Spirit and principle of persecution contrary to the great command of Iesus Christ which he calls the Royall Law of love and to the great duty of Christians love which is termed the fulfilling of the Law by this saith Christ shall men know ye are my disciples i. e. Reall Christians if ye love one another this is the duty which in Scripture is every where pressed and was slighted and neglected generally by all before our troubles and sorrows came upon us the want of this was the true cause of that bitter and cruell persecution of the godly in regard of their consciences by the Bishops and their adherents in their Popish and Antichristian Courts of High Commission Commissaries and Chancellors and the want of this love was the cause too of our oppressions in our estates in the other Courts of the Kingdom both legall and illegall so that all these were turned into gall and wormwood and our Laws by wresting of them were instead of remedies no better then nets and snares unto us and the further men went this way commonly the more were they insnared and entangled But you will say these Courts are now removed with their judges there is now no more fear of these these yokes are taken from off our necks wherefore do you yet complain I answer Though we have fought and sworn down Archbishops Bishops with all their rabble and dependents and so are likely to receive no further damage by them and these yokes which they created for us are castaway yet if the same Spirit and principle remain within us and amongst us it will act the same things though in another form and shape and Persecutions Fines and Imprisonments to the utter ruin of Families shall yet be the portion of the Saints in this Kingdom the beginnings whereof as they are felt by some already so are they feared almost by all and are too visible to every discerning eye And if you yet further demand of me what this Spirit and Principle is which will thus manifest it self to the persecution and destruction of the innocent and faithfull in this Kingdom I answer It is that very spirit of Satan and Antichrist most contrary to the Gospel spirit of love which is described by the Apostle in 2. Thes. 2.4 which is yet remaining amongst us even this that some of the sons of men sit as God in the Temple of God exalting themselves above all that is called God or is worshipped Every Saint is a Temple of the living God 2 Cor. 6.10 Whoever then whether a particular person or a collective body in this temple exalts himself above God or that which is worshipped which is nothing else but God for God only is to be worshipped this is the Antichrist the meaning is when God hath given Commands Rules and Directions in his word to those that are his in Iesus Christ for his worship and service and Iesus Christ hath sent his spirit into their hearts to perswade them of the force of these commands and of the manner of this worship For his sheep hear his voice and will not follow a stranger if there be any man sort or rank of men whatever that take upon them to judge of these commands and to interpret these rules for others so as to enforce obedience from others to their interpretations this I conceive is the Antichrist who sits as God in the Temple of God the Spirits and consciences of men and so exalts himself above all that is called God or worshipped i. e. will be obeyed in the place and stead of God and above him God commanding one thing to the conscience and He another This is Popery and the very top of all Popery the very life blood and spirit that runs through the whole body of it for what makes the Pope but this that he takes upon himself to be the infallible Interpreter and judge of the Scriptures and all the Papists that do not acknowledge him so to be yet place this Infallability some where either in the Church or in a Generall Counsell and when that cannot be had the Pope with his Consistory are in the place of it so that the Papists do all of them professe an infallibility of judgement and interpretation of the Scriptures and this makes them to impose upon men according to their own pleasure yet with some shew of truth and reason But for other men amongst us who do in their own words deny this infallibility of interpretation and yet to impose upon others what they do interpret as if they were infallible as it is in it self ridiculous so is it in my thoughts an aggravation of the crime and makes it more Antichristian in them then in the Pope himself who peradventure acts in this according to what he holds but these just contrary to what themselves believe and professe I could tell you of a people who deny themselves infallible yet use to determine all their Ecclesiasticall controversies and they are very large for In Ordine ad Spiritualia i. e. in reference to the Church they can take in much by a Nationall Assembly and in a vacancy of that by a Committee or Commissioners chosen from amongst them with a Chair-man or a Consistory rather answering that of the Cardinals with the Pope to whom if obedience be not yielded processe is made to Excommunication and after that to confiscation banishment and death whether this copy do not answer the originall pattern at Rome you that know judge and tell me if it be not as like it as ovum ovo and one apple to another Now if this be that Reformation which men so earnestly pursue that which is the very spirit life soul of Popery which hath given denomination and being to it by which it hath grown up and come to his full height strength by which it is upheld to this very day whereby it brought into the world all its Hereticall hellish doctrines all its damnable Paganish idolatries all its apish childish Fopperies Ceremonies Superstitions and from which it acted all its cruel burnings hangings imprisonings murthers massacres Rebellions Treasons Powder-plots and what ever men can call detestable and Devilish If I say this spirit must yet be kept amongst us put it into what form or beautifull shape you please call it by what name you will let it act out under what notion of Religion or Reformation you can imagine it is the same Antichrist still no other And now fellow Covenanters I think it is time for us to lay our hands upon our hearts and consider where we are what we are doing and whether we are going if instead of having our faces Sion ward we be not posting back again to Rome though not in the old road If it be so as alas it is too true be not deceived God is not mocked it s not crying the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord Reformation Government suppressing
