tribe of thine inheritance and mount Sion wherein thou hast dwelt Lift up thy feet that thou maist utterly destroy every enemy which hath done evill in thy Sanctuary Thine adversaries roare in the middest of thy Congregations and set up their Banners for tokens He that hewed timber afore out of the thick trees was known to bring it to an excellent worke But now they breake down all the carved worke thereof with axes and hammers All which being spoken by a man after Gods own heart is of current weight and without exception I may therefore turn againe now to follow what is next in the Dialogue And that which is next is about the order prescribed by the Church in the Visitation of the sick in which because you have some exceptions the same with what we have heard from you already in certain other passages shall not here be again repeated DIALOGUE Gent. What form of Prayer doth the Service-book prescribe for sicke persons Min. It prescribeth no form to be used in the Church Gent. What then Min. The Minister must go to their houses and salute them as the Masse-Priest doth saying Peace be to this house and to all that dwell in it and when he is come where the sick person is he must kneele kc. ANSWER And why I pray doe you quarrell with this Christ taught his Disciples so to salute the house into which they entred Math 10.12,13 and Luk. 10.5,6,7 And may not the Ministers since those times doe the like but be blamed for their labours You fight with your own shaddow and quarrell without a cause as is most apparent There be six duties of charity of which our Saviour will speak at the latter day and to come and visite the fick is one of them Math. 25.35,36 Nor is it in the Minister but even a work also of his office And therefore being sent for he commeth to pray with instruct comfort and strengthen the sick party For Is any man sick among you let him call for the Elders of the Church and let them pray over him Jam. 5.14 This order then is not without a scripture rule But you have a further quarrell and that 's against our absolving the sick person from all his sinnes in the name of the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost Why man if it be done in the name of the blessed Trinity it is not by any primary or originall power that is in our selves For the Bishops and Pastours of the Church doe not forgive sinne by any absolute power of their own for so only Christ their Master forgiveth sinnes but ministerially as the servants of Christ and stewards to whose fidelity their Lord and Master hath committed his Keyes If you aske me how Christ came by this power seeing none can forgive sinnes but God I answer first that he had it by Commission from God it was a power given him by his Father and so we reade in Joh. 20.21 Secondly he had it through the Union of the God-head and Manhood into one person For though it be true that as he was God he had it of himselfe yet not so as he was Man For as he was Man he had it by virtue of the Union from God Now this he transfers further Peter had a promise that the Keyes of the Kingdome of Heaven should be given but this promise was not accomplished untill afterwards not untill the day of Christs Resurrection whereupon we reade in as plain words as may be That the same day at night which was the first day of the weeke and when the doores were shut where the Disciples were assembled for feare of the Jews came Jesus and stood in the midst and said unto them Peace be unto you And when he had so said he shewed unto them his hands and his sides Then were the Disciples glad when they had seen the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again Peace be unto you As my Father sent me so send I you And when he had said that he breathed on them and said unto them receive the holy Ghost Whosoevers sinnes yee remit they are remetted unto them and whosoevers sâ—nnes ye retaine they are retained Joh. 20.19,20,21,22,23 When this promise was made to Peter although spoken to him in particular yet not with an intent to invest him solely in the thing promised as even the sequel and accomplishment thereof fully proveth Howbeit because he by his Confession gave answere for the rest and was the speaker for them when Christ said But whom say ye that I am therefore doth Christ direct his speech to him againe in particular who as he spake for them all so he is promised the Keyes in the behalfe of them all See Mat. 16.15,16,17.18,19 This then sheweth that S Peter was indued with no more power then the rest of the Apostles and therefore the Pope can claime no more then another Bishop and in that regard our Ordination is lawfull and right valid and firme although we goe not over to Rome to fetch it For so long as we have Bishops of our owne consecrated and installed into their Office as Bishops alwayes have been there is no doubt or scruple to be made Knowing therefore that when we take Ordination we also receive an holy