publickly or frequently read or used the Common-Prayer Book since the first of January last or shall at any time hereafter do the same such as do publickly and profanely scoffe at or revile the strict Profession or Professors of Religion or Godliness or do encourage by word or practice any Whitson-Ales Wakes Morris-dances May-poles Stage-plays or such like licentious practices by which men are incouraged in a loose and profane conversation such as have declared or shall declare by writing Preaching or otherwise publishing their disaffection to the present Government such Ministers shall be accounted negligent as omit the publick Exercises of Preaching and Praying upon the Lords Day not being hindred by necessary absence or infirmity of body or that are or shall be Non Resident such Schoolmasters shall be counted negligent as absent themselves from their Schools and do wilfully neglect their duties in teaching their Scholars And such Minister and School-master shall be accounted ignorant and insufficient as shall be so declared and adjudged by the Commissioners in every County or any Five of them together with any Five or more of the Ministers hereafter nominated in this present Ordinance to be assistant to the said Commissioners c. What I have here inserted gives you the very sum and substance of the two-Ordinances so far as concerns the Instituted Power of Approbation and Ejection and though the bare Reading of the Ordinances may be sufficient to satisfie any ingenuous man so as to wipe off that scandalous imputation which by way of false supposition and peevish Insinuation hath been darted at the supreme Magistrate and the persons next him in Authority in reference to the power by them granted in the said Ordinances yet it will not be amiss a little to animadvert upon each particular First as touching the Ordinance for Approbation how can it be said to constitute an Authority in and over the Church seeing if the Authority therein given were such as he pretens then it must be an Authority exercising either Legislation in making Decrees and Constitutions for the odering of Church-affairs or Jurisdiction in respect of Church-Censures But certainly neither hath his Highness given nor the Commissioners themselves ever conceived they have nor can any rational man infer they have from the Contents of the Ordinance a faculty of exercising Power in matter of Legislation or Jurisdiction within or over the Church in general or any particular Congregation and therefore certainly no man that is not sworn to Mr. Goodwin's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will conclude that they are constituted or can in the least measure be reputed an Authority in and over the Church Secondly That high and heavenly Ordinance of Preaching the Word the due promotion whereof is the sole declared scope of the Ordinance of his Highness was primarily intended by Christ for the instructing and converting of such as were and are without the Pale of the Church and for the gathering of them into Church-communion in the next place for the edifying and building of them up after they are gathered in Now the intent of his Highness and the Council was not at all that by vertue of this Ordinance any should take cognisance of the Qualifications of Pastors or Preachers in private gathered Congregations or Churches who it is known notwithstanding this Ordinance remain as much at liberty as before but they are Publick Preachers that is such as have or would have a Publick State-maintenance be it either in the way of a Benefice or Lecture legally annexed to the places where they preach or otherwise publickly allowed these are they that fall within the reach of this Ordinance I suppose it would not well suit with Mr. Goodwin's principle and way to say that such Beneficed men and Lecturers standing upon a Publick Account and their respective Precincts or Parishes are in his opinion rightly constituted Churches And if so how then will this profound man of Science be able on his part to make good in reason or conscience that the Magistrates authorising persons with a power of Trying such men whether they be qualified for the employment of preaching in Parishes can be said to be the erecting of a Power in and over the Church Thirdly Though it would be beside the present business to start that Controversie whether or how far the Magistrate may intermeddle in matters of Religion yet certainly 't is fit to consider that the same thing may be a duty incumbent upon a Magistrate being a Christian as really as it is a duty upon inferior persons who are Christians Now if it be the duty of every Christian man in his sphere as much as in him lieth to advance the propagation of the Gospel where-ever he hath an opportunity by communicating or by procuring the communication of it to others which it 's supposed neither Mr. G. nor any else will deny then undoubtedly the Supreme Magistrate of England being a Christian Professor by continuing that Publick way of Maintenance which the Laws of the Land and the Bounty of the State have allowed to support and encourage the Publick Preaching of Jesus Christ and thereupon by exerting his Magistratical authority in transferring it by way of Trust into the hands of certain persons whom he sees cause to confide in as Commissioners under him for the Proving and Trying of men whether they be fit to be owned upon the Publick Account in order to so high an employment as Preaching to the People hath therein done his duty and in so doing kept within his sphere as a Magistrate and is so far from intrenching thereby upon the Church or Churches take which you will in any kind that there is rather abundant cause for the Churches of Christ to bless God for the care taken than to find fault and to hope that by this means the number of Believers will be exceedingly increased and the Lord be pleased to add to the Church daily such as should be saved All that the Magistrate hath done here by such an Ordinance is an Act only of State a meer Civil Constitution and by vertue thereof the Commissioners not exercising any power of Legislation or Jurisdiction for the ordering and governing of Churches but only a power of Trial and Inspection concerning such men whom the Magistrate is to send abroad to publish the Gospel that the people may become fit matter for Churches Therefore the said Commissioners must of necessity be reputed only Officers of the Commonwealth in this particular and not an Authority established as Mr. G. would have it in and over the Church This Ordinance for Approbation is in Truth no more then that other Ordinance of his Highness whereby certain persons are commissionated under him as Trustees for the maintenance of Ministers that is for setling of Augmentations for the better maintenance of Ministers in Places where the means is but small As this Ordinance is to be reputed a meer Civil Act in respect of its Original so
