I humbly conceive that Gods work which is also your work in settling religion is half done to your hands For all jurisdiction now streaming from one jurisdiction even from that of the Soveraign Magistrate that religion cannot chuse but be well settled which retaining soundnesse in doctrine and holinesse in life is harboured under such a church-government as hath no clashing with that of the Magistrate Such as I humbly conceive may be established by setting up Overseers and Bishops over Ministers and Churches with whom if the right of private Churches can but stand be kept inviolable as no doubt but it may no government can be imagined more preserving conformity in doctrine and discipline besides banishing all jurisdiction which steps between magistracy the inward jurisdiction of the spirit of God in the word over mens minds hearts and thereby making all the church-judicatory power more naturally flowing from and depending upon the Magistrate and easing him by this compendious way of inspection by a few good mens eyes who may have a particular oversight of the affairs of the Church And thus by such a tempered government the four parties namely the Episcopall the Erastian the brethren of the Presbytery and of the Congregationall way will have a ground for reconciliation obtain with some condescension what every one of them desireth The Lord make you his instruments to make up all breaches among brethren and to bring to passe what hitherto hath been rather desired then effected 〈◊〉 settling the reformed Protestant religion in the purest way of reformation and commending your modell and labours therein to other Churches abroad that as the English Nation for purity of doctrine power of godliness hospitality and bowels of mercy toward strangers the persecuted members of Christ hath hitherto gone beyond all the world so you may be instruments to preserve those blessed priviledges by further promoting the interest of Iesus Christ particularly by clearing and removing the mistakes and misunderstandings from many of our brethren beyond the seas who by the suggestions and false informations of some enemies to the people of God in this Island or of friends to Popery superstition and formality are as ready to misapprehend the wayes of God amongst us as these are to slaunder them and to join with them in giving credit that with the English hierarchy and liturgy all religion and fear of God is banished out of this Nation where there is neither Episcopall nor Presbyteriall ordination no uniformity of discipline yea no discipline at all no catechizing enjoined or performed no Creed no Decalogue no Lords prayer rehearsed in Churches nor any Scripture publickly read to the people nor the Sacrament of the Eucharist constantly administred thus cloathing what truth there may be in all these with the cloak of rash and uncharitable construction as others do cloth it with the cloak of malice and lying I doubt not but that by your piety and wisdom as you will stop the mouth of slaunder so you will give no occasion to the Reformed and Godly to conceive amiss of your godly proceedings A TABLE Of the CONTENTS Chap. I. OF the nature of power authority That there are but two ways to bring men to yield obedience either by a coactive power or by perswading them by advice and counsell That there is no medium betwixt command and counsell which sheweth that Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction is a name without a thing not being exercised by either of them The division of power and of the subordination and coordination of powers Many errours and mistakes are discovered about subordination and coordination of powers That the power called Ecclesiasticall doth signifie nothing and such as it is is subordinate to that of the Magistrate Fol. 1 Chap. II. Of the nature and division of right divine and humane In vain do they call things of divine positive right which are acted by a naturall right such are many church acts Things that are of divine right may be said to be of humane right and on the contrary those things that are of humane right may be said to be of divine right which is an argument that by right power cannot be divided betwixt clergy and laity 25 Chap. III. The nature matter form and author of law The canons and sentences of Church-judicatories have no force of law except they receive it from the sanction of the magistrate The defects in the division of laws into Divine and humane into morall ceremoniall and politick and into Ecclesiasticall and civil 34 Chap. IV. Of the nature of judgement what judgement every private man hath what the magistrate and what ministers synods and church-judicatories They have no definitive judgement as Mr. Rutherfurd asserts but the magistrate hath the greatest share in definitive judgements which is proved by some passages of Mr. Rutherfurd and of Pareus and Rivetus Who is the judge of controversies 44 Chap. V. An examination of the 30. chapter of the confession of faith made by the Rever Assembly of Divines That in their Assembly they assumed no jurisdiction nor had any delegâ—…d to them from the magistrate and therefore were not to attribute it to their brethren That the ecclesiasticall jurisdiction is the same with the magistrates jurisdiction Mr. Gillespies reasons examined 53 Chap. VI. Whether Iesus Christ hath appointed a jurisdiction called ecclesiasticall as King and head of his Church Of the nature of the Kingdom of God In what sense the magistrate is head of the Church 65 Chap. VII The strength of Mr. Gillespies reasons to disprove that the magistrate is not chief governour of the church under Christ examined 76 Chap. VIII Mr. Gillespies manifest contradictions in stating the magistrates power in matters of Religion 83 Chap. IX The concessions of Mr. Gillespie which come to nothing by the multitude of his evasions and distinctions The vanity and nullity of his and other mens divisions and distinctions of power Martyr Musculus Gualterus alledged against the naming of a power ecclesiasticall when it is in truth the magistrates power The positions of Maccovius about the power of the magistrate in sacred things not hitherto answered by any 91 Chap. X. Whether the Lord Iesus Christ hath appointed as the Rever Assembly saith officers in government distinct from the magistrate The strength of the place 2 Chron. 19. by them alledged examined That the elders in that place are not church-officers An answer to Mr. Gillespies arguments endeavouring to prove that Iosaphat appointed two courts one ecclesiasticall another civil 108 Chap. XI A case propounded by Mr. Cesar Calandrin which he conceiveth to assert a double jurisdiction examined Of the two courts one of magistracy or externall the other of conscience or internall That ecclesiasticall jurisdiction must belong to one of them or to none 119 Chap. XII Of the nature of calling to the ministery Ministers are not called by men but by God by a succession not of ordination but providence The plea
