necessitated to approue of all the acts conclusions they make but may dislike them if I see they are not as they ought to be The Corinthians for ought I can see resorted unto the Feasts of idols upon the same ground that the Treat layes downe for hearing They went not of superstition for they were to well instructed and Paul in their person brings forth an excuse for them * 1. Cor. â— 4. We know that an idol is nothing As if they should say we regard not what they have devised their publicke false-state concernes us not for we have left it We are in no Church-communion with their Officers our meaning is not to worship as they doe they intend one thing we another But did this satisfie the Apostle Not in the least For he knew their private differing intention was but a strong fruit of the flesh monstrous presumpt on and a meere delusion For their eating was not to be looked upon and judged after their secret meaning But according to that publicke state where they were And here I desire the Reader to note the difference betweene Paul and the Treat Paul makes the sinne of the Corinthians to be their resorting to an idol-state Not simply their eating for thaâ— they might have done else-where but because it was in by or from an institution of the Devil The Treat layes us downe a contrarie Doctrine and tels us a false Church-state is nothing And Antichristian Officer nothing And that we may lawfully worship God in the one and heare his Word preached by the other provided we be not in Church-communion with the Officer c. Truely the difference here is great For the Treat cleares the Corinthians of the thing for which the Apostle condemnes them But I will not presse this further now Only what Augustine * said of the learned Fathers I may speake of the Treatis in stead of him or rather above him Paul the Apostle commeth to my mind to him I runne to him I appeale from all sorts of writers that thinke otherwise For conclusion if the false state of a Church and Ministerie defile only the members thereof And as for other present worshippers they are blameles Jf this I say be a true saying theÌ„ hath he vainely confind himselfe to the Ministerie of the Church of England For his Position will serve as well to justifie hearing among Papists Arrians Sorcinians Iewes Turkes c. Yea further and to be present at any service or worship they doe For what should hinder but according to this ground a man may lawfully goe to the Temples of the Saracens and he are their Preists considering they doe deliver many materiall truths As that God is true and righteous in all his wayes a â— In Alcho ran Azoara 1. The Creator of all things b The giver of every good gyft c Azoar 14. Ad that Iesus Christ is the Sonne of Mary d Azoar 11. the Messenger of God and a true Prophet e Azoar 7. If any object but they utter many lies and blasphemies I answer the hearing simply of errours corrupts not the Hearer For so he consents not to them in judgement not practice but testifieth against them he delivers his owne soule SECT 5. THE Treatiser layes downe our next OBJECTION thus By this then it seemes a man may be present at any act of Idolatrie and doe as others doe that practice Idolatry yet not approue of it And so the three Nobles in Danial needed not to have put themselves upon such pikes of daunger as they did for not falling downe as others did in the place To this he answereth Treat 1. In preaching of the truths of the Gospell no idolatrous act is performed Answ I perceive it is an easie thing to conquest if begging may procure one that But wee are no such children as to give the cause so away 1. Therefore J say in preaching of the truths of the Gospell viz by a false Minister about which is our dispute an idolatrous act is performed And that the Reader may understand this thing the better He is to consider that divine worship is not to be determined by a particular thing howbeit in it selfe good but as all the essentiall parts belonging thereto whether they are persons or things are kept and observed The Church of Rome in Baptisme useth water and in the Sacrament of the Lords Supper gives bread and otherwhile wine too doth this cleare their administrations of idolatry So runns the Treat reasoning But wee cannot receive it for the Lord never spake so by him J thinke all men doe thinke that Vzziah a 2 Chro. 26. 16. committed an idolatrous act when he invaded the Priests Office But what made it so Tooke he unlawfull incense No. Used he strange fire No. Offered he prohibited sacrifice or upon a wrong Altar No. Where then lay the fault The Scripture tels us it pertained not to him to burne incense unto the Lord but to the Sonnes of Aaron b Ver. 18. To apply this if his act were idolatrous because he wanted a calling howbeit observed many truths of the Law By the same reason the church-Church-acts of Antichristian Ministers are idolatrous Yea as for the truths which they preach this clears their acts no more from idolatry then Vzziahs true incense and Altar quitted him from transgression It is truely said of one c Lavaret in Josh 22. Hom 61. pag 7. We ought not to conclude of an action that it is good because it hath in it some thing which in it selfe is so And this is true as in divine things so in humane too For it is a knowne Tenent of Philosophers d Omne totum suis partibus ordinatur mensuretur determinatur the vvhole is composed measured and determined of all the parts Vnto the constitution of the whole according to Aristotlec is required 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. As Iob f Iob. 24.4 saith vvho can bring a cleane thing out of an uncleane Not one The false Office by our Oppositâ—es is acknowledged to be uncleane Now to deny that their Ministeriall acts are not from thence is against common sence And this further may be amplyfied by that passage in the Prophet g Hag. 2. 12 13. See Iunius on the place where it is shewed that holy things are polluted by touching things uncleane e Arist 12. Met. 3 Lib. de Poet. cap. 7. 3. If in preaching the truth according to the point in question no idolatrous act is performed Then it will follow that a man may remaine a Minister of a false Church all his life time Provided he only teach * Note that such whom they call Lecturers in some places only preach and doe nothing else As I my selfe for some yeares stood soÌ„ the truths of the Gospell Our reason is for in this if he doe no idolatrous act then he sinneth not so Consequently no just cause of
make a true Church That the Archbishops and Bishops of England deriue their lineal successions and Episcopal dignitie from St. Peters Chaire and the verie Sea of Rome and that we should not acknowleidge them for Bishops in case they either did not or could not doe soe That the Pope of Rome or papacy is not the Antichrist nor Antichrist yet come or reuealed That Crucifixes and Images in Churches are lawfull and necessarie comlie ornaments That Christ is really present vpon earth on the high Altar and Communion table That Communion tables are Altars Ministers of the Gospel Priects serving at the Altar the Sacrament of the Lords supper the Sacrament of the Altar and may yea ought so to be phrased That men ought to bow to Altars Communion-tables and to place rayle them in Altar-wise at the east end of the Church and come up to them and receiue when there is a Sacrament and that Ministers must read their second seruise at them when there is none That auricular confession to a Preist and absolution are very fitting and necessarie That the Lords day is no Sabbath That it is lewish to call it or keepe it as a Sabbath That it is not of divine but humaine institution not with in the morality of the 4. commaundement That two howres only of it is to be sanctified not the whole day That Morises dauncing sports and pastimes yea labours of mens calling not speciallie prohibited by 〈◊〉 â—â—maine lawes even out of cases of necessitie are lawfull on it That men may fall totally finally from Grace That they haue freewill and may exactly fulfill the Law of God if they please themselves That men are justified by workes yea by charitie and not by faith alone That men are elected from the foresight of faith and workes and reprobated only out of the foresight of their sinnes That there is a vniversall grace given to all men whereby they may be saued if they will That Christ died alike for all men whatsoeuer That preaching is an extraordinary thing * VVelfare the Bishops vvho are true to their ground for it is an extraordinary thing vvith them to proach only for extraordinary times and belonging to none but extraordinary men That one Sermon in a month is enough and better then two a day That reading is properly preaching That Archbishops Bishops Episcopall jurisdiction and degree aboue other Ministers is jure divino That