hands suddenly upon any one Hee had power therefore of the imposition of hands and to ordain Presbyters For the charge is particularly directed to him and not to them even as wee shall see it afterwards in the Church of Crete where the power of ordination is as peculiar to Titus as here to Timothy and in neither places committed to the Presbyters This therefore made one say that Their hands without His will not serve His without Theirs might An Apostle did so to him meaning to Timothy and he a Bishop might doe it to others For the Apostle doth not say here Lend thy hand to be laid on with others but appropriates it as his owne act saying even to him in particular Lay hands suddenly upon no man neither partake of other mens sias Bee there then what Presbyters there will although the Bishop and so is the practice of our Church may joyne their hands to his owne yet that they alone without him can make a man a lawfull Minister is utterly denied for a meere Presbyter or many Presbyters of themselves did never ordain others into the holy Ministery And Epiphanius gives the reason of it For how can it be saith he that a Priest should create qui potestatem imponendi manus non habet who hath no power of the imposition of hands Hierome himselfe could say Excepta ordinatione who being no fast friend to Bishops may be the better heard without suspition Quid enim facit Episcopus excepta ordinatione quod Presbyter non facit For what doth a Bishop except ordination which a Presbyter also doth not they be his owne words in an Epistle written to Evagrius And in the dayes of Athanasius when that worthy Hosius was also famous there was one Colluthus a certain Priest of Alexandria who tooke upon him to ordaine Presbyters but the Church in a generall Councell convented him and pronounced against his ordination that it was no other then a meere Nullity Quo pacto igitur Presbyter Ischyras aut quo tandem authore constitutus nunquid scilicet a Collutho saith Athanasius in his second Apologie Ischyras was no Priest because ordained by Colluthus He is therefore not onely opposed whilst hee had the holy cup in his hand but even devested afterwards of his pretended orders and with all the rest which Colluthus undertooke to maâ—e put amongst the Laicks ranked in their order and under their name admitted to the holy Supper But some perhaps will say that Paul and Barnabas in Acts 13.3 received imposition of hands by the Presbyters of Antioch and therefore meere Presbyters may ordaine No sure never a jot the more for this Imposition of hands was for more causes then one both Paul and Barnabas were in the Ministery before this and therefore by that which was now done they received not their consecration into holy orders It may rather be said that Paul had his ordination from Ananias a certaine Disciple of Damascus because he before this came and laid his hands upon him as we read in Act. 9.17 But neither was this to ordaine him into holy orders in regard that his calling was immediate and therefore saith he to those of Galatia that he was an Apostle not of men neither by man but by Iesus Christ God the Father Gal. 1.1 And to the Corinthians That he was not inferior to the very chiefe Apostles as he hath likewise told us in the 2. Cor. 12.13 What then It is true that God gave extraordinary gifts in those dayes even to the healing of the sicke and curing of the diseased in which regard S. Paul being blinde through the bright lustre of the vision is cured when Ananias comes laies his hands upon him and is also filled with the holy Ghost which seems to be for the strengthening of him after his conversion and for his settlement in Religion and the saith of Christ for we see that it was done by the speciall appointment of God and not so much before hee went abroad to preach as before hee was received into the Church by holy Baptisme yea the whole businesse was extraordinary even in respect of the instrument who had an immediate direction and an extraorinary gift to doe in this all that he did be it for what it will And as for them at Antioch they were not onely teachers but Prophets by whom the Holy Ghost declared likewise that they must separate Barnabas and Saul from the rest of the Ministers or Disciples there and not now make them Ministers that they were before yet because they must bee gone from them and goe further abroad among the Gentiles they solemnly commend them to the grace of God for they fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them and let them goe the expresse words of the text so that this may be rather termed a Manumission then an Ordination And all this while the way is plaine But there is yet a place in the first Epistle to Timothy chap. 4. verse 14. which is also urged to prove that Presbyters may ordaine the words being taken by some as if Timothy received his consecration into holy Orders by the hands of Presbyters But if Saint Paul may be suffered to be his owne interpreter he afterward shewes us that this was otherwise for I put thee in remembrance saith he that thou stirre up the gift of God which is in thee by the laying on of my hands 2 Tim. 1.6 His then were the hands that ordained Timothy and according thereunto is the charge that hee also gave to the said Timothy when he bade him Lay hands suddenly upon no man there being no one word to invest every ordinary Presbyter with the like power What is it then The text objected saith not Neglect not the gift that is in thee c. by the imposition of the hands of the Presbyters nor by the imposition of the hands of a Presbytery but by the imposition of the hands of Presbytery that is by the laying upon thee the hands of Ordination termed the hands of Presbytery or Priesthood because that 's the office into which the party consecrated is then ordained more then which cannot bee fairely gathered thence especially seeing the Apostle doth so clearly put the matter out of doubt by saying that his were the hands that ordained Timothy as in that before I have already shewed And indeed if Timothy were ordained by a Presbytery then by more then one but Saint Paul in that other place hath said that his hands and no other were imposed on him Nor is this but granted even by Calvin himselfe to be the right sense of the place as in the fourth booke of his Institutions at the third Chapter is manifest But leaving Timothy looke next at Titus the large Island of Crete is expresly committed to his peculiar charge in which were many Cities and he expresly said to be set over them all no mention being made of any other For For this cause left I
