nullifie all baptisme administred either by Romish priests or orthodox Protestants but condemn baptizing of children simply which neither the first nor the second sort of Anabaptists did for both the Novatians and Donatists yea and Pelagians too though they denied originall sin yet they all allowed and practised the baptisme of infants The author of this third and worst sect of Anabaptists was as some say Muncerus as others Balthasar Pacimontanus against whom Zuinglius wrote as others Carolstadius but I subscribe to Melancthou who lived in those times and could not but be very well acquainted with those passages which fell out near the place of his residence And he affirmeth as I said before that Nicholas Stock was the first that broached Anabaptisme in Germany This Stock affirmed that God spake to him by an Angel and revealed his will to him in dreams promising him the place of the Angel Gabriel in this mans school was Tho. Muncer bred who kept such a racket in Alset a citie in the borders of Thuringia and after him Iohn Leydan and Cniperdoling who in the year 1532. infected and infested also Munster wherein though they consul'd it and king'd it for a time yet in the end were taken pinched with fiery pincers and after stab'd to the heart with daggers and their bodies shut up in iron cages which were hung upon the highest steeple in Munster where they dance in the aire And as Garnet the Jesuit the great patron and practiser of equivocation in his life time is said to have equivocated in some sort after his death for two faces of his were shewed by Roman catholikes the one upon an iron pole the other upon a straw so these ring-leaders of the Anabaptists who stickled so much for re-baptizing in their life time have been a thousand times re-baptized since their death by every shower of rain beating through their iron lettice CHAP. II. Of the errors of the Anabaptists both common to other sects and those which are peculiarly their own THose who have raked into this mud find severall beds of these slippery Eels or rather indeed Lampreys for they have all of them some string or other of poyson in them Their errours they rank into three kinds First ecclesiasticall or in point of the church or matter of faith Secondly politicall or in point of policie or matter of state Thirdly oeconomicall or in point of family-government First their ecclesiasticall errors such as peculiarly concern the doctrine or discipline of the church are First That Christ took not flesh from the Virgin Mary but that he past through her as the Sun beams do through glasse or rain through a spout Secondly That there is no originall sin Thirdly That children ought not to be baptized Fourthly That such as have been baptized in their infancie ought to be re-baptized when they come to years of discretion Fifthly That Lay-people may preach and administer the sacraments Gastius p. 35. Anabaptistae sumunt sibi omnes praedicandi officium Sixthly That men have free will not only in naturall and morall but also in spirituall actions Seventhly That absolution and the church-peace ought to be denied to such who are fallen into any grievous sin yea though they repent of it Eighthly That Luthers doctrine is worse then the Popes Secondly their politicall errors or in matter of state are First That the people may depose their magistrates and chief rulers Sleid. ib. licere plebets in magistratum arnia sumere Secondly That a Christian with a good conscience may not take upon him or bear the office of a magistrate or keep any court of Justice Thirdly That none may administer an oath to another Fourthly That no malefactors ought to be put to death Thirdly their oeconomicall errors are First That no man hath a proprietie in his goods but that all things ought to be held in common Secondly That it is lawfull to have more wives then one at once Thirdly That a man may put away his wife if she differ from him in point of religion and be not of their sect These indeed are the most of their known errors yet all the Lampreys are not found in these beds there be some straglers and to the end that none of them escape we will put them all as it were into two great weels All the errors of the Anabaptists are of two sorts First such as they hold in common with other heretiks Secondly such as are peculiar to their sect First concerning the common errors we are to note that as the wild beasts in Africa meeting at the rivers to drinke engender one with another and beget strange monsters whence is that proverb semper Africa altquid apportat novi so diverse kinds of heretiks and schismatiks meeting together at unlawfull conventicles and having conference one with the other have mingled their opinions and brought forth mungrell heresies Epiphanius instanceth in diverse ancient heretiks but I shall only at this time in those heretikes I am now to deale with viz. the last and worst sort of Anabaptists these joyn their opinions and if I may so speake engender First with the Millenaties and their joynt issue is That Christ before the day of judgement shall come downe from heaven and reigne with the saints upon earth a thousand yeares in which time they shall destroy all the wicked binding their Kings in chaines and their Nobles in links of iron Secondly with the Catharists or Novatians and their joynt issue is That they are a communion of all saints and that none that hath fallen into idolatrie or any other grievous crime for which he hath beene excommunicated ought to be restored upon his repentance to the church Thirdly with the Donatists and their joynt issue is That in the true church there are no scandals or lewd and vitious livers that the church of Christ is confined to their sect that we ought to separate from all assemblies of Christians wherein there are any abuses or scandals yea though the church alloweth them not but seeketh to reforme them that all such as have been baptized by any other then those of their sect ought to be rebaptized Fourthly with the Priscillianists and their joynt issue is That Christ took not flesh from the Virgin Mary Fifthly with the Adamites and their joynt issue is That clothes were appointed not so much to cover shame as to discover sinne and that therefore they being such as Adam was in his innocencie ought to goe naked and not to be ashamed Sixtly with the Apostolici that is a sort of hereticks who perversely and preposterously imitated the first Christians in the dayes of the Apostles and their joynt issue is That none ought to possesse any lands or goods to himself but that they ought to have all things in common This was
