Presbytery in that sense I take it I am so well assured that it is Gods Ordinance as I am of any point of Religion But as I said before if men may argue afthis way The Presbyters in the Apostles times did miracles and spake with strange tongues and their Scholers and Disciples did the same do you likewise and then we will acknowledge you to be true Presbytters otherwise we will not Thus the Jewes might have argued against all their Prophets as against Isaiah Ieremy Ezekiel c. Moses and Elias fasted forty dayes and forty nights and did many miracles do you so and then we will believe you are true Prophets and sent to us of God otherwise we will not believe you to be true Prophets Yea all the wicked and ungodly men of these times may argue thus also God gave unto his Church Apostles Evangelists Prophets c. and they spake all strange tongues and divers languages and did many miracles but you and your Congregations have neither Apostles Prophets nor Evangelists nor ye have not the gifts of Tongues nor ye can do no Miracle Ergò you are not the true Church The Primitive Christians and the servants of God in those times had the gifts of Tongues and Prophesie and the Holy Ghost came down upon them and they spake by direction from God his infallible truth and Gospell whose speeches were not tied to time and to one speaker but many spake one after another by interpreters as it is at large set down in the 1. of the Corinthians chap. 14. vers 27 28 29 30. c. So that they spake infallible truth by direction from God but you have none in your congregations so miraculously inspired with sundry languages and divers tongues nor ye do not speak infallible truths by direction from God nor you cannot cure diseases nor do miracles Ergò your religion is not the same Religion nor your congregations the true Church shew us these miracles and then we will beleeve you to be the true Church otherwise we may not we dare not acknowledge you to be the true Church Again they may argue thus The Apostles and Primitive Pastors and Teachers preached freely and laboured with their own hands and were helpfull to the necessities of others and were not burthensome and exacting from others and spake ex tempore by direction from God but your Ministers in your Congregations do not preach freely nor labour not with their own hands nor are not helpfull to others necessities but are rather burdensome and exacting from others nor they do no miracles nor speak not immediately by inspiration and ex tempore but by Study and out of their Books and are confined to time and speak not in strange tongues and languages one after another by Interpreters Ergò your ministers are not Gods Ministers nor your Congregations the true Church nor your people true Christians for you want all those things that the Primitive Christians and the Primitive Churches had There is a Pamphlet lately come out and highly esteemed and prised amongst many full of such consequences as these which if they hold good against the Presbyters they may also for ought I know be of equall validity to overthrow not onely all Christian Congregations but indeed all Christian Religion But briefly to answer We look upon the Apostles and Primitive Presbyters as men miraculously and extraordinarily gifted and as wonder-working men for the confirmation of the truth of the Gospell to all succeeding ages and we consider in them and in the Christians of those times something extraordinary and temporary as their working of miracles and speaking of strange tongues and gifts of healing c. And those we conceive were to continue no longer in the Church then for the confirmation of the truth of the Gospel Christ himself proclaiming those blessed that believe without seeing of miracles speaking unto Thomas Iohn 20.29 Because thou hast seen me saith he thou believest blessed are they that have not seen and have believed So that miracles now are not ordinary and we are tied to the written Word But we consider likewise in the Apostles and Primitive Presbyters that that was permanent and to continue in all Ministers and Presbyters in all succeeding ages to the end of the world and that was the power of order and preaching and the power of jurisdiction that is of ruling which is not denied by the most learned of the Independents themselves and this I have proved by the Word of God to be transacted over to all Christian Churches whose Presbyters have that power given unto them neither will the Learned Brethren deny it what so ever the ignorant may do Yea the very name of a Presbytery as I said before if we look through the whole Scripture signifieth a Magistracy or Signiory or Corporation invested with authority of governing and ruling and such a counsell and company of men as upon whom the government under Christ is laid and to be extended so far as their jurisdiction extendeth and as far as by common consent it may make for the good and edification of the Church and for the safety of the same And such was the government of all those Churches of the New Testament which were as so many Committees their limits and bounds prefixed them as at this day all Committees through the Kingdome have in their severall Hundreds Wapentakes and Cities to whom the ordering and government of those places that are under them are committed so that all that is done or transacted must be done by the joynt consent and counsell of the whole Committee not any particular man or any two of them severally considered by themselvs can make an order but that order only is binding which is made by the joynt consent and common agreement of them all or the greatest part of them assembled together Even so all those particular Congregations that are within the compasse and jurisdiction of the severall Presbyteries are to be ordered and governed by the common and joynt counsell of the severall Presbyters or the greater part of them For this was the order the Apostles established appointing in every City a Presbyterie and when they had so ordered the Churches they set them all to their severall imployments the Presbyters to command and all the people and particular assemblies and congregations under them to obey neither is it ever found in the holy Scriptures that the people were joyned with the Presbyters in their commission So that they that oppose this government resist Gods Ordinance And if we looke into all the Epistles writ by the Apostles to the severall Churches we shall finde in them that they enjoyne all the severall congregations to yeild obedience to their Pastors and Rulers over them and signifie unto them that they owe unto them double honour especially such as labour in Word and Doctrine that is they must yeild unto them not only due reverence and subjection and obedience to their counsell and just
