the whole discourse and being kept in memory will in some measure enable thee if thou have any knowledge of the things of Christ to judge of truth and Errour in reference to the severall partyes it makes mention of A Church or an Assembly may be said to be true or false in respect 1. Of their Foundation 2. Of their Members 4. Of their Ministry 4 of their Doctrine 5. of their Institutions or Ordinances 6. of their placing and exercise of power Such Assemblies or Churches who have not God in Christ for the foundation or obiect of their worship can in no sence be called true or Christian Churches as the Turkes who worship Mahomet c. And such as doe lay this foundation may in some sence be called true or Christian Churches But then as they depart from the truth of Scripture either in their members ministry doctrines institutions or Ordinances right placing or exercise of power or Administration of Discipline if you please so to cal it in any some or all of those so may they be said to be more or lesse false or Antichristian which is a building wood hay and stubble upon the foundation as by the book of the Revelation it appeares Antichrist hath done in all Ages all which must be destroyed with fire I shall make no farther applycation consider what is said and the Lord give thee understanding in all things THE wisest of meer men hath said it That there is no new thing under the Sun but that which hath been is at this day and what is now shall be afterwards if God prevent not under base and odious names Persecution hath in all Ages been the Saints portion The Scribes and Pharisees in our Saviours time boasted that had they lived in the dayes of their fathers they would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the Prophets yet these very men cruelly persecuted and put to death some of the Apostles and Crucified Jesus Christ who was the Lord not onely of the Prophets but of life and glory too though he himself did forewarn them of it and so brought upon their own heads all the bloodshed upon earth from righteous Abel to Zacharias And I fear that all these things are coming upon this Generation else what may be the reason that whilest those that are called and faithfull and chosen in the land who have been with the Lamb and who have through the power of the Lamb overcome that part of the Beast viz. that Antichristian and Malignant power that hath risen up against them at this time in this Nation whilest these I say after all their travell and sorrow in expence of blood and estate are thinking upon the sweet fruit of their long endured hardships and hazards and peace others have whet their tongues sharper then any two edged sword and have dipt their Pens in the blacknesse yea and darknesse of Hell it self continually sending forth most railing and bitter speeches and are thus afresh preparing war against them If new troubles be not creating for these men what mean those daily invective Alarms by such who are called the Ministers of Jesus Christ too which from Presse and Pulpit are ratled in the ears of our most worthy Senators and other subordinate Magistrates in the Kingdom incensing and provoking them contrary to their own judgements and reason against such who by Gods even miraculous blessing upon their weak endeavours have been theirs and the Kingdoms Saviours Sometimes dashing Hell fire in the faces of their consciences to fright them if possible into the same persecution and condemnation with themselves and then otherwhile beseeching them as they tender the Blessings Peace and prosperity of the Nation that they would rise up in indignation against these Heretiques Sectaries and Schismaticks for so they call them the Seducers and deceivers of the people to their utter extirpation the old way of Satan the great Seducer of the Nations and all such who cleave to this present world to besmear the faithfull and godly of the land in all ages with names of ignominy and reproach and so to fall upon them to their ruin and destruction Witnesses of which Truth have the prophets been in all Ages yea Christ himself and his Apostles with all the faithfull Martyrs to this yery day whose accusations still were these men are pestilent fellows movers of sedition ring leaders of Sects broachers of strange Doctrines teaching things contrary to the Law Seducers stirrers up of the people drawing disciples after them speaking against Caesar troublers of the State and the like but the Saints are in expectation that these men who thus resist the people of God as sometimes Jannes Iambres withstood Moses shall not proceed much farther that their folly shal be made manifest to all For this wicked one and all such as act from him and for him shal the Lord consume shortly by the Spirit of his mouth and destroy with the brightnesse of his coming as hath in some measure been fulfilled already in our dayes and shall be more and more till Babylon be wholly fallen as a milstone to the bottom of the Sea never to rise again any more and till the Beast be taken and with him the false Prophets and be cast alive into the Lake of fire burning with Brimston If new Gives and Fetters be not contriving for the Saints why are the poor misled and ungratefull Citizens so constantly hurried on with most troublesome and unwearied paines to remonstrate Petition upon Petition and act contrary to the Priviledges of Parliament their own interests and the Kingdomes little dreaming what a foundation they are laying for their own destruction if affairs be transacted after their desires numerously and tumultuously and now formally attending day after day at Westminster as if they intended to force the Parliament to some unjust Laws or Ordinances against other men for satisfaction of their own carnall lusts and others who continually instigate and solicite them to this service Saying in their hearts we will not have this man to reign over us Come let us kill him and the inheritance shall be ours Let us traduce these men Petition against them and every way make them vile and odious to the Magistrates and the People That now they have subdued the Enemy for us we may divide the places of Honour and Profit amongst our selves passionately and with uncivill language every where complaining of them as Hereticks Sectaries and Schismaticks and such who though they have ventured lives and estates for their preservations yet because they differ but it may be in some petty circumstance or opinion from them must be thought unfit to breath in the same common aire with them and to enjoy the common priviledges and liberties of Native Subjects though if any they have most right unto them as by birth claiming the same interests with others and having redeemed them well nigh lost by their own prowesse and valour
