the Catholicks have from Antiquity If some of the soberest of the Jesuites such as Peâ—avius and Sirmondus would for the love they bear to peace subscribe the Augustan Confession it might be much for the honour but could not be for the prejudice of our Religion for if we rejoyce for the Conversion of now and then a Iew why not for that of a Iesuite also Again supposing that Grotius had been able in his own sense to subscribe the Trent Articles in order to the peace and unity of Christendom it would no more be an Evidence of his being turnd Papist than of any Papist's turning Protestant who should subscribe the Augustan Confession * Compare this with Sect. 12. The very utmost of your Objections against Grotius is that he design'd to deal with the Articles of Trent as Sancta Clara with the Articles of the Church of England to wit by drawing them aside to another Sence than what is most obvious in the words themselves And admit it were so indeed yet 1. He had better grounds for it than Sancta Clara to wit the places of Scripture and Ancient Doctors in the Margin which may be used as a Key to unlock their meaning when it is Doubtful And if the meaning of the Text is truely agreeable to the Margin there is then a just ground of publick peace in case the Scripture and Antiquity do contain a good meaning which I hope you will not refuse to grant me 2. But however you must be minded that this is a thing which the Papists do most of all blame in our Reconciler to wit his assuming so great a liberty as to misinterpret their Definitions Just as we who are Protestants do lay a blame upon Sancta Clara for misexpounding our Articles against our mind From whence notwithstanding the Papists were never so irrational as to conclude that Franciscus à Sanctâ Clarâ turn'd Protestant Much less may we infer that Grotius turn'd Papist from his making their Doctrins comply with Scripture who had wrested the Scripture to serve their Doctrins 3. If he could find a sense in the words of Trent which being agreeable to Scripture and to the Protestant Confession might be by Protestants subscribed to what hurt were it to us or gain to them Even This would evince him to be no â—apist For if he were what need could there be of such commodious Explications 4. Adde to this as I said before Sect. 12. his Quâ—d si praeterea Quod sâ— praetereâ— tollantur ista quae cum piâ istâ Doctrinâ pugnant c. But if besides not and if as you translate it noting this to be required yet further towards a peace before the peace-Maker himself can rest contented that all the Errors of the Papacy be taken away which having never been introduced by Authority of Councils or ancient Tradition meaning no other Councils then what are ancient agreeable to the Tradition which comes immediately after he resolves may be Reformed by Kings and Bishops in their several Regions without the making of any Breach in the Church of God 5. And once for all let it be noted That Grotius his use of that * Especially taking in an old Tradition c. p. 386. phrase which you lately perverted to your own ends is onely to signify against the Romanist's Errors that they are not introduced by antient Tradition and therefore wanting that Authority to which they lay a dishonest claim they are unquestionably fit to be taken away Discuss p. 71. Sect. 15. What you recite out of Grotius in your p. 387. Must receive its true sense from the words of the Author before and after You must observe the Resolution both in France and else where * Inâ—eâ—im in Galliâ alibi Duo constare video neque pro Concilio universali lâ—abendum id quod à Patriarchalibus fedibus aut omnibus aut plurimis est improbatum c. That no one Council is to be reckon'd for universall which is disliked either by all or by the major part of the Patriarchal Sees This then must assure us what his Notion is of Councils when he speakes of them in gegerall without naming which And for the passage which you cite I pray Sir tell me Hath not France the Scriptures and the Dogmata that is the Doctrins in this place not the opinions as you translate it explained in the four Oecumenical Councils and also the Decrees against Pelagius If so why do you quarrell if not why do you say that you esteem that Nation an honorable part of the Church of Christ Grot. Rel. p. 10. If you did not strive to deceive your Reader why did you not faithfully translate the passage but purposely leave out the speciall words which would have served to clear their Author you know his sentence is plainly this That in those Churches which joyne with the Roman In Ecclesiis illis non Scriptura tantùm manet sed dogmata explicata in Magnis Synodis Nicaena Constantinop Ephesinâ Chalcedonensi Discuss p. 71. not onely the Scripture doth still remain but the Doctrins also explained in the GREAT COUNCILS Those of Nice Constantinople Ephesus Chalcedon and the Things decreed against Pelagius by the Bishops of Rome But in your Translation you neither express the word Great which is of vast consequence nor do you name so much as one of the four Great Councils As if you were willing that your Readers should imagin he might meane some partiall and trivial Councils and lay as much weight upon such as those as if indeed he had been a Papist Now concerning the Canons of those great Councils for Reformation of manners in the Bishop of Rome which Grotius call's for that reason Egregious Constitutions They are also received by Rome it self And were they put in execution there could not be any such thing as Popery Because according to those Canons the Bishop of Rome must quit his claim to the Universality of his Pastorship or to his being an Vniversal Iudicial Head and must leave the Church to be govern'd by her severall Primates Hence it t is that such wise and pacifick Protestants as Melanchthon Isaac Casaubon Grotius and Bishop Bramhall do still exact a Reformation Secundum Canones Yet this is but one of those many things for which good Canons have been enacted And thus you see at every turne how very little you were qualified to intermeddle in these Things Sect. 16. The next passage you translate in as fraudulent a manner as any other Discuss p. 48. Read and Repent what you have done These are the things which thanks be to God the Catholicks do not thus believe though many that call themselves Catholicks so live as if they did believe them But Protestants so live by force of their Opinions and Catholicks by the decay of Discipline p. 387. First you omit the word Quidam which is of greatest moment to shew the meaning of the
