I am no lover of Innovations in Religion tho the Addition of Collects and Forms of Prayer upon emergent occasions is both frequent and very usefull and alterations are allowable too when the change is of importance and does not argue Levity or give scandal As to Terms of Communion the expression may be equivocal For my part I would have nothing establisht in the Church of God but what has at least general Rules and Directions in Holy Scripture and a just Authority to warrant it And this has been very carefully observed in all the Rites and Ceremonies establisht in this Church of England For any man to imagine that these things make a new worship is a very great mistake Any thing added to Divine Institutions as essential or substantial and simply necessary does change the worship saith Zanchy and makes it another But what are added yet only as things indifferent Propter Ordinem Propter Decorum ad edificationem ea substantiam Sacramentorum eòque cultum non Mutârunt Such things added for Order for Decency and to edification they change not the substance of the Sacraments for example nor the nature of the worship Now if I understand what he means by his Terms of Communion I argue thus She that has a Power to appoint Rites and Ceremonies for edification Decency and Order she hath a Power to impose Terms of Communion But the Church has a Power to appoint Rites and Ceremonies for edification Decency and Order Therefore the Church hath Power to impose Terms of Communion Besides the Proofs already produced is not this evident in the Practice of all Churches Are the Terms of Communion numerically the same in the Greek and Latin Churches If we look into the constitution of the several Protestant Churches shall we not find variety of Customs Rites and Ceremonies among them This Discord we cannot but observe in the Harmony of Confessions whether we examine Cambridge Edition of 1586. or Geneva Edition 1654 and the Church of England declares her self in these words We think it conveient that every Countrey should use such Ceremonies as they shall think best to the setting forth of God's honour and glory and to the reducing of the People to a most perfect and godly living without Error or Superstition Are the Terms of Communion the same among the Lutherans and Calvinists The Lutherans reckon these things in the Catalogue of things indifferent 1. To place Historical Images or pictures in the Church for Ornament and Commonefaction 2. To use Stone-tables which they commonly call Altars in the Administration of the Lords Supper 3. To adapt a peculiar kind of Garment to the Minister in his publick administration of the holy Office 4. In the Administration of the Eucharist either to break and divide little Cakes or Wafers or else to make use of single small ones fit for distribution 5. In Baptism to use the Lessons of exorcismes and the sign of the Cross. 6. To sing the Sacred Hymns either in the German or Latin tongue with the voice or Musical Instruments Haec Similia c. These and such like things they who teach that they are simply necessary to be reteined or necessarily to be abolished they do offer violence to Christian liberty on both sides and are to be avoided as False-teachers desirous to inthrall us in the Yoake of humane Traditions Notwithstanding this their Declaration we cannot be admitted to their Communion unless we submit to the Terms of their establishment And is not the case the same among the Presbyterians Why were the Directory the Ordinance for Ordination of Ministers the form of Church-government for England and Ireland Their Confession of Faith and their advise for Catechisms were not all these designes to be imposed as Terms of Commmunion And I am sure they were new ones never heard of in the World till the years 1645.
47 and 48. and as I remember before the year 1650. They were quite out of request and laid in the dust And have not the Independents their peculiar Terms of Communion too And are not these new likewise The Synod of Charenton 1644. takes notice of their Error that they teach Vnamquamque Ecclesiam suis propriis Legibus ita gubernari debere c. That every Church ought so to be governed by its own Laws that in matters Eccclesiastical it be subject to no other nor depend upon any other nor is it bound to acknowledge the Authority of any Conference or Synods in reference to its own Government and Administration Of which Error that Synod of Charenton gives this Sentence Esse hanc Sectam tam Reipublicae quam Ecclesiae perniciosam absurdis quibuscunque insanisque Commentis viam aperire omnes iis medendi rationes tollere ac si illi sententiae locus esset Posse tot Religiones fingi quot Paraeciae privativè Conventus forent That is this Sect is pernicious both to Church and Common-wealth it opens a gap to all absurd and mad inventions whatsoever it takes away all the ways and means of healing them and if way should be given to that opinion there would be as many Religions as there are Parishes or private Meetings By this we see that the Protestants of France do not agree with the Independents of England about the Terms of Communion But in truth if the business be sifted to the very bottom the Question is not so much about the Power it self For these Dissenters suppose it in all their own expedients which they propose but really the question is What hands shall menage this Power The Laws of Christ and his Apostles of Church and State have placed the Power in few hands to make the Government the more Regular in it self the more safe to the King and the more easy to the Subject But these Dissenters would put it into every Parish Priest and so set up ten thousand Independent Jurisdictions in the Kingdom And such a Church as this is most Eligible in their Conceit The Dissenters Sixth Section THey say the World is pester'd with Disputes about Worship about Religion and therefore since all cannot be in the right they are willing to go the safest way and Worship God according to his word If the things disputed be lawful to be done let 'em be so they are sure it 's lawful to let 'em alone and they think there 's no great hazard in keeping to Scripture Rule nor can believe that Christ will send any to Hell because they did not worship God in an external Mode more neat and spruce than God Commanded Answer The World is pester'd with Disputes about Religion Hereupon some men resolve they 'le trouble themselves with none at all Wo be to them by whom this scandal is given I pray from whence come these Wars and Fightings amongst us The Reformation silenced them and setled Vniformity to establish Peace Some men are of restless Spirits and can never study to be quiet making it their business to disturbe the repose of Christendom And all the Disputes for these 40. years and we may say ever since the Reformation whether menaged by Pen or otherwise have been commenced and carried on against this Church of England by the Jesuits and Dissenters And upon what account this is done as to our Dissenting Brethren Mr. Baxter has told us long ago in these words Every one must needs reduce all others to his opinion as if his Judgment were the infallible Standard of Verity and so we have proved too proud and uncharitable while we would be Orthodox overmuch And a little after he gives good Advice if he had been stedfast enough to follow it I advise my Brethren to prepare their weapons against the Papists and Socinians and Antinomians above all other Sects and to associate speedily and carry on all their work in Vnity if ever they will succeed 2. 'T is sure all cannot be in the right 't is fit therefore we should take some pains to learn the safest way But self-conceit and the private Spirit are the worst Guides in the World He that is wise in his own eyes is very apt to put darkness for light and light for darkness Isai. 5. 20. The Holy Ghost has observ'd this to our hands and adviseth us therefore not to lean to our own understanding For as that devout man said He that is his own Scholar has a Fool to his Master The neerer the Fountain the clearer the Stream God calls upon us to tread the good Old way sends us to the Law and the Testimony But as he gave the word so he gave the Preachers too The Priests lips should preserve knowledge and they should seek the Law at his mouth In difficult matters God did refer earnest and cordial Inquirers to the sentence of such as were in Authority Deut. 1. 7 Our Saviour did not slight that Order wherein that Dispensation was on foot but lik'd it so well as he did many other of those Institutions that he transcribed it into his Gospel and adopted it into the practice of his Church They sit in Moses Chair c. Obey them that have the Rule over you and submit your selves Heb. 13. 