a Publican qua Publican and so every Publican Now what can be the sence of Christs words in reference to every Publican saith he unlesse this be it that it was lawfull to pursue any Publican at a Tribunall of the Romans I answer his argument goeth upon a most false supposition which I cleare by the like instances Matth. 6. 7. Use not vaine repetitions as the Heathen doe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Shall we thence conclude that the Heathens as Heathens and so all Heathens without exception did use repetitions in prayer or that they were all so devout in their way as to make long prayers Luke 15. 11. I am not as other men are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 extortioners unjustâ—… c. Did the Pharisee meane that every man eo ipso that he was another man and so the rest of the Pharisees as well as others were extortioners c. Iohn 15. 6. he is cast forth as a branch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If the rule of Erastus hold then a branch as a branch and so every branch is cast out Many such instances might be given If in these Texts there must be a restriction of the sence notwithstanding of the prepositive article so that by Heathens we must understand devout or praying Heathens by other men vulgar men or the common sort of men by a branch a fruitlesse or withered branch Why shall we not also understand by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the prophane loose or unjust Publican and as Grotius doth rightly expound it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let him be esteemed saith he as an Heathen man that is as an alien from religion or as a Publican that is if he be a Jew esteeme him as an infamous sinner or one of a flagitious life Since therefore Erastus confesseth pag. 194. that as the office of the Publicans was lawfull so likewise many Publicans were honest chast religious and pious men I may safely conclude that Let him be unto thee as a Publican cannot be meant universally of all Publicans For how can it be supposed that Christ would tacitely allow of alienation from or severity to pious Publicans Tenthly whereas the Erastians lay great waight upon that forme of speech Let him be to thee not to the whole Church as an Heathen man and a Publican which is also one of Sullivius his exceptions de Presbyterio cap. 9. in this also they do abuse the Text for 1. The same offence which is a sufficient ground to one Church-member to esteem another Church member as an Heathen man or a Publican being a publique and known scandall such as is contumacy and disobedience to the Church must needs be a sufficient ground to all other Church members or to the whole Church to esteem so of him Surely Christ would not have contradictory judgements in his Church concerning so high a point as is the esteeming of a Church member to be as a Heathen man and a Publican 2. The Erastians herein argue no better than the Papists Christ said to Peter I will give unto thee the keyes of the Kingdome of Heaven Therefore unto Peter alone Peradventure Mr. Hussey was so sagacious as to prevent this objection with his popish concession these Keyes were never given to any of the Apostles but to Peter saith he in his plea for Christian magistracy pag. 9. It seems he will farre lesse sticke to grant the Prelaticall argument Timothy laid on hands and Titus ordained Elders therefore each of these had the power of ordination by himselfe alone 3. It is a good observation of Luther Tom. 1. Resolv super propos 13. de potest Papae fol. 299. in the sixteenth of Matthew Christ begins with all his disciples Whom say ye that I am and he endeth with one Unto thee will I give c. In the eighteenth of Matthew he beginneth with one If thy brother trespasse against thee c. and he endeth with all Whatsoever he binds on earth c. Whence he concludeth that in both these places what is said to one is said to all of them CHAP. V. That Tell it to the Church hath more in it then Tell it unto a greater number THere is yet another interpretation of these words invented to elude the argument for Ecclesiasticall government and censures from Mat. 18. Tell it unto the Church that is if the offending brother will neither hearken to private admonition nor to admonition before two or three witnesses then tell it unto many or unto a greater company This cals to mind D r Sutcliffes glosse upon the word Presbytery 1 Tim. 4. 14. that it signifieth Presbyters or Ministers non juris vinculo sed utcunque collectos as if the occasionall meeting of some Presbyters in Westminster Hall or upon the Exchange or in a journey or at a buriall were a Presbytery with power to lay on hands That interpretation of the word Church is no better But that I may reject nothing without reason I desire it may be considered 1. Whether either in Scripture or in any Greeke Lexicon or in any Classick author it can be found that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was ever used to signifie meerly a greater number or company then two or three not called out and imbodied together for government or worship For my part I could never yet finde where the simple majority of the number maketh the denomination of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I finde the word sometimes yet very seldome used of an unlawfull assembly combining or joyning together to evill the reason I take to be this because they pretended to be authorised as a lawfull assembly so Christ called Iudas friend when he came to betray him with a kisse But since the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 18. 17. doth signifie a lawfull assembly as all doe confesse I desire some testimony of Scripture or approved authors where this name is given to a lawfull assembly which was not imbodied for worship or government but had the name of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 simply because of the majority of number Sure I am 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is at least caetus evocatus an assembly called forth and every offended brother hath not from Christ the priviledge of gathering a Church 2. If by tell it unto the Church were meant no more but this tell it unto a greater number then if the offender doe not heare the Church there must be recourse unto some others distinct from the Church for the more authoritative and ultimate determination unlesse it be said that there is no remedy for offences but in a greater number which each man shall make choice of But where is their more effectuall remedy or where will they fixe the ultimate degree of proceedings 3. When Christ saith Tell it unto the Church and if he neglect to heare the Church c. whether respect be had to the forme of the Hebrews or to the forme of the Grecians the Church will still have a ruling power
policy and how can it be imagined that mankind multiplying upon the earth should have been without headship superiority order society govenment And what wonder that the law of nature teach all Nations some government Hicrome observeth that nature guideth the very reasonlesse creatures to a kind of Magistracy Eightly If the Scripture hold forth the same derivation or origination of Magistracy in the Christian Magistrate and in the heathen Magistrate then it is not safe to us to hold that the Christian Magistrate holds his office of and under Christ as Mediator But the Scripture doth hold forth the same derivation or origination of Magistracy in the Christian Magistrate and in the Heathen Magistrate Ergo The proposition hath this reason for it because the Heathen Magistrate doth not hold his office of and under Christ as Mediator neither doth Mr. Hussey herein contradict me onely he holds the heathen Magistrate and his Government to be unlawful wherein he is Anabaptistical and is confuted by my first Argument As for the Assumption it is proved from divers Scriptures and namely these Rom. 13. 1. the powers that be are ordained of God which is spoken of heathen Magistrates Dan. 2. 37. Thou O King art a King of Kings for the God of heaven hath given thee a Kingdom Power and Strength and Glory So saith Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar an Idolatrous and heathen King See the like Ier. 27. 6. Isa. 45. 1. God sent his servant the Prophet to anoint Hazael King over Syria 1 Kings 19. 15. Read to this purpose Augustine de civit Dei lib. 5. cap. 21. Where he saith that the same God gave a Kingdom and authority both to the Romans Assyrians Persians Hebrews and that he who gave the Kingdom to the best Emperors gave it also to the worst Emperors yea he that gave it to Constantine a Christian did also give it saith he to Iulian the apostate Tertullian Apol. cap. 30. speaking of the heathen Emperors of that time saith that they were from God à quo sunt secundi post quem primi ante omnes that he who had made them men did also make them Emperors and give them their power Ibid. cap. 33. Ut meritò dixerim noster est magis Caesar ut a nostro Deo constitutus so that I may justly say Caesar is rather ours as being placed by our God saith he speaking to the Pagans in the behalf of Christians Wherefore though there be huge and vast differences between the Christian Magistrate and the heathen Magistrate the former excelling the latter as much as light doth darknesse yet in this point of the derivation and tenure of Magistracy they both are equally interested and the Scripture sheweth no difference as to that point CHAP. VIII Of the Power and Priviledge of the Magistrate in things and causes Ecclesiastical what it is not and what it is THe new notion that the Christian Magistrate is a Church-officer and Magistracy an Ecclesiastical as well as a civil administration calls to mind that of the Wise-man Is there any thing whereof it may be said See this is new it hath been already of old time which was before us Plato in his Politicus a little after the middle of that book tells me that the Kings of Egypt were also Priests and that in many Cities of the Grecians the supream Magistrate had the administration of the holy things Notwithstanding even in this particular there still appeareth some new thing under the Sun For Plato tells me again Epist. 8. that those supreme Magistrates who were Priests might not be present nor joyne in criminall nor capitall judgements lest they being Priests should be defiled If you look after some other President for the union of civil and ecclesiastical Government secular and spirituall administrations in one and the same person or persons perhaps it were not hard to find such presidents as our opposites will be ashamed to owne I am sure Heathens themselves have known the difference between the office of Priests and the office of Magistrates Aristotle de Repub. lib. 4. cap. 15. speaking of Priests saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For this is another thing then civil Magistrates He had said before 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For a civil society hath need of many Rulers but every 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who is made by election or lot is not a civil Magistrate and the first instance he giveth is that of the Priests and so Aristotle would have the Priest to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Ruler but not a civil Magistrate So de Repub. lib. 7. cap. 8. he distingu sheth between the Priests and the Judges in a Citty But to the matter I will here endeavour to make these two things appear 1. That no administration formally and properly Ecclesiasticall and namely the dispencing of Church censures doth belong unto the Magistrate nor may according to the word of God be assumed and exercised by him 2. That Christ hath not made the Magistrate head of the Church to receive appeals properly so called from all Ecclesiasticall Assemblies Touching the first of these it is no other than is held forth in the Irish Articles of Faith famous among Orthodox and Learned men in these Kingdoms which do plainly exclude the Magistrate from the administration of the Word and Sacraments and from the power of the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven It is the unhappinesse of this time that this and other truths formerly out of controversie should be so much stuck at and doubted of by some Now that the corrective part of Church-Government or the censure of scandalous persons in reference to the purging of the Church and keeping pure of the ordinances is no part of the Magistrates office but is a distinct charge belonging of right to Ministers and Elders as it may fully appear by the Arguments brought afterwards to prove a government in the Church distinct from Magistracy which Arguments will necessarily carry the power of Church censures and the administration of the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven into other hands then the Magistrates so I shall here strengthen it by these confirmations First Church-censures must needs be dispensed by Ministers and Elders because they are heterogeneous to Magistracy For first the Magistrate by the power which is in his hand ought to punish any of his Subjects that doe evil and he ought to punish like siâ—s with like punishments But if the power of Church-censures be in the Magistrates hands he cannot walk by that rule For Church-censures are onely for Church-members not for all Subjects 1 Cor. 5. 