any use at all of distributive or commutative justice Ergo taking and giving oathes cannot be unlawfull To these two latter arguments because the Anabaptists have shaped as yet no answers I forbeare to adde any thing for the confirmation or illustration of them and now I come to refell their objections and break in pieces those bulrushes wherewith they fight against the lawfull use of oathes as well publick as private If all oathes are forbidden simply then no Salves or Provisoes or limitations above mentioned will help the matter But all oathes are forbidden simply Mat. 5. 34. But I say unto you sweare not at all and Iames 5. 12. But above all things my brethren sweare not Ergo no religious Christian must or may sweare upon any tearmes To oppose as it were the prohibition of the Sonne to the command of the Father and to affirme that what the Father commandeth in the Law the Sonne forbiddeth in the Gospell is to blaspheme with Marcion and make the precepts of the holy Ghost to clash one against another I answer therefore as before that our Saviour forbiddeth not all kind of oathes or manner of swearing but such as was then in use and allowed by the Scribes and Pharisees who fondly and absurdly conceived that to sweare by heaven or by earth or any other creature was no breach of the third Commandement because in such oathes they took not Gods name in vaine and this is Saint Ieromes interpretation Christ saith he forbids us not simply to sweare by the creatures viz. either by the heaven and earth as the Scribes and Pharisees used to sweare nor by the light as the Manichees nor by the Stars as Iupiter in the poet per sidera juro nor by the life of their Princes as the Egyptians and Romans per genium Caesaris or per patrios cineres by their parents ashes as most of the heathen For sith swearing is a part of divine worship to sweare by any creature is to ascribe a deity unto it and to commit idolatry And if the originall be read without a comma or colon thus sweare not at all neither by heaven c. then it is evident that Christ in these words forbids not the act of swearing but the unlawfull form But because in some ancient copies there is a colon after the prohibition Sweare not at all I answer Secondly that Christ here forbids all Christians to sweare upon any slight or trifling occasion or in their ordinary communication but saith he let your yea be yea and nay nay that is affirme a truth and deny a falshood simply and barely without making the holy and reverend name of God accessary to your vaine and triviall discourses No grave or sageperson would endure to be brought in for a witnes in every petty matter of smal or no consequence to which yet most men tremble not to call the Soveraigne Majesty of heaven and earth to testifie An oath saith Aristotle is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a thing most pretious and venerable not unfitly compared by Saint Augustine to a dangerous medicine never to be applied but in a desperate disease then and then only an oath is warrantable when nothing but an oath can be availeable Christ saith Peter Martyr requires that all Christians so carry themselves that there need to be no oath among them Saint Augustine further addeth that to prevent the danger of perjury Christ here forbiddeth all customary swearing because perjury is a precipice and breakneck of the soule Christ forbids us as it were to come neare the edge of the hill and not at all to venture upon an oath unlesse we bee drawn thereunto and lawfully required by a Magistrate or some other in a case of great importance Secondly the Anabaptists dispute thus Whatsoever commeth of evill is sinfull but all oathes come from evill For Christ himselfe Mat. 5. 37. Saith Let your communication be yea yea nay nay for whatsoever is more then these commeth of evill Ergo all oathes are sinfull But we answer First that the Proposition is not currant All that commeth from evill or is occasioned by evill is not sinfull For Ex malis moribus bonae nascuntur leges The best lawes were enacted upon ill occasions and very corrupt manners of men apparell at the first came from evill viz. shame for sin and singular Antidotes and remedies were found by occasion of venemous humours and maladies of the body yet are they good and wholesome so though giving and taking oathes came at the first from evill namely the want of charity or fidelity in men yet it doth not follow that oathes are evill or sinfull in themselves The assumption is not true of all oathes but of vaine rash or false oathes or customary swearing at every other word in an ordinary communication these come from evill i. the Devill or from an ill habit or a bad conscience The Anabaptists argue thus Those things that are future are not in our power therefore in swearing to doe such or such things to performe such or such Covenants is to expose our selves to the danger of Perjury But we answer That if there were any force in this argument at all it would overthrow all promises as well as oathes nay it would impeach our vow in Baptisme