Selected quad for the lemma: doctrine_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
doctrine_n	apostle_n	scripture_n	tradition_n	4,180	5	9.2107	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A78612	A pretended voice from heaven, proved to bee the voice of man, and not of God. Or, An answer to a treatise, called A voice from heaven, written by Mr. Gualter Postlethwait, an unordained preacher, taking upon him to exercise the pastoral charge, in a congregation at Lewis in Sussex. Wherein, his weakness, in undertaking to prove all protestant churches to bee antichristian, and to bee separated from, as no true churches of Christ, is discovered; and the sinfulness of such a separation evinced. Together with, a brief answer inserted, to the arguments for popular ordination, brought by the answerers of Jus Divinum Ministerii Evangelici, in their book called The preacher sent. By Ezekiel Charke, M.A. and rector of Waldron in Sussex. Imprimatur, Edmond Calamy.	Charke, Ezekiel.	1658 (1658)	Wing C2069; Thomason E959_5; ESTC R207673	108,343	141

Yet this vial is as yet poured out but in part as are also severall others of the Vials The dregs of them and of this in particular remaining to bee poured upon the beast in a doctrinal way by this Angel who shall give the last warning of Babylons instant ruine The effect whereof is that the earth is inlightned that is many more of the common people are drawn off from communion with Babylon and joyn issue with some of the ten horns fallen off from the Whore and hating her But as for her more honourable slaves and vassals they receive no benefit by the Ministery of this Angell but either perish in Babylons ruine or by the dregs of the vials poured out upon her associates Vers 2. Cecidit cecidit i. e. Paulo post casura certissime gravissime Pisc Here we have the summe of the report of this Angel concerning Babylons fall which is by way of anticipation set down as actually come to pass after the manner of the Prophets to note the certainty of it and the expression doubled to note the grievousnesse of her fall Vers 3. Here wee have the procuring cause of Babylons fall her abominable Idolatries and whoring seducings wherein shee continueth after convictions admonitions and threatnings Vers 4 Here t is observable Militaris exhortatio ut non solum ab ea secedant sed et acriter eam oppugnent Grass that the Holy Ghost alters the usual manner and way of witnessing against Babylon for here is no Angel but a voice from heaven It may bee vox è castris a voice from the campe God is mustering up his Armies and the warre is advancing to the very gates of Rome and now the voice of Providence doth thereby cry out aloud Come out c. By Babylon I understand with Pareus c. not onely the City of Rome but all those places that are under the power and jurisdiction of the Pope where his authority takes place and where his idolatrous worship and doctrines are submitted to and imbraced To come out of Babylon is to renounce communion with her in her soule sinnes and abominable Idolatries and to disclaim and reject the usurped power of Antichrist both in temporals and especially in spirituals The not doing of this maketh men her associates and will cause them to partake of her plagues Rev. 13.16 17. Rev. 14.8 9 10. and here Rev. 18.3 4. From these Texts I observe 1 That Antichrists sin lies principally in this that hee causeth all under great penalties to receive the mark of the name of the beast in their right hands or foreheads that is to own the universal headship of the Pope especially in spirituals So that no point of Christian faith must bee received unless warranted by his authority and whatsoever is stampt with his authority must bee owned though never so contrary to the Scriptures 2 The sin of his followers lyeth in this that they resign up themselves in obedience to the Pope and make him soveraign Lord over their persons rights and consciences in all things receiving owning pleading fighting for his abominable Doctrines worship and usurpation Kings themselves submitting their crowns to him and maintaining by their Laws and edicts his blasphemous doctrines and tyranny 3 Those onely are threatned to partake of Babylons plagues that partake with her in her sins And who those are the Holy Ghost tells us Rev. 13.16 17. All and onely they that receive a marke the name of the beast or the number of his name in their right hand or in their fore-head That is that own the usurped authority of the Pope and his doctrines and idolatries because stampt with his authority which whosoever doth to the death cannot bee saved Rev. 16.3 The Doctrine of the Church of Rome as set forth and confirmed for such by the Tridentine Council is this Sea consisting of the popish errors collected into one body as many waters meet in the Sea The Angell that turned this Sea into bloud might bee among others Martin Chemuitius who poured out his vial on it when hee wrote his Examination of the Trent Council And every Soul living in this Sea dyed whosoever owneth the Popish Religion as set forth by that Councill and dies in that Faith cannot bee saved for what the Apostle saith of one of its anti-Scriptural doctrines Gal. 5.4 may be said of all of them that rase the foundation On the contrary those that renounce the universal headship of the Pope and all his anti-scriptural doctrines as the insufficiency of the Scriptures the authority and necessity of his traditions justification by works praying to glorified Saints and Angels worshiping Images and Crucifixes Purgatory and Indulgences c. and withal abhorre and renounce his Idolatrous worship and profess themselves resolved to resist unto blood rather than hold communion with him in his sins All such persons and Churches are come out of Babylon already And among such are the Protestant Churches in England Scotland Holland France Germany c. professing the sound doctrines of the Gospel in opposition to Antichrists Idolatries How those Churches that disown and reject the corrupt doctrine and worship of the Roman Church and have sealed their witness against them with their blood being by their profession and sufferings the instruments whereby God hath shaken the Kingdome of the Beast How these Churches should yet bee Antichristian limbs of the Beast may well bee a Mystery to all considerate and unprejudiced men And whereas Mr. P. beleeves that none save a few separate Churches named Congregational are yet come out of Babylon which the Brownists Anabaptists Quakers c. plead each for themselves I have one text to offer to his consideration thereupon which is Rev. 14.1 2 3 4. 