speak so doubtfully in this weighty Matter with a may be As much as to say the Efficacy of Redemption may be excellent or it may not be so and whatsoever it is 't is only for those whom God hath a mind to save q. d. Let Christ suffer what he will let him give a full satisfaction by his Death to Divine Justice for the sin of the world yet God hath no mind to save any but a very few in some parts of the world This is your Sense But had you said 't is only for those whom you your self have a mind shall be saved this indeed had been Answerable to that height you have Skrewed your poor Phansie up unto viz. To judg the world as you please But you are pleased here to refer it to Gods mind methinks however you might have found out some sitter Word for this purpose that had been more for the Honour and Majesty of the most high God than to talk so boldly of the mind of God in this Case But possible it is thus with you because you pretend to know the Mind of God and to be his Privy Counsellor being that as I have said already which hath made you to cast up your Accounts so exactly and judicially of your Thousands hundred Thousands and Millions that shall be damned Had you said here as it hath been wont to be said by all Christians that are wise and honest the work of Redemption is only for those that are in Covenant with God and that believe the Gospel this had been according to the mind of God but these terms you were willing to wave because you know that Faith is the gift of God and he gives it to whomsoever he pleaseth which would have made your Reflection retort upon you whereupon it is that you talk of the Mind of God at large But hath this indeed been the Mind of God to lay such Restraints upon the sufferings of his Beloved Son that the Efficacy of them shall reach but to a sew And consequently hath this been the Mind of God by an Eternal Decree to damn all his poor Creatures who are the Masterpiece of his Creation for ever excepting one in a Million Gen. 1. O that ever any that beareth the face of a Man should dare to speak so wickedly of God What is this but to make the Father of Mercies and the God of all Consolations more cruel than all the Tyrants that ever were in the World yea than all the Devils that are in Hell For they are but Gods Executioners it is God himself that hath passed this doom neither can the Merits of his only begotten Son our dear Redeemer be of force to reverse it Away therefore with this cursed Opinion most abominable in the hearing of all Mankind The very Heathen will certainly abhor it yea and hate that Religion which maintains it Nay they will be ready to Defie and Blaspheme that God who shall harbour so cruel a Mind and say as one of them said in the like Case Qualis malum Deus isbe est what a kind of God with a Mischief is this whose mind is set to damn and destroy so infinite a number of People whom he had made as they say after his own Image and Likeness Upon these and the like Considerations that shall follow I hope Mounsiour you will retract these your Reflections and be sorry that you have given so great offence by them both to God and his Church Reflector When Jesus Christ Prayed for those that Crucified him he did particularly mark out those in Act 2.36 37. who would Repent at the Preaching of St. Peter Answer Christ's Prayer upon the Cross for those that Crucifyed him was this viz. Father forgive them and the Reason why he so Prayed was not as you seem to imagine For they will Repent That is far short of his meaning neither is it suitable to that Philanthropy that was in him towards them nor to the Elevation of his Mind unto his Father which was fixed no doubt upon his Fathers purpose to save the World by him of which they were ignorant for saith he they know not what they do From whence it may be gathered that they who ignorantly transgress as the greatest part of the World do may be more capable of mercy than they who sin presumptuously as the Apostle St. Paul saith of himself 1 Tim. 1.13 I obtained Mercy because I did it ignorantly in Vbelief We read indeed Joh. 17.20 21. that Christ Prayed also for them who should believe on him through the word of his Apostles that they all might be one in him that so the world may believe that the Father had sent him which otherwise might have been brought into Question after his departure by the Divisions and Dissentions that might arise among his Disciples But that when he Prayed for those that Crucified him he did particularly as you say mark them out Act 2.36 37. who would Repent at the Preaching of St. Peter this is your particular Phansie groundless and unwarrantable And will you still thus shuffle with the holy Scripture to make it serve your turn for it is very obvious to all that read you why you force these Scriptures together that are so incoherent You would like a wary Fencer ward off a Thrust which you foresaw might have touch'd you to the Quick But fear it not poor man for it will be easily granted you that none but those who are born again shall ever be saved But you likewise must grant that both Faith and Repentance are the gift of God and that Gods Mercy in the free bestowing his gifts is not to be limited to time or Means for the Conversion of those that are chosen to Life Eternal as you may find it clearly proved in my Antidote but that this Mercy may be secretly and suddenly dispensed to millions of millions in the World by the gracious Work of the good Spirit of God in and upon the Hearts of men before they die and that sometimes in the very instant of their departure out of this Life