that time met together were capable of an Apostleship and such as were the most eminent of all Christs followers and such as were best instructed in Christian Religion as having been bred up in the doctrine of Saint Iohn the Baptist and under the Ministery of Christ himself the Prophet of his Church and therefore they were the Teachers of the Church and people who were their flock which they all fed in common And from thence it argueth that the multitude of Believers in Jerusalem was not only a distinct company from them but that it was exceedingly great and numerous that had so many Pastors and Teachers over them for if they had been but so small a company as is here mentioned and that the whole Church had consisted but of sixscore names then the Pastors exceed the number of the flock which is not only absurd to think but against the evident truth of the holy Scriptures which relate unto us multitudes upon multitudes that were daily converted by the ministery of Iohn the Baptist and of Christ and his Apostles and added unto the Church before this their meeting So that by this I have now said it is most clear and evident that all or most of these were the most eminent Ministers of the Gospell and the Presbytery of the Church But in this that our Brethren do acknowledge that this assembly here spake of were the Church it makes as much against them and greatly for us for it is manifest from the Text that they were the Ministers and Preachers of the Gospel and in that they give them the name and title of the Church it followeth that the representative body and Presbytery is a Church and that to them only belongs the power and authority of the Keyes according to that of our Saviour in Matth. 18.17 18. Tell it unto the Church c. and whatsoever ye binde on Earth shall be bound in Heaven and whatsoever ye loose on Earth shall be loosed in Heaven By which words all authority is put into the true Ministers hands so that they only have the power and authority of ordaining Pastors and Presbyters among themselves as Paul sufficiently declares in his Epistles to Timothy and Titus and that they have not only the title of the Church but a Charter and Warrant also granted unto them of ruling and governing the Church and of ordaining Church-officers and that by joynt and common consent among themselves without the help and assistance of the people and congregations under them which by God were never joyned in commission with them And howsoever Paul in the 1. of the Corinthians chap. 6. For the taking away the scandall in going to Law before unbeleevers gave them liberty to make choyce of some that were least esteemed in the Church for the deciding of their controversies yet that did not authorize them to make choyce of all other Church Officers for he limits them to go no farther then to the choyce of such as are of least esteem And howsoever likewise the Apostles in the 6. of the Acts to free themselves from all impediments that they might the better attend upon their Ministeries and that without interruption they might Preach the Gospell gave them liberty to chuse their Decons and Deconesses yet they prescribe the Rule by which they shall chuse them and keep the authority of ordaining them still in their own hands Look you out among you say they men of honest report full of the holy Ghost and wisedome whom we may appoint over this businesse and when they had chose such saith the Scripture They put them before the Apostles and when they had prayed they layd their hands on them So that howsoever they gave unto them a Liberty to chuse yet it was with limitation not an absolute liberty for if they had chose men that had not been of approved honesty well gifted and wise and qualified as they appointed it was arbitrary in the Apostles to reject their choise for they keep the power of Ordination still in their own hands and to them it did belong to ratifie their Election so that the people had not the power of Ordination then nor have not to this day no not of the meanest Deacon or Deaconesse that belongs onely unto the Presbytery much lesse have they power of ordaining Presbyters Indeed for the deciding of controversies and differences they have a liberty given them of making choise of some petty men amongst them and that they may do without the Presbytery but they have no power of Ordination Neither did I ever yet read in the Sacred Scriptures that the people or Congregation had any hand at all in choosing of Ministers and Presbyters neither were they fit for that imployment for it is one thing to judge of a mans externall carriage and manners and another thing of his sufficiency for his indowments and abilities of learning and that men of learning and knowledge onely can do and the Sons of the Prophets and it is in speciall given in charge to the Presbyters and Ministers as it is manifest in the Epistles of Paul to Timothy and Titus 1 Tim. 4.14 Tit. 1. And they onely know how rightly to examine them in the knowledge of the tongues and Sciences and such Arts as are requisite besides the knowledge of the holy Scriptures all which are little enough for the making of a Minister compleat and fit for that Sacred imployment And all the Primitive Churches in the Apostles times willingly submitted themselves to what the Presbytery then did and assented to their choyce as in the 14. of the Acts vers 23. it appeareth But I say in that our brethren do acknowledge this company this hundred and twenty names to be a Church and in that it is also sufficiently manifest that they are considered in a distinct notion from the people which also in the holy Scriptures when they are joyned with their Ministers are called a Church as is frequently to be seen through the acts of the Apostles and in that it doth abundantly appear by what hath formerly been spoken and will yet in the following discourse be farther elucidated that there were many congregations and Assemblies of beleevers in the Church of Ierusalem and that they were all governed by the joynt consent and Common Councell of the Apostles and Presbyters to whom the Apostles themselves were subject who were sent this way and that way by their direction and to whom they were to give an account of their Ministry as we see in divers places in the Acts and were ordered by them what they should do and also made their appeals unto the Apostles and Presbyters in any businesse of common concerement I say in all these respects it is evident that the Church of Ierusalem consisted of many Congregations and Assemblies and was yet but one Church and that governed by a Presbyterian Government and by a Common Councell of Ministers to whose order all the severall Congregations
they left a patterne and president to all ages for severall congregations and assemblies in a City or vicinity to unite into one Church and for the Officers and Presbyters of these congregations to governe that Church jointly in a Colledge and Presbytery And for a third instance as the Apostles and Presbyters met together in a Synodicall way and the Apostles in that assembly acted not by an apostollicall and infallible spirit no more then the Presbyters did as when they were writing of Scripture but stating the question and debating it from Scripture in an ordinary way as it is at large discussed in Act. 15. which we never reade they did when they writ the Scripture and having by disputing arguing and searching the Scripture found what was the good and acceptable will of God thereupon they determined the question saying it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and us as the assembly now of Divines or any other for ought I know upon like assurance of Scripture warrant may doe In this action also and their so doing the apostles and Presbyters left an example and president to all the Presbyters of all succeeding ages what they should doe upon the like occasions for the deciding of controversies and differences of opinions in Religion viz. To congregate and meet together in some one place to state the questions and to debate them from Scripture and to follow the written Word as their rule in all things and whatsoever they doe to do it by joint consent and the common councell of them all or by the most voices but in all this their proceedings they must ever cleave to the rule of the Word of God or warrantable authority and evidence of reason deduced from thence as then the apostles and presbyters did yea the very name of the Presbyters in Jerusalem signifieth the Judges Counsellors Magistrates and Rulers of that Church who had the keyes committed unto them as well as the apostles and by their place were more peculiarly overseers of that Church as they were tyed unto it then the apostles as the Presbyters of Ephesus were in that Church and were assigned in their severall places to execute their office and to looke to their particular charges in the government so that whether the apostles were present or absent the presbyters had