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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A95963	The authours, nature, and danger of hæresie. Laid open in a sermon preached before the Honorable House of Commons at Margarets Westminster, upon Wednesday the tenth of March, 1646. being set apart as a solemne day of publike humiliation to seeke Gods assistance for the suppressing and preventing of the growth and spreading of errours, heresies, and blasphemies. / By Richard Vines. Printed by order of the House of Commons.	Vines, Richard, 1600?-1656.	1647 (1647)	Wing V545; Thomason E378_29; ESTC R3304	47,605	81

can no more referre to the people then c Diatrib p. 6. page 10. he that affirmes that it may can prove Luke to bee an Apostle as he stiles him I deny not that Cheirotonia in the d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Zonar in Can. 1. original and first rise of the word signifies a giving vote or suffrage by stretching forth the hand or an election manifested by that signe but the use of words not the Etymology must rule their interpretation and it is past all question that the Greeke Heathen Authours doe use this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 generally to e 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hes●ch constitute appoint ordaine as is observed by Hesychius as they doe also f So also in Scripture Acts 1. 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to reckon or give sentence though there be no use of counters or little stones and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to bee chosen to a place or to obtaine a possession though there be no use of any Lot therein accordingly to which a man may bee said pedibus ire in sententiam though he have no feet to goe upon but because we would not rest in generals let us examin what was the act of Paul Barnabas in this place for it is plaine that they put g Ephes 1. 11. forth some particular act when ' its said they ordained for them or unto them Elders did they ordaine by imposition of hands as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies in the Greeke Fathers and counsells who may be thought to understand the language It is not unlikely that those very men that had been sent forth upon this expedition by imposition of hands fasting prayer should in the like manner ordaine Elders for so the very te●● in hand couples together ordaining of Elders in every Church praying with fastings or did they elect Elders for them as h Grotius in locum Grotius seemes to interpret it but those that contend for that sense of the word to signify election will not easily disgest the interpretation and the truth is They that argue the peoples election of Ministers from the election of the seven Acts. 6. which the Apostles permitted to the people there cannot easily grant that Paul and Barnabas did assume it to themselves here because it gives away the question namely election by the people or did Paul and Barnabas joyne with the Disciples in election If it had been said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it had been something to the purpose but it is not said they chose with them but they ordained for them Elders in every Church And for that which Grotius saith Credibile est c. I'ts to be thought that the consent of the people went along also the reason that he gives namely because in a lesser matter their consent was sometime taken in quite overthrowes that which is contended for ex vt verbi out of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used in the text and we know that where the Apostles Elders and Brethren concurred in an act they are all named Acts. 15. 23. which as here it is not said so it cannot hence be proved or in the last place if it be said that the word translated ordaine signifies an ordination upon a previous or antecedent election of the people then ' its cleare that election doth not thrust out ordination nor the act of the people justle out the act of Paul and Barnabas and so that engine workes not by this Text which is so much clearer for ordination than election as the act of Paul and Barnabas is more expresse then that couchant act of the people which is pretended to lie hid in the same word which if it be taken in one simple sense signifying either generally to constitute or ordaine and so relate to the act of Paul and Barnabas without thrusting into the notion of the word either imposition of hands which may be made good elswhere in Scripture to have beene used in ordination or election by the people which cannot be made good elsewhere or signifying election by suffrage and so relate both to Paul Barnabas and the people as if they all concur'd in election or vote and that was all they did both these significations the word will beare though not the Text but if it carry twins in the belly of it and import two divers acts different in kinde and so relate to some act of Paul and Barnabas differing from the act or suffrage of the people then must that signification be proved by good examples lest it bee found never to have beene so used before Luke used it so but I hold my hand from further prosecution of this Scripture and offer to you one observation more tending to cleare the point in hand and that is out of Acts 6. where it is cleare that there was an election of the seven and as cleare that the constitution or ordination of them was reserved unto the Apostles vers 6. Looke yee out seven men whom wee may appoint or constitute over this business the people elected the Apostles ordained vers 3. 5. But the election is not called the constitution or ordination for that the Apostles are said to doe and how did they doe it vers 6. when they had prayed they laid their hands on them ordination by imposition of hands was the constitutive act The peoples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 6. and the Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 3. are not all one that poore criticisme would never have beene borne if the f Diatrib p 10. Author of it had but set the words together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the people set or presented the elected before the Apostles they did not ordaine them before the Apostles but presented them to be constituted and ordained by them over that business unto which they were chosen vers 3. There is not a more usuall word in the a Arist politic passim Acts 7. 10. 27. 35. Mat. 24. 47. 25. 41. ●u 12. 14. Acts 6. 3. Titus 1. 5. usually with the prepostion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying the place or the subject matter of their office goverment greeke tongue to signifie the making of a Governour or setling one into an office or praefecture then this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is also used for the constitution of Elders and Church Officers in the new Testament which wee call ordination If you please to consult the practise of antiquity in the point of election of Bishops ab ordine plebe as they use to say by the Church officers and community you shall finde 1. That election was never set so high as to give checke to ordination nor accounted that wherein the mission or sending did consist but as a preparative to ordination by way of good testimony of the person to bee ordained 2. When you have searcht all records as b Spalato derep eccles lib. 3. cap.