with which you have any the least Agreement Reduce your proof then a second time into a syllogisme truly made and your case will be alter'd but nothing mended Your fall into the Fire will indeed be regular but you will get no more by it than if you continue in the frying-pan For your truly form'd Syllogism will be but thus whosoever hath none but a Deacon or Deacons to attend him is a Primitive Bishop A Presbyter hath â—one but a Deacon or Deacons to attend him Therefore a Presbyter is a Primitive Bishop Here the matter is as untoward as the Form was before The Major proposition being admirably false For though a man may be a Bishop who hath no more to attend him when no more are to be had and that because no more are needfull which is the thing that Dr. Hammond hath often taught you yet his having no more doth not prove him to be a Bishop which was the thing to be proved from Dr. Hammond When Ignatius reckons the Three Orders Bishops Priests and Deacons 't is as impossible for him to meane that Priests are Bishops as that Deacons are Priests For though every Bishop is a Priest it can no more follow that every Priest is a Bishop than it can possibly follow that every Animal is a man because it is true that every man is an Animal A Primitive Bishop and a meer Presbyter may have a Conversion per Accidens and another conversion by Contraposition but a simple conversion they cannot have To say they can without proof is but the begging of the Question which being sure to be denyed you I shall advise you to beg no more I will conclude this subject with a remarkable passage of Mr. Thorndike And I will do it so much the rather because the weightiness and the price of that excellent Volume may probably keep it from the perusal of vulgar Readers who onely meddle with the cheapest Bookes Mr. Thorndik's judgement of Presbyt Ordinations c. In his Epilogue to the Tragoed Of the Ch. of Engl. Concl. p. 408. The Presbyterians sometimes pleade their Ordination in the Church of England for the authority by which they ordaine others against the Church of England to do that which they received authority from the Church of England to do provided that according to the order of it A thing so ridiculously senseless that common reason refuseth it Can any state any society do an act by virtue whereof there shall be right and authority to destroy it Can the Ordination of the Church of England proceeding upon supposition of a solemn promise before God and his Church to execute the ministry a man receiveth according to the order of it inable him to do that which he was never ordained to do Shall he by failing of his promise by the act of that power which supposed his promise receive authority to destroy it Then let a man obtaine the Kingdom of Heaven by transgressing that Christianity by the undertaking whereof he obtained right to it They are therefore meer Congregations voluntarily constituted by the will of those all whosâ— acts even in the sphere of their ministry once received are become voide by their failing of that promise in consideration whereof they were promoted to it Voide I say not of the crime of Sacriledge towards God which the usurpation of Core constituteth but of the effect of Grace towards his people For the like voluntary combining of them into Presbyteries and Synodes createth but the same equivocation of words when they are called Churches to signifie that which it visible by their usurpation in point of fact not that which is invisible by their authority in point of right For want of this authority whatsoever is done by virtue of that usurpation being voide before God I will not examine whether the form wherein they execute the Offices of the Church which they think fit to exercise agree with the ground and intent of the Church or not Onely I charge a peculiar nullity in their consecrating the Eucharist by neglecting the Prayer for making the elements the dody and blood of Christ without which the Church never thought it could consecrate the Eucharist Whether having departed from the Church Presbyteries and Congregations scorne to learne any part of their duty from the Church least that might seem to weaken the ground of their departure or whether they intend that the elements remaine meer signes to strengthen mens faith that they are of the number of the elect which they are before they be consecrated as much as afterwards the want of consâ—cration rendering it no Sacrament that is ministred the ministring of it upon a ground destructive to Christianity renders it much more Immoderatâ— viâ—ulence towards those of the Episcopal way Sect. 39. I now returne to your long Preface from whence I stept into your book that the things of one Nature might be consider'd together in one Head That for which I am next to complain of you unto your self is your immoderate bitternesse to the Episcopal way and to the men of all qualities who dare to own it Many Gushes of it there are of which I will here transcribe a few * Praef. to Disp. of Church-Gov p. 17. We see that most of the ungodly in the