into Congregations such as themselves also acknowledged to be true Christian Churches and bodies of Christ do read off themselves and incorporate into new ones of their own for the most part small and inconsiderable For the detecting further of which error we are to note one or two particulars First Ecclesiastical power may be lost we must distinguish between the original state of a Church as it might be at its first collection and the after-condition of it and present being When it was first gathered it might be free as was the family of Jethro Numb 10. but not so afterward when incorporated with another Church All the several Heptarchies in this Nation and many Provinces else-where were once free and Independent doth it follow they must be so still or rend themselves from the Kingdom if they could to be so again By this the 120 names that were the Church in the beginning should still have assumed their first liberty Act. 1. For we must note that Ecclesiastical power is as well disseasable as civil and may be lost so as it is not lawful to resume it and that not only by a voluntary concession or providential falling in with other Christians or Churches but even by force also As if by publick Edict two or more Churches should be constrained to unite into one As in England all the Christians in one Parish are made members of that Church and all the Parishes of that Diocess one Diocesan Church and all the Diocesan Churches one Metropolitical from whence they are aggregated yea incorporated into one National Church Now being thus joyned together by God and good order it is not lawful for themselves again to put assunder This is one of their fundamental errors A fundamental error of Independency to fancy a reducement of the Churches to their first infancy Why attempt they not the same in civil Societies Common-wealths and Kingdoms yea and families also there is the like reason rule and example for the one as for the other The strange consequences of it And so this flabel of Schism in the Church shall also be the bellows of Sedition in the Common-wealth For if Ecclesiastical original right of liberty and independency cannot be taken away neither can Civil and then the with-holding it is but usurpation no title Conference at Hamp Court pag. 82. 1 King 12. and then as there must be no Bishop so no c. King James his inference To conclude Look what right the ten Tribes of Israel had to separate from the Church of their brethren and to congregate and incorporate into one of their own and to make themselves Independent from any other the same have these Brethren Neither do they seem to have any better if so good for there was an appearing divine approbation of their recess from the Kingdom of Judah and their own reason prompted them to think that this must imply a withdrawing from the Church also Now that they became Idolaters first that was accidental Again they went not so far Ezek 16. as utterly to non-Church themselves for God did still acknowledge them for his people Thirdly the occasion of their separation seems to be more just from the Church than the Common-wealth 1 King 11. and 12. for by Solomon's apostacy it was fill'd with all manner of Idolatries Lastly some of those that have begun at Independency have proceeded as far in re and deed if not farther than they For they have apostatized from all communion with our Churches or any Reformed from thence to Anabaptism from that to Quaking and so not onely denying the Lord that bought them Jude vers 5. as the Apostle speaks but also the whole Scripture and are become worse some of them than Infidels and Idolaters even plain Atheists Whereof perhaps some instances and examples of this kind might be given if it were requisite to name places and persons By which things and through their hoâ—rid shipwracks by sub-divisions providence asketh the question now as it did once in another case of Apostacy from the Church and their unsuccessfulness thereupon Jer. 2.17 Hast thou not procured this unto thy self in that thou hast forsaken the Lord And Is it not of the Lord that the people weary themselves in the fire for very vanity And in them is fulfilled that They bite and devour one another Gal. 5. till they be consumed one of another And as he said of such Christians of old Nullae tam infestae hominibus bestiae Am. Marcell ut sunt sibi ferales plerique Christiani There are no beasts unto man so mortal enemies as are most of that sort of Christians implacable one unto another I conclude this with that of the Father concerning their Ancestors Sic sic necesse est ut minutatim secti conscissique despereant Aug. contr Epist Parmen lib. 1. cap. 4. in fine qui surorem animositatis suae Catholicae pacis sanctissimo vinculo praetulerunt So so is it just that they should crumbling and cut in mamocks perish and come to nothing who have before the most holy band of the Churches general peace preferred the swelling of their own high stomachs Which leads me to the first point of Independency but last to be spoken to viz. Separation CHAP. II. Of the grounds of Separation with an Examination and Refutation of them And first in general TOuching Separation I shall speak first in general 1. In general and then descend to some more special causes of it In general thus It hath in it The evil of separation of all the three ingredients of Independency the most malignity not onely as it ariseth from pride scorn and hypocrisie the Sal sulphur and Mercury of this subterraneous body but especially because it suggests unto the hearts of the common people that most horrid temptation that they are not in a way of life and wherein they may be saved This provoked the Apostle so in the like case 2 Cor. 5.13 Gal. 1.8 9. chap. 5.12 that they thought he was besides himself And to curse the Authors of Schism and wish they were cut off To declame against them as those that served their own bellies Rom. 16.17 2 Cor. 11. As false Apostles and ministers of Sathan Yea our Saviour upon this ground of separation and scattering of the flock calls them wolves in sheeps cloathing Matth. 7. Joh. 2. 1 Tim. 6. and thieves and robbers The Apostle else-where that they are proud knowing nothing doting about questions and strife of words that they count gain godliness and that the root of all this evil is pride How we may know when Separation evil Eph. 4. and the love of mony which is covetousness That where there is professed one God one faith one baptism one Lord one Spirit c. those that perswade separation from such are cunning and crafty men that lie in wait to deceive with several other the like 〈◊〉
and for some of our selves likewise if whilst we had such principles we had been silenc'd and asleep also To the last vâ—z That conscientious men are 3. Conscientientious men troubled for their unconformity unto these things molested and troubled I answer And well they may both for their own good and others whom by their example or perswasion they might mislead For if God may justly plague his people for neglecting his good and wholsome Law Act for the uniformity of Common-prayer in these cases provided as the Queen and Parliament imply he will It is as good service done to men by penalties to compel them to their duty in theâ—e particulars as to scourge a child to keep him from the fire St. Austin being once of the mind that Schismaticks and Hereticks should not be punished on better advice acquaintance with the Scripture and by experience Epist 48. and 50. was brought to be of another mind and wrote two large and elaborate Epistles to defend the lawfulness of the use of Laws to that purpose SECT III. Humane Inventions THe third general Exception is against the things we treat of that they are inventions humane and from man onely Answ several of them First The light of natural understanding wit and reason is from God he it is which thereby doth illuminate every man entring into the world Rich. Hook Eccles pol. lib. 3. sect 9. If there proceed from us any thing afterward corrupt and naught the mother therof is our own darkness neither doth it proceed from any such cause whereof God is the Author He is the Author of all that we think or do by vertue of that light which himself hath given And therefore the Laws which the very Heathens did gather to direct their actions by so far forth as they proceeded from the light of nature God himself doth acknowledge to have proceeded even from himself and that he was the writer of them in the table of their hearts In the second place How much more then is he the Author of those Laws which have been made by his Saints c. saith that praise worthy Author When the Disciples would have had our Saviour to put the man to silence who cast out devils in his name Mar. 9.38 and followed him not with them our Saviour rebuking of them gives us this useful Maxim in religious matters viz. That he that is not against us is on our part Things not opposing of the Scripture and intended for and tending to the furtherance of Religion they are not humane notions but the inventions of men directed by Scripture in the general touching such things viz. 1 Cor. 14. That all things be done to decency and edification and guided by the Spirit of God in such particulars Observance whereof rather then opposition thereto would represent a Christs Disciple The Feast of Dedication of the Temple was no injunction from the Lord 1 Maccab. 