assume as large and free power to exclude some such even where no consistorial juridical formal proceeding can be had as they now take to put by and interpretatively to excommunicate all which they do while they at least many of them administer it to none but intermit the use thereof altogether or exhibit it to very few or none in comparison but to such onely as they have gathered into a new Church and therefore as one being asked where he found his interpretation concerning Constantines donation as another his gloss upon the Salike Law answered If any looked on the back-side of that Donation and so of that Law there it was to be found so might it be more aptly said that from whence they derived the power and liberty to excommunicate all by non-administration or so many by non-admission they might fetch a right to exclude persons scandalous yea and apparently ignorant But our Rhodus and Saltus our present question is whether it be not onely profitable but necessary antecedently to the Communion to make examination notional or real of the knowledge or the lives not onely of such who upon morally probable grounds may well be suspected to be incompetent for ignorance or crime but of all indifferently so as for want of will in any to submit to this probation they may justly be debarred the Sacrament and for want of power or means in the Minister to exercise this Discipline he may lawfully intermit the administration or administer it onely to such as will submit themselves thereunto gathered and convened and not by their proper Pastour out of distant places and several Congregations DEFENCE SECT I. What authority the Diatribe ascribed to the Fathers and ancient Church Why the Apologists derogate from them THe Paper so I shall call it after that name which the Apologists always give it at the Circumcision thereof in the first Section seemed to rise to the hoary head of Antiquity and cast a suspitious eye upon Novelty recognizing that habet ut in aetatibus authoritatem Senectus sic in exemplis antiquitas and accounting with the Oracle that to be the best complexion which was concolor mortuis yet this was delivered onely in thesi and general not in hypothesi or particular application to my subject and by way of preface not of argumentation as they suggest calling this the first-born argument which yet had no double portion of substance nor was the beginning of strength or excellency of dignity Fit enim naturae quodam instinctu judicio recto sanè si illo recte utamur ut in religionis negotio nova omnia sint suspecta ferè exosa Casaub exercit 16. S. 43. p. 390. There was notwithstanding not the least intimation made as if any thing that bears the stamp of Antiquity were therefore to be received but onely not hastily to be laid aside nor that any thing was to be rejected because new coined but not to be so easily entertained neither that whatsoever was ancient was infallibly true but the more credible nor that which was new was undoubtedly false but more suspicious The Apologists cannot say and whosoever shall make inspection into the Paper will not see that I attribute too much to Antiquity and if they would have ascribed any thing they needed to have said nothing But it seems they have the same quarrel to Antiquity which the Affricans have of the Sun Urit fulgore suo and as Herod being originally a stranger and Alien sought to suppresse the Genealogies of the Jewish Nation and especially of the Royal Linage so the Apologists seek to disparage and detract from the exemplary practice of the ancient Church and judgment of the Fathers whereunto in opinion and way they are strangers De Carthagine potius nulla quà m pauca I am not susceptible to assert the honour and reverend esteem of the illustrious Fathers as Iuther calls them neither shall I need to undertake it for though mutus fit oportet qui non laudabat Herculem yet it was no unapt check of Antalcidas Quis unquam sanus eum vituperavit But since the Apologists instead of answering the testimonies have thought to discredit the Witnesses and have somewhat enlarged themselves both in this and the 13. Section to lessen their authority It may seem proditorious to desert their Defence and to shew lesse zeal to support them than they have done to deprave their credit especially seeing as Isocrates was said to have made many Orations in sending forth many Orators and he that saves a Physician preserves many lives and many remedies So I shall in vindicating this Topick fortifie the Arguments drawn from it and if it seem out of my way yet it is but in fresh suit of the Apologists whom I am bound to follow SECT II. Of Antiquity Custome sad consequences of Independency the novelty thereof the Fathers not without errours yet not to be sleighted What may be called the Primitive Church Protestants always honoured the Fathers and never declined their Testimony THey embrace that saying That which is first is true because true antiquity is a friend to truth and every good way is old but they restrain and limit this to such age and antiquity as things may claim onely for being revealed in Scripture But this is not the onely antiquity which we are now debating of this is Antiquity proved Ex priori but it is Ecclesiastical antiquity as I may call it the consent and custome of the antient Church antiquity proved Ex posteriori which we are now considering of what authority it carries what reverence and esteem it merits and what force and influence it hath We concur to adore Divine Scripture antiquity as the best Veritas in omnibus imaginem anteceda postremò similitudo succedit I ertul. Aug. contra Crescon l. 2. c. 29. Idem de peccat merit remis 1.1 c. 22. In mâ—de natura 〈◊〉 â— 61. 〈…〉 Mihi pro his omnibus imo supra hos omnes Apostolus Paulus to assent to it as the truest as that which nec falli potest nec fallere and to captivate our understanding thereunto Sine ulla recusatione cum credendi necessitate But because this is the best and truest and most infallible antiquity therefore to infer that no other antiquity needs to be considered of or is worthy of reverence or can lend any strength of argument is as if I should conclude that because an Apodictick Syllogism whose principles are propositions verae primae immediatae priores notiores causae conclusionis is onely Scientifical that therefore all Dialectick Syllogisms concluding ex probabilibus are useless and despicable or that St. Paul argued both weakly and superfluously that the woman ought to have power on her head because of the Angels when it had been enough and more efficacious to have said because of God or because Christ is the onely Mediatour between God and Man by his merit and efficacy and
