of he is inferiour to the teaching Elders and deserves lesse honour then they For so the Apostle orders things RoÌ„ 12. 7. 8. 1 Tim. 5. 17. Now in making your Bishops Pastours Doctours you are double forgetfull of your self and double injurious vnto them and which is worse then both the rest you sin against the Lord his truth For the first in your former book you made your Bishops cheif officers in the Church and the successours of the Apostles and Evangelists and here you make them Pastours and Teachers which are the lowest orders of officers that Christ gave for the work of the ministery Ephe. 4. 11. 2. if your Bishops be Pastours and Teachers by their office what are you and the rest of your rank You and they have not the same office but you an office vnder them and so Pastours and Teachers being the lowest order that Christ hath left in his Church your order must needs be something vnder the lowest and of an others leavings then Christs 3. in making your Bishops the Pastours Teachers of the Church of England or the particular Churches in it you lay to their charge an accusation which they will never be able to answer at the day of the Lord which is their not feeding of so many thowsand sheep committed vnto them to be fedd and taught by them Lastly nothing is more vntrue and disagreable to the word of God then that your Provinciall and Diocesan Bishops are the Pastours and Teachers given by Christ to his Church There were no other ordinary officers left or appointed by the Apostles in the Churches but such as were fixed to particular congregations ordinarily called Bishops or Elders Act. 14. 23. 20. 17. 28. Phil. 1. 1. And if it can be shewed that by the word of God any other officers were left or appointed in the Church after the extraordinary officers Apostles Prophets Evangelists whose gifts and places vvere extraordinary besides such Bishops and Elders as vvere limited to particular Churches I vvill yeeld this vvhole cause in the point of the Ministery and so professe The other of Mr B. answer I mynd is about the power of Christ against sin Sathan Antichrist the want whereof Mr Ainsw and that truely objecteth against the English assemblyes Mr B. defence summarily is that there is in the Church of England the preaching of the word which is the power of Christ Rom. 1. 18. as also excommunication though not in every parrish yet in the Church of England in which is comprehended all parrishes and all superiour power over them For which let the Reader observe these particulars First a national Church since Christs death and the dissolution of the Iewish Church is amonstrous compound and savours of Iudaism Secondly if the mayn part of the power of Christ be to be administred in a particular congregation by the ordinary officers thereof namely the preaching of the gospell why not the inferiour part the censures also save that the Byshops to Lord it over all will keep this rod in their own hands Thirdly the Ministers whose judgments reasons you avouch both say and prove in the latter end of your book that this power is given to a particular congregation of faithful people Fourthly you your self lay it down as a mayn ground against popularity and withal sundry scriptures to prove it that Christ hath appoynted the same sorts of men in his Church for preaching administration of the sacraments and government Lastly it is apparant that the particular Church of Corinth gathered together in the name of the Lord Iesus had the power of the Lord Iesus for excommunication and so hath every other faythful assembly in the world as they had which since your assemblyes are not they may want this power without any great wrong the evil onely is that it resteth in a worse place then the worst parrish assembly the Bishops court or consistory I proceed Onely my desire is that the things which I have noted touching Christs kingly office be the more carefully observed by all the people of God and servants of Iesus in respect of that most direct opposition which in those latter dayes is made against it and the administration thereof For as in the first tymes after Christs comming in the flesh his prophetical office was directly impugned by Iewes and heathens so as it was †not lawful to speak in his name since that his preisthood by the masse-preisthood sacrifices in the popish Church so now in the last place doth Sathan in his instruments bend his force most directly against and with might and mayn oppose the sovereignty and crown of our Lord Iesus that he may not rule in his Church by his own officers and lawes The matter you say is not false and to shew this you note a difference between true matter false matter and no matter As you speak that which neyther any other nor yet your selfe can vnderstand of false matter so you call them no matter which make no profession of Christ at all â—â— Iewes Turkâ—s Pagans and all them true matter to wit visible which openly professe this â—â—yn truth that Iesus the sonne of Mery is the sonne of 〈…〉 Christ the Lord by whom onely and 〈…〉 they shal be saved Many greivous errours are bound vp 〈…〉 invective of Mr Bernards but for prophanenes this one surmounts them all For what can be spoken more prejudicial to the glorie of God or deragotory to the body of Christ hâ—â— that any person but pronouncing so many words how fil 〈…〉 ious soever he be in his life or what errours soever he mingle with this truth is notwithstanding true visible matter of the Church or a true member of Christs body visibly or so far as men can iudg and so must be received acknowledged Against this odious and prophane errour I wil first deal by some clear Arguments proving the contrary and then come to the allegations he makes for his vngodly purpose If all that professe this mayn truth Iesus the son of Mary c. be true matter of the Church then are most notable haeretiques true matter of the Church The Apellites Câ—rdoâ—â—ans and Marcioâ—â—â—es holding two contrary beginnings or Gods the one good the other evil the Macedonians denying the Holy Ghost to be God the Cerâ—â—â—hyans holding that Christ is not yet risen from the dead the Paternians affirming the inferiour parts of the body of man to be created of the Divill the Patricâ—â—â—â— holding so of the whole body the Novatians and Cathari denying repentance to them that sin the Nicholaitans holding community of all things the Swenk seldians and Enthusiasts denying the outward ministery wayting vpon the revelation of the spirit alone and with these many others as ill or worse then they professing notwithstanding this mayn truth as the most of them did and do Then are excommunicates true matter of the
together with their answers layes them downe in his 2. book Of the first Argument I have spoken in another place The 2. is that if Christs ministeriall power be by succession to the Pope Bishops or Praesbytery then the Ministery of Rome is a true Ministery Mr Bern answer is that he meanes true succession which is both personall and hath with it a true office true doctrine true sacraments and prayer about which Christs true ministers are exercised but for the Romish Ministery it is idolatry and superstition and the men appointed there to ordeyned sacrifising Preists This answer of yours Mr B. puts me in mind of a practise of children who when they have a long while busyed themselves in drawing the best formes and figures they can in dust and ashes do at the last with one dash of their hand deface all vndo what they haue formerly done And that this childish dealing you use no reader that considers the quaestion in hand can be ignorant of The quaestion then between him me is not of such a succession personall as hath joyned with it successiō in a true office true doctrine true sacraments prayer wherin the minister is in any measure faithfully exercised but generally whether succession of persons be of such absolute necessity as that no minister can in any case be made but by a minister more specially whither the first ministers of the reformed Ch or of such as come out of the confusiō of Antichrist must of necessity be ordeyned by the Pope his Bishops or minister by vertue of their ordinatiō so received And that this succession by from the Romish ministery is that Mr Ber pleads for his writings manifest as first that as in all the Apostles time the Ministery was by succession ministers as it were begetting Ministers by ordination so after their tyme the like succession hath been kept frō tyme to tyme Bishop after Bishop and Ministers ordeyned by them which the Catalogue of thē stories of tymes on which we must rely where the script cease to make further relation do witnesse for the continuation of which succession to the worlds end he alledgeth Math. 28. 20. odiously perverting to the Pope and his shavelings the promise which Christ there made to be with his Apostles other faithfull ministers teaching the things which he had commanded and dispensing his other ordinances accordingly Answerable vnto which is his other saying in which his termes and meaning do well suit that Church-men ever ordeyned Ministers not the lay people To this also let his inferēce be added in another place pag. 311. that if we receive and hold our baptism from Rome why not our ordination also And in his former book most clearly condemning our Ministers for being made by such as are no Ministers contrary to the constant practise of the Church of God from the dayes of Adam hitherto And agayn that this custome of ordeyning Ministers did continue in the times following the Apostles tymes as before it had done in all the Churches of Christendom as ecclesiasticall wryters do make mention and so through pure impure Churches and that God in the last reformation of his Church would not break this order but choose men who were Bishops ordeyned even in the Popish Church so that they might ordeyn fit persons afterwards And this he tels the Reader he speaks of the Church of England as in deed he may wel for other Ch departed frō Rome would be loath to joyn in his plea. And lastly he chargeth vs with great praesumption for daring to break this order of God continued five thowsand and six hundred years Novv what can be more vayne The very poynt which MR. BERNARD is to prove and from which he brings his historicall narration from Adam to this day is that God hath continued the course of succession in the Romish Ministery and that from and by it successively the Ministery in England hath been and is at this day continued And yet in his answer to Mr Smyth he is driven to affirm that he hath no referēce at all to the Romish Ministery which he accounts Idolatry and superstition but meanes such a personal succession as hath ioyned with it a true office true doctrine and the like He will haue succession continued from the dayes of Adam hitherto and this to haue been the order of God for five thowsand and six hundred yeres and that he chose Bishops ordeyned in the Popish Church to ordeyn fit persons in the Church of England and yet Mr Smith is to know he speaks not at all of the succession in the Romish Ministery which is idolatry and superstition Now that the more simple reader may not loose himself in this mans maze and that he may the better know the state of the quaestion and judge of it I will here interpose some few thinges touching succession and ordination accordingly First then wee acknowledge that in the right and orderly state of things no Ministers are to be ordeyned but by Ministers the latter by the former in the Churches where they are and over which the holy Ghost hath set them And so the Apostles being generall and extraordinary men vnto whom the Evangelists also were joyned for assistance to water where they planted and to finish the works by them begun as they had the care of all the Churches committed vnto them and were charged with them so were they also to ordeyn the Elders and Bishops in them and the people bound to wayt theyr comming for that purpose as Mr Ber. truly affirmeth as were also these Bishops or Elders to ordeyn others in the Churches over which they were set so others after them in the order appoynted by Christ in his Apostles with whō also he promised to be alwayes till the worlds end in this and the like their holy ministrations But is the consequence good that bycause the Apostles and Evangelists were to ordeyn Elders in the Churches by Cōmission from Christ and that the people converted from Indaism or Paganism were to wayt till they came to ordeyn them theyr ministers therefore the Pope and Prelates vnder him have cōmission from Christ to ordeyn his priests and that the people converted from Antichristianism are to wayt 〈◊〉 they come to ordeyn them their Ministers or till they send them such as they have alwayes in store ordeyned to their hands or that bycause the Apostles and Evangelists had Christs promise to be with them alwayes that therefore the Pope Cardinalls Lord Bishops and Lord Suffragans have interest in the same promise It might asvvell be concluded that as the Lords people were bound to obey and submit vnto the former in their times so are they now to submit vnto and obey the Pope and his vnderlings And yet is this the very mark Mr Bernard aymes at in his long drawn historicall narration this is the force of his argument and his
place Onely let the indifferent reader iudge whither Mr B. in blazing abroad the personal infirmityes of his adversaries without any occasion neyther sparing the living nor the dead have not come to the very highest pitch of the most natural rayling that may be A practise which all sober mynded men do abhor from The next that comes in Mr B. way are the two brethren Mr Francis Mr George Iohnson whose contentions he exaggeâ—ateth what he can to make both their persons and cause odious True it is that George Iohnson together with his father taking his part were excommunicated by the Church for contention arising â—t the first vpon no great occasion wherevpon many bitter and â—eprochful termes were vttered both in word and writing George â—ecoÌ„ming as Mr B. chargeth him a disgracefull libeller It is to vs iust cause of humiliation all the dayes of our lives â—hat we have given and do give by our differences such advantages â—o them which seek occasion agaynst vs to blaspheme the truth â—hough this may be a iust iudgment of God vpon others which â—â—ek offences that seeking they may find them to the hardening of â—heyr hearts in evill But let men turne theyr eyes which way soever â—hey will and they shall see the same scandalls Look to the first â—nd best Churches planted by the Apostles themselves and beâ—old dissentions scandall strise byting one of another About two hundred yeares after Christ what a styrr was there about moone-shyne in water as we speak betwixt the East and West Churches when Victor Bishop of Rome excoÌ„municated the Churches in Asia for not keeping the Iewish feast of Easter at the same time with the Church of Rome And to come nearer our own tymes how bitter was Luther agaynst Swinglius Calvin in the matter of the Sacrament how implacable is the hatred at this day of them whom they call Lutherans against the followers of the other partyes Take yet one instance more and in it a view of the very height of humayne fraylty this way The exiled Church at Frankford in Queen Maryes dayes bred and nourished within it self such contentious as that one accused another to the Magistrate of treason wherevpon Mr Knox was compelled to fly for feare of trouble I could also alledge to the present purpose the state of the reformed Churches amongst which we live whose violent oppositions fiery coÌ„tentioÌ„s do far exceed all ours but I take no delight in writing these things neyther do I think the needles dissentions which have bene amongst vs the lesse evill because they are so common to vs with others but these things I have layd downe to make it appeare that Mr B. here vseth none other weapon agaynst vs then Iewes and Pagans might have done against Christians and Papists against such as held the truth against them yea and then Atheists and men of no religion might take vp against all the professions and religions in the world And to go no further the irrecoÌ„ciliable emnity betwixt the Prelates reformists about cap surplice crosse and the like which the patrons of them acknowledg trifles might well have stopped Mr B. mouth from vpbrayding any with fyery contentions vpon small occasions And touching the heavy sentence of excommunication by which the father and brother were dilivered vp to the Divill as Mr B. speaketh I desyre the reader to consider that if excommunication be as indeed it is so heavy a sentence and that by it the party sentenced be delivered over to the Divill the Church of England is in heavy case which playes with excommunications as children do with rattles And to allude to the word Mr B. vseth in what a divelish case are eyther the Prelates and convocation house which have ipso facto excoÌ„municated all that speak or deale against theyr State Ceremonyes servise book since the curse causâ—es falls vpon the head of him from whom it comes or the reformists wherof M. B. would be one by fits such as seek for and interprise reformation And for the particular in hand howsoever it may seeme an odious thing vnto the naturall man which savors not the things of God nor the vnpartiall ordinances of the Lord Iesus and would be a matter of wonder that a man should censure or consent to the censuring of his father or brother in the Church of England where a good word of a freind or a small bribe may stay the excommunication of the grossest offender yet if there be iust cause though with extraordinarie sorrow for the occasion Christ in his ordinance must be preferred before father and brother yea mother sister also Yea it shal be the seal of his ministerie upon that sonne which in the observance of the word of the Lord and in the keeping of his covenant sayth vnto his father mother brother yea own children I know you not The next Mr. B. obiecteth is Mr Burnet who died of the plague in prison whether he was committed by the Archprelate And so did Mr Holland and Mr Parker in the same City at the same tyme as I remember and so did Iunius and Trelâ—atius the two divinity professors at Leyden at an other tyme vpon the same infection And was the plague Gods fearfull correcting rod vpon these men because their religion was false or rather would any man knowing the scriptures and the Lords dispensations towards his Church argue as this man doth * If iudgment thus begin at Gods house what shall the end of them be which obey not the gospell of God But if Mr B. will bring against vs all the persons which the Bishops have killed in their prisons by this and the like meanes as David did Vrijah by the sword of the Amonites he may overthwelm vs with witnesses but his argument shal be much what of the same nature with that of the Caian haeretiques which affirme that Cain was a good man and conceaved by a superiour power vnto Abel because he prevayled against him and slew him Lastly for Mr Smyth as his instability wantonnes of wit is his syn our crosse so let M. B. all others take heed that it be not their hardning in evill Mr B. in proceeding to point out the hand of God writing heavy things against vs chargeth us by Mr Whytes testimony with such notable crimes and detestable vncleannesses as from which they in the Church of England eyther truely fearing God or but making an apparent shâ—w thereof are so praeserved by God as they cannot be taynted with such evils as some of vs oft times fall into As the witnes well â—its the cause and person alledging him who according to the Proverb may ask his fellow c. so have his slaunders been answered as Mr Bernard knowes whereof it seems the party himself is ashamed and so might Mr B. have been had he not been shameles in accusing the brethren Now for the things objected it
places And if the order which Christ hath left in his Church be so vyle in Mr B. eyes in comparison of his vnorderly preaching what can he say for his Lords the Bishops which for the orders devised by themselves by their forefathers of Rome thrust out of so many Churches the ordinance of preaching A man would think Mr B. zeal should find room enough at home and in his owne Church and not thus pursue beyond the â—â—as a poore company of despised and dispersed people But to the very poynt which Mr B. drives at There is not one scripture alledged by him which iustifyes the preaching of the gospell out of a true much lesse in a false constitution They do all and every one of them necessarily presuppose the same howsoever he would separate the things which God hath ioyned together Take one for example and that such a one as he makes a pillar in his building It is written and so by him alledged Psa. 147. 19. 20. He shewed his word vnto Iacob his statutes and his iudgments vnto Israell He hath not so dealt with every nation c. Here sayth Mr B. the Lord preferrs his word before a constitution as a testimony of his speciall love But vntruly For in this very place the Lord prefers a constitution before his word statutes and iudgments as the cause why he gave them For wherefore did the Lord shew his word vnto Iaakob his statutes iudgments vnto Israel but because of their constitution that is because Israel was the Lords peculiar people separated from all other nations and received by the Lord into covenant as no other nation was Lev. 26. â—4 14. Exod. 19. 5. 6. Deut. 19. 10. 11. 12. c. with RoÌ„ 3. 2. 9. 4. Act. 2. 39. 3. 23. how profanely soever this man doth debase and vilify the true constitution of the Church which he is like never to enioy as Esau did the byâ—thright wherewith the Lord never meant to honour him Gen. 2â— 32. 33. And amongst other debasements of the constitution of the Church he affirmeth pag 55. that though an orderly proceeding ought to be had yet that at no hand for want therof preaching ought to be left of to this end pag. 53. and 54. he violently haleth into the same guilt with himselfe the brethren of the dispersion Act. 8. 1. 4. 12. whom he chargeth in preaching the word not to have stood vpâ—n every speciall poynt in entering so orderly vnto the work But as theyr enterance was most orderly for that being of a true constituted Church at Ierusalem dispersed by persequution they published the gospel in every place where they came as any member of the Church may do as grace is ministred and occasion offered so is it on the otherside a Babylonish presumption for any man vnder any praetence whatsoever to enterprise the preaching of the gospell or any other work disorderly The Apostle speaking especially of prophecying expresly commaunds that all things be done according to order how then dare any petty Pope or proctor of Babylon dispence with or plead for disorder in this or any other ministration in the Church The last and highest degree of our vncharitablenes he reckons this that we are sorry and envious that the good things of God do prosper with them that the more religious men be in their way the more are we greived and to this end he pretends Mr Barrowes abusing and scoffing at the graces of God and holy exercises in such persons As we hold our selves bound to acknowledge all good things in all men and to honour them accordingly 1 Pet. 2. 17. So must I here demaund of Mr B. as another hath done before me what those good things are which so prosper Onely the Prelates prosper in the kingdome who with theyr ceremonious hornes canons beat batter down all that stands in their way Of their prosperity against the truth we are sory but not envious being taught not to envy the works of iniquity considering what suddayn and certayne desolation shall fall vpon them Psal. 37. 9. 10. And by the way where Mr B. takes it for graunted that the reformists are the most religious in the way of the Church of England it is cleane otherwise The most absolute Formalists most strict vrgers of conformity are the most religious in the way of the Church of England And as for the reformists theyr zeale to speak as the truth is and as shall hereafter more fully be manifested is not in nor for the way of the Church of England but a by path from it which the Church of England considered in the formall constitution of it accounteth schism and rebellion but rather the same way in effect which we walk if they were true to theyr own grounds and durst practise what they have professed in theyr supplications and admonitions to the Prince and Parliament other their vnder hand passages wherein they do playnly condemn the Prelacy for Antichristian the service book as superstitious the mixture of all sortes of people as confused and so of the rest And this Mr B. iustifyeth the obiections which you would so gladly prevent pag. 57. made by your brethreÌ„ in the faith for so are the worst of them the prophane and secure worldlings and Athiests that men paynfull and conscionable in their Ministery and lives do breed and further as you speak Brownistes and Brownisme For proof hereof I will here insert a few things written published both in former and latter tymes by such men as I dare say Mr B. reckens amongst the painefull conscionable Ministers Their words are these We have an Antichristian Popish ordering of Ministers strange froÌ„ the word of God never heard of in the primitive Church but taken out of the Popes shop to the destruction of Gods kingdome 2. Adm. to the Parl. The names and offices of Archbishops Archdeacons Lordbishops c. are together with their goverment drawen out of the Popes shop Antichristian divelish and contrary to the scriptures Parsons Uicars Parish Preists Stipendaryes c. be byrds of the same fether 2. Admo to the Parliament The callings of Archbishops Bishops with all such be raâ—â—er members and parts of the whore and strumpet of Rome then of the pure Uirgin and spouse of the immaculate Lamb. Mr Ch. Serm. vpon Rom. 12. The calling of Bishops and Archbishops do onely belong vnto the Kingdome of Antichrist Discovery of D. Ban. slaunders pag. â—0 Our Diocesan and Provinciall Churches vsing Diocesan and Provinciall goverment and officers are contrary to Gods word and simply vnlawfull Mr Iakob for reformation Ass 1. There is no true visible Church of Christ but a particular congregation onely Christian Offer Prop. 4. Every true visible Church of Christ or ordinary assembly of the faithfull hath by Christs ordinance power in it selfe imediately vnder Christ to elect to ordayne deprive and depose theyr Ministers and to
an other woman the wife of an other man or not contracted to that man is not his wife nor can be so reputed though she be never so obedient buxome vnto him so the Church of England til it be separated free froÌ„ the world prince of the world that reiâ—â—eâ—h in it so froÌ„ Antichrist his Eldest sonne in his hyeâ—archy priesthood other ordinances be taken into covenant with the Lord caÌ„not possibly be the true Ch of God or wife of Christ no not though the good things in it were many more then they are Which we do not alledg as is craftily insinuated against vs to iustify any mans continuance in a Church full of wickednes but to prove that the constitution of the Church that is the collection and combination of Saynts as matter in and into covenant with God as the form is that which gives true being vnto a Church and nothing els how vily soever men iudge or speak of it And for corruptions in the Apostolical Churches it is true the Apostles mentioned them but allwayes with vtter dislike severe reproof and streight charge of reforming them Rom. 16. 17. 1 Cor. 5. 1. 6. 7. 11 13. 1 Thes. 5. 14. 2 Thes. 3. 6. 1 Tim. 6. 5. Rev. 2. 14 16. 20. But how do these things concern you Though Paul and all the Apostles of Christ with him yea though Christ himself from heaven should admonish any of your Churches to put away from among themselves any person though never so haeretical or flagitious you could not do it neither could you reform any abhomination otherwhere though the same be as conspicuous as the leprosy of Vzziah which brake forth in his forehead And this want of the power of the Lord Iesus for reformation which an other man would think were an intollerable slavery Mr B. pag 68. turnes to good advantage and thinks himself his Church halfe excused of all the evils which are amongst them because they want power to vse the remedy thus pleading for a priveledg the mark of the beast froÌ„ which the servants of God ought to abhor herin being passing witty above other men in making an advantage of that evill which the most have enough to do to excuse And for true Churches not vsing aright the power they have for reformation they are like true bodyes which through some obstructions or stoppings for a time cannot voyd things noxious hurtful till there be a remedy but the Church without this power is as a monstrous body wanting the faculties instruments of evacuation and expulsion of excrements or other noy some things and therefore is never appointed of God to live but devoted to death and destruction Of the reformed Churches our cariage towards them I have spoken els where and for your Turkish Argument in the margent wherein you incense the Magistrate against vs as otherwise incorrigible it well becomes the rest of your book joyning violence to slaunder But are you your self wholly conformable Mr B If not why do you incense the magistrate against vs being your selfe obnoxious to his displeasure Or do you not hope to escape persecution your self by persecuting vs This is too ordinary a practise amongst you But the Lord seeth your haulting and rewardeth you in your bosomes as you have served vs. And when you and others more forward then you do consider feel in what hatred you are with the King and state me thinks your harts should smite you as the harts of Iosephs brethren did them in their trouble for their barbarous crueltie towards him Gen. 42. Our sixt sin by retayl Mr B. makes our rayling and scoffing and in particular H. Barrowes blasphemyes c. whose repentance he would have vs publish to the world If I should answerably require of you the publication of the repentance of your Clergy not onely for the cruel speakings but even for the wicked deeds which vngodlily they have committed against Christ in his servants and ordinances it were an hard tax put vpon you Yea to spare you for other men do you but publish your owne repentance for the same â—innes wherein you are deeply set and without doubt your godly example shall provoke many to the like And for Mr Barrow as I say with Mr Ainsworth that I wil not iustify all the words of an other man noâ— yet myne owne so say I also with Mr Smyth that because I know not by what particular motion of the spirit he was guided to write in those phrâ—ses I dare not censure him as you do especially considering with what fyery zeale the Lord hath furnished such his servants at all tymes as he hath stirred vp for speciall reformation Let the example of Luther alone suffice whom into what termes his zeale carryed his writings testify And yet both in him and in Mr Barrow there might be with true spirituall zeal â—leshly indignation mingled And though this in generall might be sufficient yet for the stopping of your mouth Mr B. and for the satisfying of others I will discend a little to the very particulars which you have câ—lled out against Mr Barrow as most odious First then you fault him that he calles your Bishops Antichristian prowd Prelates and the tayl of the beast c. And what are they but Antichristian if their office be against Christ and his ordinances in the visible Church And what els do all the reformed Churches abroad and reformists at home iudge speak write of them And what thought you Mr B. otherwise of them when even since you dealt against this cause of separatioÌ„ you affirmed before many witnesses that there was not a place in the new testameÌ„t against Antichrist but you could apply it against theÌ„ And because you are come to this height of boldnes depth of dissembling I will here insert breiâ—ly certayne reasons which I receaved from your self in wryting to prove the Bishops Antichristian and that word for word as I have reserved them by me to this day 1. The fruits of the Hierarchy are contrary to Christ. 2. It forbids many good meanes of religion as prophesying c. 3. It keeps in and nourisheth offenders against paynfull labourers 4. It excommunicates the godly yea for a word and that ipsâ— facto 5. It is lordly and tyrâ—â—mous contrary to 1 Pet. 5. 1. 2. 3. Luk. â—2 25. 6. It rules by Popish lawes and by the power of man which arâ— carnall weapons 7. It remits the offenders for mâ—ny though â—e repent not 8. It establisheth an vniversall Bishop as well as a Diosesan or Provinciall Bishop And as I remember at the same tyme you brought forth D. Downame in his first book proving the Pope Antichrist ch 4. affirming that the Hierarch in the Romish Church was Antichristian whereof I am sure the the Bishops office is a part These reasons I thought good to set downe not because they are all or some of them of the best
be saved Rom. 10. 10. Thirdly if the new Testament speak of ordeyning Elders in the Church then doth it necessarily conclude yea expresly affirm that there were Churches before Elders were ordeyned in them But the first is manifest Act. 14. 23. therefore the second Neyther can Mr Bâ—shift of the place by saying such assemblyes are called Churches by Anticipation any more then the Papists can the scripture 1 Cor 11. 26. against transubstantiation by alledging that the Apostle speaks by Posticipation For why may not the Papists as well answer that Paul calles Christs body bread not because it is bread but because it was bread before the words of consecration as Mr B that Luke calls the assemblyes without officers Churches not because they were so but were so to be after the Elders were ordeyned amongst them neyther is it true which you affirme for confirmation of your distinction that heaven and earth were so called before they were Gen. 1. 1. the meaning of Moses onely is that God created heaven and earth first and when before they were not If yet it be further answered by any that the Church Act. 14. had Apostles over them it must be remembred that Luke in that place and action of ordination notes out three distinct orders of people the Apostles ordeyning Elders the Elders ordeyned and the Churches in which the Apostles ordeyned Elders Of the same nature is the fourth Argument grounded vpon 1 Cor. 12. 28. where God is sayd to have appointed or set in the Church Apostles Prophets Teachers necessarily implying a Church before wherein they were appointed as a Sheriffe appointed in a shyre a Maior in a City a Constable in a Parish a Steward in a familie do necessarily presuppose the Shyre City Parrish Familie wherein they are appointed And indeed where should the Lord set his stewards but in his familie Is any societie capable of the Lords officers but his corporation Is not the Eldership an ordinance given to the Church so the Elders called the Elders of the Church In the Church is not an ordinance given to the Elders nor ever called their Church in the whole New Testament Fifthly they with whom the Lord makes his Covenant to be their God and to have them his people to dwel amongst them as in his temple which have right to the promises of Christ and to his presence they are the Church of God of Christ. Gen. 17. 7. Lev. 26. 11. 12. Mat. 18. 17. 20. Apoc. 1. 11. 13. Heb. 8. 16. But a company of faythful people though they have no officers amongst them may be received into Covenant with God may be his temple and have him dwell amongst them may have right to Christ and to his promises presence except we wil say they may not be gathered in Christs name may not be called may not come out from among unbeleevers nor separate themselves touch none unclean thing Mat. 18. 17. 20. Act. 2. 39. 2 Cor. 6. 16. 17. except they have Ministers going before them For they that may separate themselves from unbeleevers may be the temple of God that is the true visible church which the temple typed out Men are not to come out of Babylon and there to stand stil remember the Lord a farr of but must resort to the place where he hath put his name for which they need not go eyther to Ierusalem or to Rome or beyond the seas they may find Siòn the Lords mountain prepared on the top of every hil If they as lively stones couple themselves together by voluntary profession covenant they are a spirituall building the Lords Temple 6. If a company of faythful people without officers be not a Church then if all the officers of a Church should dye or fall away the Church should be nullified and become no church and to come nearer home graunting for a while the parish of Worksop to be a company of faythfull people if Mr Bernard should leave his Vicaridge for a better then the church of Worksop should be dischurched and remayne a Church no longer and thus an assembly might be Churched and vnchurched and Churched agayn every week in the time of persecution or plague by having and loosing and recovering againe her officers and thus the officers should not be the eyes or tongue of the body for the body remaynes a true though an imperfect body without them but the head of it yea the Pope though he hold himself the head of the Church yet acknowledgeth it a Church without him and in the time of vacancy Wee read Rev. 2. 5. that the Lord threatens to remove the candlestick from the Ephesians except they amend Now the candlestick is the Church chap. 1. 20. and to remove the candlestick is to dischurch the assembly or to wipe it out of the beadrowl of Churches Here is sin the discharging an assembly but that the death of the officers should do it is no where found We will acknowledge the Ministers to be the lights starres candles in the the candlestick the Church that the Ministers death or fall is the removing of the light in a great measure but we may not graunt them to be the Candlestick that is the Church wherein they are set as 1 Cor. 12. 28. which may stand still though they fall 7. If a company of Saynts where no officers are be not a true visible Church then may they have no visible communion together eyther publick or private the reason is because the communion of saynts is an effect or property of the Church and the Church a cause of it the invisible Church of invisible communion and the visible Church of visible communion And as we can have no fellowship with Christ in his merits and other works of mediation till we be in our persons ioyned vnto him by faith and grafted in him as the braunches in the vine so neither can we have communioÌ„ one with another in any spirituall grace or work till we be vnited one to another in love as the members of the body vnder the head Communion in works whether naturall civil or religious doth necessarily presuppose vnion of persons Yea if such a company be not a Church I see not how their seed can have right to baptism no nor how their own baptism caÌ„ be accounted true in the right ends vses of it For 1. baptism is within and not without the Church Ephe. 4. 4. 5. Secondly it is the seal of the covenant which is the form of the Church to the faithfull and their seed Act. 2. 38. 39. Thirdly it is of the members into the body of Christ 1 Cor. 12. 12. 13. Lastly where the essentiall causes of a Church are to be found viz. matter and form there is a Church But this may be in such assemblies as have no officers ergo The former proposition is evident in it self for the essentiall causes give being vnto the th
themselves yeâ— though they be Paul Cephas and Apollos and the Church Christs Christ Gods then may the Church vse and enjoy all things immediately vnder Christ and needs not goe to Rome to fetch her power whether Mr B. would send her but may have and enioy the Ministers and ministrations as her own of all the holy things which are given her But the first the Apostles expresly affirmes 2 Cor. 3. 21. 22. 23. and so the conclusion necessarily followeth which will also be more manifest in the particulars as they come to be handled in theyr places as occasion shal be ministred by Mr B. reasons layd down against popularty as he termes it which in the next place come to be considered of The first and second whereof are that it is contrary to the order which God established before the law vnder the law and since Christ or in the Apostles dayes during all which tymes he affirmes that the power of governing was in the cheif in the first born before the law in the Levites vnder the law and in the Apostles in their dayes And for confirmatioÌ„ of these things he brings sundry scriptures from the old new Testament for the exposition of them clearing of his aslertion intermingles sundry other observations For entrance into the answer of which his refutation I desire it may be considred that the visible Church being a polity Ecclesiasticall and the perfection of all polities doth comprehend in it whatsoever is excellent in all other bodyes politicall as man being the perfection of all creatures comprehends in his nature what is excellent in them all having being with the Elements life with the plants sense with the beasts and with the angels reason Now wise men having written of this subiect have approved as good and lawfull three kyndes of polities Monarchycall where supreme authority is in the hands of one Aristocraticall when it is in the hands of some few select persons and Democraticall in the whole body or multitude And all these three formes have their places in the Church of Christ. In respect of him the head it is a monarchy in respect of the Eldership an Aristocracy in respect of the body a popular state The Lord Iesus is the King of his Church alone vpon whose shoulders the government is and vnto whome all power is given in heaven earth yet hath he not received this power for himself alone but doth communicate the same with his Church as the husband with the wife And as he is announted by God with the oyl of gladnes above his fellowes so doth he communicate this aâ—noynting with his body 2 Cor. 1. 21. 1 Ioh. 2. 20. Gal. 2. 9. 10. which being powred by the Father vpon him the head runneth downe to the skirts of the clothing perfuming with the sweetnes of the savour every member of the body and so makes every one of them severrally Kings and Preists and all ioyntly a Kingly Preisthood or communion of Kinges Preists and Prophets And in this holy fellowship by vertue of this plenteous annoyntment every one is made a King Preist and Prophet not onely to himself but to every other yea to the whole A Prophet to teach exhort reprove comfort himself the rest a Preist to offer vp spirituall sacrifices of prayer prayses thanksgiving for himselfe and the rest a King to guide and govern in the wayes of godlynes himselfe and the rest But all these alwayes in that order according to those speciall determinations which the Lord Iesus the King of Kings hath prescribed And as there is not the meanest member of the body but hath received his drop or dram of this aÌ„noynting so is not the same to be despised eyther by any other or by the whole to which it is of vse dayly in some of the things before set downe and may be in all or at least in the most of them So that not onely the ey a speciall member cannot say to the hand a speciall member I have no need of thee but not the head the principall member of all vnto the feet the meanest members I have no need of you And yet as if a multitude of Kinges should assemble together to advise consult of their coÌ„mon affaires some one or few must needs be appointed over the asseÌ„bly both for order speciall assistance of the whole which should go before the rest in propounding discussing and determining of all matters so in this royall assembly the Church of Christ though al be kings yet some both most faythful and most able are to be set over the rest that in office not kingly but ministeriall because the assembly is constant wherein they are both deeply charged effectually encouraged to Minister according to the Testament of Christ and that not †onely for comlynes and order as Mr B slaundereth vs to hould but for the proffit aedification yea and salvation of the Church 2 Cor. 1 24. Eph 4. 11. 12. 13. 1 Tim. 4. 16 by the ministration of such holy things as to the Church appertayne by the free absolute and immediate donation of Christ. This praemised I come to Mr B. reasons and refutation And first I do freely acknowledge the thing which he would charge vs to deny and seeme to prove by many scriptures and that is that the government of the Church before the law vnder the law in the Apostles tymes was and so still is not in the multitude but in the cheife In the first born before the law in the Levites vnder the law in the Apostles in their tymes and so in the ordinary officers of the Church ever since and that the Lord Iesus hath given to his Church a Presbytery or Colledge of Elders or Bishops for the feeding of the sâ—me that is for the â—eaching and governing of the whole flock according to his will and these the multitude ioyntly and severally is bound to obey all and every one of them submiting themselves vnto their government in the Lord. And this it never came into our harts to deny Cease then Mr B. to suggest against vs unto such as are ignorant of our faith walking that we deny the Officers to be the governours of the Church or the people to be governed by them But this I desire the reader here to take knowledge of and ever hereafter to beare in minde that it is one thing for the officers to govern the Church which we graunt and another thing for them to be the Church which Mr B. in expounding Math 18. would needs make them where he would have the officers alone to admonish and censure As if because the †watchman is set vp to blow the trumpet and to warne the people when the sword commeth that therefore he alone is the City or Land and bound alone to make resistance The officers of the Church are to govern every action of the
former places speak of the Church at Ierusalem where some of the Apostles were ever present what marveil then if the congregation attempted nothing without them But touching the last scripture which speakes of the Churches of and amongst the Gentiles and of the ordination of Elders there Act. 14. 23. the case is otherwise Of these Churches some were converted to the Lord by the Apostles and other by private brethren scattered thither there publishing the Gospel Act. 8. 12. 10. 36-44 47. 48. 11. 19. 20. 21. 23. 13. 2. 12. 48. 14. 1. 2. that some certaine yeares before any ordination of Elders amongst them And can it be conceived with any reason that all this long space during the Apostles absence these Churches never assembled together for their edification and comfort in prayer prophesying and other ordinances were there no other coÌ„verted al the while which desyred to be admitted into their fellowship or had they no use of excommunication for the preserving pure of their communion for sundry yeares But to let passe these more generall things and to come to the speciall busines mentioned Act. 14 23. The same rules which were after left in writing to Timothy and Titus for the choyce of Bishops or Elders were then in use amongst the Churches amongst other qualifications it was required of them that they should be apt to teach able to convince as also to manage the publique affaires of the Churches which were to depend on them whither in cases of controversie or otherwise and such they both then were and now are by good tryal and experience to be known to be and those also no young plants for such fruits And as it did most specially concern the brethren to know certainly by good experience that those officers were so qualified whom they were to set over them and unto whom they were to coÌ„mit their soules to be fed unto life eternal so could they onely take sufficient tryall of them their gifts and faythfulnes for the publique ministery by due experience The Apostles came but occasionally to visit the Churches and to comfort them making in many very small or no continuance and fynding fit men for officers in the Churches where they came and the same known testified and commended to be such by the peoples election they ordeyned Bishops or Elders over them and so departed Act. 14. 21. 22. 23. And what reason can be given why the Apostles did not at the first planting of the Churches but so long a space after ordeyn officers as also that Paul did not perform that busines himself in Creta but left Titus the Evangelist for that purpose Tit. 1. 5. save onely that men of gifts might be trayned vp in prayer prophecying and carrying of such other Church affaires as fell out and so due tryall made of theyr gifts good knowledg taken of their faythfulnes in and by the Churches whereof they were and over which they were to be set being found fit for that service Now the fourth scripture which is 1 Cor. 5. doth directly oppose that for which it is brought It was the Churches fault not to have purged out that sower leven the incestuous person before they eyther heard from Paul or he of that evill amongst them and for theyr negligence herein the Apostle reproveth them as all men see that are not willingly blynd And for Paul he in generall as a penman of the Holy Ghost wrote scriptures for the direction of the Corinthians and all other Churches to the worldes end and in speciall as a chief Officer of that Church by determining for himself discharged his owne duety but did neyther begin govern nor compose the action being at Philippi or rather at Ephesus for the present from whence he writ the Epistle to the Church vnto which he commended the busines in hand both for the beginning and ending of it But what of all these and many other the like scriptures to be alledged because the Churches are in all things to be guided by theyr officers ministring faythfully and according to the word of God and theyr duety that therefore if eyther there be no officers or if they be absent or fayl in their duety the Church may do nothing eyther for information or reformation The scriptures record that after Stevens death all the Church aâ— Ierusalem was dispersed save the Apostles and that they which were dispersed went to and fro preaching the word the effect of whose preaching amongst the Gentiles was the fayth and conversion of a great number vnto the Lord. Here were not onely Church matters but even Churches begun preaching to and fro turning and ioyning of multitudes to the Lord that where neyther Apostles noâ— other officers were present for this is too grosse to affirm that during al the Apostles dayes nothing was begun but by them And what if the Lord should now rayse vp a company of faythfull men and women in Barbary or America by the reading of the scriptures or by the wrytings conferences or sufferings of some godly men must they not separate themselves from the filthines of the heathen to the Lord nor turn from Idols to the true God nor ioyne themselves vnto him in the fellowship of the gospell nor have any communion together for theyr mutuall aedification and comfort till some vagrant Preist from Rome or England be sent vnto them to begin theyr Church matters with his service book And yet this would not serve the turne neyther for he would be vnto them a barbarian and they barbarians vnto him 1 Cor. 14. 11. Some yeares must be spent or ech could vnderstand others language Nay if this were a true ground that Church matters might not be begun without officers it were impossible that such a people should ever eyther enioy officers or become a Church yea I may safely ad that ever there should be in the world after the vniversal visible apostacy of Antichrist any true eyther Church or officers and so we must hold with the Arians that except ther should come new Apostles to gather the Churches and so a new Christ to call those Apostles that there can be to the worlds end neyther true Churches nor true officers The reason is because * no man takes this honour vnto himself but he that is called of God aâ— Aaron Now God calls no man ordinarily but by the Ch for I suppose you will not deny but that the choyce of officers is a Ch matter not a matter of the world And the Church must chuse none but such as of whose knowledge zeale and vtterance they have taken tryall by the exercise of his guifâ—s as you truely affirme els where in this book and you will not say but this exercise of his guiftâ— after this manner and for this end is a Church matter Whence it followeth that both Church matters yea and Churches also may and in cases must
cheiftayns onely in the power of Christ as the Apostles successours excluding himselfe and the rest of his rank that he may advance the throne of Antichrist in his cheife ministers the Lord Archbishops Bishops whose chayre he thus stoutly laboures to vphold with both shoulders Secondly I deny that eyther the Evangelists such as were Timothy and Titus succeeded the Apostles in their office or that any other ministers in the Church did or do succeed eyther the Apostles or Evangelists as they were such as we speak They were extraordinary officers in the first plaÌ„ting of the faith amongst the gentiles theyr qualifications extraordinary and miraculous as the gift of tongues and the like and so theyr offices were determined in theyr persons And yet I deny not but the true Ministers of the gospell the Bishops or Elders in theyr particular Churches do succeed the Apostles though not in office yet in theyr ordinary ministration of the word sacraments censures prayer ordination all other ordinances of the Church whatsoever according to the order Christ hath left but that the Apostles and Evangelists have by any order committed theyr power or any part of it to any such Cheif Ministers or rather Lords yea spiritual tyraÌ„ts as the Lordbishops Archbishops in Engl. are that I deny withall my power There are no such cheifteyns in the Church of Christ or communion of saynts The Apostles did by the Churches free choyce ordeyn in every particular assembly a company of Elders or Bishops whome they charged with the particular flockes in and to which they were to minister the holy things of God and none other Act. 14. 23. and 20. 17. 28. 1 Tim. 3. 1. 2. 4. Tit. 1. 5. 1 Pet. 5. â— 2. Much lesse are the great Antichrists of Rome the Popes and Cardinalles the Apostles and Evangelists successours in any right by the word of God or capable in that theyr estate of Apostolicall or other ministeriall power of Christ as you Mr B. will make them of which your Popish errour more in place Now for the scriptures cited they serve well to prove that which no man denyes in which kynd of disputing Mr B. hath a speciall faculty The scriptures are 1 Tim. 1. 3. and 3. 14. 15. and 5. 21. 22. Tit. â— 5. which places prove thus much in effect that Timothy was to see false doctrine suppressed in Ephesus that men gifted according to the word of God should be choseÌ„ into the office of Bishops and Deacons that he should deale vnpartially in all things that he should not partake in the sinns of other men by laying hands suddaynly vpon any that Titus was left in Crete to redresse things amisse and to ordayne Elders in the Churches And what followes vpon this I know well what Mr B. infers namely that the cheif Ministers alone in the Churches whether pure or impure by which latter he meanes the Church of Rome as he expounds himself pag. 145. that is that Popes Cardinalls Archbishops Bishops Suffraganes Chauncelours and the rest of the triumphant Clergy and they alone should medle with supressing errour rectifying things amisse calling and ordayning ministers and that all others are absolutely inhibited any medling with these things Well to let passe your fearefull retyring Mr B. into the battered bulwarks of the Papists for succour and the discharging of your selfe and all the inferiour ministery that these cheif ministers might reigne alone the scriptures do not debarâ—e the members of the Church from medling in those things in their place and order nor impropriate them to the cheife Lords as is pretended onely they declare that the officers are to do theyr own duetyes in those businesses and to put the brethren in remembrance of theyrs to commaund teach and speak those things exhorting rebuking with all authority by the word of God as occasion serves 1 Tim. 4. 6. 11. Tit. 2. 15. And if Mr B. will conclude any thing for his purpose by the scriptures he alledgeth he must take this position for graunted that whatsoever Paul wrytes to Timothy or Titus touching the Church about that onely they theyr successours the cheif ministers are to medle which presumpteous affirmation is sufficiently refuted by the very recitall of it He that reads over the Epistles but with a pece of an ey may see the contrary There is no greater force in this collection then in that Mar. 13. 34. bycause the porter is to watch therefore he alone and not the rest also which is coÌ„trary to the expresse words immediatly following where all are coÌ„maunded to watch v. 37. And thus the conclusion which Mr B. would make that the place 1 Cor. 5. though generally spoken must be vnderstood of the cheife officers of the Church is without prâ—mises It must be vnderstood as it is spoken though both he the Pope say nay to it and of the meaning of it we shall speak hereafter at large when we come to handle the censures of the Church as also of your pretended proof 2 Cor. 2. 6. Onely I must needs take knowledge of that part of the truth which Mr B. being set vpon the rack of his conscience in reading this 1 Cor. 5. is compelled to confesse and that is that from v. 5. â—â— may be gathered for the body of the Church that the offender must be delivered to Satan with their knowledge publiquely when they meet together in the open assembly Towching which his graunt I observe these three particulars First it overthrowes the practise in the Church of England where the offender is excommunicated by the Chauncelour or Officiall it may be fourty miles off from the body of the congregation whereof he is a member and that most what without the presence of any one of the body yea or their privity eyther till such tymes as eyther the Parish Preist or Church dore signify the matter vnto them 2. If the officers must judge and excommunicate in the open assembly then can they alone in no sense be the Church For the Church is nothing but the assembly And it is all one to say the officers in the assembly are the Church as to say the officers in the assembly are the assembly which is a senseles affirmation And if the Officers alone be the Church to which complaint is to be made and which is to reprove the offender and judge him they must do it in a distinct assembly from the body and not in the assembly compounded necessarily of the officers and the body as your Courtkeepers doe in their Consistories the Elders in the reformed Churches in their private Chambers 3. It is most vntrue which you say that no more can be gathered from this place but that excommunication was performed in the presence of the body of the Church and with their knowledge being gathered together it is apparent that they which were gathered together were by the power of Christ to deliver to Satan the offender to purge out the
two or three and therefore not to all I have answered and do that to two or three and yet to all when there are but two or three in all as vsually comes to passe in the raysing and dispersing of Churches Your 6. Argument to prove that the word Church must be taken figuratively is first that els the Corinthians had offended who being all commaunded did but some of them proceed against the incestuous person 1 Cor. â— 13. 2 Cor. 2. 6. 2. that els Paul had offended who vpon the complaint of Cloes house did himself without wayting for the Churches consent being absent iudge and determine the matter and sâ—nt to them to execute â—â— sentence These two Arguments Mr B. are in your hands like the two witnesses that came against Christ they neyther agree one with an other nor eyther of them with the truth In the former you plead for the Presbytery in saying that some of them did proceed against him in the latter you vtterly overthrow that and step in for the Bishops sole power where you make Paul alone iudge and determiner of the busines I am verily perswaded Mr Smyth hath felt your pulse in this place and found directly what blood runs in your â—eynes to him therefore do I leave you for iudgement in the case And for answer to the particulars In the first argument you do most sinfully corrupt the scriptures knowing that if they be soundly alleadged they will give no countenaunce to your errour For where Paul sayth it is sufficient for the same man that he was rebuked of many you for the word many put sâ—me where some doth import a part and but a part for where some are sayd to do a thing it followes that other some do it not where the word many is oft times put for all as being opposed to one or a few as in this place many rebuking to one rebuked Take for this phrase of speach these scriptures Dan. 12. 2. Mat. 13. 17. Luke 12. 7. Rom. 5. 19. and 8. 29. 12. 4. 5. 1 Cor. 10. 17. 12. 12. 14. But mark I pray thee wise reader when this man expounds Math. 18. 19. 20. where mention is made of a few two or three having the power of Christ there by two or three are meant the officers and Christ hath established the authority of a few for the good of all and again two or three officers and a few have this authority and yet notwithstanding when he comes to expound 2 Cor. 2. 6. where mention is made of many rebuking the offender there by many must be meant the officers also What Mr B are two or three Officers in respect of the whole body many Doth the holy Ghost speaking of a few in the Church mean the officers and speaking of many mean the officers also It were good you awoke out of your dream that you might spy your contradictions and how one peice reproves an other To the obiection I do answer that first it doth not appear that the party was excommunicated it may be vpon admonition he repented and so the extremity spoken of 1 Cor. 5. 5. was prevented and 2. if he were eyther by many may be meant all as I have formerly shewed or otherwise it is sufficient if some reprove the Elders or some of them specially by their office and so of the brethren in the second place if they see necessary cause wherevpon with the silent consent of the rest iudgement may be given or the party delivered to Sathan The 7. Reason to prove the Elders the Church is the iudgement and practise of all reformed Churches As the reformed Churches do abhorre from your practise as intollerable yea almost incredible that the power of excommunication should be in the hands of one man and that a forreyn Prelate or Officiall that most like never so much in his life as once came in the congregation whereof the offender is a member as may be seen in one for all Beza Epist. 12. so bycause you will needs thus beare over all with all the reformed Churches I will a little step out of my beaten way and call in a few well-deserving audience of the reformed Churches to testify what their judgement is in the case joyning vnto them also a few of our own men seeming to be of the same mind whatsoever the practise is eyther of the one or of the other To omit then the judgement and practise of the more ancient times whether whole councels or particular persons as of the Council of Nâ—ce where Paphuâ—tius no Church officer both had vsed such liberty of speach as he perswaded the whole assembly touching the maryage of Ministers of Tertullian before that who Apol chap. 39. makes the officers onely Praesidents in the assembly where manners are censured of Ciprian who would never do any thing in his charge without the consent of the people lib. 3 epist. 10. and in particular thinks it specially the peoples right to chuse or reiect worthy or vnworthy Ministers then which what power is greater Of Austin that thinks it helps much to the shaming of the party that he be excommunicated by the whole Church lib. 3. contra epist. Parmen and lastly of Ierom ad Demetr which affirms that the Church it self hath right in excommunication as the Elders have in other Church censures the first is Zwinglius who artiâ— 8. explanat speaking of the contention which hath been what a Church is acknowledges none other Churches but 1. the coÌ„pany of sure firm beleevers scattered through the vniversal world which we call the catholik Church 2. severall congregations which â—oÌ„veniently meet together in some one place c. and of these he affirmes Christ to speak Math. 18. Tell the Church and Paul 1 Cor. 1. To the Church which is at Corinth And answering an objection touching a Church representative he saith of this I find nothing in the scriptures out of mens devises any man may feyn any thing Next Perter Martyr in his comon places pant 4. chap. 5. sect 9. making the Church a Monarchy in respect of Christ an Aristocracy in respect of the Elders addeth also that bycause in the Church there are matters of great weight and importance referred vnto the people as excommunication absolution of choosing Ministers the like it hath also a consideration of popular government and vpon 1 Cor. 5. 4. The Apostle as great as he was would not excommunicate alone but did take counsel with the Church that the thing might be done by common authority Which notwithstanding the Pope and other Bishops dare do The Apostle indeed goes before the rest which is the duty of the ancients of the Ch that the more ignorant multitude by their suffragation before going may be directed in iudâ—ing With him ioyn Bucer who in his first book chapt 9. de regno Christi affirmes that Paul accuses the Corinthians for that the whole Church
Barnabas coÌ„ming among them is not said to have ioyned theÌ„ vnto the Lord but to have exhorted them which were ioyned to coÌ„tinue with the Lord. vers 23. and to have perswaded others to ioyn themselues unto the Lord also vers 24. but that this course ordinary set by Christ should be held in the replanting of Churches after the vniversall apostasie of Antichrist is a thing impossible There were then no Ministers but popish Priests and are they the Lords meanes Mr Bernard Shall the man of sin be consumed by himself or by the breath of the Lords mouth Are false Ministers the Lords ordinary means of planting Churches Or are popish massepreists or the popish Bishops from whom they have their authority and so the Pope himself from whom they have theirs true Ministers And is the Church of Rome a true visible Church For it is not possible there should be a true Ministery in a false Church These are the inconveniences and discommodities Mr Bernard speaks of by which he sayth we would wring the truth from him But it is certayn they are such playne demonstrations as do evince his pretended truthes of popish and popular errours And for the gathering of a Church M. B. I do tell you that in what place soever by what means soever whether by preaching the gospell by a true Minister by a false minister by no minister or by reading conference or any other meanes of publishing it two or three faithfull people do arise separating themselves froÌ„ the world into the fellowship of the gospell and covenant of Abraham they are a Church truely gathered though never so weak a house and temple of God rightly founded vpon the doctrine of the Apostles and Prophets Christ himsef being the corner stone against which the gates of hell shall not prevayl nor your disgracefull invectives neyther Indeed * the Pharisees thought bycause they had Abraham for their father and did descend of him by ordinary succession were the formall Teachers of the Church that therefore God could not possibly cast them off or have a Church without them even so it is with the Pharisaicall formall clergy in Rome and England they think that Christ hath so tyed his power and presence vnto their ceremony of succession that without them he knowes not how to do for a Church but must needs have it passe through their fingers But as Iohn Baptist told the old Pharisees that God was able of the stones to raise vp children vnto Abraham though they all every one of them like vnfruitfull trees should be cut downe and cast into the fâ—râ— so say I vnto their children the Pharisees of our â—yme that though the Lord reject them and every one of them for their apostacy and rebellion yet can he by the seed of the word cast with what hand soever rayse vp vnto Abraham children vnto himself a Church They that are of the faith of Abraham they are the children and seed of Abraham and within the covenaunt of Abraham though but two or three and so of the same Church with him by that covenaunt Your last argument to prove the officers the Church Math. 18. and directly to disprove our supposed popularity is that it is against the dignity and office of the Ministers who represent Christs person vnto the Congregation 1 Cor. 4. 1. having authority from him to preach administer the sacraments vse the censures which none but such as represent him can give them which the body of the people do not by office nor take from them c. This indeed is the thing the dignity of Preisthood is it which goes nearest you and that you keep last as Iacob did Beniamin whom of all his sonnes he was loathest to part with Gen. 42. 4. 43. 14. But first if your meaning be that the Ministers by their office represent Christ in his office it is little lesse then blasphemy for Christ is the husband and mediatour of his Church by his office and herein not to be represented by any other man or angel The ministers in publishing the gospell and word of reconciliation are in Christs stead and therein to be obeyed as himself but what if they speak the vision of their own hart and publish heresy false doctrine or lead a scandalous and prophane life their office is no dispensation for them neyther are they now any longer in the stead of Christ but of the Divel whom they resemble as children their father and are so to be reputed Besides there is no force in your argument bycause the body of the Church represents not Christ by office as the Ministers do therefore it is no way equall with the Ministers nor may medle with them but the contrary May not a man as well argue thus Bycause the wife no way represents her housband in office for she is in no office the same may be sayd of the children aâ— the steward and the bayliffe doe therefore the wife is no way superiour vnto them she may not reprove or displace them in her husbandâ— absence what evil soever they doe in their office or persons but on the contrary they may rebuke her and turne her out of doores and her children with her if there be cause For they represent the maister in office she not Now wee know well the Church is the wife and spouse of Christ the Ministers stewards Thus having cleared the way of such obiections as wherewith Mr Bernard would stumble the reader I come in the next place as I have formerly ordered my course to declare that the Church Math. 18. 17. is not the officers but the whole body meeting together for the publique worship of God and that 1 Cor. 5. proves the same by practise which is in the former place enjoyned by rule Onely I must needs by the way make a step into his 2. book amongst his score of reasons there against popularity and so remove as it were with my foot such of them as are tumbled in by him to make rough the playn wayes of the Lord. And they are as the authour numbers them the 7. 12. 13. 17. 18. The 7. Reason is that if a sort of persons professing Christ together without officers haue the power of such officers in themselves they may do all the officers may do Wee say not that the Church hath the power of the officers but the power of Christ as is expresly affirmed 1 Cor. 5. 4. 5. and 2. it followes not that bycause the Church hath the power of Christ for all things therefore it can injoy all things without officers The power is one thing which is inseparable from the body the vse of the power an other thing which in many cases it may want Civil corporations have the Kings power and charter as well without as with officers and yet it may be there are liberties in their charter they cannot enjoy without officers they
1 Cor. 10. 16. 17. 12. 12. 13. Thirdly if separation be lawfull from persons not receiving Christ but rayling against him then is communion vnlawfull with any assembly in the land wherein there are many which remayn in vnbeleif as their works declare Iam. 2. 20. and so receive not Christ. Ioh. 1. 12. but do on the contrary both revile and persequute him in his graces servants and ordinances howsoever for fear or fashion they be content to be accounted Christians Now for separation from Gentiles without Christ from Antichrist vnder a shew of Christ persecuting Christians as the scriptures do account of antichristianism as of haethenism in this respect calling it Babylon Sodom Aegypt spiritually and so warning the Lords people to come out of it so for the second point I do not yet beleive whatsoever you write but you Mr Bernard are as verily perswaded as my self that the Church of Engl. formally considered in her lawes canons ecclesiasticall contrived exequuted by the prelates their substitutes doth persecute Christians vnder a shew for Christ. That the Bishops make a shew for Christ all graunt and that they persequute true Christians let your prisons be searched and there will want no records and if you yet will passe by the poor brethren of the separation as the Preist and Levite did the wounded man which had fallen among theeves Luk. 10. and will take no knovvledge of vs ask your ovvn brethren the godly Ministers vvith vvhose supply against vs you back your book and I doubt not but the suspensions and deprivations of the most of them for refusing the Prelates badges and liveries the surplice typpet and the like vvill testify vvith vs the persequutions of the Antichristian Praelacy against Christians The separation you admit of in the last place is from familiar accompanying in private conversation with men excommunicate or of levvd life worthy to be excommunicate when neyther religion commaundeth c. What Mr B. ought men to avoyd familiarity with excommunicates onely in private conversation and not both in the private and publique worship of God Is there any religious familiarity or communion save in the Church out of which excommunicates are cast The Iewes had no religious communion at all with heathens or persons vncircumcised which therefore might not enter into the sanctuary of the Lord though you be driven in answer to Act. 21. 28. 29. to affirm they might 2 book pag 175. and as such must wee account them that refuse to hear the Church Mat. 18. 17. And as no religious communion eyther private or publick may be held with persons iustly excōmunicated by the Church so neyther with such lewd persons as deserve excommunication and are thereof clearly convinced though the Church want grace to cast them out The Churches vngodly cōnivency vpboulstring them in their scandalous sinns makes them nothing the better but it self in truth like vnto them as he that brought a thing abominable into his house was accursed like it how much more if he eyther bring it into or keep it in Gods house And how we are to avoyd persons incorrigibly wicked whether Idolatours Haeretiques or prophane livers the common bonds of naturall and civill society ever kept inviolated which as they are to the Lord so ought they to be vnto vs abominable see these scriptures Act. 2. 40. 47. 19. 19. Rom. 16. 17. 1 Cor. 5. 11. 2 Cor. 6. 14. 15. 16. 17. Gal. 1. 8 9 1 Tim. 6. 3. 4. 5. 2 Tim. 3. 2. 3. 4. 5. Tit. 3. 10. which places do not onely forbid private and voluntary familiarity as you speak and affirm but religious also to which you vnskilfully oppose voluntary where no society is so voluntary as that which is religious and that both private and publique Neyther is there any reason whither we respect the glorie of God or our own safety or the avoyding of offence in others or the shaming of the partyes why we should avoyd civil communion with any and yet hold religious communion with them To conclude since the Lord wil be glorified by his people not onely severally and in their persons but ioyntly in their holy cōmunion and hath given them in charge to exhort comfort admonish reprove one an other as there is cause and in the order he hath prescribed as also according to the same order to sequester censure reiect and avoyd persons incorrigible and infectious the brother or brethren fayling in these duties are steyned and polluted not by other mens sinns which can no way hurt them or the holy things they vse save to themselves but by their own swarving and neglect from and of such duties as wherein they are to acquite themselves in their most streyt and sacred bond of communion Onely before I end I must touch one point of deep divinity set down by Mr B. for the purpose in hand which is that the Lord takes a people to be his before he commaund them and that commaundements are for his people to rule them not to make them his people But how agrees this to let passe his former book with that which he not onely writes but substantially proves pag. 277. of his second that when the L. sets vp a people to be his people first he gives them his word which is his ordinance to make them his people his power to subdue thē the meanes of reconciling thē that by which he extols a people above other people Well Mr B. to let passe your inconsiderate lightnes in those weighty matters wherein you exceed Mr Smyth for that where he confutes one book by an other you confute yours by it self in an other place howsoever your nationall Church were not made the Lords people by his commaundements but by the commaundements precepts and proclamations of men yet would the L. Iesus haue his Churches gathered and men made his people by the publishing preaching of his commaundements wherewith he furnished his Apostles for the making of disciples by the knowledge faith and obedience of them Mat. 28. 19. 20. The ◠errour layd to our charge is our holding That every one of their assemblies are false Churches If one of them be then are they all for they are all and every one of them cast in the same mould We professe we put a great difference betwixt person and person amongst you and do not doubt God forbid wee should but there are hundreds and thowsands amongest you having assurance of saving grace and being partakers of the life of God in respect of your persons but considering you in your Church-communion ordinances we cannot so difference you but must testify against your apostasie as wee do And let it not be greevous vnto you Mr B. or vnto any other that in this regard we speak thus generally and alike of you all without exception for even your own Church intendeth you all and every one of you alike without exception
