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A32107
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A letter to a non-conformist minister of the kirk shewing the nullity of the Presbyterian mission or authority to preach the Gospel.
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Calder, Robert, 1658-1723.
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1677
(1677)
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Wing C277; ESTC R2364
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10,942
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118
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A LETTER TO A Non-conformist Minister OF THE KIRK SHEVVING The NULLITY of the PRESBYTERIAN Mission or Authority to Preach the Gospel LONDON Printed for B. Tooke at the Ship in St. Pauls Churchyard 1677. TO THE Reader READER IT is not now the Order or Character of our CLERGY nor their power of Binding and Absolving Sinners which the PEOPLE have any great regard for but onely our Lungs and faculties of PREACHING hence it comes to pass that by this curiosity after Preaching the People are betray'd to the cozenage of every new Light and Impostor in Religion who is commonly a zealous and eloquent Preacher and so profound a Dissembler that we are not otherwise able to detect him but by enquiring into his Mission A LETTER TO A Non-conformist Minister OF THE KIRK Shewing the NULLITY of the Presbyterian Mission and Authority to PREACH the GOSPEL SIR I Should be very much oblig'd to receive a Satisfaction from you which I could never give my self concerning the Validity of your Presbyterian Mission I conceive it to be the most material thing in difference between us and that it ought to be considered in the first place there being no Imposture like that of assuming to be Preachers of the Gospel without lawful Authority I shall here trouble you with the Reasons of my dissatisfaction in this matter First then I must crave your pardon to look backward as far as your first Reforming Ancestors from whom Presbytery does more immediately derive it self Mr. Calvin in Geneva Mr. Knox in Scotland c. And then permit me to ask a certain Question which hitherto none of you would do us the kindness to resolve Who sent Them to reform the Church or as you phrase it to Preach the Gospel and How should they Preach except they were sent Rom. 10. 15. which words of St. Paul seem to be a question but are indeed a full and peremptory Affirmation That no Abilities of popular Eloquence can qualifie any persons for Preachers of the Gospel without external and lawful Mission This then I shall lay down as a Foundation to what I have to say That lawful Mission is essential to a Preacher of the Gospel And if so I shall endeavour to make evident That all your Predecessors of the Kirk how able soever as to other qualifications wanted this essential and consequently your self who derive a Succession from them Grant me Sir a little of your patience and consider There are onely these Five imaginable AUTHORITIES from whence they could pretend to have received it 1. The Spirit of God 2ly Themselves or their own internal Spirit 3ly Or the People 4ly Christ and his Apostles 5ly Or the Church of Rome Other Authority or Mission as namely That of the Greek Church you will not pretend to First From the Spirit of God This you know to be the matter in question and the eternal Controversie and the Allegation of all Fanaticks it will be therefore a reasonable demand By what Evidences did it appeare to the World And how shall the Contemners of your Gospel be left unexcusable but by evidence of their Authority who are sent to reveal it In the Affairs of this World Ambassadors you know must not want their Credentials how much less the Ambassadors of Religion Doubtless that of your Ancestors must needs have been an Embassie extraordinary being to Reform the World over-run in their sense with Idolatry and Superstition To this you answer That the powerful gifts and sanctity of those persons were sufficient Evidences of their being Inspir'd by the Spirit of God and that the Conversion of many Thousands from Superstition to Godliness was an undoubted Seal to their Ministry This is the Answer of all Dissenters and Parties of what Name soever Anabaptists Behemists c. That they easily converted many Thousands no body denies but whether from Superstition to Godliness or onely to pride censoriousness and contempt of all Authority is the great Controversie Nay was it never made a Note of a man converted as the excellent Friendly Debate observes That though he have a great many Faults yet he is wrought to an Antipathy to Bishops