Selected quad for the lemma: sin_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
sin_n	ghost_n	holy_a	remit_v	8,165	5	11.0672	5	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35696	Jus Cæsaris et ecclesiæ vere dictæ or, A treatise wherein independency, presbytery, the power of kings, and of the church, or of the brethren in ecclesiastical concerns, government and discipline of the church : and wherein also the use of liturgies, tolleration, connivence, conventicles or private assemblies, excomminication, election of popes, bishops, priests what and whom are meant by the term church, 18 Matthew are discoursed : and how I Cor. 14. 32. generally misunderstand is rightly expounded : wherein also the popes power over princes, and the liberty of the press, are discoursed / by William Denton ...	Denton, William, 1605-1691.	1681 (1681)	Wing D1066; ESTC R9164	326,898	268

Civil Powers we need go no farther than to Geneva Rome and Scotland Hierusalem not Rome is the Mother of us all there was the Church of the Jews most eminent and perspicuous when Christ came From this Metropolis of the Holy Land or Palaestine of which God said more than ever he said of any place saying This is my rest here will I dwell for evermore Here did the Messias begin first to build his Church as foretold by the Prophets by teaching the Doctrines of the Messiah remission of sins his tru worship wherein his Spirit was so prevalent as he was acknowledged to be the tru Messiah and so embraced more eminently by Zacharias Elizabeth and John the Baptist Here according to Luke 2. was Christ presented by the impulse of the holy Spirit in the Temple according to the Mosaic Rite Here just and devout Simeon came by the Spirit into the Temple waiting for the consolation of Israel where he acknowledged the Son of Mary to be the true Messiah and prophesied that he was set for the fal and rising again of many in Israel and having sung his sweet Nunc dimittis blessed and declared him a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of his people Israel Though the number of the faithful was but smal at first yet it did daily grow and encrease being baptized of John his Forerunner in the Temple at Jerusalem and afterwards teaching in their Synagogues and confirming his Doctrins by his Miracles His Doctrins were not confined to Jerusalem only but from thence were afterwards propagated unto other Cities Towns and Villages as to Bethany John 11.18 about 15 Furlongs from Jerusalem where Martha and Mary Sisters and their Brother Lazarus did inhabit amongst other good Christians famous for borrowing an Ass with its Foal to ride into Jerusalem to Emmaus famous for Christs appearing there after his Resurrection to Bethlem where Christ was born to Jerico where Christ instructed Zaccheus touching the Messiah remission of sins good works c. Luke 19.9 there he restored sight to the blind c. Matth. 20. Mar. 10. Luke 18. the like is tru of Ephrain Bethabara Aenon al Judaea al the Region about and beyond Jordan so in Idumaea Samaria Galilaea Capernaum Bethsaida Corazin Genezareth Magdalo Naim Caena the Region of the Gadarens and Girgasins Caesarea Philippi the Coasts of Tyre and Sydon al Syria that the tru Doctrin was preached and planted in al these and more places in the life time of Christ is manifest by the testimony of the Apostles and Evangelists according as Christ a little before his ascension had told them All which were so many separate or several Churches or Congregations as independent each of other as one Apostle was independent of another and the reason why they should be so is as demonstrable for that all the Apostles were alike insallible Whilst Christ was upon Earth he was the supreme Independent Head of al the Churches and so remains to the end of the World for it was he that chose and made the Body his Church and not the Body him to be their Head so that other Heads besides him there never was never will be Governors and Rulers there are and may be God having given the Body power over it self After his Ascension having given them their Commission viz. Go ye and teach al Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe al things whatsoever I have commanded you Matth. 28.19 20. and having filled all the Apostles with the Holy Ghost according to his promise and endued them with tongues they departed and separated and gathered several Congregations or Churches so that the sound went into al the earth and their words unto the ends of the world Rom. 10.18 According as Christ had told them You shal receive power after the Holy Ghost is come upon you and ye shal be Witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in al Judaea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the Earth Act. 1.8 preaching repentance and remission of sins in his name among all Nations beginning at Jerusalem Luke 24.47 And thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every Kindred and Tongue and People and Nations Rev. 5.9 As Palestine had the honour and happiness to have the Saviour of the World to be born in her after a wonderful manner and there first to teach his Doctrins the glad tydings of the Gospel and by his death there to seal eternal salvation to Mankind and there by his miraculous Resurrection to becom the first fruits of them that slept and swallowing up death in victory And after his glorious and joyful Resurrection having led captivity captive he gave gifts unto Men and called some to be his Apostles some c. who after they had chosen Mathias in the place of Judas the Traitor and cloven Tongues like as fire having sate upon each of them and al filled with the Holy Ghost and having preached the Gospel at Jerusalem and thereabouts and done many miracles whereby the Word of God and the number of Disciples daily increasing from 120 unto 3000 and more and more daily accruing the chief Pontiffs and Saduces being grieved that they taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection of the dead began to persecute them which seem to be the same year that Christ was crucified viz. Anno Aetatis suae 33. and 18 Tiberii scourging some and killing others which persecution occasioned divers of the Brethren to withdraw themselves into neighbouring places which gave opportunity to the Gospel to be more universally spread throughout Palestine the Apostles yet remaining in Jerusalem Act. 8. who afterwards dispersing themselves also spread the Gospel into al Nations after this sort and manner viz. when a certain number of Brethren being converted and well instructed in the true faith agreed among them themselves to build or hire a Temple Tabernacle or House for their joynt meetings and exercising of their Religion hired a Priest and constituted a Church and as the number encreased so that one Church and Priest being not sufficient for them al those who were most remote did build another and fit themselves with more conveniences And about the end of the first Century or beginning of the second for good order and concord and for civility and respect they did bear to their Bishop or Priest custom began to include his consent also which in process of time soon degenerated into usurpation by the Artifices of the Priests or Bishops of which Rome in process of time taking hold made great use to the abusing of the power of the Brethren and to incroach upon the priviledges of the Body of the Church Al this while the Apostles and their Successors were independent one of the other and so were their several and select gathered Congregations The like may be as truly verified of the several Churches gathered in the

only the Ministers but the Teachers too as also the Elders and Deacons yea even of the Multitude which are willing to conser their gifts received of God 2 Cor. 4.13 to the common utility of the Church Luke 2.46 47. and c. 4.15 16. c. fol. 47.48 § During the Contest between Adrian the Sixth and the German Princes in Anno 1523. in the case of Luther they thinking it reasonable did signify unto his Holiness from the Dyet at Noremberg that married Priests and Religious persons who returned to the world in case they did commit any wickedness that the Prince or Magistrate in whose Territory they shall offend ought to give them their due chastisement which did not please the Pope and therefore he did reply That it would be against the Liberty of the Church and the Sickle would be put into another mans Field and those men would be censured by the World who were reserved unto Christ For Princes should not presume to believe that they were devolved to their Jurisdiction by their Apostacy nor that they could be punished by them and for their other Offences in regard the Character remaining in them and the Order they are ever under the power of the Church neither can Princes do more than delate them to their Bishops and Superiors that they may chastize them Conc. Trid. 27.28 Thus let Pope and Presbyter go hand in hand as to Spiritual Empire and Dominion Though it be besides my purpose to examine particulars yet in the general I cannot but wonder that so many learned and conscientious persons men of great abilities and good lives should countenance and defend that Church Discipline and Government as it is composed and compounded by Calvin the first Brocher and Hammerer thereof as taught by Christ and his Apostles in the Word of God when no Father ever witnessed no Council ever favoured no Church ever found out or practised it since the days of the Apostles and when the general and successive consent of all succeeding Ages is resolute against it as never expounding Pauls words in favour of it till about this last Century and this in opposition unto and derogation of Episcopal Regiment which on the contrary hath been observed every where for many Ages and Generations throughout the Christian world nemine contradicente except the old Heretick Aerius No Church till Calvins time ever alledging or perceiving the Word of God to be against it for if but any one Church upon the face of the whole earth that hath been governed by Calvins or the Scotch Presbytery or any one Church that hath not been ordered by Episcopal Regiment since the death of the Apostles could possibly have been found out no doubt but that we should long since have heard of it with our ears and seen it with our eyes in their Writings for that the Favourers and Abettors thereof have wanted neither abilities industry nor stomack neither to make it known Besides to me it seems strangely improbable I might say impossible that the Church of Christ should never know what belonged to the Government of her self till of late and that the Son of God should be spoiled of half his Kingdom by his own Servants Citizens nay Martyrs for 1500 years together without remorse or remembrance of any one man that so great injury was offered him and without one Champion to throw out his Gauntlet in the demand and challenge of his right Moreover how is it possible that all the Churches in the world should with one consent immediately on the Apostles deaths reject that form of governing the Church according to the Geneva cut which they would fain perswade you to believe was setled and approved by the Apostles and embrace a new and strange kind of Government Episcopal without Precept or Precedent for their so doing for my part I think it much more safe prudent and reasonable to esteem this a new device of Calvins a Chintera of his own brain set up to serve his own ends and to introduce his own Domination than to proclaim so many Apostolick men and antient learned Fathers to be manifest despisers of Episcopal Discipline and voluntary Supporters if not Inventers of Antichrists Pride and Tyranny § I find four Priviledges extraordinary given by Christ to the Apostolic Function requisite for the first founding of the Church What Privileges peculiar to the Apostles which died with them 1. Their Vocation immediate from Christ not from Men nor