to forsake the Devill and all his works and to fight under Christs Banner c. For those things are not in our power and therefore in those and all other promissory oathes there is a condition tacite or expressed Si Deus voluerit as farre as God shall enable us or So help me God or God being my helper In all such oathes by which we binde our selves to performe any future act we sweare not simply to make good the event which often is not in our power but we engage our wills and utmost endeavours neither are we guilty of perjury if we would and could not but if we could and would not keep truth and be as good as our words If the heathen have been more carefull to refraine the violation of the name of God by frequent and usuall swearing then we they shall rise up in judgement against Christians and condemne them at the last day for among them the Priests seldome or never sware the Essens esteemed no better of swearing then of perjury if a man among them were put to his oath they accounted him a confessed lyer and such an one who had lost his reputation among honest men Plutarch in his Roman Problemes yeilds a reason why the Priest of Iupiter might never sweare because they held it a great derogation to that venerable opinion all ought to have of him Pythagoras was so strict in this point that when he might have avoyded a mulct of three talents if he would have sworne he chose rather to endure the penalty then hee would take an oath in defence of the truth The Scythians refused to take an oath enjoyned them
Kings and Christian Governours ARGUMENT VII Those for whom we are to offer up prayers and supplications in speciall their calling must needs bee warrantable by and agreeable to the Gospell But we are to offer prayers and supplications in speciall for Civill Magistrates 1 Timothy 2. 1. 2 3 4. Ergo their calling is warrantable by and agreeable to the Gospell ANABAP ANSWER We are to pray for their persons as men but not for their functions as they are Magistrates REPLY The Apostles instancing particularly in Kings and those that are in eminent authority sheweth that he hath an eye to their very function especially seeing he addeth that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godlinesse and honestie which we cannot doe unlesse God blesse their government over us Calvin rightly inferreth this to be the meaning of the Apostle from the reason he useth vers 4. Who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth By all men saith he the Apostle cannot understand ad unum omnes nemine excluso every man in particular none excepted sed omnes vitae conditiones status quia status Principum rejectus à Deo maledictus videri poterat eo quod omnes Evangelium infesto animo persequerentur Not all men universally and every man in particular for then none should be damned but all states and conditions of men and in that regard he names expressely Kings and Princes because their estate and condition might seem to be rejected of God and cursed by him by reason that all Princes at that time were ill-affected to the Gospell and persecuted it to bands and death Notwithstanding this mischiefe the Church then received by Civill Magistrates yet the Apostle teacheth us that it is good and acceptable in the sight of God to make supplications even for them because God excludeth no calling or conditions of men from salvation ARGUMENT VIII What Kings are required to doe under the Gospell can be no diminution of Evangelicall holinesse or perfection But Kings under the Gospell are commanded to imploy their power to the advancement of Christs Kingdome Psalme 2. 10 11 12. Ergo it can be no diminution of Evangelicall holinesse or perfection for Kings to imploy their regall power in the service of the Church ANABAPTISTS ANSWER King David in the second Psalme exhorteth Kings to embrace the Gespell and worship Christ not to exercise their regall authority amongst Christians REPLY When Saint Paul commandeth that every man after his conversion to the Christian faith to abide in the same calling whereunto they are called certainly hee excludeth not the best and most eminent calling which is that of Soveraign Princes and Magistrates and if they must not quit their calling undoubtedly they must imploy their power to the best end which is the advancing of Christs Kingdome in theirs 2 Saint Augustine by an acute distinction very well illustrateth the Text of the Psalmist Be wise O yee Kings serve the Lord with feare a King serves God two manner of wayes as a man by leading a godly life agreeable to the rules of the Gospell as a King he serves God by enacting lawes with convenient severity commanding just things and prohibiting the contrary so Hezekiah and Josiah and the King of Ninive◠and Datius and Nebuchadnezzar hee might have added and Constantine and Theodosius and all religious Christian Kings serve God for then properly Kings serve God as Kings when they doe those things in and for the service of the Lord which none can doe but Kings ANABAP OBIECT There is no Paradox so absurd saith the Oratour which meets not with some Patron among the learned and I may adde farther which hath not some varnish of reason yea and glosse also of Scripture put upon it For although as the Poets faine that Atlas beares up the heavens so the Civill Magistrates beare up the pillars of the earth and support the frame of all government yet the Anabaptists bid them Battaile and furnish themselves with weapons against their calling out of Scripture First they wrest to their wicked purpose the words of our Saviour Iohn 18. 