Apostles without a precept doth not necessarily binde the Church as may be proved by many instances for Christ washed his disciples feet before his supper and he administred it at night and to twelve men onely and no women yet we are not bound so to do In the Apostles dayes widows were maintained to serve the Church at the publike charge yet we are not bound to have such Likewise the first Christians sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men and lived together and had all things common Acts 2. 44. yet are not we obliged so to do Secondly The reason is not alike at the beginning Christians had no Churches nor Fonts in them and therefore they were constrained to Baptize in such places where were store of waters besides the climat of Iudea is far better then ours and men in riper yeers that were converted to the Christian Faith were Baptized in great multitudes and they might without any danger go into the Rivers and be Baptized after such a manner but now the Gospel having been long planted in these parts we have seldome any Baptized but children who cannot without danger to their health be Dipt and plunged over head and ears in the Font or Rivers especially if they be infirm children and the season very cold and the air sharp and piercing Lastly They urge the custome of many ancient Churches in which a three-fold Dipping was used and if they Dipt those that were Baptized three times it should seem they thought Dipping very necessary But we answere First that what those Ancients did they had no precept for it and if they follow some of the Ancients in Dipping the Baptized why do they not follow the example of all the ancient Churches in Christening children Secondly Those ancient Churches which used the trina immeâ—sio they speak of did it for this end To expresse the three Persons which may as well be done by thrice sprinkling or washing the Baptized as well as thrice Dipping But the truth is that neither is requisite because the Trinity is sufficiently expressed in the very form of Baptisme when the Minister saith I Baptize thee in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost Thirdly We answer with the Apostle That though some of the Ancients had such a custome for a time yet now we have no such custome neither the Churches of God 1 Cor. 11. 16. ARTICLE II. Concerning the baptizing of children ANABAPTIST NOne ought to be Baptized but those that professe repentance and faith and consequently no children ought to be Christened THE REFUTATION The children of such parents as professe Christian religion and are members of the visible church sith they are comprised within Gods covenant made to the faithfull children of Abraham and their seed may and ought to receive the seal of that covenant which was Circumcision under the law but now is Baptisme which I prove ARGUMENT I. That which extends to all nations belongeth to children as well as men for children are a great part if not the half of all nations But Christs command of Baptizing extendeth to all nations Matth. 28. 19. Go therefore teach all nations baptizing them and Mark 15. 16. Preach the Gospel to every creature he that beleeveth and is baptized shall be saved Ergo Christs command of Baptizing belongeth to children and they ought to be baptized as well as men ANABAPTISTS ANSWER Christs command extends onely to such as are capable of teaching and instruction which children in their infancy are not for Christ saith Teach all uations baptizing them REPLY First the words of onr Saviour are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 teach but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is make disciples and though children in their non-age cannot be taught yet they may be made Christs disciples by being admitted into his school their parents giving their names to Christ both for themselves and their families And in Christs precept teaching doth not goe before but follow Baptizing ver 20. teaching them to observe all things c. which is punctually observed in the children of the faithfull who after they are Baptized when they come to yeers of discretion are taught to observe all things whatsoever Christ hath commanded Secondly Though children in their infancy are not capable of teaching or instruction because therein they must be active both by apprehending what is delivered to them and assenting to the truth thereof yet are they capable of Baptisme wherein they are meerly passive being washed in the Name of the Trinity prayed for and blessed and received into Christs congregation this may fitly be illustrated by Circumcision which by the command of God was to be administred to children at the eighth day though then they were no way capable of teaching or instruction in the Spirituall meaning of that outward signe made in their flesh and our Argument drawn from the analogie of Baptisme and Circumcision may be truly called in regard of the Anabaptists pons asinorum a bridge which these asses could never passe over for to this day they could never not hereafter will be able to yeeld a reason why the children of the faithfull under the Gospel are not as capable of Baptisme as they under the Law of Circumcision If they alleadge that these cannot be taught being but sucklings neither could they If they alleadge that these know not what is done unto them nor have any sense at all of the Sacrament neither had they save that they felt the pain of the knife as these do the coldnesse of the water and often shed tears at their Christening as the others did at their Circumcising If it be further said That they were of the seed of Abraham according to the flesh it may be truly rejoyned that these are of the seed of Abraham according to promise and his children as he is the father of the faithfull and so they have the better title of the two Thirdly It is no way safe to defer Baptisme till riper yeers for by this means millions of children might go out of this world without the ordinary means of their salvation which were an unsufferable if not a damnable abuse for though we like not of that rigid opinion of the schools ascribed to S. Augustine who in that regard was stiled durus pater infantum that children dying unbaptized are necessarily damned yet we must take heed of declining to the other extream in denying Baptisme to be the ordinary means of salvation for them and thereby slighting our Lords precept It is true God is not tied to his own Ordinance he may and in charitie we beleeve doth save thousands of the children of the faithfull who are still-born or dye before baptisme neither will he punish the child for that which it is no way guiltie of yet Gods ordinance ties us and the parents and governours are guiltie of a hainous crime before God who in contempt of Christs command or
also all the the reformed churches who conclude their prayers before their Sermon or after with this prayer conceive that it ought not only to beset before us as a pattern when we pray but also to be used as a prayer Neither are the reasons to the contrarie of any weight for though it be Scripture that doth not conclude it to be no prayer For the prayers of Moses Hannah Deborah Solomon David and Paul are set down in holy Scriptures and are part of the inspired oracles of God yet they cease not to be prayers and though in the Lords Prayer all the particular wants of Gods children are not expressed yet the main wants and principall graces are expressed to which the other may be with great facilitie added by our selvs and referred to the proper heads in the Lords Prayer Secondly hos suo jugulamus gladio we may give them a wound with their own dudgeon dagger for if they grant it to be the pattern of all Prayers it followeth that it is the perfectest of all prayers and certainly if we may use prayers of our own which are more imperfect much more may we use this which is a most absolute and perfect one If a Scrivener set a most perfect copie and therein comprise in certain sentences not only all the letters of the Alphabet but all the combinations and conjunctions of them none doubteth but that the schollers may both write other sentences according to that pattern and in the first place write those verie sentences in the copie endeavour to come as near as they can to the originall Such is the Lords Prayer a perfect copie to write by comprising in it all things needfull for a Christian to pray for first therefore we are to write it and then to write after it and correct our writing by it and though we speak with the tongue of men and Angells yet certainly our prayers cannot be so acceptable to God as when we tender them unto him in his Sons own words For this end saith that blessed Martyr S. Cyprian Christ vouchsafed to leave us this incomparable forme of prayer that whilst in prayer to the Father we read or say by heart what his Son taught us we may the sooner and easier be heard ARGUMENT IV. What the Christian church hath generally practised in all ages and places in the worship of God ought not to be thought as erroneous or swerving from the rule of Gods word But the Christian church generally in all ages and in all places hath made use of publike set and sanctified forms of prayer as appeareth by the Liturgies yet extant whereof some bear the names of the Apostles as S. Iames and S. Peter some of the Greek fathers as that of Chrysostome and S. Basil some of the Latine fathers as Ambrose Gregorie and Isidore c. Ergo set forms of prayers are not erroneous or swerving from the rule of Gods word ANABAP ANSWERS First that this is no better then a popish argument drawn from antiquitie and universalitie Secondly that these Liturgies are Apochryphall and though in latter times the use of Liturgies came in yet the purer and more ancient times used no such crutches to support their lame devotion for Justine Martyr in his second apologie affirmeth that the chief minister sent up prayers to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is interpreted according to his abilitie or gift of ex tempore prayers and Tertullian in his apologie saith that the Christians needed no monitor in their prayers as it were to chalk the way before them in a set form because they prayed by heart REPLY First the Papists pretend to antiquitie and make their brags of universalitie but in truth they have neither An argument drawn from a shadow of truth vanisheth like a shadow but an argument drawn from a true bodie is substantiall Secondly the strength of the argument lieth not in bare antiquitie and the universalitie of this practice for we know many errors are ancient and some abuses verie far spreading but in the nature and condition of the Catholike Christian church to whom Christ hath promised his perpetuall presence and the guidance of his Spirit into all truth in which regard the Apostle stileth it the pillar and ground of truth For howsoever particular churches may erre in faith and manners and the representative Catholike church in the most generall Councells hath sometimes grossely mistaken error for truth and Idolatrie for true religion yet the universall church taken formally for the whole companie of beleevers