publickly or frequently read or used the Common-Prayer Book since the first of January last or shall at any time hereafter do the same such as do publickly and profanely scoffe at or revile the strict Profession or Professors of Religion or Godliness or do encourage by word or practice any Whitson-Ales Wakes Morris-dances May-poles Stage-plays or such like licentious practices by which men are incouraged in a loose and profane conversation such as have declared or shall declare by writing Preaching or otherwise publishing their disaffection to the present Government such Ministers shall be accounted negligent as omit the publick Exercises of Preaching and Praying upon the Lords Day not being hindred by necessary absence or infirmity of body or that are or shall be Non Resident such Schoolmasters shall be counted negligent as absent themselves from their Schools and do wilfully neglect their duties in teaching their Scholars And such Minister and School-master shall be accounted ignorant and insufficient as shall be so declared and adjudged by the Commissioners in every County or any Five of them together with any Five or more of the Ministers hereafter nominated in this present Ordinance to be assistant to the said Commissioners c. What I have here inserted gives you the very sum and substance of the two-Ordinances so far as concerns the Instituted Power of Approbation and Ejection and though the bare Reading of the Ordinances may be sufficient to satisfie any ingenuous man so as to wipe off that scandalous imputation which by way of false supposition and peevish Insinuation hath been darted at the supreme Magistrate and the persons next him in Authority in reference to the power by them granted in the said Ordinances yet it will not be amiss a little to animadvert upon each particular First as touching the Ordinance for Approbation how can it be said to constitute an Authority in and over the Church seeing if the Authority therein given were such as he pretens then it must be an Authority exercising either Legislation in making Decrees and Constitutions for the odering of Church-affairs or Jurisdiction in respect of Church-Censures But certainly neither hath his Highness given nor the Commissioners themselves ever conceived they have nor can any rational man infer they have from the Contents of the Ordinance a faculty of exercising Power in matter of Legislation or Jurisdiction within or over the Church in general or any particular Congregation and therefore certainly no man that is not sworn to Mr. Goodwin's 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 will conclude that they are constituted or can in the least measure be reputed an Authority in and over the Church Secondly That high and heavenly Ordinance of Preaching the Word the due promotion whereof is the sole declared scope of the Ordinance of his Highness was primarily intended by Christ for the instructing and converting of such as were and are without the Pale of the Church and for the gathering of them into Church-communion in the next place for the edifying and building of them up after they are gathered in Now the intent of his Highness and the Council was not at all that by vertue of this Ordinance any should take cognisance of the Qualifications of Pastors or Preachers in private gathered Congregations or Churches who it is known notwithstanding this Ordinance remain as much at liberty as before but they are Publick Preachers that is such as have or would have a Publick State-maintenance be it either in the way of a Benefice or Lecture legally annexed to the places where they preach or otherwise publickly allowed these are they that fall within the reach of this Ordinance I suppose it would not well suit with Mr. Goodwin's principle and way to say that such Beneficed men and Lecturers standing upon a Publick Account and their respective Precincts or Parishes are in his opinion rightly constituted Churches And if so how then will this profound man of Science be able on his part to make good in reason or conscience that the Magistrates authorising persons with a power of Trying such men whether they be qualified for the employment of preaching in Parishes can be said to be the erecting of a Power in and over the Church Thirdly Though it would be beside the present business to start that Controversie whether or how far the Magistrate may intermeddle in matters of Religion yet certainly 't is fit to consider that the same thing may be a duty incumbent upon a Magistrate being a Christian as really as it is a duty upon inferior persons who are Christians Now if it be the duty of every Christian man in his sphere as much as in him lieth to advance the propagation of the Gospel where-ever he hath an opportunity by communicating or by procuring the communication of it to others which it 's supposed neither Mr. G. nor any else will deny then undoubtedly the Supreme Magistrate of England being a Christian Professor by continuing that Publick way of Maintenance which the Laws of the Land and the Bounty of the State have allowed to support and encourage the Publick Preaching of Jesus Christ and thereupon by exerting his Magistratical authority in transferring it by way of Trust into the hands of certain persons whom he sees cause to confide in as Commissioners under him for the Proving and Trying of men whether they be fit to be owned upon the Publick Account in order to so high an employment as Preaching to the People hath therein done his duty and in so doing kept within his sphere as a Magistrate and is so far from intrenching thereby upon the Church or Churches take which you will in any kind that there is rather abundant cause for the Churches of Christ to bless God for the care taken than to find fault and to hope that by this means the number of Believers will be exceedingly increased and the Lord be pleased to add to the Church daily such as should be saved All that the Magistrate hath done here by such an Ordinance is an Act only of State a meer Civil Constitution and by vertue thereof the Commissioners not exercising any power of Legislation or Jurisdiction for the ordering and governing of Churches but only a power of Trial and Inspection concerning such men whom the Magistrate is to send abroad to publish the Gospel that the people may become fit matter for Churches Therefore the said Commissioners must of necessity be reputed only Officers of the Commonwealth in this particular and not an Authority established as Mr. G. would have it in and over the Church This Ordinance for Approbation is in Truth no more then that other Ordinance of his Highness whereby certain persons are commissionated under him as Trustees for the maintenance of Ministers that is for setling of Augmentations for the better maintenance of Ministers in Places where the means is but small As this Ordinance is to be reputed a meer Civil Act in respect of its Original so
