it seemssuch slaves he had who to satisfy his ambition and their own would deny both their Principles and his that the Master-plot might thrive and prosper For it is observable that our English Arminians and Socinians are nothing so true to their own principles as the Ringleaders of these factions are beyond the Seas His Grace both in his old book and in his new saith that Reason and ordinary grace superadded by the help of Tradition doe sufficiently enlighten the soul to discern that the Scriptures are the oracles of God here is the Socinians sound or right reason before the illumination of the Spirit but to please the Arminians Ordinary or Universall grace comes in also and the name of Tradition to please the Popish party and what all these are like to doe without the speciall Grace of the holy Spirit I leave it to any Protestant to judge There is another Rule which his Grace holds fast in both his bookes namely That the Churches Declaration can bind us to peace and externall obedience where there is not expresse letter of scripture and sense agreed on What Sir must there be no deduction no consequences allowed must there be expresse letter of Scripture there 's one Socinian rule Secondly when the letter of the text is expresse must not the point contained in the Text and expressed in the letter be accounted Fundamentall because the sense is not agreed upon but the point called into question by some learned Socinian or bold Arminian is the sense of that place of Scripture which hath been received by so many Fathers Councels Reformed Churches Martyrs not true or the point not necessary because it is now called into question by some wanton wits that can hardly agree upon any point Must we then subscribe to that Arminian and Socinian principle Nullum dogma controversum est fundamentale When a point begins to be controverted shall it cease to be Fundamentall By this meanes we may bring in an Atheisticall Libertinisme into the Church we shall have no more Articles of our Faith then the Arminians or Socinians please to leave us I beleeve we shall have a very short Creed one of these dayes if this rule be followed for as fast as they please to question our Articles we must part with them especially if our great Patriarch interpose his Authority his Declaration must passe for the Churches Declaration if he say such a point is controverted and I command you silence it is not Fundamentall now because controverted then we must be silent and let the truth fall to the ground This was the old muzle which was put upon the Ministers mouthes to make them lie still like dumbe dogs whiles the theeves stole away what they pleased this and that Commandement this and the other Article of the Christian faith we must it seemes for Peace sake part with our religion and disobey God that we may obey the Church sure he that hath the head of a Scholar and the heart of a Christian will scarce have any inward Peace if he perform externall obedience in such a case This may suffice for a taste of the Arch-Bishops Divinity nor the young Students could not but take notice of such passages and therefore whet their wits to maintain those opinions which his Grace countenanced There was a great Scholar who asked one of the Canterburian faction what he thought of the Primate of Irelands treatise concerning Christs Incarnation in which he demonstrates that the Word was made flesh and that therefore Christ is God and man the Canterburian answered that indeed there was as much produced upon that argument as could be said upon it but under correction saith he I conceive the Primate hath not cleared the point which he undertook to prove The men of this strain when they were at their height began to vary their expressions they called Christ their great Master or our Lord and Master at the highest so that you could scarce tell by their prayers whether they did respect Christ or their Patrone most for the Chaplaines styled their Patrone their very good Lord and Master Dr. Taylour in his epistle Dedicatory to the Arch-Bishop before the sermon on the Gun powder treason seems to affect that expression of calling Christ our great Master the Socinians will beare them company in such generall expressions and some have thought of composing such a Liturgy as might give no offence to Arminians or Socinians that would be an inoffensive Liturgy indeed and they may doe well to enlarge their Charity and make their Liturgy inoffensive to the Turkes and Jewes as well as the Socinians for any Liturgy which will please one that is a thorow Socinian will please Turkes and Jewes also if it be but warily composed and they will keep themselves in such generall expressions as some doe too much affect But of all that I have met with none comes neer Mr Webberly a Batchelour of Divinity and fellow of Lincolne Colledge who hath translated a Socinian book into English for the benefit of this Nation and prepared it for the presse Now they think they may own the businesse they dare appeare in their