this proclaimes him a professed Anabaptist denying all Magistracy and the power of the sword under the Gospel yea contradicts his own concession p. 27. That the Magistrate hath power over the persons estates and lives of those who are outwardly wicked as open Hereticks Schismaticks and Blasphemers arâ— If no then his argument for not punishing Hereticks with imprisonment banishment death from Titus will no more hold nor satisfie then my objection for the not punishing of Traytors Blasphemers Murderers Theeves with corporall or capitall punishment from Timothy and the Proverbs since the word avoiding is used in all three Texts alike without any mention of corporall or capitall punishments fines death Wherefore they may inflict such punishments on them if they see cause as Tit. 3. 1. will sufficiently warrant compared with Rom. 13. 3 4. Fourthly there is no inhibition to Magistrates in any of these texts not to punish obstinate Hereticks with imprisonment fines death and expresse warrant to do it in others Therefore this objection is a meer absurdity His fifth Objection is more absurd Again Those that do these things shall not inherit the kingdome of God And again He that believeth not shall be damned but not one word of outward or corporall punishment in all the Gospel I shall adde nor yet one word against it Ergo Hereticks Schismaticks Blasphemers are not to be punished by the Christian Magistrate with outward or corporall punishment but only with the losse of Heaven and eternal damnation Learnedly argued Had Mr. Dell cited his first text fully and thus applyed it his auditory might well have hissed him out of the Pulpit and his very Saints if they had any Saintship or Sanctity in them blushed at such licentious and prophane Divinity wherefore to right the Truth and shame him out of his absurd wrestings of Scripture I shall quote the first text intirely and then apply his inference to it The text though it seemes he was afraid to quote it is Gal. 5. 19 20. 21. Now the workes of the flesh are manifest which are these Adultery Fornication uncleanesse Lasciviousnesse Idolatry Witchcraft Hatred variance emulations Wrath strife seditions HERESIES Envyings MVRDERS Drunkennesse Revellings and such like of which I tell you before as also I told you in times past here comes in Mr. Dells quotation that they which doe such things shall not inherit the Kingdome of God Here saith Mr. Dell is not one word of outward or corporall punishment nor in all the Gospell Therefore Ministers must not goe to Magistrates nor ought Magistrates ex officio nor upon any complaint to punish all or any of these workes of the flesh with imprisonment sale of goods death banishment or any outward or corporall punishment but they must be punished only with the losse of the Kingdome of God This is the formall Argument in Blessed God what strange Divinity and New-light is this to be preached on a Fast day before a religious and learned Parliament and then printed and published after a manifestation of the house of Commons dislike FOR THE GOOD OF THE FAITHFVLL AND AT THEIR DESIRE and averred in his Epistle Dedicatory to the Commons house with infinite confidence and artogance to be the minde of God the doctrine of Iesus Christ the true Doctrine of the Gospell c. Will Mr. Dell with his Saints his faithfull and anoynted ones GODS PECVLIAR PORTION IN THE KINGDOME so he most arrogantly stiles them as if God had no portion Saints faithfull ones Church amongst us but those alone now proclaime to all the world in print even in a Fast Sermon that none of all these workes of the flesh No not Adultery Fornication uncleanesse Idolatry Witchcraft Seditions Heresies Drunkenesse Murder nor any other suppose Sodomy Treason Rebellion Atheisme Blasphemy or the most horrid outrages especially if the offendors therein think any of them lawfull in point of conscience are so much as once to be punished with any outward corporall or Capitall punishment whatsoever by any Christian Magistrate Master Tutor or Parent but only with the losse of heaven Is this the Reformation that these New-lights intend the Liberty of Conscience they preach for write for fight for the Kingdome and Discipline of the Lord Jesus Christ which these Saints ' these faithfull ones this peculiar portion of the Lord will set up among us ' as Mr. Dell at their desires and for their benefit here proclaimes it is without blushing If so then it is high time for us to looke after these Black-Saints designes to blow up all Magistracy Parliaments Lawes Divine and humane to introduce Anarchy Libertinisme impunity of all Hereticks Blasphemers Seducers Malefactors how pernitious soever to let corrupt Nature and gracelesse Heresies loose to take their full swing and plung men into all sorts of wickednesses crimes villanyes outrages with impunity in this world which could not once have entred into my heart to beleeve had not Mr. Dells words and Arguments enforced me thereunto Certainely if this bee the Liberty of Conscience they desire plead fight for the blessed Reformation they intend Heaven and Earth may judge what Saints they are and I may without breach of charity averre that the very worst of Presbiterians nay of Heathens are in this particular better Saints then they who never pleaded for out alwayes against the impunity of such workes of the flesh as these and have severel punished them with outward corporall punishments from the very light of nature only But to let this passe which I could not but take notice of ouâ— of zeale to God and our distracted Republike the force of Mr. Dells argument hence is only this Paul and all Ministers by and from this Text are to warne and informe men that those who doe the workes of the flesh forementioned shall not inherit the Kingdome of God since they name no outward punishment in this text he cites though he doth in sundry others forecited Ergo Magistrates under the Gospell cannot punish Heretickes Schismaticks Seducers Blasphemers or any work of the flesh with any outward or corporall punishment Did ever any man so confidently propound such shallow Independent Arguments before a most juditious Parliament in a Pulpit and then dedicate the same to them with such boldnesse in print before Mr. Dell What if Paul writing as an Apostle to the Galathians only as private Christians to beware of these workes of the flesh because those who commit them shall not inherit the Kingdom of God will it therefore follow that Magistrates may not punish any for these workes with corporall or capitall punishments If so then they must not punish Murther Witchcraft Sedition Adultery Drunkennesse no more then Heresie Schisme or Idolatry Had Paul writ this Epistle to Christian Kings Magistrates and told them that these workes of the flesh must â—…er the Gospell be punished only with losse of Heaver the objection had â—in considerable but writing here neither of nor
The Sword of Christian Magistracy Supported OR A VINDICATION OF The Christian Magistrates Authority under the GOSPELL To punish Idolatry Apostacy Heresie Blasphemy and obstinate Schism with Corporall and in some Cases with Capitall Punishments Wherein this their Jurisdiction is cleared by Proofs and Arguments from the Old and New Testament by the Laws and Practise of Godly Christian Emperors Kings States and Magistrates The Common and Statute Laws of England the consent of the best Ancient and Modern Authors of all sorts and the most materiall Objections to the contrary made by Donatists Anabaptists c. fully Answered and Refuted By WILLIAM PRINNE of Lincolns Inne Esquire Augustin Epist 48. Vincentio Gratian Causa 23. qu. 4. Melius est cum severitate diligere quam cum lenitate decipere Si quisquam Inimicum poriculosis febribus phreneticum factum currere videret in praeceps nonne tunc potius malum pro malo redderet si sic eum ire permitteret quam si corripiendum ligandumque cur aret Et tamen tunc ei molestissimus avertissimus videretur quando utilissimus et misericordissimus extit isset Sed planè salute reparata tanto ei uberius gracias ageret quando minus sibi pepercisse sensisset Donatistae nimium sunt inquieti quos per ordinatas a Deo potestates singulares cohiberi atque corrigi mihi non videtur inutile nam de multorum jam correctione gaudemus Zech. 13. 3. Thou shalt not live for thou speakest Lyes in the name of the Lord and his Father and Mother shall thrust him through when he prophesieth Levit. 24. 16. He that blasphemeth the Name of the Lord shall surely be put to death and all the Congregation shall certainly stone him as well the stranger as he that is born in the Land when he blasphemeth the Name of the Lord shall be put to death Dan. 3. 29. Therefore I make a Decree that every People Nation and Language that speak any thing amisse against the God of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego shall be cut in peeces and their Houses shall be made a dung-hill Rev. 17. 