and the civil and therefore no need to make two of one that ecclesiasticall presbyterian jurisdiction is bounded by the same limits as is the civill jurisdiction which is against the nature of all other jurisdictions different from the magistrates power though subordinate to it as is the maritall and paternall powers none doubting but a father in England hath a power over his son in France and that a wife is subject to her husband however distant from him Now it is granted by all that the jurisdiction of churches combined and that of synods never went beyond the magistrates jurisdiction that the churches of Persia Aethiopia and India were not tyed to observe the deciees of the first councill of Nice nor the reformed churches of France those of the synod of Dordrecht neither the church of Barwick to submit to the orders of the generall assembly of Scotland and yet some do not stick to maintain that a man excommunicated in Scotland is also bound by the same sentence in France or Holland because if we may believe them it is reasonable that the sphear of activity within which excommunication acteth should as much spread down wards as upwards and that since a man bound by excommunication at Edenburgh is also tyed in heaven good reason he should be bound and fast in any part of the earth 4. This also which all churches classes and synods assume makes their jurisdiction wholly concurring in nature and property with the jurisdiction of the magistrate which is that as in all civil and politicall assemblies the major and the stronger part in votes not in reasons doth carry it so decrees and canons because the major part have voted them to be such are therefore receivable by inferiour ecclesiasticall judicatories as they call them whereas since they pretend that ecclesiasticall jurisdiction is of a quite different nature from that of the magistrate it were most convenient that it should not be like it in this main particular but that private men or churches should adhere to truth not to multitude not numbring the votes but weighing the reasons And indeed this was well considered by the Parliament in their ordinance for calling of the assembly for though they took upon themselves that power of legislation jurisdiction whose votes are not weighed but numbred and which cannot be otherwise exercised in this world yet they very prudently conceived that such a jurisdiction could not be assumed by churchmen as such in matters of religion for they never intended that whatsoever should be transacted or defined by the major part of the ministers of the Assembly should be received for a canon and an ecclesiasticall law that should stand in force since they expressely enjoyn in the rules which they prescribed to the assembly 1. that their decisions and definitions should be presented to the Parliament not under the name of law made to them but of humble advice 2. that no regard should be had to the number of the persons dissenting or assenting but that each party should subscribe their names to their opinion 5. Another argument to prove that the ecclesiasticall and the magistrates power are not coordinate but that the ecclesiasticall is subordinate to that of the magistrate and that they both are of the same nature is that both of them magistrate and ministers challenge not only the duty of messengers from God in delivering to the people the lawes of God but also as judges exercise power about making new lawes which do oblige to obedience for conscience sake for the assemblies presbyteries of Scotland do not only presse obedience to the lawes expressely set down in Scripture but also to their canons decrees and constitutions 6. Another argument to prove the identity of the powers ecclesiasticall and civil is that both are conversant about lawes and constitutions that are made by men such are most of the canons and constitutions of synods and ecclesiasticall assemblies which are no more expresse Scripture then the Instinian Code and therefore it is altogether needlesse to constitute two coordinate humane legislative powers 7. But suppose that all the decrees canons constitutions of presbyteries and church-assemblies were word of God and divine precepts this very thing that they are divine constitutions and that one jurisdiction or other must be conceived enjoyning by a sanction and commanding obedience to them argueth that ecclesiasticall and civil jurisdiction are but one For what can the ecclesiasticall jurisdiction do more then to give a sanction to the lawes of God which thing the magistrate is to do If he must give a sanction to the decalogue why not to all other precepts which are equally of divine institution 8. It is absurd to put under the Gospell a difference betwixt the jurisdiction or law of Christ and the law of God the universall Monarch as Mr. Gillespie speaketh p. 261. for there is no precept of the decalogue there is nothing good holy honest and of good report but is the law of Jesus Christ and therefore since the magistrate cannot be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a minister of God as St. Paul calls him but he must be a minister of Jesus Christ and that he cannot be keeper of the decalogue and of the law of God under Moses administration but he must be also the keeper of the law of Christ what need to constitute two coordinate judiciall powers each of them being pari gradu subordinate to Jesus Christ Lastly if the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is not of this world and that this Kingdom as our brethren tell us is the presbyterian government then this Kingdom must have a jurisdiction and lawes quite different from the Kingdom and jurisdiction of this world which yet doth not prove true by the parallels we have made of both jurisdictions Mr. Gillespie a member of that Assembly pag. 85. endeavoureth to shew what a wide difference there is betwixt these two jurisdictions in their nature causes objects adjuncts but I might upon the same grounds maintain the like wide difference betwixt martiall navall testamentall paternall maritall and civil power all differing and yet subordinate to that of the magistrate I might also attribute to each society its peculiar power placing in a colledge of physicians a medicall power subordinate to God the God of bodies health and outward safety as the civil is subordinate to the God of the Universe and the ecclesiasticall to Christ For if the God of nations hath instituted the civil power and the God of saints the ecclesiasticall as Mr. Gillespie speaketh what hinders but that the God of nature hath instituted the medicall power And if morall good be the object of the civil power and spirituall good of the spirituall power why may not bodily health be the object of the medicall power CHAPTER VI. Whether Iesus Christ hath appointed a jurisdiction called ecclesiasticall as King and head of his Church Of the nature of the Kingdom of God In what sense the magistrate is
the magistrate is not head of the church more then of other societies for as the callings of a physitian merchant smith sea-man so of a Christian as Christian and church-member are not subordinate to magistracy but only under the notion of and as they are members of families societies corporations and commonwealths in all which magistracy is virtually and eminently resident in regard that no society of men can be imagined to be governed either without a power delegate from the magistrate or without assuming magistracy within it self In that sense the magistrate may be said for these three or four reasons to be head of a visible nationall church 1. Because the matter manner and extent of the power exercised by that church being wholly the same with that of the magistrate it is needlesse to make of one power two and therefore the magistrate being the supreme governour in the managing of that power exercised alike in all kinds of societies within his dominion he may very properly be the supreme governour as well of churches as of all other societies 2. The magistrate may be said to be head of the visible church because there is no man of what place function calling dignity so ever he be that in an externall visible way can so much promote the interest of Jesus Christ and the building up of his Kingdom as the supreme magistrate not so much considered as Christian but as magistrate and by vertue of his magistracy None doth doubt but that one single woman namely Queen Elizabeth being a magistrate did contribute more for establishing