Christ's presence and blessing with them all in ways so abominable to God and so apparently destructive to his intire body the Church which he hath purchased with his most pretious bloud 3. Where were then the threatnings of his withdrawing from our Assemblies upon just occasion God hath said Your Sabbaths your Calling of Assemblies I cannot away with it is iniquity even your solemn Meetings my Soul hates them they are a trouble to me I am weary to bear them And I hate I despise your Feast-days I will not smell in your solemn Assemblies i. e. I will not accept with Favour as I did Noah's Sacrifice their solemn Assemblies In another place the Holy Ghost useth the same expression I will not smell the Savour of your sweet Odours It is a Judgment saith Ainsworth opposed to that blessing promised in v. 12. I will walk among you God threatens to deny his presence to their Assemblies and one reason is given by a Divine of the Presbyterian Judgment Because they were not any way of Divine institution but of their own invention and therefore all along they are called your or thine Now shew me where Christ in all the Old or New Testament doth either command or allow any such Ministry and attendance on it as is in question and then I shall acknowledge it to be the Ordinance of God and that this promise belongs to it but not till then In the mean time I may well without any digression retort upon the objectours and tell them that in my Judgment they are far out of the way either of obedience to Christ's Command or of hopes of enjoying his blessing promised who in resorting to such kind of Meetings for which they have neither a command nor promise separate and withdraw themselves from the publick assemblies and attendance on his worship and ordinances there where God hath assured us of his presence and blessing and whither he hath enjoyned us constantly to repair For as that Minister who shall upon any pretence whatsoever of his own forsake a Congregation over whom he was placed by God and goe to another without any lawfull call is like Ionah who being sent by God to Nineve sinned greatly in going to Tarshish though he had preached never so duely and diligently there So those People who in any measure neglect the publick for those private assemblies are like Micah who in the time of the Iudges when there was a publick Ministry in the place which the Lord had chosen for that purpose instituted a private worship and ministry in his own house a certain peculiar Levite being called and set apart for that work And no wise man that shall reade his story will think it safe to follow his example Well may such a Person flatter himself in his course and say in his heart as he Now I know the Lord will doe me good seeing I have a Levite to my Priest But as Iunius hominis imperiti sermo est in pietate parùm instituti That saying of his shews him to have but little wit less religion and that he was but in a golden dream or Fool 's Paradise all that while though he thought himself wiser and in a better case than his neighbours But this was done when there was no King in Israel and every man did that which was right in his own eyes otherwise so abominable an act could never have passed so clearly as it did By such I would be soberly and soundly resolved of this demand Are the People of England in their present state and condition assembling themselves together in publick places appointed for God's worship under the teaching and ministry of their lawfull Pastors that are set over them by Authority a true Church or true Churches or not If they say no they doe that which God blessed be his name hath not yet done unchurch us and lay us under a judgment which he hath not yet laid upon us viz. a divorce from Iesus Christ. Yet thou O Lord art in the midst of us and we are called by thy name leave us not Through the infinite goodness of the most high we have wherewithall to consute that unchristian and uncharitable judgment of theirs since we have both the matter and the form of a true Church The matter is a multitude of rational Creatures that profess saving truth contained in the word of God Simon Magus and the Eunuch upon their profession were admitted Members of the Church and Members do constitute the body The form of a true Church is a gracious call into the dignity of the Children of God so as that Christ becomes â—nited to them As the form of a man â—s the Soul united to the body so the â—orm of a Church which is his body 〈◊〉 Christ united to it We have the â—ord and laws of Christ and those he â—akes effectual for the convincing of â—ll and conversion of some And this 〈◊〉 an irrefragable argument to evince 〈◊〉 Church to be a true Church even in the judgment of the Presbyteriaâ— Divines themselves For to those of the Independent way that separated from them these are their words We beseech you to consider whether ye did not receive the work of conversion from sin to God which ye presume to be wrought in you first of all in those publick assemblies from which ye now separate And if ye found Christ walking amongst us how is it that 〈◊〉 do now leave us If the presence 〈◊〉 Christ both of his power and grace be with us why do ye deny your presence Are ye holyer and wiser than Christ Is not this an evident token that we are true Churches and have a true Ministry because we have the seal of our Ministry even the conversion of many Sons and Daughters to God Doth not the Apostle from this very ground argue the truth of his Apostleship 〈◊〉 it not apparent that our Ministers are sent by God because their Embassage is made succesfull by God for the good of Souls Did ye ever reade of true conversion ordinarily in false Church Will the Lord concur with those Ministers he sends not Doth not the prophet say the quite contrary Jer. 23. 23. And therefore either renounce your conversion or be converted from that great sin of separating from us Again where there are the infallible marks of a true Church there is a true Church But we have the infallible marks of a true Church viz. the word of Christ truly taught and his Sacraments rightly administred First for the word of Christ. The Church is according to the proper signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a People called forth from the rest of the world called to be Saints Now the best note to know a People called is by the voice calling this was ever an infallible mark of Christ's Church First among the Apostles who were called out from amongst others by the word of
sometimes through so great a resort of People to him that neither the Synagogue nor Temple could hold them he was fain to take a Mountain for his Pulpit Sometimes being not able to stand quiet for the throng of People that crouded him he retreated to a Ship that he might be the better heard and taught the People from thence Yet all this was publickly and openly to the World As for Religious discourse with his Disciples or others in private Houses either by way of explanation or repetition of his publick Sermons that we deny not but he often used it For we reade that when he was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alone they that were about him with the twelve asked him of the Parable But as for substance of Doctrine it was allways publick He never spake privately to his Disciples or others but they were the same things which he Preach'd publickly He spake not other things to them in private than what he spake publickly but in another manner And therefore even to that exposition of his Doctrine which he made privately to his Disciples he adds Is a Candle brought to be put under a bushel or under a bed And not to be set on a Candlestick For there is nothing hid that shall not be manifested q. d. these Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven are therefore revealed unto you not that ye should Preach them in Corners but to the whole World As for that place of St. Mark which seems to speak of Christ's Preaching in a private House though it be craftily urged on ignorant People yet if rightly understood it cannot make ought against what hath been said For I demand was it a truth our Saviour Christ said I always taught in the Synagogues and in the Temple and in private I have said nothing or was it not To say the latter were no less than blasphemy and to give him the lye who is the God of truth who knew no sin neither was guile ever found in his mouth If it was a truth as it must needs without monstrous impiety be acknowledged to be then he ever taught in the Synagogues and in the Temple and in private he said nothing The occasion of it was his being called in question for his Doctrine his answer to which plainly declares that as for substantials of Evangelical Doctrines he ever taught them openly to the World in the Jewish Synagogues and Temple Otherwise it would have been absurd for our Saviour to have said as he did to Pilate why askest thou me of my Doctrine ask them that heard me Behold they know what I have said For Pilate could not ask the Iews that were then present of any thing that he had said in