assume as large and free power to exclude some such even where no consistorial juridical formal proceeding can be had as they now take to put by and interpretatively to excommunicate all which they do while they at least many of them administer it to none but intermit the use thereof altogether or exhibit it to very few or none in comparison but to such onely as they have gathered into a new Church and therefore as one being asked where he found his interpretation concerning Constantines donation as another his gloss upon the Salike Law answered If any looked on the back-side of that Donation and so of that Law there it was to be found so might it be more aptly said that from whence they derived the power and liberty to excommunicate all by non-administration or so many by non-admission they might fetch a right to exclude persons scandalous yea and apparently ignorant But our Rhodus and Saltus our present question is whether it be not onely profitable but necessary antecedently to the Communion to make examination notional or real of the knowledge or the lives not onely of such who upon morally probable grounds may well be suspected to be incompetent for ignorance or crime but of all indifferently so as for want of will in any to submit to this probation they may justly be debarred the Sacrament and for want of power or means in the Minister to exercise this Discipline he may lawfully intermit the administration or administer it onely to such as will submit themselves thereunto gathered and convened and not by their proper Pastour out of distant places and several Congregations DEFENCE SECT I. What authority the Diatribe ascribed to the Fathers and ancient Church Why the Apologists derogate from them THe Paper so I shall call it after that name which the Apologists always give it at the Circumcision thereof in the first Section seemed to rise to the hoary head of Antiquity and cast a suspitious eye upon Novelty recognizing that habet ut in aetatibus authoritatem Senectus sic in exemplis antiquitas and accounting with the Oracle that to be the best complexion which was concolor mortuis yet this was delivered onely in thesi and general not in hypothesi or particular application to my subject and by way of preface not of argumentation as they suggest calling this the first-born argument which yet had no double portion of substance nor was the beginning of strength or excellency of dignity Fit enim naturae quodam instinctu judicio recto sanè si illo recte utamur ut in religionis negotio nova omnia sint suspecta ferè exosa Casaub exercit 16. S. 43. p. 390. There was notwithstanding not the least intimation made as if any thing that bears the stamp of Antiquity were therefore to be received but onely not hastily to be laid aside nor that any thing was to be rejected because new coined but not to be so easily entertained neither that whatsoever was ancient was infallibly true but the more credible nor that which was new was undoubtedly false but more suspicious The Apologists cannot say and whosoever shall make inspection into the Paper will not see that I attribute too much to Antiquity and if they would have ascribed any thing they needed to have said nothing But it seems they have the same quarrel to Antiquity which the Affricans have of the Sun Urit fulgore suo and as Herod being originally a stranger and Alien sought to suppresse the Genealogies of the Jewish Nation and especially of the Royal Linage so the Apologists seek to disparage and detract from the exemplary practice of the ancient Church and judgment of the Fathers whereunto in opinion and way they are strangers De Carthagine potius nulla quà m pauca I am not susceptible to assert the honour and reverend esteem of the illustrious Fathers as Iuther calls them neither shall I need to undertake it for though mutus fit oportet qui non laudabat Herculem yet it was no unapt check of Antalcidas Quis unquam sanus eum vituperavit But since the Apologists instead of answering the testimonies have thought to discredit the Witnesses and have somewhat enlarged themselves both in this and the 13. Section to lessen their authority It may seem proditorious to desert their Defence and to shew lesse zeal to support them than they have done to deprave their credit especially seeing as Isocrates was said to have made many Orations in sending forth many Orators and he that saves a Physician preserves many lives and many remedies So I shall in vindicating this Topick fortifie the Arguments drawn from it and if it seem out of my way yet it is but in fresh suit of the Apologists whom I am bound to follow SECT II. Of Antiquity Custome sad consequences of Independency the novelty thereof the Fathers not without errours yet not to be sleighted What may be called the Primitive Church Protestants always honoured the Fathers and never declined their Testimony THey embrace that saying That which is first is true because true antiquity is a friend to truth and every good way is old but they restrain and limit this to such age and antiquity as things may claim onely for being revealed in Scripture But this is not the onely antiquity which we are now debating of this is Antiquity proved Ex priori but it is Ecclesiastical antiquity as I may call it the consent and custome of the antient Church antiquity proved Ex posteriori which we are now considering of what authority it carries what reverence and esteem it merits and what force and influence it hath We concur to adore Divine Scripture antiquity as the best Veritas in omnibus imaginem anteceda postremò similitudo succedit I ertul. Aug. contra Crescon l. 2. c. 29. Idem de peccat merit remis 1.1 c. 22. In mâ—de natura 〈◊〉 â— 61. 〈…〉 Mihi pro his omnibus imo supra hos omnes Apostolus Paulus to assent to it as the truest as that which nec falli potest nec fallere and to captivate our understanding thereunto Sine ulla recusatione cum credendi necessitate But because this is the best and truest and most infallible antiquity therefore to infer that no other antiquity needs to be considered of or is worthy of reverence or can lend any strength of argument is as if I should conclude that because an Apodictick Syllogism whose principles are propositions verae primae immediatae priores notiores causae conclusionis is onely Scientifical that therefore all Dialectick Syllogisms concluding ex probabilibus are useless and despicable or that St. Paul argued both weakly and superfluously that the woman ought to have power on her head because of the Angels when it had been enough and more efficacious to have said because of God or because Christ is the onely Mediatour between God and Man by his merit and efficacy and
sine causis sciendi nor sets up a mark for blinde men to shoot at but the Directory for admission is that which we may well reade and make easie judgment thereby viz. Church-membership with a dogmatical faith and therefore we may perceive that any other voyage will be with hurt and much damage when neither Sun nor Stars do appear from above nor can we frame to keep any compass below whereby to steer our course and being exceedingly tossed with such a tempest the onely way is to lighten the ship of this load DIATRIBE SECT V. By a free communion there is no Damnum emergens by pollution of the Ordinances Minister or Communicants the visible Church is aggregated of good and evil It is Schism to renounce communion of Sacraments with evil men not duly censured the Administration not to be intermitted because all are not sufficiently prepared or those that are unworthy may partake The Similitudes defeated of giving a Cup of poysoned Wine onely with admonition of giving a Legacy to scholars of such a capacity and parts which the Trustees cannot otherwise distribute of being guilty of the sins we hinder not the weak to be encouraged and promoved by admission As much danger by mixt communion in the Word and Prayer as in the Sacrament The Reasons pretended to debarre from the one as argumentative to exclude from the other Matth. 7.6 examined whether the receiving the Sacrament be a duty enjoyned to all and a good work in all Whether it be a converting Ordinance What the Sacraments seat and how Whether they conferre grace The same evil effects ensue by male-administration of Discipline as by a free communion and the same Reason which forbid separation in the one doth also in the other case CLemens Alexandrinus magnifies it in Socrates that he hearkened unto none but Reason and Plutarch tells us Idem est deum rationem sequi suitable to that Stoical Principle well illustrated by Perseus Ni tibi concessii ratio digitum exere peccas which is very true being understood of reason rectified by and subordinate to holy Scripture Having therefore pondered the authorities of Sacred Writ and propended the testimonies of the ancient Church let us try on which side the weight of reason will incline the Beam in this controversie There is no Damnum emergens in admitting to and there is Lucrum cessans in rejecting from the Sacrament any that profess the faith of Christ though but formally and are not openly wicked and scandalous to the manifest belying of their profession what then should rationally impede and obstruct their admission or promove and imperate the rejecting of them whom it obligeth in duty to come and in no mans duty is it written down to repell them or separate from them There is no emergent mischief or inconvenience by their receiving either in respect of the Sacrament quod others cum quibus the Minister à quo or themselves qui the Sacrament is not defiled by their partaking no more is it by being preach'd unto faithless people and that is no more than our Lord Christ was by the kiss of Judas or an Angel by descending upon earth into some unclean place Those that communicate with them are not polluted more than the sons of God were by Satans coming among them to present himself before the Lord nor thereby defrauded of the fruit and efficacy of the Sacrament more than the rest of the Guests were deprived of the Feast by the sitting down of one that had no wedding garment God doth not binde us to set up an Inquisition into other mens consciences Contra literas Petil. tom 7. p. 26. Nemo curiosus qui non malevolus nor can their hypocrisie or cold formal profession hurt any beside themselves Tale cuique sacrificium fieri saith Augustine qualis accedit ut offerat qualis accedit ut sumat ità si offerat deo malus accipiat inde bonus tale cuique esse qualis ipse fuerit quia illud scriptum est omnia munda mundis To God saith a learned man they seem such as they are Hooker Eccles Polit. l. 5. sect â—8 p. 370. but of us they must be taken for such as they seem in the eye of God they are against Christ that are not truly and sincerely with him in our eyes they must be received as with Christ that are not in outward shew against him Multi corriguntur ut Petrus multi tolerantur ut Judas multi nesciuntur donec c. Many are amended as Peter many are tolerated as Judas many are not known untill the Lord come who shall enlighten the hidden things of darkness and manifest the counsels of all hearts De poenitent medicina tom 9. p. 210. homil 50. tom 18. p 115. Ad mysteriorum divinorum signacula celebranda multi mali c. To the celebrating of the Seals of divine mysteries many wicked men also may have access for God in this life commendeth his patience that in the next he may shew forth his severity saith St. Augustine Christ would be baptized with the promiscuous multitude and with the same Baptism wherewith the Scribes and Pharises were baptized to confute saith acute Spanheym those Dub. Evang. part 3. p. 153. who in imitation of the Catharists and Anabaptists come not to the Lords Supper if it be administred to such as are in their opinion flagitious what prejudice or pollution or reproof from the Apostle reflected upon the Corinthians that were worthy receivers for the concurrence and communion of those that came unworthily who onely did eat and drink damnation to themselves not to others but when he said He eateth judgment to himself he sufficiently sheweth saith Augustine that he eateth not judgment to another but to himself because the fellowship with evil men defileth not in the participation of the Sacraments but in the communion of works The Master of the Feast said to him that had no wedding garment Friend how comest thou in hither Not Friends why come you in which such a guest Neither were they for his sake commanded or permitted to forsake the Wedding our teeth shall not be set on edg with the sowre grapes that others eat every one lives by his proper righteousness In Ezek. 18. not anothers and dies for his own sins not another mans saith Origen Quibus mali placeant in unitate ipse communicant malis quibus autem c. Those to whom evil men are pleasing in unity they communicate with evil men but those whom they displease who cannot amend them nor before the time of Harvest dare to root up the Tares lest the Corn be also eradicated they communicate not with their actions but with the altar of Christ so that not onely they are not polluted by them but by the Word of God they deserve to be commended and magnified because lest the Name of Christ be blasphemed through horrible Schisms Contra Donat.
and Heresies Perswasions to mildness and moderation 307. DEFENCE SECT XVII They misrepresent their Church-way Whether the Queries of the Diatribe were doubts of Friends or Enemies What are properly scruples 318. SECT XVIII Rom. 14.1 10. discussed Whether they judge or despise their Brethren Psal 15.4 vindicated No other Qualifications required in order to communicating in a Church-member having a dogmatical Faith but to be without scandal whether they reject onely the wicked whether their way render them not guilty of temerarious judgment of judging the heart of bearing infirmities of moral men 320 SECT XIX 1 Cor. 13.7 considered whether they suspect not much evil believe or hope little good of their people of examining the knowing to be exemplar to the ignorant or to nanifest their humility whether it be their duty to submit to such a passive examination whether to call them to it be not directly to detract from them or interpretatively to diffame them small matters are often great in the consequence 2 Cor. 11.2 examined the properties of charity in hoping and believing all the ignorance charged is not to know it to be duty to submtt to their commands whether conversion may be sudden whether the Church have loss or gain by these ways of pretended Reformation 332 SECT XX. Whether the Apologists are charitably suspected or can be justly charged with Pharisaism whether their actings proceed out of tenderness of conscience A paralel between the Apologists and Pharisees in some things 369 169 SECT XXI What was Diotrephes what his ambition whether the Apologists exceed not the bounds of Ministerial power by bringing all under triall excluding and not for scandal and that so many and by common continual practice whether this check not with 1 Peter 5.3 whether those they reject are scandalous themselves separated and left the Church behinde them Of Ecclesiastical power what it is and how far extensive The duty of Stewards It is Christ's honour to have an universal Church Their actings 1. Not commanded or warranted by Gods VVord 2. They act solely Of their Elders of ruling Elders in general not by divine right yet a prudent constitution requisite to be continued in some way the interest of the whole Church in censures the Elders Representatives of the Church whether the ancient Church knew any such 3. They act arbitrarily of the former Bishops the Flowers of the Apologists Canina facundia which they cast on the Opposites of their way the aspersions wiped off and some of them reflected of small things and whether their Injunctions are such what may be the consequences thereof viz. their own power and greatness in the intention which yet in effect may be thereby lessened whether their promiscuous examination be to prevent respect of persons of examining persons known to be knowing of the Shekel of the Sanctuary of their aviling of their people and thereby giving advantage to the Papists to upbraid us of the former Bishops the lack of light in some places through want of some to hold it forth whether the Diatribe aspersed Presbytery to be modelled like Popery the Apologists no friends to Presbytery their way hath some analogy with Popery and accidental tendency thereunto 378 178 SECT XXII Of Independents their godliness their Schism the confessed imperfection of the way of the Apologists their desire of an union with the Independents an admonition to the Presbyterians the confounding of Churches and Parishes by the Apologists their gathering of Churches whether they are guilty of disorder against Law whether Magick were laid to their charge whether they are culpable of Schism and Sedition or injury to other Ministers of the hatching others Eggs like the Partridge 414 214 SECT XXIII VVhy they have not the Sacrament in their own Churches why onely at Pyworthy whether it be no great matter to be called or drawn thither Of their return to their own Churches How they stigmatize the People and judge their hearts Of serving the times they confess the Word and Sacraments to be the same thing what thereupon followes 426. 226 SECT XXIV VVhether they are Butchers or Surgeons VVhether guilty of Schisme Of negative and positive Schisme VVhat are just causes of separation VVhether our Saviour separated from the Jewish Church for instance in eating the Passover They condemn what they practise by confounding Churches and by separation They grant Professors to be visible Saints which destroys their Platform Their Reasons why all sorts are to be admitted to the Word and Prayer VVhether there are not better Reasons to warrant a like admission to the Sacrament VVhether the same conclude it not VVhether the Churches of England are all true Churches Sacraments Notes of the Church and therefore communicable to all Church-Members they grant Discipline enters not the definition of a Church yet they separate for want thereof VVhether they may not aswell deny Baptisme to the Children as the Eucharist to the Parents 434. 234. SECT XXV Their great abuse and distortion of Scripture with what a train of Consequences their Arguments are far-fetch'd they are borrowed from the Donatists Papists Brownists Independents none of them conclude the question as themselves have stated it the Argument raised from 1 Cor. 14.40 examined Whether it be a glorious and comfortable practice that none approach the Lords Table save holy persons Whether their way be warranted by the Laws The moderating of Censures Whether their way have like ground with the antient Discipline in receiving in Penitents Whether there be order and decency in mix'd Communions The lesser good to be omitted to acquire the greater the confusion and disorder of their wayes 250. 450. SECT XXVI Jeremy 15.19 Discussed and vindicated 264. 464. SECT XXVII 2 Thes 3.2 6. Opened and redeemed from their misapplications Whether antiently the Commerce with any not excommunicate were avoided VVhat society Excommunication cuts off from How Suspension might be used and is abused 267. 467. SECT XXVIII 1 Cor. 5.11 Ventilated and the Chaff of their Interpretation dispersed Whether we may have communion in sacred things with such as we may not have society with in civil 274. 474. SECT XXIX Matth. 7.6 The sense thereof enucleated and shewed not to be subservient to their purpose but odiously abused VVhether Ministers may act in Censures alone and upon their own knowledge 281. 481. SECT XXX 1 Cor. 11.27 sequent Discussed of eating and drinking unworthily VVhether there be a necessity of examining all because some cannot examine themselves Whether any irregenerate man can examine himself VVhether this tends not to introduce Auricular Confession Jude 3. opened 288. 488. SECT XXXI 1 Tim. 5.22 Interpreted and answered Of Principals and Accessories 1 Tim. 3.10 considered Not like Reasons to examine those that are to communicate and those that are to be ordained 293. 493. SECT XXXII 1 Pet. 3.15 Heb. 13.17 Discussed VVhat obedience is due to Ministers and what power they have 497. 297. SECT XXXIII Levit. 13.5 2 Chron. 23.19
ignari sumus ante malorum I should be carried on the hard and sharp rocks of censure or the quick sands of volatile and temerarious judgement as one that goes out to fight against holiness and reformation under whose badge and cognizance their Church-way is lanched forth for its pasport And therefore as Caesar said his wife should be I was desirous to stand free not onely of crime but suspicion to obstruct any way that lookes to those ends For this very stamp makes a peece regardable even before the mettal be tryed and the very face of holiness and reformation though borrowed and laid on by painting is at first blush like that of Parthenopaeus one of the engagers with Adrastus in the Theban war so beautifull that it is a charme to restrayne any from offering to hurt it I have the thousand witnesses to attestate for me how I should tremble to break one of the least commandments and teach men so and to kill all those whom I impede the cure of and as I sinned in my forefathers before I was borne so by leaving them any scandal to sin in posterity after I am dead Nay if I should ravel but one thread in the seamless coate or asperse one spot in the clothing of pure gold I should sadly thinke what Luberius once said Nimirum hac die una plus vixi quam mihi vivendum fuit and therefore having this Murus aheneus I shall fetch some incouragement from that of Ambrose Qui bene sibi conscius falsis non debet moveri nec aestimare plus ponderis esse in alieno convitio quam in suo testimonio and I shall finde no less comfort in that of Seneca Nemo pluris aestimat virtutem quam qui boni viri famam perdidit ne conscientiam perderet But I wish it were news that some that expressly execrate the heresie of Florinus did not though unwittingly yet virtually and interpretatively dash upon it and blending Manes his two principles together derive the Origen of evil streames from the pure fountain of all good As they say fryer Bacon could cause his own writing to seeme inscribed in the Moone and de Loier tells us that the image of St. Francis at Lyons set on a Tower by reflection of the clouds seemed to be in the heavens so some men are deceived with a conceit to read that as a writing from heaven which was formed on earth and that to be the image of divine truth which is but the reflection of some mens fancyes Birds of every feather will be making nests to lay their young at Gods altar and malefactors for protection take hold of the horns thereof but as God would have them taken thence so none will permit that every opinion or practise should pass unquestioned that takes Sanctuary under the notion of holiness and reformation And if to be an opposite to this way be to be among the Antipodes to holiness and reformation I shall yet die with Phocion and the ancient Church and old Fathers and the forain Protestant Churches which it seems now we may not name Reformed and moderne great Divines will be set in the same Climate whereof I shall hold forth so true and plain a map formed out of their own lines and drawn up by their own charts that all save squint-eyes shall directly see the World of those that consent with me I shall not build according to the German model to afford a prospect of the furniture of the house at the dore yet adjourning farther considerations and fuller discoveries to the inner rooms I shall here in the frontespice onely glimpse forth that though as the Historian speakes of Crescens Nero's freed-man In malis temporibus partem reipub se fecerat so some men have set up their own models as the onely measure of righteousness and their form of Discipline like Polycletus his statue as the canon to all others and have farther made this Scrutiny at the Sacrament the poles whereon all holiness and reformation must hang and move and the materia primaâ— or basis of all other elements and as if it were the Palladium which onely could preserve the City so as all their discourses of the beauty of holiness and reformation conclude in the necessity of this discrimination as all Cato's counsels in the Senate ended with this close This I think and that C. thage is to be destroyed yet I shall offer it to men of temper and judgement to be considered whither as that which the silke worm designes for an house becomes his tombe so this so common and so generall a suspension of men from the Sacrament whereby they are dealt with as the Balearides used their children who afforded them no bread until by their tryed and approved dexterity in shooting they could hitte it down from an high place though they were ready to be starved in the interim whereas yet they are as good markmen which are fedde that they may have strength to shoot hath not most of all obstructed the designed reformation and the settlement of that Discipline which might have advanced it had the principles thereof been closely stucke too but being perverted and blended with other heterogeneals hath set us at a greater losse and left us at a fault First by irritating and imbittering mens spirits instead of sweetning and so endearing them as that the virtue of the agent might have been more effectual upon the patient well disposed Secondly by injecting suspicions in some and raising misprisions in others of the tendency and issue of those undertakings who cannot be persuaded as Leo the Philosopher told Philip marching with an army to subdue Byzantium and saying that he went to make love to the City that he that meant to become an affectionate wooer would come with clashings of armour and not rather with sweeter Musick it is farre from endulcing or obliging men to finde that whereas no iron toole was used about the altar nor iron was imployed in Solomons temple for matter or instrument the very nayles being of brass as the dores were of olive the Emblem of Peace and the very heathen as Tully tell us forbiding all brass and iron in their temples Vt duelli instrumenta non fani yet nevertheless they have now so much hard iron in their Church frames as it were to cut us up or cut us off making such dissections and excisions not of the Sacrifices but the Sacrificers and making Divination by inspection into the intrailes and researching what they are within so that though the Persian Magi by observing their king at his Coronation to lay his hands first upon bread and knife did augurate that his raign would prove plentiful but cruel yet men observing that at their first inauguration they catch such fast hold of the power of the Sacrament and cut off the generality of their people from partaking thereof do rather shrewdly Divine that their government will be scarce of Sacramental Bread yet rigid in the
upon whose intercession alone we can rely with faith therefore 't is vain and fruitless to seek or regard the help and assistance of the prayers of the godly To the antient Church I think most authority to be ascribed and greatest reverence to be attributed since streams run purest neer the Fountain and if that which is first be truest what is next to the first is next to truth and â—herefore SaÌ„nctorum Patrum constitutiones qui proximiores fuerant Christo â—â—â—â—scames said Nazianzen and those Orders be most pure that come most neer to the example of the Primitive Church said the holy Martyr Sanders Fox Act. â—â—on p. â—494 yet the at restation of that Church I grant is but an humane testimony nor perfectly â—â—vine but in part as it faithfully testifieth what the Apostles did and said Divine in regard of the matter and thing testified Human in regard of the quality of the Witnesses and manner of testification and therefore formally as such being but an humane testimony can beget but an acquisite faith for no conclusion can be of higher nature than the premises as no water can be made to rise higher than the Spring Picus Mirandula Canus and I grant that Fidei acquisitae quae fulcitur homine proponente non Deo revelante subesse potest falsum and therefore Nunquam hominem quemvis per fidem acquisitam ità existimamus esse veracem quin formidemus cum vel falli posse vel fallere Yet notwithstanding fides acquisitaâ—se habet ad fidem gratuitam sicut praeambula dispositio ad formam disponit animam ad receptionem luminis Alexander Hales all as cited by Dr. F. White 's answer to Fish p. 14. 22. quo assentitur primae veritati propter se dicitur ipsam introducere sicut seta filum and though divine revelation in Scripture be therefore the sole principle immediate motive and formal reason and object of beleeving and last resolution of Faith yet the authority and external testimony of the Church may produce the same as an adjuvant instrumental administring moral cause and subordinate help Prae omnibus si aperta fuerit Scriptura eam ipsam amplector saith St. Augustine and therefore he that will not beleeve Moses and the Prophets it will be in vain to raise any of the dead to perswade him when the Scripture shines out in full brightness omnes Perstringit stellas exortus ut aethereus Sol But when that Sun shines not so clearly as to convince and satisfie contenders who have bad eyes the Fathers as Stars that receive their light from that Sun may reflect some illumination upon us as the Stars are to be seen by day in dark pits and obscure places and though I consent to Augustine Epist. 19. ad Hieron that let the Learning and Holiness of other Writers be never so eminent I will not think it true because they have thought so but because they are able to perswade me either by other Canonical Writers or probable Reason yet I add that I am more confirmed in my perswasion that I rightly hit the sense of Canonical Writers and apprehend the Dictates of true Reason when I conceive the same which I finde that they thought though they are not principles of infallible verity to command beleef yet they are grounds of credibility to sacilitate assent Non domini sed duces to use Seneca's words And I shall more easily embrace that which hath their witness and be more apt to doubt of that which wants their testimony Sola argumenta ex Scripturis esse necessaria Cathol Orthedox Tract 1. q. 10. p. 121. è Patribus autem probabilia saith learned Rivet Their consent I esteem not ut fidei mensuram sed ut testem temporis argumentum historicum which makes certain the matter of fact that such was the doctrine and practice of the first and purer times being registred to us by those that cannot be imagined not to know being so neer nor be suspected to combine falsly to impose upon us being so pious They are not moved to hear men count and call good ways new and the Adversaries of true Doctrine have always loaded it with this Title which confirms them to see the ways of their government have the same lot and therefore this principle of Antiquity yeelds but a popular and fallacious Argument But few I suppose will be moved with this argumentation as not fallacious enough to impose upon popular judgements For First implicitly and interpretatively those good ways are their ways wherein is involved Petitio Principii Secondly if so small a matter confirm their judgement it is suspitious that as small a weight of reason might first settle it Talia sunt alimenta qualia sunt Elementa Thirdly If that be a popular and fallacious argument which is derived from a principle made use of commonly by Hereticks or others thereby to give a specious lustre to their own Opinions and cast an odium on their opposites then Scripture it self may be sentenced to be a principle yeelding onely popular and fallacious arguments for who knows not that most Hereticks have sought to fortifie their Opinions with pretence of Scripture and have upbraided their adversaries with want thereof Fourthly when any pretend antiquity to give countenance to novel and unwarrantable Opinions or Institutions by turning the wrong end of the Prospective to make things at hand seem to be far off the fallacy is not in the principle but the men that abuse and falsly apply it nor lies it in the proposition but the assumption Fifthly seeing as Hierom tells us Mendacium semper imitatur veritatem the argument is the more specious and like to carry more force because subtil falsifiers have assumed it for they being wiser in their Generations would not lay on those colours that had no beauty or lustre nor would they set that stamp on their counterfeit Coyn did they not know it would make it pass more currant Hierom say they is condemned for desiring leave of Augustine to erre with seven Fathers but they dare not nor are willing to give this liberty but yet they take as much when in the question whether Judas communicated of the Lords Supper they mention twelve late Writers and not all of them aut magni aut bonì nominis asserting the negative and ask who would not erre with such as those are But we say though we would not erre with the Fathers yet we less distrust our selves to erre with them or when they are on our side and probably suppose our selves farthest from erring when neerest to them As the Scripture bids us to remember Lots wife so they say to the Pretenders of Antiquity Remember the Gibeonites Had this Memento been limited to false Pretenders of Antiquity it might have been plausible but if themselves had not forgotten to take some of the salt of that Pillar whereinto she was turned to have seasoned their discretions they
fumes and exhalations thereof have eclips'd that Light of Doctrine which they confess formerly filled our Hemisphere it hath been onely forward to undo us and successful as Pompey was great miseriâ nostrâ and as Curio was eloquent malo publico and was brought forth with more unrighteousness then ever it was with-held O utinam arguerem sic ut non vincere possem Me miserum quare tam bona causa mea est Yet is it aes alienum to acknowledge that I neither can justly charge upon the Apologists nor will I leave them under the least suspition of having any personal share of or proper guilt in the Heresies and Profaness speculative and practical Antiscripturisme whose abominations in this Land make all good eyes to water and godly hearts to bleed But I look on Independency the Principles of which Discipline have imposed on the Apologists as the summum genus the common Principle and as it were the Trojaa horse of all those evils for as the jangling Sects of Philosophers pretended to be all Socratical so the differing Sects assume the Livery of Independency which is the Basis as Physitians speak of the Composition and the Bond and Common tye of the Bundle So as I impute not the mischief to Independents distributively but collectively nor think them to flow formally and inseparably from Independency in the Abstract so as to spread through al the denominations but to have spawn'd from Independents in the Concrete and that Discipline hath given the occasion of the rise and growth thereof which how strict soever it pretend to be in admitting to Church-membership or Communion of Sacraments yet is too loose in the liberty afforded to Opinions in a conceit somewhat like Tamberlains That Religion is like a Posie which is most sweet when made up of variety of flowers In an epidemical Contagion some may be yet antidoted by temperament and habitude of body yet the Pestilence is mortally infections and although there are many good Subjects of the notion of Papists yet Popery hath many treasonable and seditious Principles So though under the notion of Independents there are many Orthodox men yet Independency is causally very heterodox as he that lets down the Fence or lays open the Gap is guilty of all the mischief which the wilde Beasts do in the field They ask whether we say the Sun rose not till twelve because it shined not till then or that America was a second or new Creation because sound out of late and thereupon perswade us that their Government is elder than the former Custome of our Predecessours and not younger than the Scriptures and that it is unreasonable and unsafe to look onely on the Customes and Practices of the next Ages before us which they are sure worship'd God impurely Though Clouds may mask the face of the Sun at one place or for one instant yet it shines forth in some other and not onely by discourse of reason but by evidence of sense after the Sun is come into our Horizon we know he is risen for we then always see the light thereof though not in full brightness thereof perhaps for without that light we could not well see Though America was but lately discovered to us it was not unknown to all others the Inhabitants were not ignorant thereof and we know all this while under what Meridians and Parallels it was situate and we are satisfied that it had a real though no notional existence in respect of us but we are still to seek where this new world of their Discipline was in being until it was found out of late And suitably to the products of divine inspiration or results of rational discourse a thing of this kind could have no being till it was found out and therefore not fitly compared with America If they can assign when and where antiently their new light of discipline shined before we saw it unless perhaps some flashes thereof were among those who supposed they had more light of truth The Donatists alleaged in defence of their Separation that of Cantic 1.7 because more of the Sun-beams and thought that onely among themselves the Beloved made his Flock to rest at Noon I shall yeeld there was such a Sun though latter ages saw it not else I shall suspect it to be onely Parelius a counterfeit Sun subsisting onely in the vapours and exhalations of modern heads Antient Customs may be antiquated and again redintegrated some truths in some ages smothered by the predominating Errour and Faction and be afterward revived for Nullum tempus occurrit Regi Coelorum But it is one thing to be new Jewel apol p. 5. c. 1. Divis 1. another to be renewed Quod verum est serum non est saith Saint Ambrose As there can be no change in God himself so ought there to be no change in his Religion saith that Gemma Theologiae If therefore their Discipline were but lately found out it will be found to be without warrant If they will commence per saltum Neb. 7.63 64. and say it is as ancient as Scripture but cannot trace the descent and pedegree thereof through any one age of the antient Church they are onely like those Priests the Children of Habajah who sought their Register among those that were reckoned by Genealogy but it was not found therefore were they as polluted put from the Priesthood Although we shall gladly dormire inter medios cleros that is saith S Augustine in utriusque Testamenti authoritate conquiescere In Psal 67. ut quando aliquid ex i's profertur probatur omnis contentio pacifica quietè finiatur Yet besides that they are likely to have as little foundation in Scripture as they implicitly confess to have support from the practice of the antient Church In the interim also they contract many prejudices not easily to be wrastled with for who will hastily beleeve that in this age which to other works of the flesh hath added swarms of Heresies mali mores excoecant intellectum saith Ockham the Light of Discipline should break out when so many gross Clouds eclipse the greater Luminary of Doctrine that this secret of the Lord should not have been with those that feared him in so many ages whom he promised to teach and to be with and to lead into all necessary truth Non verisimile est ut tot tantae in unam sidem erraverint saith Tertullian Et quod apud multos unum invenitur non est erratum sed traditum nor reflected on us by those great Stars of the Primitive Sphere between whom and some others is no more comparison than between the pillars of the Temple and their shadows as Nazianzen magnifieth Basil and when the like late discovery cannot be asserted of any other truth And lastly that this Discipline should be so necessary when the Church of God for many ages flourished in godliness knowledge and peace and yet was never acquainted with it
they must come at Pyworthy where he that tells them so is Pastor of no Church there those that are so told are not the flock of any Pastor there they might as justly call them to Exceter and would they come there they must notwithstanding come under this probation and wait upon their good pleasure and gracious opinion which is the thing questioned and sets the business in the same posture as before after all these palliations So that in the conclusion when they tell us elsewhere he that puts them to prove that persons knowing and not scandalous may be excluded shall hear of their refusal we must say to them we do indeed hear of their refusal but it is onely to prove this not to do it whiles they exclude these whom they dare not say and if they did we should knowingly gainsay that they are ignorant or scandalous To the second that my Concessions look one way my Arguments another as if like the Parthians I turn my face from that mark I shoot at or like Faustus that pretended to write against Pelagius yet half justified him it had been a just debt if not to me that I might see my error yet to themselves that we might see their truth and ingenuity to have instanced in any one argument of mine that pleads against the power and duty of Excommunication No when the Civil Magistrate is become both the Sonne and Father of the Church I doe not think that the opening of his Praetorium should shut up the Ecclesiastical forum exterius nor the exercising of his sword lay the keys aside to rust Let them not be tryed to open other Locks than they were made for that Moses may have no cause to say the Sons of Levi take too much upon them we shall no more repine at Aarons keys or rod than at Moses sword I am sensible these are different Administrations and have several reasons and ways and ends There are some Crimes which need Censure and sometime the Civil Laws take no hold thereof nor can the Civil Courts take cognizance of them and the Magistrate punisheth though the Offender repent and is satisfied when the pain is suffered or mulct is paid whether he be penitent or not The Church hath a contrary method in her punishments and which are not properly punishments but castigations the holy and prudential ends thereof I have elsewhere displayed I do not therefore hold it fit to excommunicate Excommunication though I judge the undue conduct and culpable exercise thereof to be suspended Let it not be 1. too frequently inflicted it being Medicine not Food and Physicians tell us that Medicines lose their efficacy by ordinary use and though Cacochymie give indication yet continual Purgings brings the habitude of the body to a cachexy and in the Timpany to let out all the water without stops and intermissions destroys the Patient 2. Nor too precipitate Nulla unquam de hac morte hominis cunctatio longa est And Avenzoar they say trembled three days before ever he administred a Purge 3. Nor ordinarily until after frequent admonitions afflatur omne priusquà m percutitur let all other good means be used Cuncta priùs tentanda Let it be as Physicians say of Antimony that it must be like a cowardly Captain to come up to the charge last of all and after all others let it be onely upon obstinate impenitence and when it is immedicabile vnlnus then quaecunque medicamenta non sanant ea sanat ferrum as saith Hypocrates 4. Let it not be for any thing but scelus or affine sceleri that which is interpretativa negatio fidei gross abominable iniquities whereby the Church may be defamed and the enemies have cause to blaspheme and such as may be stumbling blocks to other mens Consciences such sinnes as appear omnibus execrabilia as Augustine and are excessus peccatorum as Estius speaks let it be not inflicted for smaller faults which else would be as Parisiensis tells us as if to kill a Fly on the fore-head we should knock a man in the head with a beetle and let not such purity be required from men in order to their safeguard and immunity from this Censure as Anabaptists exact who as Marlorat tells us Marlorat in 1 Cor. 51. Ball tryal of the grounds of Separat c. 10. p. 187. Ante Communionem protestantur se tantam habere Charitatem quantam Christus in cruce pendens 5. Let it be for such Crimes as are notorious by publike notice not if one or other though perhaps the Minister be one of them do know thereof but let them be such as are scandalous in their course commonly defamed by evidence of fact or confession or proof of witnesses and if not by innumeris documentis testibusque as Augustine pleads yet by more than one for uni testi ne Catoni quidem credendum est even when the great cry of Sodom came up yet God went down to see whether they had done altogether according to the cry Si regnas jube si judicas cognosce 6. Let it be done humili charitate benignâ severitate sine typho elationis in hominem cum luctu deprecationis ad Deum Aug. cont Parmen l. 3. c. 2. Tom. 7. p. 13. and as it is said of Augustus Priùs suas lachrymas quà m alienum sanguinem effudit for otherwise hujus enim summi rarÃque voluptas Nulla boni quoties animo corrupta superbo Plus aloës quà m mellis habet Let it be thus regulated without humane wrong in hypothesi and let it in thesâ— pass as of divine right The greater Excommunication I mean for as concerning Suspension which they call the lesser Excommunication I am deceived if it may not be called the least in the Kingdome of Heaven the Tree from which that Wood was gathered was of a later rise and spring in the Paradise of God not of the first planting and hath no divine ground to fix its root in if there be any Characters in Scripture asserting expresly or by plain and easie consequence the divine right thereof See this amply discussed or any footsteps thereof in the tract and course of all the ancient Church so as that any were suspended from the Sacrament that were not separate from the body of the Church by Excommunication those characters and footsteps are too small to be discerned by my dimme eyes § 15 without the help of spectacles to be lent me or my Horizon too narrow to reach them unless their hand like that in a margin pointing to the places shall lead me neerer to them Tertullian I am sure defines Excommunication of what kind soever it be à Communicatione Orationis conventûs omnis sancti commercii relegatio I am not ignorant there is frequent mention in the Casuists and Schoolmen of excommunicatio minor but these bear no weight where these men hold the beam yet notwithstanding it may have place and be of
shine that walk in it like the bright light of the Sunne which gilds all his spots and makes them invisible which some by their Prospectives discern in the body thereof What farther rise it may have or progression make we cannot certainly fore-tell but may solicitously fear since men of these principles are like the Crocodile which never ceaseth growing while he lives so doe they still increase in new singularities and humours and pretended discoveries yet I hope they will also be as sagacious as the Crocodiles of Nilus who never hatch any thing but they lay it without danger of being hurt by the rising flood yet in the interim an ordinary judgment may easily discover that a Fortress founded in the Conscience and raised on the advantage ground to command our reputation may keep all the parts adjacent in subjection and bring them under contribution And seeing Priam at this age was not unhappy and confession it self in so short time had neither so enlarged her phylacteries or out-grown her girdles which was punish'd with death among the Gaules as this probation hath done therefore we fear the Year when the Spring is so nipping and it is more like to be a sharp Thorn that pricks so soon And since we see that not onely by an extraordinary power as in the time of Elias but as Fromundus tells us by natural course a small Cloud may soon over-cast our Heaven and of a small Seed as Mustard a Tree may spring up wherein the losty and high soaring Birds may build their Nests We may be excused if we cannot make light of this cloud with a nubecula est citò transibit as Athanasius of Julian and if with the Ant we bite the seeds that they grow not However they may seriously and plausibly talk to us here of reformation and satisfaction and honour of the Church and elsewhere of the smallness of the thing required yet Timeo Danaos dona ferentes Or perhaps rather petentes We remember what the shepherd in Aesop said who beholding the smoothness and tranquility of the Seas after a former Tempest which enforced him to cast all his Dates over-board which he had sold his Flock to buy and adventure in the way of Merchandize Palmarum fructus concupiscit opinor ac tranquilitatem propterea praese fert and we cannot be so simple as they say the African Dabath is who is so charmed with Musick sweetly sounding in his Ears that he the whiles suffers his feet to be fettered DIATRIBE SECT IV. No pre-examination in the ancient Church save of Catechumeni Sending the Eucharist to Persons absent and Strangers The institution and abolishment of Confession Liberty to approach the Lords Table upon self-examination Whom the ancient Church excluded from the Eucharist The judgment of the Fathers Casuists and Schoolmen concerning those that are to be admitted and to be debarred To partake was anciently commanded as a common Duty The omission reprehended the common right asserted HAving now heard the Nightingale her self to sing perchance all will not be of Agesilaus his humour and refuse to hear any that imitate her voyce having therefore examined the Authorities of Scripture let us survay the judgment of the Fathers and practice of the Primitive Church which cannot but elucidate and confirm our sense and interpretation of Scripture for as Plato said Majores nostri propiores fuere progeniei deorum so the ancient Church stood neerer the light being neerer the Sunne of truth and his twelve signes which signified and shewed forth his Gospel and through which he moved round about the world In these Primitive Times I finde that mutual reconciliations and in the African Churches Vigils or watchings in Prayers and in Chrysostome's time Fastings and sometimes and in some places the publick renouncing of some particular Heresies were antecedent to the Synaxis but I meet with no Records of any command or example of previous probations as necessary save for Catechumen's The Eucharist was then often sent to persons absent Justin M. Euseb ex Iraeneo centur Magdeb. cent 2. p. 85. it was given to strangers coming to Rome as a pledge or Symbol of their Communion and consent in the same Faith where was no probability or surely no evidence of precedent probation When the Church that saw the benefit of publike Confessions for publick Offences redounded as well to the subduing of the stubborness of their hard hearts and the improving of their deeper humiliation as to their raising up again by those sensible comforts which they received by the publick prayers of the Church and use of the keyes some men reflecting hereupon and finding their own Consciences smarting for like offences which being secretly carried were not obnoxious to the censures of the Church to the end they might obtain the like consolation and quiet of minde did voluntarily submit themselves to the Churches discipline herein and underwent the burden of publick confession and penance And to the end this publication of secret offences might be performed in the best way and discreetest manner some prudent Minister was first acquainted therewith by whose direction the Delinquent might understand what sins were fit to be brought to the publike notice of the Church and in what manner the pennance was to be performed by them At first it was left free to the penitent to chuse his Ghostly Father but at length by general consent of the Bishops it was ordained that in every Church one discreet Minister should be appointed to receive Confessions untill at length in the time of Nectarius Bishop of Constantinople who dyed A.D. 401. upon occasion of the infamy drawn upon the Clergy by the confession of a Gentlewoman Socrates hist l. 5. c. 19. p. 349. defiled by a Deacon in that City it was thought fit it should be abolished and liberty should be given to every man upon the private examination of his own conscience to resort to the Holy Communion which doubtless occasioned Chrysostome the Successor of Nectarius to make those deliveries of himself which have been formerly mentioned The result of those premises is this That the ancient Church sometime thought it requisite that confession of sinnes should precede the Communion which at length also was laid aside but without any other examination verbal or real of all Communicants But seeing Faith and Repentance are as necessary as knowledge to worthy receiving and as principal a part of that whereof every one ought to make examination of himself or others are to make of him I wish it might be advisedly perpended whether there be not as great reason to have auricular confession in some rectified and qualified manner and to impose it as necessary in order to the communion as to introduce their particular examination as a duty so necessary especially since the Lutherans assert and practise it upon Homogeneal or like principles as preparatory and antecedent to the Sacrament contra 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nonnullorum Calvinianorum Baldwin
