giueth sometimes to priuate mens admonishments and exhortations saying thereupon cohortatoriè as Luther obserueth him and the other learned fathers to speake many times Ligasti aut soluisti fratrem yet is this no whit of this nature and kind whereof we intreat this being an exhortation or counsell and a common worke of charity belonging to all Christians the other a iudgement or a solemne and peculiar iudiciall proceeding performed alwayes by Gods ministers onely and lieutenants in this behalfe wherein God deales by them as a King doth by his Iudges and other immediate officers for any state occasion wherein although many haue skill and can giue counsell and aducie yet are no charters quoadius as wee say pardons or iudgements whatsoeuer of validity and force to carry or confirme any thing for or against any except they be pronounced or otherwise sealed and warranted by those who are called and designed to represent and supply the Kings place and person in any of the same And thus much briefly of this first kinde of excommunication which respecteth indifferently all kindes of people that haue soules to be saued and may yea ought to be exercised in all places where any true minister is found albeit there be no order or power established according to the nature of a visible Church or other ordered gouernment whatsoeuer For so is the nature of the other excommunication which wee made to be from the visible Church wherein alwayes is required some company liuing vnder forme of outward gouernment by which lawes may be made and enacted for this or at the least some other kinde of separation from the same for so Saint Paul speaketh of a company to be gathered together as from which that incestuous person was to be remoued by his owne censure which also may appeare by all other such separations which euer haue beene read of or are as yet practised in the world wherein by some kind of power established amongst some company liuing vnder gouernement be it of one kind or other certaine persons haue beene excluded oftentimes according to the discretion of the gouernours thereof from the face and fellowship of some visible Church Which also according to the causes and diuers kinds of operation and proceeding by or against any this kinde of excommunication must againe be diuided into that which by violence without cause and against all order and reason is oftentimes denounced and that which vpon iust cause or by some kinde of order at the least is commenced and executed for the separation of any from the visible Church the first whereof may be called excommunicatio violentiae such as were exercised by Tyrants against many a true member both of the visible and inuisible Church the other not vnfitl termed excommunicatio ordinis in which by some orderly proceeding and vnder some course of Lawe and constitutions iust or vniust any are remoued from any such company and priuiledges belonging thereunto which also being as all iudgements are as the Schooles distinguish them vsurped or defiled and tainted with some in iustice and wrong or els direct and regulated according to trueth and equity so likewise is this excommunicatio ordinis whereby good Ieremie and our Sauiour Christ himselfe Iohn 7. were by such orders as those times did afford Abstentes as the word in Ieremie importeth and debarred at the least from many priuiledges of that Church and time as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may by Erastus his own acception or any others signifie as well as that incestuous person most iustlie by Paul from the company and priuiledges of the Church of Corinth But to tye our selues to that excommunication which by good order and vpon iust and necessary cause is alwayes awarded resting in the hands power of euery true Church and company gathered together in the name of Christ to professe his name and seruice that also hath it differences and distinctions for so by the Schooles and Kanons many such haue beene inuented whereof that of excommunicatio maior minor the greater and the lesse may very well fit our purpose According to the vse of this greate censure by all Christian Churches in the world Which vpon the assistance at the last of Christian magistracy and by their owne speciall decrees and constitutions thereabout haue extended the power of this censure to the debarring of those that are separated thereby from many common priuiledges whereof the ciuill estate maketh them otherwise partakers as appeareth by many ciuil constitutions and statute Lawes in force at this present amongst vs de excommunicato capiendo and such like to that purpose For which cause this excommunication by order as we haue termed it for the better setting downe the true nature of it must once againe be diuided into that which is meerly ecclesiasticall as proceeding onely and wholly from that power of the keyes which are giuen to the Church for the ruling and sauing of soules or els into that which is ciuill abusiuely so called and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as we say or lastly partly ecclesiastical and partly ciuill according to which are most proceedings therein for the outward gouernement of any Church at this day That which is called ecclesiasticall is so wholly estated in the persons of Church gouernours as that if there were no ciuill Magistrate in the world yet would and ought they to claime and shew their authority and power if according to the true ends and vses thereof hereafter more particularly to be set downe the Church shall iudge it fit or necessary so to be awarded Author of late assertions for Church Discipline And no ciuill power hath any more to doe with it then as the latest exceptor and pleader himselfe against many things therein confesseth and proueth by the authority of Bishop Horne and Doctor Bilson both reuerend fathers of one Sea in our Church it hath to doe with making ministers consecrating Churches immediate making of Church Canons for doctrine cases of cōscience administration of the word and Sacraments and such