Christ's presence and blessing with them all in ways so abominable to God and so apparently destructive to his intire body the Church which he hath purchased with his most pretious bloud 3. Where were then the threatnings of his withdrawing from our Assemblies upon just occasion God hath said Your Sabbaths your Calling of Assemblies I cannot away with it is iniquity even your solemn Meetings my Soul hates them they are a trouble to me I am weary to bear them And I hate I despise your Feast-days I will not smell in your solemn Assemblies i. e. I will not accept with Favour as I did Noah's Sacrifice their solemn Assemblies In another place the Holy Ghost useth the same expression I will not smell the Savour of your sweet Odours It is a Judgment saith Ainsworth opposed to that blessing promised in v. 12. I will walk among you God threatens to deny his presence to their Assemblies and one reason is given by a Divine of the Presbyterian Judgment Because they were not any way of Divine institution but of their own invention and therefore all along they are called your or thine Now shew me where Christ in all the Old or New Testament doth either command or allow any such Ministry and attendance on it as is in question and then I shall acknowledge it to be the Ordinance of God and that this promise belongs to it but not till then In the mean time I may well without any digression retort upon the objectours and tell them that in my Judgment they are far out of the way either of obedience to Christ's Command or of hopes of enjoying his blessing promised who in resorting to such kind of Meetings for which they have neither a command nor promise separate and withdraw themselves from the publick assemblies and attendance on his worship and ordinances there where God hath assured us of his presence and blessing and whither he hath enjoyned us constantly to repair For as that Minister who shall upon any pretence whatsoever of his own forsake a Congregation over whom he was placed by God and goe to another without any lawfull call is like Ionah who being sent by God to Nineve sinned greatly in going to Tarshish though he had preached never so duely and diligently there So those People who in any measure neglect the publick for those private assemblies are like Micah who in the time of the Iudges when there was a publick Ministry in the place which the Lord had chosen for that purpose instituted a private worship and ministry in his own house a certain peculiar Levite being called and set apart for that work And no wise man that shall reade his story will think it safe to follow his example Well may such a Person flatter himself in his course and say in his heart as he Now I know the Lord will doe me good seeing I have a Levite to my Priest But as Iunius hominis imperiti sermo est in pietate parùm instituti That saying of his shews him to have but little wit less religion and that he was but in a golden dream or Fool 's Paradise all that while though he thought himself wiser and in a better case than his neighbours But this was done when there was no King in Israel and every man did that which was right in his own eyes otherwise so abominable an act could never have passed so clearly as it did By such I would be soberly and soundly resolved of this demand Are the People of England in their present state and condition assembling themselves together in publick places appointed for God's worship under the teaching and ministry of their lawfull Pastors that are set over them by Authority a true Church or true Churches or not If they say no they doe that which God blessed be his name hath not yet done unchurch us and lay us under a judgment which he hath not yet laid upon us viz. a divorce from Iesus Christ. Yet thou O Lord art in the midst of us and we are called by thy name leave us not Through the infinite goodness of the most high we have wherewithall to consute that unchristian and uncharitable judgment of theirs since we have both the matter and the form of a true Church The matter is a multitude of rational Creatures that profess saving truth contained in the word of God Simon Magus and the Eunuch upon their profession were admitted Members of the Church and Members do constitute the body The form of a true Church is a gracious call into the dignity of the Children of God so as that Christ becomes â—nited to them As the form of a man â—s the Soul united to the body so the â—orm of a Church which is his body 〈◊〉 Christ united to it We have the â—ord and laws of Christ and those he â—akes effectual for the convincing of â—ll and conversion of some And this 〈◊〉 an irrefragable argument to evince 〈◊〉 Church to be a true Church even in the judgment of the Presbyteriaâ— Divines themselves For to those of the Independent way that separated from them these are their words We beseech you to consider whether ye did not receive the work of conversion from sin to God which ye presume to be wrought in you first of all in those publick assemblies from which ye now separate And if ye found Christ walking amongst us how is it that 〈◊〉 do now leave us If the presence 〈◊〉 Christ both of his power and grace be with us why do ye deny your presence Are ye holyer and wiser than Christ Is not this an evident token that we are true Churches and have a true Ministry because we have the seal of our Ministry even the conversion of many Sons and Daughters to God Doth not the Apostle from this very ground argue the truth of his Apostleship 〈◊〉 it not apparent that our Ministers are sent by God because their Embassage is made succesfull by God for the good of Souls Did ye ever reade of true conversion ordinarily in false Church Will the Lord concur with those Ministers he sends not Doth not the prophet say the quite contrary Jer. 23. 23. And therefore either renounce your conversion or be converted from that great sin of separating from us Again where there are the infallible marks of a true Church there is a true Church But we have the infallible marks of a true Church viz. the word of Christ truly taught and his Sacraments rightly administred First for the word of Christ. The Church is according to the proper signification of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a People called forth from the rest of the world called to be Saints Now the best note to know a People called is by the voice calling this was ever an infallible mark of Christ's Church First among the Apostles who were called out from amongst others by the word of