proper colours and blaspheme Christ in plaine English But because some parts of Socinianisme strike directly at the superstition of Rome so highly extolled in our dayes and at the pompe of the Clergy which must be maintained by the sword for what care they though England swimme in bloud so they swimme in wealth and pleasure therefore Mr. Webberly tells us very honestly that Socinianisme was to be corrected and chastised with respect to the nature of our climate What need I adde more take all in a word There are some mysterious parts of Socinianisme that seâ—m Rationall these I think in good earnest the men of this age have too much doted on Secondly some parts of Socinianisme they qualify and chastise a little because there is a little too much quick-silver in them Thirdly some parts they doe totally reject because they thwart the maine Designe Fourthly some parts of Socinianisme are instilled into the people that they might be made a meer prey to their Courts in times of Peace and to their army in times of warre Mr. Webberly for instance may be so farre irrationall as to be of the Councell of warre which no strict Socinian would allow but then Mr. Webberly would teach the people that they must not defend their possessions against invading enemies by force of Armes because God hath not given his people any earthly possessions by Covenant under the Gospell as he did under the Law Surely they have heard of Iulian who boxed the Christians on one eare and bid them turn the other eare that they might be boxed on both sides in obedience to their Masters command CHAP. V. Shewes that the famous Atheists Anabaptists and Sectaries so much complained of have been raised or encouraged by the doctrines and practises of the Arminian Socinian and
well what Religion to be of or where to fasten The Jesuite who wrote the directions to N. N. which Mr. Chillingworth endeavours to answer began to triumph in our complyances with Rome Heark what he saith Protestantisme waxeth weary of it selfe the Professours of it they especially of greatest worth learning and Authority love temper and Moderation and are at this time more unresolved where to fasten then at the infancy of their Church Their Churches begin to look with a new face their walls to speak a new language their Doctrines to be altered in many things c. Mr. Chillingworth is so vaine as to call this painting of Churches the Beauty of Holinesse Sect. 22. But to proceed If the guides of the Church would not endure so much as a Nominall Inconformity with Rome if they and their Adherents looked so like and preached so like them that the Papists themselves took them for Romane Catholiques no marvaile if the poore people cryed out that England was turned Babylon and began to separate for that is very observable which Judicious Hooker delivers in his Ecclesiasticall Politie The people saith he are not accustomed to trouble their wits with nice and subtile differences in the exercises of Religion and saith he in actions of this kinde hee speakes of adoration of the Crosse it may well be applyed to adoration towards the East hoast altar Crucifixe we are more to respect what the greatest part of men is commonly prone to conceive then what some few mens wits may devise in construction of their owne particular meanings They then are to be blamed who invented a few cogging distinctions to juggle with God and their conscience and thought to salve up all with some curious subtilties which the people understood not If they that should be lights of the Church gave no better light then an Ignis fatuns which doth seduce them into bogges and ditches if they puzzeld the people and gave them good cause to doubt whether it was safe to communicate or no must the people communicate when they are perplexed with such doubts that they cannot communicate in faith He that doubts is damned if he eat Rom. 14. 23. The poore people could not be resolved and durst not be damned sure the Archbishop was rather Schismaticall in imposing such burthens upon tender Communicants then the people in separating from externall Communion Let Mr. Chillingworth be Judge sure he is no Brownist Neither is it alwayes of necessity Schismaticall to separate from the externall Communion of a Church though wanting nothing necessary For if this Church supposed to want nothing necessary require me to professe against my conscience that I beleeve some error though never so small and innocent which I doe not beleeve and will not allow me her Communion but upon this condition In this case the Church for requiring this Condition is Schismaticall and not I for sâ—parating from the Church Secondly all Separatists are not Brownists it is evident from this very place of Mr. Chillingworth for a man may have just cause to separate from the externall a Communion of a Church though he think that there are all things necessary to salvation in that Church But no Brownist doth conceive that there are all things necessary to salvation in any of our Parish