A DEFENCE Of Mr. JOHN COTTON From the imputation of SELFE CONTRADICTION charged on him by Mr. DAN CAVVDREY Written by himselfe not long before his death Whereunto is prefixed an Answer to a late Treatise of the said Mr. CAVVDREY about the nature of SCHISME BY JOHN OWEN D D {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Tit. 1. 7. OXFORD Printed by H HALL for T. ROBINSON 1658. CHRISTIAN READER I have not much to say unto thee concerning the insuing Treatise it will speake for it selfe with all impartiall men much lesse shall I insist on the commendation of it's Authour who also being dead {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and will be so I am perswaded whilest Christ hath a Church upon the Earth The Treatise it selfe was written sundry yeeres agoe immediately upon the publishing of Mr Cawdryes Accusation against him I shall not need to give an account whence it hath been that it saw the light no sooner it may suffice that in mine own behalfe and of others I doe acknowledge that in the doing of sundry things seeming of more importance this ought not to have been omitted The judgment of the Authour approving of this vindication of himselfe as necessary considering the place he held in the Church of God should have been a rule unto us for the performance of that duty which is owing to his worth and piety in doing and suffering for the Truth of God It is now about 7 months agoe since it came into my hands and since I ingaged my selfe into the publication of it my not immediate proceeding therein being sharply rebuked by a fresh charge upon my selfe from that hand under which this worthy Person so farre suffered as to be necessitated to the ensuing defensative I have here discharged that ingagement The Author of the charge against him in his Epistle to that against me tel's his Reader that it is thought that it was intended by another and now promised by my selfe to be published to cast a Slurre upon him so are our intentions judged so our wayes by thoughts and reports Why a Vindication of Mr Cotton should cast a slurre upon Mr Cawdry I know not Is he concern'd in Spirit or Reputation in the Acquitment of an holy reverend Person now at rest with Christ from imputations of inconstancie and selfe contradiction Is there not roome enough in the world to beare the good names of Mr Cotton and Mr Cawdry but that if one be vindicated the other must be slurred He shall find now by experience what assistance he found from him who loved him to beare his charge and to repell it without any such reflection on his Accuser as might savour of an intention to slurre him mala mens malus animus the measure that men feare from others they have commonly meted out unto them before hand He wishes those that intend to rake in the ashes of the dead to consider whether they shall deserve any thankes for their labour How the covering of the dead with their own comely garments comes to be a raking into their ashes I know not His name is alive though he be dead It was that not his person that was attempted to be wounded by the charge against him to powre forth that balme for it 's healing now he is dead which himselfe provided whilest he was alive without adding or diminishing one syllable is no rakeing into his ashes and I hope the {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} of the Reverend Authour will not allow him to be offended that this friendly office is performed to a dead Brother to publish this his defence of his own innocency written in obedience to a prime dictate of the law of Nature against the wrong which was not done him in secret But the intendment of this prefatory discourse being my own concernment in reference to a late tract of Mr Cawdries bearing in it's Title and Superscription a vindication from my unjust clamours and false aspersions I shall not detaine the Reader with any farther discourse of that which he will find fully debated in the insuing Treatise it selfe but immediately addresse my selfe to that which is my present peculiar designe By what wayes and meanes the difference betwixt us is come to that issue wherein now it stands stated in the expressions before mentioned I shall not need to repeat Who first let out those waters of strife who hath filled their streames with bitternesse clamour false aspersions is left to the judgment of all that feare the Lord who shall have occasion at any time to reflect upon those discourses How ever it is come to passe I must acknowledge that the state of the Controversy betweene us is now degenerated into such an uselesse strife of words as that I dare publickly owne engagemēts into studies of so much more importance unto the interest of truth Piety and literature as that I cannot with peace in my own retirements be much farther conversant therein Only whereas I am not in the least convinced that Mr Cawdry hath given satisfaction to my former Expostulations about the injuries done me in his other Treatise and hath evidently added to the number and weight of them in this I could not but lay hold of this opportunity given by my discharging a former promise once more to remind him of some miscarriages exceedingly unbecomeing his profession and calling which I shall doe in a briefe review of his Epistle and Treatise Upon the consideration whereof without charging him or his way with schisme in great letters on the Title-page of this book I doubt not but it will appear that the guilt of the crime he falsly unjustly uncharitably chargeth upon others may be laid more equitably at his own door and that the shortnesse of the covering to hide themselves used by him and others from the inquisition made after them for schisme upon their own principles will not be supplyed by such outcryes as those he is pleased to use after them who are least of all men concerned in the matter under contest there being no solid medium whereby they may be impleaded And in this discourse I shall as I suppose put an end to my engagement in this controversy I know no man whose patience will inable him to abide alwayes in the consideration of things to so little purpose were it not that men beare themselves on high by resting on the partiall adherence of many to their dictates it were impossible they should reape any contentment in their retirements from such a management of Controversies as this Independency is a great schisme it hath made all the divisions amongst us Brownists Anabaptists and all sectaries are Independents they deny our Ministers and Churches they seperate from us all errors come from among them this I have been told and that I have heard is the summe of this Treatise who they are of whom he speakes how they came into such a possession of all Church state in England
young men came to advise about their ordination he diswaded them from it 4. He saith he would maintaine against all the Ministers of England there was in Scripture no such thing as Ordination 5. That when he was chosen a Parliament man he would not answer whether he was a Minister or not all which are notoriously untrue and some of them namely the two last so remote from any thing to give a pretence or colour unto them that I question whether Satan have impudence enough to owne himselfe their Author and yet from hearesayes reports rumours from table talk Vox populi and such other grounds of Reasoning this Reverend Author hath made them his owne and by such a charge hath I presume in the judgment of all unprejudiced men discharged me from further attending to what he shall be prompted from the like principles to divulge for the same end and purposes which hitherto he hath managed for the future For my judgment about their ministry and Ordination about the nature and efficacy of Ordination the state and power of particular Churches my owne station in the ministry which I shall at all times through the grace and assistance of our Lord Jesus Christ freely justify against men and devills it is so well knowne that I shall not need here further to declare it for the true nature and notion of Schisme alone by me enquired after in this chapter as I said I find nothing offerd thereunto only whereas I restrained the Ecclesiasticall use of the word Schisme to the sense wherein it is used in the places of Scripture that mention it with relation to Church affaires which that