and spreading the Gospell of Christ in England then all the godly ministers put together in the dayes of Queen Mary Let but one single magistrate countenance religion this will avail more then thousands of Greenhams or Bradfords under a magistrate of a contrary religion Sure where God hath given more ability and power to do good he also hath placed there more right duty to promote that good I think there was more stresse of duty laid upon Queen Elizabeth to advance Christs Kingdom in England then on 100. Bradfords Latimers and Ridleys in Queen Maries dayes A 3. ground may be added why the sovereign magistrate may be called the head of the church and which is much pressed by Reynolds Martyr Musculus Bullingerus Gualterus Zanchius Pareus is because all the decisions of ministers about matters of faith or discipline are but mere counsels advices and directions not binding externally that is actively or passively any church society or corporation except they receive a sanction from the magistrate and besides that these sanctions are not to be made by him caeco judicio with a blind judgement standing to their determination without examination and doing as much as those of Beroea who ere they believed St. Paul searched the Scriptures to know whether it was so as he preached As no obedience is to be rendred by any person society or corporation without they duly weigh in their judgement of discretion whether the command be just or no so a command is not to be made by the person whose duty and part it is to command untill he first understandeth and apprehendeth by his judgement of discretion the thing to be a good and a fitting rule of obedience So that since presbyteries and â—ynods cannot enforce obligation of obedience to their declarations and decisions without the injunction and command of the magistrate since also he is not to enjoin or command any thing repugnant to his own judgement it doth consequently follow that good reason it is that he who last is to judge and command any thing propounded and debated in whatever assembly of men should be stiled the sovereign judge head ruler and governour of those things that are solely in his own power Fourthly he may be said to be head of the church because of three main duties which are annexed to his office of magistracy which comprehend what is requisite for life godlinesse and happinesse The 1. is provisio mediorum conducentium ad finem optimum provision of the means conducing to the best end 2. remotio impedientium the removing of hinderances 3. actualis directio in illum finem an actuall direction ordering things to that end These 3. conditions Javellus a Romish Bishop layes down to assert the soveraign power of the magistrate in judging providing ordering and removing in order to obtaining the best end which he saith is the main felicity of man Lastly he may be well called head of the church that receiveth appeals from all church-judicatories and disannuls or ratifies their judgements and sentences But Mr. Rutherfurd denieth those acts to be appeals being not in eadem serie from a lower ecclesiasticall court to a superiour ecclesiasticall court and saith that from an ecclesiasticall court to a civil as to the magistrate there is no appeal but a removall by a declinator a complaint a refuge But we having proved that synods presbyteries c. have no jurisdiction but what they have from the magistrate therefore all appeals from a church-judicatorie to the magistrate are but from an inseriour court of the magistrate to a superiour of the same magistrate Rivet on the decalogue had not learned such squibs of distinctions betwixt appeals and refuges complaints and declinators for by any means he would have men to appeal to the magistrate from church-sentences Ministers as ministers are the subjects of the soveraign magistrate and why may it not be lawfull for subjects to appeal from the judgements of subjects to the supreme magistrate and why may it not be lawfull to the supreme magistrate to review the judgements of his subjects to ratifie them if they be good and abolish them if they be bad For call those removals what you will so that the thing be still the same for he that from an unjust sentence of a church-judicatorie hath his recourse to the magistrate both declines the sentence of that court appeals to a higher court and makes his complaint to him that can redresse him help him and disannull the first sentence I confesse if a man be condemned in England he may have his refuge to some neighbour Prince but this Prince can but protect him from the execution of the sentence against him but cannot disannull the sentence against him nor restore him in statu quo prius Such are the examples of Chrysostomus Flavianus and Athanasius which are to no purpose for they repaired to the Bishop of Rome desiring indeed to be judged by him but they did not look upon him as their superiour that could relieve them and quash the sentence against them they repaired to him only as to a mediatour and intercessour Authorities should now make good what I have proved to be consonant to reason such as might be brought out of the best reformers as Martyr Reynolds Pareus Chamier who make no other supreme visible governour of the church then the soveraign magistrate but I will
magistrate invested with the same power Since then the magistrate takes no more upon himself then such an externall jurisdiction as ministers might well assume by the delegation or concession of the magistrate why should Mr. Gillespie hence inferre that this power in magistrates maketh not them supreme judges and governors whenas the same jurisdiction laid upon ministers neither maketh them supreme judges and governors in ecclesiasticall causes No hurt then to the magistrate by this inference only that it seemeth to acknowledge that some do hold the magistrate to be supreme judge and governour in ecclesiasticall causes giving him a prerogative which belongeth only to Jesus Christ I believe none of his opposites spoke in that crude manner Magistrates are not unerring judges they fail many times in their judgement both declarative and of discretion so do the ministers and therefore there is no supreme visible judge and governour in ecclesiasticalls to whose decisions determinations and commands a conscience is obliged to yield further then it is inlightened or convinced for there being a tribunall in every ones conscience usuall appeals are made to it from the magistrate yea from the sentences of synods and presbyteries This is the prerogative of Jesus Christ by a soveraign judgement and determination to resolve the intellect incline the will and convince the conscience The magistrate is not made by any of Mr. Gillespies opposites as far as I know otherwise supreme head or governour in ecclesiasticall causes then Martyr Zanchius Pareus c. make him head of the church He further saith that what he stated about the power of the magistrate in ecclesiasticall things doth not invest him with the subordinate ministeriall forinsecall judgement in ecclesiasticall things or causes I think if Scotus were living he would hardly understand what is the meaning of ministeriall forinsecall directive judgement for the word ministeriall is no way forinsecall for the stile of forinsecall maketh the minister sit in a court of judicature as the judges at Westminister Hall giving sentence which both parties must stand to except they can appeal or expect a redresse in a superiour court Again the word directive agreeth no better with forinsecall then the Papall title of servant of servants with God on earth and the spouse of Christ for whereas the word forinsecall giveth no leave to the plaintiff or defendant to interpret the judgement of the court to his own sense or apprehension on the contrary the word dâ—rective doth it and giveth those that attend the word and hearken to the directions of the minister a priviledge like that which St. Paul yieldeth to the people of Beroea who having heard St. Paul would be well satisfied ere they gave credit to him for they searched the Scriptures to know whether it was so as St. Paul would have them to do or as he said unto them and gave them directions CHAPTER X. Whether the Lord Iesus Christ hath appointed as the Rever Assembly saith officers in government distinct from the magistrate The strength of the place 2 Chron. 