usque procedit pervicacia ut quispiam sibi addictus vel discessionem faciat a Corpore vel a grege quosdam subtrahat vel impediat sanae Doctrinae cursum hic strenue obviandum est When the Obstinacy proceeds so far that a man enamour'd of himself departs from the Body of the Church or draws others from it or hinders the Course of sound Doctrine in this case a strenuous Opposition is to be made against him In summa In short sayes Calvin Haeresis vel secta ecclesiae unitas res sunt inter se oppositae Heresie or Schism and the Unity of the Church are things opposite and this Unity being so precious in the sight of God it ought also to be in the highest esteem with us and those Sects and Heresies ought to be no less detested Thus Calvin He that contemns all Admonitions saith Hyperius He that is distempered in his mind incurabili laborat contagio and when he is sick of an incurable Contagion refuses and derides the Remedy that is charitably offer'd to him This is the Party affected And how is he to be treated Must the Bishop flatter him Or is the Bishop alone obliged to avoid him No saith Hyperius the Bishop is to admonish Hyperius others to beware of him as a pernicious Wolf But what is the Civil Magistrate concerned herein Why sayes Aretius the Charge is here given to Titus who wanted a faithful Magistrate to assist Aretius him But doubtless St. Paul would have wrote otherwise to the Magistrate or to Titus if he had had such a faithful Magistrate to take care of Gods Church He speakes here of the Bishops Office how far he may how far in Duty he ought to proceed We now understand saith Mr. Calvin whom the Apostle means by a Heretick but we are not to determine who is such a Heretick or to reject him till we have first indeavoured to reduce him to a sound Judgment He must have a first and second Admonition not from Private Persons but from the Publick Authority and Ministry of the Church for the Words of the Apostle do import thus much Graviter quasi censoria correctione reprimendos esse That such Persons are sharply to be restrained by the Rod of Discipline for he is condemned of himself because being so Hyperius carefully instructed and so frequently admonished He has no body to impute his condemnation to but to himself and his own Malice But may we proceed no further against such Sectaries and Disturbers of the Churches Peace and Settlement They that think so do not argue to the purpose saith Mr. Calvin For the Bishop and the Magistrate have their several parts assigned them in this Work And St. Paul writing to Titus does not discourse of the Magistrates Duty but what is incumbent upon the Bishop What the Judgment of the most Learned and Pious Protestants was a Hundred years agoe I shall give you Ad Titum 3. 10 11. the account from Bullinger to whom Hyperius also refers his Reader That Bullinger was a man of so great Esteem that his Decades were translated into English and thought fit to be read in the Publick Congregations where they wanted able Preachers and this Doctrine of his passed for Currant till the Socinian Heresy which does so much impreach the Satisfaction Merits and Divinity of our Saviour prevail'd so much among us And this has hapned because the Canons of 1640. were not duely enforced to prevent the growth of it But to return to the business in hand I shall give the sence of Bullinger in Hen. Bullinger Commentar in omnes Pauli Epistolas a clear Translation of his own Commentary upon the Text which begins thus Quaerat aliquis quid agam cum eo c. Some perhaps may ask what I would do with Him that obeyes not Tiguri 1582. Hic Ad Titum 3. 10 11. the Truth but continues to be contentious and to stir up Faction The Apostle answers after the first and second Admonition if he will not obey your advice take heed and separate your self from such an hopeless Deplorato But adding the Reason why he commands Us to abbor the Communion and Fellowship of such an Heretick He sayes He that is such a one as will not admit of good Advice is rather exasperated by continual Admonitions and can never be brought to embrace the Truth For a simple Errour is quickly healed but Stubborness is uncurable But such a Man is subverted by Prejudice and therefore swerves from the true Faith and being intangled in Perplexity he remains in invincible Ignorance Hereupon Theophylact explaining these words sayes The Apostle understands by an Heretick an incorrigible Fellow and one that is on every side so entangled with Difficulties that He knows not which way to free himself Therefore such a One will never be perswaded to embrace the Truth but rather attempt to draw his Charitable Adviser into his own Opinion Wherefore here is a great deal of Danger but little Hope For when Hereticks are so wicked and hardned in those Things which are manifestly False there 's none or very small Hopes of their recovering nay on the contrary it oftentimes happens That they impose upon him who advises them if weak though otherwise a good honest Man Therefore He advisedly commands that they should be avoided But some perhaps will Object That it is a sad thing if we should thus neglect the Sheep that is gone astray our Lord did not so it 's to be feared his Destruction will be required at our Hands The Apostle answers If such a Man Perish he perisheth not by your Fault but by his own for Why did he not obey his Teacher Moreover they that gather from hence That it is against the Scriptures for the Civil Magistrate to restrain Hereticks that is to say not only such as are perverted from the Faith but such as Study to pervert others They do not consider That the Apostle here doth not Dispute about the Offices of a Lawful Magistrate but what the Bishop should do For in these and other of the Apostle's Prescriptions the Occasion is to be consider'd But they 'l say The Apostle's Command is Not Compel or Kill but avoid an Heretick It 's very true For no Man is rashly to be Condemned or Rejected but rather to be Endeared and Instructed This is the peculiar Work of Bishops But if after such an amicable and endearing Treatment and Admonition he refuseth to Repent and endeavours still to draw whole Multitudes into the same Sedition and Ruine with himself Here again it is the Bishops concern not only to Oppose that setitious Doctrine and Practice but also to lay down his Life for the Sheep against the assaults and incursions of such Wolves to defend and preserve his Flock with the Sword of Truth and manfully to Repel and Subdue them If the Apostle had written an Epistle to Cornelius or Sergius and had inform'd them of
approved of by their Governours But the Sin is Sedition and Schism and strikes at the Government both of Church and State 't is destructive to that Authority and Legislative Power which the Supreme Lord and Lawgiver has ordained to keep the World in Peace and Order and because God is pleased to Govern the World by such a Civil Magistracy in reference to Temporals and by such an Ecclesiastical Ministry in reference to Spirituals therefore the Insurrection that is made against these his Officers he interprets as made against himself Hence it is that those Seditious Schisinaticks who are set forth for a Sign and Example to them Num. 26. 10. Ep. Jude v. 10. that should follow their steps afterwards are said to be gathered together against the Lord and to have provoked Num. 16. 11 30. the Lord. This is a sin of no Ordinary dye of no Ordinary Malice So point blank against Authority and the Ordinance of God for the Seditious Schismatick falls into Apostacy from the Communion of the Church and many times into an hostile Hatred of it that it seems to be like the sin unto Death mentioned by St. John and what mercy soever God may have in store for such a sin the See Dr. Ham Note on 1 Joh. 5. 16. Hebr. 10. 25 to 29. Church seems to have no Warrant to pray for it Therefore the Church with great Prudence and Charity has thought fit to put such sins into her Litany by way of solemn Deprecation From all Sedition Privy Conspiracy and Rebellion From all false Doctrine Heresy and Schisme From Hardness of Heart and Contempt of thy Word and Comandment Good Lord Deliver us But St. Peter tells us that The Jewes Renounced and Crucified our Saviour out of Ignorance c. What a pittiful Reconciler have we here Sure the man would strain his Wit and Conscience to make an Apology for Judas and Pontius Pilate rather then his Dissenters should fall under a just and deserved Condemnation What if St. Peter Wot that they did it Ignorantly will the Reconciler infer from thence that they did it Innocently Has He embraced the Doctrine of Abaitardus Non Peccaverunt qui Christum ignoranter Crucifixerunt They sinned not who Crucified Christ Ignorantly This Proposition was condemned as Haeretical by Innocent the Second There is scarce a sin commited without Ignorance but 't is one thing to sin Ignorantly and another to sin out of Ignorance In that Case Ignorance does attend the sin in this it is the Cause of it For Knowledge to the contrary would have prevented it This Ignorance if it be involuntary both in it Self and in its Cause that is De Conscient l. 3. c. 19. q. 3. Non affectata nec procurata nec tollerata aut neglecta tum actum reddit mere fortuitum involuntarium atque adeo excusat a peccato saith Amesius If it be not affected nor procured nor tolerated or neglected then it renders the action merely fortuitous and involuntary and so excuses a man from sin Will the Reconciler say that the Ignorance of the Jews was of this Nature Then he falls under the same Condemnation with Abaitardus and seems to be of F. Baunius his opinion Nunquam peccatur nisi praevia peccati Cognitione animus illustretur eiusque vitandi desiderio extimi letur That a man can never sin unless his Mind be enlightned with a previous knowledge of the sin and be stirred up with a desire to avoid it This Doctrine has been Censur'd by the Theological Faculty of Paris and Lovain as false against the Common Principles of Christian Theologie and as that which excuseth innumerable of the most heinous sins to the destruction of Souls To make a man guilty of Sin it is not requisite that he has an express or actuall Consideration of the Moral Atrceity Malice or Danger of it or any express doubt or Scruple about it Otherwise it would follow that such as are blinded in their minds Athiests and those that know neither God nor Sin should be in such a state in which they should be free from sin For then without any knowledge or doubt of the Malice of the act they would let loose the Reins of their corrupt and depraved Nature to follow the lust of their own hearts And so the blinding of their minds their Excaecation which the Scripture represents as the greatest punishment of Sin should be no punishment at all but a priviledge and render them as it were impeccable According to the Common Principles of Divinity when the Cause is Voluntary the Effect is also Voluntary that follows from the Position of such a Cause and he that may and ought to to foresee the Malice of the act that is to follow and neglects to advert to it His actual Inconsideration is Voluntary and may as well aggravate the fault as extenuate it As gross and affected Ignorance is never without sin so it can never be altogether involuntary saith Argentina gent. l. 2. d. 40. 