beyond their Reason To attempt any such Force though to the True Beliefe is to do Evil that Good may come of it But the Pastor ought first by plaine and sound Doctrine to stop the Mouths of Gainsayers When the Ministers have Preached and Prayed they have done all they can in order to mens Believing the rest must be left to the Justice or Mercy of God But if turbulent spirits broach New Doctrines Contrary to Scripture or not Clearly Contained in the Gospel and neither by Admonitions nor Intreaties will be stopt the Pastors may proceed to the Exeroise of the Keys Which if it were duely performed as in the Primitive Times and not by Lay Chancellors and their surrogates would be of great effect The Magistrate ought to siliâ—…ce and oppose such at preach what is Contrary to or not Clearly Contained in the Gospel and if they persevere in their perversuess he may use his power with Christian Moderation For his power reaches to Punish Evil Doers who Publiâ—… or Practise somthing to subvert the Fundamentals of Religion or to Disturbe the Peace of the State or to Injure their Neighbours but not to Punish Evil Believers But if the Magistrate shall conceive he hath power also to punish Evil Believers and on that pretence shall punish True Believers the Subject is bound to submit and bâ—…ar it to the loss of Goods Liberty or Life The Reader will excuse this one long Quotation for it will much shorten all that followes But now for which of these is it that 't is become a Duty to Expose him What is there here that seems not at first sight very Christian very Rational But however it is all delivered in so Grave and Inoffensive manner that there was no temptation to alter the stile into Ridicule and Satyre But like some Carle the Animadverter may browze upon the Leaves or Peel the Barke but he has not teeth for the Solid nor can hurt the Tree but by accident Yet a man that sees not into the second but the Thirteenth Consequence that is one of the Disputers of this World and ought to be admitted to these Doubtfull Disputations from which he ironically by St. Pauls rule forsooth excludes the Author what is there that such an one so subtile so piercing cannot distingish upon and Controvert Truth it self ought to sacrifice to him that he would be propitious For if he appear on the other side it will go against her unavoidably In his 27. P. he is ravisht in Contemplation how Rarachose it is to see or hear a material Question in Theology defended in the University-Schools where one stands a Respondent enclos'd within the Compass of his Pen as Popilius the Roman Embassador made a Circle with his Wand about Antiochus and bid him give him a determinate answer before he went out of it a most apt and learned resemblance and which shews the Gentlemans good reading But it is I confess a noble spectacle and worthy of that Theater which the munificence of the present Arch-Bishop of Canterbury hath dedicated in one may it be too in the other of our Universities where no Apish Scaramuccio no Scenical Farces no Combat of Wild-Beasts among themselves or with men condemn'd is presented to the People but the modest Skirmish of Reason and which is usually perform'd so well that it turns to their great honour and of our whole Nation Provided the Chaire be well filled with an Orthodox Professor and who does not by Solaecismes in Latine or mistake of the Argument or Question render the thing ridiculous to the By-standers That the Pew be no less fitted with a Respondent able to sustaine and answer in all points the expectation of so Learned an Auditory That the Opponent likewise exceed not the terms of Civility nor Cavil where he should Argue and that the Questions debated be so discreetly chosen as there may be no danger by Controverting the Truth to unsettle the minds of the Youth ever after and innure them to a Disputable Notion about the most weighty points of our Re-Religon by which sort of subtilizing the Church hath in former Ages much suffered nor hath Ours in the Latter wholly escaped Now seeing the Exposer seemâ—… to delight so much as men use in what they excell in this Exercise he and I because we cannot have the conveniency of the Schools and Pew will play as well as we can in Paper at this new Game of Antiochus and Popilius I must for this time be the Roman Senator and he the Monarch of Asiaâ—… for by the Rules of the Play he always that hath writ the last Book is to be Antiochus until the other has done replying And I hope to gird him up to close withâ—… in his Circle that he shall appear very slender For I am sensible yet could not avoid it how much of the Readers and mine own time I have run out in examining his Levity but now I am glad to see my labour shorten for having thus plumed him of that puffe of Feathers with which he buoy'd himself up in the Aire and flew over our heads it will almost by the first Consequence be manifest in his Argument how little a Soul it is and Body that henceforward I am to deal with The Author having said that That which we commonly call the Apostles Creed is and was so received by the Primitive Church as the sum Total of Christian Faith necessary to Salvation Why not now Is the state of Salvation alter'd If it be Compleat what need other Articles The Exposer p. 2. answers There may have been needful heretofore not only other Articles but other Creeds for the further Explication of these Articles in the Apostles Creed and yet in those New Creeds not one New Article 'T is safely and cautiously said there May and not there Were other Articles and other Creeds needful But the whole Clause besides is so drawn up as if he affected the Academical glory of justifying a Paradox nor is it for the reputation of such Creeds whatever they be to be maintained by the like Methods But seeing he disdains to explicare further how there can be a New Creed and yet not one New Article I will presâ—… to understand him and then say that in such Creeds whatsoever Article does either explaine the Apostles Creed Contrary to or Beside the Scripture or does not containe the same Express Scriptural Authority which only makes this that is called the Apostles Creed to be Authentick that is a New Article to every man that cannot conceive the necessary Deduction But then he galls the Author The Apostles Creed is the sum of the Christian Faith True Yet I hope he will not think the Nicene the Constantinopolitan and the Athanasian Creed Superfluous and and unnecessary First it is not necessary to take all those Three in the Lump as the Exposer puts it for perhaps a man may think but one or but two of them to have been superfluous
