sin of man and merited for himself eternal power and glory and for us eternal life and all effectual means for the certain attainment thereof All the rest of his acts performed by him as King Priest and Prophet tended unto the application of his sacrifice that we by faith might be partakers of the benefit thereof This is the sum of that Doctrine of Redemption delivered clearly and more fully in several places of the Scripture especially of the New Testament Yet this Innovatour hath obscured the same several ways and determines the Kingdom of Christ to begin when the world doth end because Christ said to Pilate My Kingdom is not of this world Joh. 18.36 From whence he concludes T. H. That the Kingdom of Christ is not to begin before the general Resurrection G. L. This is a gross mistake and mis-interpretation of a place which is clear in it self For by his gloss he makes the Scripture to contradict it self Christ was then Candidatus imperii and was King when he gave this answer unto Pilate yet he began to reign and exercise his Royal power more eminently when he was set at the Right hand of the Father yet his Kingdom was not of this world that is not civil but spiritual and as Austin upon the place It was Hic non hinc in the world not of the world in the world yet not worldly but divine and far more excellent then the Kingdoms of the world This is the genuine sense of the words That Christ doth reign now and hath reigned since his ascension and sitting at the right hand of God is evident Before his Ascension he lets his Apostles know that all power in heaven and earth was given him and according unto and by vertue of that power he gave Commission to his Apostles to teach and baptize and perswade men to the obedience of his commands Mat. 28.18 19 20. He that hath an universal power in heaven and earth who makes officers and gives them power who makes Laws Institutes Sacraments and sends down the Holy Ghost must needs reign and his Kingdom is begun already We read that Christ must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death And when all things shall be subdued unto him then shall also the Son of man be subject unto him that put all things under him that God may be all in all 1 Cor. 15.25 26 28. Where first from Psal 110.1 The Apostle tels us That Christs Kingdom did Commence at the time of Christs sitting at the right hand of God 2. That with him to sit at the right hand of God is to reign 3. That he must reign by Word Sacraments Spirit Ministry till all enemies whereof death is the last be destroyed 4. That when death is destroyed he shall deliver up his Commission and kingdom in respect of this administration by Ordinances 5. That at the Resurrection this manner of reign shall end when Mr. Hobbs saith it shall begin 6. That then God shall be all in all that is reign perfectly in his Saints without any enemy without opposition without Ordinances and more immediately Before that time indeed he will not proceed to the final and universal sentence and execution of the same Yet there are many acts of government besides judgement and many acts of judgement be sides those of the general Assizes and last Sessions To make Laws reduce men to subjection appoint Officers pass sentence and execute the same in the very souls of men are acts of one that reigns as likewise to subdue enemies Sin Satan and the world to protect the Church And in this manner Christ hath reigned since his Ascension And many Millions do adore him subject themselves unto him and obey him to this day Yet with this man Christ doth not yet reign Let him read Psalm 2. throughout It began to be fulfilled upon his Resurrection and Ascension as appears out of the Acts of the Apostles and their Epistles And if he or any other shall deny the present reign of Christ they must expect with his Iron Scepter to be dasht in pieces like a Potters Vessel CAP XI Of the third Part the 42. of the Book Of Ecclesiastical Power AFter he had enthroned Civil Soveraigns cap. 40. Dethroned Christ in the former Chapter In this he takes away all power from the Church and invests the Christian civil powers with it And herein it may be a question whether his ignorance or presumption is the greater for he is highly guilty of both He that will determine the controversie concerning the power of the Church must distinguist the universal power of God the spiritual power of Christ incarnate and exalted to the Throne of glory and the power deligated from Christ unto the Church universal here on earth as subject unto Christ as Lord and Monarch and also that which every particular Independent association of Christians is trusted withal for to preserve the Society and the Ordinances of God from profanation This he hath not done and therefore little or rather nothing can be expected from him This last power of particular Churches is called the power of the keys in foro exteriori in the particular government of their several combinations for there is no supreme universal Independent judicatory on earth to which all Churches in the world are bound to appeal in this outward visible administration General Counsels can be no such thing Neither was there ever any Oecumenical Synod in proper sense since the Gospel was preached to all Nations This power of outward Discipline is challenged by the Pope by the Clergy by the people Christian and by the States civil and Soveraigns of the world And in this last party is the Author deeply engaged but upon what reason I know not except he intends to side with the strongest for such are they which bear the sword The power of ordaining Ministers preaching the Word