case the Parliament will please to undertake and settle a thorow and effectuall course that neither the simplicity of the Jury nor of the Judge nor yet the simplicity nor duplicity of any or all the Ministers of the Provinciall or Nationall Assembly shall be any prejudice to the lives or liberties of studious learned and conscientious Ministers or others it may very well be presumed that the Ordinance will have very little to doe in point of execution and that the principall use and service of it will be to put the Parliament upon the trouble of contriving and setling such a course In their 24 Answer p. 25. they bring forth strange children Sect. 82. As first That the fourth Commandement doth in the words of it require onely one day in seven to be kept holy as a Sabbath and doth not expressely command the observation of the Jewish Sabbath c. If so then were the Sabbaths which the Jews observed of their own chusing and how then doth God so frequently call them His Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep Exod. 31. 13. and Nehemiah in his prayer unto God expresseth himself thus And madest known unto them thy Holy Sabbath c. Neh. 9. 14. In which words he doth not onely appropriate the Jewish Sabbath unto God but likwise calls it his holy Sabbath i. a day which he hath sanctified Sect. 83. unto himself and his worship yea and expresly saith that God made it knowne unto them the Jewes i. revealed unto them on which day of the seven he would bee solemnly worshipped by them See also Levit. 19. 3. 30. Esa 56. 4. Ezek. 20 12 13. with other places many God is not wont to appropriate any thing unto himselfe which is of humane election in or any wayes appertaining unto his worship though sometimes he calls many of these things theirs to whom he hath given or appointed them And besides the reason of the Commandement for in six dayes the Lord made Heaven and Earth c. expresly characterizeth that very day as intended by God for a Sabbath unto them which they observed But the assertion is so empty and obnoxious that surely it will fall in the judgements of men without thrusting Secondly This Answer advanceth with this Divinity that within the generall scope of the Commandement which is the observing of those times and those onely as necessary to Religion which God himselfe appoints was included the Jewish Sabbath or Saturday before Christs Resurrection and the Christian Sabbath the Lords day is now since Christs Resurrection included also But First If the Jewish Sabbath was included in the Commandement or in the scope of the Commandement before Christs Resurrection how came it to be excluded after his Resurrection Hath the Resurrection of Christ any such influence upon the morall Law as to cause it to eject or cast out any thing formerly by way of duty contained or included in it Secondly If the scope of the Commandement be the observing of those times and of thâ—se onely c. which God himselfe appoints then how comes the observation of the Christian Sabbath or Lords day to be included therein considering that according to the Doctâ—ine of this Answer this day was no more appointed by God then any of the other six Or were all the six dayes besides as well included in it as this If so why are they not as well observed Thirdly If the Christian Sabbath or Lords day be now since Sect. 83. Christs resurrection included in the scope of the Commandement I would gladly know how or by what Authority or by whose act it hath beene brought within the verge of this scope so as to be included in it If Answer be made that it hath beene brought Sect. 83. in by the Authority or act of God then doth he not in this Commandement onely require one day in seven to be kept holy as a Sabbath but he requireth circumscriptively and particularly which of the seven he will have so kept If it be said that it hath beene brought in by the Church or by men then have men power to take it out againe and to put in any other of the six in the stead of it And how did the Resurrection of Christ contribute any thing towards the bringing of this day withinâ— the scope of the Commandement if it depended upon the will and pleasure of men But into the secret of these mens Divinity in this place my soule as yet cannot finde the way to enter And Thirdly and lastly doe these men substantially prove that the morall Law contained in the ten Commandements is the rule of a Christians life onely by saying that the Christian Sabbath is now included in the generall scope of the fourth Commandement and that the Sacraments of the New Testament Baptisme and the Lords Supper are included within the scope of the second Commandement now First they prove not so much as the least haire of their heads amount unto of either of their assertions and yet neither of them lyeth so neare any known principle either of Reason or Religion that they need have feared the proverbiall reproof of lighting up a candle to see the Sunne in case they had bestowed a slender argument or two upon the clearing of them But secondly if what they affirme in both were granted yet their conclusion is not hereby gained For onely such a Law can properly be called a rule of life to Christians which either particularly or at least sufficiently prescribes and regulates all things necessary to be done by a Christian as a Christian Now the generall scope of the two Commandements specified and much more the Commandements themselves are so farre either from prescribing or regulating either of the duties respectively affirmed to be included in them that without particular direction for the performance both of the one and the other otherwise neither of them had ever beene practised by men notwithstanding the generall scope of the said Commandements yea and Commandements themselves I trust the Anti-Querists themselves do not make any such Law the Rule of their lives which neither teacheth nor directeth them what to doe To the twenty fifth Query desiring to know in what sense the Sect. 84. Sect. 84. Ordinance maketh it an Error to hold that a man by nature hath free will to turne unto God they returne this sleeve-lesse and froward Answer That there are scarce any words but a Caviller may pretend of them that they are to be understood divers wayes But good Gentlemen doth the Querist pretend this of the words in hand doth he not particularly assigne and plainely explicate two distinct senses wherein the said words may be taken humbly craving to knowâ— which of the two was the sense intended by the Ordinance But I confesse that in High Presbytery where Authorativenesse hath her throne to desire a steady and distinct explication of things is constructively to cavill However it had been no such
Gal. 5. 12. I would they were even cut off that trouble you Sect. 61. Matth. 13. 29. But he said nay lest while ye gather up the tares ye pluck up the wheat also Sect. 69. 70. 71. c. Matth. 25. 15. And the Children crying in the Temple Hosanna c. Sect. 102. Psal 8. 2. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained prayse Sect. 103. Deut. 17. 12. And the man that will doe presumptuously and will not hearken to the Priest or Judge even that man shall die Sect. 107. Esa 49. 23. And Kings shall be thy nursing Fathers c. Sect. 109. 110. HAGIO MASTIX OR THE SCOURGE OF THE SAINTS IT was a sad expression of Luther in his dayes when he said wee should finde cause to melt and be dissolved into teares if wee seriously consider what strange errours we have stumbled upon that there is not so much liberty now allowed to any man as to speake the Truth a In lachrymas meritò solveremur si nobiscum perpenderemus in quos errores impegerimus ut nâ—c â—odie liberum sit veritatem dicere Luth. Postill Yet if this were the worst of those times he complaines of he lived in a golden age in comparison of the dayes which are already in part come and attempted by some with an high hand to be brought yet in fuller measure upon the faithfull servants of God in this Land It is a small thing for the Spirit which works in many of the sonnes of high Presbyterie to deny men libertie of speaking the Truth the very inquiring and asking after Truth is made wickednesse and blasphemy impudence audaciousnesse yea little lesse then Atheisme or Devilisme it selfe by the angrie suggestion and clamorous imputation of this Spirit That in saying these things I put this spirit to no other rebuke then what the Truth it selfe and its owne professed noone-day actings and workings doe witnesse against it needs none other Sect. 2. proofe or demonstration but onely the perusall of the fift page of a late Pamphlet entituled A vindication of a printed paper c. against the irreligious and presumptuous exceptions irreligiously and presumptuously so called called Some humble and modest Queries In the said page that importune spirit wee speake of foameth out his owne shame in these words amongst many others of like unchristian inspiration VVho are you sir that have dared in your heart to conceive such A VVICKEDNESSE AND BLASPHEMIE as this Querie contains in the bowells of it And againe I summon all Readers in the name of God and Christ to looke upon them and to stand amazed at your IMPVDENCE that have been so AVDACIOVS as to AFFIRME or insinuate c. The man if yet he be a man hath not yet the one halfe of his mind in railing and revenge upon a Christian and honest action and designe but querieth the Querist further with this modest and humble Querie what are you that speake thus An ATHEIST or a DEVIL If he be an Atheist he is one of that Order who worship the true God in Spirit and Truth If a Devill it is in such a sense wherein his Lord and Master was the Prince of Devills If they have called the Master of the house Beelzebub how much more shall they call them of his houshold a Mat. 10. 