speake truth knowes that hee obtained this speciall right of Sanctity by the like mysterie of Vocation and that hee hath no other wayes almost bestowed it upon others I know that somtimes things are carried more conscionably and that the abuse of a thing takes not still away the use thereof yet this I dare say that because at this day are wanting men divinely inspired to call and because the bestowing of spirituall gifts is separate at this day from Imposition of hands though it be done by Christs command and for a spirituall end yet in respect of the manner modern vocation is meerly humane because the whole manner is fallible humane and oftentimes corrupted whence the effects must be also humane and oftentimes most vitious so that we have instead of Apollo Apollonius a Sophister for a Prophet a Sycophant for a Bishop But because this vocation is with Apollonius the chiefe Originall of moderne Church-spiritualitie least we should believe there is more in the effect then in the adequate cause I conclude that the power of excercising Church-affaires at this day is not of divine but of humane right and therefore Apollonius playes the Impostor who prates so at random of the sanctity of his Church-affaires and of the speciall spirituall right of exercising them he is not unlike to them that falsifie coyne who wash brasse leaden or iron pieces with a little silver or gold to impoverish others and inrich themselves I confesse that this is the old Popish garlick sticking close to many but he who will looke over the writings of all Divines as hee brags hee hath done may perceive that the most quick-sighted Reformers have found out long since that whatsoever is so highly talked of the speciall right of sanctity is nothing else but the secondine of the Romish mother and the pollution adhering to her sons since their nativity there is none more stubborne then the Stilt-walker who above all others delights in the polluted blood of that Romish Whore and sips up againe her excrements not being content with common Elogies he prides himselfe so much in the right of this priviledge that he affirmeth every where that the Ecclesiastick power is a kind of Majesty and hath in it some thing that is Regall I confesse that the name of Christians puts us in mind of our Kingly Office which as the Catechist saith consisteth in this that we strive against sin and subdue the lusts of the flesh and this is common to all Christians but the Stilt-walker not content with this Priviledge of a Ministeriall right of vocation he makes a right of commanding and raigning in the Church and that speciall censoriall and nomotheticall so that many times he calls this power under Christ imperiall selfe-sufficient absolute and regall I confesse they are but trifles which he spreads every where yet least he should seeme to be neglected because he is not laughed at it will not bee unpleasing to rub his eares a little Par. 1. p. 8. 25 c. Mat. 13. c. He is wonderfully pleased that Christ calls the Church his Kingdome which is not of this world but heavenly and the Kingdome of heaven whence he concludes that the visible Church is a Kingdome and that the Government thereof is like that of a Kingdome and because the power of this Government is in the Church-Rulers that therefore their power is in a manner Kingly such are the Popish enthymemes concerning a spirituall and Ecclesiastick Kingdome I answer here is a fallacy in the ambiguity of the word when they meane every where by the Church the visible Church for when Christ saith that his Kingdome is not of this world but heavenly he meanes the Catholike Church the greatest part whereof is in heaven and there raignes with Christ But because for the accomplishing of this Kingdome the visible Church here on earth is appointed and her Ministery therefore Christ transfers the name of the Kingdome of heaven to the affaires of the visible Church not as if he meant that the visible Church or her Ministery should be held for a Kingdome or for the Kingdome of heaven but by a knowne Metonymie he transfers the name of the effect and end to the efficient which leads to that end no other wayes then we use to say that a man labours for food and rayment whereas he workes for money not as if money were food and rayment but because by it these things are procured he deserves to be laughed at who in silver seeketh properly for food and rayment because figuratively it is called food and rayment as ridiculous are the Papists when they seeke in the visible Church a regall and celestiall Power and dominion because it is called the Kingdome of heaven for no other reason but because it is the medium by which we attain to that blessed Kingdome in heaven This is the old Papists Logick to seek for literall conclusions out of figurative speeches which art almost every where the Walachrian Bapist borrowes from them and chiefly in this Argument for because Christ calls the visible Church and its Government a Kingdome and of heaven figuratively he concludes that the Church-Rulers have a regall power and that they are really and simply heavenly Kings although I suspect that he wrote this and many other things but in jest yet I will drive out this joculary naile with another naile that any one may see the absurdity If the visible Church be the Kingdome of heaven truly and simply as Apollonius saith then I will infer that of necessity the Church of Midleburg is also literally the Kingdome of heaven which if so then I will conclude with another consequence that that Church is literally heaven for England and France are the Kingdomes of England and France Hence further I conclude that as often as the visible Church meeteth in the temple of Middleburg there heaven is literally and by another consequence as often as the Stilt-walker preacheth in that Church he preacheth in heaven then it must follow that while he is there with his Hearers he is not properly on the earth except he will mingle heaven and earth together And againe it will follow that because he is a Ruler in that Church and hath the power of censuring he is not only a King but the King of heaven too as Rhadamanthus is of hell How blessed then is Apollonius who if he doth not reigne in the earthly Consistory of Middleburg yet he is King of Middleburgian heaven Are not then the Magistrates of Middleburg stupid who yet doubt whether the Stilt-walker be worthy of the earthly Kingdome of his Consistory whom long ago they see to be King of heaven That he may reconcile these absurdities he will be forced to confesse that this word of the Kingdome of heaven is figuratively and improperly attributed to the visible Church But if Apollonius may with Papists expound figurative words literally there will be nothing certain in Divinity but Christians
will be made branches stones trees chickens sheep fish fruits grasse corn and what not Of Preachers and Church-men there will be made not onely Kings Pastors Captaines Housholders as they will have but servants wolves dogs pillars stones bell-ringers pipers walls flames candle-sticks fires and many more to which the Holy Ghost compares them So that if hee should shake the budgets of most abstruse Divinity he cannot compose these things but he shall be laughed at by all This is his errour in that he will out of figurative speeches draw literall conclusions as if out of painted gold he would make a reall crowne of gold Much of this kind he spreads every where chiefly Part 2. p. 28. he doth plainly dispute for the Kingly censuring power of Church-men For saith hee the jurisdiction of the Church is called the right of the keyes and the Churches key is called Davids key which was regall whence he concludes That the jurisdiction of the Church is regall I answer These things are spoken figuratively and to be ascribed to Christ onely if they be taken properly not to the moderne Church which properly wants the keyes of heaven as I shewed elsewhere The chiefe errour is in this that with the Pope he makes of the keyes the Scepter and regall Crowne If all be Kings that have the right of the keyes then the Key-bearers of Temples Cities Hospitalls of Bedlems and of all Cells shall be Kings And whereas he saith that Davids and Christs key is regall and that therefore such is the key of the moderne Church it is all one as if I should say there was a King who carried the keyes of the City therefore all are Kings afterwards who carry those keyes How false this is appeares in Peter who first and properly received these keyes and yet he was a poore Fisher-man not a King Surely if Apollonius had Peters true key yet Christ would forbid in him all Kingly state and pride Mat. 20. saying The Kings of the earth beare rule but it shall not be so with you But Mat. 18. Christ gave to the Church power of judicature which saith he is kingly I answered elsewhere that in this place Christ did not bestow on the Church the right of judicature but only to intercede and to compose differences For the power of judging one to be a Publican or Heathen he gives properly to a Brother not to the Church and so every