circumstances thereof we have also the word of man as infallible as mans can be for that we may take upon good trust to be morally infallible which proceeds from men who neither deceive nor are deceived Now I suppose that the Parliament hath so fully declared their sincerity and discharged their trust in establishing this government that the most opposite thereunto cannot admit of such an unworthy thought as if they intended to impose any government upon the people which in conscience they thought not most agreeable to Gods word which as it cleareth them from the least suspicion of deceiving so it is also manifest that they have used the best and most approved means allowed to mortall man not to be deceived For in this waighty worke they have begun with the invocation of Gods infallible Spirit which is the Author and leader into all truth and have assembled Learned and religious men of the holy calling to enter into free deliberation and debate of that kind of Church-government which they should find most consonant to Gods word and if after all this we can imagine they have erred in their decrees How can we without presumption conceive the judgement of any private men to be more infallible Now if any shall think that this kind of government in every part thereof is established with such a perpetuall decree that it can never be changed We must know that many things may be infallibly true yet not alwayes necessary to be continued True in the Author of truth and true in the means of truth and yet may be laid aside when they are no longer usefull for edification an example hereof we may see in the ceremoniall Law which being appointed by God himselfe no man will doubt but it was infallibly true and being abolished by the same power that ordained it no man need doubt but that it was justly removed Infallibility doth not alwayes inferre immutability Things are not onely continued for their truth but also for their goodnesse and fitnesse and applicablenesse to present use So long as the Ceremoniall Law was to indure it was of divine infallibility needfull for the Church of the Jewes and during that time immutable by any power but divine but when the Evangelicall Law succeeded which by fulfilling ended the Ceremoniall the worship of God became more spirituall leaving the decencies circumstances and outward manner to the humane infallibility of the Magistrate set in authoriiy by God whose decrees in such matters are unchangeable by any inferiour power yet alterable by the same power that decreed them Moreover the Papists object against our doctrine that before Luther it was not known in thy world and the Prelates object against our discipline that before Calvin it was never known by both with aspersions they think to disgrace our doctrine and our discipline putting upon them the stamp of novelty as though they were but inventions of men But as our doctrine hath been sufficiently asserted against their calumnies to be the very doctrine of the spirit of God left recorded in the holy Scriptures So it is also plain that this government of Gods Church by the Presbytery was known and practised in the world before either Popery or Prelacy was in being both which are indeed novelties and the very spawn of corrupted men It is clearly demonstrated from the bosome of Antiquity That the Apostles and Evangelists knowing the mind of Christ did in all Cities and places where they collected Churches ordain a Colledge of Presbyters called the Presbytery with equall power to feed and govern the same This form of government continued in the Primitive Church about 1500 yeares in puritie and parity Afterwards by pride and contention of the leaders Bishops were set up above Presbyters and when that equality was once broken there was no stop Then Metropolitans were put above Bishop and Patriarks above Metropolitans and at the last whereunto all tended they brought forth that man of sin or son of perdition the Pope who perked above all and hath ever since contrary to the rules of Christ and his Apostles maintained by fraud fire and blood a prodigious tyrannie and oppression in the Church Bâ—t there is one testimony more which we can produce as a cleare light out of the very darknesse and dungeon of popery when there was no day of knowledge in the Christian world but all was overspread with Antichristian error and that was about 500 yeares ago when God moved Waldo a Citizen of Lions to discover the impostures of the popish Church who drawing after him many disciples were persecuted by the bloody Synagogue and driven from the society of men into mountains among beasts which they found lesse savage then their own kind there they multiplied into many Congregations and spreading themselves into divers places were called by divers names Then they found it necessary that the worship of God might be perfect among them to establish a discipline and government over all their Churches In which deliberation they had no pattern to follow no steps to tread in no helps from stories or records of antiquity which were all destroyed or corrupted Their onely guide and light to direct them was the word of God which the world was never able to extinguish and by his divine power was preserved among them There they sought and there they found the platform of their discipline and what was it no other then Presbyterian every Congregation governed by Pastors Elders and Deacons and as occasion required by a combination of them into Synods Councells and Assemblies Now if this way was practised among them wherein they were onely led by divine light How unjustly do some despise it as a novelty others reject it as a humane ordinance When as our own age also searching in the same holy monuments hath pitched upon the same discipline as in them held forth to the Churches of God Me thinks this would move the spirits of meek and sanctified men not to be wise above sobriety nor contest against such a cloud of witnesses For if the Primitive Apostolicall times the middle age of the Church under persecution and now the last generations wherein we live have all by the light of Gods word and guidance of his spirit concurred in one and the same discipline Why should any combine against it or suffer themselves to be perswaded rather to disturb the peace and unity of Gods Churches then yield a Christian conformity thereunto 3 But against this power of the Magistrate it may be further objected that although power be given him over the bodies and estates and outward adjuncts of men yet the conscience is the peculiar Court of God wherein man hath nothing to do but by intrusion when the body lies in prison the Judge by a habeas corpus can remove it but when the conscience is under bond no Judge can send a habeas conscientiam to deliver it and having no power to release he can have none to bind it