cas consci l. 4. c. 10. c. 2. l. c. 12. c. 18. as they speak although they doe it not for the manner with obligation to the particular enumeration of all sinnes nor for the matter with any absolute necessity of doing it and therefore Luther used to say that he sometime communicated without confession to shew it was not necessary and other times confessed himself for the comfort of absolution and the Church of Rome also bottoms her rigid practice carnificinam animarum as their own Cassander calls it upon the same grounds that these men do their probation because say they It is the duty of the Priest to repell the unworthy and admit the worthy which is best done upon the Penitents estate manifested in confession Valentia Tom. 4. disp 6. q. 8. punct 3. p. 931. and Time the Mother of Truth may discover whether these principles be not some previous dispositions to the generation of such a practice of confession and that as necessary In the ancient Church were excluded from the Communion the Catechumeni energumeni persons excommunicate and Penitents and such as lapsed into Heresie until they repented and that any other save under these notions and capacities were shut out and debarred the Monuments thereof in Ecclesiastick History have not fallen within my angust Horizon Homil. 3. ad Ephes c. 1. Tom. 4. p. 356. Hom. 50. Tom. 10. p. 115. de medicina poenitentiae super illum 1 Cor. 5. si qui frater nominatur Tom. 9. c. 3. p. 210. ad 4. senten distinct 9. in 3. Aquin. q. 50. art 6. Duran Biel Estius Cajetan Valentia Suarez Vasquez Nugnut Sylvius c. Biel in 4. distinct 9. q. 2. Lessius de justit jure l. 2. c. 16. dub 4. S. 55. p. 158. Baldwin l. 4. c. 9. cas 1. Ursin Catechis part 2. q. 81. p. 578. He that partakes not is a Penitent saith Chrysostome We can saith Augustine repell no man from the Communion although this prohibition be not yet mortal but medicinal but one that by his own conscience or the sentence of the Ecclesiastical or civil Judicatory shall be accused and convicted of some crime And in another place which Gratian cites under the name of Hilary but it is St. Augustines in his 118. Epistle Si peccata tanta non sint ut excommunicandus quisquam homo judicetur non se debet à quotidiana medicina Dominici corporis separare And the School if it have any regard left it doth generally hold as also doe the Casuists Baldwin Navar Lessius Filiacius c. and besides divers reasons they cite the authority of St. Augustine to fortifie their opinion That the Communion is not to be denyed to a secret sinner that is not notorious if he openly desire it lest he be thereby diffamed and lest the minister be as saith Biel Proditor criminis inferens poenam ante criminis probationem poenam publicam ob peccatum occultum and he is not a Casuist minorum gentium amongst his Partizans who tells us that aliquis in peccato occulto licèt jus petendi Eucharistiam non habet petendo peccat tamen habet jus ne à parocho infametur neither is it enough that the Minister know the offence Per scientiam privatam nisi etiam per publicam notoriam much less si rumor aliquam de iis su spicionem moverit nam si nondum sit apertè reus nec satis convictus aut confessus admittendus est ne tam pretioso animi sui thesauro per nos defraudetur saith a reformed Casuist and though as Lessius would have it it were indeed sinful in these to demand the Commun on yet notwithstanding it may not be righteous for the Minister to deny it them for they are two questions in the judgment of a grave Divine Qui debeant accedere Et qui debeant admitti ad coenam prior est angustior posterior latior generalior quia tantùm pii debent accedere sed non tantùm pii verùm etiam hypocritae nondum patefacti sunt ab Ecclesia admittendi In those first times they generally communicated daily which St. Augustine saith he neither approves nor reprehends afterward twice or thrice a week at length constantly on the Lords day as appears by Justins Apology and others of the Ancients but the fervour of devotion rebating it was ordained that generally every one pubertatem excessus which was about the 15. or 16. year should communicate thrice a year thus decreed Fabianus Bishop of Rome as also did the Agathon Councel This Decree is found under the name of the Apostles Canons being the tenth in common account and the ninth in Zonaras which though I am not ignorant are not rightly fathered upon them yet are ancient and not contemptible As many of the faithful as come into the Church and hear the Scripture and continue not out the prayers nor receive the Holy Communion let them be put from the Communion as men that work the breach of order and it is noted in the Margin upon the same Canons in old times all that were present did communicate and consonantly the Councel of Antioch decreed That all that come into the Church of God and hear the holy Scriptures and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Zonaras interprets upon pretext of reverence and humility Chamier the violation of religious order refuse the receiving of the Lords Sacrament let them be put from the Church and to like effect determines the Bracharen Councel Quid causae est De verbis Domini secundum Johan Serm. 2. saith St. Augustine ô Audientes ut mensam videatis ad epulas non accedatis In vain saith Chrysostome we stand at the Altar when none will participate c. If thou stand by and doe not communicate thou art wicked thou art shameless thou art impudent I would not onely have you to participate but to be worthy partakers thou wilt say I am unworthy to partake of the holy mysteries then art thou unworthy to be partaker of the prayers not onely by those things set before us Homil. 3. ad Ephes c. 1. Tom. 4. p. 356. but by Hymnes also doth the Holy Ghost descend you that are under penance depart c. He that partaketh not is a Penitent Why therefore saith he depart ye that cannot pray c Neither onely was the participation of the Eucharist injoyned as a common duty and the omission thereof complained of but the common right thereof asserted by the Ancients That which is the Lords they make proper to themselves In 1 Cor. 11. Homil. 27. Tom. 4. p. 110. In 1. ad Cor. c. 11. Tom. 8. p. 494. saith Chrysostome those things which are the Lords are not this servants and not that servants but common to all he permits it not to be the Lords that permits it not to be common to all It is not the Lords saith Hierom but mans when every one invades it as
not spend more breath to dissipate them onely I shall confess that Chrysostome saith not If they will not submit to tryal you have freed your soule for he could not say any thing of that which was not and which he dreamed not of for I shall desire them better to quote me where he speakes of any such tryal which they ought to make or submission which we should yeeld In the same Homily indeed he explains himself to intend all this of notorious offenders and so Peter Martyr understands him saying Quòd si quis venerit cum sordibus Loc. com part 4. p. 63. ignoranter nulla vestra culpa est nam haec mihi de notis manifestis disputata sunt and means it of such as had been formerly censured and were under penance He that partakes not saith he is a Penitent such as the Deacons might take notice of by a precedent publike sentence against them it is to them he speakes In Matth. Homil. 82. You deserve no little punishment if conscious of notorious crimes in any of the Communicants you connive at them to partake of that Holy Table They were the Deacons who as they proclaimed Sancta sanctis so themselves were cryed unto to look to the doors and they shouted out three severall times to them to go out that were not to receive in the Leturgies of Basil Chrysostome and the Ethiopick and yet they will not say that the Deacon had power to examine De sacro participat myster Tom. 5. p. 328. Homil. 28. in 1. Cor. 11. Tom. 4. p. 112. or authority to cast out any not formerly censured Besides Chrysostome notwithstanding all his thunderings here against admission of persons unworthy by his lightnings else-where it often appears that he himself took notice of many that came unworthily and participated as Licèt sit aliquid à vobis patratum acceditis and also non quemadmodum nunc facimus temporis gratiâ accedentes magìs quam animi studio neque ut praeparati ad vitia nostra expurganda compunctionis pleni accedimus sed ut in solennitatibus simus quando omnes adsint and again multos video temerè quomodocunque consuetudine magìs quà m legitimè aut consideratione mente de corpore Christi participantes Serm. 3. in c. 3. ad Ephes Chrysostome well knew such ought not perchance in respect of their proper Consciences to have come yet he was not ignorant that in the judgment of the Church they ought not to be repelled unless notorious and scandalous they being different questions as some conceive Who may come and Who may be admitted and that he may have a right in foro Ecclesiae which cannot approve it in foro Coeli Chrysostome resolved Judas did participate and yet saith Homil. 51. in 14. Math. Tom. 2. p. 115. Nullus Judas hanc mensam adeat If they have not been formerly duly censured at the instant of their approach how can they be regularly rejected where neither any degrees of admonition nor judicial process which regularly ought to precede can at that suddenness be complied with and in charity it may be not irrationally supposed that he that offers himself after admonition usually previous to the administration that none unworthy adventure to come Advers Anabap l. 6. c. 9. p. 230. hath repented of his former sins and comes with Vows of amendment Quomodo ergo fideles Ministri saith Bullinger adeò facilè ut Anabaptistae volunt à coena Domini excluderent homines peccatores sed tamen petentes gratiam Dei qui hoc testantur eo ipso quòd accedunt ad coenam The Fathers generally not onely Chrysostome doe pathetically perswade men to come prepared and emphatically threaten such as come without due preparation not in order to excluding of all such as upon tryal were not found to have such preparatory qualifications but to excite their solicitude and quicken their care to fit and dispose themselves and try their hearts how they were disposed their Exhortations looked to make them come worthily not to suspend them lest possibly they might be unworthy as St. Paul menaceth damnation to him that eateth and drinketh unworthily yet forbids not to come but commands Self-probation and I could instance in these Divines who assert a free admission of all Church-members yet doe with as much efficacy press and insist upon a coming with holy and suitable affections as those that are so closehanded and tenacious of the Sacrament So that sure Chrysostome is not as full as they can wish unless as Porus when Alexander asked him How he would be dealt with answered As a King and that was enough so it be sufficient that the authority of the Minister it seems alone be greater than the Kings but whether they have cause to continue their wonder that Chrysostome is brought in by us to give witness on our part we shall manifest in due place In the interim we shall give them this corollary That because the ancient Church repelled notorious sinners for them to argue that therefore they admitted none without examination and tryal of their Sanctity is as if I should conclude that because the Laws of this Common-wealth punish Theeves that are judicially attainted therefore they put every man under a restraint untill he approve himself a true man SECT XIV Sending the Eucharist to Strangers and persons absent whether a Corruption Whether the Fathers were prodigal of Christs blood Of admitting to the Eucharist presently after Baptisme Of the Literae Formatae and Communicatoriae THe Paper to make some Dialectick proof that there was no such scrupulous examination of men taken previously to communicating in the ancient Church alleaged that then the consecrated Elements which being received became the Sacrament were sometimes sent to persons absent and to strangers coming to Rome c. The Apologists Quorum vis animusque ferox contingit Olympum take this for a corruption smelling of rank superstition the Paper fetching it from Rome bidding us prove it to be an ancient practice and they will prove it to be an ancient errour Sternent Adversas acies quales cum montibus altis Volvitur amnis humi But I have already verified the practice Tom. 4. l. 1. c. 9. S. 32. and need not farther confirm it for Chamier prevents me by affirming negari nequit adeò frequentia sunt testimonia exempla but they have not yet convinced the errour for it is not sufficient to prove it erroneous to say it came from Rome yet it was onely the sending it to strangers which was said to be used not instituted at Rome in token of peace and communion for this was done when Rome was in her Virgin-purity and before she turned Whore when all those glorious Eulogies were given her by the consentiens laus bonorum incorrupta vox benè judicantium and to suppose she merited them not then because now she doth not is an error as wide
COENA quasi ΚΟΙÎΗ The New-INCLOSVRES broken down AND THE LORDS SUPPER Laid forth in common for all Church-members having a Dogmatical Faith and not being Scandalous In a Diatribe and Defence thereof AGAINST The Apology of some Ministers and Godly People as their owne Mouth praiseth them asserting the lawfulness of their administring the LORDS SUPPER in a select Company Lately set forth by their Prolocutor Mr. HUMPHREY SAUNDERS Written by WILLIAM MORICE of Werrington in DEVON Esq LONDON Printed by W. Godbid for Richard Thrale and are to be sold at the Cross-Keyes at Paul's gate entring into Cheap-side M. DC LVII Augustin in Psal 48. Concio 1. Tom. 8. Pag. 93. EXigitur a manducante quod manducat non prohibeatur à dispensatore sed moveatur timere exactorem Chrysostom in 1. ad Cor. 11. Hom. 27. Tom. 4. Pag. 110. Quoniam Dominica coena hoc est Domini debet esse communis quaeenim Domini sunt non sunt hujus servi aut alterius sed omnibus communia quod enim Dominicum est idem commune nam si Domini tui est quemadmodum est non debes tanquam propria tibi assumere sed tanquam res Domini communiter omnibus proponere siquidem hoc est Dominicum nunc autem non sinis esse Dominicum cum non sinis esse commune sed tibi comedis Bullinger adversus Anabaptist l. 6. c. 9. p. 229. 232. Probationem Ministri aut Ecclesiae judicio non relinquimus ut tum demum aliquis ad coenam Domini accedat cum Ministri vel Ecclesia satis dignum fidelem sanctum judicaverit Probet homo seipsum non debet ab alio probari Musculus in 1 Cor. 11.28 Pag. 438 439. Apparet necessarium utile esse eorum studium qui neminem ad coenam Domini admittant quem ipsi antea non probaverunt si modus discretio adhibeatur nec velut universali lege indiscriminatim omnes etiam qui inculpate se gerunt in Ecclesia ad hujusmodi examen constringantur verum juxta timendum est ne institutum hoc quà m nunc magni aestimatur tam olim in priscam servitutem Ecclesiam Christi reducat noxium reddatur Sane Apostolica institutio nihil hujus requirit sed hortatur unumquemque ut seipsum probet sed quid si Minister Ecclesiae hac Apostoli sententia nolit esse contentus nec admittat nisiquos ipse explorat item quid si fidelis ad panis tantum non poculi Dominici communicationem admittatur sicut in Papatu fieri videmus Respondeo ubi nec Domini ea institutio nec Apostolica Doctrina servatur ibi non est ut communicet fidelis sinat Magistratus illos regnare in Ecclesia donec visum fuerit Domino modum imponere illorum Dominio Chamier Panstrat Tom. 4. l. 7. c. 19. S. 17. Pag. 196. Non sunt digne praeparati Scelus hominis cur indignos Sacramento dicis quos indignos negas pace Ecclesiae Itane tibi videatur qui censeantur in corpore Christi ut indignos pronuncies qui vescantur Christo at Chrysostomus negabat dignos esse qui vel precibus interessent quodnam quaeso ingenium tuum est Chrysostomi certe Catholicum vide ne tuum non Christianum Casaubon exercit ad annal Baron exercit 16. S. 31. Pag. 366. Coena Domini privatae epulae non sunt natura sua sed publica fidelium omnium invitatio The Summe of the Dissertation DIATRIBE SECT I. OF Antiquity and Innovation the Character of their Discipline the state of the question p. 29. DEFENCE SECT I. What Authority the Diatribe ascribed to the Fathers and ancient Church Why the Apologists derogate from them p. 32. SECT II. Of Antiquity Custome sad consequences of Independency the novelty thereof the Fathers not without errors yet not to be sleighted What may be called the Primitive Church Protestants alwayes honoured their Fathers and never declined their Testimony p. 33. SECT III. How the Apologists have suited their Discipline to comply with several-Parties and Interests the odious Blots of their Pen. p. 42. SECT IV. Whether the Diatribe were guilty of Petitio Principii 44. SECT V. Whether their Discipline advance Godlinesse The Sacraments are Seales of the Conditionall Covenant which Doctrine hath no affinity with semi-Pelagianisme Whether the exhibiting the Sacrament make men Saints Whether the giving thereof without discrimination upon tryal blind men in their sins or be the setting of the Seal to Blanks Whether the Sacraments are privileges of the Godly 1 Cor. 10. argumentative for a free Communion 46. SECT VI. Independent Bookes and Arguments Of Rhetorique what Builders the Apologists are 62. SECT VII The Apologists causlesly irritated by an Allegory 67. SECT VIII In whom the School vesteth the Power of Church-Censures Whether the Apologists may de jure or do de facto censure alone How they have restored the Sacrament 68. SECT IX The state of the Question the model of their Church Whether their way smack of Donatus his schisme Ecclesiastical Communion consists principally in Communion of Sacraments Of Examination precedent to the partaking of the Eucharist Whether and how necessary What knowledge may be competent What profession of Faith the antient Church required before admission to Sacraments Of Excommunication Suspension Presbytery the Apologists no friends thereunto 71. DIATRIBE SECT II. The Lord Jesus examined not his Disciples antecedently to his Supper He admitted Judas to the participation as the Fathers consentiently assert and the Scripture evinceth Luke 22.21 Joh. 13.2.26 27 30. discussed 96. DEFENCE SECT X. How we know Christ examined not the Apostles The force of Arguments from the Authority negative of Scripture Of the washing of the Apostles feet VVhether any did partake the last Supper save the 12. Apostles The Apologists conceit of the 70. Disciples Of Confession of Faith how and when necessary Examination is a virtual and interpretative diffamation VVhether it be a small thing they require VVhether Examination if it be necessary ought to be made but once 111. SECT XI Judas did communicate at the Lords Supper What is thereby inferred The Attestation of the Fathers in that matter the consent of later Divines The weight of the testimonies on either side the Apologists confess there was no visible cause to exclude him VVhether Christ in admitting him acted onely as a man His not condemning the adulterous woman 122. DIATRIBE SECT III. The sufficiency of Scripture whereupon Negative Arguments are grounded the Argument deduced from 1 Cor. 11.28 it is difficult and unsafe to judge of other mens estate Of temerarious judgment Of judging men to be wicked or irregenerate With what difficulty and what a Pedegree of consequences their proofs are derived from Scripture Generall Rules for satisfaction of doubting Consciences perswade the contrary to their way Of Christs admitting onely Disciples Heb. 13.17 Mat. 18.16 Rev. 2.2 1 Pet. 3.15 1 Cor. 5.11 explained and vindicated 134. DEFENCE SECT 12. 1
Cor 11.28 Reinforced and vindicated Negative Arguments whether this be such Whether all revealed in Scripture be necessary Christs not examining his Disciples The sense of antient and modern Interpreters upon that of 1 Cor. 11.28 the testimony of Paraeus vindicated Examination but an after-reckoning to Auricular Confession and built upon the same Foundations the Consequences thereof alike to be feared 149. DIATRIBE SECT IV. No pre-examination in the antient Church save of Catechumeni Sending the Eucharist to persons absent and strangers The institution and abolishment of Confession Liberty to approach the Lords Table upon self-examination Whom the antient Church excluded from the Eucharist The Judgment of the Fathers Casuists and School-men concerning those that are to be admitted and to be debarred To partake was antiently commanded as a common Duty The omission reprehended the common right asserted 181. DEFENCE SECT XIII The honour and interest of the Ministery Confession of sins as necessary as Examination Whether their principles have any affinity with the Roman or may be subservient and manuductive to Popery The antient Discipline most like to advance Reformation What were the Catechumeni Energumeni Penitents The several degrees of the latter The Church-way of the Apologists hath no conformity with the antient Church How the Heathens proscribed profane persons from their Holies VVhether the Antients went too farre in Censures A testimony of Albaspinus falsified by them cleared Another of Chrysostomes vindicated 185. SECT XIV Sending the Eucharist to strangers and persons absent whether a corruption VVhether the Fathers were prodigal of Christs blood Of admitting to the Eucharist presently after Baptisme Of the Literae formatae and communicatoriae 182. post 185. SECT XV. Of daily communicating of receiving at Easter all the People anciently communicated No man to be repelled upon the private knowledge of the Minister or other Whether all did partake the Lords Supper that heard the Word What sinnes may exclude from the Sacrament Whether the ancient Church knew or practised any such Censure as Suspension The Negative proved the Arguments for the Affirmative profligated Penitents were first excommunicated What Communion anciently did signifie What Abstinency denoted What was the Lay-Communion What was meant by removing from the Altar What Suspension anciently signified and in what sense that notion was used What the School determines of giving the Eucharist to manifest and occult sinners Suarez imposterously alleaged by them What Suspicion may warrant an Exclusion Whether their way of Separation be conformable to the Ancient Of their care to keep men off from the Sacrament The Application of a passage in Chrysostome redeemed from their Exceptions Whether there be reason to examine dispositively to hearing the Word aswell as to receiving the Sacrament and danger to the Unworthy in the one aswell as in the other The casting of Pearl before Swine and giving holy things unto Dogs what it intends The difference between the Word and Sacraments All not anciently admitted to all the Word The Sacrament multifariously proved to be a converting Ordinance and this to be the common judgment of Protestants What effects may be hoped onely by seeing the Administration without partaking The Sophisme discussed He that partakes worthily is converted already he that eates unworthily eates damnation VVhether men are prohibited those Duties which they cannot well and duly discharge The moral works of natural men 186. DIATRIBE SECT V. By a free Communion there is no damnum emergens by pollution of the Ordinances Minister or Communicants the visible Church is aggregated of good and evil It is Schisme to renounce Communion of Sacraments with evil men not duly censured the administration not to be intermitted because all are not sufficiently prepared or those that are unworthy may partake The similitudes defeated of giving a cup of poysoned wine onely with admonition Of giving a Legacy to Schollars of such a capacity and parts which the Trustees cannot otherwise distribute Of being guilty of the sins we hinder not The weak to be encouraged and promoved by admission As much danger by mix'd Communion in the Word and Prayers as in the Sacrament The Reasons pretended to debar from the one as argumentative to exclude from the other Matth. 7 6. examined VVhether the receiving the Sacrament be a Duty injoyned to all and a good work in all VVhether it be a converting Ordinance VVhat the Sacraments seal and how VVhether they confer grace The same evil effects ensue by male administration of discipline as by a free communion and the same reasons which forbid separation in the one do also in the other case 235. DEFENCE SECT XVI The removing the scandalous by the power of the Keys no ingredient of our question nor any part of the Discipline which they practise What scandals may deprive of the Sacrament Whether formal Professors if they could be known were to be admitted How holy things may be polluted As the Sacrament so in like manner other holy things may be defiled By a free admission the Sacrament is not polluted by or to the Minister nor others that communicate worthily and it is no more dangerous for the unworthy to come than to keep off Whether mix'd Communion be a burden of sinne or pain In what cases it is lawful to have Communion of Sacraments with evil men The godly were alwayes commix'd with the wicked in Communion of Sacraments proved through the History of the Scripture Sacrifices were of like nature with Sacraments and for offering or eating thereof no signs or tryals of real Holiness were required Whether there be an equal necessity of profession of Faith at the receiving of the Eucharist and of Baptisme The Church of Corinth was corrupt yet in reforming thereof the Apostle prescribed no such tryal When and how far admonition and reproof may be sufficient Of Ambrose his proceeding against Theodosius What are the effects of the society of evil men with good The errors of Audius Novatus and Donatus Whether the Apologists symbolize with them Church-fellowship consists chiefly in Communion of Sacraments they make the Church of the Called to be no larger than that of the Elect. The state of the Church according to the Parables of the Floor Field and Net Matth. 13. Our Thesis asserted in the express words of the Antients The Pastor of Corinth not reproved for permitting mix'd Communions 1 Cor. 4.21 considered The Parable of the Marriage-Feast Of sealing men Their too free Pulpits no free Tables of Preaching without Ordination A recapitulation of much of the Discourse 255. DIATRIBE SECT VI. Whether this Discipline suit with Rom. 14.1 10. or check not with Charity relish not of the Pharisee Whether it sort with the qualifications of the High-Priest Heb. 5.2 Or the example of Hezekias Whether it smell not of Diotrephes Of examining persons set beyond suspicion Whether their way were cast in a like Mould with Popery Of their Elders their way is independent A complaint of our Schismes
never would have made this instance indefinitly and without limitation For First it follows not because they counterfeited old things we may not alleage that which is truly ancient or because some stones are counterfeit therefore none must be precious Jewels Secondly it may be retorted on themselves the Gibeonites would not have simulated that which had it been true would not have been effectual to the ends for which they fained it and had their bread and bottles and shooes been as old as they dissembled Joshuah might and would have accepted and been at peace and in league with them And will it not then be consequent to suit the Apodosis to the Protasis in this Allegory or Similitude that Antiquity is a likely Plea and lends a good Topick and such things as wear her Livery and bear her Character are more receptible than those that want them But if the antiquity the Paper calls for do signifie but Custome as they guess by some passages viz. what is setled by Custome they will be bold to say of such antiquity It is vetustas erroris I shall say with Augustine Quis dubitat veritati manifestatae debere consuetudinem cedere But I add Veritatem non ostendis de consuetudine confiteris De Baptism cont Donat. l. 3. p. 82. Tom. 7. Ibidem l. 7. p. 99. Ibid. l. 4. p. 85. ad Januar. Ep. 119. de Civitate Dei l. 15. c. 16. but abstracting custom from the consideration of the matter either as it is good for goodness will warrant it self without custome yet honum consuetum duo sunt bona and as St. Augustine gravely Cùm consuetudini veritas suffragatur nihil oportet firmius retineri or as it is evil for then custom cannot authorize it for the Philosopher said Omnia mala habenda pro peregrinis and S. Augustine Aut propter fidem aut propter mores vel emendari oportel quod perperà m fiebat vel institui quod non fiebat But only as custom even as such Ad humanum sensum vel alliciendum vel offendendum mos valet plurimùm and upon that other reflections insinuated in the Paper I might without offence conclude with Ulpian In rebus novis constituendis evidens esse debet utilitas and with St. Augustine Non est à consuetudine recedendum nisi rationi adversetur But beside the customs which I chiefly reverence and engage to defend are the customs of the antient Church Ad Casulan Ep. 86. and if the Apologists will be bold to say of such antiquity it is vetustas erroris I shall modestly re-mind them that they are more bold then wise And if they shall sleight the judgement of St. Augustine in his rebus de quibus nihil certi statuit Scriptura Divina mos Populi Dei vel instituta majorum pro lego tuenda sunt nor shall prize the sense of the great Council of Chalcedon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let the ancient custom prevail yet I hope they will grant there was some weight in that Argument of the Apostle 1 Cor. 11.16 We have no such Custom nor the Churches of God The gray hairs of Opinions and Practices are then beauty and a Crown when found in the way of truth and righteousness They are then indeed a Crown more glorious and worthy of double honour but yet aetas per se venerabilis saith Calvin and therefore some suppose that in the Greek an old man is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth honour Willet in Lev. 19.32 Arist l. 19. Ethic. 2. Jansenius in locum C. à Lapide in locum and it is the dictate of the same spirit which Aristotle hath also delivered almost verbatim Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head and honour the face of the old man formally as an old man And some Expositors because the relative is not in the Hebrew thus interpret that of Prov. 16.31 The hoary head is a Crown of glory it is found in the way of righteousness as if old men were commonly righteous as the Chaldee in the late famous Bible renders that of Leviticus Rise before him that is learned in the Law implying old men to be so so as therefore we might turn the allusion against them The light of Doctrine hath long filled our Horizon the light of Discipline was not so forward or successful being a long while held by some men in unrighteousness Nimirum liberanda veritas illos expectabat as Tertullian once said of Marcion but utinam talis status esset in illo Ut non tristitiae causa dolenda foret Fair words cannot perswade us that we are not hurt while we feel the smart of our wounds neither have we been bred up in Anaxagoras his School to beleeve the snow to be of other colour than our eyes discern it What Quintilian and Seneca said of the Common-wealth we may apply to the Church the one Quaedam sunt crimina laesae Reipub. ad quorum pronuntiationem soli oculi sufficiunt The other An laesa sit Respub non solet argumentis probari manifesta statim sunt damna Reipub. The Tree is known by his fruit and we have tasted such bitterness in the fruits of this Discipline and the Principles thereof that as Joab stubbornly said to David Thou hast shamed the face of all thy Servants So even those that could not be satisfied with the topping but wished the cutting down of the former Tree as being grown too high to over-top and drop upon the Paradise of God are truly ashamed to see this Plant spring up in the place thereof which not onely like the Boranetz or Tartar Lamb though it seem to creep low toward the ground and bear wool like the Sheeps cloathing yet destroys all verdancy and suffers nothing to grow or prosper neer it but he also that shall contemplate in what a light flame the whole Wood is will be apt to conclude that the Bramble is become the King of Trees from whom onely this fire could come forth So that some may well cry out as the Constantinopolitans at Arsacius his succeeding of Chrysostom Deus bone quis cui and are afraid to have contracted a suitable guilt to what the Romane Senate incurred toward Drusus of whom Paterculus tells us Qui tanto meliore ingenio quà m fortunâ usus est ut malefacta collegarum quà m ejus optimè cogitata Senatus probaret magìs But I remember Herodotus tells us that Phrinicus was amerced 1000. Drachmes for representing in a Tragedy the loss of Miletus and thereby renewing the sorrow thereof and therefore I shall not farther have unguem in Ulcere having else-where rubbed the sore and also because not onely illè dolet verè but also tute qui sine teste dolet onely in answer to the Apologists expressions I shall say That their Light of Discipline hath proved an ignis fatuus to lead us into Precipices and abysses or a Comet to portend and effect mischief and the
They are not the next ages before us that we look upon as they odiously insinuate but the most antient and yet I wish that the present times may not ingratiate and endear the former age notwithstanding its corruptions and have the fate which some think Augustus aimed at in adopting Tiberius that the memory of his Government might be more sweetned by the succession of a worse In the 13. Section for we will still endeavour to collect and unite together what they have scattered of one concernment they seek to enervate the testimony of the antient Church by telling us out of the Lord Verulam That they which too much reverence old times are a scorn to new That the Fathers agreed in mistakes and were divided in truths That the Opinion of the Chiliasts taken for an errour is by Justin Martyr referred to the Apostles Irenaeus affirms that Jesus Christ lived fifty years on earth Lubbertus is cited to say it is the manner of the Fathers when they would commend a thing not knowing its original to refer it to the Apostles and primitive Times In the three first Centuries the Learned are perplexed with spurious works of the Fathers which makes uncertain the state of the Primitive Church which some extend not beyond the Apostles days or third Century and it is stretched too far to the age of Chrysostome We know and acknowledge that the Fathers like the Moon never borrowed so much light from the Sun of the Scriptures as to be clear of all spots Stapleton himself grants there is none of the Fathers in which something erroneous may not be observed they are like the Birds hatch'd at Cair by the warmth of an Oven which have every one some blemish and I wish their errours were of no other alloy than such as the Apologists have detected Piscator Alsted Mead Hackwel Gallus c. whereof that of the Chiliasts themselves dare not stigmatize for an errour and therfore unaptly alleage it but only say it hath been taken for one perchance they are more indulgent thereunto because it is a Darling fostered much fawned upon by many of their Brethren and indeed hath divers more learned assertors than them who consent in the thing though with some difference in the manner and for the conceit of Irenaeus it is a Chronological no Dogmatical errour and Chronologers are one of those three things that never agree Id calumniâ carere debebit saith Sulpitius Severus But because the Fathers might or did erre therefore to give no credit to their Witnesses would be in effect destructive to all kind of humane testimony From hence onely can be concluded that they are not infallible and therefore our understanding not to be captivated into any obedience to their Dictates in that sense we call no man Father save the Ancient of days and that iis in enucleandis fidei controversiis non necessarium est consentire tanquā ab omni exceptione veris Chamier tom l. 1. c. 6. p. 4. Aquin. 1. q. 1. art 8. ad 2. aut etiam in se possunt proferri ut quibus ex certa Suppositione certis etiam circumstantiis hic discernendi rectum ab obliquo usu convenire queat saith Chamier and authoritatibus Canonicae Scripturae utitur proprie ex necessitate argumentando authoritate autem aliorum Doctorum Ecclesiae quasi arguendo ex propriis sed probabiliter c. as Aquiaas But the errours of a single Father or their mutual differences cannot lay any obstructions in our way who lay no such great waight on their singular Opinions yet set much by their general consent in what the most and most famous in every age have delivered as received of them that went before them and as practised or beleeved by them What Lubbertus is alleaged to say will not make either scale theirs or ours to move much with the waight thereof the notion Apostles is not alway taken properly Dr. Ham. Resol 6. quae q. 5. p. 351. And see Parker of the Cross part 2. p. 126. de Baptis Contr. Don. l. 4. c. 24. alii Epist 118. c. 1. or strictly to be understood one great learned man hath manifested it that in the Primitive Times Bishops were usually called Apostles and another hath told us that the ancient Church extended the Apostolical Times beyond the age of the Apostles even to the Nicene Council The ignorance whereof perplexed Baronius to reconcile it How Scithianus and Terebinthus are said to live Temporibus Apostolorum who lived in Aurelians time 300. years after Christ and howsoever yet I know it was the rule of Saint Augustine often inculcated and approved by our principal Divines in matters of fact and practice That which the universal Church holdeth and which was not appointed by Councils but always observed is most rightly believed to have been delivered by Apostolical Authority If some Bastard Writings are put upon the Fathers which like Eaglets being brought forth to the sun are not very hard to be discerned by their inability to endure the light of critical examination there are others which the Learned are agreed upon to bear the characters of their true Off-spring which set the antient Church within our light and prospect and it is no argument that because some coyn is counterfeit therefore none must be current let them reject it if we offer to pay them with false money But I doubt their practice will need some counterfeit Writings to support it for the genuine Works of the Antients will lend it no authority They should much have favoured our ignorance to have pointed at those had their authority been worth our notice who confine the Primitive Church within the age of the Apostles or extend it not beyond the second centeury that we might have tryed what weight their reasons or authority carry in the counter-scales against the generality of the polemical Divines who though primitive be a relation and spoken always with respect to another so that what is primitive in reference to one is not so toward another yet they dilate the antient Church Doctoribus Ecclesiasticis 6. priorum saeculorum veterum patrum adscriberemus titulum Rivet tract de patr Author Tom. 2. p. 648. According to one of the Epocha's the time for the measured purity of the Inner Court and that is the visible Church remaining in its primitive purity is 454. years Mede's Remains on Rev. p. 20. whereunto more reverence and esteem is rendred unto the first five hundred years and within which Latitude of five hundred did Bishop Jewel impale the testimonies which he challenged his adversaries to produce in confirmation of several pieces of Popery and sure the age of Chrysostome which was the latter end of the fourth and beginning of the fifth Century was like the eighth Sphere which though not next to the first mover according to the old obsolete hypothesis yet had more bright stars than all the Orbs beside What they
insert out of the English Plato that to reverence old times is to be a scorn to the new is meant of the arts and civil customes thereof which are lickt into better shape by time and daily improved and refined into more perfections Pervarios casus artem experientia trudit Exemplo monstrante viam but Theology and the Doctrine of Faith being inspired not acquisite was substantially perfect at the first tradition thereof and those which were neerest to those Secretaries of the Holy Ghost had the advantage and opportunity to receive a cleer explication and right understanding thereof and though too much reverence to those antient Times may peccantly verge from mediocrity wherein the matter of virtue consists yet he that shall scorn any for reverencing those old Times which we dispute of may put for to be Doctor of the chair of Scorners and hath been new dip'd in their principles who have learnt to say in effect with that Pope Hoc verum erit si ipse volo non aliter And whatever the Apologists may insinuate or glance at the Protestant Divines did never absolutely disclaim or renounce the tryal by the Fathers neither do they suffer any such Thrasonical vaunts as that of Campian Field of the Church l. 4. c. 5. p. 349. appendix Part. 1. Sect. 2. p. 750. to go unchecked and unshamed Patres admiserit captus est excluserit nullus est in altero fugam adornant in altero suffocantur Luther and the rest at the beginning seem to decline such tryal saith a learned Divine because the corruptions of their writings were so many as could not easily be discovered conformable to the advice of Vincentius Lyrinensis who saith If Heresies be inveterate and so have times and means to corrupt the Monuments of Antiquity we must flee to the Scriptures onely but now having found out by the help of so many learned men both of our adversaries and amongst our selves that have travelled in that kind which are their undoubted Works and which doubtful or undoubtedly forged we willingly admit the tryal by the Fathers and we now onely decry and condemn the Papists for their servile enthralling themselves to the judgment of the Fathers as to a Law as Canus speaks and ad ultimum iota as the gloss on the Canon Law delivers and for fettering themselves with an oath never to expound Scripture contrary to their consent and for advancing them to the disparagement and obsoleting of the Scriptures as among other examples did the Sorbonist Reynolds de Idololat Rom. Eccles l. 1. c. 8. p. 515. p. 301. Whitaker tom 1. p. 13. Marta de Jurisdict citat Dr. J. White 's Defence way true Church c. 20. p. 105. whom Stephanus asking where he read such a thing in the New Testament he answered Se illud apud Hieronymum aut in Decretis legisse quid vero Novum Testamentum esset ignorare but never deserted a tryal by the Fathers as by the Jury though not as by the Law which is the Scripture nor as by a Judge which is the Holy Ghost Ad hanc canitiem tanquam in Areopagum provocamus saith Whitaker to Campian and I could cite many others to the same purpose they are the Papists themselves that with notable hypocrisie depress and avile their authority when it interferes with their Interests speaking out plainly what the Apologists more covertly insinuate That the common opinion of the Doctors is not to be regarded when another contrary opinion favours the Keys or the Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction or a pious case Those that wash'd off the water of their former Baptisme by new immersions were the first that sought to bring under water also the authority and reverence of the antient Church and it is very observable that from the same Fountain have sprung the foul and bitter waters of Schisme and Heresie that have defiled and envenomed the modern age as if it were therein legible that had due honour been given unto the Fathers our days of peace and truth had been prolonged in the Land What the Psalmist says of Children I think of the Fathers Happy are they that have their Quiver full of them they shall not be ashamed but they shall speak with the Enemies in the Gate The Philosophers that writ of the contempt of glory yet bewrayed their â—â—nbitious itch after it by affixing their names to the books So even those that seem to decry and sleight the witness of the Fathers yet think themselves more gay Birds when deck'd with their Plumes and that they make higher flights if they can impe their Wings with any of their Feathers The Apologists themselves in their 35. and 37. Section and else-where seek to borrow some colours from them to paint the face of their Discipline more seemingly fair And it is still true what Erasmus was wont to say When Hierom is for our purpose his authority weigheth much when against us it is worth nothing Yet as Agesilaus sent Tissaphernes his thanks that by fraction of the sworn League he had set the gods on his side so I thankfully accept this implicite and interpretative yeelding me the Fathers on my part while to my sense no other corollary can be deducted from all their discourse hereof but this Let them say what they list we neither value them nor will beleeve them SECT III. How the Apologists have suited their Discipline to comply with severall Parties and Interests the odious blots of their Pen. PRimus felicitatis gradus est non delinquere Secundus delicta cognoscere saith Cyprian They now condemn not all that differ from them and must acknowledge that some godly men eminent in parts and places close not with them and this I shall gladly take and put among their retractations for heretofore it hath been their course resulting as much out of subtilty as censoriousnesse to brand such as are adverse from them as enemies to godlinesse and so to sentence them I think is to condemn them yea they condemn them while they renounce Communion of Sacraments with them there being no way to communicate with them but to tread that path which they have lined and beaten out and if they grant them to be godly persons how can they without Schisme desert communion with them But indeed if their model of discipline be the onely path to Reformation and be that point alone wherein peace and holinesse meet and close together I think they could not but condemn all that walk not with them therein though in truth rather this renders it evident that it is no such right way because so many godly and eminent men are found in another Road. But as some censure them for going too far so do others for not going far enough in their seperation And it is like enough that this befals them which is the common fate of men that compound and medly themselves to comply with several Interests and bear up with divers parties who modelling themselves like
the Tragoedian Buskin indifferently for every foot while they would ingratiate with all are endeared to none Aristenus long since resolved Media via nulla est and the Praetor of the Samnites in Livy wisely observed Media via neque amicos parit nec inimicos tollit and men of that model are like the flying Fish which being partly Bird partly Fish is still prosecuted in the water by the Fishes and in the air by the Birds The Apologists indeed like good Astrologers will be sure to have chief respect to the Stars that are culminant and when they draw the Scheme and set the Figure of their Discipline they observe who are Lords of the House and accordingly make their judgment so that as famous du Moulin said of the Papists He that would know their Opinions must consult with the Almanack Some of them that were the first to turn Tables in the time of the Prelates have been since so busie in tumbling them that now at length they have in effect turned them altogether out of the Church When the Jews were in the Sun-shine of prosperity then the Samaritans would claim to be their brethren but if once they were under a Cloud or Tempest the other would not own the Kindred And it is no new thing for men to be in truth like the Stone which Suidas fableth to have been in Aarons Brest-plate Cujus Color sive ad prospera sive adversa mutaretur for some while the Apologists held forth their Church in the notion of Presbyterian but I could give account of the occasion and cast it up with their own Counters which if all the Box be not of the right stamp and metal yet I am sure those I shall take are without suspicion when their Church was to be entred by them in the Catalogue of a gathered Congregation A learned Divine of ours said in answer to an Heterodox Prelate that there were some tantùm in uxoratu non Papistae and I may as truly say that some are tantùm in decim is non Independentes and friends to that way Usque ad aras tantùm those Altars whereof they live but manum de hac tabula which as the Italian Proverb speakes I have not drawn Con amore with my affection to the draught But to speak freely being indeed too free of such obloquy the most carnal and prosane in the Countrey are foremost in opposition to them the scum of whose choler they often see and hear who measuring them by a fleshly line finde their work defective I had snpposed rather excessive not being able to bear the strictnesse of the word I thought they would have said their discipline It is a misfortune as sad as singular that the godly and wicked being of such different principles should meet in one conclusion against their way If the choler of some profane persons asperse on them or their model as perchance there may be some that are like Ithacius in Sulpitius Severus who had no other virtue in him but his hatred towards the Priscilianists yet scum being such light froth cannot stick or defile being soon to be wip'd off Malè de me loquuntur saith Seneca sed mali Malis displicere laudariest but yet notwithstanning Moverer si de me Marcus Cato si Laelius sapiens si duo Scipiones ista loquerentur But whatever they be Non multùm supra eos eminent quibús se irascendo exaequant and since also qui alterum incusat probri se ipsum intueri oportet who would think that the Apologists who take so tender a resentment of some passages in the Paper which yet I hope to approve doe disrelish more by the distemper of the Organ than the quality of the object for quibus os putet omnia quae afferuntur putida sunt oris non alimenti vitio would drop from their Pens so odious a blot upon their Opposers among which none perchance having said more in opposition to them though nec me qui caeteros vicit impetus doubtlesse they set me with Uriah in the sore-front of the hottest battel that I may be smitten and my good name dye Compare them and determine if the Allegory and allusion taken from Nebuchadnezzars Image and the Romans pretended Magick and an application of a passage in Chrysostome which lye so indigested in the rising stomachs of the Apologists or what else in the Paper may be capable of distast be not charientisms and civil complements in respect of this calumny which sure is but the scum of a Brest boyling with an impotent choler hic nigrae succus loliginis haec est Aerugo mera Ep. 47. is it possible Tantae-ne animis caelestibus irae I am more sensible of the dishonour they have hereby done themselves for qui alteri maledicit sibi convitium facit and as Cyprian Neque qui audit sed qui facit convitium miser est and my known deportment especially measured by Seneca's Rule Qui se innocentem dicit appellat iestem non conscientiam might have prevented and will refute their calumny and who while I make not any externall judgment either my Theater or Tribunal cannot by such clamours feel the Musick interrupted which the Bird makes in my breast scutum conscientiae sufficit adversus gladium Linguae But I shall neither much complain for omne naturâ invalidum querulum est nor recriminate since as Cicero to Dolabella tua moderatio eorum infamet infamiam nor be passionate because as Gregory Qui mala non fert ipse sibi per impatientiam testis est quòd non est bonus but I shall quietly take up these arma justitiae à sinistra quorum convitiator faber est as Augustine and make use of this Dung spread upon me to meliorate and manure me into more fruitfulnesse and it shall be my solace that qui volens detrahit famae meae nolens addit mercedi meae as Suaviloquus Augustine SECT IV. Whether the Diatribe were guilty of Petitio Principii WHether their way be grounded on the practice of the Primitive Church is the great thing in question and subject-matter of this Congresse and therefore not to be begged in the entrance Quantum mutatus ab illo how can this consist with their judgment delivered in the 2d and 13th Sections nay repeated in the lines immediatly following in this Section where their expressions amount to this that they nothing weigh or make no account of the practice of the ancient Church much lesse doe they reckon it a great thing no would they willingly have it brought into question upon this subject so far are they from making it antomastically the subject-matter of this Congresse well knowing that to re-search into the judgments and practice of the Ancients is with Roderick of Spain To break open a Temple where they shall onely finde Images of men armed against them Magentinus an Interpreter of Aristotle tells us That a begging of the question is when that which is
