British Divines concern themselves to make protestation open protestation against them If they did then all at once down falls the one half of Mr. Durell's Book For then the Holland Churches in their very Confession of Faith condemn the Discipline of the Church of England and if the Holland Churches do so other Churches do so also For by the Divines of no other Church besides the English was any dislike shewn to those words asserting the parity of all Ministers As for the Deputies of the Gallo-Belgick Churches they declared That the French Churches though not there present had before in a National Synod held in the City of Vitriack 1583 declared solemnly their approbation not only of the Doctrine but also of the Discipline of their Holland Brethren No wonder they so readily consented for an Egg is not more like to an Egg than is the Gallican Confession to the Belgick in the matters of Ministers and Discipline both of them are a note above the Ela of many who have the ill hap to be called Presbyterians and lose their livings here in England both say That this is one part of the Polity taught in the word that there should be in the Church of Christ Pastors Elders Deacons To this it is like that Mr. Durell himself hath subscribed for he somewhere tells us That he had for some years a place among the French Protestants and he tells us page 54 That no man is to be ordained a Minister or admitted to any other office in the said hurcâ—es but he must subscribe besides the publick Confession of their Faith the Canons and Constitutions agreed on at Paris commonly known by the name of their Discipline Now if a man should go to him and ask him whether he believes it to be any piece of Christs Polity that there should be in his Church Elders Ruling-Elders distinct from Preaching Elders or Pastors he would either say no or say nothing Why did he with his hand subscribe to that which he did not with his heart believe Perhaps he is a Latitudinarian or hath a Sluce in his Conscience But the simple Nonconformists in England dare not say they assent to all and every thing if there be something unto which they do not unfeignedly assent they say they can promise not publickly to contradict any thing delivered in the Liturgy or Book of Ordination and some who are beneficed and dignified tell them they mean no more by professing assent and consent But Nonconformists cannot bring themselves to imagine that form of words imports no more What a misery it is that so many Families should be ruined for want of a distinguishing faculty Episcopius hath prescribed a Receipt which if they can but take may cure them of their scrupulosity but let them fear lest it purge them of their Conscience also For thus he What if the Magistrate require words and forms of speaking by which an opinion directly contrary to our faith and opinion is wont to be expressed Answ As long as my opinion is not known if those forms be such or conceived in such words which admit a true sense though a false be wont to be expressed by them I allow them for peace sake Respon ad 64. Quest Page 54. My Lord of Landaff's Protestation hath set my Pen a running further and faster than I designed yet I will not give it check until I have also taken notice of something else which his Lordship relates in his Book against Mountague viz. That he told some Divines of the Synod the cause of all their troubles was because they had no Bishops amongst them who by their authority might repress turbulent spirits that broached novelty every man having liberty to speak or write what they ist It seems his Lordship was of opinion thas if Holland had but been blessed with Bishops Arminianism had never come to such an Head in the Low-Countries and so the Papists tell us That if we would but submit our selves to the Bishop of Rome we should then have no differences about the sense of Scripture yet never any Pope of Rome hath set out any infallible Commentary upon the Bible nor hath any Episcopal authority in England proved sufficient to root up Arminianism among us Mr. Mountague when he first sowed the seeds thereof was of Bishop Carleton's own Diocess why did he not prevent his innovations taking root Why could he not keep his own Book against them from being suppressed What was the matter that no Convocation ever decided so important a controversy I find indeed His Majesty Mountague having been much vexed by the Commons about the year 1626 commanding all the Bishops to come before him reprehending such as appeared for not making known to him what was meet to be done about the Five points that made such a noise but Bishop Andrews and Bishop Laud laying their heads together thought it was not safe to adventure the determining of those points to a Convocation till they could get a Convocation more of their own minds wherefore after all expectations nothing came forth but a Proclamation from His Majesty Charging his Divines not to vent their heats by raising any doubts or publishing and maintaining any new inventions or opinions concerning