them he executeth in his Book to some purpose against them As you may read Page 1. telling the Civil Powers they have put a great Indignity and Affront upon Jesus Christ by issuing out the said Commissions or Ordinances Page 2. That thereby they have given the Commissioners an exorbitant power to exercise dominion over the Faith and Consciences of other men Page 3. That they connive at the Commissioners Page 4. That they are devisers of new Strategems Methods and Inventions to aid the Gospel Page 5. That the two Commissions are Counter workers against the Orders and Directions left by Christ Page 6. That the Commissions intrench upon the Spiritual Rights and Priviledges of Gods People And that they strike in effect at the Civil Rights of many Bodies of People and particular persons likewise in the Land Page 8. That our Governors have in appointing the Commissioners set up a lawless generation of men over the Lords People and that there never was the like unsufferable yoke of slavery fastened about the necks of the free-born people here as the power given to these Commissioners That they have therein done contrary both to Civil policie and Christian piety Also p. 11. contrary to Christian policie and that when they were to chuse persons to be Commissioners they intrusted such as for the far greater part of them are and were by a true and solid estimate of them in respect of their Spirits Principles and Tenets like to reject and disallow such men whom Christ should recommend to them for Approbation p. 14. That our Governors have erected the Triers with power as superlative and of the same house and linage with the Papal And that they being the Founders do underhand indulge and connive at the Commissioners exorbitant proceedings p. 17. That they have an itching desire to be officious unto Christ insinuating withall that they like other professing Powers of the world obtrude upon him their own projections to help him through the world c. p. 19. That they have invested the Commissioners with power to mould and form the Judgments and Consciences of Fellow-Subjects in matters of Faith p. 20. That They connive at the Commissioners when they sell their Brethren p. 20 21. That They erected a Consistory as bad as the Spanish Inquisition And I know not what more But I am weary and so I suppose is the Reader by this time to see a man so shamefully contradict himself over and over especially if you compare his pretence of fair demeanour towards Authority with the language that he afterward bestows upon them as well as their Commissioners So that in conclusion here now you have J. Goodwin against J. Goodwin proving himself to be of the same spirit with Jannes and his brother Jambres defying that Authority in the foulest manner to which he but a little before professeth all Christian loyalty A wise man he is without question and stronger than a whole City because having first conquered or confuted all the World with the help of a Printing-Press the compleatest Conquest of all is this last whereby he hath confuted himself So I commit him to the Press in part of punishment that he may know himself mortal and from thence to his winding-sheet Earth to Earth Ashes to Ashes Peace be to all the Church Farewel J. G. However Sir take these Latine Epigrams along with you for your own Application and the Instruction of your Friends in English before you leave them Mar. lib. 2. Epigr. 7. Nil bene cùm facias facis attamen omnia bellè Vis dicam quid sis magnus es Ardelie Lib. 4. Ep. 79. in Afrum Condita cùm tibi sit jam sexagesima Messis Et facies multo splendeat alba pilo Discurris totâ vagus urbe Haec faciant sanè Juvenes deformius Afer Omnino nihil est Ardelione Sene. Lib. 5. Ep. 81. in Mathonem Declamas in Febre Mathon haue esse Phrenefim Si nescis non es sanus amice Mathon Declamas aeger declamas Hemitritaeus Si sudare aliter non potes est ratio Magna tamen res est errans cù viscera Febris Exurit res est magna tacere Mathon THE CONTENTS GOodwin's Character and Temper is to be found in the Epistle with an Account of all his Duels and combats Christ left no such Rules and Directions nor was it his intent to leave such for propagating the Gospel as exclude the Magistrate from using his wisdom and endeavour in order thereunto Pages 5. 6. Nor did his Apostles p. 7. 8. 9. 10. The Sum and Substance of the two Ordinances for Approbation and Ejection p. 11. 12. 13. 14. The Commissioners are no Ecclesiastical Authority no Power in or over the Church but a Civil Constitution nor are the Ordinances any other than meer Civil Acts. p. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 48. Approbation in use in the Apostles time p. 22. 55. It is no exercising a Dominion over mens Faith p. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 59. 60. 93. 115. A Course for Approbation setled of old and of late by the Long Parliament p. 29. 30. 98. 99. How that Text Christ was faithfull in all his house as Moses was in his ought to be understood p. 30. 31. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. The Commissioners are so prudently constituted as to prevent Partiality in their Proceedings p. 40. 41. The Publick maintenance in Parishes is for the unholding of a publick Profession of Religion p. 43. Power of Presentation and Approbation to Livings ought not to be in Parishes p. 43. 44. 119. 120. 121. 122. 123. 124. 125. 126. 127. 128. 129. 130. The Commission for Approbation hath nothing to do with Gather'd Churches p. 45. It is no prejudice to the Right of Patrons but preserves them p. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. Mr G. a Self-Contradicter Read my Epistle and p. 40. 47. 49. 50. 52. 60. 61. 98. 102. 107. 117. 123. 124. 130. Mr G. proved a Calumniator p. 47. 112. The Quare Impedit now become useless p. 53. 54. The not countenancing of Arminians is the occasion of Mr. G. his violence against Authority and the Commissioners p. 56. 93. 77. 115. How men are made Hereticks p. 57. 58. Mr G A self-Condemner p. 61. p. 100. p. 49. A Comâ—arison betwixt the wisdom of the State and of Mr. G. p. 61. 62. Faction promoted by Abuse of Gods Ordinances p. 63. 64. Mr G. and Mr William's well met p. 64. 65. 124. 125. Mr G. his Arminian Tenets and the absuâ—d consequences of them collected out of his Book Redemption Redeemed p. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. The lewd Consequences of Mr. G. his Opinions in respect of mens Conversation p. 73. 74. Mr G. of a Papal Spirit See my Epistle and p. 78. Mr G. wresting of Scriptures p. 81. 82. 83. 84. Titles and Forms of Government Originally derived from the Power of the Sword in all Nations De Facto p. 88. 89. 90. A true state of the design and purport of the