administring the Sacraments was in the universal Church since the time of the Apostles And in every particular Church reduced to a form of outward discipline there is a power of making Canons of jurisdiction of making Officers so far as shall conduce unto the better ordination of Ministers the preservation of the purity of Doctrine and the right administration of the Sacraments least they be profaned and Christ offended by the admission of ignorant scandalous and unworthy persons There is a power also of disposing and dispensing of those goods which are given to the Church for the maintenance of Christian Religion Civil Christian States may and ought to make civil Laws to confirm the just Canons and jurisdictions of the Church And those Laws may be a fence unto it against these who shall oppose or persecute Yet when all this is done those Laws are but Civil though the object of them be Ecclesiastical matters This might suffice for to confute and make void the main body and break in pieces
that an absolute sentence on earth is made valid from heaven And this Jurisdiction exercised according to the Laws of Christ hath alwaies a real effect upon the party judged and that without any co-ercive power civil at all And the effect was comfortable or terrible both unto Believers and Apostates too according as they should be truly impenitent or penitent This power is alwaies in the Church and to be exercised by such as are trusted with that power and fit for such a work And this is the plain truth though the world be on a flame and so many Christians in a cumbustion because of their different opinions concerning the subject of this power But concerning this point I have spoken more at large in another Treatise He goes on to teach us the causes of Excomunication and denies heresie to be any cause though scandal by his own confession be yet heresie is the greatest scandal And here he abuseth that place of Titus 3.10 where it s written A man that is an Heretick after the first and second admonition reject where he plainly contradicts the Apostles words As though he had said Reject the heresie not the person whereas the Apostle commands the rejection of the person the Heretick and not only the heresie That some make Articles of Faith which God never made such cannot be excused After this he determines the persons who are liable to excommunication yet so as that he might have been instructed better then he hath instructed us by those who deserve to be his Masters He exempts one Church from the jurisdiction of another so that the one cannot excommunicate the other Yet he doth not inform us what the extent of a Church-Independent is and so leaves the question undecided He also exempts all Soveraign Princes and Assemblies from excommunication yet so as that he most grosly mistakes the nature and effect of excommunication Yet here he staies not but a subject obeying his Soveraigns command is not liable to this sentence neither can it be in this cause and case of any effect if we may believe him This in terminis is false except he mean obedience in licitis The rest of his discourse concerning this particular is frivolous The of the Chapter is taken up and spent in the determination of two points The 1. is making of Scripture Canon and Law The 2. the power of the Pope The power of making Scripture-Canon is given by him unto the Soveraign civil being Christian Yet whether he be Christian or no he hath power to bind his subjects to acknowledge it subpoena temporali But the Scripture is Canonical in it self without any such Law at all As for the controversie concerning the Popes power he undertakes Bellarmine who had often been answered in a far better manner and more effectually by many before him And the truth is both he and the Cardinal run in extreams the one on one side and the other on the other side of the way of truth For that power which the one arrogates to the Pope the other gives to Christian civil powers but both unjustly For Ecclesiastical power is due in some measure unto the Pope but not unto the civil Soveraign The Pope is a Presbyter and a Bishop and some power was due unto him by divine Law But by that which humane Constitutions gave him and by his own usurpation he had ingrossed he was advanced very high To be a Patriarch would not serve his turn but he must be Christs universal Vicar and in the end by that means at length he hooked in the temporal power of the sword But to leave them both in their errours wherein they have entangled themselves before I conclude this Chapter I will say something of Church-officers and the Church-revenue The Church-officers may be conâ—dered either according to their Constitution or Imployment According to the first they were extraordinary or ordinary Extraordinary were such as had their power and gifts more immediately from Christ as Apostles Prophets Evangelists And here by the way we may take notice of two errours and mistakes of the Author 1. In that he affirms Matthias to be made an Apostle by the Assembly of an hundred and twenty Brethren assembled together Whereas from the text its apparent that they did only single out by suffrage two persons whom they conceived so qualified that one of them might if God pleased be made an Apostle for to succeed Judas and refer the case to God by prayer and lot that he might determine whether of the two should be an Apostle to make up the number of twelve Upon the reference God did chuse Matthias and so that he made him an Apostle and refused the other To make an extraordinary Officer was above the power of the Apostles and the Church therefore they did not take