〈…〉 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
cheiftayns onely in the power of Christ as the Apostles successours excluding himselfe and the rest of his rank that he may advance the throne of Antichrist in his cheife ministers the Lord Archbishops Bishops whose chayre he thus stoutly laboures to vphold with both shoulders Secondly I deny that eyther the Evangelists such as were Timothy and Titus succeeded the Apostles in their office or that any other ministers in the Church did or do succeed eyther the Apostles or Evangelists as they were such as we speak They were extraordinary officers in the first plaÌ„ting of the faith amongst the gentiles theyr qualifications extraordinary and miraculous as the gift of tongues and the like and so theyr offices were determined in theyr persons And yet I deny not but the true Ministers of the gospell the Bishops or Elders in theyr particular Churches do succeed the Apostles though not in office yet in theyr ordinary ministration of the word sacraments censures prayer ordination all other ordinances of the Church whatsoever according to the order Christ hath left but that the Apostles and Evangelists have by any order committed theyr power or any part of it to any such Cheif Ministers or rather Lords yea spiritual tyraÌ„ts as the Lordbishops Archbishops in Engl. are that I deny withall my power There are no such cheifteyns in the Church of Christ or communion of saynts The Apostles did by the Churches free choyce ordeyn in every particular assembly a company of Elders or Bishops whome they charged with the particular flockes in and to which they were to minister the holy things of God and none other Act. 14. 23. and 20. 17. 28. 1 Tim. 3. 1. 2. 4. Tit. 1. 5. 1 Pet. 5. â— 2. Much lesse are the great Antichrists of Rome the Popes and Cardinalles the Apostles and Evangelists successours in any right by the word of God or capable in that theyr estate of Apostolicall or other ministeriall power of Christ as you Mr B. will make them of which your Popish errour more in place Now for the scriptures cited they serve well to prove that which no man denyes in which kynd of disputing Mr B. hath a speciall faculty The scriptures are 1 Tim. 1. 3. and 3. 14. 15. and 5. 21. 22. Tit. â— 5. which places prove thus much in effect that Timothy was to see false doctrine suppressed in Ephesus that men gifted according to the word of God should be choseÌ„ into the office of Bishops and Deacons that he should deale vnpartially in all things that he should not partake in the sinns of other men by laying hands suddaynly vpon any that Titus was left in Crete to redresse things amisse and to ordayne Elders in the Churches And what followes vpon this I know well what Mr B. infers namely that the cheif Ministers alone in the Churches whether pure or impure by which latter he meanes the Church of Rome as he expounds himself pag. 145. that is that Popes Cardinalls Archbishops Bishops Suffraganes Chauncelours and the rest of the triumphant Clergy and they alone should medle with supressing errour rectifying things amisse calling and ordayning ministers and that all others are absolutely inhibited any medling with these things Well to let passe your fearefull retyring Mr B. into the battered bulwarks of the Papists for succour and the discharging of your selfe and all the inferiour ministery that these cheif ministers might reigne alone the scriptures do not debarâ—e the members of the Church from medling in those things in their place and order nor impropriate them to the cheife Lords as is pretended onely they declare that the officers are to do theyr own duetyes in those businesses and to put the brethren in remembrance of theyrs to commaund teach and speak those things exhorting rebuking with all authority by the word of God as occasion serves 1 Tim. 4. 6. 11. Tit. 2. 15. And if Mr B. will conclude any thing for his purpose by the scriptures he alledgeth he must take this position for graunted that whatsoever Paul wrytes to Timothy or Titus touching the Church about that onely they theyr successours the cheif ministers are to medle which presumpteous affirmation is sufficiently refuted by the very recitall of it He that reads over the Epistles but with a pece of an ey may see the contrary There is no greater force in this collection then in that Mar. 13. 34. bycause the porter is to watch therefore he alone and not the rest also which is coÌ„trary to the expresse words immediatly following where all are coÌ„maunded to watch v. 37. And thus the conclusion which Mr B. would make that the place 1 Cor. 5. though generally spoken must be vnderstood of the cheife officers of the Church is without prâ—mises It must be vnderstood as it is spoken though both he the Pope say nay to it and of the meaning of it we shall speak hereafter at large when we come to handle the censures of the Church as also of your pretended proof 2 Cor. 2. 6. Onely I must needs take knowledge of that part of the truth which Mr B. being set vpon the rack of his conscience in reading this 1 Cor. 5. is compelled to confesse and that is that from v. 5. â—â— may be gathered for the body of the Church that the offender must be delivered to Satan with their knowledge publiquely when they meet together in the open assembly Towching which his graunt I observe these three particulars First it overthrowes the practise in the Church of England where the offender is excommunicated by the Chauncelour or Officiall it may be fourty miles off from the body of the congregation whereof he is a member and that most what without the presence of any one of the body yea or their privity eyther till such tymes as eyther the Parish Preist or Church dore signify the matter vnto them 2. If the officers must judge and excommunicate in the open assembly then can they alone in no sense be the Church For the Church is nothing but the assembly And it is all one to say the officers in the assembly are the Church as to say the officers in the assembly are the assembly which is a senseles affirmation And if the Officers alone be the Church to which complaint is to be made and which is to reprove the offender and judge him they must do it in a distinct assembly from the body and not in the assembly compounded necessarily of the officers and the body as your Courtkeepers doe in their Consistories the Elders in the reformed Churches in their private Chambers 3. It is most vntrue which you say that no more can be gathered from this place but that excommunication was performed in the presence of the body of the Church and with their knowledge being gathered together it is apparent that they which were gathered together were by the power of Christ to deliver to Satan the offender to purge out the
