saith the same Apostle It is not Jealous or Suspicious and therefore will not suffer us to pass our Sentence on the Intentions or inward Motions of our Brothers Actions Because altho we may suspect we cannot be assured that he doth perform them with those Vile Intentions and upon those evil Motives which we are Prone to charge him with But is Charity so severe a Lady Will she not suffer me to call a Spade a Spade If a man suggests a Lye in his Petition does Charity oblige me to esteem him Honest and worthy of the Preferment he Petitions for I know Justice is Pictured Blind but I never thought Charity was so in earnest 'T is true Charity Thinks no evil She frames none She suspects none where She finds no Reason for it 'T is her Office to make Men Harmless but not to make them Fools leaving out their Sting and Venom She can reconcile the Serpents Wisdom to the Dove's Innocency Neque enim Caecutire debent Fideles saies Mr. Calvin The faithful Servants of Christ ought not to be so Blind as to discern Nothing Sed tantum seipsos fraenare ne Cupidius Judicent quam parest Tho it be their Duty to Bridle Ad Mat. 7. 1. themselves lest they should be more lavish in judging than does become them When Things are put into the Ballance we must weigh and value them as the Moments or Grains of Reason shall incline us But if we speak of Persons when any Doubt ariseth that touches their Good or Evil Reputation we are obsolutely concern'd to give our Interpretation in the better Sense Yet this is not so to be understood as if Speculatively and Positively we were certainly to Judge those Men Honest of whose Honesty we have no certain Sign or Indication for so we should be bound to believe a Falsehood But the Meaning is that Negatively and Practically in Doubtful matters we ought not to judge ill of our Neighbour but to carry our selves so towards Him in Common Conversation as if He were Honest when we find nothing in Him to the Contrary This is the Judgment of Charity But this Judgment of Charity must not contradict that of Prudence which Teaches us to carry our selves with some Reservedness whether in order to the Amendment of any Evil or to the putting in of Caution against it 'T is not Prudence to trust those too far of whom we have no Reason to be confident for we know there may be a Godly-jealousy 2 Cor. 11. 2. Gal. 4. 11. If the Reconciler says that some plausible Motives or a collateral Good-meaning can hallow wicked Practices he hath the Jesuit for his Casuist and serves himself of his Moralls If He says we ought not to be Shy and keep Guard over our selves in reference to matters of Conscience and Religion he Cancells Christs Caveat and makes his Sign of the false-Prophet as useless if not as scandalous too as they would do the Sign of the Cross Beware says He of false-Prophets who come to you in sheeps-Clothing by their Fruits ye shall know them Was it want of Charity in the Apostle speaking of such as sought occasion to traduce his Life and Doctrine to say such are False-Apostles deceitful Workers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ And no marvel for Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of Light Therefore it is no great thing if his Ministers also be transformed as the Ministers of Righteousness whose End shall be according to their Works Was St. Peter without Charity Yet he saith These are Wells without Water Cloud 's that are carried with a Tempest to whom the mist of Darkness is reserved for ever 2 Pet. 2. 17. Was St. Jude Uncharitable Yet He saith These are spots in your Feasts of Charity Clouds Jude Epist v. 12 13. they are without Water Trees whose Fruit withereth Raging Waves of the Sea Wandring Stars to whom is reserved the Blackness of Darkness for Ever Was Christ uncharitable Yet He saith Woe unto you Scribes Pharisees Hypocrites Mat. 5. 20. and again Except your Righteousness shall exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees Ye shall in no case enter into the Kingdom of Heaven I thank God I am not yet arrived at that height of Folly as to pretend to be more Wise and Charitable than Christ or his Apostles St. Paul thought it not amiss to make an Argument to awaken such as were secure and careless and he puts it home to their own Consideration Know ye not saies he that the Vnrighteous shall not inherit 1 Cor. 6. 19. 20 21. the Kingdom of God Does he mean none but Thieves Drunkards and Extortioners none but Fornicators Murderers and Idolaters Yes he takes in the Contentious and Seditious and such as disturb the Peace of the Church by Sects and Schisms This was his Major Proposition and he took the Boldness to Assume and doubtless he thought it was without any Breach of Charity which he had in so eminent a Measure that he could wish himself Accursed from Christ for his Brethren Rom. 9. 3. 2 Cor 12. 15. according to the Flesh yet to make up his Argument he tells the Corinthians and such were some of you And I would have the Reconciler know that I should be no less glad than St. Paul was if I had the like Evidence for it to say of the most Stubborn and Froward of our Dissenters But ye are Washed but ye are Sanctified but ye are Justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God If thy Brother shall trespass against thee Rebuke him This Injunction is usherd in with a Caveat that looks inward which implies that 't is of great Concern unto us Take heed to your selves St. Luke 17. 