grown so cumbersom and great that the Emperor's highway was too narrow for any two of them and there could have been no passage without the removal of a Bishop But soon after the Council was over Eusebius the Bishop of Nicomedia and Theognis the Bishop of Nice who were already removed both by banishment and two others put in their places were quickly restor'd upon their petition wherein they suggested the cause of their not Signing to have been only because they thought they could not with a safe conscience subscribe the Anathema against Arrius appearing to them both by his writings his discourses and Sermons that they had been auditors of not to be guilty of those errors As for Arrius himself the Emperor quickly wrote to him It is now a considerable time since I writ to your Gravity to come to my Tents that you might injoy my countenance so that I can scarce wonder sufficiently why you have so long delaid it therefore now take one of the publick Coaches and make all speed to my Tents that having had experience of my kindness and affection to you you may return into your own Country God preserve you most dear Sir Arrius hereupon with his comarade Euzoius comes to Constantine's Army and offers him a petition with a confession of Faith that would have pass'd very well before the Nicene Council and now satisfied the Emperor Socr. l. 1. c. 19. 20. insomuch that he writ to Anathasius now Bishop of Alexandria to receive him into the Church but Anathanasius was of better mettle then so and absolutely refus'd it Upon this Constantine writ him another threat'ning Letter When you have understood hereby my pleasure see that you afford free entrance into the Church to all that desire it for if I shall understand that any who desires to be admitted into the Church should be either hindred or forbidden by you I will send some one of my Servants to remove you from your Degree and place another in your stead Yet Athanasius stood it out still though other Churches received him into Communion and the Heretick Novatus could not have been more unrelenting to lapsed Christians then he was to Arrius But this joyned with other crimes which were laid to Athanasius his charge at the Council of Tyre though I suppose indeed they were forged made Athanasius glad to fly for it and remain the first time in exile Upon this whole matter it is my impartial opinion that Arrius or whosoever else were guilty of teaching and publishing those errors whereof he was accused deserved the utmost Severity which consists with the Christian Religion And so willing I have been to think well of Athanasius and ill of the other that I have on purpose avoided the reading as I do the nameing of a book that I have hear'd tells the story quite otherwise and have only made use of the current Historians of those times who all of them tell it against the Arrians Only I will confess that as in reading a particular History at adventure a Man finds himself inclinable to favor the weaker party especially if the Conqueror appear insolent so have I been affected in reading these Authors which does but resemble the reasonable pity that men ordinarily have too for those who though for an erroneous conscience suffer under a Christian Magistrate And as soon as I come to Constantius I shall for that reason change my compassion and be doubly ingaged on the Orthodox party But as to the whole matter of the Council of Nice I must crave liberty to say that from one end to the other though the best of the kind it seems to me to have been a pityful humane business attended with all the ill circumstances of other worldly affairs conducted by a spirit of ambition and contention the first and so the greatest Aecumenical blow that by Christians was given to Christianity And it is not from any sharpness of humor that I discourse thus freely of Things and Persons much less of Orders of men otherwise venerable but that where ought is extolled beyond reason and to the prejudice of Religion it is necessary to depreciate it by true proportion It is not their censure of Arianism or the declaring of their opinion in a controverted point to the best of their understanding wherein to the smalness of mine they appear to have light upon the truth had they likewise upon the measure that could have moved me to tell so long a story or bring my self within the danger and aim of any captious Reader speaking thus with great liberty of mind but little concern for any prejudice I may receive of things that are by some men I dolized But it is their Imposition of a new Article or Creed upon the Christian world not being contained in express words of Scripture to be believed with Divine Faith under Spritual and Civil Penalties contrary to the Priviledges of Religion and their making a Precedent follow'd and improv'd by all succeeding ages for most cruel Persecutions that only could animate me In digging thus for a new Deduction they undermined the fabrick of Christianity to frame a particular Doctrine