sentences and judgements upon our Christian Brethren yet we preserve the practice of our Religion at home and sometimes partake of the publick Ordinances abroad and are in readiness to submit our selves either to the present Minister when he shall approve himself our lawful and Orthodox Pastor or to some other duly to be placed over us 2. I am a Member of the National Church of England which we acknowledge a true visible Church of Christ though somewhat clouded now and defaced by the modern innovations to which yet there are many thousand professors that have not bowed And the Communion of this Church we will not forsake but pray that Government agreeable to the word of God may be restored to it 3. I am a Member of the Church Catholick into which I was received at my Baptism and I desire to joyn with any peaceable Christian in the whole world in the profession of that Faith which was once deliver'd and in such forms of Worship which agree therewith And we pray that by the means of Christian Princes a Free General Council may at length be assembled to reconcile the Differences and guide the Affairs of Christendom to the good of Souls and the Glory of our Common Saviour TO THE MINISTERS HIS OPPONENTS 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE report of our Dispute being spread abroad and as it happens in other fights Victory being cry'd on both sides I thought it reasonable to publish this Account of it that the impartial Reader may judge Another reason is that our selves my brethren this compellation you will not disdain for Jesus sake may in cold blood review what hath passed and either I may come to you or you to me as Truth shall require The first honour is to Defend the Truth the second to Yield unto it If any of you will write remember those words of the Grave Hooker There will come a time when three words uttered with Charity and Meekness shall receive a far more blessed reward than three thousand volumes written with disdainful sharpness of wit If you please to hold an other personal meeting it is fit you answer our Arguments against you concerning what you delivered at Winchcomb Nov. 8. in disgrace of our Ministry and Parish-Churches but if you go on to decline answering and are only good at opposing I do not refuse to appear again in defence not only of our ministring the Sacrament but of the other two Theses That your new Churches are not the only true Churches And That Christ was truly Preached before these late years Upon which in conformity to the old Vniversity fashion I take leave to adde here not any Libel as one of you called it but my sad Epigram Papists took one away but you combine To rob the People both of Bread and Wine They blame us ' cause we have not Rites so many But you condemn us more ' cause we have any They will not call us Catholicks you can Scarce yield us the first name of Christian Poor English Church thy enemies from Rome Were cruel more unkind are these at home Your servant in the Truth Clement Barksdale Oxon. Nov. 16. 1653. Disputandi Sobrietas Ecclesiarum Medicina A true Account of a Dispute at winchcomb-parish-Winchcomb-Parish-Church November 9. 1653. Written by a careful Observer November 11. and Printed with Licence November 16. for the satisfaction of the People at and neer Winchcomb Great is the Truth and it will prevail UPON the ninth of this November between nine and ten in the Morning Mr. Barksdale Minister at Sudeley the Respondent having waited a while for the comming of the Opponents first enters Mr. Helm Minister at Winchcomb immediately after him enters Collonel Aileworth Justice of peace Mr. Tray Minister at Oddington Mr. Wells Minister at Tewksbury Mr. Chaffy Minister at Naunton and some other 1. After they had taken possession of the Ministers Pue all together the Respondent ascends a Pue ex opposito which he had caused to be erected for the purpose his friend Mr. Towers Minister at Toddington and some other Orthodox Ministers taking up a lower seat next unto him on the right hand where first falling on his knees after a short ejaculation he shews himself and saluted his Opponents and after some little Pause the Question was proposed Whether it be lawful to Minister and Receive the Holy Sacrament in Congregations called mixt Or in our parish-Parish-Churches Aff. The prior Opponent Mr. H. desired to begin with prayer Take your liberty said the Respondent who after the Preface wherein like a good Orator the Opponent told the people that Truth must look for opposition and that the Respondent was a native of the place and himself a stranger and the prayer done spake thus You will now give me leave also to speak three words 1. To God 2. To the Hearers 3. To the Opponents 1. To God I make my humble address and intreat you to lift up your hearts with me that he would be pleased to open our eyes that we may see the Truth to open our Hearts that we may embrace the Truth and to give us courage to confess the Truth and to hold it fast unto the end for Jesus Christs sake to whom be glory for ever 2. To the Hearers my earnest desire is that you would lay aside all prejudice and partiality and listen to what shall be said on either side with silence and patience And because I am a man of a slow Tongue of a tender Forehead of a frail Memory of a weak Judgement I have the more cause to beg of you my friends your secret assistance by your mental prayer that God would support me so far as I defend his cause For I declare in the presence of God the searcher of hearts that I do verily think that to be true which I maintain and that I am not willingly an enemy to true Reformation or the work of God in this place as I have been grievously charged nor am I a friend to any thing that can justly be called Popish or Antichristian God knows I detest and abhor it 3. Lastly to these Gentlemen my Opponents my request is that you would deal with me fairly and Scholar-like Take you your turns and give me mine to speak come you on one after one and let me have liberty to repeat to deny to distinguish to explain what I say so far as is needful And to conclude if we cannot agree in our opinions let us yet I pray be one in Affection and preserve amongst us that Christian Peace and Charity which is the mark and the honour of the Disciples of our gracious Lord and Master The Respondent in one of his papers afore this exercise had called the publick Meeting place as they term it the House of God But one of the Opponents Mr. W. put forward and omitting the Question began in a light velitation about that Appellation after this manner W. The House of God it is Superstition to