whereas they tell us that all that are desirous and worthy with little pains might partake thereof As for many of those that are rejected their desire will be sufficiently witnessed and their worthiness is not to be tryed by unsealed weights and uneven ballances and for the pains which they must take which I imagine they intend of their travell to a remoter place Ad Paulin. Ep. 13. Tom. 1. although frustrà fit per plura and one place is as neer heaven as another as St. Hierom said Et de Hierosolymis de Britannia aequaliter patet aula coelestis so they that call them ten or twelve miles may with as much reason command them twenty or thirty farther Yet it is not so much the place as the way that is questioned and the reason and authority that enforceth it But of the place we shall suspend farther consideration having destined a special Section to that Topography and desire onely it may be here perpended whether the thrusting out of such a multitude from the Sacrament do not check with that caution which Augustine so often inculcates of not eradicating the Wheat while they rashly would separate the Tares SECT IX The state of the question the model of their Church Whether their way smack of Donatus his Schisme Ecclesiastical Communion consists principally in Communion of Sacraments Of Examination precedent to the partaking of the Eucharist Whether and how necessary What knowledge may be competent What profession of Faith the ancient Church required before admission to Sacraments Of Excommunication Suspension Presbytery the Apologists no friends thereunto IT is no unprofitable way saith an eminent Divine Dr. Jo. Whites Defence way p. 143. when one cannot defend his question to pick a quarrel to the state thereof Which trick saith he Dr. Stapleton in his time made good use of The Apologists it seems have learn'd this trick and here question the Paper for mistaking the question but it being their practice directly which was questioned the state of the question will be best determined by calling under our prospect their way and their practice At Holisworthy divers assembling at the Publick Lecture the Prolocutor of the Apologists who was married to that Church and now by a new kinde of Polygamy sought to contract a new and fairer Spouse of such as were most mallable to his impressions and facil to be lick'd into that shape whereunto he would form them drew some few for he retained his interest in his old Church when he gathered a new and being more provident than Aesops Dog kept the substance when he catch'd after the shadow and held the Bird in hand when he sought more in the Wood into a more private Conventicle where after the Lecture they had a kind of prophecying and one or other was by turn selected to be Moderator of their Exercises where Jacob not rolling away the stone from the Well for the sheep but the sheep for Jacob to drink while the Ministers sate by in silence silere eos turpe est Xenocratem loqui Others who though like those Animals whose eyes serve them well enough in the dark for their private obscurer condition yet have no perspicacy for a greater light so their parts either infused by nature or acquisite by study being too angust to reach that heighth or comprehend those Dimensions Yet Currus petit ille paternos They presuming as I think to understand above what was meet for them to understand Epist ad Paul in Tom. 3. p. 8. which the Apostle forbids and when quod Medicorum Promittunt Medici tractant fabrilia Fabri Sola Scripturarum ars est quam sibi omnes vindicant hanc universi praesumunt lacerant docent antequà m discant which St. Hierom derides and not contenting themselves with the judgment of discretion Hieron ubi supra but usurping that of direction and cancelling the natural Law of Relatives were all Pastors without Flocks and the Sheep all turn'd Shepherds they undertook Quae non viribus istis Munera conveniunt To expound and apply difficult Texts of Scripture and resolve doubtfull Cases and Questions in Theology and with the Child as it is in the Story of St. Augustine to lade out the Ocean with their Cockle-shell and as they arrogated to be Gods mouth in publick teaching of the rest so to be the mouth of the rest to God in publick praying for a blessing upon others Nay some of their Women impatient of that Gagge which the Apostle had set in their mouthes as if not fitted for this age wherein he did not fore see that Sex should become such able Speakers had their frequent interpositions even to the modelling of their Meetings and Exercises Discunt proh pudor à feminis quod viros doceant so as their Congregation had somewhat of Analogy with the State of Athens where Themistocles ruled the City and some other governed him And now when in conformity to the Independent Archetypon where when seven or more persons by frequent society are satisfied of the holiness of each other they agree to constitute a Church of themselves so when they had drawn forth stones enough hewn and formed them to their fashion that there might be no noyse of Hammers at Pyworthy thither the Prolocut or carryed them without ever appointing of a Communion at home where such as were fit might come to be admitted or examining who in his Parish else were fit or endevouring to fit them in any other way save by preaching That to come under their discipline was the onely door to let in to the Sacrament he there erects of these Stones his altare contra altare whereof all they which did at first partake and were received into Communion of the Sacrament had their tesseras hospitales Ad annal Baron Exer. 16. Sect. 43. p. 393. or mensales or somewhat analogically to what Cafaubon speaks of the Heathens in their sacred mysteries Habuerunt Symbola quae pro tessera erant thyasotis corundem sacrorum per quae se invicem agnoscerent bringing their Leaden Tokens with them as Badges to distinguish them or Passports to warrant their admission Others afterward led by their proper affections or drawn by their importunity entred into society and communion with them after they had rendred some satisfaction of their worthiness most of any one Parish out of the Parish of Pyworthy from whence their Elders were selected many out of divers some adjacent some distant Parishes very few out of the Prolocutors own Parish who yet upon some emergencies would have owned the Church and appropriated the gathering thereof to himself so as however he else-where speaks of finding a Church setled at Pyworthy to colour his ad journing thither from his proper charge yet it was of his settlement onely upon this occasion and though that Parish Church had then a Minister yet he that hath since ordinarily officiated there was long onely a candidate of the
probant illud tamen ut ab ecclesia susceptum non à Deo praeceptum exigunt And howsoever this be vendicated as the Doctrine and practise of the Reformed Churches especially those that are of Presbyterian model yet in the necessity and so also in the Universality thereof it is but a Servant lately taken in for a need that weares the badge or cognizance of the family but it is not of the linage or right off-spring We know that Gentlemen of this Nation that travell into France or Holland upon the offer of themselves are ordinarily admitted to partake the Sacrament without examination and even in the Church at Charenton the most celebrious of the Nation 3. We doe not so much oppose this pretended power of examination as the consequence of it As Qui veterem fert injuriam invitat novam so if we give place to one imposition we make way for more and as in Gods Law he that offends in one point is guilty of all so in mens commandments he that gives up his liberty in subjection to one thing forfeits it in all for even in this concernment Eadem est ratio partium totius and if obedience be due to one command it is also to more that shall come stamped with the same authority 4. Neither doe we at all contest against an expediency of examination relatively to some persons such as lye under a violent or morally probable suspicion of ignorance Quando intercedit sufficiens ratio ad generandum dubium as the Schoole defines it who being convicted to be ignorant we deny not but it is fit their approach be somewhile retarded untill they are better instructed but such whose understanding in the Gospel is well known Reply to Dr. Whitgift p. 164. or which doe examine themselves Mr. Cartwright saith their meaning is not they should be examined and when there shall appeare an expediency of Examination none but will say it may be done aswell in private and that it shall sort better as well with charity as prudence to doe it so But though palpably ignorant persons may be excluded yet it is a fallacy of the consequent to conclude that therefore all must be examined There are some that are elevated above all suspition of ignorance and there are other wayes of discovery of ignorance besides particular examination upon interrogatories Themselves tell us that they examine none that are taken to be Disciples and therefore they may know them to be such without examination by their education discourse actions and imployments Were a Pastor so familiarly conversant with his Flocke as he ought to be and is some thinke implyed not onely by Paul's preaching from house to house but also by those alike-used Scripture idioms the Church in or among you and you in the Church or did not deeme the feeding of the Lambs by catechising to be beneath his magistery and greatness he would need no other marks or signes to know his Sheepe by than such as he might take from common conversation Even themselves say that Christ needed not to examine his Disciples before they did partake of his Supper because they were known to him § 12 but if their Sheep be not also known to them they are no good Shepheards that practically know their duty But to dispute No ignorant person ought to be admitted therefore all ought to be examined whether they are ignorant is as I have elsewhere instanced as if I should argue no Ideot ought to mannage his own estate therefore all ought to be examined whether they are Ideots before they be admitted to the mannagement of their Fortunes and is somewhat analogous to Bellarmine's reasoning that because Ambrose censured Theodosius therefore he was a lawfull Judge of him in an external Court to examine matters in order to his sentence who notwithstanding proceeded onely ex evidentia facti And however we cannot thinke it fit to examine silly Maid-servants what is the Essence of God that is a depth too great to put an Elephant in much more a Lambe The Philosopher could say De Deo hoc tantùm dic Esse and Gregorie better Ne vocabula quidem Dei naturae congruentia reperire homines possunt and therefore de Deo cùm dicitur dici non potest And we should also thinke it very usefull to affie the Standard of the Sanctuary and to determine what measure of knowledge may be a competency for the Sacrament It is evident that the Catechumeni presently upon their baptisme were anciently admitted to the Eucharist Durantus for this cites the authority of many Fathers de ritib. Eccles lib. 1. cap. 19. p. 161. Albas de veter Eccles rit l. 2. obs 22. p. 315. Mr. Ball answ to Can. 2 part p. 58. Sylvius 22. ae qu. 2. art 10. conclus 3. p. 28. Usher serm on Ephes 4.13 and answer to the Jesuite p. 311. 312. Bellarm. de Verbo Dei l. 4. cap. 11. Hieron ad Pammach tom 2. p. 238. hist l. 7. c. 30. and yet Albaspinus tells us that during their catechumenacy they were taught nothing de arcanis Sacramentorum and the profession at first required of all that were received to Baptisme as a learned Divine affirmeth was that they beleeved the Father the Son and the holy Ghost Regulam fidei per baptismum accipimus saith Irenaeus qui baptizandi erant olim solitos reddere seu recitare Symbolum is affirmed by Sylvius out of many antient Authors In the Eastern Church they recited the Nicene in the Westerne who saith Bishop Usher applyed themselves to the capacity of the meaner sort more than the Easterne the Apostolicall and both he and Erasmus shew that the Apostles Creed which the Fathers called regulam fidei was not so large at first as afterward when it was enlarged by accession of sundry Articles occasioned by the emergency of severall Heresies and other occasions Bellarmine is very confident and we take up this arrow to shoot it back against himself that the Apostles never used to preach openly to the people other things than the Apostles Creed the ten Commandements and the Sacraments Hierom tells us in his time there was but fourty dayes allowed for catechizing the Heathen Ut per quadraginta dies publicè tradamus sanctam adorandam Trinitatem saith he which insinuates what was the Doctrine taught them and the same thing Cyrillus Hierosolymitanus omnis testatur antiquitas addes Victorius in his Scholâ—a and Socrates relates the whole Nation of the Burgundians were catechised seven dayes the eighth were baptized and if we may judge of their proficiency by the time of instruction it could be no great stock of knowledge that aliens from the Church and Faith could acquire in that interim in all probability not so much as the Children of the Church may doe after so many yeers teaching as the other had dayes The Apostles themselves at the first institution had a very small cantle of knowledge who had onely an
place of St. John eâdem horâ the same houre and thus forms the Text Ipse Judas accepit panem eâdem horâ egressus est forà s Judas received the Sop the same houre and went forth Thirdly as there is no necessity to conclude that the Sop if given that night was given before the last Supper neither is there any cogency of reason to inferre that if it had been given before that Institution that therefore Judas went forth so immediately as to leave no proportionable interim between the one and the other for the Consecration and distribution of the Sacrament So lastly there is no certainty that the Sop was given to Judas that night when the Passeover and our Lords Supper were eaten And I shall crave leave to offer some Animadversions which may make it seem not improbable that it was dealt him at a former Supper in Bethany and that the Supper mentioned John 13. was neither the Passeover nor Supper of the Lord. That thirteenth Chapter of John begins with these words Now before the feast of the Passeover and then in the second verse saith Supper being ended so as the Supper there rehearsed seemes to be before the Passeover The marginal annotation on John 13.1 referres us for the consonancy of the Evangelists to Matthew 26.2 where it is said after two dayes is the feast of the Passeover so as by comparing the Texts the Supper mentioned in St. John was two dayes before the Passeover and though it be said John 12. that Jesus came to Bethany six dayes before the Passeover yet the Supper recorded vers 2. of that Chapter and in the 13. Chapter might be some dayes after his comming and but two dayes before the Passeover and some learned men suppose that he had that week several recourses to and from Bethany It seemes a very Tortious and improper answer to interprett before the feast of the Passeover to be the night of the Feast but before the eating of the Paschal Supper There is neither reason nor example nor authority for it and it sounds contrary to common sense and the two dayes mentioned Matth. 26.2 are destructive to the interpretation Besides when our Lord said to Judas what thou dost doe quickly some of them thought that Jesus had said unto him buy those things that we have need of against the Feast and therefore this could not be spoken in the night of the Feast of the Passeover it being then too tardy to make preparation for that which was elapsed or at least instant If any one shall interpose That there was also the Passeover of Bullocks and Sheep which the Jews called Hâ—agâ—ga which was celebrated on the fifteenth day of Nisan and the second day of unleavened bread according to Numbers 28.16 17. In the fourteenth day of the first moneth is the Passeover of the Lord and in the fifteenth day of this month is the Feast I shall answer that beside that it seemeth by 2 Chron. 35. that these Bullocks and Sheep were killed on the fourteenth day though the people feasted on the remainder of the offerings upon the fifteenth let it farther be considered that had this been spoken on the fourteenth day of the month at night when the Paschal Lamb was eaten how unlikely it was that the Apostles could imagine that any provision could have been made for the next immediate day so late and so unseasonable for it was night when Judas went forth I shall not lay much weight upon this observation yet it is not despicable that after that Supper where the Sop was given John 13. there is mentioned one exit or going thence of our Saviour John 14.31 and after that several of his Sermons are recited before his last going forth over the brook Cedron where was the Garden whither he went from his last Supper John 18.1 which insinuates that the Supper mentioned John 13. was not his last And since St. John seems somewhat abruptly and without any coherence with or relation to any thing antecedent in that 13. Chapter to say and Supper being ended it seems to me not irrational nor unparalell to other parts of Scripture to conjecture that he now reverts to recite what farther happened at that Supper mentioned in the former Chapter The Hebrews have a Proverb in Scripture Non esse prius posterius and such intercalations and historical Epentheses are not onely frequent in Genesis and other Books of Scripture but obvious also in the Evangelists as may be observed in the series and order of Jansenius his Harmony and it is the first of Tychonius his rules which St. Augustine calls keyes for unlocking the hidden things of Scripture and which he names Recapitulation Dicuntur quaedam quasi sequantur ordine temporis vel rerum continuatione narrentur cùm ad priora quae praetermissa fuerunt latenter narratio revocetur Farther Sathan was first entred into Judas before he had recourse to the High Priests about betraying of his Master Luk. 22.34 but he had first received the Sop before Sathan entred into him John 13.27 he might have thoughts and tentations of Treason before but he put it not into act or execution till Sathan had gotten the possession of his heart therefore he had swallowed the Sop before his resort to the Priests But now from the Supper at Bethany he went forthwith to the Priests to drive the bargain with them Matth. 26.14 and so consequently then or before he must needs receive the Sop. Neither doth this Argument depend onely upon St. Matthew's relation of Judas his entring into Conspiracy with the Priests immediatly after his recitall of the Supper at Bethany though St. Marke also observe the same Method and Luke relates his conference with the Priests as before the Passeover and the Fathers think that he grudging at the wast of the oyntment bestowed upon our Lord at that Supper took thereby the occasion of his treason and seeking to repaire his losse findes a way to sell the oyntment which was already spent by selling his Master who was anoynted with it Damnum quod effusione unguenti se fecisse credebat vult magistri pretio compensare saith St. Hierom but St. Matthew also Chap. 26.16 saying and from that time he sought opportunity to betray him doth evidently shew there was some interval of time between his Contract with the Jews and the execution of his Treason and therefore consequently some dayes before the Passeover he had agreed with them for the acting thereof conformably whereunto the Antient Church conceived that Judas entred into conspiracy with the Priests on the fourth day of the week and that his passion followed on the sixt and in memory of the one they fasted Wednesday and in remembrance of the other upon Friday in every week Besides Judas going out at night when he had received the Sop the time was too angust to make his redress to the Priests drive his bargain muster the Souldiers and returne to seise his Master
then all Christians may come in under that notion but that he admitted onely his choice Disciples he had the 70. and others but those as more infirm were not admitted What proficiency the Apostles had then attained to we have elsewhere discussed Infirmi erant Advers Anna. bapt l. 6. c. 9. p. 233. meticulosi infirmi etiam in Charitate aliis virtutibus in hac ipsa caena inter se contenderunt quisnam maximus inter ipsos foret saith Bullinger but turdus sibi malum ejicit Golias his sword shall cut off his head for may we not reminde them of what they have so soon forgotten and in their own words answer How know you that viz. that none of the 70. were admitted The Evangelists tell you that all that Christ did was not written c. they might be present for ought they can prove Except while they have the abomination of divers weights one weight to take in another to put out by a Negative Argument be of force when it will make for them and invalid when it will be against them or be more conclusive in things meerly historical which having no direct concernment with faith or manners are not so materious to be recorded of which kinde is this then in such things where the fact should help to constitute the rule and therefore ought to have been registred if they had been done If Chemnitius think the 70. or any other beside the 12. were not admitted I have elsewhere shewed that men as learned as he though he was eminently such doe suppose that some of them might have partaken Tom. 5. l. 8. c. 3. Sect. 29. p. 202. And of this judgment also is Dr. Fulk Rhem. test in Mat. 26.20 though it be not expressed Of this judgment among the ancient is not onely Euthymius but Chamier tells us that the Liturgies of Peter Clemens James Mark Basil Chrysostom expresly mention that the Disciples communicated as well as the Apostles at the first institution of the Sacrament and though it be said Iesus sate down with the 12. yet there is no exclusive particle nor is it added and none else But if Chemnicius suppose the 70. were not admitted let them consult him whether Iudas were not one of those that had admission and then casting up the reckoning by his Counters tell me what they shall gain by not casting in the 70. But I cannot divine what authority or reason the Apologists had to affirm that the 70. were excluded because more infirm so not capable it seems I had thought that if none but the 12. or 11. as they would have it did communicate it was because they onely were Christs constant Family as it were and the Passover was to be eaten by one Family together if they made up 10. persons and Christ passing from the Passover and translating it to his Supper admitted no more at the latter then he took to the former and seeing that it was a Jewish Canon that not above 20. should eate together of one Paschal Lamb our Saviour could not perhaps admit of many more than the 12 for that reason if as it is likely he conformed to that observation But it seems then by the Apologists that those whom they admit are as it were in the notion and capacity of the choice Disciples those whom they reject of the infirm 70. Yet to accommodate it more aptly to what they have said that Christ thereby teacheth us to exclude the Ignorant and Wicked they should say not blanchingly the infirme but the ignorant or wicked 70 for such they imply them to be by being excluded and therefore those whom they reject may comfort themselves with that Martyr to be stock'd in the same hole with Philpot and to be in the same condition with the 70 whom Christ chose notwithstanding and to be no otherwise Dogs or Swine then they were but if Christ called not those that were infirm § 17 they profess not to follow his pattern for they say they exclude not the weak this strengthning appointment as they call it being proper for them They assure us they examine none that are taken to be Disciples that is then none that be Christians for Christian and Disciple in Scripture idiom are synonimous or perchance none that be their Disciples though many that be Christs but how do they know them to be Disciples before they have examined them if that be true which often they inculcate That they cannot judge of mens fitness without examination Real Disciples will not refuse to satisfie the Church and encourage weak brethren by a voluntary profession of their Faith True if the Church doe need and shall have just cause to require such satisfaction but as the Church can receive no satisfaction by a kinde of auricular examination taken in privare oftentimes by themselves unless like the Pope themselves are the Church virtually or the Church must be satisfied because they are so so why should the Church need farther to be satisfied from such of whose knowledge they cannot doubt this were to render the Church like those remindless persons whom we sometimes see to go about to seek that which they carry in their hands and if they are already taken for Disciples how can it be doubted that they are not knowing 2. Real Disciples will not refuse to make such profession of their Faith when those that are weak want encouragement in the Faith but such an encouragement is not to be given by a submission to examination G. de Valentia 2.2 disp 1. q. 3. puur 2. p. 328. 321. Valentia and Sylvius determine it generally Oportet instare casum aliquem necessitatis confitendi fidem aut ex divino praecepto aut humano obligante regulariter quando non subest justa rationabilis causa omittendi illius observationem Aquinas limits it more specially Ubi fides periclitatur quilibet tenetur fidem suam aliis propalare vel ad instructionem aliorum fidelium sive confirmationem Sylvius 22. q. 3. art 2. p. 31 32. Aquin. 22. q. 3. art 2. Filiuc castract 22. c. 3. S. 74. vel ad reprimendam infidelium insultationem and when by his silence ex hoc crederetur vel quòd non haberet fidem vel quòd fides non esset vera vel alii ejus taciturnitate everterentur à fide or as Filiucius more abstractly Quando proximus per confessionem fidei quae ab aliquo fieret facilè traheretur ad fidem item quando aliquis versaretur in periculo negandi fidem alius posset propriâ confessione id damnum impedire And when they have defined in general that confession is necessary when by omission thereof subtrahitur honor Deo debitus vel utilitas proximo impendenda yet they adde Quocirca illud verbum Subtrahendi accipiendum est hoc loco vel contrariè vel privativè i. e. vel deum affici ignominiis c. vel quando aliquis à fide
to be the president to all future Administrations gave the Sacrament onely to his Disciples and therefore those which are not Disciples may not participate thereof and the Disciples of Christ must have such and such qualifications which no unregenerate men can have Ergo. But the frame must needs be weak that is raised upon such a foundation for Architects say a crack in the Foundation but as great as one digit makes a breach in the building of many foot For first Chamier Tom. 4. l. 8. c. 8. p. 202. that the Dâ—sciples which learned men thâ—nk not evident that they were no more than the twelve Apostles Gerhard loc Com. Tom. 5. p. 18. Ames Bell. enervat Tom. 3. c. 7. p. 159. and it is not improbable saith Gerhard that the Master of the house and some of his Family might also communicate did then represent the whole body of the visible Church as the same Author elsewhere confesseth and is nervously approved by Protestant Divines against the Papists who would justifie the substraction of the Cup from the Laity upon this very score because the Apostles to whom it was first given were onely Priests And that a Christian and a Disciple are Synonimous may appear by Act. 11.26 The Disciples were called Christians So Matth. 28.19 Go teach all Nations baptizing them c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word used is as much as to make Disciples and not onely signifying to teach for else it were a Tautology in the 20th verse following where it is added teaching them c. therefore to convert any to the Faith of Christ Spanheim dub Evang. Tom. 8. p. 93. though but externally is to make him a Disciple he that is baptized is a Disciple and in this notion we grant that none but Disciples may partake the Holy Supper that is none but Christians And as soon as any were discipled that is converted they were without any stop to be baptized and if Disciples are to be taken in that latitude and equivocal notion in order to the one Sacrament it shall be strange to think they ought to be construed in any stricter or more limited sense in reference to the other Secondly Judas was one of those Disciples one of those Twelve that sate down yet had not those graces though necessary to constitute and qualifie a Disciple Thirdly it appears by the first of the Cor. 11. that very many admitted there to the Communion had not these Qualifications essential to real Disciples Fourthly if Disciples quà tales and formally such are to communicate then since quatenus ipsum includes de omni all Disciples are susceptible of the Communion but that Infants are Disciples hath been sufficiently proved both formerly and also of late by excellent Divines against the Anabaptists yet we do not think fit to imitate the ancient Church and give the Eucharist to Infants The three favourite and palmary Texts which as most commonly so with most colour are produced in proof of this Discipline are that of Revel 2.2 Thou hast tryed them which say they are Apostles and are not and that of 1 Pet. 3.15 Be ready always to give an answer to every one that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you and 1 Cor. 5.11 If any man that is called a Brother be a Fornicator c. with such a one no not to eate c. whereof the second seems to prove the necessity of a verbal examination at least passively the third of a real and the first like Janus lookes both ways and toward the proof of either Concerning the first it can conclude nothing to this purpose unlesse by some new Art trochilike they could draw it to be consequent that every tryal must be by examination of the persons and that every one approaching to the Lords Table is likely to be a false Apostle and that false Apostles were onely or chiefly to be tryed antecedently to the Communion or that because Hereticks such as Ehion and Cerinthus which are thought to be here meant and the Nicholaitans which are expresly mentioned ought to be tryed by their lives and doctrine applyed to the Rule of Gods Word which is the sense of Interpreters upon this place that therefore every other person offering to communicate though never pretending to be Teachers Paraeus Piscator Aretius Menochius Tirinus c. much less holding forth new Doctrines needful to be tryed must be pre-examined before their admittance no man but will discern the fallacy of the consequent Touching that of Peter first the Answer here commanded to be given is not properly a profession of the Faith but a defence thereof or a Confession under the Cross as Aretius expounds it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Defence of Christian Religion consisting in Speech and Arguments saith Piscator Gagnaeus Menochius in locum and therefore saith he it is added with fear viz. of God lest for favour of men or fear of persecution dissembling the truth you offend God so the Syriack is rendred by Tremellius ad defensionem so Justinian understands it and Estius interprets it to be an Answer to the Objections of the Adversaries which Oecumenius admonisheth to have been after a sort necessary in the Apostles age when the Gentiles derided the Christian Religion and reproached Christians for worshipping a crucified God undergoing such persecutions and denying themselves the present complacencies and endeerments of life out of a vain and empty hope of future uncertain things not falling under the comprehension of Sense The Apostle therefore commands the faithful to have answers prepared and premeditated whereby they might refel the Objections of the Gentiles and assert their hope of eternal glory to be most rational and satisfie any that was desirous to learn the Reasons of such Hope this is the summe and exstract of the Commentaries of Calvin Paraeus Estius and Justinian upon the place The vulgar Translation reads In locum ad satisfactionem and the glosse expounds it to be satisfaction by words and deeds justifying their Faith both by defensive Arguments Constancy and a godly life which is in effect the Exposition of Aquinas also which seemes likewise to be understood by Diodate in his Annotations viz. he will have beleevers still ready to shew unto all men that they sincerely serve the onely true God Secondly if this giving an answer were properly meant of a profession of Faith when there is hope of him that asketh when the glory of God is to be asserted or the name of Christ to be confessed as Bullinger extends it yet what is all this to an answer upon examination antecedent to the Sacrament How is the necessity thereof more at that time than another evinced out of this Text If it be answered That if we must be ready to give answer at all times much more before the Communion truly I think he shall deserve thanks as for a largesse or for a charientisme that shall grant the
read it with Gregory and Bede's Spectacles wherewith they saw things that had no existence or else met with it in the Gospel of the Hebrews the Acts of Paul and Tecla the Epistle to the Laodiceans or the Acts of St. John according to Cerinthus Here the Apostle mentions no tryal by others for two Reasons First because the Corinthians to whom he speakes were newly admitted to Church-fellowship by profession of their Faith and needed not to be called to this again but in our Church true discipline hath been neglected and many are unfit I have formerly superseded this answer and shewed the impertinency thereof and shall not actum agere onely since they know that we cannot swallow what they offer without chewing it they should have brought some proof that the Corinthians did make such a profession of their Faith as they require in order to admission to the Sacrament for we finde cause to doubt that there was no such discipline practised in the first times since when three thousand were baptized in one day and added to the Church we cannot imagine it facible that every one of them should make such an explicite verbal profession as they require and there could not sure be such an Evidence of the ability of all those Corinthians that they should be all taken to be such Disciples as they say are not to be examined but the profession of their Faith is sufficient But since the Corinthians were so ignorant not convinced of the Resurrection and so criminous as the Epistle chargeth them to be if yet upon self-examination the Apostle permits them to communicate that liberty cannot rationally be denyed to those who doubtless are not so culpable as they were The Precept Let a man examine himself is universal and catholique and why then should the permission to communicate upon self-examination be peculiar onely to those Corinthians at that time and so to separate what God by St. Paul hath joyned together To restrain and limit Divine Rules to particular times or persons without cogent circumstances sets open a desperate way to evade the force of Arguments deduced from Scripture and to betray or make breaches in the Fortress of Faith and though the Apologists to escape out of a presont strait 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to serve a turn take that way yet when they have soberly re-minded themselves they will finde this path leads to a precipice and that hence some may take the advantage and encouragement to tell them that Excommunication was onely a temporary discipline in joyned while the Church wanted a secular Magistrate If some in our Churches may be suspected to be unfit it may perchance be fit to bring them under tryal by examination but why paucorum crimen should be attended with paena in omnes and the unfitness of some should introduce a necessity of examining all I am not acute enough to discern the consequence 2. The Apostle here eys Christs performances with his Disciples whom he needed not to examine being known to him We are fully reconciled to this assertion that the Apostle reflected upon the actions of Christ as his pattern and delivered onely what he had received of the Lord but then it seems that neither in what he received nor what he delivered is any the least hint of any other save self-examination Cranmer Defence true and Cathol doct of Sacram p. 5. And then the Morning Star of our English Reformation having explicated what the Evangelists and St. Paul in this 1 Cor. 11. have left written of the Institution concludes That things spoken done by Christ and written by the Holy Evangelists and St. Paul ought to suffice the Faith of Christian people as touching the doctrine of the Lords Supper and Holy Communion or Sacrament of his body and blood as Cyprian had long before assured us that in sacrificio quod Christus obtulit non nisi Christus sequendus est so that we are safe enough if we beleeve and practice so much as either in the Evangelists describing Christs Institution of the Sacrament or St. Paul repeating and explaining it and directing to the right administration and due receiving thereof we finde to have been done or prescribed and we may hope sooner to finde pardon for not advancing beyond what we have their example or precept for than they can to obtain excuse for seeking to lead us farther If the Apostles needed not to be examined because known to Christ then without examination mens fitness may be manifested and such as are known need no farther tryal but if the Apologists would condescend to be as gently and familiarly conversant with their people as Christ was with his Disciples perhaps they might have as much knowledge of them also or infuse so much knowledge into them as to prevent and fore-stall examination Yet according to their model the Apostles howsoever ought to have made a publick profession of their Faith though they were not obnoxious to examination And if they tell us in earnest that for example sake those whose knowledge is elevated above suspicion yet ought to submit to examination I hope they will yeeld there had been far more reason for our Saviour whose practice was to be our pattern and whose example was to pass into a Law to have examined his Disciples though he actively or they passively needed it not yet because we needed it as a standing influential example since that being the first administration in that kinde was to be the rule measure of all to follow And surely it is not easily imaginable that where professedly the Institution is recorded by the Evangelists and repeated by the Apostle with directions for the fit reception of the Sacrament that there being the proper seat of such Doctrine there should be no one word of previous tryal and that it should else-where hang upon a long chain of consequences and by several distillations be extracted from such places of Scripture where is no mention at all of the Sacrament or any preparation thereunto The celebrious name of Zanchy is mentioned not to reflect light but to raise a cloud for they neither produce his words nor direct us where we may take view of them If none of these Reasons were of weight as they cannot but sense enough to distrust for sure they will not turn those very scales at Sedan which Capellus tells us would break with the four hundreth part of a grain yet why may not examination of Pastors and Church Officers stand with that of a mans self these being not contrary but subordinate and the Precept being not exclusive Let a man examine c They are so accustomed to ignoratio elenchi that it is passed into their nature we doe not say those two are so contrary as to be incompatible nor argue that because one is injoyned the other is excluded but we reason thus that the liberty of communicating onely upon self-examination granted by St. Paul so let him eat cannot
his proper Supper for the Lords Supper ought to be common to all since he himself equally delivered the Sacrament to all his Disciples that were present To the same tune Oecumenius sings in consort with him Because saith Haymo it is one bread it must be common to all simul hoc sumimus simul bibimus quia simul vivimus saith St. Augustine in Gratian. It is true that Chrysostome who so eagerly and passionately urgeth all to come doth as earnestly and pathetically charge Ministers not to admit known Ostenders to the Communion In Matth. 26. Homil. 83. Tom. 2. p. 176. and some vehement expressions of his to this purpose are our Antagonists chief gleanings from Antiquity But if one be ignorant that he is an evil person after he hath used much diligence therein he is not to be blamed saith the same Father for these things are spoken by me of such as are known but this is not our question for persons known to be flagitious and wicked we have formerly proscribed and excepted out of our Apology In the close of all this let it now be considered whether there can be any conformity between the ancient Church and these men that are resultatively and interpretatively as busie and as earnest to exclude men from the Sacrament as the Ancients were to bring them to it and if now men stand by and would but shall not be suffered to communicate where and upon whom then shall we lay Chrysostomes Stygma or where will it fall and how may it be avoided of wicked shameless impudent If the Pastor shall say of his Flock as it seems some of his Auditors did of themselves they are unworthy Chrysostome will give the Pastor the same answer which he did his own Flock they are then unworthy to be partakers of the Prayers and the Councel of Antioch addes Unworthy to hear the Holy Scriptures if they are not under penance they are not in that Fathers judgment worthy to be repelled DEFENCE SECT XIII The Honour and Interest of the Ministery Confession of sinnes as necessary as Examination Whether their Principles have any affinity with the Romane or may be subservient and manuductive to Popery The ancient Discipline most like to advance Reformation What were the Catechumeni Energumeni Penitents The several Degrees of the latter The Church-way of the Apologists hath no conformity with the ancient Church How the Heathens proscribed prophane Persons from their Holies Whether the Ancients went too farre in Censures A Testimony of Abbaspinus falsified by them cleared Another of Chrysostomes vindicated FOr the congregating of Homogeneals we have formerly in another place taken under examination the beginning of this Section and in hypothesi have made libration what weight the judgment and practice of the ancient Church doth bear here in thesi we shall perpend on which side that weight lyes theirs or ours and how the Beam inclines They are irritated that in relating the History of Nectarius his putting down of Confession we have mentioned the defilement of the Gentlewoman by the Deacon What else say they serves that Story of uncleanness for but to cast an odium on the Ministers My reverent and affectionate respects to Ministery are as well known as I am As Virgil when Filistus calumniated him said He would be silent because Augustus and Mecaenas would answer for him so I may spare to vindicate my self in this because so many Ministers of my acquaintance will doe it for me And if I should appeal from Philip asleep to Philip awake I presume the Apologists themselves will acquit me of any odium toward Ministry I wish some of them were not more culpable for inodiating Ministers and censorious vilifying their persons and pains that themselves may attract more esteem and dependencies who like the men of China though they may think the Presbyterians to have one eye as the Chinois say of the Europeans yet they conclude all the World beside to be blind For my part I desire to receive a Prophet in the name of a Prophet and not of a concurrent in this or that way Tros Tyriúesv and love and honour the Minister as Cyrus did the King they onely doe as Hephestion did Alexander as he is a friend to their ways yet as much as I honour them yet I cannot doe to some of them as the Peguans did to their Pagodes pull out their eyes and give them up in sacrifice or as other Indians to their vast Giantlike Idols who when they are carried in triumphal Chariots cast themselves under the Wheels and are content to be crush'd and broken to pieces And I shall farther be led by my plainness to confess rather than by any cautele or politick closeness â—o dissemble that I have this principle that they should have much reverence large maintenance but no great power for as most Nations have been still set on fire by the Coales of the Altar so when the flame there riseth too high it reflects the less light but occasions no little combustion and it is out of love to them also that I entertain this perswasion since Amare est velle honum alicui and it is for their good to be moderated and contracted in their power least as some herbes growing too rank they become degenerous and evirtuate and not onely like Cypress trees be fair and tall but fruitless but also runne more hazard to be shaken for their heighth and to be maligned for their over-dropping And let me humbly and without offence beseech them without passion or prejudice to consider and set upon their hearts whether according to that righteous sentence He that exalteth himself shall be abased by a just hand shaking a Rod which God forbid should be ever laid upon them and through them upon this poor Church which cannot stand without them whether the grasping of too much power hath not of late put them in danger of holding none and their straining to reach too high hazarded the setting of them out of joynt Whether their debarring so many of their right may not have occasioned so great intrusion into their peculiars and their casting off so many from the Sacrament have not brought into question their casting out of the Land Judicia Dei multa occulta nulla injusta And as for what they here charge upon me he that knows my heart doth know there was no such thought therein I inserted that of the Gentlewoman as a constitutive commonly known part of the Story requisite to manifest the occasion and reason of the fact of Nectarius but he that did not know the Apologists might be apt to suspect that they had the same cause of anger against me that Bessus had to the Sparrows as if they accused him for what he was secretly guilty of And not onely say out of Tacitus Reperies qui ob similitudinem morum aliena malefacta sibi objectari putant but take up what Salvian hath said Nec ego de nilo
an eclipse as the glimmering of that Popish gloworme may be a comfort in so great darkness and such an ignis fatuus followed as a guide when there is no better and upon this score perchance these cunning juglers like Boris of Muscovy clandestinely cause and help to set our houses on fire that they may get honor and power by rebuilding them Wisemen will finde these no idle feares nor groundless jealousies but as in that famous automaton the spheare of Cornelius Bezael there was an igneous spirit inclosed in the center thereof which caused the motion so time may discover that though some others are the maine spokes yet the fiery spirit of the Jesuits lying hidden in the center have wrought in this sphear these rotations and circumvolutions and it may too late appear that unadvisedly all this while we have plowed with Popish heyfers and after all our turning up and harrowing of the Church they may reape the harvest of all those sowings The paper recording the discipline of the ancient Church asserted That from the Communion as customarily and indeed antonomastically we speake though properly the Communion and the Eucharist were farre differing things it excluded onely the Catechumeni Energumeni persons excommunicate penitents c. and thereupon inferred That seeing they eject very many which fall not under any of those notions their practice is not conformable unto but disagrees from that of the ancient Church Hereunto instead of giving an answer they onely say that A smatterer in antiquity and whether they be of that lower forme or no the reader will by and by have trial may know the ancients rejected and suspended divers sorts of men under sundry considerations and were exceeding cautelous about admission to this ordinance no print whereof is to be seen in the common practice of our assemblies that is as true indeed of their assemblies as of any others where such orders and distinctions of men as are named may be fonud And then next they make us their catechumeni in describing to us what they were but whether themselves may not in some respect be penitents for such descriptions the reader shall judge and the care of the ancients to keep off ignorant and unfit shames the ordinary administrations in our Parishes where no such things are thought upon but All to the Sacrament is the plea and practice and then they take the boldness Nimium ne crede colori to say thus farre antiquity is for us rather than against us There is no good soule but is anhelant for the restitution and erecting of collapsed discipline and when other petitions may be frustrate yet as Philo comforted his countrymen that God would heare them when they could not be heard at Rome so we must take the better way to it by petitions preferred to Heaven Coelo restat iter coelo tentabimus ire But I must tell the Apologists that I doubt they are parcel-guilty of the obstructing of this work and they will finde somewhat thereof upon their proper score who have laid aside the right reynes and caught hold of the false and neglecting that discipline which is rooted in Scripture hath flourished in the purer times and brought forth sweet fruits where ever it was cultivated have bestowed and engaged themselves in the grafting and dressing of an exoticke plant which they have no warrant to set nor hope it should beare much or good fruit since it is too close and contracted not spreading its arms and braunches abroad and like the Clove tree ingrossing all moysture to it self makes all other to wither about it To graspe too much is the way to hold lesse and in this sense perchance the half may be more than the whole and to draw the wires too high is the way to crack the strings not to tune the instrument Est modus in rebus And as Cyneas told Pyrrhus he might have been more happy had he been content with Epirus and not attempted the conquest of Italy and Sicily so had the hedge of ancient Discipline been onely repayred and kept up and not raysed higher and set farther out beyond the old line and landmarks the seeds of peace and Godliness might have been more happily sowne and more prosperously flourished in the field of the Church which now lies lesse manured and more full of tares and noysome weeds Moribus antiquis res stat And a famous man saith Sir F. B. That women are sometimes more fortunate in their cures than learned Doctors because the one keep the old receipts punctually which the others magisterially take liberty to vary from and to alter the simples so the Physick of ancient Discipline in all probability might have cured our Distempers citò tutò jucundè whereas these new recipe's like the Paracelstan prescripts of Mercury sublimated and calcinate and such violent remedies in stead of proving Medicines grow to be maladies and to cure the disease kill the Patient Ut anteà vitiis ità nunc remediis laboramus I shall not press or insist upon that of Bullinger Potest in Ecclesia justa constitui disciplina Epist ad Beza ut interim coena Domini libera maneat omnibus illis qui se juxta Pauli doctrinam probarunt but with hands and feet asserting my self and joyning with and drawing others embracing and also propugning it I shall descend into that opinion that persons notoriously wicked and scandalous should be cast out And whereas in the close of the Section they say They wish they could see this done in the Assemblies about them which would beget better thoughts in them of some mens spirits than now they have but thereof they know the contrary I shall tell them that I wish they would consent that none but such as easily as I shall grant that all such ought to be ejected If some would have done it and want power to do it it is their affliction if any have the power and do not exercise it it is their fault but yet to hold Communion with those Assemblies where it is not done St. Augustine warrants them it shal be much to their praise and nothing to their prejudice and they have almost as much to plead for themselves as he had to justifie the Catholick Church against the Donatists And for my part I profess I had rather All to the Sacrament than any to Schisme and Separation And for their thoughts of others they are no mans Tribunal They that know their Witness is in Heaven with such it will be a small thing to be judged of them neither are they such Cato's as that it should be punishment enough to be condemned by them their teeth are not like the Tygers Claws wherewith whosoever is wounded can never be healed nor doth afterward prosper nor I hope are the Images or Conceptions which they form of others in their Thoughts and Intellects subject to the like fate which they say those Images are which are made by Witches where the
hurts and usage done to the Image pass and are transferred to the man whose Image it is I might dispense with my self from making any animadversions upon their descriptions of Catechumeni Energumeni and Penitents it is enough that my Argument stands free and that they confess the ancient Church separated none but of such denominations and cannot say that those whom they suspend are onely such but then so confidently to conclude that because the ancient Church removed such sorts of men therefore Antiquity is for them they must pre-suppose us bred up in the Rabbinical Schools where the Disciples are taught to beleeve that white is black if the Rabbi tell them so Non obtusa adeò gestamus pectora Poeni With as much colour of reason doe the Papists conclude because they finde the word Tradition in Scripture and the Fathers and Merit and Satisfaction and the like in ancient Writers that the same names must needs be of the same things and were understood and taught in the same notion which now they conceive and hold could they produce any Records that all passed examination in point of knowledge or any save the Catechumeni strangers to the Church and Faith and Children who were a sort of Catechumeni or any at all underwent a probation of their lives or were separated because they were not convincingly holy and not onely because they were notoriously wicked that in any Church onely one of an hundred was admitted and a separation made from the rest either negatively not to communicate with them or positively to constitute new Churches they should then hit the Bird in the eye whereas now they doe not so much as beat the Bush Tiberius but doe onely like that Romane Emperor Cui proprium erat nuper reperta scelera priscis verbis obtegere Suspension the ancient Church practised and commended not in that notion and manner nor of such persons as the Apologists do use it but because they finde the word of suspeusion in the Monuments thereof to conclude that their discipline is found there is somewhat like him that reading Missa fuit Romae in the subscription of some of St. Paul's Epistles inferred that that Masse was then said at Rome or because some kinde of suspension is laudable that theirs must be as commendable is not unlike to Caracalla who supposed that because one Alexander was a brave man none of that name could be bad but seeing they are not Popes who are to be beleeved absolutely simply and without condition whose Will is in stead of Reason and it is not for us to judge whether they speak consentaneous to Reason but it is Heretical to think they may not determine as they have determined we shall desire them to shew us out of any Records that the ancient Church practised or commended suspension as now it is understood and practised Et vitulâ tu dignus It may yet reflect some light upon our subject to make some observations upon their expresses concerning the Catechumeni Energumeni and Penitents The first they say were such as the Church nurtured in the fundamentals of Religion being unbaptized as they suppose the children of Pagans I shall not instance any case wherein a Catechumen unbaptized might yet have been a child of Christian Parents as particularly if his Parents had died before the times of baptisme which were usually but twice in the year and then his next of kinne being a Pagan had detained him from the bosome of the Church nor shall I insist upon it that Children in years though born of Christian Parents and baptized did also pass in the rank of Catechumeni and went out at the Ite missa est nor shall I rectifie their judgment by shewing that some Catechumeni were the Sons and Daughters of Jews I shall onely observe that had there been in those days any Anabaptists or Independents the Catechumeni might have been the Children of Christians and yet unbaptized for the one would have baptized no Children at all and the other none but those whose Parents had been gathered into their Churches Secondly it is observable that those Catechumens as soon as they were baptized Tract 11. in Johan Chemnicius exam part 2. p. 101. Gerhard loc com vol. 2. p. 1. Durant cited before Casaubon ad annal Baron exer 16. S. 36. pag. 378. Notae in quos canon concil Gal. p. 167. Albaspinus de veter Eccles ritibus l. 1. obser 19. p. 142 143. Patrem vocas Deum fratrem mox vituperas si vero non est frater tuus quomodo dicis pater noster Chrysostome were admitted also to the Eucharist which not onely appears by that of Augustine Transeant per mare rubrum baptizentur manducent Manna but by what Chemnicius cites out of Chrysostome and Gerhard out of Justin Ambrose and Theodoret and Durantus out of others and by what Casaubon tells us Vetus Ecclesia semper adjecit baptismo participationem corporis Christi but where he addes praesertim adultis some learned men think it was tantùm adultis that which was given to Infants being onely the Wine for so Hugo asserts and that scarce formally as the Sacrament but as they used to give them milk and honey and how little time was allotted for instructing the Catechumens and what a small viaticum of knowledge was required to carry them to the Sacraments I have formerly shewed and surely it could not be imagined that they who were strangers to the Christian Faith and bred up in other Rudiments and who when they came over into the pale of the Church in the first times as it seems were neither admitted to the reading of the Gospels nor the Sermons and Expositions thereof which Albaspinus saith may be known by these words in the Sermons of the Fathers Norunt fideles and which said not nor learned the Lords Prayer till they were baptized for they were not called Brethren that were not admitted to the Eucharist and in that respect joyned not in saying Our Father which perchance hath brought us to stumble on the reason why the Lords Prayer is never recited in the Churches of the Apologists because there are so many present who being not admitted to the Eucharist may not be called their Brethren nor have God to their common Father I say that it cannot be imagined that in so short a time with so slender means they could with as great a summe of knowledge obtain this freedome of the Sacraments as the generality of our Congregations have who like Paul are free-born Ecclesiae cives nati The Energumeni they say were men supposed to be possessed by Sathan or men excommunicate because such are delivered unto Sathan and they derive Energumeni ab energia and out of Altenstaig tell us Illi dicuntur Energumeni qui interiùs laborant per vexationem daemonis But observe first for the notatio nominis how they institute a new Grammar deriving Participles from Nouns
