which he made to God in the armes of others Of such as prophaned themselves being Christians with irreligious delight in the ensigns of Idolatry Heathenish spectacles shows and Stage-plaies Tertullian to strike them the more deep claimeth the promise which they made in Baptisme Why were they dumb being thus challenged Wherefore stood they not up to answer in their own defence that such professions and promises made in their names were frivolous that all which others undertook for them was but mockery and prophanation That which no Heretick no wicked liver no impious despiser of God no miscreant or malefactour which had himselfe been baptised was ever so desperate as to disgorge in contempt of so fruitfully received customes is now their voice that restore as they say the ancient purity of Religion Thus that worthy Hooker We ask them saith Saint Austin Aug. Epist ad Bonif. 43. which offer the Infants and say Beleeveth be in God who being of that age knoweth not whether there be a God or no They answer He beleeveth and so they answer unto every question which is asked They became sick and were burthened another sinning so also being to be made sound they are saved another confessing for them as even the same Father observeth Serm 10. de ver Apost And it is amplified by a late judicious writer thus Profession is either actuall or virtuall An actuall profession of Repentance and faith is required of them who by the acts of reason formerly abused have multiplyed their personall transgressions but for Infants a virtuall profession is sufficient and such a profession we finde in them in respect of their Propagation They are not unfitly termed Beleevers because they are borne within the Profession of Christianity As also the Infants of Pagans are justly accounted Infidels because they are born in the Profession of Infidelity And if Saint Paul had disputed this case I doubt not but as he said of Levi that in Abraham he paid tithes to Melchisedech so he would have said that the seed of the faithfull doe in their Parents professe the Faith of Christ And then as it followeth Adde this saith he That this virtuall profession is actuated by the promise of the Sureties and Parents at Baptisme And a little after It is plain that that Ab-renunciation is the profession of repentance in the name of the Childe so also the Recitation of the Articles a profession of Faith and reputed his according to that well known saying of Saint Austin peccavit in alio credit in alio as his offence so his profession is the act of another but his by Imputation The same Father also saith Aug. in Epi. 105 We confesse that as they be born again by the Ministery of Baptisers so they beleeve by the hearts and mouths of the Confessours And in another place Serm. 10. de verb. Apostoli Accommodat illis Mater Ecclesia aliorum pedes ut veniant aliorum cor ut credant Our Mother the Church lendeth them other mens feet that they may come and other mens hearts that they may believe Math. 9.2 Mat. 2.5 Luk. 5 20. And as the Palsie-man in the Gospell fared the better for the faith of his friends so the little Children are by these means qualified for holy Baptisme and being baptised are no lesse bound to observe the Faith of Christians then the Jewes infants as well as others bound themselves by Circumcision to the Law of Moses For I testifie againe to every man that is circumcised that he is a debter saith the Apostle to doe the whole Law Gal. 5.3 Whereto agreeth that which the Scripture also saith That he who names the name of Christ must depart from iniquity 2 Tim. 2.19 We have therefore Sureties who are examined not altogether in regard of the Infant but also in some respect in regard of themselves that thereby it may appeare whether they be fit to undertake for the Childe for which they come to answer For they be Sureties for the Childe and in the name of the Childe they do promise and vow that which the Childe is afterwards bound to perform To which end is Confirmation after Baptisme that when Children come to the years of discretion and have learned What their Godfathers and Godmothers promised for them they may then themselves with their own mouths and with their own consent openly before the Church ratifie and confirme the same and live by their own Faith their Godfathers and Godmothers being in the mean time bound to teach them what a solemn Vow Promise and Profession they have made by them their Sureties who are not only speciall witnesses of their naming and receiving into the Church as God said to his Prophet Esa 8.2 But are also undertakers and speciall monitours for them For if as the Apostle teacheth in the 1 Cor. 12.25 there is to be no schisme in the body but that the members should have the same care one for another then much more are they bound who specially undertake for others In the phrase of some kind of men as our Hooker speaketh they use to be termed witnesses as if saith he they came but to see and testifie what is done It savoureth more of piety to give them their old accustomed names of Fathers and Mothers in God whereby they are well put in minde what affection they ought to bear towards those innocents for whose religious education the Church accepteth them as pledges This therefore is their own duty But because the answer which they make to the usuall demands of stipulation proposed in Baptisme is not absolutely their own the Church doth best to receive it of them in that form which best sheweth whose the act is And thus much for satisfaction concerning Interrogatories in holy Baptisme at which whilest you scoffe and are pleased to make your selfe merry you see what a scorne you put upon the Church of God which hath been acquainted with this custome long before the novell times of upstart Popery DIALOGUE Ge. What doth the minister after he hath received these feigned answers Min. He doth baptize the Infant and doth marke him on the forehead with a Crosse which doth offend many because they take it to be the mark of the Beast mentioned Revel 14.9 Gent. Why do they take it to be the mark of the beast Min. Because there is no one thing in all Popery set on the forehead and on the hand but a crosse made on the forehead by the Priest in Baptisme and by the Bishop on the right hand in Confirmation saying Signaculum Christi in manu tua dextra trado tibi therefore they say that it is a mark wherewith the Beast doth cause all that are of his Church to be marked according as it is written that he hath made all both small and great rich and poore bond and free to receive a mark on the forehead and on the right hand Rev. 13.16 It is written Rev. 14.9 that if