41. q. 1. or 4. because a man may prevent such ignorance if he will And if the Ignorance be affected t is a Sin in it self saith Amesius and therefore does not lessen but ubi Supra rather increase the guilt of other sins 2 Pet. 3. 5. Whether the ignorance of the Jews in this Case were alledged as an extenuating or an aggravating Circumstance is disputed among Divines That it was affected in some of them and so an aggravation of their Malice will easily appear from these Considerations 1. Our Saviours own Affirmation John 15. 22 23 24. If I had not come and spoken unto them they had not had sin but now they have no cloak for their sin He that hateth me hateth my Father also If I had not done among them the works which none other man did they had not had sin but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father His Doctrine declared him to be a Teacher sent from God and his Miracles did confirm it But we have more pregnant Evidence against their Elders Luk. 20. 14. When the Husbandmen saw him they reasoned among themselves saying This is the heir come let us kill him that the inheritance may be ours And St. Peter charges them home with a guilt of at least affected Ignorance and Malice Act. 2 22 23. Ye men of Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth a man approved of God among you by miracles wonders and signs which God did by him in the midst of you as ye your selves also know Him being delivered by the determinate Counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain Here he chargeth them that they imbrued their hands in Christs blood and that they did it Wittingly and Willingly And St. Stephen tells them plainly that they had been the Betrayers and Murderers of Him Act. 7. 52. For did they not hire Judas to betray him and Suborn false witness
and Seditions as at this very day says Gualter many render our Religion suspected and odious to Princes upon the very same account For this reason the Apostle does so frequently extol Authority and so earnestly inculcate and press that Subjection and Obedience which is justly due to it Thus St. Peter commands the Jews 1 Pet. 2. 13. to 17. Tit. 3. 1. 1 Tim. 2. 1. to obey Kings and such as Governed by their Commission And St. Paul enjoyns Titus to admonish those under his charge to obey the higher Powers And Timothy to make publick Prayers for them And this he does with the greatest care and concern when he writes to the Christians at Rome because their Animosities and Disputes about their Christian Liberty were high and nothing could be acted by the Professors of the Gospel there that looked so like Sedition without the apparent hazard of the whole Church And this Doctrine saith he is no less needful now than heretofore to repress the rage and madness of those turbulent Spirits the Anabaptists and Libertines who abuse their Christian Liberty to overthrow the Power of the Civil Magistrate For they presume They are Abraham's Seed too not Semen Carnis but Semen Foederis The Spiritual Israel of God and his peculiar People and consequently intituled to all the Prerogatives which the Scripture attributes to those under that Character And being puft up with the conceit of their Spiritual Dignity they look upon all Princes as Gods Enemies and Usurpers of a Spiritual Jurisdiction which they think does not belong unto them Hereupon they are ever ready to mutiny and raise Sedition to shake off that Yoak which they falsly conceive to be Tyrannical and to assert that Lawless Liberty which they mistake for their Christian Priviledg Does not the Reconciler too much favour such Factions and encourage the like Anabaptistical Outrages and run into the same excess of Riot upon the like unjust account of Christian Liberty I am sure he has given the Alarm to awaken the Jealousie of Princes by abetting such peevish quarrels at their commendable Impositions For what is his Practice and the business of this Book He speaks faintly of the Subjects Duty but falls foul upon his Superiors whom he condemns for their care to keep out the Wolf and the little Foxes and attempts to overthrow their Authority by such weak and fallacious Arguments as have been baffled twenty times over or else they are nothing to the purpose or may be retorted with greater force upon the Party he takes upon him to plead for For 1. He supposes men to be weak and then he pleads stifly for a Toleration for them yea he supposes them to be such weak ones and under such circumstances as those were in S. Pauls time and then alledges S. Paul's Arguments on their behalf These are gratis dicta and false suppositions which he can find no ground for among all the Fathers he heaps together to countenance his Hypothesis for which of them did ever condemn the Customs and Ceremonies of the Church in their times upon the account of any thing delivered to the contrary in St. Paul's Epistles Yet 2. He supposes a Multitude of Rites and Ceremonies among us and such as have nothing in them of real goodness or of positive Order Decency and Reverence but such as are burdensome and scandalous and these unjustly imposed which would be true enough if he could prove them to be such and then as such he disputes against them And indeed his design is to destroy all Authority in matters of indifferency and to extend this false and Seditious Doctrine to the utmost to blind and harden such as have rashly I will not say maliciously kickt at their Governors and taken a vain occasion to stumble into Schism He reckons not only the symbolical protestation of Christianity by the sign of the Cross but the external worship of God by bowing and kneeling amongst things indifferent p. 39. 76 iii. We are therefore concerned to take into consideration 1. The Persons supposed to be weak and 2. the Things they take occasion to scruple at I. Men may be weak either in their Faith or in their Morals These last come not under our consideration in this Controversie Him that is weak in the Faith saith Rom. 14. 1. the Apostle Faith is here taken for knowlege of Divine matters especially Rom. 12. 3. 6. of our Christian Liberty that a man understands the difference of days and meats establish'd by the Ceremonial Law of Moses to be taken away by Christ under the dispensation of the Gospel Calixt ad Rom. 14. 1. The Apostles observation was that all men had not this Knowledge And these were the 1 Cor. 8. 7. Apostles weak ones For 1. they had been bred under another dispensation the Discipline of a Ceremonial Law which stood by Divine Right and being of Gods own appointment it had the greater force and tye upon the Conscience and prevailed the more by bearing the Image of a venerable Antiquity for Custom which had inured them to the practice of it had a Prepossession and made it little less than Natural 2. On the other side they were called off to another Dispensation which totally evacuated the force of that Law and rescinded all those Rites and Ceremonies to which they had been so long accustomed Now that an Institution established with so much Grandeur Dread and Majesty should quite lose its Authority and that they should have a power to shake off that Yoak which had been put upon the Necks of their Reverend and Holy Fathers by God himself this was the great stumbling-block and the Objection they scrupled at They were but Novices in Christianity but newly called to the Profession of the Gospel and they did not perfectly understand the Nature of the Christian Liberty this was their weakness and their persons are recommended to us under the title of little ones of Babes in Christ and of weak Brethren Such little ones tho their judgments were weak if their hearts were sound and their Faith unfeigned Christ had a great compassion for them Take heed ye offend not one of these little ones that believe in me And so S. Paul for his Babes in Christ Him that is weak Rom. 1â— 1. in the Faith receive into your Communion but not so as to encourage him in his own prejudices to quarrel with the course of other mens Conversation But did either St. Paul or Christ cocker them up in their childish weakness and indulge them to continue Babes always as our Reconciler does Did not our Blessed Lord chide his Disciples Duncery in his School O ye of little Faith How long shall I be with you how long shall I suffer you O fools and slow of heart to believe Luke 24. 25. And did not St. Paul check the dulness and non-proficiency of his Disciples And I brethren could not speak unto you as unto Spiritual but as unto Carnal
maintain their own publick Communion and protested Doctrin for in their Jus Divinum Regiminis Ecclesiastici pag. 16. they lay down this for a Rule in Divinity That the ordinary examples of the Godly approved in Scripture being against no general precept have the force of a general Rule and are to be followed and p. 22. they say Those examples in Scripture are obligatory whose ground reason scope or end are obligatory and of a Moral Nature and as much concern one Christian as another whether they be the examples under Old or New Testament Now I say that by a parity of Reason the command and practice of the Church for the use of the sign of the Cross in Baptism is obligatory because the ground reason scope or end of it which is the confession of our Faith and Protestation of our Christianity is obligatory and of a moral nature and as much concern one Christian as another one Church as another one time as another Having thus briefly shewed the nature of those impositions which this Reconciler does condemn and given a short account of the temper of those weak Brethren on whose behalf he so earnestly solicites an indulgence I cannot but reflect upon his Preface wherein he does little less than traduce many worthy Persons by alledging their condescentions as if they had been the yielding up of a Right to those Dissenters against that Authority and Government which themselves did constantly assert and manage Indeed their Charity and Compassion carried many of them very far that way They saw us in a storm and our condition to be much like to theirs in the 27th of the Acts 15. 