Civill estate and of every particular person in both all things being innovated in both according to the Iusts and pleasures of men the Law and Word of God being quite rejected and cast aside And in the 212. page of their refutation of Master Gifford They have these words We hold that you have poysoned all the fountaines of sincere doctrine and perverted the whole Testament and turned away the practise thereof by your damnable false expositions Yea that you teach not one point sincerely And in the 162. page of this discovery They are made socontrary one to another as it is an impossible thing to finde two of them in one minde yea or any one of them constant in that he affirmeth they know not the Doctrine even of the beginning of Christ Adde hereto Henry Barrowes words 12 and 23. pages of their collections of Letters and conference We will not give any answer to these speeches but onely desire the Christian Reader to consider whether ever Gods Spirit taught any to write so slanderously not onely against a whole Nation the conversion whereof they pretend to seeke but against the blessed Truth of God And how unlikely it is that they should bee in the right way whose chiefe leaders were guided by such a spirit That they should be the Lords building whose first founders and Master builders had either so small skill or so bad a Conscience Doe we not hold all the same books of Canonicall Scriptures which they themselves doe Doe wee not reject out of the Canon all which themselves account Apochryphall Have they any translation of holy Scripture besides ours Doe they themselves beleeve or teach otherwise in the Articles of the holy Trinity of justification of predestination then wee doe Hath every member of their Assemblies recovered that spirit of truth whereby they are led into all truth as Henry Barrow page 107. of his discovery affirmeth And is there not any one amongst us that hath not quite rejected the whole Word of God Not any one that knoweth the doctrine even of the beginning of Christ We know no better way to convince them in this then by appealing unto their Consciences which we are sure will take our parts against them Now this reason also is strong to prove us a true Church for although the bare letter of the Scripture may be found amongst the Jewes and Papists and other Heretickes Which none ran doe but the true Church Yet was there never any people that held and maintained the true sence of the Scripture in all points fundamentall but only the Church of God whereunto onely this title belongeth to bee the pillar and ground of truth 1 Tun. 3.15 A people may bee a true Church though they hnow not nor hold every truth contained in the Scriptures wherein wee desire the Reader to consider that a people may be the true Church though they know not nor hold not every truth contained in the holy Scriptures but contrarily hold many errours repugnant to the Scriptures Yet hath Henry Barrow affirmed in the 167. page of his discovery That to the people of God and every one of them God hath given his holy sanctifying spirit to open unto them and leade them unto all truth Whereby it is most evident that he would have none to be accounted the people and Church of God who either know not or practise not every truth contained in the holy Scriptures In which opinion see I pray you how grosse and dangerous errors are contained First That to every inseriour member in the Church there is as much reveiled as to the Pastors and chiefe members whereas the Apostle affirmeth Romans 12.3 Ephes 4 16. eol 2.19 that the Holy Ghost is given to every member of the body of Christ not equally but proportionably as the place which it occupieth in the bodie doth require Secondly That the promise mentioned Iohn 16.13 Should be made to every member of the Church which in the last words of the verse appeareth plainely to be particular to the Apostles Thirdly That the Church cannot erre and so neither were the Corinthians rightly called the Church of God when they judged corruptly of fornication and of the Resurrection Neither they of Pergamus when the Doctrine of Balaam was maintained among them Neither were Paul and the rest of the Apostles true Members of the Church who though in the exercises of their Apostolicall function they could not erre yet knew but in part and in many things were subject to error (a) 1 Cor. 13 9. Another strange opinion is amongst them maintained in the 156,157 of the discovery viz. That every truth contained in the Scripture is fundamentall For although we affirme not as he thereslandereth us That some part of Scripture is more holy more authenticall or more true then other Note Yet doubt we not to say that some parts are of more use and more necessary for men to know then othersome Else why doth the Holy Ghost oft give speciall commendation to some parts more than to other 1 Tim 4.11 Titus 3.8 Make 4 3â— why doth he as it were make Proclamation and solemne oyesses before some and not before other Why doth hee use a speciall art in some parts rather than in other And although wee doe not hold as they falsly charge us in the forenamed page of their discovery That some parts of holy Scripture are of small moment superficiall needlesse and of no necessitie such as may be altered and violated without any prejudice or danger at all to the soule and much lesse that a man that hath obstinately continued in the transgression of some parts and openly taught the same unto others may be undoubtedly saved though he die without Repentance but on the contrary wee beleeve and teach that there is no part of holy Scripture which every Christian is not necessarily bound to seeke and desire the knowledge of so farre forth as in him lieth yet dare wee not call every truth fundamentall that is such as if it be not obeyed and known the whole Religion and faith of the Church must needs fall to the ground For we doe make no question but that the thiefe that was crucified and the Eunuch even then when he was baptized by Philip were in the state of salvation though they could not choose but bee ignorant of many truths in Religion The only fundamentall truth in Religion is this That Jesus Christ the Sonne of God who tooke our nature of the Virgin Mary is our only and all-sufficient Saviour For first they that receive this truth are the people of God and in the state of salvation they that receive it not cannot possibly bee saved (a) Mat. 16.17 104.2 Col. 3.17 Iohn 20.31 Ephos 2.20 Secondly There is no other point of Christian Religion necessary otherwise then as it tendeth necess rily to the bringing us unto or confirming us in the assurance of this one truth (b) Heb. 13.8