and Ghostly authorioy not only in having the word of Reconciliation and dispensation of the Sacraments committed unto us but also of binding and loosing or of remitting and retaining sinnes we may not suffer our Church to be dâ—famed nor the Ministers thereof to be accounted Antichristian For hath our Saviour said Whose sinnes yee remit they are remitted and whose sinnes yee retain they are retained and shall any mortall man deny it His words are not Whose sinnes yee signifie to be remitted but Whose sinnes yee remit which the Author of the Practice of Piety no Papist sure hath well observed Nor is the same but granted by a distinction put between declare and pronounce For to declare is chiefly to shew Gods goodnesse towards penitent sinners which every good Christian may doe when he sees occasion for the comfort of his brother according to the truth of Gods gratious promises but to pronounce is to give sentence as a Judge in the name of him who hath the authority primarily in himselfe You speak of the key of Knowledge and explaine it well enough but that is not the sole key of binding and loosing and therefore not a thing which comes fully home to the purpose Whensoever therefore any sick person or burthened sinner shall unbosome himselfe to one of Gods ministers and shall heare him pronounce thus By the authority which Christ hath committed to me I doe absolve thee from all thy sinnes in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost then may the said Sinner rest assured that his sinnes are forgiven him and that God doth ratifie in Heaven what his Priest pronounceth on Earth The like may be said of one who for the present sees
A CONFVTATION OF M. Lewes Hewes HIS DIALOGVE OR AN ANSWER to a DIALOGVE or Conference betweene a Country Gentleman and a Minister of Gods Word about the Booke of COMMON PRAYER Set forth for the Satisfying of those who clamour against the said Booke and maliciously revile them that are serious in the use thereof Whereunto is annexed a Satisfactory Discourse concerning EPISCOPACY and the SVRPLISSE Published by Authority LONDON Printed for I. M. at the George in Fleestreet neere Saint Dunstans Church 1641. M. LEWES HEWES His DIALOGVE ANSVVERED Or An Answer to a Dialogue or Conference betweene a Country Gentleman and a Minister of Gods Word about the Booke of COMMON PRAYER Set forth for the Satisfying of those who clamour against the said Booke and maliciously revile them that are serious in the use thereof Whereunto is annexed a Satisfactory Discourse concerning EPISCOPACY and the SVRPLISSE Published by Authority LONDON Printed for I. M. at the George in Fleestreet neere Saint Dunstans Church 1641. AN ANSWER TO A Dialogue or Conference BETWEENE A Countrey GENTLEMAN AND A MINISTER of GODS Word About the Book of Common PRAYER The DIALOGUE Gent. I Am very glad that I have met with you and did long to speake with you that you might satisfie mee in some things concerning the Booke of Common Prayer therefore I pray you tell mee truly as I hope you will is there any thing in it contrary to Gods Word Min. Yes verily it is full of Popish errours and doth appoint horrible blasphemies and lying fables to bee read to the people in stead of Gods holy Word and hath caused the Church of England to groane under the abominations of the Church of Rome even from the infancie of it in Queene Elizabeths time untill this houre and now there is great hope that a time of refreshing and deliverance is at hand through the blessing of God on this Parliament The ANSVVER If you were not as great a friend to the Brownists as you are an enemie to the Papists you would not thus cast dust in the face of the Church of England and blemish the pietie of those who notwithstanding they died in defence of the truth against Poperie did neverthelesse embrace the Booke of Common Prayer using it to their great comfort commending it to others and sometimes hugging it even in the very flames as in Master Foxes Acts and Monuments may be seene DIALOGUE Gent. I never heard any blasphemy or lying fable read in the Church Minist I thinke so because it may be that you were never in the Church on those dayes wherein they are appointed to bee read Gent. Upon what dayes are they appointed to be read Minist On the fourth of October in the forenoone it appointeth an horrible blasphemy to be read for the first Lesson out of the 12. of Tobie and the 9. verse where it is written that Almes doe save from Death and purge away all sinne which is a maine ground of Poperie and an horrible blasphemie against Christ and his blood that clenseth us from all sin 1 Ioh. 1.7 Also in the 15. verse of that Chapter it is written that there are seven Angels that doe present our prayers which is another horrible blasphemy against Christ who onely doth present our prayers Rev. 8.3,4 Gent. These are horrible blasphemies indeed ANSVVER I hope if you be a Minister as you say you are