such as is common to the Laity in private offences i.e. to every Individual of the Church For what concerns Binding and Loosing the Words are plain and demonstrative viz. Whatsever ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven which must have reference to the parties grieving and grieved it cannot be denied and those are every individual of the Church and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven Again I say If two of you in general without denoting or pointing at the Clergy shall agree on Earth as touching any thing that they shall ask it shall be done for them of my â—ather which is in Heaven for where two or three indefinitely and not limited to the Pope or to those of the Presbytery only are gathered together in my Name there am I in the midst of them Mat. 18.18 19 20. These are general Precepts and purport a general Duty binding every Christian and not especial or applicable only to Popes or Presbyters Christ then in these places speaketh of private men and offences which he only that is oppressed and wronged hath most right to reprove and forgive and therefore not only the Judgment of Pope and Presbyter making whom they please Banditi of the Church but the reprehension and admonition of our meanest Brother offended and injured by us must be regarded and reverenced for so much as the Lord on high heareth the desires and granteth the Prayers of any two joyning together for his Glory and others Good and in their own debts and trespasses private persons have more right to bind and loose their oppressors before God than either Pope or Presbyter This power here attributed to all Christians is no new Doctrine but hath been acknowledged for good by St. Austin Theophylact and others and it doth not in the least derogate from or impeach the publick use of the Keys in the hands of Bishops and Pastors for they had also their particular Commission John 20.23 Whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose sins soever ye retain they are retained yea speaking particularly to one of them Mat. 16.19 I will give unto thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven so that the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven all Priests received in Peter before Christ's Death and after his Resurrection he gave all his Apostles the like power as Cyprian and Jerome observe and that is a power which no Temporal or Civil Magistrate or Prince can confer it is derived unto them from a higher Power § I am not ignorant that these Doctrines are held as Heretical at Rome and that they that hold them are cursed with Bell Book and Candle which is obvious to every intelligent Reader that consults the first fifth and sixth Canons of the sourteenth Session of the Council of Trent and the Anathemaes following who shall find it to be so and I humbly conceive not without grand reason of State-Papal for should these Doctrines and these that depend upon them be received for Orthodox Adieu to all the Picklocks of all the secretest Councils of all Kingdoms and States where Romish Doctrines prevail and also Adieu to a world of Merry-pence that else would thereby come into their Sanctuary Sanctum Sanctorum their Coffers for commuting and mitigating of Penance c. For by their Institution of their Sacrament of Penance their Church understands it to be instituted by Christ an entire full and Sacramental Confession of all sins to be made by all persons of the years of discretion lapsed after Baptism and that Jure Divino it is absolutely necessary so to do and that because Christ before his Ascension into Heaven lest his Priests to be his Vicars tanquam Praesides Judices unto whom all mortal Sins ought to be brought and confessed whereby by vertue and power of the Keys of remission and retention of Sins Mat. 16.19 John 20.23 they pronounce Sentence and give Judgment which they cannot rightly do if you will believe themselves nor justly proportion or impose Penance upon a general Confession only except the lapsed declare their Sins unto them in specie sigillatim particularly and in kind Can. 5. This to me seems wonderful strange that if Christ would have introduced a Rite to confess our Sins so particularly and punctually to Romish Priests as that no Use was ever the like that yâ—â— he would be so understood by words ambiguous from which it must be drawn by very disjointed and unlinckt consequences very far fetcht consequences as incoherent as are Churton Sands of which the Neighborhood do merrily story that the Devil himself could never make Belropes thereof and not by most plain and perspicuous Terms as when he instituted the Eucharist there being not one plain word in the whole New Testament to command us so to do James indeed c. 5. v. 16. exhorts us to confess our faults one to another but what is that to Romish Priests James writ not to them but to the Twelve Tribes scattored abroad This Text is an Argument to perswade us to confess our faults one to another and to pray one for another that we may receive reciprocally the Councils Benefits and Consolatinos of each others Prayers but this institutes no Sacramental Confession to be performed to Romish Priests nor any power of pardoning to the Pope or his Priests nor any greater obligation on the Laity to confess to the Priest than on the Priests to confess to the Laity Mark the enforcement The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous man Priest or not Priest availeth much Though these Canons make the Priests the only Ministrators of Absolution and Remission and that the Act in them is not Nudum Ministerium a naked Ministery of pronouncing and declaring Sins to be forgiven to the confessed but that it is in the Priest Act us Judicialis a Judicial Act by whom velut à Judice as by a Judge Sentence is pronounced Canon 6. They farther make the very Circumstances of Sins to alter the kind of them and therefore they have made two kinds of Sins viz. Mortal and Venial Canon 5. which is more than ever God himself made though he made two kinds of Sinners voz Penitent and Impenitent And in the conclusion they have Anathematized all those that are of contrary Opinions though there be not one plain Text of Scripture to warrant their so doing Now I would very fain know why the Institution being made by the Word Remitto the Form also was not Remitto I remit thy Sins rather than absolvo te I absolve thee and that if by these words a Sacrament of Absolution is instituted with this Form Absolvo te by which one is absolved why it doth not follow by an irresistable necessity that another Sacrament of Binding be not instituted in which this Form should likewise
vel indignos recusandi quod ipsam videmusde divina Authoritate descendere ut sacerdos plebe praesente sub omnium oculis deligatur c. whereby it appears that the supream Power of choosing such Priests as are worthy and refusing unworthy doth principally rest in the People And he speaketh of Bishops particularly although in the words alledged he mentioneth Priests and withal it is not only St. Cyprians Epistle but the Epistle of thirty six Bishops and written to the Common People of Leon Asturia and Emerita Vide his 14. Epist of his 3. Lib. such Authorities we may alledge but not mystical and enforced Explications nor yet wrong Conclusions from right Premisses The Faithful Flock of Christ ought to resemble Sheep indeed in humility and innocency yet ought they not to be so sheepish or sottish as to decline the Authority which Christ their great Shepherd hath bestowed on them either of choosing them a Good or of judging a Wicked Shepherd St. Austin proves unanswerably that Doctrines are to be grounded on the Literal Sense of the Scripture and not on any Mystical Interpretation In this equivocating Art of Sophistry Bellarmine hath shewed both in this Subject as in others his great dexterity first to settle with the Reader the Relation which the Holy Church hath towards the Divine Majesty and then to conclude on the Relation towards the Pope such false Sophistry such disingenuity becomes not so great a Prince so great a Scholar as himself but the Parisians no Protestants conclude that God hath called the Church to the Faith and his Worship and that he hath placed Christ over it for an Head for ever who first himself did govern it on Earth in the days of his Flesh but being ascended into Heaven doth rule it with inward influence and assistance invisible unto the end of the World It is true that the Church is not a Common-wealth as Venice or as Geneva which give as much Authority as themselves please to their Dukes and Princes nor a Kingdom which may change the manner of governing it neither invisibly nor visibly because that Christ hath prescribed the manner much less is it such a Kingdom as England which hath a Blood-Royal where the Kings succeed by Birth neither as some other by Testament but as touching the Inward Government and meerly Spiritual it is not like unto any because it hath a perpetual Immortal and Eternal King who only knows the Heart and tries the Reins In the visible Government it hath a Ministry whose Authority was instituted by Christ and independing of the Church but as concerning the Application of this Authority unto this or that Person it is elective or depending of it Wherefore when he alledgeth I am constituted a King by him Our Lord God shall give him a Kingdom Luke 1.32 and 12.32 You chose not me but I have chosen you John 15.16 Thou hast made us to our God a Kingdom All these places and such like others are meant of the Invisible Spiritual and Interior Kingdom where the Pope hath no regiment nor influence at all but Christ is all in all governing by his Spirit and according to the Council of his own Will Thus he having laid down and proposed to use a Proposition or Doctrine quodammodo and in some sense true and having Validity under the Covert of an Universal yet having applied it to wrong Particulars it hath lost its Energy and Effort and its fallacy is discovered A piece of Artifice and Skill that runs through the Veins and Lines of most Popish Writers in the Controversies between us and them and what else is this but to make Lies their refuge and under Falshood to shelter themselves If Popes may now excommunicate as they pretend yet this concludes not that they may excommunicate Princes or Magistrates or whole Common-wealths The Primitives of old did use excommunication very sparingly and moderately and with great prudence and policy and with great respect to the good of the Church And therefore be the Power what or where it will St. Augustine holds an Excommunication against a Multitude though it were for some notorious and manifest sin too sacrilegious pernicious impious and insolent Lib. 3. contra Ep. Permen 23.4.4 c. non potest And Thomas putteth a Question whether any generality may be excommunicated and he answereth himself No and produceth Reasons for the same concluding that the Church appointeth with great Providence that no Community might be excommunicated And all other Divines with one accord determine the same And also Pope Innocent the 4th in the Chap. Rom. saith In Vniversitatem vel Collegium proferri sententiam Excommunicationis penitus prohibere de Sentent excom in 6. We must know that it is of worse consequence and example where â—t is used against Princes than divers other Bodies and Societies in as much as one Prince is of more consequence and power than thousands of other Lay-men We know also that in all Judgments there is a necessity of a Legal Trial to precede Conviction And that great Multitudes may be convented examined sentenced and punished with less disturbance of Peace less violation of Majesty than those that sway the Ball-Imperial Besides if the condemnation of Princes might be upon due Trials without violence yet the execution of the Sentence would produce more monstrous events in them than in private Men for how shall the People honour obey and reverence him in the State as Gods Lieutenant whom they see accursed cut off and abhorred in the Church as the Devils Vassal upon the excommunication of Princes whole Nations have been interdicted witness England Venice and other in the times of several Popes whole States subjected to ruine the Innocent with the Obstinate the Princes with the People all have have been sacrificed to Blood-thirsty-Popish-Priests under pretence of obedience to the Holy Catholick Church In what Code of the Ancient Church can it be found where any such strange kind of punishment was ever instituted as that for the offence of a few many Millions of Souls should be accursed cast out of the Church and in Popish construction damned How can they call that Power Apostolical that punisheth in this manner seeing the Apostolical Power was given for edification and not for destruction And yet so precipitate have some Popes been as to excommunicate whole States and Kingdoms Surely therefore we ought not so tamely to acquiesce on the bare ipse dixit of the Clergy pleading in their own Cause and for themselves only exclusive the Laity Certainly it is too small a security for so great a concern therefore let us a little examine what they urge for this exorbitant Power § If Kings be not this way punishable then they are no other way which is mischievous in the Church Sol. The Jewish Kings were as great and scandalous sinners as Kings-Christian now are yet God assigned no Rulers Spiritual for their Castigation and we must suppose that if it had