it upon them 2. The second errour is That Paul and Barnabas were made Apostles by the Church of Antioch Acts 13.2 3. yet Barnabas in strict sense was no Apostle and Paul was an Apostle before he came to Antioch He was a servant of Jesus Christ called to be an Apostle separated to the Gospel of God Rom. 1.1 His calling to be an Apostle was not of men nor by man Gal. 1.1 His separation was twofold 1. From God who separated him from his Mothers womb Gal. 1.15 2. From man as by the prayers and fasting of the Church of Antioch Yet Mr. Hobbs is not afraid to contradict the Scriptures Ordinary officers of the Church who succeeded the extraordinary were Pastors and Teachers Eph. 4.11 Both the ordinary and extraordinary in respect of their employment were either such as were designed for feeding of the soul by Prayer Word Sacraments and were to perform the acts of doctrine worship discipline or for feeding of the body and outward relief and such were Deacons After that the number of Christians were increased and devided into Congregations the Pastors and Teachers were set over their several Congregations and Flocks assigned unto them and these were called Elders Now the Question is who in a Christian Common-wealth have power to make constitute ordain these ordinary Officers The Common-wealth saith he the Church say others He confesseth that the Church did exercise this power till civil Soveraigns became Christian and then both the power and exercise thereof ceased to be in the Church if we may believe him but his credit is not much and with me his Authority is none To determine this question we must observe that its one thing to be a Pastor Minister or Presbyter another thing to be the Pastor of a certain congregation and another to have a right to some temporal revenue or dignity annexed A Minister was constituted in all well-ordered Churches to this day by the Church The Church and such as the Church doth trust doth chuse him try him approve him and ordains him And by the nomination approbation ordination of the Church according to the will of Christ all Presbyters
are made publick officers of the Church and separated to their function of publick preaching praying administration of the Sacraments Neither is there any place in all the New Testament where it can be proved that either Christ or his Apostles who had this power did ever derive it to the State or Civil Soveraign whether Christian or no Christian That every civil Soveraign hath power to preach baptize ordain and perform all Ministerial acts and that as a publick Officer is an impudent assertion and contrary to the Book of God is evident from that reason given by him why they use not to do these things which is because the business of the Common-wealth takes up their whole time Yet he that will be a Minister must watch over his flock be as souldiers who going to war must not entangle themselves with the affairs of this life 2 Timothy 2.4 As he must have sufficient knowledge in those things which belong unto his calling and integrity of life so he must engage himself to Christ and his Church to lay aside all other employments to feed Christs flock and this must take up his whole time To entangle himself with other business and so neglect his charge is to be unfaithful and in effect renounce his calling From this false principle it is that so many who have a little more knowledge in Scripture then ordinary Christians of the lowest form a bold face and voluble tongue take upon them to preach and presume to perform other Ministerial duties although they be souldiers or civil Magistrates or Tradesmen or all together These will be Elders and Ministers although they entangle themselves with the affairs of this life as though the Holy-Ghost had made them Over-seers to feed his Church purchased by his blood But wo unto them when they shall appear before the tribunal of Christ to give their last account But consider a Minister as he hath a temporal right unto some temporal revenue dignity jurisdiction the Church hath nothing to do with him The Church looks after his spiritual qualification and capacity After that Emperours and civil powers endowed the Church with a certain revenue and annexed unto Bishopricks civil jurisdictions and temporal dignities there was some reason why the presentation and investiture should belong unto them but there was no such thing from the beginning The maintenance of the Ministers of the Gospel is determined by this Author to be benevolence yet at length convinced by the arguments of the Apostle 1 Cor. 9. He confesseth that it was such a benevolence as was due and that the Flock was bound to maintain their Pastor By which confession he hath answered his own allegation Freely give because you have freely received Mat 10.8 which place is abused by him as it is by the enemies of the Church at this day For as by him so by them it s understood and applyed as though our Saviours meaning had been That because they gave nothing for their gifts and authority so they must neither demand nor receive any thing for the use of them And by this means they make our Saviour to contradict himself for afterwards he saith That the workman and such is every Minister is worthy of his meat ver 10. of his hire Luk. 10.7 From whence Paul informs us That Christ ordained that they which preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel 1 Cor. 9.14 And therefore according unto this Ordinance of Christ he commands That he who is taught in the Word communicate to him who teacheth in all good things Gal. 6.6 From all which its very evident that maintenance is due to Ministers