say the Learned but the ministerie of the church of England is vnlawfull and Antichristian sayth Mr. Dr. Ergo it is lawfull to separate from it If the church of England hath not Christs Key she is not his house saith Mr. Dr. But the church of England hath not Christs Key saith Mr. Brightman and others Ergo she is not his house and so consequentlie to be separated from To separate from corruptions is lawfull saith Mr. Dr. the ministerie worship and Church government of England are corruptions saith Mr. Dr. Ergo it is lawfull to separate from the ministerie worship and Church government of England I doe not gather up these his arguments for any need we have of them but to put him in minde of his owne take heed For if he say one thing and doe another he may perhaps at last fall worse then vpon the quick sands of separation even into the bottomlesse pitt of condemnation And whereas I perceive he is not willing to be compared to Barrow for my part I am not willing that he should for Reverend Barrow was true to his grounds and walked conscionable in the holte order of the Gospell to which order Mr. Dr. hath beene hitherto an utter enimie but for what reason let himself looke to it I have spoken the more because of this mans insolent boasting against us and the untrue reports which he giveth forth of refuting the cheifest separatists I hope now the world shall see what abilitie he hath in this thing or otherwise all will have just cause to conclude that Mr. Dr. will speake more to his good freinds in private against us then he is willing to have publicklie knowne to receive an answer to it Our third inference is If church government be a matter of Faith necessarie to salvation as is any outward ordinance of God and wholie wanting in the Assemblies of of England then it is the dutie of all the faithfull there shaking off the Prelates yoake to erect this power and exercise the same among them I doe not mean that any private person should meddle with the affaires of the Realme but that every one in his owne person doe place himself about the throne of God leaving the abuses of the publike state to be reformed by such as have a lawfull calling thereto It is certaine this ordinance must be sett up retained and practised though Princes are utterlie against it We must not tarie one houre to exspect a new grant from men to doe our duties in the true worship of God when as we have a sufficient grant allreadie from heaven for if we doe we shall surely dye in our sinnes and our blood shall be upon our owne head The primitive Christians had not the Magistrates leave to serve God yet they did whatsoever he commaunded them Their practise is an example for us and all beleevers are bound to doe the like as often as there is the like just and necessary occasion For as the approbation of men and Angels makes the wayes of God and workes of religion never a whit the more lawfull but onely the more free from bodily daunger so neither can their disalowance make unlawfull such duties of religion as the word of God approveth nor can they give dispensation to any person to forbeare the practise thereof But because my purpose cheifly is to shew the judgement of the Nonconformists touching religious ordinances and the use and practise thereof I will therefore lay downe their words that so the reader may see how well they and we in these thinges doe accord except in Obedience The Magistrate say they is but the servant of the Lord and therefore hath no power to bind the the conscience neither can he exempt any man from obedience to God Another saith if the Law of man be wanting yet the Church must not cease from doeing her duety and exercise her power which is granted her by Christ who hath also promised his presence when two or three are gathered together in his name therefore she may entreat determine and strengthen her decrees and constitutions with Ecclesiasticall censures and punishments notwithstanding the Prince will not assent approve and ratifie the Canons of the Church nor confirme them by his lawes and fortifie them with temporall punishments M. Wing an eminent Reformist hath 9. reasons in print to prove that all persons are necessarily bound to practice perpetually the ordinances and commaundements of the Gospell although the civill Magistrate allow not thereof and because they are effectuall and weighty I will here lay them downe 1. If the onely sure way for comfort of our soules be the practice of Gods ordinances for his visible Church vnder the Gospell then we are bound to practice the said ordinances notwithstanding the Magistrate doe forbid the said practice But the only sure way for the comfort of our soules is the practice of Gods ordinances for his visible Church vnder the Gosp ll Therefore we are bound to practice the said ordinances notwithstanding the Magistrate doe forbid the said practice 2. All the Magistrates power wherein he is actually to be obeyed is onely where he commaunds or forbids from God or for God But the Magistrate forbidding the practice of this way doth not forbid from God nor for God Therefore the Magistrate forbidding the practice of this way is not actually to be obeyed 3. Where the Magistrate may not commaund and be lawfully obeyed in the Negative part of any commaundement of the first Table there he may not forbid and be Lawfullie obeyed in the affirmative But the Magistrate may not commaund and be lawfullie obeyed in the Negative of the 2 commaundement Therefore he may not forbidd and be lawfully obeyed in the affirmative 4. We cannot justifie specially the continued omission of any dutie and cheifly of the first table vnlesse we be by violence restrained from the practise thereof But to omitt the practise of these ordinances of God for his visible church vnder the Gospell because it is not tollerated or allowed by the Magistrate is a continued omission of a dutie of the first table and this not omitted by reason of a violent restraint Therefore we cannot justifie the omission of this dutie 5. It is not lawfull to omitt the dutie of charitie to releive any poore saint of God though the Magistrate forbidd it Therefore we may not omitt this dutie of piety though the Magistrate forbid it 6. If the Lord foresaw the aversnesse of Magistrates to the practise of this church Government and yet did never exempt nor dispense with the peoples omission therefore then we may not omitt or forbeare this dutie though the Magistrate doe not tollerate it But the Lord foresaw the aversnesse of Magistrats to the practise of this church Government and yet did never exempt nor dispense with the peoples omission of this dutie Therefore we may not omit or forbeare this dutie though the Magistrate forbid 7. Whatsoever
