p. 45.46 who cry'd down all Church-orders and by the suggestions of the Devil did hinder its progress And Saint Paul makes the same complaint that when he had a greâ—t dore and effectual opened he had many adversaries 1 Cor. 16.9 The Angel is now moving our waters It is but stepping in and we may be healed of all our maladies why should yon with your niceties and scruples affright your brethren from washing in this Jordan You stand so much upon your modalities in every administration that 't is all one with you to see Zion lye waste as not to be reared up according to the Idea's of your phansies It is all one with you not to pray not to receive the Sacrament as not to perform these according to your prescription If this be not what is it to Lord it over mens faith and over the heritage of the Lord What else is it in our Sayiours sense to call men Fathers upon Earth Although you do as little agree among your selves in particulars as you do with us in the main If Religion should be put into your dress its fashion would be changed as often as that of the greatest Gallants or as the colour of the Chamaelion Every Parish would be in a mode by it self Some of you are utterly against all forms Some not yet most of you are against ours But if any party of you should compose another the rest would be as unsatisfied with it as we have seen as with this Retire therefore into the withdrawing room of your own hearts Turn over the leaves of your Consciences Dismantle all your self ish thoughts divest your selves of all by-respects Deal nakedly and clearly with your own Souls Then tell me true nay tell the people true whether God may not truly be worshipped with our prayers and we made happy with the concession and granting of them Whether the Sacraments are not administred in all their essential parts and set off in a very lively and quickning manner Whether the way of Salvation is not solidly and compleatly set forth in our Congregations I know not what answer you return to these interrogatories But had I such a window into your breasts as the Grand Signior is said to have into the Divano I doubt not but I might see your secret impulses breathing out that acclamation of Balaam Numb 24. â—â— How goodly are thy Tents O Jacob and thy Tabernacles O Israel However your thoughts run although you go on to call us ceremonial formalists men destitute of zeal the power of Godliness because we cannot swim down your stream Acts 24.14 Yet we will by Gods grace continue in Saint Pauls resolution After the way which you call herosie so will we worship the Lord God of our Fathers May not we expostulate with you in allusion to Saint Paul Are not we Gospel-Ministers Do not we preach the Catholick Apostolical Faith Have we any communion with Haeretical Popish Tridentine Tenents Do not we watch over our Flocks and our Selves Do you think that we mind not the way to Heaven as well as you Why then do you run from us as Polycarpe did from Cerinthus why do you either pull off the peoples Chariot Wheels or else clogg and scotch them that they might not run with us in the same Christian race As if our prayers were Charms and Conjurations and we our selves Monks and Fryars Do not according to the old method like flyes dwell upon some particular ulcers As because some are two negligent in their places and charges too loose in their lives too ignorant in their functions â—sâ—â— therefore you will traduce and defame the whole Order aggravating their failings as if the whole body were over-run with the same Leprosie passing by those parts which are sound and free from this contagious gangreen It were no difficulty to recriminate in this kind and to repay you with the same dirt If it were any pleasure to scramble in such a puddle All the cattel of your own herd are not pure from all blemishes But I had rather wrap my self in the mantle of silence then expatiate in this field It was an excellent act of Constantine to throw into the fire all those Libels and Articles of the dissenting Bishops that they might not stand upon Record for the eternal infamy of them both You well know when Christ chose our twelve one of them was a devil And if some amongst us are too defective the fault must in part lye at your own doors who have occasioned a sad necessity of supplying your rooms by some that are none of the best As a General forsaken by his Veterani or experienced Souldiers revolting from him is constrain'd for the present to list such as he can gather together Can there be any more pleasing musick in the ears of enemies when it shall be published in Gath and declared in the streets of Ashkelon then that we are crumbling and moultering into pieces of our own accords That the Centinels have left their watch-Towers The Pretorian Bands have left their stations Mount the scaling Ladders who will those will neither give warning of nor these prevent their approaching invasions A cheap victory sure and an easie prey we are like to prove when men in office are resolv'd not to oppose come Romans come Gaules come Devils These tame Guardians will not lift up a standard against them These tutelar Angels will not come down their Jacobs Ladders to succour their helpless Brethren ready to be hurried into captivity Let wolves come they will not move their tongues Let Amaleck prevail they will nor so much as lift up a hand to wards Heaven Aristides was not so malevolent against his fellow Citizens although they had banished him by their barbarous Ostracism yet he left his heart with them and occasionally too he ftood them in great stead against their Adversaries In the late times when the Interdict came forth That none should have the benefit of the Clergy but those that would not read rather then not exercise their ministry and as you do wrap their Talents in a Napkin to the intent they might stand in the gapp to stop that torrent of delusions about to break in upon the English Church with the a dvise of good Casuists though with much regret many did submit for a time to that sad condition that they might be capable of doing the more good so much did it pity them either to leave their Sheep to wander up and down without Shepherds or to hearken to the voice of strangers Nay should the King Lords and Commons have made a Law which God avert that your darling discipline should be established in England Although they cannot be convinced from Scripture or Antiquity that 't is the best or from experience that 't is most sutable to the constitution and happiness of this Nation yet rather then discompose the publick peace and betray the Churches welfare I dare aver you should