10. 12. Secondly Church-censures are to be executed in the name of Christ Matth. 18. 20. with vers 17 18. 1 Cor. 5. 4. and this cannot be done in his name by any other but such as have commission from him to bind and loose forgive and retain sins But where is any such commission given to the civil Magistrate Christian more then Heathen Thirdly Church-censures
from the one to the other for the Magistrate is no lesse subject to the operation of the Word from the mouth of the Minister then any other man whatsoever And the Minister again is as much subject to the authority of the Magistrate as any other Subject whatsoever And therefore though there be no subordination of Offices yet is there of Persons the Person of a Minister remaining a Subject but not the function of the Ministery He might have said the same of the exercise of Church-discipline which he saith of the preaching of the Word for the same Christ who gave the keyes of doctrine gave also the keys of discipline without any tye to make the use thereof subject to the pleasure of the civil Magistrate Let him prove that the ministery of the Word is not subordinate to nor dependant upon the Magistrate and I shall prove by the same medium that the ministery of Church-censures hath as little of that subordination in it And this I must adde that least of all others can our Independent brethren charge the Presbyterians with the setting up of an Ecclesiastical Government co-ordinate with and not subordinate unto the civil Government For themselves hold as much in this point if not more then we do Take for instance Mr. Cotton his kâ—…yes of the Kingdom of Heaven published by Mr. Goodwyn and Mr. Nye pag. 49. The first Subject of the ministeriall power of the keyes though it be independent in respect of derivation of power from the power of the sword to the performance of any spiritual administration c. Pag. 53. As the Church is subject to the sword of the Magistrate in things which concerne the civil peace so the Magistrate if Christian is subject to the keyes of the Church c. As for that collaterality which is objected I answer The Civil and Ecclesiastical power if we speak properly are not collateral 1. They have no footing upon the same ground there may be many subject to the Magistrate who are no Church-Members and so not under the Spiritual power and where the same persons are subject to both the powers there is no more collaterality in this case nay not so much as is betwixt the power of a Father in one man and the power of a Master in another man when both powers are exercised upon the same man who is both a son and a servant 2. Powers that are collateral are of the same eminency and altitude of the same kinde and nature but the civil Power is a Dominion and Lordship the Ecclesiastical power is Ministerial not Lordly 3. Collateral powers do mutually and alike exercise authority over each other respectively But though the Magistrate may exercise much authority in things Ecclesiastical Church-Officers can exercise no authority in things civil The Magistrates authority is Ecclesiastical objective though not formaliter but the Church-Officers authority is not civil so much as objective not being exercised about either civil criminal or capital cases 4. Collateral powers are subordinate to and derived from the Supreme and Original power like two branches growing out of the same stock two streams flowing from the same fountain two lines drawn from the same center two arms under the same head But the power of the Magistrate is subordinate unto and dependeth upon the Dominion of God the Creator of all the power of Church-Officers dependeth upon the Dominion of Christ the Mediator and King of the Church I shall conclude my answers to the present Objection with the Testimony of learned Salmasius who hath so overthrown the Papal and Prelatical Government from Scripture and antiquity that he hath withall preserved yea strengthened the distinction of civil Government and Church-government and holdeth that Church-censures and civil punishments do very well consist and sweetly agree together I have now done with the negative part of this present Controversie what the power of the Magistrate in Ecclesiasticis is not I proceed to the positive part what it is To this I wâ—ll speak first more generally then more particularly For the general I hold with the large Consession of Faith of the Church of Scotland Art 25. Moreover to Kings Princes Rulers and Magistrates we affirm that chiefly and most principally the conservation and the purgation of the Religion appertains so that not onely they are appointed for civil Policy but also for maintenance of the true Religion and for suppressing of Idolatry and Superstition whatsoever To the same purpose Calvin Instit. lib. 4. cap. 20. sect 9. Hoc nomine maximè laudantnr sancti Reges quòd Dei cultum corruptum vel eversum restituerint vel curam gesserint Religionis ut sub illis pura incolumis sâ—…oreret The like see in Zanchius in 4. praec pag. 791. and in Polanus Syntag. lib. 10. cap. 65. They hold that the Christian Magistrate his Office as concerning Religion is diligently to take care that in his Dominion or Kingdom Religion from the pure Word of God expounded by â—…he Word of God it self and understood according to the Principles of Faith which others call the Analogy of Faith be either instituted or being instituted kept pure or being corrupted be restored and reformed that false Doctrines Abuses Idolls and Superstitions be taken away to the glory of God and to his own and his Subjects salvation Unto these things I do assent as unto safe and undoubted truths But for the clearer unâ—erstanding and enodation of our present Question I will particularize and explain what I hold by these five following Distinctions 1. Distingue materiam subjectam There are two sorts of things belonging to the Church Some which are intrinsecal and belonging to the soul or inward man directly and primarily Such things are not to be dispensed and administred by the civil Magistrate I mean the Word and Sacraments the Keys of the Kingdom of Heaven the Suspension or Excommunication of Church-Officers or Members the Ordination or Deposition of Officers the Determination and Resolution from Scripture of Controversies concerning the Faith the Worship of God the Government of the Church Cases of Conscience These being in their nature end and use meerly spiritual and belonging not to the outward man but to the inward man or soul are committed and intrusted to the Pastors and other ruling Officers of the Church and are not of civil and extrinsecal but of Ecclesiastical and intrinsecal cognizance and judgement There are other things belonging to the Church which are extrinsecal and do properly belong to the outward man and are common to the Church with other humane Societies or Corporations Things of this kinde fall within the civil Jurisdiction For the Churches of Christ being Societies of men and women and parts of Common-wealths are accountable unto and punishable by the civil Magistrate in their bodies lives civil Liberties and temporal Estates for trespasses against the Law of God or the Law of the Land By the Law of God I understand here Ius
his place against the holy Ghost the said holy Spirit bearing the contrary record to his Conscience Testimonies taken out of the Harmony of the Confessions of the Faith of the 〈◊〉 Churches Râ—printed at London 1643. Pag. 238. Out of the confession of Helvetia FUrthermore there is another power of duty or ministerial power limited out by him who hath full and absolute power and authority And this is more like a Ministry then Dominion For we see that some master doth give unto the steward of his house authority and power over his House and for that cause delivereth him his keyes that he may admit or exclude such as his master will have admitted or excluded According to this power doth the Minister by his office that which the Lord hath commanded him to do and the Lord doth ratifie and confirm that which he doth and will have the deeds of his ministers to be acknowledged and esteemed as his own deeds unto which end are those speeches in the Gospel I will give unto thee the keyes of the Kingdom of heaven and whatsoever thou bindest or loosest in earth shall be bound and loosed in heaven Again whose sins soever ye remit they shall be remitted and whose sins soever ye retain they shall be retained But if the minister deal not in all things as his Lord hath commanded him but passe the limits and bounds of Faith then the Lord doth make void that which he doth Wherefore the Ecclesiastical power of the Ministers of the Church is that function whereby they do indeed govern the Church of God but yet so as they do all things in the Church as he hath prescribed in his Word which thing being so done the faithful do esteem them as done of the Lord himself Pag. 250. Out of the confession of Bohemia THe 14th Chapter of Ecclesiastical doctrine is of the Lords keyes of which he saith to Peter I will give thee the Keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven and these keyes are the peculiar function or Ministery and administration of Christ his power and his holy Spirit which power is committed to the Church of Christ and to the Ministers thereof unto the end of the world that they should not onely by preaching publish the holy Gospel although they should do this especially that is should shew forth that Word of true comfort and the joyful message of peace and new tydings of that favour which God offereth but also that to the beleeving and unbeleeving they should publikely or privately denounce and make known to wit to them his favour to these his wrath and that to all in general or to every one in particular that they may wisely receive some into the house of God to the communion of Saints and drive some out from thence and may so through the performance of their Ministery hold in their hand the Scepter of Christ his Kingdom and use the same to the government of Christ his Sheep And after Moreover a manifest example of using the power of the keyes is laid out in that sinner of Corinth and others whom St. Paul together with the Church in