like In the prefaces to certaine Iniunctions made in Henry 8. and Elizabeth their raignes which some princes of this kingdome and all other wisely possessed with the trueth of these matters haue euermore disclaimed Howbeit for the other which concerne first the bodies and outward estates and condition whatsoeuer of any and secondarily and consequently the soule and inward man and so also respect for the most part the outward peace of the common state both ecclesiasticall and ciuill they all must haue their consideration determination and proper place accordingly as proceeding first from ciuill power may be intended or remitted continued suspended or changed and sometimes exercised or inhibited by ciuill magistrates soueraigne or subordinate Of which sort I make all temporall punishments commutation of pennance outward shame and all other bodily afflictions whereof notwithstanding that of being giuen ouer to Satan some haue made one Erastus out of some
forsooth call Christ his lore and yoke vnto which all Christ his true members must submit themselues Which indeed is no other especially as they meane it for this poynt and argument which wee haue in hand but the new fangled deuices of their owne discontented and ambitious spirits as in the examination of the second part of this first obiection which now followeth shall better and more fully I hope appeare For vnder that more large question touching the original and due bounds of Excommunication commeth another more speciall and subordinate very much vrged and delighted in by many how far Princes themselues are subiect to this censure or any other person or persons or whole states somtimes of like condition quality and consideration the which being diuersly propounded and intended by these two late pleaders the one exempting Princes altogether from all and euery part as it seemeth of this Excommunication as may bee gathered by his owne words the other vrging especially herein the abuse of it in his conceipt by some Nichols in his plea for innocents pag. 51. 52. to whome which he so much misliketh that is impropriated which in his iudgement should be common to all Ministers of the Gospel and that so far foorth as was obserued by a graue counsellor of our state by that which was put vp in petition sometimes by those innocents his clyents that by their rules the pastor of Greenewitch might excommunicate Queene Elizabeth so worthily famous throughout the world in those dayes And indeed being neuer agreed vpon by those new Doctors themselues nor scarse any other of later times it may be allowed very worthy our paines to enquire further into it Author of the Assertion for true and Christian Chruch-policy pag. 327 albeit we come short of any full conclusion or final determination of the same the rather for that our Lawyer like exceptor ouer carried with malice and desire to charge our Bishoppes with some foule and greate imputation thereupon seemeth to haue forgotten the first principles of their cōmon profession herein or at the least forsakē the graue iudgement of their renowned masters and founders of theyr new Discipline crying out very lowdly and challenging all confidently in this manner Who and where they are of their opinion and faction which hold that princes may be excommunicated Whereas besides the generall opinion of them all displayed in the petition abouesayde and discerned by that honourable counseller and elsewhere expressed in their disciplinarian assertions apologeticall writings and conclusions Sir Walter Mieldman that their Oracle may speake as the mouth of them all what their iudgement and desire is for this question Master Cartwright part 2. reply pag. 65. Bishop Whitguift who little regarding the troublesomnesse of those times wherin that worthy prelate sate at the sterne of our Ecclesiasticall gouernement and lesse discerning as it may seeme the mysteries of any such politique administration and particulars belonging to so weighty a censure proceeding especially against such persons as Princes are c was not ashamed to terme the Lord Archbishop of Caunterbury then being Pag. 92. vbi supra as the bawd to Princes other greate Magistrates sins in case they were not excommunicated as his wisedome with the Senate of his associates did iudge oftentimes meete and necessary Demonstration of Discipline pag. 75. And another ads further in this point that Princes must not be flattered in their sinnes and therfore this censure must be inflicted vpon them as well as vpon any other But leauing them to themselues I thus answer to the particulars of this obiection as they glance and glide on both sides of this Excommunication and are directed by the former exceptors and many other against the truth and nature of the same First that as for that Excommunication from the inuisible Church whereby any Minister pronounceth according to the rules of Gods word of any to be in the state of grace or otherwise it and all the parts and degrees of it agree as well to the Prince and any other such like person or state as to any other that hath a soule to saue and so standeth in neede of faith repentance confession and absolution necessary requisite and tending thereunto because in Christ Iesus and matters of soules gouernment Christian liberty and such like there is neither bond nor free as Coll. 3. v. 11. Secondly for that which we call from the visible Church so far footth as it is meerely Ecclesiasticall euery Prince and Potentate is as wel lyeable vnto it as any other because the care and charge of their soules is no lesse vpon the gouernors of the Church but rather much more then for any other and also their sinnes and examples are commonly more infectious and dangerous then other mens And lastly it were not onely a great profanation of all those holy things dayly offered to such polluted and vncleane soules but a greate cruelty also and carelesnesse at the least in those that should be soule-sauers and physitians to suffer any vnder their diet ordering and cure to surfet themselues and