in the field But to stop the rage of these unstable waters For the waters upon which the Whore sits are multitudes and people and to still this out cry if possible let us consider who these people are and whether or no indeed truth any such persons may be found amongst us who are so called We will first then inquire after the Names themselves and see what they hold forth unto us and what may be concluded thence Secondly We shall prove that though the Presbyteriah Churches were truly constituted and ordered according to the rule of the Word as indeed they are not yet maintaining any errour either in judgement or practice that the rest of the Christians in the Kingdome who joyne not themselves to them cannot truly and properly be termed Schismaticks for this Thirdly we shall clear it we hope to every reasonable understanding that in case these names of Hereticks Sectaries and Schismaticks be truly to be applied to any persons in this Nation that themselves no others do so properly deserve that name and that they onely make the rent and division that is amongst us For these names we shall speak of them according to the Scriptures onely that foundation upon which if we build we shall stand fast like to mount Zion which cannot be removed and from which if we turn aside we cannot but be shaken into dust being built upon the quick-sand of every unstable mans fancy of whom the holy Ghost hath said Psal. 30. 5. Verily man yea every man at his estate his best estate is vanity nay altogether vanity and that to be laid in the balance he is lighter then vanity nay plainly he is a lie Beware then of men especially such men wo be to them who shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men Who love the uppermost seats at feasts VVho tithe Mint and Anise and Comin and passe over judgement mercy faith and the love of God our too much doting upon men hath forced this expression to return then Heresie is a Greek word having its derivation from {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which signifies to chuse so that it holds forth in the generall no more then the choice of any opinion either good or bad So it was used amongst the Heathens Vt non sum in eadem tecum haresi i e. opinione I am not in the same opinion with thee Learned Passor saith it s used in a good sence Act. 24. 14. After the way which men cal Heresie so worship I the God of my Fathers the Religion of the Apostles appointed by our Lord Jesus Christ was then called by those who were the strictest professors of that time the great Rabbies and Doctors of the People but blinde leaders of the blinde Heresie or a Sect I wish that now that which comes neerest to Christs Institution and his Apostles were not so judged by the most of men and those who think themselves the wisest too but the world by wisdome knows not God and this wisdome is no better then foolishnesse with God You see briefly what the name Heretick Imports the choice of an opinion not generally received Though sometimes it falls out to be the truth even the truth it selfe the Way the Truth and the Life even Christ himself The next word which is Sect whence comes the common name Sectaries a word now so much in use and this is no other then the Latine of the former Greek word made into English as you may see Acts 5. 17. Chap. 15. 5. And elsewhere where you finde mention made of the Sects of the Saduces and Pharisees and the Originall word is still {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Heresie of the Saduces and Pharisees and so in the place fore quoted Acts 24 14. the choise of Christ and the true christian Religion is called a Heresie so that these two words signifie but one and the same thing only one is the Greek Word and the other is the Latine of it as you may see further in the 1 Cor. 11. 18 19. Which place I alleadge that we may finde out fully the meaning of the last word which is Schisme hath its Etymologie from the Greek word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Findo to cleave or rent asunder as you may finde it used in Matth. 9. 16. Chap. 27. 51. Luke 5. 26. and many other places so that Schisme is properly a seperation or division in a body whose parts were before united and in Scripture signification holds forth a division or discention in Judgement or opinion from others in what was before received and maintained together with them there must be a Vnion or Conjunction before this parting and division according to the true and proper sense of the word or else it cannot be a Schisme the full understanding of the word you may have in Iohn 7 43. and 10. 19. compared with 1 Cor. 11. 18 19. the two first texts tels us there was a division among the people and in the last the tearms Heresie Sect and Schisme are used promiscuously and seem to signifie but the same thing as in ver. 18. I heare there are Schismes among you and I partly beleeve it and in the 19. the Apostle renders the reason of this beliefe for there must be Heresies or Sects or it must be so for this cause that those that are approved may be made manifest So here you have all together and hold out but the very same to us or at most that one is the cause and the other the effect because the choice of an opinion differing from others is oft and hath been an occasion to those that entertain that opinion to divde from others in their practise also thus Heresie hath usually in the ordinarie sense of men referred to the Judgment and Schisme to the practise And because the Churches of the New Testament were every way true and sound both in respect of their Foundation Members Ministry Doctrines Institutions and Censures in their primitive Apostolicall planting therefore those that were once joyned to them and then chose out any opinion to themselves differing from them and upon that opinion made a division and seperation in their practise were in the true genuine signification of the words truly and properly Hereticks and Schismaticks so called but because the Churches of Iesus Christ straight after even in the Apostles time begun to decline from their first purity every way to wax worse and worse till the man of sin mentioned 2 Thess. 2. 3. 6. came fully to be revealed which hath now been for many hundred of yeares therefore such could not be Hereticks and Schismaticks who after the Apostles time and in succeeding ages took up opinions which were contrary both to the Doctrine and Practise of those declining Churches which were now no longer the true Churches of Iesus Christ according to their originall Institution and Plantation but the falfe and faigned