private seeing they were none of his private Companions or Followers If therefore there be any seeming Antilogy in any other Scripture it is not so in reality but appearance it may seem so to our weakness but it is not so in it self For the Holy Ghost who is the spirit of truth in one place is so throughout all the Scripture without any real contradiction to it self any where Therefore to that place of St. Mark I have two things to answer First our English translation in that phrase he preached the word unto them doth not properly nor genuinely answer the Original Greek which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he spake to them or as Beza renders it loquebatur eis sermonem he made a speech to them And Tremelius loquebatur cum eis sermonem he talked or discoursed with them Doubtless about gospel-Gospel-truths and Heavenly matters When ever our Saviour Christ preach'd or spake Sermon-wise the Scripture useth other words to express it by as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to teach 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to preach or publish as an Herauld in open place in the hearing of a multitude or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to preach the Gospel But as for the word here used by the Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is never used in Scripture properly and strictly to signifie to preach but to speak talk or discourse which differs much from preaching For though it be true that whosoever preacheth speaketh yet it is not true that whosoever speaketh preacheth In all Languages there have ever been held a difference betwixt speaking and preaching Solius sacerdotis est praedicare loqui autem communis vulgi Yea it is observed by the most skillfull in that Language that this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amongst Greek Authours is still used for the worst kind of speaking or talking But in the New Testament indeed it is used in a better sense but never properly and strictly for to preach but to speak as we do in common talk or discourse When the Devil speaketh a Lye he speaketh it of his own Joh. 8. 44. When I was a Child I spake as a Child 1 Cor. 13. 11. Speak the truth every man to his neighbour Eph. 4. 25. And in many other places we have the same word used which were most absurd to render by the word preach So that all that can be rationally or certainly gathered from that saying of St. Mark is no more but this That our Saviour Christ seeing such a multitude of people flock about him took an occasion to fall into a religious discourse with them and to talk with them of divine and heavenly matters whether it were by minding them of what he had publickly thaught or explaining his Pulpit-doctrines to them we need not much trouble our selves to inquire But suppose he did preach though it was not privately but openly enough to the World as any one that looks into the history as it is recorded by the Evangelists may easily perceive in that house or any else as by his Divine prerogative he might doe what he would and that which every private Minister is not bound to follow him in yet how it can be made use of to countenance those that set up a course of house-preaching and that in other mens Parishes where there are Preaching Ministers established by Law and where they have no manner of allowance or Authority so to doe as our Saviour Christ had nay being forbidden by Authority as he was not I do not understand As for speaking to or with the people in that house or any other or making use of that or any other private meeting either in separation from or competition with much less in opposition to the publick Ordinances of God then in use as our Conventicles now-a-days are used that was far from our Saviour's meaning or practice who improved that and all meetings and occasions in subordination and direct subserviency to the Synagogue-service and Temple-worship of the Jewish Church And that Christ should be a publick and not a private house-preacher the Scriptures did foretell long before his coming By the Prophet Esay I have not spoken in secret in the dark places of the earth And by
Some of the brethren of the Nonconformists have been of the same Judgment whatever this or their practice now is Memorable to this purpose is that saying of Mr. Baxter to his People of Kiderminster I ever loved saith he a Godly peaceable Conformist better than a turbulent Nonconformist and should I make a party or disturb the peace of the Church I should fear lest I should prove a Firebrand in Hell for being a Firebrand in the Church And by all the interest I have in your judgments and affections I here charge you that if God should give me up to any factious Church-renting course against which I daily pray that you forsake me and follow me not a step It is an unhappy degree of wickedness to be a ring-leader in any schism Every accessory is faulty enough but the first Authour abominable Those who either by his example suggestion advice connivence or otherwise are taught to doe ill increase his sin as fast as they do their own Whosoever shall break one of the least Commandments and shall teach men so shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven An unruly beast breaks the hedge and feeds in forbidden Pasture the whole herd follows but the owner must answer for all the trespass that is committed Therefore is Ieroboam so often branded in holy Writ with this note of infamy Ieroboam the Son of Nebat that made Israel to sin His fault lived when he himself was dead and 't is often said by Divines that his torment increased in Hell according as his sin increased upon earth and that the wickedness of Israel will not be taken off from his Soul for ever It was shame enough to Israel that they were made to sin by Ieroboam but O the miserable Estate of Ieroboam that made Israel to sin his pretence was fair enough but that was no excuse to the foulness of his crime nor is it any mitigation to his present torment Let the Authours of schism in the Church pretend what they please to Religion and Truth yet how they can have the true love or power of either in thier hearts or lives that seek not the Church's Peace and Unity withall I cannot understand The Holy Ghost in Scripture joins both together Love truth and peace And speak the truth in love He follows neither that persues them not both It was an unquestionable Maxime amongst Christians in the ancient Church which is no less a truth now than ever non habet Dei charitatem qui Ecclesiae non diligit unitatem The Love of God abides not in them who do not love and keep the Unity of the Church Nay the practice in question tends not onely to the dividing and distracting the Church but even to the dissolving and destroying her being It puts the members of the body of Christ out of joint and causeth a Luxation of the parts and so hinders that spiritual Nutrition thriving and growth in grace that ought to be in the body of Christ. For as in the natural body of man if a member be separated from it it can receive no nourishment or growth nay if there be but a dislocation of a part so that it be onely out of joint it will not thrive or prosper but wither and consume till it be set right again so the mystical body of Christ can never increase with the increase of God if either there be not a right Union of the joints to the head or if that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the ligament and bond that knits and fastens one member to another be broken Now this Union of the members the Apostle saith is made by the Ligament of Love which he therefore calls the bond of perfection because as it unites Church-members among themselves so it is the cause that they communicate mutual help to the profit and preservation of the whole The members of the Church then being made so loose and set at such distance so divided and distracted one from another some hurried this way and some that it must needs argue that this bond is either quite broken or much loosned And if it be a truth which Philosophers affirm that every natural body desires no less its unity than its entity I fee no reason why the spiritual and mystical body of Christ the Church should not in like manner desire its unity since if it be and continue thus unhappily divided it cannot long subsist in its entity As a tottering wall of stones heaped up together without mortar or binding is easily shaken and thrown down so must the Church be soon brought to ruine if this distracting and dividing course be suffered and practised By concord and good agreement among Christians the Church grows and is enlarged So by their discords and divisions it will in short time perish and come to nothing Say I this onely Or say not the brethren of the Nonconformists the same He that is not the Son of peace is not the Son of God saith Mr. Baxter all other sins destroy the Church consequentially but division and separation demolish it directly Building the Church is but an orderly joining the materials and what then is disjoyning but pulling down Believe not those