Mercland and Elsewolf King of Northumberland who made a Decree that the people of those two Kingdomes should pay tythes By this it may be seen chat tythes were not reckoned as due for many hundred years and indeed were never due in the second Covenant So these things that are so pleaded for by these hireling Priests of this last age which hath no better plea then antiquity for their tyths and forced hire may be convinced that antiquity without truth is nothing and yet the antiquity of the Churches in the primitive times condemns these practises so that let all Protestants deny these introduced institutions and the popes wages forced tythes and hire which is Antichristian A cloud of witnesses might be brought out of the antient Fathers who testified against them and diverse Martyrs as Walter Brute and John Wickliff who suffered Martyrs for testifying the truth against the Idolatry and superstitions of that age Selden in his History of Tythes saith that before the year 800 or there abouts there is not any general Law that yet remains in publick and is of credit which ordained any payment of tythes in the Western Church for the Eastern never any Law that hath been observed mentions them So in the first giving of tenths was by the perswasion of some of the Fathers formentioned for the poor and service of the Church and they were only the free offering or free gift of the people as almes which were brought into the Common Treasury first disposed of by Deacons for the service of the Church But they being found faulty it were ordered decreed in a Council that the Bishop or overseer should dispose of them to wit the offerings but they were not compellable who did not offer this or that part but were left free to do as they had freedom only exhorted and threatened with the judgments of God if they suffered the poor to lack or be in want The predecessors of the Protestants the Bohemians being descended from the Waldenses forementioned did professe that all Priests or Ministers ought to be poor and to be content with the free gift or what the people freely offered them So saith AEneas Silvius in his Bohemian History and it is one of John Wicklifs Articles for which he was censured viz. that tythes were a free gift as among Christians or only pure alms and that the Parishoners may for the â—ffence of their Curates detain and keep them back and bestow â—hem upon others at their own will and pleasure And this proposition aforesaid is maintained by John Husse in the said Book of Martyrs pag. 461. That the Clergy are not Lords and possessors of Tyths or other Ecclesiastical goods but only Stewards and after the necessity of the Clergy is once satisfied they ought to be transported to the poor At Geneva Tiths of all sorts are taken up for the use of the state and laid up in the publike Treasury Ambrose Bishop of Millain as zealous a man for Church Priviledges as we hardly read of the like Ambrose Epist. 3. sâ—ith If the Emperour have a mind to Church Lands he hath power to take them There is none of us interposeth the poor may sufficiently be maintained by popular Collections let them not create us envy by taking of those Lands let them take them away if they please It may be observed at this time that the Ministers were not maintained by setled Tythes like the Priests of our time but both they and the poor were relieved by Oblations of the people and by such Lands as were given by the Emperours to the severall Churches So it was upon this account that Ambrâ—se thus speaks And William Throp of whom I made mention being examined in the year 1407 being brought before Thomas Aurandel Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Chanceller then of England gives a clear Testimony against tythes how that they were no Gospel maintenance In his Answer he saith in the new Law neither Christ nor his Apostles took tythes of the people nor Commanded the people to pay tythes neither to Priests nor Deacons and Christ and his Apostles Preached the Word of God to the people and lived of pure almes of the free gift But after Christs Assention when the Apostles had received the Holy Ghost they travelled with their hands and afterwards he saith Paul when he was full poor and needy Preached among the people He was not chargious unto them but with his hands he travelled not only to get his own Living but also to relieve others that were poor and needy And further he saith Tythes were given in the old Law to Levites and Priests but our Priests come not of Lâ—vi but since Christ lived and his Apostles by pure alms or else by the travell of their hands At the which the Bishop said Gods curse have you and mine for this Teaching and further William saith those Priests that challinge to take Tythes dinies Christ come in the flesh unto which the Bishop said heard ye ever Lossel speak thus And further William saith that the covetousness and pride of the Priests destroys the vertue of the Priesthood and also stireth up Gods vengeance both upon Lords and Commons who suffer these Priests Charitably And the Arch-Bishop said Thou judgest every Priest proud that will not go aâ—ayed as thou dost By God I deem him to be more meek that goeth every day in his Scarlet Gown then thou in thy threed bare blew Gown An answer much like a Tything Priest but I refer the Reader to the whole Testimony of William Throp which is large in the Book of Martyrs David Pareus in his Comentary upon Gen. 28 2. 22. saith Tythes or tenths were freely arbitrary a man might give them a man might vow them or he might not as he pleased before the Law But under the Law they were commanded to be given to the Priests and Levites hence saith he our Clergy men infer if they were so of Old then they are so now But this doth not follow saith he they had a Divine Ceremonial right but that is now ceased they had Tythes as a Compensation of that lot they should otherwise have in Land ours not so ours have Towns Villages Mannors yea Countries and Provinces nor is there any end of their insatiable Covetousness and he concludes when the Leviticall Priesthood did cease then did the right of that Priesthood cease and the right of Tythes did revert to God as Governour and Soverain of the World Great and Large are the testimonies that might be given both out of ancient and modern Writers who were the clearest in their judgements in their age against Tythes how that they were no Gospel maintenance neither of Divine right do belong to any Ministry under the Gospel who professeth Christ come in the flesh What I have said in this particular might be sufficient seeing so large things by other pens have been declared But I am the more willing to instance divers Authors