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
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
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
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
old leven to iudge and to put out from among themselves that wicked fornicatour v. 5. 6. 7. 12. 13. of which more hereafter And so I come to the 4. Reason against Popularity as you term â—t but in truth against Christian liberty which is grounded vpoÌ„ Ephe. 4. 11. 12. Your words are these It is most apparant that Christ ascending vp gave gifts for preaching administration of sacraments and government vnto some sorts of men who 〈…〉 e set out there and plainly distinguished from the other saynts the body of the Church Against this hitherto I take no great exceptioÌ„ though the Apostles meaning may be better layd down thus that Christ Iesus the King and Lord of his Church hath set in it certaine sorts and orders of officers rightly fitted and furnished with graces for the reparation of the saynts and aedification of his body to the worlds end This we affirme as lowd as you and with more comfort And therfore after I have observed in a few wordes how little this scripture serves for your present purpose I will in as few more make it appeare how directly it serves against you in many other mayn matters and that you in bringing it have onely lighted a candle whereby to discover your own nakednes This then is that which you would conclude that bycause Christ hath given power and charge to the sorts of ministers here set downe for the reparation of the saynts and aedification of the body that therefore no brethren out of office may medle with the reparation and aedification of the Saynts or Church I do acknowledge that onely Apostles Prophets c. by office and as works of their Ministery are to look to the reparation and aedification of the body but that the brethren out of office are discharged of those duâ—ties I deny any more then the rest of the servants were of watching though out of office bycause the Porter alone was by office to watch Mark 13. 34 37. Yea look what is layd vpon the officers in this place after a more speciall manner by vertue of their office that also is layd vpon the rest of the brethren els where in the same words to be performed in their places as a duty of love for which they have not onely liberty but charge from the Lord. The officers are here charged with the reparation or knitting together of the saynts the same duty in the same words is imposed vpon every brother spirituall and I hope you the Ministers will not be the onely spirituall men in the Church Secondly the officers are here given to aedifie the body the same duety in the same termes is layd vpon every one of the brethren in their places 1 Thes. 5. 11. and vnto these few might be added an hundred places of the same nature Why then should the Ministers of the Lord or any other for their sake envy vnto the Lords people eyther their graces or liberty or thus arrogate all vnto theÌ„selves as though all knowledge were treasured vp in their breasts all power given into their handes as though no drop of grace for aedificatioÌ„ or comfort of the Church could fall from els where then from their lips Moses in the place of numbers before named wisht that all the Lords people were Prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit vpon them and Paul gives liberty to the whol Church and to all in it women excepted ver 34. to prophesie one by one for the instruction edification and comfort of all but with Mr B and his Church I perceive neyther Moses prayer nor Pauls graunt nor Gods spirit must be avayleable or find acceptance for aedification by any save the Ministers The subjects of Kings vse to complayn much of Monopolyes but the subjects of the Lord Iesus have greater cause of complaint that he himself his power presence and graces wherewith he honoureth all his saynts are thus monopolized and ingrossed The similitude which here you borrow froÌ„ the body of man wherein you say the special members have their speciall vertues in themselves given of God and not bestowed vpon them by the body as the eyes to see the tongue to speak c. for the confirmation of the power of the Lord Iesus or liberty to teach admonish and censure in the hands of the officers alone is faulty in both parts of it and conteynes in it sundry errours both theologicall and phylosophicall And first I do here most justly except against your shuffling together and confounding of the personall gifts graces and vertues of the Ministers and their ministeriall power or office The first in deed they have from Christ and not from or by the Church at all as their knowledge zeale vtterance wisdome holynes and the like with which the Church findes them furnished so appoints them vnder Christ to vse these gifts in office of Ministery whereof out of office they have erst given knowledge this power or appointment which they have from or by the Church thus to vsâ— these gifts is another thing then their personall gifts and qualifications themselves which you Mr B. do very fraudulently confound Secondly it is ignorantly affirmed that God enduâ—s certayn members of the body with speciall vertues and properties as thâ—â—y with seing and the like that they have thes properties not from the body but from God For first the very vertue or faculty of seing is not in the ey but in the soul which vseth the ey onely for the instrument of seing so other parts in their kind Oculus non videâ— sed anima per oculiâ—â— And that not immediately neyther but with the help of the spirits naturall vitall and animall diffused throughout the body which the soul vseth most immediately as the instruments of all life sense motion And so it comes to passe not onely in death where the soul and body are separated but in sundry diseases also of the body that the ey fayleth in seeing and so other members in their service Thirdly as the Elders of the Church I confesse may be compared to eyes in the body and the Deacons to hands in a respect so I deny the similitude to hold absolutely Similitudes as they say do not run vpon four feet to streyn them above that which is intended by the holy Ghost in vsing them is a course full both of vanity and errour The Deacons are the handes of the Church for the distribution of her bodily things to them that need yet I trow you would not have the Church suffer the poore to starve where the Deacons are wanting to minister or fayling in their ministration so are the Elders the eyes mouth of the Church for her government and ministration of spirituall things yet must not the Church perish spiritually for their want or negligence no the Lord is more mercifull to his people then so and doth nor ty them so short in