25. He that takes pleasure in the Dialect of a railing and reviling pen without any mixture or allay of sense Reason or Religion may satiate himselfe when he pleaseth with the fragments and remainders of the said page with the better or rather worse halfe of that which followeth Who is the Syllogizer or Author of this vindication I am not Sect. 2. in the least desirous to know nor doe I intend ever to bestow two words upon the inquirie I can pray for him though unknowne upon that ground on which our Saviour prayed for those that crucified him if his condition will admit it Father forgive them for they know not what they doe b Luk. 23. 34. Many conceive that the Licencer and Author have but one Name between them of which apprehension though there be more reasons and grounds then one and more especially the many loose assertions that I say not falsifications in the discourse it self yet for my part I determine it not onely this I conceive that whoever is the Author is but a personated though highly pretended Friend to the Parliament but that what he is in love and friendship indeed he is to their enemies Sect. 3. and those that labour to lay the honour as well of their persons as proceedings in the dust And whereas in the very frontispiece of his booke he flourisheth over his designe as if it were at least in the principall branch of it the Assertion and maintaining of the Magistrates Authority both in Civill and Ecclesiasticall matters yet this outside compared with the inside of the booke shewes it to be but like the Apothecaries box which hath Pharmacum in titulo in pixide venenum physick in the title but poyson in the vessell For first he that shall not onely teach and incourage but even necessitate and compell urging by way of duty and conscience being an high compulsion in the kind Caesar not to be content with the things that are Caesars but to lay claime unto and hand upon the things that are Gods and secondly shall in the same sense necessitate and compell the Parliament to such actions which apparently tend to the deep discontenting if not to the utter destroying of those persons in the Land at least the most considerable part of them of whose fidelity unto them even in the face and presence of death they have had proofe upon proofe and proofe upon proofe againe and that above and beyond all contradiction both which are cleerely the materiall if not the formall designe of the said vindication Whosoever I say shall lift up his hand to either of these is without controule no friend to the Civill Magistrate much lesse to the Parliament except that be friendship to sow discord between friends or to perswade men upon specious pretences to destroy their Preservers yea and those who if the clouds should returne after the raine are more likely then any other generation of men that I know this day under Heaven to be their Preservers the second time It is a shrewd signe that they that set men on worke to tread downe the hedge would willingly have the corne troden down also Whereas the Syllogizer undertakes to know for he asserts it Sect. 3. without scruple that the Queries were put forth as to stop if it were possible the Houses proceedings in it he meanes the printed paper so howsoever to blast what they should doe in the pursuance of it and the Parliament also as if the two Houses were one and his Parliament another if they doe or shall doe any thing therein c. doth he not lift up himselfe into
the throne of God and fit and judge the reines and secret intentions of the hearts of men I will notasperse Sect. 3. him with the filth of his owne kennell or aske him whether he be an Atheist or a Devill to write thus but certaine I am that the tenour and straine of this accusation is purely Satanicall being drawne to the life according to that patterne Job 1. 9. Doth Job serve God for nought For as the Devill seeketh here to traduce and imbase that externall course of sanctitie and uprightnesse which Job held by falsly charging it with sinister ends and motives so doth the Syllogizer be he one or be he more or be he Legion in the words tendered most unworthily calumniate and deprave the Christian and candid intentions of him who advanc'd that honest paper of the modest and humble Queries his ends therein being neither to stop whether possible or impossible the Houses proceedings in it nor yet to blast what they should doe in the pursuance of it as this angry Dreamer surmiseth but onely to minister occasion unto the members of both the Honourable Houses religiously to consider how they might proceed and walk with a streight foot in the pursuance of it and keep off at a due distance from the importune and violent counsels and suggestions of Presbyterian Interests which without all peradventure are of the most sad and threatning portendence amongst all our dangers to this State and Kingdome if they be not reduced by the wisdome and courage of both Houses of Parliament Lord make thy servants in both Houses wiser then their enemies Lord make them wiser then their teachers Lord keep them from such Teachers who are their enemies But as for the Querist he in his both intentions and desires in order to the Parliament proceedings for the suppressing of errours and Heresies is so farre from seeking to make a stop of them or to blast whatsoever they shall doe in this kind that his soule longeth as for summer fruit to see the methods of Heaven the wisdome and will of God for so blessed a purpose as the suppression of errours and Heresies is first discovered and then vigorously prosecuted and pursued by the Parliament or whoever otherwise shall be found lawfully interessed therein Yea he is so farre from intending to blast any thing the Parliament shall doe according to the will of God for this end that if any such course as this shall be effectually advanced by them before the terme of his breath be expired he professeth as in the presence of God that he shall rejoyce over it as the characteristicall felicitie of his dayes Sect. 4. Which Christian and cleere Intentions of the Querist in putting Sect. 4. forth the said Queries considered it had been no such supererogating act of Charity in the Syllogizers for being in the way of my Reply tidings are brought unto me that they are certain striplings of the Assembly that have laid their Logick together to advance that summe of Syllogismes with their Answers which must as it seemes serve in stead of a sufficient Answer to the Queries but be they sonnes of this or of what other Interest soever it had been no such supererogating act or worke of Charity as to have drawne the suspicion of Popery upon them in case they had not for a word suppose unproper or lesse considerate arraign'd the Author at the barre of their Tribunall as a man guilty of impudence wickednesse blasphemy Atheisme yea and Devillisme it selfe yea and besides all this have so devoutly solemnly and Apostle-like commanded and charged that he be delivered up unto Satan by his owne Church or Congregation a Pag. 5. and 6. of the Vindication If this be the spirit that rules in the aire of Presbytery it is like to be an element agreeing onely with the constitution of Iim and Ojim of Owles and Satyrs and dolefull creatures and not for Christian sober or peaceable men But the Church or Congregation he speakes of know well I question not that the wrath of man neither worketh nor adviseth the righteousnesse of God and that the zeale of Presbytery hath so farre eaten up the reasons Judgements Consciences of many of her children that they have not so much of any of these left as wherewith to discerne any thing from Blasphemy or what deserveth casting out unto Satan which courteth not the Classique cause It is no hard matter either for them or any other men to see thus farre into the chambers of high Presbyterian secrets by the glasse-window of the Antapologie in the light whereof the children of that way can hardly give over rejoycing to this day the Author hereof requiring of the Churches of Christ as they would vindicate the glory and honour of Christ to call their Pastors to an account and admonish them and bring them to publick Repentance for their publick sinne the emphasis whereof is their anti-presbyterializing or else upon impenitencie and obstinacie to cast them out of their Churches b Antapol p. 307. as if the power of Excommunication and delivering up unto Satan were given by Christ unto his Churches chiefly to take vengeance upon the enemies of High-Presbyterie as Blasphemers and Sect. 5. the grand enemies of the honour and glory of Christ himselfe Though I conceive that my Anti-querie-men ploughed with Mr. Edwards heyfer in drawing that long furrow upon the back of the Querist which hath been complained of and have learnd of him to charge Churches as they regard the honour of God and our Lord Jesus Christ with that super christian duty of delivering up their Pastors unto Satan yet reflecting upon themselves it seemes as men of a more Apostolicall sublime and sacred investiture then he whose merits were never as yet crowned with Assemblian glory they think it not worthy their grandure or Authority to talke or take notice of the little finger I meane of calling to an account and admonishing before Excommunication as the Author of the Antapologie decently enough to the tenuity of his Interest doth but the first word they speake is the weight of the loynes of this Dreadfull sentence it selfe he that shall aske as question which by the interpretation of their jealousie may possibly tend to the disservice of High-Presbyterie deserves ipso facto to be posted away to the Devill and not to have the favour of so much respit from the shame and torment as the time of being called to an account or admonished doth amount unto Reader if thou beest not amazed Heaven and Earth and whatsoever is capable of the impression in either will be astonished at the insufferable height the prodigious insolencies of these men But it may be the occasion of this un-manlike impotencie and Sect. 5. extravagancie of passion will balance it the provocation or offence given was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so hideous and horrid that the nature of man was no more able to beare it then the
