dictinction in the distribution which they have so long breathed after and rejoyced in the expectation of and their condition upon these Principles are no better now in their so much desired-for-Reformation then it was under the Prelates and Common-Prayer-Book which holds the doore more close against sinners then the Vindication or they ought to do upon these his principles And secondly The full and finall determining a Scripture of this kind or any other to one particular sense is not agreeable to that Spirit of Wisdom and of God which is an infinitely abounding Spirit and like the Sun is full of beames and continuall springings of light nor do the Interpretations of the Word appeare all at once the same Scripture which many ages ago gave out one beame of light gave more in the ages after and more now as the eyes of our understanding are enlightned so as Scriptures are not to be bounded in our sense nor the elevations of spirit taken by the short rule of our spirits which is contrary to these Scriptures 2 Pet. 1. 20 21. 2. Cor. 5. 16. Phil. 3. 12 13 15 16. Ephes 3. 18 19. 1 Cor. 2. 14 15. Vindication Fol. 41. If the Sacrament be only a setling or confirming Ordinance of true Grace when and where it is already begun then it were altogether impertinent and ineffectuall unto civill carnall Christians therefore doubtlesse it is and was intended by Christ for a converting Ordinance to all such as those Inference Whence we may infer That the Sacrament being a converting Ordinance may be given to all unregenerate persons in or out of the Church for if it be a converting Ordinance the consequence lies cleare that no sinners of any sort kind quality condition in or out of the Church ought to be denied it nay to have it administred as well without the Word as with it it being of equall power with the Word for converting as the Vindication faith and that who holds otherwise are mistaken And though there be a distinction premised of converting to the Faith or formall profession and a converting to a spirituall sincere Faith in Iesus Christ yet this distinction makes not any thing against the Sacrament to be given before the Word even for conversion to the first Faith or faith from Paganism which neither Scriptures nor practice of Christ or any Disciple of his from Apostles to the seventy and so down through any age to our own that ever I could read on practised and yet the principles laid down in Fol 38. will infer such a consequence naturally and truly for the Vindication saith in Fol. 38. That the Word and all Ordinances are alike for conversion and if so the Sacraments may be used as well to convert from Paganism and administred singly by themselves as the Word by it selfe may be taught Secondly The Vindication saith That it is doubtlesse to be given to all for else it had been an impertinent and ineffectuall thing to administer to close Hypocrises that are carnall Christians Whence we may infer That because the Counsels of the Lord in all his Administrations do not clearly appeare but through the Vindications of his own suppositions and premises therefore he concludes fully That it were impertinent and ineffectuall when as there appeares no such end at all in the institution of it but rather two other ends One which himselfe laies down as occasionall or evidentiall for the damnation and hardening some though I scarce allow him that that Ordinances of mercy and grace are properly active to condemnation The other which he never thinks on in his Book is this That God having left no infallible Rule for discerning hath ordered it by a pure Gospell-rule which if wicked men will come up to they hazzard greater condemnation Further we may infer That things may be called impertinent and ineffectuall which are instituted of the Lord when the reasons of the Lords Institution appeares not to us and that we may put our own suppositions and ends upon any administration in the Word when his ends are not cleare to us nay and conclude against any other end then that of our own conjecture or supposed probable reason which I am confident is too too grosse to be in the learned Author Intentionally though not consequentially in his Vindication But the ends which I clearly gather from the Analogie of things in Gods dispensation are these Why the Sacrament though according to the institution delivered to Hypocrites yet is no converting Ordinance God having left no infallible Rule of discerning his but only a Rule for outward evidences the Ordinances must either be administred to all walking according to the Rule of outward evidences or to none and according to that Rule Hypocrites may come in and do yet that is no sin to the Administrator nor Communicants so long as Administrations be ordered according to that Rule and Gods End of his revealed Will shewed Secondly The worke of sifting and reaping of dividing betwixt the Tares and the Wheat the Sheep and the Goats is the work of the great day of the Son of man and therefore though Ordinances be administred here to Hypocrites yet at the time of the finall discerning the communicating of Hypocrites shall be visited in judgement and greater condemnation upon them So as there is no need of framing it into any Notion of a converting Ordinance lest otherwise it prove impertinent or ineffectuall for if the close Hypocrites be finally impenitent ones God reckons for a greater sin if not yet it is no more impertinent then the Word is to all the children of God who yet never partake truly of it till converted Thirdly That the distinction of his into the first conversion from Papanism to Faith and secondly from a formall Faith to a true sincere Faith in Jesus Christ which is the corner Stone in his building is a distinction and certain degrees which we have not in any such Notion in the Word nor if it were doth it appeare that the Scriptures place administration upon the bottom of any such distinction though he doth it But suppose I grant it yet a formall profession then as he contends for and many other was not such as is now since Kingdoms were Christiaâ—ized but a profession then was according to the Rule of evidence till the contrary appeared as in all the first gathered Churches as in Simon Magus Ananias c. And formall profession then was as much as a kind of powerfull profession now for then it was persecution to take up an Ordinance or Name of Christ and now it is faction on the Law of the Land as well as the Law of the God to professe Christ neither were the whole Counsels of the Spirit of Christ brought forth then to make up the rule of evidences as afterwards but they were brought forth by degrees till the whole Scriptures of the New Testament were finished And we are now to take the whole Counsels of God concerning
Administrations as laid down in the whole New Testament and not by parcels though so much as they did professe in the first time of gathering were rule enough then to them when no more was revealed yet not to us now who have a full Gospell for our learning And this mistake or want of just consideration of times and Scriptures is the ground of all the mistakes Vindication Fol. 41. Why should not the Sacrament doe the like since Gods Spirit equally breathes and works in all his Ordinances and may and doth regenerate and beget grace in mens souls Inference Whence we may infer That it is lawfull according to this Principle to beleeve That if one Ordinance convert any other may whether God hath instituted so or no. We know the Lord hath appointed and ordered every Ordinance to its nature kind and use and Gods institution is to be the rule of our beleeving and reasoning and practising not because such a thing works so therefore any thing works so as that thing works The Author himselfe reasons against this in another place and that there is no right inference but in things of the like kind and under the like precept as thus The Word is able to convert therefore all Preaching and Prophesying is able to convert but not therefore the Sacraments can convert Vindication Fol. 41. The Sacraments are by all Divines whatsoever and the very Directory pag. 52. ever enumerated among the means of Grace and Salvation Why then should they not be the means of converting Inference Whence we may inferre That it is warrantable to expound Divines and the Directory contrary to their intent and meaning and to inferre conclusions from them to prove