Churches of Antichrist which were to succeed and come in the room and stead of the true ones as is cleare by the whole book of the Revelations which is mainly a propheticall History and Narrative of the Rise Reign and Ruine of Antichrist where you may see how large his Territories are how far his power reacheth especially in that I ext of Rev. 13. where it it said ver. 3. that all the world wondered after the Beast and ver. 8. All that dwell on the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the Lambs book of life And behold these names are the men who in all ages have been accounted the Hereticks Sectaries and Schismaticks of the times And these names are they who are so esteemed at this very day as is most evident to such whose eyes are anointed with the eye salve of the spirit of God to discern of things that differ in reference to the present age wherein they live which is confirmed every day by those who do come after them so were the Waldenses reckoned in their times the Wicklevites our own country men in their generation the Hussites and the Jerman Lutherans in theirs all esteemed and Nicknamed Hereticks and Schismaticks by the people of that age in which they lived but have been even ever Justified by the succeeding generations more and more as being such who have been enlightened to depart from the errours of those times and have revived and uncovered some remnants and sparks of divine Light and truth which had been raked up in the Ashes of the filthy Abominations Superstitions and Traditions of that Antichrist the Church of Rome and here by the way observe who they are and whose Poyson it is even of the Divell and Antichrist that men blasphemers truly so called spit out daily against New Light not that it is indeed New but the old Light and Truth newly discovered again and cleared from those foggs and mists which arose out of the bottomlesse Pit happy is it for those men if they sin of weakness it may be forgiven but if of Malice or Wilfulnesse let them remember that all sin and Blasphemy shall be forgiven but the blasphemy against the Spirit the Spirit of Light and Truth by which Christ enlighteneth every one that comes into the world shall never be forgiven neither in this life nor that to come i. e. not at all Dear country-men consider that the Mystery of iniquity was not at his ful heighth presently nor did the man of sin grow up to his full age in a little time neither was Materiall nor Antichristian Rome built in one day as it is in the Proverb It was the work of many generations to establish the throne of Antichrist and it will require no small time to unthrone him againe the stones of this Babell must be pulled down not all together but one after another there are 7. severall Angels who have their 7. severall Vialls to powre out for the destruction of the Beast Rev. 16. and these all have their severall times wherein to effect their works and as divers ages before us have had their Chair in this service we also in our generation must have ours and that not the least though probably it may be the last else most if not all who have laboured to unfold this Mysterie have been deceived though very much of it be yet undiscovered to the most now if wee look at the manner of his destruction the Apostle tels us 2 Thess 2. It shall be by the spirit of the mouth of Christ and the brightnesse of his comming the Spirit and the Light are all together Instruments in the hand of Christ to bring to passe this great destruction and whoever speakes against the one must blaspheme the other Let those men then who boast of the Spirit beware how they reproach the Light least they grieve the holy spirit of God in others and quench it in themselves which is believed to be done in some of them already their abilities being blasted in regard of what they have been heretofore I have insisted awhile in opening of these Names that men may see how improbable if not impossible it is that those men who were but a few years since the greatest Champions against Bishops Crosse Surplisse and Altar-worship and such things as are now generally sworn against as Antichristian and after this day the highest opposers of Antichrist in this Kingdome in the remainders of him those that were formerly lookt on as the great Puritans and non Conformists the tearmes of reproach then in use how unlikely I say is it that these very men should be now turned Hereticks Sectaries and Schismaticks any other then what they then were after they have so faithfully served the Parliament in this great cause of Religion and Liberty with the losse of blood and estate they are indeed such Hereticks c. as they before mentioned who have in all ages opposed the wayes of the man of sin in his Erroneous Doctrines and practises of Idolatry and Superstitions and no other which shall be further manifested in the ensuing discourse yet before I passe to the second thing give me leave to answer an Objection which may be framed thus Object If those that are called Hereticks c. be no other then such as have opposed Antichrist in all ages then you seem to confound our Churches with that of the Church of Rome and how weak this assertion is who sees not when we are so long since departed from her and are therefore hated by her and are our selves deemed to be Hereticks and Schismaticks for this in her account Answ True it is there hath been in many things a departure from the Church of Rome wherein she is erronious and amongst them England hath had a share but there are yet many things wherein she agrees with her the extirpation of some of which hath too lately cost her dear and she will be sooner or later at farther expence and charge in the same kinde for the casting out of those other things that remain amongst us if Jesus Christ by the wisdom and tendernesse of this Parliament or otherwise finde not out some expedient for prevention Quest But you will say these are but words if there be such things indeed discover them we are upon a Reformation and have engaged our selves by Solemn Covenant each one to go before another in the example of a reall Reformation in all duties we owe to God and man Answ If it be so Solomen tels you its better not to vow then having vowed not to perform remember the invocations and attestations of the great God as the searcher of all hearts for your performance and for your help herein and for Answer of this Question I shall insist onely in one particular which as a fountain if you will follow will run out into many streams and doth in a manner contain in it all the rest and it is this a