committed almost incurable And heed must be taken that the Heretick be not declared to hold or prohibited to teach any other thing then what he holds and teaches for the avoiding of such inconveniences as we have before recounted One thing there is which verily I could never understand but to be altogether void of reason That he who is thought to have taught something false and impious should be forced to recant which if he do he shall not be punished To what purposed I pray you serves this practise What good is there gotten if for the avoiding of punishment against his conscience an heretick shall recant his opinion There is onely one thing that may be alleadged for it viz. That such as are possessed with the same error and unknown perhaps will do the like in their own hearts yea will counsel others to do the same That opinion must needs have a very light impression which can so easily be plucked out of mens mindes Have we no reason to suspect that such a recantation is rather for fear of punishment then from the heart Will there not rather much heart-burning by this means arise if the Magistrate shall seem not onely to kill the body but to plot the ruine of the soul Are we indeed so ill furnished with weapons to vanquish errors as to be forced to defend our selves with a lye to put our trust in Recantations feigned through fear But some may say This is not that which we desire to force men to any kinde of Recantation but that an heretick may acknowledg his error not so much with his mouth as with his heart this were excellent indeed if thou couldst bring him to it But what work is there for threats or blandishments in this case These have some power indeed to prevail with the will But thy business is with the Understanding it is changed neither by threats nor flatteries or allurements These cannot cause that what formerly seemed true should now seem false though the party may very much desire to change his judgment Which if it seem a new and wonderful thing to thee I shall not need many Arguments to convince thee of the truth thereof You suppose that a man may change his judgment when he will without any new reason to perswade him to think otherwise I deny that he can so do Make you therefore an experiment upon your self and see if you can for the least space of time draw your self to think otherwise then you do in the question between us so as to make your self beleeve as I do That a man cannot change his judgment when he pleases without question you shall finde that you cannot do it But take heed you mistake not an imagination for a perswasion for nothing hinders but that thou mayest imagine what thou wilt I pray thee likewise to consider again That in case thou fear any thing as for example lest some business may not have a good issue lest something should come to pass much against thy minde so that thou canst not sleep for the trouble thereof thou need but change thine opinion concerning such a thing so as to hope that all will be well and thy trouble shall be at an end O most easie and ready medicine to take away the greatest part of that trouble of minde which men sustain in this life O short Philosophy If whatsoever evil a man shall fear may betide him he may believe if he will that it will not come to pass whatsoever molests a man because he takes it to be evil when as oft-times there is no evil in such a thing he may perswade himself when he pleases that it is not evil But experience shews that none of these things can be done Wherefore if an heretick cannot though he would cast away his error unless reason compel him why trouble you the poor wretch to make him lye and so to offend God yet more and more Verily it cannot be denyed but this was the devils invention whereby he might compel the servants of God for fear of punishments to renounce Christ So that I wonder some men could not perceive as much though otherwise wise enough How much better would it be in case there were no question but that a man might be put to death for matter of Religion to deal with him according to Law whether he recant or recant not neither to invite him so much as by a word to a Recantation any otherwise then that he may be won to the truth and his soul saved which also were to be done not by threatnings allurements or through hope but by the power of Scripture and Demonstrations But as for the authority of the Magistrate herein it is most necessary not to suffer immodesty or delight to rail and reproach to escape unpunished in whomsoever they shall be found If a man must needs hear a reproach let him hear it where he may make answer and judicially defend himself otherwise the life and name of a man his conversation and reputation ought to be out of the danger of any mans tongue or pen. If there be controversies in Religion let them contend on both sides with Scriptures and Arguments but let the Magistrates look to it again and again that they may under a penalty abstain from whatsoever may tend to provoke one another This if they shall do they shall both render the Church very quiet and obtain great praise from all discreet persons And thus much shall suffice to have spoken of that change of judgment concerning the doctrine of Religion in which they that have imbraced errors know indeed that they have altered their judgment but think withal that they have altered to the better onely the adversaries know that it is to the worser part We shall now discourse how it may come to pass that the true doctrine may be adulterated and we never observe so much and by what means we may prevent the same Satans Cabinet Counsel The fourth Book The Argument HOw Doctrine may be corrupted and yet no change appear The needless multiplication of doctrines caused through the curiosity of Teachers is a great means so is the negligence and ignorance of the people trusting too much to their Pastors A double Caution to be used That no change be made in Doctrine when it is pure That in case any change happen it may be discovered An excellent way to keep doctrine pure is to avoid all curious and vain questions to have the scope of Religion always in our eye and to express the doctrine thereof in the phrase of Scripture To discover whether there hath been a change made we must compare the doctrine of our times not with that of our Predecessors and Ancestors but with the doctrine taught in the times of the Apostles Man would always seem more wary and wise then God in expressing the points of Religion The people must frequently be admonished That the care of Religion and reading the Word belongs
being an Apostate in case he be but of his being an Heretick he may wel doubt Few Magistrates able to judg of an Heretick Who ever bears the sword wil be thought to hold the Truth and all that are contrary-minded must be Hereticks The Magistrate greatly concerned to examine what his duty is in this point Wherein the danger lies that if the tares be pluckt up the wheat also should be pluckt up He that cannot judg who is an Heretick cannot determine what Doctrine is Heresie LIB III. HAving divided the Authority whereby false Tenets are opposed into that of the Church and that other of the civill Magistrate we shal first speak of the Church If therefore any one shal teach such things as are not agreeable to the Word of God to the end such Doctrines may not prevail two things the Church may do damn the Doctrine as erroneous and impious and cut off the person from the body of the Church as a withered branch in which proceedings there may be a triple Error committed First if any Doctrine or person be unjustly condemned secondly if they be otherwise condemned then stands with justice thirdly if they be condemned by other persons then they ought to be In the first place any thing is unjustly condemned if it be not false which Error how to avoid may be known by what hath bin said in our first book Again a matter is unjustly condemned if the sentence be more grievous then the matter requires which is in Controversie For all points of true Doctrine are not of one kind Some are so necessary to be known as that all ought to hold them firm and undoubted Others there are which being controverted between Church and Church do not break the unity of Faith Now in case an Error of this kind shal be so sentenced as if it bereft the persons erring of all hope of salvation the judgment wil not be right Here we are to consider whether it make any matter in such Cases to give just or uniust sentence Most men if thou shalt not account every Error to be of the largest size they wil say thou maintainest Errors that thou art a patron of erroneous persons whose godly care to preserve the purity of Doctrine truly I commend notwithstanding I conceive it wil be labour wel bestowed to examine more surely whether in so doing a man be indeed a patronizer of Errors Doubtless concerning any point every man inclines either to the negative or affirmative to the one side or other or he is in doubt concerning that point Now he that doubts if he shal be perswaded that in case of Error there is certain danger of damnation though there be not he wil be dejâ—cted in his mind which dejection is so far from assisting his mind in right judging that it exceedingly hinders the same For every perturbation of mind weakens the iudgment and casts a mist before the Soul and is ever joyned with a distrust of Gods mercy to the party then which what can less conduce to salvatioâ— Yea rather what doth more hinder What a door is thereby opened for Satan to overthrow all the miserable mans hope and cast very many pernicious thoughts into his mind I confess it is possible that a mind so dejected may lift it self up to God and both implore and obtain his assistance for to come to a sure knowledg of the Truth But though this may befall some who can deny but that it may betide some as we said before Touching those that have attained to know the Truth the point being as we make the supposition not of necessity to be known they are not delivered from any very great danger but those that have occasion to distrust the mercy of God towards them their salvation is in very great danger Whence it follows that such as doubt of any point are more harmed in case they shal judg that necessary to be known which is not then if they shal esteem it to be of no greater weight then indeed it is And he which is perswaded of the Truth of such apoint though he take the false part he conceives he shal offend God if he shal not endeavour as much as in him lies to perswade all others of the Truth of that which he conceives himself to understand and therefore he wil endeavour to do it publiquely if he may be suffered at least he cannot but do his best privately which he would never go about or to be sure not with so much earnestness if he did esteem the thing to be of less moment Now for such in whom an Error hath taken root what is there that can so hinder them from being reclaimed as to think that they cannot change their judgment without loss of their Salvation Therefore it is that they dare not hear him that would teach them better And refusing so to do what way is left to reduce them Such as think aright I confess by how much greater weight they conceive any point to be of wil so much the more unwillingly give eare to any that shal call their judgment into question But in case the matter shal be of less consequence then they suppose herein their mistake wil be very hurtful in that they wil separate the parties so erring from the rest of the body of Christ to wit the Church wil contemn them wil hold them accursed and they wil be forced to make a sect by themselves then which nothing can be more destructive For we see what deadly enmity is between sects And hatred is the cause that what ever is affirmed by one sect is apt to be suspected by the opposite sect and to be contradicted And whatsoever hath rashly bin uttered base pride and affectation of Contrariety wil not suffer it to be reâ—racted but wil have it with all pertinacy maintained And when once it is grown into a custom that for every difference of iudgment one man wil condemn another you shal see sects spring out of sects daily which multitude of sects out of a dispair to find the Truth hath occasioned very many men to throw aside all thought of Religion So that if any man do seriously weigh how much the multitude of sects do hinder the course of the Gospel together with the hatreds and dissentions that are between them he wil easily understand that nothing can be more accommodated to the Counsels of Satan then such rash judgments from whence the sects arise It is far better to esteem everything by its iust value and neither to encrease nor diminish the same Which resolution is the more to be prized inasmuch as Christ himself being the only maintainer of pure Doctrine needs not the assistance of any false perswasion to that effect for what defence can a lie afford The matter then thus standing we must in the next place enquire after some way so to ballance and poise the weight and consequence of matters as that we may not err in this