wrapped up in generall precepts it behoveth us to learne from his deputies upon earth asking councell of the Lord what his mind and pleasure is and such for the most part are the outward rites formes and circumstances of his Evangelicall worship these things fall within the compasse of order and decency which are rather civill notions then devine yet as Armies in the field easily fall into a rout not well arrayed so assemblies in the Church and Churches in the Common-wealth prove but rude and tumultuous meetings if they be not decently ordered a lute or violl is seen plaid upon but there is much adoe to tune many instruments into one consort private Christians may dispose of themselves in their owne houses but when they meet in a publike body they must be tuned by the publike Magistrate the world would never have stood without societies nor can societies hold without government neither can there be any government where some rule not and some obey all the question is to set due limits and bounds to the civill government wherein I conceive that there is the selfe the same measure betwixt the Magistrate and the conscience for as the word of God bindeth the conscience to obey so it prescribeth the Magistrate to governe otherwise if as the high Priest forbad the Apostles to teach in the name of Jesus so the Magistrate shall impose any thing upon the people contrary to divine law or the word revealed the case is plain that we ought to obey God rather then men These rubbs thus remooved in our way I shall proceed to the solving of such objections as are commonly made by those brethren that challenge a liberty and exemption from this lawfull obedience 1. First they build upon our owne ground alledging that since the nature of conscience is so free and voluntary in it self it must needs be a manifest violation of her freedome to constraine her by laws or penalties or impositions of men To which I answer that we must remember to put a difference betwixt the constraint and the restraint of mens consciences no law nor power of man can constraine the conscience in her voluntary act to goe against her owne light or approve that which she condemneth or say to her self conscience I lye no she may and ought rather to suffer then undergoe such a constraint but the lawes of man may so farre restrain their liberty that she produce not the act of her private sence and freedome into hurtfull effects such as may endanger and disturbe our christian and publike peace it hath bin alwaies observed that it is as naturall and appetitions for error to beget error opinion to spread opinion as for one kind to generate and multiply the same insomuch when an erronious conscience will not be limited nor contained within it self it may and ought to be restrained and inhibited from infecting others and dispersing the contagion 2. Secondly it may be againe objected that although it be granted nothing can bind the conscience but the pure word of God yet forasmuch as no word of Scrirture is produced expresly confirming this from of polity and Presbyterian government which we are commanded to obey it will plainly follow that the consciences of men are therein left unto their liberty To give a full answer hereunto it would be necessary to take the frame of this government in pieces as the Levites did the Tabernacle when they removed their Tents and then bring it piece by piece to the light of Gods word to see what is thereby confirmed and what unfirmed But because this is already done by divers worthy brethren of the holy calling I shall forbeare to insert their volumes into these few sheets and shall onely say that this kind of government is either expresly or by good consequence included and allowed by the Scripture as not repugnant to it in any thing Of the Presbytery it selfe where the government is inherent I heare no question made but that it is expresly mentioned in the Scripture the main doubt and difference is whither it be Independent in particular Congregations subordinate to Synods and Assemblies as the urgencies and occasions of the Church may require Those Brethren that maintain Independency of single Congregations stand upon a ground feeble and unfirm saying that in the Apostles time there were no other Churches but onely congregationall in which alone all government was confined This assertion will hold no further true then in such Churches as were gathered whiles Christ was upon earth then indeed we may conceive that the first Evangelicall Church consisted in the congregation of the Apostles and afterwards of the Disciples but when Christ ascended into heaven and the holy Ghost descended upon earth we shall find that when the multitude of believers increased so much in severall Cities as one Congregation could not contain them their manner was to distribute themselves into severall meetings accordinp to the commodity of their habitations in the said Cities or else as it might most stand with their safety Now th' Apostles themselves and their coadjutors th' Evangelists and other Founders of Churches under them did usually constitute and ordain Elders in every City but not in every Congregation who had power in common and colleâ—gially to teach and govern the whole flock though severally congregated in the same City Thus we read of the Elders of Hierusalem of Antiochia of Ephesus of Corinth of Philippi and many mo where the numbers of the faithfull were inlarged Whereby it appeareth that in the Apostles times and the times succeeding those primitive Churches were City Churches consisting of divers Congregations and not congregationall as is pretended Independent within themselves True it is the City church was commonly independent within it selfe but thereof the reason was because the Cities in their civill policy were free and