to be the Church's friends that would cure and reform her by cutting her throat Pro Ecclesia clamitant saith St. Cyprian of such they cry out for the Church but contra Ecclesiam dimicant their practice is a fighting against the Church And that not by open and professed hostility but by secret and unseen Policy Their pretences are friendly but their actions mischievous their voice like Iacob's but their hands like Esau's Thirdly it hinders the Communion of Saints that holy and sweet fellowship which all the Members of Christ's Church ought to have both with Christ their head and each with other When in the natural body of man the members are joined to the head and one with another they have by virtue of that Union Communion also and do impart bloud spirits and life from one to the other So in the mystical Body of Christ the members being joined to the Lord and one to another there will be a sweet Communion among themselves in heart and affections joy with them that rejoice and forrow with them that weep prayer each for and each with other the multitude of them that believe will be of one heart and one soul. Now one of the closest bonds of Union amongst Christians is in their communicating together in holy duties We are then most one when with one mind and with one mouth we glorifie God together When holy David would set forth the greatest intireness of facred friendship he described it by walking to the house of God in company together The end and effect of our joint partaking in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is to seal up this Unity As by one of the Sacraments we
therefore though there is not that holiness affixed to places now since our Saviour's coming into the World as there was before yet our assembling together in the Church is as holy now as then and better than elsewhere And wheresoever the Scripture seems to take away all religious differences of places as if no place were holier than another as in Mal. 1. 11. Ioh. 4. 21. 1 Tim. 2. 8. It is true of inherent holiness but not of relative And this must be always remembred to prevent mistake that the Holy Ghost doth no where compare private and profane places with publick and consecrated as if the worship we doe to him were as much to his Glory or as good and profitable to our selves and others which we doe in those places as that which we doe in the Church But he compares publick places then with publick now and private with private and his meaning is that not onely at Ierusalem and among the Jews God shall have an house for his publick worship but in all Nations where he shall be pleased to bestow his Gospel God will not be worshipped in the Temple at Ierusalem onely nor shall his presence be tyed to that place more than to other such like houses of God elsewhere but he will have houses which shall be properly his own and set apart for his publick worship and service amongst all Nations It was a part of that heavy Yoke that was intolerable on the Necks of our Fathers that they must take long and tedious journeys to come from all Quarters of their Country to one place to worship and that they did not dare no not in case of absolute nenessity to perform publick service in any other place yea that their very private Devotions were to be performed either in or toward that place But now besides our Closets for our private Devotions we have Churches in our several Towns Parishes and Villages where we may be sure to have God present to hear accept and bless us if we can find honest and good hearts to resort to them Every place hath God's presence and therefore is in it self alike sanctified for his service but every place is not alike separated from common and profane use and dedicated and consecrated to God nor owned and accepted by him and therefore we have no reason to expect God's presence or to meet with the like blessing in one place as in another And therefore saith that holy and ancient Synod at Gangra in Paphlagonia under Constantine the Emperour Omnem locum aedificatum in nomine Dei honor amus Congregationem in Ecclesia factam ob utilitatem communem recipimus We do honour every place built in the Name of God and do reverence and receive the Congregation met in the Church for the Common advantage Churches then are holy and to be respected and frequented rather than other places because of their holy Use and for the holy Assemblies there made And therefore that same Council decreed Si quis docet domum Dei contemptibilem esse Conventus qui in ea celebantur anathema sit Cursed be he that shall teach that the House of God may be slighted or the Congregations that assemble therein And in the next Canon they think fit to ordain Si quis extra Ecclesiam seorsum Conventus celebrrat c. Cursed be he that shall keep any Convention out of the Church And the same Synod as History tells us condemned and deposed Eustathius Bishop of Sebastia in Armenia for perswading such as refrained the Church and publick Assemblies to raise Conventicles and Brotherhood in their private Houses And in the Civil Law it is decreed That the sacred Mystery or Mysteries be not done in private Houses but be celebrated in publick places lest thereby things be done contrary to the Catholick and Apostolick Faith unless they call to the celebrating of the same such Clerks of whose Faith and Conformity there is no doubt made or else that are deputed thereunto by the good will of the Bishop If any thing be done to the contrary the House wherein these things are done shall be confiscated and themselves shall be punished at the discretion of the Prince 'T is true St. Paul commands us Every where to lift up holy hands without wrath But those hands cannot be pure that are profane and they cannot have other than such who contemn the Church As therefore we exhort all men every where to worship God even so for the performance of this service by the People of God assembled we think not any place so good as the Church nor any Exhortation so fit as that of David O worship the Lord in the Beauty of Holiness But now alas we live to see those prophetique words uttered by a Learned and judicious Gentleman above 60 years agoe to be verified and fulfilled to the utmost He discerning then the great increase and growth of Sectaries in this Realm said That time would soon bring it to pass if it were not resisted that God would be turned out of Churches into Barns and from thence again into Fields and Mountains and under Hedges and the Office of the Ministry robbed of all dignity and respect be as contemptible as those places all Order Discipline and Church-government left to the newness of Opinion and Mens fancies yea and soon after as many kinds of Religions spring up as there are Parish Churches within England every contentious and ignorant Person cloathing his Fancy with the Spirit of God and his Imagination with the Gift of Revelation By all which hath been said wherein I hope the candid Reader will pardon my Prolixity in this plain Vindication of the languâ—shing Reputation of Church-assemblies it appears that the speciality of Divine promises are made to the publick Dispensation of God's ordinances and that we may expect a greater Blessing upon them in our Church-assemblies than elsewhere But I know no promise of God at all made to such Preaching and Meetings as are in question God hath not engaged himself for a Blessing to any People waiting on him as they count it in a way out of his appointment yea contrary to it But as he hath forbidden to hear Intruders Ier. 27. 14 15. So he hath expresly said there shall no Blessing at all accompany such a Ministry and such attendance on it Let that place in Ieremiah be noted I sent them not nor commanded them therefore they shall not profit this People at all saith the Lord. Sive vera praedicent sive falsa Saith a Presbyterian Divine Whether they preach that which is true or that which is false The question is not de facto but de jure not what they teach but by what warrant Thence it was as Tarnovius thinks that our Saviour Christ rebuked the Devil and commanded him silence not suffering him to speak when he confessed and declared the most necessary and Soul-saving