by Men Gal. 2.12 and their immediate instruction in the mystery of Christ by Christ himself 2. Their Commission extending over all the Earth without limitation to any place 3. Their direction infallible the Holy Ghost guiding them whether they wrote or spake This Office by consent of all Divines begun and ended in their persons to whom at first it was committed And except that Man of sin that hath entred by intrusion and violence into the Prerogatives royal of Christ no man would dare to arrogate the Privileges of this Calling He indeed challengeth as in the right of Peter universal power over the whole Church on earth He assumeth and appropriateth to himself glory of Miracles but all lying in form or end and if we were so mad as to believe infallible assistance of the Spirit in all things that he shall sententiously deliver to the Church out of his Chair of Pestilence Sapientum octavus Apostolorum 41. 4. Their power wonderful as well to convert and confirm Believers as to chastize and revenge Disobeyers whereby they did not only speak with tongues cure diseases work miracles know secrets understand all wisdom but gave the Holy Ghost to others that they might do the like and that they might store the whol world out of hand with meet Pastors and Teachers All which were given to their individual persons and were thought requisite by that wisdom which is above for the first spreading of the Faith and planting of Churches amongst Jews and Gentiles that all Nations might be converted unto Christ by the sight of their Miracles and directed by the truth of their Doctrine § But although all these died with their persons But and what delegated to their Successors to remain for ever yet are there other three and some make four points of Apostolic delegation which have and must have their permanency and perpetuity in the Church of Christ the better to maintain and propagate the Church once setled and Faith once preached As 1. Dispensing the Word 2. Administring the Sacraments 3. Imposing of hands 4. Guiding the Keys to shut or open the Kingdom of Heaven These especially the three first parts of the Apostolic Function are not decayed and cannot be wanted in the Church of God and are now seated in our Bishops and Presbyters by Apostolic successive delegation The first Two by reason they are the ordinary means and instruments by which the Spirit of God worketh each mans salvation must be general to all Pastors and Presbyters the

been so extreamly and publickly mischievous God would not have suffered it Besides if Scandal shall not remain unpunishable in the Prince yet it shall in the Spiritual Man which is a Mischief of the same nature with the other For if Caesar shall abide the Censure of this or that froward Pope or Consistory what Judgment shall the Pope or Consistory abide If this Spiritual Supremacy rest in any one that one must be unpunishable for two Supreams are things incompatible And if this Supremacy rest in more than one is is very hardly consistent with Monarchy for the one or other must be transcendent § Without all contradiction it is a manifest violence to use the Power of excommunication be it what it will if any such thing there be at all granted by Christ contrary to his own Institution and towards him that hath Power and unjustly useth the same the remedy is to have recourse to a Superior if he may but if there be no Superior to whom to have recourse God hath allowed no other remedy to a Prince thus offended but to make resistance with his own force opposing himself and force to force because it comes from God And the Civil Being of every Common-wealth or Kingdom is to the end of his Glory And therefore a Prince cannot permit without a sin and offence that his own Liberty should be infringed which is the Civil Being of every Principality and there is no doubt but that negligence in defending it is a dangerous offence to God and most hainous if he voluntarily suffer it to be usurped and incroached upon § To obey therefore the Commandements of God Kings when accosted and assaulted by Excommunication Papal or Presbyterian may and ought to oppose themselves against the Authors of them that will take away the Power which God hath given them to make Laws both Civil and Ecclesiastical and with Justice to defend themselves and their injured Subjects in their Lives Honours Goods and Religion And as the Innocent by an error in facto unjustly excommunicated to avoid scandal is bound patiently to endure So when the Error is in Jure and the manifest injustice thereof is apparent to avoid scandal likewise the Prince is bound to resist and oppose himself against the Injury Because there is no doubt but that such unjust Censures are against Magistracy it self and therefore when it shall be known to other Kingdoms that such a Prince or State for fear of unjust Censures and those invalid hath yielded unto violence whereof there are Examples not a few and omitted to exercise and execute his Natural Power they would be exceedingly scandalized thereat as also the Subjects that should discover such a vain fear they would become very perverse And therefore for this cause also it is both equal and necessary for the Prince to make due resistance for such no doubt or more weighty Reasons have our Kings and Queens defended themselves and their Subjects against all such Thunderbolts and so did the Venetians against Paul the Fifth who without any colour of reason excommunicated them being not a few Millions of Men The like have the Emperors and Kings of England and of France done and they had Authority so to do by their great Charter from Heaven The Church both Laity and Clergy but especially the Clergy ought to pacifie their Minds and Consciences attending the Service of God under the protection of their Princes constantly believing that the Holy Ghost was promised and given to all the Faithful both Laity and Clergy amongst whom Christ himself is present when they are congregated in