call the place so B. I deny that proposition prove it W. The People of God are alone his House God dwells in the Hearts of his Saints B. I Answer the House of God is either the Spiritual House or the Material House The Hearts of his Elect People are the Spiritual House wherein it pleaseth God to dwell and reside This place built by our pious Ancestors and separated from other uses to his Honour and Service may without offence be called his Material House W. This House was not built for the Honour and Service of God B. I expect your proof of that Proposition W. Thus The House built in the reign of Popery and for the Honour and Adoration of Saints was not built for the honour and Service of God But this House was built in the reign of Popery and for the Honour and Adoration of Saints Therefore this House was not built for the Honour and Service of God B. I repeat The House built c. And I answer to the major by distinguishing of the end for which the House was built The End is either principal or less principal This House was built for the Honour and service of God as the principal End it was built for the Honour and Adoration of Saints as the less principal End In the Reformation of Religion our Church reteined the first End and rectifyed the second Honouring the Saints with a pious Memory not Adoring them with divine Worship Hear the Church her self speak in her excellent Liturgy W. H. Away with it we will hear none of your Liturgy and old Forms B. But I must clear the Church from all suspicion of Adoring the Saints and make the Truth evident out of the Collect for All-Saints day and 't is worthy to be heard of All Almighty God which hast knit together thy elect in one Communion and fellowship in the mystical body of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord grant us grace so to follow thy holy Saints in all vertuous and Godly living that we may come to those unspeakable joys which thou hast prepared for them that unfeignedly love thee through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen I beseech you All to take notice that our Church is free from that superstition or whatever it be called wherewith the Church of Rome is justly charged The Saints are in our Prayers for imitation not for adoration Our Houses therefore being truly built at first for God's Service and now used by us for the right end the setting apart of such places for divine Worship makes them relatively holy and gives God a peculiar Title to them and he owns them for his My House shall be called a House of prayer W. Your own House may be as well used so and called Gods House and a holy place B. No Though God may be served in every place and I serve him dayly in my own house yet the publick place separated for his service I say becomes his by a peculiar right All the world is his but our Churches are his to a singular and holy purpose by a singular dedication As he hath his Day so also a place for his Worship both Holy Keep ye my Sabbath and reverence my Sanctuary For your satisfaction see Mr. Mede's Divine Treatise upon Hallowed be thy name and his letter to D. Twiss Now let us Hoc agere and come to the business of the day H. To the Question of the day my first Argument is this That it is not lawfull to administer the Sacrament in your Parish-Churches thus I prove If you have not a true calling in your Church of England then it is not lawfull for you to administer the Sacrament in your Parish-Churches But you have not a true Calling in your Church of England Therefore it is not lawfull for you to minister the Sacrament in your Parish-Churches B. I repeat If we have not c. I deny your minor and affirm we have a true calling in our Church of England H. If in your calling by the Bishops you are engaged to superstitious and unlawful practices then your calling in the Church of England is not a true Calling but in your calling by the Bishops you are engaged to superstitious and unlawful practices Therefore your Calling in the Church of England is not a true Calling B. I deny your minor and affirme we are not engaged to any superstitious and unlawfull practices is our Calling by the Bishops H. The keeping of Holy-dayes I do not mean Holy-dayes upon occasion as our Thanksgiving dayes but your set holy-dayes the keeping of your holy-dayes is an unlawfull practice But in your Calling by the Bishops you are ingaged to the keeping of Holy-dayes Therefore in the Calling by the Bishops you are ingaged to unlawfull practices B. I deny your major and affirm that the keeping of our holy-dayes is not an unlawfull practice H. A practice against Gods command is an unlawfull practice But your practice is against Gods command Therfore your practice is an unlawfull practice B. Not against God's command how prove you that H. My text is in 20. Exod. where you shall find it a part of the fourth Commandement Six dayes shalt thou labour and do all that thou hast to