18 19 20. When the Ship was caught the Church assaulted hy a violent Faction and could not bear up into the Wind we let her drive And being exceedinly tossed with a Tempest the next day they lightned the Ship and the third day we cast out with our own hands the takling of the Ship And when neither Sun nor Stars in many days appeared and no small tempest lay on us all hope that we should be saved was then taken away And this upon the matter was the case of the Episcopal and Loyal Party who were Embarqued in the Established Church of England their crafty Adversaries to raise a Storm against them had put a conceit into the light heads of the Rabble that they were bound for Rome too as S. Paul was in another sense Hereupon their Frantick Zeal push'd them with an impetuous fury into Tumults wherein the poor distressed Barque was so tossed She was in danger to be sunk or split and dash'd to pieces In this forlorn condition no wonder their danger should prompt them to cast Anchor upon the unsteady sands or comply with any course or method that might be thought expedient for their present safety Sometimes empty Casks are thrown out by the skilfull Mariner to make diversion for the ungovernable Leviathan when he threatens to overturn their Vessel And if a liberty of Prophesying be not sufficient to divert their rage and make them at a loss and stop their cry then an Irenicum may be thought a pious charm to allay their heats to appease their animosities and to bring them to a more calm composure Perhaps this Reconciler thinks we are in a Storm still and 't is no wonder if he be of that opinion having taken so much pains to raise a blustering wind to blow up his Euroclydon of Fanatick Zeal amongst us But 't is observable in experience that such well-meant attempts at such a season do for the most part give advantage to the watchful Adversary seldom answer their expectation and never take effect to the obtaining that pious end which their worthy and learned Authors aimed at 2. I find that learned and good men may be mistaken and 't is an error of the right hand when Charity leads them to it We are told that Mr. Hales found occasion to bid John Calvin good night and whatever Essays of wit might come to his Friends hands when his Fancy was brisk and sprightful I doubt not when he came to a more mature judgment he took a solemn leave of many of those unhappy hallucinations which had been more to his honour if they had been buried in his ashes I am sure his Tractate of Schism has been confuted no less than three four times over And for some others of a much higher rank than He to my knowledge they retracted those opinions which had given so much encouragement to the Factious Party and bewailed their mistaken charity with great remorse upon all occasions to make amends for the Scandal their well-meant tenderness had given to the Loyal and true Conformist 3. There are none of them I dare be bold to say that ever intended such dismal disapidations of the Church as the Dissenters had Projected dream'd not of the introduction of such confusions as were the necessary product of their pernicious practices and were so far from adhering to them in the prosecution of their wicked Designs that for the most part of them they were sufferers under that 11th Persecution For 4. Their constant Practice in the use of the Liturgy as it witnessed their stedfast affection to the Church Established so it betrayed them to the Spight and Malice of the Faction who were carrying on a design to overthrow it To say they acted herein against their Judgment would bring their sincerity into question and make their Authority of no value and consequenty insignificant as to that purpose this Reconciler produces it for We must conclude therefore that whatever their condescentions were they were intended meerly to gratifie the present weakness of such as they believed to be conscientious but not all to countenance their Non-conformity 5. For Foreign Churches and Universities we very well understand both their Principles and their Practice And we are well assured that the Doctrine and the Discipline the Customs and Observances of the present Church of England are fully justified by them both what esteem they had for us before the late times of Deformation we may learn from the pen of the learned and noble Deodate in his Epistle to the late Assembly wherein he gives us this Encomium That Flourishing England the very eye and excellency of all the Churches Christs own choice purchase and peculiar the Sanctuary of the afflicted the Arcenal of the faint-hearted the Magazine of the needy the Royal Standard of good hope p. 6 7. p. 17. He does acknowledge and solemnly declare it That on the Theatre of the Vniversal Church the Kingdom and Church of England have hitherto excelled and out-shined all the Churches upon Earth in Holiness and Glory Such as well understand the happy constitution of this Church of England cannot but have the like value for Her and they that are of that perswasion can never with a sober judgment and deliberation utter any thing in Derogation to Her Dignity If this Reconciler can
the Apostle alters his style to them 1 Thes 5. 12 13. after he had admonished the Disciples to have a special regard to those Spiritual Guides and a high value for them He treats them with great respect when he puts them in mind of their Duty Now we beseech you Brethren warn them that are disorderly But the Reconciler goes on with his exceptions and tells us The same Apostle writing to Timothy concerning such who had a Form of Godliness but denied the power of it writes certainly of Persons who did as much deserve the Churches Censures as those he mentioned Rom. 16. 17. This Reconciler always has a reserve of kindness for such as make Divisions and Dissentions in the Church and Timothy says he to whom he writes had power to inflict those Censures and yet he only saith unto him from such turn away The place is 2 Tim. 3. 5. But to this I reply 1. That no doubt Timothy after so long converse with this great Apostle very well understood the several parts of his Duty and the Apostle did not think fit to prescribe him particular Rules of Government having charged him in the General in his former Epistle chap. 5. 21. To proceed according to the merits of every cause that should be brought before him and to do nothing with Partiality 2. He speaks there of a dangerous sort of Impostors which crept into Houses and had cunning enough to lead Captive silly Women and such false Apostles as take sanctuary in great Families the Church-Censures cannot always reach them Timothy had not then the assistance of a Secular arm and perhaps they were not to be restrained without it 3. The Apostle forseaw the Reign of those Impostors would be but short and concluded it would be most prudent to let them alone to expose themselves to contempt and scorn to their own ruin and this is the importance of those words 2 Tim. 3. 9. They shall proceed no further for their folly shall be manifest unto all men as perhaps our Reconcilers misadventure may be ere he be few months older But this shall suffice for the vindication of Grotius his little Argument The next Argument was that of Catharinus it was but short indeed and the Reconciler was too short-sighted to discern the force of it 't was taken from the Apostles expostulation who art thou that judgest another mans Servant Cum non sis Pastor aut Dominus ejus as Catharinus very truly and judiciously makes the sense of the Apostle when thou art not his Lord or Bishop and hast no jurisdiction and command over him This Argument saith our Reconciler is extremely frivolous which argues he does not understand it for saith he if this be the import of the Apostles words why dost thou judge another mans Servant who art not his Pastor then his own Master to whom he stands or falls must be his Pastor and therefore he must have a Pastor But the Master there mentioned is so plainly God that it is but lost time to prove it Thus our Reconciler argues But under favour he has insnared himself in a Fallacy which is called Ignoratio Elenchi For the Assertion was this that those Rules were given to private Persons and the reason of that were because there was no Governors then setled among the Christians at Rome and the proof of this was taken from a hint in Catharinus why dost thou judge thy Brother cum non sis Pastor aut Dominus ejus He had no Bishop or Pastor to Govern him in Church-matters and therefore the Apostle refers him to God's Tribunal And now I hope the Argument will be clear to the understanding of our Reconciler for thus it is framed They that were accountable to none but God in matters of Religion They were under no Jurisdiction they who were under no Jurisdiction had no Governors and consequently these directions could not concern them who were not then in Being especially being a Provision for quietness design'd for want of them And here it will not be impertinent to take notice of Aquinas his observation in Prol. That S. Paul wrote fourteen Epistles whereof nine were to instruct the Church of the Gentiles four to direct the Prelates and Governors of the Church and one for the Instruction of the People of Israel For the whole Doctrine concerns the Grace of Christ which falls under a threefold consideration One way as it is in Christ the Head and so it is commended to us in the Epistle to the Hebrews Another way as it is in the Principal Members of the Body Mystical and so it is commended in those Epistles which are directed to the Prelates A third way as it is in the Mystical Body it self which is the Church and so it is commended in those Epistles which were sent to the Gentiles amongst which this to the Romans was one and not directed to the Prelates of the Church as Aquinas well observes And it is further observable That here are Rules given and particularly in the 14th and 15th Chapters which are inconsistent with the Governors Duty For 1. He passeth by the Bishops Office and applies himself to the Disciples and instead of giving order to the first to excommunicate the scandalous offenders He requires the other to avoid them 2. He forbids judging which had been an obstruction of Justice and Discipline if there had been any Officers to execute and perform it 3. As he had done by the Women in another sence so here he injoyns the Men silence to keep their Faith their Opinion and Knowledge to themselves which in Bishops and Pastors was an obstructing of Edification 'T is clear S. Paul sends them a Prohibition against Judging but this we may be sure S. Paul would not have done against such as had Authority to Judge whence it will follow That he sent not this prohibition to Church-Governors and from hence it will follow that there were none such amongst them which was the thing undrtaken to be proved as was hinted by Catharinus The Argument may be put into Form thus Such as have a Jurisdiction and Divine Authority to Judge of Scandals and Offences those Persons the Apostle did not forbid to judge the reason is because the holy Apostle doubtless would not supersede a Divine Authority and obstruct the course of Justice and Reformation But Governors where they were duly setled had a Jurisdiction and Divine Authority to judge of Scandals and Offences Therefore the Apostle did not forbid them to Judge Here are but two things to be made good to clear the Argument from all possible objection 1. That there were among those Christians at Rome many Misdemeanors Scandals and Offences matters fit for Inquisition and Censure 2. That Church-Governors had Authority where they were duly setled to inquire into them and Censure them The first is clearly proved from the Admonition of the Apostle Rom. 16. 17. Mark them which cause Divisions and Offences and avoid c.