land are the forwardest for your waies You may have almost all the Drunkards Blasphemers and Ignorant haters of godliness in the Country to vote for you and if they durst againe to fight for you at any time The spirit of prophaneness complyeth with you Ibid. and doteth on you in all places that ever I was acquainted in * Grot. Rel. p. 113. should one of you now pretend to be the Bishop of a Diocess you would have a small Clergy and none of the best and the people in most Parishes that are most ignorant drunken prophane unruly with some civil persons of your mind c. * P. 114. The cause of their love to Episcopacy is because it was a shadow if not a shelter to the Prophane heretofore and did not trouble them with discipline and because they troubled and kept under the Puritanes whom they hated But if you did not exercise Discipline on them your Churches would be but the very sinks of all other Churches about you to receive the filth that they all cast out and so they would be so great a reproach to Episcopacy that would make it vile in the eyes of sober men So that a Prelatical Church would in the common account be near kin to an Alehouse or Tavern to say no worse * â— 11â— So that for my part were I your enemy I would wish you a toleration but being really a friend to the Church and you I shall make a better motion c. Whilst you rail at this rate not onely without but against all reason nor onely beside but against your own knowledge as if it were your design to be voted for an ill
Brethren did think and if they did rightly understand you How often therefore are you pleading that they do misunderstand you And against all their misunderstandings you write a thick bâ—â—k in quaâ—to for the confession of your Faith If the diseases had not been numerous I suppose you had been shâ—rter in your prescribing the means of cure Grotius his Ghost may well make much shorter work even by telling you in a word that you knew not his mind nor understood his designes in writing Notes upon Cassander which were onely Pâ—cifick not Apostatick and so your whole Fabrick is very speedily at an end And the one remaining Engine whereby to keep up Presbytâ—rianism to wit the jealoâ—sies and feares of the deep Grotian design so deep indeed as not to have the least bottom in the very same instant doth vanish also Popery disâ—claimed as well by Grotius and Mr. P. as by Mr. Baxter Sect. 8. You proceed to tell me that if any shall gather from your words my being such my sâ—lf as you say you manifest Grotius to have been you protest against such accusations as no part of your intention But you say I have given too much occasion of them by my vindication and that 't is in my power to remove that occâ—sion by disowning what in Grotius I dislike Sect. 3. A fair expedient to conclude this controversie to allow Grotius the same quarter which is given to me as his Advocate If I shall disown what you dislike this shall vindicate me from being a Bapist The like privilege you imply is due to Grotius First for my self I declare that I am none And if Grotius was a Papist then he and I are of two Religions But secondly for Grotius he hath also disowned his being a Papist as well as you and my self And that may suffice for his vindication If you will disown what is disliked by your adverse brethren you will remove that occasion which they took to call you Papist and Sâ—cinian But you will say it is enough that you disclaim being either Grotius was for an Union so is the Spirit of Peace and Unity presupposing a Reformation secundum Canones in respect of the Papal power and presupposing a Reformation of the form of Doctrine according to antiquity and universal Tradition as the best Expositors of Scripture where Scripture is not agreed to expound it self This is according to the Rule of Vincentius Lirinensis of all the Fathers of the Church and of the late Acute King in his Dispute against Henderson who is acknowledged by you to have been no Papist p. 105 106. though calumniated as such you know by whom And however you are said to have fought against him yet I observe that in this and some other things you are for thâ— King against the Parliament But to pursue the thrid of my Discourse Grotius lâ—ft other things to be reformed and adjusted by Soveraign Princes with the assistance of their Prelates in their several Kingdomes Now he that likes this Doctrine and Design and onely thinks it a happinesse too great for this Age wherein there are on both sides so many irreconciliabiles to wit Iesuits on that side and Presbyterians on this and therefore appeals to posterity as Grotius did iâ— very far from being a Papist in the common acception of the word as you do easily pretend Sect. 3. much lesse is he such in the thing it self But it is easily foreseen by your close of that Section how you are resolved to understand it Mistakes in reading Grotius arising from a nescience or hatred of his design Sect. 9. Now for your manifold mistakes of Grotius his words in his Discussio arising chiefly from the byasse which had been put upon your judgment I know not whether by your nescience or over-great hatred of his design and which you urge as so many arguments to prove that Grotius turn'd Papist I take such arguments to be answered by the bare removal of such mistakes Your mistakes are removed by being proved to be mistakes and they are proved to have been such by the fifth Section of this Chapter containing eighteen arguments for a matter of Fact whereof there are some so irrefragable that perhaps I may be blamed for adding others and unlesse you say you are not I shall comfortably hope that you are convinced Indeed the writings of Grotius would have convinced you of themselves if you had read them all and at leisure and with those necessary cautions or remembrancos