former course of life hath not been corresponding to so holy a Calling but that we blame them for is that they take upon them the honour and office of the Priesthood not being called thereunto as was Aaron that they despise the Churches Ordination by Imposition of hands that they handle the holy Scripture and Sacraments with black foule and unwashed hands that they presume that they have those gifts and graces of the Spirit which indeed they have not that they usurp upon the place and function of the Ministers of the Gospel and too much undervalue the cure of souls which as Saint Gregory rightly defineth it is Ars artium the Art of all arts And S. Paul by the question he propoundeth resolveth as much saying Who is sufficient for these things But now as the practise is and the common estimation of the vulgar we may crosse S. Pauls question with a contrary Interrogatorie Who is not sufficient for these things sith Coach-men Weavers Felt-makers and other base Mechanicks are now by some thought able Ministers and profound Doctors of the Church and Exercise as they tearme it not onely in private Conventicles but also per famam populum in great Churches and publique Assemblies to the great dishonour of God prophanation of his Ordinances and scandall of the Reformed Churches ARTIC 5. Concerning taking an oath especially ex officio ANABAPTIST NO Christian may lawfully take an Oath no not though it be required by a Magistrate especially such an Oath whereby they may hazard their life liberty or estate THE REFUTATION Though this assertion of the Anabaptists as they maintaine it hath a glosse and varnish put upon it of piety prudence and justice of piety in preventing all occasion both of false and vaine oathes of prudence in not insnaring our selves of justice in not concurring actively to our own prejudice or wrong yet upon due examination it will appear to be repugnant to all three to piety by robbing God of a part of his substantiall worship to wit a holy kind of invocation to prudence by unfurnishing our selves sometimes of our best defence which is to cleare our innocency by oath to justice by depriving all Courts of justice of this soveraigne evidence of truth and all humane society both of the surest tye of fidelity and the readiest meanes to end all strife and controversie For the farther manifestation whereof I am to cleare three points 1. That oathes may lawfully be taken by Christians 2. That some oathes may be lawfully exacted of them and imposed upon them 3. That oathes may be lawfully urged and exacted not only in civill but in criminall causes such as are commonly tearmed oathes ex officio when a man is required to answer upon oath concerning some crime or fault objected to him or articled against him Some deny it to be lawfull to take any oath others allow of oathes freely taken but not imposed a third sort dislike not all oathes imposed but only except against oathes ex officio These three questions hang as it were upon one string For if no oath may bee lawfully taken certainly none may be lawfully imposed and if oathes may not be imposed least of all the oath ex officio whereby we hazard and endanger our lives liberties limbes or estate if we confesse but our soules if we deny upon oath what is truly laid to our charge Againe on the contrary if the oath ex officio in some cases may be lawfully imposed then other oathes may be imposed with much lesse difficulty and if oathes may be lawfully imposed certainly they may be lawfully taken Yet must these questions of necessity be handled apart for the satisfaction of scrupulous consciences who first must be perswaded of the lawfulnesse of taking an oath in generall before they will suffer an oath to be imposed upon them and secondly that the Magistrate hath a lawfull power to exact oathes before they will take such and such a kind of oath required of them To lay the foundation therefore firme before wee build any thing thereupon First I prove the lawfulnesse of taking oathes the conditions prescribed by the prophet being observed namely that we sweare in judgement righteousnesse and truth in truth not falsely in judgement not rashly in righteousnesse not wickedly to the prejudice of equity or breach of Christian charity ARGUMENT I. Whatsoever God commandeth is lawfull for Gods command is the rule of good his command maketh that good which otherwise were evill as Abrahams offer to kill his sonne and the Iewes robbing the Egyptians of jewels of gold and silver and in like manner his prohibition makes that evill which otherwise in it selfe were good as working in a mans calling on the Sabbath the sparing the fattest of the cattell for sacrifice by Saul If every sinne be a transgression of the law it cannot be sinne to fulfill it But God commandeth taking of oathes as part of his worship Deut. 6. 13. Thou shalt feare the Lord thy God and serve him and sweare by his name Deut. 10. 20. To the Lord thou shalt cleave and sweare by his name hee is thy praise and he is thy God And Ier. 4. 