7 17. And if a Dic Ecclesiae be of so great Authority in our Saviours account to decide our civil differences much more those of a Spiritual and Religious nature as Schism and Heresie which belong more properly to her Cognizance 3. Whereas they say there 's no great hazard I say there 's none at all in worshipping God according to his word and keeping to Scripture-rule provided we rightly understand it For Luther observes there are two sorts of Prophets hinted at by Moses that should rise up against sound Doctrine One should come in the name of the Lord and bring the word of God and holy Scripture with them Such should be the Jews in Christ's time who alledged the Scripture against the Gospel for the Righteousness of the Law and such should be Hereticks after them c. Men will wrest the Scriptures to serve their own Hypothesis Is any thing more clear than the Scripture-rule for Governors that they set all things in order where it is not done to their hands and then to see that in the worship and service of God all things be done decently according to that Order And that these are the Commandments of God And the Scripture-rule for such as are under Authority is as plain as words can make it Heb. 13. 7 17. and yet if there were no such Scripture-rule common Reason would infer the Duty Where some are impowered to give Orders others are under an obligation to observe them Else Authority is Nugatory and ridiculous as has been observed formerly 4. If the things disputed be lawful to be done we are not of these Dissenters opinion that 't is lawful
heard with meekness and good attention Quam hoc utile necessarium sit in Causâ Religionis hic locus apertè ostendit How profitable and necessary this is in the Cause of Religion saith he this place does plainly manifest And that moderate Divine adds a little after Si viri boni jure jurando vel aliis idoneis rationibus se legitimè excusent recipienda est eorum excusatio If good men can purge themselves by Oath or by other meet ways their excuse is to be received There are some that will stubbornly maintain what they have once propounded Such men saith he are Authors of great mischief in Church and State Let not the Reader wonder that I insist so much upon these Authorities For has not the Church of England purged her self sufficiently by Argument against these Dissenters and entred her Protestation too to satisfy their jealousies Let us hear the Learned Pious and Judicious Bishop Dr. Sanderson Our Church God bethanked saith he is far from any such impious presumption viz. as that of the Pharisees and the Church of Rome and hath sufficiently declared her self by solemn Protestation enough to satisfy any ingenuous impartial Judgment that by requiring obedience to these Ceremonial Constitutions she hath no other purpose then to reduce her Children to an orderly Uniformity in the outward worship of God so far is she from seeking to draw any opinion either of Divine necessity upon the Constitution or of effectual holiness upon the Ceremony Thus Dr. Sanderson Our Dissenting Brethren should have been so Charitable as to have followed the steps of those Ten Tribes They should have declared their satisfaction upon the Churches Protestation and have blessed God that she is so perfectly clear of their suspition They should have been highly pleased that matters are so well this they should have done rather then to revile and cavil as they have done rather then to condemn and forsake her Communion upon their own jealousy to set up a new Altar and Altar against Altar condemn'd by all the Orthodox among the Antients They have indeed the jealousy rashness of those Tribes but not their ingenuity and condour And to shew their uncharitableness they bear the World in hand that we set up these Rites and Ceremonies as Parts of God's worship matters of necessity and design'd to insnare the Conscience But to mollify the Objection and Censure they say at last if these Rites and Ceremonies do not stand upon even ground with those things which are certainly Divine yet at least they stand as high as man can lift them But by their good leave they are mistaken in this suggestion too for they stand not so high as they are set up in the Church of Rome Aquam sale conspersam populis benedicimus ut eâ cuncti aspersi Sanctificentur ac purificentur As Alexander the First has it in an Epistle We bless Water and Salt for the People that all who are sprinkled therewith may be Sanctifyed and Purified They attribute Spiritual effects to their Ceremonies not only a power to cure Diseases to expel and drive away the Devil but to procure Grace to remit venial sins to Sanctify their Persons And they use Spiritual Acts of Consecration and solemn Benedictions to Hallow them to these effects Do the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England stand thus high For shame in cool blood they will not say it I suppose therefore the meaning is only this That they stand as high as of due right and lawfully we can lift them If this be their meaning tho there may be a malitious insinuation that we do something more then we ought yet really to do what of due right and lawfully we may do is no sin in us but 't is sin in them to break Communion and seperate from us upon that account Here we may observe the method and progress of Discord First they fancy and pretend a fault then they take the confidence Calumniari fortiter to make the Calumny as black as may be and to stick it upon us with as great an Odium as they can and when they have shewn their spite they mince the matter they were mistaken in their exaggeration we have done nothing but our Duty or at least what is warrantable in exalting God's solemn worship and service by lifting up the Appendages thereof to their due and decent station For other Protestant Churches do lift up their establisht Rites and Discipline as high as we and this is evident from the severity they design and inflict upon such as are refractory to the use and practice of them When such Rites and Laws about them are established the Church does not account the Observation of them so mean and vile as to be violated through contempt and with the scandal of others but such transgressors she looks upon as undecent and disorderly walkers and exerciseth her Authority to note to admonish to reprove and rebuke them and endeavours by all wholsom means to reduce them to a sound mind This is the Duty of the Church when it may be performed seasonably saith a Protestant Divine of great Learning and an acute Judgment And does not Mr. Calvin say the same I am sure it was his Practice And upon those words 1 Cor. 11. 16. If any man seems to be contentious he writes thus Tales sunt omnes qui bonos ritus utiles Convellunt nulla necessitate c. Such are all they who without any necessity root out good and profitable Rites and Ceremonies such as make controversies about matters of no difficulty such as no reason can satisfy such as will not endure to be reduced to Order such also are they who are unsociable and are carried away with a foolish affectation of novelties Such as these St. Paul will not vouchsafe to answer Because contention is a pernicious thing and ought to be banisht out of the Church Hereby as Calvin goes on he teacheth that refractory and contentious Persons are to be bridled by Authority rather then refuted by disputations c. And Grynaeus upon these words Colos. 2. 5. Joyning and beholding your Order refers Order to the whole Liturgy and Discipline of the Church and of such as walk disorderly as those mentioned 2 Thes. 3. 6. he saith Quoad ejus fieri potest in ordinem Disciplinae Ecclesiasticae severitate adhibitâ redigendi sunt They must be reduced to Order by the severe use of Church Discipline Haec ille The Dissenters Eighth Section THey do not find that God ever Commanded the things imposed either in general in special or the singulars of them If God has commanded a Duty to be done the Church must find a place to do it in but tho the Church must find a place for the Duty a time for the Duty she may not find New Duty for the time and place The Answer 1. To this I Answer That the Church can never fix upon