3. Be sure ye do it by word of Mouth or Writing and if occasion serves Mat. 18. 17. present his miscarriage to the Church The Neglect of this Duty the Law interprets as an act of Hatred Levit. 19. 17. Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thy Heart Thou shalt in any wise Rebuke thy Neighbour and not suffer sin upon him The Canon Law tell 's us Qui emendat verbere in quem Potestas datur vel coercet aliquâ Disciplinâ Eleemosynam Dat quia Distinc 45. c. 11. Misericordiam proestat Discipline is reckoned among Alms and Correction is a Work of Mercy Fratrem quo emendetur corripere id vel unice diligere est saith Luc. Brug to Reprove a Brother that he may be amended that 's a singular Act of Love and Kindness 3ly Saith the Reconciler This Practice seems Repugnant to that great Rule of Equity which doth enjoyn us to do to others as we would be dealt with For we would not have others Judge rashly of the Thoughts and secret Purposes of our Minds which they know not nor of the inward Principles of our Actions which they cannot discern and would desire them to Judge as favourably as they
advantage otherwise And if it be Insolentissimae Insaniae a part of most insolent madness to dispute any of those Customs which the Church observes all the World over as St Augustin says it is then certainly no man that is well in his wits or has any veneration for Gods Church can think it a piece of Prudence or sobriety to Cassate and make void all and throw them promiscuously out of doors upon the srivolous suggestions of Fanatick Spirits â—â—o â—â—â—â—â—ated with never so much blind Passion and Importunity 3. There is a third Mischief as great as the former by this means Governors should encourage and harden them in their Schism whom in Charity they are obliged to correct and not in their Schism only but in their Judaism and Superstition which is against that Charity we owe to them as well as that which we owe to our selves For that they are guilty of a wretched Schism the Reconciler does acknowledge and that they have a tincture of Judaism or Jewish Superstition if they do really believe the Principles they insist upon in this dispute cannot be denied as long as they take Sanctuary at Rome and intitle themselves to the Indulgence of the Apostle in this Epistle to the Dissenting Christians which did then and there converse For that such was their Distemper and Disease has been sufficiently proved already Now to take off these Impositions which the Party is thus upon the fret and in fermentation about them may be against that Charity we owe to them and it may be in us the sin of scandal too because we should not be sufficiently careful to remove the occasion of sin from them This was the sin of Eli 1 Sam. 3. 13. and the sin of the Angel of the Church of Thyatira Apoc. 2. 20. 'T is an authentic Rule Qui non vetat peccare cum possit jubet and that is of the same importance Facti culpam habet qui quod potest negligit emendare He that has power to correct a Fault is guilty if he neglects to correct it I may add this also that they to whom we are so indulgent lest they should be offended will certainly take occasion to be offended and be actually scandalized thereby and so by our Indulgence we shall sin doubly that is as well against that Charity which we owe to them as against that which we owe to our selves 1. Against that which we owe unto our selves for if we neglect our Duty when it is incumbent upon us to correct them that neglect is our sin and that is against the Charity which we owe unto our selves to prevent which our Saviour has given us this Charge If thy right hand offend thee cut it off and cast it from thee 2. 'T is certainly against that Charity we owe to them for we should hereby incourage them in their Schism and Superstition by our Indulgence whereas in Charity we are obliged to endeavour their Correction If our Governors be obliged to root Superstition and Judaism out of the minds and practice of their subjects then they can find no better Remedy than these Impositions which as their Application has discovered the Disease so the Continuance thereof will be the best way to correct and cure it And for this our blessed Saviour hath afforded us an example for why did Luke 13. 32. 