incompossibiles A whole thing cannot be wholly or all wayes or according to all its possible Modifications for many of them severally or apart are possible which conjunctly are incompossible if I may so expresse my self or rather impossible So a man may be white and he may be black but he cannot be white and black together for these two qualities being contrary are impossible or incompatible one with another If then feeding either by way of teaching or ruling or the power to feed be taken in actu primo viz. for the facultie to feed this Proposition The combined Eldership or a Classicall or Synodall Assembly and every particular Elder considered apart and separated from the combined Presbyteries have power to feed teach or rule all particular Churches is true And as for the particular Elders which may seem the most absurd it appeareth cleerly for if they had it not how could ye or they Preach in sundry and divers particular Churches as ye do out of your own particular Churches If it be answered that ye do it onely Occasionally and not Ordinarily I reply That before ye can do it either Occasionally or Ordinarily ye must have a power to do it absolutely for actus secundus supponit primum the second act supposeth the first or all actions suppose some active power from whence they proceed for a man that is no Minister can neither Preach Ordinarily nor Occasionally Item It is a certain Maxime in Logick that a Parte in modo ad Totum argument amur affirmativè ut est homo albus Ergo est homo We argue from a modified part or taken with some limitation or modification to the whole as if I say this is a white man Ergo this is a man So I say this man may Preach occasionally Ergo this man may Preach or have Authoritie to Preach For Power or Authoritie to Preach is Totum in modo and Power or Authoritie to Preach occasionally or ordinarily are partes in modo If it be objected That if every particular Minister hath Power or Authoritie to Preach in every Church or Congregation then every Minister is an universall Pastour as the Apostles But so it is not Ergo. Answ I deny the Consequence of the first Proposition for an Apostle not onely hath an universall Vocation to teach all particular Churches and Flocks but also to teach all particular and ordinary Pastours or Ministers of all particular Churches and Flocks 2. Item The Vocation of the Apostles was immediately from God 3. They were infallible in Doctrine 4. Endowed with extraordinarie Gifts 5. They had no particular Mission to restrain them to any particular Church And these four last Conditions were most conveniently annexed unto the Universalitie of their Charge which cannot be said of ordinary and particular Ministers If it be replied At least they differ not from them in the Universalitie of their Charge but onely in some Accidents as in Infallibilitie some extraordinarie Gifts c. that are meerly Extrinsecall unto the Charge and to the Universalitie thereof I answer First That these Accidents are not meerly Extrinsecall unto the Universalitie of the Apostolicall Charge but Intrinsecally annexed unto it by Gods Ordinance by Congruitie and Morally since it could not be Universally exercised without them Secondly For the better cleering of this I observe That to the Charge of a Minister three things are necessary 1. A generall Vocation to Preach and that not unlike to that which Masters of Arts and Doctors receive in Universities with this clause Hic ubique terrarum to Teach here and through all the World 2. A speciall Mission either 1. by God alone or 2. or also from the Representative Church 3. A particular Election and Admission whereby the Minister is elected by a Reall particular Church and so admitted therein to exercise his Charge The first of these three is common to the Apostles with all ordinary Ministers The second is universall in the Apostles for Christ sent them to teach all Nations and sitted them with gifts convenient thereunto But it is particular in Particular and Ordinary Ministers for orders sake and that jure divine as many learned and godly Divines hold The third jure divine should be universall in respect of the Apostles for every Particular Church was bound to admit the Apostles in case they would have preached amongst them and if any should have refused them yet in vertue of their generall Vocation and universall Mission from God they had power and Authoritie to Preach among them and in them all But in Particular and Ordinary Ministers it is onely Particular and not Universall for neither doth every Particular Church chuse elect or admit every Ordinary Minister to be its Minister neither is it bound so to do The first of these three is the remote foundation or the remote and principall cause of the Power and Authoritie that a Minister hath to Preach or to rule the Church of God The second and third are the next and immediate foundation or cause thereof or conditio sine qua non viz. The universall Mission and Admission of Ministers is the immediate cause of their universall Power and Authoritie but