private man should have regall power Truly if all be Kings that judge there will be innumerable Kings in the same kingdome If Apollonius play not the foole he was a King long since because he carried the keyes and judged many things after his manner His chief argument is out of that place Mat. 28. Christ sending his Disciples to preach speaks first of his regall power saying All power is given to me in heaven and in earth he concludes also from his regall power saying I will be with you till the end of the world thence he gathers That the power not onely of Christ but also of the Church and therefore of Ministers is regall O wonderfull Lindanus indeed and other Papists are ridiculous in their devices but what Jesuite at this day is there of any braine who will not burst with laughter when he shall see and think of these Apollonian scientificall demonstrations to wit that Calvinists by such fictions doe seek after power to reigne in the Church which they have hitherto execrated in the Pope Christ the King of Kings speaking before and after of his Kingly power commanded the Apostles to teach and baptize Ergo he made them Kings and indowed them with Kingly power If Apollonius were as quick-sighted in both his eyes as Lynx he could not see this consequence He reasons thus out of his foolish Dialectick As often as Kings speaking of their Majesty command their Heralds to publish their will and Letters Patents they presently of Heralds become Kings that Herald were worthy of Hellebore who would thus conclude especially if the King in plaine termes should tell his Messenger Although my other servants may command and domineere in their Offices yet I forbid thee to do so neither will I permit thee to reigne for this is the sense of Christs words Mat. 20. The Kings of the Nations beare rule but it shall not be so with you So we need not stay any longer in the Walachrian devices whereas we may every where see that the Pope and Apollonius are both of one minde to wit that they have regall power howsoever Christ and the whole Scripture contradict it but by a Jesuiticall quirk he tells us that their power is not secular carnall or despoticall for these husks he leaves for the Magistrate reserving to himselfe the pure flower of spirituality but Ecclesiasticke holy and celestiall which because it proceeds not from the speciall sanctity of their Church-Discipline as the object nor from the dignity of modern vocation as I have now shewed we must henceforth search into the other lurking holes of the Walachrian Church sanctity least these rattle-mice hide themselves any longer in their under-ground caves of spirituality Therefore having overthrowne the chiefe foundations of the Walachrian sanctity and dominion which are the spirituality of their moderne Discipline and the mysticall sublimity of their calling now I will pursue the Arguments which the Stilt-walker still useth to purchase authority to himselfe among the ignorant which with the Papists he borroweth from the Epithetes and names given to Preachers in Scripture by which he strives to establish his regall majesty in the Church in this playing the canvasse Merchant with Papists which that the Reader may see I will first in generall point at three of his ordinary fallacies 1. In that the most titles are figurative and metaphoricall Fallaciae in titulis out of which he raiseth literall conclusions by which he must needs fall into a thousand absurdities for if this be admitted in Divinity that every one interpret as hee pleaseth figures similitudes and metaphors which are found in Scripture there will be nothing certaine but we may infer any thing out of any thing by this reason I may easily of Apollonius and his other Preachers make stocks stones yea brute beasts for Church-Doctors are called in Scripture Pillars Foundations and watchfull Dogs now we know that Pillars are made of stocks and stumps of trees Foundations of stones and that Dogs are brute and impudent beasts whence the folly of old Papists appears who have erected their whole Hierarchy out of parabolicall and figurative Scripture phrases as famous Marnixius hath merrily demonstrated and because he could find no other new way to set up his regall power therefore the VValachrian Papist walks altogether in his Predecessors foot-steps Apollonius his other errour is that of indefinite Propositions he makes exclusive and understands simply what is spoken respectively this he borrowed also of the Jesuites for Bellarmine commonly thus concludes Christ gave
fact not the effect of the Apostles so that hee who is ordained and confirmed is the same after that he was before imposition of hands But the Apollonians bragge that they are Christs Embassadors This is an arrogant untruth for they have not obtained the gift of teaching in the Church after that divine and spirituall manner that Christs Legates did of old but by humane gifts and humane calling which according to Gods and Christs generall institution serve the now decayed Church that wants these gifts in which shee excelled under the Apostles You are Gods Embassadors and the Churches Patrons to whom for ever by speciall command the care of the Church under Christ is committed Which not to undertake is hainous impiety and to take it from you is sacriledge and now what I have said to the secular Nobility I also say to you that are Religious Ministers Contemne the boldnesse of Apollonius and his fellows for they are seditious and desire innovation They goe about to raise among themselves the Papall Hierarchy to the overthrow of your Honour they hunt after worldly glory and would have you lose the true honour of Christ All honour is due properly to Gods Word not to you Your Calling should put you in minde of your Ministery and burthen not of command and ruling Which of you will bee so proud with Apollonius as to bragge of an inseparable subjection under Christ so that hee truely heares Christ that heares you Let Apollonius be ashamed to bee so often convicted of falsehood that hee is so infabibly subordinate to Christ as if his authority with Christs were the same Lisien rather to Christ the Lord of the whole Church who by command and examples hath taught you not to seek after the Kingdomes of this world much lesse by the Church Apollonius seeks both to wit dominion in the Church and by the Church over Magistrates and the world too Christ said that Kings and Lords were to beare rule but not you Yet hee hath not driven out of the Church the higher power which is exercised with authority but hath forbid you to meddle with that which God hath granted to Magistrates The Pope hath so corrupted this command of Christ that by wresting of it hee first stript Princes of their authority in the Church and then from their temporall Dominions and so procured to himself the dominion of the Church then of the whole World This is it which Apollonius borrows of him Hee debarres Princes from having any authority in the Church from which Christ never debarred them On the contrary hee affects dominion and power over the Church and State which Christ never gave him but plainly forbid him Bee not therefore followers of Apollonius and his Disciples Christ and his Apostles were indued with supreme authority and what the Magistrate doth now by the Sword that could they doe by words and threatning that is to say kill and punish corporally They had power and aptitude to command all in the Church but not to obey notwithstanding they so ruled the Church that they both governed and were governed they taught and were taught they ordered and were ordered they sent and were sent Finally there was none of these things they did much affect for which these proud and contentious spirits strive as it were for Religion it selfe Stephanas and her family served the Church with their goods these were but vulgar people and as they called them Laicks yet Paul wills the whole Church which excelled in so many spirituall gifts to bee subject to them and such as they were for that work How farre was that government from this of Apollonius on whom the Christian Magistrate had beaped all sorts of benefits yet teacheth that hee must not bee subject to them but they to him that hee must not honour but contemne them â—ar 1. p. 30.31 for bee accounts him wicked and a Simonaick out of his Calderwood that shall adscribe any power over the Church to any man for his bounty and charges on the Church Which is a manifest blasphemy both against the Apostle and the Magistrate which neverthelesse these Walachrians esteem as a fine and choise sentence But they say that Christs Kingdome is not of this World Luk. 17.21 I grant it if they mean his internall Kingdome which Christ saith is within us But for externall things which serve for the building up of that Kingdome Christ never taught they were not of this world and surely hee had done that which was far from the nature of his Kingdome when making a whip of coards hee vindicated the purity of Divine worship Yea that Counsell which is given to Kings and Princes of the New Testament to Kisse the Sonne had been