have many of them that are now at the Stern tugging at their Oares and laying their shoulders to the work of the ministry together with you So far would they have been from suffering their Swords to rust in their Scabbard and their Breasts to dry up that they might not afford nourishment to them that cry after knowledge and desire the sincere milk of the Word But now the waters blessed be God are sunk within their banks and our eyes behold our old Land-marks Yet except the ancient Hedges and Foundations may be pulled up except the Mountains may be levell'd and the Cedars rooted out of their places except the Land may be new measured with your Line and mounded according to your Plat-form you will not enter into the Vineyard but in a sullen fit quit all and so are wo rse then the Sea-Monsters For they draw forth their brests and give suck to their young ones Lam. 4.3 This is not to deal with us as we should have dealt with you Besides who I pray you or we have shewed the greatest love for Souls We that passed thorow the fire and water with them in the worst Or you that leave them in a calme in the best of times I read of Nazianzen Chrysostome and others that entred the ministerial calling with fear and trembling and much reluctancy These were drawn out of their Cells and haled with violence into the Sacred Mount Yet having once set their hands to the Plow no discouragement or persecutions could ever constrain them to look back But they passed thorow the flames thorow good and evil report they persevered Praying and Preaching as if they were ambitious of dying in the Pulpit Soar as high as you will in your Seraphick pretences Cry as loud as you please the Temple of the Lord Nullum seculum ferarius Religionum sterilius pietptis Lipsius Religion Religion Yet who will beleive but that your eyes are fixt upon some carrion or other Le ts look back into the Annals of our own time and turn over some few Leaves of that Tragical Hystory whereof you were not the smallest part Where shall we find the fattest gobbets and Benjamins Mess but upon your Tables Who were those that strutted and fluttered in their feathers who were fain to go naked themselves And as for that usurped power which some of you had grasped into your hands how magisterially and tyrannically was it imploy'd How lofty were some of your eyes and your eye-lids lifted up Neither do I wonder it should be so For those that are such ill proficients in the lesson of obedience can never be good Governours themselves Such as scorn to sit at the feet of careful and experienced Gamalils when they get the reins of power into their own hands will hurl all things into confusion Sirs study the point of self-denial better and strive to know of what manner of spirit you are of I wish from my heart that we might see such evidences of Christian meekness and loyal submission that we might say of a truth The Ethiopian hath changed his skin and the Leopard his spots Far be it from me to insult over any that 's inhumane and barbarous and to repay evil for evil that 's Antichristian But I desire in the Apostles sense to heap coals of fire upon your heads to melt you into more kindness towards your selves and others Saint Paul hath made my apology to my hand I write not these things to shame you 1 Cor. 4.14 but as my beloved Brethren to warn you Gen. 19.7 And as for the future let me beseech you in the words of Lot I prâ—y you Brethren do no more so wickedly That so all stones of scandal which have made up a partition wall between us being demolish'd and remov'd we may like living stones grow up together and concenter upon the Basis of Piety Vertue Obedience Loyalty and a joynt desire of doing good in our Generation which are the best ingredients of that soveraign Balsome whereby our luxated and shattered members may be setled and knit together which may make up such a bond of peace that will neither be fretted by the teeth of time nor be dissolved by men or Devils As 't is said of Melancthon and Camerarius two Luminaries in the Common-wealth of Learning that there was such a similitude of Studies Manners Wills confirmed with daily familiarity and converse between them that they arrived to the very perfection and quintessence of friendship If it were so with us how would this beautifie and embellish our conversations Allure some to silence dazel or confound others If we could once sayle together with all our faces towards Zion as if we aimed to put in at the same Port of Heaven this would sweeten our own lives in the passage and make us terrible as an Army with Banners when we shall meet with our enemies in the Gate How good and joyful a thing is it for Brethren to dwell together in unity Methinks I hear you giving your Assent and Consent to the truth of this conclusion 'T were well if there might be such an harmony between us Yet this is the mischeif we cannot agree upon the premises which may infer it nor find the right way leading thereunto All men naturally desire felicity Balaam himself would dye the death of the righteous yet what vertues or means are most necessarily conducing thereunto here there are no small odds in the manners and tempers of men Would you hearken to me I should advise you to obey those that have the rule over you even for Câ—nscience sake and to submit to every ordinance of man for the Lords sake These were Canonical Scriptures some years since when they were vehemently pressed by some of your selves to support the power of those men who right or wrong had ravish'd it into their hands Your doctrine now is quite contrary directly tending to the keeping of our wounds raw and fresh Pull down say you that Government in the Church you would say as much concerning that in the State â—oo if you durst which is rooted in the Adamant of Scripture and the history of the Church ever since it was Christian You account the way to a lasting agreement to lye in removing those apples of contention those prohibentia which hinder union and amity And what are they disarm the Bishops of their Crosiers Take their Mitres from their heads Dismount their Canons Give us their Lands and burn your Common-Prayer Books But speak more plain English yet Is not this your sense If you desire our assistance and copartnership in the work of the ministry You must take us to be your guides for we cannot endure any Superiours Take the imposition of our hands as the current stamp of your callings use no prayers but what you shall be directed from our Conclave Read not the ancient Fathers of the Greek and Latin Church for they will poyson and possess you with an