they departed from the general Rule of their Religion and for their curiosity about an Article concerning Christ they violated our Saviour's first Institution of a Church not subject to any Addition in matters of Faith nor liable to Compulsion either in Belief or in Practice Farr be it from me in the event as it is from my Intention to derogate from the just authority of any of those Creeds or Confessions of Faith that are receiv'd by our Church upon clear agreement with the Scriptures nor shall I therefore unless some mens impertinence and indiscretion hereafter oblige me pretend to any further knowledg of what in those particulars appears in the ancient Histories But certainly if any Creed had been Necessary or at least Necessary to have been Imposed our Saviour himself would not have left his Church destitute in a thing of that moment Or however after the Holy Ghost upon his departure was descended upon the Apostles and They the Elders and Brethren for so it was then were assembled in a legitime Council at Jerusalem it would have seemed good to the Holy Ghost and them to have saved the Council of Nice that labor Or at least the Apostle Paul 2 Cor. 12. 2. and 4. who was caught up into Paradise and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for any man to utter having thereby a much better opportunity then Athanasius to know the Doctrine of the Trinity would not have been wanting through the abundance of that revelation to form a Creed for the Church sufficient to have put that business beyond controversy Especially seeing Heresies were sprung up so early and he foresaw others and therefore does prescribe the method how they are to be dealt with but no Creed that I read of Shall any sort of men presume to interpret those words
and unnecessary Next it is an hard thing for the Exposer who ought rather to have proved that they were necessary to shift it back thus upon the Author I have not spoke with him nor know whether I shall as long as I live though I should be glad of the opportunity to know his mind But suppose he should think them One Two or Three Unnecessary who can help it But so much I think upon the State or sum of this Controversie in his own 〈◊〉 I may adventure for him that 〈◊〉 Confessions of Faith he does not disapprove them taking it granted there is nothing in any of them flatly against the Word of God but that if any thing be therein drawn up in such or such an exact Forme of Words not Expressed in Scripture and required to be Believed with Divine Faith as necessary to a Man 's own Salvation and without Believing which he must Declare too that no Man else can be saved that this is Dangerous and the imposing of it is Unwarrantable by Reason or Scripture He adds in this same Paragraph that the Authors Censure upon Constantine is so bold and upon some Godly Bishops whom he conceives more Zealous then Discreet and so do some Godly Bishops conceive of this Author and his Pique at the New Word Homoousios carryes such as ugly reflection upon the Creed that he scarce 〈◊〉 understand him And I on the other side take his Fears and his Hopes to be alike inconsiderable His words are p. 6. I am confident had the most prudent and pius Constantine the First and Best of Christian Emperours pursued his own intention to suppress all Disputes and all new Questions about God the Son both Homoousian and Homoiousian and commanded all to acquiesce in the very Scripture Expressions without any addition that the Arrian Heresie had soon expired I note that the Exposer very disingenuously and to make it look more ugly take not the least notice of his Pique against 〈◊〉 too and the Arrian Heresie But what is there here to fright the understanding Animadverter out of his Wits or what to make some Godly Bishops who it seems must be numberless or nameless to conceive the Author 〈◊〉 Zealous then Discreet But for this Censure of the Author as well as for the Godliness of the Bishops we must acquiesce it seems upon the Credit or Gratitude of one Nameless Exposer He then blames the Author p. 3. for saying p. 1. that he would have men improve in Faith rather Intensive then Extensive to confirm it rather then enlarge it Still and alwayes to make things a little more ugly and of less value he clips the Authors good English You would have men improve in Faith so would I but rather Intensive then Extensive 'T is good to know all Gospel Truths no doubt of that the more the better still but the Question is not what is Good but what is Necessary This is a pious and undonbred Truth and confirm'd by the Author out of several Places of Scripture May I add one Marke the 9. 17. Where one brought his Son being troubled with a Dumb Spirit to our Saviour v. 23. Jesus saith to the Father if thou canst Believe all things are possible to him that Believeth The Father coyes out with tears Lord I Believe strengthen thou my Unbeliefe And this Confession of the Intensive Truth of his Faith with his relyance upon Christ for the strengthening of it was sufficient to cooperate with our Saviour toward a Miracle and throwing that Dumb and Deaf Spirit out of a third Person Whoever indeed will deny this Truth must go against the whole current of the New Testament But the Exposer is Deaf to that 't is all one to him Yet he is not Dumb though as good he had for all he has to say to it is And yet it is certaine that all formal and mortal Hereticks that are not Atheists are justly condemn'd for want of due extension in their Faith What pertinence But there goes more Faith I see to the ejecting of a Talkative then of a Dumb Spirit There is no need of further answer to so succinct a Bob then that it had been well those terms of Formal and Mortal and Hereticks and no less that of Condemned had in this place been thorowly explained For we know that there