truly defined by St. Paul to be a departing from the faith it shall be evident that these are no Popery It is prudently uttered by King James Conf. Hamp Court pag. 75. Answ when the like was before him objected of some of these matters That no Church ought further to separate it self from the Church of Rome I may add or from any other Church either in Doctrine or Ceremony than she had departed from her self and from Christ her Lord and head And indeed it is a Popish and superstitious principle to take nothing of those Churches that are opposite to them which is an issue of their pride and arrogance R. Hook Eccles pol. l. 5. §. 68. p. 368. Calv. Epist ad Socinum 1549. vid. Et Instiâ— lib. 4. cap. 2. § 11. which some now imitate on the other side Now it must be noted ' Thot those that hold the head the confession of faith do all joyn in the root though they separate above and in the branches Hence Ecclesiam aliquam manere in Papatu There is some Church remaining in the Papacy saith Calvin Others I might name but take Zanchy's notable word for all Nescio quo singulari beneficio Dei hoc adhuc boni in Romanâ Ecclesia servari nemo non vidit nisi qui videre non vult Quod nimirum sicut semper sic nunc etiam constans firma in verâ de Deo deque personâ Domini nostri Jesu Christi doctrinâ persistit Et Baptizat in nomine Patris Filii Spiritus sancti Christumque agnoscit praedicat pro unico mundi Redemptore futuroque vivorum mortuorum judice qui veros fideles secum in aeternum vitam recepturus incredulos autem impios in aeternum ignem cum diabolo Angelis ejus ejecturus sit Quae causa est cur Ecclesiam HANC pro Ecclesia CHRISTI etiamum agnoscam sed quali Qualis ab Osea aliisque prophetis Ecclesia Israelis sub Jeroboamo deinceps fuisse describitur nunquam enim resipuit à suis fornicationibus That is I know not by what kind of special mercy of God Zanch. ep dedic ante confess suam Tom. 8. but so it is that thus much good remains in the Church of Rome which every man sees but they that will see nothing Namely that as always The Roman Church what remains found in it so now it persists firm and constant in the true doctrine concerning God and concerning the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ And Baptizeth in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Ghost And doth acknowledge and preach Christ for the onely Redeemer of the world and he that shall be the Judge of the quick and the dead Who also shall receive unto himself all true believers unto eternal life and who shall reject unto everlasting fire with the devil and his angels all unbelievers and wicked men For which reason I do in some sort acknowledge THIS for a Church of CHRIST But what kind of one namely such as the Church of Israel is described to be under Jeroboam and afterwards by Hosea and other Prophets for she never repented of her fornications Thus he Some kind of Church of Christ then it being Hence it follows first that all things in Popery are not superstitious for if a Church there must be somewhat of the Spirit of God and of Christ in them Joh. 1. Joh. 16. to guide and keep it in these truths Else why do these Brethren read the Popish writers the Jesuites and Schoolmen as some of them have the best spoak in their cart from thence and preach much of their matter and notions to their people The superstition may be either in the opinion that they had of them or the abuse they made of them which being removed the thing may be lawful even in individuo As the flesh that had been consecrated to an Idol 1 Cor. 8. even that very flesh might have been bought or eaten by the strong and those that knew the truth As God be praised our people do in the things excepted against no man putting any confidence in them but in Christ alone observing them onely for order edification and decency Secondly Some kind of respect must have been given to that Church as a Church of Christ in some sense by the Reformers both for preventing offence in respect of them abroad and for the regaining of the brethren of this Nation amongst us misled that way as the Apostle saith I become all things to all men 1 Cor. 9. ad fin that I might by all means win some If therefore what could not be thâ—n or cannot be now without danger in those respects left off be retained still the doctrine of the Church in the mean time being fully opened and professed it is charity not Popery and wisdom godly not superstition ' for we must have respect unto the weak 1 Cor. 14. Object Before we leave this If it be objected that the Church of * Homily on Whitsunday part 3. Homily of Rebellion in several places and in other Homilies England doth seem to hold the Church of Rome the seat of Anti-Christ and the Pope to be his very peson It is answered suppose it do so Answ yet doth it not therefore follow but that the Church of Rome hath something in it of a true Church 2 Thess 2. else how should Antichrist sit in the Temple of God which is his Church if the seat of Antichrist were not in some respects a Church And that the Church of England doth acknowledge that Rome hath something of a Church in it it s retaining the Baptism and Ministery of that Church it s not re-baptizing or new-ordaining those that come to it from that 2. The Mass-book doth plainly shew This for Popery and the Church of Rome in general Secondly for the Mass-book in particular Cic. Joh. 1. De Justific lib. 5. cap. 7. sit tertia propositio Missale Rom. edit Paris 1787. The Mass-book against merits Let us see whether any gold be in Ennius dung whether any good thing can come out of Nazareth and whether any truth and piety out of the Mass-book Bellarmine who knew its meaning well and in a cause wherein if any where he should have pass'd it by proves out of the Mass-book that we can have no trust nor confidence in our own work and merits for salvation but onely in the mercy of God In which as in the Master-vein doth run the life-blood of all Religion The words are a] Collectâ in sexagessimâ Deus qui conspicis quia ex nulla nostrâ actione confidimus Item b] Collect. secreta dom Adventus 2. ubi nulla suppetunt suffragia meritorum tuis nobis succurre praesidiis Item c] In canone post consecration in orat prox post comemorat pro defunct de multiâ—udine miserationum tuarum sperantib c.