disorder in the Church of Christ and his Service For what is a Church without order but a kind of an Hell above ground Where order is wanting what is a Kingdom but a Chaos of Confusion Yea But such a Ministry and such Meetings and Assemblies as are in question are contrary to the order God hath in his word established in his Church For the order God hath set in his Church is that his People should be distinguished into flocks and that every flock should have its own shepherd It is God's ordinance saith Mr. Hildersham as it is agreeable to good order that Christians should be sorted into Congregations according to their dwellings that they who dwell next together should be of the same Congregation and from thence the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a parish first came As it is against all reason and scripture that a people scattered about some here and some there in several parts of the Country should voluntarily associate and combine themselves in a distinct body under what Ministry they please and that best suits with their humour and call themselves a Church as the manner of some is So it is agreeable with the very light of nature and dictates of right reason that a people in a vicinity and neighbourhood dwelling together ought to join together with those of that neighbourhood according as most conveniently they may for the worship and service of God We reade of the Church of God at Rome Corinth Galatia Ephesus c. And of seven Epistles written from Heaven to seven several Churches all which had their abode at the places whence the Churches bare their Names these are scripture Churches saith a Presbyterian It is the ordinance of God that every Flock or Congregation should have their own pastour Take heed to the flock over whom the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers Timothy appointed Titus to ordain Elders in every City i. e. wheresoever there was a body of people for a fit Congregation there must be a Pastour or Elder placed Whence it appears that even in the Apostles days there was a distinction of Churches and Congregations for the Elders had their flocks over whom the Holy Ghost made them Overseers The like is said of Paul and Barnabas that they ordained Elders in every Church Hence saith Calvin may be gathered the difference betwixt the office of those Elders and that of the Apostles These had no certain station in the Church but still went up and down hither and thither to plant new Churches Rom. 15. 19. 20. 23. 24. 1 Cor. 4. 17. Act. 1. 8. Rom. 1. 14. 2 Tim. 1. 11. 2 Cor. 10. 14. 16. But the other were by God's appointment fixed and tyed to their own proper Congregations and Flocks Act. 14. 23. Act. 20. 28. Tit. 15. â—1 Pet. 5. 1. The diminutive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used in Luc. 12. 32. Act. 20. 28. 1 Pet. 5. 2. 3. Not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth intimate as much for parvum gregem significat it signifies a small part of the great flock distinguished from the rest And indeed the state and condition of the Ministers and Ministry of the Church requires that every Pastour should not take care of all the Flock or Church but that rather they should have certain portions or Congregations of God's People committed to them particularly amongst whom they should bestow their care and pains For this cause St. Paul took course to send certain Ministers to certain particular Churches as Crescens to Galatia Titus to Dalmatia and Tychicus to Ephesus Vnde rectissime colligimus saith a Learned Casuist auditores ordinariis pastoribus contentos esse oportere ne eos in crimen 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 conjiciant So 't is God's ordinance that Flocks Congregations should be contented with and depend on their own Pastours This appears by that charge of the Apostle We beseech you brethren to know them to own and acknowledge them that labour among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you and to esteem them very highly in love for their works sake Again remember them that have the rule over you which have spoken to you the word of God And again obey them that have the rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your Souls as they that must give an account that they may doe it with joy and not with grief In both places the Command of God is for Obedience to Pastours not any such as people themselves according to their own humours shall chuse but it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the seventh verse and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the 17 th verse In both places YOVR RVLERS such as are lawfully set over you by those that are in Authority in the Church And even as St. Paul commends Epaphroditus to the Philippians as their ordinary Pastour and commands them to receive