aside as well as that ceremony of laying the Bible on the head which is spoken of in the a Concil Carthagin 4. c. 2. counsell of Carthage concerning imposition of hands in the generall this I say that it is not a thing to be slighted as an outward rite incongruous to the spiritualnesse of the Gospell for its one of those which the Apostle calls the doctrine of the beginning of Christ and the foundation Heb. 6. 1. 2. and for the particular place it hath in ordination let it first be settled agreed that the ministry being an office or calling hath some way of entrance into it appointed by him that hath appointed the office that there is a separation of men thereunto or manner of their constitution ordination that is a potestative mission as some expresse it and then the modus is to be inquired into as touching which it is argued that ordination by imposition of hands as contradistinguisht from the election of the people is not essential to the māner of entrance Es-sentiall is a great word Baptisme the Lords supper are not essentiall to the being of a Christian or to salvation so as the privation of them should damne the soule and yet are of excellent use and cleare institution It may suffice that there is so much in the word for ordination as that the way of the word in that case is neither to be laid aside nor receded from nor maimed The engine planted for battery and overthrow of ordination is the election of the people that is the id ipsum wherein the separation of a man to the ministry doth consist and yet we read of a separation unto God for the worke of the ministry by fasting prayer and imposition of hands without any election of people Act. 13. 1. 2. I am of b Lib. de rep eccl 2. cap. 2. para● 12. Spalato his minde that this was not a separation to an office which Paul and Barnabas before had not but that it was a separation unto God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the worke of the Ministry is cleere enough and what was that worke but the preaching of the word and ordaining of elders Acts. 14. 23. 24. 25. 26. If any man can shew throughout the New-Testament that any did impose hands for separation of men to the office or worke of the ministry but onely such as were in office themselves Apostles Evangelists Eldership and these Teachers and Prophets at Antioch or that the election of the people is the id ipsum of separation let it be done or let us have lesse dictating and lesse begging for by the way let me tell you wee live in the beggarliest age that ever was I meane for begging of the question And if the meere election of the people be sufficient what neede was there that the Apostle should leave Titus in Crete for this cause that hee might ordaine Elders in every City Titus 1. 5. For if it be said that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that thou mightest ordain be no more then that thou mightest ordain be no more then that thou mightest looke on while the people did it Then why may not Pharaoh of whom it is said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hee constituted Joseph Governour over Aegypt bee said to looke on only while the people did it And what need was there that Paul and Barnabas should be separated and sent forth to ordaine Elders in every Church Acts 14. 23. If the Churches election had beene the id ipsum of ordination And why are the characters and qualifications of Elders and Bishops given and described to Timothy and Titus 1 Tim. 3. Tit. 1. Not so much to the people by which they should proceede in their elections as to them who were appointed to ordaine them that they might not lay on hands suddenly 1 Tim. 5. 22. In which place laying on of hands as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the Hebrews is put for ordination and so is not election by the people any where found to be As for Cases and instances of a people cast up in some remote Island or the like may not they chuse a Minister and he perform the office without ordination such cases may bee formed to overthrow any common rule or law of Ministery or Magistracy either It 's said that an a Exceptio firmat regulam in non exceptis exception strengthens a rule overthrows it not for then there could be no rule of any thing because every rule hath some exception set the Heteroclites by themselves and let the rule stand If David eate the Shew-bread or the Levites performe that office which belongs to the Priests 2 Chron. 29. 34. with Levit. 1. 6. in case of necessity there is no more can be said but necessitas quod cogit defendit that which necessity commands it defends That the holy Ghost was given by the imposition of the Apostles hands I say the Apostles Act. 8. 18. is true but no argument against laying on of hands by the Eldership in ordination for there were divers reasons and occasions of laying on of hands besides in ordination and other hands were laid on in ordination than could give the holy Ghost The Levites had imposition of hands a Fagius in Chald. paraph. in locum tanquam in sacrificium Numb 8. 