to seed his Fock No no Ezekiel shews that their duty is to strengthen the Diseased to heal the Sick to bind up the broken to bring again that which was driven away and to jeek that which was lost this also is consonant to the Doctrine of St. Peter 1. Ep. 2 3. Feed the Flock of Christ taking the oversight thereof not for filthy Lucre but of a ready mind neither as being Lords over Gods Heritage but being Examples to the Flock Besides it can never be proved by Scripture that Christ's instituting Pastors in the Church did at any time exempt them from obedience to the Church she being the Common Parent of all Christians both Ecclesiastical and Secular and the Practice was so in the purest times as may appear by St. Cyprian Lib. 1. c. 4. Moreover when Christ ascended on high tho he led Captivity Captive and gave gifts unto men yet he did not divest himself of all power of Governing his Body the Church Militant here on Earth devolving it on the Pope but doth still continue to govern it internally and Spiritually by the secret influences and illapses of his Spirit and so will do until time shall be no more And altho the Popes have nothing at all to do with this kind of Government nor as yet in terminis have laid any claim thereunto yet their Illustrissimo Bellarmine hath had such effronted Impudence as to aver that the Pope is able to do all that which is necessary to the Conducting of Souls to Paradise unto which end certainly Divine Inspiration is most necessary and can take away all Impediments which the World or the Devil with all their force or Crast are able to oppose which doth covertly insinuate and attribute the same Spiritual Invisible power to be also in the Pope hoping it will not be seen but it is discovered for without such Insluences and assistances it is very improbable if not altogether impossible to be conducted to Heaven and if Bellarmine's Doctrine be good what need of petitioning Heaven for Graces it is but going to Rome a pleasant Journey where we may have all things necessary for our Journey to Paradise for asking for some merry Pence Romae omnia venalia As to the external Government of his Body and Church Militant here on Earth it consists here of visible men The Church to be Governed by its own Body So Christ himself would that it should be governed by visible men without divesting himself of his Spiritual influences and in order thereunto he appointed Pastors and Teachers for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the Ministery for the Edifying of the Body of Christ Ephes 4.8 11 12. Who having in his life-time endowed them with power and commands to teach all Nationis Baptizing c. Matth. 28.19 which is all the Authority that ever Christ gave or bequeathed unto them and which is purely Spiritual without any mixture Temporal and that only as Ministers and Servants not as Lords of his Body which power tho it may be peculiar to the Clergy of the Church as chief Officers and Ministers thereof yet the application of the same Authority to the person is purely elective and depending on the Body hence it follows that the Body or Sheep having chosen their Bishop or Pastor he is now become subject to the Body and not the Body to him which Authority of choosing them a good or of Judging or of censuring a wicked Pastor being given them of Christ their Head and Father they cannot wave or devolve the same without committing great offence against God and if they should yet they cannot wholly divest themselves thereof Besides in disputes among themselves whether the Pope be above a Council very many of the most Learned of them do argue and agree that as the Head or Superior of the Inquisition is not Superior to the whole Congregation of the Inquisition being assembled nor do they admit that the rest of the Body hath no power over the Head especially being such a Head as the Body it self hath constituted They argue the like also from the examples of Kings and Kingdoms of which I shall make this use only that if these be good instances among themselves to prove a Council to be above the Pope it will hold also in minor collective Ecclesiastical Bodies Thus do they abuse all places of Scripture by wresting them from their proper meaning and intendment The Popes claims first modest then Impudent as I have hitherto shewed and therefore the Readers may do well to bear in their memories the Cautions and Observations laid down in the Paraenesis forementioned The pretensions of the Popes were at first modest as I have shewed you in Gregory in respect of that height of Impudence they have now arrived unto They claimed only precedency or Primacy not Supremacy but now their Judgments are Infallible their Jurisdiction Infinite their Empire boundless fetching in and Monopolizing all Churches and Kingdoms All Bishops but their Curates All Kings and Emperors but their Vassals for of the Pope was meant Gens regnum quod non servierit tibi eradicabitur and this Bellarmine Baronius and others of the same Leaven plead for not out of the Decretal Epistles or Constantine's Donations but out of Scripture The first and best Bishops of Rome thought more of their Martyrdom than of an Universal Monarchy expounding Scripture with contentedness according to the natural sence of the Text without racking or torturing it unto wrong ends and purposes But their Successors lost by degrees first conscience then Learning and now at last all Grace and Modesty This their Babel as it now stands was not built in a day but as the itching desires of this or that proud and haughty Pope of enlarging their Fringes and Phylacteries did increase so their claims and pretentions increased therewith At first they claimed a Primacy of Order or at most of Honor not of power among their Brethren only not over them And these contestations were with Bishops not yet with Emperors they medled yet only with the Keyes not with the Swords owning all their power to be meerly and purely Spiritual for the benefit of Souls nothing at all directly or indirectly temporal But when once they had put a Padlock on the Scriptures and Preached Ignorance up to be the Mother of Devotion then the Mystery of Iniquity became quickly advanced to that monstrous height which at this day we see but cannot remedy And the better to set out this Pageant not only some scraps and shadows of old Fathers and Councils but the Scripture it self our Lord Christ and St. Peter are brought upon the Stage and rackt and tortured to do obeysance unto this Monster of Iniquity whereas we may safely swear that there is not one word or Syllable of the Pope or his Power in all the Scripture Old or New but what is due to all Bishops in Common with him save only as he is described
to the judgments of their Auditors and I never heard that Protestant Divines did ever pretend to greater Abilities than they had or to any Infallibility and if we poor Laicks should not be left to our own free judgments and examinations what better choice can we make than to philip Cross or Pile whether to be Prelate Presbyter Independant Quaker or Phanatick Protestant or Papist Turk or Jew Wherefore hath God differenced us from Bruits by giving us light of Reason and of Conscience if others must have the guidance and custody of them and we be led Captive by the Reason and Conscience of other men We ought no more to rely on another man's light of Reason or of Conscience than on another man's eyes to see or legs to walk withall This were but to put a Cheat upon our selves and to cast the care of our Faith and Religion upon others as if not worthy our own care or concern or as if we be seduced they not we were to answer for it God's Precepts were not given to Popes Prelates Priests Councils Synods or particular Churches or to great Clarks only but to every Individual and every man ought to act according as he is perswaded in his own Heart we are Disciples only not Slaves Besides are not Laicks Priests also Is it not Gospel He hath made us Kings and Priests to God and his Father Rev. 1.6 and for certain the Holy Ghost and Learning are not the Clergies Peculiar § As to the Romish Clergy I have much more to say unto them not expecting any just or fair dealing from them for that they have treated us far worse than the Aegyptians did the Israelites for they held them in Bondage but four hundred and thirty years but the Roman Pontiffs have evilly treated us more than that time twice told treated us indeed after a very strange rate as if we could not tell ten or as if we did not know our right hands from our left Treated us as the Philistines did Sampson put out our eyes and then make sport with us our understandings must be captivated to the Popes bare ipse dixit whether with or against Reason or Scripture or indeed against our very Sences and we must be content to be led blindfold into the Abyss of ignorance and destruction where Abbaddon reigns and made believe it is our happiness so to be as if ignorance in good earnest were the Mother of Devotion Dominus Deus noster Papa like God on mount Sinai thundring out his Interdicts that none presume to go up into the Mount nor yet to touch but the border of it not so much as to peep into the Scripture without leave forsooth least we be shot thro with the dart of Ex-communication or drawn into the Inquisition tho all Scripture was given indifferently to all Men by Christ and his Apostles as their only Patent and Evidence for their Inheritance reserved for them in Heaven and is in its own nature profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction for Instruction for Righteousness 2 Tim. 3.10 and tho we are commanded to search them for that in them we have eternal Life 5 John 39. But this ought to be no wonderment to any that they who have kept us blindfold so long should yet desire to keep us hood-winkt still Heroick and publick spirited minds tho long plaid upon and abus'd with shadow of Reason and usurped Powers will at length find words and reasons to ease and right themselves Every Man is too apt to indulge his own fancy and opinions yea and intitle God and his Word to the favouring of them also we shall be all saved or damned according to what our selves not what our Priests do believe and practise Publick refutation