4.59 Joh. 10.22 But so useful an invention of man that our Lord himself observed it Remarkable also to this purpose is the profession of the Learned Zanchy touching things of this nature viz. Zanch. Observ in confess suam cap. 25. Aph. 10 11. ab initio Credo ea quae â piis patribus in nomine domini Congregatis communi omnium consensu citra ullam sacrarum literarum contradictionem definita recepta fuerunt ea etium quanquam haud ejusdem cum sacris literis authoritatis A SPIRITV SANCTO ESSE Those things saith he which have been concluded and received by the holy Fathers gathered together in the name of God Canons of the Church of what authority agreed on by common consent and without any contradiction to the Scripture although they are not of the same authority with the holy Scriptures yet I believe even those things to be from the HOLY GHOST Thus he Joh. 14. cap. 15. cap. 16. And it is not in vain that Christ hath promised his Spirit to his people to guide them into all truth SECT IV. Of the Apocrypha TO the fourth that many things in the premises are but Apocryphal and so not Scriptural nor obliging Now Touching the Apocrypha and its injunction to be read in some parts in the Church although all the Scripture be not read First which Books in case my self did think as some others do safer and better to be left publickly unread R. Hook Eccles pol. l. 5. sect 20. nevertheless as in other things of like nature even so in this my private judgment I should be loth to oppose against the force of their reverend authority who rather considering the divine excellency of some things in all and of all things in certain of those Apocrypha which we publickly read have thought it better to let them stand as a list or marginal border unto the Old Testament And though with divine yet as humane compositions to grant at the least unto certain of them publick audience in the Church of God And if in them there happen any speech that soundeth towards error should the mixture of a little dross constrain the Church to deprive her self of so much gold rather than learn how by art and judgment to make separation To this effect very fitly from the counsel that St. Jerom giveth unto Laeta of taking heed how she read the Apocrypha as also by the help of other learned mens judgment we may take direction And let me add that without such directions Confer Hamp Court pag. 61. King James said well he would not have all the Canonical Scripture read But because some there are who seem better to relish forreign judgments than those of their own Church Expositio de sacr libr. dignitate praefix ante Biblia Tigurin sive Leon Judae I shall recite first Bullingers opinion of those Books and the publick reading of them one of the Professors of the Church of Tigur his words are Ego verò arbitror salvo aliorum judicio istos libros Apocryphos rectissimè Hagiographa dici posse nimirum a sanctis viris de rebus Scriptos sacris quos quanquam non fint in Canone Hebraeo Ecclesia tamen quia sancta tradunt Canonicis non contradicunt recipit ac in sanctorum coetibus legit I do think saith he saving other mens judgments that these Apocryphal Books may very justly be called holy writings as being written by holy men touching holy things which though they are not in the Hebrew Canon yet because they treat of religious matters and do not contradict the holy Scriptures the Church doth receive them and reads them in the Assemblies of the Saints Then he produceth the judgment and relation of Cyprian Cyprian expos symb or Russinus for the work is ascribed to both in his Exposition of the Creed to the same purpose Where it is by the way to be noted out of the Text of Cyprian or Ruffinus first that he reckons the Books
points but for convelling and tearing up the foundations of many generations in * As the invisibility of the Catholick Church c. Doctrine Worship and Discipline without legitimate Authority and for other things which need not here be named Their third instance of the defectiveness of the Articles Object 3 is that they speak nothing of the creation of providence fall of man of sin of the punishment of sin of Gods Covenants effectual calling Adoption Sanctification Faith Repentance Perseverance of the Law of God Christian Liberty and liberty of conscience Religious worship of the Sabbath or Lords day of Marriage and Divorce the Communion of Saints Church-Government and Discipline of the Resurrection or of the last Judgment All which the Scripture teach as necessary and are comprised in the Apostles creed That the Assemblies Confession hath all these and that with proofs of Scripture which the Answ 1 Articles want But they should consider that a Confession of faith is one thing and a Catechism or a common-place book to refer ones reading unto is another If the Church shall think fit to compile one of these for the help of young students no doubt but all those shall be expresly treated on though perhaps not in the same form or titles But to constitute a Confession of Faith of all these heads with the several Articles which the Assembly hath subjoyned would doubtless have excluded many more from subscription than the Articles ever did Especially where they have made that an Article of faith which never was a Protestant doctrine viz. That the Church Catholick is a visible and organical body Assemblies Confess ch 35. Artic. 2. whereas it is an article of our faith in the Apostles Creed and not of sense And that which is laid as the foundation of the usurpation of the Bishops of Rome Bellarm. de Eccles l. 3. c. 2. by Bellarmine for either that or somewhat like it must follow upon that ground so that a fair Bridge is hereby laid from Thames to Tiber for his Holiness to walk upon A point universally opposed by the Protestant party except Peter Ramus and perhaps one or two more althongh of late owned by some of them of which * Vindicia Catholicae in answer to Mr. Hudson else-where I instance in this that be it true or false yet a point of this nature should not have been made an Article for the not subscribing whereto men must have been rejected from the Ministry others there are that would have stuck no doubt with many men orthodox able and godly 2. As to the things themselves they are all in effect touched either in the Articles Articles of Ireland Anno 1615. whence taken or the Homilies which are approved by the Articles or in the Liturgy or in the Book of Ordination a branch also of the Articles And the Articles of Ireland which are more full in themselves than ours and comprehend in terminis most or all these heads they are taken verbatim out of the books now mention'd And to give some instances The Creation and Providence is mentioned in the first Article of God and in the Catechism in the Common-prayer-book And more largely in the Homily for Rogation week part 1 2. The fall of man his sin and punishment of it professedly discours'd of in the Homily of the misery of mankind and is touched in the Articles Artic. 9. 10. of Original sin and Free-will Gods Covenant may be understood in the Articles of Justification and Predestination Artic. 11. 17. and is discours'd on largely in the Homily of Salvation Effectual calling also in the same 17th Article and more largely in the Homily of Faith Where also of Adoption as likewise in the lesser Catechism in the Liturgy Faith in the Article of Justification by faith Sanctification in the Homily of good works and divers others Repentance hath a proper Homily for it Perseverance is expresly set down in the 17th Article Of the Law of God in the Homily of the misery of Man And in the Catechism in the Liturgy so far as concerns practice Christian liberty in the Articles of the Traditions of the Church And the Homily of disobedience and wilful rebellion Religious worship is the subject of the Liturgy And of several Articles and of the Homily of the time and place of prayer The Sabbath or Lords day in the Homily of the time and place of prayer Of Marriage both in the Homily of Matrimony and in the Exhortation at Marriage in the Common-prayer-book Divorce as a point of Law is discoursed in the Canons Communion of Saints is the ground of all Exhortations to Unity as the Homily against Contention and exhortation to Charity as love and good works Church-government is the subject of Artic. 20. 21. of the authority of the Church and of General Councils And for Orders they are in the Book of Ordination For the Rules in the book of Canons and in the Rubricks in the Liturgy about Order and in the Commination there Of the Resurrection the Homily on Easter-day And of the last Judgment in the Homily against the fear of Death Seeing therefore that most or all of these heads are either expresly treated on or occasionally either in the Articles or branches of them how say they that they contain nothing of them Proofs to Confessions Lastly for the proofs added in the Assemblies Confession not added in the Articles they know it is not usual to add Proofs unto Confessions as may be seen in the Confessions of the Reformed Churches where they are rare And even lately their Brethren of the Independent way published their Confession without proofs And unless it be that of New England the Assemblies and those of the Separation I remember not that I have seen any with frequent proofs And if I mistake not it had not been amiss if the Assembly had kept the Track in this in as much as the Proofs sometimes do not infer the Article In a Catechism or Sermon or Dispute they are more proper than in a Confession Because that is a thing supposed to be grounded not in this or that place but on the current of the Scripture Besides Proofs occasion Dispute which is abhorrent from the nature of a Confession The places alledg'd may be clear a proof and yet not so to every less-intelligent Reader I conclude this discourse touching the imperfection and defectiveness of the Articles with that considerable passage of Erasmus to this purpose Summa religionis nostrae pax est unanimitas Erasm presat in Hilarium ea vix constare poterit nisi de quà m potest paucissimis definiamus in multis liberum relinquamus suum cuique judicium propterea quod ingens sit rerum plurimarum obscuritas c. The sum saith he of our Religion is peace and unanimity of which there is little hope unless those things which shall shall be enjoyned as matters of faith be