the Ecclesiastical Concerning the first 1. In the Civil Controversie I closed with the one party in the civil contest for these causes whereof the one is General and Privative the other Positive and Particular The former was the grieving or resisting the Spirit of God from whom I received no small concussion about this matter especially at the coming forth of * The resolving of conscience c. Edit Cambr. 1642. Dr. Fearn's first book in opposition to the Lords and Commons in their taking up Arms against the King The authority of Scripture there urged unto which God had given me ever to bear an awful reverence the Spirit setting it on exercised me more than all his arguments But 1 being in heart enclined unto the good things the other side proposed to be contended for and 2 judging his reasons might all be answered and 3 apprehending it much concerned the cause of God and of his servants and 4 my own reputation also being pre-engaged 5 and lastly my place seeming to call for it I holding then the publick Lecture in Cambridge I took all the former reluctancy of spirit to be onely a temptation and accordingly resolved to reply On Judg. 5.23 on which Mr. St. M. had preached before of whose notions that I know of I made no use Mr. J. B. which I did the next Lords day after the publishing of that Book wherein I answered all that seemed material in that Book and so answered it That some who were of the other judgment were pleased to say that so bad a cause could not be better pleaded Upon this I was sollicited to the publishing of my Answer But coming to London and finding another had done it before but especially my spirit working too and fro betwixt resolution and fear I did suppress it But that of Zachary hath been fulfilled in me since In that day the Prophets shall be ashamed Zach. 13.5 every one of his vision when he hath prophesied And blessed be God who hath verified another also towards me viz. Thou shalt hear a voice behind thee saying Isa 30.21 This is the way walk in it when thou turnest to the right-hand and when thou turnest to the left And blessed be his Name that although I have been a rebellious child as it is in the first verse of that chapter that would not take counsel of him nor cover with the covering of his spirit yet he hath not cast me away from his presence Psal 51.11 nor taken his holy Spirit from me Deliver me from bloods O Lord thou God of my salvation A Prayer and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness The sacrifice of God is a broken spirit a broken and contrite heart O God thou wilt not despise And Vphold me O Lord with thy spirit then will I teach sinners thy ways and transgressors shall be converted unto thee Lastly Do good in thy good pleasure unto Sion build thou the walls of Jerusalem then shall they offer young bullocks upon thine altar Amen Sed irrideant nos fortes potentes Aug. confess l. 4. c. 1. nos autem infirmi inopes confiteamur tibi But let great and oveâ—-grown spirits laugh at this let us that are infirm and poor in heart confess to thee Tota palea areae ipsius irridet eum Aug. in Ps 21. in Prefat in Expos 2. gemit triticum irrideri dominum All the chaff of Christs own floor laughs at him and the good corn laments its Lords derision Thus of the general and privative cause SECT II. Particular Motives 2. THe particular follow and they were such as these 1. 1. Propounded The excellency and necessity of the things held forth to be contended for the Laws namely and the Liberties of the Nation and that which made them both most precious Religion Protestant by them established and secured 2. Next the credit that I gave unto the persons that did propound them both for their ability and for their faithfulness 3. A third was the awful opinion that I conceived of the power and authority of that place from which they seem'd to issue to wit the Parliament 4. That the exigences being such there was a virtual bond by all Laws to use remedies that were not usual 5. and lastly That examples of the like had been in Scripture among the Jews in the Primitive Church the former against Antiochus by the Maccabees the latter of the Christians against Maximinus Also in the Reformed Churches as the French Holland Scottish and owned by our former Princes and then present King defended also by our own Divines and Bishops as Jewel Abbot Bilson c. 2. Replies unto them But all these and such like as applyed to our case being put into the ballance of the Sanctuary in my eye seem much too light As touching the first my opinion and veneration of the Protestant Religion 1. Religion the Laws and Liberties of the Nation I hope is greater now than it was as I know them somewhat better But touching Religion to be defended by Arms especially of Subjects well spake the Dantzikers A notable speech of the Dantzikeâ—s in their material Letter to the Duke of Croy exhorting them to the like May 27. 1656. Evidently it doth appear say they how much the Roman-Catholicks are incensed through this war and that from thence no small persecutions yea the greatest danger may befall the Reformed Churches Vid. Mercurius Politicus Jul. 3. 1656. if God do not prevent it in his mercy We do confidently believe that no body can think or impute it to us as if God took pleasure in Apostates and Hypocrites and as if he would have Religion promoted in casting off the lawful Magistrate Note and in the slender esteem of a well grounded government Call to mind how at all times by Warrs the spirits of men grow more barbarous and inhumane Note and how the wars for Religion use commonly to extinguish Religion Thus they Note Now I call God to witness upon my soul that the sense of the dishonor done unto the Protestant Religion 2 Cor. 1. working upon my heart hath been one main occasion of further examining the grounds of those transactions and of altering my thoughts Homil. of disobedience part 4. pag. 300. And particularly one passage in the doctrine of this Protestant Church expressed in the Homily of disobedience did much affect me of which anon This for Religion 2. Then for the Laws and Liberties seeing first 2. Laws and Liberties that both Houses of Lords and Commons in all their solemn addresses to the King and that in Parliament and as such a Parliamentary body 1. Style of the H. H. do usually style themselves thus Your Majesties most humble and loyal subjects the Lords and Commons in Parliament assembled In that Remonstrance which the King saith Kings Declaration Aug. 12. 1642. Remonstr of the State of