Ordinance for Approbation p. 91. 92. 93. 94. His Highness Testimony touching the Commissioners for Approbation and Ejection p. 95. 96. His piety in his own personal care about Ministers presented p. 103. Reasons why the Trust of executing a Commission for Approbation ought not be in the several Counties p. 103. 104. 105. 106. A Refutation of Mr G. his Plea for setling the power of Approbation in the Congregated Churches p. 107. 108. 109. 110. 111. 112. 113. 114. 116. 117. Evidence of his malice against the Commissioners p. 101. 107. 108. Mr. G. Mr. Postlethwait and William Medley the Scribe well met p. 5. Mr. G. and Mr. Postletwhait at odds p. 58. 49. Mr. G. and Mr. Roger Williams shaking hands p. 64. 65. 124. 125. Mr. G. pretending friendship to those of the Presbyterian way whom he formerly reviled p. 118. Mr. G. pleading for Malignant Preachers and his Plea refuted 126. 127. 128. 129. 130. Epigrams upon Mr. G. at the end of the Epistle to the Reader and at the end of the Book collected out of Martial The Great Accuser cast down OR A PUBLICK TRIAL OF Mr John Goodwin Of Coleman-street London AT THE Barr of Religion and right Reason c. ARGUMENT I. IT is a great indignity and affront put upon the Lord Jesus Christ Blessed for ever to charge or challenge him whether formally or constructively with want either of wisdom and understanding or of care and faithfulness in making sufficient provision for the due managing of his affairs or for the propagation and advancement of the Gospel upon the best and best-becoming terms in the world Now there being no Order or Direction nor any jot or tittle of either given by him to the Civil powers for erecting of any such authority in the Church and over his servants as that wherewith either Triers or Ejectors amongst us are invested by the said Commissions respectively They who notwithstanding presumed to do it I mean to make and establish such an erection in the Church what do they less then obliquely yea and by a pregnant and near-hand consequence impute either oscitancie and forgetfulness or else weakness and defect of understanding unto the Lord Jesus Christ in his own greatest and most important affairs If either the Civil Magistrate or any other on his behalf will rise up to plead or shew an Order or Commission from Christ for him to grant such Commissions and Authorities as those now impleaded unto men besides that it had been more Christian and proper that this should have been done before the said Commissions had been issued and exercised to the great scandal and offence of the far greater part of the godly and understanding people in the Nation I fear that neither the credit nor the conscience of the Undertaker will rejoice over the enterprise in as much as all attempts in this kind that have been made as many within the compass of a few years last past have been have miscarried and turned to no account but of loss and disparagement to their undertakers Do we provoke the Lord unto jealousie are we stronger then He that we dare say we are wiser then He Answer Vex praeterea nihil Had not Mr. John Goodwin owned this Pamphlet it would have been known to be his by the Air and Emptiness the boldness of Calumniating the frequent Mistakes Self contradictions groundless Insinuations vain Flashes and the abusing of honest-minded Readers by nauseating them with Scandals offered instead of Reasons and Arguments And if these things be made to appear now throughout the whole contexture of this Work of Darkness then the People of God if they have not yet a full Discovery of the Man and his Temper by his former Pieces may here behold this Accuser of the Brethren in his full Pourtraicture as he hath drawn himself to the Life with his own Pencil the wicked Spirit of calumniation in this Discourse standing as it were upon the cloven foot of two false Suppositions The Discourse such as it is consisteth of eighteen several Heads as he hath made the Partition though an upright Heart and a sober Head not enclined to swelling would have been confined in a much narrower compasse and those he calls Arguments and Grounds as well in Reason as Religion but by the time that you have seen with how much spleen and devotion he hath sacrificed both his Logick and Divinity to envie and vain glory in a few Rhetorical flourishes the fruits of an extravagant Phansie the World will finde but little cause to admire him in point of Religion much lesse in matter of Argumentation Now to the Business in the handling whereof you will perhaps see cause to beleeve what he tells you in the Title-page that he is an Aged Minister having indeed lived beyond the use of that way of reasoning which he had when he was a Boy in the University The Sum of this his first Argument may be reduced to this Syllogism It is a great indignity put upon Christ to charge him either formally or constructively with want of care in making sufficient provision for the propagation of the Gospel But there being no Order or Direction left by Christ for erecting of such an authority in the Church as that which is given to our Commissioners for approving and ejecting they who establish such an Erection do constructively and by consequence lay such an imputation or charge upon Christ as if he had been carelesse and had not sufficiently provided for the propagation of the Gospel Ergo The Civil Powers in England by erecting the Commissioners for approving and ejecting have thereby put a great indignity upon Jesus Christ For Answer know That this Argument of Mr Goodwin is grounded upon several false Suppositions which being by him taken for granted but not at all proved it is no other then a meer begging of the Question For first He supposeth That it was the intendment of the Lord Iesus Christ to make such ample provision in his Gospel by laying down Rules for the propagation thereof in all respects that now there is nothing left for the Magistrate to do in point of prudence and discretion for the promotion of and advancement of it in the world 2. He supposeth That the Commissioners for approving and ejecting are an Authority constituted by his Highness and the Councel in and over the Church These are the poor crutches upon which this and all the rest of his eighteen Arguments do halt Take away these all the rest fail and the Body of the Pamphlet falls to the ground therefore it will not be amiss to try how these will hold water in point of Religion and Reason And hereunto it will be necessary to request the patience of the Reader a little while in order to his confutation because if he be found faulty in the laying of his Foundation it will be an easie matter to bring the whole house down about his ears The