THE GLORY OF THE True Church DISCOVERED As it was in its PURITY in the PRIMITIVE TIME Also A Manifestation how and when the Apostacy came and how long it hath continued in the Church of Rome proved to be in it because she differs in Doctrin Practice from the Church of Christ in the Apostles dayes Published for this end that People may be informed and their understandings opened to discern of the times and seasons and see the difference between the Lambs Wife and the Mother of Harlots By one who desires that all may come to the Knowledge of the Truth and be saved and walk in the Light of the Lord FRANCIS HOWGIL LONDON Printed for Giles Calvert at the Black-spread-Eagle at the West-end of Pauls 1661. TO THE READER OR Readers GReat hath been the Wisdom which God hath shed abroad in the hearts of his People and made known unto his servants through Ages wherein he hath made known his mind and will at sundry times and in divers manners sometimes by Types sometimes by Shadows and Representations sometimes by Dreams sometimes by Visions sometimes by Prophecy and there was not the least Ministration but it had a glory in it and the one living God manifested his mind unto the sons of men who feared his Name in every Generation and shewed unto them and signified his mind unto them what he was and shewed unto them how he would be worshipped and they that were obedient unto that which was made manifest in every Age and Ministration found acceptance with the Lord and the peace of God in their hearts After man had transgressed and gone from his Maker and lost the guide of his youth and broken Gods Covenant then blindness came upon him and a vail was betwixt him and his Maker and man increased and grew in an earthly part and lusted after earthly things whith fed and increased that part and the Image of God was lost in which the creature delighted yet notwithstanding such was and is the Love of God towards his Creation and to his workmanship that he did not utterly cast off man for ever but followed him to draw him back again out of the transgression to have unity with him who was his Maker and when man was gone into the darkness the Lord stooped so low as to come near him and to that state he was in and made a Covenant with man when mans heart was outward upon outward things and gave him commands outward and Statutes and Ordinances outward that he might worship therein which were shadows and types of some better thing to come and these were the Ordinances of the first Covenant which pertained to the changeable part that was above the seed but they typed forth more Heavenly things which was to be revealed in due time and when the seed came to be manifested and raised up they had an end and the cloud passed away and the day did spring forth in clearness and he brought forth which restored all that believe unto God viz. Christ Jesus then did God more clearly manifest himself in the earth through his Son who had the will of the Father and declared it who rent the vail and put an end to the shadows and blotted out the hand-writing and ended the types and figures and all that believed in him who was the end of them and the sum of all he overthrew the nature in them which was changeable unto which they pertained until the time of Reformation which was when he was sacrificed up a Propitiation for the sins of the whole world and they that did believe and received him came to be the Sons of God and declared the mind of God as it was revealed and as the spirit gave utterance and many did believe and did grow up and become of one heart mind and soul and worshipped God with one accord and in the spirit and in the power of the Father and separated from the Jewish worship and the form thereof and met together in the Power of God and glorified God and spoke of the things of his Kingdom unto all that waited for it freely and the Lord was honoured by them and glorified in them But soon after the mystery of godliness was brought forth the mystery of iniquity began to work and opposed the work of the Lord and transformed into the similitude and outward appearance and form and yet lived in the flesh and there began to be an apostacy and a deviation from that glory and power which was once revealed and Antichrist wrought with signs and lying wonders and got the words and hated the life and power and them that appeared in it and then they that were under his Government and Reign hated the Reign of Christ and said in their hearts we will not have him to rule over us though in words they confess him and then persecuted and drove the true Church into the wilderness and set up imitations and inventions and traditions and vain customs which they have called Apostolical and holy Institutions which are contrary unto Primitive Institutions and Ordinances onely brought in by them when darkness began to spread over the earth when the Bishops in the first three hundred years after Christ began to contend about dayes and times and meats and drinks and Rome began to claim superiority over all Churches called Christian and the Pope became as a Law-giver I have led thee through divers ages and times as briefly as possible may be to single out the Original and beginning of those things and who were the first Ordainers of them betwixt this and the Apostles dayes which are now accounted as holy Institutions The state and glory of the true Church in this Treatise thou wilt see before the Apostacy and the state in the Apostacy how she fled into the wilderness and how Mystery Babylon was raised and the false Church called her self visible many of her Doctrines and Practices which are contrary to the Primitive Church are here discovered and the Authors and formers made known whereby thou may come to see a difference in the Ordinances of the true Church and the Traditions and Inventions of the false Church which are too much contended for in this day by them who say they are come to the true Reformation according to the Primitive times but thou wilt see as thou compares but their practice with the Primitive times to be quite contrary and to be but smoke and that which has darkened the ayr clouded peoples understandings and hath led them into ignorance and darkness so that the way of Truth hath not been discovered unto many but the Lord is arisen and that which comprehends time is made manifest and all that which hath got up in the Apostacy is viewed and seen and laid open to the view of all that they may depart out of these things which are but the inventions and traditions of men in which Eternal Life is not to be had Read with meekness and
making any Covenants or enquiries after wordly revenews but went from City to City preaching the Gospel of Christ freely as they had received without any conditions from the people And as many as beleived and received the Gospel did Minister freely their hearts being open unto them who had declared unto them spiritual things Acts 4. 34. Mat. 10. 8. c. So that we read of no compulsion or forceing maintenance from any of the Cities whether they beleived or not believed the Father took care of such harvest men and what they received was given freely and there was no complaint though often they denyed that which was profered to them and their care was to make the Gospel of Christ not burdensome or chargable but rather their hands should Minister unto their necessities Act. 18. 3. Again though divers gifts were given unto the Disciples before and after Christs ascention as some to be Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors some Teachers and some Elders or Bishops yet they were all made Ministers by the holy Ghost yet it were large to speak of the Power and of the wisdome and of the enjoyments of God in that day and time and of the gifts and of the order which was in the Church at that time But in a word the Son of God was made manifest and gave them an understanding and they knew him that was true Truth it self and Christ was revealed in them and manifested to them the hope of their Glory Col. 1. 