intra quorum nos consortium non aestimatur meriti sed veniae quaesumus largitor admitte That is first O God which seest that we trust in no act or work of ours Again Where we have no help of merits do thou succour us with thy assistance Again Admit thou us into their the blessed Saints company who art not the esteemer of merit but the vouchsafer of mercy Thirdly It having been often evidenced by * Jewel in defence of the Apolog. and others ours that our Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government is much more antient than Popery properly so called although also usurped in some things by Papists what hindreth but as the vessels of the Temple defiled by Belshazzar both in drunkenness and idolatry Dan. 7. might return to their pristine use so those things that were Christs before De doctr Christ l. 2. c. 40. but usurped by them we may tanquam ab injustis possessoribus in nostrum usum vendicare take our own goods out of theevish hands as Austin Austin of the truths uttered by the Heathen But lastly because the victory over Goliah was the more remarkable the last blow being given by his own sword we shall retort the argument viz. 4. Because the Liturgy destroyeth Popery and Superstition That there ought to be no separation from the Worship and Liturgy because whilst the Common-prayer-book is of force and neither deserted nor transgressed Popery and that superstition on the one hand as a flood nor Anabaptism and Separation as a rotting distillation on the other can ever come in upon the Church And for this though I have neither strength nor armour so specious or so massy as they perhaps may have yet I shall not doubt to cast the Gantlet to any Champion of the Philistines Such was the judgment of that learned Prince King James related to by the Lord Arch-bishop of Canterbury Lord Abbot Arch-bishop of Cant. Letter with K. James instructions concerning Preachers Sept. 3. 1622. in these words His Majesty therefore calling to mind the saying of Tertullian Id verum quod primum That is true which is first And remembring with what doctrine the Church of England in her first and most happy Reformation did drive out the one and keep out the other c. He had nam'd before Popery Anabaptism and Separation I am not ignorant that Sancta Clara hath endeavoured to reconcile even our Articles of Religion with the doctrine of the Church of Rome But what communion hath light with darkness 2 Cor. 6. and what concord hath Christ with Belial and what agreement hath the Temple of God with Idols The new Jerusalem is four square the Harlot sits upon Circles * Apoc. 17.9 seven hills can they quadrare circulum But to return to the former For proof at present touching Anabaptism and Separation there is no doubt of that And for Popery the chief points thereof as opposite unto the Protestant Religion are countervened there as may appear by the Council of Trent by Bellarmine and our Rhemists the true Interpreters of that Council as our a] De S. Scripturâ in presatione Quia novus Papismus â vetere multum differt quod de omni causa Tridentinum concilium statuerit imprimâ—s quaeramus tum hujus concilii fideliss interpretes Jesuitas nostros etiam Rhemenses quia Bellarminus has causas accurate tractavit illum quasi scopum proponemus Whitaker hath it if compared with it To instance in a few particulars The first shall be that Traditiones ipsas pari pietatis affectu reverentiâ suscipit reveretur That the Traditions of the Church are to be received with the same affection and reverence b] Concil Trid. Sess 4. decret 1. as the holy Scriptures themselves And so the worship of God may be farced with them 1. Traditions as well as with the reading and preaching the holy Scripture Now the Liturgy assigneth nothing to be put into the worship but the Scriptures either those that are undoubtedly so or else such as have been of great veneration and antiquity in the Church though not received into the Canon R. Hook Eccles pol. l. 5. § 19. and which in regard of the divine excellency of some things in all and of all things in certain of them have been thought better to stand as a list or marginal border unto the Old Testament yet with this liberty that where the Minister shall perceive some one or other chapter of the Old Testament to fall in order to be read Admonition to all Ministers Ecclesiastical prefixed before the second Tome of Homilies 2. Intercession of Saints which were better to be changed with some other of the New Testament of more edification he may do it As was noted above The next may be the Medium or Mediator of our worship by whom it is to be commended unto God The Church of Rome joyn in commission with Christ the blessed Virgin the holy Apostles the Angels and the Saints departed Our Common-prayer as our Saviour in another place Luk. 1. Apoc. 5.8 Heb. 5. shuts out all this crowd and with the High-Priest when he was to offer Incense which represented the prayers of the Saints suffers no man to take this honor to himself but Christ alone in the close of the prayers adding this basis to the support of all and naming no where any other and sometime expresly excluding them by that bar only affixed unto Christ through our only Mediatour and Advocate Jesus Christ our Lord. Second Collect in the Letany and elsewhere 3. Merits A third the merit of our prayers and worship The Papists we know do attribute so much to that such a kind and number of them being said at such a place they shall merit the very merits of Christ and properly deserve a reward And that not ex congruo and of conveniency only but ex condigno and of strict justice Good works say the Rhemists On Heb. 6.10 and prayer and divine worship is a principal one even with them also be meritorious and the very cause of salvation so far that God should be unjust if he rendred not Heaven for the same But our Liturgy teacheth us that when we have offered our alms our prayers yea and have performed the very highest of divine worship the celebration of the holy Communion in the close of all to say Thanksgiving after the Communion And although we be unworthy through our manifold sins to offer unto thee any sacrifice yet we beseech thee to accept this our bounden duty and service NOT WEIGHING OUR MERITS BUT PARDONING OUR OFFENCES c. and many the like passages 4. The Sacrifice of the Mass Concil Trid. Sess 6. sub pio 4. c. 2. A fourth particular shall be the Mass wherein is pretended that the Bread after Consecration being transâ—ubstantiated into the very flesh of Christ and that elevated by the Priest with
of that body and government which is that every member and state of it is to act together with the rest For the person now excluded may perhaps afterward by power or policy get the power to him and then exercise that arbitrary power on the other and the people without the tother Now apply this If the two Houses supposing them to be such have power to impose Oaths under penalties upon the people then hath the King and Lords without the Commons and the King and Commons without the Lords By which it appeareth that voluntary taking of such an Oath doth betray the Prerogative of the King the priviledge of Parliam and the liberty of the people Seeing two powers if coordinate cannot countervene what is done and established for Law by all much less where one is Supreme to the other two So that the former Oaths and Protestations engaging for the maintenance of the Kings Prerogative the priviledges of Parliam and the liberties of the Subject makes this Oath and Covenant come clearly within the Verge of Perjury so far as I can understand as well as Treachery to all the three premised interests Yea and is expresly against the great Charter which provides 9 H. 3. Magna Charta Jud. Jenk Vindic. pag. 6. Aquin. 