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
the same work of Gospel-propagation For if so be that Christ neither immediately of himself nor mediately by his Apostles established such obligatory Rules and Directions as are pretended to exclusive of all other means by vertue of any Precept or exemplary Practice then judge ye whether this bold Assertion of his be like to hold right in conclusion The first observable Medium that the Apostles made use of for the propagation of the Gospel and augmenting the number of Converts and Professors was the exercising a Community of Goods so we may read Act. 4. 34 35. That as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices of the things that were sold and laid them down at the Apostles feet and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need This is one Instance of Apostolical practice and example which no man that knows the manner and condition of Mr. Goodwin will so much as imagine 't is his opinion that this is one of the Rules binding himself or the Magistrate or any other to observe in promoting the publication of the Gospel 'T is believed neither the Credit nor the Conscience of the Man will rejoice in such an Assertion and therefore having him herein I dare say confitentem reum and Marsupio consulentem it shall be pressed upon him no further Another means that the Apostles made use of for the spreading of the Gospel was that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Laying on of hands whereby the extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Ghost were in those days usually conferred upon such as they converted to the Faith and these again made use of it in order to the converting of others that men seeing those miraculous Gifts breaking forth in several Operations and being thereby convinced of that supernatural and mighty power which then attended the ministration of the Gospel might be brought in to the Faith of Jesus Christ and be confirmed in it But in all the Prints and grave Determinations hitherto published by Mr. Goodwin our great Master of Sentences we do not find that he hath concluded us and all the World under the observance and imitation of the Apostolical practice and example in this particular as absolutely necessary for the work of Gospel-propagation And so I pass it over at present till it be known how his Infallible self will be pleased to pass a Judgment in the matter A third means that the Apostles made use of for promoting the Truth of the Gospel was That when occasion of difference did arise among the Primitive Christians touching Gospel-affairs to the hinderance of its progress they to wit the Apostles and Elders assembled together and by Decrees of their own made an authoritative positive decision in the Case and gave Laws to be observed by all the Churches as you may read Act. 15. And it 's conceived Mr. Goodwin never yet maintained but rather hath openly avowed the contrary that this Example of the Apostles is to be received as a Rule universally binding all men in all Ages to do the like and to assume the same power of Legislation and Determination in the way of Synods or Assemblies in order to the promoting of the Gospel These are the main observable Practices mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles and some other there were which related to things reputed of an indifferent nature as the eating or not eating of certain Meats using or not using of Circumcision and of divers Rites and Ceremonies of the Mosaical Law as you may read Act. 21. and Gal. 2. which sometimes were admitted sometimes rejected as may be seen by Pauls circumcising of Timothy when as the same Paul at another time was stiffly opposing and pleading against the practice of Circumcision Now we suppose Mr. Goodwin will not say That this kind of liberty so assumed and practised is one of the standing Rules which he with so much confidence commends unto the Reader as necessarily to be observed in the promoting of the Gospel And therefore unless our Reveernd Author can produce some other Examples and Practices of the Apostles which yet we have not seen and with good evidence propound them to the World as universally obligatory upon men to follow he will seem to be as a man beating the air and that hath made a noise to no purpose For the truth is whereas in all the Acts of the Apostles other men can perceive no such Examples of theirs from whence such positive Rules as he pretends to are either directly or by consequence deducible so among all the Precepts of the Apostles contained either in that Book or in any of their Epistles no Rules will be found of so comprehensive a nature as to give direction in all particulars that may fall out so as to exclude all use of humane reason and discretion in the Magistrate or any other towards the advancing so good a work As to the main concernments of Church-Oeconomie and Administration they are sufficiently provided for by the Precepts and Directions left by the Apostles in Writing but as to Church-edification and the gathering in of Beleevers through the preaching of the Gospel by employing and encouraging men to that work there are no Precepts by them recorded to Posterity but what make in justification of those two Commissions of Approbation and Ejection which were given out by his Highness and the Councel as will be made evident by and by when Mr Goodwin comes to fall more directly upon the Commissions and those reverend and worthy persons that are impowered by them In the mean time it is submitted to the Reader what to think of Mr Goodwins first Hypothesis or Supposal and whether he can imagine it was the intendment of Christ either immediatly of himself or mediatly by his Apostles to make such large Provision either