so distant a Nature and Consideration that it is very reasonable to believe his Design was to amuse and not to instruct and edify his Reader 3. He seems to have a greater Kindness for the Papists than the Lutherans He can afford them the Title of Learned Papists But contemns the Lutherans all along as miserable and foolish Triflers Nay he has brought in St. Paul among the Jesuites formerly and here we shall find him again rankt among the Roman Adversaries so that in time he may possibly set up for a Papist Reconciler and I believe his common place Book is furnished with Materials for such a Work as well as for this which he has put out under another Title 4. In Reference to the several Parties he mentions Dr. Womock would say there has not been sufficient said to convince them of their Errours if others had not said more to the purpose to confute them than this Reconciler 5. If Con-substantiation be a foolish Doctrine yet 't is but a Metaphysical Speculation and so innocent of its own Nature it never brake the Peace in that Communion wherein 't is entertained 6. Tho this Reconciler would fain get into the Chair and pass his Sentence we pretend not to judge such as are not within our own Jurisdiction Let them Stand or Fall to their own respective Masters 't is enough when we have occasion to consider their Tenents to evince their Falsehood if we can and to discover their dangerous Consequence if they have any 7. Our Discourse relates to such as attempt to Subvert that Order and Government under which they have been bred and to which they owe Subjection 'T is true Contenders are ever stiff Judg. 8. 1. cap. 12. 1. 1 Sam. 19. 43. and confident and many times they are most fierce who have the worst Title But we know the Truth cannot lie on both sides nor can the Light of Evidence be equal to their Advantage Yet the Parties will not yield unless they be determin'd by Authority which is a clear Demonstration of the Necessity of Governours without whom now a dayes especially instead of being a Law unto himself every Man wou'd be a Gospel to himself and take what Liberty he list To prevent the Mischief of such Licentiousness we have these Commands upon us Obey them that Heb. 13. 17. Mat. 18. 17. have the Rule over you and he that will not hear the Church let him be unto thee as a Heathen Man and as a Publican And 't is Calvins own Doctrine That Men who are Contentious against the Custom and Practice of the Church in the Ad 1 Cor. 11. 16. use of Decent Rites are not to be treated with Disputations to gratify their itch of contending but to be bridled by Authority otherwise there could be no end of Strife and consequently no bounds set to the Exorbâ—tances of wicked Men For Jam. 3. ver 16. where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work But Authority should have some Rule to proceed by and Who shall give it Dr. Womock he sayes has borrowed a Rule from our Roman Adversaries Why Did Soto ever write against the Church of England He presented his Book de Naturâ and Gratiâ to the Council of Trent whereof he was a Member and it 's like he writes something therein against the Lutherans whose Doctrines this Reconciler contemns as foolish and trifling and so as for as we can see he is as much an Advocate for the Roman Party as their Adversary But What is his Quarrel to the Rule Will no Rule serve his turn but such a one as is without Exception Where shall we find it But let us give Soto's Rule fair Play and let it speak for it self He is supposed to Err through Malice who has been so far admonished that he cannot justly pretend Ignorance or may easily be convinced of it Can there be any thing said more rational If he cannot pretend ignorance or may easily be convinced of it and yet will persist in his errour Then his Fault proceeds not from the weakness of his Understanding but from the Pravity or corrupt Inclination of his Will which the School-Men call Malice For Passion and Surprize can have no place or pretence here where things are done with so much Deliberation and continued in against a Known Law and a just Authority as well as against frequent and publick Admonitions and when stubborness is added to the Opinion and Practice then of a matter of Choice and Knowledge it becomes Heresy But Why did the Reconciler single out Soto to the Combate when Perkins and St. Paul were in the same File on the Front and on the Rear of him and Verdict 100 101. no less concern'd in the Dispute than he Such Transgressions as our Reconciler undertakes to Excuse or Vindicate are hardly consistent with Mr. Perkins definition of weak Ones For these he saith are such as have turned to God and carry in their Hearts a Purpose in all things to please God and if they do amiss 't is out of simple Ignorance or bad Custom and 't will last no longer than till they be better inform'd but if after a sufficient Information they hold and practice bad things 't is then of willful Ignorance and of Malice and in that case He calls them Obstinate And for St. Paul his decretory Sentence is this A man that is an Heretick after Tit. 3. 