institution therefore in that which is so only by call not to any end of joynt worship as such of any union that which consists in the profession of the saving truths of the Gospell and so there may be a schisme in the Catholick Church and so those Presbyterians that reforme their Congregations and do not administer the sacraments to all promiscuously shall be guilty of Schime and indeed as to me what else he pleaseth for my inquiry concernes only the precise limited nature of Schisme in its evangelically ecclesiasticall sense Neither shall I at present alloting very few houres to the dispatch of this businesse which yet I judge more then it deserves consider the scattered ensuing passages about Ordination Church Government number of Elders and the like which all men know not at all to belong unto the maine controversy which was by me undertaken and that they were against all lawes of disputation plucked violently into this contest by our Reverend Author One thing I cannot passe by and it will upon the matter put a close to what I shall at present offer to this Treatise having said that Christ hath given no direction for the performance of any duty of worship of soveraigne institution but only in them and by them meaning particular Churches he answers that if I would imply that a Minister in or of a Particular Church may performe those ordinances without those congregations he contradicts himselfe for saying a particular Church is the seate of all ordinances but why so I pray may not a particular Church be the seat of all ordinances subjectively and yet others be the object of them or of some of them but saith he if he meane those ordinances of worship are to be performed only by a minister of a particular congregation what shall become of the people I suppose they shall be instructed and built up according to the mind of Christ and what would people desire more But whereas he had before said that I denyed a Minister to be a Minister to more then his own Church and I had asked him who told him so adding that explication of my judgment that for so much as men are appointed the objects of the dispensation of the word I grant a Minister in the dispensation of it to act ministerially towards not only the members of the Catholick Church but the visible members of the world also in contradistinction thereunto he now tells me a story of passages between the learned Dr Wallis and my selfe about his question in the Vespers 1654. namely that as to that question An potestas ministri Evangelici ad unius tantum ecclesiae particularis membra extendatur I said that Dr Wallis had brought me a challenge and that If I did dispute on that question I must dispute ex animo although I grant that a Minister as a Minister may preach the word to more then those of his owne congregation yet knowing the sense wherein the learned Dr VVallis maintained that question it is not impossible but I might say if I did dispute I must do it ex animo for his bringing me a challenge I do not know that either he did so or that I put that interpretation on what he did but I shall crave leave to say that if the learned Dr VVallis do find any ground or occasion to bring a challenge unto me to debate any point of difference between us I shall not wave answering his desire although he should bring Mr Cawdry for his second for the present I shall only say that as it is no commendation to the moderation or ingenuity of any one whatever thus to publish to the world private hearesaies and what he hath been told of private conferences so if I would insist on the same course to make publication of what I have been told hath been the private discourse of some men it is not unlikely that I should occasion their shame and trouble yet in this course of proceeding a progres is made in the ensuing words and Mr Stubbes who is now called my Amanuensis who some five yeares ago transcribed about a sheete of paper for me and not one line before or since is said to be employed or at least encouraged by me to write against the learned Dr Wallis his Thesis being published this is as true as much of that that went before and as somewhat of that that followes after and whereas it is added that I said what he had written on that subject was a scurrilous rididulous piece it is of the same nature with the rest of the like reports I knew that Mr Stubbes was writing on that subject but not untill he had proceeded farre in it I neither imployed him nor encouraged him in it any otherwise then the consideration of his papers after he had written them may be so interpreted and the reason why I was not willing he should proceed next to my desire of continuance of peace in this place was his using such expressions of me and somethings of mine in sundry places of his discourse as I could not modestly allow to be divulged the following words to the same purpose with them before mentioned I remember not nor did ever think to be engaged in the consideration of such transgressions of the common rules of humane society as those now passed through Reports heresayes talkes private discourse between friends allegations countenanced by none of these nor any thing else are the weapons wherewith I am assaulted I have heard I am told if reports be true t was vox populi at Oxford is it not so I presume he will not deny it are the ornaments of this discourse strange that men of experience and gravity should be carried by the power of these temptations not only to the forgetfulnesse of the royall law of Christ and all Gospell rule of deportment towards his professed Disciples but also be ingaged into wayes and practises contrary to the dictates of the law of nature and such as sundry heathens would have abhorred For my owne part had not God by his providence placed me in that station wherein others also that feare him are concern'd in me I should not once turne aside to looke upon such heapes as that which I have now passed over my judgment in most heads and articles of Christian Religion is long since published to the world and I continue through the grace and patience of God preaching in publick answerably to the principles I doe professe and if any man shall oppose what I have delivered or shall so deliver in print or in the pulpit or in divinity lectures as my judgment I shall consider his opposition and doe therein as God shall guide with evill surmises charges upon hearesayes and reports attended with perpetuall excursions from the Argument in hand I shall no more contend Some few observations on scattered passages will now speedily issue this discourse Pag. 112. To that Assertion of mine that if Rome be no
neglect of them And for that other whom he mentions who before this gave so farre place to indignation as to insinuate some such thing I doubt not but by this time he hath beene convinced of his mistake therein being a Person of another manner of ability and worth then some others with whom I have to doe and the truth is my manner of dealing with him in my last reply which I have since my selfe not so well approved of requires the passing by such returnes But you will say then why doe I preface this discourse with that Expression with thankes for the civility of the enquiry in the manner of it's expression I say this will discover the iniquity of this Authour's procedure in this particular His enquiry was whether I did not in my Conscience think that there were no true Churches in England untill the Brownists our Fathers the Anabaptists our elder brothers and our selves arose and gathered new Churches without once taking notice or mentioning his titles that he sayes he gave me I used the words in a sense obvious to every man's first consideration as a reproofe of the expressions mentioned that which was the true cause of my words our Authour hides in an c that which was not by me once taken notice of is by him expressed to serve an end of drawing forth an evill surmize and suspition that hath not the least colour to give it countenance Passing by all indifferent Readers I referre the honesty of this dealing with me to the judgment of his owne conscience setting downe what I neither expressed nor tooke notice of nor had any singular occasion in that place so to doe the words being often used by him hiding and concealing what I did take notice of and expresse and which to every man's view was the occasion of that passage that conclusion or unworthy insinuation is made which a Good man ought to have abhorred Sundry other particulars there are partly false and calumniating partly impertinent partly consisting in mistakes that I thought at the first view to have made mention of but on severall accounts I am rather willing here to put an end to the Readers trouble and my owne The Preface THE Servants of the Lord saith Paul must not strive but be Gentile towards all men 2 Tim. 2. 24. how much more towards their Brethren But what if a Brother should become an Adversary whether Adversarius litis or Personae and speak hard words yea and write a Booke against his fellow Servants Job telleth us though he could yet he would not speak as they doe Job 16. 4 5. And for the book against him He would take it and bind it upon his shoulder And yet I doe not think he meant to cast it behind his Backe but that he would bearé it as a light loade and in case of his Innocency He would we are it as his Crowne And for that end would declare unto Him the Number of his steps Job 31. 35 36 37 Yea though such a Booke might seeme to Impartiall and Judicious mindes written with a Spirit of Bitternesse and contempt and in a Style suitable yet the Servants of the Lord have not so learned Christ nor the Truth as it is in Jesus as to Returne Evill for Evill or Reviling for Reviling Hard words are not Given but as the Lord commandeth if not in his Ordinances yet in his Providence And either they are Deserved then they are an excellent Balme which will not break the head or undeserved and then the Lord will Requite Good to him that suffereth evill It is no new Thing for God's owne Servants to be taken with Paroxismes as Paul and Barnabas were Act. 15. that is with Pangs of Passion And that is the worst I conceive of the tartest Passages of Mr Cawdryes Reply For I see by his dealing with Mr Hooker that he can write with more meeknesse and moderation when the Lord helpeth him Let me therefore briefly give Account of such Passages of mine as have seemed most offensive to Him and that in such termes as may not unbeseeme either my selfe or the cause CHAP. 1. THE first offence he taketh is against my Inconstancy and that which is the fruit of it my manifest and manifold Contradictions to my selfe to the number of about 21 Inconstancy in the generall He Intimateth in the Text of James in his Frontispiece James 1. 8. A Double minded man is unstable in all his wayes To which I will Rejoyne no other Answer than a Text of like Authority and alleadged I hope with more Pertinency Math. 11. 7. What went you out into the wildernesse to see A Reede shaken with the winde The Contradictions are set forth in great letters in the Title Page and afterwards particularly in an ample Scheme in 3 Columnes in the end of his reply let us consider of them in order The 1rst Contradiction 1. The Keyes were given to Peter at an Apostle as an Elder as a Believer So the Sense is most full The keyes Pag. 4. 1. The power of the keyes is given to Peter not at an Apostle nor as Elder but as a Profest Believer The way P. 27. 1 Peter Received not the keyes meerely as a Believer but as a Believer publickly professing his Faith c. The way cleared Part. 2 p. 39. To like Purpose M. Hooker Surv. Part. 1. p. 203 The Reconciliation of this Seeming Contradiction were obvious and easy take the words as they stand in the Scheme for so it might be said Brethren are sometimes put for private members of the Church and Contradistinguished from such as beare office in the Church As when it is said in the Synodicall Letter Act. 15. 23. The Apostles Elders and Brethren Sometimes Brethren are put more generally as Comprehending all the members of the Church both officers and private members as Gal. 6. 1 and frequently else where In the former Sence the Passage in the Keyes speaketh when it saith the sense of the words will be most full if Peter be conceived as Receiving the Keyes in the Name both of the officers and private members to wit in the Name of the Apostles Elders and Brethren In the latter sense the words of the Scheme might be taken to Runne That the Power of the keyes was given to Peter not as an Apostle for then it had been Given only to the Apostles nor as an Elder for then it had been only to Elders but as a Profest Believer And under the Generall Name of Profest Believers not only private Brethren but Apostles and Elders may be comprehended For all the Apostles all the Elders are profest Believers And so all of them may claime their Interest in the Power of the keyes according to the severall measure and latitude of Power assigned to them in the Scriptures But I will not so answer because in the Way the context speaketh of such Brethren as have not power to exercise the Pastoral Ministry of the word