by way of Precept or Example to be as standing Rules in perpetuity utterly exclusive of the use and assistance of humane prudence in order to the publication of the Gospel Now to the second false Hypothesis or Supposition upon which the Argument is founded and which is implicitely contained in the Minor Proposition falsly supposing and insinuating as if our Commissioners for Approving and Ejecting were an Authority constituted by his Highness and the Councel in and over the Church and People of Christ For Confutation of this the onely way is to make enquiry into the nature of the Ordinances or Commissions themselves by the genuine scope and drift whereof it will be certainly known of what kind they are and what was the Intent of our Governours in the establishment of them that thereby they should deserve to be scandalized and so rudely handled by him who would be thought a man of Ingenie and most high Ingenuity To this end that the truth may be cleared let both the Ordinances speak for themselves The First is that which he is pleased to call the Commission of Tryers rightly entituled An Ordinance
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
potestatis scientiae they suffer none to buy or sell as the Scripture speaks but only those that wonder after them There is an eye saith he of the same principles practises usurpations in the Spirits and Practises of our Tryers so he calls the Commissioners But where is the proof 1. He saith If any one that comes before them shall dispute or call into question their judgements though never so erronesus as in the points of Election and Reprobation the death of Christ c. the door of preferment is shut up against him This is a stout Argument indeed and if rightly stated the force of it would amount to this The Commissioners cannot approve of men that are of the Goodwinian miserable Foundation-destroying doctrine concerning Election and Reprobation c. nor judge them fit to be owned by the Magistrate in a way of maintenance according to such Rules as the Magistrate himself hath given them to judge by Ergo they do as the Pope doth hold themselves to be infallible A man might from this rather infer this Consequence That they do not conceive themselves infallible because they are willing to judge as the Magistrate directs them and that Mr G conceiveth himself infallible implying as if the Commissioners were bound to follow his judgment and make that their Rule whereby to try and approve men rather than by those Rules and Directions which have been given them by the Magistrate Here it seems lieth the core of all the evill and the Occasion of all this Rancor that the Commissioners are not hujus jurati in verba Magistri sworn to follow this great Master and to approve such men as have shaken hands with him in the bearing up of that Un-evangelical Opinion against Gods electing love in Christ in the behalf whereof he would compass even Sea and Land to make a Proselite 2. Whereas he insinuateth that the Commissioners are as lawless as the Pope because none may question or judge of them and because they will approve of none but those that will wonder after their Learning and Tenets and though he divides these Particulars under a second and third head as if they were distinct and this on purpose to make his Pamphlet swell yet this short Reply may serve in return to both his hold and frothy Imputations how is it possible that the Commissioners should be accounted lawless in their proceedings as the Pope is when as it is known and Mr. G. himself here hath said it that the Pope makes himself above all Law and Power that is without himself and hereupon by vertue of such another Autocrasie as Mr Goodwin taketh to himself upon all occasions he proceeds in the same manner as Mr Goodwin constantly doth what he doth by his Bulls Mr G. doth by his Pen and Pamphlets who takes upon him at pleasure to control censure and defie Acts of the Civil Power and doth what in him lies by reproaches and scandals almost to Anathematize them and to dissolve the bond of the Subjects obedience by rendring the Government odious and contemptible and to overthrow it by stirring up Discontents and Factions among the People and all this forsooth because he cannot impose upon his Highness and the Councel in matter of Faith so as to make them the publick Patrons and Promoters of his private Opinion if this be not Papal I know not what is But now the Commissioners are so far from imitating him and the Pope in any of their lawless humours that they in their proceedings are under the Law and direction of another Viz. the present Authority and can do neither more nor lesse than what the same Authority hath by a Law prescribed them if they should Mr G. knows by experience Authority is ready to hear a complaint and that Law doth not enable them to set men a wondring after their Learning and Tenets for what Tenets or Opinions soever in points of the lesser importance may be among themselves they are not to estimate nor do they measure a Judgement concerning any man according to them nor do they dis-approve any men because of their opinions provided they be not of the Goodwinian strain before-mentioned Errores in Fundamentalibus which tend to a rending of that very Foundation which was laid upon the Prophets and Apostles and a demolishing of the glorious super-structure of all the main truths which are built thereupon Moreover there is not the least affinity between the Popes power and theirs For the Pope arrogates to himself a power in the Church under a pretence of being the sole Deputie or Commissioner for the Government of it under Jesus Christ and thereupon stileth himself his Vicar but the Commissioners have neither assumed any power to themselves it being a matter