him in the Lord with all gladness and to hold such in repâ—tation So he doth the like to other Churches commanding them to honour and obey their own Pastours which he would never have done if it had been lawfull for people with neglect of their own Ministers to follow whom they please People are much mistaken if they think they are so much at their own disposal as that they may put themselves under the teaching and care of what Minister they have a mind to though never so excellent and orthodox For 1. First God is not so careless of the precious Souls of his People in his Church as to leave them at random to shift for themselves every one according to his own foolish fancy but doth dispose of them himself by his good providence by the hand of those who from and under him have Authority so to doe to the care and charge of Pastours of his own appointment the respective Ministers of those Parishes and places where they with other of his People do cohabite And therefore the form of our institutions to our several charges runs in these words Curam regimen omnium animarum parochianorum tibi plenarie in Domino committimus The definition that our Saviour Christ gives of a Church is a Shepherd and his Sheep that will hear his voice A lawfull Minister and a Flock or Congregation lawfully committed to his charge make up a true Church Hereunto accord the Judgment of the Fathers St. Chrysostome in an homily de recipiendo Severiano begins thus Sicuti capiti Corpus cohaerere necessarium est ita Ecclesiam Sacerdoti Principi Populum As it is necessary that the body cleave to the head so it is likewise of necessity that the Congregation cleave to the Priest and the People to their Prince To which the saying of St. Cyprian agrees Illi sunt Ecclesia plebs sacerdoti adunita pastori suo grex adhaerens The Church is a Congregation of believers united to their Minister and a
private Mass and Idols had celebrated the Lord's Supper under both kinds had taken away auricular Confession superstitious differences of meats invocation of Saints and many other Popish fopperies and intolerable abuses in the Church non quod impie fecissent sed quod non ordine Not but that the work was good in it self but it was ill done because not done in a right order and therefore it was justly culpable and blameable in them Circumstances of actions often marr the substance In divine Worship our care must not onely be to the matter of the service that it be good but to the circumstances also wherewith it is attended that they be warrantable by God's word or at least not contrary thereunto God requires that even the wood and every part of the sacriâ—ce offered to him be in order And doth God look for order among sticks And doth he not much more require order to be kept in the use of those means by which he hath appointed to bring Souls to Heaven What gross absurdities would unavoidably follow from such a manifest breach of order in the Church If one Minister may intrude into another's Parish and Congregation and there set up a course of private house-preaching and other ministerial Acts why then may not the Bishop of one Diocess thrust himself into the Diocess of another and there take upon him to ordain Presbyters and exercise Episcopal jurisdiction whether the Diocesan will or no Which as it is contrary to all good Laws and Order so hath been always forbidden and condemned by the Judgment of the Fathers of the Church assembled in Council Not onely in that of Carthage before mentioned but also in a Council at Antioch it was decreed non licere uni Episcopo in Dioecesi alterius Episcopale officium exercere And in the 36 th Canon of those which goe under the Name of the Apostles it was ordained Episcopum non audere extra terminos proprios ordinationes facere in civitatibus villis quae illi nullo jure subjectae sunt Si vero convictus fuerit c. That no Bishop shall dare to confer orders out of his own Diocess in any City or Village which by no Law or Right is in subjection to him and if he shall be convicted so to doe without the consent or leave of those to whom those Cities or Towns do belong he shall be deposed and those that are ordained by him So likewise in Civil affairs why then may not a Judge who is Commissionated for the Northern Circuit thrust himself into the place and office of him that is appointed for the Western sit on the bench judge causes and condemn Malefactours in alieno foro Which were the way to overthrow all Justice according to that known Axiome in the Law Sententia a Iudice non SVO lata nulla est ipso jure And in Military matters why then may not the Colonel of one Regiment or a Reformado Officer that hath lost his Company and hath none left to command intrude himself into another Regiment and there take upon him to muster the Souldiers and lead a party Which is the onely way to open a Flood-gate to all Confusion and disorder that is imaginable to the Destruction of Magistracy Ministry Judges Armies and all things Now order being a great part of God's Law he that wilfully breaks good order makes himself guilty of the breach of the whole Law and so makes void his Plea for an ordinance of God which may be instrumental to beget faith or grace in the Souls of those that attend unto it The Queen of Sheba when she had seen the good order of the Servants that ministred to King Solomon was so astonished with admiration that there was no spirit left in her If order in a Family doth so draw the Eyes and Minds of the Beholders to it how much more amiable is order in the Church which is the house of the Living God where a greater than Solomon is always present and where the Glory of the Lord appears in