tribe of thine inheritance and mount Sion wherein thou hast dwelt Lift up thy feet that thou maist utterly destroy every enemy which hath done evill in thy Sanctuary Thine adversaries roare in the middest of thy Congregations and set up their Banners for tokens He that hewed timber afore out of the thick trees was known to bring it to an excellent worke But now they breake down all the carved worke thereof with axes and hammers All which being spoken by a man after Gods own heart is of current weight and without exception I may therefore turn againe now to follow what is next in the Dialogue And that which is next is about the order prescribed by the Church in the Visitation of the sick in which because you have some exceptions the same with what we have heard from you already in certain other passages shall not here be again repeated DIALOGUE Gent. What form of Prayer doth the Service-book prescribe for sicke persons Min. It prescribeth no form to be used in the Church Gent. What then Min. The Minister must go to their houses and salute them as the Masse-Priest doth saying Peace be to this house and to all that dwell in it and when he is come where the sick person is he must kneele kc. ANSWER And why I pray doe you quarrell with this Christ taught his Disciples so to salute the house into which they entred Math 10.12,13 and Luk. 10.5,6,7 And may not the Ministers since those times doe the like but be blamed for their labours You fight with your own shaddow and quarrell without a cause as is most apparent There be six duties of charity of which our Saviour will speak at the latter day and to come and visite the fick is one of them Math. 25.35,36 Nor is it in the Minister but even a work also of his office And therefore being sent for he commeth to pray with instruct comfort and strengthen the sick party For Is any man sick among you let him call for the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him Jam. 5.14 This order then is not without a scripture rule But you have a further quarrell and that 's against our absolving the sick person from all his sinnes in the name of the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost Why man if it be done in the name of the blessed Trinity it is not by any primary or originall power that is in our selves For the Bishops and Pastours of the Church doe not forgive sinne by any absolute power of their own for so only Christ their Master forgiveth sinnes but ministerially as the servants of Christ and stewards to whose fidelity their Lord and Master hath committed his Keyes If you aske me how Christ came by this power seeing none can forgive sinnes but God I answer first that he had it by Commission from God it was a power given him by his Father and so we reade in Joh. 20.21 Secondly he had it through the Union of the God-head and Manhood into one person For though it be true that as he was God he had it of himselfe yet not so as he was Man For as he was Man he had it by virtue of the Union from God Now this he transfers further Peter had a promise that the Keyes of the Kingdome of Heaven should be given but this promise was not accomplished untill afterwards not untill the day of Christs Resurrection whereupon we reade in as plain words as may be That the same day at night which was the first day of the weeke and when the doores were shut where the Disciples were assembled for feare of the Jews came Jesus and stood in the midst and said unto them Peace be unto you And when he had so said he shewed unto them his hands and his sides Then were the Disciples glad when they had seen the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again Peace be unto you As my Father sent me so send I you And when he had said that he breathed on them and said unto them receive the holy Ghost Whosoevers sinnes yee remit they are remetted unto them and whosoevers sâ—nnes ye retaine they are retained Joh. 20.19,20,21,22,23 When this promise was made to Peter although spoken to him in particular yet not with an intent to invest him solely in the thing promised as even the sequel and accomplishment thereof fully proveth Howbeit because he by his Confession gave answere for the rest and was the speaker for them when Christ said But whom say ye that I am therefore doth Christ direct his speech to him againe in particular who as he spake for them all so he is promised the Keyes in the behalfe of them all See Mat. 16.15,16,17.18,19 This then sheweth that S Peter was indued with no more power then the rest of the Apostles and therefore the Pope can claime no more then another Bishop and in that regard our Ordination is lawfull and right valid and firme although we goe not over to Rome to fetch it For so long as we have Bishops of our owne consecrated and installed into their Office as Bishops alwayes have been there is no doubt or scruple to be made Knowing therefore that when we take Ordination we also receive an holy and Ghostly authorioy not only in having the word of Reconciliation and dispensation of the Sacraments committed unto us but also of binding and loosing or of remitting and retaining sinnes we may not suffer our Church to be dâ—famed nor the Ministers thereof to be accounted Antichristian For hath our Saviour said Whose sinnes yee remit they are remitted and whose sinnes yee retain they are retained and shall any mortall man deny it His words are not Whose sinnes yee signifie to be remitted but Whose sinnes yee remit which the Author of the Practice of Piety no Papist sure hath well observed Nor is the same but granted by a distinction put between declare and pronounce For to declare is chiefly to shew Gods goodnesse towards penitent sinners which every good Christian may doe when he sees occasion for the comfort of his brother according to the truth of Gods gratious promises but to pronounce is to give sentence as a Judge in the name of him who hath the authority primarily in himselfe You speak of the key of Knowledge and explaine it well enough but that is not the sole key of binding and loosing and therefore not a thing which comes fully home to the purpose Whensoever therefore any sick person or burthened sinner shall unbosome himselfe to one of Gods ministers and shall heare him pronounce thus By the authority which Christ hath committed to me I doe absolve thee from all thy sinnes in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost then may the said Sinner rest assured that his sinnes are forgiven him and that God doth ratifie in Heaven what his Priest pronounceth on Earth The like may be said of one who for the present sees