they neither Agree with me nor with them They say it is put into diverse hands And he saith it is Given only to Believers And is not this a Contradiction Ans No verily For when I say It is given to Believers as such and expresse virtually as well as Formally The meaning is cleare It is given to all Believers and only to Believers and by them Communicated to such as they doe orderly choose and call forth to the exercise of the same And the publishers of the keyes I doubt not will say as much When I said in the way That the brethren might not administer Sacraments in Defect of all Officers And therefore made it appeare that one sort of men the brethren had not Received all the Power of the keyes Formally The Replyer returneth Truly this is to Discover the Contradiction the more For if the Power of the keyes be Delivered to Believers as such then the Power of Administring the Sacraments is Given to them for that is a Part of the Power of the keyes Ans. It is wearysome to repeat so often the same Answer yet let me say it once more and leave it He that saith Believers Receive all the Power of the keyes as Profest Believers He saith all of them have Received the Power and they only and such as Receive their Power from them And this is the force of quateuus Tale That whosoever Receive any thing as such all such doe Receive it none but such as Derive it from them But saith the Replyer In the Way he giveth the greater part of Church power to the Body of the Church pag. 45. to wit to Ordaine and in some cases to excommunicate all their Church Officers which are the highest Acts of Rule as else where he speaketh Therefore he may not Deny them the lesser which is to Administer the Sacraments Ans. The answer is ready at hand and was ready at his hand in Part 2 of the Congregationall way cleared pag. 29. where I Distinguish Potestas into officiariam and honorariam Excommunication by the Brethren is the highest Act of Honoraria Potestas but not of Officiaria Potestas To Preach the word with Authority and to Administer the Seales of it are acts of the highest office-Power in the Church Popish Divines would take it very ill if any Act of Church Power were said to be higher than Conficere corpus Domini But excommunication largly taken is an Act of a Power proper to a Community Any community hath power ex Natura rei to Receive into their Communion to cast not of their Communion Every sound Body hath a power to cast out his own superfluous humours and to cut off his own Putrid members As for ordination though we looke at it with Dr Ames as Adjunctum consummans of the Peoples Election and vocation of their Officers and therefore not utterly Excentrical from the Peoples power yet our Churches doe not Practise it ordinarily where they have Elders of their own or can Procure other Elders to Joyne with them As for that last words in the Scheme of the first Contradiction I know not whether the Replyer put any weight or stresse in that in the first Columne the keyes are said to be given to wit partly to Believers and in the same Columne againe to the Fraternity with the Presbytery in the second Columne to Profest Believers In the third to Believers Publickly Professing their Faith And in Mr Hookers Judgment Not to Believers as Believers but as Believers Covenanting But if it be requisite to say any thing to this I would say 1. That the Fraternity and Profest Believers and Believers Publickly Professing their Faith are all one And the common Name of Believers is often put for all the rest They that were Added to the Church Acts 2. 47 and 41 are called by the common name of Believers Acts 2. 44. and 4. 32. when Mr Hooker saith the Power is not Given to Believers as Believers but as Believers Covenanting He meaneth the same that I do by Profest Believers As for women whom the Replyer cast in our way before though they be Believers and so partake in the same common Salvation as also in the word and seales yet because of the frailty of their sex they are expresly exempted by the Apostle from any Act of Power in the Church 1 Cor. 14. 34 35. and 1 Tim: 2. 11 12. Yet that Impeacheth not the Generality of the Proposition That all the Fraternity of Believers have Part in the Power of the Keyes That all men once Dye is the generall Proposition of the Apostle Heb 9. 27. which is not Impeached by the Translation of Enoch and Elias Having thus cleared the first Answer to this contradiction Let us weigh next what he saith to the second Answer which saith he is given to help out the former for I had said 2. If there had been some Difference between the Keyes and the Way in some expressions yet it lay rather in Logicall Termes then in the Doctrine of Divinity or Church Practise and such is this about the first subject of the Power of the Keyes What saith the Replyer to this He Returneth a double exception 1. Saith He Had it been only a lesser Difference about a Logicall Notion as he minceth it the Assertor had not Observed it But a difference of the highest magnitude to Contradiction in Delivering a New way is very Remarkable How shall we be brought to Agree with them that contradict not only one another but one man himselfe Answer 1. It was not any weaknesse of the first Answer that needed a second to Help it out but variety of fit matter for a just Defence produced it It needed no help but to cleare it selfe from groundlesse exceptions Answer 2. The seeming Difference between the way and the Keyes if any be in this point it lyeth rather in Logicall expressions then in the Doctrine of Divinity or Church Practise For what ever the Different Judgments of men of our way may be touching the first subject of the Power of the Keyes some Placing it in the Body of the Church others Dividing it between officers and Brethren yet in the Doctrine of Divinity we all Agree with one Accord that the Church even the Body of church-Church-members have power to choose their officers to Admit members and to censure offenders And that the officers only have Power to Preach the word with office and Authority and to Administer the Sacraments And according to this unity of judgment is the uniforme Practise of our Churches And therefore let mincing be left to curious Cookes to prepare their shread meat for queazy stomackes or let it be left to such as would make the best of a bad cause we neither Distrust our Cause to be of God nor do feare any thing more then that it should be hid and clouded with prejudices and calumnies from such as know it not and yet seek the Truth in sincerity And
keyes are Given to the Church of Believers The way pag. 1. that is a combination of Faithfull men as Mr. Hooker 2. The key of knowledg belongeth to all the faithfull whether Joyned to any particular Church or no The Keyes pag. 11. 2 The key of knowledge is given not only to the Church but to some before they enter into the Church Keyes pag. 2. Ans. This terme the key of knowledge is taken from our Saviour's words in Luk. 11. 52. Where he Reproveth the Lawyers who had taken away the key of knowledge and neither entred in themselves nor suffered others to enter The words argue that the entring in was not into the visible Church for into that the Lawyers had entred and were willing to admit others He speaketh therefore of entring into the state of Grace and so into the kingdome of Grace and Glory The solution then is plaine and easy The key of knowledge or Faith belongeth to all the faithfull whether Joyned to any particular Church or no For by it they enter into the Kingdome of Grace and Glory But if we speak of the keyes of a Particular visible Church they are all given to the Church or Congregation of Believers Touching the third Contradiction The third Contradiction is decyphered thus 3. The key of Order is Common to all the members of the Church keyes pag. 8. Then say we to Women and Children 3 It is not every place or Order in the Church that giveth Power to Receive Ordinances much lesse to Dispense them as Children and Women Way cleared part 2. pag. 19. Ans. 1. It hath been Answered above that such Generall Propositions hold true notwithstanding some knowne particular exceptions It is appointed to all men once to Dye which is an undoubted Truth though Enoch and Elias never Dyed Ans. 2. The Children of Church-members are in Order to Baptisme but excluded from the Lord's Table 1 Cor. 11. 28. Women have some parts of the key of Order whereby they have power to walke Orderly themselves and in a private way to help others to walk Orderly also Act. 18. 26. Tit. 2. 3 4 5. Only they have not Power to Admit members choose Officers censure Offenders But if they have any part of the power of the keyes the Proposition is true yea and it were true also though they had been kept from all Interest in the Exercise of the keyes Touching the fourth Contradiction The fourth Contradiction is thus laid out 4. Ordination is a work of Rule The way pag. 49. Ordination and Jurisdiction both Acts of Rule pertaine indifferently to all the Presbyters ibid. pag. 49. 4. As for Election Ordination of Officers these things the brethren may doe if need be without Officers The way pag. 45. 101. 4. Ordination is not an Act of Supreme Jurisdiction but of Order rather Hooker's Survey part 2. 