2. Thou shalt sweare The Lord liveth in truth judgement and justice And to such as sweare in such a holy and religious manner God promiseth a blessing both outward and inward outward Ier. 12. 16. If they will diligently learne the wayes of my people to sweare by my name then shall they bee built in the midst of my people inward Psal. 63. 11. The King shall rejoice in God and every one that sweareth by him shall rejoice or glory in him Ergo to sweare is lawfull for Christians ANABAP ANSVVER It was lawfull to sweare when God commanded it under the law but it is not now lawfull for Christians sith Christ hath forbidden it in the Gospell REPLY 1. The same God is Law-giver both to the Iewes and Christians and the same truth shineth in the law and in the Gospell only with this difference in the law it shined through a tiffany or vaile of rites and ceremonies but in the Gospell as it were with open face The vaile is now taken away whereof religious swearing by the name of God was no part For an oath containeth not a resemblance of Christ but a worship of God It is no type or sign of grace but seale of truth the sense whereof is meer morall the law of it naturall the use perpetuall the worship performed in it to God is essentiall When we call God to witnesse a hidden truth in the sincerity of our intentions wee agnize his Soveraigne greatnesse For every oath is by a greater Heb. 6. 16. we professe his all-seeing wisdome we invocate his revenging justice which are not rituall but substantiall parts of worship In which regard in the texts of the Prophet Ieremy above alleadged swearing is joyned with the feare of God and cleaving to him both duties of the
exclusion of faith though without actuall profession of faith in their own persons which at the present they cannot do but as soon as they come to the use of reason and years of discretion they actually do it and thereby make the promise made for them by their sureties effectuall Thus have I crushed this adder yet because after the manner of serpents capite eliso cauda minatur though his head be bruised he wags still his tail and in the end of his Tractate thrusts out his sting to wound their reputation who had any dealing with him and other Sectaries in this argument I hold it fit to spend a twig or two more upon him till he be quite dead First when the advocates for paedobaptisme argue thus out of the tenth of Marke 13 14. None of those whom Christ bids to come unto him as to whom belongeth the kingdome of God may or ought to be debarred from the entrance into it by baptisme But children of beleeving parents who tender them to Christ are bid to come unto him and to them belongeth the kingdome of God Ergo the children of beleeving parents ought not to be debarred from the entrance of the kingdome of God by baptisme This schismaticall Anabaptist endeavoureth to dull the edge of the argument by this answer ANABAP ANSWER That though Christ took these children into his arms yet he christened them not neither doth he say that to them but to such belongeth the kingdome of God that is innocent meek and humble men in these vertues resembling children But the edge of the argument may be sharpned by this reply REPLY First Christ christened none neither men nor children as Saint Iohn teacheth us but his disciples only If therefore an argument drawn from his example negatively were of any force it would conclude as well against baptizing men in riper yeares as children for certain it is Christ baptized neither the one nor the other Secondly these children were not brought to Christ that he should baptize them but that he should touch them and that he did for he layd his hands upon them and blessed them and his blessing them was as effectuall to their salvation as if he had christened them for Christs grace dependeth not upon the vertue of the sacrament but contrarily the vertue of the sacrament upon his grace Thirdly when Christ said to such belongeth the kingdome of God he necessarily included children whom he propounds as patterns to men and his meaning is to children and to such as are so qualified as children belongeth the kingdome of God If he meant otherwise his reason had been of no force suffer children to come unto me and forbid them not because to men in riper yeares that are humble and innocent like infants belongeth the kingdome of God What is the innocencie or humilitie of men in riper yeares that can make profession of their faith to children Or what are they advantaged thereby that for this qualification in them infants and sucklings should be brought to Christ The coherent sense therefore must needs be this Bring little children to me for to them and such as are like them belongeth the kingdome of God Fourthly they who have their agents in heaven certainly belong to that kingdome but the children of the elect have their agents in heaven for Christ saith their Angels continually behold the face of my father which is in heaven The children of the godly must either belong to the kingdome of God or the kingdome of Satan and when they die either goe to life eternall or