hath ever been kept by vertue of Christs promise from falling into any dangerous errour especially for any long time Thirdly Because they except against the Liturgies found in the writings of the ancient fathers in which though I grant there are some prints of noveltie yet there are foot-steps also of true antiquitie I will wave them for the present and by other good testimonies prove the constant and perpetuall use of Service or Common-Prayer-Books To begin with the first age from the ascension of our Lord to a hundred years Victorius Sciaticus Maronita in his preface to those three Liturgies he put forth saith that the Bishops both of the Eastern and Western churches made some alteration upon good ground in those Liturgies which they received from the Apostlei If this mans credit cannot carrie so great a cause yet certainly Hegesippus his testimonie a most ancient writer bordering upon the Apostles time ought not to be slighted who writeth of S. Iames chosen Bishop of Ierusalem by the Apostles themselvs that in regard of a form of Service or Common-Prayer-Book made by him for the use of the church of Ierusalem he was stiled Iacobus Liturgus In the second age Iustine Martyr in his second apologie which he wrote to Antoninus the Emperour acquainteth us with the practice of the Christians in his time which was to meet everie Sunday and in their Assemblies to read select places of Scripture hear Sermons and sing Psalmes and after the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Priest or chief Minister had made an end of his conceived prayer to offer up make or say Common-Prayers unto God It is true as it is alledged that he prayed by himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with all his might that is in the best manner he could or with all fervencie of devotion as the Rabbins say that he that pronounceth Amen with all his might openeth the gates of Eden This expression in the Greek will not conclude that the chief Minister in those dayes prayed ex tempore for it may truly be said of them who in the Universitie and at Court pen their prayers most accurately that they pray 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with all their strength of wit memorie and affection Yet if it were granted that the Preacher in Iustine Martyrs time might make a short prayer before his Sermon ex tempore yet certainly he read other
any use at all of distributive or commutative justice Ergo taking and giving oathes cannot be unlawfull To these two latter arguments because the Anabaptists have shaped as yet no answers I forbeare to adde any thing for the confirmation or illustration of them and now I come to refell their objections and break in pieces those bulrushes wherewith they fight against the lawfull use of oathes as well publick as private If all oathes are forbidden simply then no Salves or Provisoes or limitations above mentioned will help the matter But all oathes are forbidden simply Mat. 5. 34. But I say unto you sweare not at all and Iames 5. 12. But above all things my brethren sweare not Ergo no religious Christian must or may sweare upon any tearmes To oppose as it were the prohibition of the Sonne to the command of the Father and to affirme that what the Father commandeth in the Law the Sonne forbiddeth in the Gospell is to blaspheme with Marcion and make the precepts of the holy Ghost to clash one against another I answer therefore as before that our Saviour forbiddeth not all kind of oathes or manner of swearing but such as was then in use and allowed by the Scribes and Pharisees who fondly and absurdly conceived that to sweare by heaven or by earth or any other creature was no breach of the third Commandement because in such oathes they took not Gods name in vaine and this is Saint Ieromes interpretation Christ saith he forbids us not simply to sweare by the creatures viz. either by the heaven and earth as the Scribes and Pharisees used to sweare nor by the light as the Manichees nor by the Stars as Iupiter in the poet per sidera juro nor by the life of their Princes as the Egyptians and Romans per genium Caesaris or per patrios cineres by their parents ashes as most of the heathen For sith swearing is a part of divine worship to sweare by any creature is to ascribe a deity unto it and to commit idolatry And if the originall be read without a comma or colon thus sweare not at all neither by heaven c. then it is evident that Christ in these words forbids not the act of swearing but the unlawfull form But because in some ancient copies there is a colon after the prohibition Sweare not at all I answer Secondly that Christ here forbids all Christians to sweare upon any slight or trifling occasion or in their ordinary communication but saith he let your yea be yea and nay nay that is affirme a truth and deny a falshood simply and barely without making the holy and reverend name of God accessary to your vaine and triviall discourses No grave or sageperson would endure to be brought in for a witnes in every petty matter of smal or no consequence to which yet most men tremble not to call the Soveraigne Majesty of heaven and earth to testifie An oath saith Aristotle is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thing most pretious and venerable not unfitly compared by Saint Augustine to a dangerous medicine never to be applied but in a desperate disease then and then only an oath is warrantable when nothing but an oath can be availeable Christ saith Peter Martyr requires that all Christians so carry themselves that there need to be no oath among them Saint Augustine further addeth that to prevent the danger of perjury Christ here forbiddeth all customary swearing because perjury is a precipice and breakneck of the soule Christ forbids us as it were to come neare the edge of the hill and not at all to venture upon an oath unlesse we bee drawn thereunto and lawfully required by a Magistrate or some other in a case of great importance Secondly the Anabaptists dispute thus Whatsoever commeth of evill is sinfull but all oathes come from evill For Christ himselfe Mat. 5. 