19. by them alledged examined That the elders in that place are not church-officers An answer to Mr. Gillespies arguments endeavouring to prove that Iosaphat appointed two courts one ecclesiasticall another civil IT remaineth in the examen of the first section of the 30. chapter of the confession we should speak a word of the church-officers in whose hands the Rever Assembly saith a government was appointed distinct from the civil magistrate God indeed hath appointed in the church officers distinct from the magistrate as he hath appointed in the law the magistracy of Moses to be distinct from the Priesthood of Aaron and the Priests and Levites to have a distinct function from that of the rulers elders captains judges c. But God never appointed the jurisdiction of Aaron and of the Priests and Levites to be distinct from that of Moses and of the supreme magistrate nor ever meant with the diversity of offices and officers to introduce a diversity and distinction of jurisdictions For were the jurisdiction exercised by church-officers of so distinct a nature from the magistrates jurisdiction as the paternall jurisdiction is distinct from the maritall and both from that of the magistrate one could not thence infer that they are not all three subordinate to one superiour jurisdiction Coordinate jurisdictions as of fathers husbands masters of families Majors of towns are all subordinate to one supreme jurisdiction But to prove that church-officers are not appointed by God in a government distinct from that of the magistrate but in subordination to it the reverend Assembly make use of one place of Scripture in their humble advice for government which though they quote in the behalf of a double jurisdiction yet it doth totally overthrow it their words are As there were in the Iewes Church elders of the people joyned with the priests and Levites in the government of the church as appeareth in 2 Chronic. 19. v. 8 9 10. c. so Christ who hath instituted a government and governours ecclesiasticall in the church hath furnished some in his church besides the ministers of the word with gifts for government and with commission to execute the same when called thereunto who are to joyn with the ministers in the government of the church Rom. 12. 7 8. 1 Cor. 12. v. 28. which officers reformed churches commonly call Elders One party or other is mightily mistaken and do wrest the Scripture against the sense of the holy Ghost so clearly manifested in the literall meaning I wish with all my heart that as the reverend Divines and Mr. Gillespie propound to the Christian church that of the Jewes for an example of jurisdiction distinct from that of the magistrate so they would take no other umpire and judge to make good that double jurisdiction then this text they have chosen for I am confident they will find their condemnation in it no place in the Scripture more evidently asserting the confusion of jurisdictions amongst the Jewes then this Me thinks the presbyterians anti-presbyterians both drawing this text to their advantage are like Salmasius and the ministers of Leyden about the question of wearing long or short hair the ministers making use of the same text 1 Cor. 11. against long hair that Salmasius doth against short But the whole context from the 8 verse to the end of the chapter is wholly for us 1. The text saith verse 8. that Iosaphat appointed for the judgement of the Lord and for controversies Levites Priests and chiefs of the families of Israel here then you have first no distinction of judicatories but rather of the heads either of families or so called for their wisedome from all the 12. tribes of Israel to one Iudicatory or Sanedrim as the Rabbins the best interpreters think 2. In setting them over affairs there is no distinction mentioned as that the Priests Levites should manage the ecclesiasticall the heads of families the civil
churches would there be even 33. for so many were overcome but should all these 33. Kings be subdued these 33. Churches would cease to be independent on each other and in stead of 33. churches depending each on their magistrate one nationall church should be moulded of the same extent of power as the magistrate that ruleth over them CHAPTER XXII That the greatest opposers of the dissenting brethren namely Salmasius Amyraldus and others have laid down the same grounds for the right and power of particular churches and so confuted rather their own fancies then invalidated the tenets of the brethren The question whether Rome be a true church briefly resolved That Amesius and Iohn Mestrezat late minister of Paris in their writings have held the power of private churches to be independent from any church-judicatory THe spirits of men are now a little more calm and not so eager either at home or abroad and the quarrell not so fierce with the independents as it bath been these 15. years I having my self been a poor instrument to disabuse some of my country-men who partly by their misunderstanding paitly by the false reports and ill will of the common enemy to all goodness good men were possessed of very harsh opinions and conceits of them passed a strange censure upon them as enemies to all order and discipline and men of dangerous and pernicious tenets to all humane societies The very children amongst them did question whether they were shaped like other men Amyraldus made a great book of Invectives against them and turned them into Sodomites franticks and enemies of all order and discipline Salmasiâ—s and Maiesius were no lesse bitter against them A nationall synod net at Charenton where Amyraldus had a standing but no vote condemned them But as this synod condemned them as the councill of Trent did the Lutherans before they heard them so did all these authouâ—s I have named fall upon them without mercy before they had any particular knowledge of them or any certain information of their supposed pernicious manners Yet for all that those very men that wrote so much against them as they refuted rather their own fancies then any thing those they call independents believed so they did handle this matter of the nature and power of the church and that of the magistrate over it much to the advantage of those that they made as black as they could namely Amyraldus in declaring both his own sense and that of the ancient church next to the Apostles hath laid the same ground-work for the parity and independency of churches as the reverend brethren dissenting from the assembly of Divines have done He alledgeth Vignier a French authour writing above 70. years agone highly valued as the truest historiographer that ever put pen to paper by the most learned and pious Prelat Dr. Usher in his ecclesiasticall history relating the opinion of Irenaeus Eusebius and Nicephorus concerning the state of the government of the church soon after the Apostles The form of the government in this age was almost democraticall for every church had equall power to teach the word of God to administer the sacraments to absolve and excommunicate hereticks and those that led a d'ssolute life to elect to call and to ordain