truth in the World viz. that Christ was the holy one of God because he had no calling so to doe The words of St. Paul are full to the same purpose How shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard And how shall they hear without a Preacher And how shall they preach except they be sent The Apostle speaks of such preaching and hearing as should beget Faith and by which Grace is ordinarily wrought and increased in the Soul and upon which People may expect God's Blessing Now thus none can hear without a Preacher neither can any thus preach i. e. profitably to beget Faith except he be sent They cannot be succesfull in their Ministry without a Mission They may talk as Usurpers but not preach as God's Ambassadours They may satisfie the Itch of the Ear but they cannot be instrumental to work Grace in the heart God will not concur with that Ministry he sends not Our Saviour Christ Faith Iohn 10. 8. All that ever came before me are Thieves and Robbers Why Moses and the Prophets the Priests and Levites were before Christ. Were they all Thieves and Robbers and none of them true Pastours The Emphasis lies in the word came which being rightly understood makes it as true that all that ever came or shall come after Christ are Thieves and Robbers also as well as those that came before him St. Hierome's note upon the text makes it clear Venerunt inquit Christus non qui missi sunt de quibus Propheta veniebant a se ego non mittebam eos Our Saviour doth not say that all that were sent before him were Thieves and Robbers but all that came before me Plainly shewing that whosoever shall come amongst the People of God his Church to perform the Office of the Ministry of his own accord without a lawfull Sending is a Thief and a Robber and none of Christ's true Sheep will or ought to hear him But it will be said the Preaching and Ministry of such Persons as are in question is the Preaching and Ministry of Persons sent for they are Persons in holy Orders and Ministers ordained 1. I deny not but that some of such Persons as are in question may be lawfully ordained Ministers all are not to my knowledge yet it followeth not presently from thence that they are sent to preach or to perform Acts of the Ministry For it may so be in a true setled and constituted Church that for a lawfull Cause and by lawfull Authority a Person ordained may be deposed and justly suspended from performing any ministerial Acts as Abiathar in the Church of the Jews was by King Solomon Otherwise Ministers in their Office were Lawless and exempt from all legal and just Restraint and Censure And although a Person in holy Orders cannot have his Ordination ordinarily made void by any quoad internam potestatem in regard of the inward Power of Order that is conferred on him in his Ordination so as upon his Restauration he need be re-ordained yet it may be made void quoad externam executionem in regard of the outward Execution of that Power in the Church either in publick or private either for a set-time or season or else during his Life It is in the Power of the Church and Governours thereof to suspend a Minister from the Execution of his Office though it be not in their Power to rase out that Characterem insculptum that intrinsical Authority received in his Ordination And a Person so lawfully suspended by Authority as is said may he in such a case execute the Office of the Ministry or may he not If so then Acts of lawfull Authority in the Church signifie nothing Governours and Government and Church-discipline is a mere empty Name and but a Cypher Then might Abiathar have executed the High-priest's Office Notwithstanding King Solomon's Exauctoration of him And so the Ordinance of God in the Church to which all stand bound in Conscience to be in subjection will be made void and of none effect If not then such Ministers as notwithstanding their legal Restraint or suspension from Execution of their Office do yet constantly execute the same by preaching and other ministerial Duties otherwise than by the Law they are allowed cannot be said to be sent of God since they are inhibited by God's Vicegerents on Earth and consequently have not that sending which the word of God saith is necessary to those whose preaching is to be instrumental to work Faith and other saving Graces in the Hearts of God's People But what calling or sending can such a Minister as is in question pretend to for his setting up a Course of House-preaching or other ministerial Acts in the place or Parish where there is a publick constant preaching Minister established by Law If he hath any it must be either extraordinary or ordinary for there is not a third way of calling or sending Extradordinary calling or sending is that which is done by God himself immediately without the Concurrence or Ministry of any humane Help or Authority Not of man nor by man Either 1. By divine Vision or Revelation and thus St. Paul was called and sent to preach the Gospel at Macedonia A Vision appeared to Paul in the Night saying come over into Macedonia and help us And after he had seen the Vision immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us to preach the Gospel unto them 2. By secret impulse on mens spirits for this work wrought by the extraordinary Power of God in the Primitive times Such was Philip the Deacon's going to the City of Samariah and preaching the Gospel unto them after the dispersing the Church at Ierusalem Such also was the Calling of those who at the same dispersion first preached Christ at Phoenicia and Cyprus and the Hand of God was with them though otherwise they were but private Persons Now I think no wise men will pretend to these extraordinary Callings or Sendings in these days It is sufficient to say they are extraordinary and such as but in like Cases cannot be expected Extraordinary onely take place where ordinary are not to be had The internal and extraordinary sending is secret and invisible and therefore it is not sufficient for a man to say that he is sent of God seeing every Heretick may say the same but he ought to prove his extraordinary and invisible Calling by the working of some Miracle or by some special testimony of Scripture 'T is true Iohn Baptist had 〈◊〉 immediate and extraordinary Calling and yet wrought no Miracle that was reserved for the Messiah of whom he was the immediate Forerunner to manifest himself unto the world by but then that Calling of his was foretold and witnessed by plain testimonies of Scripture And the manner of his Birth and Condition of his Life as it was well known to all Israel were
God stands upon Circumstances as well as Duties It shall be then our righteousness if we observe to doe all the Commandments before the Lord our God AS HE HATH COMMANDED VS Say we doe what is commanded yet if we doe it not as he commanded us it is not right in God's sight who requires that a thing be not onely good but also regularly performed It is not the material goodness of the work that will free us from sin but the Command we have out of God's word for the doing it Neither can we depend upon any promise for a blessing when we have not God's Precept for the action The promise of edification in faith knowledge and holiness is specially appropriated to the Ministry of that Person who is regularly and orderly in God's ways set over a Congregation Christians own pastours have a more special dispensation of the Grace of God given them to them-ward as St. Paul the Doctour of the Gentiles had towards that People of whom he was appointed the proper Minister And saith Mr. Baines If this were well considered it would cure in us that affectation of the confluence of strangers when our hearts do not so fervently embrace our own Pastours And it should instrâ—â—â— People to depend especially upon those who are set over them for these are they who are furnished from God in 〈◊〉 eminent manner with grace towards them They are foolish sheep that know not theâ— own shepherds voice and foolish People that know not their own Ministers And in reason whose Ministry may we think God will bless either his to whom the Flock is committed by himself who is over them in the Lordâ— whom God hath made their overseer who have the rule over them watching for their Souls as those that must give an account Or his who runs before he is sent who hath no lawfull call to the Congregation ordinary or extraordinary who hath no relation at all to the Flock whose own the sheep are not he having no charge of them nor any account to make for them other than for his irregular intrusion amongst them taking upon him to doe that he hath no right to doe and for seducing them away from their own Pastour be his parts and qulifications otherwise Angelical and his Doctrine never so Evangelical Pastours of Congregations are called Christ's Ambassadours to their People It is their Commission that makes their Embassie succesfull Another perhaps may be of equal or greater fitness for the Employment but he onely that hath deputation for the service is received and hath audience Those that have no lawfull mission to a Congregation but intrude themselves amongst them may speak the truth as well as they that have yet of him that acts by lawfull appointment we may say that he preacheth with Authority and not like those that come in by stealth and usurpation and have no other right there to preach than what themselves have made They are called overseers It is not for every man to oversee the estate of another they onely can do it who by some Deed or Commission are impowered to undertake it Nay which is a dreadfull Consideration they must so oversee the Flock that they may give an account for their Souls Is there any such charge given to or undertaken by those unsent teachers who love to be heard and seen in exercising their parts but not in taking cure or charge of Souls They are called Stewards It is not for any one to be a steward in another man's house to feed the Family but for him onely whom the master of that house shall appoint The ministerial parts performed by a lawfull Pastouâ— to his own Flock are like Iacob's blessing his Sons another man might have done it as rhetorically and perhaps as affectionately but not so effectually because none had that Rightâ— and Authority to doe it as he Of all acts those that are done ex officio by virtue of an office and from a lawfull designation and appointment for the execution of that office to or for such a Person or People are under a more solemn assurance of a blessing It is no Solecism to say God will hearâ— their Prayers and bless their Pains when he will neither hear nor bless the Prayers or Pains of any else My Servant Job shall pray for you saith God for him will I accept Eliphaz and his two friends were good men yet God would not give answer to them but to Iob onely See Gen. 20. 