37. Saith Let your communication be yea yea nay nay for whatsoever is more then these commeth of evill Ergo all oathes are sinfull But we answer First that the Proposition is not currant All that commeth from evill or is occasioned by evill is not sinfull For Ex malis moribus bonae nascuntur leges The best lawes were enacted upon ill occasions and very corrupt manners of men apparell at the first came from evill viz. shame for sin and singular Antidotes and remedies were found by occasion of venemous humours and maladies of the body yet are they good and wholesome so though giving and taking oathes came at the first from evill namely the want of charity or fidelity in men yet it doth not follow that oathes are evill or sinfull in themselves The assumption is not true of all oathes but of vaine rash or false oathes or customary swearing at every other word in an ordinary communication these come from evill i. the Devill or from an ill habit or a bad conscience The Anabaptists argue thus Those things that are future are not in our power therefore in swearing to doe such or such things to performe such or such Covenants is to expose our selves to the danger of Perjury But we answer That if there were any force in this argument at all it would overthrow all promises as well as oathes nay it would impeach our vow in Baptisme to forsake the Devill and all his works and to fight under Christs Banner c. For those things are not in our power and therefore in those and all other promissory oathes there is a condition tacite or expressed Si Deus voluerit as farre as God shall enable us or So help me God or God being my helper In all such oathes by which we binde our selves to performe any future act we sweare not simply to make good the event which often is not in our power but we engage our wills and utmost endeavours neither are we guilty of perjury if we would and could not but if we could and would not keep truth and be as good as our words If the heathen have been more carefull to refraine the violation of the name of God by frequent and usuall swearing then we they shall rise up in judgement against Christians and condemne them at the last day for among them the Priests seldome or never sware the Essens esteemed no better of swearing then of perjury if a man among them were put to his oath they accounted him a confessed lyer and such an one who had lost his reputation among honest men Plutarch in his Roman Problemes yeilds a reason why the Priest of Iupiter might never sweare because they held it a great derogation to that venerable opinion all ought to have of him Pythagoras was so strict in this point that when he might have avoyded a mulct of three talents if he would have sworne he chose rather to endure the penalty then hee would take an oath in defence of the truth The Scythians refused to take an oath enjoyned them
it is resolved that the faithfull may bee constrained by the Consistorie to tell the truth so farre forth as it derogateth nothing from the authority of the Magistrate This constraint could not be by fine or imprisonment or torturing the body for in so doing then they should trench upon the Civill Magistrates right but by imposing of an oath which is a kind of torturing of the conscience Ergo oathes ex officio are just and lawfull in Spirituall Courts ARGUMENT V. If the oath of purgation whereby a man in a cause criminall is required to take his corporall oath that he is not guilty of such an offence wherewith he is charged bee lawfull the oath ex officio cannot be unlawfull for they are either the same or at least stand upon the same ground But oaths of purgation as they have been very ancient so they have bin alwayes held lawfull and in many cases necessary Ergo the oath ex officio is also lawfull Now for an oath of purgation we find it as ancient as the Trojan warres Agamemnon being suspected to be nought with Hippodamia commanded an Host or Sacrifice to bee brought and drawing his sword he divided it in two parts and passing between them with his bloody sword sware that hee had never defiled Hippodamia by incontinence In the eighth generall Councell Action 5. when Photius the heretick was demanded by the Councell whether he would admit of the Ordinances of the holy Fathers and he answered not any thing thereunto the President of the Synod signified unto him that by that his silence he should not escape but the rather be condemned silence in such a case evidently arguing guilt In a Councell held at Tribur a lay-man in case of vehement suspition is appointed to purge himselfe by his oath and a Priest to be interrogated by the consecration of the holy Sacrament and before this Sixtus the third an ancient Bishop of Rome upon the accusation of one Bassus did willingly make his purgation upon oath and Gregory the great injoyned Leo Memius and Maximus three Bishops to cleare and purge themselves of severall crimes by their oathes ANABAP OBIECT But they object out of the law Nemo tenetur seipsum accusare vel prodere sive propriam turpitudinem raevelare No