was a time when the Protestants themselves were the Format and to be sure the Mortal Hereticks even here in England and for that very crime too For want of due extention in their Faith they were Condemned whether justly or no it is in the Exposers power to determine For some of our Ruling Clergy who yet would be content to be accounted good Protestants are so loath to part with any hank they have got at what time soever over the poor Laity or what other reason that the Writ de Haeretico Comburendo though desired to be abolish'd is still kept in force to this day So that it is of more concernment then one would at first think how far mens Faith least afterwards for Believing short their Persons and Estates be Extended or taken in Execution He proceeds page the 3. and several that follow to quarel the Author for quoting to this purpose Acts 8. and then saying I pray remember the Treasurer the Exposer will do it I warrant you and the Chancellor too without more intreaty to Candace Queen of Ethiopia whom Philip instructed with in the Faith His time of Catechising was very short and soon proceeded to Baptisme But Philip first required a Confession of his Faith and the Eunuch made it and I beseech you observe it I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and straight way he was Baptized How no more then this No more This little Grain of Faith being sound believed withall his heart purchased the Kingdom of Heaven 'T is not the Quantity but the Quality of our Faith God requireth Here the Exposer pretending now to be a learned Expositor hopes to win his Spurrs and layes out all his ability to prove that Philip in a very short time for so much work as he finds him had instructed the Treasurer thorow the whole Athanasian Creed concerning the Equality Inseparability Coeternity of the Three Persons in the Trinity For saith the Ezposer the very Forme of Baptisme if thorowly explained is a perfect Creed by it self In the Name of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost For it seems the name of the Son was by a Divine Criticisme interposed between the other two Persons whose Godhead was confest and acknowledged by the Jewish Church rather then that of the Word to deâ—…te the second Person c. I should be glad to know where the Exposer learnt that the Jewish Church acknowledged the Godhead of the Holy Ghost as of a Distinct Person which if he cannot show he is very far out in the Matter as he is in that Expression of Divine Criticisme Therefore he may do well to
Consider But it is simply to say no worse done of him to call that Forme of words as it is ordered by our Saviour himself a Divine Criticisme as if Christ had therein affected that Critical glory which the Exposer himself in so subtile a Remarke doubtless pretends to But the Exposer will not only have Philip to have instructed the Treasurer in this Criticisme but to have read him so long a Lecture upon Baptisme as must for certaine have been out of the Assemblies and not Noel's Catechisme acquainting him and instructing him abundantly in those great Points of Faith the Dying Burying and Rising again of Christ for our Justification from our sins together with the Thing signified Death unto sin Mortification the New Birth unto Righteousness then the Mistery of the First and Second Covenant Original sin how thereby he was a Son of Wrath had hereby Forgiveness of sins Adoption being made a Child of Grace Co-Heire with Christ to live with him in the Communion of Saints after the Resurrection in Life Everlasting I am glad to see that at least when it serves to his purpose this Exposer will own all the Doctrines which another Exposer would have call'd so many Stages of Regeneration and have thought them too many to have drove over in one dayes journey but would rather have turn'd out of the Road and lay'd short all night somewhere by the way Here is a whole Calvinistical Systeme of Divinity that if the Treasurer had been to be Baptized in the Lake of Geneva more could not have been expected And he has in a trice made him so perfect in it that as soon as the Christ'ning was over he must have been fit to be received not only ad Communionem Laecam but the Clericam also if it were then come into fashion These Exposers are notable men they are as good as Witches they know all things and what was done and what was not done equally In earnest he has made us as formal a stoâ—…y of all Ppilip said and the Treasurer believ'd as if he had sate all the while in the Coock-boot and knows how long the discourse lasted as well as if he had set his Watch when they began and look'd upon it just as the Spirit caught up Philip to Azotus But suppose for the Exposers sake that the Treasurer were in a Coach discourse and for all the rumbling so distinctly and thorowly in so short a time too if it had been which is the uttermost a dayes passage Catechumeniz'ed it came to this short Print between them The Treasurer desires to be Baptized Philip replys If thou believest with all thine heart thou mayest which can never signifie otherwise then with all the Intention of our Spirit as when we are said to love God wiâ—…h all our Heart The Treasurer replyes and that 's all I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God Now it is worth the Readers observation that out of a desire of Câ—…villing and the luxury the Exposer takes in it he has quite forgot the matter he brought in Controversie For the Dispute is concerning New Creeds Imposed beyond clear Scripture the Authors arguments and proofs tended wholly thither and to that purpose he urged this passage of Philip to prove that God considers both but rather the Quality then Quantity of our Faith The Exposer amuses himself and us to tell what Philip preach'd to the Treasurer but never minds that let that have been as