This being so your Accounts will fail you of your hundred Thousands and Millions that shall perish in Hell for ever in comparison of one that shall be saved Reslector And though there should be but one saved for a hundred Thousand that should perish and be lost yet Grace would sub-abound in this one Person saved where sin had abounded as in the Example of the Thief Luk. 23.40 41. Answer The words of the Apostle that you harp upon are these Where sin abounded Rom. 5.20.21 Grace did much more abound That as Sin bath Reigned unto Death even so Grace might Raign through Righteousness unto Eternal Life by Jesus Christ our Lord. A most comfortable place of Scripture this is written on purpose to magnifie the glorious Grace of God now under the Gospel towards poor Sinners that Repent And will you thus limit it to one particular Person
which he and his followers would prove by certain Parabolical Allusions and Semblances that are not Argumentative I shall let it pass as unworthy of any Regard Those Arguments of the first sort viz. Caelius c. that are most pertinent to the matter in hand though this Reflector takes no notice of them or but very little I shall briefly recollect and render an Account of them First The Law in its greatest Rigor says that God punisheth but to the third and fourth Generation but he sheweth Mercy to a thousand Generations Thus they And will not you Mr. Reflector say so too If you will not you must fall under the Curse threatned by the Holy Ghost Rev. 22. viz. God will take your Part out of the Book of Life i.e. Cast you out of his Church so that you shall be uncapable of any of the Blessings belonging to it If you will say thus the Thousands to whom God will shew Mercy would have sounded better under your Pen than that which you have writ of the number of those that shall be Damned And here I cannot but insert what a learned and good Divine hath writ to me when he saw my Antidote against your Book we saith he seldom or never in sacred Pages meet with the terrifying number of the Damned particularly summed up but of the Happy we find Rev. 7. such precise numbers mentioned And some thousands of years before that it is written God had Mercy in store for thousands of them that loved him and kept his Commandments This in truth is the Spirit that hath prevailed among us here in this our Church it being well known that the Genius if I may so call it of our Nation hath always more inclined to Mercy than to Rigor and hath been apt to interpret the Law of God as well as the Law of our Land rather for the Comfort and Benefit of Mankind where such a Construction may upon good terms be allowed then for their Ruine and Destruction I know not Mounsieur what hath been predominant with you in other parts of the World But it is you and such as you are that have joyned with the Roman Faction against us to create Disturbances among us and to lead captive silly People into many absurd Errors which have brought a Cloud over all our Excellency and have eclipsed that glory of Truth and Peace which but for you would long ere this time have dwelt in our Land You go on to tell us what they say viz. Caelius c. That the Mercies of God are of a large Extent that God is slow to Anger ready to Pardon and shew Mercy that he forgives sins of the deepest Dye and that Calvin remarking upon the words which God speaks Ex. 34. of his forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin that God thereby wonderfully advances the greatness of his own Mercies and that he would have us to know he Pardon 's not only little Sins but also the most Enormous and that God would not command us to say Forgive us our sins if he had not an intention to forgive them for he did not make that Command to send us away from him as you impiously say like Fools as we came Yet is your Sarcasme an Argument against you All which that they say of this matter and much more that you add is true and which all good People who believe there is a God will say How dare you then to contradict it by saying not above one in a Million shall ever by these Infinite Mercies come to Heaven Would any man but you having all these Comfortable Promises of Mercy and Overtures of Grace under your Eye conclude expresly for the Execution of Gods Wrath to the uttermost upon his poor Creatures that have sinned against him But that you after say the Arguments for your Opinion are incomparably more strong and nervous how strong they are we shall see hereafter In the mean time I must tell you these Premises though you slight them as being not Syncategorical with your Position yet are they certainly against you and make for the Truth You say further that they mightily Press As all good Christians will the Infinite Price and Value of the Merit Death and Satisfaction and Redemption of Jesus Christ which is not only efficacious to Pardon you should rather have said to obtain Pardon for an Infinity that 's your word of sins both for their number and their Enormity but also for an Infinity of men That it is extreamly to lessen the ends for which Jesus Christ came into the World to admit that he came only to Redeem one man of a Million That it is not to be believed that Jesus Christ at the right hand of his Father does intercede but for one of a hundred thousand of all mankind What you say to all this we shall see hereafter They do likewise say you mightily urge this Consideration that since none are in a State of Damnation but who are under a perpetual weeping wailing and gnashing of Teeth and an eternal Horror of Conscience for their past Offences it