of errors tho long received and tho contrary to the design and interest of some and those no small ones hath in its own nature more of Candour and sweetness than of Gall and ought so to be esteemed He doth too proudly scorn his own imperfections and corrupted nature that blusheth to think that he can err and as they betray too much selfishness and weakness who dare not write or speak Truth so do they much more that for ends not good are afraid that Truth should come to light Nature hath not left the most beautiful flesh and blood without some moles some blemishes The Church on Earth tho lovely yet is not without her Naevi some blackness with her oomeliness and to flatter her Children in them is worse than to write a Satyr against them As Revenge is not more due to any Injuries than unto those that are committed against the Church so no Benefits are more valuable than those that are done unto the Church In all Writings great care ought to be taken to write nothing that might give offence nor to omit any thing that can be said in defence of Truth without suffering our Pens to run riot in any thing which by interpretation might be drawn into offence altho the malicious subtilties and prevaricating Wits of some hath made it appear that there can be nothing so moderately spoken which is not subject to depraved expositions My main design is to discover Truth sine formidine oppositi without respect or dread of any interest or party Amicus Praesul Amicus Presbyter Amicus Independens sed magis amica Veritas I am not ignorant how imprudent it is to disoblige or anger great Men or any Party or indeed any number of men I have tasted of that sowr grape already tho by endeavors only to find out Truth by discoursing of it but that Spirit is wretchedly mean that dares not write or speak Truth without a sneaking and pitiful Apology If we had those hungring thirsting and most ardent affections to all sincere uncorrupted and heavenly Truths which are proportional to that Spirit of Christ which is or ought to be in us there would not be such bitter Contests and Animosities as are amongst us for trivials things rather respecting Interest and Domination than the sincere Word of Truth which adds value and honor to every Asserter thereof but receives no value from any Man I have endeavoured quantum in me to do that right to all Perswasions as to urge what may most conduce to the making good of the same and what their cause will rationally bear and that in terms plain and perspicuous without School-tricks If I have missed of my aim the Reason is at hand Bernardus non vidit omnia no more Oraculous or infallible than themselves They that see best see at best but thro a Glass darkly even the Scribes the Wise and the Disputers of this World are many times both far from Certainty and far from Truth and no wonder Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this World 1 Cor. 1.20 Elias cum venerit solvit dubia THE SUMME Of Mr. J. M. His TREATISE MR J. M. in his Treatise of Civil Power in Ecclesiastical Causes denies the
the Members of the holy Church Triumphant or Militant nor yet consists only of them or of men internally though ineffectually called but of them and of others called only vocatione merè externa by vocation meerly external Thus the several societies of Christian men unto every one of which the name of Church is rightfully attributed as the Church of Rome France Spain England and as of old the seven Churches of Asia which certainly hold a nearer resemblance unto National or Provincial Churches than unto the Gathered Congregations for most certainly each of these had certain particular Congregations under them as London hath must be endued with correspondent general properties and powers belonging of right unto them as they are publick Christian Societies And all the powers given by Christ to the Churches Militant or to visible Ministerial Churches are most properly attributed to such Churches and not to those where two or three or some few only in respect of the whole are gathered and such are our Independent Churches here in respect of the Church of England and such like are our several Parishes which more properly and strictly ought to be accounted of as Members or Homogeneal parts of the Church of England than so many several Churches endued with such powers though in common discourses we may allow them the title or appellation of Churches yet in discourses of this nature being disputative they ought to be distinguished § Unto the Attributes or Prerogatives attributed to the Church in the Apostles or Nicene Creed or unto the Promises annexed unto it in the Scriptures the Visible Ministerial Churches have no claim or title save only in reversion or reflection or in expectancy i. e. the Mystical Body of Christ is only instated in the Blessings Prerogatives and Promises made unto the Church yet from this Body or rather from Christ the Head of this Body both Blessings and Powers do immediately and successively like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard even Aarons beard that went down to the skirts of his Garments descend though in different Measures unto the several Members of it as unto National Churches more and greater Powers and unto the several Congregations thereof Blessings and Powers though not in the same measure and fullness and indeed by Analogie and Participation unto all and every one that hath put on Christ by profession Thus we are to conceive of the Catholick Church as of one entire Body made up by the Collection and aggregation of all the faithful unto the unity thereof from which union there ariseth unto every one of them such a relation unto and such a dependance upon the Church Catholick as parts use to have in respect of the whole whereupon it followeth that neither particular persons nor particular Churches are to work as several divided Bodies by themselves which is the ground of all Schism but to teach and to be taught and to do all other Christian duties as parts conjoyned unto the whole and Members of the same Common-wealth or Corporation and therefore the Bishops of the Antient Church though they had the government of particular Congregations only committed unto them yet in regard of this Communion which they had with the universal did usually take to themselves the title of Bishops of the Catholick Church which maketh strongly as well against the new Separatists as the old Donatists who either hold it a thing not much material so they profess the Faith of Christ whether they do it in the Catholick Communion or out of it or else which is worse dote so much upon the perfection of their own Party that they refuse to joyn in fellowship with the rest of the body of Christians as if they themselves were the only people of God and all wisdom must live and die with them and their Generation § To prosecute their own simile of Fraternities or Corporations whereby they claim a power over one another by consent or agreement Be it that every Church exceeds an ordinary Assembly or Multitude in that it is a Society of Men incorporated and every Corporation or Society corporate supposeth an unity more than meerly local between the Members thereof an Union by Laws and Statutes or else they were no more significant than so many men meeting at a Play or Whitsun-Ale quod non est aliquid formatum non est aliquid vere unum that which hath no set form or fashion can have no true real unity for it is the form of every thing which giveth it a distinct entity or unity Hence it is that though all men are mortal yet Corporations consisting of such mortal men are yet accounted immortal because their Laws and Ordinances is the life the soul and spirit of every Corporation or Body Civil every Church in what usual sense soever it be taken is a Society or Body Politick though every Society or Body Politick is not a Church And that which differenceth the Church properly so called from a Society or Body meerly Civil is the diversity of Laws and Ordinances and the different manner of union between the Members All this is to fortifie and to make plain their simile and which they will not gainsay Yet withal I shall commit to their consideration that there are no Corporations in England nor in any well governed Commonwealth without a proper Charter from the Crown and Laws of the Kingdom to authorize them to be a Corporation and to make By-laws as they call them or to have power one over another So none of them are independent of the publick Laws of the Kingdom or Nation whereof they are Subjects or have any authority to form or establish themselves by any power of their own but by what is derivative from some other power paramount So also there is no Parish in England nor any Company of Christians that have power of themselves so to confederat or congregat into a Church such a Church as hath all the Powers and Attributes wherewith a National Church is endowed and to meet as an Independent Congregation to make Laws choose Officers censure Offenders make Canons and Orders in circumstantials without authority first obtained from the supreme Powers legislative or without any Supervisors or Superintendents or Laws over them if every particle of the Church hath this power derived unto it from Christ then certainly the same cannot be denied to a whole National Church and whether be more just or equal that a part should govern the whole or the whole the parts judg ye Power to meet to fast and pray to break bread and administer Sacraments which renders them capable of the appellation of a Church cannot reasonably and ordinarily be denied unto them yet this doth no way qualifie them to be Independent The strength and virtue even of the Law of Nations is such that no particular Nation can lawfully prejudice the same by any their several Laws and Ordinances more than a single person by his
private resolutions can abrogate the Laws of a Nation wherein he lives For as Civil Law being the Act of a whol Body Politick doth therefore overrule each several part of the same Body so there is no reason that any one Common-wealth it self should to the prejudice of another annul that whereupon the whole world hath agreed Now as there is great cause of Communion and consequently of Laws for the maintenance of communion amongst Nations so amongst Nations Christian the like in regard even of Christianity hath been always adjudged needful And in this kind of correspondence amongst Nations the force of General Councils doth stand For as one and the same Law divine is unto all Christian Churches a rule for the chiefest things by means whereof they all in that respect make one Church as having all but one Lord and Lawgiver Christ one Faith one Baptism Jam. 4.12 Eph. 4.5 So th◠urgent necessities of mutual communion for propagation of the Gospel and for preservation of unity in these things as also for order in some other things convenient to be every where uniformily kept maketh it requisite that the Church of God here on earth have her Laws also of spiritual commerce between Christian Nations Laws by vertue whereof all Churches may enjoy freely the use of those reverend religious and sacred consultations which are termed Councils General a thing whereof Gods own blessed Spirit was the Author a thing practised by the holy Apostles themselves a thing always afterwards kept and observed throughout the world a thing never otherwise than highly esteemed of till pride ambition and tyranny began by factions and vile endeavours to abuse that divine Invention unto the furtherance of wicked purposes But as the just Authority of Civil Courts and Parliaments is not therefore to be abolished because sometimes there is cunning used to frame them according to the private intents and interests of men over-potent in the Common-wealth so the grievous abuse which hath been of Councils