the Ministers know more then the Lay-people the Bishops more then the Ministers the Archbishops more then the Bishops And therefore what ever the Ministers shall teach or prescribe the people what ever the Bishops the Ministers people what ever the Archbishops the Bishops Mininisters people too are bound to beleeve obey without further question or dispute That the Popes Lawes Decrees Canon Lawes are still in force our Church ought to be governed by them our Ecclesiasticall Courts proceed lecally according to them That Bishops have power to make publish Articles Canons Injunctions Oathes Rites Ceremonies in their owne names rights and to enforce both Ministers people to obey them That they may silence suspend excommunicate yea deprive imprison Ministers at their at their pleasure without any legall cause That Bishops are not bound to preach so much or so oft as other men though they have greater wages and so should doe more worke That they may Lawfully and laudablie neglect their spirituall functions to mannage temporall Offices and affaires exercise both Swords at once and rule both Church and State together Now that the Reader may be sure what I here set downe is true let him peruse a Booke entituled the Quench-Coale and there he shall finde all these Assertions affirmed in an Epistle written unto the King 5. Whereas he saith in a Church that is false in respect of outward Order there may be taught many sound and seasonable truths This I grant for Iesuites and other Heretickes deliver oft-times many true Doctrines And what of this may we therefore Lawfully heare them In no cause For as one a Vsus est Nabuchodonosor Musicis InstrumeÌ„tis in erectione statuae ut homines ad ejus honorem venerationem excitaret Pintus Comment in Dan. cap. 3. pag. 195. saith of the Musicall Instruments which Nabuchadnezzar had in the plaine of Dura they were brought thither that men thereby might be the sooner drawne to honour and worship the goulden Image So truly are the Truths taught in false Churches a bewitching Musick to lead people unto them and to cause them to fall downe before the Idols of the place set up by Worldly Princes against the expresse Commaundement of Iesus Christ Againe howsover the Priests he pleads for Preach sometime sound truths notwithstanding otherwhile they speake vaine and foolish things Mr. Fox b Acts Monum pag. 1027 reports of one Hostius who being in Gaunt was tould that a certaine Fryer there used to preach good and sound Doctrine But when he came to his Church he heard him justifie Transubstantion and nothing else And the like comes many times to passe that men reputed rare Preachers make whole Sermons in defence of grosse Idolatry and speake most reproachfully against the way and worship of God This being so I would know of the Pist if a man be present when such blasphemous Positions are delivered whether he offend If he say No then it followes that a man may heare any one and any where and his distinction between hearing this Priest and not that is nihil adversum impertinent and idle If he say Yes then it must follow from his owne grant that no falâ—e Minister is to be heard unlesse a man know before hand that he will not speake perverse things SECTION 4. THat the Church here pleaded for is Antichristian and false the Epist doth acknowledge Yet saith he that worshipping of God which consisteth in hearing his Word is warrantable for us to doe there And so much he undertakes to prove by this Argument That Preaching which ordinarily begits men to the faith of Christ may lawfully be heard But the Preaching of many Ministers in the Church of England hath and doth ordinarily beget men to the faith of Christ Therefore the Preaching of many Ministers in England may lawfully be heard The first part of this sillogisme is proved out of Rom. 10. Where the Apostle telling what is the ordinary way God used to beget men to the faith of Christ telles us it comes by hearing of the word of God preached if faith comes by hearing the Word of God preached to wit if that be the outward meanes then there is no question but that a man may heare such preaching and any man may blush for shame that shall deny this So that the major part of the Argument is cleare And for the Minor parte they can not deny it no more then a man at noon day can deny the sunne to shine for if
indiget explicationibus ambagibus sed iniusta causa cum per se sit morbida necessario indiget astutis pharmacis Euripid. The truth is simple and plaine and needeth is not variety of windlaces and feâ—chings of matter about the bush But an evill cause in that it is sick and deseased hath need to have a cunning plaster set unto it Another r Aristo of them hath these words That phrase and forme of speaking hath truth in it which is common and used of all having in it nothing craftily devised neither cloking some other thing then is professed Contrariwise when Satan speaketh by his instruments he speaketh so ambiguously and clokedly as fitly that of Apollos Oracle may be applied to it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Quod ambiguis ambagibus respoÌ„sa consulentibus daret For one knowes not how to take it nor which way to apply it Pertinently to this purpose writes Sibelius s Desacrific Abra. p. 56 57. Humaine Doctrines are various and ambiguous wrapped and foalded with abstruse labrynths of opinions whereby peoples minds are so troubled and tyred that they cannot plainly open themselves neither have any quietnes or come to their desired end But the Doctrine of God is right that is plaine and perspicuous not wrapped with un-even and crooked suttleries and delusions of Sophistrie neither leads us into by-pathes and errours but bringeth peace to the conscience ad removeth à ll scruples and doubts So he Sadeel t Opera Theol Pref. de Meth. Theol. disput Error 3. p. 8. writing of deceivers the sundry wayes they use to beguile the simple Notes them to be men affecting darke sayings and seeking by mists and fogges of strange unfamiliar arguments to blind their spirituall eyes and puzzle their understandings And this is no late devise For Augustine in his Booke of Heresies maketh mention of the Hereticks Marcitae so named of one Marcus And touching them thus I find it written v Obscurissime quibusdaÌ„ verborum tanquam misteriorum in volueris utentes loquebantur de Deo ut stupereÌ„t audientes homines potius quaÌ„ intelligerent They did speake darkly and used such a wrapping kind of words that the hearers were rather astonied with the strangnes of the words then edified with any understanding they had of the meaning thereof The thing being thus the Reader hence as by a light may gready helpe himselfe to discerne on whose side the truth is in the difference between us Our dispute is about Church-hearing We say that Christians are bound to performe this service unto God in true constituted Churches There we say must men heare the whole Counsell of God taught unto them either by lawfull Ministers or by Brethren out of office For confirmation hereof we can produce many divine precepts Also the Example and practice of our forefathers from the first age of the word hitherto Besides this is a Position so certaine and cleare as it is holden in all Schooles written continually in Bookes preached every day in Sermons taught in all Churches So that haec Momo ipsi satisfaciant no body can speake against it Danaeus in August haer Our Opposites howbeit they grant us this yet affirme that in false Churches Antichristian Ministers may be heard also * Pag. 3. And this is not only they say lawfull but in some cases necessary for all of all Sects and sorts of Christians having opportunity and occasion of so doing This indeed they say But how prove they it to be true Not by any law of God taken out of the old or new Testament For that they cannot doe Not by any holy mans Example for they know there is none extant Not by any sound consequence rightly drawne from the Scripture for quid si Caelum ruat x Teren. in Heautont that is impossible VVhat doe they then as Ieremy y Ier. 2 13. sayth they forsake the fountaine of living waters and hew them out cesternes broken cèsternes that can hold no waters They devise certaine obstruse darke and ambiguous phrases and distinctions As of naturall hearing in a Church and of a hearing wherein there is Communion Of some Churches false in respect of order Others in respect of fayth and order of hearing false Ministers not quatenus as they are false Ministers or their Ministers but as men gyfeed and the Bishops Ministers of certaine effects which followes mens teaching c. Thus their proofes are only their bare and bould affirmation For leaving the Scriptures they use Paralogismes fond cavils and false arguments The which course not only shewes an il case but also manifesteth that the embracers thereof are either ignorant people who cannot judge of things that differ or some that have some mens persons in admiration Or such as are unwilling to suffer affliction with the people of God I could here mention some other devises in this kind as an implicit Church-covenant A true outward calling which some have to the Ministery from their Congregation but secret and unknowne either to the Minister or the people But I will at this time abstaine from such by-controversies and the rather because I shall have a firt occasion to speake hereafter of it Namely when the Vndertakers have finished their answer to my former Booke and Mr. Davenport published his many things that he hath to say against it For so much he insinuateth in his Treatise betweene him and Mr. Pagit * Pag. 282 283. 