the way and means of the Salvation of Souls ARGUMENT III. THAT cannot be the ordinance of God as a means of grace that hath no promise of God's blessing made or annexed to it For though it be a Paul that plants and an Apollo that waters yet it must be God that gives the blessing or else all their labour will be to no purpose I deny not but that there may be a very good use made of the meetings of Christians together otherwise than in the publick Congregation when they are Lawfully and orderly regulated without manifest breach of any Divine or humane precept without intrenchment upon or infringment of any Gospel-order or ordinance and that they may so expect God's blessing on them Yet because Satan hath stretched his hellish Subtilty to the highest in these last times with too unhappy Success to put easie and well-meaning people out of the sure and ordinary way of God's blessing by disparaging the publick Church Assemblies and advancing private irregular and disorderly meeting where there is not that ground of expectation of Divine concurrence into competition with yea prelation above them therefore makeing a little more than ordinary stay here I shall endeavour to let the Reader fee how the Spirit of God in Scripture hath commended the publick Assemblies to us by affixing more special promises of his presence with and benediction of them than on any other though ordered in all things never so rightly and how it hath recorded the faith of good men in their belief of these promises testified in their esteeming useing and frequenting the publick ordinances of God accordingly Glorious things are spoken of thee oh thou city of God To the ancient people of God the Iews the special promises of Divine presence were made in their Church Assemblies In the places where I record my name I will come unto thee and will bless thee In the Tabernacle saith God I will meet thee and Commune with thee of all things Which promises were always performed accordingly as may be seen in Lev. 9. 23. 24. Nâ—mb 1. 1. Numb 7. 89. Thence it was that the Tabernacle of the Jewish Church had the name of the Tabernacle of meeting or the Tabernacle of the Congregation To those that attended God there his blessing was assured Blessed is the man whom thou chusest and causest to approach unto thee that he may dwell in thy Court he shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house even of thy Holy Temple Blessed are they that dwell in thy house they shall ever be praising thee He blesseth thy Children within thee O Sion Blessed is the man that heareth me watching dayly at my Gates waiting at the posts of my doors saith Christ the Wisedom of the Father And that was the reason of David 's so great love to the Church Lord I have loved
Clouds may be discerned Cum tota dicat Ecclesia quam diu hic est dimitte nobis deâ—ita nostra non utique hic est sine macula ruga So long as the whole Church is commanded to say whilst she is in this World forgive us our trespasses she cannot be imagined to be altogether without spot or wrinkle Rather they discover themselves to be most stained to whom every small spot in the Church seems to be altogether intolerable Cum sub specie studii perfectionis imperfectioneâ— nullam tolerare possumus aut in corpore aut in membi is Ecclesiae tum diabolum nos tumefacere superbia hypocrisi seducere moneamur When under colour of perfection ye can endure no imperfection either in the body or members of the Church you must be admonished that this your separation is caused by the Devil who puffs you up with pride and seduceth you by Hypocrisie Secondly We may not upon every slight ground to please a fond humour leave the Society of God's People in the Church for sake the assembling of our selves together as the manner of some is or goe off from Communion with that Church whereof we are or ought to be Members When an Ulcer breaks out in any part of the body suppose the hand or the foot must that member presently be cut off or not rather be cured and healed by the use of plasters and other wholsome medicines or the pain and evil be endured with patience â—ntill nature hath tryed her skill and as it will in short time conquered the malignity of the Distemper And shall we then presently make use of the knife as soon as ever there ariseth some diversity of opinions in the Church especially in matters that are circumstantial in Religion This were not Chirurgery but Butchery Nay suppose the very substance and body of Religion were corrupted and not onely some light errours in circumstances were maintained but there were Heresie in Doctrine also in this case we ought to be very tender of making a Schism and look well to our selves with what mind and affection we doe it Suppose a Malefactor be really guilty and hath deserved to dye yet if the Judge condemn him out of cruelty of mind envy or spleen and not out of true love to justice and hatred of his sin though the Sentence were for the matter of it never so just yet he were most unjust in pronouncing of it so a separation from a Church though for just causes yet would be most unjust and sinfull if it be done out of malice or any evil respect or affection whatsoever In such a case that is required of a Christian which is required of a Chirurgeon who when necessity forceth him to cut off a member yet he doeth it unwillingly with grief and after trial of all lawfull ways and â—â—eans to stop the evil and to prevent the mutilation of the Patient The property of true Christian Charity is it rejoyceth not in iniquity but in the truth That is iniquity which is so diametrically opposite to Charity which the Greeks call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a