that place by the power and authority of our Lord Jesus Christ and of his Spirit threw out from thence and delivered to Sathan and contrariwise after that God had given him grace to repent he absolved him from his sins he took him again into the Church to the communion of Saints and Sacraments and so opened to him the Kingdom of Heaven again By this we may understand that these keyes or this divine function of the Lords is committed and granted to those that have charge of souls and to each several Ecclesiastical Societies whether they be smal or great Of which thing the Lord sayeth to the Churches Verily I say unto you whatsoever ye bind on earth shall be bound in heaven And straight after For where two or three are gathered together in my Name there am I in the middest of them Pag. 253. Out of the French Confession VVE beleeve that this true Church ought to be governed by that regiment or discâ—pline which our Lord Jesus Christ hath established to wit so that there be Pastors Elders and Deacons that the purity of doctrine may be retained vices repressed c. Pag. 257. Out of the Confession of Belgia VVE beleeve that this Church ought to be ruled and governed by that spiritual Regiment which God himself hath delivered in his word so that there be placed in it Pastors and Ministers purely to preach and rightly to administer the holy Sacraments that there be also in it Seniors and Deacons of whom the Senate of the Church might consist that by these means true Religion might be preserved and sincere doctrine in every place retained and spread abroad that vicious and wicked men might after a spiritual manner be rebuked amended and as it were by the bridle of discipline kept within their compasse Pag. 260. Out of the Confession of Auspurge AGain by the Gospel or as they term it by Gods Law Bishops as they be Bishops that is such as have the administration of the Word and Sacraments committed to them have no jurisdiction at all but onely to forgive sin Also to know what is true doctrine and to reject such Doctrine as will not stand with the Gospel and to debarre from the communion of the Church such as are notoriously wicked not by humane force and violence but by the word of God And herein of necessity the Churches ought by the law of God to perform obedience unto them according to the saying of Christ He that heareth you heareth me Upon which place the Observation saith thus To debar the wicked c. To wit by the judgement and verdict of the Presbyterie lawfully gathered together c. A Testimony out of the Ecclesiastical Discipline of the Reformed Churches in France Cap. 5. Art 9. THe knowledge of scandals and the censure or judgement thereof belongeth to the Company of Pastors and Elders Art 15. If it befalleth that besides the admonitions usually made by the Consistories to such as have done amisse there be some other punishment or more rigorous censure to be used It shall then be done either by suspension or privation of the holy communion for a time or by excommunication or cutting off from the Church In which cases the Consistories are to be advised to use all prudence and to make distinction betwixt the one and the other As likewise to ponder and carefully to examine the faults and scandals that are brought before them with all their circumstances to judge warily of the censure which may be required Harmonia Synodorum Belgicarum Cap. 14. Art 7. 8. 9. PEccata sua natura publica aut per admonitionis privatae contemtum publicata ex Consistorii totius arbitrio modo formâ ad aedificationem maximè accomodatis sunt Corrigenda Qui pertinaciter Consistorii admonitiones rejecerit à S. Coenae communione
AARONS ROD BLOSSOMING OR The Divine Ordinance of Church-Government VINDICATED So as the present Erastian Controversie concerning the distinction of Civill and Ecclesiasticall Government Excommunication and Suspension is fully debated and discussed from the holy Scripture from the Jewish and Christian Antiquities from the consent of latter Writers from the true nature and rights of Migistracy and from the groundlesnesse of the chiefe Objections made against the Presbyteriall Government in point of a domineering arbitrary unlimited power By George Gillespie Minister at Edinburgh For unto us a child is born unto us a sonne is given and the government shall be upon his shoulder Isaiah 9. 6. Let the Elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour 1 Tim. 5. 17. And the spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets for God is not the Author of confusion but of peace 1 Cor. 14 32 33. August lib. contra Donatistas post collationem Cap. 4. Ne fortè aut indisciplinata patientia foveat iniquitatem aut impatiens disciplina dissipet unitatem Published by Authority London Printed by E. G. for Richard Whitaker at the signe of the Kings Armes in Pauls Church yard 1646. TO THE Reverend and Learned Assembly of DIVINES Convened at WESTMINSTER Right Reverend THough many faithfull servants of God did long agoe desire to see those things which we see and to heare those things which we heare Yet it hath been one of the speciall mercies reserved for this Generation and denied to the times of our Ancestors that Divines of both Kingdomes within this Island should be gathered and continued together to consult peaceably and freely concerning a Reformation of Religion in Doctrine Worship Discipline and Government 'T is a mercy yet greater that two Nations formerly at so great a distance in the form of publike Worship and Churchgovernment should to their mutuall comfort and happines and to the further endearing of each to other through the good hand of God be now agreed upon one Directory of Worship and with a good progresse advanced as in one Confession of Faith so likewise in one forme of Church-government For all which as the other Reformed Churches in regard of their common interest in the Truth and Ordinances of Christ so especially your Brethren in the Church of Scotland are your debters Your name is as precious Oynment among them and they doe esteeme you very highly in love for your workes sake A worke which as it is extraordinary and unparalleld requiring a double portion of the Spirit of your Master so You have very many Hearts and Prayers going along with you in it that the pleasure of the Lord may prosper in your hand As for my Reverend Colleagues and my selfe it hath been a good part of our happinesse that we have been partakers of and Assistants in your grave and learned Debates Yet as we declared from our first comming amongst you we came not hither presuming to prescribe any thing unto You but willing to receive as well as to offer light and to debate matters freely and fairely from the Word of God the common Rule both to you and us As herein You were pleased to give testimony unto us in one of your Letters to the Generall Assembly of the Church of Scotland so the great respects which in other things and at other times you have expressed both towards that Church from which we are entrusted and particularly towards our selves doe call for a returne of all possible and publique testimonies of gratitude For which purpose I doe for my part take hold of this opportunity I know that I owe much more unto You then I have either ability to pay or Elocution to set forth Yet although I cannot retaliate your Favours nor render that which may be worthy of your selves I beseech you to accept this part of my retribution of respects I doe offer and entitle unto You this Enucleation of the Erastian Controversie which is Dignus vindice nodus I hope here is a word in season concerning it Others might have done better but such furniture as I had I have brought to the worke of the Tabernacle I submit what is mine unto your greater learning and better judgement and shall ever continue Yours to serve you GEO. GILLESPIE To the Candid Reader I Have often and heartily wished that I might not be distracted by nor ingaged into polemick Writings of which the World is too full already and from which many more learned and idoneous have abstained and I did accordingly resolve that in this Controversall age I should be slow to write swift to read and learne Yet there are certaine preponderating reasons which have made me willing to be drawn forth into the light upon this subject For beside the desires and sollicitations of diverse Christian friends lovers of truth and peace seriously calling upon me for an answer to M r Prynne his Vindication of his foure Questions concerning Excommunication and Suspension the grand importance of the Erastian controversie and the strong influence which it hath into the present juncture of asfaires doth powerfully invite me Among the many Controversies which have disquieted and molested the Church of Christ those concerning Ecclesiasticall Government and Discipline are not the least but among the chiefe and often mannaged with the greatest animosity and eagernesse of spirit whence there have growne most dangerous divisions and breaches such as this day there are and for the future are to be expected unlesse there shall be through Gods mercy some further composing and healing of these Church-consuming distractions which if we shall be so happy as once to obtaine it will certainely contribute very much toward the accommodation of civill and State-shaking differences And contrariwise if no healing for the Church no healing for the State Let the Gallio's of this time who care for no intrinsecall evill in the Church promise to themselves what they will surely he that shall have cause to write with Nicolaus de Clemangis a Booke of lamentation de corrupto Ecclesiae statu will finde also cause to write with him de lapsu reparatione Justitiae As the thing is of high concernment to these so much disturbed and divided Churches so the elevation is yet higher by many dègrees This controversie reacheth up to the Heavens and the top of it is above the clouds It doth highly concerne Iesus Christ himselfe in his glory royall prerogative and kingdome which he hath and exerciseth as Mediator and Head of his Church The Crowne of Iesus Christ or any part priviledge or pendicle thereof must needs be a noble and excellent Subject This truth that Iesus Christ is a King and hath a Kingdome and government in his Church distinct from the kingdomes of this World and from the civill Government hath this commendation and character above all other truths that Christ himselfe suffered to the death for it and sealed it with his blood For it may be observed from the story