unsubjected otherwise the government of the City Church reached as farre as the jurisdiction of the City If all this be true as it is made most evident by the unpartiall searchers of Antiquity we may herein observe a pattern though not a precept for the subordination of Churches for if in the Apostles time a City church consisted of many congregations by the same proportion according to the increase of Beleevers a Provinciall Church may consist of many Cities and a Nationall Church of many Provinces and the Catholick Church of many Nations the lowest step was laid by the Apostles the highest step is a point of our belief and from the lowest to the highest there is no passage but by gradations which is the scale of that government now held forth by Parliament But to this may be replyed All this that you say is but conjecturall and that hath no power to bind the conscience which must have a word infallible to rest upon To this I answer That for the substance of this government wee have the infallible word of God whereof neither part doubteth for the frame and
looke for the good of man both wayes Our duty to God is contayned in fewer precepts but more words it seeming necessary that God should explaine himselfe in his own cause leaving no power to any man to adde or diminish or interpret his Lawes but by his own word which made Moses though he were a Law-giver in Israel yet he would not judge the gatherer of sticks upon the Sabbath day without consultation with the Lord Before the written Law every father of a family was both Priest and Magistrate to looke to both and the greater the family or society was so much higher was the Magistrate and reverenced with more honour as being the common parent caring for the whole Country This Law therefore of Nature being the very dictate of God himself may not improperly be termed a divine Law There were also other Lawes which God prescribed by his servant Moses to the people of Jsrael politicke and Iudiciall Lawes for preserving humane society and governing the Common-wealth and Ceremoniall Lawes for the outward manner and forme of his publike worship for performance whereof he ordained divers Sacrifices and Sacrificers allotting maintainance for them both But when the time fore-appointed came that God would restore man to that happinesse he had deservedly lost by the sin of the first Adam he sent his onely Son Iesus Christ the second Adam in the flesh who after he had manifested his divine power to the world by his Doctrine and miracles did by his last words on the Crosse and by the first visible testimony of the power of his death finish and consummate the Law and rent from the top to the bottome the vaile of separation by both declaring the necessity of types and ceremonies places and times of worship differences of people Sacrifices and Sacrificers fixed and impropriated maintainance for any of them was no longer to bee continued strictly in the letter although a morall equity shadowed by them was to be perpetuall Neither did our Saviour in the constitution of his Evangelicall Church revive any of them nor ordain any set form of worship rule for goverment or a certained and speciall maintainance for his Ministers but only repaired and restored man to that way and manner of worship which Adam had in his innocency prescribing him to serve God the Father of spirits in spirit and in truth without otherwise confining him to time place gesture posture or other circumstances which of their own nature are not permanently confineable In like sort the blessed Apostles whom Christ sent into the world to publish the glad tydings of Salvation laid no other foundation as necessary thereunto then Iesus Christ and what he had laid himself for they were only master builders on that corner stone Christ Iesus What they declared to any people converted to the Gospel concerning any rule of order about the outward man or his Christian behaviour in publike service it was only a temporary advise sutable to the times Countries and occasions wherin they lived not universally binding to all Nations and generations to come In their dayes there was neither Christian State nor Christian Magistrate nor any publike power to countenance or appoint the outward government of the Church in default whereof it was necessary for them to make such orders and constitutions as might serve for those present times neverthelesse as Christ himself took upon him no civill authority so gave hee none to his Apostles nor they to the Ministers succeeding For when Christ was required to divide an inheritance betwixt two brothers he asked with indignation who had made him a Iudge or divider over them and when the case of the Incestuous person fell out at Corinth St. Paul inflicted no temporall punishment upon him only advised the brethren that whiles hee stood obstinate against all reproof to shun his company and cast him out of their communion that the shame thereof making him sensible of his sinne it might beget repentance and make him returne to the fellowship of true beleevers I verily thinke that if all the directions which the Apostles have left recorded in Scripture were laid in one view together no man nor multitudes of men how learned soever could collect or frame out of them all an exact body of Church government in all the parts and Circumstances thereof to bee imposed as a divine binding infallible rule upon all Christian Churches and Kingdomes in the world Indeed where we meet with any Councels or constitutions of the blessed Apostles who were holy men indued with more immediate power from Christ with a larger measure of the spirit of truth and consequently with a greater certainty of judgment then any of their Ministeriall successors we may rely upon them and make them our patternes only remembring the distinction of times that the Apostolicall Church was in infancy and under persecution and the English in full growth and dominion in so much that in the framing of Ecclesiasticall orders an eye and regard must ever bee had to the civill Government which alwayes aymeth at the publike good both of Church and State wherein the Church is lodged The Ministers doubtlesse have power by their office to advise and instruct exhort and rebuke out of the word in a brotherly way but it is as doubtlesse that the power is