the government laid upon their shoulders and if the apostles themselves had taught contrary to this constitution or an angell from Heaven Gal. 1. I am confident the Presbyters would not have obeyed them nor have relinquished their authority neither ought they but would still have kept that rule power and authority which God had put in their hands so that for my owne particular I looke upon the apostles in all these severall actions and in all those acts of government joyned and met together with the Presbyters as I looke upon Counsellors and Judges in the great councels of Kingdoms where all the judges have equall power authority in decisive voting and I do verily believe that the Presbyters siting at any time in councell with any one or more of the apostles did act as authoritatively as the apostles themselves I am ever able to prove it and make it good against any man that the Presbyters might as wel conclude It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us as well as the apostles and may say we have written and concluded as well as the apostles as any two or three of the Parliament whether of the Lords or Commons may as well say we have made such an Ordinance as any twenty of them or the whole councell and that without disparagement or impeaching the dignity of any when they joyned with them in that worke and assented to it and in this very notion I looke upon the presbyters in Jerusalem joyned with the apostles and consider them as in my contemplations I looke upon the Lords and Commons now sitting in the great Councell as the grand civill presbytry of the Kingdome where all binding Ordinances are to be passed by the joynt consent and Common-counsel of them all and whose place and office it is to command and rule and the peoples office and place to obey and yeeld subjection to whatsoever they command and injoyne according to the will of God and for the common good and preservation of themselves and the whole Kingdome and that whosoever should resist this their just authority are guilty of contumacy and are high offendors and delinquents for God hath layed the government upon them and left the duty of obedience to the subjects who may not without a publicke cale intermeddle with matters of government And so in the matters of Church government I looke upon Presbyters as Gods peculiar servants and as upon the Stewards Councellours and Magistrates and Judges in the Church as men set apart by God himselfe for this purpose to be the teachers and rulers of their flocks committed unto them in the Lord to whom in the matters of their soules all people under their severall Presbyters so farre as they command in the Lord and according to the written word are to yeeld obedience and much to reverence and honour them and this according to Gods command for it is his ordinance And they are not to be looked on and slited as the fagge ends of the Cleargy as many black mouthes and prophane lips speake of them for the Presbyters they have their authority as well grounded in the word of God as Kings and States have theirs and therefore as they are imployed in a more supreame orbe and in matters of eternall concernment so they should be venerated as men watching over our soules and all contumelious speeches against them deserve severe punishment and ought not to be tolerated and so much the more the Presbyters of this Kingdome in these our dayes have deserved better from the Church the Parliament and the whole Kingdome then any of their predecessors not onely in desiring a perfect and through Reformation in both Doctrine and Discipline but in that they have stood now so cordially to the comon cause and more for the liberty of the Subject then any before them and have cleaved most faithfully to the Parliament have bin also a most singular means of keeping the people whersoever they were suffered to Preach in obedience In all these respects I say they deserve well yea better not onely from the Church but from all the Kingdome for the present than any of their predecessours and their memories ought to be famous to all posterity for this their good service And that government that God has given unto the Presbyters if the Lords and Commons shall now labour to establish it in the Kingdome and to settle it on them they may not onely promise unto themselves a blessing from heaven and peace unto the Church and State but also immortall praise from all succeeding ages Having taken leave to make this digression I will now to my businesse and prove that
the Church of Ierusalem consisting of many Congregations and Assemblies were all governed by a common Presbytery and that the Apostles there acted as Presbyters among the Presbyters They that in the holy Scripture are called Presbyters and acted and ordered things in a joynt body and common counsell with the Presbyters and exercised that ordinary power that was committed to them in the 18. of Matthew they acted as Presbyters but the Apostles in governing the Church of Ierusalem consisting of many Congregations and Assemblies acted and ordered things in a joynt body and common councell with the Presbytery of that Church as Presbyters Ergo the Church of Ierusalem was Presbytrianly governed and by a common counsell of Presbyters The major and minor of this Syllogysme being proved the conclusion will necessarily insue And for proofe of the major the Scripture is cleere as 1 Tim. cha 4. ver 14 where Paul writing unto Timothy saith neglect not the gift that is in thee which was given thee to preach with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery in the which Presbytery Paul was one that laid his hands on him and ordained him as is evident in the second Epistle to Timothy chap the first verse the sixt where putting Timothy in minde of his duty he saith stirre up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands so that Paul joyning in this publicke action of ordination though an Apostle yet acted as a Presbyter and counts himselfe in the number of them as any of the Presbyters that now ordaine the Ministers may say as well as all of them together to any new ordained Minister neglect not the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands As men ordinarily in a Jury may assume that unto themselves that all may doe as being actors in common So Peter likewise in his first Epistle chap. 5. ver 1 2. cals himselfe a fellow presbyter and Saint Iohn in his second and third Epistles stiles him so also The presbyter unto the elect Lady c. The presbyter unto the well beloved Gajus c. So that his presbytership did not exclude his apostleship nor the acting at any time of a presbyter deprive him of his apostolicall power for at that very time he cals himselfe a presbyter he wrote Scripture by an apostolicall and infallible spirit and yet continued still a presbyter Sothat for the major although I should say no more it is sufficiently proved yet for a further corroboration of it it is not good to reject the consent of our Brethren in this point for they acknowledge that the apostles are called presbyters vertually because as they say apostleship contained all offices in it yea they further assert the act of ministeriall power to be the same in the Apostles and Presbyters the onely difference they seeme to insinuate is in the extent from which it may be inferred that in all the affaires transacted by the apostles properly concerning the Church of Jerusalem they did act as presbyters because in such acts there was no extent of their power to many much lesse to all Churches But when they affirme that the apostles power over many congregations was founded upon their power over all churches and so cannot be a patterne and president for the power of presbyters over many For answer first I say that the Brethren in my opinion take more upon them then beseemeth them and usurpe a kinde of unlimited authority to