1 By the Lamb is undoubtedly meant the Lord Jesus Christ 2 Mount-Sion is opposed to Babylon the Gospel-Church to the Church Antichristian 3 The 144000 that stand upon Mount-Sion a definite number for an indefinite and have their Fathers name written in their fore-heads must therefore bee members of the true Church in opposition to the members of the Church of Anti-Christ who have his name or mark in their right hand or forehead 4 By their having their Fathers name written in their forehead is therefore hinted their keeping close in the main to Gods institutions in profession and worship in opposition to the Idolatries of the Antichristian Church Which further appears in that it is said that they are not defiled with women vers 4. that is with the Idolatries of the great Whore Now can any man say that those of whom the holy Ghost thus speaketh are yet in Babylon How can they bee upon Mount-Sion and yet in Babylon too 5 The 144000 signifie some definite number of the people of God that in all ages from the first rise of Antichrists Kingdome have cleaved to the Lamb and kept a true Church-State which is signified by their standing with the Lamb upon Mount-Sion with

Antichristian Churches P. 9 10 11 And first I mean Parish-Churches to prove which to bee Antichristian I shall shew what I finde storied of their Original c. You cannot prove the Original of Parish-Churches to be from Rome Quid certi aut explorati a tempore Trajani ad imperium Constantini haberet Ecclesia si Divinum thesaurum non haberet however confident your small reading maketh you of it Your borrowed relation concerning Cletus and Evaristus is not much to bee valued as neither are most of the Histories of the Church for the first three hundred years And if this relation were true the thing is still unproved for I finde it recorded of Ignatius who as some say was Peters successor at Antioch and suffered Martyrdome in the eleventh year of Trajan that being sent from Syria because hee professed Christ to Rome where hee suffered when hee passed thorough Asia hee strengthened and confirmed the Parishes through all the Cities as hee went with his exhortations and preaching So that these Parishes are ancienter than those of Rome But if it were granted that Parishes had their Original at Rome about the time you speak of it makes not to your purpose and that for two Reasons 1 Because Rome then was and long after continued to bee a pure Church of Christ affording many Martyrs that sealed the truth with their blood therefore division of Parishes is not in its Original from Antichrist But you think you have prevented this answer sufficiently by saying Neither doth it help P. 13. that Parish-Churches derive their pedigree from times so neer the Apostles for the mystery of iniquity did work even in Pauls time If you could prove that the mystery of iniquity sprung up in Rome or chiefly there in the Apostles daies you would have some though but a slender and insufficient ground to think that Parishes if they began there are Antichristian But from Scripture and Church-history no such thing appears In the Apostles daies Diotrephes is charged with aspiring towards an universal Headship 3 John 9 10. The Church of the Galatians mingleth works with Christs righteousness for justification and are by this peece of Popery in danger of the loss of salvation Gal. 3.1 2 3 4. The doctrine of worshiping of Angels creeps in Apostle-times into the Church of Colosse Col. 2.18 But all this while the Church of Rome keeps her garments undefiled of these and the like abominations and for a sound profession of faith is famous throughout the whole Christian world Rom. 1.8 And long after this and even in that very time wherein you suppose the division of Rome into Parishes the Saints there sacrificed their lives in the flames to God in the maintenance of the profession of the Christian doctrine And yet Mr. P. is so charitable that to maintain a Fable that hee thinks will serve his turne the Church of Rome must needs bee then Antichristian 2 Because it cannot bee made to appear that Parish divisions as such have in them the least evil or appearance of evil Without divisions according to co-habitation within certain bounds Christians cannot conveniently meet to worship nor Ministers and people discharge their mutual duties I no way doubt but that they have ever been in use when they might bee had in the Church of God The Jews had their several Synagogues for several vicinities And it is very probable that the Apostles in planting Churches observed such divisions as farre as might bee They ordained them Elders in every City But in many Cities the Church consisted in each of several Congregations as shall bee evidenced Sect. 5. and 't is most probable that these were distinguished to attend on their respective Elders according to the neerness of their habitation to the several meeting-places However beleevers are still found in Scripture to have ecclesiastically imbodied in the places of their habitation as those in Ephesus Corinth c. And is not this sufficient warrant for Parochial Congregations as such that is the Ecclesiastical imbodying of such in a vicinity as profess the Gospel But now the way of gathering Churches used by most of the Congregational Brethren and your self picking some out of one Parish and some out of another and that without the leave and against the mind of their godly Ministers who indeavour after reformation and the use of all Ordinances according to Gods mind in their places but