20. the Ordinance If they had judged this a damnable heresie contrary to the manifest word of God overthrowing c. What reason can be given why they should be more favourable to it refusing to charge it with death then unto many others upon which the thought meet to lay this heavie sentence conceiving them to be opinions or Doctrines of that deep demerit and dangerous import Will these Anti-Querists charge this Honourable House with injustice or partiality between Doctrine and Doctrine Opinion and Opinion Howsoever Secondly It is evident from the tendernesse of this Honourable Sect. 20. House in not suffering the said Opinion to passe for a damnable heresie c. that if the makers of the Ordinance did certainly know that all the Opinions sentenced therein with death were damnable heresies contrary to the manifest word of God overthrowing c. that they knew more then all the said Honourable House besides Which considered I summon all Readers and persons under Heaven to consider and give sentence whether these sonnes of shame â—nd folly had not much more reason if they durst to have vented that outrage of senselesse choler and most unchristian passion against this Honourable Hoase it selfe then against me which they poure out pag. 5. of their Vindication or Revenge rather in these words First to the Querist Who are you sir that have dared to conceive in your heart such a wickednesse and blasphemy as this Querie containes in the bowells of it Looke againe upon the Opinions which the Ordinance threatneth with death or if you will not I summon all Readers in the Name of God and Christ to looke upon them and to stand amazed at your impudence that have been so audacious as to affirme or insinuate which yet I have not done in the least as hath been sufficiently proved though these sonnes of Levi be so impudent and audacious as to calumniate me with it that all those things OR EVEN ANY OF THEM may for all that the Parliament knowes or any that will not make himselfe infallible be the sacred Truths of God And presently after What are you that speake thus an Atheist or a Devill Behold oh England a mapp of thy misery Thy teachers imagine mischiefe in their heart they sharpen their tongues like a Serpent adders poyson is under their lips a Psal 140. 3. Are such lips meet to preserve knowledge But why doe they charge me and not the Parliament rather with wickednesse Blasphemie Impudence audaciousnesse Sect. 21. Why doe they not aske the respective Members thereof What are you that speake thus are you Atheists or are you Devills Yea why doe they not charge the Assembly as they regard the honour of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ c. to deliver them up unto Satan that they may learne not to blaspheme They are the persons against whom the pretended ground of all these brutish vociferations lieth not I. They are they who if the fore-mentioned intelligence be authenticke and true have affirmed or at least throughly insinuated that all the Doctrines and opinions threatned in the Ordinance with death are not CERTAINLY knowne to them either to be damnable heresies or contrary to the manifest word of God or overthrowing the foundations of Christian Religion They have declared their sense to the contrary and that upon a most weighty and Christian ground For in as much as the Scriptures or manifest word of God doth no where affirme that God is One in three Persons they had the greatest Reason in the world not to sentence the deniall thereof with death If once this dore be opened that the expositions or Interpretations of Scripture or deductions from Scripture made by men shall be made binding upon the Judgements and Consciences of others under civill mulcts and penalties in any kind where or when or in what cases shall it be shut Or who shall be found meet to separate the vile from the precious in this kind I meane to determine what expositions or deductions they are the deniall whereof shall deserve to be punished and againe what or which of either kind they are that may be refused without danger Reader give me leave to trie to cut the combe of these mens Sect. 21. confidence by propounding a Question to them I shall not aske them what they are whether they be Atheists or Devills they may possibly have learn'd by this how to answer these Questions But the Querie I shall put to them is this How or by what means or upon what grounds they themselves CERTAINLY know that this Opinion which is one of those which as hath oft been said the Ordinance threatneth with death viz. that God is not one in three Persons is either a damnable heresie or contrary to the manifest word of God or overthrowing the foundations of Christian Religion Certaine I am that the Scriptures which wee vulgar and unlearned ones call the word of God it may be the Seraphicall Doctors to Sect. 11. whom wee now addresse have some other word of God which we know not of no where affirmes or holds forth this that God is one in three Persons nor doth it any where use the terme or word person in reference unto God If it be replyed and said yea but it plainely affirmeth God to be One in Three and it as plainely ascribeth to every of these Three such things which plainly evince them to be so many Persons I answer First that my memory serves me as ill as the Consciences and reasons of these men served their masters in drawing up their Vindication that is quite faileth me if the Scripture any where plainly affirmeth that God is One in Three This certainly is a phrase or expression which the Scripture knoweth not It is indeed said concerning the Father the VVord and the Holy Ghost that these three are one a 1 Joh. 5. 8. But to say that God is one IN these or any other Three is the voyce of men not of God Therefore these Gentlemen cannot reasonably or with Truth say that they CERTAINLY know the deniall of this to be a damnable Heresie c. by the Scriptures at least not by the Scriptures alone without the mediation and interveening of their owne reasons and understandings to draw it forth by way of inference or deduction Now then if the knowledge which they have of any conclusion suppose it be a Truth depends though but in part upon the actings workings of their own reasons and understandings which are confessedly fallible and very obnoxious to mistakes especially in the things of God unpossible it is that this knowledge should be CERTAINE yea though the grounds or principles from whence they derive it be never so CERTAINE or infallible It is a knowne maxime in Logick that Conclusio sequitur deteriorem partem If either of the Premises be but probable or contingent the conclusion rais'd from them will never be a necessary or CERTAIN Truth I
confesse there is a great difference between deduction and deduction inference and inference in point of cleerenesse and satisfactorinesse to the Judgement and Conscience of a man one may have such a kind of certainty or evidence in it in respect of him that he is able to lay downe his life in attestation of the Truth of it whereas haply he is not willing to sacrifice the least haire of his head upon the service of another yet the greatest evidence or certainty to me in this kind is no sufficient Argument to evince an absolute or universall Sect. 21 CERTAINTY in the thing I meane a certainty in respect of all other men considering that as one saith the same things Eadem possunt aliâ—ni videri man fâ—stè vera quae alteri videntur manifâ—ste falsa may seeme manifestly true to one man which seeme manifestly false unto another nor can any man have any such assurance of another mans judgement or understanding as that they must needs be without errour or mistake in such things wherein himselfe remaines doubtfull Secondly how much lesse can these impatient and importune boasters of their CERTAINE knowledge know certainly that God is One in three Persons the denyall whereof the Ordinance threatneth with death by the Scriptures alone when as these no where assert it So that for ought I certainly know to vindicate the CERTAINTIE of their knowledge in this point they must flee to the Familists and crave quarter with them in their Sanctuary of extraordinary Revelation Thirdly and lastly to this confident I am that if these great Confidentiaries of the certainty of their knowledge being three in number if report mis-counteth not were but dealt with upon this occasion as those base and bloody Elders are reported in the Apocryphall story of Susanna to have been serv'd by Daniel upon another occasion I meane were they presently taken and examined apart each from other what they meane by the word PERSON when they say God is one in three Persons they would agree no better in their Answers then those Elders did in theirs but one would answer that a Person was a Myrtle tree the second a lentish tree the third a tyle tree my meaning is that no one of them would agree with either of his fellowes in his notion or definition of a PERSON And then with what face can these enemies both of nature and Grace require of poore weake simple and illiterate people that they under paine of death believe that God is One in three Persons when as themselves who conceive they ride upon the wings of all knowledge Learning and understanding cannot agree among themselves what a PERSON is or if they doe agree it is ten to one but it is an agreement in errour and disagreement with the Truth Poore English soules Were you ransomed with the precious bloud of Jesus Christ to sell your selves under the hand and power of such hard and cruell Masters as these But Thirdly I would gladly know of these Classique Authors why Sect. 22. Sect. 22. or how this should be a reason to demonstrate that the makers of the Ordinance must needs certainly know that all the Opinions threatned with death in it are damnable heresies viz. because they are contrary to the manifest word of God and overthrowing the very foundations of Christian Religion For first if this be a demonstrative reason to the makers of the Ordinance of the conclusion specified why is it not so to all others and particularly to those who are supposed either for the present to hold or at least