it will and the Eunuch have believ'd all that this man can imagine yet all the Creed demanded and all that he professes is no more then those formal words believed with all his heart I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God Wherein the Author has clearly carryed and the Exposer thus far lost the Question And indeed Antiochus you are much too blame to have put the Romans to all this trouble to no purpose But any thing to stuffe out the Dimensions of a Book that no man may imagine he could have said so little in so much which is the new way of Compendiousness found out by the Exposer whereas he might have known that not God only but even men alwayes do respect the Quality of any Thing of a Book rather then the Quantity One Remarke I must make more before I take leave of this page how having thus liberally instructed both Philip and the Treasurer he immediately chops in p. 5. Now this Author may see what Use and Need There was of the Constantinopolitan Creed That puts in one Baptisme for the Remission of Sins I read it over and over for there was somthing in it very surprising beside the elegancy of the Verses For the Now in that place is a word of immediate Inference as if it appeared necessarily from what last preceded that he had notably foil'd the Author in some Arguments or other and therefore exulted over him To any man of common sense it can signifie neiâ—…her more nor less then that whereas I upon prospect of this spoke merrily of the Athanasian Creed Noel's and the Assemblies Catechisme c. wherein Philip instructed the Treasurer the Exposer means in good earnest if men mean what they say that Philip having studied the Constantinopolitan Creed himself very exâ—…ctly explain'd every Article of it thorowly to the Eunuch and in especial manner that of Baptisme for the Remission of Sins Which happening to have been so many hundred years before that Council was in being must needs be an extraordinary civility in Philip and which he would scarce have done but for the particular saâ—…isfaction of so great a personage that had the whole manage of the Revenue of the Queen of Ethiopia I am sure it is more then our Church will vouchsafe in Baptisme 〈◊〉 of Infanâ—…s or those of Riper Years with their God-Fathers but fobbs them of with the plain Apostles Creed And truly the easier the better if afttr that and by powering water upon them these persons be without any more adoe as the Priest according to our Rubrick shall then say Regenerate To as little purpose doth he trouble in this same 5. p. Another Scripture the first of John 4. 2. Every Spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh is of God Which the Author urges in confirmation of what he said before concerning the Intention of Faith But saith the Exposer Will a Mahumetan or a Socinian Confession of Faith suffice This is I trow what they call reducing a man ad Absurdum and I doubt he has hamper'd the Author mischievously No it will not suffice in the Mahumetam or Socinian interpretation but a Confession according to the true sense of this and the clear express words of Scripture in other places will do it especially if St. John as most men are of opinion writ his own Gospel Nay though the Exposer contends against this place he admits another concerning Peter that is not much more pregnant All the few primary Fundamentals
this proves nothing Neither does it For the dispute now betwixt the Author and his Adversary is whether it be possible to compel a man to believe This instance proves only that those Donatists were forced to come to Church Therefore there cannot be a more uncharitable and disingenuous thing invented then for the Exposer to upbraid him with such a retort for ought he knows they were Hypoorites the Author does say so so for ought we to know this Author is all this while a Jesuite and writes this Pamphlet only to imbroile us Protestants But he must make some sputter rather then be held to the terms of the Question and truly I perceive Antiochus is very weary and shifts like a Crane not to instance in a worse Bird first one foot and then another to rest on being tired to stand so long within so close a Circle For thirdly the Author answers Put the case their hearts were really changed as to matter of Belief 't is evident their hearts were very worldly still grovelling on earth not one step nearer Heaven He will not be candid without Compulsion but leaves out what follows and sure their heart was evil which was far mâ—…re moved for the quiet enjoyment of this worlds good then for the blessed enjoyment of Christ. In earnest I begin to think an Exposer is a Rational Creature For had he not on puâ—…pose left these last words out he could not have cryed A horrible 〈◊〉 saying We may forgive the Author any thing after this which is all the Answer he gives so charitable is the Exposer grown to the Donatists for every man that will come to Church is ipso facto with him a true Believer But it did in truth appear to have been so and there is not the least uncharitableness in this that the Author has said For by those Donatists own confession it was not any love to that which they now owned for the Truth to St. Austin not any Convicton of Conscience not so much as even 〈◊〉 inclination to obey the Magistrate but meer fine force and fear of Punishment that brought them to Church and whatsoever good came on 't was by accident Whether might not a man adde that their giving thanks for that force and so owning that Principle of Compulsion was a further evidence that their heart was naught still even while they were with St. Augustine I think a man might untill I be better informed But the Author having given a fourth answer that suppose they were now really brought over to the Truth of the Church of Belief and Religion by the Magistrates severity I express it thus that I may with the Exposer trifle about the Jews care yet St. Paul hath said God forbid we should do evil that good may come of it This is answer enough for a man of understanding For it is not lawful suppose for St. Austin himself to beguile any man even into Christianity unless as St. Paul perhaps 2 Cor. 12. 