if Christs Church for Constitution be Like Moses Church what need they disagree Cathederal It seems my Union thou approvest not This savours of Sedition or some Plot. The Land shall never quiet be untel Rulers by their Edicts all sorts compel To Uniformity in things Religious And therefore thy Opinion is Prodigious Jayl Rulers by Edicts Uniformity May well require in things transitory But Rulers as they 'r such in things divine Ought not t'compel men in the Gospel-time Rulers may miss the Truth which if they do Destruction unto their Commands is due Cathedral Until the Rulers did by force compel All to the Church which under them did dwell The Church was thin maintenance was scant But since they nourish't her she feels no want Her Honour 's great her Members like the sands As well in this as many other Lands Jayl I do confess of Christians nominal The world abounds by th'Church that 's National But it 's most plain thy Church no semblance hath With those that walked in th'Apostles path Whose Honour lay not in the outward State But with true Grace their Souls were eonsolate Cathedral Come tell not me of th'Apostles days for then Christs Church was small of the meanest men But when the Nobler sort possession took Of Christianity the Church forsook Her subterranean places and her Head Did lift up as one risen from the dead Jayl The Churches outward glory doth not prove That she from death to life doth nearer move But may as soon portend her Vacuation Of Grace as John hints in his Revelation And for the Nobler sort it seems this day They 'r too great strangers to the Gospel-way Cathedral How canst thou say this dost not daily see With one consent they do resort to me Yea they unto the Church are so united As that with none like her they are delighted And by their strength the Church is now protected And her Opposers unto her subjected Jayl The Church doth not subject by worldly powers Her Opposites Nor is this plea of yours A better plea for you than 't is for Rome To whom the Nobler sort more freely come Yea Nations Kinreds Peoples to the Whore Of Babylon resort her to adore Cathedral The Prophets do presage that Nations shall Flow to the Church and bring their Glory all Into the Church the New-Jerusalem And this my Doctors do expound of them Who now by Kingly Power their Subjects bring Into my Church my divine songs to sing Jayl Thou know'st right well the Papists do the same Their present pomp and glory to maintain But you are both deceived for 't is clear Before that blessed joyful day appear The Jews a People chiefly there concern'd In Can'ans Land must once more be confirm'd Cathedral If this be true I must confess I h've err'd When to my present state I have referr'd These Prophecies But thus much I perceive A State that 's National thou dost believe The Church may yet enjoy although it be When Isr'el their desired Land shall see Jayl This weighty case I will not undertake Here to dispute but this is what I spake I say the Prophets mainly have an eye In these Presages to the Jews Then why Shouldst thou imagine this thy present glory To be the subject of the Prophets story Cathedral Well we will leave unto consideration What hath been said of that Prophetick Nation Wherein the Jews I must acknowledge here Are often mentioned as may appear By reading of the places Now let 's see What thou hast further which must answered be Jayl Thy bringing Nations by the lump into The Name of Christian Churches plainly do Destroy the use of Preaching to convert The sons of men and makes their carnal heart Believe they 'r Christians from the womb and so Their souls deceive unto their overthrow Cathedral What though by preaching I do not convert My Members yet I have another Art Them to renew for this my Book doth say When any I receive into my way They are regenerate and born anew See therefore how thy charge is found untrue Jayl I know thy Book doth say 't but t is not true For Christs Book tells us all that 's born anew Are like the Wind which in such sort doth blow As others by their hearing it may know Again 't is said the World they overcome Of all which signs thy Converts can shew none Cathedral I grant where true Conversion is there 's ceasing From fleshly sins There 's likewise some increasing In holy life And truly in these cases My Infant Converts claim no real places ' Mongst Scripture Converts But I say unless They Converts be they have no Blessedness Jayl God doth not gather where he hath not strewed But from the Word it never can be shewed Where Infants are required to convert Nor yet canst thou with thy most subtil Art Discov'ry make 'twixt Infants eight dayes old To say This is renew'd That under sin is sold Cathedral I must confess such a discovery Doth pass my art for Babes in Infancy Do not demonstrate whereby we may know Which have the Spirit or whether or no Any whom I baptize have yet receiv'd it But as I have been taught I have believ'd it Jayl Thou said even now Infants no Blessedness Can have unless they converts be To this I answer As old Adams sin involves them ' Thout their consent in death So Christ absolveâ— them ' Thout their concurrence for Paul doth profess The Grace by Christ exceedeth Adams loss Cathedral So then this is thy judgment I perceive That look how Adam Infants did bereave ' Thout their committing sin of happiness So Christ ' thout their obedience shal them bless I hold the contrary to this but now Some other Argument I pray thee show CHAP. III. The Arg. The Minister Papal Rome disclaims The Jayle from thence doth shew Her own Prelatick state she mains If not unchurch her too Jayl IN this great Question Where the Church must be It may do well thy radix for to see The more I look the more I see thee come In thy Church-state but from great Papal Rome From whence I argue If Rome have no Church Then thou wilt scarce be found to have a Porch Cathedral Presumptuous Jayl my Chronicles do shew I cast off Rome and all her Popish crew Yea of their Bones a fire I have made And she sometimes with same coyn hath me paid Which clearly shews I have her quite disserted As an old Harlot from all Truth diverted Jayl Thou cast off Rome thou saist but thou hast neither Baptisme nor Church-power but what either Thou brought from thence this Rome thee boldly tels And thou canst find no answer which refels This their Objection So 't is evident Unless Rome be a Church thy Church is spent Cathedral What though their Baptism I do valid deem What though their Ordination I esteem Must it needs follow Rome is Christ his Spouse Or else the title of
filthy gain and they think gain to be piety and godliness VIII ARTICLE About Election this is that I 've said That God from aye before the World was made Hath chosen unto Life such as believe And so in Christ through grace he 'l them receive Yet I am confident God's purpose here Stands not upon what Faith did fore-appear Or Works done by the creature but alone God's Mercy Kindness and Compassion Thus 't is of God who calleth Yet behold Let no man think that now he may be bold To live in sin for as our God is pure So can he no ungodly man endure Then this Decree to every Godly man Hath its extent as David witness can The test of Antiquity According to his mercy he saved us This goodness which doth flourish in Christians doth arise out of the root of Divine Piety or Love for God by his Mercy hath saved us in Christ The Apostle saith not he hath chosen us when we were holy but that we should be holy Election goeth not onely before Works but before Faith where all good Works do begin IX ARTICLE Concerning Reprobation this I say No men as men of old were cast away But as they have God's Grace in wantonness Abus'd and lived in ungodliness To those indeed God sendeth strong delusions That they might damned be Sith vain confusions They rather chose than Truth in faithful love And hence it is God's Wrath ' gainst men doth move Yea against ev'ry soul that doeth evil So as to die the servant of the Devil The test of Antiquity The Damned cannot complain justly because it is their wickedness that doth cast them down into pain He was worthy to lose an unprofitable Faith which did not exercise Charity God is good and he is just He may save a man without good works of his because he is good but he cannot condemn any man without his evil deserts because he is just X. ARTICLE Concerning Infants I believe they shall Suffer no death but that that 's temporal And this their father Adam brought upon them But th'second Adam shal take it quite from them And further than that death that 's temporal No one shall die for Adams sinful fall Christ hath avouched Infants ' thout exception To appertain to Heav'n Then rejection Of Infants into Hell is such a preaching As doth want Charity and cross the teaching And nature of our God Yet thus they teach Who do the Church her Baptisme impeach Contending that to Infants it pertains To some of whom yet they allow no gains By means of Christ his Death for this they say He only dy'd for some And now we may Demand how they did know he dy'd for those Whom they baptize and did the rest dispose To hellish torments See the cruelty Of those who sprinkle Babes infancy The test of Antiquity By the death of the body we read of some that have dyed not for their own but for others sins But in the death of the soul none dieth for another God cannot condemn any man without his evil deserts because he is just XI ARTICLE The only way by God and Christ ordained Whereby the sons of men should be constrained To sit down in Christs Church is Gospel-preaching Wherein a reconciled God is stretching His Hand of Love extensively to all And then to dip or baptize such as shall Repent from sin and faith in Christ profess Through Gods forbearance and great tenderness I say such only as are catechised Are in the Scripture bid to be baptized Into the Name of Father Son and Spirit But as for those who would by Legal merit Or Parent int'rest bring a fleshly seed Into the Gospel-Church all such indeed I do deny with that Scriptureless thing Most truly called Infant Sprinkling Which custom hath or would make void God's Word And bind the Church still with a Legal cord Unto a fleshly line And the New-birth Would as a useless thing fall to the Earth This is one reason why we separate From all such persons that participate We may not with these darksome wayes of theirs