A TRUE REPRESENTATION OF PRESBYTERIAN GOVERNMENT Wherein a short and clear Account is given of the PRINCIPLES Of Them that owne IT THE COMMON OBJECTIONS AGAINST IT ANSWERED And some other Things opened that concern IT in the PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES By a Friend to that Interest EDINBURGH Printed at the Society of Stationers Printing house in Harts-Close over against the Trone Church for George Mosman Bookseller in the Parliament-Close Anno Dom 1690. A TRUE REPRESENTATION OF PRESBYTERIAN GOVERNMENT THat any of the Truths or Ordinances of God should need an Apology to be made for them should be for a Lamentation For it proceedeth either from the Ignorance or Perverseness of Men. The Principles and way of Presbyterians have undergone the common Fate of other of the parts of that Religion that Christ hath taught It is the Sect every where spoken against and there hath been no small stir about that way And this hath proceeded partly from the enmity against that curb of mens Lusts and Enormities that is in ungodly men And partly from want of knowledge of that way which even they may be under whose Studies and Thoughts are imployed about things of another nature and not about these matters though they be otherwise knowing and thinking Men Or from prejudice that their Interest may fill them with to the hiding of Truth in this from their eyes wherefore we think it our Duty to endeavour the vindication of this our Profession with as much brevity and clearness as we can attain by First giving a plain account of what we hold 2 dly Taking off the most material Objections and these that are most common or reproaches that are used against us for we have to do not only with men otherwise Sober and Judicious who differ from us But with many whose Temper Practices and Designs are not such as becometh the Gospel We desire as to approve our selves to our Blessed Lord and Master Jesus Christ so to satisfy the Minds of all Inquirers after Truth but especially to stand right in the Opinion of His Majesty our Gracious Soveraign of his Grace the Kings High Commissioner and of the Noble and Honourable Estates of Parliament who we hope as Nursing Fathers to the Church will own us in those ways that the Lord owneth us in Our Principles we lay down in a few Propositions Fâ—rst We own Christ the Mediator as the only Head over and Lawgiver to his Church and we disown any visible governing Head over the Church however pretending to act in Subordination to him Because we know none that he hath given such Commission to 2 dly Christ as Head of the Church hath given forth Laws whereby the Affairs of his House should be managed and hath not left any Nomothetick Power in the Church to make Laws for her self her work being to declare and execute the Laws of Christ and the Laws of the Magistrate are not to appoint new ordinances or Officers in the Church though he ought to give his civil Sanction to what Christ hath appointed and may make Laws about these things that are External to the Church that is which are common to her with other Societies 3 dly Christ hath appointed Officers in his House and declared how they should be qualified and what should be their work As in the beginning of the Gospel he was pleased to appoint several extraordinary and temporary Officers that were immediately called and extraordinarily Gifted by himself as Apostles Prophets and Evangelists c. The Apostles by Divine direction did immediately choose some by themselves for itinerant work either from amongst the ordinary or extraordinary Officers of the Church to exercise hic nunc their extraordinary Power which Officers we commonly call Evangelists so we do not find that he appointed any ordinary and perpetual Officers except Elders called also Bishops and Deacons Phil 1 1. Of these Elders some were to Rule the Church and also to Teach her Heb 13 7. 17. Others only to Rule 1 Tim. 5. 17. Which also was the practice of the first Antiquity and it s desuerude complained of by Ambrose in the end of the fourth Century And there are few of the Fathers in the first three Centuries but they mention Sentores Ecclesiae that represented the People in the Government of the Church with the Ministers 4 ly How the Officers of Gods House should be qualified is at length set down 1 Tim. 3. 2. under the Name of Bishops which was the Name of all Church Rulers and Deacons and Tit. 1. 6. 5 ly Their work is fully set down both negatively that they should not be intangled with worldly Affairs 2 Tim. 2. where having mentioned Ordination of Ministers vers 2. he requireth them vers 3 and 4. as Souldiers to endure hardness and to be abstracted from worldly Business which is to be understood as much as their necessity doth permit Also positively it is told us in general that they are directed in this 1 Tim. 3. 14 15 and particular Directions are given about Preaching and that in all the parts of it 2 Tim. 4. 1 2. Censures 1 Cor. 5 4. 5. 2 Thess. 3. 14. Ordination 2 Tim 2. 2. II Tim. 5. 22. 6 ly In all these Ministers and Elders have no Lordly Authority over the People but must act as Christs Servants and theirs in order to their Salvation 1 Pet. 5. 3. 2 Cor. 4. 5. yet they have real and proper though Ministerial Authority under Christ. 