do Therefore it is against Gods command to keep any one of the six dayes holy B. I answer two wayes 1. By retortion 2. By interpretation 1. By retortion I say your Argument rebounds upon your self and condemnes your own practice and that Text in your sense that we are commanded to labour six dayes takes away as well occasionall holy-dayes as set and recurrent For our Thanksgiving dayes are not dayes of labour 2. By interpretation the words you urge are not preceptive but permissive God requires one day in seven and allowes us six not denying us the liberty if we be so devout as to consecrate some part of them also to his publick Service The Jewes had among their holy-dayes the feast of Dedication of human Institution which yet we read that Christ himself observed H. Worship not instituted by God is unlawfull Worship But your Holy-dayes are a Worship not instituted by God but by human authority therefore your holy-dayes are unlawfull Worship B. I answer to the minor and say that our holy-dayes are not the Worship it self but a circumstance of the Worship and circumstances of Gods Worship may be ordained lawfully by men H. Well your calling by the Bishops however is not lawfull and thus I prove it If the Scripture allowes of no Diocesan Bishops then your calling by the Bishops is not lawfull But the Scripture allowes of no Diocesan Bishops Therefore c. B. I deny your minor and affirme the Scripture does allow Diocesan Bishops H. There is not so much as the name of a Diocesan Bishop in all the Scripture B. But there is more than the Name there is the Thing there is the Office The word Trinity is not in the Scripture yet we Believe the Trinity H. Where doth the
you conceive by the Church B. I am very inclinable to Saint Chrysostome's interpretation who by the Church understandands the Elders and Rulers of the Church H. The word Church is no where so taken in all the Scripture and therefore it cannot be so taken here shew us any place B. It doth not follow for some word may possibly signify that in one place which it signifies no where else and again there may be other places though I cannot readily shew them I will consider of it H. No I doe assure you t is never so used and therefore I hope you will yeeld to the Word that we may go on with one consent in the work of God B. God grant it if it be the Work of God but you have not cleered it yet I cannot yield to your sense for this Reason That sense of Scripture concerning Church-government which was never received by the Doctors of the Antient Church is not the true sense of Scripture But your sense of the place was never received c. H. Still still he declines Scripture and would lead us to human Ordinances B. As for human Ordinances I can embrace them so far as they are not opposite to Scripture but now we are upon the Interpretation of Scripture I must profess I have been ever bred in the Church that requires all her Ministers to receive the Scripture as interpreted by the Antient Fathers and to propose nothing to the people contrary to what was derived out of the Scripture by them I am not ashamed of my Mother the Church of England nor by Gods grace ever shall I. And I doe heartily warn all that hear me to take heed as they tender their Soules of departing rashly from the Communion of of the said Church W. I thought where we should have you B. You have me where I have ever been and where I mean to abide till I am convinced I am not unwilling to learn of any one And pray Mr. W. tell me whether you hold not a Synod of chosen men gathered out of your Churches to have authority over them all W. No authority at all such a Synod may be of use for advice and counsell not for goverment or for the exercise of any jurisdiction B. Then as I conceive your modell is very imperfect and me thinks your Ministers in their severall Congregations look like so many little Popes For the Pope is the Great Independent and will allow of no Appeal from him no more will you H. Pray Mr. B. quiet the People B. I beseech you good people I beseech you attend with silence and patience Tr. Where presently followes Execution there can be no appeal But after the sentence of the Congregation presently followes execution If he hear not the Church let him c. Therefore from the sentence of the Congregation can be no appeal B. Well argued I repeat Where presently c. I answer first to the major or first proposition There may be an appeal after execution of the sentence of the Congregation In your own way may not the wronged person appeal from you to your selves In the Presbyterian you know there lyes an appeal to the Classis but that I take not on me to maintain I know no power to excommunicate but Episcopall Tr. Then it seems by you the Bishop is the Church and the sole judge of the Congregations B. Not so neither Hear my Answer I pray and do not you ignorant fellowes laugh at that you do not understand The Bishop is considered either Sole or alone or as he sits in Cathedra crowned with Presbyters In this later sense I humbly conceive the Bishop is or ought to be Governour of the Congregations within his Diocese And such Bishops we can shew innumerable in the ancient Records of the Catholique Church I am very sorry these Gentlemen are so ill read in good Books of our own English Divines as to deny a truth shining so bright upon them Mr. Tr. have you not seen the learned Thorndike of the primitive Government c Tr. We cleave to the Scripture and call you to the foresaid text Can you shew one place where Church is taken for the Bishop and his Presbyters B. What if I cannot The Authority of the antient Fathers is sufficient for the present to commend my interpretation to such as reverence Antiquity But because I would gladly please you I will offer another