shine that walk in it like the bright light of the Sunne which gilds all his spots and makes them invisible which some by their Prospectives discern in the body thereof What farther rise it may have or progression make we cannot certainly fore-tell but may solicitously fear since men of these principles are like the Crocodile which never ceaseth growing while he lives so doe they still increase in new singularities and humours and pretended discoveries yet I hope they will also be as sagacious as the Crocodiles of Nilus who never hatch any thing but they lay it without danger of being hurt by the rising flood yet in the interim an ordinary judgment may easily discover that a Fortress founded in the Conscience and raised on the advantage ground to command our reputation may keep all the parts adjacent in subjection and bring them under contribution And seeing Priam at this age was not unhappy and confession it self in so short time had neither so enlarged her phylacteries or out-grown her girdles which was punish'd with death among the Gaules as this probation hath done therefore we fear the Year when the Spring is so nipping and it is more like to be a sharp Thorn that pricks so soon And since we see that not onely by an extraordinary power as in the time of Elias but as Fromundus tells us by natural course a small Cloud may soon over-cast our Heaven and of a small Seed as Mustard a Tree may spring up wherein the losty and high soaring Birds may build their Nests We may be excused if we cannot make light of this cloud with a nubecula est citò transibit as Athanasius of Julian and if with the Ant we bite the seeds that they grow not However they may seriously and plausibly talk to us here of reformation and satisfaction and honour of the Church and elsewhere of the smallness of the thing required yet Timeo Danaos dona ferentes Or perhaps rather petentes We remember what the shepherd in Aesop said who beholding the smoothness and tranquility of the Seas after a former Tempest which enforced him to cast all his Dates over-board which he had sold his Flock to buy and adventure in the way of Merchandize Palmarum fructus concupiscit opinor ac tranquilitatem propterea praese fert and we cannot be so simple as they say the African Dabath is who is so charmed with Musick sweetly sounding in his Ears that he the whiles suffers his feet to be fettered DIATRIBE SECT IV. No pre-examination in the ancient Church save of Catechumeni Sending the Eucharist to Persons absent and Strangers The institution and abolishment of Confession Liberty to approach the Lords Table upon self-examination Whom the ancient Church excluded from the Eucharist The judgment of the Fathers Casuists and Schoolmen concerning those that are to be admitted and to be debarred To partake was anciently commanded as a common Duty The omission reprehended the common right asserted HAving now heard the Nightingale her self to sing perchance all will not be of Agesilaus his humour and refuse to hear any that imitate her voyce having therefore examined the Authorities of Scripture let us survay the judgment of the Fathers and practice of the Primitive Church which cannot but elucidate and confirm our sense and interpretation of Scripture for as Plato said Majores nostri propiores fuere progeniei deorum so the ancient Church stood neerer the light being neerer the Sunne of truth and his twelve signes which signified and shewed forth his Gospel and through which he moved round about the world In these Primitive Times I finde that mutual reconciliations and in the African Churches Vigils or watchings in Prayers and in Chrysostome's time Fastings and sometimes and in some places the publick renouncing of some particular Heresies were antecedent to the Synaxis but I meet with no Records of any command or example of previous probations as necessary save for Catechumen's The Eucharist was then often sent to persons absent Justin M. Euseb ex Iraeneo centur Magdeb. cent 2. p. 85. it was given to strangers coming to Rome as a pledge or Symbol of their Communion and consent in the same Faith where was no probability or surely no evidence of precedent probation When the Church that saw the benefit of publike Confessions for publick Offences redounded as well to the subduing of the stubborness of their hard hearts and the improving of their deeper humiliation as to their raising up again by those sensible comforts which they received by the publick prayers of the Church and use of the keyes some men reflecting hereupon and finding their own Consciences smarting for like offences which being secretly carried were not obnoxious to the censures of the Church to the end they might obtain the like consolation and quiet of minde did voluntarily submit themselves to the Churches discipline herein and underwent the burden of publick confession and penance And to the end this publication of secret offences might be performed in the best way and discreetest manner some prudent Minister was first acquainted therewith by whose direction the Delinquent might understand what sins were fit to be brought to the publike notice of the Church and in what manner the pennance was to be performed by them At first it was left free to the penitent to chuse his Ghostly Father but at length by general consent of the Bishops it was ordained that in every Church one discreet Minister should be appointed to receive Confessions untill at length in the time of Nectarius Bishop of Constantinople who dyed A.D. 401. upon occasion of the infamy drawn upon the Clergy by the confession of a Gentlewoman Socrates hist l. 5. c. 19. p. 349. defiled by a Deacon in that City it was thought fit it should be abolished and liberty should be given to every man upon the private examination of his own conscience to resort to the Holy Communion which doubtless occasioned Chrysostome the Successor of Nectarius to make those deliveries of himself which have been formerly mentioned The result of those premises is this That the ancient Church sometime thought it requisite that confession of sinnes should precede the Communion which at length also was laid aside but without any other examination verbal or real of all Communicants But seeing Faith and Repentance are as necessary as knowledge to worthy receiving and as principal a part of that whereof every one ought to make examination of himself or others are to make of him I wish it might be advisedly perpended whether there be not as great reason to have auricular confession in some rectified and qualified manner and to impose it as necessary in order to the communion as to introduce their particular examination as a duty so necessary especially since the Lutherans assert and practise it upon Homogeneal or like principles as preparatory and antecedent to the Sacrament contra 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nonnullorum Calvinianorum Baldwin
COENA quasi ΚΟΙÎΗ The New-INCLOSVRES broken down AND THE LORDS SUPPER Laid forth in common for all Church-members having a Dogmatical Faith and not being Scandalous In a Diatribe and Defence thereof AGAINST The Apology of some Ministers and Godly People as their owne Mouth praiseth them asserting the lawfulness of their administring the LORDS SUPPER in a select Company Lately set forth by their Prolocutor Mr. HUMPHREY SAUNDERS Written by WILLIAM MORICE of Werrington in DEVON Esq LONDON Printed by W. Godbid for Richard Thrale and are to be sold at the Cross-Keyes at Paul's gate entring into Cheap-side M. DC LVII Augustin in Psal 48. Concio 1. Tom. 8. Pag. 93. EXigitur a manducante quod manducat non prohibeatur à dispensatore sed moveatur timere exactorem Chrysostom in 1. ad Cor. 11. Hom. 27. Tom. 4. Pag. 110. Quoniam Dominica coena hoc est Domini debet esse communis quaeenim Domini sunt non sunt hujus servi aut alterius sed omnibus communia quod enim Dominicum est idem commune nam si Domini tui est quemadmodum est non debes tanquam propria tibi assumere sed tanquam res Domini communiter omnibus proponere siquidem hoc est Dominicum nunc autem non sinis esse Dominicum cum non sinis esse commune sed tibi comedis Bullinger adversus Anabaptist l. 6. c. 9. p. 229. 