it ought not to be so nothing but asseverations to the contrary are produced to evince this is interpreted to extend to all that I would allow as to the nature of Schisme it selfe which is most false though I said if I would proceed no farther I might not be compelled so to do seeing in things of this nature we may crave allowance to think and speak with the Holy Ghost However I expressely comprised in my proposition all the places wherein the nature of Schisme is delivered under what termes or words soever When then I shall be convinced that such discourses as those of this Treatise made up of diversions into things wholy forraigne to the inquiry by me insisted on in the investigation of the true notion and nature of Schisme with long talkes about Anabaptists Brownists Sectaries Independents Presbyterians Ordination with charges and reflections grounded on this presumption that this Author and his party for we will no more contend about that expression are in solidum possessed of all true and orderly Church state in England so that whosoever are not of them are Schismaticks and I know not what besides he being Gallinae filius albae nos viles pulli nati infelicibus ovis I shall farther attend unto them I must farther adde that I was not so happy as to foresee that because I granted the Roman Party before the Reformation to have made outwardly a profession of the Religion of Christ although I expressed them to be really a party combined together for all ends of wickednesse and in particular for the extirpation of the true Church of Christ in the world having no state of union but what the Holy Ghost calls Babilon in opposition to Syon our Reverend Author would conclude as he doth pag. 34. that I allowed them to be a true Church of Christ but it is impossible for wiser men then I to see farre into the issue of such discourses and therefore we must take in good part what doth fall out and if the Reverend Author insteed of having his zeale warmed against me would a little bestirre his abilities to make out to the understandings and consciences of uninterested men that All ecclesiasticall power being vested in the Pope and Councills by the consent of that whole combination of men called the Church of Rome and flowing from the Pope in its execution to all others who in the derivation of it from him owned him as the immediate fountaine of it which they sware to maintaine in him and this in opposition to all Church power in any other persons whatsoever it was possible that any power should be derived from that combination but what came expressely from the fountaine mentioned I desire our Author would consider the frame of spirit that was in this matter in them who first laboured in the worke of Reformation and to that end peruse the stories of Lasitius and Regenuolscius about the Churches of Bohemia Poland and those parts of the world especially the latter from pag. 29. 30. and forward And as to the distinction used by some between the Papacy and the Church of Rome which our Author makes use of to another purpose then those did who first invented it extending it only to the consideration of the possibility of salvation for individuall persons living in that communion before the Reformation I hope he will not be angry if I professe my disability to understand it All men cannot be wise alike if the Papacy comprise the Pope and all Papall Jurisdiction and power with the subjection of men thereunto if it denote all the Idolatries false worship and heresies of that society of men I do know that all those are confirmed by Church Acts of that Church and that in the Church Publick sense of that Church no man was a member of it but by virtue of the union that consisted in that Papacy it being placed alwaies by them in all their definitions of their Church as also hat there was neither Church Order nor Church Power nor Church Act nor Church confession nor Church Worship amongst them but what consisted in that Papacy Now because nothing doth more frequently occurre then the objection of the difficulty in placing the dispensation of baptisme on a sure foot account in case of the rejection of all authoritative influence from Rome into the ministry of the Reformed Churches with the insinuation of a supposition of the nonbaptization of all sutch as derive not a title unto it by that meanes they who do so being supposed to stand upon an unquestionable foundation I shall a little examine the grounds of their security and then compare them with what they have to plead who refuse to acknowledg the deriving any sap or noushriment from that rotten corrupt stock It is I suppose taken for granted that an unbaptized person can never effectually baptize let him receive what other qualifications soever that are to be superadded or necessary thereunto If this be not supposed the whole weight of the objection improved by the worst supposition that can be made falls to the ground I shall also desire in the next place that as we cannot make the Popish baptisme better then it is so that we would not plead it to be better or any other then they professe it to be nor pretend that though
particular Church it is no Church at all for the Catholicke Church it is not he replyes that though it be not such a particular Congregation as I intend yet it may be a particular Patriarchall Church but 1 then it seemes it is a particular Church which grants my inference 2. It was a particular Church of Christ's institution that I inquired after doth our Authour think that Christ hath appointed any Patriarchall Church a Patriarchall Church as such is such from it's Relation to a Patriarch and he can scarce be thought to judge Patriarches to be of Divine institution who hath cast off and abjured Episcopacy The Donatists are mentioned againe p. 113. And I am againe Charged with an attempt to vindicate them from schisme my thoughts of them I have before declared to the full have no reason to retract any thing from what was then spoken or to adde any thing thereunto if it may satisfie our Authour I here grant they were Schismatickes with what aggravations he pleaseth wherein their schisme consisted I have also declared but he sayes I undertake to exempt some others from schisme I know whom that suffer with them in former and after ages under the same imputation I doe so indeed and I suppose our Authour may ghesse at whom I intend himselfe amongst others I hope he is not so taken up in his thoughts with charging schisme on others as to forget that many the greatest part and number of the true Churchs of Christ doe condemne him for a Schismatick a Donatisticall Schismatick I suppose he acknowledges the Church of Rome to be a true Church the Lutheran I am perswaded he will not deny nor perhaps the Grecian to be so The Episcopall Church of England he contends for and yet all these with one voice cry out upon him for a Schismaticke and as to the plea of the last how he can satisfie his conscience as to the rejection of his lawfull superiors upon his owne principles without pretending any such crime against them as the Donatists did against Caecilianus I professe I do not understand new mention is made of Episcopall ordination p. 120 And they are said to have had their successive ordination from Rome who ordained therein so indeed some say and some otherwise whether they had or no is nothing to me I lay no weight upon it they held I am sure that place in England that without their approbation no man could publickly preach the Gospell to say they were Presbyters and ordained as Presbyters I know not what satisfaction can arise unto Conscience thereby Party and argument may be countenanced by it they professe they ordained as Bishops that for their lives and soules they durst not ordaine but as such so they told those whom they ordained and affirme they have open injury done them by any ones deniall of it As it was the best is to be made of it this shift is not handsome nor is it ingenious for any one that hath looked into Antiquity to charge me with departing from their sense in the notion of schisme declared about the 3d 4th Ages at the same time to maintaine an equality between Bishops and Presbyters or to say that Bishops ordained as Presbyters not as Bishops nor doe I understand the excellency of that order which we see in some Churches where