in the Christian Magistrate upon hearing their advice to constitute and establish under the naturall notion of order such decrees as upon due debate and deliberation they shall find most wholsome and agreeable to the present State This is also to be observed that no man ought to take unto himself the office and honour to Minister for his brethren in things pertaining unto God unlesse hee be lawfully called thereunto Christ himself was sent by the Father and annointed by the spirit to his heavenly office by Christ the holy Apostles were sent into the world from whom they had their immediate Commission and the blessed Apostles following their pattern did not only send and appoint Pastors over all Churches in their present times but also lest rules and directions for ordaining all others for the time to come till the worlds end I make no question but God doth in our dayes call and stirre up many to this holy office by particular motions of his Spirit yet that exempteth not the persons so called from manifesting and approving their vocation according to the rules left in Scripture where we are commanded to try the spirits of men whither they be of God and the Spirits of the Prophets peculiarly such as are called to the Ministery are subject to the Prophets as fitting to be tryed and examined by them who by long experience and without reproach have conversed in the Church and dispenced the misteries of Salvation From this brief and plaine deduction I shall lay down some few Positions as ground-lines of the discourse ensuing 1. That God hath by his Son taken away all ties of necessity for observing any part or
parcell of the Ceremoniall Law 2. That God by Christ hath restored men to that spirituall worship which Adam had in time of his Innocency 3. That Christ hath not appointed any set or absolute form of Government in his Church binding to all times and Nations 4. That whatsoever the Apostles wrote concerning outward Government it was not in nature of an universall Law but only by way of order and advice answerable to these Primitive times and occasions 5. That the Ministers of the Church as they are Ministers have no temporall Power Iudicature or maintenance positively and particularly alotted them by Christ or his Apostles but only in the generall that it be sufficient and plentifull that thereby they may be examples unto others of hospitality and good workes learning the manner and speciall determination to the Christian Magistrate and the Lawes of the Land 6. That the Christian Magistrate hath the highest power of ordering and governing the Church of God which is a visible company not onely of Ministers and Officers but of all Beleevers and is intrusted to him forasmuch as the Church is in the Common-wealth and not the Common-wealth in the Church 7. Whosoever hath a Mission to undertake the Ministery ought first to find himself inwardly called then undergo a lawfull Tryall and receive approbation with the prayers and benediction of the Presbitery Now concerning this great controversie in our Common-wealth about the government of the Church I shall from these Principles according to the small ability God hath given me unbyassed by any opinion or affection to any kind of Government nor yet for any covetous nor ambitious desire or designe in my self but meerly ayming at the good of Gods Church and of my Country set down how I conceive our supream Magistrate may establish such a Church government as might preserve Amity among Brethren yet not oppugne any rules Christ hath left behind him The two houses of Parliament have already upon ripe deliberation passed an Ordinance for a Presbyteriall government with all the limitations thereof Which government I am verily perswaded if it be duly executed will prove the best Moderator betwixt dissenting Brethren For it is such a government as taketh away the ill and exorbitance of any other reserving that which is good in them and so much the better it ought to be liked because it disliketh those parties that oppose it for surely hee is esteemed the best and most unpartiall Moderator who in reconciling parties in such indifferences displeaseth them all yet if this government may not have so much as an Vmpires power to constrain obedience or else putteth not that power in practise then it will be vilified and of no esteem Therefore that it may not prove a dead uselesse letter I doe first conceive that it should be established with Penalties and put in present execution and made positive without allowing a limited time unto it for approbation For without that it may be altered in whole or in part at the Judgement of the Makers but with that it would leave every man doubtfull and indifferent which will lessen or take away the true value and operation of it In the next place I conceive as an especiall wheel of this motion and a strong fortification of the Government that care be taken to keep and incourage the Ministers of the word in a perpetuall and constant practise of their Function and to remove all occasions which might any way divert them from their holy calling Howsoever it comes about I know not but certain it is that â—â—thence the Church was poysoned with a temporall revenue and carnall estimation given to Ministers for their masters sake Pride and covetousnesse have predominated amongst them who have bin and ever will bee the roots of much evill and combustions in those States and Churches where they have had any power so farre as forgetting their calling and the patterne of Christ they have ever bin observed for the maintenance of their secular pomp and greatnesse to bee the chiefe hinderers of Reformation to the purity and humility of the Gospell knowing it must first begin at themselves Therefore for the rooting out and preventing ambition among them it might bee good to take away those titles of separation and division which have had their originall from 〈◊〉 As to be called Clergy as if they were holy and the people prophane or Divines as if they were all heavenly and 〈◊〉 formed of the same earth with the people certainâ—y they can have 〈◊〉 higher title then to be called Ministers of the Gospell bringing from God to man the glad tyding of reconciliation and 〈◊〉 For place and dignities they are either Officiall which are 〈◊〉 taken away or Personall which should be