for we are not God's Mates and Companions but only Religious And that this External Religious Worship is due to God and to God only he proves thus The Devil when he tempted our Saviour desired no more of him but the pròstrating of his Body But Christ denies it and Answers Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve Matt. 4. 10. This is a Part of God's Worship but of whose Creating Not of the Churches but of God's the Church does not immediately and Originally injoyn it but rather exhorts to it Psal. 95. 6. O come let us worship and fall down and Kneel before the Lord our Maker She directs also and determines when it is most suitable and decent to be used All the Question then will be whether the Appointment of the use of it at the Sacrament be convenient Kneeling doubtless is a Gesture which very well becomes Supplicants and 't is very suitable and Decent in such as Pay their Homage or beg a Boon or commemorate a sad Tragedy wherein they have been and are still concern'd And all these Cases meet together in such as come worthily to the Sacrament That this Sacrament was always received with Adoration we have Authority and Evidence beyond expectation That in the Primitive Church they received it standing was thereby to assert the great Article that supports our Christianity that is Christ's Resurrection But when the Church was well setled in the belief hereof without any more hesitation and the World generally perswaded of it then to shew her own Power and Liberty in the Alteration she changed that Practice for another no less consonant to God's Law and more suitable to the Nature of the Duty For tho standing be more proper to assert tho Resurrection being a Gesture of Reverence with erection and alacritie of Spirit yet Kneeling being a Gesture of Reverence with dejection and humility is more suitable at the Lords Supper being the Annunciation of the Lord's Passion and death wherein we had a Guilt and now expect a Benefit which cannot but bring an apprehensive Soul that is Devout upon her Knees as well to bewail the one as to receive the other The Rite and Ceremony at which the greatest offence is taken is the sign of the Cross which is fal'n under the same Fate with the Preaching of it and I heartily wish this were only as that was among Jews and Gentiles But if we can find a General Command and some Parity of Reason in Scriptural instances to warrant it I am in good hope among wise and modest Christians this scandal of the Cross will vanish 1. That Confession of Christ Crucified is an External Act of Worship cannot reasonably be denyed and the necessity hereof is grounded upon the words of our Blessed Saviour and his Apostles Be ready to give an Answer always to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you 1 Pet. 3. 15. Here is a flat Commandment for Confession saith Mr. Perkins And our Saviour saith Whosoever shall be asham'd of me in this Adulterous Generation of him shall the Son of Man be asham'd also when he cometh in the glory of his Father with his holy Angels Mark 8. 38. 2. This Confession or Profession has a threefold way to shew it self 1. By the Mouth and that is most Ordinary and of this express mention is made Rom. 10. 10. For with the heart man believeth unto Righteousness and with the Mouth Confession is made unto Salvation Non Solum fidem interiorem affectum requirit Deus sed externam Confessionem liberam ejus professionem saith our Synopsis God requires not only Faith and an inward affection but outward Confession also and a free Profession of it But then 2. This profession may be exprest by the hand by Subscription Isai. 44. 5. One shall say I am the Lord another shall call himself by the name of Jacob and another shall subscribe with his hand unto the the Lord and surname himself by the Name of Israel Upon which place Mr. Calvin observes that true faith will break out into Confession And there are four words used to intimate so much Invocari nomine Israel c. to be call'd by the name of Israel to Subscribe to Surname himself and to say I am the Lords Nec enim obmutescere oportet qui verè Deum Colunt sed quod intus in animo gerunt factis etiam dictis testari Such as truly Worship God ought not to be mute but by Words and Deeds to testify their inward Piety Whence it follows 3. This Profession may be made by Symbolical signs or real tokens Caeremoniae ad Dei Cultum institutae Pars quoque sunt nostrae Confessionis saith Calvin on Rom. 14. 22. This I doubt not will easily be granted of such Rites as are under particular Command and of Divine Institution as Baptism and the Lord's Supper But we can produce other Instances for which there is no such Command or Institution to be alledged What was the true meaning of that Altar forementioned The building of it gave offence to the Ten Tribes as if it had been a Monument of Superstition or Idolatry but as Calvin observes Congeriem Lapidum erigere trophaei Loco vel in testimonium Miraculi vel in memoriam insignis Dei gratiae nusquam lex prohibuit To erect a heap of Stones as a Trophy in Testimony of a miracle or in memory of some special favour of God this was never forbidden by the Law otherwise both Joshuah and many holy Judges and Kings after him had defiled themselves with Profane novelties But those words ver 26 27. Let us build an Altar that it may be a Witness that we may do the service of the Lord before him with our Burnt Offerings Which words make it plain that they intended that Pattern of the Altar Jos. 22. 28. to be a Recognition of the God of Israel a Real Protestation of their Relation to him and of their sincere Devotion to his solemn Worship And that the use of the Cross in the Christian Church was introduced upon the like account is affirm'd by our Synopsis upon that very Text The words are these Sic Ecclesia nobis ante oculos ponit Crucis Christi figuram thus the Church sets the sign or figure of Christ's Cross before our eyes not to invite us to Worship it but to put us in mind of that true and salutary Cross the Passion and Death of Christ which wrought our Atonement and Redemption But we have a more pregnant instance than this to our purpose We read Dan. 6. 10. when Prayer to Almighty God was interdicted Daniel went into his House and opening his Windows towards Jerusalem He Kneeled down and Prayed The opening of his Windows was an open Protestation of his Faith and Worship For why did he open them Not to let in Heaven or to let out his Devotion but to
nourish more degenerous Children than some Anti-Synodical Innovators who would be wiser than there Betters or their Brethren and take it for a great Contempt if any one should not bow himself at their feet 'T is very familiar with these Men to admire what is forreign and far-fetcht and to depretiate and lessen what they have at home to be fondly in love with Strangers but upon all occasions to kick against their Governours to whom they owe a due Obedience To embrace only their own Sentiments which in those days they did not openly assert but privily disseminate Such Men are so far from hearing the Church that they take it in great disdain if the Church will not hear them and dance after their Pipe though it gives never such an uncertain sound Such Superstitious factious furious insidious Persons you my Beloved Sons are to mark out or vanquish if you expect the plentiful quiet and desirable Harvest of the Heavenly Benediction c. Thus that Learned Doctor in his Lecture July 10. 1637. The Dissenters Eleventh and Last Section THey say It 's their duty to endeavour a Reformation according to the Word which if others will not they cannot help it and hope they will not be angry with the Willing The Answer 1. Is it their duty to endeavour a Reformation How Endeavours have several waies and methods to exert and declare themselves Is it by force of Arms and with Garments rolled in Blood This is the practice of the Jesuites and it was in use in the Times of all our Princes since the Reformation of Queen Elizabeth King James King Charles the First and from the like practice in the Reign of our present Dread Sovereign we may make it a part of our Litany Good Lord deliver us For we are sure this is not Christ's way not according to the Word It may very well be their Temptation but it cannot be their Duty But in order to a clear and full Answer we shall consider 1. The Scandal and Danger of Innovations Scandal I say for if there be not very good ground for it the very Change it self is scandalous Hereupon the then Lord Commissioner Fiennes in his Speech to Protector Crumwell tells him So far as Old things can be reteined without danger or inconvenience it is the wisdom and duty of all Governours to retein them Things by good advice once settled are not presently to be altered because some men presume they can make them better Ipsa etenim mutatio Consuetudinis