himself hath seduced others shal not have his Error clearly demonstrated unto him he which takes upon him to oppose shal not understand what the seducer affirms and so shal not refute it but what himself by a false suspition hath imagined and shal defend the doctrine received not with such reasons as he ought to do but with such silly ones as rashness and a mind madded with anger could collect which may be easily refelled and the erroneous person shal have cause to think himself not vanquished but with many and grievous injuries after an insolent manner abused such disputes however they may seem intended to resist the Devil yet are they so far from frustrating any of his plots as that nothing could be invented more expedient to promote his designs For they do not fight against Errors but make them invincible they do not pluck them up but spread them abroad they do not destroy but propagate them and that in a wonderful manner They render Errors invincible because when the person erring finds it easie to avoyd the dint of such arguments as are brought to oppose him it gives him great occasion to think that there cannot any thing more strong be objected against him and when he shal see confuted not his own reasons but I know not what other arguments such as he never so much as once thought of he may very wel think the cause to be that not having any thing they could oppose against his arguments and yet desirous to seem to have answered them they have cavilled at and mis-interpreted his words Hereupon he is altogether compelled to conclude with himself that not he but his opposites are in the Error And if there be joyned sharp insolent and injurious language yea and it may be threats too and such like what can he do other but strongly perswade himself that his adversaries being unable to defend their cause by dint of Argument have guarded and fortified themselves meerly with force and insolence And since hatred is bred of injuries what is there that can settle Errors with greater pertinacy And when a man shal leave his posterity heirs both of his Errors and his Hate it comes to pass that they can never be rooted up out of the minds of men Thus is the people divided into Sects which hate one another with deadly feud abstaining from no kind of injuries and taking the more liberty unto themselves in this kind in that men do not observe how in so doing they obey their own passions but think they very much please God whereas in the mean time by this means they incur the wrath of God daily more and more and become enveloped with thicker clouds of darkness Such disputes do spread Errors abroad because the clamours there made the brawls thence arising afford much occasion of discourse to many people and according to the diversity of mens minds and Judgements matters are very variously both reported and resented And it is wont to fall out that if many dislike the Error yet some wil approve of it yea and some wil as much disapprove of the means used to resist the Error viz. insolence reproaches and the like as of the Error it self and wil thereupon begin less to like of those that set themselves to oppose the Error whence it may come to pass that they may the more easily admit some other Error afterwards He that likes the Error can hardly refrain in his narrations to favour that part he approves so as to add leave out change many passages at his pleasure and thus by a kind of Contagion the evil is spread far and near In a word by controversies ill-managed errors are propagated and bred divers ways For first he that opposes himself against an Error can hardly avoid but that he himself shal fall into some Error either because as the Proverb speaks while he shuns Charybdis he slips into Scylla ignorant to keep the mean as that man should do who in opposing those that attribute all to the Word of God and the reading thereof not marking the necessity of the Spirit of God to be their guide and interpreter to the right understanding should endeavour to reduce the minds of such men to the meer inspirations of the holy Ghost whereas the spirit is so far to be looked at as that the written word be not contemned and lose its dignity as if it were a matter of humane invention and not of divine tradition or because he wil grant somewhat to the Adversary not to be granted which some of the ancient Fathers peradventure did who in such a manner resisted the Philosophers as that they defiled the purity of Christian tenets with Philosophical ratiocinations Likewise it may fall out that whiles thou thinkest to express that Doctrine which thou holdest for truth with more significant and clear expressions then it is in Scripture expressed and better to shun occasion of cavil for the wit of man wil ever be more wary and wiser then God thou wilt use such words or forms of expression as from whence another less true and godly tenet may sometimes be collected Furthermore whereas on both sides they are wont to produce many allegations each for his own judgment as the case requires if it fall out that striving shal sharpen and inflame their minds you shal soon see on both sides many matters affirmed and denied which in a calm mood they would never have affirmed or denied as the Poet spake Furor arma ministrat Rage weapons doth afford Every dart accidentally offered is caught hold on fury suffers not a man to mark what an one it is and what ever hath rashly scap't a man especially in the interim of the dispute Pride wil have it ratified and firm and thereupon new controversies arise and new errors in like manner without end Yea it is seen that by disputes both the matters themselves and mens wits are confounded truth is lost and many are brought to that pass as to perswade themselves that nothing can be certainly concluded and so to cast away all care of Religion Yea and it seems impossible to fall out but that whiles men are perpetually wrangling about some one point of Religion they wil slight and forget many others and they perhaps of the chiefest note and it wil grow to a custome that a godly man shal be distinguished from an ungodly by this one thing be his life what it wil in that he seems to abhor and exceedingly loath that Doctrine which in some one or two points is accounted heretical O that we could but see at one view how many and how great overthrows Sathan hath given to the Kingdom of Christ what desolations he hath made by this one weapon of Controversies he must be a man of iron that could chuse to weep Nor do I now complain of those fanatical spirits the emissaries of Sathan who never cease sowing curious vaine and impious controversies for from them what other could a
quiet and composed minds hear such as differ from them and diligently examine the force of their Reasons as those that whatsoever they think of themselves may possibly be in an Error it wil fall out that the greater part wil be withdrawn from their Errors and that therefore it is that they abide so obstinate in them because they cannot so much as suspect any Error so that whosoever would teach contrary to their judgment they judg him to be presently suppressed not once having his cause heard Who sees not therefore that it is good advice for such men not presently to reject what ever they hear different from their own perswasions but to pause a while and think every man with himself to me indeed such things seem true which I have hitherto with the multitude beleeved but what if that befall me which betides very many that I should most err in that whereof I seem to be most certain Why may I not heare the man first why should I not weigh what he saies Pauls precept is Despise not Prophesies prove all things hold fast that which is good 1 Thes 5. Now I would very fain know of thee who ever thou art that certainly thinkest thy self free from all Error do I say thinkest yea rather who seest and feelest as much which way thinkest thou may persons erring be brought to suspect that they are in an Error that so they may be more attentive to such as would deal with them I suppose thou wilt grant by this Reason that very many men do err and they not only of the unlearned vulgar sort but very learned persons which the almost infinite number of Controversies agitated amongst them witness so that while they think themselves to be undoubtedly in the right they may be notwithstanding involved in greatest Errors that they are wise who remembring that they are men and may be deceived as soon as any others though they know not themselves to erre yet as being in a possibility of Error do give diligent eare to such as profess to teach them better and that so as not to allow of any thing without diligent search and imploring the help of Cod to that effect Go to then with whom wouldst thou that this Reason and instance should be of force with them that think aright I suppose thou wilt not say so but with them that erre But this is that I would know viz. how thou canst make this Reason more prevalent with those that err then with such as err not canst thou do it by alleadging that they are in an error they cannot think it possible that they should err and that is it which the Reason produced aimes at to bring them into some suspition of Error if so be then that those who err do think themselves to be as far from Error as they that think aright yea verily for the most part are more confident of the two for a fool as the wise mean speaks is delighted with his own reasonings but a wise man asks counsel truly I can see no other way in case Error be in the Church to make it to be acknowledged then to make this general conclusion that forasmuch as it is a property of Mankind to err no one person that is but a meer man ought to be so confident as to perswade himself he cannot err and that what ever come into Controversie he should but in vain give eare to what any man shal say concerning the same But we must not wilt thou say doubt in the Doctrine of Religion but know assuredly what to hold So say I too and therefore this knot is very hard to unty To resist the Truth and not to acknowledg and reject an Error if there be any that can make it appear is a very great evil But impossible it is that he which errs should acknowledg his Error before he come to think it possible that he may err whereby he should be content to give eare to any that would convince him and yet a man must not waver in the Doctrine of Religion which way now and by what thrid shal we get out of such an intricate labyrinth Let us not despair yet we must and wil find a way out Thus much we have concluded upon that truth is never to be opposed and that he which errs whiles he is in an Error cannot understand he errs likewise that it hinders much the acknowledgment of the truth for any one to perswade himself strongly that he is in no Error and that the right way and first step to the acknowledgment of an Error is to have a suspition thereof Shal we then allow a perpetual hesitation in matters of Faith That we wil not neither I conceive it rather our duty to endeavour to attain to the most certain knowledg that may be had What other course shal we take For as much as a man may concerning a point be either wel perswaded believing as the thing is or ill beleeving otherwise then the thing is and for as much as he that is wel perswaded may be either perfectly perswaded which befals him that hath obtained a certain and clear knowledg or imperfectly perswaded which is seen in them who imbrace the truth indeed but are led only by opinion not being able to give a sure reason why they so think certain it is that man who hath so sure a knowledg as to be able to render true constant and infallible causes of his judgment cannot be brought to doubt or to be seduced concerning the point Whence it follows that whatever coūsel you cā give him that he suspect himself of error it can noway hinder him in respect of those things wherof he hath such knowledg much less can it hurt him that is tainted with ill opinions For he that so errs as to suspect himself of error doth not now altogether err but inclines partly to error partly to truth It remains then that we consider what we may think of such as imbracing true opinions have not however attained to the perfect science of the things themselves In such persons truly suspition of error is no other then a certain approach to error which in it self we cannot but judg naught howbeit for a man falsly to arrogate unto himself knowledg when he hath only an opinion is an error Now as error cannot be good so it is an evil thing to be in danger of any pernicious error But he that is led by opinions only and is not sure of what he holds may possibly be led into error He is then in danger lest it may so fal out whereas the best way is to be free from all danger Wherupon like a◠though all pain be reckoned among evils yet if it be undergone for the removing of some grievous disease it appears in the notion of a great good so opinion being an infirm feeble knowledg and if not a disease yet a constitution of the mind neer approaching to a