man is bound to accuse or detect himselfe or lay open his own shame But by taking the oath ex officio he bindeth himselfe if he be a Delinquent to discover his own crimes and so lay open his nakednesse therefore no man is bound to take the oath ex officio No man is bound to goe to the Magistrate and indict himselfe and give the first notice of any crime he hath committed but the case is altered when upon a fame or strong presumptions he is legally called before a Judge and according to forme of law required upon oath to testifie the truth For then as saith Aquinas Non ipse se prodit sed ab alio proditur dum ei necessitas respondendi imponitur per oum cui obedire tenetur He doth not detect himselfe but is detected by another when the Iudge to whom he is bound to answer directly by interrogation upon oath extorts the truth from him Neither doth the law nor the Judge principally nor in the first place intend by ministring such an oath to intangle much lesse condemne him out of his own mouth but find out the truth and clear the party thereby if he be innocent and in such case by refusing the oath he wrongs himselfe and his own cause We cannot follow a better President then our Saviour but he when he was examined of his Disciples and Doctrine Io. 18. 19. would give no direct answer whereof the high Preist might have taken advantage but puts him off v. 20 21. to those that heard him saying I spake openly to the world I ever taught in the Synagogue and in the Temple whither the Jewes alwayes resort and in secret have I said nothing why askest thou me aske them that heard me Therefore we ought not to confesse ought against our selves by oath or otherwise but put our adversaries to the proofe In a case where other proofe may be had there is no necessity for a man to give advantage to his adversary by his owne confession but in case there be no other evidence and the lawfull Magistrate to whom we are bound to give a direct answer in obedience to his lawfull command this example of our Saviour doth not warrant us to use any evasion or tergiversation The example of our Saviour was truly alledged above to the contrary for though upon a bare interrogation of the high Preist hee did not discover himselfe unto him what he was yet upon his adjuration which was a requiring to answer upon oath hee acknowledgeth himselfe to be Christ the Sonne of God Every oath ought to be for confirmation to put an end to all strife Heb. 6. 16. But this oath ex officio is not ministred to make an end of any Litigious suite but rather to begin it and set it on foot for as soone as Articles are put in against a man before any pleading of the cause on either side this oath is usually tendered There are two sorts of oathes promissory of things to come assertotory of things past In promissory there is no respect at all had to compose any difference or controversie but to assure loyalty or fidelity in assertory oathes one end is ending strifes but not the only end neither doth the Apostle imply that every controversy may be decided and ended by a single mans taking his oath For this oath may be suspected and the contrary thereunto deposed by others and sometimes evidence of fact controls his oath but the meaning is that in controversies among men the oath of an honest man is a great meanes to set a period to farther waging of Law Even this oath tendeth to the speedier ending of controversies and oftentimes it stops all farther proceedings when the party burthened by presumptions is cleared and dismissed upon his oath Though this oath be given in the beginning of a suit to lay a firme ground and foundation thereon yet the intention of him that ministreth the oath is by clearing the matter of fact to proceed more speedily to the Quaestio Iuris and the pleading it and more maturely deciding it and so this oath tendeth to the sooner ending of strife Either the crimes objected against any man are manifest or hidden if they bee open and manifest there needs no oath ex officio to discover them but witnesses only are to be produced which in such cases cannot be wanting and if they be hidden and secret then the Apostles rule takes place 1. Cor. 4. 5. Therefore judge nothing before the time untill the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darknesse and will make manifest the Counsels of the hearts and then shall
other his Dominions unto whom the chiefe government of all estates of this Realm whether they be Ecclesiasticall or Civill in all causes doth appertain and is not nor ought to be subject to any forrain jurisdiction The Lawes of the Realm may punish Christian men with death for heinous and grievous offences The summe of all is the Civill Magistrate is a divine ordinance and his chiefe care is or ought to be Religion for the defence and vindication whereof God hath put a sword in his hand to cut off the disturbers of the Peace as well in the Church as the Common-wealth and because he is the Minister of God for our wealth and safety his authority is to be obeyed by all sorts of men for conscience sake and not to be resisted upon paine of damnation And now Christian Reader thou hast heard a Harmony listen not to discords thou hast heard a consort of silver Trumpets hearken not to a single oat-pipe or the harsh sound of Rams hornes thou hast heard the suffrages of all the learned Divines in the Reformed Churches regard not the votes of a few illiterate Mechanicks much lesse the fancie and dreames of fanaticall Enthusiasts who because they are Anomolaes themselves would not by their good will there should bee any