and therefore saith he tho an account has been given them they are still to be accounted weak and little ones But are Governours bound as well to find them understanding as to give them Laws And must the Laws be suspended because some men want a Capacity to understand the Reason of them See the Animadversions on the Prot. Reconc p. 44. Gods patience we know was weary of waiting for the compliance of an untractable Generation and is the Patience of Man indefatigable Forty years long was I grieved with this Generation and said it is a People that do err in their Psal 95. 10 11 hearts they loved their Error but their doom was sad at last unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my Rest St. Paul turned his back at last upon the Jews and they were totally cut off for their stubbornness and unbelief It is a very strange thing to me that the whole Church of God should be supposed to be in darkness as to the nature and measures of Christian Liberty for 1500 years The Casuists tell us that a Spiritual Good if it be not absolutely necessary to Salvation but only a matter of Counsel towards the accomplishing of it with more ease and advantage is to be deferred Malder ad 22. q. 44. a. 7. Dico 5. for a time to prevent Scandal But the Scandal of the weak will hardly require that such Spiritual good should be altogether omitted for when that comes to be required 't is degenerated into a Pharisaical Scandal I confess says P. Mart. if a man contemns Ad Rom. 14. in principio those truths which he hears out of the holy Writ he speaks of the weak Jews who would not believe the abrogation of the Ceremonial Law of Moses and will not admit them but makes himself a Judge and an Arbitrator how much of the Scriptures he ought to believe and attributes more to himself than to the word of God That he saith is no true Faith Nor does the Holy Spirit inspire such a sense and conceit into any man which makes him doubtful of the Justification of such a person And tho his weakness may seem to need our help yet if he scorns it and rejects our instruction there is no reason that Authority which comes from God should truckle under such as ought to be in subjection to her by Gods appointment or that Governors should stoop to break a good and decent Order to gratifie a perverse or wanton humor There was some difficulty in treating with those weak ones among the Jews They were to be brought off from Laws and Ceremonies of a Divine Institution under which they had been bred and to which they and their Fathers had been long addicted as has been already observed But there 's Vnum Necessarium one Principle and 't is of unquestionable truth which well observed is sufficient to prevent or remove all the Scandal that is or can be ☞ taken among us upon the account of Ceremonies or things Indifferent and 't is this That nothing can affect or defile Rom. 14. 14. the Conscience but what is acted or omitted contrary to the Light of Nature or the Laws and Institutions of the Gospel Take an instance The Surplice of it self is a thing Indifferent There is no sin in the use or dis-use of it but when Authority has injoyned the use of it then to omit it with Offence and in Contempt of Authority is a sin because 't is against the Law and Institution of the Gospel which requires us to obey our Governors I say the same for the Sign of the Cross and Kneeling at the Sacrament and Kissing the Book or holding up the hand at taking of a solemn Oath Herein our Governors have done nothing but what becomes Gods solemn Worship which they are injoyned to see performed decently nothing but what becomes the Trust reposed in them and the Authority they are invested with for Edification And they ought not to suffer the People to be nursed up in Ignorance much less in Superstition and Judaism And I say for men to refuse the Surplice the Sign of the Cross and Kneeling at the Sacrament as Common and Vnclean i. e. as things unlawful this is contrary to the Apostle and smells rank 1 Cor. 6. 12. c. 10. 23. Pag. 324. of Superstition and Judaism which are to be rooted out of their minds by a due Instruction and Discipline But the Reconciler tells us as was noted above that St. Paul never does enjoyn the weak to be of the same Principles and Apprehensions with the strong but always doth command the strong to bear with and restrain his Liberty that he may minister no Scandal or Offence unto the weak and doth confirm his exhortation by his own Practice in like Cases To this I answer that St. Paul was a Precatur eos Apostolus quos pro suâ Authoritate monere vel etiam praecepto urgere poterat Sed ut hoc modestius erat ita prosundius animis piorum insidere poterat humilis illa petitio quae non obscurè docebat quà m illi Cordi esset ipsorum salus c. Gualt ad Rom. Homil. 9â— post princi Person of great Prudence and Civility and he knew very well that to some Persons his very entreaties would have the force of a Command Thus he chose to treat Philemon saying Tho I might be much bold in Christ to enjoyn that which is convenient yet for Love-sake I rather intreat thee 2. I observed before that he sent no Order nor Injunction to the Christians at Rome because they were froward and indisposed for such Injunctions and there wanted Governors to see his Orders put in Execution 3. There is a wretched insinuation in the Reconcilers words to encourage Dissenters in their Schism and he wraps it up in a kind of Fallacy For what does he mean by being of the same Principles and Apprehensions the words are ambiguous the question is whether the Apostle enjoyns them to be of the same Faith and Perswasion touching the Abrogation of the Ceremonial Law touching Christian Liberty and things Indifferent Gal. 5. 1. and this He has enjoyned with a Witness does he not say I stand fast in V. 12. the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free Does he uot say of such as disturbed the Peace of the Church with a contrary Doctrine I would they were even V. 10. cut off which trouble you Does he not threaten him that he shall bear his Judgment whosoever he be But these suasory Topics of false Reasoning are frequent with the Reconciler And this Practice is not only foul in it self but of very ill Consequence also to the Publick 'T is Peter Martyrs Observation That good men do sometimes â—d Rom. 15. 31. judge amiss because they are not rightly instructed or else because they are imposed upon by the Fraud of Seducers Et habent artificium
Impostores quo prius persuadeant quam edoceant Impostors have an Artifice whereby they do perswade before they do instruct The truth doth perswade by teaching not teach by perswading saith Tertullian And therefore Adversus Valentin 1 Sam. 12. 23. t is incumbent upon Governors to teach their Subjects the good and the right way To this effect they are obliged to speak and they must not hold their peace Be instant in season out 2 Tim. 4. 2. of season rebuke reprove exhort Some are so Ingenuous and quick of Apprehension that a word spoken in season shall prevail to that effect for which it is designed but the deadness of affection in some and the dulness of Capacity in others 1 Thes 5. 14. may require the Spur not only of a quickning Exhortation but of a pungent Admonition and Reproof and Tit. 2. 15. sometimes there are such refractory Spirits as must be bridled by Authority These things speak and exhort and rebuke with all Authority And when the worthy Governor sets himself upon the great work of subduing Vice and Error in order to the advancement of Truth and Piety no man ought to be so Prodigal of his own Salvation as to undervalue his Person or slight his Office Let no Church-man despise thee saith S. Paul to Titus â— Joan. Crocium 〈◊〉 locum But this is not all the Duty of a Church-Governor He must Watch and Ward as well as Instruct his Flock Feed thy Flock with thy Rod saith the Lord to his Prophet and if their mouths must Mic. 7. 14. be stopped who subvert whole houses shall theirs be kept open who endeavour to subvert whole Kingdoms It belongs to the Pastors Office saith Bishop Davenant Tit. 1. 11. who was a Pastor himself Ad Colos 24. not only to instruct his Flock in sound Doctrine but to arm them against the wiles and treacheries of Seducers For he is set as a Watch-man wherefore he is bound to give notice of the approach of the Enemy and to discover his Snares and Stratagems otherwise à Pastore exigetur quicquid per inertiam non custoditur saith Saint Cyprian after the Holy Prophet Ezek. Ezek. 3. 33. Chapters 33. 8. Great attention and diligence is required to preserve our selves from the Machinations of Seducers that we be not surprised through the Cunning Craftiness whereby they lie in wait Gualter Ad Rom. 16. Hom. 95. to Deceive The Apostle knew that Impostors were wont with admirable Artifice to insinuate themselves into Families to see who they could draw into their Nets and therefore we are to keep a strict Guard upon our selves against them And though this be every private mans Duty yet it is much more incumbent upon the Pastors of the Church whom God has Ut supra Ezek. 3. 33 chap. made and appointed to be Watchmen for the common Salvation The very Title of Bishops under the New Testament does admonish them of their Duty And they are in Holy Scripture compared to those vigilant Sentinels of the night who by their officious Alarms betray the approaching Thief and Robber and admonish us to avoid the ruine they would bring upon us There is another part of the Office of Church-Governors and that is given in charge to Titus A man that Tiâ—â— 3. 10. is an Heretick after a first and second Admonition reject If he does seriously and heartily love and favour Piety he will not be an obstinate Recusant such good and wholsom Admonitions will prevail with him saith Calixtus but if he does Maliciously and Stubbornly oppose any fundamental point of Faith or Practice against the common consent of Church and Scripture Joan. Crocias and propagate the contrary whether he remains in the Bosom of the Church or Schismatically depart from it he is one of these Hereticks and 't is as hard for the Author and Broacher of such Heretical Pravity to return into the way of truth as it is for the Blackamore to change his skin or the Leopard his spots 'T is the observation Joan. Agric. ad locum of Joannes Agricola The Magicians of Aegypt Etiam digito Dei confusi non resipiscunt They repented not though the finger of God himself had appeared to their Confusion For Impiety as St. Chrysostome saith is many times Confounded but seldom Convinced And this St. Paul intimates After a fruitless Admonition reject such a Person Knowing that he is subverted or condemned of himself And he concludes thus Faxit Idem Deus ne idem nobis contingat in novarum Opinionum Authoribus qui novos errores coeperunt in Ecclesiâ serere God grant the same happens not among us in the Authors of Sects and Opinions who began long agoe to sow the seeds of new Errors in the Church Satan has his Impostors saith Gualter Ad Rom. 16. Homil. 