cannot rationally be affirmed of so many millions of Heathen Children that dyed before they came to the use and exercise of Reason And if God be merciful to these as who can determine the contrary it would be ridiculous such is your word as if you had a mind to laugh at God that God has reserved their Parents alive who have the use of Reason to damn them to all eternity what you will say to all this also would be considered for none of all these things move you Moreover who will believe say they that God so loved the World or that he sent his Son into the World not to condemn it but that it might be saved by him That Christ is the Lamb of God that takes away the Sin of the World and that he being the Bread of Life gave himself to the World to give Life to it c. who will believe that by the World we must understand but one or two Persons among I know not how many thousands or millions in the World And where is that love towards the World to let it walk that is to say perish in its own ways All this and much more is alledged by that Orthodox Evangelical Party against your destructive Opinion as for that other which makes the number equal between the Elect and Reprobate as I have said I meddle not with it And you Mr. Reflector had done better if you had made no mention of it at all For to what purpose do you recite it and their Arguments for it when you may know it is not at this time of any Account scarce a word spoken of it among any unless it be with Contempt But you were willing to muster up your Enemies and drive them before you altogether promiscuously like a brave man at Arms or rather like that Pugnacissimum Animal as it is said of the Gander Armata
threatning as you call it of the Apostle 2 Cor. 5.10 I will tell you the right meaning of those words after I have first shewed you your weakness in the Construction that you make of them You will now you say pag. 24. speak a word for the Comfort of Repenting Sinners that examining their Lives and squaring it you should say them according to that terrible Threatning in 2 Cor. 5.10 which frightens them in such a manner as to take from them all hopes of finding Pardon and Grace at the last day It is say you but the diligent Reader will easily see your Incoherence here it is if those words of St. Paul were to be understood according to the Letter that there should not be one saved no not Moses Caleb Joshua David Daniel St. Peter and St. Paul Strange But it is no novelty with you to mis-interpret Scripture Know therefore those words are to be and God forbid but they should be understood according to the Letter for there is as much Comfort arising from them to Penitent Sinners as you can gather Terror to the Impenitent as is evidently to be seen the Inference therefore that you bring from thence is utterly false viz. that if so there should not one be saved not Moses Caleb Joshuah c. You say further St. Paul would contradict himself when he makes mans Righteousness to consist in the Remission of Sins But I believe you do wrong to St. Paul in putting this upon him and consequently to the holy Ghost can you tell where the Apostle saith Mans Righteousness consists in the Remission of sins Have you thus learned Christ Alas man there is as much difference between these two as there is between Habitus and Privatio It was the Death of Christ that brought on Remission of sins and it was the Resurrection of Christ that was the efficient of our Righteousness This doubtless is the Apostles Doctrine uti patet Rom. 4. 25. He was delivered for our Offences to take them away and was raised again for our Justification to make us Righteous But you say St. Paul in the following verse makes it plain enough to be understood that he only used that way of speech to give Terror and to perswade men to fly to Jesus Christ c. Here I must tell you Mr. Reflector by the way you have so delighted to act the part of a Boanerges though your thundring Sounds in the Ears of wise Men but as the discharge of a Pot-Gun that it is a hard matter for you to be a right Barnabas as appeareth here by your words which you intended for Comfort For will not the poor desponding Sinner be ready hereupon to reply unto you is this your Comfort to tell me the Apostle used that way of speech only to give Terror Alas this needed not I find it to be true by sad experience upon my Soul and Conscience but I find not here that he doth perswade me as you say to fly to Jesus Christ That which he saith in the next words is only to shew how necessary it is for Ministers if they have any true fear of God in them to be diligent in the performance of their Duty by perswading men to prepare themselves for that dreadful Judgment But this reflecteth not upon me for my Comfort In fine it is true what you say Jesus Christ is our Righteousness even of the very worst of Sinners say I how deeply soever they have been drencht in sin provided that they Repent and Believe their sins shall not be imputed to them being already imputed to Christ But it is not true that by his Righteousness our sins are pardoned rather you should say our Persons are justified thereby as for sins they are pardoned by the satisfaction which Christ made to the justice of God through the Blood of the Cross for by his stripes are we healed saith the Prophet Es 53.5 and thus saith the Apostle he was made sin for us having born our sins in his own Body on the Tree that is now made a Sacrifice for sin and when sin is thus done away then is Jesus Christ become our Righteousness for so it follows that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him