worship of God and being neyther the preaching of the word nor the sacraments nor prayer must needs be the true word of God so you must prove theÌ„ or els the truth of your assertioÌ„ is disproved Touching your discourse of the order of Gods worship before in and after the Apostles tyme I observe to let passe other particulars your errour in making the particular Synagogues of the Iewes as the particular Churches are now The Synagogues were not entyre Churches of themselves but partes or members of the nationall Ch neyther could they haue vse of the most solemn parts of Gods worship as were then the sacrifices neyther could the cheif Ministers in the Church execute their office in them but as they depended vpon the temple in Ierusalem so were the people to cary their offerings thither and there to enjoy these ministrations But particular congregations now do stand in no such dependancy they may enjoy within themselves the word sacraments and prayer which are the most solemn services in the Ch now and so by consequence all the rest In deed it is with your parrish assemblyes somewhat as it was with the Synagogues they cannot enjoy the Ministers by and from within themselves nor have the vse of ecclesiasticall government but must depend vpon their Ierusalems the Bishops Chappels and Consistories for these their most solemn and peculiar administrations Mr B in his 2. book to prove their worship true worship pretends 3 distinct ArgumeÌ„ts The first bycause it is according to the word of God 2. bycause it is not forbidden in the scripture 3. bycause it is after the manner of the worship of the true Churches of God set downe in the word An other man would have comprehended these three reasons in one and so might Mr Ber. have done well enough considering his confirmation of them wherein he brings not so much as one scripture or reason from scripture to prove their prescript leyturgy by man devised and imposed of which our mayn quaest on is to be according to the word of God c. onely in the 3. Argument he toucheth an obiection which he calles a conceyt of ours viz that it quencheth the spirit to which he gives a double answer First that it is agaynst known experience 2. that it is the groundwork of Mr Smith casting of reading the scriptures in the assembly Other things he speaks are not worth the insisting vpon let vs consider of his answers To the former of them touching known experience I do reply two things first that the experience of supposed good in a course or by meanes not warrantable by the written word of God is of all godly wise men to be suspected 2 though the experience of good be certayn yet must men take heed they honour not one thing for an other as the means of that good but they must put difference between that which is good and that which is evill in the same compound action Many do avouch they have wrought in them much hatred of murder treason and the like evils by a stage-play others that their devotion is much furthered by organ musick and the chaunting of quiresters yea by the prayers in a tongue they vnderstand not all these will alledge their knâ—wn experience But to leave these things The Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 14. testifyeth that a man speaking a strange language may â—diâ—y himself though not the Church and though he pray in a strange tongue without the vnderstanding or benefit of the Church yet that his spiâ—â—t may pray Might such a man therefore alledge his known experience for prayer in a strange tongue contrary to the Apostles expresse inhibition neyther is it any justification of the service book in the vse we speak of that people do in the reading of it find by experience their affectioÌ„s furthered God may doth therein honor the simple honest affectioÌ„s of his people so far as to receive the request of their heart which he seeth in secret covering in mercy the outward manner of putting vp the same wherein they of ignorance or infirmity fayl And that these stinted and devised forms do quench the spirit of prayer appears in that they deprive the Church minister of that liberty of the spirit of prayer which God would haue the vse stinting the Minister yea all the Ministers in the kingdom to the same measure of the spirit not onely one with an other but all of them with him that is dead and rotteÌ„ and so stinting the spirit which the Lord gives his Ministers for his Church and that so strictly as till the stint be out it may not suggest one thought or word otherwise or when it is out one more then is praescribed The manifestation of the spirit sayth the Apostle is given to every man to profit withall But in the reading of a praescript forme of prayer there is not the manifestation of the spirit of the minister given him to profit the Church withall but the manifestation of of the spirit of him that devised and penned the service book Now for M Ber 2 Answ namely that this conceipt of ours saying that set prayer quencheth the spirit is the groundwork of Mr Smithes casting of reading the scriptures in the assemblyes first he wrongeth M. Smyth who doth not deny the reading of the scriptures in the assembly but that the reading of them is properly a part of Gods worship 2. Not our conceipt but his own ill collection is the groundwork of his errour Let the indifferent reader iudge whither this consequence be good or no. Bycause the reading of the Apocrypha Prayers of the Bishops of Rome or of England or their Chapleyns for prayer quencheth the spirit or is not the true manner of prayer which Christ hath left therefore the reading of the Canonicall scriptures penned by the Prophets and Apostles for reading quencheth the spirit and is no part of Gods worship Other observations M Ber hath in his Answer some nothing to the purpose and others against himself as for example The Iewes in the ould Testament did meet together at set times commaunded by the Lord so did the Churches of Christ in the new or the first day of the week Ergo the Church of England doth wel in meeting at set times yea holy times not commaunded by the LORD and that farre more solemnly then on the first or LORDS day 2. The Iewes had preaching every Lords day in every Synagogueâ— therefore the Church of Engl is in good estate where there is no preaching or as good as none in one parish of ten on the Lords day or at other tymes 3. The Iewish Church had singing of the Psalmes of David and of other propheticall men and Christ himself did vse the same therefore the Church of England doth coÌ„mmendably in singing besides them the Apocrypha songs of men ful of errours and vanities as that the Saints and Angels in
or can as Mr Ber. knoweth right well for the good graces of God in many wee do both know acknowledge them and it is our great grief though their owne fault that we cannot have communioÌ„ with the persons in whom so eminent graces of God are and if there be any of them which are sory for our departure from the assemblies we are much more sory so have more cause for their continuance in the same In which their estate whilst we withdraw ourselves from them we do in no sort condemn their persons which stand or fall to the Lord much lesse any good thing in them or truth amongst them It is one thing simply to condemn that which is good for evill and another thing to forbeare the vse of it in the concrete for the commixture of evil from which in that vse it is inseparable When Paul forbad the Corinthians to eat and drink in the Idol temples 1 Cor. 10. 20. â—1 he did not condemne meat drink Neyther did the same Apostle when he directed the same Corinthians to excommunicate the incestuous person and so to have no fellowship with him 1 Cor. 5. enjoyne them to renounce the fayth which that person professed or the baptisme which they with him had received And as a Church excommunicating an offender for some one scandalous sin and so refusing all communion with him cannot be chalenged for renouncing or reiecting the faith which that person professeth or any other personall good thing appearing in him so neyther may any person or persons forsaking a Church and all fellowship with it for some one or few iust causes iustly be accused as renouncing or disclayming the other good things there remayning Lastly let me ask Mr B. whether he disclayme one God subâ—â—sting in three persons one Lord Iesus God and man and withall the Christian vertues of zeale patience temperance humility meeknes and the like And why not he as well in refusing communion with the Church of Rome where these things are to be found as we in disclayming the Church of Engl. where the same and other the like good things are known to be Thus when a mans eyes are blynded by partiality towards himselfe and his mouth opened by mallice against his adversary it is mervaylous to see what vnequall judgment he will passe But least Mr B. in charging our beginning as he doth as accursed vncharitable vnnaturall and vngodly might seeme to curse where God curseth not he annexeth certayn portions of scripture which he also sets downe at large as though they made largely against vs and our separation and the end why he alleadgeth them is to prove that there is cause of reioycing in the Church of England The scriptures are these Rom. 15. 17. 18. Act. 10. 34. 35. Rom. 14. 17. 18. To which I do answer first in generall There may be oft tymes is cause of reioycing in the events and issues of things by a speciall hand of God determining them though the secundary meanes and instruments which the Lord vseth for the producing and bringing forth of these issues events as of light out of darknes be most accursed Wherein more or els hath a christian heart cause of reioycing then in the death of Christ And yet what can be imagined more abominable then the meanes and instruments of working it But to speak nearer Mr B. purpose If some Iesuite or other sent by the Pope into America amongst the Pagans and Infidels should there perswade any to beleeve confesse one God and his sonne Iesus Christ made man for the redemption of the world that they should also give vp their lives for these truthes there were cause of reioycing in theyr testimony and yet I suppose Mr B. knowing as he doth would be loath to have communion in the Iesuits Ministery More particularly The Apostle Rom. 15. 17 18. in commendation of his Apostleship layes downe the effects of it and how great cause of reioycing he had that God by his ministery had planted the Churches of the Gentiles whom he further describes by theyr obedience in word and deed And how serves this for the Church of England Thus. It serves first to exclude all those word Saynts for whom Mr B. pleads so much in his book Secondly it serves to shew what small cause there is of reioying for the English Churches being planted of such vniversally so still continuing as are indeed abhominable and disobedient to every good work reprobate The second Scripture is Act. 10. 34. 35. Of a truth I perceave that God is no accepter of persons but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousnes is accepted of him And is it so What sacrilegious presumption then is it in the Church of Enland to compell God to accept of persons and to accept for his people servants such as neither fear him nor work righteousnes but the coÌ„trary to offer vp theyr persons sacrifices to him in the name of Christ in whome they have no portion to seale vp the covenant of his grace and peace vnto them in the sacraments with whom it never came into his hart to strike hand neyther hath he peace with them The third Scripture is Rom. 14. 17. 18. The kingdome of God is not meat not drink but righteousnes and peace and ioy in the Holy G. for whosoever in those things serveth Christ is acceptable to God c. Hence to let passe the drift of the Apostle in this place els where opened thus much must necessarily follow that where righteousnes and peace and ioy in the Holy Ghost are not nor men in those things serving Christ there the kingdome of God is not nor these men his subiects And where Gods kingdom is not there is the kingdome of Satan and they that are not the subiects of the one are the slaves of the other And so I leave it to the godly reader to iudge whither the assemblyes in England gathered at the first and at this day consisting of such persons for the most part as do not thus nor in these things viz righteousnes peace and ioy in the Holy Ghost serue Christ but the contrary can be rightly by the word of God accounted the kingdome of God Church of Christ. Thus the 3. Scriptures which Mr B. stretched out like a threfold coard to hold men in the assemblies are in truth and in their right meaning as a three stringed whip to scourge those that fear God out of them With such a renunciation of the truth must be interteyned much vntruth saith Mr Ber. as first thou must beleeve their way to be the truth of God then condemne our Church as a false Church when themselves have published that the differences betwixt vs and them are but corruptions Nâ—w corruptions do not make a false Church but a corrupt Church aâ— corruptions in a man make but a corrupt but no false man If we beare witnes of
sin shal excuse you for not submitting vnto a true nor your prophane scoffing at a true constitution as at the Diana of the Ephesians discourage vs from reioycing in our portion It is with you in this case as it was sometimes with Rechum Shimshay who making a shew as though they would have built the temple Zerubbabel but not being the men to whom this work appertayned laboured afterwards to hinder discourage him the Iewes with him whom it did concerne Ezra 4. 1 2 3. 8. 9. Once you know Mr B. you did separate from the rest an hundred voluntary professors into covenant with the Lord sealed vp with the Lords supper to forsake all knowne sinn to hear no wicked or dumb Ministers and the like which covenant long since you have dissolved not shaming to affirme you did it onely in policy to keepe your people from Mr Smyth Well Mr B. be not deceived God is not mocked neither wil he hold them guiltlesse that so take his name in vayn but as you have sowen so shall you reap To conclude you would have no man blame you for your contumelyes against the planting of the Lords vineyard the building of Gods house the composition of Christs body the constitution of his Church And wherefore because Mr Robinson held as much before into separation And if it were so should myne iniquities excuse yours But it is most vntrue you affirme There never entred into my hart a thought nor passed a word out of my mouth so contumelious against the true orderly constitution of Christs Church though I have and that worthily disliked as I stil doe that hard rash censure passed by some vpoÌ„ the persons of such as of whoÌ„ the Lord by the evideÌ„t work of his spirit gives a better testimony And for the poynt in hand I am perswaded and so professe before all men that I see not by the revealed will of God in his word how to iudge otherwise of any ordinance of the Church or exercise of communion out of a true constituted Church then of the sacrifices out of the tabernacle or temple within whose circle they were concluded by the word of God The third errour is thus set down That such as are not of a particular constituted Church to wit such a one as theyrs is are no subiects of Christs kingdome And since our Church is a particular congregation separated from Antichristianism into covenant with God by voluntary submissioÌ„ vnto the gospel we do avow it for truth that such â—â— are not of a particular c. For since the visible Church is the visible or externall kingdome of Christ which he as mediator collecteth protecteth and administreth he that is not a member of the visible Church is not in this regard a subiect of Christs kingdome Neyther are your exceptions against this doctrine of any force The scripture you say in the first place never sets forth any of Gods people by this mark Yes that it doth and that oft tymes without any other mark How oft doth Moses and the other Prophets with him entreat the Lord to spare Israel when they sinned for their constitution that is for the covenant of his mercy into which he had admitted them with their forefathers Abraham Isaak and Iaakob The Lord protesteth Is. 1. that Israel did rebel against him that they did not vnderstand but were a most sinfid nation yea as Sodom Gomorrah and yet he calls them children his people v. 1. 2. 3. 4. 10. yea passing Sodom in iniquity and yet the daughter of his people daughter Zion Lam. 4. 6. 22. And what do these and infinite other the like places but coÌ„clude that where there was little or nothing els to be seen the Lord marked out his people by this that he had established them a people vnto himself by covenant which though they for their part had broken by their iniquities yet was for the present on his part vndissolved And where it is graunted by Mr B. that the godly ought to ioyn with the visible Church if possibly they can why doth he blame vs which intend no further If men truely desire it but cannot possibly accoÌ„plish it the Lord in this as in other cases accepts the will for the deed And so I answer your 3. ExceptioÌ„ in order touching the martyrs in Queen Maryes dayes and other godly persons there named that some of them were members of the true visible Church actually others actually separated from the false Church and in will which God accepteth ioyneth with the true Church others walking faithfully according to their knowledg whether living or dead are and were Gods people though in Babylon Your second exception is certayn scriptures to which you say this doctrine is contrary The first is Gal. 3. 7. 9. And how to this They that are of the faith of Abraham separate themselves by faith from the world into covenant with the Lord as AbrahaÌ„ did Gen. 12. 1. 2. 3. Heb. 11. â— To the 2. place which is 1 Ioh. 3. 14. I do answer that Iohn speaks of such as were of the true visible Church neyther can any other according to the true visibility manifestation of the love which the Lord requireth love his brother which is not of a true visible Church He that doth not admonish his brother if he offend after that order and in those degrees which the word prescribeth doth not love his brother Lev. 19. 17. But onely he that is of a true visible Church and that furnished with the power of Christ the keyes of the kingdome for the censures can admonish his brother in that order and those degrees which the word prescribeth Mat. 18. 15. 16. 17. And so this scripture Mr B. overthrowes both your opinion and standing The third scripture is 1 Cor. 1. 1. Paul wrytes there onely to visible Churches to the Church of Corinth primarily and so by proportion to all other visible Churches in the world for to them alone the censures sacraments prophesying and other matters there handled do appertayne 1 Cor. 5. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. and 11. 20. and 14. 4. 5. The brother spoken of in the fourth and last place which is 2 Th. 3. 15. was a member of the visible Church and subiect of Christs kingdome though walking inordinately in his calling as appeareth v. 11. and therefore to be discountinanced and made ashamed by the Church that he might the more faythfully apply himselfe to his busines These scriptures then do none of them wash this mark from of Gods people but some of them if not all print it far more deeply vpon them Lastly you ask whither Christs kingdome be not spirituall and invisible also Iob 18. 33. and 10. 16. No man will deny it though the places you alledge do not so necessary prove it But as Christs kingdome is spirituall and invisible also so is it spirituall and visible
also The man which hath receaved the spirit is spirituall and not the soule onely So externall things may be spirituall are in their relatoÌ„ vse and you erre if you think otherwise The word sacraments other ordinaÌ„ces of the Church are spiritual yea all the sacrifices of the faithfull are spirituall more specially as the Lord Iesus is the Preist both of the soul body hath payed a price for both so is he also the King both of soule body and swayes the scepter of his kingdome not onely internally by his spirit in the soule but externally and visibly also by this word in the outward man guyding the same by his lawfull officers depuâ—ed there vnto But what is the cause why Mr B. should move this question Is it not for that himselfe and his Church not having Christ to rule over them by his lawes but other kings and Lords by theyr canoÌ„s he would insinuate that Christ exerciseth none external regiment over his Church nor is the King over the bodyes of his subiects at all thus rather labouring to abolish that part of Christs KingdoÌ„ then to submit to it But as our principall care at all times must be to have the throne of our L. Iesus erected in our harts that he may reigne there so that we may give him his owne entyre that which he hath so dearly bought we must rank our bodyes also vnder the regiment he hath established for the well ordering preservation of his kingdom forever both in soule body not like Nichodemites or Familists presume to submit the outward man we care not to whome or what Our fourth supposed error is That all not in theyr way are without and they do apply against vs 1 Cor. 5. 12. Ephe. 2 12. And since the way is one as Christ is one and we assured that our way is that way of Christ we doubt not to affirme that all not in our way are without in the present respect provided alwayes that we do iudge that other Churches may be and are in our way and we in theirs and both they and we in Christs though there be betwixt them vs sundry differences both in iudgment and practise And that we doe fitly apply against you the scriptures above named I do thus manifest The Apostle 1 Cor. 5. reproves the Church for tolerating amongst them the incestuous person vncensured charging them to vse the power of the Lord Iesus given vnto them for that purpose and that as vpon him for the present so vpon other notorious offenders at other times Now least they should mistake his meaning he shewes how far this his advertisement extends viz to such offenders as were in the Church and to all and onely them And this limitation of the power of Christ to the proper obiect he sets downe in this 12. verse affirmatively to them that are within and negatively to them that are without From this place then I do thus reason They that are within are subiect to the power of excoÌ„munication by the Church gathered together in the name of Christ they without not But you Mr B. and so of the rest are not subiect to the judgement of the Church thus gathered together but to the Archbishop of York Who is not the Church of Workxsop Therefore you are not within but without in the Apostles meaning The second place we apply against you is Ephe. 2. 12. whence I reason thus They that are aliants and straungers from the common wealth of Israel are without But such are you and your whole parrish Ergo. The first Proposition is the Apostles words for to be without Christ as there he speakes and to be a stranger from the coÌ„mon wealth of Israel is all one The second Proposition is thus confirmed The coÌ„mon wealth of Israel was a religious policy consisting of a peculiar people of whom every one was by the word of God separated into the covenant of his mercy Deut. 29. 10. 11. 12. 13. Neh. 10. 1. 28. 29. But to affirme that every person in the Church of England or in any parish Church is admitted by the Lord into the new covenant or testament is both against the expresse word of God Heb. 8. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. and his owne conscience I am perswaded that affirmed it And thus so long as you keep your standing you must be content to stand without in the meaning of the Apostle in the places forenamed neither can you wrythe in your self or corrupt these places to get in by them though you give sundry attempts as 1. These places are ment of such as never made so much as an outward profession of Christ at all What better are men for professing God in word when in deed they deny him They are never a whit the lesse but the more abhominable Tit. 1. 16. And might not any Papist or other heretik make this exception For they make a kind of profession of Christ Iesus And when you Mr B. in your pulpit thunder the iudgments of God out of the Prophets and Apostles against Atheists Papists blasphemers proud and cruell persequuters might not a man serve you as you do us and tel you that the most of the threatnings you denounce were directed against the Heathen which did not so much as make an outward profession of Christ. Lastly the H. Ghost terming Antichristianisme Babylon Sodom Egypt spiritually teacheth vs to apply against it spiritually what the Prophets have civily spoken against them 2. They cannot prove vs without by the scripture expounding this phrase without by the scriptures laying a side the forgeryes of theyr own braynes The cause is playn that whosoever iâ— not a free deniâ—en of the coÌ„mon wealth of Israell and vnder the iudgment of the Church is without and there must stand by Gods appoyntment And that this is your estate is as playne And both these we have proved by the scriptures without forgeryes of our owne brayne all the brayns you have will fynd no forgeryes in our proofes 3 God almighty hath witnessed that we are his people 1 By giving vs his word Psal. 14. 7. 19. 20. and sacraments This scripture proves that God gave his word to Iaakob statutes to Israel but prove your selves the Israel of God shew vs from the word of God the charter of your corporatioÌ„ that your Nationall Provintiall Diocesan and Parochial Churches are that new Ierusalem and your inhabitants the right Citzens of that City enfranchised with her heavenly libertyes and answer the proofs brought to the contrary otherwise though you be never so shameles a begger of the question in hand we may not graunt it you 2 By Gods effectuall working by his word Ier. 23. 22. therefore heard â—â— the voyce of the sonne of God Ioh. 5. 25. and the words of eternal life God forbid I should deny eyther the truthes of Christ you have a
Church and exercise of the communion are they therefore alone to do al things They if there be any of them in the Church are to govern in every election and choyce of ensuing Officers are they therefore alone to chuse excluding the Church They are to govern in preaching prophesying and hearing the word and receiving the sacraments singing of Psalmes distributing vnto the necessities of the sayncts are they therefore alone to prophesie to sing Psalmes to contribute to the poor the rest with as little reason can it be affirmed that they alone are to have cōmunion in the censures to admonish judge because they are to govern in the carying administring of those matters These things thus cleared it wil be very convenient for the purpose in hand and wil give much furtherance to the truth in a few words to consider of the nature of Ecclesiastical government and governours which whilst politik men through either ignorance or contempt of the gospels simplicitie do neglect they labour to transform the Church into a wordly kingdome and to set over it a kinde of kingly and lordly government and such scriptures as give libertie and power unto kings and other civile officers over their subjects and people for the making and altering of lawes and for the passing and ordering of judgements these they pervert and misapply to Church governours and government then which nothing is more monstrous Math. 20. 25. 26. 27. 28. 1 Pet. 5. 3. I. For first civil officers are are called in the word of God Princes Heads Captaines Iudges Magistrates Nobles Lords Kinges them in authority principalities powers yea in their respect Gods and according to their names so are their offices but on the contrarie Ecclesiasticall officers are not capable of these or the like titles which can neyther be given without flatterie unto them nor received by them without arrogancy neyther is their office an office of Lordship Sovereigntie or Authoritie but of Labour and Service and so they the Labourers and Servants of the Church as of God 2. Magistrates may publish execute their owne lawes in their own names Ezra 1. 1. 2. c. Est. 8. 8. Math. 20. 25. But Ministers are onely interpreters of the lawes of God and must look for no further respect at the hands of any to the things they speak then as they manifest the same to be the commaundements of the Lord. 1 Cor. 14. 37. 3. Civill administrations and their formes of goverment may be and oft tymes are altered for the avoyding of inconveniences according to the circumstances of tyme place and persons Ex. 1◠13. 14. 15. 16. 17. c. But the Church is a kingdome which cannot be shaken Heb. 12. 28. wherein may be no innovation in office or forme of administration from that which Christ hath left for any inconveniency whatsoever 4 Civill Magistrates have authority by their offices to judge offēders vpon whom they may also exequute bodily vengeance vsing their people as their servants and ministers for the same purpose but in the Ch the officers are the ministers of the people whose service the people is to vse for the administring and executing of their judgemēts that is for the pronouncing of the judgments of the Church of God first against the obstinate which is the vtmost execution the Church can perform And what difference can be greater In the cōmon wealth the people fewer or more yea somtimes whol armies the ministers of the officers in the Church the officers the ministers of the people 5. In civill government obedience must be performed for the authority and will of the commaunder who is Lord over the bodyes and goods of his subjects Mat. 20. 25. 26. 1 Pet. 5. 3. yea though his commaundements being with them bodily domage yea be they never so vnjust vnholy yet must obedience be given in meek and pacient sufferance though not in active performance ◠Pet. 2. 13. 14. 3. 14. 15. 16. but in Church matters not so The officers may neyther exact obedience nor the people perform it further then the goodnes profit and aedification of and by the thing commaunded doth enforce 1 Cor. 14. 26. Gal. 1. ◠Col. 2. 16. 1◠And the reason is because civil Magistrates have authority annexed to their office and order and though both they and their commaundements be most vnjust yet do they still reteyn their authority which their subjects may not shake of but ministers and Church governers have no such authority tyed to their office but merely to the word of God And as the peoples obedience stands not in making the Elders their Lords Soveraignes Iudges but in listening to their godly counsels in following theyr wise directions in receiving their holy instructions exhortations consolations and admonitions and in vsing their faithful service and ministery so neyther stands the Elders govermēt in erecting any tribunall seat or throne of judgement over the people but in exhorting instructing comforting improving them by the word of God 1 Tim. 3. 16. in affoarding the Lord and them their best service But here it wil be demaunded of me if the Elders be not set over the Church for her guidance and government Yes certaynly as the physition is set over the body for his skill and faithfulnes to minister vnto it to whom the pacient yea though his Lord or Maister is to submit the lawyer over his cause to attend vnto it the steward over his family even his wife and children to make provision for them yea the wachmen over the whole city for the safe keeping thereof Such and none other is the Elders or Bishops government Now to conclude this point All the scriptures which Mr B. brings as the reader may see serves to prove that the governers of the Church must be in and of the Church they govern but the governers of the Church of Worxsop are not of it neyther would Mr B. I dare say be well pleased they should But where it is further affirmed that during all the Apostles dayes the body of the congregation attempted nothing of themselves but that alwayes Church matters were begun governed and composed by the Apostle◠as it made nothing against our matter though it were even so as is sayd since w◠hold that where there are officers in the Churches those faithfull in all things as th' Apostles were there things are not to be attempted without them so is it not true which is affirmed neyther do the scriptures alledged prove any such thing The three first places Act. 1. 15. 23. 24. 25. and 6. 3. 6. and 14. 19. 20. 23. do onely prove that the Apostles being general men officers of all Churches did when they were present with the Churches govern and assist them faythfully in all things which we also affirm to be the duty of al Elders in their particular charges whom the people are accordingly to obey More particularly The two
former places speak of the Church at Ierusalem where some of the Apostles were ever present what marveil then if the congregation attempted nothing without them But touching the last scripture which speakes of the Churches of and amongst the Gentiles and of the ordination of Elders there Act. 14. 23. the case is otherwise Of these Churches some were converted to the Lord by the Apostles and other by private brethren scattered thither there publishing the Gospel Act. 8. 12. 10. 36-44 47. 48. 11. 19. 20. 21. 23. 13. 2. 12. 48. 14. 1. 2. that some certaine yeares before any ordination of Elders amongst them And can it be conceived with any reason that all this long space during the Apostles absence these Churches never assembled together for their edification and comfort in prayer prophesying and other ordinances were there no other coÌ„verted al the while which desyred to be admitted into their fellowship or had they no use of excommunication for the preserving pure of their communion for sundry yeares But to let passe these more generall things and to come to the speciall busines mentioned Act. 14 23. The same rules which were after left in writing to Timothy and Titus for the choyce of Bishops or Elders were then in use amongst the Churches amongst other qualifications it was required of them that they should be apt to teach able to convince as also to manage the publique affaires of the Churches which were to depend on them whither in cases of controversie or otherwise and such they both then were and now are by good tryal and experience to be known to be and those also no young plants for such fruits And as it did most specially concern the brethren to know certainly by good experience that those officers were so qualified whom they were to set over them and unto whom they were to coÌ„mit their soules to be fed unto life eternal so could they onely take sufficient tryall of them their gifts and faythfulnes for the publique ministery by due experience The Apostles came but occasionally to visit the Churches and to comfort them making in many very small or no continuance and fynding fit men for officers in the Churches where they came and the same known testified and commended to be such by the peoples election they ordeyned Bishops or Elders over them and so departed Act. 14. 21. 22. 23. And what reason can be given why the Apostles did not at the first planting of the Churches but so long a space after ordeyn officers as also that Paul did not perform that busines himself in Creta but left Titus the Evangelist for that purpose Tit. 1. 5. save onely that men of gifts might be trayned vp in prayer prophecying and carrying of such other Church affaires as fell out and so due tryall made of theyr gifts good knowledg taken of their faythfulnes in and by the Churches whereof they were and over which they were to be set being found fit for that service Now the fourth scripture which is 1 Cor. 5. doth directly oppose that for which it is brought It was the Churches fault not to have purged out that sower leven the incestuous person before they eyther heard from Paul or he of that evill amongst them and for theyr negligence herein the Apostle reproveth them as all men see that are not willingly blynd And for Paul he in generall as a penman of the Holy Ghost wrote scriptures for the direction of the Corinthians and all other Churches to the worldes end and in speciall as a chief Officer of that Church by determining for himself discharged his owne duety but did neyther begin govern nor compose the action being at Philippi or rather at Ephesus for the present from whence he writ the Epistle to the Church vnto which he commended the busines in hand both for the beginning and ending of it But what of all these and many other the like scriptures to be alledged because the Churches are in all things to be guided by theyr officers ministring faythfully and according to the word of God and theyr duety that therefore if eyther there be no officers or if they be absent or fayl in their duety the Church may do nothing eyther for information or reformation The scriptures record that after Stevens death all the Church aâ— Ierusalem was dispersed save the Apostles and that they which were dispersed went to and fro preaching the word the effect of whose preaching amongst the Gentiles was the fayth and conversion of a great number vnto the Lord. Here were not onely Church matters but even Churches begun preaching to and fro turning and ioyning of multitudes to the Lord that where neyther Apostles noâ— other officers were present for this is too grosse to affirm that during al the Apostles dayes nothing was begun but by them And what if the Lord should now rayse vp a company of faythfull men and women in Barbary or America by the reading of the scriptures or by the wrytings conferences or sufferings of some godly men must they not separate themselves from the filthines of the heathen to the Lord nor turn from Idols to the true God nor ioyne themselves vnto him in the fellowship of the gospell nor have any communion together for theyr mutuall aedification and comfort till some vagrant Preist from Rome or England be sent vnto them to begin theyr Church matters with his service book And yet this would not serve the turne neyther for he would be vnto them a barbarian and they barbarians vnto him 1 Cor. 14. 11. Some yeares must be spent or ech could vnderstand others language Nay if this were a true ground that Church matters might not be begun without officers it were impossible that such a people should ever eyther enioy officers or become a Church yea I may safely ad that ever there should be in the world after the vniversal visible apostacy of Antichrist any true eyther Church or officers and so we must hold with the Arians that except ther should come new Apostles to gather the Churches and so a new Christ to call those Apostles that there can be to the worlds end neyther true Churches nor true officers The reason is because * no man takes this honour vnto himself but he that is called of God aâ— Aaron Now God calls no man ordinarily but by the Ch for I suppose you will not deny but that the choyce of officers is a Ch matter not a matter of the world And the Church must chuse none but such as of whose knowledge zeale and vtterance they have taken tryall by the exercise of his guifâ—s as you truely affirme els where in this book and you will not say but this exercise of his guiftâ— after this manner and for this end is a Church matter Whence it followeth that both Church matters yea and Churches also may and in cases must
tvvo former orders vvhich are Apostles and Prophets are ceased as being temporary how can there be superioritie in the third which is but one Your third and fourth Argument you draw from the superioritie ordayned by God in the old testament amongst ecclesiasticall persons and the consequence of this Argument you prove two wayes first bycause this order is not forbidden in the new testament 2. bycause the ground of superiority is alike in the new testament as in the old which is to preserve order But do you not consider Mr Bernard that the old testament or law is abrogated and disanulled as having the shadow of good things to come and so every order and ordinance in it which is not plainly renued by Christ in the new And where you seem to make the Chief Priests besides the high Preist a superiour order to the other formally differing it is more if I be not deceived then can be proved by the word of God I know no diversity of administrations amongst them but that any of the Priests might in their course and order offer sacrifice performe other the most solemne duties of preisthood But where you further adde that onely the high Priest did type out Christ and not the other Preists so you are much mistaken The whole preisthood of Aaron vnder which the law was established was a type of Christs Preisthood though the high Preists in a speciall manner and their sacrifices of his and being a part of the law which was a shadow or first draught whereof the gospel is the lively portrature it must needs be ceremoniall and so a type to affirm otherwise is a grosse Iewish errour Lastly as I graunt one end of the subordination of Ministeries to have been the preserving of order so I deny that same order is to be preserved in the nevv testament and in the old The order of the old testament was the order of a nationall Church but the order of the new testament is the order of a particular Church wherein there needs no such subordination of Ministeries as in the other which was nationall the ey of common sense sees this difference The law of nature whether written in the hart of man or to be seen in the workmanship of the world from which you draw your fift Argument doth not prove superioritie amongst officers in a particular assembly but onely that there must be government in all societies which may well be though the governours be of one order and rank Lastly they against whom you deale doe mainteyne as you say an inequality in their government in making the Pastor superiour to the Teacher c. and if they do so why deal you against them and why do you labour so carefully to prove against them their own practise to be lawful though if they had not better warrāt then you bring they were ill bestead But this is the point Mr B. which you never touch do they which hold two kindes of officers teaching and governing Elders or they which hold three orders Pastors Teachers and governing Elders eyther of them both hold such a superioritie as gives the superiour jurisdiction over the inferiour Ministers do they make a Bishop of Bishops or a sheepheard over a flock of sheepheards or do they set vp any such ravenous creature as devours the liberty and power both of the people and other officers as your Bishops do even as the leane and evill favoured kyne which Ioseph saw in his dreame ate vp the fat kyne and welfavoured And for the erroneous exposition of Luke Luk. 22. 25. 26. by D. Downame and D. Dove of which you boast it hath been confuted both before and since they gave it Now howsoever I purpose not the refutation of every particular in Mr B. second volume which he might have drawen into as few lynes well nigh as he hath done leaves had he not rather desired to have vttered many words then many things yet seing how he labours even till sweating to trouble the mindes of his young students and seely countrymen especially about the government discipline of the Church not caring how absurd expositions of scriptures he admits of nor how contrary one vnto an other so he may weaken the faith of any that way I will not therefore altogether hold off myne hand but will open as I goe his vnsound dealing in this case especially about Mat. 18. 15. 16. 17. which he will no way have meant of the piscipline or censures of the Church the order of proceeding therein but that Christs meaning there is to direct the Iewes how to prosecute their suits in matter of injury before the heathenish Magistrates And this he labours p. 218. 219. and so on to prove by many obiections answers yet as borrowed from other mens books so put out as other mens sayings that by this meanes he himself may avoyd some part of that iust hatred by the better sort of people which he knowes will ly vpon this odious and vngodly glosse First then Mr Bernard graunts pag. 212. that Christ hath left a government in his Church and so consequently an order for the censuring of offenders and he accounts the contrary opinion but a familisticall conceipt and yet this truth he cannot let passe without some vntruth at the end of it and therefore he addes that to this familisticall conceipt the seely Brownists are drawn by force of their own grounds which are because they will have all in the Church to be voluntary professours where voluntarynes is taken away by being vnder any government to be subiect ruled is an estate far frō freedome Christians loose thereby Christian liberty c. And say in good sooth Mr B. would you haue men vnvoluntary professours against their wills their profession must eyther be voluntary with their wills or vnvoluntary and against them Noah prophesying the calling of the Gentiles of Iaphets line foretells that God will allure or perswade them to dwell in Shems tents And the scriptures do expressely affirme that the Churches were gathered by perswasion voluntary submission vnto the gospel And it is a strange thing even above wonder that any man should have preached so many yeares and written so many books about religion and yet not know that the nature of religion is not to be constreyned but perswaded And tell me Mr B. did you subscribe the last tyme vnto your Bishops government sponte ex animo according to the Canon yea or no Of if you think that to curious a quaestion answer me whether you be vnder the Kings goverment voluntarily or against your will If against your will it is a treacherous disposition in you if voluntarily or willingly how seelely then do you which are thus rife in imputing seelines vnto others argue that voluntarines is taken away by being vnder any government as though all government were tyranny and all obedience slaverie but reason why Mr
for the punishment of offenders in it But this tedious matter is not yet ended For Mr B. marshals in eight fresh reasons to force all the reformed Churches in the world with vs to give over this hold of Mat. 18. pag. 224. 225. 226. of this his last book the best is they are of no great strength The first is a bare affirmation that the former exposition by me confuted is true His second Reason is bycause Christ hath erected no government in his Church for why he should adde by publick doctrine I see not except he would insinuate that Christ taught this point privately and in a corner but for this brings he no one scripture or reason as if his bare vvord vvere enough to stablish an Idoll King in his Church vvithout officers or lavves Where notvvithstanding in his former book pag 90. 91. 92. 93. he proves by many scriptures that Christ hath given officers for the government of his Church which no man denyes but himself In the third place he affirmes that Christ by the Church meanes not the Iewish Synedrion wherin I assent vnto his saying for reason brings he none Touching the nature of the Churches government which he gropes at in the fourth place I have spoken els where The 5. Reason followeth which comprehends vnder it many petty Reasons and amongst other the 6 7 and 8 in order which save for the shew in the margent of 8. distinct numbred Reasons might vvel enough haue ben spared The sum is that this 18. of Mat. is no perfect rule of discipline the reasoÌ„s are bycause neyther all sorts of sins are here brought in nor all the parts of discipline here comprehended And hovv do these things appear First bycause a man is here to proceed onely for trespasses or as it is better turned for offences against himself but not for sinne against God against the Magistrate or against an other But here you should have remembred Mr B. that sin being the transgression of the law is onely against God to speak properly and therefore David notwithstanding his defiling of Bath sheba and murdering of Vrijah confesseth that he had sinned against God onely But as the same transgression is so coÌ„mitted as man scandalizeth or takes offence at it so it is a sinne against him whether the deed done respect God or man yea man or beast publick or private person a mans self or others in the object and so he may forgive it after the order prescribed by Christ. And where by way of exception you demaund how one man can remit trespasses done against an other it is true it cannot be if by trespasses be meant personall injuries but considering the same trespasses as they are sinnes against God at which a brother takes offence so the brother offended may forgive them vpon the offenders repentance And asking how men can forgive rebellion against God you seem to haue forgotten yourself for in the very leaf next before going you both graunt and prove that not onely Ministers by vertue of their office but private persons also may bind and loose sinnes The thing it self you grant and for the manner of it it is as they save by manifesting and making knowne outwardly salvation and the forgivenes of sinnes To your third objection concerning the keeping secret of publick crymes against the Magistrate vpon the offenders repentance you answer yourself for if they be publick or of publick nature they may not be kept secret neyther are they capable of the order of secret dealing in them And here falles into consideration your seventh Reason which is that if discipline be grounded vpon Mat. 18. then the Church must iudge in civil affaires and enter vpon the bounds of the Magistrate And are you ignorant Mr B. that civil actions as they draw scaÌ„dalous sin with them may be censured ecclesiastically as may also religious actions be punished civily by the Magistrate which is the preserver of both tables so to punish all breaches of both specially such as draw with them the violation of the positive lawes of kingdomes or disturbance of common peace Take your own instance of murder The Magistrate is to punish it civilly in all his subjects whether the parties repent or no the Church is to censure it ecclesiastically in her members yea though the Magistrate pardon or passe by it except the parties delinquent repent for then they are to be forgiven And what vsurpation is here vpon the Magistracy you to suppress Gods ordinance do flatter the Magistrate and accuse the innocent Next you except that this of Mat. is a rule for sinnes private and more secret but not for publick and open sinne You might as well say that the patterne of prayer prescribed by Christ Mat. 6. is not perfect nor a rule for private prayer or for things concerning our selves onely bycause it teacheth vs to say Our father forgive vs our sinnes But who knowes not that generalls include their specialties vnder them The Lord Iesus in teaching his disciples to say forgive vs our sinnes ioyntly teacheth them in the same place to ask forgivenes eyther of their own sinnes or the sinnes of others severally as occasion serves so in teaching here all the degrees of admonition ioyntly he implyes also the dealing in any one of them severally if there be occasion And this exposition of Mr B. can I not fitlyer resemble then to the practise of some silly pursevant that being sent to attach some traytour or other malefactour dwelling in Barwick and so to bring him to the Court if he should meet the party by the way would refuse to medle with him and would say that he was sent to Barw to fetch him and would eyther bring him from thence or would let him alone And it seems if Mr B. might construe his coÌ„mmission he would so advise him But would not common sense teach a man that the nearer he met with the party he â—ought the more labour were spared and that he were to apprehend him where he found him So where Christ sends his disciples to deal with sinne a farre off as it were and in the first vtmost degree but if it be come nearer and be found in the 2. or 3. degree it is to be taken where it is found If it be secret and yet rest betwixt the brother offeÌ„ding offended it must there be dealt with if it become nearer the court and be wrought before two or three or more it must there and in that order be vndertaken the first degree is over and that labour spared if it be of publick nature or publikly coÌ„mitted the two former degrees are past and the labour in them spared the sin must be dealt with accordingly And the Church eyther by information from any brother or brethren or by immediate notice taken may convent or call for the offender that he which sinned publikly may publiquely be rebuled And this may serue for answer to the
speach to the 2. person not saying what it but what you shall bind and loose c. In so saying you give the cause though you presently eat vp your own graunt For you affirm that by the Church ver 17. is meant the whole body of which Christ speaks in the third person and what say wee more But where you adde that the authoritie is not given till the 18. vers and that then Christ turns his speach to his Apostles it is your own devised glosse For first it is evident that Christ establisheth the power of binding and loosing in the hands of the Church speaking in the 3. person v. 17. that so firmely as what brother soever refuseth to heare her voice is to be expelled from all religious cōmunion Vnto this the 18. v. is added partly for explanation and partly for confirmation For where as the party admonished might say with himself well if the Church disclaim mee I shall disclaym it if it condemn me I shall condemn it again the Lord doth here back the Churches censures for her incouragement and for the terrour of the refractary despising her voice and that vnder a contestation that what she bindes and looseth vpon earth namely after his will he also will bind and loose in heaven And for the change of persons in the 17. and 18 verses it is merely grammaticall and not naturall It is common with the Holy Ghost sometimes for elegancy sometimes for explication sometimes for further inforcement of the same thing to and vpon the same persons thus to vary the phrase of speach in the first second or third person grammatically as the reader may take a tast in these particulars Psal. 75. 1. Is. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. c. Math. 5. 10. 11. 12. c. and in this very Chapt. v. 7. 8. Rom. 6. 14. 15. 16. 8. 4. 5. 12. 13. c. Your 3. Reason that bycause Christ speakes of a few two or three gathered together therefore he meanes the officers of the Church and not all the body is of no force if the body consist but of two or three as it comes to passe where Churches are raysed in persecution as the most true Churches are Yet if Christ do speak of two or three officers of a Church gathered together in his name he speaks against you where all the power of the keyes over many 1000. Churches are in the hands of two Arch-Prelates and from them delegated and derived to their severall vnderlings But the truth is that gratious promise which Christ here layes downe for the comfort of all his saints you do engrosse into the hands of a few Elders You might aswel affirme that onely two or three officers gathered together have a promise to be heard in their prayers and not a communion of two or three brethren for Christ v. 19. 20. speakes principally and expressely of prayer though with reference to the binding and loosing of sin which as all other ordinances are sanctified by prayer The very scope of the place and reason of the speach is this The Lord Iesus had v 18. enfranchised the Church with a most excellent and honourable priveledge now the disciples did already see with their own eyes and were more fully taught by their Maister that the Church should arise from small and base beginnings and that it was also by reason of persequution subject to great dissipation Math. 7. 14. 10. 17. 18. 22. 23. 13. 31. 32. least therefore their harts should be discouraged and they or others driven into suspition that the Lord would any way neglect them or his promise towards them for their paucity and meannes he most gratiously prevents and frees them from that jealousy telles them and all others for their comfort that though the Church or assembly consist but of two or three as such beginnings the true Church of God had and have though your English Church begū with a kingdome in a day Act. 16. 14. 15. 17. 34. 19. 7. yet that should no way diminish their power or prejudice the accomplishment of his promise And the reason hath been formerly rendred bycause this power for binding loosing being given to the fayth of Peter depends not vpon the order of office multitude of people or dignity of person but merely vpon the word of God And hence is it that Christ thus gratiously descends even to two or three wheresoever assembled in his name yea though it be in a Cave or Den of the earth of which most gratious and necessary priveledge you would bereave them Now in your 4. Reason out of v. 19 you do most ignorantly erre in the grāmaticall construction for you make a change of the person agayne where there is no change at all Christ speakes onely in the third person as the originall makes it plaine though the English tongue do not so distinctly manifest it to an ignorant man Christ sayth not whatsoever you two shall agree of shal be given to them that is to the Church but whatsover two of you shall agree of or consent in they two that so agree shall obteyne it of God Which words Mr B. you do most vnsufferably pervert to the seducing of the ignorant as if Christ had sayd if two or three of you officers or you two or three officers shall agree together of a thing whatsoever they that is the Church shall desire namely of the Officers for so you expound the words it shal be givē them where it is most evident that they which are to agree vpon the thing they are to ask it and that of God who will give it them And where the scripture sayth that the brother offended speaking indefinitely of any brother and so of the Officers themselves must complayn to the Church M B. on the contrary as if he would even beard the Lord Iesus tells vs the Church must complayn to the Officers Your 5. Reason followes with many litle ones in the womb of it which you bring forth in order to prove that Christ speakes here figuratively and that by the Church he means the governours The first is It agrees with the practise of the Iewish Church frō whence it is held that the manner of governing in the Church is fetched And is this the necessary proof you speak of whatsoever is so held is so in truth And yet in your second book as hath been shewed you bring in sundry men holding contrary things as if contraries could be true Well I confesse it is so held and that by many with whom I would gladly consent if the scriptures taught me not to hold otherwise It had been good here the authour had shewed vs what the government of the Iewish Church was and not thus sleightily to have passed over things of this moment For the purpose in hand thus much The Church of the Iewes was a nationall Church the Lord separating vnto himself the whole natiō
have therefore power for officers also which they may chuse and so enjoy all their liberties by their help so in the spirituall corporation the Church there is alwayes the whole power of Christ residing which therefore may call officers for the vse of it to which it is sufficient that it can without officers vse this power for things simply necessary as for the receiving in of members by profession of faith and confession of sinnes for the aedifying of them by exhortations coÌ„forts in the ordinance of prophecying and so for casting them out by excommunication which fall from their former profession or confession The sum of the 11. and 12. Reas is that this power or liberty of the multitude to judge in Church matters overthrowes the power authority of Christian Magistrates in the Church to whom the people are commaunded to be subiect both in the old and new testament And doth not the ill advised man consider that his own opinion making the officers of the Church alone the Church and giving them power to judge in Church matters without the rest of the body doth as much overthrow the authority of Christian Magistrates as ours in making the officers and body with them the Church having power to judge together yea much more for if the ecclesiasticall officers alone be the Church Math. 18. and so must judge and censure sinnes which is the thing he pleads for then â— the civil magistrate simply excluded where wee reputing the whole body the Church do necessarily include the Christian Magistrate as being one of the Church Secondly is Mr B. and his brother Bell whom he quotes in the 〈…〉 gent to ignorant as they cannot distinguish betwixt civil authority and judgements in Church matters and that authority and those judgements which are ecclesiasticall The Christian magistrate as he is a brother may be censured ecclesiastically by the Church whereof he is a member and yet the same person as a magistrate whether of the Church or not of the Church or cast out of the Church may censure and punish civilly the whole Church and every member of it if there be cause whether in matters of the Church or common wealth In the 17. reason Mr B. would fasten vpon vs an absurdity in making the body both to govern and to be governed and so to be both Lord and servant Prince and subiect c. It is your self Mr Ber. that commit the absurdity which I thus manifest The Church must be governed sayth the scripture and coÌ„mon sense But the Church is the officers Math. 18. sayth Mr Bernard Wherevpon it followeth that the Officers must be governed And to your reason whomsoever you count Lords and servants and whosoever are Lords and servants in your Church I know by the scriptures that in the Church of Christ the officers are servants in that relation the Church may be called a Lord and if Christ truely call the sonne of man Lord of the sabbath bycause the sabbath was made for man and not man for the sabbath may we also call the Church in a respect Lord of the Officers for the Officers are for the Church and not the Church for them And yet we hold the same officers which are servants to be governours also for the government of the Church is merely a Church-service as all not carnally blinded with ambition or superstition will graunt with me Now where you affirm Reas 18. that the people are never termed by any name insinuating soveraignty but that the Ministers are you speak partially on both sides would you have the Ministers that is the servants of the Church to be her soveraigns The names you bring as most advauntageable argue no such thing They are Overseers as the watchmen are for the citie Elders for thâ—ir gravity Fathers in respect of the seed of the word by which they bâ—ge to conversion and therefore Paul makes himself he onely father of the Corinthians bycause he had been the instrument of their conversion notwithstanding all other teachers whomsoever to whom in that respect he opposeth himselâ— as not being their fathers And so men out of office may be as wel the fathers of others as they in office However fatherhood argues no soveraignty And yet the holy Apostles Prophets thought not much vpon all occasions to account the saints their brethren and themselves theirs And I would you wist whose names Iohn Bale in his Paraphrase vpon the Revelation ch 17 vers 3. thought your Grace your Lordship your Fatherhood to be And where further you name the brethren sheep the household of faith the wife or spouse in respect of the officers for that is the consideration in hand therein you deal very deceiptfully for the brethren or saynts are not the Officers sheep houshold wife or spouse but Christs betwixt whom and them the comparison is not Lastly your affirmatioÌ„ that the saynts are called Kings Rev. 1. 6. not for any outward power over meÌ„ but for the inward power of Gods spirit saÌ„ctifying the elect by which as Kings they rule over their own corruptions is an ill glosse corrupting the text For in the same place they are called Preists also Now as they are not Preists only for themselves but for their brethreÌ„ for whom they are to offer vp the spiritual sacrifices of prayer thaÌ„ksgiving so neyther are they Kings for themselves alone but for their brethren also having the power of Christ whereby to iudge them the keyes of the kingdome to bind and loose them in the order by him prescribed These things thus layd down occasionally I return to the point And first against the figurative exposition of these words Tell the Church I do alledge two approved Rules and Canon in divinity for exposition of scriptures The former is that scriptures must be expounded according to the largest extent of the words except there be some apparent restreynt of them The second is that they must be expounded simply and according to the letter except necessity compell to depart froÌ„ the litterall sence to a figurative And therefore since there appeares not any such necessity as is pretended eyther of figure or restreynt the words must be taken in their largest and simplest meaning With these rules I desire the reader to beare in mind that which hath been formerly observed to the purpose in hand and amongst other things that the officers are to govern the Church in the ceÌ„sures as in all other actions of communion and therefore cannot be the Church that every true Ch hath or is capable of a ministery over it and so there should be a minister of ministers that the order of officers in the Church is an order of servants and the order of saynts an order of Kings which is the highest order in the Church fitting vpon the thrones of David for judgement whom the ministers are to serve in guiding going before them in and
Church though cast out for notorious wickednes for many of them hold these mayn truthes and many more yea more then Mr B. himself doth Then is the true matter of the world and lims of the Divell for such are all wicked persons whatsoever truth they professe Ioh. 8. 44. and 15. 19. Rom. 6. 16 2 Tim. 2. 26. 1 Ioh. 3. 8. 12. true matter and members of the Church They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts of â—â— Gal. 5. 24. therfore persons visibly wicked are not visibly Christs and so not visibly or in respect of men true matter of the Church or members of his body That which destroyes the Church makes it become eyther a false Church or no Church at all cannot make a true Church or be the true matter whereof it is made for these things are contrary But wicked men whatsoever they professe in word make the Church a Synagogue of Sathan and very Babylon which is an habitation of Divils and hold of all foul spirits Rev. 18. 2. provokes God to remove the candle-stick that is to dischurch a people and to spew them out of his mouth Rev. 2. 5. and 3. 16. Mr B. had need be a skilful workman which can make a true Ch of Christ of that matter which makes the true Churches planted by the Apostles themselves eyther false or no Churches at all They which are true visible matter of the Church or true visible christians have Christ for their King visibly or in outward appearance and so far as men can judge for by visible we mean that which may be seen of men opposed to invisible which onely God seeth for Christ is not devided but look to whom he is a Preist to save them a Prophet to teach theÌ„ to the same persons he is also a K. to reign rule over them but he is not a King to any ungodly ones neyther doth he but Satan and their lusts reign over them If profession in word with a wicked conversation make true matter of the Church then an apparantly a flat contradiction a known sinne that which makes men more abhominable makes them true matter of the Church For he that sayth he hath fellowship with God or beleeves in Christ and yet walkes in darknes doth ly and doth not truely 1 Ioh. 1. 6. He that professeth Christ to be his saviour and doth wickednes contradicts himself for Christ is not a saviour of the wicked sinns against the 4. coÌ„mandement in taking Gods name in vayn Other reasons might be brought for the â—â—iction of this soul prophane errour for truth vnanswerable for nuÌ„ber sufficieÌ„t to make a volume but these may suffice for the present some other I will intermingle as occasion shal be offered in the examination of that which Mr B. brings for the confirmation of his assertion For which end he sets down 4. Reasons The sum of the three first is thus much viz that Christ his Apostles preaching the gospell such as beleeved the same and made profession of it and of their faith were without stay or let received into the Church as true matter We are as farr from denying this order of gathering Churches as you are from enjoying it Mr B you needed not to have made three distinct proofs of this which no man denyes nor to have brought so many scriptures as you do for the confirmation of that which wee graunt with you and practise without you But herein you deceive the simple reader in that you separate and disioyn those things which then were and alwayes should be ioyned together and they are faith and repentance These two ioyntly did Christ himself preach and Iohn Baptist before him and the Apostles after him and these two were preached to and required of every one both man and woman which was admitted into the Church Mat. 3. 2. 6. Mark 1. 15. Act. 19. 4. Luke 13. 3. 5. 24. 47. Act. 2. 28. 8. 37. 19. 18. But now bycause faith repentance are inward graces resydeing in the hart and known to God alone which knoweth the hart and that the profession and confession of them are the ordinary meanes by which these hidden and invisible graces are manifested made visible vnto men there was no cause but they which made this profession to men in sincerity so far as men could judge should by men be deemed and acknowledged for true members of Christ and fit matter for the Lords house And so if by any other means men manifested themselves to have fayth and holynes wrought in them though they made neyther profession of faith nor confession of sinnes yet were they and so ought to be intitled and admitted to the liberties of the Church as appeareth Act. 10. 44. 46. 47. And vppon this very ground also it is that the children of the faithfull are of the Church and baptised though they make no profession of faith at all bycause the scriptures declare them to be within the gratious covenant of Gods mercy and love and vnder the promises of the gospel and so by vs to be reputed holy Gen. 6. â— 17. 7. 8. 9. 10. Deut. 29. 10. 11. 12. 13. Act. 2. 39. Rom. 11. 16. 1 Cor. 7. 14. so that it is not for the profession of faith ex opere operate or bycause the party professing vtters so many words that he is to be admitted into the Church but bycause the Church by this his profession and other outward appearances doth probably in the judgement of charity which is not causlesly suspitious deem him faithfull and holy in deed as in shew he pretendeth But that a man of a known lewd conversation appearing still to remain in his sinne whatsoever in word he professeth should be received into the Church out of which he ought to be cast though he were one of it or should have baptism administred vnto him which is as Mr B. rightly confirms from the scriptures the seale of the forgivenes of sinns of new birth of salvation being judged not to have the forgivenes of sinns nor to be born a new nor to be in the estate of salvation were a most desperate and prophane practise then which I know not whither the Divel hath brought any other into the Church more derogatory to Gods glory or prejudiciall to mans salvation This were to make the way of the kingdome of heaven broad enough by which al the Atheists in the world might enter into the Church and certaynly would every one of them if the Magistrate should vse his compulsive power as it is in Engl at this day yea a parrat might be taught to say over so many words yea the Divel himself though he were known so to be would not stick for his advantage to vtter them and so might be true matter for Mr Ber Church The material templi was to be built onely of