10 11. as upon a sacrifice dedicating them to God and his service And so in the New Testament it was used for separation of men to the worke or office of the Ministery but there is no miracle wrought nor is the holy Ghost given nor any inward grace The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 grace seems somewhere to be put for office as Rom. 1. 5. b See Rom. 1. 5 15. 15 16 Gal. 2. 9. Grotius Beza Dieu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Grace and Apostleship that is the grace of Apostleship in this sense as Beza saith if that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or grace be taken 1 Tim. 4. 14. Then may it be said to be given with imposition of the hands of the Presbytery As for election by the people which is by some cryed up as the All in All in this point though I have nothing to say against the lawfullnesse of it where it 's duely conditioned yet if any shall plead the necessity of it as essentiall to the calling of a Minister I should not stick to say that there is clearer evidence in Scripture for ordination of Ministers by imposition of hands then for election by the people That word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 14. 23. out of which it is expiscate after a man hath made the best of it will leave him to beg the question for there appeares in it no act of the Church at all but whatsoever it signifies it refers wholly to Paul and Barnabas who did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ordaine Elders for the Disciples and therefore without endangering not only the sense but the grammer of the Scripture

Jude haveing described haerenicks saith ver 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 these are they that separate themselves 3. A loose and carnall course taken up and followed either privately or openly and that under the patronage and protection of these dogmaticall errours Their lives are as full of Athisme as their opinions of blasphemy or false-hand all which being laid together it appeares that an haereticke's understanding mind is corrupted a good conscience is thrust away his will electively adheres to errour and false wayes his affections are drowned in sensuality and lusts he is subverted and sins being selfe condemned either c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oicumen in tit 3. 8. formerlly by his owne conscience and light yet remaining or d Ideo sibi damnatus quia in quo damnatur sibi eligit Tertull de proe virtually by his voluntary rejection of Gods truth to stick to his owne errour and so in conclusion except the Lord pull him out of the fire by some happy hand in the meane time hee brings upon himselfe swift destruction As touching pertinacy or obstinacy which is generally by Divines put into the definition of haeresie according to that saying errare possum haereticus esse nolo I shall say but this that obstinacy may bee considered either in respect of the crime of haeresie or of the censure and rejection of an Haereticke In respect of the crime of haeresie two ways First that an errour in it selfe not haeresie is made haeresie by obstinacy as some of the Papists will have that to be haeresie which is stifly holden by any man after the e Rhemists Annot. in Tit. 3. 10. determination or admonition of the Church when a Councell or that transcendent thing called the Pope hath defined by the authority of his infallible Chaire that such an errour is haeresie and hath put it under Anathema though f Error in side non ideo haeresis quia ab ecclesia damnatus sed quia fidei contrarius Altenstaig c. verbo haeresis Turre crem summa lib. 4. ● part cap. 3. others of them in my opinion say more rightly that an errour in faith is not therefore haeresie because condemned by the Church but because contrary to the faith or secondly that an errour subverting the faith is not haeresie unlesse attended with obstinacy and that as I conceive cannot be said for as Constancy in that which is good as namely faith or justice doth not make faith to be faith or justice to be justice so neither doth obstinacy in evill or errour make that errour to be haeresie but as vertue is commendable and rendred more glorious by constancy so is haeresie aggravated and made more high by obstinacy The essence or nature and so the denomination of haeresie is not to be measured by obstinacy against the decision or admonition of the Church for then every such obstinate errour should be haeresie but by the contrariety and opposition of it to the principles of faith which are razed or overthrowne In respect of the censure and rejection of an Haeretick which rejection whether it be by a private beleever or by sentence of the Church I now dispute not I suppose obstinacy is requisite for as in other scandalls the rule of proceeding is If hee heare not thee or if he heare not the Church so it s said a man that is an Haereticke reject after the first and second admonition Contumacy is a common adjunct of sinne in order to the finall judgement or sentence of the Church in excommunication In a word I cannot read those words Titus 3. 