themselves that they can make what pleaseth them exemplary only reject whatsoever agreeth not with their opinion though they were all the acts of all the apostles and transacted by joint consent and common agreement and accord and left in the Church of Christ as well for a patterne and president for the Presbyters and Ministers to follow in all succeeding ages to the end of the world as any of their other acts so they pick choose at pleasure and in so doing under reformation be it spoke I say they assume unto themselves a greater authority then beseemes them for they can make the apostles joynt gogoverning of one congregation for so they take it pro confesso that the church of Jerusalem was but one congregation to be a patterne of many ministers governing one congregation but whereas it is most evident that the Church of Jerusalem consisted of many congregations and were yet under but one presbytery and was governed by the joint consent of the Apostles and Presbyters as under a grand common presbytry this at pleasure they teject and make it no way exemplary and binding But for a further answer I assert that the apostles power and authority over many assemblies as one Church to rule and governe them all as one church jointly and in common was not grounded upon their power over all churches but upon the union of those assemblies and congregations into one church which union layeth a foundation for the power of presbyters ruling and governing many congregations and the apostles practice in governing many assemblies jointly as one church is the pattern and example of that government to all succeeding ages this president of the Apostles the presbyters in all churches ought to set before their eyes in all reformation for what the apostles did in the publike affaires of government they did as presbyters and for imitation Neither do our Brethren onely grant the act of ministerial power to be the same in the apostles and presbyters saving in the extent but they acknowledg also that they were called presbyters vertually as I said before that the apostles acted in a joint body and by common consent affirme that it was fit that they should so do and say withall that the apostles wherever they came left the presbyters and people to the exercise of that right which belonged to them although they joyned with them These are their formall expressions out of which their concession my argument yea the whole syllogisme is not only confirmed and strengthened but the truth doth more evidently shine forth for if the apostles left the presbyters people to the exercise of that right which belonged unto them in all churches and the presbyters right be to rule as Ecclesiasticall Magistrates as to whom the power of the keyes peculiarly belongeth by Gods institution and the right of the people in all churches be to obey as they are every where commanded then it followeth necessarily that it doth not belong unto the people to ordaine either deacons or presbyters whatsoever they may doe in the choosing of them nor to excommunicate or cast out any out of the Church or to make members whom they please nor to rule and governe the Church which is the peculiar right of the presbyters left unto them by Christ and his Apostles for none of all these things was ever left unto the people neither is there any president of it in holy Scripture so that while the Brethren
the sense that I understand it there is nothing more cleer to me in all the holy Scripture Yea the very word and name of Presbytery signifieth a magistracy or Aristocracy or Signory or Court that is a Company or Senate or Councell of grave wise and understanding men invested with authority and power of ruling ordering and commanding and in whose hands the government is put And as the word is taken in the civill polity and Government so in the Ecclesiasticall by a Presbytery we understand a Religious Grave Solid Learned and wise councell of Divines and Ministers or men of inveterate experience and such as know how to Rule and Govern those that are under their command with wisedome and moderation and according to the Word of God and the which men likewise are invested with Authority and Power for to exercise a jurisdiction over others and are hereunto called by such as are able to judge and discern of the sufficiency of their gifts and abilities for this work which the ordinary and common people cannot do And as in the civill State the Presbyters and Elders of the people were those that had the rule over them for the common good of them all and for their bodily preservation So the Presbyters and Elders of the Church are those that have the rule and government over the Churches for the spirituall good of their souls And as Kings and Rulers are by a Metaphoricall and borrowed speech called Pastors and Sheepheards of the people and are said to feed the flocks committed to their charge by which word is understood the exercise of all lawfull and moderate authority agreeable to the Law of God over them so the Presbyters and Ministers are called the Pastors and Sheepheards yea and Stewards over the flocks committed to their charges and they are commanded to feed them by which metaphor they are invested with the authority and power both of preaching and ruling and have the Government over those flocks put into their hands which they must alwayes exercise according to Gods Word they must feed them and rule them in the Lord and not after their own wills and pleasures they may not have dominion over our faith as Paul saith in the 2. of the Corinthians chap. 1. vers 24. But that they should be helpers of our joy that is they may not usurpe an absolute Soveraignty or power over the consciences of the people as if the spirituall state and welfare of their flocks depended on them which is onely grounded upon their faith in Jesus Christ but as they are the Stewards of God and Ministers and servants of the Church so they should comfort them and rejoyce their hearts in the Lord and establish them in the faith and use all the care and diligence that is possible like good Sheepheards to preserve the flocks committed to their charge that they straggle and stray not from Christs fould and run not into the by-wayes and thickets of sin and errour and be corrupted with noysome food and false Doctrine and if they have any among them that are unruly that they bring and reduce them into order or if they have any sick feeble poor or weak that they cure releeve comfort and restore such and if they have any that are infected or scabby that they remove such from the sound till they be recovered or if they have any broken or wounded that they heal and recover them with all lenity and humanity and that they should by common councell govern and order their flocks and take speciall care that the particular Pastors and Ministers of the severall Congregations and Assemblies under their Presbytery and charge assume not any sole and soveraign Authority to themselves over the flock to do any thing of publike concernment without the joynt consent of that Presbytery or spirituall corporation under whose commands they are And it stands with all reason that a Common Councell of godly grave learned and experienced ministers should ever be more able to manage and order a government then two or three unexperienced men or two or three hundred young people of which most Congregations consist in whom the sap of youth is not yet dryed up or if many of them should be of riper years yet they know little what belongs to government and therefore they can never be so well able to govern as men both of known learning ancient experience and honesty and approved judgement and integrity as a whole Colledge or an Assembly of learned Presbyters commonly are who by God himself have the dispensation of the Word and the ordering and ruling of the Church committed unto them and who