ministers to depose them when occasion required to erect schools to call synods to ask the opinion of others upon doubts and controver sies I find the centuriators of Magdeburg cent â— cap 7. to have these or equivalent words with little difference but that they wrote in Latin and Vignier in French Here then we may see our brethrens sense 1. that every particular church is independent free to govern it self and to exercise all church acts not rejecting a consociation with other churches but such as equals have among themselves 2. for the power of synods they acknowledge none nor judiciall authority only a liberty to admonish advise and counsell In the 8. chapter he hath a long passage whereof the drift is 1. that particular churches are no lesse free asunder then provinces and towns before they join in a confederation 2. that all aggregation and consociation is as free for churches as for free towns or cities 3. that a particular church for example that of Saumur considered as not united by any voluntary confederacy to other churches oweth the same duty of respect to the orders and constitutions of the churches of Leyden Heydelberg and Basil as to to those of Paris or Rouen 4. that the power of synods over churches is of the same humane and civil right with the power of a judiciall senatover cities and towns Pag. 144. he hath these words The Church and the Commonwealth have some things that seem common and they may be almost alâ—ke managed both by ecclesiast call assemblâ—es and by the powâ—r of the magistrate How doth this agree with what we have heard him say that it were an horrible confusion for the church and state to be governed by the same men Pag. 198. and 199. he speaketh of the authority of synods in the language of our brethren It is true that the meer authority of councils ought not to move us to receive a point of religion the knowledge of the truth of the thing ought to be the chief motive and ground But we have him very expresly teaching his scholars and auditors at Saumur that the appellation of a true visible church doth properly belong to a particular church I shall cite his words Disp de ecclesiae nomine definitione thes 28. in English I know that a communion and as it were a confederation of many the like societies which are associated either by the same use of tongue or the same form of Commonwealth or else by the same government and discipline is called a particular church thus we speak of the French English and German churches as of particular churches to distinguish them from that universall society of Christians which comprehends all nations that bear the name of Christians but as we said before the word church is not proper to the society of all Christians as it is to the particular assemblies of Christians so that consequently we say that the word church is not to be said in the like manner of a consociation of many particular churches Let then that communion which is between the churches of France be said to be a church and that the church is a confederation of many churches for if taken according to the use of the holy Scripture St. Paul calleth the severall particular churches which were in Achaia not by the name of the church of Achaia or the Achaian church but of the churches of Achaia A passage very considerable which force of turth hath drawn from the mouth of the greatest enemy to the brethren for their greatest advocate could not say more in justification of what they have alwayes urged about the nature of the church but could never be heard till of late viz.
magistrate thus the decalogue is as well a law of the magistrate as of God Yea I maintain that a command or law of God hath no force of law in the court of man or in any presbytery synod or assembly whatsoever binding to active or passive obedience except it hath the stamp of magistracy and be published anew by the soveraign magistrate and that no man can be punished legally for robbing and stealing yea not for killing much lesse can he be excommunicated except there be a law of man against robbers and murtherers and that some magistracy impowereth churches or synods to passe a sentence of excommunication 5. This also hath been a great mistake which made many deny a subordination of ecclesiasticall to civil because those that embrace the true religion and live under those that hate them or persecute them endeavour as to have a communion independent from the magistrate so also a jurisdiction 6. Another errour in making the church jurisdiction not subordinate but wholly independent from the magistrate is this assertion easily descending into the minds of those that affect rule and jurisdiction viz. that the end of magistracy is outward peace and quietnesse only and purchasing all means to the attaining of the preservation of temporall life wealth and prosperity having nothing to do with promoting the eternall good and happinesse of the soul But this errour is not only refuted by the very heathens but also by the most learned orthodox Divines both English and others Pareus on the 13. to the Romans dubio 5. saith the end of the magistrate is not only the civil good but also the spirituall good of the subjects that religion may flourish in the church according to the word of God and so Junius Meditat. on the 122. Psalm tom 1. col 721. saith that the magistrate is to procure by divine and humane right the good of the spirituall Kingdom of Christ But Antonius de Dominis lib. 5. de republica ecclesiastica cap. 5. § 1. is very prolix and nervous to prove that he that is invested from God with a power to purchase naturall felicity is also invested with a power to promote the spirituall 7. It is also a great errour to make a coordination of powers seated in the same persons For if it could be imagined that one part of the people were the Church and the other part the Commonwealth they might be also imagined independent one from another thus a society of merchants and a colledge of scholars may be well imagined to be corporations so independent one from the other that none of the society of merchants are part of the colledge and none of the colledge are part of the society But granting that the same persons are members of the society of merchants and of the colledge of scholars the command law discipline of those two corporations as long as they admit the same members must have either a perpetuall conflict and clashing or the command of one corporation must be subordinate to the command of the other or else if they be both coordinate they must also be both equally subordinate to a power set over them both This is the case between the Church and the Commonwealth Granting that the same persons are members of the Commonwealth and of the Church it is not possible to make these two jurisdictions coordinate and yet subsist together in peace love and amity and without one disturbs the other they must joyntly agree to have one power over them or the law injunction and commands of one must be subordinate to the lawes of the other 8. The grandest inconvenience in this coordination of powers and jurisdictions is that the same persons being members of societies under both these powers and submitting to the commands of both shall be in continuall perplexity which to obey if both do not command one thing There is such a communion in mens actions causes relations functions callings commands duties jurisdictions freedoms liberties among those that live under one soveraign power and within the precincts of one jurisdiction that it is impossible that any outward action can be performed in whatever relation a man be considered as husband master father pastor lawyer physitian merchant at home or in church in a synod or in a city or hall except they all