hath not given his holy sacraments to your congregations And where you further adde that God hath moved the harts of all the people of your congregations outwardly to receive both the word and sacraments it is one amongst the rest of your bold but bare affirmations Are there not many thowsands amongst you that vnderstand not the doctrine of the beginning of Christ the very first principles of christiaÌ„ religioÌ„ And hath God perswaded the harts of these to receive the word sacrameÌ„ts in any sence The Lord Iesus teacheth vs in the gospel that every man that doth evill hateth the light neyther commeth to light least his deeds should be reproved And yet you will haue vs beleeve that God hath perswaded the hearts of all the evill-doers amongst you not onely to come to the light but also to receive it Let your own parish Mr B stand for instance There were in it to myne own knowledge when you wrote this book that held most blasphemous errours touching the very Trinity and there are at this day as I am certaynly informed who are so moved to receive the word as that your Church-wardens are driven to spend a great part of the Lords day in hunting them from the ale-house to the temple And if this be your case what is the condition of the most congregations in the Land to which the word of God hath not so much as been offered in any indifferent measure for the moving of their harts to receive it The truth is the people are drawn in the most congregations the most of them and many in all by compulsive lawes to keep their Parish Church to heare divine service to communicate at Easter and to receive the sacraments and other rites as is commaunded in the communion book but how farre the most are from having their harts thus moved as is pretended of all to receive the word of God appeareth too evidently in that great contempt and hatred wherein they have such amongst themselves as do in any sinceritie eyther preach or professe the same To these things I may further adde that since the Lord hath given his word and sacraments to be dispensed to no people but by the meanes which he hath prescribed in his word except the English Preisthood and leitourgy were prescribed by the word of God for these ministrations even in this respect God cannot be â—ayd to have given his word and sacraments to the congregations spoken of Now although this which hath been sayd in answer to your grounds be sufficient to disprove the form of your Church as you your self Mr B. rayse it yet for your further conviction I will adde certayn Arguments to manifest and make playn that wicked and vngodly men and women are vncapable by the word of the Lord of his covenaunt and of all spirituall visible vnion with him so consequently your congregations gathered of such persons at the first and of such still consisting generally with a handfull godly minded scattered amongst them to remayn vnformed by the Lords holy covenant The Arguments are First bycause godly and wicked men are contraries as being guided and led by contrary causes the one sort by the spirit and the other by the flâ—sh which are contrary one unto another Now two contraries are not capable of one and the same form Wicked men and such as hate to be reformed are forbidden by the revealed will of God from medling with his covenant or ordinances and therefore are not by the revealed wil of God received into covenant with him or to the participation of his ordinances which are both one Since wicked men are by the word of God as you your self graunt to be excommunicated that is to be cut off from the visible vnion with Christ and his Church how can they be sayd by the same word of God to be capable of this vnion with Christ and his Church nothing can be eyther more vnreasonably affirmed or more vngodlily practised Lastly the scriptures do expressely debarre men of lewd and vngodly conversation of all fellowship vnion and communion with God If wee say that we haue fellowship with him and walk in darknes we ly and do not truely sayth the Apostle Ioh. 1. Ep 1. 6. and what fellowship sayth Paul hath righteousnes with vnrighteousnes what communion hath light with darknes and what concord hath Christ with Belâ— ill or what part hath the beleever with the vnbeleever or infidel c. 2 Cor. 6. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. The former of these scriptures is so directly against you as if it were recorded by the holy Ghost with particular respect to your errour You say that men though of a lewd conversation that is walking in darknes have visible fellowship vnion and communion with God if they professe they beleeve in Christ or so say Iohn on the contrary teacheth that they which walk in darknes have no fellowship with God though they so say but are lyars The other scripture must be further opened and inforced considering how you charge vs in your 2. book with the wretched abuse of it and labour by a long discourse to wring it out of our hands as being our speciall weapon as you say to fight for separation and to defend the same The four heads vnder which you reduce all the particulars about it I will prosequâ—te in order as they are by you layd down 1. the occasion 2. the scope 3. the matter intreated of 4. the persons spoken of For the first it is true you affirm of the Christian Corinthians going to the idol feasts in the idol temples at the bidding of their freinds and kinsfolks the heathen Corinthians which I also acknowledg to haue been the mayn and most immediate occasion of the Apostles writing as he doth but not the onely occasion There was a former occasion of that namely their marying with the vnbeleevers their vnequall yoking with them that way by which the other mischeif was occasioned amongst them as it had been with other the servants of God before them from the beginning of the world Gen. 6. 2. In which respect therefore the Lord in the law forbad the Israelites to take of the daughters of the heathen vnto their sonnes least they provoked them to go awhoring after their Gods which when they neglected and mingled themselves with Idolaters in mariage they presently fell into that monstrous mixture in religion against which the Apostle dealeth Numb 25. 1 King 11. 1. 2. 3. 4. Ezra 9. 1. 2. But where for the clearing of your selves of the very occasion you do adde that you dwell not in civill society with idolaters but vnder a Christian King and with a people professing Christ where no publick Idols are set vp nor any feasting in honour of them you follow your old fashion of bold boasting without measure or modesty Do you not live in civil society with the Idolaters Haue you
no Papists in your kingdom I may say in your Parish or are Papists become no idolaters with you as Rome was right now no false Church nor Iesuites false subiects The face of your charity Mr B. is so full set towards Rome and Papists as no marvayl though you be so vnequall towards vs as you are The truth is you are in the most streyt bond of civil society with Popish idolaters that may be Ther is nothing more common amongst them of your Church then to ioyn in mariage with them neyther is there to my knowledge amongst all your canons any one against this prophane commixture Neyther is it any thing you speak of living vnder a Christian King or with a people professing Christ for idolaters may live vnder a Christian King and professe Christ too in a measure as both many others and all antichristiaÌ„ idolaters do Yea I have formerly manifested that you live not onely in civill but even in religious society with Papists and you your self graunt as much of Atheists in the beginning of your book and will you say that visible Atheists are true visible matter of the Church and capable by the word of God of true visible fellowship and communion with Christ and the true members of his body The scope of â—e scripture followeth which say you iâ— that the beleeving Corintâ—ians may have no fellowship with the infidels and vnbeleevers to their evill works but that they reprove condemn hate and avoyd them Belike then they might haue had fellowship with them in any good work and so if any of the heathen or infidell Corinthians would haue communicated with the Christian Corinthians in the sacraments or prayer they might not haue refused their fellowship or communion herein For by your exposition the Apostle onely forbids partaking with them in evill works the works of darknes Of which more hereafter And here in our names you frame an obiection the sum whereof is that if all the godly would separate from all the wicked then there should be no wicked of the Church Vnto which you answer sundry things but how sufficiently will appear in the particulars First you say God commaunds not his to separate wholly from all the wicked but from Infidels Gentiles Idolaters Iewes Turks Papists whose very societies are to be left as no people of God Well then I perceive all religious fellowship with Papists is vnlawfull and that their societies are no people of God And how agrees this with your other affirmations that Rome is a true Church Papists true Christians though under corruptions as it was true Iob though vnder soars baptism there a true sacrament and seal of the covenaunt yet here the societies of Papists are no people of God that is in no covenant with him Or how doth this separatioÌ„ thus wholly to be made from Papists agree with that you write pag. 91. of ioyning in prayer with such Papists as though they be of the Church of Rome yet sorrow for the abhominations and as are come out from it in their soules the best part though not so in their bodyes The distinction you put between Infidels and idolaters and men of prophane life wee shall consider of in due place for your speach of all the Church falling into the estate of infidelity and so â—â—dged of the Church eyther it is without sense or I which vnderstand it not Now to that you adde of separating from the private familiarity of the wicked living in the society of the godly and that if they will not be reformed other courses are to be taken with them as their sin of obstinacy deserves I answer these things First that as there is a case wherein private withdrawing from a brother is warrantable namely when his offence is private and he privately obstinate that his sinne eyther cannot be or is not yet made publick publiquely â—vinâ—â—d so to separate from men privately and that onely for publick offences is a course without ground either of scripture or rea son You say pag. 144. that alvin so expounds 1 Cor. 5. 11. and therevpoÌ„ do take an occasion to accuse our practise as Brownisticall vs of Luciferian schisme Pharisaicall pride As I leave your raylings to be iudged by the Lord so do I give the reader to vnderstand how you grossely abuse Calvins authority who expounds that scripture as all men know it is meant of excommunicates and of mens private cariage towards them with which publick separation is also to be joyned I suppose you your self will not deny it And where you speak of an other course to be taken with wicked men that wil not be reformed you should also shew what that course is and what is to be done if that course be not taken but you have thought it a point of your wisdome to be silent in these things least by opening them too particularly you should discover your own shame The course to be taken is the censuring of such incorrigible offenders by the particular congregation whereof they are being gathered together in the name of Christ by the power of Christ with which power divine and heavenly priviledge he hath furnished his Churches every one of them as well as that one of Corinth neyther doth any true Church of Christ want this power or neglect the vse of it without sinne And if any Church of Christ would neglect to vse this power against scandalous sin manifestly proved and coÌ„vinced would obstinately continue notwithstanding all good meanes vsed to the contrary this sower leaven vnpurged out the whole lump were levened and with leven might not the Passeover be eaten And as the Church if sin do arise is first to endeavour the casting out of the sinne by the sinners repentance and if that will not be in the last place to cast out the sinne and sinner together so if the Church do wickedly bear out and boulster iniquity amongst themselves such as are faithfull are first to quit themselves of that Church-sin by testifying against it and reproving it and in the last place to quit themselves of the Church if it remayn incurable Now here you bring in certayn differences distinctions of separation but without application The first I omit as being before handled so much as concerns the present purpose The 2. difference is between the wicked remayning amoÌ„g the godly the godly being of the felowship of the wicked this differece I acknowledg withall affirm that the latter part of it notes out the estate of your nationall Church wherein a few godly mynded in comparison live in the fellowship of a wicked and sinfull nation And if persons excommunicate by the Church be not of her fellowship then certaynly the number of the godly in your fellowship is very small since your nationall Church representative the convocatioÌ„ house whose Act also pag 147. you avouch to be the Act of all the Church so to be
vnto them ever by how much the more superstitiously bent by so much the moâ—e devoutly addicted vnto them And so farre is that from truth which you say Mr Bernard that the godly and Church of God have in Popery kept possession of those buildings for the godly which should follow them that as they were erected by such as were most superstâ—tiously seduced so haue they been ever since the proper possesâ—ions of the most dangerous seducers in the Romish Synagogue the Praelates and their Clergy So that the morall equity of those commaundements in the old testiment touching the demolition and subversion of idolatrous temples and other the like superstitious monuments doth as well bynd now as then Which commaundements are also in effect renued in the new testament where the faythfull are charged to touch none vncleane thing to keep themselves from idols which they cannot do except they keep themselves from their appurtenaunces to hate even the garment spotted by the fâ—â—sh not to receive the least mark of the beast but to go out of Babylon which is also called Sodom and Aegypt spiritually as for other sinns reigning in her so for her idolatry amongst the rest which I the rather note that men may se it is not we but the holy Ghost that compares together Paganish AntichristiaÌ„ Idolatry Lastly where Mr Bernard bids vs prove that their Churches were built by Antichrist their records as Mr Ainsworth observeth vvill prove it so will their situation directly East and West with the Quyer or Chauncell alwayes at the East end and the rood-loft in the midle to separate it from the body of the Church the prophane layity their vacant places for Images abolished and their popish pictures still remayning and lastly their names even the names of the Apostles Saynts and Martyrs in whose honour they were built and to whose peculiar service thy were consecrated Thus much of the temples which is the last difference betwixt Mr B. and me and I confesse the least and this much also of his book Something remayns to be spoken of the Ministers Positions but very breifly both bycause the things in them for substance have come formerly into consideration and also bycause Mr Bernard affoards them no confirmation in his 2. book being shaken by Mr Ainsworth as they are ANd to omit the bloody doom which these Ministers passe vpon vs all contrary I am perswaded to their own consciences that wee are cut of from Christ for our separation from the Church of England I will consider breifly of their reasons to prove it a true Church THe first is bycause They enioy and ioyn together in the vse of those outward means which God in his word hath ordeyned for the gathering of an invisible Church which are preaching of the gospell and administration of the sacraments which they will prove by the vnfâ—yned conversion of many by the scriptures Math 28. 18. 20. Eph. 4. 11. 14. First the Church of Engl namely the nationall Church under a nationall government and Ministery is a popish devise the Lord having appointed none other Church vnder the new testament but a particular congregation as these Ministers truely vnderstand Mat 18. 17. with a government Ministery correspoÌ„dent 2. Before men joyne together as a Church in the fellowship of the gospell and communion of Saynts in the ordinances of God they should be prepared by the preaching of the word and fitted as spirituall stones for the Lords building so joyn in covenant by voluntary personal profession of faith confessioÌ„ of sinns from which how far the body of the nationall Church of Engl both is and ever hath been all know 3. As the sacraments are no meanes to gather eyther the visible or invisible Church but do praesuppose a CHVRCH gathered already into covenant with God of which covenaunt they are seales so doth not the Church of England ioyn together in the preaching of the doctrine of sayth which is the outward meanes for the gathering of the Church The greatest part of the parishes as they have onely the service book for prayer so have they onely the homilies for preaching And even in the Parishes where the word is best taught and the sacraments most orderly administred yet do not men joyn in the vse but in the abuse of these ordinances considering the confused coÌ„munion wherein the vsurped authority by which and the book-service according to which they are dispensed If the Ministers had onely affirmed that they had taught amoÌ„gst theÌ„ such truths of the gospel as by which the Lord might and did sanctifie save his elect or gather an invisible Church as they speak I should not contend with them but should further ad that I doubt not but such truthes are even in many assemblies of Papists and Anabaptists and to hold otherwise is a fowl cruell errour but where they speak of enioying the outward meanes and by them vnderstand the offices of Ministery which Christ hath given vnto his Church for the gathering and feeding of the same for which purpose they alledge Math. 28. 18. 20. Ephe. 4. 11. 14 I deny they enioy the outward means ordeyned for the gathering of the Ch neyther shall they ever be able to prove it except they can prove themselves lawfully and according to Christs testament possessed of some of the offices there spoken of In the 4. place I would the cause why these ministers speak of the outward meanes of gathering an invisible Church not of a visible since both the quaestion betwixt them and vs is about the visible and not about the invisible Church and also that the scriptures they bring for the justification of these meanes amongst them do speak of the meanes ministeries given not to the invisible but to the visible Church and if it be not bycause they know that if they had spoken of the means of gathering the visible Church we would and that justly have excepted that they do not enjoy nor have not so much as taught amongst them those doctrines of the gospell and that part of Christs Testament which teacheth the right orderly gathering of the visible Church by separation of the saynts from the vnsanctified world into the covenant and fellowship of the gospell by free and personall profession of fayth and confession of sinns Lastly as the preaching of the gospell is the onely outward means to gather a Church so though this meanes be vsed never so fully and men enioy it and ioyne in it never so ordinarily yet except withall they ioyne in the vnderstanding fayth obedience of and submission vnto it and that in the order which Christ hath set they are not made a Church by it according to the right vse of it but do make themselves by abusing it a conventicle of prophane vsurpers howsoever M. B. and these ministers and many others do indeed make the
196. 197. 198. 199. 200. 201. 202. 203. 204. 205. 206. 207. 208. 209. 210. 211. 212. 213. 214. 222. 223. 224. 225. 226. 227. 228 229. 230. 231. 232. 223. 234. 238. 229. 240. 241. 242. 243. 244. 245. Of popish ceremonies conformity vnto them p. 25. 27 65. Of circumstances p. 21. 2â— 33 37. and the manner of doeing things pa. 369 370. The communion in the Church most entyre p. 233. 234. Great care to be taken that it be holy and lawfull pag 133. 254. 255. Of Compulsion to religion how it hurts it pag 275. 298. 299. 300. 301. 302. 459. The Ch of Engl so therefore not rightly gathered after the Romish Apostacy pag 292. 300 301. 302. 303 304. Of Collections and Consequences p. 32. 45. Contentions alwayes in the Clâ—â— pag 55. 56. E Of the power of the Lord Iesus for excoÌ„munication the reformation of abuses pa 32 â—3 Given to every true particular Church pag 267. An essentiall property pag 347. 348. 349. 350. 351. Persons not vnder it with out p. 100. 101 Difference between it and separation p 124. F Fayth and repentance not to be stinted pa. 23. 24. All things must be done in fayth pag. 18. 28. and in things doubtfull suspend pa 19 34. Of Fundamentall truthes such as are necessary to salvation pa 31. 32. 376. 448 449. 450. 451. G The difference betwixt civil and ecclesiastical government and governours p 135. 136 137. 164 165. 166. 168. See Christs kingdom Church-government a mere Church-service p. 217. 137. 225. I. How wâ—e the Iewes one pa 196. 211. Their extraordinary priveledges p 248. No separation from that Church p. 250. Their government no pattern for ours p 174. 194. 195. 196. 197. 198. Their Synagogues not as our Churches now pa 427. Excommunication or dissynagogueing amongst them no divine spirituall and distinct ordinance p 187. 188. 189. 190. Of things indifferent p. 25. 27. their vnseasonable vse p. 36. 37. K. Keyes of the kingdome of heaven given to the whole Ch pag. 146. 147. 148. 149. 150. 152 153. in what order 399. 400. â—â—5 L. Lawes ecclesiasticall in Engl pag. 20. 21. binde and loose the conscience pag 264. 265. 39. M. Ministery left by Christ p. 192. 356. Vnlawfull Ministers not to be coÌ„municated with what truths soever they teach pa 17. 79. 80. 162. 163. Difference in the administring of doctrine and disciplyne pa 165. 151. 234. 238. The Ministery of Engl disproved and the Reasons for it answered pag 162. 163. 173. 174. 175. 265. 266. 346. 356. 357. 358. 359. 360. 361. 362 363. 364. 370. 377. 378. 379. 385. 386. 389. 390. True ordinary Ministers tyed to a particular assembly pa 393. 394. 395. True Ministers cannot be in a false Church pa 360. 361. Conversion of men to God no note of a true Minister pa 10 11 51. 69. 379. 380. 381. 382. 383. 384. 385. The Ministers in Engl all of the same constitutioÌ„ pa 351. 352. Theires and the Romish Ministery the same in respect of the office power to administer it and most of the works pa 358. 359. 411. Preaching of the gospel no part or property of the Ministery in Engl but a thing casuall p. 353. 354. 355. Of the calling of Ministers wherin the peoples right is pro ved Mr B objections answered p. 144. 145 146. 360. 361. 365. 367. 371 376. Ministers by their office not to celebrate mariage nor buâ—y the dead p. 438. 439. Their maintenance p. 439. 440. O. Of offence p. 18. 19. 37. 39. Officers not simply necessary for the publique administratioÌ„s in the Church pag 137. 138. 139 144. 165. 166. 167. The brethren out of office not mere private persons p 423. 424. Of the officers vsurpation p. 367. 368. 367. 132. 133. Ordination may in cases be performed by such as are no officers pa. 400. 401. 402 423. Ordination Baptism vnâ—â—tly compared p 413. See Baptism P Praetence of peace pa 13. 14. 15. Of pollution by other menns â—â—nns and how it comes pag. 244. 245. 249 254 256 259. Of preaching or publishing the gospel pa 70. 71. 72. 73. The true Church gathered by it onely See Church How a note of the Church See word The coÌ„stitutioÌ„ of the Church it deceitfully opposed p. 37. See Church Of profession of fayth prosessours p. 7. Profession makes not a Church pag. 452. The profession of fayth required by the scriptures p 90. 91. 270 271. 272. 274. That in Engl compared with it p. 58. 91. 274. 275. 316. 450. 451. Of prophesying out of office p. 235 238. R Reformation to begin at our selves so to passe to others p. 24. 133. Praeposterous reformation in Engl made and desired pa 300. 301. The people interessed in the reformation of publique scandalls in their Church in their places as well as the officers p. 142. 143. 164. 165 170. 242. 343. as also in other Church affayres p. 190. 200 201 204. See OrdinatioÌ„ Mat. 18. 17. exp S. Sacraments do not constitute a Church but presuppose a Ch constituted pa 91. 283. 284. how notes of the Church p. 317. 342. 343. 344. not given by the Lord to any parish Ch in Engl p. 319. 320 Of their Ministration in England p. 91. 92. 93. 425. Of Saints saintship p. 107. 108 1. 1. Of succession see Ordination T Of the Temples by Mr Bern called their Churches p. 440. 441. 442 443. 445. 446. W. How the Word of God makes notes out the Church p. 89 315. 447. Of the Worship in the Church of Engl p. 424 425. 426. 427. 429. 430. The vse of their devised leitourgy is not the true manner of worshipping God neyther can Mr. Ber or the Ministers justify it pa 425. 426. 428. 429. 466. to the end Errata  pag. l. For contradictions read contraries pag. 42. l. 20. For approbation read exprobration 62. 15. for svvord read head 89. 21. read with Zerubbabel 94. 29. for discharged read dischurched 107. 6. for discharging read dischurching 128. 19. for Ioseph r Pharaoh 175. 17 for of read or 176. 27. for quality r quantity 195. 36. for endeavours r endeavourers 209. last line for false read true 359. 1. for Eph r Epist 422. 25. r be in the 433. 16. for the read your 435. 9. r would not allow 435. 16. for praeservation r prevention 443. 14 r would know the 446. 26. for converted r vnconverted 457. 34. for Papists r popish 465. 12. The Printer to the Reader I Gentle Reader Sundry other faults in the printing are escaped in words letters poynts wherof some shal be amended to thy hands the rest in the reading help thy self by the sense or otherwise Impute not the Printers faults to the Authour but recken the most and greatest myne and the least and smallest his Rev. 3. 16. †Levit. 9. 24. 1 King 18. 38. †◠Thes. 5. â—1 I. II. * Ier. 24. â— 2. 3. two baskets III. †Prov. 24. 23. * â—â—m 2.
over Gods heritage as you would make them controuling all but to be controuled by none much lesse essentiall vnto the Church as though it could not be without them least of all the Church it self as you and others expound Math. 18 But we hold the Eldership as other ordinances given vnto the Church for her service and so the Elders or officers the servants and ministers of the Church the wife vnder Christ her husband aâ— the scriptures expresly affirm Of which more hereafter And where further you advise the reader to take from the Iay other birds feathers that is as you expound your self to set vs before him as we differ from all other Churches Therein you make a most inconsiderate and vnreasonable motion If a man should set the Church of England before his eyes as it differeth but from the reformed Churches it would be no very beautiful bird Yea what could it in that colour afforde but Egyptian bondage Babylonish confusion carnal pomp and a company of Iewish Heathenish and Popish ceremonies Whatsoever truth is in the world it is from God and from him we have it by what hand soever it be reached vnto vs Came the word of God unto you onely vnto it we have good right as the Israel of God unto whom he hath committed his oracles Rom. 3. 2. Towards the end of the Preface you do render two reasons vpon which you do adventure to deal against vs as you do the one coÌ„fidence in your cause the other the spirituall injury which some of late have done you in taking away part of the seale of the Ministery Touching the first as it is to vs that know you wel no new thing to see you confident in all enterprises so doth it much behoove you to consider how long and by what meanes you have been possessed of this your confident perswasion I could name the person of good credite and note to whom vpon occasion you confessed and that since you spake the same things which here you write as confidently as now you write them that you had much a doe to keep a good conscience in dealing against this cause as you did But a speach of your own vttered to my self ever to be remeÌ„bred with fear and trembling can not I forget when after the conference passing betwixt Mr H. and me you vttered these wordes Wel I wil returne home preach as I have done and I must say as Naaman did the Lord be merciful unto me in this thing and therevpon you further promised with out any provocation by me or any other that you would never deale against this cause nor with-hold any froÌ„it though the very next Lords day or next but one you taught publikliâ— against it and so broke your vâ—w the Lord graunt not you conscience And for the seale of your Ministerie deceive not yourself and others if you had not a more authentick seal in your black box to shew for your Ministery at your Bishops visitation then the converting of men to God which is the seal you meane this seale would stand you in as little stead as it doth many others which can shew as â—â—â—re this way as you and yet are put from their Ministerie notwithstanding And wil you charge your Bishops Church representative to deale so trecherously with the Lord as to put downe his Ministers and Officers which have his broad seal to shew for their Office and Ministerie What greater contumely do these vipers these schismaticall Brownists lay vpon your Church then you doe herein The Church of England acknowledgeth no such seale as this is The Bishops ordination and license conformitie vnto their ceremonies subscription to their articles devout singing and saying their service-book is that which will beare a man out though he be far enough eyther from converting or from preaching conversion vnto any And here I desire the reader to observe this one thing with me When the ministers are called in quaestion by the Bishops they alledge vnto them their former subscription conformity in some measure at least their peaceable cariage in their places but when they would iustify their ministerie against vs then their vsuall plea is they haue converted men to God herein acknowledging to let passe their vnsound dealing that we respect the work of Gods grace in any at which they know the Bishops and their substitutes if they should plead the same with them would make a mock for the most part I do most freely acknowledge the singular blessing of God vpon many truthes taught by many in the Land and do and alwayes shal so far honour those persons as the Lord hath honoured them herein But that the simple conversion of sinners yea though the most perfect that ever was wrought should argue a true office of Ministerie the scriptures no where teach neyther shall I ever beleeve without them This scripture 1 Cor. 9. 1. 2. is most frequently alledged for this purpose But as vnsoundly as commonly For if simple conversion should argue an Apostleship then should a common effect argue a proper cause an ordinarie work an extraordinarie office for the conversion of men is a work common to extraordinarie and to ordinarie officers yea to true and false officers yea to such as are in no office at all as hereafter shall appeare And what could be more weakly alledged by Paul to prove himself no ordinarie but an extraordinary officer an Apostle which was the thing he intended then that which is common to ordinary officers with him Might not the Corinthians easily have replyed Nay Paul it followes not that you are an Apostle immediately called and sent by Christ because you haue begotten vs to the Lord have been the instrument of our coÌ„versioÌ„ for ordinary Ministers Pastors Teachers called by men do beget to the Lord as wel as you The bare conversion of the Corinthians then is not the seal Paul speakes of but together with it their establishment into a true visible Church and that with such power and authority Apostolicall as wherewith Paul was furnished by the Lord. Of which more hereafter But the father of these childreÌ„ you say you are which thus vnnaturally fly from you and whereof we so injuriously have deprived you in which respect also you make this your hue cry after vs and them for through the gospel you have begotten them And have you begotten them vnto the faith as Paul did the Corinthians and are you their father as Paul was the father of the Corinthians then it must needs follow that before you preached the gospel vnto them and thereby begot them to the Lord they were in the same estate wherein the Corinthians were before Paul preached vnto them that is unbeleevers and without faith and so were to be reputed And how then true matter of the Church for which you so much contend Besides these your begotten children were baptised long before you saw their faces some twenty
fashion vs Mr B. and all others may see the dissimilitude betwixt them vs in the refutation of that supposed consimilitude A third evill for which Mr B. would bring our cause into suspition is The matter of defending our opinions and proving our assertions by strange and forced expositions of scriptures Where he also notes in the margent that the truth needs no such ill means to mainteyne it What the means are by which the Prelacy against which we witnes is mainteyned all men know The flattering of superiours the oppressing of inferiours the scoffing reviling imprisoning persequuting vnto banishment and death of such as oppose it are the weapoÌ„s of the Prelates warfare by which they defend their tottering Babel And were it not for the arm of â—lesh by which they hold and to which they trust they and their pomp would vanish away like smoke before the wynde so little weight have they or theyrs in the consciences of any But let us see wherin we mislead the reader by deceiptful allegations of scriptures 1. In quoting scriptures by the way that is for things coÌ„ming in upon occasion but nothing to the mayne poynt c. And wherefore is this deceiptfull dealing thus to alleadge the scriptures Because the simple reader is hereby made beleve that all is spokeÌ„ for the question controverted He is simple careles also that wil not search the scriptures before he beleve that they ar brought to prove if he any way suspect it which who so doth can not be deceived as is here insinuated It were to be wished we both spake and wrote the language of Canaan and none other and not onely to vse but even to note the scripture phrase soberly may be to the information and edification of the reader 2. By vrging commandements admonitioâ—s exhortations dehortations reprehensions and godly examples to prove a falsity What is falsity but that which is contrary to truth and so the word of God being truth whatsoever is contrary vnto any part of it whither commaundement admonition exhortation c. is false so far forth as it is contrary The similitude you take from a naturall child who for his disobedience is not to be reputed a false child but no good child is like the rest of the your similitudes The proportion holds not Men may have such children as ever were are and wil be disobedient to their dying day yet they remayn theyr children whether they will or no but if any of Gods childâ—en prove disobedient and will not be disclaymed he can dischilde them for bastards as they are and the true children of the Divil Ioh. 8. 44. 3. In alledging Scriptures not to prove that for which to the simple it seems to be alledged but that which is without controversy taking the thing in questioÌ„ for granted For this I take to be his meaning though he expresse it ill The instance he brings of one of vs cyting Act. 20. 21. to prove that all truth is not taught in the Church of England is I am perswaded if not worse mistaken by him For who would bring Pauls example to shew what the Ministers of England do and not rather what they should do what they do is knowne well enough and how both they in preaching the will of God and the people in obeying it are stinted at the Bishops pleasure 4 By bringing in places setting forth the invisible Church and holynesse of the members to set forth the visible Church by as being proper thereto as 1 Pet. 2. 9. 10. That the Apostle here speaketh not of the invisible but of the visible Church appeareth not by our bare affirmation which we might set gaynst Mr B. naked contradiction yea though he bring in D. Allison in the margent to countenance the matter but by these reasons 1. Peter being the Apostle of the Iewes wrote vnto them whose Apostle he was vvhom he knew dispersed through Pontus Galatia c. 1 Pet. 1. 1. But Peter was not the Apostle of the invisible but of the visible Church which he knew so dispersed where the invisible Church is onely knowne unto God 2 Tim. 2. 19. 2. The Apostle vseth the words of Moses to the visible Church of the Iewes Ex. 19. 6. which do therefore well agree to the visible Church vnder the gospell whose excellency graces and holynes do surmount the former by many degrees 3. Peter wrytes to a Church wherein were Elders and a flock depending vpoÌ„ them to be fed governed by them 1 Pet â— 1. 2. 3. which to affirm of the invisible Church is not onely a visible but even a palpable error 4. The Apostle wrytes to them which had the word preached amongst them Chap. 1. 25. And this Mr B. himselfe pag. 118. 119. makes a note and testimony of the visible Church and to that pupose quotes the former chap. v. 23. as he doth also this very chap. ver 5. which is the same with v. 9. 10. to prove the form of the visible Church And thus I hope it appeares to all men vpon what good groundes this man thus boldly leadeth vs with deceiptfull dealing in the scriptures And this instance I desire the reader the more diligeÌ„tly to observe as being singled out by Mr B. as a pickt witnes against vs countenanced by D. Allisons concurring testimony but especially because it poynts out the Apostolick Churches clean in contrary colours to the English Synagogues being vnholy and prophane and this is the cause why Mr B. and others are so loth to haue this Scripture ment of the visible Church 5. By inferences and references as if this be one this must follow and this Mr B. calles a deceiveable and crooked waye for the intangling of the simple To this I have answered formerly and do agayne answer that necessary consequences inferences are both lawfull necessary If Mr B. had to deale with a Papist agaynst Purgatory or with an Anabaptist for the baptizing of Infants he should be compelled except I be deceived to draw his arrowes out of this quiver And what are consequences regulated by the word which sanctifieth all creatures but that sanctified vse of reason wil any reasonable man deny the vse and discourse of reason If all the things which Iesus did had been written the world could not have conteyned the books if all the dutyes which ly vpon the Church to performe had been written in expresse termes as Mr B. requires a world of worlds could not contayne the books which should have been written Neyther are inferences references iustly made any way to be accounted wyndings but playne passages to the truth troden before vs by the Lord Iesus and all his holy Apostles which scarce alledge one scripture of three out of Moses and the Prophets but by way of inference as all that will may see But the truth is Mr Bern. hath
so many times been driven to so grosse absurdities by a consequence or two about this cause as he vtterly abhorrs the very memory of all coÌ„sequences it seems would have it enacted that never consequence should be more vrged To conclude whatsoever it pleaseth this man to suggest the mayne grounds for which we stand touching the coÌ„munion government ministery and worship of the visible Church are expresly conteyned in the scriptures and that as we are perswaded so plainly that as like Habbakuks vision he that runnes may read them The 4. guesse against vs is That we have not the approbation of any of the reformed Churches for ouâ— course and that where our Confession of faith is without allowance by them they give on the contrary the right hand of fellowship to the Church of England This is the same in substance with the first instance of probability and that which foloweth in the next place the same with them both And Mr Bern. by his so ordinary pressing vs with humane testimonies shewes himself to be very barren of divine authority as hath bene truely noted by another Nature teacheth every creature in all daunger to fly first and oftenest to the chief instruments eyther of offence or defence wherin it trusteth as the But to his horne the Bore to his tusk and the byrd vnto her wing right so this man shewes wherein his strength lies and wherein he trusts most by his so frequent and vsuall shaking the horne and whetting the tusk of mortall mans authority against vs. But for the reformed Churches the truth â—s they neyther do imagine no nor wil easily be brought to beleeve that the frame of the Church of England stands as it doth neyther have they any mind to take knowledge of those things or to enter into examination of them The approbation which they give of you as Mr A. hath observed as indeed it is of speciall observation is in respect of such generall truthes of doctrine as wherein we also for the most part acknowledge you which notwithstanding you deny in a great measure in the particulars and practise But touching the gathering governing of the Church which are the mayn heads coÌ„troverted betwixt you vs they give you not so much as the left haÌ„d of fellowship but do on the contrary turne their backs vpon you The difference betwixt you and them in the gathering and constituting of Churches is as great as betwixt copulsive conformity vnto the service book and ceremonyes which is your estate and voluntary submission vnto the gospell by which all every member of them is ioyned to the Church and as is betwixt the reigne of one Lord Bishop over many Churches and the government of a Presbytery or company of Elders over one And if you would take viewe of this difference nearer home do but cast your eyes to your next neyghbours of Scotland there you shall see the most zealous Christians chusing rather to loose liberty country and life then to stoop to a far more easy yoke then you bear Yea what need I send you out of your owne horizon The implacable mortall hatred the Prelates bear vnto the Ministers and people wishing the government and Ministery receaved in the reformed Churches proclaymes aloud the vtter emnity betwixt them your vnreformed Church of England of which I pray you hear with patience what some of your own have testified Those that will needs be our Pastors and spirituall fathers are become beasts as the Prophet Ieremy sayth And if we should open our mouthes to sue for the true shepheards and overseers indeed vnto whose direction we ought to be committed the rage of these wolves is such as this endeavour would almost be the price of our lives And do these Churches like sisters go hand in hand together as is pretended Now for vs where Mr B. affirmeth that wee published our confession but without allowance if I saw not his frowardnes in the things he knowes I should marvayl at his bouldnes in the things whereof he is ignorant we published the confessioÌ„ of our fayth to the Christian Vniversityes in the low countryes and els where entreating them in the Lord eyther to convince our errours by the word of God if so any might be found or if our testimony in theyr iudgments agreed with the same word to approve it eyther by wryting or silence as they thought good Now what Vniversity Church or person amongst them hath once enterprized our conviction which without doubt some would have done as with such haeretiques or schismatiques as arise amongst them had they found cause Thus much of the learned abroad in the next place Mr B. drawes vs to the learned at home from whose dislike of vs he takes his fifth Likelyhood which he thus frameth The condemnation of this way by our divinâ—s both living and dead against whom either for godlynes of life or truth of doctrine otherwise theâ— for being theyr opposites they can take no exception No mervayl we may not admit of partyes for iudges how is it possible we should be approved of them in the things wherein we witnes against them And if this Argument be good or likely then is it likely that neyther the reformists have the truth in the Church of England nor the Prelates for there are many and those both godly and learned which in their differences do oppose and that very vehemently the one the other Now as for myne owne part I do willingly acknowledge the learning godlynes of most of the persons named by Mr B. do honour the very memory of some of them so do I neyther think theÌ„ so learned but they might erre nor so godly but in their error they might reproch the truth they saw not I do indeed confesse to the glory of God and myne owne shame that a long tyme before I entered this way I took some tast of the truth in it by some treatises published in iustificatioÌ„ of it which the L. knoweth were sweet as hony vnto my mouth and the very principall thing which for the tyme quenched all further appetite in me was the over-valuation which I made of the learning and holynes of these and the like persons blushing in my selfe to have a thought of pressing one hayr bredth before them in this thing behynde whom I knew my selfe to come so many miles in all other things yea and even of late tymes when I had entered into a more serious consideration of these things and according to the measure of grace received serched the scriptures whether they were so or no and by searching found much light of truth yet was the same so dimmed and overclouded with the contradictions of these men and others of â—he like note that had not the truth been in my heart as a burning fyre shut vp in my bones Ier. 20. 9. had never broken those bonds of â—lesh and blood wherein I was so
places And if the order which Christ hath left in his Church be so vyle in Mr B. eyes in comparison of his vnorderly preaching what can he say for his Lords the Bishops which for the orders devised by themselves by their forefathers of Rome thrust out of so many Churches the ordinance of preaching A man would think Mr B. zeal should find room enough at home and in his owne Church and not thus pursue beyond the â—â—as a poore company of despised and dispersed people But to the very poynt which Mr B. drives at There is not one scripture alledged by him which iustifyes the preaching of the gospell out of a true much lesse in a false constitution They do all and every one of them necessarily presuppose the same howsoever he would separate the things which God hath ioyned together Take one for example and that such a one as he makes a pillar in his building It is written and so by him alledged Psa. 147. 19. 20. He shewed his word vnto Iacob his statutes and his iudgments vnto Israell He hath not so dealt with every nation c. Here sayth Mr B. the Lord preferrs his word before a constitution as a testimony of his speciall love But vntruly For in this very place the Lord prefers a constitution before his word statutes and iudgments as the cause why he gave them For wherefore did the Lord shew his word vnto Iaakob his statutes iudgments vnto Israel but because of their constitution that is because Israel was the Lords peculiar people separated from all other nations and received by the Lord into covenant as no other nation was Lev. 26. â—4 14. Exod. 19. 5. 6. Deut. 19. 10. 11. 12. c. with RoÌ„ 3. 2. 9. 4. Act. 2. 39. 3. 23. how profanely soever this man doth debase and vilify the true constitution of the Church which he is like never to enioy as Esau did the byâ—thright wherewith the Lord never meant to honour him Gen. 2â— 32. 33. And amongst other debasements of the constitution of the Church he affirmeth pag 55. that though an orderly proceeding ought to be had yet that at no hand for want therof preaching ought to be left of to this end pag. 53. and 54. he violently haleth into the same guilt with himselfe the brethren of the dispersion Act. 8. 1. 4. 12. whom he chargeth in preaching the word not to have stood vpâ—n every speciall poynt in entering so orderly vnto the work But as theyr enterance was most orderly for that being of a true constituted Church at Ierusalem dispersed by persequution they published the gospel in every place where they came as any member of the Church may do as grace is ministred and occasion offered so is it on the otherside a Babylonish presumption for any man vnder any praetence whatsoever to enterprise the preaching of the gospell or any other work disorderly The Apostle speaking especially of prophecying expresly commaunds that all things be done according to order how then dare any petty Pope or proctor of Babylon dispence with or plead for disorder in this or any other ministration in the Church The last and highest degree of our vncharitablenes he reckons this that we are sorry and envious that the good things of God do prosper with them that the more religious men be in their way the more are we greived and to this end he pretends Mr Barrowes abusing and scoffing at the graces of God and holy exercises in such persons As we hold our selves bound to acknowledge all good things in all men and to honour them accordingly 1 Pet. 2. 17. So must I here demaund of Mr B. as another hath done before me what those good things are which so prosper Onely the Prelates prosper in the kingdome who with theyr ceremonious hornes canons beat batter down all that stands in their way Of their prosperity against the truth we are sory but not envious being taught not to envy the works of iniquity considering what suddayn and certayne desolation shall fall vpon them Psal. 37. 9. 10. And by the way where Mr B. takes it for graunted that the reformists are the most religious in the way of the Church of England it is cleane otherwise The most absolute Formalists most strict vrgers of conformity are the most religious in the way of the Church of England And as for the reformists theyr zeale to speak as the truth is and as shall hereafter more fully be manifested is not in nor for the way of the Church of England but a by path from it which the Church of England considered in the formall constitution of it accounteth schism and rebellion but rather the same way in effect which we walk if they were true to theyr own grounds and durst practise what they have professed in theyr supplications and admonitions to the Prince and Parliament other their vnder hand passages wherein they do playnly condemn the Prelacy for Antichristian the service book as superstitious the mixture of all sortes of people as confused and so of the rest And this Mr B. iustifyeth the obiections which you would so gladly prevent pag. 57. made by your brethreÌ„ in the faith for so are the worst of them the prophane and secure worldlings and Athiests that men paynfull and conscionable in their Ministery and lives do breed and further as you speak Brownistes and Brownisme For proof hereof I will here insert a few things written published both in former and latter tymes by such men as I dare say Mr B. reckens amongst the painefull conscionable Ministers Their words are these We have an Antichristian Popish ordering of Ministers strange froÌ„ the word of God never heard of in the primitive Church but taken out of the Popes shop to the destruction of Gods kingdome 2. Adm. to the Parl. The names and offices of Archbishops Archdeacons Lordbishops c. are together with their goverment drawen out of the Popes shop Antichristian divelish and contrary to the scriptures Parsons Uicars Parish Preists Stipendaryes c. be byrds of the same fether 2. Admo to the Parliament The callings of Archbishops Bishops with all such be raâ—â—er members and parts of the whore and strumpet of Rome then of the pure Uirgin and spouse of the immaculate Lamb. Mr Ch. Serm. vpon Rom. 12. The calling of Bishops and Archbishops do onely belong vnto the Kingdome of Antichrist Discovery of D. Ban. slaunders pag. â—0 Our Diocesan and Provinciall Churches vsing Diocesan and Provinciall goverment and officers are contrary to Gods word and simply vnlawfull Mr Iakob for reformation Ass 1. There is no true visible Church of Christ but a particular congregation onely Christian Offer Prop. 4. Every true visible Church of Christ or ordinary assembly of the faithfull hath by Christs ordinance power in it selfe imediately vnder Christ to elect to ordayne deprive and depose theyr Ministers and to
exequute all other Ecclesiasticall Censures Ibid Prop 5. The visible Church of Christ wheresoever it be hath the power of bynding and loosing annexed vnto it as our saviour Christ teacheth Math. 18. Discovery of D. Ban. slaunders Preface We must needs say as followeth that this book viz the Communion book is an vnperfect book culled and picked out of that Popish dunghill the masse book full of al abhominations Adm to Parl. Treat 2. Amongst vs the holy sacraments are communicated with the Papists the holy misteryes of God prophaned the Gentiles enter into the temple of God the holy things are indifferently communicated with the clean and vncleane circumcised and vncircumcised A plaine declaration of ecclesiasticall discipline pag. 172. Now let the indifferent reader iudge whether these sayings with many moe of the like kinde do not most necessarily conclude yea naturally beget a separation frō the goverment Ministery worship and communion of the Church of England and whether these men in thus wryting have not opened the dore vnto vs by which themselves enter not To the further charge of vncharitablenes layd against vs as being glad when they contend amongst themselves never praying for the peace welfare of the ministery c. I do answere that we reioyce for all peace in truth amongst all men but for peace in iniquity which is a wicked conspiracy and fearful judgment of God we reioyce not we pray not Let Mr B. aske the godly Ministers with whose supply he backs his book whither they reioice in his other mens peaceable subscription conformity or whither they could not rather have wished they had contended against the same yea let me ask Mr B. himselfe whither he reioyce in the peace of the representative Church of England the Convocation house and in theyr vnanimous consent in framing and imposing their canons and constitutions or whither he would not rather clap his wings and craw for ioy if the two Archprelates with the rest of theyr horned Clergy there would oppose and crosse one another And let me ask him yet further for the wellfare of which order of Ministery he would have vs pray or whither he himselfe pray for the welfare of the Bishops except it be sometymes before theyr faces And for vs to pray for the inferiour Ministery and not for the prelacy is to dally with God and to blesse the branch and not the root And in alledging as you do Act. 11. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. to prove that holy men have reioyced for the people receaving of the gospel and not at theyr standing in a constitution you do injuriously separate things to be conioyned For the same persons that received the gospell ioyned themselves in a constitution or constituted Church as appeareth ver 26. And it is expresly sayd Act. 2. 41. that they that receaved the word were added to the Church and being baptised they must needs be of a Church for baptism is not without but within the Church and an ordinance given unto it And how profanely bould soever you Mr B. are to blaspheme the tabernacle of God which he hath pitcht amongst men or visible Church framed according to the pattern given by a greater then Moses yet is it good for vs to consider what the H. Ghost noteth in the last verse of the forenamed Chap. that the Lord added to the Church from day to day such as should be saved Neyther can you possibly produce one example or other proof in the scriptures of one man teaching the gospell but he was a member of a true Church nor receiving it but he ioyned vnto one And for the man that cast out Divels in Christs name but followed him not Mark 9. 39. he can no way help you for what purpose soever you alledge him For first he was a member of a true constituted Church the the Church of the Iewes which was yet vndissolved 2. he had no office but a gift 3. his gift and calling to vse it was extraordinary and miraculous Now for our love towards you wherein you blame vs as defective it is the same in generall which we beare towards all men and more speciall according to the speciall bonds betwixt vs and you and towards many very great both for the many good things we know to be in them and vnder the hope also of their further progresse And for our prayers as it is true that wee cannot pray for you as visible members of Gods Church for God never gathered Church of the visible and apparent members of the Divel as the greatest part of yours were are so is it vnjustly infinuated against us that wee pray no otherwise for you thē for Papists Atheists and the like We pray for the perfecting of Gods work in you and that as we think many of you his people in Babylon so you may come out of her Our next brand of vncharitablenes is our accustomary excommunications even for light offences in some albeit others obstinate can be let passe And to prove this he quotes Mr George Iohnson Mr White the former an excommunicate himself whom Mr B. also pag. 35. of his book calls a disgraceful libeller the other an vngodly apostate whose accusations have been answered one by one A fit evidence for such a plea and plaintife But if Mr B. knowing the fashions of the Church of England had but once remembred the saying of the Lord Iesus Mat. 7. 3. 4. 5. he would never have accused other Ch of vncharitable and rash excommunications which if they be a mote in the Church of Amsterdam are a beam in the Church of England wherein there is more daunger of excommunication to them that feare God then to any other flagitious persons whomsoever Indeed no man can challendge Mr B. his Church of Worxsop for any such heady and rash excommunications they are very moderate this way and can beare in communion with them any graceles person whomsoever til his dying day and then commit ful charitably the body of their deceased brother to the grave with a devout prayer for his joyfull resurrection so charitable are they both to the living and the dead But the thing which most grieves Mr B and at which he hath greatest indignation Pag. 62. is that we will not heare his sermons though he preach nothing but the true word of God And so he desires to heare of vs where the hearing of the true word of God onely preached is sinn and for bidden by Christ or the Prophets or Apostles For answer hereof I would know first whether Mr B. speaking here and in many other places of the true word of God do meane that God hath a true word and a false word or rather bewray not an accusing conscience that they in England have not the word truely taught that is in a true office of Ministery Now for the demaund referring the reader for more full satisfaction to that which hath bene published
that can be brought but because they are yours which notwithstanding I am perswaded neyther you nor any other can satisfie And if Mr B. himselfe thus wryte and speak in private why blames he vs for our publique testimony Now if the Bishops be Antichristian and so the spirit of Divils Rev. 16. 14. why might not Mr Barrow affirm theyr Ministery and ministration to be of and by the Divill and what are they but eyther the tayl or some other lim of the beast And for theyr excommunications by name it is evident by this they are not of God for that the most religious in the kingdome make least account of them For theyr Luciferian pryde whereof Mr Barrow accuseth them it is apparant they burden the earth threaten the heavens with it for their hateful Symony both in giving and receiving they are so notorious as the best service Mr B. can do them in this case is to turn mens thoughts from those evils which every ey sees every heart abhorrs Towching the Ghost the Bishop gives in his blasphomous imitation of Christ Ioh. 20. 22. except contrary to the rule in nature nihil dâ—â— quod non habet he can give that he hath not it is not very likely he should give the Holy Ghost why then might not Mr Barrow call it an vnholy Ghost And for the Bible in the Bishops hands which he gives his Preists in ordination Mr Barrow calls it the libell not in contempt of the book but in reproof of the ceremony that iustly since the Lord never appointed the scriptures for any such vse nor any such ceremony in the ordination of his Ministers Christ and the Apostles would have such Ministers ordeyned as have the Bibles in their hearts the Bishops of England to supply this want give it into the hands of their Preists which they think sufficient though in truth the most of them are more vsed to handle a paire of cardes vpon an alebench then the holy bible Your Patrons Mr Barrow calles great Baals Lord Patrons and iustly in respect of that Lordly power they vse in obtruding their Clerks vpon the Parish assemblies your ministers yea all and every one of them Preists which is their proper name given them both in your book of ordination and coÌ„mon prayer your Deacons half-preists according to the nature of their office betwixt which the Deacons office in the new testament Act. 6. 1. 2. 3. 4. there is no consimilitude For the other more harsh termes wherewith he enterteynes such persons and things in the Church as carry with them most appearance of holynes they are to be interpreted according to his meaning and a distinction vsed by Mr B. in another place is here to be applyed Which is that Mr Barrow speaks not of these persons and things simply but in a respect so so considered so no one terme given by Mr Barrow to my knowledg but may at the least be tolerated The Ministers as they receive the wages of vnrighteousnes oâ— counsayl to spiritual fornication are Bâ—lâ—â—mites in respect of thâ—ir office vowed to destruction Cananites as they plead for confusion Babylonish divines as they endeavour to stay Gods people in Egypt spiritually so called Egyptian inchaunters as they are members of the Hierarchy 〈◊〉 of the Divel by vertue whereof he bear great sway as the reformists amongst you have expresly testifyed And for your very divine exerciseâ— of prayer preaching sacrâ—â—â—tâ— suâ—ging of psalâ—s howsoever they be good holy in theÌ„selves or at leasâ— have much good in them yet in respect of the vnhallowed coÌ„munion forgâ—d ministâ—ry and superstitious order wherein these and all other things with you are ministred and exercised they are lyable to the heaviest censure Mr Barrow hath put vpon them And for the most forward preachers in the kingdom considering their vnsound and broken courses in denying that in deed and practise which in wâ—rd and writing they profâ—sse to be the revealâ—d will oâ— God and inviolable testament of Christ binding his Church for ever yea and practising the contrary in the face of the sâ—nne commiâ—tâ—â—g two evils forsaking the Lord the fountayne of lâ—ving water to dig themselves broken pitâ—s which will hold no water yea not onely refusing themselves to enter into the kingdome of God the Church but also hindering them that would persecuting them that do and lastly considering them in their vnconscionable defence for their own standings and practises as that onely the godly in the parish are of the Church with them that they hold and vse their ministery by the acceptation of the people and not by the Bishops that they obey the Bishops in their citations suspensions excommunications and absolutions aâ— they are civil magistrates and â—he like they do deserve a sharper medicine then happily they are willing to endure Yea the very personall graces of knowledge zeale pâ—â—ience the like manifested in many both ministers and people are most vniustly perverted and misused to the obduration and hardening both of the persons themselves others in most deceivable wayes wherein the deepest mistery of iniquity and most effectuall delusion of Satan that can be worketh as is by Mr Barrow and others clearly discovered But that Mr Barrow should say that the preaching of Gods word â—â—e spirits effectuall working should make men the children of hell and two fold â—orse then bâ—fore is a great slaunder and could not possibly enter into his or any other godly mans heart And so I leave these and the like more vnsavoury-seeming speaches of Mâ— Barrow to the wise and Christian readers charitable interpretation The last rank of Mr B. reasons followeth which respect the matter of our sepâ—â—â—tion by him called schisme which how materiall they are shall appeare in their place Our first errour according to his reckoning is They hold that the constitution of our Church is a falsâ— constitution And let vs see how strongly your answer forces vs from this our hold 1. Arg. They cannot prove this simply by any playne doctrine of scripture and that which they would prove is but onely respectively and so may any thing and their Church also be condemned 2. Arg. It is against the evidence of the scriptures which maketh the word externall profession and sacraments the visible constitution c. That you then affirm in the first place is that wee cannot prove this simply by any playne doctrine wherein you do half confesse that wee do it by iust consequence though not by playne doctrine wholly that respectively and so so considered as you speak your coÌ„stitution is false And thus you say any thing may be condemned But first it is not true that any thing may be condemned after this sort The constitutioÌ„ of the Ch Apostolike could in no coÌ„sideration be condemned neyther could ours to our knowledge being according to that pattern how weakly soever we walk in it Secondly
the constitution even of Rome as now it stands is not simply false but onely in this that respect So far as it separates fro heathenish Idolatry Idolaters vnto the true God reteynes any truthes of God remaynders of Christs testament so far it is not false or feyned and yet is her present constitution false she vncapable of the Lords covenant To come nearer the matter The constitution of the Church is the orderly collection and coniunction of the sayncts into in the covenant of the new Testament 〈◊〉 the saynts are the matter the covenant the form from which two concurring the Church ariseth and is by them constituted Now for the word it is an outward instrument preparing and preserving the matter but no more the constitution of the Church then the ax is the coÌ„stitution or frame of the house and for externall profession it manifests the fitnes of the matter for the form and by it the saynts enter covenant which covenant also the sacraments confirm as sâ—ales annexed to that end And where Mr B. affirmeth we cannot prove their Church coÌ„stition false by any playn doctrine of scripture we will consider the scriptures he himself alledgeth and the doctrine of them which as so many touchstones do discover the counterfeyt constitution of the same The word saith he is the constitution of the Church His meaning is or should be at the least that the word is the ordinary outward meanes for the collecting and constituting of the Church of God I graunt it But how considered Not the word in mens bibles alone for then all the Haeretiques in the world are true Ch nor yet the word preached simply for Paul preached the word to the scoffing Athenians to the blasphemous Iewes yet I think he will not say that eyther the one or the other were Churches truly constituted How then the word published vnderstood beleeved and obeyed outwardly at the least as the spirituall sword or ax hewing the stones in the rock and trees in the forrest and preparing them to be the Lords spirituall house And thus much the very places produced by Mr B like Golyahs sword drawn out to cut off his owne sword do evidently declare Math. 28. 19. which is the first place shewes that such as by preaching of the word were made disciples for so much the word importeth were to be gathered into the Church baptised Mar. 16. 15. shewes the same especially if you adde vers 16. inferring that men by preaching must beleeve and so beleeve as they have the promise of salvation which I note the rather to shew the vanity of that verball profession in a profane conversation which els where Mr B. makes so much of The places 2 Cor. 5. 19. 11. 2. cited by you do prove that the worâ— of reconciliation and ministery of the gospell beleeved obeyed to the forgivenes of sinns and to the preparation sanctification of the Church to Christ is the means of gathering and building vp the same to which that of Iob. 33. 23. 24. consorteth The two places Act. 2. 14. 37. 38. 41. and 16. â—2 32. 34. are of the same 〈◊〉 with the former and do provâ— that sundry of the Iewes at Ierusalem by Peters preaching and that the â—aylours housholâ— at Philippi by Pauls preaching were brought to repentance and faith in Christ and so added to the Church But what wil be the conclusion of all these premises The Proposition is this The true Apostolick Churches having a true constitutioÌ„ were gathered constituted of such men and women as by the preaching of the gospel were made disciples had faith and repentance wrought in them to the obteyning of the forgivenes of sinns promise of life eternall and to sanctification and obedience Now though my logick be not much better then yours Mr B. yet since my cause is I will help you with an assumption or 2. Proposition But the Church of England was not so gathered after Popery but on the contrary without preaching of the gospel of men women for the most part ignorant faythles mispenitent disobedieÌ„t to whoÌ„ no promise of the forgivenes of sinns life eternal appertâ—ynes whervpoÌ„ the coÌ„clusioÌ„ necessarily followeth that the constitution of the Church of England is not true or Apostolick but false counterfeyt and apostaticall Secondly the scriptures sayth Mr B. make externall profession the visible constitution of the Church His meaning must be that profession of faith is required of such persons of yeres before they be admitted into the visible Church Which truth the place cited by him Act. 8. 12. 37. 38. doth iustify to which one place many other may be added to the same purpose as Act. 10. 46. 16. â—4 18. 8. But what is the Church of Worxsop better for this what profession of faith did the particular members make when at the first of an Antichristian Synagogue as in Popery it was it became or was constituted a true Christian Church was not the house built at the first as it is at this day repayred Let a man but hire a house within the precincts of your parish he is a ioyned member in your Ch ipso facto though he cannot manifest the least kernel of faith or repentance yea though he professe himself an atheist horetick â—orcerer blasphemer or that which is worse if worse can be All you do is to vse the woodden dagger Mr Barrow tells you of to suspend him from the Lords supper it may be to get him excoÌ„municated by the officiall if he have neither freinds nor mony And this very excommunication shewes him to have been a member of you for onely a brother is to be excommunicated Math. 18. 15. 16. 17 and onely he that was within may be cast out 1 Cor. 5. 12. 13. And here as before I will help to form your argument The members of the Apostolick Church which were truely constituted were admitted by their personall profession of faith and confession of sin Math. 3. 6. Act. 8. 37. 38. and 10. 46. 16. 14. 1â— â— 19. 18. But the members of the Engl. assemblies neyther were nor are so admitted but according to the parish perambulation whatsoever impiety they professe Therefore their constitution is proved false by the evidence brought to iustify it Lastly for the sacraments as they are not the constitution of the Church but do necessarily presuppose a Church constituted vnto which they are committed as the oracles and ordinances of God vnto Israel so is not the Church of England the Israel of God the seed of Abraham a peculiar people unto the Lord but a mingled seed as Ezra 9. 1. 2. uncapable of the sacraments the seales of the covenant of grace And the places Mr B. brings forth are so far from iustifying the constitution of the Church of England by the sacraments as they do most notably evince the prophanation of the sacraments