be marked in the Front if it be soft enough for an Impression with these Capitals THE GREAT ACCVSER So there is an end of his Eighteen Arguments which after the same rate might as well have been made up Eighteen hundred But for all this he hath not done yet He in the next place is so kind as to start an Argument on the behalf of the Commissioners If it be argued saith he on their behalf that it is neither meet in point of Conscience or Religion nor yet prudential or safe in point of Policie that all Patrons authorised for such by Law should be suffered to prefer to the work of the Ministry in all places where they have to do whom or what manner of persons they please For by this means a great part of the Parochial Congregations in the Land should in all likelihood have either Popish or ignorant or ungodly or Malignant persons set over them in the work of the Lord the sad Consequence whereof is every mans apprehension This is an Argument indeed and there is not so much as the shadow of an Argument in all his Book beside For most certain it is that if there be not a setled Course for the proving and approving of persons presented to Benefices then Patrons may at random put in what manner of men they please either insufficient profane or malignant and what the issue of that would be is obvious to any considering man But Mr. G. brings not this here as an Argument to any good intent for he hales it in as an Objection against himself merely to make way for the purgation of some other odd humors which he calls Answers to this Objection seven in number and hath put them to do service in the Reer in hope they may do somwhat to win the day But upon examination they are like to prove as Forlorne as any of the Eighteen Arguments newly defeated and serve only to render them the more contemptible by reason of a certain Figure called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much used by Mr. Goodwin in his way of Rhetorising 1. In his First Answer to the foregoing Objection he implicitely acknowledgeth that it would be a Disease to the Nation that persons presented to Livings should pass and possess them without some previous course for Approbation and in this Answer he implieth likewise that the way of Approbation is a Remedy only this present way of Approbation now established in the hands of the Commissioners is as he saith a Remedy worse than the Disease As he here implieth so by and by he openly expresseth himself in the following Answers that a Power of Approbation may be requisite to rest somewhere but he would have it be in other hands the only spight is at the men who are now invested with that power and for their sakes 't is that he is so angry both at the Magistrate and at the Course which is by him established All would do well if these were but out of Commission partly because Mr. G. himself is none of their number and more especially because they cannot approve men high in his monstrous Opinions 2. This appears further by what he saith in that which he calls the Second Answer where like a wise State-mender he takes upon him magisterially to censure the Actions of his Superiors telling them It is no ways necessary either the same Commissioners should be entrusted with the Inspection of the business throughout the whole Nation or that those who now occupy the places of Commissioners should put no difference between the vile and the precious in their Decrees of Reprobation As to this latter Arrow shot at the Persons who are Commissioners I shall make no other Return but this That it is a vile Scandal against men whom himself hath commended in his Epistle and who are esteemed precious in the sight of them that fear God in the Land and it must be ranked among the rest of his unchristian Calumniations for so now I may safely call them seeing in the Close of his Eighteenth Argument as hath been already shewn he as good as confesseth he is not able to make proof of any one particular And therefore though in the ensuing Answers he takes occasion all along to be spatter the Commissioners no notice need be taken of it because being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a self-condemned man it will be no injury either to him or the Reader to dismiss him with this brief Retort of the Proverb That his Tongue his Pen is no slander As touching his Censure of the present Establishment he adds That it would have been much better to have framed the Commission of Triers according to the Model and Tenor of the Commission of Ejectors and to have appointed men for that service in each County respectively by which means the grandure of their power and authority would not have been so Hyper-Archiepiscopal so Super-Metropolitan and Roming as now it is Here the Reader hath words for his money and his Highness and the Council have Advice for nothing from this Hyperphantastical Metropolitan of Bell-Alley and all the other By-lanes within the Jurisdiction of Coleman But before I ken him thanks for his Counsel I must needs give him the Ferula once more for Contradiction and this within the narrow compass of three lines one while acknowledging the work of the Commissioners to be a SERVICE and then immediately talking idly of the grandeur of their power and Authority which in other places of his Book he in other Terms calleth a Lordship and Dominion But this being ordinary with him we must take the less notice of it and make him some return for his Counsel it being his opinion that men should be appointed for that service of Trial and Approbation in each County I shall not presume to dive into those Reasons which induced his Highness and the Council to settle that Commission as now it is yet I think I have somewhat to offer that may satisfie any reasonable man First It is observable that his Highness having near one half of the Livings in England one way or other in his own immediate disposal by Presentation He seldom bestoweth one of them upon any man whom himself doth not first examine and make Trial of in person save only that at such times as his great Affairs happen to be more urgent then ordinary he useth to appoint some other to do it on his behalf Which is so rare an example of Piety that the like is not to be found in the Stories of Princes This Religious Act of his I take leave to mention because it stands as an Argument against the County-Project one Reason whereof by him alledged is That men may be saved the labor of coming to London for Approbation For place the Commission where you will one half of the Ministers must come to London that they may have a Presentation Besides the First-Fruits-Office where all are to compound is only in
them he executeth in his Book to some purpose against them As you may read Page 1. telling the Civil Powers they have put a great Indignity and Affront upon Jesus Christ by issuing out the said Commissions or Ordinances Page 2. That thereby they have given the Commissioners an exorbitant power to exercise dominion over the Faith and Consciences of other men Page 3. That they connive at the Commissioners Page 4. That they are devisers of new Strategems Methods and Inventions to aid the Gospel Page 5. That the two Commissions are Counter workers against the Orders and Directions left by Christ Page 6. That the Commissions intrench upon the Spiritual Rights and Priviledges of Gods People And that they strike in effect at the Civil Rights of many Bodies of People and particular persons likewise in the Land Page 8. That our Governors have in appointing the Commissioners set up a lawless generation of men over the Lords People and that there never was the like unsufferable yoke of slavery fastened about the necks of the free-born people here as the power given to these Commissioners That they have therein done contrary both to Civil policie and Christian piety Also p. 11. contrary to Christian policie and that when they were to chuse persons to be Commissioners they intrusted such as for the far greater part of them are and were by a true and solid estimate of them in respect of their Spirits Principles and Tenets like to reject and disallow such men whom Christ should recommend to them