intrusted to them nor is it derived to them in any such way as from Christ much lesse from him in order to Church-Government but they have received it in trust from the Magistrate whose Deputies they are to a civil end and purpose Viz. to see that the publick State-Maintenance allowed for the Preaching of the Gospel to the people may be disposed of according to the Magistrates own appointment and direction in any of which respects there is not the least resemblance betwixt the Popes transcendent spiritual and their limited temporal Power and therefore Mr Goodwin hath not injured them so much as himself who though his Bishoprick be not very large might a great deal sooner be taken for the Pope as appears in all his actings The rest of this pretended Argument is a mere idle repetition of Scandals and of other matter already refuted It 's a sad thing to see a man of his garb and grave pretence so liberal in Aspersions throughout his Pamphlet and yet not make so much as an Instance to prove any one Particular ARGUMENT XIV THe Fourteenth I find to be only a quaint piece of Tautologie flourished over with a new dress For abstract the Rhetorical levities and there remains nothing but the same Crambe which was served up again and again in the First Third and Fourth Arguments and that small Addition which he brings in here as an Auxiliary to the other doth but help to make him and his design the more ridiculous For whereas he tells us again that the Gospel stands in no need of any Commission or Constitution of humane device and contrivance to carry on the interest of it in the world but that Christ hath left Rules and Directions in perspicuous terms in the Gospel sufficient to render the state of the Gospel flourishing and prosperous so as not to leave so important an affair to the care and management and contrivance of the Secular Powers I shall not make repetition of any thing that I have discoursed before to answer this but refer the Reader to be satisfied at large in the former part of the Book where I have fully answered his other Arguments relating to this particular Only I shall
a journey without much prejudice then the Commissioners here are wont to make a special Reference to three or four able and godly Ministers neighbours in the County and according to the return made the Commissioners use to determine the business they having here always by them a Catalogue of the Names of such choice godly Ministers in each County whom upon occasion they can safely confide in for that purpose But Mr Godwin is it seems a most provoked Adversary to the Commissioners and though in the foregoing part of his Book he hath been very hot against the Exercise of a Power of Approbation yet now he is willing to forget himself again and to admit the exercise of it provided it be any where but in the hands of these Commissioners and therefore he turns every stone to exasperate all sorts of People against them One while he takes upon him to make a Tender of this Power to the gathered Churches and fearing lest they should not look after it he in the next place would cast it upon those of the Presbyterian way as part of amends for all the Injuries he hath done them formerly and if they should refuse it he hath a third Reserve and is willing to bestow it upon the respective Parishes He is content any thing should be done with the great Trust of Approbation let it be disposed any how or any where so that he may have his will upon these Commissioners and overthrow the present Establishment made by Authority These particular Humors of his I come now to manifest in Order Being come to his third Answer to the Objection that was started by himself on the behalf of the business of Approbation I find the Answer fall short of satisfaction for rather then the present Commissioners should be continued he pleads here now on the behalf of the Churches and would have the power vested in them saying That the work is more proper for them Viz. The Congregated Churches throughout the Nation then for a handful of petty Clergie-men as they are called unto whom alone it is now upon the matter devolved sitting in one Angle only of the Nation It is not to be wondred at that he who dares presume to vilifie and dispute the Authority and the wisdom of his Prince should so meanly represent Whitehall the place of his Residence as to term it an Angle of the Nation Had not this been given at our Palace at Colemanstreet surely the Princes Court could not have been so mean in the thoughts of this Imperial Penman as to be reputed but a Corner But thus it must be in an Age when we will all be Princes and can he be less who looks upon his Brethren the Commissioners as but a handfull of petty Clergy-men But high and mighty Sir be pleased to tell us who among them doth assume the Title of Clergy or who ever called them so beside your self Nor are they all Clergy-men so called but there are likewise men of the Laity if for distinction sake I may say so among them there are persons men of honor and of greatest Trust in Civil affairs and therefore for shame away with these poor slie Tricks of odious Insinuation which are foisted in out of a corrupt design to prejudicate the Reader and are the infallible Evidences of a corrupt heart and so they must be judged by all the Congregated Churches who have occasion to take notice of this your behaviour But now let us see what he saith here of the Congregated or Gathered Churches And before I proceed know that the intent is not to diminish or detract any thing from the reputation of the Churches but only to shew by way of Answer how inconvenient a Thing that would be which he endeavors to fasten upon them 1. For proof that it is a work more proper for the Churches to send men abroad to preach the Gospel he brings in two Texts out of the Acts 11. 