surcharge their soules with new sinnes of taking by this meanes Gods name in vaine polluting his sanctuary eating and drinking their owne damnation and such like before by confession and true repentance outwardly testified at the least which is as much as any man can require and discerne they haue discharged themselues of their ould sinnes as noxious humors in a foule stomacke which eftsoones otherwise would break out into many aguish hote and cold fits as Augustine calleth them of other sinnes and dayly symptoms of Gods iudgements Howbeit in this second kind of Excommunication there are certaine cases reserued Casus reseruati and speciall rules euermore to be obserued for the execution of it which may fit vs in some better and further answer to this point As first that because the safety of many and the common peace of the whole Church is alwayes to be respected and preferred before any meanes for the saluation of a few or of the Prince himselfe in such times as by the Excommunicating of some Prince or others of great power or els some whole faction which might breed commotion in the Church or whole state commonly noted and called by turbidis temporibus this censure may very well yea ought to be forborne as in all other of that nature which may preiudice rather then helpe and further the peaceable gouernement of the Church and sauing of soules in generall For which ends this censure was first inuented by God or man and all things appertaining thereunto and wholly are and ought to be referred Secondly where the forbearing of this censure or at the least some higher degree thereof may bee perceiued by the wisedome of the Church to make most for the regaining of any who might otherwise haply bee hardned and discouraged if not in some tender minded people swallowed vp with sorrow thereby as
word And had not God himselfe made this order and difference in all publique and politique proceedings as by the places aboue named and many other of the old and newe Testament which we haue elsewhere vsed for the differences and dignities of Ministers in generall may appeare yet common experience reason and necessity would haue inforced the same as we may see in all pollitique bodies Ecclesiasticall and Ciuil which haue euer beene in the world which otherwise through a generall confusion none ruling nor any obeying would fall downe of themselues as Saint Paul saith if euery member were a head where were the hand the feete the smelling c euen all without order and difference a monstrous confusion And therefore these men themselues in their exercising and awarding this high censure or any part of their new deuised pollicy and discipline reduce all such proceedings to Consistorial throne and iurisdiction and that in far greater soueraignty and peremptory vnreuerseable power then wheresoeuer vnder Christian Magistracy any lawfull Ecclesiasticall body doth execute their iurisdictions and power And herein it differeth not whether the immediate mannagers and Actuaries in this Excommunication be good or bad as the Donatists and Anabaptists sometimes excepted against Baptisme it selfe and some of our homebred Schismatickes haue often reuiued those quarrells or els Laickes sometimes and in some cases as the next question will better inquire so long as they haue this externall order and power by lawfull authority vnder Christian Magistrates put vpon them because therein they doe not their owne worke or actions as Augustine hath abundantly aunswered against the Donatists but the speciall functions of the Church by which they are moued and in euery particular directed and no way carried so farre foorth as they performe any Ecclesiasticall seruices by their owne priuate motions and spirit as appeareth also in baptisme ordination of ministers and many other things appertaining to Ecclesiasticall power and censures And indeede the summe of this obiection is none other then the demand of Corah and his confederates challenging equall power and holinesse in this kinde to all the Leuites and ministers in common Num. 16. v. 34. which God had made then for the order and gouernment of that Church proper to the Priests which is all one with the matter and question we haue in hand For the conclusion whereof I desire all to reade that with iudgement and to translate the Latine of it into good true English diuinity or Christian and godly pollicy if they will which that graue learned and true Christian politician wrote sometimes by way of councell and Theologicall determination to certayne like minded with these Questionists Obiectors Melancthon in Consiliis theologicis Et Consistoria ideo coÌ„stituta sunt ne indocti pastores aut malidaÌ„nent homines sine legittima cognitione sicut manifestum est iracundos pastores saepe hoc modo iniuste turbasse ecclesias notum est plurimos pastores nescire ordinem cognitionum satis est pastors quod ad ministerium iurisdictionem suam attinet quando crimen est notorium admonere reum si non obtemperet arcere cum a communione c. Which speciall power also is by the wisedome and appointment of our Church thorough some delegate power left many times in the hands of euery the meanest minister who also for the most part alwayes hath his ministery and vse in the inflicting this censure and absoluing any persons from it To which the same author addeth the practise and iudgement of other learned men and Churches at that time more directly to this question Anâ—â— Annum in ditione Naumbergensi magna contentio fuit inter quosdam an singuli pastores armandi essent hac potestate Nominatim sine cognitione Consistorii excommunicandi aliquos responderunt autem Dr. Sneppius Casper Aquila idem quod nos nunc scribimus Now for the third and last question and obiection vsually made against the meanes and manner of executing this censure Quaest 3. namely that oftentimes meere Laicks or such at the least as were neuer fully admitted into holy orders doe not onely intermeddle therewith but haue for the most part the greatest stroke therein Plea of the Innocent pag. 49. 