36. My Kingdome is not of this world Ergo say they no Christian ought to raigne as a King or rule as a Governour in this world But we answer that the inference is unsound themselves being Judges for as he here professeth that hee had no Kingdome here so elsewere that he had no house or possessions The Foxes saith he have dens and the Birds have nests but the Sonne of man hath not whereon to lay his head Yet the Anabaptists will not allow it for a good inference Ergo no good Christian may hold house or lands If then they will have Kings to quit their Earthly Crownes and Scepters because our Saviour had none such here let them give a good example and first quit all their houses goods and lands and follow Christ naked The meaning of our Saviours words is that though indeed hee bee a King yet his Kingdome is not a Temporall Kingdome in which hee swayeth a Temporall sword but a Spirituall Kingdome whereby hee ruleth the hearts of the faithfull or that he is a King and hath both his Throne and his Guard his Throne of glory and his Guard of Angels but this his Kingdome is an heavenly not an earthly Kingdome Notwithstanding it will not hence follow that earthly Kings and Princes hold not their Crownes from him For Solomon and Saint Iohn affirme the contrary Solomon speaking in the person of Christ saith By me Kings raigne and Saint Iohn saith He hath a name written upon his thigh King of Kings and Lord of Lords a Temporall Kingdom and a Spirituall are diversa not adversa diverse and distinct not adverse and contrary one to the other Christ in a different capacity hath right to both as God hee administreth all Temporall Kingdomes by Kings and Princes appointed by him and his Spirituall Kingdome by Bishops Pastors and Ministers of the Gospell Howsoever certain it is that he warranteth and approveth of the authority of Secular Kings and Magistrates for he commandeth all men to pay unto Caesar the things that are Caesars and himselfe paid tribute and acknowledgeth Pilats power over him to be from God Secondly they straine the words of our Saviour Matth. 20. 25. Luke 22. 25. The Kings of the Gentiles execute Lordship over them and they that are great exercise authority upon them but it shall not be so with you therefore say they no Christians may beare rule one over another To this objection the learned Divines both ancient and later shape a double answer first that Christ here speaketh not to all Christians but only to his Apostles and their successours whose office hee distinguisheth from Temporall Rule and Dominion You my Apostles shall not by vertue of your calling challenge to your selves Regall power or Coactive and Temporall authority or
baptized before they can hear and understand the gospel preached to them ANSWER 1. The setting preaching before baptizing doth no more prove that preaching must alwaies go before baptisme then the naming repentance before faith Mar. 1. 15. Repent and beleeve the gospel proves that repentance goeth alwayes before faith which the Anabaptists themselves hold not 2. Christ setteth in that place preaching before baptizing for two reasons neither of which make any thing against the baptisme of children The first is because it is the more principall act of the ministeriall function for it is preaching which through the operation of the holy Spirit begetteth faith which the sacraments only confirme preaching draweth the instrument as it were of the covenant between God and us whereunto the sacrament is set as a seal Secondly because Christ there speaketh of converting whole nations to the Christian faith in which alwayes the preaching of the word goeth before the administration of the sacraments For first men beleeve and after are admitted to baptisme but after the parents are converted their children being comprised within the covenant are admitted to baptisme and whensoever any proselyte is to be made this course is likewise to be taken they must professe their faith before they be received into the church by baptisme but the case is different in children they have neither the use of reason to apprehend the gospel preached unto them nor use of their tongue to professe their faith and God requireth no more of them then he hath given them the like course God himself took in the old law before any men of riper years were circumcised the commandement of God was declared and his covenant made known unto them but children were circumcised the eight day before they were capable of any preaching unto them or such declaration Nothing remaineth but that the two objections concerning the doctrine of the Trinitie in the beginning propounded by D. F. for no other end but to try how well verst these ring-leaders of the Anabaptists were in the more necessary points of catechisme he answered The first was framed out of Ioh. 17. 3. This is life eternall to know thee to be the only true God and whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ. If the Father be the only true God how is the Son or the holy Ghost very God Hereunto the Anabaptists gave two answers the first blaspemous the second unsufficient and impertinent as appears in the beginning of the conference The true answer is that Christ Ioh. 17. prayeth to God and not to any of the three Persons particularly for though he useth the word Father v. 1. yet Father is not there taken for the first Person in Trinity but as a common attribute of the deity as it is also taken Mat. 6. 9. Our Father v. 14. your heavenly Father Gal. 1. 4. God and our Father Jam. 1. 27. Before God and the Father 1 Pet. 1. 17. If you call him Father who judgeth without respect of persons So then the meaning is O God Father of heaven and earth This is life eternall to know thee to be the only true God and whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ. According to which interpretation this text is parallel to that of the Apostle one God and one Mediator betwixt God and man the man Christ Iesus 1 Tim. 2. 5. The second objection was out of Ioh. 15. 