you cannot but know that those Bookes which are not in the number of the Canonicall Bookes of Scripture are not appointed to be read as the other are For our Church though it be otherwise in the Church of Rome doth not apply them to establish any doctrine as in her sixth Article of Religion she hath proclaimed They are not allowed to thwart any place of holy Scripture but at the best to informe manners and not to confirme faith For though they be in many things clear and correspondent to the holy Scriptures yet this makes them not to be of the same Canonicall authoritie All that S. Hierom saith is this viz. that they be Canonici ad informandos mores non ad confirmandam fidem And S. Austin thus Aug. De Civit. Dei lib. c. 23. Let us saith he omit the Scriptures that are called Apocripha because the old Fathers of whom we had the Scriptures knew not the authors of those workes wherein though there be some trâ—ths yet their multitude of falshoods makes them of no Canonicall Authoritie where by saying Let us omit the Scriptures that are called Apocripha he meanes that they should not bee used for the proving of any Doctrine which cannot bee proved out of the other Scriptures which are the undoubted Word of God Nor bee they but of use likewise for matter of Storie especilly the Bookes of the Machabees which neverthelesse are not to teach a man either to sacrifice for the dead or to kill himselfe The direction therefore which King Iames gave the Clergy in his Conference with them at Hampton Court is altogether a full answer namely that wherein there was any errour hee would not have them read at all wâ— h saying of his must needs be enough to stop this quarrellers mouth and tell him that he makes a stirre without a cause not caring to disturbe the peace of his holy mother which how he can be able to answer let him judge by that which Christ hath charged him with in Cantic 2.7 And thus both by the Articles of our Church the determination of Fathers and the direction of his late Majestie of blessed memorie all moderate and quiet spirits may bee satisfied concerning these bookes Apocrypha both for their gonerall and particular DIALOGUE Gent. I pray you let me heare some of the Fables that are in it Min. On the fourth of October in the afternoone it appointeth a lying fable to be read out of the 11 of Tobie where it is written that Tobie going to the doore to meet his sonne Tobias comming from Rages did stumble and that his sonne ran unto him and laid the gall of a fish to his eyes and that the whitenesse did scale off and hee restored to his sight ANSWER To thinke that this is therefore fabulous because the gall of a fish is said to be used as a medicine for the eyes is more than a wise man will be forward to affirme Vid Llod's Treasury of health Phisitians write that dimb sighted eyes are cured by the gall of a Partridg so also by the gall of a Turtle-dove I have likewise read that the gall of a Cocke mixt with the juyce of Selandine and hony being annointed on the eyes restoreth sight The gall of a Gripe or Ramme is also used in medicine for the same purpose And if the galls of these creatures be thus precious for the eyes why may not the like vertue be in the gall of some fish I have read it of the Tench that his slime is for some things as medicinable as a salve whereupon
be understood of those who be Adulti or men grown who have lost and forfeited their Baptismall Regeneration by actuall grosse sinnes not repented off yeelded unto without any reluctancy or striving against the apprehension of what they see in the world as soon as they come to knowledge leading them into a wrong habit both of desiring and doing wherby they walk not like children of the light who must be therefore spoken unto as to men unregenerate because a new kinde of regeneration at least a new degree thereof must be wrought in them by the Ministery of the word which by the Law brings them to repentance and by the Gospel to Faith in Christ these graces being further fortified by the second Sacrament which upon due examination of themselves they are bound to receive Dicitur quidam à nonnullis concedendam non esse◠Regenerationem nisi per verbum quod est semen Dei Petrus quippe ait priori Epist cap. 1. nos esse renatos baudquaquam semine corruptibili sed incorruptibili quod est sermo Dei Caeterum ad id respondemus de adult is hominibus id esse intelligendum De infantibus autem non it a rem se habere nisi velimus Hebraeorum filios melioris facere sortis quam Christianorum as Peter Martyr speaketh See Peter Mar in his common Places pag. 838. That is It is said indeed by some that regeneration is not to be granted but by the Word which is the seed of God because Peter saith in the first Epist chapter 1. That we are born againe in no wise by corruptible seed but by incorruptible which is the word of God But to that we answer That it is to be understood of men grown but concerning