things which are not only very disputable but unwarrantable as far as any Scripture makes appeare either in any plaine precept or president and especially to turne the Directory being a Publike forme made by the Assembly so much against their sense and meaning as appeares by divers of their judgements of late is an attempt much like that of expounding a Law or Ordinance of Parliament in a private sense not in their own and this quotation of a Directory in this kinde is enough to make it all questionable and to draw on a necessity of a publike interpretation upon it Vindication Fol 41 42. That receiving Sacraments is usually accompanied with effectuall means as serious examinations solemne searching out of all open and secret sinnes with confession contrition humiliation prayers of pardon secret purposes and vowes sundry pious and soul-ravishing meditations of Gods mercy exhortations admonitions by the Ministers And why is not the Sacrament a more fit and apt Ordinance to regenerate convert ungodly and scandalous sinners then the bare Word preached Inference Whence we may infer That there are certaine preparations and qualifications in men meerly unregenerate which are here lifted up into something more then naturall or carnall workings or filthinesse of the flesh as prayers for pardon of sin pious and soul-ravishing meditations with humiliation contrition confession c. Now I would faine know what there is in man before the glorious light of Jesus Christ hath opened his eyes and brought him out of prison out of darknesse into light What kind of prayers can such make What pious meditations can such have of Gods mercy in Christ What contrition is there in such What humiliation Without faith it is impossible to please God and the carnall minde is enmity against God nor is it subject to the Law of God nor indeed can be and they that are in the flesh cannot please God What is all this then of prayers When as the prayers of the wicked are abominable What are all those flourishes and noise of vowes and purposes and contrition and meditations of an unregenerate man when they all are but glorious sins Doe men gather Grapes of Thornes or Figges of Thistles Why should nature be made proud with these expressions And any ground laid for boasting And whereas it is said that the Sacrament is a more apt means to convert then the bare Word preached we may infer some derogating and diminution or lessening implyed here of the Ordinance of the Word or Ministery because it is said Then the bare Word as if so be that the Word were a bare Word when it comes in the power of salvation to regenerate when the Spirit quickens it and makes it a Word of truth of grace the power of God unto salvation and we see the Word or Ministery it selfe is called The Preaching of faith The Ministery of Reconciliation The Sacrament is not called so any where though no lesse glorious neither And Christ and his Apostles and Disciples went every where preaching the Word but not administring the Sacrament but only there where the ministery of the Word had first brought them under the power of the Gospell-Order and Rule for Ordinances of a more spirituall institution Vindication Fol. 4â— That because we behold Christs death and passion more visibly represented to our eyes and hearts in the Sacrament and remission of sinnes more sensibly applied to us then in any other Ordinances therefore it is certainly the most powerfull Ordinance of all others to regenerate and covert with many Scriptures to prove conversion by representation Inference We may infer That because the Lord hath instituted his signe of Bread and Wine in the Supper to his owne end therefore it will serve to any end That we can prove of our owne imagining upon certaine rationall conclusions from Scripture or reason without particular Scriptures authorizing or appointing it to such an end and therefore all these grounds consequences and notions which are formed upon a likelihood and probability are nothing to prove any direct use of the Sacrament to such an end without as I have said a speciall Word Precept or Practise or just Consequence from Scriptures directed to such a proof for else there is scarse any thing but we may reason into a notion of likelihood but faith must have better grounds and not of private interpretation and the Scriptures that are alleadged must not be to prove that things of lively representation may most affect the soul and have done so but that these Scriptures are plainly or powerfully directed by the Spirit of God to prove the very Institution of the Supper to that end which none of those Scriptures prove that are alleadged in Fol. 42. Vindication Fol. 43. That God doth as effectually teach convert and work grace by the eye as eare and therefore were the Sacraments Sacrifices Types Miracles c. Why should not then the visible expressions of Christ in the Sacrament now have the like effectuall converting power Inference We may infer as we have done before That all these are but Why should nots no words of Institution or Authority in the Scripture for it But further the Legall Sacraments c. were carnall and more to the sense and more of representation but these are more
in one and the same Kingdom would be considered when such an Interest growâ—s up from its infancy and first Reformation into a fuller and more perfect man And whether their petitioning of a power from the State to compleat and make them an Eldership and Presbytery doth not imply a power in the State more or rather as fully Ecclesiasticall as their Presbytery for can the State give them any Ecclesiasticall power and have none it selfe so as according to these Principles the State is Ecclesiastical as well as they and so not to be denied the power of Commissioning with them or else t is a meere contradiction to pray for power from those to their Eldership and Presbytery which they say is a Government and Power entirely Ecclesiasticall and compleat in it selfe and so as they either pray for that which they have of their own already or else pray for that from the State which they cannot give them Petition It belongs unto them by Divine Right and by the Will and appointment of Jesus Christ which with the help of superiour Assemblies in cases of appeale or in all administrations therein will prevent through the blessing of God all the feared inconveniences Inference Whence we may infer that the Presbytery and Eldership of a Congregation is of Divine Right c. yet that Divine Right is perfected and compleated by that which is not of as pure Divine Right as it selfe viz. Superiour Assemblies and so becomes neither purely Prudentiall nor Divine but Mixt and so is neither good Divine nor good Humane Right Petition And the Magistrate to whom we professe the Church to be accountable for their proceedings in all their Elderships and Church Assemblies and punishable by him with Civill censures for their miscarriages Inference Whence we may inferre that the Civill Magistrate is neither over nor under the Presbytery and where they place it who can tell by this Petition of theirs for over it the Magistrate is not for they say Commissioners over them are not sufferable and under it they say the Magistrate is not for their Eldership and Presbytery are to be accountable to the Civill power for their miscarriages and how at the same time they should subject their Churches in their mal Administrations to the Magistrates power of judging and yet challenge such an entire sole supreame and Ecclesiasticall Judicature is a mystery becomming the learning of that same Assembly to reveale which first begun it Principles against the Divine Right o◠〈…〉 present Presbytery extracted from the Reasons 1. THey are no such Presbyters of Jesus Christ as the first were because ordained by an Antichristian power of Bishops nor were Bishops true Presbyteres nor those who joyned with them in their Ordination who were made by them nor is there any succession of Ordination but it implies both a Perpetuall Visible Church and a true Church Ministery and Ordinances under Antichrist which all are to be proved by them 2. If there were any such true Church invisible under Antichrist to which they succeed in their Ministery then it must appeare that they succeed that very invisible Church and that that very invisible Church had a true Ministery or Presbytery in it for men may be Saints or good men yet