by the Church The two places are Mat. 28. 19. 1 Cor. 10. 16. In the former the Lord Iesus sends his Apostles first to teach or make men disciples and then to baptise them including the children in the parents according to the covenant made with Abraham into which the gentiles were in their time to be gathered Rom. 11. 17. Ephe. 2. 1 2. 13. 14. 3. 6. But on the contrary the Lord Bishops in Engl. having found a readier way send out their parrish priests to baptise all before them that are borne in their parishes whether their parents be taught or vntaught the disciples of Christ or of antichrist and the Divil not passing by the children of recusant Papists others refusing all communion with them whose children they use to baptize by force against the will of their Parents as I could prove if need were by sundry instances And is not here an orderly constitution and a Church truely gathered by the sacrament of baptisme Now 1 Cor. 10. 16. the Apostle teacheth that the bread and wine in the supper are the communion of the body and blood of Christ that is effectuall pledges of our conjunction and incorporation with Christ and one with another and in the 17. vers that all which eat of one bread or one loaf are one mysticall body This place alone if Mr B. and his fellow ministers would seriously con-consider and set themselves faithfully to observe they would rather offer their owne bodies to be torn in peices by wilde beasts then the holy misteries of Christs body to be prophaned as they are And here as formerly I will help the Arguments raysed from the scriptures produced by Mr B. and some other of the same kinde into form thus The sacrament of baptisme is to be administred by Christs appointment and the Apostles example onely to such as are viz externally and so far as men can judge taught and made disciples Mat. 28. 19. do receive the word gladly Act. 2. 41. beleeve and so professe Ch. 8. 12. 13. 37. have received the holy Ghost Ch. 10. 47. and to their seed Act. 2. 39. 1 Cor. 7. 14. But baptisme in Engl. is ministred by a far larger commission then Christs though there be in the parents neyther appearance of faith nor holynes if in stead of them they can procure godfathers and godmothers to cary the children to the font yea will they nil they the parrish priest hath commission to make them Christian soules every mothers childe of them borne within his parrish precincts And therefore the baptism in Engl. is not Christs baptisme in the administration of it For the Lords supper the Apostle sayth 1 Cor. 10. 16. that the bread and wine sanctifyed to that purpose is the communion that is an effectuall symbole or pledge of that communion which the receivers have with Christ. Wherevpon I do turne the point of this scripture into the bowels of the Church of Engl. thus That which ioynes such men in communion with Christ as by his expresse word he excludes from all communion with him that is so far from being the true constitutiō of the Church as it shewes both an vnholy confusion in the Church and a violent prophanation of the ordinance by it But the supper as it is ministred in the Parish-assemblies as they were at the first still are clapt together ioynes them with Christ with whom he expresly disclaymes all communion fellowship as their practise compared with these scriptures doth make manifest to all men 2 Cor. 6. 14. 15. 1 Ioh. 1. 6. Ergo. So that baptisme and the Lords supper are amongst you Mr B. and in your hands handling but as the holy vessels of the temple in Babylon there togeither with the Lords people deteyned by frawd and violence Our 2. supposed errour is thus layd downe They hold our constitution a reall Idol and so vs Idolaters If the constitution of your Church be false and forged like the moneth which Ieroboam forged in his owne heart as hath been formerly proved in part and shal be more fully in the traversing of the 8. errour then it is an Idoll if an Idoll a reall Idol for it is not meerly mentall or notionall but that which hath being and existence without the mind or vnderstanding And where Mr B. affirms this to be contrary to the course of holy scriptures never taking Idol in this sense because neyther he nor Marlorat finds the word Idol so vsed he must know it is as impossible for eyther him or Marl. or any other man to enumerate or reckon vp all the Idols wherof the scriptures speak though not in expresse terms yet by iust cōsequence proportiō as to number all the creatures in heaven and in earth yea all the workes of mens hands yea all the thoughts of their harts for all these may and do in some abuse become Idols And that we may better discern whether there be a like truth and boldnes in this assertion that the scriptures never take idol in this sense let vs consider and compare together a few places The Lord commaunded Moses Exod. 25. 26. 27. to make the tabernacle and sanctuary of the Lord for the place of his dwelling and worship and to this end did appoint both the matter and form of the whol work even to the least pin if Moses had framed it eyther of other matter or of the same matter after an other fashion had not this forgery and devise for the worship of God been a reall sensible and palpable Idoll a sinn against the second Commaundement which forbids nothing but Idolatry It cannot be denyed Hence it followeth that the constitution or frame of the tabernacle or temple of the new testament which is the visible Church 2 Cor. 6. 16. if it be other eyther in matter or form as yours is in both is a reall and substantiall Idoll Secondly Antichristianism is Idolatry and is in that respect called Babylon Sodom and Egypt spiritually so Antichristians are sayd to worship the beast now a devised constitution frame and fabrick of the Church is a part of antichristianism of the apostasy of Antichrist therefore a reall Idol and as Mr Smyth truely affirmeth a greater Idoll then eyther the Antichristian ministery or worship As the temple which sanctifyeth the gold is greater then the gould the altar which sanctifyeth the offering greater then the offering so the temple of the new testament the Church or people of God by whose faith all the ordinances of the Church are sanctifyed is greater then the ministery worship or any other ordinance and so on the contrary being Idolatrous a greater Idoll then they And lastly the Church being the end of the ordinances Mar. 2. 27. 28. is more excellent then they being true and being false a more detestable Idoll then any of them Lastly neyther your bolstring out of a false constitution as a new
for there was marrying many wives the continuance of the high places the brasen serpent worshipped Ioabs murder permitted the bill of divorsement allowed by Moses so after Corinth and the Church of Asia being admonished repented not 2 Cor. 12. 21. Rev. 2. 20. 21. To let passe here Mr Smythes erroneous and Anabaptistical answer wherein he makes the constitution of the Iewish Church the constitution of the old testament when as the Church of the Iewes was coÌ„stituted in AbrahaÌ„ 400 30 yeres before the law or old testament was given which was after added clean for an other end then to constitute a Church the ordinances and communion he makes merely ceremoniall and carnall which the scriptures expresly call spiritual whereof also prayer propheâ—ying were parts neyther are our ordinances more spirituall remembrances of Christ come then were theirs in their true and naturall relation spirituall shadowes of Christ to come I do answer to the exception first that you cannot prove the holy men you name to haue sinned in all the particulars wherwith you charge them as Moyses in tolerating the bill of divorcement which you injuriously affirm he allowed much lesse can you prove they were convinced of sin in suffering these things and yet suffred them Nay is it not your owne doctrine that grace and continuance in sin without repentance cannot stand together But what countenance doe the infirmities of these holy men give to the prophane and graceles multitude against whom we deal and whom alone we cast out of the account of Saincts with what conscience or colour can any man bring in the infirmities of Moses David and Iehoshaphat to plead the Saintship of all that godles crew in the English assemblies And for the Churches of Corinth Thyatira eyther they did repent vpon admonition though not at the first or els the Lord in his time discharged them as he threatned in the same the like cases Rev. 2. 5. 16. 21. 22. 3. 15. 16. The third exception is that the scriptures we bring are places speaking of invisible members properly of visible figuratively as they are iudged to be on in hope they may be or shâ—wing what men ought to be but shew not that men are so or els are not Gods people It cannot be manifested that we bring one scripture meant of the invisible Church to prove the holynes of the visible Church The vanity of this obiection hath been discovered in the expositioÌ„ of that your picked instance 1 Pet. 2. It is true indeed that the scriptures we cite speak of men as they are iudged to be and if you would graunt that onely they are true members of the Church which by the word of God which must be the rule of our iudgement may be iudged saincts it would end this controversie And even for them without though never so prophane they ought to be holy and there is hope they may be holy but Gods people must be such as they ought to be in some measure so are all they whome he receives into covenant with him and if they fall from their righteousnes and will not be reclaymed they are to be put out and to be delivered to Satan whose vassals they are and not Gods people any longer In the 4. place you come to speak of this saint-ship in question negatively and affirmatively First you deny men to be called saints in scripture eyther for soundnes of knowledge for proof of which you alledge the ignorance of Christs disciples and others Act. 19. 1. 2. or for internal pure affections for then say you Paul had been no saint Rom. 7. 18. 21. or for holy practise of their dutie alwayes for which you quote Est. 7. 12. Which is all one as if you should say the scriptures do not call men saints because they are saints but for some other causes knowne to you For what is it to be a sainct but to be holy And what to be holy but to be of a sound iudgement pure affections and vnblameable conversation And here Mr B. you speak both injuriously and weakly injuriously in insinuating against vs as if we held no men saynts but such as are free from all humayne fraylties Weakly in affirming the disciples of Christ had not sound knowledge because they were ignorant of many things that Paul had not pure affections because he had some flesh yet dwelling in him and that there cannot be the constant practise of holy duties notwithstanding such fraylties as to which all men are subiect Whereas to all men of vnderstanding soundnes of judgement is one thing and infallibility an other purity in affection one thing and perfection in purity another and so an holy conversation one thing and â—â— a life without all humane fraylty an other thing vnatteynable in this life The Apostle Paul knew but in part how small then is our pittance in knowledge yet our affections come short of our knowledge and our practise of our affections and desires and yet we doubt not by the riches of the grace of God but we haue all atteyned to soundnes of knowledge purity of affections and holynes of coÌ„versation how small and weak soever our measure be Thus having considered of the exceptions against such marks of saynt-ship as we set downe we will come to view the badges by which the authour will haue saynts descryed acknowledged First say you men are called saynts because of their outward calling to Christianity as 1 Cor. 1. 1. which is holy and to an holy end 1 Thes. 4. 7. If your meaning be that men because of their externall calling on Gods part or that the gospel is preached vnto them are therefore saynts whether they beleeve the gospel or beleeve it not you mistake too much for then all the persequuters and blasphemers to whom Paul preached should be saynts yea it is an errour to think that Paul stiles any sayntes by calling in that place but such as were truely sanctifyed so far as he could discerne For the same persons he terms saynts by calling he acknowledges in the same as sanctifyed in the Lord Iesuâ— which implyes both justification sanctification And where you adde that the end of the Church is holynes 1 Thes. 4. 2. as the thing you affirme is true so the truth of it is sufficient to manifest the vnholy constitution of your Church your as vnholy defence of it For if the end of the calling of the Church be sanctity and holines to the glory of God which is the supream end Math. 5. 16. then thâ— constitution and gathering of the Ch of England which at the first was I mean after the Romish Apostasie and still is of persons for the most part apparantly vnholy and vnsanctifyed as it is most praeiâ—diciall to the glory of God so doth it not onely frustrate but most directly crosse oppose the end for which the Lord in
describing the Church to be a company of faithfull people yet do the divine scriptures speak otherwise which I will clearly manifest and therein also free the Parable Math. 13. which you bring in for proofes from that violence which you and others offer them forcing Christ clean against his will to plead for Antichrist And with the scriptures I do affirme against you that the Church of Christ is no such mingled meslyne or monstrous compound but a body simple vniform one proportionable in every mēber vnto the head informed by one spirit and called in one hope Ephe. 4. 4. And for wicked and vngodly persons so farr are they from being the true naturall members whereof the body consisteth as the whol of the parts as they serve indeed for no other purpose then to infect and corrupt the rest and if redresse be not had in time to eat out the very hart of the whole But before I come to the point in controversy I will lay down two cautions for the preventing of errour in the simple of cavelling in such as desire to contend First it must be considered that where the quaestion is about the visible or externall Church which is by men discernable and not of that Church which is internall and invisible which onely the Lord knoweth we speak here of visible and externall holynes onely whereof men may judge and not of that which is within and hid from mans ey For we doubt not but the purest Ch vpō earth may consist of good and bad in Gods ey of such as are truely faythfull and sanctifyed of such as have onely for a tyme put on the outside and vizard of sanctity which the Lord will in due tyme pluck of though in the mean while mans dim sight cannot pearce through it 2. I desire it may be remēbred that the question betwixt Mr B. and me is about the true and naturall members whereof the Ch is orderly gathered and planted and not about the degenerate decayed estate of the Church members for we know that naturall children may become rebellious the faithful city an harlot the silver drosse and the wyne corrupt with water the noble vine so planted whose plants were all naturall may degenerate into the plantes of a strange vine But as it were fond Phylosophy in the description of wives and children and their true naturall properties to make rebellion a property of a child because many children prove rebels against their parents or to make whoredome a property of a wife because many wives prove vnfaithful that way so is it as prophane divinity to make vngodly persons the true matter of the Church their profanenes a true property of the same because many seeming saynts at the first do so creep in and do afterwards discover their owne shame are oft times through want of zeal too long tolerated in the Church to the dishonour of God prejudice of the gospel And so I come to manifest by an induction of particulars that all the visible Churches gathered and planted by the Lords line level frō the beginning of the world were in their collection cōstitution simple vniform and vnmixt consisting of good alone in the respect in hand And first the Lord created a Church of Angels in heaven which wer all good holy without mixture til some by sin fell frō their first and originall estate so leaving their own habitation were cast down to hel After that God created a Church of mankind in Paradise consisting of two persons both holy good And thus the Churches of creation were gathered of angels and men without mixture Now if any man object that in these instances I fetch my beginnings too farr of my answer is that the Lord had hath the same ends and respects in the creating restoring of his Ch which are his own glory their happines And if it were the will of the Lord that persons notoriously wicked should be admitted into the Ch then should he ditectly crosse himself his own ends should receive into the visible covenāt of grace such as wer out of the visible estate of grace should plant such in his Church for the glory of his name as served for none other vse then to cause his name to be blasphemed Hereupon I frame an Argument thus That order for the gathering of Ch which directly crosses the mayne ende◠for which the Lord would have his Church gathered is not of God But the order for which Mr B. pleads which is that apparantly prophane persons may with the godly be gathered into the visible Church crosses the Lords ends of gathering Churches and therefore is not of God The former proposition is without controversie the latter is thus manifested The mayne ends for which the Lord gathereth and preserveth his Church vpon earth are that he might have a peculiar people separated vnto himselfe from all other peoples to call vpon his name in faith and to glorify him theyr heavenly father in their holy conversation whom he also might glorify in the end of their fayth the salvation of theyr soules But for wicked vngodly persons in the Church as they serve no no way for these ends but the cōtrary causing Gods name to be blasphemed and his wrath to come vpon their disobedience so to gather or admit them into the Church is vtterly to frustrate Gods ends and to gather for Satan rather then for God To proceed In the restoring of mankind planting the first Ch in the covenant of grace established in the seed of the woman there were onely saynts without any such mixture as Mr B. makes Now as all true churches from the begining to the end of the world are one in nature and essentiall constitution and the first the rule of the rest so the first being gathered of good matter not bad declares both Mr B. Church and opinion to be bad and not good And when in processe of tyme Cain which was of the evill one bewrayed himself he as a degenerate branch was broken of driven out of the visible presence of God Gen 4. 14. it is further imputed by Moses for sin to the sonnes of God that they maryed with the daughters of men Now if it were still be unlawfull for the godly to contract with the wicked in the civil covenant of mariage how much more in the religious covenant of the Church communion of Saints To discend lower God gave vnto Abraham and his family the covenant of circumcision Gen. 17. 10. which the Apostle Rom. 4. 11. calls the seal of the righteousnes of faith Now to affirm that the Lord would seale vp with the visible seale of the righteousnes of faith any visibly unrighteous faythles person were a bould chalenge of the most High for the profanation of his owne ordinance And the same covenant which God at
the first made with Abraham continued with Isaak Iakob he after renued with the whole Church sundry tymes upon their repentance in regard wherof the scriptures give very honourable testimony of al every one of them as that they were the Lords pleasant plant vineyard hedged in planted with the best plants yea a noble vyne whose plants were all natural yea natural branches though they did oft tymes degenerate into the plant of a strange vyne and were therefore oft tymes forsaken of God and in the end for their infidelitie quite broken off Lastly when Iohn Baptist the fore-runner of Christ Christ himself and his Apostles were to repayr the desolations of Sion and to plant the Gentiles into the root of the Iewes and to make them one inheritance and one body with them they did not by the coactive lawes of men shuffle together good and bad as intending a new monster or Chymera but admitted of such and none other as confessed their sinne and iustified God as were not of the world but chosen out of it and hated of it as did receive the word gladly and communicate â—â— of them in all things as every one had need and that in gladnes and singlenes of hart as received testimony by the H. Ghost himself that they were such as should be saved as were al of them purchased with the blood of God as for al whom there was cause to thank God as whom the Apostle did remember in his prayers with gladnes being perswaded that God could perfect his good work begon in the as became him to iudge of them all being al partakers of the grace of God with him in the confirmation of the Gospel and after all whom he longed from the verie hart root in Christ as for all whom he gave thanks alwayes making mention of them in his prayers without ceasing remembring their effectual fayth diligent love and patient hope in the Lord Iesus which did grow in every one of them Here is no such mingle mangle as M. B. would make of good and bad but al good and so avowed by the Holy Ghost though without doubt many of these were masked and hollow-harted hypocrites whose goodnes was but as the goodnes of Ephraim and Iudah like the morning cloud and like the dew which falleâ— in the morning â—ades away And now I will come to the two parables Mat. 13. with which as with two mighty Engines Mr B. others will needs push over the partition wall of separation of the saynts from the world of righteousnes from unrighteousnes of light from darknes of Christ from Beliall of the beleevers from the vnbeleevers And for ingresse into the exposition of these two parables of the field and draw nett I do desire it may be considered that for the atteyning of the right sense of the scriptures we must remember to interpret the more dark and obscure places by places more playne and easy and so parables being dark speaches and more hardly vnderstood without expresse exposition Mat. 13. 10. 11. Mark 4. 11 12 are not to expound playne rules but to be expounded by them Which proviso alone being observed might stand in stead of all answer to whatsoever out of these perverted parables could be objected The point is Mr B. following I confesse the most beaten way makes the field the visible Church and the tares scandalous offenders seen and discovered Wherevpon it must follow that as the Lord forbids the servants to meddle with the tares or with the plucking them vp but will haue them the wheat to grow together in the feild till the harvest so both ministers and people are strâ—ytly inhibited and forbidden any way to admonish censure wicked and scandalous persons in the Church but must let them there remayne without disturbance till the last judgement The venemous weeds the noysome tares Idolaters hereticks covetous persons blasphemers and all whose nature is to overspread and choak the wheat must be suffred still to grow with it And thus at once by this one prophane glosse all the texâ—s of scriptures and commaundements of Christ both for admonitions and excommunications are vtterly voided and aÌ„nihilated The brethren nay the ministers themselves may not medle with the tares the wicked to admonish or reprove them they must be let alone the sword of the Censures so gratiously given to cut of rotten members must no more now be drawn out but must rust in the sheath of this expositioÌ„ notwithstanding all the playn scriptures to the contrary Lev. 19. 17. â— Thes. â— 14. 1 Tim. 5. 30. 2 Ep. 4. 2. Mat. 18. 15. 1 Cor. 5. 4. 5. All the power of our L. Iesus Christ given to his Church for the rooting out of obstinate offenders casting down of every thing exalting it self against the knowledge of God is not onely weakened but even disanulled by this vnreasonable exposition that tares that is notorious offenders must still be suffred to grow in the feild the Church And if the parable be thus meant hovv can it be defended that any Church should cast out any offenders whomsoever how dare the Prelates in Engl with their substitutes take this forbidden weedhook into their hands vse it against any tare amongst them if any tares be to be plucked vp why not all if all be to be let alone why meddle they with any Indeed I must needs acknowledge will not wroÌ„g them that if they should execute their owne canons as they have framed them they should not very oft practise against this expositioÌ„ nor gather the tares froÌ„ among the wheat but the wheat froÌ„ amongst the tares But to proceed It may be some wil answer that Christ doth not here absolutely forbid his disciples the vse of the Censures against the wicked but rather acquaints theÌ„ before haÌ„d what wil be the estate of the Ch how the wicked wil be suffred to continue in it vncensured And if this were so it made nothing against me nor for Mr B it were the Churches sin so to suffer them I deny not but Churches vsually are to negligent remisse through want of zeal faithfulnes to the Lord in this duty But it is plain the Lord Iesus layes a flat inhibition against the weeding out of these tares expresly coÌ„maunds to let them alone this coÌ„mandemeÌ„t also he backes with two substantial reasons the first least they pluck vp the wheat with the tares v. 29 the 2. because the Lord hath appointed another time the tyme of the harvest for the plucking them out v. 30. Now some being ashamed of the grosnes in deed of the iniquity of this exposition would fayne moderate qualify the matter by turning it off to these these sinns sinners Some say that by the tares are meant the ministers onely that they are not to be medled with though they transgresse least the
wheat be plucked vp with theÌ„ as though the Lord would have the persons of men respected in judgement yea verily there is more need to look to them in such cases then to any private meÌ„bers whomsoever as whose sinns are more displeasing vnto God more scandalous to them without more pernitious to the Church then of any others Some again wil have this prohibitioÌ„ onely to take place when the multitude of the offenders is so great as that they cannot be censured without danger of schisme and distraction as though the multitude of offenders should priveledge the offence and as though the Lord Iesus by his power given to his Church 1 Cor. 5. 4. should fear to meddle with them for their multitude and might as David feared to meddle with the sonnes of Zeruiah because they were too hard for him The Apostle sayth speaking of the incestious man that little leaven leaveneth the whole lump how much more a great deal which makes all more sower And for answer to both it is apparant the Lord here forbidds the rooting out of any tares whither fewer or more in number whither of high or low growth Let men then cease to draw in by the hayr of the head these parables for the tolerating of the wicked in the Church an intollerable wickednes as most prejudicial to the name of God which is by this meanes blasphemed to the partyes salvation who by this connivency is hardned in his sinne where by due censuring he should be humbled to the health and safety of the body which is hereby corrupted and defyled and to the conversion of them without who by the holy converversation of the Church should be provoked to the love of the truth These things being thus cleared I come in the next place to the true and naturall exposition which I doubt not these scriptures will well bear I do then find two interpretations eyther of both I am assured more agreable to the truth then this forced glosse by me coÌ„futed and neyther of them conteyning in it any thing which the words of the Parable will not beare or which is dissonant to the analogy of faith or any other scripture First admit the feyld be the Church which Christ expounds the world then say I by tares in the feild are meant not notorious offenders but hypocrites not so throughly discovered which by the envy of Satan are foysted into the Church It wil be sayd that tares are easily discerned froÌ„ wheat I answer not alwayes so though oakes may as one of your owne hath spoken upon this scripture and it is certainly reported by such as have travayled Iury those parts to which the Lord hath reference that the weeds we call tares are there very hardly discerned from the true wheat If it be further pressed that the tares are espied I do further answer that it is in parables both curiosity and danger to labour to make all partes meet in every particular and since this particular of spying the tares is omitted by Christ in the exposition wee may well be modest in it But let it be that the tares are seen as the words are the question is who those servants are espying them and so desiring to have them rooted out These servants may well be some speciall persons in the Church endued with a singular spirit of watchfulnes and discerning by which they do discover in some persons this tarish disposition vnder the â—ayl of holynes so Paul spied out that bitter root of envy and pride by which some were set a work to preach Christ such persons notwithstanding must be born till their sinnes be ripe and the Lord lead them forth amongst the workers of iniquity Or by the servants may be here meant the Angels who by conversing much with the Ch both can without doubt do through the subtilty of their nature long experience spy out in the Church much cloked wickednes impiety which as the zealous ministers of Gods justice they are ready to revenge But since the Lord Iesus who best knew his owne meaning calls the feild the world and makes the harvest which is the end of the field the end of the world and not of the Church why should we admit of any other interpretation Neyther is it like that Christ would in the expounding of one parable speak an other as he should have done if calling the feyld the world he had meant the Church As God then in the beginning made man good placed him in the field of the world there to grow where by the envy of the serpent he was soon corrupted so ever since hath the seed of the serpent stirred vp by their father the Divel snarled at the heel of the womans seed and like noysome tares vexed and pestered the good and holy seed which though the children of God both see and feel to their payne yet must they not therefore forgetting what spirit they are of presently call for fyre from heaven nor prevent the Lords hand but wayt his leasure eyther for the converting of these tares into wheat which in many is dayly seen and theÌ„ how great pitty had it been they should so vntimely have been plucked vp or for their finall perdition in the day of the Lord when the Church shal be no more offended by them And that the Lord Iesus no way speaks of the toleration of prophane persons in the 〈…〉 Church doth appear by these reasons First because as hath been observed he doth not contradict himself by forbidding the vse of the keyes in one place which in an other he hath turned vpoÌ„ impenitent offenders Mat. 18. 15. 16. 17. 2. In the excommunication of sinners apparantly obstinate with due circumspection and in the spirit of wisdome meeknes long suffring with such other generall Christian vertues as with which all our speciall sacrifices ought to be seasoned whaâ— daunger can there be of any such disorder as the plucking vp of the wheat with the tares which the husbandman feareth vers 29. Lastly the Lord Iesus speaks of the vtter ruinating destruction of the tares the gathering and plucking them vp by the rootes vers 28. 29. and to this end they are reserved by the husbandman v. 30. ever presupposed they so continued but excommunication rightly administred is not for the ruyne and destruction of any but for the salvation of the party thereby humbled 1 Cor. 5. 5. But to conclude admit of Mr B. exposition that the field here is the visible Church the good seed the good godly the tares wicked and vngodly persons I am contented that the difference in this place betwixt him and me be tryed at the tribunall of this very scripture even thus expounded and I doubt not but it will pronounce a cleare sentence on my side in the thing for which I contend and that is that the Church in the right gathering
of it out of Antichristianism or Paganisme out of Babylon Egypt Sodome spiritually or civily so called or out of any other society or Synagogue which is not the true visible body of Christ must be is constituted and compact of good onely not of good evill The Lords field is sowen onely with good seed vers 24. 27. 38. his vyne noble and all the seed true his Church saynts and beloved of God all and every one of them though by the mallice of Satan and negligence of such as should keep this field vineyard house of God adulterate seed and abominable persons may be foysted in yea and suffred also which the scriptures affirm and we deny not But our exceptioÌ„ in this case is first that the Church of England was never truely gathered the Church of England I say that that is the National Church consisting of the Provinciall Churches and those of the Diocesan Churches and the Diocesans of the Parochyall Churches according to their parish precincts with their governours government correspondent That there were true visible Churches in the land gathered out of Paganism at the first I will not deny but that ever the whole Land in the body of it was a Church is an affirmatioÌ„ of them which consider not what is eyther the matter whereof or the manner how the Church of the new Testament is to â—e gathered 2. Graunt that the way of the kingdom of Christ the Church were now so wyde that a whol nation might walk a brest in it and that England had been some times that Canaan the holy land wherein none vncircumcised person dwelt yet in the apostasy of Antichrist it could not be so accounted but was in the body of it divorced froÌ„ Christ with Rome whereof it was a member except you Mr B. will affirm as many do that Rome remaines still a true visible Church and that antichristianism is true Christianism Antichristians true Christians the body which hath the Pope the head the true body of Christ so except the Church of Engl. had been sowen with good seed without tares since that general apostasie it cannot be the L. field The Iewes were forbidden by God vnder the law to sow their field with divers seeds and will he sow his own feyld with divers yea with coÌ„trary seeds wheat tares What husbandman is eyther so foolish or carles as to sow his field with tares wheat together And yet this fair field of Engl of whose beauty all the Christian world is enamoured is so sowen this pleasant orchyard so plaÌ„ted this â—lourishing Ch so gathered A few kernels of wheat scattered amoÌ„gst the tares here there a few good plants amoÌ„gst the wilde branches a smal strinkling of good meÌ„ amoÌ„gst the great retchles rowt of wicked graceles persons And was this field sowen this orchard planted this Church gathered by the Lords hand And as was the root so are the branches as were the first fruits so is the whole lump To conclude this point thus I reason The Lords field is sowen with good seed onely though tares may in time be conveyed into it by the Divels mallice and mans negligence But the Engl nationall Ch was not so sowen but with tares wheat together Therefore it is not the Lords field And thus I hope the indifferent reader wil easily see what succour Mr B. findes amoÌ„gst those tares under whose shadow he would so fayne shrowd all the Atheists Papists other flagitious persons in the Church Now for the Parable of the draw net Mat. 13. I confesse the bad fishes may be wicked persons in the Church but undiscerned as fishes vnder the water between which the good no difference is seen If the fishers and they that drew the netts did know of the bad fishes in them and had meanes of voyding them they would never burden themselves and the nett with them except you will have as foolish fishermen here as you had husbandmen before but till they do discern them to be as they are they must take theÌ„ as they hope they are though with you all be fish that come to the net yea good fish too till the CoÌ„missaries court judge otherwise And lastly to your saying wel it were that all were saints but that is to look for a heaven vpon earth I answer that the Church is heaven vpon earth and if you were not a straunger to the true Church and to such scriptures as speaks of it you should find as in many other places so espetially in the Revelation the Church visible oft dignifyed with the name of heaven and with no name oftener Yea to seek no further then these two parables brought in by you to speak against heaven that is against the true natural coÌ„stitutioÌ„ conservatioÌ„ of the visible Church Christ himself that with his own mouth gives the Church no worse name then heaven and the kingdom of heaveÌ„ the onely ordinary beaten way which Christ hath left to heaven in heaven is heaven on earth which way soever you please to guide men The sixth insimulation against vs is that we hold That the power of Christ that is authority to preach to administer the sacraments and to exercise the Censures of the Church belongeth to the whole Church yea to every one of them and not to the principall mâ—bers thereof If Mr B. were but as able to confute vs by just reason as he is willing to bring vs into hatred by unjust and odious accusations we should then have as much cause to feare his skill as now we have to complayn of his mallice Onely herein his skill is to be commended that where he findes not our opinions such as he thinks wil be disliked by the simple multitude he makes theÌ„ such and so deales against them Here come in many things of great weight to be discussed and although it were in it self the readyest way to reduce things to some heads and so to prosequute them in order yet since I have taken this task vpon me to trace Mr B. in the particulars therfore I purpose to follow him step by step notwithstanding all his vnorderly wandrings and excursions And first Mr B. charging vs with errour for giving authority to preach minister the sacraments excercise the censures to the whole Church and not to the principall members thereof playnely insinuates that the authority to do all these things amongst them is in the principall members of the Church But the truth is otherwise in the parish Church of Worksop and in all other the parish Churches in the land You have one onely member that hath power and that vnder the ordinary to any of these things and that your self the parrish Priest though perhaps the parish clerk may by speciall indulgence be licensed to bury the dead Church women read service on light holy dayes and do some such like drudgery in your absence But
for the exercising of the censures that belongs not to the whole body or to any member thereof principall or lesse principall but to the Bishops and his substitute which are forreyners and strangers as in theyr office from the true Church so even in theyr persons from yours All your portion in the censures Mr B. is to do the exequutioners office when the Officiall hath played the iudge which if you should be so bold as to refuse besydes the punishment of your contumacy the Church doore would do your office for the bull of excommunication hanged vp there by the sumner byndes the offenders both in heaven earth And for the position it self howsoever we do indeed maynteyne the most of the particulars against which Mr B. intends his refutation yet as he sets it down we do vtterly disclayme it with all the errors in it First for teaching in the Church we do not vse it promiscuously nor suffer it to be vsed but according to the order as we are perswaded which Christ and his Apostles have prescribed And for the sacraments the contrary to that which you affirme is to be seene of all men in our confession of fayth wherein it is held that no sacraments are to be administred vntill Pastors or Teachers be ordayned in theyr office neyther have we practised otherwise And this Mr B. knew when he writ this book as well as our selves Thirdly touching the censures we do expresly confesse that the power as to receive in so to cut of any member is given to the whole body together of every christian congregation and not to any one member a pâ—â—t or to more members sequestâ—ed from the whole vsing the mâ—etest member for the pronouncing the censures And answerable to our profession is our practise with what conscience then or credit Mr B can father vpon vs those bastardly runnagaâ—es let God men iudge These things being thus the vntruthes which he sayth we build vpon this opinion are his and not ours as the groundwork is his so is the whol building raysed from it But touching interpretation of scripture by private brethren and pollution by sinn vnreformed in the Church separation from it for the same we shall speak in their places Onely I desyre it may be observed that rather then Mr B. will forbeare to accuse vs that we hold it lawfull for one person to excommunicate the whole Church he will back this most odious calumniation with as fond and false an assertion and that is that separating from a Church and excommunicating of it is all one in substance though called lesse odiously But the contrary is manifested by these two reasons First excommunication is a sentence judiciall presupposing ever a solemn and superiour power over the party sentenced but no such thing is inferred vpon separation 2. Excommunication is onely of them which are within and of the Church but separation may be from them without And I would know of Mr B. whither a person though never so meane might not separate from the assemblies of Pagans Turkes Iewes Papists other haeretiques and Idolaters I hope he would not draw such a man within his separatists schism yet for the same person to excoÌ„municate such an assembly were a sinful prophanation of Gods ordinance And though we held as we do nothing lesse that one man might excommunicate the whole Church yet were it not more as you affirm then your Church allowes to any Bp. in Engl. no nor so much by a thousaÌ„d parts for one Bishop with you may excommunicate a thousand Churches every Diocesan Bishop all the Churches in his Dioces the two Provincial Bishops theyr two Provinces so livelyly do the reverend fathers the Bishops resemble the holy father the Pope which may judge all men but be judged by none The next collection made agaynst us is that we hould that two or three gathered together must be a Church which hath the whole power of Christ and may preseÌ„tly make them officers vse the discipline of Christ. No such hast Mr B. of making officers presently we make no dumb Ministers neyther dare we admit of any man eyther for a teaching or governing Elder of whose ability in prayer prophecying debating of Church matters we have not had good experience before he be so much as nominated to the office of an Elder amoÌ„gst vs remeÌ„bring alwayes the deep charge of the Apostle to lay hands suddeynly on man nor to be partakers of other mens sums But this we hold and affirm that a company consisting though but of two or three separated from the world whither vnchristian or antichristian and gathered into the name of Christ by a covenant made to walk in all the wayes of God knowen vnto them is a Church and so hath the whole power of Christ. And for the clearing of this truth I will propound and so prove by the scriptures these two heads 1. First that a company of faithfull people thus covenanting together are a Church though they be without any officers amoÌ„g them coÌ„ntrary to that your Popish opinioÌ„ here insinuated els where expressed that a company is no where in all the new testament called a Church Christian familyes excepted but when they have theyr officers and that otherwise they are called beleevers Disciples but not a Church but onely by anticipation as heaven and earth are so called before they were Gen. â— 1. that the officers give theÌ„ the denominatioÌ„ of a Church 2. That this company being a Church hath interest in all the holy things of Christ within amongst theÌ„selves immediately vnder him the head without any forreyn ayd assistance Of which holy things in particular we shall consider as they come in our way These two grounds by the grace of God I will prove in order and for the confirmation of the former take these reasons The first is gathered from the authours owne words that a coÌ„pany of holy persons without officers are called beleevers disciples but not a Church which is all one as if he sayd that a Church is not called a Church for the word Church is no more then a coÌ„pany or assembly howsoever gathered together and so a set company of visible beleevers must needs be a constituted visible Church and to manifest the vanity of that distinction that one place shall serue Act. 11. 26. where in the same verse the same persons are called the Church Disciples and Christians Two or three or more people making Peters confession Math. 16. are the Church But two or three or more may make this confession without officers Therefore such a company is a Ch The former proposition is evident by that promise Christ made to build his Church vpon the rock of Peters confession The second namely that men without officers may professe their faith is without question except we will hold that without officers no men can
be saved Rom. 10. 10. Thirdly if the new Testament speak of ordeyning Elders in the Church then doth it necessarily conclude yea expresly affirm that there were Churches before Elders were ordeyned in them But the first is manifest Act. 14. 23. therefore the second Neyther can Mr Bâ—shift of the place by saying such assemblyes are called Churches by Anticipation any more then the Papists can the scripture 1 Cor 11. 26. against transubstantiation by alledging that the Apostle speaks by Posticipation For why may not the Papists as well answer that Paul calles Christs body bread not because it is bread but because it was bread before the words of consecration as Mr B that Luke calls the assemblyes without officers Churches not because they were so but were so to be after the Elders were ordeyned amongst them neyther is it true which you affirme for confirmation of your distinction that heaven and earth were so called before they were Gen. 1. 1. the meaning of Moses onely is that God created heaven and earth first and when before they were not If yet it be further answered by any that the Church Act. 14. had Apostles over them it must be remembred that Luke in that place and action of ordination notes out three distinct orders of people the Apostles ordeyning Elders the Elders ordeyned and the Churches in which the Apostles ordeyned Elders Of the same nature is the fourth Argument grounded vpon 1 Cor. 12. 28. where God is sayd to have appointed or set in the Church Apostles Prophets Teachers necessarily implying a Church before wherein they were appointed as a Sheriffe appointed in a shyre a Maior in a City a Constable in a Parish a Steward in a familie do necessarily presuppose the Shyre City Parrish Familie wherein they are appointed And indeed where should the Lord set his stewards but in his familie Is any societie capable of the Lords officers but his corporation Is not the Eldership an ordinance given to the Church so the Elders called the Elders of the Church In the Church is not an ordinance given to the Elders nor ever called their Church in the whole New Testament Fifthly they with whom the Lord makes his Covenant to be their God and to have them his people to dwel amongst them as in his temple which have right to the promises of Christ and to his presence they are the Church of God of Christ. Gen. 17. 7. Lev. 26. 11. 12. Mat. 18. 17. 20. Apoc. 1. 11. 13. Heb. 8. 16. But a company of faythful people though they have no officers amongst them may be received into Covenant with God may be his temple and have him dwell amongst them may have right to Christ and to his promises presence except we wil say they may not be gathered in Christs name may not be called may not come out from among unbeleevers nor separate themselves touch none unclean thing Mat. 18. 17. 20. Act. 2. 39. 2 Cor. 6. 16. 17. except they have Ministers going before them For they that may separate themselves from unbeleevers may be the temple of God that is the true visible church which the temple typed out Men are not to come out of Babylon and there to stand stil remember the Lord a farr of but must resort to the place where he hath put his name for which they need not go eyther to Ierusalem or to Rome or beyond the seas they may find Siòn the Lords mountain prepared on the top of every hil If they as lively stones couple themselves together by voluntary profession covenant they are a spirituall building the Lords Temple 6. If a company of faythful people without officers be not a Church then if all the officers of a Church should dye or fall away the Church should be nullified and become no church and to come nearer home graunting for a while the parish of Worksop to be a company of faythfull people if Mr Bernard should leave his Vicaridge for a better then the church of Worksop should be dischurched and remayne a Church no longer and thus an assembly might be Churched and vnchurched and Churched agayn every week in the time of persecution or plague by having and loosing and recovering againe her officers and thus the officers should not be the eyes or tongue of the body for the body remaynes a true though an imperfect body without them but the head of it yea the Pope though he hold himself the head of the Church yet acknowledgeth it a Church without him and in the time of vacancy Wee read Rev. 2. 5. that the Lord threatens to remove the candlestick from the Ephesians except they amend Now the candlestick is the Church chap. 1. 20. and to remove the candlestick is to dischurch the assembly or to wipe it out of the beadrowl of Churches Here is sin the discharging an assembly but that the death of the officers should do it is no where found We will acknowledge the Ministers to be the lights starres candles in the the candlestick the Church that the Ministers death or fall is the removing of the light in a great measure but we may not graunt them to be the Candlestick that is the Church wherein they are set as 1 Cor. 12. 28. which may stand still though they fall 7. If a company of Saynts where no officers are be not a true visible Church then may they have no visible communion together eyther publick or private the reason is because the communion of saynts is an effect or property of the Church and the Church a cause of it the invisible Church of invisible communion and the visible Church of visible communion And as we can have no fellowship with Christ in his merits and other works of mediation till we be in our persons ioyned vnto him by faith and grafted in him as the braunches in the vine so neither can we have communioÌ„ one with another in any spirituall grace or work till we be vnited one to another in love as the members of the body vnder the head Communion in works whether naturall civil or religious doth necessarily presuppose vnion of persons Yea if such a company be not a Church I see not how their seed can have right to baptism no nor how their own baptism caÌ„ be accounted true in the right ends vses of it For 1. baptism is within and not without the Church Ephe. 4. 4. 5. Secondly it is the seal of the covenant which is the form of the Church to the faithfull and their seed Act. 2. 38. 39. Thirdly it is of the members into the body of Christ 1 Cor. 12. 12. 13. Lastly where the essentiall causes of a Church are to be found viz. matter and form there is a Church But this may be in such assemblies as have no officers ergo The former proposition is evident in it self for the essentiall causes give being vnto the th
〈…〉 and it haâ—h the being from them The 2. I gather from Mr B. own graunt where treating of the causes and properties of the Church he makes the true matter such as professe Christ Iesus their onely saviour and the form to be the vniting of men to God and one to another visibly Now except he will say which God forbid that none may make profession of faith and be vnited to Christ without officers he cannot deny but there may be and so be called a Church without them For all vnited vnto Christ the head are members of the body which is the Ch and so the whol assembly ioyntly considered is an whole and entyre body and Church So that to deny an ordinary assembly or communion of Christians to be a Christian Church is an vnchristian opinion And here I entreat the indifferent reader to consider whether these mens wayes be equall or no. When we deny their assemblies to be true visible Churches though they consist for the most part of prophane and vngodly persons vnder the government of a Provinciall or Diocesan Bishop and the Ministery of a dumb or prophane Preist as the most do to which also the best is subiect within one moneth they complayn of vs as most injurious detracters and yet will not they acknowledge any assembly of faithful holy people onely if vnfurnished for a time of officers to be a true Church or capable of that denomination But let not the harts of Gods servants be discouraged he is no accepter of mens persons he hath not tyed his power and presence to any order or office in the world but accepted of them that feare him and work righteousnes hating the assemblyes of the wicked and all their sacrifices Vpon this point I haue insisted the longer partly because it is the ground of the other truthes to be handled in their places and partly in detestation of the vnsufferable pryde of this Prelacy and Preisthood which will have the very life of all Churches to hang on the breath of their nostrels yea I may safely say on their lusts if they dy yea or forsake their charges in never so fleshly respects their Churches are dissolved at least during the vacancy and so the brethren dismembred from being of the visible body of Christ. But so far are the officers from being the formall cause of the Church as is intended as they are in truth no absolutely necessary appurtenance vnto it The power indeed to enioy them is an essentiall property seated in the body which may braunch out it self as God gives fit means into officers accordingly which if they prove unfruitful it may also accordingly lop or break off And so farr is the Holy Ghost from giving countenance to this opinion that the Officers make the Church as when he speakes distinctly of the body and officers and considers them severally he calls the body the Church excluding the Elders as appeares in these amongst many oâ—her scriptures Act. 14. 23. 15. 4. and 20. 17. 28. 1 Tim. 3. 5. 15. And the reason is because the Church is essentially in the saincts as the matter subject formed by the coverâ—ant unto which the officers are but adjuncts not making for the being but for the welbeing of the Church and furtherance of her fayth by their service The second poynt now comes to be manifested which is that two or three faythful persons joyned unto the Lord in the fellowship of the Gospel have immediate interest to Christ in all his ordinances Now least any should stumble at these words two or three ioyned or gathered together as it seems Mr. B. would hereby take advantage to discountenance so small a number it must be coÌ„sidered that two or three thus gathered together have the same right with two or three hundred Neyther the smallnes of the number nor meannes of the persons can prejudice their right When the Lord did chose one nation from all other nations he chose the smallest amongst them fewest in number And though now Christ have opened a way for all nations yet is it a narrow way and which few finde especially in the first planting or replanting of Churches of which Christ speaks most properly in which regard also he likens the the kingdome of heaven or Church to a grain of mustard-feed which is the least of all seeds but yet hath vertue in it to bring forth a tree in whose boughes the birds of heaven may build their nests And against this exception of discouragement Christ himself hath provided a coÌ„fortable remedie in speaking expresly of two or three to whom he hath given his power and promised his presence Now for the poynt it self the truth whereof is sufficiently manifested by that which hath been â—ormerly layed down If a company of faythfull people though without officers be the true Ch. and body of Christ and Israel of God then to that company apperteynes the covenants of promise the oracles of God are committed untothem and to them are given his word statutes and iudgments so they may freely enjoy them amongst themselves in the order by Christ prescribed without any forreyn Ministers for Mediators II. They that have received Christ have received the power of Christ and his whole power for Christ and his power are not devided nor one part of his power from another But every company or communion of faythful people have received Christ. Ioh. 1 12. Rom. 8. 32. Isa. 9. 6. and with him power and right to enjoy him though all the world be against it in al the meanes by which he doth communicate himself unto hiâ— Church III. When the Scriptures would give us to understand the near union betwixt Christ and his Church and the free and full title which he hath given her in himself and all his most rich and pretious benefits they do teach the same by resemblances of most streight and immediate conjunction as of that between the vine and the branches the head and the body the husband and the wise and so as the branches do receive and draw the sap and juice immediately from the vine and as the body receiveth sense and motion from the head immediately and as the wife hath immediate right to and interest in her husbands both person and goods for her use though she may and ought to use the service of her husbands and own servants as they can be had for convenient purposes so hath every true visible Church of Christ direct â—nd immediate interest in and title to Christ himselfe and the whole new Testament every ordinance of it without any vnnaturall monstrous and adulterous interposition by any person whatsoever betwixt the vyne and the branches the head and the body the husband the wife which are Christ and his Church though but two or three gathered together in his name as hath formerly been manifested If all things be the Churches even the ministers
themselves yeâ— though they be Paul Cephas and Apollos and the Church Christs Christ Gods then may the Church vse and enjoy all things immediately vnder Christ and needs not goe to Rome to fetch her power whether Mr B. would send her but may have and enioy the Ministers and ministrations as her own of all the holy things which are given her But the first the Apostles expresly affirmes 2 Cor. 3. 21. 22. 23. and so the conclusion necessarily followeth which will also be more manifest in the particulars as they come to be handled in theyr places as occasion shal be ministred by Mr B. reasons layd down against popularty as he termes it which in the next place come to be considered of The first and second whereof are that it is contrary to the order which God established before the law vnder the law and since Christ or in the Apostles dayes during all which tymes he affirmes that the power of governing was in the cheif in the first born before the law in the Levites vnder the law and in the Apostles in their dayes And for confirmatioÌ„ of these things he brings sundry scriptures from the old new Testament for the exposition of them clearing of his aslertion intermingles sundry other observations For entrance into the answer of which his refutation I desire it may be considred that the visible Church being a polity Ecclesiasticall and the perfection of all polities doth comprehend in it whatsoever is excellent in all other bodyes politicall as man being the perfection of all creatures comprehends in his nature what is excellent in them all having being with the Elements life with the plants sense with the beasts and with the angels reason Now wise men having written of this subiect have approved as good and lawfull three kyndes of polities Monarchycall where supreme authority is in the hands of one Aristocraticall when it is in the hands of some few select persons and Democraticall in the whole body or multitude And all these three formes have their places in the Church of Christ. In respect of him the head it is a monarchy in respect of the Eldership an Aristocracy in respect of the body a popular state The Lord Iesus is the King of his Church alone vpon whose shoulders the government is and vnto whome all power is given in heaven earth yet hath he not received this power for himself alone but doth communicate the same with his Church as the husband with the wife And as he is announted by God with the oyl of gladnes above his fellowes so doth he communicate this aâ—noynting with his body 2 Cor. 1. 21. 1 Ioh. 2. 20. Gal. 2. 9. 10. which being powred by the Father vpon him the head runneth downe to the skirts of the clothing perfuming with the sweetnes of the savour every member of the body and so makes every one of them severrally Kings and Preists and all ioyntly a Kingly Preisthood or communion of Kinges Preists and Prophets And in this holy fellowship by vertue of this plenteous annoyntment every one is made a King Preist and Prophet not onely to himself but to every other yea to the whole A Prophet to teach exhort reprove comfort himself the rest a Preist to offer vp spirituall sacrifices of prayer prayses thanksgiving for himselfe and the rest a King to guide and govern in the wayes of godlynes himselfe and the rest But all these alwayes in that order according to those speciall determinations which the Lord Iesus the King of Kings hath prescribed And as there is not the meanest member of the body but hath received his drop or dram of this aÌ„noynting so is not the same to be despised eyther by any other or by the whole to which it is of vse dayly in some of the things before set downe and may be in all or at least in the most of them So that not onely the ey a speciall member cannot say to the hand a speciall member I have no need of thee but not the head the principall member of all vnto the feet the meanest members I have no need of you And yet as if a multitude of Kinges should assemble together to advise consult of their coÌ„mon affaires some one or few must needs be appointed over the asseÌ„bly both for order speciall assistance of the whole which should go before the rest in propounding discussing and determining of all matters so in this royall assembly the Church of Christ though al be kings yet some both most faythful and most able are to be set over the rest that in office not kingly but ministeriall because the assembly is constant wherein they are both deeply charged effectually encouraged to Minister according to the Testament of Christ and that not †onely for comlynes and order as Mr B slaundereth vs to hould but for the proffit aedification yea and salvation of the Church 2 Cor. 1 24. Eph 4. 11. 12. 13. 1 Tim. 4. 16 by the ministration of such holy things as to the Church appertayne by the free absolute and immediate donation of Christ. This praemised I come to Mr B. reasons and refutation And first I do freely acknowledge the thing which he would charge vs to deny and seeme to prove by many scriptures and that is that the government of the Church before the law vnder the law in the Apostles tymes was and so still is not in the multitude but in the cheife In the first born before the law in the Levites vnder the law in the Apostles in their tymes and so in the ordinary officers of the Church ever since and that the Lord Iesus hath given to his Church a Presbytery or Colledge of Elders or Bishops for the feeding of the sâ—me that is for the â—eaching and governing of the whole flock according to his will and these the multitude ioyntly and severally is bound to obey all and every one of them submiting themselves vnto their government in the Lord. And this it never came into our harts to deny Cease then Mr B. to suggest against vs unto such as are ignorant of our faith walking that we deny the Officers to be the governours of the Church or the people to be governed by them But this I desire the reader here to take knowledge of and ever hereafter to beare in minde that it is one thing for the officers to govern the Church which we graunt and another thing for them to be the Church which Mr B. in expounding Math 18. would needs make them where he would have the officers alone to admonish and censure As if because the †watchman is set vp to blow the trumpet and to warne the people when the sword commeth that therefore he alone is the City or Land and bound alone to make resistance The officers of the Church are to govern every action of the
this key as it were the wrong way vpon themselves Now by the evidence of the former generall truth approved I doubt not to the conscience of every indifferent man which is that a company of faithfull people vnited together in the fellowship of the gospel though without officers is a Church This specialty in hand wil be cleared And wheresoever the promise of forgivenes of sinnes and life eternall is to be found there hangeth the golden key of heaven gates there sinnes are loosed in heaven for what els is it to loose sinnes but to publish proclayme or declare in the word of God righteousnes of Christ the forgivenes of sinnes to them that repent But of these things hereafter I will in the first place consider of Mr Bernards proofs and of his collections from them The places alleadged are Math. 2â— 19. 16. 19. Ioh. 20. 21. 22. 23. Mark 13. 34. which scriptures are not all of one nature nor serving to the same end Yet this in generall I do answer to all of them that we deny not but that the publique Ministers are by coÌ„mission from Christ to publish the gospel administer the sacraments bind and loose sinnes watch and ward the howse of God and the like which for vs to deny were wickednes and for you to proove is lost labour But the pointes in controversie betwixt vs are first whether these things and all of them and with them all other Church affairs not here mentioned be so appropriated to the Officers as that none other may meddle with them and 2. whether this power be committed to them immediately from and by Christ or mediately from Christ by the Church which consideration whilest you neglect you erre your self deceive such as follow you and injury them you oppose But to the particulars The first third scriptures Math. 28. 19. Ioh. 20. 21. 22 23. are meant onely of the Apostles and in them they receive the coÌ„mission Apostolik which to speak properly is incommunicable to any other Officer in the Church For as none are to succeed them in the Office of Apostles so neyther is the Commission peculiar to the Apostles â—â—nveyed or intended to any others which also further appeares thus Their charge was to teach and baptise all nations to goe into all the world and to preach the gospel to every creatureâ— but ordinary Ministers have no such commissioÌ„ but are tied to their particular flocks Act. 14. 2â— 20. 28. 2. Their CoÌ„mission was extraordinary and miraculous whether we respect the inward qualifications of the parties by the immediate inspiration of the holy Ghost wherewith they were at the first springled as it were Iohn 20. 22. and afterward replenished Act. 2. 4. or whether we respect the miraculous confirmation of the doctrine both by them thaâ— taught it and by them that bâ—leeved it Mark 16. 17. 18. 20. 3. The very outward oâ—der and manner of conveying it was extraordinary and by Christs immediate voice and as it were with his owne hands where ordinary Ministers have their commissioÌ„s from Christ indeed but by men Gal. 1. 1. And the consideration of this very difference doth minister sufficient matter of answer that though Christ did transferre unto the Apostles their office and power to exercise it immediately yet for ordinary ministers the case is clean otherwise Lastly the disciples of Christ did not then first receive power to teach when they were possessed of their Apostleship but long before they were admitted into office as did others also besides theÌ„ without office as well as they Math. 10. 5. 6. 7. Luk. 10. 1. 2. 3. 9. 10. which scriptures alone as they are sufficient to justify against Mr B. that the keyes of the kingdome were given into the hands of men without office yea before any office or officer was in the Church so do they manifest the notable falshood of that his peâ—emptory affirmation pag. 93. that it is as playn as the shining of the sun of the firmament of heaven to such as are not blind or wilfully shut not their eyes from seing that Christ never sayd to the body of the congregation that is to any out of office for that is the point goe preach The Apostles by Mr B. own graunt in this place by these scriptures at this time and not before had their commission of Apostlâ—ship graunted them â—rom Christ and I hope he will not say they entred their office without a commission â—nd yet both power and charge was given them long before to preach the kingdome of God as the forequoted scriptures manifest The next place is Mat. 16. 19. where expresse mention is made of the keyes of the kingdome of heaven and of the power of binding and loosing given to Peter by which scripture rightly interpreted I desire the difference betwixt Mr Bernard and me may be determined That by the keyes is meant the gospel of Christ opening a way by him and his merits as the doore into the kingdome I have formerly declared and we must take heed of that deep delusion of Antichrist in imagining that this power of binding or loosing sinnes of opening or shutting heaven gates is tyed to any office or order in the Church it depeÌ„ds only vpoÌ„ Christ who alone properly forgâ—veth sinnes hath the key of David which opens and no man shuts and shuttes and no man opens and this key externally is the gospell which with himself he gives to his Church Isa. 9. 6. RoÌ„ 3. 2. 9. 4. and not to the officers onely for them as Mr Bern. in his last book come to mine hand in the publishing of this mine answer doth insinuate because the materiall book was giveÌ„ into the hands of the Preists and Elders to be kept Deut. 31. 9. whence I do by the way gather thus much that since the keyes of the kingdome of heaven is the gospel and that the gospel is giveÌ„ to the whole Church and to every member of it whether there be Ministers or no it therefore followeth that the keyes are given to all and every member alike as the gospel is though not to be vsed alike by all and every one which were grosse confusion but according to the order prescribed by Christ. Now for the place in hand which is Math. 16. 18. 19. it is graunted by all sides that Christ gave vnto Peter the keyes of the kingdome that is the power to remit and reteyne sinnes declaratively as they speak as also that in what respect this power was given to PETER in the same respect it was and is given to such as succeed Peter but the quaestion is in what respect or consideration this power spoken of was delegated vnto him The Papist affirmes it was given to Peter as the Prince of the APOSTLES and so to the BISHOPS of ROME as PETERS successours and thus they stablish the POPES primacy the PRELATES say nay but vnto PETER an APOSTLE that is a cheif