for Approbation p. 14. That our Governors have erected the Triers with power as superlative and of the same house and linage with the Papal And that they being the Founders do underhand indulge and connive at the Commissioners exorbitant proceedings p. 17. That they have an itching desire to be officious unto Christ insinuating withall that they like other professing Powers of the world obtrude upon him their own projections to help him through the world c. p. 19. That they have invested the Commissioners with power to mould and form the Judgments and Consciences of Fellow-Subjects in matters of Faith p. 20. That They connive at the Commissioners when they sell their Brethren p. 20 21. That They erected a Consistory as bad as the Spanish Inquisition And I know not what more But I am weary and so I suppose is the Reader by this time to see a man so shamefully contradict himself over and over especially if you compare his pretence of fair demeanour towards Authority with the language that he afterward bestows upon them as well as their Commissioners So that in conclusion here now you have J. Goodwin against J. Goodwin proving himself to be of the same spirit with Jannes and his brother Jambres defying that Authority in the foulest manner to which he but a little before professeth all Christian loyalty A wise man he is without question and stronger than a whole City because having first conquered or confuted all the World with the help of a Printing-Press the compleatest Conquest of all is this last whereby he hath confuted himself So I commit him to the Press in part of punishment that he may know himself mortal and from thence to his winding-sheet Earth to Earth Ashes to Ashes Peace be to all the Church Farewel J. G. However Sir take these Latine Epigrams along with you for your own Application and the Instruction of your Friends in English before you leave them Mar. lib. 2. Epigr. 7. Nil bene cùm facias facis attamen omnia bellè Vis dicam quid sis magnus es Ardelie Lib. 4. Ep. 79. in Afrum Condita cùm tibi sit jam sexagesima Messis Et facies multo splendeat alba pilo Discurris totâ vagus urbe Haec faciant sanè Juvenes deformius Afer Omnino nihil est Ardelione Sene. Lib. 5. Ep. 81. in Mathonem Declamas in Febre Mathon haue esse Phrenefim Si nescis non es sanus amice Mathon Declamas aeger declamas Hemitritaeus Si sudare aliter non potes est ratio Magna tamen res est errans cù viscera Febris Exurit res est magna tacere Mathon THE CONTENTS GOodwin's Character and Temper is to be found in the Epistle with an Account of all his Duels and combats Christ left no such Rules and Directions nor was it his intent to leave such for propagating the Gospel as exclude the Magistrate from using his wisdom and endeavour in order thereunto Pages 5. 6. Nor did his Apostles p. 7. 8. 9. 10. The Sum and Substance of the two Ordinances for Approbation and Ejection p. 11. 12. 13. 14. The Commissioners are no Ecclesiastical Authority no Power in or over the Church but a Civil Constitution nor are the Ordinances any other than meer Civil Acts. p. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 48. Approbation in use in the Apostles time p. 22. 55. It is no exercising a Dominion over mens Faith p. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 59. 60. 93. 115. A Course for Approbation setled of old and of late by the Long Parliament p. 29. 30. 98. 99. How that Text Christ was faithfull in all his house as Moses was in his ought to be understood p. 30. 31. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. The Commissioners are so prudently constituted as to prevent Partiality in their Proceedings p. 40. 41. The Publick maintenance in Parishes is for the unholding of a publick Profession of Religion p. 43. Power of Presentation and Approbation to Livings ought not to be in Parishes p. 43. 44. 119. 120. 121. 122. 123. 124. 125. 126. 127. 128. 129. 130. The Commission for Approbation hath nothing to do with Gather'd Churches p. 45. It is no prejudice to the Right of Patrons but preserves them p. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. Mr G. a Self-Contradicter Read my Epistle and p. 40. 47. 49. 50. 52. 60. 61. 98. 102. 107. 117. 123. 124. 130. Mr G. proved a Calumniator p. 47. 112. The Quare Impedit now become useless p. 53. 54. The not countenancing of Arminians is the occasion of Mr. G. his violence against Authority and the Commissioners p. 56. 93. 77. 115. How men are made Hereticks p. 57. 58. Mr G A self-Condemner p. 61. p. 100. p. 49. A Comâ—arison betwixt the wisdom of the State and of Mr. G. p. 61. 62. Faction promoted by Abuse of Gods Ordinances p. 63. 64. Mr G. and Mr William's well met p. 64. 65. 124. 125. Mr G. his Arminian Tenets and the absuâ—d consequences of them collected out of his Book Redemption Redeemed p. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. The lewd Consequences of Mr. G. his Opinions in respect of mens Conversation p. 73. 74. Mr G. of a Papal Spirit See my Epistle and p. 78. Mr G. wresting of Scriptures p. 81. 82. 83. 84. Titles and Forms of Government Originally derived from the Power of the Sword in all Nations De Facto p. 88. 89. 90. A true state of the design and purport of the
also must the other for the same hand framed the one which did the other and being both designed for the same end Viz. The due distribution of that publick Maintenance which is allowed by the Magistrate according to such Directions as he hath prescribed they must needs both in respect of their Original the regulation of their exercise and their end be esteemed no other then Acts of the same nature and constitution both alike flowing from the same fountain of Civil power to the same purpose And yet Mr Goodwin hath not one Tittle to say against that Ordinance or Commission of the said Trustees though in the execution thereof it comes as neer his Church-door as the other But all the spight is it seems at the Commissioners for Approbation the reason whereof will be better understood anon when I come to fall upon some of his following Arguments Moreover as concerning the Ordinance for Ejection it is also as appears in the severall parts of it a meer Civill constitution For you see that Ordinance doth uot inable the Commissioners to exercise the power therein given over any persons whatsoever employed in the work of the Gospel save only such who are publick Preachers Lecturers or other persons formerly called Parsons Vicars or Curats enjoying those Benefices formerly called Benefices with Cure of Souls or that are setled in publick Lectures having any Stipends or Salaries legally annexed or belonging thereunto So that it is evident the Magistrate herein gives a power to animadvert upon no other persons but those onely who are designed by himself to the imployment of publick preaching and upon that account have a maintenance derived to them from himself and the Law of the Land who as they have their rise and their Mission from the Civil Power so they have their dependency upon it and in this respect can be reputed no other then persons publikely imployed in the Common-wealth on the behalf of the Magistrate to divulge the Doctrine of the Gospel in the publick assemblies of the people who if they be found either scandalous in life or through Ignorance insufficient for the work surely then the Magistrate who alloweth and secureth them their Wages by Law must needs look upon it as his duty to see them turned out of their imployment as he is concerned to do in the like case of any other persons whatsoever