27. Furthermore they came to see over the new Moons and Fasts and feasts and Dayes and Times and Meats and Drinks and nonecould judge of them or ought to judge of them in those cases for they saw the Body Christ for the man-child was brought forth and the woman was cloathed with the Sun who had the Crown of twelve Stars upon her head who brought forth the holy Child Jesus who saves his people from their sins In whom all Shadows Types Figures representations ends This in short was part of the glory of the Primitive Church which would be large to spake of as it was in the first State of its purity But hereafter some fuller thing the Lord may bring forth in his own time and day CHAP. II. Concerning the entering in of the Apostacy and the Declination from that purity of Doctrine Worship and Practice and when it began downwards from the entering of it in until this present age and time CHrist the true Prophet which Moses spake of whom the Lord raised up manifested in the fulness of time he prophesied and declared of false Prophets that should arise Mat. 7. 15. Beware of false Prophets which shall come unto you in sheeps cloathing which are inwardly ravening Wolves ver 16. ye shall know them by their fruits and in Mat. 24. 11. But many false Prophets shall arise and deceive many and this came to be seen and fulfilled in the age of the Disciples and John Testified 1 Joh. 2. 18. Little children it is the last times as ye have heard that Antichrist should come even now there are many Antichrists whereby we know that it is the last time they went out from us but were not of us and Chap. 4. 3. So they entered in then and went out from the Light from the Power of God which the Apostles preached for the remissions of sins And Jude he testified against such as was entered in who was in Cains way that were degenerated and killed and in Balaams way for gifts and rewards and yet preached up the words which the Apostles spoke but for filthy Lucre and had mens persons in admiration because of advantage And Peter said false Prophets and false Teachers should arise that should bring in damnable Heresies that should deny the Lord that bought them and many should follow their pernicious wayes 2 Pet. 2. 2. And the Apostles wrote to Timothy the Bishop or overseer that the Spirit spoke expresly that in the last times some should depart from the faith giving heed to seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils speaking lies in Hypocrisie forbiding to Marry and abstain from meats c. 1 Tim. 4. and again Paul in the 2 Tim. 3. saw the Apostacy coming in and perillous times should come that men should be lovers of their own selves Covetous Boasters without natural affection Truth-breakers False accusers dispisers of them that are good Traytors Heady High-minded lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the truth having a form of Godliness but denying the power and as the same Apostle saith in another place was enemies to the Crosse of Christ And these went out into the world and this is 1400. years agoe and upwards Then the mystery of iniquity began to work and worught and they went out and did not preach up the Jews Religion the ordinances of the first Covenant But they preached Christ in words and transformed into the form of the Apostles words but denyed the Cross and spoke those things they ought not for filthy Lucre sake and there was the beginning of the Hirelings that care not for the Flock and those went out into the world and many followed their pernicious waies and there held the form but denyed the power and so indeed preached another Gospel and they lived in the liberty of the flesh and held People in the Liberty yet prosylited them into a kind of a faith which was seigned and these kinde of false Apostles and deceitful workers led many after them and there was the beginning of the Apostacy and they published these things in the World and when the Name of Christ came to be in reputation and the preaching of the Gospel to be in request then they for filthy Lucre went out with the words and retained the form not the Jewish from altogether but the form of the Saints worship and practice which were in the Church of Christ which were elect and precious and they grew to such a head and to such a body and became such a number and yet gain-sayers and in Cains way for they were out of the power and out of that which mortifies the deeds of the flesh and they spred themselves over Nations and Kindreds over Tongues and People and Nations and Kindreds and Tongues and People have now got the name of a Church and the seat thereof came to be great the false Church the Harlot Mystery Babylon the Mother of Harlots which had denied the Husband Christ the power of God her seate was set upon Nations Kindreds Tongues and People and these were her seate And John said these were the waters which he saw the Whore or false Church sit upon and she turned and all her children against the free-woman the Lords spouse the Lambs Wife and made her fly into the Wilderness for a time times and half a time and she reached out her Golden Cup a fair out-side but full of fornication within and she claimed
Secondly whether hath your Gospel been universally and publickly preached these sixteen hundred years or nay And is it the very same that was preached in the first hundred or two hundred years seeing that John saith that all Nations did drink of the whores cup of fornication And then Nâ—tions were Waters Seeing he saith the Gospel shall be preached again to Nations Kindreds and Tongues which clearly demonstrates there was a time when the everlasting Gospel was not preached to the Kindreds and Tongues which are the waters upon which your Church is Scituated And it is evidently manifested that yours hath been another Gospel then that which was preached in the Apostolick Church and in the Catholick Church the first hundred or two hundred years after Christ was manifested in the flesh Much might be said to demonstrate the Truth which is in hand that there hath been an apostacy the beginners whereof came forth in the Apostles dayes and afterward grew into a body and became like a great Sea which according to the best Ecclesiastical writers which have given a narrative of the first five hundred years declared that there was a great loss within 300. years but in five hundred years or less the very power of Godliness was denyed and very much of the form And though your Church pleads Antiquity for a Thousand years for these things a fore mentioned which they would be hard to prove For although it should be granted them yet we will joyne issue with them in this thing and are able to prove all these Doctrines and Practices not to be as it was in the first two hundred years except they will own such as taught the Doctrine of Balaam and taught the Doctrine of Devils and went in Cains and Chores way for an example It were not hard to prove the introducing of all these things before mentioned and how they have come in by degrees one Counsel that rose out of the waters ordaining this another ordaining that and so have risen up into this great body of darkness some of the practices borrowed from the Jews and some from the Heathen and some invented of themselves in latter ages So that the worship that was in the Spirit and in Truth in Christs and the Apostles dayes is turned from and such a numberless number of vain Traditions Avemaries Creeds and Pater nosters and such a deal a do as there is about their unbloody Sacrifice of the Masse that they are glad to be counted by their beads on strings as many very well know By all that which hath been said may easily be collected that there