not good Presbyters or Ministerially sent 3. As they now in their practice will not account any for true Presbyters but such who can prove to them their personall Ordination from them so we demand of these Presbyters an account of their personall succession accordingly which personall succession if it be false and interrupted any where in the Line must needs be all false from such a point where the first interruption was made 4. Though Christs promise is enough to ground a perpetuity of Church and Christs presence yet not of his promise made good to such particular men or to their pretended succession 5. They that challenge a Divine Right to the power they act by must act by a gift as Divine and infallible as their right and power and thus did the primitive Presbyters and Elders therefore the gift being but mixt their right or power is but mixt accordingly and not Divine 6. They who were Elders or Presbyters in the first Churches as Ierusalem c. were gifted by a spirit which taught the very infallible Word which is now written or Scripture and so they then did constitute advise counsell in the place of this written Word and all Scripture Formes and Institutions were then in the gift and persons but no such thing can be said of any Eldership or Presbytery of men now 7. They who set up an Eldership or Presbytery now of Divine Right to constitute ordaine counsell c. do joyne to the Word written or infallible Scripture a Power lesse infallibly gifted who by such a Divine Right and Power pretended shall controle the Word of Truth by Interpretations of that Word lesse then Truth which is not consistent with the glory of the Word 8. There is no Eldership or Presbytery in Scripture but either the Churches Act did precede it act it or accompany it by precept or practice which makes the Divine Right of the Presbytery questionable uncertain unsafe because of a contrary Scripture and Precept 9. The Eldership and Presbytery which are brought for instances are questionable first for the Persons who were not such very Presbyters as they would imply but Apostles Evangelists c. or otherwise ordained either by Apostles or Church or otherwise gifted by speciall unction or else an Eldership of eminency not of Office 10. They hold this Divine Right is in the first subject in the Congregationall Presbytery and yet they set up a Classicall Provinciall Nationall Presbytery to compleat and controle this of the Congregationall and how this their Divine Right can be subjected thus to a Right lesse Divine is unreasonable and unscripturall to imagine 11. Suppose such a power as a Nationall Presbytery collected from all parts of the Kingdom every Congregation having an Interest or part there and this Presbytery so Nationall and Collective informed by a Divine Right for judging sins c. shall not this Nationall Presbytery take cognizance of States if sinning Ecclesiastically as well as others and if so what proceeding what cenâ—ures will follow from such a body as universall as the body of that State and of as much Interest in the Kingdom as they and of more interest by how much more Divine a Right they act by and by how much neerer they are seated to the conscience and how Kingdoms have been embroyled by such an Ecclesiasticall Interest Histories will tell ye 12. So as in this straite when Parliament is perswaded of no Divine Right Assembly of a Divine Right and the Dissenting brethren of another Divine Right is not the way this to let the Parliament have their Liberty of Conscience to settle no Divine Right by a power and the Assembly to use their Liberty in a Divine Right with all that
repent or be sorry for sinne c. be humble c. if they preach them as Christ and the Apostles did as graces flowing from him and out of his fulnesse and not as springings of their owne and waters from their fountaines as if the teachers like Moses would make men beleeve they could with such Rods and exhortations smite upon mens hearts as upon rocks and bring waters out of them be they never so hard and stony We agree with you that repentance and sorrow for sinne and humiliation and self-deniall are all to be preached and shall contend with you who preaches them most and clearest but then because Iohn said Repent and Christ said Repent and Peter said Repent are we to examine the Mystery no farther Know we not that the whole Scripture in its fulnesse and integrality reveales the whole truth and must we not looke out and compare Scripture with Scripture spirituall things with spirituall and so finding out truth from the degrees to the glory and fulnesse of it preach it in the same glory and fulnesse as we find it We heare Christ preaching before the Spirit was given Repent and we find when the Spirit was given Christ is said to give Repentance to Israel and forgivenesse of sinnes and shall we not now preach Jesus Christ and Repentance in Jesus Christ the fountaine of repentance the author of repentance and yet preach repentance and repentance thus and repentance in the glory of it more The Apostle in one place saith Beleeve in the Lord Iesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and in another place He is the author and finisher of our Faith Shall we not now preach Iesus Christ first and Iesus Christ the fountaine and Iesus Christ the author of faith and beleeivng and yet preach faith yea and thus preach faith faith in the glory faith in the revelation of it faith from Christ and faith in Christ One Scripture tels us godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation c. And another tels us They shall look on him whom they have peirced and they shall mourne for him c. Shall we not now preach sorrow for sin took from Christ Christ piercing and wounding and melting the heart Christ discovering sin and powring water upon drie ground this is sorrow for sin in the glory of the Gospell One Scripture bids He that will follow me let him deny himselfe and take up his crosse Another saith It is he that worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure and I am able to do all things through Christ that strenghneth me Shall we not now preach Christ our strength and Christ our selfe-deniall and is not this selfe-denyall in the glory of the Gospell So as the difference betwixt us is this Ye preach Christ and the Gospell and the graces of the Spirit in the parts as ye find it we dare not speak the mystery so in peices so in halfe and quarter revealings we see such preaching answers not the fulnesse of the Mystery the riches of the Gospell the glory of the New Testament We find that in the fulnesse of the New Testament Christ is set up as a Prince as a King as a Lord as a crown and glory to every grace and gift nay he is made not only righteousnesse but sanctification too and so we preach him Whereas to preach his riches without him his graces by themselves single and private as repent and beleevs and be humbled and deny your selves ye make the gifts lose much of their glory Christ of his praise and the Gospell of its fulnesse To the Second of your alleadging my Book in such and such pages as another Gospell from Christs I shall print them as you quote them and with them I desire these things to be considered together with the other parts of my Booke and the scope of it which you have detained in unrighteousnesse All these I freely open to the judgment of all who are Spirituall Master Gataker 1 That John Christs and his Apostles Method were all one for matter and manner for they all preached Faith and Repentance and yet we are taxed for these things as Legalists by this Author 2 John and the rest preached life and salvation upon condition of Faith and Repentance and Obedience 3 Where we find Faith only preached it is because we have but the Summaries or heads of their Sermons Answer To the first that I taxe you for preaching Faith and Repentance as the Apostles did and John did as Legalists Nay I tax ye only because ye preach it not as they did according to the full revelation of it in the New Testament but you preach it only as you find it in their Summaries and in the briefe narration of their Doctrine and this you ought not to do if you will preach according to that glorious Analogie of the Gospell and to this I shall only bring in your own words to convince you and so from your own mouth condemn you You say of the Apostles We have but Summaries of them as in Acts 2. 40 and 16. 