all means possible that whatever his judgment be concerning Religion he would examine particularly by what Reasons he hath bin moved to be so perswaded with what diligence with what assurance of the spirits assistance he hath searched the Scriptures with what circumspection and prudence he hath withdrawn his eyes from whatever is neither God nor his Word also with what confidence he hath powred forth his praiers to God in a word how far he is assured of whatever he holds How be it when thou shalt have done all this with as much care as possible thou canst modesty being always pleasing to God and he of such a nature as that he cannot despise the prayers of that man who begs a daily encrease of the certainty of his faith if yet somewhat appearing new and therefore false and impious shal wound thine eares as yet I conceive it the best way that before thou oppose thou pause a while and think with thy self again and again what assurance thou hast that such a speech is false and impious and that again thou wrastle with God by most fervent prayers that if thou beest in the right he would confirm thee therein more and more if humane frailty have overtaken thee that he would open thine eyes and give thee so much light as to acknowledg and renounce thine Error For if we who are evil as our Lord said are so affected that we give good things to our children so as when they ask bread we give them not a stone nor a serpent when they ask a fish What shal we think of our heavenly Father Shal we think that he while we never leave asking of him the certainty of the truth being enflamed with a desire of obeying his wil and fearing lest by Error we should wage War against the Truth shal we I say think that in stead of assurance of the truth he wil give us errors in stead of light he wil send us darkness How far were this both from his infinite goodness and his most faithful promises Again since as we have said we can be assured of nothing unless we be taught of God neither can we in our prayers limit God a time within which he should teach us though we have turned away our sight from all things besides God though we have placed all our confidence in God it may notwithstanding come to pass that we are not as yet taught by God but that he is about to teach us by him whom we account to be a seducer for if he had already taught us he would have added so much light and certainty that we should have had no reason to doubt only let us beware lest Satan put a trick upon us we must remember what a crafty fox he is how old an impostor how plausibly to use the Apostles phrase he can deceive in the person of an Angel of light and let us make sure account that no body can beware of him too much Let us abandon that same expression it s an old Error frequently confuted long since confuted what if so be the point have been hitherto ill-maintained what if hitherto Satan hath playd the part of Opposer and Maintainer himself alone But be it so suppose it to be an Error if it be but to draw the persons erring by thine example unto that same gentleness and readiness to hear which is requisite that they may not be obstinate towards such as would inform them be thou thy self so gentle as first to hear and understand before thou condemn them If it be but that they may not have reason to complain that their cause hath been condemned before it was heard What wil the Truth become less apparent by the often discussion and not rather every day more certain clear Nothing verily is more easie then to begin a contention but when it is once begun it is far more hard to end it So that Solomon spake to this purpose most fitly when he compared the beginner of strife to him that opens a way to water suppose collected into some great and vast lake for at first indeed the matter may seem smal contemptible but the water makes it self a larger deeper passage grows stronger and stronger bears away the banks lays wast all it meets with eats it self channels covers the fields with sand and mud plucks trees up by the roots throws down buildings and makes a rueful spectacle where ever it comes just so from smal and contemptible beginnings of Controversie strife we see at last the whole world filled with dissentions calumnies and clamors So that he which conceives not himself bound to shun the moving of a controversie as being one of the greatest evils unless he be meerly compelled thereunto shews himself to be either a man of no judgment or one that cares not a rush for the Churches welfare Wherefore though it be apparent that it is a false Tenet which is spread abroad yet before thou begin to contend in the least measure about it thou must consider of what moment and weight the thing is For concerning vain questions we have a command of Paul not to refute whatever shal be falsly asserted but to avoyd the questions themselves So that I conceive our duty only is to endeavor that mens minds may be diverted from such curious unprofitable questions not so much in regard they may be false but rather lest they vainly consume pretious time besides that it often fals out that while men strive about the slightest matter that can be while mens wits are disturbed by the heat of contention such things may be rashly alledged on both sides as being of greater weight may not a little impair the purity of Doctrin Add herunto that men fal as soon to reproaching railing scolding when they contend about a tale of Robinhood as when the controversie is concerning the most weighty subject which are faults that a Christian heart ought exceedingly to abhor But here you wil say is the great difficulty the great labor to distinguish between questions unprofitable and questions that contain matter of damnable Error For whatever a man shal pitch his mind upon presently Satan endeavors to perswade him that it is a weighty point so that unless he know assuredly what to hold he cannot assure himself of any hope of salvation Verily this is my judgment that he who not out of vain curiosity or ambition to become a subtile disputant in matters divine but out of true piety towards God and an earnest desire of his own salvation is exercised in the reading of the Word of God wil easily know what questions are foolish vain and which are unworthy to be handled But for as much as many are much to seek in this point not without the Churches great detriment it wil not be impertinent to make enquiry after some sure way whereby a man may without mistake discern the one sort of questions from the other This then is past peradventure if
there be some one thing at which as the mark and end all the Doctrine of Christianity doth aim whatever thing being known conduceth nothing to the attainment of that end all questioning about that thing wil be vain Wherefore it concerns us to see if there be any such end what it is and what those things be which may conduce thereunto Now John testifies that such an end there is and what it is in these words Many other signs also Jesus did which are not contained in this Book but these are written that ye may beleeve that Jesus is the Messiah the Son of God and that beleeving ye may obtain life by him By which words we are plainly taught that the end scope of Christian Doctrine is eternal life whereupon it follows that whatsoever may be of any use for the attaining of eternal life that thing may be accounted profitable to be known and whatsoever can confer nothing to that end ought not to be regarded How now may some man say not a word of the honor and glory of God in this consideration I answer whatsoever things make for the glory of God without doubt the knowledg of all such things further our salvation neither is the glory of God in any thing more manifested then in the salvation of man If so be then there be any thing that we are obliged to do to the end we may attain eternal life for as much as we cannot do that thing unless we shal understand that it is our duty so to do the same it is necessary that we know so much And for as much as God hath made a Law which who so keeps not exactly hath imposed upon him the punishment of eternal destruction which Law because a man cannot keep and there is some other thing which if he do he shall notwithstanding obtain salvation he ought to understand both that he cannot satisfie the Law and what that other thing is which if he shal do wil be a means to save him And seeing that same other thing is if he shal be perswaded that the Son of God being made man satisfied his Father in respect of the punishment due unto his sins and that he is by his blood made clean from all the defilement of sin howbeit holiness of life and innocency of conversation is required not that in confidence thereof we should promise our selves salvation but that our manners may be such as becomes the children and servants of God bought with so great a price These things I say being so it is necessary both that a man know the promises which are made concerning Christ and that he be not ignorant wherein holiness and innocency of life and conversation do consist And for as much as there are many things which may either induce us to place all hope of our salvation in Christ and according to our power to keep the commands of God or hinder us from so doing and delay us it is very profitable to know what those things are which may either help or hinder Now we are perswaded to place all our confidence in God and enflamed to love him by which love we are drawn to endeavor obedience to his Commandments by the knowledg of his nature not as Philosophers desire to know it that they may subtilly argue about it but so as to understand how he is beyond all conceit wise good gentle merciful how exact and punctual he is in keeping his promises That his nature is such his works witness viz. The Creation of the world and all things therein contained but especially examples of his care for such as have worshipped him with a pious and holy fear how he hath helped them in times of exigency how he is wont to defend them from the lying in wait of the Devil and the world also how great and grievous sinners he hath upon their repentance comforted and saved how great a hater nevertheless of sin he is wont to shew himself and the like To the knowledg of his nature the remembrance of his frequently repeated promises being joyned doth exceedingly confirm and strengthen faith and forcibly puts men upon a serious resolution of amendment of life Hereunto may be added the explication of Prophesies especially such as concern the present times which being a clear testimony of the providence of God make exceedingly to the confirmation of mens minds Whatsoever matters of this nature are very profitable to be known and discoursed of by all men at home and abroad in private and in publick And because we can perform none of those things lately mentioned unless assisted by the help and spirit of God and God wil have us ask this spirit and assistance of him we must both know that God would have us so to do and keep in mind the promises that he wil give us these things upon our asking in a word we must in no case be ignorant in what manner we ought to call upon God and how we ought to render to him thanks for benefits received Contrariwise we shal be much hindred concerning the premises if we shal judg otherwise concerning the nature of God concerning his wil and whatever may come to pass then his Word directs us A great hinderance too is the corruption of our nature which very forcibly withdraws our mind and thoughts yea ravishes us to contrary intentions Whereupon we being necessitated to wage perpetual war with our inbred pravity to the end we may render our nature subject to the divine wil it is in like manner very necessary that we know our natural sinfulness and whatever the Scripture shews us for the mitigation and subduing thereof And for as much as it is not sufficient that a man care for himself alone but every man is bound according to the measure of the spirit he hath received and the course of life whereunto he is called to seek the good of the whole Church not only of the Members thereof now living but likewise of posterity whatsoever is of that tendency as to make any doctrine profitable to life hard to be attained or may give occasion either to forsake or lightly to esteem the same it is of great consequence that we be not ignorant thereof And in as much as the Scriptures admonish us that we have a great and most cunning adversary who is named from his enmity who without ceasing plots against us whereby to ruin us and divert us from God who can doubt but that it wil be very profitable wel to understand his arts and by what wis om they are to be avoyded in a word no doctrin can be profitable unless it have some use if it consist only in speculation tend to no aâ—tion it is to be accounted vain and foolish Yea verily every doctrine that may any wise refer to the attainment of salvation is not to be counted profitable to as that it should be requisite to hanâ— e 〈◊〉 cuâ—â—â—usly oâ— diffeâ—â—â—ce â—â—ne â—hat 〈…〉 muâ—â—
labor to assure our selvs what to hold but this condition must be adjoyned that there be not other points that wil easily supply the defect thereof That this is so appears because it being necessary that we should beleeve that Jesus is the Messiah the Savior foretold by the Prophets and to this end all the miracles which he did were directed that thereby it might be known who he was yet were they not all committed to writing but such and so many as were sufficient that men might readily know who he was So that if so be any should content that our Lord wrought some miracle not mentioned in those books which we have of his life and doings it would not be worth the while to search out the truth of that matter or to make Controversie thereabout forasmuch as though it should be found to be true there could be no other profit reap'd thereby but that Jesus should be prov'd to come from God and to be the man he pretended himself to be which thing many other miracles do so fully witness which are out of question that greater certainty cannot be desired on the contrary though we had no assurance of any such miracle the Authority of other miracles recorded in Scripture by the holy pen-men thereof is not a jot thereby diminished Whereby it would come to pass that whether we shal beleeve that miracle or beleeve it not we should neither win nor lose by the means And forasmuch as in case Christian Doctrine should seem to contain any absurdity or to maintain contradictions it would hinder those that are unconverted from imbracing the same whatever tends to the removing of such absurdities and to reconcile such contradictions cannot but be profitable Unless happily such reconciliations cannot be accomplished without great stirs Controversies and dissentions By such like ways then it seems easy to know profitable questions from vain and unprofitable provided that mens judgments be not before hand disturbed with partiality and the heat of contention and before they have already begun to contend about the point in question as about some weighty matter but when men are once bewitched as it were with the opinion hereof their inbred pride hatred indignation custome in Error and Sathan suffer not their judgment to execute its office Who amongst us at this day doth not admire that the ancient professors of Christianity did contend with such heat and earnestness of mind about the day on which Easter as they call it was to be celebrated and about other matters of very light concernment whereas in those times they were thought very weighty points we looking upon them with unbiassed judgments plainly perceive what an unworthy thing it was for the Church of God to be divided into sects upon so slight occasions My advise therefore is that as soon as thou shalt perceive somewhat untrue to be taught before