to be in a possibility of holding the Opinions threatned with death in the Ordinance God forbid that I should cast the least prejudice or aspersion upon the makers of the Ordinance whose Persons are to me altogether unknowne I am willing to hope the best and to judge charitably of them as viz. that they are men truly fearing God But yet if the strength or stresse of these mens Answer to their Syllogisme lieth in this supposition I shall crave leave I hope without offence to require of them a probate of it Nor for any doubt I have of the thing but because I doe not love to gratifie men in loose disputes But this I confesse is no part of my charity towards them to judge that to be demonstrative unto them which unto others of equall capacity and understanding if not superior is not so much as Topicall or probably concluding Porphyrie Julian the Apostate with many other adversaries of Christian Religion of great abilities and Learning knew that all or most of the Opinions threatned with death in the Ordinance were contrary to the manifest word of God I meane the Scriptures and likewise overthrowing the very foundations of Christian Religion and yet they were so farre from knowing CERTAINLY hereby that they were damnable heresies that they apprehended them not in the least to be so much as errours And in case any roote of this bitternesse shall at any time spring up amongst us if any such person one or more shall arise in this City or elsewhere in the Kingdome teaching or publishing any of those perverse things a possibility at least whereof the Ordinance it selfe supposeth it cannot well be concâ—ied but that they must needs know them to be contrary to what these men I suppose call the manifest word of God and likewise overthrowing the foundations of Christian Religion and yet if we shall suppose them to be CERTAINLY KNOWNE unto them for damnable heresies wee Sect. 23. 24. cannot with any good accord to this supposition suppose they will ever hold or publish them Or Fourthly if wee shall suppose that these men who shall or may Sect â—3 hold or publish any of those Opinions sentenced in the Ordinance may possibly not know them to be contrary to the manifest word of God or overthrowing the foundations of Christian Religion how can this contrariety or destructive nature to Religion in these Opinions be any sufficient proofe or demonstration that the makers of Ordinance must needs CERTAINLY know them to be damnable heresies That which one man living in England is ignorant of there is a possibility at least that another may be ignorant of it also Now then if there be but so much as a possibility that the makers of the Ordinance may not know that the said Opinions are contrary to the manifest word of God or destructive to Christian Religion these ill properties in them can be no sufficient or demonstrative proofe that they doe CERTAINLY KNOW them to be damnable heresies For that which a man may possibly bâ— ignorant of can be no suffient ground to another upon which to conclude any CERTAINTY OF KNOWLEDGE in any point whatsoever in such a man If I suppose for example that Peter may be ignorant whether James be in London or no I cannot conclude that Peter knowes any thing much lesse knowes any thing CERTAINLY by meanes of James
Truth of this Doctrine yea and am ready God assisting to die for it that God is one in three Persons yet I know some who denie it who notwithstanding this denyall I know also in part by my owne experience and acquaintance but more fully by the testimony of others worthy credit in as great a matter as this to be of exemplary life fruitfull in good workes holy heavenly Christian in all their Conversation as farre as men are able to judge or discerne Shall wee say that such men as these hold not the foundations of Christian Religion But it is none of least or lowest of our Classick intrusions to umpire among the Starres I meane the Doctrines of Christian Religion and to determine positively and above all possibility of mistake which are of the first which of the second which of the third magnitude Sect. 28. and with all to call them all by their Names as if they knew them as exactly as he that made them Besides when the Ordinance sentenceth a denying of the Scriptures Sect. 28. to be the word of God with death I desire to know whether by the SCRIPTVRES it meaneth the English Scriptures or that book or rather volume of bookes called the Bible translated as is said and as I believe out of the originall Hebrew and Greek copies into the English tongue Or these Originall or Greek copies themselves or my third thing really differing from either of these I suppose it is no foundation of Christian Religion to believe that the SCRIPTVRES in the first sense are the word of God these Rabbies themselves doe not hold it for an Article of their Faith that God spake to his Prophets or Apostles in English no nor yet that our English Translation doth agree in all things with the true sense and meaning of the Originalls If they doe believe either of these I must thus farre professe my selfe an Anti-sidian to them If by the SCRIPTVRES the Ordinance meaneth the Originall Hebrew and Greek copies out of which the English Bible is said to be translated I desire to know upon what grounds either of Reason or Religion these men or any others can require of men under the paine of death yea under the paine of eternall death a The Vindicaters call the denying of the Scriptures to be the word of God a DAMN BLE heresie to believe such writings to be the word of God the matter or contents wherof they neither know nor are capable of knowing upon any better termes of assurance I meane in an ordinary way of providence then the testimony Common Report or Authority of men For what other or better assurance can plaine and unlearned men and such who are altogether ignorant of the originall Languages and not in any capacity of learning them which is the case of thousand thousands in the Land attaine or come unto that such and such things as the English Translation presenteth unto them are contained in those Originall Copies Yea in case they were expert in the Originall Languages themselves according to what is called expertnesse or skilfulnesse in them at this day what other or what better assurance can they have then the Testimony and Authority of those men from or by whom they have gained this knowledge that this skill or knowledge of theirs is according to the Truth or that those respective significations meanings importances of words and Sect. 29. phrases which they have learned from men are the very same with those which the Pen-men of their Originall Copies intended respectively in their writings It is well knowne amongst Scholars and men but of ordinary reading that words and phrases in other Languages by continuance of time and succession of generations lose their primitive and ancient force and significations and contract such which are very much differing from them Many instances might be given hereof both in the Latine tongue and our owne but I leave this for men the face of whose studies is set towards such observations And put the case there were no such mortality as wee speake of in the significations and importances of words but that they also were yesterday and to day and the same for ever yet the Scholler can have no better assurance then his Masters honesty or word that he is taught by him according to the best of his skill or knowledge except haply it be the concurrent testimony of other Teachers in the same Profession whose words and testimonies are but of the same line of fallibility with his So then the holding the Scriptures to be the word of God in either of these two senses or significations of the word can with no tolerable pretext or colour be called a foundation of Christian Religion unlesse their foundations be made of the credits Learnings and Authorities of men If the Ordinance intendeth any third sense of the word SCRIPTVRES when it threatneth the denyall of them to be the word of God with death these undertakers for the Innocencie of it shall doe well to declare and explain this sense and not to leave it as a Lyon hid in a thicker to break out upon and destroy those that passe by at unawares Thus have wee prov'd at large that the two legs on which Sect. 29. the Anti-Querists Answer to their second Argument stands to be but two sticks covered with rotten or proud flesh and this skin'd over onely with a superficiall or washie colour of Reason and consequently that the said Argument remaineth still in full force strength and vertue and so the Querie from whence it was drawne to be impregnable honest sober and harmelesse as well in the proposall as consideration of it no wayes unbecomming the wisdome gravity or zeale of a sound Christian As for that distinction which they subjoyne concerning a mans being infallible I cannot likely thinke but that they are self-condemned in it Sect. 30. For surely they could not imagine that the Querie speaks of any absolute or universall infallibility or that the Querist doth not partake so farre in common sense with the Anti-Querists themselves as to know that an infallibility in discerning some one thing from another doth not necessarily require an universall or infinite infallibility And thâ—fore to what purpose come they forth with this grave Aphorisme that â—â—â— may certainely know some things and yet not be infallible in all things Had it not been a saying of as much savour if they had said certainly men may be worth an hundred pound in estate though they be not worth a thousand a Sparrow may be as big as a Partrich though it be not as big as a Swan And yet notwithstanding though they build their Answers with such hey stubble as these they must needs glory over the work of their hands with this acclamatiâ—n Thus this second Querie is sufficiently answered c. Surely the word SVFFICIENTLY in these mens Dialect imports the manner of all actings and pleadings for the High-Presbyterian