and not from Verbs I should have rather thought it more proper to have fetch'd it from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Secondly for notatio rei whatever Alstentaig tell them who compiled his Lexicon out of the School-men who were not always over-excellent in Languages or Antiquities persons possessed were but one species and included not the whole latitude of Energumeni Ideots and Lunatiques coming also underthat generical notion Whether to deliver one unto Sathan were directly to put him under the corporal power possession and inflictions of Sathan as a sad consequent of Excommunication in those times as the Greek Fathers suppose or onely to excommunicate which is a delivery up to Sathan by consequent a declaring him to be subject to the Kingdome and Power of Sathan and no longer to appertain to the Kingdome of Christ and not a cutting him off from one Ordinance for that could not be said to be a tradition unto Sathan but a depriving of all the means useful to eject Sathan Dr. Ham. Annotat in 1 Cor. 5. E. and the power of his Kingdome out of the heart as the Catechist that instructed men and fitted them for Baptisme was wont to be called the Exorcist that cast Sathan out as the Latine Fathers and modern Expositors both Protestant and Popish conceive I shall not dispute this is beside my subject and there was never a triumph for any victory out of a mans proper Province onely I shall observe that though excommunicate persons had been so under the afflictive power and possession of Sathan yet all that were so were not excommunicate and yet those that were not compotent of minde if they were not born such but fell into any distemper after they had first received the Eucharist Aquin. 3. q. 8. art 9. Vasquez in 3. Tom. 3. q. 80.9 disp 212. c. 3. p. 442. Valentia 3. disp 6. q. 8. p. 2. p. 926. Albas not in Canon quos Conc. Gall. 7.1616 Communior tamen ejus usu recepta sententia est dandam illis esse communionem Sylvius in 3. part Aquin. q. 80. art 9. p. 319. Filiucius cas tract 4. c. 7. n. 190. p. 49. Casaubon exercit 16. S. 43. Albasp l. 2. obser 4. Bellar. de poenit l. 1. c. 22. many of the School-men how justly I shall not dispute incline to grant them the Sacrament at least for a Viaticum at their departure and as for those that were possest to whom indeed that name of Energumeni is more commonly applyed the first Councel of Orange allowed them in some cases the Eucharist if they were not perpetually vexed Si lucidis gauderent intervallis saith Albaspinus so do many of the Schoolmen and Casuists by warrant of some later Councels and Fathers and though some sinne occasioned the possession yet for which there is the authority of Cassian and an instance of Prosper if they were not delivered up to Sathan for any great crimes and so were in the condition of persons excommunicate and si de purgatione curent si vita sit purgatior si non blasphement si non enuncient that is ut explicat Balsamon si tempore quo non vexarentur docent alios quae ipsi à daemone didicerunt they were not altogether excluded generally they agree it ought not to be denied them dying so as we see that the far greatest part of their Parishes are thrust into a worse condition than the Energumeni The Penitents were communionis Christianae velut candidati as a learned man calls them and in a medious state or condition between the faithful and Excommunicate for with Penitents there was allowed a civil converse and toward them might be vouchsafed all Offices of Humanity but with persons excommunicate as men polluted it was piacular to have any company or commerce they were not safely to be looked upon but weae universally shunned and not held worthy of the light The Apologists very pertinently observe that men were put under penance for being scandalous in manners and opinions and I wish their discipline had been conformed to this pattern and exercised onely upon such and no others especially since they confess it is not necessary they should assigne other qualifications of such I suppose they mean as are excluded than Antiquity did but whereas they undertake to instruct us in the ancient course of admitting Penitents and say They were first admitted to the limits of the Church 2. To lye down in the Church-porch 3. To the hearing of the word but not to stay at prayers 4. Next to the Sacrament A smatterer in Antiquity to retort their own phrase would not have given so incurious and imperfect an account of their method of discipline For first however the foot-steps thereof are not so plainly to be traced in the Latine Church and yet Albaspinus finds them in that of Tertullian Haet expectat haec exorat poenitentiam quandóque inituris salutem yet in the Greek Church the Monuments thereof are so frequent that to him that hath seen things but per transennam or tasted them onely tanquam canis ad Nilum it is very obvious that there were four degrees or states of Penitents not three as they limit First such as were Flentes or Plorantes who stood and sometimes lay down without the Church weeping and requesting those that entred to petition the Lord for mercy toward them which at first was not imposed by Law but arbitrarily assumed Secondly Audientes who stood in the Porch and heard some portions of the Scripture not all that was read l. 2. observ 29. p. 390. and Albaspinus supposeth that in the first ages Missarum concionibus quae lectionem Evangelii consequebantur interesse non potuerunt but they were not permitted to joyn in prayers either those of the Church and faithful or those of the Catechumens nor yet to pray among the latter Thirdly Prostrati or succumbentes who were admitted to a place behind the Pulpit or behind the Quire of the Church called Catechumenium for there the Catechumens stood also who were permitted there to kneel pray amongst the Catechumens but as some suppose were permitted onely their own prayers not those of the Catechumens and they went out with the Catechumens or as some think after them Fourthly Stantes who I conceive were also called initiati who were admitted to joyn in all Ordinances with the Congregation save the Eucharist which standing by they might onely behold others viz. the Consummati as they were called answerable to the Epoptae among the old Heathens to receive but themselves might not partake nor beside were they permitted to bring their oblations nor participate of what was offered and blessed which some have mistaken for the Eucharist neither had they the kiss of peace These two last steps the Apologists tread over and the second they divide into two as little caring to understand the ancient discipline as to model their own in conformity thereunto 2. They do truly observe and we think it
very observable that such a course the ancient Church took about admitting Penitents and therefore Albaspinus tells us poenitentiam quasi ad quendam catechumenatum repraesentandum institutum esse and from thence shall re-minde them that those several degrees were onely such as whereby Penitents were re-admitted not whereunto they were directly and immediatly censured but having been first excommunicate in order to their restoring to the Communion of the Church they had the favour of being admitted by these several steps of penance and none were Penitents that had not been first excommunicate which is diametrally opposite to their way of suspension whereby men are immediately and only made stantes that were never excommunicated nor passed the other degrees of penance I shall conclude this History of the ancient discipline with that of Hospinian Historia de re Sacrament l. 2. p. 40. Catechumeni poenitentes finitâ concione templo jussi sunt egredi antequam sacra peragerentur ne cum reliqu's fratribus communicarent ex quo liquidò claréque evincitur caeteros qui remanserunt omnes communicasse and besides them of those notions he tells us Admissi sunt ad coenam l. 3. p. 185. quicunque doctrinam Christianam sunt amplexi so that though onely persons fit and worthy were admitted yet it is hereby manifest that they accounted all such fit and worthy as were neither Catechumens nor Penitents Next they take hold of what the Paper grants that the Primitive Church saw the use of publick confession it did so but it also saw the abuse and thereupon abolished what had been formerly introduced but that was done they say after the abuse appeared whereas now they say men sweat at the sight of the saddle or rather bridle to curb their lusts The confusion and abuse of their way is as apparent and therefore consequently it is to be laid down Vel si mutabile pectus Est tibi consilii And besides the wisdome of prevention is better than that of remedies as Hygieina is a safe and happier part of Physick than Therapeutica but if any sweat at the fight of the saddle or bridle which have been ridden and galled with it it is no marvell since neither are made onely to mount and manage an unruly stubborn horse but the one is a Pack-saddle fitted onely for an Asses back by supposition of a general ignorance and fashioned to be capable to take any load or burden that may be laid on and the other to check and turn and lead us where they list so as indeed it is like to become our bridle and their reins Their examination they say is little more than publick confession I think upon examination they ought to make confession of a palpable error who ignorantly or wilfully mistake confession of sins which the Paper saith the Ancients saw the use of for confession of faith the admitting some of their members onely upon publick confession of faith we have formerly traversed That others have done the same thing privately before two or three witnesses whereof sure their Elders have sometimes been none hath been they say in tenderness and conde scension to their bashfulness If they did this to any formally as bashful they should doe it to all of that condition for quicquid praedicatur per se praedicatur de omni I beleeve of men and am very confident of women the greatest part are bashful yet I cannot learn they shew such tenderness or condescension to the greatest part which may render it doubtful that it is done to some with respect to the Gold-ring and because Heliogabal'us silken Nets are more proper to catch such Fishes as St. Peter took It is for the honour of Antiquity that as all the different sorts of Philosophers at Athens pretended to follow Socrates so the new coyns of doctrine and discipline would seem to bear the ancient stamp the Apologists that have much nibled at and detracted from Antiquity would yet give their discipline for its better pass a Testimonial from the ancient Church They formerly bid us to remember the Gibeonites and we cannot forget them while their like practice keeps up and refresheth the memory of them by such a counterfeit pretence of Antiquity but rather it is the misfortune of this age that their mysteries so long hidden were now first published which hath been like the opening of the Chest in the Temple of Apollo that Rhodiginus speaks of or the breaking up by the covetousness of certain souldiers greedy of spoil of the Image of Apollo Chomeus which as Ammianus Marcellinus tells us was brought from Scleuoin to Rome from whence issued forth pestilent vapours which infected the adjacent Countries The Antients removed some few from the Communion and those onely by judicial sentence for the scandal of some nefariousness either evident coniest or proved by Witness whereas these suspend at once their whole Congregations as if they were guilty of one common Apostasie not judicially but arbitrarily not for notorious crimes but upon suspicions and admit none of them till they have approved themselves to their good opinions by demonstrative signs of holiness and till they doe so they separate from all Communion in this Ordinance with them which suspending first and then making tryall and probation afterwards methinks holds some resemblance with Lidford Law whereof in our Countrey they say proverbially That they bang and draw in the morning and sit in Judgment in the afternoon so as therefore though we should be unhappily obstructed and retrenched from the like discipline as the ancient exercised which is our great sorrow and not a little their fault as I have shewed who seem like an hard-galloping hot-spur that asked if he might attain such a place before night and it was answered Yes if he rid softer yet farther to excite others to a compliance with their way and to complain of inconformity to it and pretend it little varieth from the ancient they have therein as much of reason as the Grand Signior had to pretend the Turks descended from the ancient Trojans and thereupon to invite the Italians to assist them in the wars against the Greeks the Enemies of that Nation from whence they had one common origine It affects them to reade in the few Ancients they converse with Sancta sanctis pronounced by the Deacon before the administration but they that are not conversant with many of the Ancients though it had been more happy for them and us too had they been acquainted with more have it seemeth not learn'd that this was onely in order to the dismission of the Catechumeni and Penitents Exam. part 2. p. 109. Chrysost Hom. 3. in Ep. ad Ephes c. 1. Tom. 4. p. 356. ad inquis Jan. c. 13. Lilius Gyrald syntag de diis p. 498. Syn. 17. Alexand. ab Alexand. dier gen l. 6. c. 19. p. 709. Servius in Virg. Aenead p. 1017. and no others the rest being under the notion of
upon one side as that of the Papists is on the other who thinke she deserves them now because then she did It is no Argument because Jordan falls into the dead Sea that it never had fresher streams neither is Rome like the Birds of Phineus that whatsoever she hath touch'd must be afterward polluted It was enough for my purpose that I proved the thing de facto and I am no more obliged to prove it de jure than our Divines are to justifie the deferring of Baptisme by some in the ancient Church and particularly by Constantine untill toward their death because from thence they collect an Argument Tertullian Haymo Aquinas Erasmus Glossae aliique that Baptisme was not then beleeved to be of such necessity nor more than those many and great names of Tertullian Haymo Aquinas Erasmus c. that conceive St. Paul 1 Cor. 15.29 did draw an Argument to prove the Resurrection from a practice either of the Cerinthians or the Marcionites could suppose he intended to legitimate that custome But of this usage which we discourse of however these austeri Aristarchi may lash it yet the modest sweetness of famous Chamier as Ut quisque est major magis est placabilis will take with more complacency than their harsh censoriousness Ubi supra S. 18. S. 28. p. 127. who having said that consultissimum ut Sacramenti actio sit continua addes of this practice quia olim factum à piis viris non sumus adeò praefracti in nostra sententia ut damnemus And indeed though Protestant Divines condemn the reposition of the Sacrament in order to circumgestation and adoration c. yet Sacramental actions being defined by their ends and this transmission of the Elements being onely a continuance of their first Ordination to a Sacramental use and so the Sacrament being a Relative and being not extra usum had still rationem Sacramenti and the conservation thereof elsewhere being signified unto and ratified by him that was to receive since the words work not of themselves but by the understanding of him that communicated may seem sufficient Therefore under these Aspects this Custome which partly arose in times of Persecution l. 1. obser 8. p. 60. and partly was grounded on this reason as Albaspinus tells us out of Innocent that they to whom it was sent se à nostra communione non judicent separatos and perchance upon other reasons of which as of other usages though our great distance may render us ignorant yet it seems they were so weighty and considerable that no Christian then living interposed any Objections against them I say this Custome is not therefore condemned though not altogether approved by our gravest Theologues as Morton Chemnicius Gerhard c. But for my part since the Apologists Contra ibunt animis vel magnum praestet Achillem I shall not hazard the Charge nor abide the Shock of such bold Assailants but quit the ground having already served my turn of it They had the confidence in the fromer Section to proclaim the Fathers were for them but now Quo teneam vultus mutantem Protea nodo being but a little galled they wince and say that Antichrist hath been long working in the Church and the Fathers it seems were his Chaplains and his Work was carryed on by them and not onely by the Gnosticks and other Hereticks and might be too prodigal of Christs blood I wish they could vindicate themselves from being worse than Prodigals that are so covetous thereof avarus est deterior prodigo But neither could the one lavish nor can the other with-hold from others his blood but only that which properly is but the sign thereof and to become his blood to those alone that beleeve and to be effectual in sealing of Salvation by it upon condition of Faith yet that signe without prodigality to be exhibited to all that profess Faith and can discern what is thereby signified and the Salvation to be offered in signo to whom it was never intended in beneplacito Salvation upon condition of Faith in Christ being but the tenor of the Gospel which is held forth in the Sacraments as well as in the Word onely with a different manner of propounding and therefore anciently the Catechumeni as soon as they were baptized and till then they were not held faithful were at once admitted to publick hearing of the Gospel and participating of the Eucharist Which Custome as it is witnessed de facto by our Divines formerly quoted and by many of the Fathers mentioned by Lorinus so the same Author thinks In Acta c. 2. v. 42. p. 109. it had its ground and rise from Act. 2.41 42. where it being said that four thousand were baptized in one day of whose conversation sure there could be no tryal had neither could they make any special confession of their Faith whereof their coming to be baptized onely was a reall profession which though it was usual in the baptizing of such as came over from Paganisme that they might testifie they were Christians yet there is neither the like Rule nor Exercise nor Reason for a Confession to be made at the Eucharist by those who have been bred in the Profession of the Faith and where their approach and desire to participate is a special profession as I have shewed I say as soon as it is said they were baptized it is added in the next immediate verse They all continued stedfastly in the Apostles Doctrine and Fellowship and breaking of bread that is in breaking of the Eucharist as the Syriack reades and the general sense interprets it and prayers From discrediting the Witnesses they speak to enervate the Testimony viz. That Strangers by place may upon knowledge of some members or Certificate from the Church be admitted but I briefly demand Whether without farther probation upon such Knowledge or Certificate onely they shall finde admission or not If yea they give up the cause Tam Scythae lasso meditantur arcu Cedere campis for this might alwayes supersede all farther tryal and closeth with what we have asserted That the knowledge of men collected by ordinary converse with them might frustrate and prevent all farther examination If not they given us words that signifie nothing and which onely Sunt apina tricaeaue aut si quid vilius istis Indeed it is obvious in Antiquity that strangers were not regularly admitted to the Sacraments without Certificates from their proper Pastor which were called Literae communicatoriae formatae But their way is as dissonant from this Rule as the observing thereof would be destructive to their ends Ne quis sine literis Episcopi sui in aliena Ecclesia communicet 1. Concil Carthag Can. 6. Apud Centur. Magdeburg 7. Apud Caranzam for such Literae formatae would altogether frustrate their new Formatae Ecclesiae gathered and made up of such as have no such Communicatory Letters SECT XV. Of daily communicating
of receiving at Easter all the People anciently communicated No man to be repelled upon the private knowledge of the Minister or other Whether all did partake the Lords Supper that heard the Word What sinnes may exclude from the Sacrament Whether the ancient Church knew or practised any such Censure as Suspension The Negative proved the Arguments for the Affirmative profligated Penitents were first excommunicate What Communion anciently did signifie What Abstinence denoted What was the Lay-Communion What was meant by removing from the Altar What Suspension anciently signified and in what sense that notion was used What the School determines of giving the Eucharist to manifest and occult sinners Suarez imposterously alleaged by them What Suspicion may warrant an Exclusion Whether the way of Separation be conformable to the Ancient Of their care to keep men off from the Sacrament The Application of a passage in Chrysostome redeemed from their Exceptions Whether there be reason to examine dispositively to hearing the Word aswell as to receiving the Sacrament and danger to the Unworthy in the one aswell as in the other The casting of Pearl before Swine and giving holy things unto Dogs what it intends The difference between the Word and Sacraments All not anciently admitted to all the Word The Sacrament multifariously proved to be a converting Ordinance and this to be the common judgment of Protestants What effects may be hoped onely by seeing the Administration without partaking The Sophisme discussed He that partakes worthily is converted already he that eates unworthily eates damnation Whether men are prohibited those Duties which they cannot well and duly discharge The moral works of natural men HEre they say is little that presseth them The Numidian Bears are so far that they feel no stripes and it is said of an Eastern King he was so fat and so gross that he was not sensible of pain when Needles were stuck into his body but it may be our Needles are not sharp enough to enter we shall therefore see what they are to the point In the Authorities also there is they say more confusion than variety Answ◠Confusion may like scandal be given or taken and it is also passive aswell as active and I might excusably suspect that those authorities have somewhat confounded them for to some they have found nothing at all to say in answer and to the rest nothing to purpose I shall not contest with them for accurateness of method neither do I think they need contend with any for variety the method is but accidental to the matter and as long as Accidens potest abesse sine subjecti interitu if the substance be defended I that seek not to interweave mine own image with Minerva's in this buckler shall be less solicitous of the credit of the method whereof nevertheless I am as little diffident onely for their censures as I am distrustfull of others capacity for the Sacrament for their censoriousness The Paper pleaded not for keeping up a quotidian Communion the reasons perhaps that gave first rise thereunto being ceased and therefore their arguing against it is but a Sciamachy Hieron ad Lucinium contra Jovin Aug. de Serm. Domini in monte 12. Neither was it the assiduity that was principally insisted upon but the generality of communicating Totum populum quotidiè Eucharistiam sumpsisse as Hierom and Augustine Nevertheless the daily receiving of the Ancients shews they made no such huge difference between preparation for the Word and for the Sacraments and it also upbraids their long procrastination of any communion of which though now at length they have reassumed the administration yet toward the far greatest part of their Congregations it is still discontinued and in divers Churches by their influence and promotion are those placed as Pastors who long time were not in a capacity to administer it though by an intolerable presumption without any calling thereunto they adventured upon administring Baptism which I should think since the Casuists say Filiucius Tract 13. c. 1. n. 14. it merits the lesser excommunication to receive the Sacrament from the hands of a Lay-man and the Administer is more guilty than the Receiver is a juster cause to have suspended them from the other Sacrament than any they can charge upon many of those whom they put under suspension Those men have been since ordained after they had waited to see how the Horoscope would be formed and setled and what Aspects the Stars were like to have and which would be ascendent or descendent and which aucti lumine aut minuti aut combusti that so they might resolve in what way to ordain them for a more fortunate and auspicious nativity Those that content themselves with receiving twice or thrice a year or make it onely an Easter-formality I neither am nor shall be retained to be their Advocate yet perchance many may so infrequently receive that are not content with it but rather patient of what they cannot remedy and as these may share of the same comforts which the Apologists hold forth to them § 13 among whom the administration hath been long intermitted so is their condition much better than is that of their people by how much the lesser evil is nearer to good and seldome is less obnoxious than never Cavendum nè si nimiùm in longum differatur perceptio corporis sanguinis Christi ad perniciem animae pertineat said the Council of Cabillon To receive at Easter onely through formality Ad popul Antioch Hom. 61. hath frequent increpations from the Fathers Chrysostom especially when Circulis rem definis and when ex consuetudine magìs quà m legitimè aut consideratione mente and temporis gratiâ magìs quà m animi studio Serm. 3. in Ephes c. 1. in 1 Cor. 11. Hom. 28. Tom. 4. p. 112. contra Liter Petiliani l. 2. c. 94. tom 7. p. 31. as hath before been declared yet notwithstanding reproving the abuse they continued the usage of general communicating at that time and not in that Emperical way as a grave Divine wittily speaks applying the remedy to the weapon but to the patient abolished not the act without trying to reform the fault in the manner of doing but notwithstanding some abuse the ancient Church still thought that an apt and opportune time for the celebration when as Augustine saith in the like case Ipsa festivitas ferventiores facit etiam qui in caetero anno pigriores sunt and in their sense who thought not the least helps despicable seeing small pullies serve to advance great weights the very season was a kinde of prompter to remember them of that which the Sacrament was instituted with infinite more efficacy to shew forth Aquin. 2.2 q. 2 art 7. Durand in 3. dist 25. q. 1. n. 9. insomuch as thereupon divers Schoolmen and Casuists make it an argument of supine ignorance that any should not have explicite knowledg of those mysteries of Christ which were so
publickly solemnized by the Church and therefore though they laid no abstract necessity in the observation nor holiness in the time yet they thought it had much of seasonableness and nothing of superstition which may be as palpable in not observing as in observing set-times for duties and it was decreed that at that time every one should communicate not to imply that it was sufficient to do it then onely but as Hospinian speaks of Zepherinus Hospinian hist Sacrament rei l. 2. p. 124. Cùm vix unquam eveniret ut simul omnes communicarent necesse verò erat ut qui permixti erant profanis idololatris externo aliquo simbolo fidem suam testarentur diem certum in anno ordinis politiae causâ statuit quo totus Christianorum populus fidei confessionem sumptione coenae Dominicae ederet onely these Antipodes to antiquity can endure no Communions at Easter of any time else of whom compared with the Ancients we may say as they do of the French and Spaniards That what the one is the other is not And perchance as Maldonat tells us That he approves an exposition though another of Augustine's be more probable onely because it most dissenteth from the interpretation of the Calvinists and Bellarmine saith That an opinion is the better welcome because the contrary thereof is embraced by the Protestants so they consultly declaim against the Sacrament at Easter because the ancient Church then used to celebrate it That the ancient Church decreed that all having passed puberty should communicate several times in a year checks their impeding the far greatest part from communicating once in many years Had the Ancients symbolized with them they might more aptly and properly have decreed that none should participate the Sacrament rather than that all should for the denomination is to be taken from the major part and among these men far more are repelled than admitted and one of an hundred is none in comparison and whereas they tell us They have also taken in some about fifteen or sixteen years old the age of puberty I must tell them that the thing which I directly and principally intended was that all were to communicate not at what age they were admitted but they contrary to Law let go the Principal and arreign the Accessary but from the admission at that age it may materially be observed that the term untill which they were excluded and from which they were admitted was their puberty not till upon triall they made demonstration of their sanctity Let them fix one eye on the ancient Church and cast the other on their Congregations and tell me if their admitting one of an hundred look with any suitableness to that of unicuique praesentium in Justin Martyr Distribuunt unicuique praesentium Justin Martyr Apol. 2. Unicuique populo permittunt partem ejus sumere Clemens Strom. l. 1. Theodor. in 1 Cor. 11. Panis ille quem universa ecclesia participat Maxent cit à Centur. Magd. cent 6. c. 4. p. 115. Cunctus populus Justin Apol. Hosp Hist rei Sacrament l. 2. p. 5. 52. Haymo in 1 Cor. 11. ut cit Cham. Casaubon Exer. cit 16. sect 31. p. 366. unicuique populo in Clement totus populus in Hierom and Augustin that omnes ex aequo in Theodoret that promiscua multitudo which out of Rhenanus tota multitudo which from Chemnicius we have formerly mentioned and that mixta frequentia multitudo hominum and si quibus collibuâ—sset which Hospinian speaks of to have participated in the greater and more solemn feasts and whether it be conformable to that precept and reason of Haymo Omnes communiter ex uno pane communicate quia illa oblatio unus panis est communis debet esse omnibus Whereupon Casaubon calls the Lord's Supper Publica fidelium omnium invitatio That all present at the Word were by decree to communicate they grant might well be except such as were under censure or obnoxious to it it was never intended to be decreed by them nor meant to be alleged by us but upon the known Hypothesis of not extending it to persons under a judicial censure but while they dilate the exception to such as are only obnoxious to censure that is in a sense suitable to their practice which else it self would be obnoxious such whom they shall judge unfit who repell so many whereof not one that I know was ever duly censured is a gloss of their own agreeable with no Text of ancient Discipline but the contrary is evident by the testimony of St. August Nos à communione quenquam prohibere non possumus nâ—si aut sponte confessum aut in aliquo judicio ecclesiastico vel seculari nominatum atque convictm De medicina poenitentiae super illud 1 Cor. 5. si quis frater c. Homil. 50. Mr. Bal. triall of the grounds of separation p. 188 189. I. 3. de celebrat missar p. 121. Augustine produced by the Paper which according to the caution given by that ancient Sophister at the encounter of an hard argument they take no notice of neither hath it any smack of justice or reason that any man should be judged obnoxious and thereupon be kept off by any other mans or ministers private knowledg but according to allegations and proofs of witnesses or evidence of fact The common good necessarily requiring that such publick actions of this nature should be regulated by a kinde of publick not private knowledg which once admitted into judicature wold soon fill the Church and State with a world of scandals injuries and inconveniences and liberty should be granted to wicked ministers to punish with this punishment whomsoever they please as a solid Divine disputeth more at large not onely according to the Doctrine of the Schoolmen and particularly out of Suarez but also of the Canonists The judgment of the former we shall presently produce for the later let him be their fore-man to speak for them who was second to none our learned Countreymnn Lynwood Imò saith he quilibet Christianus habet jus in perceptione Eucharistiae nist illud per peccatum mortale amittat undè cùm in facie Ecclesiae non constet talem amâ—sisse jus suum non debet ei in facie Ecclesiae denegari alià s daretur faculâ—as malis sacerdotibus pro suo libitu punire hac poena quos vellent And if the Minister should proceed to act upon his private knowledg or judgment he shall do what Christ himself did not and themselves say he ought not to have done in the case of Judas so as such a course is as much opposite to the practice of Christ as the judgment of the School and Canonists whose judgment is steered by his practice They next ask How agrees that Note upon the Margine of the Canons in old time all did communicate yea all that heard the word by the decree of the Council of Antioch Chamier tom 4. l. 7.
c. 18. sect 21. p. 194. Such as were under penance aswell as Catechumens for licuit discedere in missa catechumenorum sed qui intraverit Scripturas audiverit id est non fuerit egressus cum catechumenis hunc jubent canones excommunicari vel expectare missam fidelium ac proinde communicare such are still presupposed to be seposited from our discourse aswell as they were known to be sequestred from the Sacrament they know we onelyspeak of the rest and that of those all that hear the Word should participate of the Sacrament agrees well enough with the way of the ancient Church and the way of righteousness too but indeed agrees not with their course where an hundred of those that are neither Catechumens nor Penitents partake of the Word and but one of them of the Sacrament These then were dark times unless they were holier than ours that is they were dark unless they had more light they were holier doubtless because more humble and more meek and more charitable but some men are like the Hermit who thought the Sun shined onely into his Cell and resemble Seneca's Harpaste who thought the rooms to be dark when her self was become blinde They tell us a saying of a godly man That all to the Sacrament is the great Golias of those days with whom the little Davids of this age are encountring and I shall requite them with an Apothegm of a man that perchance can be no godly man because not of their judgment That none to the Sacrament but whom they please is the great Diana of the Ephesians for which all the Silver-smiths of the times are making Shrines as if the Image fell down from Jupiter when it was made by the Crafts-men The testimony that allows no cause of separation from the communion but such sins as deserve excommunication they say bears no weight yet it is alleged out of St. Augustine but Augustinus tecum erravit as Corvicius The truth is St. Ep. 118. c. 3. Augustine reciting and allowing therein the sense and judgment of some pious men in his age speaks this of an active separation of a mans self upon conscience of his sinfulness and not of a passive as it is commonly understood by Gratian and others but the argument holds with more nerves and energy against a passive separation since a greater cause is requisite to exclude those that do come than to deterr them from coming and many may not perchance lawfully approach which yet cannot but unlawfully be repelled as I have said before And if the ancient Church excluded none but such as were or had been excommunicate we may be indulged to think no sins a cause of separation from the Eucharist but such as merit excommunication I confess my Horizon is very narrow as men that are of no heighth have no large prospect and mine eyes are weak and do not discern all that I might and my memory as frail to retain all those species and notions which sometime perchance I have received but sure I did never meet with or have forgotten any clear evidence in antiquity that warranted the distinction between Excommunication and Suspension as now it is apprehended and practised or that any were excluded from the Communion antonomastically but such as had been first separate from all Communion or to speak properly from simple Communion The Apologist tells us indeed that Antiquity hath distinguished between Excommunication and Suspension but they verifie it by no evidence or testimony save their own and we should advise them rather to imitate Pythagoras his Scholars in their silence than to emulate their Master in his Ipse dixit Their Margin seems to quote Ames as asserting what they affirm but though that learned man distinguish in the place cited between the greater and the lesser Excommunication Cas consci l. 4. c. 29. sect 29. yet he produceth neither Scripture nor authority to back that distinction who elsewhere plainly confesseth that Suspension is not ex singulari Christi instituto They say the Paper it self makes the Excommunicate but one sort of the excluded True but doth it say or doth it follow from what it said that the suspended were another sort The others suffered exclusion for natural disabilities we are speaking now of those that were separate for sins which are moral defects and among those though the Paper distinguish Penitents from Excommunicate it was not because all those under penance had not also been excommunicated but because all excommunicate were not Penitents these later being as I said before communionis ecclesiasticae candidati it was conceded them as a favour to do penance in order to their redintegration which to the others was not as yet vouchsafed But however the Apologists like the Ostrich leave their Eggs in the dust that any foot may crush them and so have deserted all incubation upon suspension yet I am not ignorant that some others have engaged in a vindication of the practice and exercise thereof in the primitive times but however their sheets like that of Parrhasius may seem real to other Painters yet they are but painted They shew us 1. That divers sorts of men were not admitted to the Eucharist which were not under excommunication And we grant it but we ask if it necessarily follow that they must be persons suspended that is Ab excommunicatis solis poenitentia peti poterit Albaspinus not in c. 2. ep 3. Innocent ad Exup p. 143. Multi reperiebantur excommunicati qui circum fores ecclesiae poenitentiam flagitabant Idem de vet eccles ritib. l. 2. obser 4. p. 240. Per poenitentiam ab excommunicatione sive à peccato excommunicationis ut loquuntur antiqui canones liberabantur Ibid. obs 3. p. 227. Cum excommunâ—cato poenitentia concederetur ante poenitentiam meminerimus poenitentem excommunicatum fuisse poenitentiae benedictione eum ab excommunicatione liberatum fuisse Ib. p. 242. obs 4. Aug. ep 108. tom 2. p. 98. 3. concil Tolet. can 12. 6. concil Tolet. can 7 8. item Albas not in can p. 92 104 Idem de vet eccl rit l. 2. obs 4 p. 241. such as were onely debarred the Lords Table and that immediately without having been first excommunicated or cut off from the body of Christ his Church before they were kept off from his body in the Sacrament or without being first separated from a Communion in all Ordinances aswell as that of the Eucharist for this is that which they call Suspension and this is that which they must assert out of antiquity unless they will give us a Cloud in stead of Juno And this we deny and gainsay that there were any such persons or any such ecclesiastick censure Those censured persons that were kept off from the Lords Table and yet lay not under Excommunication were Penitents who indeed were not excommunicate but had been and were in the way of redintegration with the Church from whose Communion they had
the Communion could not be Suspension because it was provided by sundry Canons that such as were deprived of the Communion should be put to doe penance before they could be reconciled and restored and that had been as much in effect as if they should be suspended in order to discharge them of Suspension But then secondly the Lay-Communion being onely Laicorum jus in corpore Christi mystico Ecclesia as it was contradistinguish'd to Ecclesiastical or Sacerdotal Communion the being put into the Lay-Communion was neither the doing of Penance nor any essential consequent thereof though perchance some that were adjudged to be degraded from being Clergy-men might also Concil Eliber can 50. as their offences were in merit be sentenced to penance Ut erat expressum in eorum elogiis judiciis saith Albaspinus and it appears that some when they had finished their penance were put into the Lay-Communion but formally and properly to be set in the Lay-Communion was onely a degrading or deposing of a Clerk and reducing him to the condition of a Lay-man being a censure onely inflicted on the Clergy and but the same which Augustine calls Degradation and the Councels Deposition and removing from Order Concil Elib can 51. Arelat 1. can 26. Chamier Tom. 4. l. 9. c. 3. and all Ecclesiastical Office as appears not onely by that of Gyprian Ut Laicus communicet non quasi locum sacerdotis usurpet but by a multitude of other Testimonies produced by Chamier Albaspinus and others To argue therefore they were admitted to the Laick Communion ergo they were not excommunicate is in effect to conclude they were made Lay-men ergo they were not excommunicated And if Penance were Suspension and the Lay-Communion were any part or appendage of penance it will carry a consequent implication that all Lay-men were suspended or else that to be suspended was to be admitted to the Eucharist as Lay-men were And let the Lay-communion be as Baronius and others would have it to partake the Sacrament without the Railes or could it be as Bellarmine supposeth to receive in one kinde yet in either way there was a communicating at the Lords Table Non diffiteor qui communicabat laicè accepisse eucharistiam more laicorum Albaspin de veter eccles rit l. 1. obser 4. p. 4. saith Albaspinus so as neither could penance formally have any affinity with the Laick Communion nor was any Penitent fully and perfectly in such Communion because during that state he could not partake of the Sacrament but when his penance was ended he intirely communicated as a Lay-man that is had the right and privileges of a Laick onely because he was not restored to Holy Orders whereof indeed he that had done penance was ever afterward â—ncapable And therefore I have laboured under much wonder to what end this Argument was produced I remember Maldonat tells us of a Text Luke 2.34 Facilior fuisset hic locus si nemo eum exposuisset and perchance we might have been more facile to beleeve that there might have been some evidence for Suspension in Antiquity if those that have so confidently assumed to prove it had not fallen so short of their undertakings and our expectation who as Scaliger said of Baronius that he did Annales facere non scribere so they have rather made than found their proofs and have rather imposed upon than informed us so that we may not know unless we shall continue ignorant But having cleared these mists let us look what purer light can be reflected upon us from the Monuments of the ancient Church that we may see to trace their foot-steps and discern what way they walked The notion of Suspension is scarce found in the ancient Fathers Augustine often speaks of Church-censures and sometime specifies the several Acts of Discipline Correption Excommunication Degradation but I have not met with the name much less the thing in all his Disputes against the Donatists where it was most likely to have occurred And had the Church in his time known any such Censure especially inflicted for want of a visible worthiness he could never have said as is pre-alleaged Si peccata tanta non sunt ut excommunicandus quisquam homo judicetur non debet se à quotidiana medicina Dominici corporis separare or had it been denizon'd in Chrysostome's age he would not have said that those which were unworthy to partake of the Eucharist were likewise unworthy to joyn in the Prayers and Hymnes But as Alexander scorned to steal a Victory in the night but would get it in clear day so we shall hide nothing that we can bring to light which may be of advantage to their cause though it seem to have been in the dark to all those which I have met with that have defended it who have said less for themselves than might be said for them and are therefore obnoxious to David's increpation who when they take themselves to be valiant men and who is like them in Israel yet have not kept their Lord so but that any one of the people may come to destroy him But nevertheless though Tellias get these new Pipes no Antinegidas need to be troubled for they will not sound to his Tune nor make any judicious man to dance after him To deal ingenuously as the Canons of the ancient Councels will lend the best Prospect of the Discipline of the Church those being the Mould wherein that was cast so we shall acknowledge that in those Canons we sometimes meet with the notion of Suspension like as we doe with those of Retentus Sequtstratus Remotus Segregatus Exclusus all of them Synonymous and all to be limited and defined by the terminus à quo that from which was the Separation But I doe with some confidence assert that suspended is there taken in the proper not the modern appropriate notion signifying a deferring of or detaining from and that not onely this one Ordinance of the Lords Supper but all Ordinances and is in effect but Excommunication carrying onely besides a connotation of a future restitution to Communion after penance done or satisfaction given The same words have not always the same sense in all Ages nor signifie the same things else we might conclude the Assemblies of the Heathen to be Churches and their Clerks of the Market to be Bishops and to argue that the term Suspension is found in ancient Records therefore there was such a thing as use hath since made the word to import carries as much reason as the Papists have to conclude that because prayer for the dead was used in the ancient Church therefore it related to Purgatory or is with as much sense as Valderama proves the order of Jesuites out of Scripture because it is there said that God hath called us to the society of his Son Jesus But that Suspension in the old Canons implies not a deferring of or detaining from the Eucharist onely and immediately but a
with-holding from all Ecclesiastical Communion is very clear and evident because it is always said to be First either a suspension from Communion Agathens can 64. as in the Agathen Councel one instance among many and Communion was comprehensive of more than a Society in partaking the Lords Supper it is a suspension from the communion of the Church and from Catholique communion Aurel. can 23. 15. can 31. as in the fourth Councel of Orleance neither of which ever was nor can be restrained and limited to fellowship in one Sacrament and in the latter Canon it was denounced for Idolatry the greatest sinne and therefore not like to be censured with the lesser punishment and in the same Councel it is suspension from the church but into the church containing men now under Suspension are admitted and from the church contained are not cut off Secondly it was a Suspension from all fellowship in talking and eating with others and therefore not a suspension from the Eucharist onely neither are ever those which are put under this younger Suspension which is called the lesser excommunication proscribed from all conference and society in food but that the ancient Suspension was attended with such an interdict appears liquidly enough by the second councel of Arles Arel 2. can 30. Si à communione sacerdotali which was to be and act as a clerk or ecclesiastical person fuerit suspensus episcopus which seems the truer reading though some copies have suspectus yet if this were all it were but onely deposition or degradation which excluded not from commerce but that which follows shews it attended with a greater punishment non solùm à clericorum sed etiam à totius populi colloquio atque convivio placuit excludi donec resipâ—scens ad sanitatem redire festinet Aurel. 1. can 11. But if this canon leave it obscure yet more clearly is it apparent by the first councel of Orleance decreeing Placuit eos à communione suspendi ab omnium Catholicorum conviviis separari Thirdly It was a suspension of that nature as whosoever was blasted therewith could not be redintegrated but by doing penance but none were made Penitents that had not first been excommunicate It is legible in the third councel of Toledo Secundum formam Canonum antiquorum detur poenitentia Tolet. 3. can 11. 12. hoc est ut priùs eum quem sui poenitet sacti á communione suspensum faciat inter reliquos poenitentes ad manus impositionem crebrò recurrere expleto autem satisfactionis tempore sicut sacerdotalis contemplatio probaverit eum communioni restituat and it is apparent out of that more ancient councel Arel 2. can 11. the second of Arles where those that sacrificed to Idols are thus censured Duobus annis inter Catechumenos triennio inter poenitentes habeantur à communione suspensi Not again to reflect on this that it carries no verisimilitude that so great a crime was sentenced to no greater a punishment than removal onely from the Sacrament for explanation of this canon we must know that to be among the Catechumens and among the Hearers Neo-Caes can 5. was in effect the same and it seems by the councel of Naeo-Caesarea that the Catechumens at least one sort of them such as were not genuflectentes passed under the notion of Auditors Catechumeni id est audientes and to be an Hearer was the second degree of penance and among the Catechumens and Hearers though not confusedly yet in one common place stood also those that were for a certain time excommunicate and likewise Jewes and Heathens for the sourth councel of Carthage wherein Augustine was present decreed Ut episcopus nullum prohibeat ingredi ecclesiam audire verbum Dei sive gentilem sive haereticum usque ad missam Catechumenorum though neither to the Catechumens themselves were the Gospels read as appeares by the councel of Aurange â— Arausic can 18. ne Catechumenis Evangelia legantur where also incidently observe that as the ancient church admitted not all to eat the Sacrament so they permitted not all to hear all the words But as those that were under Niddui might be present at Divine Service if they kept their distance of four cubits so Albaspinus shews that about the sixth age those that were for a set time excommunicate De vet eccles rit l. 2. obser 24. p. 336 338. obs 29. p. 390 391. Poenitentes tertii gradus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 l. 2. obser 32. p. 405. Poenitentia per appropriationem primus secundus gradus dispositiones erant quibus ad tertium exequendum pararetur obs 24. p. 357. obser 4. p. 243. did also enter into the church and stood among or neer the Catechumeni to hear some portions of the Word and Expositions thereof In eodem loco consistere ibique provolvere se ad genua aliquas preces interponere though they departed before the Mass of the Catechumens that is before their Prayers and before the Sermon too as also did the Catechumens themselves But to prosecute the interpretation of the former canon when those suspended persons advanced farther and from the Catechumens step'd to be among the Poenitents whereby Albaspinus understands the Succumbentes even those in this third degree of Penance were not onely suspended from the Eucharist but separated from communion in sacred offices Orationes preces sacra sacrificia oblationes agapae Stationes vigiliae jejunia similia ea omnia poenitentibus aeque ac excommunicatis deerant saiâ—h Albaspinus so as it is very evident that in this canon to be suspended from communion was to be excommunicate because of the several steps of penance which were to be gone over in order to raising and restoring to communion Fourthly Ilerden can 5 if In the Ilerden councel Suspension is expounded by Segregation from the body of the church Veraciter as flictos non diu suspendere vel desidiosos prolixiore tempore ab ecclesiae corpore segregare Fifthly if I have not failed in my observation and account the term of Suspension is but twice onely less often mentioned in the fourth councel of Orleance than in all the preceding Synods but it is there arbitrarily and indifferently used with those formes which without all colour of contradiction import Excommunication viz. ex consortio fidelium vel ecclesiae communione pellatur Aurel. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 16.12 13 20 22. habeatur extraneus pacem ecclesiae non habeat ab ecclesiae limmibus arceatur excommunicationis severitas imponatur And not to advance farther toward the West or Occident and Declination of Discipline but to set up our pillars with a nihil ultra at the fifth Council of Orleance 5 Aurel. can 2. while it decrees that none be suspended from the Communion for small and light causes had the Fathers understood Suspension in the modern sense they had rather abolished than regulated it