hath been a great Diviation and apostacy from the Doctrine and practice of the Primitive times thus far as I am descended I leave it to the Reader to judge and compare these things with the Churches doctrine and practices in the first hundred years after Christ and if these things be found invented and without footing or ground then let them that are informed depart from them CHAP. III. But now to descend a little further nearer unto our own age to speak somthing to them which I believe look upon themselves to be Catholick and Apostolick in Doctrine and practice according to the Primitive time and order and that they are totally come out of the Apostacy THis I have to say to you which is my judgement and belief and that upon good ground that you are in many things in the Apostacy as hereafter I shall demonstrate and to tell you nakedly and plainly we look upon the reformation which was made in denying the Church of Rome to be but very weak and poor and feeble and imperfect comparatively with the Doctrine and practice and order in the Primitive times in so much that we judge upon good grounds that it cannot be parrelled with the Church in the Primitive times which I have spoke of before in that you have denyed the Pope to be the head of the Church and so are called Protestants So am I knowing that Christ is the head of the Church and ought to rule by his Spiritual Scepter and his eternal power in the hearts and consciences of people and in and over the true Church which is his body whereof he is the head and let all take heed who doth intrude and take upon them that which belongeth to the King of Kings and King of Saints as to matter of head-ship Regulation or Goverment for all power is committed unto him in Heaven and Earth and the Father hath given it to him and will not have any other have that Glory But whosoever seeks it must be condemned and his glory he will not give to another For the Lamb is worthy of glory and strength And though the Church of Rome be generally acknowledged to be in the Apostacy by them that are separated from them and that upon good grounds yet I say the Separation is in some little or smal part more in name then in nature more in form then in power more in some circumstantial things then in the very ground it self and very many of these Doctrines Practices Discipline and order as they call it I find to be upholden practiced and contended for which are found in the former I have mentioned First of all to instance that which is generally holden out by the reformed Protestants is that the writings of Mathew Mark Luke and John and the several Epistles is the Gospel which the Primitive Disciples and Ministers preached and published and which People did receive and by believing the found thereof were accounted Christians and believers We would have all to know the Gospel was preached to Abraham before Mathew or Mark or any of the Apostles writ a word Moreover we would have all to know that Christ had preached glad tidings to the captives and some of the Disciples had preached the word of the Kingdom before Matthew or Mark or Luke or John had wrote a word my reasons are divers Matthew Mark Luke and John must needs hear and see that done which they testified of before they writ and if Matthew Mark Luke and John be the Gospel the writings of them I intend then the Disciples could not preach it before it was given forth and if the Epistles be a part of the Gospel this the Disciples could not preach before it was written for Paul succeeded and was converted after divers of the Apostles had preached the Gospel so then doubtless the Disciples and Apostles had something to say and declare and pâ—blish before any of the new Testament was written and it is manifested that they were not sent out to preach the Law nor the ordinances of the first Covenant after Christ were offered up the end of the first So then there was something and is something which was preached by them and is to be published now to all that are made Ministers by the holy Ghost and that is in few words the power of God which was before the new Testament so
these thing to be feeble and poor and beggerly things and hath no agreement or congruity with the primitive times And should people be limitted or stinted to such a certain form of words called service or prayer and divine worship Was that ever reckoned divine worship that was not from the Divine Spirit But it may be you will say the words are good or some of them I am not speaking about words but the Spirit from which every service ought to be performed to the Lord God and the primitive Christians prayed in the spirit and with understanding and sung with the spirit and with understandnig 1 Cor. 14. 15. And there was some that knew not what to pray for as they ought but the Spirit helped their infirmities Rom. 8. 26 But you konw what to pray for and how much must be said on such a day or such a time and if there be a Homily or a Sermon Lettany must be missed Now I say if it be Divine worship or any thing wherein God is honoured and the people bettered nothing of it ought to be wanting But these things the Primitive times doth not countenance but when the power was lost and the life gone from and the Spirit erred from these things have come into the latter dayes which have been very perillous times as to them who have kept the Apostolick faith and the order of the primitive Church Many more things we could instance which are practiced as for discipline and order and some for necessity which hath no affinity or union at all with the Primitive Churches but rather are things which are too near of Kin unto her that sits as a Queen upon the waters whose flesh must be burnt with fire who hath drunk the blood of the Saints and how many of the Lords servants have suffered in and about these things not only in the Church of Rome but also by them which have been called reformed many have known and are living witnesses thereof And all these Temples Bells Hour-glasses Pulpits Cushons Altars Tables and Founts which are things that pertain to them that locks they are come out of the Apostacy but the Spiritual minded sees over them and beyond them and before these things And also sees through the Spirit of Prophesie and time when they shall be no more adored worshipped and honoured But God shall be feared in the hearts of the Sons of men and glory shall be given to him and he shall be worshiped in Spirit and in Truth as he was in the Primitive times when the Beast and the false Prophet and them that wrought Miracles before him and all they that have cryed who is able to make war with the Beast and have cryed worship him All must be taken alive Remember that alive in their strength and cast into the Lake and the Mother of Harlors shall be made desolate her Cup of Fornication thrown under foot The Kings of the Earth shall deny it and to give their strength any longer to the Beast and then shall that be fulfilled Rejoce ye Prophets and holy men of God and ye that have suffered for the hour of his Judgement is come and as she hath served the Saints so shall she be served and rewarded double and the day hastens and the times and seasons we see and know as God hath made them manifest The man-child is descended again who hath right to rule the Nations with a rod of iron and break the ungodly in pieces as at potters vessel and stamp the residue of his enemies under his feet And the Church is coming out of the wildernesse