232. Probationem Ministri aut Ecclesiae judicio non relinquimus ut tum demum aliquis ad coenam Domini accedat cum Ministri vel Ecclesia satis dignum fidelem sanctum judicaverit Probet homo seipsum non debet ab alio probari Musculus in 1 Cor. 11.28 Pag. 438 439. Apparet necessarium utile esse eorum studium qui neminem ad coenam Domini admittant quem ipsi antea non probaverunt si modus discretio adhibeatur nec velut universali lege indiscriminatim omnes etiam qui inculpate se gerunt in Ecclesia ad hujusmodi examen constringantur verum juxta timendum est ne institutum hoc quà m nunc magni aestimatur tam olim in priscam servitutem Ecclesiam Christi reducat noxium reddatur Sane Apostolica institutio nihil hujus requirit sed hortatur unumquemque ut seipsum probet sed quid si Minister Ecclesiae hac Apostoli sententia nolit esse contentus nec admittat nisiquos ipse explorat item quid si fidelis ad panis tantum non poculi Dominici communicationem admittatur sicut in Papatu fieri videmus Respondeo ubi nec Domini ea institutio nec Apostolica Doctrina servatur ibi non est ut communicet fidelis sinat Magistratus illos regnare in Ecclesia donec visum fuerit Domino modum imponere illorum Dominio Chamier Panstrat Tom. 4. l. 7. c. 19. S. 17. Pag. 196. Non sunt digne praeparati Scelus hominis cur indignos Sacramento dicis quos indignos negas pace Ecclesiae Itane tibi videatur qui censeantur in corpore Christi ut indignos pronuncies qui vescantur Christo at Chrysostomus negabat dignos esse qui vel precibus interessent quodnam quaeso ingenium tuum est Chrysostomi certe Catholicum vide ne tuum non Christianum Casaubon exercit ad annal Baron exercit 16. S. 31. Pag. 366. Coena Domini privatae epulae non sunt natura sua sed publica fidelium omnium invitatio The Summe of the Dissertation DIATRIBE SECT I. OF Antiquity and Innovation the Character of their Discipline the state of the question p. 29. DEFENCE SECT I. What Authority the Diatribe ascribed to the Fathers and ancient Church Why the Apologists derogate from them p. 32. SECT II. Of Antiquity Custome sad consequences of Independency the novelty thereof the Fathers not without errors yet not to be sleighted What may be called the Primitive Church Protestants alwayes honoured their Fathers and never declined their Testimony p. 33. SECT III. How the Apologists have suited their Discipline to comply with several-Parties and Interests the odious Blots of their Pen. p. 42. SECT IV. Whether the Diatribe were guilty of Petitio Principii 44. SECT V. Whether their Discipline advance Godlinesse The Sacraments are Seales of the Conditionall Covenant which Doctrine hath no affinity with semi-Pelagianisme Whether the exhibiting the Sacrament make men Saints Whether the giving thereof without discrimination upon tryal blind men in their sins or be the setting of the Seal to Blanks Whether the Sacraments are privileges of the Godly 1 Cor. 10. argumentative for a free Communion 46. SECT VI. Independent Bookes and Arguments Of Rhetorique what Builders the Apologists are 62. SECT VII The Apologists causlesly irritated by an Allegory 67. SECT VIII In whom the School vesteth the Power of Church-Censures Whether the Apologists may de jure or do de facto censure alone How they have restored the Sacrament 68. SECT IX The state of the Question the model of their Church Whether their way smack of Donatus his schisme Ecclesiastical Communion consists principally in Communion of Sacraments Of Examination precedent to the partaking of the Eucharist Whether and how necessary What knowledge may be competent What profession of Faith the antient Church required before admission to Sacraments Of Excommunication Suspension Presbytery the Apologists no friends thereunto 71. DIATRIBE SECT II. The Lord Jesus examined not his Disciples antecedently to his Supper He admitted Judas to the participation as the Fathers consentiently assert and the Scripture evinceth Luke 22.21 Joh. 13.2.26 27 30. discussed 96. DEFENCE SECT X. How we know Christ examined not the Apostles The force of Arguments from the Authority negative of Scripture Of the washing of the Apostles feet VVhether any did partake the last Supper save the 12. Apostles The Apologists conceit of the 70. Disciples Of Confession of Faith how and when necessary Examination is a virtual and interpretative diffamation VVhether it be a small thing they require VVhether Examination if it be necessary ought to be made but once 111. SECT XI Judas did communicate at the Lords Supper What is thereby inferred The Attestation of the Fathers in that matter the consent of later Divines The weight of the testimonies on either side the Apologists confess there was no visible cause to exclude him VVhether Christ in admitting him acted onely as a man His not condemning the adulterous woman 122. DIATRIBE SECT III. The sufficiency of Scripture whereupon Negative Arguments are grounded the Argument deduced from 1 Cor. 11.28 it is difficult and unsafe to judge of other mens estate Of temerarious judgment Of judging men to be wicked or irregenerate With what difficulty and what a Pedegree of consequences their proofs are derived from Scripture Generall Rules for satisfaction of doubting Consciences perswade the contrary to their way Of Christs admitting onely Disciples Heb. 13.17 Mat. 18.16 Rev. 2.2 1 Pet. 3.15 1 Cor. 5.11 explained and vindicated 134. DEFENCE SECT 12. 1
thereunto yet I deny that it could not be so though done two or three days before hand The Jewes had their preparative before the Passeover and the Lamb was tyed as some think to the Bed-posts four days before that they might better remind the reason of the Institution and dispose themselves to the Celebration and our Saviour might also on like grounds some dayes before prepare his Disciples for the receiving of that Supper which he instituted in stead of the Passover Concerning the washing after Supper the learned man which denyed that Iudas did partake of the Passover pressed with this Argument tells us that for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some Greek Copies have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nonnius 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but indeed Maldonat supposeth that Nonnius used that word onely because 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 would not stand in his verse and so the sense were as Augustine and so I know do others expounds it Supper being prepared and ready to be set upon the Table Of this else-where the same Author gives some instances and if this were so the Argument were evaded and the doubt assoiled for if the Washing were not after Supper then it was not peculiar to the Passover But indeed this plaister is too narrow to cover all the wound the Author took no notice of verse 14. where it is said he rose from Supper 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so as this washing could not precede it I therefore answer That this lotion being to an extraordinary end was not made in the usual manner and method and to shew it was not to mundifie and fit them in order to that present Supper according to the National Custome but to another end and for a mystery our Lord inverted the usual order and makes that subsequent which was commonly antecedent to Supper what ever the reason were melius est dubitare de occultis quà m litigare de incertis and here also not altogether unfitly may be applyed that of Gregory Qui in factis Dei rationem non videt infirmitatem suam considerans cur non videat rationem videt it is but a weak Hinge to hang such a consequence upon viz. The Iewes washed not after supper but at the Passover therefore it was at the Passover that Christ after supper washed his Disciples feet As if I should argue thus Because the Jews onely at the Feast of Tabernacles cut down and brought in boughs Tremel Annot in Iohan. 