75. Ans. Ordination They that make the least of it make it an Act of Prayer such Prayer by which the lesse is blessed of the greater as it is in all Prayer which is Joyned with Imposition of hands which Argueth it is an Act of majority of Power and majority of Power may without a Soloecisme be called Rule though not office-Rule yet Honourable preheminence I no where call it an Act of Supreme Jurisdiction which is that Mr Hooker Denies and seemeth to Deny it not Positively neither but comparatively rather Ordination saith he is not an Act of Supreme Jurisdiction but of Order rather then there is no contradiction here Nor will it be found in the other clause for though Ordination and Jurisdiction be said in the Way pag 49. to pertaine indifferently to all the Presbyters yet that is expresly spoken in opposition to the Lord Bishops who usurped both into their own hands as their peculiar prerogative and though I say else where in the Way that in Election Ordination of Officers the Brethren may act if need be without Officers yet the very word of limitation if need be Argueth that in ordinary cases ordination pertaineth to the Presbyters as other Acts there mentioned doe pertaine to the Presbyters and Brethren met together but as for Election I take it to pertaine principally to the Brethren Touching the 5th Contradiction The 5th Contradiction followeth in this sort 5. The keye of Authority or Rule is committed to the Elders of the Church and so the Act of Rule is the proper Act of their office Keyes pag. 20. The People discerning and approving the Justice of the censure give consent and Obedience to the will and Rule of Christ keyes pag. 15. 37. 41. The People stand in an Order even an orderly Subjection according to the Order of the Gospel pag. 11. 5. In case the Officers doe Erre and give offence they shall be governed by the whole Body of the Brethren The Way Pag. 100. The Church exerciseth severall Acts of Authority over the Elders The Way pag. 101. The People have some storke of Power and Authority in the Government of the Church pag. 36. They Rule the Church by Appointing their own officers ibid. pag. 16. Ans. 1. The former Columne in all the three Places speaketh of Elders walking in the right Administration of their office then in Propriety of speech the Key of Authority and Rule is committed to them 1 Tim. 5. 17. and is there made the proper Act of their office Then it is that the People Discerning the will and Judgment of Christ in their Judgment they do give Consent and Obedience to the will of Christ in Censures Advised by them Then it is also that they walke in orderly subjection to their Elders Heb. 13. 17. But the latter Columne speaketh of the Power of the Church over the Elders chiefly in case of the Elders mal-Administration of their office or misgovernment of themselves But then the Power which the Church putteth forth It is not office Power which is properly Authority but Potestas honoraria Answer 2. In Columne the second when it is said The People have some stock of Power and Authority in the Government of the Church Keyes pag. 36. They are the words of an objection not of mine owne Assertion And though some where I speak of Acts of Authority over the Elders I do clearely explaine my selfe in the Keyes pag. 36. That Authority is taken in a large sense and after a sort when it is Acknowledged in the People over the Elders As 1. When a man acteth according to his owne will freely he is then said to be {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Dominus sui Actus so the People in all the Acts of liberty which they put forth they are Domini sui Actus Lords of their owne Actions 2. The people by sundry Acts of liberty as in Election of officers in sending forth their messengers in concurrence with their Elders in the Admission of members and censure of Offenders in the Determination and Promulgation of Synodall Acts They have a great stroke and Power in
way which I delivered more laxly I expresse more distinctly in the Treatise of the Keyes which followed after and some things more fully and clearely in the way cleared then in either of the former Answer 3. When I say No Act of the Peoples part doeth properly binde unlesse the Authority of the Elder joyne with it Keyes pag. 36. I would be understood to speak it as I meant it of the Elders walking without offence in the Right Administration of their office and Conversation of their lives Answer 4. When Mr Hooker saith Excommunication is not an Act of Office Power nor of Rule but of supreame Judgment seated in the Fraternity I easily grant that the Excommunication dispensed by the Fraternity is not an Act of Office-Power But it may Justly be Inquired whether Excommunication being Dispensed by the Elders with the consent of the Church be not an Act as of the Churches honourable Judiciall Power so of the Elders Office-Power and Rule in the Church For as the Pastorall Preaching of the Elders is Officiall and so Authoritative though the Preaching of other Brethren as of the Sonnes of the Prophets be not so so why may there not be the like Difference observed here To deliver unto Satan seemeth to be an Act of Judiciall Office-Power as when in another case it is said The Judge delivereth a man to the Officer and the officer casteth him into Prison Matth. 5. 25. He that casteth into Prison is an Inferiour officer The Judge must therefore be a Superiour officer that delivereth an offendour to the officer to be cast into Prison In the Excommunication of the Incestuous Corinthian where both the Elders and Brethren concurred the sentence might well be delivered in Termes that expresse an Act of highest Authority To deliver unto Satan But where the Church is called to Act against their Elders who corrupt them with false Doctrine there the Apostle Requireth the Church to mark them and Avoyd them Rom. 16. 17 18. which may expresse an Act of liberty and Judiciall Power but not of Authority CHAP. 4. Touching the seaventh Contradiction and eighth The seaventh Contradiction is thus gathered 7. It was a Sacrilegious Breach of Order That Commissaries and Chancellours wanting the Key of Order no Ministers have been invested with Jurisdiction Yea and more then Ministeriall Authority above those Elders who labour in word and Doctrine The Keyes pag. 16. 7. There is a Key of Power given to the Church with the Elders as to open a doore of entrance to the Ministers calling so to shut the doore of entrance against them in some cases c. The Keyes p. 9. Yea to Censure all their Elders without Elders The Way p. 45. as before Ans. The power given to the Commissaries Chancellors I justly called a Sacrlegious Breach of Order in more Respects than one 1. In that being no Ministers they exercised more than Ministeriall Authority over the Elders For Ministers doe not exercise Authority over Elders no nor over any Brother but with consent of the Church But these doe it without and against the Consent of the Church 2. In that they exercise this Authority even in Churches wherein they have not Received the key of Order and so stand not so much as in the Order of Members amngst them 3. In that they proceed against them not for crimes committed against the word of God but for Neglect of Popish-Canons or Humane Traditions But now no Authority allowed to Brethren either in the Keyes or in the Way cometh neere to this Breach of Order For 1. In Joyning with the Elders to open a doore of entrance to Minister's calling They put forth no Act of Authority properly so called at all but only exercise a liberty and Power orderly which they have Received from the Lord Jesus to elect their own officers As the Peoples election of Deacons Act. 6. 2. to 5th And their lifting up of hands in the choice of Elders Act. 14. 23. doth declare And when they doe shut them forth it is not without their Elders where their Elders are not wanting or not wanting to their Duty And even then they put forth no Act of Office Rule or Authority properly so called as the Commissaries doe but only an Act of Judiciall Power common to the whole Church 1 Cor. 5. 12. 2. The People do exercise this Power only in their own Church where themselves are members and have Received a key of Order 3. They proceed not against any much lesse against their Elders but for notorious offences committed against the word of God in Doctrine or life so that this Contradiction speaketh as little ad idem as any of the former Touching the 8th Contradiction The 8th Contradiction is represented thus 8. We are so farre from Allowing that Sacrilegious usurpation of the Ministers office That private Christians ordinarily take upon them to Preach the Gospell Publickly The Keyes pag 6. 8. This is ordinarily Practised in England and Allowed by the Independant Brethren Yea they being but in the Notion of Gifted Brethren no Ministers to other Congregations doe it ordinarily themselves Ans. 1. This Contradiction is not of me to my selfe but of some others who whether they be Independants truly so called I doe not know sure I am that Presbyterians and Independants are not membra Dividentia though I see that all that are not for Popery or Episcopacy or Presbytery doe commonly lurke under the style of Independancy I hope the Replyer would be loth to Renounce the Protestant Religion because there are found some contradictions and greater than these in one of them to another Ans. 2. When I call it a Sacrilegious usurpation for Private Christians Ordinarily to take upon them to Preach the Gospell Publickly to Administer the Sacraments yet this latter of Administring the Sacraments the Replyer leaveth out and so the Contradictiction is not ad idem which is a Common failing in this and the rest For I would not say that it is a Sacrilegious usurpation for well gifted Brethren where ordained Ministers cannot be had there to Preach ordinarily and Publickly especially if they be Approved by those that have Power and requested thereto by the People wherein I goe further in giving way to the Prophecying of Private Brethren than my Reverend Brethren the Prefacers to the Keyes doe who only Allow them to Preach occasionally and not ordinarily which I speak only to this end That the Replyer and others may know there is more consent and Agreement in our Judgments then they take notice of or sometimes our selves either But if Private Brethren doe Administer the Sacraments at all whether ordinarily or Occasionally It seemeth to me like the Fact of Uzziah in offering Incense CHAP. 5. Touching the 9th Contradiction The 9th Contradiction is layd out thus 9. A Particular Church of Saints Professing the Faith that is members without offices is the first subject of all the Church Offices with all their Spirituall Gifts