his Name and that none can justly be excluded out of the Holy Catholick Church except by their own sins they be first excluded out of the favour of God and that the obedience which God commands us to perform to our Ecclesiastical Superiors is not a foolish or ridiculous Subjection nor the Power of Pope or Presbyters an Arbitrary Judgment but both the one and the other must be ruled by the Law of God who Deut. 17.10 11 12. ordained not an absolute obedience to the Priest but a prescribed observance according to the Law-Divine Facies quaecunque dixerint qui praesunt loco quem eligerit Jehovah docuerint te juxta Legem ejus It is the Word of God only not of Men in the Priests Mouths that me must obey God only is an Infallible Rule to whom only we must profess and yield obedience without all exception He that generally professeth this towards others without the Commandments of God as the Papists do sinneth and whosoever supposeth any Humane Will to be infallible as the Papists do committeth great Blasphemy in ascribing to the Creature a Property only Divine We have an Example hereof in the Acts when the Ancient Church expostulated and contended with Peter himself about the Vocation of the Gentiles he did not thunder against them with hideous and abominable Excommunications nor use menacing Language nor went about to silence them but he taught and perswaded them by Reason and Authority of Divine Revelations and the Words of our Saviour The very same Peter commanded the Elders to feed the Flock of God taking the over-sight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy Lucre for Cardinalisme or Nepotisme sake but of a ready mind neither as being Lords over Gods Heritage but being Examples to the Flock 1 Pet. 5.2 3. by which it is evident that Priests must not domineer nor command with Empire but with Holy Deportment and Instructions of Piety for that they have no Dominion of our Faith but are or should be Helpers of our Joy 2 Cor. 1.24 The very same St. Peter when he erred in Antioch St. Paul did not forbear boldly to reprehend him in the presence of all Men Gal. 2.11 St. Paul's superexcellency above any thing that we can pretend unto was no Warrant for him to oppose himself against one whom it was not lawful to resist Who more humble or gave greater acknowledgement of his due Reverence to the High Priest than Paul did In this questionless Paul did no more than what the least of us may do with due Reverence to his Holiness Quaecunque scripta sunt ad nostram Doctrinam scripta sunt Rom. 15.4 the Holy Ghost would never have written this History but for our Example to the end we might imitate it And we see that all the Popish Doctors in discussing how any one may oppose himself to the Pope when he erreth and governs unworthily they have recourse to this Example Let no Man therefore be troubled depending only on the Authority of a Pope for that according to their own Doctors not one but two Keys were given to Peter and to the rest of the Apostles and if they be not both used together the effect of Loosing and Binding doth not ensue the one being of Power the other of Knowledge and Discretion Christ never gave Power to be used without due Knowledge and Circumspection

will not submit to the Pope that is not marked out for destruction under the Notion of Hereticks which notion as soon as a neat opportunity presents tho misapplyed which is not seldom serves his turn for all Assassinations Wars Massacres what not What hath been written with reflection on the State of our Neighbor Nations and on the interest and incessant workings of the Jesuits in all their Courts and Councils doth manifest sufficiently our happiness without any such sinful compliance and spares me the labor of farther characterizing them Jesuiticum Fidei Symbolum veluti Canticum novum ex Jo. Baptistae Pozae Libris conflatum c. 1. CRedo in duos Deos quorum unus ' Filii Pater Mater est Metaphoricè in Generatione Aeterna alter Metaphoricè Mater Pater est in Generatione Temporali cui consequens est ut tam Deo Patri quam B. Virgini nomen Matri-Pater conveniat tanquam uterque Hermaphroditus essel vel Androgynus 2. Credo in Jesum Christum unicum utriusque filium Metaphoricum secundùm aeternam Temporalem Generationem 3. Credo Jesum Christum ut hominem fuisse conceptum Natum de Maria Virgine tanquam Patre Matre Metaphoricè per virtutem Paternam Maternam 4. Credo eundem passum mortuum non verè realiter eo quod mori non potuit 5. Credo eum fuisse sepultum etsi verè realiter non mortuum 6. Credo animum ejus descendisse ad Inferos Metaphoricè cum à Corpore ●on fuit separata 7. Credo eàdem Metaphorâ eum à mortuis resurrexisse qua fuit mortuus 8. Credo eum ascendisse in Coelos sedere ad dextram Patris venturum ●●●●dicet alios viventes alios etiamnum mortuos 9. Credo in Spiritum Sanctum qui locutus est per Prophetas nonnunquam de●●ptos 10. Credo Ecclesiam ex majore parte Sanctam Sanctorum communionem 11. Credo Remissionem peccatorum per repentinum Spiritus Sancti Adventum super impios 12. Credo Resurrectionem Carnis ex majore ejus parte vitam aeternam non sine aliqua oppositi formidine A new Jesuitical Creed gathered out of the works of Johannes Baptista Poza a Spanish Jesuit by Franciscus Roales Dr. at Salamanca and Chaplin to His Catholick Majesty of Spain It is to be found in Latin digested into Twelve Articles v. Alphons Devargas Printed Anno Dom. 1665. cap. 18. pag. 59 60. 