But rather by reproofs break through these snares The test of Antiquity The Lord commanded his Apostles that they should first instruct and teach all Nations and afterward should baptize those that were instructed in the mysteries of Faith For it cannot be that the body should receive the Sacrament of Baptism unless the soul hath received before the true Faith The dipping into the Water is the going down into Hell the coming up out of the Water is the Resurrection We must know that at the first Believers were baptized simply in Flouds and Fountains XII ARTICLE I also do believe that the baptized Believing souls ought thus to be advised To seek unto the Lord for his donation The Spirits gifts for their mortification That by that Grace their Life their Profession May not unto each other seem oppression The way to ask this Gift in Scripture stands Known to be Prayer with laying on of hands As one first point which in Christs doctrin's shown Whereby his Saints are from all others known The test of Antiquity Laying on of hands hath ever been the custom of the Church Laying on of hands what is it but prayer over a man The first degree of Christianity is to be repentant of our former life Next to be taught that true-innocency and soul-health is to be hoped-for of God Then forthwith that we be purged by holy Baptism Then that we receive the holy Ghost by laying-on of hands XIII Article Concerning Perseverence this I say And do believe that in Christ's blessed way Men ought without a tossing to and fro Continue stedfast and these things must do Meet in a Church-Society together In the Apofiles Doctrine to consider And call to mind in Pray'r with breaking Bread Their Saviour till he come to raise the dead The test of Antiquity I pray you O ye Bishops which do think your selves to be so What Suffrages have the Apostles used for to preach the Gospel with what power were they aided Did they assemble the Church by the Kings Edict They nourished and kept themselves by their hand-labour and assembled the Church against the Edicts of Kings When wise and good People do meet together we must not call that a Faction or Sect. Saint Luke declareth the Order of the Primitive-Church That the Faithful assembled themselves often times for to preach the Word and celebrate the Lords Supper We assemble to pray for the Emperour c. and for Peace to make commemoration of Divine Scriptures and do feed and nourish the Faith with voice and holy words We plant and graft most strongly our Faith And do labour much to imprint in our hearts the discipline of the Commandments XIV Article I say moreover though I thus contend For th' old Church
should leave them Cathederal So then it seems for things meerly religious Thou would have no man flain O most prodigious But then the Tâ—res will over-grow the Wheat And every one will publish his dâ—ceit Whereas by â—â—ans of my sharp punishment These evils I can easily prevent Jayle T is known that for more than three hundred years The Church had no defence from worldly Peers Yet Truth with purity did greatly prosper Errors they quash'd as falt as they did foster At least in such sort as may equallize What thou hast done by severe penalties Cathederal I said that 〈◊〉 would ' mongst the Wheat increase But this thou tacitly goest by in peace 'T is not the Heresie but Hereticks There is the spinch where this Conference sticks Now if to Kings it do not appertain These Tares to put away they must remain Jayle To them it appertains not as they 'r Kings For so men may be though plung'd deep in things Which makes them Hereticks Also the Tare Which Christ intendeth by him suffer'd are Here to â—eâ—ain until the Judgment-day Yet hath the Church them alwayes put away Cathedral Well this in short I see is thy opinion Kings ought protect all those in their Dominion In Life Estate and all things necessary If from their Civil Laws they do not vary As for the Church she only may do this Punish with Censures such â—s do amiss Jayle What is the utmost bounds of Kingly powers I 'le not dispute in this discourse of ours Which may perhaps be more than I well know Yet sure in Church-respects the Scriptures do Not give them pow'r as Kings to execute Church-Discipline and that 's what I dispute Cathedral If Kings did not assist by penalties My Church I see men would me soon dispise Nor could I live sith all my Maintenance I chiefly have by their good Countenance And hence it is men readily obey My Discipline in whatsoere I say Jayl Alas alas that thus it should be said And truly too O how 's Christs Gospel made A meer pretence whilst men their Bellies do Make their great God But this th' Apostles show Was once the way that false Apostles went And to the same way they are still intent Cathederal What wouldst thou have men sit i' th Church as Judges Of her misdoings only as her Drudges Take from my Church the profits thereto due And Officers thou wouldest find but few And thus the Church-affairs would soon be slighted Yea and perhaps the Church would be benighted Jayl Benighted why Is Silver your great Candle Or th'Oyl that feeds it One this point did handle In the Affirmative who appertains Unto thy Church when like to lose