50. To which I first answer that which some of these exceptors and pleaders make contrary vse of alledging as the truth is and the order thereof by our Canons and common practise of our Church that the mayne sentence of Excommunication is euermore reserued to bee denounced by the Bishop or some other minister as from whose care and power this whole proceeding doth originally descend by whome and by what means soeuer it be managed Which secondly if it were not so I answer that whatsoeuer is performed herein by any such persons either for the better more safe preparation to the finall sentence it selfe or els practised in the very denouncing of the same are to be accompted for no other then the actions of the sacred ministery it selfe or if you will rather speake with Cyprian and Ierome of the Church and whole power any where established for so they speake plainly albeit very impertinently Nichols in his plea pag. 59. and as ignorantly cited by one of these grand exceptors against many things in our Church gouernment and this one we haue in hand amongst the rest Clauium potestas non vnised vnitati conceditur And so indeede the intermedlers herein are not merely Laikes or wholy Ecclesiasticall in that behalfe and their assistance herein or pronouncing this sentence at any time is no otherwise then as the Clerke of the peace at any commoÌ„ Sessions doth reade denounce or any way assist the Iudges thereof to whome properly and principally the whole commission is directed Thirdly many things incident and especially belonging to this greate censure of Excommunication as it is now for the most part exercised by any Church being externall and primarily respecting the bodies and outward estates of the offendors as also the common peace and externall pollicy of both Church and common wealth together as we aboue shewed they are by all reasonable consideration to be mannaged and discussed by their proper professors and best experienced therein Neither lastly were it meet as the whole councell of the Apostles conclude in the like case that the ministers of the word and Sacraments should attend vpon tables or taking knowledge of all criminall causes in this kind and nature In respect whereof our new masters of their Church policy haue found it very necessary to appoint diuers sorts of lay persons as Elders Deacons Widdowes and such like making them essentiall parts of all welordered Church policy Acts. 6. v. 2. according to Christ his word rules and kingdome as they say who yet notwithstanding in the trueth of those termes being according to the vse thereof in the first Churches and Paul his mentioning of such kind of helpers 1. Cor. 12. v. 26. vnder the
put out as Bellarmine p. 78. l. 2. for facts r. fasts p. 81. l. 35. for Antichrist r. Antichrists p 84. l. 35. for conscience of some r. conscience of sinne p. 85. l. 18. put out not in the title of the Chap. p. 96. l. 34. for tollerent reade tolerent A TRIPLE ANTIDOTE AGAINST CERtaine very common Scandalles of this time which like infectious and epidemicall diseases haue generally annoyed most sorts of people amongst vs poisoned also not a fewe and diuers wayes plagued and afflicted the whole State CHAP. I. Containing the names natures and manifold kinds and differences of Excommunication EXcommunication beeing the highest censure of all Ecclesiasticall power from which the other two of Subscription and the Crosse with all such decent and profitable ceremonies doe naturally arise and the lawfulnes and necessity of these latter depending for the most part vpon the former I haue placed the same in the forefront as it were of those many battels and encounters which by all kind of people almost in this complayning and murmuring age haue beene made against them all but especially against the trueth power and vse of excommunication Which according to the name and nature thereof I haue first of all endeuoured to define after this manner Namely as the word expoundeth it selfe Excommunication in the most generall sense and acception thereof is nothing els but a separation from some common benefite of which any formerly haue beene Excommunicatio a communi bono separatio or otherwise might haue been partakers which is the common receiued definition by the Schooles and Canons Which being somewhat too generall for our purpose after certaine diuisions of these larger termes wee hope at the length to comprise the full summe and substance thereof in as short a compasse as so great a matter may be These common benefites and priuiledges therefore enioyed in this life being either Ecclesiasticall or Ciuill this terme of Excommunication hath beene alwaies by all sufficient writers restrained to those speciall graces and fauours which belong properly to the Church and so this censure is to be defined accordingly to be a debarring and separation from the Church which also being either visible or inuisible the trueth and nature of this excommunication must be in like manner examined and distinguished to be a separation from the visible or inuisible Church Of which distinction sundry reasons may be giuen which briefly may be comprised in these two positions from which many more particulars may easily be collected first that the knowledge order and proceeding in either of these kindes are very much differing both in respect of the persons censuring accusing or offending as also of the defaults and punishments thereunto belonging the one being alwaies certaine after one manner because God as Augustine well obserueth who is the high Iudge in that priuy Court doth see all things euermore as they are and iudgeth accordingly by his present mercy and present iustice taking all actions and persons as he findeth them and so his word and ministry thereof with all other meanes belonging to this Excommunication proceed by the same order and degree the other very variable from the visible Church and vncertaine Primo secundum praescientiam 2. Causam 3. Operationem 4. retributionem sol 2047. taking knowledge and giuing order