imployed in a publick relation to and dependency upon himself These things being so the Reader is left to judge whether there be not more of vanity then either Reason or Religion in Mr Goodwins first Argument since in the sifting of it there is nothing to be found but the chaffe of two false Suppositions upon which he hath built and flourished up the whole structure of his slight Pamphlet For it being manifest that neither Christ nor his Apostles left any such Rules in pepetuity to promote the Preaching of the Gospel as to answer all future contingent occasions in order thereunto or to exclude the Magistrate from contributing his assistance either in the way of Countenance or Prudence for the publication thereof And it being clear likewise from the very scope and intendment of the Ordinances themselves which have been so injuriously impeached that they are onely Acts of a meer Civil nature investing men with power upon a Publick Civil Account we must needs come to this Conclusion in oposition both to the major and minor Propositions of Mr. G. That as it was not the intent of Christ or his Apostles to make so large provision by Rules in all minute Particulars for publishing the Gospel as to exclude the Magistrate from doing what is fit in a way of Reason and Prudence for promoting so good a work among the People And that as it was not the intent of his Highness and the Council by their Ordinances to intermedle with Church-Government but onely to have the Word universally preached by pious and able men for the Peoples instruction So by erecting the Commissioners for Approbation and Ejection they have been far from a constructive charging of Christ with want of care in not leaving sufficient Directions to progagate the Gospel seeing to leave Rules of so universal an extent and exclusive a nature as is pretended was no part of his intendment nor can they be said to have established any Authority in and over the Church as is by him most causelesly insinuated and consequently they have not put any Indignity thereby at all upon Jesus Christ ARGUMENT II. Christ himself never assumed to himself nor ever exercised any interest of Authority or power so exorbitant or over-bearing as to give authority and power to any lesser or smaller number of men at least not of such men to whom he was not able his Fathers Will standing to the contrary to give both infallibility of judgement and intemerable faithfulness in matters of Faith and supernatural concernment to exercise any such dominion over the Faith Judgements or Consciences of far greater numbers of men and these every way equal at least many of them if not superiour to them both in gifts and graces and all spiritual endowments as the persons commissioned amongst us by the two Ordinances specified do by vertue hereof exercise over the judgements and faith of all the Ministers of the Gospel in this Nation yea and over the faith of all those whom God as both these Commissioners and others have cause to judge calleth unto this ministery For is not this the jurisdiction lordship or dominion which they by vertue of their Commissions respectively exercise over the Faith of that great number of worthy persons now mentioned even to Eject them out of the possession and enjoyment of such livelihoods which the mercifull providence of God in conjunction with the Laws of their Nation have entituled them unto to cast them out I say of the enjoyment of their lawfull subsistence to the extreme misery if not utter affamishing of themselves wives and children onely because they will not or rather because in conscience they cannot beleeve or profess as they being in this case made their Lords and Masters require them upon the said penalty to beleeve the other upon a like account shutting against others by the iron bars of their authority the door of access unto such livelihoods whereunto both by the providence of God and the faithfulness of men legally entrusted with such opportunities yea and their own signal worths and ministerial abilities do aloud call them Doubtlese the Lord Jesus Christ never took upon him the exercise of any such Authority as to appoint a few men for the devesting of any sort of men whatsoever much less the Ministers of his Gospel of their temporal rights or enjoyment onely because their faith in matters appertaining unto God is not the same in all points with the saith of other men If it be replied that neither sort of Commissioners Triers or Ejectors are impowred by the tenor or words of their
Commissions to punish any Minister either poenâ sensus or poenâ damni simply for not beleeving or which is the same in effect for not professing or not teaching others to beleeve as themselves beleeve so that when they do any such thing as this they act besides their Commission I answer first The Commissioners themselves at least such of them as are generally known to understand their Commissions as well as or rather better then their fellows do so construe and understand them as giving them power both to reject and eject for not finding their own sense and belief in those that come before them Secondly Their frequent if not constant practice in this kinde being sufficiently known unto and connived at if not approved of by those under whose authority and protection they thus practice clearly sheweth that the sense intended or at present owned in both the Commissions by those who are in authority and who have power to declare the sense of either Commission is that which hath been supposed in the Argument though deposed or denied in the Reply Answer This second Argument of his to prove the unlawfulness of these Ordinances is so stuffed with the Fustian of various Terms and false suppositions so confusedly extravagant that it is not to be reduced into any handsom Syllogistick form and therefore let us take a view of the Verbosities and Scandals as they-lie in or rather out of order First to omit his obstreperous Impertinencies which lie croaking in the way he supposeth That such men so imployed as the Commissioners are ought to have both Infallibility of Judgment and intemerable Faithfulness in matters of Faith and supernatural concernment That they ought to be men of Judgment I shall not deny but that like Mr. Goodwin they should have an opinion of their own Infallibility or of necessity be indeed Infallible before they undertake such a work sure there is no need Their Commission the Ordinance impowers them to pass their Judgments concerning men by approving or not approving them for the work of Preaching according as they have cause to believe them duly qualified or not qualified for it in reference to these three particulars viz. The Grace of God in them Their holy and unblameable Conversation Their Knowledge and Vtterance What need any Infallible Spirit be required in men to pass a Judgment upon other men in these Respects before they be sent out to Preach That which was the Apostles prescript to Timothy was written doubtless for our instruction and direction The things saith he that thou hast heard of me the same commit thou to faithful men who shall teach others also By which Text it appeareth 1. That men ought to be tryed and approved before they be sent to preach the Doctrine of the Gospel And 2. That the proving of their Grace and Faithfulness doth not presuppose there ought to be an Infallibility in the persons who are to prove and approve them because this proving and approving of the Graces of men that were to be imployed in any work of the Gospel was to be a thing of ordinary