first Supposition before mentioned upon which he builds is included in the Major Proposition and in opposition to that his false Supposal let this Thesis be set down as that which I purpose in the first place to make good against him Viz. That it was not the Intendment of our blessed Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ to make such ample provision in the Gospel by laying down Rules for the propagation thereof in all respects and particulars and so to answer all occasions that now there is nothing left for the Magistrate to do in point of prudence and discretion for the promoting and advancing of it in the World This youthfull piece of gravity hath lived so like a Salamander the greatest part of his dayes in the fire of contention that 't is now become his most natural Element and having heretofore had some heats with Mr. Pryn who gives all to the Magistrate in Gospel-affairs he cannot keep himself from the other extream of denying all and allowing the Magistrate nothing at all to do therein but thus it always happens when a controversie falleth into the hands of passionate men And yet he doth not express himself with so much extravagancy as some others who are engaged with him in the same quarrel among whom is one Mr Pastlethwait who in the Preface to a Pamphlet of his Entituled A Voice from heaven against the Tryers hath made open Proclamation That we ought to accept no Lawgiver but Jesus Christ either in Church or Common wealth but that this should be our Profession the Lord is our Judge the Lord is our Law-giver he is our King c. Which being once admitted in the same sense as Mr Goodwin hath insinuated his own wild Assertion the Conclusion followeth as naturally from this as from his That therefore the Magistrate is not at all concerned in the making of Civil Laws and Constitutions for the government of the Common-wealth which worthy Doctrine in reference both to Church and State is in transcendent Terms more Metaphysically and Hypertheologically expressed in another sad Pamphlet Entituled A Standard set up lately written and published in Order to the raising a bloody Rebellion in this Nation miserably arrogating the Name of Christ and his people to countenance the design being subscribed by one William Medley who jumps even in opinion with Master Goodwin in all points though he go a little beyond him in some against the Authority of the Magistrate and therefore Master Goodwin in such Company cannot chuse but be a man of great credit and reputation But it is time I proceed to the proof of my Thesis the Reason whereof I propose as followeth If it had been the intendment of Christ to do any such thing as to leave Rules and Directions of so vast a latitude and comprehension as to take in and answer to all the particular Necessities Occasions Contingencies and Circumstances of Affairs which might arise in the future in all Ages and Nations of the World concerning every prudent way and means convenient for the promulgation of his Gospel so that the Magistrate and all other men were to be tyed up strictly to the peremptory Observation of those Rules without having recourse upon any emergencie to the Common principles of Natural Reason and Discretion to help on the work of propagating it among the Nations then doubtless the Eagles eye and active pen of Mr. Goodwin would have spied them out and transcribed a Copy of them for us But his autocratorical wisdom is pleased either to leave the Reader to take his word for the truth of it or else to go look where they may be found Whereas the truth is if you make enquiry into the Precepts and the Acts and Monuments of our Saviour and his Apostles upon the best search certainly no such universal golden Rules and Directions are yet discovered For while our Lord and Master walked about clothed with the garment of his Incarnation we hear of no such matter in the writings of the Evangelists and after his Resurrection in all the blessed Interviews and Colloquies which he was pleased to have with his Friends and Disciples there is not the least mention of it not at the time of his Ascension when being ready to cloath himself with the Robes of Glory and Immortality he took leave of his Apostles and left them to carry on the work of the everlasting Gospel both among Jews and Gentiles Nor are there after the time of his Glorification any such Rules and Precepts to be seen in the Acts and proceedings of the Apostles of so various and universal an influence and import as in all points upon all occasions in all Countries to serve to the great end before-mentioned Next to the great Act of suffering and Dying for the sins of Mankind to reconcile Man to God the special work of Christ to which he was designed by the Father was as himself hath declared Luk. 4. 18. To preach the Gospel to the poor to heal the broken-hearted to preach deliverance to the Captives to recover sight to the Blinde to set at liberty them that are bruised to preach the acceptable year of the Lord That is to say to reveal the way of life and salvation and to go about doing good to poor Sinners in their concernments both of soul and body The scope and purpose of his taking Flesh upon him was to make publication of the New Testament and sign and seal it with his blood But we find him not any where dictating Orders and Decrees for the universal and perpetual Practice of men in the communicating of it to succeeding Generations The onely Institutions which were made immediately by himself are the great Ordinances of Preaching the Word and the Administration of the Sacraments of Baptism and the Supper The Supper he instituted a little before his Death and the other he gave in Commission to his Disciples after the Resurrection when he commanded them to Go and teach all Nations baptizing them c. Those things which are essential to the founding and constituting of a Church he took a particular care for but as touching the means and manner of publishing the Gospel and the way of planting Churches that for ought that appears to the contrary in Scripture was wholly left to the management of the Apostles whom he promised to endue with an extraordinary spirit for so wonderfull and extraordinary a work Now in the next place it will be very requisite to enquire whether or no in the Acts or Writings of the Apostles we can find any kind of Canons Decrees or Constitutions made by them to be as standing Rules whereby men are bound necessarily to frame and direct their designs so as by no means to use any other Mediums for the planting and propagation of the Gospel Or whether the Apostles have left any Examples of their own practice upon Record which all men are obliged to follow and not to recede a tittle from them in