him to bee an Angell it is like enough he would have demeaned himselfe otherwise but taking him to be a man as he seemed hee was more honest than to set him a worke for nothing Nor in case this story were as true as could be were it more absurd for old Tobie to offer this Angell wages whilst he knew him not than it was for Gideon to present an Angell with a Kid or for Lot to afford the Angels lodging or for Manoah to dresse a Kid likewise that the Angell might eate For Manoah saith the Scripture knew not that he was an Angell Iudges 13.16 And as for the dog going with them it is an usuall thing for a dogge to runne abroad with his Master and I pray quarrell not with him for feare hee bites you Little reason is there that you should bee troubled to see a man with a dogge at his heeles except he were going into a Church But if you be of the Packe of Praecisians you care as little to exclude your dogge from thence as you doe to shut out your owne irreverence And yet Iacob could say Gen. 28.17 How dreadfull is this place surely it is no other than the house of God and the gate of Heaven The Lord also saith Levit. 19.30 Ye shall observe my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary And in the Prophet Malachie Mal. 1.6 If I saith the Lord be a Father where is my honour If I be a Master where is my Feare And in the Gospell Mat. 21.13 Luke 19.46 It is written saith Christ that my House shall bee called the house of prayer but yee have made it a denne of Theeves Thus t was then And I would to God it could not in some sort bee as truely said that Gods House is by many made no better still than a denne of Theeves wherein they rob him of his service and are not against the respect which is done there to themselves giving none at all to him before whom they cannot bee too reverent but should bow which we commonly reade Worship fall downe and kneell Psal 95.6 as the Psalmist speaketh Nor doth Saint Paul but say 1 Cor. 11 22. That the Corinthians despised the Church of God for which hee praysed them not And as for reverence to bee done to the Lord of Heaven and Earth the same Apostle instructs the Hebrewes thus Wherefore saith he Heb. 12.28,29 Wee having received a kingdome which cannot be shaken let us have grace whereby wee may serve God acceptablie with reverence and a godly feare For our GOD is a consuming fire All which Scriptures mentioning these things are quoted in the Margent DIALOGUE Minist On the third of October another lying fable is appointed to be read how Tobias being come from Rages did call the Angell unto him and bade him take a servant and two Camels and goe to Rages for mony and that the Angell went and carried writings which he delivered to Gabael who brought bags of mony sealed up which he delivered to the Angell ANSWER Her 's still great noise and little Wooll much spoken but to little purpose as in the former answers hath beene already shewed DIALOGUE Gent. O horrible how have the Bishops deluded King Edward the sixt Queene Elizabeth King James and Our gracious King Charles and the whole estate and made them beleeve that there was nothing in the service Booke contrary to Gods Word God Almighty deliver us from them ANSWER You talke you know not what for that the Bishops have not deluded the state nor those Princes which you speake of appeares First by the Martyrdome of those worthy Bishops which suffered in the dayes of Queene Mary Secondly by the conference holden at Hampton Court in the beginning of King Iames his Raigne who as you know was a Prince so well accomplished in learning and particularly in Divinity that if they would they could not have captivated his judgment and skill as in that conference is most apparent His wise Nobles saw it well enough For being present and observing all passages they were perswaded that His Majesty spoke by inspiration And thirdly that they went not about to delude him appeares by that which they said throughout the whole conference and especially by the faire dealing with His Majestie about particular absolution and private Baptisme DIALOGUE Gent. Now that you have shewed me the blasphemies and lying fables shew also what are the Popish errours that are in it and first tell me whether the Service Booke doth command that all both Ministers and people shall bow their bodies when the Name Jesus is read Minist The Bishops only without any warrant from God but from the Pope Gent. I have read that the Name Jesus was a common name among the Jewes was it so Minist Yes Syrach of Jerusalem had a son whose name was Iesus Eccl. 50.23 Also Ioshua the son of Nun was called Iesus Acts 7.57 and one of Saint Pauls fellow Labourers was called Iesus Col. 4 11. Gent. Why doe the Bishops make an Idoll of the name Jesus by causing men to bow their bodies and to put off their hat when it is read Min. Because they mistake the Word of God where it is written that at the name of Iesus every knee shall bow both of things in Heaven of things on earth and of things under the earth Phil. 2.10 Gent. What is the name of Jesus Min. As by the name of our gracious King Charles is meant not the name Charles which is a common name but the authority and power that God hath given him over all people within his owne dominions as when men are prest to the Kings service they are prest in the Kings name that is by vertue of authority and power from the King even so as by the name of K. Charles is meant his authority and power c. So by the name of Iesus ia meant the authority and power that God hath given him over all things in Heaven and in Earth and under the Earth Gent. What is meant by things in Heaven Min. By things in Heaven are meant the holy Angels and soules of the faithfull that have no knees Gent. What is meant by things on Earth Min. By things on Earth are meant all mankinde living on earth whether they be Elect or Reprobate Gâ—nt What is meant by things under the Earth Min. By things under the Earth are meant the Devils and damned soules in hell Gent. What is meant by bowing of the knee Min. By bowing of the knee is meant subjection Isa 45.23 and not bowing of the body when the name Jesus is read as Pope Anastatius did command Anno 404. Gent. What is meant by bowing of every knee of things in Heaven of things on earth and of things under the earth Min. Thereby is meant that all the holy Angels and Saints in Heaven and all mankinde on earth and all the Devils and damned soules in hell shall submit themselves to
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