2.2 Q. 104. Art 6. ad tertium that no Act of Parliament binds the Subjects of this Land without the assent of the King either for person lands goods or fame To conclude this argument from the power imposing it Principes si non habent justum Principatum sed usurpatum vel si injusta praecipiant non tenentur eis subdita obedire nisi fortè per accidens propter vitandum scandalum vel periculum Governours if they have not a lawful power but an usurped one or if they command unrighteous things the people are not bound unto obedience unless perhaps by accident for the avoiding of scandal or of danger saith Aquinas The former part of which cases hath been evidenced here the latter shall be proved in the next Thirdly 3. Arg. Prouâ— the matter of the Covenant 1. Doubtful From the matter of this Oath and Covenant And first the doubtfulness of it not to insist upon that clause of swearing to preserve the Religion of the Church of Scotland in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government whereas very few do understand what these are in Scotland and so swear to they know not what For it may be there are errors in their Doctrine Superstition in their Worship defect or tyranny in their Government for ought many know which if so they sweâ—l here to preserve them so it be against the common enemy The same might be said for the priviledge of the Parliam both theirs and ours and liberties of the Kingdoms Secondly the equivocation of it For this I shall insist only on that clause in the same first Article According to the Word of God and example of the best Reformed Churches For it intends either that Scotlands Reform is according to the Word of God and the example of the best Reformed Churches or is it self such an example But Englands not 2. Equivocation Now to colour this it equivocally put in that clause as representing that they meant only according to the Word of God For proof of this When the Covenant was first published and began to be pressed my self having with many others doubt that the intention was to oblige us to the Discipline and Government of Scotland I addressed my self to two persons most eminent in their several relations Mr. Th. G. Mr. Al. Henders and as I thought best able to resolve me The former acknowledged that his own scruples were the same with mine but that he had given himself up unto the Protestant Religion and thereupon had taken it The other told me that they did not particularly engage unto any Discipline or Government but according to the Word of God as it was in the Covenant with this gilding the pill went down But soon after the Scotish Government c. was pressed by vertue of the Covenant which made me then or since reflect on that of the Apostle whatsoever is not of faith Rom. 14. ult that is of a mans own perswasion some way is sin According to that of one of the Rabbins Although thou hast six hundred advisers Apud Drusium in Proverb Rabb yet neglect not the counsel of thine own soul And that of our late Soveraign to His Majesty that now is Never saith he repose so much upon any mans single counsel Icon Basilic M. dit 27. fidelity and discretion in managing affairs of the first magnitude that is matters of Religion and Justice as to create in your self or others a diffidence of your own judgment which is likely to be alwaies more constant and impartial to the interest of Your Crown and Kingdoms than any mans And a grave Divine Dr. Sibbs Souls Conflâ—ct cap. 17. pag. edit 1. 366. and good Casuist of our own hath in giving direction for light in difficult cases this expression Where we have cause to think that we have used better means in the search of grounds and are more free from partial affections than others there we may use our own advice more safely otherwise what we do by consent from others is more secure c. Not amiss therefore did he complain that Sym. Grynaeus Ep. ded ante novum orbem Basil 1555. plerique mortales animi sui naturam ingenium parvipendentes c. est enim sapientis solius Spiritum Dei in se invenisse Most men are ignorant of and do undervalue their own endowments and judgments because it is the part only of a wise man to find the mind of the Spirit of God which is in him and what he prompts us to 3. Injuriousness to the Church of England A third evil in the matter of the Covenant is its injuriousness unto the Church of England and that in three respects First in regard of its honour It being not only the Mistress Kingdom to that of Scotland this being a feudatory of it and the Kings of England having a just title thereunto as amongst others Nic. Nich. Bodrugan alias Adams of the King of Engl. title to the Crown of Scotland Lond. 1546. Though denyed by Will. Barclay Contr. Monarcbomach Bodrugan proves unto Edward the sixt But also is the elder sister and perhaps in some sort a mother to it in Christ As having been in the Faith before it And not only receiving it first but sealing it with ten bloods of its Martyrs to one in Scotland so far as I have learned But now as it seems being old must step as the younger sister or daughter shall please to lead it Secondly it eminently injureth the Ch. of England in respect of truth of Doctrine Worship Government and Discipline insinuating plainly that it is rotten in the head and foundation of Doctrine in the heart and life
of the other Ubi videbat cruentum facinus Idem ibid. cap. 1. ibi rursum timebat reatum perjurii Ne Deum offenderet peâ—erando Deum offendit saeviendo Where he saw a bloody villany there he feared the guilt of perjury and lest he should offend God by forswearing there he offended God by cruel murdering saith the same Author Subsect 2. What the Covenant obligeth to THus far hath been shewen that the Covenant in reference to the performance of the contents of it bindeth not Yet doth it bind and oblige very strongly For Ecce sanctus David non quidem juratus sanguinem hominis fudit sed eum falsum jurasse negare quis poterit de duobus peccatis elegit miâ—us sed minus fuit illud in conparatione majoris Nam per seipsum appensum magnum malum est falsa juratio Behold holy David Aug. ubi supra cap. 3. he would not shed a mans blood though he had sworn it But who can deny but that he was forsworn of two evils he chose the least It was indeed the least in comparison of the greater but else of it self false swearing is a great sin Saith the same St. Austin Now great sins do bind and oblige unto deep repentance As Paul in another case 2 Cor. x2 ult I must bewail saith he those that committed these lasciviousnesses and have not repented Job 42. We must as Job did after he had spoken words that he understood not to God even abhor our selves and repent in dust and ashes And with the blessed Apostle we must be humbled as oft as we reflect upon it and think the worse of of our selves as long as we live as he did for his sin though not committed in light as ours was 1 Cor. 15. I am not worthy saith he to be called an Apostle because I persecuted the Church of God So every one of us I am not worthy to be called a Christian a subject of the Kings or a son of the Church because I entred into this Covenant But yet with his comfort and some kind of recompence where he had cone the wrong viz. Yet by the grace of God I am what I am that is a penitent and a convert and as a token of it I laboured more abundantly then they all that had not so offended As 't is also prophesied in this cause some should do Eicon Basilic Medit. 