1. I Believe in two Gods whereof one is Father and Mother of the Son Metaphorically according to an Eternal Generation the other Metaphorically Mother and Father according to a Temporal Generation and what is consequent hereto that the common term Mother-Father may be equally attributed to God and the Blessed Virgin as if they were both Hermophradites Hermophraditus vel Androgynus 2. I believe in Jesus Christ the only Metaphorical Son of both according to an Eternal and Temporal Generation 3. I believe that Jesus Christ as man was conceived and Born of the Virgin Mary Metaphorically as of Father and Mother by a Maternal and Paternal Virtue 4. I believe that he suffered and was dead not truly and really because it was impossible that he should dye 5. I believe that he was buried though not truly and really dead 6. I believe that his Soul descended into Hell Metaphorically whereas it was never separated from his Body 7. I believe that he rose from the dead by a Metaphor suitable to that whereby I believed him dead 8. I believe he ascended into Heaven that he sitteth at the right hand of God the Father and that he will come to Judge some alive and some already dead 9. I believe in the Holy Ghost who spake by the Prophets though those were sometimes mistaken and deceived 10. I believe the Church to be as to the better part of it Holy and the Communion of Saints 11. I believe the Remission of sins effected by a sudden Collation of the Holy Ghost upon the wicked 12. I believe the Resurrection of the Body as to the better part of it and life everlasting not without some fear of the Contrary AN APOLOGY FOR THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS THough I cannot with truth aver that stealing out in Print sine permissu superiorum is as justifiable as stealing a Nap or stealing away from Company at pleasure yet I hope it is not to be numbred inter graviora delicta And that I may with much truth say that to padlock the Press is but a new Trick or Tyranny rather devised by those whom for shame we cannot own for pious in their Lives or orthodox in their Doctrines and indeed whom it is a reproach to imitate A Romish Practice or at best but a new Canonical Slight unknown to the first and purest Men and Times forged in and crept out of the Saincted Inquisition by the Holy Fathers thereof who to shew their wonderful zeal to Religion and divine Truths have put the Bible it self in the Front or first rank of prohibited Books and so corrupted the Fathers by their Additions and Substractions that those of their Inquisitory Editions can no otherwise be esteemed the true Off-spring of their Natural Fathers then Theseus's Ship could be called his Ship after it had so often been hack'd and hewed patch'd and mended that there was scarce a whole Rib or Plank that did remain the same that it was when it was first built which because it still kept the same form though little of the old matter did still retain the Name of Theseus his Ship Tho' Christians have no other divine Rule or Authority without them warrantable to one another as a common Ground or Rule either for holy Living or determination of Controversies in matters of Religion unto which all ought to submit but the Scriptures nor any other Evidence or Patent to make out their title or claim to Heaven and heavenly things nor unto their great Gospel-Priviledges but the Scriptures yet so just and tender have the heretical Fathers of all Christendom the Popes been that contrary to all express Apostolical Commands by their Indices Expurgatorii whereof there are seven if not more extant in the very front of prohibited Books placed the Bible forbidding it to be printed or read in any vulgar Tongue printed or written and they account all Languages vulgar but Latin Greek Hebrew Chaldaick Syriack Aethiopick Persian Arabick as may be seen in the fifth general Rule in the Index printed at Madrid 1667. viz. Cum experientia docuerit ex permissione sacrorum Bibliorum lingua vulgari plus inde ob hominum temeritatem ignorantiam aut malitiam detrimenti quam utilitatis oriri prohibentur Biblia lingua vulgari extantia cum omnibus eorum partibus impressis aut manuscriptis pariter Summaria Compendia quamvis Historica corundem Bibliorum aut Librorum Sacrae Scripturae Idiomate aut lingua vulgari non tamen clausulae sententiae aut eapita quae libris

smiting their Bodies separating them from the People and chasing them from the place pulling off the hair and taking an Oath of them by God not to commit the like do plainly shew the Civil Use of the Sword in the Princes hands not the spiritual force of the Word in the Priests Mouth and therefore the one can be no Argument nor President for the other § Unto me the most Natural and Genuine Sence of Mat. 18.15 22. seems to import The proper sence of Mat. 18.15 22. that Christ well knowing that his Apostles and Disciples which were to survive him and whom he intended to Commissionate to Teach and Baptize all Nations and to gather a People unto himself by declaring the Mind and Will of his Father by preaching his Gospel and that out of the very bosom and bowels of Kingdoms and Commonwealths which then were and also likely so to continue for many Generations then to come prophane and sworn Adversaries to his Gospel and unto the Preachers and Embracers thereof and consequently would be in as great dangers and Troubles as Sheep among Wolves and therefore his all-seeing Wisdom thought fit to prescribe them such a Government and Discipline which they might exercise among themselves in much peace and quietness suitable to the Gospel of Peace and without any noise or disturbance to the Magistrates or Subjects of any Nation or Kingdom or to the Government thereof how wicked or adverse soever they should be to Christ and his Kingdom and therefore here he prescribes them some Rules more particularly relating unto private Offences which must needs be whilst men are men If thy Brother shall trespass against thee c. 18. v. 15 c. The Party grieved must be Man not God If thy Brother trespass against thee not against God reprove him The first Admonition must be secret and friendly as between Brother and Brother between thee and him alone Again if the wrong-doer repent himself the Sufferer must forgive him and not seven times only but seventy times seven v. 21 22. and elsewhere viz. Luke 17.3 4. This together with the Lords Prayer teacheth us to forgive the Sins that are committed against our selves but we have here no directions nor power to remit other mens sins