22. and 13. 3 4. Which Texts do prove no more but that Barnabas in one place singly in another place jointly with Paul was sent out by the Church to preach the Gospel That this de facto was done it proveth and doubtless it was well done of the Churches of Jerusalem and Antioch so to do But will Mr. G. from the occasional Acts of those Churches which they did as Christians thereupon infer that no other Christians whatsoever whether single persons or collective bodies ought to do so good an act as to send men abroad to preach the Gospel Will he because it was a good Deed done by them conclude that no other men whatsoever should look upon it as their duty to promote so good a work Certainly in those acts which are of Christian concernment in the general that is which all men who profess Christianity are as Christians bound to doe what example soever we find of them either among the Apostles the primitive Disciples or the Churches that example is so far from being to be made a ground to argue we ought not to do the like that it rather obligeth all Christians in succession of time for ever to imitate the same upon all good opportunities and occasions And therefore if the preaching of the Gospel and the advancement of it in the world be a work which it concerns every man professing Christianity quatenus a Christian to promote then doubtless the Magistrate being a Christian is even from the example of those Churches here alleadged by Mr. Goodwin bound to send and use all means convenient to send men abroad by Preaching to publish and promote the Gospel Give me leave to illustrate this by an Instance We read 2 Cor. 8. of a liberal Collection made by the Churches of Macedonia for relief of the poor Saints in Judaea Now according to Mr. Goodwin's deep way of arguing it ought to be concluded thence that because the Churches did it therefore no particular person or persons whatsoever whether Magistrates or others professing Christianity ought to make a collection or liberal contribution for the relief of poor Christian Professors The wild Inference would be upon as good a ground from this as that made by Mr. G. from the other because the work of endeavouring to augment the number of Christian Professors and that of relieving poor Professors are works or duties both alike incumbent upon all Christians in general quatenus Christians So that if from the one example he will infer that none but Gathered Churches ought to approve and send men abroad to preach I from the other example can as readily and naturally infer that none but Gathered Churches ought to exercise liberality towards the poor Saints yea that no particular man ought to do it because it was an act of those primitive Churches And therefore I conceive 't is more fit and justifiable to conclude that when we meet with a noble and illustrious example among the Apostles and primitive Churches if it be of such a thing
as concerns Christian practice i. e. every Christian so far as in him lieth in matter of duty the nobleness of the example of those extraordinary persons should serve to raise and quicken our affections to imitate them in matters of ordinary duty rather than permit our selves to be deluded by Satan when he suggests that we ought not to follow them because they have led us the way Thus you see what a proper Divinity-Argument he brings to prove that sending men abroad to preach is the proper work of the Churches But till he be able to prove that it belongs to a Church omni soli semper his Argument will fall 2. The next particulars he produceth are points of Prudence to prove the said Churches ought to have the power of approving and sending Preachers abroad One point is this Because the Churches are more like to be considerate what they should do in this kind than the sealed Knot of Triers these all being but a few and making but one Consistory and so the whole business of Trying throughout the Nation lying on their hands they are in no capacity especially meeting so seldom Consistory-wise as they do to allow a meet proportion of time for the regular traversing of matters committed unto them at least not without constraining many of their Suitors to dance a troublesom Attendance upon them for their dispatch whereas the Churches being many the work and business of Trying being disributed among them as it is like it would be if it were committed to them would have leisure to make a due enquiry into matters that should come before them and this without any tedious or chargeable delay unto the persons It is not my business to determine who would be most considerate the said Churches or others in the managing of this business but to consider whether the way by him propounded for placing the power in the Churches be in reason likely to answer the end of his Highness and the Council in the carrying on of the work with such conveniencie for the honor of God the good of the Commonwealth and the interest and encouragement of Preachers themselves Not but that I believe the Churches would to their power discharge a good conscience in the business and are sufficient both for grace and knowledge to do it only I conceive that they are Bodies both in respect of the manner of their constitution and divers other respects not in a capacity meet to answer the Magistrates expectation in the transacting of such an Affair as I shall manifest by and by In the mean time whereas he saith here the Commissioners are but few but one Consistory and that the work lies upon their hands they not having time to traverse matters without making Suitors attend long the Reader is to take notice that the Commissioners are such a number as Authority hath judged convenient and if