which the Reverend * Answ. to Animadv on the Dissert touching Ignatius his Epistles p. 135 136 137. Doctor Hammond had timely given Or had you but weighed what I had told you touching the nature of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or rather of the way conducing to it in my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ch. 3. p. 92 93 94. of which I see you determined to take no notice p. 3. I told you early would you have mark'd it that Grotius as a Peace-maker betwixt the Papists and the Protestants had labour'd to shew his moderation as well to them as to these and to excuse many things at least à tanto to which he had not afforded his approbation For he who attempted a Reconcilement of two great Enemies was not in prudence to declare a personal enmity to either but to mitigate the exceptions and animosities of both and to insist on those things whether faulty or indifferent which he desired might meet with in either party an interchangeable pardon and an interchangeable compliance Melanchthon I told you had done the same and was accused as well as Grotius as a slie friend to Popery The same was done by Thuanus amongst the Papists who was * Io. Baptista Gallus obstinatâ vesaniâ pernegat Thuanum Catholicae fidei â—enacissimum Ecclesiae Romanae c. vide Epist. Anonym p. 103. Tom. 5. ad calcem lib. 6. Aug. Thuani de vita sua accused for his labour of having turned Protestant Indeed his favour to the Protestants was so much greater then that of Grotius and Melanchthon unto the Papists that his friends of that Church as their friends of this were fain to write his vindication He might indeed have been a Protestant by the Confession of his Faith in his last Will and Testament the like to which I suppose hath hardly been made by any Papist And whilest you intimate your opinion that Thuanus was a Papist of a deeper die then either Cassander of Grotius was p. 9. you infer that Grotius was none at all or else the Writings of Thuanus are strangers to you Sect. 10. I find that rigid Presbyterians would be at peace with the Papists How much may be offered to purchase peace as the * See The Royal Lâ—brary Sect. 4. Num. 15. p. 339. to p. 359. See also the second part of that Collectioâ— p. 465. to p. 480. especially p. 517. to p. 526. Houses of the long Parliament would have made
the Tithes that ever he had received be it twenty or thirty years before the least Accusation was fram'd against him Nor can you deny what I say but by denying your willingness that men should repent and do their Duties For you say they were Usurpers and are bound to make Restitution By which it appears what you would have had you the power of the Sword and how ill you were qualified to say of Grotius that his design had a tendency to engage the Princes of Christendom in a persecution of their Subjects p. 17. I might here examine had I but leisure what restitution is to be made by such as have usurped their Neighbours Livings if you require it so strictly from such as were scandalous in their own And how you can pay a fifth part to so intolerable a person as your Book hath concluded your Predecessor And what Restitution you will allow to the most eminently learned and godly men in the Ministery who have been cast out of their Houses and for ever deprived of their Revenues for nothing else but their care to keep God and a good Conscience And why you approve of those men who placed your self where you are whilest you professedly detest so great a part of their Proceedings And whether the Drunkards as you call them might not be some of your (a) Look back on ch 3. sect 1 2 c. godly men though none of ours to whom you have indulged so great a priviledge as to be worse then Drunkards yet godly still Compare your Description of sequestred Ministers with the Characters you have given of godly people and at least you will wish for a better memory if you doe not make use of a slower pen. Sect. 12. To your conclusion I answer What Sequestrations are disliked and what not that I would not have any Minister either ignorant scandalous or insufficient to enjoy the least Benefice within the Church But 1. I would have them exactly tried before they are censured and condemned lest the most able and pious men be taken away by a pretence 2. I would have them severely but justly dealt with and precisely according to Law establisht 3. I would not have the * Gen. 18.23.25 righteous destroyed with the wicked much less that twelve such as Peter and Iames and Iohn with an humble distance in the comparison should be cast as dung out of the Church for one or two such as Iudas cast as dung out of the same 4. I would not have even the scandalous or insufficient so ejected as that others more scandalous less sufficient should be obtruded in their Rooms 5. Much less would I have notorious Drunkards or Dunces usurp the Rights of the most pious and learned men 6. I would have the word scandalous to be duly applied and understood knowing that many are no Drunkards who yet are more scandalous then if they were The Devil himself is no Drunkard but he is proud and envious and hypocriticall rebellious sacrilâ—gious and many other wayes worse then a common Drunkard His frequenting the Church and transforming himself into an Angel of Light appearing like a Saint and putting on Godlinesse for a Disguise doth make him much more scandalous then he could possibly be if he could be drunk Remember what I told you concerning scandall both the word and the thing Which compare with Matth. 