10. Thus or in this sense g 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A man that after the first and second admonition is an Haereticke as if he then became an Haereticke by standing out against or after admonition but thus reject a man haereticall after the first and second admonition which argues and demonstrates that he may be an Haeretick before he bee obstinate and so obstinacy is not essentiall to the nature or being of haeresie Though I confesse and doe suggest it to your observation and saddest thoughts that Haeretickes are generally and usually stricken with obstinacy few of them that runne into this labyrinth doe either seeke or finde the way out when the vitall parts of faith are putrified and corrupted in any Patient the recovery is hopelesse weigh seriously that expression or marke set on these very men by Iude ver 12. Trees twice dead plucked up by the rootes when do you see such a tree recover life and fruit It s a hard rescue to fetch a man off that is prisoner to an erring conscience especially if he be fetter'd by both legs his judgment being captivated by errour and his affections enslaved by lusts we must doe our duty and of some have compassion and others of them save with feare 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 snatching them out of the fire Jude verse 22. 23. Though they complaine of violence offered to their liberty when they are pul'd out of the fire For as h 〈◊〉 qui servat idem facit ●●cidenti Horat. the saying is hee that saves a man against his will hath no more thankes for his labour then if he kill'd him It is a matter of wonder and amazement to see men of eminent parts and learning of great reputation for Religion captivated carried away and made prey of by senselesse and absurd fancies and opinions but that wee know there are no delusions or lies but are strong when God delivers a man up to them in way of punishment for not receiving the truth with love thereof The Lord give us to receive his truth with fear and trembling and make us thankfull whom in this time of wantonnesse as some call it or rather wickednesse of opinions hee hath kept from shipwracke of faith and made to stand upright when men that have lived strictly and religiously as i 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrys Epistola 4. ad Olymp. Chrysostome said of Pelagius seem to warp and to be drawn awry Having thus farre laid open the nature and danger of haeresie by the Scriptures I should now come to the use of all but that in few words I desire to put you in minde in what notion the word haeresie hath passed amongst men in common acceptation and that I shall doe in these two words 1. The Ecclesiasticall or Scholasticall acceptation is this a T●rre●rem sum lib. 4. Haeresie is an errour or assertion contrary to the faith in points fundamentall or momentous holden or maintain'd by a man professing the Christian faith this they call simple haeresie and such a one an Haereticke licet ab ecclesia non recesserit though saith b In Gal. cap. 5. Ierome hee doth not separate or make secession from the Church and though hee cannot be blemisht with wickednesse morall or in conversation All momentous truths are not strictly so called fundamentall there are truths as I may say

off civil punishments of sinnes against the second Table also neither doe I see any just reason that if the office of a Magistrate have any place in the matters of the first Table he can punish sedition which is against his owne name or dignity and stand still and looke on with his hands tied whiles the name and honour of the great God is openly traduced or blasphemed For the seducing Haereticke he is to be prohibited and restrained you will not suffer a man that hath a running plague-sore to go abroad to infect though his shutting up be not in way of punishment as if hee was punisht because hee hath the sore but in way of prevention of contagion as the restraint of the Leper was You pull downe another mans house and that justly when 't is on fire to prevent the burning of the whole Towne one way to put out the fire in the Oven is to shut it up Many errours and haeresies would die of themselves if they had not free vent Falsi doctores sathanae lenones saith Calvin False teachers are the Devils panders would you suffer panders to come into your houses solicit the chastity of your children would you suffer Mountebanks to sell poison upon a stage to destroy the bodies and lives of people This the b Examen censurae page 285. Remonstrants in scorne call our palmarium argumentum but it is not to be despised as if it was void of reason You that are Christian Magistrates should not forget the soules of them that live under your shadow There is a c Minus Celsus in disputatione de haereticis c. pag. 194. c. learned man who argues against the punishing of Haereticks with death and pitches upon this as the solida