Churches They deny that there is any true Church or Ministers of God to bee found in any Parish of England or that all the Parishes taken collectively can make one Church of God they say our Congregations and Ministers are limbs of b Antichrist Babylonians Idolaters this Doctrine I have ever preached against I preached against it even at Westminster where they say there are so many Brownists and resolve to preach against it still 3. There are some reverend and learned Ministers in this Kingdome who are commonly called the Independent Ministers and these are all put downe for Brownists if not Anabaptists in the Oxford Catalogue though the Arminians have no reason to censure any that goe from a Congregation that is lesse pure to one that is more pure I will therefore briefely shew that these Ministers are neither Anabaptists nor Brownists They will not say the Magistrate is an Head of the Church but they say that Every Christian Magistrate is an Head in the Church which no Anabaptist will say They say that the Prelates doe not hold from the Head as all Officers of the Church should doe Ephes. 4. 15 16. and yet they acknowledge that it is possible for a Prelate and the Diocese under him to hold the Head as the phrase is Colos. 2. 19. and this no Anabaptist or Brownist will acknowledge They will communicate even in a Parish-assembly where the Minister and people generally desire and labour by all lawfull meanes to procure a Reformation They protest against Brownisme as a * bitter error and full of cruelty what can be desired more to cleare them from being Brownists or Anabaptists I heard the same man preach since with much fervency and earnestnesse of spirit against the Brownists for this their error and among other inconveniencies which arise therefrom hee mentioned this that upon the same ground and reason for which they chiefely make the Churches in England no true Churches nor the Ministers thereof true Ministers they must make all those in Scotland France and other Reformed Churches whom yet they seeme to acknowledge to be no true Churches and so no true Churches to have beene in Europe since the Reformation but themselves which were a horrid opinion to enter into a mans heart 4. Brownists doe not that ever I could learne differ from Protestants concerning Civill government and therfore I doe not know why men should cry out that Brownists are greater enemies to the State then Papists themselves We have not yet forgot the Powder-treason and we doe still groane under the Irish Rebellion 5. If the Brownists be as bad as the Donatists of old if they conceive that there is no true Church but in parte Brownistarum as they conceived there was none but in parte Donati if they should deny the Catholique Church which they do not and refuse to Communicate with any of the Reformed Churches or with any Independent Congregation because they will not communicate with any who are ready to embrace communion with any Parish Church let their errour schisme pride uncharitablenesse cruelty and bitternesse be aggravated to the highest yet the Papists have no reason to complaine of them for Papists deny the Catholike Church as directly as the Brownists can be thought to doe they confine it to their owne party the Socinians and Arminians may hold their peace for shame for they both tell us that it is possible that Christ may have no Church at all neither in this part nor that hee may bee an Head without a Body an Husband without a Spouse a King without Subjects as hath beene shewen above pag. 49. The
had taught but would have quite faln off to Popery againe as he conceived for the people had a great opinion of his doctrine though he was neither Doctour nor Pastor in the Church Neve tandem divina veritas ab eo praedicata quineque Pastoris neque Doctoris officio in Ecclesia fungeretur ob auctoris non parvam I beleeve it should be though 't is printed magnaÌ„ auctoritateÌ„ magna Christiani orbis detrimento passim rejiceretur Faustus Disp de Christi natura pag. 6. It was therefore Laelius his master-plot to propound doubts questions to such famous men as Calvin others in the Reformed Churches as if he intended to gain some farther light when indeed he sought for further advantage by their determinations Quod tamen ut omnem offensionem vitaret addiscendi tantum studio a se fieri dicebat qua tamen ratione ab initio idem vere ab eo factum fuisse verisimile est quare etiam Discipulum semper se nunquam autem Doctorem profitebatur Faustus ubi supra Master Calvin did easily perceive his subtilty and therefore gave him a faire but sharp admonition about the Calends of January 1552. as the Polonian Knight doth confesse Si tibi per aereas illas speculationes saith Calvin volitare libet sine me quae so humilem Christi Discipulum ea meditari quae ad fidei meae aedificationem faciunt Quod pridem testatus sum serio iterum moneo nisi hunc quaerendi Pruritum mature corrigas metuendum esse ne tibi gravia tormenta accersas Faustus saith that his Uncle was snatched away by an untimely death non sine Dei consilio that so those great mysteries which God had revealed to none but Laelius might be made known unto the world Cùm statim fere post mortem ejus eorum quae ipse palam docere non audebat pars aliqua literis consignari passim divulgari est coepta id quod eo vivente nunquam fortasse contigisset amicis ex iis quae ipse scripserat non adhuc plene edoctis adversus praeceptoris voluntatem aliquid eorum quae ab ipso didicerant in vulgus prodere minime audentibus Hac scilicet ratione Deus quae illi uni patefecerat omnibus manifesta esse voluit Faustus ubi supra pag. 6. 