the same work of Gospel-propagation For if so be that Christ neither immediately of himself nor mediately by his Apostles established such obligatory Rules and Directions as are pretended to exclusive of all other means by vertue of any Precept or exemplary Practice then judge ye whether this bold Assertion of his be like to hold right in conclusion The first observable Medium that the Apostles made use of for the propagation of the Gospel and augmenting the number of Converts and Professors was the exercising a Community of Goods so we may read Act. 4. 34 35. That as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices of the things that were sold and laid them down at the Apostles feet and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need This is one Instance of Apostolical practice and example which no man that knows the manner and condition of Mr. Goodwin will so much as imagine 't is his opinion that this is one of the Rules binding himself or the Magistrate or any other to observe in promoting the publication of the Gospel 'T is believed neither the Credit nor the Conscience of the Man will rejoice in such an Assertion and therefore having him herein I dare say confitentem reum and Marsupio consulentem it shall be pressed upon him no further Another means that the Apostles made use of for the spreading of the Gospel was that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Laying on of hands whereby the extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Ghost were in those days usually conferred upon such as they converted to the Faith and these again made use of it in order to the converting of others that men seeing those miraculous Gifts breaking forth in several Operations and being thereby convinced of that supernatural and mighty power which then attended the ministration of the Gospel might be brought in to the Faith of Jesus Christ and be confirmed in it But in all the Prints and grave Determinations hitherto published by Mr. Goodwin our great Master of Sentences we do not find that he hath concluded us and all the World under the observance and imitation of the Apostolical practice and example in this particular as absolutely necessary for the work of Gospel-propagation And so I pass it over at present till it be known how his Infallible self will be pleased to pass a Judgment in the matter A third means that the Apostles made use of for promoting the Truth of the Gospel was That when occasion of difference did arise among the Primitive Christians touching Gospel-affairs to the hinderance of its progress they to wit the Apostles and Elders assembled together and by Decrees of their own made an authoritative positive decision in the Case and gave Laws to be observed by all the Churches as you may read Act. 15. And it 's conceived Mr. Goodwin never yet maintained but rather hath openly avowed the contrary that this Example of the Apostles is to be received as a Rule universally binding all men in all Ages to do the like and to assume the same power of Legislation and Determination in the way of Synods or Assemblies in order to the promoting of the Gospel These are the main observable Practices mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles and some other there were which related to things reputed of an indifferent nature as the eating or not eating of certain Meats using or not using of Circumcision and of divers Rites and Ceremonies of the Mosaical Law as you may read Act. 21. and Gal. 2. which sometimes were admitted sometimes rejected as may be seen by Pauls circumcising of Timothy when as the same Paul at another time was stiffly opposing and pleading against the practice of Circumcision Now we suppose Mr. Goodwin will not say That this kind of liberty so assumed and practised is one of the standing Rules which he with so much confidence commends unto the Reader as necessarily to be observed in the promoting of the Gospel And therefore unless our Reveernd Author can produce some other Examples and Practices of the Apostles which yet we have not seen and with good evidence propound them to the World as universally obligatory upon men to follow he will seem to be as a man beating the air and that hath made a noise to no purpose For the truth is whereas in all the Acts of the Apostles other men can perceive no such Examples of theirs from whence such positive Rules as he pretends to are either directly or by consequence deducible so among all the Precepts of the Apostles contained either in that Book or in any of their Epistles no Rules will be found of so comprehensive a nature as to give direction in all particulars that may fall out so as to exclude all use of humane reason and discretion in the Magistrate or any other towards the advancing so good a work As to the main concernments of Church-Oeconomie and Administration they are sufficiently provided for by the Precepts and Directions left by the Apostles in Writing but as to Church-edification and the gathering in of Beleevers through the preaching of the Gospel by employing and encouraging men to that work there are no Precepts by them recorded to Posterity but what make in justification of those two Commissions of Approbation and Ejection which were given out by his Highness and the Councel as will be made evident by and by when Mr Goodwin comes to fall more directly upon the Commissions and those reverend and worthy persons that are impowered by them In the mean time it is submitted to the Reader what to think of Mr Goodwins first Hypothesis or Supposal and whether he can imagine it was the intendment of Christ either immediatly of himself or mediatly by his Apostles to make such large Provision either by way of Precept or Example to be as standing Rules in perpetuity utterly exclusive of the use and assistance of humane prudence in order to the publication of the Gospel Now to the second false Hypothesis or Supposition upon which the Argument is founded and which is implicitely contained in the Minor Proposition falsly supposing and insinuating as if our Commissioners for Approving and Ejecting were an Authority constituted by his Highness and the Councel in and over the Church and People of Christ For Confutation of this the onely way is to make enquiry into the nature of the Ordinances or Commissions themselves by the genuine scope and drift whereof it will be certainly known of what kind they are and what was the Intent of our Governours in the establishment of them that thereby they should deserve to be scandalized and so rudely handled by him who would be thought a man of Ingenie and most high Ingenuity To this end that the truth may be cleared let both the Ordinances speak for themselves The First is that which he is pleased to call the Commission of Tryers rightly entituled An Ordinance