Religion Much like to an Order the Remonstrants by means of Barnevelt procured from the States of Holland on purpose to prevent the calling of a Synod Of late indeed I find Arnold Poelenberg in a Preface to the 2d Volume of Episcopius his Works boasting of the great favour that the Remonstrant opinions and Authors find with our Prelates and with the leading men in both Universities but perhaps he reckons as the Proverb is without his host All experience tells us that Episcopacy without the Assistance of the Civil Magistrate will not put an end to our strifes and contentions and with the assistance of the Civil Magistrate Presbytery may do it But I return to Mr. D. whom I opposed with an Argument drawn from the Synod of Dort I must not forget that he also takes notice of the Synod of Dort and from the civil and respectful language given in it by Bogerman to the Bishop of Landaff concludes That Holland condemns not our Hierarchy And look how many Transmarine Divines he finds dedicating Books to our Bishops or Archbishops and giving them the titles by which they are commonly called among us so many good mediums he conceives he hath found to prove that beyond the seas the office of a Bishop or Archbishop is liked and honoured I only desire him if he can to be as good natured to our English-men and to believe Thomas Cartwright was a Convert because writing to the Archbishop he gives him his Titles and that Mr. Prynne had no design to unbishop Timothy and Titus because he dedicates his book to the right reverend Fathers in God William of Canterbury and Richard of York Primates of all England and Metropolitans And if his heart do not fail him let him
THE Nonconformists VINDICATED FROM THE ABUSES Put upon them By Mr. DVREL and SCRIVENER Being some short Animadversions on their Books soon after they came forth In two Letters to a Friend who could not hitherto get them Published Containing some Remarques upon the Celebrated Conference at Hampton-Court By a Country Scholar LONDON Printed for Thomas Parkhurst at the Bible and three Crowns in Cheap side 1679. THE NONCONFORMISTS Vindicated c. SIR THough I have of late wholly addicted my self to the Study of Practical Theology and spent all that time I could redeem from my necessary occasions in Reading such Authors as make it their business to declare unto us the essentials of Christianity yet it hath been some delight to me from time to time by your Letters to understand what Books have been Printed about those comparatively Petit controversies that have of late years so miserably divided our British Churches I heartily wish you had still continued only to be my Intelligencer then I had been at liberty either not to send for the Authors you mentioned or else when I had sent for them to lay them aside as soon I had enough of them but you were ambitious to be my Benefactor and therefore lately sent me at your own cost Mr. Durells two Eristical Volumes conjuring me by all our friendship to read them over and to return you my thoughts of them and though I have again and again importuned you to excuse me from so unwelcome an employment yet will you take no denial wherefore that I may not seem finally obstinate I do herewith send you some Animadversions the fruit of a few leisure hours in reading whereof if you either encrease the itch of disputation or be forced to abate of the esteem you as yet have of your Author you know where to lay the blame I assure you I envy not unto him the Ecclesiastical dignities and benefices he enjoys but I think he was as unmeet a person as any could have been pitched on to undertake the Cause of our Church against the Nonconforming Ministers for the grounds of this so severe censure I refer you to what follows and at present shall only lay before you three or four necessary qualifications of him that would plead for conformity with any success or credit to our Church 1. He had need to be free from all suspition of ambition and of that which the Apostle calls the root of all evil else his adversaries will say that in his pleadings for the Church he seeks not her but hers The Writings of Mr. Hooker Mr. Sprint Dr. Burges as they are in themselves sober and learned so they are by all or most read without any prejudice because they contented themselves with such ordinary preferments as they either had before they had written or might have expected though they had never written for Ceremonies Nay Dr. Burges professeth that he lost more by conforming than any did by not conforming by the way whereas Dr. Heylin saith Hist of Presby Pag. 327. That King James occasioned this Doctors preferring to the Rectory of Colshill in Warwickshire the Reader may take notice that he was never Rector of Colshill but of Sutton Goldfield unto which the King occasioned not his preferment for the presentation was given him without his seeking by Mr. Shilton after it had been first refused by Dr. Chetwind I therefore doubt not but he did write for the lawfulness of Subscription out of conscience and that