left to the 〈◊〉 discretion of every man for if in humility they strive 〈◊〉 behind all men in place and before them in goodness the people will be ready to give even their eyes in testimony of their love and estimation of them I shall forbeare in this place to set down particularly how Covetuousnesse may bee also removed from the Ministery because the remedy thereof as of many other things conducing to the good of the Church how Religion may bee kept and perpetuated in truth and purity freed from the danger of relapsing to Popery how the Ministers may be for ever provided with a plentifull maintenance over all the Kingdome how their Widowes and Orphans if there be need may be relieved are already plainly and largely laid down in another Treatise by a well-wisher to the Peace of our Sion which wayteth only for a fit occasion to bee produced Wherein no new charge is laid upon the people but only part of the pious donations of our Ancestors to the Church and good uses are rectifyed and reduced This being done it may then seeme necessary so to hedge and defend this Government held forth by Parliament that it may neither receive damage from Enemies without not bee uncharitably torne and shattered by Schismes and opinions within It hath pleased God so miraculously to blesse this Kingdome that we have thrown off the yoke of Rome which neither we nor our Fathers could bear The Pope and the Bishops the head and the tayle are sent back from whence they came The gap which they had made is by Gods goodnes and care of this Parliament filled up with a moderate Presbyteriall government sufficiently armed to keep out the wild Boare that destroyed our Vineyard and that common implacable enemy from returning But there are some little Foxes yet among us that earth in our ground and annoy our Vineyard and by craft or rudenesse weaknesse or wilfulnesse bring scandals upon our holy profession That therefore our Church may injoy her peace and bee onely Militant against sin and Satan The Magistracie must take care to preserve it from disturbance As the present conjuncture of our Church standeth they who seeme most to distast or oppose this kind of government are
Hereunto I answer that the Magistrate pretendeth not to take power upon himself as a man equall to his brethren but the power he hath is derived from the supream power which he holdeth by Commission from God His Office is the Ordinance of God and his power is ordained of God and so long as he ruleth for good aiming at the publick order and edification of the Church we read that of necessity he must be obeyed a double necessity both for fear of bodily punishment God having put into the Magistrates hand a sword of justice which he hath not done into the Ministers as also for conscience sake and fear of divine punishment for men that make no conscience of breaking the precepts of God shall certainly not go unpunished conscience therefore yielding sometimes in lawfull as well as in absolute necessary things this obedience to the Magistrate is not bound by the will of the Magistrate but by the word of God himself which expresly commandeth us to obey the Magistrate for conscience sake but we no where find that for conscience sake in such things we should disobey him If any reply that if all this collected and spoken to maintain the power of the magistrate is no more then was before alledged in the times of Episcopall Prelacy who by giving credit to the Magistrate and the Magistrate to their cause imposed and injoyned what they pleased in Gods worship and government of the Church I confesse indeed that they argued very strongly for upholding the authority of the Magistrate so farre that by exalting his will they diminished his power but leaving them in their excesse I answer that if their government had been as good as their argument or had they stuck as close to the word of God in framing their Cannons and injunctions as they did in asserting the lawfull power of the Magistrate no man could have justly been grieved in conscience but their government being bad in it self could not be bettered by the goodnesse of the argument But it may be rejoyned again that for all this the Scripture doth no where appoint or confirm this Presbyteriall government as it is held forth and established by the State and therefore just it is that men should be left in liberty of their consciences whether they would conform thereunto or no This hath in part been answered before That it is not the mind of the Magistrate to compell any man to conform thereunto against his conscience neither could he do it although he so intended and therefore in effect that is but a vain feigned and frivolous plea to pretend that liberty against the Magistrate which no Magistrate can constrain onely as the Apostle saith of faith about indifferent things hast thou faith have it to thy self before God So we may say in this case hast thou liberty have it to thy self betwixt God and thee till he shall give thee a further light and a liberty to obey as well as to disobey but if thou contentest not thy selfe with this sober and moderate liberty but whilst also leap over the hedge and withdraw others from their Christian obedience then thou runnest upon the sword of the Magistrate which God hath put into his hands for the common good by which he is bound to restrain thy inordinate and offensive liberty that it disturbe not the publike peace committed to his charge To this may be added that although this Presbyteriall government in every part and parcell thereof as it is now established be not expresly commanded in Scripture as likewise no other kind of government whatsoever yet much may be brought for the approbation of it and to shew that it is repugnant to Scripture First government by a Presbytery is expresly set down in Scripture Secondly for execution thereof some generall rules are also clearly expressed That all things should be done decently and in order without contention and for edification Thirdly to whom can we imagine the ordering and decencies and edification should belong but onely to the Magistrate assisted by the advice of Gods holy word and Ministers wherein wee find another expresse command that the Magistrate so judging for the good of all ought to be obeyed for conscience sake Bring we this cause to a paire of