are hindered therein to your might by your sinister dealings and some of those members so many miles distant that you are thereby utterly disabled from discharging mutual duties this way and practice is altogether a stranger to the Word of God and sound reason and hath more than an appearance of evil in it There is nothing in Scripture of limitation of Churches by the Ministers function or maintenance by the edicts of Popes P. 13. Bishops or Princes of this world And it is enough against a thing belonging to the worship of God that there is no institution for it that the Scripture speaks nothing of it Then surely it concerns you to look about you Where have you an institution for uniting in a single Congregation members living at such a distance from one another as your practice doth and undertaking to bee a Pastor to a scattered people over whose souls it is impossible you should watch and urging an explicite Covenant as necessary for admission c. As for limitation of Churches by the Ministers function how is your Church distinguished from other Churches but by your taking the charge of the members thereof to watch for their souls how well or possible you can do it it concernes you to see to and is not this limitation of a Church by the Ministers function That the Scripture saies nothing of Ministers maintenance by the edicts of Princes of this world is true if you mean de facto that Scripture gives no example of maintenance thus appointed and raised Princes when the Gospel was penned had power to raise maintenance for the Ministery but would not being enemies to the Church But to argue that because Scripture gives no example of it Christian Magistrates who are by Scripture appointment to bee nursing Fathers and Mothers to the Church may not by their Edicts Laws and Power settle a sufficient revenue upon the Ministers of the Church is vain and frivolous and the result of it is which seems to bee your meaning that the maintenance of the Ministers must bee by the peoples free will and they must live upon the Almes of the Church That this is not the mind of God but that a certain liberal maintenance is by Gods ordinance due to the Ministers of the Gospel is from Scripture very clear 1. Because God established a certain liberal Maintenance for the Priests and Levites under the Law as appeareth by the books of Moses And godly Magistrates quickened up by their royal commands the backward people to pay it 2 Chron. 31.4 5.

Of Congregational Presbyterial Classical Churches and of the Church Catholick and Synods P. 25 26 WEe come now in the second place to interpret Antichristian Churches by Episcopal Churches that are the greater territories formed into Diocesan Provincial and Oecumenical Churches under the several orders of Bishops Episcopacy of the kind you mention being now discharged among us you might have spared your reader about this matter Let those that would see what is said for and against that Government read the treatises of learned men on that subject I shall onely here say to you in general that corruption in Church-Government is no sufficient cause for separation from a Church Wee must not say you p. 52. for respect to a right faith swallow a wrong order And wee must not say I because of some corruptions in the form of Church-Government forsake communion with a Church professing the true faith Your assertion in your sense stands onely upon your own authority Mine stands in the very light of the Scripture The Apostle John in his third Epistle mentions a great corruption in Church-Government but giveth not thereupon any precept for or encouragement to separation There were great corruptions crept into the form of Church-Government among the Jews in Christs time The Lord had appointed that there should bee onely one High-Priest at a time and hee was to continue in his office during life But there were then two High-Priests together that acted in the function each his year successively John 11.47 49. Besides the High Priesthood was at that time bought for mony procured by favour at the hands of the Romans Multitudes of corruptions there were also in the Priests actings c. Yet the Lord Christ gives no command or intimation to his Disciples to separate from them as from a false Church but onely bids them take heed of being leavened with their corrupt doctrines and drawn to an imitation of their wicked actions And the Lord himself held communion with them as a true Church in his life time Jesus Christ hath instituted no other visible integral Organical Church or Church with Officers P. 26. for the practice of his visible publick and solemn worship but one particular Congregation that may meet together ordinarily in the same place to worship in all the Ordinances of Gods house Such was the Church at Jerusalem there were added to it about three thousand Act. 2.41 They grew to five thousand more Chap. 4.4 yet they were all in Solomons porch Chap. 5.12 Multitudes were added Chap. 5.14 yet the Apostles call them together to them Chap. 6.2 5. And Chap. 15.4 Paul and Barnabas were received of the Church that is all the multitude verse 12. who were present at the disputation verse 6 7. Here indeed is the Hinge of the Controversies between us and our Reverend Brethren of the Congregational way in Old and New England who stand to their first professed principles owning our Congregations as true Churches but scrupling the Government of them by their Guides united confining all power of Government to a single Congregation and contending that it ought to bee so with all Gospel-Churches Had Mr. P. been such a one I should more gladly have entred the lists with him than I do But hee hath much out-grown his Brethren in Scruples and nothing will satisfie him concerning our Churches but what the Edomites wish'd against Jerusalem even the rasing of them to the foundation thereof For our parts wee beleeve that Gospel Churches may and commonly ought to consist of divers single Congregations united under and governed by their Elders in common and that wee have primitive examples for it and