2. Observe againe to what grosse absurdities his argument leadeth For unles it be only wind and vanitie these sweet collections must needs follow 1. No Minister comming newly to his place is to be heard 2. Before any are inquirie must be made whether they ordinarily begit men to the faith 3. If after triall it be found that they doe not so then they must not be heard what true Doctrines soever they teach Is not this workman-like done say Reader hath not the Pist omne tulit punctum made the way cleare now for the hearing of false Ministers Truely I thinke except a man be partiall in the point And of his mind who said z Non persuade bis eâ—i imsi persuaseris Though you doe convince me yet I will not be convinced He must acknowledge that he hath made it doubt fuller then ever it was and such as were not well satisfied formerly in the thing have enought here from his owne pen to put them quite and wholy off SECTION 5. THe Pist having done with his Logick comes in the next place to charge his Opposites with contradiction absurdity and speaking little better then Blasphemy A great fault if true But how doth he prove it They say it is not the Word of God as it is preached in Antichristian Assemblies Answ The Publish had done well if he had published out assertion de manu in manum truely and faithfully But seeing he hath not done so I will here lay it downe
or can stand with his will revealed in his Word And so much Zanchy a Lib. 1. de vit ext cult oppos col 504. 505. proves by sundry instances In this regard also hearing false Ministers is supersticious because that thing is honoured and embraced which we finde not in the Scripture to be lawfull and thus an idol is set up tanquam Deus ex parte though not vt Deus simpliciter Thus I have answered the Prefacer Now how he will take it J know not Cotis a Thrasian King breaking some vessels to pieces was asked a reason He answered that he might not be moved to anger at another for doing of it Had the Epist been so wise as to have torne his writing himselfe and so not published it he would not as it may be he now will have been angry at another for laying open the weakenes and vanity of it AN Ansvver unto the Treatise SECT 1. WHen Satan cannot draw men to one extremitie he seekes to bring them unto another The truth of this the Holie Scriptures a 1 Cor. 5. 11. compare with 2 Cor. 2. 6 7. not only shew but sundry examples also prove it in this present age It is true as the Treatiser saith there are many who affecting alienation from others Numb 14 35 45. make their differences as great and their adverse opinion or practice as odious as they can Deut. 1 42. 44. A moat shal be a beame with them a knatt a Camell And hence through want of a take heed they become rejecters of persons and things which they ought not Againe on the other hand there are not a few who desiring liberty and large walking and to have the credit and love of all men use all their witt skill power to have great things I meane evils and sinnes esteemed small things And what is small that nothing That so they may finde a doore of entry to accord and agree with others in unlawfull practises Here therefore is the wisedome of the Saints namely that they shunne both these two extremities Medium tenuere beati And for my part of this later number I shall while I live professe my selfe by Gods grace be to both a Companion guide That is not at any hand to condemne what is to be justified neither to approve that thing which ought to be condemned There are two reasons laid downe by the Treatiser wherefore he penned this discourse 1. For the freeing of his owne conscience 2. The information of other mens Answ 1. J dare not thinke but the Treatiser when he fell first upon this point of Hearing spake as he thought of it and did nothing but what his minde gave him to be right and good But this makes not the thing therefore justifiable For as Martyr saith b Lex Dei is regula conscientiae Loc. Comm. Class 2. cap. 1. pag. 165. The Rule of our Conscience must be the Law of God Gideons Ephod was erected with a well meaning minde but it became a snare c â—udg 8. 27. and a scandall and an occasion of great idolatrie and the overthrow and ruine of his whole familie What hath this hearing been but a snare in Israel an occasion whereby many people have turned aside from the streaght wayes of the Lord. 2. I doe not see what satisfaction any man can have from his writing Seeing he hath not alleadged any one Sentence of Scripture to prove the point in question lawfull Omne quod loquimur debemus affirmare de Scriptur is Sanctis saith Hierom in Psal 98. Tom. 8. But this he hath not done onely he tels us that Hearing is a naturall action Hearing is no Communion c. Now where this so which is not in the sence he intendeth yet it serves not his turne in the least If a Theefe to cleare himselfe should say that he hath not stolen such particulars Yet if he have done other things he is a Theefe notwithstanding So in this case thought to heare false Ministers be not a sinne in such a respect Yet if it be in some other the action is neither Lawfull nor necessarie And here by the way let me speake a word to you whose warrant for your going unto unlawfull Assemblies is only the Treatisers writing This J doe affirme and will make good against all gainsayers that if the thing could be justified yet for his part he hath not proved it so but hath left the point it selfe wholy untouch'd and taken up a by-thing Therefore what Alcibiades said of the Athenians I may well apply to you You take things from other men not by triall but by trust and doe them rather of affection and will then out of any sure knowledge you have of the truth of them That the Treatiser made account to meet with Opposites I marvaile not Onely I marvaile seeing he fore-saw so much that he had not done his worke to some better purpose The first sort of Opposites are such who truly desire Treat and carefully indeavour to have their whole course both in Religion and otherwise framed by the holy and right Rule of Gods Word Answ These cannot chuse but be his Opposites and that for 3. reasons specially 1. Because of his lightnes and inconstancie in the matters of God and for that he seekes to build againe the thing which hee had before destroyed What he hath said against this Hearing the World is not ignorant of and therefore here is a fitt place to lay downe his own words to apply them to himself He sucks up his former breath and eates the words he had formerly uttered as though he had either forgotten what he wrote before or cared not how he crossed himselfe so he might oppose us * Iustificat of Separ p. 276. 2. Because the drift and scope of his writing thwarteth the truth and leadeth unto sinne against the Lord. 3. Causeth troubles in the Churches of God and hinders many from receiving the love of the truth But did the Treatiser thinke that the closest walkers with God would oppose him in this thing Then it must needs follow he made account that the loosest people for judgement practice would be the embracers of it A second sort is of them Treat whose tender and scrupulous conscience makes them fearefull jealous of everything that hath in it the least appearance on shew of evill c. Answ He that will not fall into a deepe pit will not come very neere to it in his travell Gods people saith Theodoret e CoÌ„ment in Thes 5 22. must be so abhorrent from evill both in Doctrine and manners that the shew of both ought to be avoyded And thus the Scriptures f 1 Thes 5 22. Iam. 1 27. Iud. 23. Rev. 16 18. presse and the Saints g Dan. 1 8 Rev. 3 4. Luke 1 5. have practised For his distinction between things onely naturally good in their kinds and use and others morallie