are modified ruled and directed by one supreme jurisdiction otherwise the saying of Tacitus would prove true ubi plures imperant nemo obsequitur where there be many coordinate powers there is none found to obey When a magistrate doth command a subject to attend him in the wars this command doth exempt him from the commands and injunctions that may be made to him as he is a son member of a consistory or of a synod or of some other corporation therefore when the King of Scotland in the year 1582. commanded the magistrate of Edenburgh to entertain and feast a French Ambassadour on a set day and the presbytery of Edenburgh to crosse this command had enjoyned a fast upon the same day since both commands could not be obeyed at once by the magistrate of Edenburgh either the magistrates commands must be subordinate to those of the presbytery or the commands of the presbytery must be subordinate to those of the magistrate or else the different commands of both must be subordinate to a third power above both presbytery and magistrate I have brought in my Paraenesis a cloud of witnesses Martyr Musculus Gualterus Iunius Pareus Cassander Hooker Antonius de Dominis proving the necessity that the power called ecclesiasticall should be subordinate to that of the magistrate I will only alledge Musculus in whom we shall see the sense of all the rest loc com de magistratibus The way and nature of government cannot bear that in the same people there be two authentick powers two diverse legislations and dominations except it be by subordination as there is no place for two heads upon one body Learned Dr. Hammond who is neither for Geneva presbytery nor of Erastus opinion nor yet of Musculus Bullingerus Gualterus who made little account of excommunication yet he holds that ecclesiasticall power is subject to the civil magistrate who in all causes over all persons is acknowledged supreme under Christ These be his words in his tract of the power of the keyes p. 87. though by them he overthroweth all power in ministers and Bishops of excommunicating independently from the magistrate which yet he strives to assert against Erastus Mr. Rutherford and Mr. Gillespie think that if it were granted that the magistrate is Christs viceregent it would subvert wholly the grounds upon which ecclesiasticall presbyterian power is built I question whether this concession of Dr. Hammond that the magistrate is the governour of the Church under Christ would not equally unsettle his episcopall excommunication I should in this chapter as I intended at first shew the vanity and nullity of the multitude of divisions and subdivisions of ecclesiasticall
division of lawes into civil and ecclesiasticall and tells us how far lawes are to be called ecclesiasticall though they be in truth the magistrates lawes only because they are made by him for the good of the church for as properly saith he lawes may be called scholasticall and Academicall because they were made for the good and benefit of schools or Universities and so far and no further can it be allowed that lawes should be ecclesiasticall CHAPTER IV. Of the nature of judgement what judgement every private man hath what the magistrate and what ministers synods and church-judicatories They have no definitive judgement as Mr. Rutherfurd asserts but the magistrate hath the greatest share in de finitive judgements which is proved by some passages of Mr. Rutherfurd and of Pareus and Rivetus Who is the judge of controversies NOt to run over all the acceptions of judgement which I have handled in my Paraenesis I will mention but one that serveth to decide the whole controversie which lieth in a narrow room whether the magistrate or pastors assembled in a presbytery and synod or even private men be judges of controversies about faith and discipline Iudgement is an act by which every man endowed with reason or pretending to have any upon debating within himself and weighing things to be done or to be believed at length resolveth peremptorily what either he will do himself or will have others to do about things he conceiveth to be true just and usefull For to the nature of judgement it is not required that the thing that a man will do himself or will have others to do be true just and good it being enough that he apprehendeth them to be so I make two judgements one private the other publick The private I call judgement of discretion by which every one having weighed and debated within himself the truth equity goodnesse or â—sefulnesse of counsels advices commands doctrine and persons at length choseth and pitcheth rather upon this then that this judgement may be called judgement of knowledge and apprehension The publick judgement is the delivery of ones private judgement so far as concerneth others by which a man uttereth what he conceiveth fitting for others to do or believe This judgement in ministers presbyteries synods wise men counsellors physitians and others not invested with any jurisdiction and who have more authority then power is called advice counsell declaration when they deliver their sense meaning and opinion upon any debated subject concluding something which they conceive others are to embrace believe or practise In magistrates and men invested with jurisdiction both this publick judgement and the private have the same operation as in ministers synods counsellors and the like but over and above it causeth them to command what they conceived fitting to be received and practised By the publick judgement Pastors do what St. Austin saith Epist 48. to Vincentius pastoris est persuadere ad veritatem persuadendo pastors are to bring to truth by persuasion sed magistratus est cogendo but magistrates are to bring to it by constraint and by commanding From these publick judgements every private man is to appeal to his private judgement of discretion not yielding and giving his assent to the declarations canons sentences of ministers any further then by his judgement of discretion he conceiveth them to be true just and usefull not obeying actively the commands of the magistrate in case he conceiveth them by the same judgement of discretion to be against faith and good manners The staring thus and dividing of judgement decideth as I conceive all the questions and doubts arising about this subject and answereth all Mr. Râ—therfurds and Gillespies definitions and objections concerning judgement They make a fourfold judgement apprehensive discretive definitive and infallible which belongeth only to Jesus Christ The definitive they say is proper to ministers and church-judicatories But they forget the main judgement which giveth life and force to all the rest and is the magistrates when he bringeth to execution things well debated by the judgement of declaration and approved of by the judgement of discretion In that division of theirs they also commit two great errors 1. That they make of one judgement two for to the judgement of discretion they adde a judgement of apprehension which differs only in degrees from the other and were these judgements distinct yet they go alwaies together and are alwaies in the same person and do belong to the private judgement 2. They ascribe a definitive judgement to pastors and church-judicatories which they themselves had need to explain what they mean by for 1. must every private man stand to it and not appeal from it to his judgement of discretion 2. if they do not stand to it what inconvenience harm or danger or worse consequence can befall him then any one that despiseth good counsell or advice which put no obligation except they be reduced into lawes and commands by the magistrate 3. must the magistrate adhere to that definitive judgement and command them without debating