7. S. 2. and cryed Hosannah so as the boughs and days of the whole Feast were called Hosannah from the usual acclamations of the people when they carryed the boughs up and down therefore our Saviours triumphal entry into Hierusalem when they cut down boughs and cryed Hosannah was at the Feast of the Tabernacles which in truth was made but a few dayes before the Pasover which was always kept in Nisan whereas the Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated in Tisri six moneths after If any shall now after this tedious discourse interpose with Cassius Cui bone and tell me that howsoever it may be yeelded that Judas did partake of the Lords Supper yet this cannot conclude an admission of persons scandalous and openly flagitious since Judas his sinnes were then secret and uncensured I shall say that it is not of my concernment to answer the objection which may perhaps be pertinently obtruded to the Erastians but is excentrick to my motion and heterogeneal to the case I plead for who undertake not to be an Advocate for persons notoriously wicked and scandalous not asserting that those which are notorious for sinnes may not be rejected but that without tryed and approved notes of sanctity they may be admitted nor that men whose flagitiousness is publickly known may be repelled but none upon any private notice of their faults may be excluded And thus much will be inevitably concluded from the example of Judas his admission which was Hos quaesitum munus in usus DEFENCE SECT X. How we know Christ examined not the Apostles The force of Arguments from the Authority Negative of Scripture Of the washing of the Apostles feet Whether any did partake of the last Supper save the twelve Apostles The Apologists conceit of the seventy Disciples Of Confession of Faith how and when necessary Examination is a virtual and interpretative defamation Whether it be a small thing they require Whether Examination if it be necessary ought to be made but once THE initiation of this Section of theirs is like an initial Letter which is fairly flourish'd but signifies nothing viz. to the point in hand Our heat of pursuit after the main question will make us separate those Heterogeneals and taking no notice of their shoots at Rovers we shall onely gather up the Arrows which they have aimed at the mark They first ask us How know you that Christ did not examine his Disciples since the Evangelists tell us that all that Christ did was not written How know you that 1. Ad hominem § 12 I pray them to tell me how they know it for they say it and I trust they are men that know what they say Dicitque tibi tua pagina They tell us that St. Paul prescribed no other but self-examination to the Corinthians because he ey'd Christs performances with his Disciples whom he needed not to examine being known to him as therefore he that being roughly asked by one of King Ptolomies Courtiers Who let him into the Palace answered nothing but ran to the wall and with a Coal drew his Portraiture in black lines so we need make no other answer but draw forth their own lines to shew how we might have known this themselves very credible men in their own judgment told us so An ignorabas apud Lucullum coenare Lucullum The Argument of the Paper was built on this ground that the action of Christ in the first Institution of the Sacrament was the Archetypon and exemplar cause of all subsequent Administrations so that herein matter of fact being matter of Law and Rule as well what Christ did as what he did not being in some sort Dogmatical for we are thereby taught that it was not necessary to be done and then in Laws not to appear and not to be being equivolent Lex saith Gabriel Biel in 3. dist 37. q. vinc art 1. Est signum notificati nam quia nulla Lex obligat si notificata non fuerit therefore upon this Foundation this was our Architecture viz. What was not recorded to be done at the first Institution it is not necessary to doe in the following Dispensations this being a conclusion resulting from the former principles so as then to ask how we know that Christ did not examine his Disciples is virtually and in effect to demand how we know that all which Christ ordained as necessary to be done is recorded in Scripture and so to put us to prove the perfection of Divine Writ but they say the Evangelists tell
her but he acted like a man that did relinquere suum jus Magistratui as Brentius In locum noluit munus legitim judicii abrogare as Musculus Sicut reliquis suis exemplis aut Evangelicae doctrinae praeceptis nullum voluit facere praejudicium eorum quae cuique ex officio pro salute reioub conveniunt ita nec hoc suo facto as Iansenius and because Hoc non erat ejus officium as Piscator non venerat ut esset externus Judex scelerum as Iansenius or suum munus cum ossicio Magistratûs consundere as Aretius whereunto are consonant Estius Barradius and Deodate And the power of inflicting capital punishments being then taken from the Jews as they confess it was not lawful for them to put any man to death though I know also some learned Men give another reason of that Speech it is thought they brought the adulterous woman in regard thereof thinking thereby to have ensnared him and to evade that snare and frustrate their designe he condemned her not It was not then for want of Accusers for they had formerly testified her offence to have been notorious by evidence of fact shee was taken in ipso facto or furto as the Greek is by a Synecdoche speciei 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but being gone off Christ asked where they were and whether any had condemned her onely that in absolving her he might defeat the designed surprise of the Pharisees Ii te non condemnant neque ego te condemno quod illi faciunt ego facio objicere in me non possunt leginos repugnare in the words of Barradius you may see then how Diaphonous the example of the adulteress is to that of Judas But it seems the Apologists are like Blondus of whom it is said that he cared not quà m vera but quà m multa sâ—riberet Yet Horatius will lend Dioxippas a Sword to cut off his head as it is in the prophane Story suitable to that of Golias and David in the sacred for if Christ could not judge the woman to punishment because there were no Accusers and no man had condemned her why doe they then punish with loss of the Sacrament those that have had no accusers nor have been condemned by judicial process To their Epiphonema or rather Io-poean in the close of the Section attending their triumphs over so poor and despicable an Argument as this I shall onely say Rode caper vites tamen hîc cùm stabis ad aras In tua quod fundi cornua possit erit And I shall conclude with that which Bullinger alleageth out of Zuinglius Bullinger ad Petrum Dathenum advers Anabapt l. 6. c. 9. p. 230. whereunto are perfectly consonant what himself delivers against the Anabaptists Apertum esse satìs quales ipse Dominus primae suae coenae quae haud dubiè omnium fuit absolutissima adhibuerit convivas neque decere ut nos Dei filio qui solus corda filiorum hominum perspecta habet acutiores nobis sumamus oculos aut nobis ipsis in coena sumamus judicium quod ille nobis neque praecepto neque exemplo dedit DIATRIBE SECT III. The sufficiency of Scripture whereupon Negative Arguments are grounded The Argument deduced from 1 Cor. 11.28 It is difficult and unsafe to judge of other mens estate Of temerarious judgment of judging men to be wicked or irregenerate With what difficulty and what a pedegree of consequences their proofs are derived from Scripture General Rules for satisfaction of doubting Consciences perswade the contrary to their way Of Christs admitting onely Disciples Heb. 13.17 Matth. 