thirtieth Canon of the same Booke or to the three and thirtieth Canon of the Councell of Laodicea which was celebrated in the yeare of our LORD GOD 364. as Iustellus writeth DIALOGUE Gent. What other errour doe you find to be in the Service-Booke Min. The interrupting of the Minister by the Clarke and the whole Congregation is a foule errour and such an error and confusion as doth much offend God and that therefore many are unwilling to come into the Church till the Service be all read ANSWER I doubt me you are none of those who will be so diligent as to reade the whole Service your pretended errours and dislikes which you here lay downe in this Dialogue are cause enough to make me think so And therefore they of your Parish had need to come betimes to Church if they meane to know your Text or heare any more than a peece of your Sermon except you doe as no few of your Sect trifle away a great deale of time in vaine repetitions and idle tautologies in some prayer of your own which our Saviour Himselfe likens to the practice of the Heathen and calls no better than much babling DIALOGUE Gent. How doe they interrupt the Minister Minist By rehearsing his words with a loud voyce and by taking words out of his mouth and by mingling their prayers with his ANSWER This may be answered out of Doctor Boys whose words be these I am occasioned saith he in this place justly to defend the peoples answering the Minister aloud in the Church The beginning of which interlocutory passages is ascribed by Platina to Damasus Bishop of Rome by Theodoret to Diodorus Bishop of Antioch by Walfridus Strabo to Saint Ambrose Bishop of Millane all which lived 1100 yeares before the Church was acquainted with any French fashions and yet Basil Epist 63. alleadgeth that the Churches of Aegypt Lybia Thebes Palestina Phoenicians Syrians Mesopotamians used it long before Socrates and Strabo writ that Ignatius a Scholler unto Christs owne Schollers is thought to be the first Author hereof If any man shall expect greater antiquity and authority we can fetch this order even from the Quire of Heaven I saw the Lord said Esay Esay 6.3 set on an high Throne the Seraphims stood upon it and one cried to another saying Holy holy holy Lord God of Hosts all the World is full of His glory Esay 6.3 Blessed spirits in praising God answer one another interchangeably though unhappie scornefull spirits unmannerly tearme this custome Tossing of Service an interrupting of the Minister a foule errour yea such an errour and confusion as doth much offend God DIALOGUE Minist The Minister when he prayeth is the mouth of the people speaking to God for them therefore they ought to bee silent till he hath done speaking and then to say Amen 1 Cor. 14.16 and not to interrupt him by rehearsing every word after him as in the confession of sinne when the Minister saith Almighty and most mercifull Father we have erred and strayed out of thy wayes like lost sheepe and in the Letany when he saith ô God the Father of Heaven have mercy upon us miserable sinners The Minister must stop and be silent till the Clarke and people have with a loud voyce rehearsed every word after him in which time it is impossible for the Minister to keep idle and by-thoughts from comming into his minde ANSWER If it be so with you that idle and by-thoughts will not be kept from comming into your mind pray to God to settle you better and bee not so rash as to measure other mens corne by your owne Bushell Saint Ambrose tells us that in his times the Church resounded againe with the responds of Men Women and Children like to the Sea with its beating waves or like to the rushing of many waters Thus in the Latine Church And in the Greeke Church Saint Basil is witnesse that the voyce of their prayers and Responds was like the noise of waters beating against the Rockes The patterne whereof seemes to be in Revel 14.2 besides what was before out of Esay 6.3 This is therefore all that I may yeeld you viz. that in every part of the service it is not requisite that it should be so For in many of the Prayers the people are to be silent and have no more to doe with an open and loud voyce than to say Amen But then again when occasion is offered I must say unto them as David did O praise our God yee people and make the voyce of his praise to bee heard Psalm 66.7 Or as it is in another Psalme Psal 95.1 O come let us sing unto the Lord let us make a joyfull noise to the Rocke of our salvation Or as in another Psal 107.31.32 ô that men would praise the Lord for his goodnesse and for his wonderfull works to the children of men Let them exalt him also in the Congregation of the people and praise him in the assembly of the Elders And in a word as for those times in which by the Apostles warrant they are to say Amen at the end of the Ministers prayer it was not without due care observed in the ancient times Saint Paul mentions it in the place alledged by you 1 Cor. 14.16 And as Saint Hierome writes it was the praise of the Primitive Church That their Amen was like a clap of thunder and their Halleluja as the roring of the Sea DIALOGUE Minist Also when hee prayeth for the King saying Lord save the King they interrupt him by mingling their prayer with his saying And mercifully heare us when we call upon thee The Minister being interrupted and put out in praying for the King doth pray for Ministers saying Indue thy Ministers with righteousnesse they doe then also interrupt him by mingling their prayers with his saying And make thy people joyfull ANSWER This is strange that you dare dally thus These Suffrages at which you kick with scorne are answerable to that prayer of David in the hundred and two and thirtieth Psalm where hee prayes for the Prince Priests and People orderly For the Prince Lord remember David For the Priests Let thy Priests be cloathed with righteousnesse For the People Let thy Saints sing with joyfulnesse So we in like manner Lord save thy King Indue thy Ministers with righteousnesse And make thy chosen people joyfull This also justifies our order in praying for the King first for the Clergie next and for the Laity last of all in our well composed Letany with which you quarrell next But had your quarrell been with the mattter of it as with the manner I should have said as worthy Hooker did What one petition is there found in the whole Letany whereof we shall ever be able at any time to say That no man living needeth the grace or benefit therein craved at Gods hands And a little before It now remaineth saith he a work the absolute perfection whereof upbraydeth with error or
doe set upon the Minster again and do accuse him saying Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother yea thou hast slandred thine own Mothers Sonne ANSWER If you were not a man of a corrupt minde you would never I feare me vent such stuffe as this do you not tremble are you not afraid to dally thus with the word of God They are likened by some you say to women scoulding and accusing one another And with whom I pray should the Minister scould or who is it that he should accuse if at any time he should chance to read thus to the people alone I hope you would shrink out and be none of his auditors for feare he should scould with you accuse you for consenting with a thief note you for a partaker with adulterers a speaker against thy brother or tell thee that thou hast slandred thine own Mothers sonne away therefore with such impious cavils and dally not thus with the word of God These scoffes are fitter for Pagans then for Christians especially if they consider how dangerous a thing it is to sport themselves with holy things Be not angry Man for I do but reprove thee and set before thee the things that thou hast done I retort with as much patience as I can no more then what your selfe hath cast abroad Others make points and you take in hand to tag them But alasse we have more much like this a little after which as I meet it shall be answered DIALOGUE