harmonious sounds the Angels or Intelligencers as they call them turning as it were the broaches But this Celestiall musick they speak of is but a pleasing dreame a true Celestiall harmony may be heard in the confession of all the Reformed Churches wherewith now in the close I purpose to cheare up and recreate the Reader and lest any quarrell should be made or offence taken at the precedencie I will call the severall Churches in such order as they are ranked in the Latine edition of the Confessions printed at Geneva An. 1581. Concerning the Authour Office and Authority of the Civill Magistrate thus we read In the Helvetian confession The Magistracie of what kind soever is ordained of God for the peace and quietnesse of mankind and hee ought to have the first place in the world And a little afterwards As God doth work the safety of his people by the Magistrate whom hee hath given to bee as a Father to the world so all subjects are commanded to acknowledge this benefit of God in the Magistrate let them therefore honour and reverence him as the Minister of God love him and pray for him as their Father obey him in all his just and righteous commands the care of Religion chiefly appertaines to a godly Magistrate let him therefore draw his sword against all malefactours murderers theeves and blasphemous hereticks c. In this regard we condemn the Anabaptists who as they deny that a Christian may execute the office of a Magistrate so also they deny that any man may be lawfully put to death by him The Basill confession Let every Christian Magistrate bend all his forces this way that among all that are under him the name of God may be hallowed his Kingdome propagagated and his will in the rooting out of all wickednesse and vice may be fulfilled This duty was ever enjoyned even to the heathen Magistrates how much more is it required of a Christian Magistrate who is Gods true Vicar The Bohemian confession The Civill Magistrate is the ordinance of God and appointed by God who both taken his originall from God and by the effectuall power of his presence and continuall aid is maintained by him to governe the people in those things that appertain to thelife of the body here upon earth to whose power all and every one ought to be subject in those things that are not contrary to God first to the Kings Majesty then to all the Magistrates and such as are in authority under him whether they be of themselves good men or evill The French confession wee beleive that God would have the world to be governed Civilly and by Lawes that there may be certain bridles whereby the desires of men may bee restrained and that therefore he hath appointed Kingdomes Common-wealths and other kinds of Principalities whether they come by inheritance or otherwaies and because he is the authour of thiâ— order we must not only suffer them to rule whom he hath set over us but also yeild unto them all honour and reverence as to Deputies and Ministers assigned by him to execute their lawfull and holy function into their hands God hath put a sword to punish all breaches as well of the first Table as of the second The Low-Dutch confession We beleive that Almighty God by reason of the corruption and depravation of mankind did appoint Kings Princes and Magistrates and that it is his will that this world should bee governed by lawes and a Civill government and to this end hee hath armed Magistrates with a sword to punish the wicked and defend the good To these it appertaineth of duty not only watchfully to preserve the Civill State but also to endeavour that the holy Ministery of the word be maintained all Idolatry and false worship removed the Kingdome of Antichrist pulled downe and the Kingdome of Christ propagated Wherefore wee detest all Anabaptists and seditious persons who cast away all government and Magistracie pervert judgements and overthrow all mens rights make all mens goods common and lastly abolish and confound all orders and degrees appointed by God among men for honesty and comlinesse sake The High Dutch confession at Ausperge Civill governments and constitutions are good workes and ordinances of God as Saint Paul testifieth they condemne therefore the Anabaptists who forbid Civill offices to Christians they condemn also those who place Evangelicall perfection in abandoning all civill affaires whereas Evangelicall perfection is Spirituall and consisteth in the motions of the heart in the feare of God Faith Love and Obedience The Saxon confession Wee teach that in the whole doctrine of God delivered by the Apostles and Prophets that Civill government is maintained and that Magistrates Lawes tribunalls and the lawfull society of men sprung not up by chance but that all the good order that is left is preserved by the exceeding goodnesse of God for the Churches sake and all subjects owe to the civill Magistrate obedience as Saint Paul saith not only for wrath that is feare of corporall punishment wherwith the disobedient are rewarded by the Magistrate but also for conscience sake Contumacie being a sinne offending God and withdrawing the conscience from him And seeing Magistrates are the chiefe members of the Church let them see that Judgements in the Church and Ecclesiasticall censures be rightly executed as Constantine Theodosius Arcadius Marcianus Charle-Maine and many godly Kings took order in their times that Ecclesiasticall judicature and proceedings in spirituall Courts should be rightly carried The Suevick confession Our Churches teach that the office of a Magistrate is most sacred and divine whence it is that they who exercise this power are called Gods and our Preachers teach that the obedience which is performed to Magistrates is to bee placed among good works of the first rank and that by how much a man is a more sincere and faithfull Christian the more carefull hee is to observe the Lawes of the State I know not upon what ground the English and Scotch confession are left out of the Harmony of Confessions for they are as full as any of the rest for proofe of the point in question the Scotch runneth thus The Confession of Scotland Wee confesse and acknowledge Empires Kingdomes Dominions and Cities to be distincted and ordained by God that powers and authority in the same be it of Emperous in their Empires Kings in their Realmes Dukes and Princes in their Dominions and of other Magistrates in their Cities to be Gods holy Ordinance ordained for manifestation of his owne glory and for the singular profit and commodity of mankind so that whosoever goeth about to take away or confound the whole state of Civill policie now long established we affirm the same men not only to be enemies to mankind but also wickedly to fight against Gods expressed will The Confession of England Art 37. The Kings Majesty hath the chief power in this Realm of England and