for personall causes according to particular allegations and proofes as they say which Hugo de sanct in his booke de Sacramentis legis naturalis scriptae doeth more largely expresse making foure kindes of iudgements Secondly because one and the selfe same person may be admitted and allowed for a communicant in the one which happily hath no interest nor fellowship in the other and so contrarily the same persons may by course and order of lawes and proceeding in some cases be remoued from some part of the visible Church which keepe their place firme and sure in the inuisible as 1. Timothy Chap. 5. verse 24. and 2. Samuel Chap. 16. verse 7. is plainely auouched that God seeth not as man seeth and that some mens sinnes goe before vnto iudgement and some follow after Now this Excommunication from the inuisible Church is onely infallibly known and exercised by God who alone knoweth who are his 2. Tim. chap. 2. vers 19. And how at all times euery one standeth or falleth to himselfe the great master of all Rom. 14. vers 4. yet hath hee appointed certaine persons to whome a speciall commission is directed to proceede in this inward and high Court of conscience and by which speciall meanes as by certaine signes and best coniectures the knowledge of euery one his estate and freeholde as it were in the inuisible Church and true fellowship with God and his Saints may be discerned which meanes the learned haue called voluntatem signi being indeed signa voluntatis subordinate to that infallible prescience and predestination of God by which together with these signes and meanes which for that end are prepared and appointed by God all are deliuered from their miserable estate and fellowship with the diuell and Church malignant and receiued into this inuisible Church and company whosoeuer they are that are at any time so receiued as Saint Augustine in many places learnedly sheweth which signes and meanes specified in the word of God and commonly called and vnderstood by those generall graces of faith and repentance being found in any or testified by any outward signes to those Commissaries of God as I may so terme them aboue named so farre as they can or ought to iudge according to their rites of commission and proceeding to be in any or otherwise to be wanting so are they iudged and allowed for meete partakers and communicantes with that heauenly society being qualified thereunto by the former graces or els to be wholly vnworthy and out of the same and so being admitted or excluded by these stewards Gods ministers whome God hath appointed and none other as shall be shewed hereafter to deale in that high Court of his or pronounced priuately or more openly so to be whatsoeuer they shall doe in that behalfe according to the tenour of their commission and order of their court roules which is the truth and scope of holy scriptures shall be ratified and confirmed in heauen both for the pardon of sinne which is the kingdom of grace in this life Ioh. 20. vers 23. and the full state of glory for euer in heauen Mat. 16. vers 19. In regard whereof this excommunication from the inuisible Church so farre foorth as it may be awarded or any way iudicially proceeded in by man Definitio excommunicationis ab inuisibili ecclesia may thus be described to bee that part of the power of the keyes whereby vpon the signes and euidences of infidelity heresie irrepentance or such like euery true minister doth pronounce any to be in the state of Gods wrath and out of the fellowship and communion of Saints Which power albeit Saint Augustine
I haue dealt with or heard of confesse as much of our doctrine which yet indeed be things well examined is as much as is required at their hands by this Subscription And as for particular differences of learned men about the exposition of sundry Scriptures and diuersities of iudgements about any speciall point of positiue Diuinitie as for example in some part of that Article touching Christs descending into Hell and such like very manie about the reading or translating In Epistola quadam yea allowing at all certaine books generally retained amongst the rest of holy Scripture they need not hinder any mans hand from Subscription for as long as the world standeth there will be infinite such differences and that which Hierome obserueth in his time concerning many such varieties must goe still for currant that in such causes Quilibet abundet suo sensu and yet submit himselfe to the generall truth and equity of things ordained in the Church which is the best rule for euery age and euery special Church For so neither is it any way cōtrary but very agreeable to the word of God and euery particular therein that the best humane constitutions for matters of doctrine or manners should be imperfect and not want their doubts and ambiguities nor yet that those that liue vnder gouernment for these imperfections no way implying any manifest error or impiety be they neuer so many shall refuse to subscribe thereunto being lawfully required for so should they yeeld vnto nothing and yet when they haue done all they can they must and doe subscribe to some men and some rules for doctrine and matters traditionary amongst themselues and why not aswell to the present state whereby they liue but that singularity syding and affection now ruleth all the world and God his ordinance is easily neglected and reiected Secondly in matters doubtful and difficult either for doctrine and practise so long as they containe no manifest impiety or notorious offence in them the Superiours authority grounded vpon the fift commandement is sufficient warrant and bond also to any conscience for obedience therein for otherwise there would be no end of controuersies as Melanct. pag. 123. Part. 2. Consil Theolog. Vt sit igitur discordiarum finit recte facit potestas obligans homines vt obtemperent cum alioqui parere sit necesse according also to that old argument Cognitio in synodis est summum iudicium in Ecclesia parere igitur est necesse nor yet any order for any proceedings in the