and other nations were mooved by Gods workes shewed in Egypt to go out with the Israelites notwithstanding that they should bee all taken into actuall communion with the Church it is onely his dreame and no such thing can be truely gathered from the place but the contrary is most probable as I could if there were any use give many reasons for it see Numb 11. 4. And the like may be said unto the place in Est â— 17. and this also further added how he knew if any were received into the fellowship of the Saints that the word of God was not preached unto them by some meanes in one measure or other before their admission As for the other texts namely Iohn 2. 23. and 4. 39. and 6. 26. His alleaging of them plainely notes that his knowledge was not much in these Scrip. Fort. Christ did not there coÌ„stitute any visible Church 2. The persons there spoken of were most of them members by birth of a true Church 3. Howsoever the things which hee mentioneth as miracles reports c. were great meanes to confirme the Gospel and to draw people unto the hearing of the word notwithstanding the word alone was the instrument Gods blessing going with it whereby the people were brought unto faith and repentance Ioh. 4. 42 4. But wherefore doth he instance these examples seeing they are extraordinary and therefore if it should be granted as hee ignorantly understands the places yet it will not follow that there is any other outward ordinary meanes to call men out of the world beside the word now of this ordinary meanes speakes the definition onely 5. Observe how the exception which he makes here against us serves nothing to helpe his case for if all the persons which he names were received into the visible Church and say it was by some other meanes beside the word that mooved their hearts to obey the Lord therein yet how can he proove that these were outwardly wicked and irreligious knowne to be Idolaters drunkards sorcerers mockers lyers blasphemers c. For unlesse he can manifest this if all the rest were granted yet will it not stead him a whit to justifie the state of the English Church which was erected after popery as hee could not deny of such vile varlets and uncleane creatures It is therefore worth the noting what ill speede Mr. Dayr hath still in all his testimonies and witnesses for after he hath puld them in at the window or backdoore by the haire of the head yet this is his crosse either they stand up against him or are quite dumb and speake not a word touching the point for which he brings them We heard what the reasons are why Mr. Dayrell disliked our definition Now before we come to the last part of his booke there is somthing to be said touching the manner which he layes downe of making of Churches by the sword about this he begins with a tedious comparison of one that hath children and servants which be papists and by threats will have them worship God aright thereupon they frequent the Church assemblies and seeme outwardly to be religious and are to be accounted of the visible church and yet these came not to be of the Church by the call of the word c. now may the master and father doe this and may not the magistrate c. Ans 1. Howsoever parents and masters are to use all good means that those which are under their government may be religious holy yet have they not anie more power to make them members of Gods Church if they be not under the visible covenant then they have power to give them saving grace sanctification 2. Whereas he saith these come not to be of the visible Church by the call of the word that is untrue For howsoever a person may come to the place where a Church is yet his comming simplie there doth not immediately make him an actuall member of it as he still ignorantly intimates For those of his brethren which were farre more judicious then himselfe doe teach otherwise when men doe profitt in hearing then are they to be joyned to the Church But it seemes if Heathen Turkes would have but come to his service and preaching he would have acknowledged them to be part of his flock albeit they manifested no repeÌ„tance at all If he should say no then were he contrarie to his owne saying here 3. This Similitude is against himselfe For first the Magistrate did not commaund the Subjects to goe unto Churches formerly gathered and there to be prepared by hearing but forded them to be members they beeing altogether and every way most unfitt 2. The worship which they did was not according to Gods word but after the traditions and devises of men 3. They neither outwardly seemed religious nor renounced Poperie nor professed true religion but in all this plainely shewed the contrarie as we have before proved by their owne writings After this he makes a long narration to justify this compulsion by the practise of the â—ings of Iâ—dah now this point by others hath beene so fullie answered as one would thinke that Mr. Dayr should never have had the forehead once to have named it except he had been more able to refute their arguments For answere to it I deny that there is any true proportion between this Example and the thing unto which they doe apply it 1. The Iewish Church was nationall but such are none now under the Gospell neither Provinciall nor Diocesan as the Nonconformists doe say and prove 2. Howsoever Iud. .h fell fearfully into sinne yet by vertue of the Lords covenant with her forefathers faithfully on his part remembred and kept remained still the true Church of God and was not as Israel quite broken-off and therfore the Magistrate compelled not the people to be members but to perform the duties thereof they beeing members truly before Indeed if either Hezechiah Iosiah Asa or Nehemiah had forced the Fdomites Aegyptians Babylonians c. into the holy Temple and there to have sacrificed to the Lord it had been something like unto their practise For the English nation coÌ„sisting of many sheires citties townes and villages was never within the Lords covenant holy in the roote as Iudah was Howbeit it may be many hundred yeares past there were some true churches planted in the Land by the preaching of the Gospell and obedience of faith 3. The ministerie worship and church government unto which Iudah submitted was the Lords and the contrarie abolished by her good Governours as the reader may see by these scriptures But neither in the beginning of King Edwards or Q. Elizabeths raigne was there such a course taken but the selfe same false ministerie worship and church government left to stand which the Romish beast had before devised and is at this day used in his cursed Kingdome onely some few faults put out and this themselves when