other his Dominions unto whom the chiefe government of all estates of this Realm whether they be Ecclesiasticall or Civill in all causes doth appertain and is not nor ought to be subject to any forrain jurisdiction The Lawes of the Realm may punish Christian men with death for heinous and grievous offences The summe of all is the Civill Magistrate is a divine ordinance and his chiefe care is or ought to be Religion for the defence and vindication whereof God hath put a sword in his hand to cut off the disturbers of the Peace as well in the Church as the Common-wealth and because he is the Minister of God for our wealth and safety his authority is to be obeyed by all sorts of men for conscience sake and not to be resisted upon paine of damnation And now Christian Reader thou hast heard a Harmony listen not to discords thou hast heard a consort of silver Trumpets hearken not to a single oat-pipe or the harsh sound of Rams hornes thou hast heard the suffrages of all the learned Divines in the Reformed Churches regard not the votes of a few illiterate Mechanicks much lesse the fancie and dreames of fanaticall Enthusiasts who because they are Anomolaes themselves would not by their good will there should bee any Rules because they are wandring Starres they would have none fixt because they are dissolute they would have no bonds of Lawes because they are Schismaticks and Non-conformists they would have no Discipline in the Church because they are dunces and ignorant both of Tongues and Arts they would have no learning nor Universities Lastly because they walke inordinately they would have no coercive power in the Magistrate to restraine them There was never more cause then now to take heed what thou hearest and to try the spirits whether they are of God or no for there is not one only lying spirit as in the dayes of Ahab but many lying spirits in the mouthes of Prophets not only Romish Priests and Iesuits who endeavour to seduce thee to spirituall thraldome idolatry and superstition but also diverse sorts of schismaticall Teachers who intice thee to carnall liberty prophanenesse sacriledge and faction When I first heard of the manner of taking Apes in the Indies I could scarce forbeare laughter but now seeing dayly men of worth and parts caught after the same manner by our new Sectaries I can hardly refrain tears The maner of taking those beasts is thus described he that goes about to catch Apes in those parts of America which abound with them brings a Bason with fair water and therein paddles with his hands and washeth his face in sight of the Apes and then steps aside for a while the Ape seeing the coast cleare steales to the Bason and seeing his face in the water is much delighted therewith and in imitation of the man dabbles with his feet in the cleare water and washes his face and wipes his eyes and after this he lyes in wait for him fetches away the Bason powres out the faire water and fills it againe with water mingled with birdlime and puts the Bason in the place where it stood before the Ape returning to the Bason and suspecting nothing puts his feet in the birdlime and with that foul mingled water washes his face and wipes his eyes which are thereby so dazled the eye-lids closed up that unawares he is easily caught In like manner these late Proselytes who invade many empty Pulpits in the City and Suburbs at the first in their Sermons set before thee as it were a Bason of the pure water of life wherin thou maist see thy face wash away the spots of thy soul but after they have got thy liking and good opinion confide in thee then they mingle bird-lime with the water of life the birdlime of Socinianisme of Libertinisme or Antinominianisme Brownisme and Anabaptisme wherewith after they have put out or closed the eyes of thy judgement they lead thee whither they lift and make a prey of thee Praemonitus praemunitus I have forewarned thee bee thou forearmed against them and the Lord give thee a right judgment in all things Gastius de exord Anabap. p. 495. Quia Anabaptistae à veritate avertunt aures idea Deus mittit illis Doctores non qui lingua medica sanarent ulcera ipsorum sed qui pruritum ac scabiem affectuum ipsorum commodè scalperent Because the Anabaptists turn away their eares from the truth God sendeth them teachers according to their desire not such as with their wholesome tongues and doctrine heale their sores but with their nailes scratch gently the itch of their carnall lusts and affections Remarkeable Histories OF THE ANABAPTISTS WITH OBSERVATIONS thereupon THE French after the first course of solid dishes entertaine their guests with Kicke-shoses and wee with fruit In the former part of this Treatise courteous Reader as well in the propounding our arguments for the orthodox faith as in the Refutation of the Anabaptists objections against it I desired to set before thee Solid and substantiall dishes to strengthen thee in the true doctrine of thereformed Church of England but in these ensuing relations and observations I make bold to set on the board Kicke-shoses and variety of strange fruits which though peradventure they will not much nourish thy faith yet eaten with a graine of Salt will some way irritate thy appetite and help thy digestion and concoction OBSERVAT. I. That the Anabaptists are an Illiterate and Sottish Sect. As Macarius who had the care and oversight of erecting that magnificent structure at Ierusalem built by Helena the mother of Constantine the great was happy in his name for Macarius in Greek signifieth blessed and as Theodoret testifieth a blessed man was he so on the contrary many Arch-hereticks and Boâ—tefeux of the Church and State have been happily unlucky in their names their God-Fathers at the Font proving Prophets and the names they gave them being presages of their qualities and fortunes and Characters of their persons Haymo noteth out of Iraeneus that Ebion the Father of the Ebionites signifieth in Hebrew poore and silly and a silly poore man God wot was he Manes the Father of the Manichees derives his name in Greeke from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 insanio or à 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 insania madnesse and verily a franticke heretick was he Aërius the Father of the AërianÌ„s carieth wind in his name and a light giddy-braind fellow was hee blowne into his heresie with the wind of ambition as Saint Augustine declareth in his bed-roll of heresies What should I descend to Maldonate whos 's very name speaketh the abuse of his filts Maldonatus quasi malè donatus and to Ignatius the Founder of his Sect Ignatius Layola who as he hath Ignem fire in his name so he and his Disciples have proved the greatest Incendiaries in the Christian world I will trouble thee but with one instance more and that is