into everlasting torments there is no third place after this life either to heaven they must or hell if to heaven as belonging to the kingdome of God why is the gate of entrance into it lockt up against them here if to hell then all the children of the faithfull that die before they can make actuall profession of their faith even those sweet babes which suffered in Christs quarrell and were butchered by Herod whose feast the Church hath celebrated for 1300 yeares at least are to be deemed in the state of damnation which is a most uncharitable and damnable opinion See more of this argument and the vindication thereof Secondly whereas they who stand for the baptizing of children plead for them after this manner Omnes foederati signandi All that are comprised within the Covenant have a right to the seal thereof But the children of beleevers are comprised within the Covenant both as it was first drawn Gen. 17. 7. and after exemplified Esay 59. 21. and Acts 2. 39. Therefore the children of the faithfull have a right to the seal to wit baptisme This refractorie Separatist endeavours to wring this weapon out of our hands by a double answer ANSWER First that by seed in those promises is meant the posteritie of the faithfull not sucklings or infants Secondly that the promise spoken of in the Acts is not of admission into the church or remission of sins by baptisme but of extraordinarie gifts there mentioned namely the gift of healing and of tongues and revelations both by visions and dreams But they may take false hold of this weapon by this replie REPLY First that the word used in the Acts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth off-spring or those that are begotten of us and is as appliable to children as to men in years Secondly in the word seed used in Genesis and Esay children are necessarily implyed not only because all the posteritie of the faithfull that live in riper years were children but because millions of them dye in their infancie before they come to mans estate and dare any exclude them all out of the covenant Thirdly by seed in Genesis it may be demonstrated that infants sucklings were necessarily understood as well as men in riper years for infants by Gods command received the seal of the covenant to wit circumcision and the children of the faithfull under the Gospell are as capable of baptisme as the children of the Iew◠were under the law of circumcision neither did Christ by his comming contract the bounds of the church but very much enlarged them Fourthly though in the second of the Acts there is mention made of the extraordinare gifts of the spirit v. 4. 17. Yet the promise we insist upon v. 39. is not meant of those extraordinarie gifts for not all of the seed of Abraham much lesse all that were called of the Gentiles received those extraordinarie gifts but verie few in comparison and that in the plantation of the Gospell and for a few years or at most ages after whereas the promise which the Prophet here speaketh of was to be accomplished in all To you saith S. Peter is the promise made and to your children and to all that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God shall call but all that God called to the knowledge of the Gospell could not speak with strange tongues nor miraculously cure diseases
word as I proved heretofore and therefore are not to be accounted a meer humane invention although therein mans wit and invention be made use of Thirdly this argument may be retorted upon the Anabaptists Forms of prayers upon premeditation which Preachers use before their sermons are as well a worship of mans devising as the set forms devised and framed by the governours of the church But premeditated or studied prayers made by way of preface before sermons are acceptable to God and allowed by the Anabaptists themselves Ergo set forms of prayer cannot be disallowed OBJECT II. None who useth a set form of prayer prayeth by the Spirit Every good Christian ought to pray by the Spirit 1 Cor. 14. 15. Ergo no good Christian may use set forms of prayer ANSWER First the Apostle in the place alledged speaketh of an extraordinarie gift of the Spirit as appeareth by the verse immediately going before If I pray in a strange tongue my spirit prayeth but my understanding is without fruit Now sith those extraordinarie gifts of the Spirit are ceased Christians are not now bound to prophesie or pray by the Spirit in the Apostles sense This text therefore is impertinently alledged and maketh nothing against set forms of prayers now in use in the church Secondly the phrase to pray by the Spirit as it is used by Divines may admit of a double meaning either to pray by the immediate inspiration of the Spirit as the Prophets and Apostles and all the pen-men of the holy Ghost spake and wrote and in this sense they who use set forms of prayer devised by men pray not by the Spirit as neither doe they who pray ex tempore for then they could not be out which they are often nor commit any errour in their prayers which they doe very many nay then their prayers should