vice that makes men not onely to rejoyce in the Calamity of others but greedily to such in all evil reports of them and rejoyce if they are true Christian Charity where it is works the same mind and affection in us towards our neighbours as is in Parents towards their Children who with joy admit of their commendation but will not so easily believe any thing that tends to their disparagement unless they either soe it with their eyes or have good proof made for it and then not without grief of heart Faults in a Church call for our lamentation not separation should God separate from a Christian Soul because there is still some corruption of sinfull nature remaining in it the condition of us all would be most miserable to Eternity Did Christ separate from the Church of the Iews and not hold Communioâ— with her because she was not what she had or ought to have been What the state of the Jewish Church in our Saviour Christ's time was the Scriptures do abundantly shew In it was a very corrupt Ministry blind leaders of the blind They preach'd well enough but did not live accordingly The High-Priests Office which by God's Ordinance was to last during Life was now become annual and basely bought and sold for money The People were wicked impenitent haters and â—â—â—secutors of the Son of God Their Doctrine was much corrupted and blended with false and Pharisaical glosses Many superstitious Ceremonies were used and urged more strictly than any of God's Commandments Church-discipline very much perverted The Jews had agreed that if any did profess Christ he should be excommunicated An horrible abuse was crept into the place of God's Service A Market and Money-changing set up in the Temple of God And yet for all this our Saviour made no separation from this corrupt Church but communicated with them 〈◊〉 all parts of Divine Worship In his Infancy he was admitted a Member of that Church by Circumcision At the Purification he was presented before the Lord in that Church and a Sacrifice offered for him according to the Law of Moses When he came to riper years he constantly kept the Church came to the Congregation to Divine Service publick Prayers and reading the Scriptures He received the Sacraments in their Church Baptism and the Passover Yea his conformity to the Iewish Church was not onely in Divinâ—â— Institutions but in Humane also as in his observation of the Feast of the Dedication of the Temple mentioned Ioh. 10 doth appear He was so far from breaking the order or custome of that Church as that he conformed to it in those things that were contrary to Divine Institutions It was the ordinance of God that the Passover should be eaten by the Iews with their loyns girded their shooes on their feet and their staves in their hands because they were to eat it in haste Standing was a posture of readiness for travell and they used long Garments in those Countries which would have been an hindrance to them if they had not been trussed up The Apostle seems to allude to this custome when he saith stand therefore having your loyns girded about But because the Church of the Iews being now safely escaped out of Egypt had by long custome omitted and altered these Ceremonies therefore our Saviour Christ would not break or alter the custome of that Church but did as they did He did not stand 〈◊〉 the Passover but sate or used a leaning posture for so the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 used by St. Matthew doth signifie as appears by the Evangelist When the even was come he sate down with the twelve And all this to teach us that we ought to be tender of violating the customes of the Church not to grow into
opposition to that which themselves oppose Beza Interprets it thus prout hoc vel illud illis arriserit as this or that best pleafeth them The second is the itch of the ear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a disease very common yet never so Epidemical as in these days And there are two things that very much stir and provoke this humour 1. Novelty If the thing either for the matter or the manner of it be new and strange our Athenâ—an dispositions will soon incline us to spend our whole time in it Let a Physician be never so learned honest experienced and successfull in his place yet if but an Empirick or Mounteâ—ank come into the Country and set up his Stage though he doeth nothing but put off deceitfull and Sophisticate Drugs and takes mens money yet he shall not want at all times a full resort to him because he is a new-corner and his pretended method and means of cure are new and unusual In Religion also people are naturally 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apt to be led away with insatiable desire of hearing new men and new things and listen rather to fables than to wholesome words that are according to godliness rather admire and adore the new conceits of every Novellist than receive the great mysteries of Salvation in love of the truth from him whom God hath set to watch over their Souls Mitte quod scio dic quod nescio is their Motto we have heard this man long enough our Ears itch now to attend to some other what we know is stale things fresh and unheard do better please us It is not the word but the man they desire to hear And therein they shew themselves to be the most observant disciples of the great Masters of errour and deceipt the Papists For this is a Doctrine taught by Stapleton in the tenth of his quodlibets non quid loquitur sed quis à bono Catholico attendendum est A good Catholick ought not to regard what is spoken but who it is that speaks And if the speaker prove a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and