necessary in respect of their Ministry might possibly be one But I determine not onely I do from the premisses conclude seeing there is in the Ministries Ordination in England all the essentials observed and that God by his blessing of their Labours and protecting of their Calling declared his owning of them whatsoever defects may be imagined in their outward Calling Brightman in Apocal. 3.20 with Mr. Brightman in the place above noted Quid ergo verbum propter labem aliquam externae vocationis tam perverse respuunt cujus vim divinam in cordibus sentiunt Why do they for some defect in the external Call so perversly reject that Word and Ministry whose soveraign and divine power they feel upon their hearts I dismiss this particular and pass to the other Branch touching the Governors of these and their Regiment the Bishops SECT II. Of Episcopacy its Right and Title IT is certain ever since God had a formal and instituted Church there have been superior Ministers in it distinguished also by some appellations from the rest As the High Priests in the Jewish and the Apostles in the First Christian Church 1. Scripture And it is as evident that the Church cannot want such by the need that the Church of Ephesus 1 Tim. 1. and those adjacent had of Timothy and the Churches of Crete had of Titus Tit. 1. For Non minor est virtus quà m quaerere porta tueri A Common-wealth hath need not onely at first of a Magistrate but ever after And a Bishop is nothing else but an Ecclesiastical Magistrate And though times may require some things or persons extraordinary as the Church had Apostles at the first of unlimited power yet as Calvin observes Hoc Natura dictat Epist ad Reg. Polon 1554. Vnum ex singulis collegiis deligendum cui pâ—ecipua cura incumbat Nature it self saith he teacheth us That in all orders of men some one must be chosen unto whom the chief care must be committed And this is the esse or substance of Episcopacy Elsewhere he gives the reason of it Comment in Epist. ad Phil. cap. 1.1 Fateor quidem ut sunt hominum ingenia mores non posse ordinem stare inter verbi ministros quin reliqui praesit unus I confess saith he as mens spirits and manners are Order cannot stand among the Ministers of the Word unless one be over the rest But he would have first their jurisdiction restrained the name of Bishop common and the limits of their Government confined unto one City though afterward in his Letter to the King of Poland he acknowledgeth what the primitive Government was and seemeth not to disapprove it as we shall see anon And the best Independent extant hath expressed so much in my hearing viz. D. T. G. The Church would ever stand in need of such persons as Timothy and Titus This for Scripture Next come we to the Primitive Church 2. The Primitive Church wherein the practice is known to be both most ancient and universal Hierom indeed but without proof being himself no Bishop and angry sometimes with some of them and particularly with John Bishop of Jerusalem and even with Austin himself a passionate man Vid. Epist Aug. 8. seq and somewhat high in respect of his eminency for Learning especially in the Tongues in those times saith Hieron in Epist ad Tit. 1.5 Idem est Presbyter qui Episcopus antequam diaboli instinctu studia in religione fierent diceretur in populis Ego sum Pauli ego Apollo ego autem Cephae Communi Presbyterorum consilio Ecclesiae gubernabantur Postquam vero unusquisque eos quos baptizaverat suos putabat esse non Christi In toto orbe decretum est ut unus de Presbyteris electus superponeretur caeteris ad quem omnis Ecclesiae cura pertineret schismatum semina tollerentur That is The same is a Presbyter and a Bishop And before that 1 Cor. 1. by the instinct of the Devil Factions began in Religion and these speeches were among the people I am of Paul I of Apollo but I of Cephas The Churches were governed by the common advice of the Presbyters But after that every one reckoned those whom hee had baptized to be his own and not Christs It was determined in the WHOLE WORLD that One chosen out of the Presbyters should be set over the rest unto whom the WHOLE care of the Church should belong and so the seeds of Schism should be taken away Concerning which testimony fore-prizing what others have said there need not be required a better testimony First it comes from an Adversary next it proveth the thing it contendeth against under favour of so great a person for if then and upon that occasion Episcopacy had its rise when Schisms began in the Church and that one said I am of Paul another I am of Apollo and that those whom some had baptized they counted their own Disciples And that this came to pass even in the very Apostles time Vers 12 13 14 15. as Paul complains Epistle to the Corinthians the first chapter the first And that hee grants that it was decreed in the whole world and that for so useful an End It must follow that Episcopacy succeeded the Apostleship And indeed from the end of their institution it appears in Scripture that they did so as to the office by what name soever For Paul saith expresly both to Timothy and Titus To Timothy that hee besought him to abide still at Ephesus that hee might charge some to teach no other 1 Tim. 1.3 and no Heterodox doctrine And to Titus that for this cause left I thee in Crete that hee might stop the mouths of vain that is Tit. 1.5 erronious and schismatical talkers not onely by word and by example but also by authority Hee so commands him to reject an Heretick Chap. 3. that is excommunicate him as may be conceived And indeed wee see by experience in some Churches those that are of latitude where this Government of late hath been suspended what factions have grown As in the Netherland Churches about Arminius so far that had not the Authority of the Magistrate and assistance of Neighbours interposed those Churches and that Republick had been utterly ruined what divisions are growing at this day among the Churches of France some adhering unto the opinion of Amiraldus about these points others opposing of them I hear with grief and have been told that a Minister of no mean note in that Church lately in London and whom I could name should say that some Ministers of France should express so much that had their Churches full establishment from the Civil Power they could not govern them without Episcopacy which it seems both Calvin Beza and of late Diodate foresaw of whom afterward By this Testimony it appears Episcopacy to have been of greatest Antiquity Universality and of such Necessity
be read at the consecration of a Bishop Pag. 46. that was read at the Ordination of Priests therefore they infer that the compilers of the book never dreampt of a distinction of orders between Bishops and Presbyters Surely the Brethren are somewhat confident Answ that their readers are very easie either to be perswaded or to be deluded For may not the same Scripture contain matters common to both and peculiar more specially to one of those orders When they have expressed themselves sufficiently before must the appointing of a chapter that containeth precepts for both joyntly yet for the one more eminently argue they meant thereby to confute themselves The next exception is That there is no warrant Except 2 in Scripture for Archbishops Not indeed for the very word as there is not for many other things Answ as for the Trinity Justification by Faith onely Baptism of Infants Women coming to the Lords Supper But for the thing there is The Evangelists as Timothy and Titus had power over other Ministers And the Apostles had power over them If the state of the Church then needed such Superintendents over Bishops and the state of the Church now have the same use and exigency of them There is warrant in Scripture And so there is in Law and Reason viz. to constitute such officers in the Church as well as in the Common-Wealth as whereby the government of it may bee the more conveniently managed The commendation of the wisdome of the Church in this institution of Archbishops wee heard above out of Bucer and Zanchy And may further out of Calvin Calv. Instit. l. 4. c. 4. s 4. Quod autem singulae Provinciae unum habebant inter Episcopos Archiepiscopum Quod item in Nicaena Synodo constituti sunt Patriarchae qui essent ordine dignitate Archiepiscopis superiores id ad disciplinae conservationem pertinebat Si rem omisso vocabulo intuemur reperiemus veteres Episcopos non aliam regendae Ecclesiae formam voluisse fingere ab eâ quam Deus verbo suo prescripsit Now that saith he every province had among their Bishops one Archbishop Archbishops and Patriarchs approved by Calvin and that in the councel of Nice there were ordained Patriarchs which should be in order and dignity superiour unto Archbishops this was done for the preservation of Discipline and Government But if wee will omitting contention about the Word consider the thing it self wee shall finde that the ancient Bishops intended not to frame any form of Church-Government which was in kinde different from that which God had appointed in his Word Thus far hee Go to now yee that pretend to be followers of Calvin and see whether Archbishops yea Patriarchs have not warrant from the Word of God The Brethrens third Exception is against the Except 3 consecration of an Archbishop but upon the former ground that it is but a humane creature Consecration of Archbishops which ground is confuted But if hee were Answ yet consecration may be requisite as a solemn separation of a person to an office in the Church of so much influence of so much consequence As though Kings themselves bee in some sense 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an humane creation 1 Pet. 2. though by Gods secret appointment yet no man ever quarrelled with their solemn inauguration by prayer other ceremonies suppose them such as are not superstitious into their office That they say our Church seeth no necessity of the consecration of an Archbishop Inst. because it appointeth the same form for both Answ is to stumble at the same undutiful stone to indeavour to make the Church contradict it self To appoint a consecration for an Archbishop and yet to make it a thing of no necessity That it hath not appointed a different form for this is to let the Brethren and all men understand that they did not count this a different order but degree onely in the same order and therefore the same form of consecration might serve for both Because the Church would not multiply services without necessity To the last Exception which they infer from Except 4 the former viz. That seeing the Archbishop is but of the Churches constitution Oath of common obedience therefore they see no reason why he should receive an oath of Canonical obedience from the Bishop But of the Antecedent wee saw above Answ as to the consequent it is untruly gathered For though an Archbishop bee but of Ecclesiastical constitution what hindereth but that having so great an influence upon the Church the welfare whereof doth so much consist in the obedience of the several Governours thereof unto their Superiours and this by men in place so hardly oftentimes performed without more solemn obligation of conscience what impedeth either in Religion or Reason that for the securing the peace of the Church and the exercise of Government an oath may not be exacted of an inferiour degree But that here 's the cramp it argues too much inferiority and subjection unto the Archbishop of a Bishop with whom the Brethren do count themselves equal who are men 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and such as cannot bear the yoak especially having now as Caesar once so long ruled that to obey they knew not how But they should remember that a levelling spirit is as dangerous in the Church as in the Common-Wealth and tends to Anarchy and no Government at all What made Diodate else at Geneva come so rarely to the consistory but this that hee said Young men perked up and every one having an equal power there was no place for gravity in the Government which hee expressed to one I know to this effect And thus I have done with their Exceptions against Episcopacy the Government and the solemn initiation thereunto its consecration SECT V. Episcopal Jurisdiction THeir next is against its Right of Jurisdiction Against Episcop Jurisdiction And Except 3 first of sole Jurisdiction Or the exercise of Government alone Where first their assertion not onely that Bishops have not the onely power of Government but also that all Presbyters have a share therein Next their proof of it First to their assertion First Because my scope is onely to vindicate Answ so far as I am able The Doctrine Worship and Government of the Church as agreeable to the Scripture and as received publickly established and practised in this Nation if any do break this fense let the Serpent bite him Eccles 10.8 if hee remove these stones let them fall upon him if hee willingly violate these holy and sacred bonds of Law how weak a Patron soever I am hee shall have no advocate of mee Next the Terms perhaps would bee explained For sole Jurisdiction may bee taken either for sole Right of Government Sole Jurisdiction so that no man else hath any thing to do to govern but himself or by delegation from him or else for the sole Right of the exserting exercise and putting