be of equall authoritie with the Psalmes other prayers set down in scripture given by divine inspiration or by this phrase they mean to pray by the assistance of the Spirit and in this sense they who use premeditated and penned prayers more pray by the Spirit then they who use ex tempore prayers conceived and brought forth at the same instant for the Spirit assisteth the former both in their premeditation and their present deliverie but the latter only in their sudden expressions and I would fain know of them why they who preach studied and penned sermons preach by the Spirit and that far more accurately learnedly judiciously and powerfully then others and yet in their judgements they who utter studied and penned prayers pray not by the Spirit Thirdly this objection may also be retorted by the Apostles example we are as well to sing by the Spirit as to pray by the Spirit for so are his expresse words I will pray with the Spirit I will pray with understanding also I will sing with the Spirit I will sing with understanding also But a man may sing by the Spirit and yet sing prick-song and a written or printed dittie in meeter for such are the Psalmes of David which they themselves sing therefore a man may pray by the Spirit and yet use a set form and rehearse a penned or printed prayer OBJECT III. It is not lawfull to confine the spirit for that is a kind of quenching it forbidden by the Apostle 1 Thess. 5. 19. But the prescribing and using set forms of prayers is a confining or stinting the spirit Ergo the prescribing or using set forms of prayer is unlawfull First if the governours of the Church should simplie and absolutely forbid all suddainly conceived or ex tempore prayers in publike or private they should offend in some degree and be guiltie of the breach of that precept of the Apostle For to stifle all suddain motions of the Spirit and prohibit all piouâ— ejaculations is in some sense to quench the Spirit But albeit they command a set form of Liturgie to be read in the church yet they condemn not the use of conceived or premeditated prayers by preachers in their Sermons nor by private Christians in their closets but leave them to their Christian libertie Secondly I demand of them when they object against the use of set forms of prayer that they confine the spirit what Spirit they mean the Spirit of God or their own spirit the spirit of man If the Spirit of God their objection contains in it blasphemie for the Spirit of God cannot be confined by us whether we pray with premeditation or without use a set form or not the Spirit of God worketh in both as he pleaseth both by enlightning the understanding and warming our affections and powerfully assisting both in the conceiving and deliverie of prayer If they mean their own spirit or the spirit of him that prayeth in the congregation namely the minister or preacher I answer this is most necessarie that his spirit for the time be confined and his intention tied to that prayer he readeth or saith by heart neither is this forbidden by the Apostle nor is it any quenching of the spirit but rather a kindling it For in uttering zealous prayers with a fixt intention and devout affection we feel our hearts burn within us Thirdly this objection may also be retorted if a preacher may not use a set form of prayer because the spirit in him is thereby confined neither may he deliver a conceived or ex tempore prayer in the audience of the people because by it the spirit in them is confined though the prayer of the preacher be no set form to him but meer voluntarie and extemporarie yet is it a set form to the hearers and their spirit if they will not suffer their mind to wander is tied and confined to it so long as it lasteth being an home or two according to the length of our late fast prayers in which regard none more confine the spirit in men then these our upstart Enhusiasts OBJECT IV. Prayers of the Pastor or Minister ought to be fitted to the severall occasions of the faithfull Set forms of prayer cannot be so fitted Ergo they ought not to be used in churches First this is ignorantly objected by such who never read either our books of Common-Prayers or other helps to private devotion for in them there are not only generall prayers fit for all men to use at all times but also speciall applied to severall estates and conditions of men for men in sicknesse and in health in time of war or in peace and the like Secondly these severall occasions they speak of are either such as concern more in the congregation or some one only in partilar if they concern more and the preacher be acquainted therewith he may either chuse a penned prayer fitting for them or himself upon premeditation make one if they concern one only such are not fit to be mentioned in publike prayers but the Pastor is to repair to them and applie a salve in private to their peculiar sore Thirdly