95. Hypocrites who whether for private gain or to get themselves a name do circumvent men with their new Doctrines and privately draw them from the way of truth and publickly raise up tumults and scandals in the Church And the higher the Persons station is the more pernitious is his example his Dignity adds weight and aggravation to his scandal which like the Dragons tail Hemmingus de scand n. 12. Ut enim quo ingentius fuerit saxum Cadens ab altâ rupe eo plura fragmenta facit ita quo dignior fuerit persona in sublimiori dignitatis culmine constituta eo plures in lapsum secum trahit cum cadit quare majorem poenam meretur Ad Rom. 14. 14. in the Apocalypse sweeps the pendulous Meteors down from the firmament wherein for a time they seemed to be fixt Whether the Reconciler has been such an Instrument I leave the Reader to judge by these few instances 1. He undertakes to argue out of Rom. 14. 15. but perverts the Apostles meaning And though he does acknowledge for his own part that those Rules laid down by the Apostle to govern the present practice of the Romans do equally bind himself yet he does violate and break them all with great Study and Deliberation This is no small sin in it self but the Guilt is greater in one that makes himself an Advocate for a tender Conscience Si re aliquâ Deum credamus offendi nihilominus ab illa non abstinemus id magno indicio est nos pluris uostram voluntatem facere quam Legem Dei saith Peter Martyr if we believe God to be offended in any thing and yet do not abstain from it that 's a great sign that we value our own will above the Law of God This is in general Particularly 1. The Apostle saith Him that is Ad Rom. 14. 1. weak in the Faith receive but not to doubtful Disputations Prohibet Apostolus odiosas contentiones quae animos infirmorum alienant potius quam aedicant saith Peter Martyr He forbids all odious wranglings which do rather alienate
which is the signe of the Cross for we may be confident those Holy Fathers and Authors who are quoted by him would never make such sharp Invectives against the Church of God and their own Sense and constant Practice 14. And with this Fallacy he urges as well the example as the sayings of the great Apostle as if that had bin his constant Practice and Doctrine according to some standing Rule which was nothing else but his Condescention Pro hîc Nunc at some times and in some places and among some Persons by special Dispensation And this Fallacy he repeats so often that it becomes Nauseous After this needful and seasonable Advertisement I think I may venture any man of Reason and a small stock of Artificial Logick to read his Book This Reconciler * p. 104. Verdict 100. c. falls again upon Dr. Womock who sayes in his Verdict p. 100 That a Man may lose the Title of a Weak Brother and the benefits indulged by the Apostle to such persons The Argument reduced to due Form runs thus All Persons under such and such Circumstances Or All Persons under such and such Qualifications do forfeit or lose the Title of Weak Brethren and the benefits Indulged to such Persons But some of the Dissenters are Persons under such and such Circumstances or such and such Qualifications Therefore some of the Dissenters do forfeit or lose the Title of Weak Brethren What sayes our Reconciler to this Argument School Divinity is a crabbed Study and there 's little use of Logick to Rhetoricate and the Man being to seek in these Studies He does confidently deny the Conclusion which the judicious Reader cannot but observe For the Major Proposition is drawn out of Holy Scripture and speaks of Persons so qualified in such sort that the Title of Weak Brethren cannot in reason be allowed them And that some of the Dissenters are such the Reconciler does not deny * V. p. 108. In the Verdict there are mentioned three several Degrees of Men who cannot according to the Rules of Reason and Scripture be accounted among the number of Weak Brethren The First are such as will be offended after sufficient means of Information For when their Ignorance is convinced by the Light of clear Instruction they cannot plead such ignorance for an Excuse This was the Case of the Pharisees of whose Conviction I hope the Reconciler makes no doubt * Mat. 12. 15. Yet when his Disciples told our Blessed Lord that they were offended What did he do Did he retract his Doctrine Did he cry Peccavi to take off their scandal He took not off the scandal saith St. Chrysostom but reproved it Chrysost Hom. 52. in Mat. 15. For he knew very well when Scandals were to be contemned and when they were not to be contemned And Calvin well observes That the trite distinction Calvin Harm ad locum of Scandal was taken from hence That we give no Scandal to the Weak we are to be very careful but if the stubborn and malicious take Scandal we are not to regard it for Christ who is the Rock of Offence must be quite Buried if we would satisfy the frowardness of all Men. And therefore saith he we must needs put a difference inter infirmos qui ignorantia offensi mox reddunt se sanabiles superbos morosos qui scandala sibi accersunt betwixt the morose and proud who draw scandals upon themselves and those who being offended thro ignorance do presently render themselves cureable by good instruction and advice which are the proper Remedies of such Ignorance Certainly they are not Weak Brethren whose Mouths the Apostle commands to be stopt And if we cannot actually Tit. 1. 11. stop them they are never the more Weak Brethren for their prating against John Ep. 3. vers 10. their Governors with Malicious Words after the example of Diotrephes Johannes Crotius asks the Question Com. in cap. 1. Ep. ad Titum vers 11. How 't is possible for a Bishop to stop the Mouths of the Refractory whose Petulancy does the more increase for the attempts that are made to suppress it The Church saith he may enjoyn silence to such as are manifestly vanquisht upon the account of the Scriptures if they will not yet be quiet She may drive them from the Communion of the Faithful But if none of this be done yet if the Bishop does solidly convince them of their Errour out of the Word of God He has then stopt their Mouths Take notice He that writes thus is no Jesuite A Second Degree of such as have lost the Title of Weak Brethren is When a Man from a modest Enquirer comes to be positive and Dogmatical and Will See the Verdict pag. 100. c. not endure sound Doctrine but after his own Lusts heaps up to himself Teachers having itching Ears he can no longer pass the muster for a weak Brother c. A Third Degree of this sort of Men is When a Man is puft up with a Conceit of his own Knowledge when he becomes a fierce Disputant grows Stubborn and Censorious despiseth Dominion and takes the Scorners Chair then he commenceth Schismatick and is not to be treated as a weak Brother but as a Seditious Mutineer for 't is now evident That he dissents not out of Weakness but out of Pride Stubbornness and Animosity What saith the Reconciler to this Why the Characters here given of such Persons are taken so to the Life out of Holy Scripture that he cannot deny the Truth of them which makes up the Major Proposition And the Assumption or Minor he confesses expressly If any of these things saith he Pag. 107. 108. be offered to prove that there be men of this Malicious Proud and Subborn Temper among the body of Dissenters we have cause to fear the thing is too true He yields the Premises but denyes the Conclusiou and that speaks him a great Logician Yet something else he finds to oppose and to make as short work with him as I can He has reduced it to Three Heads He sayes Pag. 105. First This Plea will serve all Parties Secondly That 't is a vain Presumption Thirdly That it is against Scripture Reason Charity and what not to pass this heavy Sentence upon Dissenters in the General or without limitation or exception as the Dr. doth Were the Reconciler's Wits a Wool-gathering when he wrote his Book Is it not as clear as the Sun that the Dr. distinguisht the Dissenters into two sorts viz. Such as are Weak and such as have forfeited or lost that Title And Pag. 108. does he not here make several Degrees of this last sort The Man has a short Memory for in the very next Leaf within less than Four Pages He takes notice That the Apostle offers no Rules of Discrimination as the Doctor doth If the Doctor offers Rules of Discrimination then he does noe pass Sentence without