in vain but that I may not use my own words longer In comment Deut. 13.5 Let Calvin speak who thus writes God can be without the help of the Sword for the defence of Religion hee wills it not but what wonder is it if God commands the Magistrate to bee the revenger of his glory who will not have thefts whoredomes drunkennesse exempted from punishment nor suffer them In lesser faults it shall not bee lawfull for the Judge to cease when the worship of God is overthrown and all Religion shall so great a sin be cherished by connivence c Besides what can bee more prodigeous but it s in vain to contend by reasoning when God hath once pronounced what hee will have done Wee must necessarily yeeld to his inviolable decree Yet it is questioned whether or not this Law belongs to Christs Kingdome which is spirituall and farre different from earthly Empires And indeed there be some otherwise good men who think that our condition under the Gospel is not like that of the ancients under the Law Not onely because the Kingdome of Christ is not of this world but also because Christ would not have his Church in the beginning to bee established by the Sword but whilst Kings in promoting of Christs Kingdome doe consecrate their owne work I deny that therefore the nature of it is changed And although maugre all worldly power Christ would have his Gospell to be proclaimed by his Disciples whem hee exposed as sheepe among Wolves having no other Armour but his Word yet hee did not tye himselfe to an eternall Law but that hee might force even Kings to his obedience and tame their violence and of bloody persecutors make them Patrons and Guardians of his Church In the beginning Magistrates exercised their tyranny against the Church because the time was not yet come that they should Kisse the Sonne and laying aside their violence should become Nursing Fathers to that same Church which they persecutediaccording to Isaiahs Prophesie which doubtlesse hath reference to Christs comâ—ing Nor is it to no purpose that Paul bids us pray for Kings and all that bee in authority hee gives a cause to wit That under them wee may live quietly in all godlinesse and honesty As
for Kings are called Fathers Lords 1 Tim. 5. Paul bids Timothy honour old men because of their gray haires as Fathers so the title of Father is given to Bishops but from hence to infer an absolute dominion and a priviledge to obey no man is childish for if we would contend about this word the King shall be the Bishops Father and the Bishop the Kings Father he shall also be an old mans Father and againe the old man shall be his Father so the one shall not obey but command the other Hence will arise Anarchie wherefore we must againe consider that figurative phrases must not be too much stretched Paul improperly attributes to himselfe the title of Father and yet he had many prerogatives by this title none is properly Father of the Church and of Beleevers but God by whose Word as by seed we are regenerated Paul himselfe confesseth that he is a sower and a planter who will not say that it is improper for a husband-man to be called Father of corne or trees Yet the Apostles had this priviledge because by instinct from God they produced that divinely inspired word which begets alwayes faith He also glorieth in this to the Galathians that he particularly as a Father had first of all converted them and had made them a Church though in this paternall right Paul had many Prerogatives yet we see that in his Government he was farre from pride and imperiousnesse wherefore the Stilt-walker againe imitates the Papists that under this most common right of Father by which he is rather a Paedagogue then a Father of the Church croaks so loud of his imperiall and kingly power that he will have himselfe preferred to all Magistrates for the word which he preacheth is but a strange kind of seed which he casts nor is it infallible as that of Pauls but corrupted and very lying in many things Neither doe we thinke the Stilt-walker so old as that he was the first Founder of the Church of Middleburg so that he wants all the prerogatives by which Paul claimes to himselfe paternall right how ridiculous then is this figurative and personated Father of the Church in making Magistrates but children and his sons whose Father he cannot be but by a very remote reason and in inveighing so eagerly against them that he seditiously moves the people to rob them of their honours and estates and then goeth about to excommunicate them with his censuring key that is to exclude them out of hezven it selfe We did here jest among our selves that these Walachrian Fathers were of the race of those Cats which Philosophers write use to bite and devour their young chite which they bring forth so that the female cats do extreamly hate the male cats or sires of their young chits not suffering them to touch or come neare them If this Walâ—chrian be such a monstrous Father he will not wonder if hereafter the Churches as mothers doe abhorre and drive him away as an unnaturall Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He wonderfully swells with the title of Legat for which he quotes 2 Cor. 5.20 which Beza translates we are Embassadours the word in Paul is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and properly signifieth we are Presbyters but this our night-bird delighting himselfe in this interpretation of Beza cries out every where that he is Christs Embassadour for although Paul presently place the exercise of this Embassie in Prayers and humble perswasion yet this Walachrian rattle-mouse desiring alwaies to chirp louder in his caves under ground then the howles doe cry at Athens concludes from hence every where that he is invested with this title of Christs Embassadur by an authoritative and powerfull Jurisdiction above all Magistrates For he saith in the place quoted that Magistrates are no where called Christs Embassadours but onely Ministers and Vicars of God In this his device hee varieth much from his owne Calvin who very where honoureth Magistrates with the title of Gods Legats and surely had he well weighed what he wrote he would have seen that more belongs to the Magistrate then to Church-men because they have the title of Vicar which is more then Legat For I searce beleeve that Apollonjus will willingly assume to himselfe the title of Christs Vicar least he should make himselfe too like the Pope of Rome who despising the title of Legate calls himselfe Christs Vicar so that we may laugh at Apollonius his giddinesse who would out of the greater title fasten upon Magistrates the lesser dignity but contrary on Church-men greater honour out of the lesser title But here the Stilt-walker seeks out another mote for he makes a strange distinction between Gods Kingdome and Christs or between Christs Kingdome of mediation and creation making that much more worthy and holy then this whence he collects that he is farre to be preferred to all Magistrates because these are onely Gods Legates but he is Christs Legate as being the Mediator exalted as if he would have something more worthy and holy then God himselfe I confesse I envy not this extortioner of phrases that every novelty may please him onely this I say that this his device is nothing to purpose for Paul in 1 Cor. 15. describing Christs Kingdome as Mediator saith that by right and in recompence of the work of mediation as it were by which he did exceedingly humble himselfe was given to him the chiefe honour as being God and man not onely to fit at the right hand of God the Father but that also by a wonderfull dispensation the Father from that time hath submitted all power and bestowed on Christ the Mediator which he will not lay downe before the end of the world and after judgement will deliver it up to his Father This the Apostle calls a mystery and I confesse I am ignorant of it yet I adore it Hence this assertion of the Walachrian Papist falls to the ground For if Christ after his Ascension alone reigne in heaven earth and under the earth as the Apostle speaks then it must follow that all Kings and Magistrates even Turks and Gentiles belong to Christs Mediatorie Kingdome and that they are the Vicars and Legats of Christ the Mediator for how can they be the Legats of any other Prince when as he alone reignes every where So that of necessity the Walachrian Commentators must hatch some other fiction whose practice I compared elswhere to Swine turning up dunghills Now I adde that to expresse this Impostâ—r by the picture of a Heg is an Egyptian Hieroglyphick for this is the property of that filthy beast to have cloven feet as the cleane beasts have with which they are alwayes dividing dirt and clay yet never divides or freeth it selfe from filth because naturally it delights in dirt Even so we see the Walachrian hereticks dividing their fooleries with many distinctions like impure hogs parting the dirt with their cloven hoofs and yet they never free themselves from their errors The Walachrian chiefe