cause so that whatsoever they shall say or argue in order unto this it receives this modification from betweene the efficient and the end it is SVFFICIENTLY argued and prov'd May they noâ— in a manner as well pretend and say when they have onely cited those first words in Genesis In the beginning God made Heaven and Earth that they have by this Scripture SVFFICIENTLY proved the Jus Divinum of Presbytery as make their boast that they have SVFFICIENTLY answered my second Querie with those impertinent weake reasonlesse truth-lesse allegations as hath been abundantly proved of which this Answer so called is made But as it was in that old saying amongst the Romans between their two Captaines that Odeâ—â—â—uâ— conquered but Gallienus triumphed so is it between the present Syllogisme and the Answer to it The Syllogisme conquers and the Answer triumpheth Oh England my heart is inlarged towards thee and I will open my mouth proportionably unto thee Take heed of the grand Imposture of this word SVFFICIENTLY in the writings and in the teachings of thy Teachers they have learned to call their chaffe wheat and to say of stones that they are bread But in what degree these men were straightned for want of reason Sect. 30. in answering their owne Argument they are inlarged in Sect. 30. passion against my Querie But what were they so super-superlatively incens'd against it because they were able to make no better worke of answering it Or diâ— thâ— spirit of it touch the apple of their eye and so through the extreamâ—ty of the paine their imaginations suffered yea and their Consciences also through a consent and sympathie with the part affected But whatsoever the true cause of the accident is I verily believe that never did there such a flood of prophane and senselesse passion breake out of the spirits of men that were called Christian from the first day of this Denomination in the world to this very houre as these men poure out upon a Querie whose innocencie I say not weight and worth hath been vindicated upon such grounds of evidence and Truth that the light of the Sunne is not more apparent at noone-day then it Were not the Fountaines of the great deep of Corruption within them all broken up when this Deluge of bitter waters issued from them And as Joshua that he and the people with him might be avenged of their enemies spake unto the Sunne and Moone to stand still Sunne stand thou still upon Gibeon and thou Moone in the valley of Ajalon a Josh 10. 12. so did not these men their hearts being set to take revenge upon the Querist when they girded themselves to the worke commanded their reasons and consciensces to stand still and cease from their motions each of them respectively directing themselves to their own and saying Reason stand thou still over passion and thou Conscience in the valley of Indignation untill wee have avenged our selves in fire and brimstone upon our enemies that Arch-Enemy of our most beloved Designes But if in the day of their Answer I meane in the Rationall part of it we found nothing but night and darknesse can wee hope in the night thereof I meane the passionate part of it to find day or so much as the dawnings of reason truth or understanding I had once thoughts of speaking particularly to every straine and passage herein but upon more mature debate with my self about the undertaking I considered that in case I were an Engineere I should doe but childishly to load a Cannon only to batter a mushrome or a bubble which children raise with soape and spittle out of a nut-shell And thus our second Querie that great abomination of Classick soules hath fully recovered her selfe out of those fogges and Sect. 31. mists which partly by the ignorance partly by the ill will of her adversaries were spread round about her and shines in perfect beautie being onely troubled and full of sorrow for this that ever shee should be an occasion to men pretending to Religion of so much rebuke and shame as must needs fall upon those who have opposed her Sect. 31. Their third Argument rejoyceth against their Answer given to it because this also is built upon sandy foundations As 1. that to be called Rabbi is to require men to beleeve that which they teach them meerly because they teach it without any Authoritie from God in his Word This is a most strange and truthlesse saying and excuseth Scribes and Pharisees and who not from ever desiring to be called Rabbi For certainly none of these were ever so simple as to require men to beleeve that which they taught them MEERLY because they taught it without any Authoritie from God in his word There was none of them all but pretended Authoritie from God in his word for what they taught but especially it is the first-borne of incredibilities that they should require men to beleeve what they taught them upon this ground MEERLY because they taught it without any Authoritie from God in his word Can it enter into the heart of a man especially of any man that professeth the service of the true God and beliefe of the Scriptures to thinke honorably of his Teacher MEERLY and simply because he teacheth without any Authoritie from God in his word Certainly if the Scribes and Pharisees had fish'd with this baite especially amongst the Jewes for the acclamations of Rabbi they had caught nothing but contempt and shame in stead thereof Therefore for men to enjoyne or compell men to call them Rabbi is in the sence of the Querie in the Scripture import of the phrase either to enjoyne them especially under any penaltie as of their dis-favour or the dis-favour of God or otherwise to receive or beleeve any Doctrine as the Truth of God because they teach it for such viz. either as a true Interpretation of or deduction from the word of God whether they give any sufficient account that it is either the one or the other unto those on whom they impose upon such terms this tribute of beliefe or else to prohibit them on the like terms the holding and maintaining of such or such Doctrines because they judge them to be contrary to the word of God without giving any sufficient account or reason unto the prohibited Sect. 32. to prove them so Now I querie the Anti-Querists whether the makers of the Ordinance doe not in this sence compell men to call them Rabbi i. Whether they doe not prohibit men under penalties and those most grievous from holding forth such and such Doctrines as being contrary to the word of God without giving any sufficient account or indeed any at all that I say not without being able to give any that is sufficient unto the persons thus prohibited that they are indeed contrary to this word 2. The Answer now under correction is polluted with this uncleane Sect. 32. supposition viz. that the makers of
the Ordinance doe nothing else therein that can be interpreted a desire to be called Rabbi then to charge men that they teach no other Doctrine then what the word of God holds forth and the Prophets and Apostles have taught a Pag. 7. Most unworthy men First there is not one jot or tittle of any such charge as this in the Ordinance 2. There is that in the Ordinance which was even now mentioned which in the strictest and most proper sence of the phrase is to compell men to call them Rabbi and this of no affinitie at all with the tenour or substance of such a charge And whereas it further addeth that if any Church-Censures be to be used for any matter of Doctrine this will be as much to force men to call them Rabbi as the Civill Magistrates making this Ordinance forces any to call them Rabbi I answer this assertion or comparison is true onely with this explication viz. when any Church-Censure shall be used for any matter of Doctrine without any sufficient account given by this Church of the erroneousnesse of this Doctrine unto the person or persons against whom the censure shall passe In this case Church-Censures for matters of Doctrine and the Ordinancecensures are much of one and the same consideration 3. As this Answer saith that for the proofe of the minor it is nothing else but a reiteration in other language of the former blasphemies against the Doctrine of God and Christ belched out in the former Querie and needs no other answer then that so say I of this assertion it is nothing else but a reiteration in fewer words of those truth-lesse reason-lesse sap-lesse sence-lesse imputations belched out against that Querie and needs no other Answer then what hath been already at large given to it But 4. And lastly This Answer is a most notorious Delinquent Sect. 33. against the truth in asserting that those that have any sence of Religion Sect. 40. know whether the Magistrate should recommend them or not those Doctrines viz. which are any wayes sentenced in the Ordinance for the Querie on which this Argument pretends to be built queries concerning all the Doctrines specified in the Ordinance to be the sacred Truths of God as being the KNOWNE PRINCIPLES OF CHRISTIANITIE and clearly to be proved out of the word of God Certainly there have bin and are thousand thousands in the world who have had as rich and deep a sence of Religion as our Anti-Querie-masters themselves who never esteemed either the Government of the Church by Presbyterie or the lawfulnesse of Baptizing Infants or the being of the Churches of England true Churches with many Doctrines more punishable by the Ordinance to be any of the known principles of Christianitie Nay did there any untill now even among those whose judgements stood for Church-Government by Presbyterie or that held the Churches of England to be true Churches ever assert these for the knowne Principles of Christianitie That N. B. ought to be Parson or Pastor of the Parish-Church of D or that M. N. ought to stand in the same relation to the Parish-Church of another D. are not these also the knowne Principles of Christianitie O Church or Churches of England be ye true or be ye false as you love the things of your peace look out better Oracles then such Teachers as these to consult with about the Principles of your Christianitie In their fourth Argument as likewise in their Answer to it they Sect. 34. take no notice