they have two sorts of Elders the one made so by ordination without Election and the other by Election without ordination those who are ordained casting off all power and Authority of them that ordained them and those who are elected immediately rejecting the greatest part of those that chose them Nor did I as is pretend plead for their Presbyterian way in the yeare 46 all the ministers almost in the county of Essex know the contrary one especially who being a man of great ability and moderation of spirit and for his knowledge in those things not behind any man I know in England of his way with whome in that yeare and the next following I had sundry conferences at publicke meetings of ministers as to the severall wayes of Reformation then under proposall But the frivolousnesse of these imputations hath been spoken of before as also the falsnesse of the Calumny which our Authour is pleased to repeat againe about my turning from wayes in Religion My description of a particular Church he once more blames as applicable to the Catholicke Church invisible and to the visible Catholick Church I suppose he meanes as such when a participation in the same ordinances numerically is assigned as its difference He askes whether it becomes my ingenuity to interpret the capability of a Churches reduction to it's primitive constitution by its owne fitnesse and capacity to be so reduced rather then by its externall hinderances or furtherances But with what ingenuity or modesty that question is asked I professe I understand not and pag. 134 he hath this passage only I take notice of his introduction to his answer with thankes for the civility of the inquiry in the manner of its expresion my words were these whether our Reverend Authour doe not in his conscience thinke there was no true Church in England 'till c which puts me into suspition that the Reverend Doctour was offended that I did not alwaies for oft I doe give him that title of the Reverend Authour or the Doctor which made him cry out he was never so dealt withall by any party as by me though upon review I doe not find that I gave him any uncivill language unbeseeming me to give or him to receive and I heare that somebody hath dealt more uncivilly with him in that respect which he took very ill Let this Reverend Authour make what use of it he please I cannot but againe tell him that these things become neither him nor any man professing the Religion of Jesus Christ or that hath any respect to truth or sobriety can any man thinke that in his conscience he gives any credit to the insinuation which here he makes that I should thanke him for calling me Reverend Authour or Reverend Doctor or be troubled for his not useing those expressions Can the mind of an honest man be thought to be conversant with such meane and low thoughts for the Title of Reverend I doe give him notice that I have very little valued it ever since I have considered the saying of Luther Nunquam periclitatur Religio nisi inter Reverendissimos So that he may as to me forbeare it for the future and call me as the Quakers doe and it shall suffice And for that of Doctor it was conferred on me by the University in my absence and against my consent as they have expressed it under their publicke seale nor doth any thing but gratitude and respect unto them make me once own it and freed from that obligation I should never use it more nor did I use it untill some were offended with me blamed me for my
that all that are not with them are Schismatickes how de jure or de facto they came to be so instated what claime they can make to their present stations without schisme on their own principles whether granting the Church of England as constituted when they and we begun that which we call Reformation to have been a True instituted Church they have any Power of rule in it but what hath been got by violence what that is purely theirs hath any pretence of establishment from the scripture antiquity and the lawes of this land I say with these and the like things which are incumbent on him to cleare up before his Charges with us will be of any value our Authour troubleth not himselfe But to proceed to the particulars by him insisted on 1. He tels the Reader in his Epistle that his unwillingnesse to this rejoinder was heightned by the Necessity he found of discovering some personall weaknesses and forgetfulnesses in me upon my deny all of some things which were known to be true if he should proceed therin for what he intimates of the unpleasantnesse that it is to him to discover things of that importance in me when he professeth his designe to be to impaire my Authority so far that the cause I own may receive no countenance thereby I leave it to him who will one day reveale the secrets of all hearts which at present are open and naked unto him but how I pray are the things by me denyed known to be true seeing it was unpleasant and distastfull to him to insist upon them men might expect that his Evidence of them was not only open cleare undenyable and manifest as to it's truth but cogent as to their publication The whole insisted on is if there be any truth in reports hic nigrae succus loliginis haec est aerugo mera Is this a bottome for a Minister of the Gospel to proceed upon to such charges as those insinuated is not the course of Nature set on fire at this day by reports is any thing more contrary to the royall law of charity than to take up reports as the ground of charges and accusations Is there any thing more unbecoming a man laying aside all considerations of christianity than to suffer his judgment to be tainted much more his words and publick expressions in charging accusing others to be regulated by reports and whereas we are commanded to speak evill of no man may we not on this ground speak evill of all men and justify our selves by saying it is so if reports be true the Prophet tel's us that a combination for his defaming and reproach was managed among his Adversaries Jer. 20. 10. I have heard the defaming of many feare on every side report say they and we will report it if they can have any to goe before them in the Transgression of that Law which he who knowes how the tongues of men are set on fire of Hell gave out to lay a restraint upon them thou shalt not raise a false report Exod. 23. 1. They will second it and spread it abroad to the utmost for his disadvantage and trouble Whether this procedure of our Reverend Authour come not up to the practice of their designe I leave to his own conscience to judge Should men suffer their Spirits to be heightned by provocations of this nature unto a recharge from the same offensive dunghill of reports what monsters should we speedily be transformed unto but this being far frō being the only place wherein appeale is made to reports and hearesayes by our Authour I shall have occasion in the consideration of the severals of them to reassume this discourse For what he addes about the space of time wherein my former reply was drawn up because I know not whether he had heard any report insinuated to the contrary to what I affirmed I shall not trouble him with giving evidence thereunto but only adde that here he hath the product of halfe that time which I now interpose upon the review of my transcribed papers Only whereas it is said that Mc Cawdry is an antient man I cannot but wonder he should be so easy of beliefe Arist. Rhetor lib. 2. c. 18. tel's us {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and not apt to believe whence on all occasions of discourse {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} but he believes all that comes to hand with an easy Faith which he hath totally in his own power to dispose of at pleasure That I was in passion when I wrote my review is his judgment but this is but man's day we are in expectation of that wherein the world shall be judged in righteousnesse it is to possible that my spirit was not in that frame in all things wherein it ought to have been but that the Reverend Authour knowes not I have nothing to say to this but that of the Philosopher {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Epic. Cap. 48. Much I confesse was not spoken by me which he afterwards insisteth on to the Argumentative part of his booke which as in an answer I was not to looke for so to find had been a