the particular Mission and Admission is the immediate cause of the Power and Authoritie of Particular Ministers And as we never finde the Philosophers Particularia without their Vniversalia in Particularibus inclusa never a Genus but in some Species nor a Species but in some Individuum by whose Differences their indifferent Nature is limited and determined No more finde we over this vast and generall Vocation in Ordinary Ministers without this Particular Mission of some Representative Church and Admission in and by some Reall and Particular Church or at least it should not be for without this consent Election and Admission a Minister is no more its Minister then a Man is a Womans Husband without her consent Neither can a Man be married to a Woman in generall or to an Individuam vagam but to this or that Particular Woman with whom he contracteth No more can a Preacher be sent to Preach to the Church in generall or to Particular Churches indefinitely viz. Unto quaedam Ecclesia but to this Church distinctly 1. And so I answer that a Particular and Ordinary Minister is differenced from an Universall Minister or an Apostle by the Particularitie of his charge in vertue of his Particular Mission which he hath of God by a Representative Church and of his Particular Election and Admission which depend upon that Particular Reall Church whose Minister he is and not in vertue of his generall Vocation which is common unto both Nam Principium convenientiae non est Principium differentiae That wherein things do agree cannot distinguish or make them differ 2. Every particular or Ordinary Minister may feed teach and rule all the Church but not alwayes Totam militantem Ecclesiam sed non totaliter All particular Churches but not particularly for as we have
another mistake to suppose that there is no Excommunication but in giving the offender over to Satan That is indeed the highest degree of Excommunication but not all the degrees of it for there is another lesse and inferiour viz. in separating him from Ecclesiasticall Communion And so it is yet another mistake in you to think that in declaring your non-Communion with other Churches ye do not excommunicate them for what is Excommunication but a privation of communion the very word it self teacheth us all this 6. If any such Case should extraordinarily fall out how can it be denyed but that the particular Church offending might be excommunicated by the rest of the Churches offended if the offence should deserve it 1. For we finde nothing in Scripture to the contrary 2. For there is the same reason for the Excommunication of whole Churches as of particular persons viz. the taking away of scandall and the conversion of the sinner 1 Cor. 5.5 2 Cor. 2.7 2 Thes 3.14 1 Tim. 1.20 and that such a contagion infect not others 1 Cor. 5 6 7. And if a particular man may be excommunicated for denying and blaspheming of Christ wherefore shall not a particular Church be excommunicated for the like sin Neither can their number and consociation excuse them but rather aggravateth the sin for the more offenders there be the greater is the offence and the greater should the punishment be 3. If a Church compounded of ten persons may excommunicate four of their own number wherefore also may not ten thousand Churches excommunicate this inconsiderable Church compounded of ten persons for the same reasons that it excommunicateth four persons hath God given more power to ten persons over four then to all the persons and Churches in the Kingdom yea in all the Christian world over these miserable and wretched persons who it may be deny the Trinity the Incarnation of the Son of God and maintain all sort of impieties 4. If God in Heaven and in his Scripture declare a Church excommunicated wherefore shall not his Churches upon Earth also declare it excommunicated when they learn it in his Word Are not the Churches of God as well bound to ratifie his Sentence here upon Earth as he to ratifie theirs in Heaven 5. We have some examples of it in the Old Testament for the people of God say some of our Divines excommunicated Amalck for proof whereof they bring the Targum Cant. 2. Contriverunt Amalek per diram imprecationem They bruised Amalek by the fearfull cursing of the Lord. So did they the Samaritans because of the building of their Temple upon the Mount Garizim They brought as Drusius and after him Weemse relate it 300 Priests 300 Trumpets 300 Books of the Law and 300 Boyes They blew with Trumpets and the Levites singing accursed the Cutthaans in the Name of Totragammaton or Jehova and with curses both the superiour and inferiour house of Judgement and they said Cursed is be who cateth the bread of the Cutthaean These Curses they wrote upon Tables and sealed them and sent them thorow all Israel who multiplied also this great Anathema upon them from whence proceeded a great hatred betwixt them as we reade in the Gospel If in vertue of a small offence one Church may pronounce that dreadfull Sentence of non-Communion against many Churches wherefore may not many