and that by a Law and the same divine and far more obliging then any civilact in the world And if Christian people had a propriety in their goods as of this there can be no doubt this might easily make this maintenance competent comfortable and certain and that without any Law of the civil power and they were bound so to do When Christian Princes endowed the Church with titles they did but their duty and they conceived that no better way of provision could be devised by the wit of man Neither can any Antidecimarian to this day inform us of a better Yet if we be once Ministers we are bound to preach the Gospel though we beg our bread But woe unto them who shall deny it or take it out of our mouths CAP. XII Of the third Part. And the 43. of the Book Of what is necessary for a mans reception into the Kingdom of heaven IT is evident from our Saviours commission unto his Apostles Mat. 28.19 20. That profession of faith and promise of obedience to him gave any person right unto Baptism by which we are solemnly admitted into the Church which is Gods spiritual Kingdom And faith with obedience and obedience from faith makes us capable of eternal life And because we can neither believe nor obey sincerely without regeneration from heaven therefore our Saviour saith That except a man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God John 3.3 If Mr. Hobbs had said no more but that faith and obedience are necessary for reception into Gods Kingdom he had done well but he returns unto his vomit and resumes some of his former errors formerly confuted I wish him more knowledge and more modesty FINIS
them in the supreme power Others are of a mind that seeing they cease to be Kings or Soveraigns they may be lawfully tryed and put to death as well as private men and that without any ordinary jurisdiction Others determine this to be lawful in such States as that of Lacedemon in Grece and Arragon in Spain What the Doctrine of the Church of Rome is cannot be unknown For the Pope doth arrogate an universal Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction whereby he may excommunicate any Christian King that shall not obey his Canons and Edicts and upon this sentence once given he may depose him free his subjects from their allegiance and command them as Catholicks to rise in rebellion against him some of them have taught that its a meritorious art to poyson stab or any other way murther Kings for the promotion of the Catholick cause This question after the terms thereof clearly explicated is of very great moment and let men advise well how they do determine either in their own judgement privately or before others T. H. There be Doctors that think there may be more sorts that is more Soveraigns then one in a Common-wealth and set up a Supremacy against the Soveraignty Canons against Laws and a Ghostly Authority against the Civil c. G. L. There cannot be any Soveraign but one in one and the same Common-wealth and to set up Supremacy against Soveraignty Canons against Laws Ghostly authority against Civil must needs be a cause of division confusion dissolution Yet this will not prove any inconsistency of an Ecclesiastical independent power with the Civil Soveraignty in one and the same Community And the distinction of the power of the keyes given by Christ unto the Church and the power of the sword trusted in the hands of the higher powers civil is real and signifies some things truly different one from another though he either cannot or will not understand it With Mr. Hobbs indeed this distinction can signisie nothing because he hath given unto the civil Soveraign an infallible judgement and an absolute power in all causes Ecclesiastical and Spiritual His discourse may be good against those Ecclesiastical persons who have usurped civil power otherwise it s impertinent and irrational And he must know that it is alike difficult to prove That the State hath the power of the keyes as for to evince that the Church hath the power the sword It s as great an offence for the State to encroach upon the Church as for the Church to encroach upon the State The Bishops of Rome have been highly guilty of the one and many protestant Princes and States of the other And though men will not see it yet its clear enough that one and the same Community is capable both of a Civil and Ecclesiastical Government at one and the same time and that the Church and State are two distinct Common-wealths the one spiritual and the other temporal though they consist of the same persons And these persons as Christians considered in a spiritual capacity make up the Community and Common-wealth Christian which is the Church as they are men having temporal estates bodily life and liberty they are members of the civil Community and Common-wealth The Power Form of Government Administration Laws Jurisdiction Officers of the Church are distinct and different from those of the State The sentence of the Church is Let him be an Heathen or a Publican and the execution is expected from heaven according to the promise Whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and this sentence doth take away some spiritual but no temporal or civil right of the person judged though the judgement be passed and made valid both in foro interiore exteriore The sentence of the civil State is Let him be fined imprisoned stigmatized banished put to death and it s executed by the sword The several members of a Church National and the whole Church joyntly is subject to the civil power and the civil Soveraign if a Christian is subject to the Church because as a Christian he is subject to Christ and bonnd by