Brother be he Jew or Gentile to offend For Kneeling and bowing whatever Mat. 4. 1. mean Conceit the Reconciler has of it The Divel was not so much an Ass as to offer all the Glory of the World for a trifle He knew it to be God's due and a part of his External Worship and so he valued it and was desirous to purchase it upon that account And I am of Opinion it cannot be totally taken away from God's Service without Sacriledge And if we can take the Confidence to abolish this let us never blame the Church of Rome for taking away the Cup from the Laity in the Lord's Supper for the Sacrament in ' its integrity is but a part of External Worship and the Cup but a part of that part And the taking away of Kneeling utterly out of God's Worship seems to be a greater Offence than taking away the Cup because that is a Part of the Law of Nature whereas the Sacrament is but of positive Institution and consequently not so strictly binding And being an undoubted part of God's External Worship and a piece of Natural Religion we certainly do well to use it at the Sacrament as an Acknowledgement of Christ's Divinity which now a-dayes is so professedly impugned by the Socinians And We shall allow our Governours very little to do about matters of Religion if they may neither Ordain a Ceremony nor so much as appoint a special time for the performance of an undoubted Part of God's External Worship That some of the Dissenters act out of Pride Malice Obstinacy the Reconciler fears is too true That all of them Pag. 108. are of that Temper Dr. womock is so far from affirming that he thinks 't is very false He does not pretend to set up a Tribunal in any Man's Heart to Judge the secret Operations of his Mind But he is very well assured That good meanings can never Sanctify wicked Actions and we need no Window in some Men's Breasts to read their inward Dispositions Fides Incredulitas cordium sunt fateor ea nemo hominum judicare potest saith Bullinger Faith Ad Titum 3. 10. and Unbelief I confess are the Secrets of the Heart which no Man can judge Ex Dictis vero Factis ijsque manifestis debent fieri hominum judicia We must Judge of Men therefore by their Words and Actions which are manifest and apparent Our Saviours Rule cannot fail Us if we take it aright and he tells Us more than once By their Mat. 7. 16. Deut. 32. 32 33. fruits ye shall know them What Harvest have we had of these Thorns What Figs have we reapt from these Thistles Have not their Grapes been Grapes of Gall and their Clusters bitter Has not their wine been the poison of Dragons and the Crud venome of Aspes 'T is Gualters Observation and I desire Ad Rom. Homil 87. cap. 15. 5 6. the Reader to take Notice that in this Discourse I make no use of Jesuits to offend the Reconciler or his weak Brethren but such Protestants as are the most likely to favour the Cause of the Dissenters if there were any Reason or Colour for it Hi ut Ecclesiam turbant it a dei cultores esse non possunt cum Unitatem scindant quâ ille imprimis delectatur He speaks of the Sowers of Dissentions and Authors of Sects and Factions who as they disturb the Peace of the Church so they cannot be the Servants of God seeing they rent that Unity which he is chiefly delighted with We are told by the Apostle That Schism it self is a Work of the Flesh and excludes the Schismatick from the Kingdom of God But when the tender Conscience Gal. 5. 20. sets up for Reformation we cannot easily forget the great Train of Mischiefs which follows it For upon this Pretence Did not that Party make an Insurrection against Moses and against Aaron and conspire to destroy both Church and State and we know they kept their Wicked Covenant in nothing else How malicious and eager were they to Root out the Royal Family and to anoint the Bramble to Reign over them Did not they affront the late KING of ever blessed Memory by Clamours and Seditious Tumults Did they not Persecute him by Votes and Propositions against all the Rules of Honour and Conscience Did they not Blaspheme his Person slander and defame his Actions Did they not usurp his Power and seize upon his Militia the only guard of it Did they not make themselves Masters of his Revenue his Ships his Forts his Castles Did they not pursue and fight him Drive him from house and home and at last Arraign and Murder him If we can pass these Crimes upon the Accompt of Humane frailty let us no longer blame the Church of Rome for her Doctrine of Venial Sins He that can impute them as the Reconciler is supposed to do to the Prejudices of Pag. 113. Education Mis-conception or Mis-interpretation of the sence of Scripture to the Want of better Information or to unreasonable Fears and Scrupulosities and excuse those execrable practices upon that score may easily be tempted to make an Invective against Moses and Aaron and a Panegyrick upon Corah and to turn the 30th of January as too many of the Party does into a Festival for the honour of our Unrelenting Regicides But the truth is All those gay Pretences viz. the Prejudices of Education the Want of better Information which cannot reasonably be alledged among us Misconception and the like we know are inconsistent with the state of Grace in Jewes and Turks and why not in Sectaries in whom after the contempt of sufficient instruction they do certainly degenerate into Pride Malice and Stubbornness and if they be not finally Corrected and subdued by Repentance they are damning But were their Clergy wanting in point of Education Were they ignorant of the sence of Scripture They would take it in great disdain to be thought so And yet were not they the most Vociferous Trumpeters of our late Rebellion Did not they study invent and publish the most desperate Principles of Sedition Who made the People the highest seat of Soveraignty and placed a Coordinate Power with that of the King in the House of Commons Who intituled them at least to an equal Authority with His Majesty in making Laws and in the command of the Militia And who animated all the Souldiers they could arm and Levy against the King and absolved them from their Oath of Allegiance to Act and Practise those Principles after their Doctrine and Example These are some of the Reconcilers Weak Brethren And for the Common sort were they not consenting to the Deeds of their Seditious Leaders Did they not abett and encourage them by their Addresses and Petitions Did they not approve and applaud them in all their Villanies And assoon as they had destroyed the Church and Government did they not swarm into Sects and Factions and hiv'd themselves
a-part in several Conventicles as their Fancy led them without any regard to Gospel Rule or Government Tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum Such horrid mischiefs never can Commence But when Religion 's made the grand Pretence He that is but of yesterday and knows nothing of these things let him read the History of Independency The Mystery of the two Junctoes The short view of the late troubles with Evangelium Armatum and the Dissenters sayings And here I must put in my Apoligy in the Words of St. Austin upon a like Occasion Non praeterita Vendicando Epist 202. ante finem pascere Iram nostram studemus sed misericorditer in futurum consulendo satagimus We do not study to challenge things past to feed and gratifie our Anger but we endeavour out of great compassion to consult the common Benefit for the future And we have need enough to look forward God knows For Republicans Hobbists Atheists All Factions conspire in the Plea of tender Conscience and shelter themselves in the combination of Weak Brethren to undermine the Government and I am sorry they have gotten such an Engineer as this Reconciler into their service Have we not still amongst the Party such as will take upon them to make not only their own Prayers but their own Creed and their own Commandments And when we soberly consider how obstinate they are in their Schism and Sedition against the best of Kings and Churches we have but too much reason to fear least they should be given up as it hath often hapned in the like case of disobedience to their own delusions For do they not attempt to strengthen themselves in their Perversities by Solemn Leagues and Associations without and against the leave and likeing of their Soveraign Have they not taken all advantages to stuff the Pillow of the Crown with Thornes and to make the Throne to totter and become uneasy to his Majesty These things and the Particulars of them are so fresh in memory it would be but loss of time to repeat them In short these are a Race of men of such strange Machiavilian Principles that when they do most solemnly Protest and Vow to make their Princes Glorious they have a Jesuitical Reservation in it Their meaning and projected Method is to bring them as they did our late most Dear and Sacred Soveraign to the Block of Martyrdom 'T is high time therefore for us to shew our selves men and as Rational Isa 46. 8. Creatures and Loyal Subjects not to suffer our selves to be cheated any longer with the false Pretence of Tender Conscience and the title of Weak Brethren Whatever Men's Designs and Pretences be we are sure our Saviour's Rule is Infallible by their fruits ye shall know them By this I hope we may judge concerning Men's Opinions Whether they are like to be taken up and maintained out of Pride Malice Perversness But the Reconciler does sincerely profess That He knows not any such as can be certainly applied to the Case of the Dissenters And therefore 3ly He intreats Dr. Womock to Pag. 114. consider the falseness and absurdity of that Rule of Judging so severely of his Brethren which he hath borrowed from our Roman Adversaries for if this be a true and certain Rule which Soto has delivered That he must be supposed to err through malice who has been so far admonished that he cannot justly pretend Ignorance or who may easily be convinced of his ignorance And we who are Parties are left to judge of both these things What shall we say to all the Papists in this Nation or all the Learned Papists in the World To all the Reformed Churches who retain Presbitery and all their Pastors who receive Ordination only from their Hands To all those Calvinists who hold the Prelapsarian Doctrines and absolute Decrees of Reprobation To all the Lutherans who hold the foolish Doctrine of Con-substantiation Will Dr. Womock say That there has not been said Sufficient to convince them of their Errors so that they cannot justly pretend Ignorance May he not put them all in the same Form with our Dissenters and judge as Charitably of the Dissenter as of an erring Papist And if so all these Persons must be a pack of Damned Villains that err out of pure Malice Pride Affection and Animosity Stubborness and Frowardness or our Dissenters must escape that heavy Doom In Answer to this third Intreaty I have many things to offer towards a Satisfaction But this I learn from the Reconciler in general That such as err out of pure Malice Pride Affection Animosity Stubborness and Frowardness are a Pack of Damned Villains This the Reconciler makes a Major Proposition And for a Minor or Assumption he declares thus We have cause to Pag. 107. 108. fear the thing is too true that among the Body of Dissenters there be Men of this malicious proud stubborn Temper The Conclusion then from thence should be this Therefore We have cause to fear that amongst the Body of Dissenters there is a pack of Damned Villains Whether Dr. Womock ever let fall any Expression against the Generality of the Dissenters so rudely Censorious he appeals to every Man that has read the Verdict But the Reconciler to take off the Odium of such an Inference from himself has the Confidence to deny the Conclusion But knowing this as I suppose to be most grosly absurd in the Schools of Learning He affixes an Universal upon Pag. 108. Dr. Womock as if he had affirm'd That all the Dissenters to a Man without exception are Proud Froward Stubborn and Malicious that they all Sin out of pure Willfulness and Obstinacy or prepensed Malice and Design Thus he plays with Dr. Womock's Reputation to spring his own Game For upon that false Principle he Argues for six Leaves together But Dr. Womock challenges it as a piece of Justice from him either to make good his Universal Proposition against him or else to wear the Brand of a Notorious Slanderer Till the Reconciler has acquitted himself of this Dr. Womock has reason enough to neglect his Harangues upon such false Suppositions as impertinent but as well to entertain the Reader as to take occasion to assert the Truth I shall make some other Remarks upon what he has here suggested 1. Whereas he sayes We who are 2 Chron. 19. 6. 1 Cor. 5. 4. cap. 14. 37. 2 Cor. 2. 10. Parties are left to judge He is in a great Mistake The Governours of the Church are in Christ's stead in the Execution of their Ministerial Office of Legislation and Discipline In this their Political Capacity they judge not for Man but for the Lord they act as Christ's Stewards and not as Parties in opposition to Sectaries And for that Reason they are to be obeyed for the Lord's sake though in their Personal capacity they are subject to the Laws of the Church as well as other Men. 2. The Reconciler jumbles Things together of