Common Prayer and Surplice And as to your self I might appeal to your Conscience whether you esteem any man a right Convert that is a FRIEND to these Things As to those powerful Gifts you speak of you do not mean any thing that is miraculous or that other Sects will not as soon pretend to And truly as for the Sanctity of your whole Party observable is the Confession of Mr. Calvin himself in his Comment on the Thirty fourth Verse of the Eleventh Chapter of Daniel and I promise you not to injure him in the Quotation Sed in illorum exiguo numero qui sese ab Idololatriis Papatus subduxerunt major pars plena est perfidia dolis praeclarum quidem zelum simulant sed si intus excutias reperies plenos esse fraudibus Of that small number of persons saith he who profess the pure Gospel the greater part is full of perfidiousness and deceit they pretend an excellent Zeal but if you inspect them narrowly you shall finde them abounding w th Frauds Secondly Themselves or their own internal Spirit It is absurd for so all men may become Preachers of the Gospel that will assume the confidence Thirdly the People Let us allow this Authority for good and then I pray will not Socinians Anabaptists Behemists Fifth Monarchy-men and who not enter in at this Door and plead their Call by the People to Reform the Presbyterians be pleas'd to tell us what People do you mean If those of your own Opinion they will not in some places amount to a Fourth or Fifth part of the People and must all the rest be debar'd from Electing their owne Preachers besides you know it is not the Peoples Election alone that can Constitute a Preacher of the Gospel it is the Mission and Ordination of your Predecessors that I am now enquiring after You cannot be ignorant concerning the popular Election of Ministers that it had been disus'd many Centuries before Calvin for the Tumults Factions and Confusions that attended it the unstable People seldom or never agreeing about the Persons to be Elected and I am sure there is no Precept of Scripture Invests them with any such power Fourthly Or will you derive your Ministry from Christ and his Apostles But all Dissenters proclaim their Extraction from the same Original which of them shall we believe From Christ and his Apostles Give me leave to ask whether immediately or mediately Immediately you will not say if mediately I pray inform us by whom Or from whose hands did your Puritan Ancestors receive their Mission and Ordination Well Fifthly Some body must send them to Preach the Gospel Was it the CHURCH of Rome Yes I have heard you say and is not this to confess your selves the Emissaries of Antichrist that Man of Sin the Whore of Babylon Quid Christo cum
Belial But the unhappiness of it is that this Mission from Rome or Romane Bishops will as soon Watrant the Sermons of a Popish Fryar as those of your Predecessors And as to your pretended Ordination from Rome there is one Difficulty in it that I confess I cannot resolve Was it not Episcopal Ordination if any they received from that Church And was such Ordination good and valid yea or no If good wherefore will you needs abolish it as repugnant to the Word of God If not what will become of your Orders And further I would gladly understand are any persons sent to go and preach the Gospel after their own sense If so then he that hath received Mission from your Kirk may when he list become an Independant or Anabaptist Preacher and justifie his new Doctrine by your Commission As for Calvin Beza who wrote his Life informs us that he was never Initiated into any Orders of the ROMANE Church Nullis erat Pontificiis ordinibus initiatus are Beza's words who being his great Acquaintance and Successor at Geneva could not but know it very well I was of opinion that your Founder Calvin had been in some Orders until your own Beza inform'd me to the contrary Farrellus also and Viret his fellow Preachers in Geneva you will find in the same querpo without Orders as for John Knoz he was saith Mr. Clark a Presbyterian Minister who writes his life put into orders very young that is when he was professedly of the ROMAN Catholique Religion he was made Deacon or Priest of that Church by Episcopal Ordination but all this while we are to seek for their Presbyterian Mission did John Knox receive any Authority to ordain other Presbyterians could he confer a power on others which he had not received of ordaining Ministers to say there was necessity for it is an answer that will excuse also other dissenters pleading the same necessity of their Ministry of all which our Church is so sensible that she will admit none of your Brethren to her Eclesiastical Functions without