sure that it is not there in any point condemned of Heresie unless it be of the ANABAPTISTS as it is here And I do not think but there be some as well there as in England and it is like enough that SUCH do finde fault with it Who are offended with the Liturgy Dr. Martin Nay even of Mr. Cox himself and other that were Preachers in King Edwards time they have disproved your * This Book established 5 6. Edw. 6. was re-established 1. Eliz. with two or three alterations and is that we now use as was proved above The Alterations are in the Act prefixed before the Service-Book second Book in divers points and have now made a third Book how say you which of these three Books will you allow now Careless Forsooth I say still as I have written that the second Book is good and godly and IN ALL POINTS agreeing to the Word of God and I am sure that neither Master Cox nor any other of our godly Preachers that be fled unto Frankford have condemned that Book IN ANY POINT as repugnant to the Word of God though perchance they have altered something therein according to the usage of that Country where now they are And I have not denied in my Articles but the Church of Christ hath power and authority to enlarge or diminish any thing in the same GOOD BOOK so far forth as it is agreeable to the Scriptures D. Martin But what authority have you or how durst you bee so bold to make an Article of the Faith concerning that Book to be beleeved of all men under pain of damnation Carelesse Ah Master Doctor have I bound any man to beleeve that Article under pain of damnation as you do charge mee I am sure there is no such word in all my Articles I have there written what I hold and beleeve my self as I am bound to do in conscience And now I will add thus much more That the same Book which is so consonant and agreeable to the Word of God ☞ Nore in the fear of God and consider being set forth by Common Authority both of the Kings Majesty that is dead and the whole Parliament House ought not to be despised by mee or any other private man under pain of Gods high displeasure and DAMNATION except they repent 2. Concerning Monarchy and that of this Nation * The Testimony of Mr. Sam. Ward sometime the famous Preacher of Ipswitch the Author of several elegant and useful pieces Hoc enim mihi ratum indubitatum semper fuit hoc semper cum Politicis Theologis gravissimis sensi palum apud omnes professus sum Monarchiam haereditariam sub qua mihi vitales auras feliciter haurine bonis omnimodis frui piè tranquillè degere contigit esse omnium quotquot extant aut excogitari possunt regiminum formae longè multumque praestantissimam utilissimam laudatissimam Cui me ex animo favere ille novit qui perscrutatur renes meos c. i. e. This hath alwaies been with mee a certain and undoubted maxime In his Preface to King Charls the first prefixed before his Treatise in Latine of the Load-stone dedicated unto him intituled Magnetis Reductorium this alwaies with the best States-men and Divines I have ever concluded and openly among all men professed viz. That a Monarchical Government hereditary under which providence hath so ordered that I have drawn my vital breath enjoyed many comforts have had the opportunity to live godly and quietly is of all Governments which are or can be divised by many degrees the best the most beneficial and most commendable to which that I am from my heart a well-wisher hee knows that searches my reins and my heart said that Author Dr. Sanderson the now Right Reverend Bishop of Lincoln in his late treatise intituled Episcopacy not prejudicial to Regal Power as established by Law in the Postscript Lastly Concerning the Divine Right of Episcopacy Though from one in that function yet because it derives it higher and founds it somewhat deeper more solidly and also briefer than is usually done deserves more special notice His words are My opinion is that Episcopal Government is not to bee derived meerly from Apostolical practice or Institution But that it is originally founded in the person and office of the Messias our Blessed Lord JESUS CHRIST who being sent by his heavenly Father to bee the great Apostle Heb. 3.1 Bishop and Pastor 1 Pet. 2.25 of his Church and annointed to that office immediately after his Baptism by JOHN with power and the Holy Ghost Act. 10.37 8. descending then upon him in a bodily shape Luke 3.22 did afterward before his ascension into Heaven send and impower his holy Apostles giving them the Holy Ghost likewise as his Father had given him John 20.21 to execute the same Apostolical Episcopal and Pastoral office for the ordering and governing of his Church until his coming again and so the same office to continue in them and their Successors unto the end of the world Mat. 28.18 20. This I take to be so clear from these and other like Texts of Scripture that if they shall bee diligently compared together both between themselves and with the following practice of all the Churches of Christ as well in the Apostles times as in the purest and Primitive times nearest thereunto there will bee left little cause why any man should doubt thereof Thus that Reverend Author II. Certain other Examples of Retractations In the next place other Instances of Retractations and repentings Beda prefat in Retract suas in Actor Apostol Tom. 6. Cujus Augustini industriam nobis quoque pro modulo nostro placuit imitari Nunc in idem volumen Actor Apostolic brevem Retractationis libellum condamus studio maximè vel addendi quae minus dicta vel emendandi quae socus quam placuit dicta videbantur The ingenuity and industry of St. Austin in his Retractations it is my purpose in my small measure to imitate also Now therefore let us compile a brief Treatise of Retractations with this intent especially either of adding those things which were not sufficiently expressed or of amending those that were expressed otherwise than did seem convenient saith venerable Bede Again For my part saith another though a late Author yet one of good note Good Reader Mr. Whately in his Bride-Bush in his advertisement to the Reader I account it no shame to confess and revoke an errour and will therefore do it plainly and without circumstance Then hee closes with this honest and Austin-like expression viz. From him that had rather confess his own error than make thee erre for company The like whereunto wee heard above out of that Father And Dr. Bishop Brownriggs sentence concerning Retractations Related by Dr. Gauden the now very Rev. Bishop of Excester his successon Brownrigge the late most worthy Bishop of Excester would say that Hee
before he persecuted Sect. 3. Examples of Retractation But to come to some Instances and Examples of Errour 1. In general and of Retractation And first in General I have read this sentence either in or cited out of u] Phil. de Comines Philippe de Comines for the Book is not now at hand viz. A Prince or any other man that hath not been deceived can be but a beast because he discerns not the difference between good and evil Consonant unto that of the Antient now quoted x] Aug. Epist 7 Nullum unquam verbum inquit quod revocare vellet emisit Quae quidem laus quanquam praeclarissima videatur tamen credibilior est de nimium fatuo quam de sapiente perfecto Nam illi quos moriones vocant quanto magis à sensu communi dissonant magÃsque insulsi absurdi sunt tanto magis nullum verbum emittunt quod revocare velint quia dicti mali vel stulti vel incommodi poenitere utique cordatorum est That is Tully saith of the Roman That he never uttered any word which he wished were unspoken Which commendation though it be very splendid yet is it more like to be true of an absolute fool then of a perfect wise man for those whom we call Ideots by how much they are farther off from common sense and are more absurd and witless by so much the more they never utter any word that they will retract For to repent of an evil idle or inconsiderate speech is indeed the part of a prudent and cordial man thus far he And to come nearer to our own time and occasion I shall give you the vivid speech of one yet living for ought I know y] Letter to one of the Lords of the Council concerning the Declarat of Octob. 13. 