7 ly It is not only of Divine Authority natural that there be a Government in the Church Anarchy and Confusion in any Society being contrary to the Dictates of natural reason but the Lord Jesus hath positively revealed his will in this He having expresly committed the Keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven to his Servants and that for binding and loosing retaining and remitting of Sins The Authoratative inflicting of Censures whereby the man is declared to be free from guilt and that his Sin is pardoned so far as Men can discern 8 ly What should be the Species of this Government is not left indifferent to Men whether the Magistrate or the Church to chuse but is determined by Christ and revealed in the New Testament In that he hath appointed what Officers should be in his House how they should be Chosen and Authorized viz. by Election and Ordination what should be their Qualifications and Work How they should manage their work and rule the Church in common That the Apostles committed the Ordination of Ministers to the Presbytery 1 Tim 4. 14. and the Censures of the Church to a Community 1 Cor 5 2 Cor. 2. And not to one person even in their own time is an unanswerable argument for this their example being declarative of the mind of God where no peculiar reason appeareth for their Action 9 ly This Government the Lord hath not committed to Magistrates who have no power to Ordain nor deprive Ministers or Elders nor to Excommunicate or to relax
from that Sentence Nor to administer or manage any part of that Work that is peculiar to the Church as it is a Religious Society nor to appoint how the Church should be governed But he hath committed it to the Church Guides Ministers and Ruling Elders for to them are all the Directions about it given in the Word not to the Magistrates they are to give an account of it Heb. 13 17. They did manage it for diverse hundreds of years when there was no Magistrate that did own or countenance Christianity And there is no hint in Scripture nor Principle of reason that can evince that this Power should devolve into the hands of the Magistrate when he should become Christian neither are any Directions given to the Magistrate how he should administer any of the Ordinances of Christ. 10 ly Yet we own the Civil Magistrate as Nursing Father of the Church and Custos utriusque tabulae legis Upon which account he is not only to provide 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the Church and to procure her Peace and Unity by all good means as repressing of Heresie Schism and other Disorders wherein he is to use a judgement of Discretion and not blindly to execute the Sentence of the Church but also may require all the Officers and Members of the Church to do what is their Duty And that he may when the Case requireth convocat Synods and Indict times of Fasting and Thanskgiving Though for these we assert an intrinsick Power in the Church to which that of the Magistrate is not privative but cumulative For we maintain a twofold Kingdom of Christ one as God over all men in which the Magistrate is his Vicegerent another as Mediator over the Church as such in which he hath Deputed no Magistratical but only Ministerial Power We hold also that the Persons and Actions of Church-men are subject to the Civil Magistrate and that they may be punish'd when they transgress the Laws 11 ly This Ministerial governing Power in the Church the Lord hath not committed to all the Members nor to all the Males thereof But hath made a manifest distinction between Rulers and Ruled in the Scriptures mentioned already 12 ly The Lord hath equally intrusted all his Servants the Ministers not only with the power of dispensing the Word and Sacraments but also with the power of Governing the Church Which by his appointment and acoording to the practice of the first and best Ages of the Churches ought to be and was done in common by Ministers acting in Parity and not by a single Prelate set over the rest This is accknowledged by most and the most eminent of our Prelatick Brethren And must be so by all of them who do not plead for a Divine Right of Episcopacy Besides that neither Names Directions or Reproofs given to Church Guides in Scripture do import any such imparity of Power nor is their any footstep of the exercise of it in Scripture to infer this disparity of Power from that of the Apostles is most inconsequential They being Universal Extraordinary Unfixed and temporary Officers whom the Lord immediatly called and abrogated their Office with their Death in that he neither called others to succeed in that Power nor gave any hint that it should be done by the Church It is as if one should say the Church was once governed Monarchically by a visible Head viz. While Christ was on Earth Ergo It should be so still Which no Protestant will aver The Argument in Timothy and Titus is of the same Kidney they being extraordinary and unfixed Officers and so no precedent for after times Neither can any Argument be drawn from the Angels of the Churches words not being often used properly in that mystical Book and we know that Theologia Symbolica non est Argumentativa Besides that the Angel of Thyatyra was certainly a community being spoken to in the plural Number Revel 2. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 13 There being no disparity of power amongst Ministers by Christs grant of power to them No man can make this disparity by setting One over the Rest Neither can they devolve their power on One of themselves For Christ hath given no such warrant to Men to dispose of His Ordinance as they see fit And power being delegated to them by him they cannot so commit it to another to exercise it for them as to deprive themselves of it Also it being not a License only but a Trust of which they must give an account they must perform the work by themselves as they will be answerable But we must contract not being now disputing but asserting what we shall be ready to defend as occasion shall be offered 14 We assert Presbyterial Government to be so of Divine Right as We can make no composition with men about it though none shall be more condescending to them that are otherwise minded in what is consistant with Truth and necessary Duty then we Yet it is not alike so in all the parts of it For some parts of it are of Christs institution as the officers of the Church the Laws and Censures of it And others of the dictates of natural Reason which is also a Beam of Divine Light as that there be a Government and meeting for managing of it that one preside in them that lesser and greater parts of the Church had their meetings as Congregational Classical Provincial and National Assemblies for Government that there be a subordination and appeals amongst these To require positive assertions of Scripture warranting every one of these though there want not Scripture examples and other hints to countenance severals of them is as unreasonable as if we should be called to bring a text to prove that we should come in to the publick assemblies cloathed and not naked In an usual and not in an antiquat Garb 15 Whether the Moderator or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of ruleiâ—g Church meetings should continue for one or more Diets or for how long a time is not determined by any institution of Christ not by any general dictate of natural Light Yet we judge a constant Moderator highly inconvenient and by all means to be shuned For it he be imposed on the meeting it is an encroachment on their intrinsick power of governing themselves in such things as are peculiar to them And though chosen by themselves fatal and constant examples together with the inclinanations of men to usurpation do shew it to have so violent tendency to Lordly Prelacy as rately doeth it fail or the bad effects nor can be expected not to Issue in it We maintain that no Church Judicature ought to cognosce of Affairs of State nor of Mens civil Rights or Interests except their advice should be sought by the Magistrat concerning Sin or Duty in any such matter As if the thing be manifestly Scandalous and evidently dangerous to the interest of Religion and the Souls of Men. Neither do they inflict any punishment save
Spiritual Censures Their work is to enquire into and declare controverted Truths to censure Scandalous Sinners to try and ordain Ministers to absolve the penitent by applying the comforts of the Gospel to them and such like Wherefore there is no Ground of Fear that they should Clash or Cope with the Magistrate unless they go beyond their line in which case they fall under the Magistrats coercive power 16 The way how men come into any office or power in the Church is by Election of the People which designeth the Person in which Election as in other things they are to be under the conduct and Regulation of the Church Guides and ordination by laying on of the hands of the Presbytery which is the meane of communicating authority to him and the former of these ought to preceed the latter For we find no warrand for a Ministerium Vagum in the Church seeing even in times of great trouble and Persecution we read of none ordained by the Apostles but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the suffrages of the People 17 Though superintendency that is a power of inspection delegated from the Church to one used in case of necessity when a qualified Minister could hardly be had in a Province he might for a time be appointed to oversee them who could do little more then read the word publickly that is no warrant for bringing qualified Ministers under that subjection in a constituted Church where there are through the mercy of God competent number of Ministers If our Principle be rightly understood we confidently hope they will sugest grounds of answer for most of the objections made against us to the minds of the intelligent and unbyassed Yet we shall endeavour to afford some farther light this way also 1 It is objected or rather we are reproached with by some that Presbyterial Church Government is inconsistant with civil Government Answ. 1. A simple denial is enough to stop the mouth of such bold Asserters Neither hath the World yet seen any topick except calumnies whereby this could be pretended to be proved 2 Experience proveth the contrary Civil Government is advantageously managed in several of the most eminent of the reformed Churches with that discipline of Christs House that we plead for And our own land is a confounding instance that might stop the mouth of impundence it self wherein Presbytery commenced with the Reformation from Popery and continued with much Peace till an bitious Men by labouring to unsettle it did disturb and at last overturn the State 3. We have already shewed how we give to Caesar that which is Caesar's