Rules because they are wandring Starres they would have none fixt because they are dissolute they would have no bonds of Lawes because they are Schismaticks and Non-conformists they would have no Discipline in the Church because they are dunces and ignorant both of Tongues and Arts they would have no learning nor Universities Lastly because they walke inordinately they would have no coercive power in the Magistrate to restraine them There was never more cause then now to take heed what thou hearest and to try the spirits whether they are of God or no for there is not one only lying spirit as in the dayes of Ahab but many lying spirits in the mouthes of Prophets not only Romish Priests and Iesuits who endeavour to seduce thee to spirituall thraldome idolatry and superstition but also diverse sorts of schismaticall Teachers who intice thee to carnall liberty prophanenesse sacriledge and faction When I first heard of the manner of taking Apes in the Indies I could scarce forbeare laughter but now seeing dayly men of worth and parts caught after the same manner by our new Sectaries I can hardly refrain tears The maner of taking those beasts is thus described he that goes about to catch Apes in those parts of America which abound with them brings a Bason with fair water and therein paddles with his hands and washeth his face in sight of the Apes and then steps aside for a while the Ape seeing the coast cleare steales to the Bason and seeing his face in the water is much delighted therewith and in imitation of the man dabbles with his feet in the cleare water and washes his face and wipes his eyes and after this he lyes in wait for him fetches away the Bason powres out the faire water and fills it againe with water mingled with birdlime and puts the Bason in the place where it stood before the Ape returning to the Bason and suspecting nothing puts his feet in the birdlime and with that foul mingled water washes his face and wipes his eyes which are thereby so dazled the eye-lids closed up that unawares he is easily caught In like manner these late Proselytes who invade many empty Pulpits in the City and Suburbs at the first in their Sermons set before thee as it were a Bason of the pure water of life wherin thou maist see thy face wash away the spots of thy soul but after they have got thy liking and good opinion confide in thee then they mingle bird-lime with the water of life the birdlime of Socinianisme of Libertinisme or Antinominianisme Brownisme and Anabaptisme wherewith after they have put out or closed the eyes of thy judgement they lead thee whither they lift and make a prey of thee Praemonitus praemunitus I have forewarned thee bee thou forearmed against them and the Lord give thee a right judgment in all things Gastius de exord Anabap. p. 495. Quia Anabaptistae à veritate avertunt aures idea Deus mittit illis Doctores non qui lingua medica sanarent ulcera ipsorum sed qui pruritum ac scabiem affectuum ipsorum commodè scalperent Because the Anabaptists turn away their eares from the truth God sendeth them teachers according to their desire not such as with their wholesome tongues and doctrine heale their sores but with their nailes scratch gently the itch of their carnall lusts and affections Remarkeable Histories OF THE ANABAPTISTS WITH OBSERVATIONS thereupon THE French after the first course of solid dishes entertaine their guests with Kicke-shoses and wee with fruit In the former part of this Treatise courteous Reader as well in the propounding our arguments for the orthodox faith as in the Refutation of the Anabaptists objections against it I desired to set before thee Solid and substantiall dishes to strengthen thee in the true doctrine of thereformed Church of England but in these ensuing relations and observations I make bold to set on the board Kicke-shoses and variety of strange fruits which though peradventure they will not much nourish thy faith yet eaten with a graine of Salt will some way irritate thy appetite and help thy digestion and concoction OBSERVAT. I. That the Anabaptists are an Illiterate and Sottish Sect. As Macarius who had the care and oversight of erecting that magnificent structure at Ierusalem built by Helena the mother of Constantine the great was happy in his name for Macarius in Greek signifieth blessed and as Theodoret testifieth a blessed man was he so on the contrary many Arch-hereticks and Boâ—tefeux of the Church and State have been happily unlucky in their names their God-Fathers at the Font proving Prophets and the names they gave them being presages of their qualities and fortunes and Characters of their persons Haymo noteth out of Iraeneus that Ebion the Father of the Ebionites signifieth in Hebrew poore and silly and a silly poore man God wot was he Manes the Father of the Manichees derives his name in Greeke from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 insanio or à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 insania madnesse and verily a franticke heretick was he Aërius the Father of the AërianÌ„s carieth wind in his name and a light giddy-braind fellow was hee blowne into his heresie with the wind of ambition as Saint Augustine declareth in his bed-roll of heresies What should I descend to Maldonate whos 's very name speaketh the abuse of his filts Maldonatus quasi malè donatus and to Ignatius the Founder of his Sect Ignatius Layola who as he hath Ignem fire in his name so he and his Disciples have proved the greatest Incendiaries in the Christian world I will trouble thee but with one instance more and that is