Churches pronounce Sentence of great Excommunication against one small Church for a great sin since crescentibus delictis crescunt poenae Besides all this I deny the consequence for howbeit God had not ordained Excommunication viz. the greater which here ye understand yet might there be some other remedy found by the light of Nature But ye adde p. 18. That your Sentence of non-Communication will be as effectuall as the greater Excommunication This cannot be 1. Because if the offender have any grace the greater will terrifie him more 2. Because in your way the Sentence may seem unjust in punishing all offences and Offenders greater and smaller with the like Spirituall penalties 3. Your way cannot so well awe Churches and keep them in their duties for since ye attribute no authoritative power or authority to all the Churches of Christ over any particular Church but judge them all to be equall amongst themselves and one to all as if a part were equall to its totall and pars esset aequalis Toti Totum non esset majus quilibet suâ parte as if the part were equall to its whole and the whole were no greater then its part viz. a whole mans body then his toe a particular Church may think her self no ways bound to obey any other Church or Churches and much lesse will ten Churches think themselves bound to obey one for Obediecce is a vertue in Inferiours towards their Superiours But if all Churches be equall there can neither be Superiours nor Inferiours and consequently no obedience or disobedience 4. If a particular Church in your way desire to be obeyed by fourty Churches pretending her self to be offended by their proceedings they may think her bold in calling them to an account and that the spirits of Prophets should be subject to Prophets one rather to twenty or two thousand then twenty or two thousand to one 5. In our way a Church offending may esteem her offence greater and fear it more since she may judge her self to offend two Authorities 1. that of God and 2. that which he hath given unto the Church but in yours she cannot think her offence so great since she conceives her self to offend one authority or authoritative Power onely viz. that of God for ye acknowledge no authoritative power in the Church or Churches and so your way breedeth a plain contempt of all Church Authority 6. In denying an authoritative power the offender may think you too busie bodies in intermedling your selves with other folks matters which concerns you not so much whereas if ye granted an authoritative power unto her it should be her own proper businesse in vertue of her authoritative power received from God So also our way is more efficacious in the Churches offended 1. in breeding a greater detestation of sin 2. in making them to shun and avoyd more the company of the offender 3. in making them to conceive the Sentence to be more just c. Item if this your way be as efficacious ye need no other power in your particular Congregations over particular persons a simple admonition without any authoritative power may suffice you Ye yet say That your way is more brotherly in proceeding without an Authoritative power Answ God in the Old Testament ordained an Authoritative power in the Church and yet they were all Brethren and he knew well enough what power was convenient for Brethren 2. So likewise in particular Congregations we are all Brethren neither yet will ye banish out of them all Authority 3. 2 Kin 6.21 1 Cor 14 15 2 Cor. 6 13. and 12.14 Gal 4 19. 1 Thes
2.11 1 Tim. 1.2 Tit. 1.4 Phil 2.10 1 Ioh. 2.1.28 and 3.7 and 4.4 The Ministers and the Elders are not onely our Brethren but also our Fathers Ergo they must as well use paternall authority over us as brotherly charity towards us 4. So also combined Presbyteries or as it were Fathers of simple Presbyteries because of their greater power to judge 5. The like of this Government hath never been heard of in the world neither in State nor Common-wealth before and therefore seemeth it to us to be repugnant unto the Law of Nature for what else is the Law of Nature but the common consent of all men How absurd therefore is that Government so destitute of all authority have the sheep as great authoirty as the Sheepherd if so it is as good to be a sheep as a Sheepherd 6. If an Authoritative power cannot hold in the Church or among Churches because that we are all Brethren and Sisters no more can it hold in the State betwixt King and Subject the father and the son the master and the servant for we are all Brethren in Christ so this Foundation or Ground-work will destroy all sort of Politicall and Domesticall Authority Our Brethren would do well also to consider whether their Grounds or those of our Government will better consist with the Authority of the civill Magistrate for according to this reason a King in a State should have no power at all over his Brother 7. In the State there be divers Judicatories Superiour and Inferiour wherein the Superiour hath an authoritative power over the inferiour Ergo in the Church since there is the same reason