quae etiam adjurat utilitate Novitate perturbat as St. Austin has it The change of an Old custome gives more trouble and disturbance by the Novelty than it can give advantage otherwise And as is judiciously declared in the Preface Of Ceremonies If they grant any Ceremonies to be necessary or so much as convenient surely where the Old may be well used they cannot reasonably reprove the Old only for their Age without bewraying of their own folly For in such a Case they ought rather to have reverence unto them for their Antiquity if they will declare themselves to be more studious of Vnity and Concord than of Innovations and New-fangleness which as much as may be with true setting forth of Christs Religion is alwaies to be eschewed Hereupon King James concludes His Proclamation of March 5. in the First of his Reign in these words We do admonish all men that hereafter they shall not expect nor attempt any further alteration in the Common and publick From of God's Service from this which is now established for that neither will we give way for any to presume that our own Judgment having determined in a matter of this weight shall be swayed to alteration by the frivolous Suggestions of any light Spirit Neither are we ignorant of the Inconveniencies that do arise in Government by admitting Innovation in things once settled by mature deliberation and how necessary it is to use Constancy in the upholding the Publick Determinations of States for that such is the unquietness and unstedfastness of some Dispositions affecting every year New Forms of things as if they should be followed in their Vnconstancy would make all actions of State ridiculou◠and contemptible Whereas the stedfast maintaining of things by good Advice established is the Weal of all Common-wealths It was a Law among the Locrians That he who offer'd to repeal or change Ancient Laws and put up new should come with a Halter about his Neck to their Senate that if there were better reason against his New Laws then for them he should be hang'd up for his bold Attempt Demosth. contr Democr 2. We should consider whose duty it is to Reform Private Persons have their proper duty assign'd them But they want Learning Skill and Judgment for the work of Reformation and consequently should they attempt it the Remedy were like to be worse than the Disease And Secondly they want Authority too and so their attempt would be but an Vsurpation and commence Rebellion and so proceed to Arms and Blood and perhaps end in a submission to Popery to bring us again to some Rule and Order after we are weary of Confusion Common People have business enough of their own which the Apostle confines them to 1 Thess. 4. 11. they must study to be quiet and to do their own business They must live soberly justly and godly To keep themselves from Idols to suffer Persecution rather than defile their Conscience with Superstition or profane Worship for as Lactantius hath observed Defendenda est Religio à privatis omnibus non occidendo sed moriendo non saevitiâ sed patientiâ non scelere sed fide Religion is to be defended of all private Persons not by taking away the lives of others but by laying down their own not by Cruelty but by Patience not by Wickedness but by Fidelity For St. Peter tells us They suffer justly as Malefactors who suffer as Busie-bodies in other mens matters No Reformation can be made but some Laws and Customes must be laid aside and some establisht But none have any legal Power to dissolve such Constitutions but they who make them And they must have some Commission to shew for this purpose for it would be too arrogant in men to take upon them to make Laws for the Government of Christ's Houshold without his Authority Hereupon the Learned and Judicious Sanderson has determined Jus Condendi Leges Ecclesiasticas esse penes Episcopos Presbyteros aliasque personas à totius Regni Clero ritè electos in Legitimâ Synodo ritè Congregatas That the right of making Ecclesiastical Laws is in the Bishops Presbyters and other Persons duly chosen out of the Clergy of the whole Kingdom and rightly conven'd in a lawful Synod Ita tamen ut ejus juris sive potestati exercitium in omni Rep. Christianâ ex authoritate Supremi Magistratus Politici pendere debeat And yet so that
maliciously Treacherous or falsé Brethren there ought not to be the least yielding His Reasons are these Lest hereby we should confirm the Superstitious in their Superstition or Minister Scandal and an occasion of Errour to such as are conformable or afford such false Brethren matter to glory in The Learned Meisner has muster'd up no less than Seven Arguments to the same purpose which I shall collect as briefly as is possible 1. The first is drawn from the Nature of things Indifferent which is such as that they may be freely used or freely disused or abrogated but when the disuse abrogation or practice is obtruded as of Necessity and Coaction the nature of such Indifferent things is violated 2. From the Nature of Christian Liberty This is a valuable Treasure and of Christs own purchasing but 't is endanger'd by a double Invasion 1. When things not commanded by God's Word are imposed as absolutely necessary to be observed 2. When things not forbidden by God's Word are restrain'd as sinful to be practised There is Errour and Superstition on either side and Christian Liberty is equally betrayed in them both which Authority therefore should neither abet nor tolerate 3. From the Duty of true Christians An ingenuous Profession of the Gospel to assert the whole Truth thereof with the Priviledges which accrue to us thereby especially when assaulted and opposed and such is our Christian Liberty with the free use or disuse of things Indifferent not determined by Authority whose Power the Gospel has established This is a Christians Duty A flat denial whereof is against that Profession which Christ requires Matt. 10. 33. and to dissemble it is unwarrantable and we ought to avoid the appearance of it as one of the unfruitful works of darkness that we betray not our Profession 4. From the general Command touching the lawful use of Ceremonies and things Indifferent Wherein three things are to be observed Order Decency and Edification Good Order is not kept in tumultuous Alterations All Change is dangerous in Church and State No man can foresee what disturbance will ensue upon an inconsiderate variation of indifferent and inoffensive Ceremonies especially in a time when such Christian Priviledges and Publick Authority ought to be own'd and preserved inviolable What Doubts may arise upon such a Change and what Confusion may follow it who will take upon him to determine Is not the Confusion great when things Indifferent are exposed for Necessary and things Absolutely necessary accounted but Indifferent Can it be inservient either to Order or Decency when there is no degree of Superiority and Subordination among the Ministers of the Church No distinction of Habits between the Laity and the Ministers of the Gospel observed Who can think the Church is Edified where all Genuflexion all Reverence all evidences of a Devout mind are out of practice When all the Proper Lessons that should inculcate the Great Mysteries which are to be represented for our Memory our Devotion and Gratitude on the Festivals of the Nativity the Resurrection and Pentecost c. are abrogated and perhaps the History of Lot's Incest and the like things most incongruous for such Sacred Solemnities shall be surrogated and read in their stead 5. A Fifth Argument is drawn Ab incommodo from the great Incommodiousness of it As the general Command requires in matters of Indifferency that all things be done to edification so the Law of Charity forbids us to do any thing that may either offend the Weak in the practice of their Conformity or confirm the Adversaries in their Errour the Example of the Great Apostle affording us signal Instances to these purposes The Mischiefs of such a Scandal are sufficiently collected from the Woe our Saviour has denounced against the Authors of them Matt. 18. 