within himself whether those definitions be agreable with his own publick or private judgement which indeed is to make of him an executioner If he must not stand to the definitions of pastors and synods but rather they must stand to what he conceiveth most fitting then it is evident that that judgement of pastors called by them definitive is of no validity and hath need to take another name since neither magistrate nor private men are obliged to stand to it except they be convinced that it is reasonable and that its definitions are true just and usefull The evidence of this truth about judgement is so clear that Mr. Rutherfurd and Gillespie are unwares carried sometimes to deliver the substance of what we said before I will alledge but two passages out of Mr. Rutherfurds book of the divine right of church-government for there he overthroweth his definitive judgement of pastors or church-judicatories and setteth above it not only the judgement of the magistrate but also that of every private man for sure that definitive judgement that may be reversed and rejected without any redresse by the ministers cannot be of any weight or validity The first passage is ch 25. quest 21. p. 668. The magistrate is not more tyed to the judgement of a synod or church then any private man is tyed to his practise The tye in discipline and in all synodicall acts and determinations is here as it is in preaching the word the tye is secondary conditionall with limitation so far forth as it agreeth with the word not absolutely obliging not Papal qua nor because commanded or because determined by the church and such as magistrates and all Christians may reject when contrary to or not warranted by the word of God If such words had faln from Grotius or Mr. Coleman they would have been branded for rank Erastianisme If all the presbyterians will but put their names with
of the lawfulnesse of a call hath likewise power to make the call null and void in case it be not valid enough in his apprehension and judgement Good Lord what need is there to trouble the world with a distinct power from the magistrate which is thus evacuated and made void by another power CHAPTER IX The concessions of Mr. Gillespie which come to nothing by the multitudâ— of his evasions and distinctions The vanity and nullity of his and other mens divisions distinctions of power Martyr Musculus Gualterus alledged against the naming of a power ecclesiasticall when it is in truth the magistrates power The positions of Maccovius about the power of the magistrate in sacred things not hitherto answered by any THus we see that even Erastus could say no more then Mr. Gillespie and the confession of Scotland But Mr. Gillespie hath many evasions of modalities causalities and distinctions of power by which he seems sometimes to make large concessions to the magistrate but which when he pleaseth and it serves his turn he can elude and bring to nothing throwing in the eyes distinctions in great store to confound the judgement which is a strong argument of weaknesse unsoundnesse as of a house so of a cause when they need so many supporters whereas those that plead for the magistrates power in sacred things have need but of one only rule to state and define the whole controversy about the magistrates power and the measure of obedience which all Christian churches synods and presbyteries are to yield to them and that rule is that all men either single or convened and met in a society under whatever name or title do submit to and obey the magistrate in all things that are not against faith and good manners And these two things 1. the internall power in the ministery 2. and the externall power of the magistrate nakedly understood make short work and rid us of that army of causes kinds and distinctions of power and operations which M. Gillespie opposeth to a single combatant who notwithstanding is much stronger with his one only weapon then Mr. Gilâ—espie with his thousands as the fable saith of the cat whose one only caveat and shift to avoid 〈◊〉 by climbing up the first tree or house did more avail for her preservation then the whole bag-full of wiles and policies of the fox It were an endlesse labour to bring into a body all the divisions distinctions causalities modalities forms and objects of powers dispersed in Mr. Gillespies book Pag. 191. he maketh two objects about which ecclesiasticall power is conversant first the object of the magistrates care of religion and the object of the operation of that care Thus he and others make a power which he calls a care of the religion and another a care about religion As for the power itself considered generally they make it double ecclesiasticall and civil this is wholly the magistrates in the other the magistrate hath also a share for they say this ecciesiasticall power is exercised either in a politick way or in an ecclesiasticall way thus they make an ecclesiasticall civil power residing in the magistrate Next they divide ecclesiasticall power into intrinsecall and extrinsecall into direct and indirect the extrinsecall and indirect they yield to the magistrate thus you have again an ecclesiasticall power belonging to the magistrate Again they have an objective and formall ecclesiasticall power which needeth a further subdivision to be understood for they make an objective ecclesiasticall power conversant about persons and things and this they say belongeth only to the magistrate and a formall ecclesiasticall power in which the magistrate hath his share with the ministers so that of these two ecclesiasticall powers objective and formall it will prove that the magistrate hath 3. parts and the ministers but one for this ecclesiasticall formall power is again divided by them into a power exercised ratione objecti objective-way about things and persons which kind of power say they belongs to the sole magistrate and into a power exercised in an ecclesiasticall way which they say is the ministers portion Pag. 261. he hath an ecclesiasticall power which he divides into perfect and imperfect which he calls pro tanto of this stamp is this division of ecclesiasticall power into the power of every way and the power more suo which distinctions are so subtile that they are beyond Scotus apprehension He hath also a division of ecclesiasticall power into imperative and elicitive this is proper to ministers that to magistrates and then an ecclesiasticall power and jurisdiction properly so called and another improperly so called The jurisdiction improperly so called he and all his brethren ascribe to the ministers but the jurisdiction properly so called to the magistrate Which thing no way agreeth with the division of ecclesiasticall power into perfect and imperfect above-mentioned for whereas they make the perfect ecclesiasticall power to belong to the ministers and the imperfect to the magistrate here they make the ecclesiasticall power properly so called to pertain to the magistrate and the power improperly so called to the ministers so that if we believe them the power properly so called shall be the imperfect power as on the contrary the power improperly so called shall be the perfect power which is against any mans common sense and logick By the help of these distinctions the Popes and their advocates have defended the power of excommunicating and deposing Kings yea of disposing of their temporaâ—ties saying that the Pope hath not a direct power over them but an indirect but yet causing to be seized or seizing directly of their dominions as Julius the II. the Kingdom of Navarre per indirectam potestatem in casu necessitatis in ordine ad spiritualia potest summus pontifex manum imponere regnis imperiis cum plenissima potestate I have not done yet ranking in files the severall ecclesiasticall powers They further divide it into elicitive and coercive into primary and secondary power into the power managed directly and ex consequenti into a power of reforming abuses under the notion of formality of scandall and a power under the notion of formality of crime And to draw to an end of dividing they have more divisions of ecclesiasticall powers as into directive and coercive cumulative and privative auxiliary and destructive declarative and executive authoritative constitutive the auxiliary they derive from Charles the great capitulari Car. mag Volumus vos scire voluntatem nostram quod nos parati sumus vos adjuvare ubicunque necesse est ut ministerium vestrum adimplere valeatis we will have you to know that we are ready to help you in the ministerie Now of all these divisions of ecclesiasticall powers the magistrate hath alwayes one half the ministers sometimes none except they take for themselves the destructive and privative powers which indeed signify just nothing and are â—ntâ—arationis except also they content