every man have praise of God The Apostle speaketh not in that place against any judiciall proceedings but against private rash and uncharitable judging of our brother and taking his words in the worst part without any just ground or censuring not so much his outward actions or speeches as inward intentions known only go God Such perverse judging our Saviour condemneth Matth. 7. 1. And this Apostle Rom. 2. 1. Therefore thou art unexcusable O man whosoever thou art that judgest As in the skye sometimes there is cleare light and perfect day sometimes perfect darknesse and yet besides these a third condition which we call twilight neither so light as day nor so dark as night so the actions of men for which they are questionable in Spirituall or Temporall Courts are of three sorts some are altogether hidden of which there can be brought no sure proofe nor strong presumption the judgement of these must be reserved to the last day when Christ shall reveal the secrets of all hearts some are done as it were in the face of the Sunne whereof there may be strong and evident proofes brought in such cases a Judge ought to proceed secundum allegata probata and not put the conscience of any man as it were upon the wrack to extort the truth from him by oath Lastly some are of a mixt nature neither fully open and manifest nor altogether hidden such whereof there are strong presumptions and a generall fame but no pregnant proofe in such cases the oath ex officio is of use whereby the truth may be more and more discovered and the party either cleared upon his deniall or convicted upon his confession or held pro confesso by his evasions and tergiversations and refusing to be put to the test of his oath ARTIC 6. Concerning the office of the Civill Magistrate THere remain many other errours of the Anabaptists some blasphemous as the denying the incarnation of Christ from the substance of the blessed Virgin some impure and lascivious as maintaining the plurality of wives some drowzie and sottish as the casting of the soule into an Endymion sleep untill the day of judgement But because these absurd positions are not at this day generally owned by our Anabaptists the last errour which I intend to encounter at this present is that pernicious assertion of theirs concerning the exauctorating all Civill Magistrates whereby they dull the edge or wring out of their hands the sword of justice Other of their errours fight against the Church but this against the State others agaisnt piety but this against Politie yet as Velleius in Tully goeth about by reason to prove that nothing is more hurtfull to man then the gift of reason so this errour against policie is most politickly devised by them for there being but two censures which any need to fear the Ecclesiasticall and the Civill and they regarding not the Ecclesiasticall because they are out of the pale of the Church if they could keep themselves out of the reach and stroake of the Civill sword all were cock-sure with them they might every where securely both vent their errours and practise their villanies This is the true reason why they so vehemently contend that the coercive power of the Magistrate can no way consist with the perfection of Christianity Now although the Civill Magistrate be ordained of God for the suppression of all vice and heresie yet above all other he ought to have an eye to this for this hath a peculiar antipathy to Magistracie The Magistrate shall beare his sword in vaine indeed if he let other heresies grow but if this thrive in any Kingdome State or Common-wealth he shall not beare his sword at all There is that contrariety and repugnancie between this heresie and that calling that if Magistracie doe not speedily root out this heresie this heresie will extirpate all Magistracie for thus much it professeth in formall tearmes ANABAPTIST No Christian may with a good conscience execute the office of a Civill Magistrate REFUTATION Before I cut off this heresie against the materiall sword with the sword of the spirit which is the word of God I will present to the Anabaptists a glasse wherein they may see their own faces drawne to the life Saint Peter and Saint Iude speaking against false Prophets in their dayes so describe them that all men may see who were the Grand-Fathers of these Hereticks who trouble the Church at this day They walke saith Saint Peter after the flesh in the lust of uncleannesse and despise Government and Dominion Presumptuous are they selfe-willed they are not afraid to speake evill of dignities whereas Angels which are greater in power and might bring not railing accusation against them before the Lord but these as naturall brute beasts made to be taken and destroyed speake evill of the things they understand not and shall utterly perish in their owne corruption I intreat the Reader to take speciall notice of the words of these two Apostles which fall so pat upon our present Anabaptists as if the Apostles had particularly aimed at them But to leave pâ—urtraying them and fall to refuting them ARGUMENT I. Every office appointed by God for the administration of Justice and preservation of peace both in Church and Common-wealth may with a good conscience bee executed by a Christian called thereunto But the office of Civill Magistrates is an office appointed by God for the administration of justice and preservation of peace both in Church and Common-wealth Exod. 18. 20 21. 2 Chron. 19. 6. 7. 11. Prov. 8. 15. Dan. 2. 21. Ergo the office of a Magistrate may with a good conscience be executed by a Christian. ANABAPTISTS ANSWER Although God appointed Magistrates in the time of the Law and the Iewes were kept in order by them yet it followeth not that Christians may exercise that power one over another or that they need any Civill Magistrate at all for they are called by Christ to a greater perfection They must not resist evill but give place to wrath REPLY There is a like necessity of the office of a Judge and Magistrate as well under the Gospell as under the Law For both the Scripture teacheth us Acts 6. 1. 1 Cor. 3. 3 4. 6. 6 7. Phil. 3. 18. Iames 4. 1. and daily experience sheweth that such disorders fall out among Christians as did among Jewes and that through the corruption of our nature we are subject to those passions that unlesse the Civill Magistrate interpose his authority there will be no quiet and peaceable living and if the malady still remaine we must use the remedy which God hath appointed It is false which they affirme that Christ in the 5. of Matthew addeth any thing to the law which the Prophet David Psalme 19. 7. affirmeth to bee perfect converting the soule but only he vindicateth it from the corrupt glosses and false interpretations made thereof by the Scribes and Pharisees For even