not sufficiently into himselfe but by the striking of him with the terrours of the Law is brought to the full sight of his wretchednesse and by the glad tidings of the Gospell is raised up againe and kept from desperation namely That then God doth fully speake peace unto his soule when by the like Deputy he shall heare the like sentence of absolution Protestants saith Bishop * Protest Appeal p. 254. Morton doe greatly approve the use of private and voluntary confession when a man either suspecteth the unlawfulnesse of any action or else when he groaneth under the sensible guilt of a troubled soule and shall desire the way of curing his disease by the comfortable pronunciation of Gods pardon from the mouth of him who hath the commission thereof from God And in another place Idem in his Appeale p. 270. The power of Absolution saith he whether it he generall or particular whether in publike or in private it is professed in our Church where both in henpublike Service is proclaimed Pardon and Absolution upon all Penitents and a private applying of Absolution unto particular Penitents by the office of the Minister and greater power then this no man hath received from God thus he Bishop Vsher likewise against a Jesuites Challenge at the 109 page saith He hath done us open wrong in charging us to deny that Priests have power to forgive sinnes And he gives a reason irrefragable as another great Scholar termes it because he mentions hereupon that The formall words which our Church requireth to eused in the Ordination of a Miuister are these Whose sinnes thou dost forgive they are forgiven and whose sinnes thou distretaine they are retained The execution of which authority accordingly is put in practise in the Visitation of the Sicke And shall I further tell you you shall finde it noted in the Practise of Piety that Doctor Holland absolved Doctor Rainolds at his death who not being able to speake kissed the hand wherewith he was absolved And in the Conference at Hampton Court the said particular Absolution in the Common-Prayer-booke being read His * King James of blessed memory Majesty who was indeed a second Salomon exceedingly well approved it adding that it was Apostolicall and a very good ordinance in that it was given in the name of Christ to one that desired it and upon the clearing of his conscience Hath then Almighty God given such power unto Men as not only to publish the conditions of Peace and Reconciliation to the sonnes of Men viz. Credenti remittentur peccata if they beleeve they shall receive Remiffion but also to apply the comfortable assurance of Remission to this and that man in particular and upon the sight and approbation of Penitency to say I absolve thee Or is this doctrine of Confession and Absolution agreeable to the Scriptures and practise of the Church as well present as primitive Then that I may speake it in the words of our * â—… Boyse pag. 523. impres 1629. English Postiller albeit some scribling Scribe pen an invective pamphlet against a discreet Pastor executing this office or some selfe-conceited Pharisee tell the people this man blasphemeth he may notwithstanding upon good information of faith and repentance say to the fick sinner in his bed Thy sinnes are forgiven thee and by Christs authority committed unto him I absolve thee greater power then which no man ever received Thus tâ—en clave non errante if the Minister faile not in the key of knowledge that is in discerning and rightly judging of the penitentiall sorrow and contrition of the peccant his key of Power and Authority delegate is found effectually operative and hath in it as one truly speaketh M Bedford Treat os the Sacr. p. 60. the stampe of God for the quiet and content of the troubled conscience Qui vos audit 〈◊〉 audit he that heareth you heareth me Try this saith another See the Pract. of Pitty and tell me whether thou shalt not finde more ease in thy conscience then can be expressed Adding moreover that did prophane men consider the dignity of this Divine Calling they would the more honour the Calling and reverence the Persons For as God hath reconciled the world to himselfe by Jesus Christ so hath he given unto us the Ministry of this reconciliation as saith the Apostle in 2 Cor. 5.18 Verily the difference between the Papists and us in this point is very great They tie the keyes to the Popes girdle so as whoso hath them hath them not but from him He grants Absolutions sealed with Lead in forme of a Judiciall sentence of a Court although he know not how the party that he meanes to absolve stands affected or desires an Absolution Some have had Absolutions sent them from Rome for their monies others have caused them to come by Bills of Exchange The Pope under pretence of this power takes upon him to untie the knot of fidelity which Subjects owe to their naturall Prince he dischargeth men of their lawfull oathes and children of the obedience which they owe to their Parents A man they say may be absolved against his will no matter therefore for conditions requisite or qualifications of Faith and Repentance in the penitent Their Bishops and Priests they say forgive sinnes by the very word of Absolution or by the bare pronouncing of the words and syllables by a true and physicall efficiency reaching to the very production of grace as Suarez speaketh or to the dissolution and destruction or extinguishing of Sinne as Bellarmine affirmeth They faile also whilst they hold that at the will and pleasure of every Priest exercising the Keyes on earth men are bound and loosed in heaven without any proviso at all of Clave non errante And Bellarmine would faine make the world beleeve that the Keyes remaine in our Saviour Christs hand only at the vacancy of the Popedome Absolution is among them made a true and a right Sacrament They tie all upon paine of damnation to come to shrift thrusting this their auricular confession upon the soules of Christians as an expiatory Sacrifice and a meritorious satisfaction for sinne They leave none to liberty either to come or not to come to confesse or not to confesse but cry out that all who will be saved must necessarily goe on in this way though he feeles no distresse but having throughly fearched himself hath been truly sorrowfull already and received secret comfort from above Nor are they but tied to enumerate all their sinnes which is impossible Hugo in his booke of the Churches power to binde and loose speakesfully thus I dare boldly say quoth he if before the Priests absolution any man doe come to the Communion of the Body and Blood of the Lord that he doth assuredly eat and drinke his own damnation although be repent him never so much and doth never so greatly lament his offences But yet though Hugo were thus bold Saint Paul hath said Let a