16. The ten hornes which thou sawest upon the beast are ten Kings these shall hate the Whore and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eate her flesh and burn her with fire LONDON Printed by R. I. for John Bellamy and are to be sold at his shop at the Three Golden Lyons in Cornhill near the Royall Exchange 1653. The Sword of Christian Magistracy Supported OR A FULL VINDICATION OF Christian Kings and Magistrates Authority Under the GOSPELL To punish Jdolatry Apostacy Heresie Blasphemy and obstinate Schism with Corporall and in some Cases with Capital punishments from many late Cavils and exceptions against the same THE authority of Christian Magistrates under the Gospel having of late years been most audaciously oppugned both in Press and Pulpit in sundry particulars especially in points of Church-Government Church Reformation and this principal branch thereof the restraint and punishment of obstinate seducing Idolaters Hereticks false Teachers Schismaticks and Blasphemers by civil sanctions and corporal punishments I thought it not only seasonable but in some sort necessary to debate this question in a plain and plenary manner Whether Christian Kings States and Magistrates under the Gospel may and ought by the Word of God to restrain by Civil Sanctions all Idolatries Heresies Errours Schisms Blasphemies and to Mulct with corporall pecuniary and in some cases with banishment and capital punishments such obstinate seducing Idolaters Apostaces Hereticks false Teachers Schismaticks and Blasphemers who disturbe the Peace of Church State and draw down judgements upon both when Admonitions Exhortations and disputes will not reclaim them I shal maintain the Affirmative that they may nay ought to do it To avoyd mistakes and state the question aright I shal first of all lay down these conclusions as indubitable 1. That there are such sins as Idolatry Apostacy Heresie damnable Errors obstinate Schisms and Blasphemies in Christian Kingdomes States Churches and persons guilty of them 2. That those who are guilty of them are or may be certainly known discovered to and by Christian Princes and Magistrates 3. That these sins draw down Gods Judgments not only on the persons who are guilty of them but likewise on the Christian Rulers States and places which permit tolerate or not severely punish and suppresse them 4. That it is the duty of Christian Princes States Magistrates to use all possible diligence and lawful means to keep their Kingdomes States People from being infected with all or any of these dangerous wrath-provoking sins yea a grand sin and neglect in them not to do it Secondly I shal propound and agree what is not in controversie as 1. That the preaching of the Word Christian Exhortations Reprehentions Conferences and Disputes are the most proper and effectual means to convert reform Idolaters Apostates Hereticks False Teachers Schismaticks and Blasphemers 2. That such as these are first of all to be gently admonished instructed confuted and if possible reformed by the Word or other spiritual and gentle means before the civil Magistate proceed to corporal or capital punishments 3. That the present question is only of Idolaters Apostates Hereticks False Teachers obstinate Schismaticks and Blasphemers not meer tender consciencis in matters of Church Discipline and the like neither yet are all these always to be proceeded against with the self-same rigour and severity but as their obstinacy Idolatries Apostacies Heresies Errors Schisms Blasphemies are more or lesse heinous and pernitious so the proceedings against them ought to be more milde or severe These things premised I shal now proceed to some Arguments to make good my Assertion The first shal be this That which godly Kings and Magistrates in the Old Testament under the Law were enjoyned to do by Gods own express command and did accordingly execute with Gods special approbation Christian Kings and Magistrates under the Gospel may and ought to do and execute by virtue of the self-same commands But godly Kings and Magistrates in the Old Testament under the Law were injoyned by Gods own express command to restrain all Idolatry Apostacy Heresie Errors Schisms Blasphemies yea to punish with corporal and in some cases with capital Punishments such obstinate seducing Idolaters Apostates Hereticks False Teachers Schismaticks and Blasphemers who disturbed the Peace of Church State and drew down Gods Judgments upon either and did accordingly execute the same command with Gods special approbation when admonitions exhortations and Disputes would not reclaim them Therefore Christian Magistrates under the Gospel may and ought to do the like The Major Proposition I shal make good by these undenyable reasons First because God hath ordained and continued Kings and Magistrates under the New Testament as wel as under the Old and enjoyned obedience to them ROM 13. 1. to 6. 1 TIM 2. 1 2 3. TIT. 3. 1. 1 PET. 2. 13 14. c. 4. 15. which none but professed
Altar A memorable example of zeal and reformation after their solemn Covenant And should not we be as zealous after our Covenant against Idolatrous Priests False Prophets Hereticks Apostates Blasphemers as they were against the Priests of Baal The seventh President is enrolled in the 2 CHRON. 15. 9 to 17. where godly King Asa having gathered all Juda and Benjamin and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh and out of Simeon to Jerusalem in the fifteenth year of his reign they all entred into a Covenant to seek the Lord God of their Fathers with all their heart and with all their soul That whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel SHOVLD BE PVT TO DEATH WHETHER SMAL OR GREAT MAN OR WOMAN And they sware unto the Lord with a loud voice and with shoutings and with trumpets and with cornets And all Judah rejoyced at the Oath for they had sworn with all their heart and sought him with their whole desire and he was found of them and the Lord gave them rest round about And also concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the King he removed her from being Queen because she had made an Idol in a grove and Asa cut down her Idol and stamped it and burnt it at the brook Kidron Whence we shal observe First that this godly King and all his people bound themselves by a solemn Oath and Covenant much like to ours TO PUT ALL Idolaters Apostates Hereticks and Blasphemers and whosoever would not seek the Lord of what quality or sort soever TO DEATH Secondly that this Oath and Covenant was so wel pleasing to God and agreeable to his Law that whereas immediately before their entring into it here was no peace to him that went out nor to him that came in but great vexations were upon all the Inhabitants of the Countries and Nation was destroyed of Nation and City of City as they are now among us for God did vex them with all adversity Vor. 5 6. Yet no sooner was this Oath and Covenant taken but the Lord was found of them and gave them rest round about Verse 15. as no doubt he would do to us were we as zealous against Apostates Idolaters Hereticks Blasphemers against God and the sacred Trinity as they and would put the Ringleaders of such to death whether smal or great whether man or woman as they did Thirdly that Asa did depose his own Queen mother from being Queen for her Idolatry and cut down and burnt her Idol and her grove A memorable example both of zeal and justice to shame the luke warmness the partiality of our times which have connived at and countenanced Queen mother and Queen daughter too in their Idolatries yea erected publick Groâ—es and Chappels for their Idols and Idol-worship Eightly to these I might accumulate EXOD. 23. 23 24. 32. 33 c. 34. 12 13 4 15. NUM 21. 2 3. c. 31. 8. 17. DEUT. 7. 2 3 4 5. c. 12. 2 3. JOSM 23. 5. to 14. JUDG 2. 2. Where God commanded Moses Ioshua and the Israelites his own people when he should deliver the Hittites Gergasites Amarites Canaanites Perâ—zites Hivites Iebusites and Midianites into their hands to smite utterly destroy and slay them with the sword and to make no Covenant with them nor shew mercy unto them and to destroy break down and burn their Altars Groves Images and to make no marriages with their sons or daughters least they should turn them away from following him to serve other gods and so should the anger of the Lord be kindled against them and destroy them sodainly Whereupon they did utterly destroy all the Idolatrous Inhabitants of the Cities they took with the edge of the sword without sparing any but Rahab and her family JOSH. 6. 21 22 24. c. 8. 20. to 30. c. 9. 24 26. c. 10. 1. 10. to the end specially v. 40. c. 11 12. NUM 21. 2 3. c. 31. 16. 17. 2 CHRON. 31. 1 2. as the Lord commanded them From all which Precepts and Presidents as also from JOH 31. 26 27 28. EXOD. 22. 20. He that sacrificeth unto any other god save unto the Lord only HE SHAL BE VTTERLY DESTROYED that is by the Magistrates and people or in their default by God himself it is undeniable that godly Kings and Magistrates under the Law were by Gods own special command to punish obstinate Idolaters Apostates False Prophets and Teachers who seduced or endeavored to seduce the people from the ways truth and true worship of God were they Jews or Gentiles Israelites or Heathens with death and capital punishments to prevent or remove Gods wrath procure his favor and blessing and keep others from pollution and seduction to the ruine of their souls Secondly That they had power to punish Blasphemy and Blasphemers of God even with death by an express Commission from God himself is as clear as the Noonday Sun by these ensuing Texts LEVIT 24. 10. to 17. and the Israâ—litish womans sonne blasphemed the name of the Lord and cursed and they brought him unto Moses and put him in Ward that the mind of the Lord might be shewed them And the Lord spake unto Moses saying bring forth him that hath cursed without the Camp and let all that heard him lay their hands upon his head and let all the Congregation STONE HIM And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel saying whosoever shal curse his God shal bear his sin And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord SHAL SURELY BE PUT TO DEATH and ALL THE CONGREGATION SHAL CERTAINLY STONE HIM as wel the stranger as he that is born in the Land WHEN HE BLASPHEMETH THE NAME OF THE LORD SHAL BE PUT TO DEATH A most punctuall Law extending to all blasphemers of God and his name be they Natives or Forraigners of what sex or quality soever coupled in the next Verse with this penal Statute Ver. 17. AND HE THAT KILLETH ANY MAN SHAL BE PVT TO DEATH so that those who at this day question or deny the Magistrates power to put Blasphemers or gross Hereticks who deny Christs Divinity c. whose very assentions are direct blasphemies to death may upon the self-same grounds and with equal reason deny the Magistrates power to put Murtherers to death the one Law being as moral as perpetual as the other Yea the equity of that other Law EXOD. 21. 17. and LEVIT 20. 9. Every one that curseth his father and mother shal SVRELY BE PVT TO DEATH his blood shal be upon him must hold more strongly of him that shal curse and blaspheme his heavenly then his earthy Father in as much as the one is infinitly greater and more to be reverenced feared honored obeyed then the other This Law was so obligatory and Authentick among the Israelites even in the reign of King Ahab and Jezebel that the Nobles and Elders upon Jezebels Letter and the witnesses testimony suborned by her condemned Naboth for that he did blalpheme God