and harms much less to remit and pardon the Injuries offered unto God 2. If he repent not we must yet give him a second Admonition with one or two witnesses before we tell it to the Church and if he then repent we must then also forgive These be no Precepts for open and notorious sins dishonouring God and scandalizing his Church for such the Rule is given 1 Tim. 5.20 Those that sin rebuke openly that the rest may fear but for private Trespasses between man and man This is no Judicial proceeding in Episcopal Audience in the Conclave or Consistory but a charitable warning in secret by him alone that is grieved and oppressed with wrong or reproach This is a general Duty binding every Christian and not a special Authority to Popes and Presbyters There is no Command that the open and scandalous Sinners should be reproved in secret or twice admonished before they be censured by the Church The incestuous Corinth had neither private nor double warning before he was delivered to Sathan by the Church according to St. Paul's Advice Though Christ declined intermedling with the Judicial part of ending Controversies and differences between man and man yet he prescribes them Rules to compose them themselves 1. By private admonition of the Party grieved 2. By admonition of two or three of the Brethren of the Church 3. If they prevail not then to communicate the wrong done to the Church i.e. to the whole Congregations of Believers whereof both Parties are members and not to the Pope or Priest whereof not one plain Syllable in the Text so that not only by the mouth of two or three witnesses only but also by the testimony and admonition of many even of the whole congregated Church every word may be established that by such publick reproof the wrong-doer might be brought to repentance and amendment 4. If he neglect all private and publick admonition then let him be to thee as a Heathen-man and a Publican i.e. do not own him to be of your Congregation but pursue and prosecute and implead him as thou wouldst do an Ethnick or Publican or any one that is not of the Christian Church and Congregation in any of the Courts of Judicature of that City and Kingdom wherein they live Christ for the Honour and Glory of his Gospel would have none of his to be wrong-doers or be given to strifes and debates or to go to Law before the unbelievers as it is in 1 Cor. 6.1 2 8. If ye have Judgment saith he for things pertaining to this life what then Tell the Pope and his Cardinals nothing less but set them to judge who are least esteemed in the Church in which Rank I dare not place either Pope or Presbyter lest they bring their Action of Scandalum Magnatum for my so doing and make them Judges of your Causes and Quarrels where by the way it is observable that the Word Church in this place also doth not signifie the Pope nor yet the Presbyters only but the whole congregated Church the Sequel will clear it Is it so that there is not a wise man among you no not one that shall be able to judge between his Brethren but Brother goeth to Law with Brother and that before the unbelievers v. 5.6 Where the words Brethren a Wise man not one Vnbelievers are general and indesinite Terms and not limited to Ecclesiastics Then certainly Christ never meant that the Members of his Church should for private Trespasses complain to the Pope or his Parish-Priests and that they should have power sufficient to hear and determine all such Matters as were so offered unto them and to excommunicate those that would not stand unto their Sentence and Determination that would have been an Infringement and incroachment on the Magistrates Office for the Matters of Complaint are of that Nature that the Ministers of Christ might not challenge to hear and determine they were forbid it Man who made me a Judge or Divider over you Luke 12.13 14. And as his Father sent him so sent he them John 20.21 and consequently did belong to the Civil Magistrate Besides neither in Mat. 18. nor yet in 1 Cor. 6. the Word Church whether thereby should be meant Jewish or Christian can possibly signisie the Priests of either or at least not exclusive the Laity whatever the scope and drift of these two places are it cannot be to Authorize the Clergy to intermeddle with matters pertaining to the Magistrate and to exclude those from the Society and Communion of the Saints and Sacraments that obey not their resolution If Excommunication or Binding or loosing be to be proved out of Mat. 18. as the Papalins and Presbyters would have it yet it is

such as is common to the Laity in private offences i.e. to every Individual of the Church For what concerns Binding and Loosing the Words are plain and demonstrative viz. Whatsever ye shall bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven which must have reference to the parties grieving and grieved it cannot be denied and those are every individual of the Church and whatsoever ye shall loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven Again I say If two of you in general without denoting or pointing at the Clergy shall agree on Earth as touching any thing that they shall ask it shall be done for them of my ●ather which is in Heaven for where two or three indefinitely and not limited to the Pope or to those of the Presbytery only are gathered together in my Name there am I in the midst of them Mat. 18.18 19 20. These are general Precepts and purport a general Duty binding every Christian and not especial or applicable only to Popes or Presbyters Christ then in these places speaketh of private men and offences which he only that is oppressed and wronged hath most right to reprove and forgive and therefore not only the Judgment of Pope and Presbyter making whom they please Banditi of the Church but the reprehension and admonition of our meanest Brother offended and injured by us must be regarded and reverenced for so much as the Lord on high heareth the desires and granteth the Prayers of any two joyning