Christians of the Primitive Church ANSWER The errour of Transubstantiation we detest as much as you but may not therefore fall in with you in your irreverence If the King offer us his hand to kisse we take it upon our knees How much more when the King of Heaven gives us his sonne in these pledges on whom wee feede in our hearts by Faith with Thanksgiving Another reason is because it is received in Prayer and if men will be ruled by reason they will not when they are to petition the King of Kings omit such a gesture of humility as kneeling is being the most sutable for a man at his prayers and for this cause we kneele at the Communions receiving whereat wee both lift up thankfull hearts unto God for the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ as also begge of God that by the merits thereof our bodies and soules may be preserved to everlasting life It would trouble you sure to derive our kneeling from the errour of Transubstantiation and therefore to no purpose doe you come in with the name of Pope Honorius and tell us of what was hatched at the Councell of Lateran If you were acquainted with Tertullians accipere reservare you would be ashamed to say that Pope Honorius was the first that brought in kneeling Adoration of the Host was indeed brought in by him but not kneeling without such adoration in the act of receiving for they kneeled at the Sacrament in Tertullians time and hee lived betimes and was flourishing about the yeare of our Lord 200. which was 1020. yeares before the Councell of Lateran But you thinke it a great matter I perceive to set up a Shaw-foule to scare a foole yet men of understanding will find you out To ollow on therfore that of Tertul. In the Primitive times were times of persecution when the christians could not meet so often as they would for feare of troubles they had also their Station dayes on which it was not lawfull to worship kneeling In the first case they did accipere reservare receive this Sacrament from the hands of the Priest at Church in severall portions and take it home and eate it there at such times as they thought it fit for their ghostly comfort that they might be sure to have it for their last Viaticum at the approach of sudden and unexpected danger but did not alwayes so for that were to overthrow the nature of the holy Supper and make the Communion to become a private eating And secondly on the dayes of station when they might not kneele they rather chose to forbeare the receiving and partaking of the holy Sacrament than to take it standing Tertullian therefore wisheth them to come though they might not kneele and take it standing at the Altar from whence they might bee suffered to carry it home and eate it at their owne houses kneeling The Leper which came to Christ as Saint Marke reports he kneeled and as St. Luke he fell on his face teaching us in prayer to fall down and kneele before the Lord our Maker He that worships God irreverently shewes himselfe not a Christian but a Manichee who thought God made the soule but not the body It is recorded of the Heathen that before they began their Sacrifices the Priest first beheld the people round about him and demanded 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who is here who is here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say the people againe meaning A company of good folkes Intimating hereby that if there were any there guiltie to themselves of any foule offence they should depart as unworthy the sight of those rites or mysteries of their religion which were then to bee performed And yet because they used to sit at their Sacrifices Tertullian blamed them Ter. lib. de Orâ—t cap 12. For esteeming them to bee Gods whom they worshipped they ought to shew more reverence than to sit before them whom they thought to bee Gods and thereupon inferreth Quanto magis sub conspectu Dei vivi Angelo adhuc orationis astante factum istud irreligiosissimum est Meaning that if it were irreligious for them to sit before their false Gods seeing they esteemed them for true ones it would be more irreligious for us to doe the like before the true God indeed But you say that the Apostles did not kneele when Christ Himselfe delivered the Bread unto them I answer that if this be a good argument then we should receive in no place but in an upper Chamber have no more company but twelve no women but men and take it at no time but after Supper al which we know is otherwise throughout the whole Christian world it being in the Churches power to alter matters of circumstance although she may not alter any matter of the essence or substance of either this or the other Sacrament The rule which we find in Scripture is 1 Cor. 14 40. that all things bee done decently and in order And without question what is reputed enough decently and orderly done at some time and place and upon some occasion is not so at another time and place where no like occasion is we doe not therefore make our selves wiser than Christ and his Apostles but follow the rule which his word affordeth So then if they sat when they received most like it was because they sat down to supper and were not yet risen from the Table nor did they know what their Master was about to do it was more than ever he did before They might perhaps be therefore lesse orderly than otherwise they would have beene And yet that they tooke it irreverently is no where manifest neither that their sitting was like your fashion of sitting but after another manner as differing from your sitting as kneeling is from standing Or however this is certaine that things were not brought into order but by degrees Saint Paul had else never said it that other things he would put in order when he came 1 Cor. 11.34 I tye you then still to Scripture For though the Kings Daughter be All glorious within Yet her cloathing is of wrought Gold Psal 45.13,14 so saith the Psalmist in the 45. Psalme at the 13. verse And whereas you terrifie us with the noise of Canons when you know how to alledge them to better purpose wee shall be willing to heare you For to urge Canons that were against Canons that are is nothing for you It shewes indeed your factious zeale in the way of Shismaticks and the desire that you have to separate from us although wee care as little for the Pope as you But because you talke of ancient Canons I will afford you one to your little comfort namely That with Heretikes or Shismatickes wee ought not to pray which Canon you may reade in the Code of Canons For the Universall Church authorized by the Emperour Iustinian And that you may the sooner finde it I direct you to the hundred and seven and