as Moses was not because he had done things in all respects to answer the things done by Moses for then he would have left us such Rules and Directions at large which we cannot yet see upon Record as Mr. G saith he hath done for the Politie or Oeconomie of the Church and as fully and compleatly set down in writing as Moses left his but the genuine meaning of the place must be undeniably this That he was faithful in all things as Moses was because he published the Doctrine of the Gospel and sealed it with his blood for the expiation of sin and therein did what he was appointed to as faithfully as Moses formerly did what he was appointed to by God The 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Equiparation of the faithfulness of Christ and Moses in this place respecteth only the reality and exactness of their performance both of them having alike punctually performed the several Appointments made to them by God but it doth not infer that there was or ought to have been a similitude correspondency or congruity in the whole manner extent and fabrick of their Institutions For to the end of the world let Mr. G. do what he can with the Scripture let him wring it by the nose to turn it which way he please as the Papists do or to force blood out of it as too many in our times do yet he will never be able to make this Text to serve his purpose Besides even in common sense it is manifest to any that is but the least acquainted with the Gospel that our Lord and Saviour hath not by positive Laws descended so far into particularities with us as Moses did with the people of Israel And so you see what is become of the Third Argument grounded upon a misunderstanding of that part of the Scripture concerning Christ and Moses We might be far more copious but this is too much for him ARGUMENT IV. THe Lord Christ being as was said faithful as Moses also was in all the house of God and his wisdom and providence every ways answerable to this his faithfulness it cannot be conceived but that with his precepts counsels and directions for the advancement and prosperity of the Gospel he hath taken up and filled the whole roomth or space which is capable of receiving Injunctions Orders or Directions in that kind So that no man can add insert or thrust in any thing by way of advice or under the notion of a prudential contrivance for the promoting of the Gospel but he must justle or thrust out and in our Saviours phrase make of none effect some or other of those precepts or directions which have been given by the Lord Christ himself for the same end Even as the Pope cannot gratifie any new Saint with a day in the Kalendar but only either by turning some of the more antient out of their long-continued possessions or else by compelling them to take the other into part and fellowship with them in their honor because the Kalendar is from the one end of it to the other already filled with the Names of the more antient In like manner the whole latitude and compass of wisdom and prudence for the due and successfull managing of the affairs of the Gospel being spread with the orders and charges given by Jesus Christ in that behalf it is not possible for men to devise or set on foot any method means or device of theirs for the promoting of this end but by disauthorizing or with reflection of disparagement upon some or other or all of the said prescriptions of Christ Nor is it possible for any man to invent or form any projection or make any provision which upon a true account will be found in any degree material or pertinent for the welfare or success of the Gospel wherein he hath not been prevented by the Great Author and Father of the Gospel himself Otherwise it must be supposed that men are either as hath been said wiser then God and able to supply that which hath been wanting in him or else that they are more sollicitous and carefull over the interest of the Gospel more intent upon the salvation of the precious Souls of men than He. Therefore the two Commissioners we implead the one of Triers the other of Ejectors being neither of them given in charge by Jesus Christ for the promotion of the Gospel nor holding any true or real Communion with any of his Orders in that behalf must needs be of another Spirit and tendency from these and rather counter-workers then co-workers with them and this experience it self hath sufficiently discovered Answer Now we are come to that which he calls his fourth Argument and expecting here to meet with somewhat of Reason or Religion because he boasts in his Title page that the whole Dozen and half are all Arguments of that nature I am not able in this to find a grain of either onely we have him sitting down in the Reverend chair of Tautology where he is pleased with much commiseration of the dull heads and weak memories of mankind tanquam ex Tripode most oraculously to dictate the same things again over and over telling us If Christ was as faithful as Moses in all the house of God then it cannot be conceived but that with his Precepts Counsels and Directions he hath done so much that no man man can adde any thing by way of advice or prudential contrivance for the promoting of the Gospel c. Mr Goodwin might have done well to give us a Transcript of those pretended copious Precepts and Directions and till he doth he must rest satisfied with the Answer given to his first Argument in reference to this particular because we are not at leisure for Repetition Howbeit because he seems to lay some weight upon these words In all the house of God some Reply must be made to that for the undeceiving of the Reader By 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the House of God is here meant the Church of God universal as will appear by comparing it with 1 Tim. 3. 15. where the house of God is plainly called the Church of the living God Now it is not to be denied but that Christ took care with as much faithfulness as Moses did for the ordering of all this House of God For whatsoever was necessary for the founding building and ordering of this House Viz. The Church universal he very faithfully provided He laid the foundation of it upon the Prophets and Apostles these latter viz the Apostles seconding that Doctrine of the Gospel which had been first published by the Prophets Moreover for the planting and building up of the House of God it is said That he set in the Church first Apostles secondarily Prophets thirdly Teachers after that Miracles then Gifts of Healings diversity of Tongues Lastly for the ordering of this House of his he left the great Ordinances and Institutions of Preaching the Word Baptism and the Supper which