his Laws And as a civil Soveraign he is bound to protect the Church and he may by civil Laws ratifie the Ecclesiastical Canons and then they bind not only under a spiritual but a civil penalty too If Church-assemblies give cause of jealousie to the Civil powers they may regulate them and order their proceedings if they offend they may punish them Their persons lives estates are under the sword and if this be taken from them because they will not obey them to disobey Christ they ought to suffer it patiently for Christs sake In this case the Church may pray and weep resist and rebel they may not for Christians as Christians have no power of the sword against any man not their own members much less against the civil Soveraign whom if they resist they must do it under another notion or else they transgress and can have no excuse And here it is to be observed 1. That Christ gathered Disciples instituted Church-discipline made Laws and the Apostles executed them in making Officers Acts cap. 1. 16. made Laws cap. 15. passed sentence and executed the same 1 Cor. 5. and all this without any Commission from any civil Soveraign Therefore it s not true which some learned Divines have affirmed That the State and Church are one body endued with two powers or faculties for they are two distinct bodies Politick It s true that if as some conceive there were no power but coactive of the sword then they must needs be one body But there is another power as you heard before 2. If a King become Christian by this he acquires no power not the least more then he had before and if he be Heathen or Mahometan and all his subjects become Christian he loseth not one jot of his former civil power which they are bound to submit unto by the very Laws of Christianity If he command any thing contrary to the Laws of Christ they may and must disobey but deny his power they may not they must not In this case a Christian may be perplexed between the Devil and a Goaler as some of Scotland were said to be when if they obeyed the Parliament and joyned with Duke Hamilton to invade England the Kirk excommunicate them and deliver them up to Satan if they obeyed the Church prohibiting them they were cast in prison by the State The cause of this perplexity is not from this that the Church and State are two distinct Common-wealths but because the commands of the one or both may be unjust T. H. Some make the power of levying money depend upon a general assembly of conduct and command upon one man of making Laws upon the accidental consent of three Such government is no government but a division of the Common-wealth into three independent factions c. G. L. Here again he hath made the Parliament which is the
this kind of learning far excelled him yet he thinks it clear and the best and most rational though it neither agree with reason or Religion And though his hope is not much yet some hope he hath some Soveraign may put it in practice If they have no better directions they may make use of his principles as some have done to their ruine Princes and Ministers of State have no need to be taught them for they know them too well and follow them too much Of a Christian Common-wealth CAP. I. Of the third part the 32. of the Book Of the Principles of Christian Politicks MR. Hobbs in the former part seemed to have some use of his Reason but in this he is like unto such as are lunatick though now and then he hath his Lucida Intervalla And whether he hath done thus out of ignorance or design I know not but this I know that he is deeply guilty of Errour and presumption He hath taught us little that is good and solid much which is dangerous and damnable The judicious Reader if any such will vouchsafe to read him will reject and that with scorn and indignation many things in the Book but some simple giddy fools especially in these Lunatick times may be taken with his fooleries and blasphemies His design is to take all power from the Church Dethrone Christ and confer all spiritual power in matters of Religion upon the civil Soveraign and this directly contrary to express Scripture He hath turned the Pope out of his infallible Chair and transformed soveraign civil Princes and Rulers into Popes and to them in highest points which concern out eternal salvation we must captivate our judgement It seems to be a fault to spend any time in answering him and for the same I may be censured either as a fool or as one ill-imployed yet because his doctrine though it can do no good yet may do hurt and that to many I will yet but briefly say something to him The very Title of this part is ambiguous and as he here understands it uncouth For he determines the subject to be a Christian-Common-wealth and in that sense as not any other hath taken it For a Christian-Common-wealth is either a Government of Christians as Christians and that is called the Church either as universally considered subject unto Christ her Lord and King or as it is divided into several particular associations under some form of Discipline and Christian its called most usually as believing and professing the faith of Christ exhibited or else it s a Common-wealth civil which hath publikely received and acknowledged the Christian Faith Neither of these wayes doth he understand it For with him a Christian Common-wealth is such a State wherein the people depend upon and must absolutely submit unto the soveraign civil professing himself a Christian as infallible in all matters of Doctrine Worship Discipline and he derives the Authority of the Canon of the Scripture from him yet neither Reason nor Scripture ever taught him any such Doctrine But