7. I am at this great paines of transcribing because Socinian bookes are so deare every man will not pay a groat a sheete the price that I am forced to onely that I may declare the truth so much for Laelius Faustus Socinus the Nephew of Laelius was borne in the yeare 1539 two houres and three quarters before Sun-rising on the fift of December so scrupulous are some in calculating the nativity of this monster and he himselfe tooke notice of it in his Epistle Ad excellentissimum quendam virum He was of no meane parentage his father was by name Alexander Socinus and for his Policie Subtilitatum princeps as he was deservedly stiled his mother was nobly descended the Polonian Knight hath shewen her descent Matrem habuit Agnetem Burgesii Petruccii Senenfis quondam Reipub. Principis ac Victoriae Piccolomineae filiam He studied the Lawes till he was about three and twenty yeares of age and then hee betooke himselfe to the great Duke of Hetruria his Court where he spent twelve yeares onely he had so much leisure at Court as to write a booke about the authority of the Scripture in which he doth slily pervert the Scriptures and lay a ground for all his hereticall blasphemies This is all the account that can be given of him for 35. yeares I doe not heare of any great brags though the Socinians doe make loud brags of him of his Logique Philosophy Schoole-divinity the learned tongues onely he spent some two or three yeares in digesting his Uncles Notes and then thought he had learning enough to contradict all the Fathers and Councels and undertooke to censure all the Reformed Churches and to dispute with the greatest Scholars in the world the presumption of his wit besides the badnesse of his cause did betray him to his adversaries especially in the first prizes he played and he was so subtile as to seeme ingenuous in acknowledging such oversights as he could not possibly conceale Quod vero ais saith Faustus to Puccius supellectilem meam Hebraeam Graeeam teipsum latere non potest ejusmodi meam supellectilem non valde curtam modò sed propemodum nullum esse Graecos enim fontes ut egomet omnibus dico leviter admodum degusâ—avi Hebraeos vix dum attigi c. Socin. Resp. ad Def. Puccii pag. 49. And he confesses that he made a great flourish in the world before he had any Logick hee had vapoured against Puccius Palaeologus Volanus and divers others he had composed a Commentary on the first part of the first Chapter of S. Iohn and on the seventh to the Romans his Animadversions in Theses Posn de Trino uno Deo alia quaedam Imperfecta as he saith cum nondum Dialecticae ullam operam dedissem ut post hac non mireris si in meis scriptis multa deprehenderis minus rectè tradita ac conclusa Epist. ad excellentissimum quendam virum It was no wonder indeed if a man that understood neither Greek nor Hebrew nor Logick should give many interpretations and draw many Conclusions which will not hold Now whether after the delicacies of the Court and 35. yeares of his age mis-spent he was so apt to mould his stiffe braines and new-cast them into a Logicall forme let the world judge Socinus then was not the greatest Scholar in the world though hee thought himselfe able to teach all the Church and all the world The Polonian Knight acknowledges that he was of an hasty cholerique disposition praecipitem ad Bilem natura formaverat but it seemes his heat did evaporate at Court In vita aâ—licâ deferbuisse juvenilem illum Socini astum qui plerumque magna in magnos lapsus prâ—cipitat ingenia and yet Marcellus Squarcialupus Socinus his good friend doth often complaine of him for his rashnesse c. as Calovius shewes at large you may reade plentifull testimonies cited at length Consid. Th. Socin. pag. 13. 15. to him therefore I referre you Faustus then had more subtilty then learning when he was not able to prove his opinions he told his Auditours Haec si vera non sint verisimilia saltem probabilia deprehendetis He was of a maâ—ignant wit hee knew how to disgrace truth by scoffes and slanders he thought to affright weake spirited men from the Protestant Religion by telling them that they held opinions in particular that Christ is God which made Christian Religion ridiculous to Iewes and Turkes Et exteris denique omnibus but names none else Haecque hujusmodi alia quaedam quorum ansam illis dedit graeca vox *