thou set thy self to contradict it thou consider if it be not a matter of little or no weight and if it be that thou make no contention about it or according to that opportunity which the time place thine own person and his thou shalt deal with may afford that thou do only exhort the man to leave such speculations and apply himself to more weighty matters and I would have thee do it as artificially as may be so as not to put him into any passion But the true way of bringing men from vain questions is this if those whose place it is either to teach the people or to read divinity in the Schools and those that apply themselves to write omitting curious questions and abandoning vain ostentation of wit would insist upon and urge only such points as tend to the confirmation of faith to the exptirpation of vice to instil the fear of God cherish piety comfort the afflicted and keep them from desperation to keep such as would be counted Christian brethren in brotherly love with a sweet harmony of affections and the like Neither are these Subjects such as are to be slighted for their commoness For in the first place though the heads themselves of such Doctrine are not very many yet they are of very large extent and then all weary somness in the auditor may be taken away by the variety of handling them especially if the preachers of the Gospel shal mark what Doctrines at every season the people most stand in need of As in case they be lift up by prosperity and give the reyn to luxury let them fear them by the prophetical threatnings and so reduce them into order If affliction lye heavy upon them let them be comforted If they languish with sluggishness let them be stirred up to honest imployments If they seem too intent upon the world let them be admonished of the shortness of this life and diverted from too much care for worldly things and thus let them insist upon such Doctrines as are most suitable to every season Neither see I cause why we should count those arguments too common which can never sufficiently be imprinted in our minds So that time wil always be wanting for such arguments so far shal we be from wanting matter to take up the time though we keep within the bounds prescribed Now this is that which may often give occasion to start vain questions if in expounding the holy Scriptures to the people a man shal as it were make a Law to himself to dwel long upon every word without distinction which seems now to be the common practise For when they cannot always find profitable matter to discourse of they are forced to give way to curiosity Such men there be haply who being ful of matter and abundant in wit and therefore able to take an occasion of discoursing upon what Subject they please from any text or word may handle largely any Scripture without just cause of reprehension But this is not every mans Lot as it is in the Proverb Non omnibus datū est adire Corinthum They that are not so wel stored shal do much more discreetly if they wil suit their endeavors to their abilities Where many things profitable to be heard suggest themselves let them insist long if the text afford not many things let them not be ashamed to put a little shoo on a little foot and to proceed in their explication the faster For what matters it if having made twenty Sermons upon some one Chapter of the Gospel thou shalt go over the next in one discourse The holy Ghost would not teach all things in every place but one in one place another in another Neither let they knowledg be all powred forth upon one place though thou mightest do it handsomely enough much less be thou so absurd and unreasonable as to desire rather to descend to foolish commentations or to inculcate such matters as all thy auditors eares are already ful of then to be thought not to have made many Sermons upon the explication of every word Some offend
better in other things haply he may seem to preferr thee before himself but he doth not do it indeed and in Truth for if each of you shal reckon up his opinions in such points wherein you shal both agree he wil approve his own judgment as much as thine and in such wherein he shal differ from thee he wil questionless preferr his own judgment before thine and so wil take himself to be the wiser of the two This is most manifest in our passing of our judgment concerning writers For so far thou wilt praise any Author as he shal satisfie thy judgment and so far thou wilt dislike him as he shal not content thee so that every mans rule whereby he measures what is right or wrong is his own judgment Which being so who ever the Controversie be with suppose he be the most ignorant fellow in the world and suppose thou takest thy self to be one that can speak Oracles look how ill thou canst bear it to be contemned by him as ill wil he take it to be contemned by thee and peradventure he will take it so much the worse by how much he hath bin less ingenuously brought up Shal I tel thee in a word how thou oughtest to deal with him so as to avoid bitterness Imagine the case to be quite contrary suppose him to be such an one as thou takest thy self to be thy self to be such as thou deemest him and then look what behaviour of thine would become each of you if the case so stood endeavour with all thy might to express If thou shalt not thus do a thousand to one thou shalt not avoid insolently to carry thy self Whosoever shal daily meditate of these things and carefully exercise his mind in the practise of them he doubtless if I am not mistaken shal become an excellent disputant very fit by way of reasoning to resist the growth of Errors Of which way of resistance by Reason seeing we have sufficiently treated we are in the next place to speak of Authority Satans Cabinet Counsel The Third Book The Argument WHat Course a Church of Christ may take to resist the spreading of false Doctrine Great care to be had no person or Doctrine be unjustly condemned Smal Errors ought not to be so severely censured as greater Most men account him a patron of Errors that wil not make a Mountain of a Mole-hill Of what ill Consequence it is to account a point to be fundamental and necessary to be known to salvation when it is not such The truth of a point one thing the weight and consequence thereof another Scriptures asserting the truth do not consequently assert the weight of a point The Scriptures can only declare the weight of a point and how we are to improve them to that end Whether in case it appear that such or such a thing must needs be so or so it follow that that thing must needs be known to salvation In Case it appear from Scripture that a Point ought of necessity be known to salvation whether are all truths following therefrom of like necessity to be known and acknowledged A man may firmly hold a position and deny such things as necessarily follow therefrom so long as be shal not discover the necessity of such Consequences What Points are in the Scriptures held forth as of necessity to be known and believed to salvation Men may be saved though they mis-understand some points and hold some Errors It is very remarkable that our Lord gave the tokens of his body and blood to his Disciples when as yet they knew not that his Kingdom was a spiritual Kingdom nor yet that the Gentiles should be saved by him and that in a peculiar sort before the Jews An enumeration of such points as the Scriptures account needful to be known and believed to salvation and of such as to the ignorance whereof damnation is threatned What points they be which following from the former by way of consequence are like wise needful to be known In all other differences we are to hold a brotherly peace and union It is needless and endless to reckon up such points as are not necessarily to be known to salvation To believe a point is not to repeat the words but to embrace the sense of them Of what moment that Controversie is between the Lutherans and Calvinists as they are termed about the presence of Christs body in the Sacrament whether the erring party err damnably Before we condemn any man for an Error we must be very wel assured that it is such an Error as deprives of salvation Many points held necessary to be known to salvation which cannot by any Text of Scripture beproved to be such What did the believing thief the Eunuch baptized by Philip the harlot that washed our Lords feet the Palsied person that was healed know and believe concerning Christ A person that errs damnably and cannot be reclaimed ought to be excluded a Christian Congregation whether he promise not to seduce or do not so promise He that errs in a point not fundamental if after admonition he cease not by spreading his Error to trouble the Church he ought to be cast out He that errs an Error not damnable and makes no stirr by seducing must be retained in Communion All means must be used to reduce a person that errs fundamentally before he be cut off from Communion of the Church Care must be taken that they Arrogate not unto themselves the judgment of any doctrine or person to whom it belongs not in such cases to judg It belongs to the whale Church to judg in such a Case What the Magistrate may do to resist Errors When it is once grown in use to determine Controversies by the sword what ever Doctrine comes to be the Doctrine of the major part and stronger side who ever shal oppose the same wil be counted an Heretick and all his Arguments and Scriptures produced shal be answered by none but the Hangman Better never any Heretick be punished by the sword then such a door set open to the bloodshed of professors of the Truth Putting Hereticks to death in stead of suppressing oft times encreases them Pastors are thereby made lazy and unlearned and to lose the use of their spiritual weapons Afflicting Hereticks hardens them in their Errors because afflicting is the portion of those that profess the Truth Of putting a seducer to death under the old Testament and of the beating down the City that falls to Idolatry Of the reason of that Law that all Israel may fear and do no more so The Parable of the Tares discussed It cannot be understood of Adulterers Thieves and such like offenders It must be understood of false Teachers We cannot justifie the breach of a manifest Vniversal Law against bloodshed by our interpretations of an obscure particular Command Great difference between an Heretick and an Apostate from the true God and true Religion The Magistrate cannot doubt of a mans
ought to be cast out of the Congregation For such an one exceedingly offends the brethren and though the matter be not of the greatest weight it followes not that the errour is not pernicious for look how one point of knowledge springs from another even so do errours arise of errours and what is there wherein the glory of God is concerned that ought not to be of great moment But if so be he seduce not others so long as he holds those points that are necessary to salvation he may be yet in the number of brethren What if they shal cut him off They shall as much as in them lyes cut a living member from the body of Christ which were very unjust neither is there any precept of God commanding such a thing And so much of a just and unjust judgment Now let us consider for our orderly and just proceeding thereto what we ought to do and what to avoid For the matter of tenets if some very pernicious errours arise there is nothing hinders but that we may forthwith make head against it and teach the people what a doctrine it is that they may take heed of it But the man is not to be cast out untill such time as according to the rule of the Gospell all courses have been tried to reclaime him and if we are forced to proceed to an ejection we must be carefull that nothing be done whereby any hinderance may arise to the Church Now it is very clear that by how much the greater ill-will any man shall bear towards the Church by so much the more may the Church look to be molested by him that he will more desperately and eagerly plot against her privily seducing al he can and by calumnies endevouring to render the Church hatefull and the like Now by how much the more sharply any man is dealt with by so much the more will he be moved against the Church In consideration whereof my judgment is that the Heretique shall in such sort be condemned as that the cause of his condemnation being simply signified no kind of reproach be used and that this be done with intimation rather of grief then of any anger or hatred in such manner as the judgment may be full of gravity but void of all passion and sharpnesse But we have before spoken when we handled the duty of a private man that which is sutable to the present occasion have shewed how alwayes more hurt then good comes by sharp language In a word we must take heed lest those men arrogate unto themselves to judge either of the doctrine or of the man unto whom it does not appertain For doubtlesse it belongs not to any private person nor yet to two or three but to the whole Church Let two or three Prophets speak sayes the Apostle and let the rest judge And this is the course the Church ought to take for the resisting the growth of errours We are now to speak of the Magistrates duty An argument if there be any full of controversie intricate and of very great concernment Such as cannot away with the doctrine received be their judgment better or be it worse find themselves exceedingly grieved that they may not be suffered for to speak their minds On the other side those whose doctrine both the Magistrates and people approve and also esteem of their authority since they cannot without great grief nor many times without some diminishment of their reputation heare controversies daily raised unto such the use of the sword cannot but seem very necessary to represse such as will not rest content with the doctrine generally received and it is commonly seen that as any thing is subservient unto the interest of any persons such persons are soon perswaded that that thing is justly put in practise Wherefore