Officer of the CHVRCH and so to vs as cheif Officers succeeding him which is also Mr B judgement pag. 94. Others affirm it to belong to Peter here as a Minister of the word and sacraments and the like and so consequently to belong to all other Ministers of the gospel equally which succeed Peter in those and the like administrations But we for our partes do beleeve professe that this promise is not made to Peter in any of these forenamed respects nor to any office order estate dignity or degree in the Church or world but to the confession of faith which Peter made by way of answer to Christs question who demaunding of the disciples v. 15. whom amongst the variety of opinions that went of him ver 14. they thought him to be was answered by Peter in the name of the rest Thou art Christ the sonne of the lâ—ving God ver 16. To this Christ replyes ver 17. blessed arâ— thou Symon the sonne of Ionas c. and ver 18. thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not overcome it and v. 19. I will give unto thee the keyes of the kingdome of heaven whatsoever thou shalt bind vpon earth shal be bound in heaven and whasoever thou shalt loose on earth shal be loosed in heaven So that the building of the Church is vpon the rock of Peters coÌ„fession that is Christ whom he confessed this faith is the foundation of the Church against this faith the gates of hell shall not prevayl this faith hath the keyes of the kingdome of heaven what this faith shall loose or bind on earth is bound loosed in heaven And thus the Protestant divines when they deal against the Popes supremacy do generally expound this scripture though Mr B. directly make the Pope and his shavelings Peters successours in this place as hereafter wil appeare Now vpon the former ground it followeth that whatsoever person hath received the same pretious faith with Peter as all the faithfull have â— Pet. 1. 1. that person hath a part in this gift of Christ whosoever doth confesse publish manifest or make knowen Iesus to be that Christ the sonne of the living God and Saviour of the world that person opens heaveÌ„ gate looseth sin partakes with Peter in the vse of the keys And herevpon also it followeth necessarily that one faithful man yea or woman eyther may as truely and effectually loose and bind both in heaven and earth as all the Ministers in the world But here I know the Lordly clergy like the bulles of Bashan will roar lowd vpon me as speaking things intollerably derogatory to the dignitie of Preisthood and it may be some others also eyther through ignorance or superstition will take offence at this speach as confounding all things but there is no such cause of exception For howsoever the keyes be one and the same in nature and efficacy in what faithful mans or mens handes soever as not depending eyther vpon the number or excellency of any persons but vpon Christ alone yet is it ever to be remembred that the order and manner of vsing them is very different These keyes in doctrine may be turned as well vpoÌ„ them which are without the Church as vpon them which are within and their sinnes eyther loosed or bound Math. 28. 19. but in discipline as we speak not so but onely vpon them which are within 1 Cor. 5. 12. 13. Againe the Apostles by their office had these keyes to vse in all Churches yea in all nations vpon earth ordinary Elders for their particular flockes Act. 14. 23. 20. 28. Lastly there is an vse of these keyes publiquely to be had and an vse privately an use of them by one person severally and an use of them by the whole Church ioyntly and together an vse of theÌ„ ministeriall or in office and an vse of them out of office but the power of the gospel which is the keyes is still one and the same notwithanding the divers manner of vsing it And this distinction well observed will stop the hole by which Mr Bernard in his reply sundry times scapes out where otherwise he should be vnavoydably taken in Mr Smythes arguments by taking vantage at and perverting of a phrase vsed by Mr Sm which is the ministeriall power of Christ. This ministeriall power Mr S. makes that externall coÌ„municated delegated power of Christ with and to the Church serving onely for manifestation and declaration of the remission or retention of sinnes opposing ministeriall power in the creature to that power essentiall incommunicable which is inhaerentin Christ and God the creator but Mr B. on the other side eyther ignorantly or deceiptfully misinterprets the terme Ministeriall as meant onely of the power in office opposed to that which is out of office and so creeps out at this cranny But with what reason can it be eyther conceived or suggested that Mr Smyth should affirme that the body of the Church or a private brother out of office should have this power spoken of in office Thus much to prove that all the pretious promises Math. 16. were made to Peter in respect of his confession of faith and so consequently to all others which succeed him in the same confession and amongest the rest the vse of the keyes though not in the same order or office with Peter which was peculiar vnto him with some few others It followeth First if the keyes of the kingdome of heaven be appropriated vnto the officers then can there be no forgivenes of sinnes nor salvation without officers for there is no enterance into heaven but by the dore there is no clyming over any other way without the key the doore cannot be opened so then belike if eyther there be no officers in the Church as it may easily come to passe in some extreame plague or persecution howsoever in England a man may haue a Preist for the whisteling and must needs be in the Churches of Christ in our dayes eyther in their first plaÌ„ting or first calling out of Babylon for Antichrists masse-preisthood is not essentially Christs true Mâ—nistery or if the officers take away the key of knowledge as the Scribes Pharisees did will neither enter in themselves nor suffer them that would then must the miserable multitude be content to be shut out and perish eternally for ought is knowen to the contrary They haue no remedy in this case no redresse may be had of this evill no meanes vsed to avoid it Though the Pope cary with him thowsands to hell no man may say vnto him Sir why do you sâ— To admonish the Officers of their sinne were against common sense that the father should be subiect to his children the work dominere over the workman the seeds-man be ordered by the corn and to excoÌ„municate them and call new were intolerable vsurpation of the keyes this power is given to the chief
officers onely pag. 94. 95. and to separate from them is as intollerable pag. 88. Miserable were the Lords people if these things were so but the truth is they are miserable guides that so teach 2 They which may forgive sins and sinners save soules gayne and turne men vnto the Lord to them are the keyes of the kingdome given by which they open the dore vnto such as they thus forgive gayne and save but all these things such as arâ— no ministers may do as these scriptures which I entreat the godly reader to consider do most clearly manifest Math. 18. 15. 2 Cor. 2. 5. 7. 8. 9. 10. Act. 8. 1. 4. with 11. 19. 20. 21. Iam. 5. 19. 20. 1 Pet. 3. 1. Iude 22. 23. Erroneous therefore derogatory is it to the nature of the gospel free donation of Christ thus to impropriate and ingro 〈…〉 the keyes whichly common to all Christians in their place and order 3. Lastly I do affirme with Mr Smyth that the twelve were as yet but disciples and not actually Apostles Designed in deed they were to the office of Apostles but not possessed of it A man may call such a woman his wife before they be actually maryed and such a child his heire though he be not for the present possessed of a foot of his inheritance nor like to be before the testators death and that this was the condition of the twelve I prove by these reasons If the twelve were called to the office of Apostles Mat. 16. then Christ called men to an office for which they were altogether vnfit vnfurnished which to imagine were impious against Christ. Now that they were vtterly vnapt to this office appeares in these particulars First they vvanted that Christian fortitude and courage vvhich vvas most needfull for that office Secondly they were ignorant of the nature of Christs kingdom not forecasting his death nor beleeving his resurrection vnfurnished also with the gift of tongues and so vtterly vnable to teach the gentiles for whose sake they received their commission in a speciall manner Mat. 16. 21. 22. 20. 20. 21. 26. 51. Mark 16. 11. 14. Luke â—4 21. Act. 2. 1. 2. 3. 4. Mat. â—8 19. Ephe. 3. 5. 6. 2. When Christ ascended on high he gave gifts to men viz. Apostles Evangelists c. Ephe. 4. 8. 11. And then and not before then was the Church capable of the office of Apostles who were to preach the gospel to all nations when the partition wall was broken down betwixt the Iewes Gentiles that the gentiles also which were formerly straungers forreigners might now be made citizens with the saints and of the househood of God Ephe. 2. 12. 19 And aâ— this particular I have now in hand seemeth to receive confirmation from the last scripture Mr Bernard bringeth for the Apostles commission which is Mark. 13. 34. where Christ at his departing into a straunge countrey sets his house in order gives his servants authority and appoints them their work so doth the expositioÌ„ application of the same scripture to the generall purpose if we coÌ„pare with this place that which he affirmeth in another argue him that brings it of a mind very vnsound and vnstable Here as all men see Mr Bern. allegeth it to prove that the cheif officers onely are by commission from Christ to medle in the publick affaires of the Church and in particular to redresse things amisse and to censure offenders but in his second book being pressed by an argument by Mr Smith taken from this scripture he fare and â—â—atâ—y denyes that the Lord in this place intends to set out any government of the Church at all and thus compared with himself he is like nothing lâ—sse then himself Now since Mr B. disclayms this scripture as not intended at all of the goverment of the Church that in his 2. better thoughts I have no reason to spend much time in answering him Onely I can not passe by one frivolous exception in his reply against Mr Sm. and another absurd collection of his owne Where Mr Smyth affirmes that every servant or disciple in the Church hath authority and that truely if he have the word of God he hath authority for the word caryes authority with it wheresoever it goes Mr B. excepts first that by servants are meant Officers which as it is true sometimes so is it otherwise for the most part espetially in the parables of this kind Mat. 25. 14. Luk. 19. 12. 13. to which this parable seemeth well to consort wherin since all have received some good thing or substance froÌ„ Christ to be dispensed for the good of the rest all should diligâ—tly faithfully imploy their labour in the same ever expecting the returne of the mayster all every one of them watching and the Porter specially according to that speciall charge layd vpon him to watch ver 34. 35. 37. but the exception I meane is that by servants cannot be meant the Church because the house is the Church and the authority not given to the house but to the servants in the house who are to look over others Mark here in the case of goverment the house must needs be the Church the Church and house are both one Christ speaking of the house or Church meanes the people excluding the officers and yet Math. 18. in the case of govermâ—t the officers are in Christs speach the Church or house for they are all one excluding the people But to the poynt as the officers are both the Lords servants in his house parts of the house and houshould also so are the people not onely the house or of the house and houshould as in the forenamed scriptures but the Lords servants in his house also The idle and senseles exposition Mr B. gives is of the Porters watching Where the mayster at his departure appoyntes every servâ—â—t his work and commaunds all to watch and the porter specially least he 〈◊〉 suddenly and fynd them sleeping Mr B. to ioyne all together for the holding out of Mr Smythes Argument makes the Porter Gods spirit as if the Holy Ghost were one of the servants and had a commaundement from Christ to watch least it should be found asleep at his comming And by this I hope it appeareth in the generall contrary to Mr B. affirmation that the power of Christ or keyes of the kingdom is not delegated or committed primarily much lesse solaryly or alone to the officers of the Church how soever they as the governours are to direct and as the minister to exequute in the vse of this power or of these keyes Of the particulars hereafter That which comes next into consideration is that the Apostles committed that theyr power received from Christ not to the body of the people but to the cheife ministers of the gospell and cheife officers of the Church First here let the reader observe how Mr B. interesses these
the meanes of their aedification salvation how streyt and hard hearted soever you M. B. are towards them or coÌ„temptuous of them they may and must use in cases of necessity their best helpes for the distribution of things simply necessary to the body And dare you say as you haue done in both your books that the officers are absolutely to the Church as the eyes to the body and that there is no spirituall light in the rest of the members save onely in them and that all the body besides and without them is darknes Indeed such a blind beetle your spirituall Lords and you make your Churches and so you lead them But oh you the people of God yet in Babylon partakers of the heavenly illumination trust not these your Seers too much they would be thought all ey from top to bottom and would make you beleeve that you the multitude are stoneblind and can not possibly without them see one step before you that so they might lead you by the lip whither they list but open your eyes more and more and you shall see more and more clearely that the wayes of your Nationall Church are not the wayes which Christ hath left for his visible Churches to walk in but a very by path and take heed that these men which would be thought all and onely light cause not a â—og of earthly ordinances to rise vpon you and a dark mist to cover you To proceed This one scripture Ephe. 4. 11. 12. truely expounded and according to the Apostles meaning serves at one blow to overthrow the whol ministery of your Church of England and all communion with it Your whol plea for your Ministery is that you teach the word of God the true word of God and therewith you invite all your guests vnto your baÌ„quet But now if your ministery be not the Ministery which Christ hath set vp in his Ch noâ— of the gifts which he hath giveÌ„ vnto his Church but of an other sort foundatioÌ„ then it followes that no felowship or coÌ„munioÌ„ is to be had with it vnder any plausible pretense nor vpon any experimentall profit neyther The officers theÌ„ which Christ hath given for the aedificatioÌ„ of his Church to the worlds end are Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors Teachers Ephe. 4. 11. 12. Now the first three sorts of these abovenamed were extraordinary extraordinarily endued for the first publishing of faith and planting of Churches and so as temporary are ceased with their endowments and this you graunt in effect pag. 184. of your last book And for the Pastorâ— and Teachers here spoken of you Mr B and the Ministers of your order would be thought the men Of what sort then I pray you are your grand Metropolitans your Archbishops Bishops Suffraganes Deanes Archdeacons Chauncelours Officials and the residew of that Lordly Clergy They must needs be of some other order then is here named and the gifts of some other cheif Lord then of Christ when he ascended on high and gave his gifts that is Antichrist whose gifts they were when he ascended on high even to the throne of his Apostasy And now for you which are set over the particular Parishes to teach the people as I confesse you of all the rest to be likest vnto the true Pastours so by your own confession are you excluded froÌ„ that rank The Officers which Christ hath appointed when he ascended have received power by your own assertion not onely for preaching and administring the sacraments but for government also The want then of the power of government bewrayeth you to be anothers gift then Christs even his and none others which hath devised an other order and distribution of giftes then ever came into Christs hart to appoint Lastly as it is true you affirm that Christ never sayd to the body of the congregation viz in expresse termes go preach so is it most vntrue which you intend viz that he never gave libertie and charge to any out of office to teach in the exercise of prophesy This point I have touched formerly but will more fully handle hereafter The same I also affirme in the second place touching the power of government not opposing your words well interpreted but your meaning which is that none but men in office have power eyther to reforme any abuse in the Church or to perform any other necessary Church duty without them And for shutting vp of this fourth Argument let it be considered that here is a great difference in administration of doctrine by teaching and of admonition excommunication in the order of discipline Onely one man in the Church doth teach at once and all the rest both Elders people are taught by him but the whol Church may admonish or excommunicate one or more at once or by one act and so though Christ never say to the Church goe teach yet he sayth to the Ch admonish excommunicate Mat. 18. 17. 1 Cor. 5. 4. 5. In doctrine one man teacheth the whol Church the whol Church is taught in disciplyne the whole Church reproveth and excommunicateth one man and hiâ— censureth And thus your light Mr B. which you boast is as clearâ— as the sun in the firmament of heaven is darkened your sun is gone downe at noon day Amos 8. 9. The fifth reason is thus layd down It is never to be found in all the old testament that the people but princes and ecclesiasticall governours men in authority were reproved for suffring holy things to be abused Ezech. 22. 26. 1 Sam. 2. 27. 1 King 13. so in the new testament Math. 23. Rev. 2. 1. 8. 12. 18. and 3. 1. 7. 14. no meÌ„tion in these places is made of the people It seems Mr B. hath learnt of them which give counsel to affirme all things peremptorily vnder hope to find some men with whom a confident affirmation will go as far as a modest proof But here as alwayes I do except against as a corner stone of Babylon your vnequall yoaking of ecclesiasticall Officers Ministers in the govermeÌ„t of the Church with Princes Magistrates in their civil authority there is no proportion betwixt them A Lyon and an Ox will payr better then these two kinds of governours and governments Neyther can it be rightly sayd of Church officers that they are men in authority they are men in service and charge whether we respect God or the Church They have power I graunt for they have the gospell to preach minister which is the power of God to salvation they are to speak with authority and that also in the order of office and by speciall commission And so the Evangelists testifie of Christ that he taught as having authority and not as the scribes the reason was that where the manner of teaching amongst the Scribes was very corrupt and degenerate affecting the peoples harts with no reverence of God Christ on the contrary did manifest
in his teaching such vertue and vigour of the spirit as did draw even the prophane hearers into admiration There are in deed in the cōmon wealth Kings and Magistrates in authority under them partakers of their kingly power by subordination by which participation they properly and effectually even as the King himself bind and loose save and destroy exact and procure obedience civily both in Church and cōmon wealth and that by a kingly and lordly power over the people whose Kings Lords and Maysters they are but the Officers in the Church are in no such authority by participation of Christs kingly power neyther can they properly and effectually bind and loose save and destroy exact and procure obedience as Christ doth neyther are they as civil Magistrates though the Kings servants and ministers yet the peoples Lords and maysters but both Christs and the peoples servants and Ministers Now let any judge that hath in him eyther religion or reason conscience or cōmon sense if it be not irreligious vnconscionable vnreasonable and senselesse that the body of the Church should have no more liberty and power in the imployments of their servants and Ministers in their Office then the body of the cōmon wealth in the imployments of their Lords and Maysters in their Office To this also I may adde that there are many civil ordināces and constitutions in the common wealth which concerne not one of a thowsand of the Kings people many Magistrates Officers chosen the inferiour by the superiour without the peoples privity or cōsent many administratiōs vsed judgemēts passed exequutions done which the greatest part of the people do not nor are bound so much as once to enquire after much lesse are they bound to complayn of the breach of every civil ordinance to see it reformed to charge every Magistrate to look to his office to admonish him if in any thing he deale corruptly or wickedly and if he will not be reclaymed but goe obstinately on in the spirit of an Haeretick Idolater or Atheist to disclaym or depose him but in the Church all and every ordinance concernes every person as a part of their communion without the dispensation of necessity for their vse and aedification all the Officers to be chosen by suffrages and consent of the multitude the brethren are to admonish their brethren of every violation of Gods commaundement and so in order to tell the Church and to see the parties reformed to observe and to take notice of the officers cariage and ministration and to say to Archippus as there is need take heed to thy ministery that thou hast received of the Lord that thou fulfil it and if the Ministers will deal corruptly and so persevere in the spirit of profanenes heresy idolatry or atheism to censure depose reiect or avoyd them otherwise they betray their own soules and salvation These things I thought good vpon this occasion further to annext touching the difference and dissimilitude of civil and ecclesiasticall governours and government not doubting for conclusion to affirm that ther is no one errour in Popery serving more directly to advance Antichrist to the highest step of his throne or there to establish him then thus to confound these two estates in their authority and manner of government though alasse too many will needs transforme Ministers into Magistrates servants into Lords and as the Kings of the earth have given their power authority vnto the beast and arrayed the great whore tha◠fitteth vpon the beast with purple and scarlet and gilded her with gold pretious stones and pearles so do they still help her to hold her kingly lordly authority and to beare vp her pompous trayne and that specially by enforcing those scriptures for ecclesiasticall government and the manner and order of it which were left for direction in civil governments and their administrations And yet for more speciall answer vnto you Mr Bernard it followes not that bycause the people are not interessed in the reformation of abuses by the scriptures you cite therefore it is never found eyther in the old or new testament that any such duty lyes vpon them The scriptures do not intend to speak of all things at once but that charge which is omitted in one place is oft tymes supplyed and prescribed in another And to this purpose I do desire that these few scriptures amongst many others may be considered of Num. 5 1. 2. Iosh. 7. 1. 11. 12. 24. 25. 22. 11. 12. 16. 17. 18. 20. Iudg. 20. 11. 12. 2 Sam. 20. 22. Ezech. 44. 5. 6. 7. 9. Luke 17. 3. 4. Gal. 6. 1. 1 Thes. 5. 14. 1 Cor. 5. whol Ch. all these many other of the same nature will manifest that the people are charged with the reformatiō of abuses for the keeping pure of their cōmunion as well as the officers though not in the same order or degree But what need we seek further as all the scriptures brought forth by Mr Bern. do charge the govervours with reformation and none of them exempt the people in their rank and order so are there some of them so pregnant against him in the point by which he hath been so oft silenced to his face that if he had not set himself in opposition without all measure or modesty he would never offer his cause to be tryed by that evidence in writing by which in speach he hath been so oft cast and convinced The scriptures I especiall mean are Rev. 2. 3. And the thing which he would prov◠from those scriptures is that bycause Iohn in the verses named by him speakes to the Angels of the particular Churches that therefore it conernes the Angels that is the chief officers alone and no way the people no nor any of the Officers but one in a Church by Mr Bernards exposition to see to the reformation of such abuses and disorders as in those Churches are reproved But if in these scriptures he thus sever and sejoyne the officers and people why might not the officers be excluded by a◠good consequence by other verses of these Chapters where mention is made of the Churches and not of the Angels as the people in these where the Angels onely and not the people are mentioned and both alike The answer and truth then is that Iohn writes and sendes these Epistles or this book to the 7. Churches in Asia as he is expresly directed by Christ so willeth all men to heare and take knowledge what the spirit sayth to the Churches but bycause the matters were publique he absent from the Churches it was both most convenient necessary he should direct his letters to the officers for the whol Churches as being not onely most fit for their knowledge but most bound by their places to provoke the Churches vnto and to direct and goe before them in the reformation of such evills as were found amongst them As if the
King at any time write his letters to any corporation in the land about some such publick busines as wherein every free man hath an hand he directs them to the MAIOR BAYLY or some other cheife officer by whome they are to be published to the whole body and the matter managed which they conteyn though as I formerly sayd every freeman be to speak to and consent in the busines And here it is too much Mr B. should say as he doth that no mention in these places of the revelation is made of the people but of the governours onely where Christ expresly enjoynes Iohn to write his vision and to send it vnto the 7. Churches ver 11. where Iohn expresly salutes them with grace and peace as Paul and others do them to whom they write in the beginning of their letters v. 4. Where he also calls those candlesticks he saw in his vision the Churches though distinguished from the Officers or Angels whom he calls starres or lights ver 12. 13. 20. and lastly and specially where after his both commendations reproofs promises and threatnings he wills meÌ„ to listen what the spirit sayth not of but vnto the Churches Chap 2. 7. 11. 17. 29. 3. 6. 13. 22. which do necessarily conclude the people in them But to let passe generalls to come to such particulars in these Chapters as wherein the suffring of evills in the Churches is reproved Onely I must needs shew Mr B. his great oversight that where he should prove that onely the angels of the Churches were reproved for suffering evils vnreformed he points vs to sundry Angels and Churches where there is no mention at all made of suffring evils but all of doing as well by the Angels as Churches as in Ephesus Sardi and Laodicea and which is worse vnto other Angels and Churches where there were no evils at all worthy reproof eyther done or suffred as in Smyrna and Philadelphia And is not this sound dealing The Lord Iesus finds nothing in the Ch of Smyrna Phyladelphia worthy of taxatioÌ„ but all of coÌ„mendation ergo the cheif governours onely in these Churches are reproved for suffring evils vnreformed I now come to the particular scriptures in number two where mention is made of evils suffred vnreformed and reproof layd vpon them which suffered them in the two Churches of Pergamus and Thyatira And that Iohn directs his reproofs against the Churches and not against the Officers alone I do thus manifest 1. Them whose workes Christ commends for that dwelling where Satans throne was they kept his name and denyed not his fayth c. them I say he reproves and against them he deales for suffering them that mâ—â—nteyn the doctrine of Balaam of the Nicholaâ—tans v. 13. 14. 15. 16. 2. They which are commended by Christ for their workes love service fayth patience and encrease in works they are also reproved by him for suffering the woman Iezebell the false Prophetesse to teach and to deceive vers 19. 20. But it were senselesse to affirm that the Angel alone and not the people with him was commended for dwelling where Satans throne was keeping Christs name and not denying his fayth in persecution that the Angel alone was commended for his works love service fayth patience and the like and as senseles as to affirm that onely some of the Angel of the Church of Smyrna was to be cast into prison ver 10 and therefore as the faythfull the brethren the saynts the people had their portion in these Christian vertues and in the commendations given vnto them so also do they beare their part in the reproofs due to the toleration of such evils as were found amongst them and are exhorted to repeÌ„tance v. 16. And this the two adversative conjunctions but notwithstanding or neverthelesse v. 14. 20. do evidently declare In many graces these Churches did abound and faythfull they were in great tryalls but or notwithstanding in this they fayled that they were not zealous enough against such deceivers as crept in amongst them but suffered theÌ„ to others hurt their owne danger also ver 24. Of these things I have spoken something the more at large to discover the bold injury which Mr B. offereth vnto these scriptures which may also serve to manifest both the libertie dutie of the people for the reforming of abuses in the Churches against the usurpation of the English or other Clergie whatsoever Now to that which is inferred by way of conclusion that 1 Cor. 5. must be expounded by other places and by the whole course of scripture the like that tell the Church Mat. 18. 17. must be vnderstood tell the cheif Officers of the Church these severalls must be answered First let it alwayes be remembred that we beleeve and confess that the Elders which Christ hath left in his Church are to govern the same in all things provided alwayes the nature of ecclesiasticall government be not exceeded according to the lawes by him prescribed and that so doing the brethren are most streytly bound to obey them without disturbance intrusion or opposition vnder peyn of Gods wrath for their rebellioÌ„ against him and them Heb. 13. 17. But as els where is observed it is one thing to be the Church an other thing to govern the Church one thing for the officers to direct and go before the brethren in all things as guides and another matter vtterly to exclude the brethren from any part of the communion as neyther being the Church nor any part of it as this exposition doth These things Mr B. ignorantly blunders together and so he and others rayse odious clamours against vs of Anabaptism popularity and the like as if we confounded all persons and things and made the Church a very Chaos or Babel without form or order 2. I acknowledge that one scripture must be expounded by an other but ever the more dark and obscure by that which is more playne and lightsome now so playne cleare evident and perspicuous are the two scriptures in hand for excommunication the former Mat. 18. 15. 16. 17. for the order and degrees of proceeding the other 1 Cor. 5. for the persons interessed in the buesinesse as that to bring in other scriptures for the expounding of them is in truth as needlesse and lost a labour as to light the sun and moon a candle Now for the places severally and first for Math. 18. 17. where sayth Mr B. tell the Church is tell the cheif officers of the Church and so must be expounded Well the words are cleare as the sun tell the Church that is the congregation or assembly whereof the offender is a member But where you make the Church not the officers simply but the cheif officers therein you deale both wisely and dutifully Wisely to let passe other respects in preventing a quaestion which otherwise you could not possibly answer for if you had sayd the officers simply it would have demaunded
of you where your your fellow Ministers power of excommunication had been duetify as an obedient child in giving the rod of discipline into the hands of your reverend fathers alone and their substitutes Well Mr B. whomsoever the Lord Iesus meant by the Church Mat. 18. he never meant that the Archbishop of York the Archdeacon of Nottingham the Officiall of Southwel were the Church of Worksop and for this I vvill spare all Arguments and send you to your owne guilty conscience for conviction which as it condemns you in yourself which is also the case of many thowsands in the Land so do I earnestly wish both you and them to remember with fear and trembling the condemnation of him that is greater then your cōscience Ioh. 3. 20. So far are they from being the Church of Worksop as they are not so much as members of it nor of any other particular Church in the kingdome they are neyther the Pastours so called nor vnder the Pastors of any particular Church but with their tanscendent jurisdiction in their Provinciall and Diocesan Churches take their scope without orb or order and as clouds without rayn carryed about with the wind of ambition and covetousnes for the the greatest part To leave them and come to your reasons Mr B. by which you would prove that tell the Church is tell the governours But here behold the fruites of an vnstable mind This man in his former book laboured by many scriptures and reasons to lay downe the nature of the Churches government and in speciall to prove that the Church Math. 18. 17. to vvhich complaint of sinns was to be made was the cheif officers onely and this he affirmes also to be the iudgement and the practise of all reformed Churches But lo now in his second book he devoures the hallowed thing and labours vvithall his power to persvvade young divines seely country people as he speakes and as in truth they had need be both young and seely that are perswaded by him that the points of discipline and Church-government are not so apparant by the scriptures as that they can rightly iudge of them And to this end he brings in the variety of iudgements and contradictions of learned men some holding no government at all others that an externall government is to be had but of these some holding it alterable others constant and perpetuall and of these some to be in the Pope Cardinalls others in the body of the congregatiō some in the Presbytery with the peoples consent and others which he puts last as best and for which he brings sundry reasons referring the reader to the treatises written to that end in the Bishops his Lords And againe touching the punishment of offenders some he brings in holding excommunication but not suspension some holding both and some neyther And particularly for Math. 18. he musters in thick and threefold reasons and persons so reasoning and proving that the place and so of Lev. 19. 17. doth nothing at all concern discipline or ecclesiasticall censures but that Christs meaning there was onely to direct the Iewes how to carry things before the Synedrion in cases of bodily injury And thus he brings mens contrary opinions to darken the scriptures which are most playne like so many foul feet to trouble the pure fountaynes of living water that the thirsty may not drink of them And as a learned man in our age nation to discover the vanity of prognosticatours gathered together their contrary guesses of the wether and so presented them so this man to make the government of Christs Church as vncertayne as an Almanack sets together and so offers to the vvievv of the world the contrarieties of opinions concerning it Now if other men should take this course Mr B. doth in other points of religion and one lay down the differences that are about predestination the points depending vpon it some vtterly denying it others affirming it and of these some grounding it vpon Gods mere grace others vpō mans faith or workes foreseen an other about baptisme some denying it to all infants others ministring it to all others to such onely as are of Christian parents in a sort and others onely to them that are of beleeving parents at the least on the one side a third about the Lords supper in which point some hold transubstantiation others consubstantiation others onely a sacramentall vnion which some also will have merely rationall others reall also there could not be a playner way beaten for all Atheism to come into the world by nor a course devised by the Divell more pregnant to perswade the multitude that there were no certaynty nor soundnes in the scriptures But let God have the glorie of his truth and of the clearnes in it and let men bear the just blame and shame of their naturall blyndnes and in speciall let Christ have the honour of being as faythfull in his owne house as Moses was in his Maisters in setting orders and officers in it and let not vile flesh dare to flatter Princes and Prelates to mislead silly soules and to preach liberty and licentiousnes to the world make Christ Iesus an Idol King having a kingdome vpon earth without lawes or officers for the administring of it nor to make his redeemed Idoll subjects as whom it concerns little or nothing whether they be vnder Chrits lawes and officers or vnder Antichrists his professed adversary Now though I will not trouble my self and the reader about every stone that Mr. B. idely casts in the way yet such as may stumble the weakest passenger I will remove and so returne to my former task And in the first place I will answer certaine reasons in number six brought by Mr B. for the superiority of his Lord Bishops but those not backed with the scriptures as in other points when he thinks he speaks the truth his manner is The first is taken from the succession of Iames at Ierusalem of Peter at Antioch of Peter Paul at Rome of Mark at Alexandria I answer first that these were not Bishops set over certayn Churches here and there though vpon occasion they tarryed some good space in some certayne Churches but generall men Apostles and Evangelists without successours in their Offices so the Protestants do generally answer the Papists instancing them as you do now 2. I deny the very Apostles vsed any such Lordly and Papall authority as to exclude eyther the inferiour officers or people in Church affaires the contrary is most evident in the choice of officers Act. 1. 15. 23. 26. and 6. 1. 2. 3. 5. censuring of offenders 1 Cor. 5. and debating of other Church matters Act. 15. 2. 3. 4. 6. 7. 22. 23. 30. 21. 22. The 2. Argument is taken from 1 Cor. 12. 28. where say you three degrees are reckoned vp the first of Apostles the second of Prophets the third of Teachers But since the
8. and last exception Now for allowing of the plaintiffe to seek further remedy of the referring of the party obstinate vnto him which is the sum of the sixt Arg as also of these terms let him be to thee as an heathen and publican which is an other exception together with that consideration that the party offended is the principall in all the degrees of proceeding I have formerly spoken in the exposition of the words to which the reader is to look back for answer if such idle conjecture give any cause of doubt to any One onely blow more is to be warded by which Mr B. would disable this 18. of Math. from being any rule of discipline and that is bycause it provides not for suspension we grant it doth not and you your self half graunt that no such thing is to be found in the new testament And what reason haue you or any other man to put vs to prove your corruptions and devises which you know we neyther practise nor allow of These things thus ended and the received exposition of Math. 18. confirmed viz that Christ in it prescribes a rule of discipline in the Church I come to your reasons Mr B. in your first book by which you would prove that this Church is the chief governours The first whereof is that Christ could not be understood eyther then or now except he spake as the practise was then or took some order afterward and so you go about to prove vnto vs that the chief governours onely had authoritie to excommunicate both in the synagogues and in the Church of Corinth To this I answer sundry things First it followes not that Christ was not then or cannot now be vnderstood except he spake with some such reference as you note The words are so plaine the order so equall the state of the Church vnder the new testament which is not as before nationall but a particular assembly so capable of such an ordinance as that laying aside prejudice and politick respects there can be nothing more playnely spoken or more easily vnderstood 2. It doth no way prejudice the exposition we give though the disciples for the present vnderstood it not they vnderstood litle no not touching the death and resurrection of Christ or nature of his kingdome when they were at the first taught them till eyther by their own experience or by the extraordinary gift of the Holy Ghost or some other meanes the thinges formerly taught them were brought to their remembrance Mat. 16. 21. 22. 20. 20. 21. Mark 16. 14. Luk. 24. 20. 21. 22 25. 26. -44. And it is expressely affirmed Act. 1. 3. that the Lord Iesus did the 40. dayes before his ascension instruct them in such things as concerned the kingdome of God which is the Church The next thing to be considered is your proofs from scripture that the power of excommunication was in the chief governours But the places proove no such thing Ioh. 9. 22. and 12. 42. 16. ◠do onely prove an agreement amongst the Iewes that such as confessed Christ should be dissynagogued but that this authority was onely in the hands of the chief governours cannot be thence collected I know there was at Ierusalem a representative Church for the whole nation of which we shall speak hereafter but that there was such a Church representative in every synagogue furnished with such power can never be concluded frō these scriptures They rather in deed prove the contrarie It is sayd Ioh. 9. 22. that the Iewes had ordeyned that such as confessed Christ should be dissynagogued which words do rather interest the people in the busines then otherwise If you think that because there is mention made of the Pharisees the officers onely are meant you are deceived For Pharisaism amongst the Iewes was not an office but a sect There were no other lawfull officers ecclesiasticall amongst them but the Levites whom the Lord took from among the children of Israel in stead of the first borne for his service but many of the Pharisees were of other tribes Phil. 3. 5. Besides I see no sufficient reason to perswade me that this casting out of the synagogue was any ecclesiasticall censure but rather a violent rejection or extrusion out of the place as nothing was more cōmon then such tumultuous outrages in those dayes And the very same word that Iohn vseth ch 9. ver 35. Luke vseth ch 4. 28. 29. for the violent extrusion of Christ himself by the Iewes vpon the like occasion both out of the synagogue and citie The same also doth Iohn himself vse ch 2. 15. speaking of Christs casting the mony chaungers out of the temple And yet neyther the NAZARITES excommunicate CHRIST nor CHRIST the mony-chaungers But if there were amongst the Iewes at that tyme any such distinct ordinance of excommunication ecclesiasticall it was a Iewish devise I am perswaded and without ground of the scriptures and that for these causes First every blasphemer or worshipper of vnknowen Gods was by the law of Moses to dy the death without redemption that so evill might be put from Israell Exod. 22. 20. Lev. 24. 16. Deut. 13. 6. 7. 8. 9 12. 13. 14. 15. And so the Iewes reputing this blind man such a one were to put him to death but being deprived of this power by the Romayns through the just judgement of God for their sinnes they devised this other course of dissynagogueing or excommunicating offendours by them so deemed Secondly the severall synagogues were not distinct Churches but members of that one nationall Church which was both representatively and originally at Ierusalem neyther could any of them excommunicate out of the temple which was a higher communion then theirs and so it is very probable that Christ found this blind man afterwards in the temple Ioh. 9. 38. compared with 10. 22. into which had he been ecclesiastically excommunicated he might not haue entred neyther hangs it together that any rejected in the communion of the synagogue might be received in the communion of the temple 3. The Lord did chuse the whole nation of the Iewes to be his peculiar people and took all and every one of them into covenant with himself gave them the Land of Canaan for an inheritance as a type of the kingdome of heaven erected a policy over them civil ecclesiasticall in the judiciall ceremonial law called the old testamēt making the same persons all of them though in divers respects the Church the cōmon wealth whervpō the Church is also called the common wealth of Israel Exod. 19. 5. 6. Lev. 20. 24. 26. Deut. 4. 6. 7. 29. 2. 10. 11. 12. Ios. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Rom. 9. 4 Ephe. 2. 12. Hence it followeth that except a man might enjoy one type of the kingdom of heavē as was the Land of Canaā not an other as was the temple or tabernacle Heb. 9. 24. except he might be
govermeÌ„t for the Church now froÌ„ the Iewish Church were to revive the old testameÌ„t which so long since is abrogated and disanulled For to speak properly the old testament is nothing but that externall policy instituted by Moses in the Iudiciall ceremoniall law for the dispensation of the typicall kingdome and Preisthood of Christ shadowed out by that of Melchisedeck King and Preist repraesented by the administrations of Moses and Aaron and after continued in the Preisthood of the Levites kingdome of David his sonnes till Christ in the dispensation of those worldly and carnall ordinances Now as the judicialls which were for the government of the Congregation civily are dead and do not bind any civil polity save as they were of common equity so are the ceremonialls which were for the Ch polity deadly and may not be revived by any Church save as any of them have new life given by Christ. For though we now be made citizens of the common wealth of Israell and one body with them yet is that in respect of the everlasting covenant confirmed of God with Abraham through Christ. I wil be thy God and the God of thy seed four hundred and thirty yeares before the law was given or the polity and government of the lewish eyther church or common wealth in it established and as we are the sonnes and daughters of Abraham by faith but no way in respect of those Iewish ordinances in in the old testament or the order of dispensing them And yet if it were graunted which you would have that the Church governmeÌ„t now is to be patterned by the goverment of the Iewish church then it would nothing avayle you for the purpose in hand For the church officers the Preists and Levites vnto whom the charge of the whole Congregation for the service of the tabernacle did apperteyne had no authority by the order of their office to inflict any censure spiritually vpon the people as had the civil Magistrates to punish them bodily The Preists and Levites were onely to enterpret the law and in cases extraordinarily difficult to find out the estate of the person or thing and to shew what in such a case the law required and if you will say they gave judgement it was none otherwise then as a Physitian gives â—â—dgement of the body or state of his patient by his faculty or skill in his art but to sit vpon them formally in judgement ecclesiastically to punish them that they might not do neyther are they called in the scriptures judges as the civil Magistrates are Yea the scriptures do make a playne difference where the civil Elders are to sit and iudge the people but the Preists to stand before the Congregation and to minister vnto them Now before we passe over this busines in hand I deem it not amisse vpon this occasion to observe a few things by way of answer to a scripture vsually brought out for the foundation of these representative churches and their power and especially for these Nationall and Provinciall Synodes the like And the scripture is Act. 15. 1. There was no synode or assembly of the Officers of divers Churches but onely certayne messengers sent from the church of Antiochia to the Church of Ierusalem about the controversy there specified 2. Neyther the Church of Antioch which sent the messengers nor the church at Ierusalem whether they were sent was a representative church consisting of Officers much lesse of chief officers onely For first it is sayd ver 1. 2. that the brethren of Antiochia which Ch. 14. 17. are called the church and v. 28. the disciples and in this chapt v. 3. the church and v. 23. the brethren sent their messengers with Paul and Barnabas to Ierusalem and it will most evidently appeare by whom the message was sent if we consider to whom the answer was returned ver 30. where the messengers did not deliver the Epistle till they had assembled the multitude And 2. it is apparant that at Ierusalem not onely the cheif officers the Apostles yea and inferiour officers the Elders also met together about it and sent answer but the brethren with them v. 4. 12. 22. And these scriptures alone in this chapt are sufficient to chalendge the liberty of the brethren in the discussing of publique coÌ„troversies out of the hands of all officers whatsoever 3. Paul and Barnabas went not to Ierusalem eyther for authority or direction for being Apostles they had both equall immediate authority from Christ and equall infallible direction froÌ„ the holy Ghost with the rest of the Apostles Onely they went for countenance of the truth in respect of men and for the stopping the mouthes of such deceivers as pretended they were sent by the Apostles v. 24. 4. Their decrees were absolutely Apostolicall and divine scripture by infallible direction from the holy Ghost and so imposed vpon all other Churches of the Gentiles though they had â—o delegates there ver 23. 28. Ch. 16. 4. But it wil be sayd may not the officers of one or many Churches meet together to discusse consider of matters for the good of the Church or Churches and so be called a Church Synode or the like I deny it not so they infringe no order of Christ or liberty of the brethren they may so do and so be called in a sense but the quaestion now is about such a Church as is gathered for the publick administration of admonition excommunication other the like ordinances of Christ which Mr B. in his first book graunts must be done with the knowledge of the body of the Church and in the open assembly And here falls into handling certayn borrowed stuffe in Mr B. 2. book about this matter As first that Paul called the Elders of Ephesus and conferred with them without the people Act. 20. 27. which who denyes but they which set vp a Lord Bishop to rule alone without advising with eyther the inferiour Ministers or people But that which he addes in the next place hath almost as many errours as wordes in it and that is that the Elders sate in a CoÌ„sistory with Iames their Bishop at Ierusalem without the people and did decree a matter without asking their voice Act. 21. 18. First you erre in calling it a Consistory or juditiall Court for the justification of your own where it was onely an occasionall meeting for advise 2. in making Iames a Bishop whom Christ had made an Apostle The Elders were Bishops Act. 20. 17. 28. Phil. 1. 1. Tit. 1. â— 7. And so if you would haue held any proportion you should haue made Iames an Archbishop 3. that you make him their Bishop where Bishops or Overseers are set over the flock not over the Ministers Act. 20. 28. 4. And most ignorantly where you will have Iames the Elders to make a decree for Paul as if the Elders had authority over
contention as they and a thowsand worse evils could not but fall out in a Church gathered as yours is of all the prophane rable in a kingdome so when they do arise in a true Church there is power to voyd them out and the persons with them in whom they reigne But if the vnlawfulnes of a Church government might be proved by the pryde contention the like evils arising in it then surely M B. you that know so well how these and other mischeifs reign in your own should lay your hand on your mouth for shame and be affrayd to provoke any man to medle in that mattâ—â— Besides it is apparent both in the scriptures and ecclesiasticall writers that not onely pride and contention but herely and almost all other evils haue sprung from the officers governours in the Church And surely nothing hath more in former dayes advanced nor doth at this day more vphold the throne of Antichrist then the peoples discharging themselves of the care of publique affaires in the Church on the one side and the Preists and Prelates aâ—rogating all to themselves on the other side Lastly the word Church you say must be expounded figuratively to avoid the absurdâ—tâ—s which eâ—s would necessarily follow out of the text viz that the whole Church must speak ioyntly which were confusion contrary to 1 Cor. 14. 40. that women must medle in Church affaires which the Apostle forbids ver 34. that children must speak which were impossible so then it must needs â—e taken figuratively the part for the whole and if one part must be left out why not an other till the cheif of the Congregation be taken who are chosen by the rest as their mouth Touching the exception of confusion I desire the reader to remember what hath been formerly answered adding further that Mr B. herein doth not oppose vs but the Apostles and Apostolicall Churches governed by them yea the H. Ghost it self propounding their examples for our imitation The Apostle Peter Act. 1. 15. c. standing vp in the middest of the disciples which were about an hundred and twenty spake to them about the choise of one to succeed Iudas and it is sayd ver 23. that they that is these brethren to whom he spake presented two as also that the whole multitude Act. 6. 5. presented the seaven for Deacons to the twelve Apostles who are sayd v. 2. to haue called the multitude and to have spoken vnto them v. 6. to have prayed and layd hands on the elect Deacons Now might not any prophane spirit take vp M. B. words and insult over the holy Ghost himself and say what did all the disciples that were in the place an hundred and twenty present Ioseph and Mathias They must needs speak in presenting these two and spake they ioyntly or all at once this were confusion contrary to 1 Cor. 14. 14. did the women speak they must not medle in Church matters â— 34. did children speak it is impossible So for Act. 6. did all the twelve Apostles speak at once v. 2. and pray at once v. 6. did the whole multitude speak ioyntly when they presented the 7. Deaconâ— v. 6. here were the like confusion and besides here were women and children in the Church also Now let the indifferent reader judge what M. B. hath sayd more against vs then any Lucian or scoffing Atheist might obiect against the spirit of God himself and his holy pen-man the Evangelist Yea further by these and the like consequences women and children are vtterly excluded from the Church as no parts of it Luke sayth Act. 15. 22. that the whole Church sent messengers to Antiochia and Paul 1 Cor. 14. 23. speakes of the whole Churches comming together in one to exercise themselves in prayer prophesying and the like parts of Church communion but children neyther could send messengers nor pray nor prophesie nor the like and women might not speak in the Church and therefore both they must be left out of the Church and if one part why not an other so till we come to the cheif of the congregation that they alone may be the Church and all in all as it is iust with God that he which opposeth the truth should oppose himself also so doth Mr B. in this very place intaÌ„gle himself in the same absurdities wherin he would ensnare vs. First he affirms the Church Math. 1â— must be the principall of the congregation Then Mr B. is not your congregation the true Church of Christ for the principall of your Church namely your self hath no power to excommunicate And say not for shame the Archdeacon or officiall are principalls or lesse principalls of your congregation Again which is the cheif thing I desire may be observed you say these principalls must be chosen by the rest of the Church be their mouth and stand for the whole And how chosen must the whole Church speak joyntly when they chuse them that were confusion must women speak that is contrary to the scriptures Yet are they members of the congregation and so are young youthes childreÌ„ and servants I adde further the Church you say is two or three principall members Well then they two or three must speak to the party how can he els heare but for two or three to speak together is confusion and contrary to the coÌ„maundement 1 Cor. 14. 31. for all must speak by one one And by this time I hope you are ashamed of such tristing as here you vse I do therefore answer in few words it is not necessary that every one of the people should speak to the offender no nor of the officers neyther If but one officer do sufficiently evince and reprove the party what needs more speak The rest both Officers people may manifest their consent eyther by voice signe or silâ—nce yet so as liberty be preserved for any in place and order to speak eyther by way of addition limitation or dissent And for women they are debarred by their sâ—x as from ordinary prophecying so from any other dealing wherin they take authority over the man 1 Cor 14. 34. 35. 1 Tim. 2. 11. 12. yet not simply from speaking they may make profession of faith or confession of sin say Amen to the Churches prayers sing Psalmes vocally accuse a brother of sin witnes an accusation or defend themselves being accused yea in a case extraordinary namely where no man will I see not but a woman may reprove the Church rather then suffer it to go on in apparent wickednes and communicate with it therein Now for children and such as are not of yeares of discretion God and nature dispenseth with them as for not communicating in the Lords supper now so vnder the law for not offering sacrifices from which none of yeares were exempted neyther is there respect of persons with God in the common duties of Christianity And for that so oft reinforced objection of authority given to
two or three and therefore not to all I have answered and do that to two or three and yet to all when there are but two or three in all as vsually comes to passe in the raysing and dispersing of Churches Your 6. Argument to prove that the word Church must be taken figuratively is first that els the Corinthians had offended who being all commaunded did but some of them proceed against the incestuous person 1 Cor. â— 13. 2 Cor. 2. 6. 2. that els Paul had offended who vpon the complaint of Cloes house did himself without wayting for the Churches consent being absent iudge and determine the matter and sâ—nt to them to execute â—â— sentence These two Arguments Mr B. are in your hands like the two witnesses that came against Christ they neyther agree one with an other nor eyther of them with the truth In the former you plead for the Presbytery in saying that some of them did proceed against him in the latter you vtterly overthrow that and step in for the Bishops sole power where you make Paul alone iudge and determiner of the busines I am verily perswaded Mr Smyth hath felt your pulse in this place and found directly what blood runs in your â—eynes to him therefore do I leave you for iudgement in the case And for answer to the particulars In the first argument you do most sinfully corrupt the scriptures knowing that if they be soundly alleadged they will give no countenaunce to your errour For where Paul sayth it is sufficient for the same man that he was rebuked of many you for the word many put sâ—me where some doth import a part and but a part for where some are sayd to do a thing it followes that other some do it not where the word many is oft times put for all as being opposed to one or a few as in this place many rebuking to one rebuked Take for this phrase of speach these scriptures Dan. 12. 2. Mat. 13. 17. Luke 12. 7. Rom. 5. 19. and 8. 29. 12. 4. 5. 1 Cor. 10. 17. 12. 12. 14. But mark I pray thee wise reader when this man expounds Math. 18. 19. 20. where mention is made of a few two or three having the power of Christ there by two or three are meant the officers and Christ hath established the authority of a few for the good of all and again two or three officers and a few have this authority and yet notwithstanding when he comes to expound 2 Cor. 2. 6. where mention is made of many rebuking the offender there by many must be meant the officers also What Mr B are two or three Officers in respect of the whole body many Doth the holy Ghost speaking of a few in the Church mean the officers and speaking of many mean the officers also It were good you awoke out of your dream that you might spy your contradictions and how one peice reproves an other To the obiection I do answer that first it doth not appear that the party was excommunicated it may be vpon admonition he repented and so the extremity spoken of 1 Cor. 5. 5. was prevented and 2. if he were eyther by many may be meant all as I have formerly shewed or otherwise it is sufficient if some reprove the Elders or some of them specially by their office and so of the brethren in the second place if they see necessary cause wherevpon with the silent consent of the rest iudgement may be given or the party delivered to Sathan The 7. Reason to prove the Elders the Church is the iudgement and practise of all reformed Churches As the reformed Churches do abhorre from your practise as intollerable yea almost incredible that the power of excommunication should be in the hands of one man and that a forreyn Prelate or Officiall that most like never so much in his life as once came in the congregation whereof the offender is a member as may be seen in one for all Beza Epist. 12. so bycause you will needs thus beare over all with all the reformed Churches I will a little step out of my beaten way and call in a few well-deserving audience of the reformed Churches to testify what their judgement is in the case joyning vnto them also a few of our own men seeming to be of the same mind whatsoever the practise is eyther of the one or of the other To omit then the judgement and practise of the more ancient times whether whole councels or particular persons as of the Council of Nâ—ce where Paphuâ—tius no Church officer both had vsed such liberty of speach as he perswaded the whole assembly touching the maryage of Ministers of Tertullian before that who Apol chap. 39. makes the officers onely Praesidents in the assembly where manners are censured of Ciprian who would never do any thing in his charge without the consent of the people lib. 3 epist. 10. and in particular thinks it specially the peoples right to chuse or reiect worthy or vnworthy Ministers then which what power is greater Of Austin that thinks it helps much to the shaming of the party that he be excommunicated by the whole Church lib. 3. contra epist. Parmen and lastly of Ierom ad Demetr which affirms that the Church it self hath right in excommunication as the Elders have in other Church censures the first is Zwinglius who artiâ— 8. explanat speaking of the contention which hath been what a Church is acknowledges none other Churches but 1. the coÌ„pany of sure firm beleevers scattered through the vniversal world which we call the catholik Church 2. severall congregations which â—oÌ„veniently meet together in some one place c. and of these he affirmes Christ to speak Math. 18. Tell the Church and Paul 1 Cor. 1. To the Church which is at Corinth And answering an objection touching a Church representative he saith of this I find nothing in the scriptures out of mens devises any man may feyn any thing Next Perter Martyr in his comon places pant 4. chap. 5. sect 9. making the Church a Monarchy in respect of Christ an Aristocracy in respect of the Elders addeth also that bycause in the Church there are matters of great weight and importance referred vnto the people as excommunication absolution of choosing Ministers the like it hath also a consideration of popular government and vpon 1 Cor. 5. 4. The Apostle as great as he was would not excommunicate alone but did take counsel with the Church that the thing might be done by common authority Which notwithstanding the Pope and other Bishops dare do The Apostle indeed goes before the rest which is the duty of the ancients of the Ch that the more ignorant multitude by their suffragation before going may be directed in iudâ—ing With him ioyn Bucer who in his first book chapt 9. de regno Christi affirmes that Paul accuses the Corinthians for that the whole Church
had not excommunicated the incestuous person Bastingius in the 4. place quaestion 85. of his Catichism speaking of the difference between the two keyes that of preaching the other of discipline places it in this that the former which is of the preaching of the gospel is committed to the Ministers the other bycause it perteyns to the discipline of excommunication is permitted to the whole Church Lastly even Beza himself how streyt soever he be to the multitude in this case hardly graunting them the liberty which Mr B. yea which the very Iesuits do namely that they were with the Elders gathered together in the name of the Lord Iesus 1 Cor. 5. 4. yea do playnely deny it in his Annotations vpon 2 Cor. 2. 6. Yet vpon v. â— he is constreyned to affirm that Paul intreats that the incestuous person might by the publique consent of the Church be declared a brother as he was by the Churches publique consent cast out Now to these speciall lights in the reformed Churches abroad I will annex a few of the cheif endeavours of reformation at home The first of them is Mr Hooper who in his Apology writes that excoÌ„municatioÌ„ should be by the Bishop the whole Parish that Pauls consent the whole Church with him did excoÌ„municate the incestuous man To him adde Mr Fox whose judgement in the book of Martyrs pag. 5. 6. 7. is and so is inforced by him that writ the discovery of D. Banâ—r ofts vntruthes and slaunders against reformation that every visible Church or congregation hath the power of binding and loosing annexed to it If it be sayd the Church hath it if the Officers have it I see not but it may be as well sayd the Church hath the scriptures in a known tongue if the Officers so enjoy them Thirdly Mr Cartwright in his reply to D. Whitgifts answer pag. 147 both affirms and proves that Paul both vnderstanding and observing the rule of our Saviour Christ communicates this power of excommunication with the Church Him also an other writing A demonstration of discipline alledgeth adding further that they which were met togither 1 Cor. 5. 4. 5. were to excommunicate the incestuous person with whom also consorteth he that wrote of the certayn form of ecclesiasticall governmentâ— who vnder that head of the authority of the Ministers of the word that by the Church Math. 18. Christ meanes a particular Congregation the Pastor Elders people consenting making that the iudgement of the particular congregation which is spoken of 1 Cor. 5. 12. In the 4. place Mr Iacob in his book to the King for reformation pag. 28. pleads for the peoples consent and voyce-giving in elections excommunications to whom I ioyn them that made the Christian offer to iustify against the Bishops and their adhaerents that every ordinary assembly of the faithfull hath by Christs ordinance power in it self immediately vnder Christ to elect and ordeyn deprive and depose their Ministers and to exequute all other ecclesiasticall censures Proposition 5. Prop. 8 that the officers can do no materiall ecclesiasticall act without the free consent of the Congregation Lastly the godly Ministers in the end of Mr Bernards book do directly judge against him interpreting the Church Math. 18. to be a particular Congregation and excommunication the iudgement censure of that particular congregation whereof the offender is a member Thus have I been constreyned by the bold boasting and facing which this man vseth of and with the iudgement of all reformed Churchâ—â— to set downe the judgements of some few amongst many both at home and abroad for his conviction though I desire the touchstone of the holy scriptures alone may try all differences betwixt him and me I now return to Mr Bernard where I left him so come to two reasons he annexeth pag. 98. 99. to prove the officers to be called the Church the former is because it is an vsuall speach to put the name of the whole vpon the part and this to be taken for the whole The 2. bycause a company is no where called a Church in the new testament but where they have officers The latter of these I have formerly confuted as the reader may see pag. 126. 127. c. Onely I adde one thing vpon occasion of these words a Church in the new testament that as there is but one body or Church and we vnder the new testament that one or the same body or Church with the Iewes in the old so if the Ministery made the Church how much more if it were the Church could it not be that the Iewes and we should be one Church for I shall never be brought to beleeve nor I think will any man affirm it that the Ministery of an Apostle or Elder now is the same in nature with the Ministery of a sacrificing Levite vnder the law Wee are by faith sonnes and daughters of Abraham and partaker of the covenant and promises and by fayth grafted in their holy root and in this stands our onenes with them but neyther in the Ministery nor in the government nor in any other ordinance which are but manners of dispensing that covenant and those divers changeable where the covenant is nothing lesse And for the former of your reasons howsoever the place you bring Act. 15. 3. proves no such matter yet is the thing true you say namely that a part of the Church is sometimes called by the name of the whole but what part not the officers but the brethren the saynts as being the matter an essentiall cause of the Church the Elders not so as being but for the assistance and well being of it And so the Church gives both being and denomination to the Elders but not the Elders to the Church which is never called the Church of the Elders as they are called the Elders of the Church and so are of it and not it of them That which you adde of inconveniences and discommodities following vpon your doctrine not to be regarded is frivolous except by them you mean absurdities and inconsequences â—a alâ—gâ— in theologia as they call them and then they are to be regarded as never necessarily following vpon any truth for the truth brings forth no errour by true consequence The sixth Reason of the superiour order followeth for Mr B. hath his reasons and his vnder reasons which is In it self the multitude being ever vnconstant it is instability vnorderlynesse where every one is a like equall it is the nourse of confusion the mother of schisme the breeder of contention These very same things have been formerly objected by you in the fourth part of your 5. argument and there cleared The truth is the drawing of all power into the officers hands breeds in them pride and arrogancy and in the people ignorance and security And for your contemptuous vpbrayding of Gods people in this book with inconstancy