among them in the first and chief place that of the Church of Jerusalem in the Apostles times which is that that Mr. P. instanceth in to establish the contrary opinion Before I enter upon the dispute I desire it may bee considered that the enquiry is not of what number of members a Church consisted when it began first to bee planted But the inquiry is how it was with Churches when arrived to strength and maturity during the times in which the Apostles lived This premised I begin with the Church of Jerusalem and say that the Church of Jerusalem 1 Of the Church of Jerusalem when it grew numerous enough for it consisted of divers single Congregations as of so many parts making up one intire and compleat Church For proof whereof let it bee considered that 1 There was a Church at Jerusalem before the addition of the first three thousand Act. 2.41 And the members of the Church at that time cannot bee conceived to have been conteined within the limits of one single Congregation For the Ministery of Christ was exceeding successeful Mark 5.31 John 2.23 John 12.19 It is said of John Matth. 3.5 6. Jerusalem and all Judea and all the Region round about Jordan went out to him and were baptized of him And yet of Christ it is said hee made and baptized more disciples than John John 4.1 Visibly more so that the Pharisees could take notice of it Unto these converted by Johns and Christs Ministery add those brought in by the Ministery of the Apostles and seventy Disciples whom Christ endued with a power to work miracles that thereby they might gain faith to their doctrine Mark 6. Luk. 10. and yet still there is great want of labourers the Harvest was so great Luk. 10.2 and besides these more are found not without Christs approbation labouring in his Vineyard impowered also to work miracles to confirme Christs doctrine which they taught Mark 9.38 39. and of those there seem to have been many Matth. 7.22 Now seeing our Brethren will not grant that by Baptisme men are admitted into any other than a particular Church and there is no mention in Scripture of any other particular Church till long after this time but that of Jerusalem onely Let them from the premises judge whether the Church of Jerusalem even before the addition of the first three thousand must not needs consist of more Congregations than one But supposing that as yet there might bee but one Congregation in Jerusalem yet when wee consider from the Texts Mr. P. quotes the addition of the three thousand and of five thousand more and afterwards of multitudes and adde hereunto Act. 6.1.7 and 12.24 which speak of the farther prevailing of the Word and great increase of the number of the Disciples and together therewith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reflect on that Act. 21.20 Thou seest how many ten thousands of the Jews there are which beleeve mee thinks reason should compel men to acknowledge that the Church of Jerusalem must needs in the Apostles time consist of divers single Congregations What is said against these Texts shall bee anon considered 2 There was a great number of labourers in the Church of Jerusalem There were at first the twelve Apostles and one hundred and eight Disciples and most likely 't is there

Apostles should more than materially bind him And these Decrees are made by a joynt act of the Apostles Elders and Brethren difference in the order of their concurrence we grant but in the nature of the Act wee cannot grant but it will not bee granted that the Brethren did exercise an Act of Rule over other Churches To say that by the whole Church is meant the Synodical Church is without ground being built on the impossibility of the meeting of the Church of Jerusalem in one place which hath been refuted And if the Brethren were shut out from a concurrence of the same nature with the Elders will they say that the Elders of a Classical Presbytery at Jerusalem did exercise rule over all these Churches so far distant that could not be of their combination If vers 28. of laying a burden bee objected Let it bee considered whether there be not as much said of the assertion of the Pharisees ver 5 10. Thus if wee should grant Classical Eldership it will bee hard to grant any more with Scripture warrant But wee shall not grant these having proved the most numerous Churches to have been Congregational and called severally by the name of Church in the singular and the numerous Church of Corinth was not onely Congregational but had and exercised the power of the Keyes Paul wraps up Elders and people together in the exercise of discipline with a concurrence of the like nature And thus the whole fabrick of the Classical way falls to the ground Mr. P. as one observes is a man of growing scruples and hath much out-stript in them the Reverend New-England Congregational Brethren Keys chap. 6. and that in weighty points rejecting Ruling-Elders c. and here Synods Mr. Cotton tells him that Synods are an Ordinance of Christ grounding himself on Act. 15. saying 'T is a precedent for succeeding Ages And that they have power by the grace of Christ to command and injoyn the things to bee beleeved and done for which hee cites the express words of the Synodal letter vers 28. And that this power to binde burdens ariseth not onely materially from the weight of the things imposed but formally from the authority of the Synod as an Ordinance of Christ Adding that the fraternity have onely a power of liberty not of authority for which hee quotes Act. 16.4 And excepts from the power of a Synod onely the injoyning of things in their use indifferent not denying them power of Ordination and Excommunication But Mr. P. is an Independent of an higher form Let us consider what he saith 1 His first reason against the Synodicalness of this Assembly that wee Read not of a combination of Churches is untrue For the deputed Elders of the Church of Antioch combined with those of Jerusalem and there is no reason to exclude those of the Churches of Syria and Cilicia since the Decrees reach them and that not onely the Church of Antioch but also