there were need of more the same hands who placed these are not so streightned but that upon occasion they have added and are ready to add unto their number Only they are wise otherwise than Mr. Goodwin and are willing to tread in the steps of antient prudence confirmed by the experience of all Ages But how this point of prudence should be better answered by placing the power in the Churches I do not understand Which of them I pray shall undertake the business in a County Or 1. Admit some one Congregational or gather'd Church should have the power would it not displease all the rest of a County which are not of that Church or not of the same Opinions with that Church 2. Whereas you say now Congregational Churches then it must belong to them either as Congregational or as Churches If as a Congregation then the power rests well where it is for the Commissioners are a Congregation made up of Forty persons at least and all of them Elders of Churches or fit for it If as Churches then surely Presbyterial or Parochial so far as they have the essence of a Church ought also to be trusted 3. Besides it would be considered whether you would have the whole Body of a gathered Church or only some part of it to be entrusted with the said power in a County If you say some part should have it then as it will be displeasing to the other part neglected so you lose your intent Sir because you say it ought to be in not parts of Churches but Churches and to this purpose your before-cited Texts out of the Acts do speak which you brought to prove that Churches sent Paul and Barnabas to preach the Gospel for in those Texts it was the Act of whole Bodies of Churches On the other side then if you say the whole Body of a Church or a Church as a Body should act therein then I suppose that things being carried in that Body by common Suffrage the matter will be so far from being mended that way in point of quick dispatch that delayes must needs be more tedious than ever As for the Commissioners they have their meetings constantly two daies in a week which they find sufficient to do the work and yet put men to no more attendance than the necessity of the insufficiency and doubtfulness of divers persons doth require But saith he how oft the Triers have dashed their feet at these and such like stones is known unto and lamented by many To such unworthy Provocations whereof your Book is full I make no other Return but this that you have all along proved your self a meer Calumniator never daring to make one Instance which your sweet spirit of revenge could not have omitted had you had any thing of Fact though but upon surmise and in the Conclusion of all your Arguments as hath been declared sufficiently already you are so ingenuous as to shame the Devil when you confesse you have no particulars of proof either upon record or in memory Which certainly ought to be a lamentation to your self when you consider it being a matter of grief and lamentation to others who have had occasion to observe your demeanour A Third Reason is he saith Because the Church Bodies are not accomplished with any such Politick reaches deep methods subtil Contrivances for the bringing about of secular Projects or By-ends as our Triers are Still this is matter of scandal against the Commissioners and little better against the Churches For as he calls his own a company of Sheep so he seems to make all the rest but sheep indeed representing them as weak heads in the general and implying that they may have reaches and methods and contrivances to bring about by-Ends as well as the Commissioners onely they have not such deep Reaches and contrivances which is in effect to say they may be corrupt as well as the Commissioners onely they have not so much wit as the Commissioners have to bring ends about Now on the other side put case that the Commissioners be godly conscientious men
as Mr Goodwin in his Epistle saith they are and suppose it be admitted as I have no reason to the contrary that the Churches also are for the most part godly conscientious people yet certainly Mr Goodwin having declared his opinion that the Commissioners have the better Brains to manage a business then I hope the Churches have reason to consider him and ken him thanks for his kindness and the Magistrate must needs rest better satisfied to trust a select company of known able and good men than to commit this business of Approbation to the Churches in general who though they may have as much good meaning yet Mr G. saith they have not so deep a reach as the present Commissioners Moreover the Churches he saith are not in respect of their numbers and complicated variety of Interests and Conditions in their respective Members very capable of conspiring or combining so much as in the proposal of any undue or unworthy ends to themselves and so are like to be more sincere and plain-hearted in their proceedings 'T is like they will not be forward to propose any thing tending to an unworthy end but on the other side it ought to be considered whether that Account which Mr G. hath here given touching their constitution be not rather an Argument to prove that it will be a hard matter for them to come to any end or Conclusion at all in convenient time for the dispatching of this Business which himself hath said ought not to take up too much attendance For 1. In respect of their numbers the general Maxime is That great Bodies move but slowly 2. In respect of their complicated variety of Interests and Conditions in their respective Members certain it is that always according to the variety of mens Interests and Conditions they come to be variously disposed they will debate a matter round and they will too often debate for victory too often to gratifie a friend too often