proportion between the Type and the thing typified then 1. one may be in Heaven and cast out againe and in and out againe as under the Law one might be many times admitted to the Temple and shut out againe 2. It would also follow that there is some other exclusion greater then the exclusion from Heaven as under the Law there was a greater exclusion than the exclusion from the Sanctuary and that was to be cast out from the company and conversation of Gods people for though every uncleannesse which did exclude one from the company of the Israelites did also exclude him from the Sanctuary yet every uncleannesse which did exclude one from the Sanctuary did not exclude him from the company of the Israelites Even as now among us suspension from the Lords Table is not the greatest and worst exclusion but there is another greater then that Thus you see Erastus could not make his Type agree with his Antitype Whence it doth further appeare that the exclusion of the uncleane under the Law did teach and hold forth somewhat in a politicall sence touching the communion and fellowship of the Church in this life Whatsoever it might signifie more I will not now dispute but this it did signifie And this I shall so farre make good that I shall at once both answer Erastus and propound a strong argument for the keeping off from the holy things those that are morally aud scandalously encleane First let it be remembered that I have proved already from Heb. 13. 15 16. 2 Pet. 2. 13. Iude vers 12. that the people of God are defiled by communion and fellowship with scandalous sinners In the second place consider that prophecy Isa. 52. 1. Put on thy beautifull garments O Jesusalem the holy City for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised aud the uncleane That whole Chapter is a prophecy concerning the condition of the Church in the New Testament as is evident by six parallels at least Vers. 5. with Rom. 2. 24. Vers. 7. with Rom. 10. 15. Vers. 10. with Luke 3. 6. the beginning of Vers. 11. with Revel 18. 4. the following part of Vers. 11. with 2 Cor. 6. 17. Vers. 15. with Rom. 15. 21. Neither is it the Church invisible but the Church visible for Vers. 15. is applied to the calling of the Gentiles Rom. 15. 21. and Vers. 11. to the Churches open separation from Babylon Revel 18. 4. It is also the Church ministeriall Vers. 7 8 11. How beautifull upon the mountaines are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings c. Thy watchmen shall lift up the voyce c. Be ye cleane that beare the vessels of the Lord. It remaines to consider what is meant by the uncleane Vers. 1. it cannot be meant of legall uncleannesse the ceremoniall Law being abolished nor of the hid uncleannesse of close hypocrites for in that sence it is onely the priviledge of the Church triumphant that no uncleane thing nor no hypocrite shall enter there It must therefore be meant of such as are visibly or scandalously uncleane And when it is said there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the uncleane it must be understood respective the uncircumcised signifying such as are not fit to be at all Church-members the uncleane signifying such as are not fit to have communion in the holy things for so these two were distinguished under the Law Thirdly there is another place which to me puts it out of controversie 2 Cor. 6 14 15 16 17. Where the Apostle exhorteth believers to avoyd all intime conversation or fellowship with unbelievers by marrying with them by going to the Idoll Temples or the like he concludeth with a manifest allusion to the legall ceremony Be ye separate and touch not the uncleane thing or the uncleane things as the Syriacke hath it And what agreement hath the Temple of God with idols Vers. 16. Where the Syriack readeth thus And what agreement hath the Temple of God with the temple of Divels Remember would the Apostle say that as under the Law the touching or eating of uncleane things made those that touched them or did eate of them to be uncleane so doth your fellowship with unbelievers or your eating in their Idoll temples defile you And as then those that had touched any unclean thing were not received into the Sanctuary so I will not receive you into fellowship with me and my people saith the Lord except you be separate from the sonnes of Belial Therefore touch not the uncleane thing and I will receive you Which is not spoken of receiving us into Heaven but of receiving us into the Tabernacle of God in this life as is manifest by Levit. 26. 11 12. the place cited by the Apostle in the words immediately preceding And I will set my Tabernacle among you and my soule shall not abhorre you And I will walke among you and will be your God and ye shall be my people And in this manner God saith he will not receive us except we avoid fellowship with the workers of iniquity especially in holy things I shall adde fourthly for further cleering of this point in hand Peters vision and the interpretation thereof Act 10. 11. a passage cited by Erastus pag. 138 139. while he is proving that the thing signified by the legall uncleannesse was onely the corruption and Infidelity of nature which excludeth a sinner from heaven The place is so farre from proving what he would that it proveth the contrary for it speaketh plainly of that uncleannesse which excludeth men from fellow-ship with the Saints in this life from companying together from eating together And when Peter expoundeth the vision he saith ye know how that it is an unlawfull thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company or to come unto one of another Nation but God hath shewed me that I should not call any man common or unclean meaning for being a Gentile and not a Iew. Act. 10. 28. you see the not eating nor touching of unclean Beasts Birds and creeping things such as Peter saw in the vision was understood by the people of God as forbidding their association or fellowship in this world with Heathens or irreligious persons and such as walked not according to the Law And in this sence the Law was understood not onely by Peter but generally by the Jews Act. 11. 3. Gal. 2. 12. Nay fifthly the legall uncleannesse in the sence of the Jewes did signifie not onely such things as did exclude others from fellow-ship with them but such as did exclude the Jewes themselves from the holy things Therefore it is said Io. 18. 28. they themselves went not into the Judgement hall lest they should be defiled but that they might eat the Passeover Intimating that if they had gone into the house of an uncircumcised man or had upon such a day gone into the Judgement Hall about a litigious action they had been unclean and so
power hath for the matter of it the earthly Scepter and the Temporal Sword that is it is Monarchical and Legislative it is also punitive or coercive of those that do evil understand upon the like reason remunerative of those that do well The Ecclesiastical power hath for the matter of it the keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven 1. The key of knowledge or doctrine and that to be administred not onely severally by each Minister concionaliter but also Consistorially and Synodically in determining controversies of Faith and that according to the rule of holy Scripture onely which is clavis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2. The key of order and decency so to speak by which the circumstances of Gods Worship and all such particulars in Ecclesiastical affairs as are not determined in Scripture are determined by the Ministers and ruling Officers of the Church so as may best agree to the generall rules of the word concerning order and decency avoyding of scandall doing all to the glory of God and to the edifying of one another And this is clavis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 3. The key of corrective discipline or censures to be exercised upon the scandalous and obstinate which is clavis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 4. Adde also the key of Ordination or mission of Church-Officers which I may call clavis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the authorizing or power giving key others call it missio potestativa 3. They differ in their formes The power of Magistracy is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is an authority or dominion exercised in the particulars above mentioned and that in an immediate subordination to God for which reason Magistrates are called gods The Ecclesiastical power is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 onely It is meerly Ministeriall and Steward-like and exercised in an immediate subordination to Iesus Christ as King of the Church and in his name and authority 4. They differ in their ends The supreme end of Magistracy is onely the glory of God as King of Nations and as exercising dominion over the inhabitants of the earth And in that respect the Magistrate is appointed to keep his Subjects within the bounds of external obedience to the moral Law the obligation where of lyeth upon all Nations and all men The supreme end of the Ecclesiastical power is either proximus or remotus The neerest and immediate end is the glory of Iesus Christ as Mediator and King of the Church The more remote end is the glory of God as having all power and authority in heaven and earth You will say Must not then the Christian Magistrate intend the glory of Iesus Christ and to be subservient to him as he is Mediator and King of the Church Certainly he ought and must and God forbid but that he should do so But how not qua Magistrate but qua Christian. If you say to me again Must not the Christian Magistrate intend to be otherwise subservient to the Kingdom of Iesus Christ as Mediator then by personal or private Christian duties which are incumbent to every Christian I answer no doubt he ought to intend more even to glorifie Iesus Christ in the administration of Magistracy Which that you may rightly apprehend and that I be not misunderstood take this distinction It is altogether incumbent to the ruling Officers of the Church to intend the glory of Christ as Mediator even ex natura rei in regard of the very nature of Ecclesiasticall power and government which hath no other end and use for which it was intended and instituted but to be subservient to the Kingly office of Iesus Christ in the governing of his Church upon earth and therefore sublata Ecclesiâ perit regimen Ecclesiasticum take away the Church out of a Nation and you take away all Ecclesiasticall power of government which makes another difference from Magistracy as we shall see anon But the Magistrate though Christian and godly doth not ex natura rei in regard of the nature of his particular vocation intend the glory of Iesus Christ as Mediator and King of the Church but in regard of the common principles of Christian Religion which do oblige every Christian in his particular vocation and station and so the Magistrate in his to intend that end All Christians are commanded that whatever they do in word or deed they do all in the name of the Lord Iesus Col. 3. 17. that is according to the will of Christ and for the glory of Christ And so a Marchant a Mariner a Tradesman a School-master a Captain a Souldier a Printer and in a word every Christian in his own place and station ought to intend the glory of Christ and the good of his Church and Kingdom Upon which ground and principle if the Magistrate be Christian it is incumbent to him so to administer that high and eminent vocation of his that Christ may be glorified as King of the Church and that this Kingdom of Christ may flourish in his Dominions which would God every Magistrate called Christian did really intend So then the glory of Christ as Mediator and King of the Church is to the Ministery both finis operis and finis operantis To the Magistrate though Christian it is onely finis operantis That is it is the end of the godly Magistrate but not the end of Magistracy whereas it is not onely the end of the godly Minister but the end of the Ministery it self The Ministers intendment of this end flowes from the nature of their particular vocation The Magistrates intendment of the same end flowes from the nature of their general vocation of Christianity acting guiding and having influence into their particular vocation So much of the supreme ends Now the subordinate end of all Ecclesiastical power is that all who are of the Church whether Officers or members may live godly righteously and soberly in this present world be kept within the bounds of obedience to the Gospel void of all known offence toward God and toward man and be made to walk according to the rules delivered to us by Christ and his Apostles The subordinate end of the Civil power is that all publike sins committed presumptuously against the moral Law may be exemplarly punished and that peace justice and good order may be preserved and maintained in the Common-wealth which doth greatly redound to the comfort and good of the Church and to the promoting of the course of the Gospel For this end the Apostle bids us pray for Kings and all who are in Authority though they be Pagans much more if they be Christians that we may live under them a peaceable and quiet life in all Godlinesse and Honesty 1 Tim. 2. 2. He saith not simply that we may live in Godlinesse and Honesty but that we may both live peaceably and quietly and also live godly and honestly which is the very same that we