c. I see nothing in it wherefore he should desire the reader to take knowledge of it For as for riches credit of the World and outward peace here instanced as they are good things in themselves so they may be desired and in a right way and course Lawfully sought after For the other namelie Hearing of the Word obedience to the Magistrate c. In these things too we must keepe our selves within the limits and bounds which God hath set us For his phrase of streaning and gooing as neere the Winde as may be J hope he meant no streaning of a good conscience If he did not then his counsell is of no use at all except it could be proued that the Lord requires his people to heare in the way and manner hee pleads for a worke ab Asino lanam not possibly to be done As there are some scrupulous in things amisse touching outward Ordinances and yet faultie otherwayes So I beleeve there are many not scrupulous in things amisse touching outward ordinances and yet in their course of life base and scandalous enought But what of this must not Gods House and Ordinances be deare to our soules because some mens conversation is not according to their profession God forbid For in the holiest Society upon Earth it is possible that there should be wicked persons When there was but 4 in the World one was a Kaan when 8. onely in the Arke one was a Cham Among the 12. one a Iudas The purest Wheate hath some chaffe with it The fairest garden some weeds in it Therefore let no man forbeare to practice any knowne truth for other mens lewd lives onely let them be carefull to doe well themselves Mourne for such as doe otherwise and seeke by all due and lawfull meanes their Amendment And this is the burden and no other which the Lord layes upon them The last sort he divides into 5 rankes at which he either girds or right-out chargeth with Hypocrisie partialitie pride ignorance mallace and the like It is said of Tamberlane * Richard Knowles in the life of Baiazee that he raised warre against Baiazet the fourth King of the Turkes because he refused to receive certaine strange Garments which he sent unto him I beleeve had these men embraced the Treatisers opinion in this point of Hearing they should not have heard him speake so bitterly against them But to the particulars Some are carried with so excessive admiration of some former guides in their course Treat as they thinke is halfe Heresy to call into question any of their determinations or practises Answ Howsoever we must live by our owne faith notwithstanding we are not lightly to esteeme of the determinations and practises of our guides specially when we know they are no reeds but men stable and unchangeable in the truth He is a foolish traviler that will leave the way which he hath long kept unlesse he be sure he is out There is as Polanus h CoÌ„ment in Ezech. cap. 20. pag. 487. saith a laudable imitation of Elders That is so farre to follow them as they are followers of Christ 2. J know none more faulty this way then such as have learned of him to heare unlawfull Ministers For were not these men superstitiously addicted to his new devise they would beware how to reject as they doe the unanimous judgement and practice of all Learned Men and true Churches and follow the blinde trodd of his single opinion Such as lay downe rules to finde out the truth by write thus What the Fathers i Quid-quid omnes pariter uno codemque consensu c. Vincent Lirenens cont prophanos haeret c. 4. all with one consent have held and written is a necessary token to know the truth by Againe k D. Feild of the church l. 3. c. 43 p. 175 Whatsoever hath beene holden at all times and in all places by all Christians that hath not beene noted for novelty singularity and division is to be received as the undoubted truth of God If these Assertions be true the Treatisers then is untrue For not onely are all old Writers against it but the most Learned of later times Yea and let it be minded all Sects and sorts of people professing Christianitie abhorre it J except onely Familists For they and he â—â—dem in ludâ— docti are for the pleading and practice here much alike Some againe are much addicted to themselves as the former to others Treat Conceiving in effect though they will not professe it the same of their Heads which the Papists doe of their Head the Pope that they cannot erre or be deceived And this specially in such matters us for which they have suffered trouble and affliction formerly Answ 1. Wee are all more ready to blame faults in others then to see our owne and amend them Had not the Treatiser thought to well of himselfe I doubt whether he would so lightly have singled himselfe out and become as it were every mans opposite Humble minds are affraid to meddle with novelties but such as seeke humane praise imagine they cannot enought be observed unlesse out of the dreggs of Sophistry they raise some strange quiddities whereby to crosse truths generally received 2. That any man should love and like a thing because it leads to persecution That J cannot thinke But this J thinke There are some which doe professe practice many things and namelie this of Hearing on no better ground or reason but hereby to keep themselves out of troubles There is also a third sort who bend their force rather to the weakning of other men in their courses Treat then to the building up of themselves in their owne halfe imagining that they draw neere enought to God if they can withdraw enought from other men Answ I cannot devise for what end the Treat * Aliquid latet quod non patet should seeke thus to discover other mens nakednes except it be he thought that the more vile and contemptible he made his Opposites appeare in the Readers eye the easier he would be won to embrace this his opinion of Hearing Antichristian Ministers a prittie trick Much like that Lesson of the Cannon Lavv Si non caste tamen cause But such shifts profit not for a godly minde will search and looke into the cause it selfe and not on the persons either for or against it To oppose a bad course is meet and lawfull and should we be silent when we are called to testifie against it we should make our selves hereby open transgressours Touching the building up of our selves This as Iude †Ver. 20. teacheth must be in our most holy faith He that rayseth up a House with rotten stuffe * What is there else in Babilon will loose his cost and labour by it I know not what withdrawing he meanes from other men if he intend a withdravving from the Hearing of false Ministers then I answer they doe
his comming out from among them The vilenesse of which thing I leave to the Readers censure 4 By the Treat assertion all usurpers of civill Offices can justifie themselves easily For although they are inrtuders and Tratours Yet seeing their administrations are so and so No Rebellious Act is performed I could note here many more such absurdities inconsequences tualoga in theologa as they cal them but enough is said Considering the truth brings forth no errour nor absurditie by true consequence Neither doth one part contradict another as Augustine h Scriptura sancta in nulla parte discordat De verb. dom 2. 11. well observeth Let us heare what he hath further to say Treat The Jewes after Christs death and the taking away and abolishing of the legall ordinance thereby circumcised their infants and frequented the Temple for purification and other Mâ—saicall Ceremonies as parts of Gods Worship and still remaining of divine institution Paul also circumcised Timothy entred the Temple and yet did not approve any manner of way of the errour and evill of the Iewish worshippers Answ It is truely said of the Orators there is nothing done so evill but with faire coulers a man may defend it To alleadge the Legall Ordinances for the justifying of this Hearing is a poore shift and shewes a desperate case For 1. it is doubtfull to some whether any did well to practice the Mosaicall Ceremonies after our Lords suffering I could name not a few who say it was their failing that did so But 2. grant and so I thinke that yet the Iewish Rites were tollerable I say in respect of the time of an indifferent nature and therefore their observation till further propagation of the Gospell in offensive and in it selfe not evill And so thinkes Calvin i Instit l. 3 c. 19 Sect. 10. Bezâ— k Annot. in Act. 21 27. P. Martyr l Loc. CooÌ„ in Clas 2 c. 4 pag. 200. Zanchy m In praecept 3 pag. 338. the Writers of the Centuries n Cent. 1. l. 1â— pag. 416. the Rhemists o In Act. 21 24. God minding saith Augustine p Ad Hierom Epist 16. to have them honourably buried Now what makes this for his purpose if there be any agreement betweene this Example and the thing he stands for thus it must be if it were lawfull for Paul and others to doe a thing which might be either done or not done according to circumstances then it is Lawfull to heare false Ministers howbeit the practice be against the Word of God I shall need say little more for if his best friends will but draw the curtaine and looke on both parts with a single and impratiall eye they must without more adoe confesse that I have rightly applyd it or they themselves applyed to it what we say commonly non causam pro causa he takes that for defence of his cause which maketh naught to the purpose 3. To speake a little further in this thing because some of our Opposites conceive it is much for them I desire these few particulars may be considered 1. The Ceremonies whereof we speake had a necessarie use of avoyding scandall q Act. 15 28. 