for both viz. reparation of the offence taken at inferiour Judicatories But because ye will seem to be much addicted to the civill Magistrate as if your Ecclesiasticall Government were altogether subordinate unto his power and blame us as not giving him his due which ye note by a particular Parenthesis as if ye would have us to take particular notice of it Therefore before we end this Section we shall be very willing to do it In saying that the Presbyteriall Excommunication is no more effectuall then your Sentence of non-Communion without the Magistrates Power ye adde this Parenthesis To which we give as much and as we think more then the Principles of the Presbyteriall Government will suffer them to yeeld By whose counsell or for what end this Parenthesis is inserted and such a comparison made I know not If ye have no Politicall ayms I am assured ye comply very much with Policy If ye grant him so much ye would do well to declare how much and wherein and not to feed him with generalities and Platonicall Idees as abstract here from all matter as ye professed formerly your Church-Government was abstracted from all other Governments It is a Maxime in Philosophy and in Rhetorick both That Sermones generales non movent and praised be God that the King and Parliament are wise and will not feed upon so abstract forms As for us since ye keep your selves upon such generalities it is impossible to us to answer any thing in particular unlesse we guesse at your meaning In generall therefore we say 1. That amongst men well bred all comparisons are odious 2. That either ye give unto the civill Magistrate onely his due or something more if onely his due ye lay a very heavie aspersion upon all Presbyterians as if they were not good Subjects in denying him a part of his due If more who gave you the power to do so 3. Either ye grant him more in Civill or in Spirituall matters In Civill matters ye cannot for ye can grant him no more then he hath by the Laws of the Land whereunto we are all equally subject and therefore must grant him as much one as another If in Spirituall matters we grant him his externall power as we declared in the beginning And for intrinsecall Spirituall power 1. It is not in your power to grant him any at all neither can ye give him more Spirituall obedience then Scripture permitteth you or give him a part of the Spirituall power that ye have received of God for that were to lay upon another the burden that God hath laid upon you and so serve God by a Proctor 2. It is onely in God who is King in this Spirituall Kingdom Master in this House and a Father in this Family who can give power therein to any man we dare not be so bold If ye pretend to do it I say with the Comick Poet de te largitor puer be liberall upon your own purse 4 If ye will do so look how Authoritative is your power who take Authority over Gods Ordinance and dispose of it as if it were your own so do not the Presbyterians 5. The Civill Magistrate acknowledgeth himself to be a Politicall and no Ecclesiasticall person since he is neither Pastor nor Doctor nor Ruling Elder in Christs Church and therefore arrogateth no Spirituall Authority to himself 6. We desire to know of you Brethren what ye understand here by the Magistrate Whether the Supreme or Subaltern If the Supreme whether the King or Parliament and principally at this time If the Subaltern we ask of you Whether every Justice of Peace shall or can judge of all Ecclesiasticall matters And if he cannot whether he can be a competent Judge 7. What if the Civill Magistrate be a Papist what if some of the Kings Councell be Papists or Heterodox as some in the beginning of this Parliament were will ye grant that they judge in matters of Religion So the Turk the Antichrist and Pagans shall judge in matters of Religion amongst their Protestant Subjects If so our Protestants in France in Polonia and otherwhere are in a very fair way Its pity but such a Maxime should have been published in Queen Maries time and at Saint Bartholomews day in France at that Butchery or Massacre of Protestants 8. The Apostle 1 Cor. 6. findes fault with the Christians that did plead before Infidels in civill matters what then would he not have said if godly men would have pleaded before them and submitted matters of Religion unto their judgement 9. This power that ye grant to the Magistrate is either Internall or Externall in regard of the Church If Externall we grant it as well as ye If Internall then he must be an Ecclesiasticall Person And then 10. It should follow That a Soveraign Prince should as well be Soveraign in the Church as in the State and so Internall head of both which is derogatory to Christs Royaltie as our Doctors have sundry times cleerly demonstrated it against the Jesuites and other Papists 11. Women that are commanded to be silent in the Church should rule it and command men in it since they may be Soveraign Princes in it and over it and so Leglise tomberoit on quenvillo And if it be replyed wherefore may they not as well rule the Church as the