difficult taske As he hath nothing to say unto the differences among themselves both in judgment and practice soe how little there is in his recrimination of the differences among us as that one and the same man differeth from himselfe which charge he casts upon Mr Cotton and my selfe will speedily be manifested to all impartiall men For the Treatise it selfe whose consideration I now proceed unto that I may reduce what I have to say unto it unto the bounds intended in confining my defensative unto this Preface to the treatise of another I shall referre it unto certaine Heads that will be comprehensive of the whole and give the Reader a cleare and distinct view thereof I shall begin with that which is least handled in the two bookes of this Reverend Author though the summe of what was pleaded by me in my Treatise of Schisme For the discovery of the true nature of Schisme and the vindication of them who were falsly charged with the crime thereof I layd downe two Principles as the foundation of all that I Asserted in the whole cause insisted on which may briefly be reduced to these two Syllogismes 1. If in all and every place of the new Testament where there is mention made of Schisme name or thing in an Ecclesiasticall sence there is nothing intended by it but a divisiō in a particular Church then that is the proper Scripture notion of Schisme in the Ecclesiasticall sence but in all and every place c ergo The Proposition being cleare and evident in it's own light the Assumption was confirmed in my Treatise by an induction of the severall instances that might any way seeme to belong unto it My second principle was raised upon a concession of the generall nature of Schisme restrained with one necessary
limitation and amounts unto this Argument If Schisme in an Ecclesiasticall sense be the breach of an Union of Christ's institution then they who are not guilty of the breach of any union of Christ's Institution are not guilty of Schisme but so is Schisme Ergò The Proposition also of this Syllogisme with it's inference being unquestionable for the confirmation of the Assumption I considered the nature of all Church Union as instituted by Christ and pleaded the innocency of those whose defence in several degrees I had undertaken by their freedome from the breach of any Church Union Not finding the Reverend Authour in his first answer to speake clearely and distinctly to either of those principles but to proceed in a course of perpetual diversion from the thing in question with reflections charges c All rather I hope out of an unacquaintednesse with the true nature of argumentation than any perversenesse of spirit in cavilling at what he found he could not answer I earnestly desired him in my review that we might have a faire and friendly meeting personally to debate these principles which he had undertaken to oppose and so to prevent trouble to our selves and others in writing and reading things remote from the merit of the cause under agitation what returnes I have had hereto the Reader is now acquainted withall from his rejoinder the particulars where of shall be farther enquired into afterward The other parts of his two bookes consist in his charges upon me about my Judgment in sundry particulars not relating in the least that I can as yet understand unto the Controversy in hand As to his excursions about Brownists Anabaptists Seekers rending the peace of their Churches seperating from them the errours of the Seperatists and the like I cannot apprehend my selfe concerned to take notice of them to the other things an Answer shall be returned and a defence made so farre as I can judge it necessary It may be our Author seekes a Releife from the Charge of Schisme that lyes upon him and his party as they are called from others by mannaging the same charge against them who he thinkes will not returne it upon them but for my part I shall assure him that were he not in my judgment more acacquitted upon my principles than upon his owne I should be necessitated to stand upon even termes with him herein but to have advantages from want of charity as the Donatists had against the Catholickes is no Argument of a Good cause In the first Chapter there occurs not any thing of reall difference as to the cause under agitation that should require a review being spent wholy in things {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} And therefore I shall briefly animadvert on what seemes of most concernment therein in the manner of his procedure His former discourse and this also consisting much of my words perverted by adding in the close something that might wrest them to his owne purpose he tels me in the beginning of his third Chapter that this is to turne my testimony against my selfe which is as he saith and allowed way of the clearest victory which it seemes he aimeth at but nothing can be more remote from being defended with that pretence than this his way of proceeding 'T is not of urging a Testimony from me against me that I complained but the perverting of my words by either heading or closeing of them with his owne quite to other purposes than those of their owne intendment a way whereby any man may make other mens words to speake what he pleaseth as Mr Biddle hy his leading questions and knitting of Scriptures to his expressions in them makes an appearance of constraining the word of God to speake out all his Socinian blasphemies In this course he still continues and his very entrance gives us a pledge of what we are to expect in the processe of his management of the present businesse whereas I had said that considering the various interests of parties at difference there is no great successe to be promised by the management of Controversies though with never so much evidence and conviction of truth to the repetition of my words he subjoines the instance of Sectaries not restrained by the clearest demonstration of truth not weighing how facile a taske it is to supply Presbyterians in their room which in his account is it seemes to turne his testimony against himselfe as he somewhere phraseth it to turne the point of his sword into his owne bowels but nobis non licet esse tam disertis neither do we here either learne or teach any such way of disputation His following leaves are spent for the most part in slighting the Notion of Schisme by me insisted on and in reporting my arguments for it p. 8 9 12. in such a way and manner as argues that he either never understood them or is willing to pervert them The true nature and importance of them I have before laid downe and shall not now againe repeat Though I shall adde that his frequent repetition of his disproving that principle which it appeares that he never yet contended with all in its Full strength brings but little advantage to his cause with persons whose interest doth not compell them to take up things on trust How well he cleares himselfe from the charge of reviling and useing opprobrious reproachful termes although he professe himselfe to have been astonished at the charge may be seen in his justification of himselfe therein pag. 16 17 18 19. with his reinforceing every particular expression instanced in and yet he tels me for inferring that he discovered sanguinary thoughts in reference unto them whose removall from their native soyle into the wildernesse he affirmes England's happinesse would have consisted in that he hath much adoe to forbeare once more to say the Lord rebuke thee for my part I have received such a satisfactory tast of his spirit and way that as I shall not from henceforth desire him to keep in any thing that he can hardly forbeare to let out but rather to use his utmost liberty so I must assure him that I am very little concerned or not at all in what he shall be pleased to say or to forbeare for the time to come himselfe hath freed me of that concernment The first particular of value insisted on is his charge upon me for the deniall of all the Churches of England to be true Churches of Christ except the Churches gathered in a Congregationall way Having frequently and without hesitation charged this opinion upon me in his first answer knowing it to be very false I expostulated with him about it in my Reveiw Insteed of accepting the satisfaction tendered in my expresse deniall of any such thought or perswasion or tendering any satisfaction as to the wrong done me he seekes to justify himselfe in his charge and so persisteth therein The Reasons he gives of his so doing are not unworthy a little to be