2. They were expedient for drawing of people unto the faith order of the Gospell r 1 Cor. 6 20 22. 3. Of Gods owne institution at first 4. No part of worship 5. During a time after Christs resurrection in their nature indifferent s Rom 14 16 Gal. 6 15. 6. In the use of them it was not a holding of conformity with idolaters in their Ceremonies Contrary to this is the Hearing in question For it giveth offence to Brethren hinders many from entring into Church-estate it hath no other ground but mans invention it is a speciall part of divine worship in it selfe a practice sinfull and unlawfull and makes the observers like idolaters in their idolatrous actions That which next followes is his Wodden Reason of a Crosse I will sert downe his owne words To come neerer home Treat it is the custome in Popish Countries that all that passe by a Crosse must in honour of it leave it on the right hand as they may doe by reason of the placing of it comming or going t D. Rainold against Hart. c 1 divis 2 pag 46 Now if I ride with others that way I may doe the thing that they doe and keepe Company with them and yet not honour the Crosse Answ It was a common practice as a wise and learned man observes among young Students in the time of the Dunses that if in disputation they were brought to an inconvenience were it never so absurd they would have a distinction though without braine or sence I will not say that the Trea. distinction here is sencelesse but this I say and will make it good it is truthlesse besides hurtfull and dangerous For to take the things as he layes it downe that is there are two wayes to passe by a Crosse and I know there are in company some who in honour of the idol will leave it on the right hand Now in this case if I should silently passe on that side with them I should offend yea though I did it for no other cause but to keepe on with my company My reasons for it are these 1. The practising of an indifferent thing wherein others superstitiously put holinesse and necessity is an occasion of confirming and hardning of them in their superstition Of this judgement were the German Churches in the Confession of Auspnrg a Harm Confess pag. 222. and Musculus b Loc. Com. pag. 422. Chyereus c In Mat. p. 342 343. Bucanus d Loc. pag. 353. 332. B. Jewell e Defen of Apol. p. 386. D. Whitaker f Descript pag. 483. and others 2. Gods Word chargeth us to avoyd all appearance of evill and condemnes all such as with their bodies and in outward shew g Levit. 18. 34. and 19. 19 Exo. 23. 24. give any appearance to idolaters of conforming themselves to them in their idolatrous actions howsoever they doe it not with the same minde and intent that the others doe And this is affirmed by Bucer h Com. in Mat. c. 18. fol. 143. 6. Polanus i In Ezech c. 16. Calvin k In Levit 19. pag. 207. B. Hooper l Vpon Ionas Serm. 6. fol. 146. and others 3. Deu. 14. 1. and 12. 4. 30. 31. GeÌ„ 35. 5. I must please my neighbour to edification * Rom. 15. 2. 1 Cor. 8. 33. Now marke it if I yeeld him not due helpe in fitt time and place whereby to with-hold him from sinne I become accessarie to the evill he doth So write Theâ—philact m Com. in Rom. 15. D. Ames n De conscien l. 5. c. 10. p. 282. and others 4. Here the Proverbe is fulfilled Silence is consent For not only by words workes and Examples may
him And thus doe out best Expositers vnderstand the place Caluine Pareus Piscator Aretius Musculus It is further to be noted where Christ sayh he that receiveth you receiveth me c. His meaning is that such as hearken to and obey the doctrines of his Ministers therein doe acknowledge his authority power kingly office over his Church to appoynt her lawes I meane in a worke of their â—ffice offices ordinances c. and also the fathers donation or the delivering up of the same into his sonnes hand To apply this As they who hearken vnto Christs ministers doe therein approue of his lawfull power over his Church of the fathers guift this way to him soe contrariwise such as hearken * to Antichrists Ministers doe therein approue of Antichrists vnlawfull power over the false Church and the devils ‡ Satan is the author of false ministries in the apostasie of the man of sin donation or his putting of that power into his eldest sons hands If any say we intend not so I answere Res ipsa aliud ostendit the actioÌ„ which they do is so quid verba audiam cum factae videam And here that saying of a learned a man is fulfulled There are some which deny that they worship Idolls T. C. Repl 1. p. 88. 204. when in the meane time their owne doings chargeth them with it Now there are too many in those daies grosly guilty this way His next words are Lavat in Iosh 22. Hom. 61. Treat The Minissters in the Parishes haue not the doctrines of the Gospel from the Bishops as they haue their offices but from God in his word Answ It was a law b Eugin Boron Iure consult l. 1. p. 120. among the Romanes that whosoever passed not into their Citty at the gates but attempted to break throw the walls or to clyme over them should be put to death The Treat in pressing the hearing of the truths of the Gospel would perswade us so we do receiue them it is no matter whether it be by order or disorder whether from the Ministers of Christ or Antichrist Whether in a true Church or in a false But this counsell we cannot take because to our knowledge ther is a divine statute in force against it therefore as we must c T. C. Repl. 1. p 155. care for the truth so must we care of whom we haue it he giues this reason d Ibid. p. 83. As God hath ordained that the truth should be preached so also hath he ordained in what order and by whom it should be preached We may not therefore adventure e Penry Exhort to the govern of Wales pag. 46. to go vnto him for those things which he hath no commission to deliver Suppose Carah or some other in that Conspirasy should haue said thus Come to us yee men of Israell and hearken to beleeve and Obey the truths taught in our Tents If you object that our Calling is anti-Mosaicall and false we answer this cannot be any barre or let in the thing seeing the doctrines we teach are from God in his law J cannot see according to the Treat arguing how in such a case they could haue staid without for if we may go into the Sinagogues of Antichrist so the Doctrines of the Gospel be there preached I would know then of our Opposites why an Israelite vpon the same ground viz. to heare the Doctrines of the law might not haue gon with them rebels into their Tents I beleeve if we come to open termes these will be found to be par pari things alike and the one as lawfull as the other both starke naught But to come more neerer to the point the thing which the Treat harpes most vpon is that they teach the truth And our opposites vse this as their speciall and main position viz. Where the truth is taught there they may lawfully heare To discover their follow herein J pray let it be minded what was said before As the hearing in question is a religious action so to haue it lawfull and good the circumstances perteyning to it must necessarily be observed of which circumstances the truth taught is only one particular It is a received maxime both in divinity and Philosophie that circumstances make actions formally good or bad so write Junius f De pol. Aquinas g 1a 2 a. q. 8. Art 3 Camerius h Praelect Tom. 2. p. 49. and Burgesse i of the lawfullnes of kneeling C. 1. confesseth they are intrinsecall and essentiall to actions and especially making up there nature Fed Morellus vpon these words of Seneca k Scho. 2. Lib. refert quid cui quando quare saith that without these circumstances of things persons time place c. facti ratio non constat Friar Ambrosius Caturinus l Counc l. 2 p. 224. following the doctrine of Thomas meanteyneth in the covnsell of Trent that to do a-good worke the concurrance of all circumstances is necessary What these circuÌ„stances or parts are is shewd in that old vers Quis quid vbi quibus auxilijs cur quomodo quando And to apply them to our point howsoever it be granted that their teaching may be without vitium rei yet in it there is vitium perfoÌ„ae loci ordinis relationis c as the. Trâ— * in aletter to D. Ames published in Brownists schis phraseth it else wher 1. The Person designed is not lawfully called now a false Office and a true worship are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are no way compatible 2. As it respects the place that is the Idoll-Churchstate so it is to worship God there where he hath forbidden men to worship him 3. For the instruments and meanes in this men make themselues beholding to Antichrist for his order constitution manner and way to serue God in and by Now fye for shame that any should be so base as to scrape acquentance with that Babylonian whore who is the greatest enimy that the Lord hath vpon the earth Iâ— is a most certaine â—igne saith one m Estque merae proditionis certissimum indicium si quis aliqueÌ„ ex suis videat concilia claÌ„ cum hoste captantem aut in eius aurem insuâ—ure anteÌ„ of a very traitour when a man shall see one of his owne take secret counsell with his enimy whisper him in the eare Touching the other circumstances viz. why how when these all are also here wanting as I could instance in sundry particulars if need were But to winde vp all bring all the former into some fewer heads the goodnesse or badnesse of divine worship is to be considered either in actu signato and quo ad specium or in actu exercito and quo ad individium Divine worship is said to be speciated by its object and individuated by its circumstances when divine worship is good or evill in respect of the object of it we say it is