respect of their secular power are so ordained by God and restrained that they onely can and should meddle with carnall and secular things of this world and by no meanes with spirituall and such as may of themselves procure the peoples eternall salvation which is both false and blasphemous against Magistrates and God himselfe This he learned not of the Apostles but from the Master-builders of Romish Babylon they as I have often said handle the Scripture irreverently taking out of them what they will and adding to them what they list when it is said to Peter when thou art converted confirme thy Brethren they expound this by adding thou Peter alone shouldst confirm all thy Brethren nor thou onely but all the Bishops of Rome also alone who are thy successors shall have the same right to confirme all thy Brethren that is to judge spoile and pervert all Kings and Kingdomes of the world In this phrase spoke the old Romanists which this new Papist hath finely learned of them the Scripture speakes simply that the Magistrate or higher power is ordained by God to defend and maintaine publike peace and tranquillity Rom. 13. It saith also we must obey for conscience sake and that he is the rewarder of them that doe well and that he bears the sword to punish the evill doers not discriminating whether it be secular or Ecclesiastick good or evill which is subject to this power This Walachrian night-bird willing to free himselfe in his Church-businesse from this power he trumpets out with swelled cheeks that God hath appointed Magistrates in his Word to worldly affaires onely and that he containes them as such within the businesse of this life and of temporall tranquillity yea that he hath ordained that they must not meddle with the things of life eternall nor aime at them or properly procure them because it belongs not to them to bind the conscience Is not this to corrupt and wrest the Scripture That we may see what a monstrous paradox this is I will shew the absurdities thereof 1. If God ordained the Civill Magistrate for intent and with this restriction then it followes that all Magistrates doe well in neglecting despising and not procuring what belongs to Worship and Religion for he that so performes his duty as to follow the prescript and order that God hath set downe he performes his duty well but the consequence is blasphemous and absurd Ergo. 2. If the Stilt-walkers opinion be right then Magistrates are worthy of praise and reward when they lay aside the care of Religion and are provident onely in the corporall things of this world and profits of this life such as were the Gentiles and wicked Emperours and Kings who had little or no care of Religion these followed Gods Ordinance exactly but this consequence is impious and blasphemy Ergo. 3. If the Stilt-walker be in the right then Josua Solomon Josias and all good Princes who were carefull to restore Religion did evill and deserved punishment because they went beyond their office and Gods command which was to forbeare medling with Religion and to remaine within the affaires of this life but the consequent is absurd and blasphemy Ergo. 4. If the Stilt-walker be in the right then the order and power of the Magistrate is the most monstrous thing in the world God makes and ordaines all things for himselfe even the wicked for the evill day all are from God by God and to God nor is there any thing which hath God for its author that hath not for its chiefe and proper end Gods glory which is no where more advanced then when true Religion is advanced Whence I gather that the Ordination of Magistrateship is most perverse because God did expresly ordain this that it should not meddle with Religion but containe it selfe within the dunghills of the world whence it will follow that Magistracy is not properly ordained for Gods glory but the consequent is blasphemous Ergo 5. If God hath shut up the Magistrate within this end and prescription then he hath strangely perverted his owne order where so often he hath armed Kings and Princes and hath commanded them that they should meddle with his Worship and Religion for this end he gave the Law to Moses the Book of the Law to Josua and he hath prescribed and commanded many other that leaving their secular affaires they should be chiefly carefull about matters of worship and salvation as we may see in one Solomon all which God hath done against the first institution and ordination of the politick power which inconstancy to attribute to God is blasphemy Wee must then rather ascribe giddinesse to the Stilt-walker who obtrudes so false an Ordinance of God to men concerning the power and office of Magistrates Lastly if it be Gods perpetuall Law that the Magistrate as such must not meddle with Religion by himselfe and properly then it is very absurd that in the Scripture so many contrary commands are found such as Psal 2. and now O Kings kisse the Son c. Esa 40. Kings shall be nursing Fathers c. 1. Tim. 2.2 Paul bids us pray for wicked Kings that under them we may live peaceably with honesty and piety whence it is apparent that God is so farre from debarring Civill Magistrates from the care of Religion and piety that on the contrary he commands and will have it their chiefe businesse to promote Religion and his Worship Hence the Stilt-walker willing to award this blow brings out his satchell of distinctions that with his canvasse smoke he may blind the Readers eyes for first he saith Paul doth not shew that the end of Magistracy is to look to the good of the Church because there hee speakes of wicked Princes who then intended no such thing but rather the contrary I answer men doe not alwayes intend in their offices the end prescribed by God yet on the contrary they often resist and yet neverthelesse it is true that they should follow the end prescribed by God if they would doe well this Paul saith to be tranquillity and piety which those wicked Princes then intended not but they should have intended and Christians ought to hope and pray that they would intend it If the Stilt-walker would understand the matter let him look on himselfe he knowes that he seldome intends the salvation of mens soules in his Ministery but rather maintenance worldly honour and revenge on all them whom he thinks doe not sufficiently regard his sanctity such are chiefly the Magistrates yet I believe hee will have no man doubt but that the end and intent of his Church-Discipline is properly the salvation of soules let him say the same of the Civill power At last he confesseth that Paul here shews the end of the Magistrate prescribed by God to be the promotion of piety but least he should seem to yeeld any thing out of the Scripture to the Magistrate in sacred affaires he interposeth an army of distinctions for
to sense then certainly the Stilt-walker the Metropolitan of the Walachrian Church should be very heavenly whom yet by these his patched peeces wee see to bee very earthly so that the leprosie of the earth sticks not only close to him but is also very familiar to most Kings of this heaven that if that heavenly Kingdome were not contained within compasse by the civill earthly Kingdome those Heavenly Kings would quickly destroy one another so that I may truly say that the earthly Kingdome sustaines that heavenly Kingdome or else it would fall to the ground Another fraud of his is in the other place where Christ saith my Kingdome is not of this world Christ was asked by Pilate if he were a King he confesseth that hee was a King but not of this world that iâ— hee would not exercise his Kingdome in this world hee addes a reason if my Kingdome were such my souldiers would fight for mee whence it appeares that Christ spoke plainly because hee said that he had such a Kingdome which hee did not exercise upon the earth as openly and properly hee did not but in Heaven when hee sat down at Gods right hand The Stilt-walker thinks that by this Kingdome of Christ is to be understood the government of the visible Church which if true then Christ had answered Pilate intricately and captiously because so taking it Christs Kingdom had been properly in the world and a part of the world yea in this Kingdome hee had his souldiers and in processe of time he got more for Kings and Emperours were made the defenders of this Kingdome and Church of Christ although then I should yeeld that in some respect the title of Christs Kingdome and of Heaven belong to the visible Church yet it were absurd in this place so to take it whereas it is here absolutely denied that this Kingdome is of this world but the visible Church chiefely that which the Walachrian deviseth is in the world and of the world and is too full of worldly corruptions And there is no lesse fraud in corrupting that place of Paul which hee preposterously cites with the Pontificians no man warring to God doth intangle himselfe with secular cares the words properly sound thus no man that warreth intangles himselfe with the affaires of this life that hee may please his Generall in which words the Apostle compares to souldiers the Preachers of the Word and also what hee saith that Elders who labour in the Word which consecrate themselves to the Ministery