Gent. I remember that in the Churching of women the Minister is called Priest tell me I pray you is that a fit name for a Minister and Preacher of the Gospel Min. No verily For we read in Gods word of no more orders of Priests but of two the order of Aaron and the order of Melchisedech Of the order of Aaron were the Leviticall Priests whose office was to offer sacrifices which together with the Sacrifices was abolished in Christ his death Of the order of Melchisedech was Christ only and shall remaine Priest for ever A third order of Priests is to be found no where but in the Masse-book and in our Service-book The name Priest belongeth to every Christian man and woman as well as to the Minister according as it is written Revel 1.6 That Christ hath made us Kings and Priests unto God The meaning is that Christ hath made all the Elect men and women Priests to offer the sacrifices of prayse and of thankes unto God ANSWER The Minister is called Priest and why not I hope you know for you have noted it that all true Christians are called Priests and so Saint Peter as well as Saint John declareth it 1 Pet. 2.5 Revel 5.10 and therefore the Minister in particular may much more be called by that name although he offer none of those Sacrifices which were abolished by Christ nor intend the upholding of the Popish Masse with the blasphemous figments which are there else we condemn the Primitive Church of God in which this name which you here would quarrell with was of frequent use as you cannot but know if you know any thing of the ancient times The Prophet Esay doth * Chapt. 61.6 in one place say the same of Christians in generall which even Saint Peter and Saint John have written and in * Chapt. 66.21 another place declareth that God will choose some from among them to be Priests and Levites which though it be but an allusion doth denote a Priest-hood still and this to confist of an imparity as well as of old among the Jewes Besides were it so that the Minister might not be called Priest no more then any other Christian because the Scripture saith of every Christian man and woman Yee are an holy Priest-hood are made Kings and Priests unto God Then would it sollow first that none in particular should be a King And secondly that neither might any among the Jews have been a publike Priest or called by that name because the same which was said to Christians was also said to them when out of the Mount God sent them his message by his servant Moses Yee have seen saith the Lord what I did unto the Aegyptians and how I bare you on Eagles wings and brought you unto my selfe Now therefore if yee will obey my voice indeed and keep my Covenant then yee shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people for all the earth is mine And yee shall be unto me a kingdome of Priests and an holy Nation Exod. 19.4,5,6 It is also warranted by that of Saint Paul in Hebr. 7.12 where if you mark it you shall finde that Priesthood is not taken away but translated or changed onely and so also Irenaeus saith lib. 4. c. 34. And as for the testimonies out of the other Fathers they are so common as I need not mention them only let me say that you may finde the name both of Priest and Priest-hood in the writings of Ignatius that Martyr already mentioned who as you know was scholler to Saint John that wrote the Revelation This strife of words you should therefore carefully avoid it doth but disquiet unstable soules Grant then that name without quarrelling to him which the Scripture not onely gives to every true member of the Church but foretold it in some sort of even the Evangelicall Ministers in more particular where though the Prophet mentions Levites also who were properly so called in regard of their tribe yet as is probable enough he means not that therefore the name of Priest should not be used no more then that of Levite for except those Priests to which he alludeth had had their name only in respect of such Sacrifices as then were offered and to be ended at the death of Christ and not in regard also of other duties which are common to us and them which neither are nor may be abolished I see no reason to think otherwise To teach and blesse the people were the services of the Priests both before the Law and under the Law as well as now Melchisedech was a Priest before the Law and blessed Abraham to whom also Abraham paid his Tythes Gen. 14.19,20 Nor was it but said to Aaron and his sonnes under the Law That they should teach the sonnes of Israel all the Statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses Levit. 10.11 and in Malachy it stands recorded The priests lips should keep knowledge and they should seek the Law at his mouth for he is the Messenger of the Lord of hosts Malach. 2.7 and in Ezekiel They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and prophane ch 44.23 and in 6 Num. the 6 last verses The Lord spake unto Moses saying speak unto Aaron and to his sonnes saying On this wise yee shall blesse the children of Israel saying unto them The Lord blesse thee and keep thee The Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gratious unto the The Lord lift
up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel and I will blesse them All which is still done by the Ministers of the Gospell they blesse they teach they instruct they rebuke they reprove they exhort they consecrate the Bread and Wine to holy uses they offer up the Prayers of the people nay more they do as it were offer Christ in a Mystery and sacrifice him objectively by way of commemoration In which we differ farre from the Church of Rome for the Romish Church professeth the Body and Blood of Christ to be the proper subject we nay but the proper object of our Celebration We take then a Priest and Presbiter now to be all one and list not to quarrell any longer about the word For should we descend to Grammer we are told as much as comes fully home namely that the word Priest hath his right place in him whose meer function and charge is the service of God Whereunto let me only adde that which I find in Bishop Jewell We know saith he that the Priest or Minister of the Church of God is divided from the rest of his brethren as was the tribe of Levi from the children of Israel and hath a speciall office over the people Neither may any man force himself into that office without lawfull calling But as touching the inward Priest-hood and the exercise of the soule we say even as Saint Peter and Saint John and Tertullian have said in this sence every faithfull Christian man is a Priest and offereth to God Spirituall Sacrifices In this only sence I say and none otherwise Thus he granting that there is a Priest-hood internall and a Priest-hood externall For saith he there is not one of us that ever taught otherwise See this in his Defence of the Apology for the Church of England Part 2. pag. 130. DIALOGUE Gent. What do you think of the Priest and Clark when they do Church a woman Min. I will not tell you what I think but I will tell you what some doe say Gent. What do