those Churches are subjected to them Will Mr. P. grant no more than what hee reads in express words 2 His second is as weak That we read of no forreigners there but those of Antioch and that they concurred not in the making of the Decrees For if there were no more forreigners yet forreigners they were but where doth hee read that the Elders of Syria and Cilicia were not joyned to them There is sufficient reason to conclude they were since the Decrees reach those Churches In saying that these forreigners concurred not in making the Decrees hee speaks clearly besides the book For they being Elders and at Jerusalem met with the Elders of that Church and hee being so punctual in holding no more than he reads in express words Let him see whether he can exclude them from those Texts vers 6 20 22 25 28. Act. 16.4 If the Forreigners were Elders certainly these texts include them and 't is one of the mysterious reaches of his wit to apprehend them excluded from the decision of the controversy by Act. 16.4 for were not the Forreigners Elders and were they not at Jerusalem and in the Assembly at the making of the Decrees how then doth this text exclude them 3 His third is frivolous That there was no appeal from the censure of the Church at Antioch Grant there had passed no formal censure which is more than hee can prove might they not appeal for the deciding of what was debated and which there could bee no joynt agreement upon His fancied main end of their applying themselves to the Church of Jerusalem to get satisfaction that there was the same doctrin taught at Jerusalem that was at Antioch sheweth that hee looketh on the Chapter through spectacles of pre-occupation Else hee would have seen that comming about the Question of difference vers 2. and the Apostles and Elders comming together to consider of the matter ver 6. and together decreeing and laying a burden upon the Churches concerned vers 28. must needs evince that the main end was to have the question authoritatively decided The knowing of the minde and practice of the Church of Jerusalem needed not all this work Paul and others might have informed the Church of Antioch of it before Any Messengers sent might soon have certified them of it Those that came might without such a solemn convening have been assured of it The Apostles and Elders in their Epistles shew not that they minded such an end chiefly in assembling For though they disown the erroneous Teachers doctrine and declare that they gave them no incouragement for it in those words To whom wee gave no such commandement which is all that Mr. P. can build upon yet they clearly manifest that the end of their convening was upon the hearing the difference in the Church of Antioch to decide the Question authoritatively and that the end of sending chosen men with Barnabas and Paul was to give them the greater assurance of this decision as the dependance of the 28. vers on the 27. by the illative for doth clearly shew 4 His fourth is a huddle of groundlesse surmises Here was hee saith no Rule exercised because 't would bee a diminution of Pauls Apostolical Authority But Paul acted not then as an Apostle but as an Elder of the Church of Antioch When the Elders there could not prevail against the corrupt Teachers and their Doctrin they have recourse to a Synod joyning themselves as Elders to the Apostles and Elders at Jerusalem giving herein an example of the right way of healing Church-divisions that cannot bee remedied in the respective Churches to the end of the world The Apostles themselves acted not meerly as Apostles but as members of the Synod yielding to a fair dispute on both sides Next hee saith The Brethren concurred with the Apostles and Elders in making the Decrees therefore there was no rule exercised thereby for it will not bee granted by us that the Brethren can exercise an act of rule over other Churches

then his injunctions might have been deferred till their time which I hope we shall never see But consider we a little what he doth enjoyn First take away Parishes by an Act of State the Ecclesiasticalness of them But no Reason that he hath urged against them hitherto will warrant it What says he now for it Hezekiah brake the brazen Serpent because the Children of Israel did Idolize it Josiah demolished the Altar of Bethel and the high place there Rare arguing What analogy is there between these things Are Protestant Parish-congregations idolatrously worshipped because whilst Rome was owned in them they were Idolatrous are they to be demolished now that they renounce it and own Gods true worship Are they like the Altar of Bethel and the High-places against Divine institution in place of being and means of worship For place Churches are now confined to no set place as that of the Jews was then but may any where be made up of co-habiting professors of Christianity For the means of worship let the Reader judge whether he hath proved our Churches Idolatrous And what would this Arguer say I trow from his instances against those Protestant Churches that are not Parishional in France c. made up of Professors whose dwellings are scattered in the Popish Parishes in compasses near to their meeting-places Must they be taken away by an Act of State too if such a one could be procured there Next our Temples feel his wrath Away with all those Consecrated places for Worship P. 70. 