before he stood in competition with Matthias and a good Casuist gives the reason Ordination is an external Rite Baldwin P. 1040. and no Sacrament therefore it may be itarated or repeated Were not many in these late times married by a Minister and afterwards by a Justice of peace Yet what a dust and a bustle do you make You pretend that you are willing to exercise the office of your mnistiry yet you are so stiff that you will not come in to have your patents sealed What though many of you scarce ever dipt your feet in fonte Caballino I mean were never graduated in the University by way of preparation to receive Orders in the Church yet I am assur'd ye would have found the Fathers of the Church so indulgent to you that notwithstanding this defect they would have flown upon your necks and rejoyc'd over you as their fellow-labourers in the Lords vineyard The door is not yet shut Why do you stand deliberating and demurring whether you should perform your duty by entring in Though 't is the eleventh hour of the day yet you may earn your penny if you will lay your shoulders to the work and with sincere and double diligence redeem the time you have lost But if you still resolve to go on whispering in the dark and to continue in your claudestine vaults do not study what answer you may give unto me but what return you will make to your master and mine at the great day of accounts how you will evade that woe which Saint Paul pronounced against himself had he not preached the Gospel which very words did so far prevail with an eminent person of your perswasion that as Saint Austin was converted from libertism by those words not in chambering and wantonness c. So was he reclaim'd from Non-conformity by Wo is me if I preach not the Gospel Mr Sprint Go ye and do likewise lay the same Text close to your hearts not as a charm but a cataplasma and if there be any life left it will setch you again if this phisick will not work upon your Tempers what think you of this expedient Were Saint Austin Saint Ambrose Calvin Perkins Nay were Christ and his Twelve Apostles here upon the Earth and met together in our English World would they think ye lurk in holes and seal up their mouths I dare say they would rather break forth into exultation and wonder saying How beautiful are thy Tents and thy Gates O England CHAP. VII A Transition or Introduction to the main Reasons which are pretended to obstruct Conformity VVE have hitherto been but in the Suburbs and grappled onely with your out-works The main Forts and Cittadels in which you incamp your selves against our batteries are yet untouc'd and unshaken All that hath been yet said is but pickeering some velitations with your forlorn hope like the Turkish Asapi which were to abate their enemies first furious onset and blunt their Swords to make way for the Janizaries The main battel is yet behind Just as Sophisters make a flourish with some inconsiderable and prelusory Sillogism before they pinch and wound with their keener Arguments Methinks I see your very Triarij divided into three Battalia's marching up yonder Hill like Hannibals Troops climing up the Alp's and in a Gigantick rage defying all the hosts of little David that shall stand in your way and oppose your thundering Legions Confident of victory and prodigal of death Your defensive Armour is not like that Ephes 6.14 15 16. But 't is the Covenant upon your breasts whilst you are clad with this you think your selves invulnerable and charm'd into a profound security Who can pierce this Coat of Male Your offensive Weapons are Swords and Javlings furbush'd with Lawfulness of War against the King and overturning the Government of the Church and State In the Rear are Volleys of Canonshot against the Book of Common Prayer This must be dragg'd along like a Royal Captive to adorn your Chariots and set off your Trophies These are your Cerberus-Heads these are your frightful Mormo's in these threefold cords twisted together lies your strength as Sampsons did in his hair What We give our Assent and Consent to the Common Prayer diselaim all War against the King Renounce the Covenant wee 'l never do it And indeed I tremble at this part of my perswasive since I am come to uncase the head and must be tampering with your right eyes lest both my Rhetorick and my skill should be defective in accomplishing my peaceable design and crowning my desires after unanimity Methinks I am essaying to carry a vast Mountain upon my back and to reconcile antipathies For though I had Logick enough to deal with your understandings and Engines to batter or undermine this Capitol yet you have so many reserves in those secret Corners and Caverns of your wills that I much doubt the force of my Oratory to inchant you out of them Yet as I have run with your footmen so I shall now endeavour to keep what pace I can with your Horsemen and like Horatius I will fiest separate these Ter gemini and then Auspice Christâ— plead with them apart CHAP. VIII Assent and Consent not unlawful to be given to the Common-Prayers and Rites of the Church of England I Have never been more transported with wondoer than when some of your classis those none of the lowest have maintained most dogmatically in conference with my self That neither the Greek nor Latin Churches had any forms of Prayer This made me almost to turn a Sceptical Academick and to doubt of all things of which I took my felf to have some knowledge I was even tempted to dis-beleive my own senses as if all things were but spectra phantasmes and empty apparitions which I beheld As if Geographers and Travelours had impos'd upon me when they told me of such a place as Constantinople For I thought I had as good evidâ—ne for these forms of Prayer which my eyes have looked upon and have been handed down to our age by the uncontroleable Tradition and unanimous consent of former generations as I could have of any objective verity below divine Revelations That cause must needs stand upon a tottering Basis that is usher'd in with so strange an Hypothesis Mat. 26.44 which amounts to no less than an incredible Paradxe As for the lawfulness of a form it is an indisputable indisputable warrant unto me that we have not only our Saviours practise who went the third time and prayed the same words but his command too When ye pray say And if you will have measure pressed down see the practise of Hezekiah who after he had compos'd an Ode of thansgiving for his recovery from sickness 〈◊〉 Iia 30. and thanksgiving you know is a part of prayer he vow'd to sing the same to the tuned instrument all the dayes of his life And the very same song which Moses began Exod. 15.1 Miriam repeated