Faustus not grown up to his maturity Sabellius he saith was an Heretike for saying that the Father did not differ from the Son but he is not so forward to call them heretikes who deny that the Son hath the same nature with the Father he tells us that we must beleeve Christ to be the Sonne of God and to be made man but he doth not presse us to beleeve that Christ is God We need not wonder at his moderation when he is very tender even about Transubstantiation and unwilling to appear on either side Magna jamdudum fuit vere tragica controversia de Interpretatione verborum corum Accipite hoc est corpus meum non necesse est autem me hoc loco utrarum sim partium aperire tantum catenus quidem utrarumque esse me profiteor quod utrosque adveram Dei ecclesiam pertinere nihil prorsus dubitem lib. 3. and a little after De verborum sententiâ lis est non de veritate this is an excellent device indeed to help off the grossest Heretikes and say that they only differ from us about the meaning of some places of Scripture Christ saith he bids all come unto him that are heavy laden and what saith he will you of your own head say to any man that is comming to Christ Heus tu frustra accedis qui hoc illud non credas But if you reply that Acontius hath not reckoned some points of religion which are of high concernment and therefore you may safely tell a man unlesse he beleeve them he cannot be saved he hath endeavoured to prevent your reply by this excuse Si miraris inter ea quae recensuimus cognitu necessaria non numerari quosdam summo quamvis loco habitos Religionis apices evolve diligenter Examine saith he whether those high points could be known under the old Testament to the people of Israel c. This is just the Socinian Device I will not trouble you any longer with the unsavory discourse of that rotten Author whose main Stratageme was a pretended Moderation and feigned Charity Let us now passe on to some later Authours Doctor Francis White was a man countenanced by the Arch-Bishop to write against the Sabbath and in his Epistle Dedicatory to the Arch-Bishop well knowing what would please his Graces tooth he saith that we are beholding to the Testimony of the Bishops for the weightiest matters in religion and amongst the rest he saith for the eternall Deity of the blessed Saviour It seemes if the Christian world had not given credit to the testimony of Bishops the eternall Deity of Christ had not been acknowledged by Christians what if Bishops had lost their Votes and credit some ages since must Christ have lost his Deity or at least the honour of it Is there nothing written in Scripture concerning the eternall Deity of Christ this is just indeed as Tertullian saith Nisi Deus homini placuerit Deus non erit This book was printed in the year 1635. I need say nothing of that little Pamphlet about Schisme printed not long since because other men have said so much of it I am credibly informed that when the Author of it was asked by a great person in this Kingdome what he thought of the Socinians he answered If you could secure my life I would tell you what I think and truly he hath told us what he thinkes in this little tract viz. that Arianisme was but a Rent in the Church upon matter of opinion p. 9. that those passages in our publique formes which offend the Arians are but private fancies and therefore he desires there may be such a Leiturgy as the Arians may not dislike p. 10. and then the Socinians and Protestants might joyn in one congregation But must we not say that Christ is very God of very God that he is the great God the true God God blessed for ever for fear we offend the Arians Socinians c. must we not worship the Trinity of persons in the unity of the Godhead His Grace will peradventure thinke it long till he heare what I have to say to his own learned book I must confesse there is good learning in that book of his which was printed 1624. I should doe him wrong if I should deny it and though there are some passages which sound ill yet I have charity enough to put a good construction upon most of them but if a prudent Reader will but compare that book and the enlargement of it together which was printed in the yeare 1639. he will find a great deale of alteration in that second Edition or rather second book for it is indeed another book I shall give you a taste of some passages in the latter book which are not in the former that you may see how much his Grace had altered his Religion in those 15. yeares In the 76. Page he saith the Mysteries of Faith doe not contradict Reason for Reason by her own light can discover how firmly the principles of Religion are true He doth not say reason by the light of Scripture or by the light of the Spirit but reason by her own light can discover how firmly the Principles of Religion are true The Socinians lay this principle as their foundation and keep so close to it that they reject the weightiest Articles of the Christian faith because Reason cannot discover them to be true by her own light that is reason ante Spiritus sancti illustrationem before the illumination of the Holy