32. and you knowing this preach only by their first Methods and Summaries not looking to the revelation of the mystery which the Apostle saies is now made manifest And for Iohns manner of preaching his Preaching is to be no more an example to you then his Baptism You know the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater then he To the second That Faith Repentance and Obedience were conditions of life and salvation Why keep you not to the Forme of wholesome words in Scripture Where doth the Scripture call these conditions of salvation They that are Christs do beleeve and repent and obey but do they beleeve repent and obey that they may be Christs Hath not God chosen us in him predestinated us unto the adoption of children in Jesus Christ But I know you wil say That when the Apostles did beleeve repent and obey it is by consequence as much as a condition and the same with a condition But answer The interpreting the Spirit thus in the letter and in consequence hath much darkned the glory of the Gospell When some of Christs Disciples took his words as you do under a condition Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man c. the words saith he that I speake are Spirit Consider but what stâ—â—â—ts you bring the Gospell into first you make life appearing to be had in the Covenant of Grace as at first in the Covenant of Works Do this and live so beleeve repent obey and live thus runs your Doctrine nor can you with all your distinctions make Faith in this consideration lesse then a worke and so put Salvation upon a condition of works againe Is this Free-Grace But you say Faith is a gift freely given of God and here is Free-grace still But I pray Is this any more Free-Frace respectively to what we do for life then the Covenant of works
That some of the dissenting Brethren hold Synods Ordinances of God and this Assembly so I know some of our Brethren for the Presbytery hold Infant-Baptism unlawfull and Antichristian and hath better defended it then any yet whom I have read hath answered it And for this Assembly to be an Ordinance of God I thought that had been but an Ordinance of Parliament and stood by that power by which they were called by at first Yet deny not but that consultations for holy ends about the things of God are lawfull by the Word To the Tenth That Presbyteries because not infallibly gifted are of no Divine Right and so concludes against all Presbyteries and Ordinances Yea against all your Presbyteries to be of Divine Right as the first But our question is rather whether the first was any such Presbytery as you now affirme and for ought I see you can no more prove the truth of the Presbytery then in the sense you take it then your Presbytery to be one with it one only in Divine Right not in Divine power or gifts And how are these things sutable To the Eleventh That I contradict the pure Government I plead for by pleading for yours as prudentiall It were true indeed if I pleaded it in mine own behalfe I plead it occasionally for them who will needs have what the State cannot in conscience allow them and yet will not practice any other but what the State shall give them and so trouble both the State and their own consciences and would cast a snare upon both Brethren if ye will needs have the State to allow ye your Presbytery Why are ye not content with what they can allow ye If ye will have a Divine Right which they cannot allow ye why do ye trouble them and sit down under a bondage of your own making But how justly is this yoke come upon you who would have brought a worse upon your Brethren To the Twelfth That the first Presbyters and Apostles c. were not infallible as in divers practices What is this to the truth and gifts they taught and taught by They failed as men but not as Apostles They erred as they were Peter and Paul but not as moved by the Holy Ghost Take heed by opening the Apostles failings to justifie your own you speake not worse Blasphemy then you name in me and make that glorious Word of Scripture questionable which they preached like the words that your selves preach from that Scripture To the Thirteenth That to say the Apostles did advise in place of the written Word is Blasphemy What Blasphemy is it to say that the same Word which they writ and preached the same Spirit spake in them and spake the same truth in them which writ in them And is it so with any of your Presbyters Therefore till the same Spirit speak truth in them so as in the first Presbyters will they challenge the same right the same power Will they have a Divine Right acted by a spirit lesse Divine then the Right To the Fourteenth That the Presbyterians in France Scotland and the Netherlands do not embroyle Kingdoms There is good reason in France they cannot if they would I wish you would walke under the Magistrate as they do and as your dissenting Brethren here and not make him serve you And in the Netherlands do you as they do there and leave your Brethren to the like liberty that is in that State and they will not grudge ye your Presbytery amongst your selves For Scotland they are Brethren I wish no worse to then Truth and Peace and power above their Ministers To that of excommunicating kingdoms being a bugbear You do well to say so till ye be established but you that dare so capitulate with States whom ye are called to advise in things onely propounded what more may be expected upon all your principles I leave to be judged To the Fifteenth That they aske not of the State a power but a liberty to exercise that power Well and will ye trouble the State no further Will ye not intreat them to punish such a one and such a one whom ye judge an Hereticke and a Schismaticke to fine and imprison when you have done with them at Excommunication May the State be quiet if they say to ye go all that are so perswaded as you are and worship and practise as your dissenting brethren and other Saints and trouble not us to provide for your Tythes and Rule for you in things of your own cognizance over Consciences But you would onely have liberty from them your power is of Christ But you cannot so cleare things as you thinke If your power and liberty respectively to your selves and the Magistrate be so distinct why have ye mingled them and confounded them all this while Why make ye the truth and power ye have from Christ wait so at Parliament-doores as Master Case said If the powers on earth will not do for Christ as you would make the people beleeve Why do not ye your selves more for Christ Is it better to obey God or man Thus the more ye would single your selves in your power and right from the Magistrate the more your practice makes an argument against ye To the Sixteenth That I should say 〈◊〉 sound Church Church-officers shall excommunicate and judge of offences and in an unsound the Magistrate and the Inference there I answer I spake and writ so according to your principles not to my owne Nor can I see how you can chalenge such a one entire and simple Discipline exclusively to the Magistrate upon no more true pure and Scripture-principles then your present Presbytery is And I conceive the powers on earth or in the world have to do in every Government that is more of the world then of Christ For if ye exclude them from a part in that Government which is partly prudential and of man you exclude them from off part of their owne Kingdome which is theirs by inheritance and of more Divine Right then I conceive yours to be And whereas you would make us beleeve you stand onely in a pure Gospel strength and power and desire no more of the Magistrate but liberty can this be so in truth when all is esteemed invalid and nothing if the Magistrates power doth not actuate the Ministers power I know you may distinguish of powers Scholastically and Spheres of working for those powers and so tell the Magistrate and us he doth but act in his Sphere when he acts in yours and indeed acts yours making it to be stronger then it is in it selfe But is not his Civil power that which puts life as you think into all your Presbytery Yet he must think he doth but as a Magistrate still as if so be that the Magistrate were made to be rods in the hands of the Church and Swords to be drawn by them and Iron whips at their girdles We are not now as Aarois and Moset we are not