again who leans upon the breast of her beloved who is clothing her again with beauty in stead of ashes and putting upon her again the beautiful garments of glory and excellency even his own righteousness and they that see it their hearts shall be made glad and their souls rejoyce in God and their flesh rest in hope for the time is come when she must appear again which hath been retired and hid in a place which God hath prepared for her while the false Church sate as a Queen and the Apostates as Princes and their merchandize sold at dear rates But their joy shall be turned into mourning and alas alas shall be the cry of them that have been in Glory with her for their frankincense odours and sweet perfumes and scarlet and purple and gold and silver and wood and Tin and Iron and Brass none will buy any more none of the Lambs followers nor none of the true Churches children who worship God in the spirit and have no confidence in the flesh neither in any outward appearance but in the hidden life of God but in the immortal life which he hath brought to light through his blessed Gospel which he hath caused to be published again the joyful sound whereof many captives have heard and are glad and a numberless number shall hear the joyful sound thereof and shall enquire after the brightness of the rising of the Son Therefore all Apostates Hills and Mountains make room make way the Lord is risen in power and in Glory which shall dazzel the eyes of all the Earthly and shall extinguish and put out the very brightness and the glory of all invented worships in the Apostatized ages and shall bring them that believe in the everlasting Gospel to stability to the rock of ages to the valley of Achor to Mount Sion to the blessing of the everlasting hills And blessed are they that hear and believe and wait to be made partakers of that which the Lord is about to do in the Earth as he hath shewn and foreshewn to his servants the Prophets CHAP. IIII. Now a few words to shew unto all how they may come out of the Apostacy to be members of the true Church which is in God the Lambs wife SO far as God did appear in any age or generation or manifest himself unto the Sons of men in any shadows figures representations or outward appearances the evil Spirit and Serpents seed and evil doer alwayes took up the form of the thing when it came into reputation as largely might be demonstrated and instanced through all ages and Generations till the closure of the Apostles Writings something whereof hath been briefly hinted at before so in this I shall be very brief The Jews held up the Types and Figures of the first Covenant and the ordinances thereof and opposed Christ the Light the everlasting Covenant and also the publishers thereof Moreover when the name of Christ came to be spread abrood then false Apostles and deceitful workers who were enemies to the Cross and to the power of God they preached Christ out of contention and envy and for filthy lucre and by wicked practices made the name of Christians odious among the Heathen as it is this day and caused the worthy name by which the Saints were saved to be blasphemed by their ungodly practices Rom. 2. 24. When the
Dionysius writes unto him how that all Cilicia Cappadocia Galatia and the bordering Nations how great Synods had decreed that they would not communicate with them because they rebaptized Hereticks and saith further the greatest Synods of Bishops hath decreed that such as renounce any heresie should first be instructed and then Washed and Purged of their impure leaven and thus they Wrangled and Jangled about things with one another and brake into Fractions notwithstanding many of these men Suffered under the merciless Cruelty of the Heathen Emperor likewise they excommunicated one another and called Councils and censured one another and hurt the spreadng of Truth amongst them that believed in the Name of Jesus all this is to shew that they were declining and coming to loss in this time though so near the Apostles time and though they suffered under the Emperors and found peace with the Lord yet many practices and institutions were made which are not according to the Primitive times which ought not to be binding to all generations afterwards because of the Antiquity of them as the now called Church of Rome would have all to receive as Apostolick Doctrine But to return to Constantine the Emperor when peace was established in the Empire he set forth a general Proclamation or Edict not constraining therein any man fro any Religion but giving liberty to all men to exercise their Religion whether Christians or others which thing was taken well by the Romans and all wise men this Licinius joyned with Constantine in the Government of the Empire and seemingly favoured the Christians and joyned with Constantine in setting forth an edict for the Christians liberty yet afterwards he had great hatred towards Constantine and conspired his death rejecting the Christian Religion and Persecuted them who said he would become an Enemy to the Christians for that in their Meetings and Assemblies they prayed not for him but for Constantine so cast the Christians into Prison and Persecuted them within his Dominions and many were put to death but at length he was slain after several battels between him and Constantine by the souldiers in the year 324. Constantius the Emperor the Father of Constantine dyed a natural death and was buried at York Dioclcesian died at Salena as some say by his own Poyson in the year 319. he was the chief of the seven Tyrants in the tenth Persecution Maximinian the second who was hanged at Mazilla by Constantine in the year 310. Thirdly Galerius who was plagued with a terrible disease Severus the fourth was slain by Maximinian the father of Maxentius the wicked Tyrant who was Banished by Constantine in the year 318. The sixth was Maxentius who dyed not long atfer in the year 320. Lastly Licinius was overcome by Constantine and slain about the year 324. And thus the Lord Plagued the cruelty of the Heathen Emperors who knew not God but hated his appearance and rewarded them according to their deeds The Christians in these three hundred years wherein was the ten Persecutions they were sufferers under the Power of the Dragon who ruled in the Emperors and then they were not Persecutors having not the outward power in their hand but when they had the outward power then they turned Persecutors especially the Bishops of Rome when they had the outward power on their side then they were worse then Constantine the great who gave liberty to all Christians and others to Worship God without forcing of any as their actions following afterwards makes it appear for being countenanced by the Emperor they grew proud and lordly and increasing in power and outward Authority though set up at first by the Emperor at last excluded him for having any Authority or Power over the See of Rome as after a season may be made appear In the year 367. Damasus was Bishop of Rome 18. years Also in the first three or four hundred years before ever the Bshop of Rome did get so high as to be called universal Bishop abundance of Darkness spread over and abundance of Idolatry and superstitious things was invented and abundance of Orders as Friars and Monks and Monasteries and Nunneries wherein they were diverted from the order of the Gospel and a great Apostacy came in In the year 260. Anthony is called the Father of the Monks who followed