they say Min. They say that the Priest is like a witch Gent. Why doe they say that the Priest is like to a witch Min. Because he doth as a witch doth when she saith the Lords Prayer Gent. What doth a witch when she saith the Lords Prayer Min. She leaves out these words but deliver us from evill and so doth the Priest when he doth Church a woman Gent. Why will not a witch say these words Min. Because the Devill will not let her till she hath bewitched so many as he would have her For by the evill that is prayed against in that petition is meant the Devill and the sinne whereunto he tempteth therefore the Devill will not have her to say these words because when she saith them she prayeth that God will deliver her from him and the witchery whereunto he tempteth her ANSWER This is a cavill scarce worth the answering for it is most certain that the evill which you speak of is prayed against The most therefore which you could urge fairely is no more but this viz. That the order in saying that Prayer had been better without an answer interposed then by the interposing of one in which I think you should have met with few or none to quarrell you But to speak so basely and in such unbeseeming manner as you have done serves as a figne to shew with what a malignant spirit you wrote these things who do rather play the witch your selfe by speaking perverse words to draw away disciples after you then justly accuse the Priest in these your vain janglings But it is as Saint Paul gave notice a great while since when he called the Elders of Ephesus together as we read in the twentieth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles at the 30 verse DIALOGUE Min. The Priest doth also skip over the conclusion of the Lords Prayer for thine is the kingdome power and glory and therein also they say that he is like to a witch when she doth say the Creed for when she saith the second Article And in Jesus Christ his onely sonne she skips over these words Our Lord and so doth the Priest slip over the conclusion of the Lords Prayer Gent. Saint Luke leaves it out and therefore the Priest may leave them out Luk. 11.4 Min. It followeth not that therefore the Minister may leave them out for Saint Luke did not write any thing of himselfe but what the holy Ghost would have him to write Gent. Why would not the holy Ghost have him to write them Min. Because it was sufficient that Saint Mathew had writ them Math. 6.13 ANSWER Here you shew us still more of your skill in witchery and tell us of the Priests skipping over the conclusion of the Lords Prayer And indeed if there were not some President for it in Scripture it might not be But there is president for it in Luke 11.4 although you be pleased to passe it over with a non sequitur And yet for all that it may follow well enough For whereas it seemed good to the holy Ghost in one Evangelist to adde the Doxologie and in another to omit it the Church is blamelesse and may indifferently follow either the one or the other seeing both of them wrote by inspiration For who knows except you who know any thing whether it were the purpose of the holy Ghost to have Saint Luke omit it because Saint Matthew had recorded it and not rather to shew that it was a compleat Prayer at the end of the petitions although the reason of the petitions be not mentioned where the Doxology is omitted It is well then to repeat those words of the conclusion and not ill although they be not alwaies mentioned for our Church in so doing hath the pattern not only of all the Latine and some of the Greek Fathers but even of Saint Luke himself Quando dicimus libera nos à malo nihil remanet quod ultra adhuc debeat postulari as saith Saint Cyprian Cypr. de Orat. Dominic that is When we say Deliver from evill there remains nothing more to be prayed for DIALOGUE Gent. Some doe think because Saint Mark and Saint John doe make no mention of the Lords Prayer that therefore the Minister may omit the reading of it and that because the Evangelists and the Apostles did not use to say it as a Prayer therefore none neither Minister nor people ought to use it as a Prayer Min. The truth is that our Saviour Christ did make it for all Christians to use as a prayer and also for a pattern to pray by Gent. Where doe you finde that our Saviour Christ would have it used as a Prayer Min. In the 11 chapter of the Gospell written by Saint Luke and the second verse where it is written that our Saviour said When you pray say Our Father which c. Gent. Where doe
the childe the Sacrament and the benefit thereof Yea and let me also add That the right qualification of Godfathers and Godmothers is here also to be regarded as is formerly shewed in answer to the exceptions taken against Interrogatories where also is shewed how the profession of Faith and repentance is performed But you go on and tell us that they be the Insants of the Elect only which are undoubtedly saved by virtue of Gods everlasting covenant of Grace and yet not these neither though born of such parents as you speak off except they also be in the number of the Elect. In which this is granted that it is by virtue of Gods covenant with the Parents that Infants have right of title or interest to baptisme which at the first they were admitted unto even as soon as ever their Parents being converted were baptized For in this the proceeding of the Converts was surely such when the Apostles baptized whole households as when the covenant and what was thereupon commanded concerning Circumcision was made with Abraham The covenant is made and no sooner made but he with all the males in his house were circumcised young and old So doubtlesse no sooner was the covenant of grace ratified betwixt God and the Parents by baptisme but presently their Children or Infants of the same family are accounted holy and Baptized It is plain and evident that unto those to whom Saint Peter preached in the second chapter of the Acts Act. 2.39 and bad them repent and be baptized he said The promise is made to you and your Children Nor doth Saint Paul but also teach the same unto the Gentiles in the first Epistle written to the Corinthians Cor. 7.14 the seventh chapter at the fourteenth verse And where the means is alike to all Gods Election which you speak of appears not to be but according to his foreknowledge of the effects of his means graciously and of meer mercy offered to us â— Pet. 1.10 For though many be called yet few are chosen because all the called of God are not found with their wedding garments on they do not make their calling and Election sure But to be so searching as to put a difference among Infants who can no waies hinder the efficacy of this Sacrament or bar themselves of the benefit or fruit thereof is more then you are able how to manifest For though many of the Elect that are now Saints in heaven have brought forth children that are reprobates and damned soules in Hell yet if they had done well the Scripture tels us they had been accepted as is particularly instanced in one of them whom you have mentioned