sense of the words in question which will come neer to you but is not fully yours That is after the first admonition by one and the second before two or three it is the mind of Christ that a greater number should be made acquainted with the business tell it to the Many for the shaming of the offendor as the Apostle somewhere speaks the words may the more probably be taken in this sense because as yet the Disciples were not setled under a Church-government and so there remaining no more to be done after this shaming of the offendor before a good number of Fellow-Christians i. e. the Church he was to be henceforth till his amendment accounted as a heathen and might be prosecuted for any offence before the heathen Tribunalls Which prosecution was not lawfull against those that would hear the Church See 1 Cor. 6. But this will do you no pleasure unless that which followes in the next verse belong unto the Congregation too but that cannot be if Christ spake the words to his Apostles and gave the Keys and Power of Binding and Loosing to them and their successors as I believe he did Consider of it See the learned Dr. Hammond of binding and loosing To. Give me leave to add somewhat here in confirmation of what was last said Scripture you know gives light to Scripture Christ elswhere saith to Peter that he would give the Keys to him Matth. 16. 19. And John 20. 21 21 23. he speaketh to his Disciples and thus enstateth them in that power Then said Jesus to them again Peace be unto you as my Father hath sent me even so send I you And when he had said this he breathed on them and said unto them Receive yee the holy Ghost whosoever sins yee remit they are remitted unto them and whosoever sins ye retain they are retained these are the solemn words of Ordination W. The words are spoken to Peter and to the Disciples as they were Christian professors and so they do belong to our people not as they were appointed by Christ to be Governours of his Church To. The words signify a power committed to them which they used as Governours 't is plain and which they left to the Bishops their Successours Tr. The Apostles had no successors being gifted with a miraculous power B. The Apostles are to be considered in two respects either as planters of the Churches and to that purpose endued with a miraculous power to make way for and to give confirmation to the Gospel or else as Governours of the Churches
invested with the ordinary lasting power of ordaining Elders of binding and loosing and of setting things in order herein who were their Successors you may see if you will inform your selves in the book of binding and loosing and in the Latin dissertations against Blondellus Pray take it not ill that we often assert this it is of such concernence that with this truth the Ministers of England must either stand or fall We speak not for Bishops to be Lords of Lands but Fathers of the Church You must all mark that Tr. The differonce 'twixt us appears plainly you are for Bishops which you call the Primitive Apostolical Bishops and in them you place the power which Christ hath left to his Church We are for the Bodies of Congregations which we say are under no superiors neither Bishops nor Presbyters but absolute and independent in respect of man and immediatly under Jesus Christ Col. A. Bishops and Presbyters are all one in the New Testament namely Acts 20. 17. Paul sent to Ephesus and called the Elders of the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and v. 28. the holy Ghost hath made you overseers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore Presbyters and Bishops are all one P. Noble Sir I answer Bishops in the new Testament are also called Presbyters but they are more than those we now call Presbyters who are to be ordained and governed by the Bishops Any Presbyter may be called Bishop or Overseer of his own Parish but those we eminently stile Bishops now who are Bishops or Overseers and Rulers of those Parish Bishops or Presbyters The Presbyters St. Paul sent for from Ephesus were properly Bishops Tr. No Hear my Argument The Church of Ephesus was but one Congregation I prove it out of Eph. 2. the two last verses In whom Jesus Christ all the building fitly framed together c. A building fitly framed together is but one Congregation But the Church of Ephesus was a building fitly framed together Therefore c. B. To the Major Not only one single Congregation but many united under one Bishop may be so called And that Ephesus was not a single Independent Congregation but a Metropolitical Church you may learn of the most Reverend Primate Dr. Usher a man I think of great Authority among you also as among all Scholars most justly I refer you to his Geographical Tract of the Asian Diocese Tr. Return to the Text Mat. 18. v. 19. I shall prove it undeniably that a single Church hath an independent power But first will you grant me that two or three may be taken for a small Congregation B. Yes I desire to grant you all I can without injury to the Truth Tr. Then thus I argue Where is the Duty and the Blessing there is the Power But in a small Congregation where two or three c. is both the duty and the Blessing Therefore there is also the Power namely of Excommunication B. Where is the duty c. You leave out a very necessary word Independent For supposing that a power of Excommunication were in a particular Congregation I cannot grant it is there independently but there may be an Appeal But did you ever hear of an Indepent Church of two or three Tr. Yes there may be a Church of so few and that independent B. A private Church I grant not a publick enabled with power of Excommunication a power supreme Lo you here is Popery in a little volume an independent absolute supreme Church made up of two or