18.16 Revel 2.2 1 Pet. 3.15 1 Cor. 5.11 explained and vindicated THE Canon prescribing and directing the due administration and receiving of the Sacrament is 1 Cor. 11. We cannot with Tertullian adore the fullness of the Scripture unless we yeeld it to be a perfect rule of faith and manners which it cannot be if it be deficient in any thing necessary to be done or beleeved especially in such places where it purposely handleth things of that concernment The Law of the Lord is perfect perfectum est cui nil deest and it is able to make wise unto salvation and thoroughly to furnish the man of God And therefore here and onely here an Argument ab authoritate negativè holdeth good But in that Chapter to the Corinthians I finde a precept Let a man examine himself none that he should necessarily pass the examination of another between the proper examination of himself and eating and drinking no other thing intervenes Let a man examine himself and so let him eat So without more examination having done so he must not be letted and therefore this very Commentary is made upon that Text by pathetical Chrysostome He doth not bid one man to examine another but every man himself making the judgment private and without witnesses Paraeus strikes in Unisons with that ancient Father The Apostle saith not the Priest shall examine or prove them but every man himself So doth Sarcerius He commands not that one should be approved to another but each one to himself as long before Clemens Alexandrinus accounted every mans Conscience to be his best director in this case By what authority then can he be put back from the Sacrament that hath examined himself And to suspect that any have not examined themselves who shall profess to have done so without a violent suspicion which is neer to a moral certainty of the contrary how can it be competible with Charity that hopeth all things beleeveth all things and thinketh no evil This being a stubborn hard bone much adoe there is to overcome it without drawing blood from the jaws One sets his teeth to it and saith That the precept of examining a mans self excludes not the examination of his Pastor or the Elders or the Congregation both may be consistent and both requisite But the offerture is supervacaneous for the Argument concludes not A man must examine himself therefore the Minister c. may not or need not examine him but we onely argue that because where the Apostle professedly prescribeth the preparative dispositions and duties requisite to worthy receiving he not onely gives no express precept that the Ministers or Elders or Congregation shall examine nor the people submit to examination but rather the contrary for having examined himself he permits himself so to eat therefore it is not of the necessity of duty for what the Scripture commands not obligeth not he permits a man to pass from self-examination to receiving without any other thing intervening Let him examine himself and so let him eate without any more adoe in respect of examination which if it had been requisite the Apostle would as well have said Let him also pass the examination of his Pastor c. as examine himself And this Argument from the Authority negative of Scripture though bet him eate affirms also the liberty of access without
Cùm sunt parium jura obscura reo favendum est potiùs quà m actori qui judicat habet se ut actor proximus de quo judicatur ut reus I have been the more copious upon this subject because what is said of judging or opining men to be irregenerate is applicable in some degree to a supposing them ignorant Ignorance when it is of those things we are bound to know which differenceth it from nescience and do neglect becoming so a pravous disposition marcheth in the same rank and with the same pace with sinne and a suspicion thereof in like manner robbes men of their better treasure their fame deposited in the brests of men and those two coming under suspicion being the impulsives of examination and obstructives to admission and the colours wherewith they paint the necessity of the one and the shadows whereby they set off the other at more distance Lastly some would impose upon us that though here in this 1 Cor. 11. the Apostle prescribe no other but self-examination yet that in other places there is found that which may inforce a being examined by others But first before we come to take a prospect of the particular places alleaged they all fall under this prejudice and are thereby frustrated that Verum vero non contrariatur and therefore the highest principles of revealed truth cannot check or clash with themselves but if any other save self-examination were prescribed as requisite antecedently to partaking the Lords Supper it would contradict this permission that he that hath examined himself might so eat So without other examination and therefore whereas they pretend that the silence of the Scripture here in this place is supplyed by the voice of God sounding it elsewhere who can but doubt that such sound is like the musick of the Spheares rather imaginary than real Some Texts are indeed pretended for it and Arguments drawn and formed out of them but more in number than in weight which if with any importunity they shall impose upon the world doubtless some will say of them as some Interpreters think of the Jebusites 2 Sam. 5.6 that they manned their walls with the blâ—nd and the lame And seeing this antecedent probation is so earnestly obtruded and vehemently urged aâ— necessary to the Sacrament not onely necessitate praecepti but medii also for without this that is not to be administred verily it seems strange that the Assertors thereof cannot produce one Text wherein is one syllable of the Sacrament or one word of those that have the power and authority to examine and but one where is any mention of probation or tryall and that too being Heterogeneal to this subject And since at best their proofs are onely Arguments of probability and of conveniency and propositions propagated and deduced from the first principles of Scripture by so many descents and generations that it is hard to try whether they do truly come from that Stock or not and in some mean Parents by the way there may be fallacies which may vitiate and bastard them I cannot apprehend how they can beget a certainty in the Conscience that without such previous probation the Sacrament ought not to be administied at most they can onely create a dubious conscience whether it may or not or an opining that it should not And then beside the special Arguments for the opposiâ—e part ponderous enough if duly weighed â—o turn the Beam and settle the Scale and beside that which St. Augustine tells us Quod intellâ—gimus debemus rationi quod credimus debemus authoritati sed quod opinamur debemus error ' And Lactantius Id opinatur quisque quod nescit and therefore Bernard seconds them that Opinio si assertionem habeat temeraria est besides this it seems to me that the principles laid down in general by the Casuists and Jurists to regulate doubtful and opining Consciences and lead them to act do rather warrant and perswade the Concession than the denial of the Sacrament without such probation As to omit that poor topick of the common opinion those Canons 1. Favores