let us hear what he professeth for thus we read in him T. H. And this Scripture it is out of which I am to take the principles of my Discourse concerning the rights concerning those who are the supreme Governours on earth of Christian-Common-wealths and of the duty of Christian subjects towards their Soveraigns This is the substance as it is the Conclusion of his first Chapter The Rule of all discourse that is true must be the Word of God either natural or prophetick as he expresseth himself The prophetick word we Christians do affirm to be contained in the Scriptures which once granted to be the word of God written must of necessity be believed as infallibly true by a natural principle That God is true and truth it self not accidentally but Essentially That the Prophets and Apostles knew them immediately to be the word of God he seems to confess But how we know them to be so is a question The signs or Rules to know a true Prophet from a false he hath assigned to be two 1. The matter of the Revelation 2. The miracles done for confirmation But of this in the former part that which is sufficient hath been said By Scripture we understand the word of God written to be written is but an adjunct to the word of God which is the word of God and may be so though never written yet it pleased God to cause it to be written that it might be preserved more pure and entire and be continued as a lasting Monument and record in the Church and as he directed the Prophets and Apostles in the speaking of it to be infallible so he likewise made them infallible in the writing Words and writings are but signs of that which God revealed they understood declared and that by us being truly understood and rightly applyed according to the intention of the Revelation ought to be our Rule But if this be misunderstood and misapplyed as by this Author they are they cannot direct us mislead us they may And here we must distinguish between the entire Canon of the Scripture and the principal and intended matter therein contained as necessary to salvation The Canon is so many ways and so strongly confirmed that no other Book in the world can be in this respect parrallel with it and it were irrational to reject it The books of this Canon are usually distinguished into three kinds Historical Prophetical Doctrinal In the Historical part that which may seem to be most incredible is far more credible then many things commonly and generally believed in all Religions and upon far less probable grounds This the Ancient Fathers and Divines have made evident against the greatest Schollars of the world who did except against these Books And in particular Cyril against Julian The Prophetical hath been proved in a great part by God himself to the least particulars fulfilling what he hath foretold The Doctrinal part is either Moral or Positive Morals few rational men do question because they have some affinity with the internal Principles of natural Reason The Positives are such as Reason cannot reach and therefore required at the first publication at least some extraordinary confirmation that Reason might be certain they were revealed by God These Positives are that the Son of God was incarnate that he by the sacrifice of his body and death upon the Cross did expiate the sin of man That he rose from the dead ascended into Heaven sits at the right hand of God and Reigns in Heaven and Earth shall come to judge both quick and dead c. The Signs and Wonders done by the Apostles the Gifts of the Holy Ghost and Gods powerful working of the Spirit upon the souls of men upon the preaching hearing and receiving of these Positives did sufficiently testifie they were from Heaven For in confirmation of the Positives not the Morals these things were done by God The matter of them is such as
because God hath said it That the place is not this earth we have some reason to think because our Saviour ascended into heaven and whilest he was on earth made intercession for us saying Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am John 17.14 And to comfort the hearts of his Disciples sad and troubled because he said he must leave them he useth these words In my Fathers house are many mansions if it were not so I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you to my self that where I am there ye may be also John 14.23 If eternal life shall be enjoyed on earth why need Christ ascend to heaven there to prepare a place for us and when he shall return from thence why will he not stay here and leave us on the earth and never trouble himself with any translation of us into any other place where he shall ever abide and we be ever with him Hell in Scripture and as we understand God in that Book to teach us is an estate directly contrary to eternal life And we believe that it is a most miserable condition of such as shall suffer eternal punishments and that in some certain place and our chiefest imployment in this life is to use all means whereby we may be freed from that condition and enjoy the contrary Concerning the particular ubi and distinct place we do not as we need not much trouble our selves To prove that both eternal rewards are to be enjoyed and eternal torments to be suffered perpetually on earth he doth most wofully wrest and abuse several places of Gods Book and with so little solidity of judgement that children may answer him And because this eternal life is prepared by God for such as are by reason of their sin in danger of hell and eternal death therefore in Scripture it s sometime called salvation and also redemption which is a freedom and deliverance from all the evil consequents