stuff up his discourse with idle and impertinent stories how fabulous soever he shall find more attention and applause from such humorous hearers than he that with greatest evidence of the spirit and power makes known the Oracles of God But certainly that man is under a very great distemper of body that grows weary of his good ordinary food The stomach is very sickly when it cannot take in any solid meat but the fancy is still working after rarities And if ever that person recover his former health he will find that his body will never hold to be in better temper than when he keeps to his ordinary Diet. 2. Prohibition by Authority Things denied are always most desired and the enjoyment of them is therefore the sweeter because restrained by Law Audax omnia perpeti Gens humana ruit per vetitum nefas Ever since our first parents transgressed in eating the forbidden fruit all the sinfull posterity of Adam are ready to run most dangerous adventures for a taste of that which they should not touch How just and reasonable soever the prohibition is yet it will allways be looked on with a jealous Eye by those that are concerned in it as if there were a more than ordinary excellency in the thing denyed and it were therefore kept from us by our Superiours though they mean us never so much good in it because they envy us the enjoyment of it Whence it comes to pass that as beasts though their own pasture be never so good yet if they are bounded in they cannot contain themselves but will adventure to leap the hedge that they may goe farther though they fare worse Were it so that the doors of our Churches were shut up by Authority People forbidden to resort thither or to attend the Ministry of their own Pastours any more and commanded to frequent the private meetings of strangers onely the would these People be soon weary of their restraint and pretend great zeal to God's house and the place where his honour dwells then would their Souls seem to long and even to faint within them for the Courts of the Lord to see his Power and his Glory so as they have seen it in his Sanctuary Then would they seem to account their own Ministers worthy of double honour to receive them in the Lord with all gladness and to hold them in reputation Oh the strange nature of the Sons of men to whom a Legal prohibition is a forcible invitation that know not the worth of Mercies but by the loss of them Fifthly it alienates the affections of People from the true worship of God established by Law in our Church shakes the minds of the weak and begets even in those who have professed they have not the least exception against it but suspect somewhat amiss in it onely upon this ground because they see others of whose judgments they have a good confidence withdraw from it and chuse rather to frequent private meetings than to serve God in the publick Congregations Who have not heard the railings and revilings that have proceeded out of the mouths of those who are the favourers and followers of these unlawfull Assemblies against the Book of Common-prayer And who may not observe their constant and studyed withdrawing from the use of it That book which 1. For the Authours and Compilers of it was composed by the most Learned and Holy Doctours Martyrs and Confessours that the Church of England ever had who spent their times studies and lives in opposing the Idolatry and Superstition of the Romish Church Set forth at first in the Reign and by the Authority of King Edward the Sixth who for his Piety Zeal Learning and Wisedom was accounted the miracle of nature Peter Martyr in an Oration of his at Argentine saith thus of his death Praeter omnem spem acerbâ luctuosâ morte sublatus est Edvardus Angliae Rex Monarcharum Christiani orbis candidum Lumen pietatis Legitimus alumnus Evangelii Christi propugnator acerrimus Besides all expectation Edward King of England is taken away by lamentable and cruel Death who was the clear light of all the Monarchs of the Christian World the true Son of Piety and the most zealous and earnest Defender and Maintainer of the Gospel of Christ. And in an Oration of his at Tigurum he gives this Testimony of him Obiit prohdolor obiit Edvardus ille sanctissimus Rex quo adolescente nescio an Sol doctiorem proâ—â—aetate sanctiorem atque prudentiorem usquam viderit The most Holy King Eward is dead and I know not whether the Sun ever saw a more Learned for his age and a more sanctified and wise Prince And again in an Epistle to Queen Elizabeth speaking of the zeal and care of several godly and religious Kings in reforming Religion and establishing the true Worship of God saith
to the Penalty of the Law is not that sufficient to discharge the Conscience from the guilt of disobedience Casuists that are of that Judgment say it holds true onely in those Laws whereof there are but very few in the World that are purely penal And the Laws which we now speak of are not such for these are partly Moral binding to doe or to leave undone some moral Act and partly Penal in case of Omission of what the Laws command or Commission of what the Laws forbid then to undergoe the Punishment the Laws inflict Now in these mixt Laws suffering the Penalty doth not discharge the Conscience from the guilt of sin For it is a rule of sure truth which Casuists give in such cases Omnis praeceptio obligat ad culpam Every just Command of those who have lawfull Authority to command leaves a guilt of sin upon those mens Consciences who do not obey The reason is because where a Law made by lawfull Authority requires active obedience and imposeth a Penalty in case of disobedience the Conscience of the subject stands