Pope of Rome in any one particular that constituteth him such an officer was once instituted by Christ I shall farther attend unto his Reason for his Authority from that of the High-Priests among the Jewes which was not lost as to it's continuance in the family of Aaron notwithstanding the miscarriage of some individuall Person vested therewithall In the close of the Chapter he reassumes his charge of my renouncing my owne Ordination which with great confidence and without the least scruple he had asserted in his Answer of that assersion he now pretends to give the Reasons whereof the first is this 1. The world lookes on him as an Independent of the highest note therefore he hath renounced his ordination and therefore I dare to say so So much for that reason I understand neither the Logick nor morality of this first Reason 2. He knowes from good hands that some of the Brethren have renounced their Ordination therefore he durst say positively that I have renounced mine Prov. 12. 18. 3. He hath heard that I disswaded others from their ordination and therefore he durst say I renownced my owne and yet I suppose he may possibly disswade some from Episcopall Ordination but I know it not no more than he knowes what he affirmes of me which is false 4. He concludes from the principles in my book of Schisme because I said that to insist upon a succession of ordination from Anti-Christ and the Beast of Rome would if I mistake not keep up in this particular what God would have pulled down therefore I renounced my ordination when he knowes that I avowed the validity of ordination on another account 5. If all this will not doe he tels me of something that was said at a publique meeting at dinner it seemes with the Canons of Chhist-Church viz that I vallued not my ordination by the Bishop of Oxford any more than a crum upon my trencher which words whether ever they were spoken or no or to what purpose or in reference to what Ordination I meane of the two orders or in what sense or with what limitation or as part of what discourse or in comparison of what else or whither solely in refference to the Roman succession in which sense I will have nothing to doe with it I know not at all nor will concerne my selfe to enquire being greatly ashamed to find men professing the Religion of Jesus Christ so farre forgetfull of all common Rules of civility and principles of humane society as to insist upon such vaine groundlesse reports as the Foundations of accusations against their Brethren nor doe I believe that any one of the Reverend Persons quoted will owne this information although I shall not concerne my selfe to make enquiry into their memories concerning any such passage or discourse Much reliefe for the future against these and the like mistakes may be afforded from an easy observation of the different senses wherein the terme of Ordination is often used it is one thing when it is taken largely for the whole appointment of a man to the ministry in which sense I desire our Authour to consider what is written by Beza among Reformed and Gerhard among the Lutheran Divines to omit innumerable others another thing when taken for the imposition of hand whither by Bishops or Presbyters concerning which single Act both as to its order efficacy I have sufficiently delivered my judgment if he be pleased to take notice of it I feare indeed that when men speak of an ordained ministry which in its true and proper sense I shall with them contend for they often relate only to that solemnity restraining the authoritative making of ministers singly thereunto contrary to the intention and meaning of that expression in Scripture antiquity and the best reformed Divines both Calvinists and Lutherans and yet it is not imaginable how some men prevaile by the noise and sound of that Word upon the prejudiced minds of partiall unstudied men A litle time may farther manifest if it be not sufficiently done already that another account is given of this matter by Clemens Tertullian Cyprian Origen Justin Martyr and generally all the first writers of Christians besides the Counsels of old late with innumerable Protestant Authors of the best note to the same purpose This I say is the ground of this mistake whereas sundry things concurre to the calling of Ministers as it belongs to the Church of God the ground and pillar of truth the spouse of Christ Psal. 45. and mother of the family or she that tarryeth at home Psal. 68. unto whom all ministers are stewards 1 Cor. 4. 1. even in that house of God 1 Tim. 3. 15. and sundry qualifications are indispensably previously required in the persons to be called overlooking the necessity of the qualifications required and omitting the duty and authority of the Church Acts 1. 15. Acts 6. 2. 13. 2. 14. 22. the Act of them who are not the whole Church Ephes. 4. 11 12. but only a part of it 1 Cor. 3. 21. 2 Cor. 1. 24. 1 Pet. 5. 3. as to ministry consisting in the approbation and solemne confirmation of what is supposed to go before hath in some mens language gotten the name of ordination and an interpretation of that name to such an extent as to enwrap in it all that is indispensably necessary to the constitution or making of ministers so that where that is obtained in what order soever or by whom soever administred who have first obtained it themselves there is a lawfull and sufficient calling to the ministry Indeed I know no errour about the institutions of Christ attended with more pernitious consequences to the Church of God then this should it be practised according to the force of the principle its selfe Suppose six eight or ten men who have themselves been formerly ordained but now perhaps not by any ecclesiasticall censure but by an act of the civill magistrate are put out of their places for notorious ignorance and scandall should concurre and ordaine an hundred ignorant and wicked persons like themselves to be ministers must they not on this Principle be all accounted ministers of Christ and to be invested with all ministeriall power and so be enabled to propagate their kind to the end of the world and indeed why should not this be granted seeing the whole bulke of the papall ordination is contended for as valid whereas it is notoriously knowne that sundry Bishops among them who perhaps received their own ordination as the reward of a whore being persons of vitious lives and utterly ignorant of the Gospell did sustaine their pompe and sloth by selling holy orders as they called them to the scum and refuse of men but of these things more in their proper place Take then Reader the substance of this chapter in this briefe recapitulation 1. He denies our Churches to be true Churches and our Ministers true Ministers 2. He hath renounced his owne ordination 3. When some
Churches and to charge them with Schisme though we doe neither then they have to charge us therewith and to deny our Churches can any thing be more fondly Pretended than that he hath proved that we have separated from them upon which pag. 105 he requires the performance of my promise to retreat from the state wherein I stand upon the establishment of such proofe Hath he proved the due administration of Ordinances amongst them whom he pleads for Hath he proved any Church Union betweene them as such and us hath hath he proved as to have broken that Union what will not selfe-fulnesse and prejudice put men upon How came they into the sole possession of all Church state in England so that who ever is not of them and with them must be charged to have separated from them Mr Cawdrey sayes indeed that the Episcopall men and they agree in substantialls and differ only in circumstantials but that they and we differ in substantials but let him know they admit not of his compliances they say he is a Schismatick and that all his party are so also let him answer their Charge solidly upon his owne principles and not thinke to owne that which he hath the weakest claime imaginable unto and was never yet in possession of We deny that since the Gospell came into England the Presbyterian Government as by them stated was ever set up in England but in the