good or evill quo ad speciem when in respect of the circumstances we terme it good or evill quo ad invidium Cartewr kist ch l. 1. p. 253. Now I will not deny but this hearing worship quo ad specium as God is made the object of it so it is right but quo ad invidium as it hath circumstances and parts so it is a false worship and this is so cleare a truth as no man will deny it vnlesse the denier will deny all religion and reason all sence ' and scinence It is not sufficient saith Rivetus n Comment in Hos 4 14 p 152 vnto theÌ„ true wor ' shippe of God that a man erres not in the object which he ought to worship that is if he propose to himselfe to worship the true God but also that that manner bee exactly kept which God hath prascriin his law from the tenour or rule whereof whosoever in the least departeth the same cannot be held lawfull He endes thus Treat And so farre forth as a man heares that is bearken too reciues them by receiving it he so farre bearkens too receives Christ 〈…〉 Answ This is spoken gratis and without any foundation and therefore not more easily avouched then rejected But say we grant that So farre forth Christ is hearkened too c. yet doth not this hinder but So farre forth as he heares in an Antichristitian assembly and a false officer 〈…〉 and performes a religious worship in away and manner which Idolaters haue divised c. I say let his so farre stand yet in these respects and consideration He so farre forth hearkens too and receiues Antichrist If I should put over the Treat reasoning in spiriturl things to things civill and worldly the very expression of them would make them odious For suppose aman should vse the helpe of a known sorcerer to recouer some lost gould or silver being afterward reproved for it would reply Seeing they were good things from God hee did well therefore to get them in the way manner that hee tooke Or if a theese offering certaine stollen goods should perswade another to receive them because howsoever he hath no right to give such things away yet seing they are good and from God hee may take them safely for it is all one whether they are received in away of false-hood theift or by the Ieaue and grant of the true owner If these things appeare vile and absurd no otherwise is his reasoning here if it be with the eye of Iudgment lookd vpon the Priests for whom he pleads in the Scriptures are said to be robbers and theeues yea Spirituall sorcery is charged vpon them But all this with the Treat is nothing For so they deliver good things the same may be received from them in a worke of their office But if a man stood before an earthly Iudge accused of vsing a forcerers assistance to recover his lost monyâ— or for receiving goods from a knowne theise it would not free him to say the things are good which I tooke Neither will it excuse men when they shall appeare before the Iudgment seat of Christ to say it was the truth which they heard though not in the way and order which the word taught them Be not deceived God is not mocked Gal. 6 7. for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reape SECT 7. NOw we come to the 5 Objection the which is laid down for us by the Treat thus Yet such as heare them haue communion with their office of Ministery what in them lyes It is the manner of some to set up markes and afterwardes to shew their art in shooting of them downe againe One would thinke that the Treat former writings against the hearing of false Ministers were written by him to be as it were his But marke that thereby he might shew his skill and witt in striking downe the same afterwards Touching the objection which he here frames for vs vndertakes the confutation of It is his owne and vnder his owne hand even word for word published to the world and in defence of the same thing which he brings it here for vs as the Reader may see in his manumissi on to a manuduction pag. 5. But to let this passe hoping it was rather a slip in his penne then a downfall in his judgment Let us see now how he hits the marke his answer to it is thus That is they haue no communion at all with it if it ly not in them to haue any as it doth not If I hold vp my hand as high as I can I touch heaven with my finger what in me lies do I therefore at all touch it if such thinke to haue or that they haue any such communion it is their errour and Ignorance but makes not the thing to be the more then if they thought not so This is all his answer a capite vsque ad pedes from head to foot Vnto the which I answer 1. To his peremptory affirmation they haue no communion at al may apply the saying fathered on the old Philosopher multa dictiâ—sed pauca probat I le speakes much but proues little For our parts as I haue said we cannot take his bare saying de iure et de fide to bee a rule of faith to us For our consciences are not like Sampsons shoulders strong enough to beare it 2. He dallies deceives by a generall ambigious terme of Communion If it be intended in the order way of Church-state it is true then here is no such communion as haue members gathered into a body politick But if by the word we vnderstand such a communion as makes the hearer really pertaker of the sinne of the Officer in this sence here is a communion of fellowshipp For 1. Hereby is allowance and approbation given vnto a work of darknes I say his very presence there to heare is an open countenancing of an vnlawfull officer in an vnrghtteous course tanquam legimae et sacrae actionis approbatio As Davenat a deterâ— Quaest 7. p 40. Slater b Explic. Anal in 1 Cor. C. 2 p. 92. and others note in the like case 2. It is apparent to a right discerning eye that the ministers of Antichrist in all acts of their ministery do vse such waies and inventions in worshipping of God as are not commanded of God in his word but be devises of men Now whosoever joynes with theÌ„ in the practice of such worship becomes a pertaker of their sinne and trangression Of this writes Ioan. David c Veridicus Christian c 28 p 7. And the reason is because he commits will-worship for what is well-worship but to worship God not after his appointment but our owne And hence was Ahaz an Jdolater eo ipso for that as P. Martyr d Comment in 2 Reg â— 17 notes he tooke the patterne of an Alter from Idolaters to serue the true