33. he work so many Cures upon the Sabbath day which he knew so highly to Scandalize and offend the Jews The day of it self was indifferent to him I cast out Devils and do Cures to day and to morrow and the day following He could have done it the day before or the day after why then did he so frequently and so designedly work his Cures upon the Sabbath day Why it was to detect the Superstition they had for the Sabbath day and to cure them of it And herein the Reconciler and I are perfectly agreed for he saith our blessed Saviour is supposed to have taken this Prot. Recotcil pag. 318. occasion viz. to heal the diseased upon the Jewish Sabbath to deliver the poor People from those superstitions and heavy burdens which the Pharisees had laid upon them in reference to that day In like manner the great Prudence of our Governors thinks fit to continue these healing Impositions to deliver our poor people from those Superstitions and burdens which our modern Pharisees the Presbyterian Divines have laid upon them in reference to these very Impositions Governors do well remember their own office and know they have something else to do than to humour a Capricious or froward people They are Ministers of Gods Kingdom They have Wis 6. a Master in Heaven who is King of Kings to whom they must be accountable for their administrations he claims a Sovereignty over them as intitled to their Thrones by the Commission which he gives them By Me Kings Reign and Rom. 8. as he allows them to Reign by him so he requires they should Reign for him To this effect he appoints them to be Nursing Fathers to his Church and such God be blessed have been all our Princes since the Reformation And the Charge is as strict upon the Bishops Take heed therefore unto your selves and to all the Flock over the which Acts 20. 28. the holy Ghost hath made you Overseers to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own Blood The way to feed them is not to flatter but instruct them not to humour their petulancy but to reprove it not to wink at their superstition but to correct it They can neither discharge their Duty nor a good Conscience by following the People in their stragling but by bringing them home into the Fold if they gratifie them to their ruine they cannot do it but with certain peril of their own There is a great difference betwixt a Loose and unsetled State and a State that is regularly establish'd in the first every man does that which is right in his own eyes and that perhaps he may call his conscience So we find it Jud. 17 6. In those days there was no King in Israel but every man did that which was right in his own eyes And the meaning of that place our Synopsis has very well discovered 't was no wonder that Idolatry crept in amongst them when there was no Sovereign like that of Kings to hinder it for the Judges kept men to their Duty by advice and perswasion rather than by an effectual command and punishments But may we do so now when we are under a well setled Government It may seem so to our Reconciler and his Dissenters by the Apostles Concession Rom. 14. 5. according to the vulgar Latin unusquisque sensu suo abundet let every man abound in his own sense But is this Gospel Is this good practical Divinity No 't is a corruption of the Text saith Hemmingius 't is wicked and unchristian for God hath expresly forbidden it Deut. 12. 8. Ye
name the Persons that are so censured let him repeat the Words and cite the Page or Pages where this Censure is to be found If he can produce none of these things I have Commission in Dr. Womock's Name to proclaim him a malicious and shameless Libeller But 't is a small matter with him to Judge and Libel Dr. Womock he has the forehead to do as much by his Prince and all that are in Authority in Church and State and is it possible for the Dissenters to escape his Lash Indeed P. 114. he concludes them a Pack of damned Villains who go astray out of Pride Malice Stubbornness and he saith p. 108 We have cause to fear the thing is too true that there be men of this Malicious Proud Stubborn Temper among the Body of Dissenters But alas Good man he would not Censure them for a World And yet at another time he thinks p. 58. 59. fit but it is in the Spirit of Meekness to ask them these few Questions Do they prefer Mercy before Sacrifice who will not submit to Rites or Circumstances or to the Use of things no where forbidden in the Word to prevent Schism and all the dreadful Consequences of it But rather will give cause to their Superiours to Judg them scandalous Resisters of Authority and pertinacious Disturbers of the Churches Peace Are they compassionate towards the Sheep according to our Lord's Example who rather will refuse to become Labourers in his Harvest and Teachers of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God than submit to these little Things in order to their regular Performance of this Blessed Work Do not they scandalize offend and contribute unto the Ruin of Christ's Little Ones who do involve them in a wretched Schism on the account of things which they may Lawfully submit to Do not they shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against Men who forbid them to enter when they may Do not they impose heavy Burthens also who say to their Disciples Hear not the Common-Prayer Receive not the Sacrament kneeling Suffer not your Children to be signed with the Cross Communicate not with that Minister who wears a Surplice or with that Church who imposeth any Ceremonies or any Constitutions But concerning the Time and Place of performing publick Worship If the Good Shepherd should lay down his Life for the Sheep should not they lay down their unnecessary Scruples for their sakes If nothing doth so scandalize Christ's Followers as to find their Teachers at Discord and divided can They act as becometh his Disciples who are not willing to procure Unity and Concord and to avoid this Scandal by their Submission to things indifferent in their own Nature and not forbidden in the Law of God Now whether this be not much more Magisterial and not a whit less Censorious than any thing that fell from the pen of Dr. Womock in his Verdict let the Reader Judge However Dr. Womock is not much concern'd at the Reproaches of his Prayers but thinks fit to return his Charity in the Exprobration and Command of our Common Judge which may concern Luc. Brug Significatur Curiositas intuendi in alienos errores Studio reprelendendi the Reconciler no less then Dr. Womock Mat. 7. 3. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy Brothers Eye but considerest not the beam that is in thine own Eye ver 5. Thou hypocrite first cast out beam out of thine own Eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy Brothers Eye And now we may take leave to reflect upon the other Mistakes and false Suggestions in this Paragraph 1. What dormant Warrant he may have to pass the Decretory or Final Sentence of Damnation upon any Person I cannot tell but I am sure there is no such Warrant to be found in Scripture nor any such Sentence to be pronounced by any man without the Spirit of Prophecy 2dly Whereas He saith the Dissenters differ only from us about Meats or Festivals or things Indifferent in which God's Kingdom does by no means consist We say otherwise The Difference is in matters of Obedience under the command of Righteousness and in matter of Uniformity under the command of Peace which with Joy in the Holy Ghost are the very Foundation and Pillars of God's Kingdom For he that in these things Rom. 14. 17. 18. serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of Men. 3dly For our Saviours Prohibition Judge not Mr. Calvin saith His Verbis praecise non prohibuit Christus a Judicando which is flatly opposite to the Reconciler Christ by these Words doth not precisely forbid Judging but would cure a disease which is commonly bred of Curiosity or Malevolence Calvin But to condemn all Sin is not only Lawful but Necessary unless we have a mind to Bark against God to abrogate his Laws to rescind his Judgments and to overthrow his Tribunal For he will have us be the Heraulds of that Sentence which he hath pronounced against the Wickedness of men though withal we are obliged to be so modest as to acknowledg him the only Judge and Law-giver who is able to save and to destroy The Publick Judgment of Prince Praelates Senates whose Office it is to condemn the Guilty and absolve the Innocent being no less necessary than beneficial to Civil Societies is by no means forbidden by our Saviour and why should Divines study Cases of Conscience but to Judge and satisfie such as are Scrupulous and Doubtful and a good man that values his Soul his Conscience his Interest in Christ in Grace and Heaven would be glad to receive some Satisfaction therein and if he be wise he will apply himself to some Ghostly Father to that Effect but how can He do him good if he doth not Judge for him The Judgment our Saviour forbids is Private and not all private Judgment neither but only what is Rash and Malicious To condemn Crimes Manifest and Notorious that is not to Judge but to follow God's Judgments who hath expresly condemned Them already in his Word We are forbidden to Judge of Others when their Actions are Doubtful but not when their Works are Manifest and the matter of Fact clear and out of Question as St. Augustine hath resolved it and our Lord before him in that Direction By their Fruits ye shall know them which is to be understood of such manifest Deeds as cannot be done of a Good mind such as Theft Whoredome and all matters of Fraternal Correction which cannot Irenaeus 2. 4. c. 49. be performed without a Proevious Judgment which therefore cannot be here forbidden They therefore abuse this Testimony saies Mr Calvin who under In Mat. 7. 1. pretence of that Moderation which Christ commends would take away all distinction of Good and Evil. 4thly But the Reconciler urgeth That those places of Scripture may Justly be suppos'd to forbid the Judging and Condemning of our Brother without sufficient cause To this I
hearts were not Won to embrace the Truth so that his gracious Dispensations served only to set an Edge upon their Malice to raise their Spleen to sharpen their Indignation and whet their Wits to find our Arguments to elude the Evidence of their Conviction The Priests and Pharisees held a Council against this Holy Jesus and their Debate resolved to a wicked Expostulation What do we For this man doth many Miracles Here was a clear Conviction but they preferred their Temporal Interest before the Truth and their own Salvation They resolve therefore If we let this man alone all Men will believe on him and the Romans shall come and take away our Place and Nation Here they take up a Liberty of Prophesying which tho it sentenced Him but to a short Death yet it brought upon themselves a fatal Doom which was no less sad than irreversible Joh. 11. 