should rather cause men to study how so gracious a thing may again be reduced to the first perfection than in regard of the stains and blemishes sithence growing be held for ever in extreme disgrace What hath been here affirmed of the Laws of Nations in general and of General Councils to make the thing we treat of more evident and reasonable the same reasons are as applicable and adequate to all intents and purposes of every particular Kingdom and Government and runs parallel throughout all Laws both of Church and State made by every particulat Church and Nation and it cannot be otherwise without shaking and hazarding the very foundation of all peaceable and good Governments in the World For should it be in the power of any small or greater numbers less than the whol to confederat and avowedly to act contrary to publick established Sanctions either of Church or State what issue could be expected but abominable disorder and confusion and every man to do what seems best in his own eyes as once in Israel when there was no King for as the Civil Laws of every Nation so of England are made for the whole Kingdom primarily and to the particular Divisions and Fraternities secondarily and obedience is yielded unto them not as Eastern or as Western Northern or Southern men but as Subjects of the same Kingdom So the Laws of Christ are given to the whole Church primarily and yet they oblige every particular Church to the observation of them but not because in such a particular congregated Brotherhood but because Subjects of Christs visible ministerial Church I am verily perswaded that it cannot demonstratively be made appear by any that every congregated Church in the best and purest times after the days of the Apostles was a Plenipotentiary Church unto it self to all intents and purposes I must confess that they would very much have obliged us if they had at any time given us any one instance of such a Church but they having not yet done it I take it for granted that it is not to be done though if such an instance could be made yet the posture of Ecclesiastical persons and affairs being so much different now from what it was then may quite alter the case I must confess it cannot reasonably be imagined that it could then be otherwise because in those days all Kingdoms and Governments were so far from being friends to Christianity or Christian Churches that they were all Persecutors thereof and therefore not possible that there should be any National Churches and happily were none till the lays of Constantine the first Christian Emperor § Their Maxim or Position is this viz. 1. That they who are called out of the world by the ministry of the Gospel as all Christians are have power given them by Christ being a competent number to gather themselves together in his name 2. That a Church so gathered becomes a Body or spiritual Corporation and being joyned thus by mutual assent of each person have power one over another as in all Fraternities and liberty from Christ to choose their Officers censure Offenders make Canons and Orders in Circumstantials for the regulating of their affairs § Unto the first part of their Position I can so far subscribe that it is tru that where but two or three whether with or without a Priest are gathered together in Christs Name the presence of Christs Spirit is by promise annexed unto them Matth. 18.20 and the particular Assemblies of Christians were thereby intended and approved by Christ viz. to have communion in the publick exercise of holy duties mentioned Act. 2.42 46. viz. breaking of bread and prayer But that it doth describe or purport a mutual agreement which doth formally constitute them a Church Independent without any regard had to the National Church wherein they live is not so very clear the Text not warranting the same in the least if it do then every Family by the same Text might claim Independency § As unto the other part of the Position I can by no means submit without very great qualifications But if the second part of their Position be tru of every particular Assembly it must necessarily be much more tru of the whole or National Church for which they were primarily given and ordained and unto other Churches under the same Government but secondarily and subordinat Moreover consider the Original Commission for gathering of Churches Go teach all Nations and baptize them in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Matth. 28.19 which Commission was before the Church was cantonized into divisions and subdivisions by publick Authority or the Independent Congregational Fraternities set up by any particular men The distinction of Churches fell out naturally and necessarily as this or that City or Nation was here or there converted by some one or other of the Apostles and their Successors and so division of Churches came secondarily for convenient administration of Ordinances and communication of
Civil Powers we need go no farther than to Geneva Rome and Scotland Hierusalem not Rome is the Mother of us all there was the Church of the Jews most eminent and perspicuous when Christ came From this Metropolis of the Holy Land or Palaestine of which God said more than ever he said of any place saying This is my rest here will I dwell for evermore Here did the Messias begin first to build his Church as foretold by the Prophets by teaching the Doctrines of the Messiah remission of sins his tru worship wherein his Spirit was so prevalent as he was acknowledged to be the tru Messiah and so embraced more eminently by Zacharias Elizabeth and John the Baptist Here according to Luke 2. was Christ presented by the impulse of the holy Spirit in the Temple according to the Mosaic Rite Here just and devout Simeon came by the Spirit into the Temple waiting for the consolation of Israel where he acknowledged the Son of Mary to be the true Messiah and prophesied that he was set for the fal and rising again of many in Israel and having sung his sweet Nunc dimittis blessed and declared him a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of his people Israel Though the number of the faithful was but smal at first yet it did daily grow and encrease being baptized of John his Forerunner in the Temple at Jerusalem and afterwards teaching in their Synagogues and confirming his Doctrins by his Miracles His Doctrins were not confined to Jerusalem only but from thence were afterwards propagated unto other Cities Towns and Villages as to Bethany John 11.18 about 15 Furlongs from Jerusalem where Martha and Mary Sisters and their Brother Lazarus did inhabit amongst other good Christians famous for borrowing an Ass with its Foal to ride into Jerusalem to Emmaus famous for Christs appearing there after his Resurrection to Bethlem where Christ was born to Jerico where Christ instructed Zaccheus touching the Messiah remission of sins good works c. Luke 19.9 there he restored sight to the blind c. Matth. 20. Mar. 10. Luke 18. the like is tru of Ephrain Bethabara Aenon al Judaea al the Region about and beyond Jordan so in Idumaea Samaria Galilaea Capernaum Bethsaida Corazin Genezareth Magdalo Naim Caena the Region of the Gadarens and Girgasins Caesarea Philippi the Coasts of Tyre and Sydon al Syria that the tru Doctrin was preached and planted in al these and more places in the life time of Christ is manifest by the testimony of the Apostles and Evangelists according as Christ a little before his ascension had told them All which were so many separate or several Churches or Congregations as independent each of other as one Apostle was independent of another and the reason why they should be so is as demonstrable for that all the Apostles were alike insallible Whilst Christ was upon Earth he was the supreme Independent Head of al the Churches and so remains to the end of the World for it was he that chose and made the Body his Church and not the Body him to be their Head so that other Heads besides him there never was never will be Governors and Rulers there are and may be God having given the Body power over it self After his Ascension having given them their Commission viz. Go ye and teach al Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe al things whatsoever I have commanded you Matth. 28.19 20. and having filled all the Apostles with the Holy Ghost according to his promise and endued them with tongues they departed and separated and gathered several Congregations or Churches so that the sound went into al the earth and their words unto the ends of the world Rom. 10.18 According as Christ had told them You shal receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shal be Witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in al Judaea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the Earth Act. 1.8 preaching repentance and remission of sins in his name among all Nations beginning at Jerusalem Luke 24.47 And thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every Kindred and Tongue and People and Nations Rev. 5.9 As Palestine had the honour and happiness to have the Saviour of the World to be born in her after a wonderful manner and there first to teach his Doctrins the glad tydings of the Gospel and by his death there to seal eternal salvation to Mankind and there by his miraculous Resurrection to becom the first fruits of them that slept and swallowing up death in victory And after his glorious and joyful Resurrection having led captivity captive he gave gifts unto Men and called some to be his Apostles some c. who after they had chosen Mathias in the place of Judas the Traitor and cloven Tongues like as fire having sate upon each of them and al filled with the Holy Ghost and having preached the Gospel at Jerusalem and thereabouts and done many miracles whereby the Word of God and the number of Disciples daily increasing from 120 unto 3000 and more and more daily accruing the chief Pontiffs and Saduces being grieved that they taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection of the dead began to persecute them which seem to be the same year that Christ was crucified viz. Anno Aetatis suae 33. and 18 Tiberii scourging some and killing others which persecution occasioned divers of the Brethren to withdraw themselves into neighbouring places which gave opportunity to the Gospel to be more universally spread throughout Palestine the Apostles yet remaining in Jerusalem Act. 8. who afterwards dispersing themselves also spread the Gospel into al Nations after this sort and manner viz. when a certain number of Brethren being converted and well instructed in the true faith agreed among them themselves to build or hire a Temple Tabernacle or House for their joynt meetings and exercising of their Religion hired a Priest and constituted a Church and as the number encreased so that one Church and Priest being not sufficient for them al those who were most remote did build another and fit themselves with more conveniences And about the end of the first Century or beginning of the second for good order and concord and for civility and respect they did bear to their Bishop or Priest custom began to include his consent also which in process of time soon degenerated into usurpation by the Artifices of the Priests or Bishops of which Rome in process of time taking hold made great use to the abusing of the power of the Brethren and to incroach upon the priviledges of the Body of the Church Al this while the Apostles and their Successors were independent one of the other and so were their several and select gathered Congregations The like may be as truly verified of the several Churches gathered in the