27. Prov. 24.21 22. And let us for the future fear God and the King and not meddle with them that are given to change the government of Church and State for their destruction hath come suddenly and who foreknew the ruine of them both i. e. those that have both deserted God in his Church and the King in the State and Common-wealth Prov. 1.10 And if hereafter sinners in that kind entice thee consent thou not no though they should say Come we will have all one purse For they lay wait for their own blood as we have seen And let us not deceive our selves one horn of this dilemma will wound us Either the Covenant is to be literally kept or else repented of Remember palliations expositions and evasions here will do no good Prov. 28.13 Psal 32. Numb 32.23 For he that covereth this sin shall not prosper And whilst we hold our peace our bones will consume through Gods heavy hand upon us And our sin will find us out For there is no darkness nor shadow of death Job 34.22 where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves saith Elihu And thus far of the general exceptions against the Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government of the Church of England viz. That they are unnecessary inconvenient humane inventions Apocryphal Popish not established by Law And an Engagement and Covenant for the removing or reforming of them CHAP. III. Grounds of Separation and Exceptions particular against the Matter of the Premises SECT I. Against the Articles or Doctrine 2. Exceptions particular against the matter of the premises Independents excepts not Apologet. narrat pag. 29. PRoceed we now unto the Exceptions particular namely against the matter of the Doctrine Worship Assemblies Discipline and Government And first of those against the Articles or Doctrine The Independent or dissenting Brethren acknowledge That in the review and examination of the Articles of our Church so are their words our judgments say they have still concurred with the greatest part of our Brethren neither do we know wherein we have dissented Some Presbyters now do But certain of the Presbyterian Brethren do dissent and object against them first doubtfulness secondly error thirdly tyranny in the act requiring subscription Necessity of Reform pag. 1. c. 1. Doubtfulness and fourthly defectiveness and imperfection First doubtfulness because in the book of Articles now printed and ever since 10 Carol. 1. there is a declaration of his late Majesty to the Articles to this effect 1. That those Articles contain the true Doctrine of the Church of England agreeable to Gods Word 2. That the Clergy upon just occasion may have liberty from the King Kings deelar before the Articles under the Broad Seal to deliberate on such things as make for the establishment of the same doctrine yet so that no varying in the least degree should be endured 3. That no man should put his own sense upon them but take the Articles in the literal and grammatical sense pag. 2. whence the Brethren infer that by this Declaration no Minister shall have liberty to interpret any one of these Articles And therefore they will remain doubtful But first Answ 1 this doubtfulness is not per se and in the Articles themselves but per accidens and in reference to this declaration Again though they are prohâ—bited to put any Answ 2 new sense as the King speaks or their own sense as the Judge in Smiths case Necessity of Reform p. 5. yet are they not forbidden to explain the literal and grammatical sense The Scripture in the fundamentals of salvation also the Laws and Acts of Parliament are so to be taken and yet Divines there and Judges here have ever been allowed to open those senses or else the one must not preach nor the other declare Law Thirdly when unto that liberty Answ 3 granted to the Clergy there is this restraint expresly put upon it viz. That from the Doctrine established the least varying shall not be endured and that nothing shall be concluded contrary to the Laws and Customs of the Land is there not a fair assurance that the present doctrine shall remain fixed and that if any heterodox sense shall be put upon them it shall be lawful to oppose the literal and grammatical sense whether in the Article or Explication Fourthly when the Declaration Answ 4 saith We will that all further curious search be laid aside and these disputes shut up in Gods promises as they be generally set forth unto us in the holy
men The Br. object Tyranny to Q. Eliz. and the Parl. which is not to be imagined To this first in general If this Reason be admitted it doth not only overthrow all constitutions that concern Religion whether made by Church or State whensoever any turbulent spirit shall fancy them not to be according to the Word And to all States and Churches But it condemns also all the Reformed Churches yea all the Churches and Christian States that are or ever have been I think in the world And particularly majorem in modum and in a special manner the Church of Geneva Ch. of Geneva requires conformity by Oath Revel 13.11 and Calvins Discipline where they are obliged thereunto by oath But to the dilemma in particular neither of the two Horns of this Lamb that speaks like a Dragon have any strength Have they forgotten or never learned that boyes are taught in the very rudiments of Logick and reasoning Kek. Log l. 3. c. 12. can 7. Quod per bonam consequentiam ex testimonio aliquo divino elicitur id EANDEM cum eo vim habet That what by good consequence is drawn from Scripture hath the same force that Scripture hath Did not our Saviour and all the Apostles prove their Doctrine so unto those that received nothing from them but what they proved Do not the Brethren think their Sermons and this their Book ought to be obeyed absolutely and in all the points they have excepted And indeed a good consequence is nothing but a natural effect Consequences And an effect is of the same nature with its cause yea as one saith nothing else but the cause in act or at least the cause is in the effect R. Hook l. 5. so is Scripture in the true consequénces of it And yet subscription to such conclusions do not argue the Authors to be infallible but only to be eyes unto the weaker-sighted to see the light by Tert. Advers Haeret. Omnia quidem dicta Domini omnibus posita sunt quae per aures judaeorum ad nos pervenerunt Gods Word is propounded unto all but it comes to us by the ears and so by the eyes of others And because men are called to subscribe and not children who should have their eyes their subscription only acknowledgeth that the Church and State have taken a true sample from the original leaving this still as the standard as prior tempore ordine naturâ dignitate Such are all the true determinations of Judges in reference to the Law as Deut. 17. They shall expound the Law to thee And the disobedient there was punished with death for contempt of the sentence of the Church and State and yet their determinations were not of equal authority but of equal force with the Law it self So here Secondly To the other horn of this Lamb or dilemma That else the statute did intend to tyrannize over the conscience which they say is not to be imagined Oportuit esse memorem Answ Did not the Brethren in the very lines immediately going before acknowledge yea urge it as an argument out of Sir Edw. Coke who saith He heard Wray Chief Justice of the K. Bench Pasch 23 Eliz. quoting Dier 23 Eliz. 377. lib. 6. fol. 69. Greens case Smiths case report that where one Smith subscribed to the 39 Articles of Religion with this addition so far forth as the same were agreeable to the Word of God that it was resolved by him and all the Judges of England that this subscription was not according to the Statute of Eliz 13. Because the Statute required an absolute subscription and this subscription made it conditional And that this Act was made for avoiding diversity of opinions c. And by this additâ—on the party might by his own private opinion take some of them to be against the Word of God and by this means diversity of opinions should not be avoided which was the scope of the Statute and the very Act it self made touching subscription hereby by of none effect Thus far their own quotation So then