delinquent is freed froÌ„ the dint of the spirituall sword the ceÌ„sure of the Church which others do and so he should without that priveledge vndergoe as well as they Where me thinks it were more meet as that he which can read and so hath or may have greater knowledge should be the more severely punished civily so that the officers in the Church should vndergoe if it were to be found an heavier ceÌ„sure for their sinne as being both more scandalous and lesse excusable And so the Lord by Moses expresly manifests his will to be in enioyning the Preist a greater sacrifice a bullock for his sin where a goat which was lesse might serve in the like case for the suâ— of one of the people And this may well serve for a seventh reason to prove that the officers are by the law of God lyable to as deep censures for sin as the people and so the Pastour as any one of the brethren Yet for the further more full opening of the iniquity of those proud and popish exemptions and exaltations of Church officers whereof from these scriptures alledged by Mr B. and the like they boast so much and by which they affright and abuse the simple people in all places I will breifly as I can lay down certayn such different respects and relations vnder which the officers of the Church do come as being rightly vnderstood iustly applyed will give good light to the discovering of this mystery First then the officers of the Church are to be considered in respect of the thing which they minister and that is the word and revealed will of God in which regard they are infinitely above superiour vnto all men and angels and in the very stead of Christ and of God himself And in for and according to this message or ambassage of God and of Christ they are absolutely and simply to be obeyed as is the meanest officer about the King carrying with him his warrant and authority by the greatest Pere in the kingdome In the 2. place they must be considered of vs in respect of their office by vertue whereof they do administer And in this regard they are inferiour vnto the Church as being by it called to a place of ministery to serve the Church and not of Lordship to reign over it The 3. consideration they vndergoe is in regard of their persons and as they are brethren saynts christians for they cease not to be Christians bycause they are Ministers but must manifest their generall calling in their speciall partakers of the same coÌ„mon graces and subiect to the same common infirmities with the rest and in this respect they are equall with the brethren standing in need of the same meanes both for their edification and reformation and so particularly of the censures for their humiliation if they be so farre left of God as they may be and oft times are as they will not otherwise be reclaymed And I had as leiv you should tell me that bycause the Deacons are to distribute the Churches almes therfore the Church is not to releiv them though they be in daunger to starve bodily as that bycause the Elders are to minister the Churches judgmeÌ„ts none must iudge them though they be thorough impenitency in daunger to perish spiritually Now for the particulars which Mr B. obiecteth it is true the people are sheep but not the Ministers but the Lords sheep Ezech. 34. 6. 8 31. neyther are these sheep for the Ministers as the naturall sheep for their sheepheards but for the Lord and the sheepheards for them The people are indeed an house but not the officers house but the Lords house for him to dwell in Ephe. 2. 20. 21. 1 Tim. 3. 15. Secondly the people are sheep yet not vnreasonable beasts but men Ezech. 34. 31. so to be looked to by the sheepheards as they are also to look to themselves Act. 20. 28. Luk. 17. 3. They are so a house as they consist not of dead but of living stones 1 Pet. 2. 5. so built vp by the Officers as they are also to build vp themselves Iud. 20. And which is especially to be minded for the purpose in hand the officers are so sheepheards as they are also themselves sheep if they be not goates Math. 25. 37. Luk. 12. 32. Rom. 8. 36. They are so fathers as they are also brethren Mat. 23. 8. Act. 1. 16. 2 Cor. 8. â—â— yea as they are sonnes also in a sence as the Levite was in sundry respects both Michaes father and his sonne Iudg. 17. 1. 11. They are so workmen or builders as they are also part of the house Ephe. 2. 22. 2 Tim. 2. 20. so seeds-men as themselves are also seed and a part of the harvest Math. 13. 38. These distinctions rightly observed will both teach the officers how to govern and the people how to obey and both officers people how to preserve themselves and one another vnder the power of Christ given to his Church And where you demaund in this place by way of digression how a few of vs become a Church we answer in a word by coÌ„ming out of Babylon thorough the mercies of God and building our selves into a new and holy temple vnto the Lord. But where you affirm the Ministery that is the office of Ministery or the word so ministred to be the Lords onely ordinary meanes to plant Churches or to vrge men to ioyn vnto them you streyten the Lords hand and wrong his people When the woman of Samarta spake to her neighbours of Christ and called them vnto him they both beleeved and came but had you been amongst them it seemes you would have done neyther the one nor the other except a Minister had called you I confesse indeed the Churches in England were very manneâ—ly this way would not so much as forsake the Pope of Rome till their masse-priests went before them who being continued in their office did by the attractive power of King Edwards proclamation at the first and Queen Elizabeths afterward and by their statute lawes gather heir Parish Churches vnto them vnder their service book as 〈…〉 doth her chicken to be brooded vnder her wing But the â—â—formed Churches were otherwise gathered then by Popish preists continued over them the people first separating themselves from idolatry and foâ—oâ—â—ing together in the fellowship of the gospell were afterwards when they had sit men to call them into the office of Ministery and so they practised as appears in the Epistle of Melanctbon to the Teachers in Bohemia in D. Tileâ—us his answer to the Earle of Lavall and in Peter Martyr vpon the 4. of Iudges It is true indeed that the Lord Iesus sent forth his Apostles into the world for the first planting of Churches though even in their times Ch were planted men turned to the Lord by the preaching of private brethreÌ„ Act. 8. 1. 4. 11. 19. 20. 21. therefore
in ministring of their judgements And so I go on The rule prescribed Mat 18. concernes all the visible Churches in the world since the power of excommunication is an essentiall property one of the keyes of the kingdome the onely solemn ordinance in the Church for the humbling and saving of an obstinate offender and as necessary as the power to receive in members without which a Church cannot be gathered or consist And therefore the Officers cannot be the Church there spoken of since true Churches may and do want officers as I have formerly proved If two or three officers be the Church Math. 18. then may they two or three excommunicate the whole body though it consist of a thousand persons for what brother or brethren soever will not hear the Church there spoken of he or they are to be accounted as heathens and publicans Yea I ad if the power of excommunication be â—yed to the office since the office may remayn in one I see not but one may do any work of his office and so as well excommunicate as admonish preach minister the sacraments and the rest Now whether this power in one or two to punish judicially one or two thousand be not Lordly at the least let the reader judg Further if the officers be the Church I would know if one of them fall into scandalous sinne and will not be reclaymed what must then be done It wil be answered that the rest must censure him But what if there be but two in all must the one excommunicate the other the ruling Elder it may be the Pastour 2. if the rest of the Elders being many may displace the Pastour by their authority they may also place him and set him vp by their authority and so the poore laity is stript of all liberty or power of chusing their officers contrary both to the scriptures and your 〈…〉 oâ—ne graunt If the Officers be the Church then they alone may excoÌ„municate a brother without the consent yea or the privitie of any of the brethren for the busines concernes none but the Church Math. 18. neyther need they so much as acquaint any others with it But so absurd is this as you your self graunt the contrary and thaâ— it must be done with the knowledge of the Church publiquely and when the body meets together in open assembly The Apostles themselves whom no ministers now can equall eyther for skill or authoritie did not thus engrosse all things into their own hands but did interesse the people though raw newly come to the faith in all the publick affaires of the Church and in such deliberations as arose about them And who should deny them to meddle in those things which concerne them But if any do these scriptures avow their liberty Act. 1. 15. 23. 26. 6. 2. 5. 11. 2. 3. 18. 22. 1. 14. 17. 15. 3. 4. 14. 21. 22. 30. 31. 21. 22. Rom. 16. 17. 1 Cor. 5. 4. 16. 3. 2 Cor. 8. 19. 23. 24. Now there is nothing that more concernes the body of the Church then the excommunication of a brother whether wee respect the commaundement of God binding them not to suffer sin vpon a brother but to rebuke him plainly and to admonish him that being rebuked by many he may be humbled drawn to repentaÌ„ce or the credit of the Church which must be defended against the slaunders of the excommunicants which will ever be iust in their own cause or their own good that â—t by the rebuking of one all may learn to fear or their conscience who must to day avoid him as an heathen and lim of Satan whom yesterday they were to imbrace as a brother and member of Christ. How clearly these things plead the brethrens both liberty and interest in all this busines let the indifferent reader judge If the Officers alone be the Church to which offenders are to be brought and by which they are to be judged then are they as the Church to admonish and judge those offenders eyther apart from the body or in the face of the publique congregation but neyther of these two wayes and therefore they alone are not the Church Not in private or apart for Then may the Pastor be excomunicated before any one of the brethren know of it Of which evill I have spoken formerly 2. It is against the nature of the ordinance being a part of the publick communion of the Church and worship of God to be performed but publiquely Yea there is no reason why admonitions and censures should be administred lesse publiquely then doctrine and prayer For the kingdome of the Lord Iesus is as glorious as his preisthood or propheticall office and his throne is to be advanced as high and made as conspicuous to the eyes of all as his altar or pulpit that I may so speak Now as the Preistly and Propheticall offices of Christ are administred in prayer preaching so is his Kingly office in government In deed if wee thought as you do that Christ had left his kingdom the Church without lawes and officers for the government of it or that this government were an indifferent thing alterable at the willes and pleasures of men then wee should be as indifferent where or how or by whom it were administred as you Mr B are 3. The officers are to feed the flock one part whereof consists in government Now if admonitions and excommunications may be administred apart from the body how is the flock fed by them or how do those Elders vpon whom the government of the Church especially lyeth discharge their publique Ministery and service vnto the Lord and his Church to which they are called or how can the Church see and know their ministration that they may have them in super abundant love for their workes sake if there be cause or contrarywise if reason require the contrary or when they that sin are rebuked openly whether Elders or people how can the rest fear Yea how can these men which are to feed the flock by government be accounted faithfull sheepheards eyther before God or men if they gather not the flock together see they feed accordingly though with you Mr B. they that feed the flocks by government never so much as see the faces of the hundred part of their sheep and when they have a sheep in hand for straying it may be from a dumb sheepheard to a preacher they deal with him for the most part many a mile from but never in the place where the particular stock walkes whereof that sheep is Lastly the administration of Christs kingdom being a part of the communion of saynts and publique worship is to be performed of the Lords day as well as other parts are and to be joyned with the administration of the word sacraments almes and the rest as making all one entyre body of communion yea
coÌ„munion of the body neyther can there be any reason given why they should be the Church for one solemn ordinance and not for an other for one part of the publick communion of the Church and not for an other And therefore in the representative Church of the Iewes at Ierusalem were not onely the hard causes opened about which the people came to enquire but there were also the sacrifices offered and other the solemn services performed according to the dispensations of the times And to make the officers the Church for one part of the power of Christ and not for an other for one solemn administration and not for an other especially having fit instruments to exequute is a broken course and indeed to devide Christ from himself But about this something wil be sayd though nothing against it and namely this That the officers are to do in one of these ordinances as in an other and the multitude no more in the one then in the otherâ— and that as the officers onely are to pray preach and administer the sacraments and the people not to medle with these things so in the matter of excommunication To this I reply sundry things First if the officers alone be the Church in the censures then it is not in this part of communion as in other parts for not the officers alone but the brethren with them are the Church in prayer preaching administring the sacraments and the like And as the Church being the body of Christ is the most entire and best compact of all bodyes so is the communion in it most entyre full amongst all the parts so far as naturall impossibilitie hindreth not And therefore even children though by nature vncapable of other parts of communion wherein it is required they should be agents or do any thing yet do communicate in that one ordinance of baptism in the administration wherof as of circumcision before times they are merely patients and baptized in the name of the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost But in other actions and amongst other members with whom naturall inability dispenseth not there is a full perfect and intire communion and that as sensible and bodily amongst all as may be without confusion In preaching prayer the Lords supper psalmes elections and almes all communicate though with some difference of order and manner of the thing In the first which is preaching all communicate one officer teacheth and the rest both officers people are taught in prayer one officer vtters the voice and the rest of the Church say Amen so all communicate in the Lords supper all communicate one by giving or administring and all the rest by receiving with him in singing of psalmes all communicate yea and that vocally and together where they can all coÌ„bine and concur without disorder in elections all chuse or are chosen in the distribution of the almes all eyther give or receive and so communicate together But now in publick admonitions and excommunications there must be a schism for the body of the Church is by Mr B excluded from the communion yea though locally present for all the communion passeth betwixt the parties admonishing and admonished excommunicating and excommunicated whereof the body of the Church is neyther but a very â—ipher a hangby Secondly there is great difference betwixt prayer and preaching on the one side and excommunication on the other side in respect of the ordering and manner of dispensing those ordinances One officer prepareth in secret and severall from the rest for preaching and prayer so administreth these ordinances lawfully as the ordinances of the Church without the consent yea or foreknowledge of any one eyther brother or officer but it is otherwise in admonition and excommunication The sin must be told to the Church and they vpon knowledge of it must admonish the sinner and so the excommunication is publiquely to be prepared with the foreknowledge fore-consent of the body which otherwise the officers much lesse one officer without the knowledge or consent of eyther other officer or people may not minister One officer I confesse may admonish an offender without the consent of the Church yea or of any other officer be there never so many yea he may admonish both the officers and Church but this can in no sense be called the admonition of the Church except wee will say one officer is the Ch excluding both the people and other officers and that the church may admonish her self and that against her will which were vnreasonable and senseles affirmations Thirdly for a kind of preaching namely that we call prophesying and so of prayer for the sanctifying of it that I affirm not to be so appropriated to the ministery but that others having received a gift there vnto may and ought to stir vp the same and to vse it in the Church for aedification exhortation and comfort though not yet called into the office of ministery as hath been in part already and now is more fully proved by these scriptures Num. 11. 29. 2 Chron. 17. 7. Ier. â—0 4â— Math. 10. 1. 5. Luke 8. 39. 10 1. 2. 3 9. Ioh. 4. 28 29. 39. Act. 8. 1. 4. with 11. 19. 20. 21. 1 Pet. 4. 10. 11. Rev. 11. 3. 14. 6. And more specially the Apostle 1 Cor. 14. doth of purpose and at large handle this busines not onely giving liberty vnto but laying charge vpon all such though not in office as haue received a spirituall gift to exercise the same in the ordinance of prophesying Now for the better vnderstanding of this point it must be considered that the Church of Corinth did abound with spirituall gifts above an other Churches both ordinary and extraordinary which gifts of the spirit they did abuse too much unto faction and ambition Wherevpon the Apostle takes occasion in the beginning of the 12. hap and so forward to direct them in the right vse of these giftes of God which was the imployment of them to the aedifying of the body in love and therfore having ch 13. layd down a full description and large commendation of that grace of love in the 14 ch the beginning of it he exhorts to prophesying and to the study and vse of that gift which though it were not so straunge a thing as was the suddayn gift of tongues not which drew with it such wonder and admiration yet was it more profitable for the Church and though a matter of lesse note yet of greater charity which must bear sway in all our actions Against this scripture though in it self most pregnant for the purpose in hand two exceptions are taken The one that the Apostle speaks of such persons onely as are in office and so of their ordinary ministeriall teaching the other that he speakes of such gifts as were extraordinary and so being ceased that the ordinance as temporary is ceased with them But neyther of these rubs must turn vs out of the way
warrantably be chosen without good experience of their gift and faculty in prophesy and prayer so neyther can they which are cheifly to be imployed in government with good conscience of the Church be called to that ministration except they also have given and the Church taken good proof of their ability and simplicity in the discussing and debating carrying and contriving of Church affaires as also in admonition exhortation and comfort publiquely occasioned and so manifested And a very presumptuous sin it is in any Church to chuse an officer not thus trayned vp and tryed Wherevpon I conclude that brethren though not in officer have not their hands tyed from medling in the affaires of the Church especially the censures but are bound in their places to see to and assist in the reformation of publique scandalls and therefore are part of the Church to which an offender is to be complayned of for onely they are bound to see reformation of the evill to whom the complaint is to be made where Christ sayth Tell the Church It now remaynes we come to the other scripture which Mr B. turns so lightly over viz. 1 Cor. 5. which that wee may aright vnderstand for the present purpose two things must be considred the one whereof is what the Apostles scope is and what he intends in that Chap and the other what persons he interesseth in the busines about which he deales The Praelates with their obedient clergy do coÌ„stantly affirm that the Apostle there reprooves the Corinthiâ—ns for not complayning to him of the incestuous person that he might haue censured him and that he commaunds them being now judged by him as having the sole authority in his hands to exequute his sentence vpon him and this exposition Mr Bern. laboureth to confirm pag. 92. 94. 98. Wee on the contrary affirm that the Apostle in that scripture reproveth the Church of Corinth or them to whom he writes for suffring as they did that wicked man uncast out and that he now wills them to discharge that duty wherein they had formerly fayled in excommunicating him to which he also gives his consent going before them as his duty was in judging and withall avouching his presence in spirit that is in will and consent since he could not be bodily present with them And that this is the Apostles meaning it is much that any man reading the chapter with an honest heart should deny The arguments of proof are manifest in the particulars 1. They ought with sorrow to have put him out v. 2. 13. 2. They were gathered together in the name of the Lord Iesus and were by the power of the Lord Iesus to deliver the offender to Satan for his humbling that is to cast him out of the Church into the world where Satan reignes v. 4. 5. 3. A little leven leveneth the whole lump v. 6. wherevpon the Apostle alluding to the ancient custome of putting leven out of the houses when the Passeover was eaten bids the Church purge out the old leven that is the incestuous man that they might be a new lump v. 7. shewing therein that they were sowred become an old lump in not purging him out els what need they do any thing to become new But here sundry things are objected by Mr Bernard As first that a man may be where leven is and yet not be levened if he take not leven If by taking leven he mean enclyning or falling into the same sin it is idle to imagine that the whole Church was in any such daunger of incest Where 2. he addes that a man reproving the offender complayning of him and seeking as he may in his place reformation as Cloe did is not levened he colours with a few good words many fowl errours First that Cloe complayned of the incestuous man which was not so she coÌ„playned of the contentions amongst the Corinthians but that of the incestuous persoÌ„ was rather brought to Paul by common fame then otherwise 1 Cor. 5. 1. 2 That it is sufficient for the people yea or the Ministers eyther to reprove an offender so to complayn to the Bishops court of him 3. That a man is discharged if he seek reformation as he may in his place whereas it is first required a man have such a place or be in such a-Church as is capable of Gods ordinances and wherein he may vse the meanes for reformation which Christ hath left other wise his very place and standing is not of God nor may be by him continued Laâ—tly where he sayth that the incestuous man had not levened the Corinthians bycause Paul sayth ye are vnlevened v. 7. it is an ill collection For they were unlevened or sweet bread in their persons that is sanctified by the spirit but sowred or levened in the lump of communion by suffering that wicked man vncensured and the Apostles desire is that that wicked man might be cast out of the society that as they were severally pure or in their persons so the whole Church together or masse might be pure which before was polluted with his contagion 4. The Corinthians had formerly been taught by Paul not to coÌ„pany or be coÌ„mingled with fornicators covetous persons c that is according to the drift of the whole Chapter to cast them out and so haue neyther spirituall nor civil familiarity with them ver 9. here he reproves them for fayling in that duty 5. They to whom Paul writ were to judg them that were within are charged to use that power in putting away froÌ„ among themselves thaâ— wicked man v 12. 13. And thus the evidence for the first point is clear that they to whom Paul writ which were to be gathered together were to be gathered into the name of Christ by his power to bynde or deliver to Satan the offender as Math 18 18 19 20. were to purge out the old leven not to be commingled with the ungodly to judge them that were within to put away from among themselves the obstinately wicked And it is most untruly unconscionably affirmed by this man Pag 92. as I haue formerly observed that all that can be gathered from this place is that the censures are to be executed with the publick knowledge of them that are gathered together Now the 2. consideration is who those persons are thus to be gathered together upon whose shoulders the Apostle layes this duty of delivering to Satan purging but puting away judging this wicked man And for this I need no more then M B own confession in the place before named pag 92. where he expresly affirmeth that by them that there meet together is meant the body of the Church And though he and all the world should deny it yet would the truth of God stand which I thus manifest 1. They among whom the fornicatour was out of the middest of whom he was to be put which were puffed vp when they had rather cause of
till the coming of Christ Gen. 47. 10. 17. 7. Exod. 19. 43. 44. 45. It was simply necessary the Messiah should be borne in the true Church wherein he might have communion and fulfil the law Math. 5. 17. Luk. 2. 21. 22. 23. 29. The Lord did ever affoard the Iewes even in their deepest apostasie some or other visible signes of his presence and those even extraordinary when ordinary fayled thereby declaring himself stil to remember his promise made to their forefathers ever and anon by some godly King Prophet or Priest or if these vvould not serve by some severe correction destroying from amongst them the cheifest rebels brought them to repentance caused them to passe a nevv into his covenaunt as hath formerly been declared But vvith vs it is othervvise No Church novv can expect or doth enjoy such extraordinary priviledges But if it depart from the Lord by any transgression and therein remayn irrepentant after due conviction and vvill not be reclaymed it man fests vnto vs that God also hath left it and that as the Church by her sin hath separated from and broken covenant vvith God so God by leaving her in hardnes of hart vvith but repentance hath on his part broken and dissolved the covenant also The Lord Iesus threatens the †Churches for leaving their first love and for their lukewarmnes that he will come against them speedily remove there candlestick that is dischurch them except they repent spue them as loathsome out of his mouth There is the same reason in due proportion of one member sinning of a fevv of many and of a vvhole Church novv if a brother sin and vvill not be reclaymed by the ordinary means appointed by Christ for that purpose he is to be accounted no longer a brother but an heathen publican Math. 18. 17. so is it with two or three brethren with a few with many or with the whole Church though there be a different order of dealing for the multitude of sinners doth no way lessen or extenuate the sin eyther in the eyes of God or men Now for your arguments In handling whereof I will also take in such of your score of Reasons against pollutioÌ„ as are worthy coÌ„sideration First you say vnder the law there was a sacrifice for all manner of pollutions but none for this and therefore it is no sin It is not so for 1. if a man polluted his hands with innocent blood by murder or his body with adultery or wrought any other wickednes punishable by death there was that I find no particular sacrifice for it 2. The people of Israel were guilty of the pollution of the Lords house by bringing or suffring to come into his sanctuary stâ—â—ungers eyther uncircumcised in flesh or in heart and so there was an â—ffring to be made once a year for the purging of the holy place and Tabernacle for the cleansing of the Altar to be an attonement for the Preists and for all the people of the congregation 3. The pollution I speak of comming onely by neglect of some duty for the reformation of a brother cannot be denyed to be sin and with other pollution medle I not The godly people were never reproved for being at the ministration of holy things though wicked men were there We graunt it in the true Church but deny a company of impenitent sinners to remayn the true Church being to the iudgement of men vnrecoverable Yea if but one haue committed the evill notoriously scandalous and the rest so tollerate him that litle leven levens the whole lump and with leven must not the Passeover be eaten in any case And here Mr Bernard your cavelling Reply vpon Mr Ainsworth speaking of the whole Church all the assembly is answered The Corinthians might as well haue eluded and put of Pauls argument and reproof as you Mr Ainsworths for Paul speakes of the whole lump as Mr Ainsworth doth of the whole Church And surely if two or three officers be the whole Church that hath the power of Christ to judge consure offenders as you say the whole lump might soon be levened and the whole Church plead for open iniquity The Prophets did not separate themselves though they cryed out against wickednes Isa. 1. 4. 5. 6. 9. 10. c. Both the Prophets Preists and people that were godly did separate froÌ„ Apostate Israel in Ierboams tyme which we take to be your estate in a great measure coÌ„sidering your worship holy dayes Preisthood government But for Ierusalem the Church there the case is otherwise Touching which I desire these two Rules may be born in minde First that ther was that one onely visible Church vpon the face of the earth tyed to one temple altar sacrifice Preisthood in one place that no man could absolutely separate from that Church but he must separate from the visible presence and from all the solemn publique worship of God Secondly that the Iewish Church had not that distinct ecclesiasticall ordinance of excommunication which we now have but that the obstinate or presumptuous offender was by bodily death to be cut of from the Lords people the same persons namely the whole nation being both Church and common wealth according to that special dispensation of those times Wherevpon it followeth first that since absolute separation from the Iewish Church was unlawfull communion with it was lawfull and 2. that since the Church had not the power to cast out an offender it was no pollution vnto them to suffer him amongst them so they discharged such other duetyes as were inioyned them by the Lord. But it is now otherwise the times are altered and the dispensations of them Every place where a companie of faithful people are gathered into Christs name is mount Syon hath the promise of Gods presence and separation from one Church remayning vncurable may be made into another And as separation may be from a Church so may excommunication be of person obstinately wicked And these two Rules rightly applyed wil as I am perswaded satisfie the scriptures and reasons brought by Mr. B. here and both by him and others els where from the old testament and the vnpolluted coÌ„munion of the servants of God in the Iewish Church The other scriptures I will breifly passe over Tit. 1. 15. shewes that all the creatures of God are pure to the pure I graunt it and his ordinances also But ever provided in their lawfull and right vse which in a prophane and vnsanctified communion they are not By your exposition Mr Bernard a godly man might eat the Lords supper with haeretiques excoÌ„municates yea Turks or Pagans if they would and yet all should be pure to him Of the 2. and 3. chap. in the Revelation I have spoken formerly and there proved that the Churches were polluted by the tolleration of wicked persons amongst
as appeareth in that it appointeth one set service in so many words to be sayd by all and every Minister to all and every parish person in it It appoints one set form of words wherein all persons without exception must be maryed all women without exception after child-bearing purified all children born in the kingdom baptized all sick persons visited and all dead persons buryed without exception How shall we then sever you in the things wherein you joyn your selves or put a difference where your selves put none And where further as loath to let fall the plea of the wicked you do adde that God called Israell his people after defection and their children in respect of circumcision his children Ezech. 16. 21. 22. I answer first that the Lord did not call them his children in respect of circumcision for the Scechemitcs were circumcised and yet were not Gods people not their children his children and 2. that the Prophet speaks of the first born which by right did in a speciall manner apperteyn to the Lord Exod. 13. 2. though he were most injuriously defrauded of his due Where you proceed and say that some in the Acts 19. 2. which were ignorant of the holy Ghost were called beleevers that is too grossely applyed to the ordinary gifts of the holy Ghost which is meant of such extraordinary visible giftes as wherewith God did for a time beautify the Church which these persons also there spoken of did afterwards receive by imposition of hands by Paul vers 6. For the Churches of Corinth and Pergamus with whose corruptions as with a buckler you would cover your selves it must be remembred that they and every person in them were in their coÌ„stitution separated by voluntary profession into covenaunt with the Lord and did with their covenant receive power and charge to reform such evills as might break out amongst them which if they neglected they brake covenant with God and so forfeyted on their part both their covenant and power provoking the Lord if they repented not to break with them shortly to remove their candlestick out of his place That which you adde the last and in deed the worst of all the rest is that the Church of Christ is set out even by the naming that is by the profession of the name Iesus Christ. Rom. 15. 20. But the Apostle intends no such matter but onely to magnify his Apostleship by this amongst other the notes of it that he had preached the gospell where before there had been no sound of it And if the naming of Iesus Christ set out a Church then are the Papists besides other haeretiques a true Church for they name Iesus Christ as oft as you and with as many courtesies But things are best discerned in their particulars and to them you discend saying that that congregation which is false hath a false head false matter false form and false properties which say you cannot be avouched against our congregations And what if but some of these be false and not all To make a thing true must concurre all the essentiall parts and properties but to make it false there needs not be all false some few will do it For the particulars You haue no false head bycause you hold Iesus Christ and worship no other God but the Trinity in vnitie The Papists also worship the Trinity in vnity and in word and in the generall confesse Christ their head and you in deed and in the particulars many of them do deny his headship Christ is the head onely of his body Col. â— 17. But the body of Christ consists not of the lims of Sathan of which your nationall Church was for the most part gathered compact after the generall apostasie of Antichrist and of such it consists at this day except you will deny that they are the lims of Sathan the eyes of whose minds he blâ—ndeth that the light of the gospel should not shine in them which do the lusts of the divell and are his children which commit sin which persequute the godly and cast in prison the servants of Christ. Now tell me not Mr Bern. of the wicked persons in the Churches of Corinth Thiatyra and the rest for these Churches were not gathered of any such outwardly and so appearing it is blasphemy against the Apostles so to affirm and if any appearing such were afterwards suffred it was a â—anker in the Churches which in tyme ate out the harts of them As therefore the Papists make the Church a monstrous body in setting two heads over it Christ the Pope so do you make Christ a monstrous head in vniting vnto him meÌ„bers of so contrary a nature And let the prophane world make as small account of it as they list it is certayn no false doctrine haeresy or Idolatry can more eyther displease or dishonour God and his Christ then wretched men in word professing his truth and name and in deed denying both him and them Further you have not Christ the head of your Church in the administration of his propheticall preistly and kingly office which I will onely point at referring the reader to such other treatises as do more fully confirm these things in speciall to Mr Ainsworth his arguments disproving the present estate constitution of the Church of England against which his playn proofs your idle exceptions Mr Ber. wil be as easily answered as read First then your Church admitteth not of the ordinance of prophesying or teaching out of office Rom. 12. 6. 7. which as I have formerly proved to be a perpetuall ordinance for the Church so how profitable it is both for the edification of them within and conversion of them without we find by experience and the scriptures declare 1 Cor. 14. 3. 24. 25. 2. You silence the Lord Iesus in your Church from revealing the whole will of his father A part of his word is vtterly excluded by your calender may not so much as be read in your Church but is justled out by the Apocrypha writings a greater part even the most of that which concerns the true gathering and governing of the visible Church though it may be read yet may it not be faithfully taught much lesse obediently practised notwithstanding any charge of the Prophets Apostles Christ himself Deu. 29. 29. Math. 28. 19. 20. Rom. 16. 25. 26. 2 Tim. 3. 16. 17. so that though you haue the whole will of God in your books as Papists haue yet in respect of the doctrine and obedience of a great part of it the book is sealed vp and may not be opened And to make vp the measure you have in stead of the canonicall scriptures of the holy Ghost mens Apocrypha scriptures the books of homilies and that of common prayers your popish canons and constitutions which are as well the doctrine of your Church as the canons of the
Tridentine councell are the doctrine of the Church of Rome and if you will in stead of Prophets to teach your significant ceremonies the cap surplice crosse typpet which are neyther dark nor dumb but apt to stir vp the dull mind of man to the remembrance of his duty to God by some notable signification Here is drosse for silver and for the finest wheat chasse Lastly your Prophets which administer that part of Christs prophecy or of the scriptures which may be taught and practised amōgst you haue neyther the true office of ministery which Christ hath prescribed nor a lawfull calling to that they have as hath been in part noted from Ephe. 4. and is els where clearly evinced Now Christs preistly office you do corrupt and prophane vnsufferably whether we respect the persons or things whereof you make him a mediator Are those Atheists and vngodly persons wherewith you cōfesse in the beginning of your book your Church is full and which if you should deny heaven and earth would witnes against you are they I say their soules and bodyes those lively holy and acceptable sacrifices and offerings sanctified by the holy Ghost Are those devised printed and stinted collects read out of your humane service-book the spirituall sacrifices of prayer and thanks-giving which the spirit of God teacheth the sonnes of God to offer the fruits and calves of the lipps which confesse his name Is that constreyned payment of a weekly or monethly rate and assesment for the poore more fitly called a malevolence for the ill will it is payd with then a benevolence that gratious cheerfull care for the saynts that freewill offering of love and mercy that sweet smelling odour that acceptable and well pleasing sacrifice vnto God Are these I say those sacrifices for which Iesus Christ the eternall high preist appeareth for ever before his father in heaven that he might offer them vnto him in the golden censure perfumed with the odours of his own righteousnes or are they to be sanctified by the golden altar of his merits standing before the throne of God Rev. 8. 3. 4. Math. 23. 19. A lesse indignity sure it was to lay vpon the materiall Altar in the tabernacle or temple doggs swine vultures and all vncleane beasts and byrds with their durt and dung then thus to lay vpon this heavenly altar those unclean beasts and byrds whereof Babylon is an habitation and cage And for Christs kingly office who is able to set down the indignities outrages offered in your Church to the scepter therof For first where Christ reigneth as the King in Syon his holy mountayn ruling over his servants and subjects onely as the King of saints vnder his father you have gathered him a kingdom crowned him the King thereof contrary to his expresse will of known traytours and rank rebels vnto his crown and dignity even of such as do visibly and apparantly fight for Satan and his kingdom the kingdom of darknes hating deriding and persecuting to the vtmost of their power all such as desire to please and serve Christ in any sincerity Of such and none other doth the body of your Church consist for the greatest part as all amongst you that feare God will testify with me 2. Where Christ ruleth over his subjects by the scepter of his holy word which is a scepter of righteousnes in the place of it the vngodly canons and constitutions of Popes and Prelates must and do bear sway Such subjects such lawes And say not Mr B. as you do in answer to Mr Ainsworth pag. 259. that you acknowledge no other law-giver over your consciences in matters of saith and obedience between Christ and you save him alone For what doth your Church representative but bind conscience in binding men to subscribe to the Hierarchy service-book and ceremonies spont◠et exanimo in pressing men to the vse of things reputed indifferent absolutely and whether they offend or offend not in tying men to a certayn form of prayer thanksgiving excommunicating men for the refusall and omission of these and the like observances of their lawes And vvhat do you but loose and vnbind the conscience in tolerating yea approving yea making and ordeyning vnpreaching Ministers and in binding the people vnder both civil and ecclesiasticall penalties to their ministrations in their own parishes and from others And what do you els in your dispensations for pluralities non-Recidency and the like Are not these matters of conscience with you Mr B. wherein your lawes and law-makers bynde and loose as they list All the lawes and ordinances for the ministery and government of the Iewish Church were matters of faith and obedience between God and the Church bynding the consciences of the people and is the new testament lesse perfect then the old and the lawes and ordinances for the administration of it lesse excellent and of a baser foundation then the former It matters not what your words are since it appeares by your deeds that you vsurp the throne of Christ in appointing officers and making lawes for the government and administration of his kingdome the Church and those many of them to the abolishing of his herein rather holding Christ as a captive then honouring him as a King 3. Where Christ hath given to his Church liberty power and commaundement every one of them severally and all of them joyntly to reprove and reform disorders and whatsoever is found whether person or thing faulty and disagreing vnto his word alasse this liberty is enthralled this power lost this commaundement made of no force The Prelates haue seazed all these royalties into their hands as though they alone were made partakers of Christs kingly annoynting were as Kings to rule in his Church Here is a King in a great measure without subjects without lawes without officers without power But here I must needs observe a few things about two answers given by Mr B. in his 2. book to two of Mr Ainsworths obiections about the matter in hand To the former being about the officers of Christ in the Church he answereth that they have Christs officers appointed to govern the civil Magistrate the Kings Maiesty the ruling Elder next vnder Christ c. and the ecclesiasticall governours vnder him the Bishops who are also Pastours and Doctours But you should have considered Mr Bern. that the question is not about civill but ecclesiasticall governours The King in deed is to govern in causes ecclesiasticall but civilly not ecclesiastically vsing the civil sword not the spirituall for the punishing of offendours And if the King be a Church officer then he is first a King of the Church ◠to be called to his office and so deposed from it by the Church or at least by other ecclesiasticall persons by whom alone you will have Church officers made And lastly if the King be such a ruling Elder as the scriptures speak
costly stones of cedaâ—s firres and the like special trees and those all prepared before hand hewed and perfit for the building so that neyther hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron was to be heard in the house in the building of it * By the gates of the house were the porters set that none that was vnclean in any thing should enter in Vpon the altar there might be offered no vnclean beast no nor that which was clean having a blemish vpon it And is any rubbish and riâ—rat now good enough for this †spirituall house and temple of God the Church whereof the material temple was but a carnall shadow may the porters the officers let into it the clean vnclean without difference may dogges and swyne and all vnclean beasts and byrdes promiscuously be offered vpoÌ„ * the altar we have in our spiritual tabernacle God forbid And far be it from the servants of the Lord to prepare his Maiesty such a house to dwell in or to defile his holy things with such vnclean persons or to offend his nostrels with the stench of such sacrifices Yea whosoever shall bring me this doctrine that a man of known wicked conversation without such appearance of repentance as the Church by the word of God rule of charity is to judge true may by warrant of the word or practise of the Apostles be received and admitted into the Church by the pratling of a verball profession I will hold that man yea though he were an angel from heaven accursed And for the places which Mr B. brings for this purpose they are so evident against him as when I read them I do even wonder with what conscience modesty or wisdome he could set them down They do speak in deed of faith and the profession of faith in and by such as were received into the Church but of what fayth of a dead faith without works as Iames speaks or fruitfull in evil works which is worse nothing lesse but of such a faith as hath the expresse promise of life eternall annexed vnto it even of that faith which purifieth the heart and worketh by love towards God and man The places of scripture are these Rom. 10. 9. Ioh. 1. 12. 3. 36. Ioh. 17. 3. Act. 2. 36. 8. 37. 9. 20. 11. 26. 16. 31. 33. 19. 4. â— â—8 28. Luk. 24. 47. 1 Cor. 15. 3. 3. 11. Godly reader view the places one by one and see if any one of them speak of a verball faith onely begot in the mouth or of such a profession of faith as hath ioyned with it a prophane conversation the contrary will appear as cleare as the sun and in it how evill a conscience this man vseth thus to pervert the scriptures to the maintenance of a vile opinion and prophane practise Your 4. Reason to prove that the profession of the mayn truth before layd down is of force to make a true Christian is that by it the man so professing doth differ from Iewes Turks Pagans Papists He doth in deed for he is so much worse then they by his verball profession of the truth taking Gods name in vayn and dishonouring it farr more then the other 1 Tim. 5. 8. Isa. 52. 5. Rom. 2. 24. And what matter is it from whom he differs that differs not from but is one of the men of the world a lim of Sathan and an habitation of his spirit Lastly â—â— fire it may be considered whether you be not a partiall and 〈◊〉 judge betwixt the Papists and your selves They for shutting â—â— their works at a third or fourth hand with faith in the 〈…〉 f salvation must be judged â—â—â—se matter and their errour against the 〈◊〉 of faith in the Sonne of God and destroying it against he truth of the gospel bycause it is against the sacrifice of Christs Preisthood and yet you though you yoak Antichrist with Christ and the Popes Canons with Christs Testament in the spirituall government of the soules and bodyes of his people and so sin against the scepter of his kingdome must be reputed true matter your errour no way against the nature of faith or truth of the gospell as though true faith did not as well apprehend Christ a King as a Prophet in the cause of salvation though not in the act of iustification and as though the order which Christ hath left in the Evangelists Actes and Epistles to Timothy and Titus for the gathering and government of his Church were not as well a part of the gospel and so the obiect of faith as any other portion of it Yea to conclude I tell you Mr B. and not I but the holy Ghost and I pray you consider it well that a lewd coÌ„versation and evill conscience is as damnable a sin and as directly against the nature of faith in the sonne of God and the truth of the gospel and doth as plainly destroy faith and prejudice salvation as any eyther Popish or other haeresy in the world Luk. 24. 47. 1 Cor. 5. 11. Gal. 5. 19. 20. 21. Ephe. 5. 5. 6. 1 Tim. 1. 19. 5. 8. 1 Ioh. 1. 6. But graunt as you would have it that profession in word with an apparant denyall of the same in deed made a true Christian or true matter of the Church and that the Apostles built the Lords house of such stones which for me to graunt were both solly and impiety as it is in you to affirm it yet would it no way advantage you nor iustify your Church For the profession by which the Apostles and Apostolike Churches received meÌ„bers was voluntary and personall freely made by the particular persons which ioyned themselves vnto the Lord as the scriptures by you quoted prove as every one that readeth them may see but where was or is any such personall and particular profession vsed or required of any men or women in the replanting of your Church after Popery A man may go out of these countryes wher I now live as many do and hyre a house in any parrish of the land â—e is by the right of his house or fâ—rm a member of the paâ—rish Church where he dwels yea though he have been nousled vp all his life loÌ„g in Popery or Atheism though he were formerly neyther of any Church or religion Yea though he should professe that he did not look to be saved by Christ onely and alone but by his good meanings and well doings yet if he will come hear divine service he is matter true as steel for your Church yea be he of the Kings naturall subiectes he shall by order of law be made true matter of the Church whether he will or no. And what profession of faith in this very case of salvation the body of your Church makes or would make if men freely spake their thoughts a Minister of good note amongst your selves shall testify out of his own experience The
person is Mr Nichols who in his Plea of the innocent expresly affirms that conferring with the particular persons in his parish after he had preached some good space amongst them about the meanes of salvation of 400 coÌ„municants he scarce found one but that thought and professed a man might be saved by his own wâ—ll doing and thaâ— he trusted he did so love that by Gods grace he should obteyn everlasting lâ—se by serving God and good prayers Now how do these agree together Mr B sayth that all professe salvation by Christ onely and alone Mr Nichols on the coÌ„trary affirms out of his own experience that not one of 400 so thinks and professes And if he and all the ministers in England should deny it we out selves by our own experience know what the fayth and perswasion of the multitude in most places is Now for your further reasoning that bycause a Bishop or two published this and some other mayn truthes vnto the world with the approbation of the Parliament and Convocation house and that some preachers here there do so teach therefore all the land so professeth where many thowsands do not so much as vnderstaÌ„d it what can be imagined more vayn Can men professe the truth they know noâ— What is this but the Papists implicit faith when men beleiv as the Church beleiveth though they know not what it is yea and worse then it also for as we see and know infinite multitudes beleive and vpon occasion professe the contrary But most vayn of all is it to affirm that bycause a few godly martyrs have sealed vp this the like truthes with their blood that therefore they that murdered them professe the same truth are true ChristiaÌ„s without any other change wrought in them for the most part then by the Magistrates sword and authority You affirm by way of answer pag. 249. of your second book that the Magistrates compulsion vnto goodnes is no hurt vnto it neyther makes men vnholy or lesse good if they have goodnes in them As it is not simply true you affirm that the compulsion of men to the faith doth not hurt it for if the causing the truth to be blasphemed be to hurt it then the coÌ„pelling of apparant wicked persoÌ„s to professe the same hurts it as it doth both them and the Church whereof they are so if the body of the land in the beginning of the Queens reign were good and holy at all the magistrates compulsion wrought it in men made them of persequuting Idolaters true Christians for other meanâ—â— intervening or coÌ„ming betwixt their professioÌ„ of the masse of the gospell had they none saving the Magistrates authority But here I am by necessity and in respect of the present matter in hand drawn into Mr B. 2. book and a great benefit were it to me if there I might find him though in both vnfound yet one and the same But a great trouble it is to walk with a drunken man and to be bound to follow him in all his vagaâ—ies so is it to deal with an adversary light headed dizzy with wrath vanity and errour whom a man must follow in all his staggerings and reelings to and fro and in all the forwards and backwards that he makes oft times going and vngoing again the same by-pathes There is no one thing wherevpon Mr B labours more in his former book and for which he brings more reasons and scriptures and those often repeated then to prove the Church of EnglaÌ„d or rather such particular Churches as have the word preached in them to be truely gathered after the suppressing of Popery and by the order of the Apostolick Churches both in respect of separation from Idolatours and Antichristian Papists pag. 108 as also by profession of the mayn truth and sum of the Gospell wherein they differed from Iewes Turks and Pagans as no matter and also from Papists as false matter of the Church pag 111. 112. 113. 116. And therefore having proved by a multitude of scriptures that the Apostolick Churches were gathered by free profession of fayth he concludes thus of them and of his own Church such as make this profession are true matter and so are wee for we all professe this fayth c. But now as though he had eyther forgotten what he wrote before or cared not how he crossed himselfe so he might oppose vs against whom he hath vowed such vtter emnity he suckes in his former breath and eats the words he had formerly vttered peremptorily affirming in his 2. book that in the reformation of a Church after Popery there is not required any such profession nor yet the word of God to go before their reformation but that the feare of the Magistrates sword is sufficient to recover them and to setle the people in order to the worship of God The ground vpon which he builds this his new and crosse opinion is the practise of Asa Ezechias Iosias and Nehemiah godly Kings and Princes of Iudah in the reformation of that Church after her Apostacy in the dayes of vngodly Idolatrous Kings therevpon taking it for graunted that the catholique visible Ch of Rome as it is called now is and that the national Church of England in Queen Maries dayes and before when Popery reigned was in the same estate with Iudah in her apostacy he concludes thence that as the Magistrates then without any voluntary profession did by force bring the people of the Iewes back from Idolatry to the true service of God so might King Edward and Queen Elizabeth by force bring back the people of England into covenant with God to be his true Church without any such profession of fayth as in the first planting of Churches is required We will then consider of this poynt at large as being both weighty in it self and having many others depending vpon it That Iudah was at the first and so continued by vertue of the Lords Covenant with her forefathers on his part faythfully remembred and kept though by her oft tymes broken the true Church of God and holy in the root till she was broken of for vnbeleif after the death resurrection and ascension of Christ fully published and confirmed by the Apostles I graunt with him but the same or the like things of the Church of Rome or of England in the respects layd down may I not acknowledg That there was at Rome a true Church beloved of God called saynts by giving obedience vnto the fayth is apparant but that eyther the city or Church of Rome consisting of many cities and countryes was ever within the Lords covenant and holy in the root as Iudah was may I neyther acknowledg neyther can he possibly prove So for England I wil not deny but there were at the first true Churches planted in it by the preaching of the gospell and obedience of fayth and these as the other Churches in every nation though in
and so espeiaâ—lly the Church of Rome because he sits surest there And it is very like this is one reason why Mr B. is so much perswaded of the Church of England as of a true Church because he thinks Antichrist sitts there in a measure and it is not impossible but this may have been some part of the cause why in former tymes he was so loath to leav that Church and to ioyn to vs when he thought we had the truth because he perceived we wanted that prerogative of Antichrists seat which England enioyes But though this shew the absurdity of the opinion yet doth it not answer the obiections I do then answer the same in effect which Mr B. makes his fourth ArgumeÌ„t namely that Popery or Antichristianism begun not out of Christianity but in the Church of God where it did also by steppes advance it selfe into the very throne of God of Christ there did in tyme and by degrees so vniversally corrupt and confound both persons and things as that God could no longer be sayd to dwel there by his visible presence and promises but Antichrist in his stead having destroyed the temple of the Lord the Church and caryed captive his people with the holy vessels into Babylon spirituall as did the civil BabyloniaÌ„s the material temple carying captive with them into Babylon civil the holy vessels and other appurtenances thereof together with a remnant of the Lords people of which more hereafter Onely I doe in the mean whyle except against two particulars in this second Argument The former is that Antichrist sitting in the temple of God viz so remayning is that head with his body 2 Th. 2. Antichrist was not in the Apostles tyme nor in a long tyme after a perfit man consisting of the head the Pope and the body the Hierarchy ecclesiastical but was in the seed onely or as an embrie in the wombe not perfectly framed much lesse visibly brought forth least of all grown to that height as to iustle with Christ for his throne yea to dispossesse him of it as now he doth and hath done a long season Secondly it is not truely affirmed that because there are some fundamental truthes of God in doctrine and truthes in ordinances of Christ as you Mr B. speak held there that therefore Rome is the true Church How should Antichrist and the Divil in him so effectually deceive with the delusion of vanity and errour if he did not countenance the same with some truthes And do you not think it possible Mr B. that any malignant and falâ—e Churches should vsurp some truthes and ordinances of Christ which apperteyn not vnto them If your argument be good the Greek Churches the Arians Anabaptists Vbiquitaries yea and all the assemblyes of haeretiques and schismatiques in the world are true Churches of Christ for they all reteyn many mayn truthes and ordinances of Christ. The third Argument is that as the children or infants of the ten tribes in IeroboaÌ„s Apostacy were called the children of God by circumcisioÌ„ the visible seale of Gods covenant so may the litle ones in the Romish Church be called Christs for that they have received true baptism And so that Rome hath a true constitution by true baptism in the children who are Christs thereby as the children of the Israelites were the Lords by circumcision til by education they be made Antichristian and by that offered vp to Antichrist as the Israelitish children became Molechs by their fathers offering them to him You do here Mr B. in the first place alter the state of the question in both the termes The question is whether the Church of Rome be the true vsible Church of Christ or no. You for the Romish Church put the lâ—tle ones in the Romish Church and in stead of their being the visible Church you tel vs they may be called Christs Whereas 1. those litle ones or infants are not the Church but the least part of it and secondly they are not necessarily eyther the true visible Church or of it because they are Christs â—â— so they were in a respect for God hath his in Babylon whicâ— are visible Citizens of that visible City of fornication though the Lords in respect of election and the beginnings of personal sanctification whom he therefore calls out of the coÌ„m 〈…〉 of it the aboâ—â—â—ations therein vnder a severe penalty Secondly whâ—â— you say 〈…〉 the children in the Romish Church have a tâ—ue 〈…〉 by 〈…〉 are Christs till by education they be made An t 〈…〉 â—â—d by it 〈◊〉 vp to Antichrist you seem to make the Church of Rome to be or to comprehend in it two distinct yea two 〈◊〉 visible Churches a Christian Church of infants before they be capable of education and an Antichristian Church of those that are of ripâ— yeares And yet further where you say that iâ— for so your words are hath a tâ—â—e constituâ—s â—â— by true baptism in their children there it seems you will have the parents to have one constitutioÌ„ that is to be one Church with their children and that true by their true baptism and to the parents which by their education are Antichristian must by the baptism of their children be made christian and yet the children by their parents when they are capable of their education be made antichristian offred vp to Antichrist The scriptures every where teach that parents by their fayth bring their children into the covenant of the Church and entitle them to the promises but that children by their circumcision or baptism should constitute their parents in the Church read â— not but in this mâ—ns scripture Yoâ— most manifest it is every where that wicked parents by their 〈…〉 lity or other sinns depriving themselves of the Lords presence and covenant have enwrapped their children â—â—th 〈…〉 and visibly secret things ever reserved vnto God So C 〈…〉 the presence of the Lord caried his posterity with him so â—iâ— Ismaell and Iâ—saâ— theirs the Ismaelites and Edoâ—â—es And â—â—th Lord disâ—laym the mother for a harlot not reputing her his wife he accounts the children no better then bastards on whom he wil have no pity And if the children of the Iewes be not broken of with their parents for their vnbelief they are successively within the covenant and of the true Church every one of them to this day Neyther doth this at all crosse that which els where you obiect out of the Prophet that the soul that sinneth shall dy that the sonne shal not bear the iniquity of the father c. For first the Prophet there speaks of such a sonne as forsakes his fathers evil practiseth the contrary Otherwise the Lord threatneth that he wil visit the sinns of the fathers vpon the children yet not so as the children are without fault for infants new-born by Adams transgression and their natural and original corruption are children of wrath and lyable
to all Gods curses but the Lord takes occasion by the sinns of the parents to execute his iustice vpon the children in whose punishments he also punisheth the parents themselves after a sort The next thing I observe in this argument is that you affirm the children of the Apostate Israelites to be the children of God by circumcision and infants now to be Christs by baptism which you say also constitutes the Church against which Popish and anabaptistical errour I do iustly except Popish I call it for that the papists imagine that by baptism their children are made Christian soules and in signe of that they have the font ever standing at the Church dore so do the Anabaptists make baptism the form of the Church which you call the constitution as indeed the form of a thing constituteth it and giveth being vnto it Wherof if I my self were perswaded I could not defend the baptism received eyther in Rome or England but I must withall iustify both the one the other for the true Church of Christ. But against this vnsound opinion both theirs and yours I will lay down certayn arguments playnly proving the contrary And first it is the covenant of God which makes the Church as you your selfe both affirm prove pag. 277. of your 2 book of which covenant you also graunt in this place baptism to be the visible seal as was also circumcision in those tymes and therefore it is not the covenant it selfe but is after it in the order both of nature and tyme. Secondly the Lord had his Church before eyther circumcision or baptism were appoynted which is also one and the same in essence from the beginning to the end of the world which it couldnot be if eyther circumcision or baptism were parts constitutive or essentiall of it Thirdly the Lord made his covenant and so admitted them into the Church wâ—â—h Abraham and his seed to be his and their God in their ages and generations so that he children of Abraham and of the Iewes were not without the Lord covenant and him to be their God til the tyme of their circumcision which was the eighth day but were born yea begot in the covenant and an holy seed and therfore the manchilde not circumcised the eight day is sayd to have broken the Lords covenant wherof circumcision was asigne To this also add that the Lord did admit into 〈◊〉 with himself accepting them to be his people all and every one of 〈◊〉 Israelites in the wildernes where notwithstanding all of them in comparison were vncircumcised Ios. 5. 2. 3. 4. 5. Fourthly if baptism were the constitution of the Church as Mr B. speaks then were all heretiques and schismatiques baptised with water into the name of the Father Son and H. Ghost true christians and their assemblyes true Churches of Christ so had the â— Sâ—â—ceâ—â—tes been a true Church by circumcision and so of the Isâ—â—â—elites or Agarians which have retayned circumcision to this day the same may be sayd of the Eâ—â—â—ites and Edomites which were notwithstanding as far from being true Churches as Mr B. is from the truth of God in writing aâ— he doth A fourth consideration is to be had of an affirmation by you peremptorily and absolutely made as though it were without all contradiction or limitation in the third argument and that is that the baptism in the Romish Church is true baptism Touching which I do commend vnto the godly reader this distinction Baptism is to be considred of vs in a twofold respect first nakedly and â—â— the essential causes the matter water and the form the washing with water into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the H. Ghost and in this respect I confesse true baptism both in England and Rome Secondly it is to be considered of vs 〈…〉 as they speak clothed with such appurtenances as wherewith the Lord hath appoynted it to be administred as for example a lawfull person by whom a right subiect vpon which a true communion wherein it is to be ministred dispensed in which regards neyther I can approve it nor Mr B. manifest it to be true eyther in Rome or England When the house of the Lord at Ierusalem was destroyed by the Câ—aldees and the vessels therof together with the people caryed into Babylon they remayned still both in nature and right the vessels of the Lords house though in respect of their vse or rather abuse they became Belshazzars quaâ—fing bowles So is it in the destruction of the spirituall house of the Lord the Church by the spirituall Babylonians and in the vsurpation and abuse of the holy vessels and in special of this holy vessel of baptism Yet is there in this poynt a further consideration to be had of vs vnto which both the scriptures and our own experience do lead vs namely that as the Lord hath his people in Babylon his I mean both in respect of election and of personal sanctification so hath he for their sakes there preserved notwithstanding all the apostacy and confusion which is found in it sundry his holy truthes and ordinances amongst which baptism is one But as this his people being commingled with the Babylonians in one visible communion cannot be called the true visible Church of God so neyther can these ordinances in the administration of them be called the true visible ordinances of Christ and of his Church but as the Lords people are commaunded to goe out of her and to separate themselves and so to build the Lords house a new in Ierusalem or rather themselves into a new spiritual house for him to dwel in so are they to bring with them out of Babylon these ordinances and in particular this ordinance of baptism and to enioy the same being sanctifyed in the right vse and order All which was livelily shadowed out in the materiall temple and ordinances as appeareth Ezra 1. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. and 5. 13. 14. 15. And this also may serv for answer to that you bring in your second reason for the iustification of Rome in respect of the truthes of doctrine and ordinances there In your fourth argument there is litle but the answer of which I formerly spake vnto the second to wit that antichristianism begun in Christianity which is true as sowernes begins in wine til by degrees it turn it into vineger and as other haeresies begun in the Eastern Churches which have notwithstanding long since eaten out the hearts of them that they cannot nor could not of long tyme be called the true Churches of Christ. True also is it which you say that antichristianism doth not wholy disanul christianity for if it did it were not possible it should deceive so effectually as it doth How should the Divil be beleeved in so many lyes if he should not in some things speak the truth But where you further adde that Poperie is nothing