Thus you see Mr. Reflector how unhappy you have been in expounding the Scripture Doubtless you are an Interpreter one of a Thousand but it is the wrong way for there are but few I hope that will be so bold with Gods holy Word as you are in rendring the Sense of it according to vain Fancy as you have done But what then you 'll say is the right meaning of those words I answer the Context will plainly declare it Some there were it seems to me that would be cavilling against the Apostle as if he Commended himself too often unto them to whom he wrote needing their approbation of him and his Ministery This Exception he was willing here to remove We saith he perswade men not upon such a low account as you imagine to curry Favour with you but First because we know we must appear as well as others before the Righteous Judge at the last Day and that will prove a woful day unto us if we preach not the Gospel to you 2. We appeal to God and your Consciences to judge of our Fidelity in the discharge of our Duty to the same purpose in the following words of the 11th verse and this in short I humbly conceive to be the Reason why the Apostle makes mention here of the Terror of the Lord with a direct Reflection we see upon himself I am not ignorant there are other Reasons rendred but this I may be confident is one As for your words whereby you make such a pudder viz. of the startling and thundring thereby upon others which you call Terrors though the Apostle doth not so that is to be taken obliquely not as the chief thing that he intended 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 albeit there be Terror enough in them to drive us all to Repentance I shall now for it is high time shut up this Reflection with an Allusion to that which the Prophet writeth of the Church of old concerning her deliverance from the Assyrian Is 33.22 The Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Law-giver the Lord is our King he will save us Every word is Emphatical and may well be applied to our present purpose The Lord is our Judge To him it is may all poor Sinners say to whom God may be pleased to grant Repentance unto Life throughout the World to him it is that we stand or fall A small thing it is Mr. Reflector that we should be judged by you or of mans Judgment the Lord who is our true Friend and Elder Brother is our Judge and he will certainly take care of us that we shall not perish It is true a Judge must not be partial he must give Sentence according to Law otherwise he is not a Righteous Judge well
should be set of them Was not Christ as he is called Rom. 15.8 The Minister of the Circumcision that is of the whole Jewish Nation And did he not Preach to others that were no Jewes For he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Messenger of the great Counsel as the Septuagint Render that written of him Es 9.6 and doth it not hereby appear that the Reflector writes at Random as his fancy only leads him without any warrant for there is not the least tittle in Scripture of the ten Thousand that Christ came to Preach unto Neither will I much contend about the term that the Reflector here puts upon our Lord calling him God-Man Our Lord Jesus Christ is indeed God and Man but is this term God-Man according to the form of sound Words 'T is true Christ is often called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by Human Writers but never so in holy Scripture And though the Greek bears it well enough yet the Idiom of our Language will not whereupon we are forced in that case to use a Periphrasis and to say God and Man Why then should this Reflector make use of such an uncouth Word when he speaks of our most Holy and Righteous Lord which neither the Scripture nor our Language will allow him only because as he differs from men that are Rational in his opinion so he doth I say again take up a form of Speech like the Quakers differing from all other men But though this holy Man of God or rather this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God and Man did Preach and Speak so as never man spake yet we are told here that hardly shall we be able to prove or substantially find any thing to ground our Belief that a hundred of them were converted c. What then was there any failing in the Doctrine which he Preached or in the Spirit wherewith he spake Far be from us any such Blasphemy The work which the Father had sent him to do he perfectly fulfilled it But it was not all to be finished during the time of his Ministration some things were to be done by him while he was in the state of his Humiliation and some things after he came into the state of his Exaltation The perfect Conversion of sinners from Ignorance to the true Knowledge of the Gospel and from Unbelief to a full Considence or Assurance of Faith was not as it is the work of Gods free Grace to be consummated by Christ until he was Ascended into Heaven and set at the right Hand of his Father for then and not before was the Holy Ghost to be sent for that very end and purpose amongst many other Which powerful Act of the Spirit was first Wrought upon the Apostles that they might be instructed more fully to the Kingdom of God For even they during the time that they were with Christ and were Witnesses of what he did and taught were very defective both in Faith and Life In faith about the Death and Resurrection of Christ and about a temporal Kingdom which was their Error as it was of the rest of the Jews In Life when they were too full of Revenge in drawing the Sword as Peter or for calling down fire from Heaven