it is evident by the words themselves quoted just before and by the sentence of all the Judges of England that the Statute requireth absolute subscription which if it do they say it did intend to tyrannize over the consciences of men So then Q. Eliz. and that Parl. with all the Kings and Parliaments since that have confirmed that Act were Tyrants It concerns the present Parl. to vindicate their predecessors in this point also To what they add concerning mens subscribing when they are young Subscription of young men and before their judgments be mature It is answered first Those admitted to the Ministry though they may be as Timothy was but young in age yet they are not to be Novices in knowledge And Subscription is a good bond upon them Use of subscription both for the peoples good and their own to preserve them from novelties and apostacy But so that no man is engaged against the Word of God I hope then they will not urge the obligation of the Covenant upon those who have not had time or solidity throughly to ponder and weigh all the Articles thereof in the ballance of the Sanctuary and in the scale of the Law as they phrase it To the last of this head The liberty given to tender consciences Liberty to tender consciences is to be in things of lesser not of fundamentall consequence and in the Articles of the Faith for then how should the Magistrate be custos utriusque tabulae How should the Prince perform his trust of the souls as well as the bodies estates and names of his people How should there be one God one Faith one Baptisme in a particular Church and we all with one mouth glorifie God This is also against the practice of all Churches we have no such custome 1 Cor. 11. nor the Churches of God Thus much in reply to their three general first object against the Articles 1. Their doubtfulnesse 2. Their erroniousness and 3. The exacting of subscription to them I come now to the fourth viz. Their defectiveness and imperfection Defectiveness of the Artic. Where the first Exception is that Art 6. it is said that In the name of the holy Scripture we understand those Canonical Books of the Old and New Testament of whose Authority there was never any doubt in the Church The Brethren oppose that some Books and passages of the New Testament have been doubted of as the Epistle of James the second Epistle of Peter The Article they say is defective in not enumerating all the Books of the New Testament as it had done those of the Old and of the Apocrypha comprehending them only under this expression All the Books of the New Testament as they are commonly received These words of the Article being the former contains no matter of doctrine namely those of which there was never any doubt in the
of that Church challenging them all John 8.46 exp if they could tax him of sin that is of failing in any duty that he owed to the Church as well as other things which they would have readily done had he failed We have besides this his Precepts and Directions in this very case That namely where the peril is Mat. 13.37 c. that the Corn should be plucked up it is his will that the tares should rather be suffered to grow until the Harvest which himself expounds to be at the end of the World which place is with more mirth Apolog. cap. 12. p. m. 90. than either strength or modesty derided by Mr. Robinson in his Defence of Separation Object 1 For although it be said The field is the World yet it is onely the World where the Gospel is published Resp and where the Corn and Cocle grow together as those that are generated by the Word Vers 47. as evidently appears by the Parable of the Draw-net which is said expressy to gather both good and bad and that the Separation should be made at the end of the World Again when he saith That that Particle Suffer them to grow till the Harvest Object 2 is not repeated in the expounding of that Parable of the Tares by our Saviour Resp it is answered That it is impliedly repeated and expounded in that he saith The Harvest is the end of the World having said before that the Tares if the Wheat be in peril by their plucking up should be suffered till then there was therefore no necessity of repeating that Particle Object 3 That he saith The Text it self and Reason sheweth that he speaketh not of Excommunication but of final rooting out unto perdition Resp This is begged not proved nor can be granted For it is a general expression and may include all cutting off in such case either in this World or at the end of it Lastly whereas he saith Object 4 Though that should be granted yet the very Constitution of our Assemblies which he makes the ground of all others the corruptions in them being naught Resp because the Members were constrained by Laws whether they were good or bad willing or nilling to embrace the Gospel and that therefore this Parable is not applicable to them SECT II. Causes constitutive of the Church of England WE reply That whereas unto the constitution of any thing in its proper Being there is required onely two things first right matter and secondly the due form And the matter of the Church being indeed as he cryeth A holy people Rom. Corinth Galat. and sanctified in Christ Jesus as by the Titles and Directions of the Apostolical Epistles and otherwise doth appear The Form also being a profession of repentance and faith or the Covenant of Grace in Christ Jesus owned and an association thereby in the Society of Saints Robins ubi supra p. 81. The Church of England will appear a sound Church in both and not to be separated from First 1. Matter of the Church of England for the matter of the Church A holy people and sanctified in Christ Jesus or visible Saints We must here premise a twofold distinction First of the Church which is either mystical or visible then of Saints which are either real or appearing Now the matter of these Churches are correspondent to the nature of them The members of the Church mystical are real Saints onely the members of the visible are Saints visible Now a person visible in any profession A visible Professor is he who understandeth the general grounds of it owneth them and acteth accordingly nor doth any thing whereby the main of that Profession is overthrown Now the people of the Church of England do generally know the grounds of the Faith expressed in the Creed and expounded in the Catechism which the Church appoints to be taught to all before they come to the Communion and to be professed by them Next they own this Profession And they neither in opinion nor practice do that which necessarily overturneth this Profession generally though in many things they and we as Saint James speaks offend all James 3. And this Principle is owned by other Reformed Churches Epist 284. pag. 322. edit 2. The Church of Geneva and Calvin among them doth acknowledge That forasmuch as men remain in the visible Church till they utterly renounce the Profession of Christianity Church of Geneva's Judgement in this point we may not deny unto Infants their right by withholding from them the publick sign of holy Baptism if they be born where the outward acknowledgement of Christianity is not clean gone and extinguished Vbicunque non prorsus intereidit vel extincta fuit Christianismi professio fraudantur jure suo Infantes si à communi symbolo arcentur And this also is acknowledged in practice even by the Belgick Churches Apol. cap. 12. Belgick Christian Church Judgement also which Mr. Robinson so predicates for the liberty they have for