in the field But to stop the rage of these unstable waters For the waters upon which the Whore sits are multitudes and people and to still this out cry if possible let us consider who these people are and whether or no indeed truth any such persons may be found amongst us who are so called We will first then inquire after the Names themselves and see what they hold forth unto us and what may be concluded thence Secondly We shall prove that though the Presbyteriah Churches were truly constituted and ordered according to the rule of the Word as indeed they are not yet maintaining any errour either in judgement or practice that the rest of the Christians in the Kingdome who joyne not themselves to them cannot truly and properly be termed Schismaticks for this Thirdly we shall clear it we hope to every reasonable understanding that in case these names of Hereticks Sectaries and Schismaticks be truly to be applied to any persons in this Nation that themselves no others do so properly deserve that name and that they onely make the rent and division that is amongst us For these names we shall speak of them according to the Scriptures onely that foundation upon which if we build we shall stand fast like to mount Zion which cannot be removed and from which if we turn aside we cannot but be shaken into dust being built upon the quick-sand of every unstable mans fancy of whom the holy Ghost hath said Psal. 30. 5. Verily man yea every man at his estate his best estate is vanity nay altogether vanity and that to be laid in the balance he is lighter then vanity nay plainly he is a lie Beware then of men especially such men wo be to them who shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men Who love the uppermost seats at feasts VVho tithe Mint and Anise and Comin and passe over judgement mercy faith and the love of God our too much doting upon men hath forced this expression to return then Heresie is a Greek word having its derivation from {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} which signifies to chuse so that it holds forth in the generall no more then the choice of any opinion either good or bad So it was used amongst the Heathens Vt non sum in eadem tecum haresi i e. opinione I am not in the same opinion with thee Learned Passor saith it s used in a good sence Act. 24. 14. After the way which men cal Heresie so worship I the God of my Fathers the Religion of the Apostles appointed by our Lord Jesus Christ was then called by those who were the strictest professors of that time the great Rabbies and Doctors of the People but blinde leaders of the blinde Heresie or a Sect I wish that now that which comes neerest to Christs Institution and his Apostles were not so judged by the most of men and those who think themselves the wisest too but the world by wisdome knows not God and this wisdome is no better then foolishnesse with God You see briefly what the name Heretick Imports the choice of an opinion not generally received Though sometimes it falls out to be the truth even the truth it selfe the Way the Truth and the Life even Christ himself The next word which is Sect whence comes the common name Sectaries a word now so much in use and this is no other then the Latine of the former Greek word made into English as you may see Acts 5. 17. Chap. 15. 5. And elsewhere where you finde mention made of the Sects of the Saduces and Pharisees and the Originall word is still {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Heresie of the Saduces and Pharisees and so in the place fore quoted Acts 24 14. the choise of Christ and the true christian Religion is called a Heresie so that these two words signifie but one and the same thing only one is the Greek Word and the other is the Latine of it as you may see further in the 1 Cor. 11. 18 19. Which place I alleadge that we may finde out fully the meaning of the last word which is Schisme hath its Etymologie from the Greek word {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Findo to cleave or rent asunder as you may finde it used in Matth. 9. 16. Chap. 27. 51. Luke 5. 26. and many other places so that Schisme is properly a seperation or division in a body whose parts were before united and in Scripture signification holds forth a division or discention in Judgement or opinion from others in what was before received and maintained together with them there must be a Vnion or Conjunction before this parting and division according to the true and proper sense of the word or else it cannot be a Schisme the full understanding of the word you may have in Iohn 7 43. and 10. 19. compared with 1 Cor. 11. 18 19. the two first texts tels us there was a division among the people and in the last the tearms Heresie Sect and Schisme are used promiscuously and seem to signifie but the same thing as in ver. 18. I heare there are Schismes among you and I partly beleeve it and in the 19. the Apostle renders the reason of this beliefe for there must be Heresies or Sects or it must be so for this cause that those that are approved may be made manifest So here you have all together and hold out but the very same to us or at most that one is the cause and the other the effect because the choice of an opinion differing from others is oft and hath been an occasion to those that entertain that opinion to divde from others in their practise also thus Heresie hath usually in the ordinarie sense of men referred to the Judgment and Schisme to the practise And because the Churches of the New Testament were every way true and sound both in respect of their Foundation Members Ministry Doctrines Institutions and Censures in their primitive Apostolicall planting therefore those that were once joyned to them and then chose out any opinion to themselves differing from them and upon that opinion made a division and seperation in their practise were in the true genuine signification of the words truly and properly Hereticks and Schismaticks so called but because the Churches of Iesus Christ straight after even in the Apostles time begun to decline from their first purity every way to wax worse and worse till the man of sin mentioned 2 Thess. 2. 3. 6. came fully to be revealed which hath now been for many hundred of yeares therefore such could not be Hereticks and Schismaticks who after the Apostles time and in succeeding ages took up opinions which were contrary both to the Doctrine and Practise of those declining Churches which were now no longer the true Churches of Iesus Christ according to their originall Institution and Plantation but the falfe and faigned