from all kinde of mixt communicatings in the constituting as well Churches as Ordinances and Administrations and so at length become either Congregationall or of the other way But many of us tooke such of the Presbyteriall way as writ and taught for a pure Reformation in partaking of Ordinances for the better according to their light And it seems they are but novices as we may gather from the Vindication-Book and are ignorant of his Presbyteriall secret or mystery of uniformity and unmixt communicating according to the grounds there Well I am yet of the purer side I like not this mystery if the way to keep out Schism be of such a kinde as drawes with it an unavoidable necessity of partaking with all sorts of sinners except onely for some present affected passions of Faith and Repentance and a Toleration of all sorts of that kinde except by excommunication where in some places whole Parishes and almost in all Parishes many must stand either excommunicated by the Classis or Presbytery or Reformed which is impossible or as frequent partakers of Ordinances spirituall fellowship as the best and purest which is intolerable C. Indeed I am glad you come off so well already I will not meddle with the present state of some of these first particulars in difference I named to you but leave them to the Authors but come to some of the more questionable For that Controversie betwixt the Brethren which is Whether Judas received or not I know there are divers Leaves of Paper writ upon it in the Vindication and many learned men are quoted and Scriptures brought in on both sides and harmoniously compared but since the Lord left it so disputable as some imagine we must not do in such doubtfull sayings as those Disciples did who because Christ said of John If I will that he tarry till I come what is that to thee and it was reported amongst the Disciples that that Disciple should not die though Christ said not he should not dye but onely what if I will that he tarry So if the Lord hath not clearly said that Judas was there why goeth it so amongst the Disciples as if he were there without all contradiction but if he were and Christ gave it to Judas as for my part I make it not any such ground though he and all others do because it will not be clear then that he gave it to Judas as a wicked man or a formall Disciple for I know Christ administred then as an outward Dispenser to the Church or chiefe pastour and in his Body unglorifyed whereby he kept close to the analogy of visible Administration of Ordinances and in President and Precept for the future to his Churches for all ages and so all their puzling may be at an end I will now acquaint you further with some Arguments or Inferences from the Vindication which I have to strengthen you Vindication Fol. 36. THat no Minister not knowing the present change or inclination of the heart of any or whether God by this very duty may not really convert him ought to administer the Sacrament Inference Whence we may infer That all sorts of sinners never so prophane and abominable yet upon any present affected counterfeited formall pretence of Faith and Repentance ought to partake in all things of the most spirituall nature and fellowship and withall of the most spirituall and sincere profession contrary to these Scriptures 1 Pet. 2. 9. 2 Cor. 6. 14 15 16 17 18. Isai 52. 11. Gal. 5. 9. Vindication Fol. 37. The Brethrens Reason That in the Sacrament there is a neerer application of the Word and Promises in particular of the right and interest in them more then in the Word preached which the Vindication saith is just like the late Archbishop of Canteâ—buries Doctrine for bowing at the Altar as Gods great place of presence Inference Whence we may infer that the Vindication doth very uncharitably compare Doctrines and Principles viz. his Brethrens with those of Prelacy and his Brethren with the grossest of Prelates and their Principles of spirituall Administration and Communion with those of a most Idolatrous and externall nature which is contrary to these Scriptures Iames 4. 12. Matth. 7. 1 3 c. 1 Pet. 3. 8. Vindication Fol. 37. That the Minister administring the Sacrament to any known impenitent sinners yet under the Notion of penitent and repenting sinners for that time discharges himselfe Inference Whence we may infer That a Minister ought to comply with the Hypocrisies pretences coâ—pliancâ—s formes of any notorious scandalous or impenitent sinner at that time only in the aparition or resemblance of a Saint and a Woolf in Sheeps clothing contrary to these Scriptures 1 Tim. 5. 21 22. Math. 15. 26. 2 Tim. 3. 5. 1 Thes 5. 22. 1 Cor. 6. 16. Vindication Fol. 37 38. That the words of Institution in the Sacrament The Body of Christ which was broken and the Bloud of Christ shed for you is not of any Divine Institution but humane only though warrantably practised Inference Whence we may infer That he in affirming the Institution to be only humane and yet warrantable is not only an impeaching of their worship of God in the highest and most spirituall Admirations of Will-worship and humane invention and want of conformity to the Rule or Word but even a flat contradiction in a Scripture sense because he addes Yet warrantably practised as if an unlawfull way of worship as all will-worship is might be lawfully practised which is contrary to these Scriptures Matth. 15. 3 9. Isai 29. 13 14. Gal. 3. 15. Iohn 10. 4 5. Matth. 6. 44. Tit. 1. 14. Rev. 14 9 10. Vindication Fol. 38. That the Sacrament of the Lords Supper belongs of right to all visible knowing Members of the visible Church as well as the Sacrament of Baptisme Inference Whence we may infer That in this his equalizing all Ordinances under this Notion of knowing Members that either children are not capable of Baptisme because not knowing Members and upon this ground of his wrongfully Baptized or if right Members yet deprived of the other Sacrament of the Supper to which as visible Members they have right as well as to the other there being no distinction of knowing and unknowing Members in this sense or else that they may partake in that Ordinance of Baptisme and be signed or sealed and yet no right Members of a visible Church Vindication Fol. 38. That that of not casting Pearles before Swine in Matth. 7. 6 10 14. is expresly determined in 2 Pet. 2 1 2 21 22. and Heb. 10. 28 29. to open Apostates not to scandalous sinners who duly repaire to publish Ordinances and externally professe Reformation and Repentance and to apply this Text to these is a meer perverting of it Inference Whence we may infer That this cuts off the Brethren of the more purely-Presbyteriall way fully from all their foundation-Texts of any more spirituall distribution of Holy Ordinances or any
did not Christ intend that all should receive or communicate in outward administrations by an externall right And if so then what ground is there for the visible imponitent or known scandalous Whether if true saving faith were the one part of the Interest and the externall right the other part of it there be any ground left for the other Communicants And whether that the Scriptures rule and purer practice of all Churches in the Gospell excepting when falne or beside the rule and the Scripture Cautions do not wholly exclude such scandalous impenitent persons pleaded for against all other forrain probable possible rationall or Rethoricating consequences and conclusions to the contrary Whether the glory of Gods justice in the judgement upon unworthy receivers be any ground to take in Communicants for condemnation since it is full against other Scriptures that Christ came not into the world to condemne the world and to save mens lives not to destroy them and he would not the death of a sinner And whether though finally condemnation be ordered for all such yet no such thing being formally externally dispensatively ordered any persons ought to be called in for condemnation in such a way Whether this be not quite against the nature of the Gospell dispensation Christ under the Gospell dispensing himselfe and giving out himselfe as a Saviour a Redeemer and in all the Gospell declining judgement I come not to judge the world reserving that worke till he appeare in his own day to condemnation of sinners this being only his day of reconciliation to them Whether the Apostle in Rom. 3. where he saith But if our righteousnesse commend the righteousnesse of God is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance And not rather as we be slanderously reported and some affirme