Tridentine councell are the doctrine of the Church of Rome and if you will in stead of Prophets to teach your significant ceremonies the cap surplice crosse typpet which are neyther dark nor dumb but apt to stir vp the dull mind of man to the remembrance of his duty to God by some notable signification Here is drosse for silver and for the finest wheat chasse Lastly your Prophets which administer that part of Christs prophecy or of the scriptures which may be taught and practised amōgst you haue neyther the true office of ministery which Christ hath prescribed nor a lawfull calling to that they have as hath been in part noted from Ephe. 4. and is els where clearly evinced Now Christs preistly office you do corrupt and prophane vnsufferably whether we respect the persons or things whereof you make him a mediator Are those Atheists and vngodly persons wherewith you cōfesse in the beginning of your book your Church is full and which if you should deny heaven and earth would witnes against you are they I say their soules and bodyes those lively holy and acceptable sacrifices and offerings sanctified by the holy Ghost Are those devised printed and stinted collects read out of your humane service-book the spirituall sacrifices of prayer and thanks-giving which the spirit of God teacheth the sonnes of God to offer the fruits and calves of the lipps which confesse his name Is that constreyned payment of a weekly or monethly rate and assesment for the poore more fitly called a malevolence for the ill will it is payd with then a benevolence that gratious cheerfull care for the saynts that freewill offering of love and mercy that sweet smelling odour that acceptable and well pleasing sacrifice vnto God Are these I say those sacrifices for which Iesus Christ the eternall high preist appeareth for ever before his father in heaven that he might offer them vnto him in the golden censure perfumed with the odours of his own righteousnes or are they to be sanctified by the golden altar of his merits standing before the throne of God Rev. 8. 3. 4. Math. 23. 19. A lesse indignity sure it was to lay vpon the materiall Altar in the tabernacle or temple doggs swine vultures and all vncleane beasts and byrds with their durt and dung then thus to lay vpon this heavenly altar those unclean beasts and byrds whereof Babylon is an habitation and cage And for Christs kingly office who is able to set down the indignities outrages offered in your Church to the scepter therof For first where Christ reigneth as the King in Syon his holy mountayn ruling over his servants and subjects onely as the King of saints vnder his father you have gathered him a kingdom crowned him the King thereof contrary to his expresse will of known traytours and rank rebels vnto his crown and dignity even of such as do visibly and apparantly fight for Satan and his kingdom the kingdom of darknes hating deriding and persecuting to the vtmost of their power all such as desire to please and serve Christ in any sincerity Of such and none other doth the body of your Church consist for the greatest part as all amongst you that feare God will testify with me 2. Where Christ ruleth over his subjects by the scepter of his holy word which is a scepter of righteousnes in the place of it the vngodly canons and constitutions of Popes and Prelates must and do bear sway Such subjects such lawes And say not Mr B. as you do in answer to Mr Ainsworth pag. 259. that you acknowledge no other law-giver over your consciences in matters of saith and obedience between Christ and you save him alone For what doth your Church representative but bind conscience in binding men to subscribe to the Hierarchy service-book and ceremonies spont◠et exanimo in pressing men to the vse of things reputed indifferent absolutely and whether they offend or offend not in tying men to a certayn form of prayer thanksgiving excommunicating men for the refusall and omission of these and the like observances of their lawes And vvhat do you but loose and vnbind the conscience in tolerating yea approving yea making and ordeyning vnpreaching Ministers and in binding the people vnder both civil and ecclesiasticall penalties to their ministrations in their own parishes and from others And what do you els in your dispensations for pluralities non-Recidency and the like Are not these matters of conscience with you Mr B. wherein your lawes and law-makers bynde and loose as they list All the lawes and ordinances for the ministery and government of the Iewish Church were matters of faith and obedience between God and the Church bynding the consciences of the people and is the new testament lesse perfect then the old and the lawes and ordinances for the administration of it lesse excellent and of a baser foundation then the former It matters not what your words are since it appeares by your deeds that you vsurp the throne of Christ in appointing officers and making lawes for the government and administration of his kingdome the Church and those many of them to the abolishing of his herein rather holding Christ as a captive then honouring him as a King 3. Where Christ hath given to his Church liberty power and commaundement every one of them severally and all of them joyntly to reprove and reform disorders and whatsoever is found whether person or thing faulty and disagreing vnto his word alasse this liberty is enthralled this power lost this commaundement made of no force The Prelates haue seazed all these royalties into their hands as though they alone were made partakers of Christs kingly annoynting were as Kings to rule in his Church Here is a King in a great measure without subjects without lawes without officers without power But here I must needs observe a few things about two answers given by Mr B. in his 2. book to two of Mr Ainsworths obiections about the matter in hand To the former being about the officers of Christ in the Church he answereth that they have Christs officers appointed to govern the civil Magistrate the Kings Maiesty the ruling Elder next vnder Christ c. and the ecclesiasticall governours vnder him the Bishops who are also Pastours and Doctours But you should have considered Mr Bern. that the question is not about civill but ecclesiasticall governours The King in deed is to govern in causes ecclesiasticall but civilly not ecclesiastically vsing the civil sword not the spirituall for the punishing of offendours And if the King be a Church officer then he is first a King of the Church ◠to be called to his office and so deposed from it by the Church or at least by other ecclesiasticall persons by whom alone you will have Church officers made And lastly if the King be such a ruling Elder as the scriptures speak
accounted doth pronounce ipso facto excommunicated all that do affirm eyther the ceremonies of the Church or goverment by Arch Bishops Bishops Deanes Archdeacons and the rest to be Antichristian or the bookes eyther of common prayer or of consecrating Bishops Preists and Deacons to conteyn in them any thing vnlawful or repugnant to the word of God Your third distinction I passe by as impertinent and the fourth as being already handled saue onely that in the end of it you bite at vs as you go for separating froÌ„ Gods ordinaÌ„ces in the Church for some wicked mens sake But you know Mr B. that wee do not deem your Church-government worship ministery and ministrations to be Gods ordinances nor your Church in that confusion wherein it was gathered consisteth to be rightly possessed of the ordinances which it injoyes no nor that any person how godly minded soever can haue the right vse of Gods ordinances in your assemblies as they are publick joynt exercises of the communion of the body In the fifth and last difference you speak of godly mens breaking society with themselves bycause of some wicked persons To which point I answer thus much since the L. Iesus hath given his Churches both power and charge to put from among them such wicked persons as do arise and appear incorrigible and hath also taught by his Apostle that the neglect of this duety levens the whol lump that they which countenaunce and continue in the Church such wicked persons against the godly zealous which endeavour their reformation that they I say do break the society of the godly with themselves and do rather make choise of the society of the wicked whom they thus bolster and bear out In the 3. place we are to consider of the matter entreated of and found fault with by the Apostle 2 Cor. 6. which you say is in summe thus much beleevers are not to be with the wicked in their vnrighteousnes in the state of their darknes nor to partake with them in their evils and so to agree together which no way helps our separation from light righteousnes c. It is true that the particular matter the Apostle findes fault with is the beleeving Corinthians communicating with the vnbeleevers in the idol feasts but withall it must be considered that the Apostle vpon this particular occasion delivers a generall doctrine then which nothing is more vsuall both in the old new testament The same Apostle in his former Epistle to the same Corinthians takes occasioÌ„ from the fornicatour among them to forbid them the companying or commingling not onely with fornicators but with covetous persons Idolaters raylers drunkards extortioners all other wicked men whomsoever ch â— 1. 11. so in this place he takes occasion from their coÌ„municating with Idolaters in the Idolathytes and the vncleannes thence arising to enjoyn them separation from all other vncleannes whether of persons or things as the whole tenour of the scripture manifesteth More particularly though the Apostle as you would haue it did onely forbid partaking with the wicked in their evils yet even therein did he forbid all religious communion with them since their very prayers and other sacrifices are their evils wherein whylst the godly do communicate with them what do they els but acknowledge their common right and interest in those holy things But that the Apostle in this scripture forbids communion not onely in the evill works of wicked men but with their persons and that he commaunds a separation not onely reall but personall doth appeare by these Reasons First bycause the scripture hath reference to the yoaking of the beleevers with the vnbeleevers in mariage as the occasion of that spirituall Idolatrous mixture which he reproves Now this ioyning was not in an evill or vnlawfull thing but with wicked and vnlawfull persons 2. The very terms beleevers vnbeleevers light darknes Christ Beliall do import opposition not of things onely but of persons also for the things sake So the faithfull are called righteousnes light as they are light so are the vngodly darknes and so not onely their works but their persons are called 3. The Apostle forbids all vnlawful communion in this place but there is an unlawfull communion of the faithfull with the wicked in things lawfull as with excoÌ„municates Idolaters heretiques or any other flagitious persons in the sacraments prayer other religious exercises in the respects formerly by me layd down whervpon it was that the Iewes were to separate themselves not onely from the manners of the heathen but even from their persons Ezra 9. 1. 2. 10. 2. 3 Nehem. 9. 2. 10. 28. 30. and that Paul reproves the Corinthians Epist. 1. Chap. 5. for having fellowship not in the persons incest but with the incestuous person whom therefore they were to purge out to put away from among theÌ„selves vers 5. 7. 13. Fourthly the Apostle enjoyns such a separation as vpon which a people is to be reputed Gods people the temple of the living God may chalenge his promise to be their God to dwell amoÌ„g them to walk there And as for the temple where the Lord promised to dwell the tymber and stones whereof it was to be built were to be selected and separated from all the trees in the forâ—est and stones in the rock and to be hewed and squared accordingly and so to be set together in that comely order which was prescribed so that this spirituall house or temple the Church now may have the promise of Gods presence and dwelling there it must be framed of spirituall stones and timber first separated from the rest then fitted and prepared by that ax or sword of the spirit the word of God and so coupled and combyned together in due order and proportion Besides it is evident that the holy Ghost hath reference in this place to the people of the Iewes which was separated from all other peoples and persons in the world as appeareth Lev. 20. 24. and 26. 11. 12. therein noting out what must be the course and condition of the Israel of God to the worlds end But here Mr Bern. excepts against our exposition of these places of Levit and the like as miserably wrested and falsly applyed to our separation For by Gods separating them from other people is meant sayth he a setting apart of Abrahams posterity to a speciall service of God and therein to be a people differing from all the world And by other people is meant such as worshipped not the true God which is nothing to them that worship Iesus Christ c. but no Israelites to separate from other Israelites which were even then when Moses thus spake of separation a corrupt people aâ—â—â—g themselves And is this your righting of our wrestings Mr B Els-where you tell vs that the Lord separates a people from others and takes them to be his before
and combyne together as they did may cease to be the true Church of Christ and may eyther become no Church by forsaking all profession of Christianity or a false Church by holding and professing themselves stil Christians in fellowship with God through Christ when being considered by the revealed will of God and testament of Christ they are in truth in deed neyther the one nor the other And considering what Iohn sayth that he which loveth not his brother and so consequently cares not for his welfare which issueth from the former as the stream from the spring is not of God nor of his children but of the children of the Divel and withall that you your self right now did place the form covenant of the Church in a great measure in the manifestation and testimony of love in the members each to other and so consequently of care ech for the welfare of other I see not how that Church can be accounted the houshould of God consisting of his children by the word of God or the body of Christ vnited coupled together of his members by your owne doctrine where this love of and care for each other is visibly and outwardly wanting But to passe over all other things the point vpon which Mr B. insists and which he would most gladly fasten vpon the reader is that the power of the censures and of excommunication termed by the name of discipline howsoever it be a thing necessary for the wel being of the Church yet is it no essentiall property nor of such necessity but that a true Church may be without it And this wanting scriptures or reasons to confirm it he affirms again and again and in the end illustrates by a similtude taken from a man who is not therefore a false man though he can neyther see nor gâ—e nor speak It is recorded of one THEODOTIVS that having denied Christ in persequution to lessen his sin he went about to lessen Christ and taught that he was mere man and not God so many in the case of Christs government that their own and other mens sinne may seem lesser in not vsing or submitting vnto it do labour to extenuate and make it lesse excellent or vsefull then it is and therevpon one telles vs it is not a part of Gods worship nor of religion another that it is a thing indifferent arbytrary changeable a third that it is not simply necessary for the true Church as Mr B in this place The vnsoundnes of whose affirmation illustration I will by and by manifest the Lord assisting me in the mean while I do desire the reader to observe with me these two things in his writings about this point The former is that in labouring thus earnestly to perswade as here he doth that the power of excommunication is not of simple necessity he in effect graunts that which all men know to be true namely that the Churches in England do want this power Now if here he answer as he doth in his 2. book that though the power of excommunication â—e not in every parish yet it is in the Church of England in which is comprehended all paâ—rishes and all superiour power over these Parishes in which is the power of Christ I reply these particulars First that he might thus answer though one Bishop alone had engrossed into his hands all this power yea a Papist might answer thus for the Popes sole authority over all the Churches in the world yea though he should communicate the same with no other person or persons 2. Let this mans shifting be well noted When both in this and the other book he pleads for the Ministery in the Church he passes by the Nationall Provinciall and Diocesan Ministery and speaks onely of the Ministery in some parishes where some honest zealous preachers are but now comming to plead for the power of Christ in the Church he takes the contrary course and passing by the parishes takes his flight to the Nationall Provinciall and Diocesan Ministery there to find comfort 3. the quaestion here as he himself puts it pag. 125. of this book is about particular congregations which he sayth there are with them having true matter true form and true properties whereof excommunication is one To this also adde that in the end of his book he aâ—oucheth the Ministers affirmation that this power is given to the particular congregations in the land 4. lastly I haue formerly manifested from Mat. 18. 1 Cor. 5. that this power and praerogative is given to a particular congregation besides which the new testament acknowledgeth none other visible Church and if that one particular Church or congregation aâ— Corinth gathered together into the name of the Lord Iesus Christ had the promise of his presence and that he would be in the mâ—ddest of them and were by this power of the Lord Iesus Christ to deliver to Satâ—n purge out iudge and put away wicked men from among them for fayling in which duety they were reproved by the Apostle then why not every other particular Church or congregation of Gods people as well as that one espetially since that as all other scriptures was written for our learning and that there is but one Church or body as there is but one Lord one that is in matter form and essentiall properties The 2. thing I desire may be noted is that Mr B doth if not deceiptfully yet vnfitly comprehend the power of the censures vnder the care for the welfare of the Church since this power may be full and intire where the care is eyther very little or not at all as it came to passe in the Church of Corinth which had this power alwayes amongst them but neglected the vse of it and therein the care for the welfare of the Church which they should have had for which neglect they were reproved by the Apostle Now for the similitude I do except against it in a double respect first for that God doth oft times deprive a man of the naturall power of seing going and speaking by naturall infirmities within or bodily violence from without but Christ never deprives his Church of this spirituall power of excommunication neyther can it be impeached by any outward violence onely Antichrist exalting himself against all that is called God and intruding himself into the throne of Christ doth deprive the Church of God and of Christ of this liberty and power and so all those Churches or congregations over whom he thus vsurpeth receive his mark are in that respect subject to his judgement 2. Mr B as I have formerly observed doth most vnaptly coÌ„pare the power of casting out offenders to the faculty of seing speaking and the like it is more fitly resembled to the want of power to void and purge excrements which is prodigious in nature so neyther the naturall nor spirituall body so constituted can possibly consist or
other impietyes and this both the practise of your Church and your doctrine pleading for succession and ordination from Rome Romish Bishops do necessarily confirm All the massepreists ordeyned in Queen Maries dayes for that end were vpon their conformity to the orders then continued Ministers in their severall congregations in Queen Elizabeths dayes by vertue of their former ordination And so are such masse-preists at this day though ordeyned at Rome received and continued amongst you vpon the aforenamed conditions Now it is your own constant affirmation every where that ordination makes the minister Wherevpon it followes that no new ordination no new minister but the old massepreist reformed of such impieties wherein Rome exceeds England 2. it is your doctrine in your first book that the ministery makes the Church gives denomination vnto it in your 2. book that the Church of Rome is a true Church wherevpon it followeth necessarily that the ministery in the Church of Rome is a true Ministery except a false ministery can make a false Church And if any order of ministery be it is that of the parish preists for they are the likest the Pastours in their severall charges Whence I do also conclude that since the Romish preists office is a true office though vnder corruptions as it was true Iob overshadowed with byles eyther the English preists must haue the same office with thē though with the byles cured or els they are not the true ministers of Christ. And for the name preist at which you say we catch you do idly draw it from the Greeks since it is most evident that with the office the name was tanslated vnto you from the Latine and Romish Church their sacerdos being your Priest in your books of ordination and common prayer which you haue from them otherwise why do you not turn the Greek words praesbyter proistamenos preists in your English Bibles which are translated from the originalls The sum of the 2. Arg. is that the Ministers of the Church of Engl are Pastours and Teachers that is good sheepheards such as do keep feed and govern the flock and as are qualified with gifts and vnderstanding and instruct them that are vnlearned If in stead of Pastours and Teachers you had put Parsons Vicars your writtes of presentation and institution would haue proved it But that you are Pastours and Teachers such as Paul speaks of Ephe. 4. by holy writ you can never manifest 2. though the things were true you speak both for your power and practise yet except you administred those things by a lawfull calling in a lawfull office and to a lawfull assembly you were not true Pastors and Teachers But it is not true you say of your selves that you play the good sheepheards in feeding that is in providing pasture for the sheep and in governing ordering them to fro at it Your Prelates govern or rather reign but teach not your parish Preists some of them that can list teach so much as they dare for feare of their imperious Lords but govern not Your 3. Arg for your Ministers is that they are called sent of God of his Ch therefore are true ministers Their calling sending of God you make his preparing of them with gifts graces to be able to exequute in some measure the office wherevnto he doth appoint them But herein you are greatly mistaken the Lords inabling men with gifts is one thing and his calling them to vse them in such and such an order is another thing and though the Lord calls none but he inables them yet he inables many he never calls Many counsellers judges lawyers and others in the land are very able to discharge the office of ministery but are not called therevnto of God if they be it is their sin not to obey the heavenly calling and to become ministers And as a man may be qualified with gifts for the ministery and yet not called of God to vse them so being qualified accordingly he may be a true Minister of the Church though he be never called of God at all as we now speak So was Iudas who was never inwardly called of God that is perswaded by the work of Gods spirit in his heart in the zeal of Gods glory and love of the salvation of men to take vpon him the office of an Apostle And what true calling of God the Ministers in the Church of England haue to take vpon them their offices charges as they do appeares in their easy forsaking them vpon a litle persecution yea before it come near them Of which more hereafter Now for the calling of the Ministers by the Church albeit we put of the more full handling of it to the 4. Arg. yet something must be sayd for the present And first though it were true you say that the Church of England were the true Church of Christ yet were not your Ministers called and sent by the Church except a Lordly Prelate be the Ch of England for by such a one is every Minister amongst you called and made 2. I deny here as alwayes your nationall Ch to be the true visible Church of Christ and that which in this case you say is largely proved I hope is sufficiently refuted But here a demand you make in your answer to Mr Sm must be satisfied namely why true ministers may not arise as well out of a false Church as a false ministery out of a true Ch The latter I agree vnto for the Church may erre and through errour or otherwise chuse a man uncapable of the Ministery by the word of God Whereupon it followes that the Minister makes not the Church as you erroneously affirm for then the Church should in the very instant become a false Church when she sets vp a false Minister But your inference I deny For first evil may arise from good though by accident without any externall cause comming between as sin did from the angels in heaven and our first parents in paradise but so cannot good from evil 2. the officers are 1. of 2 by 3. in and 4 for the Church 1. of it as members of the body and so must be members of a true Church before they can be true officers 2. by it in respect of their calling as Gal. 1. 1. and therefore except they can eyther be true officers by a false calling or that a false Church can give a true calling they cannot be true in it 3. in it as the accidēts or adjuncts in the subject without which being true they can have no more true existence then reason can have without a reasonable soul or subject 4. for it and therefore since the Lord hath appointed no ministery for a false Church there can by the word of God be no true ministery in it and this I wish them to consider which still adhere to the Church of England though they wholy dislike
Bishops of God which have obteyned the principall order and office in your Church for a lesse principall work namely government and are preferred to the highest first place not for the teaching of their Dioseces Provinces which were impossible though they desired it but for ruling of them You say they are the successors of the Apostles but the cheif work of the Apostles Ministery was the preaching of the gospel not ruling much lesse Lording wherein your Bishops office standeth The order which the Apostle Paul hath left is that those Elders which labour in the word and doctrine should have speciall honour and aboue them which are imployed in ruling but this order Antichrist hath subverted as being a course not onely too base and laborious but even impossible for him to honour his Ministers by as he desired and hath effected hath procured not double treble but an hundred fold greater honour to be ascribed to ruling and government then to preaching And this is not the least part of that confusion wherein you stand and against which wee testify 2. If the office of Ministery consist principally in preaching how can your office of Ministery or order of Preisthood be of Christ which coÌ„sists not at all in preaching as I haue shewed but may stand without it by the Canons Lawes of your Church not requiring it necessarily as any essentiall property for the being but onely admitting of it as a convenient ornament for the well-being commending in deed the person that vseth it but no wayes justifying the office which requireth it not Yea most evident it is that the Ministery of the Church of England considering it not onely in the state cariage of things but specially in the civil and ecclesiasticall lawes wherein it is founded consists more principally in the wearing of a surplice then in the preaching of the gospel To conclude this point as the examination of such with you as are to be ordeyned by the Bishop and his Chaplayn is no triall of their gifts of knowledge zeal or vtterance or that they are apt to teach but a devise like the poseing of schoolboyes without eyther warrant fro the scriptures or good to the Church so the onely examination which the word of God approves of is that just and experimentall knowledge which the Church by wise observation is to take of the personall gifts and graces of such men as the Lord rayseth vp amongst them manifesting themselves in the publick exercises of the Church in their places as there is occasion though you Mr Bern. be bold to abuse 1 Tim. 3. 7. to the justification of your letters testimoniall vnto the Bishop which any vngodly person may procure from other persons as ill as himself and thereby may find acceptance with some Bishop or other as evill as eyther of both The Apostle Peter directing the disciples or Church about the choice or nomination of one to be chosen into the room of Iudas tels them they must think of such a man as had companyed with them all the tyme that the Lord Iesus was conversanâ— among them And the same Apostle together with the rest by the same spirit directs the Ch afterward to chuse from among themselves seven men iustly qualified to take vpon them the administratioÌ„ of the Church treasury And vpon the same ground it was that the Apostles Paul Barnabas did not streightway vpon the gathering of the Churches of the Gentiles ordeyn them officers but a good space after even when the people had made good proof and tryall of the gifts and faithfulnes of such men as by their free choice and election the Apostles ordeyned over them And whom doth it concern so nearely to make proof or to take observation of them that are to be called into office as them that are to call or chuse them and to commit their soules vnto them Of which election it followeth we consider in the next place And the first thing I purpose about it is to sum vp and set together a few of Mr B. sayings which like so many waves driven by contrary winds do dash theÌ„selves asunder one against another First then he affirmeth pag. 133. and 138. that the Church iâ— tâ— separate and câ—â—se 〈…〉 amongst others for Ministers such as are found fit in so saying what doth he but graunt that the Church is before the Ministers They that chuse must needs be before the that are chosâ—nâ— How them do the Ministers make the Church 2. In his 2. book he reproacheth Mr Smyth as an impudent gaâ—nsayer of the tâ—â—t for saying that the Church did elect Mathias Act. 1. where the Lord did make the châ—ise and yet in the same book pag. 295. 296. he graunts that such examples of practise were then in vse for the peoples chusing Ministers and quotes this very scripture with some others for that purpose 3. he affirmeth in his former book that the guides and governours of the Ch were to chuse the Officers alledgeth to that end Act. 14. 23. Neyther remembring what he had formerly written in the same book namely that the rest of the congregation were to chuse the principall to be their mouth and to stand for the whole Church nor yet caring what he was to write in his 2. book to wit that the people were to chuse their ministers for which he also bringeth the same scripture Act. 14. 23. If this man had been in Iohn Baptists place the Iewes might well haue answered Christ that they had gone out to see a reed shaken with the wind But to leave his contradictions of himself to come to his oppositions against the truth And first it is erroniousâ—y written by him and the scriptures Act. 13. 1. 2. 14. 23. sinfully perverted to the justification of his errour that by the Church which is to chose officers â—s meant the guids and governours thereof That which I haue formerly noted out of both his books espetially his quoting the latter of these scriptures for the peoples liberty in chusing their ministers doth give great cause of suspition that in this case he thus writes for his purpose against his conscience and is in deed condemned of himself And for the other place which is Act. 13. 1. 2. I may as justly yea much more reprove Mr B. for bringing it for the governours chusing of Paul and Barnabas as he Mr Smyth for bringing Act. 1. for the peoples chusing of Mathias For first Barnabas Saul were Apostles as well as Mathias and therefore not to be called to their office by man but by God Gal 1. 1. and so were of the Holy Ghost as immediately separated by name as was Mathias by lot 2. Mathias was at that time first called to the office of Apostleship which before he had not but Paul and Barnabas were Apostles long before and at that tyme designed
onely to a speciall work but not called to any office 3. It appeareth that Paul and Barnabas were not separated sent by the governours onely but by the Church with them wherin they ministred and which joyned with them in prayer and fasting and so consequently in dismissing or letting them go ver 2. 3. though most like the ceremony of imposition of hands was performed onely by the Teachers and Prophets but with the foregoing consent of the Church according to the expresse direction of the holy Ghost And that not the governours severally but the Church with them separated and sent them vnder the Lords expresse nomination appears evidently Act. 14. 27. where vpon their return they made relation not to the officers but to the Church gathered together for that purpose what things the Lord had wrought by theÌ„ that so not onely the grace of God towards the Gentiles might be taken knowledge of and magnified but also that their service ministration might be approved to the Church which sent them And thus all may see how injurious this man is to the right and liberty of the brethren as formerly in the censures so here in the choise of officers making the governours alone the Church both in the one and the other And being both of them Church matters and parts of the publique administration of Christs kingdom the same scriptures which demonstrate the peoples interest in the one do conclude the same in the other In the beginning the Lord Iesus and his Apostles by his spirit appointed none other true visible Churches but particular coÌ„gregations of faythfull people for of the vanity of representative Churches in the new testament I have formerly spoken but as knowledge puffeth vp so within a few ages the officers and governours of the Church being men of knowledge began to swell with that poysoned humour of pride ambition wherewith Antichrist had infected them especially when they were once setled in peace and plenty and taking withall partly advantage by the peoples negligence in themselves and superstitious admiration of their guides and partly occasion by the abuse of their liberty have been bold to engrosse the liberties of the whole Church into their own hands and with them the name They alone must haue the keyes of the kingdome of heaven hanging at their girdell for the opening shutting of heaven gates which is all one as if in playn termes they should affirm that to them alone were committed the oracles of God the gospel of salvation see Rom. 3. 2. Iude 3. They alone must speak in the Church to adifâ—ing exhortation and comfort and so all the brethren must be silenced in the exercise of prophecying To them alone must the complaints of sinns be brought and they alone must be heard in the reforming of them and thus must the bottomles gulf of the governours authority svvallovv vp the brethrens liberty in the reproving and censuring of offenders They alone are to separate and chuse the ministers and of this branch of the povver of Christ amongst the rest must the body of the Church be stript And as there is no end of errours vvhere they once begin especially of those vvhich tend to the advancement of the man of sin in his Ministers above all that is called God so hath this iniquity prevayled yet further even to the bereaving of the people of the cup in the Lords supper and of the very scriptures in their mothers tongue the Preists alone communicating in both parts of the supper and inclosing the scriptures themselves vvith in the Romish or Latine language vvhich they alone to speak of vnderstood Yea to conclude so effectuall hath the delusion of Satan been this vvay that it hath been vniversally taught and beleeved that an implicite faith vvas sufficient in the lay people that no more vvas required of them then to beleeve as the Church that is the guides and governours of the Church beleeved though they were vtterly ignorant what their fayth was And what lesse in effect doth M. B. affirm in his 2. book where he writes that if the cheif do voluniarily receive professe proclaym a faith or religion it is to be accounted the act of all though the inferiours come not to consent he might as well haue added though they be ignorant of it or what it meanes Yea doth not this conclusion follow vpon the former ground that the officers are the Church Mat. 18. for the reproving censuring of offenders and for the binding loosing of sinns If the Officers be the Church for one religious or spirituall determination why not for an other And if the censures agreed vpon and ministred by the Officers be by way of representation the censures of the Church without the actuall consent of the people why is not the faith agreed vpon and published by the officers the fayth of the Church by way of representation before the peoples distinct knowledge of it or actuall consent vnto it Put the case the officers change their auncient fayth in some mayn point wherein the body of the Church still abideth and so differeth from them and that they take occasion to excommunicate some brother or brethrâ—n that most opposes them if this excommunication of the officers be the excoÌ„munication of the Church representatively without the peoples consent then is this new faith also of the officers for which this excommunication is practised the faith of the people notwithstanding their not onely not consenting vnto but their vtter dissenting from the same Now as the governours did thus engrosse the power and libertyes of the Church so no marvayl though with them they assumed the name Hence is it that they alone are called the Church the Clergy the spiritually the prophane idiotish laity are excluded both from the title and thing Symon the Sadler Toâ—â—kâ—â— the Taylour Belly the Bellowes-maker must be no Church men nor meddle with Ch matters As though it were eyther not true or to no purpose which is written that Christ himself vvas a Carpenter Paul a â—enâ—maker Peter Andrew Iames Iohn Fishermen One onely thing more I vvill adde so conclude this point which is that the Preists vvere not more eager at the first vpon the people till they had svvallovved vp their liberty then they vvere afterwards one vpon an other till one had gotten all from whom as from the Catholick visible head all power should issue and be derived to the severall partes of the body And hovv clean a vvay Mr Bern. and others vvhich knovving better have the more sin make to this mischeif in pleading that Paul alone 1 Cor. 5. the severall Angels alone in the severall Churches Rev. 2. 3. vvere to reform and censure abuses let the vvise reader judge The 2. allegation made by Mr B. against vvhich I except is that the Ministers vvith them have all things in substance required by the word of God for
people then were very iudicious and able to make a choise whereas it is now far otherwise with many it is of some consideration for the people Church of England but of none at all for the people Church of God If the people in the parish assemblies there should vsurp this power it would be far otherwise with them indeed for the most part then with people iudicious or able to make a choise Can blind men judge of colours or naturall men of spirituall things If a man would prophesie vnto them of wine and strong drink he were a Prophet for such a people It is certayn they would chuse Ministers like themselves ignorant loose fellowes for the most part the saying of the Prophet would be verifyed as is the people so is the Preist And yet worse then are made and chosen by the Bishops and Patrons generally they could hardly find But observe your self Mr B. when you plead for the ignorance and prophanenes of your own people you write that the Apostles received into the Churches persons very ignoraÌ„t and of lewd conversation Now when you come to plead against the liberty of the people of God you make them in the Apostles tymes to have been very iudicious able to discern of things far otherwise then the people now are Now for the exception it self it is of no valew But as the ordinances and administration of the Iewish Church remayned the same and vnalterable though the peoples knowledge were not alwayes the same but sometimes greater sometimes lesse so is it in the estate of the new testament with all theÌ„ which deem that Christ the Sonne is worthy of as much honour in his ordinances as was Moses a servant of the house in his And if this devise were admitted of that the liberty of the people should eb and flow according to the measure of their knowledge then should not all the brethren in the same Church haue the same Christian liberty in the choise of officers censuring of offenders and the like ordinances for all have not the same measure of knowledge nay it may be scarce two of all so divers is the dispensation of grace to the severall members Then should scarce two severall Churches in the world injoy the same Christian liberty the one with the other no nor any one with it self any long tyme since one Church differeth from another yea from it self at divers times in the measure degree of knowledge and other graces of God Besides if we should wey together in the ballances the Churches of Christ now and in the Apostles times the Christian liberty of the people would rather sway the ballance this way then the other way and to the people now then in the Apostles dayes For first there were present with the people in those first times besides other extraordinary officers extraordinarily indowed the Apostles themselves those great Maister-buylders which if any other in the world might lawfully haue deprived the people of their power in this the like cases which notwithstaÌ„ding they did not but on the coÌ„trary did faithfully inform direct theÌ„ according to the coÌ„maundement of Christ in the right lawful vse of the same And yet notwithstanding the Bishops of the Romish and English Church though not worthy so much as of the name of daubers in the Lords house in comparison of those other Maister-buylders dare without fear or shame engrosse all into their owne hands and haue their proctours this man and others many a one to plead for them in their vsurpation 2. The Churches in the Apostles tyme were newly converted froÌ„ Iudaism and Paganism and had still cleaving vnto them much ignorance in many great poynts And in particular the disciples or Church at Ierusalem after they were both possessed and had vse of this power of chusing officers were ignorant of no lesse a point then the calling of the Gentiles of which or the like mayn ground of religion no true Church of Christ now is ignorant as that Ch then was And thus it appeareth that the choise of Officers by the people in the primitive Churches was not a matter casual or of the Apostles courtesy but a commaundement of Christ left penned by the H. Ghost as is the rest of that story and of those Acts of the Apostles for our direction and the direction of all the Churches of Christ to the worlds end One shift more Mr Bernard makes from which he must be put and that is that the Patron chuseth for the people a fit man whom the Bishop finding fit by examination ordeyneth and that this is a lawfull calling To let passe that the Patrons vsually choose not for the people but for themselves and their own profits and pleasures which though it be apparant to all men is not without cause winked at by the Bishops considering how and by what meanes they procure their own choise I answer first that the patron doth not chuse for the people that is as the people did chuse in the Apostles tymes For the people then made choise of such as were before private persons but by their election to be ordeyned into office where the Patron chuseth a Clerk who is in office already and ordeyned by the Bishop before the Patron make choise of him The Bishop doth at the first make him a Minister at large and not of any particular Church and so sends him as it were to graze vpon the Commons till afterwards he be found by or rather find some Patron which by his presentation makes a gap and lets him into some vacant Vicarage or Parsonage there to minister accordingly But admit in the 2. place that the Patron stood in the room of the people to choose for them I would demaund who set him there or where the scriptures do eyther teach or approve of any such Aâ—â—urney-ships in the matters of religion of Gods worship as you make by telling vs in one place that the officers do make professioÌ„ of faith in another that they censure offenders here that they chuse Ministers for the people If som one maÌ„ in a parish had â—ntaâ—lâ—d to him and his heyres for ever the power of appoynting housbands to all the women in the parrish the bondage were intollerable though in a matter of Civile nature how much more intollerable then is the spirituall bondage of the parrish assemblyes vnder the imperious presentations of those Lord patrons whose Clerks they must receive and submit vnto whither they wil or no Great is the sin of the people which loose this liberty greater of the Patrons which engrosse it but the greatest of all is that for the Ministers which by their doctrine practise confirm both the one and the other in their iniquity all three conspiring together in this that they alter the ordinances and commaundements of Christ by his Apostles and so both diminish of his
more then tyme I come to the mayn controversie about succession which might be layd down summarily in these words whether the reformed Churches were bound to submit notwithstanding their separation from Rome vnto such ministers onely as were ordeyned by the Pope and his Bishops but for the better clearing of things I will enlarge my speach to these three distinct considerations First whether the Ministery be before the Church or no. 2. Whether the delegated power of Christ for the vse of the holy things of God be given primarily and immediately to the Church or to the Ministers 3. Whether the Lord haue so linked the Ministery in the chayn of succession that no Minister can be truely called and ordeyned or appointed without a praecedent Minister Touching the first of these Mr Ber affirmeth as in his former book that the Officers make the Church and give denomination vnto it so expresly in his 2. book that the Ministery is before the Church And noting in the same place a two fold raysing vp of the Ministery the first to beget a Church the second when the Church is gathered he puts the Ministers in both before the Ch in the former absolutely in the latter in respect of their Office and ordination by succession from the first In which discourse he intermingleth sundry things frivolous vnsound and contradictory Now for the first entery I desire the reader to observe with me that the quaestion betwixt Mr Bernard and me is about ordinary Ministers or officers of the Church such as were the first Ministers of the reformed Churches and as Mr B and I pretend our selves to be and not about extraordinary Ministers extraordinarily miraculously or immediately raysed vp as were Adam and the Apostles by God and Christ whom he produceth for examples Admit the one sort being called immediately and miraculously may be before the Church yet cannot the other which must be called by men and those eyther the Church or members of the Church at the least Besides the word Minister extends it self not onely vnto Officers ordinary and extraordinary but even to any outward means whether person or thing by which the revealed will of God is manifested and made known vnto men for their instruction and conversion Yea it reacheth even to God himself so far Mr B. stretcheth it where he makes God the first preacher Gen. 2. 3. As though there were a controversy between him and me whither God or the Church were first I see not but by the same reason he might avouch that the Ministers of the Church could not all dy or be deceived bycause God is free from these infirmityes It is true which Mr B. sayth that the word is before the Church as the seed which begetteth it and so is that which brings it yea whither it be person or thing which may also be called a Minister and be sayd to be sent of God as it is an instrument to convey and means to minister the knowledg of the same word will of God vnto any So if any private man or woman should be a means to publish or make known the word of God to a company of Turkes Iewes or other Idolaters he or she might truely be sayd to be their Minister and the Lords Ambassadour vnto thē as you speak Yea if they came to this knowledg by reading the Bible or other godly book that book or bible as it served to minister the knowledg of Gods wil in his word might truely in a generall sense be accoūted as a Minister vnto thē But what were all this to a Church-officer about whō our quaestiō is These things Mr B. shuffles together but the wise reader must distinguish them so doing he shall easily discover his trisling The particulars follow And first he affirmeth that God made Adam a Minister to whom he gave a wife to begin the Church and as Adam was before his wife so is the Ministery at the first before the Church If Adams wife began the Church then is your mayn foundation overthrown namely that the ministers make and denominate the Church except you will say that Eve was a Minister Secondly it is not true you say that God made Adam a Minister before Eve was created In the same place you make and truely a Minister and Ambassadour which brings the word all one vnto whom could Adam eyther minister the word or be an Ambassadour to bring it before Eve was formed There was nothing but bruit beasts and senceles trees and to them I suppose he brought it not The truth is Adam and Eve were the Ch. not by his but by her creatiō which made a company or society thus we are in the first place to consider of them and of Adam as a teacher in the second place the speciall calling here and ever following after and vpon the generall Of the same force with your first proof is your 2. which you take from Ephes. 4. 11. 12. where it is sayd God gave some not onely to confirm the Church but to gather the Saynts to make a Church To let passe your boldnes with the words I except against your exposition application of them The word gathering vpon which you insist is in some bookes turned repayring and is the same in the Greek with that which is restoring Gal. 6. 1. of which I have spoken formerly Againe Paul in that place speaks not onely of Apostles other Ministers of the first raysing vp for the begetting of Churches but of Pastours and Teachers which were taken out of the Church and of the 2. raysing for the feeding of the flock You will not deny but the Apostles and brethren at Ierusalem were a Church of God Act. 1. 15. 16. when as yet no Pastours or Teachers were appointed in it and how then can your doctrine stand that the Ministers spoken of Ephe. 4. 11. 12. amongst which were Pastours and Teachers were before the Church out of which they were taken and raysed vp of God to beget a Church Yea it is evident that the very office of Pastour vvas not then heard of in the Church whereby the falsity of your other affirmation is discovered to wit that the Office of such Ministers as are of the second raysing which are taken out of the Church is before the Church Thirdly the Apostles themselves howsoever extraordinary officers immediately called and sent forth to beget other Churches both of Iewes and Gentiles were Christians before they were Apostles and members of the Church before they were Officers And the scriptures do expresly testify that God ordeyned or set in the Church Apostles amongst other Officers and this their setting in the Church doth necessarily praesuppose a Church wherein they were set as the setting of a candle in a candlestick praesupposeth a candlestick as in deed the Church is the Candlestick the officers the candles lights and starres which are set in it
manner of arguing If this lyne hold from Peter to the Pope and from the Pope to his clergy and so successively to the Ministery of England then it stands vpright if it break then doth the ministery of England which as Mr Bernard truely honestly confesseth is thus raysed fall flat to the ground as indeed it doth according to the foretelling of the Angel it is fallen it is fallen Babylon the great City But here it wil be demaunded of me how the Lords people comming out of Babylon separating from Rome are to obteyn and enjoy Ministers Surely one of these three wayes Eyther by the extaordinary immediate or miraculous designation of God or by succession or by the same peoples choise or appointment to which they are to minister To expect ministers by the first meanes were fancy and presumption so that by one of the two other wayes they must come necessarily The power of the holy things of God so specially of erecting the minstery is eyther tyed to the order of office so to the order of to the Popeship Praelacy under it or els to the faith of the people of God forsaking BabyloÌ„ joyning together in the covenant of AbrahaÌ„ fellowship of the gospel The former of these though Mr B be driveÌ„ to plead it in the proof of succession yet in the defence of it he is forced to disclaym disavow yeelding the Romish Ministery to be Idolatry and superstition and that he speaks of such a succession as requires with it a true office true doctrine true sacraments and prayer pag. 188. and agayn that he meanes by succession a continuance of Gods ordinance by persons elected thereto from tyme to tyme being of spirituall kindred by the fayth of doctrine by which the ordinance is vpheld and true succession mainteyned pag 190. With which graunt of his I might rest as indeed wherein he yeeldeth the whole cause and cutts off as it were with his own hands the cord of true succession in the Ch of Rome making it to fayl when the truth of doctrine and of election fayled in the same Ch But bycause it is so common a thing with him to say and vnsay and to say agayn the same things eyther forgetting himself or thinking others forgets or bycause he would say something to every thing though never so contrary both to the truth and himself in another place I will presse Mr Smythes other Arguments The third of which is that by the doctrine of succession men are bound absolutely to sin in joyning to the sinns of the Minister This is sayth Mr B to take vnproved a principle of Brownism to overthrow a truth namely that a man cannot receive the holy things of God but he must needs sin with others And is it so indeed Doe not the scriptures every where teach men to avoyd reiect and hold accursed false teachers haeretiques and idolaters and not to partake in the sinne of others eyther by practising them or giving consent or countenance vnto them Wherevpon it followeth that the doctrine which binds the Ministery and other holy things of God vnto succession and thereby to partake with haeretiques and false teachers or at least with such in their ministration as have received the power and authority by which they minister froÌ„ the Pope and his Praelacy bynds men to sinne in joyning with the sinns of the Ministers Of the Iewish Church Preisthood which Mr Berâ—here objects I haue spoken formerly and do now adde that as no man is now so tyed to any Church or Ministery in the world as was every faythfull person in the world then to that one temple and Preisthood at Ierusalem so neyther could any man then without sinn communicate with an â—aereticall or idolatrous Preist especially ministring in a false office and by the like calling and coÌ„mission which the Ministers both in Rome and England doe In the 4. Argument Mr Ber deales dishonestly Mr Smiths inference vpon the doctrine of succession is that then the Lord hath made the Ministers Lords over the Church so that the Church cannot have or enjoy any of the Lords ordinances or holy things except they will consent vnto them for the holy things are in their power Now Mr Ber. onely trifles about the word Lord and passeth by the substance of the inference which is most sound vpon the doctrine For if the Lords ordinances and holy things be tyed to the Ministers then without their consent there can be no vse of them And so where Ministers eyther are not or not willing to coÌ„municate them there can be no Church no electioÌ„ of Ministers no keyes of the kingdom and so no salvation as I have formerly manifested vpon Math. 16. 19. The sum of Mr Smithes 5. Argument is that then the Pope may excommunicate the whole Church vniversall the Bishops their whole Dioceses and Provinces and the Praesbytery the particular Church whereof it is Your answer Mr Bernard is that this were to do the Pope a great favour to prove him to have an vniversall power c. and 2. that by this sequell of Mr Smythes this absurdity would follow that the Bishop might cast out the Church out of the Church It is you that do the Pope this great favour though you would not own it For if the Ministery make the Church and that Rome be a true Church then must the ministery of Rome be true specially of the Pope from which the other is derived as from the head Agayn if the ordinatioÌ„ by the Bishops in the impure Church of Rome be the Lords order as you expresly affirm p. 145. of your former book then must the Popes vniversall power by which the Bishops doe vniversally ordeyn be the power of the Lord which from him he hath received for that purpose They which hold that the power of the keyes was given first immediately to the Apostle Peter so to the Popes of Rome his successours they hold that the Pope may excommunicate the whole Church so they which hold the Bishop or his substitute to be meant where Christ sayth tell the Church they must necessarily hold that the Bishop or his substitute may excommunicate his whole Province or Dioces and so of them which hold the Praesbytery to be the Ch there spoken of for the particular assembly over which it is The Church there meant may excoÌ„municate any brother or brethren whom or how many soever that refuse to hear her as the Church of Corinth to whoÌ„ Paul writ might judge all them which were within and not without vnder the Lords iudgement The substance of the seventh last objection is for the 6. hath no weight in it that the doctrine of succession overthrowes it self and the Reason is bycause one POPE doth not make another by ordination whyles he lives but the Cardinals do by Election make the new Pope after the death of the former So that the Pope receiving his
in the same story when Deacons were wanting in the Ch at Ierusalem the twelve calling the multitude of the disciples together put them in mind of their liberty and informed them in their duety for the chusing of so many as were needfull so furnished as is there noted The same course did Paul and Barnabas afterwards direct the Churches amongst the Gentiles for the chusing of Elders in every City where they came Now if all things which are written before be written for our learning and for the learning of all the Churches and people of God why are not the people and Churches of God in all places to learne from hence their liberty and duty for the chusing of officers where they are wanting having men therevnto fitted by the Lord. And what hindereth but that the Church the multitude the Disciples call them as you wil in the fellowship and covenant of the gospell may be as clearely informed in their duety and as effectually exhorted to the vse of their liberty by the writings of the Prophets and Apostles as by their speaches The Apostle wryting to the Church of Corinth about the censuring of the incestuous man though he were absent in body yet was present in spirit which was in effect all one and as avaylable to that purpose as his bodily presence should have been so though Moses and Peter and Paul be bodily absent yet are they in their wrytings present in spirit after a sort nay God himself in spirit is present in them with his Churches people both for their warrant direction and comfort Though it be true then which M B sayth that the people wayted till the Apostles came and that they did not elect officers but vpon their exhortation yet must it also be considered that Apostles do now come in their writings as there they did in corporall presence and that they exhort as fully in them now as they did in speach then Besides there are now no Apostles vpon earth nor other Church officers having the care of all the Churches in the world as the Apostles had nor that are extraordinarily and miraculously endewed with all giftes especially with the gift of all tongues as the Apostles were nor that have the like generall commision to teach all nations as they had The ordinary officers which the Apostles and Evangelists left in the Churches and for the choyse of whom they left order to the worlds end were such Elders or Byshops as were assigned and fixed to such particular flockes as they were to feed vnder that cheif sheepheard and great Bishop Iesus Christ. Besides if the Churches or people should wayt now as M Ber. would have them till the Bishops of Rome or England came to them as the Apostles did to the Churches in their time to exhort them to chuse officers and to ordeyn them for them they might languish vnder a wan hope wayt till their eyes fayled in their heads Wherevpon then I do conclude that if the Church without officers may elect it may also ordeyn officers if it have the power and commission of Christ for the one and that the greater it hath it also for the other which is the lesse If it haue officers it must vse them as hands to put the persons by ordination into that office to which they haue right by election but if it want officers it may and must vse other the fittest instruments it hath as in the naturall body if men want hands or be deprived of the vse of them they do for their present necessity vse their teeth or feet or other fittest parts of the body for the busynes possible to be done by them Lastly if the Lord should rayse vp in America or the like place a company of faythfull men and women which of stones should become children to Abraham by the reading of the scriptures or by some godly mens writings or which is most like by the holy instructions and exhortations of some merchants or travaylers how or by what meanes should they come by Ministers Must they be sent out of Europe unto theÌ„ And if they were they would be barbariâ—ns ech to others neyther vnderstanding others language But what to do hath the Pope of Rome or the Bishops in England or the Praesbytery in Germany or France to appoynt them in America Ministers It is evident that such an assembly as I speak of having received the gospel haue received the keyes of the kingdome and the power of Christ and being joyned in this fellowship of the gospell haue the joynt vse of the keyes power of Christ being within the covenaunt of Abraham are the Ch of God so haue power to choose and appoynt their own Ministers froÌ„ within themselves Now because these things wil be better taken at other mens haÌ„ds then at ours yea it may be with many through praejudice their very authority wil sway more then our Arguments though never so rightly grounded vpoÌ„ the scriptures coÌ„mon reason I wil therefore here crave leave to bring in a few men of singular note both at home abroad to shew their judgments in the case in hand And I will first bring in one of our own nation of great account and that worthily with al that fear God how ever he were against vs in our practise The man is Mr Perkins He then writing about ordination succession in his CoÌ„mentary vpon the Epistle to Gal ch 1. ver 11. gives this testimony that if in Turky or America or elswhere the gospel should be received of men by the counsel perswasion of private persons they should not need to send into Europe for consecrated Ministers but had power to choose their own Ministers from within themselves the Reasons of this he renders in the same place bycause where God gives the word he gives the power also And I do desire especially his ReasoÌ„ may be observed which is that where God gives the word there he gives the power also Wherevpon it followes that any other asseÌ„bly whether in America or Europe separating themselves froÌ„ Idolatry whether Heathenish or Antichristian receiving the gospell of Christ do with the gospel receive the power also so may choose their ministers within themselves need not send to any other place no not to the next parish for consecrated Ministers In the 2. place I wil alledg one of greater note and more ancient and that is Philip Melancton who in his Answer to the ministers in Bohemia which taught the incorrupt doctrine of the gospell refutes the praetext of ordination to be taken from the Bishops with that of Paul if any teach another gospell let him be an Athema adding also that onely the assembly where true doctrine soundeth is the Church and that in it is the ministery of the gospell in it are the keyes of the kingdom of heaveÌ„ Wherefore in that very assembly in eo ipso coetu
that bycause one thing is done that an other might follow vpon it that therefore the latter which is to follow is also done And for the poynt as it is the work of the spirit to lead men into all truth as all that are Christs or mēbers of his body have his spirit so doth it follow that all the members of the Church have the spirit given them of God to lead them into all truth though it have not his full work by reason of the cōtrary work of the flesh in this life wher all mē know but in part 3. That Mr. Bar holds every truth in the scriptures fundamentall that is as they expound it Pag 147. such as if it be not known and obeyed the whole religiō and fayth of the Church must needs fall to the ground Mr. Ainsworth hath set down his words from which no such collection can be made he directs them that worthily agaynst these deceivers which knowing acknowledging that they want many speciall ordinances of Christ and are burdened in stead of them with the inventions of Antichrist do notwithstanding encourage themselves and others by these distinctiōs that they haue the fundamentall truthes of the gospell and whatsoever is necessary to salvation and the like in a purpose to go on all their life long in disobedience For which men how much better were it to consider how it is written that whosoever shall break one of the least commaundments and teach men so he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven then thus to turn vpon them which reprove them for their vnfaythfulnes and misinterpreting their sayings most injuriously to spend thus many words as these ministers do in confuting their owne corrupt glosses Their fourth and last Argument is for that all the known Churches in the world acknowledge their Church for their sister and giue her the right hand of fellowship This Argum. hath been sundry tymes vrged by Mr. Ber. and so answered sundry tymes both by M. Ainsworth and my self in the former part of my book whether I must refer the reader contenting my self with a breif observation of such vntruthes and errours as these ministers are driven vnto in the prosecuting of this Argument as First that all the known Churches in the world are well acquaynted with their doctrine and liturgy to which they should also ad their book of ordination and canons Ecclesiasticall for their ministery and government then which nothing is more vntrue Beza which was specially interessed in these matters will hardly be perswaded of the true state of things touching dispensations pluralityes the power of excommunication in one man and the like It is most vntrue that God hath sanctifed the testimony of Churches for a principall help in the decyding of controversies in this kind It is though some help yet lesse principall yea the least of many 3. That Paul feared that without the approbation of Iames and Cephas and Iohn he should have run in vayn Paul feared no such thing for he was both assured of his calling from the Lord and had also taken long before that tyme good experience of the Lords blessing vpon his ministery both amongst the Iewes and Gentiles and knew right assuredly that his preaching was not in vayne His care was to take away from the weak all scruple of mynde or iealousy of contention amongst the Apostles he went vp to Ierusalem to confer with them 4 That Paul sought to win cōmendation and credit to the orders which he by his Apostolicall authority might have established by the iudgement of other Churches Whereas the Apostle Paul did by his Apostolicall authority appoynt those orders in all those churches he speaks of as the scriptures quoted testify 1 Cor 4. 7. 17. 16. 1. Besides the Church of England can win no great credit to her orders by the orders of other Churches considering how contrary she is in them to all other Churches departed from Rome whom alone in very many the resembleth Fiftly the testimony which Iohn Baptist gave of Christ is vnfitly brought for the testimony of one Church of an other For it was the proper and principall work of †Iohns calling to give witnes of Christ wherein also he could not erre It is not so with or between any Churches in the world Where it is further affirmed that there are cases wherein one Church is commaunded to seek the iudgement of other Churches and to account it as the iudgment of God for which Act 15. 2. is alledged as it is true that one Church is in cases to seek the judgement and help of an other so is it vntrue that the judgement of that other Church or of all the Churches in the world is to be accounted as the judgment of God Indeed the decrees of the Apostles at Ierusalem being by imediate infallible direction of the H Ghost were to be accounted as the judgement of God but for any ordinary eyther Churches or persons to challenge the like vnto their determinations were popelike praesumption To the Ministers demand in the next place Sayth Christ to any particular congregation of the faythful in our land Whatsoever they bind in earth is bound in heaven Mat. 18. 18. and sayth he it not also to the Churches of other nations I do answer that if Christ have so sayd to the particular cōgregatiōs who hath sayd it to the Praelates their substitutes or to any officer or officers excluding the body of the Congregation Even none but he whose work it is to gainsay Christ to subvert his order 2. If any of your parishes be such congregatiōs why do not you as faythful Ministers exhort thē to guide them in the vse of this power of binding loosing which Christ hath given them Or are not you content to suffer them to go on and your selves to go before them in the losse of this liberty yea in a most vile subjection to their and your spirituall Lords which have vsurped it And for the Argument it is of no force for neyther hath any one Church in the world that power over an other nor all the Churches in the world over any one which the meanest Church hath over any her member or members whomsoever One Church may forsake an other but juditially to censure or excommunicate it may it not The same answer for substance may serve for that which is objected from 1 Cor. 14. 32. Besides no Church can so fully discern of the estate of an other Church as it can of the proper members apperteyning vnto it Yea I ad that in this respect wee are better able to iudge of the Church of Engl then are any forreyn Churches notwithstanding our weaknes bycause they do not in any measure know the estate of it as we do Lastly as that saying
liberty which they vse in respect of forms of words wherein they differ ech from others shewes how litle this institution and ordinance stands vpon such stints as also how far it is from the meaning of Christ that the Churches should be thus short tyed in the vse of them The same may be sayd of the ordinance of prayer by Christ given to his Church wherein the two Evangelists that mention it do vse the same liberty as most likely would the other two also have done in respect of forms of words had they made mention of it But graunt that the words of Christ pray after this manner when you pray say are to be interpreted as these men would have it yet do I except agaynst their service-book in a double respect The first is that the reading of prayers vpon a book hath no justification from them If it be sayd that to commit a certayn form of words to the memory and from it to vtter them and to read thē vpon a book are all one I deny the consequence and though I approve not of the former yet is the latter far the worse For besides that he that readeth hath an other speaking to him as it were even he whose wryting he reades and himselfe speaks not to God but to the people to whom he reads in the former there is a kynde of vse though not lawfull of the gift of memory where in the other book-praying there is no vse of that or any other gift Secondly it followes not that bycause the Lord Iesus might impose a set forme of words to be vsed for prayer that therefore the Lord Bbs of England may impose an other set form so to be vsed The consequence is notably both erroneous and presumptuous So bold indeed are they and so high do they advance themselves in their ordinances and impositions Bycause the Lord hath separated one day from the rest and made it holy therefore they wil also make other holy dayes bycause Christ hath set down canons and constitutions for the government of his Church therefore they also will have their canons and constitutions bycause he hath appointed a form of administring the sacramēts therefore they may appoynt another form yea and that such a one as altereth and inovateth the very nature of the words of institution For where Christ would have the words of institution published and preached this is my body which is given for you they turn this preaching into a prayer the body of our Lord Iesus Christ was given for the preserv thy body and soul into eternall life c. repeating the same also to every severall communicant which Christ would have pronounced once for all according to the nature of the ordinance And thus they will set their thresholds by the Lords threshouldes and their postes by his postes and rather then they will want rowm for their own they wil pare of part his yea wholy dimolish them If the Lord Iesus appoynt one ordinance for his Church they will appoynt an other and surely so they may lawfully if they be as they are reputed protend themselves Lord Bishops and Arch Bishops of the Church and spirituall Lords over Gods heritage To these things I will adde a few reasons agaynst this read stinted service and so conclude both the matter and the book And first it cānot be an ordināce of Christ bycause the Church may perfectly and entyrely worship God without it with all the parts of holy and spirituall worship as did the Apostolick Churches for many years before any such leiturgy was devised imposed and as do many Churches now and as appeares by that which is done before after sermons where no such stint is read of what may be done at all times and in all places where able lawfull ministers of the new testament are As the administrations of the publique prayers of the Church is a principall duty of the minister for which a speciall gift and qualification is required so cannot the reading of a service book be that administration bycause no speciall or ministeriall gift is required for it The two feet vpon which the dumb ministery stands like Naebuchad-nezzars Image vpon the feet of iron and clay are the book of common prayer and of homilyes the reading of the former which is the right foot serving them for prayer of the other for preaching which feet if they were smitten as were the other with the stone cut without hands the whole Idol-preisthood would fall and be broken a peices as that other image was And here I would intreat them that have written and are perswaded so much agaynst the reading of the Apocrypha books of the Machabies those which follow them in the congregation especially them which have so sufficiently dealt against Mr Hutton his fellowes to turn the face of their Arguments generall agaynst the Apocryphall service book and they will silence that book as well and as much as the rest like women in the Church as they speak As it were a ridiculous thing for a child when he would aske of his father bread fish or any other thing he wanted to read it to him out of a paper so is it for the children of God especially for the ministers of the gospell in their publique ministrations to read vnto God their requests for their own and the Churches wants out of a service book wherin they are also stinted to words and sillables by which also they and the people with them are vnder a greater death then if they ate bread by weight drank water by measure Lastly if this vse of the service-book be sanctified of God for the publique and solemn prayers of the Church so deemed by these ministers and others the forward people in the kingdom what is the reason why they so seldom yea or rather never vse the same or any other of the like nature in their familyes but do on the contrary lay aside all books save that of the spirit by whose alone and immediate direction they are taught and according to whose suggestiōs they do put vp their supplicatiōs vnto God Do we not all know that the more forward sort of proffessours would be ashamed of any such book prayers in their families And hath the Lord sanctified that for his house which is not holy and good enough for their houses will they worship God with that worship publiquely whereof they are ashamed privately can private men bring forth the conceptions of the spirit without the help of any such service book and do the lawfull ministers of the gospell stand in need of it for the manifestatiō of the spirit of prayer given them for the vse and comfort of the Church cursed be the deceiver which hath in his flock a male and voweth and sacrificeth vnto the Lord a corrupt thing If these ministers then and others have a better sacrifice of prayer
and thanksgiving then their service book as their own practise both private and publique when they have liberty shewes they have and that so themselves judge see them learn to feare him that is a great King and whose name is terrible even the Lord of hostes To him through Christ the onely “ mayster and teacher of his Church be prayse for ever He even God the Father for his sonne Christs sake shew his mercy in all our aberrations and discover them vnto vs more and more keep vs in and lead vs into his truth giving vs to be faythfull in that wee have received whether it be lesse or more praeserving vs against all those scandalls wherewith the whole world is filled Amen CHristian Reader whilst I was printing my defence against Mr Ber Invective his reply came forth in a second treatise to which I have also given answer in all the particulars which are of weight And for that I have been occasioned by the one and other book to handle all the poynts in difference I entreat the to compare with this my defence such other oppositions especially as respect myself whither in print or writing till more particular â—nswer be given The principall scriptures brought on both sides for the present controversy expounded and applyed LEviticus 20. 24. 26. 11. 12. pag. 328. 329. Ieremy 23. 22. pag. 103. 377. The two parables of the feild and draw net Mat. 13. p. 116. 117. 118. 119. 120. 121. 122. Math. 18. 17. Tel the Church p. 170. 171. 172. 177. 178. c. to 235. 238. 239. Math. 23. 1. 2. 3. pag. 433. 434. 435. 436. Mark 9. 39. pag. 77. Ioh. 10. pag. 385. 386. 387. 388. Ioh. 17. 6. 9. 14. 15. 16. p. 332. 333. 334. Act. 2. 40. p. 330. 331. Act. 13. 1. 2. p. 366. 367. Act. 1â— 2. 3. 4. 199. Act. 19. 8. 9. pag 331. 332. Act. 21. 18. pa. 200. Rom. 10. 14. pag. 380. 381. 1 Cor. 1. 11. pag. 190 191. 1 Cor. 5. pag. 158. 159. 190. 191. 239. 240. 241. 242. 1 Cor. 9. 1. 2. p. 11. 381. 382. 383. 1 Cor. 11. 18. pag. 252. 253. 1 Cor. 14. 1. 3. 22. 24. pag. 235. 236. 237. 2 Cor. 2. 6. pag 243. 206. 207. 208. 2 Cor. 6. 12. 15. 16. 17. 18. p. 322. 323. 324. 325. 326. 327. 328. 334. 335. 336. 337. Ephe. 4. 11. 12. pag. 159. 160. 162. 163. Phil. 1. 15. 16. pag. 119. 435. 1 Tim. 4. 6. pag. 378. Titus 1. 15. pag. 251. 1 Pet. 2. 9. 10. pag. 44. 45. Rev. 2. 3. pa 167. 168. 169. A TABLE OF THE PRINCIPAL matters conteyned in this treatise A OF Antiquity pa 32. 33. 50. The order of the separated Churches more ancient then that of the Ch of Engl p 40. 41. The Apostles coÌ„mission peculiar pag 147. 155. 156. Wherein ordinary Ministers succeed them pa 156. Neyther the Bishops of Rome nor Engl the Apostles successours p 405 364. Authority to be obeyed p 18. DiffereÌ„tly in things civil ecclesiasticall pa 29 30. B. The Church not constituted noâ— the members admitted by Baptism pa 283. 284. Baptism in Rome and Engl how true and how false p. 284 285. How Baptism is a note of saynt-ship of the Church p 110 See Sacraments Why wee reteyn the Baptism received in Rome and Engl not the Ministery pa 390 391. 392. 393. 394. 395. See Ordination C. Christs headship in a great measure denyed in the Ch of Engl pa 261. in the administration of his prophesy pag 262. 263. preisthood p 263 264 kingdome p 264 268. Christs kingdom and the government of it spirituall p 38. yet visible p 99. 110 The kingdom of Christ to be administred as solemnly publiquely as his prophesie or preisthood p 228 230. 350. Of the visible invisible Ch pa 105. 106 311 313. Of the gathering and constitution of the visible Church p 220 221. 292 233. See profession of fayth Who are true members of the visible Church pa 105 107. See saynts The Church no mixt company but simple and vniform p 112 121 337. Persons apparantly and visibly wicked no true members of the Church whatsoever in word they profess p 268 269 274 304 305 310. Where also Mr Bern plea for theÌ„ is disproved The constitutioÌ„ of the Church what it is and of how great account pa 73 77. 81 82 88 93 94. 95. 98. The Church superiour vnto the Officers p 200 201 217. how pa 218 219 220 223. The Officers are the Churches not the contrary pa 127 132 211. Churches are before Officers p 126. 127 211. 221. 366. 396 397 399. Without which the Ministers cannot exist p 393 294. The covenant of the L. makes the Ch in generall pa 283. 311 The Church of Engl vncapable of it p 311 313 319 221 322. 338 339 340. Two or three faithful people in the covenant of the gospell or of Abraham though without Officers are a Church p. 125 126 129 190. 423. Having interest in all the holy things of God within themselves iÌ„mediately vnder Christ pa 131. 132 See Ordination The Church may censure her Officers pag 213 220. The properties of the Church pa 341. 342 346. c. The Church to be gathered onely by the preaching or publishing of the gospel of salvatition received submitted unto pa 89 90 91 315 447 457 458 459. The Church of Engl not so gathered pa 89. 90. 91. 459. 460. Of repraesentative Churches and that the new testament acknowledgeth none such pa 194 198. and of repraesentations in religion pa 231. 302 303. 304. Of corruptions in the Church p 64 65 81 82 260. 337. how to be forborn born reformed pa. 15. 64. 68 16. No separation from a true Church p 247. How a Church ceaseth p 247. 248. 249. Of the differences betwixt the reformed Churches and vs and betwixt theÌ„ the vnreformed Church of Engl and that they both cannot possibly be rightly gathered and constituted pag. 41. 42 46. 47. 48. 52. 301. 453. 454. The Church of Engl agaynst which wee deal how to be considered p 319. 320. 339. Neyther the Church of Rome nor of Engl was ever a true Ch as was Iudah pa 277. 278. 299. 120. 121. Much lesse did they so continue in the height of Antichrists apostasie as did Iudah in her greatest defection but were dischurched 121. Mr Ber Reasons to prove Rome for the preseÌ„t a true Ch answered pag. 278. 279. 280. 281. 281. 282. 285. 286. 28â— The contrary proved pa 288. 289. 290. 291 The reformation by King Edward and Queene Elizabeth though much to be honored no way comparable to that by Hezechiah Iosiah and Nehemiah p 294. 295. 296. 297. 298 299. 300. The Church Math. 18. 17. not the Iewish Synedrion 177. 178. 179. 180. 181. 182. 183. 184 185. 186. Not the Praesbytery or Ch officers but the officers people in the order set by Christ the officers governing and the people governed 186. 187. 190. 101. 192. 193. 194. 195