namely Cain Gen. 4.7 And if hereby you think it followeth that Election is not untill after Vocation then for your further satisfaction I must tell you that in respect of Gods purpose and decree Election is granted to be before the foundation of the World but not re ipsa not so in very deed For both his Election and Calling to the Kingdome of Grace and out of those his Election of some to the Kingdome of Glory is according to his eternall purpose yet not actuated but in time neither the one nor the other Not the one for I will call them my people which were not my people and her beloved which was not beloved Not the other for When the King came in and saw one there which had not on a wedding garment he commanded him to be bound hand and foot and cast into utter darknesse Rom. 9.25 Hos 2.23 Mat. 22.11,13 To which action declared by that Parable our Saviour presently subjoyns this saying Mat. 22.14 For many are called but few are chosen Where note I pray you that they are actually elected who are found to have the wedding garment on walking like Children of the light which they received by their Election unto grace and do so come under the use of the means and are benefitted thereby as that they make their Calling and Election sure for such as these are undoubtedly cloathed with the robe of Christs righteousnesse they have put off the old Man and by a true and a lively Faith which by the means afforded them is wrought in them upon their submission and applying thereunto they have put on the New Christ dwells in them yea their life is hid with Christ and when Christ who is their life shall appear then shall they also appeare with him in glory Coloss 3.3,4 And then next as for that of Ishmael It is true that he was the sonne of Abraham as well as Isaac but that he was damned is more then I dare determin especially seeing when Abraham prayed unto God Gen. 17,18,20 that he might live in his sight the Lord gave him answer That as concerning Ishmael he had heard him If you say that this is meant only in regard of his temporall prosperity then must it be also granted that he is cast out of Abrahams house and * Aliud nihil erat quam reprobari à typica illa haereditate terrae Canaan quam Isaaco Deus assignabat differenced from Isaac not because he was a Reprobate as you would have him but because he might not be heire with Isaac For Cast out the bondwoman and her Sonne the Sonne of the Bond-woman shall not be heire with the Sonne of the Freewoman Gen. 21.10 All which comes to one and the same and doth either way make well against you And last of all as for that which you have concerning Jacob and Esau how that God loved the one and hated the other there be them who think that it may be taken as if it should be said He loved the one lesse then the other and not as if it were absolutely meant of an hostile hate or of an hatred to damnation but of a negative hatred which in this seems to be no other thing then a posthabitation concerning the land of Promise and a deniall of the priviledges belonging to the birthright whereby the one is preferred before the other For as Scharpius mentions in his Symphonia Odium duo significat Primò affectum amori contrarium vel hostilem animum quo erga Esauum Deus affectus non fuit Secundo significat aliquid in re aliqua negligere alteri postponere it a Deus Esauum odio habuit cum illi Jacobum praetulit Esauum eaten us pra Jacobo neglexit ut ad illum licet primogenitum ne jus primogeniturae nec promiss terrae Canaani nec origo Messiae secundum carnem pertinuerit A like phrase of speech is in Deuteronomy chap. 21.15 where the words are concerning a man with two wives the one whereof he is said to hate the other to love and this because the one was lesse loved thâ—n the other for so we are taught in the 29 chap. of Genesis at the 30 31 verses even concerning Rachel and Leah the two wives of Jacob. After the same manner likewise
are those words of our Saviour Christ to be understood in Luk. 14.26 where he saith that If any man come to me and hate not his Father and Mother c. he cannot be my Disciple Thus our Saviour Now we know that a man is bound to honour his Father and Mother to love them and not to hate them and yet he that shall love either Father or Mother more then Christ is not worthy of Christ Matth. 10.37 And thus doth one place explain another But howsoever the meaning be that what you mention is not to be referred precisely to the particular persons of Jacob and Esau whereupon you loose that you strive for is plain enough First because Gods Oracle to Rebecca was concerning two Nations Gen. 25.23 where the words be these And the Lord said unto her two Nations are in thy womb and two manner of peâ—ple shall be separated from thy bowels and the one people shall be stronger then the other people and the elder shall serve the younger Duae gentes nen in seipsis sed in suis patribus secundum Prophetiam quoque ipsius Isaac quando Minorom pro Majore benedixit And secondly because the Prophet Malachy declares the same nay he shews the accomplishment thereof in the Israelites and Edomites the one whereof were discended of Jacob the other of Esau Malach. chap. 1. The Paraphrase whereof is as followeth Ecce populus Israeliticus ex Jacobo oriundus populus iste est quem singulariter dilexit Deus quippe cui ex merâ—… dilectiâ—…e gratia terram promâ—ssam melle lacte fluentem Abrahamo Isaaco olim promissam velut haereditatem possidendam dedit Populus verò Edomeus ex Esau progenitus populus iste est quem Deus amore isto singulari complecti favore tam prolixo adficere noluit quippe cui horrida inculta loea montes Seir vastos saxosis desertosque cum fertili ista terra promissa miniâ—… conserendos habitandos dedit ut servilis borum filialis istorum conditio juxta praegressum de illorum capitibus or aculum clare elucesceret And was it not that out of both these Saint Paul cited that which you have aymed at and in Saint Pauls Epistles are some things hard to be understood as Saint Peter tels us 2 Pet. 3.16 Wherefore let me advise you not to be rash in citing from thence things hard to be understood nor come with things obscure against what is elsewhere plain and manifest for then you will neither benefit your self nor truly instruct others The elder shall serve the younger understand that not of the persons of Esau and Jacob for Esau never served Jacob but of the two * Major populus serviet Minori id est Primogenitus populus haeres non trit terrae Canaan sed secundogenitus Propositum enim Dei erat vocare semen quos quales vult Nations which were to come of them as the words of God declare which said not to Rebecca Two men but two Nations are in thy womb And then whereas the Apostle presently subjoyneth Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated it is not to be taken as if it were spoken before the children were born as was the former Oracle for this was said many ages after by the Prophet Malachy and spoken likewise not of two men but of two people as in the said Prophet is apparent Besides the