but idolatrous and heâ—iticâ—l corruptions vpon the profession of Christian fayth covering it with the same as Iobs body was with sores and in the more large application of that Simile pag. 245. do affirm that as he though covered over with botches and sores so aâ— he could scarce be known by his freinds was Iob stil vnder the sores and the very same essentially that he was before so â—s the Church and christianity in Popery â—hough covered with the antichristian corruptions which Sathan hath brought over them in so saying you are like your selfe onely constant in inconstancy and errour And tell me I pray you Mr B. is the Popes vniversal supremacy and headship over all Churches by which also he claymeth power of both the swords onely a sâ—ab vpon the skin of the true ministery which Christ hath left in the Church without preiudicing the essence or nature of it Is the sacrifice of the masse onely a soar brought vpon the Lords supper vnder which notwithstaÌ„ding it lyes the very same in nature and substance which was by Christ ordeyned Is prayer vnto saynts onely a corruption come vpon true prayer but no more against the life of it then Iobs vlcers were against his life or doth it not destroy the very soule and life of prayer Is adoration of saynts service in an vnknown tongue with all other the abhominations in the masse-book but as a scurf come over that true worship of God wherwith he wil be worshipped Iohn 4. 23. 24. vnder which the very same true worship lyeth as Iob did vnder his soares which God hath coÌ„maunded that without any more daunger of losse of life then Iob was in by his outsyde skabs Lastly is the opinion of iustification by works onely a botch and byle vpon true fayth but not against the nature of it nor destroying the essence of it Your errour is sufficiently convinced in the recital and opening of it in these particulars your inconstancy and contradiction is most notorious in the last of them compared with that you wryte pag. 113. of your former book namely that the ioyning of works in the cause of salvation which the Papists do is against the true nature of fayth in the son of God and destroyeth it That which you call your fifth reason hath no countenance of a reason in it but is meerly a conclusion inferred by you vpon your 4 former reasons to prove Rome in respect of the tyme prâ—â—ent a true Church and the sum of it is that the Churches now coming out of Babylon do not requyre any nâ—w plantation but onely a reformation as did Iudith in the tyme of Hezechiah after the apostacy of Idolatrous Ahaz and of the people wâ—â—h him But since the reasons wherwith you would vnderprop this your inference are taken away it must needs â—â—ll to the ground Neyther will your Babel stand any whit the stronglyer for the daubing you make with this and the like vntempered morter that it hath not made a nullity of religion that it hath not lost the Apostolical constitution totally that it holds truthes sufficient to iudg men christian by the corruptions being taken away For first what matters it though Rome have not made a nullity if it have made a falsity of religion by most grosse vntruthes haeresyes and Idolatryes making voyd the commaundements of God by mens traditions and teaching for doctrines mens precepts And secoÌ„dly what though the coÌ„stitutioÌ„ be not totally lost If an house or material building be not totally demolished but there stil remayn some few postes or studdes not yet puld down or some few stones of the foundation vndigged vp is it therfore truely an house and so to be called Lastly doth it follow that because Papists might be iudged true christians for the truthes they hold their corruptions being taken away they are therefore such with their corruptions so the vilest haeretique Idolater or other miscreant in the world take away his haeresy Idolatry and mischeif may be iudged a christian yea the Divil himself take but away his corruptions is a glorious Angel of light Having thus answered the reasons brought by Mr B. to prove Rome a true Church and the like I will in the next place lay down such arguments from the scriptures as manifest the contrary and those also taken out of his own writings for the further discovering of his vnsound and deceitful dealing with men in the Lords matters And first in his cathechism printed 1602. pag. 1â— he demaunds this question â—â— the Church of Rome a true Church of Christ whervnto he answereth No but of Antichrist the Pope the cheif teacher of the doctrine of Divils And in the same place to prove that religion a false religion he brings 7. general reasons very weighty all and every one of them as he that reads the place shal finde Secondly in his seperatists sâ—hism he makes as Iewes Turks and Pagans no matter so Papists false matter of the Church and contrary to true matter in that they ioyn with Christ their works in the cause of salvation pag. 111. 112. 113 116. Thirdly he affirms in his last book pag. 277. that the covenant betwixt God and the people is the form of the Church and proves that this covenanting mutually doth give a being vnto a people to be Gods people Deut. 29. 12. 13. To this let that be added which he wrytes pag. 281. of the same book namely that the Papists have not the same word and fundamental poynts of the covenant with them in England And in particular that they make a covenant with Angels and Saynts and so hold not the person in the covenant that they make another word even mens traditions the declaration of the covenant and so change the evidence that they make moe sâ—craments and so adde counterfeyt seals turning the Lords supper into a Popish sacrifice and so do tear off the Lords seal and make it nothing worth and these three namely the person the wryting and the seals he makes the foundamental poynâ—s of the covenant as wherein the foundation therof doth stand And who now seeth not how this man is first constrayned to plead for Rome as a true Church to defend the Church of England and afterwards being ashamed of that plea to condemn it as a false Church corrupt and counterfyet in the very foundation and form which gives the being as he himself speaks Fourthly he graunts in these his playn endeavours that Rome is Babylon and that the H. Ghost so calls it and applyes rightly the places literally spoken of the type the heatheâ—ish Babylon spiritually to the thing signifyed the Antichristian Babylon the Romish Synagogue And the same thing the wrytings of the godly learned both at home and abroad do confirm Noâ— what can be more playn Is it possible that Rome should be both Babylon Ierusalem both the Synagogue of Antichrist and the Church of Christ Can that Catholick
lawes of men but Pauls word even the preaching or publishing of the gospel is the proper means which the Lord hath sanctifyed for that purpose though I doubt not but there both hath been and is great vse of the Magistâ—â—â—â—â— authority for the furtherance of the gospel that way When the Lord Iesus purposed to advance the scepter of his king â—â—me he sent out his Apostles not furnished with sword and â—pâ—â—â— noâ— yet backed with humayn lawes or authority but with châ—â—ge and commission to publish and declare his holy commâ—â—ndâ—ments and the things which he had taught them and thâ—reby to 〈◊〉 Disciples or gayn subiects vnto his kingdom Math. 2â— 19. 2â— which they also practised admitting and initiaâ—ing mâ—n into â—â—â— Church vpon their voluntary submission vnto and 〈◊〉 of the â—ayth of Christ. Nâ—â—â—â— vnto â—â—â— be added a second consideration namely where and to â—â—â— a the Apostles were first to preach and to 〈◊〉 th◠〈◊〉 commission received from Christ it wil both gâ—ve lighâ— to the â—oâ—nt in hand and discover the vanity of a distinctâ—â—n in Mr B. â— book to which he trusteth much and therefore â—â—th oâ—t â—â—r the gathering and establishing of Churches after the P 〈…〉 by fyâ—â— and sword without any further respect then the magistrates authority the summe whereof as also of that he infeâ—reth upon it is that to a Church in the fâ—â—â—t 〈◊〉 that iâ— as â—â— eâ—poundâ— himselfe gathered of inâ—iâ—els and of such a people â—â—â—re no Church 〈…〉 there is required preaching and 〈◊〉 going bâ—fore with the word and profession of the name of Christ but for a people that are not infidels but Christians hâ—â— corrupt soever aâ—â— a Church â—â— suâ—h preachiâ—â— on the one side nâ—◠〈◊〉 of â—â—yth on the other is râ—qâ—ired 〈…〉 compel with the feare of the swâ—â—â— the Magistrate authority is sufficient in such a case Let the Reader behold this bold mans grosse ignorance and contradiâ—tions and if he wil not open his eyes to see them he mâ—y feel them with his hand so palpable are they I wil lay them down in these particulars â—â—â—st he affirmeth pag. 176 that the Lord taâ—â—s a peâ—ple to be 〈…〉 and that commâ—â—â—dements are for his people to â—â—â—â—â—â—â—m and nâ—t to make them 〈…〉 maâ—s commaâ—ndemeâ—t makâ—s not a servent but declâ—â—es such a one to be â—is â—â—â—vant already and so he gives God not more power to commaund the wicked and vnbeleevers then a man hath to commaund another mans servant and yet here he tells vs that before a people can become a Church Paul must goe with the word and expresly pag. 277. that the Lord to make mâ—n his people gives tâ—em his word and quoâ—es Math. 28. 19. to prove it Secondly by this his distinction and his inferences vpon it he makes all the Iewes to whom Iohn Baptist Christ and the Apostles preached and which were baptised by them or any of them to have been Infidels before and nâ— Church no Christianâ— And â—â— he affirms directly pag. 262. though I suppose he considerâ—t not where in answer to a proposition of Mr Aynsworthes that the Churches of Christ were established of saynts onely men visibly 〈◊〉 confirmed amongst other scriptures by Math. 3. 6. he pâ—â—emptorily avouches and so builds vpon it that that pâ—oposition scripture amongst the rest is to be vnderstood of a people which is no Church no Christians so the Church of the Iewes at that tyme must be no Church and they no Christians with this man for of them that scripture speaks whatsoever Peter and Paul say to the contrary Thirdly since the Apostles being sent by Christ to teach and make Disciples were to begin their ministration amongst the Iewes in Ierusalem Iudea and else where which is the consideration I formerly mentioned and so by the publishing of the gospel of fayth on their part and by the profession of fayth and confession of sinns on the peoples part to gather and establish particular Churches and that the Church of the Iewes was at that tyme the Church of God in respect of which the establishing of these particular Churches was no new plantation but a continuation of their former ingraâ—â—ing in the same root wherein they formerly were planted not differing from it essentially but being onely reformed perfited and otherwise ordered then before it appeareth most vntrue which Mr B. affirmâ—th that the preaching of the gospel is onely necessarily required for the planting of Churches of such people as were formerly infidels and no people of God Fourthly and lastly even that which he most freely graunts in one pag. namely that at the first the word must be preached and by that means men brought to a voluntary 〈◊〉 without compulsion that he vtterly reverses and denyes in the very next pag where pleading the proclamation of Hezechiah and compulsion of Iosiah he annexeth to the same purpose as cunningly as his wit wil serve an insinuation that Mordecai for feare of whom he sayth many of the heathen for such the people were became Iewes procured of the King proclamations and other statutes for the compelling of his subiects to the Iewish religion wherein he both perverâ—s the words as the reader may see and the meaning also of thâ— scripture which is that the heathen observing the myghty and mervelous hand of God for his people and against his and their enemyes many of them became Iewes and separated themselves vnto them from the 〈◊〉 of the heathen of the land to seek the Lord God of Israel as also in alleadging to the same purpose Luke 14. 23. as he doth in another place borrowing as it seems the corrupt exposition of that scripture from the Ministers whom â—e drawes in with him in his former book of which more in due place But that I may not be caryed too far in this my digression I do first deny that the reformation by Queen Elizabeth though great in it selfe and she for it of blessed memory did in any measure equalize the reformation made by Hezechiah Iosiah and Nâ—heâ—yah in whom you most insist Mr Bernard For whereas all reformation respects eyther persons or things that which was wrought by these godly Kings and governours receives testimony from the H. Ghost himselfe to have been most full and intyre both wayes And to let passe for brevityes sake the things themselves with referring the reader to these and the like scriptures which handle that part I wil insist a litle vpon the persons about whom the question here is between Mr B. and me in whom the other parte of reformation is to be considered which wil better appear if we compare together officers with officers and people with people And first it is evident in the scriptures that those Kings Princes of Iudah did not apoint any other Preists eyther for the purging of the temple or for any other Preistly work whither of reformation or administration
were to destroy her own essence being Secondly the true matter of the Church and true members of Christ are the same As Christ is called the foundation of the house they of the Church are the matter of the building as he is called the head of his body they are his members whom to excommunicate is to deliver vnto Sathan 1 Cor. 5. 5. whervpon I do necessarily inferre that if to excommunicate be to deliver to Sathan and that the Church may lawfully excommunicate wicked persons and that wicked persons be true matter and that true matter be true members of Christs body then may the Church lawfully deliver to Satan the true members of Christs body which I abhor to write And though your Ordinaries Mr B. be oft tymes so liberall of the true members of Christ as thus to deliver them to the Divel yet had the Ministers of Christ rather have their own members torn from their bodies then thus to dismemthe blessed body of the Lord Iesus The heynousnes of this fact shewes the vanity of your distinction the errour of your opinion and the falsity of your Church Lastly you do mistake the two scriptures which you bring to prove that a man iustly excommunicate is still called a brother in the scriptures and so to be held by the Church The Apostle in the former place 2 Th. 3. 15. speaks not of a man excommunicated noâ— worthy to be excommunicated neyther but of such a person as followes not his calling faithfully as he ought but being negligent in his own is to busy in other mens matters whom he wills the brethren to mark and no way to countenaunce in sucâ— walking but on the contrary to shew their dislike of it that he may see it and be ashamed of it and this he that reads over the chapter shall observe I suppose to be the Apostles meaning In the second place which is 1 Cor. 5. 11. his meaning is not that Christians becoÌ„ming fornicators covetous Idolaters and so continuing obstinate should still be reputed brethren notwithstanding but he speaks of a brother there as Ezechiel speaks of a righteous man chapt 18. 24. that turns away from his righteousnes and commits inâ—quity and doth according to all the abomination of the wicked c. and as truely may it be affirmed that the person Ezechiel speaks of is still to be reputed a righteous man as that he of whom Paul speaks is still to be accounted a brother Both the Prophet and Apostle speaks of such persons â—s were righteous and brethren reputatively before they did so bastardly degenerate And is it possible that Christ should charge his Ch to account an obstinate offender as an heathen and publican Mat. 18. and that Paul should come after and direct them to account him a brother Besides all the members of the Church are brethren and to become a member is to become a brother and so to be excommunicated out of the Church is nothing els but to be cast out of the Churches brotherhood Lastly the Apostle 1 Cor. 5. 11. names idolatours amongst the rest and will you haue idolaters your brethren Mr B why then did you in the former pag. exclude Papists and pag. 108. Idolatours vniversally A holy brotherhood it seems you will have brother idolater haeretique and what not The instance you bring of Symon Magus an hypocrite received by the Apostle by the Evangelist you should say Act. 8. makes stroÌ„gly against you if it be well considered what is written of him For after he was discovered by Peter not to have his heart right in the sight of God he was pronounced by him to have neyther part nor fellowship in that busines ver 21. Now if Philip had discerned thus much by him at the first do you think he would have acknowledged him for a partener in it or haue given the seal of the forgivenes of sinns of new birth and of salvation as you truely prove baptism to be pag. 119. to such a blank nay would be haue prophaned the Lords holy things vpon such a dog or swyne contrary to the expresse commaundement of Christ Math. 7. 6. Cease Mr B. to excuse your self by accusing the holy Apostles and Evangelists of Christ. And herevpon I do thus argue They that haue no right to the holy things of God in the Ch are not to be admitted into it neyther is the Church gathered of such persons rightly and truely gathered But men of lewd conversation have no right to the holy things of God in the Church and therefore the Church gathered of such persons is not truely gathered The former propositioÌ„ is clear bycause men admitted into the Church are admitted to the participation and coÌ„munion of the holy things of God in the Church The 2. also appeareth both by the scripture before named where Peter pronounceth that such as have not their hart right with God which no lewd persons hav or ever had haue no part in the holy things of God as also by Mr Bernards own graunt namely that wicked persons are to be cast out of the Church And what could there be in the world more ridiculous yea or wherein God were more plainly mocked then to gather a Church of such persons as are judged fit to be cast out of the Church And yet for this Church-gathering being indeed his own Mr B pleads both here and every where both in this and his other book In the next place come in certayn popular similitudes to colour over that rotten errour which can by no reason or scripture be made sound in number three which I will consider in order Two persons are lawfully marryed by publique profession and mutuall corâ—â—nt now though the wise perform not her covenant but prove vnfaithful yet is she still a true wisâ— till the bill of divorcement be given out I graunt it but see you not how you take the thing for granted which wee deny namely that your nationall Church is the true wife of Christ Since he divorced his ancient wife the nation of the Iewes he never maried nor will marry nation more much lesse which is more specially to be coÌ„sidered did he ever marry for his lawfull wife the prophane multitudes of vnhallowed Atheists wherwith as you confesse in the beginning of your book your Church aboundeth Hath Christ commaunded his people not to be vnequally yoked with vnbeleevers and will he yoke himself with them with Atheists other wicked persons which are in deed infidels unbeleevers whatsoever they professe in word though you in your 2 book Mr B. do with defiance avouch the contrary The same Apostle in an other place affirmeth that he which coupleth himself with an harlot is one body with her forbids the faithfull as a most impious thing to make the members of Christ the members of an harlot and will Christ make himself the head of harlots theves murtherers blasphemers and the like or
become one body with them he the head and they the members as it is betwixt him and his Church 1 Cor. 10. 17. 12. 12. 27. Lastly no Woman having a former housband alive may take a second or be lawfully maryed vnto him but wicked prophane persons have a former husband yet living even the law or sin taking occasion by the law to work in them all manner of lust ruling over them as the husband over the wife to which also they are bound as the wife vnto the housband Rom. 7. 1. 2. 3. 5. 8. therefore cannot be maryed vnto Christ nor become his wife The 2. similitude followeth A man professing obedience to a king as his alone sovereign and obeying his lawes in the general though he transgresse in some things openly greatly is that Kings true subiect notwithstanding You deal vnfaithfully put the case wrong The question is of a man professing himself in word the Kings loyall subiect his alone but in deed truth the sworn slave of his professed enemy an apparant rebell against the Kings majesty And whether such a one be a true subiect vnto the King or no for such and no better are wicked profane men whatsoever in word they professe even slaves and vassals of the Divel and rank rebels against the L. Iesus Right now you would have Rome a true Church now you will have Iesuites the Kings true subjects for such they professe themselves as boldly as falsly And yet no Romish Preist or Iesuit is more treacherous to the Kings person state then is a prophane vngoldly man professing Christianity to the crown dignity of Christ Iesus The 3. resemblance is of a man professing one onely trade though bunglingly or carelesly whom none will call a false trades-man but eyther no good trades-man or vnprofitable yet truely that trades-man by his profession Here as before you mis-put the case you should instance in a man professing a trade or faculty but practising the contrary in his generall course For example a man professeth himself in word a surgeon or physition but is observed and found in deed and practise to poyson men and cut their throtes and this to be his resolved course Now so charitable is Mr B. as he will have this man still called and that truely a Physition or surgeon though not good nor profitable But the truth is he is a false and treacherous homicyde and murtherer and so to be abhorred of all but of none eyther to be called or accounted a true physition or surgeon eyther good or evil Such a one and no better is he to his own soul that vnder the profession of Christianity in word practiseth wickednes and impiety and hath his conversation in them The authour having thus ended his defence for the bad and naughty matter of his Church so granted by him in effect comes to speak of false matter but so breifly and darkly withall as it appears plainly he is loth to meddle with it least in the handling his bad matter should prove false matter as it comes to passe with counterfeyt coyn That he sayth then is that false matter is contrary to this true matter that is to the true matter of which he hath spoken Wherevpon it followeth that since the true matter he hath spoken of is wicked and vngodly men though professing Christ and that holy and godly men are contrary to men wicked vngodly that therefore godly and holy men are contrary to the true matter of his Church and so by his reckoning false matter To conclude this point What is false but that which hath an appearance of truth but not the truth it self whereof it makes shew in which respect the scriptures also speak of false Christs false Prophets false Apostles false brethren false witnesses false ballances and the like pretending themselves to be that which they are not and to have that truth in them which they have not of all which there is none more truely false nor more fitly so called then that man is and is called truely a false christian or false matter of the Church which 〈◊〉 in word he looks to be saved by Iesus Christ and yet continues in a lewd and wicked conversation having a shew of godlines but denying the power thereof and professing the knowledg of God but by works denying him Wherevpon I do also conclude that the body of the Church of England being gathered generally and for the most part of such members visibly cannot be the true visible body of Christ except a true living body can be compact of false and dead members That which comes next into consideration in Mâ— B order is the visible form of the Church as he calls it which he makes truely the vniting of vs vnto God one to another visibly in his 2. book the covenant by which Godsets vp a people to be his people and they him mutually to be their God This description he illustrateth by a similitude borrowed from a materiall building whose form ariseth from the coupling together of the stones vpon the foundatioÌ„ which he also further manifesteth by comparing it with the form of the invisible Church by which the faithfull are vnited to God through Christ invisibly and one vnto another Of the termes of which comparison and their proportion wee shall speak by and by I do onely in the mean while intreat the reader to observ with me these two things The former that Mr B having in the beginning of his book censured vs very severely and that with D. Allisons concurring testimony for misapplying 1 Pet. 2. 5. to the visible Church which sayd they was meant of the invisible Church here notwithstanding he interprets it of the visible Church even as we do The latter that speaking of the invisible Church and the form of it he brings in sundry scriptures as so to be expounded which are apparantly intended of the visible Church amongst the rest these three Ephe. 2. 22. and 4. 4. 1 Cor. 12. 13. the last of which he himself also within a few pages following expounds as meant of the visible Church and the properties thereof Now for the comparison betwixt the form of the invisible and visible Church wherein if Mr B. observed due proportion and made the form of the visible Church the same visibly externally in respect of men which he doth the form of the invisible Church invisibly internally and in respect of God and so layd down things in simple and playn terms the truth in the point would easily appeare much needles labour be spared on both sides The form of the invisible Church he noteth first and on Gods part to be raysed by the spirit by which invisible hand God taketh men immediately by the hart and sayth he wil be thâ—â—â— God 2. and on mans part by â—aith by which invisible hand the beleevers
do take hold of the promise of the spirit beleeving that they are his people and he their God and that thru God and man are invisibly vnited and 3. by love by which men take hold one of another and so are vnited together invisibly And all this he confirms sufficiently by the scriptures Answerable vnto which 3. invisible hands for this invisible vnion he makes 3. visible handes for the visible vnion 1. vnto the spirit the word 2. vnto faith the profission of faith 3. vnto love the sacrament of the Lords supper for â—o he proportioneth them The colour of truth which these things may seem to haue in their mutuall reference will â—ub off in the very touching of the particulars But if Mr B. would haâ—e observed just proportion and haue set things down playnly he should haue said thus or to this effect As the invisible internall and effectuall vnion of God with man of man with God and of one man with another is raysed from the invisible internall and effectuall work of the spirit invisible internall and effectuall faith and love which are onely seen and known of God and of the parties themselves in whom they are so must the visible externall and apparant vnion of God with man of man with God and of one man with an other arise from the visible externall and apparent work of the spirit visible externall and apparant faith and love which are seen of men and made sensible to the ey of charity which judgeth probably of thinges which are not seen by the things which are seen For albeit it be true which Mr B. hath in his 2. book that wee are not therefore a Church of God bycause men so judge vs but bycause God hath received vs into covenant with himself yet it must also be considered that the Church is not called visible in respect of God but of men to whom it doth or may appear by whom it is so discerned and judged probably The scriptures do speak of a iustification before God which is by â—aith alone and of a iustification before men which is by workâ— the former of which we may truely call invisible justification as known to none but God and the conscience of the party justifyed the other visible justification as being manifest and made visible vnto men by works as ver 18. of the Chapter before named where the Apostle speaketh of shewing manifesting or making visible faith and so consequently justification by works And look what is here sayd of visible and invisible faith and justification the same from other scriptures compared together may be affirmed of visible and invisible election redemption sanctification as also of visible and invisible saynts for the matter and of the visible and invisible vnion for the form of the visible and invisible Church the invisible being certayn infallible and so known to be of God the visible morall probable and so appearing vnto men There is in deed and in the right disposition of things by the revealed will of God but one Church of Christ which is his body whereof he is the head and which he hath purchased with his blood for Christ hath not purchased two Churches with his blood but one neyther is the head of two bodyes but of one and according to this purchase of Christ and ordinance of God all that are of the visible Church are also of the invisible and all of the invisible of the visible Church which are indeed not two but one Church in two sundry respects as I have formerly shewed I deny not but that as it hath been sayd of old there are many sheep without and many wolves within many of the visible Church which are not of the invisible Church and so answerably many of the invisible Church which never come into the visible Church But this say I is not according to the revealed will of God in his word but by mans default and sin It is their sin of ignorance or infirmity which being of the invisible Church do not if possibly they can joyn themselues vnto the visible Church there to partake in the visible ordinances it is their sinne of hypocrisie and presumption which not being of the invisible Church do adjoyn themselves to the visible Church there to prophane the Lords covenant ordinances to which they have no right For how can they being wicked and vnholy chalendge the LORD to be their GOD that is all happines goodnes vnto them which is one part of the covenant or professe themselves to be his people which is another part when the Divel is their God and their lusts and they his their people and servants to whom they obey or what have they to do to meddle with Gods covenant whom he expresly forbids to take it in their mouthes It is therefore a vile profane defence which you are driven to Mr B by pleading that wicked persons are true matter of the Church and so admitted into covenant with God in the 2. book that obedience onely followes the covenant as the fruit of it and that God requires not actuall obedience or that wee should be actually good or holy before or when we covenant with him but that he should make vs good and that wee should be good and perform actuall obedience afterward which as it is notable Anabaptistry and in deed the ground of that haeresy being applyed to the covenant of the Iewish Church so being applyed to the covenant of the Church now it is worse then Anabaptistry And consider this man he makes the sacrament of the Lords supper a ground and part of the covenant and yet affirms that God for mens entering into this covenant requires not that they should be holy and good and so by this deep divinity it must needs follow that the Lord requires not that men should be good or holy for their partaking in the sacrament of the Lords supper The particulars now follow in which you place this visible vnion and covenant of the Lord with his people of them with him and of one of them with another The first whereof is his word which say you is the onely first visible note and testimony from God by which he makes a people his people Ps. 147. 19. Rom. 3. 1. 2. Ioh. 17 6. and so you go on to prove that this word is Gods outstretched hand to subdue people vnto him the sword of the spirit by which he smiteth the immortall seed by which he begetteth and maketh alive the word of reconcilation by which he reconcileth his Church and people And therevpon you conclude that to whomsoever God sends his word to them he testifieth his love and desire to make them his Church and people To let passe the repugnancy in your words as first where you speak of the onely first note as though there could possibly be more firsts then one and 2. where you make the word a note and testimony
by which God makes a people his people whereas notes and testimonyes do not make that to be which is not but do shew and declare it to be already I do answer that as it is true that where God sends his word there â—e testifieth his love and is desirous that is in respect of the outward offer of the meanes to make such a people his Church so is it most vntrue that to whomsoever God sends his word and testifyes his desire outwardly to make them his people and Church that those he makes his Church and people or vnites himself visibly unto them The vniting of God vnto men is an effect of the word which it alwayes hath not vpon them to whom it is sent Externall efficients do never prove argue their effects necessarily except they work naturally and infallibly also which the worâ— doth not but morally and according to the good pleasure and blessing of the Lord vpon it It is as you truely say Mr B. the outstretched hand of the Lord in it self but it doth not vnite the Lord to any except he take hold of them with it it is in it self hat immortall seed but may fall vpon the very high way and so have no good effect at all eyther in truth or appearance the messengers of it are the Lords mouth vnto them to whom it is sent but all receive not this message to whom it comes some make light of it neglect it others do evilly entreat them that bring it hating reviling and persequuting both them and it Act. 13. 45. and 17. 18. Now will you say that God strikes hands with these men on his part enters covenant with them actually bycause his word is published amongst them The inward and invisible hand of the spirit must not onely be stretched out by the Lord but must seaze and take hold of the heart and be effectuall invisibly and internally before this invisible vnion be made on the Lords part so must the Lords outward and visible hand his word not onely be stretched out but also seaze and take hold of the outward man at the least and be effectuall visibly and externally vpon him before the Lord can be sayd on his part to haue contracted any visible vnion In the next place comes the visible hand of man by which he on his part câ—tracts with God enters covenant with him visibly that Mr B. makes the open profession of faith vnto the doctrine taught which such as make he sayth have visibly taken hold of the word strucâ—en hands with God You make much of nothing Mr B. or of that which is worse theÌ„ nothing Even now the profession of faith made the true matter of the Church and here it must make the true form of the Church and yet the truth is that in the forming of your nationall English Church by a new covenant from that wherein it stood in Popery which was by your own graunt with Saints and Angels in stead of God I adde with Antichrist in the stead of Christ no such profession of faith was made as your self here do both require and prove necessary for the forming of the visible Church or her vniting with God And that I manifest in two particulars The former is that the profession of faith required for a peoples vniting with the Lord their God must be made both freely and particularly by the persons themselves so vniting And this appeares both by that which you haue sayd of Gods giving or sending his word which is his visible outstretched hand by which he offereth reconcilation vnto men personally and so by consequent requires that they stretch out the hand of personall profession to him and also by the scriptures alledged by you all which do give witnes of such a confession of faith and sinnes as was freely made by the persons themselves particularly which were ioyned to the Church Let the reader take knowledg of these scriptures amongst the rest Mat. â— 6. Act. 2. 38. 1 Cor. 1â— 1. 2. the profession of faith noted in the scriptures by you produced was not made by men of lewd conversation or apparantly vnsanctified of whom alone and their vnion with God our question is but by men visibly and externally holy and such as all of them were visibly and so far as men in charity could judge iustified sanctified and intitled to the promises of salvation and life eternall The scriptures are besides the th 〈…〉 last named Math. 3. 6. Act. 2. 38. with which compare vers 3â— 41 47. 1 Cor. 15. 1. Mat. 10. 40. 41. 32. Act. 8. 12. 13. 37. 38. 1 Cor. 6. 1â— Col. 2. 11. 12. Tit. 3. 5. Who but you Mr Bernard would thus wrong eyther these scriptures as iustifying the admission of lewd persons desâ—rving to be excommunicated into the Ch or the Apostles of Christ for admitting or baptizing such And yet these persons are the true bad matter for which you pleaded so much formerly and which here by these scriptures you would bring into a true bad vnion with God For of these for the most part hath the nation alwayes consisted and of these your Ch was gathered at the first when it became national so hath stood formed ever since The 3. last thing for the perfecting of this visible covenant vnâ—ing of the meÌ„bers one to another M. B. makes the holy sacrameÌ„t of the L. supper which aâ— it is a seal of our faith so iâ— iâ— a testimony of that visible comâ—â—â—ioÌ„ of love also of one member with another 1 Cor. 10. 16. 17. You confound all things in saying the sacrament makes the covenaunt which is a seal of it and praesupposeth both the covenant and the Church whereof it is an ordinance The covenant must be before the Church and the Church before the sacrament how then can the sacrament make the Church And where you further call it an holy sacrament a seal of â—aith a testimony of the visible coÌ„munion of love of one member with another you speak the truth but not truly such it is in it self in the right administration use of it but not in the prophane abuse of it vpon wicked men of whom wee speak and for whom their vniting with Christ you here plead VpoÌ„ whom whilest you the rest of the ministers of your Church do prophane it as you do the more holy it is in it self the more vnholy is your fact the more heynous your sin It is as you say the seal of faith and of the forâ—ivenes of sinns through faith to the penitent beleevers but is it therefore so such to apparantly impenitent vnbeleeving persons it is in it self a testimony of the coÌ„munion of love but is it so vnto among the wicked or is it not in that abuse made a lying witnes to testifie witnes love where apparant hatred and malice reigns against God good
he so much as commaund them any thing and here the Lord sets a people apart to be his and separates them from others in respect of some special peice of service appointed them The things you speak are contrary but neyther of them true The Lord never did nor will take people vnto him but by their submission and obedience vnto his commaundements and for that speciall service of God enioyned the Israelites it was an effect of their separation from other people and covenaunt with God and no cause by or for which they became the Lords separated people We must alwayes consider the Church of God principally and properly in the persons of men and secondarily in their works as we must first consider the vineyard in the trees and afterwards in the fruites they bring forth And so was Israel separated and set apart from other people Your addition thaâ— by other people is meant such as worshipped nâ—â—â—he true God which is nothing to you which worship Iesus Christ c. and that there is no place to prove that Israelites were to separate from other Israelites for their corruptions as false matter is like that which goes before For first Papists and Anabaptists with Idolaters and Heretiques many mo do worship Iesus Christ from whose societies notwithstanding you professe separation 2. The Ismaelites Edomites did worship the true God though not after a true manner and yet the Israelites were a people separated from them so as an Edomite though he had voluntarily joyned himself to the people of God might not beare any publick office amongst them to the third generatioÌ„ which you too ignoraÌ„tly expound pag. 248 of his admission into the Church Yea I do further adde that even Israelites and those which came of Israel or Iaakob were coÌ„maunded to separate themselves from Israelites and that for an vsurpation in the ministery as the scriptures make it playn Num. 16. as afterwards also vpon Ieroboams defection in the ministery worship holy dayes which he forged in his own hart 2 Chron. 11. 13. 14. 15. 16. with â— King 12. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. And thus is the exposition cleared against your frivolous exceptions of such scriptures in Levit and els where as make mention of the separation of the Iewish nation from all other nations which do fitly also serve to confirm justifie the separation of all the Churches in the new testament from such people and assemblies in all nations as of whom the Lord by his revealed will cannot besayd to accept as I am sure he cannot prophane and godles persons Now bycause the yssue of all controversies depends vpon the true exposition of the scriptures whose letter men will bring on both sides and that Mr B. takes speciall exception in this place against the expositions we give of such scriptures as seem to vs most materiall for our separation I wil therefore take in his exceptions as I return whence I came and make manifest as God inableth me the insufficiencie of them The next place that comes into coÌ„sideratioÌ„ is Act. 2 40. where â—ayth Mr B. Peter speakes to the Iewes of such Iewes as denyed Christ renounced the very foundation even Iesus Christ which is if we will beleeve him nothing to them that profesie him to be the true Messias It seemes then that separation is not to be made from the Papists for they hold Iâ—sus Christ to be the true Messias the very foundation yea even the merit of their works do they found vpon the merit of Christs obedience derogating lesse in truth though far too much from theÌ„ vertue of his Preisthood then you do in the constitution of your Church from the dignity of his kingdom in the outward government administration of it 2. Your nationall Church is so farre from being separated from them that deny Christ as it is indeed for substance compact and gathered of such to wit of impure and prophane persons who whatsoever they do professe â—â— word do deny in deed and visibly both God and our Lord Iesus Christ as the scriptures do expresly testifie And to deny that apparant wicked and prophane men or Churches do rayse the foundation of religion is a prophane errour tending to libertiuism and which foundeth all religion and Christianity in the brayn and nothing in the heart Lastly Peters exhortation vpon the occasion in hand was that the faithful Iewes should separate from that froward generation wherevpon the generall doctrine is rightly raysed that the faithfull at all tymes must be separated from all froward generations And of this duty wee are to make the greater conscience considering the words of the Apostle which are that we save our selves from such froward generations as indeed considering the duty we ow vnto our brethreÌ„ for their humbling if they be froward in sinne the discomfort wee haue in continuing communion with them the want of that godly furtherance wee should haue by our brethren in our holy communion and lastly the daunger wherein wee stand eyther to be corrupted by them or at least to haue our zeal and other graces of God decayed in vs our salvation doth not a little consist in our departure from the assembly of the prophane as Beza rightly notes vpon this scripture Of the same nature with the former place is the next in order where the Apostle Paul both departs himself separates the disciples from such as were hardened and would not obey but spake evill of the way of the Lord before the multitude Act. 19. 8. 9. But this you say proves not our purpose and your exceptions are First that our way is not the way of God 2. that if is were yet wee have not spoken to all your Church made it known to all nor haue found all hard hearted and 3. that the place teacheth separation from such obstinate wicked which will not bee wonne to the Church and that here is a departing of some true members of the Church from such as be not the Church but not of members of the true Church forsaking meÌ„bers of the true Church That our way is the way of God appeareth by this very scripture amongst many others wherein also wee haue both the reformists at home and reformed Churches abroad giving testimony with vs for the substance of it But put the case ours be not yet if the way of the reformed Churches be the way of God our separation is justified by this scripture For first your convocatioÌ„ house Church representative is hardened against the way of the reformed Churches blaspheming and persecuting it and all them that eyther seek or plead for it And their act being the cheif is by your own graunt to be accounted the act of all though the rest come not to consent so that you are all by your own words to be acounted a disobedient and hardened people vpon the former praemises namely that the way of the
reformed Churches is the way of God But howsoever it be eyther with vs or them yet if that narrow way whereof Christ speakes that leads vnto life be the way of God then surely there are thowsands in your nationall Church many in every parish Ch in the kingdom which speak evill of the way of God yea hate and persequute it to the vtmost of their power and all them that endeavour in any uprightnes to walk in it Whereof you your self also Mr B. in former dayes haue had experience though for the opposing reviling and persequuting of vs you and they agreed well like Herod Pylate were made freinds Now if wee separate from all them which thus disobey and speak evill of the way of God wee know too well wee can have no cōmunion with any assembly in the Land Lastly you are greatly overseen in saying that Pauls separation was not from the Church nor members of the true Church It was from the Church of the Iewes the members of that Church with whom formerly he had held cōmanion as the true Church of God which for this their disobedience and vnbeleif were broken off and so afterwards in deed to be reputed One scripture more remayns to be considered of and that is Ioh 17 ver 6. 9. 14. 15. 16. whence wee beleeve and confesse that the true visible Church of Christ is gathered by separation from the world and the men of the world visibly Against this our exposition Mr B. excepts and will haue this place vnderstood of the elect onely that are ordeyned to life of invisible members of men as they are holy before God rating vs as egregious deceiptful abusers of this scripture in applying it to the visible members or Church But most vniustly as appeares by these three playne reasons First bycause Iudas was one of them whom the Father had given vnto Christ out of the world whom alone of all them so given him he had lost that the scripture might be fulfilled vers 6. 12. whence it is evident to all men that do not blinde their eyes that Christ here speakes of such a donation or gift as was visible or of such members as were visibly and in respect of men separated sanctified from the world vnto God and not at all of any invisible gift or members Secondly Christ speaks of such persons as the world hated bycause they were not of the world ver 14. but the wicked world doth not hate men as they are elect before God and invisibly or inwardly separated and sanctifyed but as they are outwardly such and so separated whether they be inwardly so or no. Lastly Christ speakes of such a chusing out of the world as he doth of a sending into the world ver 18. which sending as it was visible and externall so was the selection and separation spoken of And say not for shame Mr B. that the visible Church of Christ is to be gathered or consist of the men of the world visibly The Church and world are tvvo distinct yea two contrary states and bodyes though the body of your nationall Church were at the first gathered and hath over since consisted of the vvorld and all To conclude this light man being pressed by Mr Ainsworth in another place of his book vvith this scripture both affirms proves by many reasons that Christ here speaks of a mixt company vvhich the elect are not And hovvsoever his reasons be not onely vnsound but indeed vngodly vvherein he affirms Christ to haue been in respect of men the mediatour of Paul vvhylst he continued a persequutour and of others wicked in respect of men yea of Pylate and the soldiers pagans and infidels bycause he prayed for them vvhereas Christ prayer for them vvas no proper effect of his Mediatourship for his body except vve hold vniversall redemption and make the vvhol vvorld his body but a most perfect demonstration of his love tovvards his enemyes left also for a pattern vnto vs to the worlds end yet do they with that he there labours to prove by them compared with his affirmation of the contrary in this place manifest his great both weaknes and lightnes in the things he affirms And thus I return to the exposition of 2 Cor. 6. and in it to prove that the Apostles meaning is to forbid communion and fellowship not onely with wicked works but also with the wicked persons themselves that walk in them For which purpose I do ad this one onely consideratiō namely that the Prophet Isaiah from whom the Apostle borroweth this phrase come out from among them separate your selves and touch none vnclean thing and I will receive you doth not so properly speak of the departure or separation which the Preists were to make from the sinns of the Babylonians as frō their coastes and persons thereby teaching all Christians which are that spirituall house and holy Preisthood to offer vp spirituall sacrifices acceptable to God through Christ 1 Pet. ◠8. Rev. 1. 6. that their separation and departure must be spiritually as theirs was civilly not onely from the sinnes of spirituall Babylonians or other vnbeleevers and vnclean persons but even from their persons also and from all personall communion with them And as in the type he that touched a dead man or leper or him that had an issue upon him or other vnclean person or was by him touched was legally vnclean polluted as well as he that touched or was towched by any unclean thing whatsoever Levit. 5. 7. 11. so in the thing typed and truth he that toucheth or is touched by a man spiritually dead in sinns or that hath an yssue of sinne or spirituall leprosie running upon him he is spiritually polluted and defiled Now without touching cannot the numbers of the same body and one of another possibly consist But were it as wee would haue it that not onely the works but even the workers of wickednes were to be avoyded for their works sake yet doth Mr B. take a double exception against our interpretation of this scripture The former is that it serves not our turn except we prove them all to live in darknes in vnrighteousnes to be in league with the Divel c. I do answer that if light and darknes beleevers and vnbeleevers Christ and Beliall must haue no fellowship together then must the beleevers and they that are in Christ forbeare fellowship with all vnbeleevers men of Beliall so continuing incorrigible if any beleevers or Christians will notwithstanding still combyne with vnbeleevers and godles men it is their sinne thus to confound the order which God hath set in separating from the faithfull with whom he hath joyned them by joyning with the vnbeleevers vnfaithfull from whom he hath separated them yea I adde in doviding Christ from himself and vniting him with Beliall the Divill in his members what in them
lyeth To conclude what reason hath Mr B. thus to obiect that all which are amongst them live not in darknes and that all are not in league with the Divel considring that by his own exposition of this place the very societies of Papists are to be left as no people of God and yet all Papists live not in darknes as here he vnderstands it nor are in league with the divell neyther in deed had they need considering what league of spirituall coÌ„munion he professeth els where he will have with many of them Mr B. 2. obiection is which he also makes the 4. head of his division that there is no proportion betwixt the persons here mentioned to be separated from being infidels and such as were no members of the Church and Gentiles that had enterteyned no profession of Christ on the one side and the members of the Church on the other side and that the consequence followes not from infidels Heathens Pagans Idolaters led by the Divell to Christians professing Christ though in life not answerable to their profession Even now you justified separation from Papists by this scripture and here you restreyn it vnto Infidels and Gentiles that had not enterteyned any profession of Christ as though Papists were infidels or without all profession of Christ which is contrary both to truth and to your own expresse affirmation every where But my answer is that howsoever infidelity and Idolatry be two greivous sinnes and which do principally separate those which continue in them from God his Church yet not they alone but any other transgressions as well as they obstinately stood in do rayse this vvall of separation as is manifest in the scriptures And first the Apostle in this very place disioynes righteousnes vnrighteousnes light darknes as farre a sunder as beleevers vnbeleevers as the temple of God Idols in which former also the vnion betwixt Christ Belial is as monstrous as in the latter Vnto which I do also adde that Mr B. in this very place debarring infidels and idolaters from being matter of the true Church layes this down as a cause or reason that they are led by the Divel wherevpon it followeth that since none other wicked men are led by Christ but all by the Divell aswell as they that none other can be matter of the true Church more then they And that some persons led by the Divel should be matter of the Church and some not is a distinction not found in the scriptures but devised for a remedy against the iniquities of the tymes and for the avoyding of trouble and dissipation Secondly as the scriptures do every where denounce the same judgements vpon other wicked men and vpon idolaters and infidels for example that as well he that deâ—ileth his neighbours wife or oppresseth the poore or gives forth vpon vsury shall dy the death as he that eates vpon the mountaynes or lifts vp his eyes vnto the Idols and that aswell whoremongers unâ—rtherers and such as love or make lyes as Idolaters shal be without the heavenly Ierusalem so do they also both warrant direct vs the same course of walking towards the one and other The Lord Iesus Mat. 18. 17. enjoyns the Church to account every obstinate offender as an Heathen And the Apostle Paul gives the Corinthians in charge as much to avoyd formâ—atours covetous persons raylers drunkers and â—xtortioners as Idolaters And no marvayl for covetous persons are Idolaters and so are carnall men Idolaters making their belly their God Vnto these adde that the same Apostle vnto Tâ—tus calles vnholy and profane persons what profession of God soever they make unbeleevers or Infidels which are the same Which scripture I wish the Reader to observe in respect of Mr B. bould châ—lendge of all the Brownists in the world to shâ—w the term or name of vnbeleevers to be given to such as are not become absolute Apostates from Christ. Lastly unto that vvhich Mr B. obâ—â—â—teth in the fifth and last place against our exposition of this scripture to the Corinth for our separatioÌ„ namely that at this very tyme when the Apostles thus writ there were of them which did partake with the heatheÌ„ that they were a mixt company among whom were dissentions envying open incest drunkennes at the Lords supper fornication wantonnes men denying the resurrection I do give this answer As there was this mixture in the Church at this tyme so doth the Apostle most severely reprove the same For the incestuous man suffred vncensured he pronounceth the whole lump levened 1. Epist. 5. chapt For thâ— abuse of the Lords supper that they came together not with profit but with hurt chap. 11. 17. where I entreat the reader also to take knowledge of the counsayl which vpon that occasion Beza gives in his Annotations vpon ver 31. which is that we try and examine our selves by faith and repentance separating our selves froÌ„ the wickâ—d For this very sin here spoken of namely their partaking with Idols in the Idolothytes that they could not partake of the Lords supper You cannot drink the cup of the Lord the cup of Divels You cannot be partakers of the Lords table of the table of Divels And in this very place about which we now coÌ„tend that except they separated theÌ„selves left this their vngodly mixture they could not haue the promise of the Lord that he would dwel among them and walk there that he would be their God and haue them his people ver 16. And doth the holy Ghost in leaving these things recorded give any countenance to a mixt company or can you from hence eyther take unto your self or give unto others any comfort in your or their confused walking Will you make your self a medicine of their poyson or a playster of their vlcers You are a physition of no valâ—w Besides it must be considered that all the evils mentioned amongst the Corinthians were contrary to their constitution and so many aberrations and defections from that estate and condition wherein the the Ch was gathered It is evident that Paul planted the Ch at Corinth he being Gods labourer and it Gods husbandry Now who dare open so prophane a mouth as to affirm that this faithfull labourer would plant the Lords vineyard with such imps or gather vnto him a Church of any such slagitious persons as fornicators drunkers incestuous men or such as denyed the resurrection But what is this to your nationall Church which was constituted and gathered for the greatest part of fornicatours drunkerds blasphemers and the like with such wild branches was your vineyard planted Thus much of our interpretation application of 2 Cor. 6. I will here onely adde one argument more to prove your nationall Church vncapable of the new covenant or testament by which you your self do graunt and truely the Church of Christ to be formed
it be not actually seen or open to the ey of all as you speak as colours are alwayes visible and souÌ„ds audible in themselves though for the present they be neyther seen nor heard But what do I striving with this man which needs none other adversary but himself As he crosses his first book with his second so doth he both crosse and confute his second by his third In his first he will haue the word truely taught and the sacraments rightly administred to be the marks of the true Church in his 2. the true word preached though not truly the true sacrameÌ„ts administred though not rightly are inâ—allible tokens and reciprocally converted with the Church in the 3. last book the Church may be a Ch without the vse of the sacrameÌ„ts for a long tyme as the Ch of Israel was in the wildernes so it be not done of contempt and such as are eyther no Church of God at all or an antichristian assembly may haue and vsurp the seales put to a blank as Ismael Esau out of the Church had circumcision and the Papists now have baptism And that which he sayth of Baptism may as truely be sayd in cases of the word and the publication of it by reading and interpretation As the true Church may for a time want the vse of both so may a false Ch vsurp and abuse both as well the wryting as the seal ' He that held the seven starres in his right hand and walked in the middest of the seven golden candlesticks threatned the Church of Ephesus that he would shortly remove her candlestickout of his place for leaving her fâ—rst love except she repented though she still held and vsed the word and sacraments and if a company of schismatiques leaving a Church without cause or of excommunicates justly cast out of the Church should vnite themselves together vsurping and assuming the word and sacraments and professing the covenant outwardly and in the letter did this their â—old vsurpation make them a true visible Church of Christ The matter is the true Church may want vpon occasion the vse or administration of the word and sacraments but never the right power and interest in and vnto them so may a false assembly vsurp oâ— assume them but never have right or power from Christ unto them And this spirituall power and liberty arising from the Lords visible covenaunt to communicate and partake in the visible promises ordinances of it is the true essentiall propertie of the visible Church as is the faculty of reasoning the property of a reasonable man and the faculty of seing hearing tasting and the like the property of a sensible creature though neyther the one haue the actuall vse of reason for the present nor the other of sense The third and last property of the Church Mr B makes the care for the welfare of all and every one for the whole and each for other this eyther corporall for the maintenance of the body as in almes deeds Act. 2. 42. or spirituall touching the sowle which standeth in admonition and exhortation and so â—orth as 1 Thes. 5. 11. which also he sayth they and their congregations have It is noted of some persons beside themselves that all the ships they see in the haven and fayr houses in the country they think and say are theirs where if they were in their right witts they would both know and acknowledge that they were poore and beggarly and had nothing So is it with this man bycause he reads in the scriptures that the Apostolicall Churches consisted of saynts and were gathered by voluntary profession into the covenant of God that they had given them and did enjoy by the Lords gift and donation his word sacraments other ordinances and did in that holy communion whereunto they were called exercise themseves mutually for the welfare one of another both bodily and spiritually therevpon he concludes peremptorily that the Church of England whereof he is and for which he pleads hath all these things and that they haue all these properties where if he had a sound mind and an honest heart in the things of God he would both see confesse that things were nothing lesse with them then as he sayth and that in stead of this great and vniversall aboundance whereof he boasteth there were generally nothing but spirituall beggary and want Thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods have need of nothing knowest not how thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked More particularly as you want the office of Deaconship which Christ hath left by his Apostles for the collection and distribution of the Churches almes and haue enterteyned under the true name a false and forged office of half preisthood perverting and misapplying to the iustification of it such holy scriptures as are left for the calling and ministration of true and lawfull Deacons in the Church of Christ so is there not that care for the bodily welfare one of another amongst you in any measure whereof you boast The needlesse and endlesse suits and quarrels amongst you filling all your courts and judgement seats your dayly thefts and murthers amongst the members of your Church the continuall cousenings and circumventions one of another the vsuryes oppressions extortions which overflow both country and city as did the waters in the time of Noah both the valleys hilles do too manifestly shew how farre you are from this care of the welfare ech of other bodily whereof you thus vainly boast But though this care of ech for other both bodily and spiritually be almost wholly wanting yet say you the Church is not to be iudged a false Church no more then the houshould is to be iudged a false houshould bycause there is not that care that ought to be amongst them of the family or a man a false man if through folly madnes or wilfulnes he neglects the welfare of his body Surely it had not need considering how not onely this is wanting but how the contrary aboundeth in all places And to let passe all other matters no man is ignorant what care the two great factions in the Church that of the Prelates and the other of the Reformists do take each for other namely how ech may subvert and root out the other And for your similitudes borrowed from an houshold and a body as wee deny your Church to be that houshold of God or body of Christ wherein every member hath his effectuall working in his measure as the Apostle speaketh so is there no way the like reason of them and of the Church in the respect wherein you compare them A man doth not nor cannot cease to be a true man naturally by any meanes if his person survive neyther can a family cease to be a true family civily if it be not dissipated and dissolved but a Church though the same persons survive still
and combyne together as they did may cease to be the true Church of Christ and may eyther become no Church by forsaking all profession of Christianity or a false Church by holding and professing themselves stil Christians in fellowship with God through Christ when being considered by the revealed will of God and testament of Christ they are in truth in deed neyther the one nor the other And considering what Iohn sayth that he which loveth not his brother and so consequently cares not for his welfare which issueth from the former as the stream from the spring is not of God nor of his children but of the children of the Divel and withall that you your self right now did place the form covenant of the Church in a great measure in the manifestation and testimony of love in the members each to other and so consequently of care ech for the welfare of other I see not how that Church can be accounted the houshould of God consisting of his children by the word of God or the body of Christ vnited coupled together of his members by your owne doctrine where this love of and care for each other is visibly and outwardly wanting But to passe over all other things the point vpon which Mr B. insists and which he would most gladly fasten vpon the reader is that the power of the censures and of excommunication termed by the name of discipline howsoever it be a thing necessary for the wel being of the Church yet is it no essentiall property nor of such necessity but that a true Church may be without it And this wanting scriptures or reasons to confirm it he affirms again and again and in the end illustrates by a similtude taken from a man who is not therefore a false man though he can neyther see nor gâ—e nor speak It is recorded of one THEODOTIVS that having denied Christ in persequution to lessen his sin he went about to lessen Christ and taught that he was mere man and not God so many in the case of Christs government that their own and other mens sinne may seem lesser in not vsing or submitting vnto it do labour to extenuate and make it lesse excellent or vsefull then it is and therevpon one telles vs it is not a part of Gods worship nor of religion another that it is a thing indifferent arbytrary changeable a third that it is not simply necessary for the true Church as Mr B in this place The vnsoundnes of whose affirmation illustration I will by and by manifest the Lord assisting me in the mean while I do desire the reader to observe with me these two things in his writings about this point The former is that in labouring thus earnestly to perswade as here he doth that the power of excommunication is not of simple necessity he in effect graunts that which all men know to be true namely that the Churches in England do want this power Now if here he answer as he doth in his 2. book that though the power of excommunication â—e not in every parish yet it is in the Church of England in which is comprehended all paâ—rishes and all superiour power over these Parishes in which is the power of Christ I reply these particulars First that he might thus answer though one Bishop alone had engrossed into his hands all this power yea a Papist might answer thus for the Popes sole authority over all the Churches in the world yea though he should communicate the same with no other person or persons 2. Let this mans shifting be well noted When both in this and the other book he pleads for the Ministery in the Church he passes by the Nationall Provinciall and Diocesan Ministery and speaks onely of the Ministery in some parishes where some honest zealous preachers are but now comming to plead for the power of Christ in the Church he takes the contrary course and passing by the parishes takes his flight to the Nationall Provinciall and Diocesan Ministery there to find comfort 3. the quaestion here as he himself puts it pag. 125. of this book is about particular congregations which he sayth there are with them having true matter true form and true properties whereof excommunication is one To this also adde that in the end of his book he aâ—oucheth the Ministers affirmation that this power is given to the particular congregations in the land 4. lastly I haue formerly manifested from Mat. 18. 1 Cor. 5. that this power and praerogative is given to a particular congregation besides which the new testament acknowledgeth none other visible Church and if that one particular Church or congregation aâ— Corinth gathered together into the name of the Lord Iesus Christ had the promise of his presence and that he would be in the mâ—ddest of them and were by this power of the Lord Iesus Christ to deliver to Satâ—n purge out iudge and put away wicked men from among them for fayling in which duety they were reproved by the Apostle then why not every other particular Church or congregation of Gods people as well as that one espetially since that as all other scriptures was written for our learning and that there is but one Church or body as there is but one Lord one that is in matter form and essentiall properties The 2. thing I desire may be noted is that Mr B doth if not deceiptfully yet vnfitly comprehend the power of the censures vnder the care for the welfare of the Church since this power may be full and intire where the care is eyther very little or not at all as it came to passe in the Church of Corinth which had this power alwayes amongst them but neglected the vse of it and therein the care for the welfare of the Church which they should have had for which neglect they were reproved by the Apostle Now for the similitude I do except against it in a double respect first for that God doth oft times deprive a man of the naturall power of seing going and speaking by naturall infirmities within or bodily violence from without but Christ never deprives his Church of this spirituall power of excommunication neyther can it be impeached by any outward violence onely Antichrist exalting himself against all that is called God and intruding himself into the throne of Christ doth deprive the Church of God and of Christ of this liberty and power and so all those Churches or congregations over whom he thus vsurpeth receive his mark are in that respect subject to his judgement 2. Mr B as I have formerly observed doth most vnaptly coÌ„pare the power of casting out offenders to the faculty of seing speaking and the like it is more fitly resembled to the want of power to void and purge excrements which is prodigious in nature so neyther the naturall nor spirituall body so constituted can possibly consist or