24.5.24 2 Cor. 11.13 14 15. Lastly although a Drunkard is so detestable a thing as not to deserve a toleration in the meanest of the people much less impunity or connivence in any Priest yet I would not have him punisht more for his judgement then his life as I can prove many have been because a Drunkard may be Orthodox and a dry man may be an Heretick A Drunkard may be loyall to Gods Anoynted whilest one who never was drunk may be a Rebell Nor can I think it praise-worthy Ad Rempublicam perdendam aut Ecclesiam sobrium accedere And when a Drunkard is sequestred not at all for being a drunkard but either for refusing to swear a new Oath such as was your solemn Covenant or for somewhat else which is the best thing in him and for which the holiest men have been sequestred as well as he I know not how you can excuse it If the Papists shall condemn a drunken Protestant to the Fire for meerly refusing to renounce being a Protestant you will I doubt not allow him the Reputation of a Martyr I pray consider the particulars of this last Paragraâ—h And when by accident oâ— choice you speak confusedly of any subject doe not take it in ill part in case I help you to a Distinction Sect. 13. Your 27. Sect. which next ensues Oâ— growing lusty on Sâ—questrations hath so little of what is pertinent or materiall in it and so indecently much of what is personal that a very short Answer will serve its turn 1. If you had cited the very page or at lâ—ast the Chapter where I spake of some persons who were known to grow Lusty on Sequestrations you should have had such an accompt as you had rather have been without 2. Your Paralipsis was a mark of your greatest policy because if I hâ—d grown lusty it had been onely uâ—on mine own And so for your want of a Retortion I thâ—nk your weakness but not your will for even by saying what you will not say you shew your woulding concerning me as before you had done concerning Grotius 3. That you are below some of your brethren it is enough that you have told me without my asking I am not concern'd to contradict you Yet some may say you contradict your own self because you adde you would presently quit the Place that you are in if a probable evidence could be given you of a Better supply Every Usurper may say as much if he is but well qualified with a haughty opinion of Himself 4. You tell me what you would do if you know what is in your heart But having confessed to Mr. Tombes that your Heart is desperately wicked and having confessed to Dr. Owen that Hypocrisy and Selfishness and Pride are in it I am not the wiser for what you tell me unless you can give me some kind of Evidence that you know your own heart 5. The more you have Declared your being Selfish the less I can believe of your Self-denialls How men do value their Sequestrations 'T is best to judge by their Actions and not their Words If the Flock were in their Eye and not the Flâ—eces less Revenues would content them then what they are known to have seiz'd upon Hath not the Richness of the Living been in lieu of Malignancy to the best Divines of our Church whil'st the Poverty of others hath afforded Proâ—ection to their Incumbents 6. Let every man Injoy his own untill he be legally dispossess'd and then I doubt not but your Abilities will quickly commend you to a Living as good as that
he goes on p. 179. the Church of England is not invisible It is still preserved in Bishops and Presbyters rightly ordained and multitudes rightly baptized none of which have fallen off from their profession 7. To your preposterous Demands then Especially to the Eâ—iscopal whose sufferings have made them the more coâ—formable to the primitive Christians why we separate from you and refuse to go to your Communion the first and shortest Answer is this that we are passively separated because you actively are separatists We by remaining as we were are parted from you and you by your violent departure have made our Difference unavoidable We are divided by necessity and you by choice we from you our Dividers but you from us and between your selves You like Demas having forsaken us and having embraced this present world it is our lot as it was Paul's to be unâ—voidably forsaken It is God's own Method to turn away from his Deserters When the Times are changed by some and others are changed by the Times you must at least excuse if not commend us that we * Prov. 24. â—1 meddle not with those who are given to change For you to go from us and then to chide us for being parted is the greatest injustice to be imagin'd because it requires us to verifie the two Extremes of a contradiction A second Answer I shall give you in better words than mine own even the same which Dr. Hammond once gave the Papists Sâ—e Dr. Hammond of Schism p. 180 181. The Night-meetings of primitive Christians in Dens and Caves are as pertinent to the justifying of our Condition as they can be of any and 't is certain that the forsaking of the Assemblies Heb. 10.25 is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 our wiâ—ful fault v. 26. but onely our unhappy Lot who are forced either not to frequent the Assemblies or else to incourage and incur the scandal of seeming to approve the practises of those that have departed from the Church That we do not decline Order or publick communion and consequently are not to be charged for not enjoying those Benefits of it which we vehemently thirst after is evident by the extensive Nature of our persecution the same Tempeâ—t having with us thrown out all Order and Form Bishops and Liturgy together And to that Curstnesse of theirs not to any Obstinateness or Vnreconcileableness of ours which alone were the guilt of non-Communion is all that unhappiness of the constant Sons of the present English Church to be imputed Lâ—y-elders condemned by such as had sworn to assert them Sect. 30. I am glad to find you thinking that unordained Elders wanting power to preach or administer the Sacraments are not Officers in the Church of God's Appointment and that as far as you can understand the greater part if not three parts for one of the