they also Baptize the Infants of all which surely they could not do if they judged not their Parents matter of the visible Church and Saints by calling in respect of their outward profession The general Profession of a Jew though he should do some things contrary and of a Turk and the partaking of those signs and symbols which are notes of that Profession doth constitute them such Our people therefore owning the Christian Faith and partaking of the Ordinances and living visibly under them and not living so as if they did beleeve nothing of their profession though failing much doth constitute them visible Saints and the matter of a Church If any be very exorbitant the Discipline of the Church and the Laws of the Nation which are a part of christian Discipline are to reform him 2. Form of the Church of England constitutive Next for the Form The profession of Faith and Repentance and formal covenanting We are here to note That there is a formal and a virtual Covenanting or rather a Covenanting immediately in our own person or by a Deputy as in Law a man may answer by his Attorney So all the Churches of England do formally make Profession of their Faith and Repentance and enter into Covenant at their Baptism and do personally repeat it themselves in the rendering account of their Catechism at confirmation and before the Lords Supper which is the express Injunction of the Church Rubrick after Confirmation if it be neglected this is not to be imputed to the Church though indeed for substance it is not neglected neither are any usually admitted to the Holy Communion but such as give an account of their faith and are not scandalous in their lives As for the Objection That they were forced to this Object 1 by the Law at the Reformation We are to consider ibid. Answ 1 First Forcing to Religion That Christianity was received voluntarily in
King James's Proclamation for Uniformity of Common-prayer prefixed to some Editions of the Liturgy which by Law was established in the daies of the late Queen of famous memory blessed with a peace and prosperity both EXTRAORDINARY and of many years continuance A STRONG evidence that God was therewith well pleased The importunity of the complainers was great their affirmations vehement and the zeal wherewith the same did seem to bee accompanied very specious And they began such proceedings as did rather raise a scandal in the Church than take offence away and did other things carrying a very apparent shew of Sedition Upon this double experience when such motions of change were made to him hee * In his Proclamation for unity of Common-Prayer and confer H. Court crushed the chicken here in the shell lest it being hatched by indulgence might pick out his eyes as it did afterward some others and did well King Charls His Majesties Father yeelded in these things to Scotland but doth not obscurely bewail it If any saith hee speaking of Episcopacy shall impute my yeelding to them my failing and sin Icon. Basilic medit 17. p. m. 156. I can easily acknowledge it On the issue whereof no man can without horrour reflect Now Faelix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum O happy hee whom others failings make Wise to become and by them warning take But it may be times are different and am I made of the Kings Counsel I conclude all 2 Chron. 25.16 Erasm in Epist Hieron ad Heliodor Tom. 1. Ep. 1. in Antidot advers calumniam first with that of Erasmus Ad haec video esse non-nullos hujuscemodiingenio ut cùm apicula ad omnem flosculum ad omnem advolans fruticem tantum id excerpat quod ad mellificium sit conducibile ipsi solum hoc venentur si quid sit quod aliquo pacto Calumniari possint His mos est è toto libro quatuor aut quinque verba decerpere atque in eis calumniandis ostendere quantum ingenio polleant Non animadvertunt quibus temporibus cui Causes of calumniating of an Author qua occasione quo animo scripserit ille Neque conferunt quid praecesserit quid sequatur quid alio loco eadem de rescripserit Tantum urgent ac premunt quatuor illa verba ad ea machinas omnes admovent Syllogismorum detorquent depravant aliquoties non intellecta calumniantur That is I perceive saith Erasmus that some men are of that disposition that whereas the little Bee flyes to every flower and to every green thing onely that it may gather that whereof it would make honey these men only hunt after that which they may rail at The custome of such men is out of a whole book to cull out four or five words and in reviling of them to shew what abilities they have They consider not in what times the Author wrote nor to what persons nor upon what occasion nor with what intention Nor do they compare what went before with what follows after what hee said of the same matter in another place Onely they urge those four words they wrest they deprave and sometimes reproach what they understand not Thus far hee Next with that elegant and prudent observation absit invidia verbo of our late Soveraign upon this same Argument Icon. Basilic Medit. 27. To His Majesty that now is Not but that saith hee the draught being excellent as to the main both for Doctrine and Government in the Church of England some liues as in very good figures may happily need some sweetening or polishing Which might have easily been done by a safe and gentle hand if some mens praecipitancy had not violently demanded such rude alterations as would have quite destroyed all the beauty and proportion of the whole Thus the King The close of all Dr. Usher L. Primate of Armagh Serm. before the H. of Com. Febr. 18. 1620. pag. 6 7. Rom. 16.17 I seal up all with the grave admonition of a Primate Bishop and the Authentique Decision of this case by a Prince of Kings Let not every wanton wit saith the former to one of the Houses of Parliament bee permitted to bring what fancies hee list into the pulpit and to disturb things that have been well ordered I beseech you Brethen saith the Apostle mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which yee have learned and avoid them Howsoever wee may see cause why wee should dissent from others in matter of opinion yet let us remember that that is no cause why wee should break the Kings Peace and make a rent in the Church of God A thing deeply to bee thought of by the Ismaels Ismaels of our time whose hand is against every man Gen. 16.12 and every mans hand against them who bite and devour one another until they bee consumed one of another Gal. 5.15 who forsake the fellowship of the Saints and by sacrilegious separation break this bond of peace Little do these men consider how precious the Peace of the Church ought to be in our eyes to bee redeemed with a thousand of our lives and of what dangerous consequence the matter of Schism is unto their own souls For howsoever the Schismatick secundum affectum as the Schoolmen speak in his intention and wicked purpose taketh away unity from the Church even as hee that hateth God taketh away goodness from him as much as in him lyeth yet secundum effectum in truth and in very deed hee taketh away the unity of the Church onely from himself that is hee cutteth himself off from being united with the rest of the body and being dissevered from the body how is it possible that hee should retain communion with the head Thus that most learned Primate Note for whom the Brethren seem to have a special reverence in recommending of his Model of Episcopacy Necessit Reform p. 53. Wherein yet hee did propound but not prescribe his â—udgement according to that Seneca Illi qui in his rebus nobis praecesserunt non Domini sed Duces nostri sunt or as the Apostle as a helper 2 Cor. 1.24 not as a Lord over the Faith of the Church in this particular but especially as respecting the time when more could not well bee hoped for The last word as 't is meet shall bee the Kings and 't was his deciding one in these controversies after hearing of all debates about them at the conference at Hampt Court Proclamat for authorizing the book of Com. prayer at the close And last of all saith hee wee do admonish all men that herereafter they shall not expect nor attempt any further alteration in the common and publick form of Gods service from this which is now ESTABLISHED For that neither will wee give way to any to presume that our own judgement having determined in a matter of this weight shall bee sweighed to