out his Vineyard to other husbandmen which shal render him the fruits in due season which Parable was experimentably verified in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jews by the Romans And it is added Whosoever shal fall on this stone Christ shal be broken but on whomsoever it shal fal IT SHAL GRIND HIM TO POWDER Mat. 22. 2. to 8. The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a certain King which made a marriage for his son and sent his servants to cal them that were bidden to the wedding but they would not come c. And the remnant took his servants and intreated them spitefully and slew them But when the King heard thereof he was wroth and sent forth his armies and DESTROYED THOSE MURDERERS and burnt up their City Really verified in the Jews too To which I shal subjoyn Rev. 11. 17 18. We give thee thanks O Lord God Almighty which art and wast and art to come because thou hast taken unto thee thy great power and hast reigned And the time is come thou shouldest DESTROY THEM WHICH CORRUPT THE EARTH Compared with Rev. 17. 5. 16. where it is thus prophecyed of the destruction of the whore of Babylon the great the mother of fornications abominations of the earth The ten horns which thou sawst upon the beast which are 10. Kings these shal hate the whore and make her desolate and naked and SHAL EAT HER FLESH BURN HER WITH FIRE for God hath put it into their hearts TO FULFIL HIS WIL. And Rev. 19. 19 20 21. And I saw the beast and the Kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sate on the horse And the beast was taken and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast them that worshipped his image These both were cast into A LAKE WHICH BURNETH WITH FIRE BRIMSTONE And the remnant WERE SLAIN WITH THE SWORD of him that sate upon the horse which sword proceeded out of his mouth and all the fouls were filled with their flesh From all these Parabolical Expressions in the New Testament it self of things to be acted by God the Father by Jesus Christ himself his servants the Magistrates under the Gospel I shal draw these Conclusions necessarily flowing from them First That God the Father and Jesus Christ are altogether as rigorous and severe if not far more ridged and mercilesse against their professed Enemies Antichristian Opposers Persecuters and false Prophets under the Gospel as they were under the Law which these Texts together with Heb. 2. 1 2. and c. 10. 26. to 32. and Rev. 6. 10. to the end undeniably manifest Secondly That such as those shall be punished with capital and corporal punishments even under the Gospel by Christ his Ministers Soldiers Revengers who bear his Sword who are principally orthodox Christian Kings and Magistrates as these several expressions manifest Slay them before my face He will miserably destroy these wicked men and murderers burn up their City grind them to powder thou shalt destroy them which corrupt the earth The ten hornes shal make the whore desolate and naked and shal eat her flesh and burn her with fier And the beast and false prophet were taken and cast into a lake which burneth with fier and brimstone the ground of the ancient Writ De Haeretico comburendo and of burning Hereticks and the rest were slain with the sword and all the fouls were filled with their flesh If any Object that the sword wherewith those last are said to be slain is nothing else but the sword of the Spirit and preaching of the Word because it is said that this sword proceeded out of the mouth of him that sate upon the horse which they further confirm by Isa 11. 4. He shal smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and by the breath of his lips shal he slay the wicked 2 Thes 2. 3. And then shal that wicked one be revealed whom the Lord shal consume with the Spirit of his mouth and destroy with the brightnesse of his comming concluding hence That God doth all by the power of his Word even his punishments and destructions he executes by the Word I answer That the Sword proceeding out of the mouth of him that sate upon the horse in this Text is not the meer preaching of the Word and Gospel as is pretended but Christs denouncing of Sentence of Judgement and executing the same upon them not as a Preacher but as a Judge this is clear by Rev. 17. 2. Come hither and I wil shew thee the Judgment of the great whore c. Rev. 18. 8. Shee shall bee utterly burnt with fier for strong is the Lord who JVDGETH her Rev. 16. 21 22. Rejoyce over her thou heaven and ye holy Apostles and Prophets for God hath avenged you on her And a mighty Angel took up a stone like a great milstone and cast it into the sea saying Thus with violence shal the great City Babylon be thrown down and shal be found no more at all c. Rev. 20. 1 2 4 5. I heard a voyce of much people in heaven saying Allelujah salvation honor and power unto the Lord our God That SAT ON THE THRONE as a Judge For true and righteous are his JVDGEMENTS for he hath JVDGED the great where which did corrupt the earth with her fornications and hath avenged the blood of his Saints at her hands c. It follows in the very next words to those objected And I saw an Angel come down from heaven having the key of the bottomlesse pit and a great chain in his hand And he layd hold on the Dragon the old serpent which is the Devil and Satan and bound him a thousand years and cast him into the bottomlesse pit and shut him up c. And I saw THRONES and they sate upon them and JUDGEMENT was given unto them c. And Verse 10 11 12 c. And the Devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false Prophet are and shal be tormented day and night for ever and ever And I saw a great white Throne and him that sate on it c. And I saw the dead smal and great stand before God And I saw the Books opened and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the Books according to their works c. By all which it is undeniable that the sword of the mouth wherewith those were slain was only Christs Sentence of Judgement and Execution passed upon the whore the false Prophet beast c. by himself sitting as a Judge or King upon his Throne of Judgment and his executioners not the preaching of the Word by himself or his Ministers as a Prophet preaching out of a Pulpit And in this sense Judges and Magistrates when they passe sentence of death
sunt Illis verò qui carnis circumcisiones in Judaeis vel Christianis exercere praesumpserint quisquis haec aut intulerit alteri aut fieri ab altero permiserit sibi veretri ex toto amputatione plectetur res ejus fisci juribus sociandae sunt Mulieres tamen quae aut circumcisiones exercere praesumpserint aut circumcidendos quisque cuiliber circumcisori obtalerint naribus abscissis rebus omnibus in principis potestate redactis lugebunt facinus suae praesumptionis Simili quoque illi poena plectendi sunt qui Christianum vel Christianam a fide demoverit Christi vel ad titum Judaicae praevaricationis adduxerint And Tit. 2. DE OMNIUM HAERETICORUM atque JUDAEORUM cunctis Erroribus amputandis Lex 2. There is this general Law against Hereticks De omnium Haeresum Erroribus abdicandis made in King Reccaredus his reign punishing all Hereticks with loss of their dignities honors goods and perpetual banishment Divinae virtutis aeternum consilium in ultimorum ferie seculorum pietatis ejus revelatum arcanum per retro-actorum dierum tempora omnem ut cerminus à cunctis nostri regiminis finibus perfidiam dissipavit errantium dogmatum abdicavit commenta pravorum Veruntarnen ne dum nostris consistimus in diebus tempus illud occurrat de quo vas electionis olim protulit dicens Erit tempus quo sanam doctrinam non sustinebunt sed secundum sua disideria coacervabunt sibi Magistros prurientes aurihus a veritate quidem auditum avertent ad fabulas autem convertentur Convenit ea quae in luce fidei manent a tenebris contradictionum edicto legali defendere ea quae exori i obvia forsan error impulerit gestis legalibus propulsare Nullus ita que cujusllibet gentis aut generis homo proprius advena proselytus indigena externus incola contra sacram singulariter unam Catholicae veritatis fidem quascunque noxias disputationes eandem sidem impugnans palà m pertinaciter aut constanter vel proferat vel proferre silenter attemptet Nullus Evangelii decreta convellat Nullus Apostolica instituta decerpat Nullus antiquorum patrum impugnationibus suis sacras definitiones irrumpat Nullus modernorum discernentium congruentes fidei tractus spernat Nullus contra omne sanctum dictum factum vel verae fidei sacramentum aut cogitationes ruminet cordis aut verba patuli proferat oris Non in contradictione controversiam perfidus excitet pervicacis non improbitatis contentione litem statuat adversantis Nam quaecunque persona ex his in cunctis istis vetitis extiterit deprehensa si quidem ex quacunque religionis potestate vel ordine fuerit amisso loci dignitatis honore perpetuo reatui erit obnoxius rerum etiam cunctarâ—m amissione multatus Si vero ex laicis extiterit honore solutus loco omni rerum erit possessione nudatus ita vt omnis transgressor sanctionis istius aut eterno Exilio mancipatus intereat aut divina miseratione respectus á praevaricatione convertatur vivat Alfonso the first King of Spain about the year of our Lord 710. by his severe Laws extirpated the Arian Heresie out of Spain and the West as the Emperor Constantine rooted it out of the East and the Emperor Gratian out of Italy Whence hee was stiled and his successors after him the Catholike King The Emperors Charles the great and Lewes Capit. lib. 5. Tit. 183. and l. 6. Tit. 65. Enacted That no man suspected of Heresy should be a firme witnesse that those who were Hereticks ought not to be admitted to be witnesses And that none should receive a Benediction from an Heretick Michael the