English Ministers that we stand at a distance from are of this mind and so far against Lay-Elders as well as we of whom you confess your self one and Mr. Vines another p. 4. But I am not glad to find you excusing what you condemn 'T is true ye all swore when ye took the Covenant to preserve the Discipline and Government in the Church of Scotland and to reforme the Church of England in Discipline and Government according to the example of the best Reformed Churches of which the Scotish was implied to be the chief yea to bring the Churches in the three Kingdoms to the nearest conjunction and Uniformity in Church-government c. Lay-elders in Scotland were pretended to be by Divine right The Platforme of Geneva was highly magnified that I say not blasphemously for the Pattern shew'd in the Mount The Scepter of Christ and Evangelium Regni Dei were noted expressions of their Device But since you have printed your own opinion that therâ— were no such Lay-elders of God's appointment you should rather have recanted your having sworn the Scotish Covenant than have tryed by all means to make the best of so bad a matter Whilst you believe a fourth part of the Presbyterians are directly against the other three in thinking Lay-elders of God's appointment you give us to hope that your Kingdom will never stand And indeed if you will read but the first 5. Chapters of Bishop Bancrofts Survey of the pretended Holy Discipline you will find that no Sect hath been more divided against it self See what is said by Dr. Gauden in his excellenâ— * p. 17. Dendrologia concerning the Pertness and Impertinenâ—y the Arrogancy and Emptiness the Iuvenility and Incompetency the Rusticity and Insolency of some Ruling and Teaching Elders too the disagreement that was found betwixt High-shoes and the Scepter of Church-government especially mark what he †p. 18. saith of the Decoy and Fallacy the Sophistry and Shooing-horn of bringing in Lay-elders by Divine Right and perhaps when you have done you will hardly excuse your own Excuses much less the manner in which you make them for to excuse the Lay-eâ—ders as men not preaching Sect. 31. You say A Calumny cast upon our Preachers to the sole disgrace of the Calumniator In that our Readers are much like them p. 4. And again you speak of our Ignorant Drunken Worldly Readers and Lazy Preachers that once a day would preach against doing too much to be saved p. 16. But 1. that any have so preaâ—hed of the regular Clergy is your ungrounded Intimation for which you are answerable to God They have commonly been accused of having preached for the doing too much to be saved Their earnest pressing for the Necessity of Universal Obedience to the Law of Christ which carries along with it all manner of good works hath very frequently procured them the name of Papists Socinians Pelagians Moralists any thing in the world to express the dislike of your Presbyterians The Antinomians are the chief men who preach against doing too much to be saved and as the Fautors of that Heresie you your self have accused both Mr. Pemble and Dr. Twisse who were not Prelatists but Presbyterians And such were they who applauded The Marrow of modern Divinity which you have sharâ—ly written against for the like dangerous positions Nay you your self are more liable to undergo your own censure than any Prelatist I ever heard of for teaching the people how greaf a wickedness may well coâ—sist with their being Godly Of this I have given so many Examples that I shall adde but one more You put the Question Wâ—ether if men live many years in swearing or the like sin See Disp. of right to Sacram 3. p. 330. it is not a certain sign of ungodliness To which you answer in these words A godly man may long be guilty of them as 't is known some well-reputed for Godliness are in Scotland Reputation doth much with many even that are godly to make sin seem great or small With us now a swearer is reputed so great a sinner that he is
that they should pay you in your own Coin and say yee took too much upon you and that all the Congregation was at least as holy as themselves Had your spirituall Superiours been more venerable in yours yee had not certainly been so vile in the Peoples eyes Th Lord Primate's censure of Presbyterian Ordinations as Iâ—valid and Schismaticall Published by Dr. B. p. 125.126 2. Next for his Grace of Armagh whom I can never find you calling by a higher Title then Bishop Usher I shall but mind you how he hath pleaded for the Prelacy of England in other workes and onely recite his words at length out of that very piece in which you seem to have taken the greatest pleasure For even there he hath concluded your Ordinations by Presbyters to be invalid in as much as they were made where Bishops might have been had there being nothing but necessity in case Bishops cannot be had which in the judgement of the Primate can make such valid And that you may not flatter your self his Grace intended such a necessity as against all reason you sometimes offer to pretend you shall read him subjoyning these following words Holding as I do that a Bishop hath Superiority in degree above a Presbyter you may easily judge that the ordination made by such Presbyters as have severed themselves from those Bishops unto whom they had sworn Canonical obedience cannot possibly by me be excused from being Schismaticall You see what necessity the Primate admitted for an excuse and in what respect you are unexcusable For besides that you are not under any necessity of ordaining Presbyters without a Bishop no necessity can happen but what will be of your own making and such an home-made necessity will but aggravate the wickedness of them that made it I make no doubt but you will say the same thing if a power succeeding shall deal with you and your Function as you