scales and there we shall see it decided put into one scale the judgement of the Magistrate into the other the judgement of private men put into either the profession of them both to make the word of God the rule of their judgement put in again that upon search therein they meet with two severall governments neither of them directly commanded nor directly forbidden nor yet unconsonant to the Word Hitherto the beam goes even betwixt them Search again what is to be put in more and we shall find an expresse word of God commanding every private soule to obey the higher powers judging and governing for good and that for conscience sake put this into the Magistrates scale and it must needs preponderate till we can find any other word that biddeth the higher power be subject to the lower And indeed were there no word of Scripture to confirme this truth the very light of reason might convince us for if we allow that reason should rule our affections we must also allow the Magistrate to rule the people and when any difference ariseth between them in such things wherein they pretend to judge by one and the selfe-same rule reason requireth that the determination of the Magistrate should stand and that the people should no longer be wise in their own conceit but be wise with sobriety suffering their judgements to be over-ruled by their Rulers whose office is to watch over them for good in the order of such things Whiles things are debating every one may have liberty to speake their conscience but when things are determined the liberty of conscience must yeild to the duty of obedience otherwise that sweet harmony would be broken which God hath set in the world between parties commanding and parties obeying wherein alone consisteth the outward happinesse of all societies In the mean time I am glad to observe that they disclaim not civill obedience to the civill power of the Magistrate hoping that in time they will for the same reason cease to contend against this government for that it is now indeed or intended to be made a civill sanction and a statute law And then denying subjection thereunto Liberty of conscience may aswell transport them to claim exemption from many other civill lawes If one of them were accused of murder and knew in his own conscience that he was innocent and had besideâ— twenty witnesses to clear him yet if one single witnesse shall make oath against him in behalfe of the King he shall be condemned by the law May he not stand upon termes of his liberty and his innocence and justly plead that it is against his conscience to obey this law and suffer sentence being innocent Suppose another had
his back the sinnes of them all whereby they were set free and delivered from them And this was the deliverance he promised wherewithall they ought to rest contented Thereupon the Town was taken the deluded people disabused the King impostor executed to death and hung up in chaines upon the highest steeple thus ended this tragedy and ever tragicall is the end of such follies The Apostle noteth that factions and divisions are signes of carnality first men separate from others as unclean then they speak evill of government the next step is to blind the people with revelations from thence they fall into snares of the flesh at last they stir up sedition and last of all their end is destruction Hitherto I have laboured to shew that the Magistrate by his office being an ordinance of God is bound to provide for the Publick peace and safety in Church and Common-wealth which is done first by enacting just lawes and wholsome orders consonant to wisdome and the word of God and secondly by using his power to preserve them in vigor and execution as also to shew that the people are bound in conscience to give willing obedience to such Lawes and orders of the Magistrate whose duty it is to restrain the disobedient and reduce them to their duty Neverthelesse forasmuch as the power wherewithall God hath invested the Magistrate is alwaies to be used for publike good and requisite it is that a due distinction be made in the punishment of offenders between such as erre out of mistake or ignorance and those that resist out of wilfulnesse and contempt I shall in all humblenesse propound some few expedients how farre the Magistrate may please to slacken his power and so temper the lawes and penalties thereof as they may serve both waies as lenitives for the simple and corrasives for the stubborn who will not otherwise be reformed 1. I conceive that as it is unreasonable to demand so it would be dangerous to grant any toleration of Religion besides that which is established for such a liberty of conscience would breed a freedome of will and freedome of will would beget liberty of life which would breed a fearfull Independency when every one might do what they list In matters of faith necessary to salvation there is but one way and one truth all the rest is obsiquity and error Therefore when the truth hath been tried by the Word and ratified by the Magistrate he cannot suffer any falshood without being accessary thereunto Yet in matters of discipline and government there is a greater latitude for when it shall appeare that weak brethren agreeing in the same confession of faith but dissenting in outward forms out of tendernesse or ignorance to such a toleration or connivence or suspention of laws may be harmlesse and charitable till they be further satisfied and instructed 2. That whosoever living under the subjection of this state should be so far destitute of grace as to renounce Christ or speak blasphemously of him or any person of the Trinity contrary to the faith established in the Church he shall upon conviction be informed of the truth with a brotherly admonition not to divulge his error to the corruption or scandall of others or disturbance of the civill peace For the second offence he shall indure a years imprisonment be disabled in his testimony put out of protection of the Laws and wear some publike mark noting him for a Blasphemer For the third offence he shall suffer banishment or close and perpetuall imprisonment and if banished it shal be capitall for him to return without licence of the State For if he by our lawes deserveth death that seduceth any subject from the allegeance of his naturall Prince what deserveth he that