Chron. 29.30 4. A prescript forme of words bath beene some times commanded to be used in extraordinary occasions Hosca 14 3◠Ioel 2.13 but in them also which we finde to have bin used by the good servants of God in former times upon the like occasions to those that befall us now So Salomon useth in the Dedication of the Temple that very Psalme which David vowed to use at the bringing of the Arke to his house and in the bringing of the Tabernacle and holy Vessells into the House of God he useth the same words of another Psalme So Jehosaphat useth the same words of the same Psalme in that excellent thankesgiving which he maketh to God Hezekiah caused thanks to be given in the same words unto God as David and Asaph had used before Yea this manner of praying and praising in set and prescript formes of words even upon extraordinarie occasions we finde directly commanded fundry times So the Prophets expresly set forth what words should bee used among the people And which is yet more we finde a set and prescript form of words to be used in extraordinary occasions appointed long before that those occasions fell out So we reade of a forme of thanksgiving Fourthly it hath sometimes beene prescribed long before the occasions fell out Esa 12.3 4. 1 King 8.47 Daniel 9.5 Ier. 33.11 Ezra 3.11 appointed to be used by the Church at Christs comming and Salomon prescribeth a form of confession to be used by the Church in captivitie which forme Daniel in the name of the Church used So Ieremie appointeth the 136. Psalme to be used by the people for a forme of thanksgiving after their returne from captivitie which was also used accordingly by then whereupon this will follow that unlesse they can take exception to the matter of our prayers which shall afterwards be considered of they may not blame us for the stinted and prescript forme of prayers we use and that if we want fervencie of spirit in our prayers That also which they object against our Catechismes is of no force for first it is lawfull to collect out of the word and to teach in order the principles of Religion the fault is to be imputed to the corruption of our owne hearts and not to the prescript formes we use Concerning the Catechismes used in our Church we answer first It is evident by the Scripture that the Church hath for the instruction of the people not only taught and deliverd the holy Scriptures themselves and tied themselves in their teaching to the very words and frame thereof but hath also ever had and used to teach abridgments summes of their principles of Religion collected out of the Scriptures and this wee thinke will be evident to such as in the feare of God and desire to know the truth shall well weigh and consider these places t Rom. 2 20. 6 17. 2 Tim. 1.13 Heb. 5.12.13 14 6 1 2 Secondly it is also lawfull to require of the hearers an account which is also thus taught And as the Scripture proveth this warrantable so reason it selfe and common experience teacheth that it is a great help in all knowledge to have short summes of that we would learne in our view and prospect represented to us and to have that in order taught that we would bee instructed in So is the Saylor holpen by his Card the Traveller by his Map and the most cunning workman by his patterne he draweth before be beginneth his worke Luke 2.46.47 Mat. 13.36 51 Mark 9.28.30 31. So he that teacheth children beginneth with the Letters and hee that buildeth an house with the foundation Secondly Thirdly the hearer may lawfully give account of the doctrine in the selfe same words wherin it was taught Fourth'y he may lawfully have copies of these principles in writing or print That wch they object against our forms viz that we conceive them not our selves but they are devised imposed by others is also of no moment for it is lawfull to use these formes not only that are in the word but such as men have devised Ref. pag. 204. It is also evident that in teaching these principles as well as in the other kinde of instructions Christ and his Holy Apostles have beene wont to require of their hearers that they should resound and give account of the principles of Religion thus taught in order as appeareth by the notation of the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is used in all these places Luke 14. Acts 18.25 1 Cor. 14.19 Galath 6.6 as also by the practise of the Jewish Church which our Saviour by his presence approved and by his owne practifie also and which following his example some of the Apostles did Thirdly If Ministers may as wee have proved in regard of the particular state of their people collect such abridgments and require the people to resound them then it cannot be unlawfull for the people to resound the doctrine in the selfe same words wherein it was taught Fourthly This being so it cannot but be lawfull and profitable for the people to have the Catechismes and sums delivered them in writing or in print that they may the better read and learne them Seeing we may have formes both of prayers and Catechismes we see not how this can condemne the formes which wee use viz. That in compiling and collecting them the invention and such other gifts of men are used seeing there is a liberty left to the Church to doe many things that tend onely to the setting forth of Gods Ordinances as themselves confesse and in the preaching of the Word and in those prayers which they call conceived praiesr the wit memory judgment and such other humane gifts are lawfully and necessarily used especially considering that the peoples understanding and memory may bee the better helped by that they are well acquainted with them by the other If we may use lawfully as we see we may even such formes as were collected by men Secondlie It is lawfull for Ministers to use such formes as have beene devised by men of better gifts then themselves and that these formes doe not any way staine or prejudice the fevencie of the spirit then doubt we not but these forms that have beene set downe by men of better gifts may as lawfully bee used of them who throughly conceive the meaning and truth of them as those which the Minister deviseth himselfe If formes thus devised by men be found to be lawfull and profitable what sinne can it bee for the Governours of the Church to command that such formes bee used Thirdlie It is lawfull to use such good formes as are imposed by authoritie or for us that are perswaded of the lawfulnesse of them being imposed unlesse they will say that therefore it is unlawfull for us to heare the word receive the Sacraments beleeve the Trinitie and all other Articles of the faith because wee are commanded by the