ampliandi Odia restringenda 2. Melior est conditio possidentis which beside the possession of a good same until conviction of demerit to the contrary is also applyable to those that have been formerly admitted which are the greater part of them that are now excluded 3. In dubiis tutior pars est eligenda rationabiliter in dubiis favorabiliori parti adhaerescendum est semper in dubiis benigniora praeferenda sunt in re dubia benigniorem interpretatâ—onem sequi non minus justum est quà m tutum semper in obscuris quod minâ—mum quoties dubia interpretatio libertatis est secundum libertatem respondendum est And lastly the greater offence lying on this side to neglect the Ordinance and Worship of God than upon that part to communicate with persons improbous or unfit in that Worship and those Ordinances But to take a special view of the forces which they muster and to encounter them the Arguments drawn from these general Precepts of taking heed to the flock and watching over their soules c. are onely Paralogismes arguing à genere ad speciem affirmativè The Argument formed from Hebrews 13.17 They watch for your soules as they that must give an account therefore say they if they must give an account for us we ought to give an account to them this is fallacia consequentis for it follows not that they cannot or ought not to perfect their account to God of the discharge of their duty if we become not particularly accountant to them and come under probation of what effects the discharge of their duty hath wrought in us and why is this account to be taken if we were obliged to render it onely antecedently to the Sacrament and alone concerning our fitness for that one Ordinance not all or at one only time not continually Yea why not of all our actions if we must account to them in all for which they must account for us for that wil not be for one act but all This alone flows naturally from the Text we ought to make account of them but not that we must give an account to them Concerning that allegation of Matth. 18.16 If thy Brother trespass against thee c. however it may be applyable in order to â—he proving of Excommunication whereoâ— yet as learned men as lived in their age some have doubted others have denyed yet suâ—e it cannot be pertinent to his examination unlesse by some rare Alchymy of discourse they could turn a trespasse or a wrong done to a brother into an offer to communicate or that it be a trespass to desire the Communion or that we can trespass against none but the Minister and his Elders A late Author not unlearned and sufficiently eloquent hath bottomed and laid the soundation of his argumentation upon this subject in his principle Thâ—t Christ at the first Institution which ought
it upon a lesser fear of evill and the fear must needs be lesse then the hope because the later is grounded on the certain goodnesse of the thing and the good that may be either in fieri or facto esse in the person and the fear is onely founded in the evill that may be onely in the person That inability to make due performance of the duty cancels not the debt that he which dischargeth the materiall part onely doth some part of that duty and doth better than he that neglects all As it is said of some in Scripture as particularly of Amazias 2 Chron. 25. He did that which was right in the fight of the Lord though not with an upright heart for faciunt illi rectum sed non rectê as Piscator on that place who also observes Etiam hypocritarum opera externa quae cum lege Dei consentiunt ei placent quatenus legi ipsius conformiasunt And the very coming to the Sacrament is a reall or virtuall acknowledgement that the death of Christ is the fountain of life and is an externall profession at least of dependance upon him for salvation and therefore seeing those that are not against us by any scandall are on our part Mark 9.40 they should not be denied to partake with us and it is our part rather to draw them nearer by cherishing and countenancing that little good they have than to lose them by contempt and let their spark expire for want of fomenting Conceduntur saith Paraeus on that place of Mark esse externe aliquo modo cum Christo qui Christum non oppugnant Iutelligit adds Calvin quatenus non nocent prodesse est enim proverbialis sententia qumonemur Non esse movendum bellum donec simus lacessiti It is as if Christ had said In this furious hatred which the world beareth me and my Church you ought to hold it as a favour And again If any one be not against us if God himself rewardeth small benefits done to his you ought likewise to accept of and love those who make profession of my Name as Diodate paraphraseth it It hath been also disputed that the same perill of damnation is impendent on wicked men in refraining as well as approaching and the same hazard is contracted by their partaking of other ordinances of the Word and Prayer as well as by their communicating at the Sacraments for the word by accident doth harden and also blind men and therefore upon like account men may be driven or kept back from the Word as well as from the Sacrament which is but a visible word and represents the same premises though in a different manner and which by the ordination and rendency thereof is a means to convert and meliorate those who have yet onely a common and Dogmaticall faith and though in firm eyes may in some degree be blinded by great light yet light is the means of seeing and they doe not see better by being kept in the dark and it will seem strange if men should be blinded by having this light made surer or clearer to them he that believeth in the death of Christ shall have life by it which is the conditionall promise that the Sacrament sealeth and that therefore to seek to prevent their sins and damnation by not permitting them the Sacrament is to endeavour to advance the end by withdrawing the means And lastly that of those who are kept back such as are in any degree good are deprived of the means which might better their graces and comforts and such as are not notoriously wicked are rather irritated than humbled This and much more was otherwhere laid open and spread abroad and therefore shall not farther be brought forth here in packs and therefore if they fight under this Buckler which they talk of although it be such a Buckler as was Agamemnons wherein Pausanias tells us terror was pourtraied with a Lions head and with this inscription Hie pavor est hominum and perchance is such a shield as the Emperours at their inauguration were set upon and lifted up to be shewen forth to take the acknowledgements of their Soveraignty from the Souldiery and others yet surely it is not like the brazen shield of Liberius Mimus in Agellius which dazelled mens eyes for we may yet see where to strike and wound them notwithstanding this shield and whether they have not lost this shield which was ignominious among many Nations and therefore according to a particular punishment for this offence among the old Gauies where they did arcere à sacris those who did lose their shields they should not henceforth be kept from those holy things which they have with-held from others to reserve for themselves onely Doctorum arbitriores dirimendajacet DIATRIBE SECT VI. Whether this Discipline suit with Rom. 14.1 and 10. or check not with Charity relish not of the Pharisees Whether it sort with the qualifications of the high Priest Heb. 5.2 or the example of Hezekias Whether it smell not of Diotrephes Of examining persons set beyond suspicion Whether their way were cast