continued so long in the Churches of God as there was any light of the knowledge of him so that indeed it ought to be perpetuall and vnchangeable and may not at any hand either by Church or Magistrate be altered For it is a greater wronge to haue any Ecclesiasticall officers forced upon a people against their will then if they should force vpon men wives or vpon women husbands against their will and liking Here also generall counsels and many old and new writers are brought-in by the Nonconfor to speake for them in this thing Concil Nicene Test Theo. Conc. Const. test tripart hist. l 9. c. 14. Concil Carth. can 1. Con. Toletan test dist 50 Concil Gabil Can. 10. Cyprian l. 1. Ep. 3. Amb. Epist 82. Ierom. ad Ruffin Basil Epist 58. And whosoever condemnes the making of ministers after this sort what doe they else but open their mouths against God and against the truth Defence of admon p. 2. Moreover every officer in the church must be ordained by imposition of hands of the Eldership the whole Church joyning with them in fasting and prayer and without a lawfull calling no one must presume to exercise any spirituall function or ministery nor dare to enter in any other way then by the doore A notable Example for this purpose is rehearsed by Moyses in Numb 16. Whereby it seemeth that the Lord meant to ratifie the Law of a necessity of a true vocation for ever For there we see that neither the heavens could abide to see nor the earth beare so shamelesse boldnesse but the one melting consumed with fyer such as without a calling would take vpon them the presthood and the earth gapeping opened it selfe and swallowed them vp alive which ought to be a lesson to vs for euer that no man presume to pervert or alter that order which God hath established in his Church nor arrogate to himselfe that honor which he hath by no right and lawfull calling obtained c. Moreover none must be ordained vnto any office in the Church vntill there be such a place voyd for him as is meet and fitt for as the Apostles did in planting of Churches so must it be don in the building thereof for ever but they ordained neither Pastor Teacher Eder nor deacon but to some certaine congregation that had present vse and need thereof A roving and vnsettled ministrie therefore is a new and false ministerie meerely instituted by men And never read of to be practised but by idolaters Iudg. 17. 8. Againe great care must be taken before consent be given vnto any calling in the Church that it appeare by sufficient trial and due examination that the person is qualified with those gifts which the word of God requireth in one of that place For else there will follow a manifest breach of Gods commaundement Besides God will not owne his ministery thirdly if he want abilityes he cannot doe the things required of him As to divide the word aright espy the enimy and give warning a forehand to the people how to resist him But contrarywise will lead himselfe and his people into hel fyer The truth is no vnskillfull or vnlearned man may be called to the steering of this helme vnlesse we would have the shipp not onely to be in daunger but willing to runne it vpon the rockes These officers chosen and made as aforesayd ought to execute the office committed vnto them with all faithfull diligence and consequently must be continually resident vpon their charge This later position to wit the necessity of perpetuall residence the vnlawfulnes of Nonresidence is confirmed of them by good reasons 1. A minister is a sheepheard and his charge a flock now a sheepheard hath a flock to feed it continually 2. Wheresoever God placeth a man there is dayly need of his labour and care 3. The people are in daunger of harme if they be not watched over day and night 4. The Church requireth an officers residecy with her as a duty of him 5. If they do otherwise they cannot give their people a good example neither will there be love and familiarity between them c. Breifly they hold it as great an injurie to force a congregation or Church to miantaine as their Pastor with tiths and such like donations that person which either is not able to instruct them or that refuseth in his own person ordinarily to doe it as to force a man to maintaine one for his wife that either is not a woman or that refuseth in her owne person to doe the duties of a wife vnto him And thus much for the first point wherein we and they in iudgement doe accord but our practise as yet is contrary each to other SECTION II. NOw it followes that we truely relate the present state of the English ministery how far it disagreeth by their owne Testimonies in every particular thing from the positions before named touching it in generall they affirme confidently that it is a base ministerie which God never erected in his Church but came wholy from the Pope for say they not onely is the calling of the Hierarchie but also their dependent offices all vnlawfull and Antichristian observe the largnesse of their speach how they comprehend and so consequently here cōdemn all their Ecclesiasticall functions for indeed they take all their originall of one roote namely the Praelarey from it I say they have their ryse and by it onely they administer vnto the people And whosoever shall deny this may with as much reason deny that fyre is hott the sea salt the sunne shines c. But let us heare what reasons they give to prove their ministery false and Antichristian and every way contrary to that true ministery of which we have before spoken First they say that the Church of England Wanteth her Pastors Teachers Deacons and Elders For which cause she hangeth downe her head for heavinesse her eyes be bleared with teares her cheekes be defiled with the water of her eyes her heart is heavy with sorrow her bones are withered with drynesse her whole body is clothed with sackcloth shee lyeth in caves and dens being ashamed to shew her face haveing so deformed and maimed a body If her case and state be so she hath reason enough to greive For to want these true officers and to have counterfeits placed in their stead is one of the heaviest and fearfullest miseries that can possibly befall any people Yet this thing is affirmed by others of them also Of which more hereafter Now concerning elections ordinations In these their church standeth vnder a Romish regiment and hath not left Babylon but partaketh of her sinnes in the choyse of Ministers For neither are their Ministers proved elected called or ordayned according to Gods word But their entrance into the ministery is by a Popish and vnlawfull vocation strange from the scriptures and never