such necessary or essentiall duety but a work casuall accessory and supererrogatory which may be done or vndone as the minister is able or willing without any such absolute necessity as is here pretended Herevpon then it followeth that since the preaching of the gospel is no necessary part or property of the office of ministery in the Church of England that that ministery cannot be of Christ as also that the conscionable and effectual preaching of some men is no iustification at all of the office which may and doth consist essentially without it and to which it is but casual accidentall but a commendation of the persons which besydes the natural and necessary parts of their office do so practise and preach And this consideration alone might suffice for answer vnto all Mr B. proofs for the legitimating of the ministery in the Church of England yet will I for the further discovering of them considering the confidence wherwith he propounds them descend to the particulars In his former book he layes down and proves by the scriptures these three sound and mayn grounds touching the ministery 1. that the Lord onely ordeyns offices in his Church 2. that he distinguisheth them one from another that one may not intrude into an others office 3. that he onely prescribes the dutyes to be done in every distinct office and so in the fourth place he comes to the qualification and gifting of men for their functions and so proceeds to other particulars But observe his dealings when he comes to apply and compare the ministery of England to and with these golden rules and by them generally and truely propounded to iustify it in the particulars he passeth them all by in silence as if he had vtterly forgotten them and speaks not one word eyther of the offices themselves or of the distinction of them one from another or the duties to be done in them but comes in the very first place to the guifts and graces of the persons And in so doing like the vnrighteous steward he doth wisely though nothing lesse then faythfully He knowes wel that he cannot fynd in the scriptures the least colour for the offices of Archbishops Bishops Suffragans Deanes Arch-deacons halfe Preists or Engl Deacons nor that the dutyes of celebrating marriage purifying women burying the dead reading the service book in manner and form are layd vpon the ministers of the gospel as dutyes to be done in their offices nor that the Provinciall and Diocesan officers may intrude into their office which are set over particular congregations and deprive them of the power of government nor the Deacons to administer the sacrameÌ„ts nor that any of them may intrude into the office of the civil Magistrate as they all do lesse or more in medling with matters of mariage divorce testaments or with iniuryes as they respect the body or outward man according to your and other mâ—ns exposition of Math. 18. making ministers Magistrates and Eâ—ders in the Church Elders in the gates These things he knew and therefore coÌ„ming to speak of the ministery in England and to apply these general rules to their particular estate he not so much as once mentions eyther the diversity of offices in the Church or their distinction one from another or the several dutyes to be done in them least in naming them he should as it could not have been otherwise have condemned that thing which he would so gladly iustify And this I desire the Reader to note not onely against him but specially against the Ministery he pleads for His Arguments to prove the Ministers of England true Ministers of Christ follow in order The first is because they are not Ministers of Antichrist and that he would prove by 4. Reasons 1. by their doctrine and oath against him 2. because they shew no obedience vnto him 3. because Antichrist himself disclaimeth them as no Ministers condemneth them as haeretiques 4. because Antichrists Ministers are sacrificing and mâ—ssing Preists which they are not Here Mr B. had he done faithfully should have cleared our Arguments by which in sundry treatises published for that purpose we have proved them in respect of their offices entrances administratioÌ„s the Ministers of aÌ„tichrist but thinking it easyer to strike then to fence he passeth by what we have written against them layes down certeyn colourable reasoÌ„s for them which I have summarily set down in order and vnto which I return this answer First and generally that there is one common errour in all his Arguments namely that there is no Antichrist but that great Antichrist the Pope as though there were no more Divils but Beelzebub because he is the cheif of the Divils I would know of this man what he thinks of the clergy in King Hen. 8 dayes that took the oath of supremacy and taught against the Pope opposing him being opposed by him or what he thinks of the Lutheran Ministers that disclaym the Antichrist of Rome as haereticall and are disclaymed by him yet do abhor from the reformed Churches and from al coÌ„munion with them for the mayn truthes they hold touching the sacrament and predestination The thing then is that there are degrees of Antichristianism orders of Antichrists that is of such as are adversaries vnto Christ. In Pauls time that man of sin adversary was got into the temple of God and in Iohns time many Antichrists were come into the world and yet there was then neyther Pope nor masse preist no nor Diocesan or Provinciall Prelate neyther There was in deed Diotrephes who sought for praeheminence to rob the Church of †the power of Christ and so was an Antichrist as there were many other impugning Christ the Lord otherwise but the great Antichrist of Rome was by many degrees and long continuance to be advanced to his throne And as there were lesser Antichrists before him by which he entred so are there also after him and those left behind him in the Church of Engl out of which he is driven And those are the Lord Arch bishops and Lordbishops with their orders and administrations vnto whom whilst the inferiour ministers do swear canonicall obedience they do by oath promise obedience vnto Antichrist and receive his mark and so ministring are the marked servants of Antichrist whom they obey whom they are also by doctrine to defend except their othes and words disagreed From whom if any of them do withdraw this their bounden and sworn obedience by denying subscription vnto his orders or conformity vnto his ceremonies them he silences suspends and deprives as schismaticall if not hereticall and vtterly vnworthy of their and their Churches service And these things the reader may apply to Mr B. 3. first severall Reasons Now to your fourth and last Argument viz that you are no masse-preists my answer is first that you haue the same office with masse preists though reformed of that massing and some
Bishops of God which have obteyned the principall order and office in your Church for a lesse principall work namely government and are preferred to the highest first place not for the teaching of their Dioseces Provinces which were impossible though they desired it but for ruling of them You say they are the successors of the Apostles but the cheif work of the Apostles Ministery was the preaching of the gospel not ruling much lesse Lording wherein your Bishops office standeth The order which the Apostle Paul hath left is that those Elders which labour in the word and doctrine should have speciall honour and aboue them which are imployed in ruling but this order Antichrist hath subverted as being a course not onely too base and laborious but even impossible for him to honour his Ministers by as he desired and hath effected hath procured not double treble but an hundred fold greater honour to be ascribed to ruling and government then to preaching And this is not the least part of that confusion wherein you stand and against which wee testify 2. If the office of Ministery consist principally in preaching how can your office of Ministery or order of Preisthood be of Christ which coÌ„sists not at all in preaching as I haue shewed but may stand without it by the Canons Lawes of your Church not requiring it necessarily as any essentiall property for the being but onely admitting of it as a convenient ornament for the well-being commending in deed the person that vseth it but no wayes justifying the office which requireth it not Yea most evident it is that the Ministery of the Church of England considering it not onely in the state cariage of things but specially in the civil and ecclesiasticall lawes wherein it is founded consists more principally in the wearing of a surplice then in the preaching of the gospel To conclude this point as the examination of such with you as are to be ordeyned by the Bishop and his Chaplayn is no triall of their gifts of knowledge zeal or vtterance or that they are apt to teach but a devise like the poseing of schoolboyes without eyther warrant fro the scriptures or good to the Church so the onely examination which the word of God approves of is that just and experimentall knowledge which the Church by wise observation is to take of the personall gifts and graces of such men as the Lord rayseth vp amongst them manifesting themselves in the publick exercises of the Church in their places as there is occasion though you Mr Bern. be bold to abuse 1 Tim. 3. 7. to the justification of your letters testimoniall vnto the Bishop which any vngodly person may procure from other persons as ill as himself and thereby may find acceptance with some Bishop or other as evill as eyther of both The Apostle Peter directing the disciples or Church about the choice or nomination of one to be chosen into the room of Iudas tels them they must think of such a man as had companyed with them all the tyme that the Lord Iesus was conversanâ— among them And the same Apostle together with the rest by the same spirit directs the Ch afterward to chuse from among themselves seven men iustly qualified to take vpon them the administratioÌ„ of the Church treasury And vpon the same ground it was that the Apostles Paul Barnabas did not streightway vpon the gathering of the Churches of the Gentiles ordeyn them officers but a good space after even when the people had made good proof and tryall of the gifts and faithfulnes of such men as by their free choice and election the Apostles ordeyned over them And whom doth it concern so nearely to make proof or to take observation of them that are to be called into office as them that are to call or chuse them and to commit their soules vnto them Of which election it followeth we consider in the next place And the first thing I purpose about it is to sum vp and set together a few of Mr B. sayings which like so many waves driven by contrary winds do dash theÌ„selves asunder one against another First then he affirmeth pag. 133. and 138. that the Church iâ— tâ— separate and câ—â—se 〈…〉 amongst others for Ministers such as are found fit in so saying what doth he but graunt that the Church is before the Ministers They that chuse must needs be before the that are chosâ—nâ— How them do the Ministers make the Church 2. In his 2. book he reproacheth Mr Smyth as an impudent gaâ—nsayer of the tâ—â—t for saying that the Church did elect Mathias Act. 1. where the Lord did make the châ—ise and yet in the same book pag. 295. 296. he graunts that such examples of practise were then in vse for the peoples chusing Ministers and quotes this very scripture with some others for that purpose 3. he affirmeth in his former book that the guides and governours of the Ch were to chuse the Officers alledgeth to that end Act. 14. 23. Neyther remembring what he had formerly written in the same book namely that the rest of the congregation were to chuse the principall to be their mouth and to stand for the whole Church nor yet caring what he was to write in his 2. book to wit that the people were to chuse their ministers for which he also bringeth the same scripture Act. 14. 23. If this man had been in Iohn Baptists place the Iewes might well haue answered Christ that they had gone out to see a reed shaken with the wind But to leave his contradictions of himself to come to his oppositions against the truth And first it is erroniousâ—y written by him and the scriptures Act. 13. 1. 2. 14. 23. sinfully perverted to the justification of his errour that by the Church which is to chose officers â—s meant the guids and governours thereof That which I haue formerly noted out of both his books espetially his quoting the latter of these scriptures for the peoples liberty in chusing their ministers doth give great cause of suspition that in this case he thus writes for his purpose against his conscience and is in deed condemned of himself And for the other place which is Act. 13. 1. 2. I may as justly yea much more reprove Mr B. for bringing it for the governours chusing of Paul and Barnabas as he Mr Smyth for bringing Act. 1. for the peoples chusing of Mathias For first Barnabas Saul were Apostles as well as Mathias and therefore not to be called to their office by man but by God Gal 1. 1. and so were of the Holy Ghost as immediately separated by name as was Mathias by lot 2. Mathias was at that time first called to the office of Apostleship which before he had not but Paul and Barnabas were Apostles long before and at that tyme designed
onely to a speciall work but not called to any office 3. It appeareth that Paul and Barnabas were not separated sent by the governours onely but by the Church with them wherin they ministred and which joyned with them in prayer and fasting and so consequently in dismissing or letting them go ver 2. 3. though most like the ceremony of imposition of hands was performed onely by the Teachers and Prophets but with the foregoing consent of the Church according to the expresse direction of the holy Ghost And that not the governours severally but the Church with them separated and sent them vnder the Lords expresse nomination appears evidently Act. 14. 27. where vpon their return they made relation not to the officers but to the Church gathered together for that purpose what things the Lord had wrought by theÌ„ that so not onely the grace of God towards the Gentiles might be taken knowledge of and magnified but also that their service ministration might be approved to the Church which sent them And thus all may see how injurious this man is to the right and liberty of the brethren as formerly in the censures so here in the choise of officers making the governours alone the Church both in the one and the other And being both of them Church matters and parts of the publique administration of Christs kingdom the same scriptures which demonstrate the peoples interest in the one do conclude the same in the other In the beginning the Lord Iesus and his Apostles by his spirit appointed none other true visible Churches but particular coÌ„gregations of faythfull people for of the vanity of representative Churches in the new testament I have formerly spoken but as knowledge puffeth vp so within a few ages the officers and governours of the Church being men of knowledge began to swell with that poysoned humour of pride ambition wherewith Antichrist had infected them especially when they were once setled in peace and plenty and taking withall partly advantage by the peoples negligence in themselves and superstitious admiration of their guides and partly occasion by the abuse of their liberty have been bold to engrosse the liberties of the whole Church into their own hands and with them the name They alone must haue the keyes of the kingdome of heaven hanging at their girdell for the opening shutting of heaven gates which is all one as if in playn termes they should affirm that to them alone were committed the oracles of God the gospel of salvation see Rom. 3. 2. Iude 3. They alone must speak in the Church to adifâ—ing exhortation and comfort and so all the brethren must be silenced in the exercise of prophecying To them alone must the complaints of sinns be brought and they alone must be heard in the reforming of them and thus must the bottomles gulf of the governours authority svvallovv vp the brethrens liberty in the reproving and censuring of offenders They alone are to separate and chuse the ministers and of this branch of the povver of Christ amongst the rest must the body of the Church be stript And as there is no end of errours vvhere they once begin especially of those vvhich tend to the advancement of the man of sin in his Ministers above all that is called God so hath this iniquity prevayled yet further even to the bereaving of the people of the cup in the Lords supper and of the very scriptures in their mothers tongue the Preists alone communicating in both parts of the supper and inclosing the scriptures themselves vvith in the Romish or Latine language vvhich they alone to speak of vnderstood Yea to conclude so effectuall hath the delusion of Satan been this vvay that it hath been vniversally taught and beleeved that an implicite faith vvas sufficient in the lay people that no more vvas required of them then to beleeve as the Church that is the guides and governours of the Church beleeved though they were vtterly ignorant what their fayth was And what lesse in effect doth M. B. affirm in his 2. book where he writes that if the cheif do voluniarily receive professe proclaym a faith or religion it is to be accounted the act of all though the inferiours come not to consent he might as well haue added though they be ignorant of it or what it meanes Yea doth not this conclusion follow vpon the former ground that the officers are the Church Mat. 18. for the reproving censuring of offenders and for the binding loosing of sinns If the Officers be the Church for one religious or spirituall determination why not for an other And if the censures agreed vpon and ministred by the Officers be by way of representation the censures of the Church without the actuall consent of the people why is not the faith agreed vpon and published by the officers the fayth of the Church by way of representation before the peoples distinct knowledge of it or actuall consent vnto it Put the case the officers change their auncient fayth in some mayn point wherein the body of the Church still abideth and so differeth from them and that they take occasion to excommunicate some brother or brethrâ—n that most opposes them if this excommunication of the officers be the excoÌ„munication of the Church representatively without the peoples consent then is this new faith also of the officers for which this excommunication is practised the faith of the people notwithstanding their not onely not consenting vnto but their vtter dissenting from the same Now as the governours did thus engrosse the power and libertyes of the Church so no marvayl though with them they assumed the name Hence is it that they alone are called the Church the Clergy the spiritually the prophane idiotish laity are excluded both from the title and thing Symon the Sadler Toâ—â—kâ—â— the Taylour Belly the Bellowes-maker must be no Church men nor meddle with Ch matters As though it were eyther not true or to no purpose which is written that Christ himself vvas a Carpenter Paul a â—enâ—maker Peter Andrew Iames Iohn Fishermen One onely thing more I vvill adde so conclude this point which is that the Preists vvere not more eager at the first vpon the people till they had svvallovved vp their liberty then they vvere afterwards one vpon an other till one had gotten all from whom as from the Catholick visible head all power should issue and be derived to the severall partes of the body And hovv clean a vvay Mr Bern. and others vvhich knovving better have the more sin make to this mischeif in pleading that Paul alone 1 Cor. 5. the severall Angels alone in the severall Churches Rev. 2. 3. vvere to reform and censure abuses let the vvise reader judge The 2. allegation made by Mr B. against vvhich I except is that the Ministers vvith them have all things in substance required by the word of God for
institution adde of â—heir owne devise Now as the forenamed scriptures like a gratious charter given to this spirituall corporation the Church by the King thereof Iesus Christ do clearly plead the peoples liberty and power of the choise of their Ministers so will I adde vnto them certayn Reasons to prove this order and ordinance to be of morall and perpetuall equity The first is bycause the bond between the Minister and people is the most streyt and near religious bond that may be and therefore not to be entered but with mutuall consent any more then the civill bond of mariage between the housband and wife It makes much both for the provocation of the Ministery vnto all diligence and faithfulnes and also for his comfort in all the tryals and temptations which befall him in his Ministery when he considereth hovv the people vnto whom he ministreth have committed that most rich treasure of their soules in the Lord yea I may say of their very faith ioy to be helped forward vnto salvatioÌ„ to his care and charge by their free and voluntary choise of him It much furthers the love of the people to the person of their Minister and so consequently their obedience vnto his doctrine and government when he is such a one as themselves in duety vnto God and love of their own salvation have made choise of as on the contrary it leaves them without excuse if they eyther perfidiously forsake or vnprofitably vse such a mans holy service and ministration Lastly it is agreable to all equity and reason that all free persons and estates should choose their own servants and them vnto whom they give wages and maintenance for their labour and service But so it is betwixt the people and ministers the people a free people the Church a free estate spirituall vnder Christ the King the Ministers the Churches as Christs servants so by the Churches provision â—o live and of her as labourers to receive wages Thus much of the 4. Argument The 5. followeth the summe whereof is that bycause the Ministers of the English assemblies teach true and sound doctrine in the root and fundamentall points of religion they are therefore the true Ministers of Christ. And that sound doctrine is the triall of a true Minister Mr B. would prove from these scriptures 1 Tim. 4. 6. Ier. 23. 22. Of the vnsound doctrine of your Church and that more specially in the fundamentall points of religion others have spoken at large formerly and something is by me hereafter to be spoken for the present therefore this shall serve that since Christ Iesus not onely as Preist and Prophet but as King is the foundation of his Church and that the visible Church is the kingdome of Christ the doctrines towching the subiects government officers lawes of the Church can be no lesse then fundamentall doctrines of the same Church or Kingdome Which how vnsound they are with you appears in your Canons ecclesiasticall composed for that purpose Which if your ministers preach they preach vnsound doctrine and strike at a mayn pillar of religion viz the visible Church of God which is the pillar and ground of truth as the Apostle speaketh if not then are they schismatiques in and froÌ„ your Church whose solemn doctrines they refuse to publish Now bycause Mr Bern. every where beares himself big vpon the sound doctrines taught by the ministers in England and in this place brings in two scriptures to warraÌ„t their Ministery vpoÌ„ this grouÌ„d let vs a litle consider of the scriptures and of the intent of them and what verdict they give in on his side In the one place the Prophet Ieremy reproves the Preists and Prophets for not dealing faithfully with the people in laying before them their abhominations and Gods judgements due unto the same that so they might haue turned from their evil wayes and from the wickednes of their inventions but for flattering them on the contrary in their iniquities and for preaching peace vnto them for the strengthening of their hands in evil Now if the Ministers in England be measured by these mens line they will appear to ly levell with theÌ„ in a great measure For first the greatest part of them by far declare not the Lords word at all vnto the people but are tonguetyed that way some through ignorance some through idlenes many through pride And of them which preach how many are there mere men-pleasers flattering the mighty with vayn and plausibly words and strengthening the hands of the wicked and with prophane and malicious spirits reviling and disgracing all sincerity in all men adding vnto these evils a wicked conversation by which they further the destruction of many but the conversion of none And lastly for those few of more sound doctrine and vnblameable coÌ„versation let these things be considered First they are reputed schismatiques in the Church of Engl are generally excoÌ„municated ipso facto so wil appear to be to any that compares their practise with the ecclesiasticall lawes of that Church 2. They do with these sound doctrines mingle many errours yea the same things which in the generall they teach and professe they do in the particulars but specially in their practise gainsay deny 3. As they declare the Lords will vnto the people but by halves and keep back a great part of his counsel which they know is profitable for them wherin they would walk with them were it not for fear of persecution so are they ready to de silenced to smother the whole counsel of the L. not to speak one word more in his name vnto the people vpon â—hâ—ir Lord Bishops inhibition which were they perswaded in their consciences they were sent of God I suppose they durst not do Of which more in the seventh Argument Now for that in Tim. 1. Epist. 4. ch ver 6. if the doctrine of the Ministers agree with the doctrine and practise of the Ch they will appear liker to them of whom Paul speaks ver 3. then to Timothy ver 6. If it be sayd that the Church of England forbid not mariage vse of meates absolutely but in certayn respects I answer no more doth the Church of Rome but to certeyn persons and at certeyn times against whoÌ„ notwithstanding all Protestants do apply this scripture and so doth the Church of England forbid them though more sparingly as good reason the daughter come something behind the mother as mariage to fellowes in Colledges and to Apprentices and to all at certeyne tymes especially at Lent during which holy time the eating of flesh is also forbidden and abstinence commaunded and that in incitation of Christs fâ—â—ting for our sakes fourty dayes and fourty nightes and that for a religious vse namely the subdâ—ing of the flesh vnto the spirit for the better obedience of godly mottoâ—s in righteousnes
true holynes as the Collect for the first sunday in Lent witnesseth But admit the Ministers of Engl taught foundly in all the mayn points of religion as I acknowledge some doe in the most yet did this no way prove them true Ministers of Christ that is lawfully called to true offices in the Church In what mayn point of religion as you valew points could Corah be chalenged and yet he was no true Preist of the Lord but an vsurper of that office v. 10. 11. as on the contrary they were true Preists in respect of their office who deceived the people here and every where as the scriptures manifest So that both he which is no true minister of Christ may teach the maâ—n truthes of religion and he also that is a true Minister may erre greatly yet not presently cease to bear both the place and name of a true minister of Christ. Otherwise all Ministers are Popes that cannot err To end this Argument Mr B. in both his books vvould have probation and tryall to be made of a mans gifts and graces before he be admitted into the ministery And not onely he but Paul himself amongst above the rest requires aptnes to teach and ability to exhort with wholesome doctrine and as this gift must be in him so must it be known to be in him before he can be lawfully called into the ministery and this Mr B. affirms expresly and that by the exercise of this gift his knowledge zeal and vtterance is to be manifested Wherevpon I conclude that if tryall by sound doctrine must be made of them which are no ministers at all as indeed it must in the exercise of prophesying then cannot sound doctrine be any sufficient tryall that is proof or Argument of a true minister The sixth Argument for the justification of the ministers in Engl. is Gods ordinary and dayly assistance of them in theyr ministery for the working mens conversion vnto the Lord. God forbid I should eyther deny or make doubt of the effectuall conversion of men vnto salvation in Engl. neyther doth Mr Ainsworth say as you charge him in your 2. book that none are converted by you but he shewes first how you coÌ„tradict your selves in saying that you convert men to God and yet affirm that the same persons before their conversion were true Christians and 2. that considering the swarmes of graceles persons wherewith all your parrishes are filled you have more cause of blushing then of boasting this way But this I deny that the conversion of men vnto God is a sufficient Argument to prove a true minister of Christ that is to prove a lawfull calling into a true office of ministery according to Christs testament It is most evident that whosoever converteth a man vnto God that person doth in truth and in deed minister the word of God the spirit by the word so may be sayd to be sent of God but that every one whom God so honoreth though never so ordinarily should therefore be a true Church officer lawfully called to publique administration which is the quaestion betwixt Mr B. and me is most vntrue coÌ„trary both to many scriptures which shew that men in no office may and to much experience which shewes they do convert and save sinners And if onely officers may convert vnto the Lord to what purpose should private persons exhort instruct and reprove any vpon any occasion whatsoever But here I am driven to take vpon me the defence of them whom Mr B. pag. 299. of his 2. book challengeth for cavellers upon the same ground he chalengeth Mr Ainsworth for deceipâ—ful dealing pag. 304. of the same book Mr Ainsworth denyes that qualification with good gifts is a proof of a lawful Minister Herein sayth Mr B. he severs deceiptfully things to be conioyned for this reason with the rest in my book shewes who is a true Minister In like maner we except against his 6. Argument affirm that others besides Ministers do coÌ„vert men to God that therfore conversioÌ„ argues not a true minister This is cavelling sayth Mr B. for both these and others may convâ—rt and agayn this is but one Reason but there be mâ—re besides which are sufficient to prove our ministery And is it cavelling in vs or ignorance in you thus to speak you do acknovvledge pag. 304. that qualification with good gifts is a Reason amongst the rest to shew a true Minister and pag. 298 you make the conversioÌ„ of men a distinct argument to prove the same thing And know you not that every sound Reason or Argument must prove or argue of it self the thing for vvhich it is brought Many Reasons indeed or Arguments may be produced to prove one and the same thinge and so for further confirmation may follovv one vpon another but so as every one of them severally be of force to prove the thing in quaestion othervvise it is not vvorthy the name of a Reason or Argument but is a meer sophistication Eyther therefore Mr Bernard bring such Arguments as vvil of themselves evince that they are brought for and then reckon them vp by sevens as you do here or by tvventies if you vvill as els vvhere you doe or els cease to abuse the Reader vvith a multitude of maymed proofs as your custome is Novv bycause the conversion of men to God is much vrged by the Ministers and much stood at by many vvell minded people as indeed both in equity and good conscience men are to respect the instruments of Gods mercy tovvards them I vvill enlarge my self in this point further then othervvise I vvould And first for the tvvo scriptures quoted in both your books Rom. 10. 14. 15. 1 Cor. 9. 2. from the former of vvhich you coÌ„clude that bycause you so preach as people thereby do heare beleeve call vpon God you are therefore sent of God Let the Reader here observe that the Apostle in both these places speaks of the conversion of Heathens and Infidels to the fayth of Christ as were the Romayns and Corinthians before the preaching of the Gospel vnto them and so let him demaund of Mr B. whether the Ministers in England haue had the same effect in their preaching vnto the people there with them that preached vnto the Romayns and Corinthians and brought them by preaching from infidelity to beleeve in God If they haue then vvere the people Infidels before and vvithout faith and so are the rest not thus effectually converted by their preaching if not how then stands the comparison or proportioÌ„ between the effect of their Ministery then and theirs in England now or what Argument can be taken from these effects compared together In the generall I confesse there is a proportion and so in that generall and large sense wherein Mr B. pag. 313. expounds the word sent or Apostle I do acknowledge many Ministers in Engl sent of God
that is that it comes not to passe without the speciall providence and ordination of God that such and such men should rise vp and preach such and such truthes for the furtherance of the salvation of Gods elect in the places where they come They which preached Christ of envy and strifâ— to ad more afflictions to the Apostles bonds were in this respect sent of God and therefore it was that the Apostle toyed aâ— their preaching How much more they that preach of a sincere mind though through ignorance or infirmity both their place enterance into it be most vnwarrantable Iosephs brethren the Paâ—râ—arks did of hâ—â—red and envy sell him into Aegypt and yet the sâ—ripturâ—s testifie that God sent him thither And the same God which could vse their malice by which he vvas sold into Aegypt for the bodyly good of his people there even he can vse the power of Aâ—tichrist by which the Ministers in the Church of England haue their calling for the spirituall good of his people there And yet neyther the secondary meanes of Iosephs sending nor of the Ministers eyther entry or standing any thing at all the more warrantable The other scripture is 1 Cor. 9. 2. of which I haue spoken something formerly others much more in which for the avoiding of ambiguity I consider these two things First what the Apostle purposeth to prove and 2. the medium or Argument by which he proves his purpose Touching the former it is evident his purpose is to prove himself an Apostle in the most strict and propper sense hovvsoever Mr B. triâ—les contrary to the false insinuations of his adversaries which bare the Churches in hand against him that he was onely an ordinary Minister or at least inferiour to the Apostles and had his calling and other ministrations from and vnder them as appeareth 1 Cor. 9. 1. 2 Cor. 10. 16. and 12. 12. Gal. 1. 1. 17. 18. 19. 2. 6. 7. 8. 9. The Argument to prove this which he also calles the seal of his Apostlâ—ship and his work Mr B. â—akes the Lords effectuall working by his Ministery in the conversion of sâ—ules vnto God Touching which his affirmation I desire first to know whether this conversion of the Corinthians by Paul were to sanctification of life yea or no If he say no he gainsayes the Apostle and his testimony of them who writing vnto the Church at Corinthus confesseth them there to be sanctified in Christ Iesus and Saints by calling and again advertising them that neyther fornicaâ—ours nor theeves nor covetous nor drunckards nor raylers nor extortioners should inherit the kingdoÌ„ of heaven he testifieth of theÌ„ that such were som of theÌ„ but sayth he ye ar washed but ye ar sanctified but ye are iustified in the name of the L. Iesus and by the spirit of our God Besides if Pauls work were not the work of sanctification vpon the Corinthians how will M. B. rayse his Argument for the Ministers in England from their work of sanctification vpon the people there If on the other side he say that the conversion by Pauls ministery was vnto sanctification he contradicts himself in his own distinction of double conversion pag. 307 of his 2. book where he allowes vnto the Romayns Corinthians and Ephâ—sians onely the primary conversion which is to the profession of Christ but not the secondary which is to sanctification of life In which his distinctioÌ„ as he idly imagins a true coÌ„versioÌ„ without sanctification so doth he highly detract from the APOSTLE PAVL as if he had not converted men to sanctification or had gathered Churches of persons unsanctified outwardly and in the judgement of charity 2. How can the simple conversion of men prove both Mr Ber. an ordinary Minister which he would be and Paul no ordinary Minister but an extraordinary Apostle which he would be 3. If conversing be a sign of a true Minister then are both the Bishops in Engl and the Ministers in the reformed Churches true Ministers for without doubt some of both haue bene instrumeÌ„ts vnder God of mens conversioÌ„ but that is impossible considering how the Ministery of the one wheresoever it comes eats vp destroyes the other Yea then should both the Ministers of Engl and we here of the separation who haue as M. B truely answers Mr Smyth renounced our Ministery received from the Bishops and do exercise an other by the peoples choise be true Ministers of Christ for as they there avouch this work of conversion so have wee also here bene made partakers of the same grace of God found hiâ— blessing even that way vpon our Ministery also 4. As it was the most proper work of an Apostle to convert Heathens to the Lord and in Christ Iesus to beget them through the Gospel and so to planâ— Churches not reioycing in the things already prepared by others but to preach the gospel even where Christ had not been named so is it on the other side the Pastors work to feed theÌ„ that are already begotten converted praepared and therefore the Apostle Paul comprehends the whole Pastours and Elders duty vnder the feeâ—ing of the flock all and every part whereof he avoucheth in the iudgement and evidence of charity to be purchased with the blood of Christ. And what is a Pastour but a sheepheard and over what flock is a sheepheard set but over a flock of sheep and who are sheep but they which haue layd asyde their goatish and swynish nature which till men haue learnt to do they are rather swyne and goats then sheep and so are they which keep them rather swyneheards and goteheards then sheepheards But here two exceptions made by Mr Bernard in his second book must be satisfied The former is that the Pastour is to feed such litle ones as are borne in the Church the other that he is to reclaym such vnto sanctification as fall to wickednes To the former exception I do answer First that Paul in the place in hand rayseth no argument at all from any work vpon the â—â—â—lâ— ones born in the Church of Corinth but vpon the men of riper years whom he turned from idolatry to the true God 2. Even â—â—â—lâ— ones born in the Church may in their order and after their manner be sayd to be converted or turned vnto the Lord or born agayne which are all one otherwise being by nature children of wrath born in iniquity and conceived in sin how could they be reputed holy yea how could they possibly be saved or enter into Gods kingdoÌ„ Ioh. 3. 5. And since you graunt Mr B. that the Pastor is to feed those litle ones do you not therein acknowledge they are converted or borne a new In the preface of your book you would haue men begotten after they were born and here you will haue them fed before they be borne Now for those little ones as wee are
of their Ministery and of their inward calling and of the peoples acceptation and of many things more very plausible to the multitude but in the day of their triall it appeares what small comfort they have in all these and as is their coming in so is their going out since they entered not in by the dore no mervayl though they suffer themselves to be thrust out by the window or to be tumbled over the wall or otherwise to be discharged vpon some small and sleighty occasion But * suppose say you a false enterance yet that no more disanulls the ministery then doth a faulty enterance to mariage disanul that ordinance between two conioyned to be lawful man and wife But first I deny your very office of ministery in it self to be a spirituall ordinance of God as is mariage a civill ordinance 2. If one of these two persons were vncapable of mariage ther would follow a nullity and so is it with you where your parish assemblies are all of them vncapable of the ministery of Christ and the ministrations thereof 3. If this mariage were made without the free consent and choise of the one party were it not to be disanulled and this is your case if you consider it where the minister is put vpon the people without their free choise and election Lastly if two persons were maryed with this condition that they should leave one another vpon the imperious commaund of some great man for some small and sleighty matter or other were this true and lawfull mariage And is not this the estate of your Ministers and people vnder their imperious Lords the Prelates by whom they are in continuall danger of divorce for want of canonicall conformity in some triviall and trifling ceremony Thus much of this similitude as also of this matter That which comes next into consideration is the poynt of succession wherein in the first place answer must be given to a demaund made by M. B. in his 2. book in which many others also think there is much weight and that is why we hold and reteyn the baptism received by succession and not the Ministery For answer vnto him I would know of him whether the Church of England do still or did at the first reteyn the ministery of the Church of Rome or no If he say it doth then I would entreat him and others not to take it ill if we call and account them Preists for such are the Romish Ministers 2. How can the Church of England forsake the Church of Rome and reteyn the Ministery which is in the Church as in the subiect especially if the Ministery make the Church as Mr Bernard affirms for then a true Ministery must needs make a true Church and communion with the Ministery drawes on necessarily communion with the Church But if on the contrary he affirm that the Church of England doth renounce the Ministery or Preisthood of the Church of Rome then I return his demaund vpon himself and ask him why it reteyns the Baptism of Rome and so leave him to himself for answer 2. The Baptism both in England and Rome is in the essentiall causes of it the matter water the form baptizing into the name of the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost Christs baptism and ordinance though in the administration it be Antichrists devise but for the Ministery eyther in Rome or England it is otherwise The Ministery of Christ doth summarily and in the substance of it consist in the feeding of the flock that is in providing food for the flock and in guiding and ordering the same accordingly in a word in preaching and government 1 Tim. 5. 17. Put what is this to the Preisthood of England to let passe that of Rome vnto which preaching is not necessarily annexed nor government so much as permitted To swear Canonicall obedience subscribe conform read the service book celebrate mariage Church women and bury the dead in form order are essentiall substantiall parts or properties of the Ministery there in the present both practise and constitution The vessels of gold and silver which were taken out of the temple in the captivity and caried to Babylon and there prophaned might notwithstanding being sanctified from their prophanation there be lawfully caried back to Ierusalem and set vp in the temple newly built and imployed as in former times to Gods service but had these vessels been broken in peices in Babâ—lon and there being mingled with brasse and iron such bâ—se mettall been cast in another mould they could not thâ—n have obâ—â—â—ned thâ—â— former place in the temple nor there have been 〈…〉 d for the holy ministration Now such is the difference between the Baptism and Ministery both in the Romish and English Church To formâ—r as a vessel of the Lords house may with the Lords people be brought back from Babylon spirituall to the new Ierusalem and there may being sanctified by repentance serve and be of 〈…〉 to all the ends and purposes for which God hath appointed it But for the Ministery or Preisthood eyther in the one or other it is in it selfe no vessell of the Lordes house it is neyther made of the mettall which the Lord hath appointed nor cast in his mould It is essentially degenerated from that office of Pastourship which Christ the Lord hath set in his house for the feeding of the flock by teaching and government as hath been formerly shewed and is in the true naturall canonicall institution of it a very devised patchery compound like the image which the King of Babylon saw in his dream save that little or nothing of it is gold or silver but all brasse iron clay the like base mettall stuffe fitting right well both in the administration of it vnto the people and in the subordination vnto the people and in the subordination vnto the Prelacy for the exaltation of the man of sinne which hath for that very purpose devised it and placed it in the Church for his service that by it as by an vnderstâ—p he might climbe up advaunce himself into the throne of iniquity where he sitts exalted above all that is called God 3. The Ministers of the Church now do succeed the Preists and Levites vnder the law as baptism also comes in the place of circumcision Now wee read in the scrâ—pâ—ures that such of the ten tribes as were in Ieroboams idolatrous schism and apostasie thereby as a branch from the root cutting off themselves actually from the onely true Church of God which was radically at Ierusalem where the Lord had founded his temple appoynted his sacrifices and promised his praesence that such of them I saâ— as returned to the Lord by repentance and ioyned themselves unto the true Church were by vertue of the circumcision received in that their apostasie wherein they had no â—iâ—le to the seale of the forgivenes of sinnes which
circumcision was admitted into the teÌ„ple into which no mâ—n vncircumcised might enter and to the participation of the Passeover whereof none vncircumsed person might eat But that any person should by vertue of his office of Preisthood received in that or the like apostasie have entered into the Lord sanctuary there to have done the Preists office vpon any repentance whatsoever had been an intollerable vsurpation sacrilegious invasion of the holy things of God yea the sonnes of Aaron themselves vnto whom the Preisthood did of right apperteyn if they thus went astray from the Lord after idols were for ever debarred from doing the Preists office notwithstanding any repentance they could make and were to beare all their lives long their iniquity and shame Now by that which hath been spoken of circumcision and the preisthood vnder the law the reader may easily observe the difference betwixt Baptism and the Ministery now The particular application for brevities sake I forbear 4. and lastly the difference betwixt Baptism and the Ministery is exceeding great in respect of that speciall and most necessary relation which the MINISTERY aboue Bapâ—ism hath vnto the CHVRCH whether we respect the enterance into it or continuance in it Wee do read in the scriptures that holy men called thereunto of GOD might lawfully administer BAPTISM vnto fit persons without the consent or cognition of the Church as PHILIP did the SAMARITANS and the EUNUCH ANANIAS SAUL PETER CORNELIUS PAUL LIDIA and the IAYLOUR but now for the appointing of Ministers without the Churches consent and choise that did they not as the scriptures testify M. B. himself coÌ„fesseth And as the enterance of ordinary officers of which we speak doth necessarily praesuppose a Church by whose election they are to enter so doth their coÌ„tinuance require a Church in which as in a subject they must subsist to which they must minister For since the oâ—â—iâ—â— of a Bishop is a work a man is no loÌ„ger a Bb. theÌ„ he worketh It is not with the office of ministery as it is with the order of knighthood that once a Minister ever a Minister The Popish Character is a mere fiction brought in for the confirmation of the sacrament of orders as they call it Whensoever the scriptures do mention Elders or Bishops eyther in respect of theyr calling or ministration they still speak of them as in or of such and such particular Churches and none otherwise And to imagine an Elder or Bishop without a Church is to imagine a Constable without a parrish or hundred a Maior or Alderman without a Corporation or a publique officer without some publique person or society whose officer he is Herevpon also it followeth that if the Church be dissolved by death apostacy or otherwise the Minister ceaseth to be a Minister bycause the Church ceaseth in relation vnto which vnder Christ his Ministery consisteth but on the contrary a baptized person remayns still baptized though the whole Church yea all the Churches of the world be dissolved so long as God his Christ remayn the same into whose name he hath been baptized And of the same consideration is it that a Minister may for some scandalous sin be degraded and deposed from his Ministery as I have formerly shewed as all Churches practise and so that which vvas formerly given him is taken from him and he no more a Minister then he was before his caling yea if he remayn obstinate in his sin he is to be excommunicated so ceasing to be a member he must needs cease to be a Minister of the Church But neyther do the scriptures mention neyther did any Church ever attempt the vn-baptizing of a baptized person And as a man may justly be deposed from his Ministery so may he in cases lawfully depose himself and lay it down as if by the hand of God he be vtterly disabled from ministring as it may come to passe oft tymes doth but for a man to lay down his baptism for any such infirmity were impious as it were sacrilegious for the Church to deprive him thereof To these considerations I might also adde that if a man forfeyt his Ministery and so be deprived of it eyther by deposition or excommunication and be afterwards vpon his repentance judged capable of it he must have a new calling or a confirmation at the least answerable vnto a calling so must it also be with him that is translated from an inferiour office to a superiour but in baptism there may be no such changing or repetition The practise were haereticall Adde vnto these things that as a man once baptized is alwayes baptized so is he in all places and Churches where he comes as a baptized person to enjoy the coÌ„mon benefits of his baptism to discharge the coÌ„mon duties which depend vpon it But a Pastour is not a Pastour in every Church where he comes vpon occasion neither can he require in any other Church saving that one over which the H Ghost hath set him that obedience maintenance and other respect which is due to the officers from the people neyther stands he charged with that Ministery and service which is due to the people from the Officers if you Mr B. say otherwise you make every Pastour a Pope or vniversall Bishop Epaphras though he were at Rome was one of them that is a Minister of Collossus so were the Elders of Ephesus though they were at Miletum the Elders of Ephesus onely but of none other Church and charged to feed the flock over which the holy Ghost had set them but none other for over none other had the holy Ghost set them And as a Maior out of his Corporation a Shiriffe out of his County a Constable out of his Parish or Hundred is no Maior Shiriffe or CoÌ„stable but in relation to that particular body of which he is neither can he perform any proper act of his office without vsurpation so neyther is a Bishop or Elder a Church Officer save in his owne particular Church and charge and in relation vnto it neyther can he without ambitious vsurpation perform any proper work of his Office or Ministèry save in that Church by and to which in his ministration he is designed And thus much to shew the difference betwixt that relative ordinance of the Ministery and that personall ordinance of Baptism in the Church as also to prove that we do lawfully and with good warrant disclaym and renounce the Ministery received in Rome England notwithstanding we reteyn the Baptism received both in the one and the other To which also I could adde if there were need or vse both the judgement of the learned at home abroad and the practise of the reformed Churches where we live for the continuing of the Baptism in Rome received but no more of the Masse preists for Ministers then of the Masse it self for which they were ordeyned But it is
more then tyme I come to the mayn controversie about succession which might be layd down summarily in these words whether the reformed Churches were bound to submit notwithstanding their separation from Rome vnto such ministers onely as were ordeyned by the Pope and his Bishops but for the better clearing of things I will enlarge my speach to these three distinct considerations First whether the Ministery be before the Church or no. 2. Whether the delegated power of Christ for the vse of the holy things of God be given primarily and immediately to the Church or to the Ministers 3. Whether the Lord haue so linked the Ministery in the chayn of succession that no Minister can be truely called and ordeyned or appointed without a praecedent Minister Touching the first of these Mr Ber affirmeth as in his former book that the Officers make the Church and give denomination vnto it so expresly in his 2. book that the Ministery is before the Church And noting in the same place a two fold raysing vp of the Ministery the first to beget a Church the second when the Church is gathered he puts the Ministers in both before the Ch in the former absolutely in the latter in respect of their Office and ordination by succession from the first In which discourse he intermingleth sundry things frivolous vnsound and contradictory Now for the first entery I desire the reader to observe with me that the quaestion betwixt Mr Bernard and me is about ordinary Ministers or officers of the Church such as were the first Ministers of the reformed Churches and as Mr B and I pretend our selves to be and not about extraordinary Ministers extraordinarily miraculously or immediately raysed vp as were Adam and the Apostles by God and Christ whom he produceth for examples Admit the one sort being called immediately and miraculously may be before the Church yet cannot the other which must be called by men and those eyther the Church or members of the Church at the least Besides the word Minister extends it self not onely vnto Officers ordinary and extraordinary but even to any outward means whether person or thing by which the revealed will of God is manifested and made known vnto men for their instruction and conversion Yea it reacheth even to God himself so far Mr B. stretcheth it where he makes God the first preacher Gen. 2. 3. As though there were a controversy between him and me whither God or the Church were first I see not but by the same reason he might avouch that the Ministers of the Church could not all dy or be deceived bycause God is free from these infirmityes It is true which Mr B. sayth that the word is before the Church as the seed which begetteth it and so is that which brings it yea whither it be person or thing which may also be called a Minister and be sayd to be sent of God as it is an instrument to convey and means to minister the knowledg of the same word will of God vnto any So if any private man or woman should be a means to publish or make known the word of God to a company of Turkes Iewes or other Idolaters he or she might truely be sayd to be their Minister and the Lords Ambassadour vnto thē as you speak Yea if they came to this knowledg by reading the Bible or other godly book that book or bible as it served to minister the knowledg of Gods wil in his word might truely in a generall sense be accoūted as a Minister vnto thē But what were all this to a Church-officer about whō our quaestiō is These things Mr B. shuffles together but the wise reader must distinguish them so doing he shall easily discover his trisling The particulars follow And first he affirmeth that God made Adam a Minister to whom he gave a wife to begin the Church and as Adam was before his wife so is the Ministery at the first before the Church If Adams wife began the Church then is your mayn foundation overthrown namely that the ministers make and denominate the Church except you will say that Eve was a Minister Secondly it is not true you say that God made Adam a Minister before Eve was created In the same place you make and truely a Minister and Ambassadour which brings the word all one vnto whom could Adam eyther minister the word or be an Ambassadour to bring it before Eve was formed There was nothing but bruit beasts and senceles trees and to them I suppose he brought it not The truth is Adam and Eve were the Ch. not by his but by her creatiō which made a company or society thus we are in the first place to consider of them and of Adam as a teacher in the second place the speciall calling here and ever following after and vpon the generall Of the same force with your first proof is your 2. which you take from Ephes. 4. 11. 12. where it is sayd God gave some not onely to confirm the Church but to gather the Saynts to make a Church To let passe your boldnes with the words I except against your exposition application of them The word gathering vpon which you insist is in some bookes turned repayring and is the same in the Greek with that which is restoring Gal. 6. 1. of which I have spoken formerly Againe Paul in that place speaks not onely of Apostles other Ministers of the first raysing vp for the begetting of Churches but of Pastours and Teachers which were taken out of the Church and of the 2. raysing for the feeding of the flock You will not deny but the Apostles and brethren at Ierusalem were a Church of God Act. 1. 15. 16. when as yet no Pastours or Teachers were appointed in it and how then can your doctrine stand that the Ministers spoken of Ephe. 4. 11. 12. amongst which were Pastours and Teachers were before the Church out of which they were taken and raysed vp of God to beget a Church Yea it is evident that the very office of Pastour vvas not then heard of in the Church whereby the falsity of your other affirmation is discovered to wit that the Office of such Ministers as are of the second raysing which are taken out of the Church is before the Church Thirdly the Apostles themselves howsoever extraordinary officers immediately called and sent forth to beget other Churches both of Iewes and Gentiles were Christians before they were Apostles and members of the Church before they were Officers And the scriptures do expresly testify that God ordeyned or set in the Church Apostles amongst other Officers and this their setting in the Church doth necessarily praesuppose a Church wherein they were set as the setting of a candle in a candlestick praesupposeth a candlestick as in deed the Church is the Candlestick the officers the candles lights and starres which are set in it
if there be any in that Ch by and to which the latter are called so neyther doth the age wherein you first instance draw any such straight line of succession or conclude any such necessity of ordination by praecedent officers as you praetend And that you may more clearly see this you must take notice of your errour in affirming that God raysed vp extraordinary Teachers till the law The first born in the families were the ordinary Teachers ordinarily succeeding til the Levites were appointed the office of Preisthood being annexed to their birthright In which respect it was that God told Cain his brothers desire should be vnto him and that he should rule over him For which purpose see also Gen. 21. 9. 25. 31. 32. 33. 34. 49. 4. with Deut. 33. 8. Adde vnto this also that the Lord would haue every first born amongst the chidren of Israel consecrated vnto him that the Priests or as it is better turned the administers of the holy things which come neare to the Lord should sanctify themselves and that Moses sent the young men of the children of Israel to offer burnt offrings and sacrifices vnto the Lord. But most evidently doth this appear in that the Levites were appointed to teach the people and to offer sacrifices and to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of the congregation for the first born that openeth the matrice among the children of Israell And as the first born were the ordinary Teachers successively before the law in whose stead the Levites afterwards were appointed so was this order in sundry persons and vpon sundry occasions broken and interrupted As in CAIN for his murder in TERAH for his Idolatry in ISMAEL for his mocking in ESAV for his prophanenes To descend lower When the order of succession in the Preisthood was so far estalished as that it did divolve by the word of God from the parents vpon the children as by an haereditary right yet then wee see it was sometimes for the sinns of men broken off and interrupted Take for instance Eli and his house The Lord God â—f Israel had sayd that his house the house of his father should walk before him for ever but now the L saith is shall not be for them that honour me I will honour and they that dispise me shal be despised Behold the dayes shall come that I will cut off the arm of thy fathers house c. then he addes and I will stir me vp a faithful Preist that shall do according to myne hart and according to my mynde c. which was also especially accomplished in Salomons dayes when the Preisthood was translated froÌ„ Abiathar to Zadock 1 King 2. 35. To the same purpose tends that which the Prophets Ezechiel Hose threaten and denounce against other Preists of Israel for their idolatrie and other iniquities The Levites sayth the Lord which went back from me when Israel went astray shall bear their iniquity and they shall not come neare vno me to do the office of the Preist vnto me c. And againe by Hose bycause thou hast refused knowledge I wil also refuse thee that thou shalt be no Preist to mee and seing thou hast forgotten the Law of thy God I will also forget thy children I will change their glory into shame For the shutting vp of this point the Lord Iesus himself comming to repayr the decayed places of Sion to enlarge the walles of Ierusalem did not chuse his Apostles out of the nuber of the Preists other ordinary Teachers but els where They in deed supposed as the Prelates Preists now do that the Lord could neyther propagate nor mainteyn his Church but by them bycause they were the childreÌ„ of AbrahaÌ„ but Iohn Baptist tells them all other with theÌ„ that hang vpoÌ„ the same or like lyne of personall succession which they did that except they prevent the Lords wrath and bring forth fruits worthy amendement of life he will with the ax of his wrath hew them down cast them as vnfruitfull trees into the fyre raysing vp vnto Abraham seed and children of the very stones If now the Lord haue thus ever and anon from the beginning of the world chaunged the course and current of succession for these sinns namely murther idolatry persequution profanenes and the like is it possible that the stream should still run by the Lords appointment without stop or change for so many hundred yeares in the Romish Church where these and all other sinns and iniquities haue abounded and where they all as so many members coÌ„pact together make the man of sum coÌ„plete Is the Lord lâ—sâ—â— zealous now a dayes then in times past of the honour of his name and ordinances Or hath S. Peter procured some Charter of impunity for his successours the Popes of Rome what impieties soever they haue faln or can fall into Or doth this man think by any plea he can make for them to hold them in possessioÌ„ of that right which they haue so notoriously forfeyted so many wayes and for so many yeres and whereof the word of God hath so evidently disseyzed them For conclusion of this particular the Apostle Paul foretelling the generall apostasy of that man of sin the child of perdition advancing himself above all that is called God or is worshipped addeth that the Lord will destroy him with the spirit of his mouth In which words we are to observe first the vniversality of the apostasie advancing it self above all that is called God and secondly the manner of restauration of the Church which is to be by the Lord the spirit of his mouth where if it were to be by the ministers of Antichrists making or the Popes calling theâ— should the man of sinne consume himself Ioyn with this scripture another of the same nature wherein the H Ghost speaking by the mouth of Iohn of the same generall apostacy foretells how God would rayse up his two witnesses which should prophesy against the beast which came out of the bottomelesse pit and against all the abhominations of Antichrist whereas by the doctrine of successioÌ„ no witnesses should be raysed up against Antichrist but by himself Now by these scriptures instances it appears that the stream of succession hath not run so currantly from the dayes of Adam hitherto as Mr B praetendeth but that it hath sundry tymes been stopped and turned by that most specially in the Romish apostasy The thing I purpose in the next place is to prosequute certayn Arguments of Mr Smythes and the rather bycause himself hath in a measure forsaken this truth with others adding also some others vnto them to prove that the ministery and so other the holy things of God is not tyed by Christ to the succession of office or order but of faith The Arguments I vvill take vp as Mr Bernard
ministeriall power from the Cardinals cannot give it to them and so to the rest of the Clergy in Rome and England neyther can it descend from Christ through the Apostles and so through him to the other inferiour ministers but as in a chayn if the highest link be broken the rest which hang vpon it must needs fall So if there be a breach of this chayn of succession from the Apostles to the ministery of Rome and of England which descends of it lineally in the higest link the Pope all the rest of the chayn that hangs vpon it except it be otherwise vpheld must needs fall flat vpon the ground It is true which Mr Ber answers that election and succession by ordination may stand together in the ministery but in this case it cannot except the Pope should by the election of the Cardinalls or others ordeyn his succession whilest himselfe survived Now in this last answer Mr B challengeth his adversary to be wilde in wandering and to have lost his quaestion in concluding that the doctrine of succession is a false doctrine where he should prove that Christs power is not given to the principall members But this challenge is both vnjust vnadvised Vnjust bycause succession from the popish Church and Clergy is made by M Ber in his former book the foundation of the ministery of England and so of the Church the Church by his affirmation being made by the ministers and the Ministers by such Bishops as were ordeyned in the popish Church Vnadvised bycause these two poynts do depend ech vpon other necessarily For if Christs power be tyed to the officers whether principall or inferiour then must it come to the ministery and Church of England by succession if it come not by succession from or by the Pope and his Clergy then must it come by the same successioÌ„ of fayth doctrine vnto the children of Abraham two or three or more faithfull persons joyned together in the covenant and fellowship of the gospel And for the quaestion in Mr Bernards own words remitting the Reader to such places as prove that a company of faythfull people in the covenant of the gospell though without officers are a visible Church that they haue immediate right to the holy things of God and that the keyes for bynding and loosing were given to Peters confession I will adde onely one Argument and so proceed It hath been sundry tymes observed and proved by the scriptures that the officers of the Church are the servants of the Ch and their office a service of the Lord and of his Church Wherevpon it followeth necessarily that what power the officers have the body of the Church hath first and before them the very light of nature coÌ„mon sense teaching it that what power or authority soever the the servants of any body or persons have the body or persons whose servants they are must have it first and they by theÌ„ And for this purpose let it be further observed that no power at all came vnto the Church of the Iewes by the Levites not the vse of the sacrament of circumcision no nor of the very sacrifices which were offered by the first born in the family and that even after the peoples comming out of Egypt vnder the hand of Moses till Levi was called to the Preisthood Ex. 13. 2. 24. â— I proceed If the Ministery of the reformed Churches must be by succession or ordination by Popish Bishops then must the same office of Ministery be continued from the one Church to the other as indeed it was withall the Ministers of the Church of England at the first who without any new eyther calling or ordination which depends vpon it continued their office and place formerly received there being onely a reformation of some of the grossest evills like the healing of Iobs soars as Mr B. speaketh as the office of Iustice-ship or the like in the common wealth may be continued the same in the same persons individually though by edict of Parliament or other superiour power there be a surceasing of some mayn act of it Further to ty the Ministery thus to succession is to ty the Lords sheep to submit to no other sheepheards but such as the wolves haue appointed And if a company of Gods people in Rome or Spayn should come out of Babylon and no consecrated Preist amongst them they must by this doctrine enjoy no Ministers but such as the Romish wolves will ordeyn do according to their Popish prophane order To these things I might also adde that look what power any of the Popes Clergy receive from him the same he takes from them deprives them of where they withdrew their obedience or separate from that Church as also that the ordinations in Rome by their own Canons are very nulliâ—yes and many the the like exceptions pleaded by learned protestants against the Romish preisthood and this Romish doctrine of succession but that which hath been spoken is sufficient in the generall and I hasten to the third and last meanes of the three by which Gods people after Antichrists defection are to injoy the ministery and other of Christs ordinances And for our better proceeding herein I will first consider what ordination is and 2. how far the brethren may goe by the scriptures and the necessary consequences drawn from them in this and the like cases in the first planting of Churches or in the reducing of them into order in or after some generall confusion The Prelates and those which levell by their lyne do highly advance ordination and far above the administration of the word sacraments and prayer making it and the power of excommunication the two incoÌ„municable prerogatives of a Bishop in their vnderstanding above an ordinary minister But surely herein these cheif ministers do not succeed the cheif ministers the Apostles except as darknes succeeds light and Antichrists confusion Christs order Where the Apostles were sent out by Christ there was no mention of ordination their charge was to go teach all nations and baptize them and that the Apostles accounted preaching their principall work and after it baptism prayer the scriptures manifest And if ordination had been in those dayes so pryme a work surely Paul would rather haue tarryed in Crete himself to have ordeyned Elders there and haue sent Titus an inferiour officer about that inferiour work of preaching then haue gone himself about that leaving Titus for the other But bycause Mr Bernard with whom I deal when he writes most advisedly preferrs preaching to the first place and the administration of the sacraments and prayer to the next passing by ordination as not worthy the naming amongst these principall works I wil therefore leave it to be honoured by them whom it most honoureth and for whose ease and profit it best serveth and will consider in what place he setteth it He then pleading that as well the ordination as the