he would have continued in that opinion though Authority had frowned upon it I dare not say so much concerning all that were or would have been more highly dignified The first English man that grated hard upon the Presbyterian Government in the Latin tongue was Dr. Matthew Suttliffe Dean of Exeter in a Book entituled de verâ Catholicâ Christianâ Ecclesiâ this very man whether discontented because his Book against Mr. Mountague was suppressed or angry that he missed some preferment he aimed at or for some other reasons we know not of before his death professed his hearty sorrow that he had written so much against Presbytery and for the power of the domineering Prelates as may be seen in the Jus divinum Regiminis Ecclesiastici Who professed a greater zeal for Hierarchy than Patrick Adamson But Hierarchy not being able to pay its quarters in the worlds own coin how poorly did he Recant all his actings for it Confessing Presbyteries to be an ordinance of Christ and craving Gods mercy that he had called them a foolish invention bewailing his pride and covetousness that had put him upon undertaking the office of an Archbishop as that wherewith justly the sincerest professors of the word have found fault and condemned as impertinent to the office of a sincere pastor of Gods word ingaging also that if he had health he would write a confutation of Sutliffes Book All which and much more is to be found in the Records of the Scottish Nation 2. He that would with any advantage to the Church undertake to confute Nonconformists must be one that hath seen and well considered either all or the chiefest of their Books and well knows the Histories of the times in which they were written Else first he may commit such foul mistakes in Chronology as will render him ridiculous and contemptible to all his Readers Can the most mortified Presbyterian chuse but laugh when he finds in Dr. Heylins History of Presbyterians Pag. 264 that about 1570. Mr. Carthwrights grace for Doctor was denied him by the major part of the Vniversity which so displeased him and his adherents that from that time the degrees of Doctors Batchelors and Masters were esteemed unlawful and those that took them reckoned for the limbs of Antichrist as appears by the Genevian notes on the Revelations How can it appear from the Geneva notes that from the time of denying Mr. Carthwrights grace degrees were accounted unlawful when every one knows that many years before the denial of that grace those notes had been both made and published perhaps by such as never saw or heard of Mr. Carthwright Nor is that less ridiculous which occurs Pag. 294. where mention being made of a Pamphlet written by Stubbes of Lincolns-Inne it is said that Stubbes had married one of Mr. Carthwrights Sisters and therefore may be thought to have done nothing without his privity Mr. Carthwright indeed married one of Mr. Stubbes his Sisters but that Mr. Stubbes married one of his Sisters is a falshood and if it were supposed to be a truth what ground is that why a man should think that Stubbes did nothing without his privity Do all writers make their Brothers-in-law privy to their designs I acknowledg that Thuanus saith it was found out that Mr. Carthwright instigated him to write the Libel but Thuanus is not to be relied on in matters relating to the English Puritans because in such he follows one who was their bitter adversary as also because Thuanus himself
That private Baptism should be performed by the Minister of the Parish or in his absence by any other lawful Minister that can be procured Now any man would think Lay persons are not allowed to Baptize but Dr. Heylin in his introduction to the life of Archbishop Laud page 27. saith That the alteration was greater in sound than sense it being the opinion of many great Clerks That any man in cases of necessity that is extream who can but pronounce the words of Baptism may pass in the account and notion of a lawful Minister A prodigious assertion for a Turk or Jew may pronounce the words of Baptism Is he a lawful Minister of Baptism did ever any that pretended to reverence the authority of the Church thus wrest her words But to return to the rite of Baptism we have got a trick to sprinkle or to let water fall by drops but the Church allows no such rite but most expresly requires pouring even when the Child is at the weakest and seeing in the Baptism of Infants the Administrator is required to dip them if they may well endure it how comes it to pass that in the Baptism of Adult persons who are appointed by fasting and prayers to prepare themselves for the receiving of the Sacrament it is left indifferent to the Ministers either to dip them in the Font or pour water on them though there be a moral certainty that they may endure dipping well enough And what Prayers must these adult persons use to prepare themselves for Baptism must they make them themselves or must they be made by the Bishop or Priest or are there any preparatory Prayers to that purpose made already I wish Mr. D. would