and continual practice as is cleer by that of the Apostle before cited it being a Rule of Direction now to succeeding Times and persons upon occasion as well as then to Timothy And by that of the Apostle in another place where he speaks of the proving and approving of a Deacon and saith That before their Approbation they must be proved whether they hold the mysterie of the Faith in a pure Conscience and then they may use the Employment Which is no other then a cleer Evidence of the lawfulness of the proving and approving of men in point of Grace before they be sent about Gospel-work And it being a Rule for constant practice it carrieth moreover along with it as cleer an intimation that there is no such need of a Spirit of Infallibility before men can be fit to act in the way of Approbation in respect of the Graces of men And as to the other Qualifications viz. Holiness and unblameableness of Conversation with Knowledge and Vtterance these two Points are cognoscible in Foro externo by enquiry into mens Lives and by examination of their Parts and their experiences of Gods dealing with them in the work of Conversion Secondly He supposeth That his Highness and the Council have by the Ordinances impowered the Commisisioners to exercise dominion over the Faith Judgments and Consciences of men To prove this he saith The Commissoners for Ejection do eject men out of their places because they cannot in conscience profess and believe as the Commissioners themselves do believe and on the other side the Commissioners for Approbation he saith do upon a like account disapprove men and shut them out from such places of livelihood to which they are called by Patrons and fitted by their own signal worths and abilities For Answer know It is no wonder that he who dares fasten so ill and groundless an Imputation upon our Governors as that they have impower'd persons to exercise an unchristian dominion over mens Faith whenas there is not a tittle in the Ordinances of any such matter to be found it is no wonder I say that he who presumes to prevaricate so unconscionably against them should under a pretence of making good the scandal which he casts upon them to shew his emptiness of proof fall to calumniating of those who are the Commissioners under them by raising an ill report upon their proceedings But this hath been his usual way of Argumentation fortiter calumniari upon other occasions and to observe neither Rule in Ratiocination nor to proceed secundum allegata probata to make out an Accusation I suppose whoever looks into the two Ordinances for Approbation and Ejection will find that the Commissioners have their work set forth to them by the present Authority with Rules whereby they are to proceed and how to behave themselves as Servants use to have when they are imployed by their Masters so that it appears to be a point of Service rather then of Lordship or dominion wherein the Commissioners are exercised It may with as much reason be said when a person offers himself to be a Member of a Congregation and to partake of the Lords Supper that the trying and examining of him in this case whether he be fit and worthy is the exercising of a dominion and lordship over him Then whereas he saith they exercise Dominion over the Iudgments and Faith of all the Ministers of the Gospel I answer 1. That as it is not a Dominion so neither do they exercise it over all the Ministers of the Nation Mr. Goodwin can if he please confute himself in this For I surpose he believeth himself to be a Minister and yet he knoweth neither of the Commissions have been exercised over him Alas he was ejected out of his Parish-Living in Coleman-street by a Committee of Parliament but that was before the
there is hope such a one may be rectified when Interest altereth in such a manner that the mans ends may as well be served by owning the Truth and upon this account many a Heretick hath of himself renounced his Error and imbraced the Truth But when an Intellect is once baffled subdued and as it were enslaved to a lofty luxuriant Lordly Phant'sie then in such a Phant'sie it is that Satan erects his throne rules and reigns there then there is never any taking the man off by all the offers that can be made either of Reason or Advantage Nothing less than the mighty power of the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead can rescue such a man out of the power of darkness and restore him to a right Apprehension By the one or the other of those two ways it is viz. either by Satans bribing the Intellect with Interest or by his seating himself upon a towering Phant'sie to controll and befool the Intellectual Faculty that all the Hereticks in the world have been made I shall not apply this to Mr. G. nor judge him so far as to fasten the odious name of Heretick upon him But this I will take leave to acknowledge as his due because all his Works do manifest it that he is a man of a working capering stately Phant'sie and so the best of his Parts lying therein he might as we find by this Piece of his have made a notable Poet or a Painter But as a good Poet and a good Divine a good Poet and a good Logician a good Poet and a good Statesman do very seldom meet in one because in every Profession where the use of a sober Reason is requisite the more sober and solid it will be if the Phant'sie be the less brisk and frisking to disturb it so Mr. G. hath verified this abundantly throughout his present discourse The luxuriancie of a flourishing Phant'sie manifested in the dress and super-abundance of his Fictions do shew him to be a ready Poet and Painter both but for a Divine as to sound knowledge in affairs respecting Religion and the Gospel and for a Logician as to matter of Reason and Argumentation you may perceive already by what is past I have no reason to allow him And now being to see how he will play his part in the Politicks as a Statesman I fear I shall find but playing-work as little of Reason Religion in this his 9th Arg. as in any of the other and that his gray head though pouder'd by Time is as poetical and phantastical as any young Boy 's in the Town Thus having rambled a little in a digression 't is high time to return to the matter in hope the Phantsiful man who was not wont to be long of an opinion is not yet so desperately given to Opiniastrie but that he may be brought to see and retract his Errors 'T is well I say that we have in this Nation so many pious and able men though differing in some Points from each other But what have they in Authority done to make one Part Judges over the other Can any man in his senses infer That because the Commissioners are vested with a power to examine and try whether men be fitly qualified for the work of the publick Ministry before they enter upon it therefore they are made Judges over all men of parts and piety in the Nation that are not of the same Judgment with them This Charge stretcheth wide and with a great noise because 't is empty for it is only those particular mens Gifts and Graces that they are Commissionated to enquire into who come to them in order to that publick Maintenance which the Magistrate and the Law alloweth and they neither have nor do they assume any power to refuse men because of the several ways and forms wherein they walk or because of their Opinions provided they in their ways be not licentious nor disorderly nor their Opinions contrary to Faith and sound Doctrine of which certainly 't is but reason that the Magistrate or those men whom he thinks fit to trust for the purpose should be