Ghost as they explain themselves in their Brevis Disquisitio cap. 3. de Spiritu Sancto And upon the same ground they doe reject the Received interpretations of Scripture because Reason cannot discover how firmly they are true Can the Arch-Bishop make it appeare by the light of Reason that there shall be a Resurrection of these selfe same bodies that there are three persons and one God that the Word was made flesh that God was made man that Christ was born of a Virgin that God justifies many thousands of the ungodly by the obedience and satisfaction of one man must we not beleeve these Articles till Reason by her own light without the illumination of the Holy Ghost doth discover them to be true and how firmly they are to be beleeved because true for that I suppose the Arch-Bishop means when he saith Reason can discover how firmly these principles of Religion are true Why doe the Socinians so often challenge us to be tryed by reason by common sense by the Judgement of all men but because they conceive Reason by her own light can discover how firmly the principles of religion are true I know the Socinians doe talk much of the offices of Christ but they receive nothing from the Scripture concerning Christs offices but what is as they say agreeable to Reason They say likewise that it is necessary to salvation to know the promises of God but they affirme that it will
which spring from a Licentious and prostituted Presse Let us single out some that have lately studied this weighty controversy and it may be it will appear that they who are said to write against the King have setled established his lawfull Authority upon surer grounds and better principles then those very men who pretend to write for the King Every man is now accounted an Anabaptist if he doe not maintain Monarchy to be Iure Divino heare then what Dr. Ferne saith We confesse that neither Monarchy nor Aristocracy or any other forme is Iure Divino Nay he saith that that Power or sufficiency of Authority to govern which is the ordinance of God is to be found not only in Monarchy but in Aristocracy Sect. 3. Moreover if we consider the qualification of this governing power and the manner ofexecuting it even according to Monarchicall government Dr. Ferne grants that it is the Invention of man and hath not so much as Gods Permissive approbation till that qualification or Forme is orderly agreed upon by Men in the selfe same Sec. Be pleased now to hear Mr. Burroughes However Princes may be exasperated against Puritanicall Preachers sai M. Burroughes yet they are as much beholding to them as to any people in their kingdomes for bringing people out of conscience to obey Authority You see here the people are pressed to obey the lawfull Authority of the King out of Conscience by such as are counted Puritanicall Preachers In the answer to the observations printed at Oxford by his Majesties command I find that Monarchy is not much younger then man himselfe that Regall Power sprang first from Paternall a Regall power belonged to the Pater-familias pag. 3. as if he meant onely to conclude the subjection of the Kings children and family the Patriarchs were Patres Patriae without a Metaphor they begat their own Subjects But how came divers families to be subjected to one King or common Father why reason saith he did direct the people to choose one common Father p. 6. Monarchy then is grounded upon the peoples Reason and yet quite thorowout his book he talkes as if the people had no Reason for he tells them that there may be reasonable motives why a people should consent to slavery as the Turkes and French peasants have done he teaches them how to perish with a great deale of discretion or else how to be safe by the benefit of slavery p. 10 11. The Observatour saith that Regall dignity was erected to preserve the Commonalty It was so saith the Answerer p. 8. and when Routs became Societies they placed an head over them to whom they paid the Tribute of Reverence for the benefit of Protection What if the people be not protected must they pay no tribute God send his Majesty better Protectours then this Champion Dr. Fern discourses just as wisely when he propounds Davids rewarding of false Ziba as a pattern to our King he would perswade the King to trust Papists as false as Ziba to seise upon the estates of his good Subjects and bestow their estates upon arrant Ziba's men that abuse his Majesty and seek their own ends when the innocency of the Subject and treachery of these Ziba's Papists or Pickthankes is discovered yet the King must not reverse his sentence pronounced in favour of the Papists though to the ruine of good Subjects and their posterity all this Divinity is closely involved by this conscientious Doctour in the 7. Section How farre the Divines of this time differ from the doctrine of Papists is clearly shewen by Mr. Burroughes Mr. Bridge and therefore it is strange the Papists should be counted the better Subjects Mr. Burroughes doth acknowledge the Kings Supremacy The King