under the Altar Witnesse a Tractate of Divorce in which the bonds of marriage are let loose to inordinate lust and putting away wives for many other causes besides that which our Saviour only approveth namely in case of Adultery Witnesse a Pamphlet newly come forth intituled Mans Mortality in which the soule is cast into an Endymion sleep from the houre of death to the day of Judgement Witnesse a bold Libell offered to hundreds and to some at the doore of the house of Commons called The Vindication of the Royall Commission of King Iesus wherein the brazen fac'd Author blusheth not to brand all the Reformed Churches and the whole Christian world at this day which christen their children sign them with the seale of the Covenant with the odious name of an Antichristian faction Thirdly In regard of the peculiar malignity this heresie hath to Magistracie other heresies are stricken by Authority this strikes at Authority it selfe undermineth the powers that are ordained of God and endeavoureth to wrest the sword out of the Magistrates hand to whom God hath given it for the cutting off of all heresie and impiety and if this Sect prevaile we shall have no Monarchie in the State nor Hierarchie in the Church but an Anarchie in both It grieveth a Religious eye to see other vermine corrupting other Flowers of Paradise as our sweet Violets and fragrant Roses and fairest Lillies and various Iulyflowers and blushing Emmenies and beautifull Tulips but most of all to see this heresie like a venemous serpent lying at the root of the Crown-Imperiall which if it be not killed will so poyson it that the leaves will fall off by degrees and the stalke it selfe shortly wither We read in the Prophecie of Zacharie of two staves the staffe of beauty and the staffe of bonds which supported the State and Church of Israel By the staffe of beauty or comlinesse the Lawes of every Kingdome and Common-wealth may be understood which beare up the State and preserve decent order and comlinesse among men By the staffe of bonds the covenants and oathes whereby the members are firmly tyed to their head and one to another If the staffe of beauty be broken there will be a down-fall of all good order and government if the staffe of bonds be broken all things will be at a loose end Me thinks I see these two staves shining in the golden Maces borne before you the staffe of beauty in that borne before the House of Commons in which the Legislative power and the beautifull order of the severall Estates of this Kingdome are conspicuous the staffe of bonds in that which is carryed before the House of Peers in which the power of Iudicature even to bonds and death principally resideth Now because these heretiques alone professedly teach the exautorating all Christian Magistrates and in expresse termes deny both the Legislative power in the Commons to propound or enact Lawes in matter of Religion and all coercive power in the house of Peeres or any other to inflict civill punishment for the violation of them and so as much as in them lyeth they endeavour to break both these staves of the Prophet they deserve the smartest stroak from both With these Heretiques I enter into Lists in the ensuing Tractate and without any flourish of Rhetorick at all fall upon them with Logicall and Theologicall weapons weilded after a Scholasticall manner for it is most true which Papirius Cursor sometimes spake in the head of his Troops advancing on in their march against the Armie of the Samnites more glorious in shew then formidable as consisting of men more sumptuously then strongly armed encouraging his souldiers after this manner Feare not this Pageant rather then Armie their large feathers and imbroydered scarfes give no wounds their rich belts and painted targets and thin gilt breast-plates will not endure the push of the Roman pike It is not beauty and gorgeous apparell but strength and valour and Armour of proof makes a Warriour And therefore that brave Commander of the Trojans Hector deservedly checkt his brother Paris a Paragon of beauty and an excellent Carpet Knight in the flower of his age for undertaking a single combat with Menclaus saying 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pickt phrases and witty conceits and ornaments of Rhetorick doe well in Panegyricks Paraeneticks but they are of little or no use in Polemicks in which thus Ennius informs us Vi geritur res Spernitur orator bonus horridu ' miles amatur But why doe I trouble my selfe with these new upstart Sectaries There is a learned and reverend Assembly of Divines attending on you who will take care nequid Ecclesia detrimenti capiat Who prest me for this service My Answer hereunto is as ready as true That though I were not pressed yet I was challenged to it And if I had declined this Combat as others did the Adversary would have growne most insolent and all the City and Borough rung of their vaunting brags and confidence in their cause and our diffidence in ours therefore I gave them a meeting at the time and place appointed And though I were but one and they many yet they were not able to withstand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the irresistible and all-conquering force of truth neither did they after that send any more challenges And I had then pursued the combat with my pen had not the more necessary functions of my Pastorall charge hindered me But now being discharged against my will of preaching at my Cures and having lately published an Answer to a Popish Challenge I could not think of any fitter employment for the present then to perfect the notes taken long since in that Disputation and to supply whatsoever might seeme lacking to the fuller confutation of those erroneous tenets to commend both to the publike view that the Antidote might be there ready where the infection first brake out As Solinus writeth that in Sardinia where there is a venemous Serpent called Solifuga whose biting is present death there is also at hand a Fountaine in which they who wash themselves after they are bit are presently cured This venemous Serpent verè Solifuga flying from and shunning the light of Gods Word is the Anabaptist who in these later times first shewed his shining head and speckled skin and thrust out his sting neere the place of my residence for more then twenty yeeres And if these Disputations and Writings of mine may prove like the Waters of the Fountaine in Sardinia soveraigne against the sting and teeth of this Serpent I shall account my paines well spent and whilst I endeavour to free others from spirituall thraldome forget the tediousnesse of my corporall and possesse my soule in patience till God shall send deliverance to whose gracious direction and powerfull protection I commend you beseeching God to crowne your sincere intentions and religious endeavours for the Reformation of Church