in the preaching of the Word and the administration of the Sacraments and in all ordinary acts of worship and in governing and ruling the flocks committed to their severall charges are the successors of the holy Apostles But by the way an objection is here to be answered unto made by some of the Independents after this manner The Elders and Presbyters of the Apostles times say they by the imposition of their hands gave the gifts of tongues and prophesie Acts 19.1 2 3 4 5. and the 8.18 and 1 Tim. 4.14 and healed the sick Iames 5.14 15. according to our Saviours promise Mark 16.18 Let say they the Presbyters of our time let them impose their hands upon the sick and heale them let them by imposing hands upon their disciples inable them on a sudden to speake with strange tongues and foretell things to come and then we will acknowledge them for a true Presbytery then will they be a right assembly of Elders and the Apostles successors but if they cannot give to others nor yet have for themselves in store any of the true Apostles any of the right Presbyters gifts and characters we may not we dare not acknowledge them as such These are their formall words in print Before I come to my answer I desire there may be speciall notice taken of this Objection and such like for for ought that I know if any man will argue after this manner all Christian religion may be called in question and no man will have any Creed or Belief except he may make his own Articles as Thomas did who said Vnlesse I put my hands into his side and my fingers into the print of the nailes I will not believe And as the Jewes said unto our blessed Saviour Thou that savest others now save thy selfe come down from the Crosse and then we will believe in thee do this miracle and then thou wilt perswade us Here we see they would make their own Articles or else they would have no Creed The Jewes had learned this method of disputing from the Devill who at his meeting of our Saviour Christ and at his first assault thus disputed If thou be the Sonne of God saith he and wouldest have the world so believe and me too on thee then command these stones to be made bread do this miracle first but thou
mouthes against Iohn the Baptist From all which places and many more that might be produced to prove that there were so many Believers in Jerusalem as could not all meet in one place or room or in one Congregation to partake in all acts of worship I thus argue Where there was an infinite multitude or a mighty City of Believers there they could not all meet together in one place or room or in one Congregation for the enjoying of all acts of worship and for edification which is required in the Churches 1 Cor. 14.26 but of necessity must be distributed into severall Congregations and Assemblies and divers divisions that they might be all edified and partake in all Ordinances But in the Church of Ierusalem by the very baptisme and preaching of Iohn there were infinite multitudes and a very City of Believers Ergo they could not all meet together in one place or room or in one congregation for the enjoying of all acts of worship and for edification which is required in the Church of God but of necessity must be distributed into severall congregrtions and assemblies and divers divisions that they might all be edified partake in all ordinances For the major it is clear by the very light of nature and all reason for there is no one place or house that can contain a whole City or infinite multitude of Believers and if any great place could contain them they could not all be edified and partake of all the acts of worship For if the very great raw-bon'd building of Pauls it self were cramm'd full of people and had a Preacher of the strongest lungs in the City half the people could not hear and be edified as daily experience teelleth us so that of necessity if they would be edified and partake in all the Ordinances they must be distributed into divers congregations and severall assemblies I am most assured that there were such multitudes of Believers in Jerusalem that five such buildings as Pauls could not have contained their very bodies within their wals much lesse receive them or entertain them for edification So that for the major I am confident there is no intelligible man will doubt of it For the Minor it is manifest from the places above produced for our Saviour saith excepting the Pharisees and the Lawyers which were but a little handfull all the people or the generality of them justified God and were baptized and were Believers So that the conclusion from the premises doth necessarily follow But from the former places I argue yet further after this manner Where there was such an infinite company and multitude of Christians and Believers as kept a tyrannicall King in awe and all the Magistrates and Elders in whose hands was all the power and authority and struck such a fear and terror into them all that they durst not exercise their cruelty and tyranny over them though they were their inveterate enemies and desired it There of necessity the number of the Believers must be so great as they could not all meet together in one place or room or in one congregation for the enjoying and partaking in all the acts of worship but if they would be edified must be distributed into divers congregations and assemblies But in Ierusalem there were such an infinite company and multitude of Christians and Believers as kept Herod himself the tyrant in awe and all the Magistrates and Elders in whose hands was all the power and authority and struck such a fear and terror into them that they durst not exercise their cruelty and tyranny over them though they were their inveterate enemies and desired it Ergo of necessity the number of the Believers was so great as they could not all meet together in one place or room or in one congregation for the enjoying and partaking in all acts of worship but if they would be edified must be distributed into divers congregations and assemblies For the Major and Minor of this Syllogisme besides the force of reason and common understanding which were enough to convince any rationall creature of the truth of them the holy Scripture it self as from the places above specified is manifest prove them So that none can doubt of the truth of the conclusion but such as will call in question truth it self I might out of the severall places above mentioned draw many more Arguments to prove the conclusion but because I study brevity these for the present shall serve to prove That by the very baptisme and Ministery of Saint Iohn the Baptist there were such an infinite company of Believers in the Church of Jerusalem as they could not all meet together in one place or congregation for the injoying of all the Ordinances I will now therefore go on to shew the increase of Believers that was made by the miracles and preaching both of Christ and his Apostles and from the severall places out of the holy Scripture frame my Arguments as out of the former to prove the same conclusion Iohn 4.1 2. Now when the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more Disciples then Iohn though Iesus himself baptized not but his Disciples here observe that where there was a mistake in the relation there the Evangelist forthwith shewes it to rectifie mens understandings as where it was reported that Christ baptized he shewes it was a mistake for his Disciples only baptized but where it is said that Jesus made more Disciples then Iohn that is taken pro confesso and it was true for Iohn himself in Chap. 3. vers 30. had said He must increase but I must decrease Christ therefore made many more Disciples and Believers then John and added daily to the Church that was then in Jerusalem such as should be saved for he came to save the lost sheep of the house of Israel and he received all that came to him Iohn 6.37 And as many as received him to them he gave power to become the sonnes of God even to them that believe upon his Name Iohn 1.12 and these were infinite multitudes as we shall see by and by In Iohn 7.31 it is said That many of the people of Ierusalem believed on him and in Vers 40. they said Of a truth this is that Prophet And in the same Chapter when the High Priests sent the Officers to apprehend Christ and returning without him and the High Priests demanding the reason why they had not brought him the Officers replyed saying That never man spake as this man Vers 47 48. Then answered the Pharisees are ye also deceived Doth any of the Rulers of the Pharisces believe in him but this people that knoweth not the Law is cursed Take here notice of the confession of the very Pharisees exceping themselves and the High Priests they acknowledge that the generality of the people believed in him Here was increase upon increase of Christians and Believers all the people generally believed in him certainly one place could