three H. Did you not grant to Mr. Tr. that two or three may be taken for any small number now you recall your words You know if there be twenty in a company we sometimes say there be two or three B. No indeed that 's too far wide Let the people judge of this whether any will say there be two or three if there be twenty persons met in a room Two or three that is twenty silence I pray But Sir the words of Christ are verified if there be but barely two And therefore I may justly think it too small a number to make the Church mentioned v 17. It cannot be for this reason The Church in the 17. v. is of more authority and more in number than the two or three mentioned in the second admonition v. 16. But two or three v. 19 20. are not of more authority nor more in number than the two or three mentioned v. 16. Therefore the two or three v. 19 20. are not the Church mentioned v. 17. Answer this and you shall hold your Supremacy to the worlds end for me H. You hold an Appeal from the Church to the Civil Power which is plain Erastianism B. Erastianisme I shall make it appear to be Christianisme But what was Erastus pray H. I came not here to be Catechized by you B. Erastus was one that denied the power of Excommunication in the Church which I do not but desire it may come into practice upon true Rules If you would know Erastus see the Book of Binding and loosing at large And noble Sir you that are a Civil Magistrate let me call you to witness that I stand here an Advocate truly to plead for the Supreme authority of this Land and I undertake to shew that the Highest powers in the Commonwealth have also the Highest Rule of the Church and may receive Appeals from any Christians that complain of wrong in any Congregation whatsoever Col. A. The Highest Powers haply doubt of that Authority and forbear to execute any such till they be more fully satisfied B. Were I worthy I would request them to know their power and use it for the restitution of Primitive Episcopacy They doubt you say but Sir these men flatly deny that authority of the Civil Magistrate in matters of Religion H. And how I pray do you prove it B. Let every soul be subject to the Higher Powers Every man saith St. Chrysostome whether Lay or Clergy Col. A. There is no such distinction of Lay and Clergy in the Scripture All the Lords people are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his Portion B. Sir you say most true that All the Lords people are his Portion that is as selected and called out of the World but his Ministers are more peculiarly his as called from among his People and admitted nearer to him being separated for the Ministration of Holy things But however all sorts of men I say whether Ministers or others must be subject to the Highest powers Tr. Yea in Civil things they must be subject not in Ecclesiastical The Powers are distinct B. They are distinct in their Objects or Matters about which they are exercised they are united in the same Subjects or Persons that are supreme in all causes both Eccleclesiasticall and Civill W. You were wont to pray for the King in that stile B. Yes when the King was and now they that have the Kingly power may withall assume the same title if they please W. By no means
Temporall Governors power Spirituall B. The power of Civill Magistrates in matters of religion is called Ecclesiasticall or Spirituall in respect of the object of it about which it is conversant not in respect of the manner of operating For the supreme powers do not minister in holy things in the Word and Sacraments and censures but they take care and provide that these ministrations be rightly and orderly performed H. But how prove you an appeal to be made to the highest power in a Church-case B. Saint Paul appealed unto Caesar Actâ— 25. 10 11. Tr. Yea but that appeal was in a cause concerning sedition B. Hear himself speak For the Resurrection of the dead am I called in question Act. 23. 6. W. That was said in policy to divide the Pharisees and Sadduces B. However the Apostle spake nothing but the truth as appears also by the words of Festus Act. 23. 19. The question was whether he might preach Jesus and the Resurrection Tr. That Caesar was Nero a heathen tyrant and persecutor a fit man to meddle with Religion B. He was it seems fir for Paul to appeal unto for want of a better and had he acquitted the Apostle he had thereby given him a right against the Jews See Grotius of Authority concerning this particular and the whole matter As for the Supremacy of Christian Kings this is one argument If the Jewish Kings had power in matters of Religion then have the Christian Kings the like power But the Jewish Kings c. To. Let me adde another Argument out of the Prophet concerning the Christian Church Kings shall be her nursing Fathers and Queenes her nursing Mothers W. Read out the verse and you are answered They shall bow down to thee with their faces to the earth Is 49. 23. Here is subjection rather than superiority To. A superiority of Government and Patronage is included in the name of Father but these Fathers are Sons of the Church too in another sense and subject to the spirituall guides of their soules subjection and Government may consist together in severall respects B. Will you turne to the Text in Matth. 