the Example of Paulus born at Thebes in Egypt who retired himself to a private Gave under the foot of a Rock in the seventh Persecution by Decius And one called Basil is said to be the first that built Monasteries and ordained vows of Poverty Chastity and Obedience and these are called the Monks of Basils Order and are bound to abstain from all kinde of Flesh and here began this Doctrine of Devils contrary to the Doctrines of the Apostles of Christ. The next who prescribed Orders was Augustine born in the year 350. this order was called Austin Fryars they wear a Lethern girdle to distinguish them from the Monks the first Order of the Eriars was Mendicants the third that Prescribed Orders was Benedict in the year 472. and out of this Order did spring the Monks of Benedict and divers other Orders which I have mentioned before in the former part of the Book The fourth that Prescribed Orders was Francis of Assis these are called Franciscans or Grey Friars their rule and order was confirmed by Innocent the third these are the fourth Order of Friars Mendicants or begging Friars and from this order sprung Friars Miniries and Capouchen Friars Miniries were ordered by Franciscus de Pola and Capouchens were ordained by one Matthew Basa of Acona The Jesuites were first founded by Ignatius Loyolla born in Navar they were first confirmed by Paul the third The Nuns first Author was one Clare the Daughter of Asses who forsoke her Fathers House and devised an Order of religious Women who vowed Poverty and Virginity they were confirmed by Honorius the third but many of these being mentioned and their Practices which are contrary to the Primitive time is mentioned before in this Book and so let them pass and to return to the Bishops of Rome but divers contentions and sects began to breake forth and the Bishops not only of Rome but of Alexandria and Nicomedia and Miletus and one clashing against another Alexander Bishop of Alexandria and Eusebins Bishop of Nicomedia and many Bishops in other places joyning one to one side and one to another and envying one another insomuch that as Eusebius saith a man might have seen not only the Presidents and chief Rulers of the Churches envying one against another with spightful approbrious Terms and also the Multitude severed into parts that the Christian Religion was openly derided of all Men and so called Councils and Synods and condemned one another and excommunicated one another as Hereticks and so went out of the Long-suffering and Patience and forbearance which the Apostle exhorted unto And so no less then four hundred years many run wholly out into contention about
about Spiritual matters for the worship of God But we never read of any called Christians that did so untill Pelagius a Bishop of Rome or Pope when the Emperour had given Boneface the third this power to be called the Chief Bishop and head universal over all Christian Churches Then he begun to make temporal Laws to punish about Spiritual things And Pelagius made a decree that Hereticks should be punished with Temporal death about 555 years after Christ So let all Princes Magistrate and Rulers who denies the Church of Rome in her Apostacy follow not her example but leave every one free to the Lord in Spiritual matters as concerning his Worship for to him must every one give an account in his own day when it shal be required from which the wicked shall not be able to fly Another Objection But then it may be said what power will you allow unto Magistrates that profess the Name of Christ Or how far have they Authority from God to punish evil doers and encourage them that do well Answer It is said by me Kings Rule and Princes decrees Justice there is a ruling by him and that is a ruling in the power of God in him He that rules in the power of God measures equal justice unto all men and ruleth by the good and wholsome Laws which are made by the will of God which is according to Gods witness which he hath placed in every mans heart and such a one is a Temporall head over the temporal body ruleth in Righteousness in temporal things But Christ he is the head of the body that is spiritual which is his Church Now the Law is against the lawless as against Liers Swearers Stealers Cursed speakers Murderers Man-slayers Man stealers Violence and Oppression and Deceit and that which tends to the hurt and destroying of the Creation And he that is the Executor of the Law ought to inflict temporal punishments for temporall facts provided that every punishment be suitable to the transgression and go not beyond it and in so doing he rules for God and the sword is to be turned against that which doth evil and to keep peace amongst all men and to keep down all strife and Contention Quarrelling and fighting and keeping the unruly from devouring and destroying one another And this is to rule for God in a Nation in the Creation and to countenance the honest upright and quiet and meek and this is a praise unto them that do well and this is that which would keep the Nations at peace And here Governors and Rulers comes to be blessed when the Princes thereof rules in Righteousness and when people live under them a holy godly and quiet life But when Godliness Holiness Righteousness is counted as a crime and wickedness and violence and iniquity set up that Nation is near a judgement and for the iniquity of Rulers Kings and People many fruitful Lands hath the Lord made barren and that which is for the well-being and preservation for the universal good and all people therein all people ought to render obedience unto such Command for conscience sake and all people ought â—to obey Rulers and Governours in that which is good and lawful and warrantable in the sight of God unto all just commands to yeild obedience not for wrath but for conscience sake For so the Lord requires which will be acceptable and pleasing in his fight And all Magistrates who are Christians ought to be paterns of Holiness and Righteousnesse to their people and to admonish exhort and reprove the prophane and ungodly and to the worship of the True God who is a Spirit and will be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth It is the duty of every true Christian who is a King and a Priest unto God CHAP. XVII Concerning Oaths in the first Covenant and the Lawfulness thereof and the unlawfulness thereof discovered in the New Covenant in Gospel times Though Apostates mingle the Ordinances of both together denying all oaths proved to be no new Doctrine IN the beginning when God Created the Heavens and the Earth all things that are therein by the Word of his power and set the bounds the habitations thereof separated betwixt Light Darkness And when man was Created in his own Image in the Image of God created he him Male and Female created he them Now the Image of God consists in Righteousness Holiness Equity long suffering Patience Goodnesse Mercy and Truth the Glory thereof is unspeakable man being in this Image there was no trangression nor sin nor sorrow man was bound unto his Maker by the Power in which he was made yea he was in a capacity to Fear Love Honour Obey and Worship his Maker from the virtue of that Power and Principle which God had placed in him which some ignorantly calls the Law of Nature But that is not the intention of my discourse to contend what it was but to shew that man was at union with God and bound unto him by that which God had placed in him in which his wisdom power and dominion