1655. Whosoever saith he hath not been deceived in the current of these last fifteen years hath been preserved from being so by such an absence of friendship confidence and charity and by such an enmity to mankind by such a measure of distrust jealousie and villany in his nature that I had rather be a dog then that man I shall leave unto the Authour his passion and expressions and only improve his notion as complying with the premises But to come to some particulars Particular Instances We might fetch them from the whole rational creature and from the top-branch of it the Angels For those of them that fell although through malice they will not retract The lapsed Angels yet there is no doubt but they do repent though not with godly sorrow And what is Retractation but Repentance certified Adam the first and flower of the meer rational creature here on earth did not only repent The first man but retract his errour though the expression of it be not verbally set down else could he not have been capable of salvation for 't is only z] 1 Joh. 1.9 if we confess our sin that God hath obliged his faithfulness and truth to forgive us And though with the heart man believe unto righteousness yet with the mouth confession must be made unto salvation saith the Apostle Rom 10. Unto this head therefore of Retractation not criticising on the word appertain all the confessions of sin we read of in the Scripture But take a few particulars Other Script Inst and you shall find them to be the choicest of the Saints Job a] Job 1. like unto whom in his time was none on earth by the Lords own testimony yet he retracts b] Ch. 40.4 5. c. 42.6 I have spoken words saith he which I understood not therefore I abhor my self and repent in dust and ashes c] 2 Sam. 23.2 David David by whom the Spirit of God frequently spake he retracts d] 2 Sam. 24.10 I beseech thee O Lord take away the iniquity of thy servant for I have done very foolishly Solomon who e] 1 King 10.23 exceeded all the Kings of the earth both in riches and wisdome he retracts f] Eccles 2.20 21. Therefore I hated all my labour g] Cap. 1.17 Chald. Paraph. In Eccles and he calls his travel in wisdome Solomon madness and folly And it is supposed that the whole Book of Ecclesiastes is nothing else but his retractations especially if we credit the Chaldee Paraphrase but not that in the King of Spains Bible who makes the ground of it to be that Solomon foresaw he should leave his wisdome and Kingdome to a fool to Rehoboam Some also might perhaps bring S. Paul himself near the matter of a retractation If not S. Paul as to the style of a Letter which he wrote to the Corinthians the good effect whereof made him in the issue not repent h] 2 Cor. 7.8 though he saith ' he did repent But because the i] Calv. in loc doctiss interpres as he is often styled expounds the place otherwise I insist not on it But without query k] Gal. 2.11 he by whose mouth the Gentiles first received the Gospel and believed not only repented of a mortal sin Yet doubtless Peter the denying of his Lord but retracted no doubt an errour by his example made much more dangerous the withdrawing namely from the Gentiles in eating bread Gal. 2. and compelling thereby the Gentiles to ' live as the Jews did so betraying the liberty of the Gospel Which may be a note for those who claim succession from him not to arrogate unto themselves an unerring spirit Adversaries to Retractation no not in Cathedrâ as doth the Bishop of Rome the only enemy of all Christians unto retractations Examples in the Antient Church But to come lower S. Austin the best Learned of all Antient Doctors in the judgement of the Church of England l] Homil. against peril of Idolatry part 2. pag. 25. he not only retracts himself and wrote two whole Books of that argument whose spirit in this particular may in few be seen in that excellent Epistle of his unto Marcellinus m] Epi. 7. and libb of Retrac Ep. 7. But also therein exhorts every other man that hath been mistaken S. Austin secundas habeat partes modestiae qui primas non potuit habere sapientiae that every such one should take the second boat of modesty and retracting that could not get the first of wisdome by not erring The reason is n] Idem ibid. nam nimis perversè seipsum amat qui alios vult errare ut error suus lateat for he too passionately loves himself that is willing others should still wander that his own straying may be unobserved Yea he admonisheth o Hieron of a revocation of his opinion touching the controversie betwixt Paul and Peter Gal. 2. p] Aug. Ep. 9. Ad Hieron Arripe obsecro te ingenuam verè Christianam cum charitate severitatem ad illud opus corrigendum atque emendandum
away 7 the Council-table regulated and restrained 8 the Forests bounded and limited 9 that ye shall have a Triennial Parliament 10 and more then that a perpetual Parliament which none shall have power to dissolve without your selves We should have thought this a dream of happiness yet now we are in the real possession of it We stand chiefly upon security 2. Security whereas the VERY HAVING of these things is a convenient fair security mutually securing one another Then is MORE security offered even in this last Answer of the Kings by removing the personal votes of Popish Lords by the better education of Papists children by supplying the defect of Laws against Recusants c. Wherefore Sir Note let us beware we do not contend for such a hazardous unsafe security as may endanger the loss of what we have already Let us not think we have nothing because we have not all we desire and though we had we cannot make a MATHEMATICAL security All humane caution is susceptible of corruption and failing Gods providence will not be bound Note success must be His. Every man here is bound in conscience to employ his uttermost endeavours to prevent the effusion of BLOOD BLOOD is a CRYING sin Note it pollutes a Land LET VS SAVE OVR LIBERTY AND ESTATES AS WE MAY SAVE OUR SOVLS TOO Now I have freely delivered my own conscience I leave every man freely to his Thus far that worthy Knight and I have been told by one acquainted with him and that did sometime visit him in his last sickness that he said That some of the most active men would not have been for the raising of Arms but that they had a strong opinion Mr. Hamâ— Mâ— Pym and others whom he named that the King had so little interest in the affections of the people that he would never be able to raise force to oppose them One occasion of the War And that he the said Sir Benjamâ—n Rudyard did labour earnestly to disswade them from that conception but could not Add hereunto in the third place 3. Gods Testimony Psal 111. Gods own active testimony as it appears against the courses pursued which is not lightly to be passed for as the Psalmist saith He doth so perform his works that they ought to be had in remembrance For although the Word of God and the particular determination of it unto our special condition by wholesome Laws is a sufficient light ' unto our feet and lanthorn unto our paths yet this Word receives much illustration and confirmation by his works both of nature and therefore these are joyned with it in the Psalm and of providence Psal 19. as Constantine the Great Observes Euseb de vit Constant l. 2. c. 25. viz. That believers had light enough by the Word to discern the true Religion from the false yet the working of providence in order thereunto did make the matter much more evident So in the present affair Ends of the War defeated for whereas there were but two main things for which the War was undertaken Religion and the Laws God seems to declare his judgment concerning our undertaking this way to defend them providence defeating us in both yea and that both after full victory obtained and quiet possession enjoyed Whence you may very reasonably believe Kings Letter from Breda unto the General April 4. 1660 that God is not pleased with the attempts that have been made since he hath usually encreased the confusion by all the success that hath been desired and brought that to pass without effect which the designers have proposed as the best means to settle and compose the Nation as a better hand hath notably observed 1. Religion First for Religion not onely the infinite growth of all even the most horrid opinâ—ons and sects and factions of such denying not onely the Lord that bought them 2 Pet. 2. as the Apostle speaks but the Principle it self the Scriptures together with the contempt of Gods worship it self as well as the established form thereof doth abundantly shew de facto that we have lost Religion but above all that unparallel'd Act for Toleration Proclamation for Toleratâ—on Feb. 15. 1654. that de jure we must lose it doth demonstrate And the precedent thereof that Ordinance of the Lords and Commons whereby the security of it the established Liturgy was removed Ordinance of Lords and Commons Jan. 3. 1644. and the Act against Recusancy repealed whereby the flood-gates for opinions and practices in Religion was thrown open since which that which was but then in semine is now in arbore and that such an one as all the unclean fouls under heaven came and lodged in the branches of it This for Religion Then for the Laws and our Liberties conteined in them 2. The Laws first the Court of Justice untruly so called did de facto and in deed extirpate that Court of Justice and pluck it up by the roots as seizing upon any mans estate liberty and life against Law and upon arbitrary power against the Great Charter But secondly it is avowed by him that of late assumed the Supreme Power that all our Laws and government was dissolved and that he might do de jure and of right what he pleased so the other ground and foundation of the War the Law was lost also And because in this cause he is a very authentick witness as having been so deep an actor in the motion we will hear himself speak and that in the face of the Nation in an Assembly of it which he call'd a Parliament that so God might openly shew us what we would not see before He saith Note Lord Protector 's speech Sept. 12. 1654. page 11 13. That those honest ends of our fighting were not attained and setled Again My power saith he by this resignation from the convention of a few called by himself was BOVNDLESS and VNLIMITED And upon the matter ALL GOVERNMENT DISSOLVED all civil Administrations at an end Again pag. 19. the Soldiery were a considerable part of the Nation especially ALL GOVERNMENT being DISSOLVED I say when ALL GOVERNMENT was thus DISSOLVED and nothing to keep things in order but the SWORD Where by the way you may perceive that the mystery of this iniquity even from the beginning and before there was a blow strucken did work For at the time when the Horses were lifting Note and mony and plate was brought into Guild-Hall discourse being betwixt him and one I know in my hearing touching the final resolution of power He saith That if the King did not do his duty 1. Resolution of Government in a Levellers sense it descended to the Parliament and if the Parliament did not do theirs it devolved to the People Now a few days before the death of the King being pressed in my hearing 2. The application why the Army should act such a thing and asked if