confesse these were good separatists and they did lawfully forsake the body whereof they stood formerly members notwithstanding if we take a strict view and inquiry of that ministerie worship and Government which they left at Dan and Bethel it will appeare evidently that the same was not more false idolatrous and vnlawfull then the present ministerie worship and government of the English assemblies is by the Nonconformists affirmed to be and because none may thinke that I speake more than can be proved I will therefore here lay down an Apologie or pretext which an Idolatrous Israelite might frame in the defence of the Kings Religion takeÌ„ out of their own writings if D. Ames phrase be tollerable I will pawne my head that there is never a Nonconformists this day in the world let him keepe to their groundes that is able to give more pretty reasons and coulourable shews to justifie the Religion of the Church of England for thus they write When the Preists and Levits according to their duety resisted the novation as liking better of their better warranted old profession both they and some of all the Tribes of Israel following the voyce of God in their mouthes were hardly intreated whereupon there arose a great schisme The men of Iudah and some of Israel objected that they had forsaken God but the most part of Israel judged them to be renters of the vnity of the Kirk rebells against the King who was advanced by the Lord beside all expectation was their lawfull Prince peaceably disposed contenting himselfe with his own Kingdome providing for the good estate of his own people and vsing all meanes that they follow not other gods and esteemed them to be superstitious Precisians in standing out against so gracious a King commanding nothing against any article of faith against any fundamentall point of salvation detesting the Gods of the Nations and all kinde of idolatry The matters he vrged were but circumstantiall rituall and variable and such as the best Kings having the Lords approbation had changed before They could say that the worship was the same in substance that they served the same God who brought them out of Egypt with the sacrifices and observation of all the statutes kept by all the fathers since the beginning of the world That their Bullocks which Precisians called idols were similitudes representing the onely sacrifice of the Messiah in whom they looked for salvation Were there not Cherubines in the Tabernacle and Temple and twelve Oxen or Buls of brasse appointed by the wisest King The Lord forbiddeth such images onely as have divine worship done vnto them like the Calse in the wildernes turning the glory of God into the similitude of a bullock that eateth grasse But they could say that they worshipped not these Calves more then the images of the Cherubines Are we so grosse when we say Behold our Gods as to think that they brought vs out of Egypt We speake figuratively as the Arke was called the King of Glorie and the holy Lord God Wee will rather give our lives lands libertie and all then commit Idolatry for the pleasure of any Prince and doe abhorre the abuse of Images which is to bow down and serve them albeit we be not of that mind but we may have them and worship God by them because we know no place of Scripture to the contrary The place of worship is but a circumstance and to tie Gods presence to any place who is neere in all times and places to them that call upon him is superstition The Arke was not ever in one place but often removed In Salomons own time there was two publick places of Gods worship and Salomon sacrificed in them both Is not the whole land holy The promise made to Salomon of a speciall presence at Ierusalem was tyed to the condition of keeping his Statutes and Iudgements wherein he hath failed And therefore as his Throne is thrown down which the Lord at the same time promised to establish so hath the place lost the priviledge of holinesse We may plead from Antiquity for heere is Bethel so famous for that glorious testimony of his presence given to Iacob from whom we this day have the name of Israel Rehoboam is no wiser then his father he may fall into his Idolatry and so Israel by resorting to Ierusalem may be snared All danger of Idolatry would be prevented the poore people eased of their tedious journies and both Prince and people saved from Rhehoboams conspiracy All this dinne and division proceedeth of the humours of some contentious and avaritious Levits seducing the simple people making them to thinke that God cannot be served but in Ierusalem after their fashion in every circumstance and particular ceremony and of the doting of some persons of the weakest wit and â—ox delighting to goe abroad to be talked of for zeale and more pleased with any worship then that which they have at home The observation of the Feast of Tabernacles vpon the 15 day of the 8 month is but the change of a circumstance of time The day was made for man and not man for the day It was lawfull by Gods own warrant to keep the Passeover on the 14 day of the second month he careth not for the month so the day be kept It is presumption to alter things substantiall in matters of faith or doctrine but superstition to stand vpon circumstances and variable ceremonies What can be done the Lords worship cannot be neglected If the Priests of Levi make it nice will still prove contentious and lead a faction with them for strengthening the Kingdome of Iudah vpon warrant of Antiquity before the distinction of Levi was made for orders sake others of other Tribes as well qualified as themselves must be put in their places and they put away as Abiathar was by Salomon because he had his hand with Adonijah It may be when they see their places well filled and the charity of profuse people which cannot last long to decay that their giddines will go away and they returne to their right wits The Prophet that came to the King when his hand dryed vp might have beene a Witch comming with lying wonders for he was slaine by a Lyon and howsoever he threatned destruction he condescended vpon no time lest he should have been convinced of a lye Ahijah dealt not with the King in meeknesse and sincerity as became a Prophet but by his bitternesse and passion declared that he was partially inclyned to Iudah Abijah dyed not before his day All things come a like to the godly and to the wicked to him that sacrificeth and him that sacrificeth not Or if his death was vntimous it was rather for his secret intentious crossing his fathers courses then for any good that was in him towards the God of Israel as the Prophet would have it In Elias time there were seuen thousand in Israel which bowed not vnto Baal That is refused to joyne