borne but stedfastly opposed to their great reproach dammage and danger many wayes the corruptions in our Church-government worship and Leiturgie and have beene lights and leaders to these latter times therein yet alwayes in a peaceable and regular way as not on the one side to subject themselves to suspitious inventions so on the other not sinfully to separate from the Communion and true worship of Churches accounting it more agreeable to all rules of pietie charitie and Christian prudence to tolerate for the time what they could not mend rather than to rent and teare all in peeces to an utter ruine To conclude though perhaps some few particulars in this treatise may seeme more questionable yet for the maine I doubt not but the Authors have held close to the truth both in their owne positions and in opposing their adversaries By which therefore good Reader thou maiest reape much benefit for thy better settling in these unsettled times if thou be capable thereof and if the Lord shall please to adde his blessing thereunto Which hee shall never cease to pray for who is all that he is truly thine in Him W R. THE PREFACE of the AUTHORS of the Treatise ensuing to the READER THE holy Apostle Saint Paul writing unto the Galathians these words Brethren If any man be fallen by occasion into any fault you which are spirituall restore such a one with the spirit of meeknesse considering thy selfe lest thou also be tempted both sheweth the danger of falling whereunto they are subject who stand in the Church of God and prescribeth the dutie of recovering those that are fallen unto such as are spirituall That is to say as are furnished with gifts thereunto with the manner how all that ought to be performed two necessary points in our judgements to be considered and much tending to the preservation of the good and happy estate of the Church of God for how cometh it to passe that Sathan so farre prevaileth against it but for that weake men consider not the danger of falling untill they be downe and almost past recovering those that are fallen either not at all or not untill they be well neere without remedy It is therefore one especiall part of holy wisedome for men who think they stand to take heed lest they fall and therefore to seeke to kneow the depth of Sathans pollicies and subtilties and then the effectuall means for the preventing of them Into which if they carefully enquire they shall finde that though hee seeke to draw even those that have shined as starres in the Church from heaven unto the earth yet that he much more earnestly laboureth to make them wandring starres forsaking the place wherein they seemed to be fixed to give shine and direction to others that is though hee laboureth and endeavoureth to bring men from their first love and zeale unto a lukewarmnesse or key coldnesse in the Church yet he rather desireth to lead them into a fierie spirit and indiscreet zeale from the Church and societie of Saints which no doubt he doth as for many other causes so for these two 1. That he might by their departure who have seemed zealous and godly professors shake the faith of others and cause them to doubt that they are not in the true Church where they may finde directions toward the kingdome of heaven and at last to flie from it as from Babylon And 2. that he might deprive those men themselves of the happy meanes of the recovery which they might have had easily applyed had they beene in the Church and remained in the fellowship thereof Hence it is that in the Church of God those who breaking the holy bands of love and faith have like unkinde children forsaken her their naturall mother and oft pleaded with her as a strumpet which never was done in more convenient manner then of late by certain of our brethren who having been brought forth of the wombe and brought up in the bosome of the Church of England have not onely renounced as a stepmother but condemned her as one of the daughters yea the eldest daughter of the very whore of Babylon railing on her as if she living in continuall spirituall fornications brought forth sonnes and daughters not unto Christ but unto Antichrist his adversary By which their faults and fallings as they have deprived themselves of those gracious blessings which they did long and might have still enjoyed amongst us to their soules health and made the meanes of their recovery more hard and difficult so have they troubled and disquieted many remaining in the body of our Church and of strong men in the truth brought them to be children again in understanding easie to bee carried about with every blast of diverse and strange doctrines how contrary soever to the truth according unto godlinesse either taught or received by them The case thus standing we take it to be our duties being members and Ministers of this Church having by Gods grace received some though a small measure of gifts fit thereunto as to maintaine the credit of the Church wherein we live And to justifie the practise of our ministerie therein so farre forth as truth will permit so chiefely to seeke and endeavour both the recoverie of those that are strayed from the sheepfold of Christ amongst us and also the stay of those that are ready to runne after them together with the better grounding and confirming of them who remaine in the flocke with comfort under their shepheards which duty we have endeavoured to performe heretofore by publike preaching and private conferences as occasions hath beene offered and now have bestowed our labours in writing this treatise following to the same end wherein after wee have proved by certaine reasons that our Assemblies are the true Church of God we take upon us to shew First The foure chiefest exceptions they take against our Church for warranting Schisme and separation from us are vaine and frivelous Secondly That the maine grounds they stand upon for the erecting their new Church are weake and slender Thirdly that the best arguments that they use for condemning us and justifying themselves are loose and unsufficient which points as we have gathered out of their printed books and written papers where they were before scattered and brought into one forme and body so have we more plainely and nakedly both proposed and dealt in passing by all impertinent and offensive matters And their flouting declamations petitions exclamations and bitter reviling speeches against our Churches Ministers and people all their reprochfull slanderous profane scornings fearefull blasphemies against the Word preached and Sacraments administred prayers and holy exercises of Religion used in our Assemblies wherewith their writings and printings swell to some bignes as Bladders puffed up with winde All these though wee have given the Reader some taste of their spirit in them yet have wee not in our Treatise stood upon them for that wee judge them not worthy the answer This worke