Fourthly our Lord himself hath intimated unto us Luk. 15. Object Answ that in some cases the Pastor must leave ninety and nine sheep to help one that is lost To that they say that it is no way of necessity to the sick mans salvation 't is unadvisedly spoken For what if he may be saved without it yet if not with that necessary comfort that is requisite to the grapling with the King of fears it were both unchristianity peradventure and inhumanity to deny it him as the case may stand But secondly such may be the sick mans temptations and so great his weakness that for want of this special support his faith may fail him and so he may fail of salvation Or howsoever as the Apostle speaks 1 Cor. 8. Destroy not him with thy meat for whom Christ dyed So destroy not him for want of thy meat for whom Christ dyed For whatsoever God may do with him yet his blood as the point may be perhaps will God require at such a hand Conf. Hamp Court p. 17. A peart Minister asked me saith King James if I thought Baptism so necessary that if it were omitted the child would be damned I answered him no but if you being called to baptize the child though privately should refuse to come I think you shall be damned Buc. Script Angl. Censur Liturg. cap. 22. I conclude this answer with the censure of Bucer touching the Communion of the sick and injunctions about it Quae hic praecipiuntur sunt Divinis scripturis satis consentanea communionem enim sumere domini de mensá ejus ad consolandum perturbatas conscientias non parum valet si ea ut dominus instituit sumatur Those things saith he which are here commanded touching the Communion of the sick are sufficiently agreeing with the Scriptures For to receive the Lords Communion and from his Table doth not a little avail for the comforting afflicted consciences if it be taken as the Lord hath commanded SECT III. Of the body of the Common-prayer-book 3. Except against the body of the Liturgy 3. COme we now to their Exceptions against the body of the Liturgy it self and the matter of it Where like men that are rolling down a hill the more their brains as well as their body run round so fares it here with the Brethren who did rail before but now they rave and are without bounds immodest So true is that Eum qui semel verecundiae fines transiit oportet graviter impudentem esse He that hath once set himself beyond blushing it concerns him afterward to take a brow of brass And that of the Apostle ' Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived 2 Tim. 3. But to come to the matter First they do ominously ad limen offendere stumble at the threshold and fall too but 't is fouly upon the first sentence of the Book viz. At what time soever a sinner doth repent him of his sin from the bottom of his heart Ezek. 18. I Except 1 will put all his wickedness out of my remembrance saith the Lord. At what time soever a sinner repenteth c. Against which they object first for the name that it is called a sentence of Scripture 2. The matter that it is contrary to Scripture 3. The effect that it implies a man may repent when he list this occasions delay of repentance which carries many to Hell First to shake off these flies that would blow this holy Sacrifice And then to vindicate the Religious Compilers of the Liturgy To the first And first for the naming it a sentence of Scripture when if it were true say they it is but a sense of Scripture which yet is more then they grant Hieron in epist ad Gal. c. 1. notum vob facio St. Jerom would long since have told them Nec putemus in verbis Scripturarum esse Evangelium sed in sensu non in superficie sed in medullâ non in sermonum foliis sed in radice rationis Neither let us think saith he that the Gospel consists in words Scripture is sense not syllables Matth. 4. but in the sense not in the bone but in the marrow not in the leaves of syllables but in the root of its reason For otherwise saith he in the same place the devil sometime quoted Scripture And before him Athanasius in the defence of the Council of Nice It being objected against the Council that it had used terms as consubstantial and the like not found in Scripture he answers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let every one saith he that is willing to learn Athanas de Nicen concil narrat sive Quòd illa idoneis sit usa verbis Tom. 1. Tract 15. know that although the very words be not in the Scriptures yet have they the mind of the Scripture and do sound the same thing in the ears of those who have their senses open unto godliness And that they are ignorant men that think otherwise If therefore it be the sense of Scripture it may not be unfitly called a sentence of Scripture Neither is it any injury as the Brethren cavil to say pag. 27. that the Apostles did the like in quoting the old Testament for what think they of this For thus it is written by the Prophet Matth. 2.5 6. Sense of Scripture sentence of Scripture Mic. 5.2 And thou Bethlehem in the land of Judah art not the least among the Princes of Judah c. Whereas it is in the Prophet in words different yea quite contrary First Different viz. And thou Bethlehem Ephrata Next contrary Though thou be little among the thousands of Judah yet out of thee c. And there is added the word For which is not in the Hebrew VVherein they followed the Greek which saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they mistaking 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad existendum for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad non existendum Per contractionem So that there is detraction contrariety and a material addition which cannot be shewn in the sentence impugned And what think they of another soon after Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God Matth. 4.10 and him onely shalt thou serve And our Saviour saith It is written Now in the place cited it is in the first Deut. 6.13 and 10.20 Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him and shalt swear by his Name And in the second ' Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God him shalt thou serve and to him shalt thou cleave and swear by his Name Difference enough you see Is this a belying of the Scripture too And what think they of another Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by the Prophet Jeremy Matth. 27.9 saying And they took the thirty pieces of silver the price of him that was valued whom they of the children of Israel did value and gave them for the potters
field as the Lord commanded me Whereas both it is in the Prophet Zachary not in Jerem. Zach. 11.12 13. and also runs thus And I said unto them If you think good give me my price and if not forbear so they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver And the Lord said unto me Cast it unto the Potter A goodly price that I was prized at of them And I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the Potter in the House of the Lord. Here is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 variety of difference and yet I hope the Brethren will not deny but that the Evangelist Matthew did set down a sentence of Scripture To shake hands and part What think they of that of the Apostle It is written As I live saith the Lord every knee shall bow to me Rom. 14.11 and every tongue shall confess to God Yet in the Prophet where it is written Isa 45.23 it is thus I have sworn by my self the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousnese and shall not return that unto me every knee shall bow every tongue shall swear Which difference is such that the * In a conference with my self Quakers observe it as a ground of not-swearing because what the Prophet said of swearing the Apostle turns confessing A sentence then of Scripture it may be which is not the very words as the the title of those sentences is not these words but sentences To the second that this sentence as set down in Except 2 the Common-prayer-book is contrary to the place whence it is quoted and to other Scripture Answ The place quoted in the Service formerly is onely Ezek. 18. not naming any verse in the later Editions the 21 and 22 verses are figured but there is ground also for the sentence in the general context of that Chapter and particularly besides the former in vers 28 30 31 32. Now let us see whether there be any difference in sense much less any contrariety The Prayer-book saith At what time soever a sinner doth repent him of his sin from the bottom of his heart I will put all his wickedness out of my remembrance saith the Lord. In the Prophet verse 21 22. thus But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed and keep all my statutes and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not dye All his transgressions that he hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live And verse 30. Repent Ezek. 18.30 31. and turn your selves from your transgressions And vers 31. ' Make you a new heart and a new spirit And then for the whensoever though implyed unavoidably in the former sentences yet 't is more than in terminis Jer. 18.7 Jer. 18.7 8. for even the Apostles cited Scriptures so as that they compacted several into one At what instant I speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and to destroy it if that Nation against whom I have pronounced turn from their evill I will repent of the evill that I thought to do unto them Now compare At what time saith the Common-prayer-book in the Prophet Ezekiel it is If he will turn indefinitely excluding no time which is equivalent unto whensoever And ' At what instant saith the Prophet Jeremy that is more Repent him of his sins saith the Common-prayer-Book turn from all his sins that he hath committed saith Ezekiel vers 28. and repent and turn your selves from your transgressions vers 30. From the bottom of his heart saith the Prayer-book From all his sins saith Ezekiel vers 21. and from all his transgressions vers 30. which surely is the same with from the bottom of his heart which yet is more clearly implyed vers 31. Make you a new heart and a new spirit that ' is Repent you from your heart and spirit as before he had exhorted to repentance I will put all his wickedness out of my remembrance saith the Common-prayer-book All his transgressions that he hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him saith Ezekiel vers 22. Now I shall leave it to every man that hath but two eyes Reason and Conscience to judge whether the Common-prayer-book hath a title in sense more than the Prophet pag. 26. Hebr. 4.7 chap. 3.12 Yea but it is dissonant from another To day if ye will hear his voice And Exhort one another daily while it is called to day Therefore we must not defer repentance Object but At what time soever encourages men so to do Answ To day if ye will hear As if both these sentences were not in the Old Testament as well as in the New and in both Testaments by the same Spirit 'T is evident by manifold places of Scripture that there is ever found place for true repentance without limiting of any time Why are they not offended with our Saviour for speaking of some that should be received at the eleventh hour Matth. 20. And with the Evangelist Luke for recording the repentance and acceptation of the Thief upon the Cross Luk. 23. And with the Prophet or the Lord rather in the Prophet Ezek. 23. for calling to her to return that was grown old not in ordinary sins but in Adulteries and Idolatry namely with a purpose of pardon if she would even then repent And a broken and contrite heart O Lord saith David thou wilt not despise and his repentance was late for his sin was toward the end of his life as Peter Martyr observes Pet. Mart. in 2 Sam. 11.2 One of the Martyrs hearing a Frier inveighing against the sins of the people in this manner O thou that hast spent thy youth and strength in the service of the devil dost thou think that God will now accept thee when thou canst sin no longer or to that effect said That had such doctrine been preached to him it would have cast him into despair when time was Is there any dissonancy in hastening men unto repentance and warning of them that they outstand not the day of grace and yet in the encouraging of them when they do repent To the third and last Exception that this sentence Except 3 At what time soever implies as if he could repent when he list Repent when we list c. and this occasions delay which carries many to Hell But by what Logick doth it follow that if men are told that that if they truly repent the Lord will forgive them Ergo They may repent when they list The inference is fully as good from Gods exhorting unto repentance and is urged thence by some because we are exhorted to repent therefore repentance is in the power of our own free will So whensoever you repent from the bottom of the heart c. Therefore you may when you will So that as the Brethren