the least circumstance in the worship of God And howsoever there may be a shew of Wisdom in voluntarie Religion Col. 2. 23. Yet beeing rightly weighed all the devises of men shall be found foolish vaine yea more then sottish in the judgement of God CHAP. III. IN this chapter we will speake of Church Government observing the former method that is first I will shew how the Nonconformists doe describe a right Ecclesiasticall discipline 2. How farre the present Ecclesiasticall discipline of England by their owne Testimonie differs from and is contrarie to it 3 Lay downe responsive conclusions 4. Answere to D. Ames objections and others which may seeme to be against the same It is certaine that Christ our heavenly Prophet hath set forth vnto vs in the new Testament the ordinarie forme and manner of ordering Churches For this sundrie reasons are given 1. otherwise the Church which is his bodie should be left maymed imperfect and voyd of some speciall furtherances and helpes for her edification and perfection but this cannot be 2. We read that vnder the Law the Lord by Moyses ordained a certaine forme which was not altered nor to be altered by any King or Preist whatsoever yea from the begining of the world even from Adam to Christ this ordinance the saints ever had as agreed best with that time for which it is served and therefore it cannot be but that Christ coming in his owne person who was the day starre and sunne of righteousnes from whence all other borrowed their light must needs teach his Church a certaine Government for the safetie and good thereof 3. We must either confesse this or else spoyle Christ of his kinglie office for what doth more belong vnto the name office and duety of a King then to give Lawes vnto his Citizens and subjects and to make such decrees and ordinances whereby all the parts of his Kingdome may be maintained 4. That which teacheth everie good way teacheth also how the Church must be governed but the word of God teacheth every good way Pro. 2. 9. Therefore it teacheth how the Church must be governed 5. No human form is sufficient or able to governe the Church of Christ wherein so many diseases are to be healed and businesses to be dispatched for the good of mens soules and preserving the people of God and vpholding the Kingdom of Christ 6. The Church is the house of God therefore it is not to be supposed since he requires vs to set our families in order and he among men is counted a carelesse vnthrift that leaves his servants to doe what they list that he will himselfe neglect to give order how both steward and children and servants should be dealt with all besides these reasons the Nonconformists alleadge the Testimonies of the learned to prove the position yea some of the Prelates best Champions D. Bilson who was Bishop somtime of Winchâ—ster saith thus We must not frame what kind of Regiment we list for the ministers of Christes Church but rather obâ—eâ—vâ— and marke what manner of externall government the Lord hath best liked and allowed in his Church from the beginning And as this Ecclesiasticall power is common to all Churches and ought to be in all for as much as they are all in dependant bodies and have privileidges alike so it is confined and bound within the Limits onely of one particular congregation and the greatest power ought not to stretch beyond the same for in truth it is a great wickednesse for any person or persons to take vpon them selves Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction over many Churches much more over whole Kingdomes and Provinces of people Touching the order or cariage for the execution of it this government is committed to a fellowship or company of Elders consisting of lawfull and true Pastors Elders deacons by whose common advise according to the precise rule of the Scriptures both the rest of the Church ought to be governed and all Church matters also ordered and determined reserving alwayes that libertie which God hath given to his Church Of the election and ordinatien of these officers we spake in the first chapter this onely may be added that if any of these shall sinne he is as subject to the Censures of the rest as any other member of the congregation If they shall all sin scandalouslie either in the execution of their office or in any other ordinarie manner then the congregation that chose them freely hath as free power to depose them and to place others in their roome And because the vse of this Church government serves for to reforme abuses the brethren therefore are to watch one over another and when any one sinneth If the offence be private he must be admonished thereof secretly and by the person alone which knowes it for except it be of necessity the fame of our brother is not to be hurte his mind provoked his offence enlarged neither suspition of reproach defamation needlesly published forth against him but if he refuse to harken then two or three other members must be taken for the purpose and such as have best judgment most abilitie to perswade and in greatest estimation with the offender and here againe love is shewed seeing his amendment is still sought for and nor his disgrace if he will not yet acknowledge his offence then must he be brought vnto the Church and there againe be lovingly admonished and soundly convinced of his fault but if he be still incorrigible will not be brought by any means to repentance then after long forbearance much waiting and great patience with greife and sorrow of the whole Church in the name of our Lord Iesus he is to be cast out of the Church and given over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh and to be held as a heathen and publican But if the offence be publike there is no vse of private admonition but it must openly be rebuked and admonished yet so that the same be don circumspectly seasoned with gravitie love meekenesse c. Alwayes ayming at the offendors safetie and not his destruction and speciall care is to be had of every weake offender with discretion of offences If for all this he remaine incorrigible then must the Church proceed against him as before Yet let it be minded that no Church governours may upon aâ—y secret informations or suggestions or private suspicions goe about to bind mens consciences to accuse themselves of such crimes and imputations as cannot by Gods word plainly be proved against them for such a course is most damnable and tyrannous and against the very Law of nature devised by Antichrist through the inspiration of the devill Moreover they ought with all patience and quietnesse to heare what every offender can possibly say for himselfe either for qualification defence apology or justification of any supposed crime or errour whatsoever they ought not to proceed to censure