18. once more and hear a fair Interpretation of it out of the Excellent Paraphrast Tell it to the Church i. e. to the Rulers of the Assemblies Verily I say unto you to you the designed Rulers of the Church and your Successors the Bishops H. Enough enough pray who is your Author there B. Regard not so much who as what No matter whose the words are if they cleer the Text. This Author Mr. Tr. shews you the true sense of the next verse concerning two or three It is the manner of Scripture where severall things are mentioned to resume the last first and so go back In this retrogradous order the Power of the Church which was last mentioned is spoken of v. 18. and then the two or three are again mentioned which were spoken of v. 16. I will cleer it if you please by sundry the like passages See in of Binding and Loosing pag. 12. c. W. We have enough of you already I would not goe over the door sill to Dispute with one upon whose spirit I see so much of the Pope B. No Gloster-Hall man would say so but you And you say so because you have nothing else to say I am far from Popery and I doubt you are neer it with your Independency Col. A. But Pray-thee what Author have you there on the Text B. I will obey you It is the great ornament of the English Church the Learned and pious Doctor Hammond W. c. An Arminian an Arminian To. That 's a very indirect answer when the words alleged tend not to Arminianism but to the support of Christianism B. I feared you would cast some aspersion upon this Brave Man and therefore would have concealed his name under a silent veneration But you are mistaken when you think the Doctrine of Universall Redemption Arminianism It was the Doctrine of the Church of England before Arminius was born Wee learn it out of the old Church-Catechism I believe in Jesus Christ who redeemed me all mankind And the Church hath learned it out of the plaine Scripture where Christ is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World c. To. God would have all men to be saved Therefore Christ is the Redeemer of all men Col. A. Paul in that Text to Tim speaks de generibus singulorum not de singulis generum B. S. Paul speaks de singulis generum for elsewhere it is said Christ tasted death for every man Heb. 2. 9. a convincing Text. W. There is a distinction of voluntas signi beneplaciti B. If God hath signified and revealed to us that he would have all men to be saved then it is most true that he would have All men to be saved But he hath signified c. He knows not to lye or to dissemble C. I desire to propose an Argument in this Question if you please to answer me B. Most willingly You are a courteous Gentleman C. If Christ died for all men then shall all men be saved But all men shall not be saved Therefore B. I deny the sequel of your major C. Christ cannot fail of his intention Therefore if Christ died for all men all men shall be saved B. I deny your Antecedent C. To fail of ones intention argues imperfefection But you must not lay any imperfection upon Christ B. No by no meanes Therefore I answer One may fail of his intention two waye either by ones own fault or by the fault of another to whom good is intended Christ failes of his intention not through his own fault but ours he is not wanting to us we are wanting to our selves And I beseech you all dear Christians take heed of conceiving hard thoughts of God of Christ as if he would the death of a sinner Tr. God in his eternall Purpose hath appointed to save some and to damne others B. The purpose of God is absolute or conditionall God purposeth not the damnation of any absolutely but Conditionally upon his refusall of the meanes And for election consider what the Apostle saith He hath chosen us in Christ Eph. 1. 4. See also the judicious Mr. Hooker's distinction of Gods generall inclination and his occasioned Will lib. 5. s 49. Wherefore Beloved I charge you again Take heed that you think not ill of God and of Christ as if he were not really and sincerely willing you should be saved Hear Christ mourning affectionately over Jerusalem How oft would I and thou wouldst not Hear God speaking most pathetically in the Prophet As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of a sinner Will you not take his word Take his Oath As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of a sinner but that he turn from his way and live Turn ye Turn ye why will ye dye O house of Israel Turn yee Turn
particular men sufficiently catechised without any publick cognizance of their crime or process of admonition first and second or that designe that exclusion to any other end than ut peccantes resipiscant the reducing sinners to repentance and therefore no small petty trifle is a sufficient matter for this but contumacious continuing in some scandalous sin after admonitions from which when they return again by a sincere approved repentance they are to be absolved In his Preface THat the power of Binding and Loosing may be restored to its full vigour in this Church againe and wherever sobriety shall advise by addition of penitentiall Canons be reformed or regulated and being put into the primitive chanell may there be permitted to shew forth it self in the native purity and brightness and so being ordered according to Gods designation obtain Gods blessing to make it effectuall to its end shall be the prayer of him who professes to love and admire the beauty of this fabrick of the Church of England even when it lyâ—s polluted in its blood and to wish no greater blessing to its dearest friends or for whom he daily prayes most implacable enemies than that the scales may fall off from all our eyes that we may see and value what is so illustriously conspicuous and estimable in it self c. If the abuses and excesses and mistakes were removed and that which is Christian and Apostolicall revived and restored in prudence and sobriety might yet again shew the world the use of that Prelacy which is now so zealously contemned and recover at once the order and the estimation of it set more Saints on their knees in petitions for the reducing and restoring than ever employed their hands toward the suppressing of it D. Jer. Taylor in the Dedicatory before his Winter-Sermons Of preaching WHo would have in him so little of a man as not to