that the naked and simple truth is to be inquired after with an vnpartiall affection And then the Lord which gives a single heart to seek after it will give a wise hart to find it out Math. 7. 7. Onely let men take heed they be not as Pilate asking vvhat is truth and turning their backs vpon it when they have done nor having found it as Orpah did to Naomi forsaking her weeping And for my self as I could much rather have desired to have built vp my self and that poore stock over which the holy Ghost hath set me in holy peace as becoÌ„meth the house of God wherein no sound of axe or hammer or other toole of iron is to be heard then thus to enter the lists of contention so being iustly called to contend for the defence of that truth vpon which this man amongst others layes violent hands I will endeavour in all good conscience as before God so to free the same as I wil be nothing-lesse then contentious in contention but wil count it a victorie to be overcome in odious provocations and reproches both by him and others And so desiring as earnestly the Christian reader into whose hands this my defence shal come to manifest vnto me such errours in the same if by the word of God they may so be found as to receive from me such truthes as are therin coÌ„tâ—yned I leave the due trial to that alone touchstone coÌ„mit the blessing to the Lord who alone giveth wisdom is able to make wise to salvatioÌ„ CERTAYN OBSERVATIONS vpon the Epistle dedicatory Preface to the Reader FIrst I desire it may be observed by the reader how Mr Bernâ—â—ileth the worshipful personages vnder the wing of whose protection he shrowdeth his papers Christian Professors A title peculiar to some few in the land which favour the forward preachers frequent their sermons advance the cause of reformatioÌ„ Such persons are coÌ„monly called amongst themselves professors vertuous and religious thereby distinguished fro the body of the land which make no such profession and are therefore accounted and iustly prophane and without religion and that as roundly by Mr. B. as by any other in the Land But it seemeth he had forgot both his Epistle whom both he in it and others every where call Professors for distinction sake when he wrote his book for in it he makes all the kingdome professors at a venture and Christian professours I hope he meaneth Thus those whom he severeth in the Epistle he confounds in the book And let him wel consider how he can quit himself eyther from flatterie in the one or from vntruth in the other And where Mr Ber. in the body of the Epistle you seat your self in the middest between the schismatical Brownist as you charitably term him the AntichristiaÌ„ Papist the one snatching on the right haÌ„d and the other on the left it is something which you say and more belike then you are aware of Fitly may you be seated in the middest betwixt both being indeed a minglement compound of both and wel may both snatch at you and yet neither do you wrong if neyther require more then their owne Iustly may the Papists challenge from you that stinted service book devised Ministerie Antichristian Hierarchie and Babylonish confusion which you have stollen away from them as Rahel did her Fathers idols though she covered them never so close And iustly also may we chalenge from you such godly people as you fraudulently deteyn and such truthes of doctrine as you teach as being the peculiars of the true Church as the holy vessels were of the temple though violently with the people caried to Babylon and there kept But if you will still hault betwixt both as Israell did betwixt God and Baal and carry in your right hand many Evangelicall truthes with vs in your left many Antichristian devises with the Papists no marvell though both partyes remayne vnsatisfyed neyther must you be offended though the Papists for the truthes you hold with vs account you hereticks nor though we for the devises you reteyn with them call you Antichristian And so you see your midle standing betwixt them and vs more wayes then one And thus much of the Epistle dedicatory In the next place I come to the preface where amongst other iust complaynts of the iniquityes of the tymes you reckon and that worthily as the most daungerous Atheisticall security carnall living vnder a generall profession to which purpose you alledg 2 Tim. 3. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. and so instance in your English people This place of Timothy alone had you well weyed and throughly improved especially the fifth verse where separation from such persons as having a shew of godlines do deny the power thereof as you confesse the English people do is expresly commaunded it would eyther have stopped your mouth from reproching vs as you do for separation or els have opened the mouth of the most simple reader to reproue your vanity as God did the mouth of the asse to reprove Balaam The next thing I observe is how vauntingly you bring as chalengers into the lists Mr. Gyshop Mr Bradshaw D. Allison and other vn-named Ministers all which you say are vnanswered by vs. And no marveil for sundry of their writings never came to our hands and besides it were a more equall and compendious way for these men to take vp the defence of their Churches cause where their fellowes have forsaken it and left it desolate then thus to make new chalenges though in truth with the same weapons it may be new frubbished over wherewith the other have lost the field Yet are theyr books and by the grace of God assisting shal be answered in particular as they come to our hands and are thought worthy answering though in truth it were no hard thing for our adversaries to oppresse us with the multitude of books considering both how few and how feeble we are in comparison besides other outward difficultyes if the truth we hold which is stronger then all did not support it selfe The difference you lay down in the next place touching the proper subject of the power of Christ is true in it selfe being rightly vnderstood and onely yours wherein it is corruptly related and specially in the particular concerning vs as that where the Papists plant the ruling power of Christ in the Pope the ProtestaÌ„ts in the Byshops the Puritants as you terme the reformed Churches those of theyr mynde in the Presbytery we whome you name Brownists put it in the body of the CoÌ„gregatioÌ„ the multitude called the Church odiously insinuating against us that we do exclude the Elders in the case of goverment where on the contrary we professe the Byshops or Elders to be the onely ordinary governours in the Church as in all other actions of the Churches communion so also in the censures Onely we may not acknowledge them for Lords
over Gods heritage as you would make them controuling all but to be controuled by none much lesse essentiall vnto the Church as though it could not be without them least of all the Church it self as you and others expound Math. 18 But we hold the Eldership as other ordinances given vnto the Church for her service and so the Elders or officers the servants and ministers of the Church the wife vnder Christ her husband aâ— the scriptures expresly affirm Of which more hereafter And where further you advise the reader to take from the Iay other birds feathers that is as you expound your self to set vs before him as we differ from all other Churches Therein you make a most inconsiderate and vnreasonable motion If a man should set the Church of England before his eyes as it differeth but from the reformed Churches it would be no very beautiful bird Yea what could it in that colour afforde but Egyptian bondage Babylonish confusion carnal pomp and a company of Iewish Heathenish and Popish ceremonies Whatsoever truth is in the world it is from God and from him we have it by what hand soever it be reached vnto vs Came the word of God unto you onely vnto it we have good right as the Israel of God unto whom he hath committed his oracles Rom. 3. 2. Towards the end of the Preface you do render two reasons vpon which you do adventure to deal against vs as you do the one coÌ„fidence in your cause the other the spirituall injury which some of late have done you in taking away part of the seale of the Ministery Touching the first as it is to vs that know you wel no new thing to see you confident in all enterprises so doth it much behoove you to consider how long and by what meanes you have been possessed of this your confident perswasion I could name the person of good credite and note to whom vpon occasion you confessed and that since you spake the same things which here you write as confidently as now you write them that you had much a doe to keep a good conscience in dealing against this cause as you did But a speach of your own vttered to my self ever to be remeÌ„bred with fear and trembling can not I forget when after the conference passing betwixt Mr H. and me you vttered these wordes Wel I wil returne home preach as I have done and I must say as Naaman did the Lord be merciful unto me in this thing and therevpon you further promised with out any provocation by me or any other that you would never deale against this cause nor with-hold any froÌ„it though the very next Lords day or next but one you taught publikliâ— against it and so broke your vâ—w the Lord graunt not you conscience And for the seale of your Ministerie deceive not yourself and others if you had not a more authentick seal in your black box to shew for your Ministery at your Bishops visitation then the converting of men to God which is the seal you meane this seale would stand you in as little stead as it doth many others which can shew as â—â—â—re this way as you and yet are put from their Ministerie notwithstanding And wil you charge your Bishops Church representative to deale so trecherously with the Lord as to put downe his Ministers and Officers which have his broad seal to shew for their Office and Ministerie What greater contumely do these vipers these schismaticall Brownists lay vpon your Church then you doe herein The Church of England acknowledgeth no such seale as this is The Bishops ordination and license conformitie vnto their ceremonies subscription to their articles devout singing and saying their service-book is that which will beare a man out though he be far enough eyther from converting or from preaching conversion vnto any And here I desire the reader to observe this one thing with me When the ministers are called in quaestion by the Bishops they alledge vnto them their former subscription conformity in some measure at least their peaceable cariage in their places but when they would iustify their ministerie against vs then their vsuall plea is they haue converted men to God herein acknowledging to let passe their vnsound dealing that we respect the work of Gods grace in any at which they know the Bishops and their substitutes if they should plead the same with them would make a mock for the most part I do most freely acknowledge the singular blessing of God vpon many truthes taught by many in the Land and do and alwayes shal so far honour those persons as the Lord hath honoured them herein But that the simple conversion of sinners yea though the most perfect that ever was wrought should argue a true office of Ministerie the scriptures no where teach neyther shall I ever beleeve without them This scripture 1 Cor. 9. 1. 2. is most frequently alledged for this purpose But as vnsoundly as commonly For if simple conversion should argue an Apostleship then should a common effect argue a proper cause an ordinarie work an extraordinarie office for the conversion of men is a work common to extraordinarie and to ordinarie officers yea to true and false officers yea to such as are in no office at all as hereafter shall appeare And what could be more weakly alledged by Paul to prove himself no ordinarie but an extraordinary officer an Apostle which was the thing he intended then that which is common to ordinary officers with him Might not the Corinthians easily have replyed Nay Paul it followes not that you are an Apostle immediately called and sent by Christ because you haue begotten vs to the Lord have been the instrument of our coÌ„versioÌ„ for ordinary Ministers Pastors Teachers called by men do beget to the Lord as wel as you The bare conversion of the Corinthians then is not the seal Paul speakes of but together with it their establishment into a true visible Church and that with such power and authority Apostolicall as wherewith Paul was furnished by the Lord. Of which more hereafter But the father of these childreÌ„ you say you are which thus vnnaturally fly from you and whereof we so injuriously have deprived you in which respect also you make this your hue cry after vs and them for through the gospel you have begotten them And have you begotten them vnto the faith as Paul did the Corinthians and are you their father as Paul was the father of the Corinthians then it must needs follow that before you preached the gospel vnto them and thereby begot them to the Lord they were in the same estate wherein the Corinthians were before Paul preached vnto them that is unbeleevers and without faith and so were to be reputed And how then true matter of the Church for which you so much contend Besides these your begotten children were baptised long before you saw their faces some twenty
some thirtie some fourtie yeares Now this their baptisme was true baptisme and so the true seale of their forgivenes of sinnes and new birth as you affirm prove page 119. this their seal of the new birth hath stood good vpoÌ„ them all this while visibly and externally and yet after all this you preach vnto them beget theÌ„ a new visibly externally for onely God knoweth that which is true within You have begot them through the Gospel Behold a minstrous generation a man begetting children twentie or thirtie or fourtie yeares after they be borne If Nichodemus had heard of this he might wel have sayd how can thâ—se things be Lastly if you be by your office the faâ—her of these children as Paul was of the Corinthians by his where is then that your rod of correction which Paul shakes at his children doth any law eyther divine or humane deny a father liberty to correct his own childreÌ„ Or are you one of these simple fathers of whoÌ„ your self speak that can beget children but not bring them vp This â—od is seems apperteynes to both their and your reverend fathers the Bishops who onely know how to vse it To conclude the preface In acknowledging as you doe in the end of it that some things in the book may seeme to the Christian reader to be written in the gall of bitternes and yet suffering them so to passe with an excuse of your intent as herein you manifest no good conscience chusing rather to excuse so great an evill then to reforme it so neyther take you any likely course for the good of them with whome you deale whose recovery if they be faln you should rather have attempted in the bowels of mercy theâ— in the gall of bitternes Aâ—d so I câ—me to the partes of your book as they ly in order Of the Authours Advertisements called by him Christian counsels of peace THe subiect whereof Mr Bern. treats in this place being peace is very plausible the name amiable the thing both pleasant and profitable And as God is the God of peace so are not they Gods children nor borne of him which desire it not yea even in the middest of their contentions But as all vices vse to cloth themselves with the habites of vertues that vnder those liveries they may get countenance and finde the more free passage in the world so especially in the Church all tyranny and confusion do present themselves vnder this colour taking vp the politick pretence of peace as a weapon of mere advantage wherewith the stronger and greater party vseth to beat the weaker The Papists presse the protestants with the peace of the Church and for the rent which they have made in it condemn them beyond the heathenish souldiours which forbare to devide Christs garment as deeply do the Bishops charge the Ministers refusing conformity and subscription and both of them vs. But the godly wise must not be affrighted eyther from seeking or embracing the truth with such buggs as these are but seeing the wisdome which is from above is first pure then peaceable he must make it a great part of his Christian wisdome to discerne betwixt godly and gratious peace and that which is eyther pretended for advantage or mistaken by error so to labor to hold peace in purity Let it then be manifested vnto vs that the Communion which the Church of EnglaÌ„d hath with all the wicked in the Land without separation is a pure communion that theyr service book devised and prescribed in so many words and letters to be read over and over with all the appurtenances is a pure worship that their goverment by Nationall Provinciall and diocesan Bishops according to their CanoÌ„s is a pure govermeÌ„t then let vs be blamed if we hold not peace with them in word deed otherwise though they spake vnto vs never so oft both by messengers and mouth of peace and agayn of peace * as Iehoram did to Iehu yet must we answer them in effect as Iehu did Iehoram what peace whilest the whoredoms of the mother of fornicatioÌ„s the Iezebel of Rome do remayn in so great number amongst them And I doubt not but Mr Bern. and 1000 more Ministers in the land were they secure of the Magistrates sword and might they go on with his good licence would wholly shake of their canonicall obedience to their Ordinaries and neglect their citations and censures and refuse to sue in their Courts for all the peace of the Church which they commend to vs for so sacred a thing Could they but obteyn license froÌ„ the Magistrate to vse the libertie which they are perswaded Christ hath given them they would soon shake off the Prelates yoke and draw no longer vnder the same in spirituall coÌ„munion with all the profane in the land but would break those bonds of iniquitie as easily as Sampson did the cordes wherwith Dalilah tyed him and give good reasons also from the word of God for their so doing And yet the approbation of men and angels makes the wayes of God workes of religion never a whit the more lawfull but onely the more free from bodily daunger Wherevpon we the weakest of all others have been perswaded to embrace this truth of our Lord Iesus Christ though in great and manifold afflictions to hold out his testimony as we do though without approbation of our Sovereigne knowing that as his approbation in such points of Gods worship as his word warranteth not cannot make them lawful so neyther can his disallowance make unlawful such duties of religion as the word of God approveth nor can he give dispensation to any person to forbeare the fame Dan 3. 18. Act. 5. 29. These things I thought good to commend to the reader that he may be the more cautelous of this and the like colourable pretences wishing him also wel to remember that peace in disobedience is that old theam of the false Prophets whereby they flattered the mighty and deceaved the simple Ier. 6. 14. 8. 11. Let us now come to consideration of the counsels themselves so frâ—ndly given and so sagely set downe And therein to approve what is good and wholsome to interpret in the best sense what is doubtful and to passe by unrequited such contumelies as wherewith Mr B. reprocheth vs as in all places so here in his rhyming Rhetorick wherein he labours to rowl â—s even as may be betwixt the Atheisticall Securitant and Anabaptisticall Puritant the carelesse Conformitant and thâ— preposterous Reformitant and so forth as the rhyme runneth I wil come to those ten Rules or Canons praescribed by him pag. 3. 4. 5. for the praeservation of peace in the Church or state ecclesiasticall for that alone we oppose humbling our selves vnder the hand of the Magistrate as much and more truely then himself 1. Uphold the manifest good therein A man vpholds that which is good most naturally by his
circumcision with the gospell And yet for so doing they are charged by the Apostle to be removed or turned away to another gospell By what law wâ—s the mistery of iniquity confirmed Or Antichrists coÌ„ming into the world agreed vpoÌ„ in the Apostles tyme And yet the mistery of iniquity then wrought and many Antichrists were then come into the world And yet these mischeifs being found in the Churches in the Apostles tymes were as wel imputed vnto theÌ„ as if a thousand Parliaments Convocations had ratified them To proceed It is also true which is further counsayled that a difference must be held betwixt substance circumstance betwixt the manner and the matter betwixt the being and well being of a thing and so of the rest but withall it must be observed that the Lord hath in his word as wel appoynted the manner how he wil have things done as the things themselves and that even circumstances prescribed and determined by the Lord are of that force not only to deface the welbeing but to overturn the true being of Gods worship The Lord commaunded the Israelites by Moses to bring theyâ— sacrifices and oblations to the place which for that purpose he would chuse and there to offer them Deut. 12. 5. 6. And did not all offerings brought to any other place without speciall dispensation stink in his nostrels And yet this was but a circumstance of place And wherein stands the breach of the fourth commaundemeÌ„t but in a circumstance of tyme Lastly what was the transgression of Vzziah the King for which God stroke him with leprosy but a personall aberratioÌ„ a sinne in the circumstance of person for that he being no Preist would adventure to offer incense at the Altar 2. Chr. 26. 16. 17. 18. 19. Of the same nature was the sinne of Corah Dathan Abiram merely circumstantiall Dathan and Abiram being of a wrong tribe and Corah of a wrong family and yet for that theyr rebellion the earth by Gods judgment opened her mouth and swallowed vp both them and theyrs Numb 16. 1. 2. 32. And for the well being and right ordering of good things the Lord as well requireth it as the things themselves He hath not left in the hands of the Church a rude matter to frame after her owne fashion but with the matter he hath also appoynted the manner and form wherein all things must be done When Moses vnder the law was to make the Tabernacle the Lord did not set him out the matter and stuffe whereon to make it and so left the manner and formâ— to his pleasure and discretion but appoynted the one as well as the other and if he had framed it or any thing about it after any other fashion then according to the pattern shewed him in the mount he had done abhominably in the sight of the Lord. Exo. 25. 3-40 c. and 26. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. c. Hebr. 8. 5. When the Ark of God was to be removed vpon occasion the Preists were to cover it that no hand might touch it and so to carry it vpon their shoulders to the place of rest Numb 4. 11. 15. Deut. 3. 19. Now this order of the Lord was violated in the bringing of it out of the house of Abinadab vncovered and vpon a cart after the fashion of the Egyptians 1 Sam. 8. 7. 8. And the breach of this order the Lord punished very severely making a breach vpon Vzzah the Preist for touching the Ark which was his personall sinne and for carrying it vpon the cart which sinne was common to the rest of the Preists with him he was striken dead by the hand of God in the same place 2 Sam. 6. Now both this and the former examples are left to warne vs to take heâ—d that we presume not against the Lord in the least ceremony or circumstaÌ„ce neyther make any transgression small in our eyes or the eyes of others as the manner of too many is But let vs rather learne to feare before the Highest whose eyes are pure can indure none iniquity and let vs labour to keepe our hearts tender agaynst all sinne even agaynst that which seemeth the least knowing that if the Lord should let Satan loose vpon vs to presse our consciences should withdraw his comforts from vs in our temptations the least sinne would prove a burden vntollerable 4 Use the present good which thou mayest enioy to the vtmost and an experienced good before thou doest trouble thyselfe to seek for a supposed better good vntryed which thou enioyest not We must so enioy experienced good things as we stock not our selves in respect of other things as yet vntryed We may not stint or circumscribe eyther our knowledg or fayth or obedience within streyter bounds then the whole revealed will of God in the knowledge obedience wherof we must dayly encrease edify our selves much lesse must we suffer our selves to be stripped of any liberty which Christ our Lord hath purchased for vs and given vs to vse for our good Gal 5. 1. And here as I take it comes in the â—ase of many hundreds in the Church of England who what good they may enioy that is safely enjoy or without any great bodily daunger that they vse very fully Where the wayes of Christ ly open for them by the authority of men where they may walk safely with good leave there they walk very vprightly and that a round pace but when the commaundements of Christ are as it were hedged vp with thrones by mens prohibitions there they fowly †step a syde and pitch theyr tents by the flocks of his fellowes There are many in the land very zealous severe in all the dâ—ties of the second table and in the private and personal duties of the first table and in such publick duties also as the times wil bear and in those respects may say as Iehu did to Iehonadab see the zeâ—â— which I have for the house of the Lord but consider the same persons iâ— their Communion Leyturgy Ministery and government there seemeth a most monstrous composition These things in the same men do agree as ill as the Ark of God Dagon in the same house We ought in no case to share our service betwixt Christ and Antichrist nor to stock ourselves in any the least parts of the revealed will of God but must grow and increase in the whole body of obedience and all the parts thereof otherwise as in the naturall body if one part grow and not an other the effect wil be monstrous Ezek 18. 11. 12. Iam. 2. 10. Deut. 8. 1. The 5. 6. 7. precept I pretermit the 8. followeth 8. Never praesume to reforme others before thou hast wâ—â—â— ordered thy self c. True zeal it is certayn ever beginnes at home and gives morâ— libertie unto other men then it dares assume unto it self And there is nothing more true or necessary
Math. 22. 21. but we are bidden stand for the liberty wherwith Christ hath freed vs that is the whol liberty of the Church to let no man iudge vs that is ecclesiastically no not in meaâ—s drinks though civilly men may commaund iudge vs in them And vpon these grounds truely layd by the word of God an answer may be framed on this manner In civill affayres we may and ought to obey for the authority of the commaunder yea though we know not any good but on the contrary much harm to our bodily estate comming vnto vs by the same but in matters ecclesiasticall which are subordinate to the souls good we must obey onely for the ends of the things coÌ„maunded and as they tend to the edification of our selves and others 1 Cor. 14. 26. To conclude this poynt since the Apostles expresly commaunds that all things in the Church be done to the edificatioÌ„ of the same I would demaund of Mr. B. with what fayth or good conscience he or any other maÌ„ can do or enterprise any one thing in the Church which he or they are not perswaded by the word of God which is the rule of fayth tends to edification These things being thus there is no cause why Mr. B. should account it curiosity to serch particularly into every thing for satisfaction the differences formerly layd down being observed neyther doth this holy care of Gods servants as he further addeth work vpon mens wittes to bring distinctions but on the contrary men of corrupt mynds and vnfaythfull least they should be reformed by the word of God do get distinctions like excuses after their owne hearts Much lesse is it eyther truely or christianly affirmed which followeth that the more men seek in doubts for resolution the further they are from it For howsoever it may be thus with M. B. many others which seek the truth as cowards do their enemyes with a fear to fynd it least it trouble theyr carnall peace yet have other men better yssue of theyr labours and by seeking have found that hydden treasure for the purchase whereof they are content to sell all they have and to buy it In the next place come in six rules of directions how to settle the consâ—ience to prevent scrupulosity and perplexity 1. Keep all mayn truthes in the word which are most playnely set downe and are by law of nature ingraven in every man First you are much mistaken Master Bern. if you imagine that all mayn truthes in the word are engraven in every man by the lawe of nature For the gospell is the more principall part of the word which notwithstanding is wholy supernaturall and above the created knowledge of man or Angel Mat. 11. 27. Ephe. 3. 10. Secondly if in commending mayn truthes and such as arâ— playnely set downe you do insinuate that there are any truthes so meane which we may eyther neglect to serch or having found them to obey therin you should deceive by promising liberty make your selfe wiser then God and crosse his ordinance appoyntment 2 Tim. 3. 16. Deut. 4. 1. 2. And for things left more dark in the Scriptures they must be vnto vs matter of humiliation in our naturall blyndenes and of more earnest meditation and prayer with all good conscience 2. Beleeve every collection truely necessarely gathered by an immediate consequence from the text This is good but not sufficient For collections truely made though by mediate consequences one after another are to be receaved though the fewer the better and the lesse subiect to daunger And we must not curtall the discourse of reason soberly vsed and sanctifyed by the word so short as Mr. B. would haue vs. When the Lord Iesus was to deal with the Saduces about the resurrection he took his proof from that which is written Exo. 3. 6. I am the God of Abraham c. which words do no way conclude the resurrection of the body which was the question by any immediate consequence and yet the collection was good and necessary The 3. and 4. direction I omit as questionles and come to the 5. in order 5. Enterteyn true antiquity follow the generall practise of the Church of God in all ages where they have not erred from the evident truth of God It cannot be denyed but that is best which is most auncient and that truth and righteousnes were in the world before syn error but neyther the one nor the other did continue long eyther amongst men or Angels And he that but considers what monstrous errours and corruptions sprang vp in the Church of the new Testament whylest the Apostles lived which planted them wil not think it strange though almost all were over-grown with such bryars and thornes in a few ages following And what not onely vnsoundnes in doctrine but vncertaynty in story is to be found in the most auncient writers no man though but even meanely exercised in them can be ignorant And yet if we would take vp these weapons it were easy to make good our part against the Church of England in the mayne differences But we have the word of God which is to vs a sure testimony and if he be onely to be heard of whome God from heaven hath testified as the onely Prophet and Doctor of his Church we are not then so much to regard what any man hath practised before vs as what Christ hath commaunded which is before all And we must in the first labour to have our harts seasoned with the word of God and according to that taste must all mens both perswasions and practises be savored by vs taking heed of those preposterous courses commonly held some at the first corrupting their harts with the thorny subtilties of the school-men more witty then sound sayings of the fathers and others prejudicing and forestalling themselves by the present and sensible state of things before theyr eyes or by the generall and partiall practise of tymes past and so comming in the last place to the word of God haling that in to back and support theyr exalted forestalled imaginations 6. If thou suffer let it be for knowne truth and against knowne wickednes for which thou hast examples in the word or of holy martyrs in story suffering for the same or the like But beware of far fetched consequences c. We are to forbeare evills not onely known but suspected doubted of And he that knowes what a heart meaneth truely softened and made tender with the blood of Christ had rather suffer all extremityes then approve that as good eyther by word writing or practise which he but doubteth to be evill and to displease God except by fayth he can overcome that doubt in some measure And for vs though we had no example eyther in the word of God or other story of any martyrs suffering in the same or the like particulars with
of your owne hart But let vs heare your advise Quaere Whether it be an offence iustly given by thee or taken without iust reason of others thou not offending and they displeased the fault is their own and thou not chargeable therewith But you must vnderstand Mr B. that in the vnseasonable vse of things in themselves indifferent there is an offence both given taken and so a double sinn coÌ„mitted he that gives the offence sinns through want of charity and he that takes it through want or weaknes of fayth And so where actions simply good do onely hurt him that takes offence and actions simply evill him that gives it the vse of things indifferent agaynst expediency hurts harmes and destroyes both Rom. 14. 15. Now the parts of your secoÌ„d enquiry viz. whether men be offended in respect of what themselves know or butled by affection disliking of other mens dislike are insufficient For men do oft tymes take offence at things done and yet neyther in respect of their own knowledge nor of other mens dislike but merely through want of knowledg and vpon ignorance of their christian liberty And such were the weak brethren spoken of Rom. 14. 1 Cor. 8. and 9. which how they were to be tendered in their weaknes let the places iudge And for persoÌ„s partially affectionate or foolishly froward which is the mayn point in the 3. Quaere they are no way to be regarded as weak but on the contrary to be reproved as wayward contentious that folly and sinne may not rest vpon them Onely let men take heed they iudge not vncharitably of their brethren because they would practise vncharitably towards them as Nabal reviled David and his men as runnagates because he would deal churlishly with them and would shew them no mercy In the forth place it is demaunded What authority may do in things externall for outward rule in the circumstances of things How colourably you cary all the abominations in your Church vnder the shadow of circumstances and of how great moment even circumstances are in the case of religion I have formerly spoken let me onely ad thus much If a subject should vsurp the crown and exercise regall authority the difference were but in the circumstance of person which notwithstanding made the action high treason Or if a Preist comming to say his evensong should fall a sleep on his desk it were but a matter of circumstance in respect of tyme and place it might lawfully be done in another place and at another tyme yet there then it were a great prophaning of the service book What sway authority hath in the Church of England appeareth in the lawes of the land which make the goverment of the Church alterable at the Magistrates pleasure and so the Clergy in their submission to K. Henry 8. do derive as they pretend their ecclesiasticall jurisdiction from him and so exercise it Indeed many of the late Bishops and their Procters seeing how monstrous the ministration is of divine things by an humane authority and calling and growing bould vpon the present disposition of the Magistrate have disclaimed that former title and do professedly hold their eclesiasticall power and jurisdiction de jure divino so consequentâ—y by Gods word vnalterable Of whom I would demaund this one quaestion What if the King should discharge and expell the present ecclesiasticall goverment plant in stead of it the Presbytery or Eldership would they submit vnto the government of the Elders yea or no if yea then were they traytors to the Lord Iesus submitting to a goverment overthrowing his goverment as doth the Praesbyterian goverment that which is Episcopall if no then how could they free themselves from such imputations of disloyalty to Princes and disturbance of States as wherewith they load vs others opposing them But to the quaestion it self As the kingdom of Christ is not of this world but spirituall he a spiritual King so must the goverment of this spirituall kingdom vnder this spirituall King needs be spiritual all the lawes of it And as Christ Iesus hath by the merits of his Preisthood redemed as well the body as the soule so is he also by the scepter of his Kingdom to rule reign over both vnto which Christian Magistrates as well as meaner persons ought to submit themselves the more Christian they are the more meekly to take the yoke of Christ vpon them and the greater authority they have the more effectually to advance his scepter over themselves their people by all good meanes Neyther can there be any reason given why the merits of saynts may not as wel be mingled with the merits of Christ for the saving of his Church as the lawes of men with his lawes for the ruling and guiding of it He is as absolute and as intire a King as he is a Preist and his people must be as carefull to praeserve the dignity of the one as to enjoy the benefit of the other The next Quaere is Whether authority commaunding doth not take away the offence which might otherwise be given in a voluntary act This question is answered affirmatively by the Bishops their adhaerents and so with one voice they affirme in their books pulpits and other publik determinations but herein as palpably flattering the Magistrate as ever Canonist did the Pope What more was ever given to the Pope then that he might dispence with the morall law And what lesse is given to the King when by his authority I vse things indifferent with offence to my weak brother Is not love the fulfilling of the law And is it not against the law of love to vse things indifferent with offence which must the more carefully be avoyded coÌ„sidering the effects it drawes with it which are not onely the grief vvhich were too much but even the destruction of him for whom Christ dyed ver 5. 20. 1 Cor. 8. 11. Onely he which can strengthen the weak faith which is the cause of the offence can take away the offence and stablish him that is weak Rom. 14. 4. Men may and must vse meanes for that purpose and not nourish the weak in their weaknes but beare them they must in love and much love will have much patience Lastly for I passe over the 5. Quaere as comprehended in those which go before where you advise meÌ„ to studie agayn to study to be quiet and to follow those things which concerne peace it is needfull counsel and againe needfull considering what vnquiet spirits are to be found in all places Onely let men in their counsayls which you leave out ioyne with peace aedification and holynes as the scriptures teach and so separating the pretious from the vile they shal be to vs as Gods mouth and let their peace be in the word of righteousnes the ioy of the counselers of peace shal be vpon
them and the blessing of peace-makers vpon their heads Of Mr B. disswasive probabilities THe next thing that comes into consideration is certayn probabilities likelyhoods as the authour calls them consisting for the most part of personal imputations di graceful calumniations whereby he labours to withdraw the harts of the simple froÌ„ the truth of God unto disobedience as Absalom did the people into rebellion against the K. by slandering his goverment 2 SaÌ„ 15. But if Mr Bern. followed his sound judgement in this booâ— as he professeth in the Preface and so laboured to lead others he would neyther go himself nor send them by vnstable guesses and likelyhoods as he doth The truth of God goes not by peradventures neyther needs it any such paper-shot as likelyhoods are to assault the adversary withall The word of God which is profitablâ— to teach to reprovâ— to correct and to instruct in righteousnes is sufficient to furnish the man of God with weapons spirituall and those mighty through God to cast downe strong holds and whatsoever high thing is exalted against the knowledge of God And if M. B. speak according to the Law and Prophets his words are solid arguments if not there is neyther light in him nor truth in them and so where truth is wanting must some like-truthes or images of truth be layed in the place like the image in Davids bed to deceive them that sought after him when he himself was wanting 1 Saâ— 19. 13. The first probabilitie that our way is not good is The noveltie thereof differing from all the best reformed Churches â—â— Christendome It is no noveltie to hear men plead custome when they want truth So the heathen Phylosophers reproched Paul as a bringer of new doctrine so do the Papists discountenance the doctrine and profession of the Church of England yea even at this day very many of the people in the Land vse to call Popery the old law the profession there made the new law But we for our parts as we do beleeve by the word of God that the things we teach are not new but old truthes renued so are we no lesse fully perswaded that the Church constitution in which we are set is cast in the Apostolicall and primitive mould and not one day nor hower yonger in the nature and forme of it then the first Church of the new Testament And whether a people all of them separated sanctified so farr as men by their fruits can or ought to judge or a mingled generation of the seed of the womaÌ„ and seed of the serpent be more ancient the government of sundry Elders or Bishops with joynt authority over one Church or of one Nationall Provincial or Diocesan Bishop over many hundred or thousand Churches the spirituall prayers conceived in the heart of the Ministers according to the present occasions or necessityes of the Church or the English service book the simple administration of the Sacraments according to the words of institution or pompous and carnall complements of cap coap surplice crosse godfathers kneeling and the like mingled withall I do even refer it to the report of Mr B. owne conscience be it never so partiall Now for the differences betwixt the best reformed Churches as Mr B. calls them granting thereby his owne to be the worst and vs they ar extant in print being few in number those none of the greatest weight But what a volume would these differences make betwixt those reformed Churches and the vnreformed Churches of England if they were exactly set downe And yet for the corruptions reproved by vs in the reformed Church where we live I do vnderstand by them of good knowledge and sincerity that the most or greatest of them are rather in the exequution then in the constitution of the Church Our differences from the reformed Churches Mr B. aggravates by two reasons 1. The first is our separation from them 2. the 2. certeyne termes of disgrace vttered by Mr Barrow Mr Greenwood agaynst the Eldership which Mr Bernard will have vs disclayme For the first it is not truely affirmed that we separate from them What our judgment is of them our confessions of fayth and other wrytings do testify and for our practise as we cannot possibly ioyn vnto them would we never so fayne being vtterly ignorant of their language so neither do wee separate from them save in such particulars as we esteeme evill which we also shall endeavour to manifest vnto them so to be as occasion and meanes shal be offered And secondly for the taxations layd by Mr B. and Mr G. vpon the Eldership or other practise in the reformed Churches wherein they were any way excessive we both have disclaimed alwayes are and shal be ready to disclayme the same Onely I entreat the godly reader to coÌ„sider that those things were not spoken by them otherwise then in respect of those corruptions in the Eldership els where which they deemed Antichristian and evill Of which respective phrase of speach more hereafter Lastly if it be likely that our way is not good for the difference it hath from the reformed Churches and that thâ— greatneâ— of the difference appeares by the hard termes given by some of vs agaynst the government there vsâ—d thâ—n surâ—ly iâ— is much more likely that the way of the vnreformed Church of England is not good which differeth far more froÌ„ the reformed Chuâ—ches which difference appeares not onely in most reprochfull termes vsed by the Praelates and their adhaerents against the seekers of reformation comparing them to all vile haeretiques and seditious persons but in cruell persequutions raysed agaynst them and greater then against Papists or Atheists The second marke by which Mr B. guesseth our way not good is for that it agreeth so much with the antient schismatiques condemned in former ages by holy and learned men Luciferians Donatists Novattans and Audians Can our way both be a novelty new devise and yet agree so well with the antient schismatiques condemned in former ages Contradictions cannot be both true but may both be false as these are The partyes to whome Mr B. likeneth vs were condemned not onely for schisme but for heresy also as appeares in Epiphanius Austine Eusebius and others And as we have nothing no not in sâ—ew like vnto some of them nor in truth vnto any of them in the things blame worthy in them so if Mr B. were put to iustify by the word of God the condemnation of some of them it would put him to more trouble then he is aware of The Audians dissented from the Nicene Councell about theyr Easter tyme. The Luciferians held the soule of man to be ex traduce and were therefore accounted Haeretiques as indeed it was too vsuall a thing in those dayes to reiect men for haeretiques vpon too light causes And for the Donatists vnto whom Mr Gifford others would so fayn
fashion vs Mr B. and all others may see the dissimilitude betwixt them vs in the refutation of that supposed consimilitude A third evill for which Mr B. would bring our cause into suspition is The matter of defending our opinions and proving our assertions by strange and forced expositions of scriptures Where he also notes in the margent that the truth needs no such ill means to mainteyne it What the means are by which the Prelacy against which we witnes is mainteyned all men know The flattering of superiours the oppressing of inferiours the scoffing reviling imprisoning persequuting vnto banishment and death of such as oppose it are the weapoÌ„s of the Prelates warfare by which they defend their tottering Babel And were it not for the arm of â—lesh by which they hold and to which they trust they and their pomp would vanish away like smoke before the wynde so little weight have they or theyrs in the consciences of any But let us see wherin we mislead the reader by deceiptful allegations of scriptures 1. In quoting scriptures by the way that is for things coÌ„ming in upon occasion but nothing to the mayne poynt c. And wherefore is this deceiptfull dealing thus to alleadge the scriptures Because the simple reader is hereby made beleve that all is spokeÌ„ for the question controverted He is simple careles also that wil not search the scriptures before he beleve that they ar brought to prove if he any way suspect it which who so doth can not be deceived as is here insinuated It were to be wished we both spake and wrote the language of Canaan and none other and not onely to vse but even to note the scripture phrase soberly may be to the information and edification of the reader 2. By vrging commandements admonitioâ—s exhortations dehortations reprehensions and godly examples to prove a falsity What is falsity but that which is contrary to truth and so the word of God being truth whatsoever is contrary vnto any part of it whither commaundement admonition exhortation c. is false so far forth as it is contrary The similitude you take from a naturall child who for his disobedience is not to be reputed a false child but no good child is like the rest of the your similitudes The proportion holds not Men may have such children as ever were are and wil be disobedient to their dying day yet they remayn theyr children whether they will or no but if any of Gods childâ—en prove disobedient and will not be disclaymed he can dischilde them for bastards as they are and the true children of the Divil Ioh. 8. 44. 3. In alledging Scriptures not to prove that for which to the simple it seems to be alledged but that which is without controversy taking the thing in questioÌ„ for granted For this I take to be his meaning though he expresse it ill The instance he brings of one of vs cyting Act. 20. 21. to prove that all truth is not taught in the Church of England is I am perswaded if not worse mistaken by him For who would bring Pauls example to shew what the Ministers of England do and not rather what they should do what they do is knowne well enough and how both they in preaching the will of God and the people in obeying it are stinted at the Bishops pleasure 4 By bringing in places setting forth the invisible Church and holynesse of the members to set forth the visible Church by as being proper thereto as 1 Pet. 2. 9. 10. That the Apostle here speaketh not of the invisible but of the visible Church appeareth not by our bare affirmation which we might set gaynst Mr B. naked contradiction yea though he bring in D. Allison in the margent to countenance the matter but by these reasons 1. Peter being the Apostle of the Iewes wrote vnto them whose Apostle he was vvhom he knew dispersed through Pontus Galatia c. 1 Pet. 1. 1. But Peter was not the Apostle of the invisible but of the visible Church which he knew so dispersed where the invisible Church is onely knowne unto God 2 Tim. 2. 19. 2. The Apostle vseth the words of Moses to the visible Church of the Iewes Ex. 19. 6. which do therefore well agree to the visible Church vnder the gospell whose excellency graces and holynes do surmount the former by many degrees 3. Peter wrytes to a Church wherein were Elders and a flock depending vpoÌ„ them to be fed governed by them 1 Pet â— 1. 2. 3. which to affirm of the invisible Church is not onely a visible but even a palpable error 4. The Apostle wrytes to them which had the word preached amongst them Chap. 1. 25. And this Mr B. himselfe pag. 118. 119. makes a note and testimony of the visible Church and to that pupose quotes the former chap. v. 23. as he doth also this very chap. ver 5. which is the same with v. 9. 10. to prove the form of the visible Church And thus I hope it appeares to all men vpon what good groundes this man thus boldly leadeth vs with deceiptfull dealing in the scriptures And this instance I desire the reader the more diligeÌ„tly to observe as being singled out by Mr B. as a pickt witnes against vs countenanced by D. Allisons concurring testimony but especially because it poynts out the Apostolick Churches clean in contrary colours to the English Synagogues being vnholy and prophane and this is the cause why Mr B. and others are so loth to haue this Scripture ment of the visible Church 5. By inferences and references as if this be one this must follow and this Mr B. calles a deceiveable and crooked waye for the intangling of the simple To this I have answered formerly and do agayne answer that necessary consequences inferences are both lawfull necessary If Mr B. had to deale with a Papist agaynst Purgatory or with an Anabaptist for the baptizing of Infants he should be compelled except I be deceived to draw his arrowes out of this quiver And what are consequences regulated by the word which sanctifieth all creatures but that sanctified vse of reason wil any reasonable man deny the vse and discourse of reason If all the things which Iesus did had been written the world could not have conteyned the books if all the dutyes which ly vpon the Church to performe had been written in expresse termes as Mr B. requires a world of worlds could not contayne the books which should have been written Neyther are inferences references iustly made any way to be accounted wyndings but playne passages to the truth troden before vs by the Lord Iesus and all his holy Apostles which scarce alledge one scripture of three out of Moses and the Prophets but by way of inference as all that will may see But the truth is Mr Bern. hath
so many times been driven to so grosse absurdities by a consequence or two about this cause as he vtterly abhorrs the very memory of all coÌ„sequences it seems would have it enacted that never consequence should be more vrged To conclude whatsoever it pleaseth this man to suggest the mayne grounds for which we stand touching the coÌ„munion government ministery and worship of the visible Church are expresly conteyned in the scriptures and that as we are perswaded so plainly that as like Habbakuks vision he that runnes may read them The 4. guesse against vs is That we have not the approbation of any of the reformed Churches for ouâ— course and that where our Confession of faith is without allowance by them they give on the contrary the right hand of fellowship to the Church of England This is the same in substance with the first instance of probability and that which foloweth in the next place the same with them both And Mr Bern. by his so ordinary pressing vs with humane testimonies shewes himself to be very barren of divine authority as hath bene truely noted by another Nature teacheth every creature in all daunger to fly first and oftenest to the chief instruments eyther of offence or defence wherin it trusteth as the But to his horne the Bore to his tusk and the byrd vnto her wing right so this man shewes wherein his strength lies and wherein he trusts most by his so frequent and vsuall shaking the horne and whetting the tusk of mortall mans authority against vs. But for the reformed Churches the truth â—s they neyther do imagine no nor wil easily be brought to beleeve that the frame of the Church of England stands as it doth neyther have they any mind to take knowledge of those things or to enter into examination of them The approbation which they give of you as Mr A. hath observed as indeed it is of speciall observation is in respect of such generall truthes of doctrine as wherein we also for the most part acknowledge you which notwithstanding you deny in a great measure in the particulars and practise But touching the gathering governing of the Church which are the mayn heads coÌ„troverted betwixt you vs they give you not so much as the left haÌ„d of fellowship but do on the contrary turne their backs vpon you The difference betwixt you and them in the gathering and constituting of Churches is as great as betwixt copulsive conformity vnto the service book and ceremonyes which is your estate and voluntary submission vnto the gospell by which all every member of them is ioyned to the Church and as is betwixt the reigne of one Lord Bishop over many Churches and the government of a Presbytery or company of Elders over one And if you would take viewe of this difference nearer home do but cast your eyes to your next neyghbours of Scotland there you shall see the most zealous Christians chusing rather to loose liberty country and life then to stoop to a far more easy yoke then you bear Yea what need I send you out of your owne horizon The implacable mortall hatred the Prelates bear vnto the Ministers and people wishing the government and Ministery receaved in the reformed Churches proclaymes aloud the vtter emnity betwixt them your vnreformed Church of England of which I pray you hear with patience what some of your own have testified Those that will needs be our Pastors and spirituall fathers are become beasts as the Prophet Ieremy sayth And if we should open our mouthes to sue for the true shepheards and overseers indeed vnto whose direction we ought to be committed the rage of these wolves is such as this endeavour would almost be the price of our lives And do these Churches like sisters go hand in hand together as is pretended Now for vs where Mr B. affirmeth that wee published our confession but without allowance if I saw not his frowardnes in the things he knowes I should marvayl at his bouldnes in the things whereof he is ignorant we published the confessioÌ„ of our fayth to the Christian Vniversityes in the low countryes and els where entreating them in the Lord eyther to convince our errours by the word of God if so any might be found or if our testimony in theyr iudgments agreed with the same word to approve it eyther by wryting or silence as they thought good Now what Vniversity Church or person amongst them hath once enterprized our conviction which without doubt some would have done as with such haeretiques or schismatiques as arise amongst them had they found cause Thus much of the learned abroad in the next place Mr B. drawes vs to the learned at home from whose dislike of vs he takes his fifth Likelyhood which he thus frameth The condemnation of this way by our divinâ—s both living and dead against whom either for godlynes of life or truth of doctrine otherwise theâ— for being theyr opposites they can take no exception No mervayl we may not admit of partyes for iudges how is it possible we should be approved of them in the things wherein we witnes against them And if this Argument be good or likely then is it likely that neyther the reformists have the truth in the Church of England nor the Prelates for there are many and those both godly and learned which in their differences do oppose and that very vehemently the one the other Now as for myne owne part I do willingly acknowledge the learning godlynes of most of the persons named by Mr B. do honour the very memory of some of them so do I neyther think theÌ„ so learned but they might erre nor so godly but in their error they might reproch the truth they saw not I do indeed confesse to the glory of God and myne owne shame that a long tyme before I entered this way I took some tast of the truth in it by some treatises published in iustificatioÌ„ of it which the L. knoweth were sweet as hony vnto my mouth and the very principall thing which for the tyme quenched all further appetite in me was the over-valuation which I made of the learning and holynes of these and the like persons blushing in my selfe to have a thought of pressing one hayr bredth before them in this thing behynde whom I knew my selfe to come so many miles in all other things yea and even of late tymes when I had entered into a more serious consideration of these things and according to the measure of grace received serched the scriptures whether they were so or no and by searching found much light of truth yet was the same so dimmed and overclouded with the contradictions of these men and others of â—he like note that had not the truth been in my heart as a burning fyre shut vp in my bones Ier. 20. 9. had never broken those bonds of â—lesh and blood wherein I was so
reformed Churches are one whereas the wayes of the Church of England wherein we forsake her do directly and ex diametro crosse and thwart the wayes of the reformed Churches as appeares in these three mayne heads 1. The reformed Churches are gathered of a free people ioyned together by voluntary profession without compulsion of humane lawes On the contrary the Church of England consists of a people forced together violently by the lawes of men into their Provinciall Diocesan and Parishionall Churches as their houses staÌ„d be they never so vnwilling or unfit 2. The reformed Churches do renounce the Ministery of the Church of Engl as she doth theirs not admitting of any by vertue of it to charge of soules as they speak where on the coÌ„trary all the masse-preists made in Queen Maryes dayes which would say their book-service in English were coÌ„tinued Ministers by the same ordination which they received from the Popish Prelates 3. The government by Archbishops Lord Bishops and their substitutes in the Church of England is abhorâ—ed and disclaymed in the reformed Churches as Antichristian as is on the contrary the Presbyterian government in use there by the Church of England refused as Anabaptisticall and seditious Now if Mr B. can at once walk in so many so contrary wayes he had need have as many feet as the Polypus hath Secondly understanding by his Churches way such doctrines ordinances as wherein we oppose it it is an empty boast to affirm that the same is spread into other nations Which are the nations or what may be their names which eyther do reteyn or have received the Prelacy Ministery service book canons and confused coÌ„mixture of all sorts now in vse in the Church of England But Mr B. having as he boasts God Angels and men on his side proceeds in the next place to plead agaynst vs Gods iudgments who seemeth as he sayth from the first beginning to be offended with our course And intending principally in this whol discourse to oppresse vs with contumelyes by them to alienate all mens affections froÌ„ vs he raâ—eth together into this place as into a dung-hil of slaâ—der and misreport whatsoever he thinks may make vs and our cause stink in the nostrels of the reader And so forging some things in his own brayne and enforcing other things true in themselves with most odious aggrevations he presents vs to the view of the world with such personall infirmities and humayn fraylties written in our foreheads as the Lord hath leâ—t vpon the sonnes of men for their humbling And the world wanting spirituall eyes beholding the Church of Christ with the eyes of flesh blood seing it compassed about with so many infirmities falling into so many manyfold tryals and temptations is greatly offended passeth vnrighteous judgement vpon the servants of God and blasphemeth their most holy profession But let all men learn not to behould the Church of Christ with carnall eyes which like fearfull spyes will discourage the people but with the eyes of fayth and good conscience which like Ioshua and Caleb will speak good of the promised Land the spirituall Canaan the Church of God But to the poynt That Mr B. may make sure work he strikes at the head and whetteth his toung like a sword and shooteth bitter words like arrowes at such principall men as God hath raysed vp in this cause whereof some have persevered and stood fast vnto death others have fallen away in the day of temptation whose end hath been worse â—hen theyr beginning The first person in whome he instanceth is one Boulton touching whoÌ„ he wryteth thus that he being the first broacher of this way came to as fearefull an end as Iudas did adding therevpon that God suffereth not his speciall instruments called forth otherwise then after a common course to come to such ends To this I do first answer that neither this man was nor any other of vs is called forth by the Lord otherwise then after a coÌ„mon course even that which is common to all Gods people which is to come out of Babylon and to bring theyr best gifts to Syon for the buylding of the Lords temple there It is true that Boulton was though not the first in this way an Elder of a separated Church in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths dayes and falling away from his holy profession recanted the same at Pauls Crosse afterwards hung himself as Iudas did And what marvayl if he which had betrayed Christ in his truth as Iudas did in his person came to the same fearefull end which Iudas did Nay rather the patience and long suffering of God is to be mervayled at that others also who eyther have embraced this truth and after faln from it or refused to submit vnto it when they have both seen and approved it have not been pursued by the same revengefull hand of God And for the promise of Gods presence with his Gen. 12. 3. Math. 28. 20. Ios. 1. 9. it must ever be taken conditionally viz. whylest they are with him and do his work faythfully as they ought and no further Now touching Browne it is true which Mr B. affirmeth that as he forsook the Lord so the Lord forsook him in his way and so he did his owne people Israel many a tyme. And if the Lord had not forsaken him he had never so returned back into Egypt as he did to live of the spoyles of it as is sayd he speaketh And for the wicked things which Mr B. affirmeth he did in this way it may well be as he sayth and the more wicked things he committed in this course the â—esse like he was to continue long in it and the more like to returne againe to his proper centre the Church of England where he should be sure to find companions ynough in any wickednes as it came to passe Lastly to let passe the vniversall Apostasy of all the Bishops Ministers students in the Vniversityes yea and of the whole Church of England in Queen Maryes tyme a handfull onely excepted in comparison which the Papists might more colourably vrg against Mr B. theÌ„ he some few instaÌ„ces against vs the fall of Iudas an Apostle of Nicholas one of the first 7 DeacoÌ„s of Demas one of Pauls speciall companions in the Ministery do sufficiently teach vs that there is no cause so holy nor calling so excellent which is not subject to the invasion of paynted and deceiptfull hyppocrites whose service the Lord notwithstanding may vse for a tyme till theyr whyting be worne of then leave them to their own deceavable â—usts which will work theyr most wofull downfall thereby warning his people not to repose too much vpon any mortall man in whome there is no stedfastnes but to cast theyr eyes vpon him aâ—one and vpon his truth which chaungeth not Of Mr Barrow and Mr Greenwoods spirit of rayling as this man rayleth against them in another
or can as Mr Ber. knoweth right well for the good graces of God in many wee do both know acknowledge them and it is our great grief though their owne fault that we cannot have communioÌ„ with the persons in whom so eminent graces of God are and if there be any of them which are sory for our departure from the assemblies we are much more sory so have more cause for their continuance in the same In which their estate whilst we withdraw ourselves from them we do in no sort condemn their persons which stand or fall to the Lord much lesse any good thing in them or truth amongst them It is one thing simply to condemn that which is good for evill and another thing to forbeare the vse of it in the concrete for the commixture of evil from which in that vse it is inseparable When Paul forbad the Corinthians to eat and drink in the Idol temples 1 Cor. 10. 20. â—1 he did not condemne meat drink Neyther did the same Apostle when he directed the same Corinthians to excommunicate the incestuous person and so to have no fellowship with him 1 Cor. 5. enjoyne them to renounce the fayth which that person professed or the baptisme which they with him had received And as a Church excommunicating an offender for some one scandalous sin and so refusing all communion with him cannot be chalenged for renouncing or reiecting the faith which that person professeth or any other personall good thing appearing in him so neyther may any person or persons forsaking a Church and all fellowship with it for some one or few iust causes iustly be accused as renouncing or disclayming the other good things there remayning Lastly let me ask Mr B. whether he disclayme one God subâ—â—sting in three persons one Lord Iesus God and man and withall the Christian vertues of zeale patience temperance humility meeknes and the like And why not he as well in refusing communion with the Church of Rome where these things are to be found as we in disclayming the Church of Engl. where the same and other the like good things are known to be Thus when a mans eyes are blynded by partiality towards himselfe and his mouth opened by mallice against his adversary it is mervaylous to see what vnequall judgment he will passe But least Mr B. in charging our beginning as he doth as accursed vncharitable vnnaturall and vngodly might seeme to curse where God curseth not he annexeth certayn portions of scripture which he also sets downe at large as though they made largely against vs and our separation and the end why he alleadgeth them is to prove that there is cause of reioycing in the Church of England The scriptures are these Rom. 15. 17. 18. Act. 10. 34. 35. Rom. 14. 17. 18. To which I do answer first in generall There may be oft tymes is cause of reioycing in the events and issues of things by a speciall hand of God determining them though the secundary meanes and instruments which the Lord vseth for the producing and bringing forth of these issues events as of light out of darknes be most accursed Wherein more or els hath a christian heart cause of reioycing then in the death of Christ And yet what can be imagined more abominable then the meanes and instruments of working it But to speak nearer Mr B. purpose If some Iesuite or other sent by the Pope into America amongst the Pagans and Infidels should there perswade any to beleeve confesse one God and his sonne Iesus Christ made man for the redemption of the world that they should also give vp their lives for these truthes there were cause of reioycing in theyr testimony and yet I suppose Mr B. knowing as he doth would be loath to have communion in the Iesuits Ministery More particularly The Apostle Rom. 15. 17 18. in commendation of his Apostleship layes downe the effects of it and how great cause of reioycing he had that God by his ministery had planted the Churches of the Gentiles whom he further describes by theyr obedience in word and deed And how serves this for the Church of England Thus. It serves first to exclude all those word Saynts for whom Mr B. pleads so much in his book Secondly it serves to shew what small cause there is of reioying for the English Churches being planted of such vniversally so still continuing as are indeed abhominable and disobedient to every good work reprobate The second Scripture is Act. 10. 34. 35. Of a truth I perceave that God is no accepter of persons but in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousnes is accepted of him And is it so What sacrilegious presumption then is it in the Church of Enland to compell God to accept of persons and to accept for his people servants such as neither fear him nor work righteousnes but the coÌ„trary to offer vp theyr persons sacrifices to him in the name of Christ in whome they have no portion to seale vp the covenant of his grace and peace vnto them in the sacraments with whom it never came into his hart to strike hand neyther hath he peace with them The third Scripture is Rom. 14. 17. 18. The kingdome of God is not meat not drink but righteousnes and peace and ioy in the Holy G. for whosoever in those things serveth Christ is acceptable to God c. Hence to let passe the drift of the Apostle in this place els where opened thus much must necessarily follow that where righteousnes and peace and ioy in the Holy Ghost are not nor men in those things serving Christ there the kingdome of God is not nor these men his subiects And where Gods kingdom is not there is the kingdome of Satan and they that are not the subiects of the one are the slaves of the other And so I leave it to the godly reader to iudge whither the assemblyes in England gathered at the first and at this day consisting of such persons for the most part as do not thus nor in these things viz righteousnes peace and ioy in the Holy Ghost serue Christ but the contrary can be rightly by the word of God accounted the kingdome of God Church of Christ. Thus the 3. Scriptures which Mr B. stretched out like a threfold coard to hold men in the assemblies are in truth and in their right meaning as a three stringed whip to scourge those that fear God out of them With such a renunciation of the truth must be interteyned much vntruth saith Mr Ber. as first thou must beleeve their way to be the truth of God then condemne our Church as a false Church when themselves have published that the differences betwixt vs and them are but corruptions Nâ—w corruptions do not make a false Church but a corrupt Church aâ— corruptions in a man make but a corrupt but no false man If we beare witnes of
our selves our witnes is not true but if the word of God beare witnes with vs and against you it must stand And for the advauntage which you suppose you have gayned at vs where we acknowledge our differences to be onely your corruptions it will nothing at all enrich you or better your Church For there are corruptions essentiall and in the very causes constitutive matter forme aswell as els where there are corruptions which eat out the very heart of a thing as well as such as hinder the working onely or steyn the work And we may truely say of all the abhominable doctrines and devises in Rome that they are but so many corruptions of those pure truthes holy ordinances which that Church at the first received from Christ the Lord. And for your similitude of a man whom you say corruptions make not a false man but a corrupt man you are deceived in it whether you consider a man naturally or morally Naturally what is death but the corruption of the man as generatio corruptio are opposed And what is rottennes but the corruption of the body Now these do more then make a corrupt man or corrupt body they do destroy the very being But consider a man morally as in the case of religion he must be considered then morall corruptions vices do eyther make a false man or els a traytor a theif a cousener is a true man which patronage I hope Mr B. will not vndertake The second rank of reasons which Mr B. brings against us are certayne greivous sinns wherewith he sayth all in our way are polluted for which according to our own principle no man may ioyn himselfe vnto vs. The sins he nameth are a renunciation of Gods mercy and of all good things and men with them vnthankfulnes to God and the Church spirituall vncharitablenes audacious censuring a desire to hinder yea to extinguish all the spirituall good they publiquely enioy and a wish of destruction vnto the people and the like Greivous accusations certaynly but if to accuse be to convince who shal be innocent not the Lord Iesus himselfe nor his holy Apostles whose examples in vndergoing the like reproches and in patient bearing of the same at the hands of wicked men if we had not before our eyes eyther our harts would break in vs for sorrow or we should be provoked to render reproach for reproach so sin against God Our first supposed sin is that wofull entrance before named for which I refer the reader to that which hath been before answered But they in England sayth Mr B. enter by baptisme renouncing the Divill and sin So do the Papists as loud as they and with as many godfathers and godmothers crossing and blessing themselves against the Divill and all his works as much as they do And for the renunciation of Gods mercy and all good men and good things in them in the Church of England because we refuse communion there it is a foule charge layd vpon vs but to which we are no more lyable then were the Levites when they forsook Ieroboams Church and repayred to Ierusalem the place which the Lord had chosen For in Israell which they forsook were to be found both good persons and things 1 King 14. 13. and 19. 18. Now where in the last place Mr B. chargeth vs not to make vnclean what God hath cleansed Act. 10. 1â— we on the contrary advise him not to account that clean which sinn and Antichrist doth defyle Let him or any other man on earth shew vnto vs by the word of God that a Church gathered and consisting of persons for the most part defyled with all manner of impiety is clensed by God or that the dayly sacrifice the service book is as a lamb without spot or that the spirituall courts so miscalled are sanctified of God for the government of his kingdome on earth or that the Court keepers the Archflamins and Flamins the Provinciall and Diocesan Bishops with theyr Chauncelers Commissaryes Archdeacons and other officers are his holy ones vpon whome he hath put his Vrim and Thummim and then let vs beare our rebuke if we do not returne to the Church of England and humble ourselves vnder her hand as Hagar did her selfe vnder the hand of her mistresse Gen. 16. 9. The second sinn wherewith Mr B. chargeth vs is our great vnthankfulnes 1. to God that begat vs by his word eyther by denying our conversion â—r els accounting it a false conversion 2. towards the Church of England our mother whom we desire to make a whore before Christ her husband condemn â—â—r c. And this accusation he shutteth vp with most bitter execrations against vs as vnworthy to breath in the ayre For the thankfulnes of our harts vnto the Lord our God for his vnspeakeable mercies we leave it vnto him that knowes the hart and for the manifestation of it vnto men we referr them to our entyre though weak obedience to the whol revealed wil of God and ordinances of Christ Iesus which we take to be the most acceptable sacrifice of thankfulnes which by man can be offered to the Lord. And for our personall conversion in the Church of England we deny it not but do and alwayes have so done iudge and professe it true there and so was Luthers conversion true in the Church of Rome els could not his separation from Rome have been of faith or accepted of God The same may be sayd of all the persons and Churches in the world which have forsaken Rome Our third imagined sinn is spirituall vncharitablenes appearing in our deep censures vpon all at least not inclinable vnto vs condemning such as know not our way as blinded by the God of this world the Divell such as seâ— it yeeld not vnto it as worldlings fearefull convinced in conscience going on in presumptuous sin such as forsake it having formerly enclyned vnto it Apostates and if they oppose it godles persequuters hunters after soules such as shall certainly grow worse worse so as men shall say God is revenged on them c. If any one man have thus peremptorily defined eyther in word or writing as Mr B. witnesseth it was that one mans fault and is not to be imputed to the rest of vs more then Mr B. most malicious hateful accusatioÌ„s in this book to all the Ministers people in the Church of Engl. wherof I doubt not but thowsaÌ„ds are ashamed and to which they would be more vnwilling to subscribe then he to the Bishops canons I for mine own part onely exhort all men in all places as they look to be approved at that day when the secrets of all hearts shal be disclosed that they deale faithfully in the Lords busines take heed they neyther forbeare through partiall praejudice or fleshly feare to inquire after the truth nor with hould it in vnrighteousnes if they have found it