since that a mans own commodity comming into consideration permits him not to judge so iustly as is fit our thoughts must by all means possible be withdrawn from such considerations and if this be hard to be done the next hereunto is that in thought at least every one change his own condition and make himself of the other part and so set himself to consider both what may be most convenient to be done and what is most agreeable to the Law of God If therefore liberty or tolleration seem like to be convenient for thee imagine thy self to be in his condition who allowes of the doctrine received and would have it preserved and that there are certain men who daily vex thee men of no judgment of no spirit void of shame making a perpetual noise and excessively troublesome Taylors Fisher-men Butchers Cookes silly women confidently argue about the chief heads of Religion meddle with every thing call all into question deceive the simple breed innumerable scandals Doubtlesse if thou shalt as we have said imagine thy self to be in such a condition a thousand to one but thou wilt conceive that it is absolutely necessary to bridle so great licentiousnesse But if thou shalt afterwards cast thine eye upon such places of Scripture as are commonly believed to arme the Magistrate against corrupters of religion haply thou wilt much more be enclined so to think to judge that such a course wil be very profitable He which conceives the doctrine commonly received to be true and sincere and judges that it were wisely done for the preservation thereof to put hereticks to death let him think with himself that it may notwithstanding come to passe that by little and little while the pastours slumber the doctrine may be corrupted and the Church degenerate from her ancient piety For as soon as the Church obtains some short peace and tranquillity discipline is slackened by little and little piety growes cold and a wonderfull forgetfulness of God and his Law creeps into the minds of men which ingratitude since God cannot let go unpunished he withdrawes his Spirit and gives freer scope unto seducers by whose craft and subtilty it comes to passe that though the same doctrine seem to remain yet it is by degrees changed and corrupted now where it is grown into an use to decide controversies in Religion by the sword whatsoever doctrine in time to come shall be commonly received whosoever shall oppose that doctrine be it right or wrong he shall be accounted an heretick and what ever texts of Scripture or arguments he shall alleage for himself the hangman must be the only man that shall answer all And so it will come to passe that look what formerly was a just severity will be turned into a monstrous and horrible cruelty Imagine thy self therefore to have fallen into those times wherein it is unlawful for such as think aright to oppose such errors as are commonly received and if they shall dare so much as to mutter in the least degree the sword the gallowes the faggot shall be at their heels No place is allowed to plead their cause and it shall come into thy
mind that such great tyranny had its originall from the punishing of such as were hereticks indeed verily thou wouldst rather wish that no heretick had ever been punished then that such tyranny should come into use It is llkewise to be considered how little oft-times the successe of putting hereticks to death answers the expectation of such as practise it For when a man understands that he cannot safely publish his opinion he will not discover the same at all times in all places or to every one he meets with but he will first try how they are affected he will by little and little insinuate himself and if he find himself mistaken in the party he will make triall else-where But if he sees that eare is given to what he sayes he wil make his progresse by degrees until he be wholly possessed of the parties mind and thus wil he practise with a second and a third and such as shal he make companions of his error those commonly he will make his partners in spreading the same abroad corrupting others and propagating the sect so that before the Magistrate shall come to hear that one is seduced sometimes a great part of the people is mis-led and the wound become almost incurable And since these things are done privately not so much as those that are over the Crhurch can use the remedies proper to them viz. the power of the Word for though they hear some rumours yet can they not distinctly understand what is done what Arts the seducers use with what arguments they presse their tenets no man can relate For such as ean neither will nor dare they that would know them not and for the most part relate only their own suspicions or fictions and suppose the Pastors have some grounds to proceed upon forasmuch as they are exceedingly hated by those whom they should heal and lookt upon as tyrants all their labour is lost especially if as is commonly seen sharp language and reproaches shall be added Moreover when Pastors shall place their hope of prsereving their doctrine and resisting heretiques by the sword and shall not see any great need of learning to that intent they addict themselves to idlenesse and so by degrees a generall ignorance followeth so that Satan may afterwards easily obtrude any superstitions and errours Neither is it lightly to be passed over that forasmuch as it is commonly the lot of godly persons to suffer persecutions reproaches and afflictions for religions sake hereby as by a most manifest token especially if with a couragious and cheerfull mind they undergo them and their conversation be unblameable they do exceedingly justifie their cause with simple people whiles on the contrary part those from whom they suffer such things can hardly avoid the imputation of great injustice and tyrannicall cruelty By which means it comes to passe that many are daily exasperated confirmed in errour and rendred wholly incurable For we have too many examples before our eyes which if any man shall diligently weigh verily he will find small cause much to desire the use of the sword for the extirpatioh of heresies In a word that thy judgment may be pure and sincere thou must bring thy self to such a passe as not to desire it may be so rather then so but this alone which way soever the matter fall which side soever prevaile that such tenets may be established as are agreeable with Gods Word and make for his glory Certain it is that seducers were by the old Law punished with death and in case any City should be drawn from the right worship of God to worship idols the Law commanded that that City should be destroyed and burnt up never to be built again But some suppose that Law was of force only untill Christ and that it ought not to take place under the New Testament the ground of their conjecture being this that the Israelitish nation was a type of the Christian Church and that they had promises of earthly sensible things such as were of use in this life and that their sacrifices were of the same strain and in a word all their services which neverthelesse did signifie things invisible appertaining to eternall life Which being so they collect that that corporall punishment was likewise a type of eternall damnation and that therefore this law with all others ordained to figure out things to come had an end at the comming of Christ Which conjecture seems to me so probable that I should not tell how to reject it did not the reason in the Law set down oppose the same For thus it is in the Law that all Israel hearing may fear and do no more so for the future Which reason truly is alwayes of force so that though the Law it self be expired yet the Magistrate hath as much authority to make another to the same purpose as he hath authority to make lawes against murderers adulterers and other criminall offenders Howbeit the words of our Lord seem to perswade the contrary where he propounds the parable of the tares For to the servants demanding whether they should go and pluck up the tares the housholder is said to have answered that they should not go lest gathering the tares they should pluck up the Wheat Which place whiles some interpret one way and some another we may perceive how great a difference there is between gathering of testimonies of Scripture to establish an opinion which a man hath already fixed in his mind and to make use of them meerly for the clearing of the truth Now the way to find out the truth were if when thou hast found an exposition which seems to make for thy opinion thou shouldest assume the person of the party dissenting and diligently consider what might be said against it and not presently applaud thy self in thine own exposition Hence it would come to passe that those which dissent should not alwayes dissent but such as erre would at last give way to them that judge aright But for the most part we care more for Victory then Truth And forasmuch as the solution of the question in hand seems wholly to consist in the exposition of this text we must beware again and again lest interest blind our eyes and that we bestow not lesse time and study in the examination thereof then the cause requires That exposition truly which those give which say that Christ doth not here exclude all rigour but that he shews such evils are to be suffered which cannot without some great mischief be corrected seems not sutable to the words of the Housholder for he doth not say Come on go your wayes and do it but take heed lest with the tares you pluck up the Wheat but he absolutely forbids them to medle in the businesse and wills that both the tares and the wheat should grow untill the harvest Whence it appears that great violence is offred to the words by such an exposition Neither do they seem to expound those words
more fitly who affirme that they are to be understood of the universall purging of the Church which our Lord would have deferred till the day of Judgment not forbidding in the mean time the purging of particular Churches Neither do I think it requisite we make any long enquiry how truly the servants of the Housholder are said to mean the Angels let us rather with attentive minds consider what â—t is which is forbidden Hence we shall soon see who they are that are forbidden Clear it is that the Wheat is the godly the tares the ungodly but whether all kind of ungodly persons or some one sort of them we shall see hereafter And the field is the world To take therefore the tares out of the field is to kill the ungodly to pat them out of the number of those that live in this world But our Lord forbids that and would have them grow with the Wheat untill the time of harvest and not separated till then But thou wilt say he forbids the purging and clensing of the whole field but not of particular Churches Suppose then that men shall be so diligent in clensing particular Churches that none shall remain uncleansed will not the whole become by that couâ—se cleansed But thou denyest that that can be done yet suppose it may thou must of necessity grant that when every particular Church shall be clensed the whole Church will be likewise pure which being done before Harvest time would crosse the wiâ—l of the Lord forasmuch as look what he would not have done before Harvest he wils as little that it should be done by men as by Angels Now if so be any Magistrate shall go about to clense not the whole Church which is not in his power but that which he can what other thing shall he do but as much as in him lyes resist the will of the Lord And truly how small soever the part clensed shall be it will be a part of the whole so that he that shall do herein what he shal be able it may well be said that if he might have had his will the whole should have been purged By all which it appears that this exposition cannot be allowed Others would have it that it is only forbidden to pluck up the tares by war But forasmuch as the words do as well expresse that way of plucking up the tares when a particular person is censured and put to death as that of plucking them up by war he that would have the words of the Householder to be understood only of the former bringing no sure reason why he so interprets ought to be accounted a guesser rather then an expounder For the words are to be taken according to their evident sense unlesse some sufficient reason do disswade so as if they be generall we must understand the speech to be generall if the Law distinguish not we ought not to distinguish How then shall we expound this Parable Those words saist thou Let both grow untill the Harvest cannot be understood according to the letter that the wicked should be suffered to grow as much as the godly So far you and I are agreed For I see what absurdities would follow if all the Magistrates authority and all discipline were removed Howbeit plain it is that a certain kind of ungodly persons are here intended who though they may seem such as ought to be cut off yet it is forbidden them to whom that work should belong to cut them off Now this cannot be understood of adulterers theeves and other flagitious persons since its manifest that Magistrates are ordained by God and are his Ministers for the punishment of evill doers neither do they bear the sword in vain yea though it should appear that he which hath committed adultery murther or other crime were of the Wheat by his notable repentance the Magistrate is not therefore bound to spare him neither truly will any man in his wits deny but that monstrous wickednesses ought to be restrained by the avengement of the sword And if so be the Parable cannot be meant of all ungodly persons it is necessary that those whom it intend sshould be by some note of difference distinguished from al other Now from whence may this difference be rather taken then from that thing wherein godly and ungodly persons do most differ one from another But what is that Is it not in the doctrine of Religion with respect whereunto the one sort is called pious the other impious But there are two