he defin'd it a right that said it was a causeless and culpable separation Are not the gates of Jerusalem open Why do you flock then like the Disciples of Jeroboam to Dan and Bethel Hos 5.1 Are there any snares upon Mizpheth or Nets spread upon Tabor Are the wayes of Zion unoccupied Are there any Lyons in the way to cause you to go thorow by-wayes Are there any Cerinthus's or Marrions that you run out of our Assemblies as Saint John did out of the Bath Is this to follow the direction of Christ to preach from the house top or is this to imitate his example who spake openly to the World and taught in the Synagogue and in the Temple whither the Jews resorted Joh. 18.20 and in secret he said nothing Were there a Nero or Dioclesian at the helm who should threaten to mingle our blood with our Sacrifices if you had your Antelucana and should flock into canes of the earth to worship God in Christ I would commend your zeal and run along with you But now the blessed dayes of Queen Elizabeth as you were wont to call them heretofore are revolv'd and come back again we have liberty and encouragement under our Josiah to be as religious as we will or can what ingratitude is it to complain of such halcian dayes See Dr. Minton on Jude and Calvin was of the same judgmen I here ought to be no separation from those Ghurehes wherein are taught all things neceâ—â—ary for Salvation to run like Foxes into holes when we should like Doves flock to the windows of the Tabernacle You confess we keep to the same Foundation why should we not then meet under the same roof The first Christians met together with one consent in one place whether it was to pray hear or break bread Division of places will not long be without division of minds And where can we upon better grounds expect the presence of God then in places dedicated and consecrated to his name There he hath promised that he will dwell in the midst of the Children of Israel for ever Saint Basil upon those words I will pay my vows in the midst of Jerusalem breaks out into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is observe this ye that leave the Church Acts 4.24.86.46 and turn aside to common houses Bishop Androws Ser p 599 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ezek. 43.7 As if they had been guilty of a great crime in setting up Altars in any other place save at Jerusalem where men ought to worship This proved from the Devils Apishness For if the Lord have his Table the Table of Lord we shall read also of the Table of Devils If Bees have their Hives habent it vespae sayes Tertullian wasps and Hornets will have their holes too I know you will say p. â—2â— we do but pray to our God and discourse of his Word Well! you know who was poyson'd with Wine in the Sacrament And I wish there were no venom distil'd in private prayers and dilating upon Scriptures by uncouth reflexions upon legal establishments Tell us of obeying the commandements of God as long as you please yet I dare not beleive you so long as you break the Laws of the Church for unless we observe both we obey neither Lib. 3. p. 107. sayes unparallel'd Hooker It is to me a distinction without a difference to separate and divide the laws of men from the laws of God if such laws of men are not Repugnant to the laws of God In the next place you are much troubled that Papists are not so much troubled as your selves and indeed I am much troubled that you give more occasion 'T is true they refuse to take the oaths of Allegiance I speak of some of them and Supremacy and you refuse to keep them Some of their principles are pernicious to our Government and you know whose practises have been so Though you look several wayes yet we find our fields wasted and can scarcely tell who are the greatest trespassers They would have blown up the Parliament-House And I am loth to say who were the occasion of doing worse See Mrâ— Prins parrallel 'twixt these two because what they did was in the dark but this before the face of the Sun I know with Pilate you will wash your own hands Well tell me what you think of this narrative A kennel of Hounds hunted an Hare all the former part of the day and towards night a Shepheards curr steps in and murders the Hare who were accessary to the poor Hares death If you abhor the fact do not build the Tombes or keep the garments of them that did it Take heed of nibling and knawing at the root of anothers gourd and undermining anothers Cedar Murmuring will lay the Axe to the root of this Tree In so doing you shall justifie Sodom I mean Rome it self I acknowledge with my betters that Jesuited Papists standing to their own principles cannot be good Subjects to reformed Princes yet we know that the secular Priests renounce their Doctrine herein as most destructive The Popes themselves have also contradicted each other in this point where is then their infallibility Boniface the eight ordain'd that all men should acknowledg the supremacy of the Pope upon pain of damnation Stilling fl p. 448. yet Innocent the third affirm'd that the King of France hath no Superiour upon earth It was a reproach cast upon the late Royal Army that it was Popish I call it a reproach because the denomination was taken from the lesser part and from a very small inconsiderable number of that body Yet suppose it had consisted most of them upon mature deliberation this will redonnd to their honour and our shame were there Doctrines as ancient Catholick and Orthodox as many of their personal actings in that War were couragious and loyal I think there would be no need of keeping such a vast distance from them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cap. 15. 〈◊〉 I am sorry said that blessed Martyr that Papists should have a greater sense of their Allegiance than many Protestant Professors who seem to have learn'd and practised the worst principles of the worst Papists or as that Oracle of Reason and standard of Religion goes on saying It was indeed a foul and indelable shame for such as would be accounted Protestants to enforce me a declared Protestant their Lord and King to a necessary use of Papists or any others who did but their duty to help me to defend my self But perhaps I may so long endeavour to deliver you from this scruple that I may contract to my self the imputation of Popery And whilst I am so charitable as to prevent the dust from falling into your eyes I may stand on the windy side on you untill I hazzard the putting our my own for you are too free of that livery to every one that stands in your way Though you may as truly say we worship