p. 45. 14. In Act. 13. 2 3. There is no Ordination to Office at all for the Apostles had their office before Mr. Hooker Surv. Part. 2. p. 83. This was not to put a new office upon them but to confirme their sending to the Gentiles ib. p. 60. 14. This was done in a Particular Church Keyes p. 29. The officers of one Church did what was done in an ordinary Way Surv. Parr 2. p. 83. Then it followeth by Mr. C. his Doctrine that the Apostles who were officers in all Churches were ordained in a Particular Church or that officers of a Church may be ordained in another Church which he said was unwarrantable Ans. 1. When I say in the Way That Paul and Barnabas were ordained to the Apostolick office by Imposition of hands of some officers of the Church at Antioch Act. 13. 1 2 3. It is not Disproved by Mr Hooker saying that they had had their office before For I noe where say That ordination Giveth the office but only Approveth it and Solemnely as it were Installeth the elect officer into it and sendeth him forth with a Blessing into the Administration of it Neither when he saith That there is there no Ordination unto office at all doth he contradict what I affirme For his meaning is to Deny it in Mr Rutherford's sence who speaketh there of Ordination as Giving the calling unto the office which Mr Hooker Disproveth and therein I concurre with him For it puts no New office upon them but Bare witnesse to that calling which the Holy Ghost had given them When Mr Hooker saith The Officers of one Church did what was done in an ordinary way He himselfe inferreth the consequence Therefore it is no Precedent for the Pastors of many Churches what either they may or should doe But the Inferences which Mr Cawdry gathereth as from my Doctrine out of that Text either will not hold or not hurt our cause For this Inference will not hold That then the Officers of one Chuch may be ordained in another For they were as much Officers of the Church of Antioch as of any other Churches It will only inferre That they who are officers in many Churches may be Ordained in any one of them The other inference will in part follow That some of the Apostles who were Officers in all Churches may be Ordained in a Particular Church when the Holy Ghost calleth for it For they Act now not in their own Name or Power but in the great Name and Soveraigne Power of the Lord Jesus who is the Head of all Churches But what Prejudice is that to our cause or wherein doth it contradict any of our Tenents The 15th Contradiction is thus Declared 15. What if the whole Presbytery offend The readiest course is to bring the matter to a Synod the keyes pag. 43. 15. There is a readier and nearer way The Brethren may censure them all Way pag. 45. If the Congregation be found faithfull and willing to Remove an offence by due censure why should the offence be called up to a more publicke Judicature Keyes pag. 42. Ans. This Contradiction is made partly out of the concealment of Part of my words in the first Columne and Partly out of the Addition of some words of his own in the second Columne In the former Columne I say If the whole Presbytery offend or such a Part as will draw a Party and a Faction in the Church with them the readiest course then is to bring the matter to a Synod where those words such a Part as will draw a Party or Faction in the Church with them are given for the just Reason why in such a case the case of the offending Presbytery or other such Leading members in the Church should be brought to a Synod before it be censured in the Church But in the words recited in the latter Columne I speak of the Congregation as Agreeing together and both faithfull and willing to Proceed against Hereticall Doctrine and Scandalous crimes in whomsoever And then they need not Trouble the Synod to cleare the case which is already cleare unto themselves so that this Contradiction speaketh not ad Idem The one Columne speaketh of a Church Divided into parts and Factions and their readiest course is to bring the matter to a Synod The second Columne speaketh of a Church both faithfull and willing to Proceede against offences with one accord And then they have sufficient Power within themselves to judge that which is right and to execute their Judgment That which is Added of the Replyers own words in the latter Columne doth help not a little to make up an Appearance of the Contradiction In the Keyes I had sayd In the case above mentioned It is the readiest course to bring the matter to the Synod In the Way he quoteth my words as if I had said There is a readier and nearer way The Brethren may censure them all If these words had been mine there had been an Appearance of Contradiction To say this is the readyest course and yet to say a Discrepant course is a readier and nearer way is at least verbo tenus an apparent Contradiction But the Truth is Those words are none of mine but the Replyers own And so it will be an easy matter to make up Contradictions tot quot if we may take leave in one sentence to conceale Part of the words necessary to make up the sense and in another sentence to Adde words of our owne The 16th Contradiction is delivered thus 16. It belongeth to the civill Magistrate to establish pure Religion in Doctrine worship and Government partly by civill Punishment upon the wilfull oppressours and Disturbers of the same Keyes p. 50. 16. Yet the Brethren here call for or Tolerate Toleration of all Opinions and Deny the magistrate Power to Punish any Pretending conscience Bartlets Model pag. 128. 16. See Mr. Bartlets Modell p. 25. Contrà Ans. 1. This Contradiction laboureth of the same Disease as the rest generally Doe It speaketh not ad Idem Such as require the Magistrate to establish Pure Religion in Doctrine worship and Government and to Restraine the willfull opposers and Disturbers thereof by civill Punishments They speak of Fundamentals in Religion and such opinions as apparently tend to libertinisme and licentious ungodlynesse as Mr Bartlet expresseth it Modell pag. 126. But the Toleration which they Allow and call for is of such opinions as neither subvert the Foundation of Religion nor Practise of Piety Both these may be maintained without the least shew of the face of Contradiction Further I find this in Mr Bartlet That himselfe and some others are not free That Hereticks should be put to Death in case they keep their errors to themselves and doe not seek to seduce and corrupt others And though I grant that such an Heretick after once or twice Admonition may be Rejected out of the Church according to Titus 3. 10 11. yet I doe not finde that Moses
Messengers sent out of a set and combined Association from neighbour churches They do not herein Dissent from me For the two Churches of Antioch and Jerusalem were too farre remote to stand in a set or combined Association and therefore they may well deny it to be a Formall Synod according to the Forme of Synods now in use in Presbyteriall Churches But that that assembly had the true matter and forme of a just Synod As I do believe it so I do not see that my Brethren deny it For the efficient cause of the Synod the Church of Antioch sent messengers and the Church of Jerusalem whose officers were sent unto they freely gave them a meeting and the Church with them For the matter of the Synod they had the Messengers officers and Brethren of both Churches met together in the Name of Christ It is not necessary to the being of a Synod the convention of the Messengers and members of many Churches The convention of two Churches by themselves or messengers may make a Synod If the convention of one Church may make a Synagogue why may not the convention of two churches make a Synod The forme of a Synod they had in Arguing and disputing the case in hand and freely giving in their Judgments from scripture grounds and at length determining the whole cause with the Joynt consent of the Apostles Elders and Brethren and Publishing the same by letters and messengers to all the churches whom it concerned The establishment of Peace and Truth in the churches was the end of this Synod as it ought to be the end of all It is true here was a consultation in that the church of Antioch sent for counsell and the Apostles and Elders met to consult and consider of the matter But consultation was but one Act of the Assembly many other Formall Acts of a Synod they put forth besides which have been specified The Apostles though they did put forth some Acts of their Apostolicall Power in helping to cleare the Truth by explayning obscure Scriptures and in Ratifying the conclusion with some greater Plerophory of the mind of the Holy Ghost yet in Putting such things to Argumentation and Disputation and allowing Elders and Brethren liberty of Putting in their votes and determining and publishing the sentence in the Name and with the common consent of all herein they Acted as Ordinary Elders and messengers of churches might and ought to do The Notes of about Ten Passages in the Way wherein our Reverend Brethren in England or some of them say they could not fully close with them without Affixing an Asterisk to them If I knew where the Pinch of the Difficulty lay I would Addresse my selfe to give them fuller satisfaction either by condescending to them or giving them just Reason why I could not Meane while I have learned through Grace not to fall out with my Brethren for greater differences in judgment then those be That which is added in the third Columne that they are offended and as you call it Angry with you for that you call for a fuller Declaration of themselves for that themselves can best give you an Account for 1. It may be they think it needlesse to Publish further declaratioÌ„s because over above the former Declarations there have been since published three or foure Pithy Pregnant Declarations of the same Argument as Mr Hookers surv Mr Nortons Answer to Apollonius the Synod at Cambridge the Defence of the Answer to the nine Questions 2. It may be they feare If they should publish more declarations in this case It would Adde rather more Fewell to contention then Prevaile with the Spirits of men contrary minded to Receive satisfaction CHAP. 9. Touching the 20th Contradiction and 21. The 20th Contradiction is thus Expressed 20. It is generally asserted by them that one Church hath not Power to Censure another 20. A Synod hath Power to Determine to withdraw Communion from them if they cannot heale them Keyes pag. 24. 20. The sentence of non Communion denounced against whole Churches Apolog. Narrat p. 18 19. If a Sentence denounced it is a Censure Answer To withdraw Communion from a church is no more an Act of Power over a church then it was to Joyne in Communion with them Communion and non-Communion are Acts of the same power both of them Acts of priviledge or liberty And if withdrawing Communion be not an Act of censure then to determine so to withdraw is no Act of an higher Nature Though a Censure is a sentence denounced yet every sentence denounced is not a Censure unlesse it be Denounced by an higher power then that of equalls When the Ten Tribes denounced their Rejection of service to David's House 1 Kings 12. 16. It was not a censure more then theirs who solemnely Rejected the Rule of Christ we will not have this man to Rule over us Luk. 19. 14. The last Contradiction is declared thus 21. We Say Instituted worship and Ordinances do not flow immediatly from spirituall union and Relation to Christ and his members c. Def. of 9. Pos. pag. 76. He must come at them in a right Order to wâ—t in Fellowship of the Church Surv. pag. 2. 21. Then it followeth that Hearing the word Preached Singing of Psalmes and Baptisme belong not to any but such as are members of a Particular Congregation And yet they say Ordinarily hearing it no signe of a Church member Surv. part 1. pag. 18. 21. A Person hath his first Right to the Sacrament and so to other Ordinances because He hath an Interest in the Covenant of the Gospell Surv. part 1. pag. 65. Answer Here is no semblance of Contradiction Mr Hooker Surv. saith a Person hath his first Right to a Sacrament because he hath an interest in the covenant of the Gospell The defence saith he hath not immediate Right till he be a member of a Particular Congregation And so saith the Survey too in the Place Alledged If Immediate Right and first Right were all one there were some colour for the Exception but it is farre otherwise in having Christ we have a first Right to all things but not an Immediate Right but in Gods way But neither hence will it follow that Instituted Ordinances as hearing the word Singing of Psalmes belong to none but to members of a Particular Congregation For though they be given to such firstly and Immediately yet for their sakes to all that come in amongst them The Childrens Table and the Provisions thereof is first Allowed to the Children of the Family yet in a Bountifull House-keepers Family such part of the Proâ—â—sions may be Allowed to strangers as they may be fit to partake in FINIS Vid. Gerard loc. Com. de Minist. Ecclesiast Sect. 11. 12.