of the Word ought not to intangle themselves in the affaires of this life to wit in merchandizing husbandry and such like so that they intangle themselves and bee so carried away with the businesse and sweetnesse of them as with Demas to forsake their station for the love of this present world This is the plaine sense of that place in Paul how perversly it is corrupted I will now shew out of this place hee concludes that it is altogether unlawfull and unseemly for a Minister of the Word to care for the affaires of this world or any way to meddle with them which not only is repugnant to Scripture but is also a meer Popish fiction Paul indeed would not have preachers intangle themselves that is altogether involve themselves in secular businesse but not to touch them at all or totally to forbeare them hee commands no where Yet the practise of Christ and of his Apostles shew the contrary for I will ask whether fishing be a secular work of this life I think no man will deny it but the Apostles for the three yeares together that they were Christs disciples did still exercise their fishing yea they went to fishing after Christs Resurrection and who knowes whether they did not fish after the Holy Ghost was sent truly Paul himselfe after hee had long exercised his Apostleship at Corinth whilst hee was a preacher with Aquila hee exercised his mechanicall trade of making tents If Paul understood his law as this Walachrian wrests it then hee was a manifest breaker of his own law therefore it is a Popish fiction which this new Papist hath borrowed from the old ones when hee interprets these words so as if it were altogether unlawfull for preachers to meddle with secular businesse this error in length of time hath made Preachers idle and dainty yea it occasioned Antichrist for rich Christians considering with themselves that the taske of preaching was a difficult businesse and required a whole man by degrees they furnished them with so many things out of their own estates that they would have them bee altogether free from the care of things necessary belonging to their food or lively-hood For which end they built Monastries and cloystures and endowed them with great revenues in which the preaching Monkes might live plesantly and commodiously being free from all cares that so they might the more freely give themselves to their studies This institution at first though worldly yet was not evill but in processe of time covetousnesse possessed the minds of the Clergy that like spirituall harpyes they still affected and craved for more untill their covetousnesse grew to that height that the Pope alone became richer then all the Kings of the earth from which vice at last proceeded pride then lasinesse and neglect of theologicall studies and lastly all kinde of luxurie so that these Monasteries became brothell-houses and swine-styes of Sodomites all which sprung up out of the mis-understanding of that place which now the Stilt-walker goeth about to wrest against the Magistrate for because he thinks hee can by these delude ignorant people by perswading them that it is unlawfull and unseemly for preachers to meddle with secular affaires hence hee concludes as in a round that therefore it is unlawful for secular men to handle Church-matters for hee faines them to bee hogges only addicted to worldly things and of this life in which they are still intangled thus not only doth he injure godly Magistrates but impudently patroniseth his Ecclesiasticks for as it is known that many godly Magistrates have been very moderate both in mannaging of secular affaires and also matters belonging to Religion very zealous so experience teacheth that not a few preachers having neglected and contemned their duty in preaching have been so intangled with worldly businesse that as at this day it must not offend Christian eares if some preachers having broke their estates with Merchandizing and taking up money upon use have cheared godly Christians by turning bankerupts which shewes that this Walachrian is an impudent vermine who under pretence of avoiding secular affaires puts so great a difference between Civill Magistrates and Church-Men seeing he is convicted by these Walachrian examples and his own conscience that there is nothing which busie Church-men more affect then the affaires of this world Like to this is another which he is alwayes prating of The civill Power is Monarchicall the Ecclesiasticall should be alwayes Aristocratical ergo Civâ—â—
Magistrates cannot rule the Church This argument also is made up of divers lies for it is false that the Civill Government is alwayes Monarchicall the Government of our Country is Aristocraticall such also is that of the Venetians Helvetians and others another lye is that the Church-Government is alwayes Aristocraticall because under Heli Samuel Macchabees and others it was Monarchicall yea in the New Testament it was not still Aristocratical but oftentimes Monarchicall For I ask when Christ lived upon the earth and ruled the Church whether the Church-government was not then Monarchicall Doubtlesse it was if ever it was Again when Paul alone was at Antioch and in Syria was not then the government of that Church Monarchicall For who was to be compared with so great an Apostle Lastly when John the Apostle was alone in the world for he lived longest had not then the Church on earth a notable Monarch Surely if such a Doctor at this day could be found in the world he should be as it were the Monarch of the Church and worthy to whom the whole Christian world should rise and give honour Whence the Pope makes no bad consequence in calling himself the head and Monarch of the whole Church and not Kings and Princes because they rise and give honour to him if it be true what he brags that hee is Peters successor and endowed with the gifts of infallibility as well as Peter But because experience teacheth that he wants all Peters gifts chiefly that of infallibility and on the contrary to be nothing els but a monster and load of all vices hence it is that he is a meere Impostor and a mocker of Christianity and Princes are miserably deluded in yeelding so much to so unworthy and wicked a man All then that the Stilt-walker babbles for Oracles are meere lies But this I will add that though Christ and his Apostles were by right Monarchs of the Church yet they still ruled the Church with that moderation that their government seemed rather Aristocraticall then monarchicall so that hence it appeares there is no necessity that he should alwayes rule monarchically who hath the right of Monarchie for he may use it aristocratically If this be true of Ecclesiasticks why should it not also hold in civill Princes that though they be Monarchs yet they may handle Church-matters in an Aristocraticall way as oftentimes Kings do And so the Kingdome of the Church shall not be monarchicall though a Monarch live in it ruling Aristocratically He ascribes much strength to this Ram which he is still shewing as if it had exceeding great Hornes whereas indeed it is a horn-lesse calfe The power formally Ecclesiastick depends immediately from Christ the Mediator the Churches husband who gave Apostles Prophets Teachers par 1. p. 37. and Pastors to his Church but not Magistrates Ephes 4. And hath placed this power in the Church Mat. 18. But Magistrates are not the Church whence he gathers that the Magistrates office is neither requisite nor belonging to the Church and consequently that it appertaineth no wayes to them to use the Churches power He parted this one Argument into divers I have gathered his fooleries together in one bundle that I may fling them downe together First wee must note that this is an old and oftentimes refuted device of his in perswading us that Ecclesiastick power hath for its author Christ the Mediator and Spouse of his Church but not the Civill Power I have shewed before and now will more at large demonstrate that this is a most notorious lye His principall Argument is par 1. p 37 that while Christ lived on the earth he did all Church functions either by himselfe or by his Apostles but did not meddle with the Magistrates office but refused it and prohibited it to his Apostles whence Anabaptist-like he concludes that Magistracie hath neither Christ for its Author not belongs to the Church all which are a meere heape of lyes For first I aske whence learned he that no Function is required for the Church till the end of the world but what Christ must discharge either by himselfe or by his Disciples living upon the earth The Scripture saith no such thing but is the meere fiction of Apollonius otherwise let him tell me when did Christ or his Apostles performe the Precentors part in the Church because Martyr doubts whether in the Apostolicall Church there was any use of publique singing which wee borrowed at best from the Jewish Church many offices ceased in the Churches upon the Apostles departure to supply which Necessity hath gathered together many things mans industry hath found out without any sin or blemish if Antichrist had not corrupted all with