And to God that which is Gods neither can our Adversaries make any Power appear to be due to the Magistrate but what we allow Him Indeed Errastians do require for the Magistrate some Power that the Presbyterians cannot approve of But this is not peculiar to us but common to all that assert a Government in the Church distinct from that of the State Which is the principle of Papists Prelatists that are only such and Independents as well as it is ours 4 Our obedience to Magistrates in all their Lawful commands and our peaceful sufferings of unjust violence are noâ—â—our to all that can behold us with an unprejudiced Eye And if instances can be given to the contrary the disloyalty of some is not to be impured to all for what party of men hath not afforded such instances and where the peace was broken by Men of our way which were but a few it was the fruit of such insupportable Severities and Hardships as even they could not have born who blame others for that practise As late Instances do make manifest 2 It is next objected that Presbytery and Monarchy are inconsistant No Bishop no King at least it is not so adapted to Monarchy as Pre lacy is and the Government of the Church should be so moulded as it may best sure that of the State Answ. 1 The falshood of the Assertion and maxim is evident from what hath been said Presbytery and Monarchy have well consisted in our own Land and in France 2 None maintaine more loyal Principles towards Kings then Presbyterians do who think themselves oblidged to feare God and Honour the King And were alwayes ready to obey him in the Lord. 'T is true they cannot give him unlimited Obedience But this is not as they are Presbyterians but as they are men of Conscience and will obey God rather than Man which I hope the Objecters will not say is peculiar to Presbyterians If they do and plead for the publick Conscience as some of them have done to the laying aside the use of particular Consciences in the actions that are moral which is to introduce practical Atheism They do not hurt our cause but their own 3. Our practice hath also been Loyal in abhoring the Murder of King Charles the first and in contributing the most effectual endeavours to restore His Son And in owning and submitting to a King of a contrary Religion so long as our Religion and Liberties were in any tolerable safety or the Laws that were the measure of our Obedience were any way regarded and what was then done was not by us alone 4 It is boldly alledged but not proved that the Church Government should be fram'd according to that of the State for that may be various but this is one And was so under the old Testament though the Civil Government varied 3 'T is said that Presbyterians encroach on the Authority of the Magistrate by medling with state Affairs Answer 1 Our principle in this is already declared And whatever Instances of former times this allegation may seem to be built on had their rise from Statesmen taking the advice of Church Men in their assemblies Who sometimes gave advice contrary to the inclination of the leading Men of the State And if their zeal for a good Interest led them at any time to press their advice with Reasons and Threatnings from the word of God And if some excess did happen this way the blame lay on them who gave the first rise to it Besides this when the actings of Rulers have a manifest and direct tendency to lead People into sinful Courses such as imposing of unlawful Oaths and engaging people in a false Religion who could be silent without unfaithfulness to God and cruelty both to to the Souls of Rulers and People Another answer may be by retorting this Argument on the prelatick Clergy Do not Bishops fit in the Counsels and interpose directly and formally in affairs of state which Presbyterians never pretended to 4 The rigidity of Presbyterians is objected Answ. 1 Can any man have the brow to compare the rigidity of Presbyterians with that of either Papists or Prelatists either in bearing with no dissent from their way even in the least matters and which themselves count indifferent or in the Bloody and cruel way of Persecuting such as dissent by
the constant practice of the Church was to give such deference to â—â—em as they were Generally satisfyed with the Elections And they may still be perswaded that it will be the care of Elderships and Presbytries to do nothing that they can Justly complaine of Besides that it may be presumed that no Minister who regardeth his being useful or his own Peace and Comfort will enter into a place with the dislike of any considerable part of the People either for Number or Quality If it be objected that there were great Divisions and Tumults about Elections in and about the Year 1650. Answer 1. So there were in the primitive Church which the Advocats for Patronages use as an Argument against our Opinion And yet that Church did not think of such a Remedy as puting the Election in the hand of one single Person nor of taking it from the People 2. At the time mentioned there was a lamentable Schism in the Church about other Matters and therefore it was no wonder it appeared in this Matter also People were for choosing Ministers that were of the same Sentiment with them about the things then in Controversie and this Schism was Industriously kept up and promoted by the Rulers that then had enslaved this Nation