his gains Of Tithes But Paul yea and all such as he Us'd to perform their Office without Fee Cathedral Paul doth allow such as do minister In Church affairs thus to be sinister So as to live upon the Church So then We do what Paul allows ev'â— all my men Which at my Altar serve or in my Court. Thus have we Fees and Tithes in Gospel-sort Jaylâ— Such as are taught ought to communicate By gift to such as do officiate That it might be a fruit to the account Of such as give but no Text doth amount To prove that you by force should ought compel For what you pâ—â—ach from those mongst whom ye dwell Cathedral I see thou wouldest all our holy things Proceed as fruits which from the Spirit springs Whether our service to the Church or their Respects to us for all our pious care But still I tell thee nâ—ll thus my Revenue Nor Church nor Ministry would long continue Jayle No Argument more clear that thou art none Of Christ his Spouse that fair and lovely one Whose things are all perform'd by Charity Which works by love Now this disparity 'Twixt her and thee shews you cannot be one Till Grace abound and Selfishness be gone Cathederal I will not yeeld to this thy Argument Yet further talk about it I 'le prevent And hear if thou hast yet a fresh Objection Left unpropounded more for my detection Then prove thy self what thou denieft to me To wit Christs Church now let 's thy Answer see Jayle Object a very redious thing it were To say all that might be objected here But this I say the walking of thy Churches Shews that amongst you all uncleanness lurches So that as Paul saith it were a great shame The things you do in secret once to name Cathederal What then 't is known we have a discipline Provided to the end we may refine Our selves from these enormious voluptions And we have now removed some corruptions The rest in time may be removed all Intending this I am not criminal Jayle Thy Discipline small power hath but where Thou may stiget money or something appear That 's truly godly those are punished But even in thy Court is found inbred Great vileness and of late it is increased Abroad much more than when thy Court last ceased Cathederal Leave prying thus into my Churches walking I 'm tired out with thy unpleasant talking I'now expect to hear thine own defence But not in this enterchang'd conference But by a speech continu'd till thou do The heads of what thou holdest plainly show Jayle The heads of what I hold then I will shew As 't was presented to the Kings own view Signed with fourty hands of such as own The said Confession which hath now been shown In most parts of this miserable Nation Whose Church doth change 〈…〉 Powers have translation CHAP. VI. The Arg. The Jayl the Symbole of her Faith With Scripture tight doth sing And brings some of the Antients forth To witness every thing I. ARTICLE ONe God alone the Father I believe From whom all things their being did receive Eternal glor'ous and his Attributes To tell forth fully no tongue once reputes It self sufficient but with admiration Must give to him the highest Adoration The Witness of Antiquity There is but one God in Trinity three Persons in Unity one God We believe hold and faithfully maintain that God the Father begat his Wisdom by which all was made his only Son one with one co-eternal most equal and that the Spirit is both of the Father and of the Son consubstantial and coeternal with them both and that this is a trinity in respect of the persons and but one God in the inseparable Divinity c. II. ARTICLE In the beginning God created Man In a condition so compleat as then No misery was mixed therewithal From which he by transgression took a fall And hereupon he misery archieved On him and 's off spring yet it is believed By me that both this death and misery Extendeth not to all eternity The Witness of Antiquity By the death of the body we reade that some have died not for their own but for the sin of others But in the death of the soul none dieth for the sin of another For as
in Adam all die both just and unjust so in Christ shall all both believers and unbelievers rise though unto punishment III. ARTICLE There 's one Lord Jesus Christ I do believe By whom all things their beings do receive The only natural Son of the most High Yet born of Mary in virginity And so considered is as David's Son And Off-spring for to sit upon his Throne Yet as he is the Son of God he 's Lord And Root of David and th' Eternal Word This is he whom the Father freely sent In his great Love into the World who went As freely and to death for all he gave Himself that all to life recourse might have The witness of Antiquity The World being all at peace Christ according to the precedent Prophecy was born in Bethlehem Judah being openly Man of the Virgin his Mother and secretly God of God his Father Christ Jesus the substance of Israel and the son of David God's Son of God taking on our Man without wasting Godhead ordained Faith to be a pass for man to God by his mean that was both God and Man IV. ARTICLE God's will is not that any man should perish Wherefore that dying mankind he might cherish His Son the Lord of all hath given Order The Gospel should be preached in each Border