multitudes His other lye is that Christ and his Apostles did not here discharge the Magistrates office that Fiction I have already refelled for they used a co-active externall power equivalent to the sword Christ with a whip purged the Temple Mat. 21. John 8. he suffered the judgement concerning the Adulteresse to be referred to him with his word he cast to the ground the Souldiers that came to apprehend him and chiefly when on the day of Palms sitting upon an Asse he rid to Jerusalem in a Princely but humble pompe suffering the acclamations of the People and their garments to be spread in his way Mat. 21. as if he had been a King which is so manifest that Mathew adds Zacharies Prophesie to be fulfilled Behold thy King cometh to thee meeke c. So the Apostles inflicted in the Church corporall punishments as death blindnes c. All which evince that however they despised and avoided the pride and earthly pompe of Civill government yet the office it selfe they discharged in the Church when necessity required But saith he Christ being exalted gave to the Church gifts and offices necessary for it among which the office of the Magistrate is not mentioned whence he concludes that this is not requisite fore difying of the Church I answer among these offices mention is made of Governours 1 Cor. 12. and of Rulers Rom. 12. which Calvin and Aretius on those places shew to have been censures of life and manners supplying the Magistrates office Lastly suppose that in those places no mention is made of Magistracie did he therefore not ordain it Yea Peter did plainly institute this and chiefly Paul Rom. 13. and 1 Tim. 2. as I have at large shewed before neither needs he tell us that Christ himselfe gave these offices by himselfe but Magistracie he commended onely by the Apostles this is but a frivolous cavill for he sent the Apostles onely immediately then the Apostles instituted the other functions and after them Timothy Titus and others whence it appeares that Christ the Mediator being exalted is no lesse the author of Magistracy then of Church offices because that by a most famous Elogy of the same Apostle is ratifyed in the name and authority of Christ exalted by whose government alone
is of another court to wit carnall and altogether absurd and insociable for this is all his care that he may free himselfe from the power of the sword which he doth exceedingly execrate but I have shewed already that there is no such difference or disparitie between the Civill and Ecclesiastick power but rather conjoyned by God and so coupled that the one cannot subsist without the other but yet so as in marriage the Ecclesiastick must be subject to the Civill as the wife to the husband for the Apostle saith that every soule must be subject to the Civill powers and therefore the Church and Christians who are soules and to whom properly the Apostle wrote this command But I finde no where that every soule must be subject to the Church-Rulers for it were absurd and against Gods Ordination even as if the husband should be forced to be subject to his wife this was Antichrists invention as John fore-told who paints him out as a woman and a proud whore clothed in scarlet Apoc. 12.17 c. armed with a cup and inchanting wine with which she hath so bewitched Emperours and Monarchs that she hath subjected them like beasts to her and sits upon them which we truly see in the Pope who is a Church and indeed a woman and whore with her superstitious devises of sanctity hath so bewitched Princes that laying aside their manly and husband-like strength like uxorious men have given to the Pope and the Whore all the strength of their Dominions and government but he like a Hecuba or imperious Woman hath compelled them not onely to kisse her Thumbe but basely her very feet too a most monstrous thing which rose from this that they cast off the care of Religion and of Church busines at home the Magistrates committed them as if they had nothing at all appertained to them to the Churchmen no otherwise then if the husband should commit the whole busines of the Family to his wife only contenting himselfe with feeding of his own belly or as the Historians report like uxorious Ninus who for three dayes onely gave to his wife Semiramis the command and government of his whole Kingdome but what fell out She presently with rewards delights and diverse cunning wayes did so entice the Peeres of the Kingdome that before the three dayes end Ninus was murthered and the whole Empire came to his Wife so it fell out with those uxorious halfe-men in spirituall things as soon as Princes by their sloth neglect Gods worship and religion or being affrighted from them as not belonging to them with childish feares commit them to Ecclesiastick women the purity of Religion doth not continue long and the Peace of the Civill State is also disturbed which is not onely true in the Popes Dominions but also in some neighbouring Kingdomes of late Apollonius his other demonstrative argument followeth the power of the Magistrate saith he is architectonicall with command and coactive power but the Ecclesiastick power is ministeriall without command for it is said Mat. 20. The Kings of the Gentiles beare rule it shall not be so with you ergo these two powers differ altogether nor can they be mixed In this Argument if any where he playeth the Juggler and Witch as Poysoners use to cover their venemous Medicaments or Pills with gold so doth hee use the Scriptures so the Devill used it by depraving it with a purpose to deceive Christ when hee tempted him First he sets downe a true Maxime that the Magistrates power is Architectonicall which Paul confirmes not onely Rom. 13. but hitherto no man hath questioned it except the old Papists and the Walachrians agreeing with them but that this matter may not lurke in obscurity I will in few words declare wherein this Architectonical power consists This power doth not require that he who possesseth it should or can do all things by himselfe that he should be exempted from all lawes subject to no counsell or reason so Bellarmine speakes injuriously of the civill Power calling it despotical or domineering which power should be barbarous and tyrannicall from this kind of reproaches our Stitewalker can scarce refraine himselfe But the Architectonicall power doth not require that none should be absolutely subject to any except to God For so none should have this power properly except he that had all the Monarchs of the world in subjection to him but there was never yet such a Monarch on earth whence Paul did prophecy well of Antichrist 2 Thes 2. that such should his pride be as that he shall exalt himselfe above all that are called Gods or Monarchs This we see in the Pope who saith that he is subject to none except to God alone and that all Monarchs are subject to him For he obeyes none he commands all saith Bellarmine This power indeed were chiefly Architectonicall but it is seldome or never given therefore the Architectonicall or Supreame power commonly described consisteth in this that one hath chiefe power within his owne precincts subject to none other but on the contrary all are subject to him none excepted so that there he alone can prescribe command and compell with power to punish and force if need be Thus Pharoah describes it when under him he bestowes upon Joseph Architectonicall power over all Aegypt Gen. 41.44 I am Pharoah without thee no man shall lift up his hand or foot in the Land of Aegypt he exempted him not from his owne power nor did he free him from the law and justice but except himselfe he subjected all men and all things to him so God describes the supreame regall power that it had right over their sons and daughters their servants and cattell 1 Sam. 8. finally over the goods of their Subjects not that hee could doe all that he pleased for in this he should doe ill and tyrannically but that he had power according to the rules of justice to take notice of all things to order and put them in execution for so the Lawyers say that there is no Empire without Jurisdiction no Jurisdiction without power of examining judging and executing such is the Architectonicall power which if he understood well and if hee wrote seriously not ironically he confesseth doth belong onely to Magistrates as the title of his book the Right of Majesty sheweth but he mocks Magistrates as I will shew by and by The other member of the antecedent is that Church-men want altogether this Architectonicall power and that therefore the whole power Ecclesiastick should hee Ministeriall and without command which Maxime precisely taken is false because I shewed before that Christ and his Apostles when they ruled the Church had an Architectonicall and supreme power which they exercised in the Church sometimes but not with any externall pompe nor alwayes But it is objected Matth. 20. that Christ said the Kings of the Nations beare rule it shall not be so with you for then they disputed about precedency in Christs