an Asses head as that we espouse any Popish Tenents my Answer to those that examine me in this point is this Am I not a Minister of the Church of England And is not this enough to evade or blow away such a calumny Is it less than a contradiction to call those Bishops and Ministers of the Church Popish who have subscribed unto and do allow of the Articles Liturgy and Canons of this Church Wise men will as soon believe you if you should affirm that those who approve all things in the Alcoran are Christians or that England reaches as far as Italy What considerable point almost betwixt them and us is not in some of these declar'd against So that this web which you weave with so much earnestness will only catch dotterels and fools such as have either shak'd hands with their reason or else are enthrall'd and captivated under the tyranny of their partiality and lock'd down to the Gallies of their own passions If this be not enough to disabuse your credulity and to vindicate my self from any compliance with the Court of Rome I profess moreover that with the Beraeans I have search'd the Scriptures Neither am I an utter stranger to the Fathers and Historians of the primitive times yet I can neither find either their opinions or your singularities wherein they or you differ from the Church of England in any of those Canonical and Authentick Records Why should you grudge at the Papists peace protection so long as they are peaceable and either actively obey the Laws of the Land or else are ready passively to submit to the penalties charged upon them for their neglect if you find them thus dispos'd As great an aversion and antipathy as ye have against them 't is worth your labour herein to make them your own exemplars Sure you are not so bloody in your Tenents as to maintain that all who differ from us in Religion meerly upon the account of Religion must presently incur capital punishments Saint Bernard upon those words of Solomon Take the Foxes observes Ser. inf 〈◊〉 Gant 2 1◠that he commands them not to be rooted up and killed but only to be taken that is by convicing them of their errours Cu◠convincitur falsitas capta est vulpes quae demolitur vineam You cannot be so ignorant of the usages in other States and Kingdoms except where the inquisition prevailes how those that dissent from the Religion which is publickly authoris'd are not only permitted but secur'd so long as they do not affront the Civil or Ecclesiastical Laws of those dominions And it would be but an unseasonable president and excitement of cruelty towards our Brethren abroad if we should begin in the same cup at home I wish with Saint Paul that all men were as my self yet since there must be Heresies and our judgments are as different as our faces since breeding and education do so much sway and influence mens Religion I have a latitude of charity for those that dissent from me if they be not seducing impostors or turbulent incendiaries CHAP. VI. Reordination is no sufficient ground for Non conformity ANother Sconce or Bulwark of yours wherein ye have intrench't your selves and stand out against us inviting you out of the sence of the greatness of the Harvest to bear a part with us in the heat and burthen of the day in the work of the Ministry saying unto you as the men of Gibeon said to Joshua slack not your hands Josh 10.6 but come up to us quickly and help us Some of you have answered no for we must be ordained by Bishops otherwise by the Law we have no commission and as for our parts we are resolved not to undervalue that ordination which we have receiv'd already from our Brother Presbyters The Bishops hands are not more Authentick than theirs Besides should we admit of another ordination what is this but to confess our former void and then what shall become of those children which we have Baptised and other minsterial acts which we have performed by vertue of that ordination this is objected but by some of you and those juniors who came up in the time of the second Temple and did not behold the glory of the first And herein your condition is the more to be pittied as being deceived and betrayed into such a labyrinth as this by those that had seen more years and so should have been more fatherly I wish the complaint of Cyprian may not hold in this case Parentes Parricidae Fathers are murderers poyson their children and give them sour Grapes to set their teeth on edge I cannot but apply to them the case of the young Prophet that man of God who was led out of his way by an old Prophet so that he brake the commandement of the Lord and at last was slain by a Lyon 1 King 13.24 Sirs look about you Will you stand in the Market place all the day idle out of a complement to some ring leaders of a party who thought to have retrench'd the footsteps of ancient discipline and pull'd up the Land-marks of Catholick order in the Church that all persons acting in the ministry might derive from them and commence from the Epoche of their jurisdiction Just as Jeroboam made new Priests after he had made an innovation in the political Government The old Wells must be stopt up and new found Cisterns must be set abroach If one should ask these recusants whether they had not at first an inward call from God I 'le warrant you they would make it as evident to Master Nye if he were again in his chair both as to the time and manner of such a call as ever it is apparent that young Samuel the Prophets and Apostles were called by a signal voice from Heaven Yet this call from God must be suspended or utterly neglected if it be not warranted and confirm'd by such men as they phansie and approve as if they were the servants of men and came on their errand rather than the Embassidours of Christ and Nuncio'◠of Heaven What is Ordination but an impouring such men to the work of the Ministry as by their quallifications make it appear they are set apart and appointed by God to the same office As Kings when Inaugurated and persons when Married are declar'd unto the World that they are to be looked upon in such a royal capacity and Matrimonial relation Therefore 't is no contradiction in Saint Paul that he was not an Apostle of men nor by men Gal. 1.1 but by Jesus Christ Acts. 13. Yet we read that he was ordered instituted and set apart by men to the work of the ministry because his inward call was derived immediately from God but the manifestation and declaration of this was from men Now since the loosing the golden reins of Government in head strong times some that were but meer Presbyters themselves by a too precipitate boldness took