any receive his mark on the forehead and on the hand he shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God therefore some do keep their children unbaptized rather then have them marked with the mark of the beast ANSWER By that figne made on our foreheads is intented that we should be put in remembrance of that Christian warfare which every one baptized is to enter into and to continue in unto the end if he will be saved See Rom. 8.13 1 Tim. 6.1 Revel 2.10,11 chap. 21.7,8 So that we are not signed with the signe of the crosse in token of any superstitious matter but of a matter most necessary For though we walk in the flesh we do not warre after the flesh but are commanded to fight the good fight of Faith to endure hardnesse as a good souldier of Jesus Christ to be strong in the Lord and in power of his might to put on the whole armour of God whereby we may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devill and are taught not to glory save in the crosse of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto us and we unto the world nor is it but written that Michael and his Angels fight against the Dragon and his Angels Revel 12.7 And therefore we are to acquit our selves like men and must confesse the Faith of Christ crucified and must take unto us the whole armour of God whereby we may be able to withstand in the evill day and having done all to stand Eph. 6.13 Galat. 6.14 1 Tim. 6.12 2 Tim. 2.3 c. Now all these are main Christian duties and who so unfainedly endeavoureth to keep them needs not in any wise be offended at the signe used to put him in minde of them but will rather thank God that he is born in such a Church where not only the true Christian life is taught by tongue and pen but is also signified by some ceremony for ones more remembrance of the same The Israelites had their fringes on the borders of their garments with a ribban of blew that looking thereupon they might remember all the Commandements of the Lord Num. 15.38,39 Nor hath the Christian Church but power to appoint Ceremonies though the particulars be not as directly specified as was that to them of Israel for which we have a text in 1 Cor. 14.40 Shee therefore useth this godly Ceremony of signing with the signe of the Crosse for a good signification and transgresseth not no more then those in the daies of Joshua who built an Altar for which they had no command in the Law of Moses in regard they did it as do we for a good signification See Josh 22.22 And whereas you tell us of the mark of the Beast The mark of the Beast is surely one thing and the signe of the Crosse another They are threatned with damnation which receive the mark of the Beast But is an Infant therefore damned because he reciveth at anothers hand the sign of the Crosse upon his forehead and is no agent in it himself nor able to know either what 's done or threatned You shew your selfe a proper Divine I promise you and would broach such an inequality in the wayes of God as is utterly condemned in his holy word The soule saith the Lord that sinneth it shall dy the Sonne shall not bear the iniquity of the Father neither shall the Father bear the iniquity of the Sonne the righteousnesse of the righteous shall be upon him and the wickednesse of the wicked shall be upon him Ezek. 18.20 which if it make not against you let your self be judge Besides as we are free enough from receiving any mark on the hand at Confirmation so are we as able to shew that the signe of the Crosse was in use before the Beast that should impose it was born yea even whilest the Bishops of Rome were glorious Martyrs and the Church of God under the troubles of the persecuting Emperours witnesse those proofs which are brought out of Tertullian Origen and Cyprian by the learned to shew that they used it In immortali lavacro in the immortall laver See Tertull. lib. de resur Carnis Cypr. Epist 56. Jeu lib. 4. Epist 6. lib. de Lapsis sub init lib. ad Demetrianum In the first of which quotations out of Cyprian the said Father councelleth that the forehead be garded that thereby the signe of God may be kept in safety and in the second he speaks of the same signe upon the forehead and in the third he saith that by this Sacrament viz. Baptisme and signe we are enrolled Nor doth Bishop Jewell but grant that the signe of the Crosse among the Christians was had in great regard Neither when the Papists charge us with Novelties can you better know how to answer their objection then truly to tell them that their abuses are new but the things which they abused we retain in their primitive use and forsake only the novell corruption and for as much as this Ceremony was abused as is confessed in time of Popery it doth plainly imply that it was well used before Popery as King James of blessed memory hath very worthily affirmed in the conference holden at Hampton Court DIALOGUE Gent. What fault do they finde with the Prayers that are made at the administration of Baptisme Min. They finde fault with the Popish errors that are in them as in the first Prayer before Baptisme it is written that God hath sanctified the flood Jordan and all other waters to the my stycall washing away of sinne The truth is that there is no mysticall washing away of sin in water but a true and reall washing away of sin in the blood of Christ 1 Joh. 1.7 The water in Baptisme doth but signifie that as foul things are washed and made clean in water so the souls of the Elect defiled with sin are made clean in the blood of Christ 1 Joh. 1.7 ANSWER You come now to finde fault with the Prayers that are made at the adminstration of baptisme and to pick some holes in their popish coats for in your esteem they want not their popish errors But shall I tell you Saint Austin speaks in the same language that you mention to be in the first Prayer before baptisme else he had never said in his 29 Sermon Detempore That Christ in the waters of Jordan consecrated the waters for the reparation of humane kinde under baptisme And a little after Et quia saith he per universum mundum sacramentum Baptismi humano generi opus erat omnibus aquis benedictionem dedit quando in Jordanis alveum unica ac singulari piet ate descendit Tunc enim Christum Dominum non tam lavit undo quam lota est That is And because saith he the Sacrament of Baptisme was needfull for mankinde throughout the whole world he gave a blessing to all waters when in his only and fingular piety he descended into the river