16. Being crafty caught the Corinthians with guile by preaching the Gospel without being Burthensome to the People No man ought to cheat another though to the true beliefe Not by Interlining the Scripture Not by false Quotation of Scripture or of a Father Not by forging a Heathen Prophecy or altering an Author Not by false Syllogisme Not by telling a lye for God And if no Pety Fraud much less can a Pia Vis be allowed to compell them to Faith to compell them to a Creed seeing it were to do evil that grod may come of it much less to a Creed not perfectly Scriptural and instead of being inforced indeed weakned by compulsion seeing it is impossible to compel a man to believe and some Divines teach us to believe though I suspend that even God himself cannot or doth not Compel men to Believing But now it falls in naturally to me to be as good as my word to consider what the Exposer replyes to the Author's first answer concerinig the Donatists that our Case is of inforcing a Confession of Faith not concerning seditious Practises of which the Donatists were notoriously guilty in which Case he had shown before that the Civil Magistrate may proceed to Punishment Wherein the Author reasons with his usual justness and I though a very slender accession cannot but come into him For St. Paul in the 13. Chapter of the Romans laying out the Boundaries of the Duty of Christian subjects and the Magistrates Power saith Rulers are not ought not to be a terrour to good works but to evil and so forward but to the Christian people he saith they must be subject not only for wrath as those Donatists were afterwards but for Conscience sake And the subjection he defines is in doing good walking upâ—…ightly keeping the Moral Law Fearing Honouring and Paying Tribute to the Magistrate But not one word saith the Apostle of forbearing to Preach out of that Obedience saying in another place Necessity is laid upon one and woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel and that supposes too meeting and as little of Compelling to hear For in those times and a great while after there was no inforcing to Christianity It was very long before that came in fashion And writing on the suddain I do not well remember whether it did ever before the dayes of Picarro and Almagro the Apostles of the Indians yet upon recollection it was sooner But what saith the Exposer to this of the Donatists whom the Author allows only to have been punishable only for seditious Practises having before declared that for such as only refuse to conforme to the Churches established Doctrine and Discipline pardon him if he say really he cannot find any warrant or so much as any hint from the Gospel to use any Force to compel them and from Reason sure there is no motive to use force because as he shewed before Force can't make a man believe your Doctrine but only as an Hypocrite Profess what be believes not I expect that the Exposer in this place above all other which I guess was his greatest motive to this Imployment should ply and overlay him now with Reason but especially with Scripture let us hear how he answers I say only this p 5. for he speaks now of our Non-Conformists the very Act against them calls them Seditious Conventicles and openly to break so many known Laws of the Land after so many reinforcements is not this to be turbulent This now you must understand to be Reason and not Scripture That I suppose as the strongest is reserved for the Rear Truly as far as a man can comprehend by comparing that with other Acts of this Parliament they did only appoint that the Penalty of Sedition should ly against those that frequent such Meetings as in the Act against Irish Catel if it be not in it self a Nuisance no Law-givers can make it so Nor can any Legislators make that to be Sedition which is not Sedition in its
to that employment For his several times repeated wish that they might be forced to come to Church to give them a fair hearing and to bear their discourses truly I believe they know the Lion by the Claw there is a great part of Oratory consists in the choice of the Person that is to perswade men And a great Skill of whatsoever Orator is to perswade the Auditory first that he himself is an honest and a fair man And then he is like to make the more impression on them too if he be so prudent as to chuse an acceptable subject to speak on and manage it decently with fit arguments and good language None but the very rabble love to hear any thing scurrilous or railing especially if they should hear themselves rail'd on by him they would be ready to give him the due applause of Petronius his Orator with flâ—…ging the stones about his ears and then leaving him to be his own Auditory Now they have had so ample experiment of the Exposer as to all these points in his Defence against the Naked Truth that I doubt his perswasion to this comming to hear him or others will be of little force with them and nothing would oblige these Donatists to it but the utmost extremity nor then would they find themselves one step nearer heaven His Book is as good to them as a Sermon and no doubt he has preach'd as well as printed it and took more pains in it than ordinary did his best Must they will they think be compelled to make up the pomp of his Auditory Must they while the good Popish Fathers suffer'd those of Chiapa to come to Church with their 〈◊〉 pots to comfort their hearts be inforced to come to Church by him to have Snush thrust