Emperor punished the Manichees and other Hereticks in his time with banishment and capital punishments Zonaras records that the Emperor Alexius Comnenus caused Basilius the chief Doctor and Apostle of the Sect of the Bogomilli after he had publikely vomited out the poyson of his pestilent Heresy TO BE PUBLIKELY BURNT in the Theater by common consent about the year of our Lord 1212. About the same time the Pope and Popish Prelates caused divers of the Albigenses to be apprehended and burnt as Hereticks and not content therewith raised up a bloody war against them wherein their Friar Saint Dominick was a great stickler and Simon Montefort Generall of the Army who taking the Town Minerbra by force and divers of the Albigenses Prisoners in it commanded on hundred and eighty of them who obstinately refused to abjure their pretended Heresy TO BE BURNED which was accordingly executed as Antoninus records After which time the burning of Hereticks grew common in most places Henry the third celebrating Christs Nativity at Goslaâ—ia by the generall consent of all there present commanded some Manichees who condemned the eating of all living creatures to be hanged upon a gibbet lest this scab of their Heresy spreading farther should infect and murther more Saint Bernard Abbot of Clareval records that certain Hereticks in his time about the year of our Lord 1130. who denyed the lawfulnesse of Mariage and Baptism of Infants among other things being Rusticani homines Idiotae prorsus contemptibiles as our Anabaptists and Sectaries generally now are were so obstinate in their Errors that Mori magis eligunt quà m converti whence the common people after their errors were detected and publickly maintained by them ran upon them and slew them which he thus expresseth Itaque irruens in eos populus novos haereticis suae ipsorum perfidiae martyres dedit APPROBAMUSZELUM sed factum non suademus quia fides suadenda est non imponenda Quanquam melius proculdubio GLADIO COHERCERENTUR illius videlicet qui non sine causa gladium portat quum in suum errorem multos trajicere permiâ—tantur Dei enim Minister ille est Vindex in iram ei qui malè agit Wherein he asserts the lawfulnesse of the Civil Magistrates restraining and cutting off obstinate Hereticks with the Sword In the year of our Lord 1183. there were many Hereticks burnt in â—â—anders by Philip Earl of Flanders and Guilerne Archbishop of Rheemes And then the Writ De Haeretico comburendo began to be in use in most Christian Realms by Popes and Popish Prelates which the Prelates generally abused afterwards by condemning and burning the true Saints of God for defending the truth against their Antichristian Errors as Mr Fox his Acts and Monuments and the French Book of Martyrs evidence The Emperor Fridercick the second made these Laws against Hereticks their receivers and Apostates condemning Hereticks to be burnt and their goods to be confiscate Inconsutilem tunicam Dei nostri dissuere conantur Haeretici vocabuli vitio servientes quod significationem divisionis enuntiat ipsius indivisibilis fidei unitati conantur inducere sectionem oves a Petri custodia cui pascendae Ã
Pastore bono sunt creditae segregare Hi sunt lupi rapaces intrinsecus eo usque mansuetudinem ovium pratendentes quousque possint ovile subintrare dominicum Hi sunt angeli pessimi Hi sunt filij pravitatum a patre nequitiae fraudis autore ad decipiendas simplices animas destinati Hi sunt colubri qui columbas decipiunt Hi sunt serpentes qui latenter videntur inserpere sub mellis dulcedine virus evomunt vt dum vitae cibum ministrare se simulant cauda feriunt mortis poculum velut quoddam durissimum acoritum immiscent Horum sectae veteribus legibus ne in publicum prodeant non sunt notatae nominibus vel quod est forte nefandius non contentae vt vel ab Arrio Arriani vel a Nestorio Nestoriani aut a similibus similes nuncupentur sed in exemplum Martyrum qui pro fide Catholica martyria subierunt Patarenos se nominant velut expositos passioni hujusmodi Miseri Patareni à quibus abest sancta credulitas Trinitatis aeternae sub uno contextu nequitiae in simul tres offendunt deum videlicet proximos seipsos Deum cum Dei filium fidem non agnoscunt decipiunt proximos dum ipsis sub specie spiritualis alimoniae haereticae pravitatis oblectamenta ministrant Crudelius etiam saeviunt in seipsos dum praeter animarum dispendium corpora denique saevae mortis illecebris quam pet agnitionem veram verae fidei possint evadere vitae prodigi et necis improvidi sectatores involvunt quod est ipso dicto durissimum superstites etiam non terrentur exemplo Contra tales itaque deo hominibus sic infestos continere non possumus motus nostros quin debitae ultionis in eos gladium exeramus et tanto ipsospersequamur instantius quanto in evidentiorem injuriam fidei Christianae prope Romanam Ecclesiam quae caput aliarum Ecclesiarum omnium judicatur superstitionis suae scelera latius exercere noscuntur adeo quod ab Italiae finibus praesertim á partibus Longobardiae in quibus pro certo perpendimus ipsorum nequitiam amplius abundare jam usque ad Regnum nostrum Siciliae suae perfidiae rivâ—los derivarunt Quod acerbissimum reputantes statuimus in primis vt crimen Haereseos damnatae sectae cujuslibet quocunque nomine censeantur sectatores prout veteribus legibus est distinctum inter caetera publica crimina numeretur imo crimine laesae Majestatis nostrae debet ab omnibus horribilius judicari quod in divinae Majestatis injuriam dignoscitur attentatum quamquam judicii potestate alter alterum non excedat Nam sicuti perduellionis crimen personas adimit damnatorum bona damnat post obitum etiam memoriam defunctorum sic in praedicto crimine quo Patareni vocantur per omnia volumus observari vt ipsorum nequitia quia deum non sequuntur ac in tenebris ambulant detegatur Nemine etiam deferente diligenter investigari volumus hujusmodi scelerum patratores per officiales nostros sicut alios malefactores inquiri ac inquisitione notatos etiam si levis suspitionis argumenta tangantur a viris Ecclesiasticis Praelatis examinari jubemus per quos si evidenter inventi fuerint à fide Catholica saltem in uno articulo deviare ac per ipsos pastorali more commoniti tenebrosis diaboli relictis insidiis noluerint agnoscere Deum lucis sed in erroris concepti constantia perseverent praesentis nostrae legis edicto damnatos mortem pati Patarenos decernimus quam affectant vt vivi in conspectu populi comburantur flammarum commissi judicio Nec dolemus quod in hoc ipsorum satisfaciamus voluntati ex quo poenam solummodo nec fructum aliquem alium consequuntur erroris Apud nos pro talibus nullus intervenire praesumat quod si fecerir in ipsum nostrae indignationis aculeos non immerito convertemus Patarenorum receptatores credentes complices quocunque modo fautores qui ut a paena possint alios eximire de se velut improvidi non formidant publicatis bonis omnibus relegandos in perpetuum esse censemus Et ipsorum filii ad honores aliquos nullatenus assumantur sed infamiae perpetuae nota laborent vt nec in testes nec in causis quibus repelluntur infames aliquatenus admittantur Si tamen aliquis de filiis receptatorum vel fautorum detexerit aliquem Patarenum de cujus hujusmodi manifesté probetu perfidia in fidei praemium quam agnovit famae pristinae de Imperali clementia restitutionis in integrum benificium consequatur Apostatantes a fide Catholica penitus execramuâ— insequimur ultione bonis omnibus spoliamus a professione vel voto naufragantes legibus coarceamus successione tollimus omne jus legitimum abdicamus The Emperor Charls the fourth King of Bohemia made the like Laws almost in terminis for the burning of Hereticks and banishing their receivers out of the Kingdom of Bohemia differing from them in these few expressions Quod in religionem divinam committitur in omnium fertur injuriam Quid enim potest ab hominibus gravius existimari quam divinae potentiae copiosam clementiam in proprio filio humano generi attributam miserorum latrantium dentibus percipi lacerari c. Praesentis nostrae sanctionis edicto damnatos mortem pati HAERETICOS decernimus quam affectant VTVIVI IN CONSPECTV POPVLI COMBVRANTVR flammarum commissi judicio qui sacris flaminis lumen agnoscere Patris aeterni perennem gloriam quaerere unigenitique Filii passionem redemptionem humani generis credere denegarunt Dementes atque vesani Catholicae sidei sacro dogmati repugnantes praeter divinae vltionis aeterna supplicia infames facti Maiestatis nostrae indignationem multiferam se noverint incurrisse Omnis sectae Haereticos a quoquam iuxtalimites Regni nostri Boemiae in domibus aut agris aut aliter quoquo modo indifferenter receptari prohibemus omnino Receptatores vero si qui fuerint scienter aut credentes aut complices aut alias quocunque modo consentientes eis sive fautores bonis eorum omnibus confiscatis relegandos a Regno praedicto in perpetuum censemus To these I could add sundry other Laws and Edicts made by the whole Kingdom of Bohemia and Senate of Prague for the Imprisonment Banishment Punishment with the loss of goods of life and burning the Books persons of Hereticks and Blasphemers with their proceedings accordingly upon these Laws under the raign of King Lodovicus about the year of our Lord 1523. and afterwards recorded at large by Georgius Bartholdus Pontanus in his Bohemiae Piae lib. 7. throughout as likewise the Laws of sundry other Popish Kings and States against such they esteemed Hereticks though in verity professors of the Orthodox Truth but because these Laws were made by Papists and the bloody execution of them by