Judges that he in conscience may be satisfied either mediately or immediately of the Fitness of those men before he give them his Maintenance Moreover lest it should be thought that the way to this Maintenance should not be open to any but men of some one particular perswasion or form one would think the very Tenor of the former Constitution of Government and of the present might serve to stop the mouth of Mr. G. it being apparent both in the one and the other that an equal regard was and is had to all the people of God under different perswasions and several forms And as this hath been and is the scope of the Government in general so particularly in those two Businesses of Approbation and Ejection to the end that no partiality may be used in the execution of either towards any man in any kind because of his private Opinion if it be not destructive to this Publick the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the great and glorious Truths therein contained or because of the Form under which he walks so special a regard hath been had in the choice of the Commissioners that pious sober and learned men of several ways and perswasions are taken into the number who being entrusted to execute the Ordinances are so ballanced in this respect among themselves that it were absurd to imagine they should agree to design an inthroning of any one Way or Opinion for the oppressing of all the other or that any pious and sober man of sufficient parts who comes to them should suffer because of his particular Way or Opinion And that this is the truth of the matter any one may be satisfied that will but consider the quality constitution and constant practice of the Commissioners And in the next place whereas he suggests that there is no remedy by way of Appeal against them in case they should abuse their power He himself by his own experience knows knows the contrary having not long ago made an Appeal upon such a pretence against the Commissioners on the behalf of another to his Highness the Lord Protector before whom the Appeal was admitted and the Business heard Besides in this Accusation touching Non-Appeal he doth not only gainsay what his own doings but also what his own sayings do confirm and there is neither of these but are as dear to him except Revenge as any thing in the world And yet he is pleased to contradict himself also in refeence to this particular For he who is so audacious here as to say men are without remedy or relief either by Appeal or otherwise hath forgotten what he affirms in other places of his Book where he acknowledgeth such a Power in being as may and if it be faithful will relieve such as may have occasion to appeal Cases of Appeal to a higher Power are occasioned in
respect either of misinterpreting the Law or of male-administration though the mind of the Law be rightly understood Now if so be it shall fall out that wrong be done to any by wresting the sense of the Ordinances then as himself hath said pag. 4. in plain terms Those who are in Authority have power to declare the sense of either Commission Viz. Of either Ordinance And on the other side if the Commissioners shall behave themselves otherwise than they ought in the administration or execution of the Ordinances He tells us in his page 20. The Commissioners are its greatly feared more than connived at by those who have power to restrain them from their evil If by his own confession there be a power to whom application may be made in case of mis-interpretation of the Ordinances or in case of mis-behaviour to restrain the Commissioners from evil pray you then what can be wanting to a remedy by appeal against them Both these Particulars are you see now in terminis acknowledged by this miserable self condemned creature so that I cannot but propose him to the World especially to those who are in Authority as a Subject of Pity rather than of my Triumph or their displeasure Thus you see what his Politicks amount to his Political advice being of the same nature with his Theological Discourse the one running upon false Suppositions concerning Gospel-verity the other being grounded upon Suppositions of Scandal which he takes a priviledge at pleasure to cast upon the Civil Government which being proved to be false his Argument in Policie whereby he is pleased to tell our Governours how impolitick it is for them to do what they never did nor ever thought to do is much of the same sort with his other Arguments as he calls them in Religion and Reason Now because by the wisdom and favour of Mr Goodwin here is an occasion ministred to discuss a point of policy pray let me have a little leave to lay his high prudence and charity in one ballance and the prudence and bounty of the State in the other that so I may do him right as it becomes his Grandeur by comparing him and our Superiours together The State have been pleased to settle and confirm a publick maintenance by Law for the publick preaching of the Gospel and because it is not like that a work of so high and heavenly a concernment should take so good an effect as is to be desired and sought for among the people if so be that a course be not taken to commit it into the hands of faithful and able men therefore they for the satisfying of their own consciences in discharge of their duty and concern in Order to the promoting of the work have thought fit to select a number of men whom for the opinion they have of their piety faithfulness and knowledge in the things of God they conceive they may safely trust with the trying and examining of all persons who desire the State maintenance to support them in that work whether they have gifts and Parts answerable to the employment and accordingly they have established that selected number of persons as Commissioners with a power either to reject men if they find them not qualified for the work or if they find they have fit qualifications then to approve them being presented or recommended and give them a legal Title to possesse and enjoy all the Rights and Profits which are legally annexed to the places for their maintenance in so good a Work as the Preaching of the Gospel This on the States part so far as concerns their Bounty and Prudence in this particular On the other side let us counterpoise them with the better charity and discretion of Mr. G. His Charity is seen in this that he would have the Magistrate without any more ado to give a publick maintenance to any man that offers himself to the work of the Gospel for if such a course be not to be taken as is before mentioned for the approving of men for the work and maintenance then the consequence is clear in the sence of Mr G. that the Magistrate is bound to maintain them whatever their Qualifications and Designs be rather then leave them as Mr G. hath expressed the matter with much compassion to the doom of Micaiah to be fed with the bread of affliction and water of affliction or to suffer hunger and cold and nakedness and all extremity if God will not look after them and provide better than so for them A tender man you see he is that neither erroneous ignorant nor prophane persons should want if they will but preach and that there should be no care at all taken by the Magistrate but rather that he should distribute his Bread at random for fear lest pretending Gospellers should be starved out of their designs and projects usually laid to propagate their own ends and opinions by infecting the people This is the sum of the charitable part of his Argument Then as to the politick and prudential part whereas