answer me these questions Object Well but what say you in the excuse of the Presbyterians who as Dr. Heylin tells us page 293. would not have their Children Baptized by the names of their Ancestors Richard Robert c. but by some name occurring in the Holy Scriptures especially in the Old Testament becouse meerly Hebrew and not prophaned with any mixture of the Greek or Roman Did not Snape and Cartwright in the Book of Discipline agree that the Minister in Baptizing Children should not admit of any such names as had been used in the time of Paganism the names of Idols and the like Did they not also take an bumor of giving such names unto their Children as many of them when they came to age were ashamed of Accepted Deliverance Discipline Praise God Reformation Tribunal Thankful Answ As for the Discipline of Jersy and Guernsey made by Mr. Cartwright and Snape I never saw it but once when I minded not what was in it now I know not where to get it and therefore leave it to Mr. D. to answer for his forefathers and neighbors The Presbyterians have not hired me to be their Advocate I am only for peace and would not have men made worse than they be 'T is doubtless an unjust scrupulosity for any man to question the lawfulness of calling his Child either Robert or Richard or Arthur or VVilliam but if the Question be not what is lawful but what is expedient I say caeteris paribus it is more expedient that Children be named by the names of such persons as were famous in their generations for piety and learning Dr. Rivet tells Baily Tractatu 3. page 33. Quest 8. That they used diligence to bring Parents to give to their Children names borrowed from them whose life was laudable in the Church that they may be stirred up to the imitation of those whose name they bear for such better agree to Christians than either the ambitious or superstitious names of Heathens He also tells us that in his remembrance a vain-glorious fellow whose name was Le Grand would needs name his Child Alexander but the Ministers refused to gratifie his ambition they would not have a mean fellows Child called Alexander the Great but that ever any Presbyterian refused to Baptize a Child because it was to be called Richard may well pass for a Story of Dr. Heylin's which many times are none of the truest As for the reason he gives out of his own head of the Presbyterians chusing Old Testament names because the Old Testament is meerly Hebrew it argueth his great ignorance some of the Presbyterians Children before they come from School know that the Old Testament is not meerly Hebrew Where our English Tongue can afford happy compositions I should think such a composition in a Childs name would not make Baptism contemptible nor the Imposer ridiculous yet I confess I should never advise any man to name his Child Praise God nor The Lord is near for though he may excuse himself by the names of Quod vult Deus A deo-datus usual in St. Austin's time yet it savors of affectation to give such names and it may occasion the taking of the Lords name in vain nor do I find that Presbyterians have delighted themselves in such names Accepted was the name of Dr. Frewen late Archbishop of York was he ever ashamed of it or had he any reason to be ashamed of it or was his Father a Presbyterian Let the Church Books from 1582 be searched and it will be found to the shame of this Historian that Presbyterians have given such names to their Children as other people did and that none of their Children are called by such uncouth names as are mentioned in the Objection My next task is to give in a Catalogue of Mr. D's impertinencies which are indeed many and too many to be insisted on particularly Page 51. He gives us some sayings of some Churches against Sacriledg A thing that hath been done more copiously by Dr. John Hoornbeck in his examination of the Popes Bull sent forth to nullifie the peace of Germany and if Mr. D. please he may read a very smart Discourse against the sin of Sacriledg in Mr. Baxters defence of the VVorcestershire Petition If Ancestors through mistake have given maintenance to Idolatrous uses Magistrates may convert that maintenance to uses truly pious If there be a true superfluity of Church revenues for some one good use Magistrates may out of that superfluity provide for some other good use If the Soveraign power please in cases of true necessity to make use of Church-mens Lands as well as others to maintain the Nation against foreign Invasions c. what is there in such an action blame-worthy These and such like cases excepted I profess I know not the Presbyterian alive or dead that was not against the alienation of Church-Lands Mr. D. tells us he saw some Presbyterian Ministers made nothing of purchasing and detaining Church-Lands and in his Margin nameth Dr. Burges so that it seemeth Dr. Burges is some Presbyterian Ministers But he ought before he so called him to prove that he was so much as one Presbyterian Minister he was not that Dr. Burges of whom we heard before that made the Book against Dr.