of ours we commend first unto our brethren departed from us desiring them to read it without partialitie selfe love prejudice or other sinister affections and with meekenesse indifferencie and love of the Truth desire to be informed and readinesse to be reformed where they erre and goe astray It may be that God will give a blessing to it nay sure wee are that he is faithfull that hath promised to give unto those that aske to open to those that knocke and to cause them to find that seeke the truth in sincerity of their hearts especially if to the reading thereof they adjoyne First a review of the books which have beene written by the Ring-leaders of their separations Secondly a view of the persons of whom their Assemblies consist And Thirdly a consideration of the estate wherein their Church now standeth In the review of the bookes which have been written we exhort them with single hearts to examine the spirits where with the authors of them were led in their writing and they shall finde it not to be the good spirit of God which filleth mens hearts with meekenesse humilitie compassion softnesse holinesse and other sanctified affections but that evill spirit of Satan which under colour of zeale of Gods glory hatred of sinne desire of serving God in sincerity thrusteth men whom it hath deceived into pride selfe love rashnesse unnaturall affections uncharitable surmises and most unchristian judgment of their brethren Secondly to weigh wisely what end they proposed to themselves in their writings which will evidently appeare to be not so much the cleering of themselves from the crime of Schisme as the drawing of others to joyne with them and the defacing of our Church which they compare with the most Idolatrous and heathenish Nations that ever were yea with Sodom and Babylon it selfe and the disgracing the Ministers thereof especially those whom heretofore they have most reverenced whom they sort with most wretched Miscreants Iudas Cain Balaam and many other upon whom the spirit of God hath set a fearefull brand of eternall condemnation Thirdly to try carefully the allegations of Scripture wherewith they have fully painted the Margents and with the multitude whereof they have astonished the simple or credulous Readers perswading them that their cause standeth upon the same ground of Gods holy Word and they shall plainely perceive that the places by them alleadged do for the most part prove that which we denie not And if they be brought to confirme the matter in controversie they are either unconscionably or ignorantly wrested against or besides the meaning of the Holy Ghost A second thing which we intreat them to do is to view the persons of whom their Assemblies consist and let them tell us how many of them there bee whom they have brought from grosse ignorance unto true knowledge from infidelitie to holy Faith from profanesse of life to a conscionable walking with God if there bee scarce any amongst them which have not bin of some note in our Churches for holy and sincere profession and if they had no good thing in them which they have not received by the ministerie of those men and in the bosome of those Churches which now they condemne and flie from why then take they the Seale of our ministerie and Church and set it unto their blanke Thirdly we exhort all of them to a survey of their estate wherein they stand which is if that be true which by some of their own hath been reported full of disorder and confusion And indeed how can it otherwise bee whereas they teach that every member of their Church may and ought to stand up against their Ministers and Elders to gainesay them in delivering of doctrine and withstand the other in execution of discipline If he be perswaded the one erreth from the truth and the other faileth in justice is not this to make every member an eye an eare an head And must not men be of Angelicall perfection to preserve unitie where such large libertie is granted unto them A second sort to whom we commend this labour of ours be our brethren also who by the writings doings and sufferings of these deceived men are in danger likewise to bee deceived being brought to halt betweene two opinions These also we pray to read it with an holy purpose to be fully resolved and setled in the truth We hope their labour shall not be in vaine if they will accept from us these few advertisments First That they make not the example of any man seem he never so godly religious and zealous but the Word of God only the rule of their beliefe and life Paul himselfe must be followed no further when the holy precepts of the Word and the examples of the godly joyn together we have the one to teach us the other to incite us to doe our duties Secondly That they carry an humble and lowly conceit of themselves and their gifts That they remember 1 Cor. 8.2 Galath 6.3 that if any man thinke hee knoweth any thing hee knoweth nothing as he ought to know And that if any man seeme to himselfe that he is somewhat when he is nothing he deceaveth himselfe in his imaginations That to this purpose they occupie themselves in consideration of their owne wants and sinnes which cleave so fast unto them rather than in the marking the blemishes noteing the faults that are in others following the counsell of the Apostle Galath 6.4 Let every one prove his owne worke and then shall he have rejoycing in himselfe only and not in another Thirdly that they have a reverend opinion of those men by whose ministerie they have beene begotten unto God or nourished in the truth by whose labours they have beene instructed confirmed and comforted in whose mouthes the Word of God hath beene unto them as a two edged sword entring through them unto the deviding a sunder the soule and spirit the joynts and the marrow that they suffer not a sinfull thought to enter into their heads of their vnlawfull vocations who have their hearts and soules as Seales of their ministery and may say to them as Paul to the Corinthians 1. Cor. 9 1â— are yee not my worke in the Lord if I be not an Apostle unto others yet doubtlesse I am unto you for you are the Seale of mine Apostleship in the Lord whereof they should therefore be the more carefull for that it hath bin an ancient and ordinary policie of Satan that hee might cause men to refuse the word brought unto them in the mouthes of the Prophets Apostles and other men of God yea of Christ Himselfe to perswade them that they had no warrant of their vocarions and calling from God Fourthly That if notwithstanding all that is said for their instruction and reformation in this behalfe they keepe a liking of that draught of a Church which our deceived Brethren have framed and commended in their writings and desire to joyne themselves unto their