thou hast sent Iesus Christ. Christ saith it is life Eternall to know the Father to be the onely true God and whom he hath sent Jesus Christ but it is not life Eternall to know Christ onely as man but as true God and man and so a perfect Mediator neither is Christ said only the Son of God in respect of his temporall generation as man but also in respect of his eternal generation as he is the second person in Trinity this answer therefore of yours is not sufficient nor pertinent M. Doctor the company is not satisfied with their Answers I pray resolve the doubt your selfe I will as soone as they have propounded their objections for I moved these Questions only to make it appeare to the auditors how unfit these men are to take upon them the office of Teachers who are so imperfect in the fundamentall poynts of Catechisme Now let them propound what questions they please What is the nature of a visible Church what is the matter and fâ—rme of it or what is the visible Church of Christ made up of by authority of the Scriptures Your Question is Quid constituit visibilem Ecclesiam what makes a Church Yes I answer according to the Scriptures and the joynt consent of of all protestant Churches in the world French Dutch c. in the harmony of confessions that the sincere preaching of the Word and the due administration of the Sacraments constitutes or makes a true visible Church The Papists make many notes of the Church as antiquity universality succession miracles and diverse other but the reformed Churches make but two onely namely those above mentioned What is a true particular visible church A particular companie of men professing the christian faith knowne by the two marks above mentioned the sincere preaching of the word and the due administration of the Sacraments Is the church of England such a church It is so How prove you that First I answer I need not to prove it but you are to disprove it For as Hooker teacheth in his Ecclesiasticall Politie they who are in possession are not bound to prove their right but they who goe about to thrust them out are to disprove their right aud bring a better title for themselves Secondly yet to give you further satisfaction thus I prove the church of England to be such a church Every church in which the word of God is sincerely preached the sacraments lawfully and rightly administred is such a church But in the church of England the word is sincerely preached and the sacraments lawfully administred Ergo the church of England is such a church I denie that in the church of England the word is sincerely preached or the sacraments rightly administred I have here two things to prove 1. That the doctrine of the church of England is agreeable to Gods word 2. The sacraments are rightly administred in it First the doctrine of the church of England is contained in the 39 Articles Secondly the due administration of the sacraments in the communion-book But both the one the other are agreeable to Gods word Ergo the preaching of the word and administration of the sacraments in the church of England are agreeable to Gods word I denie that the 39 Articles and the book of common-prayer are agreeable to Gods word 1. I wil prove that the book of Articles is agreeable to Gods word In the book of Articles the first which concerneth the blessed Trinity the 2. 3. 4. which concern the incarnation of Christ Jesus his death and resurrection the 5. which concerneth the holy Ghost the 6. the perfection of scriptures and the 18. following which impugn popery are agreeable to Gods word and you cannot name any one of the rest which is not agreeable therefore they are all agreeable If you know any one that is not agreeable instance in it and I will presently shew how it is agreeable to scripture For the 39 Articles I know not what they are I never saw them that I remember Then for ought you know they are all conformable to scripture at least you can except against none of them Now for the book of common-prayer it consists partly of Psalms Epistls and Gospels partly of Prayers and the form and manner of administration of the sacraments But the former are taken out of scripture the latter are agreeable to it What doe you except against it I except against your administration of Baptism it is not rightly administred in your church for you baptize children and that is not agreeable to Gods word if you say it is how doe you prove it by scriptures This D. F. undertook to prove out of scriptures but before he alledged any text of scripture for it another Anabaptist interposed You say your church is a true church that cannot be for the true church compells none to come to church or punishes him for his conscience as the church of England doth Iosiah was supream governour of the true church in Iudah and Israel but Iosiah compelled all Israel to come to the house of God and worship him there 2 Chron. 34. 33. So Iosiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that appertained to the children of Israel and compelled all that were found in Israel to serve the Lord their God Ergo men may be compelled by the civill magistrate to the true worship of God Josiah compelled them to come to Jerusalem but that law is not now in force There is a three-fold law of God delivered by Moses 1. Ceremoniall 2. Judiciall and 3. Morall The ceremoniall and judiciall are not now in force but the morall is and Iosiah did this by the command of the morall law For the text saith not that he compelled them to come to Ierusalem but to serve the Lord their God which is a dutie required by the morall law and the law of nature For though the place of Gods Service and the manner be changed yet the substantiall worship of God still remains and princes are now as much bound to compell their subjects to the true worship of God as Iosiah was And moreover it is to be noted that Iosiah did this by vertue of a covenant which he made before the Lord to walk after the Lord and keep his commandements with all his heart and all his soul 2 Chro. 34. 31. And the spirit of God sendeth this testimony after him 2 King 23. 15. Like unto him there was no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might according to the law of Moses which words have an apparent reference to that first and great commandement Deut. 6. 5. thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might