yet if eyther there be no former as at the first or that the former be dead or vpon necessity absent when his successour entereth then is this Ceremony and work performed by some other the fittest instrument neyther need that City borrow an officer of another City neyther could he intermedle there without vsurpation though both the Corporations haue the same Charter vnder the same King so is it in this spirituall Corporation and City of God the Church the former officers if there be any in that particular congregation are to ordeyn such as succeed but if none be to be found this Corporation is not to goe to the next to borrow an officer or two but may vse such fit persons as shee hath for that service so absolutely necessary neither may the officers of an other Corporation do the acts of their office in that except they be eyther Apostles or Evangelists and have generall charges or rather except they will make themselues Popes as indeed this exorbitant and roving course makes as many vniversall Bishops in respect of power so likewise of exequution if there be occasion as there are officers in all the Churches But to come vnto the scriptures it hath been formerly noted that the first born in the family before the law did perform the preists office in whose place the Levites were afterwards substituted Now as the Preists of the Levites did not enter vpoÌ„ their office without solemn consecration nor the ministers of the new testament vpon theirs without solemn ordination or appoyntment so neyther can it be conceived that the first borne did take vnto themselues the honour to administer without some solemnity performed to or vpon them by their predecessours so we read that when Isaak conveyed the blessing and birthright to Iacob he kissed him as did Iacob also lay his right vpon the head of Ephraim when with the blessing he did transfer the birthright to him from Manasseth But if the father of the family were suddainly taken away or dyed before his first borne were capable of this ministration then could he not thus solemnly resigne or transmit to him the office or work but there must needs have been some interposition of another if any solemn admission at all were required To come lower When the Levites were given at the first to the Lord as a redemption of the first borne for the service of the tabernacle wee do find that the people did by putting their hands vpon them offer and ordeyn them as their shake offering and gift vnto the Lord. But this liberty which the people here vsed by the Lords appoyntment at the first and when the first officers were consecrated in the Church we do not read to have continued or so to have been vsed in the consecration of the succeeding Levites ordinarily And as the Lord would have the people to vse this speciall liberty in the first institution and consecration of the Levites in that Church which notwithstaÌ„ding they vsed not in the ordinary consecration of such Levites as followed when the Ch was once furnished with officers so doth the holy Ghost give testimony of the same or the like liberty vsed by them afterwards vpon a speciall occasioÌ„ and in that general confusioÌ„ which fel vpoÌ„ the whole Church when the Preists were slayn and the Ark of God was taken by the Philistims It is then noted 1 Sam 7. 1. that vpon the message from the men of Bethshemesh the men of Kirjath-iâ—arim came and took vp the ark of the Lord and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill and that they sanctified Eleazar his Sonne to keep the Ark of the Lord. And the very same word which is vsed Exod 29. 1. where the Lord bids Moses consecrato the sonns of Aaron to be Preists is vsed in this place where the men of Kirjath-iâ—arim sanctified Eleazar to keep the ark sanctification consecration being all one in substance and the word the same in the originall Lastly the Apostle Paul writes to the Churches of Galatia to reject as accursed such ministers whomsoever as should preach otherwise then they had already received and the same Apostle wrytes to the Church at Colossus to admonish Archippus to take heed to his ministery so did Iohn also to the Church of Ephesus coÌ„mending it for examining and so consequently for silencing such as pretended themselues Apostles and were not as also to the Church of Thiatyra reproting it for suffering vnsilenced the false Prophetesse lezabell now as these things did first and principally concern the officers who were in these and all other thinges of the same nature to goe before and governe the people so were the people also in their places interessed in the same buesines and charge neyther could the officers sin if they were or should haue been corrupt or negligent discharge the people of their duety in the things which concerned them but they were bound notwithstanding to see the commandements of the Apostles and of the Lord Iesus by them exequuted accordingly And if the people be in cases and when their officers fayl thus solemnly to examine admonish silence and suppresse their teachers being faulty and vnsound then are they also by proportion where officers faile to elect appoynt set vp and over themselues such fit persons as the Lord affoardeth theÌ„ for their furtherance of fayth and salvation In the 2. place I do adde the conclusion vnto the praemises lately proved that since the people of God going out of Babylon must come vnder the Lords order and officers and may not receive them by succession from the Pope and his Clergy nor are to expect them immediatly from heaven therefore they themselves are to call and appoynt them for the Lords and their owne service vnder him 3. Vpon the former ground that the Lords people must come out of Babylon build a new the Lords temple in Ierusalem even themselves their soules and bodyes for a spirituall house and that the Levites and Preists of the Lord must minister there it is necessary we consider by the scriptures what course hath been takeÌ„ formerly for the furnishing of this house thus newly built of the Church newly constituted with officers where they have wanted Wee do then read that when that ancient and mother Church of the Iewes was to be furnished with Officers the Lord commaunâ—â— Moses to assemble all the congregation of the children of Israell and to direct them how to offer and freely to giue vnto the Lord for a shake-offering the Levites for the first born to execute the service of the Lord. Afterwards when in the Apostles time one was to he chosen in the room of Iudas Peter standing vp in the middes of the disciples informed them in their liberty and directed them in the use of it for the praesenting of two of which the Lord would single out one to succeed him Likewise
own heart but of others morally in the judgement of charity which is according to outward appearance and which may deceive The 8. 9. errours imputed to us are that we hold none of their Ministers may be heard that it is not lawful to ioyn in prayer with any of them Sundry things Mr B. brings to evince the former position of errour but not one of them so much as tending to prove it lawfull to partake in an office of Ministery eyther devised or vsurped with out lawfull calling as that in Engl hath been proved to be It is not true then which he sayth that we censure any for hearing the word we do it for partaking in other mens sinns and for receiving the mark of the beast in coÌ„municating with the Ministery of Antichrist as we assuredly know yours to be the office enteraÌ„ce into it notwithstaÌ„ding the truthes taught personal graces in the teachers and for obstinacy in the same It is true then but not pertinent which Mr B. sayth that it is a good thing to hear the word which who denyes but the Church of Engl that sileÌ„ceth the Preachers of it for her own the Popes inventions that tyes the people to their unpreaching parish-preists rather then permits them to hear a Preacher in the next parish Other things obiected by him are els where handled yet seemes it not amisse to ad something touching three scriptures by him produced and appy'ed to his purpose they are Mat. 23. 1. 2. 3. Phil. 1. 15. 18. Tit. 3. 10. 11. And first there is not one of these scriptures that gives so much as any colour of couÌ„tenaÌ„ce to the hearing of the word ministered in a false Church devised office and by vertue of an vnlawfull calling or where any of these barres are put and by all these we do beleeve affirm our selves to be kept from hearing you And this generall defence I do apply vnto the particulars and first to the first answering that the Scribes and Pharisees did neyther minister to any but the Lords people the Israell of God nor in an vnlawfull place nor by an vnlawfull enterance how corruptly soever they ministred for corrupt administrations besides the coÌ„stitutioÌ„ in the true Church we do not think the Ministers are eyther suddeynly or vnorderly to be forsaken To which I do ad further first that the words do sit in Moses chayr and whatsoever they bid you do may more strictly after the Greek be turned have sit in MOSES chayre and have bidden you observe that is what you have heard of them formerly according to Moses that do and observe But let the words be as they are and that Christ speakes of the time to come yet I see not how in them the LORD eyther commaunds or approves of his disciples hearing the Scribes Pharisees in their publique and solemn administrations but if he speak of them then he may onely permit his DISCIPLES in respect of their weaknes and being for the present too much addicted vnto them so to hear them or otherwise Christ may speak of such occasionall meetings and conferences as passed ordinarily between the Pharisees and his disciples wherin what was of Moses he willes them to receive from them without praejudice of their persons and so we do also will and exhort the people with vs to receive and reteyn whatsoever of God they hear from you or any others vpon the like occasion And considering that in the first verse Christ spake vnto the multitude and to his disciples laying no more vpon his disciples in this case then vpon the multitude and what respect the disciples had the Pharisees in and how oft and vsually they met and medled together it is very probable that Christ vpon this supposition that the disciples would or should hear or meet with them intends onely to provide that the word of God may reteyn all due authority with his in that confused estate wherein all things then stood neyther coÌ„maunding nor approving the hearing of them And considering what Christ himself testifieth of the Scribes Pharisees in that very chapter that they shut vp the kingdomâ— of heaven before men neyther going in themselves nor suffering them that would making those of their profession two-fold more the children of hel then theÌ„selves what haeresies they taught touching justificatioÌ„ by works and perfect obedience to the whole law how they made voyd the commaundements of God for their own traditions how they denyed in Christ both the person and office of the Messiah blaspheming him in his doctrine as a deceiver of the people in his life as a glutton and drinker of wyne and in his most glorious miracles as one that wrought them by the Divel considering I say these things it should be strange that Christ should eyther send his disciples to be taught by these blynde guides or approve of their hearing them him self also being the onely doctour and teacher of his Church And this I would know of you Mr. B of others which vrge this scripture as here you doe whether you would like it well or be content that the disciples should hear any such corrupt haereticall and blasphemous teachers as were the Scribes and Pharisâ—es and that denyed both the office and person of Christ as they did You your selfe teach in this very page that obstinate haeretiques are not to be heard and such were the Pharisees yea so malitiously obstinate in their haeresies as that the Lord Iesus insinuates agaynst them the very sin of blasphemy agaynst the H Ghost If then you your selves would allow your disciples to hear teachers far lesse corrupt and haereticall then were the Scribes and Pharisees to what purpose do you produce and insist vpon Christs allowance of his disciples to hear them Is this fitly to alledge the scriptures or not rather to take Gods name in them in vayn To the other scripture which is Phil â— 15. 16 answer hath been given both by others and by my self formerly and I now do ad that those there spoken of which preached Christ of envy and strise had corrupt inward affections so appearing to the Apostle by that speciall spirit of discerning which was in him though not so discovered vnto others but what makes this to such as minister in an office devised and by an enterance found out by Antichrist and so left to them which think his mark a priveledge Touching your 3. Argument which is from Tit 3. 10. 11. I do first observe your graunt that private persons and such as are not in office may reiect obstinate hareâ—iques and so by consequence that the thinges which Paul writes to Timothy and Titus touching the reformation of abuses and censuring of offendours do not concerne the officers onely much lesse the cheif officers but even the brethren also in their places 2. There is no consequence in your Argument that bycause obstinate
haretiques may not be heard â—herefore vsurpers may You might as sensibly argue thus bycause a fornicatour must not be eaten with but iudged by the Church therefore a covetous person an idolatour a rayler may be eaten with and must not be judged contrary to the Apostles expresse writing In your 9. charge namely that we hold it not lawful to ioyn in prayer with any of you and in your comment vpon it you do vs a double injury first in saying we approve not of any of your praying for vs 2. That wee pray for you onely as wee do for Iewes Turks and Papists For as wee are perswaded we fare the better for the prayers of many amongst you and so both approve of and desire the same so do wee also pray for many as for the Lords people in Babylon and that they may at the Lords call go out of her and that as they are holy in their persons so they may be also in their Church communion and ordinances Now for the poynt it self first for your Reason by which you would prove it erroneous If say you wee hold any of you the childreÌ„ of God then our Saviour hath taught vs to ioyn with you in prayer and to say Our father with you You do wryte in another place of this book that a man justly excommunicated cast out is to be held a brother so consequently a child of God for the brethren of the Saynts are the children of God wherevpon if your Argument in this place and Position in the former place be good it must be lawfull to joyn in prayer with a man justly excommunicated I do answer then that it is true you say we ought to coÌ„municate both in prayer in al the other ordinances of God with all Gods children except they themselves hinder it or put a barre which we are perswaded they in the Church of Engl. do in chusing rather the coÌ„munioÌ„ of all the profane rowt in the kingdom vnder the Prelates tyranny then the coÌ„munion of Saynts which Christ hath established vnder his government So that it is not we which refuse them but they vs binding vs eyther to practise as we do or to coÌ„municate in one spirituall body with all the graceles persons and vile miscreants in the kingdom For as he which hath hold of any one member of the naturall body iâ— not separated from the body but holdeth the whole every member by cohaerence so he which is joyned in coÌ„munioÌ„ with one meÌ„ber of the Church is by cohaerence joyned with the whole Church and every member of it We do professe it is not in neglect of the graces of God which we acknowledge to be eminent in many that we deny coÌ„munioÌ„ with them but onely in conscience of the order which Christ hath set in testimony against the disorder which Antichrist hath brought into left in the world The order which the Lord hath set is that those which fear him should be of a true visible Church rightly gathered that any such should be out of the true Church or coÌ„mingled with all the prophane Atheists in a kingdom is a mayn part of Antichrists confusion Now if God hath set vs in the orderly coÌ„munioÌ„ of a Church we must not break our order for other mens disordered courses CoÌ„munion is a matter of order relation standing in the orderly combyning of the graces of God in two faythfull persons or more And how far order ought to praevayl with men in this case let these particulars manifest One of the Church coÌ„mits some notable sinne known to me alone which being dealt with by me he denyes and without two or three witnesses the Church may not proceed against him I must therefore still coÌ„municate with the Church and so with him as a meÌ„ber of it til God so far discover him as he can be orderly dealt with till the Lord lead him forth with the workers of wickednes And as I am to coÌ„municate with an vngodly man with whom I am orderly joyned in the Church till I can be orderly disioyned from him so by proportion I am to forbear communion with a godly man out of the Church vntill I be orderly joyned vnto him Further put the case a man be excoÌ„municated in mine absence vpon the testimony of tvvo or three witnesses and that I know he is injuryed am able to manifest his innocency to all men yet will I for order sake so am bound forbear communion with him for the praesent till his iÌ„nocency be by me sufficiently cleared Now if for order I must refuse coÌ„munion with him which is put out of the Church for weldoing by the sinne of others how much more with him that keepes out himself by his own default and sinne So that the holines of a mans person is not sufficient for coÌ„munioÌ„ but withall it must be ranged into the order of a Ch wherin both his persoÌ„ actioÌ„s must coÌ„byne vnder whose censure they must come whereas this other vnorderly course destroyes the censures which by Christs appointmeÌ„t do exteÌ„d to every brother whosoever These thinges I do desire the godly Reader indifferently and without offence to take knowledge of and to rest in this our defence if it be found according to the word of God if not to give vs knowledge by the same word of the contrary wherein we shall willingly rest and by the grace of God so practise Our 10. reckoned Errour is that ministers may not celebrate mariage nor bury the dead And this M. B affirmes we say but without scriptures First you that charge our opinioÌ„ with errour should so haue proved it by the scriptures or some Reasons from them 2. You speak against your own knowledge having seen our wrytings especially our Apology where in the 3. Petition to the KING and the fourth braunch of the sixth Position there are almost twenty severall scriptures and nine distinct reasons grounded vpon them to prove that the celebration of mariage and buryall of the dead are not ecclesiasticall actions apperteyning to the ministery but civill and so to be performed You your self M B both affirme and prove in this book from 1 Cor 12. 4. that the Lord onely praescribes the dutyes to be done in every distinct office of ministery in the Church And the Apostle testifieth that the scriptures being divinely inspired do make perfect and fully furnished the man of God or minister to every good work of his calling Now I suppose M. B will not be so ill advised as to goe about to prove that the celebration of mariage and buryall of the dead are duetyes praescribed by the Lord Iesus to be done in the Pastours office or that the scriptures lay this furniture vpon the man of God for the proper workes of his office They are then other spiritual Lordes then the Lord Christ that prescribe these
came out of the earth the image of the beast both small and great ritch and poore free bond received his mark in their right hand in their foreheads And is the man of sin divels idols the beast al which Antichristians worship the true God Or is that notable idol their breadeÌ„ God in the sacrameÌ„t of the altar which they so much adore the true God Yea are the Virgin Mary other saynts to whoÌ„ they pray go in pilgrimage and perform other devotions in whose honour they have built the very temples we speak of the true God Oh Mr Bern that you should be dravvn to this pleâ—sor Rome Surely the hand of God is vpon you it is a fearfull thing you feel it not And as Antichristianism doth not vvorship the true God onely but false Gods or such as are no Gods with him therefore is both against the 2. 1. coÌ„mandement as hath been sayd so neyther is Paganism as you speak without all profession of the true God To let passe that the learned of our natioÌ„ have proved the contrary agaynst the Papists pleading for themselves as you do for theÌ„ that they worshipped onely the true God that which is written 2 King 17. if there were no more scriptures doth sufficiently manifest your errour It is there sayd that the King of Ashur taking Samaria carying away Israell to Ashur brought from Babylon and other Heathenish Countryes folk and placed them in the Cities of Samaria in stead of the children of Israel And in the same place it followeth that those Babylonians and other Pagans reteyning still their Paganism and worshipping as before the Gods of their own nations did withall worship Iehovah the true God Of like truth with the former is that which followeth namely that Paganism was wholly without the Church but that Antichrist sits in the Church of God For first admit it be true of Paganism in the land of Canaan before the Israelites entred into it yet afterwards it was otherwise as the scriptures testify and got too great footing in the Church in that place as it had done before in all places 2. it is not true you say that Antichrist sits in the Church of God he sits in his own Church into which the Church of God is degenerated though there remayn vsurped sundry things still which are of God It is a great vntruth to affirm that the Popish Synagogue in the present state is the true visible Church of God vnto which he hath promised his presence given his power As Paganism hath subverted other Churches so hath Antichristianism that Church loÌ„g agone And here I would demaund of Mr Bern. what he judgeth of the Israelites in and after Ieroboams apostasie especially in the time of Ahab Iezabell when Baall was espetially worshipped and temples and altars reared vp vnto him in Samaria Doth he judge them at that tyme playn Pagans Or was their worship simple Paganism I see not but as the religion of the Papists in the opposition it hath to Christianity is rightly called Antichristianism so the religioÌ„ of the ten Tribes in the oppositioÌ„ it had to the law given by Moses may fitly be called Anti-Iudaism And for the Baalims then and there worshipped they were even as the lesser Gods at this day which are called Patrons amongst the Papists The divell to the end he might bring in agayn the old Idolatry craftily borrowing the names of the holy Apostles and martyrs by whom it was in former tymes overthrown and driven away and by this meanes it hath put on another person that it might not be known Wherevpon it followeth by proportioÌ„ that as the temples altars and high places for those Baalims other Idols were by godly kinges to be razed downe and taken away no way to be imployed to the true worship of God so are the teÌ„ples with their appurtenances built to the virgin Mary Peter Paul and the rest though true saynts yet the Papists false Gods and very Baalims to be demolished overthrown by the same lawfull authority in the mean while as execrable things to be avoyded by them which have none authority to deface or demolish them Now howsoever the difference put by M. B. is neyther true nor to the purpose if it were true yet do I graunt a difference not in respect of the things but of the tymes and that there was something legall in many of the coÌ„maundements given by Moses touching these and the like execrable things yet so as there is one the same generall and comon equity bynding the Iewes then vs now that I consider in two respects the one in the detestation of Idolatry past and the other in the preservation of it for the tyme to come And as the godly vnder the law were to shâ—w their detestation of Idolatry by defacing and abandoning the monuments reliques and remembrances of it so are they now to manifest in the same manner their just and zealous hatred of the same or like impietyes and as the kings and mighty of the earth have in former tymes given their power vnto the beast and adorned the purple-coloured whore with many ornaments and with stately temples aedifices amongst the rest so shall they in the day of her full visitation strip her naked of these amongst her other ornaments and leave her desolate Now for the 2. reason who is ignorant how many thowsands in the land are most dangerously nourished in their erroneous superstitious perswasions by the howses themselves to let passe the particular both memorials of and incitements vnto Idolatry stil appearing in some places more in some lesse knowing none other Church to which God hath promised his speciall praesence and wherein he wil be glorified save in that of lime and stone putting holynes in the very place And how well your Church provides for this appeares in sundry things as in whyting the walls of the houses where you silenced the preachers in bynding the people absolutely to the places though litle care be taken what eyther they or the ministers to whom they come do there so they deale not too faythfully in the Lords buesines in tying ChristiaÌ„ buriall absolutely to the Church or Church-yard where the Minister with all his holy implements must meet the corpes at the Church-style and so with singing saying as is appointed admit it into the holy ground And lastly in teaching the people that by keeping their Churches in good repayr they shall not onely please God and deserve his manifold blessings but also deserve the good report of all godly people And for the Papists all men know what claym they lay vnto the places as in deed they do farre better fit their pompous religion then the simplicity of the gospel what new life they continually receive from them what religion they put in them and what devotion they haue
of God and ordinances of Christ is injurious both to the growth and sincerity of the obedience of Gods people For whereas they ought to be led forward vnto perfection this teacheth them to stay in the foundation as if it were sufficient for the building of the house that the foundation were layd secondly it insinuates that it is sufficient if men so serue God as they can obteyn salvation though with disobedieÌ„ce of a great part of the revealed wil of God occasioning them thereby to serve him onely or chiefly for wages as hypocrites do As if a child should be taught so far to honour and please his father as he might get his inheritance but not much to trouble himself about giving or doing him any further honour or service Secondly I do answer that this truth which the ministers make t 〈…〉 onely fundament truth in religion is held and professed by as vile haeretiques as ever were since Christ came in the flesh May not a coÌ„pany of excoÌ„municates hold teach and defend this truth and yet are they not a true Church of God 3. I deny that the whole Church of England hath received and doth hold and professe this fundamentall truth how boldly soever these ministers affirme it They graunt there are many Atheists in the land they might say in the Church for Atheists are and ever wil be of the Kings states religion many ignorant and wicked men besides who make not so clear and holy a profession of the true fayth as they should And do these Atheists hold and professe the true fayth and every article of Gods holy truth which is fundamentall Are there not many thowsands in the nationall Church ignorant of the very first rudiments foundations of religion as the Apostle noteth them down and can they hold and professe that whereof they are ignorant Yea how can any wicked men hold that CHRIST is their saviour but they hold an apparantly in the eyes of all men for which notwithstanding these Ministers wil have them reputed true members of Christs body I ad that since the body of that Church or nation consists of mere naturall men and that naturall men are Papists in the case of justification and look to be saved by their good meaning and well doings it is most vntruly affirmed by those ministers that their Church accounts none her members but such as professe salvation by Christ onely They hold otherwise and so professe if an account of their fayth be demaunded as I have shewed by the testimony of Mr. Nichols and could do by the testimony of others if all men did not see it too evidently And yet see what these men affirme and that confidently and without fear for their advantage as that their whole Church makes profession of the true fayth that it holds and maintayns every article fundamentall of Gods holy truth and particularly that Iesus Christ the sonne of God and lastly that they that receive this truth are the people of God and in the state of salvatioÌ„ Whervpon it must follow that their whole nationall Church is in the state of salvation And surely so had it need be in the judgment of men having the promises and seales of the covenant of salvation applyed and ministered vnto it and to every member of it Lastly though the whole Church of England and every member in it did personally professe the true fayth in holines as all the true members of the Church do which are therefore called both saynts and faythfull and that we had do just exception agaynst that prophane and implicite profession for which both Mr. Ber. and the ministers plead yet could nor this make it or them a true Church The bare profession of fayth makes not a true Church except the persons so professing be vnited in the Covenant and fellowship of the gospel into particular congregations having the entyre power of Christ within themselves As hewed stones are fit for an house but not an howse nor any part of it till they be orderly layd and couched together so are men professing fayth and holines fit for the Church but not a Church nor of it before their orderly combination into a particular assembly having in it the power of Christ for the ministery government censures and other ordinances A company of excoÌ„municates put out of the Churches order may professe the same fayth they did formerly so may a sect of schismatiques putting themselves causelesly out of the Churches order so may many particular persons never ioyning themselveâ— vnto any Church at all You your selves define a Church to be a company of faythfull people c. so is not your nationall Church but many companyes not distinct and entyre in themselves and so onely one in nature as all the true Churches of God are but one by monstrous composition in a praeposterous and absurd imitation of the Iewish nationall Church and government Thus much of the Arguments in the handling of which the ministers insinuate agaynst Mr. Barrow sundry vnjust accusations which I will breifly cleare As first that he will account none members of the visible Ch but such as are truly faythful not onely in outward profession and appearance but even in the Lords ey and judgement bycause a Church is described a company of faythfull people that truly worship God and readily obey him But wherefore should the ministers thus interpret him doth he not speak of the visible or externall Church and so by consequence of visible and externall fayth and obedience which are seen of men In their Articles of religion a Church is made a company of faythful people if they must not be truely faythfull then they must be falsâ—ly faythfull And for true worship and ready obedience the Lord requires them in his word according to which we must defyne Churches and not according to casuall corruptions and aberrations brought in by mans fault 2. They charge Mr. Barrow to hold that every member of our assemblyes is led by the spirit into all truth and that it is evident he would have none to be accounted the people and Church of God who eyther know not or professe not every truth conteyned in the scriptures bycause he af firms in his Discovery that to the people of God and every one of them God hath given his holy sanctifying spirit to open vnto them and to lead theÌ„ into all truth It followes not that bycause he affirmes they have received the spirit to lead them into all truth that he therefore affirmes they are led into all truth by the spirit May not the Papists as truly avouch that Paull teacheth that the Church is without spot or wrinkle or any such thing bycause he teacheth that Christ hath given himself for it that he might make it vnto himself a glorious Ch without spot or wrinckle or any such thing It is then an il collectioÌ„
that bycause one thing is done that an other might follow vpon it that therefore the latter which is to follow is also done And for the poynt as it is the work of the spirit to lead men into all truth as all that are Christs or mēbers of his body have his spirit so doth it follow that all the members of the Church have the spirit given them of God to lead them into all truth though it have not his full work by reason of the cōtrary work of the flesh in this life wher all mē know but in part 3. That Mr. Bar holds every truth in the scriptures fundamentall that is as they expound it Pag 147. such as if it be not known and obeyed the whole religiō and fayth of the Church must needs fall to the ground Mr. Ainsworth hath set down his words from which no such collection can be made he directs them that worthily agaynst these deceivers which knowing acknowledging that they want many speciall ordinances of Christ and are burdened in stead of them with the inventions of Antichrist do notwithstanding encourage themselves and others by these distinctiōs that they haue the fundamentall truthes of the gospell and whatsoever is necessary to salvation and the like in a purpose to go on all their life long in disobedience For which men how much better were it to consider how it is written that whosoever shall break one of the least commaundments and teach men so he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven then thus to turn vpon them which reprove them for their vnfaythfulnes and misinterpreting their sayings most injuriously to spend thus many words as these ministers do in confuting their owne corrupt glosses Their fourth and last Argument is for that all the known Churches in the world acknowledge their Church for their sister and giue her the right hand of fellowship This Argum. hath been sundry tymes vrged by Mr. Ber. and so answered sundry tymes both by M. Ainsworth and my self in the former part of my book whether I must refer the reader contenting my self with a breif observation of such vntruthes and errours as these ministers are driven vnto in the prosecuting of this Argument as First that all the known Churches in the world are well acquaynted with their doctrine and liturgy to which they should also ad their book of ordination and canons Ecclesiasticall for their ministery and government then which nothing is more vntrue Beza which was specially interessed in these matters will hardly be perswaded of the true state of things touching dispensations pluralityes the power of excommunication in one man and the like It is most vntrue that God hath sanctifed the testimony of Churches for a principall help in the decyding of controversies in this kind It is though some help yet lesse principall yea the least of many 3. That Paul feared that without the approbation of Iames and Cephas and Iohn he should have run in vayn Paul feared no such thing for he was both assured of his calling from the Lord and had also taken long before that tyme good experience of the Lords blessing vpon his ministery both amongst the Iewes and Gentiles and knew right assuredly that his preaching was not in vayne His care was to take away from the weak all scruple of mynde or iealousy of contention amongst the Apostles he went vp to Ierusalem to confer with them 4 That Paul sought to win cōmendation and credit to the orders which he by his Apostolicall authority might have established by the iudgement of other Churches Whereas the Apostle Paul did by his Apostolicall authority appoynt those orders in all those churches he speaks of as the scriptures quoted testify 1 Cor 4. 7. 17. 16. 1. Besides the Church of England can win no great credit to her orders by the orders of other Churches considering how contrary she is in them to all other Churches departed from Rome whom alone in very many the resembleth Fiftly the testimony which Iohn Baptist gave of Christ is vnfitly brought for the testimony of one Church of an other For it was the proper and principall work of †Iohns calling to give witnes of Christ wherein also he could not erre It is not so with or between any Churches in the world Where it is further affirmed that there are cases wherein one Church is commaunded to seek the iudgement of other Churches and to account it as the iudgment of God for which Act 15. 2. is alledged as it is true that one Church is in cases to seek the judgement and help of an other so is it vntrue that the judgement of that other Church or of all the Churches in the world is to be accounted as the judgment of God Indeed the decrees of the Apostles at Ierusalem being by imediate infallible direction of the H Ghost were to be accounted as the judgement of God but for any ordinary eyther Churches or persons to challenge the like vnto their determinations were popelike praesumption To the Ministers demand in the next place Sayth Christ to any particular congregation of the faythful in our land Whatsoever they bind in earth is bound in heaven Mat. 18. 18. and sayth he it not also to the Churches of other nations I do answer that if Christ have so sayd to the particular cōgregatiōs who hath sayd it to the Praelates their substitutes or to any officer or officers excluding the body of the Congregation Even none but he whose work it is to gainsay Christ to subvert his order 2. If any of your parishes be such congregatiōs why do not you as faythful Ministers exhort thē to guide them in the vse of this power of binding loosing which Christ hath given them Or are not you content to suffer them to go on and your selves to go before them in the losse of this liberty yea in a most vile subjection to their and your spirituall Lords which have vsurped it And for the Argument it is of no force for neyther hath any one Church in the world that power over an other nor all the Churches in the world over any one which the meanest Church hath over any her member or members whomsoever One Church may forsake an other but juditially to censure or excommunicate it may it not The same answer for substance may serve for that which is objected from 1 Cor. 14. 32. Besides no Church can so fully discern of the estate of an other Church as it can of the proper members apperteyning vnto it Yea I ad that in this respect wee are better able to iudge of the Church of Engl then are any forreyn Churches notwithstanding our weaknes bycause they do not in any measure know the estate of it as we do Lastly as that saying
of the Ministers must have a very favourable interpretatioÌ„ viâ— that the Church hath power to iudge of a man infallibly that he is in the estate of salvation so is their other affirmation that the discerning of the spirits and doctrine of such teachers as arise in the Church is such a gift as the true Ch never wanted as popish an errour as ever was broched in Rome For how then can the Church erre or how can it be deceived by false teachers or how could Rome come to that estate of apostasie wherein she now standeth Or may not a Papist plead thus with these men Rome was a true Church of God Now the true Church never wants the gift of discerning spirits doctrines therefore Rome neyther hath wanted nor doth nor ever shall want this gift and so by consequence cannot be faln from the truth as is praetended against her To conclude it is not truely sayd of these men that this judging of one Church by another is a matter of salvation The Ch of Ierusalem was ignorant of the calling of the Churches of the Gentiles as the scriptures testify And I would know what the Church of England judgeth of the Lutheran Churches as they are called It accounteth of them as of true Churches So do not they of their Churches whom they call Calvinists but on the coÌ„trary repute them as haereticall Wherevpon it followeth that eyther a true Church may erre in judging of an other Church or els that eyther the Church of England or the Lutheran Churches or both are not true Churches Howsoever therefore we do not make light account of the testimony and iudgement of other Churches as these Ministers accuse vs yet dare wee not make idols of them as they seem to do who wanting both the word of God and practise of other Churches for their warrant seek commendation by the testimony which some haue given of theÌ„ in respect of certeyn generall heads of doctrine in which wee our selves also do for the most part concur with them Thus much of the Ministers Arguments Now follow their answers to two mayn obiections made by vs against the whole body of their Church and their Parish assemblies The first is that it was not gathered by such means as God in his word hath ordeyned and sanctifyed for the gathering of his Church The 2. that they communicate together in a false and idolatrous outward worship of God which is polluted with the writings of men vidz with read stinted prayers homilyes catechismes and such like These objections have been els where prosequuted and the exceptions taken by the Ministers agaynst them particularly answered by Mr Ainsworth and therein their both corrupt weak dealing manifested I will briefly adde a few things Against the former objection they take five exceptions First that they might lawfully be accounted a true Church though it could not appear that they were at the first rightly gathered as the disciples might be assured of Christs bodily prasence amongst them when they saw felt him Ioh. 20â— 19. 28. though they could not have discerned which way or how he could possibly haue come in Belike then wee must beleeve that the Church of Engl was gathered miraculously as Christ came by miracle into the place where his disciples were assembled But the answer is that these men take the mayn quaestion for graunted which is that their nationall Church is for the present a true orderly gathered Church of Christ and that so sensibly as it may be seen and felt Secondly that they might be rightly gathered to the fellowship of the visible Church by other meanes then by the preaching of the gospell that is as they expound it by publique and ministeriall preaching for which they alledge our opinion though vnsound yet having force enough to stop our mouthes And do these men deal soundly who to prove a point in controversie bring the opinion of their adversaries which they condemn as vnsound The opinion is most sound that men out of office for so wee speak may convert men to God and that ordinarily otherwise they may not prophesie ordinarily nay to what end should they ordinarily instruct reprove and exhort privately such as are out of the way And where further they make it one thing for men to be soundly converted and an other thing for them to be lawfully made a visible Church they vse craft to cover errour They vse craft in speaking of sound conversion to conceal that prophane and hateful errour that a visible Church may be lawfully gathered of vnconverted persons For as our quaestion is about the externall or visible Church so do wee require for it onely externall and visible conversion or that which is seen and discerned of men leaving vnto God the judging and discerning of that which is sound or inward according to the difference which them selves truely put from the scriptures in an other place Now that it is a vile prophane errour to hold that men converted wicked viz so far as men can judge by outward appearance may lawfully be admitted into the visible CHVRCH I have shewed at large in the former part of the Book and could if need were shew the whole course of the scriptures against it Mat. 28. 19. 20. Act. 2. 40. 41. 46. 47. 4. 32. 8. 5. 6. 8. 37 9. 15. with 13. 42. 43. 14. 15. 16. 14. 15. 31. 32. 33. Of like nature with the former is that which followeth namely that men may by other meanes be lawfully made a visible Church then by the preaching that is by the opening or publishing of the gospel For which they instance in those which follow Christ and professed themselves his discipleâ— who yet were not all drawn by his word but some by miracles Ioh. 2. 23. 25. some by the report they heard of him Ioh. 4. 39. sâ—me by the desire they had to be fed by him Ioh. 6. 24. 26. that Christian Kings have by their lawes been meanes to bring men to the outward society of the Church vnto which men may be compelled Luk. 14. 23. It is not true that Christ in his life gathered any visible Churches These persons indeed which followed Christ were members of the visible Church but it was of the Church of the Iewes which Christ gathered not He lived and dyed the Minister of circumcision and gathered no distinct Churches at all from the Iewish Church Secondly neyther any of the things named nor all of them together without or besides the gospell are means sufficient lawfully to gather a visible Church Some of them as miracles may be meanes to confirm the gospel and the rest of them to draw men to the hearing of and outward submission vnto it but is alone is the hand of God as Mr Ber. truely writeth stretched out to sub duâ— people vnto him it is the seed of the Lords
husbandry the word of his kingdom When the Lord Iesus sent out his Apostles to gather Churches the onely meanes which came into his heart was the teaching or making of men disciples and the Apostle to the Ephes witnesseth that the Church or temple of God is built vpon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophetâ— Iesus Christ himself being the chief corner stoneâ— but these men it seemes will have the Church of God built vpon the lawes of Magistrates yea vpon the reports yea vpon the bellyes of men They would be counted Ministers of the gospel yet they make no conscience of ascribing the honour which is peculiar vnto the gospel vnto so many other and so mean things And for Christian Kings Queens as as I acknowledge them for noursing fathers anothers so may I not for procâ—â—ant parents of the Church It is vnreasonable to affirm that civil causes as are their compulsive lawes should bring forth spirituall effects as is the Church or kingdom of Christ. By this Argument the Turk may make all his dominions a Church in a week or two It may as truely be affirmed that Magistrates may by their lawes compel men to receive the word gladly to stand in the estate of salvation to be saynts and sanctified in Iesus Christ to be in him and in God the father through him viz externally and in appearance and so far as men can judge for such is the Church and of such persons doth it consist as the scriptures cited testify And for the parable in Luke 14. 23. which they bring to prove that the Church may be gathered by bodily compulsion as Mr Ainsworth hath justly reproved their folly from Prov 26. 9. sufficiently confuted their erroneous exposition shewing that Luke speaketh of a spirituall violence and compulsion which the word of God offereth vnto the consciences of men so do I ad for the conclusion of this poynt that even the blynde Pharisees did see and discerne that Christ meant by the former servants the Prophets which the Lord the King sent to the Iewes as he did by the last the Apostles whom when the Iewes refused the gospell he sent to the gentiles to compel them by the efficacy of the word which is mighty in operation to the obedience of fayth Lastly what compulsive lawes soever the Magistrates may make or exequute it is a vile errour to think a sinfull flattery to bear theÌ„ in hand that they have power froÌ„ God to coÌ„pel an apparently flagious person to enter into the Church of God and the Church so to receive and continue him The Ministers 3. exception that their Church was gathered by the preaching of the word and that the first conversion of their land to the fayth of Christ was by the preaching of the gospell as appeares by the best historyes And so they go on and tell vs of many from age to age called by the same meanes who in the tyme of persequution sealed the truth with their blood and in the time of freedom did openly professe the same In the page immediately before going a Church might be gathered without conversion and now their Church was lawfully gathered for it was converted to the fayth of Christ by the preaching of the gospell 2. It is both vntruly and vnadvisedly affirmed of these ministers that their land was converted to the fayth of CHRIST The defence of their nationall Church and of the compulsion of all the flagitious persons in the nation to ioyne continue members of it drives them to this absurd assertion that the whole nation or land was at the first converted to the fayth of Christ. And where they speak of many in all ages since called by the gospell which also they have sealed with their blood as I confesse this with Mr Ainsworth and rejoyce for the mercy of God towards them this way so I doubt not but the truthes taught in Rome have been effectuall to the saving of many for which also there have many of them and no doubt would many more if there were occasioÌ„ lay down their lives against Pagans Infidels But these men should prove first that the body of the land have been converted to the fayth of CHRIST and orderly joyned into particular congregations and 2. that it hath so continued ever since even in the tymes when the blood of those Martyrs now spoken of was shed by the lawes civil and Ecclesiastical made by the body of it through the seduction of Antichrist for that purpose and so that there needed no new gathering after the Romish apostasy by the preaching of the gospell on the one side and by willing subjection in free and personal profession on the other That which they ad of sundry secret congregations in Queen Maryes dayes in many parts of the land is but a boast there were very few of them in any But where they say that these did vpon Queen Elizabeths entrance openly professe the gospell it is vntrue there was not one congregation separated in Queen Maryes dayes that so remayned in Queen Elizabeths The congregations were dissolved and the persons in them bestowed themselves in their severall parishes where their livings and estates lay The circumcised were mingled with the vncircumcised whence came that monstrous confusion agaynst which we witnes And shew me one of your ministers continuing his charge in Queen Elizabeths dayes over the flock to which he ministred in Queen Maryes dayes the persequuted gospell It is certayn the congregations whether many or few were all dispersed and that the members of them joyned themselves to the prophane Apostate Papists where their outward occasions lay As then an handfull or bundle of coâ—â—e shufled into a feild of weeds though in it selfe it retayn the same nature yet cannot make the feild a corn feild so neither could this small haÌ„dful of separated people in Queen Maryes dayes sanctify the whole feyld of the idolatrous prophane multitude in the land by their seating themselves amongst them As then it is not true that the body of the land in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths reigne did joyne vnto the secret congregations so remayning in Queen Maryes dayes but on the contrary these congregations did dissolve and joyne themselves with the vnhallowed rowt in the popish profane parishes vnder their late masse their duÌ„b priests for the most part so neyther matters it which ioyned uÌ„to which since the vnhallowed graceles multitude neither could by the word of God ioyn vnto others nor be ioyned to by them in the covenant of grace and of the gospell with the seales and other the ordinances thereof to which they had or have no right VpoÌ„ the same grouÌ„d also I infer that it is not materiall though the people were not compelled to the profission of the gospell before the midsomer after the Queen came to the crown if they were compelled to
professe the gospel of and vnto which they were apparantly and notoriously ignorant and disobedient as they were They knew what they were to look for and so being for the most part of no religiō they set themselves to conform as the tymes were to that which they discerned the Queen to be of And for the Preachers and Cōmissioners which were sent before this set day for the catholik fayth of all the Queens subjects as I think it was well so was it not sufficient to make the whole land or to prepare them to be a true Church besides that the people were of the Church all this while the same nationall provinciall diocesan and parochiall Church Churches consisting of the same persons generally still continuing vnder the same government ministery in the same will-worship though in a measure reformed as before in Queen Maryes dayes Now for the Preachers you name as Mr Knoxe Lever c. which exercised their Ministery in some of the best reformed Churches during Q. Maryes reign as the good they did to some few in comparison by the truthes they taught could not make all the Queens subjects a true nationall Church so do we all know how hardly they were suffered in the begīning of the Queens reign that contrary to the publick Church-government ministery as also that neyther they nor any others could or can be admitted to any Church by any ministery received in the reformed Churches but onely by the ordination of a popish Praelate whether English or Romish it matters not by which also it is apparant to all men vpon what string the English ministery hangeth Lastly where these men say that many are dayly added to the Church by the ministery of the word preached I marvayl how this can be and from whence they are added Addition is a motion and in every motion there must be the terms or bounds from and to which it is made All they to whom they preach are of the Church already for recusant Papists come not to their Church and besides the number of them encreaseth dayly It seemes then they are added from the Church to the same Church Bycause this practise of adding men to the Church by the preaching of the gospell was in vse in the primative Churches and this phrase vsed in the scriptures therefore these ministers think they may abuse the phrase without the thing and so feed their simple readers with words of the winde Of the ministers 4 exceptiō viz of the vniting of the Queens subiects vnto those professours whose fellowship in popery they had forsaken and of the course taken for that purpose by the example of the godly Kings of Iudah I have formerly spoken of the former part even now and of the latter els where declaring 1. first that the English nation and all the people of the kingdom never was admitted into the LORDS covenant by the rules of the new testament to become a nationall CHURCH vnder nationall government as was IUDAH and all the people in it vnder the old If this can be proved I acknowledge my self in many great errours if not it is vanity and errour thus to instance in IVDAH and indeed to revive Iudaism and the old testament 2. That though England had been somtimes a true nationall Church as was Iudah yet that it did not so remayn in the deep Apostacy of Antichrist but was divorced in Rome her mother whereas Iudah on the other side into what transgression soever she sell was never divorced by the Lord but still remayned his though vnfaythfull wife the L. ever anon stirring vp some extraordinary instrument or other for her reformation the renovation of her covenant with which also the Lord so effectually wrought as the things are wonderfull which are written of all the people and such as never shal be found in any whole kingdom to the worlds end 3. That the reformation by King Edward and Queen Elizabeth though great in it self and they in it vnder GOD greatly to he honoured was nothing comparable to that which was made in Iudah by Iehosaphat Iosiah Asa Ezechiah and Nehemiah These poynts I have proved at large else where and do refer the reader thither for answer onely I will note some particular oversights of the ministers in this fourth exception as first where they say they have proved there was a true Church in the land before Queen Elizabeths reign they should have proved that the Land was a true Church for so was Iudah 2. Where they say that the noble men were sent by Iehosaphat onely to accompany assist the Levites to countenance their ministery where the scriptures affirme they were sent even to teach You will have no teaching but by Church officers therfore you so put the scripture of 3. That they say Iosiah compelled his subiects to the service of the true God taking compulsion as they do where it is evident the people did it freely though I acknowledge he made compulsive lawes 4 Speaking of the authority of magistrates over their subjects they bring in Ezechias proclamatiō as they call it sent to Israell wheras the ten tribes were not his subiects nor he their King And lastly that the Ismaelites were separated from the Church of God therein acknowledging that IVDAH was alwayes the true Church of God which I suppose they will not say of Engl alwayes or of Rome if they do it is their sin to separate from the true Church The fifth and last exception of the ministers is that Mr BARROVV Mr GREENVVOOD required that the people in the begīning of the Queens reign should by solemn oth covenant have renounced Idolatry have professed fayth obedience to the gospel after the example of Asaes reformation To which their answer is first that such a covenāting by oath is not absolutely necessary as appeares in Iehosaphats Iosiahs reformation 2. That the people was before that oath covenāt Gods true Church which their people also may be 3. That sundry congregations as in Coventry and Northampton did publiquely professe repentance for their Idolatry and promised to obey the truth established 4. They doubt not to affirm that the whole land in the first Parliament did enter a solemn covenant with the Lord for renouncing of Popery and receiving the gospell That Mr Barr. and Green should requyre that the covenant into which the Church entereth should be by oth necessarily is more then I know or then we practise But that they required that the people that is the whole nation should so have passed a solemn oth and covenant I know is most vntrue All men know they thought the ignorant prophane popish multitude vncapable of the Lords covenant and the seales of it to have requyred of them an oth for such a purpose had been to have requyred of them the taking of Gods name in vayn Where it is sayd in the 2. place
great mercy wisdome and holines separateth his Church and people vnto himself from the rest of the prophane world And as it is a certaine signe that a Minister is not called into his place if he be not in some measure qualifyed with such holy gifts and graces as serve to the ends of the Ministery to which he is called which you both affirme and confirm vndeniably pag. 132. 133. of this book so is it also in iust proportion a certayn and infallible argument that the nationall Church of England and so of the Churchlings vnder it is not called into covenant and communion with God being gathered of such persons in the body of it as are onely vtterly vnanswerable but clean contrarily affected to the ends of the true Church which are holynes and the glory of God And where you Mr B. would fasten the name of saynts vpon people vnworthy of it by a similitude drawn from a Minister a◠the first rightly called to his office but after shewing himself vnworthy of it whom you wil stil have called a minister I answer that if he were known to be vnworthy of it at the first or not known to be worthy he was not rightly called eyther to the office or by the name and if he afterwards shew himself vnworthy he is to be censured accordingly and so with the office to forfeyt the name though he hold both with you so it is with men in the generall calling of Christianity they that are vnworthy of it are never called of God to take it vpon them and if they prove vnworthy afterwards they are to be deprived of Christian society 2 Because of the profession of faith in Christ who maketh all true beleevers holy and sancts It is true you say that Christ makes all true beleevers holy and Saints but I deny that every profession of faith in Christ argues a true beleever A false dissembler is he and no true beleever that in word pretends faith in Christ and in deed denyes him 3. In respect of Baptisme by which externally the partie baptised is to be iudged to have put on Christ. Gal. 3. 27. to have remission of his sinnes Act. 2. 39. to be partaker of Christs death Rom. 6. 3. 4. Col. 2. 21. and to have assurance of salvation 1 Pet. 3. 21. All persons baptized neyther do in truth nor are by vs to be judged to haue put on Christ to haue remission of sinnes c. but onely such as to whom by vertue of the covenant of grace baptisme apperteyneth We must not conceive of baptisme as of a charme or think it effectuall to all it is put vpon but must judge it avayleable and of vse according to the covenant of promise which God hath made to the faithful and their seed and none otherwise And baptisme administred to any others is so farr frō investing them with any saynt-ship in that estate as it makes guilty both the giver and receiver of sacriledge and is the taking of Gods name in vayne 4 In respect of the better part though the fewer by many for thus the scripture speakes Deut. 1. 23. 24. 1 Cor. 6. 11. with 5. 1. 2 Cor. 12. 21. The scriptures never ascribe holines to a people for some fewes sake if the rest be vnholy and prophane I read in the scriptures that vncleane persons and things do pollute and vnhallow clean persons and things that a little leaven levens the whol lump but that clean persons or things should hallow persons or things which are vnclean or that a little sweet meal should make sweet a sower lump that read I not but the contrary confirmed by the forenamed scriptures And for the Ch of the Iewes of Corinth in which you instance as they were holy omitting other respects for the holy covenant into which the Lord had assumed the body of them Rom. 11. 16. so were the desperately wicked amongst them no true members of the body but as putrifyed and rotten parts to be cut off and cast out from the rest And where Paul writes to the Church at Corinth stiles them sayntes and advertises them to excommunicate the incestuous person what can be more vnreasonably affirmed then that the incestuous person was one of these Saincts as though Paul had written to him to cast out himself which must needs follow by Mr B. assertion and proofes of it 5. In respect of the visible signes of Gods favour promise and presence to be with his c. as Ierusalem was called the holy city Mat. 4. 5. But we deny your nationall Church to be that holy city the new Ierusalem coming downe from God out of heaven It is rather Babylon though much purged and repayred And Babylon cannot be Ierusalem nor was ever holy not withstanding the spoiles of Ierusalem and of the Temple also be found there as were in the civil Babylon many Israelites captived and with them the holy vessels the holy instrumēts yea the holy writings of the Prophets their persons also 2 Chron. 10. 18. Psal. 137. 1. 2. D. 9. 1 2. 6. In respect of Gods good pleasure who lookes not vpon his Church as the particular members thereof are but as he accepteth of them therefore it is sayd He saw none iniquity in Iaakob nor transgression in Israel Num. 23. 21. and yet Israel was then an vnbeleeving and stifnecked people Here you say and vnsay with one breath You graunt Israel to haue been an holy people and without iniquity as Balaam spake in the Lords acceptance according to his good pleasure and yet to have been at the same time an unbeleeving and stifnecked people which affirmation as it conteynes in it an apparant contradiction so doth it lay vpon God an vnsufferable imputation as though he took pleasure in the wicked or did accept of them It cannot be denyed but the people ever and anon rose vp in rebellion against the Lord and for instance in the Chapter next but one before going through impatiency of their ordinary food they murmured against God and against Moses Numb 21. 4. 5. But did things so continue No verily for the Lord sent fyery serpents amongst them and destroyed many of them and by his correction brought the rest to repentance ◠vers 6. 7. And now as at other times when they provoked him smit them with grievous plagues punishments and so causing them to passe vnder the rod and picking out the cheif rebels and fifting out the sinners to destruction and brought them againe into the covenant And thus much of your respects of Sainct-ship whereof some are not true in themselves others impertinent to your estate and the most flatly condemning it And though you Mr B. say it never so oft and all the divines in the world with you as here you speak that the visible Church is a mixt company as your very owne book of Articles affirms the contrary
them and therefore reproved neyther is it materiall if the scriptures do not expresly tax the whole Church for connivency every time they rebuked some persons in it It is sufficient they do it in some places and in some Churches there is the same reason of all neither hath one Church priviledge above an other or for one sin more then an other And this also may serve for answer to the 2. 3. of your twenty Reasons in your 2. book Onely you must take knowledg of your grosse oversight in the latter reason where the question being of the true matter of the Church you bring in Noah in the old world Lâ—t in Sodom vnpolluted as though the world and Sodom had been true matter of the Church Noah and Lot of the same religious communion with them The like ignorance you shew in the 8. Reason where you demaund why the fellowship in civil society should not be polluted as well as religious communion As though you had never read that the vnbeleeving husband is sanctified to the beleeving wife for civil society which is no way dissolved no not though the one party be a Turk Iew or Atheist And do you think Mr B. that religious communion may be held with such without pollution In the next scripture which is Gal. 5. 10. the Apostle no way acquites the Church of transgression but speaks vnder hope of their repentance which they were to manifest by avoyding cutting off such as had troubled and seduâ—ed them Gal. 1. 8. 9. and 5. 12. In Mat. 5. 24. 25. Christ commaunds that before a man offer his gift he reconcile himself vnto his brother True but where hatred is there is no holy reconciliation and where brotherly admonition is not and that to the reformation of the brother offending there is hatred as is manifest Lev. 19. 17. And if you would improve to the right vse this scripture it would drive you and others from your Corban till you had discharged the dutyes of mercy to your brethren which the Lord accepts above sacrifice Touching 1 Cor. 11. which is the next scripture I will speak something more largely bycause Mr B. thinks it most pregnant for the decyding of the controversy for that the Apostle speaking purposely of the pollution of the sacrament bids every man examine himself and not one an other and that vnder peyn of eating damnation to himself and not to an other if he come not reverently notwithstaÌ„ding there was much evil in the Church And is it so in deed that bycause men must examine themselves therefore not others what warrant then have you for your Eastershrift your examining the people before they communicate You I hope are to examine your self as well as others And might not your people tell you out of your own book that you have nought to do to examine them Might not the meanest of them say vnto you examine your self if I eat and drink vnworthily it shal be myne own damnation not yours Yea might not any vngodly person thus answer eyther officer or brother that should reprove him eyther publikly or privately This indeed is the common fashion in the Church of England and nothing more common and it is a received rule that every man shall answer for himself and every tub stand vpon his own bottom and brotherly admonition is accounted by the most but a precise curiosity of busy-headed people And in this you confirm them by your collection teaching the offenders to pull away the shoulder and to stop the â—are that they might not heare to make the hart hard as an adamant stone You do then erre Mr Bern. in expounding 1 Cor. 11. 18. exclusively It doth not follow that because I am bound to examine my self therefore not my brother that is not to observe him admonish him bring him to repentance for apparant sinne for of such an examination we onely speak leaving to a mans self the examination of the hart and of things secret You may as well argue thus We are to save our selves Act. 2. 40. to speak vnto our selves in psalmes c. Ephe. 5. 19. to teach and admonish our selves Col. 3. 16. to comfort our selves 1 SaÌ„ 30. 6. to edify our selves Iud. 20. and therefore neyther to save nor to speak to nor to teach nor to admonish nor to comfort nor to aedify others which is contrary to these amongst many other scriptures Iud. 23. 1 Thes. 4. 18. 5. 11. 14. Furthermore you your self pag. 120. of this book make and that truely the Lords supper a testimony of that visible communion of love amongst the members Except then there be that love which is there testifyed the Lords ordinance is prophaned and his name taken in vayn Now where admonitions are not for the purging gayning humbling and saving of the the offender Mat. 18. 15. 1 Cor. â— 5. 2. 6. 7. there is not true love but hatred Levit. 19. 17. And that true spirituall love required in the members of Christs body should be betwixt the servants of God notorious prophane persons eyther way passeth both myne vnderstanding affections And to conclude this point I would but desire you Mr B. to read the marginall note given in your authorized Bible printed at London 1603. vpon the 31. verse of this Chapter And thus you see how pregnant this scripture is to decyde the contreversie and to determine against you that except reformation of sinne be orderly sought and seasonably obteyned there can be no right or lawfull communion in the Lords supper And Paul in writing as he doth provokes as every man specially to look to himself so the whole Church together to see the reformation of the disorders amongst them ver 17. 18. 33. 34. Lastly for 2 Cor. 12. 11. it must be considered that the case was depending and in hand concerning such as had sinned and not repented and as the issue of things should be so were the godly to carry themselves towards them if they would be drawn to repentance by admonition they were to forgive them as 2 Cor. 2. 7. if not the Church was bound to judge and cut them of whether Paul came or no. 1 Cor. 5. 11. 12. 13. Wherein if they fayled God would punish their carnall security and want of zeal as he threatneth Rev. 3. 14. 16. 19. To proceed where you affirm that our position insinuates that the sinne of one dissolves the bâ—nd of alleageance between God and another it it is no thing so The sin and apostasie of others can no way hinder or praejudice our salvation or standing with God if wee discharge our duty towards them But here is the oversight that men coÌ„sider not that as God hath commaunded men to worship him receive the sacraments and to vse other his ordinances so he hath also called and separated vnto himself a Church a communion or fellowship of saynts and holy ones in amongst