at large by others I do answer that as it was vnlawfull to communicate with Corah or with Vzziah though they burnt true incense or with Ieroboams Preists though they offered true sacrifices so is it vnlawfull to communicate with a devised ministery what truth soever is taught in it Secondly the Lord hath promised no blessing to his word but in his own ordinance though by his superaboundant mercy he oft tymes vouchsafe that which no man can chalendg by any ordinary promise Thirdly no man may partake in other mens sinns but every Ministery eyther devised or vsurped is the sinn of him which exerciseth it And as no good subiect would assist or coÌ„municate with any person in the administration of civil iustice to the Kings subiects no not though hâ— administred the same never so equally and indifferrently except the same person had commission from the King so to do so neyther ought the subiects of the kingdome of Christ to partake with any person whomsoever in the dispensation of any spirituall thing though in it self never so holy without sufficient warrant and commission from the most absolute and sovereigne King of his Church Christ Iesus And where Mr B. speaks of hearing the true word of God onely preached he intimates therin that if we would heare him preach it would satisfy him wel and so teacheth vs with himselfe and others to make a schisme in the Church in vsing one ordinance and not another It is all one whether a man communicate with the Minister in his pulpit or with the Chauncelor in his consistory both of them minister by the same power of the Bishop The Chauncelor may iudge iustly who knowes whither or no the Minister will teach truely And if he do not but speak the vision of his owne heart what remedy hath the Church or what can they that hear him do May they rebuke him openly according to his sin and so bring him to repentance or must they not beare his errors yea his heresyes also during the pleasure of the Bishops even their Lord his And would you Mr B. be content your people should heare a masse Preist or Iesuite though he professed as loud as you do that he would teach the true word of God And think not scorne of the match for you have the selfe same office with a masse Preist though refyned If he be ordayned by a Bishop though it be the Bishop of Rome he may minister in any Church of England by vertue of that ordination And besides masse Preists preach some and those the mayne truthes and the Ministers in England neither do nor daâ—e preach all no nor some which it may be the others do Is it not better then for the servaÌ„ts of the L. Iesus to exercise aedify themselves according to the model of grace receaved though in weaker measure then to be so simple as to come to your feasts though you cry never so loud vnto them thinking that because your stoln waters are sweet and your hidden bread pleasant that they have no power to passe by but must needs become your guests Lastly Mr B. even to make vp the measure of his mallice as he formerly reproached vs by the oppositioÌ„s dissentioÌ„s which he hath heard of amongst vs so doth he here by the vnity and love which himselfe hath seen in vs comparing it page 64. to the love of Familists and Papists and other wretched and graceles companions So that belike whither we love or hate whither we agree or disagree this man wil be sure to fynd matter of reproch vnto vs and of stumbling to himselfe as the Iewes did both from Iohns austerity and from Christs more sociable course of life Math. 11. 18. 19. Our fourth sin is abusing the word of which all are guilty by misalledging and wresting places of Scripture c and this Mr B. proves because some have accused some of the principall of vs with it If accusation be conviction Mr B. needs not speak of some or any other he himselfe hath most mightily coÌ„vinced vs for he hath most hatefully accused vs of any man a live The fifth sin supposed is our wilfull persisting in our schism lightly regarding reverend mens labours and sinfully despising weaker meanes c. It is well knowne that Mr B. how earnestly soever he pleads with vs for the contrary doth himselfe as much neglect save for his owne purposes the iudgment of other men as any other neyther is there one minister in the land I am verily perswaded with whoÌ„ he suiteth but a right Ismael is he lesse or more having his hand against every man and every mans against him Well I deny our separation to be schism as we take the word much lesse do we persist wilfully in it And for the iudgment of other men as we despise not the meanest so neyther do we pin our faith vpon the sleeves of the most learned The other exceptions of shifting and evading the scriptures of perversnes of spirit in conference I pretermit as being both frivolous despitefull onely something must be answered before we passe this poynt to the charge layd vpon vs Pag 98. touching corruptions in the Churches Apostolicall and reformed And first obiect to them sayth he the corruptions of the Churches Apostolicall and theyr answer is eyther that we mayntayn our corruptioÌ„s by the sinnes of other Churches or els they were in a true constitution And how can you with modesty reiect this answer you say we misconstrue your intendement which is that corruption make not a false Church We grant it except they be essentiall but this is that we say that what Church soever alledgeth the corruptions of other Churches with a purpose to coÌ„tinue in the like theÌ„selves which is your estate that Church maintaynes her corruptions by the sinns of other Churches And for the second poynt I do affirme that merely by vertue of a constitution there may be a true Church of God though abounding for the present in sinne and iniquity yet another assembly not rightly constituted or gathered into covenant with God no true Church though lesse impieties be to be found in it The Prophet Ieremy complaines that the iniquity of the daughter of his people namely Ierusalem was become greater then the sinn of Sodom and the Prophet Ezekiâ—l affirmes that Ierusalem was more corrupt by half then Sodom and Samaria And yet was Ierusalem the true Church of God which neyther Samaria nor Sodom were no nor yet any other place in the world where not halfe the wickednes was wrought that was to be found in the better of them This poynt I will further examplify by a symilitude A woman free and separated from all other men and ioyned in civill covenant to a man is his wyfe yea though shee prove very stubborn and disobedient yea and dishonest also till the bill of divorcement be given her but
that can be brought but because they are yours which notwithstanding I am perswaded neyther you nor any other can satisfie And if Mr B. himselfe thus wryte and speak in private why blames he vs for our publique testimony Now if the Bishops be Antichristian and so the spirit of Divils Rev. 16. 14. why might not Mr Barrow affirm theyr Ministery and ministration to be of and by the Divill and what are they but eyther the tayl or some other lim of the beast And for theyr excommunications by name it is evident by this they are not of God for that the most religious in the kingdome make least account of them For theyr Luciferian pryde whereof Mr Barrow accuseth them it is apparant they burden the earth threaten the heavens with it for their hateful Symony both in giving and receiving they are so notorious as the best service Mr B. can do them in this case is to turn mens thoughts from those evils which every ey sees every heart abhorrs Towching the Ghost the Bishop gives in his blasphomous imitation of Christ Ioh. 20. 22. except contrary to the rule in nature nihil dâ—â— quod non habet he can give that he hath not it is not very likely he should give the Holy Ghost why then might not Mr Barrow call it an vnholy Ghost And for the Bible in the Bishops hands which he gives his Preists in ordination Mr Barrow calls it the libell not in contempt of the book but in reproof of the ceremony that iustly since the Lord never appointed the scriptures for any such vse nor any such ceremony in the ordination of his Ministers Christ and the Apostles would have such Ministers ordeyned as have the Bibles in their hearts the Bishops of England to supply this want give it into the hands of their Preists which they think sufficient though in truth the most of them are more vsed to handle a paire of cardes vpon an alebench then the holy bible Your Patrons Mr Barrow calles great Baals Lord Patrons and iustly in respect of that Lordly power they vse in obtruding their Clerks vpon the Parish assemblies your ministers yea all and every one of them Preists which is their proper name given them both in your book of ordination and coÌ„mon prayer your Deacons half-preists according to the nature of their office betwixt which the Deacons office in the new testament Act. 6. 1. 2. 3. 4. there is no consimilitude For the other more harsh termes wherewith he enterteynes such persons and things in the Church as carry with them most appearance of holynes they are to be interpreted according to his meaning and a distinction vsed by Mr B. in another place is here to be applyed Which is that Mr Barrow speaks not of these persons and things simply but in a respect so so considered so no one terme given by Mr Barrow to my knowledg but may at the least be tolerated The Ministers as they receive the wages of vnrighteousnes oâ— counsayl to spiritual fornication are Bâ—lâ—â—mites in respect of thâ—ir office vowed to destruction Cananites as they plead for confusion Babylonish divines as they endeavour to stay Gods people in Egypt spiritually so called Egyptian inchaunters as they are members of the Hierarchy 〈◊〉 of the Divel by vertue whereof he bear great sway as the reformists amongst you have expresly testifyed And for your very divine exerciseâ— of prayer preaching sacrâ—â—â—tâ— suâ—ging of psalâ—s howsoever they be good holy in theÌ„selves or at leasâ— have much good in them yet in respect of the vnhallowed coÌ„munion forgâ—d ministâ—ry and superstitious order wherein these and all other things with you are ministred and exercised they are lyable to the heaviest censure Mr Barrow hath put vpon them And for the most forward preachers in the kingdom considering their vnsound and broken courses in denying that in deed and practise which in wâ—rd and writing they profâ—sse to be the revealâ—d will oâ— God and inviolable testament of Christ binding his Church for ever yea and practising the contrary in the face of the sâ—nne commiâ—tâ—â—g two evils forsaking the Lord the fountayne of lâ—ving water to dig themselves broken pitâ—s which will hold no water yea not onely refusing themselves to enter into the kingdome of God the Church but also hindering them that would persecuting them that do and lastly considering them in their vnconscionable defence for their own standings and practises as that onely the godly in the parish are of the Church with them that they hold and vse their ministery by the acceptation of the people and not by the Bishops that they obey the Bishops in their citations suspensions excommunications and absolutions aâ— they are civil magistrates and â—he like they do deserve a sharper medicine then happily they are willing to endure Yea the very personall graces of knowledge zeale pâ—â—ience the like manifested in many both ministers and people are most vniustly perverted and misused to the obduration and hardening both of the persons themselves others in most deceivable wayes wherein the deepest mistery of iniquity and most effectuall delusion of Satan that can be worketh as is by Mr Barrow and others clearly discovered But that Mr Barrow should say that the preaching of Gods word â—â—e spirits effectuall working should make men the children of hell and two fold â—orse then bâ—fore is a great slaunder and could not possibly enter into his or any other godly mans heart And so I leave these and the like more vnsavoury-seeming speaches of Mâ— Barrow to the wise and Christian readers charitable interpretation The last rank of Mr B. reasons followeth which respect the matter of our sepâ—â—â—tion by him called schisme which how materiall they are shall appeare in their place Our first errour according to his reckoning is They hold that the constitution of our Church is a falsâ— constitution And let vs see how strongly your answer forces vs from this our hold 1. Arg. They cannot prove this simply by any playne doctrine of scripture and that which they would prove is but onely respectively and so may any thing and their Church also be condemned 2. Arg. It is against the evidence of the scriptures which maketh the word externall profession and sacraments the visible constitution c. That you then affirm in the first place is that wee cannot prove this simply by any playne doctrine wherein you do half confesse that wee do it by iust consequence though not by playne doctrine wholly that respectively and so so considered as you speak your coÌ„stitution is false And thus you say any thing may be condemned But first it is not true that any thing may be condemned after this sort The constitutioÌ„ of the Ch Apostolike could in no coÌ„sideration be condemned neyther could ours to our knowledge being according to that pattern how weakly soever we walk in it Secondly
by the Church The two places are Mat. 28. 19. 1 Cor. 10. 16. In the former the Lord Iesus sends his Apostles first to teach or make men disciples and then to baptise them including the children in the parents according to the covenant made with Abraham into which the gentiles were in their time to be gathered Rom. 11. 17. Ephe. 2. 1 2. 13. 14. 3. 6. But on the contrary the Lord Bishops in Engl. having found a readier way send out their parrish priests to baptise all before them that are borne in their parishes whether their parents be taught or vntaught the disciples of Christ or of antichrist and the Divil not passing by the children of recusant Papists others refusing all communion with them whose children they use to baptize by force against the will of their Parents as I could prove if need were by sundry instances And is not here an orderly constitution and a Church truely gathered by the sacrament of baptisme Now 1 Cor. 10. 16. the Apostle teacheth that the bread and wine in the supper are the communion of the body and blood of Christ that is effectuall pledges of our conjunction and incorporation with Christ and one with another and in the 17. vers that all which eat of one bread or one loaf are one mysticall body This place alone if Mr B. and his fellow ministers would seriously con-consider and set themselves faithfully to observe they would rather offer their owne bodies to be torn in peices by wilde beasts then the holy misteries of Christs body to be prophaned as they are And here as formerly I will help the Arguments raysed from the scriptures produced by Mr B. and some other of the same kinde into form thus The sacrament of baptisme is to be administred by Christs appointment and the Apostles example onely to such as are viz externally and so far as men can judge taught and made disciples Mat. 28. 19. do receive the word gladly Act. 2. 41. beleeve and so professe Ch. 8. 12. 13. 37. have received the holy Ghost Ch. 10. 47. and to their seed Act. 2. 39. 1 Cor. 7. 14. But baptisme in Engl. is ministred by a far larger commission then Christs though there be in the parents neyther appearance of faith nor holynes if in stead of them they can procure godfathers and godmothers to cary the children to the font yea will they nil they the parrish priest hath commission to make them Christian soules every mothers childe of them borne within his parrish precincts And therefore the baptism in Engl. is not Christs baptisme in the administration of it For the Lords supper the Apostle sayth 1 Cor. 10. 16. that the bread and wine sanctifyed to that purpose is the communion that is an effectuall symbole or pledge of that communion which the receivers have with Christ. Wherevpon I do turne the point of this scripture into the bowels of the Church of Engl. thus That which ioynes such men in communion with Christ as by his expresse word he excludes from all communion with him that is so far from being the true constitutiō of the Church as it shewes both an vnholy confusion in the Church and a violent prophanation of the ordinance by it But the supper as it is ministred in the Parish-assemblies as they were at the first still are clapt together ioynes them with Christ with whom he expresly disclaymes all communion fellowship as their practise compared with these scriptures doth make manifest to all men 2 Cor. 6. 14. 15. 1 Ioh. 1. 6. Ergo. So that baptisme and the Lords supper are amongst you Mr B. and in your hands handling but as the holy vessels of the temple in Babylon there togeither with the Lords people deteyned by frawd and violence Our 2. supposed errour is thus layd downe They hold our constitution a reall Idol and so vs Idolaters If the constitution of your Church be false and forged like the moneth which Ieroboam forged in his owne heart as hath been formerly proved in part and shal be more fully in the traversing of the 8. errour then it is an Idoll if an Idoll a reall Idol for it is not meerly mentall or notionall but that which hath being and existence without the mind or vnderstanding And where Mr B. affirms this to be contrary to the course of holy scriptures never taking Idol in this sense because neyther he nor Marlorat finds the word Idol so vsed he must know it is as impossible for eyther him or Marl. or any other man to enumerate or reckon vp all the Idols wherof the scriptures speak though not in expresse terms yet by iust cōsequence proportiō as to number all the creatures in heaven and in earth yea all the workes of mens hands yea all the thoughts of their harts for all these may and do in some abuse become Idols And that we may better discern whether there be a like truth and boldnes in this assertion that the scriptures never take idol in this sense let vs consider and compare together a few places The Lord commaunded Moses Exod. 25. 26. 27. to make the tabernacle and sanctuary of the Lord for the place of his dwelling and worship and to this end did appoint both the matter and form of the whol work even to the least pin if Moses had framed it eyther of other matter or of the same matter after an other fashion had not this forgery and devise for the worship of God been a reall sensible and palpable Idoll a sinn against the second Commaundement which forbids nothing but Idolatry It cannot be denyed Hence it followeth that the constitution or frame of the tabernacle or temple of the new testament which is the visible Church 2 Cor. 6. 16. if it be other eyther in matter or form as yours is in both is a reall and substantiall Idoll Secondly Antichristianism is Idolatry and is in that respect called Babylon Sodom and Egypt spiritually so Antichristians are sayd to worship the beast now a devised constitution frame and fabrick of the Church is a part of antichristianism of the apostasy of Antichrist therefore a reall Idol and as Mr Smyth truely affirmeth a greater Idoll then eyther the Antichristian ministery or worship As the temple which sanctifyeth the gold is greater then the gould the altar which sanctifyeth the offering greater then the offering so the temple of the new testament the Church or people of God by whose faith all the ordinances of the Church are sanctifyed is greater then the ministery worship or any other ordinance and so on the contrary being Idolatrous a greater Idoll then they And lastly the Church being the end of the ordinances Mar. 2. 27. 28. is more excellent then they being true and being false a more detestable Idoll then any of them Lastly neyther your bolstring out of a false constitution as a new
also The man which hath receaved the spirit is spirituall and not the soule onely So externall things may be spirituall are in their relatoÌ„ vse and you erre if you think otherwise The word sacraments other ordinaÌ„ces of the Church are spiritual yea all the sacrifices of the faithfull are spirituall more specially as the Lord Iesus is the Preist both of the soul body hath payed a price for both so is he also the King both of soule body and swayes the scepter of his kingdome not onely internally by his spirit in the soule but externally and visibly also by this word in the outward man guyding the same by his lawfull officers depuâ—ed there vnto But what is the cause why Mr B. should move this question Is it not for that himselfe and his Church not having Christ to rule over them by his lawes but other kings and Lords by theyr canoÌ„s he would insinuate that Christ exerciseth none external regiment over his Church nor is the King over the bodyes of his subiects at all thus rather labouring to abolish that part of Christs KingdoÌ„ then to submit to it But as our principall care at all times must be to have the throne of our L. Iesus erected in our harts that he may reigne there so that we may give him his owne entyre that which he hath so dearly bought we must rank our bodyes also vnder the regiment he hath established for the well ordering preservation of his kingdom forever both in soule body not like Nichodemites or Familists presume to submit the outward man we care not to whome or what Our fourth supposed error is That all not in theyr way are without and they do apply against vs 1 Cor. 5. 12. Ephe. 2 12. And since the way is one as Christ is one and we assured that our way is that way of Christ we doubt not to affirme that all not in our way are without in the present respect provided alwayes that we do iudge that other Churches may be and are in our way and we in theirs and both they and we in Christs though there be betwixt them vs sundry differences both in iudgment and practise And that we doe fitly apply against you the scriptures above named I do thus manifest The Apostle 1 Cor. 5. reproves the Church for tolerating amongst them the incestuous person vncensured charging them to vse the power of the Lord Iesus given vnto them for that purpose and that as vpon him for the present so vpon other notorious offenders at other times Now least they should mistake his meaning he shewes how far this his advertisement extends viz to such offenders as were in the Church and to all and onely them And this limitation of the power of Christ to the proper obiect he sets downe in this 12. verse affirmatively to them that are within and negatively to them that are without From this place then I do thus reason They that are within are subiect to the power of excoÌ„munication by the Church gathered together in the name of Christ they without not But you Mr B. and so of the rest are not subiect to the judgement of the Church thus gathered together but to the Archbishop of York Who is not the Church of Workxsop Therefore you are not within but without in the Apostles meaning The second place we apply against you is Ephe. 2. 12. whence I reason thus They that are aliants and straungers from the common wealth of Israel are without But such are you and your whole parrish Ergo. The first Proposition is the Apostles words for to be without Christ as there he speakes and to be a stranger from the coÌ„mon wealth of Israel is all one The second Proposition is thus confirmed The coÌ„mon wealth of Israel was a religious policy consisting of a peculiar people of whom every one was by the word of God separated into the covenant of his mercy Deut. 29. 10. 11. 12. 13. Neh. 10. 1. 28. 29. But to affirme that every person in the Church of England or in any parish Church is admitted by the Lord into the new covenant or testament is both against the expresse word of God Heb. 8. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. and his owne conscience I am perswaded that affirmed it And thus so long as you keep your standing you must be content to stand without in the meaning of the Apostle in the places forenamed neither can you wrythe in your self or corrupt these places to get in by them though you give sundry attempts as 1. These places are ment of such as never made so much as an outward profession of Christ at all What better are men for professing God in word when in deed they deny him They are never a whit the lesse but the more abhominable Tit. 1. 16. And might not any Papist or other heretik make this exception For they make a kind of profession of Christ Iesus And when you Mr B. in your pulpit thunder the iudgments of God out of the Prophets and Apostles against Atheists Papists blasphemers proud and cruell persequuters might not a man serve you as you do us and tel you that the most of the threatnings you denounce were directed against the Heathen which did not so much as make an outward profession of Christ. Lastly the H. Ghost terming Antichristianisme Babylon Sodom Egypt spiritually teacheth vs to apply against it spiritually what the Prophets have civily spoken against them 2. They cannot prove vs without by the scripture expounding this phrase without by the scriptures laying a side the forgeryes of theyr own braynes The cause is playn that whosoever iâ— not a free deniâ—en of the coÌ„mon wealth of Israell and vnder the iudgment of the Church is without and there must stand by Gods appoyntment And that this is your estate is as playne And both these we have proved by the scriptures without forgeryes of our owne brayne all the brayns you have will fynd no forgeryes in our proofes 3 God almighty hath witnessed that we are his people 1 By giving vs his word Psal. 14. 7. 19. 20. and sacraments This scripture proves that God gave his word to Iaakob statutes to Israel but prove your selves the Israel of God shew vs from the word of God the charter of your corporatioÌ„ that your Nationall Provintiall Diocesan and Parochial Churches are that new Ierusalem and your inhabitants the right Citzens of that City enfranchised with her heavenly libertyes and answer the proofs brought to the contrary otherwise though you be never so shameles a begger of the question in hand we may not graunt it you 2 By Gods effectuall working by his word Ier. 23. 22. therefore heard â—â— the voyce of the sonne of God Ioh. 5. 25. and the words of eternal life God forbid I should deny eyther the truthes of Christ you have a
mongst you or any good effect which God hath wrought by them but this I deny that either they are or have been so effectual as to make any one of your parish assemblies the Church of Christ truely gathered constituted And for the place of Ieremy 23. 22. which as here to prove a true church so every where to prove a true ministery by the effectuall work therof is so frequētly alledged I desire it may be wel cōsidered it will appear that the Prophet speaks not at all of the effect of prophecying but of the drift intēt of the Prophets which had they taken counsel of the Lord would not have flattered the people in theyr sinns by preaching peace peace as they did thereby hardening theyr hearts and strengthening theyr hands in their disobedience and rebellion but would on the contrary by denouncing against them the iudgements of God have endeavoured their repentance as the true Prophets did And if we must thus iudge of true and false prophets by the effects of their ministery certayn it is that neyther Ezechiel no Ieremy himself stood in Gods counsel but were false Prophets for neyther of them were effectuall for the peoples conversion Ier. 20 7. 8. Ezech 3 7. 11. And yet a wonder it is to hear what a noyse Mr B. and his people do make with this scripture of Ieremy as though it did without contradiction iustify both Church and Ministery by some ministeriall effect where it is most playne to all that but read the Chapter with any observatiō that the Prophet speaks not a word of the effect of their Ministerie but of the drift of the ministers the false Prophets desperately slattring the people to their destruction 3 By Gods most straunge and miraculous deliverance of vs from the enemyes of his gospell a promise of God to his people Lev. 26. 7. 8. Deut. 28. 7 These deliverances do no more iustify your estate before the Lord then the deliverance of Samaria out of the hands of the Aramites did the ten tribes in their Apostasie The Lord doth promise victory and deliverance vnto his people in their iust quarrels and vse of good meanes but ever with condition of his glory and their good And they thus walking and being thus delivered take experience of the truth of his promises and have cause of reioycing in the God of their salvation but besides this there are many other causes of deliverance and victory which with all other things of the same kinde †come alike to all men good bad and thus to measure the Lords love by morsels bewrayes too carnal a mind in any man and Mr B. neighbour minister if he have a fatter benefice then he may aswel avouch him self a better minister for the quoted scriptures do as well promise plenty and aboundance as deliverance and victory And where in the last place you lay to our charge that though wee like it well that you should call vs brethren yet wee will not so acknowledge you nor do we hold our selves bound so to admonish you I do answer that as we finde at your hands Mr B. little brotherly dealing traducing vs in all places as Brownists Schismatiques Anabaptists persons obstinate in sin so neyther indeed can we acknowledge any of you for brethren in that visible cōmunion of Saincts which is the Church notwithstanding the loving and respective remembrance wherein we haue very many amongst you severally considered for your personall graces Our reasons are these 1. We cannot admonish any of you according to the rule order of Christ Math. 18. to which duety towards every brother in communion we are absolutely bound 2. We can not acknowledge you for our brethen but we must also acknowledge your Prelates for our reverend fathers vnder whose blessings we mean not to come 3. We cannot acknowledge some of you brethren but we must acknowledg all amōgst you for such for there is but one brotherhood of all amongst you as your owne rhyme teacheth and makest vs all one brotherhood Now by the scriptures we have not learnt to enter any such fraternity where we must acknowledge brother Preist brother half Priest brother dumb Preist brother Atheist brother Epicure brother drunkerd brother blasphemer brother witch brother conjurer lastly brother recusant Papist if not living yet dead for so you must bury him as your deare brother committing his soul to God and his body to the earth And for these causes among others we cannot acknowledge you as we desire in that speciall fellowship of the gospel communion of saynts But disclayme you the fatherhood of the Prelates the brotherhood of the vnhallowed multitude and fest your selves in the family and househould of God and we will acknowledge you in word and deed We will not with that vngodly brother grudge your cōming into our fathers house but will help with our owne hands to kill the fat calf wil make all spirituall melody with you in the Lord. The fifth errour reputed is That onely Saincts that is a people forsaking all knowne sinne of which they may be convinced doing all the knowne will of God encreasing and abiding ever therein are the onely matter of the visible Church This Position which you account errour rightly vnderstood and according to his exposition from whom you received it is an vndoubted truth For of such onely externally and so farre as men can iudge the true Church is gathered whether out of Paganism Iudaism Antichristianism or any other Idolatrous or adulterous estate whatsoever and of them alone framed as of the subject matter which is onely true whilest it continueth such false when it degenerates from this disposition and so as rotten putrified stuffe to be cast out of the Church We will then come to your allegations to the contrary And first you say this is a proper description of the invisible members of Iesus Christ secluding even hypocrites from being true matter of the visible Church All the true and lawfull members of the visible Church are to me members of the invisible Church to me Isay which am bound to iudge them to be in truth as outwardly they appear so I am taught by the Apostle himself who accounts the whole visible Ch and every member of it elect redeemed iustifyed sanctifyed which are conditons competent to the invisible Church And for hypocrites as they may perform all the conditions here required visible or to vs as Mr Smyth hath answered so do we take knowledge of none such in the Chur in the particular til they be knowne in their day by the outbreakings of sinne and being so discovered they are no longer to be reteyned in the Church but to beare their sinne except they repent and then who can repute them hypocrites You object secondly that this makes that David Iehoshaphat and the Church of God in their dayes were no true matter of a Church
for the exercising of the censures that belongs not to the whole body or to any member thereof principall or lesse principall but to the Bishops and his substitute which are forreyners and strangers as in theyr office from the true Church so even in theyr persons from yours All your portion in the censures Mr B. is to do the exequutioners office when the Officiall hath played the iudge which if you should be so bold as to refuse besydes the punishment of your contumacy the Church doore would do your office for the bull of excommunication hanged vp there by the sumner byndes the offenders both in heaven earth And for the position it self howsoever we do indeed maynteyne the most of the particulars against which Mr B. intends his refutation yet as he sets it down we do vtterly disclayme it with all the errors in it First for teaching in the Church we do not vse it promiscuously nor suffer it to be vsed but according to the order as we are perswaded which Christ and his Apostles have prescribed And for the sacraments the contrary to that which you affirme is to be seene of all men in our confession of fayth wherein it is held that no sacraments are to be administred vntill Pastors or Teachers be ordayned in theyr office neyther have we practised otherwise And this Mr B. knew when he writ this book as well as our selves Thirdly touching the censures we do expresly confesse that the power as to receive in so to cut of any member is given to the whole body together of every christian congregation and not to any one member a pâ—â—t or to more members sequestâ—ed from the whole vsing the mâ—etest member for the pronouncing the censures And answerable to our profession is our practise with what conscience then or credit Mr B can father vpon vs those bastardly runnagaâ—es let God men iudge These things being thus the vntruthes which he sayth we build vpon this opinion are his and not ours as the groundwork is his so is the whol building raysed from it But touching interpretation of scripture by private brethren and pollution by sinn vnreformed in the Church separation from it for the same we shall speak in their places Onely I desyre it may be observed that rather then Mr B. will forbeare to accuse vs that we hold it lawfull for one person to excommunicate the whole Church he will back this most odious calumniation with as fond and false an assertion and that is that separating from a Church and excommunicating of it is all one in substance though called lesse odiously But the contrary is manifested by these two reasons First excommunication is a sentence judiciall presupposing ever a solemn and superiour power over the party sentenced but no such thing is inferred vpon separation 2. Excommunication is onely of them which are within and of the Church but separation may be from them without And I would know of Mr B. whither a person though never so meane might not separate from the assemblies of Pagans Turkes Iewes Papists other haeretiques and Idolaters I hope he would not draw such a man within his separatists schism yet for the same person to excoÌ„municate such an assembly were a sinful prophanation of Gods ordinance And though we held as we do nothing lesse that one man might excommunicate the whole Church yet were it not more as you affirm then your Church allowes to any Bp. in Engl. no nor so much by a thousaÌ„d parts for one Bishop with you may excommunicate a thousand Churches every Diocesan Bishop all the Churches in his Dioces the two Provincial Bishops theyr two Provinces so livelyly do the reverend fathers the Bishops resemble the holy father the Pope which may judge all men but be judged by none The next collection made agaynst us is that we hould that two or three gathered together must be a Church which hath the whole power of Christ and may preseÌ„tly make them officers vse the discipline of Christ. No such hast Mr B. of making officers presently we make no dumb Ministers neyther dare we admit of any man eyther for a teaching or governing Elder of whose ability in prayer prophecying debating of Church matters we have not had good experience before he be so much as nominated to the office of an Elder amoÌ„gst vs remeÌ„bring alwayes the deep charge of the Apostle to lay hands suddeynly on man nor to be partakers of other mens sums But this we hold and affirm that a company consisting though but of two or three separated from the world whither vnchristian or antichristian and gathered into the name of Christ by a covenant made to walk in all the wayes of God knowen vnto them is a Church and so hath the whole power of Christ. And for the clearing of this truth I will propound and so prove by the scriptures these two heads 1. First that a company of faithfull people thus covenanting together are a Church though they be without any officers amoÌ„g them coÌ„ntrary to that your Popish opinioÌ„ here insinuated els where expressed that a company is no where in all the new testament called a Church Christian familyes excepted but when they have theyr officers and that otherwise they are called beleevers Disciples but not a Church but onely by anticipation as heaven and earth are so called before they were Gen. â— 1. that the officers give theÌ„ the denominatioÌ„ of a Church 2. That this company being a Church hath interest in all the holy things of Christ within amongst theÌ„selves immediately vnder him the head without any forreyn ayd assistance Of which holy things in particular we shall consider as they come in our way These two grounds by the grace of God I will prove in order and for the confirmation of the former take these reasons The first is gathered from the authours owne words that a coÌ„pany of holy persons without officers are called beleevers disciples but not a Church which is all one as if he sayd that a Church is not called a Church for the word Church is no more then a coÌ„pany or assembly howsoever gathered together and so a set company of visible beleevers must needs be a constituted visible Church and to manifest the vanity of that distinction that one place shall serue Act. 11. 26. where in the same verse the same persons are called the Church Disciples and Christians Two or three or more people making Peters confession Math. 16. are the Church But two or three or more may make this confession without officers Therefore such a company is a Ch The former proposition is evident by that promise Christ made to build his Church vpon the rock of Peters confession The second namely that men without officers may professe their faith is without question except we will hold that without officers no men can
〈…〉 and it haâ—h the being from them The 2. I gather from Mr B. own graunt where treating of the causes and properties of the Church he makes the true matter such as professe Christ Iesus their onely saviour and the form to be the vniting of men to God and one to another visibly Now except he will say which God forbid that none may make profession of faith and be vnited to Christ without officers he cannot deny but there may be and so be called a Church without them For all vnited vnto Christ the head are members of the body which is the Ch and so the whol assembly ioyntly considered is an whole and entyre body and Church So that to deny an ordinary assembly or communion of Christians to be a Christian Church is an vnchristian opinion And here I entreat the indifferent reader to consider whether these mens wayes be equall or no. When we deny their assemblies to be true visible Churches though they consist for the most part of prophane and vngodly persons vnder the government of a Provinciall or Diocesan Bishop and the Ministery of a dumb or prophane Preist as the most do to which also the best is subiect within one moneth they complayn of vs as most injurious detracters and yet will not they acknowledge any assembly of faithful holy people onely if vnfurnished for a time of officers to be a true Church or capable of that denomination But let not the harts of Gods servants be discouraged he is no accepter of mens persons he hath not tyed his power and presence to any order or office in the world but accepted of them that feare him and work righteousnes hating the assemblyes of the wicked and all their sacrifices Vpon this point I haue insisted the longer partly because it is the ground of the other truthes to be handled in their places and partly in detestation of the vnsufferable pryde of this Prelacy and Preisthood which will have the very life of all Churches to hang on the breath of their nostrels yea I may safely say on their lusts if they dy yea or forsake their charges in never so fleshly respects their Churches are dissolved at least during the vacancy and so the brethren dismembred from being of the visible body of Christ. But so far are the officers from being the formall cause of the Church as is intended as they are in truth no absolutely necessary appurtenance vnto it The power indeed to enioy them is an essentiall property seated in the body which may braunch out it self as God gives fit means into officers accordingly which if they prove unfruitful it may also accordingly lop or break off And so farr is the Holy Ghost from giving countenance to this opinion that the Officers make the Church as when he speakes distinctly of the body and officers and considers them severally he calls the body the Church excluding the Elders as appeares in these amongst many oâ—her scriptures Act. 14. 23. 15. 4. and 20. 17. 28. 1 Tim. 3. 5. 15. And the reason is because the Church is essentially in the saincts as the matter subject formed by the coverâ—ant unto which the officers are but adjuncts not making for the being but for the welbeing of the Church and furtherance of her fayth by their service The second poynt now comes to be manifested which is that two or three faythful persons joyned unto the Lord in the fellowship of the Gospel have immediate interest to Christ in all his ordinances Now least any should stumble at these words two or three ioyned or gathered together as it seems Mr. B. would hereby take advantage to discountenance so small a number it must be coÌ„sidered that two or three thus gathered together have the same right with two or three hundred Neyther the smallnes of the number nor meannes of the persons can prejudice their right When the Lord did chose one nation from all other nations he chose the smallest amongst them fewest in number And though now Christ have opened a way for all nations yet is it a narrow way and which few finde especially in the first planting or replanting of Churches of which Christ speaks most properly in which regard also he likens the the kingdome of heaven or Church to a grain of mustard-feed which is the least of all seeds but yet hath vertue in it to bring forth a tree in whose boughes the birds of heaven may build their nests And against this exception of discouragement Christ himself hath provided a coÌ„fortable remedie in speaking expresly of two or three to whom he hath given his power and promised his presence Now for the poynt it self the truth whereof is sufficiently manifested by that which hath been â—ormerly layed down If a company of faythfull people though without officers be the true Ch. and body of Christ and Israel of God then to that company apperteynes the covenants of promise the oracles of God are committed untothem and to them are given his word statutes and iudgments so they may freely enjoy them amongst themselves in the order by Christ prescribed without any forreyn Ministers for Mediators II. They that have received Christ have received the power of Christ and his whole power for Christ and his power are not devided nor one part of his power from another But every company or communion of faythful people have received Christ. Ioh. 1 12. Rom. 8. 32. Isa. 9. 6. and with him power and right to enjoy him though all the world be against it in al the meanes by which he doth communicate himself unto hiâ— Church III. When the Scriptures would give us to understand the near union betwixt Christ and his Church and the free and full title which he hath given her in himself and all his most rich and pretious benefits they do teach the same by resemblances of most streight and immediate conjunction as of that between the vine and the branches the head and the body the husband and the wise and so as the branches do receive and draw the sap and juice immediately from the vine and as the body receiveth sense and motion from the head immediately and as the wife hath immediate right to and interest in her husbands both person and goods for her use though she may and ought to use the service of her husbands and own servants as they can be had for convenient purposes so hath every true visible Church of Christ direct â—nd immediate interest in and title to Christ himselfe and the whole new Testament every ordinance of it without any vnnaturall monstrous and adulterous interposition by any person whatsoever betwixt the vyne and the branches the head and the body the husband the wife which are Christ and his Church though but two or three gathered together in his name as hath formerly been manifested If all things be the Churches even the ministers
Church and exercise of the communion are they therefore alone to do al things They if there be any of them in the Church are to govern in every election and choyce of ensuing Officers are they therefore alone to chuse excluding the Church They are to govern in preaching prophesying and hearing the word and receiving the sacraments singing of Psalmes distributing vnto the necessities of the sayncts are they therefore alone to prophesie to sing Psalmes to contribute to the poor the rest with as little reason can it be affirmed that they alone are to have cōmunion in the censures to admonish judge because they are to govern in the carying administring of those matters These things thus cleared it wil be very convenient for the purpose in hand and wil give much furtherance to the truth in a few words to consider of the nature of Ecclesiastical government and governours which whilst politik men through either ignorance or contempt of the gospels simplicitie do neglect they labour to transform the Church into a wordly kingdome and to set over it a kinde of kingly and lordly government and such scriptures as give libertie and power unto kings and other civile officers over their subjects and people for the making and altering of lawes and for the passing and ordering of judgements these they pervert and misapply to Church governours and government then which nothing is more monstrous Math. 20. 25. 26. 27. 28. 1 Pet. 5. 3. I. For first civil officers are are called in the word of God Princes Heads Captaines Iudges Magistrates Nobles Lords Kinges them in authority principalities powers yea in their respect Gods and according to their names so are their offices but on the contrarie Ecclesiasticall officers are not capable of these or the like titles which can neyther be given without flatterie unto them nor received by them without arrogancy neyther is their office an office of Lordship Sovereigntie or Authoritie but of Labour and Service and so they the Labourers and Servants of the Church as of God 2. Magistrates may publish execute their owne lawes in their own names Ezra 1. 1. 2. c. Est. 8. 8. Math. 20. 25. But Ministers are onely interpreters of the lawes of God and must look for no further respect at the hands of any to the things they speak then as they manifest the same to be the commaundements of the Lord. 1 Cor. 14. 37. 3. Civill administrations and their formes of goverment may be and oft tymes are altered for the avoyding of inconveniences according to the circumstances of tyme place and persons Ex. 1◠13. 14. 15. 16. 17. c. But the Church is a kingdome which cannot be shaken Heb. 12. 28. wherein may be no innovation in office or forme of administration from that which Christ hath left for any inconveniency whatsoever 4 Civill Magistrates have authority by their offices to judge offēders vpon whom they may also exequute bodily vengeance vsing their people as their servants and ministers for the same purpose but in the Ch the officers are the ministers of the people whose service the people is to vse for the administring and executing of their judgemēts that is for the pronouncing of the judgments of the Church of God first against the obstinate which is the vtmost execution the Church can perform And what difference can be greater In the cōmon wealth the people fewer or more yea somtimes whol armies the ministers of the officers in the Church the officers the ministers of the people 5. In civill government obedience must be performed for the authority and will of the commaunder who is Lord over the bodyes and goods of his subjects Mat. 20. 25. 26. 1 Pet. 5. 3. yea though his commaundements being with them bodily domage yea be they never so vnjust vnholy yet must obedience be given in meek and pacient sufferance though not in active performance ◠Pet. 2. 13. 14. 3. 14. 15. 16. but in Church matters not so The officers may neyther exact obedience nor the people perform it further then the goodnes profit and aedification of and by the thing commaunded doth enforce 1 Cor. 14. 26. Gal. 1. ◠Col. 2. 16. 1◠And the reason is because civil Magistrates have authority annexed to their office and order and though both they and their commaundements be most vnjust yet do they still reteyn their authority which their subjects may not shake of but ministers and Church governers have no such authority tyed to their office but merely to the word of God And as the peoples obedience stands not in making the Elders their Lords Soveraignes Iudges but in listening to their godly counsels in following theyr wise directions in receiving their holy instructions exhortations consolations and admonitions and in vsing their faithful service and ministery so neyther stands the Elders govermēt in erecting any tribunall seat or throne of judgement over the people but in exhorting instructing comforting improving them by the word of God 1 Tim. 3. 16. in affoarding the Lord and them their best service But here it wil be demaunded of me if the Elders be not set over the Church for her guidance and government Yes certaynly as the physition is set over the body for his skill and faithfulnes to minister vnto it to whom the pacient yea though his Lord or Maister is to submit the lawyer over his cause to attend vnto it the steward over his family even his wife and children to make provision for them yea the wachmen over the whole city for the safe keeping thereof Such and none other is the Elders or Bishops government Now to conclude this point All the scriptures which Mr B. brings as the reader may see serves to prove that the governers of the Church must be in and of the Church they govern but the governers of the Church of Worxsop are not of it neyther would Mr B. I dare say be well pleased they should But where it is further affirmed that during all the Apostles dayes the body of the congregation attempted nothing of themselves but that alwayes Church matters were begun governed and composed by the Apostle◠as it made nothing against our matter though it were even so as is sayd since w◠hold that where there are officers in the Churches those faithfull in all things as th' Apostles were there things are not to be attempted without them so is it not true which is affirmed neyther do the scriptures alledged prove any such thing The three first places Act. 1. 15. 23. 24. 25. and 6. 3. 6. and 14. 19. 20. 23. do onely prove that the Apostles being general men officers of all Churches did when they were present with the Churches govern and assist them faythfully in all things which we also affirm to be the duty of al Elders in their particular charges whom the people are accordingly to obey More particularly The two
be begun without officers Yea even where officers are if they fayl in theyr duetyes the people may enterprise matters needfull howsoever you will have the minister the onely primum movens and will ty all to his fingers And to let passe the godly Kings of Iudah which were no Church officers about whom the question is which sundry tymes set the Preists a work other with them in Church matters as 2. Chro. 17. 7. 8. 9. and 29. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. c. and other instances in the old Testament which in the handling of the particulars will fall into consideration Peter himselfe was called by such as were no Apostles or other officers to render a reason of his going into men vncircumcised which he also did to Gods glory and the Churches satisfaction v. 18. Now how soever they which so contended with him erred in the matter and it is like dealt too contumeliously with him in the manner yet had it been simply vnlawfull for them to have propounded and begun a matter of that kynde Peter would have reproved and broken off theyr disorderly course and not have pertaken with them in their sinne by vndertaking the answer of the matter which in the generall he doth approve by his orderly and satisfactory answer Furthermore where the Lord Iesus Math. 18. 19. directs a brother in case order to tell the Church of his brothers offence what can be more playne then that he enioynes a private brother to begin a Church matter Yea though there be Elders in the Church yea though the Elders alone yea the chief of them onely as Mr Bernard would have it be the Church yet must the matter be brought to and begun in the Church by him that is offended and his witnesses To presse this yet a little further if any puliquely scandalous or notorious sin be committed in the Church by a brother and the Elders neglect all means of redressing it yeâ— put the case the Elders themselves be in the transgression and by name that they preach haeresy or both preach and practise notorious Idolatry and that the body of the Church also be corrupted by them and joyn hands with them in their mischief what now must a private brother doe in this case whose heart the Lord establisheth in the truth and whom he plucks as a brand out of the fyre must he goe on and ioyn with that Idolatrous assembly in theyr wickednes God forbid And leave them he may not till he have dealt with them about this Church matter and convinced them of this Church sinn for if Christ would not have a brother cast of his brother til he have dealt with him nor the whole Church to cast of a private member till he refuse to hear it Math. 18. much lesse will he have one brother to forsake all the brethren and officers also or a private member to disclaym the whole Church till he have by the best meanes he can affoard in himself or procure otherwise and after the best manner convinced admonished and exhorted both the Officers and people and so found them obstinate and irreclamable To proceed The Apostle Paul writes to the Church at Rome to observe such as caused divisions and scandalls contrary to the doctrine they had learned and to avoid them and to the Church at Corinth to deliver to Sathan or excommunicate the incestuous person agayn that vpon his repentance they would forgive him and confirme their love towards him and agayn to the same Church that they would have ready their collection for the saints at Hierusalem and gather it on the Lords day desiring further that they might abound in that grace as in faith love and the like to the Colossians that they should say to Archippus look to thy ministery which thou hast received of the Lord that thou fulfill it so writes Iohn to the Church at Pergamus that they should not suffer the Balaâ—mites and Nicholaitans to teach and to deceive as they did and to the Church of Thyatira likewise not to suffer the woman Iezabell calling her self a Prophetesse to deceive Gods servants Now it seems by Mr BERNARDS doctrine that if the officers withdraw in these things and will not endeavour the reformation of them or if they dy or fall away that the silly multitude must beare all evill and forbeare all good they must not mark and avoyd haereitcall and schismaticall whether teachers or others they must not put out the old leven that they may become a new lump nor confirme theyr love to any penitent person or forgive him though his repentance be never so ful or publique nor make any collection in the Church for theyr brethren the saynts nor have any part in that grace nor put their Minister in mynd of his office that he fulfill it nor medle with false Prophets for theyr conviction or restraynâ— but may suffer them to deceive without gaynsaying these are all Church matters Apostles onely and Apostolick men must medle in them both to begin and end them And thus the Ch without the officers help though it caÌ„not possibly be had as a deaf a duÌ„b a blynd a lame yea a liveles senseles body it must both have the eyes put out and the eares stopt and neyther see nor hear it must be tongue-tyed from speaking fast bound hand and foot from doing any thing for the generall and joynt good yea it must not be saved without the officers for other ordinary way of salvation know I none by the revealed will of God in his word but in the vse of the ordinances which Christ hath given vnto his Church ¶ It is the stewards duety to make provision for the family but what if he neglects this duety in the maysters absence must the whole family starve yea and the wife also or is not some other of the family best able to be imployed for the present necessity It is the Pilottes office to guide the ship but what if he ignorantly or negligently or desperately will run the same vpon the rocks or sands must the rest of the mariners forbeare to intermedle and so perish It is the Captaines office to lead the army but what if he or they perfidiously will betray the same into the hands of the enemy may not the body of the army make the best head they can to defend themselves and to offend their enemies vsing the best meanes they have for their present direction Yea even in the most peaceable best governed coÌ„mon-wealthes a private man may in a case of necessity become a Magistrate for a mayne work and that which ordinarily is the Magistrates peculiar The Lord hath given the sword into his hand for the good of him that doth well to take vengeance on him that doth evill and to him it apper teynes to defend the innocent But if this innocent person be assaulted by a theif murtherer or other enemy
when the Magistrate is absent that should defend him God puts the sword into his hand and he may as lawfully vse it now as wear it before rather kill then be killed So may the Church as the wife of Christ if the steward the minister neglect the provision vse the help and service of an other the fittest in the family to provide food the multitude as the mariners if the minister the Pylot be desperate set an other the most skilfull at the stern the body of the army the Church if the officers as the Captaynes be perfidious vse the help and guidance of some other the most expert so may as a private citizē a magistrate a private member become a minister for an action of necessity to be performed by the consent of the rest These first things even nature and the light of it teacheth the natural man the latter grace the spirit of grace the spirituall man Of these things the more largely I haue spoken in the generall I may be the breifer in the particulars Onely for conclusion I must demaund of Mr B. this question if Church matters be to be performed onely by ministers why his Sexton being no minister reads divine service in his absence and that by authority from the Ordinary If this be not a Church matter and that materiall there is small Church matter in the most Churches in the land Now the last thing I have to observe touching this first reason is that so far as the authour speaks the truth in it so far he speaks most playnly against himself In that he graunts as he doth pag. 90. 91. the people under the law aright from the Lord to approve of the appointment of the Levites and that the body of the congregation were made acquainted with that which concerned them yea and had liberty to chuse their officers and to present them to the Apostles therein he overthrowes both his own and all other the ministeries in England as by the lawes both civil and ecclesiasticall they are constituted For the law with you Mr B. allowes not onely Ministers ordeyned at large without any certeyn congregations but entitles them also to their speciall cures without so much as the peoples knowledge many parishes never seing the faces of their ministers till they come to ring their belles in signe of victory much lesse doth the law provide they should be approved least of all that they should be chosen and presented by them As the truth you speak in this place makes against you so had you spoken more fully you had brought more cleare testimony against yourself you do therefore take vp yourself in time and mingle some vntruthes amōg like darknes with light least the light should shine too clearely in the eyes of the reader Where you then affirm that the people did onely approve of the Levites at the Lords appointment when they took their charge Numb 3. 6 12. Lev. 8. 2. 36. that the body of the congregation was onely made acquainted with the choice of Mathyas Act. 1. 15. you speak vnfaithfully but where you adde that onely the liberty was graunted them by the Apostles then to chuse Officers c. it is both false and fond False as the former for the Levites were not onely approved by the people but given by them they were the the peoples gift and therefore their 's for they gave nothing but their owne and by them given to minister vnto the Lord in stead of the first borne Exod. 13. 2. 12. 13. and 22. 29. Num. 3. 12. The Levites are expresly called the peoples †shake offring and so were not onely approved but given by them as their offering even the offering of the whol congregation and that by solemn ordination imposition of hands by the people Men may approve the thinges done by others but the people were principall doers themselves the offring was theirs and by them as their gift presented and so by Aaron offred vnto the Lord in their name And as shameles an vntruth is it which you avouch touching the calling of Mathyas Act. 1. that the body of the congregation was onely made acquainted with that which concerned them all For howsoever the ministration were extraordinary being an Apostleship to which he was called and therefore the Lord reserved to himself the prerogative royall of immediate designation of the very person Gal. 1. 1. yet would he haue the libertie of the people so inviolably preserved as that by direction they were to present two and after to acknowledge by common consent that particular person which by the Lord was immediately singled out and designed to that work vers 23. 26. Lastly the liberty graunted to the people for the chusing both of Deacons and Elders Act. 6. 14. was not by any courtesie of the Apostles as by the Popes indulgence for that time as Mr B. would cunningly beare the simple reader in hand but it was an ordinance eternall and perpetual never reversed but by Antichrist even a part of that connsell of God wherewith the Apostles acquainted the Churches and one of these cōmaundements which they were to teach all Churches to observe which they also did And so I come to the third reason against this imputed popularity taken from the commission of Christ to his Apostles and their successourt This is something generally set down but the thing I perceive by his proofs which Mr B intends is that the vse of the keyes power of binding and loosing was committed by Christ to his A postles and to those which succeeded them And first here I do graunt with Mr Bernard that look to whō the power of binding and loosing was primarily and immediately committed in their successours it recideth for ever so that the onely point in quaestion is into whose hands the Lord Iesus hath properly immediately given the keyes of the kingdome of heaven the power of loosing and binding sinnes For the better vnderstanding then of this point it must be cōsidered that the kingdome of heaven is cōpared to a great house into which some are admitted and others denyed enterance the doore into this howse is Christ the key that opens and shutts this doore is the gospel the opening of it which is the loosing of sinnes is the publishing opening manifesting and making knowen of the gratious promises of the forgivenes of sinnes and life eternall to such as beleive and repent The shutting of this doore which is also the binding of sinnes is the declaration and denunciation of the wrath of God against sinne and of coudemnatiō vpō persons impenitent and vnbeleevers and both these according to the pleasure of the mayster of the house though the latter of them be not of the nature of the gospell which is in it self the ministery of life and of the spirit which giveth life but accidentall vnto it by mens own fault which through their vnbeleeving impenitent hearts turne
this key as it were the wrong way vpon themselves Now by the evidence of the former generall truth approved I doubt not to the conscience of every indifferent man which is that a company of faithfull people vnited together in the fellowship of the gospel though without officers is a Church This specialty in hand wil be cleared And wheresoever the promise of forgivenes of sinnes and life eternall is to be found there hangeth the golden key of heaven gates there sinnes are loosed in heaven for what els is it to loose sinnes but to publish proclayme or declare in the word of God righteousnes of Christ the forgivenes of sinnes to them that repent But of these things hereafter I will in the first place consider of Mr Bernards proofs and of his collections from them The places alleadged are Math. 2â— 19. 16. 19. Ioh. 20. 21. 22. 23. Mark 13. 34. which scriptures are not all of one nature nor serving to the same end Yet this in generall I do answer to all of them that we deny not but that the publique Ministers are by coÌ„mission from Christ to publish the gospel administer the sacraments bind and loose sinnes watch and ward the howse of God and the like which for vs to deny were wickednes and for you to proove is lost labour But the pointes in controversie betwixt vs are first whether these things and all of them and with them all other Church affairs not here mentioned be so appropriated to the Officers as that none other may meddle with them and 2. whether this power be committed to them immediately from and by Christ or mediately from Christ by the Church which consideration whilest you neglect you erre your self deceive such as follow you and injury them you oppose But to the particulars The first third scriptures Math. 28. 19. Ioh. 20. 21. 22 23. are meant onely of the Apostles and in them they receive the coÌ„mission Apostolik which to speak properly is incommunicable to any other Officer in the Church For as none are to succeed them in the Office of Apostles so neyther is the Commission peculiar to the Apostles â—â—nveyed or intended to any others which also further appeares thus Their charge was to teach and baptise all nations to goe into all the world and to preach the gospel to every creatureâ— but ordinary Ministers have no such commissioÌ„ but are tied to their particular flocks Act. 14. 2â— 20. 28. 2. Their CoÌ„mission was extraordinary and miraculous whether we respect the inward qualifications of the parties by the immediate inspiration of the holy Ghost wherewith they were at the first springled as it were Iohn 20. 22. and afterward replenished Act. 2. 4. or whether we respect the miraculous confirmation of the doctrine both by them thaâ— taught it and by them that bâ—leeved it Mark 16. 17. 18. 20. 3. The very outward oâ—der and manner of conveying it was extraordinary and by Christs immediate voice and as it were with his owne hands where ordinary Ministers have their commissioÌ„s from Christ indeed but by men Gal. 1. 1. And the consideration of this very difference doth minister sufficient matter of answer that though Christ did transferre unto the Apostles their office and power to exercise it immediately yet for ordinary ministers the case is clean otherwise Lastly the disciples of Christ did not then first receive power to teach when they were possessed of their Apostleship but long before they were admitted into office as did others also besides theÌ„ without office as well as they Math. 10. 5. 6. 7. Luk. 10. 1. 2. 3. 9. 10. which scriptures alone as they are sufficient to justify against Mr B. that the keyes of the kingdome were given into the hands of men without office yea before any office or officer was in the Church so do they manifest the notable falshood of that his peâ—emptory affirmation pag. 93. that it is as playn as the shining of the sun of the firmament of heaven to such as are not blind or wilfully shut not their eyes from seing that Christ never sayd to the body of the congregation that is to any out of office for that is the point goe preach The Apostles by Mr B. own graunt in this place by these scriptures at this time and not before had their commission of Apostlâ—ship graunted them â—rom Christ and I hope he will not say they entred their office without a commission â—nd yet both power and charge was given them long before to preach the kingdome of God as the forequoted scriptures manifest The next place is Mat. 16. 19. where expresse mention is made of the keyes of the kingdome of heaven and of the power of binding and loosing given to Peter by which scripture rightly interpreted I desire the difference betwixt Mr Bernard and me may be determined That by the keyes is meant the gospel of Christ opening a way by him and his merits as the doore into the kingdome I have formerly declared and we must take heed of that deep delusion of Antichrist in imagining that this power of binding or loosing sinnes of opening or shutting heaven gates is tyed to any office or order in the Church it depeÌ„ds only vpoÌ„ Christ who alone properly forgâ—veth sinnes hath the key of David which opens and no man shuts and shuttes and no man opens and this key externally is the gospell which with himself he gives to his Church Isa. 9. 6. RoÌ„ 3. 2. 9. 4. and not to the officers onely for them as Mr Bern. in his last book come to mine hand in the publishing of this mine answer doth insinuate because the materiall book was giveÌ„ into the hands of the Preists and Elders to be kept Deut. 31. 9. whence I do by the way gather thus much that since the keyes of the kingdome of heaven is the gospel and that the gospel is giveÌ„ to the whole Church and to every member of it whether there be Ministers or no it therefore followeth that the keyes are given to all and every member alike as the gospel is though not to be vsed alike by all and every one which were grosse confusion but according to the order prescribed by Christ. Now for the place in hand which is Math. 16. 18. 19. it is graunted by all sides that Christ gave vnto Peter the keyes of the kingdome that is the power to remit and reteyne sinnes declaratively as they speak as also that in what respect this power was given to PETER in the same respect it was and is given to such as succeed Peter but the quaestion is in what respect or consideration this power spoken of was delegated vnto him The Papist affirmes it was given to Peter as the Prince of the APOSTLES and so to the BISHOPS of ROME as PETERS successours and thus they stablish the POPES primacy the PRELATES say nay but vnto PETER an APOSTLE that is a cheif
Officer of the CHVRCH and so to vs as cheif Officers succeeding him which is also Mr B judgement pag. 94. Others affirm it to belong to Peter here as a Minister of the word and sacraments and the like and so consequently to belong to all other Ministers of the gospel equally which succeed Peter in those and the like administrations But we for our partes do beleeve professe that this promise is not made to Peter in any of these forenamed respects nor to any office order estate dignity or degree in the Church or world but to the confession of faith which Peter made by way of answer to Christs question who demaunding of the disciples v. 15. whom amongst the variety of opinions that went of him ver 14. they thought him to be was answered by Peter in the name of the rest Thou art Christ the sonne of the lâ—ving God ver 16. To this Christ replyes ver 17. blessed arâ— thou Symon the sonne of Ionas c. and ver 18. thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not overcome it and v. 19. I will give unto thee the keyes of the kingdome of heaven whatsoever thou shalt bind vpon earth shal be bound in heaven and whasoever thou shalt loose on earth shal be loosed in heaven So that the building of the Church is vpon the rock of Peters coÌ„fession that is Christ whom he confessed this faith is the foundation of the Church against this faith the gates of hell shall not prevayl this faith hath the keyes of the kingdome of heaven what this faith shall loose or bind on earth is bound loosed in heaven And thus the Protestant divines when they deal against the Popes supremacy do generally expound this scripture though Mr B. directly make the Pope and his shavelings Peters successours in this place as hereafter wil appeare Now vpon the former ground it followeth that whatsoever person hath received the same pretious faith with Peter as all the faithfull have â— Pet. 1. 1. that person hath a part in this gift of Christ whosoever doth confesse publish manifest or make knowen Iesus to be that Christ the sonne of the living God and Saviour of the world that person opens heaveÌ„ gate looseth sin partakes with Peter in the vse of the keys And herevpon also it followeth necessarily that one faithful man yea or woman eyther may as truely and effectually loose and bind both in heaven and earth as all the Ministers in the world But here I know the Lordly clergy like the bulles of Bashan will roar lowd vpon me as speaking things intollerably derogatory to the dignitie of Preisthood and it may be some others also eyther through ignorance or superstition will take offence at this speach as confounding all things but there is no such cause of exception For howsoever the keyes be one and the same in nature and efficacy in what faithful mans or mens handes soever as not depending eyther vpon the number or excellency of any persons but vpon Christ alone yet is it ever to be remembred that the order and manner of vsing them is very different These keyes in doctrine may be turned as well vpoÌ„ them which are without the Church as vpon them which are within and their sinnes eyther loosed or bound Math. 28. 19. but in discipline as we speak not so but onely vpon them which are within 1 Cor. 5. 12. 13. Againe the Apostles by their office had these keyes to vse in all Churches yea in all nations vpon earth ordinary Elders for their particular flockes Act. 14. 23. 20. 28. Lastly there is an vse of these keyes publiquely to be had and an vse privately an use of them by one person severally and an use of them by the whole Church ioyntly and together an vse of theÌ„ ministeriall or in office and an vse of them out of office but the power of the gospel which is the keyes is still one and the same notwithanding the divers manner of vsing it And this distinction well observed will stop the hole by which Mr Bernard in his reply sundry times scapes out where otherwise he should be vnavoydably taken in Mr Smythes arguments by taking vantage at and perverting of a phrase vsed by Mr Sm which is the ministeriall power of Christ. This ministeriall power Mr S. makes that externall coÌ„municated delegated power of Christ with and to the Church serving onely for manifestation and declaration of the remission or retention of sinnes opposing ministeriall power in the creature to that power essentiall incommunicable which is inhaerentin Christ and God the creator but Mr B. on the other side eyther ignorantly or deceiptfully misinterprets the terme Ministeriall as meant onely of the power in office opposed to that which is out of office and so creeps out at this cranny But with what reason can it be eyther conceived or suggested that Mr Smyth should affirme that the body of the Church or a private brother out of office should have this power spoken of in office Thus much to prove that all the pretious promises Math. 16. were made to Peter in respect of his confession of faith and so consequently to all others which succeed him in the same confession and amongest the rest the vse of the keyes though not in the same order or office with Peter which was peculiar vnto him with some few others It followeth First if the keyes of the kingdome of heaven be appropriated vnto the officers then can there be no forgivenes of sinnes nor salvation without officers for there is no enterance into heaven but by the dore there is no clyming over any other way without the key the doore cannot be opened so then belike if eyther there be no officers in the Church as it may easily come to passe in some extreame plague or persecution howsoever in England a man may haue a Preist for the whisteling and must needs be in the Churches of Christ in our dayes eyther in their first plaÌ„ting or first calling out of Babylon for Antichrists masse-preisthood is not essentially Christs true Mâ—nistery or if the officers take away the key of knowledge as the Scribes Pharisees did will neither enter in themselves nor suffer them that would then must the miserable multitude be content to be shut out and perish eternally for ought is knowen to the contrary They haue no remedy in this case no redresse may be had of this evill no meanes vsed to avoid it Though the Pope cary with him thowsands to hell no man may say vnto him Sir why do you sâ— To admonish the Officers of their sinne were against common sense that the father should be subiect to his children the work dominere over the workman the seeds-man be ordered by the corn and to excoÌ„municate them and call new were intolerable vsurpation of the keyes this power is given to the chief