Reordination Presbyteri Diaconi praeter Episcopum nihil agere pertentent Saith the Fortieth Canon of the Apostles a Canon which if it were not Apostolical you cannot deny be very ancient and do not Epiphanius and Saint Austin recount it among the Heresies of Aerius that he affirmd Bishop and Presbyter were the same thing Aerius cum esset Bresbyter saith Saint Austin doluisse fertur quod Episcopus non potuit Haeres 53. ordinari c. Aerius being a Presbyter resented his disappointment of a Bishoprick and to satisfie his humour of revenge would needs assert that they are the same office Thus for ought I can see your Presbyterian Ancestors had no Mission at all or no more then other Dissenters who all derive themselves from Christ and his Apostles from the Spirit of God c. Sleidan a Protestant Historian reports in his Commentaries that Luther hearing of the multitudes assembled by Thomas Muncer the famous Prophet of the Anabaptists wrote an Epistle to the Magistrates of Mulhusen a City in Germany where the said Muncer remained advising them to require of him who sent him to Preach the Gospel and if he answered God that he evidence it by some sign or extraordinary token otherwise that he be rejected hoc enim proprium familiare est Deo said Luther ut quoties consuetam ordinariam viam velit immutari tum voluntatem suam aliquo signo declaret The same quaere Sir you may at your leisure do us the favour to resolve in reference to your self You cannot alas plead any necessity to Reform Episcopacy but all the other Sects will plead the same to Reform you Nor will it relieve you to say that by this Argument the Jewish Church rejected Christ and his Apostles The case not being the same betwixt Christ and the Jewish Church and between us and you To satisfie the Jews and their question By what authority doest thou these things Our blessed Saviour appeals to the Miracles which he wrought If you believe not me believe the works which I do Nor will it avail you to return the question upon our selves who sent us to Reform the Church of Rome This truly is no answer but a desiring us to answer for you Be plkas'd to know then that the Church of England was never of your froward and uncharitable humor in relation to that Church to Reform our selves saith Mr. Hooker is not to sever from the Church we were of before Eccles Pol. Lib. 3. Sect. 1. We are very sensible of their Errors and yet we confess with St. Austin there is no just necessity to divide the Unity of the Catholick Church because Separations in the Church tend to no other end but to discredit the Christian Religion and render it less considerable if not contemptible to its Adversaries Turks and Infidels He that will admit no Church saith Primate Bramhall but that which is spotless with Acesius must provide a Ladder for himself to climb alone to Heaven But as to your Party Sir I pray who gave them any Authority to Preach their Reformation to these Kingdomes Give me leave to observe to you this passage in the Racovian Catechism there I remember the question is put Num ii qui docent in ecclesia Sociniana ut singulari aliqua ratione mittantur opus habent Whether the Preachers of Socinian Doctrine have need of any extraordinary mission The Answer is Nullo modo quia nullam novam nec inauditam afferunt doctrinam c. That is not at all because Socinians preach no new nor strange Doctrine but that onely which is Primitive and declared in the Holy Scriptures The same is affirmed by Mr. Calvin concerning his own Reformation in the Preface to his Institutions which the Lutherans you know will by no means admit for truth See Conradus Scluselburg de Theologia Calvinistarum Indeed it had been somewhat if it were not the matter in question or if Socinians Behemists and all the Sects that ever molested the Church did not urge as much for themselvs boasting of Gospel truth To say that your Party agree with us in all the Vital Articles of Religion is to say what perhaps few of you believe for I doubt not if opportunity serv'd every Sect of you would advance its respective Religion as if that onely were Gospel and all other but Lyes and Superstition Or if you do believe it the more is your unhappiness to molest the Church about opinions which you do not esteem of any vital importance I wish I could oblige you to consider whether you ought to take upon you to Reform that is suppress the universal order of Christs Church by Bishops c. Banish all ancient Liturgies the use of the Creed the Lords prayer and ten Commandments out of your publique Devotions all Anniversary Solemnities of Christs Nativity Resurrection c. all Reverence or Kneeling at the holy Sacraments of