this cannot be denyed But for the other kind and way of Hearing albeit it be not the Relation yet it is in Relation and belongs reallie to the praedicament or matter of the Relation I am sorry that J am constrained to speake so often of Philosophie but indeed I can doe no lesse considering that leaving the Word of God he seeks to lead men a stray by abstruse and ambiguous distinctions strange and wrapping words Now howsoever this may puzzel the understanding of some people as not able to apprehend the strong delusion yet the truth is let them be brought to the rules and grounds of true Philosophie d Vera Philosophia cum S. Theologia nusquam pugnat quod in Theologia verum est etiam in Philosophia contra Keckerm disput Philos p. 5 they are as unable to be defended by art and reason this way as by the Seriptures Notwithstanding I doe desire the person whosoever he shal be that undertakes the cause here against me to prove what he saith by divine authoritie For I would willingly deale with him by that booke alone as by the book of all truth Nay I require Scripture for without it I shall beleeve nothing though he bring whole Cartloads of such carnall caveling devises But to proceed 2. To apply the hearing in question to a stander by that heares a man to speake occasionallie and in a private way Here againe as in al the rest he takes his scope without orbe or order For where things are done ex mero alterius obsequio by a power institution there can be no participation in the administrations thereof e M. Const Cnirim Metaph. l. 2. c. 1 but it is a submission to the power whether it be true or false By such a gloze the Corinthians might finelie have put of Pauls reproofe Seeing we are not in union with them we can at their sacrifice only as standers by and in a private way and so have no relation to the idol But such a shift would not serve their turne For whatsoever they did it was to be determined and reputed according to the publick acts and not as themselves vainelie fantised So f comment in 1 Sam. c. 27 v. 4 Martyr Chytraeus ‡ De Eucharist p. 216 and others The time was when the Treat thought that there was use g Preface before religious Commun of a distinction of Religious actions into personall and Church-actions how he understood it he shewes afterwards h Treat of private Communion pag. 10 in private I communicate onlie with the presons and personall graces of holy men in publique I communicate with their Church-state and order as also with the publick Ministery and in and with it with the Prelacy whence it is The truth here is never the worse nor lesse howsoever he left it for he that joynes in the exercise and practice of publick actions he must necessarilie joyne himselfe tō the State Order Ministerie c. in which and by which the same are performed 3. In this answer he plainly confutes himselfe For marke all Readers that have sence In a true Church he grants there is Communion between the Teacher and taught and the reason which he gives for it is because the Flock is the object of his Ministerie Now if that in this way make a Lawfull Communion then by necessarie consequence there can be no hearing in the other way but must be an unlawfull Communion My reason is because the Office of a Preist is not an institution of any one independent bodie but of universall Hyerarchicall state and extendeth it selfe too and over all manner of persons whatsoever I say so many as doe congregate and bend an eare thereto If any should object and say but many of them are Parish-Priests and so resident in one place I answer this respects not the state of their Office at all but onlie imports a licence that some have from their Prelate to doe certaine services speciallie in this or that Assembly not that their Office of Preisthood is here by anie way limited or circumscribed but is as we said before universall and every where over Sea and Land Hence then everie hearer must needs be the object of such a Ministerie and so communicateth therewith if there be any weight of reason in the Treat words And here we have verefied the old saying Ipse sibi nocet is alium qui laedere quaerit 4. Where he saith here is communion only in the effects of the truths taught Here is another invention of his owne head and makes true the saying i Vno absurdo dato mille sequuntur grant one absurditie and a thousand will follow That the effects should be dividuated from the working-cause is against the rules of reason k Clement Templ Metaphy l. 3 p. 251 260. for common principles shew that there is an essentiall connextion between them and the former is to be considered for qualitie kind as the later is These Canons are well known as is the cause so that which is caused of the doing of the thing n Idem qua idem semper facit idem Arist l. 2. de Gen. corrupt c. 10 Againe l Rodolph Goclen c. 9 p. 90 as is the same so alwayes followes the same effect We speake not here of what may fall out by accident o Arist 2 Topic. c. 9 5 31 but of things considered in themselves m qualis causa tale causatum And to take it thus and say they effects are right and Lawfull when the instruments and working-causes are wrong and unlawfull Or to say I may communicate in the effects and yet not with the instruments or working-cause It is caput vacuum cerebro as vaine a thing as ever man held If a Traitor or Rebel should set up one to be a Iudge another a Major c. and give them commission to administer justice publicklie Were it Lawfull for any of the Kings subjects to communicate in the effect of their administrations because the same in it selfe was just I say no For it were treason so to doe And is it a lesser offence to offend God in a matter of the like nature If a man may communicate in the effects of such actions say good in themselves whose instruments and working-causes are unlawfull I say let this be granted there are few Idolaters Adulterers Theeves Witches but will easilie excuse themselves But as it is a Maxime in the civill Law p Fr. Connanus Comment juris civil l. 5 c. 9 and grounded on the Law of God q Mart. Azpilcueta Enchyrio c 17 p. 330 cals it a breach of the 7. ◠Commād That to have any thing rightlie just and lawfull instruments must be used So it is in this cause here For howsoever God may use what instruments he will I say bring his purpose to passe by what secondary meanes he pleaseth yet hath he bound vs straightlie
interpreted then have not the Ministers of God any more to say for the justification of their standing then the Ministers of Satan I use Pauls phrase * 2. Cor. 11. 15. have to say for theirs Yea moreover hence the base Familists a H. N. his Exhort to his Childr and such giddie-heads who deny all outward calling to particular men and say every one that can preach the Word are Ministers alike Are justified ‡ He that justifies the false claime of a usurper condemnes the partie whose title is right and good in their most vile assertion ☉ facinus horrendum sancti viri But to cleare the Text from the Treat false glosse And by it to prove the truth which we hold I will here lay downe this argument If Paul by sending Proofe 1. Rom. 10 14 15. doth not at all intend unlawfull Ministers Then are not unlawfll Ministers to be heard But the first is true therefore the second The proposition which needeth only to be cleared may bee thus manifested Such as the Apostle intended Rom. 10. ought and may Lawfully preach But Antichristian Ministers neither ought nor may Lawfully preach Ergo the Apostle Rom. 10 meanes not Antichristian Ministers The Major is most evident and cannot be denyed by any that beares the face of a Christian The Minor is cleare and certaine by these Scriptures b Heb. 5 4. Numb 16. 5 and 18 7 2 Chro 26 18 Act. 14 23. ler. 23 21. Besides granted of all both Papists and Protestants To wit that it is great sinne to exercise any spirituall functioÌ„ or Ministerie without a true outward calling Of this judgment were Francis Ribera c Comment in Heb. 5 4. Toletus d In Joh. 10. pag 597. Royardus e Feria Ter Post Pent. Luther f Comment in Gal. c. 1 v. 8. Pareus g Comment in Heb. 5. 4 Piscator h ibid. Ames i Cas Consc l. 4. c. 25. Slater k On Rom. 2. v. 3. Cartwright l Repl. to Whitg p. 54 63. Wilson m Comment on Rom. 10 v. 15. Bilson n Chur Gov. others 2. If we may Lawfully communicate in and with that Ministery which the Apostle speaketh of Rom. 10. 15. then he intends not here any unlawfull Ministerie But the first is true Ergo the later is true also The Proposition cannot be doubted off The Assumption wee prove by our Opposites Confession For they grant it is unlawfull to communicate in and with a false Office 3. If the Holy Ghost doth testifie that by sending Rom. 10. the true and Lawfull Ministers of Christ are intended Then are not false and unlawfull Ministers intended in that place But the first is true Ergo the later is true also The Proposition is grounded on the words of the Text How shall they preach except they be sent As it is written how beautifull are the feet of them that preach the Gospell of Peace and bring glad tytings of good things These words are taken out of Esa 52. 7. where the Prophet according to the interpretation of all Learned men upon the place hath reference to the Ministers of Christ I say to such only whose outward calling whether extraordinarie or ordinarie was Lawfull and true So Cyrillus o Comment in Esa 52. 7. Dionysius p ibid. Areularius q ibid. Wigand r ibid. Hyperius s On the place Bullingerus t ibid. Mollerus u ibid Zwinglius x Marloratus y ibid Gualte a ibid Musculus b ibid Vrsinus c ibid Oecolampadius and others The Assumption needs no proofe except a man would make some question whether it should be day when it is manifested to him that it is not night 4. If unlawfull and false Ministers are not sent from God But from the Devill and Antichrist Then doth not the Apostle in Rom. 10. 15. intend false and unlawfull Ministers But the antecedent is true Ergo also the consequence The Major or antecedent is ground d ibid on these Scriptures * Ier. 14 14 Rev 9 3 and 13 14 15 16 and 18 15 17 2 Thes 2 3 4 2 Chro. 11. 15 Rev. 16. 