of God be brought to purity neither yet continue in the same without the use and exercise of this ordinance but lies open to all daunger and confusion Whatsoever the Nonconformists have here said about Church government we for our parts ascent wholy to it and through Gods mercie towards us doe comfortablie enjoy the same and wish unfeynedlie that there were in them such zeale of God and love of his house and ordinances as to practise once themselves the good duties which they well teach others to doe SECT II. THe Nonconformists in the former Section gave us a good description of a true Church government now let us heare what they say of their owne in England compare them together In this as in the rest we shall find great confusion and therefore lest the reader should loose himselfe I will observe some order in the handling of it and first speake of their Ecclesiasticall Officers 2. Of their Lawes by which they governe 3. Of their Courts where they be executed and lastly of the manner how they are executed and of all these breiflie intreating still the reader to gett their bookes if he be not herewith fully satisfied In the first Chapter Sect. 3. we were shewed what their Bishops are now some thing here is to be said of their dependant officers which most wickedly vnder them minister the Ecclesiasticall discipline of their Church namely Commissaries Chancellours Archdeacons officials registers proctors doctors sumners and the rest of that Viperous generation All these the Nonconformists say are greedy Cormorants servile varlets a horned generation base fellowes trash the ofspring of Romish Babel murderous beasts the scourges of all Gods people ravening rablers which thrust away most sacralegiously that order which Christ hath left to his Church and proudly tyranize over their superiours The Papist is on their side because he can shelter himselfe vnder them to hide his idolatry the Atheist is tooth and nayle for them because by them he enjoyeth carnall liberty the man of most notorious life defendeth them because he can from them redeem the corporall punishment of his sins by mony at a word all the rank adulterers common drunkards vnthrifts ruffians horrible swearers and dispisers of Gods word take part with them And no marvaile seeing these for the most part are all Papists and beside either bribers drunkards Epicures c. So vnmeet to be governours as indeed they ought not to be members at all in any reformed Church Iustly therefore are they said to be the root and cause of al the ignorance atheisme schismes and treasons in the Land the nurses and cherishers of Recusants and other Hereticks and of all the great iniquities and abominations that are committed therein especially in regard they live by the faults of men and will rather increase offences that their gaine may increase then vse meanes to lessen any and this experience dayly sheweth As for their names and offices it is testifyed by all the Nonconformists that they are all derived from Antichrist and are therefore false earthly vnlaâ—full and the discipline which they exercise is not prescribed in Gods word never appointed by the Lord Christ but taken wholy and every part from the Pope and vsed in the time of the greatest darkenesse vnder him yea and it is defended by the same Canons whereby his Popedome is supported so that were it not for the helpe of the Papists they have no authority either from God or man to helpe them either by reason or learning I may not here omitt how the Refor exceedingly condemne the offices of Church wardens and side men and prove the same to be vnlawfull and hurtfull by many reasons 1. Because they are counterfeyts of Gods true officers namely Elders deacons which Christ hath left in his Church by divine institution 2. They retaine the marke of the beast in part by serving the tyranny of the Hierarchie so that it is not lesse warrantable to be a Masse-Preist then a Church-warden 3. Their functions are devised by men and came first from Rome and therefore they cannot exspect any blessing or protection from God in their courses 4. They are bound to most vnlawfull conditions and so necessarily either they must be perjured or commit horrible iniquitie as to present their minister if he vse not superstitious Ceremonies so those which will not com at their devised service kneele at the Sacrement have their children crossed and Bishopped women Churched joyn with the Letanie observe their holy dayes c. And thus they minister matter of filthy lucre to the Harpies of the Prelates courts For these and such like causes every good man is exhorted not to touch these vnclean places for if he doe he shall surely be defiled therewith Their Collectors calling also they judge unlawfull Thus much of their Ecclesiasticall officers now for their Lawes these by the Nonconformists are said to be foolish articles slavish ordinances lawlesse perilous Popish wicked and damnable Canons shamefull Idolls very devilishnesse and hypocrisie Invented by the dragon and Antichrist our Lords enimies in the time of poperie without any warrant of Gods word yea manifestly against it and for what end servs it now in England Surely for no other but to strengthen the Kingdom of the beast and the power of darkenesse ignorance to breed trecherous Papists nourish superstition and popery vphold the cages of vncleane birds as Archbishops and L. bb seas arches cathedral Churches c. And destroy vtterly the Churches of God by crossing every faithfull minister in the discharge of his duety and every good Christian walking in the wayes of godlines and nipping in the head every good action For these and many the like reasons the Nonconformists have oft times desired that all their Ecclesiasticall decrees constitutions provinciall and sinodal statutes Fatherly customes c. Might vtterly be abandoned and as froth and filth be spued out of the common wealth Yea as infectious and noysome boiles and soares sent back again to the stincking sinckes and channel out of which they were taken Touching the oath exofficio whereby the Popish Prelates in Rome and England goe about to bind mens consciences to accuse themselves and their freinds the Nonconformists professe it to be a bloody Law most damnable and daungerous as cruel a racking of the mind as the most exquisite torture of the body can be this was invented by Antichrist through the inspiration of the devil that by meanes thereof the professors and practizers of true religion might be suppressed and abolished In very deed it is a lawlesse oath given and taken against the Law of nature contrary to the commaundement of Christ Mat. 18. and expresse word of God against all equity and conscience contrary to the common Law the Canon Law Counsels and imperiall statuts directly contrary to the nature of an oath Beside such as take it cannot sweare in judgment and