7. Es. 37. 4. Iam. 5. 14. If that place in Matthew be urged to prove a promise of a blessing to such preaching and meetings as are in question Where two or three are met together in my name there am I present in the midst of them I answer that although I conceive the primary and principal Intent and Scope of our Saviour in that place was not to speak of religious Meetings for the preaching and hearing of his word but of the Meetings of Ecclesiastical Judges of the Jewish Sanhedrin in their Consistory as the Context doth declare yet because all God's promises are great and pretious and we ought not to lose ought of them but improve them to the utmost for his Glory and our Comfort therefore suppose it be taken and to be understood of religious Meetings also as 't is so applied by the Church of England in her Liturgy yet to no other but our Church-assemblies yet I say that text annexeth a Promise onely to such Meetings as are in Christ's Name Now the meaning of that phrase is commonly expounded to be at my Command Nam in nomine Christi idem est quod eâ—â—authoritate So our Saviour himself useth the phrase I am come in my Father's Name id est at his Command as he expounds it himself This Commandment have I received from the Father So St. Paul useth the phrase Now we command you brethren in the Name of our Lord Iesus Christ id est by the Authority of our Lord Christ committed unto us by him as if Christ should command by us So every inferiour officer amongst us doth use the phrase I require you in the King's Name id est by Authority derived from him See Act. 4. 7. And should we extend the promise without restraint to other Meetings under pretence of religious Worship than such as are grounded on Christ's Authority 1. Then we should make our own wills fancies and affections masters of our actions and endeavour to bring down the presence of Christ to such irregular Conventions as are altogether disagreeing with yea contrary to his Will and Command which were not onely absurd but impious to attempt or think 2. Then also may a Congregation of 1000 People divide themselves contrary to good Laws of God his Church and the Realm into 500 Couples in so many several places and in so many several forms of worship and yet expect
the borders of our hearts that so meeting together by Troops with primitive Concord in the publick places of our Assemblies being banded together with a kind of holy Violence we may with one mind and one mouth lay Seige to the throne of Grace and give God no rest such Forces are to him most acceptable till he fulfill this gracious promise that we perish not in our divisions Lord grant that all they that confess thy holy name may agree in the truth of thy holy word and live in unity and godly love through Iesus Christ. Amen ARGUMENT IV. THat cannot be the Ordinance of God conducing to the Salvation of Souls which is not onely contrary to good and wholsome Laws destructive to Gospel-Order and destitute of Divine Promise but is also contrary to Gospel-commands For God is not contradictory to himself instituting or ordaining that in one place of his word which he forbids in another but throughout the whole Scripture he reveals one constant and one uninterrupted Tenor of sacred truth But the practice in question is contrary to sundry Gospel-commands as will easily be made out by instancing in two or three instead of others The first I shall mention is that in St. Peter Let none of you suffer as a Murtherer or as a Thief or as an evil doer or as a busie-body in other Mens Matters The word in the Original is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which in the proper and genuine construction of it signifies a busie Bishop in another Man's Diocess or a busie Presbyter in another Man's Parish that takes upon him to meddle in another Man's Cure and to be doing in matters that are committed to another Man's Charge that is so well at leisure and hath so little to doe of his own that according to the Proverb He thrusts his Sickle into another Man's Harvest The Apostle reckons such a one among Murtherers and Thieves and other evil doers that so he may easily be known what he is by such as the Holy Ghost sorts with him Now Murtherers and Thieves and other Malefactors are made the Companions of such who without a special concession or commission undertake to meddle in other Mens Parishes with the Souls not committed to their Care and Charge and the Apostle gives equal Caveat against them all I know not therefore how such busie-bodies can acquit themselves of the other two sins also mentioned in this black roll Of the latter their guilt seems to be too evident in taking up wandring Sheep from their Folds when they ought rather to send them home to their own Shepherds in setting their mark upon them owning them for theirs and calling them by the name of their Church when as in truth they have no more Property or Interest in them than the Emperour of Vtopia hath in the Pleiades or the poor Athenian in Horace had in the Ships which he saw on the Sea and called his own though he had no other right to them than what his extravagant and distempered fancy did create For what warrant have they to meddle with other Mens Flocks Of the former I fear also they will scarce be found altogether guiltless For truly the Souls of their Proselytes after they have been their followers a while seem to be so mortally poisoned with Schism and Separation profane contempt and neglect of the publick worship and ordinances of God with despising of all Authority good Laws and Government and many other dangerous evils and so metamorphosed that from being Sheep as before they seemed to be they turn Wolves and are ready to worry their own Shepherds as is found true by too sad experience in all places where these men intrude themselves The Apostle doth elsewhere reckon up idleness as another Companion of this sin They learn to be idle wandring about from house to house and are busie-bodies Again Working not at all but are busie-bodies And indeed this is the Root from whence this vice springs 'T is true in the former place the Apostle makes it muliebre vitium the womens sin but it is no wonder to see idlers of the other Sex also to become esseminate and medlers in other folks matters when they have none of their own to be doing about An idler is well at leisure and if he will not serve God in his own station rather than he shall doe nothing Satan will find him employment in setting him to thrust his Sickle into his Neighbours Corn. They made me keeper of the Vineyards but mine own Vineyard have I not kept Here are Vineyards opposed to her own Vineyard false Churches to true For The Vineyard of the Lord of Hoast is the house of Israel and the men of Judah his pleasant Plant. When men keep not their own Vineyard the keeping whereof is committed to them of God the Spirit that works in the Children of disobedience will set them to plant and keep Vineyards of his The Vine whereof is the Vine of Sodom and of the Fields of Gomorrah their Grapes are Grapes of Gall their clusters are bitter What account these Husbandmen will make hereafter to him that is the Lord of the Vineyard for such kind of dealing I wish they may in time seriously consider e'er it be too late so to doe Neither may we omit to observe how the Apostle in the afore quoted place doth as it were unchristian such a busie Person and seems to make him no better than a Pagan or Infidel For he puts a vast difference betwixt the sufferings of a busie Presbyter and those of a Christian. If a Christian suffer let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God in this behalf But if such a busie-body suffer as 't is as much pity he should goe scotfree as any of his Mates in the Text he hath as great cause to be ashamed as a Thief or a Murtherer The Second Gospel-command I shall instance in is that of St. Paul to the Thessalonians Study to be quiet and doe your own business Quietness is here enjoyned under the notion and quality of an Art or Science for we are commanded to study it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seek with an holy ambition thinking it an honour to live in peace The quietness there commended to our ambitious endeavour I conceive to import not a quietness from motion but from commotion or troubling of others a contented calm conversation opposite to tumultuous turbulence and restless intermedling with things wherein others are concerned But how shall we attain to be masters of this Art of quietness The means most available that way the Apostle prescribes in the next words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to doe our own business letting other mens matters alone to themselves For a man then not to content himself with his own affairs but to mix himself with other mens and without any lawfull appointment or allowance to thrust himself into another's Place and Employment is contrary to that