officers onely pag. 94. 95. and to separate from them is as intollerable pag. 88. Miserable were the Lords people if these things were so but the truth is they are miserable guides that so teach 2 They which may forgive sins and sinners save soules gayne and turne men vnto the Lord to them are the keyes of the kingdome given by which they open the dore vnto such as they thus forgive gayne and save but all these things such as arâ— no ministers may do as these scriptures which I entreat the godly reader to consider do most clearly manifest Math. 18. 15. 2 Cor. 2. 5. 7. 8. 9. 10. Act. 8. 1. 4. with 11. 19. 20. 21. Iam. 5. 19. 20. 1 Pet. 3. 1. Iude 22. 23. Erroneous therefore derogatory is it to the nature of the gospel free donation of Christ thus to impropriate and ingro 〈…〉 the keyes whichly common to all Christians in their place and order 3. Lastly I do affirme with Mr Smyth that the twelve were as yet but disciples and not actually Apostles Designed in deed they were to the office of Apostles but not possessed of it A man may call such a woman his wife before they be actually maryed and such a child his heire though he be not for the present possessed of a foot of his inheritance nor like to be before the testators death and that this was the condition of the twelve I prove by these reasons If the twelve were called to the office of Apostles Mat. 16. then Christ called men to an office for which they were altogether vnfit vnfurnished which to imagine were impious against Christ. Now that they were vtterly vnapt to this office appeares in these particulars First they vvanted that Christian fortitude and courage vvhich vvas most needfull for that office Secondly they were ignorant of the nature of Christs kingdom not forecasting his death nor beleeving his resurrection vnfurnished also with the gift of tongues and so vtterly vnable to teach the gentiles for whose sake they received their commission in a speciall manner Mat. 16. 21. 22. 20. 20. 21. 26. 51. Mark 16. 11. 14. Luke â—4 21. Act. 2. 1. 2. 3. 4. Mat. â—8 19. Ephe. 3. 5. 6. 2. When Christ ascended on high he gave gifts to men viz. Apostles Evangelists c. Ephe. 4. 8. 11. And then and not before then was the Church capable of the office of Apostles who were to preach the gospel to all nations when the partition wall was broken down betwixt the Iewes Gentiles that the gentiles also which were formerly straungers forreigners might now be made citizens with the saints and of the househood of God Ephe. 2. 12. 19 And aâ— this particular I have now in hand seemeth to receive confirmation from the last scripture Mr Bernard bringeth for the Apostles commission which is Mark. 13. 34. where Christ at his departing into a straunge countrey sets his house in order gives his servants authority and appoints them their work so doth the expositioÌ„ application of the same scripture to the generall purpose if we coÌ„pare with this place that which he affirmeth in another argue him that brings it of a mind very vnsound and vnstable Here as all men see Mr Bern. allegeth it to prove that the cheif officers onely are by commission from Christ to medle in the publick affaires of the Church and in particular to redresse things amisse and to censure offenders but in his second book being pressed by an argument by Mr Smith taken from this scripture he fare and â—â—atâ—y denyes that the Lord in this place intends to set out any government of the Church at all and thus compared with himself he is like nothing lâ—sse then himself Now since Mr B. disclayms this scripture as not intended at all of the goverment of the Church that in his 2. better thoughts I have no reason to spend much time in answering him Onely I can not passe by one frivolous exception in his reply against Mr Sm. and another absurd collection of his owne Where Mr Smyth affirmes that every servant or disciple in the Church hath authority and that truely if he have the word of God he hath authority for the word caryes authority with it wheresoever it goes Mr B. excepts first that by servants are meant Officers which as it is true sometimes so is it otherwise for the most part espetially in the parables of this kind Mat. 25. 14. Luk. 19. 12. 13. to which this parable seemeth well to consort wherin since all have received some good thing or substance froÌ„ Christ to be dispensed for the good of the rest all should diligâ—tly faithfully imploy their labour in the same ever expecting the returne of the mayster all every one of them watching and the Porter specially according to that speciall charge layd vpon him to watch ver 34. 35. 37. but the exception I meane is that by servants cannot be meant the Church because the house is the Church and the authority not given to the house but to the servants in the house who are to look over others Mark here in the case of goverment the house must needs be the Church the Church and house are both one Christ speaking of the house or Church meanes the people excluding the officers and yet Math. 18. in the case of govermâ—t the officers are in Christs speach the Church or house for they are all one excluding the people But to the poynt as the officers are both the Lords servants in his house parts of the house and houshould also so are the people not onely the house or of the house and houshould as in the forenamed scriptures but the Lords servants in his house also The idle and senseles exposition Mr B. gives is of the Porters watching Where the mayster at his departure appoyntes every servâ—â—t his work and commaunds all to watch and the porter specially least he 〈◊〉 suddenly and fynd them sleeping Mr B. to ioyne all together for the holding out of Mr Smythes Argument makes the Porter Gods spirit as if the Holy Ghost were one of the servants and had a commaundement from Christ to watch least it should be found asleep at his comming And by this I hope it appeareth in the generall contrary to Mr B. affirmation that the power of Christ or keyes of the kingdom is not delegated or committed primarily much lesse solaryly or alone to the officers of the Church how soever they as the governours are to direct and as the minister to exequute in the vse of this power or of these keyes Of the particulars hereafter That which comes next into consideration is that the Apostles committed that theyr power received from Christ not to the body of the people but to the cheife ministers of the gospell and cheife officers of the Church First here let the reader observe how Mr B. interesses these
old leven to iudge and to put out from among themselves that wicked fornicatour v. 5. 6. 7. 12. 13. of which more hereafter And so I come to the 4. Reason against Popularity as you term â—t but in truth against Christian liberty which is grounded vpoÌ„ Ephe. 4. 11. 12. Your words are these It is most apparant that Christ ascending vp gave gifts for preaching administration of sacraments and government vnto some sorts of men who 〈…〉 e set out there and plainly distinguished from the other saynts the body of the Church Against this hitherto I take no great exceptioÌ„ though the Apostles meaning may be better layd down thus that Christ Iesus the King and Lord of his Church hath set in it certaine sorts and orders of officers rightly fitted and furnished with graces for the reparation of the saynts and aedification of his body to the worlds end This we affirme as lowd as you and with more comfort And therfore after I have observed in a few wordes how little this scripture serves for your present purpose I will in as few more make it appeare how directly it serves against you in many other mayn matters and that you in bringing it have onely lighted a candle whereby to discover your own nakednes This then is that which you would conclude that bycause Christ hath given power and charge to the sorts of ministers here set downe for the reparation of the saynts and aedification of the body that therefore no brethren out of office may medle with the reparation and aedification of the Saynts or Church I do acknowledge that onely Apostles Prophets c. by office and as works of their Ministery are to look to the reparation and aedification of the body but that the brethren out of office are discharged of those duâ—ties I deny any more then the rest of the servants were of watching though out of office bycause the Porter alone was by office to watch Mark 13. 34 37. Yea look what is layd vpon the officers in this place after a more speciall manner by vertue of their office that also is layd vpon the rest of the brethren els where in the same words to be performed in their places as a duty of love for which they have not onely liberty but charge from the Lord. The officers are here charged with the reparation or knitting together of the saynts the same duty in the same words is imposed vpon every brother spirituall and I hope you the Ministers will not be the onely spirituall men in the Church Secondly the officers are here given to aedifie the body the same duety in the same termes is layd vpon every one of the brethren in their places 1 Thes. 5. 11. and vnto these few might be added an hundred places of the same nature Why then should the Ministers of the Lord or any other for their sake envy vnto the Lords people eyther their graces or liberty or thus arrogate all vnto theÌ„selves as though all knowledge were treasured vp in their breasts all power given into their handes as though no drop of grace for aedificatioÌ„ or comfort of the Church could fall from els where then from their lips Moses in the place of numbers before named wisht that all the Lords people were Prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit vpon them and Paul gives liberty to the whol Church and to all in it women excepted ver 34. to prophesie one by one for the instruction edification and comfort of all but with Mr B and his Church I perceive neyther Moses prayer nor Pauls graunt nor Gods spirit must be avayleable or find acceptance for aedification by any save the Ministers The subjects of Kings vse to complayn much of Monopolyes but the subjects of the Lord Iesus have greater cause of complaint that he himself his power presence and graces wherewith he honoureth all his saynts are thus monopolized and ingrossed The similitude which here you borrow froÌ„ the body of man wherein you say the special members have their speciall vertues in themselves given of God and not bestowed vpon them by the body as the eyes to see the tongue to speak c. for the confirmation of the power of the Lord Iesus or liberty to teach admonish and censure in the hands of the officers alone is faulty in both parts of it and conteynes in it sundry errours both theologicall and phylosophicall And first I do here most justly except against your shuffling together and confounding of the personall gifts graces and vertues of the Ministers and their ministeriall power or office The first in deed they have from Christ and not from or by the Church at all as their knowledge zeale vtterance wisdome holynes and the like with which the Church findes them furnished so appoints them vnder Christ to vse these gifts in office of Ministery whereof out of office they have erst given knowledge this power or appointment which they have from or by the Church thus to vsâ— these gifts is another thing then their personall gifts and qualifications themselves which you Mr B. do very fraudulently confound Secondly it is ignorantly affirmed that God enduâ—s certayn members of the body with speciall vertues and properties as thâ—â—y with seing and the like that they have thes properties not from the body but from God For first the very vertue or faculty of seing is not in the ey but in the soul which vseth the ey onely for the instrument of seing so other parts in their kind Oculus non videâ— sed anima per oculiâ—â— And that not immediately neyther but with the help of the spirits naturall vitall and animall diffused throughout the body which the soul vseth most immediately as the instruments of all life sense motion And so it comes to passe not onely in death where the soul and body are separated but in sundry diseases also of the body that the ey fayleth in seeing and so other members in their service Thirdly as the Elders of the Church I confesse may be compared to eyes in the body and the Deacons to hands in a respect so I deny the similitude to hold absolutely Similitudes as they say do not run vpon four feet to streyn them above that which is intended by the holy Ghost in vsing them is a course full both of vanity and errour The Deacons are the handes of the Church for the distribution of her bodily things to them that need yet I trow you would not have the Church suffer the poore to starve where the Deacons are wanting to minister or fayling in their ministration so are the Elders the eyes mouth of the Church for her government and ministration of spirituall things yet must not the Church perish spiritually for their want or negligence no the Lord is more mercifull to his people then so and doth nor ty them so short in
the meanes of their aedification salvation how streyt and hard hearted soever you M. B. are towards them or coÌ„temptuous of them they may and must use in cases of necessity their best helpes for the distribution of things simply necessary to the body And dare you say as you haue done in both your books that the officers are absolutely to the Church as the eyes to the body and that there is no spirituall light in the rest of the members save onely in them and that all the body besides and without them is darknes Indeed such a blind beetle your spirituall Lords and you make your Churches and so you lead them But oh you the people of God yet in Babylon partakers of the heavenly illumination trust not these your Seers too much they would be thought all ey from top to bottom and would make you beleeve that you the multitude are stoneblind and can not possibly without them see one step before you that so they might lead you by the lip whither they list but open your eyes more and more and you shall see more and more clearely that the wayes of your Nationall Church are not the wayes which Christ hath left for his visible Churches to walk in but a very by path and take heed that these men which would be thought all and onely light cause not a â—og of earthly ordinances to rise vpon you and a dark mist to cover you To proceed This one scripture Ephe. 4. 11. 12. truely expounded and according to the Apostles meaning serves at one blow to overthrow the whol ministery of your Church of England and all communion with it Your whol plea for your Ministery is that you teach the word of God the true word of God and therewith you invite all your guests vnto your baÌ„quet But now if your ministery be not the Ministery which Christ hath set vp in his Ch noâ— of the gifts which he hath giveÌ„ vnto his Church but of an other sort foundatioÌ„ then it followes that no felowship or coÌ„munioÌ„ is to be had with it vnder any plausible pretense nor vpon any experimentall profit neyther The officers theÌ„ which Christ hath given for the aedificatioÌ„ of his Church to the worlds end are Apostles Prophets Evangelists Pastors Teachers Ephe. 4. 11. 12. Now the first three sorts of these abovenamed were extraordinary extraordinarily endued for the first publishing of faith and planting of Churches and so as temporary are ceased with their endowments and this you graunt in effect pag. 184. of your last book And for the Pastorâ— and Teachers here spoken of you Mr B and the Ministers of your order would be thought the men Of what sort then I pray you are your grand Metropolitans your Archbishops Bishops Suffraganes Deanes Archdeacons Chauncelours Officials and the residew of that Lordly Clergy They must needs be of some other order then is here named and the gifts of some other cheif Lord then of Christ when he ascended on high and gave his gifts that is Antichrist whose gifts they were when he ascended on high even to the throne of his Apostasy And now for you which are set over the particular Parishes to teach the people as I confesse you of all the rest to be likest vnto the true Pastours so by your own confession are you excluded froÌ„ that rank The Officers which Christ hath appointed when he ascended have received power by your own assertion not onely for preaching and administring the sacraments but for government also The want then of the power of government bewrayeth you to be anothers gift then Christs even his and none others which hath devised an other order and distribution of giftes then ever came into Christs hart to appoint Lastly as it is true you affirm that Christ never sayd to the body of the congregation viz in expresse termes go preach so is it most vntrue which you intend viz that he never gave libertie and charge to any out of office to teach in the exercise of prophesy This point I have touched formerly but will more fully handle hereafter The same I also affirme in the second place touching the power of government not opposing your words well interpreted but your meaning which is that none but men in office have power eyther to reforme any abuse in the Church or to perform any other necessary Church duty without them And for shutting vp of this fourth Argument let it be considered that here is a great difference in administration of doctrine by teaching and of admonition excommunication in the order of discipline Onely one man in the Church doth teach at once and all the rest both Elders people are taught by him but the whol Church may admonish or excommunicate one or more at once or by one act and so though Christ never say to the Church goe teach yet he sayth to the Ch admonish excommunicate Mat. 18. 17. 1 Cor. 5. 4. 5. In doctrine one man teacheth the whol Church the whol Church is taught in disciplyne the whole Church reproveth and excommunicateth one man and hiâ— censureth And thus your light Mr B. which you boast is as clearâ— as the sun in the firmament of heaven is darkened your sun is gone downe at noon day Amos 8. 9. The fifth reason is thus layd down It is never to be found in all the old testament that the people but princes and ecclesiasticall governours men in authority were reproved for suffring holy things to be abused Ezech. 22. 26. 1 Sam. 2. 27. 1 King 13. so in the new testament Math. 23. Rev. 2. 1. 8. 12. 18. and 3. 1. 7. 14. no meÌ„tion in these places is made of the people It seems Mr B. hath learnt of them which give counsel to affirme all things peremptorily vnder hope to find some men with whom a confident affirmation will go as far as a modest proof But here as alwayes I do except against as a corner stone of Babylon your vnequall yoaking of ecclesiasticall Officers Ministers in the govermeÌ„t of the Church with Princes Magistrates in their civil authority there is no proportion betwixt them A Lyon and an Ox will payr better then these two kinds of governours and governments Neyther can it be rightly sayd of Church officers that they are men in authority they are men in service and charge whether we respect God or the Church They have power I graunt for they have the gospell to preach minister which is the power of God to salvation they are to speak with authority and that also in the order of office and by speciall commission And so the Evangelists testifie of Christ that he taught as having authority and not as the scribes the reason was that where the manner of teaching amongst the Scribes was very corrupt and degenerate affecting the peoples harts with no reverence of God Christ on the contrary did manifest
of you where your your fellow Ministers power of excommunication had been duetify as an obedient child in giving the rod of discipline into the hands of your reverend fathers alone and their substitutes Well Mr B. whomsoever the Lord Iesus meant by the Church Mat. 18. he never meant that the Archbishop of York the Archdeacon of Nottingham the Officiall of Southwel were the Church of Worksop and for this I vvill spare all Arguments and send you to your owne guilty conscience for conviction which as it condemns you in yourself which is also the case of many thowsands in the Land so do I earnestly wish both you and them to remember with fear and trembling the condemnation of him that is greater then your cōscience Ioh. 3. 20. So far are they from being the Church of Worksop as they are not so much as members of it nor of any other particular Church in the kingdome they are neyther the Pastours so called nor vnder the Pastors of any particular Church but with their tanscendent jurisdiction in their Provinciall and Diocesan Churches take their scope without orb or order and as clouds without rayn carryed about with the wind of ambition and covetousnes for the the greatest part To leave them and come to your reasons Mr B. by which you would prove that tell the Church is tell the governours But here behold the fruites of an vnstable mind This man in his former book laboured by many scriptures and reasons to lay downe the nature of the Churches government and in speciall to prove that the Church Math. 18. 17. to vvhich complaint of sinns was to be made was the cheif officers onely and this he affirmes also to be the iudgement and the practise of all reformed Churches But lo now in his second book he devoures the hallowed thing and labours vvithall his power to persvvade young divines seely country people as he speakes and as in truth they had need be both young and seely that are perswaded by him that the points of discipline and Church-government are not so apparant by the scriptures as that they can rightly iudge of them And to this end he brings in the variety of iudgements and contradictions of learned men some holding no government at all others that an externall government is to be had but of these some holding it alterable others constant and perpetuall and of these some to be in the Pope Cardinalls others in the body of the congregatiō some in the Presbytery with the peoples consent and others which he puts last as best and for which he brings sundry reasons referring the reader to the treatises written to that end in the Bishops his Lords And againe touching the punishment of offenders some he brings in holding excommunication but not suspension some holding both and some neyther And particularly for Math. 18. he musters in thick and threefold reasons and persons so reasoning and proving that the place and so of Lev. 19. 17. doth nothing at all concern discipline or ecclesiasticall censures but that Christs meaning there was onely to direct the Iewes how to carry things before the Synedrion in cases of bodily injury And thus he brings mens contrary opinions to darken the scriptures which are most playne like so many foul feet to trouble the pure fountaynes of living water that the thirsty may not drink of them And as a learned man in our age nation to discover the vanity of prognosticatours gathered together their contrary guesses of the wether and so presented them so this man to make the government of Christs Church as vncertayne as an Almanack sets together and so offers to the vvievv of the world the contrarieties of opinions concerning it Now if other men should take this course Mr B. doth in other points of religion and one lay down the differences that are about predestination the points depending vpon it some vtterly denying it others affirming it and of these some grounding it vpon Gods mere grace others vpō mans faith or workes foreseen an other about baptisme some denying it to all infants others ministring it to all others to such onely as are of Christian parents in a sort and others onely to them that are of beleeving parents at the least on the one side a third about the Lords supper in which point some hold transubstantiation others consubstantiation others onely a sacramentall vnion which some also will have merely rationall others reall also there could not be a playner way beaten for all Atheism to come into the world by nor a course devised by the Divell more pregnant to perswade the multitude that there were no certaynty nor soundnes in the scriptures But let God have the glorie of his truth and of the clearnes in it and let men bear the just blame and shame of their naturall blyndnes and in speciall let Christ have the honour of being as faythfull in his owne house as Moses was in his Maisters in setting orders and officers in it and let not vile flesh dare to flatter Princes and Prelates to mislead silly soules and to preach liberty and licentiousnes to the world make Christ Iesus an Idol King having a kingdome vpon earth without lawes or officers for the administring of it nor to make his redeemed Idoll subjects as whom it concerns little or nothing whether they be vnder Chrits lawes and officers or vnder Antichrists his professed adversary Now though I will not trouble my self and the reader about every stone that Mr. B. idely casts in the way yet such as may stumble the weakest passenger I will remove and so returne to my former task And in the first place I will answer certaine reasons in number six brought by Mr B. for the superiority of his Lord Bishops but those not backed with the scriptures as in other points when he thinks he speaks the truth his manner is The first is taken from the succession of Iames at Ierusalem of Peter at Antioch of Peter Paul at Rome of Mark at Alexandria I answer first that these were not Bishops set over certayn Churches here and there though vpon occasion they tarryed some good space in some certayne Churches but generall men Apostles and Evangelists without successours in their Offices so the Protestants do generally answer the Papists instancing them as you do now 2. I deny the very Apostles vsed any such Lordly and Papall authority as to exclude eyther the inferiour officers or people in Church affaires the contrary is most evident in the choice of officers Act. 1. 15. 23. 26. and 6. 1. 2. 3. 5. censuring of offenders 1 Cor. 5. and debating of other Church matters Act. 15. 2. 3. 4. 6. 7. 22. 23. 30. 21. 22. The 2. Argument is taken from 1 Cor. 12. 28. where say you three degrees are reckoned vp the first of Apostles the second of Prophets the third of Teachers But since the
vnder one part of the old testament or covenant of God namely the judicial law for the common wealth and not vnder an other part of it the ceremoniall law for the Church it cannot be that any such ordinance as excommunication could be vsed lawfully in the Iewish Church Yet do I not deny but that the lepers other persons legally vnclean were for a time debarred froÌ„ the coÌ„munioÌ„ of the Church and from all the sacrifices and services thereof but this inhibition say I was no way in the nature of an excommunication For first it was for ceremoniall vncleannes issues leprosy and the like which were not sinnes but punishments of sinnes at the most 2. It did not onely exclude men from the communion of the Church but of the common wealth also and the affaires thereof 3. It did not agree in the end with excommunication The end of excommunication is the repentance of the party excoÌ„municated 1 Cor. 5. 5. but the person legally vncleane whether he repented or no was to bear his shame till the date of his time were out yea to his dying day if his disease continued so long Lev. 12. 13. 14. Num. 5. 2. 3. 4. 12. 10. 14. 2 Chron. 26. 19. 20. 21. A type I confesse it was of excommunication as legall pollution was of morall sin whence I also conclude that the type and thing typed outwardly could not both stand together But here it vvilbe demaunded of me did not the Lord require in the Iewish Church true morall and spirituall holynes also God forbid I should run vpon that desperate rock of Anabaptistry The Lord was holy then as now and so would have his people be then holy as now Yea so jealous was the Lord over his people that he took order then as well as now that no sin should be suffered vnreformed no obstinate sinner vncut off Some sinnes were of that nature as he that committed them was by the law to dy the death without pardon or partialitie so to be cut off from the Lords people Lev. 20. And when other sinnes not of that nature were committed whether of ignorance or otherwise the party offending was to be told and admonished of his offence and so to manifest his repentance by the confefsâ—on of his sinne and professioÌ„ of his faith in the mediatour by offering his appointed sacrifice and so his sinne was forgiven him Lev. 4. 13. 14. 15. 20. 21 23 26. 27. 28. 35. 5. 1. 3. 4. 5. 6. 10. 19. 17. Num. 5. 6. 7. But now if there were with the least sinne joyned obstinacy or presumption the party so sinning was to be cut off from his people Num. 15. 30. 31. 32. 34. 36. Deut. 17. 12. and for this cause the Iewes were so oft admonished to destroy the workers of wickednes that there should be no wickednes amongst them that they should take away evil from Israel and from forth of the middest of them And vpon this ground doth David as the cheif Magistrate whom this busines cheifly concerned vow his service vnto God in this kind and that he would even betimes destroy all the wicked of the land that he might cut off the workers of iniquity from the city of the Lord though he afterwards fayled in the execution of this dutie And to the very same end did Asa the King with all the people enter a covenant of oath to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their hart and with all their soule and that whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be slaine whether be were small or great man or woman To end this point vpon which I have insisted something the longer for sundry purposes in their place to be manifested as the Lord vsually conveyed spirituall both blessings and curses vnto the Iewes vnder those which were bodily so here was the spirituall judgement of excommunication comprehended vnder this bodily judgement of death by which the party delinquent was wholy cut off visibly from the Lords covenant and people That which you adde of Cloes coÌ„plaint made to the cheif governour the Apostle is true but misapplyed You make an erroneous collection from it out of your owne lamentable experience Bycause your Church of Worxsop can reforme no abuse within it self but must complain to your Lords grace of York or his substitute therfore you imagine the Church of Corinth to have been in the same boÌ„dage wherein you are and Cloe to have complayned to Pauls court But it is playn Mr B. to them that do not shut their eyes and harden their hearts against the truth that the Church of Corinth was planted in the liberty of the gospell and had this power of Christ to reform abuses and to excommunicate offenders without sending to Paul from one part of the world to an other and that the Corinthians Ch. 5. are reproved for fayling in this duty And had Mr B. but taken this course in his writing that two of his leaves had hung together he might have spared this objection considering what he writ pag. 92. that the same persons have the power to preach administer the sacraments and excommunicate for that he meanes by government Now he cannot be ignorant that both the power and practise of preaching administring the sacraments were in the Church of Corinth in Pauls absence 1 Cor. 11. 20. 14. 1. c. And so by your own graunt the Church of Corinth had power to excommunicate though Paul were absent Wherevpon I also infer it was their sinne not to vse it Now for the practise of Cloes family wee know Paul was an Apostle and generall Officer and so intitled to the affaires in all the Churches in the world wherevpon Cloe complayned vnto him of such abuses in the Church as were both of publick nature and which the Church vvould not reform otherwise it had been both slaunder and solly to have complayned And what corne doth this winde shake Do wee make it vnlawfull for any member to informe the officers of publique enormities in the Church that they according to their places might see reformation of them Yea if the Pastor or other principall Officer of the Church were absent necessarily we doubt not but it were the duety of any brother or brethren in the like case to entreat their help for the direction reproofe and reformation of the Church for any publick enormities there done or suffered who might also judge and condemne the same themselves and for their parts exhorting and directing the whole Church in their publique meeting to do the like as Paul did Your three next Arguments to prove that tell the Church is tell the Officers are idle descants vpon the formes and phrases of speach scraped together to fill your book with First you affirm that Christ having spoken in the third person tell the Church when he comes to ratify the authoritie to be committed to his Apostles turnes his
speach to the 2. person not saying what it but what you shall bind and loose c. In so saying you give the cause though you presently eat vp your own graunt For you affirm that by the Church ver 17. is meant the whole body of which Christ speaks in the third person and what say wee more But where you adde that the authoritie is not given till the 18. vers and that then Christ turns his speach to his Apostles it is your own devised glosse For first it is evident that Christ establisheth the power of binding and loosing in the hands of the Church speaking in the 3. person v. 17. that so firmely as what brother soever refuseth to heare her voice is to be expelled from all religious cōmunion Vnto this the 18. v. is added partly for explanation and partly for confirmation For where as the party admonished might say with himself well if the Church disclaim mee I shall disclaym it if it condemn me I shall condemn it again the Lord doth here back the Churches censures for her incouragement and for the terrour of the refractary despising her voice and that vnder a contestation that what she bindes and looseth vpon earth namely after his will he also will bind and loose in heaven And for the change of persons in the 17. and 18 verses it is merely grammaticall and not naturall It is common with the Holy Ghost sometimes for elegancy sometimes for explication sometimes for further inforcement of the same thing to and vpon the same persons thus to vary the phrase of speach in the first second or third person grammatically as the reader may take a tast in these particulars Psal. 75. 1. Is. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. c. Math. 5. 10. 11. 12. c. and in this very Chapt. v. 7. 8. Rom. 6. 14. 15. 16. 8. 4. 5. 12. 13. c. Your 3. Reason that bycause Christ speakes of a few two or three gathered together therefore he meanes the officers of the Church and not all the body is of no force if the body consist but of two or three as it comes to passe where Churches are raysed in persecution as the most true Churches are Yet if Christ do speak of two or three officers of a Church gathered together in his name he speaks against you where all the power of the keyes over many 1000. Churches are in the hands of two Arch-Prelates and from them delegated and derived to their severall vnderlings But the truth is that gratious promise which Christ here layes downe for the comfort of all his saints you do engrosse into the hands of a few Elders You might aswel affirme that onely two or three officers gathered together have a promise to be heard in their prayers and not a communion of two or three brethren for Christ v. 19. 20. speakes principally and expressely of prayer though with reference to the binding and loosing of sin which as all other ordinances are sanctified by prayer The very scope of the place and reason of the speach is this The Lord Iesus had v 18. enfranchised the Church with a most excellent and honourable priveledge now the disciples did already see with their own eyes and were more fully taught by their Maister that the Church should arise from small and base beginnings and that it was also by reason of persequution subject to great dissipation Math. 7. 14. 10. 17. 18. 22. 23. 13. 31. 32. least therefore their harts should be discouraged and they or others driven into suspition that the Lord would any way neglect them or his promise towards them for their paucity and meannes he most gratiously prevents and frees them from that jealousy telles them and all others for their comfort that though the Church or assembly consist but of two or three as such beginnings the true Church of God had and have though your English Church begū with a kingdome in a day Act. 16. 14. 15. 17. 34. 19. 7. yet that should no way diminish their power or prejudice the accomplishment of his promise And the reason hath been formerly rendred bycause this power for binding loosing being given to the fayth of Peter depends not vpon the order of office multitude of people or dignity of person but merely vpon the word of God And hence is it that Christ thus gratiously descends even to two or three wheresoever assembled in his name yea though it be in a Cave or Den of the earth of which most gratious and necessary priveledge you would bereave them Now in your 4. Reason out of v. 19 you do most ignorantly erre in the grāmaticall construction for you make a change of the person agayne where there is no change at all Christ speakes onely in the third person as the originall makes it plaine though the English tongue do not so distinctly manifest it to an ignorant man Christ sayth not whatsoever you two shall agree of shal be given to them that is to the Church but whatsover two of you shall agree of or consent in they two that so agree shall obteyne it of God Which words Mr B. you do most vnsufferably pervert to the seducing of the ignorant as if Christ had sayd if two or three of you officers or you two or three officers shall agree together of a thing whatsoever they that is the Church shall desire namely of the Officers for so you expound the words it shal be givē them where it is most evident that they which are to agree vpon the thing they are to ask it and that of God who will give it them And where the scripture sayth that the brother offended speaking indefinitely of any brother and so of the Officers themselves must complayn to the Church M B. on the contrary as if he would even beard the Lord Iesus tells vs the Church must complayn to the Officers Your 5. Reason followes with many litle ones in the womb of it which you bring forth in order to prove that Christ speakes here figuratively and that by the Church he means the governours The first is It agrees with the practise of the Iewish Church frō whence it is held that the manner of governing in the Church is fetched And is this the necessary proof you speak of whatsoever is so held is so in truth And yet in your second book as hath been shewed you bring in sundry men holding contrary things as if contraries could be true Well I confesse it is so held and that by many with whom I would gladly consent if the scriptures taught me not to hold otherwise It had been good here the authour had shewed vs what the government of the Iewish Church was and not thus sleightily to have passed over things of this moment For the purpose in hand thus much The Church of the Iewes was a nationall Church the Lord separating vnto himself the whole natiō
froÌ„ all other nations to be his people and that he might be their God And as one of the Lords ordinances suits with an other and depends vpon an other so from this nationall Church doth necessarily arise a representative Church For where communion together in the holy things of God is an act and operation of the Church for the mutuall aedification of the parts and that it was impossible that the whole body of a nation should in the intire simple proper or personall parts members communicate togeither the Lord so ordered and disposed that that communion should be had and exercised after a manner and in a sort and that was by way of representation And to this end the Lord made choise of one speciall place in the land which he gave his people to possesse at the first alterable but afterwards constant and vnchangeable where he would haue his tabernacle pitched and his temple built where he would put his name and dwell and which he would honour above all places with his glory and presence There was also one onely tabernacle or temple one high Preist one altar vnto which the whole nationall Church had reference thither must they bring all their sacrifices tithes and offrings thither were causes hard and difficult to be brought that the people might be shewed the sentence of iudgement informed and taught the law by the Preists of the Levites There was the dayly sacrifice offred for the whole nationall Church morning and evening continually there the Lord appointed with the children of Israel sanctifying the place with his glory binding himself by his promise to dwell amongst them and to be their God There was the high Preist to cary graven vpon two onix stones as the stones of remembrance of the children of Israel put vpon the shoulders of the Ephâ—d the names of the children of Israel according to their tribes for a remembrance and againe the names of the children of Israel according to their twelve tribes iâ— twelve stones set vpon the breast plate of iudgement vpon his heart for a remembrance continually before the Lord. There was also set vpon the pure table of Shittim wood in the tabernacle twelve loaves of shew bread continually before the Lord according to the twelve tribes of Israel for a remembrance Now all these were ordinances representative in a Church representative and other Church representative amongst the Iewes I neyther know not acknowledge And the ground of this representation was the necessary absence of the people represented Necessary I call it whether we respect the ordinance of God inhibiting the peoples entrance into the place where the most of these representations were made or whether wee respect the impossibility of the whole nations ordinarie assembling and communicating together And herevpon it comes to passe that all other Churches since so framed and of such qualitie as that they cannot ordinarily assemble together keep communion haue also as their images or shadowes their Churches representative The catholik visible Ch of Rome hath her visible Ch representative the Popes CoÌ„sistory or Colledge of Cardinalls or the generall Council gathered by his authority The nationall Church of Engl hath her nationall Church representative the Convocation house as have also the Provinciall and Diocesan Churches their representations the Archbishops Bishops Consistories But as the bodyes of these Churches are monstrous devises of mens braynes there being no other Churches vnder the new testament but particular assemblies so are their shadowes the Churches representative mere devises of devises And to apply this nearer the purpose Since the Church now consisteth not of one nation severed from all other nations but of particular assemblies of faithfull people separated from all other assemblies which like so many distinct flockes do ordinarily heard together and so communicate in the word prayer sacraments censures and that where the Church grew sometimes greater by the suddayne and extraordinary conversion of more then could well so assemble then was there presently a dispersion of the former and a multiplication of more particular assemblies Act. 2. 41. 42. 8. 4. 5. 6. 9. 31. 14. 23. 27. 15. 22. 30. Rev. 1. 4. 11. this rases the foundation of all representative Churches as eyther politick devises or at the best praeposterous imitations of the Iewish Church and polity For as I have formerly sayd and common sense teacheth it the foundation of representation is the necessary absence of that which is represented whether person or thing And so since there is no necessity that the body of a particular Church should be absent but on the contrary a necessity that the same be present at and in all the publick administrations and actions of communion in the Churches holy things we do therefore disclaym as supersluous and feyned all representative Churches whatsoever Secondly if the outward form of Church government now be fetched from the Iewish Church then as in that representative Ch there was an high Preist set over the rest in whose person and administration the representation of the whole Church was most eminent so must there now be also in this representative Church one officer over the rest and as it were their high Preist And so the catholik representative Church of Rome hath an vniversall Bishop the Pope over it the Nationall Provinciall and Diocesan Churches representative Nationall Provinciall and Diocesan Bishops over them And so in all equitie should the Synodes and Praesbyteries accounting themselves properly Churches or bodies Ecclesiasticall have their Officers over them and so there should alwayes be one or more Ministers over the Church of Ministers and whose charge these Synodes and Presbyteries should be to be fed by them And the truth is this reason fetcht from the Iewish Church as it far better fitts the Praelates in England then the CoÌ„sistorians so fitts it the Papists better then eyther of them both for there is one Bishop over the catholick visible Church as they speak as there was one high Preist over the whole visible Ch then Adde vnto this that if the representative Church at Ierusalem be a pattern for a representative Church vnto vs then as there not onely hard causes were opened declared according to the law but also the sacrifices offred and most solemne services performed day by day without the presence of the body of the Church so now in this our representative Church consisting of the officers onely there must be not onely the vse of the keyes for admonitioÌ„ and excommunication but there must also be the preaching of the word and ministring of the sacraments which are our most solemn services whether the people be present or no. And to imagine a power of Christ in the Church of the officers for the vse of one solemne ordinance out of the communion of the body not for an other hath no ground from the Iewish Church Lastly to fetch the form of
govermeÌ„t for the Church now froÌ„ the Iewish Church were to revive the old testameÌ„t which so long since is abrogated and disanulled For to speak properly the old testament is nothing but that externall policy instituted by Moses in the Iudiciall ceremoniall law for the dispensation of the typicall kingdome and Preisthood of Christ shadowed out by that of Melchisedeck King and Preist repraesented by the administrations of Moses and Aaron and after continued in the Preisthood of the Levites kingdome of David his sonnes till Christ in the dispensation of those worldly and carnall ordinances Now as the judicialls which were for the government of the Congregation civily are dead and do not bind any civil polity save as they were of common equity so are the ceremonialls which were for the Ch polity deadly and may not be revived by any Church save as any of them have new life given by Christ. For though we now be made citizens of the common wealth of Israell and one body with them yet is that in respect of the everlasting covenant confirmed of God with Abraham through Christ. I wil be thy God and the God of thy seed four hundred and thirty yeares before the law was given or the polity and government of the lewish eyther church or common wealth in it established and as we are the sonnes and daughters of Abraham by faith but no way in respect of those Iewish ordinances in in the old testament or the order of dispensing them And yet if it were graunted which you would have that the Church governmeÌ„t now is to be patterned by the goverment of the Iewish church then it would nothing avayle you for the purpose in hand For the church officers the Preists and Levites vnto whom the charge of the whole Congregation for the service of the tabernacle did apperteyne had no authority by the order of their office to inflict any censure spiritually vpon the people as had the civil Magistrates to punish them bodily The Preists and Levites were onely to enterpret the law and in cases extraordinarily difficult to find out the estate of the person or thing and to shew what in such a case the law required and if you will say they gave judgement it was none otherwise then as a Physitian gives â—â—dgement of the body or state of his patient by his faculty or skill in his art but to sit vpon them formally in judgement ecclesiastically to punish them that they might not do neyther are they called in the scriptures judges as the civil Magistrates are Yea the scriptures do make a playne difference where the civil Elders are to sit and iudge the people but the Preists to stand before the Congregation and to minister vnto them Now before we passe over this busines in hand I deem it not amisse vpon this occasion to observe a few things by way of answer to a scripture vsually brought out for the foundation of these representative churches and their power and especially for these Nationall and Provinciall Synodes the like And the scripture is Act. 15. 1. There was no synode or assembly of the Officers of divers Churches but onely certayne messengers sent from the church of Antiochia to the Church of Ierusalem about the controversy there specified 2. Neyther the Church of Antioch which sent the messengers nor the church at Ierusalem whether they were sent was a representative church consisting of Officers much lesse of chief officers onely For first it is sayd ver 1. 2. that the brethren of Antiochia which Ch. 14. 17. are called the church and v. 28. the disciples and in this chapt v. 3. the church and v. 23. the brethren sent their messengers with Paul and Barnabas to Ierusalem and it will most evidently appeare by whom the message was sent if we consider to whom the answer was returned ver 30. where the messengers did not deliver the Epistle till they had assembled the multitude And 2. it is apparant that at Ierusalem not onely the cheif officers the Apostles yea and inferiour officers the Elders also met together about it and sent answer but the brethren with them v. 4. 12. 22. And these scriptures alone in this chapt are sufficient to chalendge the liberty of the brethren in the discussing of publique coÌ„troversies out of the hands of all officers whatsoever 3. Paul and Barnabas went not to Ierusalem eyther for authority or direction for being Apostles they had both equall immediate authority from Christ and equall infallible direction froÌ„ the holy Ghost with the rest of the Apostles Onely they went for countenance of the truth in respect of men and for the stopping the mouthes of such deceivers as pretended they were sent by the Apostles v. 24. 4. Their decrees were absolutely Apostolicall and divine scripture by infallible direction from the holy Ghost and so imposed vpon all other Churches of the Gentiles though they had â—o delegates there ver 23. 28. Ch. 16. 4. But it wil be sayd may not the officers of one or many Churches meet together to discusse consider of matters for the good of the Church or Churches and so be called a Church Synode or the like I deny it not so they infringe no order of Christ or liberty of the brethren they may so do and so be called in a sense but the quaestion now is about such a Church as is gathered for the publick administration of admonition excommunication other the like ordinances of Christ which Mr B. in his first book graunts must be done with the knowledge of the body of the Church and in the open assembly And here falls into handling certayn borrowed stuffe in Mr B. 2. book about this matter As first that Paul called the Elders of Ephesus and conferred with them without the people Act. 20. 27. which who denyes but they which set vp a Lord Bishop to rule alone without advising with eyther the inferiour Ministers or people But that which he addes in the next place hath almost as many errours as wordes in it and that is that the Elders sate in a CoÌ„sistory with Iames their Bishop at Ierusalem without the people and did decree a matter without asking their voice Act. 21. 18. First you erre in calling it a Consistory or juditiall Court for the justification of your own where it was onely an occasionall meeting for advise 2. in making Iames a Bishop whom Christ had made an Apostle The Elders were Bishops Act. 20. 17. 28. Phil. 1. 1. Tit. 1. â— 7. And so if you would haue held any proportion you should haue made Iames an Archbishop 3. that you make him their Bishop where Bishops or Overseers are set over the flock not over the Ministers Act. 20. 28. 4. And most ignorantly where you will have Iames the Elders to make a decree for Paul as if the Elders had authority over
the Apostles for that is the drift of your argument or one Apostle over an other or as if Paul were subject to Consistorian decrees It was onely a matter of advise that passed amongst them as all men may see An other observation Mr B. hath in this place as idle as the rest and that is that the Elders are superiour vnto the people bycause they are set before them Act. 15. 22. 23. where if the bould and incoÌ„siderate man had but read the 4. verse of the same Chapt he should have seen the people set before the Officers the very same alteration appeares ver 2. 12. so if his argument was of force two contraries might be true which is a repugnancy in nature Yet deny we not but the officers are above the Church in respect of the word and doctrine they minister and teach but we deny the order of Elders to be superiour to the order of saynts since it is not an order of Maystership but of service But I will from this place Mr B. if I be not much deceived take a better argument to prove the coÌ„trary to that you say namely that the Church is an order superiour vnto the officers And the reason is bycause the Churches have authority to send the officers as their messengers v. 2. 3. 22. 32. Now they that send are ever in that respect superiour vnto them that are sent That which you adde in the last place to wit that the Apostles Elders did acquaint the people with the matter who consented but had no authority to make the authority of the Apostles Elders nothing is drawn out of the same cask with the former In which speach there is imperfectioÌ„ coÌ„tradictioÌ„ ignorance Imperfection wher you give the people no further liberty then to consent to the matter being made acquainted with it For in that it is sayd ver 12. that the multitude kept silence when they had heard Iames speak truly sufficiently and that they held their peace v 13. when they heard Paul and Barnabas speak it shewes they had also liberty of speaking in the matter had they seen cause Contradictions you speak in affirming the people were to consent to the Elders yet in denying they could praejudice their power authority For howsoever this be true for the Apostles which were infallibly and immediately directed by the H. Ghost in their determinations vnto which all were bound absolutely to condiscend as are all the saynts at the last day to the judgement to be passed by Christ vpon the reprobate yet is it not so for the Elders ordinary then or now which may erre and be deceived And so where there is liberty of consenting conditionally and if men see cause there is also liberty of dissenting vpon the contrary occasion and so this dissent of the body must eyther hinder the action or els it is a mere mockery Ignorance it is in the last place to make equall the authority of the Apostles and Elders in this decree For the decree was merely Apostolicall to speak properly and framed by infallible direction of the Holy Ghost which the Elders in themselves considered had not as appeareth ver 28. and was and is in the right end and equitie of it a part of the canonicall scriptures in penning whereof the Elders had no hand and so is imposed vpon the Churches of the Gentiles every where ver 23. with whom the Elders of Ierusalem had nothing to do but onely the Apostles which were generall men so that neyther brethreÌ„ nor Elders did more then consent to the decree it self that necessarily as vnto a divine oracle These things thus ended I return to the Arguments in Mr Ber. first book to prove by the Ch to be meant the cheif Officers The second and third whereof being but needles boasts of his former doings I passe over The 4 is for order sake and to prevent confusion for that which is all mens is no mâ—ns wherevpon aryseth great carelesnes in seing vnto such things as are all mens in publique and by it pride yea therevpon contention ensueth Wee do stand for the order of Christ against the confusion of Antichrist in Babylon which is vncapable of all right order as we also enjoy the right disposition of things and persons in their places which is order And if you call it confusion in an assembly wherein all have equall power and voice in the determining of things some one or few going before the rest in guiding and directing them you do though you consider it not strike through our sides the highest and honourablest court or assembly in the whole land and which is the rule and fountayn of all the rest and that is the court of Parliament where all things passe by voices all or the most the proloquutor being onely chosen to propound and moderate actions which is also the order in generall councils and if I be not deceived in your representative Church of Engl your Convocation house Which order also is observed for the mayn determinations to be made in the priveledged cities corporations in the kingdom And what greater confusion is there like to be in the determining of other Church affaires by voyces then in the calling of ministers the order of whose election by the suffrages of the multitude guided by the officers was both established by the Apostles continued in the primitive Churches many hundred yeares Now the inconveniency of carelesnes in all where matters concerne all is a strange allegation Me thinks it should make all more carefull the matters especially being of conscience and the persons consionable whom they concern And I see not but you might as well say it makes all men careles of the knowledge of God and Christ and of salvation and of the scriptures bycause these things concern all And why do you not with the Papists deprive the multitude of the vse of the scriptures in the mother tongue that you the carefull Clergy alone might look vnto them But what though this inconveniency do arise sometimes through mans corruption it should be otherwise and wee must ever coÌ„sider of the nature of Gods ordinances in their right vse when men are exercised in them as they should be and not according to â—rayle mans aberration and abuse in and of the same and if men be sometimes careles of their duties we must not therefore deprive them of their rights And in this plea Mr Bernard me thinks you very naturally resemble the mighty oppressours in the world which vnder this very pretence do inclose all the commons of their poore neighbours for common things say they are commonly neglected they can make one aker of ground thus inclosed worth two in coÌ„mon But if the Lord denounce such heavy judgments against the inclosers of earthly things Is. 5. 8. 9. what wil be the end of those spirituall ingrossers and oppressours if they repent not And for pride and
contention as they and a thowsand worse evils could not but fall out in a Church gathered as yours is of all the prophane rable in a kingdome so when they do arise in a true Church there is power to voyd them out and the persons with them in whom they reigne But if the vnlawfulnes of a Church government might be proved by the pryde contention the like evils arising in it then surely M B. you that know so well how these and other mischeifs reign in your own should lay your hand on your mouth for shame and be affrayd to provoke any man to medle in that mattâ—â— Besides it is apparent both in the scriptures and ecclesiasticall writers that not onely pride and contention but herely and almost all other evils haue sprung from the officers governours in the Church And surely nothing hath more in former dayes advanced nor doth at this day more vphold the throne of Antichrist then the peoples discharging themselves of the care of publique affaires in the Church on the one side and the Preists and Prelates aâ—rogating all to themselves on the other side Lastly the word Church you say must be expounded figuratively to avoid the absurdâ—tâ—s which eâ—s would necessarily follow out of the text viz that the whole Church must speak ioyntly which were confusion contrary to 1 Cor. 14. 40. that women must medle in Church affaires which the Apostle forbids ver 34. that children must speak which were impossible so then it must needs â—e taken figuratively the part for the whole and if one part must be left out why not an other till the cheif of the Congregation be taken who are chosen by the rest as their mouth Touching the exception of confusion I desire the reader to remember what hath been formerly answered adding further that Mr B. herein doth not oppose vs but the Apostles and Apostolicall Churches governed by them yea the H. Ghost it self propounding their examples for our imitation The Apostle Peter Act. 1. 15. c. standing vp in the middest of the disciples which were about an hundred and twenty spake to them about the choise of one to succeed Iudas and it is sayd ver 23. that they that is these brethren to whom he spake presented two as also that the whole multitude Act. 6. 5. presented the seaven for Deacons to the twelve Apostles who are sayd v. 2. to haue called the multitude and to have spoken vnto them v. 6. to have prayed and layd hands on the elect Deacons Now might not any prophane spirit take vp M. B. words and insult over the holy Ghost himself and say what did all the disciples that were in the place an hundred and twenty present Ioseph and Mathias They must needs speak in presenting these two and spake they ioyntly or all at once this were confusion contrary to 1 Cor. 14. 14. did the women speak they must not medle in Church matters â— 34. did children speak it is impossible So for Act. 6. did all the twelve Apostles speak at once v. 2. and pray at once v. 6. did the whole multitude speak ioyntly when they presented the 7. Deaconâ— v. 6. here were the like confusion and besides here were women and children in the Church also Now let the indifferent reader judge what M. B. hath sayd more against vs then any Lucian or scoffing Atheist might obiect against the spirit of God himself and his holy pen-man the Evangelist Yea further by these and the like consequences women and children are vtterly excluded from the Church as no parts of it Luke sayth Act. 15. 22. that the whole Church sent messengers to Antiochia and Paul 1 Cor. 14. 23. speakes of the whole Churches comming together in one to exercise themselves in prayer prophesying and the like parts of Church communion but children neyther could send messengers nor pray nor prophesie nor the like and women might not speak in the Church and therefore both they must be left out of the Church and if one part why not an other so till we come to the cheif of the congregation that they alone may be the Church and all in all as it is iust with God that he which opposeth the truth should oppose himself also so doth Mr B. in this very place intaÌ„gle himself in the same absurdities wherin he would ensnare vs. First he affirms the Church Math. 1â— must be the principall of the congregation Then Mr B. is not your congregation the true Church of Christ for the principall of your Church namely your self hath no power to excommunicate And say not for shame the Archdeacon or officiall are principalls or lesse principalls of your congregation Again which is the cheif thing I desire may be observed you say these principalls must be chosen by the rest of the Church be their mouth and stand for the whole And how chosen must the whole Church speak joyntly when they chuse them that were confusion must women speak that is contrary to the scriptures Yet are they members of the congregation and so are young youthes childreÌ„ and servants I adde further the Church you say is two or three principall members Well then they two or three must speak to the party how can he els heare but for two or three to speak together is confusion and contrary to the coÌ„maundement 1 Cor. 14. 31. for all must speak by one one And by this time I hope you are ashamed of such tristing as here you vse I do therefore answer in few words it is not necessary that every one of the people should speak to the offender no nor of the officers neyther If but one officer do sufficiently evince and reprove the party what needs more speak The rest both Officers people may manifest their consent eyther by voice signe or silâ—nce yet so as liberty be preserved for any in place and order to speak eyther by way of addition limitation or dissent And for women they are debarred by their sâ—x as from ordinary prophecying so from any other dealing wherin they take authority over the man 1 Cor 14. 34. 35. 1 Tim. 2. 11. 12. yet not simply from speaking they may make profession of faith or confession of sin say Amen to the Churches prayers sing Psalmes vocally accuse a brother of sin witnes an accusation or defend themselves being accused yea in a case extraordinary namely where no man will I see not but a woman may reprove the Church rather then suffer it to go on in apparent wickednes and communicate with it therein Now for children and such as are not of yeares of discretion God and nature dispenseth with them as for not communicating in the Lords supper now so vnder the law for not offering sacrifices from which none of yeares were exempted neyther is there respect of persons with God in the common duties of Christianity And for that so oft reinforced objection of authority given to
had not excommunicated the incestuous person Bastingius in the 4. place quaestion 85. of his Catichism speaking of the difference between the two keyes that of preaching the other of discipline places it in this that the former which is of the preaching of the gospel is committed to the Ministers the other bycause it perteyns to the discipline of excommunication is permitted to the whole Church Lastly even Beza himself how streyt soever he be to the multitude in this case hardly graunting them the liberty which Mr B. yea which the very Iesuits do namely that they were with the Elders gathered together in the name of the Lord Iesus 1 Cor. 5. 4. yea do playnely deny it in his Annotations vpon 2 Cor. 2. 6. Yet vpon v. â— he is constreyned to affirm that Paul intreats that the incestuous person might by the publique consent of the Church be declared a brother as he was by the Churches publique consent cast out Now to these speciall lights in the reformed Churches abroad I will annex a few of the cheif endeavours of reformation at home The first of them is Mr Hooper who in his Apology writes that excoÌ„municatioÌ„ should be by the Bishop the whole Parish that Pauls consent the whole Church with him did excoÌ„municate the incestuous man To him adde Mr Fox whose judgement in the book of Martyrs pag. 5. 6. 7. is and so is inforced by him that writ the discovery of D. Banâ—r ofts vntruthes and slaunders against reformation that every visible Church or congregation hath the power of binding and loosing annexed to it If it be sayd the Church hath it if the Officers have it I see not but it may be as well sayd the Church hath the scriptures in a known tongue if the Officers so enjoy them Thirdly Mr Cartwright in his reply to D. Whitgifts answer pag. 147 both affirms and proves that Paul both vnderstanding and observing the rule of our Saviour Christ communicates this power of excommunication with the Church Him also an other writing A demonstration of discipline alledgeth adding further that they which were met togither 1 Cor. 5. 4. 5. were to excommunicate the incestuous person with whom also consorteth he that wrote of the certayn form of ecclesiasticall governmentâ— who vnder that head of the authority of the Ministers of the word that by the Church Math. 18. Christ meanes a particular Congregation the Pastor Elders people consenting making that the iudgement of the particular congregation which is spoken of 1 Cor. 5. 12. In the 4. place Mr Iacob in his book to the King for reformation pag. 28. pleads for the peoples consent and voyce-giving in elections excommunications to whom I ioyn them that made the Christian offer to iustify against the Bishops and their adhaerents that every ordinary assembly of the faithfull hath by Christs ordinance power in it self immediately vnder Christ to elect and ordeyn deprive and depose their Ministers and to exequute all other ecclesiasticall censures Proposition 5. Prop. 8 that the officers can do no materiall ecclesiasticall act without the free consent of the Congregation Lastly the godly Ministers in the end of Mr Bernards book do directly judge against him interpreting the Church Math. 18. to be a particular Congregation and excommunication the iudgement censure of that particular congregation whereof the offender is a member Thus have I been constreyned by the bold boasting and facing which this man vseth of and with the iudgement of all reformed Churchâ—â— to set downe the judgements of some few amongst many both at home and abroad for his conviction though I desire the touchstone of the holy scriptures alone may try all differences betwixt him and me I now return to Mr Bernard where I left him so come to two reasons he annexeth pag. 98. 99. to prove the officers to be called the Church the former is because it is an vsuall speach to put the name of the whole vpon the part and this to be taken for the whole The 2. bycause a company is no where called a Church in the new testament but where they have officers The latter of these I have formerly confuted as the reader may see pag. 126. 127. c. Onely I adde one thing vpon occasion of these words a Church in the new testament that as there is but one body or Church and we vnder the new testament that one or the same body or Church with the Iewes in the old so if the Ministery made the Church how much more if it were the Church could it not be that the Iewes and we should be one Church for I shall never be brought to beleeve nor I think will any man affirm it that the Ministery of an Apostle or Elder now is the same in nature with the Ministery of a sacrificing Levite vnder the law Wee are by faith sonnes and daughters of Abraham and partaker of the covenant and promises and by fayth grafted in their holy root and in this stands our onenes with them but neyther in the Ministery nor in the government nor in any other ordinance which are but manners of dispensing that covenant and those divers changeable where the covenant is nothing lesse And for the former of your reasons howsoever the place you bring Act. 15. 3. proves no such matter yet is the thing true you say namely that a part of the Church is sometimes called by the name of the whole but what part not the officers but the brethren the saynts as being the matter an essentiall cause of the Church the Elders not so as being but for the assistance and well being of it And so the Church gives both being and denomination to the Elders but not the Elders to the Church which is never called the Church of the Elders as they are called the Elders of the Church and so are of it and not it of them That which you adde of inconveniences and discommodities following vpon your doctrine not to be regarded is frivolous except by them you mean absurdities and inconsequences â—a alâ—gâ— in theologia as they call them and then they are to be regarded as never necessarily following vpon any truth for the truth brings forth no errour by true consequence The sixth Reason of the superiour order followeth for Mr B. hath his reasons and his vnder reasons which is In it self the multitude being ever vnconstant it is instability vnorderlynesse where every one is a like equall it is the nourse of confusion the mother of schisme the breeder of contention These very same things have been formerly objected by you in the fourth part of your 5. argument and there cleared The truth is the drawing of all power into the officers hands breeds in them pride and arrogancy and in the people ignorance and security And for your contemptuous vpbrayding of Gods people in this book with inconstancy
delinquent is freed froÌ„ the dint of the spirituall sword the ceÌ„sure of the Church which others do and so he should without that priveledge vndergoe as well as they Where me thinks it were more meet as that he which can read and so hath or may have greater knowledge should be the more severely punished civily so that the officers in the Church should vndergoe if it were to be found an heavier ceÌ„sure for their sinne as being both more scandalous and lesse excusable And so the Lord by Moses expresly manifests his will to be in enioyning the Preist a greater sacrifice a bullock for his sin where a goat which was lesse might serve in the like case for the suâ— of one of the people And this may well serve for a seventh reason to prove that the officers are by the law of God lyable to as deep censures for sin as the people and so the Pastour as any one of the brethren Yet for the further more full opening of the iniquity of those proud and popish exemptions and exaltations of Church officers whereof from these scriptures alledged by Mr B. and the like they boast so much and by which they affright and abuse the simple people in all places I will breifly as I can lay down certayn such different respects and relations vnder which the officers of the Church do come as being rightly vnderstood iustly applyed will give good light to the discovering of this mystery First then the officers of the Church are to be considered in respect of the thing which they minister and that is the word and revealed will of God in which regard they are infinitely above superiour vnto all men and angels and in the very stead of Christ and of God himself And in for and according to this message or ambassage of God and of Christ they are absolutely and simply to be obeyed as is the meanest officer about the King carrying with him his warrant and authority by the greatest Pere in the kingdome In the 2. place they must be considered of vs in respect of their office by vertue whereof they do administer And in this regard they are inferiour vnto the Church as being by it called to a place of ministery to serve the Church and not of Lordship to reign over it The 3. consideration they vndergoe is in regard of their persons and as they are brethren saynts christians for they cease not to be Christians bycause they are Ministers but must manifest their generall calling in their speciall partakers of the same coÌ„mon graces and subiect to the same common infirmities with the rest and in this respect they are equall with the brethren standing in need of the same meanes both for their edification and reformation and so particularly of the censures for their humiliation if they be so farre left of God as they may be and oft times are as they will not otherwise be reclaymed And I had as leiv you should tell me that bycause the Deacons are to distribute the Churches almes therfore the Church is not to releiv them though they be in daunger to starve bodily as that bycause the Elders are to minister the Churches judgmeÌ„ts none must iudge them though they be thorough impenitency in daunger to perish spiritually Now for the particulars which Mr B. obiecteth it is true the people are sheep but not the Ministers but the Lords sheep Ezech. 34. 6. 8 31. neyther are these sheep for the Ministers as the naturall sheep for their sheepheards but for the Lord and the sheepheards for them The people are indeed an house but not the officers house but the Lords house for him to dwell in Ephe. 2. 20. 21. 1 Tim. 3. 15. Secondly the people are sheep yet not vnreasonable beasts but men Ezech. 34. 31. so to be looked to by the sheepheards as they are also to look to themselves Act. 20. 28. Luk. 17. 3. They are so a house as they consist not of dead but of living stones 1 Pet. 2. 5. so built vp by the Officers as they are also to build vp themselves Iud. 20. And which is especially to be minded for the purpose in hand the officers are so sheepheards as they are also themselves sheep if they be not goates Math. 25. 37. Luk. 12. 32. Rom. 8. 36. They are so fathers as they are also brethren Mat. 23. 8. Act. 1. 16. 2 Cor. 8. â—â— yea as they are sonnes also in a sence as the Levite was in sundry respects both Michaes father and his sonne Iudg. 17. 1. 11. They are so workmen or builders as they are also part of the house Ephe. 2. 22. 2 Tim. 2. 20. so seeds-men as themselves are also seed and a part of the harvest Math. 13. 38. These distinctions rightly observed will both teach the officers how to govern and the people how to obey and both officers people how to preserve themselves and one another vnder the power of Christ given to his Church And where you demaund in this place by way of digression how a few of vs become a Church we answer in a word by coÌ„ming out of Babylon thorough the mercies of God and building our selves into a new and holy temple vnto the Lord. But where you affirm the Ministery that is the office of Ministery or the word so ministred to be the Lords onely ordinary meanes to plant Churches or to vrge men to ioyn vnto them you streyten the Lords hand and wrong his people When the woman of Samarta spake to her neighbours of Christ and called them vnto him they both beleeved and came but had you been amongst them it seemes you would have done neyther the one nor the other except a Minister had called you I confesse indeed the Churches in England were very manneâ—ly this way would not so much as forsake the Pope of Rome till their masse-priests went before them who being continued in their office did by the attractive power of King Edwards proclamation at the first and Queen Elizabeths afterward and by their statute lawes gather heir Parish Churches vnto them vnder their service book as 〈…〉 doth her chicken to be brooded vnder her wing But the â—â—formed Churches were otherwise gathered then by Popish preists continued over them the people first separating themselves from idolatry and foâ—oâ—â—ing together in the fellowship of the gospell were afterwards when they had sit men to call them into the office of Ministery and so they practised as appears in the Epistle of Melanctbon to the Teachers in Bohemia in D. Tileâ—us his answer to the Earle of Lavall and in Peter Martyr vpon the 4. of Iudges It is true indeed that the Lord Iesus sent forth his Apostles into the world for the first planting of Churches though even in their times Ch were planted men turned to the Lord by the preaching of private brethreÌ„ Act. 8. 1. 4. 11. 19. 20. 21. therefore
in ministring of their judgements And so I go on The rule prescribed Mat 18. concernes all the visible Churches in the world since the power of excommunication is an essentiall property one of the keyes of the kingdome the onely solemn ordinance in the Church for the humbling and saving of an obstinate offender and as necessary as the power to receive in members without which a Church cannot be gathered or consist And therefore the Officers cannot be the Church there spoken of since true Churches may and do want officers as I have formerly proved If two or three officers be the Church Math. 18. then may they two or three excommunicate the whole body though it consist of a thousand persons for what brother or brethren soever will not hear the Church there spoken of he or they are to be accounted as heathens and publicans Yea I ad if the power of excommunication be â—yed to the office since the office may remayn in one I see not but one may do any work of his office and so as well excommunicate as admonish preach minister the sacraments and the rest Now whether this power in one or two to punish judicially one or two thousand be not Lordly at the least let the reader judg Further if the officers be the Church I would know if one of them fall into scandalous sinne and will not be reclaymed what must then be done It wil be answered that the rest must censure him But what if there be but two in all must the one excommunicate the other the ruling Elder it may be the Pastour 2. if the rest of the Elders being many may displace the Pastour by their authority they may also place him and set him vp by their authority and so the poore laity is stript of all liberty or power of chusing their officers contrary both to the scriptures and your 〈…〉 oâ—ne graunt If the Officers be the Church then they alone may excoÌ„municate a brother without the consent yea or the privitie of any of the brethren for the busines concernes none but the Church Math. 18. neyther need they so much as acquaint any others with it But so absurd is this as you your self graunt the contrary and thaâ— it must be done with the knowledge of the Church publiquely and when the body meets together in open assembly The Apostles themselves whom no ministers now can equall eyther for skill or authoritie did not thus engrosse all things into their own hands but did interesse the people though raw newly come to the faith in all the publick affaires of the Church and in such deliberations as arose about them And who should deny them to meddle in those things which concerne them But if any do these scriptures avow their liberty Act. 1. 15. 23. 26. 6. 2. 5. 11. 2. 3. 18. 22. 1. 14. 17. 15. 3. 4. 14. 21. 22. 30. 31. 21. 22. Rom. 16. 17. 1 Cor. 5. 4. 16. 3. 2 Cor. 8. 19. 23. 24. Now there is nothing that more concernes the body of the Church then the excommunication of a brother whether wee respect the commaundement of God binding them not to suffer sin vpon a brother but to rebuke him plainly and to admonish him that being rebuked by many he may be humbled drawn to repentaÌ„ce or the credit of the Church which must be defended against the slaunders of the excommunicants which will ever be iust in their own cause or their own good that â—t by the rebuking of one all may learn to fear or their conscience who must to day avoid him as an heathen and lim of Satan whom yesterday they were to imbrace as a brother and member of Christ. How clearly these things plead the brethrens both liberty and interest in all this busines let the indifferent reader judge If the Officers alone be the Church to which offenders are to be brought and by which they are to be judged then are they as the Church to admonish and judge those offenders eyther apart from the body or in the face of the publique congregation but neyther of these two wayes and therefore they alone are not the Church Not in private or apart for Then may the Pastor be excomunicated before any one of the brethren know of it Of which evill I have spoken formerly 2. It is against the nature of the ordinance being a part of the publick communion of the Church and worship of God to be performed but publiquely Yea there is no reason why admonitions and censures should be administred lesse publiquely then doctrine and prayer For the kingdome of the Lord Iesus is as glorious as his preisthood or propheticall office and his throne is to be advanced as high and made as conspicuous to the eyes of all as his altar or pulpit that I may so speak Now as the Preistly and Propheticall offices of Christ are administred in prayer preaching so is his Kingly office in government In deed if wee thought as you do that Christ had left his kingdom the Church without lawes and officers for the government of it or that this government were an indifferent thing alterable at the willes and pleasures of men then wee should be as indifferent where or how or by whom it were administred as you Mr B are 3. The officers are to feed the flock one part whereof consists in government Now if admonitions and excommunications may be administred apart from the body how is the flock fed by them or how do those Elders vpon whom the government of the Church especially lyeth discharge their publique Ministery and service vnto the Lord and his Church to which they are called or how can the Church see and know their ministration that they may have them in super abundant love for their workes sake if there be cause or contrarywise if reason require the contrary or when they that sin are rebuked openly whether Elders or people how can the rest fear Yea how can these men which are to feed the flock by government be accounted faithfull sheepheards eyther before God or men if they gather not the flock together see they feed accordingly though with you Mr B. they that feed the flocks by government never so much as see the faces of the hundred part of their sheep and when they have a sheep in hand for straying it may be from a dumb sheepheard to a preacher they deal with him for the most part many a mile from but never in the place where the particular stock walkes whereof that sheep is Lastly the administration of Christs kingdom being a part of the communion of saynts and publique worship is to be performed of the Lords day as well as other parts are and to be joyned with the administration of the word sacraments almes and the rest as making all one entyre body of communion yea