only the Ministers but the Teachers too as also the Elders and Deacons yea even of the Multitude which are willing to conser their gifts received of God 2 Cor. 4.13 to the common utility of the Church Luke 2.46 47. and c. 4.15 16. c. fol. 47.48 § During the Contest between Adrian the Sixth and the German Princes in Anno 1523. in the case of Luther they thinking it reasonable did signify unto his Holiness from the Dyet at Noremberg that married Priests and Religious persons who returned to the world in case they did commit any wickedness that the Prince or Magistrate in whose Territory they shall offend ought to give them their due chastisement which did not please the Pope and therefore he did reply That it would be against the Liberty of the Church and the Sickle would be put into another mans Field and those men would be censured by the World who were reserved unto Christ For Princes should not presume to believe that they were devolved to their Jurisdiction by their Apostacy nor that they could be punished by them and for their other Offences in regard the Character remaining in them and the Order they are ever under the power of the Church neither can Princes do more than delate them to their Bishops and Superiors that they may chastize them Conc. Trid. 27.28 Thus let Pope and Presbyter go hand in hand as to Spiritual Empire and Dominion Though it be besides my purpose to examine particulars yet in the general I cannot but wonder that so many learned and conscientious persons men of great abilities and good lives should countenance and defend that Church Discipline and Government as it is composed and compounded by Calvin the first Brocher and Hammerer thereof as taught by Christ and his Apostles in the Word of God when no Father ever witnessed no Council ever favoured no Church ever found out or practised it since the days of the Apostles and when the general and successive consent of all succeeding Ages is resolute against it as never expounding Pauls words in favour of it till about this last Century and this in opposition unto and derogation of Episcopal Regiment which on the contrary hath been observed every where for many Ages and Generations throughout the Christian world nemine contradicente except the old Heretick Aerius No Church till Calvins time ever alledging or perceiving the Word of God to be against it for if but any one Church upon the face of the whole earth that hath been governed by Calvins or the Scotch Presbytery or any one Church that hath not been ordered by Episcopal Regiment since the death of the Apostles could possibly have been found out no doubt but that we should long since have heard of it with our ears and seen it with our eyes in their Writings for that the Favourers and Abettors thereof have wanted neither abilities industry nor stomack neither to make it known Besides to me it seems strangely improbable I might say impossible that the Church of Christ should never know what belonged to the Government of her self till of late and that the Son of God should be spoiled of half his Kingdom by his own Servants Citizens nay Martyrs for 1500 years together without remorse or remembrance of any one man that so great injury was offered him and without one Champion to throw out his Gauntlet in the demand and challenge of his right Moreover how is it possible that all the Churches in the world should with one consent immediately on the Apostles deaths reject that form of governing the Church according to the Geneva cut which they would fain perswade you to believe was setled and approved by the Apostles and embrace a new and strange kind of Government Episcopal without Precept or Precedent for their so doing for my part I think it much more safe prudent and reasonable to esteem this a new device of Calvins a Chintera of his own brain set up to serve his own ends and to introduce his own Domination than to proclaim so many Apostolick men and antient learned Fathers to be manifest despisers of Episcopal Discipline and voluntary Supporters if not Inventers of Antichrists Pride and Tyranny § I find four Priviledges extraordinary given by Christ to the Apostolic Function requisite for the first founding of the Church What Privileges peculiar to the Apostles which died with them 1. Their Vocation immediate from Christ not from Men nor by Men Gal. 2.12 and their immediate instruction in the mystery of Christ by Christ himself 2. Their Commission extending over all the Earth without limitation to any place 3. Their direction infallible the Holy Ghost guiding them whether they wrote or spake This Office by consent of all Divines begun and ended in their persons to whom at first it was committed And except that Man of sin that hath entred by intrusion and violence into the Prerogatives royal of Christ no man would dare to arrogate the Privileges of this Calling He indeed challengeth as in the right of Peter universal power over the whole Church on earth He assumeth and appropriateth to himself glory of Miracles but all lying in form or end and if we were so mad as to believe infallible assistance of the Spirit in all things that he shall sententiously deliver to the Church out of his Chair of Pestilence Sapientum octavus Apostolorum 41. 4. Their power wonderful as well to convert and confirm Believers as to chastize and revenge Disobeyers whereby they did not only speak with tongues cure diseases work miracles know secrets understand all wisdom but gave the Holy Ghost to others that they might do the like and that they might store the whol world out of hand with meet Pastors and Teachers All which were given to their individual persons and were thought requisite by that wisdom which is above for the first spreading of the Faith and planting of Churches amongst Jews and Gentiles that all Nations might be converted unto Christ by the sight of their Miracles and directed by the truth of their Doctrine § But although all these died with their persons But and what delegated to their Successors to remain for ever yet are there other three and some make four points of Apostolic delegation which have and must have their permanency and perpetuity in the Church of Christ the better to maintain and propagate the Church once setled and Faith once preached As 1. Dispensing the Word 2. Administring the Sacraments 3. Imposing of hands 4. Guiding the Keys to shut or open the Kingdom of Heaven These especially the three first parts of the Apostolic Function are not decayed and cannot be wanted in the Church of God and are now seated in our Bishops and Presbyters by Apostolic successive delegation The first Two by reason they are the ordinary means and instruments by which the Spirit of God worketh each mans salvation must be general to all Pastors and Presbyters the
Church nor the Lords Supper were instituted All which are capable of a very short Answer viz. It is certain and without dispute evident by the very Texts themselves Mat. 18.1 Mark 9.32 Luke 9.46 that Christ spake these words in a House in Capernaum unto his Disciples applying himself to them in particular but what Jews were there let the Texts be Judge But be it that a mixt multitude of Jews Gentiles and others for they all slockt after him and he ordinarily taught them even in the Temples and Synagogues though forbidden by the Jewish Magistracy to all which Christs Precept of Dic Ecclesiae was very applicable and by them very practicable though more especially and particularly directed to his own Church and be it that the Sacraments were not then instituted nor a Local or Formal Church constituted Christ being then in the Flesh governing it by his own sic dico sic jubeo yet without all peradventure converted Jews and Gentiles were at the very moment of their Conversion incorporated into Christs Body the Church though not yet Baptized which their Baptism did afterwards declare and manifest to all the World their open admission into Christs Church and their open Profession of the Gospel That Christ in the days of his Flesh and his Disciples were under the Legal Oeconomy is very true as to their Persons and Civil Concerns but then it is as true that his Gospel Precepts and Doctrines were not subject to that Legal Oeconomy but the contrary if otherwise the Gospel had never been preached unto them by Christ nor his Apostles nor ever could have been preached unto the utmost ends of the Earth as was foretold and promised Though neither Episcopal Presbyterian nor bid pendent Churches were then established yet Christ had his Church then in being though not so distinguished and to that Church he sent his Disciples and Auditors so to do when he said Tell the Church as best beseeming the Professors of him and his Gospel As to the consideration of Actions of Trespass only be it so that the Matters of Trespass only were in that Mandate of Christ to be considered yet even in those Christ would have all his Members so to govern and demean themselves as he there prescribes but if still the Offenders will be refractory and not submit to those Rules what then Then let him be to thee as a Heathen or a Publican i.e. pursue him in the Civil Courts of Judicature as if he were separated from your Company which is all the Excommunication that I know of and not a Brother in Christ be it the Sanhedrim or the Consessus viginti-trium-viralis or the Consessus trium-viralis to which all both Jews Gentiles and Christians were to yield Obedience § Notwithstanding all these plausible and various Interpretations of these plain Texts of Scripture devised purposely to obscure and to put false Glosses on plain Texts rather than to illustrate and give the Natural and Genuine meaning of them The Words in truth are a plain very plain Direction to the Church Christian i.e. the Congregation of Believers not excluding Jew or Gentile Publican or Heathen who were to observe the same when converted which though it was not so setled in Jury as it is now setled in Romish or Presbyterian Governments with all its Trinkets and Trappings yet sure it will never be denied but that wherever Christ taught and converted and so the Apostles after him that there was a Church of Christ and such a Church as was very easily capable and sufficient to execute and put in practice these Powers Documents and Directions set down Mat. 18.15 16. which were so very easie and familiar that the least esteemed in the Church might execute them under any Government throughout the whole Universe without the least clashing or enterfeering therewith viz. Christ spake these words in a House in Capernaum to his Disciples Mat. 18.1 Mark 9.33 Luke 9.46 where happily there might be a mixt multitude of Jews and Gentiles to all which Christs Precept of Dic Ecclesiae was very applicable though more especially and immediately to his own Church If thy Brother transgress against thee What then Goe and tell him his Fault between thee and him alone if he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy Brother but if he will not hear thee What then then take with thee one or two more that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established and if he shall neglect to hear them What then Tell it to the Church i.e. to that whole congregated Church or Assembly whereof thou and he are Members What then If he neglect to hear them let him be to thee as an Heathen or Publican i.e. Put him out or let him be no longer of your Congregation or Church and account him not as a Brother in Christ but let him be to thee as an Heathen or Publican i.e. Pursue him in the Courts of Civil Judicature as thou wouldst do any other that is not a Christian i.e. as a Publican or Heathen or as any other wrong-doer whereby it plainly appears that Christ by Dic Ecclesiae sends them to his own Congregated Church not Judicially to determine Differences but amicably and charitably to reconcile dissenting Brethren but if neither by themselves nor yet by the help and advice of two or three Brethren nor yet by the interposition or mediation of the whole Parish or Congregated Church Reconciliation cannot be obtained What then then implead him in Westminster-Hall in any Civil Courts of Judicature All which rightly considered makes not the least for Excommunication but rather shews that there was no necessity of introducing any other Government into the Church Christian the rest all belonging to the Civil Governments of Princes and States I am not ignorant what work what strange work Romish Hectors make of these two Words viz. Dic Ecclesiae i.e. Tell the Church i.e. Praelatis Ecclesiae i.e. to the Prelates of the Church according to many Popish Writers but till of late years no one understood it of the Pope alone or of any one single Person which is so demonstrable not only by the Text it self but by their old and antient Breviaries that it cannot be denied And therefore they would oblige us very much if they would satisfie us why in that Gospel which is read on the Tuesday after the Third Sunday in Lent where it was written in the old Breviaries Respiciens Jesus in Discipulos suos dixit Simoni Petro si peccaverit in te frater tuus vade corripe eum intor te ipsum solum c. Jesus looking upon his Disciples said unto Simon Peter if your Brother trespass against thee go and tell him his fault c. It was so read in the Antient Breviaries Breviar Rom. impress Par. 1492. per Joh. de Prato and in Breviar impress 1534. And why they have in their Breviaries Printed of late years viz. Breviar Clem. 8. Jussu recog