3. And among other reasons layd downe by Zanchy e Quia non mittuntur ab eo sed a Diabolo Explicat Philip 3. 1 p. 176 Tom. 4. wherefore unlawfull Ministers â—hâ—uld be avoyded he gives this for one Because God sends them not but the Divell So Cartwright ‡ f Repl to Whitg p. 88 204. speaking of the Hierarchy vvhich comprehends all false Offices in the Kingdome of the Beast sayth it came out of the Bottomlesse pitt of hell and from the Devill Perkins g Expos Serm mount Mat 7 p. 239 vol. 2. Pareus h Comment in Mat. 24. 23. Musculus i Comment in Mat. 7. Latton k Syons Plea the Authors of the Admonitions to the Parliament l Admon 1. and others say so too The Assumption is as manifest For durst any man affirme that Ministers not sent from God but from Satan and Antichrist are here meant by the Apostle 5. Such have a promise of Gods gracious presence with them and of his blessing on their labours and Ministerie who are said Rom. 10. 15. to be sent But unlawfull Ministers have no such promise of Gods presence with them nor of his blessing on their labour and Ministerie Therefore by sending Rom. 10. the Apostle intendeth not unlawfull Ministers He that should denye this argument would shew more spight then wit For both paâ—ts are as cleare as the Sunne at noon-day For the other part of the reason there can be no exception against it For seeing this place which is the foundation of their cause is very Sand the whole building like a tottering wall must needs fall to the ground 2. For his saying He hath before shewed that it is Lawfull to heare him that hath no Lawfull calling I answer I cannot finde this proved any where in his Booke For I professe in the word of truth I see little difference betweene his grounds for hearing in false Churches and the Nicolaitants reasoning for eating in idol-Temples For thus they would plead m Euseb lib 3 cap. 29 Ireuaen lib 1. c. 25 Meats and Drinkes are the good Creatures of God and may be used in a civill way Lawfully Now we receive them no otherwise whatsoever ends and respects others have Convenient rebus nomina saepe suis What is the Treat plea but the same Hearing is a naturall action And although he heares false Ministers yet is not his private meaning to honour the state of the Office as the rest doe Thus Chius ad Coum their Doctrines are alike But doth not this in the meane time shew a desperate cause which hath not any authenticall records of the Holie Ghost Vnder the shadow whereof it can find any shelter to shrowd it selfe What in the whole Booke of
Dom. 9 post and others Againe if an unlawfull outward calling make an unlawfull Minister then it makes a false Prophet For according to the Scriptures it is all one thing only expressed in sundrie tearmes The Treat ‡ Divine Mor Observ pag 60. tels us that their sinne is great and full of presumption who shorten and strengthen the Scriptures to make way for their owne devises This fault he commits here himselfe For where the Scriptures take all for false Prophets which are unlawfull Ministers he to make way for his owne devise will restraine the appellation to such as erre only in Doctrine And thus he makes good the rule which Logicians terme de omni de nullo as if true in the general but not in the particular As if true that all unlawfull Ministers in the sence of the Scriptures are false Prophets yet such as are unlawfull Ministers in respect of their unlawfull outward calling are not false Prophets Lastly I would know whether Corah burning true insence and Ieroboams Preists offering true sacrifices were false Prophets if they were as no rationall man will denie then the other followeth consequently But J gesse what caused this errour in the Treat hee found in the Scriptures that some are false Prophets because of their false Doctrines Hence hee concluded there were no other false Prophets But it followes not unlesse a man will say he that robs a house is a theife Ergo there are no theeves but House-Robbers The which thing whosoever holds shal be Paralogizer a deluder of his owne soule ‡ And this may serue for answer to the Pistle maker who inclosing up of his Epistle crows out Like a Cock of the game that hath beaten all his fellowes out of place now let them tell us where they find in the Scripture that men are named false Prophets for want of a true outward calling Forsooth here we shew it if you have eyes to see it and grace to use it well Touching the other point he speakes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in consideratelie for to say No mans outward Lawfull calling makes him a true Prophet For as in Wedlock a woman is truely a wife immediatelie upon the action of her Lawfull marriage yea though she should afterward never doe the duties of a wife So he is a true Ecclesiasticall Officer incontinently upon his outward lawfull calling Let his practises afterwards be good or bad The reason is because his administrations after his calling as prayer preaching c. gives nothing to the formall beeing of it As I have shewed else-where t Necessit Separ p. 236. His words following are Treat Balaam * Num. 22 25. Iosh 13. 21. 2 Pet 2 15. 16. Rev. 2 14. Num. 25. 5. 9. 10 c. And chap. 24. 2 3 c. was a false Prophet in cursing in purpose where God would have him blesse and in teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the people of Israell and yet a true Prophet in blessing Israel by the spirit of Prophesie and Word of the Lord put into his mouth Answ Would men receive his sayings as they doe gould and silver by due triall and proofe they should find reason enought to refuse them turn them back Now for the falsenes of this * Ea doceat Episcopus quae a Deo didicerit non ex proprio corde Let the B. teach those things which he hath learned of God And not of his own heart or fancy My answer to it shal bee in the words of another man u Attersol hist of Barak and Balaam on Numb 22. p. 8 11. We know no mean between true Prophets and false for whosoever is not a true Prophet is a false Prophet and whosoever is a false Prophet cannot be a true Prophet of God He that is of God is a true Prophet He that is of the Devill is a false Prophet Neither doth the †Marke this well for it shewes all the Treat answer to be caecum insomnium a vaine dreame and nothing else DELIVERIE AND UTTERANCE OF SOME TRUTH MAKE HIM A TRUE PROPHET For then the Devill should be a true Prophet who sometimes speaketh the truth albeit to a sinester end And a little after he concludeth thus Balaam was a uery Witch a Wizard a false Prophet a true sorcerer famous or rather infamous for his Devilish Magick which he practised among the wicked idolatrous Nation So Attersol And manie others write so too As Iunius x Annal Expli Num. 22. p. 109. Symson y Exposit on 2 Pet. 2 v. 16 p. 372. Ferus z Comment in Numb 22. Canutus a ibid. and before them Origen b ibid. Greg Nazianzen c ibid. Basil d ibid. Againe as hee writes against the truth so against himselfe For in Pag. 70. 71. * A Letter sent to London written by the Treat he saith to name men idolaters adulterers murderers c. because they doe some acts of idolatrie murder theift c. agrees neither with Christianitie nor civility but is a consequence and collection made without rule of Charitie Hierom distinct 36. ca. fin or ground of Truth Yet see aliud stants aliud sedens How he is one while for the thing another while against it Balaam delivereth some truths Therefore he must be a true Prophet But if another cum Care Carizas doe reason after the same sort hee cals it and that rightlie a consequence made without ground of truth * Testimonium tuum quod aliena re leue est hoc contra re grave c Thine owne testimonie which in another case is of small weight but this against thy selfe is of great moment Tull. 3. Whereas Balaam in 2. Pet. 2. 16. is said to be a Prophet the Apostle meanes a false Prophet And the like we read in other places e 2 Kin. 3. 13. Hos 9. 8. See Iun. notes on the place not that the name Prophet is due to them But given them ironicallie that is because they falselie assume it f Non quibus hoc nomen vere congruebat sed qui illud arroganter falso sibi summebant Brightâ—â— Comment in Cant. Cant. cap. 4. fol. 78. 16. T. W. Expos upon the Booke of the Cantic pag. 18. glorie in the title and willinglie would be so reputed and taken For the other Scriptures in the margine I know not for what end they were quoted unlesse to shevv the reader in how many places he may find the word Balaam in the Old New Testament The Treat goes on thus He is a Prophet that speakes or declares a thing past present or to come And to prophesie in our sence is nothing else but to speake to edification exhortation and comfort He that doth this is a true Prophet He that speakes the contrarie a false Answ Men pleading for errour are driven oft times to use that kind of reasoning which in Scholes they call