stood to rule over all the Creatures life was in him there was no death then in this the Obligation stood not in outward written commands or ordinances but it stood in that which was internal and invisible this was before the transgression here was no Oaths yet nor outward Covenants made nor outward Ordinances But after man had transgressed and eaten of the tree of Knowledge of good and evil and gone from the power and broken the Covenant he lost his wisdome and folly entred he lost his dominion and weaknesse entred he lost his knowledge and ignorance entred and an earthly part and a mutable came to have Dominion not that this was evil in it self being subjected by the power and word in its place and in the state wherein it was good but man being gone from the power and from the Covenant joyned to something out of it and out of the mind and listened to that which should have been ruled over that became a Leader which God never appointed and this led mans heart from the invisible God of life and light who is immutable to lust after visible things and mutable and earthly things and into instability And so his heart and mind and affections became more and more to be alienated from the Lord and his understanding more darkned yet such was the love of God unto mankind that he did not wholly cast him off here but followed him with his mercies and promised the Seed of the woman should bruse the Serpents head and so it did yet the Adulterers generation in the transgressing nature were great and fast and there was but few before the flood in comparison of the Multitude who bore the Image of God and few in a generation as Abel Enock Seth and the rest went after the Imaginations of their own hearts and set up Images and Idols and also after the Flood when the
is come and the Restorer and reformer is come and all is to hear him or else be cut off from having any share in him who is the promise it self yea all the promises of him are yea and Amen in whom not only the Children of Abraham after the flesh but all the Children of the promise are blessed and him who fufilled the Law in whom God fulfilled his Oath who is the everlasting high Priest after Melchizedecks order he hath put an end to all oaths and swearing and all the types and shadows He saith Mat. 5. 33 34. It hath been said of old time thou shalt not forswear thy self but shalt perform to the Lord thy oaths But I say unto you my Disciples and followers who have believed in me the true and living way who makes all things a new swear not at all neither by heaven c. Their being and generation then as now who said to swear by the greater is nothing but he that swears by the lesser is guilty he calls them hypocrites saith whosoever shal swear by the eternal the lesser sweareth by him the greater that dwelleth therein and he that sweareth by Heaven the lesser sweareth by the Throne of God and him that sitteth thereon the greater and if Christ had only forbid vain swearing and oaths as most do Ignorantly imagine he had done no more then the law had done before but t is manifest he forbids all swearing yea even by Lord for if they that swear by heaven swears by God that sits upon the Throne as he himself saith then he prohibits this also and saith I say unto you swear not at all and Jam. 5. 12. Who will know Christs mind saith above all things my Brethren swear not neither by Heaven nor by Earth now we know heaven earth comprehends all created things and yet the Apostle goes further excludes all manner of swearing saying neither any other oath and this he commands above and before all things and that upon the penalty of condemnation But much by divers hands have been written about this particular So I desire not to be large seeing we have a Cloud of witnesses wch have good assurance in themselves by Gods Spirit sealing unto them rather then swear bring condemnation upon themselves have denied their estates and liberties which lies at stake upon it but happy will they be who hath no hand in it to provoke the upright tempt them aside out of Christs way for woe will come undoubtedly upon such And that others may see it is no new thing Take a few examples of the faithful in ages past who suffered as Martyrs and it were an easie thing to bring a Cloud of witnesses out of the Ecclesiastical Histories of them that denied all swearing in divers ages I shall instance only a few Policarpus who was as it is said Johns Disciple had been a Christian eighty nine years when he came to suffer martyrdom the Proconsul requiring him to swear by the Emperours good fortune and by Caesars prosperity which was the custome of the Romans at that time divers Heathen Emperours set up their own Images to be worshipped and their persons to be sworn by but Policarpus denied and said he was a Christian and would show forth the doctrine of Christiany if he desired the same if the Proconsul would appoint a day and hear it so at that time it seems Christians did not swear as afterwards they did in the Apostacy And Basillides a Souldier and afterwards a Martyr being required to swear affirmed plainly that it was not lawful for him to swear for that he was a Christian so it seems that it was the mark of a Christian not to swear And the Waldenses or Leonists whose names are so famous amongst the reformed Churches who are said immediatly to succeed the Apostles were the most antient and true Protestants professed it to be as way Lawfull for a Christian to swear In defence of whom in this very thing Bishop Usher late Bishop of Armagh Primate of Ireland pleaded their cause against the Papists and Jesuites who are the swearers and breakers of Oaths and yet pleads for swearing And the plow-man in his prayer which is so much Esteemed of commended in the Book of Martyrs saith Lord thou givest us a Commandment of truth it bidding us say yea yea and nay nay and swear for nothing thou givest us also a Commandment of meekness and another of poorness But Lord he that calls himself thy Vicar on Earth hath broken both these Commandments for he maketh a Law to compel men to swear Fol. 585. And it is one of John Wickliss Articles whose works was as much esteemed of by the Protestants in England and Bohemia as dispised by the Papists and their Clergy having his bones taken up and burned fourty one years after his decease his books and these articles condemned by the Council of Constance who also burned John Hus and Jerome of Prauge for holding John Wickliss opinions that â—aths which he made for any Contract or civil bargain betwixt man and man be unlawful And Walter Brute a Teacher among the people of God in that age by scorners called the Devils Servants called Lolards against whom the Pope and the King Richard the second and then the ungodly Bishops make so much a do to have the name of Truth extinguished and the professors there cut off This is Walters Testimony As concerning Oaths I believe and obey the Doctrine of Almighty God my master Christ Jesus which teacheth that Christian men in affirmation of a Truth should pass the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees of the old Testament or else he excludeth them from the Kingdom of Heaven For he saith except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees you cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven and as concerning Oaths he saith it hath been said of old time thou shalt not for swear thy self but shalt perform those things unto the Lord thou knowest but I say unto you thou shalt not swear at al neither by Heaven nor by Earth c. But let your Communication be yea yea nay nay for whatsoever is more then this cometh of evil therefore as the perfection of ancient men of the old Testament was not to for swear themselves so the perfection of Christian men is not to swear at all because they are so commanded of Christ whose Commandment in no case must be broken although the City of Rome is contrary to this doctrine of Christ c. A good Testimony of a blessed Martyr Here it appeareth that the Swearing which Christ forbids is not only prophane swearing in the communication for that was forbidden in the law where it s said thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain c. But solemn swearing which was to be performed that was the perfection of law And Kings