be previous admonitions and the party admonished prove obstinate and impenitent The eighth difference stands in their correlations The Correlatum of Magistracy is people embodied in a Common-wealth or a Civil corporation The Correlatum of the Ecclesiastical power is people embodied in a Church or Spiritual corporation The Common-wealth is not in the Church but the Church is in the Common-wealth that is One is not therefore in or of the Church because he is in or of the Common-wealth of which the Church is a part but yet every one that is a Member of the Church is also a Member of the Common-wealth of which that Church is a part The Apostle distinguisheth those that are without and those that are within in reference to the Church who were notwithstanding both sorts within in reference to the Common-wealth 1 Cor. 5. 12 13. The Correlatum of the Ecclesiastical power may be quite taken away by persecution or by defection when the Correlatum of the civil power may remain And therefore the Ecclesiastical and the civil power do not se mutuò ponere tollere Ninthly There is a great difference in the ultimate termination The Ecclesiastical power can go no further then Excommunication or in case of extraordinary warrants and when one is known to have blasphemed against the holy Ghost to Auathema Maranatha If one be not humbled and reduced by Excommunication the Church can do no more but leave him to the Judgement of God who hath promised to ratifie in Heaven what his Servants in his Name and according to his Will do upon Earth Salmasius spends a whole chapter in confuting the Point of the coactive and Magistratical Jurisdiction of Bishops See Walo Messal cap. 6. He acknowledgeth in that very place pag. 455 456 459 462 that the Elders of the Church have in common the power of Ecclesiastical Discipline to suspend from the Sacrament and to excommunicate and to receive the offender again upon the evidence of his repentance But the Point he asserteth is That Bishops or Elders have no such power as the Magistrate hath and that if he that is excommunicate do not care for it nor submit himself the Elders cannot compel him But the termination or Quo usque of the civil power is most different from this It is unto death or to banishment or to confiscation of goods or to imprisonment Ezra 7. 26. Tenthly They differ in a divided execution That is the Ecclesiastical power ought to censure sometime one whom the Magistrate thinks not fit to punish with temporal or civil punishments And again the Magistrate ought to punish with the temporal Sword one whom the Church ought not to cut off by the Spiritual Sword This difference Pareus gives Explic Catech. quaest 85. art 4. and it cannot be denied For those that plead most for Liberty of conscience and argue against all civil or temporal punishments of Hereticks do notwithstanding acknowledge that the Church whereof they are Members ought to censure and excommunicate them and doth not her duty except she do so The Church may have reason to esteem one as an Heathen and a Publican that is no Church-Member whom yet the Magistrate in prudence and policy doth permit to live in the Common-wealth Again the most notorious and scandalous sinners blasphemers murtherers adulterers incestuous persons robbers c. when God gives them repentance and the signes thereof do appear the Church doth not binde but loose them doth not retain but remit their sins I mean ministerially and declaratively Notwithstanding the Magistrate may and ought to do Justice according to Law even upon those penitent sinners CHAP. V. Of a twofold Kingdom of Iesus Christ a general Kingdom as he is the eternal Son of God the Head of all Principalities and Powers raigning over all creatures and a particular Kingdom as he is Mediator raigning over the Church onely THe Controversie which hath been moved concerning the civil Magistrate his Vicegerentship and the holding of his Office of and under and for Jesus Christ as he is Mediator hath a necessary coherence with and dependance upon another Controversie concerning a twofold Kingdom of Jesus Christ one as he is the eternal Son of God raigning together with the Father and the holy Ghost over all things and so the Magistrate is his Vicegerent and holds his Office of and under him another as Mediator and Head of the Church and so the Magistrate doth not hold his Office of and under Christ as his Vicegerent Wherefore before I come to that Question concerning the origination and tenure of the Magistrate's Office I have thought good here to premise the enodation of the Question concerning the twofold Kingdom of Jesus Christ. It is a distinction which Master Hussey cannot endure and no marvel for it overturneth the foundation of his opinion He looks upon it as an absurd assertion pag. 25. Shall he have one Kingdom as Mediator and another as God He quarrelleth all that I said of the twofold Kingdom of Christ and will not admit that Christ as Mediator is King of the Church onely pag. 25 26 27 35 36 37. The Controversie draweth deeper then he is aware of for Socinians and Photinians finding themselves puzzled with those arguments which to prove the eternal Godhead of Jesus Christ were drawn from such Scriptures as call him God Lord the Son of God also from such Scriptures as ascribe Worship and Adoration to him and from the Texts which ascribe to him a Supreme Lordship Dominion and Kingdom over all things For this hath been used as one Argument for the Godhead of Jesus Christ and his consubstantiality with the Father The Father raigns the Son raigns the holy Ghost raigns Vide lib. Isaaci Clari Hispani adversus Varimadum Arianum Thereupon they devised this answer That Jesus Christ in respect of his Kingly Office and as Mediator is called God and Lord and the Son of God of which see Fest. Honnij Specimen Controv. Belgic pag. 24. Ionas Schlichtingius contra Meisnerum pag. 436. and that in the same respect he is worshipped that in the same respect he is King and that the Kingdom which the Scripture ascribeth to Jesus Christ is onely as Mediator and Head of the Church and that he hath no such Universal Dominion over all things as can prove him to be the eternal Son of God This gave occasion to Orthodox-Protestant-Writters more fully and distinctly to assert the great difference between that which the Scripture saith of Christ as he is the eternal Son of God and that which it saith of him as he is Mediator and particularly to assert a twofold Kingdom of Jesus Christ and to prove from Scripture that besides that Kingdom which Christ hath as Mediator he hath another Kingdom over all things which belongs to him onely as he is the eternal Son of God This the Socinians to this day do contradict and stisly hold that Christ hath but one Kingdom which he exerciseth as
vers 18. But Becmanus answering Iulius distinguisheth the Text as I do for which Analysis I did formerly cite Beza Zanchius Gualther Bullinger Tossanus M. Bayne beside diverse others But I have found none that understands the Text as Mr. Hussey doth except the Socinians and Photinians who do not acknowledge that Christ hath such an universall dominion and Lordship over all things as God the Father but onely that he ruleth over all things as Mediator Now for answer to that which Mr. Hussey pag. 26. 27. alledgeth to prove that Christ as Mediator reigneth over all things First he tells us out of Diodati that Christ is head of the Church and King of the Universe and out of Calvin that the Kingdom of Christ is over all and filleth heaven and earth But who denieth this That which he had to prove is that Christ as Mediator is King of the Universe and as Mediator his Kingdom is spread over all and when he hath proved that he hath another thing to prove that the universality of Christs Kingdom as he is Mediator is to be understood not onely in an Ecclesiastical notion that is so far as all Nations are or shall be brought under the obedience of the Gospel but also in the notion of Civil Government that is that Christ reignes as Mediator over all creatures whether under or without the Gospel and that all Civil Power Principality and Government whatsoever in this World is put in Christs hand as Mediator If therefore he will argue let him argue so as to conclude the point The next objection he maketh is from Heb. 1. 2. Christ as Mediator is made Heir of all things But I answer Christ is Heir of all things 1. as the eternall Son of God in the same respect as it is said of Christ in the next words of the same verse that he made the world and thus he may be called Heir of all things by nature even as Col. 1. 15. he is called the first borne of every creature 2. He is heir of all things as Mediator for the Heathen and all the ends of the earth are given him for an inheritance Psal. 2. 8. but that is onely Church-wise he shall have a Catholique Church gathered out of all Nations and all kings and people and tongues and languages shall be made to serve him Moreover Mr. Hussey objecteth from Heb. 2. 8. and 1 Cor. 15. 28. that God hath put all things under Christs feet as he is Mediator Answ. As this is not perfectly fulfilled in this World but will then be fulfilled when Christ shall have put down all rule and all authority and power so in the measure and degree wherein it is fulfilled in this World it concerneth not men onely but all the works of Gods hands Heb. 2. 7. Thou crownedst him with glory and honour and didst set him over the works of thy hands Which is taken out of the eighth Psalme vers 6. 7. Thou hast put all things under his feet all sheep and oxen c. Now how is it that the Apostle applyeth all this to Christ How doth Christ rule over the beasts fowles fishes Calvin in 1 Cor. 15. 27. 28. answereth dominatur ergo ut omnia serviant ejus gloriae He ruleth so as all things may serve for his glory So then all things are put under Christs feet as he is Mediator both in regard of his excellency dignity and glory unto which he is exalted far above all the glory of any creature and in respect of his power and over-ruling providence whereby he can dispose of all things so as may make most for his glory But it is a third thing which Mr. Hussey hath to prove namely that Christ as Mediator exerciseth his office and government over all men as his Subjects and over all Magistrates as his Deputies yea over all things even over the reasonlesse creatures for by his arguing he will have Christ as Mediator to governe the sheep oxen fowles and fishes all things as well as all persons being put under Christs feet But in the handling of this very argument Mr. Hussey yeelds the cause God is said to put all things under him saith he whereby it is implyed that all things were not under him before they were put under him but as the second Person in Trinity so nothing could be said to be put under him because they were in that respect alwaies under him Is not this all one for substance with that distinction formerly cited out of Polanus of a two-fold Kingdom of Christ one natural as he is the second Person in the Trinity another donative as he is Mediator Lastly Mr. Hussey argueth from Phil. 2. 8. 9. 