for none may prophesie or preach except he be sent Ier. 14. 14. The Prophets prophesie in my name and I sent them not Jer. 27. 15. I have not sent them yet they prophesie Rom. 10. 15. How shall they preach except they be sent And the Christian Church now knoweth no other sending then by laying on of hands by the successours of the Apostles and commending them to particular charges And if such Episcopall Ordination be an Antichristian Rite we desire to learne from them what is the Christian forme or manner of admitting men into holy Orders for no other Ordination was heard of for 1500. yeeres or at least approved of and more during which time if there were no lawfull Calling there were no Pastors feeding and governing the flocks if no lawfull Pastors no visible Churches 2. As the Anabaptists have no outward Calling so neither inward for whatsoever overweaning conceit they may have of themselves yet certain it is they who take upon them to be their leaders and teachers are such as S. Ierome complaineth of in his 8. Epistle Who become Masters of the unlearned before they were scholars of the learned And S. Bern. We have many cocks in the Church but few cesterns they who derive to us the heavenly waters are so charitable that they poure out rather then stay to have any thing poured into them more ready to speak then to heare and apt to teach that they never learned Though they can very phrases and out of broken notes hold out a discourse upon some passages of Scripture for an houre or more yet they are no wayes furnished with gifts requisite to a faithful Shepherd and able Minister of the Gospel for they understand not the Scripture in the Originall Languages they cannot expound without Grammar nor perswade without Rhetorick nor divide without Logick nor sound the depth of any Controversie without Philosophie and Schoole Divinity Neither may they fly to immediate Inspirations of the holy Ghost and the miraculous gifts of Tongues and Prophesie for such have ceased in the Church for these many hundred yeeres The Anabaptists Objections answered You have heard how strong our Arguments are for the truth now ye shall heare in briefe how weake the Adversaries Objections are against it First they alledge out of Ioel 2. 28. I will poure out my Spirit upon all flesh and your sonnes and daughters shall prophesie your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dreame dreames That though under the Law the people were ordinarily to heare the interpretation of the Law of God from the Priests yet that under the Gospel God so plentifully powreth his Spirit upon all congregations that all Beleevers are enabled to Prophesie and to speak to instruction to edification and comfort But we answer That the Prophet there speaketh not of any ghostly power to open the Kingdome of Heaven and remit and retaine sins given by Christ to his Apostles and their successors but of an extraordinary measure of enlightning graces as also of extraordinary gifts of Tongues and Miracles as the Apostle Saint Peter himselfe expoundeth the Text Act. 2. 15 16 17. As there is a greater measure of knowledge given to the people under the Gospel then under the Law and a more copious effusion of the Spirit so also to the Pastours and to whom more is given more shall be required This Text therefore proveth not that all Sheep should be Pastours and all Scholars Teachers but that both Teachers and Disciples should have a greater measure of knowledge then before they had under the Law Secondly they alledge out of Colos. 3. 16. and the 1 Pet. 4. 10. that all Christians ought to communicate their knowledge and other gifts of the Spirit one to another and thereby to teach and instruct and edifie one another Therefore all Lay persons who have the gift of Supplication and Interpretation of Scripture ought to make use of them for the benefit of others as the Ministers of the Gospel doe But we answer that as the clouds when they are full drop and the eares shed and the fountaines flow so all who abound in knowledge ought in such way as they are able according to their calling derive it to others but hence it will not follow that all men have ghostly power to dispense the mysteries of â—alvation and administer the Sacraments and remit and retaine sins which peculiarly appertaine to the Pastorall calling There is a double teaching and admonishing Publique and Private Publique by expounding the holy Oracles of God and revealing to Gods people his whole counsell for their salvation Private by Catechizing a mans family or conferring with his Christian Brethren and rehearsing in some particular what he hath learned from the Scripture and other holy Books or the mouth of his Pastour or by giving good advice and shewing him his errours or encouraging him in a good course ministring unto him a word of comfort or advise or admonition in due season And of this latter kind of teaching and admonishing the Apostle speaketh as appeareth by the words following Admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymnes and spirituall songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Thirdly they alledge that Eldad and Medad Numb 11. 27. and Saul 1 Sam. 10. 11. and Philips daughters Act. 21. 