Peter did so vehemently press obedience to thes Emperors As if subjects had as great a latitude as the Pope himself in ordine ad spiritualia I not this the same which Job inveighs against to contend for God 30. Others were so modest p. 258. The Devil of Rebellion doth commonly turn him self to an Angel of reformation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 297. as to say they fought not against the King but such bloody ruffianly Cavaleers as were commissionated by him As if the same God who commanded obedience to the King had not also commanded submission to those that are sent by him 40. Others told us quite contrary for like those false witnesses which came in against Christ they did not agree among themselves 't is true they fought against the Kings person Job 13.8 but it was by his own commission that is By vertue of his own Authority then residing in some Members of Parliament Good God! what pretences were invented what Jesuitical tricks and distinctions were now set on foot to palliate and gloss over a most rotten and devilish design Yet all too little too cover that cloven foot which appeared to men of piety peace and heavenly wisdom at the very first But afterwards this cloud of the bigness of a mans hand waxed bigger and bigger untill it darkned our English heavens and dissolv'd into a showr of Royal blood O hear and fear and do no moae so wickedly Let former experience disâ—ipline you into an abhorrency of war against the King and restrain you from all those methods and Premises which may infer the like catastrophe Who can blame the King if desiring to live long and to see good dayes former transactions considered to make a decree that it shall be declared to be unlawful to take up arms against himself or those that are commissionated by him upon any pretences whatsoever And since the lines of our peace and happiness as to Church and State do meet and concenter in him as our Common Father is it unreasonable for Subjects to swear they will not endeavour the alteration of Government in the Church and State Who would think that any Natives of a Land professing themselves the followers of Christ who in the dayes of his humiliation was obedient to Caesar that he wrought a miracle to give him his due and expecting protection from a lawful Prince should once demur whether they should make this declaration or take this Oath Qui deliberant desciverunt such as doubt of this have even shak'd off the yoke of subjection Mistake me not I am no virulent Tertullus to draw up an indictment against you I accuse you not But as Christ told the Jews there was one that accused them even Moses so there is one that accuseth you by upbraiding you bestowing on you some Caeca verbera and putting you sometimes into a cold sweat I mean your own Conscience I must tell you too before we part that if upon this account you court your own sufferings I would have you to consider whether ye suffer as Christians for righteousness sake And for well doing or whether you are buffeted for your faults Shall I commend you for this I commend you not If you expect a coronet or garland due to confessors if I might plat the wreaths they should be of Nettels and Hemlock I should as soon set the crown of martyrdom upon the head of Thomas a Becket or Sir Thomas More as adorn their foreheads who refused to put in caution for their fidelity and due subjection to their Prince If such persons would be accounted loyalists let them be so But then let me have leave to derive their pedigree or assign the reason of their denomination and that is because they are of their Father Ignatius Loyala It is a wonder to me that we should be adeo Histricasi to use Saint Jeroms words so prickley sharp and full of invectives against the Jesuits for maintaining the lawfulness of murdering protestant Princes and yet the same men should refuse to declare and swear That 't is unlawful to take up Arms against the King upon any pretence whatsoever I wish these recusants would consider what difference there is betwixt taking up Arms against the King if the success fall on their side and un Kinging I had almost said un manning of him I confess I have set my eyes as steddy as I could and I have strengthned them too with the spectacles of several Histories and I can discern but very little Not as if all that ingag'd in the last War had this design farre be it from me to be so uncharitable For as some followed Absolom against David in the simplicity of their hearts 2. Sam 15.11 so many through the prematurity of age and judgment perswasions of relations and the inchantments of fair pretences did purchase their own repentance p. 303. and they that are sensible of their former errors will no doubt be most faithful and loyal afterwards said the Father of our present Solomon I cannot but admire at Master Baxter who acquainting us with his activity in the late War tells us at last that 't is not his intent to determine which party was in the right Book of Rest p. 258. As if he had been fluctuating all that while twixt wind and water or at least did not then remember the Apostles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let every one be fully satisfied in his own mind Rom. 145 sure he was not ignorant of that maxime Suppose the case had been so doubtful as he makes it yet in doubtful cases praesumitur pro Rege lege and which is all one subdit tenentur in favorem legis judicrre Bee Bishop Bramhals vindication of the Church of England p. 112. Better obey than disobey doubtingly because as my Author quotes it out of Saint Austin Reum facit principem iniquitas imperandi Innocentem subditum ordo serviendi Had I been near this Gentlemen when he was in this libration of suspence I would have put the fifth commandment together with two or three choice texts out of Saint Paul and Saint Peters Epistles into the other scale and then questionless he would have been the better able to determine which party was in the right And since I have named Master Baxter if I durst I would Cum tanti viri venia be his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Saint Jerom speaks in an Epistle of his and further his active industry in a double performance 10. To revâ—ew his political doctrines especially those that are gathered together by an eminent hand And if after a second scanning or weighing them in the ballance of the Sanctuary he finds them too light That he would deal with them as I presume he hath done with several of his Theological Aphorismes even abandon and dis inherit them What a glorious work would this be conducing to the benefit and edification of the Church un-deceiving and disintangling many