was commaunded to the 7 Churches to be practised vnder persecuting Magistrates opposing that we must not omitt though the Magistrate doth not tollerate it The practise of Church Government was commaunded to the 7 Churches Revelation 2 and 3. Therefore we must not omitt the practise of Church Government though the Magistrate doth not tollerate it 8. If the Church Government may be omitted wheresoever and whensoever the Magistrate doth not allow it then it doth depend wholy for the practise of it on the will of man But it doth not depend neither ought it to depend wholy vpon the will of man Therefore the Church Government may not be omitted when and wheresoever the Magistrate doth not allow it 9. If the Magistrate may forbid mee the practise of the ordinances of God then he may forbid me to be so good a subject as I can be or may be But the Magistrate may not forbid me to be so good a subject to Christ as I can be or may be Therefore the Magistrate may not forbid me the practise of the ordinances of God The Nonconformists are not alone in this thing for all the reformed Churches affirme the same viz. that it is the part and dutie of all the faithfull to submitt to the Doctrine and discipline appointed by Christ yea though the contrarie edicts of Princes and Magistrates doe forbid them vpon paine of death And so have their practises beene many ages together and there is good reason for it For the Regiment and Government of the Church dependeth not as the Nonconformists well teach upon the authoritie of Princes but upon the ordinance of God who hath most mercifullie and wiselie so established the same that as with the comfortable ayde of Christian Magistrates it may singularly flourish and prosper so without it it may continue and against the adversaries thereof prevail For the Church eraveth helpe and defence of Christian Princes to continue and goe foreward more peaceably and profitably to the setting up of the Kingdom of Christ but all authoritie she receiveth is immediately of God Before we proceed to another point we may here frame this argument If the professours of the Gospell in England have not among them a true church Government but are vnder that which came from the great Antichrist then are they bound to set vp that ordinance of God and to to practise it not withstanding the Magistrate doe forbid the said practise But the professours of the Gospell in England have not among them a true church Government but are vnder c. Therfore are they bound to set vp that ordinance of God and to practise it notwithstanding the Magistrate doth forbid the said practise These are both their owne positions and so soundlie proved that no man liveing is able to confute them But some will say this is hard to doe I answer difficulties must not hinder duties where we have an expresse commaundement laid upon us there al disputation must cease of hardnesse daungers losses c. Excellently for his purpose speaketh Calvine There is no travell or labour so great which we must not endure to the end we may enjoy the face of God how perilous soever the passage be be it as they say betwixt fyre and water yet let men goe foreward to have libertie to serve and worship God purâ—lie Is a man in going pinched with famin or thrist yet let him not faint but scrape the earth rather with his nailes for food and maintenance then be turned or driven back from comming to the Temple of God Many use to say they wish all were well and pray for reformation To this I answer it is not enough that we desire to have all things well except we endeavour to make them so He that wants and hungers for bodilie food deserves to starve except with all he use diligence and sore labour also as he is able to get it Againe prayers I confesse are good but without practise they profitt not The heart which setts the hand at worke and is full of zeale obedience sincerity c. shall doe well and prosper When Moyses stood crying at the red sea what saith God unto him speake unto the children of Israel that they goe forward I am perswaded the Nonconformists pray dayly for their deliverance from the Bb. government but here is their fault they goe not forward but are like him in the Prov which lyes in the ditch and cries God help but doth not seeke to help himselfe though he can and is able Others think because mens laws are against Christ that they shall therfore be excused in omitting their service unto him but they will finde it otherwise and as for this shift it denotes a most unsound heart for as we would repute that servant verie naught who being commanded by his maister to do divers things doth onely that which serves for his own credit profit pleasure c. but the rest not being so though more weighty and necessarie he purposly omitteth so certainly they carry the broad Characters of notable hipochrites even in their foreheads which walk onely in such waies of Christ as ly open for them by the authority of man where they may go with good leave safely and free from all bodily daunger but where the commandements of God are hedged up with thornes by mens prohibitions there they fowllye step aside and walke corruptly when the Apostles were sent forth to plant Churches if they should have left the Lords worke because they were forbidden to preach in the name of Iesus they had surely sinned and would have beene greatly punished for it are not the ordinances of the Gospell as strictly to be kept now as heretofore yes surely Mr. Hierom saith that such outward observances in matters of religion as are of divine institution not the least of them are to be neglected dispised or difused vntill he that ordained them shall be pleased in expresse termes to disanul them If not the least must be omitted then not Church government because it is a cheife ordinance and without the which as I said before no publick worshipp can be rightlie administred There are some which out of tendernesse of conscience refuse to kneel in the act of receaving and doe take the Sacrament sitting Moreover doe meet in private families to Fast and Pray together and are persuaded that herein they doe well though their practise be forbidden by the Magistrate Now I desire these seriouslie to consider if they may lawfullie performe some religious duties against Human Lawes why not others and specially if they be such duties as serve more for Gods glory the furtherance of the Gospell the edification of the Church and salvation of their owne soules I doe not finde any thing written by Dr. Ames about this point although he well knew that one maine ground of our separation from their Parish Assemblies is because as the Nonconformists affirme they want the power of Christ and