so distant a Nature and Consideration that it is very reasonable to believe his Design was to amuse and not to instruct and edify his Reader 3. He seems to have a greater Kindness for the Papists than the Lutherans He can afford them the Title of Learned Papists But contemns the Lutherans all along as miserable and foolish Triflers Nay he has brought in St. Paul among the Jesuites formerly and here we shall find him again rankt among the Roman Adversaries so that in time he may possibly set up for a Papist Reconciler and I believe his common place Book is furnished with Materials for such a Work as well as for this which he has put out under another Title 4. In Reference to the several Parties he mentions Dr. Womock would say there has not been sufficient said to convince them of their Errours if others had not said more to the purpose to confute them than this Reconciler 5. If Con-substantiation be a foolish Doctrine yet 't is but a Metaphysical Speculation and so innocent of its own Nature it never brake the Peace in that Communion wherein 't is entertained 6. Tho this Reconciler would fain get into the Chair and pass his Sentence we pretend not to judge such as are not within our own Jurisdiction Let them Stand or Fall to their own respective Masters 't is enough when we have occasion to consider their Tenents to evince their Falsehood if we can and to discover their dangerous Consequence if they have any 7. Our Discourse relates to such as attempt to Subvert that Order and Government under which they have been bred and to which they owe Subjection 'T is true Contenders are ever stiff Judg. 8. 1. cap. 12. 1. 1 Sam. 19. 43. and confident and many times they are most fierce who have the worst Title But we know the Truth cannot lie on both sides nor can the Light of Evidence be equal to their Advantage Yet the Parties will not yield unless they be determin'd by Authority which is a clear Demonstration of the Necessity of Governours without whom now a dayes especially instead of being a Law unto himself every Man wou'd be a Gospel to himself and take what Liberty he list To prevent the Mischief of such Licentiousness we have these Commands upon us Obey them that Heb. 13. 17. Mat. 18. 17. have the Rule over you and he that will not hear the Church let him be unto thee as a Heathen Man and as a Publican And 't is Calvins own Doctrine That Men who are Contentious against the Custom and Practice of the Church in the Ad 1 Cor. 11. 16. use of Decent Rites are not to be treated with Disputations to gratify their itch of contending but to be bridled by Authority otherwise there could be no end of Strife and consequently no bounds set to the Exorbâ—tances of wicked Men For Jam. 3. ver 16. where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work But Authority should have some Rule to proceed by and Who shall give it Dr. Womock he sayes has borrowed a Rule from our Roman Adversaries Why Did Soto ever write against the Church of England He presented his Book de Naturâ and Gratiâ to the Council of Trent whereof he was a Member and it 's like he writes something therein against the Lutherans whose Doctrines this Reconciler contemns as foolish and trifling and so as for as we can see he is as much an Advocate for the Roman Party as their Adversary But What is his Quarrel to the Rule Will no Rule serve his turn but such a one as is without Exception Where shall we find it But let us give Soto's Rule fair Play and let it speak for it self He is supposed to Err through Malice who has been so far admonished that he cannot justly pretend Ignorance or may easily be convinced of it Can there be any thing said more rational If he cannot pretend ignorance or may easily be convinced of it and yet will persist in his errour Then his Fault proceeds not from the weakness of his Understanding but from the Pravity or corrupt Inclination of his Will which the School-Men call Malice For Passion and Surprize can have no place or pretence here where things are done with so much Deliberation and continued in against a Known Law and a just Authority as well as against frequent and publick Admonitions and when stubborness is added to the Opinion and Practice then of a matter of Choice and Knowledge it becomes Heresy But Why did the Reconciler single out Soto to the Combate when Perkins and St. Paul were in the same File on the Front and on the Rear of him and Verdict 100 101. no less concern'd in the Dispute than he Such Transgressions as our Reconciler undertakes to Excuse or Vindicate are hardly consistent with Mr. Perkins definition of weak Ones For these he saith are such as have turned to God and carry in their Hearts a Purpose in all things to please God and if they do amiss 't is out of simple Ignorance or bad Custom and 't will last no longer than till they be better inform'd but if after a sufficient Information they hold and practice bad things 't is then of willful Ignorance and of Malice and in that case He calls them Obstinate And for St. Paul his decretory Sentence is this A man that is an Heretick after Tit. 3. 10 11. the first and second admonition reject Knowing that he that is such is subverted and sinneth being condemned of himself This is a General Rule laid down by Apostolical Authority and prescribed to the Governours of the Church who are to take their measures from the Epistles to Timothy and Titus which were wrote on purpose for their Directions and not from the Epistles to the Romans where it does not appear that Church-Governours are concern'd at all much less directed in their Office And because that Rule of St. Paul is of so great importance I shall be the more large in giving the sence of it according to the exposition of the most learned Protestants By a Heretick the Apostle meanes Sectarium Hominem saith Aretius Sectarum Authorem the Author of Sects or a Sectary as Bullinger and Hyperius and others have it Calvin makes no distinction betwixt the Heretick and Schismatick in this place for he saith Ambitiosos omnes praefractos contentiosos qui Libidine impulsi turbant Ecclesiae pacem ac dissidia concitant hoc nomine comprehendit He comprehends under this Title all Ambitious Stubborn and Contentious Men who upon the impulse of their own lust stir up Discord and disturb the Peace of the Church In summa quisquis suâ proterviâ unitatem ecclesiae abrumpit is Haereticus vocatura Paulo Whosoever breaks the Peace of the Church by his frowardness St. Paul calls him an Heretick And yet further to reach such as set up Conventicles among us Quoties eo
of them of themselves apt enough to be troublesome and a Question put into their Heads and a power of Judging into their hands is a putting it to their choice whether you shall be troubled by them this week or the next for much longer you cannot escape LVI Every Minister ought to be carefull that he never expound Scriptures in Publick contrary to the known sense of the Catholick Church and particularly How far the Reconciler has praevaricated herein let the Reader judge of the Churches of England and Ireland nor introduce any Doctrine against any of the four first General Councils For these as they are measures of Truth so also of Necessity LIV. In your Sermons and Discourses Of whom speaketh the Prophet this Our Reconciler pleads for a change of Gestures Habits and Expressions and these make up the Subject of his Plea of Religion use Primitive known and accustomed words and affect not new Phantastical or Schismatical terms Let the Sunday Festival be called the Lords day and pretend no fears from the Common use of words amongst Christians For they that make a business of the Words of Common use and Reform Religion by introducing a new Word intend to make a Change but no amendment they spend themselves in trifles like the barren Turf that sends forth no Medicinable herbs but store of Mushrooms and they give a demonstration that they are either impertinent people or else of a querulous nature and that they are ready to disturb the Church if they could find Occasion LXI Let every Preacher in his Parish Does our Reconciler doe this take care to explicate to his People the Mysteries of the Great Festivals as of Christmass Easter Ascention-day Whrt-Sunday Trinity-Sunday the Annuntiation of the Blessed Virgin Mary because these Feasts containing in them the great Fundamentals of our Faith will with most advantage convey the Mysteries to the People fix them in their Memories by the solemnity and circumstance of the day And Adv. 25. he tells them Men are to be permitted to their own Liberty to the Measures of the Laws and Conduct Let the Recon note this Dr. Jeremy Taylor Bishop of Down and Connor of their Governours To this let me add the Doctrine and Advice of that Plous and Learned Prelate to the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons of Ireland Assembled in Parliament May the 8th 1661. In his Epistle Dedicatory he tells them thus Men pretend Conscience against They teach for Doctrine the Commands of men Obedience expresly against St. Pauls Doctrine teaching us to obey for Conscience sake but to disobey for Conscience in a thing Indifferent is never to be found in the Books of our Religion