is the reason it prevaileth not with any such to their seduction yet unto men of weak judgements and strong affections or of more heat then knowledge it seemeth far otherwise who are not in our judgements to bee contemned and suffered to be so headlongly carried in so violent a course but rather with compassion to be reclaimed and with meeknesse to be restored by such as are spirituall If it please the Lord to give a blessing to their labour so spent and imployed Secondly seeing this Heresie of theirs doth not only seeke to untile the House of God built amongst us nor to breake downe the walls only but even to overthrow the whole fram thereof taking away the Pillars whereon it standeth the preaching of the Word and administration of the Sacraments Yea digging up the very foundation thereof and taking Christ from us whom as they say wee preach not but denie in all his offices were the false-hood and blasphemie thereof never so apparant yet were not the labour needlesse and superfluous that is spent in confuting thereof Thirdly Seeing this cause hath been thought to be of such weight and regard that it hath brought the High Court of Parliament to make a sharp Law for the preventing of the mischiefes thereof shall it bee thought a matter unnecessary and fruitlesse for Ministers to deale withall especially where Lawes politicke can but draw the outward man to conformitie which is but Hipocrisie unlesse the Law of God be annexed thereunto for the converting of the soule and bringing the inward man to doe that inwardly and sincerely which outwardly it performeth Lastly Wee have the examples of diverse Learned and godly brethren to warrant our doings and to perswade us of the necessitie of this labour who either by commandement from authoritie or of their own motions by occasions offered unto them have dealt not only by disputation and conference but also by writing and printing for the suppression of this Schisme and reclaiming these men For the persons against whom wee write though we hold them all to be in a dangerous estate wee are loath to say in a damnable estate as long as they continue in this Schisme and have cause to feare that Sathans subtilties abusing the gifts that are in them and drawing them to pride and conceit of themselves hath hardened some of them so in their Schisme that they will hardly be reclaimed yet hope we that as many of them have been brought backe againe to the Church who straied away with them so the rest may in time be brought to a sight of their owne error by good meanes effectuall thereunto such as God hath sanctified to that end and promised to accompany with the gracious assistance of his holy spirit This labour therefore of ours we trust shall not be in vaine but have that work in them for their recovery by the blessing of God If God vouchsafe us not this favour to be happy instruments of their good yet doubt we not but he that is witnesse unto our Consciences how we long after their salvation yea even from our hearts roots will be our strength and our judgment and worke shall be with him though they bee not gathered But if it be remembred that our labours have beene bestowed Esay 49.4 5. not only to raise them that are fallen already but also to stay them that stagger and strengthen them that stand upright though it should be utterly unprofitable unto the former sort yet being likely to prevaile with others to their benefit it cannot but be acceptable unto God and comfortable unto our selves and so neither superfluous nor unnecessary This now only remaineth Christian reader that before we commend this treatise to Gods blessing we advertise thee of two things needfull for thee to know First whereas to many rash and hot spirited men it may seeme that wee have dealt in this cause too remisly so that wee have justified the corruptions of our Church as hath beene objected against others heretofore We answer that our dealing may well indeed seem too remisse whilst the reader shall compare it with over bitter untrue yea and slanderous biting and invectives of our Brethren but being compared with it selfe and with our Church as in it selfe it standeth we hope it will appeare sure wee are that our knowledge wee have not justified the least thing therein worthy to be condemned Secondly whereas the worke is somewhat long and therefore somewhat wearisome to the Reader Know that we desired to be much more briefe therein then wee are both for that not the reading so much as the writing of it out by them that after the reading of it may desire it must needs be tedious as also for that fewer words and reasons might have as well satisfied the learned sort but whereas our desire is to satisfie the simple as having more need by framing divers answers unto the arguments and proofes which we confute and to make them plaine to their capacity and understanding wee could not vse more brevitie without more obscuritie And thus we commend thee to God and to his blessing upon the reading hereof that it may be a meanes to teach thee to discerne the things that differ and to keepe thee from thy being overmuch just lest thou become too wicked Amen A Collection of the chiefe Heads of this book I. Certaine exceptions they take and faults they find withus viz. With our I. Church in generall and the whole frame of Our Assemblies which they affirme to bee false and Antichristian because 1. They were not rightly gathered pag. 8. 2. They communicate together in an outward worship of God that is polluted with the writings and inventions of men pag. 12. 3. They want the true discipline of Christ page 17. 4. They submit themselves to false and Antichristian discipline page 19. 5. They obstinately continue in the aforesaid wants and corruptions having beene convinced page 21. II. Ministers whom they affirme to bee false and Antichristian 1. The Office whereunto we are called is not that which Christ hath ordained but that which Antichrist calleth his Priests unto page 28. 2. Their entrance is not according to Christs Ordinance but also Antichristian p. 34. 3. Their administration and exercise of their office is not according to Christs Ordinance but Antichristian formes of prayer p. 39. 4. Their maintenance is Iewish and Antichristian viz. by tythes c. pag. 42. III. People and the private members of our Assemblies whom they say to be such as no true Church can consist of 1. Because they are not a separated people from the world pag. 50. 2. They are not Saints faithfull pag. 51. 3. They tollerate the openly prophan p. 52 Two certaine conclusions which they inferre upon the foresaid exceptions viz. 1. Therefore the Assemblies wee separate from are such as the Scriptures doe warrant us to separate from pag. 57. 2. Therefore the Assemblies we joyne unto are such as the Scriptures doe warrant