10 11. the first and second admonition reject Knowing that he that is such is subverted and sinneth being condemned of himself This is a General Rule laid down by Apostolical Authority and prescribed to the Governours of the Church who are to take their measures from the Epistles to Timothy and Titus which were wrote on purpose for their Directions and not from the Epistles to the Romans where it does not appear that Church-Governours are concern'd at all much less directed in their Office And because that Rule of St. Paul is of so great importance I shall be the more large in giving the sence of it according to the exposition of the most learned Protestants By a Heretick the Apostle meanes Sectarium Hominem saith Aretius Sectarum Authorem the Author of Sects or a Sectary as Bullinger and Hyperius and others have it Calvin makes no distinction betwixt the Heretick and Schismatick in this place for he saith Ambitiosos omnes praefractos contentiosos qui Libidine impulsi turbant Ecclesiae pacem ac dissidia concitant hoc nomine comprehendit He comprehends under this Title all Ambitious Stubborn and Contentious Men who upon the impulse of their own lust stir up Discord and disturb the Peace of the Church In summa quisquis suâ proterviâ unitatem ecclesiae abrumpit is Haereticus vocatura Paulo Whosoever breaks the Peace of the Church by his frowardness St. Paul calls him an Heretick And yet further to reach such as set up Conventicles among us Quoties eo
Suffragium Protestantium Wherein Our GOVERNOURS ARE Justifyed In Their Impositions and Proceedings Against Dissenters Meisner also and the Verdict rescued from the Cavils and Seditious Sophistry of the Protestant Reconciler By Dr. LAURENCE WOMOCK Arch-Deacon of Suffolk Col. 2. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hoc dico Ne quis vobis imponat Oratione speciosa Per falsas Ratiocinationes Sive ex malitia sive ex Inscitia Id Fiat London Printed for Robert Clavel at the Peacock in St. Pauls Church-yard 1683. A Special Verdict Against the PROTESTANT RECONCILER S. Paul foretold that after his departure grievous Wolves should enter in with a design and malice not to spare but to devour the Flock these were Wolves in Sheeps cloathing whose business was to steal to kill and to destroy but these were not all and perhaps not the most pernicious of the Churches Enemies He foretells further that also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw Disciples after them And this Prophecy is fulfilled in our Reconciler For among others he is risen up with his perverse Principles to make and engage a Party Had he intended the satisfaction or information of his Superiors his Duty would have prompted him to have presented his Papers humbly into their hands and with a modest submission to have expected the result of their wise Councils But a Noverint Vniversi was fitter to carry on his popular Design and to caress his dear Vain-glory. He should have come in the Spirit of Elias to turn the hearts of the Fathers unto the Children the Holy Fathers Mind and Principles their Faith and Affections into the Children and the Disobedient to the Wisdom of the Just That what the Fathers have believed and practised â— L. Brug ad â—uc 1. 17. Paul de Palatiâ— in Mal. 4. 6. the Children may also embrace and follow He could have told them that Christ having assured his Disciples that God who hears the Addresses of His Church he streightly commands them also to hear Her upon pain of forfeiting Her which is the same with His Blessing being deservedly for their contumacy in their Disobedience turned out of Her Communion as Publicans and Heathens He might have been pleased to take notice how Christ resolves the case of Conscience about the Tythe of Mint and Cummin and the weightier matters of the Law saying unto such as were concerned to be well informed These things Matth. 23. 23. ought ye to have done and not to have left the other undone How Christ observed not only the service solemnly established but such Customs and Festivals as had no divine Institution laying down this for a Rule of Conscience Thus it behoves us to fulfill all Righteousness He might have put them in mind as Matth. 3. 15. Tit. 3. 1. St. Paul exhorts to be subject to Principalities and Powers and to obey their Spiritual Guides in their Conduct and to submit to their Orders in regard that Heb. 13. 7. 17. 