are placed in authority or in the government of the Kingdome to prevent the like in the future by the tye and obligation of obedience by the aforesaid Oath imposed It is further ordered that no manner of Commander of what degree soever in any the Army or Armies of the Kingdome shall receive or be paid either for any past arrears or future means to accru from the publick unto him or them respectively untill such Commander or Commanders officer or officers do produce his and their certificate respectively of taking the Oath aforesaid And it is further ordered and declared that no person or persons of what degree or quality soever shall be admitted to sue implead or shall have any other judgement sentence or decree in any court or courts Judicature or Judicatures whatsoever either spirit all or temporall within the Quarters of the confederate Catholicks before such person or persons first take the said Oath of Association and that they not taking or refusing to take the said oath of Association shall be a sufficient plea in Barre and shall abate the suit or suits of any such person or persons whatsoever And the Superiours and other persons aforesaid of secular and regular Clergie intrusted to administer the said Oath of Association and to return Rolls as before declared are injoyned as they tender the publick good of Ireland and of the Catholick cause duly and effectually to pursue and observe the contents of this order and least herein they or any of them should prove negligent those to be intrusted in authority and with the governement of the Kingdome by this Assembly are upon such failer by issuing of Commissions to such whom they shall thinke fit to trust or by some other meanes to prescribe a Course whereby the said Oath of Association shall be generally taken by all the Confederate Catholiques of Ireland in manner as is before expressed and declared Given at Killkenny the 12 of March 1647. Thursday May 13. THis morning there was a debate in the House of Commons about a Burgesse for Rippon in Yorkshire by name Solomon Swale of Grayes Inne Esquire a gentleman of a very ancient family in that County and of undoubted fidelity to the Parliament which moved the Corporation to make choice of him in his absence without any seeking of his at all and they carried it for him with so general a consent that Sir John Bourcheier his competitor had though present at the election but sixteen voices at most whereupon the Indenture was returned by the Major of the Town for Mr. Swale to the most worthy and faithfull high Sheriffe of Yorkshire who very nobly and freely signed and sealed it sending it to his undersheriffe to be returne up speedily to the House But to the affront of the Towne and the noble Sheriffe and the dishonour of the worthy gentleman electedâ—â—e tooke the boldnesse to retard the dispatch while in the meane time some Adversaries to this election have endeavoured to null it by questioning Master Swale yesterday upon a pretended delinquency at Haberdashers Hall for passing through the Kings Quarters to a solemn funerall of the Lady Vicountesse Cambden Henry Nonell Esquire and his onely Son and Heire all at the same time interred in Cambden in Glocestershire At the performance whereof he was ingaged to be present being much trusted by the said Lady in the execution of her great Will and also in her reall estate for raising Portions and preferring her Grand-Children and accordingly had leave given him to passe by a warrant signed under the hands of the Committee for safety of both Kingdomes All which I mention to note the insolent partiall dealing of an under-officer in a busines of so high concernement as the free election of a faithfull Gentleman for the service of his Country in Parliament The Petition of the Earle of Mulgrave the Petition of the Earle of Northampton and the Petition of Mr. Cartwright were this day reade It was Ordered that the Earle of Mulgraves Petition should be referred to a Committee to consider of his losses It was Ordered in relation to Mr. Cartwrights Petition who desired ten thousand pound out of the Earle of Northamptons Composition that the said Earle of Northampton shall be referred to Goldsmiths Hall to compound for his Delinquency upon the usuall Rates It was Ordered that a Letter should be sent to Captaine Batten for the discharge of those Shipps which belonging to the Queene of Swethland he lately brought into the Downes A Committee was named to consider of the great losses of Master Bourcher and Master Challoner and to receive Petitions and consider of the whole businesse concerning Alome and Aloms Pits Ordered that a third part of the Arreares of the Officers of the North shall be payd unto them in full of their Arreares which shall be charged upon the Excise in course with allowance of eight pound in the hundred to such as shall advance it Friday May 14. IT was this day Ordered that a fortnights pay shall be added to the Souldiers six weekes pay upon the disbanding And that those who goe for Ireland shall have six weekes pay more The Ordinance was past for Indemnity of Souldiers as also of the Committees of the severall Counties for what they have done in the parsuance of the Ordinances of the Parliament Letters came from Helmby certifing the Kings expectation of the Propositions to be sent unto him to which already he hath prepared an answer and that if he could not be allowed a Secretary to transcribe his answer he would write it over himselfe as faire and as well as he could the King was heard to say that his answer was such that he hoped to be justified in it Letters were also directed by the King unto the House of Peeres representing something as is conceived concerning the Proposition Saturday May 15. By Leteers from Ireland it was this day certified that the Towne and Castle of Caterlagh is surre â—dred to the Rebells upon quarter and that they intend to advance from thence to besiege another hold call'd Trymen Our â—orse are taken into the field the Rebells intend with a running Army to sall into the English quarters and sweep away all the cattell before them There is a report that the Lord Iâ—â—he qâ—iâ— hath performed good service in Munster and taken a strong Castle from the Rebells called Cupoquine where was found some store of Ammunition and provision It is also said that Generall Preston is designed with a strong power to march into Munster to divert the proceedings of the Lord Inchequin against him In the meane time from the Headquarters at Walden it is certified that the Souldiers have made their severall returns by their officers who say that they find no distempers in the Army but many grievances It is referred to a Committee of generall officers to digest into order and method what is propounded by the whole Army this accordingly hath been done and the grievances distinctly set downe in the name of the officers and souldiers of the whole Army which hath been presented to Field Marshall Skipper to represent them to the Parliament In this they meddle with nothing but that which pertains to them as Souldiers Monday May 17. THe Committee for Ireland did this day sit for the promoting of the affaires of that Kingdome from whence we received further confirmation that Generall Preston being advanced to hinder the prosperous successe of the Lord Inchequin in the Province of Munster Owen Oneale is ordered to defend the Province of Lemster and what the Rebells doe enjoy about Kilkenny which is a flourishing Country and by some called The Garden of that Kingdome A numerous party of our Horse with some companies of Foot are marched into the Field betwixt whom and the Rebells you will shortly heare of Action The Letters from Scotland doe this day certifie that the affaires in that Kingdome doe continue in the same condition as I declared to you in my last with little or almost no alteration at all Kolkiteth continueth and repeateth his old cruelties Lievtenant-Generall Lesley doth continue still at Pearth on the foot of the hills not far from Saint Johnstons he doth what he can to incurrage and fortifie the Garrisons in the Counties of Carlile and Larue He is making great preparations to advance into those Counties for the reliefe of the poore Inhabitants and to fight with Kilkitoth who it is said expecteth daily Recruits of men and Armes from Ireland The Lord Dunfermeling is not as yet gone unto the King to Holâ—â—by but setteth forth from London about Thursday next The present necessities of the Kingdome of Ireland doe crave sudden and considerable supplies That which this week is most remarkable is first from England The Kings Letter to the Parliament His Answer drawn up to the Propositions And his judgement of it The Queenes Letter is the King The Desires and the Demands of the Souldiers of the Army and an Order for more Pay for them The strong Castle of Catterlagh is Ireland surrendred to the Rebells And the successe of the Lord Inchequin in Munster The preparations there of our Forces and the Designes of the Enemy The cruelty of the Arch Rebell Kolkitoch in Scotland and the preparations of Lievtenant Generall Lesley to march up the Hills and to give battell to him Printed for H. B.