the Church by no other meanes then by the ministerie of the Word preached So that if this were a good reason against other particular members or whole families yet it cannot justifie a separation from all seeing wee have manie that by the preaching of the word of God were converted and gathered Fourthly This being proved that there was a true Church in the Land before Her Majesties Reigne Fourthly though the meanes used for the gathering our Church had not beene sufficient for the first calling a people to the faith yet were the sufficient for the recalling of the people that had fallen from the faith which formerly they had professed the question must not be whether the meanes she used were the right meanes for the calling and converting a people to the faith but whether she tooke a lawfull course for recalling and reuniting of Her Subjects unto those true professours whose fellowship they had forsaken this was the course which Jehosaphat tooke (a) 2 Chro. 17.8 who to gather the Church which was divided sent preachers into sundry parts of his Kingdome and appointed Noble men to accompany and assist them by countenancing their ministery and compelling the people to heare them This course also did Iosiah take who having abolished Idolatry compelled all his subjects to the service of the true God (b) 2 Chr. 34.33 2 Chro. 14 4. 2 Chro. 15.13 Thus did Asa use his authority in commanding Iuda to seeke the Lord and to doe according to the Law and Commandement and threatning them with death that should resuse So did Hezekiah by his Proclamation bring divers of Israel to Ierusalem who were before separated from the Church of God (c) Chro. 30 12. Fifthly Whereas they say that at the beginning of her Majesties Reigne the people should have beene required with solemne oath and covenant to renounce Idolatry and to professe faith and true obedience to the Gospell after the example of Asas reformation Wee answer First If it had beene absolutely necessary to the being of a Church that there should be such a solemne covenant by oath to renounce Idolatrie this course should be taken in that reformation which Ichosaphat and Iosiah made as well as that which Asa made Secondly even where this oath was taken it was Gods true Church before the time of that oath and covenant made by Asa wee reade it was made and taken in the 15. yeere of his Reigne when yet his subjects were the true Church long before Secondly There be diverse congregations in our Land which in the beginning of her Majesties dayes and since have publikely professed their repentance for their former Idolatry and promised to imbrace and obey the truth as it is profently established as in Coventry North-hampton and some other places Yea we doubt not to affirme that the whole Land in the Parliament holden in the first yeare of her Majesties Reigne did enter into a solemne covenant with the Lord for the renouncing of Popery and reciaving the Gospell OBJECT II. The second thing they object against the whole body of our Assemblies is this Object The second Objection against the whole body of our Church is that it useth a worship of God which is polluted with the writings of men as read stinted prayers Answ That they communicate together in a false and Idolatrous worship of God which is polluted with the writings of men viz. With read stinted prayers Homilies Catechismes and such like which in the 24. page of their refutation they call the smoake of the bottomlesse pit To this Objection we give this answer First That it is evident by the Word that the Church hath used and might use lawfully in Gods worship and prayer a stinted form of words for we find a form of blessing the people prescribed to the Priests f Numb 6.23 24 a forme of confession to be used at the bringing of the first fruits to the Temple prescribed to the people g Deut. 26.13 15. A psalme appointed for the Priests and Levites to use every Morning h Psalme 22.1 Another to be used every Sabbath day i Psalme 92. So in the thanksgiving used at the bringing home of the Arke unto the place prepared for it by David the Church tyed themselves to the very words of 105. and 96. Psalmes k 1 Chro. 16.8 36. and as one Evangelist reporteth that our Saviour appointed that prayer which he gave to His Disciples to be a patterne to frame all other prayers by l Matth. 6 9. Luke 11.2 Object So the other Evangelist reporteth that he had them when they prayed say Our Father c. Which he would never have done if it had not beene lawfull for us in making those petitions to God to use those very words which are there prescribed Now to that they object against this that we never read the Apostles did use this prescript forme of words in prayer We answer Answ That it is absurd negatively to prove from examples of men against that which God in His Word so expresly either commanded or permitted for we may as well reason thus That we doe not reade that the Apostles or the Church in their time did baptize Infants Ergo They were not then baptized or thus We doe not read that the Apostles did pray either before or after they preached Ergo They did not Or thus Saint Paul did not marry nor take maintenance from the Corinthians Ergo he might not lawfully have done it The most Psalmes that David made as they were committed to the Church Musitians That in singing them were tied to the very words that David set downe so they were not sung as Meditations and doctrines for the instruction of the Church but as prayers unto God This is evident not onely by the manifold petitions and thankesgivings unto God that are to bee found in them but by this especially that they are said to bee sung unto the Lord. And as by that which hath beene said it may appeare that set and prescript formes are lawfull in those prayers and thanksgivings that are used upon ordinary occasions Secondly A stinted and set forme of words is lawfull even to the extraordinary prayers So it is also evident that they may bee lawfully used even in those prayers and thanksgivings that being taken up on extraordinary occasions doe require an extraordinary and speciall fervency of the spirit for which we have the example of our Saviour Christ Himselfe Mat. 26.42 44. who used the very same words three times severally b even in that prayer which hee made with all holy excesse of fervent affection And this may lawfully be done not only in those formes which we frame and devise our selves Thirdly It is lawfull to tie our selves in prayer even to that forme of words which have been devised and used by others 2 Chro. 6.41 42. Psalm 132.8.10 2 Chron. 5.13 Psalm 136.1 Psalme 136.1 2 Chron. 20.21 2