for none may prophesie or preach except he be sent Ier. 14. 14. The Prophets prophesie in my name and I sent them not Jer. 27. 15. I have not sent them yet they prophesie Rom. 10. 15. How shall they preach except they be sent And the Christian Church now knoweth no other sending then by laying on of hands by the successours of the Apostles and commending them to particular charges And if such Episcopall Ordination be an Antichristian Rite we desire to learne from them what is the Christian forme or manner of admitting men into holy Orders for no other Ordination was heard of for 1500. yeeres or at least approved of and more during which time if there were no lawfull Calling there were no Pastors feeding and governing the flocks if no lawfull Pastors no visible Churches 2. As the Anabaptists have no outward Calling so neither inward for whatsoever overweaning conceit they may have of themselves yet certain it is they who take upon them to be their leaders and teachers are such as S. Ierome complaineth of in his 8. Epistle Who become Masters of the unlearned before they were scholars of the learned And S. Bern. We have many cocks in the Church but few cesterns they who derive to us the heavenly waters are so charitable that they poure out rather then stay to have any thing poured into them more ready to speak then to heare and apt to teach that they never learned Though they can very phrases and out of broken notes hold out a discourse upon some passages of Scripture for an houre or more yet they are no wayes furnished with gifts requisite to a faithful Shepherd and able Minister of the Gospel for they understand not the Scripture in the Originall Languages they cannot expound without Grammar nor perswade without Rhetorick nor divide without Logick nor sound the depth of any Controversie without Philosophie and Schoole Divinity Neither may they fly to immediate Inspirations of the holy Ghost and the miraculous gifts of Tongues and Prophesie for such have ceased in the Church for these many hundred yeeres The Anabaptists Objections answered You have heard how strong our Arguments are for the truth now ye shall heare in briefe how weake the Adversaries Objections are against it First they alledge out of Ioel 2. 28. I will poure out my Spirit upon all flesh and your sonnes and daughters shall prophesie your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dreame dreames That though under the Law the people were ordinarily to heare the interpretation of the Law of God from the Priests yet that under the Gospel God so plentifully powreth his Spirit upon all congregations that all Beleevers are enabled to Prophesie and to speak to instruction to edification and comfort But we answer That the Prophet there speaketh not of any ghostly power to open the Kingdome of Heaven and remit and retaine sins given by Christ to his Apostles and their successors but of an extraordinary measure of enlightning graces as also of extraordinary gifts of Tongues and Miracles as the Apostle Saint Peter himselfe expoundeth the Text Act. 2. 15 16 17. As there is a greater measure of knowledge given to the people under the Gospel then under the Law and a more copious effusion of the Spirit so also to the Pastours and to whom more is given more shall be required This Text therefore proveth not that all Sheep should be Pastours and all Scholars Teachers but that both Teachers and Disciples should have a greater measure of knowledge then before they had under the Law Secondly they alledge out of Colos. 3. 16. and the 1 Pet. 4. 10. that all Christians ought to communicate their knowledge and other gifts of the Spirit one to another and thereby to teach and instruct and edifie one another Therefore all Lay persons who have the gift of Supplication and Interpretation of Scripture ought to make use of them for the benefit of others as the Ministers of the Gospel doe But we answer that as the clouds when they are full drop and the eares shed and the fountaines flow so all who abound in knowledge ought in such way as they are able according to their calling derive it to others but hence it will not follow that all men have ghostly power to dispense the mysteries of â—alvation and administer the Sacraments and remit and retaine sins which peculiarly appertaine to the Pastorall calling There is a double teaching and admonishing Publique and Private Publique by expounding the holy Oracles of God and revealing to Gods people his whole counsell for their salvation Private by Catechizing a mans family or conferring with his Christian Brethren and rehearsing in some particular what he hath learned from the Scripture and other holy Books or the mouth of his Pastour or by giving good advice and shewing him his errours or encouraging him in a good course ministring unto him a word of comfort or advise or admonition in due season And of this latter kind of teaching and admonishing the Apostle speaketh as appeareth by the words following Admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymnes and spirituall songs singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Thirdly they alledge that Eldad and Medad Numb 11. 27. and Saul 1 Sam. 10. 11. and Philips daughters Act. 21. 9. prophesied that the Prophet Amos was a Herds-man Peter and other of the twelve Fishermen and S. Paul a Tent-maker Why then may not Tradesmen and the like if God bestowes gifts upon them preach the Word and administer the Sacraments But we answer that extraordinary instances ought not to be taken for presidents or drawne into ordinary practise else false Prophets might now expect to be admonished of their errours by brute beasts because once God opened the mouth of the Asse and by it reproved the madnesse of the Prophet Balaam and all Souldiers that fight the Lords battaile blow rams horns in stead of trumpets because once with them the walls of Iericho were blowne downe or arme themselves with lamps and broken pitchers because Gideons souldiers with such weapons discomfited and routed the Midianites All these had a calling from God and proved this their calling by strange and wondrous effects as by certainly fore-telling things future or speaking with tongues which they never had learned or by miraculous cures or the like Let our new Enthusiasts and Brownists prove their extraordinary calling in like manner and we will not deny them the exercise of the Ministeriall function It is to be noted that none are now borne in holy Orders or may challenge the Priesthood by birth but before they take holy Orders upon them given them by the Church they are meere Lay persons Neither doe we find fault with any simply hoc nomine because they have been before of other professions or trades though it were to be wished that there were no necessity of admitting such into the Ministery whose education or