6 7. And the Mischiefs of such a Confirmation of obstinate Dissenters are too evident saith he by Experience The Peace of the Church is not hereby obtained but the safety thereof much endangered for the Adversaries do not acquiesce in such Concessions but take occasion from thence to proceed in defending their Errours and disturbing the Church an Example whereof has given us a late Experiment in the Dukedom of Anhalt If they can obtain to have things abrogated because they are pleased to load them with the reproach of Superstition and Sinfulness they cannot with a fairer occasion to traduce other Matters and by this specious Argument of yielding in such Cases among the weaker and worse sort of Men to render Them suspected in their Principles whom they had formerily treated with all respect and reverence as the Ministers of God Hereupon such as are not well Confirmed will be apt to fall away and others will be offended at their defection and so the Church saith he will not be edified but destroyed the Course of the Gospel not promoted but hindred and at last Truth it self not asserted but weakened and subverted 6. A Sixth Argument he draws from The Practice of the Primitive Church Circumcision being then but a thing indifferent as he observes St. Paul according to the Rule of Charity and Christian Liberty did sometime practice it but when false Brethren did fraudulently intrude to spy out and betray the Liberty of the Church and attempted to impose it as a matter of Necessity St. Paul did absolutely reject it and condemn it Simile ergo c. In like manner the Rites and Ceremonies used in the Lutheran Churches are Adiaphora things indifferent neither commanded nor forbidden either by any Divine Law or Prohibition God leaving them as a middle sort of things which the Church may either freely use or not use at her pleasure Now saith he seeing the Calvinists would put a necessary abstention and restraint upon us as to the use of these things 't is out of all question they would in effect betray our Liberty Wherefore such as are faithful Asserters of the Christian Liberty ought not to yield to them in the least that according to their duty the Truth and Priviledges of the Gospel may be preserved inviolable from all bondage and dissimulation Such as do otherwise by a tame and cowardly Cession do betray our Liberty give scandal to the weak and offer a manifest violence to Apostolical Practice 7. His last Argument is drawn from the insufficiency and weakness of the Adversaries Reasons to make good their pretensions which he does clearly evince as will appear to any man that shall take the pains to examine the Discourse it self to which I remit the Reader I have studied to be concise in the Abridgment of his Arguments which he concludes thus That the Calvinists may obtain what they desire 't is necessary that they urge their abrogation upon an honest Title and prove by evident Reasons that the Rites received in our Churches are not purged from the Superstitions and abuses of the Romanists but serve to nourish them Which since they never did attempt because Experience is a clear
Evidence to the contrary therefore according to the Liberty purchased for us saith he we do retain these Ceremonies which are indifferent in themselves and no where forbidden by the Word of God And that the Nature of things indifferent may remain entire Christian Liberty safe and the Truth unshaken we are resolved not to yield no not so much as for one moment to the intemperance of our Adversaries who under a pretence of Zeal do nothing in matters of Religion but with tumult and an immoderate Asperity Thus the Learned Meisner on behalf of the Lutherans Yet I cannot omit another pregnant Evidence of their strictness in adhering to their establishment which we find in an Extract out of the National Synod held by the Churches of France at Charenton in September 1631. In the Chapter which contains their General Acts their Answer made to an Address of some of the Lutheran Perswasion Translated into English either by Mr. Samuel Hartlip or Mr. John Dury Printed 1641. runs in these very words viz. Touching the request made by the Province of Burgoigne that such of the Faithful as embrace the Augustane Confession might be permitted to Contract Marriages and bring their Children to be baptized in our Churches without abjuring the former Opinions which they hold contrary to the Belief of these Churches The Synod doth declare that seeing the Churches of the Confession of Ausburg do agree with the other Reformed Churches in the Principles and Fundamental Points of true Religion and that in their Discipline and Form of Divine Worship there is neither Idolatry nor Superstition Such of the Faithful of that Confession as shall with the Spirit of Charity and in a truly Peaceable way joyn themselves unto the Publick Assemblies of the Churches in this Kingdom and desire to Communicate with them may without the Abjuration aforesaid be admitted to the Holy Table Contract Marriages with the Faithful of our Confession and present themselves in the quality of God-Fathers to the Children which shall be baptized Upon their Promise given to the Consistory that they will never solicite them to Contradict or do any thing directly or indirectly against the Doctrine believed and professed in our Churches but shall content themselves with giving them Instruction only in things wherein we all agree The Note in the Geneva Bible at 1 Cor. 14. 38. is worth our observation The Church ought not to care for such as be stubbornly ignorant and will not abide to be taught but to go forward notwithstanding in those things which are right Nay in their Books of Discipline as was observed above they Decree That such as will not acquiesce in the Decision of their National Synod and expresly cast of their Errours shall be cut off from the Communion of the Church And this we find practised in Genevah with great severity for Goulartius and the rest of the Consistory deprived Rotarius one of their Ministers and thrust him out of their City and which is more they hunted him by their Letters out of a Town not far from thence which had entertain'd him for their Pastour And all this was done because he gave the Cup in his own Church with his own hand not permitting a Lay-man to deliver it This Fact of his was not the breach of any Ancient Canon of the Church but consonant to our Saviour's own Practice at the Institution of the Sacrament yet being against the Custome of that place they did thus sharply punish it And Mr. Calvin does seem to justifie such rigour upon a Rule of the Apostle 1 Cor. 11. 16. which affords him this Observation Authoritate magìs compescendos esse pervicaces rixandi cupidos quà m refellendos longis disputationibus that is Such as are stubborn and addicted to dispute and wrangle and refuse to sit down quietly by the Publick Determinations and Practice of the Church are not to be treated with Disputations but to be bridled by Authority And there 's AN END AN ANSWER Sent to the Ecclesiastical Assembly at LONDON By the Reverend Noble and Learned Man JOHN DEODATE THE Famous professor of Divinity And most vigilant Pastor of GENEVAH With some Marginal Notes by the late King Printed at Newcastle by Stephen Bulkley 1647. The Translators Preface To the Simple Seduced Reader Reader MAy the Father of Lights open thine Eyes to see over this Strangers shoulders and by this Impartial perspective what thou whilst kept down thus low by the new Masters and through thy Seducers false Mediums hast not hitherto been suffered to perceive it being till now purposely hid from thine Eyes Behold a meer Stranger that notwithstanding his manifold Obligations and personal ingagements to a contrary Discipline in the Church and different form of Government in the State yet overruled by the manifest Truth and Honesty of the Kings Cause breaks through all those Restraints of his Liberty as far as he may to tell the thus much plain English Truth Behold here Geneva's veneration and full vindication too of thine own Mother the Church of England as it stood under Episcopacy traduced here at home by her own spurious Brood for Superstitious Popish Antichristian what not And this Apology directed to the Assemblymen in answer to their Letter what ever it was Behold here again a clear Justification of the King vilified by his own for that for which strangers do admire him his Clemency his Inclinations to Peace his Acts of Grace c. Behold here the Root of Gall that which hath brought forth all these National Mischiefs the Popular Tumults and Conspiracies pointed at there as the only Evident Cause of the Kings Divorce from the Parliament See here by whom poor Ireland was deserted one thing also thou mayst here take notice of from these standers by That the Clergy in their own proper Sphere may be as fit and as honest and perhaps in some respect more able for the good speed of a Treaty than those that do slight them with utter preterition Last of all behold here the Loyal and Religious Subjects only Militia or his own proper Magazine to witt the known Laws of the Land that and Prayer and Submission are the only defensive weapons allowed here by this Master of Fence I say no more to thee save only that I do heartily pity thee and therefore I do still pray for thee and for all thy fellow-bondmen That God will bring into the way of Truth all such as have erred and deceived Amen Reverend Godly and worthy Sirs our Dear Brethren and Companions in the work of the Lord. IF proportionably to the grief we have conceived at your Letters wherein you have expressed the most sad face of your Affaires we had but as much Ability either by our Consolations to asswage your sorrows or by our Counsels to ease your Burthens or by any our Co-operation to help your Extremity we should think our selves very happy in so well corresponding with your Honourable and most