10. Christ as Mediator is exalted to have a name above every name that at the name of Iesus every knee may bow Answ. Here is indeed a dignity glory and power as Diodati saith above all things but yet not a government or kingdom as Mediator for those who must bow the knee to Christ are not onely things in heaven that is Angels and things in earth that is men but also things under the earth that is divells yet divells are none of the Subjects of Christs kingdom as he is Mediator Therefore this Text proves not a Head-ship or Government over all which Mr. Hussey contends for but a power over all I will here anticipate another objection which is not moved by Mr. Hussey It may be objected from 1 Cor. 11. 3. that the head of every man is Christ. I answer 1. Some understand this of Christ as God and as the Creator of man And if it be said that the latter clause the head of Christ is God is meant of Christ as Mediator and not as God yet Martyr tells us out of Chrysostome that all these comparisons and subordinations in this Text are not to be taken in one and the same sence 2. I grant also that Christ may be called the head of every man not onely in respect of his God-head but as Mediator that is the head of every man in the Church not of every man in the World for the Apostle speaks de ordine divinitus sancito in Ecclesiae corpore mystico as Mr. David Dicksone an Interpreter who hath taken very good pains in the Textuall study of Scripture saith upon the place I shall clear it by the like formes of speech Ier. 30 6. Wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loyns Luke 16. 16. The Kingdom of God is preached and every man presseth unto it 1 Cor. 12. 7. The manifestaetion of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withall Heb. 2. 9. Iesus did taste death for every man Yet none of these places are meant of every man in the World 3. Yea in some sence Christ as Mediator may be called the head of every man in the World that is in respect of dignity excellency glory eminence of place quia in hoc sexu ille supra omnes eminet saith
of baptizing thus I baptize thee in the name of Iesus Christ. But I spake of the action not of the expression even as in the other instance I gave our assembling together is in the name of Christ though we do not say in terminis We are now assembled in the name of Christ. In baptisme Christ doth not command us to say either these words I baptize thee in the Name of Christ or these words I baptize thee in the Name of the Father Son and holy Ghost but we are commanded to do the thing both in the name of Christ as Mediator and in the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost But in different respects A minister of Christ doth both preach and baptize in the name of Christ as Mediator that is vice Christi in Christs stead and having authority for that effect from Christ as Mediator for Christ as Mediator gave us our commission to preach and baptize by Mr. Husseys confession So that to preach and baptize 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we find both of preaching Luk. 24 47. and of baptizing Act. 2. 38. comprehendeth a formall commission power and authority given and derived from Christ I say not that it comprehendeth no more but this it doth comprehend But when Christ biddeth us baptise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unto or into or in the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost Mat. 28. 19. this doth relate to the end and effect of baptisme or the good of the baptized if we understand the words properly not the authority of the baptizer as if a formall commission were there given him from the Father Son and holy Ghost So that to baptize one in or unto the name of the Father Son and holy Ghost is properly meant both of sealing the parties right and title to the enjoyment of God himself as their God by covenant and their interest in the love of God the grace of Christ and the communion of the holy Ghost and of dedicating the party to the knowledge profession saith love and obedience of God the Father Son and holy Ghost I return The next branch of my Argument was that we excommunicate in the name of Christ 1 Cor. 5 5. Mr. Hussey pag. 22. saith I make great hast here deliver to Sathan saith he is not to excommunicate c. But grant that it were excommunication c. the decree was Pauls and not the Corinthians What is meant by delivering to Sathan belongs to another debate Call it an Apostolicall act or call it an Ecclesiasticall act or both yet it was done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ the like whereof we find not in Scripture of any act of the civil Magistrate Why doth he not attend to the drift of the Argument And as to his exceptions they are no other then Prelats Papists and Socinians have made before him and which are answered long agoe That the Apostle commandeth to excommunicate the incestuous man is acknowledged by Mr. Prynne That he who is excommunicated may be truly said to be delivered to Sathan is undeniable for he that is cast out of the Church whose sins are retained on whom the Kingdom of heaven is shut and locked whom neither Christ nor his Church doth owne is delivered to Sathan who reignes without the Church That this censure or punishment of excommunication was a Church act and not an Apostolicall act onely may thus appear 1. The Apostle blameth the Corinthians that it was not sooner done he would not have blamed them that a miracle was not wrought 2. He writeth to them to do it when they were gathered together not to declare or witnesse what the Apostle had done but to joyne with him in the authoritative doing of it vers 4. 5. again he saith to them vers 7. Purge out therfore the old leaven vers 12. Doe not ye judge them that are within vers 13. Put away from among your selves that wicked person 3. It was a censure inflicted by many 2. Cor. 2. 6 not by the Apostle alone but by many 4. The Apostle doth not absolve the man but writeth to them to forgive him 2 Cor. 2. 7. Lastly the Syriack maketh for us which runneth thus vers 4. That in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ you all may be gathered together and I with you in the Spirit with the power of our Lord Iesus Christ vers 5. That you may deliver him to Sathan c. But now at last Mr. Hussey comes home and gives this answer to my third Argument A thing may be said to be done in the name of Christ or of God when men do any thing in confidence that God will assist us so Psal. 20 5. In the name of our God will we set up our banners in confidence God will assist us Thus I hope the Parliament and other Christians may undertake the businesse in the name of Christ c. Secondly In the name of Christ a thing is said to be done that is done in the authority room and place of Christ c. So he pag. 24. seeking a knot in the rush In the first part of his distinction he saith nothing to my Argument neither saith he any more of the Parliament then agreeth to all Christians the poorest and meanest for every Christian servant every Christian Artificer is bound to do whatsoever he doth in the name of Christ Colos. 3. 17. But what is that to the Argument Come to the other member of his distinction The Ministers of Christ do act in the name of Christ that is in the authority room and place of Christ We are Ambassadors for Christ and we preach in Christs stead 2 Cor. 5. 20. This he doth not nor cannot denie which makes good my Argument Why did he not shew us the like concerning Magistracy I suppose he would if he could this is the very point which he had to speak to but hath not done it My fourth Argument against the Magistrates holding of his office of and under and for Christ that is in Christs room and stead as Mediator shall be that which was drawn from Luk. 12. 14. The Jewes were of the same opinion which Mr. Coleman and Mr. Hussey have followed namely that civil government should be put in the hands of Christ which they collected from Ier. 23. 5. He shall execute justice and judgement in the earth and such other Prophecies by them mis-understood And hence it was that one said to Christ Master Speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance with me Our Lords answer was Man who made me a Judge or a divider over you Whatsoever act of authority is done by a Deputy or Vicegerent as representing his Master and Soveraigne may be done by the King himself when personally present If therefore the Magistrate judge civil causes and divide inheritances as the Vicegerent of Christ and of Christ as Mediator then Christ himself when present in the dayes of his flesh had power as Mediator to
consolatoria promissione nanâ—… dieitur Sunt quidam de hinc 〈◊〉 qui non gustabuâ—…t mortem donec videant regâ—…um Dei The very same words hath Bedâ—… on Mark. 9. 1. following it seemes Gregory Grotius on Matth. 16. 28. doth likewise understand the promulgation of the Gospel and the Scâ—pter of Christ that is his law going out of Zion to be here meant I conclude as the Church is not onely a mystical but a political body So Christ is not onely a mystical but a political Head But peradventure some men will be bold to give another answer that the Lord Jesus indeed reigneth over the Church even in a political respect but that the administration and influence of this his Kingly office is in by and through the Magistrate who is supreme Judge Governour and Head of the Church under Christ. To this I answer Hence it would follow 1. That Christs Kingdom is of this World and commeth with observation as the Kingdoms of this World do which himself denieth Luke 17 20 Iohn 18 36. Next It would follow that Christ doth not reigne nor exercise his Kingly office in the Government of his Church under Pagan Turkish or persecuting Princes but onely under the Christian Magistrate which no man dare say 3. The Civil Magistrate is Gods Vicegerent but not Christs that is the Magistrates power hath its rise origâ—nation institution and deputation not from that speciall dominion which Christ exerciseth over the Church as Mediator and Head thereof But from that Universal Lordship and Soveraignity which God exerciseth over all men by right of Creation In so much that there had been for orders sake Magistrates or superior Powers though man had not fallen but continued in his innocency and now by the Law of Nature and Nations there are Magistrates among those who know nothing of Christ and among whom Christ reigneth not as Mediator though God reigneth over them by the Kingdom of power 4. If the Magistrate be supreme Head and Governour of the Church under Christ then the Ministers of the Church are the Magistrates Ministers as well as Christs and must act in the Magistrates name and as subordinate to him and the Magistrate shall be Christs Minister and act in Christs Name The seventeeth Argument I draw from the institution of Excommunication by Christ Matth. 18. 17. Tell it unto the Church But if he neglect to hear the Church Let him be unto thee as a heathen man and a Publican In which Text 1. All is restricted to a brother or a Church-member and agreeth not to him who is no Church-member 2. His treâ—pasle is here lookt upon under the notion of scandal and of that which is also like to destroy his owne soule 3. The scope is not civil but spiritual to gain or save his soul. 4. The proceedings are not without witnesses 5. There is a publick complaint made to the Church 6. And that because he appeares impenitent after admonitions given privatly and before two or three 7. The Church speaks and gives a Judgement concerning him which he is bound to obey 8. If he obey not then he is to be esteemed and held as a heathen man and a Publican 9. And that for his not hearing the Church which is a publike scandal concerning the whole Church 10. Being as as an Heathen and Publican he is kept back from some ordinances 11. He is bound on earth by Church-Officers Whatsoever ye bind c. 12. He is also bound in Heaven More of this place else-where These hints will now serve The Erastians deny that either the case or the court or the censure there mentioned is Ecclesiastical or Spiritual But I prove all the three First Christ speaketh of the case of scandals not of personal or civil injuries whereof he would be no Judge Luk. 12. 