have dealt with your Superiours I shall not add more of the Primate now than that the Reduction of Episcopacy is a posthumous work and yet pretend's to no other modell than what may stand with the preeminence both of Bishops and Archbishops 3. Dr. Holdsworth's Iudgement is as well known Dr. Holdsworth's sufferings a declaration of his judgement as what he suffered for his judgement during the memorable Reign of the Presbyterians Which puts me in mind of what was said by that learned Gentleman Mr. Morrice * The Nâ—w-inclosures broken down Sect. â—1 p. 212. the digladiations about Discipline have laid open Doctrin to those destructive wounds it bleed's under the discountenancing and depressing of so many learned Champions of the truth hath been the leaving the Church without a Guard When you were swearing and fighting to level the Bishops with the ground for want of merit and suâ—ficiency to seat your selves among the Bishops you had not the patience to consider or not the prudâ—nce to believe that you were laying out your strength as blinded Sampson did his to pull down a house upon your heads by laying your hands upon its Pillars Iudg. 16.29 But now you are taught by sad experience that what you covenanted against was even the glory and support of your own profession you will I hope be so just as to blame yourselves if you shall live to suffer as heavy things as you have done Sect. 34. Whereas you say in your excuse The Presbyterian excuses are aggravations of their offences that some of your party did not swear obedience to the Bishops or did not disobey such Bishops as Bishop Vsher assureth us were the Bishops of the Antient Churches and that the Schism is not such as makes men uncapable of our Communion and that since Bishop Prideaux dyed there hath been none in his place p. 12.13 I briefly answer first that you speak against your knowledge unless you know not what you did when admitted into the Priesthood And that I may not repeat two or three pages of what I have said in another book I refer you for a sight of your great and manifold obligations to obey your Ordinary with reverence and other chief Ministers unto whom the Government and Charge was committed over you to acknowledge the order of our Church as then it stood to be according to the will of our Lord Iesus Christ to approve of Bishops and Archbishops to use the Common prayer to observe the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church and all according to the Lawes of this Realm I say I refer you for a sight of your great and manifold obligations to my 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ch 2. p. 51.52 53. Next I must mind you that the Lord Primate did onely speak of Communion with the Transmarine Protestans in France and Holland upon this supposition that he were in those Countries But our English Presbyterians were under another consideration He never received the blessed Scrament at any one of your hands nor would he ever hold Communion with any one of your Revolting Scotizing Churches But if you return to our Communion from which you fell by transgression both our Armes and our hearts are alwaies open to receive you And that you may do it so much the sooner let me admonish you of the disorder which the Lord Primate wonder'd at in your late Presbyterian ordinations A disorder so great that it sufficeth of it self without your other imperfections to say no harder things of them to make a nullity in the things that you most confide in * See the Primates judgement of Ordinat by Pres. set out by Dr. Bern. p. 136.137 138 139. To give the Seal of Ordination as some are pleas'd to call imposition of Hands without any express Commission annexed or Grant of Authority to the person the Primate was wont to say seemed to him to be like the putting of a Seal to a blanck Your Presbyterian Ordinations he judg'd no better and the reasons of it at large you may find in those pages which I have cast into the Margin What Bishops there were in the Antient Churches or what the Primate thought of them it matter 's not Your disobedience was not the better for being acted against those to whom you had promis'd to yield obedience And those alone are the Bishops which here t is pertinent to speak of for they alone were the Bishops to whom the men of this Age had sworn Canonical obedience through the Non performance of which obedience you had extorted from the Lord Primate that heavy censure If since the Death of Bishop Prideaux none hath succeeded in his place remember what I said lately of self-created necessity and do not imagin your Sin is lessen'd by a principall part of its aggravation Add to this that there are Bishops though not perhaps in your County And where Bishops are to be had you were forbid by the Primate to ordain without them Sect. 35. Whereas you say of Bishop Prideaux Bishop Prideaux
Deduction And if the Deduction is irregular why is your dealing the very same to prove your irregular Ordinations exactly regular 4. Come we now from the Form to the matter of your Syllogism Your major is proved from the words of Dr. Hammond that the * See the whole Annotation on Act. 11.30 B. p. 406. to p. 409. Title of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Scripture times belonged principally if not onely to Bishops there being no evidence that any of the second Order were then instituted Which words if you observe them do not deny but suppose that as soon as any of the second order were admitted into the Church they were immediately subject unto the First that is to say to the Scripture-Bishops there having been given him in Scripture a twofold power first a power of ordaining inferiour Presbyters next of Governing or Ruling them when so ordained Had you but fairly transcribed the Doctor 's whole Period you must have added