remarked The first is this He supposed me to be an Independent and therefore made that charge the consequent of which supposition is much to weake to justify this Reverend Authour in his Accusation doth he suppose that he may without offence lay what he please to the charge of an Independent but he saith secondly that he tooke the word Independent generally as comprehending Brownists Anabaptists and other Sectaries But herein also he doth but delude his owne conscience seeing he personally speakes to me and to my designe in that booke of Schisme which he undertook to confute which also removes his third intimation that he formerly intended any kind of Independency c the rest that follow are of the same nature and however compounded will not make a salve to heale the wound made in his reputation by his own weapon for the learned Author called vox populi which he is pleased here to urge I first question whither he be willing to be produced to maintaine this Charge and if he shall appeare I must needs tell him what he here questions whether it be so or no that he is a very lyar For any principles in my Treatise whence a denyall of their Ministers and Churches may be regularly deduced let him produce them if he can and if not acknowledge that there had been a more Christian and ingenious way of coming off an ingagement into that charge then that by him chosen to be insisted on animos iram ex crimine sumunt And againe we have vox populi cited on the like occasion pag. 34 about my refusall to answer whither I were a Minister or not which as the thing it selfe of such a refusal of mine on any occasion in the world because it must be spoken is purum putum mendacium so it is no truer that that was vox populi at Oxford which is pretended that which is vox populi must be publicke publicum was once populicum now setting aside the whispers of it may be two or three Ardelio's notorious triflers whose lavish impertinency will deliver any man from the danger of being slandered by their tongues and there will be little gound left for the report that is fathered on vox populi And I tell him here once againe which is a sufficient answer indeed to his whole first Chapter that I doe not deny Presbyterian Churches to be true Churches of Jesus Christ nor the ministers of them to be true ministers nor doe maintaine a nullity in their Ordination as to what is the proper use and end of Ordination takeing it in the sense wherin by them it is taken though I think it neither administred by them in due order nor to have in it selfe that force and efficacy singly considered which by many of them is ascribed unto it Thus much of my judgment I have publiquely declared long agoe and I thought I might have expected from persons Professing Christianity that they would not voluntarily engage themselves into an opposition against me and waveing my judgment which I had constantly published and preached have gathered up reports from private and table discourses most of them false and untrue all of them uncertaine the occasions and coherences of those discourses from whence they have been raised and taken being utterly lost or at present by him wholly omitted His following excursions about a successive ordination from Rome wherein he runnes crosse to the most eminent lights of all the Reformed Churches and their declared Judgments with practise in reordaining those who come unto them with that Romane stampe upon them I shall not further interest my selfe in nor think my selfe concerned so to doe untill I see a satisfactory answer given unto Beza and others in this very point and yet I must here againe professe that I cannot understand that distinction of deriveing ordination from the Church of Rome but not from the Roman Church Let him but seriously peruse these ensuing words of Beza and tell me whither he have any ground of a particular quarrell against me upon this account Sed praeterea quaenam ista est quaeso ordinaria vocatio quam eos habuisse dicis quos Deus paucis quibusdam except is excitavit Certe papistica Nam haec tua verba sunt Hodie si episcopi Gallicanarum ecclesiarum se suas ecclesias à tyrannide Episcopi Romani vindicare velint eas ab omni idololatria superstitione repurgare non habent opus alia vocatione ab ea quam habent Quid ergo Papisticas ordinationes in quibus neque morum examen praecessit neque leges ullae servatae sunt inviolabiliter ex divino jure in electionibus ordinationibus praescriptae in quibus puri etiam omnes canones impudentissime violati sunt quae nihil aliud sunt quam foedissima Romani prostibulin undinatio quavis meretricum mercede quam Deus templo suo inferri prohibuit inquinatior quibus denique alii non ad praedicandum sed pervertendum evangelium alii non ad docendum sed adrursus sacrificandum ad abominandum {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} sunt ordinati usque adeo firmas tecum esse censebimus ut quoties tali cuipiam pseudoepiscopo Deus concesserit ad verum Christianismum transire omnis illa istiusmodi ordinationis impuritas simul expurgata censeatur Imo quia sic animum per Dei gratiam mutavit quo ore quo pudore qua conscientia papismum quidem detestabitur suam autem inordinatissimam ordinationem non ejurabit aut si ejuret quomodo ex illius jure auctoritatem dicendi habebit Nec tamen nego quin tales si probe doctrinam veram tenere si honest is moribus praediti si ad gregem pascendum apti comperiantur ex pseudoepiscopis novi pastores legitime designentur Thus he who was thought then to speake the sense of the Churches of Geneva and France in his book against Saravia about the diverse orders of Ministers in the Church His plea for the Church-Authority of the Pope notwithstanding his being an Idolater a murderer theman of sinne an adversary of Christ because a Civill magistrate doth not by any morall Crime or those whereof the Pope is guilty loose his jurisdiction and Authority considering the different principles grounds ends laws Rules priviledges of the Authority of the one and the other and the severall tenures whereby the one doth hold and the other pretends to hold his power is brought in to serve the turne in hand and may be easily layd aside And when he shall manifest that there is appointed by Christ one single High-Preist or Prelate in the house of God the whole Church and that office to be confined to one nation one blood one family propagated by naturall generation without any provision of reliefe by any other way person or family in case of miscarriage and when he shall have proved that such an officer as the
Pope of Rome in any one particular that constituteth him such an officer was once instituted by Christ I shall farther attend unto his Reason for his Authority from that of the High-Priests among the Jewes which was not lost as to it's continuance in the family of Aaron notwithstanding the miscarriage of some individuall Person vested therewithall In the close of the Chapter he reassumes his charge of my renouncing my owne Ordination which with great confidence and without the least scruple he had asserted in his Answer of that assersion he now pretends to give the Reasons whereof the first is this 1. The world lookes on him as an Independent of the highest note therefore he hath renounced his ordination and therefore I dare to say so So much for that reason I understand neither the Logick nor morality of this first Reason 2. He knowes from good hands that some of the Brethren have renounced their Ordination therefore he durst say positively that I have renounced mine Prov. 12. 18. 3. He hath heard that I disswaded others from their ordination and therefore he durst say I renownced my owne and yet I suppose he may possibly disswade some from Episcopall Ordination but I know it not no more than he knowes what he affirmes of me which is false 4. He concludes from the principles in my book of Schisme because I said that to insist upon a succession of ordination from Anti-Christ and the Beast of Rome would if I mistake not keep up in this particular what God would have pulled down therefore I renounced my ordination when he knowes that I avowed the validity of ordination on another account 5. If all this will not doe he tels me of something that was said at a publique meeting at dinner it seemes with the Canons of christ-Chhist-Church viz that I vallued not my ordination by the Bishop of Oxford any more than a crum upon my trencher which words whether ever they were spoken or no or to what purpose or in reference to what Ordination I meane of the two orders or in what sense or with what limitation or as part of what discourse or in comparison of what else or whither solely in refference to the Roman succession in which sense I will have nothing to doe with it I know not at all nor will concerne my selfe to enquire being greatly ashamed to find men professing the Religion of Jesus Christ so farre forgetfull of all common Rules of civility and principles of humane society as to insist upon such vaine groundlesse reports as the Foundations of accusations against their Brethren nor doe I believe that any one of the Reverend Persons quoted will owne this information although I shall not concerne my selfe to make enquiry into their memories concerning any such passage or discourse Much reliefe for the future against these and the like mistakes may be afforded from an easy observation of the different senses wherein the terme of Ordination is often used it is one thing when it is taken largely for the whole appointment of a man to the ministry in which sense I desire our Authour to consider what is written by Beza among Reformed and Gerhard among the Lutheran Divines to omit innumerable others another thing when taken for the imposition of hand whither by Bishops or Presbyters concerning which single Act both as to its order efficacy I have sufficiently delivered my judgment if he be pleased to take notice of it I feare indeed that when men speak of an ordained ministry which in its true and proper sense I shall with them contend for they often relate only to that solemnity restraining the authoritative making of ministers singly thereunto contrary to the intention and meaning of that expression in Scripture antiquity and the best reformed Divines both Calvinists and Lutherans and yet it is not imaginable how some men prevaile by the noise and sound of that Word upon the prejudiced minds of partiall unstudied men A litle time may farther manifest if it be not sufficiently done already that another account is given of this matter by Clemens Tertullian Cyprian Origen Justin Martyr and generally all the first writers of Christians besides the Counsels of old late with innumerable Protestant Authors of the best note to the same purpose This I say is the ground of this mistake whereas sundry things concurre to the calling of Ministers as it belongs to the Church of God the ground and pillar of truth the spouse of Christ Psal. 45. and mother of the family or she that tarryeth at home Psal. 68. unto whom all ministers are stewards 1 Cor. 4. 1. even in that house of God 1 Tim. 3. 15. and sundry qualifications are indispensably previously required in the persons to be called overlooking the necessity of the qualifications required and omitting the duty and authority of the Church Acts 1. 15. Acts 6. 2. 13. 2. 14. 22. the Act of them who are not the whole Church Ephes. 4. 11 12. but only a part of it 1 Cor. 3. 21. 2 Cor. 1. 24. 1 Pet. 5. 3. as to ministry consisting in the approbation and solemne confirmation of what is supposed to go before hath in some mens language gotten the name of ordination and an interpretation of that name to such an extent as to enwrap in it all that is indispensably necessary to the constitution or making of ministers so that where that is obtained in what order soever or by whom soever administred who have first obtained it themselves there is a lawfull and sufficient calling to the ministry Indeed I know no errour about the institutions of Christ attended with more pernitious consequences to the Church of God then this should it be practised according to the force of the principle its selfe Suppose six eight or ten men who have themselves been formerly ordained but now perhaps not by any ecclesiasticall censure but by an act of the civill magistrate are put out of their places for notorious ignorance and scandall should concurre and ordaine an hundred ignorant and wicked persons like themselves to be ministers must they not on this Principle be all accounted ministers of Christ and to be invested with all ministeriall power and so be enabled to propagate their kind to the end of the world and indeed why should not this be granted seeing the whole bulke of the papall ordination is contended for as valid whereas it is notoriously knowne that sundry Bishops among them who perhaps received their own ordination as the reward of a whore being persons of vitious lives and utterly ignorant of the Gospell did sustaine their pompe and sloth by selling holy orders as they called them to the scum and refuse of men but of these things more in their proper place Take then Reader the substance of this chapter in this briefe recapitulation 1. He denies our Churches to be true Churches and our Ministers true Ministers 2. He hath renounced his owne ordination 3. When some