by force of Armes and made use of Our Factions to wreath their Yoake on our Necks It is a wide consequence to infer from this that the priviledge of choosing their own Pastors should alwise be taken from the People of God 3. When divisions appear in this matter the controversie is to be decided by the Session or Presbytery Synod or General Assemblies And if it amount to the breach of the Peace the Magistrate is to interpose his Authority These are the proper remedies of such divisions and not to deprive both parties of that which is their Right and Christs grant to them because they cannot agree about it It were a strange way of composing Civil contendings about Meum and Tuum if that which they con end about should be taken from both and given to a third Person the better way is the judge competent is to decide in favour of him who is found to have the best Right if Arbitrators cannot compremise the matter So it is here Another Objection the 10 Is concerning a question that ariseth from the present circumstances of this Church under which it is Judged Necessary that the Goverement of the Church should be in its first setlement in the hands only of them who are known to be truely Presbyterian Before we consider what is objected against this It may be nedful to lay down the case And the grounds of the necessity of what we desire resulting from it It is then to be considered That the Church of Scotland hath almost ever been Presbyterian It received that Government with Christianity and retained it while the Antichristian Doctrine and Government prevailed in other parts as hath been of late made appear And after it had been overrun by Popery it was reformed by Presbyters and that Government as it is founded on Scripture so it hath continued in this Church ever since the reformation save that it had some short interruption which did alwayes breed disquiet in the minds of People and troubles in the Nation and sufferings to some of the most Sober and best of the Ministers and People And when in the Yeare 1662 That Government was suppressed and Prelacy set up by an Act of Parliament this deed was never consented to by the National Church but Presbytery as it had been settled by the Authority of the Church and State so continued and doeth continue settled by the Authority of the Church Whence it may rationally be deduced that the Ministers that entred by and under Prelacy neither had nor have any Right to be Rulers in the Presbyterian Church they having had no call nor Authority given them from her whatever they might have in another Church that the State set up in the Nation beside the Church that then was in being from which a great Body of Ministers and People did dissent which Authority they were never suffered to exercise even in their own Church It is also to be considered that on this happy Revolution the King and Parliament have been pleased to abolish Prelacy And have declared their Resolution by their Authority to settle Presbyterian Government From this it followeth that the Prelatick Clergy should not be admitted to a share in this Government Except such of them as shall by the Presbyterian Church be found qualified for the Ministry and such from whom there is no hazard of overturning that Government that now is intended to be established For they being more in number than the Presbyterians is it to be imagined that Presbyterian Government can be safe in their Hands or that they will not erect a prelacy in the Church or something instead of it or some way that is inconsistant with Presbytery in its purity And there being many among them known to be Insufficient Scandalous or erroneous It is not possible that the Church can be purged of such if they have the Government but rather there is an hazard that the best Men should be cast out and that by Church Authority least they should stand in the way of their Designs Wherefore as they have no just Right to such power So Necessity which quicquid coegit defendit doth barr their Exercise of such power in the present juncture Mean while Presbyterians do declare that they do not desire that all these Men should be restrained from the parochial exercise of their Ministry And that who ever among them as soon as the Church can be in case to purge her self is not proved to be Insufficient Scandalous Erroneous or extremely negligent shall be cordially received into Her Society And have the full Exercise of their Ministry And that where uncontroverted Scandals cannot be charged on them none shall be dealt with as Scandalous because of their having had a Hand in this late publick Defection These things thus laid down let us hear what is objected against this course 1 st This is to set up Prelacy among Ministers even while it is so much decry'd that a few should have Rule of the Churches and the rest excluded Answ. It is no Prelacy but a making distinction between Ministers of one Society and thâ—se of another Though they be Ministers they are not Ministers of the Presbyterian Church they have departed from it we have continued in the good old way that they and we professed It is not then unreasonable that if they will return to that Society they should be admitted by it and not be Imposed on it to overturn it At the Reformation from Popery was it a Prelacy in the few Protestant Ministers that they were not willing to let the