and effects of sin one and the principal whereof is to be deprived of eternal bliss which consists in full communion with our God Yet the consummation of both these conditions is reserved by God for the world to come which will follow the universal resurrection The times of the Gospel in respect of the Law may be called the world to come and so some understand the words of the Apostle to the Hebrews 2.5 where we read that God hath not unto Angels subjected the world to come c. This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sometimes it s taken for the time following the resurrection and final judgement as Mark 10.39 Luke 18.30 This is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Redemption is taken in another sense for the expiation of sin upon satisfaction made by Christ unto his heavenly Father as supreme Judge who accepted his death as a sufficient penalty to avert his wrath and procure his mercy for all such as should believe on him In this Chapter he hath imposed upon many places of Scripture a sense never intended and this may be evident to any that can and will examine the places according to the originals and the context And he drives at this to deprive Christ of his regal power which at the right hand of God he now doth exercise and to invest civil powers with it till such time as he hath brought Christ from heaven that he may here on earth begin his personal raign Sr. Thomas Mores Vtopia is somewhat rational this discourse is void of reason and so much the more unsufferable as the matter is so sublime and this sacred Book of God so much profaned by him CAP. VIII Of the third Part And the 39. of the Book Of the significations of the word Church in Scripture IN the former Chapter he turned heaven and hell into the earth and in this he hath transformed the Church which is a spiritual politie into a civil State and that will easily appear from his definition of this excellent and divine Society T. H. A Church is a company of men professing Christian Religion united in the person of one Soveraign at whose command they ought to assemble and without whose authority they ought not to assemble G. L. Many are the significations of the word Ecclesia in the Scriptures of the New Testament as it is applyed to Christians which he hath in part yet not fully observed Yet amongst them all from the beginning to the end of the New Testament its never found to be taken in this sense for as he hath not so he cannot alledge one place where it so signifies This definition is such as never any gave before you can read it in no Author neither can you prove it out of Scripture Only the first words seem to have something of a description but it s no perfect explication of the quiddity and nature of the Church Christian For that is a society or community of persons who believe in Jesus Christ and subject themselves unto him as their Lord and King A bare profession will not make a man a subject of this spiritual Kingdom A sincere profession of that faith which is seated and rooted in the heart comes up higher and is more fit to express the being of a Member of this Church This Church as Catholick or Universal subject unto Christ is like a similar body and therefore the parts may bear the name of the whole as the Church of Corinth the Church of Ephesus and the Church in such an house Some part of this Church is under a form of discipline to be exercised in foro exteriori as the School-men and Casuists use to speak some parts are not so happy For this is not of the Essence of a Church It s not of the being though it tends to the well-being of the same Some of these are subject unto a civil Soveraign who is a Christian some are not For as a Christian State may have Heathen or Mahumetan subjects so Christians may be under the civil power of an Heathen or Mahumetan Prince Both these therefore to be under a form of discipline and subject to a Christian civil power are but accidental and these accidents are separable and often actually separated and therefore I know no reason why they should be part of a perfect desiâ—â—tion or so much as mentioned in it This may be sufficient for to discover the vanity of the man and the absurdity of the definition Yet notwithstanding his definition be faulty I for my part do grant that Jus religionis ordinandae doth belong to all Civil Governors and powers But with limitation 1. That no Soveraign hath power to order maintain and promote any Religion but that which is instituted from heaven 2. That they must not intermeddle with it for to order it further then its ordinable by the sword which cannot reach Religion and
the main design of this long and tedious Chapter wherein he is not content to vent his errours but he must broach his blasphemies For after he had granted the Ecclesiastical power to be in the Apostles and their successors for about 300 years he tels us T. H. That the Trinity is a threefold representation of God 1. By Moses 2. By Christ on earth 3. By the holy Ghost in the Apostles and this agrees with that of the Divine Apostle There are three that bear witness in heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three are one 1 Joh. 5.7 G. L. This deserves no answer but detestation because it s not onely blasphemous but also devoid not onely of divine but humane learning and no ways to be suffered amongst Christians Having thus determined the proper and just subject of this power for so long a time he proceeds to let us know what this power is T. H. The power of the Church is but to teach to baptize to absolve to excommunicate G. L. The foundation and Rule of all Christian doctrine