Magistrates so to doe whereas indeed we ought the rather to doe good things that are agreeable unto the Word when wee know them to be also commanded by the Christian Magistrate Though we are perswaded by the former reason Yet we doe grant that in some cases conceived prayers are more fit then other to think that stinted formes are so farre from being simply unlawfull as in that in the ordinary and generall occasions of the whole Church they are many times more fit then those that are called conceived prayers Yet it is well knowne that our Law alloweth and our preachers also doe use prayers conceived which we in some cases doe judge more fit to stirre up and expresse the groanes and sighes of the spirit then those prayers doe wherein we tie our selves to prescript words But why doe wee seeke to justifie our prescript Lyturgie before these men who speake as scornefully and profanely of our conceived prayers as they can possibly doe of those which wee read For when Henry Barrow had derided and flouted those that use onely read prayers hee breaketh out into these speeches in the 37. page of his discovery that other smooth hypocrites yet as grosse Idolaters use this viz. the Lords prayer as a clause or supply to their long and prolix prayers conceived before whereby it should seeme that their hatred to us rather then to our corruptions is so great as that whatsoever wee doe will displease them Concerning Homilies this answer wee give The reasons they bring against us for Homilies is of no force That though wee thinke it is not simply unlawfull to reade in our Assemblies such Homilies as are for the matter sound and good yet in regard of the dangerous inconveniences that may come by using them by so many Ministers and Congregations in the Land doe utterly dislike all publike use of them as that we wonder that these men are not ashamed to use this as a reason of their separation from the whole Church But what if all this were granted that the use of our stinted prayers If to have a Drescript form of Lyturgie were Idolatrous yet might we be the true Church for all that Catechismes and Homilies were Idolatrous which yet wee have proved to be otherwise will it from thence follow that we are not that true Church Is this a greater corruption in the worship of God then the retaining of hie places against which there is so expresse a commandement a Deut. 12.2 1 King 11.8 9 1 King 15.14 2 King 15.4 2 King 18.4 2 King 13.6 or then the burning Incense to the Brazen Serpent b and yet it is evident that the one of these was retained in the dayes of Asa and Azariah Kings of Iudah and the other even till Hezekiahs Reigne in which time notwithstanding it is manifest there was a true Church in Judah The testimony of Scripture which they quote in the page 68. of the collection of Letters and Conferences and in the 144. page of their resutations against our prescript Lyturgie are such as either tend generally to the condemning of Idolatrie f Deut. 5.8 9. 1 Chro. 28.10 Revel 22 19. Prov. 30.5 6. Deut. 4.32 Revel 22.18 19 Matth. 15.9 Col. 2.20 23. or such as forbid us to add any thing to the Word of God To the first sort we answer that they have not yet proved our Lyturgie Idolatrie Secondly if they had yet cannot they by these testimonies conclude that therefore they that use it are not the true Church To the other sort of Testimonies this we say that we adde not our Lyturgie unto the Word of God nor make it of equall authoritie with it neither doe we use it to the same ends and purposes that we doe the Scripture Secondly Wee doe wonder with what judgment or Conscience they can blame us for adding to the word by our Lyturgie who will at no hand allow us to use as prayers any of the formes that are set down in the Scripture The reasons also against all formes of Lyturgie The reasons against all formes of Lyturgie are weake and set downe in the 43. page of the collection of slanderous Articles are fond and weake though they seeme to collect them from the Scriptures for wee have above proved that God may be worshipped spiritually and fervently even in that prayer wherein a set and prescript forme of words are used Secondly That this is no good reason the Apostles are not read to have used any set forme of prayer themselves or to have prescribed any to the Churches Ergo they did not use or prescribe any or Ergo the Church might not Thirdly Iohn 4.23 Rom. 8.26 1 Iohn 2.17 1 Cor. 3.11 12 We see not why they may not as strongly reason the spirit helpeth our infirmities and wee have received that anointing and therefore we need not nor may not use any outward helps for our consolation and instruction or for the subduing of our corruptions as this the spirit helps our infirmities c. and we have received that anointing Ergo we need not nor may not use any prescript formes of words as helps in our prayers OBJECT III. The third thing they object against the whole bodie of the Church Object The third Objection against the whole body of our Church is that we want Christs Discipline is this That we want that discipline and order which Christ in his Testament hath appointed for the government of the Church for neither have we say they the power to binde or to loose nor those officers by whom the censures of Christ should be exercised Yea saith Henry Barrow in the 160. page of his discoverie You have not any one thing order or administration according to his Testament And in the 188. page such places of Scripture as make expresse mention of Christs discipline as Rom. 12. 1 Cor. 15. and 12. 2 Cor. 2 Ephes 4. 2 Thes 3. and 1 Tim. 5.1 are not saith he suffered so much as to be read in the Church much lesse to be sincerely expounded from these premises see what a conclusion he in the 27. page of his discovery inferreth without the power saith hee and practise of the diligent watch of every Member but especially of the Elders the Word of God is made an Idoll the Sacraments sacriledge unto us and all things we do odious and abominable unto the Lord. To this third Objection this answer we give Answ The first part of Christs Discipline which is most subst intiall we have 1. For the works and duties which hee would have performed in the governmēt of his Church are all one in our assemblies Discipline not exercised rightly First whereas the discipline of Christ consisteth in two things viz. what works and duties Christ would have performed for the ordering and government of his Church and by what persons and Officers hee would have these duties exercised We affirme that for as much as all these