9. prophesied that the Prophet Amos was a Herds-man Peter and other of the twelve Fishermen and S. Paul a Tent-maker Why then may not Tradesmen and the like if God bestowes gifts upon them preach the Word and administer the Sacraments But we answer that extraordinary instances ought not to be taken for presidents or drawne into ordinary practise else false Prophets might now expect to be admonished of their errours by brute beasts because once God opened the mouth of the Asse and by it reproved the madnesse of the Prophet Balaam and all Souldiers that fight the Lords battaile blow rams horns in stead of trumpets because once with them the walls of Iericho were blowne downe or arme themselves with lamps and broken pitchers because Gideons souldiers with such weapons discomfited and routed the Midianites All these had a calling from God and proved this their calling by strange and wondrous effects as by certainly fore-telling things future or speaking with tongues which they never had learned or by miraculous cures or the like Let our new Enthusiasts and Brownists prove their extraordinary calling in like manner and we will not deny them the exercise of the Ministeriall function It is to be noted that none are now borne in holy Orders or may challenge the Priesthood by birth but before they take holy Orders upon them given them by the Church they are meere Lay persons Neither doe we find fault with any simply hoc nomine because they have been before of other professions or trades though it were to be wished that there were no necessity of admitting such into the Ministery whose education or
the Father of the Anabaptists of our age who as I shewed thee before out of Bullinger and Melancthon was Nicholas Stock a man every way answerable to his name for a very Block-head was he Robertus Galius had a vision wherein he saw the Pope saying Masse with a lean meagre and a drye head like as if it had been made of wood Such of all the world was this Stock the head of the Anabaptists and from this block when he was hewen downe in Germany some chips flew into England Although the eye of the mind of man since the fall is like to the eye of an Owle that cannot endure the bright beames of the Sunne of righteousnesse and howsover God in the first planting of the Gospell made use of illiterate men such as were Tent-makers and Fisher-men to the end that all might know that He that planteth and he that watereth is nothing but all is Gods who giveth the increase yet when the eye of mans understanding is anointed with the ey-salve of the Spirit the clearer and sharper the eye is the better it discernes both Spirituall and Naturall objects and since the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit have failed in the Church the learnedst men whose knowledge God sanctified to that use have proved the worthiest instruments of his glory in proclaiming the doctrine of Saving Grace and turning many unto righteousnes who shall shine as Starres in the skie for evermore And as it remaines a blot upon Ieroboam and his house never to be wiped out that he made of the lowest of the people Priests of the high places so it is not one of the least brands of the Roman Antichrist that he filled the Church with a number of ignorant Masse-Priests Monkes and Fryers who blind guides as they were of the blinder people fell together with them into the ditch of superstition heresie and sensuality And think we the blindest men are the fittest to draw them out of it This is the Anabaptists judgement who as the Romanists teach ignorance to be the mother of devotion so these to be the mother of Propheticall revelation or interpretation For Iohn Tuseoverer a Gold-smith of Warendorp pretending himselfe to be a Prophet sent from God commanded the Senate in Munster to remove all their Magistrates and put down all their Preachers as well Evangelicks as Papists and to place in their roome twelve simple illiterate men to expound the word of God to the people without any help of Arts or Tongues by meer Enthusiasmes or suddain inspirations and ejaculations Another of their Prophets Iohn Matthias commanded that none should keepe any booke in his house but the Bible whereupon all the books that were found in any Library Study or House save Bibles were brought into the Market place and a bone-fire made of them But better all these obstinate Sectaries were burnt at a stake then such a bonefire made in this Kingdome after which would follow the ruine of all Schooles and Universities and more then Egyptian darknesse through the wide Kingdome Since the extraordinary gifts of Prophesie and Languages have ceased in the Church secular learning hath been as the Day-starre appearing in the Firmament of the Church before the Sunne and where no Day-starre going before no Sunne rising after As for rude Mechanicks and unlettered Artificers to chuse them for our guides to the celestiall Canaan is all one as if an Army to march by night over narrow bridges and by fearfull precipices should by common consent elect pur-blind men to lead the way or a â—leet at