to gratifie a spleen and too long to do any business in manner or time convenient as it ought to be which is sufficiently evident by the experience of all Ages where various interests and conditions of men have met in numerous popular Assemblies A fourth Reason is he saith Because the Churches being of different judgments touching Discipline and Worship and some other opinions much controverted and debated among godly sober and worthy men in the Nation may amongst them and this with a full concurrence and consent of their judgments and without the least regret or check of conscience accommodate all pious and godly persons of what judgment soever otherwise in all their just desires or requests I am very loth to rip up Sores because it is to be done in publick and it may more gratifie the common Enemy the Papist than benefit our selves but seeing it is a matter too well known already I may touch it a little and shall but lightly Do we not know how far the minds of men have been from accommodating upon points of Discipline and Worship and all other Opinions that though some of them religious and sober in all other things yet they have been at daggers drawing in this Have not too many in the Churches been drawn out by a mis-guided zeal even to the anathematizing of their brethren who walk not in the same Church-way with them about points of Discipline and Worship And is not the same humour too predominant still among too many I shall for Religion and Honors sake forbear a running out into the large field of Particulars But certainly when it is known that divers of the Churches have divided among themselves and broken that unity of the Spirit which ought to be in the Bond of Peace and this meerly upon difference of judgment concerning some Points not Fundamental and that some have proceeded so far even against their fellow-members in one and the same Church so as to un-faint one another round and make a Schism in the Body it would be a strange thing if the Supreme Magistrate understanding this and having undertaken the protection of the people of God in general who walk under several Forms and Perswasions should venture the Trust of Approbation in so great a latitude as the hands of the gathered Churches throughout England and Wales seeing the generality of men in Churches are so much disposed to favour men some one way some another according to their various Inclinations that the measure of Approbation were the power of it in the Churches is not like to be taken so often from the proportions of Grace and sound Knowledge of Fundamentals of Faith in men to be approved as from the correspondence and consent which they may have with this that or the other Opinion held by the Majority of those who are to approve them But Mr. G. layeth this as a blame upon the Commissioners saying that they express wrath against men because dissenting in Judgment from themselves and have laced their Consciences so strait that themselves profess they cannot without sin open the dore of entrance into the Ministry to any man but those whose thoughts are their thoughts and one judgment with them in matters of Christian faith This groundless imputation I have wiped off already divers times upon several occasions given as I passed through his Book where I have shewn that the Commissioners by the very constitution of the Ordinance have no such power nor do they use any such practice nor can they if they would because themselvs are men of the various Ways and Perswasions received among us but agree in this that they hold fast the Foundation Fundamental Truths and reject none but such as hold the contrary in which number Mr. Goodwin's exploded Arminian Tenets are justly reckoned And as it is the glory of the Commissioners that they profess they cannot approve such as hold them so it is the sole ground of all his clamor against them He would muster up men raise Batteries and plant his great Guns in all the Pulpits of England against the GRACE OF GOD which I may call the Fort-Royal of Christian verity but not being able to get Commissions for his men he is fain to play at small game shooting Paper-pellets and Squibs of Slander in Pamphlets against the said Commissioners not sparing even his Highness and the Council for their great love to the Lord Jesus manifested in so religious a Constitution His fifth and last reason is Because the Churches are commodiously dispersed throughout the Nation for persons from all quarters to repair unto one or other of them witbout the charge or trouble of long journies whereas the Triers whom also he is pleased to term Inquisitors have their Chamber of Audience fixed some hundreds of miles off from the skirts of the Nation so that men must make tedious and chargeable journies to them Thus you have him playing the Tautologer again therefore I must send you back to the Answer given him in another place about
long journies where you will find that care is sufficiently taken to prevent long Journies and I have shewn that men would be constrained to endure many far worse inconveniences and the longest Journies perhaps over and over and to little purpose in case but one Chamber of Audience were setled in a County much more when he would have as many as there are gathered Churches in every County Moreover the same Reasons which I have before alleadged against setling the power of Approbation in County-Commissioners do much more make against setling it in the said Churches in each County For is it imaginable that the generality of Gather'd Churches can yield men of Parts and Piety fitted for the work of Trying and Approving in all respects equal to the persons now imployed by his Highness It would be fit also to consider whether whole Churches or parts of Churches or