God be called out unto And therefore being prepared in some measure to go through good report and bad report I shall give him assurance that I am very litle concerned in such attempts from what ever intention they do proceed Only I must needs tell him that he consulted not his owne reputation with peaceable godly men what ever else he omitted in the ensuing Comparing of me to the seducers in Jude called wandring Planets for their inconstancy and inconsistency with themselves according to the exposition that was needfull for the present turne But seeing the Scheme at the close must beare the weight of this charge let us briefly see what it amounts unto and whether it be a sufficient basis of the sustruction that is raised upon it Hence it is that my inconsistency with my selfe must be remarked in the title page of his first Treatise from hence must my Authority which what it is I know not be impaired and my selfe be Compared to cursed Apostates and Seducers and great triumph be made and upon my selfe inconsistency The Contradictions pretended are taken out of two bookes the one written in the yeare 1643. The other in 1656. and are as followes He spake of Rome as a Collapsed Corrupted Church-State p. 40. He saies Rome we account no Church at all pag. 156. Crimen in auditum C. Caesar is it meet that any one should be tolerated that is thus wofully inconsistent with himselfe what speak of Rome as a Collapsed Church in Italy and within thirteene or fourteene yeares after to say it is no Church at all well though I may say there is indeed no Contradiction between these Assertions seeing in the latter place I speak of Rome as that Church is stated by themselves when yet I acknowledge there may be corrupted Churches both in Rome and Italy in the same Treatise Yea I do not find that in the place directed unto I have in termes or in just consequence at all granted the Church of Rome to be a Collapsed Church nay the Church of Rome is not once mentioned in the whole page nor as such is spoken of and what shall we think of this proceeding But yet I will not so farre offend against my sense of my owne weaknes ignorance and frailty as to use any defensative against this Charge let it passe at any rate that any sober man freed from pride passion selfefulnesse and prejudice shall be pleased to put upon it {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} But the second instance will make amends and take more of the weight of this Charge upon its shoulders Take it then as it lies in its triple Columne Guifts in the Person and consent of people is warrant enough to make a man a preacher in an extraordinary Case only pag. 15. and pag. 40. Denying our ordination to be sufficient he sayes he may have that which indeed Constitutes him a minister viz Guifts and submission by the People p. 198. I am punctually of the same mind still p. 40. Yet had said in his first book p. 46. as to formall teaching is required 1 Guifts 2 Authority from the Church if he do not equivocate I must Confesse I am here at a stand to find out the pretended Contradiction especially laying aside the word only in the first Columne which is his and not mine By a Preacher in the first Place I intend a minister Guifts and Consent or submission of the People I affirme in both places to be sufficient to constitute a man a minister in extraordinary Cases That is when imposition of hands by a Presbytery may not be obtained in due order according to the appointment of Jesus Christ That the Consent and submission of the people which include Election have nothing of Authority in them I never said the superadded Act of the imposition of hands by a Presbytery when it may be regularly obtained is also necessary But that there is any Contradiction in my words although in truth they are not my words but an undue collection from them or in this Authors inference from them or any colour of Equivocation I professe I cannot discerne in this place Mr Cawdrey {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Passe we to the third He made the Union of Christ and believers to be mysticall pag. 21. He makes the Union to be Personall pag. 94. 95. I wish our Reverend Author for his owne sake had omitted this Instance because I am enforced in mine owne necessary defence to let him know that what he assignes to me in his second Columne is notoriously false denied and disproved by me in the very place and Treatise wherein I have handled the Doctrine of the Indwelling of the Spirit and whether he will heare or forbeare I cannot but tell him that this kind of dealing is unworthy his calling and profession His following Deductions and Inferences whereby he endeavours to give countenance to this false and calumnious charge arise from ignorance of the Doctrine that he seeks to blemish and oppose Though the same spirit dwell in Christ and us yet He may have him in fullnesse we in measure Fulnesse and measure relating to his Communication of Graces and Gifts which are arbitrary to him indwelling to his person that the Spirit animates the Catholick Church and is the Author of its spirituall life by a voluntary act of his power as the soule gives life to the body by a necessary act by virtue of its union for life is actus vivificant is in vivificatum per unionem utriusque is the Common Doctrine of Divines But yet the soule being united to the body as pars Essentialis suppositi and the spirit dwelling in the Person as a free inhabitant The union between Christ and the Person is not of the same kind with the union of soule and Body let our Author Consult Zanchy on the second of the Ephesians and it will not repent him of his labour or if he please an Author whom I find him often citing namely Bishop Hall about union with Christ And for my Concernment in this charge I shall subjoyne the words from whence it must be taken Pag. 133. of my book of Perseverance 1. The first signall Issue and effect which is ascribed to this Indwelling of the Spirit is Union not a Personall Union with himselfe which is impossible He doth not assume our natures and so prevent our Personality which would make us one person with him but dwells in our persons keeping his owne and leaving us our Personality infinitely distinct But it is a spirituall Union the great union mentioned so often in the Gospell that is the sole Fountaine of our Blessednesse our Union with the Lord Christ which we have thereby Many thoughts of heart there have been about this Union what it is wherein it doth consist the causes manner and Effects of it The Scripture expresses it to be very Eminent necre durable
setting it out for the most part by similitudes and Metaphoricall Illustrations to lead poore weak Creatures into some usefull needfull acquaintance with that Mystery whose depths in this life they shall never fathome That many in the daies wherein we live have miscarried in their conceptions of it is evident some to make out their Imaginary Union have destroyed the person of Christ and fancying a way of uniting man to God by him have left him to be neither God nor Man Others have destroyed the Person of Believers affirming that in their Union with Christ they loose their owne personality that is cease to be Men or at least those are these Individuall men I intend not now to handle it at large but only and that I hope without offence to give in my thoughts concerning it as farre as it receiveth light from and relateth unto what hath been before delivered concerning the Indwelling of the Spirit that without the least contending about other waies of Expression So far there with much more to the purpose in the very place of my book of Schisme referred to by this Author I affirme as the head of what I assert that by the indwelling of the spirit Christ personall and his Church do become one Christ mysticall 1 Cor. 12. 12. The very expression insisted on by him in my former Treatise and so you have an issue of this selfe-Contradiction concerning which though reports be urged for some other things Mr Cawdry might have said what Lucian doth of his true History {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Let us then consider the 4th which is thus Placed 1. In extraordinary cases every one that undertakes to preach the Gospell must have an immediate Call from God pag. 28. 