up their Noses to clear their Brains for them 'T is the onely way to continue and increase the Schâ—…sme But in good sober earnest 't is happy that some or other of this Few chances ever and a non to speak their minds out to shew us plainly what they would be at Being conscious of their own unworthiness and hating to be reformed it appears that they would establish the Christian Religion by a 〈◊〉 way and gather so much Force that it might be in their power and we lie at their mercy to change that Religion into Heathenisme Judaisme Turcisme any thing I speak with some emotion but not without good reason that I question whether which way soever the Church Revenues were applied such of them would not betake themselves to that side as nimbly as the Needle to the Load stone Have they not already ipso facto renounc'd their Christianity by avowing this Principle so contrary to the Gospel Why do not they Peter Hermite it and stir up our Prince to an Holy War abroad to propagate the Protestant Religion or at least our Discipline and Ceremonies and they take the Front of the Battel No 't is much better lurking in a fat Benefice here and to domineer in their own Parishes above their Spiritual Vassals and raise a kind of Civil War at home but that none will oppose them Why may they not as well as force men to Church eram the Holy Supper too down their Throsts have they not done something not much unlike it and drive them into the Rivers by thousands to be baptized or drowned And yet this after the King and Parliament by his their Gracious Indulgence have enacted a Liberty for Five beside their own Family to meet together in their Religious Worship and could not therefore in end at the same time to force them to go to Church with the utmost or any severity What can be the end of these things but to multiply Force with Force as one absurdity is the consequence of another till they may again have debased the Reason and Spirit of the Nation to make them fit for Ignorance and Bondage Is it not reason if they had care or respect to mens souls which they onely exercise it seems the cure of perhaps not that neither but evacuate one Residence by another to allow that men should address themselves to such Minister as they think best for their souls health Men are all infirm and indisposed in their spiritual condition What sick man but if a Physician were inforced upon him might in good prudence suspect it were to kill him or that if the next Heir and the Doctor could agree he would certainly do it I shall conclude this reasonable transport with remarking that although the Author did modestly challenge any man to shew him a warrant or colour or hint from Scripture to use Force to constrain men to the Established Doctrine and Worship and offer'd to maintain that nothing is more clear to be deduced or is more fully exprest in Scripture nor is more suitable to Natural Reason than that no man be forced in such Cases the Exposer took notice of it yet hath not produced one place of Scripture but onely made use of Force at an Invincible Reason so that upon supposal which none granted â—…m that all his Few do clearly demonstrate from Scripture what is at best therefore but deducible from Scripture she thinks it reasonable to oblige all men by force to come to all their Parishes And yet he himself who does I suppose it onely for the Cases sake believe the Scripture although he cannot produce one place of Scripture for using this force and though the Author has produced so many and urges the whole Scripture that such force is not to be used hath his brains nevertheless so confused or so obdurate that he cannot force himself to believe the Author but persists in his unchristian and unreasonable desire that men may be compelled and hereby deserves to be made an Example of his own Principle For herein he exceeds Pharaâ—…h who had ten sufficient Proposals and yet his heart was so hardned that he would not let Israel go out of Egypt but was proof against Miracles But He onely would imagine that the Israelites were idle and would therefore force them to make Brick without Straw but the Exposers heart and brains are so hardned that he will conceive all the Nonconformists to be obstinate fools or hypocrits and therefore will compel them all to go to all their Parish Churches and to make therefore Faith without Reason And hence it is not onely probable but demonstrable if they were compelled to go and hear him and the Few of his Party how well he or they would acquit themselves too in clearly demonstrating from Sciprture the Prime Articles of Faith as it is extended in all the Creeds of which it was treated in this Chapter that I have now done with and truly almost with those remaining For I had intended to have gone Chapter by Chapter affixing a distinct Title as he does to every one of them that men may believe he has animadverted thorowly without reading except that concerning the difference between