upon the Samaritans as James and John Luk 9.54 It was the Spirit after the Resurrection and Glorification of Christ that was to bring all things to their Remembrance whatsoever he had said unto them It was the Spirit which should then lead them into all Truth It was the Spirit which after Christ was Glorified made them clearly to understand the Prophecies which went before of him Thus it is said Joh. 12.16 These things understood not his Disciples at the first but when Christ was Glorified c. It was the Spirit which should adapt and fit them for the great Work of Converting the World which otherwise they could never have been able to bring to pass And as it began thus with the Apostles so did this Grace extend unto others in the same manner secundum modum Recipientium thus testified the Evangelist Joh. 7.39 This spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should Recieve for the Holy Ghost was not yet given because Jesus was not yet Glorified These things considered we may see some cause why there were not many Converted by the Preaching of Jesus Christ Yet cannot a Conclusion be gathered from thence that there were but few then of Gods Elect among that People unless we will exclude the Apostles or at least other the Disciples of Christ from eternal Salvation who had also their failings both in Faith and Obedience because the Holy Ghost was not then given Reflector Jesus Christ saith that his Flock is small that there are but few Persons that enter into the Kingdom of Heaven that when he shall come again upon the Earth be shall not find Faith in it that all the world shall run after the Beast That the number of the Elect is very little in comparison of those that are called and consequently that the number of the called is infinitely less than that of those who are not called and that know not what the Christian Religion is Answer We had best beware what we say of our Lord Jesus Christ at any time so as to tell the World Jesus Christ saith when he hath not spoken it for fear lest that Rebuke fall upon us which fell upon the Prophets of old behold I am against you that smooth your Tongues and say he saith Let these Scriptures be searched which are heaped together and it will evidently appear they say no such thing as you say of them First when Christ calls his Flock little slock he speaks not of the Elect of God all the World over as you imagine that would be contrary to the Holy Scripture which in several places speaks of them as of a great multitude But it is certain he speaks it only of his Apostles who were his peculiar care above all others as is plainly to be seen in my Antidote 2. Christ never said that there are but sew Persons that enter into the Kingdom of Heaven But speaking of the narrow Way that leadeth to Life he saith sew there be that find it meaning probably sew there be of the Jewish Nation at that time that were so wise as they should be to find it Metapha canibus investigantibus For so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies sagaciter depichendo as it is written at large in the aforesaid Antidote 3. Christ saith not as you say when he shall come again upon the Earth he shall not find faith in it The words that you harp upon in this particular though jarringly are those in Luk. 18.8 When the Son of man cometh shall he find Faith on the Earth And now consider how great a difference there is between your words and the words of our Saviour First he saith not when he shall come again upon the Earth For the
Whether Christ intended thereby that a new Sacrament should be ordained and continued in his Church till his fecond Advent or because his words being spoken in this manner viz. Take eat this is my Body which is broken for you whether his Apostles should at that time take that Bread which was then broken with his own Hands in their sight and which they did then Eat in his Presence whether I say they should take that Bread for his Human Body made of a Woman Gal 4. which was the next day to be Buffeted Scourged Crowned with Thorns nailed to a Cross and pierced to the Heart with a Spear And this his Body which was present with them sitting at the Table and speaking these very words should contrary to his own meaning and Resolution often before declared by himself in express terms and contrary to the clear Apprehension of his Apostles be free from all this Cruelty and extream hard Usage A very easie Passion certainly it must needs be which Christ endured if this be granted as it must if their Doctrine of Transubstantiation be from that instant time allowed being the thing which they contend for Neither indeed can we say as it is commonly and truly said that there was never Sorrow like unto his Sorrow if he had such a Proxy to suffer for him But without controversie Divine Justice would not now be satisfied with Figures Shadows Representations and Resemblances but seeing the Body is come which they did all typisie the Body it self must be Sacrificed or all mankind must perish for ever This latter part therefore of this Hypothesis must be cashiered and the former retained viz. that Christ intended only by these words This is my Body to ordain a Sacrament in his Church which should be a standing Memorial and Declaration of his Death as the Apostles word 1 Cor. 11.26 signifies till his coming again And herein there cannot or should not at least be any difference between them and us Well then if our Saviours intent was by these words to institute a Sacrament will not all men say that he used a sacramental kind of Speech to that purpose in his forming