2. Yet required no more of before but Gifâ—s Consent of the People which are ordinary and mediate Calls p. 15. neither is here any need or use of an immediate Call pag. 53 3. To assure a man that he is extraordily called he gives 3 wayes 1 Immediate revelation 2 Concurrence of Scripture rule 3 Some outward acts of Providence The two last whereof are mediate Calls pag. 30. All that is here remarked and Cast into 3 Columnes I know not well why is taken out of that one Treatise of the duty of Pastours People And could I give my selfe the least Assurance that any one would so farre concerne himselfe in this Charge as to Consult the Places from whence the words are Pretended to be taken to see whether there be any thing in them to answer the cry that is made I should spare my selfe the labour of adding any one syllable towards their vindication and might most safely so doe there being not the least colour of opposition betweene the things spoken of In briefe Extraordinary Cases are not all of one sort and nature in some an extraordinary call may be required in some not Extraordinary calls are not all of one kind and nature neither some may be immediate from God in the wayes there by me described some calls may be said to be extraordinary because they doe in some things come short of or goe beyond the ordinnary rule that ought to be observed in well Constituted Churches Againe concurrence of Scripture rules and acts of outward Providence may be such sometimes as are suited to an ordinary sometimes to an extraordinary Call All which are at large unfolded in the Places directed unto by our Authour and all laid in their owne order without the least shadow of Contradiction But it may sometimes be said of good men as the Satyristsaid of evill Women fortem animum praestant rebus quas turpiter audent Goe we to the next 1. The Church Government from which I desire not to wander is the Presbyteriall 2. He now is ingaged in the independent way 3. Is setled in that way which he is ready to maintain and knows it will be found his rejoycing in the day of the Lord Jesus Hinc mihi sola malilabes This is that inexpiable crime that I labour under an account of this whole businesse I have given in my Review So that I shall not here trouble the Reader with a repetition of what he is so litle concerned in I shall only adde that whereas I suppose Mr Cawdrey did subscribe unto the 39 Articles at his Ordination were it of any concernement to the Church of God or the interest of truth or were it a Comely and a Christian part to engage in such a worke I could manifest Contradictions between what he then solemnly subscribed to and what he hath since written and Preached manyfold above what he is able to draw out of this alteration of my Judgment Be it here then declared that whereas I sometimes apprehended the Presbyterial Synodicall Government of Churches to have been fit to be received and walked in then when I knew not but that it answered those principles which I had taken up upon my best enquiry into the word of God I now professe my selfe to be satisfied that I was then under a mistake and that I doe now own and have for many yeares lived in the way and practice of that called Congregationall And for this Alteration of Judgment of all men I feare least a Charge from them or any of them whom within a few yeares we saw reading the service book in their surplices c against which things they doe now inveigh and declame What influence the perusall of Mr Cotton's Booke of the Keyes had on my thoughts in this businesse I have formerly declared The answer to it I suppose that written by himselfe is now recommended to me by this Authour as that which would have perhaps prevented my Change But I must needs tell him that as I have perused that book many yeares agoe without the Effect intimated so they must be things written with an other frame of spirit evidence of truth and manner of reasoning then any I can find in that booke that are likely for the future to lay hold upon my Reason and understanding Of my settlement in my present Perswasion I have not only given him an account formerly but with all Christian Courtesy tendred my selfe in a readinesse Personally to meet him to give him the proofes and reasons of my my perswasions which he is pleased to decline returne in way of answer That I Complemented him after the mode of the times when no such thing was intended And therefore my words of desiring liberty to waite upon him are expressed but the end and purpose for which it was desired are concealed in an c. But he addes another instance Men ought not to cut theÌ„selves from the communion of the Church to rent the body of Christ and breake the sacred bond of Charity Duty 1. 48. 2 He sayes separation is no Schisme nor Schisme any breach of Charity pag. 48. 49. There is not one word in either of those cautions that I do not still
own and allow p. 44. sure not without Equivocation I have before owned this Caution as consistent with my present Judgment as expressed in my Booke of schisme and as it is indeed wherein lyes the appearance of Contradiction I am not able to discerne Doe not I in my Booke of Schisme Declare and prove that men ought not to cut themselves from the Communion of the Church That they ought not to rent the body of Christ that they ought not to break the sacred bonds of Charity Is there any word or tittle in the whole Discourse deviating from these Principles How and in what sense Separation is not Schisme that the nature of Schisme doth not consist in a breach of Charity the Treatise instanced will so farre declare as withall to Convince those that shall Consider what is spoken that our Authour scarce keeps close either to Truth or Charity in his framing of this Contradiction The Close of the Scheme lies thus I conceive they ought not at all to be allowed the benefit of private meeting who willfully abstaike from the publick Congregations As for liberty to be allowed to those that meet in private I confesse my-selfe to be otherwise minded I remember that about 15 yeeres agoe meeting occasionally with a learned Friend we fell into some debate about the liberty that began then to be claimed by men differing from what had been and what was then likely to be established having at that time made no farther enquiry into the grounds and reasons of such liberty then what had occurred to me in the writings of the Remonstrants all whose plea was still pointed towards the advantage of their owne interest I delivered my Judgment in opposition to the liberty pleaded for which was then defended by my learned Friend Not many yeares after discoursing the same difference with the same Person we found immediately that we had changed Stations I pleading for an Indulgence of liberty he for restraint whether that learned and worthy Person be of the same mind still that then he was or no directly I know not But this I know that if he be not Considering the Compasse of Circumstances that must be taken in to settle a right Judgment in this Case of Liberty and what alterations influencing the Determination of this Case we have had of late in this nation he will not be ashamed to owne his Change Being a Person who despises any reputation but what arises from the Embracing and pursuit of truth my Change I here owne my Judgment is not the same in this Particular as it was 14 yeeres ago j and in my Change I have good Company whome I need not to name I shall only say my Change was at least 12 yeares before the Petition and Advice wherein the Parliament of the three Nations is come up to my judgment And if Mr Cawdrey hath any thing to object to my Present Judgment let him at his next leisure Consider the Treatise that I wrote in the yeare 1648 about Toleration where he will find the whole of it expressed I suppose he will be doing and that I may almost say of him as Polycteutus did of Speusipus {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} And now Christian Reader I leave it to thy Judgment whether our Author had any just cause of all his outcryes of my inconstancy and selfe-Contradiction and whether it had not been advisable for him to have passed by this seeming advantage of the designe he professed to mannage rather than to have injured his owne Conscience and Reputation to so litle purpose Being sufficiently tired with the consideration of things of no relation to the Cause at first proposed but this saith he this the independents this the Brownists and Anabaptists c. I shall now only enquire after that which is set up in opposition to any of the principles of my Treatise of Schisme before mentioned or any of the propositions of the syllogismes wherein they are comprized at the beginning of this Discourse remarking in our way some such particular passages as it will not be to the disadvantage of our Reverend Authour to be reminded of Of the nature of the thing enquired after in the third Chapter I find no mention at all only he tels me by the way that the Doctor's assertion that my Booke about Schisme was one great schisme was not non sense but usuall Rhetoricke wherein profligate sinners may be called by the name of sin and therefore a Booke about Schisme may be called a schisme I wish our Authour had found some other way of excusing his Doctor then by making it worse himselfe In the fourth Chapter he comes to the businesse it selfe and if in passing thorough that with the rest that follow I can fix on any thing rising up with any pretence of opposition to what I have laid down it shall not be omitted for things by my selfe asserted or acknowledged on all hands or formerly ventilated to the utmost I shall not againe trouble the Reader with them such are the positions about the generall nature of Schisme in things naturall and politicall antecedently considered to the limitation and restriction of it to it's Ecclesiasticall use the departure from Churches voluntary or compelled c all which were stated in my first Treatise and are not directly opposed by our Authour such also is that doughty Controversie he is pleased to raise and pursue about the seat and subject of Schisme with it's restriction to the instituted worship of God pag. 18. 19 so placed by me to distinguish the Schisme whereof we speake from that which is naturall as also from such differences and breaches as may fall out amongst men few or more upon civill and rationall accounts all which I exclude from the enjoyment of any roome or place in our consideration of the true nature of schisme in it's limited Ecclesiasticall sense The like also may be affirmed concerning the ensuing strife of words about separation and schisme as though they were in my apprehension of them inconsistent which is a fancy no better grounded than sundry other which our Reverend Authour is pleased to make use of His whole passage also receives no other security than what is afforded to it by turning my universall proposition into a particular what I say of all places in the Scripture where the name or thing of schisme is used in an ecclesiasticall sense as relating to a Gospell Church he would restraint to that one place of the Corinths where alone the word is used in that sense However if that one place be all my proposition is universall take then my proposition in it's extent and latitude and let him try once more if he please what he hath to object to it for as yet I find no instance produced to alleviate it's truth He much also insists that there may be a separation in a Church where there is no separation from a Church and saith this was at first by