he tells us that as the impowering of the Commissioners is of a manifest tendencie to beget in them a spirit of insolencie and oppression over other men so in the party oppressed a spirit of discontent disaffection c the occasioning whereof he looks on as most impolitick But certainly Mr. G. his Politicks have very little of Divinity that in his Commonwealth he would not have the Magistrate discharge his Conscience in respect to the Particular before-expressed and all forsooth because it may work up a supposed spirit of discontent and disaffection among some in the Nation This profound man may do well rather to consider what it is that is the true Cause why there are so many spirits up abroad not only of discontent and disaffection but also of Faction among the People Have they not been conjured up by men of his own loose temper that would not allow the Magistrate the least power to make use of his Interest and Authority for the promoting of the Gospel nor of his own Understanding and Discretion for the ordering of affairs in such a manner as might be for the encouraging of sound Preachers and the discountenancing of men of corrupt minds and of aery Fanatick Notions How many of this sort of Teachers have we lately seen under pretence of zeal and high devotion openly sacrificing the Truths of God and the Affairs of Religion to serve and advance some small Design or petty Party while their Hearers have had their persons in admiration because of advantage viz. because too many of them thereby came to get well which others seeing have stricken in the same way till the number of the Party encreasing they have been able to let the Magistrate understand by dumb signs and an active temper that he ought to remember them in good time or else he may hazard the high displeasure of a formidable Faction How often hath the present Authority been put
what is further alledged by this popular Advocate on the behalf of the Parishes which though it be but Folly in me to do yet for fear the Man's Followers should say his Book had no full Answer I shall deal with him according to his Folly lest he grow too wise in his own conceit If saith he it be against Reason that the Magistrate should restrain men from hiring or entertaining Servants such as they conceive would be most serviceable and usefull to them in their affairs or that he should appoint others to assign them what servants they please much more unreasonable is it that greater Bodies and Societies of men should not be permitted to have such to serve them in spiritual Affairs as they are perswaded are most like to build them up in sound knowledge and prâ—mote the interest of their Souls Is not this think ye a singular Argument But for Answer in brief 1. I cannot but note the comparison as odious betwixt Domestick and Spiritual Servants seeing these latter are called Overseers Pastors and Spiritual Fathers with other terms of honour as well as Servants which they are in a sense too for the sake of Christ and his Gospel and as they have Titles of honour so they have Priviledges correspondent which ordinary Servants have not 2. The Comparison will by no means hold in reason because the meanest of men have usually skill enough to make choice of ordinary Servants fit for their Turn But there are but few men in the best Parishes and in most of them not one of skill and knowledge sufficient to judge of a man whether he be qualified with Spiritual gifts and graces to enable him to serve them in Spiritual things 3. Suppose some men in some Parishes may be of ability in matter of knowledge to judge yet those that are able to judge in matter of understanding and most men that have knowledge in the notion do yet want grace in the heart and so it will be seldom that they will have the Will to approve an able or a gratious man to be a Preacher 4. Suppose yet further that the knowing men of a Parish should be willing to approve a knowing and a gratious man yet the rest of the Parish who have a share in the Suffrage may be of another minde for some respects of their own and pretend it would be more for the Interest of their souls to have another person 5. Consider that Parishes being Bodies and Societies of men the Magistrate hath an Interest in them as they are a Corporation or Community and though men have a right to do as they will at home in Private Affairs yet he may according to the laudable Constitution of all Commonweals interpose so far in all those things wherein they Act by Suffrage as a Community as to restrain them from or limit them in Acting in such matters which are of more immediate concernment to himself 6. And therefore lastly though the Minister or Preacher to be approved be to be in some sense a Servant a Servant to the Parish in things Spiritual yet he is not to be so much their Servant as the Servant of Christ in the first place Then being not in a private but in a Publick Relation to the whole Parish and upon a Publick accompt he in the next place is also to be reputed the Servant of the Magistrate partly as he is to officiate on the Magistrates behalf towards the Community of the Parish and partly because he is to have a Publick Maintenance from the Magistrate For though Tythes and other Duties arise out of the Parishes yet they are not of the Legal Propriety of the Parishioners because the Propriety hath been otherwise antiently disposed of and setled by the Law of the Land to enable the Magistrate to hold forth and uphold a Publick Profession of the Christian Faith within the several places of the Nation So that these things being considered it is vain for Mr Goodwin to plead for a Right of Power in Parishes to Approve upon a supposition that the Minister or Preacher to be Approved is to be their Servant seeing though in one sense viz. Spiritually he is to serve them yet by reason of his Civil Relation and Dependencie he is not their but the Publick Servant of the State for the good of the Parish in that Employment But Mr Goodwin to fright the Magistrate tels him that it is a Crime in him to be medling with such sacred Edge-Toolâ— as the Authoritative forcible imposing of Ministers upon Parishes All this will not take off the Edge of a Religious Magistrate who knows that having a Revenue in his hand to promote the preaching of the Gospel it is his duty as he is a Christian man to do his utmost to see it well bestowed that way by maintaining able and gracious men in doing the work and when any of them is sent to a Parish it cannot be so said that the setling of him there is an Authoritative forcing of the Parish to receive him but rather that it is a Pious Provision for the Parish by the Care of Authority Nor let any man deceive his own heart by thinking thus That because when a Minister or Preacher is so sent and settled the Parish have no power to refuse him therefore the not having power to refuse him is all one as if he were forced upon them For if such a Construction might be made then by the same way it might be argued that when his Highness sends down persons into the Country to perform any office of Trust the execution whereof is warranted by Law suppose it be in the several Counties as when he sends down Sheriffs you know then the Counties have no power to refuse them and yet this never was nor can it be reputed a forcing of Sheriffs upon the Counties because as his Highness hath a lawful power to send and settle such Officers as Sheriffs so the Counties are by Law concerned to receive and by Law cannot refuse them because their liberty of refusal is determined by that lawful obedience which they owe to his Highness So in this case of his Highness sending Preachers legally presented and approved to Parishes the Parishes not having liberty to refuse them cannot be reputed equivalent to a forcing men upon them because their liberty of Refusal is determined by the Law which obligeth them to receive them and so no injury is done them by force or constraint forasmuch as no man or company of men ought to presume or pretend any further liberty in any Nation than the Laws of that Nation do allow 'T is pitty so much Ink and Time should be lost about the cleering of so plain a business But 't is for the sake of Mr. G. and his Admirers that he may not too much admire himself nor they believe him impregnable when they see his Arguments are no Edge tools He goeth on to present another scruple to the Magistrate