47. c. I may add that Avarice and Filthy Lucre do many times Inhaunce the Prejudice and when men come to this point of Belief which is a desperate sign of Atheism that Gain is Godliness they are men of such Corrupt Minds that the Apostle seems to give them over as hopeless and uncurable He tells us of men Who take Pleasure in unrighteousness that are Lovers of their own selves and despisers of 2 Tim. 3. to the 8. those which are Good Covetous Boasters Proud Fierce and false Accusers Traytours Heady High-Minded Lovers of Pleasures more than Lovers of God having a Form of Godliness but denying the Power thereof These for all their fair Pretences and Diligence to seduce others He call's them Men of Corrupt Minds that resist the Truth and are Reprobates concerning the Faith What is it that makes the Schismaticks so ungovernable and so bold in teaching things which they ought not Is it not for filthy Lucres sake Dost Chrys. ad Tit. Cap. 1. Hom. 2. thou see sayes St. Chrysostom that every where the Love of Rule and the Appetite of Filthy Lucre is the cause that such men will not be subject to their Superiours These men are far from the Kingdom of Heaven in no present disposition to Embrace the Truth in the Love of it A sharp Reproof which may Melt others and make them Sound in the Faith Tit. 1. 13. will but exasperate such as these to greater Attempts of mischief In short when Prejudice and Self-conceit are the best Talent of their Knowledg when Popularity is their Devotion and Gain their Godliness when Hatred and Envy are the Zeal that whets them on in their pretences of Justice or Reformation that is in a word when men make their Consciences truckle to their Covetous or Ambitious Designs prefer their Interest in this World before the Institutions of Christ their Hopes of Heaven their minds are so Corrupt from the Simplicities that is in Christ that 't is High time for them to lay aside all such Prejudices and seek for better Information that there be no Schisms amongst us but that we be perfectly 1 Cor. 1. 10. Rom. 15. 6. 1. Tim. 2. 2. joyn'd together in the same mind in the same Judgment that we all speak the same thing that we may with one mind one mouth Glorifie God and lead a quiet and peaceable life in all Godliness and Honesty 8. The last Remark I shall make upon this Paragraph is this That generally the Schismatick is more confident of the State of his Party and their Interest in God's favour than the most eminent Servants of God Corah pronounceth without the least Hesitation or any Doubt at all saying All the Congregation are Holy every one of Them But Moses was astonished at his Confidence and said more modestly The Lord will Num. 16. 3 5 shew who are his and who is Holy and will cause him to come near unto him When St. Paul commends the Weak Rom. 14. 3. Jew who had embraced the Gospel to the care and kindness of those who are better instructed because God had received him He speaks out of the Judgment of Charity But really God receives none upon their own Partial Terms or Factious Principles He receives only such as Resign themselves up intirely to his Will that is to the Conduct of his Church according to his Laws and Institutions Thus he received Saul when he said Lord what wilt thou have me to do the Lord received him but committed Acts 9. 6. him to the Care of his Church and Ministry saying Arise and go into the City and it shall be told thee what thou must do Thus as I said every true Convert in Preparation of Mind and full Purpose of Heart resigns himself up to the Conduct of Christ's Church according to his Holy Laws and Institutions But for the Sectary who refuses the Conduct of the Church we have no Warrant to assure us that God hath Acts 4. 7. John 10. received Him for such as he receives he receives into his Church All that are his Sheep he brings into this Fold T it 3. 10 11 To this purpose upon those Words of the Apostle A man that is a Sectary reject In Loc. Com. Ioc. 8. De 9 aeret N. 6. Joannes Crocius a Calvenist writeth thus Etsi ex vera Ecclesia prodit Haereticus non tamen est ex Deo Although the Sectary comes out from the True Church yet he is not of God The Reason is irrefragrable because he is to be rejected For whatsoever is to be rejected is not of God God is Truth and the Author of Truth but not of Sects and Heresies They went out from us sayes 1 John 2. 19 St. John but they were not of us And now I think it high time to speak Plainly He that makes himself an Enemy to his Prince And so do such as are Seditious and he that makes himself an Enemy to the Church And so do such as are Schismatical they make themselves unfit for any Trust and in that respect They are to be despised And as to the Schismatical part we may observe it to be St. Pauls practice in all his Epistles wherein he takes notice of such Sectaries as did infest the Church Rom. 16. 17 18. 2 Cor. 10. 11. cap. Gal. 1. 7. ch 4. 17 18. ch 5. 10 12. Philip. 3. 2 3. Coloss 2. 8 16 18. c. 1 Tim. 6. 3 4 5. Tit 1. 10 11. St. Pet. also Epist 2. c. 2. throughout like wise St. John 1 Epist c. 2. 18 19. and St. Jude does the like the 11 12 13. ver of his Epistle 2dly saies the Reconciler Thus to condemn and Judge our Brother seems Pag. 118. inconsistent with the Properties and Rules of Charity For Charity saith the Apostle Hopeth all things and Believeth all things and therefore must oblige us to hope and to believe well of our Brother's Actions till we have Demonstration of the contrary not condemn Him without certain grounds Charity thinketh no evil