kinds of impious persons for some are estranged from the true religion both in name and in truth as the worshippers of Idols and the Turks but especially Atheists others are in name and profession Christians but in deed and in truth they are nothing so their doctrine being corrupted with great and foule errours which kind of persons we call Heretiques The former sort may again be divided into two parts For some of them have never professed the Christian Religion others have Apostatized there-from Since therefore we are to distinguish men according to their religion either we must hold that both these kind of ungodly persons are meant in the Parable or that one is understood that we should say both are understood the words of the Parable give us little encouragement for they speak of such seed as the enemy had sown among the Wheat so that it is manifest they mean such kind of impious persons as converse among the godly that is the true Christians and adorn themselves with the name of Christians of which kind are Heretiques And this truly is very sutable to the nature of tares for they say that these tares are nothing but Wheat or Barly corrupted by the over-moisture of the soile and soaked with frequent rains so that heresie could not have been set forth by a more fit comparison so that this speech is all one as if the servants should have asked their Lord whether or no they should kill Heretiques and take them out of the way That this exposition is neither absurd nor unsutable but rather the necessary interpretation of the place I conceive every one will perceive that weighs the words with no other desire but to find out the truth The Enemy is said to have sown his own seed amongst the good seed among the seed I say which the Lord had sown Now the word Seed is taken sometimes for that out of which any thing grows and this its proper acceptation sometimes but improperly it is taken for that which grows out of the seed The seed which the Lord sowed to speak properly was the Gospel which he preached as it is taken in the Parable next before but in a lesse proper expression the seed are they that believed the Gospell So the Devils seed speaking properly are false doctrines scattered amongst Christians improperly the Devils seed are they who embrace false doctrines Now that the faithfull are called the Lords seed the ungodly the seed of the
Magistrate shall so interpret the Law as to conceive that he ought indeed to spare Heretiques that keep their heresies unto themselves and endevour not to perswade others to imbrace them but that he ought to put them to death if they will teach their errours shall the safety of the godly be by this means provided for and secured Surely no. For Laws of Magistrates with such a Proviso as often as the truth shal come to be called heresie will be the death of Gods servants For to whomsoever the truth shall be by God revealed he ought not to bury his talent in the earth that is to say he ought not by silence to dissemble the truth to him revealed But Gods will is that it should be acknowledged before the sons of Men and revealed So that it cannot otherwise fall out but that if the Magistrate shall account some good and faithfull servant of God for an Heretique he not withstanding any penalty denounced will endevouâ— to perswade as many as he can of the truth of that doctrine which the Magistrate accounts heresie Whence it wil come to passe that whereas the Law was made for the good of such persons none shall receive lesse advantage thereby then they It must be concluded therefore that this interpretation can be no wayes agreeable to the intent of the Law-maker but rather that it is most contrary thereunto Yet is it not my intent that godly Magistrates should carry no stroke in the Kingdom of Christ many other things there are which they both may and ought to do As to punish irreverent speeches against God to punish such as forsake the whole Christian religion and â—uch as dare to perswade others to forsake the same If any externall worships are set up any Images erected these they ought to abolish to keep off the violence and injuries of impious persons from the heads of the godly to maintain publique peace and tranquility is their duty and such like But for them to assume unto themselves to be judges of the controversies of such men as submit themselves to the Authority of Gods Word and make use of the Testimonies thereof they shall do well to weigh seriously what it is which they assume and how great a liberty they allow unto themselves Some there are that suppose in case the sword shall not be unsheathed all Religion wil soon be lost how beit we shal much wrong our Lord if we suspect that he is asleep that he cares not at all for his people or that he cannot preserve his own Gospell without the sword as if the Word had no mettle or force but that all a Christians hope were placed in the sword For if after that Satan by his inchantments had possessed the world and himself was become Lord and Ruler the power of Gods Word was such that it was able to cast Satan out of his strong and exquisitely-fortified kingdom shall it not be able to defend the Kingdom of Christ against the blunted and broken darts of Satan Let us be of good courage our Lord doth not sleep but watch If we shall put al our confidence in him if we shall fight with his Word if being acted by his Spirit whom we must obtain by continuall prayers we shall diligently and prudently avoyd all those policies of Satan of which we have hitherto treated verily there will be no cause why we should be afraid of heretiques let but truth warily enter the combate with Imposture and she must of necessity at last obtain the victory Wherefore if there shal daily appear such as move new questions raise new controversies bawle at the Pastors bark at them and molest them let them think thus with themselves What is Satans drift in all thiâ— Sure he comes in opposition of the truth of the Gospell but is that all he aimes at What if so be that this be his aime and some other greater thing be also by him endevoured Namely and that with thy assistance that he may lay the foundations of such a tyranny as he intends when time shall be to exercise against the servants of God wholly to extinguish the Gospel with the professors thereof and to make himself absolute Lord of the world Come on then what wilt thou that boastest of thy care of Gods honour do in such a case Thou that pretendest so much to prize the truth of the Gospell that wouldst be thought to regard nothing but the good of the Church of God What wilt thou I say do in this case Wilt thou go and joyn forces with Satan wilt thou hire thy self to serve him wilt thou supply him with tools stones and morter for his building Wilt thou moile and sweat at the same work with the drudges and slaves of Satan wilt thou in good deed that thou maist avoid some momentany short troubles assiâ—t Satan to lay the Foundation of so great a mischief what if this likewise be by him aimed at even to wreath out of thy hands those weapons which he most dreads and to put thee upon the use of such as he fears not a jot yea rather which he wholly contemns Now without all question he cares not a rush for swords and such like terrible tooks there is nothing which he more fears and which he is lesse able to resist then the Word of God But as soon as the Ministers shal have obtained thus much that whosoever shal dare to mutter any thing against their doctrine the Executioner shall presently be called for which by his halter or Ax alone shal resolve all doubts and unty all knots what great study of the Scripture will they then use Doubtlesse they will plainly perceive that they have small need so to spend their time For they shall be able to obtrude upon the poor silly people any thing they can but dream of and yet neverthelesse maintain their dignity and reputation Wo be to us and to our Posterity if we shall cast away this weapon wherewith alone we are allowed to fight wherewith fighting we are alwayes sure of victory But such will you say is the troublesomnesse and impudency of some persons so insufferable that they must of necessity be restrained with other kind of weapons beside the Word Shal I tel thee what I think of this speech of thine It is just as if some souldier presuming to excell all others in military valor should say that his enemy fights so eagerly so stoutly that he must of necessity throw away his weapons and become subject unto him Oh gallant Soldier What else I pray you is Satans endevor what would he rather employ himself about then to excite the wickednesse of men to provoke the servants of God with the higest hand of provocation possible Now if they shall rigorously prosecute the work of Satan shal we likewise do that which he most of all desires This is it which Satan mainly endevours even to wrest away the weapon of the Word from us and that we
may descend into the lists aga nst him armed with such kind of Ammunition as he slights and contemnes Shall we therefore because Satan labours with might and main to this effect and brings into the field the fittest soldiers for such a purpose Shal we I say submit unto his wil and casting away those weapons wherewith alone we may win the field shall we catch hold of such weapons wherwith we shall soon be put to the worse and which will be turned to our own throats Nay but let us hold fast this weapon of the Word of God Let us fight with this alone herewith alone let us do our endevour to slay Satan himself and all his Emissaries Let us endevour to learn all the most convenient ways of striking and warding with this weapon all the Arts of offence and defence Of which matter we have already sufficiently discoursed And as it is a thing not appertaining to the Magistrate to make himself Judge of doctrines and to use violence towards the Teachers much lesse does it belong to him to use such violence at the discretion and upon the judgement of others As in case he should commit the care of Religion to certain persons and be ready himself to draw the sword against whomsoever they shall perswade him or should arme them to the same effect How well he wil be able to justifie his so doing to the King of Kings in that day which will be very terrible to the wicked and joyfull to the godly we may thus judge Suppose thou thy self being a King and to go into a far Country shouldst commit the care of thy Kingdom Houshold and all thy affairs to the fidelity of one of thy servants and he should delegate the administration of all to some other servants such as came next to hand of whose wisdom and faithfulnesse he had no assurance yea or to the fittest that he could chuse himself in the mean season being busied about matters of the smallest concernment and when all were like to miscarry he should suffer the same course to be continued when thou shouldest come home and take knowledg hereof couldst thou possibly allow of the doings of that servant of thine For though thou shouldst find all safe and well wouldest thou not so account of that servant as if all things had fallen out crosse and contrary But what if some very great damage some shameful miscarriage had happened Of how great punishment wouldst thou judg that servant to be worthy And is not the Church of God Gods Kingdom his Inheritance his Delight and Joy Is not all the dignity and comeliness of the Church placed in the purity of her Doctrine and the framing of her Worship according to the Word of God And what is there in the Administration of a Kingdom which in comparison hereunto is not a very light thing and of no account Go to then how canst thou know that any man is of a right judgment in matter of Religion so as that thou mayest safely commit thy sword unto his care and trust unless thou thy self shalt first of all declare what is to be held therein But if thou shalt commit affairs of such moment to their fidelity and discretion whose inner parts thou doest not know yea if thou shalt commit them to whomsoever and thy self minde other matters what account wilt thou give of thine administration Especially if while thou shalt be naping and nothing minding any such matter pious doctrine shall be suppressed as impious and impious doctrine shall be established for pious so that thence will follow the slaughter of many godly persons taken for hereticks and the perdition of an innumerable company of people by false doctrine which people the Son of God made such reckoning of that he stuck not to lay down his life for them how severe thinkest thou shall thy sentence be verily this is my judgment Whatsoever does any way concern the glory of God be it that the liberty of hereticks in spreading false doctrines is to be restrained or any other thing as far as the nature of thy office may require or permit thee to act that cannot be by thee omited without a great fault yet will the fault be a thousand times greater if thou shalt therein make use of another mans knowledg rather then thy self to use all means possible to understand what ought to be done and if thou canst not be satisfied in thine understanding it will be by much the safest way to interpose no authority of thine in such a business either by thy self or by others Now by what more clear example could Magistrates possibly have been admonished to confide in no mans judgment then this in that the Son of God himself by such negligence of the Magistrate was given up to the judgment or lust rather of his most unjust enemies Take ye him says Pilate and according to your law judg him Take heed thou think not thus with thy self We live now in a most clear light of the Gospel now the Pastors are most holy now all is safe What shall we think that Satan snorts and sleeps And to attempt nothing whereby to lay the foundation of some new Kingdom whereby to erect some new tyrannies to hatch some new Monsters Now that is a known saying That a small Error at the begining in the end comes to be of the first magnitude And inasmuch as all things of this nature are of very great moment whatsoever business shall offer it self I would exhort the Magistrate That he would by most fervent prayers ask counsel of him who can never deceive and act nothing unless he were assured that he were in the right And in case after all he shall be of this judgment to think he ought to prescribe what doctrines ought to be taught and what not he must at least be very wary lest Satan do here gain upon him either by making him to put his own opinion at such a distance from the Hereticks that while he shun Charybdis he fall into Scylla or to allow the Heretick somewhat which ought not to be granted or to use such words and phrases as may occasion some new doctrine himself intending no such matter or to establish that doctrine as necessarily to be believed which himself hath by necessary consequence to his thinking drawn from the Scripture there being in the mean time some error in his collection or inference And to the end that he may not incur any of those errors or the like let him examine how far he is assured of the truth of every point by such ways as we formerly delivered Furthermore it seems to me an excellent Caution That whatsoever shall be laid down as agreeable to the Word of God may be expressed with the same words and phrases which the Spirit of God uses in the Scriptures Otherwise it is almost impossible but that the wit of man will intrude some thing of its own which if it do an error is