there being perhaps many gather'd Churches in a County whether all of them or some few or some one of them or part of all or few or some one of them shall be intrusted and how either of these can be imployed without displeasing all the rest If you say all those Churches are to be intrusted that would breed a most ridiculous confusion in Counties where there are many such Churches and if some parts of Churches or only a part of some one Church then it would be work enough for his Highness and the Council to inform themselves aright who among them all are most fit and who unfit for the managing of such a Trust And when all is done what satisfaction would it be to those of the Presbyterian way to see only the Gather'd Churches or some part of them only imployed and themselves excluded from a share in so great a Trust and the men of their way left as to the matter of Approving or Disapproving wholly to the disposition of the said Churches Which certainly ought not to be seeing Mr. Goodwin hath in his very next Paragraph pleaded on their behalf as men fit to be made Judges in the matter of Approbation forgetting as in other cases he hath done the like that in this Paragraph he produceth it as meet only for the said Churches but 't is no wonder he should propound contradictory courses in matter of Practice whose sad hap it is to have his crazie Intellect laboring under the continual distempers of self-contradiction in matter of Reason But waving this it would be worthy consideration next as touching the entrusting of the Churches whether whole or in part what certain place they shall meet at who shall summon them who shall bear their charges and defray other incident expences how their Records shall be kept how their Register and other necessary Officers shall be maintained and by whom and how other things can be done with convenience for the conveying of a Legal title to Preachers in those Livings to which they are presented in so secure and regular a course of proceeding as is observed by the present Commissioners And what if a Church break to peeces And what shall be done with the Records of such an Office But by this time I suppose the Reader hath enough of Mr. Goodwin's Five Reasons wherefore he would have the power of Approbation setled in the Gather'd Churches of the several Counties and so by my foregoing Discourse I leave you to consider whether it be not a matter both imprudent and unpracticable I now come to his Fourth Answer made to the Objection raised by himself 4. If saith he a Trial of Ministers before Admission to a place of publick service be admitted as necessary and the Churches not deemed competent to take or make a regular Trial of them yet why should not those who are Authorized as competent for the Ordination or Creation of Ministers be judged competent for their Trial Whom he means by the persons authorized for Ordination is evident by the beginning of his next Paragraph where he expounds them to be the several Presbyteries Quo tencam nodo mutantem Protea vultus Risum teneatis amici What a deal of shifting is here in hope to shift away the Commissioners It seems I have an Eele by the Tail whom I no sooner worm out of one hole but he slips to another But would not any man smile to see Mr Goodwin whose pride it was heretofore to be pulling down all the Presbyteries in England now to become a pretended Advocate on their behalf He that cried almost Sword and Fagot against them and would with a good wil have pull'd down Sion-Colledge about their ears He that hath written and printed as many invective Pamphlets against them as might serve to stock most of the Tobacco-shops Is it not strange that he should seem now to be for them But he is like my neighbours little Dog who barks at all Passengers that appear upon the Publick Road and when some are passed and gone leaves them and spends his mouth again at the next who come in sight for he must be barking and therfore this is no Thanks to them of the Presbyterie because they very well know the man and his humor and that Caninus Appetitus which he hath to Printing nor do they need many words to give them an understanding of his restless disturbing Temper which like some others that might be named is ever flying out at any thing that is uppermost or that hath but the face of an Establishment 5. That which he brings in as his Fifth Answer offers nothing of Reason but spends about half a Page in matter of Expostulation against the Commissioner thus Why should these men be made Triers Is no vein of men meet to make Triers but these He is in great pain because of these Any Tooth good Barber let me have any thing rather than these who as he saith keep Labourers out of the Vineyard By all means I pray you down with these that keep the Romish Bores out from rooting up the vines and the Arminian Foxes from spoiling the tender grapes 6. And therefore in the sixth place rather than indure these any longer he is content there should be either no Approbation at all or else that it should be left in the hands of the several Parishes of the Nation which all things perpended would be a worthy way especially considering the Faction of some the Ignorance of many and the Malignancy and Profaneness of too many of the Parishes Of this I have said somewhat in the fore-going part of my Discourse where though you will find Reasons enough against it and that Mr Goodwin of all other men hath the least reason to plead for a Parochial Power yet seeing he hath in his giddy fit of Scribling been willing to run the round to court all Parties and Orders of men to joyn with him against the Establishment of the Commissioners now confirmed by Authority of his Highness and the Parliament therefore I shall take a little pains more to see