vera certa ratio the solid true and certain reason why other flagitious offenders are to be punisht but not Haereticks because haeresie saith he is the errour of a depraved minde an intellectuall errour but other morall vices arise from a depraved and corrupt will and the error of the understanding is not saith hee to be punisht with death but that it is to be restrained from spreading and infecting the comparisons which he brings in doe fully signify For you would not saith hee put a Physitian to death as a murderer who upon meere mistake gives his patient a potion of poyson in stead of good medicine nor a mad man that breaks out and kills and slaies such as he meets with because this proceeds from laesion of his understanding though I doe not concur with this supposition that haeresie is a a meere act of the understanding for it hath its denomination from the act of the will choosing the errour yet thus farre I goe with it that such pretended Physitians as hold that to be wholsome which is poison and minister it to their Patients are not to bee licensed to practise nor such mad men suffered to be loose to exercise their fury damnable haeresies can never be prevented if false teachers may have liberty to bring them in It s one thing to suffer Jewes Turkes Papists Haeretickes to live in the kingdome or City and another thing to give them liberty or freedome of Trade to open their shop and call in Customers to buy their destructive wares Thou hast them that hold the Doctrine of the Nicolaitans Revel 2. 15. Thou sufferest that woman Jezebel which calls her selfe a Prophetesse to teach and to seduce my servants was a sore charge laid by Christ upon those Churches Nor is it the Pulpit which can keep off the infection whiles the poison is carried up and downe in books and cryed at mens doors every day in which there are many strange doctrines going abroad open faced and some more strange which goe vailed and dropt into the Reader by insinuation there seeme to be very strange dreams about the manner of Christs being in the Saints and Gods being manifest in their flesh and about the Kingdome of the Saints and the licking of the dust of their feete by the world There are mysteries if the world was ripe for them I take notice of one thing in a late book which hath a very ill aspect brought in by way of enquiry what is meant by the word Scriptures when it is asserted that the denying of the Scriptures to be the word of God should be holden worthy of death For saith the Author either the English Scriptures or Scriptures in English are meant by the word Scriptures or the Hebrew and Greeke Copies or originalls The former cannot bee meant with reason because God did not speake to his Prophets and Apostles in the English tongue nor doth the English translation agree in all things with the originall or the true sense of it Nor the latter for the greatest part of men in the Kingdome doe not understand or know them If this dilem be good what is become of the certaine foundation of our hope or faith or comfort how can we search the Scriptures without going first to schoole to learne Hebrew and Greek It s well knowne that our Saviour himselfe and the Apostles doe usually cite the Greek translation or Septuagint when they quote the Scriptures of the old Testament and yet that translation had many variations in it from the originall and haply more then our English translation hath The Apostle citing a place out of the Septuagint where they expresse not the originall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is contained in Scripture 1 Pet. 2. 6. And there is no question but the Hellenists and western Jewes scattered up and down in Greece and Italy c. used the Greeke translation of the Scriptures in their Synagogues as appears by the confluence of the Greeks and Gentiles to them who understood not Hebrew and yet they of Beraea a city a Plin. lib. 4. cap. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stephanus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Macedonia are commended for searching the Scriptures of the old Testament and examining of Pauls doctrine by them and in that search there were Greeks that bare the Jews company as appears Acts 17. 11 12. And what Scriptures could they search but the Scriptures of the Greeke Translation I could easily demonstrate that the Scripture calls the originall translated scripture not without just reason for the Scripture stands not in cortice verborum but in medulla sensus it s the same wine in this vessel which was drawn out of that Translations are but vessels or taps as I may call them to set Scriptures abroach as for faults errours in that translation if that argument be able to batter and make a breach let it but have rope enough and it will make as great a breach in the Hebrew for when you come to find that ther are variae lectiones and that in the Margent truer then that in the Text as in that famous place a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in textu