then whosoever he be that doeth that to others which he would not have done to himself nay which he hath opposed and disliked in others is as the Apostle calls him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 condemned of himself as sinning wittingly and wilfully spurning against a known truth sparkling and shining in his Conscience The waiting on such Mens Ministry is so far from being the Ordinance of God that he commands all men to avoid them ARGUMENT V. THat cannot be the Ordinance of God for the working of Grace that hath no Scripture President or warrantable Example to ground it on For all the Ordinances of God of this kind besides his Mandate have also their exemplification in Scripture God ordinarily working Grace in the hearts of Men then as he doth now But this private and house-preaching by an intruder in a constituted Church where there is a Preaching Minister established hath none I deny not but it may be lawfull in some Cases to have all the parts of God's Worship used in a private House As 1. In case of infirmity of Body when People are not able to come to Church Ecclesiastical History tells us that in the primitive times divers of the new converted Christians were Baptized some in Prison as appears in the story of Basilides in Eusebius And the sick in their beds as Cyprian declares at large And if any were hindered by Sickness that they could not partake of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper with the Church it was sent home to them by a Priest or Deacon if it might be if not by some other As appears by the example of Serapion in an Epistle of Dionysius Bishop of Alexandria to Fabius 2. In time of Persecution when the doors of God's House are shut up against us so as that we cannot have free access to it or liberty to joyn together with the Congregation in Prayers hearing the Word and receiving the Sacraments as it was in the days of King Ahaz Thus Victor reports that in the Persecution by the Vandals the Congregations of Christians in Africa being through the vastations of War deprived of their Churches did hold their Assemblings together for Divine Worship whereever they could And the same Authour tells us that because of the rage of the Arian Hereticks the Orthodox Christians had their Meetings in private Houses Or in such other like Cases of special necessity Yet our Saviour Christ in the Iewish Church as before he was a Preacher his custome was to frequent the publick Assembly in the Synagogue every Sabbath-day so after he set upon the execution of that Function he never used to Preach privately in Houses Hear what he saith himself when the High-Priest asked him of his Disciples and Doctrine Iesus answered him I spake openly to the World I ever taught in the Synagogue and in the Temple whither the Iews always resort and in secret have I said nothing His words are plain yet because with some Men Fancy and Affection do prevail over their Judgments and Reason according to that saying of St. Austin periit siquidem judicium postquam res transiit in affectum nostram qualemcunque quia nostra jam facta est praevalere volumus sententiam Therefore I shall endeavour to clear the truth of our Saviour's Speech in that saying of his to the High-Priest and shew that he was always a publick orderly Preacher and never a private irregular Conventicler And though the contrary could be proved yet it would make nothing for the irregular Practice of some in this Age whom I am disputing against seeing the question is of such Persons onely as have an ordinary calling to the Ministry whereas our Saviour Christ's was extraordinary in a setled Gospel-Church whereas the Iewish-Church was in Christ's time expiring and the Gospel-Church beginning and are intruders into other Mens Charges and Congregations as our Saviour neither was nor could be seeing he was the supreme Lord of his Church and Heir of all things In those words of his First saith he I spake 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 openly The word properly signifies freedom and liberty of Speech which Piscator thus explains Cum quis omne id dicit quod ad rem pertinet nihil veritus offensionem eorum quibuscum loquitur When a Man speaks that which properly pertains to the matter in hand not fearing though it offend those to whom he speaks Oftentimes in Scripture it signifies oâ—enly And in this place Tremelius renders it by apertè and Beza by palam both openly So that our Saviour professeth here that his Doctrine as it was heavenly truth and delivered without fear of danger or hatred of Men or persecution of the World so not in a Corner or Conventicle but openly and in publick Secondly I spake saith he not to a few Select Persons to a gathered Church but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the World i. e. To all sorts of Men in the World without any difference or distinction either of Nation Place of State even to as many as would come to hear me Though indeed for the most part he Preach'd in Iudaea and Galilee whence he was called a Minister of the Circumcision and saith that he was not sent save unto the lost Sheep of the house of Israel yet doubtless sometimes he Preached to a promiscuous Company both of Iews and Gentiles without making any difference Matt. 15. 21. Thirdly I taught saith he in the Synagogue There was one onely Temple among the Iews and that was at Ierusalem but as in other Cities and Towns of the Iews so also in the Metropolitan City besides the Temple there were Synagogues which were publick places appointed for Prayers Sermons Reading and exposition of the Law and the Prophets to the People And in the Synagogues at Ierusalem and other Towns and Cities Christ did most frequently and constantly Preach as the Scriptures do abundantly testifie Matt. 4. 23. Matt. 13. 53 54. Matt. 21. 23. Matt. 9. 35. Matt. 12. 9. Mark 1. 21. Mark 6. 2. Luk. 4. 16. 21. and 44. Luk. 6. 6. Ioh. 6. 59 c. Fourthly He saith I not onely taught in the Synagogues but in the Temple the most solemn and publick Place The Temple at Ierusalem was the place where the Priests did offer daily Sacrifices and taught the People to which thrice in the year all the Males from all the Coasts of Iudaea were to resort In this Temple did our Saviour Christ very frequently Preach Matt. 21. 23. Luk. 19. 47 c. Fifthly I taught saith he where the Iews always resort where there was a full and free Concourse of all the Nation of the Iews and many Gentiles also from all Parts and Quarters of Iudaea Lastly And in private saith he I have said nothing As if he had purposely and expressly denied himself to be what they were apt to charge him with a private seditious and Schismatical Conventicler 'T is true that
example of our Saviour Christ nor of his Apostles can be brought to justifie or allow any such practice ARGUMENT VI. THAT which God in his word hath branded with a black mark forewarning and commanding his People to avoid cannot be his ordinance or means of grace For it is not God's manner to stygmatize or disgrace his own ordinances or to forbid or discourage any in the use of them but to dignifie advance the honour and strictly to enjoin the use of them as knowing that the Devil and his instruments will sufficiently vilifie and disgrace them and that there will be enough in all ages who will disuse and forsake them Yea God hath so far dignified his ordinances of the word and sacrament which he intends to make use of as means of grace that when he might have wrought it in mens hearts immediately by his own spirit yet he hath put them off to his Ministers to doe it which is no small honour The case of the Eunuch in the Acts makes this plain The Spirit bad Philip join himself to the Chariot Yea when God himself hath begun the work yet he would not perfect it himself but hath handed it over to his Ministers to be completed by them This he did at the Conversion of St. Paul He sent Ananias to him who entered into the House and put his hands on him and said Brother Saul the Lord even Iesus which appeared to thee in the way as thou camest hath sent me that thou shouldst receive thy sight and be filled with the Holy Ghost What greater honour than this could God have put upon his Ordinance of the Ministry But he hath set a black mark and brand upon the Persons and Ministry in question and commanded a withdrawing from them Now I beseech you brethren mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them for they that are such serve not the Lord Iesus but their own bellies and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple The Emphasis of the Apostles words is worthy our observation Mark them signifying such a diligent wary and circumspect care as Watchmen use that stand on an high Tower to descry the approach of an Enemie They mark diligently all Comers and give notice according as they apprehend any danger for the preservation of the City And avoid them as dangerous Persons hurtfull to Christian Society And how sweet and fair soever their words seem to be yet they will eat as doth a Canker They give not their poison but wrapt up in Honey Their smooth Language is their net wherewith they catch many a simple Soul that is not exceeding carefull lest any man should beguile him as Ioab did Amasa with enticing words Their flattering speeches and specious pretenses of Purity and Doctrine and tenderness of Conscience tend to no other but to deceive the simple and unwary to get themselves a maintenance and to fill their own bellies they are like the false Apostles in the Church of Corinth who transformed themselves into the Apostles of Christ yet were but deceitfull workers to bring that People into bondage to devour them and to take of them How guilty the persons in question are of causing Divisions amongst People whereever they come of renting the Unity of the Church and disturbing the peace thereof of giving offence to Rulers and Governours by their constant and wilfull violation of all Ecclesiastical and Civil order and discipline is too notoriously known by sad experience in all places And whether the other Character in the text belongs to them that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and seek not so much mens Souls for therein they may spare their pains as needless where there is a preaching Ministry established as their purses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 making merchandize of the word of God their hearers and followers are best able to tell and will I think in a while be weary of it In the mean time we that are Pastours of Flocks find by experience in those places where these persons intrude themselves that the People are ready to pull their own Ministers bread out of their mouths to feed those their new Masters live we never so blamelesly and take we never so much pains amongst them for the good of their Souls Yea they hate those their Ministers most who best deserve their love and lay most obligations on them According to that of the Philosopher Leve aes alienum debitorem facit grave ininâ—icum A bad Debtor when he owes but a small summ will be contented to look towards you but when it is great more than he can well pay or as much as he thinks he can get then he will be glad to be rid of you Again The Apostle foretells that towards the latter end of the World and surely those days are come upon us Perilous times shall come and there shall be many that shall creep into houses and lead Captive silly Women from such turn away And whom do the men we are speaking of most prevail upon and draw after them but easie and unstable souls such as have itching Ears always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth well meaning People that are spurred on with zeal and want judgment to hold the reins many times an over vehement bending into some way of our own chusing doth not onely withdraw us from the left hand way the way of Idolatry and Superstition from which we should all withdraw but from the middle way too in which we should all walk And then the danger is great The Devil doth many times make zeal and religion his instrument to drive men on to incredible extremities of impiety For if he cannot take away mens faith yet he will quench their Charity to others even to those to whom they owe it most For zeal except it be ordered aright when it bendeth it self to conflict with things either indeed or but imagined to â—e opposite to Religion useth the razor many times with such eagerness that the very life of Religion is thereby hazarded through hatred of tares the corn in the field is plucked up So that zeal needeth both ways a sober guide Zeal against Poperty saith another learned Authour who conceals his name except it be bridled by discretion and attended by equal pace of strength is not the way to protect but to betray a cause Those that were lately zealous for the good old cause lost it and the King had not better friends than his most implacable Enemies Fury is as bad in a Champion as torpour it is an even temperature of wisedom and valour that doeth the execution A sober Protestant though he rageth less shall prevail more on a Papist than a mad Fanatique The greatest part of zeal against Popery that is found amongst the Nonconformists is like that of one frantick who wounds himself
Hoc frater tuus Edvardus Angliae Rex praeclarissimus pro viribus sane prae quam ejus aetas pateretur facere studuit cujus regnum diutius extrahi peccata nostra ingratitudo intolerabilis non siverâ—nt eximias illius adolescentis virtutes egregiam pietatem Deus orbi tantum ostendere voluit deinde ut nos quemadmodum mala nostra merita exigebant aliquantulum castigaret illum e terra citius ad se revocavit The same your brother Edward the most renowned King of England did study to the utmost of his Power and beyond what his age would permit to doe whose reign our sins and most intolerable ingratitude would not suffer to continue longer over us God onely would shew to the World the singular virtues and most excellent Piety of that young man and then to correct us as our evil deservings did require he soon recalled him from this World to himself Judicious Mr. Hooker calls him Edward the Saint in whom it pleased God righteous and just to let England see what a blessing sin and iniquity would not suffer it to enjoy This rare and most excellent person God raised up to see this Book composed to establish it by regal Authority and then he was taken to his Crown of Glory 2. For the matter contained in that Book Sober and Learned men have sufficiently vindicated it against the cavils and exceptions of those who thought it a part of Piety to make what prophane objections they could against it especially for Popery and Superstition Whereas no doubt the Liturgy was exactly conformed to the Doctrine of the Church of England and this by all reformed Churches is confessed to be most found and orthodox It casts out all false Doctrine and Worship and is of it self sufficient to confute a Papist and other the Enemies of the Protestant Religion It is fitted for all occasions and uses of the Church and comprehends the whole Duty of a Christian both for the credendis contained in the Confessions of Faith the faciendis in the ten Commandments and the petendis in the Lord's Prayer and others framed thereby 3. For the Confirmation of it it stands ratified and enjoined by the Laws Statutes and Sovereign Authority of five most prudent and pious Persons immediately Queen Mary a Papist onely interposing succeeding one the other on the English Throne sealed and confirmed by the bloud of so many Martyrs that suffered in those Marian days shortly after the composure of it and so written in the bloud of those that compiled it 4. For the approbation of it it is commended and allowed by the best Divines of the reformed Churches both at home and abroad Such as Cranmer Tayler Ridley Iewel Calvin Bucer and many others 5. Touching God's acceptance and owning of it the History of ages past and the strange providence of God in relation to the framing preserving blessing and restoring it do so evidently declare this that he seems to be very much darkned in his mind with prejudice that can deny or gainsay it Which grace and favour of Divine assistence having not in one thing or two shewed it self nor for some few days or years appeared but in such sort so long continued our manifold sins and transgressions striving to the contrary what can we less thereupon conclude than that God would at leastwise by tract of time teach the World that the thing which he blesseth defendeth keepeth so strongly cannot chuse but be of him Wherefore if any refuse to believe us disputing for it let him believe God himself thus miraculously working for it What I have said in commendation of this book amounts to no more than what the reverend Divines of the Presbyterian perswasion have been constrained to say of it even then when they were to make all the exceptions they could against it They say We have an high an honourable esteem of those Godly and Learned Bishops and others who were the Compilers of the publick Liturgy and do look on it as an excellent and worthy work 'T is true they add for that time But these words seem to me no way to abate or detract from the acknowledged excellency and worth of it For if it were an excellent and worthy work then what hinders but that it is so now Wherein doth the excellency and worthiness of any form of God's worship at any time consist but in its Conformity to