Three roots of unthankfulness or pride Ignorance when we know not the Author from whom our good cometh Dissimulation when our hands are more open than our eyes upon that we receive Pride when we think our selves worthy of that which meer grace and undeserved mercy bestoweth Again the very silence that our unworthiness putteth us unto doth it self make request for us and that in confidence of his grace With which answer I end my reply unto this point The tenth particular against which they object is in Except 10 the second prayer at Baptism in which we pray Remission by spiritual Regeneration that Infants coming to Baptism may receive remission of their sins by spiritual regeneration The Brethren except That remission of sins is not received by or from spiritual regeneration but by and from the blood of Christ Heb. 9.22 1 Joh. 1.7 But they grant that remission of sins and regeneration flow from one and the same fountain and are both conveyed and sealed in Baptism Answ seminally at least Which words being before have so way-laid the other that they do not onely stop them but destroy them For if regeneration and remission of sins be both conveyed and sealed in Baptism the question onely is which is first and causal one to the other or whether they be both co-ordinate and without dependance one from the other Which doubt is soon answered if we consider first That Baptism of water through the Word is made by our Saviour the instrument of the new-birth Joh. 3. Unless saith he a man be born of water and of the holy Ghost c. And he did sanctifie and clense the Church Eph. 5. with the washing of water by the Word And he saved us by the washing of Regeneration Tit. 3. and renewing of the holy Ghost saith the Apostle Eph. 3. By Baptism we do put on Christ And are by one spirit baptized into one body viz. that of Christ Hence first we partake of the new nature are born to God and become his children whereupon follows the remission of sins by vertue indeed of the blood of Christ but this blood is not communicated out of the body nor to any but those that are members of it and by the operation of the holy Ghost regenerated therein by Baptism Matth. 27. Hence our Saviour before he gave the Cup at his last Supper wherewith he promised remission of sins he premiseth ' This is my Body speaking of the Bread first to be received which the Apostle expounding saith We being many 1 Cor. 10. are one bread and one body And that the bread is the communion of the body of Christ That first then the Cup the communion of his blood for the remission of sins Now we are baptized into this body in this body we have spiritual regeneration or the new birth Remission of sins by spiritual regenerarion and God now reckons us and owns us for his children and being such he confers the blood that is in the body for the forgiveness of sins I am not ignorant that Adoption is made an effect or consequent of our Justification and forgiveness of sins But if we consider that we must have union with Christ before we can have communion and that this communion effects first our regeneration and being born to God we shall see that remission of sin is consequent as an effect thereof We receive it by and from the blood of Christ but by the medium of Regeneration this blood being sprinkled actually on none but those that are regenerate at least sacramentally and in respect of the outward application of the Covenant of grace in which respect all the children of Israel after Circumcision Rom. 4.11 which was the seal of the righteousness of faith were owned by God as regenerate persons were his children and had the priviledge of children the remission of sins And hence it is Communion of Saints forgivness of sins that in the Creed we believe first the holy catholick Church and communion of Saints viz. conjunction into one mystical body of Christ and then the forgiveness of sins Because to this communion and the members thereof namely those that are born again and of sons of Adam are by Baptism and the holy Ghost become the sons of God is this priviledge appropriated that they have the remission of sins But that the Church ascribeth forgivness of sins even in this form of Baptism to the blood of Christ onely appears in the prayer immediately before the act of Baptizing which runs thus Almighty and everliving God whose most dearly beloved Son Jesus Christ Prayer before Baptism for the forgivness of our sins did shed out of his most pretious side both water and blood c. Then the Church shews how this regeneration is wrought Prayer after and what is the consequent of it in the prayer after Baptism namely We yield thee hearty thinks most merciful Father See the Artic. of Relig. 27. of Bapt. that it hath pleased thee to regenerate this Infant with thy holy Spirit Baptism is but the instrument to receive him for thine own child by Adoption see Adoption follows Regeneration and to incorporate him c. Secondly It is usual in Sacramental speech to understand the cause by the name of the effect and contrarily by a Metonymie as Matth. 27. This Cup is the New-Testament Circumcision is the Covenant Gen. 17. This bread is my body So here spiritual Regeneration is Baptism in the meaning of the Prayer by a Metonymie of the effect for the cause because Baptism is the instrumental cause of Regeneration So that the meaning is but this That the child may by Baptism called spiritual Regeneration Tit. 3. as the Apostle calls it the Laver of Regeneration receive forgiveness of sins as in Scripture that benefit is properly affixed first unto Baptism as Be ye baptized for the remission of sins Act. 2. And Arise and be baptised and wash away thy sins And They were baptized Matth. 3. confessing their sins that is in order to their washing away by Baptism But this derogates nothing from the blood of Christ by vertue whereof as being the ordinance and instrument of its application Baptism or spiritual Regeneration doth produce remission of sins As for that reproach the Brethren cast upon this expression as if it were mans falshood rather than Gods truth it savours of an affectation rather not to loose somewhat an elegant expression than to receive the truth in the love of it so pertinently held forth in that expression Now for close let us hear two witnesses onely to the former Doctrine viz. That we receive remission of sins by spiritual regeneration whether taking it for Baptism or for the new birth and that whether taken relatively and as by this Sacrament we are born to God and become his children foederally and by way of Covenant or taken really and as it communicates
repetition of this Testimony Non Crambe bis cocta haec bis repetita placebunt In Musick streins often repeatâ—d are In mental harmony why is' t a jarr nemo post divinum judicium post populi suffragium post Coepiscoporum consensum judicem se non jam Episcopi sed Dei faceret Nemo dissidio unitatis Christi Ecclesiam scinderet c. For from no other root saith hee either Heresies spring or Schisms do arise than from this That Obedience is not given to the Priest or Minister of God so hee calls the Bishop by way of eminency as the words following declare And that it is not considered that there is for the time but One Priest and but ONE JUDGE in Christs stead To whom if the WHOLE Church according as the Scripture hath appointed were obedient no man would move any thing against the Colledge of Ministers no man after Gods sentence the peoples suffrage election or approbation after the consent of the other Bishops would make himself Judge not now of the Bishop but of God himself In which Testimony onely by the way noting that populi suffragium must be according to Calvins observation not properly an Election though in a large sense it may be called so according to that of the former Author elsewhere Quum ipsa plebs maxime habeat potestatem L. 1. Ep. 4. vel eligendi dignos Sacerdotes vel indignos recusandi That the people have chief right either to chuse good Ministers or of refusing those that are bad But either a signification of their desire whom they would have or else an approbation of the Election made by the Bishops and confirmed by the Magistrate So Calvin Instit lib. 4. cap. 4. s 12. Cap. 13. Laodic Concil Est quidem illud fateor optimâ ratione sancitum in Laodicensi concilio ne turbis electio permitteretur primum soli Clerici eligebant offerebant Magistratui tum ad multitudinem res deferebatur Aut si à multitudine incipiebatur tantum id fiebat ut sciretur quem potissimum expeteret It is saith hee I confess excellently decreed in the Councel of Laodicea that the election of Ministers should not be permitted to the people But first the Clergy did chuse then they presented him to the Magistrate and lastly hee was propounded to the people c. But this occasionally onely to prevent mistaking As to the former Testimony of Cyprian out of it wee learne First That the eminency of one Minister above the rest in Government is of Divine Institution Post Judicum divinum Secondly That hee being chosen