praestigiosa illa superstitio deleta est vt sacerdotum ipsorum orthodoxorum Doctrinam sitientibus desiderijs amplexerentur After which this heresie sprouting up again in the year 449. Germanus and Severus coming hither out of France to suppresse it there was another Councell assembled wherein the Authors of this revived heresy were inquired after and being found were condemned and BANISHED the Island by the generall sentence of all Omniumque sententia pravitatis auctores qui erant EXPVLSI INSVLA sacerdotibus adducuntur ad medeterranea deferendi ut regio absolutione illi EMENDATIONE fruerentur factumque est ut in illis locis multo ex eo tempore fides INTE MERATA PERDVRARET This was the happy issue of these Hereticks banishment that religion from that time continued uncorrupted and this Island was thereby freed from the Pelagian heresie for many ages after Anno Dom. 630. Theodor Archbishop of Canterbury being a Graecian borne hearing that the Church of Constantinople was very much troubled with the haeresy of Eutiches to preserve the Churches of England free from that infection assembled a Councel at HEDTFELD of many Priests and learned men wherein they made a Confession of their Faith concerning the Trinity and Vnity and declared their assents to the generall Councels of Nice Constantinople the first and second Ephesus Calcedon and of Rome under Martin whereby he prevented the heresies condemned by them from springing up in this Isle A good effect of this Synodall Assembly Gulielmus Nubrigensis records that in the reign of King Henry the 2. about the year of our Lord 1161. certain erroneous persons commonly called Publicanes came into England These having their originall heretofore out of Gascoygne from an uncertain Author infused the poyson of their mis-beliefes into divers Countries for in the most ample Provinces of France Spain Italy and Germany so many were said to be infected with this pestilence that they seem'd to be multiplied more then the sand on the Sea-shore in multitude Finally whilest the Prelates of Churches and the Princes of Provinces proceeded more REMISLY against them the most wicked foxes creep forth out of their dens and by seducing the simple with a pretended show of piety demolish the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts TANTO GRAVIUS QVANTO LIBERIUS so much the more grievously by how much the more freely but when as the zeale of the faithfull is kindled against them with the fire of God they lye hid in their Dens and are lesse hurtfull but yet they cease not to hurt by scattering their hidden poyson They were rusticall and illiterate men and therefore dull to reason but having once drunke down that poyson they were so infected that they grew stiffe against all discipline whence it very rarely happens that any one of them when being discovered they are drawn out of their dens is converted to piety Verily England alwaies continued free from this and all other haereticall plagues when as so many heresies sprung up in other parts of the world And truly this Island whiles it was called Britaine from the Britons who inhabited it banished out of it Pelagius who became an Arch-heretick in the East and in proces of time admitted his error into it selfe for the destruction whereof the pious provision of the French Church directed St. Germane once and again hither But since the English Nation the Britons being expelled possessed this Island so as it was no more called Britannia but England the poyson of no hereticall plagues hath sprung out of it nor yet so much as entred into it so as to propagate and spread it selfe untill the time of King Henry the 2. Then also by Gods mercy the plague which had there crept in was so withstood that from thenceforth they feare to enter into it Now there were little more then thirty both men and women who dissembling their error came in hither as it were peaceably for to propagate ther plague one Gerard being their Captain upon whom they all looked as their Teacher and Prince for he alone was somewhat learned but the rest were without learning and ideots meer impolished and rustick men of the Teutonic Nation and language Abiding some little space in England they gathered to their congregation only one little girle circumvented with their poysonous whisperings bewitched as was said with certain enchantments But they could not long lye hid for some curiously discovering that they were of a strange sect they were thereupon apprehended and kept in the publike prison But the King not willing either to release them or condemne them without examination commanded a Councill of Bishops to be assembled at Oxford Whereupon they were solemnly convented concerning Religion He who seemed to be learned taking upon him the cause of all and speaking for all answered that they were Christians and embraced the Apostles Doctrines Being interrogated in order concerning the Articles of holy faith truly they answered rightly concerning the substance of the Supernall Physitian but spake perverse things concerning his remedies whereby he vouchsafes to heal humane infirmity to wit of the divine Sacraments detesting holy Baptisme the Eucharist and Mariage and derogating from THE CATHOLIKE UNITY in a nefarious bold manner which those divine helpes do make up Being admonished to repent and TO UNITE THEMSELVES TO THE BODY OF THE CHURCH they contemned all wholesome counsell Threats also that they might repent even for fear they derided abusing that saying of the Lord Blessed are they who suffer porsecution for righteousnesse sake for theirs is the Kingdome of Heaven Then the Bishops taking care that their haereticall poyson should spread no further pronouncing them publikely to be heretickes corporali disciplinae subdendos Catholico Principi tradidêrunt delivered them over to the Catholike Prince to be punished with corporall punishment Who commanded an hereticall character to be branded on their foreheads and being publikely whipped in the sight of the people to be expelled the City strictly charging that no man should presume either to lodge them in his house or give them any solace The sentence being pronounced they were led to the MOST JVST PUNISHMENT rejoycing not with a slow pace their Master going before and singing Blesed shall ye be when men shall hate you so much did the seducers then abuse the minds deceived by him Truly that girle they had deceived in England departing from them for fear of punishment confessing her error obtained reconciliation but that detestable Colledge with cauterized foreheads was subjected to JUST SEVERITY he who was the chiefe among them for the honor of his Masterslip suffring the infamy of A DOUBLE BRANDING to wit IN THE FOREHEAD ABOVT THE CHIN and their cloathes being cut off unto the girdle they WERE PUPLIKELY WHIPPED and cast out of the City with resounding stripes and miserably perished with the intolerablenesse of the cold for it was Winter no man showing them
c. And if he will deny it I am ready to prove it for the King as belongs to the King to do Chap. 4. Sect 11. p. 42. he defines that deadly sinnes are to be punished with death and mortall paine and that such punishments are warranted by the old Testament and to be inflicted to prevent eternall death After which Sect. 14. p. 252. Of the punishment of Treason he determines thus That Sodomy is to be punished with burying the party alive under ground Sorcery by burning in the fire The JVDGEMENT OF HERESY is fourfold The 1. is Excommunication the 2. Degradation the 3. Disinherison the 4. dee' ARSE en Cinders TO BE BVRNED TO ASHES By this punctuall Authority of Horne it is most cleare to me First that Hereticks and Apostates as well as Sodomites and Sorcerers even as they were Hereticks were inditable and triable at the Kings suite in the King Courts by the very common Law of England without any precedent conviction of Heresie by the Ordinary of the Diocesse or by a Nationall or Provinciall Synod and that the Judges of the common Law when any Heretick or Apostate was to be proceeded against criminally and capitally for his life were to judge what was Heresie and what not not the Bishops or Synod only as well as in the case of a r Prohibition or Habeas Corpus 2. That such Inditements were usuall and a set forme of them used and pursued in Edward the first his raigne and were then to be found in the Rolls of ancient Kings long before him therefore were then of long of ancient use and warranted by the ancient common Law of England before his raigne 3. That the Bishops and Clergy could punish heresie onely with Excommunication and Degradation not with death ◠4. That by the ancient Common Law of England in Edward the first his reign and in the reigne of ancient Kings before him Heresy as heresy and Sorcery only as Heresie and a branch thereof and under the name of heresy was inditable in the Kings Court at the Kings suite and punished with burning to death and so the writ De Haeretico Comburendo if necessary when grounded upon the Judges sentence warranted by the common Law and the judgement of burning given by it long before any Statute made against Heresy in the reigne of Richard the second or Henry the fourth 5. That Hereticks and Apostates who are such indeed may at this day be indicted for their heresy and Apostacy in the Kings Bench or at the Assises by the very common Law of England and upon sufficient proofes be there convicted condemned and adjudged to be burnt this power of the Judges at common Law to try and condemne Hereticks being not now restrained by any Statute nor taken away by the Statute of 1. Eliz. cap. 1. which repeales all former Statutes against Hereticks or Heresy which only concerned Bishops Ordinaries and their proccedings in case of Heresie grounded on them not the King or his Judges The next Authority I shall cite is that of Fleta written by a learned Lawyer imprisoned in the Fleet as Sir Edward Cooke informes us in Edward the third his raigne and taken for the most part out of Bracton lib. 1. cap. 3. Christiani Apostatae Sortilegii hujusmodi DEBENT COMBVRI Contrahentes verò cum Judaeis vel Judaeabus pecorantes Sodomitae in terra vivi confodiantur per testimonium legale vel publicè convicti A cleare Authority that Apostates which comprehends all such as fall into Heresy Judaisme or Paganisme after they have embraced the true Christian orthodox faith South-sayers and such like which comprehends Hereticks likewise OVGHT TO BE BURNT even by the common Law then in use and that Christian who turned Jewes and Sodomites were to be buried alive After this Wickliffe and his followers