bound primarily and intentionally to the performance of the duty therein enjoined As for the Penalty threatned that is a secondary and accidental thing to the Law added to keep up the reputation and esteem thereof in the minds of those who are concerned in it and to affright them from the neglect and disobedience of it So that though the suffering the Penalty of the Law in case of the transgression of it be as much as can be required of the Law-giver yet God by whom Kings reign and who requires subjection to Authority and that for Conscience sake will not hold such persons guiltless that doe not the things commanded in the Law The malefactour satisfies the Law at the time of his execution but who will say that without repentance of his fact the guilt of sin remains not still upon his Conscience or that he shall be acquitted at God's tribunal 5. Neither are they the Laws of the Church and Kingdom of England onely that are against such Meetings and Ministry as are in question But the godly Kings and Princes of the primitive Christian-Church have ever made the like Eusebius tells us that Constantine the Great made a Law that no Separatists or Schismaticks should meet in Conventicles and commanded that all such places where they were wont to keep their Meetings should be demolished and that they should not keep their factious Meetings either in publick places or private houses or remote places but that they should repair to their parochial Churches And in the next Chapter he saith that by that Law the memory of most of those Sectaries was forgotten and extinguished Sozomen reports that Theodosius the great decreed that the Sectaries whose petition for liberty he had first torn in pieces should not assemble together but all of them repair to their own publick Congregations otherwise to be banished their Country to be branded with some infamy and not to be partakers of Common privileges and favours with others And our neighbours and brethren of Scotland of the Presbyterian judgment did in one of their late general Assemblies since the enacting of their solemn League and Covenant make a special Canon against all private Meetings the direct tendency there of being to the overthrow of that Uniformity by them covenanted to be endeavoured in all the Churches of the three Kingdoms The very Heathens themselves by their Laws have made all such Assemblies illegitimate which the highest Authority did not cause to meet though they were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to doe solemn Sacrifice to their Gods as may appear by Solon's Laws and in their practice they have shewed themselves ready to yeild obedience to their Governours in desisting from such irregular Conventions when they have been required Though Demetrius his Assembly came together disorderly and of their own heads rushed into the Theatre and there kept a shouting and Crying two hours together some one thing some another not knowing most of them wherefore they came together Yet when the Town-clark who had Authority did dismiss them they added not one fault to another but broke off their disorderly Meeting presently And they shew themselves more refractary than Demetrius himself who doe otherwise And if it be well considered the practice in question will be found to interfere with it self and to carry in the very face of it a convincing Testimony of its evil and unwarrantableness For if it be lawfull for these men to preach in private Meetings as they do and have a long time done why do they not take upon them to adventure to preach in the publick and Church-assemblies also What is it that makes them abstain from the latter and yet take liberty in the former Is it in obedience to the Law of the Land which forbids them to preach in publick The same Law forbids them to preach in private also It cannot be denied but that one is forbidden as well as the other Then this must needs be turned upon them why do they not obey in the one as well as in the other since they cannot but acknowledge that both are forbidden in the same Law surely if it were the Care and Conscience and desire to obey lawfull Authority according as Christian duty binds them that makes them silent in publick the same Conscience the same care and desire would make them sit down in silence in private also If it be said that they therefore abstain from publick preaching because it more exposeth them to the danger and penalty of the Law than private doth Then this must be retorted upon them also that their obedience is not such as God requireth for Conscience but for wrath Good men obey for Conscience but those that obey for wrath have not the fear of God before their Eyes For none contemns the power of man unless he hath first despised the Power of God And shall that be accounted by any sober Christian to be the ordinance of God or means of his appointment to beget grace in mens souls that is so repugnant to good Laws both of Church and State which we all stand bound in Conscience to observe and obey is contradictory to it self and hath in it that which proclaims to all that will open their Eyes to look into it its unlawfulness and sin God forbid ARGUMENT II. THAT cannot be the ordinance of God or means of grace that is contrary to that order which God himself by his word hath established in his Church For God is not the Authour of disorder and confusion But the Devil In the Church God's Command is for order in all things Let all things be done decently and in order And St. Paul did as well rejoice to see the order as the faith of the Church of Coloss. Onely Death and Hell have no order And it is a kind of death to a godly Christian to see