Things we ought to suppose are all that Christ was appointed to do in reference to the ordering of the Church seeing we read of no more and therefore having fulfilled the appointment of God therein we ought to beleeve him as faithfull in his house as Moses was in his because he omitted nothing for the establishment of it which the Father thought necessary for him to do in his own person As for other things which were necessary to be made use of in after-time for the gathering and ordering of particular Churches in divers Cities Towns or Countries he left them to the ordering of his Apostles to whom before his Ascension he gave a promise of the Spirit for their Direction and Assistance which after his Ascension was performed for when he ascended up on high he gave Gifts unto men to that end and purpose and therefore he was faithfull in all his House as Moses was in his though he and his Apostles left not Rules and Direction at such a Latitude as to answer so many particularities of Affairs and occasions as Moses did Nor indeed was there the same Reason for it for if it may be lawfull to guess at the ground of Gods proceeding thus in this particular who transacts all things according to the best and most excellent dictates and proportions of wisedom there appears to be a great deal of Reason why Christ and his Apostles having left such Institutions Rules and Directions which are foundational and absolutely necessary for the Constituting of the Church in general should not descend to the inferiour points of Regulation touching particular Churches so as to leave Rules for it as amply as Moses did or to prescribe means and Expedients unto the use whereof all men should be tyed up who endeavour to propagate or promote the Gospel For that Christ did not mean to set down positive and particular Laws of so wide an extent for all things as Moses did the very different manner of the delivering of the Laws of Moses and the Laws of Christ doth plainly shew Moses had command to gather the Ordinances of God together distinctly that concerned the Jewish Church and orderly to set them down according to their several kinds for each publick duty and office the Laws that belong thereunto as appears in the Books themselves written of purpose to that end On the other side the Laws of Christ about the affairs of his Church we finde rather mentioned by occasion in the writings of the Apostles than any solemn Thing directly written to comprehend and Record them in a Legal method and form which I mention not and therefore let no envious eye make such a construction seeing it cannot be construed in diminution of the said Gospel-Laws which with a devout heart I reverence as of the most sacred and most transcendent Divine Authority but I hint this onely to intimate that the very different manner of the delivery of the Laws of Christ and Moses touching Church-affairs doth shew that the one had no intent to leave Laws which might answer the variety of Gospel-occasions in particulars of so large a compass as the other did to supply Church-occasions in the time of the Law Besides be pleased to consider that when Moses gave those positive Laws and Ordinances both Ceremonial and Judicial they were intended onely for that particular Nation who then were the sole People House or Church of God and accordingly God in the framing of those Laws had an eye and regard to the nature of that people for whom they were made and peculiar and proper Considerations were upon that account respected in the composure to answer most of the Occasions that might fall out in the administration of the Affairs of that Church and State which end might indeed easily be attained by prescribing Rules in and to a particular Nation But when Christ came the Case was much altered for whereas the House or Church of God in Moses time was confined to one single Nation now it was to be made up out of all Nations The Laws of the Common-wealth were then made conformable to the Order of Church But the Church under the Gospel being to spread through all States and Common-wealths was so formed as it might without prejudice to the Civil Peace be entertained in any Nation and therefore as the framing of positive Laws Rules or Directions of the same nature with those of Moses which might serve to fit the different Tempers and Constitutions the various necessities Affairs and Occasions of all the Nations of the World or of those Remnants which should be first converted in all Nations and oblige them to a very Puntilio as Mr. G. pretends was in the very nature of the thing altogether impracticable so it must have proved no less inconvenient then unnecessary For Christ himself having appointed the principal Ordinances before his departure such as might be conveniently made use of by the Church Universal and his Apostles having left divers Rules and Directions which are of the same general concernment and which may indifferently serve to the principal parts of Oeconomy in the Churches in all the Nations of the world it s to be supposed he hath by himself and his Apostles done all that the Father judged necessary for him to do on the behalf of the Gospel and thereby approved himself faithfull in all his House as Moses was in his And whereas I maintain that in particular matters of lesser Importance concerning the way of carrying on the Gospel there are no positive Laws or Rules to be found of so vast a Latitude and comprehension as to reach all Purposes Occasions Accidents and Emergencies in all succeeding times all over the world so as for ever to exclude altogether the use of humane Reason and discretion from assisting about the way and means of publishing the Gospel this Assertion of mine is so far from occasioning any man thereupon to infer or imagine any defect of wisdom and providence on the part of our Lord and Saviour that it is rather a clear Evidence he hath as becomes his Divine wisdom and faithfulness therein so ordered the matter as was most agreeable to right Reason which is a ray of the Divinity and to the nature and scope of His and his Fathers own great design and intendment which was and is To gather unto him self a People out of all Nations upon the face of the Earth So there is an end of his fourth Argument in the confutation whereof it was necessary to enlarge thus a little more than ordinary because as 't is a supposition too much rooted in the conceptions of men in these times so he seems to build much upon it and with many flashes of Ostentation to dazle the eyes of the Reader The residue of his Arguments which follow import little else but matter of scandal to which though there be no other Answer due than what Michael the Archangel gave the Devil yet somewhat must be