that we say Let us do evill that good may come thereof doth not parallell this For the Apostle here though Gods righteousnesse and justice was set forth by his justice upon sinners yet he did not say as in the Quaere is said Let us then do evill that God may be glorified or good may come thereof Quaere 4. Fol. 53. Whether all Ordinances proving alike good or bad saving or damning and impenitent persons as well encreasing their damnation by hearing praying fasting c. What reason can be rendred by any rational Christian why such persons should not be admitted to the Sacrament as to any other Ordinance or not suspended equally from all Antiquaere Whether any such consequence of admission or suspention from Ordinances ought to be grounded upon damnation or judgement but rather upon words of command and institution and Scripture-practice And if any such appeared all these Consequences which the Vindication draws forth wringing bloud and not milke from the Word might be saved and he need not go so far about which when all is done brings a soule but at best upon a probable specious or reall coloured Argument Whether since the Vindication pulls down cleare Scripture-Texts and grounds in this Controversie to weaken the building of his Adversary he ought not in conscience first to have had a cleare Word or Institution for the contrary practice and not only probable and litterally conclusive grounds that soules can stand at surest upon but like men upon Ice who are in as faire a probability to fall as stand And whether having taken away the Scripture-Texts for Presbytery it selfe he can well hold up any upon his grounds And whether is not this sceptiall or doubtfull way of reasoning upon Scripture neither pulling quite down nor building up a way rather to fill all the roomes with rubbish and at length neither to have new building nor old What man going to build a Tower sitteth not down first and seeth what it will cost him lest having begun and not able to finish all men begin to laugh at him saying c. But whether is not all this ado about Ordinances rather for want of a right and purer constitution of Churches which would save all this controversie about scandalous and impenitent sinners when the Church were not troubled with such where the Ordinances are P. Well I am by this time well perswaded and having heard all this for my part I cannot but see that in setling things suddenly upon the Kingdom and things thus questionable and unwarrantable in the way of Administration and a Kingdom so full of impenitent and scandalous sinners as Parochiall Congregations generally are there is danger of great sin and great trouble C. I will therefore adde two or three Arguments more and so conclude An Experimentall-Argument for pure Churches and Ordinances THere is a spirituall Antipathie betwixt Grace and Nature Flesh and Spirit the Flesh lusting against the Spirit and the Spirit against the Flesh and the more spirituall or more carnall the more these two contrary Natures worke and the more powerfully against each other as in Sarah and Hagar Isaac and Ishmael and the lesse or more they can beare with each other As for example While Iudas carnall nature or disposition uninflamed by Satan boyled and heightned not into any such grosse act as selling and betraying of Christ the Disciples bore with him more and Christ himselfe as he was man and in a state of Infirmity could more endure him then upon the breaking out of his sin and so in Simon Magus in Ananius and Saphira and others whom the Apostles could no longer suffer not by way of Discipline or inflicting Censure but by way of a spirituall contrarinesse to such grosse hypocrisie and sin discovered And so the experiences of all that are of a pure Gospell-temper will witnesse to this very Age in acts of spirituall fellowship and Community in all acts of Worship c. This is founded not only on spirituall antipathies and sympathies but in naturall and civill naturall things of a contrary nature bearing one another no lesse and things of a civill nature yet contrary doing the like Hence arise separations meerly naturall and sensitive and rationall Hence arises a particular Schism and separation in all the things of the world and a secret gathering and contracting of things from the contrary into the same kinde the common purity being lost as the Apostle implies by which Nature did at first more universally agree as if one common spirit had been in it And thus it was in the Churches of God at first when three foure or five thousand did agree in one way of spirituall fellowship Doctrine breaking of bread and Prayers but we see there is not now such pourings out of spirit upon multitudes and Nations that a Nationall-Church should be together in such a unity of spirit And under the Law there was even a weaker example in the people of the Jewes being taken out from the people of the world and naturally hating all that were common and uncleane as the Gentiles And before the Law the people of God did gather into Families and particular societies as in Aâ—â—â—â—am
him and walked with and counted as his Some beleeved not the Holy-Ghost nor Christs Baptism and were zealous of the Law and yet the Disciples counted them as Beleevers Johns Disciples would have followed Iohn only but Iohn sent two of them to Christ at one time and told them againe he must increase but himselfe must decrease Christ in his time would not forbid any that went about in his Name There is none that doth any thing in my Name can lightly speak evill of me When the Spirit was given the Disciples bore one another out of the Church as the Beleevers of Iohns Baptisme and the zealots of the Law and one another in the Church they that did eat them that did not eat and they that regarded a day them that regarded not a day walking together as far as they attained by the same rule 16 No despising for too much learning or too little Let not one despise another for gifts parts learning let the Spirit be heard speak in the meanest let not the Scribe or Disputer of the Law despise the Fishermen nor they despise them because Scribes and Disputers The Spirit is in Paul as well as Peter in both as well as one 17 We may be in one Christ though divers Consider that we may be one in one Christ though we thinke diversly and we may be Friends though not Brethren and let us attaine to Vnion though not to Unity 18 The spirituall Persecution to be forborne Consider there is a twofold Persecution There is a spirituall or that of Beleevers and a mixt Persecution or civilly Ecclesiasticall The spirituall Persecution is that of the Spirit meerly and this kind of Persecution little thought on and studied this is when we cannot be are one anothers severall Opinions or soul-belief in the same spirituall Society or fellowship but they must either be of us or out of us and surely this kinde of Persecution is as unreasonable as any other for what is this but soul-compulsion when another must only beleeve as we beleeve and not wait till the Lord reveale even this This kind of spirituall compulsion will in time breake and dissolve the visible Communion of Saints and Body of Christ exceedingly if taken up or continued and it will be amongst Christians as amongst the Antichristians where they divide and subdivide and some cast themselves into a Monkery from all the rest Ierusalem and Antioch were not of this way to cast out one another upon such grounds but to meet reason and counsell and heare And surely the Churches can ill complaine of a mixt persecution from without if they persecute one another from within the Magistrate may as justly whip them both as they whip one another Such grudgings complainings dissolvings spirituall inforcings gives hint to the Civill power to compell while it beholds them but a little more spiritually coâ—pâ—lling one another Let all Church-rights priviledges boundaries be preserved all Heresie and Schism by the rule rebuked but in all spirituall meeknesse and wisdome and not call Heretick and Schismatick too suddenly since we see but in part THE UNWARRANTABLE WAY OF PEACE Or The Antichristian Designe of Reconciliation 1 To beleeve as the Church or Councels THat all should beleeve as the Church beleeves and this Church is the great Councels of Bishops Cardinals c as if the souls of all were to be saved only in the bundle of theirs as if they could beleeve both enough for