by taking away the proper object whereupon it worketh viz. lesser and higher offences and when they adde that Suspension be inflicted for such offences for which the ancient Fathers drove the Offenders out of the Church they did not so farre relax the reyns of Discipline as to censure onely with Suspension from the Lords Table those whom the Ancients punish'd by casting out of the Church but their Discipline had made them know no distinction between Suspension and casting out of the Church and therefore they used them univocally or the one as an Exegesis of the other Lastly we shall also fairly confess that in ancient Monuments we meet with those expressions of removing from the Altar and separating from the communion of Sacraments and of being reconciled thereunto but we are convinced to judge that they onely by a Synecdoche complicated with a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifie a rejection from and restitution to a plenary and absolute communion in general by one and the most excellent part thereof And this may be sufficiently proved by several passages in St. Augustine's Disputes against the Donatists Epist 11â— c. 3. tom 2. p. 108. especially against Parmenian But we need re-search no farther than that place in his Epistles which we have so lately agitated for having said Si tanta est plaga peccati atque impetus morbi ut medicamenta talia differenda sunt authoritate Antistitis debet quisque ab altari removeri eadem authoritate reconciliari hoc est enim indignè accipere si eo tempore accipiat quo debet agere poenitentiam non ut arbitrio suo cum libet vel auferat se communioni vel reddat caeterùm si peccata tanta non sunt ut excommunicandus quisquam homo judicetur non debet se à quotidiana medicina Dom nici corporis separare where we see plainly that ab altari removeri excommunicandum judicari are either consignificant or exegetical as well as that he thought that none were to separate from the Lords Table but for such sins as rendred demeritoriously excommunicate And though this be a pearl of so great price that he which finds it cannot but be willing to sell all the false notions that he hath to the contrary for the buying thereof yet it is no Union though one yet not the onely Orient testimony there being many others like and equal to it The first Council of Toledo decreeing 1. Tolet. â—â—a 2. that publicam poenitentiam gerens sub Concilio divino reconciliatus fuerit altari implies that to be reconciled to the Altar was to be absolved of Excommunication and re-admitted to communion with the Church whereof to partake of the Altar was the most perfect and absolute act for he that was thus reconciled was under penance and all penitents were such as had been excommunicate The Ilerden Council determineth Ilerden can 2. Communione corporis Domini priventur ità ut his duobus annis vigiliis orationibus elcemosynis pro viribus quas Dominus donaverit expientur quod si definito tempore negligentiores c. prorogandi ipsius poenitentiae tempus in potestate maneat sacerdotis whereby it is manifest that by deprivation of the communion of the body of the Lord as the chiefest part of Church-fellowship was the loss of all other Ecclesiastical Society or Excommunication intended for as persons suspended are not sentenced to such continual Watchings Prayers and Alms so whosoever was a Penitent had been excommunicate The second Council of Tours defining Eos ab Ecclesia sanctrepellant Turonen can 3. nec participare sancto altari permittant manifestly declares that they understood a repelling from the Church and non-permitting to partake of the Altar to be identical but such as of latter times are suspended are never repulsed from the Church which is more than to be debarred the Eucharist And lastly Can. 14. the fourth Council of Orleance defining Tam diu habeatur à communione altaris vel omnium fratrum ac filiorum charitate suspensus makes the latter to be exegetical to the former and evidently proves that to be suspended was to be cast out from all fellowship with the Brotherhood and Sonnes of the Church Wherefore seeing the ancient Church knew not their Suspension which is the onely penal and indeed main act of their Discipline yet for them to pretend to affinity with the ancient Discipline is a boldness like to finde as little success as excuse unless as that old Sycophant advised Calumniare audacter aliquid haerebit so they vaunt boldly of things in hope they will stick with some for their confidence or as some Heathens commended the ancient Heroes for fetching their Pedegree from the Gods though falsly because it raised their spirits and advantaged their reputation so they think it will produce like effects for them to derive the descent of their Discipline from the ancient Church though it can claim no kindred therewith They next come to give an account of their regard to the School-men but they might have spared the Irony Few are inimicous to School-learning but they that are ignorant thereof such indeed despise what they have not as Gallienus when Aegypt revolted and Gaul was lost said Quid sine lino Aegyptio esse neâ— possumus Num sine trabeatis sag is tuta Respublica non est and as Iovius speakes of Detractors Fortunam suam eâ vindictae voluptate consolantur The School indeed is a Libanon or Forest over-grown with Thorns and Briers yet much good Timber may there be found to build and make Beames for the Temple and as Otho said to Salvius Cocceamus nec patruum sibi Othonem fuisse aut oblivisceretur unquam nut nimiùm meminisset so shall I say of that Learning it is not too much to be studied nor altogether to be neglected They desire those that have the School-men to consult them on the third part of Aquinas and if they have them they might have given a more special direction and reference this which they give being like Magna civitas magna solitudo who put it into the hands of the Minister to deny the Sacrament to all whom they judge scandalous sinners or unworthy persons Reso They say there is a Fish whereof a part being eaten it proves poyson if the whole an Antidote so the doctrine of the School in this point being partially and mutilously set forth may seem to make for them but fully and plainly represented will speak much against them This dissertation will give us some Prosopography of the Apologists and reflect light to see how forward they are to impose upon others if these passages were oculis subjecta and entred by the horny gate or how facile they are to be imposed upon themselves if they were demissa per aures and had entry thorough the Ivory Port. It must therefore be recognized that the School distinguisheth of sinners whereof some are secret not of
come to demand it and those that have come to them to require it have been denied the participation though such as have not been patible of the definition of notorious sinners and though they suppose that it proves nothing that the Schoolmen and Casuists assert that secret sinners are not to be kept off yet it proves their course not paralel with the line drawn out by the School who deny it to those the far greatest part whereof can be but occult sinners and not within the definition of notorious and it is something sure that hereby the School and Casuists must consequently conclude that when a Minister doth as he ought distribute the Sacrament to him whom onely by his private notice he knows unworthy he doth no act simply unlawfull by partaking of the receivers sin or prostituting the privileges of the godly or giving false testimony nor that he is to suspend him untill he hath rendred upon triall demonstrative signs of his conversion They say Suarez tells us That a violent suspicion is enough to deny the Sacrament but as Pliny writes of the deceitfulness of the Panther they shew forth those parts which seem fair for them and hide the head which would seem stern and terrible so Suarez indeed saith this of a publick suspition not of any private and of such a violent suspition too quae probabili rationi deponi non potest for if it be onely probable suspicion Sect. 6. p. 863. that onely sufficeth ad generandum dubium non ad judicandum simpliciter de peccato alierius and in such a case saith he Melior est conditio possidentis Suspect's de aliquo crimine neganda est si suspicio publica vehemens seu violenta sive si laborat publica infamia non item si est suspicio solùm probabilis vel praesumptuosa Sylvius in 3. q. 80. art 4. p. 311. Dr. Twisse quando aliquis non sufficienter probatur malus praesumendus est bonus and a violent suspition is described to be such quae moraliter facit rem certam such a suspition Suarez thinks sufficient because in rebus moralibus non est quaerenda metaphysica evidentia sed sufficit moralis certitudo and therefore this violent suspition is in Suarez his sense equipollent to evidence of fact or little short thereof for otherwise that any less suspition is enough to deny the Sacrament is so far from being the common opinion of Divines that they commonly opine and directly resolve the contrary as I have elsewhere manifested and it would otherwise be contradictory to Suarez his own judgment otherwhere delivered viz. That the Sacrament is not to be denied but to him that is notorious by Law or fact and his fellow Vasquez whom a famous Schoolman hath weighed in his ballance and found to ponderate more than Suarez doth tell us that infamy which is I think somewhat more than suspition Licèt sit sufficiens principium inquirendi contra ipsum de delicto ad poenam non statim vldetur sufficiens ut statim puniatur tanquam manifestus peccator in conspectu ecclesiae denegando ei Eucharistiam cùm infamia illa non eâ— rei evidentia sed ex aliquibus judiciis ortum habet quae sufficere non debeat ut ità graviter quis puniatur And seeing the publick repulsion from the Sacrament is called the lesser Excommunication and that being defined to be an ecclesiastical consure Cas consc tract 13. c. 1. Sect. 9. p. 254. and Eiliucius telling us that ad ferendam censuram requiritur jurisdictâ—o fori contentiosi so that whereas Biel taught That whosoever sinned mortally incurred the lesser Excommunication because he that remains in any mortal sin deprives himself of the Sacrament Vasquez refutes this opinion as false upon this ground De excom dub 1. Sect. 7 8. because the lesser Excommunication is an ecclesiastical censure hence therefore it follows that regularly according to the Doctrine of the School neither should the Minister alone inflict it neither ought it to be inflicted upon suspition but according to the judicial process upon proof or confession of some crime or evidence of the fact Their testimony out of Gregory may serve to assert what we confess That for such manifest faults as seem to be inconsistent with grace and to exclude it a man may by authoritative sentence be put from the Communion but tends not to prove what we deny that he may arbitrarily be suspended till he demonstrate himself to be in the state of grace They have the conscience to appeal to the Readers judgment whether there be not more conformity between them and antiquity than their adversaries can pretend unto that make no separation But we approve and shall cooperate in a separation of others from us by juridical censure that are notoriously wicked for this suits with the ancient Discipline but not a separation as theirs is of our selves from them that are not manifestly godly no nor yet from that Church where that laudable Discipline though de jure approved is not defacto through some obstruction exercised for this sorts with the old Donatisme The Chymists boast much of their extractions and separations of the pure parts from the impure but Sennertus commends an answer of Queen Elizabeth to one glorying of such spirits If said she we were purely spirit we might be cured and nourished by such spirits so I shall say If we were onely and altogether spiritual we might have a Church universally holy and a pure use of the Ordinances but till we come to be so which will be onely when we shall be as those immortal spirits the Angels those violent separations are like to leave us scarce any body of a Church but because the ancient Church made some kinde of separation and they also separate therefore to infer that theirs must needs be the like kinde of separating and their way conformable to the ancient is such another argument as the Chymicks use that because Ezra weighed out two vessels of fine Copper precious as Gold therefore they must needs forsooth be of metall transmuted or improved by Chymical artifice Ezra 8.27 They know not who they be that are so carefull to repell and exclude men from the Sacrament indeed every man being his own grand flatterer he is the first that sees his perfections and the last that discerns his faults and there are some that misprise their faults to be their perfections as the Mexicans think that to be beauty and gallantry which is the vilest deformity to have their lips by the weight of jewels pendent in them drawn down over their chins to the imbearing of their teeth but if to suspend whole Congregations not because they are proved to be wicked but meerly because they are not approved to be Saints which is as if we should withhold a mans sood from him till he make proof of his good digestion to suspend the Sacrament it self in their proper
Churches that they may better suspend their people which hath some affinity with Caligula's wish That the whole City of Rome had but one neck that he might cut it off at once to take so much pains to justifie and defend their suspending of so many as unfit when as he said to his Son encountring with his Enemy Percute qua aratrum the same labour might have made the most of them fit and however they shall be fitted yet to give them no admission or entrance but onely by stepping over their threshold which they have set up by Gods threshold he that shall deny that this is to be carefull to exclude and keep men from the Sacrament and as Alcibiades perswaded Pericles to be studious rather not to give than to give an account so that this is to be more solicitous not to give than to give the Sacrament he hath been bred up in Anaxagoras his School where in defiance of sense it was denied that the Snow was white and if I should do it I should doubt that even for this I should come too near the danger of incurring some of Chrysostome's stigmatical Epithites Chrysostome was ere while as full as they could wish now he is fulsom and their stomaces cannot digest an argument collected from his words They very calmly and with silence let pass the greatest and most forcible part of the testimony and onely pick a quarrel to the application of one piece thereof Chrysostome had said that he that stands by and not communicates is wicked shameless and impudent And the Paper thence modestly as it could offered it to be considered by arguing à pari if not à fortiori where or upon whom that censure would fall or how it would be-reversed if those that stand by and would yet shall not be suffered to participate hereupon Ignescunt irae duris dolor ossibus haeret They take this shaft into their sides as if aimed at them and complain of the wound and indeed cùm vitia incessimus reum ira manifestat but I shall say with St. Hierom Neminem specialiter meus sermo pulsavit Tom. 1. ep 2. ad Nepol c. 26. qui mihi irasci voluerit priùs ipse de se quòd talis sit confitebitur As our Saviour told the Jews That not he but Moses accused them so it was not I but Chrysostome that laid the censure and leaves it not on them but ex Hypothesi upon supposition they do that which he censureth it was he that delivered the Law as the major if their conscience become the witness against them in the case and make up the minor for the conclusion let any man be judg I could not borrow a nail from that Master of the Assemblies as the words of the wise are called and not drive it to the head nor bring forth and onely shew the weapon and not strike with it nor make it like Thebes when Epaminondas was slain a spear that had no head or point If they shall prompt me how I might apply the words to make them argumentative in any more modest or candid manner I shall be very docible to write after their copy and excuse and expunge my former characters or Ut Lugdunensem dicturus Rhetor ad aram My tongue shall lick out and make amends for the blots of my Pen. But noise and outcries whatsoever some Nations imagine will not help an Eclipse As in Tophet they set up a loud sound and raised clamours to drown the cry of the dying childe so perchance they keep this ratling about thatwhich seems to pinch the credit of their persons onely to drown the sound of that blow which-mortally wounds their cause for what was transcribed out of Chrysostome That he which was unworthy of the Eucharist was also unworthy of the prayers this they take no notice of like weak souls that wink when they are put in fear and think the danger lessened which they see not And this though his words seem yet to be the sense of the whole Church which did conclude all her publick and solemn prayers with the receiving of the Sacrament so as Albaspinus tells us De vet eccles rit l. 1. obs 16. p. 124. Mede Christian Sacrif Sect. 1. p. 475. Vix repories quenquam eo i. solenniter usum esse nisi ad Eucharistiam significandam As we vocally conclude all our prayers through Jesus Christ our Lord so saith Mr. Mede the ancient Church in the solemn and publick service when she presented her self before God as one body did visibly by representing him in the Symboles of his Body and Bloud he being thereby commemorated and received by them and us to the same end for which he suffered that through him we receiving forgiveness of sins God might accept our persons and prayers The Stations which were but dimidiata jesunia Fasts extended to the ninth hour and not prolonged usque ad authoritatem demorantis stellae in Tertullian's Idiom and which he tells us had their name from the example of Souldiers whose standing to watch before the Palace being called Stations I. 1. obs 14. p. 101. gave the like appellation to the Christians coming together twice a week and continuing together in prayer for defence of the Church and to impetrate Gods favour those Stations being as Albaspinus describes them Nihil aliud quam coitio ac veluti conjuratio totius ecclesiae contra Deum and whereby as Tertullian speaks quasi manu facta eo Deum perpellebant adi gebántque ad id quod obnixè peterent concedendum But those Stations were always concluded with the Eucharist as the close and upshot thereof In the fifty days betwixt Easter and Whitsunday L. 1. obse 15. p. 106 108 a time of more solemn prayers and which Albaspinus affirms to equal the Lords day in Worship and Religion every particular Christian saith he most sweetly was compelled and enforced to receive the Eucharist Besides they had no other place where they offered the publick prayers but that whereon the memory of Christ's Body and Bloud was celebrated and even as in the Old Testament where they called on the Name of the Lord there they still built an Altar and their Sacrifices were Rites whereby to invocate God as may be collected from 1 Sam. 13.12 So in the swadling of the Christian Church Breaking of Bread or as the Syriack reades the breaking of the Eucharist and prayers are conjoyned and both referred to their Christian fellowship as the Exegesis thereof shewing wherein the Communion of the Church consisted so as therefore whosoever was of the body of the Church did both partake of the Prayers and of the Altar and who was divided from the one had no benefit of the other as Mr. Mede produceth Ignatius to witness Pag. 494. and it was morally impossible that those which were received as competent for a conjunction in the former could be rejected as incapable of Communion in the later
which are not such Dogs and Swine but that to them the Word may be preached they are neither such but that to them also the Sacraments are administrable If they knew any did come to hear with a design to mock or purpose to blaspheme the truth they would sense an obligation to exclude him from the Auditory and to frustrate this wickedness Why is there not as great an incumbency for examining of Hearers that they might be known as to prevent unworthy receiving there is for probation of Receivers Nay I presume they would advance farther and come up to Bellarmine De eccl mil. l. 3. c. 10. that saith Si ecclesia possit dignoscere impios incredulos hypocritas nunquam admitteret aut casu admissos excluderet And doth it not hang upon the same hinge of reason that because no wicked faithless person ought of right to be admitted into Church-fellowship therefore they ought to make triall of all before their admission to be members which is the state of that disease of Independency and Meridian of that New Light aswell as because no unworthy person ought de jure to participate the Sacrament Cit. à Gratiano 1. q. 1. c. Interrogo ab Hospiniano Hist Sacram l. 2. p. 97. centur Magdeburg centur 5. c. 4. p. 215. Casaubon exercit 16. sect 36. p. 378. 363. therefore they ought antecedently to make probation of every ones worthiness before he be a partaker St. Augustine affirmeth the Word of God not to be less than the Body of Christ and Casaubon saith that preaching of the Scriptures which is called a spiritual Table is another kinde of spiritual eating of Christ as the Fathers teach us As indeed Origen saith expresly Of the Sacrament p. 10. Hoc unum eatenus inter ea discrimen est quod quae verbum in mentem per aures insinuat ea sucramenta per oculos in eandem ingerunt Theses Salmuri part 3. sect 13. p. 34. Bibere autem sanguinem Christi non solùm sacramentorum ritu sed cùm sermones ejus recipimus in quibus vita consistit And the Word and Sacraments tend to the same end but by somewhat different ways the same promises are conveyed by both but in one demissa per aures in the other oculis subjecta fidelibus Cranmer tells us as the Word preached puts Christ into our ears so likewise those Elements of Water Bread and Wine joyned to Gods Word do after a sacramental manner put Christ into our eyes mouths hands and all our senses so as neither for dignity are they unequal nor different in the effects and ends And this seems to me to be acknowledged by the Apologists themselves when they tell us Sect. 23. That the want of the Sacrament is supplied by the Word whereby God gives Souls to eat and drink the Flesh and Bloud of Christ Jesus by faith As the Eucharist is onely dispensable to such as are capable to shew forth the death of the Lord and to examine themselves so Ezra brought the Law before the congregation both of men and women and all that could hear with understanding Nehem. 8.2 As infants are debarred of communicating till maturity so not onely among the Hebrews as St. Hieron Proem in Ezek. tom 4. p. 727. Casaubon ubi supra p. 399. ad 404. Hierom tells us none under thirty years of age was permitted to reade the begining of Genesis the Canticles nor the Exordium or end of Ezekiel and Casaubon shews us That as in the ancient Church onely the faithfull were admitted to some certain Prayers so the Fathers distinguish'd the Doctrine into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which might be publish'd unto all and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those secrets which were not rashly to be evulged which neither in familiar Colloquies or Catechisms or Sermons they temerariously mentioned before Pagans Catechumens or any other not initiate and in this thing saith he agree all the Greek and Latine Fathers ad unum omnes and some of them do bottom this use upon that very place of Matth. 7.6 And from hence resulted that usual form especially used in mentioning the one or other Sacrament Norunt initiati quod dicitur which is to be found at least fifty times in Chrysostome and not much fewer in Augustine And as Casaubon tells us out of Dionysius that none not initiated were admitted to see the Administration of Baptism so it is evident out of the Monuments of Antiquity Albasp l. 2. obs 22. p. 315. obs 23. p. 327. L. 2. obs 1. p. 190. that to whom they divulged the mystery of the Eucharist to them they exhibited the use thereof and to whom they thought not fit to administer it to them they deemed it not expedient to publish it The Church saith Albaspinus took order during their instructing the Catechumens Ut iis interea nihil de sacramentorum arcanis aperiret And in another place he tells us Catechumenos saluberrimis Christianae religionis praeceptis omissâ omni mysteriorum sacramentorum mentione imbuerent and therefore they went out not onely before the Administration but also before the explication of the Mysteries When it was objected to Athanasius by his Enemies that he had irreverently broken the Mystical Cup he in his Apology heavily accuseth them that they had not blushed to discourse of the Mystery of the Lords Supper before Catechumens and Ethnicks and when Celsus scornfully hereupon called Christian Religion A clandestine Doctrine Origen answers That the most of their Heads of Doctrine were publickly delivered and if some were not generally communicated to all the Christians were therefore no more to be reprehended than the Heathen Philosophers who divided their Learning into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which were brought forth to all and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which were confined within their own School The learned Grotius also shews out of Clemens Alexandrinus that Chaldaei Hebraei Aegyptii Annot. in Matth. 7.6 vetustissimi sapientiae professores praecepta sua tradebant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and indeed as the Apologists have told us of the Proeul 6 procul ite profani whereby the Heathen excluded flagitious persons from their Sacrifices Rosinus antiq Rom. l. 2. p. 195. so we could return that they onely commmunicated their mysterious Doctrines also to such as were initiate whence Mysterium dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod est es claudere So as then all being not held capable of hearing the Word preached aswell as some were not of the Sacrament it were consonant to their Principles to have examined who were or not and consequently there might seem to be a parity of reason for a probation previous to admission unto the one Ordinance aswell as the other The Sacrament is a Seal of Faith therefore say they There must triall be made of their faith 1 Cor. 14.22 that are to receive it and hath it not equal force in the consequence to argue prophecying
which by the concordance of Interpreters is interpreting of Scripture is a sign unto or serveth for believers therefore probation ought to be made whether they believe that are to partake of Prophecying or the Word preached As the Lopers said If we enter into the City we shall dy there 2 Kings 7.4 and if we sit still here we dy also so he that hears and believeth not shall be damned and he that eats and drinks without faith can but eat and drink his damnation there is no safer sinning in the one or other And Aristippus would have found no odds in dying by the bite of a Lion or a Weazel nor Heliogabalus been sensible of any difference in the kinde of his Halters and Poniards that should have killed him If the hope of learning and possibility of attaining faith may support and warrant a promiscuous admission to hearing the Word though notwithstanding many that hear have no right to the promises held forth in the Word nor any interest in the salvation offered in Jesus Christ but all those in effect signifie nothing to them yet nevertheless all must hear and those are generally and indifferently to be propounded to all if because the matter of the duty viz. Hearing is commanded by God it ought to be performed by all though many are not qualified to do it in due form or to a right end since our powers or our prosiciencies are not the measure of our duty but Gods precept and our obligation is not rooted in nor results from what we can do but what God will have done and the good commanded must be done though evil not causally but consequently not of it self but accidentally ensue in the doing Why either all these considerations should not in some measure and degree at least be extensive and applicable to an admission of all Church-members to the Sacrament or why considering this their solicitude and sedulity should not be extended and applied to the trying and preparing men in order to worthy hearing aswell as to communicating may seem not so much below reason as they say to ask as perhaps above it to answer But now when we can see no difference in the Grounds and Reasons and yet do behold such disparity in their affections and factions concerning the one or other Ordinance which did they simply and purely rise and flow from zeal to purity of Ordinances or salvation of souls would equally respect all Ordinances and salvation of souls in all like concernments We cannot be so blinde or so connivent as not to discern that which may facilitate us to suspect that the Sacrament is but the accessory some other thing is the principal which is reposited among arcana Imperii ragion di stato and the wheels of their Discipline run Byas and themselves like false Proxinetes under colour of wooing for their friend court for themselves and onely pretend to fit men for the Sacrament but intend better to fit them for their proper ends Canponantes sacramentum so that though Caesar apertly did invade the Soveraignty and Pompey pretends the name and interest of the Common-wealth yet the difference is no more than between a Storm and a Mine That there is not the same reason for a precedaneous examination in these two Ordinances they assay to prove Because Heathens are capable of the Word Go preach the Word to every creature The other is proper to Saints to strengthen and comfort the begotten Has fundit dives facundia gemmas But they forget that we are not disputing ad rem what is or ought to be done but arguing ad hominem what should be done consequently to their Principles viz. that Ordinances are not to be dispensed to persons unworthy who cannot but sin in participating unworthily and that they are partakers of that sin which admit them from which and the like Aphorisms there seems to result a necessity of examining Heathens precedaneously to their admission to the Word preached whether they are humble docil and facil to captivate their understanding to the obedience of faith or not 2. There is not the same reason for examining of Heathens as of those that be members of the Church What hath any to do to examine more than to judg those that are without The Ethicks tell us that some are not idoneous Auditors of moral Philosophy viz. young men not defined by paucity of years but weakness of understanding and inconstancy and levity of manners now though perchance a Reader or Master may sense it as the dictate of prudence to make triall of the ingeny and temper of such as by agreement are his profest Scholars yet it follows not that if a stranger shall accidentally go into or transiently pass through his School or being perswaded by some Declamations made abroad by the Master or Scholars of the excellency and praise of the Art shall purposely come with some propensness to become a Scholar if he shall like the Doctrine which is taught that he must suspend his Lectures and impose silence on himself untill he have tried the capacity and docibleness of his adventitious Auditor 3. Though Pagans may be permitted to be Hearers and yet in the ancient Church they were not admitted to hear all the parts of Scripture indefinitely but onely some special portions thereof yet they hear it not as their Word or that wherein they can yet claim any actual right or interest In 1 Cor. 14.22 Prophesying is a sign for them that believe a sign of favour and benediction whereby God teacheth and blesseth his people as Paraeus Aquinas A Lapide c. primarily and principally intended to the faithfull Plato who is therefore called Moyses Atticus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems to have been very conversant in the writings of Moses whereunto some think he refers in that frequent phrase As the old saying goes the fifth Commandment is explicitely found in Homer and divers of Solomon's Proverbs in the moral Philosophers yet nevertheless it was the proper privilege of the Jews that to them were committed the Oracles of God A Writing or Deed belongsonly to him to whom or to whose use it is sealed and delivered though an unteressed stranger may perchance hear it read In the Charter of a City none hath actual interest until he be incorporate and made free yet a forreiner may hear the purport thereof and perchance may consultly be made acquainted therewith to facilitate and inflect him to denizen himself through the alluring hope of participating the benefits and privileges thereby granted yet all that while the Magistrates hear no obligation to make inspection into or take account of his condition that is not yet under their government 4. We are now disputing onely of Christians and such as are of yeers of discretion Defence of the Admon S. 1. p. 118. and of such Mr. Cartwright expresly sayes If they be not meet to receive the Holy Sacrament of the Supper they are not meet
in the practice of the ancient Church save among those that were in the last degree of penance for those that were not thought worthy to partake were not held fit to look on Albaspin de vet Eccl. rit l. 2. ob 2. p. 206. but were dismissed in the Ite missa cùm ex more Diaconus clamat si quis non communâ—cat det locum as saith Gregory and it was thought all one to behold the Celebration and to be a partaker for if a Catechumen had by fortuitous accident beheld the administration he was forthwith baptized and from Baptisme was an immediate passage to the Eucharist and whom they thought fit to be permitted the inspection they supposed worthy to be admitted to the participation of the Eucharist so to stay as a spectator De consecrat dist 2. was censured to merit the punishment of Excommunication as I have elsewhere manifested peracta consecratione omnes communicent qui noluerint ecclesiaisticis carere liminibus sic enim Apostoli statuerunt c. as Gratian recordeth Lastly as it is Treason to carry Arms and Ammunition to the Enemy so this principle treacherously betrayes the Protestant Cause and brings Aid to the Popish furnishing them with an Argument to justifie or excuse their private Masses and mutilate Communions if they may be profitable and effectual to spectators of the Sacrament when it is administred as well as to participators And sure if they doe not lend they that use it borrow this Argument from the Pontificians Aut Plato Philonizat aut Philo Platonizat Bellarmine telling us in his Disputes against our opinion of the Sacraments efficacy by exciting Faith and operating by their signification correspondently as the Word doth as in truth many of the Arguments usually urged to disprove the Sacraments to be a converting Ordinance are but feasting us in that Idol-Temple and with part of the sacrifices which Bellarmine hath offered to the God of Ekron that what effect the Sacraments have by signification may be acquired by seeing them administred as well as by partaking and from this principle also he argueth in defence of the Communion in one kinde and with the Popish Heifers have they ploughed that have found out this Riddle and in allusion to the antique mode in founding Cities have turned up this Furrow and drawn this Line where to make a Wall to retrench and keep out from the Communion And perhaps also the Papists putting their private Masses upon the score of the peoples indevotion hath prompted the Apologists and their fellows to lay their comparatively private Communions and the excluding of so many on the account of their unwillingness to come and on their irreverence and hereupon to put the blame for the with holding both kindes from so many as among the Papists they doe for withdrawing one species from all except Priests and Kings save that lately the consecrated Wine is given the Laity in some Countreyes poured out into a Glass which by no meanes is to be drank out of the Chalice that the Priest may have still some privilege and elevation above the people equal to Kings Wherein as in a glass we may see somewhat besides Truth and Godliness doth carry on and biass the wheeles of this kinde of motions That Argument seemes in some false glasses to shew a more colourable face of reason which some have thus painted He that receives worthily is converted already he that partakes unworthily ears and drinks to his damnation not conversion But this is meer painting which will neither abide the fire or tryal nor the light of the Sun and will be defaced by every strong breath that blows upon it But first to seposite and adjourn the consideration that there lies no little weight of Reason and Authority in that scale which propends to think that the unworthiness of him which eats and drinks unto damnation is meant onely of a contrary not privative unworthiness and alone of such as come with a presumptuous irreverence and wilful contempt of the Ordinance and not of those that approach with some sense of their duty reverential esteem of the Mysteries and moral conformity I shall first propound it to be considered whether these be not some of the Weapons or formed by their Pattern wherewith fresh Sophisters use to play at foiles such as those Either a man dyes while he is alive or when he is dead either the Light first enters into a room when it is dark or when it is lightsome either the soul had an existence before it was infused into the body or after and with either of the horns of this Argument they think to push down an Antagonist and make it like a Crocodile to vanquish him which way soever he takes But I shall secondly offer it to be recognized that the Argument is another Dialect of the Language of Ashdod for not onely in analogous manner Bellarmine disputes against the Institution of the Legal Sacrifices for the typical expiation of sinne viz. Either he that offered was just and then needed no such expiatory sacrifice Tom. 4. l. 3. c. 4. S. 10. or unjust and then it could not be available to him and Chamier tells him he might have formed the like Argument against the Eucharist as against the antiquated sacrifices but also the Papists with like artifice argue against justification by Faith that before justification nothing in the natural man can justifie him he being at emnity with God and after he is justified faith cannot do that which is done already and again that no man can believe his sins to be remitted and himself to be accepted as just untill remission of sins and such acceptance be obtained and afterward faith cannot impetrate that which is precedently acquired Thirdly I shall hold it forth to be perpended whether this argument do not lye as directly and will not reach home as fully to dismount the Word also from being a converting Ordinance for that profits not but where it is mixt with faith in the heart and therefore he that hears with faith is converted already he that doth not so findes it the savour of death unto death and not of life unto life Fourthly we grant that he that hears faithlesly and he that communicates unworthily In sensu composito persevering in that state and privation cannot be converted but is condemned already but in sensu diviso he that comes without true faith and unworthy to receive may yet be converted in receiving and be a worthy Receiver and having eaten of that Lamb as St. Chrysostome speakes may be transformed from a Woolf that meat not being changed into the substance of the partakers but changing him that partakes into it self and so this Bread which signifieth the Body of Christ may not onely strengthen or confirm mans heart but in that Blood which the Wine representeth there shall be life Beside the Sacraments are meanes of Grace and therefore to suspend men from the partaking thereof
Shall not this be to furnish Apologies for the Papists who restrain the liberty of the Scriptures and withhold the use of the Cup for preventing as they say of contingent abuses thereof Shall others be sterved lest some surfeit or shall Stewards as the Ministers of Christ are called 1 Cor. 4.12 detain their food from the family because many abuse it Hypocrates tells us that Diseases of In anition are worse than those of Repletion and it is a Maxime in Physick Omne peccatum quod commissum fuerit magis committitur in tenui quà m in paulò pleniore victu And there is therefore less peril in administring more food than may do good than in substracting necessary sustenance There was no crown so honorable among the Romans as the Civick which was conferred on him that had saved a Citizen as being of more advantage to the publick than to have killed an Enemy And shall it then be judged reasonable to hazard the loss of a Citizen upon pretence to kill an Enemy or rather indeed lest we should save him and to disappoint those that are worthy lest there be a concurrence of such as we think unworthy Valerius lost the honour of his Triumph because Magis dolor amissis civibus quà m gaudium fusis hostibus praevaluit And as in the Ethicks the covetous is determined to be worse than the prodigal so in Theology it seems to be more obnoxious to withhold the Sacrament from such as are worthy than to administer it to those that are not Satiùs impunitum relinqui facinus nocentis quà m innocentem damnari said the wise Historian And what prejudice resulteth to the Minister to distribute it indifferently so as he have by publick and preparatory teaching and as he shall finde it fit and seasonable and meet with opportunites to do it by private conference endeavoured to principle and dispose them to a worthy receiving Petitur à te cura non curatio saith Bernard sapientis est nihil praestare praeter culpam If thou teachest that is thine if he will not learn that is his take what is thine and goe thy way saith the same Author if the Watch-men cry and the City will not be warned their blood shall be upon their own heads he hath delivered his soul Exigitur à manducante quod manducat c. It is required of the eater that he eat saith St. Augustine In Psal 142. Tom. 8. p. 342. who therein seems to distill and extract the very state of the question Let him not be prohibited by the Dispenfor but let him be admonished to fear him that will take an account neither was the Pastor of Corinth blamed for admitting those that did eat and drink unworthily but they were reprehended that came so unprepared nor were the servants checked for bringing into the Marriage Feast a man that had no Wedding Garment though himselfe were cast out into utter darkness nay if persons meriting to be excommunicated shall notwithstanding be admitted the Minister of the Church where Excommunication is not setled is excused saith learned Ursin Catech. part 2. q. 82. p. 588. so as he willingly give not the Supper to such as abuse it but be instant in admonishing and desire to prevent abuses for blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness and Calvin with as much charity as judgment suitable to himself as harmoniously with Ursin tells us Hoc quoque ad disciplinae moderationem in primis requiritur Instit 4. c. 12. S. 11. c. This also is principally to be required to the moderation of discipline which Augustine disputeth against the Donatists That neither private men if they see vices not so diligently as they ought to be corrected by the councel of the Elders doe thereupon presently make a departure from the Church nor the Pastors themselves if they cannot as they wish and according to their affection purge out those things which need correction doe therefore lay aside their Ministery or trouble the whole Church with unusual asperity for it is true which he viz. Augustine writeth That whosoever either by rebuking correcteth what he can or saving the bond of peace excludeth what be cannot correct or what saving the bond of peace he cannot exclude doth with equity dislike and with firmness support such an one is free and acquitted from the curse and he other where saith Calvin rendreth the reason hereof Because all godly purpose and intent and manner and way of Ecclesiastical disicpline ought always to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace which the Apostle commendeth to be conserved by bearing one with another and which being not conserved the medicine of punishment is not onely supervacuous but also begins to be pernicious and therefore ceaseth to be a medicine I know the trite I dare not say trivial similitude that it fareth with the Minister in order to the Sacrament and the dispensing thereof as with one that hath a Cup of Poyson in his hand for whom it is not enough to shew the danger in drinking thereof and to perswade to abstain from the same but if he reach it forth and deliver it to any he is guilty of all the mischief consequent to the swallowing thereof They say no similitude runnes on all four feet but I am deceived if this have ever a Legge for first the Cup of Poyson is in its own nature deadly and will certainly kill but the Sacrament is good in it self and of its proper nature and evil onely by accident and not onely its possible but probable it may do more good than hurt Secondly There lyes no obligation upon any to deliver nor any necessity upon any to take the poysoned Cup but I hope it is made evident that it is a duty incumbent on the Pastor to exhibit and on the People to partake of the Sacrament Thirdly some would think it relisheth of some venome In Johan tract 28. to compare that to a Cup of Poyson which the Apostle calls the Cup of Blessing St. Augustine was of another mind Securus accede panis est non venenum and he tells us that when amongst the Christians about Carthage De peccator merit remis tom 7. p. 137. the common appellation of the Sacrament of the Body of our Lord was life what other did they hold but what was said I am the Bread of Life That which is given is not mortiferous in respect of the Giver or the gift but through the wickeness of the Receiver for as we are taught in Philosophy Quicquid recipitur In Psal 142. tom 8. p. 342. de Baptism contra Donatist tom 7. p. 89. recipitur ad modum recipientis it is not evil which is given saith Augustine but that which is good is in judgment given to an evil man that which is good cannot be well for him that evilly receiveth and in another place Judas gave a place to the Devil in himself not
and the failer be onely in the manner of doing it the rule holds not for to crop one Ear of a whole Harvest and instance in one of many cases how else could a Christian Prince with a safe Conscience for confirmation of a League take an Oath from an Heathen by his false Gods and not rather hinder such Idolatry but that the Sacraments are respectively necessary necessitate praecepti is denyed by none and granted by most to be so necessitate medii ordinarii Now lastly concerning those that should receive whom we know to have the greatest interest in the lucrum cessans while the Sacrament ought to be exhibited to them and is not and whom they suppose to have no less share in the Damnum emergens when the Sacrament is administred to them and ought not I shall say that as it was spoken of Adrian The multitude of Physicians had killed the Emperour so let some men consider whether or no while they fear accidentally to lose or hazard those soules they doe not more endanger them and their own soules too by with-holding from them the Sacramenr which is Gods Ordinance and therefore the likelyest means conducing to their salvation It is a cruel fault to deny corporal bread to the hungry a greater to with-hold the food of the soul and that of Gregory is here applyable He kills that doth-not feed Christ chose to converse with sinners that he might win them off from sinne unto himself and the servants of the King gathered together to the Marriage-feast good and bad the separation was made by the King at his coming not by his servants Matth. 22.10 And who can gain-say but that as Christ by breaking of bread was made known to his Disciples at Emaus whose eyes were formerly holden that they could not know him so the frequent receiving of the Sacrament may better fit and dispose them for receiving and bring them to a clearer sight and more special application of Christ unto salvation There is scarce any but takes some little reverence of the mysteries improves or renewes some notions of the redemption of mankinde by the death of Christ carryes away some small impressions of good things at least for the present some dispositions though not habits and how those weak seeds may be quickned and ripened by frequent communicating can be onely known to God but we may charitably hope for multiplyed acts beget and perfect habits and in this respect there is a similitude between habits infused and acquisite though the acquist of the former have a special assistance and inspiration of Gods gracious Spirit Use makes prompt and Physicians tell us that when Appetite is dull and digestion weak yet both may be increased by moderate refection whereas to exclude any from the Sacrament because he is not so well prepared as he ought is to deny a man a medicine because he is sick for which cause he chiefly needs it Defects in the manner and form will not discharge or supersede any from the matter of duties else they might plead excuse for the intermission of prayer or excluding others from it because they cannot pray without distractions and other indispositions and from hearing because of defects in the attention of mind or devotion in the affections he that performs the matter and communicates though with a failer in the manner so it be without malice or presumption doth some part of his duty and sheweth some though but an outward regard and conformity to Gods Ordinance and so I should think were a lesse sinner than he that altogether despiseth or neglects it Est aliquid prodire tenus the one is malum per se the other onely per accidens that which is not done with a perfect heart may yet be good in the sight of the Lord as it was said of Amazias 2 Chron. 25.2 it may be bonum though not bene and it may be impetratory of some reward though not of one eternal And though Hypocrates have an Aphorisme that Corpora impura quo magìs nutris eo magìs laedis yet that cannot justifie any to defraud another of his wholesome meat lest it turn into crudities and cacochymick humours though perchance Physitians may think fit to abate it sometime toward those that are notoriously sick and sensibly lapsed into a Dyscrasy One chief end of the Institution of the Eucharist was to shew forth the Lords death And the recordation thereof and external acknowledgment of Christ to be the Redeemer of the World by his death being made by a greater number though not all so well disposed or inwardly qualified as they ought may yet somewhat conduce to Gods glory and the end of the Institution It was matter of rejoycing unto St. Paul that Christ was preached though out of envy and strife and contention not sincerely An outward formal humiliation in Ahab was so farre accepted by God as to mittigate his punishment and the externall performance of the command by Jehu though upon sinister ends and with culpable affections procured a temporal reward He that is not against us by being scandalous is on our part Mark 9.40 and therefore should be a partaker with us and it s our part to cherish and encourage him in hope to bring him neerer rather than by a discountenance and discouragement to hazard the driving of him farther off The perfection of the best is an imperfect perfection the best part thereof consists in the sight of their imperfection saith Bernard and the greatest peece of our righteousness is an agnition in truth and a confession in humility of our unrighteousness and Gods commands are then only reputed to be done when that which is not done is forgiven saith Augustine If the denomination be taken from the major part our firmest beleeving is rather unbeleefe than faith as he that said in the Gospel I beleeve Lord yet prayed help not my faith but my unbeleef He that hath the best preparation and dispositions of Spirit for an approach to these holy mysteries must yet fly to Christ Jesus to have the blemishes thereof covered with his righteousness and the defects thereof to be supplyed by his fulness and he that owns the meanest and the weakest if in any degree sincere may by the same means obtain an elevation and acceptance thereof for it is onely Christ his stamp and not our metal that can make it pass current and the garments of our Elder Brother alone that can make us capable of the blessing As therefore the ancient Church for several Centuries though upon erroneous principles gave the Eucharist to Infants in years so the Church ever did and upon such considerations may still without errour exhibit it to Babes in Christ and such we are charitably to suppose the weakest to be that profess his Name and by the great transgression and abominable iniquity doe not evidently belye their profession We have been cautioned by the admonition of Marlorat and Spanheym that to desert or separate