71 those holds of Mahuzzim Daemons or Saint-Gods as Mede expounds them may monuments of Idolatry be better endured than heretofore The argument for the demolishing of these is perpetual and so the precept Deut. 7.5 6 25 26. the reason why they are suffered is want of zeal as is hinted by Master Cotton Vial the 7. p. 14. I fear Mr. P's zeal is as misguided as that Luke 9.54 55. want of due consideration and the power of prejudice and wrath doe it is to be feared kindle his zeal For are our Temples holds of Mahuzzim now Is any Saint-God but the holy Trine-une-God worshipped and owned in them as their Protector and Defender How untrue is Mr. P's insinuation of it Surely learned Mede is much abused by him as are most of the Non-congregational Authors whom he quotes in being made from that expression he mentions to account our Temples holds of Mahuzzim whereas he intends it only for the Romish Temples where Saints are worshipped distinguishing Protestants from Papists p. 101. True Christians have with David one Mahoz but apostate Christians have their many Mahuzzims and how much he was for the holiness of our Churches as places not Idolatrous and prophane his tract bearing that name with that of the reverence of Gods house and several other places in his works doe sufficiently demonstrate to shame Mr. P. if he be not perfrictae frontis But sayes Mr. P. They are monuments of Idolatry and may they be better endured than heretofore Here he reasons strangely for if because they were heretofore abused to Idolatry they may not be used now without Idolatry but must be pulled down then the Temple should have been destroyed and not used for the performing of the worship of God in it by Josiah because Manasseh his father had set up Idolatrous Altars for all the Host of Heaven and a carved Image in it 2 Chron. 33.4 5 7. but he neither pulls down nor scrupleth worshipping in the Temple when he had purged it which yet he should have done by Mr. P's doctrine because his father had made it a monument of Idolatry In times near the Primitive Christians scrupled not to use for Christian worship Temples before used for the worship of Pagan gods when they came to be in their power neither I beleeve would the Apostle Paul who preached upon Mars-hil have scrupled to have used them for the worship of God if they had been in the hands of Christians in his time About the text in Deut. however confidently he build his Temple-demolishing doctrine upon it he is much deceived and hath need to be taught that the reason of those precepts for the destroying of the Canaanites places and means of worship and not using them in Gods service was that God had purposed and appointed that there should be but one only place in the whole Land of Israel to which they were to bring their gifts offerings and sacrifices as the Levitical Law required which is expresly told us Deut. 12.1 to 8. And we find that that precept Deut. 7. did not bind them to demolish and reject from being used in Gods service whatsoever was abused to undue worship The Censers of the two hundred and fifty that should not have offered incense were made broad plates for the covering of the Altar Numb 16.39 and the Censers that Nadab and Abihu put strange fire in were not that we read of cast away and made no use of in the Tabernacle and therefore probably Eleazar and Ithamar that succeeded used them Our Temples many of them had a being before the Popish religion prevailed in our Land and some of them have been built since it was removed and had they been all erected during the prevalency of that religion yet their use being changed to the worshipping and religious honouring of God alone they are no more holds of Mahuzzim but Temples of Christ As to Mr. Cottons opinion which he mentions it is built upon exceeding slender grounds He p. 9. 14. doth expound Revel 16.20 thus By Islands are meant Church-yards and ther grounds consecrated by Popish devotions by Mountains Cathedral Churches and all those high places that over-top the people of God Hence he concludes when the zeal of God lifts up the hearts of his people they will not endure a Consecrated place in the world With reverence to Mr. Cottons piety and learning let the judicious Reader judge whether any thing may not bee said and inferred at this rate of interpreting Never did any man in the Christian Church so interpret this text neither can it in any reason be thought to be the sense of the Holy Ghost but rather that Islands and Mountaines are put for places of strength and the powers in them wherein Rome relies and which in the overthrow of Babylon though she look for help from them are not able to afford it her but fall as many as adhere to her under ruin themselves which is that the generality of the best Interpreters understand by it But would you think that Mr. P. that inveighs thus against our Temples should use them himself He tells us plainly that he not only hath done and doth but also hints that hee intends to continue so to doe and that with the help of this pretty distinction I confess were it not to cry out against the Altar at Bethel P. 71 72 81. and gain an advantage of speaking that otherwise I cannot have after

P's Counsels and direction for Reformation IN his 89. 90. page hee subjoynes to his injunctions to the Magistrate an exhortation to all to come out of Babylon that is in his sense Reformed Churches And to this end makes use of his old unworthy Art of abusing Authors The greatest part of those pages being a citing of some passages out of Diodati and Calvin Minister in the Protestant Church at Geneva intended against Rome as separated from by that and all other Protestant Churches and wresting them to carry on his exhortation to separation from those separating Protestant Churches This is a way of abusing Protestant writers whereby Mr. P. outstrips the very Papists themselves who though they bee their sworn enemies yet never had such a foreheadlesse impudence as to abuse them in this kinde His Directions follow 1 Reform not onely substance but circumstance hate the garment spotted by the flesh p. 91. c. Here is nothing but unkinde insinuations that wee labour not so to do the contrary to which hath been evinced I wish rigid Separatists had the substance of Religion well reformed among them and did not look more after Circumstances than it and that Mr. P. whilst hee is so zealous about Circumstances close not in with those of them that have imbraced Popish opinions and doctrines and so pervert the substance But what Circumstances inconsistent with the word do wee retain Mr. P. mentions none here Si accusare sat est quis erit innocens 2 Take away not onely Idolatrous notions but the things God say those Reverend Lights p. 92. Dod and Cleaver in Deut. 7.25 forbids the Israelites to covet or touch the plate of Idols covered with gold and silver l●st it should make them remember the Idol and so Worship it So wee must lay aside all superstitious things and actions I suppose hee strikes here at our Parish-Churches Tithes and Temples which have been abundantly proved to bee no Idolatrous things and which those pious writers never thought of when they wrote this or imagined that any man would bee so unreasonable as thus to mis-apply and abuse their expressions But it is observable that Mr. P. who calls them Reverend lights and hath thus flowers at hand See whom this resembleth Matth. 