be Ligo te because it cannot by any right Reason be understood how the same Authority to loose and bind founded upon the words of Christ absolutely alike doth require in Absolution the pronouncing of the words Absolvo te and that other of Binding doth not require pronouncing of the words Ligo te nor by what reason to execute that which Christ hath said Whose Sins ye retain c. and whatsoever ye shall bind c. And it is not necessary to say Ligo te but to execute whatsoever ye loose on Earth c. and whose Sins ye remit it is necessary to say Absolvo te And the same Canon doth also declare that Christ by the same words did constitute the Priests sui ipsius Vicarios tanquam Praesides Judices c. Can. 5. Judges of Sin and therefore that it is necessary to confess them all absolutely and in particular which is impossible for him that confesseth to know together with the Circumstances which speciem peccati mutant alter the kind seeing that it doth appear by the words of the Lord that he hath not distinguished Two sorts of Sins one to be remitted the other to be retained whereby it would be necessary to know of which sort the Delinquent is guilty but one only which doth comprehend all and therefore the word Peccata Sins in general is only used but he hath distinguished two sorts of Sinners saying Quorum Quorum one of the Penitent unto whom Remission is granted another of the Obstinate or Impenitent to whom it is denied therefore they are rather to know the State of the Delinquent than the Nature or Number of the Sins but concerning the Circumstances which they say alter the kind certainly every good Christian may swear with a very good Conscience that the holy Apostles and their Disciples most skilful in things spiritual not regarding humane subtilties did never know what were the Circumstances which alter the kind and yet there is made of it an Article of Faith necessary to Salvation But as it is approved by the Papists that Absolvo was a Judicial Word and reputed a good Consequence that if the Priests do absolve they are Judges so it appeareth to be an inconsistency to condemn those who say it is a naked Ministery to pronounce and to Anathematize those that so think Canon 6 9. It being plain that the Office of a Judge is nothing but to pronounce him innocent who is so and the Transgressor guilty and that this the Metaphor of the Judge doth not bear that the Priest can make a Just man of a Delinquent as is ascribed to him The Prince indeed may pardon Traitors and other Offenders and restore them to their good Names and Blood to whom he that maketh a wicked man just is more like than to a Judge who doth ever transgress his Office when he pronounceth any thing but that which he findeth to be true according to Allegata Probata But that which is most wonderful they prove the Doctrine of Specifical and singular Confession of Sins with the Circumstances by affirming out of Can. 5. That the Judicature cannot be executed without knowledge of the Cause nor Equity observed in imposing punishment if the faults be known only in general and afterwards that Christ hath commanded this Confession that they may impose the condign punishment What is this but plainly to mock the world and to think all men void of understanding but themselves and to perswade themselves that all their Absurdities must be believed upon trust how absurd soever For who knoweth not and seeth not daily the Confessors enjoyn Penance not only without weighing the Merits of the Faults but without having the least consideration of them It would seem by the words of the Canon and Council that the Confessors should have a Ballance to make difference of every Grain and yet oftentimes to recite five Pater nosters shall be a Penance for many Murders Adulteries and Thefts and yet the most learned Confessors and generally all in giving Penance do say to every man that they do impose only part of the Penance therefore it is not necessary to impose that exact Penance which the Faults do deserve nor to have a particular enumeration made of the Sins and Circumstances But what need one go so far when the same Council in the Ninth Chapter of the Doctrine and the Thirteenth Anathematism doth ordain that satisfaction is made by voluntary Penance Sponte susceptis Sesf 14. cap. 9. De Operibus satisfactoriis can 13. and suffering Hardships Therefore it is not needful nor yet just to impose in Confession the Punishment which is correspondent and by just consequence not to make a Specifical Enumeration which is said to be ordained for this end And that not considering any thing spoken before the Confessor though most learned attentive and wise having heard the Confession of any ordinary man for one Year much more of a great sinner for many years it is impossible he should judge aright though he had Canons of the punishment due to any Sin whatsoever without danger to err very much For a Confessor seeing all in Writing and considering many days of it could not make a Ballance to decide justly much less hearing and resolving presently as the Custom is What is this else but to scorn vilifie us and as if insensible Brutes Horses or Mules which have no understanding to impose such Absurdities upon our Reasons Belief and Consciences § Thus you see what work what strange work the Papists make with Binding and Loosing by drawing wrong Conclusions and Consequences from Premises which will not yield them That which is clear and apparent without the help of any Sophistry or false Arts is That Christ before his Ascension having commanded his Apostles to preach the Gospel c. he left also to them and to his Disciples as Representatives of all the Faithful this Principle and Catholick Precept viz. To love one another John 13.34 Charging them amicably not judicially to make peace between dissenting and discording Brethren and for the Dernier result and remedy giving the care thereof to the * Mat. 10.15 18. Body of the Church promising it should be bound and loosed in Heaven whatsoever they did bind and loose on Earth 1 Cor. 5.4 13. and whatsoever two did ask with a common consent should be granted by the Father Mat. 18.18 19. In this charitable Office 2 Thes 3.14 to give satisfaction to the offended and pardon to the offender the Primitive Church was always exercised And unto this Rule did St. Paul conform when he ordained that Brothers having Civil Suits one against another should not go to the Tribunals of the Infidels but that wise men not Priests should be appointed to judge the Differences and this was a kind of Civil Judgment as the other was the similitude of a Criminal but were both so different from the Judgment of the world that as
latter years Cardinal Bellarmine set forth a Book wherein he is so bold as to labour to make Princes subject to the Pope in Causes Temporal and most impudently dares to treat them all as Hereticks which say that the Prince in Temporal Affairs hath no Superior but God only thereby preferring the Ambitious ends of the Court of Rome before the Publick ends of Gods Holy Truth and of his Vice-gerents He pretends therein to write against Barclay but his main drift and design is to advance the Popes Power to the Zenith and top of omnipotency it self In this Book he treats of nothing but of the Popes Power over Princes wherein it is more than five and twenty times inculcated viz. That when the Pope judgeth a Prince for faults or unfitness unworthy to Govern or that he knows that it is profitable for the Church he may deprive him of his Government And he sundry times affirms therein That when the Pope commands that Obedience be not given to a Prince that is deprived by him that then he is no more a Prince but a private Person Nay he is so bold as to affirm That the Pope if he shall deem it expedient may dispose of all the goods of any Christian whatsoever and all must go for nothing if he only say it is his opinion Nay farther averrs That it is an Article of the Catholick Faith viz. that he is a Heretick that doth not believe the same and all this with strange impudence scarce to be parallel'd This Book was written by Bellarmine presently after the Murther of Henry the Great of France before whose death such Doctrines were but whispered and covertly broached but soon after his death they vomited them out most impudently leading Princes then as it were in Triumph as that they might be Excommunicated by the Pope deprived of their Kingdoms for unskilful Governing weakness of strength or any other cause or ineptitude that His Holiness shall deem just This Book was so offensive to some of the Roman Catholicks themselves not only because of those false Doctrines so broached but because he asserted those Doctrines to be the Doctrines and Faith of the Catholick Church and pronounceth all those that did think otherwise to be temerarious and scandalous Hereticks Parasites of Princes Ethnicks and Publicans Notwithstanding all these bold Averments the wise State of Venice fore-seeing the evil consequences of such Doctrines might follow to the disturbance of the Peace of a Nation they presently forbid the coming in of that Book into their Dominions lest their Subjects thereby should be seduced into the same errors Whoever shall wisely consider that Murder perpetrated by Ravillac 1610. throw the Instigation of the Jesuits and the Decree of the Sorbon clearing themselves and laying all the guilt thereof and of all Assassinating Doctrines and Principles on the Jesuits and shall also consider Anti-cotton's Refutation of Father Cotton a Jesuit and Confessor to the said Henry the Fourth who had highly oblidged him and the Society by giving them his House at La Flesche for a Colledge with 1000 Crowns yearly Pension for Twenty years and had otherwise marvellously obliged them by many favors thereby hoping to secure his Life but all in vain his Declaratory Letter to the Queen and shall also consider the Discourse to the Lords of Parliament at Paris touching the said Murther all manifestly proving the Jesuits to be the Plotters and Actors in that horrible Murther all printed soon after that detestable stroak viz. 1610. and shall also consider that the said Book of Bellarmine was the very same year Printed at Rome under the Popes Nose with an Imprimatur by Fr. Ludovicus Ystelli Magistri Sacri Palatii Apostolici And shall also consider the Popes silence and calmness in all these great concerns may well conclude that if the