Scriptures they give us notice of some who in the latter daies should perish in the gainsaying of Corah as well as of some who should be led with the errour of Balaam for reward See S. Judes Epist vers 11. Look well about you and take heed how you strike an Angel else may chance to stand against you whilest you ride on the beast and be as loath to loose the rewards of your good Masters and Dames as was Balaam to loose the rewards of the King of Moab For the Pope may be Antichrist though Bishops be upheld they were never limbs of that man of Sinne as Bishops but as Popish whilest they swore subjection unto him whilest they defended him whilest they worshipped him above all that is called God and extorted this homage from others But shall they therefore which defie him resist trample upon him spend their lives and labours in opposing of him be necessarily still in the same condition because they are Bishops a foolish argument and he were a senceles man that should subscribe it But shall I tell you there were many Kings and Princes that gave their strength and power to the Beast but are now revolted from him are they not therefore Kings and Princes still Yes sure their calling is not lost they are Kings and Princes still although not Antichristian Kings and Princes England was once termed the Popes Asse but hath long since shaked off that yoak and abolished the Popes tyranny is it not therefore England still Or to speak of what was late The Princes Peers and Magistrates of England in Queen Maries daies were shoulders and armes of Antichrist their calling is still the same and must still be retained notwithstanding then they went the wrong way in it The like is to be said of Bishops in regard of their order which in it selfe is as firm strong and sound as ever notwithstanding what you or any man else may urge to the contrary If you were not a man of faction but would deale fairly in this busines you should not plead for parity or goe about to destroy the government of Gods Church by Bishops but labour to retain the Primitive form which consistteth not in the abolishing of Bishops and striving to make all Pastours equall but in the restoring of Presbyteries by joyning with the Bishops deserving honest and able * See for this Mr. Thorndikes book of the primitive Government of Churches Presbyters not Lay-elders but learned Ministers In a word there is one thing more which before I goe further must be rememhred For you tell us that in the latter end of Queene Elizabeths raigne when she began to be sickly and not like to live long then Doctour Bancroft Lord Bishop of London knowing that King James was to succeed her and fearing that his Majesty would reforme things amisse in the publike worship and service of God and in the Government of the Church did License a Booke written by a Jesuite that he kept in his house wherein it was written that it was in the Popes power as a gift appropriate to Saint Peters chaire to depose the Kings of England and to give authority to the People to elect choose and set up another Whereto I answer that in this you doe but cast durt in the face of the dead For that which you here mention is but what was objected in the Conference at Hampton Court by Doctour Reynolds and openly proved then in presence of his Majesty which you speak of to be but a false aspersion by which the Bishop was injured and standered Wherefore you doe ill to revive it now for the incensing of the people to the more malice who are already too eager to inveigh against Bishops For I verily thinke that never since the times of Christ and his Apostles were Bishops in such hatred nor had in such contempt as now I wonder that they goe not about likewise to cry down a standing Ministrie for personall offenders may as well countenance the abolishing of the one as of the other And indeed it is in a manner come even to that too amongst some furious and fanaticke spitits But the God of Heaven put a right end to these busie stirrs lest all at the last be brought to ruine Let the fiercenesse of those Opposites who cry Downe with them downe with them even to the ground turn to thy praise ô blessed Lord yea the fiercenesse of them who are thus furious doe thou restrain and bring honour to thy name out of this dishonour and good to thy Church out of this evill It is thine owne cause ô God arise therefore and defend it in spight of all that shall oppose it And thus I am come almost to the end of your dowty Dialogue a little more will bring me to it DIALOGUE Gent. There was a little Booke written of late and dedicated to the Mouse of Parliament that had most of these things in it that you have spoken of concerning the Service-booke and the Bishops Min. There was so but the Authour thereof is much grieved every time that he doth thinke upon it because it was dispersed without his consent and printed false by putting in and leaving out of words so as it was not fit to be presented to the House of Parliament ANSWER Great pitty sure to see so worthy a worke defaced especially being intended for the view of the high Court of Parliament But grieve not at it though you sometimes chance to thinke upon it for you make amends for all in this most learned and through-paced Dialogue which is instar omnium and a great deale fitter for the Parliament then that little Booke you speake of Aquila non capit Muscas Parliaments meddle with great matters Let little Bookes therefore goe and thinke your selfe better with this great volume of almost twenty leaves in Quarto which the Parliament when it hath nothing else to doe will read and relish as well as it can This is enough to comfort you you may by no meanes desire more except you had written to better purpose DIALOGUE Gent. It made mention of Judgements c. ANSWER Here you come in with a diâ—course out of your little Booke of some fearefull Judgements shewed on Churches by Thunder and Lightning in Service time and you mention chiefly two the one on the Parish Church of Whitcomb in Devonshire upon the 21 day of October 1638. the other on the Parish Church of Anthony in Cornwell upon Whitsunday 1640. when the people were kneeling at the Communion which fell upon those places to shew that God is not pleased but much offended with the publike Worship and Service which is prescribed unto his holy Majesty in our Service-booke Thus saith your Dialogue pag. 32. 35. and 37. But what saith the Apostle O how unsearchable are Gods Judgements and his wayes past finding out And verily we thank God our Service booke is clearely proved to be of another nature then to offend the diyine