26. The spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father If the spirit proceed from the Father only how do we say in the Nicen creed and that other of Athanasius and in the Letany which proceedeth from the Father and the Son To this none of the Anabaptists gave any answer at all yet the answer is very easie for the spirit is said to proceed from the Father in the place above alledged because he proceedeth from the Father originally not because he proceedeth from the Father only for he is elsewhere called the spirit of the Son as well as of the Father Gal. 4. 6. And in this very text Ioh. 15. 26. it is said the spirit whom I will send you from the Father which sheweth that the holy Spirit hath a dependance from both To whom three Persons and one only true God be ascribed all glory honour power and dominion for evermore FINIS A TRACTATE against the ANABAPTISTS CHAPTER I. Of the name and severall sorts of Anabaptists THe name Anabaptist is derived from the preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and signifieth are-baptizer or at least such an one who alloweth of and maintaineth re-baptizing they are called also Catabaptists from the preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying an abuser or prophaner of baptisme For indeed every Anabaptist is also a Catabaptist the reitteration of that sacrament of our entrance into the church and seal of our new birth in Christ is a violation and depravation of that holy ordinance Of these Anabaptists or Catabaptists who differ no more then Bavius and Maevius of whom the poet elegantly writeth Qui Bavium non odit amat tua carniua Maevi Alstedius maketh fourteen sorts first the Muncerians 2. the Apostolical 3. the Separatists 4 the Catharists 25 the Silents 6. the Enthusiasts 7. the Libertines 8. the Adamites 9. the Hutites 10. the Augustintans 11. the Buchedians 12. the Melchiorites 13. the Georgians 14. the Menonists But in this as in other things he is more to be commended for his diligence in collection then for his judgement in election For although there are schismaticall and hereticall persons that have neer affinitie with Anabaptists known by all these names yet these are not so many distinct and severall sorts of Anabaptists For some of these differ only in respect of their doctors or teachers and not of their doctrines as the Muncerians Hutites Menonists others were hereticks more ancient then the Anabaptists properly so called as namely the Apostolicall the Catharists the Adamites and Enthusiasts though as I shall shew hereafter some of our present Anabaptists trench upon their heresies the Augustinians Melchiorites and Georgians are Anabaptists aliquid amplius though they agree with them in their main doctrine of re-baptizing yet they go beyond the ordinary Anabaptists holding far more damnable tenents then they For the Augustinians beleeve that none shall enter into paradise till the prince of their sect Austine the Bohemian shall open the way The Melchiorites expect Melchior Hofmannus to come with Elias to restore all things before the last day The Georgians blasphemously boast that their master David George was a holy person composed and made of the soul of Christ the third person in the Trinitie Lastly he omitteth one sort of Anabaptists called Hemerobaptists who in the summer time quotidiè baptizabātur were christened every day senserunt enim aliter non posse hominem vivere si non singulis diebus in aqua mergeretur ita ut abluatur sanctificetur ab omni
18. 10. Two men went up into the Temple to pray Acts 3. 1. Peter and Iohn went up together into the Temple at the houre of prayer 1 Thess. 5. 17. Pray without ceasing 1 Tim. 2. 1. Let prayers intercessions and supplications be made for all men 1 Thess. 1. 2. making mention of you in our prayers 2 Tim. 1. 3. remembrance of thee in my prayers EXCEPT II. Secondly they except against the Service-book that either all of it or the greater part is taken out of the Roman Missall and therefore is to be kickt out of the church with that superstitious piece of Romish devotion ANSWER But this exception is first insufficient secondly ignorant For if the prayers in our Service-book are holy and pithie if agreeable to the pattern of all prayer and favour of true pietie and devotion which they cannot denie they doe what skils it out of what book they were culled The Iews borrowed jewels of the Egyptians to adorn the Sanctuarie Solomon sent for timber and other materials for the Temple to Hyram king of Tyre S. Paul transcribed verses out of heaÌ„then Poets Virgil raked gold out of Enuius hic muck Christian Apothecaries gather simples to make sovereigne electuaries out of the gardens of Iews and Mahumetans the Lapidaries take out a precious stone called Bufomtes out of the head of a Toad Christ indeed forbids us to cast pearl before swine but no where to take a pearl out of a ring in a swines snowt if there be found any there Secondly this exception is guiltie of as much ignorance as weaknesse they who make it are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as cannot see afarre off of if they could they might have discerned the prayers in our Church-book to be farre more ancient then the Roman Missall The Bishops and learned Doctors who in the dayes of Edward the sixt compiled the Service-book at Windsor had farre more ancient Liturgies in their eye then the Roman Missall or Breviarie they drew not water out of that impure channell but out of a clearer fountain There are the same Epistles and Gospels in our book and theirs but they were not taken out of theirs but out of the Canonicall books of the old and new Testament there are the same Psalmes and Hymnes but they were not taken out of their Psalter but out of Davids and Saint Luke there are many of the same Collects and Orisons but they are not taken out of their Breviarie but out of the Liturgies of Saint Basil Saint Ambrose Saint Chrysostome and