Pope were not Particeps Criminis yet he seemed to be accessory by his silence and to be content and very well pleased and that there was a right understanding between him and the Jesuits About this time also viz. 1610. as if Hell-hounds had been breaking loose the Jesuits were so insolent fierce and zealous to make His Holiness Almighty on Earth that there being in Rome a very great number above 150 Catchpoles Serjeants or Bayliffs whom they perceiving to be men of dissolute lives of profligated honesty and living very little like Christians the fitter for their turns they designed to erect in their Church a Society of them only pretending to teach them Christian Doctrine and to exercise them in frequent Confessions which the Governor and Court of Rome understanding and suspecting so strict a Practice of the Jesuits with such their Ministers they complained with the Pontiff Wherefore the Bishop of who had advanced them 30000 Crowns in order thereunto being near to death and died soon after then the Apostolick Chamber not approving the Donation took the Money as a Booty and applied it as they thought fit § That Reverence which is due and deservedly given to Religion hath been the cause that many abuses which came under the Vmbrage of that Sacred Canopy have had such easie admittance whereby the evil designs that have lain couchant under that pretence and the true ends of the designers have not appeared until time hath made a discovery when â—â— hath been too late to remedy them without great disturbances The Covetous desire of inlarging Phylacteries Wealth and Authority doth so naturally blind men even Ecclesiasticks that without any respect to plainness and sincerity of Gods own Holy Writ they betake themselves to Cavils only pittiful Blasphemous Cavils Averring that if God doth punish and hath punished Sinners the Pope and Inquisitors his delegates may and ought also to punish them Certainly to say no worse to draw Arguments from the Divine Omnipotency to Humane Authority agrees in no proportion with the Reverence due to the Divine Majesty Nothing more frequent and ordinary than for Judges whose Jurisdictions and Powers are limited by Paramount Authority to seek the enlargement thereof tho by the disabling of the General Jurisdiction as well Civil as Ecclesiastick And this proceedeth as well from the natural Inclination which all men have to command in chief as also from the profit and Grandeur which necessarily attends Soveraignty But if such Ecclesiasticks or others do seek enlargement of their Power beyond their Commission and natural duty the Supream Civil Magistrate is most to blame if he suffer it tho sometimes with good intent and success for that it can never be with Wisdom Therefore if Ecclesiastical persons shall fail in their duties the power will return to that Body who gave it without depriving it self of it Wherefore it is no wonder if the secular person ought to be an Overseer of him that exerciseth a charge which he himself hath given him The old and true Legitimate Romanists for the first 300 years and more whose Faith and Doctrine the Protestants at this day both own and defend
each esteem other better than themselves § Having thus precautioned the Readers by a General and Impartial Admonition being as lyable to the lash thereof my self if a transgressor as any other without any particular reflection and much less upon the Scriptures immediately foregoing brought by the Independants upon which it may seem to have most reflection as being inserted in the very rear and next adjoyning unto them yet I must say that unto my apprehension there is generally a vein of fallacy or to express it as modestly as the case will bear of Misapplication runs through very many of their Scriptural quotations applying that which is meant of the Church in one sence unto that which is to be understood of the Church in another sence or that which is meant of a National Church or of a City Church as of that of Jerusalem or of those famous Churches of Asia unto every petit Congregation and the like concerning the powers of Churches and the use of the term Liberty and the like Though I am thus Opiniated yet I must say withal that were the Scene of the Church laid in Turkey or any Heathenish Gentile or Savage Country professed enemies to the Gospel and Cross of Christ where no Legislative power taketh Gods pure Religion into their protection I could have much less to say against them but until better information must acknowledge them a very plausible if not a full proof of their Independency but the Scene being laid here in a Christian Common-wealth I suppose they will come very short of proof § As of one and the same litteral sense of some words or texts of Scripture Daille lic â— c. 11. f. 1â—â— there may be and usually are two or more objects the one more the other less principal and proper among which the word Church hath a great variety of significations and importances and by consequence it must have one principal object of which all the principal Powers Attributes and Titles of the Church are punctually and accurately verified and other objects less principal to which notwithstanding the same name or title are in some measure often communicated So there is nothing which sooner precipitates both the more and less learned into errors than Identity of names or words including in them diversity of significations or importances and consequently each several signification or importance is always incroaching upon the Powers Attributes or Prerogatives which most properly appertain to some other more prime and principal Now the best way to prevent the inconveniences whereunto the multiplicity and diversity of its significations or acceptations do expose us is in reading first to consider of the Powers Attributes Prerogatives or Royalties which belong either solely or principally unto it and then to value the other significations or importances and rate their several Attributes or Properties by the nearness or remoteness of their affinity with it or reference unto it § The Church of Christ which we term his Body mystical can be but One and that only apprehensible by the intellectual conceipt of our minds and not sensibly to be discerned by any of us for that some are in Heaven and some on Earth and though the persons of those on earth be visible yet we cannot know that they are truly and infallibly of that Body the sincerity of their hearts and Faith being to us invisible and to God only distinctly and individually known yet may we rationally know that there is such a reall Body a Body collective consisting of many a Body mystical because the mystery of their conjunction is removed altogether from our senses All are not Israel that are of Israel Rom. 9.6 and no mortal can infallibly distinguish them It was Christ only that knew Nathaniel to be a true Israelite indeed in whom was no guile John 21.15 Many may prophesie cast out Devils and do wonderful works in Christs Name Matth. 22. and yet be deceivers whom God only can know and distinguish But this Church is not the proper subject of this discourse § As the everlasting promises of love mercy and blessedness belongs unto the mystical Church even so when we read of any duty which the Church of God is obliged unto the Church which this doth concern is a sensibly known Company and this visible Church in like sort is but one successively continued from the beginning of the World and will continue untill time shall be no more and which consists partly of Members before and partly of Members since the coming of Christ and which have already and which shall hereafter embrace the Christian Religion we term as by a more proper Name the Church of Christ whereof there are many Members yet but one Body 1 Cor. 12.27 And therefore the Apostle affirmeth plainly all men Christian be they Jews or Gentiles bond or free they are all incorporated into one Company they all make but one Body that he might reconcile both unto God in One Body Eph. 2.16 that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs also and of the same Body Eph. 3.6 And they all professing one Lord one Faith one Baptism Eph. 4.5 Neither is this Church the Visible Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the only proper subject matter of this discourse though it be not altogether exclusive § For preservation even of Christianity and of Christian unity peace and concord there is not any thing more needful and requisite than that such as are of the Visible Church have mutual fellowship and society one with another In which consideration to use their own simile As the Sea or Collection of waters Gen. 1.10 being one one in nature yet not one in name and number for that within divers precincts it hath divers names as the Baltick the Mediterranean the Red Sea so the Catholick Visible Church is in like sort divided into a number of distinct Societies every of which is termed a Church within it self In this sense the Church is always a visible Society of men not meerly an Assembly but a Society For though the name of Church be given unto Christian Assemblies and though any number of Christian men congregated may quodam sensu be termed a Church yet Assemblies properly are rather things that belong to the Church than the Church it self men are assembled for performance of publick Actions which Actions being ended the Assembly dissolveth it self and is no longer in being whereas the Church which was assembled doth no less continue afterwards than before Where but three are and they of the Laity also there is a Church a Christian Assembly But a Church as in this discourse we ought to understand it is a Society or a Fraternity to use their own terms still i. e. a number of men belonging unto some Christian Fellowship the place and limits whereof is certain and who are endued with sufficient powers attributes and properties to govern it self and this Church is the most proper subject of this discourse which doth neither exclude
sent it by Stephanus and others signifying unto them that though he were absent in Body but present in Spirit had already judged as present him that had so done and therefore advised them in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ that being gathered together and his Spirit with the vertue of the Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such a one unto Sathan Now it is observable that when St. Paul wrote this Epistle he was absent at Philippi a City of Macedonia and directed it not to any one single person Pope or other but unto the Church of God which was at Corinth and to them that were sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints with all that in every place call upon the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours He did not according to Romish Custom write by his Breves I excommunicate such a one and in one Scrap of Paper send as much as in him lieth Kings and Queens and Emperors nay whole Kingdoms and States to the Devil but he wrote to the Church a Collective Body that being gathered together with his Spirit they should deliver that Incestuous person to Sathan And again when he wrote his Second Epistle he directed it also unto the Church of God which was at Corinth with all the Saints which are in all Achaia declaring it sufficient to such a Man is this Punishment which was inflicted of many admonishing them to forgive and comfort him lest perhaps he should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow whereby it is plain and not to be gainsaid that the Delivering of him unto Sathan be the Punishment be the Censure what it will it was inflicted by many 2 Cor. 2.6 Now if Paul an Apostle would not excommunicate or deliver unto Sathan at his own will and pleasure but would consult the Church that the Matter being transacted by common Authority and Approbation the