Sea after they have cut the line and saile under an unknowne Climate in a ruffe Sea and tempestuous weather should among all the Mariners chuse the unskilfullest Pilots to steer their course Wee read in the Apocalypse of a Starre called Wormewood bitter in the effects and influences but a Starre in the light thereof Such have ben the Authours Devisers and Broachers of other Heresies bitter indeed in their tenets and distastfull in their manners yet Stars for their light of learning whereas these false teachers cut as chips out of N. Stock resemble brands of hell fire in which there is a sultring heat but no light at all Peruse if thou please Christian Reader all the ancient heresies listed by Epiphanius Augustine Philastrius Alfonsus à Castro Ambrosius de Rusconibus and others and therein thou shalt find the Ring-leaders great Clerks and acute Sophisters Whence is that true observation of Tertullian Philosophi haereticorum Patriarchae Philosophers have been the great Grand-fathers of Hereticks but of this base contemptible Sect of the Stockites there was never yet heard any Professour of eminent learning neither is there like ever to be for learning they hold rather a disparagement then ornament an extinguisher then a kindler of their new light and strange fire In a grosse and foggy Mist a cleare light cannot long shine for either the light will pierce through the Mist or the Mist will dampe the light so if it should fall out that any great Scholar should be admitted into their communion either their grosse erronrs would in time put out the light of his knowledge or the clear light of his knowledge soone dispell the Mist of their ignorance and palpable errours Which need the lesse confutation because they contradict themselves as much as the truth For First they condemne the Baptisme of children upon this ground because they say they cannot be assured of the truth of their faith and repentance by which reason they should forbid or forbear the christening of men in riper yeares also forasmuch as these teachers can be no way assured of the sincerity of their Scholars faith and true purpose of amendment of life For though they professe the one and promise the other yet they may do it in hypocrisie and for worldly ends Or if they will say we ought to beleive their profession and promise for themselves why then ought we not as well to beleive their profession and promise for their Children when the Fathers or God-fathers undertake for them at the Font Secondly they preach the doctrine of mortification of the flesh and crucifying the lusts thereof and yet withall they maintaine plurality of wives and adulterous and incestuous copulations under the title of spirituall marriages with those of their own Sect. Conjugium vocat hoc praetexit nomine culpam Thirdly they allow of no set formes of prayer or studied Sermons because such as they conceive who use them pray not by the Spirit yet themselves in their Assemblies make use of set hymnes and Psalmes which notwithstanding they make us beleive they sing by the Spirit according to the example of the Apostle I will pray with the spirit and will pray with understanding also I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with understanding also Fourthly they cry up the doctrine of the crosse and boast
darknesse how great is that darknesse if there be confusion in order it selfe how great must the confusion needs be if all be Pastours where are their flocks if all be teachers where are their Scolars a preaching Disciple sounds as harshly as a Scholar Master or a Lecturing hearer it is true we grant that all who have received gifts from God ought to make use of them for the benefit of others and if any abound in knowledge hee ought to communicate to them that lack and freely give lumen de lumine Clouds when they are full powre downe and the spowts runne and the eaves shed and the presses overflow and the Aromaticall trees sweat out their precious and soveraigne oyles and every learned Scribe in the Kingdom of God brings out of his rich treasury new things and old Notwithstanding this necessary duty of imploying our talent whatsoever it be to our Masters best advantage none may take upon him the cure of soules without Commission nor divide the word and dispence the Sacraments without ordination and imposition of hands none may preach except he be sent none may assume the honour of the Priesthood except hee bee called as was Aaron none may open and shut the Kingdome of heaven except they have received the keyes from Christ neither a calling without gifts nor gifts without a calling makes a man of God if any have a calling without gifts their Ministery is without fruit if any gifts without a calling their Ministery is without power the former have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the latter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not every one that hath a strong voice is a lawfull cryer in a Court but he that is appointed neither is every one that can write a good hand a publick Notary but he that is