world Which mooued Saint Augustine at the last to conclude this point for the compelling of hereticks and all contrarily minded to wholsome doctrine and religion established by the Ciuil Magistrate as in his Retractations he sheweth Retractatio lib. 2. cap. 18. whose iudgemēt being so vniuersaly approued amōgst vs that refractary spirits may and ought to be constrained to such obedience euen against their iudgements that without any conscience of sin vnto them I maruaile how these standards out can in their consciences absolue themselues of a great sin against the fift commandement for disobeying in so meane and small impositions by so lawfull authority whereas in obeying they haue the fift commandement for their warrāt and the commanding magistrate his soule and conscience engaged in this behalfe as whose sinne furthermore it is if it bee any and of whom it is to be required and not of the obeyer who in cases doubtfull and difficult maketh iust conscience of obedience to superiors and stayeth himselfe herein vpon the fift commandemēt And if they say that in subscription things simply wicked are vrged by our Church as in our doctrines formes of prayer and discipline defended and allowed it is strange that they haue neuer as yet in all their pryings exceptions and conclusions amongst them exhibited any such foule matter to the eies of the iudicious which God be thanked are in great number amongst vs and abroad in the world and it were very strange and wicked also that our neighbour Churches with whom we entertaine and professe agreement and confession alike should want so much charity and that so long especially those Aristarchi of Geneua and Beza himselfe writing so oft to our late Queene and some Bishops also of this kingdome as neuer to haue put vs in minde thereof in a word they might as well say wee haue no Church at all which GOD be thanked for matter of constitution for doctrine and maners is one of the most flourishing Churches in the world as to say we should retaine such grosse points contrary to faith and manners Cassander de Baptismo Infantum p. 113. as Cassander learnedly disputeth from this generall to his particular defence of infants baptism against those Anabaptisticall exceptors in Germany of late very like in too too many things vnto those Sectaries of our times to whom our wise and learned most noble Soueraigne lately answered that if they supposed and iudged such grossenesse as idolatry and such like to be in any part of the substance of our religion or any meanes of expressing the same that then they did very ill to stay so long amongst vs and should rather depart the kingdome which is also our answer in some cases vel subscribendum vel secedendum rather in case they cannot be perswaded then they should doe any thing against their conscience In his Epistle to Queene Elizabeth and the Bishops of that time to depart from vs. Thirdly M. Digges his reasōs for association in religiō which presume are well accounted of by these refusers and dislikers of Subscription the Author being for the most part wholly of their side make as much for vniformity in professing and expressing the same religion by one kind of ceremonies and circumstances accordingly And be it well considered and examined in matter and weight of state deliberation and execution it will be found thereupon by all that are truely able to discerne such matters and mysteries that it is as like to haue toleration multitudes of religiō which all kinds of opinion so much condemne as such variety diuersities and contrariety in the outward manner externall rites circumstances and ceremonies to expresse the same as we haue aboue intimated and in the outward performing thereof And albeit there be great ods in respect of the matter of conscience with GOD which is but one and so will haue but one religion one faith one baptisme c and so for the soules and safeties of Christian people which can haue but one good and true religion yet for good policy matter meanes of common peace and well ordering the outward gouernment of the Church more inconueniences may well and wisely be obserued to proceede from the latter then the former as in comparing ceremonies with doctrine by certaine reasons drawne from master Luther and others we haue elsewhere shewed in a more large treatise which if God please shall not be long behind this about this
the true ends scope of all those kinds afore named or at any time vsed by the Iewes themselues or any other in their Church gouernments shall more specially be shewed in the next Chapter CHAP. II. Comprising the true end and scope of all the kindes and differences of Excommunication aboue named with some little infusion of guomicall Diuinity touching one speciall point for proceeding thereby against some kind of persons after their confessions and often absolutions thereupon THE ends therefore of all those kinds of Excommunication which haue beene recited in the former Chapter as appertayning any way to the Church power and authority concerne either the common good or auoiding any euill and imminent daunger in any particular Church which by suffering any notorious offender vncensured or scandalously to rest among them might by euill example or further infection be much annoyed and suddenly subuerted or els the priuate duty and care the Church sa a louing mother the ministers thereof their spirituall Fathers ought to haue for the regaining and recouering any from their irrepentance and more speciall soule sinnes as also by true confession of some occasions and occurrents thereunto vpon their receiuing againe into the Church to preserue them from further daungers and to prescribe them remedies and directions for afterward And indeede more good is like to be done toward the most part of sinners vpon their confessions and absolutions after these censures then we see come to passe or likely to be effected by our ordinary and generall preaching The common ground of all which may be obserued especially in the latter inuentions for bodily and