unsettle them in their Lees and disturbe their Corruptions Preachers that would be slaves to the very Vassals of Satan rather than Ministers or Servants of Jesus Christ 6. As the generally of Parishes are too ignorant so had they a power to do in this case what they please it would soon be found they would like none but such as themselves The High-Shâ—on loves his Penny better than his Pater Noster and had he once the power pleaded for by Mr Goodwin the next News we should hear of him would be that he is seeking out for some miserable Levite to contract under-hand with him for Half-Tithes or Quarter-Tithes or what other Maintenance soever it be before he will admit him and so instead of having a generous publick maintenance for a Learned and Pious Ministry there would be hard-meat hardly an allowance of Poâ—r John for a Sir John in every Parish by which means the poverty and insufficiency of the Ministry would soon be reduced to an equal Standard and men might be sure to run headlong towards Hell at an easie rate and have no body to stop them 7. Lastly I suppose 't is well known to Mr G. that the generality of Parishes as they are profane and ignorant so they are no lesse Malignant against Authority and he in effect acknowledgeth it For in the last place and with it he closeth up his Book rather than Parishes should not exercise such a Power he cares not though they were all stocked with Ministers and Preachers of the same Character throughout the Nation and therefore pleads aloud on their behalf which doubtless he hath reason to do he and they being generally allied to each other in one common cause of Arminianism whereof that sort of men have been the great Defenders For saith he admit a Minister allowed by the People of a Parish prove of a Malignant humour so may a Minister though with the Triers passe This is no Amulet or Charm against Malignancie T is not denied but 't is possible that a Malignant may give the Commissioners a slip through Trial and Approbation But then he must be very cunning and a man of a very concealed conversation that no knowledg should be had of him otherwise though they have neither Amulet nor Charm they are usually able enough to spell him as well as other Friends of Mr Goodwin and keep the Devil of Malignancie from running to possesse the Swine of the Parish and hurry them to destruction Moreover saith he If a Minister's Tongue prove at any time Malignant in the Pulpit there is another Minister the Magistrate at hand to restrain him T is well he will allow the Magistate may do somthing This is indeed a good Argument for putting Malignant Preachers into Parishes to finde work for the Magistrate to restrain them or put them out it seems the Magistrate wants work But is it likely that the Parish who chose their Preacher in upon that Account may be conceived to be all of his own humor will inform against him Or is it convenient for the Magistrate to maintain Spies in every Parish to bring him information Or must the correction of the said Malignant be left to that Magistrate called the Constable or High Constable or the Justice of Peace who may perhaps be an Inhabitant of the Parish or of some Neighbour-Parish where they also and their Preacher may by Mr Goodwin's favour also be all of the same Complexion Pray Sir resolve us of these Points in your next Plea for Malignancy But he adds further that the greatest danger threatning the State from Malignant Ministers is not by the opportunity they may have of Publick Preaching clandestine Insinuations Consultations Irritations c. for the plotting and practising whereof they may have more leasure and opportunities by being takâ—n off or put by their Employment of Preaching Thus you see what malice against the Commissioners hath brought him to He in other places of his Book hath manifested a spleen sufficiently against his Highness for erecting of the Commissioners now then what remains in the next place to be expected but that he who would knock down the Commissioners to make room in Parisnes for Stuart's Chaplains may ere long be of a minde to print down his Highness to make room for their Master Would any man whose Sences were not sodden in the very dregs of discontent plead thus openly for them in a matter that might be of apparent prejudice to the Publick safety For whence is it that Plottings usually arise is it not from false conceptions mistakes and misapprehensions of Affairs instilled into People's minds And what more ready way to poyson the judgements and affections of the People touching the Princes Actions and Concernments than that their Teachers should be dis-affected to him and his Proceedings Is it not from hence that the people may be easily made fit matter for Insurrections and malleable to the designs of men averse to the Government What though they should be so wise as to forbear open expressions in Pulpits yet is it not known a discourse may be so artificially and craftily contrived that by remote oblique hints and secrets wipes which tickle more then down-right language the vulgar sort are soonest charmed out of their good affections Have we not seen this by experience and admit this were not yet do we not know the generality to be led by the example of their Minister Whom if they know to be Malignant they usually take after him and his very ordinary converse from house to house is more then a thousand Sermons Would any man then that were not as ill-affected as they plead for the maintaining of them in all the Parishes of the Nation Good Sir let the Magistrate have leave to dispose of the Publick maintenance in Parishes to persons well-affected and be you your self pleased with the other Sheep-masters of your own complexion to leave playing the Foxes and love the Peace of the Church more then your own private ends and proud humours then your Malignants will be less confident in their wayes and so on all sides there will be little cause to fear any further plottings or practises of Insurrection among the people But Mr G. hath not done yet for as it is one point of his anger that his Highness will not maintain them so he makes it the last ground of his quarrel that the Commissioners will not approve of them and with this he shuts his Book for saith he when persons somwhat it may be malignantly enclined shall be contumeliously intreated by the State or by their Officers as suppose any of them should be made to drink of the Triers Cup of reprobation is not this a direct way or means to awaken and set on work such an Inclination Here you see his care is not so much for the Government as for them and by this judge whether he be not more for Them than for the Government What if through