in a like would with Popery Of their Elders Their way is Independent A complaint of our Schismes and Heresies Perswasions to mildness and moderation VVE first though preposterously to the Roman order brought forth our Triarii to the shock and considered the authorities of Scripture next we lead up our Principes and examined the testimonies of the Fathers afterward we drew out our Hastati and surveyed the force of reason on both sides though herein unsuitably also to the Roman discipline for they put more confidence in their Principes than their Hastati as being better men and better armed whereas we cannot but attribute more to reason than any humane authority we shall lastly in the same unconformable method produce our Velites which are a militia not altogether of different kind from the former but a lighter armature and skirmishing at more distance I should be glad that the Architects and Modellers or patrons and propugners of this discipline would by any strength of reason remove the prejudices which some prudent and moderate and godly men have concerning it and with any clearness and liquidness of evidence satisfie them that there were no cause to doubt First Whether it suit with the rule of the Apostle Rom. 14.1 Him that is weak in the faith receive you Whether it be not a judging and setting at nought of thy brother and so contrary to verse 10 and whether it check not with the precept Phil. 2.3 esteeming others better than themselves Secondly Whether this oeconomy that seemeth to hope or believe nothing but suspecteth all to be ignorant or hypocrites and therefore of necessity to come to probation resent of that charity that hopeth believeth all things and suspecteth not Thirdly Whether it savour not much of the old Pharisees who had their name from separation touch me not for I am bolier than thou as if they would not
But yet as it is called power 2. Cor. 13.10 so they that carry and exercise it however considered in themselves and in their manner of acting which respects their persons they are ministers yea servants of all yet considered as delegates of Christ bringing and executing his Command they act with authority as Ames distinguisheth A power therefore it is yet nevertheless the sword must not be the bound of their power as it was sald to be of the dominion of Sparta nor is it to be extended as farre as they have strength to carry it but rather as Pompey said to be terminated by justice and not to make that Law which is of the advantage of Sparta and that honest which is profitable Iunius in Bell. cont l. 3. tom 2. p. 497. their power is as Junius Legatiouis non imperii nam domini non servi imperium est mandatoris non mandatarii et Legatus exhibebit literas legationis suae ad hoc ut credatur ipsi it is no Dictatoria potestas neither Praetoria that hath power jus dare but onely dicere being restrained to the prescript of divine Lawes Ubi supra Sect. 28 29. and they to be onely praecones et interpretes and not imperare aut dominari ne in spiritualibus sed docere monere hortari obsecrare minari terrere as Paraeus They say They are Stewards in Christs house and we wish they would remind themselves to be so for a Steward hath no dominion in the house Non veluti Dominus res tractat sed veluti aliena et herilia dispensat non sua esse dicens quae sum heri sed è diverso quae sua sunt heri esse as Theophylact takes the hint from Chrysostom he may not smite his fellow servants and shut them out at doors at pleasure he must give their meat to those of the houshold not keep them hungry to draw dependancies upon himself by dispensing it onely to such as can evidence and merit his good opinion this is not fidelis dispensatio sed crudelis dissipatio this cannot be compatible with that faithfulness to the peoples right which they speak of and as little is it subservient to the dignity of the Sacrament an argument borrowed from the Popish School who blanch their private Masses and maimed Communion with regard to the reverence of the Mysteries The dignity of the Sacrament is not as the Abyssiue Princes supposed of themselves to be shut up from the people major è longinquo Majestati reverentia it consists in the use thereof to those ends it was instituted to be Communem caenam et communem mensam et communes mensas as I have brought forth the verdict of the Ancients and it hath the more honour by being accknowledged by a greater multitude reforting to it to be a divine institution which it is their duty to attend upon the partaking of and to be a moral instrument of gracious effects And as the honour of the King is in the multitude of his people so Christ the King of Glory is more honoured when so numerous assemblies acceding to the Sacrament do thereby witness their faith in the death of Christ which is there represented and as God gave unto his Son the Nations for his inheritance as Augustine tells the Donatists so it his Glory that his Church is Catholique as well as holy and is signal for the extent as well as the purity and that all that have entred themselves into his houshold shall be fed at his table In Mark 9.40 while they remain in the house and that it shall be onely their proper fault if they do him not faithful service Did they impose any thing not commanded of God or act Bishop-like in a sole Iurisdiction they confess they could not avoid this blame And then first I doubt Manet indelebile crimen For as for any authority from God though they have framed and brought forth a draught Grant and Conveyance yet whether it have the Testo of the Court of Heaven and be signed and sealed by the Spirit speaking in Scripture is that which is in issue betweeen us and after our traverse and pleading let the godly and learned give their verdict What their Scripture-evidence is we shall farther examine in due place and make experiment Whether or no perverso corde scripturas non eas faciunt obesse nobis sed sibi as Augustine to Parmenian and if or not remanet iis nisi sola infirmitas animositatis quae tanto languidior est quanto se majores vires habere aestimat We know that sometime the clouds seem formed according to mens imaginations and the Organ makes the species sometime affection makes promptly credible that which agrees and suits therewith Quicquid amatur imposturam facit sometime wit makes a Mercury of a Log as Carneades having plausibly argued for a thing could suddenly convert his discourse with as much energy against it sometime audaciousness that transports themselves fascinates others as Appollonius pretended to understand the language of birds which no others could discerne or find out but yet all these elegant frauds or cunning impestures or deceptions of sight are but like a Magicians feast which takes the eye with speciousness but gives no strength nor nourishment or like the house and furniture of the Lamia at Corinth which vanisht when Appollonius a juditious man entred and surveyed it If they can produce out of Scripture any command to injoyn or warrant to justifie to decoct a Church from an hundred to one to break into pieces and demolish an established Church so to patch up a small one out of the ruines thereof with such parts as they shall approve and be well satisfied of and so the Pastor to chuse his Church that was wont to be chosen by them to gather new Churches made up of those which had formerly entred into the Church by the door of Baptisme to drive men in heards from the Communion that the farre greater part of those adult persons that communicate in the one Sacrament and the Word and Prayers do not in the Lords Supper to cast out any that is not convicted of some positive special crime that hath rendred him scandalous and accordingly is duly censured to constrain those to come under examination of their knowledge that cannot justly be suspected to be ignorant or to debarre any such from the Eucharist that will not submit to be examined If they can produce such evidence surely I shall not so much gratulate the felicity of this age Quod genus humanum ingenio superavit et omnes Perstrinxit stellas which can read and understand it as cendole the blindness of former daies quantum mortalia pectora coecae Noctis habent which could not see or comprehend it and though it be nothing strange that I Oculis qui lippus injunctis cannot discover and observe it yet it is admirable that not one of elder times though tam cernit acutum Quà m