called Lollards infesting the Pope and Prelates with their Doctrines and invectives against their Antichristian Tenets and impostures they being greatly favored by some Nobles and eminent Knights about the end of the reigne of King Edward the 3. and beginning of Richard the second the Prelates bearing then great sway in the Kingdome not daring to trust the Judges with the Triall of these New Hereticks as they stiled them taking hold of the President in the Councell at Oxford in King Henry the seconds raigne forecited and of the practise of the Pope and Popish Prelates in forraign parts took upon them in their Synods Convocations and likewise in private Consistories to condemne these Lollards for hereticks and upon their sentence there passed without any Inditement or triall at the common Law procured a writ which they might easily do being then Lord Chancellors and Lord Privie Seales for the most part De Haeretico comburendo to be directed in the Kings name to the Sheriffes of Counties and Mayors of Towns to burn such for Hereticks whom they alone had thus condemned before there was any Statute chiefly upon this ground that hereticks by the judgment of the common Law upon Inditements and Convictions in the Kings Courts were to be burned This is evident not onely by the Bishops proceedings in their Consistories against John Wickliffe John Aston Philip Repington Nicholas Harford William Swinderby and Walter Brute but also by that forme of writ de Haeretico Comburendo mentioned in Fitzherberts Natura Brevium f. 269. c. which was made in Parliament by the King and Lords for the burning of William Sautre a godly Martyr condemned of heresie in the Convocation at the earnest sollicitation of Thomas Arundel Archbishop of Canterbury in the 2. year of King Henry the fourth and burned by vertue of this writ the first Martyr we read of burnt by vertue of such a writ granted meerly upon a sentence given by the Prelates themselves without an Inditement and Judgment at Common Law This writ for his burning made without the Commons is thus translated into English by Mr. Fox The King c. to the Mayor and Sheriffs of Loadon greeting y Whereas the reverend Father Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury Primate of England and Legate of the Apostolike Sea by the assent consent and counsell of other Bishops his Brothers Suffragans and also of all the whole Clergy within his Province gathered together in his provinciall Councell the DUE ORDER OF LAW BEING OBSERVED in all points in this behalfe hath denounced and declared by his definitive sentence William Sautre sometimes Chaplaine fallen again into damnable heresie the said William had abjured thereupon to be A MOST MANIFEST HERETICK and therefore hath decreed that he should be degraded and hath for the same cause degraded him from all prerogative and priviledge of the Clergy decreeing to leave him unto the secular power and hath really so left him ACCORDING TO THE LAWES AND CANONICALL SANCTIONS SET FORTH IN THIS BEHALFE We therefore BEING ZEALOVS IN RELIGION and REVEREND LOVERS OF THE CATHOLIKE FAITH and of Justice
boody to the true Professors of the Gospell thereupon the Statute of 1. Ed. 6. c. 12. repeald and utterly made void all Lawes and Statutes formerly made concerning Hereticks or opinions in Religion and so they continued repealed during all King Edward the sixt his Reigne But Queene Mary comming to the Crowne and restoring the Popes and Prelates exploded Jurisdictions thereupon The Statute of 1. 2. Phil. and Maryâ— 6. revived them all in whose Reign they were put in vigorus execution to the destruction of many Godly Christians as we may read at large in Mr. Fox his Acts and Monuments vol. 3. But shee deceasing and Queene Elizabethâ—â—cceding â—â—cceding The Statute of 1. Eliz. c. 1. repealed all these Lawes againe revâ—ed by Queene Mary and leaves Ordâ—… and the High Commissioners liberty to proceed against Heretickes only by Ecclesiasticall Censures with thes provisoes Provided alwayes and be it enacted as is aforesaid that no manner of Order Act or determination for any matter of Religion or cause Ecclesiasticall had or made by the Authority of this present Parliament shall be accepted deemed reputed or adjudged at any time hereafter to be any Errour Heresie Schisme or Schismaticall opinion any Order Decree Sentence Constitution or Law whatsoever the same be to the contrary notwithstanding Provided always be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid that such person or Persons to whom your Highnesse your Heires or Successors shall hereafter by Letters Patents under the Great Seale of England give Authority to have or execute any Jurisdiction Power or Authority Spirituall or Temporall or to visi Reforme Order or Correct any Errors Heresies Schismes Abuses or Enormities by vertue of this Act shall not in any wise have Authority or power to order determine or adjudge any matter or cause to be Heresie but only such as heretofore have beene determined ordered or adjudged to bee Heresie by the Authority of the Canonicall Scriptures or by the first 4. Generall Councells or any of them or by any other Generall Councells wherein the same was declared Heresie by the expresse and plaine words of the said Canonicall Scriptures or such as hereafter shall be Ordered judged or determined to be Heresie by the High Court of Parliament of this Realme with the assent of the Clergie in their Convocation any thing in this Act contained to the contrary notwithstanding So as this Act defines what shall be adjudged and punished as Heresie by the High Commissioners and may serve for a good Rule to the Judges and Parliament now to proceed by in judging what shall be reputed reall Haeresie and Blasphemy in future times But this clause of this Act is now repealed by an Act of this present Parliament which takes away the High Commission and so all Statutes concerning Heretickes or Heresie are now wholly repealed and the Ordinaries power to punish them totally abolished by the Ordinances abolishing Episcopacy Yet this is observable that both before and after the repeale of all Statutes concerning Haeresie by 1 Eliz. c. 1. some reall Heretickes and Anabaptists were condemned and burnt for Haeresie by vertue of the Common Law of England I read if Fox his Acts and Monuments that in King Henry the 8. his Reigne in the yeare of our Lord 1535. ten Datch men accounted for Anabaptists were put to death in sundry places of the Realme and that other tenne repented and were saved and two of the said Company pardoned by the King albeit the definitive sentence was read And well might they deserve this sentence if our learned Martyr John Philpot may be credited who writes in a godly Letter to a friend of his That Axentius one of the Arrian Sect with his Adherents was one of the first that denyed the Baptisme of Children and next after him Pelagius the Hereticke and some others that were in St. Bernards time and in our dayes the Anabaptists an inordinate kinde of men stirred up by the Devil to the destruction of the Gospel So he o An. 1538. Two Anabaptists were burned in Smithfield three then bore fagots and abjured the Realme but this was before these Acts repealed After their repeale in the 17. yeare of Queene Elizabeth Anno 1575. A congregation of Anabaptists being Dutch-men was discovered in a House without the Barres of Aldgate LONDON 27 of them were taken and sent to Prison 4. of them bearing Fagots recanted their Haereticall opinions at Pauls Crosse the 5th day of May The 21. of May one man and two women Anabaptists Dutch were in the Consistory at Pauls condemned to be burnt in Smithfield after great paines taken with them the Women were converted and the Man banished Nine Women of them and a Man were publikely Carted and whipped by the Sheriffs Officers on the first of Iune and then carried to the Water side from Newgate and shipped and banished never to returne more into England The 22. of Iuly two Dutchmen Anabaptists were burned in Smithfield who died with great horror roaring and yelling And by this meanes England was then preserved from their infection Anno 1579. being 21. Eliz. Mathew Hamant for execrable Haeresie and Blasphemy not fit to repeat against Christ and the Holy Ghost and denying their Deity and the use of Baptisme and Sacraments in the Church was on the 13. day of April condemned at Norwich by the Bishop of the Diocesse in his Consistory as an Haeretick and on the 20th of May burned publikly in the Castle of Norwich his Eares being first cut off in the Market place for horrible blasphemy against the Queene r Anno. 25. Eliz. on the 18. day of September one Iohn Lewes who named himselfe Abdeit an obstinate Haereticke denying the Godhead of Christ and holding divers other damnable Haeresies much like his Predecessor Hamant WAS BVRNED AT NORWICH Hil. 9. Jacobi one Legat was juditially convented convicted and condemned by the Bishop of the Diocesse for his Heresie and it was resolved by the Judges of the Kings Bench that a Writ De Haeretico comburendo lay upon the judgement and some say he was burnt accordingly 9. Jacobi 19. Novembris Anno Dom. 1611. one Edward Wrightman of Burton upon Trent was convented before Richard Neale Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield for denying the Trinity the Deity of Christ and of the Holy Ghost and affirming himselfe to be Christ and the Holy Ghost and the Scriptures spoken of them to be meant of himselfe all which he affirmed and justified in his Answers to his Articles and persisted in the same after many conferences whereupon on the 5th of December following he was condemned for an obstinate and incorrigible Haereticke and excommunicated with the great Excommunication and adjudged by the Bishop to be delivered over to the secular power to be capitally punished according to the Atrocity and haynousnes of his crimes and Blasphemies whose Articles and sentence I have in my custody Whether he were actually burnt or reprived as one frantique