the Scriptures which is the rule and measure of Divine worship at all times It could never be excellent and worthy that was at any time unlawfull and it could have been no otherwise had it been contrary to God's word And they that shall impartially reade the History and seriously consider the profound Learning clear Light admirable Piety incomparable Zeal Purity Patience Loyalty and all other Christian Graces and Virtues which did shine forth in those renowned Fathers and Martyrs the Compilers of that book cannot without blushing arrogate to themselves greaterâ— and higher attainments than they had Are the men of this age the onely Children of the light and were those Worthies one of whom prophetically said to his fellow-sufferer at the stake We shall this day light such a Candle by God's Grace in England as I trust shall never be put out but in the mist of Popish ignorance and superstition in comparison of us now Rather I think they ought to be acknowledged men extraordinarily filled with the Spirit of God Light and understanding and sound wisedom was found in them and in nothing did they come behind the very chiefest Servants of God in this generation We allow and confess them to have been men not onely profound in Learning but sound in the faith Orthodox in judgment yea the great assertours of the Protestant Religion and glorious instruments in the hands of God of causing that light of truth to break out of darkness by which we now walk and which we all profess How is it then that they who spent all their time studies and strength in opposing the Idolatry and Superstition of the Romish Church and loved not their lives unto death but were slain for the word of God and testimony which they hold should be thought to retain any thing of Popish superstition in worship What is this but to condemn the generation of God's Children which cannot be well pleasing to their Father But what if it should be proved that the Liturgy of our Church was for the substance of it in use in the very first and purest times of the Church of Christ before ever Popish Superstition came into the World Then I hope it will be acknowledged to be free from that whereof it is secretly and most ignorantly charged But Godly and Learned Cranmer in Queen Mary's days who knew well what he said and was well able to make his words good offers to enter the lists with any Papist living for it had no other Enemy in those days
potest The thing that a man cannot obtain by himself alone praying together with the multitude he shall obtain and why so for although not his own worthiness yet concord and unity prevaileth much When the whole Church joyned together in their devotions for St. Peter's enlargment Omnipotence exerted it self in a series of Miracles that their Prayers should not be unanswered Tunc est efficacior sanatior devotio quando in operibus pietatis totius ecclesie unus est animus unus est sensus Prayer is then more holy and effectual when in the works of piety there is but one mind and one meaning of the whole Church Besides God hath promised as hath been before shewed to be more comfortably present in our Church-Assemblies than in any other houses or places whatsoever If it had been all one to pray in a private house or in the publick assemblies of the Church St. Paul and the Godly Christians with him would never have put themselves to an hazard of their lives in times of hottest persecution by meeting together in multitudes in a place where there was an House of Prayer or where they were wont to assemble together to pray For it is read both ways The first pleaseth Tremelius best the latter Beza 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 enim orationem oratorium significat The word signifies both Prayer and an House of Prayer The House of Prayer is a Court beautified with the presence of celestial powers there the Almighty doth sit to hear and his Angels intermingle with us as our associates and attend to further our Suits With reference hereunto the Apostle requires so great care to be had of decency in the Church for the Angels sake saith Mr. Hooker Sixthly it begets ill thoughts of his Majesty's most gracious Government as if he were a persecutor and suppressor of true Religion and an enemy to piety and godliness These meetings about in Barnes and private Houses look not as if we lived under a Christian Protestant Prince as if King Charles were upon the throne but as if Nero Dioclesian or Queen Mary were alive again and did rule Conventicles saith Bishop Lake make shew as if you had not freedom of Religion and thereby you derogate from the honour of the King 's most Christian Government and wrong your Pastour casting imputation upon him that he cannot or will not instruct you as he ought And indeed it lays the Axe to the Root and tends to the undermining and destruction of all Government and Governours Do not the Histories of all Ages give in evidence to the evil tendency of these private seditious and unlawfull meetings In the late years of war and confusion those meetings were effectually made use of by all parties as the great Engine to pull down the powers then in being By these means Presbytery did in a great measure prevail to the forceable and irregular throwing down of the legally established Episcopacy So by the same means Independency Anabaptism Fifth-monarchism hath been prevalent over and against Presbytery So that it is a wonder the Governours of our Church and State have not a more watchfull and jealous Eye upon all such illegal Schismatical and seditious conventions It is a sure rule of our Saviour A Kingdom divided cannot stand It was a principle of Machiavel divide impera divide and take all Whatsoever may be divided may be destroyed When a society is broken it may soon be brought to confusion 'T is Satan's way to destroy by dissolving unions Infirma est securitas ab alienis dissidiis nec unquam stabile est regnum vbi inter se discordant ii qui reguntur This practice then that tends so much to dividing tends as much to destroying both Church and State Seventhly Where this liberty is either taken or given there is or may be dissenting from yea contrariety of Doctrine to what is taught in publick And that can no way conduce to edification in faith and holiness but to the greatest confusion that may be The whole Church should be as the whole World was in Noah's time unius labii of one Language the building else will prove to be but a Babel and the Ministry for destruction and not for edification which is so far from being God's Ordinance that it is quite contrary thereunto This made St. Paul so earnestly to importune the Church of Corinth to speak all the same things And truly such is the condition of the Upholders and Masters of these unlawfull Assemblies in these days that there is great danger of their prevarication now and then in Doctrine and of suiting their discourses to their hearers palates I say they are under a very great temptation to gratifie mens vices by indulging their prejudices For as a worthy Prelate of our Church hath well observed Where Ministers depend upon voluntary benevolences if they do but upon some just reproof Gaul the conscience of a guilty hearer or preach some truth which disrelisheth the Palate of a prepossessed auditour he streightway flies out and not onely withdraws his own pay but the contribution of others also So as the free Tongue teacher must either live by air or be forced to change his Pasture Thereupon it is that those Sportulary Preachers are fain to sooth up their many Masters and are so gagged with the fear of starving displeasure that they dare not be free in the reprehension of the daring sins of their uncertain benefactors as being charmed to speak either placentia or nothing This is a truth easie to be apprehended For if even when the Laws enforce men to pay their dues to their Ministers they yet continue so backward in the discharge of them especially if never so little displeased at just reproofs and lawfull endeavours to reform their vicious lives how much less hope can there be that being left to their own free choice they will prove liberal or bountifull in their voluntary Contributions if never so little cross'd upon the like occasion by their new Masters Lastly it opens a door to all Errours and Heresies and is the ready way to bring all Religion to nothing For saith the Apostle when people heap up to themselves teachers to satisfie the itch of their Ears they will turn away their Ears from the truth and shall be turned to fables in a short time Elsewhere the Holy Ghost joins order and stedfastness together Though I be absent in the flesh yet am I present with you in the spirit joying to behold your order and stedfastness of your faith in Christ. It is impossible for men to be stedfast in Religion who keep not God's order How come so many in our days to fall from their stedfastness some to Anabaptism some to Quakerism and some to Atheism but by breaking first that order in Religion that God hath set If Souldiers in an Army keep their order every one abiding in