in profane Heathenisme vaine Philosophie ungodly Arts trained up in Idolatrie Superstition and most filthy Abhomination Perjurie Blasphemie c. These men by precisenes and outward shew of Holinesse Hypocrisie Vain-glory and Covetousnesse resemble or rather exceed the Pharisees And the 38. page of their Discovery Such a Priest as this is a Blasing star a Paragon of a Countrie one of the new found Martin Saints and such People are Puritans or Martinists Preficians c. And in the 193. page they name the Ministers of Geneva and their Churches Classes I dare not say the secret Classes in England doe make Ministers for us in England And these Ministers when they are come over are received and esteemed as Angels in hell and shine as bright stars in this smokie Egyptian furnaces And in the 12. page of their Collection of Letters speaking of two very worthy Preachers they have these words I suppose more corrupt Teachers then these cannot be found is any age they teaching nothing almost truely much lesse sincereliâ— To this we may refer the unreverent and malicious speech against the most godly learned that have lived in the Reformed Churches beyond the Seas as in the 23. page of their Discovery they call us the crooked Disciples of Master Calvin And in the 18. page Master Calvin hath no doubt unsufferably perverted and wrested these and other places of Scripture and drawne very foule and corrupt doctrines thence touching the state and order of a planted Church and more dangerous and damnable conclusions from the same And in the 33. page This and such like dâ—testable stuffe hath Master Calvin in his ignorance partly to confute the Anabaptists partly to defend his own rash and disorderly proceedings of Geueva whereby this their Church became a just reproach to all men yea that which is worse and more to be lamented it became a miserable precident and pernicious example to all Europe The last note which we will observe for the triall of their spirit is their scurrilous and ruffanlike profanesse wherein they seeme to us to have expelled all that in a show of zeale and sinceritie have written or dealt in the holy things of God In the 52. page of their Discoverie speaking of Ordination they have these words He solemnly sitteth in his chaire and layeth his Symoniacall hands upon him delivereth the Bible into his hands breatheth upon him and giveth or rather selleth him his unhâ—â—y Ghost as he shall know by the price of his box In the 73. page having spoken against red stinted prayers and being come to speak against the prayers which godly Preachers doe conceive according to the present occasions of the Church Thus they scoffe at them Other more smooth Hâ—pocrites yet as grosse Idolaters use the Lords Prayer as a close or supply forsooth to their long Prelix Prayers conceived before In the 86. page of their refutation He most sacrilegiously selleth them his pretended Sacrament for their second shot or offering In the 97. and 98. page of their Discoverie speaking of our publique Fasts thus they write Here the learned Priests and Preachers lay their heads together choose out three or soure from among them to preach some of them must play Sinne another the Judgements of God the third Repentance the fourth the Gospel the people are solemnly bidden from all quarters to this Stage Play who as the first invention of it flocked in thick and threefold to behold this novelty He that playeth Sinne amongst some other faults will reprove such as do not diligently enough countenance the preaching Priests I should say frequent not their Sermons for the want of the Dise pline all that mourne in the chine and sigh in secres for it though neither Priest nor people know what it meaneth yet they must now fast and then the fault is not in them but in God Almightie that they have it not If you come now to the second Table they are severe men they will make Conscience to tremble If there bee ever an Usurer or a Drunkard or an Whoremaster they will so back-bite him that hee will not love a Sermon a good while againe These men must beare with them if in the Pulpit when they are ravished with the zeale of the Lord they have now and then a gird at them to ease their sâ—o makes especially now for fashion sake And in the 99. page when the P. P. have ended then are the people dismissed where I trow for that night is no talke either by the way as they goe home or at their supper but how excellently such a man and such a man did The Priest themselves that tooke this paines are bestowed at some good hosts or some good Danâ—es Houses where at night they recompence their fasting and mourning with good cheare and case And in the 180. page They had a presoript place like a Tubbe called their Pulpit and the Preacher for the most part disputes to the Houre-Glasse which being run his Sermpcin action must be at an end And a little after here would not be fergotten the sweet Palmodicall harmonie of the Vultures Crowes Gleades Owles Geefe of the Leopards Beares Wolves Dogges Foxes Swine Goats All these with one accord Sympathy and Harmony sing some pleasant ballad or else unto Davids Melodious Harpe some Psalme in time to stirre up the spirits of their worthie Priest or Preacher who being thus wrupt and ravished with this Harmonie goes to his Geare in forme above said where his mouth distills and his lipps drop downe old Parables c. And in the 191. p. Master Parson takes to him his Pastorall staffe or wooden dagger of superstition where with hee keepes such a flourishing as the flie can have no rest yea by your leave if any poore man in the parish offends him he may peradventure goe without his Bread and Wine for that day and in the 192. page speaking of the Bishops and dumbe Ministers Indeed their Cake is Dough it this geare this sweeping new Reformation come in In the 128. page speaking of Churching of women they have these words she having offered her accustomed offering to him for his labour God speed her well she is a woman on foote againe And in the 244. page of their refutation they call our prescript prayers The smoake of the bottomlesse pit But what need wee any further evidence or demonstration of their spirit Sure we are that by this which is alreadie set downe it will well appeare to the wise and Christian Reader that Gods Spirit never taught men to write as those men who are knowne to have beene the chiefe perswaders and seducers of these our deceaved brethren have done To conclude if wee did grant that the Assemblies which these men have gathered and joyned themselves unto were not equall onely but much better reformed then ours yet by joyning to them with disclayming and condemning utterlie all other reformed Churches in the world wee see not why they may not thereby be said to divide Christ As well as they of Corinth should have done if they joyned unto and fellowed Paul so as withall they forsaked and despised Apollos or Cephas FINIS