Peterâ— usually stiles him though he highly magnifies him afterwards yea of one who believed not in Christ and doubted whether his counsell work and way were of God or not as is evident by Vers 38 39. and so no part of canonicall Scripture though recorded in it no more then Rabshekah his blasphemies and railing speeches 2 Kings 28. 17 c. 2 Chron. 32. 9. to 21. or the High Priests and Jewes false testimonies and invectives against Christ Paul and the other Apostles Mat. 11. 9. c. 12. 24. c. 26. 60. 61. c. c. 27. 63. c. 28. 11. to 16. Acts 2. 13. c. 24. 1. to 10. And although God in his providence made use of this advice for the present to rescue the Apostles from death as he did of the Centurions and others to save Pauls life Acts 21. 31. 32 c. c. 22. 12. to 32. c. 27. 42. 43. yet it is no canonicall Scripture nor solid ground to raise any divine argument from especially to controll the expresse commands of God and the undubitable canonicall Scriptures forecited Secondly I answer that both Gamaliels examples are contradictory to his and the objectors conclusion The first example he instanceth in is that of Theudas who had about four hundred men of his separate Congregation more then most of our Independent Ministers have in their flock But what became of him was he permitted to go on in his schisme and seducement No for he was slain as the Text expresseth And was the smiting of this false shepheard or head the gathering together or multiplication of his flock as Mr. Iohn Goodwin observes from hence No such matter for the text is expresse That all as many as believed him were scattered brought to nought Iosephus Eusebius and others from them relate that this Theudas was a Sorcerer who stiled himself a Prophet or Newlight making his followers believe that the river Iordan would divide it self at his command but he was met with and encountred with a great force at unawares by Fadus Lieutenant of Iudea who slew many of his followers took divers others of them alive beheaded Theudas himself and brought his head to Jerusalem not letting him nor his seduced Proselytes alone to God himself to destroy oâ— suppresse What then must be the naturall inference hence but this Theudas the false Prophet who had raised four hundred followers was slain by the hand of Justice and al that believed him were scattered brought to nought by Fadus Lieutenant of Judea and his forces Ergo Hereticks false seducing Prophets obstinate Schismaticks and Blasphemers must be tolerated and their congregations freely permitted but not suppressed dispersed by the christian Magistrate nor punished with any corporall or capitall punishments Whereas the quite contrary followes from it The second instance is that of Iudas of Galilee who role up in armes against King Herod and made an open rebellion wasting the countrey with fire and sword as Iosephus relates and drew much people after him Now what became of him was he let alone No he also perished and all even as many as obeyed him were not gathered together and multiplied by the smiting of this Prophet and head as Mr. Goodwin inferres point blank against his Text but dispersed by the Roman forces So that Egyptian Sorcerer who stiled himself a Prophet and drew 4000 men after him into the Wildernesse Acts 21. 38. had like successe Iosephus and * Eusebius write that he drew at least 30000 after him to Mount Oliver intending to surprize Jerusalem and exercise tyranny in it both upon the Roman watch and the inhabitants who therupon was * encountred and routed by Felix and all his followers slain taken or scattered What then can be the Argument from this example only this Nototious Traitors Rebels False Prophets who rise up in armes seditiously against Authority are sure to perish all that obey them shall be slain or dispersed by their Princes forces at the last as Iudas and his confederates were Ergo Rebels Murderers as well as Hereticks Schismaticks and Blasphemers must be let alone and not suppressed punished with corporall or capitall punishments or if they be it will gather them together and multiply them ordinarily not disperse and bring them to nought This is Gamaliels Mr. Goodwins and Mr. Peters new mysterious Logick and Divinity from this instance and example in this text Thirdly I answer that Gamaliels conclusion And now I say unto you forbear these men and let them alone as it is no necessary consequence from the premised instances so the reasons whereon it is grounded will no wayes warrant the opposite conclusion from it The first of them is this For if this counsell or work be of man it will come to nought to wit of it self without slaying the Apostles for that must be the meaning But this is no solid reason even in point of Divinity and civill Policy as will appear by these ensuing instances Job 8. 22. The dwelling-place of the wicked shall come to nought will it therefore necessarily follow thence Ergo The civill Magistrate ought not with good King David Early to destroy all the wicked of the land and cut off all evill doers from the city of his God Psal 101. 8. but forbear and let them alone till God himself destroy them So Amos 5. 5. Seek not Bethel that is the calves and Idols there for Bethel shall come to nought Will it thence follow Ergo the good Kings of Israel were to forbear the Altar and high places at Bethel and let the Calves and idolatrous worshippers of them there alone Then good King Iosiah did very ill In breaking down the Altar and high places that were at Bethel which Ieroboam the son of Neâ—at who made Israel to sinne had made in stamping the High-places to powder in burning the Groves and in taking away all the Houses of the High-places that were in Samaria which the Kings of Israel had made to provoke the Lord to anger and in doing to them as he did â—n Bethel and IN Sâ—â—YING AL THE PRIESTS OF THE HIGH PLACES that were there VPON THE ALTARS and burning mens bones upon them for which he is for ever chronicled as a pattern of zeal and imitation to posterity 2 Kings 13. 8. to 21. If this new Policy Divinity had bin known to the godly Kings and Prophets in the Old Testament not one Idolater must have been put to death according to Gods commands forecited nor no one Idol Image High-place Altar or Grove destroyed by the Prince Magistrate People but all of them must have been forborn and let alone because being but the carnall works of men they would have come to nought of themselves But this Gamaliel was not then a Dâ— either of Law or Divinity to these good Kings as he is now to our New-lights who would rather live under Gamaliels government were he now alive as Mr. Peters hath oft openly protested in the
Pulpit then under the best Presbyterian government or Governour in the world Again It is written Psal 33. 10. The Lord bringing the counsel of the people to nought he maketh the devices of the people of no effect which is likewise seconded Isay 8. 10. cap. 19. 3. as he brought the counsel of the enemy to nought against Ierusalem Nehem. 5. 7. to 19. Will it thence follow Ergo Nehemiah and Gods people did ill in setting a watch in arming themselves and fighting against them to frustrate and resist their counsels as me read they did Will any prudent Prince or State neglect to apprehend and execute the Heads or Ringleaders of a new-plotted Treason or fresh Rebellâ—on and forbeare and let them alone because at last they would come to nought of themselves Will any man be so foolish as not to put out a fire which may endanger his whole house or an whole City because peradventure it will at last go out of it selfe when the whole house or City is consumed Doubtlesse no. Gamaliels atgument therefore and our opposers from his reason is neither agreeable to the rules of Divinity or Policy as these instances manifest and right reason to For though Heresies Blasphemies False-teachers Schismaticks and the like will at last come to nought of themselves yet this is no argument at all to forbear and let them alone First because it may be very long before they will come to nought of themselves if let alone whereas the Magistrate by his censures will speedily suppresse them Secondly because they may spread very far doe much hurt and seduce divers if let alone but not so if speedily suppressed and severely punished by the Magistrates as soon as broached and discovered Thirdly because the letting of them alone will breed much disturbance and schisme for the present discontent the most pious zealous religious yea bring judgments on the Churches States Magistrates people that permit them which a timely suppression execution of justice on them might prevent as I have proved in the premises Fourthly it is a received Maxime both in Politicks Ethicks and Physicks To withstand the rise and first beginnings of evils though at last they may come to nought of themselves It is the advice of agraver Doctor then Gamaliel Prov. 13. 24. He that spareth his rod hateth his sonne but he that loveth him chastiseth him BETIMES yea David would EARLY destroy all the wicked of the land Psal 101. 8. and the reason is rendred Eccles 8. 11. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed SPEEDILY therfore the hearts of the sonnes of men is fully set in them to doe evill The longer evils and evill men are tolerated the more obstinate the more pernicious and incurable they grow and therefore Ezra 7. 