head of the Church WE proceed to examine what the Rever Assembly say that Jesus Christ hath instituted this ecclesiasticall â—…sdiction as King and head of his Church Mr. Gillespie one of their body and therefore the best interpreter of their meaning saith in his 2. book chap. 5. that Jesus Christ hath two Kingdoms 1. a generall as he is the eternall Son of God the head of all principalities powers raigning over all creatures 2. a particular Kingdom as he is mediatour raigning over the church only by which church he understandeth a visible church of saints combined in such a body as is the church of Scotland enjoying the ordinances and the discipline of Christ And of this Kingdom he understandeth Matth. 16. v. 28. There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of man coming in his Kingdom So doth Beza against Erastus who with Mr. Gillespie out of those words of Christ my Kingdom is not of this world concludeth two things 1. that the ecclesiasticall government is distinct from the civill or that of the magistrate 2. that that Kingdom is an aggregation of many churches under one presbytery In the 6. chap. of the same book he is very prolix to prove that Jesus Christ as mediatour and head of the Church hath not appointed the magistrate to be his viceregent in the government of the church in the second acception I confesse that the holy Scripture mentioneth two Kingdoms but that both these be visible ones I deny flatly particularly that Jesus Christ is called King and head of the church in reference to the visible congregations of Christians or that by the body of Christ is meant the visible assembly of those that make outward profession of the Christian religion Let us then consider in this Kingdom of Jesus Christ as mediatour the nature of the King and head of his scepter sword power weapons keyes fullnesse that so we may see if all these qualifications yea if any one of these are proper to any visible church particular and nationall Both Rivet and Reynolds in their comments upon the 110. Psalme make this Kingdom wholly spirituall not of this world much lesse seen in this world though known to be in this world It is that Kingdom which is many times mentioned in the Gospell but never once taken for a visible government of men professing outwardly the name of Christ but for the Kingdom of grace and that government which Christ hath over those whom he ruleth by his spirit of adoption The keyes of this Kingdom are the door of utterance in the ministery whereby men have entrance these keyes keep out from coming in those that are without doors but never put out any that are once in and therefore most absurd it is to ground the power of excommunication upon the power of the keyes committed by Jesus Christ to the Apostles if the Kingdom of which Christ speaketh is the Kingdom of heaven or of grace will they say that an excommunicated person is put oâ— of the Kingdom of grace The scepter and sword of this Kingdom is the word of God The weapons are not carnall nor are they used to the putting a man out by excommunication but to the pulling down the strong holds of sin not by tying a man with church-censures but bringing into captivity his imaginations to the obedience of Christ This truth broke through the darknesse of popery and was acknowledged by those that were oppressed by the Popes tyrannie so in the year 1080. the advocate of the Emperour confut 9. saith that the preaching of Gregory the 7. was new since the church had no other sword then that of the spirit which was the word of God This language was acknowledged by the canonists to be in the mouths of the Popes adversaries who yet kept within the communion of Rome never dreaming of a Wicleff or a Luther as can inter 33. quest 3. Ecclesia non habet gladium nisi spiritualem qui non occidit sed vivisificat The law of this Kingdom is not the discipline or censure of the church but the law both of the Gospell and of faith called also the law of the spirit For by the power of that Kingdom described by the holy Ghost in the new Testament and mentioned in 50. places is not in any of them understood the ecclesiasticall power or any such thing as the power of ministers presbyteries synods to make decrees canons to determine authoritatively to suspend excommunicate and absolve but alwayes is meant that power that translateth from darknesse to light and from the power of satan unto God by which we are made sons of God Ioh. 1. v. 12. by which we are enlightened Act. 26. v. 18. and raised unto newnesse of life The fullnesse of that Kingdom is the saving gifts and graces given to the members The head of this Kingdom is Jesus Christ our King Priest and Prophet ruling by his spirit his subjects which are his members offering satisfying and interceding only for them teaching none savingly but them There is no governour or viceregent of this church but the spirit of God working in the heart by the word preached or read and guiding into all truth Though God hath no visible governours of this Kingdom yet he hath externally many subservient instruments and ministers for the advancing of that Kingdom as magistrates by their jurisdiction pastors by their function all godly people by their generall calling and dutie their persecutions afflictions maladies and particularly the ministers of the Gospell are main agents in Gods hands for the building up of that Kingdom What they know they do is the least part of their ministery they themselves being ignorant what and how they work by it in mens hearts Gods chief minister is Christ in the word the power is the efficacious working of the word the keyes are the openings of the heart to the word or rather the openings of the word to the heart and the receiving of the person into the heavenly fellowship This power is not placed in the ministers but the word which though it is delivered by them not only in a way of beseeching and exhorting but also of commanding yet that jurisdiction is only effectuall on those that of unwilling are rendred willing so that it is rather the jurisdiction of the word then of the minister for the ministers operation in the ministery is like to that of the artists in their chymicall operations where they are rather spectators then actors admovendo agentia passivis for nature and fire are the main agents They are like an husbandman in a vintage who maketh not the wine but ordereth it powring it from one vessel to another This being the nature of the Kingdom and church of God of which Christ is the head and King it remaineth to enquire who is the viceregent of God in governing the visible congregations of Christians meeting about the worship of God Properly