very phrase of speech declareth that this was not as the other spoken before the Children were born for then it had not been in the Preterperfect but in the Future tense So that all the reference which this can have unto the former is but to shew how Gods purpose took effect in preferring the Nations which came of Jacob before the people which came of Esau which he terms love and hatred and is found to be so in the sence already mentioned But whereto serve those examples if they be not to shew that God irrespectively decreed to save the persons of some of them in particular and absolutely in particular according to the Councell of his will to damn the others Verily he that shall read the Scriptures and find it * Ezek. 18 32. ch 33.11 1 Tim 2.4 2 Pet 3.9 written that God would not the death of him that dyech would have all to be saved and is not willing that any one should perish will scarce be perswaded that God hath absolutely decreed any mans damnation I answer therefore Gods love to mankinde is such that not only is the promise of Grace Universall but also free and taken by Faith alone insomuch that the Apostle to the Romans plainly excludes all prerogative of the flesh and merit of workes and concludes that every one who believes shall not be ashamed For there is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile For he that is Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him And hereto serve those famous Types and Heads of Nations which he propoundeth when he brings in the sonnes of Abraham and of Isaac already mentioned which types as Hemmingius speaketh Hemming Syntagm capit De Praedestinat sect 32. are to be fitted after this manner viz. that in certain commodities belonging to this life all which are born of the seed of Abraham and Isaac are not reckoned for their sonnes Much lesse in things spirituall are they accounted as sons who draw their originall from those holy Fathers Wherefore even as in profits and priviledges belonging to this life they only are reputed the sonnes of whom the holy Patriarchs had the promises So in things Spirituall they only are to be reckoned as sons of Abraham whose faith is in the free promise and not those who exult and swell by reason of the Prerogative of the flesh as did the carnall Jews whose rejection he sheweth to be just notwithstanding they could say we have Abraham to our Father * Similiter nunc propositum hoc Dei manet quo Judaeos legem praefracte sectari volentes licet illi praeferri debere videantur Gentilibus semen vocare non vult sed omnes solos eos sive Judaei sunt qui Evangelio filii ejus credunt et si hi illis deteriores indigniores esse videantur DIALOGUE Gent. This errour you say is in the Rubrick what is in the Chatechisme Min. In the Catechism it is affirmed that Christ hath redeemed all Mankind The truth is that Christ came into the world not to redeem all Mankind but the Elect only therefore the Evangelist Saint Luke setting forth the Genealogy of Christ beginneth from Joseph and ascendeth to Adam and from Adam doth descend to Sheth who was the first of Elect that was born after the death of Abel and maketh no mention of Cain nor of any of his posterity And Saint Matthew beginning from Abraham and from Abraham descendeth to Isaac and from Isaac to Jacob and maketh no mention of Ishmael nor of Esau nor of any that
came of them Also our Saviour Christ saith that he gave his life a ransome for many Matth. 20.28 and that his blood was shed for many Matth. 26.28 He doth not say that his blood was shed for all mankind but for many that is for the Elect only who are many though but few in comparison of the multitude that are Reprobates ANSWER When our Church teacheth her Children to say I believe in God the sonne who hath redeemed me and all mankinde she hath respect to the ample latitude of the merit of Redemption wrought by Jesus Christ which is such and so large as that it extends it selfe to all it excludes none but hath satisfied Justice and made a way for all men to attain unto mercy For if God be not willing that any one should perish as Saint Peter speaketh 2 Pet. 2.9 but that all men should be saved as Saint Paul to Timothy declareth 1 Tim. 2.4 then surely the Son of God who came to seek and to save that which was lost and to do the will of his Father laid down his life in common for all that thereby a way might be made for all to attain unto mercy Christ indeed gave his life for his sheep and laid it down for his friends but not for them only For He is the propitiation for our sinnes and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole world 1 Joh. 2.2 And well might he say he gave his life a ransome for many and that his blood was shed for many who shed his blood for all and gave himselfe a ransome for all 1 Tim. 2.6 Nor do we but read that Judas was one of them to whom Christ said My blood is shed for you Luk. 22.20 and yet Judas was a Reprobate To which agreeth that of Saint Peter concerning some who should bring in privily damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them 2 Pet. 2.1 And again saith another scripture Of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden under foot the Son of God and hath counted the blood of the Covenant wherewith he was sanctified an unholy thing and hath done despite to the spirit of Grace Hebr. 10.29 And in the second chapter of the same Epistle the Apostle saith expresly Heb. 2.9 But we see Jesus who was made a little lower then the Angels for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man And again The Lord saith the Prophet hath laid on him the iniquity of us all Esa 53.6 And I saith Christ if I be lifted up from the Earth will draw all men unto me Joh. 12.32 And in the 2 Corinth 5.14 Christ dyed for all And in Tit. 2.11 The grace of God that bringeth Salvation hath appeared to all men And in Rom. 5.18 As by the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation even so by the righteousnesse of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life as our common translation reads it And will you notwithstanding all this deny that the price paid by Christ was not paid for all nor made for all The truth is that it hath not been beneficiall to all and in that respect our Saviours words are manifest that he shed his blood for many And so the Apostle likewise meaneth expresly declaring that we trust in the living God who is she Saviour of all men specially of those that beleeve 1 Tim. 4.10 you see then that God excludes none but those that exclude themselves by unbeliefe For though Christ hath not gained all yet neverthelesse he hath dyed for all as Chrysost speaketh Chrysost in Rom. 14. He hath done that which was his part to do if therefore others will not doe that which is theirs they must notwithstanding Christs death be damned Ideo passus est ut tolleret peecatum Mundi Si quis autem in Christum non credit generali beneficio ipse se frodat ut siquis clausis fenestris radios solis excludat saith Saint Ambrose Ambr. Serm. 8. in Psal 118. That is Christ therefore suffered that he might take away the sinne of the world But if any one believe not in Christ he defrauds himself of that generall benefit as any one by having his windows shut excludes the light of the Sunne In medio Temple misericordia est non in angulo aut diversorio In communi posita est offertur omnibus nemo illius expers nisi qui renuit as saith Saint Bernard Bern. Serm. in purif pag. 101. which is as if he should say Although Christs merits are common to all and that he keeps open house to all commers yet those only have full benefit by them that lay hold upon him God loved the World indeed when he gave his only begotten sonne howbeit they only shall not perish but have life everlasting who believe on him Joh. 3.16 So then that Christs precious blood hath greater efficacy or force in some then in others is not the fault of him who did so well impart it but of them who do so ill imploy it And so all this while no errour in our Common Catechisme DIALOGUE Min. It is also affirmed in the Catechisme that we are made the Children of God in Baptisme The truth is that whosoever is not a childe of God before he be baptized shall never be a childe of God because all that are the children of God were before the world was made the children of God by virtue of Gods eternall decree of Election ANSWER This is answered before and therefore to avoid prolixity and repetition I shall justly passe it over DIALOGUE Min. It also affirmeth that there are two Sacraments generally as necessary to salvation intimating that the Sacraments are necessary to salvation so as if a childe dye before he be baptized be shall be damned which is the cause that Midwives do take upon them to Baptize Intimating also that there are more Sacraments then two therefore it is written in the Rubrick * You would say after if you cared to relate things aright before the Communion that every Parishioner shall communicate thrice in the year and also receive the Sacraments meaning the five Popish Sacraments For there are none other ANSWER We teach indeed that Christ hath ordained in his Church two Sacraments only as generally necessary to Salvation viz. Baptisme and the Supper of the Lord and will you be he that shall blame us for it These two are said by the Ancients to flow out of Christs side when hanging upon the Crosse for us the souldier with his speare let out from thence Water and Blood Joh. 19.34 It is therefore said that This is he that came by Water and Blood even Jesus Christ not by Water only but by Water and Blood 1 Joh. 5.6 And will you be he which shall not grant these two legitimate and true
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
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
Father granted to be the first Bishop there Saint Ambrose could say upon Gal. 1.18 that S. Paul saw James at Ierusalem because he was made Bishop of that place by the Apostles So also saith Eusebius in his second booke of Ecclesiasticall History at the first and 23. Chapters Ireneus saith in his third Booke and third Chapter against Heresies that he could reckon who were Bishops from the Apostles to his owne times Eusebius is able to doe the like and in expresse termes saith that Timothy and Titus were the first Bishops of Ephesus and Crete Eccles Hist l. 3. c. 4. The subscriptions at the end of two of S. Pauls Epistles have also said it and though no part of the Text yet of age enough to beare witnesse with the rest But come we to Ignatius a man who was not onely one of S. Johns Disciples but a faithfull Martyr and one that had likewise seen Christ in the flesh and he in his first Epistle saith Quid enim aliud est Episcopus quam is qui omni principatu potestate superior est And a little after Quid vero Presbyterium aliud est quam sacer catus Conciliarii Assessores Episcopi Quid vero Diaconi quam imâ—…itatores angelicarum virtutum purum est inculpatum Ministerium illi ministrantes Meaning in the generall that a Bishop is superiour to his Bench of Presbyters they next to him and the Deacons inferiour to both Lo then here wee have three orders which hee likewise sheweth a little before and esteemes them no better then out of the Church who will not obey their Bishop in the first place and then the rest accordingly Also in his Epistle ad Magnesios he rejoyceth in them that obey their Bishop Hee also saith That neither Presbyter nor Deacon nor Lay man can doe any thing viz. in matters Ecclesiasticall without their Bishop And in his Epistle ad Philadelphenses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 id est Episcopo attendite Presbyteris Diaconis Obey your Bishop Presbyters and Deacons And in the same Epistle a little after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Doe nothing without your Bishop The like to which he writeth to those of Smyrna and in the the same Epistle saith he saw our Saviour Christ after his Resurrection The same doth Saint Hierom also witnesse of the same Father in his Catalogue of Ecclesiastical Writers And in the foresaid Epistle he willeth That the Layman be subject to the Deacons the Deacons to the Bishop the Bishop to Christ as Christ is to his Father And in his Epistle to Polycarpus the Angell of Smyrna Let nothing saith he be done without thy minde neither doe thou any thing without the minde of God And in his Epistle to the Ephesians Studete dilecti obedire Episcopo c. Study beloved to obey your Bishop Nor doth he but name who was the Bishop of that Church then viz. Onesimus mentioned likewise in the Scripture But I have done And now if this which hath beene said be not sufficient to prove the Divine right of Episcopacy I must for ever acknowledge the Starres to bee more glorious then the Sunne and Glow-wormes to carry more fire and light in their tailes then the greatest flame which till I want my senses I will never doe Yea by this it appeareth how wrongfully our Dialogue-writer hath alledged that there were no other Bishops then ordinary Preachers of Gods word untill 334. yeares after Christ which false tenet wee may finde at the 27. page of his Book And know moreover that whilst my answer to this present Dialogue of his was at the Presse there came to my hands a new Edition of his book containing still the same things excepting some one or two left out but here and there chopped and changed in their order from what they were in that which I first received and intermingled likewise with a few weake Additions and scurrilous railings against the government of the Church by Bishops as Antichristian affirming that they themselves are Antichrists that the Clergy of England are like those of the Church of Laodicea neither hot nor cold but luke-warme All which with what else his new Edition hath affoorded he might very well and wisely have spared untill he had found himselfe fully able to defend his first writings which because hee cannot the rest will fall of it selfe without any further answer especially seeing there is very little or nothing more then what will come within the compasse of this FINIS