were to submit themselves And therefore this their Argument maketh much against them and greatly for us And this shall suffice to have answered to this their first Objection which to speak the truth is that that carrieth the most appearance of any Argument they produce to prove their Assertion and tenent for all their other Objections raised from the severall meetings of the Apostles and people and from the multitude comming to them about the ordaining of Deacons by which they would perswade the world that the company of Believers in the Church of Jerusalem was not so numerous at any time but that they might all meet in one congregation or in one place to partake of in acts of worship they consist most of them in Homonymies and meer Paralogismes which indeed beseem not the gravity of reverend men and in the weighty matters of Divinity would be undecent in a sucking Sophister and therefore are much more blameworthy in them who by such fallacies labour to amuse the people to the disturbance of the whole Church and Kingdome and alienating the affections of Brethren one from another I shall briefly run over them Acts 2.46 where it is related that the Believers and new Converts continued daily with one accord in the Temple and breaking bread from house to house From these words the Brethren conclude that the multitude of Believers was not so great but that they might all meet in one congregation and in one place to partake in all acts of worship for here in expresse words the place where they met is specified and it is said to be the Temple I appeale to the wisdome of any learned man or but of a rationall Christian whether this be a candid or ingenuous way of arguing That because three thousand Christians might meet together in the Temple of Jerusalem Ergò all that believed in Jerusalem that were converted by Iohn the Baptist and all that believed by Christs ministery and miracles and all that were converted by the Apostles and the seventy Disciples before Christs sufferings and all that were after his Resurrection converted for twenty years together by the Ministry of all the Apostles and all the other Ministers of the Gospell they might yet all meet in any one place or Congregation to partake in all acts of worship and to edification I refer this I say to the consideration of any Learned man or any intelligible Christian whether this be an ingenuous way of arguing I believe if one should argue against them after the same manner they would laugh at him If one should thus dispute within these seven years all the Independents continued daily with one accord in such a place and they all met together in one congregation Ergò there is but one congregation and but one Church still of Independents in London and they all meet together in one congregation Would not the Brethren make themselves as merry with such a way of disputing as they have made others sad with their way of arguing yes doubtlesse The truth is their way of arguing is not to their own honour to speak but favourably of it as will appear For should I grant unto them that at that time this place of Scripture speaks of there had been no more Believers in Jerusalem but those hundred and twenty names specified in the first Chapter of the Acts and these three thousand new Coaverts and accord also unto them that all these did meet together in one place and in one congregation and did partake in all the Ordinances which notwithstanding I cannot grant them for divers reasons for in the same place it is said that although they continued daily in the Temple yet they brake bread from house to house that is to say some of them did daily meet to hear the Word in the Temple and then followed their severall imployments and others in private and they had the holy Communion or Sacrament in severall houses from which it is manifeltly evident that then when there were newly added to the Church but three thousand Believers they had many and severall congregations and assemblies and without all doubt as the multitudes of Believers increased they were still distributed into more congregations for it is said They brake bread from house to house that is they had their assemblies and meetings in severall houses and places besides the Temple and in those severall houses they had not only the preaching of the Word and Prayer but the administration of the Sacraments and communicated in all the Ordinances which they could not do in the Temple as afterward will appear and all that I now say is evident from the 41 Verse of the same Chapter to the 47. But I say should I silence my own reason and suffer it to speak nothing and should I grant to our Brethren that there were but three thousand and that these three thousand Believers might all meet in one congregation and partake in all the ordinances to edification would it follow that when ten thousand were added unto them and twenty thousand more to them and thirty thousand more to all these and it may be in a short time many hundred thousands more would any man think or believe that ten thousand men can meet in one congregation to edifie and to partake in all the Ordinances much lesse when there is so many thousands more added to them that they could still meet in any one place or congregation I think no man that hath not abdicated his understanding will so conclude So that all men may see not only the weaknesse of this argumentation but the strength of truth For this very weapon with which they had thought to have defended themselves and wounded the Truth they wound themselves and overthrow their own tenent as God willing I shall more fully by and by make appear But out of Chap. 5. our Brethren conceive they have a very strong invincible Argument where it is related that after Ananias and Saphira were miraculously taken away for lying unto the Spirit of God It is said That great fear came upon all the Church and upon as many as heard these things And by the hands of the Apostles were many signes and wonders wrought among the people and they were all with one accord in Solomons Porch Ergò say they the number of Believers in Jerusalem was not so great but that they might all meet together in one congregation for the place where they did meet is set down viz. in Solomons Porch and it is further specified That they were all with one accord in that place This is their Argument faithfully and truly set down and with the best advantage for their cause But to speak the truth this kinde of arguing hath no force in it neither doth it beseem grave men to trifle thus in the matters of God and Religion For should I grant unto them that all the Believers that then were in Jerusalem and had been converted by John
the Baptist and by Christ and all his Disciples before the Passion and Sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ and the three thousand converted by the first Miracle and Sermon of Peter after they had received the gifts of the Holy Ghost and the five thousand after by the second Miracle and Sermon and after the new additions of so many multitudes of Believers both of men and women by reason of the miracle wrought upon Ananias and Saphira his Wife and the other miracles that the fifth Chapter speaketh of should I say grant that all these might yet have met in one place and in any one congregation to communicate in all the Ordinances which all reason forbids me to yeild to will it follow that when there were additions upon additions and that of multitudes of Believers that they might still meet in any one congregation to edification and have communicated in all acts of worship For in all reason we may conceive had we no testimony out of the holy Scripture to back it that if eight thousand were converted besides multitudes both of Men and Women with a few Miracles and Sermons and if at the first preaching of the Gospell after the Resurrection there was such a great encrease and such a multiplication of Christians all understanding I say perswades that in the space of twenty years there will be innumerable multitudes added daily to the Church when the miraculous working of wonders with the same doctrine still continued and with all the same reason will dictate to any man that then the whole multitude of all those Believers could not all meet together in one place and in one congregation for edification to communicate in all Ordinances So that any judicious man without the help of any great Schoole-learning may perceive the invalidity and vanity of such argumentation And truly were it not that they are Brethren and that I desire in the spirit of meeknesse to deale with them I would have made it appear that it is so poor a way of disputing that it did not bessem men of gravity much lesse of learning and that there were many wayes to evade the dint of such reasoning and to prove the nothingnesse of the Argument and that by the words of the Text the people there spake of to be in Solomons Porch are to be limited and confined within the number of those that were converted by the last miracle and some other new miracles of the Apostles which they were then working in Solomons Porch for there is the place where the Apostles and they were together and I doe acknowledge that as many as were then and at that time in Solomons Porch with the Apostles were of one accord But doth this with any rationall man conclude that every Believer in Jerusalem both Men and Women and all the Christians and Disciples in Jerusalem were then together in Solomons Porch and in one Congregation I am confident that no wise man will think so for without all controversie there were then such multitudes of Believers in the Church of Jerusalem as neither many Porches nor many Temples could have contained their very bodies much lesse could they have all met in any one congregation to edifie But I say I will not deale with Brethren so rigidly as I might and therefore wave many things that I might justly here utter But grant it were so that now in the beginning of the Christian Church and if I may so speak in the infancy of it that all the Believers then in Jerusalem night all meet together in one place doth it follow that they mightever so do in succeeding times when there was such infinite increase of Christians daily added to the Church all reason will contradict that assertion Within this seven yeares as all men know one place and congregation would have contained all the Independents but will one place now or ten containe them And there is no man as I conceive will deny but that the Apostles and those Primitive Ministers had mother manner of converting faculty then our Brethen for the Apostles as it is well known did not build upon others foundations yea they took it as a disparagement unto them for so Saint Paul in the 15 of the Romans v. 20. affirmeth Now our Brethen they build upon others foundations and gather the sheep and them the good and the fat sheep with good fleeces on their backs yea the Velvit-sheep and the Plush-sheep and the Sattin and Taffity-sheep out of other Sheepheards foulds and while they seem to gather Churches they scatter them and the poor sheep But I will proceed to the other Argument out of the sixth of the Acts where it is related that when the number of Disciples was multiplyed here we may take notice of multiplication There arose a murmuring of the Greeks against the Hebrews because the widdows were neglected in the dayly ministration And the Apostles called the multitude of the Disciples unto them and gave them liberty to choose their Deacons and it pleased the whole multitude saith the Scripture From thence our brethren conclude that all the beleevers in the Church of Jerusalem came here together to the Apostles and were then no more then could all meet in one congregation as if our brethren should thus argue As the wheel-barrow goes rumble rumble even so is Prelaticall Episcopacy better then the Presbyterian Government But to be serious should I grant unto the Brethren that at this time all the beleevers that were in the Church of Ierusalem did then come together and were all in one place and might meet in one congregation doth it follow when there was a dayly increase of more beleevers and that of multitudes of them as this very chapter signifies that then also they might all meet together in one place or in one Congregation I suppose no man will think or beleeve so But I must confesse that I cannot grant unto them that by the multitude of beleevers here spake of is to be understood every individuall Christian or the greatest part of them much lesse that all the whole body of them came together and that for warrantable reason to the contrary For the controversie and murmuring here spoken of was not among all the Disciples and beleevers in Ierusalem but onely between two Nations of them viz. between the Greeks and the Hebrews Now we are informed out of the second of the Acts vers 5. That there were dwelling in Ierusalem Iews devout men out of every Nation under heaven for so in expresse words it is said of the which the Greeks were but one Nation and the Hebrews another So that all the Christians and beleevers of all the other Nations were of one minde and in good accord among themselves as the foregoing Chapters tell and were at peace one wish another so that there was no murmuring amongst them nor no controversie contention or varience and they all continued quiet in their severall houses and lived in love
by Christ nor any of his Apostles for they themselves confesse it is a new way and a new-borne truth and a new light and therefore not the doctrine of Christ and therefore such novelties are not to be entertained nor imbraced nor the teachers of them if we will be obedient to Apostolicall precepts I desire therefore those of the Independent brethren to produce any one testimony or any one president out of the Word of God where these things following are taught or have been practiced First that although men and women beleeve and are baptized they are not yet to be admitted as joyned members till they have walked some time in fellowship with the church for approbation of their conversation this is the first thing I desire of the brethren either a precept or an example for this in Gods Word The second where it is commanded that those that beleeve and are baptized should not be admitted as members of the church without a publike confession of their faith before the church The third where it is enjoyned that to their faith and baptisme they should bring in the evidences of the truth of their conversion before they can be capable of their membership The fourth where it is commanded that they should enter into a solemne and private covenant before they can be admitted to Church-fellowship The fifth where it is