there is hope such a one may be rectified when Interest altereth in such a manner that the mans ends may as well be served by owning the Truth and upon this account many a Heretick hath of himself renounced his Error and imbraced the Truth But when an Intellect is once baffled subdued and as it were enslaved to a lofty luxuriant Lordly Phant'sie then in such a Phant'sie it is that Satan erects his throne rules and reigns there then there is never any taking the man off by all the offers that can be made either of Reason or Advantage Nothing less than the mighty power of the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead can rescue such a man out of the power of darkness and restore him to a right Apprehension By the one or the other of those two ways it is viz. either by Satans bribing the Intellect with Interest or by his seating himself upon a towering Phant'sie to controll and befool the Intellectual Faculty that all the Hereticks in the world have been made I shall not apply this to Mr. G. nor judge him so far as to fasten the odious name of Heretick upon him But this I will take leave to acknowledge as his due because all his Works do manifest it that he is a man of a working capering stately Phant'sie and so the best of his Parts lying therein he might as we find by this Piece of his have made a notable Poet or a Painter But as a good Poet and a good Divine a good Poet and a good Logician a good Poet and a good Statesman do very seldom meet in one because in every Profession where the use of a sober Reason is requisite the more sober and solid it will be if the Phant'sie be the less brisk and frisking to disturb it so Mr. G. hath verified this abundantly throughout his present discourse The luxuriancie of a flourishing Phant'sie manifested in the dress and super-abundance of his Fictions do shew him to be a ready Poet and Painter both but for a Divine as to sound knowledge in affairs respecting Religion and the Gospel and for a Logician as to matter of Reason and Argumentation you may perceive already by what is past I have no reason to allow him And now being to see how he will play his part in the Politicks as a Statesman I fear I shall find but playing-work as little of Reason Religion in this his 9th Arg. as in any of the other and that his gray head though pouder'd by Time is as poetical and phantastical as any young Boy 's in the Town Thus having rambled a little in a digression 't is high time to return to the matter in hope the Phantsiful man who was not wont to be long of an opinion is not yet so desperately given to Opiniastrie but that he may be brought to see and retract his Errors 'T is well I say that we have in this Nation so many pious and able men though differing in some Points from each other But what have they in Authority done to make one Part Judges over the other Can any man in his senses infer That because the Commissioners are vested with a power to examine and try whether men be fitly qualified for the work of the publick Ministry before they enter upon it therefore they are made Judges over all men of parts and piety in the Nation that are not of the same Judgment with them This Charge stretcheth wide and with a great noise because 't is empty for it is only those particular mens Gifts and Graces that they are Commissionated to enquire into who come to them in order to that publick Maintenance which the Magistrate and the Law alloweth and they neither have nor do they assume any power to refuse men because of the several ways and forms wherein they walk or because of their Opinions provided they in their ways be not licentious nor disorderly nor their Opinions contrary to Faith and sound Doctrine of which certainly 't is but reason that the Magistrate or those men whom he thinks fit to trust for the purpose should be Judges that he in conscience may be satisfied either mediately or immediately of the Fitness of those men before he give them his Maintenance Moreover lest it should be thought that the way to this Maintenance should not be open to any but men of some one particular perswasion or form one would think the very Tenor of the former Constitution of Government and of the present might serve to stop the mouth of Mr. G. it being apparent both in the one and the other that an equal regard was and is had to all the people of God under different perswasions and several forms And as this hath been and is the scope of the Government in general so particularly in those two Businesses of Approbation and Ejection to the end that no partiality may be used in the execution of either towards any man in any kind because of his private Opinion if it be not destructive to this Publick the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the great and glorious Truths therein contained or because of the Form under which he walks so special a regard hath been had in the choice of the Commissioners that pious sober and learned men of several ways and perswasions are taken into the number who being entrusted to execute the Ordinances are so ballanced in this respect among themselves that it were absurd to imagine they should agree to design an inthroning of any one Way or Opinion for the oppressing of all the other or that any pious and sober man of sufficient parts who comes to them should suffer because of his particular Way or Opinion And that this is the truth of the matter any one may be satisfied that will but consider the quality constitution and constant practice of the Commissioners And in the next place whereas he suggests that there is no remedy by way of Appeal against them in case they should abuse their power He himself by his own experience knows knows the contrary having not long ago made an Appeal upon such a pretence against the Commissioners on the behalf of another to his Highness the Lord Protector before whom the Appeal was admitted and the Business heard Besides in this Accusation touching Non-Appeal he doth not only gainsay what his own doings but also what his own sayings do confirm and there is neither of these but are as dear to him except Revenge as any thing in the world And yet he is pleased to contradict himself also in refeence to this particular For he who is so audacious here as to say men are without remedy or relief either by Appeal or otherwise hath forgotten what he affirms in other places of his Book where he acknowledgeth such a Power in being as may and if it be faithful will relieve such as may have occasion to appeal Cases of Appeal to a higher Power are occasioned in