Popish Priests govern the Church Or did Nehemiah and the Iews pretend to any power over Tobiah Sanbaliat and their party that they would not suffer them to build with them Pardon these Comparisons they are not intended to parallel our Brethen with either of these sorts of Men except in this that they are not of the Presbyterian Church more than those others were of the Protestant or Iewish Church and that there is hazard from them to our way as well as there was from the other to their wayes Obj. 2. By this means the lesser party in the Church of Scotland shall exclude the greater from the Government Ans This is not absurd where the greater party have left the Church they were of and the lesser hath abode in it or rather are left as the constituent Members of it And when that greater party hath set up another frame of a Church which they are now forced to part with when they would return to the former way they cannot Incorporate again with them who abode in it without their consent especially where this consent is ready to be given on any tolerable Security for the way that the lesser party doth oâ—â—e and the other departed from Obj. 3. What warrant is there for leaving to these men the Parochial exercise of their Ministry and to deprive them of the other part of if seeing the exercise of the Ministry in Teaching and Ruling is Quid Indivisum Answ. There are two Reasons for this one is the necessity of the Church which for such a critical interim as our lot is fallen into may warrant that which out of such an exigence and for a constant continuance in the Church were unwarrantable It is necessary on the one hand that the Parishes be not deprived of their Labours lâ—st a great part of the Country should be destitute of all Gospel Ordinances It is as necessary on the other hand that they have not Ruling Power in the Church with the Pâ—esbyterians left that Government which Christ hath instituted and which is now designed to be Settled be over-turned And we know that many things may be done in turbato Statu Ecclesiae such as we now are in which ought not to be allowed in paccato Ecclesiae Statu Another reason is we do neither deny their Teaching nor their Ruling Power Yet Teaching being common to the one Church way with the other we may well allow to them the exercise of that among us while Ruling being different in their way and ours and the principle that they hold in it being eversive of our way it is rational to deny them a share among us Not to insist on farther Objections whatever inconveniences may seem to follow on this conduct may be answered by the force of Necessity already held forth and objected by the speedy settling the Church upon its right Basis. FINIS LICENSED Aprile the 18. 1690.
Massacres Inquisitions horrid Tortures Imprisonment Fining and strange Severities Is there any thing that can be alledg'd against Presbyterians that can be once compared with the Persecutions that many in the west of Scotland and elsewhere have lately Endured Yea Independents cannot compare with the Moderation of Presbyterians For they most of them will not communicate with any but of their own way And so with none but those of their own Congregation which is far from Our way As for Anabaptists and Quakers They own none for Members of the Church but Men of their own Stamp So that it may be on good ground said That Presbyterians are the most Moderate of any Party that pretend to Religion 2. That which Men call Rigidity in Presbyterians is mostly against Men's Immoralities that are unquestionable such If other Men be Gentle to these it may recommend them to wicked Men's good liking but will not render them acceptable to God This strictness of discipline against scandalous Sins is injoined in Scripture and we go not beyond the bounds there set we rebuke such before all we do not punish them in their Bodies or Purses and our strictness falleth very far short of that of the primitive times as every one who hath read any thing of the History of the ancient Church knoweth both their Catechumeni were detained from Church priviledges and their Penitents put to long and hard Pennance at another rate then any thing that we do 3. Wherein lyeth the Regidity of Our discipline Do not our Ministers deale with them who fall into scandalous sins with all Meekness and Tenderness admonishing them laying before them the Evil and Danger of their way the necessity of Repentance the hope of Mercy through Christ that there is to the penitent It is our way even where the Sinner is most obstinate and rejecteth all advice to wait for many weeks before we proceed to Excommunication that that dreadful Sentence if possible may be prevented We give publick Admonition three several Lords dayes and sometimes oftner We poure out Prayers to God not only in secret but with the Congregation as long that the Sinner may be turned from his evil way And after all this we use to wait Patiently for the Mans Repentance If he appear Penitent the Sentence doth not pass against him and after Sentence is past upon the hardned Sinner if afterward he shew any signs of Repentance how readily is he received into the Church again and we chearefully confirme our love to him And where Church Censures are used it is not for Worldly matters not paying Church dues as is the practice of some others not for small offences but for