1 Cor. 14. the spirit of the very Prophets ought to be subject to the greater authority of the Prophets He knows very well that we ought not to be contentious about the Customs and Practices of the Church when they do not supersede the Commands of God nor interfere with them That the Governors of the Church have a great Authority from our Lord and are intrusted in his stead to set things in Order for Edification and Decency in Gods public Worship and Service And when they have done this with great prudence and deliberation that the subjects are to do their duty without murmuring or disputing and to honour such their Governors very highly for their work-sake If not he could have informed his Readers That Christ hath furnisht those Governors with the power of the Keys to shut the door as well as to open it with a Rod for Discipline Authority to mark and censure to admonish and rebuke sharply to stop their mouths who speak preverse things and to reject them from the Communion of Christ's Church if they will neither obey her commands nor regard her admonitions Are they not entrusted by our Lord to make Orders for Discipline and to take the measures of Decency by their own Judgment and Prudence and when they have estabished all things to God's Glory the Peace and Edification of the Church is it our Duty to follow our Guides or to controul them to confront our Governors or to obey them When a difference arose betwixt the Jews and Gentile Converts 't was thought the most prudent and likely Way to compose it to have recourse to Acts 15. Acts 16. 4. the Apostles and Elders about it and the Holy Ghost did assist them in the Decision and S. Paul himself carried about the Decrees to be kept But our Reconciler takes another course to buoy up a sinking Cause and Faction He Censures all the Governors of Church and State decrys their Impositions and directly quarrels their Authority Yet 't was the Resolution of the Brittish Acta Synod in jol De aequitate Decreti Synodici pag. 139. Divines at the Synod of Dort In adiaphoris Supremus Magistratus vice Dei ostendit quid expedit decet The Supreme Magistrate declares in God's stead what is decent and expedient in things indifferent This the whole Synod assented to and by this Rule they justified their Proceedings against the Remonstrants And if the pretence of Christian Liberty be allowed to retrench the Kings Prerogative in Church-matters 't will soon follow the Pope's Practice in Ordine ad Spiritualia and invade his Authority in Temporals All times have afforded examples of turbulent Spirits who thought their Christian Liberty could not consist without the downfall of the Civil Power That their Religion did exempt them from all the Laws and Ordinances of men and gave them a Priviledge to oppose and banish the very Office of the Magistrate from among Argument Ep. ad Rom. 6. Ad Rom. 13. them This Calvin as well as Bullinger has observed And Gualter tells us that the Jews elated with the conceit of their Ancient Dignity took it in great disdain that the Posterity of Abraham Eâ— ad Rom. 13. and the Elect people of God should be in Subjection to the Romans wherefore they made frequent Insurrections to recover their Ancient Liberty and 〈◊〉 had not quite cast off these Principles of Sedition when they embraced the 〈◊〉 of the Gospel Many also of the 〈◊〉 did with no less impaâ—â—â—â—e bear the Yoak of such as were the Professed Enemies of Christ and 〈◊〉 Gospel And 〈◊〉 these a sort of subtil 〈◊〉 did insinuate themselves and having 〈◊〉 the Grace of God into 〈◊〉 that they might enjoy 〈◊〉 câ—rnal satisfactions with the greater license and impunity as St. Jude ob 〈…〉 they made it their business to â—bolish Government By this means the Christian Religion 〈…〉 among such as were in Authority as the Parent and Breeder of Tumults
Reward through their vain traditions touch not tast not handle Colos 2. Iâ—ridens contemnens superstitiosam persuasionem in persona pseudapostolorum ait Ne tetigeris quasi dicat si secus audeas eris immundus apud Deum efficieris Damnationis reus Hyper. ad Col. 2. Gal. 2. not And Gal. 4. 4. Ye observe days and months and times and years I am afraid of you lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain Was not the Apostle so earnest and positive herein that he threatned the Dissenters as Disturbers of the Church and tells them That they should bear their judgment and wisheth them cut off Gal. 5. Did he not withstand St. Peter to the face because he was to be blamed and why was it not because he did not walk uprightly according to the truth of the Gospel and was not all this contest upon the account of the difference betwixt the Jew and Gentile Christians was the Apostle thus positive did he use such Menaces did he give such warning in his Epistle to the Romans If not why does this Reconciler say that if those Rules were but a provision till the Apostles had made a more perfect determination then they were not to be observed at all was not Ignorance and Superstition as dangerous to the Christians at Rome as to those at Coloss and Galatia Are they at Rome indulged to live therein always when these at Coloss and Galatia are threatned and in danger to fall from Grace and be lost by it But for the present as the Gentile Converts had great assurance of their immunity from the Law of Moses so those of the Jews were under great prejudices through their veneration for it And the Impostors and