worship and discipline is briefly and by a wonderful wisdom comprised in those words of our Saviour ready to ascend into Heaven Go and teach all Nations baptizing them c. Mat. 28.19 20. For in those words we are taught 1. What Doctrine we must believe and profess 2. What worship we must perform unto the Deity and how and upon what grounds 3. Who may and who may not be admitted into Christian society and who may and who may not be continued in the same and enjoy all the priviledges thereof Those who being taught profess their faith in God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and promise to obey the commands of Christ may be baptized and solemnly admitted into the Church They who continued to profess their faith to perform their promise of obedience unto Christ might be continued in this society and enjoy the priviledges otherwise not From which words its evident there must be a power to teach baptize absolve excommunicate and also to ordain and design fit persons to do these things and give rules out of the Gospel how they may be done aright This Author first makes void as he conceives all Bellarmines discourse concerning the form of Ecclesiastical government whether it be Monarchical Aristocratical or Democratical 2. They have power but to teach The reason why Bellarmines discourse is void is given by him to be this because the Church hath no coercive power If he mean coercive civil by the sword its certain there is no such power Ecclesiastical Neither doth Bellarmine affirm or challenge it but indirecte per accidens Yet he was told before that the execution of the Churches censure is from heaven as it is passed in the name of Christ and by his power 1 Cor. 5.4 And he hath promised whatsoever is bound on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatsoever loosed on earth shall be loosed in heaven Mat. 18.18 This is not in the name of the civil Soveraign nor by the power of the sword And it must be done by some power and this power must be exercised either by one or more or all according to some certain order And Government is nothing but ordo imperii subjectionis 2. That the Church hath but power to teach perswade counsel c. he proves first by his false supposition that Christ doth not reign until the universal Resurrection secondly by that time of Regeneration which he bounds within the terms of Christs ascension and his second coming to Judgement The former argument was grounded upon a false interpretation of our Saviours words and so the later is for by Regeneration in Mat. 19.28 is meant the Resurrection and so it s printed and distinguished in divers coples and so the King of Spains Bibles read it as others also and the sense is they which have followed me shall in the Regeneration that is Resurrection sit upon twelve Thrones c. But suppose that regeneration be not the resurrection Yet it cannot be a time of that continuance as to reach Christs coming to Judgement but only the time of their following Christ which cannot extend beyond his ascention Yet let it be granted that by it is signified the whole tract of time from his ascention till his coming to Judgement it will not follow from that text that Christ doth not raign till that time be expired for he may as he doth raign and exercise many acts of his regal power before he pass the final sentence upon all men and Angels His other reasons are frivolous and not ad idem Yet his last argument save one is That because Christ hath left to civil Governors their power therefore he hath left none to the Church And its true that he hath left no civil power of the sword to the Church yet it doth not hence follow that he hath denyed it the spiritual power of the keyes And here he makes a most abominable digression affirming that we may deny or profess against our conscience and comply with civil powers commanding and forbidding contrary to that which Christ hath commanded and forbidden and so hath taken away the ground of all Martyrdom and razed the very foundation of our Christian confession Besides he seems to put a difference between their power to Preach and their power to Teach but he will not let us know what this difference is And his arguments tend to prove that Ministers have no power to command no authority yet the people are commanded to obey them that rule over them and submit themselves because they watch over their souls Heb. 13.17 And he that heareth them heareth Christ and God that sent him and he that despiseth them despiseth Christ and God that sent him To that purpose we read in Luk. 10.17 And how can this possibly be true if this have no authority no law no sin To teach and preach in such a manner as they who will not hear and obey shall be guilty as contemners of the divine Majesty and so as that it shall be more tolerable for Sodom in the day of judgement then for them is to teach with authority and power and the same no doubt greater then any Prince civil in the world is invested withal For they cannot command so as to make the disobedient liable to eternal penalties He granteth further that they have power to Baptize and by Baptism admit into Christs Kingdom which is a spiritual naturalization and also to absolve and excommunicate yet the former is an act of Legislation the latter of Jurisdiction and how can that be performed without power Thus the man is pleased to confute himself Yet in the acts of Jurisdiction we do not affirm the judgement of the Church to be infallible because they can have no infallible knowledge of the inward disposition of the souls of persons penitent or impenitent Yet sometimes the evidence of the cause is such