themselves and all others 2 To set up one as the Pope for infallibilitie Because there may be difference amongst many and all may not agree therefore there shall be one say they with the Vrim and Thummim one infallibly decreeing and interpreting and unerring to whom the Spirit of Truth is successively derived and his determinations interpretations shall be finall conclusive and this that Vicar of Christ the Pope this one way in the Antichristian State and all Reformed Kingdomes were once under this Peace 3 To allow that all may be saved in their severall wayes Because there be severall Beleevers and severall interpretations and opinions one saying This is the way and another That therefore say some All in all wayes may be saved every one beleeving every thing Now this is one way to make peace but not the way there is but one Lord one Faith one Baptisme 4 To forbid Interpretings and Disputes Because several opinions arise by interpretings and disputings about Scripture therefore all openings of the Word all disputings must be forborne Because the Sun-shine offends some weak sight in the house shut up doores and windowes and make all dark Thus the Papists and Prelats in forbidding Scriptures and Marginall Notes and thus fearing there may be somthing false they will heare nothing that 's true 5 By a compulsive power Some take the Civill power in to make peace reckoning a compulsive Vniformitie for Vnity Peace and Truth This is one way to deale with the body indeed but not with the soul to mind the outward man but not the inward This way of Civilly Ecclesiasticall peace is the Antichristian designe who having got the Kings of the Nations to give their strength and power and Kingdome unto them supplies that from the world which they want from the Word making the spirituall power of Iesus Christ to receive its honour life efficacie power from the power of men This way of peace is such as hath by experience troubled Nations and troubled it self at length too and broken it self against that way which it aimed to breake For whosoever fals upon this stone shall be broken and on whomsoever it shall fall it shall breake them to powder THE OPINIONS OF THESE TIMES With the Exceptions each Opinion may be charged withall being the great Argument for Love Meeknesse and Forbearance one to another or of Peace and Reconciliation till the Lord reveale more Presbyterie So called What it is and what they hold THe Presbyterie is set up by an alleadged Patern of the Eldership and Presbyterie of the Apostles and Elders in the first Churches of the Gospell strengthened by such Scriptures as are in the margin and by allusion to the Jewish Government and to appeals in Nature Their Churches are Parochial or Parishes as they are divided at first by the Romish Prelates and the Statute-Laws of the State Which Parishes and Congregations are made up of such Beleevers as were made Christians first by Baptisme in Infancie and not by the Word And all the Parishes or Congregations are under them as they are a Classicall Provinciall and Nationall Presbyterie And over those Parishes they doe exercise all Church-power and Government ‖ which may be called The power of the Keyes Exceptions 1. THe Apostolicall and Primitive Eldership were not so authoritative over their Congregations as these pretend nor so compulsive or forcing their respective Congregations 2. The Apostolicall Eldership and Presbyterie were more ‖ infallible
sin My proofe is this in behalfe of your Argument That conscience which is not wholly consenting is not fully perswaded But such is the State or Publike conscience viz. not fully consenting at this time Therefore the State-conscience is not fully perswaded Note Because some are more for it some are lesse for it I prove the State-conscience not fully consenting That conscience which hath not Scripture to secure it cannot be fully consenting or perswaded But such is the Publike conscience at this time concerning this present Government Therefore the Publike or State-conscience cannot be so fully consenting or perswaded Note Because they which cannot call it a Government by Divine Right are not secured concerning it by the Word and then by conscience are not fully consenting nor perswaded Master Ley's Resolution pag 9 10. If we take his reason to stand immediately against obedience and so consequently against commands c. It is more formall but still as feeble Repugnant to Religion and reason against former Protestations and the Covenant for some will alwaies scruple c. Reply Some of this might have been spared Let us have as much reason and as little reviling as may be Your reason is because then neither Protestations nor Covenant of State can be administred for some will alwaies scruple So as here is the force of your reason Because Protestations and Covenants in the State are put upon a people unwilling and malignant therefore Government should First a truth of Government and the establishment of it is but indirectly unsutably and disproportionably proved from Oaths and Covenants Indeed under the Old Testament and in the State of Israel Covenants were more agreeable to the way of that Church they were part of the Worship then and it was a way of obligation and engagement fitted more to the Policie of that Nation They were a People or Nation of themselves singled out from the world and marked by a carnall Ordinance And their Discipline was fitted to the whole Nation by God himselfe and so Covenants c. gathered them up from the world into their Nationall way of Worship c. But now the way of Church and Worship changing and the Laws of such kind of externall Pedagogie ceasing and a more inward and spirituall Law comming in you might have done well â—re you took things thus for granted to cleere the way of Covenants under the Gospell and not to prove one probable thing by another Those of your way are against a little Church Covenant and why not a great one For the imposing of Protestations now c. It is not my work here to discusse nor am I against any way of State-security that may consist with â—ound Prudence and for the spirituall part of them wherein men covenant in the things of God let every one be fully perswaded in his own mind That is the Apostle's rule I am sure what ever any say to the contrary and will stand In civill things I would have any way or designe of assurance that is fairly and justly Politick in spirituell things only such waies of assurance as are Gospell-waies and may sure with the New Testament-beleevers And now you are to prove more then perhaps you thought on that is to cleare a Church-covenant which many of your Way are against for though you condemne it in some Churches not of your Way yet a Nationall Church-covenant you plead for And how can this be both true and false that a great Church-covenant is lawfull and a little one unlawfull A Nationall Church-covenant lawfull and a Particular or Congregationall Church-covenant unlawfull This only by the way To shew you how one may mistake his way in a mist you were proving a Government and now you are engaged to prove Church covenants which you are both for and against And yet after all this of Protestations and Covenants there is no faire proofe of establishing a Government or imposing it in your way and designe from these It is not safe going to the State for a Paterne for the Church If the State in certain seasons of unfaithfulnesse and unsettlement contrive any way of security and assurance necessity is often a law maker in States yet not so in the Church will you from hence argue for a liberty in the Church Will you make necessity your Gospell your Law-giver there Necessity is sometimes a suspender of laws in the Gospell but no law-maker Master Ley's Resolution pag. 10. But I answer I wonder an ingenuous man as M. Saltmarsh is should make such an Objection Reply These are good words and I hope you shall have no worse then you bring Yet we must speak truth Master Ley's Resolution page 10. I answer The Church government is such as in the chiefe parts of it is from the Word Reply You grant then that the Government is but in some parts warrantable by the Word So was Episcopacie and Prelacy in some parts of it There is not any false Worship or Way but it hath some parts of truth in it The great Image had a head of gold c. The Mystery of iniquity sits in the Temple of God c. The Whore of Babilon sits in Skarlet