legerdemain is so gross and palpable that 't is discernable by clouted shooes The other is of a person as highly elevated for parts and piety as any that hath moved in the sphere of the Church these many ages The most reverend Bishop Vsher Who in a Sermon at Saint Mary Oxon before those loyal and faithful Parliament men that left Westminster and came thither in the late war in obedience to the Kings commands speaking of the Covenant whether it had any binding power he used these words My soul upon it that Covenant binds no more such as have taken it than Sampsons withes which he brake asunder and cast from him at his pleasure If the deliberate judgment of any man will weigh any thing in the scale of Conscience I should think the resolution of this Apostolical casuist should statuminate and settle any soul that fluctuates about the Covenant Had either a superstitious ignorance or a cowardly compliance ever betray'd me into this snare upon the hearing of this Angel I would have gone forth and wept bitterly that ever I had adulterated my soul by swallowing such a poysoned gobbet It would have been gravel in my belly untill I had vomited it up by repentance I should have accounted my self free from any obligation from thence for the time to come When I consider how this unshapen Monster was usher'd into the World by the Mid-wifery of an unnatural war what a strages or desolation hath been wrought by this flying Role How it hath devoured Royal Noble Common flesh and laid the Lords Vineyard waste I cannot chuse but say A bloudy Covenant hast thou been unto us Therefore such as wish well to the King Church Nation others and themselves will never go about to unty those grave-clothes wherewith Authority hath bound up this Malefactor or open a door to let out this Minotaure to sport himself again in our gore For although it is prefac'd with these plausible inchanting words After the commendable practises of these Kingdoms and the example of Gods people in other Nations Yet upon diligent search by the best Historians there 's none can be found to run paralel with it but only that Catholick cursed league contriv'd by the Guises in the kingdome of France It differs from all other Covenants and hath a special signature of its own They began but this ended in blood Heb. 9.18 The first Covenant was not dedicated without blood and the second was laid in the blood of the Paschal Lamb. In the Jewish Covenants there was a Beast slain and divided then the Covenanteers pass'd between those parts to shew that they deserved to be slain and cut into pieces if they violated their Covenant When Catalin conspir'd the ruine of Cicero together with the Roman Common-wealth and now I think I have found another paralel he first kill'd a little boy and then his confederates mutually bound themselves together by an oath taken over the bowels of that child But this Covenant was wrapt up in fair professions at first but afterwards it floated in blood and ended in bitterness Nabis an arrand tyrant of Lacedaemon had a wife called Apega Dion Cassius l. 37. who fleec'd the women as he did the men he loved her so dearly that he made her picture with costly garments and when he could not get mony by fair means Sr Walter Rawley p. 618. he told them he would bring them to his wife perhaps she might perswade them So the Image opened its Arms as to imbrace but the arms and bosome of it was so full of Iron nails that they tormented those poor men to death who refused to lay down their monies Just such an Idol was this Covenant It was habited in the dress of a religious Matron Mulier formosa superne doted upon as the great Diana of the Ephesians I mean such as plotted the overthrow of Church and State and when other engines could not draw on that design fast enough this Amazonian Virago expands her arms and courts us with her killing rhetorick But those arms were so full of nails that had not the providence of God rescued us out of her imbraces she would have exhausted our very heart blood and killed us with a seeming kindness This was like that sagacious Hyaena which was to hunt out a prey for the hungry Lyons But perhaps this discourse is too general to alienate and divorce your arnorous thoughts from this painted Helena Many of you have so espoused her to your selves that you count it all one to forsake the Covenant as to break wedlock Therefore I shall come closer yet and try whether 't is possible to perswade you that there is not that obliging power in the Covenant as you imagine I shall put the tryal upon this plaine Sillogism No unlawful Oath is obligatory The Solemn League and Covenant was an unlawful Oath Therefore the Solemn League and Covenant is not obligatory Major prop. No unlawful Oath can lay an obligation upon him that takes it The Prophet sharply reproves those idolatrous votaries which said they would surely perform their vows Jer. 44.25 which they had vow'd to burn incense to the Queen of Heaven Whoever swears an assertory Oath calls God to witness that what he sweares is true and by laying his hand upon the book before a Magistrate doth imprecate upon himself the judgments of God in that book renounces any share in those promises that are involved therein if he swears falsly And in a promissory Oath he must swear in righteousness and truth otherwise his oath will be a bond of iniquity He will swear to sin and so by consequence sin in swearing for he calls the God of righteousness to record upon his soul that he will deal unrighteously De jure belli l. 20 c. 13. Jurata promissio sayes Grotius When a man swears to do any thing unlawful in it self by the Law of God or man such an oath is null and without force Scelus est fides our fidelity in the performance of such a promise would be a double iniquity Saint Austin wonders that any should nick-name this obstinacy in what is evil with that excellent title of fidelity Si executio ejus quod est promissum sit contra legem Lessius de jura l. 2. p. 618.619 vel publicam utilitatem c. If we fulfil a promise which is contrary to the Law or publick welfare Juramentum promissioni adjectum non obligat That oath which confirms such a promise binds not at all And the Casuist gives a good reason because Obligat Conscientia non per se sed ratione legis quae aliud praecipit vel prohibet Baldwin Conscience binds not of it self but by vertue of some affirmative or negative Law Therefore 't is an infallible rule to me In malis promissis when we promise any thing that is wicked such a promise is not to be perform'd But that the best way to make amends