false Teachers headed perhaps by Simon Magus who See Dr. Ham. Annotat. on the Title of the Epistle to the Romans towards the end had the reputation of a God among the Romans were so subtile and powerful with the Heathen Magistrate that a peremptory order from the Apostle if such a one had been sent especially having no Governor to enforce it in all probability could have taken no effect The Apostle therefore defers this great work as he did the setling of some such matters in other Churches 1 Cor. 11. last till his own coming with the fulness of Apostolical Power and the gift of Miracles to encounter all the opposition of the Enemy In the mean while having felt in himself such an experiment of mercy for the things which he had done in his ignorance and unbelief 1 Tim. 1. 13. He was well perswaded that the same Divine Goodness which for a time prefers a mistaken Zeal before a deliberate Interea vero tamet si opinio quidem sit superstitiosa tamen observatio Deo non displicet quando infirmus sapienter cavet ne quid dubitante conscientia facere aggrediatur Hyper. ad Rom. 15. in principio Prophaness would be pleased to wink at that time of the Romans Ignorance and Superstition till he should vouchsafe to afford a Dispensation sufficient to cure the Distempers which did afflict them And to allay and be-calm their Animosities he forbids all uncharitable altercations and to prevent Apostacy from the Faith he prescribes Lenitives Condescention and gentle usage lest they should be tempted to forsake the Profession of Christianity through the asperity of severe Censures and spiteful provocations from their equals and such as had no Authority to Govern them This I say was a Temporary provisision but he promises them a more perfect redress and settlement in a short time and then he would determine and settle the Case and those differences de Facto Rom. 16. 20. The God of Peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly By Satan here he means the false Apostles and Impostors which were so great Instruments of Satan that he gives them his name with the Factious and Turbulent Dissenters which were led by them so Interpreters do generally unstand it Non solum immittentes offendicula Oecum Theod. Theophilact Lap. ex Chryso Bullinger conteret sed ipsumillorum Ducem Satanam Insidiatorum magistrum Dissentiones vestras cum suo Principo Nec eos modo qui dissidia moliuntur sed horum etiam Praefectum Ducem commoliatur per Satanam intelligit omnem vim adversariam Christo Evangelio ejus sive sint Pseudapostoli sive Tyranni Thus seveveral Expositors comment upon the words The History of those times tells us that the Faction was so impetuous and turbulent that Claudius in the ninth Year of his Reign was provoked to put forth an Edict to banish them out of Rome Claudius Judaeos impulsore Chresto Acts 18. 2. assidue tumultuantes Româ expulit saith Suetonius and Josephus to the same purpose Anno ejusdem imperatoris nono expulsos per Claudium Judaeos refert and taking the Jews and Christians to be of the same Religion he banish'd them all together There was little hopes therefore that the order of a Person at a distance who had never been amongst them should be of any force to quell such Heads of the Faction or to remove their prejudices so as to unite them in the same belief and practice aso t these matters But the Apostle foretold and promised that this should be done shortly and how was that Shortly Hoc de adventu suo dicit He speaks this of his own coming to them saith St. Ambrose If a question should arise how this could be effected when it was thought that his Letters were more prevalent than his personal presence 2 Cor. 10. 10. This is answered by Interpreters That God Almighty would assist him against the power of all Impostors and Deceivers whom he calls Satan for the opposition they made against Christ and his Gospel And that at the Apostles coming among them This Satan this Adversary De la Cerda power should be conquered and laid prostrate under their feet And this the Apostle might very well promise without boasting upon the account of that power which Christ did bestow upon his Apostles a power to tread upon Serpents and Scorpions and all the power of the Enemy Luke 10. And so Aretius saith as the opinion of many Interpreters Vbi ad vos venero per gratiam Dei efficietur ut iste Satan Impostor prodatur confundatur meâ praesentia conculcabitur When I come unto you by the Grace of God it shall come to pass that Satan that Impostor shall be discovered and confounded he shall be trodden under foot by my presence For a proof of this we have the Apostles own asseveration Rom. 15. 29. And I am sure that when I come unto you I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the Gospel of Christ This is an intimation of the abundant gifts of the Holy Ghost whereby he should be inabled to confound the Ministers of Dissention and confirm the true Disciples Benedictio Ambrose autem haec signorum