loving Compellation of us and right glad we should be thus to requite you with our best and effectual good Offices But alass as the scantness of our Capacity in this kind so the ignorance of the more inward causes of so many miseries and chiefly the perplex and dangerous Nature of the matters now in Agitation among you All these put together strike us quite dumb we are as men wholly at a stand able only in a kind of silent Astonishment or holy horrour to admire and to adore that finger of God which is now listed up over you all But since being by you so lovingly invited to it we must needs at last break off our silence we are reduced to an extraordinary suspense both of mind and of pens what to say first or last or indeed what to say at all And now in the end after long deliberation lest as Job's Friends we should transgress by precipitate or unseasonable discourse Behold our Hearts and Mouths top-full of the Senses and Expressions of our hearty Commisseration our Eyes running down with Tears of Compassion our Breasts even swol'n up with Sighs and Groans at your Calamities These are they God is our Witness that fill up the greatest part of our private Prayers of our publick Devotions Fastings and Humiliations In all which we are resolved to give the Father of mercies no rest untill your Tranquility being once more Ordained in Heaven God do extend peace upon Earth unto you all like a River and the fulness of his blessing like an overflowing stream Our Affaires yea the general interest of all the Reformed Churches are so closely involved in yours and so mutually depending thereon That your safety once procured assures us all of our own good Estates Therefore especially during this grevious Tempest which may seem to bring about again the heavy time of the saints great primitive tribulation we are in a manner compelled with trembling Hearts and Lips to pour out our Lamentations into the Ears of our most gratious and heavenly Father no longer now only preparing to contend by Fire as he once revealed it in a Vision to his Prophet Amos. 7. 4 5. but already for a long time really contending by Fire indeed And how then can we forbear from crying out O Lord forgive cease we beseech thee by whom shall Jacob arise for he is small and round about all in Flame by the Fire of thy burning Indignation From this our own Watch-Tower untoucht as yet by Divine Miracle We have beheld this furious Conflagration spreading it self all over We have seen the Grisoen-Italian Churches utterly defaced the Gospel in Bohemia its ancient seat wholly extirpated The Palatinate devoured The French Church as deprived of all humane supports and refuges like so many poor little Callow Birds alive indeed but only during pleasure The German Churches almost all over shaken yea more then half destroyed your own Ireland swallow'd up with an unexpected deluge of Assassines and Robbers one only thing was wanting to that huge heap of publick Calamity Namely that Florishing England the very Eye and Excellency of all the Churches Christ's own choice purchase and peculiar the Sanctuary of the afflicted the Arcenal of the faint-hearted the Magazine of the needy the Royal Standard of good hope should be so unlookt for an accident without any external Enemy or forrain Impression become in a manner it 's own Felo de se and make an end of it self with it's own cruel hands What a sad Spectacle is this to see that Church thus trodden under foot To see that glorious Fold of our Lord thus ransackt yea worried not by the wild Beasts of the Forest not torn in pieces by the merciless paws of the Lion or of the Wolfe but utterly dismembred by it's own unnatural Sheep enraged and exasperated one against another An horrid example this and till now never heard of among the Reformed Churches It seems heretofore like Christ's own true Sheep they were kept tame by the fear of God united by the same bond of Faith knit together by the apprehension of the common Enemy and so long they did both express and exercise holily and faithfully their mutual Charity Quiet and Vnity amongst themselves in all which they preserved themselves from the rage of the Wolfe by the Christian simplicity of their own good conditions by the Innocency of their pious lives by the sanctity of their Religion by the constant undauntedness of their holy Faith But now we are wholly struck with horror at the change of that glorious face of your Church whilst we hear at this distance the loud report of those deadly Wars that are now flaming up betwixt the King and his People to see at Daggers drawing indeed Brethren against Brethren Parents against their own Children Christ's Sheep pushing against and goaring their own fellows nay their own Sheepherds At all this we are utterly amazed and would scarce have believed That in the self-same pitched Field one and the same God and Father in the name of one and the same Mediator at one and the same time could be invocated for help on both sides to shed the Blood of those that for the Major-part had hitherto by so many clear Demonstrations in the whole equal course of their lives equal in their piety towards God equal in their love and loyalty towards their Country approved themselves such faithful and true Brethren one to another strange That these should now against their own Bowels turn all their warlike-power far better if imployed in the just punishments of their own treacherous Neighbours or towards the relief of their dearest Brethren so long bowing the back under the weight of their bondage and even at the last gasp for help What marvaile then if these your cruel distractions have awakened yea divided even to a variety the Judgments and Affections too of Christendom Neither do we our selves deny but that for a while we did somewhat stagger at and as it were fluctuate about it yet that demur of ours did neither proceed from prejudice against nor from partiality towards either side as not being called upon by either neither publickly nor privately till now of late in your reference unto us which we do reckon as no small piece of honour since in your esteem our Judgment may seem of so much weight as able to advance or ballance down either party both being of such extraordinary quality We have conteined our selves within the bounds of a conscionable Judgment and impartial Charity towards both parties for indeed ye are both Brethren We have neither way exceeded the compass of our own measure but still kept a meane as rejoycing on the one hand at those good things which we did hear were entertained with the general applause of all good men So on the other hand we could not but behold with grief those other sinister passages that in themselves did carry a more fatal appearance we were overjoyed at