arrayed for so the Psalmist mentions in Psal 132.9 Hereto again agrees our worthy Hooker Eccl. Polit. lib. 5. pag. 61. namely That it suteth so fitly with that lightsome affection of joy wherein God delighteth when his Saints praise him and so lively resembleth the glory of the Saints in Heaven together with the beauty wherein Angels have appeared unto Men that they which are to appeare for men in presence of God as Angels if they were lest unto their own choice and would choose any could not easily devise a garment of more decency for such a service Psal 149.2 Rev. 15.6 Mar. 16 5. Thus then we see what little cause there is for any one to scruple eryout or raile against the solemne wearing of this Vestment For mine own part I shall better esteem it then ever yet yea though it should chance to be quite put down my thoughts will be ever the same in the mean time accounting them no other then turbulent troublers of the Churches quiet who shall still be obstinate and upon no termes receive satisfaction but perversely provide to advance puritanicall humours which being once predominant are like a naked sword sharp and unsheathed in a mad mans hands But from such as these Good Lord deliver us A further addition concerning a place in the XII Chapter of Tobie at the IX verse where it is written that Almes doe save from death and purge away all sinne SOme say it is an Hyperbole and ought so be taken least otherwise we detract from the Blood of Christ to whom it belongeth to free from Sin and Death Others answer thus that we must have recourse to the rule because the doctrine of the Law without Christ profiteth nothing Placent igitur Eleemosynae Deo quae sequuntur reconciliationem seu justificationem non quae praecedunt that is Almes please God which follow Reconciliation or Justification not which goe before it This thus in the book of the Concord of the Prince Electours in Germany and of those Divines which embraced the Augustane Confession Wherein is further added that Almes are the exercises of faith which receives Remission of sinnes which overcometh Death whilest it exerciseth it selfe more and more and in those exercises gaines forces There it is also written that the whole speech of Tobie being lookt into sheweth that Faith is required to go before Almes All the dayes of thy life have God in thy minde And again Alwayes blesse God and desire of him that be would direct thy wayes Now this is properly of such a ones Faith of which we speake which perceiveth that it hath God appeased by reason of his mercy and is willing to be justified of God sanctified and ruled by him Thus farre out of that booke in the answer to the Papists who cite certain places against us to prove that Faith doth not justifie and that we deserve Remission of sinnes and grace by our Works Doctor Fulke against the Rhemish Testament denieth these words to be in the Greek text of Tobie But there is a place much like it in Dan. 4 24. See also Prov. 15.27 Prov. 16.6 Luk. 11.41 and then heare an answer out of Bishop Morton in his Protestant appeale lib. 3. cap. 9. § 1. First saith he in these places which have been objected there is only mention made of Almes can the Romanists say that Almes alone have this force of redeeming sinne If they should then might they readily be confuted by their owne Jesuite Maldonate shewing from St. Austine that no man will say that giving of Almes can availe for purgation of sinne without faith in him Christ who is the authour of salvation And this doctrine the Protestants they know doe not mislike Secondly the question is How then can Almes be said to purge sinne Whereunto their foresaid Jesuite answereth that it is impossible for Almes to cleanse the soule from sinne but to dispose it Which exposition is that which we may easily admit in his true sence for God disposeth man unto faith and charity and then is man disposed and qualified to receive Remission as in the margent he noteth Thirdly their Bishop Jansenius and Cardinall Bellarmine examining the same text report the excellent judgement of Basil who taught that Almes of themselves cannot expiate sinne but the primordiall cause is the mercy of God wberehy men have Redemption in all other actions Well then without any further searching into Authours thus I conclude that Almes are the fruits and exercises of faith and well pleasing unto God Heb. 13.16 And for any one to make an outward shew of Religion and to talke much of Faith but practise no deeds of Charity is to be like a sounding Brasse and tinckling Cymball and to be dead still in sinnes and trespasses not bringing forth fruits meet for Repentance 1 Cor. 13. Mat. 3.8 Psal 1. v. 1 2 3. Blessed therefore is the man that hath not walked in the councell of the ungodly nor stand in the way of sinners and hath not sit in the seat of the scornfull But his delight is in the Law of the Lord and is his Law doth he exercise himselfe day and night For he shall bee like a tree planted by the waters side which will bring forth ber fruit in due season In a word This is a true saying and these things I will thou shouldest affirme that they which have beleeved God might be carefull to shew forth good workes Tit. 3.8 And then at the 14 verse Let ours also learne to shew forth good workes for necessary uses that they be not unfruitfull Soli Deo gloria A further and finall Addition concerning Episcopacie to prove that it is of Divine right because instituted by Christ and his Apostles which this Dialogue-writer granteth not to be till 334. yeares after Christ together with a Corollary concerning a new Edition of the said writers Booke THe beginning of Imparity among the Ministers of the New Testament was first laid by our Saviour Christ and upon his ground as Churches were planted the Apostles raised the fabricke of that government which in all parts of the Church they left established before such time as they left the world Onely Diotrephes maliciously prated against them and scorned to acknowledge the transcendent power of their Apostolicall jurisdiction Whereupon we read in the third Epistle which was written by S. Iohn that when the said Apostle wrote unto the Church this great Stickler proudly stood out against him For I wrote unto the Church saith he but Diotrephes which loveth to have the preheminence among them receiveth us not Wherefore if I come I will call to your remembrance his deeas which he doth pratling against us with malitious words and not therewith content neither he himselfe receiveth the Brethren but forbiddeth them that would and thrusteth them out of the Church But Diotrephes might have seen a manifest imparity in our Saviours owne choyce even at the first when he chose twelve Apostles and made them