14. and for which he would not permit Christians to go to Law before the Roman Emperor or his deputies 1 Cor. 6. 1. 6. 7. But if their interpretation stand they must grant that Christ giveth laws concerning civil injuries and that he permitteth one of his disciples to accuse another for a civil injury before an unbeleeving Judge Beside Christ saith not If he shall hear thee thou hast from him a voluntary reparation of the wrong or satisfaction for it which is the end why we deal with one who hath done us a civil injury But he saith If he shall hear thee thou hast gained thy brother intimating that the offending brother is told and admonished of his fault onely for a spiritual end for the good of his soul and for gaining him to repentance All which proveth that our Saviour meaneth not there of private or civil injuries as the Erastians suppose but of scandals of which also he had spoken much before as appeareth by the preceding part of that chapter A civil injury done by one brother to another is a scandal but every scandal is not a civil injury The Jewes to whose custome Christ doth here allude did excommunicate for diverse scandals which were not civil injuries And Paul saith of a scandal which was not a civil injury when ye sin so against the brethren c. 1 Cor. 8. 12. 2. The court is Ecclesiastical not civil for when it is said Tell it unto the Church must we not expound Scripture by Scripture and not understand the Word Church to be meant of a civil Court for though the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used Act. 19. reoitative of a heathenish civil assembly called by that name among those heathens yet the pen-men of the holy Ghost have not made choice of the Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in any place of the new Testament to expresse a civil court either of Jewes or Christians So that we cannot suppose that the holy Ghost speaking so as men may understand him would have put the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place to signifie such a thing as no where else in the new Testament it is found to signifie Nay this very place expoundeth it self for Christ directeth his speech to the Apostles and in them to their Successors in the government of the Church Whatsoever ye shall bind c. And if two of you shall agree c. So that the church which here bindeth or judgeth is an Assembly of the Apostles Ministers or Elders of the church 3. The censure is spirituall as appeareth both by these words Let him be unto thee as a Heathen and a Publican which relate to the Excommunication from the church of the Jewes and comprehendeth not onely an exclusion from private fellowship and company which was the condition of the Publicans with whom the Jewes would not eat but also an exclusion from the Temple Sacrifices and communion in the holy things which was the condition of heathens yea of prophane Publicans too of which elsewhere And further it appeareth by these words Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth c. The Apostles had no power to inflict any
Intention and it being accordingly declared and Resolved by them That all sorts of notorious scandalous Offenders should be suspended from the Sacrament Which is the very point so much opposed by Master Prynne for the controversie moved by him is not so much concerning the manner or who should be the Judges as concerning the matter it selfe he contending that all sorts of notorious scandalous offenders should not be suspended from the Sacrament but onely such as are excommunicated and excluded from the hearing of the Word Prayer and all other publique Ordinances Having now removed so many mistakes of the true state of the question that which is in controversie is plainly this Whether according to the word of God there ought to be in the Elderships of Churches a spirituall power and authority by which they that are called brethren that is Church members or Officers for the publique scandall of a prophane life or of pernicious doctrine or for a private offence obstinately continued in after admonitions and so growing to a publique scandall are upon proofe of such scandall to be suspended from the Lords Table untill signes of repentance appeare in them and if they continue contumacious are in the name of Jesus Christ to be excommunicate and cut off from all membership and communion with the Church and their sinnes pronounced to be bound on earth and by consequence in Heaven untill by true and sincere repentance they turne to God and by the declaration of such repentance be reconciled unto the Church The affirmative is the received doctrine of the reformed Churches whereunto I adhere The first part of it concerning Suspension is utterly denyed by M r Prynne which breaketh the concatenation and order of Church discipline held forth in the question now stated Whether he denieth also Excommunication by Elderships to be an Ordinance and Institution of Christ and onely holdeth it to be lawfull and warrantable by the word of God I am not certaine If he do then he holds the totall negative of this present question However I am sure he hath gone about to take away some of the principall Scripturall foundations and pillars upon which Excommunication is builded As touching the gradation and order in the question as now stated it is meant positively and exclusively that such a gradation not onely may but ought to be observed ordinarily which M r Prynne denieth although I deny not thaâ— for some publique enormous haynous abominations there may be without such degrees of proceeding a present cutting off by Excommunication But this belongs not to the present controversie CHAP. II. Whether Matth. 18. 15 16 17. prove Excommunication THe second point of difference is concerning Matth. 18. M r Prynne in the first of his foure questions told us that the words Matth. 18. 17. Let him be to thee as an Heathen man and a Publican are meant onely of personall private trespasses between man and man not publique scandalous sinnes against the Congregation and that t is not said Let him be to the whole Church but let him be to Thee c. This I did in my Sermon retort For if to thee for a personall private trespasse much more to the whole Church for a publique scandalous sinne whereby he trespasseth against the whole Congregation Yea it followeth upon his interpretation that he may account the whole Church as Heathens and Publicans if all the members of the Church doe him a personall injury whereupon I left this to be considered by every man of understanding whether if a private man may account the whole Church as Heathens and Publicans for a personall injury done to himselfe alone it will not follow that much more the whole Church may account a man as a Heathen and Publican for a publique scandalous sinne against the whole Church M r Prynne in his Vindication pag. 3. glanceth at this objection but he takes notice onely of the halfe of it and he is so farre from turning off my retortion that he confirmeth it for pag. 4. he confesseth that every Christian hath free power by Gods word to esteeme not onely a particular brother but all the members of a Congregation as Heathens and Publicans if he or they continue impenitent in the case of private injuries after admonition Now my exception against his Quere remains unanswered If I may esteem the whole Church as Heathens and Publicans when they doe me an injury and continue impenitent therein may not the whole Church esteem me as an Heathen man and a Publican when I commit a publique and scandalous trespasse against the whole Church and continues impenitent therein Shall a private man have power to cast off the whole Church as Heathens and Publicans and shall not the whole Church have power to cast off one man as an Heathen and Publican I know he understands those words Let him be to thee as a Heathen man and a Publican in another sence then either the reformed Churches doe or the ancient Churches did and takes the meaning to be of avoyding fellowship and familiarity with him before any sentence of Excommunication passed against the offender But however my argument from proportion will hold If civill fellowship must be refused because of obstinacy in a civill injury why shall not spirituall or Church-fellowship be refused to him that hath committed a spirituall injury or trespasse against the Church If private fellowship ought to be denied unto him that will not repent of a private injury why shall not publique fellowship in eating and drinking with the Church at the Lords Table be denied unto him that will not repent of a publique scandall given to the Congregation Are the rules of Church fellowship looser and wider than the rules of civill fellowship or are they straiter Is the way of communion of Saints broader than the way of civill communion or is it narrower Peradventure he will say that the whole Church that is all the members of the Church have power to withdraw from an obstinate scandalous brother that is to have no fraternall converse or private Christian fellowship with him Well then If thus farre he be as a Heathen and a Publican to the whole Church distributively how shall he be as a Christian brother to the whole Church collectively If all the members of the Church severally withdraw fellowship from him even before he be excommunicated how shall the whole Church together be bound to keepe fellowship with him till he be excommunicated Instead of loosing such knots M r Prynne undertakes to prove another thing that this Text of Matthew is not meane of Excommunication or Church censures and that the Church in this Text was not any Ecclesiasticall Consistory here he citeth Iosephus as if he had spoken of that Text but onely the Sanhedrin or Court of civill Justice But though all this were true which he saith yet there may be a good argument drawn by necessary consequence from this Text to prove Excommunication Which