But to think the Walls of the City are presently to be broken down to let in this Trojan Horse as a great Prelate exprest himself at Court is an attempt like to be fatal and a certain way to bring in ruine 5. That some should be obliged to obey the Laws and shew Conformity and others be dispensed with cannot stand with Equity Aequalitas prima pars aequitatis saith Seneca Equalitie is the first and chiefest part of Equite We are taught also by a dear experience that such a dispensation will breed division for a division in Laws makes division in Kingdoms a choosing of sides and a mustering into Parties whence strife infallibly with Envy Emulations Contentions and a Worldr of other mischiefs do arise And as Division in Laws causes division in Kingdoms so those divisions cause the subversion and overthrow of such Kingdoms For 't is Gospel that a Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand Satans Kingdom thus divided would come to desolation how then can a Kingdom of Flesh and Blood a Kingdom of Mortal Men subject to impetuous passions subsist under Agony and conflict of divisions If there were no such danger likely to ensue upon a Toleration or Connivance yet it cannot stand with Decency and Honour that one People within the same Land and under the same Government and especially Monarchical should be under divers Laws 'T is like an Oracle in Curtius Ejusdem Juris esse debent qui sub eodem Rege Victuri sunt Such as are under the Government of one and the same King within the same Land and Nation should be under one and the same Law especially as to publick Administrations 6. But the prevailing Argument is The Hellish Plots the Implacable Malice and the Secret Combinations of the Popish party to destroy us the consideration whereof is thought sufficient to induce us to take into Union and Association with us all sorts of Dissenters that have but Mettle and Edge enough to encounter and oppose the Chuch of Rome But has the matter been duly weighed in an equal Ballance Or has not the dreadful apprehension of a present attempt from the one party so far transported us as to make us forget the like tho perhaps a little more remote danger which threatens us from the other Queen Elizabeth in her time thought it a measuring cast which of the two Factions was the more pernitious to the Rights of the Crown and the establisht Government She knew the Principles of these Dissenters as well as those of the Popish Priests and Jesuites she observed their practices also and the Methods they took that altho they began with tender and meek Petitions yet they proceeded to Admonitions nay to sharp and Satyrical Remonstrances and at last having Calculated their numbers and Computed who was and who was not for their Cause they supposed themselves certain of so great a Party that they durst and began to threaten first the Bishops then the Queen and Parliament Hereupon the Queen having a strict Eye and Check upon them in a Parliament held the 28th of her Reign Commanded Serjeant Puckering who was then Her Mouth as well as the Speaker of the House of Commons to declare her Majesties sense and to caution her Subjects against them which was done in these expressions And especially you are Commanded by her Majesty saith he to take heed that no ear be given or time afforded to the wearysome Solicitations of those that commonly be called Puritans wherewith all the late Parliaments have been exceedingly importun'd Which sort of men whilst in the giddiness of their Spirits they labour and strive to advance a new Eldership they do nothing else but disturbe the good People of the Church and Commonwealth which is as well grounded for the Body of Religion it self and as well guided for the Discipline as any Realm that professeth the Truth And the same thing is already made good to the World by many the Writings of Godly and Learned Men neither answered nor answerable by any of these new fangled Refiners And as the present Case standeth it may be doubted whether they or the Jesuites do offer more danger or be more speedily to be repressed For albeit the Jesuites do impoyson the hearts of her Majesties Subjects under a pretence of Conscience to withdraw them from obedience due to her Majesty yet do they the same but closely and only in privy Corners But these men do both publish in their printed Books and teach in all their Conventicles sundry Opinions not only dangerous to the well setled Estate and Policy of this Realm by putting a Pyke between the Clergy and the Laity but also much derogatory to her Sacred Majesty and her Crown as well by the diminution of her antient and lawful Revenues and by denying her Highnesses Prerogative and Supremacy as by offering peril to her Majesties safety in her own Kingdom In all which things howsoever in many other points they pretend to be at War with the Popish-Jesuites yet by this Seperation of themselves from the Vnity of their fellow Subjects and by abasing the Sacred Authority and Majesty of their Prince they do but joyn and concur with the Jesuites in opening the door and preparing the way to the Spanish Invasion that is threatned against the Realm This was the sense of that Great Queen and her Great Council And hereupon such Laws were Inacted as were designed to strike equally at both Factions Now upon the premisses the Quere will be whether such as attempt to violate and dissolve those Laws which she made to secure the Church and Kingdom as then established do Cordially affect the Authority she had and the Government she exercised In all reason such as pretend so great a veneration for her Name should defer some thing to her Judgment and yield something to her Wisdom and Experience But if she were now alive might she not find just cause to expostulate with Subjects as our Saviour did some time with his Disciples Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say You call me Renownd and Glorious a Queen of Blessed Memory and you honour me with a piece of Formal Pageantry but you have no Reverence for the Authority which I was invested with For have you not the same Crown the same Sword and the same Scepter still Have you not the same Government the same Reformation the same Religion which was publickly profest maintained and honoured in my Reign For where 's the difference No alteration no addition has been made but for the advantage of the Nation and the Protestant Cause in general yet what Elogies are given of her daies and how is the Protestant Religion cry'd up for the flourishing condition of it under her Government The Protestant Religion says Vox populi in which they and their Fathers have been so many years bred and under which they have seen so many happy Days freed from the
generally in use in the Primitive and purest Ages of the Christian Church They are Factors for the Pope I do not say directly by Confederacy and an avowed Consent but yet really and in effect they do carry on the Plot and Design of the Church of Rome which is to remove the King out of their way that they may destroy the Protestant Church of England and introduce the Popish Religion and Tyranny in stead of it Having made it thus evident that these Dissenters hold the same dangerous Principles as to King and Government which are maintained by the Jesuites improve their Plots and carry on the same design of Subverting the Protestant Church of England I shall proceed with the Complaint of Liberty and Property against Arbitrary Government I would only desire the honest Reader to enquire who they were that first cryed out against Arbitrary Government or the designs of it in the Reign of King Charles the First It was the Protestant Dissenters and principally those then called Presbyterians Who was it that animated the People to take up Arms for Defence of Liberty and Property invaded only by themselves against the King The very same Who maintained continued and finished the War and the Tragedy of the King's Murder The same men though now they had gotten new Frocks and Vizards on and call'd themselves Independents or Congregational-Church-Men a Name that Comprehended all Sects and Opinions Who were they that banisht his present Majesty sought that life which could not have been preserved but by a Miracle Who composed and commanded Olivers standing Army Who commanded all the Garrisons Forts Castles Ships Who rul'd according to Will without and against Law Even the very same Men the the Godly Party of Congregational Protestant Dissenters Who are they that cry out now against the Government and talk of the great danger of Arbitrary Power Search the City examine the Countrey Ransack the Coffee-Houses frequent the Clubs If you hear any Person inveigh against the Government or Discourse of the fear of Arbitrary Designs you may pawn your life on 't you may find him in a Conventicle upon a Sunday if he pretends to any Religion or reading Hob's Divinity and Atheistical Principles at home It is an Old saying He that accuses another ought to be clear himself And therefore saith that Author for shame let the Congregational-Men leave clamouring about Persecution and Arbitrary Government of which they are so horribly guilty and for which they have so great an Accompt to make to Allmighty God And now let us appeal to the Common sense of all Mankind is it reasonable that a Prince should give establishment to any party that maintains Principles destructive to himself and his Government Sure no wise or Loyal Person can imagine it For if self-preservation be allowable in any Case without doubt of all men the Sovereign has the fairest Title to it I remember Mr. Ormerod