saith he is Supreme but not Absolute because his Authority is limited both by the Law of God and of the Land For we may and ought saith Doctour Ferne to deny obedience to such commands of the Prince as are unlawfull by the Law of God yea by the established lawes of the Land for in these we have his will and consent given upon goood advice and to obey him against the lawes were to obey him against himselfe his suddain will against his deliberate will Sect. 1. For instance it is the Kings deliberate wil that this Parliament shall not be dissolved or any forces levyed without consent of both houses of Parliament as appeares by two severall Acts made this Parliament If then any take up armes either without consent of Parliament or on purpose to dissolve this present Parliament they doe certainly take up armes against the King himselfe as Dr. Ferne says because against the deliberate will of the King If any Commissions then should be issued out in the Kings name to any persons to encourage them to take up Armes without the consent of the Parliament or against the Parliament such Commissions must be interpreted to proceed from the Kings suddaine will which is not to be obeyed saith Dr. Ferne against the Kings Deliberate Will They are not the Kings friends who advise him to send forth any Illegallcommands There is another answer to Dr. Ferne intitled a fuller answer in which there is much Law and Logick viz that in a Mixt Monarchy there is a Co-ordinate Supremacy and Coordinata invicem supplent and a great many things which the common people understand not This Respondent saith as Dr. Fern doth that Monarchy is not Gods ordinance but then he tells the people their duty in plaine English namely that it is Gods ordinance that men should submit without Resistance to that kind of government which they have by consent established and therefore they must submit to this Coordinate Supremacy though it be the Ordinance of man for the Lords sake as Saint Peter saith pag. 17. Here is Submission out of Conscience for the Lords sake to all Legall Supremacy what can be desired more unlesse they would make the King an Absolute Monarch and so give him an absolute Supremacy which the King himselfe doth utterly disclaime in his answer to the 19. Propositions The zealous Divines of this very time doe abhorre the seditious practises and opinions of all Anabaptists who because the Church had not Christian Kings at first cry out with open mouth a that the Church cannot be safe if there be any King or Magistrate in the Church nay they adde that if a King turn Christian he must cease to be a King because Christianity it selfe is repugnant to Magistracy and no b Magistrate ought to look after any thing that concernes Religion They maintain that Christians ought not to have any Judiciall tryalls before Magistrates that no Christians ought to punish offendors with death or imprisonment but with Excommunication only They would not have Heretikes punished by the Magistrate c but every man should be left to his liberty to beleeve what he thinks fit just as the Arminians and Socinians dreame I
Grace and his adherents are sufficiently knowne nor a true teaching Church as shall evidently be demonstrated in the next Chapter CHAP. VI The Religion so violently contended for by the Archbishop of Canterbury and his adherents is not the true pure Protestant Religion I Intend not to transcribe overmuch out of Bishop Mountague Shelford Pocklington Dr. Potter Mr. Chillingworth Dr. Dowe Dr. Heylin c. Their Books are commonly sold and I have given a taste already in the third and fourth Chapters of some of these Authors ex ungue leonem as they say there are a great many passages collected and published already by severall men so that I am forestalled and by some happily prevented there is a Booke entituled Ladensium {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} closely penned and never answered in which their Heresies are filled up by dozens There will come forth a Booke very shortly in which the Designe of Reconciling or rather uniting Rome and Canterbury for there was no great quarrell betweene them will be more fully discovered for these reasons I may well shorten my journey Let any man that desires satisfaction but peruse those Bookes which were Printed in England betweene 1630. and 1639. and compare them with the Harmony of Confessions of the Reformed Churches and then hee may easily judge Mr. Chillingworth proves undeniably that the Church of Rome is not Infallible but to what end and purpose why that Rome and Canterbury may shake hands the Pope may abate something in point of Supremacy his Primacy being grounded upon his Infallibility but if the Pope Cardinals c. the Archbishop of Canterbury and his adherents were united the people would be unwilling to part with their Masse why for that if they will but yeild thus farre as to turne their Masse into English the good men are agreed for Mr. Chillingworth tels the Papists that no Godly Lay man that is an