Infants the case is otherwise except we would make the children of the Hebrews of a better condition then the Children of Christians So then albeit we know this Sacrament of Baptisme to be effectuall to the regeneration of Infants yet are we not to grant Baptismall grace in it self sufficient to the salvation of men grown Mr. Tho. Bedf. in Sermon on Rom. 6,7 pag. 58. It is fitly therefore said by a learned Preacher to be available for the state of infancy to them a state of salvation as the Church teacheth them to stile it and to blesse God for it But afterwards when they become actuall sinners they must become actuall penitents And as they have contracted a new guilt so they must seek for a new grace otherwise the first will be found insufficient to salvation Thus farre that author And so you see how little you have gotten by your restriction of regeneration to the word alone For though you were so peremptory in your assertion concerning it as that you could say The truth is That the Children of God doe receive the Spirit of God to regenerate them not by sprinkling of water in baptisme but by bearing the Gospel Preached yet the truth is that Truth is nothing neer you for you affirme falsly and will by degrees be found still to be full of so many malicious slanders absurdities lies and errors as will make Orthodox and quiet men cry out that you are not so much tedious as troublesome both to the Church and State as be also the rest of your crew which now adayes do use to shew their heads and faces with such audacious boldnesse as makes it be admired that such spirits should be amongst us and be the first forsooth for reformation But I pray God work all for the best and settle us so in peace that Truth Unity and Goncord may flourish amongst us and seeing oh Lord the foolish ones do reproach thee daily do thou arise and maintain thine own cause in spight of all that shall oppose it DIALOGUE Gent. What do they say of the Catechisme in the Service-book Min. They say it is full of Popish errors as first in the Rubrick before the Catechisme it is written that Children baptized have all things necessary to salvation and are undoubtedly saved The truth is that they have no knowlede of sinne nor of the wrath and curse of God due to sinne nor of Christ nor of the Articles of the Christian Faith and therefore have neither Faith nor Repentance without which none can be saved It is true that Infants born of the Elect are undoubtedly saved by vertue of Gods everlasting Covenant of grace so many as are of the number of the Elect I say so many as are of the number of the Elect because many of the Elect that are now Saints in Heaven have brought forth children that are Reprobates and damned soules in Hell For Adam had Cain as well as Abel and Abraham had Ishmaell as well as Isaac and Isaac had Esau whom God hated as well as Jacob whom God loved ANSWER Well and what of all this Are not Infants baptized because they are born in originall sin and is not originall sin washt away in baptisme And if so then who will not say that a childe baptized is undoubtedly saved For though the root of corruption doth still remain yet the guilt is pardened and so such a childe dying before it hath procured a new guilt through the fructification of the branches which spring from the foresaid root is by virtue of holy baptisme so washed as it may be saved For baptisme is not a meer naked signe or badge of Christianity but an ordinary and efficatious means of Regeneration as I have already proved out of plain texts of holy Scripture And where as you come in again according to your wonted manner with The truth is that they have no knowledge of sinne nor of the wrath and curse of God due to sinne nor of Christ nor of the Articles of the Christian Faith and therefore have neither faith nor repentance without which none can be saved it is further answered in the words of one well able to satisfie See M. T. Bedf. Treat of the Sacr. pag. 192. viz. That in the Baptisme of Infants the spirit worketh not as a morall agent to proffer grace to the will but as a naturall or rather supernaturall Agent to work it in the will to put grace into the heart conferring upon them seminall and initiall grace which doth not presuppose Faith but is in it selfe the seed of Faith To parents converted Baptisme conveyed as did Circumcision to Abraham a superaddition of further grace to what they had extraordinarily received But to their Children Baptisme conveyed as did Circumcision to Isaac the first seeds of grace and regeneration Adde this that the Faith of the Parent is sufficient to qualifie the child for Baptisme yea for the grace of Baptisme the childe I say in whom as yet corruption of nature being scant active calleth for no act of personall grace to remove the barre of guilt polluted he is but by the act of another not by consent of his own therefore the faith of the Parent sufficeth to procure for