to a certain determinate weight lest perchance upon tender of a great sum it may be rejected as it once was by the Conquerour for the want of a Groat in their account They can yeild no reason why men not scandalous nor ignorant should be kept off Resp. The more inexcusable are they to act that for which they can alleage no reason for elsewhere they say it is an odious surmise that they think all to be scandalous or ignorant whom they admit not If their minde be to admit all that come not under those qualifications I should think them rather unqualifications why contract they that resemblance with Medea Video meliora probóque Deteriora sequor And seek a similitude with the Papists of whom a judicious man observes Sand's Europae specul p. 3. That their Religion is not so corrupt in the Doctrine as in the Schools they deliver it and publish it in their writings where manifold opposition holds them in aw and hath caused them to refine it as it is in the practice and in their usage among themselves so that sundry whom the reading of their Books have allured the view of their Churches hath averted from their party But whereas they would salve or palliate the matter by saying Their minde is to admit all that are not some way scandalous I fear this will onely ampliare odia restringere favores and rather retrench and straighten the way of admission than enlarge it by leaving no access but at their will and pleasure for whosâ—ever shall cross their way in any one step may be perchance accounted some way scandalous for their way is some way and let wiser men consider while me solicitum timor anxius urget if this be not a likely way to turn Bookland into Folkland and our Charters into a Tenancy at will and to say their minde is to admit all that are not some way scandalous will be virtually and in the last result their minde is to admit whom they have a minde to admit for they will easily finde a staff to beat away those whom they shall say are Dogs from the holy things since even he that takes the right way Aug. de civit Dei l. 19. c. 27. yet often stumbles therein and therefore Justitia nostra quamvis vera sit propter veri boni finem ad quem resertur tamen tanta est in hac vitâ ut potiùs peccatorum remissione constet quà m perfect one virtutum and then in every sin there is somewhat of scandal as that signifies a snare to catch or an obstacle to detain or stop or a stone or block at which men may stumble and fall and whereby in general in this life as in the way wherein we walk toward blessedness there may be an occasion to another of spiritual ruine by tempting him to imitate evil as a learned man observes that in stead of scandal the Ethiopick Translator of the New Testament useth a word signifying Temptation Lud. De Dieu Ames Medul Theol. l. 2. c. 16. sect 49. p. 316. or impeding or retarding them in doing good or diverting them from the Gospel In omni opere malo quod aliis innotescit scandali ratio inest saith Ames and however the Schools resolve that Scandalum activum non possit inveniri in viris perfectis yet besides that we have here onely an imperfect perfection consisting most as St. Augustine determines in an acknowledgment of and craving pardon for imperfections the Scholars do interpret this of their Master to be understood Aquin. 2.2 q. 43. art 6. Valent. 2.2 disp 3. q. 18. punct 4. p. 747. Sylv. 2.2 q. 43. art 5. 6. Filiucius tr 28 c. 10. sect 239. p. 174. aliÃque c. Non nisi ordinariè utplurimùm verum est quod asserit D. Thomas Regulariter ex majore parte saith Sylvius out of Bannes and others and so also do the Casuists determine and though perchance as one saith Infirmitates omnium piorum communes quando ipsis non indulgetur non babent aptitudinem in sese ad alios inducendos in peccatum and others ex iis rationabiliter non potest sumi occasio peccandi yet though in themselves or rationally they are not apt to do it yet accidentally in some they may occasion it and men may be censured or suspected to indulge those infirmities which he that knows their hearts which we cannot may know they reluct against and so may still be somewhat scandalous I should therefore rather adventure to say that onely by great scandals not repented and obstinately persisted in after admonition should the right of admission to the Sacrament be forfeited the father of mercies whose imitation is our perfection doth not withdraw for every sin nor separate from the soul for many corruptions as some sins are allowed by Divines not to be mortal not in the Popish sense but because ex genere in respect of the matter not being repugnant to the main Offices prescribed by the Commandments of God Field of the Church l. 3. c. 9. p. 277 278. or ex imperfectione actus not being committed with full consent to the quenching of the gracefull operations of Faith Hope and Charity toward their main object and which are reconcileable with true Repentance and the sincere estate of Regeneration and such are remissible or venial Negativè per non abiationem principii remissionis so correspondently some scandals may be so tolerable as not to exclude from the seal of the Covenant of Grace by not meriting an ablation of the Root and Principle of Admission viz. Church-membership If they could know men to be formal that is dead and hypocritical though they were not scandalous they should be kept off But Disputent non jubeant Disco non pareo I had rather think that unless before they admit they will take an examination of Gods Book of Life aswell as of mens lives and get a certainty as these are not at present real and sincere Professors so they never can be they have no warrant for this for because men are not yet converted to forbid them the Sacrament which may be an adjumental means of their conversion is as if any should have been denied to look upon the Brasen Serpent because they were not cured of the stinging of the fiery Serpent As Beza said of one that upbraided his former faults This man envies me the grace of Jesus Christ which now he had so this were to envy them that grace which by this means they might have De occultis non judicat Ecclesia We had rather walk in the footsteps of our Saviour than in that track which they would score out he knew Judas to be a formal and false Professor and yet did not repell him and themselves confess there was no visible cause for his exclusion because he was not convicted of any notorious crime or scandal and Christ they say therein dealt as man and therefore no
oracula vel certissima exempla quibus demonstratum praenunciatum est malos in Ecclesia perm xtos bonis usque in finem saeculi tempúsque judicii futuros nihil bonis in unitate ac participatione Sacramentorum qui eorum factis non consenserint obfuturos A Testimony which like Thunder and Lightning might cast down the very Foundations of those Babels of Gathered Churches which some have built to get them a name such and such a mans Church and lest they be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole Earth among such as they suppose less pure and which the confusion of Languages that is among them may in time make them to desist from farther advancing Fifthly the Sacrament in this notion of pollution is not polluted by the Minister and his admission but by him to whom it is administred by his accession neither to him that communicates worthily but to him that unworthily participates And for him that so partakes to abstain is as dangerous as it is perilous to come as for him that cannot plead his interest in Christ to eat or not to eat common food is a perplexity on either side mischievous for if he eat he is an usurper of the Creature if he eat not a murderer of himself so not onely by the censure of the Canons the abstainer from the Sacrament is among such Qui sibi praescribunt poenam declinant remedium Decret part 2. caus 33. dist 1. c. 56. and is as if he that is dangerously sick forgetting the incumbency to use the means to preserve life and possibility that the Medicine may work effectually should desert that Physick whereof the operation is doubtfull lest if he do not purge or alleviate the humours it irritate them and make them more malignant and the Disease more mortal but also in the judgment of Chrysostome is in the certain way to destruction for Quemadmodum frigida accessio periculosa est ità nulla mysticae illius coenae participatio pestis est interitus and is as if a man did fly from a Lion and a Bear met him or went into the house and leaned upon the wall and a Serpent bit him and as it is reported of one of Antigonus his Souldiers that he became more adventurous and undaunted to think that if he fell not by the Sword to an Enemy he must how ere perish by the mortal Disease he had within him so the polluted conscience which he still bears about him will condemn him though he forbear to pollute the Sacrament and as Bias asmuch check'd with true Philosophy to cast his riches into the Sea as he could have done in taking the fruition of them and Ahaz sinned as much through infidelity in refusing a sign as the adulterous generation did in seeking it so the Sacrament is asmuch polluted that is contemned or vilified by the want of a precious esteem thereof and an holy care to dispose and fit our selves to the participation thereof though we do not partake it as it is by a presumptuous and unworthy receiving thereof and as he that offends being drunk merited a double punishment by Pittacus his Law one for his offence another for drunkenness so he contracts a double guilt that neither comes nor is qualified to come to the Sacrament whereas he that performs the matter doth some part of his duty though he do not the whole by discharging it in due form and manner and an impotency to perform a duty as he ought doth not cancel the Obligation to do it he doth well that comes but he doth evil that comes unworthy thou believest there is one God thou dost well saith the Apostle James 2.19 yet he did no more than the Devils did and sinned in believing no otherwise than they did yet did well in believing so much Secondly he that exhibites profanes not that which he applies to that use whereunto it was ordained and doth the work of his calling in administring and performs an act of justice in rendring to every one his own right But first the Sacraments by their Ordination are to be used by all that profess the faith of Christ being Testes professionis Christiana as Chamier As Pompey said Necesse est ut eam non ut vivam so it is necessary they go to the Sacrament whether they can come worthily or not though the due manner of coming be also of as great necessity as is their going And secondly they have a right to partake of them that are members of the Church of Christ Membra Ecclesiae praesumptiva as the School and Ecclesia conjecturalis as Cusanus speaks the Sacraments being a note of the true Church and receiving an act of Communion with the true Church Unum corpus sumus qui de uno pane participamus and by the Rule of Contraries Qui de uno pane non participamus non sumus unum corpus as Albaspinus argueth the Sacrament being Signum unitatis Vinculum charitatis as Augustine affirmeth and as a visible being in covenant or professing true Religion explicitely or implicitely makes a visible member Baxte◠Inf. Bap. p. 243. and sincerity in the covenant makes a member of the invisible Church so Church-membership is a sufficient evidence to the aged of their interest in the Lords Supper till they blot that Evidence saith a godly learned man Tom. 4. l. 7. c. 19. sect 17. p. 196. and as Augustine affirmeth Simul bibimus quia simul vivimus so they that live together in the Church with us and are not judicially cast our have a right to eat with us of the Sacrament and therefore the famous Chamier disputing against private Masses and answering the Objection That the People are not worthy to partake saith Scelus hominis Cur indignos Sacramento dicis quos indignos negas pace Ecclesiae Itanè tibi videntur qui censeantur in corpore Christi ut indignos pronuncies qui vescantur Christo at Chrysostomus negabat dignos esse qui vel precibus interessent and having then till they be judicially separated a right thereunto in foro exteriori to suspend them from the fruition thereof till they evidence their title in foro interiori is as if because in foro coeli nothing is ours in property but as we feel our claim in Christ nor in use but as it is sanctified by the Word of God and Prayer therefore they should sequester a man from his legal rights untill he verifie his title by faith in Christ Jesus and permit none to be a civil Owner till he approve himself no spiritual Usurper which were to dash on that Heresie which is falsly imputed to Wickliff That all Dominion is founded in grace And thirdly the exhibiting the Sacrament is a part of the work of the Ministery who are to take all to be with Christ that are not notoriously against him and who are the Servants to set forth the Feast before those many that are called the
that Worship without concurring in any sinne save that which they suppose is contracted only by a Communion with such men though not in evil but rather in that which in it self is good and formally as it is a Communion onely with those that are evil That to separate on this account was both the root and pith of the Schisme of the Donatists who did not own any separation from the Catholique Church but impropriated that Church to themselves and held Communion with many Churches of their Model but separated from others and therefore might have put in the same Plea with this but seeing those Churches from which the Apologists separate are Members of the Catholique Church as till they be cut off juridicè aut jure they are so and in this consideration § 9 Eadem est ratio partium totius and all Members are conjoyned to the Body See more of this therefore if they separate from any such particular members they divide from the body of the Catholique Church as I have before proved by the authority of Junius § 24 that it is schismatical so to be torn off ab hac illáve Ecclesia i.e. membro particularis corporis ex infirmitate particulari Next that they remove the antient Land-mark of that distinction between the Church of the Called and that of the Elect may be discerned by any that passeth by their way There are many externally called who are onely relative and notional Saints Saints in the judgment of Charity because they have given their names to Christ entred into an outward Covenant with God and doe make profession of their Faith but such as are effectually called and are united to Christ in virtue as well as profession and in whom the Spirit of Christ is operative by influence of grace and salvation such onely are Elect Saints real Saints in verity Now if they will admit none to an entire Church-fellowship which is not as was said without Communion of Sacraments others that communicate not being not owned by themselves to be of the Church save such as give demonstrative signes that they are elected doe they not quantum ad hominem though it be impossible quoad rem contract the Church of the Called and make it no more extensive than that of the Elect and turn those many that are called into a few that are chosen sure I think this cannot but be visible to any unless to one Cui lumen ademptum And by this meanes also there may be multi hirci intus multae oves foras Hom. Deonibus tom 9. p. 224. Since as Augustine meekly scit praedestinatione praescientiâ oves hircos ille solus qui praedestinare potuit qui praescire si autem multas oves foras errare plangimus vae quorum humeris lateribus cornibus factum est non enim haec facerent nisi fortes oves quae sunt fortes de suis viribus praesumentes quae sunt fortes de sua justitia gloriantes humeris audaces ad impellendum quia non portant sacrinam Dei latera mala conspirantes amici societas pertinaciae cornua erecta elata superbia mitte foras quod non emisti certe ipsa tota causa est quia tu justus alii injusti indignum erat ut justus esset cum injustis indignum scilicet ut frumenta essent inter zizania indignum ut oves inter hircos pascerentur donec Pastor veniret qui in separando non errat ita tu angelus eradicans zizania non te agnoscerem angelum zizania eradicantem nec si jam messis venisset ante messem non tu sed quisquis fuerit non est verus qui designavit messem designavit tempus angeli tibi nomen potes impoere tempus messis non potes breviare ita falsum dicis qui sis quia nondum venit quando sis noli velle zizania eradicare quando tempus non est sed tu ipse intrò redi cum tempus est cornua sunt ista ventilantis non mansuetudo pascentis non expectas finem nesciens quando tibi sit finis unde hoc nisi quia ipsos tanquam hircos accusasti falsò accusasti nam si verè accusasses non te separasses tua separatio illorum est purgatio Lastly for the state of the Church Exponere similitudinem istam ne conati quidem sunt illam similitudinem omnino attingere nolucrant Brevic. collat cum Donatist tom 7. p. 117. Cont. Donat. post collat c. 7. p. 122. tom 7. which is a floor where chaff is heap'd with Wheat a Field where Tares grow intermix'd with Wheat a Net where bad Fish is involved with good c. most of those similitudes Quibus Dominus suorum servorum tolerantiam confirmavit as Augustine they like the Donatists of old whose Copy it seems they have chosen to write after will take no notice of as any way concerning them but I doubt it is onely nihil ad nos because supra nos and they doe not answer it because they cannot durum sed levius fit patientiâ quicquid corrigere est nesas for seeing Ecclesiasticall Communion is described by a Society in the Sacraments and therein principally is constituted and if there shall be a commixtion of evil men with good not onely in the Congregation but also in Una Congregatione paria Sacramenta tractantes as was even now alleaged out of Augustine and not onely in the Word but as idem verbum Dei simul audiunt so also simul Dei sacramenta percipiunt then whatever they suggest to the contrary thus much is gained hereby which will be on their part the loss of the question First that none ought to be so offended with the grossness of their Administrations at home where no separation is made as thereupon to remove S. 9 or desert to have a Communion of Sacraments with such Congregations August de verb. Dom. in Evang. Matth. Serm. 18. tom 10. p. 18. and separating from them to gather themselves into another Church which yet they confess to be the case of divers of them the Corn lay fast in the same Floor with the Chaff and that onely was volatile Non vos seducant perversi paleae nimis leves avolant ante adventum ventilatoris ex area and therefore he directeth elsewhere ex eo ubies disce quid es and consequently adviseth nemo ante tempus ventilationis deserat aream In Psal 25. tom 8. p. 26. Brevicul collat cum Donat. 3. die tom 7. p. 117. Cont. Donat. post collat c. 6. tom 7. p. 122. In Psal 149. tom 8. p. 360. quasi dum non vult pati peccatores nè praeter aream inventus priùs ab avibus colligatur quà m ingrediatur in horreum the good Fishes break not the Net to get out from the bad Commixtos bonis malos intra retia suorum sacramentorum And this commixture will continue while we are
those Tares to be Emblems of wicked and scandalous men Ad zizania reseruntur omnia scandala saith Hierom scandala tum doctrinae tum vitae as Piscator agreeing in sense with Beza the children of the wicked one that is Hereticks Schismaticks Hypocrites wicked and profane men living in the Church as the late Annotations out of Theophylact Euthymius Augustine when beyond all those we have better testimony from the Word and Truth Christ himselfe interpreting this parable who expoundeth the Tares to be the children of the wicked one and them which doe iniquity which is too comprehensive to be restrained onely to hypocrites and seeing that which the Angell-reapers shall gather at the last great harvest is the same that the servants discerned to be tares and would precipitously have pluckt up that being expressly said to be scandals in the originall and the same word is retained by the vulgar and Tremelius and Offendicula whereby others render it is the same in sense though not in sound those Tares must be concluded to be scandals and though they come near Christians bearing the name and owning the profession and therein indeed like believers yet they may be distinguished from sincere Christians otherwise they could not be scandals and though they may be denominated hypocrites in a large and generall notion because their actions give the lye unto their profession In Ecclesia Christi ficte intrantes promittentes non facientes voventes non reddentes renunciantes malo iterum idem facientes as Augustine yet the falsity of that profession and the difference thereof from their actions was as discernable as the Tares from the Wheat But it seemes the Apologists will allow none to be in the Church save such onely who appeare to be godly and will cast out all whom they dscern not to be sincere he that had imbibed the Philosophy of Pythagoras would suspect the souls of the Donatists had made a transmigration into their bodies for had they with Aethalides been dispenc'd with for drinking of Lethe they might have said with Pythageras remembring when he was first Aethalides and after Euphorbus Cognovi clypeum lâ—vae gestamina nostrae and have owned the Shield of this answer for the same with that of the Donatists Contra Donat. post Collat. c. 8 p. 123. tom 7. or very like it who being prest by the Catholicks with arguments drawn from those similitudes chose to answer to that of the net gathering of every kind malos in Ecclesia usque in finem seculi permixtos esse confessi sunt sed occultos cos esse dixerunt quoniam sic à sacerdotibus ignorantur quemadmodum pisces intra retia cum adhuc in mari sunt à piscatoribus non videntur to whom Augustine the then speaker of the Lords house his Church replies C. 10. Propterea ergo arcae comparata ost ut etiam manifesti malicum bonis in ea pronunciarentur futuri neque enim palea quae in area est permixta frumentis etiam ipsa sub fluctibus latet quae sic omnium oculis est conspicua ut potiùs occulta sint in ea frumenta cum sit ipsa manifesta As also in that Conference where were 306 orthodox Bishops Brevical Col. lat 3. die tom 7 p. 118. Quamvis debeat vigilare Ecclesiastica disciplina ad eos non solum verbis sed etiam excommunicationibus degradationibus corripiendos Contr. Donat. post Collat. c. 10. and no fewer than 296 of the Donatists it was asserted that iâ— was not destructive to discipline nor incompatible with the watchfulnesse therof for correption of evill men not onely by words but also by excommunications although mali non solum in ea latentes nesciantur sed plerunque propter pacem unitatis etia neogniti toleremur and therefore this glosse being in the judgment of the ancient Church so corruptive of the text Augustine tells them Quanto melius seipsos corrigant quam Euangelia sancta pervertunt ad vanum suae mentis errorem eloquia dominica detorquere conantur Though the beauty of holiness which like the Sun gilds those that look toward him though with squint eyes may give some specious advantages to those Declamations which are made against mixt communions as spots to that beauty yet this is rather paint or colour laid on than any true beauty and as they say the use of the artificiall fucus despoils the native candor so reall spots are contracted by those assayes to cleanse the imaginary and by those separations to make the Church more pure it becomes nimio candore deformis propter venustatem invenusta and the face of the Church more blemished by being made not onely lean and hollow and withered but also defective in many integrall parts and were they all onely parts superfluous yet is there more peril in their removall than their remaining as Chirurgions tell us that sometimes the cutting off of a Mole as an alloy to beauty hath occasioned the cutting off of life It is a grave censure given by Calvin that Augustinus redivious cum sub studio perfectionis imperfectionem nullâ—m tolerare possumus in corpore aut in membris Ecclesiae tunc diabolum nos tumefacere superbia hypocrisi seducere moneamur What was the judgement of the ancient Church in this case of mixt communion may be seen by the verdict of Augustine who in the Controversies with the Donatists as well as in the contests with the Pelagians was the Foreman to say for them and that judgment as it was never reverst in after Ages by any Writ of Error so it is as direct to our issue as can be conceived for we have heard expressly that evill men are to be permixt with good in the Church till the great day of judgement and in one congregation in una Congregatione and not onely in hearing the same word of God idem verbum Dei simul audiunt but also communione sacramentorum they receive the same sacraments paria sacramenta tractantes simul Dei sacramenta percipiunt not onely participating of the one Sacrament of Baptisme but also of the other of the Supper of the Lord De verb. apost serm 23. tom 7. p. 76. Cont. Donat. post coll c. 20 p. 125. tom 7 quid si communicares cum illo malo mensam Domini and omnes ad unum altare accedebant and they did eat panem Domini and drink calicem Domini and those evil men are not latent or undetected hypocrites but known to be evill etiam cogniti and manifest evil manifesti mali and this is as full and as express as can be wished or imagined so that as the Fathers in a Councill against the Pelagians formed their Canons out of the very words of Augustine so we in this controversie need say no more than he hath said before us for us and as he that to avoyd the shot of an enemy took up his son in his
us look onely on this parable through their spectacles and would like Praxiteles break our glasses because they shew forth their deformity but weak eyes may without any spectacles discern that the scope of the parable which is confessedly argumentative Maldonat is the same with that which our discourse aims at some Interpreters tell us that the same thing is signified by this parable which was set forth by those of the tares and the net the scope whereof we have we think evinced is to manifest that evil men will be and may be permixt in the Church with good Ubisupra in the communion of Sacraments or permixt as Augustine convivio dominico ante domini judicium by which Feast that he especially understands the Feast of the Lords Supper appears by what immediately follows A quibus se boni interim corde moribus se separant simul manducantes bibentes corpus sanguinem domini And from the servants gathering here good and bad Gregory collecteth the same Corollary which Augustine extracteth from the other parables in hac Ecclesia nec mali sine bonis nee boni fine malis esse possunt bonus autem non fuit qui males tolerare recusavit and as in the parable of the tares the zeal of the servants was expresly controuled Jansenius that would root up and cast them out so here their charity is tacitely approved that brought in the bad Others find a special aime that this parable hath in some parts thereof viz. admoneri fideles ne satis sibi esse putent quod credant baptismate abluti sunt atque intra Ecclesiam recepti iisdem participent sacramentis eodemque nutriantur doctrinae pabulo sed opus esse ut vivant vitam sua vocatione dignam and then it were frustrate to admonish them not to confide in perception of the Sacraments unless they were admitted to partake of them But whereas they are jealous that if the utmost be made of each branch of the parable to advance sacramental liberty not onely admitting but even constraining of the worst might be inferred which every one might see to be a sandy foundation We take not our timber for building from the branches but the stock or stem which is the scope and we suppose the sand is in their eyes not in our foundation as sometimes that is insite in the organ which seems inherent in the object we think it will stand firm and unshaken if we say that the worst of those that onely have no wedding-garment may not onely be admitted but constrained to come constrained by the power of the word and force of perswasion as the Shunamite constrained Elias to eat bread 2 Kings 4 8 and Lydia constrained Paul Acts 16 15. Alexand. ab Alex. Dier gen l. 5. c. 21. and as Hercules Gallicus constrained men to follow him by chains issuing from his mouth and hitcht in their ears for their coming may be a means to obtain a wedding garment as the master of the wedding often conferred vestments on his Guests that were invited Annot in Mat. 22.10 and he that hath but a common or dead faith may be often eating at this Feast improue it to the growth and strength of a speciall and lively faith They are not invited because good but are made good upon his invitation and it was not his coming without the garment that occasioned his condemnation but his continuing devested after he was come Vocari omnes sine discrimine ad nuptias jubet mali simul cum bonis veniunt vecato quidem bonos efficere debet Hilarius apud Quistor pium annot in Mat. 22.14 none brings his robes with him but they onely are cast out which will not put them on when the Master of the feast holds them out to them The Apologists if they would rub their eyes from this sand might see that we put a difference between having no wedding garment and having a foul nasty garment We approve the casting out of those few that are notoriously and obstinately wicked but not the keeping out all that are not manifestly gracious For the honor of the Church the reformation of offenders and admonition of others they have power to throw out the scandalous but have no warrant to gather Churches of those onely which they shall upon tryall find good the servaâ—â—s gathered good and bad they may cast out those that have garments abominably defiled not take in none but such as they have tryed to have them accuratly neat and shining they are judges to take cognizance of the apparent stains and spots not search to make inspection into the substance of the Cloathes much lesse of the linings least of all to reject them because they are not of their fashion The servants in all probability could not be so blind or incurious as not to observe before the King came that the man had no nuptiall veste Vbi supra but saith Augustine Non illi qui invitaverunt where by the way take notice that he was brought in by invitation sed ipse Dominus cujus erat convivium ligari jussit projici and among modern Commentators he is not onely è grege sed egregius that hath given us this observation Hic qui regis oculis displiâ—uit satis placuit reliquis convivis à quibus ejectus prius suisset si perturbatorem se molestum exibuisset Jansenius quemadmodum Ecclesia ejiâ—ic ante diem judicii manifeste criminosos aut Ecclesiae pacis perturbatores reliquos peccatores occultos aut non ita scandalosos relinquens divino judicio and from him Diodate runs no great discord and with both is Piscator symphonous for whereas it is said that the servants gathered good and bad that is saith he indifferently worthy and unworthy as well in regard of their condition base or honorable as in regard of their goodnesse or badnesse to signifie that in the Assembly of those that are called which is the externall Church many hypocrites and wicked men are gathered together with the good and true believers They conceive that the Gospel way of inviting all sensible sinners to be fure of the sense of which expression we my say as Cajetan in another case non ingenio sed divinatione opus esse suits the parable well but no sacramentall liberty can be there inferred the unsealed may be called or invited but the uncalled may not be sealed Whether the administration of the Sacraments be not one track of the Gospel-way and those that are sensible of their sins and would take that way as well for the obtaining of faith as the strengthening thereof and remission of those sins by faith may not have that way free and set open for them to goe in he whose own reason doth not apprehend and dictate may perpend whether what we have formerly offered for proof thereof doe not look like reason as none else will think the objection
how incompetent those Elders are ad hic nunc to be set up as Judges being of such parts and education I need not say who as little dare to undertake as they are unable to act any thing without the infusions and conduct of their Pastor and though I will not say as the Italians do of the Cardinals in the conclave in relation to the sense of the Pope That they do assentari non assentire yet others cannot but observe that the Elders of those Churches which be spoken without any odious extension to all of that Notion are but Cyphers serving onely to add the more of number and like Mercury in conjunction with the Sun lost in the light and having no influence but what is derived from him and as in the Consulship of Julius Caesar and Bibulus because the one carried all the sway and honour from the other they dated writings Julius and Caesar being Consuls no mention being made of Bibulus so notwithstanding the conjunction of the Elders the Ministers are virtually and in effect sole in the action and act arbitrarily too for any rule or Canon that ever I could take notice of to regulate their proceeding but in whomsoever the power be vested yet nec unquam satis fida potentia est ubi nimia est and whatsoever the men may be that exercise it yet Vespasianus moderatus sed imperator non libertas Lastly Whether this be not more than half way towards the Independents and symbolize not with the Congregational way for what subâ—â—antial difference is there between their gathering a Church and this collecting together of Communicants some out of one place some out of another What material disparity is there between this admitting none without profession made and satisfaction rendred of their sufficiency both in faith and manners and then entring into fellowship and the Independent Covenant As their way of gathering is the same so their way of governing the Church is very like the Independents admit any to the hearing of the Word not to the Communion of of the Body and Blood of Christ so do these they have further conformity in admitting and countenancing their gifted brethren to pray publickly and though not in their publick places of convention nor in the formality of preaching Bayly diswas c. p. 174. yet to teach in their private Assemblies and Meeting-houses according to the medious way excogitated by some Independents to reconcile the different opinions among themselves upon that matter and it is said that not the Elders onely but the whole Congregation doth occasionally make judgment Are not both they and the Independents equally guilty of an Allotrioepiscopacy of removing the ancient Land-marks and confounding of Churches and limits and taking in such of whose souls they have by no law nor consonancy to good order any proper or special care and of a resemblance with the Partrich Ier 17.11 which gathereth the young which she brought not forth as was the ancient and is still the marginal reading and of that magick which Furius Cresinus among the old was slandered with of charming and bringing other mens fruits into his field contrary to holy Scripture Acts 20.28 1 Pet. 5.2 Heb. 13.17 Can. 17. not in quosdam Canones Concil Gal. p. 160. Can. 20. Can. 6. apud Magdeburg 7. apud Caranz L. 1. Epist 5. Epist 6. contrary to that rule of righteousness what you would that men should do unto you even so do unto them Matt. 7.12 contrary to the ancient Canons of the first Council of Arles Ne quis Episcopus alium Episcopum conculcet hec est involare in vicini sui diaecesim saith Albaspinus and the third Council of Carthage Vtâ—a nullo Episcopo usurpentur plebes alienae and the first Council of Carthage nequis vel clericus vellaicus sine literis Episcopi in aliena Ecclesia communicet and contrary to the judgement of Cyprian singulis pastoribus portio gregis est adscri ta quam regat unusquisque gubernet rationem sui actus Deo reddat oportet eos quibus praesumus non circum-cursitare and again sine spe sunt perditionem maximam indignatione Dei adquirant qui schismata serunt rolicto Episcopo alium sibi foras pseudo-episcopum constituunt So as they must excuse me to think that they onely take magni nominis umbram when they sometimes assume the name of Presbyterial Churches at best they can be but blended and by mixture constituted of some of the principles of the one way and the other Amphibii Zoophytes Epicaenes like the Chymicall naile in the Duke of Florence his cabinet part Iron and part Gold like the Amphisbaena that hath two heads and moves two divers wales that have a Crow for Caesar and another for Anthony or as the Angel in the Revelation that flew between heaven and earth is by a learned man interpreted to be Gregory the Great who was the last of the good Popes and the first of the bad so they may passe for the worst kind of Presbyterians though the best sort of Independents But surely as Aristotle said of the Milesians That they were not fools but yet they did the very same things that fools doe so if these be not Independents yet they have the same actions and wayes There may be and are some differences perchance in opinion and practice between the one and the other but that impedeth not but that they may passe under one notion and denomination The Churches of France and Spain are in many points Antipodes each to other Azorius will tell us that what is the common opinion in the one kingdome is not so in the other as concerning the immaculate conception of the virgin Mary and the worshipping the Cross with Latria c. yet both are Papists and so are all they among whom Bellarmine himself by the account of Pappus reckons up above three hundred different opinions and perhaps we might find far more among those who properly and professedly passe for Independents and so many perchance as are not to be reduced to a fixt certain number except by a second Clavius who hath in one sum set down the number of the sands that would fill up all the concave space between the Earth and the eighth Spheare or peradventure so many as there are Indulgences in that one Church of Lateran which a Papist saith none but God can number and he Indeed at his great day of account will be sure to number both the one and the other And as these mens ARguments are most of them Arrows taken out of Independent Quivers and sharpned on their Anvils so let assay be made by some skilfuller hand more versed in these controversies whether the forces mustred against separation fight not most of them against this new modell which I know nor how to blanch or palliate with any other name than a Separation a separation of themselves as the purer part from the dregges of the
Euangelii deterreant as Piscator Ad conversationem vobis adjungite habete ut fratrem neque repellite tanquam aâ—ienum in Christo tolerandus est ne forte resiliat ah incapto as Estius Affectu cbaritatis vobis conjungite ad supportandum as Aquinas and therefore none may judicandae fratern â—conscientiae licentiam ad se trahere as Calvin de se potius quam do aliis solicitos esse oporteat as Paraeus the reason being rendred quod potestas julicandi de aliorum conscientiis propria sit Christi quod unusquisque illi ratiouem de scipso redditurus sâ—t as Piscator And then we assume that for them as if there were no other way to rectifie their Assemblies than as Candiot corrected Ficinus his translation of Plato with one common spung to put from the Communion whole Congregations which is not to improve the health or growth of the Church but to reduce it to an atrophy and consumpâ—ion by such continual violent purgings and tâ— do thus not for grosse and palpaâ—le ignorance or notorious offences and scandâ—ls but because they have not approved their knowledge or holiness to those Censors and like Procrustes to rack and draw them to the length and measure of their bed is not to support or animate but cast down and dishearten not to assure and evidence but to irritate and imbitter men not to bear with them but to bear them down or overbear them since most men carry some an logy to the leaves of the arbor tristis whereof Nieremberge tells us that being roughly handled they scarce smel but gently toucht do spire forth an excellent odour nor is this to hold or converse with them as brethren the ancient Church calling none brethren that communicated not but rather as aliâ—ns from Christ being not by the Apologists reckoned of the Church aliens because not of the faithful for the ancients named those onely fideles which did receive the Sacrament and aliens from Christ because not worthy to partake of his body and when men manifestly discover not themselves by scandals yet to reckon them unworthy of the Communion is First To judge their consciencies by determining of things occult whereof the Church never pretended to any judicatory for they have not manifested themselves by crimes that are notorious And is secondly to despise them not onely speculatively to esteem them evil 22. q. 60. art 4. in c. in 22. disp 5. q. 4. punct 5. p. 865. but practically also to deal with them as evil for qui habet malam opinionem de alio absque sufficienti causa injuriatur ei contemnit iâ—sum saith Aquinas and in dubio per malam opinionem de proximo indigne is contemnitur adds Valentia and there can be no sufficient cause nor indicia vehementia nor can their condition be otherwise than doubtful where the actions are not scandalous and if when they call them dead and bastards as here and account them Dogs and Swine for upon that score and in that notion they say elsewhere they administer not the holy things to them they shall yet deny that they despise them I think they shall despise our reason also to hope to make us believe so and they have as much reason to say this is not contempt as the Glosse in Gratian hath to deny any may be called a Whore till she have been culpable with 23000 men But whereas they insinuate that the 4 verse of the 15 Psalm will warrant and bear them out to contemn vile persons I shall say if they are not scandalous for notorious crimes they are not vile and if they be not vile they are not to be contemned Junius and Piscator tell us that according to the Hebrew it should be translated contemptus est spreius and they render â—â—reprobus as the vulgar doth malignus In locum and to contemn is not to flatter as Junius or voluntarily to honour vice and impiety for flattery or any worldly respects as Diodate to cover or excuse their vices by filthy adulation Quantumvis opibus potentia gloria florentes non veretur peccantes redarguere impedireubires occasio postulat Tirinus in locum and seek friendship and have commerce with the impious and slaves of Satan as Molle and it would seem prodigious if it should more check with this duty to admit into Communion those that are not notoriously flagitiâ—us then to reject them shall clash with that property in the former verse that taketh not up a reproach against his neighbour dictis aut factis as Junius non admisit ad aures suas vituperationes detractiones susurra iones calumnias contraproximum saith Bellarmine Omnem proximi contumeliam injuriam avertere conatus est as Ianseuius And we think we may therefore take up for a conclusion that Epiphonema of Paraeus upon this text stolidus fanaticorum error improbatur qui Ecclesiam veram non putant subsistere nisi ubi emnes sunt pariter firmi fide pariter sancti in vita nulla Zizania cum tritico in agro domini pullulare conspiciantur They say the Apostle speaks of not receiving the weak to doubtful disputations and he doth so but he doth not onely speak of that but first prescribes them to be received and afterward prohibites their reception to doubtful dispuâ—aâ—ions but as the Ganonists say that fictione Canonica Saturday and Sunday are all one so iâ— seenâ—s the Apologists would sain have receiving and not receiving to be the sâ—me they inferre therefore men are not to be called is such exercises as may be hurtful to them and we grant it of such as have a direct tendency unto and natural efficiency of hurt but not of such as may indirectly and by accident onely become hurtful for then they may not be convâ—cared to the hearing of the Word which by accident doth blind and harden and is the savour of deaâ—h unto deaâ—h In since the inhibition to receive them to doubtful disputations is bottomed on this apagogical reason lest they should be disquieted with troublesom questions as Diodate we suppose the reason to be as illative to forbid their examinations and trials whose questions do occasion and produce as much of trouble and disquiet as can ordinarily result from disputations but they unwittingly mistake or would willingly take others in a mist while they with as much solemnity as little pertinency discourse as if by weak in the faith were to be understood onely such as had a sound lively and saving faith though feeble in a remiss degree such as have a true Godly fear and some degree of graciousness whereas by the very light that naturally beams from the text and is reflected also by Interpreters it is meant of such as are not yet full in knowledge nor perswaded of Christian liberty as Diodate qui in doctrina Euangelii rudâ—or est nondum satis edoctus persuasus de libertate Christiana for here fides
fifth kind in him Quod tanto studio aliorum vitia suas virtutes enumeraverit non enim est tam ingeniosa subtelis humilitas nec aliorum vitia nec suas virtutes videt 4. Jansenius tells us it was the Pharisees fault to condemn him whose heart he knew not and in whom he might have adverted signes of penitence and amendment because he saw him enter the Temple with him and by externall gestures declaring his repentance and would not the Apologists have contracted the same guilt had they met the Publican in that place and posture And are they not still culpable of the same uncharitableness who in the former Section inveigh against those who having lately beheld a man in his sins yet if he cry guilty and say he will amend can next day believe a change in him and themselves profess to credit no conversion that is sudden Homil. de Davide Saule tom in p. 156. whereas though the Publican ad summam progressus erat malitiam yet notwithstanding simplici verbo omnem deposuit iniquitatem aâ—sqâ—e longa temporis mora saith Chrysostome and Jansenius to the glory of Gods mercy adds Quanta sit Dei benignitas qui tam brevi oratione támque parvâ poenitentiâ sâ—peratus mex pâ—niteniem in gratiam recepit They wish every Pharisee had hypocrisie written with a Sun-beam on his forchead and then many a worldling and polititian would be detected but since now fronti nulla fides there may be yet light enough to read Pharisaisme in the characters of some mens wayes and actions What is legible in mens hearts will not appeare till the Son of righteousnesse with the brightness of his coming manifest it to all the world in the interim they suspect hypocrisie visible in the hearts of most men or else what need their spectacles and perspectives of farther examinations and trials whereby to discover more then is obvious to the eye But as things written with Allom water are to be read onely when the paper is heated by the fire so the fire of trouble would give some light to forestall the beams of the Sun and we might then find some to be Pharisees Sichemites that are such onely for the advantage of the times who like the herba mimosa do send forth their blossoms but in the eye of the Sun shed them when he withdraws his light or like the Heliotrope which expands turns her self always towards the Sun closeth at his setting Perchance some that like the Eastern people worship the rising Sun would then like the Asrican Nations curse him when he scorcheth them and perhaps if by the motions of superior bodies their aspects should be changed hypocrisie would not only in some Polititians be written in Court-hand but in others in text-letters and with a running hand after the world as much as in the most When they sent forth their Sphynx they should have given us an Oedipus also I know not how to unriddle the close of this Section when they say Many like those in Esays time stand off from them as too holy By propriety of construction it should seem to be that they from whom is the standing off should be those that are thought to be too holy for holy should referre to that which went immediatly before and this seems more suitable to what followes that they yet blame them for standing off from these as Publicans but to carry analogy with those in Esay they which are too holy should be those that do stand off for those that thought themselves holier forbad the other to touch them And this I rather divine then judge to be their sense But who those are besides their brethren we have built a story higher upon the same foundations others being driven off from them as not holy enough I cannot divine by inspection into any other intralls indeed they are as much Publicanes to these as others are to them and therein is seriously considerable First the irradiations of justice Lex recta est cum quis patitur quae fecerit ipse as others are not permitted to sit with these Adenibezeks at table but to gather their meat under it so others requite them as they haue done 〈◊〉 and this was the case also of the Pharisee too for as he would not touch with the people of the earth so the Samaritan if he met the Pharisee saith Drusius cryes to him touch me not and if casually he had suffered a contact would dip himself under water for expiation And to the late Dippers the Apologists are also intangible viz. the Anabaptists as well as to perfect Independents their brethren yet they are a strange kind of brethren with whom they have no communion of Sacraments and those though not Anabaptists yet seeing they baptise none but the children of those of their own Church if others did not wash those children whom they leave in their blood when they grow up to a desire and capacity to be of their Churches they must before they admit them become Epibaptists and postbaptise though not rebaptise them Secondly as remarkable is the influence of Separtion which having broken the banks knowes no bounds Nec scit quà sit iter nec si sciat imperet illis Quoque eat aut ubi sit piceâ caligine tectus Nescit et arbitrio voluerum raptatur equorum And when there hath been a distillation by one part yet another thinks that extract to have some impurity and so resolves of a rectification as the Chymists term it and thus one separation growes out of another and such multiplied soparations of the parts are like in time to be the destruction of the whole the proceeding of all things from their principles being resembled to a Pyramis but the destruction of things obumbrated by an inverted Pyramis which by degrees lessening it self determines in a point and that in nothing Of whose making is the distance between them and others we hope we have formerly made it so cleer to every mans understanding that be it said as of him as in the Poet Arbitrium litis trajecit in omnes SECT XXI What was Diotrephes What his ambition Whether the Apologists exceed not the bounds of ministeriall power by bringing all under triall excluding and not for scandall and that so many and by common continaall practice Whether this check not with 1 Pet 5.3 Whether those they reject are scandalous themselves separated and left the Church behind them Of Ecclesiasticall power what it is and how far extensive The duty of Stewards It is Christs honour to have an universall Church 1. Their actings not commanded or warranted by Gods word 2. They act solely Of their Elders Of ruling Elders in generall not by divine right yet a prudent constitution requisite to be continued in some way The interest of the whole Church in Censures The Elders representatives of the Church Whether the ancient Church knew any such 3. They act arbitrarily Of