alteration by the FRIVOLOUS suggestions of any LIGHT spirit Neither are wee ignorant of the inconveniences that do arise in GOVERNMENT by admitting INNOVATIONS in things once SETTLED by mature deliberation and how necessary it is to use CONSTANCY in the upholding of the publick determinations of states for that such is the unquietness and unstedfastness of some dispositions affecting every year NEW forms of things as if they should bee followed in their unconstancy would make all actions of state RIDICULOUS and contemptible Whereas the stedfast maintaining of things by good advice established is the weal of Common-Wealths Thus far of the first point of Independency viz. Separation the second and third Congregation and non Subjection have been spoken to above and of the causes of my recess from the Church thereunto with responsals to them Wherein for the clearing of things I have been much larger than my self intended But yet Absit enim ut multiloquium deputem quando necessaria dicuntur quantalib Sermonum multitudine ac prolixitate dicantur Aug. God forbid dhat I should count that Aug. Prolog in lib. Retract multitude of words when nothing is said but what is necessary although it be uttered with never so great a number of speeches or length of discourse saith S. Austin CHAP. IX The Proof and Tryal of these Retractations SECT I. LEt mee now subjoyn a certain proof and as it were divine tryal or attestation of these Retractations and then I shall conclude and dismiss the Reader It is one of the gracious providences which Almighty God exerciseth towards his Servants to put them to the tryal of their Faith and Profession 1 Cor. 3. 1 Pet. 1. and that by fire So the Apostle That the tryal of your Faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth though it be tryed by fire c. Hence hee smites them into the place of Dragons and covers them with the shadow of death that by extremity being put to examine their grounds if they were insufficient they might not dye for Psal 44.20 or in them and if good they might stick the closer to them Hereupon oftentimes sufferings sickness and the approach of death occasions the repenting of those things whereof men have been very confident Vid. The speeches of the Gent. that suffered as communicated by the publick intelligencer Mr. Cook As appeared now of late in the sad Example of those Gentlemen who suffered about the death of our late Soveraign As may bee seen on publication of the speeches of some of them and the wonderful consternation and unpreparedness for death of Mr. Peters And touching Mr. Cook I remember that hee being of the Independent opinion and writing a book for that way wrote also soon after the death of the King a vindication and defence of that his act Wherein hee much glorieth in the office hee performed in that affair Sollicitor as I take it he was and among other things hath these That hee was indifferent whether hee dyed by a stab or a pistol or by a Feaver or Consumption That in his pleading against other malefactors hee used to tremble but that in his actings against the King his blood sprung in his veins Yet wee hear he was of another minde at his death but whether so or no I insist not on it The prophane Schism of the Brownists chap. 7. pag. 41. And there is remarkable story in a Book intitled The prophane Schism of the Brownists written by some that had been in that seduction of a certain Minister one Mr. Gilgate who was misled that way and of Mr. Ainsworths company Who lying on his sick-bed and in peril of death uttered by way of repentance these most savoury and considerable words O Lord rebuke mee not in thine anger Psal 6. neither chastise mee in thy wrath for thine arrows have light upon mee and thine hand lieth upon mee There is nothing sound in my flesh because of thine anger neither is there rest in my bones because of my sin c. Having now long time been afflicted with sharp and grievous sickness whereby it hath pleased God to bring mee into more serious and deep consideration of my estate Note in separating from the Churches of Christ and still finding my separation to bee more unlawful the more I consider the same And while I felt my felt at the weakest and sickest and so pressed with the force of my disease that I even doubted of life I left my conscience most pressed with desire Note to revoke my separation And therefore do now think it my duty before I bee taken away hence and bee found no more or howsoever the Lord shall dispose of mee by life or death to give testimony to the truth whereof I am perswaded in my soul And as mine own disease and the hand of God stretched out upon mee The disease of the separation moveth mee to consider and testifie these things so the disease of the separation and the hand of God which I see to be stretched out a-against it doth also draw mee on the other side unto the same thing The disease of the separation is a hot and burning disease that consumeth and destroyeth many with the poisonous and contagious heat thereof of every company among them is a flame of condemnation to devour another The boyl of their contention swelleth and burneth incessantly and they have yet no poultess to break it nor any oyl to mollifie the same Then speaking of Mr. Ainsworth's and Mr. Johnson excommunicating one anothers members with much bitterness hee addeth It appears they never travelled in pain of them Note they never begot them by their Ministry but having seduced and stolen these children from the sides of other true Churches the right Mothers in whose womb they they were regenerate and born anew they are now become hard-hearted c. Like the false Mother that would have the childe divided And a little after I do now by this writing unfeignedly acknowledge my sin to bee great in renouncing the communion with so many faithful servants of God with whom once I lived Church of England Note In the Church of England I sinned against and dishonoured his name in refusing to hear the word of life preached in those Assemblies The life comfort and salvation that I expect and hope for in the Kingdome of Heaven is by the Faith of the Gospel preached in that Church and preached there with more power fruit and efficacy Note than I ever yet heard in the Churches of the Separation Then speaking of the Lady C. that desired to be in that way hee adds But for my part having now had sufficient experience of their waies I do freely acknowledge and profess in this bed of my sickness from which I know not whether ever I shall arise unto my former health that it should bee my great comfort to dye in the communion of those Churches