But Obedience is strong Meat and Nothing more easy then to obey will not down with weak Stomacks As if in the World any thing were easier than to obey For we see that the food of Children is Milk and Laws The Breast-Milk of their Nurses and the Commands of their Parents is all that Food and Government by which they are kept from Harm and Hunger and conducted to Life and Wisdom And therefore they that are weak Brethren of all things in the World have the least reason to pretend an excuse for Disobedience For nothing can secure them but the Wisdom of the Laws For they are like Children in Minority they cannot be trusted to their own conduct and therefore must live at the publick Charge and the wisdom of their Superiours is their Guide and their Security But saith he there are among us such tender Stomacks that cannot indure They strain at a Gnat and swallow a Camel Milk but can very well digest Iron Consciences so tender that a Ceremony is greatly offensive but Rebellion is not A Sarplice drives them away as a Bird affrighted with a Man of Clouts But their Consciences can suffer them to despise Government and speak evill of Dignities and curse all that are not of their Opinion and disturb the peace of Kingdoms and commit Sacriledge and account Schism the Tender Conscience the pretence of the vilest men Character of Saints For tender conscience I shall not need to say that every man can easily pretend it for we have seen the Vilest part of mankind men that have done things so Horrid worse than which the Sun never saw yet pretend tender Consciences against Ecclesiastical Laws But I will suppose that they are really such that they in the simplicity of their hearts follow Absolom and in weakness hide If really weak yet not to be dispensed but instructed their heads in little Conventicles and places of separation for a trifle what would they have done for themselves If you make a Law of Order and in the Sanction put a clause of Favour for tender Consciences do not you invite every Subject to disobedience by Impunity and teach him to make his own excuse Is not such a Law a Law without an Obligation May not every man choose whether he will obey or no And if he pretends to disobey out of Conscience is not he that disobeys equally innocent with the Obedient altogether as just as not having done any thing without leave and yet much more Religious and Consciencious Quicunque vult is but an ill Preface to a Law and 't is a strange Obligation that makes no difference between him that obeys and him that refuses to obey But what course must be taken with tender Consciences shall the Execution of the Law be suspended as to all such Persons that will be all one with the Former for if the Execution be commanded to be suspended then the obligation of the Law by Command is taken away and then 't were better there were no Law made And indeed that is the pretention that 's the secret of the business they suppose the best way to prevent Disobedience Where there are no Laws there 's no Government is to take away all Laws It is a short way indeed There shall then be no disobedience but at the same time there shall be no Government But the Remedy is worse than the Disease and to take away all Wine and Strong Drink to prevent Drunkness would not be half so great a folly To think of removing the Disease by feeding the humour I confess it is a strange Cure to our present distempers I desire him who is of No Church breaks her Orders to gratify a Faction that Opinion besides the calling to mind the late sad effects of Schism to remember that no Church in Christendome ever did it It is neither the way of Peace nor of Government nor yet a proper Remedy for the Cure of a weak Conscience For the matter of Giving Offences Governours are not to be offended whoever be and the Disobedient rather than the Dutiful what Scandal is greater than that which Scandalizes the Laws And who is so carefully to be observed least he be offended as
the King And if that which offends the Weak Brother is to be avoided much more that which offends the Strong for this is certainly really Criminal but for the other it is much odds but it is mistaken And when the case is so put be-between the Obedient and Disobedient which shall be offended and one will I suppose there is no Question but the Laws will take more care of Subjects than of Rebells and not weaken them in their Duty in compliance with those that hate the Laws and will not endure the Government But The weak not fit to Govern others or to be Guides they that will be always Learning and never come to the Knowledg of the Truth they that will be children of a Hundred years old and never come to years of Discretion they are very unfit to guide others and to be Curates of Souls But they are most unfit to Reprove the Laws and speak against the Wisdom of a Nation when 't is confess'd that they are so weak that they understand not the fundamental Liberty which Christ hath purchased for them but are Servants to a Scruple and affrighted at a Circumstance and in Bondage under an Indifferent thing and so much Idolaters of their Sect or Opinion as to prefer it before all their own Nobler Interests and the Charity of their Brother and the Peace of a whole Church and Nation This is out of his Epistle In the Body of his Sermon his Doctrine and Advice is this You have no other way of Peace no better way to appease and quiet the quarrels in Religion which have been too long among us but by reducing all men to Obedience and all Questions to the measures of the Laws For they on both sides pretend Scripture but one side only can pretend to the Laws And they that do admit no Authority above their own to expound Scripture cannot deny but Kings and Parliaments are the Makers and proper Expounders of our Laws And if ever you mean to have Truth and Peace kiss each other let no man dispute against your Laws For did not our Blessed Saviour say That an Oath is the end of all Questions and after the Depositions are taken all Judges go to Sentence What Oaths are to Private Questions that Laws are to Publick And if it be said that Laws may be mistaken it is true but may not an Oath also be a Perjury And yet because in Humane Affairs we have no greater Certainty and greater than God gives we may not seek for let the Laws be the last Determination and in Wise and Religious Governments no Disputation is to go beyond them 2. But this is not only true in Religious Prudence and plain Necessity but this is the way that God hath appointed and that he hath Blessed and that he hath intended to be the Means of ending all Questions This we learn from St. Paul I Exhort that first of 1 Tim 2. 3. all Prayers and Supplications and Intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for Kings and for all that are in Authority For All for Parliaments and for Councils for Bishops and for Magistrates It is for All and for Kings above All. Well to what purpose is all this That we may lead a quiet and Peaceable Life in all Godlyness and Honesty Mark that Kings and all that are in Authority are by God appointed to be the Means of obtaining Unity and Peace in Godliness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in all the true and Godly Worshippings of God No Unity in Religion without Kings and Bishops and those that are in Authority 3. And indeed because this is God's way of ending our Controversies the matter of Authority is highly to be regarded If you suffer the Authority of the King to be Lessened to be Scrupled to be Denyed in Ecclesiastical Affairs you have no way left to silence the Tongues and Hands of gainsaying People But so it is the Kings Authority is appointed and enabled by God to end our Questions of Religion Divinatio in Labiis Regis saith Solomon In Judicio non errabit os Ejus Prov. 16. 10. Divination and a Wise Sentence is in the Lips of the King and his mouth shall not Err in Judgment In all Scripture there is not so much for the Popes Infallibility but by this it appears there is Divinity in the Kings Sentence For God gives to Kings who are his Vicegerents a peculiar Spirit And when Justinian had out L. 8. Cod. de Veâ—eri Jure Enucleando of the Sence of Julian the Lawyer observed that there were many Cases for which Law made no Provision he adds If any such shall happen Augustum imploretur Remedium run to the King for Remedy For therefore God hath set the Imperial Fortune over humane affairs Vt possit omnia quae noviter contingunt emendare Componere Modis ac Regulis competentibus tradere that the King may amend and Rule and Compose every New-arising Question And it is not to be despised but is a great Indication of this truth That the Answers of the Roman Princes and Judges recorded in the Civil Law are such that all Nations of the World do approve of them and are a great Testimony how the Sentences of Kings ought to be valued even in Matters of Religion and Questions of greatest doubt Bona conscientia Scyphus est Josephi said the old Abbot of Petrus Cellensis Lib. de Conscientia Kells a good Conscience is like Joseph's Cup in which our Lord the King Divines And since God hath blessed us with so Good so Just so Religious and so Wise a Prince let the Sentence of his Laws be our last Resort and no Questions be permitted after his Judgment and Legal Determination For Wisdom saith By me Princes Rule by me They Decree Justice and therefore the Spirit of the King is a Divine Eminency and is as the Spirit of the most High God This is the solid Doctrine of that Learned Prelate The Reconcilers dealing by his Writings does sufficiently acquaint us what we are to expect in the Use he makes of all the rest which he alledges If they speak against the Laws or the Rites and Customs of the Church let him produce their Sayings out of such Discourses as they have professedly made to that effect otherwise their Reproof of Scandal in the general does certainly concern not only Schism and Sedition but all ill examples whatsoever and particularly Disobedience to the Impositions of Superiours than which nothing was lookt upon more Scandalous which our Blessed Saviour therefore wrought a Miracle to prevent Mat. 17. 27. Lest we should offend them This Pareus understands of a Scandal given and observes Scandala cavenda esse etiam cum cessione nostri Juris in rebus mediis That Scandal is to be avoided tho we depart from our own Right in things Indifferent to that effect and then especially when Authority calls for our Obedience which