seeketh to alienate the soule of any Christian from the dependance of God unto the divell 3. If any one out of an evill heart shall break forth into open reviling scorning disgracefull words against the present Church-government now established he shall not be connived at as a man of tender conscience for as he giveth himselfe power and liberty to dis-joyn from it so it is also in his power not to speak evill of it but doing it by choice and deliberation he cannot fall within the compasse of weaknesse For he that maketh no conscience of giving offence and scandall to the Christian Magistrate and all his godly brethren living in peaceable obedience cannot imagine that his private fancies though covered with weaknesse should be more tendered then the publike conscience of the Common-wealth Such a one therefore ought to be punished as a contemner of the civill power First by reproof and exhortation not to disquiet the peace of the Land Secondly by a pecuniary mulct for some publike use with disability of his credit Thirdly if he still persist with close imprisonment till he give publike satisfaction of his repentance 4. Forasmuch as no man ought to undertake the office and function of the holy Church Ministry without he be well assured of his inward calling thereunto neither can such men conceive themselves awhit the worse or that it might be any prejudice to their spirituall gifts to have an outward approbation by laying on the hands of the Presbytery and praying for divine blessing upon their persons and giving them an orderly mission into Gods harvest Therefore whosoever shall take unto himselfe the holy calling presuming to preach the Word or administer the Sacraments not being admitted nor ordained thereunto by lawfull authority he ought to be punished as the former were that contemned the civill power or rather more severely especially if they be found in their publike preaching to sow sedition among the people provided that such persons Masters of families or others meeting in their own houses or in their neighbours to repeat what they heard or learned out of Sermons preached by authority and upon that or the like occasion worship God by praying or singing of Psalmes conferring or arguing upon any part of the Word preached as also such who being required by any friend or neighbour when the advice of Ministers cannot be had to open or expound some text of Scripture or deliver his judgement upon any case of conscience for satisfaction of the parties be not comprehended under this Article or any penalty thereof because we are commanded to exercise the gifts and talents God hath given us in a sober and orderly way for the edification of one another 5. Whereas out of all doubt many things are contained in holy Scripture which are not yet fully manifested nor clearly understood and we know the Spirit of God bloweth where he listeth and is not confined to time place nor person but inspireth whom he pleaseth If therefore any man shall pretend to have a new opinion or new light revealed unto him of the sence of any part of Scripture fitting it were he should bring his knowledge to some godly Minister approved of or to the next Classiâ— where he liveth
there to be tried and examined by the spirit of the Prophets judging and determining by the word of God and if perchance they neither approve of his opinion nor yet be able to convince him then to refer him to the next Nationall Councell to which he must stand or fall In the mean time if he publish his opinion under hand to the breach of brotherly unity in the Church he ought to be taken as a disturber of publike peace and subject to the penalties mentioned in the third Article By these and such like means the power of the civill Magistrate may be preserved from contempt and the consciences of weak brethren from constraint till they shall pluck off their mask and discover themselves to be obstinate and unsufferable clamouring for toleration under pretence of weaknesse but indeed making a breach and separation in confidence of their own strength and perfection disdaining with supercilious eies the infirmities of their brethren by which falacie they think to blear the eye of the Magistrate and make the weak to overthrow the strong To such wolves in sheeps cloathing whether they be Papists Hereticks Schismaticks or whatsoever they be for a weak conscience is now-adaies become a cloak for all shoulders my meaning is not that any indulgence or connivence of the Magistrate should be extended to them who it is plain enough are employed in malicious designes working under-ground the divisions and ruine of the State Therefore to conclude with the same spirit as I began which is a spirit of unity peace and love In the fear and before the face of Almighty God and by the bowells of that love wherwith Christ Jesus loved us all I do beseech the brethren whether they be leaders or followers that agree with us in the same doctrine but dissent in government to lay their hands upon their hearts and examine what they would be at Is it at the advancement of truth the practise of holiness the purity of Gods worship Let them consider whether all these may not be had as they are all intended under the present government is it at spirituall perfection whiles they are present in the flesh Let them consider that the perfection of a Christian consisteth in humility love peace meeknesse sobriety and uprightnesse which are truly spirituall and none of them excluded by this government Is it at the setting up of the kingdome of Christ Jesus that he might raigne as Lord omnipotent upon earth Let them consider that the kingdome of Christ Jesus is not of this world he prescribeth no forms nor modells of civill government as he findeth them so he leaveth them where he is received he sublimeth and refineth them where he is not received hee doth not destroy them Let them consider that this present governmet doth no waies eclipse the kingdome of Christ Jesus for whither it be placed in a single Congregation or in a generall Assembly or in the last resort of the supreme Magistrate all are under the government of Christ Jesus who ruleth among them by his Word whereunto they conform their government is it at the setting up of any other government which they think is onely divine and necessary to salvation Let