of truth nor cause vs to forbear this most excellent and comfortable ordinance of the Lord Iesus wherein is to be seen and heard the variety and harmony of the graces of God for the aedifying of the Church v. 4. and gayning of the vnbeleevers v. 24. 25. That the Apostle in this Chapter directs the Church in the vse of extraordinary gifts is most evident neyther will I deny but that the officers are to guide and order this action of prophesying as all other publick buesinesses yea even these wherein the brethren have greatest liberty but that he also intends the establishing of so takes order and gives direction for an ordinary constant exercise in the Church even by men out of office I do manifest by these reasons First bycause the Apostle speaks of the manifestation of a gift or grace common to all persons as well brethren as ministers ordinary as extraordinary and that at all times which is love as also of such fruits and effects of that gaace as are no lesse coÌ„mon to all then the grace it self nor of lesse continuance in the Churches of Christ to wit of â—dification exhortation comfort v. 3. compared with 1 Thes. 5. 11. 14. Secondly verse 21. he permits all to prophesie and speaks as largely of prophesying as of learning and receiving comfort But now least any should object may women also prophesie the Apostle prevents that obiection and it may be reproves that disorder amongst the Corinthians ver 34. by a flat inhibition inioyning them expresly to keep silence in the Church in the presence of men to whom they ought to be subiect and to learn at home of their housbands v. 35. and not by teaching the mâ—â— to vsurp authority over them 1 Tim. 2. 11. 12. which the men in prophesying do lawfully vse Now this restreynt of women from prophecying or other speaking with authority in the Church both in this place to the Corinthians and in the other to Tim doth clear the two former obiections In that Paul forbids women he gives liberty to all men gifted accordingly opposing women to men sex to sex and not women to Officers which were frivolous And againe in restreyning women he shewes his meaning to be of ordinary not extraordinary prophesying for women immediately and extraordinarily and miraculously inspired might speak without restreynt Exo. 15. 20. Iudg. 4. 4. Luk. 2. 36. Act. 21. 17. 18. The Prophets here spoken of were not extraordinary bycause their doctrines were to be iudged by other Prophets and their spirits to be subiect vnto the spirits of others v. 29. 32. where the doctrines of the extraordinary Prophets were neyther subiect to nor to be iudged by any but they as the Apostles being immediately and infallibly inspired were the foundation vpon which the Church is built Iesus Christ himself being the cheif corner stone The Apostle vers 37. makes a Prophet and a man spirituall all one whom he further describes not by any extraordinary gift but by that common Christian grace of submission vnto the things he writes as the commaundements of the Lord. Vnto whom also ver 38. he opposeth a man wilfully ignorant teaching vs that he doth not measure a Prophet in this place eyther by the office of ministery or by any extraordinary propheticall gift but by the coÌ„mon christian gift of spirituall discerning It is the commaundement of the Lord by the Apostle that a Bishop must be apt to teach that such Elders or Bishops be called as are able to exhort with sound doctrine and to convince the gainsayers Now except men before they be in office may be permitted to manifest their gifts in doctrine and prayer which are the two mayn works requiring speciall qualification in the teaching Elders how shall the Church which is to chuse them take knowledge of their sufficiency that with faith and good conscience they may call them and submit vnto them for their guides If it be sayd that vpon such occasion triall may be taken of mens gifts I do answer first that mens gifts and abilities should be known in some measure before they be once thought on for officers and 2. that there is none other vse or tryall of those gifts but in prophesying for every thing in the Lords house is to be performed in some ordinance there is no thing throwen about the house or out of order in it and other ordinance in the Church save this of prophesying is there none wherein men out of office are to pray and teach which therefore they ought to covet v 39. and in it to be excercised and trayned vp that when officers want the Church may not need to set vp men as it were to play their prizes nor send them like school-boyes to be posed as your fashion in England is And that minister that is not called vpon the Churches experimentall knowledge of his sufficiency in these things comes not in by the dore which Christ hath opened nor may be accounted a true minister of Christ and his Church Lastly eyther men not yet in office being accordingly qualified may preach the truth of Christ or it is not possible that the people should be taught in lawfull manner eyther in nations vniversally heathenish or vniversally apostate vnder Antichrist before there be true Churches gathered by which the officers are to be chosen for as it is not very like that heathenish or antichristian preists will sincerely teach the truth neyther is it lawfull for them to administer or for any to joyn with them in their administrations by vertue of any heathenish or antichristian calling or ordination Rev. 14 9. 10. 11. 1 Tim. 5. 22. And howsoever the Church of England hath preferred a dumb masse and profane preisthood with a service-book before this ordinance yet the truth of Christ is otherwise and so the Church of Christ is taught to practise which you also Mr B might do well in modesty to acknowledge though you want liberty to vse it I haue insisted the longer vpoÌ„ this point both for it self and bycause it serveth effectually to prove the other point in hand For if the brethren have liberty in this ordinance of prophecy they haue also liberty in the other ordinance of excommunication for they are both of the same nature Look to whom Christ gave the one key of doctrine to them he gave the other key of discipline and they that may handle the one may have a finger vpoÌ„ the other they that may bynde loose by doctrine reproof comfort they may also bynde or loose by application of the same doctrine reproof or comfort to the person obstinate in sin oâ— penitent for it As the one of those doth necessarily establish the other so take away eyther and the other cannot stand And here I gather an other argument agaynst your exposition of Math 18. Lastly as the Elders principally to be imployed in teaching cannot
warrantably be chosen without good experience of their gift and faculty in prophesy and prayer so neyther can they which are cheifly to be imployed in government with good conscience of the Church be called to that ministration except they also have given and the Church taken good proof of their ability and simplicity in the discussing and debating carrying and contriving of Church affaires as also in admonition exhortation and comfort publiquely occasioned and so manifested And a very presumptuous sin it is in any Church to chuse an officer not thus trayned vp and tryed Wherevpon I conclude that brethren though not in officer have not their hands tyed from medling in the affaires of the Church especially the censures but are bound in their places to see to and assist in the reformation of publique scandalls and therefore are part of the Church to which an offender is to be complayned of for onely they are bound to see reformation of the evill to whom the complaint is to be made where Christ sayth Tell the Church It now remaynes we come to the other scripture which Mr B. turns so lightly over viz. 1 Cor. 5. which that wee may aright vnderstand for the present purpose two things must be considred the one whereof is what the Apostles scope is and what he intends in that Chap and the other what persons he interesseth in the busines about which he deales The Praelates with their obedient clergy do coÌ„stantly affirm that the Apostle there reprooves the Corinthiâ—ns for not complayning to him of the incestuous person that he might haue censured him and that he commaunds them being now judged by him as having the sole authority in his hands to exequute his sentence vpon him and this exposition Mr Bern. laboureth to confirm pag. 92. 94. 98. Wee on the contrary affirm that the Apostle in that scripture reproveth the Church of Corinth or them to whom he writes for suffring as they did that wicked man uncast out and that he now wills them to discharge that duty wherein they had formerly fayled in excommunicating him to which he also gives his consent going before them as his duty was in judging and withall avouching his presence in spirit that is in will and consent since he could not be bodily present with them And that this is the Apostles meaning it is much that any man reading the chapter with an honest heart should deny The arguments of proof are manifest in the particulars 1. They ought with sorrow to have put him out v. 2. 13. 2. They were gathered together in the name of the Lord Iesus and were by the power of the Lord Iesus to deliver the offender to Satan for his humbling that is to cast him out of the Church into the world where Satan reignes v. 4. 5. 3. A little leven leveneth the whole lump v. 6. wherevpon the Apostle alluding to the ancient custome of putting leven out of the houses when the Passeover was eaten bids the Church purge out the old leven that is the incestuous man that they might be a new lump v. 7. shewing therein that they were sowred become an old lump in not purging him out els what need they do any thing to become new But here sundry things are objected by Mr Bernard As first that a man may be where leven is and yet not be levened if he take not leven If by taking leven he mean enclyning or falling into the same sin it is idle to imagine that the whole Church was in any such daunger of incest Where 2. he addes that a man reproving the offender complayning of him and seeking as he may in his place reformation as Cloe did is not levened he colours with a few good words many fowl errours First that Cloe complayned of the incestuous man which was not so she coÌ„playned of the contentions amongst the Corinthians but that of the incestuous persoÌ„ was rather brought to Paul by common fame then otherwise 1 Cor. 5. 1. 2 That it is sufficient for the people yea or the Ministers eyther to reprove an offender so to complayn to the Bishops court of him 3. That a man is discharged if he seek reformation as he may in his place whereas it is first required a man have such a place or be in such a-Church as is capable of Gods ordinances and wherein he may vse the meanes for reformation which Christ hath left other wise his very place and standing is not of God nor may be by him continued Laâ—tly where he sayth that the incestuous man had not levened the Corinthians bycause Paul sayth ye are vnlevened v. 7. it is an ill collection For they were unlevened or sweet bread in their persons that is sanctified by the spirit but sowred or levened in the lump of communion by suffering that wicked man vncensured and the Apostles desire is that that wicked man might be cast out of the society that as they were severally pure or in their persons so the whole Church together or masse might be pure which before was polluted with his contagion 4. The Corinthians had formerly been taught by Paul not to coÌ„pany or be coÌ„mingled with fornicators covetous persons c that is according to the drift of the whole Chapter to cast them out and so haue neyther spirituall nor civil familiarity with them ver 9. here he reproves them for fayling in that duty 5. They to whom Paul writ were to judg them that were within are charged to use that power in putting away froÌ„ among themselves thaâ— wicked man v 12. 13. And thus the evidence for the first point is clear that they to whom Paul writ which were to be gathered together were to be gathered into the name of Christ by his power to bynde or deliver to Satan the offender as Math 18 18 19 20. were to purge out the old leven not to be commingled with the ungodly to judge them that were within to put away from among themselves the obstinately wicked And it is most untruly unconscionably affirmed by this man Pag 92. as I haue formerly observed that all that can be gathered from this place is that the censures are to be executed with the publick knowledge of them that are gathered together Now the 2. consideration is who those persons are thus to be gathered together upon whose shoulders the Apostle layes this duty of delivering to Satan purging but puting away judging this wicked man And for this I need no more then M B own confession in the place before named pag 92. where he expresly affirmeth that by them that there meet together is meant the body of the Church And though he and all the world should deny it yet would the truth of God stand which I thus manifest 1. They among whom the fornicatour was out of the middest of whom he was to be put which were puffed vp when they had rather cause of
sorowing to them the Apostle writes them he reproves they were to be gathered together for the excommunicating purging out judging the offender v. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. And therefore the duety here enjoyned as well concorns the brethren as the officers except we will say the fornicatour was onely among and in the middest of the officers to put from amongst them and left amongst the people still and that the officers onely were puffed vp when they should have sorrowed and not the brethren with them 2. It concerned the people as well as the Preists in the type shadow to put away leven out of their houses to keep the Passeover with unlevened bread and so in the truth and substance to purge and put out this leven Paul speaks of namely the incestuous person v. 7 8. 3. The Apostle admonisheth them that were not to be commingled with fornicators nor to eat with them v. 9. 10. 11. this duety I hope as well concerned the brethren as the officers 4. They with whom Paul deals are commaunded to put the wicked man from among themselves v 13. so that the same persons froÌ„ among whom he is to be put are to put him away which are both officers people And so I conclude that the rule praescribed by Christ Math 18. the practise of the same rule coÌ„mended by Paul 1. Cor. 5. do severally joyntly couple combine together the Elders people in th 〈…〉 ing of an offender the officers going before the brethren 〈…〉 ng in their order the women lastly by silent coÌ„sent wherin the scriptures distinguish them from the men 1 Cor 14. 14. 1 Tim 2. 12. To these things I will adde in the last place the consideration of a scripture to wit a Cor 2. 6. which M. B many others with him think of force sufficient to dash in peices all that hath been or can be spoken for the brethrens liberty right in the fore-handled busines But as I have formerly answered the objections forced from this scripture agaynst the truth I hold so will I here set down one Argument or two very pregnant except I be deceived for the confirmation of it from the same scripture the context thereof 1. They whom the Apostle by his letter made sorry for their fayling in the casting out of the incestuous man and that with a sorrow to repentaunce manifesting it self with great indignation zeale they were â—â— reprove and censure him and so did to his reformation and their own clearing which that it was not the case of the officers alone but of the brethren with them appeares in these scriptures 1 Cor. 5. 1. 2. with 2 Cor. 2. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 2. Paul writes not onely to the officers but to the brethren as well as to them to forgive or loose to comfort confirm their love toward the same person vpon his repentance 2 Cor. 2 7. 8. therein plainly witnessing that the brethren as well as the officers had bound rebuked and manifested their indignation against the sin and the person for it Now this point in hand I will conclude with the observation of a practise yet continued in use in the Church of England which is that persons excommunicated for notorious sinns before they be absolved are to do their pennance as they call it in the parrish Churches wherof they are and there to ask the whole Church forgivenes Now I would know of you Mr B. whether the church have power to forgive the parties sin as men can forgive sin yea or no If you say no you discover the shame of your Church thus prophanely to take in vayn the name of God and to make a mock of Christ ordinances if you answer affirmatively then you graunt the power of Christ to forgive to loose sinns so consequently to reteyn and binde them to be in the body of the Church for which I contend The truth is there is no such power in the parish assemblies as now they stand they can neyther bind the sinner nor reâ—â—yn his sin be he to theÌ„ never so impenitent or loose him and his sin seem his repentance vnto them never so full and vnfeighned these knots are to be tyed and loosed onely by the Chauncelours or Officials singers this power have they enclosed with hedge and ditch and as things are judged at their tribunal so must the captived Church take them and will it nill it receive or refuse the party accordingly The Prelates and their substitutes have seazed the substance and kernel as it were into their hands â—aving the poore people onely the shell and shadow to feed vpon And yet this very formall shadow stil remayning in the Apostate asseÌ„blies i◠〈◊〉 to bewray how substaÌ„tiall a power the Churches of Christ were possessed of in their constitution This shell that remaynes shewes where the 〈…〉 hath been And as in this so is it in sundry other paints When the Bishop ordeynes a Minister he bids him 〈…〉 pel though he have been his porter be known vnable to read sensibly he vseth also thâ—sâ— words tâ—ke thou authority 〈…〉 though it may be he is an 〈…〉 dred milâ—â— off but never in thâ— place wherein he is to minister he gives him charge also to monster the 〈◊〉 of Christâ— as the Lord hath commanded though he be but the Bishops mans man to exequute his iudgements which formes of speach notwithstanding serue to shew what the Ministers ought to dâ—â— and where and by whose election they ought to be appointed though in truth they do or be nothing lesse And â—hâ—â— God by his providence continueth vnworn out in the degenerate assemblyes such steps and sâ—adles as may serve to shame them by shewing vnto all that will see how where things have stood by Christs appointment in his Church which do also very well consort with the disposition of Antichrist whose property is vnder a formall flourish for Christ to fight against him in his truth and ordinances Our â— reckoned errour is That the sin of one mâ—n publiquely and obstinately stood in being not reformed nor the offender cast out doth so pollute the whâ—le congregation that none may coÌ„municate with the same in any of the holy things of God though it be a Church rightly constituted till the party be excommunicated This Position thus set downe I deny with Mr Ainsworth though with him and Mr Smyth I do vndertake the confirmation of that truth which in his refutation Mr B goes about to impugne And that is that the whole communion in the Church of England is so polluted with prophane and scandalous persons as that even in this respect alone were there none other there were just cause of separation from it And to this purpose I will lay down a ground vpon which I do build whatsoever I speak in this point which I intreat the reader hâ—re and
them and therefore reproved neyther is it materiall if the scriptures do not expresly tax the whole Church for connivency every time they rebuked some persons in it It is sufficient they do it in some places and in some Churches there is the same reason of all neither hath one Church priviledge above an other or for one sin more then an other And this also may serve for answer to the 2. 3. of your twenty Reasons in your 2. book Onely you must take knowledg of your grosse oversight in the latter reason where the question being of the true matter of the Church you bring in Noah in the old world Lâ—t in Sodom vnpolluted as though the world and Sodom had been true matter of the Church Noah and Lot of the same religious communion with them The like ignorance you shew in the 8. Reason where you demaund why the fellowship in civil society should not be polluted as well as religious communion As though you had never read that the vnbeleeving husband is sanctified to the beleeving wife for civil society which is no way dissolved no not though the one party be a Turk Iew or Atheist And do you think Mr B. that religious communion may be held with such without pollution In the next scripture which is Gal. 5. 10. the Apostle no way acquites the Church of transgression but speaks vnder hope of their repentance which they were to manifest by avoyding cutting off such as had troubled and seduâ—ed them Gal. 1. 8. 9. and 5. 12. In Mat. 5. 24. 25. Christ commaunds that before a man offer his gift he reconcile himself vnto his brother True but where hatred is there is no holy reconciliation and where brotherly admonition is not and that to the reformation of the brother offending there is hatred as is manifest Lev. 19. 17. And if you would improve to the right vse this scripture it would drive you and others from your Corban till you had discharged the dutyes of mercy to your brethren which the Lord accepts above sacrifice Touching 1 Cor. 11. which is the next scripture I will speak something more largely bycause Mr B. thinks it most pregnant for the decyding of the controversy for that the Apostle speaking purposely of the pollution of the sacrament bids every man examine himself and not one an other and that vnder peyn of eating damnation to himself and not to an other if he come not reverently notwithstaÌ„ding there was much evil in the Church And is it so in deed that bycause men must examine themselves therefore not others what warrant then have you for your Eastershrift your examining the people before they communicate You I hope are to examine your self as well as others And might not your people tell you out of your own book that you have nought to do to examine them Might not the meanest of them say vnto you examine your self if I eat and drink vnworthily it shal be myne own damnation not yours Yea might not any vngodly person thus answer eyther officer or brother that should reprove him eyther publikly or privately This indeed is the common fashion in the Church of England and nothing more common and it is a received rule that every man shall answer for himself and every tub stand vpon his own bottom and brotherly admonition is accounted by the most but a precise curiosity of busy-headed people And in this you confirm them by your collection teaching the offenders to pull away the shoulder and to stop the â—are that they might not heare to make the hart hard as an adamant stone You do then erre Mr Bern. in expounding 1 Cor. 11. 18. exclusively It doth not follow that because I am bound to examine my self therefore not my brother that is not to observe him admonish him bring him to repentance for apparant sinne for of such an examination we onely speak leaving to a mans self the examination of the hart and of things secret You may as well argue thus We are to save our selves Act. 2. 40. to speak vnto our selves in psalmes c. Ephe. 5. 19. to teach and admonish our selves Col. 3. 16. to comfort our selves 1 SaÌ„ 30. 6. to edify our selves Iud. 20. and therefore neyther to save nor to speak to nor to teach nor to admonish nor to comfort nor to aedify others which is contrary to these amongst many other scriptures Iud. 23. 1 Thes. 4. 18. 5. 11. 14. Furthermore you your self pag. 120. of this book make and that truely the Lords supper a testimony of that visible communion of love amongst the members Except then there be that love which is there testifyed the Lords ordinance is prophaned and his name taken in vayn Now where admonitions are not for the purging gayning humbling and saving of the the offender Mat. 18. 15. 1 Cor. â— 5. 2. 6. 7. there is not true love but hatred Levit. 19. 17. And that true spirituall love required in the members of Christs body should be betwixt the servants of God notorious prophane persons eyther way passeth both myne vnderstanding affections And to conclude this point I would but desire you Mr B. to read the marginall note given in your authorized Bible printed at London 1603. vpon the 31. verse of this Chapter And thus you see how pregnant this scripture is to decyde the contreversie and to determine against you that except reformation of sinne be orderly sought and seasonably obteyned there can be no right or lawfull communion in the Lords supper And Paul in writing as he doth provokes as every man specially to look to himself so the whole Church together to see the reformation of the disorders amongst them ver 17. 18. 33. 34. Lastly for 2 Cor. 12. 11. it must be considered that the case was depending and in hand concerning such as had sinned and not repented and as the issue of things should be so were the godly to carry themselves towards them if they would be drawn to repentance by admonition they were to forgive them as 2 Cor. 2. 7. if not the Church was bound to judge and cut them of whether Paul came or no. 1 Cor. 5. 11. 12. 13. Wherein if they fayled God would punish their carnall security and want of zeal as he threatneth Rev. 3. 14. 16. 19. To proceed where you affirm that our position insinuates that the sinne of one dissolves the bâ—nd of alleageance between God and another it it is no thing so The sin and apostasie of others can no way hinder or praejudice our salvation or standing with God if wee discharge our duty towards them But here is the oversight that men coÌ„sider not that as God hath commaunded men to worship him receive the sacraments and to vse other his ordinances so he hath also called and separated vnto himself a Church a communion or fellowship of saynts and holy ones in amongst
which those holy things are to be vsed Psal. 147 19. Rom. 3. 2. 9. 4. and that we are as well to look in what fellowship and communion we receive the holy things of God as what the things are we do receive And as in the naturall body there must first be a naturall vnion of the parts with the head and one with an other before there can be any action of naturall communion eyther between the head and the members or one member and an other so in this spirituall body the Church the members must first be vnited with Christ the head and become one with him before they can any way partake in his benefits oâ— haue communion with him eyther in the merits or vertue of his death and obedience Ioh. 15. 2. 4. 5. Rom. 8. 1. as also one with an other as members of the same body vnder him the head before they can communicate in their works or operations Communion in works and actions doth necessarily presuppose vnion of persons And if it be true which Mr B. labours so much to justify both in his former and latter writing that a man is onely to look to his own person that it be holy and to the thing in hand that it be commaunded of God and that it matters not to how vnholy a society this holy person adjoynes himself in the communion of this holy thing then may â—e lawfully repute and acknowledge an assembly of atheists haeretiques and idolaters though as the assembly gathered Mark 5. 9. usurping the holy things of God for the temple of the living God and for his sonnes and daughterâ— among whom he doth dwell and walk there There may he call upon God as their common father and say with faith as Christ hath taught his discipls our father there may he have coÌ„munion in the body and blood of Christ as with the members of Christ. But the Lord Iesus in teaching his Church with one hart and voice to say our father hath established an other brotherhood in giving his body and blood to be eaten and drunken of all in communion hath knit in one an other society The Apostle writing vnto the Church of Corinth compares the whole Church to a mans body and the persons in the one to the members of the other viz to the head foot â—y ear hand and other parts and endeavouring purposely to draw them to the right vse of those spirituall gifts wherewith they abounded without contempt or envie he shewes that all have need and vse each of others the head of the foot the hand of the ey and so mutually one of an other and that without the help ech of other neyther could consist Now since every part stands need of other even the head the cheifest of the feet the meanest doth it not concern the head to consider what a foot it hath the ey to see what an hand it hath and so every member to forecast that it be coupled with such other members in this body mysticall as may not fayl it in the time of need Wo be to him that is alone sayth the wise man for if he fall there is not a second to lift him vp but if two be together the one will lift vp his fellow if he fall And how behoofull both for the comfort and safety of the severall members and whole body it is that joyntly and severally all and every part be so fitted and furnished as they may faithfully discharge their duties and affoard their service vpon occasion and as need stands and how great not onely the discomfort but the daunger is when there is a fayling this way both the word of God and coÌ„mon reason and every mans own experience will teach him Wherevpon I conclude that it concernes every man as first and most to look to his own person and to consider how things stand betwixt God and himself so in the next place to take heed he joyn himself in such a communion as wherein he may with comfort call vpon God as a coÌ„mon father and partake in his ordinances by a coÌ„mon right to him the rest that being so joyned he fayl not the body or any member of it as there is need of his help service otherwise Mr B. reasons will not bear him out no not though for scores he put hundreds which being compared with the scriptures and grounds from them formerly layd down will appear to be the very froath of his own lipps neyther solid nor savoury Next Mr B. reduceth to certayn heads such places of scripture as forewarn Gods people to separate themselves and that first vnder the law as 1. from Idols of false Gods as Israel from Aegyptian Babylonish or heathenish Gods and Idolaters dwelling about them 2. From Idols of the true God as Iudah from Israell in Ieroboams time and after 3. From persons ceremonially polluted In the time of the gospell 1. From Iewes not receiving Christ but rayling against him 2. From Gentiles without Christ. 3. From Antichrist vnder the shew of Christ persecuting Christians 4. From familiarity private with men excommunicate or of lewd life c. which places you say no way concern you at all and so you give a very ample testimony of your selves if we durst beleeve your words against our own knowledge Your first head I let passe and in answer vnto your second affirm thus much that in your constitution you are partly as the Aegyptians in respect of your bondage partly as the Babylonians in respect of your confusion and partly as Ieroboams Church in respect of your Apostacy in your devised preisthood sacrifices and holy dayes the Lord having appointed no such Ministery as your preisthood no such sacrifice as your service book no such holy dayes as your single and double feasts which you have forged of your own harts Touching separation from persons ceremonially polluted it must be coÌ„sidered that ceremonies have their signification and shadowes their substance The ceremony then was that whosoever touched a dead person or a person or thing unclean was vnclean whom or whatsoever the vnclean persoÌ„touched that person or thing was vnclean so that a persoÌ„ vnclean did not onely pollute the thing he touched to himself as Mr B. vvould haue it but to others also whosoever touched the thing that he touched was polluted by it What is then the substance of these ceremonies Who is now a leper but he which hath the leprosy of sinne arysing in his forehead Who hath an issue of blood vpon him but he in whose soul and body the issue of sinne runneth vnstopped Who is the dead person now that may not be touched without pollution but he that is dead in trespasses and in sinnes And who toucheth such an vnclean person if he that becomes and remaynes one body with him by spirituall communion and a member of him touch him not RoÌ„ 12. 4. 5.
as appeareth in that it appointeth one set service in so many words to be sayd by all and every Minister to all and every parish person in it It appoints one set form of words wherein all persons without exception must be maryed all women without exception after child-bearing purified all children born in the kingdom baptized all sick persons visited and all dead persons buryed without exception How shall we then sever you in the things wherein you joyn your selves or put a difference where your selves put none And where further as loath to let fall the plea of the wicked you do adde that God called Israell his people after defection and their children in respect of circumcision his children Ezech. 16. 21. 22. I answer first that the Lord did not call them his children in respect of circumcision for the Scechemitcs were circumcised and yet were not Gods people not their children his children and 2. that the Prophet speaks of the first born which by right did in a speciall manner apperteyn to the Lord Exod. 13. 2. though he were most injuriously defrauded of his due Where you proceed and say that some in the Acts 19. 2. which were ignorant of the holy Ghost were called beleevers that is too grossely applyed to the ordinary gifts of the holy Ghost which is meant of such extraordinary visible giftes as wherewith God did for a time beautify the Church which these persons also there spoken of did afterwards receive by imposition of hands by Paul vers 6. For the Churches of Corinth and Pergamus with whose corruptions as with a buckler you would cover your selves it must be remembred that they and every person in them were in their coÌ„stitution separated by voluntary profession into covenaunt with the Lord and did with their covenant receive power and charge to reform such evills as might break out amongst them which if they neglected they brake covenant with God and so forfeyted on their part both their covenant and power provoking the Lord if they repented not to break with them shortly to remove their candlestick out of his place That which you adde the last and in deed the worst of all the rest is that the Church of Christ is set out even by the naming that is by the profession of the name Iesus Christ. Rom. 15. 20. But the Apostle intends no such matter but onely to magnify his Apostleship by this amongst other the notes of it that he had preached the gospell where before there had been no sound of it And if the naming of Iesus Christ set out a Church then are the Papists besides other haeretiques a true Church for they name Iesus Christ as oft as you and with as many courtesies But things are best discerned in their particulars and to them you discend saying that that congregation which is false hath a false head false matter false form and false properties which say you cannot be avouched against our congregations And what if but some of these be false and not all To make a thing true must concurre all the essentiall parts and properties but to make it false there needs not be all false some few will do it For the particulars You haue no false head bycause you hold Iesus Christ and worship no other God but the Trinity in vnitie The Papists also worship the Trinity in vnity and in word and in the generall confesse Christ their head and you in deed and in the particulars many of them do deny his headship Christ is the head onely of his body Col. â— 17. But the body of Christ consists not of the lims of Sathan of which your nationall Church was for the most part gathered compact after the generall apostasie of Antichrist and of such it consists at this day except you will deny that they are the lims of Sathan the eyes of whose minds he blâ—ndeth that the light of the gospel should not shine in them which do the lusts of the divell and are his children which commit sin which persequute the godly and cast in prison the servants of Christ. Now tell me not Mr Bern. of the wicked persons in the Churches of Corinth Thiatyra and the rest for these Churches were not gathered of any such outwardly and so appearing it is blasphemy against the Apostles so to affirm and if any appearing such were afterwards suffred it was a â—anker in the Churches which in tyme ate out the harts of them As therefore the Papists make the Church a monstrous body in setting two heads over it Christ the Pope so do you make Christ a monstrous head in vniting vnto him meÌ„bers of so contrary a nature And let the prophane world make as small account of it as they list it is certayn no false doctrine haeresy or Idolatry can more eyther displease or dishonour God and his Christ then wretched men in word professing his truth and name and in deed denying both him and them Further you have not Christ the head of your Church in the administration of his propheticall preistly and kingly office which I will onely point at referring the reader to such other treatises as do more fully confirm these things in speciall to Mr Ainsworth his arguments disproving the present estate constitution of the Church of England against which his playn proofs your idle exceptions Mr Ber. wil be as easily answered as read First then your Church admitteth not of the ordinance of prophesying or teaching out of office Rom. 12. 6. 7. which as I have formerly proved to be a perpetuall ordinance for the Church so how profitable it is both for the edification of them within and conversion of them without we find by experience and the scriptures declare 1 Cor. 14. 3. 24. 25. 2. You silence the Lord Iesus in your Church from revealing the whole will of his father A part of his word is vtterly excluded by your calender may not so much as be read in your Church but is justled out by the Apocrypha writings a greater part even the most of that which concerns the true gathering and governing of the visible Church though it may be read yet may it not be faithfully taught much lesse obediently practised notwithstanding any charge of the Prophets Apostles Christ himself Deu. 29. 29. Math. 28. 19. 20. Rom. 16. 25. 26. 2 Tim. 3. 16. 17. so that though you haue the whole will of God in your books as Papists haue yet in respect of the doctrine and obedience of a great part of it the book is sealed vp and may not be opened And to make vp the measure you have in stead of the canonicall scriptures of the holy Ghost mens Apocrypha scriptures the books of homilies and that of common prayers your popish canons and constitutions which are as well the doctrine of your Church as the canons of the
Church though cast out for notorious wickednes for many of them hold these mayn truthes and many more yea more then Mr B. himself doth Then is the true matter of the world and lims of the Divell for such are all wicked persons whatsoever truth they professe Ioh. 8. 44. and 15. 19. Rom. 6. 16 2 Tim. 2. 26. 1 Ioh. 3. 8. 12. true matter and members of the Church They that are Christs have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts of â—â— Gal. 5. 24. therfore persons visibly wicked are not visibly Christs and so not visibly or in respect of men true matter of the Church or members of his body That which destroyes the Church makes it become eyther a false Church or no Church at all cannot make a true Church or be the true matter whereof it is made for these things are contrary But wicked men whatsoever they professe in word make the Church a Synagogue of Sathan and very Babylon which is an habitation of Divils and hold of all foul spirits Rev. 18. 2. provokes God to remove the candle-stick that is to dischurch a people and to spew them out of his mouth Rev. 2. 5. and 3. 16. Mr B. had need be a skilful workman which can make a true Ch of Christ of that matter which makes the true Churches planted by the Apostles themselves eyther false or no Churches at all They which are true visible matter of the Church or true visible christians have Christ for their King visibly or in outward appearance and so far as men can judge for by visible we mean that which may be seen of men opposed to invisible which onely God seeth for Christ is not devided but look to whom he is a Preist to save them a Prophet to teach theÌ„ to the same persons he is also a K. to reign rule over them but he is not a King to any ungodly ones neyther doth he but Satan and their lusts reign over them If profession in word with a wicked conversation make true matter of the Church then an apparantly a flat contradiction a known sinne that which makes men more abhominable makes them true matter of the Church For he that sayth he hath fellowship with God or beleeves in Christ and yet walkes in darknes doth ly and doth not truely 1 Ioh. 1. 6. He that professeth Christ to be his saviour and doth wickednes contradicts himself for Christ is not a saviour of the wicked sinns against the 4. coÌ„mandement in taking Gods name in vayn Other reasons might be brought for the â—â—iction of this soul prophane errour for truth vnanswerable for nuÌ„ber sufficieÌ„t to make a volume but these may suffice for the present some other I will intermingle as occasion shal be offered in the examination of that which Mr B. brings for the confirmation of his assertion For which end he sets down 4. Reasons The sum of the three first is thus much viz that Christ his Apostles preaching the gospell such as beleeved the same and made profession of it and of their faith were without stay or let received into the Church as true matter We are as farr from denying this order of gathering Churches as you are from enjoying it Mr B you needed not to have made three distinct proofs of this which no man denyes nor to have brought so many scriptures as you do for the confirmation of that which wee graunt with you and practise without you But herein you deceive the simple reader in that you separate and disioyn those things which then were and alwayes should be ioyned together and they are faith and repentance These two ioyntly did Christ himself preach and Iohn Baptist before him and the Apostles after him and these two were preached to and required of every one both man and woman which was admitted into the Church Mat. 3. 2. 6. Mark 1. 15. Act. 19. 4. Luke 13. 3. 5. 24. 47. Act. 2. 28. 8. 37. 19. 18. But now bycause faith repentance are inward graces resydeing in the hart and known to God alone which knoweth the hart and that the profession and confession of them are the ordinary meanes by which these hidden and invisible graces are manifested made visible vnto men there was no cause but they which made this profession to men in sincerity so far as men could judge should by men be deemed and acknowledged for true members of Christ and fit matter for the Lords house And so if by any other means men manifested themselves to have fayth and holynes wrought in them though they made neyther profession of faith nor confession of sinnes yet were they and so ought to be intitled and admitted to the liberties of the Church as appeareth Act. 10. 44. 46. 47. And vppon this very ground also it is that the children of the faithfull are of the Church and baptised though they make no profession of faith at all bycause the scriptures declare them to be within the gratious covenant of Gods mercy and love and vnder the promises of the gospel and so by vs to be reputed holy Gen. 6. â— 17. 7. 8. 9. 10. Deut. 29. 10. 11. 12. 13. Act. 2. 39. Rom. 11. 16. 1 Cor. 7. 14. so that it is not for the profession of faith ex opere operate or bycause the party professing vtters so many words that he is to be admitted into the Church but bycause the Church by this his profession and other outward appearances doth probably in the judgement of charity which is not causlesly suspitious deem him faithfull and holy in deed as in shew he pretendeth But that a man of a known lewd conversation appearing still to remain in his sinne whatsoever in word he professeth should be received into the Church out of which he ought to be cast though he were one of it or should have baptism administred vnto him which is as Mr B. rightly confirms from the scriptures the seale of the forgivenes of sinns of new birth of salvation being judged not to have the forgivenes of sinns nor to be born a new nor to be in the estate of salvation were a most desperate and prophane practise then which I know not whither the Divel hath brought any other into the Church more derogatory to Gods glory or prejudiciall to mans salvation This were to make the way of the kingdome of heaven broad enough by which al the Atheists in the world might enter into the Church and certaynly would every one of them if the Magistrate should vse his compulsive power as it is in Engl at this day yea a parrat might be taught to say over so many words yea the Divel himself though he were known so to be would not stick for his advantage to vtter them and so might be true matter for Mr Ber Church The material templi was to be built onely of
costly stones of cedaâ—s firres and the like special trees and those all prepared before hand hewed and perfit for the building so that neyther hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron was to be heard in the house in the building of it * By the gates of the house were the porters set that none that was vnclean in any thing should enter in Vpon the altar there might be offered no vnclean beast no nor that which was clean having a blemish vpon it And is any rubbish and riâ—rat now good enough for this †spirituall house and temple of God the Church whereof the material temple was but a carnall shadow may the porters the officers let into it the clean vnclean without difference may dogges and swyne and all vnclean beasts and byrdes promiscuously be offered vpoÌ„ * the altar we have in our spiritual tabernacle God forbid And far be it from the servants of the Lord to prepare his Maiesty such a house to dwell in or to defile his holy things with such vnclean persons or to offend his nostrels with the stench of such sacrifices Yea whosoever shall bring me this doctrine that a man of known wicked conversation without such appearance of repentance as the Church by the word of God rule of charity is to judge true may by warrant of the word or practise of the Apostles be received and admitted into the Church by the pratling of a verball profession I will hold that man yea though he were an angel from heaven accursed And for the places which Mr B. brings for this purpose they are so evident against him as when I read them I do even wonder with what conscience modesty or wisdome he could set them down They do speak in deed of faith and the profession of faith in and by such as were received into the Church but of what fayth of a dead faith without works as Iames speaks or fruitfull in evil works which is worse nothing lesse but of such a faith as hath the expresse promise of life eternall annexed vnto it even of that faith which purifieth the heart and worketh by love towards God and man The places of scripture are these Rom. 10. 9. Ioh. 1. 12. 3. 36. Ioh. 17. 3. Act. 2. 36. 8. 37. 9. 20. 11. 26. 16. 31. 33. 19. 4. â— â—8 28. Luk. 24. 47. 1 Cor. 15. 3. 3. 11. Godly reader view the places one by one and see if any one of them speak of a verball faith onely begot in the mouth or of such a profession of faith as hath ioyned with it a prophane conversation the contrary will appear as cleare as the sun and in it how evill a conscience this man vseth thus to pervert the scriptures to the maintenance of a vile opinion and prophane practise Your 4. Reason to prove that the profession of the mayn truth before layd down is of force to make a true Christian is that by it the man so professing doth differ from Iewes Turks Pagans Papists He doth in deed for he is so much worse then they by his verball profession of the truth taking Gods name in vayn and dishonouring it farr more then the other 1 Tim. 5. 8. Isa. 52. 5. Rom. 2. 24. And what matter is it from whom he differs that differs not from but is one of the men of the world a lim of Sathan and an habitation of his spirit Lastly â—â— fire it may be considered whether you be not a partiall and 〈◊〉 judge betwixt the Papists and your selves They for shutting â—â— their works at a third or fourth hand with faith in the 〈…〉 f salvation must be judged â—â—â—se matter and their errour against the 〈◊〉 of faith in the Sonne of God and destroying it against he truth of the gospel bycause it is against the sacrifice of Christs Preisthood and yet you though you yoak Antichrist with Christ and the Popes Canons with Christs Testament in the spirituall government of the soules and bodyes of his people and so sin against the scepter of his kingdome must be reputed true matter your errour no way against the nature of faith or truth of the gospell as though true faith did not as well apprehend Christ a King as a Prophet in the cause of salvation though not in the act of iustification and as though the order which Christ hath left in the Evangelists Actes and Epistles to Timothy and Titus for the gathering and government of his Church were not as well a part of the gospel and so the obiect of faith as any other portion of it Yea to conclude I tell you Mr B. and not I but the holy Ghost and I pray you consider it well that a lewd coÌ„versation and evill conscience is as damnable a sin and as directly against the nature of faith in the sonne of God and the truth of the gospel and doth as plainly destroy faith and prejudice salvation as any eyther Popish or other haeresy in the world Luk. 24. 47. 1 Cor. 5. 11. Gal. 5. 19. 20. 21. Ephe. 5. 5. 6. 1 Tim. 1. 19. 5. 8. 1 Ioh. 1. 6. But graunt as you would have it that profession in word with an apparant denyall of the same in deed made a true Christian or true matter of the Church and that the Apostles built the Lords house of such stones which for me to graunt were both solly and impiety as it is in you to affirm it yet would it no way advantage you nor iustify your Church For the profession by which the Apostles and Apostolike Churches received meÌ„bers was voluntary and personall freely made by the particular persons which ioyned themselves vnto the Lord as the scriptures by you quoted prove as every one that readeth them may see but where was or is any such personall and particular profession vsed or required of any men or women in the replanting of your Church after Popery A man may go out of these countryes wher I now live as many do and hyre a house in any parrish of the land â—e is by the right of his house or fâ—rm a member of the paâ—rish Church where he dwels yea though he have been nousled vp all his life loÌ„g in Popery or Atheism though he were formerly neyther of any Church or religion Yea though he should professe that he did not look to be saved by Christ onely and alone but by his good meanings and well doings yet if he will come hear divine service he is matter true as steel for your Church yea be he of the Kings naturall subiectes he shall by order of law be made true matter of the Church whether he will or no. And what profession of faith in this very case of salvation the body of your Church makes or would make if men freely spake their thoughts a Minister of good note amongst your selves shall testify out of his own experience The
person is Mr Nichols who in his Plea of the innocent expresly affirms that conferring with the particular persons in his parish after he had preached some good space amongst them about the meanes of salvation of 400 coÌ„municants he scarce found one but that thought and professed a man might be saved by his own wâ—ll doing and thaâ— he trusted he did so love that by Gods grace he should obteyn everlasting lâ—se by serving God and good prayers Now how do these agree together Mr B sayth that all professe salvation by Christ onely and alone Mr Nichols on the coÌ„trary affirms out of his own experience that not one of 400 so thinks and professes And if he and all the ministers in England should deny it we out selves by our own experience know what the fayth and perswasion of the multitude in most places is Now for your further reasoning that bycause a Bishop or two published this and some other mayn truthes vnto the world with the approbation of the Parliament and Convocation house and that some preachers here there do so teach therefore all the land so professeth where many thowsands do not so much as vnderstaÌ„d it what can be imagined more vayn Can men professe the truth they know noâ— What is this but the Papists implicit faith when men beleiv as the Church beleiveth though they know not what it is yea and worse then it also for as we see and know infinite multitudes beleive and vpon occasion professe the contrary But most vayn of all is it to affirm that bycause a few godly martyrs have sealed vp this the like truthes with their blood that therefore they that murdered them professe the same truth are true ChristiaÌ„s without any other change wrought in them for the most part then by the Magistrates sword and authority You affirm by way of answer pag. 249. of your second book that the Magistrates compulsion vnto goodnes is no hurt vnto it neyther makes men vnholy or lesse good if they have goodnes in them As it is not simply true you affirm that the compulsion of men to the faith doth not hurt it for if the causing the truth to be blasphemed be to hurt it then the coÌ„pelling of apparant wicked persoÌ„s to professe the same hurts it as it doth both them and the Church whereof they are so if the body of the land in the beginning of the Queens reign were good and holy at all the magistrates compulsion wrought it in men made them of persequuting Idolaters true Christians for other meanâ—â— intervening or coÌ„ming betwixt their professioÌ„ of the masse of the gospell had they none saving the Magistrates authority But here I am by necessity and in respect of the present matter in hand drawn into Mr B. 2. book and a great benefit were it to me if there I might find him though in both vnfound yet one and the same But a great trouble it is to walk with a drunken man and to be bound to follow him in all his vagaâ—ies so is it to deal with an adversary light headed dizzy with wrath vanity and errour whom a man must follow in all his staggerings and reelings to and fro and in all the forwards and backwards that he makes oft times going and vngoing again the same by-pathes There is no one thing wherevpon Mr B labours more in his former book and for which he brings more reasons and scriptures and those often repeated then to prove the Church of EnglaÌ„d or rather such particular Churches as have the word preached in them to be truely gathered after the suppressing of Popery and by the order of the Apostolick Churches both in respect of separation from Idolatours and Antichristian Papists pag. 108 as also by profession of the mayn truth and sum of the Gospell wherein they differed from Iewes Turks and Pagans as no matter and also from Papists as false matter of the Church pag 111. 112. 113. 116. And therefore having proved by a multitude of scriptures that the Apostolick Churches were gathered by free profession of fayth he concludes thus of them and of his own Church such as make this profession are true matter and so are wee for we all professe this fayth c. But now as though he had eyther forgotten what he wrote before or cared not how he crossed himselfe so he might oppose vs against whom he hath vowed such vtter emnity he suckes in his former breath and eats the words he had formerly vttered peremptorily affirming in his 2. book that in the reformation of a Church after Popery there is not required any such profession nor yet the word of God to go before their reformation but that the feare of the Magistrates sword is sufficient to recover them and to setle the people in order to the worship of God The ground vpon which he builds this his new and crosse opinion is the practise of Asa Ezechias Iosias and Nehemiah godly Kings and Princes of Iudah in the reformation of that Church after her Apostacy in the dayes of vngodly Idolatrous Kings therevpon taking it for graunted that the catholique visible Ch of Rome as it is called now is and that the national Church of England in Queen Maries dayes and before when Popery reigned was in the same estate with Iudah in her apostacy he concludes thence that as the Magistrates then without any voluntary profession did by force bring the people of the Iewes back from Idolatry to the true service of God so might King Edward and Queen Elizabeth by force bring back the people of England into covenant with God to be his true Church without any such profession of fayth as in the first planting of Churches is required We will then consider of this poynt at large as being both weighty in it self and having many others depending vpon it That Iudah was at the first and so continued by vertue of the Lords Covenant with her forefathers on his part faythfully remembred and kept though by her oft tymes broken the true Church of God and holy in the root till she was broken of for vnbeleif after the death resurrection and ascension of Christ fully published and confirmed by the Apostles I graunt with him but the same or the like things of the Church of Rome or of England in the respects layd down may I not acknowledg That there was at Rome a true Church beloved of God called saynts by giving obedience vnto the fayth is apparant but that eyther the city or Church of Rome consisting of many cities and countryes was ever within the Lords covenant and holy in the root as Iudah was may I neyther acknowledg neyther can he possibly prove So for England I wil not deny but there were at the first true Churches planted in it by the preaching of the gospell and obedience of fayth and these as the other Churches in every nation though in
the world yet not of it but chosen out of it and hated by it men fearing God and working righteousnes and so being accepted of God in what nation soever purchased with the blood of Christ and so made his flock saynts by calling and sanctifyed in Christ Iesus and calling vpon the name of the Lord Iesus Christ in every place such were the Churches in Iudâ—a Galily and Samaria the Churches in Galatia the 7 Churches in Asia and of such people gathered into so many distinct assemblyes ech entyre in her self having peculiar Bishops or Elders set over her for her feeding by doctrine and government did those particular Churches consist they thus separated from the rest both Iewes and Gentiles in every nation whether more or lesse were that chosen generation that royall Preisthood that holy nation and purchased people of the Lord. But that ever the whole nation and all the Kings naturall subiects in it should have been within the covenant of the Lord entituled by the word of the Lord to the seals of the covenant and all the other holy things depending vpon it is a popular and popish fantasy as ever came into mans brayn requyring a new-found land of Canaan for a seat of this national Church wherein no vncircumcised person may dwel and a new old testament for the policy and government of the same And lastly it makes all one them that Christ hath chosen out of the world and the world them that fear God work righteousnes and whom he accepteth in every nation and the nation it self the beloved of God at Rome and the sanctifyed in Christ Iesus at Corinth with the City of Rome and of Corinth then which what confusion can be greater But to admit that for truth which you so take namely that Rome in the sence wherein we speak sometymes was the true Church of God as Iudah and more specially that the English nation was as the nation of the Iewes and all and every person in it high and low received into covenant with the Lord to be his people and that he might be their God yet can it not be sayd of Rome that she stil remayns the true Church of God as Iudah did in her defection but on the contrary as she brake her covenant with God advancing by degrees that man of syn the sonne of perdition and adversary Antichrist till he was exalted into the throne of Christ and that mistery of godlynes in and according to which that Church was planted at the first degenerated into the mistery of iniquity so did the Lord for her adulteryes wherein she was incorrigible when they were come to the height break the covenant on his part and gave her as an harlot a bill of divorce and put her away and her daughter Engl. with her amongst the rest Now for the more full clearing of this truth I wil in the first place answer such reasons as Mr B. brings against it and that done lay down certayn arguments to disprove his Popish plea for that Romish Synagogue Onely in the mean whyle I wish him to consider that if Mr â—m deserve so severe a censure as he layes vpon him pag. 281. of this book for some favourable affirmations touching some things â—â— persons in Rome he himselfe is much more blame worthy that both professeth and pleadeth her the true Church of Christ and in the covenant of grace and salvation then which what greater and more notable plea can be made for her Nay if it be probable that he which pleads for Rome as Mr Smith doth will in tyme become â—n love with it and sit downe a blind Papist it is necessary that he which thinks it a true Church return vnto it from which he hath wickedly schismed as all men do that separate from the true Church of Christ for any corruptions whatsoever Here I do also entreat the prudent Reader to beare it in mynd that the constitution of England cannot be iustifyed nor she proved to be rightly gathered but with the defence of Rome yea of that great and purpled whore to be the true spouse of the Lord Iesus The Reasons by which Mr B. would prove Rome a true Church are by him reckoned five in number we wil consider of them in order The first is taken from the first planting of that Church in S. Pauls tyme by vertue of which former calling and constitution sayth he Rome still remaynes the Lords people as Israel did in the wildernes notwithstanding her idolatry I do answer first that Rome as we now consider of it was never the Lords called nor under his covenant though a Church or assembly in that city or it may be more then one of saynts were and secondly that though she were yet is the covenant broken through her fornications and impenitency in them both on her part and the Lords visibly and she devorced long a goe and her daughters in and with her His secoÌ„d Reason is grounded vpon 2 Th. 2. 4. because Antichrist that is sayth he that head with his body sitteth in the temple of God which he further tels vs must be vnderstood visibly in respect of the truthes of God in doctrine and ordinances of Christ held there of which Gods people among them partake in his mercy to their salvation and others from tyme to tyme have mayntayned openly to the preservation of some fundamental poynts of the Apostolical constitution Wherevpon he also concludes that since the temple of God typing out the Church wherein he sitteth hath a true constitution Rome and that in respect of the tyme present hath a true constitution and is a true Church He might also have added and ever shal be a true Church for Antichrist ever shal sit there til Christs second coÌ„ming v. 8. Many men have written much about the notes marks of the true Church by which it is differenced and discerned from all other assemblyes and many others have sought for it as Ioseph and Mary did for Christ with heavy hearts Luk. 2. 48. that they might there rest vnder the shadow of the wings of the Almighty enioying the promises of his presence and power But what needs all this a doe Mr B poynts vs out with the finger a mark of the true Church most evident and conspicuous and like a beacon vpon an high hill and that is the exaltation of Antichrist I had thought the Churches and people of God should have been known by his dwelling among them walking there and by Christs presence in the middest of them but I now perceive Antichrists power presence and exaltation is a sure signe by which the Churches of Christ must be discerned If any therefore desire to plant his feet in the courts of the Lords house and there to abide for ever let him be sure to chuse such a Church to ioyn to as wherein Antichrist sitteth
visible body the Church of Rome as it is called vnder that visible head Antichrist the Pope be the true visible body of Christ vnder him the head The Apostle wryting vnto the Galatians calles the Church of the new â—estameÌ„t Ierusalem which is above the mother of the â—aythfull and Iohn in the book of the Revelâ—tion opposeth vnto Babylon spiritual the â—â—w Ierusalem coÌ„ming down from God out of hâ—â—ven and the tabeâ—nâ—â—le of God where he dwelleth with men making thâ—m his people and himself 〈…〉 heir God Now as the people of God in old tyme were called out of Babylon civile the place of their bodily bondage and were to come to Ierusalem and there to build â— new the Lords temple or tabernacle leaving Babylon to that destruction which the Lord by his servants the Prophets had dâ—nounced against it so are the people of God now to gâ—â—e out of Babylon spiriâ—â—â—â— to Ierusalem and to build vp themselves as lively stones into a s 〈…〉 or temple for the Lord to dâ—vel in leaving Babylon to that dâ—â—truction and desolation â—ea furthering the same to which she is devoted by the Lord. Bâ—â— if the people of God should receive Mr B. doctrine they were not to come out of Babylon nor to endeavour her destruction but to tarry in her still labouring for her reformation and the reparation of her decayed places neyther were they to build my new spiritual temple or to constitute any new Church from Rome present for of such a new constitution we speak but there to abydâ— reproving her corruptions and endeavouring the reformation of them It is therfore vntrue which you â—â—y Mr B. that the Romish Church must be dealt with onely as the Church of God was in Iudâ—th it must be dealt with as was Babylon eâ—en abandoned and forsaken by the Lords people vpon pâ—â—ill of the curses and plagues due vnto it and denounced against it and against all that abyde in it To this which Mr B. in this place so greatly contends for namely thaâ— Rome is the true Church of Christ though under corruptions as Iob was a true man vnder his sores let that be added which he wryteth els where in this book that corruptions are made matter of reproof but no cause of separation from the Church and further that they that separate from a true Church the body cut of themselves from Christ the head and to these two a third graunt and profession he makes as that their profession and lawes in England separate a protestant from a Papist that the Church of England is separated by profession lawes and publique mâ—etings from Papists that the very societyes of Papists are to be left as no people of God and his writings will appeare to all men like a beggars cloak patched together of old and new peices scraped vp here and there scarce two of the same eyther colour or thread Let me a little stich his patches together and set them in some order They that separate from the true Church cut of themselves from Christ. Mr B. pag 110. 111. But the Church of England in separating from Rome is separated froÌ„ the true Ch Mr B. pag. 114. 129. 14â— with 131. 132. 133. Therefore by Mr B. both graunt and proof the Church of England is separated from Christ. And is this your piety and thankfulnes Mr B. towards your mother for want of which you cast so many bitter curses vpon the separatists you are so far caryed in honouring your grandmother Rome as a true Church that you clean forgot your mother England and condemn her for a schismatical Synagogue Yea well were it or at the least more tolerable in you if you thus dealt onely with your selfe and your owne but this vile iniury which you here offer extends it selfe far and nere even to Luther Zuinglius and the other godly guides of separation and to all the reformed Churches separated from the Church of Rome yea to the martyrs in King Henryes and Queen Maryes dayes and to all other the like godly mynded through the whole world whom you condemn as wicked schismatiques and separated from Christ the head in separating themselves from his body your true Church of Rome Lastly the Apostle Paul wryting to the Church of Rome in her first and best estate praemonisheth her to stand fast in the fayth received least he which had not spared the natural branches the Iewish Church but broken them of for vnbelâ—if should not spare the wild branches whereof she consisted How then Mr B. can you deny that Rome is and hath been long broken of which so long hath â—â—yned works in the cause of salvation which you your selfe affirm to be against the true nature of fayth in the â—oâ—â— of God and that which destroyeth â—â— And that all may take knowledge how the Lord dealeth with his Churches vnder the new testament and may learn both to fear in themselves and how to iudge of the present state of Rome let it be observed what Christ Iesus by his servant Iohn wryteth vnto the Churches in Asia especially to the Church of Epâ—esuâ— which he having blamed for leaving her first love exhorts to repentance and to the doing of her first workes threatning withall that otherwise he will come against her shortly and remove her candlestick out of the place except she amend The same thing in effect he denounceth against the Churches of Pergaâ—us and Thyaâ—yra and so against the rest vpon the like occasions And if the Lord dealt so severely with the Church of Ephesus notwithstanding the many excellent things which were found in her and so acknowledged by the Lord himselfe v. 2. 3. as to remove her candlestick 1. to dis-church her as ch 1. 20. for leaving her first love and that speedily except she repented how can it be that the golden candlestick should stil stand in Rome and shee remayn the Church of Christ which so many hundred yeares since hath left not onely her first love but her first fayth also chaunging her fayth into haereâ—y and Idolatry and her love into most bloody cruel persequutions against all that have endeavoured her repentance and so hath continued a long space and doth continue at this day None but professed Romanists will plead any Charter for Rome above other Churches These things thus opened and these two capital errours confuted the former Iewish namely that England now is as Iudah was and that as then all the Iewes in that nation so now all the English men in the Kings dominions should constitute a national Church the latter Popish viz. that the Romish Church is the true visible body or Church of Christ it is evident both that the Evangelical Churches must be new planted or constituted by profession of fayth as the temple was new built after the captivitie of Babylon as also that not Iosiahs sword that is the coactive
lawes of men but Pauls word even the preaching or publishing of the gospel is the proper means which the Lord hath sanctifyed for that purpose though I doubt not but there both hath been and is great vse of the Magistâ—â—â—â—â— authority for the furtherance of the gospel that way When the Lord Iesus purposed to advance the scepter of his king â—â—me he sent out his Apostles not furnished with sword and â—pâ—â—â— noâ— yet backed with humayn lawes or authority but with châ—â—ge and commission to publish and declare his holy commâ—â—ndâ—ments and the things which he had taught them and thâ—reby to 〈◊〉 Disciples or gayn subiects vnto his kingdom Math. 2â— 19. 2â— which they also practised admitting and initiaâ—ing mâ—n into â—â—â— Church vpon their voluntary submission vnto and 〈◊〉 of the â—ayth of Christ. Nâ—â—â—â— vnto â—â—â— be added a second consideration namely where and to â—â—â— a the Apostles were first to preach and to 〈◊〉 th◠〈◊〉 commission received from Christ it wil both gâ—ve lighâ— to the â—oâ—nt in hand and discover the vanity of a distinctâ—â—n in Mr B. â— book to which he trusteth much and therefore â—â—th oâ—t â—â—r the gathering and establishing of Churches after the P 〈…〉 by fyâ—â— and sword without any further respect then the magistrates authority the summe whereof as also of that he infeâ—reth upon it is that to a Church in the fâ—â—â—t 〈◊〉 that iâ— as â—â— eâ—poundâ— himselfe gathered of inâ—iâ—els and of such a people â—â—â—re no Church 〈…〉 there is required preaching and 〈◊〉 going bâ—fore with the word and profession of the name of Christ but for a people that are not infidels but Christians hâ—â— corrupt soever aâ—â— a Church â—â— suâ—h preachiâ—â— on the one side nâ—◠〈◊〉 of â—â—yth on the other is râ—qâ—ired 〈…〉 compel with the feare of the swâ—â—â— the Magistrate authority is sufficient in such a case Let the Reader behold this bold mans grosse ignorance and contradiâ—tions and if he wil not open his eyes to see them he mâ—y feel them with his hand so palpable are they I wil lay them down in these particulars â—â—â—st he affirmeth pag. 176 that the Lord taâ—â—s a peâ—ple to be 〈…〉 and that commâ—â—â—dements are for his people to â—â—â—â—â—â—â—m and nâ—t to make them 〈…〉 maâ—s commaâ—ndemeâ—t makâ—s not a servent but declâ—â—es such a one to be â—is â—â—â—vant already and so he gives God not more power to commaund the wicked and vnbeleevers then a man hath to commaund another mans servant and yet here he tells vs that before a people can become a Church Paul must goe with the word and expresly pag. 277. that the Lord to make mâ—n his people gives tâ—em his word and quoâ—es Math. 28. 19. to prove it Secondly by this his distinction and his inferences vpon it he makes all the Iewes to whom Iohn Baptist Christ and the Apostles preached and which were baptised by them or any of them to have been Infidels before and nâ— Church no Christianâ— And â—â— he affirms directly pag. 262. though I suppose he considerâ—t not where in answer to a proposition of Mr Aynsworthes that the Churches of Christ were established of saynts onely men visibly 〈◊〉 confirmed amongst other scriptures by Math. 3. 6. he pâ—â—emptorily avouches and so builds vpon it that that pâ—oposition scripture amongst the rest is to be vnderstood of a people which is no Church no Christians so the Church of the Iewes at that tyme must be no Church and they no Christians with this man for of them that scripture speaks whatsoever Peter and Paul say to the contrary Thirdly since the Apostles being sent by Christ to teach and make Disciples were to begin their ministration amongst the Iewes in Ierusalem Iudea and else where which is the consideration I formerly mentioned and so by the publishing of the gospel of fayth on their part and by the profession of fayth and confession of sinns on the peoples part to gather and establish particular Churches and that the Church of the Iewes was at that tyme the Church of God in respect of which the establishing of these particular Churches was no new plantation but a continuation of their former ingraâ—â—ing in the same root wherein they formerly were planted not differing from it essentially but being onely reformed perfited and otherwise ordered then before it appeareth most vntrue which Mr B. affirmâ—th that the preaching of the gospel is onely necessarily required for the planting of Churches of such people as were formerly infidels and no people of God Fourthly and lastly even that which he most freely graunts in one pag. namely that at the first the word must be preached and by that means men brought to a voluntary 〈◊〉 without compulsion that he vtterly reverses and denyes in the very next pag where pleading the proclamation of Hezechiah and compulsion of Iosiah he annexeth to the same purpose as cunningly as his wit wil serve an insinuation that Mordecai for feare of whom he sayth many of the heathen for such the people were became Iewes procured of the King proclamations and other statutes for the compelling of his subiects to the Iewish religion wherein he both perverâ—s the words as the reader may see and the meaning also of thâ— scripture which is that the heathen observing the myghty and mervelous hand of God for his people and against his and their enemyes many of them became Iewes and separated themselves vnto them from the 〈◊〉 of the heathen of the land to seek the Lord God of Israel as also in alleadging to the same purpose Luke 14. 23. as he doth in another place borrowing as it seems the corrupt exposition of that scripture from the Ministers whom â—e drawes in with him in his former book of which more in due place But that I may not be caryed too far in this my digression I do first deny that the reformation by Queen Elizabeth though great in it selfe and she for it of blessed memory did in any measure equalize the reformation made by Hezechiah Iosiah and Nâ—heâ—yah in whom you most insist Mr Bernard For whereas all reformation respects eyther persons or things that which was wrought by these godly Kings and governours receives testimony from the H. Ghost himselfe to have been most full and intyre both wayes And to let passe for brevityes sake the things themselves with referring the reader to these and the like scriptures which handle that part I wil insist a litle vpon the persons about whom the question here is between Mr B. and me in whom the other parte of reformation is to be considered which wil better appear if we compare together officers with officers and people with people And first it is evident in the scriptures that those Kings Princes of Iudah did not apoint any other Preists eyther for the purging of the temple or for any other Preistly work whither of reformation or administration