sworne neither may every Mariner that is skilful in Navigation take upon him the office of a Pilot but he that is chosen But this error of the Anabaptists whereby they overthrow all order in the Church and confound shepheards and flocks Masters and Scholars Clergy and Laity I have professedly impugned and at large refelled Article 4. Whither I referre the Reader for further satisfaction Sixtly I except against the 45. Article That such to whom God hath given gifts being tryed in the Church may and ought by the appointment of the congregation to prophecie When Muncer a seditious Anabaptist first set abroach their doctrine at Mulchus and took upon him to reforme many things in Church and State Luther advised the Senate to demand of him what calling he had to doe such things he did and if he should avouch God for the Author of his calling then they should require of him to prove that his calling from God by some eminent signe for that whensoever it pleaseth God to change the ordinary course and to call any man to any office extraordinarily he declares that his good will and pleasure by some evident signe If the calling of the Anabaptisticall teachers bee be ordinary let them demonstrate it by Scripture if extraordinary let them prove it by miracle For the prophecy they spake of let them distinctly declare what kind of Prophecying they mean and whom they esteem Prophets for prophecying is taken in a double sense in holy Scripture sometimes according to the propriety of the Greek derivation for the prediction of things future sometimes in a larger sense for revealing the mysteries of God expounding his Oracles either coÌ„cerning things past present or to come and this two manner of wayes either with study and upon premeditation with the help of Arts and Tongues and by consulting the best Commentaries both ancient and latter or without any study or premeditation by immediate revelation or inspiration Prophecy in the first sense is an extraordinary calling in the last an extraordinary gift in the middle acception an ordinary Ministeriall duty And if that custome which Arch-Bishop Grindall would have introduced into the Church in the dayes of Q. Elizabeth and is in use at Geneva and among some other reformed Churches were put in practise in England and a certaine number of learned and able Pastours met at some set times and having before notice of the Texts to be handled should every one in their order deliver their severall interpretations observations and applications thereof which they call Prophecying we should exceedingly approve of it and questionles thereby the Ministeâ—s would very much improve their talents of knowledge But for rudeÌ„ and illiterate Mechanicks without calling without knowledge of Arts or Tongues upon a Scripture read in the Congregation to give their suddain judgements and interpretations thereof as is the manner of the Anabaptists we hold it an intolerable presumption in them and unsufferable abusâ— in the Church For those extraordinary revelations they pretend unto together with the miraculous gift of Tongues and healing for many hundred yeares agoe have failed in the Church If they could now doe as the Primitive Corinthians could not onely pray by the spirit but sing by the spirit if upon the first proposall of an obscure and intricate passage of the old Prophets or Apocalypse they can give upon the suddaine a cleare and rationall interpretation and deliver this in what Language soever if they can discover the secrets of the hearts of unbeleivers in such sort that they falling down on their face shall worship God and report that God is in your Assemblies of a truth then let the examples of the Primitive Christians in the Apostles dayes serve them for Precedents in this kind but of those irradiations of the Spirit together with the glisning of the fiery tongues have not been seen in any Christian Church these many ages if they come as short of the prime converts to the Christian Religion in extraordinary gifts as in time if they are so far from speaking with strange tongues that they cannot speak correctly and coherently in one if they are so wide of the sense of the place they expound that their Paraphrases are often without sense if they utter old broken notes taken from none of the best Sermons for new revelations if they furbish up ancient heresies that have layne long in the dark for Christian Armour of Light if in their interpretations they not only contradict the Scriptures but themselves and in stead of a musicall consent we hear nothing but vain janglings if their prophecyings for the time past have bin no better and none can prophecie or promise better of them for the time to come though they pretend never so much to the spirit and boast of visions and Revelations though some of them have a glib tongue and thereby slide into the approbation of the vulgar sort though in their contemplations they sore up so high that they lose themselves and their hearers though they draw their thinâ—e wier to a great length though notwithstanding they are often