other more ancient attributed to the Apostles themselves Lastly if in regard of that little which may seem to be translated out of the Missall into our English Service-book it might be tearmed as Spalatensis when he was present at the Service in Canterburie church called it Breviarium optime reformatum a reformed Breviarie I cannot apprehend how that should be any derogation to it for what saith Solomon take away the drosse from the silver and there shall come forth a vessell for the refiner This was the noble work of the learned Doctors and Martyrs who reformed Religion in England they took away the drosse not only from the Missals but from all other Offices and Service-books then extant all superstitious Rites either heathenish or Iewish all Legendarie fables all invocation of saints prayers for the dead all Dirige's and Trentals and whatsoever was not warrantable by holy scripture and retaining the rest supplyed what was wanting thereunto and hence came forth this Vessell for the refiner this Liturgie of our church more compleat then any now extant in other reformed churches EXCEPT III. Thirdly they except at three Popish absolutious as they tearme them the first in the beginning of the Service after the publique confession the second before the Communion the third in the visitation of the sick But this exception hath in it more strength of passion then reason for none of these absolutions are absolute but conditionall nor in the name or by the authoritie of the Minister but of Christ. The first is nothing but a declaration of Gods mercie who freely pardoneth the penitent and of the Ministers dutie to declare and pronounce this absolution and remission to the people The second is a prayer of the Minister to God to have mercie upon the Communicants to pardon and deliver them from all their sinnes and to confirme and strengthen them in all goodnesse The third is the execution of that Ministeriall power wherewith Christ invested the Apostles and their successours Iohn 20. 23. As my father sent me so I send you whose sinnes ye remit they are remitted whose sinnes ye retaine they are retained Here is our expresse warrant and commission from Christ for what we doe in this kind to revive the spirit of the humble and cheat up the drooâ—ing conscience reaâ—lie to languish in a featefull conflict with despaire EXCEPT IV. Fourthly they except against the reading of the Psalmes Epistles and Gospels in a corrupt translation in which there are many grosse errours as Psal 105. 28. And they were not obedient to his word whereas it should be translated and they rebelled not against his word and Luke the first 36. This is the sixth moneth which was called barren for this is the sixth moneth with her who was called barren And Rom. 12. 11. Fervent in Spirit serving the time for serving the Lord. And Galat. 4. 25. Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia and bordereth upon the citie which is now called Ierusalem for and answereth to Ierusalem And Phil. 2. 8. He was found in his apparrell as a man for being found in fashion as a man And Ephes. 3. 15. Which is the father of all that is called father in heaven and earth for of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named But this exception is of little importance and may soon be philipp't away For first if no translation way be read in the church but that which is free from all errour then none at all ought to be read for there is none in which there are not some mistakes more or lesse with this ferula therefore they rap themselves over the thumbs Secondly those sores on which they fasten their nail have their salves they may see them if they please in Hooker Fisher and many others who have cleared those very passages Lastly neither is the Minister nor are the people tyed to that translation in the common-prayer-book but they may if they please in stead thereof read the Psalmes Epistles and Gospels according to the last and best translation neither were they to blame who in the first setting forth of the common-prayer-book appointed the scriptures to be read in that ancient translation for that was the best then extant neither is there any errour at all in it which concerneth faith or manners and other slips must be born withall in translations or else we must read none at all till we have a translation given
first table required by the eternall and morall law of God 2. As we have warrant for swearing in the old Testament so also in the new for Christ himselfe was made our Priest by oath Heb. 7. 21. Those Priests were made without an oath but this with an oath by him that said unto him The Lord sware and will not repent thou art a Priest c. By so much was Iesus made a surety of a better Testament God his using an oath for confirmation of Christ his Priesthood warranteth the custome of giving and taking an oath at the Inauguration of Emperours Coronation of Kings Consecration of Bishops Ordination of Ministers and generally the admission of any person of quality into any place of trust or command or weighty charge in Church or Common-wealth God himselfe using this kind of confirmation confirmeth this kind and use of an oath Neither are promissary oathes only approved by the Gospell to bind our faith and assure loyalty and fidelity but also assertory to cleare doubtfull truth and end litigious suites Heb. 6. 