which to him were unspeakable by a Gibbrish of their Imposing and force every man to Cant after them what it is not lawful for any man to utter Christ and his Apostles speak articulately enough in the Scriptures without any Creed as much as we are or ought to be capable of And the Ministry of the Gospel is useful and most necessary if it were but to press us to the reading of them to illustrate one place by the authority of another to inculcate those duties which are therein required quickning us both to Faith and Practice and showing within what bounds they are both circumscribed by our Saviour's Doctrine And it becomes every man to be able to give a reason and account of his Faâ—…th and to be ready to do it without officiously gratifying those who demand it only to take advantage and the more Christians can agree in one confession of Faith the better But that we should believe ever the more for a Creed it cannot be expected In those days when Creeds were most plenty and in fashion and every one had them at their fingers-ends 't was the Bible that brought in the Reformation 'T is true a man would not stick to take two or three Creeds for a need rather then want a Living and if a man have not a good swallow 't is but wrapping them up in a Liturgy like a wafer and the whole dose will go down currently especially if he wink at the same time and give his Assent and Consent without ever looking on them But without jesting for the matter is too serious Every man is bound to work out his own Salvation with fear and trembling and therefore to use all helps possible for his best satisfaction hearing conferring reading praying for the assistance of God's Spirit but when he hath done this he is his own Expositor his own both Minister and People Bishop and Diocess his own Council and his Conscience excusing or condemning him accordingly he escapes or incurs his own internal Anathema So that when it comes once to a Creed made and Iâ—… posed by other men as a matter of Divine Faith the Case grows very delicate while he cannot apprehend though the Imposer may that all therein is clearly contained in Scripture and may fear being caught in the expressions to oblige himself to a latitude or restriction further then comports with his own sense and judgment A Christian of honor when it comes to this once will weigh every word every syllable nay further if he consider that the great business of this Council of Nice was but one single Letter of the Alphabet about the inserting or omitting of an Iota There must be either that exactness in the Form of such a Creed as I dare say no men in the world ever were or ever will be able to modulate or else this scrupulous private judgment must be admitted or otherwise all Creeds become meer instruments of Equivocation or Persecution And I must confâ—…ss when I have sometimes considered with my self the dulness of the Non-conformists and the acuteness on the contrary of the Episcoparians and the conscienciousness of both I have thought that our Church might safely wave the difference with them about Ceremonies and try it out upon the Creeds which were both the more honorable way and more suitable to the method of the ancient Councils and yet perhaps might do their business as effectually For one that is a Christian in good earnest when a Creed is Imposed will sooner eat fire then take it against his judgment There have been Martyrs for Reason and it was manly in â—…hem but how much more would men be so for reason Religionated and Christianized But it is an inhumane and unchristian thing of those Faith-stretchers whosoever they be that either put mens Persons or their Consciences upon the torture to rack them to the length of their Notions whereas the Bereans are made Gentlemen and Innobled by Patent in the Acts because they would not credit Paul himself whose writings now make so great a part of the New Testament untill they had searched the Scripture dayly whether those things were so and therefore many of them believed And therefore although where there are such Creeds Christians may for peace and conscience-sake acquiesce while there appears nothing in them flatly contrary to the words of the Scripture yet when they are obtruded upon a man in particular he will look very well about him and not take them upon any Humane Authority The greatest Pretense to Authority is in a Council But what then shall all Christians therefore take their Formularies of Divine Worship or Belief upon trust as writ in Tables of Stone like the Commandments deliver'd from Heaven and to be obeyed in the instant not considered because three hundred and eighteen Bishops are met in Abraham's great Hall of which most must be servants and some children and they have resolv'd upon 't in such a manner No a good Christian will not cannot atturn and indenture his conscience over to be Represented by others It is not as in Secular matters where the States of a Kingdom are deputed by their fellow Subjects to transact for them so in spiritual or suppose it were yet 't were necessary as in the Polish constitution that nothing should be obligatory as long as there is one Dissenter where no Temporal Interests but every man's Eternity and Salvation are concerned The Soul is too precious to be let out at interest upon any humane security that does or may fail but it is only safe when under God's custody in its own Cabinet But it was a General Council A special general indeed if you consider the proportion of three hundred and eighteen to the body of the Christian Clergy but much more to all Christian Mankind But it was a general Free Council of Bishops I do not think it possible for any Council to be free that is composed only of Bishops and where they only have the Decisive Voces Nor that a Free Council that takes away Christian Liberty But that as it was founded upon Usurpation so it terminated in Imposition But 't is meant that it was Free from all external Impulsion I confess that good meat and drink and lodging and money in a Man's purse and coaches and Servants and horses to attend them did no violence to 'm nor was there any false Article in it And discoursing now with one and then another of 'm in particular and the Emperor telling them this is my opinion I understand it thus and afterwards declaring his mind frequently to them in publick no force neither Ay! but there was a shrewd way of persuasion in it And I would be glad to know when ever and which free general Council it was that could properly be called so but was indeed ameer Imperial or Ecclesiastical Machine no free agent but wound up set on going and let dow by the direction and hand of the Workman A