an else inevitable participation of sin is a symptom of Donatisme and a symbolizing therewith Sixtly That of Matthew 7.6 Give not that which is holy unto Doggs c. is upon like account alleaged by the Papists to forbid men the reading of the Scripture as it is produced by them to exclude others from the Sacrament Seventhly That of Heb. 13.17 Obey them that hâ—ve the rule over you c. serves Bellarmine as suitably to prove the Pope may make Lawes to bind the conscience and others to support a blind obedience as it can help them to or establish them in that power which they claim and exercise Eightly That of Leviticus 13.5 is brought forth by Bellarmine and Lorinus upon account of the like reason to justifie auricular confession as they produce it to ratifie their examination And Ninthly That of 2 Chron. 13.19 is a protrite Argument among the Brownists and Independents to enforce an exclusion from Church fellowship at it is used by them to evince a repulse from Sacramental communion Therefore as King Richard the first when he sent the armour of Philip the martial Bishop of Beavoys to the Pope who demanded his son of the King when he had imprisoned him said This we found see if it be thy sons coate or no so I shall say those Arguments we found see if they are proper to Orthodox Divines or not Fourthly they are so set upon suspensions and castings out that they have excommunicated their question and wil not touch or have any communion therewith They in the ninth Section stated the question in those terms Whether in the reforming of a long corrupted Church it be necessary that all the members thereof do submit to some examination or trial of their knowledge before they be admitted to the Lords Table It seems the question is grown suddenly a Leper and therefore is shut out and not to be toucht It hath been shewed in answer to that Section that this question is concluded in none of their Syllogismes That none of the texts from which they conclude mentions or intends examination or the Sacrament divisively much lesse conjunctly examination precedaneous to the Sacrament one excepted where the examination is active not passive a man to examine himself not to be examined by another None prescribes a withdrawing from a noting a not eating with shutting up or giving out not casting pearls giving holy things to men ignorant but scandalous and all that can be with the strongest heat distilled from those Texts is onely the casting out of notorious sinners not the taking in of any untill upon probation they have demonstrated their true holinesse Most of the texts forbid a familiar and sociall unnecessary conversation with wicked men not a communion in the Sacrament Those which may seem to prohibite their partaking of holy things doe deny them generally and absolutely there is no limitation or restraint of the prohibition to the Lords Supper and as there is no restriction in relation to the matter so neither any determination or fixing of the time and speciall occasion as that it must be done onely in the reforming of a long corrupted Church Many of the commands are negative and whatsoever their obligation be obligant semper ad semper not only in times of reforming and the affirmative commands are indefinite and absolute binding alwayes upon all occasions they are sure and stand fast for ever and ever So the Apologists have herein dealt like the French who when they have prickt a tune do not sing after it and like the Ostrich when they have laid their egges they leave them in the earth and onely warm them with dust But as we have viewed the generall affections of their arguments so let us take a survey of what agrees to them in speciall Of those Texts which contribute more or lesse to warrant their practice it seems they are conscious that some pay in but a little contribution and we are confident that none do much the first in their no doubt but decent order is 1 Cor. 14.40 Let all things be done decently in order But if this be the capitall proof as Iustine speaks of Epaminondas slain at the battell of Mantinaea The head of the spear being taken off the trunk would do little hurt so if this head of their argumentation be so blunt and the edge thereof so easily rebated we may more boldly venture upon the residue for sure this proof might not onely have been removed from the tribe and been debarred its sufferage but it is not capable to be among the very Aerarii it can pay no contribution it is so poor onely they will set it among the proletarii to beget one argument the more in number First I might rationally enough if I would raise arguments ad hominem only arte perire sua retort their own words that the Apostles scope is far from the businesse in hand for as is the judgment of Aquinas Estius Piscator Menochius c. all things here mentioned are onely the things spoken of before Decency referring to the habit and silence of women Order relating to the use of spirituall gifts and their speaking not together but one after another first one then another for exercise of them but I shall acknowledge that generall Rules are applicable to all particulars of the same kind and nature and whatsoever can be derived from any thing was contained in it Secondly In locum itis well observed by Musculus Non est universalis vocula trahenda ad omnia quae temere sunt in Ecclesia introducta sed quae legitimè necessoriè gerenda sunt in Ecclesia decenter ordine competenti gerantur So as first they should have proved the matter to be lawfull and necessary and then suit the manner of doing it to order and decency Thirdly from this proposition All things should be done decently and in order they can never extract any conclusion for them but by an Assumption which will be whipt away for begging the question that their doings are decent and orderly the first is as chearfully as necessarily conceded the later no lesse strongly denied by us than asserted by them this is our controversie and the issue we have joyn'd upon them and the determination of the question depends upon what hath been produced on either side and to give in a verdict there had need bee a view of al the pleadings and an examination of all the evidence produced Fourthly the Text alleaged is but a remote and mediate principle for proof of their practice the order and decency thereof is to be the proximate and immediate ground of its approbation for the Scripture onely saith in generall things ought to be done decently and in order but that such a particular way is orderly and decent depends upon the considerations of rectified reason and godly prudence and things have their chief dependance upon their nearest causes and principles and upon this