them consider that by such assertions they do not onely blast all reformed Churches at this day and leave them in a state of condemnation living under another government but also condemn multitudes of soules departed which under other governments lived Saints upon earth died martyrs for the faith of Christ and are now triumphants in heaven Or els is it at no government at all till they receive on revealed from heaven Let them consider whether any such promise be made us in Scripture which we ought to expect This wee find that God is not the Author of confusion but of peace order and government which ought to be setled in all Churches of the Saints Or lastly is it to set up an infallibility of private judgement taking themselves to abound in the spirit and be able to judge all above them Let them consider that the hearts and spirits of men are deceitfull above all deceits aâ—â— that to strive and contend to make rents and separation for these things to despise the powers and ordinances of God are reckoned among the workes of the flesh rank and carnall But if it be as I will hope it is a pure and sincere weakness of conscience arising from a weaknesse of judgement not yet seeing the clearnesse of that light which hath in lightned the Magistrates and Ministers and greatest part of the Kingdome Let them be intreated in the fear of God to seek to him for further illumination and in the mean time to suspend their opinions and forbear contentions by Christian modesty and moderation becomming the Saints to maintain Christian charity which is the bond of perfection and make it manifest unto the world and to the Angells in heaven that they are not led by the spirit of error strife and vain-glory but by the spirit of truth which worketh by love and lowlinesse patience and meeknesse minding the same things and improving the gifts of faith grace and knowledge whereunto they have already attained And in other things of lesser moment concerning the formes of discipline and government and the outward face of order and decency in the publike worship whereunto perhaps not having yet attained they may be otherwise minded therein to wait Gods time with quiet and patience who hath promised to reveale even that also unto them that one may not be perfect without another It may be they may thinke themselves unkindly dealt withall and very ill requited that having so frankly adventured their lives and estates and done so valiantly against the enemies of God and the Land they should after all this be denyed any request especially that which so nearly toucheth their freedome of conscience and inward peace Truly it is on all hands confessed and no man that I know seeketh to cast a vaile over their worth or suppressed their atchievements God hath done wonderfull things by many of their hands and the lesse honour they take to themselves the more will be given them by the voice of the Nation and Rulers of the band who ought to take care that their names be written in the Registers of fame from generation to generation But what will our dissenting brethren say if Jesuits and Malignents converse among them in sheeps-clothing If transformed into Angels of light they carry on these workes of darknesse and by secret suggestions and insinuations of the Serpent make them blow this cole and widen this breach against their own intentions It is not for nought that there be so maâ—y popish spies and Agents among us whose employment is to weaken the hands of the Magistrate by sowing factions and disobedience among the people They feele their blow and know well enough that their form is broken they are upon their last gaspe and their last refuge is this to compasse that by trechery and mischiefe which they could not do by force in the field If they can divide the civill and Military power and fling fire-balls of division into the tents of brethren they have yet a fainting hope to recover strength and destroy them both Let not our brethren think this to be an eary or empty admonition for there be men so finely spirited and rarified to the invisibility of the divell that if it were possible they would deceive the very Elect and weave their hypocriticall webbs with liberty that commonly the simple and many times the circumspect are involved and taken Happy it were that by some marke they might be known for then they were easily avoided but when they come to strike up division and separate the hearts of the brethren the safest remedy is to stop our eares as against Inchanters and Negotiators for the divell Return then ô Shulamite return return be not intrapped in the snares of division but return to the tents of peace what will ye see in the Shulamites we shall see when he returneth and joyneth his body to the State and his conscience to the Church that his countenance is faire as the Moon clear as the Sun terrible as an Army with banners and that his company united to the Common-wealth is like the association of two Armies linked together by one heart invincible and undissolvable by the powers of darknesse and of Antichrist Thus have I delivered my poor judgement and discharged my duty which I owe to the publike peace I pretend not to revelations nor an unerring spirit but being privy to the evennesse of mine own heart and unbyassed intentions my conscience is my testimony that I have not erred to cause any other man to erre In regard whereof I may hope that all men who are spirituall and dis-interessed in their ends will acknowledge this to be the mind of Christ so far-forth at least as it aimeth and tendeth to piety and peace Neverthelesse if any will be still contentions and dissent neither I nor the Churches of God have any such custome nor do I intend for this difference of judgement to breake charity and communion with them But I rather beseech them for a close of all to put on milde and gentle affections and whiles they approve of our faith not to disapprove our workes by excommunicating of us or separating from us till our workes go before us and condemn our selves Leaving them in this assurance that when our Lord Jesus Christ shall come the Judge and Master of us all to whom we must stand or fall it will be better for them and for us in that day that he find our hearts established in grace then our selves at variance about Church-government FINIS