Gross and Scandalous Sins 4. For their severity toward such as differ from them in Principles they think it their Duty not to bear them that are Evil and to try them that say they are Apostles and are not They have a zeal against Errour Disorders and Usurpations in the Church and cannot understand how they who do not own Presbyterial Government should be the managers of it Yet can use that Moderation and resolve to do so when opportunity shall be put in their hand as not to deny Church Communion to any sober and Religious Person though of a contrary sentiment to them in these inferior points of Truth 5 ly Another Objection is from the Indiscretion of the present Ministers of this way Their want of that Learning Prudence and other good parts that may fit them to manage so great a Trust as is the Government of the Church Answ. We know these are the diminutive thoughts that our Adversaries have of us And we have not such high thoughts of our selves as to magnifie our selves We have cause to be humbled as we hope we are in some measure for our imperfections both in Gifts and Grace Yet we may and must being thus put to it say that there want not men amongst us who fall not short in Ministerial Qualifications of them who have lately had the Rule of the Church and for the generality of us it is the Opinion of the World and of unbyassed men yea even of some that are not of our way that these of the other party have no cause in their Glorying over us in this 2 Church Government doth not require any great degree of politick Accomplishment A plain Man who understandeth the Laws of Christ and the Scripture Directions concerning Censures is fitter to Govern the Church than a great Statesman is 3. Any Indiscretion that of late years hath appeared in our Conduct may and should be imputed to our want of Liberty to govern the Church Every one among Ministers and People did what was right in his own Eyes and we do not deny but there are some Indiscreet persons among us as there are in all parties And even wise Men in our Circumstances could not shon some Acts that might seem Indiscreet either to Adversaries or to less considering Persons 6 ly The Divisions of Presbyterians are objected Answ. 1. Where are these not to be found neirher Bishop nor Pope have been able to keep them out of the Church or from among their own Party 2 Our Divisions we do not deny or approve we are men of like Passions with others We labour to shun Divisions as much as is possible and through Grace have come to more Unity than they who reproach us with our Divisions 3. The Divisions that were among us as we deny not that our Mistakes and Corruptions had a hand in them so we knew that Enemies were active to promote and heighten them Which though it excuse not us a toto yet it doth a tanto and put our Enemies in mala fide to reproach us with them 4. The Unity that the Prolatick party made in the Church was like that of a conquering Tyrant who beholdeth all that oppose him slain before him there was peace to the King and Haman when there was none to the people of God the Unity of some is a Combination in Errour and the result of a Conquest over mens Consciences that now dare not mutter against the 〈◊〉 of their Imposing Task-matters We think contending about Truth more desirable than such peace It is known that our Church enjoyed such Unity for many years after the Reformation as was Celebrated by Churches Abroad as is evident from the Preface to Corpus Confessionum till ambitious men began to trouble her with their Innovations and Usurpations and so were the cause of Division 7. Many Object that if Presbyterians get Power they will force all to make public Repentance who have owned Bishops taken the Test or other Oaths that they dislike Ans. Our principle is that that publick Scandals ought to be publickly rebuked yet there are Cases in which the strickness of Discipline in this matter may and must be relaxed I shall name two 1. When the matter of Offence is controverted and the sinful practice is from the mis-information of the
Conscience Where the matter is not of the highest moment and the person appeareth Conscientiously to follow his Light Church Discipline may then be forborn 2. When the fault is universal either the whole or the greater part or a great part of the Church is guilty The rigour of Censure that otherwise might be due is to be abated even the primitive Church though very severe in Discipline used a great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this Case When many or most had fallen in Persecution though the crime was of the highest nature even denying the Faith A general Humiliation of the whole Church may be in stead of particular application of Censures I hope there is no cause of fear from Men of such moderate Principles If in this or any thing else we have been chargeable with Excess as who can clear himself of all blame I hope our riper Thoughts Studies and Sufferings by the Blessing of God on them hath taught us and will engage us to let our Moderation be known to all men considering that the Lord is at hand And though we have been severely Beaten by our Fellow Servants yet we will stand in awe and be loath that the Lord when he cometh should find us so doing to them 8 ly Some Object That in this way Ministers may Domineer over People even the greatest Men at their pleasure