he will not vouchsafe his speciall presence unto profane companies which joyne themselves together and therefore let it be farr from all men to prepare a place for him with such trash or to defile his holy things with such uncleane persons or to offende his nostrels with the stench of such sacrifices The reasons upon which our proposition is grounded are these 1. All wicked men are forbidden expresslie by the word of God from meddling with his covenant or ordinances Now if men to escape temporall punishment are affraid to transgresse against the Lawes of worldly Princes Much more fearefull should they be to breake his who is the King of Kings and will inflict for it upon their soules and bodies torments eternallie 2. That which destroyeth a Churchâ— and makes it either to become a false Church or no church at all cannot be a true Church or be true matter wherof it is made but men visiblie wicked and prophane make the Church a Synagoge of Satan Babylon Sodom Aegypt and so to be spued out and removed 3. It is against sence and common reason that a Church should be constituted of vnholie People For as in a materiall house the wood and stones must be first prepared and then laâ—d orderlie in the building So in the spiritual men and women must by the word of God necessarily be first reformed before they are any way fitt to have any place therin 4. They which have no right to the holy things of God in the church are not to be admitted into it neither is that Church which is gathethered of such persons rightly constituted But men of wicked conversation have no right to the holy things of God in the Church and therefore that Church which is gathered of such is not rightly constituted 5. They cannot performe the services and duties of members for they are spirituallie dead If a master will not covenant with one to be his servant which hath in him no natural life much lesse c. 6. They have not Christ for their head and therefore cannot be of his bodie For as in the natural bodie there must be first a natural union of the parts with the head before there can be any action of natural communion between the head and the members or one member and another So in this spiritual bodie the members must be first united with Christ the head and become one with him before they can any way partake in his benefits or have communion one with another as members of the same body under him the head 7. They are altogether uncapable of this covenant For as a woman which hath been once a wife cannot mary againe with another man untill her first husband be deceased or she from him lawfullie divorsed so neither can these be maried to the Lord till they have mortifyed their corruptions and put the world and Satan away unto which before they were as it were maried 8. The Godlie and wicked are contraries guided and led by different causes Now two contraries are not capable of one and the same forme Thirdly for this we have the judgment of the learned also There must be saith Molierus a profession of true religton and obedience yealded thereto at least outwardly to become a member of the visible Church Beza saith He is rightly joyned to the church which separates himselfe from the wicked Paul calls the Romans Saincts saith Aretius to put a difference between their former estate wherein they lived which was unholy and impure and the condition to which they were now called Piscator affirmes The matter of a particular church to be a companie of beleevers Mr. Iacob in his definition of Christs true visible Church saith that those which joyne in a spiritual outward society or body Politick together must be a faithfull people Mr. Bradshaw saith they must be a people called and separated from the world and the false worship and wayes thereof by the word The same speaketh Mr. Attersoll and alleageth these Scriptures for it Gen. 4. 26 and 12. 1. Iosh 24. 2. 3 23. 7. 8. Num. 6. 2. Lev. 20. 24. 26. Ioh. 15. 19. Act. 2 40. 41. I could name many others which write the same thing but there is no use thereof Onelie it cannot be amisse to shew how the Church of England makes this an Article of her Faith as the Prelates have published it in her behalfe The visible Church of Christ is a congregation of Faithfull men in the which the pure word of God is preached and the Sacraments dulie be ministred according to Christs Ordinance in all those things that of necessitie are requisite to the same Thus the Proposition beeing proved and the assumption acknowledged to be true the conclusion must needs stand firme viz. that the Churches of England are not true visible churches rightly gathered and planted according to the Scripture and therefore by necessarie consequence lawfully to be separated from Before I end this point I will here lay downe some few Syllogismes intyrelie made up betweene the Inconformists and Conformists all concluding the forenamed position That Church which hath not a Lawfull ministery is not a true visible Church But the Church of England hath not a Lawfull ministerie Ergo the church of England is not a true visible church The proposition is affirmed of the Conformists as Burton Sutcliffe c. The assumption is granted by the Nonconformists as we have in the first chapter largelie shewed The true visible church of Christ is a society of beleeving and Faithfull people and a communion of Saints so say the Conformists but the church of England is not a society of beleeving and Faithfull people a communion of Saints thus write the Nonconform see p. 169. c. Ergo the church of Engl. is not a true visible church The true church is the Kings daughter described in Psal 45. But the church of England is not the Kings daughter so described Therefore the church of England is not the true church of Christ The Proposition is laid downe by the Conformists wherby they prove Rome a false Church The assumption is the Nonconformists For if they say the truth their members have not those qualities belonging to the Kings daughter neither their Preists nor people See pag. 15. 16. 39. 137. 169. 170. The true church of Christ is the Flock of Christ but the church of England is not the true Flock of Christ Therefore the church of England is not the true church of Christ. The proposition say the Conformists is undeniable Son 1. 6. 7. Act. 20. 28. Ioh. 10. 16. The assumption is proved by the Nonconformists Principles compared with Ioh. 10. 3. 4. 27. Christs flock heare his voyce and know it follow it but the Church of England submitting to an vnlawfull ministerie worship and discipline heare not Christs voyce nor know nor acknowledge nor follow it but