wils of a party of men so that here as yet unlesse as it lyes in particular Congregations where our right is as good as theirs none have separated from it that I know of though many cannot consent unto it The first Ages we plead ours the following were unquestionably Episcopall In the beginning of Chapter the 6 he attempts to disprove my assertion that the Union of the Church Catholick visible which consists in the professing of the saving doctrine of the Gospell c is broken only by Apostacy to this end he confounds Apostacy and Schisme affirming them only to differ in degrees which is a new notion unknowen to Antiquity and contrary to all sound Reason by the instances he produceth to this purpose he endeavours to prove that there are things which break this union whereby this union is not broken whilst a man continues a member of that church which he is by virtue of the union thereof and his interest therein by no act doth he or can he break that union The partiall breach of that union which consists in the profession of the truth is error and heresy and not Schisme Our Author abounds here in new notions which might easily be discovered to be as fond as new were it worth while to consider them of which in briefe before Only I wonder why giving way to such thoughts as these he should speak of men with contempt under the name of Notionists as he doth of Dr Du Moulin but the truth is the Doctor hath provoked him and were it not for some considerations that are obvious to me I should almost wounder why this Author should sharpen his leasure and zeale against me who scarse ever publickly touched the grounds and foundations of that Cause which he hath so passionately espoused and pase by him who both in Latine and English hath laid his Axe to the very Root of it upon principles sufficiently destructive to it and so apprehended by the best learned in our Authors way that ever these nations brought forth but as I said Reasons lye at hand why it was more necessary to give me this opposition which yet hath not altered my Resolution of handling this controversy in another manner when I meet with another manner of Adversary Pag. 110. He fixes on the examination of a particular passage about the disciples of John mentioned Acts 19. 2. of whom I affirmed that it is probable they were rather ignorant of the miraculous dispensations of the Holy Ghost then of the person of the Holy Ghost alledging to the contrary that the words are more plaine and full then to be so cluded and that for ought appeares John did not baptize into the name of the Holy Ghost I hope the Author doth not so much dwell at home as to suppose this to be a new notion of mine who almost of late in their criticall notes have not either at least considered it or confirmed it neither is the question into whose name they were expressely baptized but in what doctrine they were instructed He knowes who denies that they were at all actually baptized before they were baptized by Paul Nor ought it to be granted without better proofe then any as yet hath been produced that any of the Saints under the old Testament were ignorant of the being of the Holy Ghost neither do the words require the sense by him insisted on {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} do no more evince the person of the Holy Ghost to be included in them then in those other Joh. 7. 39. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the latter in the proper sense He will not contend for nor can therefore the expression being uniforme reasonably for the latter Speaking of men openly and notoriously wicked and denying them to be members of any Church whatever he bids me answer his arguments to the contrary from the 1 Cor. 5. 7. 2 Thes. 13. 17. and I cannot but desire him that he would impose that task on them that have nothing else to do for my owne part I shall not intangle my selfe with things to so little purpose Having promised my Reader to attend only to that which looks toward the merit of the cause I must crave his pardon that I have not been able to make good my resolution meeting with so little or nothing at all which is to that purpose I find my selfe entangled in the old diversions that we are now plentifully accustomed unto but yet I shall endeavour to recompence this losse by putting a speedy period to this whole trouble despairing of being able to tender him any other satisfaction whilst I dwell on this discourse In the meane time to obviate all strife of words if it be possible for the future I shall grant this Reverend Author that in the generall large notion of Schisme which his opposition to that insisted on by me hath put him upon I will not deny but that He and I are both Schismaticks and any thing else shall be so that he would have to be so rather then to be engaged in this contest any farther In this sense he affirmes that there was a Schisme between Paul and Barnabas and so one of them at least was a Schismatick as also he affirmes the same of 2 lesser men though great in their generation Chrysostome and Epiphanius so error and heresy if he please shall be Schisme from the Catholick Church and scandall of life shall be Schisme And his argument shall be true that schisme is a breach of union in a Church of Christs
neglect of them And for that other whom he mentions who before this gave so farre place to indignation as to insinuate some such thing I doubt not but by this time he hath beene convinced of his mistake therein being a Person of another manner of ability and worth then some others with whom I have to doe and the truth is my manner of dealing with him in my last reply which I have since my selfe not so well approved of requires the passing by such returnes But you will say then why doe I preface this discourse with that Expression with thankes for the civility of the enquiry in the manner of it's expression I say this will discover the iniquity of this Authour's procedure in this particular His enquiry was whether I did not in my Conscience think that there were no true Churches in England untill the Brownists our Fathers the Anabaptists our elder brothers and our selves arose and gathered new Churches without once taking notice or mentioning his titles that he sayes he gave me I used the words in a sense obvious to every man's first consideration as a reproofe of the expressions mentioned that which was the true cause of my words our Authour hides in an c that which was not by me once taken notice of is by him expressed to serve an end of drawing forth an evill surmize and suspition that hath not the least colour to give it countenance Passing by all indifferent Readers I referre the honesty of this dealing with me to the judgment of his owne conscience setting downe what I neither expressed nor tooke notice of nor had any singular occasion in that place so to doe the words being often used by him hiding and concealing what I did take notice of and expresse and which to every man's view was the occasion of that passage that conclusion or unworthy insinuation is made which a Good man ought to have abhorred Sundry other particulars there are partly false and calumniating partly impertinent partly consisting in mistakes that I thought at the first view to have made mention of but on severall accounts I am rather willing here to put an end to the Readers trouble and my owne The Preface THE Servants of the Lord saith Paul must not strive but be Gentile towards all men 2 Tim. 2. 24. how much more towards their Brethren But what if a Brother should become an Adversary whether Adversarius litis or Personae and speak hard words yea and write a Booke against his fellow Servants Job telleth us though he could yet he would not speak as they doe Job 16. 4 5. And for the book against him He would take it and bind it upon his shoulder And yet I doe not think he meant to cast it behind his Backe but that he would bearé it as a light loade and in case of his Innocency He would we are it as his Crowne And for that end would declare unto Him the Number of his steps Job 31. 