Answ. Beside that they must walk by the Rule set down in the Word and if they exceed that bounds they may be curbed by Superior Judicatories Or if their Insolence amount to the disturbing of the peace the Magistrate may restrain them We say beside this the Ministers do nothing alone but with the peoples Representatives the Elders who may be of the Nobles or any other Rank as they are qualified for that Work and chosen to it by the Church Some other Objections are tossed among Men that talk of these things which do not so much concern Presbyterial Government in general as some parts of it or things about it that are now in agitation The 9 th Objection then may be framed against the taking away the Election of Ministers by Patrons viz. That if that be done men of Note and Interest in Parishes may be over-ruled by the multitude which often is ignorant and heady and have Ministers imposed on them Answ 1 That Patronages are an intolerable Grievance and yoak of Bondage on the Church and have alwayes been the cause of pestering the Church with a bad Ministry and a temptation to Intrants please the Patron farther than to his Edification rather than to please God Beside the Simoniacal buying and selling of Gospel Ordinances that frequently and in all times have attended this Device of Men But which is worst of all that it is a direct crossing Christ's Institution and a robing his people of the priviledge he hath bequeathed to them These things I say are fully proved elsewhere And therefore if it be supposed that the Incovenience mentioned should follow from taking away of Patronages yet it will not I hope move them who regard Christ's Institutions or the good of his Church the Salvation and Edification of Souls to be for their continuance 2 The same inconvenience was apt to follow on popular Election in other Ages of the Church and yet in the Apostles times and in the first and best Ages till the seventh or eight Century or later Patronages were not settled in the Church they came in among the latest Antichristian Corruptions and Usurpations The primiâ—ive Christians were not so tender of their Grandeur and such priviledges as their rank in the World gave them nor so little tender 〈◊〉 the Liberties of the Church and the Interest of Christians as such And if any such pretensions appeared to be owned by the Grandâ—â—â— of these times they met with a severe Check and that in lesser matters than acclaiming a Power of choosing Ministers for the whole Churchâ— as appeareth by the Apostles reproving the Distinction even in 〈◊〉 Seats in their Assemblies that was made between the Man with the Gold Ring and gay Cloathing and the Man in Vile Raiment We are content to allow great Men all due Respect but not to complement them with what is Christs Legacy to his People And therefore we hope That they who are willing to subject themselves to the Laws of Christ will be content to stand on equal Ground tho we be far from aiming at the Leveling principle in other things with their poor Brethren in the Church with respect to Church priviledges which belong not to Men as Poor or Rich as Great or Small but as they are Christs Disciples 3. It is carefully to be Observed that the Election of a Minister is not to be left to the Management of the confused Rabble tho' the meanest adult male Member of the Church hath a Right to assent or dissent but it is to be ordered by the Eldership and that under the inspection of the Presbytery and by the Presbytery where no Congregational Elderships is in the Number of which Elders it is to be supposed that Heâ—etors and Men of Interest in the Paroch will be if they be tolerably qualifyed for and will undertake such an Office and then they have a special hand in the Election and cannot complain of being imposed upon And the Eldership is to exclude from having an hand in the Election them that are scandalous grosly ignorant Heady and Scismatick or any way disorderly And if Divisions fall in the Elders are Judges of the difference between the two Parties and are to consider the Reasons on both Hands and to ponder and weigh as well as to Number the Votes They ought also to exclude from voting in such Elections all such as are not fixed Members of the Congregation And to lay more weight on the suffrages of them that are more fixed and less on them that are otherwise caeteris paribus For though Christianity maketh one a Member of the Church Catholick yet a fixed abode is needful to make one a Member of and to give a share in the priviledges of that particular Flock But how to limit this fixation is not easie For though some be manifestly unfixed as servants and others are manifestly fixed as ancient inhabitants who are like to continue long in that place yet there may be a midle sort who cannot be determined by General Rules but it must be left to the prudence of the Church to judge in this If these things be duely considered Great Men need not fear having a Minister obtruded on them especially if we add that Men of interrest usually are able to influence those that live under them or that do depend upon them 4. In the times wherein Patronages were taken away by Law Men of Interest and Respect found no cause to complaine of being â—â—â—â—osed upon but the Church laid down such directions as may b◠〈◊〉 in the Acts of the General Assembly August 4. 1649. Sess 4â— And