Sects and Heresies these vain words will not save us whilest we foment this spirit of Antichrist this principle of hatred persecution division in one another that some of us must judge for our selves and others too in the things of Christ that we must interpret the Word as if we were infallible when we acknowledge we are not so and must impose our own fullible sences and interpretations upon others and in case of non-Conformity must force obedience from them whilest we thus bite and devour one another let us take heed that we be not devoured one of another this Reformation is not after the Gospel God is love and he that dwels in love dwels in God and God in him and Christ so loved us as to lay down his life for us leaving us an example that we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren and not to take away the lives of the brethren because they differ from us our Lord Jesus Christ and his Ministers are of another minde all the New Testament over the weapons of our warfare saith St. Paul are not carnall but mighty through God and not through the arme of flesh So 2 Tim. 2. 24 25. the servants of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men patient with meeknesse instructing them that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance And Tit. 3. 2. shewing all meeknesse to all men look also into the 14. chap. of the Romans and you shall see of what different judgement and practises the Saints were there as they held contradictions so did they practise them too one would eat another would not eat one would regard a day and he did this to the Lord i. e. Because he was perswaded the Lord had so Commanded another would not regard a day and he did this to the Lord too being perswaded the Lord required no such observations friends here were contradictions amongst Saints in things of the highest nature in point of Worship most of the old Puritans and non-Conformists of this Kingdom know well what it is to keep or regard a day they can tell you that the most spirituall worship and the highest and chiefest service of Iesus Christ was concerned in it and was meant by it It was surely no indifferent thing as we have been perswaded to believe matters of religious cognisance were contained in it the Apostle speaking of it as done unto the Lord men observing or not observing as conscious of that duty which the Lord had enjoyned them or of that liberty wherewith Iesus Christ had made them free Now what is the Apostles councel in this controversie doth he advise to censuring condemning fining Imprisoning or killing one another no such thing but the contrary let not the weak Judge the strong and let not the strong despise the weak Chap 14. ver. 3. which he confirms with severall reasons every man stands or fals to his own master ver. 4. according to that of our Saviour Christ Math 23. 8. call no man Rabbi for one is your master and all ye are brethren and ver. 10. we shall all stand before the Judgement Seat of Christ and then ver. 12. every one shall give an account of himself to God and Chap. 15. 1. The strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not please themselves and ver. 2. let every one please his neighbour for good to edification which he backs with this inforcing reason ver. 3. for even Christ pleased not himself and the conclusion of the whole matter is this ver. 7. Wherefore receive you one another as Christ also received us to the glory of his Father if Christ love receive and imbrace you although of differing Judgements and practises go ye and do likewise do ye love receive and imbrace each other These Scriptures are full and if opened would spin the thred of my discourse longer then I intended but there is very much in them if the Lord would give us an understanding that we might beleeve themâ— Friends they are our Gospell and I shall leave them with you as those which shall one day rise up in Judgement against such as have imbraced them and yet walk contrary to what they report unto us Undoubtedly the meanes that Christ hath appoynted to propagate his Gospell and to advance his Kingdome is the sword of the Spirit and not the sword of Stâ—â—le by this it is that Antichrist hath so enlarged his dominions as you may see Revel. 13. 7. and therefore heare his Doom which shall surely be accomplished on him and all such too as in this kind take part with him ver. 10.th that leads into Captivity must go into Captivity and he that kills with the sword must be killed with the sword here is the patience and faith of the Saints according to that of our Saviour Matth. 26. 52. they that take the sword shall perish by the sword and before I shall passe from this I beseech you as you tender the comming of Iesus Christ his Kingdom which you daily pray for and the peace and welfare of this your own native Kingdome where you live that you would seriously consider with your selves whether this usurpation of power over the bodies of the Saints in respect of spirituall things as Antichrist himself hath done in all ages may not be the true and adequate cause why the Lord hath suffered the sword to bathe it self in blood and to make it selfe drunk with the blood of the slain in these parts for divers past and for many more in the parts beyond the seas so Rev. 16. 6. They have shed the blood of Saints and Prophets and thou hast given them blood to drink for they are worthy and what improbability is there of Peace amongst us whilest this devillish spirit of hatred and persecution for the devill was a murtherer from the beginning which hath given Antichrist his denomination life and being doth yet abide is nourished and maintained by us And so I come to the second Point wherein I shall be brief which is That though the Presbyterian Churches were truly constituted and ordered according to the rule of the word as indeed they are not yet maintaining any errour either in judgement or practise that the rest of the Christians in the Kingdom who joyn not themselves to them cannot truly and properly be termed Schismaticks for this I have told you formerly in this discourse whilest I opened the severall words that according to the true nature of the word Schisme signifies a dis-union division or cleaving asunder of parts which were before united in a solid body Let us apply this to the businesse in hand and Schisme is nothing else but a division or separation in judgement and practise of persons from some Church or body to which they were before united and when I pray was it that those who are now called Hereticks Sectaries and Schismaticks were joyned together in a body with those who