to ev'ry Creature and to every Nation To wit that God holds forth Non-imputation Of sins so that men shall not die because Christ dy'd not for them but because his Laws And Word which calls for Faith in his rich Death Men do reject and so themselves bequeath To Infidelity Hence it is clear That to all men at sometime doth appear So much of Grace as if they rightly mind it It holds forth Life to them that they find it The test of Antiquity God would have all men to be saved but if they come to him he so would it not as that he would save them against their will Christ in mercy was born for all but the unfaithfulness of Hereticks is the câ—use that he that was born to all is not born for all In respect of the greatness of the price the Blood of Christ is the Redemption of the whole World V. ARTICLE Concerning those whom Christ appoints for such As are the Pastors of the Gospel-Church I do believe that they must first be added Unto the Church as were those who were gladded With Peters words and growing in their stations In gtacious gifts and good qualifications And throughly tryed by their exereising Their gifts the holy Scripture so advising Such men the Church may chuse them ordain To minister as Pastors in Christ's Name By laying on of hands with holy prayers Assigning them to their respective cares To gather Churches or to feed and guide them But as for such who for a while abide them In humane Schools only to be instructed In humane Arts and so to be inducted Without Repentance and Baptism succeeding With growth in Grace unto a Parish feediâ—n Or rather to feed on their large Revenue Than to gain souls to Truth there to continue Such I do say no Teachers ought to be But should be taught the Christian A. B. C. The rest of Antiquity Eusebius all edging the Epistle of Alexander Bp of Jernsalem against Demetrius saith Thou saist it was never seen that the lay and secular people should dispute of the Faith in the presence of the Bishops I marvel what moved thee to affirm a Lie so evident inasmuch that as often as there is found any man that is sufficient and apt to give good counsel and to instruct the people the Bishops have accustomed to desire him to do it as the Bishop of Mâ—oâ— did Enelpius c. And there is no doubt but that the other Bishops may do the like in their Diocesses when they find any one which is a man fit to profit the people Ye drive them from God's Word and will let no man come thereto till he have been two years Master of Arts. First you nurse them up in Sophistry and in bene fundantum and there corrupt their judgments then they begin not at the Scripture but each one chuseth himself a Doctor severally c. VI. ARTICLE Touching the way of man's Justification Before the Lord in order to Salvation I say it is by Faith in Christ our Lord That is with heart believing that sweet word Which shews to man in Christ there is remission Of sins for all through faith through contrition For which great cause Christ worthily bespeaketh Their chief affections and their fouls so breaketh Wholly to yeeld to Christs most just Commands And to deny all Self which Christ withstands And eke with godly sorrow do commit Themselves to Christ's Grace to depend on it Such like believing men are justifi'd Their Faith will Righteousness be found when try'd The test of Antiquity The Medicine of the Soul is the only propitiation for the sins of all that is to believe in Christ How virtuous soever the antient righteous persons have been they were not saved but by Faith It is manifest that such as have Faith in Christ shall not be saved unless they have the Life of Faith VII ARTICLE There is but only one most holy Spirit Which God doth give such richly to inherit As do obey his Voice that they thereby May have the Grace themselves to mortify And be enabled in the Truth to stand Immovably thout which no mortal hand Can do the work of God and that we may Honour the Father and the Son each day Who is the Author and the Consummator Of all our Faith And John that Revelator Doth say this Father Son and holy Spirit Are One and so the Name of God they merit The fruits which follow this great gifts reception Is growth in ev'ry grace and sins rejection Wherefore we say these have it not received Who are of Love that Spirit fruit bereaved Or destitute so as they such deny A quiet life that would live peaceably The test of Antiquity That Spirit being the Fathers and the Sons is properly in Scripture called the Holy Spirit It is neither Father nor Son but personally distinct from both and this Trinity is one God Behold the sign and token whereby ye shall know those that are of God from the evil and wicked Those are the wicked which do kill and lead into captivity the which all those that are of God have not done nor do O Lord God these are the chiefest and first that persecuted thee whom men see to love the highest seats and rooms in thy Church and which bear the greatest rule They have taken the Ark of Zion they have occupied and used the Castle and have afterward frankly and by power set all the City on fire Their conversation is miserable The subversion of thy People is pitiful Now holy Orders are given for occasion of most