at all of what the Querie honestly desired to remind them viz. of any dying themselves for the maintenance and defence of their Religion but onely of putting others to death for thâ—se ends I hope they do not intimate hereby that their lives are dearer to them then their Religion though other mens lives be not Well but how doe they prove that it is Christian to maintaine Religion by putting others to death though they know not it seemes what to say of maintaining it by dying themselves Their proof is that staple commoditie in the Classiqâ—e Trade viz. the Law of God in the old Testament which commanded false Prophets and Blasphemers and those that seduce to Idolatrie to be put to death But if I should goe about to prove that the man Moses is now alive by this argument viz. because he was alive under the old Testament should I not spread a table of mirth for these men Or if I should goe about to prove that such or such an habit is of the French fashion because it is of Sect. 34. the Spanish would they approve my Logique If they did I should scarce approve of their approbation And is there any better sinew in their reasoning wherein they prove a thing to be Christian because it is Jewish Yea but they were aware of this exception and way-layed it thus This Law of God given under the old Testament for putting false Prophets Blasphemers and seducers to Idolatrie to death is still in force even for the maintenance of Religion But how doe they prove this thus because the reason which God gives of such a Law is this that all the people may heare and feare and doe no more so wickedly Deut. 13. 11. The ground upon which this reason stands and must be made Orthodox if there be any such thing in it is this that whilst the reason of any Commandement or Law takes place or is in force the Law or Commandement it selfe grounded upon that reason must take place and be in force also But of how ill a compliance such a reason or assertion as this is with the Truth will sufficiently appeare by these parallels Abraham received the signe of Circumcision a seale of the righteousnesse of Faith a Rom. 4. 11. i. in the nature of a seale or that it might be a seale unto him and his posteritie of the righteousnesse of Faith But this end of Circumcision the sealing of the righteousnesse of Faith still takes place i. it is still necessary that the righteousnesse of Faith be sealed unto men Therefore Circumcision or the Law commanding Circumcision is still in force Take another God commanded the children of Israel under the old Testament to make them fringes in the border of their garments thoroughout their generations there is no such clause as this in the Law for putting blasphemers or Idolaters to death for the perpetuation of it and that they put upon the fringe of the borders a ribband of blue And that it should be unto them for a fringe that they might look upon it and remember all the Commandements of the Lord and doe them and that they seek not after their own heart and their own eyes b Num. 15. 38 39. But the end of these fringes and of the looking of them viz. the remembring of all the Commandements of the Lord and the doing of them and the not seeking after our own heart or eyes takes place and is still
of God to thee for thy good But if thou shalt DOE THAT WHICH IS EVILL be afraid for hee beareth not the sword in vain By doing that which is evill in this passage cannot be meant the spreading of Errors or Heresies because they had not Sect. 50. so much reason of being afraid of the Magistrate here spoken of for spreading of these as for publishing or preaching the most Orthodox Truths of Christianity They might without any danger at all from the Magistrate here spoken of have published and taught that the Idols which the Romans worshipped were true Gods that the worship of Christians that Jesus Christ was a deceiver and not the Son of God with twenty such abominable errors and blasphemies more They had ten times more cause to bee afraid of the powers that now were for publishing the most Orthodox Truths as that there is but one God that the Gods of the Romans were either dumb Idols or speaking Devils that Jesus Christ is the naturall Son of God and onely Saviour of the world c. Therefore by that evill upon the doing of which they had cause to be afraid of the Roman powers or Magistracy the Apostle onely meanes such wicked acts or practices which they were apt to punish and take vengeance on as apprehending them prejudiciall or destructive to the peace safety or wellfare of their state and not any publishing or spreading of errors or heresies of the evill whereof they were wholly uncapable Fifthly That doing of evill against which the Magistrate here Sect. 50. spoken of is the Minister of God to execute wrath is opposed unto that subjection to the higher powers injoyned in the first verse and of the same consideration with the resisting of these powers so sharply reproved and threatned ver 2. From whence it clearly appeares that by it is onely meant the doing of such evill which was prohibited by the Roman Laws and Edicts * Quod bonum est facito hoc est legibus obtemperato Contrarium est si seceris malum id est legibus fueris inobediens aâ—t refractariâ—s Par. ad Rom. 13. 4. For no man can be said either to refuse subjection unto or to resist the powers under which he lives who lives in an orderly subjection and obedience unto all their Laws Now certain it is that neither the Roman Emperour or Senate in these dayes had enacted any law against the publishing of Errors or Heresies in Christian Religion Therefore the publishing of these could be no branch or part of that evill by the doing whereof the Roman powers should have been resisted in their Laws Sixtly and lastly That doing of evill against which the Magistrate is said to be the Minister of God to execute wrath ver 4. is directly opposed to that doing of good spoken of v. 3. unto which Sect. 51. there is a promise made of receiving praise from the Magistrate * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 maâ—â—â— oppouitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bono morali de quo ver 3. Idem Ibid. Doe that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the samâ— Now certainly that doing of good for which the Apostle undertakes that they shall have praise from the Roman Magistrate was not the preaching or publishing of the great and orthodox truths of Christian Religion of the goodnesse of which service they were wholy insensible yea rather enemies unto it as hath been said therefore by that doing of evill which is opposite hereunto cannot be meant the spreading of Errors and Heresies but onely the perpetration of such morall impieties of the evill whereof to their state and well-fare they were fully sensible Thus we have sufficiently and by the clearest evidence of the Scriptures themselves vindicated the Scripture-passage in hand from that hand of violence which goeth about to force it upon a bloudy service yea and to draw the Magistrate by it into a dangerous ingagement far above his abilities and strength onely to promote the secular designes of Ecclesiasticall men O England England make much of thy Scriptures but take heed of the glosses of thy Teachers And when they shall say unto thee Lo here is our Presbytery and lo it is there beleeve them not for they shall shew great signes and wonders of zeale for Reformation and building as they call it the house of God and shall deceive many Neither of those two piâ—lars neither the ancient law of God for putting false Prophets Idolaters and Blasphemers to death nor the Magistrates being the Minister of God to execute wrath upon him that doth evill were ever hewne by God to support that fabricke of Church-Government which these men labor in the very fire to build upon them And yet these are their Gods and these being taken from them they may lament with Micah and say what have we more * Jud. 18. 24. In their Answer to their ninth Argument they sit down quiâ—â— Sect. 51. besides the cushion The major in this syllogisme is this They who inflict death upon men for maintaining a doctrine contrary to their interprecation of Scripture had need be as infallible at least as touching the sense of that Scripture as God himselfe or else they do what is not lawfull for them to do Their answer is This major is falsâ— because it is blasphemâ—â—â— It is blasphemoâ—â— to assert â—r suppose that any man in any thing which he knowes never so certainly is as infallible as Sect. 51. God himselfe This Answer of these men is truly propheticall and if the people of England were but capable of the spirit that breaths in it they might cleerly foresee what they meane to doe with an Ordinance of Parliament to punish Errour Heresie and Blasphemy if they could procure it together with the managing and interpretation of it to be put in their hands whereof their hopes are pregnant if ever such an Ordinance shall be established viz. to accuse molest crush whom they please by making Errour Heresie Blasphemy of what saying or expressions of theirs they please though never so innocent and sound in the genuine and true import of them if there be but a word that is capable of wresting or abuse from their hand Was such an assertion especially such a supposition as this that a man in something which he knowes may be aâ— infallible aâ— God himselfe ever voted Blasphemy untill now nay was there ever any supposition or bare intimation whatsoever called Blasphemy untill now at least any such supposition or intimation which is onely collected from the words of another and not acknowledged or owned as a lawfull inference by the speaker himselfe But suppose the Syllogisme had not supposed but in terminis asserted that a man may in some particular of his knowledge â—e aâ— infallible as God himselfe by what law either of reason or Religion will this be evicted of Blasphemy Certain I am that there is no communication of any of the incommunicable