together for his Glory and others Good and in their own debts and trespasses private persons have more right to bind and loose their oppressors before God than either Pope or Presbyter This power here attributed to all Christians is no new Doctrine but hath been acknowledged for good by St. Austin Theophylact and others and it doth not in the least derogate from or impeach the publick use of the Keys in the hands of Bishops and Pastors for they had also their particular Commission John 20.23 Whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose sins soever ye retain they are retained yea speaking particularly to one of them Mat. 16.19 I will give unto thee the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt bind on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven so that the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven all Priests received in Peter before Christ's Death and after his Resurrection he gave all his Apostles the like power as Cyprian and Jerome observe and that is a power which no Temporal or Civil Magistrate or Prince can confer it is derived unto them from a higher Power § I am not ignorant that these Doctrines are held as Heretical at Rome and that they that hold them are cursed with Bell Book and Candle which is obvious to every intelligent Reader that consults the first fifth and sixth Canons of the sourteenth Session of the Council of Trent and the Anathemaes following who shall find it to be so and I humbly conceive not without grand reason of State-Papal for should these Doctrines and these that depend upon them be received for Orthodox Adieu to all the Picklocks of all the secretest Councils of all Kingdoms and States where Romish Doctrines prevail and also Adieu to a world of Merry-pence that else would thereby come into their Sanctuary Sanctum Sanctorum their Coffers for commuting and mitigating of Penance c. For by their Institution of their Sacrament of Penance their Church understands it to be instituted by Christ an entire full and Sacramental Confession of all sins to be made by all persons of the years of discretion lapsed after Baptism and that Jure Divino it is absolutely necessary so to do and that because Christ before his Ascension into Heaven lest his Priests to be his Vicars tanquam Praesides Judices unto whom all mortal Sins ought to be brought and confessed whereby by vertue and power of the Keys of remission and retention of Sins Mat. 16.19 John 20.23 they pronounce Sentence and give Judgment which they cannot rightly do if you will believe themselves nor justly proportion or impose Penance upon a general Confession only except the lapsed declare their Sins unto them in specie sigillatim particularly and in kind Can. 5. This to me seems wonderful strange that if Christ would have introduced a Rite to confess our Sins so particularly and punctually to Romish Priests as that no Use was ever the like that y●● he would be so understood by words ambiguous from which it must be drawn by very disjointed and unlinckt consequences very far fetcht consequences as incoherent as are Churton Sands of which the Neighborhood do merrily story that the Devil himself could never make Belropes thereof and not by most plain and perspicuous Terms as when he instituted the Eucharist there being not one plain word in the whole New Testament to command us so to do James indeed c. 5. v. 16. exhorts us to confess our faults one to another but what is that to Romish Priests James writ not to them but to the Twelve Tribes scattored abroad This Text is an Argument to perswade us to confess our faults one to another and to pray one for another that we may receive reciprocally the Councils Benefits and Consolatinos of each others Prayers but this institutes no Sacramental Confession to be performed to Romish Priests nor any power of pardoning to the Pope or his Priests nor any greater obligation on the Laity to confess to the Priest than on the Priests to confess to the Laity Mark the enforcement The effectual fervent Prayer of a righteous man Priest or not Priest availeth much Though these Canons make the Priests the only Ministrators of Absolution and Remission and that the Act in them is not Nudum Ministerium a naked Ministery of pronouncing and declaring Sins to be forgiven to the confessed but that it is in the Priest Act us Judicialis a Judicial Act by whom velut à Judice as by a Judge Sentence is pronounced Canon 6. They farther make the very Circumstances of Sins to alter the kind of them and therefore they have made two kinds of Sins viz. Mortal and Venial Canon 5. which is more than ever God himself made though he made two kinds of Sinners voz Penitent and Impenitent And in the conclusion they have Anathematized all those that are of contrary Opinions though there be not one plain Text of Scripture to warrant their so doing Now I would very fain know why the Institution being made by the Word Remitto the Form also was not Remitto I remit thy Sins rather than absolvo te I absolve thee and that if by these words a Sacrament of Absolution is instituted with this Form Absolvo te by which one is absolved why it doth not follow by an irresistable necessity that another Sacrament of Binding be not instituted in which this Form should likewise