35 36 37 Yea though such a Booke might seeme to Impartiall and Judicious mindes written with a Spirit of Bitternesse and contempt and in a Style suitable yet the Servants of the Lord have not so learned Christ nor the Truth as it is in Jesus as to Returne Evill for Evill or Reviling for Reviling Hard words are not Given but as the Lord commandeth if not in his Ordinances yet in his Providence And either they are Deserved then they are an excellent Balme which will not break the head or undeserved and then the Lord will Requite Good to him that suffereth evill It is no new Thing for God's owne Servants to be taken with Paroxismes as Paul and Barnabas were Act. 15. that is with Pangs of Passion And that is the worst I conceive of the tartest Passages of Mr Cawdryes Reply For I see by his dealing with Mr Hooker that he can write with more meeknesse and moderation when the Lord helpeth him Let me therefore briefly give Account of such Passages of mine as have seemed most offensive to Him and that in such termes as may not unbeseeme either my selfe or the cause CHAP. 1. THE first offence he taketh is against my Inconstancy and that which is the fruit of it my manifest and manifold Contradictions to my selfe to the number of about 21 Inconstancy in the generall He Intimateth in the Text of James in his Frontispiece James 1. 8. A Double minded man is unstable in all his wayes To which I will Rejoyne no other Answer than a Text of like Authority and alleadged I hope with more Pertinency Math. 11. 7. What went you out into the wildernesse to see A Reede shaken with the winde The Contradictions are set forth in great letters in the Title Page and afterwards particularly in an ample Scheme in 3 Columnes in the end of his reply let us consider of them in order The 1rst Contradiction 1. The Keyes were given to Peter at an Apostle as an Elder as a Believer So the Sense is most full The keyes Pag. 4. 1. The power of the keyes is given to Peter not at an Apostle nor as Elder but as a Profest Believer The way P. 27. 1 Peter Received not the keyes meerely as a Believer but as a Believer publickly professing his Faith c. The way cleared Part. 2 p. 39. To like Purpose M. Hooker Surv. Part. 1. p. 203 The Reconciliation of this Seeming Contradiction were obvious and easy take the words as they stand in the Scheme for so it might be said Brethren are sometimes put for private members of the Church and Contradistinguished from such as beare office in the Church As when it is said in the Synodicall Letter Act. 15. 23. The Apostles Elders and Brethren Sometimes Brethren are put more generally as Comprehending all the members of the Church both officers and private members as Gal. 6. 1 and frequently else where In the former Sence the Passage in the Keyes speaketh when it saith the sense of the words will be most full if Peter be conceived as Receiving the Keyes in the Name both of the officers and private members to wit in the Name of the Apostles Elders and Brethren In the latter sense the words of the Scheme might be taken to Runne That the Power of the keyes was given to Peter not as an Apostle for then it had been Given only to the Apostles nor as an Elder for then it had been only to Elders but as a Profest Believer And under the Generall Name of Profest Believers not only private Brethren but Apostles and Elders may be comprehended For all the Apostles all the Elders are profest Believers And so all of them may claime their Interest in the Power of the keyes according to the severall measure and latitude of Power assigned to them in the Scriptures But I will not so answer because in the Way the context speaketh of such Brethren as have not power to exercise the Pastoral Ministry of the word
condemned them unto Death unlesse they became blasphemers or Idolators or Seducers to Idolatry What Christ and Moses doe both of them Tolerate the Servants of Christ need not to be ashamed of such Toleration Ans. 2. This Contradiction for ought I can Discerne laboureth also Crimine falsi For it seemeth a manifest untruth what he speaketh in Columne 2. That the Brethren call for or Tolerate Toleration of all opinions and Deny the magistrate Power to punish any Pretending conscience Mr Bartlet Alledged for the proofe hereof p. 128. saith no such thing And the contrary he proveth from the expresse Testimony of Mr Burroughs Mr Thomas Goodwin others of that way The 8th Chapt. Touching the 17th Contradiction with 18. 19. The 17th Contradiction is thus set forth 17. Visible Saints though they be Hypocrites inwardly are the matter of a visible church Mr. Hook part 1. p. 14. 15. 17. You say Saints in outward Profession are the matter of a Congregationall Church we judge that reall Saints uttering in Discourse the Breathings of the Holy Spirit and experiences of conversion interested in a stricter conversation to be the matter Dr. Holmes Epistle to Way cleared pag. 4. Mr. Bartlet speaketh something this language Can there be Ability for spirituall holy services where the spirit is not yet given Can there be communion between light and Darknesse Can they edify one another in the Faith that have not the work of Faith wrought in them Modell p. 57. See more pag. 103. Ans. What Mr Hooker's Judgment was is expressed in that first Columne what mine own is declared and I hope cleared in the Holynesse of Church-members What Dr Holmes and Mr Bartlet doe further require in it they Declare what Church-members ought to be de jure especially in their first constitution rather then what they are or are wont to be de facto especially in their Declension Againe I see Mr Bartlet speaketh in opposition to the members of the Parish Churches who are in many places Ignorant loose profane and scandalous livers who are not indeed visible Saints pag. 56. It is true there is some work of the Spirit where ever there is a visible Saint But the Spirit giveth many Gifts to the edification of others as to Judas and Demas which often doe not reach to the Regeneration of him that Receiveth them The 18th Contradiction is thus stated 18. The forme of the visible Church is the Covenant either explicite or implicite and the latter is sometimes fully sufficient Mr. H. Surv. part 1. pag. 47. 48 and others 18. You say an implicit uniting viz. A walking and communicating with you is a sufficient evidencing of the Forme we say Their folemne confession of their faith expresse open covenanting with the Lord to wake with such a body of Saints in all the wayes of Christ to be the manifest Forme D. Holmes ibid. 18. It is not generall Profession will serve the turne but there must be a peculiar engagement and appropriation to this or that particular body Mr. H. Surv. pag 63. Yet he said An Implicite Covenant was sufficient Ans. The expressions of Mr H. quoted in Columne 1 and Columne 3 will not amount to an opposition of himselfe much lesse to a Contradiction For though he make an Implicite Covenant sufficient yet a generall Profession will not serve the turne to make an Implicite Covenant For an Implicite Covenant must be with Reference to this or that particular Body or else it is neither Covenant at all nor Implicite A Generall Profession entreth not any man into any Relation with any Church unlesse he offer himselfe to Joyne with them as Mr Hooker in that Place more largely truly openeth himselfe Neither doth Dr Holms his expression contradict him For he that maketh the explicite Covenant the manifest forme of the Church He doth not gainesay the implicite covenant to be a real Forme of the Church though not so manifest but more obscure The 19th Contradiction is thus delineated 19. We crave leave of the Authour of the keyes To Declare that we Assent not to all expressions or all and every Assertion in it As in these Particulars About the Prothesying of Private Brethren 2. That the Assembly Act. 15. was a Formall Syned 3. That the Apostles Acted in it as Ordinary Elders Preface to Keyes pag. 6. 19. We doe in this Epistle certifie our Assent to the way of the Churches of New England saving that we doe not fully close with some expressions passim in the Bock before some of which 10 at least belike there are more we minded to Note a star in the Margin This we could not but say and doe pace Authoris or we could not Assent Epistle to the Way pag. 2. 