yet in diverse cases for the manifestation of truth in legall proceedings and setting a period to otherwise endlesse suits may lawfully be exacted and imposed No Christian Magistrate or any other may incroach upon the Soveraigne prerogative of Almighty God But it is the Soveraigne prerogative of Almighty God to bind the consciences of men therefore no Magistrate or any other may impose an oath whereby the consciences of men are tyed and bound As it is the prerogative of God to search the heart so also to bind the conscience immediately and directly the lawes ordinances or commands of men may work upon the outward man but they cannot engage the conscience directly and immediately or by themselves but so farre only as they may be included in the generall command of God which is to obey those that are set over us in such things as are not repugnant to his will Whence it is that the Apostle pressing the doctrine of obedience to higher powers saith Rom. 13. 5. that wee must needs be subject not only for wrath but for conscience sake This very particular of swearing by Gods name when we are required thereunto is commanded by God himselfe Ier. 4. 2. and so the Magistrates command hath strength and power to tye the conscience from Gods command None ought to be put to their oath who are like to forsweare themselves for this both the Civill and Common law forbiddeth because it is a kind of thrusting men downe a steep hill to the ruine of their soules by perjury But such is the condition of the greater sort of men that it is very likely for hope of reward or to save their lives limbes liberty or estate they will streigne a veine in their heart and take a false oath therefore men ought not to be put to their oathes If a man be defamed for a prophane person or common swearer and much more if he have been convicted of perjury he ought not to be put to his oath lest where before he dasht he may the second time make shipwrack of his faith and a good conscience But the rule of the law is Supponitur esse bonus qui non probatur esse malus He is suppased to be an honest man against whom there are no proofes or strong presumptions that he is otherwise Though the Magistrate in some cases for the publick good exact an oath of many men who forswear themselves yet is not the Magistrate any way author of or accessary to their perjury For he requireth them to swear truly not falsely and for ought that he knoweth they may as well cleare themselves as condemne themselves upon their oath neither doth there appeare unto him any cause or just suspition that the party to be sworne is like to take a false oath for if there doe both in conscience and in discretion he will be shie of administring an oath to such a person in such a case The third difficulty concerning oathes is whether the oath ex officio be lawfull that is whether a Magistrate Ecclesiasticall or temporall may require and exact an oath of a man which in duty hee is bound to take in a case which concernes himselfe and may tend to his owne prejudice and dammage As in Ninus his victories every former conquest was gradus futurae victoriae a degree and step to a latter so it falleth out in the determination of the difficulty concerning oaths the resolution of the former question is a step and furtherance to the latter For if oathes be lawfull the Magistrate may enjoyne them by his authority and if he may impose any oath especially the oath ex officio without which the ordinary proceedings as well in Ecclesiasticall Courts as temporall will be stopt and all speedy course of justice hindred and although what hath been formerly alleadged in justification of the imposition of oathes might suffice to resolve the consciences of men not forestalled with prejudicated opinions yet because this kind of oath hath been of late cryed down with much vehemency and bitternesse for the satisfaction of scrupulous minds I will endeavour to bring more pregnant proofes for the lawfull and necessary use thereof then I have yet found in any who have travelled most in this argument especially to bring water to their owne Mills ARGUMENT I. Every oath which may be taken in truth judgement and righteousnesse is lawfull such is the oath ex officio Ergo lawfull The Proposition is the Prophet Ieremies the assumption is thus proved according to each part of it First it may be taken in truth neither is it required otherwise to be taken the Tenour of it being There are Articles in Court against you or questions to be demanded of you you shall answer the truth and the whole truth and nothing but the truth so farre as you know and by law you are bound so help you God Secondly it may be taken in judgement for before wee are required to give answer to any particular the Articles are distinctly read unto us and we may deliberately and judicially shape our answer thereunto at the present if we perfectly remember every circumstance and find no scruple in the interrogatory or we may crave farther time to bethink our selves to give a fuller answer Thirdly it may be taken in righteousnesse for if we be innocent by our oaths we shall acquit our selvs and if guilty we shall give way to justice to proceed and as it is a righteous thing to acquit an innocent so also to detect a Malefactor in which regard Iosuah perswadeth Achan to glorifie God by confession of his sinne ARGUMENT II. For what we have a President from the actions of our Saviour we may lawfully doe For Saint Bernard saith truly every action of Christ serveth for our instruction But we have a President from Christ for answering directly upon oath in a case criminall which proved also Capitall Matth. 26. 63. 64. the high Priest said unto him I adjure thee by the living God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ the Sonne of God Iesus said unto him thou hast said Neverthelesse I say unto you hereafter shall you see the Sonne of man sitting at the right hand of power and comming in the clouds of heaven then the high Priest rent his cloathes saying he hath spoken blasphemie Ergo we may lawfully answer upon oath in a cause criminall concerning our selves ANABAP ANSWER That as it was no robbery in Christ to be equall with God so it was no blasphemie in him to say that he was the Sonne of God and therefore this answer of Christ was in no cause criminall and consequently his example no President for us in the like REPLY It is true that neither Christ himselfe nor any of his holy Martyrs or Saints who have been put to most cruell torments and death were guilty of any such sin or crime before God for which they notwithstanding suffered such things yet because