pluck up the wheat with it if they can be content to have a sober sense put upon their words a better I beleeve then their owne I willingly subscribe unto this also For they who by plucking up that which they call tares and perhaps is so in one part of the field shall or probably may occasion or provoke others to pluck up that which they also call tares and perhaps is not so but good wheat in another may very properly be said by the same act to be in danger of plucking up the wheat also with it And there is little question indeed to be made but that this was our Saviours expresse meaning in those words lest while you gather up the tares you pluck up also the wheat with them * Mat. 13. 29. i. e lest by your example in gathering out the tares in your part of the field or where you have to doe you occasion or excite others to pluck up the wheat in that part of the field where they have to doe which latter thing if it should be done may justly be imputed to that act of yours in gathering or plucking up the tares Our Saviour in this Parable expresseth himself to be so exceedingly tender of the lives and liberties of his Saints and faithfull ones signified by the Wheat that he prohibits the doing of such an act which otherwise even his servants themselves would judge most necessary to be done chiefly because he knew and foresaw that the doing of it would endanger these I mean the lives and liberties of many of his Saints He declareth himself willing and desirous that rather some unworthy men should be spared then that their suffering should occasion the causelesse sufferings of his Saints But Secondly When they say on That the tares cannot be meant in Sect. 70. that parable ONELY of Heretiques or false Teachers doe they not forget themselves exceedingly and give away the cause of high-Presbytery at once He that shall say that Abraham did not ONELY beget Isaac doth he not suppose and grant that Abraham howsoever did beget Isaac So he that shall say that Christ did not ONELY call Peter and Andrew to be Apostles doth he not cleerly imply that yet he called these as well as others to that dignity In like manner when our Counter-Querists say that the tares in the parable cannot be meant ONELY of Heretiques and false Teachers they plainly and fairely grant that yet they are meant of these as well as of any other sort of wicked men Sect. 71. If so then must not the Servants of Christ whether Magistrates or Ministers gather them out from amongst the wheat by death but suffer them to grow together in the field i. e. in the world untill the great harvest in the end of the world that is they are to leave them as for matter of corporall punishment to the proceeding of God himself against them at the great day Therefore Thirdly whereas they attempt to prove their said assertion by saying that by our Saviours own Interpretation they are ALL those that in the field where the good seed is sown are the children of the wicked one i. e. all those who being ungodly in heart doe manifest their ungodlinesse to the view of others they doe notoriously falsifie our Saviours Interpretation and substitute that in the stead of it which is not onely contrary to his meaning and word but unto reason it self yea and to the cleer sense and minde of the Scriptures elsewhere For First Our Saviour doth not say that the tares are ALL the Sect 71. children of the wicked one but indefinitely thus The tares are the children of the wicked one * Mat. 13. 38. Now indefinite propositions are not alwaies equipollent unto universals but are to be construed sometimes as particulars sometimes as universalls according to the nature of them together with direction of other circumstances and assertions of the same Authors in which they are found Secondly That our Saviour by the tares doth not mean universally ALL the children of the wicked one is evident because he onely speaks of such tares which were sown amongst the wheat i. e. the children of the Kingdome or of the Gospell and sprang up together with it * Ver. 25. 26. Now there were and are at this day ungodly ones and children of the wicked one in such parts or places of the field where no wheat was ever sown I mean in such parts of the world where the word of the Kingdom the Gospel was never preached Thirdly the tares of which the Parable speaketh are said to have been sown by the envious man some time after the wheat was sown Therefore they cannot be meant of ALL the children of the wicked one or of ALL that are manifestly ungodly because there were great numbers of these in the field the world even at the time when the wheat was sowne and the world first planted with the Children of the Kingdome yea and long before Sect. 72 Fourthly If by the tares should be meant ALL wicked and manifestly ungodly ones then ought not theeves murtherers nor the most desperate kinde of malefactors under Heaven be cut off from the world by the sword of the civill Magistrate but be let alone in their respective wayes and practises of mischiefe untill the judgement of the great day For our Saviour expresly orders and enjoyns that the tares of which he speakes in the parable be suffered to grow together with the wheat untill the harvest * Matth. 13. 30 If our Anti-Querists whoever they be thus charge the master of the house with the crime of Anti-Magistraticallisme it is no great matter if they charge those of his houshold with it much more Fiftly such wicked and ungodly ones and such onely are meant Sect. 72. by the tares in our Saviours parable the taking away of whose lives is like to endanger the lives of his Saints the children of the Kingdome and that more generally But he said nay lest whilst yee gather up the tares yee pluck up also the wheat with them * Ver. 29. Now the cutting of many manifestly ungodly and wicked ones by the sword of the Magistrate as viz. Murtherers Theeves Traytors c. doth no wayes endanger either the lives or liberties of the Saints but rather is a preservative and security and honour unto them The reason is because these the Saints are generally kept by the power of God thorough Faith as unto salvation so from the perpetration and breaking out into such horrid and vile practises as these Therefore when the actors of such impieties as these are punished by the Magistrate the innocency and unblameablenesse of their wayes are set of with the greater lustre and commendation So that Sixtly and lastly by the tares in the parable according to our Saviours interpretation is meant onely that veyne or sort of evill doers who serve the Kingdome of Sathan by sowing false Doctrines
not look upon the publishing of the principles of the Congregationall Government and so of that which they call Ana-Baptisme whether by way of Doctrine or of practise as the publishing of Doctrines hurtfull to the peace of the Church and State Secondly Whether they doe not judge the number of those persons amongst us who publish such Doctrines as these either by word or practise to be a very considerable number Thirdly Whether they doe not judge farre the greatest part of these men to be truely conscientious If they shall answer affirmatively as I know their consciences will whatsoever themselves will doe to all these Questions I will as to this point crave but another Answer to this brief Question whether the Ordinance in debate be not bent against the faces of all these men Themselves grant in terminis that it is bent against such who in their sense for so they must needs be understood shall publish Doctrines that are hurtfull to the peace of the Church and State yea they grant by way of a cleer supposition that there are of Sect. 78 these who are conscientious if they should not their own consciences would not beare it at their hands onely they deny that the Ordinance is bent against these men AS they are conscientious Did ever the Dragon or the Beast I mean Rome either Pagan or Anti-Christian bend their bloody Edicts or persecutions against the Saints the most conscientious men amongst them AS they were conscientious or in any other respect or consideration whatsoever then AS in their sense instruments of evill The most ungodly persecuting wretch that ever breathed under these Heavens did never persecute or speak evill of a Saint AS a godly or conscientious man If themselves were severely punished and their livings and estates taken from them AS false accusers of their brethren would it be any ease or gratification to them that they were favoured and not proceeded against AS Presbyterians or conscientious men But if such distinctions as these be their bottome grounds and reasons to prove either majors or minors false and to make out-cryes against them as being nothing else but the impudency of the Querist c. who can refraine lamentations and teares over the soules of those whose dependance is for the great things of life and immortality on such men Whereas they charge the Querist as a man with whom any Heretique or Blasphemer may passe for a conscientious man I passe by it as judging that no man will think it worth the taking up Whereas they ingage themselves with so much diligence to Sect. 78. prove that Laws must be bent against Instruments of evill notwithstanding any conscience they pretend to have take knowledge Reader that it is but a stale device to delude simple and inconsidering men usually practised by those who being not able to grapple with an Adversary in the point in question between them hunt counter and follow with great eagernesse and opennesse of mouth a false sent laying on proofe upon proofe reason upon reason to prove something which it may be hath some affinity at least in a sound of words with the Question in hand but was never denied nor intended to be denied by their opposer nor indeed is any matter of controversie between any that by this meanes they may cover their weaknesse and insufficiency to deale with their Adversary from weak and injudicious men and seem to carry the day before them with a strong hand The Counter-Querists Sect. 79 have taken this Sanctuary once againe and the third time also in this their Vindication and they doe it palpably in this place