23.29 30 31. to strew upon the hearses of these dead Ministers would notwithstanding have the Living lights of our Churches who are men of the same Principles in matters of faith and discipline put under a bushel and laid aside as broken vessels of no farther use in the Church of God Mr. P. may remember time place and company when where and in which hee thus exprest himself I professe were I a man in absolute authority I would make SCAVINGERS of all the Parish-Priests in England to clean the waies or rake the dunghills Reader art thou not amazed Truly though I cannot sometimes but answer him according to his folly my soul mourns for him and I fear God will severely visit these murderous intentions desires and expressions upon him How sad is it that such thoughts of heart should bee found and manifested to be in him in relation to many as worthy dear painful Servants of the Lord as are this day in the world only because they close not with his apprehensions and differ from Congregatinal men in matters of discipline Certainly we may judge by this that wee should have a sad Reformation were it referred to Mr. P's will The gravest holiest and most painful Parish-Ministers would bee accounted Idolatrous things and so taken away according to his Direction How well is it for England that God hath given him no more power in it As for the mentioned Comment we readily assent to it and it toucheth us not Wee have shewed that our Churches Maintenance Temples cannot bee proved to be Idols or Idolatrous But Mr. P. must bee again minded that though it was not lawful for the Israelites to convert the silver and gold of the Canaanitish Idols to their own private use yet they were not forbidden to convert it to the use of the house of the Lord. And there is a command for it Josh 6.18 19.24 It was an accursed thing if they took it to their own private use But being brought into and bestowed upon the house of God it was holy to the Lord. And so answerably now Places and Things however idolatrously used heretofore being consecrated to God and imployed in his service and for his worship do no more remain Idolatrous p. 93 3 Return NOT only to the true object of worship but to the right means that are instituted in the word of God Understands not Mr. P. what the right means of Gods worship are or doth hee knowingly and falsely accuse his Christian Brethren Prayer Preaching Singing of Psalmes administration of the Sacraments these are the principal means of Gods Worship and have wee not these in our Congregations But Mr. P. doth I suppose apprehend Discipline and a form of Church-Government to contain virtually all the means of worship But surely Church-government is no means of worship though it bee a means to preserve the Ordinances of God free from pollution And as to Church-Government I suppose and beleeve to have proved in this Treatise that that which we plead for is agreeable to the Divine pattern and the Independent not so That 2 Cor. 11.3 4. is misapplied by him The Apostle speaks not there of Church-Discipline but of Fundamental Christian doctrins SECT 11. Of the Call of our Ministers p. 94 LAstly beware of Antichrists Brokers and buy nothing of him at second hand This mans modesty is pleased to call as pious able and successeful a Ministry as the Christian world hath Antichrists Brokers And why so Our Ordination is that which will not down with him it is from Rome and therefore we are Antichrists Brokers and Antichristian For answer I conceive that this Objection and charge may be two waies taken off I shall propound them and leave them with the judicious Reader Jus Div. Min. Angl. p. 33 c. 1 The common Answer which is that that is in particular laid down improved and urged by the Reverend Provincial Assembly of London is that Our Ordination and Ministry is descended to us from Christ and his Apostles and the primitive Churches through but not from the Apostate Church of Rome And that the receiving of our Ministry thus through Rome makes it no more null and void than the receiving the Scriptures Sacraments or any other Ordinance of God through Antichristian Rome doth make them null and void Nay that it is a great strengthening to our Ministry that it appears hereby derived to us from Christ and his Apostles by the succession of a Ministry continued for 1600. years And that wee have not onely a lineal succession from Christ and his Apostles but also a Doctrinal succession which is more c. So much they have said in vindication of our

Ministry from Antichristianism as I am confident can never be fairly answered Mr. P. as his manner is in other points takes no notice of what they or others have said in this argument But cries out Antichristian Ministers Antichrists Brokers c. How easy is it but how unreasonable and absurd thus to keep fresh and renew charges without removing the answers that have taken them off And upon what ground can men that act so expect that any notice bee taken of what they say But one good turn is that Mr. P. in this charging book answers himself and saies that which doth in effect establish the mentioned Plea for the validity of our Ordination and Ministry When Ordinances saith hee page 53. are but circumstantially corrupted wee cannot reject them no more than the Israelites could reject the Ark because it was carried in a Cart of the Philistims making And hee instanceth in Baptism in which though much were added as Annointing Crossing c. yet the essentials were retained whilst it alwaies was administred by washing sprinkling or dipping in water in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost Let any man now apply this to our Ordination and Ministry and see whether it will not fit them as well as Baptism The essentials of Ordination have been alwaies retained Ministers being ordained by Ministers of the Gospel with Prayer and imposition of hands according to Christs institution Act. 13.1 2 3. 