near Four Score Years ago having made a Parallel betwixt the Papists and Dissenters of those times concludes his Address to them in these words And thus I leave you wishing first of all your Conformity if that cannot be had my next wish is that you were dealt withal as Philip of Macedon dealt with two of his Subjects in whom there was little hope of Grace he made one of them to run out of the Countrey and the other to drive him so his People were rid of both But this shall not be my Conclusion These Dissenters would have us comply with them But in what In the Change of Government and Discipline in the Church according to their Fancies in abolishing the Forms of God's Solemn Worship with the Rites of Decency and Order to promote the same We cannot in Prudency or Conscience gratify this their humour against the general Rules of Holy Scripture the light of Reason the Practice of the Primitive Church and the Common sense of the most Sober and Learned Protestants What then Would they have us comply with them against the Church of Rome and the practices of the Jesuites With all our hearts But we must remember the Jesuites have two Heads of Doctrine both destructive to the Principles of Christianity wherein we utterly dissent from them The first in reference to God's Worship and Service the second in reference to the King his Crown and Government We renounce the whole let them do so likewise else let them be lookt upon as Parcel-Jesuites for such they are unless they renounce not only such Doctrines as lead to Superstition and Idolatry but such also as lead to Sedition and Rebellion Let them say the Pope is Antichrist and let them say the same as the Apostle does 2 Thes. 2. 4. of every Adversary that resists the Lord 's Annointed that opposeth and exalteth himself above Kings and Potentates to whom the name of God is attributed In which sense we doubt not to say with St. John that even now are there many Antichrists Let them renounce those Popish and Jesuitical Principles which were Condemn'd for Treason in the Spencers even by Papists themselves let them renounce 1. That damnable Doctrine of taking up Arms by the Kings Authority to fight against his Person Which as is very well observed by a worthy person * was hatcht under the Romish Territories and made use of in the Holy League of France 2. That we may seize the Kings Revenues stop his Customes deny him all due supplies to support and preserve the honour and Peace of his Crown and Kingdoms as they did in 42. and bring him into necessity that we may reform his mind and gain our own ends of him Per Asperte as Lawyer 's phrase it that is by rigour or constreint 3. That if his Majesty will not repeal Laws and take off the wheels of Government and model it to our humour we may enter into Leagues and Associations without his consent and Govern in aid of him There are Jesuitical Doctrines and we desire they may joyn with us in a hearty Renunciation of them Let them also protest they will never attempt what the Jesuites are presumed to have plotted and contrived the Death of the King the Ruine of the Church with the Subversion of the establisht Laws and Government For ther 's little hopes of a hearty Union till men come to so much ingenuity and remorse as to acknowledge how far they have gon astray and declare their Change with a stedfast Resolution to return into the right way Let them therefore Submit to the Laws establisht and joyn with us in the performance of God's Publick and Solemn Worship Let them Subscribe and preach the Homilies against Rebellion and declare as we do in the midst of their respective Congregations their unfeigned Assent and Consent to them This will secure the King's Person the Protestant Religion and the Government established And whatever becomes of the Protestants abroad for want of supplies to enable the King to interpose
in poste signandus es omnesque Christiani signantur De Catechiz Rud. c. 20. Epilogue lib. 3. cap. 29. p. 342. See Tertul de Cornu Militis cap. 3. * Vexillum Crucis in fronte portans Hieron Apol. advers Ruffiâ— l. 2. r. 8. * In Formula Missae in pr. * Calv. Lexic Jurid verbo Superstitiosus See the Proposal rectified p. 5 6. †Ep. 118. Januario * Bullinger citing these words of St. Austin 1 Ep. ad Corinth 11. p. 146. Haec mirè quadrant nostro saeculo in his Margent †Calvin Instit. l. 4. c. 10. §. 11. Matt. 15. 6. * He speaks of all Hereticks Qui fulgore eloquentiae Secularis falsum Dogma componunt * De verâ Religione cap. 38. †Timore alià s tumore Jud. v. 13. Cajetan ib. * Printed before the Old Common Prayer but left out in the New one De Baptismo contra Donatist lib. 3 c. 12 V. Isai. 44. 20. Quisquis sibi in errore suo placet nec inquirit an rectum sit institutum suum is nunquam animam suam liberabit Calv. in Isai. 44. 20 In Ep. ad Gal. c. 2. p. 32. See Grotius Georg. Calixtus Dav. Dicson Jo. Calvin De Authorit Eccles. Lect. 22. in Benedict m. p. 352. * This Lecture was read when Authority prevailed * In Vesperiis Comitiorum July 10. 1637. * Treasons Mr. â—iâ—â—â— page 23. Epist. 118. †Before the Com. Prayer * Printed before the Old Common Prayer Book and fit to be reprinted Inst. 5. 20. 1 Pet. 4. 15. De legum Human. obligat Praelect 7. p. 289. * 2 Pet. 3. 18. The Case of the Church of England p. 268. * Ex Ep. ad Rom. Disput. 16. Thes. 43. †System Tom. 2. Artic. 40. cap. 1. §. 3. p. 514. * Colleg. Adiaphor Disput. 1. Thes. 60 c. * This was a special favour †This is their strictness See Dr. Deodates Notes on Rom. 1. 2. and elsewhere * This is a very large Testimony oâ— the flourishing Estate of the Church of England as it stood under it's Episcopal Government * Still that was under Episcopacy * Without Battel or Bloodshed * Such was Episcopacy in it's first Apostolical vigour of Discipline and Government the which as at the Synod of Dort this very man did both acknowledge unto Bishop Carleton to be the best form of Church Government and also did heartily wish for it in his own Church so doth he sufficiently commend the happy effects of it above page 5. in that full passage on his containing the superlative praises of the former flourishing Estate of the Church of England as before these troubles it stood under Episcâ—pacy The Restauration of which former good Estate is again by this Authâ—r at the latter end of this Epistle p. 12. earnestly wished and prayed for * Wo be to them that first began that war whose non-necessity yea Injustice strangers themselves can so far off so plainly perceive and condemn too * To Wit in a fair quiet Legal Parliamentary way not in a Martial way therefore he mentions not at all the power of Arms but only the power of the Laws * What would this Peace-maker have said if he had seen or heard of so many Royal Reiterated offers of Peace wherewith the Soveraign hath and still doth woo his stif-necked Subjects Certainly the more peaceable side hath always amongst good men had the reputation of the better side * This was very good Counsel from a stranger had the Subjects had the Grace to follow it in time then had there been an end of the Old-War and a happy prevention of a New War which except stopt by timely submission can portend nothing but the utter National ruine of Church and state which God in mercy Avert * Of Ireland * This full Testimony of the Excellent State of the Church of England stâ—ll as it heretoforâ— stood under Episcopacy out-speaks all the former and to this good Ejaculation from Genevah no right Protestant-Malignant but will heartily say Amen * Bp. Lany †Oliver Ormerod Puritano-Papismus p. 29. * Mr. Isaac Walton in the life of Hooker See a short view of the late troubles c. p. 13. 14. See a seasonabâ—e Address to both Houses P. 8. * November 17. * If the People in an Island are alarm'd that an Invasion is design'd and that only at one Port and they become so foolish as for the guard of that to neglect and expose all other they do but make the easier way for their enemies to land and overcome A seasonable Address to both Houses p. 9. Unreason of Separat Preface 36. c. Pag. 16. †Pag. 3. * Annals Engl. l. 3. p. 290. Staffords Trial p. 17 18. Ib. pag. 32. * His Narrative p. 67. n. 7. * Ib. pa. 29. n. 43. Pag. 1. n. 1. * A seasonable Address to both Houses of Parliament p. 8. * I have been credibly inform'd that the Priests and Jesuites in France were so inraged with Dr Cosins for wearing the Surplice at the burial of a Corps that he was in some danger of his life Page 1. and 2. * Deodati Sclater Dicson upon the place 1 John 2. 18. * Cooks Reports lib. 7. p. 11. * Dr Falkner of Christian Loyalty p. 356