19. Yet they are angry that we call for a fuller Declaration of themselves Epistle to the Way p. 1. and Epistle to the Way cleared pag. 2. Answer 1. Though my reverend Brethren crave leave to dissent from me in some expressions which they may safely and freely do without my leave for I professe my spirit subject to the Prophets yet about the Prophecying of private Brethren I must againe Professe as I did before That I do not know wherein I Dissent from them unlesse it be that I Allow somewhat more liberty to the Prophecying of private Brethren then they do The Allowance which they give is with foure limitations 1. That is be done occasionally and not in ordinary course 2. By men of such Abilities as are fit for office 3. Not assuming this to themselves but as they are allowed and designed to it by such as have Power 4. That their Doctrine be subjected to the Teaching Elders of the Church Graunt these limitations and I never scrupled to my remembrance the liberty of Prophecying by private Brethren yea this liberty I should further graunt that though the private Brethren be not furnished with abilities fit for publick office yet there may be occasion to call them forth to exercise their gifts as in the suddaine sicknesse or absence of the Minister and other officers why may not a private brother be called forth by the Church or stirred up by the Spirit of God in himselfe to stand up and with leave instruct and exhort the Church to make a Sanctifyed use of such a suddaine stroke of Providence Or what if a private Brother of good credit in the church shall observe the Doctrine of the Ministers not so much válued as were meet why may he not take occasion to speak some words of encouragement and confirmation both to the Minister and to the Congregation Jehosaphat's Nobles though Princes yet were but as Private Brethren in the Church as bearing no Publick Church-office yet they taught in the Cities of Juda what Respect was due to the Ministery of the Levites whom they brought with them when my beloved Brethren do not acknowledge the Assembly of Apostles Elders and Brethren Acts 15. To have been a formall Synod of
Messengers sent out of a set and combined Association from neighbour churches They do not herein Dissent from me For the two Churches of Antioch and Jerusalem were too farre remote to stand in a set or combined Association and therefore they may well deny it to be a Formall Synod according to the Forme of Synods now in use in Presbyteriall Churches But that that assembly had the true matter and forme of a just Synod As I do believe it so I do not see that my Brethren deny it For the efficient cause of the Synod the Church of Antioch sent messengers and the Church of Jerusalem whose officers were sent unto they freely gave them a meeting and the Church with them For the matter of the Synod they had the Messengers officers and Brethren of both Churches met together in the Name of Christ It is not necessary to the being of a Synod the convention of the Messengers and members of many Churches The convention of two Churches by themselves or messengers may make a Synod If the convention of one Church may make a Synagogue why may not the convention of two churches make a Synod The forme of a Synod they had in Arguing and disputing the case in hand and freely giving in their Judgments from scripture grounds and at length determining the whole cause with the Joynt consent of the Apostles Elders and Brethren and Publishing the same by letters and messengers to all the churches whom it concerned The establishment of Peace and Truth in the churches was the end of this Synod as it ought to be the end of all It is true here was a consultation in that the church of Antioch sent for counsell and the Apostles and Elders met to consult and consider of the matter But consultation was but one Act of the Assembly many other Formall Acts of a Synod they put forth besides which have been specified The Apostles though they did put forth some Acts of their Apostolicall Power in helping to cleare the Truth by explayning obscure Scriptures and in Ratifying the conclusion with some greater Plerophory of the mind of the Holy Ghost yet in Putting such things to Argumentation and Disputation and allowing Elders and Brethren liberty of Putting in their votes and determining and publishing the sentence in the Name and with the common consent of all herein they Acted as Ordinary Elders and messengers of churches might and ought to do The Notes of about Ten Passages in the Way wherein our Reverend Brethren in England or some of them say they could not fully close with them without Affixing an Asterisk to them If I knew where the Pinch of the Difficulty lay I would Addresse my selfe to give them fuller satisfaction either by condescending to them or giving them just Reason why I could not Meane while I have learned through Grace not to fall out with my Brethren for greater differences in judgment then those be That which is added in the third Columne that they are offended and as you call it Angry with you for that you call for a fuller Declaration of themselves for that themselves can best give you an Account for 1. It may be they think it needlesse to Publish further declaratioÌ„s because over above the former Declarations there have been since published three or foure Pithy Pregnant Declarations of the same Argument as Mr Hookers surv Mr Nortons Answer to Apollonius the Synod at Cambridge the Defence of the Answer to the nine Questions 2. It may be they feare If they should publish more declarations in this case It would Adde rather more Fewell to contention then Prevaile with the Spirits of men contrary minded to Receive satisfaction CHAP. 9. Touching the 20th Contradiction and 21. The 20th Contradiction is thus Expressed 20. It is generally asserted by them that one Church hath not Power to Censure another 20. A Synod hath Power to Determine to withdraw Communion from them if they cannot heale them Keyes pag. 24. 20. The sentence of non Communion denounced against whole Churches Apolog. Narrat p. 18 19. If a Sentence denounced it is a Censure Answer To withdraw Communion from a church is no more an Act of Power over a church then it was to Joyne in Communion with them Communion and non-Communion are Acts of the same power both of them Acts of priviledge or liberty And if withdrawing Communion be not an Act of censure then to determine so to withdraw is no Act of an higher Nature Though a Censure is a sentence denounced yet every sentence denounced is not a Censure unlesse it be Denounced by an higher power then that of equalls When the Ten Tribes denounced their Rejection of service to David's House 1 Kings 12. 16. It was not a censure more then theirs who solemnely Rejected the Rule of Christ we will not have this man to Rule over us Luk. 19. 14. The last Contradiction is declared thus 21. We Say Instituted worship and Ordinances do not flow immediatly from spirituall union and Relation to Christ and his members c. Def. of 9. Pos. pag. 76. He must come at them in a right Order to wâ—t in Fellowship of the Church Surv. pag. 2. 21. Then it followeth that Hearing the word Preached Singing of Psalmes and Baptisme belong not to any but such as are members of a Particular Congregation And yet they say Ordinarily hearing it no signe of a Church member Surv. part 1. pag. 18. 21. A Person hath his first Right to the Sacrament and so to other Ordinances because He hath an Interest in the Covenant of the Gospell Surv. part 1. pag. 65. Answer Here is no semblance of Contradiction Mr Hooker Surv. saith a Person hath his first Right to a Sacrament because he hath an interest in the covenant of the Gospell The defence saith he hath not immediate Right till he be a member of a Particular Congregation And so saith the Survey too in the Place Alledged If Immediate Right and first Right were all one there were some colour for the Exception but it is farre otherwise in having Christ we have a first Right to all things but not an Immediate Right but in Gods way But neither hence will it follow that Instituted Ordinances as hearing the word Singing of Psalmes belong to none but to members of a Particular Congregation For though they be given to such firstly and Immediately yet for their sakes to all that come in amongst them The Childrens Table and the Provisions thereof is first Allowed to the Children of the Family yet in a Bountifull House-keepers Family such part of the Proâ—â—sions may be Allowed to strangers as they may be fit to partake in FINIS Vid. Gerard loc. Com. de Minist. Ecclesiast Sect. 11. 12.