thee in Crete that thou shouldest put in order the things that are wanting and ordaine Presbyters in every City as I appointed thee Tit. 1.5 Titus was therefore a Bishop at the least and hath the power of Ordination as in this first testimony is more then manifest Besides it is to Titus that the authority is given to stop the mouths of false teachers and to convince them sharply that they may be sound in the faith verse 11.13 And again upon him is the charge laid to reject an heretick after he had beene once or twice admonished as in the third Chapter at the tenth verse So then though the Diocesse was large and the Clergy numerous yet he is in power above them all Idem Ministerium sed diversa potestas But come we next to the Seven Churches of Asia which are ruled by their Seven Angels although at the same time they had in them their other Pastors All as one speaketh were Angels in respect of their Ministery one was the Angell in respect of his fixed superiority For the Apostles that planted Churches in Cities left them to one Bishop and the rule is according to Gods word that there be one Angell to watch over the City and Country belonging to it and so we see it here in these Seven Churches where each Angell answers for the whole City as one Temple committed to him And therefore as is worthily avouched the Pope that will be over all Cities and Diotrephes that will be under none that is he who rejects equals and he that receives no superiours are equally proud of an unjust preheminence The evasion which some have sought is very poore to one that is say they to more To one Angel that is collectively to more Angels then one But to what purpose is it to insist any where upon propriety of speech if a man may as he pleaseth take such a lawlesse liberty of construction for without doubt no more are the Seven Angels to be taken collectively then are the seven Churches of both which Christ himselfe hath said The seven Starres are the Angels of the seven Churches and the seven Candlestickes that thou sawest are the seven Churches Rev. 1.20 And then afterwards these seven Churches are likewise named both at the 11. verse of that first Chapter as also in the two next Chapters that follow and shewed to be these viz. Ephesus Smyrna Pergamus Thyatira Sardis Philadelphia and Laodicea In a word the approvements charges and chalenges here made are personall and easie to be distinguished from the speeches directed to others of the same Church as in example may be seen in that which is said both to the Angel and to them of Smyrna where first the graces of that Angel are acknowledged and then to those of his Church is said that the Divell should cast some of them into prison and that they should bee tried and endure tribulation ten dayes wherein they are in generall premonished of the persecution that should befall them And then addressing to the Angel of the Church in particular the speech is to him in the singular saying Bee thou faithfull unto the death And so indeed he was for Polycarpus was then the Angel of Smyrna and died Bishop there being crowned with the royall wreath of Martyrdome about the yeare of our Lord 170. which was 86. yeares after he began to be Bishop and to serve God in that charge the head of this beginning reaching up to the yeare of Christ 84. which was ten yeares before S. Iohn received his Revelation hee is poore in reading that shall deny it and rich in wrangling that will not grant it making thereby Ireneus and Eusebius of no better credit then the histories of Tom Thumb and Garagantua Nor is it but greatly worth the marking with what an admirable constancie that blessed Martyr continued faithfull as Eusebius largely tels the story by which without doubt he set a cleare Comment upon the Text in sticking so closely to his heavenly admonition I will instance in no more although the like may be seen in some of the rest especially in that which was said to the Angel of the Church of Thyatyra who notwithstanding those good parts services and graces which were commended in him is not a little taxed in this viz. that he suffered the woman Iezabel For mark how the words run Thou sufferest the woman Iezabel who calleth herselfe a Prophetesse to teach and seduce my servants c. Now as one worthily were he but an ordinary Presbyter unarmed with power how could hee help it Or why should hee bee charged with what hee could not redresse A A little Brasse or Copper well rub'd and furbished may glitter like gold but here are more then shewes and probabilities of imparity amongst Christs Ministers cleare testimonies of supereminent and jurisdictive power as from first to last in these few lines hath been truly made apparant Episcopacie is therefore of no other then Divine Institution and was first begun by our blessed Saviour in his twelve Apostles it hath been continued ever since by the governing of the Church with Bishops who are in this the Apostles successors and to bee continued till the end of the world He that shall deny it had need to looke better about him for setting aside some prerogatives and priviledges peculiar onely to them who were the first Apostles their calling could not bee extraordinary for if it were then how could Christ be with them untill the end of the world But lo saith he I am with you alwayes even unto the end of the world Matth. 28.26 And now after all this I could further back the whole with testimonies of the Ancient but the Scriptures are cleare enough without them And yet to give truth the greater luster I shall collect some few besides what of this nature hath been already and briefly set them downe S. Hierom shall be first who expounding these words in the 44. Psalm namely that In the stead of Fathers thou shalt have Children breakes forth into these words Fuerint O Ecclesia Apostoli patres tui quia ipsi te genuerunt Nunc autem quia illi recesserunt à mundo habes pro his Episcopos silios that is O Church the Apostles were thy Fathers because they begate thee But now because they have left the world thou hast in their stead Bishops and they are sonnes The same doth also S. Austin note upon the foresaid Psalme Quidest saith he pro patribus tuis nati sunt tibi filii Patres missisunt Apostoli pro Apostolis filii nati sunt tibi constituti sunt Episcopi S. Hierom againe Catol Script Eccles Epist ad Evagr. Com. in Matth. in Proem in Praefat. in Marc. though no fast friend hath left recorded that Bishops in Alexandria began whilst many of the Apostles were aliye as S. Peter and S. Paul S. James and S. Marke which last I mean S. Marke is by the confession of the said