16. For men verily sweare by the greater and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife even Christ himselfe who is AMEN the faithfull witnesse and in whom all the promises of God are yea and AMEN often corroborateth his divine Essayes and heavenly promises with that sacred ingemination AMEN AMEN which is virtually if not formally an oath according to the strict definition of an oath which is affirmatio religiosa or as the Schooles define it more fully affirmatio vel negatio interposita religione a religious asseveration or the affirming and denying any thing with a divine attestation Christ in the fifth of Matthew forbiddeth not all kind of swearing but the ordinary and accustomary swearing then in use among the Iewes and allowed by the Scribes and Pharisees who erroneously conceived that swearing by heaven and earth or Ierusalem or any creature was no taking Gods name in vain because in such oaths Gods name was not used This practice of theirs our Saviour condemnes and refutes their errour Mat. 5. 34. Sweare not at all neither by the heaven for it is Gods Throne nor by the earth for it is his Footstoole nor by Ierusalem for it is the City of the great King c. But of this more in the solution of the adversaries objections ARGUMENT II. That which hath been practised by God himselfe the elect Angels and Saints speaking by divine inspiration cannot be sinfull or unlawfull else we should make God himselfe the Authour of sinne and lay impiety or iniquity to the charge of holinesse and justice it selfe But the Scripture bringeth in first God swearing Gen. 50. 24. Exod. 13. 5. 11. Exod. 33. 1. Numb 14. 16. 23. 30. Num. 32. 10. 11. Deut. 1. 8. 8. 35. Ios. 5. 6. Psal. 95. 11. 110. 4. Heb. 6. 17. 7. 21. 22. Secondly Angels Dan. 12. 7. I heard the man cloathed in linen when he held up his right hand and his left to heaven and sware by him that liveth Rev. 10. 5. 6. And the Angell which I saw stand upon the Sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven and sware by him that liveth for ever that there should be time no longer Thirdly the Saints Abraham Gen. 21. 24. Iacob 31. 53. Ioseph Gen. 47. 35. Moses Ios. 14. 9. David 1. Sam. 20. 3. 24. 22. Ionathan 1. Sam. 20. 16. Eliah 1. Kings 17. 1. Gedallah 2. Kings 25. 24. Asa. 2. Chron. 15. 14. Obadiaah 1. Kings 18. 10. Elisha 2. Kings 2. 6. Ergo swearing is not unlawfull ANABAP ANSWER God giveth the law to us not to himselfe and for the examples alleadged out of the old Testament they are no good Precedents for us to follow because the people of God were not forbidden to sweare by God in the law but we are by Christ in the Gospell REPLY Though God be under no law yet he is a law to himselfe his nature is his law which he never doth or can transgresse violate or dispense with He is all light and there is no darknesse all truth and there is no falshood all justice and there is no iniquity in him Neither is it true that the Saints under the Gospell lie under a greater restraint in respect of oathes then those under the law for as they so these have not refused upon just cause and weighty occasions to appeale to God and call him to attest the truth of their speeches and sincerity of their intentions For how many sacred attestations in this kind find we in the writings of the Apostle neither can it bee said he used them being transported by passion or out of infirmity for his Epistles are inspired and the religious asseverations in them are no other then the dictates of the Holy Ghost Such are these Rom. 1. 9. God is my witnesse whom I serve with my spirit in the Gospell of his Son that without ceasing I make mention alwayes of you in my prayers Rom. 9. 1. I say the truth in Christ I lie not my conscience also bearing witnesse in the Holy Ghost that I have great heavinesse and continuall sorrow in my heart 2. Cor. 1. 23. I call God for a Record upon my soule that to spare you I came not as yet to Corinth Gal. 1. 20. Now the things which I write unto you behold before God I lie not Phil. 1. 8. For God is my Record how greatly I long after you all in the bowells of Iesus Christ 1. Thess. 2. 10. Yee are witnesses and God also how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved our selves among you that beleived ARGUMENT III. No part of Gods true and substantiall worship can be sinfull else vertue should be vice and godlinesse it selfe wickednesse light should bee darknesse and good evill But swearing with such cautions and provisoes as are set downe by the Prophet Ieremy is a part of Gods true and substantiall worship for it is a religious invocation of his name with an acknowledgement of his omniscient wisdom and omnipotent justice omniscient wisdom whereby he knoweth all hidden things and the very thoughts and intentions of the heart of man and omnipotent justice whereby he is able and will punish those sinnes which come not within the walk of mans justice Ergo swearing after a religious manner cannot be sinfull ARGUMENT IV. Whatsoever is necessary for the detecting and punishing of wickednesse and vice and the acquitting of innocencie and preservation of all humane commerce and society cannot be sinfull and unlawfull For where God appointeth the ends he appointeth also the meanes and as the powers that are are ordained by God so the estates that are to continue among men are established by him But the giving and taking of oathes is necessary for all these ends as the experience of all Societies demonstrate and the practice of all Courts both Ecclesiasticall and civill and the custome of all nations wherein there is