For did the Querist ever deny or intimate the least inclination in him towards a deniall but that Lawes ought to bee bent against instruments of evill notwithstanding any conscience they pretend to have Therfore the labour which they bestow in the proofe of this they should have done well to have converted some other way and particularly in seeking out a rock to build their High-Presbytery upon which all this while stands upon sandy and loose foundations That which they yet adde in the close of this Answer concerning Geneva having Laws against Heretiques c. neither reacheth the demand of the Querie nor yet the import of their owne Argument pretending legitimacy of descent from it It is one thing for a State to have Laws against Heretiques another by Laws or Ordinances to strike at great and very considerable numbers of the best and most conscientious men amongst them If those Laws against Heretiques and false Teachers in the State of Geneva of which they speak were compared with the Ordinance whereof we both speak I beleeve they would be so farre from justifying it that it would rather justifie them by being more unrighteous and unreasonable then they In their twentieth Answer they sing over their old note affirming that the Ordinance is of no such bloody consequence to truely Sect. 79. pious and conscientious â—en as any thing which the Bishops did attempt against the godly whom they hated as they presume they have shewed But where or to whom or by what light they have shewed it I am yet to Query Whereas they adde in the close of this Answer that the Bishops were cast out for their lukewarmnesse doe they mean for their lukewarmnesse in attempting the sorrows troubles molestations of conscientious and pious men or in procuring Ordinances and Laws for the support and strengthening of their Kingdome Doubtlesse their zeale in this kinde was very great though Alexander may conquer beyond the line of Philips Victories And I beleeve that it was more their zeale in this kinde then any lukewarmnesse that was the cause of their casting out and to joyn with our Antagonists in their Admonition let others take heed of the like Sect. 80. We shall lightly passe by their 21 Answer as containing little Sect. 80. in it but this bare assertion That the Ordinance in the words or intent of it gives unto wicked men no advantage or opportunity to accuse the best Ministers of such things which may touch their lives or bring much trouble unto them but ONELY gives advantage to the best men to be rid of the worst Ministers With what conscience they speak thus I referre to themselves and their own consciences With what truth I referre to all unpartiall considering men to judge Are the Ministers who walk in the Congregationall way the worst of Ministers For my part I heartily and as in the presence of the all-knowing God wish they were and that all those who are of a contrary judgement to them had the spirit of their Grace knowledge and goodnesse in every kinde doubled and trebled upon them In their 22 and 23 Answer p. 24. they tell us in effect Sect. 81. What the wisedome of the Parliament can and what their justice and care will no doubt doe for the undoing of all the Ordinance intends to doe For in
Parish Churches I confesse that could I have presomed so far of the Ordinance that it had taken no knowledge of any Congregations but such well might this Querie have kept company with things that are not Nor is their 36 Argument framed to the Querie However in Sect. 102. their Answer they dissemble it and smite the Querist with their Censorian mace for saying that doubtlesse it is not lawfull to teach Children or whosoever to pray unlesse we can reasonably judge them capable of our Instruction in this kinde I thought such a saying as this had been innocent enough to escape the Inquisitors office But so officious â—t seems they are that they must have a saying to â—â— and their saying is this Although this Querist is so conâ—â—dent as to say Doubtlesse it is not lawfull by the way Doubtlesse doth not alwayes import confidence but sometimes rather an allay thereof yet he not onely therein contradicts the generall practise â—â—th of our Divines and Christians who began to teach children to pray as soone as they begin to speake or understand but opposes Christ himselfe who justified the childrens crying Hosanna to the son of David when it cannot reasonably be thought they understood so much of him as to have learned how to pray c. Reader canst thou thinke that these men understand the nature of a Contradiction I feare they are better at the practice then the Theorie of Contradictions But if thou hast ploughed with these Gentlemens Heyfeâ— I pray thee help me to finde out their riddle The Lord Christ saith speaking of those that cried Hosanna to him I tell you that if these should hold their peace the stâ—nes would â—rie * Luke 19. 40. Now suppose the persons of whom our Saviour speakes had been defective in the service and so the stones had supplyed this defect and cried as he saith they would have done as they did can it not reasonably bâ— thought that our Saviour would have justified these stones in such a seuse and upon such terms as now â—e justified the other And in case he had done this justified the stones in crying Hosanna can it reasonably be thought that this fact of his would have justified those that should have gone about to teach stones to pray or have contradicted the assertion of those who should notwithstanding affiâ—m it to be unlawfull to go about such a worke as to teach stones to pray But Secondly I wonder upon what ground or ingagement of their reasons they should say that it cannot reasonably be thought that they understood so much of him as to have learned how to pray Those that are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Mat. 21 15. the place cited by them which in this place is commonly translated children else where servants are Luk. 19. 37 39. called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disciples which doubtles argueth more then a probability that they understood or at least were capable of understanding so much of Christ as to have learned in some measure at least how to pray Besides the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though sometimes it signifieth â— young child yet more frequently it signifieth a child of some growth and 〈…〉 ature capable of instruction c. sometimes as was said a young man or servant the diminutive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being more frequently used to signifie a little or young child So that there is very little in the word children to countenance these men in their assertion Thirdly Nor doth that testimony cited from David Psal 8. 1. Sect. 103. Out of the mouths of Babes and Sucklings hast thou ordained praise by which they say that Christ justified the Childrens crying Hosanna any wayes attest their notion For first certainly those that were able to cry Hosanna were neither Babes nor Sucklings in the literall and strict signification of the words Secondly neither by this testimony did Christ intend so much to justifie the act of the children as the wisedome and power of God in the dispensation As when Babes and Sucklings shew forth the praise of God in Davids sense this act of theirs such as it is doth no wayes commend or justifie them but onely the gracious providence of * Ipsi quidem muti sunt sed mirabilis Dei providentia qua tâ— ipsis reluet instar est sonorae et magniloquae facuâ—…iae God about them They saith Calvin upon the place as cited by Matthew speaking of these Babes and Sucklings are mute and dumbe but the wonderfull Providence of God which shines forth in them is instead of a sounding and stately eloquence Thirdly The place in the Psalme is more generally understood in a metaphoricall sense by expositors and doubtlesse was no otherwise cited or applyed by our Saviour here viz. then as a Scripture holding forth and attesting this providentiall method course and practise of God to make the meanest and weakest of his creatures bountifull contributors unto his praise and glory Fourthly and lastly for this in case God should desire extraordinary praise and glory from children not yet capable of Instruction or learning how to pray the officiousnesse of men in attempting to teach them how to pray would rather be injurious unto then any wayes comporting with this his desire For whatsoever he in this case shall worke in an extraordinary way for his praise or glory in or upon or for such children the effect and fruite hereof will in all likelyhood be attributed atleast in part to the seemingly-pious endeavours of those who taught them to pray though to no purpose at least with no effect Fourthly and lastly Whereas they avouch it the generall practise both of our Divines and Christians that they began to teach children to pray as soone as they begin to speake or understand if instead of the disjâ—nctive or they had put the conjunctive and I should rather have beleeved them If they know some either Divines or Christians though the opposition or distinction is not very lovely who teach their children to pray as soone as they begin to speak whether they understand or no I know others that judge such a practise little lesse then the taking of the Name of God in vain and in that respect forbâ—â—re it So that howsoever the practise is not so generall as these men seem to import And to me it seems still unreasonable nor do I know how to helpe it but by a surrender of my judgement into the hands of unlawfull Lords that men should bestow their time and labour in teaching or instructing such subjects in any knowledge skill or facultie whatsoever which they cannot reasonably judge to be capable of their Instructions In their 37 Answer they suppose two great Suppositions Sect. 104. which I beleeve that seven yâ—ers study of all the Divines in the world will hardly make good As first that themselves and men of their party are iâ—gaged in the Truth in all things or all opinions whatsoever mentioned in the