hath a sole superiour power of judgement in the Church to whom all must be obedient I say not hee hath a sole power absolutely but a sole superiour power over all within his Diocess and Jurisdiction by this Testimony whatsoever is to be said of the thing it self according to the Word of God And indeed the liberty or advantage that Civil Laws give of exercising Episcopal Authority doth not imply they have no other The Church hath taught us they may concur Will you such as be unquiet disobedient and criminous within your Diocess Book of Consecrat Q. At the consecrat of a Bishop correct and punish according to such Authority as yee have by Gods Word and as to you shall be committed by the Ordinance of this Realm 〈…〉 Ecclesiastical whether in order or degree which at present wee dispute not be according to Scripture as before hath been shewn Government and Jurisdiction cannot bee separated from it although the Laws should not confer any yea forbid it seeing the Church cannot subsist without Government which cannot be exercised regularly without Bishops Cypr. lib. 8. Ep. 3 The same Cyprian and in the same Epistle now cited shewing it to be the design of Satan in setting men to oppose godly Bishops that so hee may destroy Discipline and by that the Church it self saith Apparet quis impugnet non scilicet Christus qui Sacerdotes aut constituit aut protegit sed ille qui Christi adversarius Ecclesiae ejus inimicus Ob hoc Ecclesiae praepositum sua infestatione persequitur ut Gubernatore sublato atrocius atque violentius circa Ecclesiae naufragia grassetur Who it is and upon what design that opposeth Episcopacy It appears saith hee who opposeth the Bishop to be sure not Christ who either appointeth or protecteth Bishops But hee who is Christs adversary and his Churches enemy for this end persecutes and infests the Church Ruler that the Pylot being taken off hee might with greater cruelty and violence make spoil and shipwrack of the Church Thus far Cyprian And this here for the Right of this office in humane and divine SUBSECT II. THe next is whether it bee a distinct Order from or a superiour Degree above the Presbytery or ordinary Ministry Whether Episcopacy be a different order Necess Ref. p. 42. Touching the judgement of the Church of England in which point there need not be any great controversie if men that have little else to defend themselves were not too captious of words Of which sort of controversies the Apostle giveth warning viz. 2 Tim. 2.14 That wee should not strive about words without profit Answ 1 The Preface to the Book of Ordination of Ministers saith Preface to the Book of Ordination It is evident to all men diligently reading holy Scripture and Ancient Authors that from the Apostles time there have been THESE ORDERS of Ministers in Christs Church Bishops Priests and Deacons which offices were evermore had in such reverent estimation that no man by his own private authority might presume to execute any of them Where it is plain that saying these Orders and then naming three it is as much as if it had said These three Orders which is the Exception the Brethren have against it And because it calleth them presently Offices But that altereth not what it said before for every order is an office and every office is in some order Again they evidently prevaricate for whereas they say that the passage Almighty God which hast appointed divers orders of Ministers in the Church or in thy Church is in one prayer at the consecration namely of a Bishop It must be noted that it is three times in the book viz. At the ordering of a Deacen of a Priest and consecrating of a Bishop Now applying this word in prayer divers orders of Ministers to every one of those offices Can any man in his conscience doubt but that they took them for several orders who compiled the book and which being confirmed by Parliament and Convocation 8. Eliz. cap. 1. is the judgement of the Church of England in this point although it doth not every time it mentions the Bishop name order but sometime Office and Ministry That the book calls the inauguration of a Bishop Consecration of Bishops not an ordering but a Consecration doth not overthrow what
they said in the Preface and in the Prayer in both which the book speaks of them as of several orders as wee saw but now for that word of Consecration is used for honours sake onely as being the separation of a person to a more eminent order If the Brethren could make advantage of it they might by the same Logomachy prove that Bishops Priests and Deacons are consecrated also for the Title of the Book saies The form and manner of consecrating Bishops Priests and Deacons Ergo Priests and Deacons are consecrated as well it may bee said as that Bishops are consecrated therefore not ordered This for the judgement of the Church of England and of the Articles whereof the book of Ordination is a branch unto which the Brethren as it seems have also subscribed Artic. 36. For revolting from which Can. 38. they have merited the censures of the Church but that they say those Canons have now no powder but there may bee some in making If Linwood and Anshelme say Linwood constitut Anshelm in Phâ—l 1. that Episcopacy is not an order distinct from Presbyters wee are to note that these and many streams like have but one head which when it issued out this was a little troubled it is St. Hierom whom in this they follow and whose words they use Who being provoaked by John Bishop of Hierusalem Ad Evagr. Tom 2. in Ep. ad Tit. 1. took occasion warmly to make that a general note which hee had but from a few particular instances and the latitude of the word Bishop in Scripture That because there was not at that time any one so constituted at Ephesus Act. 22. when Paul left that Church therefore there was not one afterward when John wrote his Revelation and Christ sent the message to the Angel especially of that Church To say that Angel was the company of the Ministers Apoc 2. is to beg the question not to answer the proof Also because there was none one while more specially designed by Paul at Philippi or at least spoken to therefore there was none at Colosse when as the Apostle directs his speech to bee delivered to Archippus To say there was no other Minister there is to avoid what can not by such evasion be escaped Ephesus had a Bishop or call him what you will a superiour Governour to all the Ministers 1 Tim. 1. when Timothy was there and so had the Isle of Crete when Titus governed it Tit. 1. When the Apostle admonisheth the Hebrews to obey them that have the Rule over them Heb. 13. Act. 15. Gal. 2. 1 Cor. 3 5. 2 Cor. 3.6 Eph. 6.21 Rom. 13.4 cap. 15.8 doth it exclude the government of James or of Peter to whom Paul applyed himself as the pillars and rectors of that Church A speech uttered to many doth not shut out the precedency of some one among them The word Deacon is sometime applyed to the Apostles themselves and to the Evangelists And to the Magistrate Luk. 19.44 1 Pet. 2.12 and to â—hr st himself So the word Episcopacy sometimes signiâ—ies viâ—itation in general in the Scripture sometimes the offiâ—e of A ostleship Act. 1.20 And his Bishoprick let ano her take â—nâ— sometimes the office of a Bishop or Pastor or Presbyter 1 Tim. 3. Hee that desireth the office of a Bishop But this latitude of the Word in Scripture impedeth not but that the thing now understood thereby may be in Scripâ—ure distinct from that of Presbyter and is in all those plaâ—es and persons where and who had jurisdiction over other Ministers as the Apostles the Evangelists and others such as Timothy and Titus were But that Hieron even when hee disputes upon the Word was not so clear against the thing Ep. ad Evagr. in ipso fine appeâ—rs in that hee saith Presbyter Episcopus aliud aetatis aliud dignitatis est nomen Unde ad â—imotheum de ordinatione Episcopi Diaconi dicitur de Presbyteris omnino reticetur quia in Episcopo Presbyter continetur Et ut sciamus traditiones Apâ—stolicas sumptas de Veteri Testamento Qâ—od Aaron silii ejus atque Levitae in Templo fuerunt hoc sibi Episcopi Presbyteri Diaconi vendicent in Ecclesia The name saith hee of Presbyter and Bishops the one is a title of years the other of dignity Whence it is that in the Epistle to Timothy there is mention made of the ordination of a Bishop and a Deacon by the way note Consecration an Ordination that Antiquity doth name the consecration of a Bishop ordination which the Brethren deny but there is no mention there of the ordination of a Presbyter because that in a Bishop a Presbyter is also contained And that wee may understand the postolical traditions taken out of the Old Testament Hieron judgement of Epâ—scopacy whilst he dâ—sputes against it look what Aaron and his Sons and the Levites were in the Temple Let the Bishops and he Presbyters and the Deacons challenge unto themselves in the Church where first we have as much distinction yeelded as was betwixt Aaron and his Sons and the Levites between the Bishops and Presbyters and Deacons Secondly That this distinction is Apostolical and grounded on the equity of the orders of the Ministery in the Old Testament so that it is agreeable unto Scripture both in the Old and New Testament Thirdly That the word Bishop is used for Presbyter sometimes because it comprehends it But hee doth not say it is comprehended also of it SUBSECT II. Answ 2 BUt wee may quit this controversie about the distinction of the orders of Episcopacy and Presbytery for the question is of the power which of men in the same degree is not alwaies the same When the same Father saith in the same Epistle Quid enim facit exceptâ ordinatione Ep. ad Evagr. Episcopus quod non facit Presbyter What doth a Bishop excepting Ordination which a Presbyter doth not and where elsewhere hee saith That imposition of hands or confirmation of the Baptized was proper to the Bishops though hee qualifie it by saying that it was done ad honorem potius Sacerdotis quam ad legis necessitatem ' for the honour of the Priesthood for so by way of excellency hee often as also other of that time call Episcopacy as we saw above out of Cyprian rather than by necessity of the institution ' And when in the former Epistle and elsewhere hee saith Ad Evagr. in Tâ—t cap. 1. In toto orbe decretum est ut unus de Presbyteris electus superponeretur caeteris ad quem omnis Ecclesiae cura pertineret Schismatum semina tollâ—rentur That it was decreed through the whole world that one should be elected out of the Presbyters and set over the rest unto whom the whole care of the Church should belong and the seeds of Schism taken away Also Ecclesiae