1 Tim. 4.14 5.22 Therfore though some Circumstantial Corruptions cleaved to our Ordination received through Rome yet according to Mr. P's own conclusion wee may not renounce it Neither can hee say any thing against the validity of Ordination so received which will not equally strike at Baptism received through Rome also Our Ministers are no more Antichristian Ministers or Antichrists Brokers because they received their Ordination through Rome than those that have undergone the Ordinance of Baptism among us and Mr. P. among them are Antichrists Christians or Antichristian baptised persons because the Ordinance came to them through Rome Wee must saith hee own our Baptism received in the Church of Rome and is there not as much ground to say wee must own our Ordination received in the Church of Rome Especially in England which had a true and pure Ministry in primitive times as the Congregational Brethren confess Now this Ministry for the Essentialness of it hath been derived successively to our times wherein it is purged from those corruptions that did during the prevalency of Popery cleave unto it And our Ministry thus derived can no more bee called an Antichristian Ministry than the Ministry and Priest-hood of those Priests under the Law that were consecrated during the prevalency of Idolatrey in that Church or of those that succeeded them could bee called when the service of the Lord was restored in purity and they attended upon it a Heathen Ministry or Priesthood 2 Though I account that answer good and strong and beleeve that our accusers will never bee able to remove it Yet I conceive wee need not grant them so much as that our Ministery is descended to us through Rome The Congregational Brethren say some of them that wee are Antichristian Ministers because wee received our Ordination from Rome Papists say wee are not Christian Ministers because wee do not receive our Ordination from Rome Well let those two parties dispute it out Wee need not trouble our selves with the controversy Wee may assert the Christianity of our Ministery upon another account which is this The Ministers of the Protestant Reformed Churches have their Doctrinal and Lineal Succession from the hands of Christ and his Apostles FROM and THROUGH the hands of the witnesses prophecying in Sackcloath during Antichrists reign To evidence this let it bee considered 1 That there have been true Churches of Christ in the World yea in the territories and Nations where Antichrist hath prevailed more or fewer all along the time of his reign to this last age maintaining the profession and Ordinances of the Gospel of Christ in opposition to his corruptions though he hath persecuted and sought to destroy them for it And among these those of Bohemia and the Waldenses and Albigenses are famously known to have continued a long while Enemies themselves acknowledge concerning these last that in all likelihood they had their beginning though possibly under other names near the time of the Apostles 2 That in these Churches considered in their order of time there was both a Doctrinal and lineal succession from Christ and his Apostles unto the rise of the Churches called Protestant 3 That the Protestant Reformers and the Churches that with-drew with them from Rome did own the same fundamental truthes in Doctrine and Discipline that those did as sufficiently appears by the History of the Waldenses and the conferences that passed between the Protestant Reformers and them about it 4 That although whereas it is certain that the Waldenses being by persecution scattered did sow the seeds of the true religion in sundry Countries where afterwards Protestant Churches were established which did lay a ground-work for their arising we have not much evidence of the Protestant Ministers receiving Ordination from their Ministers yet wee are assured from the Histories of those times that there was a very cheerful and unanimous consent between those Waldensian Churches and the Protestant Churches and a full concurring in matters of Doctrin Worship Discipline and Ministry as also there was for the main between the Protestant Churches beyond the Seas and ours afterwards in England in their time of Reformation Now in cases so extraordinary as those of the Protestant Churches in their first rising were the right hand of fellowship which some of the Congregational Brethren judge in ordinary cases sufficient being given in effect to the Ministery of beyond-sea Protestant Churches by the Ministery of those former Churches and to the Ministery of our Churches by the Ministery of those Protestant Churches may well bee thought enough to supply the want and stand in the room of formal Ordination from them And this Ministery of Protestant Churches received from Christ through the Witnesses prophecying in Sack-cloath hath been since continued by formal Ordination both beyond Seas and among us as that which in fixed Churches and where it may be had compleatly is of necessity according to the rule of the Word to be maintained and used formally for the continuation of a Gospel Ministry SECT 12. A Question discussed Whether any unordained persons among us are lawful and compleat Ministers of the Gospel With An Answer to the six Arguments for Popular Ordination brought by the Answerers of Jus Div. Min. Evangelici in their Book called The Preacher sent VVHilst Mr. P. and the Congregational Brethren of his form are so forward to condemn our Ministry as Antichristian it will bee hard for them to free their own from that charge This proposition I will engage to make good Those Preachers that are