those duties of not resisting evill nor revenging our selves and loving our enemies in which the Anabaptists as well as Papists place Evangelicall perfection were required by the law Deut. 32. 35. To me vengeance belongeth and recompence I will repay saith the Lord And Prov. 25. 21. If thine enemy hunger feed him if hee thirst give him drinke ARGUMENT II. A holy and divine office can be no derogation to Evangelicall perfection But such is the office of a Magistrate For they are stiled Gods Psalme 82. 1. 6. God standeth in the congregation of the mighty he judgeth among the Gods I have said yee are Gods and 2 Chron. 19. 6. 7. You judge not for man but for the Lord who is with you in the judgment and in the execution of their office they are the Ministers of God both to reward them that doe well and to execute wrath upon them that doe evill Rom. 13. 14. Ergo the execution of the office of a Civill Magistrate can be no derogation to Christian perfection ARGUMENT III. That dignity and power wherewith most holy and religious men and highest in favour have been invested may well stand with Evangelicall perfection But most holy and religious men have been invested with the dignity and power of Magistracie as namely Melchizedec a singular type of Christ Ioseph a man inspired by God and a revealer of his secrets Iob a perfect and upright man Moses the servant of God Ioshuah the Captaine of the Lords Host David a man after Gods own heart Daniel a man beloved of God Iedidiah Hezekiah and Iosiah after whom the Holy Ghost sendeth this testimony Like unto them there were no Kings before them that turned to the Lord with all their heart and all their soule and all their strength according to all the law of Moses nor after them arose any like unto them 2 Kings 23. 25. Ergo the dignity and power of Magistracie may stand with Evangelicall perfection ARGUMENT IV. That which was foretold and promised for a singular blessing to the Christian Church cannot be repugnant to the rules of the Gospell But the government and protection of Kings and their supporting and maintaining the Gospell is foretold and promised as a singular blessing to the Christian Church Psal. 68. 29. Kings shall bring presents unto thee Psalm 72. 9 10 11. They that dwell in the wildernesse shall bow before him and his enemies shall lick the dust the kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents The King of Sheba and Saba shall bring gifts Esay 49. 23. Kings shall be thy nursing Fathers and Queens shall bee thy nursing Mothers they shall bow downe to thee with their face towards the earth and lick up the dust of thy feet Ergo the government and protection of Kings cannot be repugnant to the rule of the Gospell ARGUMENT V. The use of that authority must needs bee a blessing to a land the want whereof is noted by the Holy Ghost and threatned as a great plague fearfull judgement upon a people But the want of a civill Magistrate to sway the sword of justice is noted by the holy Ghost as a great plague and fearfull judgement Iud. 17. 6. 18. 1. 21. 25. Hâ— 3. 4. Ergo the use of the Civill Magistrate is a blessing to a land ANABAP ANSWER The people of the Iewes being stiffe-necked and stubborne needed to bee curbed and kept in by the power of the Civill Magistrate but Christians who are meek Lambes need not so REPLY 1 What meek Lambes the Anabaptists have beene it appeareth by Pontanus who relateth that by tumults raised by them in Germany Holsatia and Swethland there were slaughtered within a few yeares no lesse then 150000. 2 It is true that the Jewes were for the most part a stubborn and stiffnecked people and therefore are said by the Prophets to have sinews of iron and I pray God divers Christians at this day have not nerves in their neck of the same metall But yet the Holy Ghost in the places above quoted ascribeth not the great disorders in those dayes to the perverse and froward disposition of that people but to the want of a Soveraigne Magistrate In those dayes there was no King in Israel but every one did that which was right in his owne eyes which words are repeated verbatim c. 21. 25. that we should take speciall notice of them and they imply that whensoever there falls an Interregnum this mischiefe will ensue thereupon that every man will doe that which is right in his own eyes and his lust shall be his law Whence Calvin rightly inferres that the Anabaptists could not take a more ready way to ruine all Empires and Kingdomes and introduce all carnall liberty and villany then by wresting the sword out of the Magistrates hand ARGUMENT VI. Their authority is established by the Gospell to whom all are bound to submit and obey But all Christians are bound to obey the Civill Magistrate Rom. 13. 1. 4. 5. Tit. 3. 1. 1. Pet. 2. 13 14 15. Ergo the authority of the Magistrate is established by the Gospell ANABAP ANSVVER The Magistrates that then were were Infidels and Heathen to whom the Christians could not with a good conscience obey because they made many cruell edicts against the Christian faith the meaning therefore of the Apostle can be no other then that we should yeild them passive obedience REPLY Saint Augustine rightly distinguisheth between Dominum temporalem and Dominum aeternum the souldiers under Iulian the Apostata when the Emperour commanded them to advance in Battaile against the Persian they executed his commands and acquitted themselves valiantly against their enemy but when he commanded them to offer sacrifice to his Idols they preferred their Eternall Lord before their Temporall and absolutely refused to doe it In like manner all good Christians can put a difference between Civill Religious commands such things as appertaine to the government of the State and such things as belong to the immediate service of God In the former they yeild their obedience even to heathen Magistrates for God in the latter they comply not with them because such their commands are against God Although it bee true that the greatest part of our Christian duty which we owe to wicked Magistrates oppressing and tyrannizing over those that are truly religious making havock of the Church is to submit to their power and glorifie God by our sufferings yet the very Text of the Apostle requires more Tit. 3. 1. not only to bee subject to Principalities and Powers but to obey Magistrates and to bee ready to every good worke namely all such good works as tend to the Peace of the Common-wealth and well managing the affaires of the State If evill Magistrates may not bee resisted much lesse good if wee ought to honour and humbly obey and pay tribute to Princes and Governours that are averse from the Christian faith how much more to religious