Church was invested with those excellent gifts and graces 1. Cor. 12.9 Rom. 12.6 which rendred them susceptible of a share in the regiment yet the feet are part iron and partly clay Mede Diatribe in locum p. 207. and the community of Christians are now too apt to be embased with the alloy of violent factions and carnall affections and so less capable of such undertakings that therefore Elders should be chosen as Representatives of the Church is a very prudentiall Institution And truly beyond that height I cannot derive their off-spring Chrysostom in 1. cpist ad Cor. c. 1. hom 3. tom 4. p. 59. for as for that Argument extracted from 1 Tim. 5.17 to prove them to be of divine right The Elders that rule well are worthy of double honor especially they that labour in the word and doctrine besides what hath been offered by the most learned Mede to enervate the force thereof it is clearly and fully defeated and profligated by that passage in Chrysostom Siquidem nuncsenioribus quidem qui inutiliores sunt hoc munus baptizandi tradimus verbum autem quod doceant senioribus hic enim labor sudor est quamobrem alibi inquit Qui bene praesunt Presbyteri duplici honore digni habeantur maxime qui laborant verbo doctrina whereby it is evident that in Chrysostomes time the Church supposed that text to imply two parts or duties of Presbyteriall offices but not two sorts of Presbyters neither did the Church know any such duplicity and there is very pregnant reasons in-laid in the context which will evince that this is spoken onely of such Elders as received stipends as an honorable maintenance from the Church which it is evident that Lay Elders now have not nor can it be â—asserted that they ever had For that doubie honor should he given them is confirmed from Scripture saying Thou shalt not muzzle the Oxe that treadeth out the corn De subsidio victûs interpretantur veteres Pamel annot in Cypr. Epist 66. sect 10. p. 196. and The labourer is worthy of his hire Both which texts are applied in Scripture to prove a maintenance due to the Ministers of the word the one so interpreted 1 Cor. 9.9 the other produced Mat. 10.10 and therefore these Elders here mentioned can be no other than such as were to have maintenance which were onely Ministers of the word Therefore neither dare I to assert that in the way of the ancient Church any plain tracks may be discerned of such Elders formally in such a small definâ—e number and in office specially designed to such undertakings and actings The characters thereof are so obscure as not legible to the best eyes without a supply from imagination That which seems to me to carry the fairest species Blondel de jure tleb c. p. 37. is what Blundel cites out of the Epistle of Purpurius to his se low Bishop Sylvanus and Albaspinus mentions the like in his history of the Donâ—tists Adhibete conclericos seniores plebis Ecclesiasticos viros inquirant diligenter quae sunt istae dissentiones but it is not evident whether these were called Ecclesiasticall persons for their office or affection having animes saccrdotales or for their experience in Church affairs wherein occcasionally they had been interessed The Elders of Israel so often assembled were not all men in office specially seposited for the occasions whereabout they were convened and wherein they engaged Rom. Antiq. l. â— c. 5. Elders denoting the principall men for age wisdome and piety power and honor as Homer useth seniores for optimates and as Romulus called his great Counclll the Senate because saith Rosinus it was composed of such Qui per aetatem maximè superent genere praecellerent and as the old Saxons in this Nation intituled some Eldermen not say the Lawes of King Edward propter aetatem sed propter sapientiam dignitatem cùm quidem adolescentes essent jurispcriti tamen super hec experti And in ancient monuments of the Church when we read of Elders for the most part it is intended of Bishops or Ministers though by misprision some places have been construed otherwise and when we find Elders distinguished from those of the Clergy very often they signifie civill Magistrates as in the Council of Carthage holden Au. Dom. 503. de conveniendis per Magistratus Seniores locorum Donatistis Episcopis c. And in another Councell there Anno 407. Maurentio reo judices dari decrevit universas cunctarum provinciarum curatores magistratus ordinis viros nec non auctores procuratores vel seniores singularinm locorum c. So An. D. 458. A Basilio praefecto principales vel seniores urbium singularium quà m reliquorum corporum compelli jussit Majorianus Augustus And such acception the word hath in many Councels where Lay men assisted and subscribed under the notion of Seniores Verbo Aldermanuas p. 28. Selden titl hâ—nor fol p. 605. which is most abundantly verefied in those Synods held in this nation in the time of the Saxons as it is every where obvious in them as they are fet forth by Sir Henrie Spelman who also tells in his Glossary that Aldermen whose appeilation was derived from Seniores did signifie principes provinciarum comites praefides senatores tribunos generali nomine so that where it is read Matth. 20.25 Principes gen ium dominantur suis the Saxon renders it Aldcrmanni dominantur as Mr. Selden likewise shews that Priâ—cipes Judae Psal 68.27 are translated Aâ—dermanni Juda as the Emperour Charles the Bald and Lewis the second are either of them in ancient monuments called Senior and from that appellation is Grand Seigneur among the Turkes and Shaughscâ—h c among the Persians originally deduced Yet neverthelesse ut jam sunt res humanae the same prudent reason which introduced is of force still to keep up the continuance of those ruling Elders and there wants not sound reason to perswade that they should be more than two to assist and concurre with the Minister that more safely so great a trust may be deposited with them and that there may be more health in the multitude of such Councellors unlesse possibly there should be some design to have them so few that the Minister might more easily have an influence upon them and with more facâ—â—iâ—y govern them or carry the more considerable weight in the counter-scale against them and if he can make one of the two to be one with him they two may be all in all Besides seeing they are Representatives of the People no man that hath not forfeited or enslaved his reason but will judge it most rational that they should be onely and freely chosen by them whom they represent without any interposition or Insinuation of the Minister Cujus nutus pro imperio est who it he do not immediately chuse the Elders yet mediately he useth to do it and
ignorant person A King may seise the lands of an idiot and issue a writ de leproso amovendo but may not hold every man out till he plead and approve his soundness of body or mind and obtain his charter of allowance thereof and though he may remove or keep out a manifest Leper he must not deal so with every one that hath some other lesse sore And though as they say it be not usual that any è grege of the Flock for knowledge be egregious in respect of the Pastor yet it is exceeding frequent that they are more knowing than to be degraded from the Temple to the School by an examination proper for tyroes and novices Ecclesiast l 1. c. 4. tom 1. p. 1939. and so be set to School again Duo instituta sâ—nt conventuum sacrorum publicorumque genera saith Junius Unum totius Congregationis cujus locum docendi causâ Templum nominabimus veteres Ecclesiam dixerunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Alterum puerorum tyronumq 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cujus locus Schola appellatur graeco vecabulo Acts 19. The ancient Church knew but these two ranks or degrees of her members so that he which was not placed among the one had his station with the other the one the Catechumens the other the Congregation of the faithful and to all the later promiscuously the Sacrament appertained as was before alleaged out of the same Author That an humble man may submit the question is not de facto what he may but de jure whether he must to one of meaner abilities to avoid exceptions theirs onely that their commands may be general rules without exceptions but to avoid just exceptions pride should rather not exalt it self than teach that it is humility to condescend and to incourage others rather to incourage them to carry on and go through with their designes when some yeeld to be as decoyes to lead on others into the snare that the able and godly know not their abilities so as to oppose them to their duty the more they know the less they know it to be their duty to follow their triumphall Chariot and to become accessory to their usurped Lordlines and their own bondage it is onely ignorance that can be the Mother of this devotion that being tryed it will adde to their esteem to be found knowing it is sure more estimable never to have been questioned and reduced to tryal as Aeschines justly thought it a greater glory to Cephalus never to have been accused then to Aristophon to have been 75. times acquitted All this which hath often been set before us eadem cantabant versibus jisdem Occidit miseros crambe repetita magistros we have elsewhere as frequently we trust made manifest to be onely painted and carved dishes like those of Heliogabalus which cannot satisfie and like those seeming fat hoggs which Del. Rio cut of Dubravius tells us that Zyto the Magician sold the Baker which though forbidden he brought to the water to be washt because they looked filthy and then all proved to be but waddes of Straw Cum scclus admittunt superest constantia They disdaine with Aristippus to die of the biting of a Wezel they provoke the teeth of a Lyon they will not pusillanimously excuse one fault but boldly avow another Pudor veluti vestis quanto obsoletior est tanto incuriosius habetur They think we mistake that their greatest suspition is of ignorance it is mens hearts not their heads which they suspect but they are mistaken of us not we of them we know and through this discourse have taken notice that they not onely suspend such as are palpably ignorant but also all which have not upon examination satisfied them of their knowledge nor those alone that are scandalously wicked but all that have not upon tryall convinced them of their holiness and this later we look upon as their axes on the other but as their rods that as the chastisement with rods and this with Scorpions This we dispute against as the superlative obliquity and inordinateness of their way that they will allow no mans title to the Sacrament till upon inspection they have confirmed his evidences and do disseise every man of his possession till he do suit to their Court and acknowledg to hold of them by homage and fealty So the right is rooted in their favour and approbation as the next and neerest cause But whereas they say that the greatest part that stand off from them do it upon suspition of their practice and their not living as they expect they do but transferre that blame which themselves have contracted and exprobrate to others their proper faults they accusing those to stand off whom they drive or keep off and like men putting off from land to sea they conceit the shore passeth away from them while they go off from it They say we mistake their suspition to be of one thing when it is more of another therefore the suspition harbours in their bosom Those which stand not off but are kept out know not of scandall by themselves yet are not thereby justified with them and therefore if they suspect any thing it is onely that they are suspected by them and are therefore passive not active in the suspition yet when the water is troubled the lambe must be accused though he stand below and can have nothing come down to him but from the wolfe at the head and they deal with their flock as those did with King Richard the 2d who having meat set dayly before him was not permitted to eat a bit and being thereupon starved they gave out that he was felo de se and killed himself by a voluntary abstinence If they knew any susceptible of catechising them which was onely spoken comparatively and by hypothesis they might in policy the great wheele of their motions for bear to call them forth lest like Mercury neer the Sun they might be eclips'd by brighter rayes and receave less veneration and would in ingenuity say as one said to an eminent man in like words with John to Christ I have need to be taught of thee and comest thou to me It seems counting one by one it was but one of a thousand they have found and one swallow cannot secure us that it is a summer there may many storms yet be impendent One Anacharsis cannot redeem and expiate all the barbarisme of Scythia Catilinas Quocunque invenias populo quocunque sub axe Sed nec Brutus erit Bruti nec avunculus usquam If one did not abuse this power others may and our security is to be rooted in the limitation of the power not the goodness of the person that exerciseth it Though we hope the best that he will not hurt us yet we ought to provide against the worst that he may not be able to hurt us if he would And the neglect of this provident principle hath set open the widest door to tyranny and
their way with that notion have brought Presbytery under such suspitions and censures We therefore cannot suffer Ahab to set Josias disguised in his habit and chariot and to expose the King of Judah to the hazard of those arrowes which were intended against the King of Israel or permit another as in the Roman story to be vested with the vestments of Panopio when he was proscribed and to be slain in his stead nor allow Zopyrus that his maimes and wounds were inflicted by Darius onely for his love to the Babylonians when his designe was to insinuate into their favour and compassion that he might more opportunely betray them They deal with Presbytery as the Athenians did with Aristides confess him to be just and then banish him as Caracalla with his brother Geta Sit inter divos modo non inter vivos and when if they did affectionately espouse and keep faith with Presbytery they might be happy in a fruitfull issue and see their seed which should become a multitude and be established they rather chuse with Pigmalion to fall in love with a dead image of their own forming Presbytery may be a barre to Popery yet the corruption of Presbytery may not be so the liquor which was sweet in the wine is sharp in the vinegar and that which is pure in the top may yet have dreeggs in the bottom the verdant Juniper Tree gives a cool shaddow but being inflamed yeelds the hottest coal the basis may be the same in several medicines yet the addition of other ingredients doth change the nature and the operation He shall not limbe a man that doth Humano capiti cervicem jungere equinam Christian Religion checks with many things which Popery which is a degenerate Christianity doth countenance there may be in their modell somewhat thereof but it is not all or onely Presbytery and they say of Cantharides that the whole body is Alexipharmacous but some parts single are deleterious and some do prescribe ex cochlearum et testudinum carne multum edendū aut nihil so Presbytery in the entire frame may uphold a Church though when some parts thereof be mixt with other compositions yet may the lump be destructive No hook will take without some bait in lotteries their are some few prizes among many blanks to keep up the game and Alchymists bring forth commonly some true and reall gold out of their furnaces pretending it made there which was secretly conveyed thither to bring their impostures into credit and so they have given their discipline some tincture of Presbytery to set it off with more plausibleness But we say not that their way though the corruption of Presbytery carries an omnimodous or multifarious similitude with Popery so as that Sic oculos sic ille manus sic ora ferebat They are like not as ovum ovo but as Humani existet simulator simius oris not like simpliciter sed secundum quld not in respect of all or many but some one part as an Aethiop is white in regard of his teeth Their way hath a like tendency with Popery to the greatness and pre-eminence of the Prelats both steer by the same point of the compass and are upon a like voyage to the Levant so called ab elevando the one sayling for Majorca the other to Cephalany And though Popery be not much of the constitution of their way we fear it may be of the consequent and by accident if not directly may introduce it As Constantine by removing the Legions and Colonies from the Northern frontiers to the Eastern made way for the inundations of the barbarous Nations and his translating his impetiall seat to Constantinople left Rome exposed to their fury so the digladiations about discipline have laid open doctrine to those destructive wounds it bleeds under the discountenancing and depressing of so many learned Champions of the truth hath been the leaving it without a guard and with Justinian in the case of Aetius the cutting off the right hand with the left the horrid heresies which have entred at that doore of liberty which Independency hath set open do scandalize and confirm Papists in their errors and the desperate schismes animate them to assault us and render us lesse united in our strength to resist them as a house set on fire is sooner robbed by a Thiefe The unchurching of so many and separating from them may tempt men into a facility of being reconciled to that Church which seems to have a larger and a gender bosome as in a besieged town the scarcity of victuals constrains some to eat unwholsome food and prompts others to be fugitives into the enemies quarters where they are like to find a more favourable reception a freer communion I pray God their keyes do not help to open the pit for smoak to arise and out of the smoak those Locusts the Jesuits to come amongst us for as persons of honor and integrity have undertaken to assure the world that actually divers Jesuits have passed incontroulably under the mask and notion of Independents so it is obvious to any that probably it may be so for Independency is an apt disguise for a Jesuite since he that takes on this Livery may under that Cloak suit himself with other clothes for stuff and fashion as he list without further question and may use his liberty of contradiction to believe or not to come to Ordinances or not as well as his liberty of contrariety what he will believe or what Ordinances he will resort unto So that what was once said of the Jesuit That he was every man may now be verified of the Independent and while the Jesult dresseth himselfe like birds of this feather he may safely flye together with the flock and find means and opportunity to decoy them in the snare of Popery and so like Penelope unweave in the dark what they seemed to have woven in the light and onely with the adversaries Ezra 4. weaken the hands of the people and trouble them in building while they pretend to build with them and seek their God as they doe Of all those evils Independency which is the major part that denominates the Apologists is that Trojan Horse which they have broken down the walls to bring into the Citie They stand not much upon the saying of them that voted for Presbytery and we believe it because they stand obstaculous in their way who stand not for Presbytery and no mans sayings must be stood upon that will not fall down with Dionysius his flatterers to lick up whatsoever fails from their mouth Martius anguis erat cristis prasignis auro Ac mediâ plus parte leves erectus in auras Despicit omne nemus Some say they perchance voted and acted for wrong ends and all did so doubtlesse that would not be carried towards their ends nothing was just or good that was not of the interest of Sparta Perchance some might do so yet charity should prompt tather
to excuse the intention if they could not the work rather than to accuse the intention when the work they cannot and rather to hope the best untill worse be evidenced Perchance those which the paper intimated were not such and without perchance ought to be believed certainly to have been such But they are sure some were once in a neernesse to act in that way who were unmeet for the work It is possible that some might indeed not be fit for every logge though it be sound timber is not fit to make a Mercury But they have more certain knowledge of their own hearts and might be sure of their proper unmeetness and perchance as well as they may they speak this first of themselves by the light of a reflex beam they had no heart to that work quod cor non facit non fit they had no love to it did not set about it con amore as the Italians say it was not for their turn some other way was aimed at like fierce Racers in the impetuousness of their course they did over-run and go beyond their Goal and like the Tyger which Pimenta speaks of that pursued his prey with such violence that he over-leapt it and fell into the mouth of a Crocodile it being no new thing to fall from one extream to another as an eager opposition to the heresie of Manes occasioned the rise of that of Pelagius Errant homines non servantes modum De fide operib c. 3. cum in unam partem procliviter ire caeperint non respiciunt divinae authoritatis aliae testimonia quibus possint ab illa intentione revocari in ea quae ex utrÃsque temperata est veritate modera ione consistere as Augustine Or secondly they say it of those that were of their choyce and recommendation whose Icarian wings being not naturall but set on soon would melt with their shamefull fall when they soar high or come into much light or like Barschocab the pretended Messias who saith Hierom had gotten a trick to kindle straw in his mouth and breath it forth as if he had spit fire so they for small matters talk with a fervent zeal but are as incompetent to carry on the work of reformation and settlement as he was to accomplish the deliverance of the Jewes Or thirdly perchance that sum which they cast up to be unfit were indeed not fit for their spurious and suppositious Presbytery and unfit for their ends and interest who would approve of or like none that were not like those in Tacitus Qui veri copiam non faciunt sed suspensa quo ducuntur inclinantia respondent and none to act as Church Governors which would not in acting be governed by them as the prime agents and were unwilling to set up any Oracles that would not Philippize and sought to have no planets in the Spheares that will not move concentrick with them as the Sun and receive all their light from them and if not like Mercury that shewes himselfe but once in thirty yeares yet like the other planets when they are in a Diametrall line with the Sun to seem retrograde and give place and way to him for those whom they assume to assist in the work they called with the same intent with which Xerxes convened the Lords of Asia when he designed the invasion of Greece to give more luster and countenance alone as he said to the expedition and onely to obey and not to advise him SECT XXII Of Independents their godlinesse their schisme The confessed imperfection of the way of the Apologists the desire of an union with the Independents An admonition to the Presbyterians The confounding of Churches and Parishes by the Apologists Their gathering of Churches Whether they are guilty of disorder against Lawes Whether Magick were laid to their charge Whether they are culpable of schisme or sedition or injury to other Ministers Of their hatching others Eggs like like Partridge AS Arminius thought it a good Quaere why Semipelagianisme might not be accounted true Christianisme because if that were false and counterfet coin Arminianisme could not be currant both being of like metall though of different stamp so the Apologists having generally been willing to passe under the vizard of Presbytery yet being researched like to be detected for Independents when they can no longer keep on the mask they seem to own the face at least suppose it need not be disowned and tell us That Independents are no such formidable creatures to them First and to them indeed they need not seem fearfull Cognatis maculis parcit fera And Junius tells us out of Pliny Animantia in suo genere probe degunt congregari videmus starc contra dissimilia Eiren. part 1. Leonum feritas inter se non dimicat serpentum morsus non petit serpentes nec maris quidem belluae pisces nisi in diversa genera non saeviunt Secondly they are not so formidable indeed to any as the Spaniards were to the Indians that they could not think it an happinesse to go to heaven in their company nor to consort with them in any good way that leads thither Thirdly neither are they so terrible at any Scholastick encounter as that if Crispinus minimo me provocat none should dare with them tentare peri ula belli Or that their names like Warwicks at the battell of Banbury should strike terror enough to win a victory but I doubt when the light of truth shall hereafter ascend neerer to her meridian and dispell these mists which now hinder men to see clearly they will seem Nomina quae ipso sunt pene tremenda sono Many godly men say they lye under that distinction of judgement and I wish it were onely a distinction without a difference But first I doubt the Independents will account this opprobrii loco because it is frigida tenuis laudatio for all of that denomination must needs be very godly who usurp that definition for their way which the Chymists arrogate to their Art puri ab impuro separatio As all that fire which is spheared on high and separate from commixture is a pure element so their Churches are questionlesse pure and clear like Egypts sky and have not a black cloud in them and Adam in them seems not to have sinned But secondly if we take Independencie in the lump not in some parcels that may be extracted and take the denomination from the major part the notion of Godly and Independent are not onely at distance but Diametral opposition for as in tempering medicines there is somwhat which they call the Basis whereunto they add other ingredients that have their several qualities and operations so Independency is the Basis of most modern heresies and the fertill Africa of these Monsters And as ubi definit Philosophus incipit medicus so where Independency ends there other heresies begin who are generally Independents aliquid amplius and as after
those Churches wherein is a free admission to the Sacrament of all those that are not duly cast out and they will not admit any of those Churches to have communion with them in the Eucharist untill they be new model'd and entred into their Churches But that Church-fellowship consists especially in communion of Sacraments and is principally defined by it Sect. 9. De unit Eccles c. 13. Schismaticos facit communionis dirupta unitas Aug. quaest ex Matth. tom 4 p 78. Camero oper Field of the Church l. 3. c. 5 p. 80 and that the commixtion of evill and good is intra eandem sacramentorum communionem connexionem and that to desert and to deny such a communion with those that are Churches of God is the dregs and sediment of schisme we have formerly shewed out of Augustine that to detrect to receive the Lords Supper with any is tacitly to renounce their fraternity was instanced out of Altingius and that to separate from this or that particular Church that is a particular member of the body of the Catholick Church is schisme we have instanced out of Junius as it is also to make a separation from that congregation Ubi Deus colligit Ecclesiam as may be added out of Camero Schisme saith a sound Writer is a breach of the unity of the Church which unity of the Church consists in three things First the subjection of the people unto their lawfull Pastors Secondly the connexion and communion which many particular Churches and the Pastors of them have among themselves Thirdly in holding the same rule of faith But they rent and infringe this unity in the first respect by gathering those into their Church that have other lawfull Pastors Qui schismata faciunt saith Cyprian Epist 76. p. 247. relicto Episcopo alium sibi foras Episcopum quaerunt And in the second by denying to have a communion with other Pastors and their Churches in this Sacrament of the Lords Supper and it cannot sow up this rent nor make up this fraction to say they communicate in other ordinances with them for not onely Church communion is chiefly communion of Sacraments but as was cited formerly out of Mr. Ball to use one ordinance and not another is to make a schisme in the Church Frustra sibi blandiuntur qui panem cum sacerdotibus Dei non habentes obrepunt latenter apud quosdam communicare se credunt as was alleaged out of Cyprian It is schisme saith Valentia and truly 22. Disp 3. q. 15. punct 1. p. 690. if he misapplied it not Nolle se gerere ut membrum hujus corporis in aliquo vel aliquibus spiritualibus actionibus ad hoc Ecclesiae corpus pertinentibus atque adeò nolle subesse visibili hujus corporis capiti neque aliis ejus membris communicant ut illi capiti subjecta sunt sed velle agere scorsim ab hoc corpore independenter ab ejus capite And since anciently a Bishop and an Altar were made Correlatives and a schismaticall Bishop was sayd constituere aut collocare aliud Altare Mead ubi supra saith a learned man therefore they that erect other Altars for them to partake of which have lawfull proper Pastors and they that participate at other Altars than those of their own Pastors tread too near upon Schisme Nay also they that separate from a true Church to partake of an Altar in a Church apart do not participate of the Table of the Lord for in una domo saith Rivet In Exod. c. 12 tom 1 p. 916. quae est Ecclesia Dei viventis commedi debet agnus carnes ejus quatenus cibus noster sunt extra illam domum non efferuntur And then as the Act of separation so the Reason thereof denominates schismaticall while they affirm the separation to be occasioned by the grossnesse of administrations elsewhere where no separation is made by exercise of Discipline which very thing viz. that any corruption of manners or want of Discipline which is among corrupt manners to expurge those that were corrupt was a sufficient ground of separation brought forth and gave rise to the schisme of the Donatists and was that which rendred them schismaticks that which S. Augustine impressed himselfe especially to fight against as is liquid through the whole torrent of his writings against them some drops whereof our former discourse hath been sprinkled with Cited by Mr. Baxters Saints everlasting rest part 4. p. 105. marg I shall here only say as learned Davenant professeth speaking of the Divines of Germany Haud dubitem affirmare illos qui falluntur tamen communionem fraternam cum aliis retincre parati sunt esse schismate coram Deo magìs excusatos quà m qui veras opiniones in hisce controversiis tuentur mutuam communionem eum aliis Ecclesiis etiam desiderantibus aspernantur so I think those Churches more excusable which have not the exercise of discipline in casting out offenders yet lack not a desire of a fraternall connexion and mutuall communion with other Churches than those that set up discipline and lay down communion and unity To say That they separate nor from true Churches First as it can no more palliate their guilt than it could cloak that of the Donatists who made the same defence and indeed this is the Catholicon the common place and plea of all Schismaticks that if they forsake one Church they go into another so secondly they do make a separation from true Churches seeing they separate as was said from all Churches that give a free admission to all that are not duly cast out and if those are no true Churches then they are not in the state of salvation for all that shall be saved are added to the Church and all that may grow capable of admission into their Churches out of the other it may seem requisite to baptize before they are admitted baptisme being a note of the true Church and therefore agreeing thereunto as proprium quarto modo They were such Churches wherein many of them received ordination to the Ministery who are not yet reordained and by the Ministery whereof faith was wrought in them wherein I hope they were built up before they laid the foundation of their new Churches and to believe is to be added to the Church which is Synonymous with the houshold of faith and wherein if they had suffered death for the profession of that faith they would have thought themselves intitled unto martyrdome and yet out of the Church are no martyrs neither can they pretend to reform the Church if they acknowledge not those from whom they separate to be true Churches for then they rather form a new Church and it is not an alteration which is Motus à qualitate in contrariam qualitatem but a generation motus à non esse ad esse and is not mutatio statûs sed essentiae But this is that root bearing gall
saving and supporting but of one soule is a matter of more honor and comfort than to engage and lead a Sect. I know they had some of them at least more than three in their appropriate Congregations that were sealed with their approbation for the Sacrament why then was it not administred to them at home I hope they can give spirituall Alms without sounding a Trumpet and are not like the Nightingall which they say cannot sing well unlesse she be over-heard or as they say of the Tortoyse that she hatcheth her Eggs with her eyes so others eyes I trust are not that onely which must quicken and bring forth their duties First they suppose it No great matter that is required for men to goe out of their Parishes to participate the Sacrament In Epist ad Ephes c. 3. serm 14. Seneca but saith Chrysostom Propter hoc magnum est malum quod nihil esse videtur etenim quae nihil esse videntur facile contemnuntur qâ—ae vero contemnuntur augentur ae multiplicantur etiam quae autem augentur redduntur â—â—iam incurabilia and therefore upon this account the great Moralist adviseth Non negligere minimum ne siâ—tibi inter minima Not to remind them of a frustra fit per plura quod potest fieri per pauciora when a necessary obedience and submission is exacted in that which they have no power to enjoyn and others have no obligation to observe his dat qui cito dat it creates a president and begets an encouragement to command more and greater things and he that once quits his Free-hold to be a Tenant at will though at first he may fit at an easie rate may at length be enforsed to raise his rent and hold upon such terms as his Landlord please or lose his Tenement Quae nunc virgulta sunt crunt si negligantur robora ista quae modo facili avuâ—sione dirimantur postea vix securibus succumbunt saith Cassiodor Secondly they think it no evill no not in appearance for them to require it An appearance of no little confidence and no great ingenuity however they may struggle to prove it not to be such in realiâ—y yet who can deny and not first send a denyall to Modesty that it hath an appearance First levati Altaris or of a schismaticall separation of themselves from a sacramentall communion with their peculiar Churches And whereas they say they are joyned to the society of a Church formed in one of their congregations that doth not stave off or frustrate the appearance of schismaticall separation for else the Donatists might have cleared themselves thereof by the like defence saying that though they divided themselves from other Churches yet they adjoyned to the Churches formed in their congregations to wit those of Parmenian Petilian Gaudentius Emeritus c. 2. It hath an appearance of Allotrio-episcopacy of being busie in other mens Diocesses and incurious and negligent in their own And which also appears to be a desertion of their old Spouses and seeking after new Loves Thirdly Of Injustice 1. toward their peculiar and appropriate Churches to whom they doe not the office yet from them receive the Benefice 2. Cum Episcopo portionem plebis dividere l. à pastore oves filios à parente separare which Cyprian condemns in Felieissimus epist 38 p. 90. Toward other Ministers whose sheep they allure to stray away to enlarge their fold Fourthly of breach of that Canon whose observation was kept up so religiously in the ancient Church that none should communicate in another Church without the Formed and Communicatory letters of his own Pastor Fifthly Of violation of order established in the defining and limiting appropriate Churches Sixthly of transgression of that Rule of Righteousness Quod tibi fieri non vis alteri ne feceris for I know they would regret another to put his sickle into their crop though they make up their harvest of other mens corn and therefore unless that must seem good in them which appears evill in others as Quod in alio audacia suerit in Catone fiducia erat this must needs have an appearance of evill Though they proclaim that they are likely to walk in that society to which they are joyned till they see truth and reason against them yet incoherently they professe that they have still resolved to return to their places as to this Ordinance when a competent number shall appear fit and willing to carry on so great a work And then it seems more light hath arose upon them and some Collyrium hath cleared their eyes to see the truth and reason against them and perchance as Epaminondas told the Spartans after the battell at Leuctra That he was glad they were brought now to make long speeches so some such like occasion may have brought their Prolocu or to return and carry back the Sacrament with him to his proper Church that hath so long stood under Interdict and to say expressly that all is Null which was done at Pyworthy yet I doe not find the number increased of those that are visibly fit and willing more than at the first nor hath he yet to this day taken into participation above one more at home than followed him abroad so as he might have at first found as competent a number as he hath since made if not a greater number since it is possible that some perchance may have found some more irritation and animosities by having all this while been left lying under contempt and neglect As Pyrrhus in the judgment of Cyneas might have been as happy before he left Epyrus as he could expect to be after he had traversed Italy conquered Sicily and Africk so I think they might have found the work as facible and their undertakings as successfull before their going out from them as they are like to do upon their coming back If their return be upon the score of resipiscence far be it from me to be such an one as Beza complains of Hic homo invidet mihi gratiam Jesu Christi but if it be upon any other acccount or if when they are come home to their Congregations they yet come not home to the ancient Ecclesiastick discipline but onely Coelum non animum mutant I shal say as the Turk did to Gentlemen whom he saw walking severall turns up and down a Cloyster Are you out of your way or out of your wits If your businesse lye here why go you thither If it be there why come you here and I shall conclude Levis est malitia sapè mutatur non in melius sed in aliud In what account they set their people and how they are obliged to them for their good thoughts and report is very legible in those blots wherewith their pen hath here asperst them putting their non-compliance with their way upon the score of their worldly fear doubting state-changes want of zeale and boldness in the matters of God and for worse reasons
the cup the blood may be some way administred but they must not drink it SECT XXIV Whether they are Butchers or Surgeons Whether guilty of Schism Of negative and positive Schisme What are just causes of separation Whether our Saviour separated from the Jewish Church for instance in eating the Passover They condemne what they practise by confounding Churches and by separation They grant Professors to be visible Saints which destroyes their Platforme Their reasons why all sorts are to be admitted to the word and prayer Whether there are not better reasons to warrant a like admission to the Sacrament whether the same conclude it not Whether the Churches of England are all true Churches Sacraments notes of the Church and therefore communicable to all Church members They grant discipline enters not the definition of a Church yet they separate for want thereof Whether they may not aswell deny Baptisme to the Children as the Eucharist to the Parents VVHy they separate not in all Ordinances is an head that looks not directly toward us but respects their brethren of the separation who have outrun and gone beyond them and stand at a distance as much further from them as they from us For as when Apolles had drawn a fine small line Protogenes cut that in 〈…〉 another and the former halfed that again so when one sort have cut 〈…〉 from communion with the rest of the Church they divide themselves again and some of them think themselves not refined enough and as the Chymists say of sublimation sapius repetenda est operatio neque enim prima sublimotione res mox satis depuratur so one separation grows out of another like the tunal which Nieremberge speaks of mira frondium facunditas solium supernasâ—itur solio si decidâ—t aliquod radices rursus agit surgitque altera arbos And so though as sand conteined in a vessel hath one general figure in the whole Masse conformable to the continent yet every grain is inechaerent with other so though they all come under one common notion of Separatists yet they are as much separate from 〈◊〉 other as from us and as little agree among themselves as with us though when they come against us like Themistocles and Aristides going on Embassie they lay down their enmities to be afterward reassumed And as Aristides said It will never be well with Athens till both the one and the other be shut up in the dungeon so they intimate in the close of this Section that in such a condition they were most likely to close in a mutual agreement but their present quarrels with the other occasion here the diverting of their armes which offers us a little truce who might now stand a loofe and behold the fight among themselves whom that happily may befall which Tacitus relates of Apronjus souldiers dum singuli pugnant universi vincuntur and when they fall out good men may come by the truth Discordia in malis tam bona quà m concordia in bonis onely we shall gather up some of those arrowes which they let fly at others to shoot back upon themselves and if any of those shot at randome seem to fall neer us we shall endeavour to repell or avoid such as we have not already broken They separate not in other Ordinances because they are for Surgery not Butchery It seems then they now somewhat odiously set their brethren in the rank of cut-throats who will shrewdly resent to be degraded into the company of Butchers Secondly How little conformity or resemblance their practise hath with the rules of Chirurgery hath been frequently instanced Thirdly Chirurgeons neither use nor are able to cut off any one member from an union with the rest in the influence and benefit of one vitall faculty onely but exscind altogether from the whole body whereas they make exscision of men onely from a Communion in one Ordinance alone not all Fourthly Let this reason have the most favourable passe yet it onely can argue absolutely why they should separate not in all Ordinances but in some alone not comparatively why in this Sacrament rather than in other Fiftly It is a strange method of Physick or Chirurgery to seek to preserve life by witholding the means of life and the medicine of life and immortality as the Fathers call the Sacrament and if all meanes must be sought to cure before they cut down a Church we think they have deserted their own Aphorismes for they have not sought to cure it by this medicine yet they have cut down their Church not onely by gathering another but by a practical judging of them to have no present interest in the body and blood of Christ nor worthy to have the truth of Gods promises in him to be sealed unto them The learned and they quote Camero distinguish of a twofold separation positive and negative the first they condemne unlesse upon just and weighty grounds the second they are acting in making a separation in their Congregations not separating from their Churches but some corruptions in them in order to reformation De Eccles p. 325. Camero in that place disputes of Schisme whereof secession or separation may be the genus and Schisme he distinguisheth into negative and positive the first Schisma quod non exit in coetum societatem aliquam religiosam quae simpliciter secessio subductio cùm non instituitur ecclesia facto Schismate Schisma positivum tum fit cum instituitur ecclesia hoc est cum fit consociatio quaedam quae legibus ecclesiasticis Dei verbo atque sacramentorum administratione utitur separatim quod quadam formula desumpta ex Scriptura dicitur strâ—ere altare contra altare But as the men of Bengala are so afraid of a Tiger that they dare not name him through fear if they should do so they should be torn in pieces by him so it seems the Apologists are so conscious of Schisme or fearfull to be blasted with it that they decline the mention of this and passing over the description he makes of Schisme they only barely and without any distinct explication tell us of a negative and positive separation Abstine epistolis quae sunt instar Edicti saith Symmachus facessat omne studium ex quo nascitur cura compendii Me thinks they should have been able to have understood Camero had they looked into him themselves but whencesoever it results there is an ignorant and wilfull mistake in alleaging him for they seem to quote him as if he determined that a negative separation were absolutely and universally lawfull whereas he affirming that a positive Schisme is that which Antonomasticè and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is called Schisme he renders this reason because often he saith not alwayes a negative secession is lawfull that justly and piously it may be free to depart from some Churches but it will not be so if it grow into a positive As for example some may be cast out by the fault of
them viz. in order to the administration of the Sacrament though they are not forsaken of God for I hope they are in a capacity of Salvation by the meanes and of necessity God must have a Church where the purity of doctrine flourisheth although almost overgrown with scandals as was mentioned out of Camero and though they have not wholly demolished their Churches they have pulled some stones from union with the rest and transferred them elsewhere and left the rest he more instable and tottering and they destroy them negatively ut causae deficientes while they edifie them not by the Sacrament and though they lay the foundation and build the walls by a communion in the word and prayers yet they do set on the roofe by the Sacrament which would keep the rest more firm together It must needs be a confusion of Churches when they support not a distinction of parochial cures and charges and do fabricate one Church with pieces rent out of many and they scatter these of their own flock which they do not gather and those of other mens folds which they do gather As there are potential parts of virtues Aquin. 2 2. q. 48. which are Virtutes adjunctae quae ordinantur ad aliquos actus secundarios vel materias quasi non habentes totam potentiam principalis virtutis so we may say analogically of their vice and though it be not ripe and full grown Schisme yet we have shewed it hath somewhat of Schisme seeing they separate in somewhat and that wherein the external communion of the Church doth mainly consist the Sacrament He that is departed from one Citie and is advanced but one mile is gone off as well as he that is removed to the distance of ten and one drop of the Sea is water aswell as the Ocean and he that picks my pocket but of sixpence is a Theefe aswell as he that robs me of my whole stock and he that out of malice prepensed puts out a mans eyes as well as he that takes away his life is a felon in the outward Court and a murderer in the interior If Professors be visible Saints as they say here then the exhibiting of the Sacrament unto Professors as such are all Church members is not prostituting the privileges of the Saints Sect. 5. and there is no great harm done to make them Saints by affording them the Sacrament as they would have it elsewhere who are already Saints by being professors yet they will heerin seem insanire cum ratione for they say All sorts are to be admitted to the word because the Apostles were sent to preach to the world and it is wonderful that they did not observe in the words following in that text that they were aswell sent to administer the Sacraments as to preach the word to baptize as to teach the nations and as we have shewed that the ancient Church did immediately upon baptisme admit men to the Sacrament so there is the same reason in relation to persons adult and intelligent for the administration of the one Sacrament as the other as St Augustine fully declares in his book de fide operibus Tom. 4. p. 13. Besides though the Apostles had a general rule to teach all Nations yet it was not without an exception of not casting pearle before Swine or giving holy things to Doggs and under that notion of pearle and holy things the word is principally and as it appears by the context most properly understood and why then they should be eager in witholding the Sacrament and so careless in preserving the Word from those Swine and Doggs they are still as mute in giving any sound reason as a Swine laid on his back or a Dogg bitten by a Pard And to make them free partakers of their prayers they think they have warrant because Paul gave thanks in the presence of all the passengers but as the wheate which sometimes falls from the clouds is good corn but was not naturally generated there so though their conclusion be true yet it doth not naturally flow from their premises Paul they say gave thanks that is prayed in the presence of them all Acts 27.35 but it is not said that all did pray together with Paul to pray in the presence of them and to conjoyn with them in prayer are different things they allow others to be present at the celebration yet admit them not to partake of the Sacrament The Author of the imperfect work on Matthew thinks because here is mention of breaking of bread and giving of thanks which in the Greek is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that Paul here administred the Sacrament to his brethren in the faith yet though all the rest were present yet that Author did not imagine they did participate That Elisha prayed with Gehazi is as irrationally collected from 2 Kings 4.33 He went in therefore and shut the door upon them twaine and prayed unto the Lord and therefore Gehazi it seems must needs be one of the twain but by common construction it ought to relate to him that was but last mentioned and that is the Child in the former verse the child was dead and laid on the bed he went in therefore and shut the door upon them twain super se super puerum Schol. in locum saith the vulgar translation post utrunque ità ut ipse puer soli in conclavi essent adds Piscator and consonantly the late Annotations Besides how is it known to them that Gehazi was a wicked man one or two sinful acts could not so denominate him at least at this time he had not lapsed into those sins which are recorded in the subsequent Chapter and had he been leprous at that time the Law had not permitted Elisha such a commerce with him and had he been then notoriously wicked the piety of Elisha could not have permitted him that wrought deceit to dwell in his house or him that told lies to remain in his sight In 2. Reg. c. 5. v. 27. and though after his sin he be mentioned c. 8. v. 4. under the notion of the servant of the man of God non tamen cratoum Helisaeo saith Sanctius capite sequenti minister Helisaei non videtur fuisse Giezi sed alius aetate minor quique non videbatur satis nosse quam à Deo Propheta virtutem accepisset but for the Kings talking with a Leper In locum studium sciendi molestiam facilè levavit saith Sanctius regem impium legem illam neglexisse adds Piscator though others say the Law no way forbids one that is clean to talk with a Leper But if he after his sin and punishment returned to the Prophet as Abulensis supposeth it gives the stronger perswasions of his repentance and upon the sight of Gods displeasure say the late Annotators English Annot on the place and judgment upon him for his sin he might repent and upon his repentance
have his judgment removed and he cleansed this was an evidence of his good disposition that notwithstanding the punishment inflicted on him by his master he spake honorably of him But we may heer as standing upon the advantage ground take a prospect that any arguments though beggerly and vagrant shall have their passe yea and letters of recommendation if they carry but any hard face or weak colour to serve their turn and interest and we may farther consider whether they that are so flexible upon such arguments to assent to a free reception to prayer had they not been blinded by affection to their interest might not have found or whether we have not prompted them with farre more convincing arguments in Scripture to perswade them to a free admission to the Sacrament But if Scripture lend them no stable foundation they will buttresse it with Reason cognati semina coeli They say we may pray for wicked men but to pray for is more than to pray with and this is an arguing à majori ad minus indeed for they are fallen from a greater to a lesse forcible argument for we may pray for those with whom we do not pray but we cannot pray with any but we must needs pray for them and therefore the former comprehending the later this must be the greater and that the lesser to pray with containing the other to pray for aliquid amplius for he that prayes is the mouth of all the rest and the hearts of all ought to move with his lipps in a concurrence in the same common petitions and it is more specially vetified here what is delivered by Ambrose Dum singuli orant pro omnibus sequitur ut omnes orent pro singulis so that we cannot pray with any but we must pray for them We ought to love all men that have a capacity of eternal blessedness which is the formall reason of charity to love is to will good to another and this consists much in wishing well to him and a Christians wish is prayer and upon this account we must pray for all without question but it is not universally true that we may pray with all without some exception The ancient Church did not admit persons excommunicate nor all degrees of penitents to a participation of all their prayers and though such others as shall compose themselves to reverence may be receaved yet I think there will be a combination of piety and prudence to exclude a scoffing Lucian that shall deride our petitions or a prophane Julian that will blaspheme that holy name which we invocate They remind us that Simon Magus was bid to pray but as it follows not that though he were prescribed to pray that also others were injoyned to admit him to a communion in their prayers for he might pray alone so they might have remembred also that onely upon the external profession of faith he was received to Baptisme without any further trial or inspection Baptizatus est saith Cyril sed non illuminatus corpus quidem lavit aquâ cor autem non illustravit spiritu and it is not improbable that he might also partake of the other Sacrament of the Lords Supper since it was then the practice that those who were baptized and continued in the Apostles doctrine which was in hearing it preached by them continually as Chrysostom Piscator and Sanctius and in professing thereof as Diodate adds and fellowship viz. of holy Assemblies as Diodate and mutual conjunction as Calvin did also continually and perhaps dayly hold communion in breaking bread the Lords Supper being so called by a Synecdoche membri à potiori ritu and from this Exemplar in the primitive ages Baptisme was but as it were a spiritual washing before meat for such as were adult who forthwith were admitted to the Lords Table And we read of Simon that he continued with Philip and he made an outward profession of believing as Diedate and Piscator and they judge not right saith Calvin who say he fained to believe who believed as other faithful did as Sanctius affirmeth and therefore in that time of his countinuance with Philip it is likely did partake the Eucharist which was then so frequently administâ—ed Their presence at prayer can be no sin they say while it is no more than they are commanded to do though their own evils at present make them unable to do as they should It seems there may be perverse judgment aswel in an acceptation of things as of persons when the same judgment is not given of things of which there is the same reason and in those which have no difference between them why else should not this be as applicable to the Sacrament as to prayer and the same reason be as apt and subservient to plead for their admission to the one as the otherâ— The Apologists in the next precedent Section tell us the command of Christ for receiving the Sacrament is peremptory and the duty incumbent on all Believers which perchance they will limit to sound Believers yet we have we trust manifested that as they need not research so they cannot discern who are true Believers the soundness of faith being only necessary to partake the fruit and virtue of the Sacrament Explicat cateches part 2. p. 221. but the sound or profession of faith if not disproved by notorious sins is sufficient for admission to receive the Elements and therefore Altingius as he determines that of the Lords Supper the subjectum recipiencs sunt omnefideles five Christiani adulti finguli making Christians and faithful univocal so elsewhere he defines that though fides objectivè spectata hoc est quatenus in verbo praescribitur praecipitur pertinet ad essentiam sacramenti tanquam conditio essentialis yet nevertheless fides subjectivè spectata hâ—e est quatenus est habitus vel actus credentis non est sacramento essentialis sed est necessarium organum ac medium percipiendi rem sacramenti We have formerly produced out of Chrysostom that what indisposeth men and rendreth them unfit for prayer doth no lesse for the Sacrament and we have seconded that testimony with the suffrage of Chamier Andrews worship imaginat p. 36. and what a third learned man saith of those exceptions which we commonly alleage to disturbe our selves from that action viz. communicating may also be verified of those which others make for our disturbance viz. that they make us no lesse meet for prayers than for iâ— there are dispositions and qualifications required in him that prayeth as well as him that receiveth which no unregenerate man in sensu composito is capable of 1 Tim. 2.8 James 1.6 2 Tim. 2.19 and without those conditions there is a denunciation that their prayers not onely will not be heard Psal 66.18 Isa 1.15 but that they shal be abominable Prov. 28.9 aswell as that when they eat or drink at the Sacrament it shall not onely be to no fruit but to condemnation