to your Citation these following words though soon after even before the writing of Ignatius Epistles there were such instituted in all Churches And had you read unto the end of that excellent Annotation you would have found Epiphanius for Bishop Timothy his power or jurisdiction over Presbyters from 1 Tim. 5.1 19. Where whatever the word Presbyter may be concluded to import whether a single Priest in the common notion of the word Presbyter subjected to the Bishop or a Bishop subjected to the Metropolitan it equally make's against you that Bishop Timothy had power to rebuke and to receive an Accusation against a Presbyter which no meer Presbyter can pretend to have over another This would imply a contradiction to wit that an equall is not an equall because a Ruler and a Judge to the very same person to whom he is an equall The same use is to be made of what is cited from Theophylact concerning Titus * Ibid. to wit that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Iudgement as well as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ordination of so many Bishops was committed to him And I pray Sir remember one special Emphasis which evidently lye's on the Doctor 's words Which do not run thus the Title of Presbyters in Scripture times belonged onely to the Bishops but if not onely yet at least Principally to them And therefore however the case might be whether onely or not onely all the course of his arguing will be equally cogent and unresistible 5. Now for your minor that most of your Ordainers are such Pastors you prove it by saying first they are Pastors But this is petitio principii with a witnesse to say they are because they are And 't is a gross transition ab Hypothesi ad Thesin to say they are such Pastors because they are Pastors The word Pastor in our dayes doe's commonly signify a Priest to whom is committed a Cure of Soules And when I have lately so us'd it it hath been onely in complyance with that vulgar Catachresis But in the use of Scripture and antient Writers Pastor signifies him to whom the charge of the Flock is Originally intrusted whereas our English acception of the word Rector which is not the Scriptural or antient stile is wholly extended to a deputed or partiary Government in the Church to wit a Government over part of the Pastors Diocess which Pastor in the old stile hath the plenary charge committed to him Your error therefore was very great in confounding the Pastors with the Rectors of the people unless you spake with the vulgar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and supposing that so you did you spake completely besides the purpose And whereas you say in your Margin Mr. T. P. call's himself Rector of Brington I know not what you can mean by it unless an unkilfull intimation that I arrogate to my self somewhat more then is my due And therefore to undeceive either your self or your Readers I must tell you that in all Records which concern this Church or its Incumbent in all Leases and Compositions and Iudgments of Law in all Directions and Orders which have ever been sent by Supreme Authority the Church hath been stiled the Rectory and the Incumbent the Rector of it You may gather the reason from Mr. Sparrow's Learned Rationale upon the Book of Common Prayer The chief Rector oâ— a Parish called the Cardinal Priest of old quia incardinatus in Beneficio was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the rest under him his Clerks Where there were Chantries as there were in most Churches of England their assisting the Rector of the Church made up that Form of speech the Priest and Clerks And Brington being a Parish consisting of five distinct Members hath occasion'd the Rector in all times to be at the charge of an Assistant I have told you what I mean whensoever I write my self Rector of Brington If Mr. Cawdrey hath meant more when he hath written himself as publickly the Rector of Billing I leave him to give you a Reason for it Having done with your Argument and with your persoâ—all reflection I shall observe but one thing more to wit that whilst you say most of your Ordainers are such Pastors as Dr. Hammond spake of in Scripture-times which yet I hope you will retract you imply a confession that some are not Nor can I see by what meanes you will excuse your selves unto your selves for having admitted of such Ordainers As for your second and third sentences in your Sect. 5. p. 199. You have an answer included in what went before and so you will have in that which follows For Sect. 38. In your seventh Chapter Presbyterians are not Bishops by having Deacons under them p. 203. Sect. 18. You again pretend to fetch an Argument from the words of the Reverend Dr. Hammond Your naked affirmation is express'd in these words Where there are no such Presbyters with a President it is yet enough to prove him a Bishop that he hath Deacons under him or but one Deacon Your pretended proof of this assertion is from the words of Doctor H. which now ensue When the Gospel was first preached by the Apostles and but few converted they ordained in every City and Region no more but a Bishop and one or more Deacons to attend him there being at the present so small store out of which to take more and so small need of ordaining more Reduce this proofe into a Syllogisme which may serve your interest in any measure and it will be like your former most dishonourably false For thus you must form it do what you can if you intend to make it in imitation of a proof A primitive Bishop had no more then a Deacon or Deacons to attend him A Presbyter hath no more then a Deacon or Deacons to attend him therefore a Presbyter is a Primitive Bishop Here you see are three affirmatives in the second Figure And by an Argument so form'd I will prove you to be anything either Fish or Fowle