the Laws of the Land confirm'd by Magna Charta and so many Acts of Parliament Can a subordinate or lesser power supersede or make voyd the decrees of that power which is greater Isa 66.8 even the supreme power of the Nation Who hath heard such a thing Who hath seen such things It hath even pitied me to hear what fig-leav'd salvo's some have found for their Consciences in this case As I told you of one that said Parliament men were no Subjects so others have told me that they did not Covenant against Episcopacy but against the Hierarchy What an irrational subtersuge is this What is the Hierarchy but an holy Government and must this be rooted up read the very next words of the Covenant and you will see what is understood by praelacy that is the Government by Arch-Bishops and Bishops Yet the very same men that told me they did not Covenant against Episcopacy have refus'd to take the late Oath why because they will not swear Not to endeavour to alter the Government of the Church Have not these men Renbens curse upon them in being as Instable as water Jam. 1.8 or are not they of the number of those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Double minded men who are unstable in all their wayes What will not men say that have espoused a desperate cause Others say they have Covenanted against Bishops 't is true But only in their places and callings Yet which of you can challenge it as a proper duty of your places and callings Mutare quadrata rotundis to turn the Government of Church and state topsey turvey I joyn these together because I want spectacles to discern what difference there is betwixt usurping upon the Kings power and subverting the Government of the Church in spite of his Authority Wo be to the Kings Majesty if you should lift up your hands again and fall a swearing What security hath the King but your vows may reach him as well as the Bishops for if you account your selves in your places and callings when ye kick off the Mitre it is but going a step farther and it may be your Tether may stretch so farre that you may hazzard the shaking of the Crown If this beto act within the proper sphere of your callings and places Then Phaeton was in his proper place when he was tampering with his Fathers Charriot And the waters were in their proper place when they overflowed the earth Should I carry my self thus in my place and calling Act. 1.25 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I should much fear lest I should be going to Judas his proper place not as the text is sensed by the learned Doctor Hammond but according to the fullest current of Interpreters Some say they took the Covenant freely and voluntarily and how can they recal and recant such an act I am sorry to answer what the matter in hand compels me viz. The more free and voluntary this Act was the more sinful it was and calls the lowder for repentance Others say how can the people beleive what we preach if we should break the Covenant This quere borders upon the true reason in my apprehension why you will not declare against the Covenant lest your credits and reputations should be impeached As some of the more ingenuous Papists will acknowledge some things to be amiss in the Church of Rome Mal. 3.9 yet should they be amended the Hereticks say they would take advantage to open their mouths against the Popes infallibility or which is more pertinent to my present discourse as it was with Herod after he had sworn rashly concering John the Baptist yet for his oathes sake and them that sat with him at meat Mark that lest they perhaps should report him not to be Master of his word right or wrong he commands the head of John the Baptist to be given to the daughter of Herodias CHAP. XVI A Coronis or seasonable Conclusion BEare with me a little my Brethren in suffering a word of exhortation from the meanest of those that wait at the Altar Tractemus fabriliafabri let us preach the word in season and out of season Divinity is our Sparta the Province which we must study to adorn As for politicks Government affairs of State these are out of our Diocess and beyond our last Le ts study to be quiet to fear God and honour the King and all those that are commissionated by him in Church and State Let us beat down sin strenuously reform our selves Families Parishes faithfully pray for the reformation of what is amiss in the whole Nation constantly In two words le ts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 preach well and live well Bishop Andrews his motto so we shall not be at leasure to spend our selves in notional and whiffling disputes Then shall our light break forth as the morning and our health shall spring forth speedily But if instead of performing our ministerial duties conscionably and humbly we shall be so pragmatical Eccontrical and magisterial Isa 58.8 as to mâ—del with things above us by lying in lurking places watching and laying ambuscadoes for the downfall of those for whom we ought to pray If we think thus to run away with the pillars of the Ecclesiastical fabrick upon our shoulders we shall like Sampson be buried in the rubbish and then what other Epitaph shall we deserve but Here lyes the posterity of Dathan which perished in the gainsaying of Core or what is said of Stigandus Inquinat infer num spiritus ossa solum It looks like a studied peice of malice if we should dry up our breasts Goodwinus de praesulibus in annum 105. when poor souls lye starving and gasping for want of spiritual food If we shall either throw away our Aaronical Bells or which is all one pull out their clappers rather then we will awake and rouze up those that snort upon the very brink of hell Is there any so angry with his own Nation as Hypocrates was with the Persians who refused to give them physick Eutychius parte primâ— and to heal their maladies when they sent for him But my brethren I hope better things of you and things accompanying peace and salvation May these things happen to the enemies of our Church and Nation But let Religion and loyalty be within our walls Heb. 6.9 peace and plenty within our pallaces Therefore what Jotham said to the men of Sechem in Mount Gerizim Hearken unto me Judg 9.7 that God may hearken unto you Gold is the best of Mettals and 't is also most ductile If you are men of generous dispositions and of a golden nature you will be pliable to his advise that aims at nothing but yours and the Churches happiness Ser in Gancâ—â—â— I hope you are none of those of whom Saint Bernard speaks Nec suasionibus flectuntur quia subversi which words may be rendred by that sad sentance given out against those refractory Son of Eli they hearkned