of such an Ordinance Hither to have we dealt only with our Romish Adversaries those Psendo-Catholicks about this matter We should now shew the Sense which Orthodox-Catholicks have rendred of it But first because there have been some who have joyned with us against those our common Adversaries that have in their haste given such an interpretation of these words as is inconsistent with Truth and Reason lest their Sense should be objected against us as if we were wounded with our own Weapons it will be necessary to shew in one or two particulars what is not the Sense of the Catholick Church of England nor of most of the Reformed Churches that harmoniously agree with it First then the misconstruction which is made of the excellent Form of sound Words in our Liturgy is not the sense of the Church whose Children we are There it is said the Body and Blood of Christ are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lords Supper which is a most true saying and worthy of all Acceptation But to infer from thence that there is a areal Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in that Bread and Wine is such an Error that they who make this Inference do in Effect pass over to the Tents of the Romanists or Consubstantiate themselves with the Lutherans in their Heterodox Opinion which is also very absurd The truth is those words are not to be understood with a Reference to the Bread and Wine immediately after Consecration as our Venerable Mr. R. Hooker hath excellently declared his Judgment in this point which shall be shewed at large hereafter but to the time in which they that are worthy do really entertain Christ and feed on him in their Hearts after they have Received So the words spoken to them by the Minister when he gives them the Sacramental Consecrated Bread do plainly signifie which words are these Take and Eat this in remembrance that Christ died for thee and feed on him in thy Heart by Faith with Thanksgiving And this feeding must necessarily imply a reall Presence of Christ unto them not to any other This mistake therefore of the premised form of sound words in our Liturgy doth not shew the true sense which we are inquiring into Much less doth that form of unfound words devised in the time of the late unhappy Schism and Rebellion among us give any satisfaction herein The words which were imperiously imposed in those times upon every Minister to use when he gave the Bread of his God after he had broken it were these Take ye Eat ye this is the Body of Christ which is broken for you But now I appeal to the Conscience of any man that is able to discern in this Case could these words be thus spoken without assuming presumptuously a power which Christ had not given yea could they be spoken without great offence to the Communicant For might not he well demand how can this man give us the Body of Christ to eat which hath been in Types and shall be really broken for us And what can he think when he heareth these words of the Bread which he seeth with his Eyes and feeleth with his Fingers Ends but that either the Minister is Blind or that he intends to deceive him or that he believes as the Church of Rome believes viz. that the Substance of the Bread is vanished the Accidents of it only remaining and that the Body of Christ is really substantially present in it I know well what they will alledge for their Justification i. e. seeing our Blessed Saviour used this sacramental Form of Speech in his first Institution they likewise may use it in a Conformity to him when they Administer the said Sacrament Which is somewhat like unto him whom I mentioned before who will say unto God at the day of Judgment Tu docuisti thou hast taught me But they may hear that now which possibly they never heard of before or at least did not well consider viz. Because our Saviour like a King that hath command over his Broad-Seal to Confirm or alter it as he pleaseth spake this word This is my Body when he first Instituted this Sacrament it will be too bold an Arrogancy for any man since whatsoever he be who pretendeth to be a Subject unto him to say the Bread is the Body of Christ when he Administreth it Sure I am the great Apostle St. Paul doth not word it in so bold a manner as to say The Cup which we Bless is the Blood of Christ or The Bread which we break is the Body of Christ no but with a pious Modesty worthy of Imitation only thus The Cup of Blessing which we Bless is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ And the Bread which we break is it not the
Priests and Deacons who have been wont to be called the Clergy he speaks of them under this notion of Clergy not like an honest Clergy-man but like a mar-prelate indeed with infinite Disdain repeating the word scossingly enough Clergy Clergy But from whence comes all his clashing like a vaunting Swashbuckler about this word Why he will make us believe we have all this while been mistaken in the word the word Clergy is indeed saith he a Scripture Expression but never but once found in holy Writ and then it signifies Lay-men 1 Pet. 5.3 The Flock not the Shepherds that feed the flock the Presbyter Peter advising his fellow Presbyters or Priests 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neque ut dominantes cleris not lording it over Gods Lot over the Flock there called Clergy-men that is to say Laymen thus he Doubtless this man hath not Read the Holy Scripture with that care as became him or else he hath sancied all men to have as his word is a wide swallow capable of all that he will cram in upon them Whereas if he had had but