bound in heaven and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven Where the power of binding and loosing is given to the Apostles Grotius upon the place cleareth it from 2. Cor. 5. 19. 20. God hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation Now then we are Ambassadours for Christ. So that we find in Scripture Church Officers inabled and authorised ex officio as the Heraulds and Ambassadours of the King of Zion to loose from the bands of sinne all repenting and beleiving sinners and to bind over to eternall justice and wrath the impenitent and unbeleevers 2 They are also authorised dogmatically and authoritatively to declare and impose the will of Christ and to bind his precepts upon the shoulders of his peeple Matth. 28. 20. as likewise to loose them and pronounce them free from such burthens as men would impose upon them contrary or beside the word of God 1 Cor. 7. 23. An example of both we have Act. 15. 28. The Synod of the Apostles and Elders bindeth upon the Churches such Burthens as were necessary by the Law of love for the avoiding of scandall but did pronounce the Churches to be free and loosed from other burthens which the Judaizing Teachers would have bound upon them Now therefore if we will expound Matth. 18. 18. by other Scriptures it being the onely surest way to expound Scripture by Scripture it is manifest and undeniable that Church-Officers are by other Scriptures inabled and authorised to bind loose in both those respects afore-mentioned But we no where find in Scripture that Christ hath given either to all private Christians or to the civill Magistrate a Commission and Authority to bind or loose sinners I know a private Christian may and ought to convince an impenitent brother and to comfort a repenting brother ex charitate Christiana But the Scripture doth not say that God hath committed to every private Christian the word of reconciliation and that all Christians are Ambassadours for Christ nor is there a promise to ratifie in heaven the convictions or comforts given by a private Christian No more then a King doth ingage himself in verbo principis to pardon such as any of his good Subjects shall pardon or to condemne such as any of his good Subjects shall condemne but a King ingageth himself to ratifie what his Ambassadours Commissioners or Ministers shall doe in his name and according to the Commission which he hath given them to pardon or condemne Besides all this if Christ had meant here of the brother to whom the injury was don his private binding or loosing not condemning or forgiving then he had kept the phrase in the singular number which Erastus observeth diligently all along the Text vers 15 16 17. But he might have also observed that vers 18. carries the power of binding and loosing to a plurality VVhatsoever ye bind c. As for the Magistrate it belongeth to him to bind with the cords of corporall or civill punishments or to loose and liberat from the same as he shall see cause according to law and justice But this doth n t belong to the spirituall Kingdome of Jesus Christ for his Kingdome is not of this world neither are the weapons thereof carnall but spirituall And beside the Magistrate may lawfully and sometime doth bind on punishment when the soule is loosed in Heaven and the sinne remitted Again the Magistrate may lawfully and sometime doth loose and absolve from punishment when a mans soule is impenitent and sinne is still bound upon his conscience There is no such promise that God will forgive whom the Magistrate forgiveth or condemne whom the Magistrate condemneth Neither hath God any where in Scripture committed to the Magistrate the Keyes of the Kingdome of Heaven or the word of reconciliation as to the Ambassadours of Christ. Binding and loosing in the other sence by a dogmaticall authoritative declaration of the will of Christ is not so principally or directy intended Matth. 18. 18. as that other binding and loosing in respect of sinne Howbeit it is not to be excluded because the words preceding Vers. 17. mention not onely the execution of Excommunication Let him be to thee as an Heathen man and a Publican but also the Churches judgement and determination of the case if he neglect to heare the Church which words implie that the Church hath declared the will of Christ in such a case and required the offender to doe accordingly but he shewing himselfe unwilling and contumacious as it were saying in his heart I will breake their bands asunder and cast away their cords from me thereupon the promise reacheth to this also that what the Church hath determined or imposed according to the will of Christ shall be ratified and approved in Heaven Now Christ hath no where given a Commission either to every particular Christian or to the Magistrate to teach his people to observe all things which he hath commanded them and authoritatively to determine controversies of faith or cases of conscience As in the old Testament the Priests lips did preserve knowledge and they were to seeke the law at his mouth Mal. 2. 7. so in the new Testament the Ministers of Christ have the Commission to make known the counsell of God My second proposition that the power of binding and loosing Matth. 18. 18. is juridicall or forensicall and meant of inflicting or taking off Ecclesiasticall Censures this I will make good in the next place against M r Prynne who to elude the argument for Excommunication from Matth. 18. answereth two things concerning the binding and loosing there spoken of 1. That these words have no coherence with or dependence upon the former 2. That this binding and loosing is meant onely of preaching the Gospell Touching the first of these I confesse if by the Church vers 17. be meant a civill Court of Justice and by those words Let him be unto thee as an Heathen c. be meant no more but keepe no civill fellowship with him which is his sence of the Text I cannot marvell that he could finde no coherence between vers 17. and vers 18. yet if there be no coherence between these verses the generality of Interpreters have gone upon a great mistake of the Text conceiving that Christ doth here anticipate a great objection and adde a great encouragement in point of Church discipline for when the offender is excommunicated that is all the Church can doe to humble and reduce him put the case he or others despise the censures of the Church What will your censure doe saith M r Hussey To that very thing Christ answereth It shall be ratified in Heaven and it shall doe more then the binding of the offenders in fetters of Iron could doe But let us heare what M r Prynne saith against the coherence of Text because saith he that of binding and loosing is spoken onely to and of Christs disciples as is evident by the parallel Text
it that thou canst lesse endure the same thing also in the curing of the diseases of the soul from the spiritual Physitian especially seeing in so many respects better is the health of the soul then of the body Nor do thou so account any whit in this regard to be impared of thy honour if unto thy Bishop or Pastor yea rather herein to Christ thou be subjected Yea contrariwise so account as the thing is indeed that there is no true glory but in Christ and in his sheepfolds that none do more prosperously reigne then they which every way do serve him without whom as there is no glory so is there no safety and salvation Neither let it seem disgraceful to thee what so many ages ago the most high Monarchs of the world and most potent Emperors have done before thee amongst whom Philip as he was the first of all the Emperors who was made a Christian so I meet with no other more famous example and more worthy of all mens imitation He willing to be present at the solemn Assemblies of the Church on Easter and to communicate of the Sacrament when as yet he was judged not worthy of admission It is reported that Fabian the Bishop withstood him neither did receive him before he confessed his sins and stood among the Penitentiaries What would those our proud gyants fighters against God do here if they had stood in the like condition and high place But this no lesse mild then most mighty Emperor was nothing ashamed forgetting in the mean while his Imperial Majesty of his own accord to submit himself to the obedience of his Pastor undergoing every thing whatsoever in the Name of Christ was imposed upon him O truly noble Emperor and no lesse worthy Bishop But these examples in both are too rare amongst us this day Another sort is of those which would be Christians but in name and title onely they promise an honest enough shew of Christian profession they dispute both learnedly and every where with greaâ— endeavour of Christ they carry about in their hands the Gospel they frequent sacred Sermons have cast off all superstition they feed with the perfect they marry eat and are clothed so as they hold no difference either of times or of places Finally Whatsoever is pleasing in Christ they take and stiffely hold But if ye look into their life they are Epicures Wasters Ravenous Covetous Sons of Belial Not Christs servants but slaves of their belly who according to the Satyrist think vertue to be but words as the wood to be but trees And of these there is a great store every where who seeing onely for their belly they follow Christ they leave nothing undevised and uninterprised to hinder Excommunication that so they may the more freely satisfie and serve their own lusts So the Covetous man feareth that his Covetousnesse be called in question which he will not forsake The Adulterer he that buyeth or selleth men into slavery the dycer the whoremonger the drunkard would rather his intemperance to be concealed So the Robber the Murderer the Incendiary is afraid to be laid open or made known So he that delighteth to be fatted and enriched with the dammages of the Common wealth is unwilling to have any bridle to curb and restrain him The Cheater that with false wares beguileth the people the seller that with unjust gain outeth counterfeit wares the deceiver who cozeneth and circumventeth his Neighbour Last of all whosoever are thus affected that they savour or follow nothing but their belly their ambition and the purse they do not willingly endure that their liberty of sinning should be stopped to them Moreover after these others not much unlike them come into the same account which out of some places of Scripture perversely wrested if they find out ought that may flatter their affections hence forthwith do they promise a wicked liberty of sinning to themselves and others whence follows a very great corruption of life together with injury of the Scripture While these men are not sufficiently shaken and stricken with the sence of their sin and force the Scripture violently wrested to defend and maintain their perverse affections from which Scripture it had been meet to seek all medicines of their vices But little do these men in the mean while consider how dear it cost Christ which they make so small account of They do not mark and weigh how horrible a thing sin is before God which no otherwise could be expiate and purged but by the death of his onely begotten Son which hath utterly ruiâ—ated not whole Cities but Kingdoms also and Monarchies Which things if these and all other Epicures did more diligently think of it would come to passe I suppose that neither the custome of sin would so much like them and withall the matter it self would so far draw them that more willingly they would have recourse unto these so many waies wholsom remedies of the Church as unto the onely medicine of mans life FINIS a Luke 23. 3. John 18. 33 36 37. b Luke 23. 2. John 19. 12 15. c Joh. 19. 12 13 d d John 19. 19. e De regno Christi lib. 1. cap 4 Non dâ—fuerunt quoque intra â—os triginta annos praesertim in Germania qui videri voluerunt justâ—m Evangelii praedi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. vâ—um perpauci adhuc repei ti sunt qui se Christi Evangelio regno emuino subjâ—cissent imo qui passi fuissent Christi religionem Ecclesiaâ—um Disciplinam restitui per omnia juxta leges Regis nostri Et infra In Hungaria gratia Domino non-paucae jam existunt Ecclesiae quae cum pâ—â Christi doctrinâ sâ—lidam etiam ejus disciplâ—nam receperunt custodiunique religiosè Rex noster Christus saxit ut â—arum Ecclesiarum exemplunt quà m plurimae sequantur f De polit Eccles. lib. 1. cap. 2. Politeia Ecclesiastica est pars regni Christi g M Iohn Welseh his Letter to the Lady Fleemming written from his prison at Blacknesse in January 1616. Who am I that he should first have called me and then constituted me a Minister of glad things of the Gospell of salvation these fifteen yeeres already and now last of all to be a sufferer for his cause and kingdome to witnesse that good confession that Jesus Christ is the King of Saints and that his Church is a most free Kingdome yea as free as any Kingdome under Heaven not onely to convocate hold and keepe her meetings conventions and assemblies but also to judge of all her affaires in all her meetings and conventions among his Members and Subjects These two points that Christ is the head of his Church Secondly that she is free in her government from all other Jurisdiction except Christs these two points are the speciall cause of our imprisonment being now convict as traytors for maintaining thereof We have been waiting with joyfulnesse to give the last testimony of our blood in