not to Pastors alone but to every one that intends to be saved The restoring of that ancient custom prophesying one by one in the Congregation would be an exceâ—â—â— means to discover corruption of Doctrine Objections agaiâ—â—t the use of prophesying answered If prophesying were restored there would be less need of such mercenary Teachers as make a trade of the Ministery This practice of prophesying was used in the Jewish Church Our Lord at twelve yeers of Age was suffered to teach among the Doctors having no Office and unknown by the priviledg of prophesying The use of prophesying was continued in Christian societies till the time of Constantine at the least How prophesying ought to be regulated Every one ought to submit to the judgment of the Congregation and how far Whether Councils are to be called and what Authority they have They may not make new Laws nor institute new Worships Men are not bound to submit to their determinations in matters under dispute Yet there is use of them An Objection answered The difference between the Councils of the Apostles and of those that pretend to succeed them The determination of a Council must not rashly be rejected Who ought to sit in Councils LIB IV. WHen the Doctrine of Religion shall be depraved that yet no change be discernable there are many causes of which some are in the doctrine it self others in the manner of the mutation Some respect those which teach others those which are taught In the doctrine it self there seem to be these First that it is an heap as it were of many things very unlike one to the other like so many grains so that a change may be made by the smallest parts For look as if out of some great heap thou shalt daily take certain grains and put others in their rooms the heap will seem to continue as it was though by little and little it be changed and begin to be another kinde of heap from what it was even so forasmuch as the doctrine of Religion consists of many sentences and doctrines very unlike one to the other though conspiring together and tending to the same end Whiles now this doctrine now that shall be changed and corrupted the body of doctrine it self that I may so speak seems to retain the same figure though it be not indeed the same but in part altered Yea verily one onely sentence may be of such weight that it being depraved and altered though no such thing appear the whole doctrine of Religion may notwithstanding be by that means corrupted Forasmuch as without that sentence all the rest of the doctrine may become unprofitable and of no value Such an one is that sentence that By the blood of Christ alone shed for us and his sacrifice offered for our salvation upon the Cross all our sins are expiated which sentence if thou shalt so change as to say That our sins are done away by the merits of our good works or the intercession of Saints of a Christian doctrine thou wilt make one altogether Antichristian Neither is the doctrine of Religion in regard that it consists of divers unlike parts subject to secret mutation onely by changing and depraving the sentences as we have said but also by adding some sentences and taking away others I do not say that this depravation can be made secretly in such maner as to corrupt the Scriptures For if that were done the deceit would be manifest But that in speaking and writing false sentences may be uttered instead of true and depraved sentences instead of such as are incorrupt Now by how much the heap shall be greater by so much the harder it will be in case there shall be a change to observe the same In which respect the inlargement of the doctrine helps much to hide any mutation in the same Now the doctrine of Religion is inlarged whiles it is variously handled whiles it is drawn forth into many different questions which sprout one out of another and are propagated infinitely The cause of which mischief is the over-great curiosity of men their rashness arrogance and ambition with which diseases of the minde being madded we must print and publish whatever we dream of Yea verily if we want matter to write we unrip other mens discourses and sew them together after a new fashion and had rather do that which is done to our hand then be thought to do nothing Now this is a thing which tends much to the hiding of corruption of doctrine when as those false sentences which shall be put into the place of the true shall have the appearance and shew of truth though indeed they are far from any acquaintance therewith Which is occasioned divers ways The first is when some true sentence in Scripture shall be expressed in such words as admit divers interpretations which cannot all be true and another sentence shall be composed agreeable to those words misunderstood for by this means while a very different thing is spoken the same thing which is in the Text seems to be said without any change In like maner when a Text is figurative so that one thing is meant indeed another thing seems to be meant and a man shall take it in the seeming sense without any regard to the figure As if a man should say That in case any mans sight be an occasion of sining he ought to pluck out his eyes and wholly blâ—nde himself because it is written If thine eye shall offend thee pluck it out and cast it from thee For these words do at the first sight seem to say as much whereas their sense is very different viz. Whatsoever may slacken or stop a mans progress in the way of the Gospel he ought to abandon that thing forthwith for that it is better to be without that thing then being thereby hindered in such a course to lose the Kingdom of Heaven and to be adjudged to eternal tortures In like manner if when the meaning of a Text shall be according to the letter the words are so expounded as if they meant otherwise As is practised upon these words Go and shew thy self unto the Priest from which this sentence is drawn Every man must confess his sins to a Priest Another means whereby a false sentence seems to be true is when in the true sentence there is somewhat contained either expresly or implici ely and the false sentence shall be expressed in such terms as exclude that thing so contained The thing we speak of so contained is either an exception or a condition or a circumstance or some explanatâ—on Or some condition or exposition suiting not with the Text shall be added Those words of the Apostle have questionless an exception or a condition Be not deceived neither whoremongers nor idolaters shall attain the Kingdom of Heaven for we must understand that condi ion unless they repent Now if any man should say That the sin of uncleanness could not be pardoned he should speak that
which were agreeable to the words indeed but far from the scope and purpose of that Text. In lâ—ke sort those words of Solomon need an exposiâ—ion The condition of man and beast is the same as these did so do they both die alike neither is a man better then a beast Now the exposition to be understood is that thus it is not absolutely but for ought which a mans reason can observe to difference them Which exposition being excluded he that shall press the words of Solomon shall pluck up all Religion by the roots Those add unto the true sentence of Scripture who say That those shall obtain eternal life who believe that their sins are forgiven for Christs sake provided they shall recount all their sins unto the Priest and obtain absolution from him He changes somewhat of the true sentence who says That the Law is therefore holy because the knowledg thereof makes a man holy for it is not therefore holy but because it makes a man to despair of his own strength and brings him unto Christ the onely means of salvation and because it shews what things please or displease God to the end we may worship him not after our own inventions and constitutions but according to his command A third means whereby a false sentence is thrust into the doctrine of Religion appearing to be true onely instead of that which is true indeed is when from some true sentence a false one is by a wrong inference collected which collection shall be used in place of the true one from which it was drawn So when the Bishop of Rome hath gathered out of those words Whatsoever thou shalt binde on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever shall be loosed by thee on earth shall be loosed in heaven this sentence That he hath power to make new laws and to constitute new heads of doctrine or as they call them new articles of Faith and to compel men to keep and observe the one and to believe the other This collection or inference of his he makes account of as of a sentence of Scripture Now there is a kinde of false inferences or collections very hidden and obscure forasmuch as they are partly drawn from suppositions which are neither expressed nor perhaps once thought of by the collectors yet are such collections admited without any question even as if they did arise out of most certain and clear grounds This may be seen in that collection we last named For that it may be infered That power to make laws was given to Peter it is requisite that the word binde should signifie to make laws For so you shall rightly collect to binde is to make laws power of binding is given to Peter and consequently of making laws In like maner you may collect to loose is to repeal laws now power to loose was given to Peter therefore power to abrogate laws was given to him And since it is said Whatsoever thou shalt bind and whatsoever thou shalt loose it will follow that Peter may make or revoke what laws he please yea the Ten commandmenâ—s he may abrogate if he think fit Again That all this may appear to belong to the Pope another supposition must be made viz. Whatsoever authority was given to Peter the same is given to the Roman Bishop since therefore Peter had authority givâ—n him to make or abrogate what laws he please the same authority is given to the Roman Bishop But this conclusion is infered without any mention of those suppositions That to binde and to loose is to make and revoke laws and that Whatever authority was given to Peter is given to the Bishop of Rome Neither is every man able to mark in the making of such collections what that is which is omited and passed over with silence as out of all question true though it be indeed as false as false may be Furthermore easie it is for any to understand That the obscurity of sentences or doctrines of Religion is a cause that if any mutation be made it cannot easily be discerned Now the obscurity of Christian doctrine springs from these grounds First because it handles the things of the spirit and therefore cannot be understood without the spirit which spirit being wanting though there be a great corruption of doctrine yet can it not be discerned Another ground is because being written in one tongue we are forced to learn it in another tongue into which it is not very aptly translated And although a man should give himself to study the Hebrew and Greek yet seeing they are not now used by any Nation but have their Being onely in Books he will never be able to leaâ—n them so perfectly but that the proper signification and various use of many words and phrases will be hid from his knowledg Howbeit this obscurity we speak of is not so great but that where some portion of the Spirit is present those things at least which are necessary to be known for salvation may easily be understood And so much for the causes of not discerning a change in doctrine which are in the doctrine it self we are now to handle such Causes as are in the maner of the change Now the manner of the change makes it undiscerned for as much as the change is made by little and little for if so be as we said before out of some great heap of grain every day some few grains should be taken and as many of another sort be put in the room of them who could be able to discover the mutation Who is able to discern how much it is that a boy grows daily or how much a man declines and waxes old Now the very self-same thing is to be seen in the mutation of doctrine for we shall have a man to day suppose who if he make no other change will at least invent some generall name for to call such things by as agree in nature or in some common reference or respect which name will be afterward applied to things very different and it shal by this means come to passe that the nature and notion of the former things will be obscured thus did they that first called the holy washing and the Supper of our Lord Sacraments What hurt could any one so much as suspect from so small a matter Howbeit in process of time there were those who supposing that any sacred and holy rite was intended by the terme Sacrament began to give that name to laying on of hands Marriage Penitence Confirmation Extreme Unction Whence it is come to passe that Baptisme and the Supper having a name common to them with other things of much different nature their true notion is rendred dark and obscure For there remained with the generall name a notion in like manner generall and common to those other things whereas the proper notion which ought ever to be kept in mind is forgotten Hence also it came to pass that as it was manifest that