were to destroy her own essence being Secondly the true matter of the Church and true members of Christ are the same As Christ is called the foundation of the house they of the Church are the matter of the building as he is called the head of his body they are his members whom to excommunicate is to deliver vnto Sathan 1 Cor. 5. 5. whervpon I do necessarily inferre that if to excommunicate be to deliver to Sathan and that the Church may lawfully excommunicate wicked persons and that wicked persons be true matter and that true matter be true members of Christs body then may the Church lawfully deliver to Satan the true members of Christs body which I abhor to write And though your Ordinaries Mr B. be oft tymes so liberall of the true members of Christ as thus to deliver them to the Divel yet had the Ministers of Christ rather have their own members torn from their bodies then thus to dismemthe blessed body of the Lord Iesus The heynousnes of this fact shewes the vanity of your distinction the errour of your opinion and the falsity of your Church Lastly you do mistake the two scriptures which you bring to prove that a man iustly excommunicate is still called a brother in the scriptures and so to be held by the Church The Apostle in the former place 2 Th. 3. 15. speaks not of a man excommunicated noâ— worthy to be excommunicated neyther but of such a person as followes not his calling faithfully as he ought but being negligent in his own is to busy in other mens matters whom he wills the brethren to mark and no way to countenaunce in sucâ— walking but on the contrary to shew their dislike of it that he may see it and be ashamed of it and this he that reads over the chapter shall observe I suppose to be the Apostles meaning In the second place which is 1 Cor. 5. 11. his meaning is not that Christians becoÌ„ming fornicators covetous Idolaters and so continuing obstinate should still be reputed brethren notwithstanding but he speaks of a brother there as Ezechiel speaks of a righteous man chapt 18. 24. that turns away from his righteousnes and commits inâ—quity and doth according to all the abomination of the wicked c. and as truely may it be affirmed that the person Ezechiel speaks of is still to be reputed a righteous man as that he of whom Paul speaks is still to be accounted a brother Both the Prophet and Apostle speaks of such persons â—s were righteous and brethren reputatively before they did so bastardly degenerate And is it possible that Christ should charge his Ch to account an obstinate offender as an heathen and publican Mat. 18. and that Paul should come after and direct them to account him a brother Besides all the members of the Church are brethren and to become a member is to become a brother and so to be excommunicated out of the Church is nothing els but to be cast out of the Churches brotherhood Lastly the Apostle 1 Cor. 5. 11. names idolatours amongst the rest and will you haue idolaters your brethren Mr B why then did you in the former pag. exclude Papists and pag. 108. Idolatours vniversally A holy brotherhood it seems you will have brother idolater haeretique and what not The instance you bring of Symon Magus an hypocrite received by the Apostle by the Evangelist you should say Act. 8. makes stroÌ„gly against you if it be well considered what is written of him For after he was discovered by Peter not to have his heart right in the sight of God he was pronounced by him to have neyther part nor fellowship in that busines ver 21. Now if Philip had discerned thus much by him at the first do you think he would have acknowledged him for a partener in it or haue given the seal of the forgivenes of sinns of new birth and of salvation as you truely prove baptism to be pag. 119. to such a blank nay would be haue prophaned the Lords holy things vpon such a dog or swyne contrary to the expresse commaundement of Christ Math. 7. 6. Cease Mr B. to excuse your self by accusing the holy Apostles and Evangelists of Christ. And herevpon I do thus argue They that haue no right to the holy things of God in the Ch are not to be admitted into it neyther is the Church gathered of such persons rightly and truely gathered But men of lewd conversation have no right to the holy things of God in the Church and therefore the Church gathered of such persons is not truely gathered The former propositioÌ„ is clear bycause men admitted into the Church are admitted to the participation and coÌ„munion of the holy things of God in the Church The 2. also appeareth both by the scripture before named where Peter pronounceth that such as have not their hart right with God which no lewd persons hav or ever had haue no part in the holy things of God as also by Mr Bernards own graunt namely that wicked persons are to be cast out of the Church And what could there be in the world more ridiculous yea or wherein God were more plainly mocked then to gather a Church of such persons as are judged fit to be cast out of the Church And yet for this Church-gathering being indeed his own Mr B pleads both here and every where both in this and his other book In the next place come in certayn popular similitudes to colour over that rotten errour which can by no reason or scripture be made sound in number three which I will consider in order Two persons are lawfully marryed by publique profession and mutuall corâ—â—nt now though the wise perform not her covenant but prove vnfaithful yet is she still a true wisâ— till the bill of divorcement be given out I graunt it but see you not how you take the thing for granted which wee deny namely that your nationall Church is the true wife of Christ Since he divorced his ancient wife the nation of the Iewes he never maried nor will marry nation more much lesse which is more specially to be coÌ„sidered did he ever marry for his lawfull wife the prophane multitudes of vnhallowed Atheists wherwith as you confesse in the beginning of your book your Church aboundeth Hath Christ commaunded his people not to be vnequally yoked with vnbeleevers and will he yoke himself with them with Atheists other wicked persons which are in deed infidels unbeleevers whatsoever they professe in word though you in your 2 book Mr B. do with defiance avouch the contrary The same Apostle in an other place affirmeth that he which coupleth himself with an harlot is one body with her forbids the faithfull as a most impious thing to make the members of Christ the members of an harlot and will Christ make himself the head of harlots theves murtherers blasphemers and the like or
no Papists in your kingdom I may say in your Parish or are Papists become no idolaters with you as Rome was right now no false Church nor Iesuites false subiects The face of your charity Mr B. is so full set towards Rome and Papists as no marvayl though you be so vnequall towards vs as you are The truth is you are in the most streyt bond of civil society with Popish idolaters that may be Ther is nothing more common amongst them of your Church then to ioyn in mariage with them neyther is there to my knowledge amongst all your canons any one against this prophane commixture Neyther is it any thing you speak of living vnder a Christian King or with a people professing Christ for idolaters may live vnder a Christian King and professe Christ too in a measure as both many others and all antichristiaÌ„ idolaters do Yea I have formerly manifested that you live not onely in civill but even in religious society with Papists and you your self graunt as much of Atheists in the beginning of your book and will you say that visible Atheists are true visible matter of the Church and capable by the word of God of true visible fellowship and communion with Christ and the true members of his body The scope of â—e scripture followeth which say you iâ— that the beleeving Corintâ—ians may have no fellowship with the infidels and vnbeleevers to their evill works but that they reprove condemn hate and avoyd them Belike then they might haue had fellowship with them in any good work and so if any of the heathen or infidell Corinthians would haue communicated with the Christian Corinthians in the sacraments or prayer they might not haue refused their fellowship or communion herein For by your exposition the Apostle onely forbids partaking with them in evill works the works of darknes Of which more hereafter And here in our names you frame an obiection the sum whereof is that if all the godly would separate from all the wicked then there should be no wicked of the Church Vnto which you answer sundry things but how sufficiently will appear in the particulars First you say God commaunds not his to separate wholly from all the wicked but from Infidels Gentiles Idolaters Iewes Turks Papists whose very societies are to be left as no people of God Well then I perceive all religious fellowship with Papists is vnlawfull and that their societies are no people of God And how agrees this with your other affirmations that Rome is a true Church Papists true Christians though under corruptions as it was true Iob though vnder soars baptism there a true sacrament and seal of the covenaunt yet here the societies of Papists are no people of God that is in no covenant with him Or how doth this separatioÌ„ thus wholly to be made from Papists agree with that you write pag. 91. of ioyning in prayer with such Papists as though they be of the Church of Rome yet sorrow for the abhominations and as are come out from it in their soules the best part though not so in their bodyes The distinction you put between Infidels and idolaters and men of prophane life wee shall consider of in due place for your speach of all the Church falling into the estate of infidelity and so â—â—dged of the Church eyther it is without sense or I which vnderstand it not Now to that you adde of separating from the private familiarity of the wicked living in the society of the godly and that if they will not be reformed other courses are to be taken with them as their sin of obstinacy deserves I answer these things First that as there is a case wherein private withdrawing from a brother is warrantable namely when his offence is private and he privately obstinate that his sinne eyther cannot be or is not yet made publick publiquely â—vinâ—â—d so to separate from men privately and that onely for publick offences is a course without ground either of scripture or rea son You say pag. 144. that alvin so expounds 1 Cor. 5. 11. and therevpoÌ„ do take an occasion to accuse our practise as Brownisticall vs of Luciferian schisme Pharisaicall pride As I leave your raylings to be iudged by the Lord so do I give the reader to vnderstand how you grossely abuse Calvins authority who expounds that scripture as all men know it is meant of excommunicates and of mens private cariage towards them with which publick separation is also to be joyned I suppose you your self will not deny it And where you speak of an other course to be taken with wicked men that wil not be reformed you should also shew what that course is and what is to be done if that course be not taken but you have thought it a point of your wisdome to be silent in these things least by opening them too particularly you should discover your own shame The course to be taken is the censuring of such incorrigible offenders by the particular congregation whereof they are being gathered together in the name of Christ by the power of Christ with which power divine and heavenly priviledge he hath furnished his Churches every one of them as well as that one of Corinth neyther doth any true Church of Christ want this power or neglect the vse of it without sinne And if any Church of Christ would neglect to vse this power against scandalous sin manifestly proved and coÌ„vinced would obstinately continue notwithstanding all good meanes vsed to the contrary this sower leaven vnpurged out the whole lump were levened and with leven might not the Passeover be eaten And as the Church if sin do arise is first to endeavour the casting out of the sinne by the sinners repentance and if that will not be in the last place to cast out the sinne and sinner together so if the Church do wickedly bear out and boulster iniquity amongst themselves such as are faithfull are first to quit themselves of that Church-sin by testifying against it and reproving it and in the last place to quit themselves of the Church if it remayn incurable Now here you bring in certayn differences distinctions of separation but without application The first I omit as being before handled so much as concerns the present purpose The 2. difference is between the wicked remayning amoÌ„g the godly the godly being of the felowship of the wicked this differece I acknowledg withall affirm that the latter part of it notes out the estate of your nationall Church wherein a few godly mynded in comparison live in the fellowship of a wicked and sinfull nation And if persons excommunicate by the Church be not of her fellowship then certaynly the number of the godly in your fellowship is very small since your nationall Church representative the convocatioÌ„ house whose Act also pag 147. you avouch to be the Act of all the Church so to be
lyeth To conclude what reason hath Mr B. thus to obiect that all which are amongst them live not in darknes and that all are not in league with the Divel considring that by his own exposition of this place the very societies of Papists are to be left as no people of God and yet all Papists live not in darknes as here he vnderstands it nor are in league with the divell neyther in deed had they need considering what league of spirituall coÌ„munion he professeth els where he will have with many of them Mr B. 2. obiection is which he also makes the 4. head of his division that there is no proportion betwixt the persons here mentioned to be separated from being infidels and such as were no members of the Church and Gentiles that had enterteyned no profession of Christ on the one side and the members of the Church on the other side and that the consequence followes not from infidels Heathens Pagans Idolaters led by the Divell to Christians professing Christ though in life not answerable to their profession Even now you justified separation from Papists by this scripture and here you restreyn it vnto Infidels and Gentiles that had not enterteyned any profession of Christ as though Papists were infidels or without all profession of Christ which is contrary both to truth and to your own expresse affirmation every where But my answer is that howsoever infidelity and Idolatry be two greivous sinnes and which do principally separate those which continue in them from God his Church yet not they alone but any other transgressions as well as they obstinately stood in do rayse this vvall of separation as is manifest in the scriptures And first the Apostle in this very place disioynes righteousnes vnrighteousnes light darknes as farre a sunder as beleevers vnbeleevers as the temple of God Idols in which former also the vnion betwixt Christ Belial is as monstrous as in the latter Vnto which I do also adde that Mr B. in this very place debarring infidels and idolaters from being matter of the true Church layes this down as a cause or reason that they are led by the Divel wherevpon it followeth that since none other wicked men are led by Christ but all by the Divell aswell as they that none other can be matter of the true Church more then they And that some persons led by the Divel should be matter of the Church and some not is a distinction not found in the scriptures but devised for a remedy against the iniquities of the tymes and for the avoyding of trouble and dissipation Secondly as the scriptures do every where denounce the same judgements vpon other wicked men and vpon idolaters and infidels for example that as well he that deâ—ileth his neighbours wife or oppresseth the poore or gives forth vpon vsury shall dy the death as he that eates vpon the mountaynes or lifts vp his eyes vnto the Idols and that aswell whoremongers unâ—rtherers and such as love or make lyes as Idolaters shal be without the heavenly Ierusalem so do they also both warrant direct vs the same course of walking towards the one and other The Lord Iesus Mat. 18. 17. enjoyns the Church to account every obstinate offender as an Heathen And the Apostle Paul gives the Corinthians in charge as much to avoyd formâ—atours covetous persons raylers drunkers and â—xtortioners as Idolaters And no marvayl for covetous persons are Idolaters and so are carnall men Idolaters making their belly their God Vnto these adde that the same Apostle vnto Tâ—tus calles vnholy and profane persons what profession of God soever they make unbeleevers or Infidels which are the same Which scripture I wish the Reader to observe in respect of Mr B. bould châ—lendge of all the Brownists in the world to shâ—w the term or name of vnbeleevers to be given to such as are not become absolute Apostates from Christ. Lastly unto that vvhich Mr B. obâ—â—â—teth in the fifth and last place against our exposition of this scripture to the Corinth for our separatioÌ„ namely that at this very tyme when the Apostles thus writ there were of them which did partake with the heatheÌ„ that they were a mixt company among whom were dissentions envying open incest drunkennes at the Lords supper fornication wantonnes men denying the resurrection I do give this answer As there was this mixture in the Church at this tyme so doth the Apostle most severely reprove the same For the incestuous man suffred vncensured he pronounceth the whole lump levened 1. Epist. 5. chapt For thâ— abuse of the Lords supper that they came together not with profit but with hurt chap. 11. 17. where I entreat the reader also to take knowledge of the counsayl which vpon that occasion Beza gives in his Annotations vpon ver 31. which is that we try and examine our selves by faith and repentance separating our selves froÌ„ the wickâ—d For this very sin here spoken of namely their partaking with Idols in the Idolothytes that they could not partake of the Lords supper You cannot drink the cup of the Lord the cup of Divels You cannot be partakers of the Lords table of the table of Divels And in this very place about which we now coÌ„tend that except they separated theÌ„selves left this their vngodly mixture they could not haue the promise of the Lord that he would dwel among them and walk there that he would be their God and haue them his people ver 16. And doth the holy Ghost in leaving these things recorded give any countenance to a mixt company or can you from hence eyther take unto your self or give unto others any comfort in your or their confused walking Will you make your self a medicine of their poyson or a playster of their vlcers You are a physition of no valâ—w Besides it must be considered that all the evils mentioned amongst the Corinthians were contrary to their constitution and so many aberrations and defections from that estate and condition wherein the the Ch was gathered It is evident that Paul planted the Ch at Corinth he being Gods labourer and it Gods husbandry Now who dare open so prophane a mouth as to affirm that this faithfull labourer would plant the Lords vineyard with such imps or gather vnto him a Church of any such slagitious persons as fornicators drunkers incestuous men or such as denyed the resurrection But what is this to your nationall Church which was constituted and gathered for the greatest part of fornicatours drunkerds blasphemers and the like with such wild branches was your vineyard planted Thus much of our interpretation application of 2 Cor. 6. I will here onely adde one argument more to prove your nationall Church vncapable of the new covenant or testament by which you your self do graunt and truely the Church of Christ to be formed
it be not actually seen or open to the ey of all as you speak as colours are alwayes visible and souÌ„ds audible in themselves though for the present they be neyther seen nor heard But what do I striving with this man which needs none other adversary but himself As he crosses his first book with his second so doth he both crosse and confute his second by his third In his first he will haue the word truely taught and the sacraments rightly administred to be the marks of the true Church in his 2. the true word preached though not truly the true sacrameÌ„ts administred though not rightly are inâ—allible tokens and reciprocally converted with the Church in the 3. last book the Church may be a Ch without the vse of the sacrameÌ„ts for a long tyme as the Ch of Israel was in the wildernes so it be not done of contempt and such as are eyther no Church of God at all or an antichristian assembly may haue and vsurp the seales put to a blank as Ismael Esau out of the Church had circumcision and the Papists now have baptism And that which he sayth of Baptism may as truely be sayd in cases of the word and the publication of it by reading and interpretation As the true Church may for a time want the vse of both so may a false Ch vsurp and abuse both as well the wryting as the seal ' He that held the seven starres in his right hand and walked in the middest of the seven golden candlesticks threatned the Church of Ephesus that he would shortly remove her candlestickout of his place for leaving her fâ—rst love except she repented though she still held and vsed the word and sacraments and if a company of schismatiques leaving a Church without cause or of excommunicates justly cast out of the Church should vnite themselves together vsurping and assuming the word and sacraments and professing the covenant outwardly and in the letter did this their â—old vsurpation make them a true visible Church of Christ The matter is the true Church may want vpon occasion the vse or administration of the word and sacraments but never the right power and interest in and vnto them so may a false assembly vsurp oâ— assume them but never have right or power from Christ unto them And this spirituall power and liberty arising from the Lords visible covenaunt to communicate and partake in the visible promises ordinances of it is the true essentiall propertie of the visible Church as is the faculty of reasoning the property of a reasonable man and the faculty of seing hearing tasting and the like the property of a sensible creature though neyther the one haue the actuall vse of reason for the present nor the other of sense The third and last property of the Church Mr B makes the care for the welfare of all and every one for the whole and each for other this eyther corporall for the maintenance of the body as in almes deeds Act. 2. 42. or spirituall touching the sowle which standeth in admonition and exhortation and so â—orth as 1 Thes. 5. 11. which also he sayth they and their congregations have It is noted of some persons beside themselves that all the ships they see in the haven and fayr houses in the country they think and say are theirs where if they were in their right witts they would both know and acknowledge that they were poore and beggarly and had nothing So is it with this man bycause he reads in the scriptures that the Apostolicall Churches consisted of saynts and were gathered by voluntary profession into the covenant of God that they had given them and did enjoy by the Lords gift and donation his word sacraments other ordinances and did in that holy communion whereunto they were called exercise themseves mutually for the welfare one of another both bodily and spiritually therevpon he concludes peremptorily that the Church of England whereof he is and for which he pleads hath all these things and that they haue all these properties where if he had a sound mind and an honest heart in the things of God he would both see confesse that things were nothing lesse with them then as he sayth and that in stead of this great and vniversall aboundance whereof he boasteth there were generally nothing but spirituall beggary and want Thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods have need of nothing knowest not how thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked More particularly as you want the office of Deaconship which Christ hath left by his Apostles for the collection and distribution of the Churches almes and haue enterteyned under the true name a false and forged office of half preisthood perverting and misapplying to the iustification of it such holy scriptures as are left for the calling and ministration of true and lawfull Deacons in the Church of Christ so is there not that care for the bodily welfare one of another amongst you in any measure whereof you boast The needlesse and endlesse suits and quarrels amongst you filling all your courts and judgement seats your dayly thefts and murthers amongst the members of your Church the continuall cousenings and circumventions one of another the vsuryes oppressions extortions which overflow both country and city as did the waters in the time of Noah both the valleys hilles do too manifestly shew how farre you are from this care of the welfare ech of other bodily whereof you thus vainly boast But though this care of ech for other both bodily and spiritually be almost wholly wanting yet say you the Church is not to be iudged a false Church no more then the houshould is to be iudged a false houshould bycause there is not that care that ought to be amongst them of the family or a man a false man if through folly madnes or wilfulnes he neglects the welfare of his body Surely it had not need considering how not onely this is wanting but how the contrary aboundeth in all places And to let passe all other matters no man is ignorant what care the two great factions in the Church that of the Prelates and the other of the Reformists do take each for other namely how ech may subvert and root out the other And for your similitudes borrowed from an houshold and a body as wee deny your Church to be that houshold of God or body of Christ wherein every member hath his effectuall working in his measure as the Apostle speaketh so is there no way the like reason of them and of the Church in the respect wherein you compare them A man doth not nor cannot cease to be a true man naturally by any meanes if his person survive neyther can a family cease to be a true family civily if it be not dissipated and dissolved but a Church though the same persons survive still
live And for the parts of the body to which he here hath reference and the like they do more fitly resemble the officers of the Church then the ordinance of excoÌ„munication the eyes and mouth the Bishops and Elders which are to oversee and teach the Church the hands the Deacons who are to distribute her almes And aâ— there may be a true though an vnperfit naturall body without these parts so may there be a true visible Church or body of Christ without these officers though vnperfect and defective It now remayns I lay down some reasons to prove the power of the censures of excommunication simply necessary vnto the Church of Christ. The Reasons are First bycause it is simply necessary for the being of a Church that there be power for true members to joyn together and so to receive others vnto them even so consequently must there be power to disioyn and cut of false members 2. Excommunication and absolution are of the same nature with preaching the gospel yea the very same particularly applyed to persons obstinate and repentant which preaching is in the generall The preaching of the gospell is the power of God vnto salvation to every one that beleeveth excommunication is the power of the Lord Iesus Christ for the destruction of the flâ—sh of him that is otherwise incorrigible that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Iesus The preaching of the gospel makes the first or major proposition thus he that beleeves not and repents not is bound in heaven and hath his sinnâ— vnremitted but he that beleeves and repents his sinnâ— are pardoned and he loosed in heaven Now excommunication and absolution applyed to a particular person and occasion do make the second or minor proposition thus thou beleevest not or repentest not of this thy sinne and therefore thou art bound in heaven and thy sinnes vnpardoned and so of absolution or the loosing of sinns Adde also vnto these things that the same Bishops or Elders are to preach the gospel in way of doctrine and to minister the censures in way of discipline though in some divers order as I haue formerly shewed And these two being the two mayn duties of the Ministers comprehended vnder this generall duety of feeding the stock must needs be of the same nature both of them mayn and necessary parts of Gods vvorship and of religion and so to be performed vpon the Lords day as his work and in the assembly of the saynts as an exercise of their holy communion howsoever with you and others they are made a consistory and working day matter to the great violation and indignity of the kingdom of Christ in the dispensation of it in his Church 3. The want of excommunicating and censuring wicked men levens the whole lump and makes the whole particular congregation whereof they are accessary to their sinne and to purpose to continue in such a congregation or Church as hath not this power is to purpose to continue in disobedience to the commandement of the Lord Iesus which he hath layd vpon all his disciples to tell the Church in the order by him prescribed 4. Without the censures the Church becomes of Syon Babylon even the habitation of Divels and the hold of all â—owl spirits and a cage of every vnclean and hatefull byrd And so Mr B. in his forenamed catechisâ—â—â— teacheth that the holy and right vse of discipline and of excommunication serves to maintâ—yn the Church and to over throw haeresy that destroyes the foundation and other mischiefs And since haeresy destroyes the foundation as Mr B. teacheth and that there must be haeresies in the Church as Paul teacheth and that the Church cannot possibly be purged of them without excommunication that must needs be absolutely necessary to the Church without which the Church must absolutely necessarily come to naught To these I do adde as a fifth and last Reason that as the glorie of God salvation of them without are most furthered and advantaged by the holy conversation of the members of the Church and on the contrary most disadvantaged and hindered by their vnholy and prophane courses so is the power of excommunication by which solemn ordinance aloâ—e prophanenes impiety are rooted out of absolute necessity for the Churches of Christ. And of this point I desire the reader to take knowledge not onely as of a matter of truth but of conscience also and for practise That which Mr B reputes our nynth errour is our holding all their ministers false Ministers As I have formerly sayd of your Churches so say I here of your ministers that if one be false all are for all are of one constitution In deed Mr B if he might be let alone would save himself much labour this way by restreyning his defence to some few of the most able and conscionable men excluding the rest and therefore in his former book he speaks of such ministers as God hath furnished with gifts to discharge their functioÌ„ with holy graces a blamelesse lifâ— and in his 2. book he desires to be vnderstood of such as are sent of God and set over congregations according to the truth and true meaning of the lawes and book of ordination In which he doth directly exclude the Archbishops Bishops Suffragans Deanes Archdeacons Chauncelours Commissaries and with them all pluralists non-residents vnpreaching and prophane ministers For some of these are not set over congregations at all but over Provinces Diocesse others not in respect of their offices above named and others though they be set over particular Churches yet haue they neyther gifts nor graces for their function But as he were nothing faythfull vnto a city that vndertaking the defence of it should pâ—ck out here and there a corner most strong and defensible and fortify there leaving the body of the city to the invasion spoyl of any that would assault it so neyther is Mr B faythfull to the Ministery of England who pretending the defence of it against vs calls out here and there a man whom he will iustifie and leaves the body and all the principall members of it vndefended And here I would demaund of him why he doth not as well defend all the Ministers in this place as he did even now defend all the people or why a Minister so called though vnapt to teach and of a prophane life is not as well a true though a bad Minister as a Christian so called being ignorant and of a lewd conversation a a true though a bad Christian There is one and the same reason of both though Mr B have more reason for to plead the one then the other considering his own standing If he should plead for the ignorant and prophane Ministers he should deprive himself of all arguments for the justification of the preaching more conscionable sort for he rayseth them all as the
reader may see in both his books from their gifts and aptnes to teach from their holy graces their painfull and zealous preaching their suppressing of Popery and conversion of soules with other the like effects of the truthes of the gospel published and taught by them which things since he dares not affirm of the scandalous vnpreaching Preists he cunningly passeth them by as some small moat faln into the Church by the covetousnes of Much-wormly patrons but contrary to the true meaning of the lawes and without the least default of the Bishops or Archbishops as though the covetous Patrons could present them except the vngodly Bishops had first ordeyned them If he had undertaken the justification but as true though not as good both of the vnpreaching and preaching Ministers he must have sought and produced such Arguments as would haue agreed to both but finding himself able to make no shew at all for the ignorant idle and scandalous sort having no colours to paynt no morter to dawb over those filthy stones no not to any shew he smothers all them though far the greater both in number and authority and in deed the almost onely true formall ministers according to the Church canon and constitution and presents to the reader a few dispersed disgraced tolerated and tolerating persons and vndertakes their defence manifesting himself a right naturall merchant of that great whore in shewing some handfull of tolerable wares thereby to deceive the simple buyer with the whole peice or heap of rotten stuffe which goes with them Now on the contrary if Mr B. should not haue defended men of lewd conversation as true visible matter of the Church and members of Christs body he could not haue justifyed with any colour the Nationall Provinciall Diocesan and Parish Churches or any one of them as true since they were all at the first collected and do still consist for the greatest part of such people and so disposed He therefore takes liberty vnto himself to make such defence and for so much of his Church and Ministery as will serve his turn amongst the deceived multitude and of no more But the mayn point in this place about this matter in hand to be considered of is whether ability to preach be a qualification and so preaching a work necessarily required in the ministery of Engl according to the true meaning of the lawes ecclesiasticall civil and the book of ordination This Mr B. takes for graunted affirmatively and vpon it as a mayn ground builds his whole treatise about this matter but I on the contrary do affirm that this is so is known to be to all that mind it with wisdom good conscience cleane otherwise and that neyther this ability nor practise of preaching is of necessity required to the true and naturall constitution of the English ministery in the meaning of the lawes established in that case And for the confirmation of that I affirm against this mans presumptuous asseveration these proofs suffice First the books of Homilies published and confirmed by law to be read of such ministers as cannot preach do evidently declare that ability to preach is not necessarily required of all in the true meaning of the law 2. By the statute law of the land and in particular by one statute enacted for the prevention of vnworthy ministers though wanting the book I cannot set down the title tyme or order of it he that is eyther a Bachilour of arts in one of the Universities or can give an account of his faith in latin or hath been brought vp in a Bishops house though he haue been his porter or horsekeeper or hath a gift in preaching is capable of orders and may be by the Bishop ordeyned a minister so that by the expresse letter and playn meaning of the law aptnes and ability to teach is not necessarily required in the English ministery If he haue any one of the three former qualifications the law approves of him and being ordeyned the Patron may present him to any congregation in the land whom the Bishop also must institute the Archdeacon induct and the people receive and may be therevnto compelled whither they will or no. Adde vnto these that your canons and constitutions framed by the convocation house and confirmed by the Kings royall assent so being the lawes ecclesiasticall of your Church by your doctrine Mr B. the Act of all the Church though the inferiours come not to consent do not onely approve an vnpreaching Ministery but also lay deep curses and Anathemaes vpon all that deny eyther the truth or lawfulnes of it To this also I might annex that it is a very common doctrine with your Prelates and their Chaplins and faction that preaching is no necessary annexum or appurtenance vnto Orders which they also offer to defend against all gainsayers But it seems you haue speciall reference to the book of ordination let vs therefore see what it makes for you or your purpose That you build vpon I know iâ— these words of the Bishop when he orders his Preist and delivers him the Bible in his hand Take thou authority to preach the word of God and to minister the holy sacraments in this congregation where thou shalt be so appointed The words I hear and acknowledge but the true meaning of the book I deny it to be that every Minister should be able to preach It may as wel be sayd it is the meaning of the book that that every Preist should be ordeyned in the particular congregation where he is to minister bycause of the latter words in this congregation where thou shalt be so appoynted and that he is to minister the discipline of Christ as well as the doctrine and sacraments bycause such words passe betwixt him and the Bishop in another place of the same book It is not the least delusion of Sathan or mistery that such formes of good wordes are reteyned both in the Romish English Church without any truth eyther of purpose or practise in those which vse them for by them the eyes of the simple are easily bleared by such deceivable merchants as right now I spake of though it be not without a speciall providence of God that these the like forms of words should be vsed for the more full conviction and condemnation of them that chuse to be deceived as I have formerly noted in this book To conclude this poynt The reading of the service book in form and maner the celebrating of mariage churching of women burying of the dead conformity and subscription are more essentiall to your ministery and more necessarily requyred by the lawes of your Church both civil and ecclesiasticall then preaching of the gospel is The wearing of the surplice and signing with the crosse in baptism are of absolute necessity without partial dispensation yea I may ad violation of oath by the Bishops whereas preaching of the word is no
such necessary or essentiall duety but a work casuall accessory and supererrogatory which may be done or vndone as the minister is able or willing without any such absolute necessity as is here pretended Herevpon then it followeth that since the preaching of the gospel is no necessary part or property of the office of ministery in the Church of England that that ministery cannot be of Christ as also that the conscionable and effectual preaching of some men is no iustification at all of the office which may and doth consist essentially without it and to which it is but casual accidentall but a commendation of the persons which besydes the natural and necessary parts of their office do so practise and preach And this consideration alone might suffice for answer vnto all Mr B. proofs for the legitimating of the ministery in the Church of England yet will I for the further discovering of them considering the confidence wherwith he propounds them descend to the particulars In his former book he layes down and proves by the scriptures these three sound and mayn grounds touching the ministery 1. that the Lord onely ordeyns offices in his Church 2. that he distinguisheth them one from another that one may not intrude into an others office 3. that he onely prescribes the dutyes to be done in every distinct office and so in the fourth place he comes to the qualification and gifting of men for their functions and so proceeds to other particulars But observe his dealings when he comes to apply and compare the ministery of England to and with these golden rules and by them generally and truely propounded to iustify it in the particulars he passeth them all by in silence as if he had vtterly forgotten them and speaks not one word eyther of the offices themselves or of the distinction of them one from another or the duties to be done in them but comes in the very first place to the guifts and graces of the persons And in so doing like the vnrighteous steward he doth wisely though nothing lesse then faythfully He knowes wel that he cannot fynd in the scriptures the least colour for the offices of Archbishops Bishops Suffragans Deanes Arch-deacons halfe Preists or Engl Deacons nor that the dutyes of celebrating marriage purifying women burying the dead reading the service book in manner and form are layd vpon the ministers of the gospel as dutyes to be done in their offices nor that the Provinciall and Diocesan officers may intrude into their office which are set over particular congregations and deprive them of the power of government nor the Deacons to administer the sacrameÌ„ts nor that any of them may intrude into the office of the civil Magistrate as they all do lesse or more in medling with matters of mariage divorce testaments or with iniuryes as they respect the body or outward man according to your and other mâ—ns exposition of Math. 18. making ministers Magistrates and Eâ—ders in the Church Elders in the gates These things he knew and therefore coÌ„ming to speak of the ministery in England and to apply these general rules to their particular estate he not so much as once mentions eyther the diversity of offices in the Church or their distinction one from another or the several dutyes to be done in them least in naming them he should as it could not have been otherwise have condemned that thing which he would so gladly iustify And this I desire the Reader to note not onely against him but specially against the Ministery he pleads for His Arguments to prove the Ministers of England true Ministers of Christ follow in order The first is because they are not Ministers of Antichrist and that he would prove by 4. Reasons 1. by their doctrine and oath against him 2. because they shew no obedience vnto him 3. because Antichrist himself disclaimeth them as no Ministers condemneth them as haeretiques 4. because Antichrists Ministers are sacrificing and mâ—ssing Preists which they are not Here Mr B. had he done faithfully should have cleared our Arguments by which in sundry treatises published for that purpose we have proved them in respect of their offices entrances administratioÌ„s the Ministers of aÌ„tichrist but thinking it easyer to strike then to fence he passeth by what we have written against them layes down certeyn colourable reasoÌ„s for them which I have summarily set down in order and vnto which I return this answer First and generally that there is one common errour in all his Arguments namely that there is no Antichrist but that great Antichrist the Pope as though there were no more Divils but Beelzebub because he is the cheif of the Divils I would know of this man what he thinks of the clergy in King Hen. 8 dayes that took the oath of supremacy and taught against the Pope opposing him being opposed by him or what he thinks of the Lutheran Ministers that disclaym the Antichrist of Rome as haereticall and are disclaymed by him yet do abhor from the reformed Churches and from al coÌ„munion with them for the mayn truthes they hold touching the sacrament and predestination The thing then is that there are degrees of Antichristianism orders of Antichrists that is of such as are adversaries vnto Christ. In Pauls time that man of sin adversary was got into the temple of God and in Iohns time many Antichrists were come into the world and yet there was then neyther Pope nor masse preist no nor Diocesan or Provinciall Prelate neyther There was in deed Diotrephes who sought for praeheminence to rob the Church of †the power of Christ and so was an Antichrist as there were many other impugning Christ the Lord otherwise but the great Antichrist of Rome was by many degrees and long continuance to be advanced to his throne And as there were lesser Antichrists before him by which he entred so are there also after him and those left behind him in the Church of Engl out of which he is driven And those are the Lord Arch bishops and Lordbishops with their orders and administrations vnto whom whilst the inferiour ministers do swear canonicall obedience they do by oath promise obedience vnto Antichrist and receive his mark and so ministring are the marked servants of Antichrist whom they obey whom they are also by doctrine to defend except their othes and words disagreed From whom if any of them do withdraw this their bounden and sworn obedience by denying subscription vnto his orders or conformity vnto his ceremonies them he silences suspends and deprives as schismaticall if not hereticall and vtterly vnworthy of their and their Churches service And these things the reader may apply to Mr B. 3. first severall Reasons Now to your fourth and last Argument viz that you are no masse-preists my answer is first that you haue the same office with masse preists though reformed of that massing and some
their making as presentation election examination ordinatioÌ„ with imposition of hands and that the exceptions wee take are but about circumstances onely and same manner of doing which do not make a nullity or falsity of the deed done As we do except against the very office it self and against the mayn and most principall works of it by law required as works of will-worship and voluntary religion so do our exceptions against the very calling and enterance of your Ministers evince them sufficiently not to be the true Ministers of Christ. No man takes this honour vnto himself but he that is called of God as Aaron No Christ himself took not this honour to be made the high Prâ—â—st but he that sayd vnto him thou art my sonne this day begate I thee gave it him And if Christ the Lord of his Church did not take vpon him the solemn administration of his office till by the Father he was called thereunto from heaven it is great presumption for any man and he a bold vsurper that so practiseth to take vpon him any office in the Church not being chosen and called thereunto by them which under the Lord haue received this Charter thus to call Ministers which are onely his Church and people And by this doctrine of Mr Bern that faylings in circumstances and manner of doing make not a nullity or falsity of the deed it should follow that if a company of Papists Arians Anabaptists or of any other Haeretiques or idolaters should chose and call a minister though it were a child an idiote yea a woman that after the most prophane and superstitious manner that could be yet this made no nullity or falsity of the action for all were but errours in circumstances and manners of doing Yea by this trifling murther adultery and all the mischeifs in the world might be defended If a private person should take upon him without lawfull authority to be a judge and should condemn the inocent and justify the guilty person all the evill were but in the circumstances of persons judging and judged If a man gaue his body to the wife of another man the evill were but circumstantiall he might haue done it to another person namely his own or proper wife What coÌ„fusion would these excuses of circumstances onely manner of doing things bring over all estates if they were admitted of Of this mischeif I haue spoken pag. 21. 22. 23. 37. The 3. consideration in this matter is about such devises as Mr Bern. hath found for the shifting off such places as prove that the people ought to choose their Ministers The scriptures are Act. 1. and 6. 14. 23. to which also might be added Numb 8. 9. 10. Act. 11. 22. 1 Cor. 16. 3. 2 Cor. 8 19. vvith many others His ansvver is first that these places testify that such examples of practise were then but that there is no praecept for the perpetuity of it This is an vngodly evasion making the commaundements of God of none authority by mens traditions tending to the abolishment of the testament of Christ which he hath confirmed by his death vvherein he hath not onely by practise but also by the doctrine of the Apostles vpon which he hath founded the Church or temple of God for ever established this ordinaunce as a part of the nevv testament and that not vpon some extraordinary temporary and changeable occasion as some thing have been ordered and decreed by the Apostles Act. 15. 1. 2. 28. 29. but vpon ordinary constant grounds and vpon reasons and causes of perpetuall equity such as concern all Churches in all places to the vvorlds end as shall appear hereafter When the Lord Iesus sent forth his Apostles to gather Churches he gave them in charge to teach them to obserue all things whatsoever he had commaunded theÌ„ promising vvithall that in so doing he would be with them alway vntill the end of the world And that amongst other doctrines they taught the people this that they were to choose their officers the scriptures cited do fully testify See Act. 1. 15. 16. 16 23. 6. 2. 3. 5 6. 14. 23. Answerable vnto this is that which the Apostle Paul protesteth to the Elders of Ephesus at Miletum that he was pure from the blood of all men in that he had kept no thing back but shewed them all the counsel of God one part of which counsayl was that the people were to chuse their Officers which by Mr Bernards own graunt they observed to which also adde that the same Apostle writing vnto the Church of Corinth about a matter of order avoweth the things which he writes to be the coÌ„maundements of the Lord and chargeth all them as wilfully ignorant which do not so acknowledge them With what conscience then or colour of reason â—an this man say that this power and right of the people to chuse their Ministers was onely a matter of practise but not of praecept no immediate right from Christ but a graunt vnto them from the Apostles or vpon their exhortation for the tyme It is true he sayth in the same place 1. that the people did not elect or chuse but when the Apostles were amongst them 2. that they did it vpon their exhortation And for the first who denyes but that where faithful and godly officers are the people are by their direction government according to the will of Christ to vse their liberty in this and all the other affaires of the Church So for the second it was so the Apostles exhortation as it was also a divine institution by the spirit of God never reversed but by those vnclean spirits of Divels which like froggs came out of the mouth of the Dragon and out of the mouth of the Beast and out of the mouth of the false Prophet part of the counsel of God never altered or departed from but by them which take counsayl but not of God and lastly one of the commaundements of Christ which the Apostles were bound both to teach and exhort the people to observe never disannulled but by the counter-commaund craft and violence of Antichrist who as one of your own Prelates hath truely observed never ceased till by cursing and fighting he had gotten all into his own hands The insinuation therefore which you make against vs in assuming this liberty vnto vs as a right of our selves is vnjust considering we have it conveyed vnto vs from Christ in the writings of the Apostles wherein they do as expresly teach it vs and as effectually exhort vs vnto it as if they were personally present with vs. And that which the people might then doe in their presence vpon their speach they may now do vpon their writings in their absence and in the absence of all other officers also if the particular Churches be for the present vnfurnished of them Now where he further addeth that the
institution adde of â—heir owne devise Now as the forenamed scriptures like a gratious charter given to this spirituall corporation the Church by the King thereof Iesus Christ do clearly plead the peoples liberty and power of the choise of their Ministers so will I adde vnto them certayn Reasons to prove this order and ordinance to be of morall and perpetuall equity The first is bycause the bond between the Minister and people is the most streyt and near religious bond that may be and therefore not to be entered but with mutuall consent any more then the civill bond of mariage between the housband and wife It makes much both for the provocation of the Ministery vnto all diligence and faithfulnes and also for his comfort in all the tryals and temptations which befall him in his Ministery when he considereth hovv the people vnto whom he ministreth have committed that most rich treasure of their soules in the Lord yea I may say of their very faith ioy to be helped forward vnto salvatioÌ„ to his care and charge by their free and voluntary choise of him It much furthers the love of the people to the person of their Minister and so consequently their obedience vnto his doctrine and government when he is such a one as themselves in duety vnto God and love of their own salvation have made choise of as on the contrary it leaves them without excuse if they eyther perfidiously forsake or vnprofitably vse such a mans holy service and ministration Lastly it is agreable to all equity and reason that all free persons and estates should choose their own servants and them vnto whom they give wages and maintenance for their labour and service But so it is betwixt the people and ministers the people a free people the Church a free estate spirituall vnder Christ the King the Ministers the Churches as Christs servants so by the Churches provision â—o live and of her as labourers to receive wages Thus much of the 4. Argument The 5. followeth the summe whereof is that bycause the Ministers of the English assemblies teach true and sound doctrine in the root and fundamentall points of religion they are therefore the true Ministers of Christ. And that sound doctrine is the triall of a true Minister Mr B. would prove from these scriptures 1 Tim. 4. 6. Ier. 23. 22. Of the vnsound doctrine of your Church and that more specially in the fundamentall points of religion others have spoken at large formerly and something is by me hereafter to be spoken for the present therefore this shall serve that since Christ Iesus not onely as Preist and Prophet but as King is the foundation of his Church and that the visible Church is the kingdome of Christ the doctrines towching the subiects government officers lawes of the Church can be no lesse then fundamentall doctrines of the same Church or Kingdome Which how vnsound they are with you appears in your Canons ecclesiasticall composed for that purpose Which if your ministers preach they preach vnsound doctrine and strike at a mayn pillar of religion viz the visible Church of God which is the pillar and ground of truth as the Apostle speaketh if not then are they schismatiques in and froÌ„ your Church whose solemn doctrines they refuse to publish Now bycause Mr Bern. every where beares himself big vpon the sound doctrines taught by the ministers in England and in this place brings in two scriptures to warraÌ„t their Ministery vpoÌ„ this grouÌ„d let vs a litle consider of the scriptures and of the intent of them and what verdict they give in on his side In the one place the Prophet Ieremy reproves the Preists and Prophets for not dealing faithfully with the people in laying before them their abhominations and Gods judgements due unto the same that so they might haue turned from their evil wayes and from the wickednes of their inventions but for flattering them on the contrary in their iniquities and for preaching peace vnto them for the strengthening of their hands in evil Now if the Ministers in England be measured by these mens line they will appear to ly levell with theÌ„ in a great measure For first the greatest part of them by far declare not the Lords word at all vnto the people but are tonguetyed that way some through ignorance some through idlenes many through pride And of them which preach how many are there mere men-pleasers flattering the mighty with vayn and plausibly words and strengthening the hands of the wicked and with prophane and malicious spirits reviling and disgracing all sincerity in all men adding vnto these evils a wicked conversation by which they further the destruction of many but the conversion of none And lastly for those few of more sound doctrine and vnblameable coÌ„versation let these things be considered First they are reputed schismatiques in the Church of Engl are generally excoÌ„municated ipso facto so wil appear to be to any that compares their practise with the ecclesiasticall lawes of that Church 2. They do with these sound doctrines mingle many errours yea the same things which in the generall they teach and professe they do in the particulars but specially in their practise gainsay deny 3. As they declare the Lords will vnto the people but by halves and keep back a great part of his counsel which they know is profitable for them wherin they would walk with them were it not for fear of persecution so are they ready to de silenced to smother the whole counsel of the L. not to speak one word more in his name vnto the people vpon â—hâ—ir Lord Bishops inhibition which were they perswaded in their consciences they were sent of God I suppose they durst not do Of which more in the seventh Argument Now for that in Tim. 1. Epist. 4. ch ver 6. if the doctrine of the Ministers agree with the doctrine and practise of the Ch they will appear liker to them of whom Paul speaks ver 3. then to Timothy ver 6. If it be sayd that the Church of England forbid not mariage vse of meates absolutely but in certayn respects I answer no more doth the Church of Rome but to certeyn persons and at certeyn times against whoÌ„ notwithstanding all Protestants do apply this scripture and so doth the Church of England forbid them though more sparingly as good reason the daughter come something behind the mother as mariage to fellowes in Colledges and to Apprentices and to all at certeyne tymes especially at Lent during which holy time the eating of flesh is also forbidden and abstinence commaunded and that in incitation of Christs fâ—â—ting for our sakes fourty dayes and fourty nightes and that for a religious vse namely the subdâ—ing of the flesh vnto the spirit for the better obedience of godly mottoâ—s in righteousnes
that is that it comes not to passe without the speciall providence and ordination of God that such and such men should rise vp and preach such and such truthes for the furtherance of the salvation of Gods elect in the places where they come They which preached Christ of envy and strifâ— to ad more afflictions to the Apostles bonds were in this respect sent of God and therefore it was that the Apostle toyed aâ— their preaching How much more they that preach of a sincere mind though through ignorance or infirmity both their place enterance into it be most vnwarrantable Iosephs brethren the Paâ—râ—arks did of hâ—â—red and envy sell him into Aegypt and yet the sâ—ripturâ—s testifie that God sent him thither And the same God which could vse their malice by which he vvas sold into Aegypt for the bodyly good of his people there even he can vse the power of Aâ—tichrist by which the Ministers in the Church of England haue their calling for the spirituall good of his people there And yet neyther the secondary meanes of Iosephs sending nor of the Ministers eyther entry or standing any thing at all the more warrantable The other scripture is 1 Cor. 9. 2. of which I haue spoken something formerly others much more in which for the avoiding of ambiguity I consider these two things First what the Apostle purposeth to prove and 2. the medium or Argument by which he proves his purpose Touching the former it is evident his purpose is to prove himself an Apostle in the most strict and propper sense hovvsoever Mr B. triâ—les contrary to the false insinuations of his adversaries which bare the Churches in hand against him that he was onely an ordinary Minister or at least inferiour to the Apostles and had his calling and other ministrations from and vnder them as appeareth 1 Cor. 9. 1. 2 Cor. 10. 16. and 12. 12. Gal. 1. 1. 17. 18. 19. 2. 6. 7. 8. 9. The Argument to prove this which he also calles the seal of his Apostlâ—ship and his work Mr B. â—akes the Lords effectuall working by his Ministery in the conversion of sâ—ules vnto God Touching which his affirmation I desire first to know whether this conversion of the Corinthians by Paul were to sanctification of life yea or no If he say no he gainsayes the Apostle and his testimony of them who writing vnto the Church at Corinthus confesseth them there to be sanctified in Christ Iesus and Saints by calling and again advertising them that neyther fornicaâ—ours nor theeves nor covetous nor drunckards nor raylers nor extortioners should inherit the kingdoÌ„ of heaven he testifieth of theÌ„ that such were som of theÌ„ but sayth he ye ar washed but ye ar sanctified but ye are iustified in the name of the L. Iesus and by the spirit of our God Besides if Pauls work were not the work of sanctification vpon the Corinthians how will M. B. rayse his Argument for the Ministers in England from their work of sanctification vpon the people there If on the other side he say that the conversion by Pauls ministery was vnto sanctification he contradicts himself in his own distinction of double conversion pag. 307 of his 2. book where he allowes vnto the Romayns Corinthians and Ephâ—sians onely the primary conversion which is to the profession of Christ but not the secondary which is to sanctification of life In which his distinctioÌ„ as he idly imagins a true coÌ„versioÌ„ without sanctification so doth he highly detract from the APOSTLE PAVL as if he had not converted men to sanctification or had gathered Churches of persons unsanctified outwardly and in the judgement of charity 2. How can the simple conversion of men prove both Mr Ber. an ordinary Minister which he would be and Paul no ordinary Minister but an extraordinary Apostle which he would be 3. If conversing be a sign of a true Minister then are both the Bishops in Engl and the Ministers in the reformed Churches true Ministers for without doubt some of both haue bene instrumeÌ„ts vnder God of mens conversioÌ„ but that is impossible considering how the Ministery of the one wheresoever it comes eats vp destroyes the other Yea then should both the Ministers of Engl and we here of the separation who haue as M. B truely answers Mr Smyth renounced our Ministery received from the Bishops and do exercise an other by the peoples choise be true Ministers of Christ for as they there avouch this work of conversion so have wee also here bene made partakers of the same grace of God found hiâ— blessing even that way vpon our Ministery also 4. As it was the most proper work of an Apostle to convert Heathens to the Lord and in Christ Iesus to beget them through the Gospel and so to planâ— Churches not reioycing in the things already prepared by others but to preach the gospel even where Christ had not been named so is it on the other side the Pastors work to feed theÌ„ that are already begotten converted praepared and therefore the Apostle Paul comprehends the whole Pastours and Elders duty vnder the feeâ—ing of the flock all and every part whereof he avoucheth in the iudgement and evidence of charity to be purchased with the blood of Christ. And what is a Pastour but a sheepheard and over what flock is a sheepheard set but over a flock of sheep and who are sheep but they which haue layd asyde their goatish and swynish nature which till men haue learnt to do they are rather swyne and goats then sheep and so are they which keep them rather swyneheards and goteheards then sheepheards But here two exceptions made by Mr Bernard in his second book must be satisfied The former is that the Pastour is to feed such litle ones as are borne in the Church the other that he is to reclaym such vnto sanctification as fall to wickednes To the former exception I do answer First that Paul in the place in hand rayseth no argument at all from any work vpon the â—â—â—lâ— ones born in the Church of Corinth but vpon the men of riper years whom he turned from idolatry to the true God 2. Even â—â—â—lâ— ones born in the Church may in their order and after their manner be sayd to be converted or turned vnto the Lord or born agayne which are all one otherwise being by nature children of wrath born in iniquity and conceived in sin how could they be reputed holy yea how could they possibly be saved or enter into Gods kingdoÌ„ Ioh. 3. 5. And since you graunt Mr B. that the Pastor is to feed those litle ones do you not therein acknowledge they are converted or borne a new In the preface of your book you would haue men begotten after they were born and here you will haue them fed before they be borne Now for those little ones as wee are
to repute them holy in regard of the Lordes covenaunt and do therefore set his seale vpon them so are their parents even from their cradle to bring them vp in instruction information of the Lord and so to prepare them for the publique ministery vnto which if they in their riper yeares give obedience in any measure they are so to be continued in the Church if other-otherwise they are in due time as vnprofitable branches to be lopped of and so cease to be of the Pastours charge Secondly for men falling into wickednes in the Church if they continue obstinate and irreclamable then are they in order to be consured and so the Pastour is discharged of them if on the contrary God vouchsafe them repentance this cannot be called a conversion of them to sanctification but a restoring or recovering of them out of some particular evill or evils into vvhich through infirmity they are falln So that the doctrine stands sound for any thing that Mr Bernard hath sayd or that eyther he or any other man can say that the Pastours office stands in feeding not in converting as also that Pauls scale and work was not the bare conversion of the Corinthians but their conversion from heathenism plantation into a Church and these with the signes of an Apostle even signes and wonders and great works 2 Cor. 12. 12. Lastly that the simple be not deceived and eyther give honour where it is not due or give it not where it is due let them consider that the conversion of a man is no way to be ascribed to the order or office eyther of Apostles or Pastours but onely to the word of God which by the inward work of the spirit is the power of God to salvation to them that beleeve it is the law of the Lord that converts the soule The word of the kingdome is that good seed which being sown in good ground prospereth to the bringing forth of fruit to life whether he that sow it be in a true office or in a false office or in no office at all And though it be true which Mr B. saith in his former book that the Ministers in England do preach as publik Officers of that Church yet doth their Office confer or help nothing at all to the conversion of men It is the blessing of God vpon the mayn truthes they teach not vpon their office of Preisthood which converts which truthes if they taught without their office eyther before they were called to it or being deprived of it would without doubt be as effectuall as they are yea much more by the blessing of God as appears in this that such amoÌ„gst them as make least account of their office formally received from the Prelates are the most profitable instruments amongst the people where on the contrary the professed formalists cleaving vnto their office and order canonically are generally vnprofitable eyther for the conversion or confirmation of any to or in holines To conclude then the turning of men vnto holynes of life is no iustification of your office of ministery or calling vnto it but of such truthes as are taught amongst you which all men are bound to hold and honour as we also do though we disclaym the order and power in and by which they are ministred The seventh and last argument Mr B. takes from certayn properties of true sheepheards layd down Ioh. 10. which he also affirmeth the Ministers of the Church of England have the first whereof is that they go in by the dore Iesus Christ that is by his call and the Churches which as he sayth he hath proved at large In so saying he speaks at large let him prove that the Bishop or Patron or eyther of them is in Christs place set by him to chuse Ministers or that they are the Church to which he hath committed the power of calling and choosing them and answer the Reasons brought to the contrary otherwise his large proving will appeare but a large boasting and he will give men occasion to remember the proverb It is good beating a proud man The 2. property wherewith he investeth them is that the porter openeth vnto them by which porter Mr Smith means the Church for which Mr B reviles him out of measure making the porter invisibly Gods spirit visibly the authority committed by the Church vnto some for admitting men into the house the Church of God which sayth he is a sensible exposition according to the custome with us and in Iudaea As there are many true ministers in respect of men which enter not in at all by the spirit of God or any motion of it as it was with Iudas is with all hypocrites who for by-respects take that calling vppon them so is Mr Smithes exposition making the Church the porter far more probable then yours who make the porter the authority of the Church coÌ„mitted to some for the admission of men Is not the porter a person rather then a thing And who that hath but common sense will not rather by the porter vnderstand the person or persons having authority then the authority which he or they have And if you Mr B. had but remembred what you write of the properties of the Church pag. 237. 138. making as here you do the porter or authority of the Church a property of a sheepheard you would I suppose in modesty have forborn the charging of Mr Smith to have his braynes intoxiâ—ated by his new wayes to be madded by his own fantasies in religion for wryting in this poynt as he doth And for the thing it self it is evident that Christ Iesus is properly the sheepheard of the sheep here spoken of and that therefore the authority of the Church can be no porter for hi enterance or admission I do therefore rather think that by the porter is meant God the father whose care and providence is ever over his flock who therefore hath called and appoynted his sonne Iesus Christ to be that good sheepheard who gave his life for his sheep And if you will apply this to ordinary Pastours and their calling then sure by the porter must be meant such as have received this liberty power from Christ by the hands of his Apostles for the chusing and appoynting of ministers which I am sure of all others are not the Romish or English Bishops Christ would never have the wolves to appoynt his sheep their sheepheards The 3. property of good sheepheards which you chalenge to your selves is that they call their own sheep by name that is they take notice of their people of their growth in religion â—â—d do abyde with them diligently watching over their flockes as by true and faithfull promise made in the open congregation they be bound in their ordination It must here be observed as before that Christ speaks onely of himself properly for of him onely it can be sayd that the
sheep aâ— his own the people are very improperly called the Ministers sheep Christ sayth not vnto Peter feed thy sheep but my sheep 2. To take your own exposition Mr B. how can your Praelates whom in the 6. Argument you make sheepheards call their sheep by name or take notice of watch over their whole Diocesan and Provinciall flocks Yea if your self or any one amongst you take notice of your people as the flock of Christ and of their growth in religion they take notice of that which is not I speak of the flock though I doubt noâ— but there are some sheep straying from the right fould in your heards Of the abyding of your Ministers with their flockes wee shall speak hereafter onely this in the mean while that considering how many flocks you your self Mr B. have forsaken me thinks you should haue forborn in wisdome to make this one property of a true sheepheard A 4. property of a good sheepheard you say you have which is to lead forth your sheep viz from pasture to pasture from milk to strong meat c. There are many faire and wholsome pastures in the feild of Gods word into vvhich you do not lead your sheep no nor so much as point to them with the finger neyther indeed dare you because they are hedged in with humain authority your statutes canons ecclesiastical Nay all your care is to keep your people from the knowledg of them least they should break through those thorny hedges at which you stick The 5. and last property for which you commend your selues is your going before the flockes that is in godly conversation As I acknowledge the vnblameable conversation of many amongst you so do many Papists Anabaptists and other vile haeretiques and schismatiques walk as vnblameably this vvay as you and yet are they not true sheepheards of Christs sheep But by the sheepheards going before the sheep in this place is meant as I take it partly the care of the minister in governing the people partly his constancy in danger to which he exposeth himself in the forefront and in these respects he is sayd to goe before the flock Now fâ—ll â—ll do these properties agree vvith the Ministers for whome Mr Bernard pleadeth Who as they govern not the people at all but are themselves the people with them vnder the government of their Diocesan and Provinciall Pastours so do they in the tyme of danger most perfidiously forsake their flockes wherein their sin is the greater considering the faythfull promise which you your self testify they make in the open congregation diligently to watch over their flockes Now howsoever that which hath been spoken vvill appear I doubt not sufficient to force Mr B. from this 10 of Iohn yet bycause he dâ—â—ms it so strong an hold for him as we cannot overthrow it we will adventure a litle further vpon it and see whither there be not to be found in it sufficient of the Lords munition not onâ—ly to batter the wall but even to rase the foundation of the ministery of England for which he pleadeth First then all true sheepheards are set over flocks of sheep to feed them But the ministers in England were not set over flocks of sheep but indeed over heards of swine goates and dogges with some few sheep scattered amongst them Which the wild filthy beastes push worry and defile Therfore the ministers of England are not true sheepheards 2. True sheepheards enter in by the dore Christ v. 2. 7. that is by the meanes which his Apostles at his appoyntment haue commended vnto the Churches act 6. 2. 3. 4. 5. 14. 23. But the ministers in England enter into their charges by the presentatioÌ„ of a Patron the institutioÌ„ of a Praelate the inductioÌ„ of an ArchdeacoÌ„ which is not the dore opened by Christ for the sheepheard to enter by but a lather set vp by Antichrist wherby to clime over the fold 3. The shepheard is by his office to feed and govern the flock as Mr B himselfe testifieth from this scripture But as seeding that is reaching or preaching vnto the people as is his meaning is no part of the parish Preists duety but a casual and super-erogarory work so are they altogether stript of government and therefore no true sheepheards of Christs flocks Lastly the good sheepheard seing danger towards the sheep will rather give his life then â—lee where on the contrary the hireling sâ—ing the wolf comming sleeth because he is an hyreling ver 11. 12. 13. wherevpon it followeth that the ministers Mr B. cheifly meanes leaving their flocks vpon the Bishops vngodly suspensions and deprivations as vpon the baâ—king of a wolfe do evidently proclaym to all the world that they are no good sheepheards but hyrelings And so far am I perswaded of hundreds amongst them that I doubt not but if they thought in their harts they were by Christs appointment set in their charges and by him coÌ„maunded there to minister they would never so fowly as they do forsake their flocks vpon the suspension or deprivation of a prophane Praelate or Chauncelour for refusing conformity or subscription to their popish devises When DAVID was in his greatest trials and that his enemies laboured most eyther to frustrate or deprive him of his kingdom and so to turn his glory into shame his comfort was that God had set him as his King vpon Syon the mountayn of his holynes and that the Lord had chosen or separated him vnto himself Likewise vvhen Iakob was in that great both danger and fear of his brother Esau the thing that susteyned him was that God had sayd vnto him return unto thy country and to thy fathers kindred I will do the good And as it was with these two so is it with all the servants of God both in their generall speciall callings When they haue assurance by the word and spirit of God that he is the authour of their calling then do they with patience and comfort of the H. Ghost suffer such trials and afflictions as are incident therevnto where on the contrary wanting thiâ— assurance they are soon discouraged even in the good things they do if persequutions do arise and being without the Lords calling no marvayl though they want his comfort The Apostle Paul advertiseth the Elders of Ephesus that they are made overseers or Bishops of the flock by the H. Ghost and thereupon takes occasion to exhort them to all vigilancy faythfulnes against the invasion of such wolves aâ— should enter in to devour the flock Now if those men of whom I speak be perswaded that they at placed in their charges by the H. Ghost how do they forsake theÌ„ not being by him displaced or do they think the H. Ghost lisplaceth them for their weldoing or for their refusing to do evil as to subâ—ctibe conform and the like They speak of the seal
circumcision was admitted into the teÌ„ple into which no mâ—n vncircumcised might enter and to the participation of the Passeover whereof none vncircumsed person might eat But that any person should by vertue of his office of Preisthood received in that or the like apostasie have entered into the Lord sanctuary there to have done the Preists office vpon any repentance whatsoever had been an intollerable vsurpation sacrilegious invasion of the holy things of God yea the sonnes of Aaron themselves vnto whom the Preisthood did of right apperteyn if they thus went astray from the Lord after idols were for ever debarred from doing the Preists office notwithstanding any repentance they could make and were to beare all their lives long their iniquity and shame Now by that which hath been spoken of circumcision and the preisthood vnder the law the reader may easily observe the difference betwixt Baptism and the Ministery now The particular application for brevities sake I forbear 4. and lastly the difference betwixt Baptism and the Ministery is exceeding great in respect of that speciall and most necessary relation which the MINISTERY aboue Bapâ—ism hath vnto the CHVRCH whether we respect the enterance into it or continuance in it Wee do read in the scriptures that holy men called thereunto of GOD might lawfully administer BAPTISM vnto fit persons without the consent or cognition of the Church as PHILIP did the SAMARITANS and the EUNUCH ANANIAS SAUL PETER CORNELIUS PAUL LIDIA and the IAYLOUR but now for the appointing of Ministers without the Churches consent and choise that did they not as the scriptures testify M. B. himself coÌ„fesseth And as the enterance of ordinary officers of which we speak doth necessarily praesuppose a Church by whose election they are to enter so doth their coÌ„tinuance require a Church in which as in a subject they must subsist to which they must minister For since the oâ—â—iâ—â— of a Bishop is a work a man is no loÌ„ger a Bb. theÌ„ he worketh It is not with the office of ministery as it is with the order of knighthood that once a Minister ever a Minister The Popish Character is a mere fiction brought in for the confirmation of the sacrament of orders as they call it Whensoever the scriptures do mention Elders or Bishops eyther in respect of theyr calling or ministration they still speak of them as in or of such and such particular Churches and none otherwise And to imagine an Elder or Bishop without a Church is to imagine a Constable without a parrish or hundred a Maior or Alderman without a Corporation or a publique officer without some publique person or society whose officer he is Herevpon also it followeth that if the Church be dissolved by death apostacy or otherwise the Minister ceaseth to be a Minister bycause the Church ceaseth in relation vnto which vnder Christ his Ministery consisteth but on the contrary a baptized person remayns still baptized though the whole Church yea all the Churches of the world be dissolved so long as God his Christ remayn the same into whose name he hath been baptized And of the same consideration is it that a Minister may for some scandalous sin be degraded and deposed from his Ministery as I have formerly shewed as all Churches practise and so that which vvas formerly given him is taken from him and he no more a Minister then he was before his caling yea if he remayn obstinate in his sin he is to be excommunicated so ceasing to be a member he must needs cease to be a Minister of the Church But neyther do the scriptures mention neyther did any Church ever attempt the vn-baptizing of a baptized person And as a man may justly be deposed from his Ministery so may he in cases lawfully depose himself and lay it down as if by the hand of God he be vtterly disabled from ministring as it may come to passe oft tymes doth but for a man to lay down his baptism for any such infirmity were impious as it were sacrilegious for the Church to deprive him thereof To these considerations I might also adde that if a man forfeyt his Ministery and so be deprived of it eyther by deposition or excommunication and be afterwards vpon his repentance judged capable of it he must have a new calling or a confirmation at the least answerable vnto a calling so must it also be with him that is translated from an inferiour office to a superiour but in baptism there may be no such changing or repetition The practise were haereticall Adde vnto these things that as a man once baptized is alwayes baptized so is he in all places and Churches where he comes as a baptized person to enjoy the coÌ„mon benefits of his baptism to discharge the coÌ„mon duties which depend vpon it But a Pastour is not a Pastour in every Church where he comes vpon occasion neither can he require in any other Church saving that one over which the H Ghost hath set him that obedience maintenance and other respect which is due to the officers from the people neyther stands he charged with that Ministery and service which is due to the people from the Officers if you Mr B. say otherwise you make every Pastour a Pope or vniversall Bishop Epaphras though he were at Rome was one of them that is a Minister of Collossus so were the Elders of Ephesus though they were at Miletum the Elders of Ephesus onely but of none other Church and charged to feed the flock over which the holy Ghost had set them but none other for over none other had the holy Ghost set them And as a Maior out of his Corporation a Shiriffe out of his County a Constable out of his Parish or Hundred is no Maior Shiriffe or CoÌ„stable but in relation to that particular body of which he is neither can he perform any proper act of his office without vsurpation so neyther is a Bishop or Elder a Church Officer save in his owne particular Church and charge and in relation vnto it neyther can he without ambitious vsurpation perform any proper work of his Office or Ministèry save in that Church by and to which in his ministration he is designed And thus much to shew the difference betwixt that relative ordinance of the Ministery and that personall ordinance of Baptism in the Church as also to prove that we do lawfully and with good warrant disclaym and renounce the Ministery received in Rome England notwithstanding we reteyn the Baptism received both in the one and the other To which also I could adde if there were need or vse both the judgement of the learned at home abroad and the practise of the reformed Churches where we live for the continuing of the Baptism in Rome received but no more of the Masse preists for Ministers then of the Masse it self for which they were ordeyned But it is