be greedy of the Word of God and of holy Ordinances even therefore because they are so hard to have And this evill although it can have no excuse yet it hath a great and a certain cause For the Word of God still creates new Appetites as it satisfies the old and enlarges the capacity as it fills the first propensities of the Spirit For all spirituall blessings are seeds of Immortality and of infinite felicitie they swell up to the comprehensions of Eternity and the desires of the soul can never be wearied but when they are decayed as the stomack will be craving every day unless it be sick and abused But every mans experience tels him now that because men have not Preaching they less desire it their long fasting makes them not to love their meat and so we have cause to fear the people will fall to an Atrophy then to a loathing of holy food and then Gods anger will follow the method of our sin and send a famine of the word and Sacraments Paulo post And by the same instrument Preaching God restored the beauty of the Church when it was necessary she should be reformed it was the assiduous and learned Preaching of those whom God chose for his Ministers in that work that wrought the Advantages and perswaded those Truths which are the enamel and beauty of our Churches And because by the same means all things are preserved by which they are produc'd it cannot but be certain that the present State of the Church requires a greater care and prudence in this Ministry than ever especially since by Preaching some endeavour to supplant Preaching and by intercepting the fruits of the flocks to dishearten the shepheards from their Attendances The same Author Of Zeal p. 185. ANy zeal is proper for Religion but the zeal of the Sword and the zeal of anger this is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the bitterness of zeal and it is a certain temptation to every man against his duty for if the Sword turns Preacher and dictates Propositions by Empire instead of Arguments and engraves them in mens hearts with a Ponyard that it shall be death to believe what I innocently and ignorantly am perswaded of it must needs be unsafe to try the Spirits to try all things to make enquiry And yet without this liberty no man can justify himself before God or man nor confidently say that his Religion is best since he cannot without a final danger make himself able to give a right sentence and to follow that which he finds to be the best This may ruin Souls by making Hypocrits or careless and complyant against conscience or without it but it doth not save Souls though peradventure it should force them to a good opinion This is inordination of zeal For Christ by reptoving St. Peter drawing his Sword even in the cause of Christ for his sacred and yet injur'd person 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Theophilact teaches us not to use the Sword though in the cause of God or for God himself because he will secure his own interest only let him be served as himself is pleased to command and it is like Moses passion it throws the Tables of the Law out of our hands and breaks them in pieces out of indignation to see them broken This is the zeal that is now in fashion and hath almost spoiled Religigion Men like the zealots of the Jews cry up their Sect and in it their Interest they affect Disciples and fight against the Opponents And we shall find in Scripture that when the Apostles began to Preach the meekness of the Christian institution salvation and promises charity and humility there was a zeal set up against them The Apostles were zealous for the Gospel The Jews were zealous for the Law And see what different effect these two zeals did produce The zeal of the Law came to this They stirred up the City they made tumults they sent parties of Souldiers to silence and to imprison the Preachers c. But the zeal of the Apostles was this They Preached publickly and privatly they prayed for all men they wept to God for the hardness of mens hearts they became all things to all men c. They endured every man and wronged no man They would do any good thing and suffer any evill if they had but hopes to prevail upon a Soul They perswaded men meekly they entreated them humbly they convinced them powerfully they watched for their good but medled not with their interest c. L. Hatton in the Preface to his Psalter Of Union HE that is ready to joyn with all the societies of Christians in the world in those things which are certainly true just and pious gives great probation that he hath at least animum Catholicum no Schismatical Soul because he would actually communicate with all Christendome if bona fides in falso articulo sincere perswasion be it true or false did not disoblige him since he clearly distinguishes persons from things and in all good things communicates with persons bad enough in others This is the Communion of Charity
application of their Spirits wherein consists the very Life and Soul of Prayer and that so much pretended Spirit of Prayer than any ptivate man by his solitary abilities can be presumed to have which what they are many times even there where they make a great noise and shew the affectations emptiness impertinency rudeness confusions flatness levity obscurity vain and ridiculous repetitions the senseless and oft-times blasphemous expressions all these burthened with a most tedious and intolerable length do sufficiently convince all men but those who glory in that pharasaick way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 16. Of Moderate Episcopacy THe Abuses of Episcopacy deserve to be extirpated as much as the use retained for I think it far better to hold to Primitive and uniform Antiquity than to comply with divided Novelty A right Episcopacy would at once satisfy all just desires and interests of good Bishops humble Presbyters and sober people so as Church affairs should be managed neither with tyranny parity nor popularity neither Bishops ejected nor Presbyters despised nor people oppressed ibid. 17. Of the Primitive Church and Fathers IF the practice of the Primitive Church and the universal consent of the Fathers be not a convincing Argument when the Interpretation of Scripture is doubtful I know nothing for if this be not then of necessity the Interpretation of private Spirits must be admitted the which contradicts S. Peter 2 Pet. 1. 