into the hearts of men since the transgression and while these things are loved they alienate the mind from the Living God and from the Honour due unto his Name And Oh what strangers are men to the Doctrine practice of Christ and his Apostles and to the primitive Saints that it is even become a dispisable thing in their eyes and then practise and manner of walking is now become an offence and reckoned unmannerly and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but it is counted such an offence and a crime as diserves punishment Oâ— for shame look back upon the Saints practise for your example unto their manners for your â—mitation and not unto the vain custome of the Nâ—â—ions not unto Mouâ—tibanks Sâ—â—ge plâ—iers Fidlers Roysters and Ruâ—â—â—â—â— who make a mock of sin and live by the sins of the people Will it be a good plea do you Judge before the Lord when the secrets of all hearts shall be opened and every action brought unto Righteous Judgment that you have followed the fashion of a Nation the custome of a Court City or County or the most in the world doth not the Scripture say that the Saints should not fashion themselves like unto the World neither be conformable to it but rather be transformed in your minds seek the things that are above for where the mind is transformed and changed from the earthly to the Heavenly there the actions will be new and the works new did the Pharisees say truly of Christ in this we know thou respects no mans person yes they knew it though they tempted him And did not Peter say of a truth God is no respecter of persons and did not Solomon say lie that respecteth persons will transgress for a morsel of bread And did not Elihu say I know not to give flattering Titles to men in so doing my Maker would soon take me away Is not this a flattering Generation and full of hypocrisie and deceit Flattering one another when in a moment they are like to kill one another hating one another and speaking evil of one another when as soon as one is paâ—ted from another these things are an abhorrency in the eyes of the Lord. Consider what James saith the Apostle of Christ Jam. 2. ver 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10. My Brethren have not the â—aith of our Lord Jesus Christ the Lord of Glory with respect of persons for if there come into your assembly a man with a Gold Ring in goodly apparel and there come in also a poor man in vile rayment and â—e have respect to him that weareth the gay Cloathing and say to the poor stand thou there or sit here under my footstool are ye not then partial in your selves and are become Judges of evil thoughts Hearken my beloved Brethren hath not God chosen the poor of this World rich in faith and Heirs of the Kingdome which he hath promised to them that love him Do not rich men oppress you and draw you before the Judgment seats Do not they blaspheme that worthy Name by they which you are called If you fulfil the Royal Law of God according to the Scriptures thou shalt love thy Nighbour as thy self ye dâ— well but if ye have a respect to persons ye commit sin and are convinced of the Law as Transgressors And the Apostle concludes whosoever shall keep the whole Law and offend in one point is guilty of all and such is the respecting of persons and giving flattering titles unto men and they that do it are Judges of evil thoughts and transgressors of the Law and is guilty of all Marlorat out of Luther and Calvin saith upon this place to respect persons here is to have regard unto the outward habit garb and attire and accordingly to esteem or undervalue him love or dread him and that such respect of persons is repugnant unto true Faith and is inconsisteâ—â— with it and concludes that none ought to be honoured upâ—â— the account of Riches But this Generation of hypocrites are gone further into the Transgression of the Law into honouring or disesteeming of men because of theâ—â— Cloaths or habit a gold Ring a gay Cloak a Fan or 〈◊〉 Fether are become the only cognisaâ—ce or badge 〈◊〉 honourable persons in this age among professors 〈◊〉 it was not so in the dayes of old but Modesty Gravity Sobriety Temporance Humility were the tokeâ— of one truly honourable Jerome writing to a great person in the world nameâ— Celentia directing her how to live in the midst of hâ— riches and honours saith thus Heed not your Nobility nor do you thereupon take place of any repute not them wâ— are of a lower extraction to be your inferiors Our Religiâ— admits no respect of persons nor did it lead us to value tâ— outward condition of men but their inward frame of spiriâ— it is hereby that we pronouce men Noble and base with Goâ— not to serve sin is to be free and to excell in vertue is to 〈◊〉 Noble Besides it is folly for any to boast of Gentility sinâ— all are equally esteemed by God nor is it material in whâ— estate a man is born the new Creature hath no distinctions Or was this the Doctrine of one single person alone for Paulinius Bishop of Nola reproved Sulpitius Severus for writing himself in the title of a Letter to Paulinius your servant he saith In the title of my Letter I have not imitated your excellent Brotherhood because I thought it more secure to write truth Take heed hereafter how you being from a servant called out unto liberty do subscribe your self servant unto one who is your Brother and fellow-servant for it is a sinful flattery not a Testimony of humility to pay those honours unto a man which are due to the one Lord one Master one God So this is no new Doctrine to deny respecting of persons and flattering titles and complements although it seem strange to this generation in whom the corruptable part is exalted and that which is below the truth and the power of God elevated in their minds which dispiseth the honour which is from above and the humility and lowlinesse of the Saints and their plainness and innocency But all that comes unto Christ and to believe in him and follow him for their example will come out of all these vain complemental flattering titles and respecting of persons and give all honour and Glory and Reverence unto him alone unto whom it is due and to respect him who is their life and have a respect unto all his Commandments and unto that which leads out of the vanity of the World and to the beginning again before deceit pride and flattery had a being in the pure innocency and uprightnesse where truth is spoken from the heart without flattery and dissimulation in all plainness CHAP. XX. Universities and Schools of Natural Learning are of no use as to the making of Ministers of Christ in the Primitive times but a thing introduced brought in in