more sensible punishments to haue proceeded from the strange corruption and fleshly mindes of all mankind for the most part with whome all other meanes of exhortations admonitions reprehensions promises or threatnings for the time to come and such like will little preuaile except some present sensible temporall afflictions inward or outward be adioyned thereunto and therefore not onely meanes of griefe feare and shame but other also more neere and outward punishments vpon their goods bodies and good names for euer haue beene deuised and appointed to driue them to confesse and leaue their sinnes and by the affliction of the flesh as saint Paul teacheth in what kind soeuer to recouer and saue the soule in the day of Christ Iesus his iudgement wherein the Church dealeth as God himselfe is wont with hard hearted and irrepentant sinners whome when all other meanes faile he afflicteth for no other end but their owne saluation with many inward and outward plagues and iudgements In all which temporall and outward afflictions this one thing ought euermore to be regarded by those that haue the awarding of them that such particular meanes in this kind may euer bee applied as whereby the offenders might more sensibly be touched and not to punish the richer ones by the purse which they little regard and the poorer with shame and bodily chastisements which they are wel hardned to indure but rather contrariwise that so at the least they may be brought into order of outward gouernment if not to the inward reforming of themselues and so by true and vnfained confession to God and man to be restored againe to the inuisible Church which all the parts and kinds of these latter excommunications aime at and serue vnto For so indeed this confession and absolution thereupon is one of the chiefe and true ends of this the greatest censure of excommunication and all the meanes and parts thereof as might appeare by those hard places in the 6. and 10. to the Hebrewes and the 18. of Matthew if they be throughly looked into and well compared together as also by the practises of the Iewes themselues to the which some of those places at the least are referred and by the same as the practises of those times for the most part to be expounded who were not only armed for their Ecclesiasticall estate with great authority but had further power to inflict corporall punishments which the Romanes themselues would not altogether abrogate nor much alter According to whose practise and proportion of trueth touching this argument contained in the former places one speciall point touching confession and absolution thereupon but especially the exercising of this highest censure in some cases Quod gnomicum esse volo and against some persons I thinke fit and necessary to be vnfolded for the Iewes themselues had not only their Consistory wherein this Church power was exercised which Math. 18. 2. Thessal 3. cap. vers 14. is termed by the name of the Church and Saint Paul would haue disordered noted persons carried thither by which nothing els can be meant but this Church power we now speak of resting in the hāds executiō of them to whom any particular Church shal commit the same for the time In his Dictionary called Thisbites De politia Iudana but also as Elias Leuita reporteth might easily be gathered out of the old Testament but that others haue eased me of that labour of late and out of Berteram also and Sigonias they proceeded diuersly by outward and temporall punishments according to the nature and quality of their saults Which against some persons and in some cases was so farre extended as that they were neuer receiued into the outward fellowship of the Church againe or at the least had not the sentence of absolution publickly and quoad forum externum as we say affoorded vnto them as by the three words vsed by the Iewes to expresse three kinds of Excommunication may plainly be gathered Nidni 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 By the first whereof they remoued more grieuous and obstinate sinners from the rest of that Church Cherom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the second they inflicted and awarded some more grieuous punishment which might stick by them as we say and euen pierce them to the heart and bones as themselues expound the word Shamatha 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but the third did Anathemize them to a perpetuall separation wherein they should remain vnto their death Which last I take it was only meant of these outward meanes in Church gouernment and no way respecting forum internum or any ones interest at the least for euer in the inuisible Church but that therein any priuate minister or member of that Church besides might yea ought to deale by all good meanes for their confirmation againe and recouery and so that place in Saint Paul 1. Cor. 16. vers 22. concerning Anathema Maranatha vntill the Lord come is to bee vnderstood of all those that should as Hebr. 10. vers 26. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by their wilfull and more then voluntary rebellion as I may so speake and returning vnto their olde sinnes make but a sport and scorne of this Excommunication and absolution and euen tread vnder their feete the bloud of the Lord Iesus then the which nothing could be more despightfull