ignorant Papist that is well conceited of the Masse who is verily perswaded that there is neither impiety nor superstition in the use of their Latine Service shall be damned as he hopes for being present at it Excellent Divinity A strong perswasion will turne superstition and impiety into godlinesse Yet he saith there is some danger as long as the Service is in Latine because the want of that devotion which the frequent hearing the offices understood might happily beget in them the want of that instruction and edification which it might afford them may very probably hinder the salvation of many which otherwise might have beene saved that is might have beene saved if the Service had beene in English this is plaine dealing the men are likely to agree the Masse in English may beget such devotion afford such instruction and edification as is sufficient for salvation Can the Papists desire fairer quarter or a foller acknowledgement Is not this doctrine sufficient to effect an Accommodation betweene Rome and Canterbury I dare say all the Papists in England will fight for such a Protestant Religion Mr. Chillingworth in his Epistle Dedicatory gives his Majesty to understand That the Papists allow Protestants as much charity as Protestants allow them and therefore such Protestants and true Papists will easily be reconciled or indeed are already reconciled I cannot stand to reckon up Mr. Chillingworths principles consider these that follow 1. God is not offended with us for not doing what hee knowes we cannot doe Whiles we are unregenerate God knowes we cannot repent and beleeve is not God offended with us even then for our impenitence and unbeleefe besides he conceives that unaffected ignorance joyned with Implicite faith and generall repentance is not damnable 2. Mr. Chillingworth is verily perswaded that God will not impute errours to them as sinnes who use such a measure of industry in finding truth as humane prudence and ordinary discretion their abilities and opportunities their distractions and hinderances and all other things considered shall advise them unto in a matter of such consequence Sure God will judge men with more then ordinary discretion and therefore though we may justifie our selves when our opinions and practises are scanned by humane prudence yet God may justly condemne us for not attending upon him without distraction Such loose principles as these will nurse men up in security and ignorance or else betray them to indifferency in religions to that * Arminian Libertinisme which hath been so much admired of late dayes and cryed up as the only way to maintain peace For if a man poysoned with this principle be seduced by a Papist Arminian Socinian he need use but ordinary discretion and therefore take but ordinary care to resist the seducer Alas his abilities are not great his distractions not few and his hinderances many besides if he have time to consider the Arguments propounded yet hee wants opportunity and therefore all things considered he had as good yeeld as stand out for it is in the eye of humane prudence a matter of no great consequence for Mr. Chillingworth saith a Papist may be saved especially if he have the Masse in English and Socinians are a company of Christians which though they are erroneous in explicating mysteries and take too great a liberty in Speculative matters yet they explicate and maintaine the Lawes of Christ with lesse indulgence to the flesh then the Papists 3. Mr. Chillingworth thinkes it sufficient to beleeve all those bookes of Scripture to be Gods Word of whose Authority there was never any doubt made in the Church hee cannot in reason beleeve the * other bookes so undoubtedly as those books which were never questioned and he hath the example of Saints in heaven to justify or excuse his doubting nay his denyall Sect. 38. There is no necessity of conforming our selves to the judgement of any Church concerning the rest that were never questioned for that also he urges the Authority of some Saints in Heaven ancient Fathers whole Churches by their difference about this point shewed that they knew no necessity of conforming themselves herein to the judgement of any Church Sect. 34. and yet of this controversy whether such or such bookes be Canonicall the Church is to judge Sect. 35. And the Churches testimony is though no demonstrative Enforcement yet an highly probable inducement and so a sufficient ground of faith What kind of faith this is like to prove I know not which is grounded upon a probable testimony to which no man need to subseribe or conform 4. It is enough to beleeve by a kind of Implicite faith that the Scripture is true in Gods own sense and meaning though you know not what God meant if you use such industry as ordinary discretion shall advise for the knowing of Gods meaning of which I have said enough already this may suffice for a taste Dr. Potter is very charitable to the Papists because they receive the Apostles Creed but whether they receive it in the Apostles sense