Clergy Spectacles with him so he wordeth it also he would have seen his opinion here to be a grosser Error even the naked Truth would tell him the said word is more than once or twice or thrice set down in Scripture for besides this of sit Peter which he quoteth let him see Joh. 19.24 Act 1.20 Act. 8.21 Act. 26.18 Col. 1.12 c. Nevertheless he will out of his huge Bounty vouchsafe the favour that the word shall be appropriated as it hath been For thus he writeth Since this word Clergy hath so long obtain'd in the World and also is become part of some Statutes in England mark that I will even let it go as it is and take it in its common Acceptation hereafter I only have said thus much true enough to show that neither the name nor the thing neither the word Clergy nor yet Gods Heritage belongs to this Tribe of Levi more than to other Christians if so much Truly Sir this Tribe of Levi is little beholding to you Yet the best of it is it is not you that can turn them out of their Inheritance You have seemed to be very friendly to them and Oh how much Reverence you have for them But is this your kindness to your Friends Hah these are his own words upon another Account But I will here show his naked Untruth to his shame in this particular It is not to be denyed as it is before said but that all People whatsoever that are in Covenant with God are Gods Clergy Gods Lot Gods Inheritance and blessed be God for it that they are so as all the Israel of God were of old called Gods Inheritance Psal 78.71 c. Yet was the Tribe of Levi then chosen out in a more peculiar manner as is evident by sundry places of Scripture to be Gods Heritage his especially Numb 3. Numb 8. c. And for the service which they did at his Altar he gave them the first Fruits the Tithes and Offerings which were his Due And can any man think but that Ministers of the Gospel have as good a Title to these Priviledges as the Levites had under the Law for even so saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 9.14 observe hath the Lord ordained that they which Preach the Gospel should even so live of the Gospel upon which accounts they may well be called Gods Clergy and the Churches Clergy in a more peculiar manner than other People may All Gods People were called his Anointed Psal 105.15.2 Cor. 1.21 yet were there some in publick office among them who had that Denomination given them Honor is Gratiâ and now are there not Titles common to all the Faithful which yet are without any the least scruple ascribed Eminemiae Gratiâ to Ecclesiastical Persons viz. Spiritual Men a term which the Prophet Hosea likewise applied to the Preachers of Gods Word in his days Hos 9.7 Watchmen Churchmen Ministers Priests Disciples And amongst the rest this of Clergy men hath been commonly so used till this Objector hath devised a Cavil against it But Observable it is how he is Choakt with the word Clergy in his tenth and twelfth Pages c. when he can with much facility swallow the word Priest a term more excepted against now-a-days than this of Clergy Neither of which though can in truth be justly cavilled at by him or any man else For the naked Truth is Ecclesiastical Persons are not usually called by us Clergy or Priests with any Reference at all to the order of Aaron or to the disorder of Antichrist as some blasphemously prate but only in a more excellent way as is before said than the community of the People are being as such set apart by God himself to preserve in his Church his publick Worship and Honour to keep a Commemoration of the Sacrifice of the Death of Christ and to offer up Sacrifice of Praise and Thanksgiving even for the People when they are solemnly Assembled together in their Congregations Neither will the word Church please him as it is upon any Emergency applied to Clergy-men But so long as the word of our Saviour stands in Holy Scripture Mat. 18.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 advising the offended Brother to make his appeal to the Church meaning the Sanhedrim that is the Church-Senate or seventy Elders who then sate by Gods Approbation to hear harder Causes and to decide greater Doubts against Peace and Charity I say so long may we call the Assembly of Ecclesiastical Persons among us be they in Convocation or other Solemn Meetings or Synods the Church of England notwithstanding the Oggannition of all gainsayers whatsoever One Instance more he saith he will produce as if he had not said enough already to his shame He will at last shew what little Pretence the Clergy hath to Entitle themselves alone the Church Representative of England distinct from the Lay-Brethren and that is in making a Canon to cringe to the East thus he wordeth it according to the scossing Language of turbulent Schismaticks and to bow at the Name of Jesus Was there ever any man that made such Pretensions to truth and withal did Print and Publish such notorious Lies where doth he or any else during this last Century of years as for what may be done before it is not now material find such a Canon as he here speaks of that enjoyneth men to cringe to the East Out upon it This false dealing must be Repented if ever he will look for Mercy from Almighty God at the last Day True it is of late viz. in the year 1640 there was a Declaration made by the Convocation then concerning some Rites and Ceremonies to be observed in the Church which with other Canons was Confirmed and Published under the Great Seal of England which Declaration in that part of it which concerns this present purpose is verbatim in this manner Whereas the Church is the