by Alexander and scoffed at the scrupulous caution of the Grecians who would passe no act without signing it and swearing to it Scythae colendo fidem jurant our Scythians faith is our band and our promise our oath Those who blush not to break their faith with men will make no scruple of conscience to forsweare themselves by their Gods An honest mans word is as good as his oath and a prophane persons oath is no more to be regarded then his word All these examples of the heathen may bee alleadged to good purpose to shame and confound those Christians in name who rap out oathes by no allowance who turn Christs meritorious sufferings in all his parts into blasphemies and wound his very wounds Assuredly if men shall give account at the day of judgment of every idle word much more of execrable oathes but it will not follow we may not sweare lightly or rashly to the great dishonour of God and scandall of religion and therefore wee may not honour God by an oath by calling him to witnesse in matters of greatest moment whereby we agnize his soveraigne Majesty we professe his all-seeing wisdom we invocate his sin revenging justice against all those who dare put his holy and dreadfull name to that which their conscience tells them is a falshood Whereas it is said that an honest man will have as well a care of his word as his oath and a dishonest man as little regard of his oath as his word this is but a vaine flourish for an honest man who will have a care of his word will have a greater care of his oath and a twist â—s stronger then a single string and although many dishonest men will falsifie their word for their advantage yet they will not so easily bee brought to forsweare themselves in regard of the severe penalty of the law and the infamy and horrour of the sinne of perjury whereof the Hebrewes write that at the giving of the tables in Mount Sinai when the law was proclaimed against perjury heaven and earth shook as it were trembling at so horrid a crime The issue and effect of all is this as God sweareth by himself for our comfort so we may swear by him for his glory nay the Prophet goeth farther we ought and it is our duty to take an oath in truth by the truth and for the truth in truth that is in a true and just cause by the truth that is by God who is the truth and for the truth that is for the manifestation and confirmation of truth The second difficulty concerning oathes is whether they may bee imposed I answer briefly they may both by supreame and inferiour Magistrates deriving their authority from him this I prove First by cleare testimony of Scripture Secondly by the examples of holy and religious men who have both administred and taken such oathes Thirdly by evidence of reason ARGUMENT I. In the charge that Ioshuah gave to the Elders Heads Iudges and other officers of Israel among other things there is this remarkeable passage Yee shall not make mention of the names of other Gods nor cause to sweare by them neither serve them nor bow your selves unto them but cleave to the Lord your God as you have done this day whence I thus frame my argument What the Rulers of Israel were forbidden to doe to other Gods this passage sheweth that they may and ought to doe to the true God But the Rulers of Israel are forbidden to make mention of or cause any to sweare by the Gods of the heathen Ergo they may and ought to make mention of the name of the true God and require and cause men to sweare by him when an oath shall be required of them ARGUMENT II. What the Saints of God are recorded to have done and they are no where reproved for the doing thereof in holy Scripture we may doe for all those things were written for our example 1. Cor. 10. 6. But the Saints of God are recorded in holy Scripture to have exacted and taken oaths imposed for Abraham Gen. 24. 23. maketh his servant sweare by the Lord God of heaven that he should not take a wife to his sonne of the daughters of the Canaanites David being urged by Saul sware 1. Sam. 24. 21. 22. that he would not cut off Sauls seed after him Ezra made the chiefe Priests and all Israel to sweare that they would put away their strange wives according to the commandement of God Ezrah 10. 5. Nehemiah 5. 12. called the Priests and tooke an oath of them that they should doe according to their promise that they should restore unto their brethren their lands their vinâ—-yards their olive-yards their houses and also the hundred part of their monie and of the corn wine and oile they exacted of them Ergo Christians may lawfully both impose and take oathes ARGUMENT III. All Christian Magistrates may command those who are subject to their authority such things as are lawfull and necessary for the discharge of their office and the preservation of humane society But oathes are things lawfull as is proved in the former question and they are necessary for the execution of the Magistrates office and the preservation of humane society For without such oathes the Common-wealth hath no sure tye upon publick officers and Ministers nor Kings upon their subjects nor Lords upon their tenants neither can mens titles be cleared in causes civill nor justice done in causes criminall nor dangerous plots and conspiracies be discovered against the State Ergo Christian Magistrates may command those that are under their authority to take oathes and this is the constant judgement of the reformed Churches But they object no man may be enforced to any act of Religion for Tertullian saith acutely and truly nec Religionis est Religionem cogere It is against Religion to compell or enforce Religion But the taking of an oath whereby we invocate God is an act of Religion Therefore no man may or ought to bee enforced to take an oath There are two sorts of acts of Religion inward and outward First inward as to adhere to God to love him to beleive in him and put our confidence and place our happinesse chiefly in him these and such like acts of Religion cannot be enforced Secondly outward as comming to Church receiving the Sacrament and making confession of our faith fasting and prayer these latter may be enforced as wee see by the example of Iosiah who compelled all Israel to serve the Lord and by the speech of the King in the Parable who made a great supper and bade many guests and when they had made their severall excuses said to his servant Goe to the high waies and hedges and compell them to come in that my house may be full Among these latter acts of Religion is the taking of an oath which though in all leagues and covenants and holy vowes it ought to be free