if there be any in that Ch by and to which the latter are called so neyther doth the age wherein you first instance draw any such straight line of succession or conclude any such necessity of ordination by praecedent officers as you praetend And that you may more clearly see this you must take notice of your errour in affirming that God raysed vp extraordinary Teachers till the law The first born in the families were the ordinary Teachers ordinarily succeeding til the Levites were appointed the office of Preisthood being annexed to their birthright In which respect it was that God told Cain his brothers desire should be vnto him and that he should rule over him For which purpose see also Gen. 21. 9. 25. 31. 32. 33. 34. 49. 4. with Deut. 33. 8. Adde vnto this also that the Lord would haue every first born amongst the chidren of Israel consecrated vnto him that the Priests or as it is better turned the administers of the holy things which come neare to the Lord should sanctify themselves and that Moses sent the young men of the children of Israel to offer burnt offrings and sacrifices vnto the Lord. But most evidently doth this appear in that the Levites were appointed to teach the people and to offer sacrifices and to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of the congregation for the first born that openeth the matrice among the children of Israell And as the first born were the ordinary Teachers successively before the law in whose stead the Levites afterwards were appointed so was this order in sundry persons and vpon sundry occasions broken and interrupted As in CAIN for his murder in TERAH for his Idolatry in ISMAEL for his mocking in ESAV for his prophanenes To descend lower When the order of succession in the Preisthood was so far estalished as that it did divolve by the word of God from the parents vpon the children as by an haereditary right yet then wee see it was sometimes for the sinns of men broken off and interrupted Take for instance Eli and his house The Lord God â—f Israel had sayd that his house the house of his father should walk before him for ever but now the L saith is shall not be for them that honour me I will honour and they that dispise me shal be despised Behold the dayes shall come that I will cut off the arm of thy fathers house c. then he addes and I will stir me vp a faithful Preist that shall do according to myne hart and according to my mynde c. which was also especially accomplished in Salomons dayes when the Preisthood was translated froÌ„ Abiathar to Zadock 1 King 2. 35. To the same purpose tends that which the Prophets Ezechiel Hose threaten and denounce against other Preists of Israel for their idolatrie and other iniquities The Levites sayth the Lord which went back from me when Israel went astray shall bear their iniquity and they shall not come neare vno me to do the office of the Preist vnto me c. And againe by Hose bycause thou hast refused knowledge I wil also refuse thee that thou shalt be no Preist to mee and seing thou hast forgotten the Law of thy God I will also forget thy children I will change their glory into shame For the shutting vp of this point the Lord Iesus himself comming to repayr the decayed places of Sion to enlarge the walles of Ierusalem did not chuse his Apostles out of the nuber of the Preists other ordinary Teachers but els where They in deed supposed as the Prelates Preists now do that the Lord could neyther propagate nor mainteyn his Church but by them bycause they were the childreÌ„ of AbrahaÌ„ but Iohn Baptist tells them all other with theÌ„ that hang vpoÌ„ the same or like lyne of personall succession which they did that except they prevent the Lords wrath and bring forth fruits worthy amendement of life he will with the ax of his wrath hew them down cast them as vnfruitfull trees into the fyre raysing vp vnto Abraham seed and children of the very stones If now the Lord haue thus ever and anon from the beginning of the world chaunged the course and current of succession for these sinns namely murther idolatry persequution profanenes and the like is it possible that the stream should still run by the Lords appointment without stop or change for so many hundred yeares in the Romish Church where these and all other sinns and iniquities haue abounded and where they all as so many members coÌ„pact together make the man of sum coÌ„plete Is the Lord lâ—sâ—â— zealous now a dayes then in times past of the honour of his name and ordinances Or hath S. Peter procured some Charter of impunity for his successours the Popes of Rome what impieties soever they haue faln or can fall into Or doth this man think by any plea he can make for them to hold them in possessioÌ„ of that right which they haue so notoriously forfeyted so many wayes and for so many yeres and whereof the word of God hath so evidently disseyzed them For conclusion of this particular the Apostle Paul foretelling the generall apostasy of that man of sin the child of perdition advancing himself above all that is called God or is worshipped addeth that the Lord will destroy him with the spirit of his mouth In which words we are to observe first the vniversality of the apostasie advancing it self above all that is called God and secondly the manner of restauration of the Church which is to be by the Lord the spirit of his mouth where if it were to be by the ministers of Antichrists making or the Popes calling theâ— should the man of sinne consume himself Ioyn with this scripture another of the same nature wherein the H Ghost speaking by the mouth of Iohn of the same generall apostacy foretells how God would rayse up his two witnesses which should prophesy against the beast which came out of the bottomelesse pit and against all the abhominations of Antichrist whereas by the doctrine of successioÌ„ no witnesses should be raysed up against Antichrist but by himself Now by these scriptures instances it appears that the stream of succession hath not run so currantly from the dayes of Adam hitherto as Mr B praetendeth but that it hath sundry tymes been stopped and turned by that most specially in the Romish apostasy The thing I purpose in the next place is to prosequute certayn Arguments of Mr Smythes and the rather bycause himself hath in a measure forsaken this truth with others adding also some others vnto them to prove that the ministery and so other the holy things of God is not tyed by Christ to the succession of office or order but of faith The Arguments I vvill take vp as Mr Bernard
ministeriall power from the Cardinals cannot give it to them and so to the rest of the Clergy in Rome and England neyther can it descend from Christ through the Apostles and so through him to the other inferiour ministers but as in a chayn if the highest link be broken the rest which hang vpon it must needs fall So if there be a breach of this chayn of succession from the Apostles to the ministery of Rome and of England which descends of it lineally in the higest link the Pope all the rest of the chayn that hangs vpon it except it be otherwise vpheld must needs fall flat vpon the ground It is true which Mr Ber answers that election and succession by ordination may stand together in the ministery but in this case it cannot except the Pope should by the election of the Cardinalls or others ordeyn his succession whilest himselfe survived Now in this last answer Mr B challengeth his adversary to be wilde in wandering and to have lost his quaestion in concluding that the doctrine of succession is a false doctrine where he should prove that Christs power is not given to the principall members But this challenge is both vnjust vnadvised Vnjust bycause succession from the popish Church and Clergy is made by M Ber in his former book the foundation of the ministery of England and so of the Church the Church by his affirmation being made by the ministers and the Ministers by such Bishops as were ordeyned in the popish Church Vnadvised bycause these two poynts do depend ech vpon other necessarily For if Christs power be tyed to the officers whether principall or inferiour then must it come to the ministery and Church of England by succession if it come not by succession from or by the Pope and his Clergy then must it come by the same successioÌ„ of fayth doctrine vnto the children of Abraham two or three or more faithfull persons joyned together in the covenant and fellowship of the gospel And for the quaestion in Mr Bernards own words remitting the Reader to such places as prove that a company of faythfull people in the covenant of the gospell though without officers are a visible Church that they haue immediate right to the holy things of God and that the keyes for bynding and loosing were given to Peters confession I will adde onely one Argument and so proceed It hath been sundry tymes observed and proved by the scriptures that the officers of the Church are the servants of the Ch and their office a service of the Lord and of his Church Wherevpon it followeth necessarily that what power the officers have the body of the Church hath first and before them the very light of nature coÌ„mon sense teaching it that what power or authority soever the the servants of any body or persons have the body or persons whose servants they are must have it first and they by theÌ„ And for this purpose let it be further observed that no power at all came vnto the Church of the Iewes by the Levites not the vse of the sacrament of circumcision no nor of the very sacrifices which were offered by the first born in the family and that even after the peoples comming out of Egypt vnder the hand of Moses till Levi was called to the Preisthood Ex. 13. 2. 24. â— I proceed If the Ministery of the reformed Churches must be by succession or ordination by Popish Bishops then must the same office of Ministery be continued from the one Church to the other as indeed it was withall the Ministers of the Church of England at the first who without any new eyther calling or ordination which depends vpon it continued their office and place formerly received there being onely a reformation of some of the grossest evills like the healing of Iobs soars as Mr B. speaketh as the office of Iustice-ship or the like in the common wealth may be continued the same in the same persons individually though by edict of Parliament or other superiour power there be a surceasing of some mayn act of it Further to ty the Ministery thus to succession is to ty the Lords sheep to submit to no other sheepheards but such as the wolves haue appointed And if a company of Gods people in Rome or Spayn should come out of Babylon and no consecrated Preist amongst them they must by this doctrine enjoy no Ministers but such as the Romish wolves will ordeyn do according to their Popish prophane order To these things I might also adde that look what power any of the Popes Clergy receive from him the same he takes from them deprives them of where they withdrew their obedience or separate from that Church as also that the ordinations in Rome by their own Canons are very nulliâ—yes and many the the like exceptions pleaded by learned protestants against the Romish preisthood and this Romish doctrine of succession but that which hath been spoken is sufficient in the generall and I hasten to the third and last meanes of the three by which Gods people after Antichrists defection are to injoy the ministery and other of Christs ordinances And for our better proceeding herein I will first consider what ordination is and 2. how far the brethren may goe by the scriptures and the necessary consequences drawn from them in this and the like cases in the first planting of Churches or in the reducing of them into order in or after some generall confusion The Prelates and those which levell by their lyne do highly advance ordination and far above the administration of the word sacraments and prayer making it and the power of excommunication the two incoÌ„municable prerogatives of a Bishop in their vnderstanding above an ordinary minister But surely herein these cheif ministers do not succeed the cheif ministers the Apostles except as darknes succeeds light and Antichrists confusion Christs order Where the Apostles were sent out by Christ there was no mention of ordination their charge was to go teach all nations and baptize them and that the Apostles accounted preaching their principall work and after it baptism prayer the scriptures manifest And if ordination had been in those dayes so pryme a work surely Paul would rather haue tarryed in Crete himself to have ordeyned Elders there and haue sent Titus an inferiour officer about that inferiour work of preaching then haue gone himself about that leaving Titus for the other But bycause Mr Bernard with whom I deal when he writes most advisedly preferrs preaching to the first place and the administration of the sacraments and prayer to the next passing by ordination as not worthy the naming amongst these principall works I wil therefore leave it to be honoured by them whom it most honoureth and for whose ease and profit it best serveth and will consider in what place he setteth it He then pleading that as well the ordination as the
baptism received in Rome is to be held makes ordination the calling of the Ministers all one Wherein as he vnfitly compares together things not to be compared to wit baptism into the name of the true God ordinatioÌ„ into a false office except he hold a masse-preisthood a true office so doth he vnadvisedly confound a part with the whole yea the last and least part as ordination is and which doth indeed depend vpon the peoples lawfull election as an effect vpon the cause by vertue of which it is justly administred may be thus described or considered of vs as the admission of or putting into possession a person lawfully elected into or of a true Office of Ministery For example the Maior Baylife or other cheif officer in a priviledged City or Corporation is chosen by the people to his office but withall must be entred and inaugurated with some solemn ceremony as the giving of the Cities keyes or sword into his hand or the like by his praedecessour So is it with the Ministers the officers of this spirituall corporation the Church the right vnto their offices they have by election the possession of theÌ„ by ordination with the ceremony of imposition of hands The Apostle Peter advertising the disciples or brethren that one so fitted as is there noted was to be made in the room of Iudas a witnesse with the eleven Apostles of the resurrection of Christ when two were by them praesented such as were fit and by them so deemed did with the rest praesent them two and none other to the Lord that he by the iÌ„mediate directioÌ„ of the lot might shew whether of them two he had chosen In like maner the twelve being to institute the office of Deaconry in the Ch at Ierusalem called the multitude of the disciples together and informed them what manner of persons they were to chuse which choise being made by the brethren accordingly and they so chosen praesented to the Apostles they forthwith ordeyned them by vertue of the election so made by the brethren To these ad that the Apostles PAUL BARNABAS being therevnto called by the H. Ghost did passe from Church to Church and from place to place and in every Church where they came did ordeyn them Elders by the peoples election signified by their lifting vp of hands as the word is and as the vse was in popular elections throughout those countries Now the Apostles were in a manner straungers vnto them coÌ„ming as it were to one place over night and ready to depart the next morning or at least tarrying a very small whyle in every Church as doth appear both by the course of the story by the many severall places they passed to fro those some of them distant one from another a great space both by sea and land So that neyther the liberty of the very Apostles was so great in ordeyning as was the peoples in chusing neither were they to ordeyn but such as the other choose nor but to ordeyn them except just exception were against them neyther was their ordination so much as the others election no more then possession is so much as right neyther did the Apostles in their ordination rely so much vpon their own as vpon the peoples knowledge and experience of the men which were to be called into office Besides these things though it appear that Paul Barnabas were ordeyned by laying on of hands to that speciall work appointed them by the H. Ghost and that the Euangelists were so ordeyned and so the Bishops or Elders in the Churches by the Apostles and Euangelists yet read we of no such solemnity performed by Christ upon his Apostles when he called them nor by Peter or the Apostles at the choise of Mathias Act. 1. but being by the people praesented with Ioseph and by the Lord singled out by lot he was by a common consent counted with the eleven Apostles Wherevpon also some reformed Churches haue thought that this solemn ordination by imposition of hands is of no such necessity but that it might be vsed or not vsed indifferently and so have practised But the judgement and plea when they deal with vs of the most forward men in the Land in this case I may not omit which is that they renounce disclaym their ordination by the Prelates and hold their Ministery by the peoples acceptation Now if the acceptation of a mixt company vnder the Praelates government as is the best parish assembly in the kingdom wherof the greatest part haue by the revealed will of God no right to the covenant ministery or other holy things be sufficient to make a minister then much more the acceptation of the people with vs being all of them joyntly and every one of them severally by the mercy of God capable of the Lords ordinances These things thus opened I come in the next and last place to manifest what liberty the scriptures just consequence good reason do allow the people for the reducing themselves into the order and under the Ministery of Christ after some generall cofusion such as the Papacy was and is And for this purpose I entreat the reader to recognize with me the points lately mentioned and proved in the former part of the book namely that a company of faithful people in the covenant of the Gospel are a Church though without officers that this Church hath interest in all the holy things of God within it self and immediately vnder Christ the head without any forreyn assistance that in cases a private person or brother in such a Church may do a necessary work of an officer lastly that the keyes of the kingdom were given to and the Church to be built vpon the rock of Peters confession Math. 16. And so I come to the point it self I do then acknowledge that where there are already lawfull officers in a Church by and to which others are called there the former vpon that election are to ordeyn and appoint the latter The officers being the ministers of the Church are to exequute the determinations and iudgements of the Church vnder the Lord the Censures of deposition and excommunication by pronouncing the sentence of iudgment and by it as by the sword of the spirit drawn out cutting of the officer from his office and the member from the bodie and all coÌ„munion with it So are they to exequute the peoples election by pronouncing the person elect to his office charging him with the faythfull execution of it with imposition of hands and prayer And indeed ordination in the calling of the ministers is properly the exequutioÌ„ of electioÌ„ But as in a civil corporation or City though the Maior Baylif or other cheif officer elect be at his â—nterance and inauguration to receive at the hands of his praedecessour the sword or keyes of the City or to have some other solemn Ceremony by him performed vnto him
yet if eyther there be no former as at the first or that the former be dead or vpon necessity absent when his successour entereth then is this Ceremony and work performed by some other the fittest instrument neyther need that City borrow an officer of another City neyther could he intermedle there without vsurpation though both the Corporations haue the same Charter vnder the same King so is it in this spirituall Corporation and City of God the Church the former officers if there be any in that particular congregation are to ordeyn such as succeed but if none be to be found this Corporation is not to goe to the next to borrow an officer or two but may vse such fit persons as shee hath for that service so absolutely necessary neither may the officers of an other Corporation do the acts of their office in that except they be eyther Apostles or Evangelists and have generall charges or rather except they will make themselues Popes as indeed this exorbitant and roving course makes as many vniversall Bishops in respect of power so likewise of exequution if there be occasion as there are officers in all the Churches But to come vnto the scriptures it hath been formerly noted that the first born in the family before the law did perform the preists office in whose place the Levites were afterwards substituted Now as the Preists of the Levites did not enter vpoÌ„ their office without solemn consecration nor the ministers of the new testament vpon theirs without solemn ordination or appoyntment so neyther can it be conceived that the first borne did take vnto themselues the honour to administer without some solemnity performed to or vpon them by their predecessours so we read that when Isaak conveyed the blessing and birthright to Iacob he kissed him as did Iacob also lay his right vpon the head of Ephraim when with the blessing he did transfer the birthright to him from Manasseth But if the father of the family were suddainly taken away or dyed before his first borne were capable of this ministration then could he not thus solemnly resigne or transmit to him the office or work but there must needs have been some interposition of another if any solemn admission at all were required To come lower When the Levites were given at the first to the Lord as a redemption of the first borne for the service of the tabernacle wee do find that the people did by putting their hands vpon them offer and ordeyn them as their shake offering and gift vnto the Lord. But this liberty which the people here vsed by the Lords appoyntment at the first and when the first officers were consecrated in the Church we do not read to have continued or so to have been vsed in the consecration of the succeeding Levites ordinarily And as the Lord would have the people to vse this speciall liberty in the first institution and consecration of the Levites in that Church which notwithstaÌ„ding they vsed not in the ordinary consecration of such Levites as followed when the Ch was once furnished with officers so doth the holy Ghost give testimony of the same or the like liberty vsed by them afterwards vpon a speciall occasioÌ„ and in that general confusioÌ„ which fel vpoÌ„ the whole Church when the Preists were slayn and the Ark of God was taken by the Philistims It is then noted 1 Sam 7. 1. that vpon the message from the men of Bethshemesh the men of Kirjath-iâ—arim came and took vp the ark of the Lord and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill and that they sanctified Eleazar his Sonne to keep the Ark of the Lord. And the very same word which is vsed Exod 29. 1. where the Lord bids Moses consecrato the sonns of Aaron to be Preists is vsed in this place where the men of Kirjath-iâ—arim sanctified Eleazar to keep the ark sanctification consecration being all one in substance and the word the same in the originall Lastly the Apostle Paul writes to the Churches of Galatia to reject as accursed such ministers whomsoever as should preach otherwise then they had already received and the same Apostle wrytes to the Church at Colossus to admonish Archippus to take heed to his ministery so did Iohn also to the Church of Ephesus coÌ„mending it for examining and so consequently for silencing such as pretended themselues Apostles and were not as also to the Church of Thiatyra reproting it for suffering vnsilenced the false Prophetesse lezabell now as these things did first and principally concern the officers who were in these and all other thinges of the same nature to goe before and governe the people so were the people also in their places interessed in the same buesines and charge neyther could the officers sin if they were or should haue been corrupt or negligent discharge the people of their duety in the things which concerned them but they were bound notwithstanding to see the commandements of the Apostles and of the Lord Iesus by them exequuted accordingly And if the people be in cases and when their officers fayl thus solemnly to examine admonish silence and suppresse their teachers being faulty and vnsound then are they also by proportion where officers faile to elect appoynt set vp and over themselues such fit persons as the Lord affoardeth theÌ„ for their furtherance of fayth and salvation In the 2. place I do adde the conclusion vnto the praemises lately proved that since the people of God going out of Babylon must come vnder the Lords order and officers and may not receive them by succession from the Pope and his Clergy nor are to expect them immediatly from heaven therefore they themselves are to call and appoynt them for the Lords and their owne service vnder him 3. Vpon the former ground that the Lords people must come out of Babylon build a new the Lords temple in Ierusalem even themselves their soules and bodyes for a spirituall house and that the Levites and Preists of the Lord must minister there it is necessary we consider by the scriptures what course hath been takeÌ„ formerly for the furnishing of this house thus newly built of the Church newly constituted with officers where they have wanted Wee do then read that when that ancient and mother Church of the Iewes was to be furnished with Officers the Lord commaunâ—â— Moses to assemble all the congregation of the children of Israell and to direct them how to offer and freely to giue vnto the Lord for a shake-offering the Levites for the first born to execute the service of the Lord. Afterwards when in the Apostles time one was to he chosen in the room of Iudas Peter standing vp in the middes of the disciples informed them in their liberty and directed them in the use of it for the praesenting of two of which the Lord would single out one to succeed him Likewise
there is the right of calling and ordeyning the ministers of the gospell bycause we must fly the enemyes of the gospell as an Anathema And besides sayth he if wee should desyre of them the ceremony of ordinatioÌ„ they would not giue it except we would bind ourselves to renounce the true doctrine other wicked boÌ„ds would they cast vpoÌ„ vs. Neyther therefore ought the true Ch to be without Pastors without the keyes without the voyce of the gospell without forgivenes of â—inns bycause the tyranny of the Bishops eyther drives away or refuses to appoynt fit Ministers And agayn it is the confusioÌ„ of order to seek sheepheards froÌ„ the wolves And lastly this hath ever been the right of the true Church to chuse and call out of her own assembly fit Ministers of the gospel Thus far hâ— In the third place Peter Martyr shall speak who vpon the book of Iudges ch 4. vers 5. sayth thus Touching the ecclesiasticall Ministery we have signified before that it may not be committed to women that they are not fit for it But now wee adde that in the planting of Churches anew when men want which should preach the gospell a woman may perform that at the first but so as when she hath taught any company that some one man of the faythful be ordeyned which may afterwards minister the sacraments teach and do the Pastours duety faithfully 4. Zanchy vpon the fifth to the Ephesians treating of Baptism propounds a quaestion of a Turk comming to the knowledge of Christ and to sayth by reading the new Testament and withall teaching his family converting it and others to Christ and being in a countrey whence he can not easily come to Christian Churches whether he may baptise them whom he hath converted to Christ he himself being vnbaptized He answers I doubt not of â—â— but that he may and withall provide that he himself be baptized of one of the three converted by him The Reason be gives 〈…〉 bycause he is a Minister of the word extraordinarily stirred vp of Christ so as such a Minister may with the consent of that small Church appoint one of the communiâ—ants and provide that he be baptized by him Adde in the fifth place Tilenus who being demaunded of the Earl of Lavall from whom Calvin had his calling answered from the Church of Geneva and from Farell his praedecessour who had also his froÌ„ the people of Geneva who had right and authority to institute and depose Ministers which thing he also confirms by Cyprian Ephes. 14. The sixth and last I will name is Sadeel who writing a treatise of purpose touching the lawfull calling of Ministers against such as agreed with the reformed Churches in the doctrine they taught but excepted against them in this that they had not their Ministers by ordinary succession sâ—ewes that amongst and above other things the ecclesiastical Ministery of Rome is corrupted makes it a shamelesse thing that any boasting of the pure knowledge of God should obiect against them that they did not draw the pure reformation of the ecclesiasticall Ministery out of the drâ—gges of Popery The first argument he vseth to justify the calling of their Ministers is that they are called chosen and received of these assemblyes which do appear by manifest signes and arguments to be true Churches as having the true doctrine of fayth the pure administration of the sacrameÌ„ts the right and sincere â—â—vocation of Gods name observing religiously the discipline instituted by Christ and his Apostles and lastly testifying by the duties of love constancy of Martyrs and reformation of the whole life that they are by the great mercy of God adopted into the number of the faythfull as members of the Catholick Church c. And thus much of the Ministery both yours Mr Ber ours and more particularly to prove that an assembly of faythful people separating themselves from Heathenish or Antichristian idolatry have right within themselves to call and appoint their Ministers Now from this conclusion thus manifested do arise sundry others worthy the noting down for the common controversy As first that such an assembly though without officers is a true visible Church the kingdom of Christ City of God And I suppose it needs no confirmation to any good conscience that the choise of Church officers is a Church action a mayn part of the administration of Christs kingdom and a priviledge of that spirituall City the new Ierusalem and that such an assembly hath the power of Christ and from him authority and commission without vvhich it were intollerable usurpation to praesume to choose his officers especially the cheif officers in his kingdom as are they which administer the word sacraments of whom we principally entreat 2. That the people have power to censure offenders for they that haue power to elect appoint set vp officers they hav also power vpoÌ„ just occasioÌ„ to reject depose put them down so are part of that Church where officers are and the whole Church where they are not of which Christ speaketh Math 18. 17. where he sayth tell the Church Besides that the calling of officers and censuring of offenders are the two mayn administrations of the kingdome of Christ and so both of one nature 3. And lastly that the brethren out of office whether in a Church furnished with officers or vvithout them are not mere private persons as you Mr Ber and others would make them in the exercise of prophesy calling of Ministers and judging of offenders for scandalous sinns Considering them in deed severally one by one or in opposition to the publique officers they may be called private persons but take them joyntly and in these and the like acts of their communion and they are more then so and as the Church is a publique body so are they members of the body and parts of the whole and of the same publique nature with it and not private parts or members of the publique body which were a senseles contradiction and contrary to the rule in ReasoÌ„ The whole and all the partes ioyntly taken are the same When the brethren made choyce of Ioseph and Mathyas to be presented and afterwards of the seven Deacons after that of the Elders in every Church did they make a private choise of publique officers or could they as private persons merely make a publique choise When the Apostle Paul wrote to the Church of Corinth which you graunt to be the multitude or body of the Church about the censuring of the incestuous person did he will them to judge and censure him privately for his publique scandalous sin or could they as persons merely private passe a publique judgement The thing then is that when the Church is gathered or come together in one for the administration of the word sacraments censures and other exercises of religion parts of Gods worship the officers if there be any
worship of God and being neyther the preaching of the word nor the sacraments nor prayer must needs be the true word of God so you must prove theÌ„ or els the truth of your assertioÌ„ is disproved Touching your discourse of the order of Gods worship before in and after the Apostles tyme I observe to let passe other particulars your errour in making the particular Synagogues of the Iewes as the particular Churches are now The Synagogues were not entyre Churches of themselves but partes or members of the nationall Ch neyther could they haue vse of the most solemn parts of Gods worship as were then the sacrifices neyther could the cheif Ministers in the Church execute their office in them but as they depended vpon the temple in Ierusalem so were the people to cary their offerings thither and there to enjoy these ministrations But particular congregations now do stand in no such dependancy they may enjoy within themselves the word sacraments and prayer which are the most solemn services in the Ch now and so by consequence all the rest In deed it is with your parrish assemblyes somewhat as it was with the Synagogues they cannot enjoy the Ministers by and from within themselves nor have the vse of ecclesiasticall government but must depend vpon their Ierusalems the Bishops Chappels and Consistories for these their most solemn and peculiar administrations Mr B in his 2. book to prove their worship true worship pretends 3 distinct ArgumeÌ„ts The first bycause it is according to the word of God 2. bycause it is not forbidden in the scripture 3. bycause it is after the manner of the worship of the true Churches of God set downe in the word An other man would have comprehended these three reasons in one and so might Mr Ber. have done well enough considering his confirmation of them wherein he brings not so much as one scripture or reason from scripture to prove their prescript leyturgy by man devised and imposed of which our mayn quaest on is to be according to the word of God c. onely in the 3. Argument he toucheth an obiection which he calles a conceyt of ours viz that it quencheth the spirit to which he gives a double answer First that it is agaynst known experience 2. that it is the groundwork of Mr Smith casting of reading the scriptures in the assembly Other things he speaks are not worth the insisting vpon let vs consider of his answers To the former of them touching known experience I do reply two things first that the experience of supposed good in a course or by meanes not warrantable by the written word of God is of all godly wise men to be suspected 2 though the experience of good be certayn yet must men take heed they honour not one thing for an other as the means of that good but they must put difference between that which is good and that which is evill in the same compound action Many do avouch they have wrought in them much hatred of murder treason and the like evils by a stage-play others that their devotion is much furthered by organ musick and the chaunting of quiresters yea by the prayers in a tongue they vnderstand not all these will alledge their knâ—wn experience But to leave these things The Apostle Paul 1 Cor. 14. testifyeth that a man speaking a strange language may â—diâ—y himself though not the Church and though he pray in a strange tongue without the vnderstanding or benefit of the Church yet that his spiâ—â—t may pray Might such a man therefore alledge his known experience for prayer in a strange tongue contrary to the Apostles expresse inhibition neyther is it any justification of the service book in the vse we speak of that people do in the reading of it find by experience their affectioÌ„s furthered God may doth therein honor the simple honest affectioÌ„s of his people so far as to receive the request of their heart which he seeth in secret covering in mercy the outward manner of putting vp the same wherein they of ignorance or infirmity fayl And that these stinted and devised forms do quench the spirit of prayer appears in that they deprive the Church minister of that liberty of the spirit of prayer which God would haue the vse stinting the Minister yea all the Ministers in the kingdom to the same measure of the spirit not onely one with an other but all of them with him that is dead and rotteÌ„ and so stinting the spirit which the Lord gives his Ministers for his Church and that so strictly as till the stint be out it may not suggest one thought or word otherwise or when it is out one more then is praescribed The manifestation of the spirit sayth the Apostle is given to every man to profit withall But in the reading of a praescript forme of prayer there is not the manifestation of the spirit of the minister given him to profit the Church withall but the manifestation of of the spirit of him that devised and penned the service book Now for M Ber 2 Answ namely that this conceipt of ours saying that set prayer quencheth the spirit is the groundwork of Mr Smithes casting of reading the scriptures in the assemblyes first he wrongeth M. Smyth who doth not deny the reading of the scriptures in the assembly but that the reading of them is properly a part of Gods worship 2. Not our conceipt but his own ill collection is the groundwork of his errour Let the indifferent reader iudge whither this consequence be good or no. Bycause the reading of the Apocrypha Prayers of the Bishops of Rome or of England or their Chapleyns for prayer quencheth the spirit or is not the true manner of prayer which Christ hath left therefore the reading of the Canonicall scriptures penned by the Prophets and Apostles for reading quencheth the spirit and is no part of Gods worship Other observations M Ber hath in his Answer some nothing to the purpose and others against himself as for example The Iewes in the ould Testament did meet together at set times commaunded by the Lord so did the Churches of Christ in the new or the first day of the week Ergo the Church of England doth wel in meeting at set times yea holy times not commaunded by the LORD and that farre more solemnly then on the first or LORDS day 2. The Iewes had preaching every Lords day in every Synagogueâ— therefore the Church of Engl is in good estate where there is no preaching or as good as none in one parish of ten on the Lords day or at other tymes 3. The Iewish Church had singing of the Psalmes of David and of other propheticall men and Christ himself did vse the same therefore the Church of England doth coÌ„mmendably in singing besides them the Apocrypha songs of men ful of errours and vanities as that the Saints and Angels in
heaven do yet see the wounds and blood of Christ that a sinner need not confesse his life bycause God knowes all things that he needs not repeat what he would have bycause God knowes it before he askes that the scripture declares there was no drop of blood in Christ which he shed not for sinners that the spirit of Christ did after his buriall descend into the lower parts to them that long were in darknes the true light of their hearts that the sun in the firmament the heavens the earth the sea and all therein yea the spirits beneath were made for man to rule them But these things I passe over and come to Mr B second row of errours imputed to vs which he judgeth sufficiently confuted in the former as also to be so absurd and false as that the reading of them is sufficient to make them to be reiected The first of them is that their congregations as they stand are all and every one of them vncapable before God to chuse them Ministers though they desire the meanes of salvation First let it here be noted that Mr B in this same book pag 136 compared with pag. 138. makes it a rule for the Churches making a Minister which must be kept and from which she may not â—werve that the guides and governours of the Church do choose one from amongst others for the Ministery If the guides and governours must choose how then apperteyns this to your congregations or how are they capable of this liberty 2. If they be capable of this liberty why do they not vse it There is no congregation in the Land which as a Church chooseth their Minister the Patron and Bishop have seazed this liberty at their courtesie doth the congregation stand to receive eyther a preacher or dumb preist eyther a man of some conscience or without all â—oar of God or coÌ„mon honesty whom they may not refuse And if some parishes choose it is not as Churches but as Patrons They have purchased the right of patronage with their money and so vse it But what is this to that spirituall liberty and charter of Christs spirituall kingdome the Church 3. I deny that any congregation in the Land desires the means of salvation I speak of the congregation which is the whole consisting of the parts joyntly considered The best parish hath too many in it that love darknes rather then light because their deeds are evill This you find true in your own Mr B. which you deem one of the best And what right hath such an assembly to chuse a Minister which hath no right to his ministrations of the sacraments other holy things Because the Lord Iesus hath given his power and charter to his subjects for the choise of their officers whether many or few doth it therefore follow that the subjects of sinne Satan professed traytours vnto his Majesty have the same liberty or can his subjects combine with them that are and allwayes have been such in the vse or rather in the vsurpation of that divine priviledge These things Mr B you extenuate bycause you want them but the Churches of Christ accounts them pretious things which they therefore labour to preserve pure Of your false worship something hath been before more shal be hereafter spoken and you do idely make it a distinct errour from the tenth That baptism is not administred into the fayth of Christ simply but into the fayth of Bishops Church of England which you make our 3. errour do we not affirm but leave it to him for justification which not content with that in England received hath found out since a 2. or 3. as he supposeth better then that was ¶ Wee are to consider baptism first and principally in relation from GOD to vs and as a seal of the covenant of grace into which he hath received vs and secondarily in relation from vs to God as we restipulate or promise agayn vnto him In the first respect it is effectuall vpon the very infants of the faithfull though for the present wanting fayth in the 2. both may be is vpon such as erre in many great poynts of fayth otherwise the baptism ministred by Iohn into the fayth of Christ which came after him could not have been true vnto many which received it being ignorant a long tyme after of the very kingdoÌ„ office of Christ. To conclude then since the essential form of institution is reteyned in the baptism in Engl the doctrine of the Trinity sincerely held into whose name all persons are baptized indefinitely the particular errours in that Church touching the manner of worshiping God or touching the vses or ends of baptism which are not of the essence cannot make the baptism in it self cease to be indefinite Of the 4. Errour imputed vnto vs namely that we hould your fayth and repentance false I say as of the third and doubt not but the personall fayth and repentance of very many men and women there according to the measure of knowledge and grace received is true and sincere before God yea and so visibly declared and manifested to be before men in respect of their persoÌ„s notwithstanding all the evilles in their Church Communion and ordinances Your 5. exception viz that your ministers convert men not as Pastours but as teachers is neyther our errour nor assertion but your owne misconstruction This we hould that the conversion of men with you is no way to be ascribed to your office which it justifieth not but to the truthes of God taught amoÌ„gst you by the special blessing of God vpon them notwithstanding the other evills wherewith they are mingled inseparably amongst you To your demand what idoll you worship bycause we affirm your Church to stand in an adulterous estate I do answer that you may stand in an adulterous estate though you worship the true God onely if you do it after a devised maner as in deed you do in your government ministery service-book and ceremonyes which being all properly matters of religion and not commanded by the Lord are devises of your own against the 2. commaundement which forbids nothing but idolatry Your 7. insimulation against vs is that wee cannot say certeynly by any warrant of Gods word that any of you have eyther fayth or feare of God Wherein you consure vs as having lost the feeling of former grace and all true charity Mr Smyth in his Parallels shewes your fraud evil dealing with him in this case whom you name in your margent And I further adde that I do not onely in the generall beleeve there are many such but am so perswaded in the particular of many I know Yet so to say certainly of any of you I caÌ„not nor of our selves neyther by the word of God A man can say this onely of himself certaynly bycause he onely knowes his
duties to be done by their men furnished by other scriptures then the divine scriptures the Bishops scriptures their Canons coÌ„stitutioÌ„s wherby they ar fully furnished indeed with ring surplus service-book and other preistly implements for the busines The Apostle Paul Eph 4. 8. 11. 12. teacheth that when Christ ascended on high he gave vnto men such gifts that is such ministeryes of the Church as should serve for the repayring of the saynts and aedification of his body till the work of grace were perfected in all his and so he makes the work of the ministery and the aedification of the body of Christ all one Now who will say that the celebration of mariage or buryall of the dead are in themselves matters of aedification or which further the vnity of fayth They serve for the generall administration of the world and so are lawfull amongst Turkes and Heathens as to eat and drink or to perform any other naturall or civil work and not for the speciall administratioÌ„ of the Church or body of Christ and therefore no works of the ministery which is peculiar vnto the Church The Church is a religious society and so the ministery which is given to the Church is a religious calling and so the proper works of the ministery must needes be workes of religion which if mariage or burying the dead were then were it vnlawfull for a faythful husband to communicate with his wife being an infidell or excommunicate in the dutyes of mariage or for a brother being a faythful person to ioyn with his brother being an infidell or excommunicate in the buryall of their dead father for with such persons religious communion may not be kept whereas the scriptures do coÌ„mend vnto vs these duties so performed both as lawfull and necessary Gen. 25. 9. 35. 29. 1 Cor. 7. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. These are then civill duties and so practised by the servants of God in all ages whose practise also for our learning is recorded in the scriptures and commended vnto vs accordingly Gen. 24. 50. 51. 58. 59. 67. 25. 34. Ruth 4 1. 2. 5. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Math. 27. 57. 59 60. Act. 8. 2. Whether it be an errour in vs as in the 11. place â—e are accused to hold that Ministers ought not to live of tythes and offerings but of the peoples voluntary contribution let the Reader considering what is answered both by Mr Aynsworth Mr Smyth and what is more fully written in the book before named judge But This sayth Mr B. is against the wisdome of God who alloweth a setled maintenance vnder the law and there is nothing against it in the gospel But say I as the Lord appointed vnder the law a setled maintenance by tythes offerings so did he a setled land of Canaan which was holy and a sacrament so did he also appoynt that the Levites to be maynteyned there should have no part nor inheritaÌ„ce with the rest of the Israelites their brethren And hath Gods wisdome so appoynted now If it had I feare many would not rest in it so wise are they for their bellyes And where you adde that there is nothing in the gospel against this ordinance â—â— the law the authour to the Hebrewes might have taught you that the law is abolished by the gospel in the sense we speak of and the old testament by the new in respect of ordinances whereof this was one If it be sayd that tythes went in vse and given by Abraham to Melchizedek Preist of the most high God before the law or old testament was given by Moses I do answer that so was circumcision ministred and sacrifices offered before Moses which notwithstanding were parts of the old testament and assumed by Moses into the body of it and so are abolished by the new To conclude this poynt since tythes and offerings were appurtenances vnto the preisthood and that the priesthood both of Melchizedek and Levi are abolished in Christ as the shadow in the substance and that the Lord hath or deyned that they which preach the gospell should live of the gospell we do willingly leave vnto you both your preistly order and maintenance contenting our selves with the peoples voluntary contribution whither it be it be lesse or more as the blessing of God vpon our labour the fruit of our ministery and a declaration of their love and duety The 12 and last errour imputed to vs is that your Churches as you call them ought to be raced downe and not to be imployed to the true worship of God Our mayn reason of this assertion being as you say by making equall Paganism and Antichristianism you endevour to weakeÌ„ by sundry exceptions As 1. that there is great difference between Antichristianism and Pagnism for this is the worshipping of a false God and without any profession of the true God but the other worship the true God hold many truthes of God Paganism was wholly without the Church but Antichrist sits in the Church of God c. 2. that we are to prove your Churches to have been built by Antichrist We do not make equall Paganism and Antichristianism in the degree though wee put not such difference between them as you do And first we do affirm that both the one and the other are not onely agaynst that 2. connaundement but the first also 2. that both of them may in their degree and for a tyme be in the Church as also that both of them may in tyme and in their degree destroy the true Church of Christ. 3. that as well the reliques ornaments and monuments of the one as of the other are by lawfull authority to be abolished and in the meane while to be forborn especially in the worship of God by all such as fear him his judgements denounced agaynst the same let vs heare what the scriptures teach in these cases The Apostle Paul writing purposely of that man of sin Antichrist testifieth that he is an adversary and exalteth himself agaynst all that is called God or that is worshipped so that he sitteth in the temple of God as God shewing himself that he is God And as Antichrist caÌ„not be rightly discerned of vs but in his oppsition vnto Christ exaltation above him so doth this his exaltatioÌ„ appear sudry wayes by which he doth translate vnto himself the honour due vnto God alone his sonne our Lord Christ as in dispensing with the morall law professedly bynding and loosing conscience devising and imposing forms of religion traÌ„sferring empires kingdoms al these doth this earthly God as he is called by the plenary power of the seat Apostolicall The same also it was which Iohn for saw in the Revelation namely that the Antichristians worshipped Divels Idols of gold and silver brasse stone wood which can neyther see nor hear nor walk agayn that they worshipped the beast which
husbandry the word of his kingdom When the Lord Iesus sent out his Apostles to gather Churches the onely meanes which came into his heart was the teaching or making of men disciples and the Apostle to the Ephes witnesseth that the Church or temple of God is built vpon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophetâ— Iesus Christ himself being the chief corner stoneâ— but these men it seemes will have the Church of God built vpon the lawes of Magistrates yea vpon the reports yea vpon the bellyes of men They would be counted Ministers of the gospel yet they make no conscience of ascribing the honour which is peculiar vnto the gospel vnto so many other and so mean things And for Christian Kings Queens as as I acknowledge them for noursing fathers anothers so may I not for procâ—â—ant parents of the Church It is vnreasonable to affirm that civil causes as are their compulsive lawes should bring forth spirituall effects as is the Church or kingdom of Christ. By this Argument the Turk may make all his dominions a Church in a week or two It may as truely be affirmed that Magistrates may by their lawes compel men to receive the word gladly to stand in the estate of salvation to be saynts and sanctified in Iesus Christ to be in him and in God the father through him viz externally and in appearance and so far as men can judge for such is the Church and of such persons doth it consist as the scriptures cited testify And for the parable in Luke 14. 23. which they bring to prove that the Church may be gathered by bodily compulsion as Mr Ainsworth hath justly reproved their folly from Prov 26. 9. sufficiently confuted their erroneous exposition shewing that Luke speaketh of a spirituall violence and compulsion which the word of God offereth vnto the consciences of men so do I ad for the conclusion of this poynt that even the blynde Pharisees did see and discerne that Christ meant by the former servants the Prophets which the Lord the King sent to the Iewes as he did by the last the Apostles whom when the Iewes refused the gospell he sent to the gentiles to compel them by the efficacy of the word which is mighty in operation to the obedience of fayth Lastly what compulsive lawes soever the Magistrates may make or exequute it is a vile errour to think a sinfull flattery to bear theÌ„ in hand that they have power froÌ„ God to coÌ„pel an apparently flagious person to enter into the Church of God and the Church so to receive and continue him The Ministers 3. exception that their Church was gathered by the preaching of the word and that the first conversion of their land to the fayth of Christ was by the preaching of the gospell as appeares by the best historyes And so they go on and tell vs of many from age to age called by the same meanes who in the tyme of persequution sealed the truth with their blood and in the time of freedom did openly professe the same In the page immediately before going a Church might be gathered without conversion and now their Church was lawfully gathered for it was converted to the fayth of Christ by the preaching of the gospell 2. It is both vntruly and vnadvisedly affirmed of these ministers that their land was converted to the fayth of CHRIST The defence of their nationall Church and of the compulsion of all the flagitious persons in the nation to ioyne continue members of it drives them to this absurd assertion that the whole nation or land was at the first converted to the fayth of Christ. And where they speak of many in all ages since called by the gospell which also they have sealed with their blood as I confesse this with Mr Ainsworth and rejoyce for the mercy of God towards them this way so I doubt not but the truthes taught in Rome have been effectuall to the saving of many for which also there have many of them and no doubt would many more if there were occasioÌ„ lay down their lives against Pagans Infidels But these men should prove first that the body of the land have been converted to the fayth of CHRIST and orderly joyned into particular congregations and 2. that it hath so continued ever since even in the tymes when the blood of those Martyrs now spoken of was shed by the lawes civil and Ecclesiastical made by the body of it through the seduction of Antichrist for that purpose and so that there needed no new gathering after the Romish apostasy by the preaching of the gospell on the one side and by willing subjection in free and personal profession on the other That which they ad of sundry secret congregations in Queen Maryes dayes in many parts of the land is but a boast there were very few of them in any But where they say that these did vpon Queen Elizabeths entrance openly professe the gospell it is vntrue there was not one congregation separated in Queen Maryes dayes that so remayned in Queen Elizabeths The congregations were dissolved and the persons in them bestowed themselves in their severall parishes where their livings and estates lay The circumcised were mingled with the vncircumcised whence came that monstrous confusion agaynst which we witnes And shew me one of your ministers continuing his charge in Queen Elizabeths dayes over the flock to which he ministred in Queen Maryes dayes the persequuted gospell It is certayn the congregations whether many or few were all dispersed and that the members of them joyned themselves to the prophane Apostate Papists where their outward occasions lay As then an handfull or bundle of coâ—â—e shufled into a feild of weeds though in it selfe it retayn the same nature yet cannot make the feild a corn feild so neither could this small haÌ„dful of separated people in Queen Maryes dayes sanctify the whole feyld of the idolatrous prophane multitude in the land by their seating themselves amongst them As then it is not true that the body of the land in the beginning of Queen Elizabeths reigne did joyne vnto the secret congregations so remayning in Queen Maryes dayes but on the contrary these congregations did dissolve and joyne themselves with the vnhallowed rowt in the popish profane parishes vnder their late masse their duÌ„b priests for the most part so neyther matters it which ioyned uÌ„to which since the vnhallowed graceles multitude neither could by the word of God ioyn vnto others nor be ioyned to by them in the covenant of grace and of the gospell with the seales and other the ordinances thereof to which they had or have no right VpoÌ„ the same grouÌ„d also I infer that it is not materiall though the people were not compelled to the profission of the gospell before the midsomer after the Queen came to the crown if they were compelled to
that the people of Iudah were Gods true Church before the tyme of that oth and Covenant it is true and agaynst you And I would demaund of you whether your people were Gods true Church when Popery reigned Your answer is so may our people bee You dare not say they were for then you should acknowledge the Romish Synagogue the true Church of GOD and that you had sinfully schismed from it as Mr Bern. proves agaynst you and himselfe you will not say they were not for that would make against you in the poynt in hand and would manifest as in deed it doth that the course taken with Iudah being the true Church for her reformation cannot agree with Rome or Engl as a member of the Romish Church for her reformation To that which is added in the 3. place of Coventry Northampton and some other congregations my reply is first that this is not likely to have been the deed of the congregations but of some two or three forward ministers a few of the people it may be approving of it which their successours were as like to reverse 2. They did not repent of their publique idolatry nor purpose to obey the truth in sincerity of their prophane mixture Romish hierarchy and ministery popish leyturgy and constitutions according to which all things are administred amongst them they repented not and besides they knew right well many truthes which they purposed not to imbrace 3. graunt it were as they pretend with these few parishes what must be sayd of the rest which did not so practise with whom they make and alwayes have done one entyre nationall Church or what is this to the publique and formall state of the Church of England agaynst which we deale The truth is these men thus practising were reputed and truely schismatiques in the formall constitution of the Church and by which this their dealing hath no warrant at all If we should object vnto you the Papists doctrines and practises of two or three ministers amongst you not warrantable by law you would not admit of our exception agaynst the formall established estate of your Church so neyther may we admit of yours for the practise of two or three disliking the present state of things and seeking for reformation of them Lastly wee see indeed that those Ministers doubt not to affirme that the whole land Papists and Atheists and all did in the first Parliament of the Queen enter a solemn covenant for renouncing of Popery and receiving the gospel but we would see first how all these swarmes of wicked Atheists and most flagitious persons were by the revealed will of God capable of the covenant of the new testament and the seales and other rites and priviledges of it Otherwise this haling them into covenant with the Lord agaynst his expresse will was a prophane presumptuous enterprise in it self though I doubt not arising from a godly intent in the Queen her cheif connsellers being mislead by them whom they too much trusted 2. We would see what warrant there is in the new testament for this nationall covenant or that all the people in a Land since the Land of Canaan was prophaned should unite into a nationall Church vnder a nationall government and ministery 3. That which wee answered in the 2. place to the former branch of this exception must here agayn be remembred 4. this vndoubted affirmation of the ministers touching the whole lands covenanting in the Parliament first inferreth that the enacting of civil lawes and penall statutes by Kings and States doth gather CHVRCHES for none other covenant was there in the Parliament 2. It confirmeth the popish doctrine of implicite fayth that men may receive and professe a fayth whereof they are ignorant yea which they dislike and hate so farre as they know it for so was it with the body of your nation the greatest part by farr being mere naturall men and so not knowing the gospel yea evil doers which hate the light Our 2. objection touching the outward worship wherein the Ch of England communicateth comes now to be enforced In the clearing of which the Ministers do to speak on insist onely vpon their stinted set formes of prayer for the justification of which they bring sundry scriptures as Numb 6. 2. 3. 24. Deut. 26. 3. 15. Psal. 22. 1. 92. Luk. 11. 2. Now for our more orderly proceeding I will reduce the things they say to three generall heads vnder which I will consider of the particulars shewing how in all and every of them they are mistaken First in that they do confound and make all one ordinance Blessings Psalmes and Prayers 2. In misinterpreting the scriptures they bring to prove a set and stinted form of words to be imposed in prayer 3. In concluding as they do that if Moses and Christ might appoynt and impose a certayn form of words to be vsed for prayer that then the Bishops in England or others may vse the same power and appoint an other form of words so to be vsed Of these three in order And first it is evident that howsoever some kinde of blessing and prayer be all one and so may be confounded yet that solemn kinde of blessing spoken of Numb 6. and which the PATRIARKS and PREISTS did vse in their places was cleane of an other nature In prayer the MINISTER stands in place of the PEOPLE and in their name offers vp petitions and thanksgiving to GOD But in blessing the Minister stands in the place of God and in his name pronounceth a blessing or mercy vpon the people 2. Whereas this duety of prayer may be performed by one equall to another by an inferiour to a superiour yea by a mā to himself that other of blessing is alwayes from the greater to the lesser and therefore the Apostle to the Hebrews to shew that the Preisthood of Melchi-sedek was more excellent then that of Levi proves it by this that Melchisedec blessed Abraham taking this for granted without all contradiction that the lesse is blessed of the greater 3. Mr Ber himself in this book makes prayer one thing and the blessing pronounced vpon the people when they departed another thing as he also makes singing of psalmes a third distinct thing from them both as there is cause he should For first the Apostle writing to the Corinthians of the divers giftes and administrations in the Church speaketh thus I wil pray with the spirit but I will pray with the vnderstanding also I will sing with the spirit but I will sing with the vnderstanding also Answerable vnto which is that in Iames Is any among you afflicted let him pray is any merry let him sing both the one and other Apostle making singing and praying distinct exercises Ad vnto this that whereas in praying we are to speak onely vnto God it is otherwise in singing where we are taught to speak vnto
of it out of Antichristianism or Paganisme out of Babylon Egypt Sodome spiritually or civily so called or out of any other society or Synagogue which is not the true visible body of Christ must be is constituted and compact of good onely not of good evill The Lords field is sowen onely with good seed vers 24. 27. 38. his vyne noble and all the seed true his Church saynts and beloved of God all and every one of them though by the mallice of Satan and negligence of such as should keep this field vineyard house of God adulterate seed and abominable persons may be foysted in yea and suffred also which the scriptures affirm and we deny not But our exceptioÌ„ in this case is first that the Church of England was never truely gathered the Church of England I say that that is the National Church consisting of the Provinciall Churches and those of the Diocesan Churches and the Diocesans of the Parochyall Churches according to their parish precincts with their governours government correspondent That there were true visible Churches in the land gathered out of Paganism at the first I will not deny but that ever the whole Land in the body of it was a Church is an affirmatioÌ„ of them which consider not what is eyther the matter whereof or the manner how the Church of the new Testament is to â—e gathered 2. Graunt that the way of the kingdom of Christ the Church were now so wyde that a whol nation might walk a brest in it and that England had been some times that Canaan the holy land wherein none vncircumcised person dwelt yet in the apostasy of Antichrist it could not be so accounted but was in the body of it divorced froÌ„ Christ with Rome whereof it was a member except you Mr B. will affirm as many do that Rome remaines still a true visible Church and that antichristianism is true Christianism Antichristians true Christians the body which hath the Pope the head the true body of Christ so except the Church of Engl. had been sowen with good seed without tares since that general apostasie it cannot be the L. field The Iewes were forbidden by God vnder the law to sow their field with divers seeds and will he sow his own feyld with divers yea with coÌ„trary seeds wheat tares What husbandman is eyther so foolish or carles as to sow his field with tares wheat together And yet this fair field of Engl of whose beauty all the Christian world is enamoured is so sowen this pleasant orchyard so plaÌ„ted this â—lourishing Ch so gathered A few kernels of wheat scattered amoÌ„gst the tares here there a few good plants amoÌ„gst the wilde branches a smal strinkling of good meÌ„ amoÌ„gst the great retchles rowt of wicked graceles persons And was this field sowen this orchard planted this Church gathered by the Lords hand And as was the root so are the branches as were the first fruits so is the whole lump To conclude this point thus I reason The Lords field is sowen with good seed onely though tares may in time be conveyed into it by the Divels mallice and mans negligence But the Engl nationall Ch was not so sowen but with tares wheat together Therefore it is not the Lords field And thus I hope the indifferent reader wil easily see what succour Mr B. findes amoÌ„gst those tares under whose shadow he would so fayne shrowd all the Atheists Papists other flagitious persons in the Church Now for the Parable of the draw net Mat. 13. I confesse the bad fishes may be wicked persons in the Church but undiscerned as fishes vnder the water between which the good no difference is seen If the fishers and they that drew the netts did know of the bad fishes in them and had meanes of voyding them they would never burden themselves and the nett with them except you will have as foolish fishermen here as you had husbandmen before but till they do discern them to be as they are they must take theÌ„ as they hope they are though with you all be fish that come to the net yea good fish too till the CoÌ„missaries court judge otherwise And lastly to your saying wel it were that all were saints but that is to look for a heaven vpon earth I answer that the Church is heaven vpon earth and if you were not a straunger to the true Church and to such scriptures as speaks of it you should find as in many other places so espetially in the Revelation the Church visible oft dignifyed with the name of heaven and with no name oftener Yea to seek no further then these two parables brought in by you to speak against heaven that is against the true natural coÌ„stitutioÌ„ conservatioÌ„ of the visible Church Christ himself that with his own mouth gives the Church no worse name then heaven and the kingdom of heaveÌ„ the onely ordinary beaten way which Christ hath left to heaven in heaven is heaven on earth which way soever you please to guide men The sixth insimulation against vs is that we hold That the power of Christ that is authority to preach to administer the sacraments and to exercise the Censures of the Church belongeth to the whole Church yea to every one of them and not to the principall mâ—bers thereof If Mr B. were but as able to confute vs by just reason as he is willing to bring vs into hatred by unjust and odious accusations we should then have as much cause to feare his skill as now we have to complayn of his mallice Onely herein his skill is to be commended that where he findes not our opinions such as he thinks wil be disliked by the simple multitude he makes theÌ„ such and so deales against them Here come in many things of great weight to be discussed and although it were in it self the readyest way to reduce things to some heads and so to prosequute them in order yet since I have taken this task vpon me to trace Mr B. in the particulars therfore I purpose to follow him step by step notwithstanding all his vnorderly wandrings and excursions And first Mr B. charging vs with errour for giving authority to preach minister the sacraments excercise the censures to the whole Church and not to the principall members thereof playnely insinuates that the authority to do all these things amongst them is in the principall members of the Church But the truth is otherwise in the parish Church of Worksop and in all other the parish Churches in the land You have one onely member that hath power and that vnder the ordinary to any of these things and that your self the parrish Priest though perhaps the parish clerk may by speciall indulgence be licensed to bury the dead Church women read service on light holy dayes and do some such like drudgery in your absence But
the constitution for the ministery in it Now where you adde that Luther and other worthy Ministers of Christ were raysed vp out of the Romish Church you wrong him them and the truth in them whilst you would gratifie Rome and England Luthers Ministery from Rome was his Fryardome and is a Fryar a true minister of Christ by his office or of Artichrist whither Besides look what ministery the Church of Rome gave him it took from him and lastly if he had been a true officer or minister of the Church of Rome it had been sinne in him to have left his charge Touching the baptism received in the Romish Church I have formerly spoken and of our reteyning it but not our Ministery I shall speak hereafter That which is worthy consideration in the fourth Argument is the enterance into the ministery in the substance of which he tells vs there is nothing wanting by their lawes For touching the ability and desyre to teach and other graces he speaks of they no more make a minister then courage the feare of God true dealing and the hatred of of covetousnes make every man a Magistrate that is so indowed Now this entrance he layes down in 4. particulars 1. presentation 2. election 3. probation 4. ordination with imposition of hands But these in such confusion and with so many contradictions as do evidently shew what monsters an ill cause a vayn spirit meeting together will gender and bring forth First in his former book pag. 136. he places the whole calling or as he speakes the making of a Minister in ordination and comprehends vnder it as the 3. parts of it 1. examination 2. election 3. admission with imposition of hands In his second book he makes ordination but the fourth and last part of his calling pag. 295. as in deed it is and the same with admission The reason why he would thus advance ordination is bycause that in Engl is all in all being done by a Bishop yea though it be by the Bishop of Rome And so they call their book they make ministers by the book of ordination not the book of election or choise or calling of Ministers The Bishops Lordship swallowes vp the peoples liberty and if he but lay his hands vpon a man bid him Receive the H. Ghost he is a minister of the Church sufficiently ordered 2. Where in his former book he puts examination or probation before election in his â— he would haue election first and the probation or tryal of the partyes gifts and graces to come afterwards mis-interpreting that which is written 1 Tim. 3. 10. of probation to be made before election And the Reason of this I conceive to be bycause the Ministers in England are not onely elected but fully made before any such tryall be taken of them But I come to the particulars and first to that which he calls presentation for which he quotes Act. 1. 23 and 6. 6. In which scriptures especially in the latter of them he is much mistaken the presentation there spoken of not being before but after election The cause I suppose of this his confused wryting is the confused practise in his Church wher the Patrone presenteth his clerk both after his chusing and ordeyning But for the thing it self vnderstanding by presentation the nomination of the person to be chosen or considered of for choyce as the officers are in all other things to goe before the people so in this ordinarily provided alwayes the brethrens liberty be not infringed but that they may present or nominate others if any amongst themselves seeme more fit Now for the examination and tryall of the partyes gifts and graces as we all know what it is in the Church of England where if a man have the gift of subscription conformity canonical obedience though other gift or grace he have none he is a tryed minister and so reputed which if he want be his other gifts and graces never so eminent he is neyther to enter into nor being entred to continue in his Ministery so do the things which you write in your former book touching this tryall examination of men before they be choseÌ„ into the Ministery notably condemn both the ministery of your Church which you labour to iustify and on the contrary iustify sundry practises amongst vs which els where you condemn for notable errours The particulars are these 1. First that the gifts of him that is to be chosen must be examined according to those things which the place wherein he must be requireth and God hath commaunded 2. that the place or office of the Ministery consisteth principally in the preaching of the word administration of the sacraments and prayer 3. that the first namely the preaching of the word is to be preferred in the first place as being first imposed Math. 10. 28. 29. and most necessary both to beget and preserve a people Iam. 1. 18. Prov. â—9 15. 4. that the knowledge zeale and vtterance of of â—â—â— party to be elected must be examined Whereupon these things follow First that by your own graunt men out of office may preach administer the sacraments and prayer and so exercise their gifts and graces of knowledge zeal vtterance But as there is some difference in the respect in hand between the sacraments on the one side and the word and prayer on the other bycause there is no speciall gift required for the administration of them as there is for the latter so is the exercise of prophesying and prayer out of office so much impugned by you vndenyably iustified by this your own position And as it is a very presumptuous evill to call any man into the office of a teaching Elder whose gift in teaching hath not been sufficiently tryed out of office so is it no lesse presumption in a Church to set a man over herself for government of whose both ability faithfulnes in the reproving censuring of sinns and in other publick affaires of the Church she hath not taken good tryall 2. If this be true that the office of the Ministery consist principally in the preaching of the word and administration of the sacraments prayer how is that true for which you have so much contended in the former part of your book that the authority to censure offenders is in the cheif officers and governers of the Church as their speciall prerogative Can a lesse principall work be the peculiar priveledge of a more principall office It is against the light of nature and common reason More particularly this observation by you truely made with that also which followeth namely that the preaching of the word is to be praeferred in the first place overthrowes the order both of the Prelacy and Preisthood of your Church For if the preaching of the gospel be the principall work of the Ministery and to be preferred in the first place then are not your Provinciall and Diocesan