Sacraments But notwithstanding that the Assoylment of the contradiction is no lesse faire and cleare For Mr Cawdrey well knoweth and so doth any Logician That to a contradiction It is a necessary Requisite amongst others That both speake ad Idem But here it is otherwise In the keyes I spake of such a power of the keyes as Peter Received Formally standing in the roome both of an Apostle and of an Elder and of a Profest Believer that is such a Power as Peter having Received might exercise in his own person and each one of them respectively In the Way I spake of such a power as the Brethren of the Church have Received not formally farther than concerneth their own liberty but virtually only For though the Brethren have not a formall Power to excercise the Pastorall ministry of the word and Sacraments yet they have a virtuall Power to exercise them by choosing and calling forth such Officers as have a formall Power to exercise the same And there is nothing in the keyes or in the way or in the Defence that contradicteth this So that both these two Passages in the keyes and in the way are so farre from making a Contradiction and that so flat as never any more as that they doe not indeed amount to an Opposition In an Opposition both parts cannot be true here both are true Peter considered as standing in the Roome of an Apostle Elder and Profest Believer did receive Formally all the Power of the keyes The Body of the Brethren have received though the power of their liberty Formally yet all other Parts of Church Power which belongeth to Officers they have Received only virtually and this very distinction is expressed in terminis in the very same Page 27. of the way whence this {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is fetched As for his Exageration of the Contradiction That is was as flat as never any more though he to make this Comparative Speech seem lesse hyperbolicall doe tell us in a Parenthesis That Contradictions doe not Recipere magis minùs and therefore if they make any Contradiction at all It must needs be as flat as ever any was He may be pleased to Consider That such a Parenthesis though it make his Speech lesse hyperbolicall yet it maketh it the more irrationall If I should say Nero was as wicked a man as ever any was and yet presuppose all men were equally wicked wickednesse in men did not Recipere magis minùs there were very little Reason in Such Exaggeration In my former Answer to this Contradiction intituled The way of the Congregationall Churches cleared I said the words whereon the Assertour grounded this Contradiction were his own not mine For He reporteth me to say in the keyes pag. 4. That the keyes were delivered to Peter as an Apostle as an Elder as a Believer But in his Preface Sect. 5. Num. 1. He confesseth That the words are not mine in terminis but in sense he saith they be For I said take Peter not as an Apostle Only but as an Elder also and a Believer too all may well stand together Whereupon he Inferreth Doth not this discourse clearly hold forth this Proposition as the sense of that Text The keyes were delivered to Peter as an Apostle as an Elder as a Believer too all may well stand together Ans. That discourse of mine is so farre from clearly holding forth that Proposition that it clearly holdeth forth the contrary in expresse termes my expresse termes be Take Peter considered not only as an Apostle c. now if not only as an Apostle than not as an Apostle For if they were delivered to him as an Apostle then to all the Apostles and only to the Apostles which my words in Terminis doe expresly Deny But saith he This Apology maketh it worse For if it be so that whatsoever is Attributed to any as such is given to all such universally reciprocally and only to such Now Assume But the keyes were given to Peter as an Apostle Therefore they were given only to the Apostles and not to the Believers as such But here the Assumption is Palpably false not at all delivered by me but dragged out of my words against the letter and against the sence of them I say the keyes were not given to Peter as an Apostle only why then not to him as an Apostle but as He is joyntly considered with other Officers and Brethren When therefore he Appealeth to the Judgment of any Logician whether to say Peter Received the keyes not as an Apostle only but an Elder also and a Believer be not as much as to say Peter had the Power of the keyes given Him as an Apostle as an Elder and as a Believer Verily if that were the Judgment of all Logicians I should conclude either that Logick had forsaken the world or at least that my selfe were forsaken of Logick When Christ Promised the keyes to Peter though he spake Indefinitely keyes yet he meaneth universally all the keyes of the kingdome of Heaven And to put all the keyes into Peter's hand as an Apostle though it would communicate them indeed to all the Apostles yet since the Death of all the Apostles all the Churches and all the Elders have been left destitute of the Power of the keyes And if so then why doe we blame the Seekers who have cast off all Churches and all Ordinances 'till new Apostles come Againe the Replyer Argueth thus on the contrary from that Passage in the way pag. 27 If the keyes were given to Peter not as an Apostle nor as an Elder but as a Believer then to all Believers and only to Believers But saith the Way the keyes were given to Peter not as an Apostle nor as an Elder but as a Believer therefore they were given to all Believers Women and all and only to Believers Ans. It hath been shewed above That in that Place in the Way I speak expresly of Profest Believers to have received all the power of the keyes not Formally but virtually So that if there be some Power of the keyes which they cannot exercise Formally as Brethren yet they may exercise the same virtually by choosing and calling forth such as may formally exercise the same for them which presupposed I answer to the Major If the Power of the keyes which was to continue in the Church were given to Peter not as an Apostle nor as an Elder but as a Believer then it was Given to all Believers and only to believers to such whom Believers shall orderly choose and call forth to execute the same As to instance in a like example If heate be Given to Fire as such then to all Fire and only to Fire to such other things as Fire communicateth his virtue to When therefore the Publishers of the keyes say The Power of the keyes may be Disposed in a due Allotment into divers hands The Replyer had no cause to say Herein
condemned them unto Death unlesse they became blasphemers or Idolators or Seducers to Idolatry What Christ and Moses doe both of them Tolerate the Servants of Christ need not to be ashamed of such Toleration Ans. 2. This Contradiction for ought I can Discerne laboureth also Crimine falsi For it seemeth a manifest untruth what he speaketh in Columne 2. That the Brethren call for or Tolerate Toleration of all opinions and Deny the magistrate Power to punish any Pretending conscience Mr Bartlet Alledged for the proofe hereof p. 128. saith no such thing And the contrary he proveth from the expresse Testimony of Mr Burroughs Mr Thomas Goodwin others of that way The 8th Chapt. Touching the 17th Contradiction with 18. 19. The 17th Contradiction is thus set forth 17. Visible Saints though they be Hypocrites inwardly are the matter of a visible church Mr. Hook part 1. p. 14. 15. 17. You say Saints in outward Profession are the matter of a Congregationall Church we judge that reall Saints uttering in Discourse the Breathings of the Holy Spirit and experiences of conversion interested in a stricter conversation to be the matter Dr. Holmes Epistle to Way cleared pag. 4. Mr. Bartlet speaketh something this language Can there be Ability for spirituall holy services where the spirit is not yet given Can there be communion between light and Darknesse Can they edify one another in the Faith that have not the work of Faith wrought in them Modell p. 57. See more pag. 103. Ans. What Mr Hooker's Judgment was is expressed in that first Columne what mine own is declared and I hope cleared in the Holynesse of Church-members What Dr Holmes and Mr Bartlet doe further require in it they Declare what Church-members ought to be de jure especially in their first constitution rather then what they are or are wont to be de facto especially in their Declension Againe I see Mr Bartlet speaketh in opposition to the members of the Parish Churches who are in many places Ignorant loose profane and scandalous livers who are not indeed visible Saints pag. 56. It is true there is some work of the Spirit where ever there is a visible Saint But the Spirit giveth many Gifts to the edification of others as to Judas and Demas which often doe not reach to the Regeneration of him that Receiveth them The 18th Contradiction is thus stated 18. The forme of the visible Church is the Covenant either explicite or implicite and the latter is sometimes fully sufficient Mr. H. Surv. part 1. pag. 47. 48 and others 18. You say an implicit uniting viz. A walking and communicating with you is a sufficient evidencing of the Forme we say Their folemne confession of their faith expresse open covenanting with the Lord to wake with such a body of Saints in all the wayes of Christ to be the manifest Forme D. Holmes ibid. 18. It is not generall Profession will serve the turne but there must be a peculiar engagement and appropriation to this or that particular body Mr. H. Surv. pag 63. Yet he said An Implicite Covenant was sufficient Ans. The expressions of Mr H. quoted in Columne 1 and Columne 3 will not amount to an opposition of himselfe much lesse to a Contradiction For though he make an Implicite Covenant sufficient yet a generall Profession will not serve the turne to make an Implicite Covenant For an Implicite Covenant must be with Reference to this or that particular Body or else it is neither Covenant at all nor Implicite A Generall Profession entreth not any man into any Relation with any Church unlesse he offer himselfe to Joyne with them as Mr Hooker in that Place more largely truly openeth himselfe Neither doth Dr Holms his expression contradict him For he that maketh the explicite Covenant the manifest forme of the Church He doth not gainesay the implicite covenant to be a real Forme of the Church though not so manifest but more obscure The 19th Contradiction is thus delineated 19. We crave leave of the Authour of the keyes To Declare that we Assent not to all expressions or all and every Assertion in it As in these Particulars About the Prothesying of Private Brethren 2. That the Assembly Act. 15. was a Formall Syned 3. That the Apostles Acted in it as Ordinary Elders Preface to Keyes pag. 6. 19. We doe in this Epistle certifie our Assent to the way of the Churches of New England saving that we doe not fully close with some expressions passim in the Bock before some of which 10 at least belike there are more we minded to Note a star in the Margin This we could not but say and doe pace Authoris or we could not Assent Epistle to the Way pag. 2. 19. Yet they are angry that we call for a fuller Declaration of themselves Epistle to the Way p. 1. and Epistle to the Way cleared pag. 2. Answer 1. Though my reverend Brethren crave leave to dissent from me in some expressions which they may safely and freely do without my leave for I professe my spirit subject to the Prophets yet about the Prophecying of private Brethren I must againe Professe as I did before That I do not know wherein I Dissent from them unlesse it be that I Allow somewhat more liberty to the Prophecying of private Brethren then they do The Allowance which they give is with foure limitations 1. That is be done occasionally and not in ordinary course 2. By men of such Abilities as are fit for office 3. Not assuming this to themselves but as they are allowed and designed to it by such as have Power 4. That their Doctrine be subjected to the Teaching Elders of the Church Graunt these limitations and I never scrupled to my remembrance the liberty of Prophecying by private Brethren yea this liberty I should further graunt that though the private Brethren be not furnished with abilities fit for publick office yet there may be occasion to call them forth to exercise their gifts as in the suddaine sicknesse or absence of the Minister and other officers why may not a private brother be called forth by the Church or stirred up by the Spirit of God in himselfe to stand up and with leave instruct and exhort the Church to make a Sanctifyed use of such a suddaine stroke of Providence Or what if a private Brother of good credit in the church shall observe the Doctrine of the Ministers not so much válued as were meet why may he not take occasion to speak some words of encouragement and confirmation both to the Minister and to the Congregation Jehosaphat's Nobles though Princes yet were but as Private Brethren in the Church as bearing no Publick Church-office yet they taught in the Cities of Juda what Respect was due to the Ministery of the Levites whom they brought with them when my beloved Brethren do not acknowledge the Assembly of Apostles Elders and Brethren Acts 15. To have been a formall Synod of