baptism and the Supper were ordained by our Lord So was it commonly believed that all those other things termed Sacraments were in like maner by him instituted At length Bels began to be baptised which practise what else did it but occasion the simple peoplâ— to think that the baptisme of men was of the same importance with that baptisme they saw practised upon the Bels whereby the memory of the washing away of sins by the blood of Christ signified by the washing with water was abolished Now this makes much to hide the cousenage and deceit when there is a colourable pretence So as the innovators may seem not to bring in any new thing but to desire the preservation of doctrines received by some weak ceremony and observation Wherefore when the first Christians or rather those which succeeded the first growing very remiss in respect of their former heat of piety which is commonly seen when men cease to be exercised by afflictions and so growing less frequent in the exercise of breaking of bread some one peradventure there was who judged it a very good course that the Priest at least should frequently receive the bread and wine in the presence of the multitude and by so doing celebrate the memory of the Lords death for as much as it would be all one in a manner as if the by-standers had all of them communicated and participated thereof In which practise truly a man would not think there was any innovation but only a care shewed to preserve so wholesome an ordinance of our Lord from growing quite out of use which being grown into a custom forasmuch as it was done wholly to commemorate that sacrifice which our Lord offered for us upon the Cross and the term of Priest was not wanting it gave occasion to some to attribute the name of the thing signified to the thing signifying so as to call this performance now no longer the commemoration of a sacrifice but a sacrifice it self Afterward when it had obtained the name of sacrifice who will wonder that it began to be accounted a sacrifice And so whiles every day there was innovation made yet inasmuch as it was little which was changed and some very goodly pretext was ever in readiness the innovation could not be perceived so that at length the most plain and simple institution of our Lord concerning breaking of bread was by a wonderful metamorphosis changed into that most pompous and laborious business of the Mass And who so shall diligently consider will easily observe that the like hath happened touching all other points In those that are the Teachers in case they corrupt any point the main cause why such their corruption is not discerned is the great opinion which men have of their piety holiness and learning and their being thought to stand very much affected to the doctrine received Now such an opinion as this with the people a man attains either by giving some eminent proof of himself or by the testimony of such men as are of greatest repute or by right as it were of inheritance He gives a good proof of himself who does acutely and fluently discourse of matters divine and by often citing the Scriptures and to good purpose shews himself well versed in such studies but especially if he shew himself an eager opposer of such doctrines as the people abhor and a great honorer and reverencer of such persons as the people highly account of Now the testimonies of men approved beget a good opinion in the people because men are perswaded That in regard of their gravity and prudence they will witness nothing but that wherof they have a certain knowledg wheras notwithstanding it is very often seen that by simulation flattery and other arts the over-great facility of good men is so overcome and wrought upon as that they may be brought to commend such persons of whose piety and learning they have small knowledg In the mean time however their testimonies are drawn from them yet the simple common people do yeeld thereunto no less credit then if they were oracles Some men gain a good opinion of themselves as it were by right of inheritance when as they succeed in place such persons whose life and doctrine have been very much approved of For it seems a likely thing That none but good men should be put into the place of good men and so the reputation of honesty and learning is transfered from the one to the other even as inheritances pass from the Father to the children Nevertheless even as those who from a low and mean estate have by great labors and difficulties attained great wealth leave their children heirs of theiâ— goods indeed and all their possessions but not of their industry and wit forasmuch as being born in the midst of wealth they finde no need to exercise their wit even so those men who are at certain seasons stired up by the providence of God to purge the Church from errors since they cannot but be exercised with great and knotty difficulties they must be of necessity armed with very excellent vertues and so become famous whereas their successors matters being reduced into order and composed and Satan dealing now no longer by force but by craft and policy which they are not aware of they meet with no considerable occasions to exercise their piety and prudence Yet nevertheless though they be far inferior in vertue yet in outward appearance as they hold the place of their predecessors so do they retain their dignity and reputation and by how much the farther you descend from those first so much the more unlike shall you finde their successors and the more estranged from their vertues And forasmuch as the same or greater authority abides with very little piety prudence learning and hearty diligence who sees not how easily it may come to pass That they may daily through unskilfulness corrupt many points and no man discern the same by reason of their authority and reputation And to the end that such like Pastors may by little and little be brought into place by whose means Satan hopes to procure a greater and speedier corruption of doctrine it is a great furtherance if so be such things shall be annexed to Ecclesiastical Functions as shall make them much to be desired as for Pastors to be highly esteemed of to have all men rise unto them and give them place if they shall be well accommodated and live in abundance of wealth if they shall be accounted such as ought to censure all and themselves not to be questioned without impiety and wickedness For who is there that would not exceedingly desire to be in such a condition So that in case there be these allurements and the like as soon as any place shall be vacant take heed of thinking that some excellent person shall obtain the same he will soonest obtain it that does best know how to beat the bush that can sue for it with greatest art
A good and godly man though he conceive he may honestly seek it as minding onely the glory of God and not his own honor or profit yet for this cause he will not sue for it forasmuch as those that are truly pious being most of all conscious of their own weakness which is always great enough have a modest opinion of themselves and account themselves inferior almost to every one And if so be the times prove yet so good as that offices are bestowed not upon those that hunt after them but upon choice and qualified persons yet shall not the best men even at such a time always meet with best quarter Inasmuch as men void of all craft and enemies to all bad arts taking more pains to be good indeed then to seem to be so are easily in the gaining of an estimation of holiness out-striped by crafty fellows ambitious of honor and dignity For they will not so cuningly hide their own infirmities they will take more pains to be rid of then to hide their vices they will not use any policies to procure the favor of men He that is ambitious of honor will most carefully hide all his vices he will most diligently addict himself to whatsoever he understands those men do most approve of who are able to promote him and will never leave until by simulation dissimulation and flattery he have gained their approbation to the full And by this hidden and more cunning and painful kinde of suing sometimes wicked persons prevail as much as they could do were they allowed to use an open and free trade It remains that we speak of such causes of the not perceiving that a change of doctrine is introduced as consist in the persons that are taught Now they are chiefly two carelesness and ignorance Carelesness for the most part ariseth hence In that the people trust too much to their Pastors and perswade themselves that they will not slip into any error and that therefore they have small need to have an eye over them but that they are bound rather to embrace whatsoever they shall hold forth without any curious examination Hereunto may be added many other businesses whereunto men addict themselves For that saying is of large extent Where mens treasure is there is their heart and that other No man can serve two masters Now how it may come to pass that after a people hath once had a great knowledg of divine Truths the said knowledg may as it were vanish away besides that cause which hath been even now alleadged we shall in another place make discovery of some other reasons We shall for the present adde onely this one That the people themselves are in a perpetual kinde of mutation some daily dying and departing others succeeding and growing up in their stead Whence it comes to pass That since the change which is made in every age is small either the people cannot perceive it or if they do observe it yet they esteem it not of such moment as to think fit to move any difference thereabout This thing also is of very great force to keep the people from taking notice of a change in doctrine when men shall perswade themselves that they are not able to judg of matters of Religion as though it is it is not and other words used in Scripture do not signifie the same which they do in common discourse or as if nothing could be understood without some great knowledg in the Tongues and Arts or Sciences and as if the power of the Spirit were of no efficacy without these helps Whereby it comes to pass that whiles they think they understand not even those things which in some sort they do understand being expressed in most clear and evident words they do at length arrive to that blockishness that they cannot understand them indeed so that though they have before their eyes a sentence of Scripture so clear that nothing can be more evident yet if they to whose authority they in all things subject themselves shall say any thing point-blank opposite thereunto they will give credit unto them and imagine themselves not to see that which they see as clear as the light And by these means verily it comes to pass That when the doctrine of Religion is corrupted the mutation is not discovered Furthermore when the doctrine is once begun to be changed it must needs be that out of one error another should spring and propagate infinitely and God for just reasons of his own blinding them men bring upon themselves so great darkness and slip into such foul errors That if God out of mercy open a mans eyes and let him see those errors he lives in he can scarcely believe himself or be perswaded that he was ever enveloped with such blinde errors Which thing is as true and as well to be seen in men of greatest learning and experience If thou shalt thorowly peruse the writings of some of the Schoolmen as they call them thou shalt in some places meet with so much acuteness as will make thee admire Thou shalt see them oftentimes cleave a fine thred into many parts and accurately anatomise a flea and a little after fall so foully and avouch such absurdities That thou canst not sufficiently stand amazed wherefore we must obey that advice of the Poet. Principiis obsta serò medicina paratur Cum mala per long as invaluêre moras Resist betimes that Med'cine stays too long Which comes when age has made the grief too strong Now there is need of a double Caution viz. That there be no change made in the doctrine when it is pure And if any change be made that there be notice taken of it Now look what change is made in this kinde all the blame is laid upon those whose office it is to instruct the people for though themselves are the authors of the change yet will the people impute it to the Ministers sleepiness and want of care at least It concerns therefore the Pastors and Teachers to be Eagle-eyed and to be very well acquainted with those causes whereby the change of doctrine becomes undiscovered and to have them at their fingers ends and to be wary that on no hand they may miscarry Now it will be an excellent caution for the keeping of doctrine pure if they shall avoid all curious and vain controversies If they shall set before their eyes the scope and end of all religious doctrine and likewise a series or catalogue of all such things as make to the attainment of that end of which we formerly spake if they shall affect not onely the matter it self but also the words and phrases which the holy Ghost in Scripture makes use of and exceedingly suspect all different forms of speaking Not that I would have them to speak nothing but Hebraisms for so their language would not be plain nor intelligible but I wish that they will shun all such expressions as have been invented by over-nice