and they lie unto God with their tongues when they pray Psal 76.36 aswell as others in their judgment seem to lie or give false testimony when they give them the Sacrament And why those reasons then should be of weight to exclude from the Sacrament but not to debarre from prayer A Lapide in Levit. 19.36 I know not where to lay the cause but upon the divers weights and divers measures which the Hebrewes say pollute the Land and prophane the name of God and that more truly than they can prove the free admission can pollute or prophane the Sacrament onely when they are resolved to assume a power to keep whom they please from some Ordinances that they may better keep them in awe and hold them in subjection To exclude from prayer is neither so specious to attempt since as among the Heathens to what Deity soever the sacrifice were intended yet there was an invocation of Janus and Vesta also so among the Christians whatsoever be the Ordinance attended upon it is seconded with that of prayer and invocation of God and this is the Salt that must season all other sacrifices disposing to and attending on them for improving their fruit and effect and therefore this species carries away the name of the genus from the rest and the Hebrew and Greek aswell as the English call this by the name of Service not without warrant sealed by God himself who calls his house an house of proyer denominating it from the chiefest service but also to withold them from prayer is lesse possible to effect for men may pray without concurrence of a Minister but not receive the Sacrament without it be consecrated by him But they have laid an obligation on the Church of England Perpetuúsque animae debitor hujus erit in undertaking to prove that some of the particular Congregations are true Churches Non tali auxilio nec defensoribus istis Tempus eget we cannot allow them to be auditors of that sum nor to cast it up with their new Counters who it seems suffering none to come to the Sacrament without their Let-passe would rise higher to permit none to passe for true Churches which have not their Communicatory letters Seminibus jactis se sustulit arbos Exiit in coelum ramis soelicibus but which are those that are true Churches and what is that which is constitutiv◠or destructive to either of them As Adrian Turnebus used to hit more right when he set down predictions of the weather clean contrary to the Prognosticators so perchance he may aim nearer to truh that denominates some of those not true Churches which they so call and some of them true whom they name not such but seeing they allow the Word and Sacraments for notes of a visible Church Field of the Church l. 2. c. 2. p. 51. whereunto some of our great Divines have appended another which admitted might also perchance disfranchise some of those that usurp and appropriate the name of Churches viz. an union and connexion of men in this profession and use of the Sacraments under lawfull Pastors and guides appointed authorised and sanctified to direct and lead them Contro 4. de Eccles l. 3. c. 2. in consonancy wherewith Bellarmine himself defines the Church to be Caetus hominum ejusdem Christianae fidei professione corundem Sacramentorum communione ligatorum sub regimine legitimorum pastorum But indeed the other two being as they grant the Inseparable absolutely proper peculiar and essentiall notes for scire est per causas scire and therefore being both the formall cause of a Church giving Being thereunto in constituting and conserving it while it is taught by the Word and by the Word and Sacraments is gathered together to God and being the effect of the Church constituted while it teacheth others they cannot but demonstrate the Church à priori à posteriori and therefore being adequate unto the Church Gerhard loc com tom 5. de Eccles c. 10. p. 306. 309. and inseparable from it it may firmly and immoveably be collected saith Gerhard that where the Word is preached and the Sacraments administred there is a Church and reciprocally where there is a Church there is the Word preached and the Sacraments administred upon this ground therefore as the Church of England was a true Church so were also all the particular congregations being similar parts of that nationall Church as that was of the Catholique and if in respect of that common nature found in them they were not Species of the Church in general yet they were members thereof as it is an integrall body for they had all of them the Word preached and professed purely without any error in the foundation which onely nulls a Church and the Sacraments legitimously administred for matter and form and had there been some corruption in the doctrine and administration yet as totas Ecclesias non esse aestimandas ex solis pastoribus Whitak Cont. 2. de Eccles q. 5. c. 17. p. 541. Iunius Eirenic part 1. tom 1. p. 715. 716. Animad in Contro 4. Bellarm. l. 4. c. 2. p. 1132. Ibid. p. 1131. nec ex qui busdam paucis as Whitaker and Gerhard so these corruptions had onely made a cease to be a pure Church not to be a Church so long as the foundation had stood it had been the house of God though hay and stubble were built thereupon saith Whitaker it had continued to be a Church untill Deus renunciaverat iis testificatione publicâ as Junius in the like case the Word and Sacraments simply and absolutely distinguished a Church from prophane Assemblies and the incorrupt preaching of the Word and legitimate administration of the Sacraments from hereticall congregations though properly as Iunius observes the preaching of the Word being actus hominum est Index illius notae non nota primaria jam enim ante habuit notam Ecclesia Dei veritatem verbum veritatis à Deo quà m praedicatio exstiterit so as sure our Congregations were lately all Churches Fuimus Troes fuit Ilium ingens Gloria Dardanidum But since their brethren in principles sought to undermine our Churches and having made the match and their zeal giving fire to the hidden mine by a new powder-plot have blown up these Churches and thereby not onely rent and dissipated them one from the other but scorched and mortally wounded them with fundamentall errors I think now it is not without due caution and circumspection that they say onely some of our Congregations are true Churches for as Diogenes sought a man with a Lanthorn at noon-day at Athens so amidst all the late new light we have more need then ever of that lamp unto our feet to find a Church and they do therefore ingenuously call themselves of the Congregational way for they are many of them out of the way of a true Church And though all that be of those principles are not vitiated with
actually to be baptized but when the parents are clearly â—ut off from all actual outward communion even those qui internam retinent exclusi communionis signo externo Junius in conâ—ro 7. Bell. l. 3. c. 6. actu usu though they have a right the use is provisionally taken away they are cut off materially excommunicatione signi secundum quid ordinata though not formaliter and absolutely by the definite sentence of God secundum ordinem ab hominibus non secundum finem consilio Dei Let him be to thee an Heathen to thee modum externum homini praesâ—ribens etsi internam formam sibi veritati reservans so as though excommunication shut not out from the mystical Church nor clean from the visible yet it doth exclude from fellowship with the visible in holy duties and privileges and therefore when this should be the case of the parents it is very questionable whether the Child should not be in the same condition with them for the right and interest which the Child hath unto the privileges of external communion are rooted in the parents and are traducted from them and that also in the immediate parents Eccles pol. l. 3. p. 87. for else as Mr. Hooker observeth many Children of Turks and Pagans might have right to Baptisme whose mediate parents from whom after some descents they issued were Christians And though not sins yet the punishments aswel as privileges are traductive as in Attainders And seeing they are rules of the Law the one delivered by Ulpian Nemo plus juris ad alium transferre potest quà m ipse haberet and another by Paulus Non debeo melioris conditionis esse quà m auctor meus a quo jus in mo transit wherewith also the rules of Logick and Philosophy are consonant nihil dat quod non habet therefore unlesse one of the parents were a visible Church-member for in that case the matter would have some analogy with that mentioned 1 Cor. 7.14 it may well be disputed that if the parents be actually excluded from the act and use of Ecclesiastical Communion Godwin Moses and Aaron l. 5. c. 2. p. 223. the Child also should be actually suspended from the privileges thereof for if they be as heathens sure the Children of heathens have no right to Baptisme and among the Jewes from whose patterne some would extract more reverence to Church Censures the male Children of those that were but under Niddui were not circumcised Yet I am not ignorant that the ancient Church brought Infants to baptisme August Epist 23. Chamiertom 4. l. 5. c. 15. Sect 2. which had been cruelly exposed by their parents unknown as also à dominis servuli offeruntur which the French Churches have justified by a Canon before remembred but as it was to be presumed that those found within the pale of the Church were begotten of Christians so the susceptors and sponsors undertook and engaged for their education in the faith were their parents as it were by adoption as the master was a father to his family And I shall confesse that in this question concerning the baptizing of the Children of persons excommunicate there is no little reason and much authority in that scale which propends to the affirmative but as the case seldome comes to be discussed seeing it rarely happens that both parents stand under such Censure so for my part who desire to carry more conformity to the Spartan in quibus fidit vix aggrediens than to the Athenian audax supra vires I shall onely give in a special verdict and leave the case to be argued by more learned judges for if I therein go beyond a sceptick yet I advance not further than an Academick and in this Academy I had rather proceed than determine But in all these velitations against their dear brethren surely the Apologists have been pii inimici they have not drawn much blood non metuo ne doleat quòd tu ferias they have onely faced the enemy and given a pop or two and raised a smoak and then retreated without charging through or engaging any close fight and indeed have resembled Caligula who when he should have cut the deep to the conquest of Britain sounded his trumpets and gathered a few cockle shells on the shore and sent them abroad as the spoiles of the Country SECT XXV Their great abuse and distortion of Scripture With what a train of consequences their arguments are farre fetcht They are borrowed from the Donatists Papists Brownists Independents None of them conclude the question as themselves have stated it The argument raised from 1 Cor. 14 40. examined Whether it be a glorious and comfortable practice that none approach the Lords Table save holy persons Whether their way be warranted by the Lawes The moderating of Censures Whether their way have like ground with the ancient discipline in receiving in Penitents Whether there be order and decency in mâ—xt Communions The lesser good to be omitted to acquire the greater The confusion and disorder of their way REs venit ad triarios This is their third head and their capital fortresse viz. their pretended Scripture proofes for pro divisione discessione non solum loquuntur ips sed etiam divinos libros loqui persuadent as Augustine but to this head which speaks Scripturas sine sensu as Hierom hath it we may justly apply the motto which he set under the head whereby he represented the world Capuâ— hellebore dignum for it is stuft with such wanton fancies and erroneous wild notions that Nescio an Antyciram ratio sibi destinet omnem First They declaime much against polluting and prophaning of the Sacrament but I wish they had had a more religious care not to have polluted and prophaned holy Scripture by such a lewd and abusive misapplication thereof so as to make us ashamed and abashed henceforth from upbraiding the Papists with calling the sacred Scripture a nose of wax a leaden rule a delphick sword a shooe fit for every foot c. when those that pretend to be the great reformers among us are so guilty of that vitiosissimum dicendi genus as Hierom calls it De invenâ—or rer l. 4. c. 9. depravare sententias in voluntatem suam Scripturam trahere repugnantem and as Pâ—lidor Virgil speaks by occasion of a misinterpretation of Hostiensis detorquent sacras literas quo volunt ac sutores sordidas solent dentibus extendere pelles for I do sadly profess to think that scarce in that great Martyrologue of Scripture the Popes Decretals shall you find it put to much more torture or set upon a more violent rack then sometimes you may see it here in this new body of Extravagants 〈◊〉 so that an equal and unprejudiced Reader will be facil to imagine that upon some other motive they first pitcht upon the opinion and then set their wits to work to find out arguments the best they could to maintaine it and so
circumstance but the action it self and which properly comes not within the list or rank of things of order decency unless perhaps in a general acception as whatsoever is agreeable to rule is orderly what is contrary thereunto is out of order Ordini contrariatur quicquid inordinatè agitur as Tully long since said Et quicquid peccatur perturbatione ordinis peccatur accordingly Quod decet honestum est et quod honestuÌ„ est decet justa omnja decora sunt injusta contra but taking order and decency in this notion the Church hath no power to make Lawes in things of such concernment but Order in this place of the Apostle comprehendeth the circumstances of season time and place and comliness includes that gravity and modesty in the performance of the works of Gods service which beseems actions of that nature Field Vbi supra and such Rites as may cause respect unto the things performed and thereby excite men to greater devotion or express such spiritual affections and motions as are or should be in them but the pretended order and course of the Apologists is of a far different kind and nature 3. The ancient church held not forth that manner and degrees of pennance as a Divine Institution nor necessarily implicating the conscience but as an act of Discipline of a medious and indifferent nature when abstracted from their positive Constitution and therefore it was transitory in respect of time and ambulatory in regard of place not alwayes nor every where observed But as their Discipline hath no Ecclesiastical Constitution like a great sum to obtain its freedom in the Church so they pretend it was free born and is of divine not humane Establishment and therefore they prevaricate and betray their Cause when they compare it to that Model of Discipline for the Paeniten's and do interpretatively and virtually acknowledge it hath only a like foundation with that which also they confess had no particular warrant from the Scripture save this general rule of doing things in order and decency which was no special or immediate command for the same but only a Praecept That the Church should do what seemed orderly and decent and in this very particular what seemed so in one age and place did not in another 4. There is yet a greater difference between their Discipline and that of the old Paenitents this being only in a thing not specially determined by Scripture and theirs is against what the Scripture hath determined as we conceave we have sufficiently evidenced They have now distilled the Spirits of this Argument into a Syllogisme and we must tast the strength thereof Where is no due order in Sacramental Administrations there Gods Will is not observed but where all are admitted there is no Order Ergo. If we grant the whole we part with nothing nor get they any thing we shall only make them a Magicians Feast which costs noâ—hing to prepare nor will any way strengthen them to take for where are all admitted de facto infants madmen excommunicate c. or who saith all are to be so de jurâ— It is only Church-members who have a Dogmatical Faith which have neither torn the Evidence of their Title by being cut off nor bloted it by any such scandal as merits cutting off whose admission we plead for The Minor and their Arguments are all minors they prove Where there is mixture and confusion of good and bad fit and unfit there is no Order but where all are admitted is this mixture They do not well see what can be denied here and least we should disparage their eye-sight we shall deny nothing thereof but they may put all their gain in their eyes according to the proverb but least as bad eyes infect one the other so some others also be like Tychonius of whom Augustine speaks Statim quippe amore sententiae suae contra veritatem oculum claufit and may seem to see this Argument to be unanswerable also as it looks with an opposite aspect and adverse influence upon our Thesis and that to admit all in that qualified and restrained sense is in consistent also with order and comliness therefore to undeceive them advertant ea quae oculos etiam caecos seriant intueantur â— Let them borrow the same Proposition and advance it to a Major Where there is mixture and confusion of good bad there is no order and then yoak it with a Minor where the subject onely is changed and render it thus Where all are admitted to Church-membership to the Word and Prayer there is such mixture c. And then see what a conclusion it wil draw after it and if they be not now as mute as a Fish but have any piece of answer found in their mouthes let them give it for me and them Let them remind what we have often mentioned out of Augustine Mixtus reis obnoxiis nifi per conscientiae maculatam consensionem nullus recte dici potest and that bonus malis nullo modo misceripotest so as then first here can be no mixture of good and bad Thirdly men may be said to be bad and unfit simply and absolutely or respectively according to their sense and construction if simply and absolutely such as are guilty of grosse palpable ignorance of the very principles of the faith or of notorious crimes scandals obstinately persisted in though we should grant them their conclusion we yeeld nothing of the cause but if they understand all those to be bad and unfit who though Church-members and Dogmaticall believers have not approved by tryall their sound knowledge and sincere holinesse unto them we shall deny what they have not proved and we have now had proof that they cannot prove hat such are bad or unfit or that where all in this accommodate sense are admitted there is no order all such are relatively though not really holy and fit and many of those to whom they give admission are not really worthy If they are worthy to partake of the prayers Quoted before they are not unworthy to communicate of the Sâ—crament in the judgment of Chrysostom And if they are not unworthy saith Chamier of the peace of the Church they are not unworthy of the Sacrament and if worthy to be reckoned to be of the body of Christ â—hat is members of his Church thâ—y are not unworthy to feed on him Besides although simply the casting out or non-admission of persons criminous may be consonant to order yet respâ—ctively to the procuring or conserving a greater good or avoiding a more mischievous evill it may not be orderly Although we may not doe evill that good may ensue yet we may and must passe over or omit a lâ—sser good to acquire a greater And since malus bonum vehementiùs excitat movet impellit voluntatem therefore regularly non potest voluntas inserius bonum eligere quia electio non est nisi ex consultatione rationis consultatio vero non fit
we neeâ— not go out of the world though we should have no fellowship with them in eating of the Lords Supper for no Christian in the world hath such a society in eating since men of the world do not communicate therein Fifthly If to company and to eat are here Identicall then by an Argument ad hominem it cannot be eating at the holy Table for they admit of their company there they may be present and look on but will not permit them to eat But they think it followes à minore ad majus If we may not eat common bread then much less sacred with them and they produce the judgment of Parâ—us Quanto magis convictu sacro Triall of grounds tending to Separation c. 10. p. 200. but we have over-balanced that testimony with the authority of others and among them of Augustine in the precedent Section who directly assures us that we may take the body of Christ with those with whom we are forbidden to eat bread and we have there and elswhere laid weighty reasons beside in that scale to make it preponderate There is not the same reason saith Mr. Ball of breaking off private familiarity with an offender and separating from the Lords Ordinances if he be admitted whether respect be had to the glory of God our own safety the avoyding of offence or the good of the party fallen For in coming to Gods Ordinance we have communion with Christ principally and with the faithfull with the wicked we have no communion save externall and by accident because they are not or cannot be cast out Necesse est ut eam non ut vivam it is necessary that I goe to the Sacrament not that I live in any mans company my communion with Christ and the faithfull is not free and voluntary but necessary with the wicked in the ordinances unwilling suffered and not affected civill commerce with the wicked is lawfull when necessary and much more external communion in those things of God which must not be neglected Every man till he be justly cut off from the commuion Calvin advers Anabapt hath a title to that wherein Ecclesiasticall communion mainly consists but no man can put in a claim to my familiar society I may chuse my friends but not my fellows in that which God commands others as well as me I am obliged to eschew evill company lest I become evill by the diffusions of their example and insinuations or be reputed evill by an argument taken from my consorts For even the Heathen a Charondas enacted by Law That no man should converse with wicked persons lest they contracted a reproach as if he were like them or delighted in them but no obligation is incumbent on me to separate from them in that which is good and may help to make them better and wherein they discover no exemplary evil whereby I may be made worse and where I have a command to examine with what heart I come but none to make any examination with what affections others approach Epist 164. tom 2 p. 144. Manifestum est saith Augustine bòc non affici hominom quòd est malus quisquam cum quo ad altare Christi acceditur etiamsi non incognitus si tan um non approbetur à bona conscientia displicendo separetur Secondly this argument carried from forbidding society in civil to denyal thereof in things sacred is extensive to all sacred things or some onely if to all then themselves comply not with the duty who hold communion in all holy things save the one Sacrament if to some where are they warranted to distinguish in that which the Precept distinguisheâ—h not Thirdly We conceive we have in the precedent Section made some discoveries that the ancient Church had no fellowship with some in civil things to whom they denyed not society in sacred and that this was no strange or unusuall thing among the Jewes hath some footsteps in the parable where the Publican prayed with the Pharisee in the Temple yet the Pharisee would not eat with or touch a Publican and where conversation was forbidden in civill things yet in order to the good of the parties or any spirituall end a commerce was allowed as no man might come near the Leaper yet the Priest might have recourse to him and when the Apostle 2 Thess 3.14 willeth them not to have company with him that obeyed not his word yet verse 5 15. he adviseth them to admonish him as a brother which could not be done without a society and converse together in order to that end yea L. 2. Observ 4 p. 241. Observ 24 29 though in the primitive Church excommunicate persons were avoyded as polluted tantâ curâ tantóque studio ut ne quidem eos non dico alloqui sed nec intueri satis tutum honestâ—m iis videretur saith Albaspinus yet he shewes us that they might at some times enter the Church and stood among or near the Catechumeus and might there heare some portions of the Word and expositions thereof and make their prayers 4. Though sometimes the same reason perhaps that may be a motive to their exclusion from our familiar company may become also an inductive to their expulsion from Ecclesiastick communion yet still they are thence duly expelled though we decline them in the one we may not divide our selves in the other simul edimus simul bibimus quia simul vivimus saith Augustine while we live together in the same house of God we may eate together at the same Table of the Lord and also many emergent circumstances may sometimes prohibite such a casting out Augustine tells us Cont. ep Parm. l. 3. c. 2. Cùm mul os comperisset immunda luxuria fornicationibus inquinatos ad eosdem Corinthios in 2 Epistola scribons non itidem praecipit ut cum talibus nec cibum sumerent multi enim erant saith Augustine And farther he askes Quemadmodum Cyprianus caeteri similes implebant quod praecepit Apostolus Si qui frater nominatur c. Quando cum his avaris rapacibus qui sundos infidiosis fraudibus raperent usuris multiplicantibus foenus augerent panem domini manducabant calicom bibebant And he answers Antiqui non poterant ab iis corporaliter separari ne similiter eradicarent triticum sufficiebat iis à talibus corde sejungi vitâ moribusque distingui propter compensationem custodiendae pacis unitatis c In those cases when as the Physiâ—ian ut curet spasmum procurat sebrim so the Physitians of souls to prevent a schisme suffer an offending multitude or such as they cannot cast out without danger of schisme to retain communion and to communicate at the Sacrament Though others may not without turning schismaticks separate from their fellowship in sacred duties yet I think not only by the dictate of prudent counsel but by the force of a just precept they ought to sever themselves
he affirms that communicant Altari Christi non alienis peccatis non facta cum talibus sed Domini sacramenta communicant and confidently gives this Corollary Manifestum non contaminari alienis peccatis quando cum iis sacramenta communicant Epist 48. tom 2. p. 36. And as in answer to this text urged by Cresconius he saith Vt ostenderet quemadmodum quisque non commuâ—icaret alienis peccatis ad hoc addidit Te ipsum castum serva non enim qui se castum servat communicat alienis peccatis quamvis non corum peccata sed illa quae ad judicium sumunt Dei sacramenta communicet cum iis à quibus se castum servando facit alienum alioquin etiam Cyprianus quod â—absit peccatis raptorum soeneratorum collegarum communicabat cum quibus tamen in communione divinorum sacramentorum manebat So elswhere he tells the Dona ists upon this occasion Contra lit Petil l. 2. c. 22. Non dixisse Dominum praesente Juda nondum mundi estis sed jam mundi estis addidit autem non omnes quia ibi erat qui mundus non erat qui tamen si praesentia sua caeteros pollueret non iis diceretur jam mundi estis sed diceretur ut dixi nondum mundi estis certè si putatis apud nos similes esse Judae haec verba nobis dieite mundi estis sed non omnes non autem hoc dicitis sed diciâ—is propter quosdam immundos immundi estis omnes Whereas they say that as in Civill Judicatories there are Principals and Accessories so before God there will be too non-examiners are accessories before the fact But the Law wil supply them with as little aid as the Gospel for in Law he is onely an accessory before the fact that abets precures consents to or commands a felony or any evill act from whence a felony proceeds but first as the lowest offences involve no accessories as trespasses so by proportion where the faults are not exitious or scandalous dalous there should be no accessories by commuunion with such as are onely so faulty And secondly where the action is naturally good that is commanded though in pursuance thereof a Felony may be committed the commander of the act is not accessory to the Felony so the receiving of the Sacrament being in its own nature a good and necessary duty he that consents or should enjoyn them to receive who become unworthy receivers is not accessory to the unworthy reception So thirdly since participation of sin is onely in those acts which are evill in the kind and object thereof not in those acts which are good and the deficiency is onely in the well doing and that defect neither caused or consented to by another they therefore that suffer those to come to the Sacrament that partake unworthily and participate with them but not in unworthinesse neither abet procure consent to or command the unworthinesse nor are accessory to the Ataxy but the act not the formall but the naturall part thereof and the physicall not the moral action as long as he that administers or permits any to come to the administration is not the cause of their unworthy receiving nor the unworthinesse of the person known to him in that way wherein it regularly ought to be viz. 〈…〉 â—nd notorious knowledge though it be evill of the part of the receiver 〈…〉 â—he part of the giver nor is any fault to be imputed to him who cannot be 〈…〉 another partakes with an evill Suarez as before what he distributes with a good intent and affection And with the action of receiving there is not conjoyned necessarily and of it selfe the unworthinesse of receiving for he may partake worthily if he will so as there is no co-operation in evil but a permission which morally cannot be avoyded the co-operation being onely to the receiving not unworthy reception neither doth the administer doe against his conscience in administring for the Dictate thereof is not to be regulated by his private and speculative knowledge that this man is unworthy but by his practical knowledge considering what he ought to do for time and place in concurrence of such circumstances of the mans coming to demand the Sacrament and his occult unworthinesse and the administer doth not dispense it in his own name but according to order established by God forbidding any Church-member to be denied his right to holy things upon the private knowledge or will of the administer who is to distribute it not formally as to one worthy or unworthy but to one undivided from the Church and to exhibit that which is the witnesse of Christian profession to them professe the Christian faith the Sacraments being notes of the true Church and the receiving thereof an act of communion with the true Church And if this can support and justifie the dispensing of the Sacrament to such as by private knowledge onely are known to be unworthy much more will it bear out the dispensation thereof to those that are only suspected or have onely not upon triall given demonstrative signs of heir being worthy And seeing also unconverted men can neither hear nor pray with faith and consequently sin in both as well as when they partake of the Sacrament it must consequently be asmuch a partaking of their sins to admit them and communicate with them in the one as in the other What they tautologize and thereby constrain us like Mercury reasoning with Battus to conform to them because admisso sequimur vestigia pâ—ssu of the telling them that are unworthy and yet are partakers that they are â—aints interessed in Gospel privileges and promises and justified persons by giving them the seales of the now Covenant is neither pertinent to this subject of partaking their sins nor as hath been formerly manifested is consonant to truth or sound reason it makes them relative Saints and so are all Church members not effectively or meritoriously cut off The Sacrament â—eâ—s not men but the promises to them and upon condition of believing and that they may do to those that believe not and in the condiâ—ional promises all of the Church have interest which are the same promises in the word and in the Sacrament though differently applied and the one and the other hold forth justification in the same way of believing and upon such condition and not otherwise They are not assured that all those are justified to whom they impart the seales and why are any made saints interessed in the promises and justified more by this Sacrament if they should have it than by the other which they have That non examiners are accessories before the fact is one of their Dictates but none of their demonstrations That those who are under violent suspicion of grosse ignorance shall come under examination we deny not that those who are vehemently suspected of scandals may be examined and witnesses may be so also concerning them we grant
but that they may examine of the sincerity of grace or soundness of conversion such a power God never gave nor can we suffer them to usurp As what have I to judge those that are without so to judge that which is within the Church judgeth onely of scandal not that which is secret in the heart Suspension is a penal act and therefore not to be inflicted but by judicial sentence upon evidence of crime nor for want of evidence of sound grace Every one as is the rule of the Casuists is to be esteemed good untill some manifest evil appear of him He that is a Church member hath a right to holy things to admit him to partake them it is enough not to know the contrary We need not seek positively to know his worthiness they must not set up their thrones of judgement in Gods peculiar Contra Epist Parmen l. 2. â— 6. Contra lit Petil l. c. 23. Coutra Douat post Coll. c. 4. the heart Had the ancient Church sensed or practised such a necessary duty Augustine needed not to have feared the eradication of the wheat with the tares upon a denial of communion of Sacraments with evil men for such a curious examination would have distinguisht one from the other and the one might be puld up and the other left standing and there would scarce have been place for those expresses Bonis malinon oberunt qui ignorantur and also quandoquidem malos in unitate catholica vel non noverant and likewise aut aliis benis non potuerit demonstrari for they and their condiâ—ion might well then have been detected and manifested The Apostle speaks of Ordination of Ministers wherein by not examining the persons to be ordained guilt is contracted and when done without proving as 1 Tim. 3.10 then it is sudden That the words are to be understood of laying on of hands in Ordination I confess hath better authority but they seem to have more reason who take it for imposition of hands in absolving of penitents Abbispin l. 2. obs 31. p. 400 obscr 32. p. 412. See Dr. Hammond Annot. as do Tertullian and Cyprian among the ancients to which sense the context before and after is more sutable and that part of the precept keep thy self pure is by some of this judgment thus paraphrased that by knowing what is committed by other men he be not corrupted or defiled and drawn into the like but remaine pure and undefiled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying to commit the sins not onely to be blamable for others guilt But let it be meant properly of Ordination If they could give us such another text administer not or admit not to the Lords Supper suddenly they would as Scaliger saith of Mamonides desinere nugari but as there is no such like precept so there is not like reason for the one or other or else the Apostle doubtless when he gave directions concerning the administration would have held it forth First There is no command generally obliging all intelligent Christians to take Orders Addit ad Aquinat 3. q. 36. butt 4. Nugnus ibid. there is to take eat do this Secondly No man hath such a claim to Orders but that it is not sufficient that the Ordainer knows not the contrary but he must positively know his worthiness but a Church member hath such a right to the seales of that faith which he professeth and to the notes of that Church wherein he is incorporated as to receive them unless he be publickly known to be unworthy the one requires special Charismataes the other onely common graces to entitle to the signs though special be requisite to obtain the things signified Thirdly Often the persons to be ordained are not known unto or familiarly acquainted with the Ordainer but the Pastor should be more conversant with his flock then to be ignorant of their condition Fourthly Filvicius Cas tract 9. c. 4. Sect 88. Part 1. dist 25. nullus ordinetur No grace is now usually given by Ordination to meliorate the persons but grace is conferred by the Sacrament adjumental to their amendment Fifthly Notwithstanding all this those that are notoriously worthy the Casuists say are not to be examined before Ordination and the glosse on Gratian tells us Testimonium populi aequivalet examinationi verum sufficit quod clericus ordinandus habeat famam perse per hoc etiam patet quod noti non sunt examinandi sed tantum ignoti but they exempt none though of known worthiness from examination before admission to communicate which shewes it is not their worthiness they seek to be assured of but to make sure of them Beside the prohibition here to partake of other mens sins in the judgment of Calvin and others is onely this Although others break forth into this rashnesse to ordain persons unworthy do not thou follow or have fellowship with them in such acts not those of the ordained but ordainers And whereas they alleage 1 Tim. 3.10 That ordination was not to be made without examining or proving we grant a proving was there required but it was a probation by long experience not by a personal examination as Chrysostom expounds it Multo jam tempore explorati as Bullinger Probatio constantis fidei vitae inculpatae as Estius Praesertim quod Diaconis etiam dispensatio thesaurorum Ec lesiae committeretur and a Lapide to the like effect Quorum virtus diu spectata probata so as this arrow may be shot back against them to demonstrate that knowledge and proof of men may be had without personall examination viz. by observing their coversation and that therefore it is but a paralogisme when they argue The worthy must be admitted and the unworthy excluded therefore all must be examined SECT XXXII 1 Pet. 3.15 Heb. 13.17 discussed What obedience is due to Ministers and what power they have VVE have formerly also defeated the force of their Arguments levied out of those Texts and we shall not actum agere Diatribe sect 3 since even the too frequent use of Cordials makes them lesse efficacious Concerning that of 1 Pet. 3.15 I have elswhere shewed that this is to be understood of a defence of the faith against despisers thereof or disputers against it or a confession thereof under persecution opposite to dissembling or as Grotius Grot. Annoâ— in locum of a preparedness causam reddere cur sitis Christiani Sic 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 habemus Phil. 1.17 2 Tim. 4.16 Acts 22.1 not so much to professe what as wherefore we believe as Tirinus also concurreth neither is it an answer subsequent unto or drawn forth by any probatory examination nor confined or contracted to a disposing men for the Sacrament nor any way respecting or appertaining thereunto it is so far from being to be done onely there as they obtrude it as that thereunto there is here no reference at all much
sic Elephantia sis omnium morborum maximus and so infectious that qui bibit in eodem vitro cum Elephantiaco inquinabitur And therefore though the judging of and exterminating the Leper may perhaps in a more tolerable Allegory bear some proportion to the consuring and excommunicating nefarious and notorious sinners obstinately persisting in impenitence who do give scandall and may spread infection yet what conformity carries it to the suspending of those who have not satisfied them of their fitnesse or worthinesse and who are innocent of such great transgressions The Priest was to take curions view and to make severall inspections not arbitrarily and precipitously as is their use to pronounce men Lepers and he was to distinguish between a Scab a Leprosie verse 8. for a scab did not shut out of the Camp neither must small faults from the Church or Sacrament Si quis suspect◠sit infirmitatis saith Ambrose indulge aliquantulum medendi periti cum vident notas aegritudines non primò medicinam adhibent Willot in locum Doct. 2. 5. sed tempus expectant And again Diu tractatur putrida pars si sanari potest medicamentis si non potest à bono medico abscinditur sie Episcopi affectus boni est ut optet sanari infirmos serpentia auferre ulcera adducere aliqua non abseindere postrumò quod sanari non potest cum dolore abscindere But while they use a contrary method sure the plague of leprosie is among the Priests who have the signes thereof not in the rent of their clothes but in the rent of the Church The next Scripture is 2 Chron. 23.19 another Allegory and therefore no Argument as Hierom saith of Origen Praefat. 10. Isai ad Amabil Episcop while he wanders in his free course of Allegories he makes his wit the Churches Sacraments so they make their Allegories the rule of their distribution of the Sacraments in the Church But if a clear and impartial judgement had been the Porter this Argument drawn from Jehosaphats Porters c. had not been suffered to enter not only because to reduce their practice of Discipline to a resemblance and conformity to what was done to those that were unclean under the law they should not only debar those whom they think impure from coming to the Sacrament but from entring the Church yea from civil commerce Instit Moral tom 3. l. 10. p. 679. for polluti praescripto legis arcebantur ab ingressu in templum ab aliorum convictu consortio saith Azorius comfortmably to Scripture neither were either of the legal Sacraments made or given in the Temple for if the Paschal Lamb were there killed and sacrificed yet it was eaten at home so that the keeping out of the temple was not the keeping off from the Passover however that which did prohibit the entry at the one might forbid the eating of the other and though Jehosophats Porters suffered none that were unclean in any thing to enter the house of the Lord yet this must be understood of evident and apparant uncleanness and of such as were notoriously known to be defiled for we do not find nor can imagine that they searched any men or women or made tryal of them by denuding them and some kinds of uncleannesse contracted by contact were not discernible by any re-search But chiefly because neither the Porters can rationally be supposed to Type the Church Officers nor the Temple only to signifie the Lords Table nor indeed is there any colour or proportion for it so as there can be no beauty in the Allegory that legal uncleanesse should be a figure of or bear resemblance with moral filthynesse contracted by sinful actions Philo makes the Temple to be an image of the world some more probably a Type of Christs natural body others of his mystical body the Church But if of the Church yet whether of the true Catholick or the Visible Church or of the Militant or triumphant Church which or whether of these is not clear and liquid Mr. Ball. answ to Canne part 2. pag. 67. August contra 2 Epist Gaudentii l. 2. c. 25 without some divine light for as it is only appertaining to God to design a Type so it is peculiar to him alone to expound and make known the signification thereof Homo vobis dixit an Deus si Deus legite hoc nobis ex lege Prophetis Psalmis Apostolicis Euangelicis literis so autem homines dixerunt ecce figmentum humanum c. But certainly it is evident that the Temple did not Type the Table of the Lord no man ever fell upon that fancy Tam vana nullum decepit imagine somnus And therefore however this Argument might seem subservient to prove the casting out of the Church by Excemmunication or might reflect a little superficial glosse on the Independent way of admitting none into the Church but manifest Saints yet it bears no colour to paint over their practice who permit them to be Members of the Church and partakers of other Ordinances whom they exclude from the Lords Supper And if hereby the Church had been figured and also that no wicked person should enter therein yet either the Church was thereby described as women were by Sophocles only what they ought to be not what they were or as they shall be in Heaven that new Jerusalem where no unclean person shall enter for otherwise it can be no true Church whereof any wicked persons are Members So likewise legal uncleannesse is clean wide from figuring or obumbrating either scandalous sins which may merit casting out or irregeneration for which pretendedly they let not in For 1. There might be legal uncleannesse without any sin as in some diseases of men and women and in some necessary or casual contacts and there might be odious sins without any legal uncleanesse sins did not make legally upclean nor legal uncleannesse alwayes sinful unlesse a man did wilfully neglect his cleansing A holy man might be unclean and a wicked man clean 2. All sin was forbidden by God and no sin was necessary but all uncleannesse was not prohibited and some was of necessity to be contracted as that which grew from Burial of the dead Numb 19.11 or removing dead Carcasses Levit. 11.39 and making of the water of separation Numb 19. vers 7. 3. No man could sin unwillingly every sin is in some respect voluntary but a man might be unclean against his will Leviticus 15.8 Numbers 19. vers 14. 4. The least uncleannesse shut out from the Tabernacle and Temple but the least sin excludes not from the Church or Sacrament even our enemies being judges 5. Things as well as persons were lyable to uncleannesse but only rational creatures are capable of sinning 6. He was clean that was most defiled as he whose leprosie covered all his skin from head to foot Levit. 13.13 14. but the Analogie holdeth not in the most leprous sinners 7. He that
Ministery This abridgment of their Church-History will set this whole Discourse in more light and put us right in the true state of the question agitated between me and the Apologists which had its rise and result from their proceedings Nonnulla pars est inventionis nosse quod quaeras saith Augustine They say the Author is unacquainted with their way and it had been happy if none had ever been acquainted therewith It is probable they have their Cabala's for at their Assemblies they have sought to set Harpocrates at the door that some of the mysteries of their way might be as secret as the Holyes of Ceres but the thingnow in question Opinor Omnibus Lippis notum Tonsoribus esse But we erre in saying they examine all which they deny that they do such as are more knowing and are willing do onely make profession of their Faith and knowledge some publickly some more privately which is in effect to say that they do not examine them in one point but in all there is no more difference between examination upon interrogatories and a large continued profession than between a Pedlars laying open his whole Pack and his shewing forth some few parcels that some may enquire for or than when a person is suspected to have filched some commodity between his ripping up and shewing out all the laps and receptacles of his garments and the Officers making a particular re-search into them By compelling men to make profession they make in effect an examination of more particulars and put them under a more difficult tryal as to give a brief answer to a question is more easie than to make a long continued Oration And if this profession be not an examination let them examine themselves how can they reconcile these two assertions That they do not examine all and that in the reformation of a corrupt Church which they say is the work they are about it is necessary to examine all without convicting themselves to omit to do that which they say is necessary And if profession therefore be a kind of examination how can that also cohere with truth or with it self that they examine none but those which may well be suspected of incompetent knowledge and yet they bring under this profession such as are knowing And if none he examined but such as may be well suspected of incompetent knowledge which we not suspect but know in some particulars to be otherwise unless they are of the humour of Dionysius of Sicily who admitted all to have recourse to him save those he expected treacherous but yet suspected all for such that he might admit none then such as are not of competent knowledge being uncapable of admission to the Sacrament and they admitting not the rest of their Parishes because they should be and will not be examined how can it consist with what they tell us else-where That it is enviously surmised that they think all those uncapable whom they admit not And if they will examine all and yet do examine none but such as may well be suspected to be of incompetent knowledge it is as little to the honour of their Ministery as to the credit of their peoples proficiency since Diogenes thought the Master was to be stricken when the Scholar play'd the Truant The omitting of the use of Sacrament they say concerns them not but sure it doth because they omit it in their own Parishes and charges where it is their special and proper call to administer it and they omit to distribute it to all that come not under their examination That about convening from divers Parishes will but confound the discourse if mixed with it and indeed it is like to confound all the specious discourses they make in defence of their way as I shall endevour to manifest anon most of those admitted were taken in not without their proper Pastour I will not divide the house upon that tryal but whether these that were admitted with their Pastour were culpable of Schisme we shall hereafter examine in the mean time St. Cyprian imputes Schisme to those that were admitted without their Pastour Ecclesia est plebs sacerdoti adunita Cyprian Epist 68. p. 209. that is as Junius explains him Respectu unionis externae materialis non internae formalis cum Christo ex illa formali seu essentiali sunt Catholici ex externa secundaria adventitia noscuntur censentur in corpore Junius in Controvers 4. Bell. 1104 1105. Citat Vasquez in 3. Disp. 219. c. 2. p. 499. Tom. 3. grex Pastori suo adhaerens unde scire debes Episcopum in ecclesia esse ecclesiam in Episcopo si qui cum Episcopo non sint in ecclesia non esse and farther Frustrà sibi blandiuntur ii qui pacem cum sacerdotibus Dei non habentes obrepunt latenter apud quosdam communicare se credunt cùm ecclesia quae Catholica una est scissa non est neque divisa sed sit utique connexa cohaerentium sibi invicem sacerdotum glutino copulata and if it were not Schisme it is a fault forbidden by the first Councel of Carthage Ut nullus Clericus vel Laicus in aliena parochia sine literis sui Episcopi communicaret and a fault which the Councel of Milevi censured with deprivation of the Communion 2. Such as were admitted of other Congregations are persons justly which term is unjustly assumed or begged offended with the grossness of their administrations at home where no separation at all is made nor cherishing of desires that way It gave the pretended rise to Donatus his Schisme that Caecilian supposed a traditor was retained in Communion with the Church First this is to condemn themselves for chaffe by separating themselves from those whom they suppose to be chasse Vos nihil inter perfidum fidelem discernitis Cresconius Augustino Separarunt caus â quòd in Communione Sacramentorum mali maculant bonos ideóque se corporali disjunct one à malorum contagione recessisse ne omnes pariter perâ—râ—â— Aug. de unitat baptism c. 14. for saith St. Augustine De area vix excutieris si triticum es eo ipso quòd discedis volas paleam te esse indicas And secondly to confess that all Augustins learned and ardent propositions strong armature against the Donatists could not beat down and dash in peeces that Schisme but that it would in part rise and spring up again in these men For if to refuse to have Communion of Sacraments with evil men and to separate because discipline is not exercised in casting out of evil men be not a main part of the Schisme of the Donarists I am too dull to understand the sense of St. Augustine and if I mistake him and their Heresie I erre with Plato and many learned men share with me in the same misprision If they shall say That they separate not from all Churches but onely from those