26. King Artaxerxes gave this charge to Ezra and the Judges Whosoever will not do the law of thy God and of the King let judgement BE EXECVTED SPEEDILY AGAINST HIM whether it be unto death or to banishment or to confiscation of goods or to imprisonment If Dr. Gamaliel Mr. Goodwin or Mr. Peters had been of this good Kings or of Davids Solomons Privie Counsel or Clerks of their convocations or Burgesses in their Parliaments we should never have heard of such precepts Lawes Texts as these against Idolaters and other Malefactors but Gamaliels absurd Counsell Forbeare these men and let them alone must have controled their more sacred and sage advises If Gamaliel Mr. Goodwin or Mr. Peters should advise Gardiners or Husbandmen not to pluck up the weeds in their Gardens and cornefields whiles they are greene and young but to let them alone till they wither of themselves or counsell sick men when their diseases are but breeding or creeping upon them not to take Phisike to prevent or remove them but to forbeare and let them alone till they wore away of themselves or advise Shepherds not to drive any Wolves and Foxes from their flocks as soon as ever they come near or entred the folds but to let them alone till they had filled their bellieson their flocks then they would depart of themselves they would certainely deride reject them as most absurd impolitick Doctors Phisitians Shepheards rather to be hissed at then followed The case of tollerating and letting alone Heretikes Scismaticks false Teachers Blasphemers is just the same who are as badde nay worse then any weeds Pests sicknesses Cancers Wolves and therefore not to be tollerated or let alone but speedily suppressed Hence St. Iohn who was a better Doctor then either Gamaliel Mr. Goodwin or Mr. Peters commanded Christians not so much as to receive false Teachers into their houses nor yet bid them good speed 2. John 10. And Paul himselfe Gal. 2. 4. 5. when false brethren came to spie out his liberty in Christ bring him and others into bondage writes thus of himselfe and them To whom we gave place by subjection NO NOT FOR AN â—OVRE that the truth of the Gospel MIGHT CONTINVE VVITH YOV which else would have been soone corrupted And v. 11. 12. 13. 14. when Peter came to Antioch and seperated himselfe from the Gentiles fearing them of the Circumscition Paul presently withstood him to his face because he was to be blamed and rebuked him before all Yea he gives this rule concerning Hereticks to Titus himselfe Tit. 3. 10. A man that is an HERETICK AFTER THE FIRST AND SECOND ADMONITION REIECT c. He must noâ— be forborne and let alone till he perish and come to nought of himselfe but convicted and cast out presently after a first and second Admonition at furthest Wherefore Gamaliels reason and advise with reference to Hereticks Idolaters Schismaticks Seducers and Blasphemers to which our opposites apply it is certainly most absurd in point of Divinity of Pollicy and not worthy so grave a Doctor of the Chaire His second reason is not much better then it if seriously considered as applied to knowne Hereticks false-Teachers Schismaticks Idolaters or Blasphemers the subjects now inquestion But if it be of God ye cannot overthrow it lest happily he be found to fight against God Therefore Magistrates must forbeare to punish Idolaters Hereticks false Teachers obstinate Schismaticks and Blasphemers who for certain are not of God but fighters against him and let them alone only upon this ground is a strange Nonsequitur Indeed where Magistrates are certainly perswaded in their consciences that any Doctrine way or counsell is of God himselfe or have sufficient grounds to incline their consciences to beleive that such persons Doctrines wayes are or most probably may be of God there it is safest to forbeare the oppression or suppression of them if it may stand with publike peace and safety and this advise will warrant as much But when there is no such certaine or faire probability but a cleare conviction that such Persons Doctrines wayes Schismes are not of God but against him then this advice and reason of Gamaliel holds not
to Kings or Magistrates noâ— of their temporall power to punish such workes as these the argument is must absurd and Childish The rather because though Paul the Spirit of God in this Text speake not of inflicting outward punishments on those who commit the carnall works here specified yet they clearely enjoyne Magistrates thus to punish them in other Texts both of the Old and New-Testament and that both corporally and capitally as I have proved in the premises And Paul himselfe in terminis asserting Rom. 13. 1 2 3 4. That the Higher Powers are ordained of God and are his Ministers for the punishment of evill doers and his revengers to execute wrath upon them that do evill prohibiting them neither in this nor any other Text to punish such corporally or capitally overthrowes this warlike disputant horse and man and layes his Argument in the Dâ—st for ever His 2d Scripture and Argument from it Hee that believeth not shall bee damned Math. 16. 16. not one word of outward and corporall punishment nor of imprisonment banishment losse of Goods or life receive the selfesame answers as the former only with these further additions to manifest the absurdity of the inference from it First that Christ in this Text speakes only to his Apostles what they should preach to Heathens who had then no Christian Magistrates to convert them to Christianity not what they should preach to Christian Magistrates to instruct them how and with what censures they should punish Hereticks or other malefactors a subject of a quite different nature To argue then from hence Magistrates must not punish Malefactors by vertue of other Texts because Christ tells the Apostles in this what they are to preach to such as would not believe is a grosse absurdity 2dly Christ speakes here only of â—agans and others who believed not the Gospell when preached not of Hereticks Schismaticks or Seducers whon Mr. Dell reputes and stiles THE FAITHFVLL c. though publikely and shamefully called Heretickes and Scismaticks and of their eternall punishment meerely for unbeliefe not for Heresy Schisme Blasphemy nor of the temporall punishment of such nor yet of unbelievers by the civill Magistrate Therefore to argue from meere Infidelity to Heresie Scisme or Blasphemy which are crimes of a different nature and from the eternall punishment of the one to deny the corporall or capitall temporall punishment of the other as Mr. Dell doth is a most illogicall sencelesse manner of dispute yea transitio a genere ad genus exploded by the Schooles And thus I have routed Mr. Dells maine Battalia and broken every squadron of it quite in peeces I now proceed to the 5th Objection which is thus and it is Mr. Dells too Christ reproveth his Disciples for discovering such a Spirit of Tyrany as to punish men for not receiving him Lu 9. when the Apostles out of a Prelaticall and Antichristian Spirit in that particular desired fire to come downe from Heaven upon them that would not receive him Christ did severely rebuke them saying Yee know not of what Spirit ye are not of Christs Spirit which is meeke but of Sathans who was a murtherer from the beginning and of Antichrists his first begotten in the world and he addes the Son of man came not to destroy mens lives but to save them And therefore to go about to turne the Gospell not to save mens lives but to destroy them and so to change Christ himselfe from a Saviour to a Destroyer this is Antichrist triumphant All these things shew that worldly power Hath no place at all in the Reformation of the Gospell So he most Magisterially determines more confidently then ever the Anabaptists did to whom he is beholding for this New-light and Argument who presse it with more earnestnesse theâ— judgement or successe I Answer that Mr. Dells confidence is farre stronger then his Arguments which in truth are weaknesse and this Argument as weake as any when examined and the objected Text set right The place quoted is Lu. 9. 51. to 57. wherein he brands the Apostles themselves as infected with a Prelaticall and Antichristian spirit before Prelacy or Antichrist were risen up in the world an unparalleld abuse and absurdity where we read That Christ stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem and thereupon sent Messengers into a Village of the Samaritans to make ready for him not to preach to them And they refused to receive him because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem the Jewes being then at great emnity with the Samaritans and having no dealings with them John 4.9 And when his Disciples Iames and Iohn saw this they said Lord wilt thou that we command fire to come downe from heaven and consume them even as Elias did But he turned and rebuked them and said yee know not what manner of Spirit yee are of For the Son of man is not come to destroy mens lives but to save them This is the full story In which it is observable First That there was here no refusing of Christs owne nor of his Messengers Doctrine preaching but only of their Persons 2ly That this refusall was not out of any disaffection to Christ or them as Christ or Christs Messengers but because they were going up to Ierusalem which was then at emnity with the Samaritans 3ly That for this bare refusall to receive them only upon this ground Iames and Iohn out of a fiery rash zeale and spirit of revenge not a Prelaticall or Antichristian spirit not then in being would presently have a miracle wrought and a miraculous punishment suddainly inflicted upon them even to their distruction for such a small neglect 4ly That themselves would take upon them the powet to worke this miracle not leave the manner or honour of it to Christ a very great presumption in them as this clause Lord wilt thou that WE command fire to come downe from heaven to consume them fully intimates 5ly That they vouch the president of Elias even as Elias did whose case was no waies parellell for the Captaines and their fifties whom he destroyed with their fifties were sent with an expres command from the King to apprehend him by force or offer violence to his person if he refused to com down without any just cause at all and they did it in an imperious manner But here was no violence at all intended nor offered to Christ or his followers only they would not receive them because they were bound for Ierusalem Therefore they were justly checked by our Saviour for it 6ly They did it meerely out of private revenge Non â—elo justitia sed amaritudinis odio ob injuriam suae expultionis vindicandamâ— as Gratian Osiander Epositers generally observe on the place which is contrary to the Scripture and concernes not the Majestrate Turn this then into a formall Argument and it will bee only this Inconsequent Iames and Iohn are rebuked by