20. is the Mother of all sects and will if not prevented bring these Kingdoms into confusion And to say that an Argument is ill because the Papists use it or that such a thing is good because it is the custome of some of the reformed Churches cannot weigh with me untill you prove these to be infallible or that to maintain no Truth And how Diotrephes ambition who directly opposed the Apostle S. John can be an Argument against Episcopacy I do not understand His Majesties second paper to H. Of the same MY Conclusion is that albeit I never esteemed any Authority equall to the Scriptures yet I do think the unanimous consent of the Fathers and the Universall practice of the Primitive Church to be the best and most Authenticall Interpreters of God's Word and consequently the fittest Judges between Me and You when we differ untill you shall find me better Fift paper A pious Offer of the English Clergy Anno 1644. I Shall offer in the name of my brethren of the Clergy not that I have took their particular votes but that I perswade my self so far of their piety That rather than the Glory should thus depart from Israel by laying wast this flourishing Church of ours every one single of us that have any possessions or titles worthy any mans envy or rapine and so are thought now by our own Interests to have been bribed or fee'd Advocates in this cause may forthwith be deprived of all that part of the Revenues of the Church wherein we are legally invested And he that shall not cheerfully resign his part in the present prosperity of the Church on the meer contemplation and intuition of the benefit that may now and after his life redound to others let him have the charge of being disturber of the State And if the Function it self with the necessary adjuncts to it be not swept away in the calamity we shall be perfectly pleas'd whatsoever befall our Persons and desire that tryall may be made of the ingenuity of Clergy-men whether we have not thus far profited under Gods rod as to be willing to yield to any possible proposition which will bring no guilt of sin upon our Consciences toward the averting the Judgments of Heaven Dr. Hammond's Consid of Church-government Of Universall Redemption THese two propositions are very reconcilable that Christ redeemed all men and yet that the whole number of the impenitent unbelieving reprobate world shall never be saved by him The great Benefits of Christ's death which I affirm to be general are given upon condition not absolutely as God's love to the world and the effect of it giving his Son is not designed that all absolutely but that all conditionally i. e. Whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life They which do not perform that condition as Gods knows a great multitude do not shall never be saved by his death To which purpose is that of Prosper one far enough from all kindness to the Pelagians Redemptor mundi dedit pro mundo sanguinem suum mundus redimi noluit The Redeemer of the world gave his bloud for the world and the world would not be redeemed Ad Gall. cap. 9. To that testimony Heb. 2. 9. so clear that it alone hath to my knowledge convinc'd one as learned a man as doth in this Church of ours maintain the doctrins contrary to the Remonstrants I shall ex abundanti add these other plain testimonies Not only that of Gods giving his only Son mention'd by Christ as an effect or expression of his love to the world which it would not be if he did not give him for the world whom he is said to love but to prevent all distinctions concerning the notion of the world as if it signified only the elect more particularly these two First that of 2 Pet. 2. 1. Where the Lord i. e. Christ is plainly said to have bought i. e. paid the Price satisfied for them who deny him and bring upon themselves swift destruction The other testimony is that of S. Paul 2 Cor. 5. 14. Where speaking of the constraining obliging love of Christ he said We thus judge that if one dyed for all then were all dead that is surely All in the full latitude not only the elect but All others and this conclusion the Apostle infers by this medium because One that is Christ dyed for All. Which being a proof of the other must certainly be as true and the All as generall and unlimited c. Dr. Hammond Vindic. of the Prac. Catech. p. 4 5. Of set forms of Prayer THat it is lawfull to use a set determinate form of words either written or fastned in our memory is apparent both by the example of Christ who in S. Luke bids us when we pray say Our Father c. not only pray after this pattern as the words in S. Matthew may be interpreted but use these very words when you pray say Our Father c. Luke 11. 2. and of John Baptist who taught his disciples to pray in some form though we know not what it is Luke 11. 1. As also of the Priests that used set forms of blessing the people Numb 6. 24. and of our Saviour himself who used a part if not the whole of the 22. Psalm upon the Cross My God my God why hast thou forsaken me c. And of the Church of the Jews and Christian Churches through all times who have had their Liturgies as ways and forms of serving God publickly and as means to preserve the true Religion