Censure the Punishment might be performed by Common Consent It being most just and equal and of Moral Right that they who to morrow must deliver such a one to Sathan whom to day they account as a Brother dear in Christ should be fully satisfied why and wherefore Now how came Signore Papa alone to be entituled to exercise Powers greater than the Apostle Paul would use What hath he to do with it more than the rest of his Brethren If so interrogated I can make no other Answer but Ignoramus Moreover hath the practice of Christ's Vicars at Rome been correspondent to that of Paul the Apostle of such esteem and prevalency is publick consent with God himself even in the Affairs of the Church that though in his secret Decree Paul and Barnabas were to be set apart for the Work of the Ministry yet by God's own appointment were they separated after Fasting and Prayer to the same by the Church which was at Antioch Acts 13.2 Thereby teaching us not to despise the Office of the Church i.e. of the Multitude of Brethren where it may be had By these very small Hints it is easily discernable what a Nose of Wax the Papalins make both of Scripture and Tradition and Excommunication their great and terrible Thunderbolt even against Kings and Kingdoms not considering the little efficacy it hath What was the State of Venice and her Duke or Queen Elizabeth and her Dominions the worse for Romish Excommunications and Interdicts or what the worse the Kings of Spain for being excommunicated every Maunday Thursday And indeed what the worse his Holiness at Rome for being solemnly excommunicated every year by the Muscovite Fops § Some indeed of later days have intimated a great and just dislike of those who have hitherto endeavoured to hang Excommunication on some doubtful Places of Scripture but yet endeavour to settle it on another Basis viz. on the Nature and Constitution of the Church Christian as a Society Instituted by Jesus Christ whereby they say it is manifest that if Excommunication cannot be established upon some better and other Bottom than what hath hitherto been laid by their Predecessors on some doubtful places of Scripture it must necessarily decay and fall to the ground moreover they most ingenuously confess themselves unsatisfied as to any convincing Argument whereby it can be proved that any were denied Admission unto the Lords Supper who were admitted to all other parts of Church-Society and owned as Members in them § Though I have said enough already sparsim that if rightly applied doth demolish this Fabrick of Fundamental Right yet I will add a little and but a little more viz. that if by the Word Church in these Positions be meant only the Clergy met or not met in Councils Synods Consistories Convocations or Assemblies as the Representatives of the Church Assembled by their own power as by a Fundamental Right grounded on Christs Institution then to say no more is hereby justified Robert Bruce David Blake and those seventeen Scottish Ministers before-mentioned and their Tenets denying the King and his Council to have any Authority in Matters Ecclesiastical For certainly if God hath given them power of themselves to Assemble and Consult and make Laws and hath not withal given them Force and Power to put them in execution they have only a mock and ridiculous Authority which God never instituted nor ordained And if it be not so meant then they either say nothing to the purpose or equivocate But if herein by the Word * By the word Church may be meant either all Believers holding saving Truth in general of what condition or quality soever or else more striftly the collective Body of the Clergy for if we speak right of the Church Universal or this or that Particular Church as of Spain France England c. this Term may be taken in either of those two Sences Church be meant the Civil Power and Laity together with the Clergy then we are Friends and that Fundamental Right arising from the Constitution of the Church derived from Christ himself of Right belongs to the Commonwealth if Christian and to every congregated Number of Believers gathered in any Gentile State or People and united into one Society and not only to the Clergy thereof and the Laity are as capable and have as much Right to be of such Councils and Synods as the Ecclesiasticks Or that the Church be not semper and perpetuo a peculiar Society separate and distinct from the Commonwealth as certainly it is not or that the Officers thereof as limited by these Positions unto Teachers and Pastors injuriously enough if they pretend beyond Teachings Administrations of Sacraments Imposition of hands for Ordination and the publick use of the Keys are not only inflicters or executioners of Church-Censures as certainly they are not then the very Foundation of this Fabrick for the Support and Justification of Excommunication must necessarily fall to the ground It is true that every Church is a Society or Body Politick though every Society or Body Politick is not a Church every
Member of the Militant Church is ordinarily a Member of the Christian Commonwealth or Kingdom wherein he lives and è contra That which differenceth the Church properly so called from a Society or Body meerly Civil is the diversity of Laws and Ordinances and the different manner of Union betwixt the Members of it A Church A Commonwealth or Body Civil are not necessarily two Bodies contra-distinct or Opposite as the Romanists often dream or presuppose in their Arguments brought for the Prerogatives of the Roman Church alledging that those have first their being and then they frame their Government and therefore are free and that all Jurisdiction is originally in them which they do communicate to Magistrates without depriving themselves of it But the Church did not make it self and its Government but Christ did first Institute Laws by which it should be Governed and then did Christ assemble it but rather one Body endowed with several or distinct Powers or Perfections when a Kingdom or Commonwealth becomes Christian and Consequently a Church it looseth nothing of what it had but rather acquires a New Perfection and Accomplishment by the Accrument of Divine Powers added to the Civil It may be true that when the Church was first Founded by Jesus Christ that it was altogether distinct from the Commonwealth for indeed it could not be then otherwise for that all Kingdoms and Commonwealths were then open and professed Enemies to the Gospel and therefore the Regiment given unto the Church by Jesus Christ was accordingly such as might be exercised by the Members thereof in any Nation and among any People be their Government what it would or their Enmity to the Gospel never so great without clashing or interfeering with it or with them and without the least disturbance of the quiet State of the Kingdom or People whereunto they were sent for their Conversion But when that Prophesie that Kings should be the Nursing Fathers and Queens the Nursing Mothers of the Church was to be fulfilled and whole Kingdoms embraced the Gospel and became Christians then the Church and Commonwealth became one and were no longer contra distinct Certainly the Justifying of Excommunications or Church Censures in this manner on such grounds and Positions is to speak modestly scarce safe or defensible For that they seem too much to Countenance and to approach too near unto the Positions of the Papists which are 1º that the Spiritual Power is above all Secular and Civil Power which Assertion were it rightly limited and Stated is in it self Orthodox as here is declared but the more Orthodox it is in it self the more Pernitious and deadly it makes the second Position unto which they seek to Wed it viz. 2º that this Supream and Spiritual Power is totally Stated in the Clergy as in a Body distinct from the Body Politick And the most of them hold the plenitude of this Power to be in the Pope from whom all Spiritual Power of Jurisdiction is derived unto the rest of the Clergy after the same manner as Jurisdiction in causes Temporal is derived unto the Inferior Magistrates from the Civil Monarch in each Kingdom And that the Regiment of the Church is Regimen Monarchicum a Visible Monarchy of which the Pope is the visible Monarch therefore without all doubt it is not only less Obnoxious to Cavils and Sophisms but also more truly Orthodoxal and more Justisiable to aver and maintain that the Church and Commonwealth Christian tho happily like Man and Wife before their Intermarriage were two Bodies two contradistinct Societies but being once Incorporated by mutual and reciprocal Wedlock do become one Body one Society endowed with several Powers and several Perfections newly acquired by such Intermarriage wherewith she was not endowed before her Intermarriage and so consequently the Powers of the Church do escheat into that of the Commonwealth whensoever it becomes Christian whereof the Pastors and Teachers are special Members and Officers according to their Commission but for no other ends nor purposes above the Laity though the Authors of these Positions do fully acknowledg that the Person of the Supream Magistrate must and ought to be exempted as to any outward effects of the Power of Excommunication Yet these Positions are subject unto so many nice and School distinctions that it is much to be feared that perverse and subtle wits would strongly Combate with us with our own Weapons and find or make a way to render the Power of the Magistrate only serviceable unto the Power or Interest of the Clergy Do but a little consider how subtelty Bellarmine in his tract against Gerson of Excommunication doth endeavour to erect and prove Regimen Ecclesiasticum to be Monarchicum upon the like fundamental right f. 4.142 whilst he affirms that the holy Church is not like to the Commonwealth of Venice or of Geneva or of other Cities which confer upon their Dukes and Princes that Power which themselves please in regard whereof it may be said that the Commonwealth is above the Prince neither yet is it like to an earthly Kingdom in which the People transfer their own Authority unto the Monarch and in certain Cases may free themselves from Royal Dominion and reduce themselves to the Government of Inferior Magistrates as did the Romans when they changed from Dominion Royal to Consular Government for the Church of Christ is a most perfect Kingdome and an absolute Monarchy which hath no dependance on the People neither from them had its Original but dependeth only upon the Divine Will and that this Kingdom doth not depend on Men Christ sheweth when he saith you chose not me but I chose you 15 John 16. thou hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests and we shall Reign on the Earth 5. Apoc. 10. And this is the cause why this Kingdom is in the Scripture resembled to a Family who then is a faithful and wise Servant whom his Lord hath made Ruler over his Houshold 24. Matth. 25. Because the Father of the Family doth not depend on the Family neither from them hath his Authority So by consequence the Vicar general of Christ doth not depend on the Church but only on Christ from whom he hath his Authority and doth affirm that Christ doth declare that a Bishop in his particular Church and the Pope in the Church Vniversal is as it were a high Steward in Gods Family quis enim fidelis dispensator et prudens 12 Luke 42. and hath Power over the Family and not the Family over him contra-Gers Yet by the leave of so great a Prelate St. Cyprian tho no Cardinal yet of greater reputation saith that the practise of those times which were freest from Corruption even when the Holy Martyrs were Bishops was that Pastors were subject to the Censures of the Church And lib. 1. c. 4. giveth an express Testimony where speaking of the People he saith Quando ipsa plebs maxime habeat potestatem vel eligendi dignos sacerdotes