be Ligo te because it cannot by any right Reason be understood how the same Authority to loose and bind founded upon the words of Christ absolutely alike doth require in Absolution the pronouncing of the words Absolvo te and that other of Binding doth not require pronouncing of the words Ligo te nor by what reason to execute that which Christ hath said Whose Sins ye retain c. and whatsoever ye shall bind c. And it is not necessary to say Ligo te but to execute whatsoever ye loose on Earth c. and whose Sins ye remit it is necessary to say Absolvo te And the same Canon doth also declare that Christ by the same words did constitute the Priests sui ipsius Vicarios tanquam Praesides Judices c. Can. 5. Judges of Sin and therefore that it is necessary to confess them all absolutely and in particular which is impossible for him that confesseth to know together with the Circumstances which speciem peccati mutant alter the kind seeing that it doth appear by the words of the Lord that he hath not distinguished Two sorts of Sins one to be remitted the other to be retained whereby it would be necessary to know of which sort the Delinquent is guilty but one only which doth comprehend all and therefore the word Peccata Sins in general is only used but he hath distinguished two sorts of Sinners saying Quorum Quorum one of the Penitent unto whom Remission is granted another of the Obstinate or Impenitent to whom it is denied therefore they are rather to know the State of the Delinquent than the Nature or Number of the Sins but concerning the Circumstances which they say alter the kind certainly every good Christian may swear with a very good Conscience that the holy Apostles and their Disciples most skilful in things spiritual not regarding humane subtilties did never know what were the Circumstances which alter the kind and yet there is made of it an Article of Faith necessary to Salvation But as it is approved by the Papists that Absolvo was a Judicial Word and reputed a good Consequence that if the Priests do absolve they are Judges so it appeareth to be an inconsistency to condemn those who say it is a naked Ministery to pronounce and to Anathematize those that so think Canon 6 9. It being plain that the Office of a Judge is nothing but to pronounce him innocent who is so and the Transgressor guilty and that this the Metaphor of the Judge doth not bear that the Priest can make a Just man of a Delinquent as is ascribed to him The Prince indeed may pardon Traitors and other Offenders and restore them to their good Names and Blood to whom he that maketh a wicked man just is more like than to a Judge who doth ever transgress his Office when he pronounceth any thing but that which he findeth to be true according to Allegata Probata But that which is most wonderful they prove the Doctrine of Specifical and singular Confession of Sins with the Circumstances by affirming out of Can. 5. That the Judicature cannot be executed without knowledge of the Cause nor Equity observed in imposing punishment if the faults be known only in general and afterwards that Christ hath commanded this Confession that they may impose the condign punishment What is this but plainly to mock the world and to think all men void of understanding but themselves and to perswade themselves that all their Absurdities must be believed upon trust how absurd soever For who knoweth not and seeth not daily the Confessors enjoyn Penance not only without weighing the Merits of the Faults but without having the least consideration of them It would seem by the words of the Canon and Council that the Confessors should have a Ballance to make difference of every Grain and yet oftentimes to recite five Pater nosters shall be a Penance for many Murders Adulteries and Thefts and yet the most learned Confessors and generally all in giving Penance do say to every man that they do impose only part of the Penance therefore it is not necessary to impose that exact Penance which the Faults do deserve nor to have a particular enumeration made of the Sins and Circumstances But what need one go so far when the same Council in the Ninth Chapter of the Doctrine and the Thirteenth Anathematism doth ordain that satisfaction is made by voluntary Penance Sponte susceptis Sesf 14. cap. 9. De Operibus satisfactoriis can 13. and suffering Hardships Therefore it is not needful nor yet just to impose in Confession the Punishment which is correspondent and by just consequence not to make a Specifical Enumeration which is said to be ordained for this end And that not considering any thing spoken before the Confessor though most learned attentive and wise having heard the Confession of any ordinary man for one Year much more of a great sinner for many years it is impossible he should judge aright though he had Canons of the punishment due to any Sin whatsoever without danger to err very much For a Confessor seeing all in Writing and considering many days of it could not make a Ballance to decide justly much less hearing and resolving presently as the Custom is What is this else but to scorn vilifie us and as if insensible Brutes Horses or Mules which have no understanding to impose such Absurdities upon our Reasons Belief and Consciences § Thus you see what work what strange work the Papists make with Binding and Loosing by drawing wrong Conclusions and Consequences from Premises which will not yield them That which is clear and apparent without the help of any Sophistry or false Arts is That Christ before his Ascension having commanded his Apostles to preach the Gospel c. he left also to them and to his Disciples as Representatives of all the Faithful this Principle and Catholick Precept viz. To love one another John 13.34 Charging them amicably not judicially to make peace between dissenting and discording Brethren and for the Dernier result and remedy giving the care thereof to the * Mat. 10.15 18. Body of the Church promising it should be bound and loosed in Heaven whatsoever they did bind and loose on Earth 1 Cor. 5.4 13. and whatsoever two did ask with a common consent should be granted by the Father Mat. 18.18 19. In this charitable Office 2 Thes 3.14 to give satisfaction to the offended and pardon to the offender the Primitive Church was always exercised And unto this Rule did St. Paul conform when he ordained that Brothers having Civil Suits one against another should not go to the Tribunals of the Infidels but that wise men not Priests should be appointed to judge the Differences and this was a kind of Civil Judgment as the other was the similitude of a Criminal but were both so different from the Judgment of the world that as