Kingdome and Christ said absolutely to the Apostles that were to bee Rulers of the Church you should not reigne but serve whence hee gathers that the whole government and power of the Church should be without command and rather with service these are the enthymems which hee after a Jesuiticall manner hath patched together I answer That I cannot read in that place the Stilt-walkers fiction to wit that the whole power or government of the Church should be without command or Architectonicall power alwaies For if he say that the whole power of the Church was in the Aposties to whom he speaks here he asks the thing in question or at least supposeth it For the chiefe part of Ecclesiasticall power and government is alwaies as I said in the Magistrate and in the supream power whence it fell out that in the Apostles time this Architectonicall power resided in Christ and his Apostles miraculously because the ordinary Magistrates were enemies 2. I deny that this Law which he gave here to the Apostles was perpetuall at least it cannot be shewed out of this place that what Christ there commanded his Apostles doth belong alwaies and to every Minister of the Church this will be cleare by an example When Christ sent Apostles he said to them take not a staffe or bag nor money nor two coats nor houses would he allow them but whatsoever house they came into they should abide there till they departed c. all this he commanded the Apostles that were to be Rulers in the Church when hee sent them to that purpose For except one will allow the institution of Monks of Beggars of nastie Anchorites which are ridiculous among Papists every one may see that these precepts are not perpetuall and common to all Preachers This literall exposition should not be welcome I think to the Stilt-walker and his Walachrian Papists to have never above one coat to be without money in their purse and to have neither a house of their owne nor hired but hop to and fro like locusts If so many Lawes so solemnly delivered to the Apostles the Church-Governours are not perpetuall and necessarie to the Church It will be a difficult thing out of the circumstances of the place to draw a just difference by which it may appear that this Law is perpetuall and common to all Ministers which if he should effect with his rusty instruments he will never make this to be true that what was prohibited to the Apostles or Bishops was prohibited to the whole Church For many absurdities will arise they may not meddle with secular affaires nor wear rich soft and Court-garments nor wander from place to place nor bee abroad sometimes in the Country about their businesse Must none of those things be done by anie in the Church They be frivolous fictions which arise hence in that the Walachrian Papist thinkes that nothing is Ecclesiastick or belonging to the Form and Government of the Church but what is concluded in the Consistory or Quire of Preachers alone the Scripture contrarily makes Kings and Magistrates the chiefe part of the Church to wit tutors and nursing fathers and as Calvin saith as it were the earth in spirituall husbandrie let me shew by a simile or two the stupiditie of this Walachrian it is all one as if one resolving to be a husband-man provideth seed horses and instruments fit for husbandry have also Plowmen Waterers and Planters in a readinesse and thinks that he is now persectly furnished for husbandry whereas he hath not Land or Fields to sow his seed in or play the husbandman upon he doubtlesse will bee laughed at as a foole and one altogether ignorant of agriculture Mat. 13. I confesse that out of Christs Parable all men are as the ground into which the seed is cast but this is not repugnant to Calvins Simile for private men are but little clods separated from one another in the ground on which the seed immediately falls but the Magistrate is considered as the generall ground which if it did not containe all the clods together they could not fructifie but would fall away and the seed wither in them So fitly doth this Simile of Calvins expresse the Magistrates office in the Church and the Stilt-walkers stupidity who is still striving to thrust the Magistrate out of the Church I will use another Simile which Paul intimates 1 Cor. 4. when he calls Preachers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is Rowers in the lower seat of the Church whence he considereth the Church visible as a Ship Now who will imagine a Ship in a tempestuous Sea without a Master or Mariner Christs Church then must have a Master or Steers-man It is asked who this is The Stilt-walker sayth it is he and his Preachers because they are Captaines and Governours and many other prating Speeches which I have heretofore refuted I say that they are not even because Paul calls them Rowers and that of the lowest ranke in this Ship who ever saw in the Kingsship or Gally that the naked Rowers and those of the inferiour ranke tyed to their Oares should have the command of the Ship This stands not with reason and experience and if the Stilt-walker did not perceive this absurdity the law of Christ would convince him for he as the Master of the Ship said you Rowers must not do so that is I will not have you to beare rule in my Ship Hence then it appeares that to whomsoever the government of the Ship belongs it belongs not ordinarily to the Preachers by the Princes own expresse will now there remaines nothing but that this Ship of Christ either want a Master or else some other must be sought for besides the Preachers who cannot be her Masters the Walachrian to award this blow saith that there is no Master which is the scope of his whole argument that he may drive out of the Church architectonicall power and may place it only about the Church but the absurdity of this will appeare out of this Simile it is incongruous to imagine a great Ship in the vast Sea without a Master or Pilot or to conceive such a Master who is not within the Ships decks but without them flying about like a Coot or Sea-mew These opinions of the Walachrian are chimaeras and monsters the Master then should be within the ship and if this night-bird were not purposely mad he would see that this can be no other then the Magistrate because he confesseth himself that the Magistrate is the head and father of the people But if he should again deny what hee hath granted Paul would convince him who makes the Magistrate the generall governour of every soul that is of this ship of Christs also So that here al the Stilt-walkers false opinions tumble down together towit That the Architectonicall power should be without the Church that the Magistrates supream regiment cannot be within the Church but that all the power and government of the