before Hezechias his time and yet did not any of the Kings before him pull it downe nor any of the Prophets of those times did call vpon them so to doe much lesse as some of these new masters enioyne Christian princes were any of those Princes bound vpon feare of that Serpent so to be abused or giuing occasion to Idolatry which could not bee but very great 2. of Kings cap. 28. v. 4. 2. Chroni cap. 29. vers 16. it being placed in the Temple it selfe as by the story repeated in the Kings and Chronicles compared together may appeare and that it was no necessary thing but indifferent Hezechias his pulling it downe without any reproofe of the Prophets or breach of any Gods lawes as it seemeth sufficiently declareth who also if he had let it continue still and caused the people by instruction and true discipline to leaue that their abusing of it no Scripture or Prophet I dare say could haue reprehended him for it as we doe not reade that any one or other commended him greatly for taking it away nor reprehended any other of the Kings for not pulling it downe before And lastly the setting vp of the Image or portraiture of any ones father or friend which is a thing in my poore opinion too too common in some other respect euen in the places where all the parts of our holy seruices are performed as also the armes and pictures of Princes which is as common in many Churches might with greater shew of reason be called into question if there were any force in this argument then our Crosse which is but aërious and a transient signe as we haue aboue shewed and neither Image nor Simulachrum as the learned distinguish them and as those we last named are Which also haue not only beene abused to the greatest superstition and Idolatry as appeareth by all storie but also the very first occasions and originalls of all Idolatry as out of the 14. of the booke of Wisedome partly appeareth and many learned men haue gathered from thence and how the pictures of princes haue bin by the flattery of Sycophants their owne pride and cruelty abused this way many histories report And yet I hope for these abuses causes or occasions thereof then the which there can be no greater none will be so bold not onely for feare of law in that case prouided but euen vpon conscience of due reuerence to the same as to pull them downe or conclude that they ought to be pulled down or any way deface them or disgrace them by word or practise Secondly whereas they obiect that there is no necessarie vse of this Crosse in the Church of God I aunswer that it is enough for vs and might be for them also but that nothing can hold them to make it necessary because the Church of Christ hath so aunciently vsed it and the present Church gouernment iudgeth it still fit to be reteined amongst vs neither ought any priuate spirit to call that common prophane or vnnecessary as Saint Peter sometimes was aduertised which GOD by his lawfull Magistrate hath made holy and necessary to be performed by vs. Act. 10. Neither yet can any accidentall abuse albeit in the highest degree of any thing whatsoeuer necessary or indifferent discharge the subiect from his due obedience to things of this nature once commanded by the Magistrate Which if it should be granted and yeelded vnto many temporall Lawes of this kingdome which are forced to tolerate many a mischiefe oftentime ought eftsoones to be repealed Thirdly besides that there haue been and yet are very many good and so necessary vses of this Crosse as we haue formerly proued so is there no better way to shew and reforme the abuses of the same Cap. 4. then that both by preaching which I could wish were more carefully performed in this behalfe and due vse and practising the same in the publique congregation all sorts of people might be informed in the trueth and lawfulnesse of this ceremony by Gods word Lastly for those places which are alledged out of Exodus Esai and Hosea to strengthen this argument I answer that most of them are particular cases grounded vpon speciall circumstances of those peoples sinnes and so are not to be drawne to conclude any generall proposition for or against these kind of ceremonies as for example there is great odds betweene the land of Canaan where all such meanes and monuments of Idolatry are in particular commanded vtterly to be defaced and any part of the Church of GOD in which any such abuse hath sometimes hapned or more constantly beene continued for which God neuer gaue any peremptory and generall commandement or speciall charge against them Secondly those places in Esai and Hosea are threatnings and promises of God to his Church Esay 30. Hosea 2. for the better informing ordering and comforting the same and in no reasonable construction or exposition any peremptory commandements against the things there spoken of as where it is said I will pollute their Images and cause the name of Baall to cease the one being a iust iudgement denounced against the Idolatry of that time which God be thanked is farre from vs and our state which maketh seuere lawes for the punishment of the same the other a gratious promise as the scope of that place and the meaning of the words declare And what a deale of Sophistry is committed by allegation of Scripture any Iudicious text-man or obseruer of the many strange conclusions of these times may easily perceiue and elsewhere my selfe haue giuen some touch vnto them and tast vnto other because indeed which is diligently to be marked for the true vnderstanding of many Scriptures many things are spoken therein especially in their Sermons cohortatorie as Luther obserueth in the Fathers that is 2. 2. quaest de vsura by way of exhortation and maiorem cantelam as Caietanus also obserueth in the Schooles themselues wherein things are applyed to the times present and not any way determined of for the lawfulnesse or vnlawfulnesse thereof and so such promises and threatnings implying alwayes a condition doe put nothing in being as the Schooles speake which is alwaies to be examined and only to be iudged by the rule and Canon of the morall Lawe of which nature also are certaine homilies of ours from which these exceptors thinke they haue so great aduantage as well for not subscribing thereunto as for the ouerthrowing this matter of the Crosse which we haue in hand Besides also that many things are by comparison and symbolically drawne by these disputers from the olde Testament to the new and so as the schooles say argumenta symbolica comparatiua are parum argumentatiua little or norhing at all able to conclude any thing whereas those godly exhortations are made as the title of them sheweth against the perill of Idolatry and by way of greater detestation and not according to their particular iudgement what