decked with gold and precious stones and Pearles Truth must be all one and the same and homogeneal not in parts The Jews had not the Law but then their own traditions mingled There is one Lord one Faith not two Master Ley's Resolution page 10. Things of lesser moment in it though they are not directly from Scripture yet not repugnant they are of Prudence and agreeable to the best Reformed Churches Reply But Why of lesser moment All things are of moment of spirituals Indeed if they be such as be not the Gospel s they are then as you say of lesser moment and yet of moment too in another sense for Traditions of men make void the Commandements of God Nor are the grounds of Prudence any Scripture-grounds to rule by Prudence hath let in more Will-worship then any thing Prelacy had its Prudence for every New additionall in Worship and Government And if Presbytery take Prudence too let the Reader judge what may follow And what is that Not directly from Scripture yet not repugnant Surely Christ's rule is not such he opposes any Tradition to the Commandements of God Not directly from Scripture is repugnant to Scripture Such is the onenesse entirenesse indivisibility and essentiality of the Truth He that is not with me is against me And for the Reformed Churches as a rule that is to set the Sun by the Dyall and not the Dyall by the Sun We must set the Churches by the Word and not Church by Church and the Word by the Church Master Ley's Resolution page 10. 11. Because the practice of the Government belongs not to the peoples part but to the Ministers and Elders Because so far as concerns the peoples compliance they are to be instructed before they yeeld submission Because if any
sincerely executed The Romans had a very moral people under their Yoke when their laws were well executed Prelacy and Bishops had a Government which was Antichristian yet by an exact execution could chastise the outward man in some measure For your other reason That my Texts make against not only the suspending for a time but for ever I answer It is true Principles and circumstances considered For if neither the Government be Christs nor the people Nationally a Church when can you settle it And if there be no Gospell-promises that people shall fall in so nationally as the Iews did excepting some that concerne the world in general as Isai 49. 22. then how or when will you settle or what will you settle or upon whom And for the Texts you commend to me for preaching 1 Thes 5. 12. c. they all concern peoples obedience to their Elders and Rulers they are very materiall and pertinent to that And I shall in requitall commend some other backe to you as those of not lording it over the Heritage Against preeminence as helpers of your faith of service and ministery We are your servants we entreat you and beseech you not seeking our own things not for filthy lusre but of a ready mind c. We must consider Scripture must be taken in the wholenesse and entirenesse of it and we must not only mind people of their obedience but Elders and Ministers of their service duty Ministery humility self-deniall c. And thus in a just distribution deale out both to Ministers and people their measure Master Ley's Resolution page 12. Strange that he should plead for a delay in establishing of Reformation from the Covenant wherein we are bound to endeavour it sincerely really c. and more strange under the title of Popery too which in the next Article of Popery is disavowed Reply Not so strange as you make it for we are covenanted to endeavour a setting up the Government not a Government that is as it is expounded in the Article the Government or Reformation according to the Word of God c. not a Government or Reformation of any other sort So as I plead for a delay only in setting up a Discipline not the Discipline or more plainly that the Discipline be such that the covenanters may not violate that Article wherein they are bound to do every thing according to the Word and so prove unfaithfull in their covenant while they are most zealous for it There was such a kind of mistake in the Jews who would have stoned the Lord of the Sabbath in zeale to the Sabbath and following after righteousnesse yet did not attain to the righteousnesse of God And for the title of Popery which I put upon such obedience which you say cannot be because discovered in the next Article of the Covenant I answer The Popery is not in the covenant but in the Interpretations upon it and the mistaken practice of it which is the thing I only aver O! How soon may we be Popish under a Covenant against it What are the maintenance of Ministers by Tythes Jewish and Popish undeniably and yet no notice of this at all I had as great a Tythe once as another but I could not hold it so neither by Covenant nor Gospell Nor do I taxe the Parliament but those who are betrusted to commend Spirituall grievances to their Senate c. Brethren let us lay down these grievances Countries and Famalies are burdened Let not the Ministers have their hooks abroad in every thing of the peoples like Elies sons We know the Kingdoms of Scotland and the Netherlands take their Tythes to maintain their wars and will not let their preachers live by decimation bur by pension And methinks you that professe ingenuity should be so candid to distinguish where you see I distinguish and not to force on constructions of this nature which neither any thing of mine nor the Covenant will beare And for what you say concerning the composers and penners of the Covenant I am willingly silent I would not aggravate any thing against a Brother as you are which might be only a failing in your Pen. Master Ley's Resolution pag. 12 13. For that he saith of peoples implicite obedience c. of their being devoted to any thing the State sets up by Statutes cannot be for these reasons Because as in the former Reason Instruction must go before Because for that of their being devoted it makes against setting up Doctrine as well as Discipline and Authority of Parliament as well as Authority of Ministery They not Ministers make Statutes Reply To your first That instructions must go before I have answered to this before as you expounded it before One word more will suffice What kind of instruction is it you mean but authoritative compulsive instruction such as the Schoolmasters even your own instance and here most pertinent who teaches and whips every one of those that will not understand as well as he Something an unreasonable way of correction in matters of pure beleefe and conscience and best amongst boys as your instance implies Men of Scripture-consciences cannot beare it And for that you say it makes against Doctrine as well as Discipline Yea in some sort it is granted for neither Doctrine nor Discipline ought to be forced but in a Gospell-way And for that you say it makes against the Parliament because they make Statutes I answer Nothing makes against a Legislative power which reduces it to ruder and clearer and free Principles And thus the Parliament very justly argues in all their Remonstrances touching the King while they go about to reduce him to his just Rights from those exorbitances he suffers himselfe to be brought into For instance He that wishes the Parliament might only proceed in a way not grieving the Spirit nor hazzarding the persecution or Truth nor oppressing any Gospell-principle to which they are covenanted not keeping on in any sin of former Parliaments of severe imposing in matters of Religion so controvertible Is not he I say that so wishes a better friend to Parliaments Laws and Statutes then those of contrary Principles Nay I must professe that to me that very one Article of Reforming to the Word of God most providentially inserted is an Article of Caution both against imposing and punishing lest through want of a cleare discerning we be found violaters of that we covenant to maintain and ought to be sadly considered by all Master Ley's Resolution page 12 13. His second reason of experience That the speedy setling c. takes little root but in the outward man c. concluding pathetically Why do not daies speak and multitude of years teach knowledge In answer 1. That the fault was not in over-speedy setling but in the choyce of a wrong Government 2. Because the Doctrine goeth on with Discipline and so the power of the Word may go deep into the conscience as a Schoolmaster who teaches and corrects 3.