imposed upon those that beleeve and are baptized that they should not be received into the church without the consent of the congregation Sixthly where it is commanded that the Ministers of the Gospel shall run about from their own places and charges into the sheepfolds of their fellow-shepheards and separate and pick out all their best sheep and bring them into their owne folds and debarre them from all church-fellowship and communicating with the other beleevers in Gods holy Ordinances and Sacraments or where ever it is commanded that the preachers of the gospel shall gather beleeving christians from amongst beleeving christians separate them from the other sheep into Independent congregations and shall proclaim all that are not thus molded up after this new modell to be people out of covenant and to have no right to the seales of the new covenant neither they nor their children though beleevers All these things I desire the brethren by evident places of the holy Scripture to make good and to confirme or by any president or example to declare to have been practiced either by Christ or his blessed Apostles for I looke for a law from Christ the King of his church who was as faithful in the house of God as Moses was and hath not left the ordering and disposing of his church to the will of men but has commanded the church to heare his voyce who is the great Pastor and Bishop of our souls and the teacher of his church his Word therefore I look for for a warrant for the ratifying of all these doctrines and I have good ground and reason to demand of them a warrant and authority out of Gods Word for what they both teach and practice for we are taught by Christ the onely Prophet of his church that they that serve God after the precepts of men offer him a vaine worship and it stands with all good reason that if all humane traditions though of never so ancient standing and of never so long antiquity were all cast out of the church because they had no footing or ground in Gods Word that all novelties or new inventions of men which notwithstanding are imposed upon the people as the wayes of God should be abrogated and nullified and cast out of the church It is recorded in holy writ Joshua 9. that the Gibeonites deceived Joshua and the people of Israel under pretence that they came from a farre country and for proofe of that they produced their mouldy bread and their tattered boots their old shooes and they taking what they said pro confesso and not consulting with the mouth of the Lord as it is fully related in that chapter were deceived by them and entred into a League with their enemies And thus the Papists and Prelats for these many hundred yeers have deluded the world under pretence of their mouldy antiquities tattered ragges of traditions and in all this time they prevailed to mislead the poore people because they consulted not with the mouth of God nor examined things by the Word of God and the holy Scripture as the noble Bereans did Now whatsoever was written was written for our instruction upon whom the ends of the world are come and therefore as it was the errour of the Israelites that they received things barely upon report without consulting with the mouth of God and as it was the honour and praise of those noble Bereans that they searched the Scriptures to see whether the preaching of Paul were according to the holy Scripture so if we shall receive these new borne truths these new lights these new wayes without consulting with the living Oracles we shall offend as the Israelites did in beleeving the Gibeonites upon their words and shall degenerate and be unlike to those the renowned Bereans who would not receive Paul's doctrine though an Apostle without searching the Scriptures whether things were so or no as he taught them and surely now much more ought we to try all things by the Word in these erroneous times whosoever they be that preach them unto us and if they be not evidently proved unto us out of the Scriptures we may not admit of them for it will be not onely a sinne but for our immortall shame to be deluded with novelties much more than it was our ancestors disgrace to be deceived by pretended antiquities And therefore it is the duty of every christian seriously to consider with themselves that these are matters of God and concerne no lesse than our eternall welfare and in that regard we may not call mens wayes Gods wayes but we are to seek for the old wayes Jer. 6. we are to examine Christs and his holy Apostles wayes in gathering of churches and making of members and if we find no footstep in all Gods Word of these new wayes we ought to relinquish them and turne againe into the pathes that God has commanded us to walk in wherein we shall be sure to find rest for our soules and comfort in life and death and it will be no disgrace to any to be undeceived for they are deceived and that greatly and dangerously that thinke or beleeve that any men mortall can shew or teach a better way to Heaven or set downe a better way of converting soules and of gathering of churches and making of members and of setting up Christ as King upon his Throne than that which Christ himselfe and his blessed Apostles have taught and set downe to all posterity and from the which rule we ought not to swerve though an Angel from Heaven should teach us otherwise Gal. 1. ver 8 9.
of Israel is left to all the people of God to all ages for imitation whose duty it is to set up the true worship of God onely amongst them and none but that which Christ their Redeemer King and Law-giver hath injoyned them and therfore all such as would have all Religions tolerared do exceedingly forget themselves and are highly unthankfull to Christ their King and Redeemer And if we look into the story of the Judges the book following that of Joshua when this generation was dead and that they had forgot their covenant and began to tolerate all religions amongst them they brought downe all those plagues upon themselves by it that were writen in the law of Moses and for no other cause saith the holy Scripture but for that they set up those Religions the heathens had served their gods by as is manifest from the sixth chapter for when the people cryed unto the Lord because of the Midianites the Lord sent a Prophet unto them first who told them that the cause of all the judgements was because they had not obeyed the voyce of the Lord but had served the gods of the nations which he had forbidden them and afterwards he sent an Angel unto Gideon and commanded him to break downe the Altar af Baal which his father had and to cut downe the Grove that was by it and to set up an Altar to the Lord In the first place Gideon was enjoyned to root out idolatry and then to set up Gods true worship onely here we find no toleration of any Religion but the true Religion when they set upon the work of reformation and when the men of the City made inquiry after him that had broken down the Altar and cut downe the Grove and would have put him to death it is related that Ioash the Father of Gideon said to all that stood against him Will ye plead for Baal will ye save him he that will plead for him let him be put to death whiles it is yet morning if he be a god let him plead for himselfe because one hath cast downe his Altar Here we find no toleration of Baal's Religion but that they that would plead for him should be put to death and surely those that will plead for a toleration of all Religions doe no lesse than fight against God But now let us see what Elias did 1 King 18. ver 21. who was counted as the Chariot and Horse-men of Israel with Baals Priests and what he said to all those of his times How long saith he to the people will ye halt between two Religions if the Lord be God follow him but if Baal be God then follow him The holy Prophet would not admit of a toleration of all Religions but when God had miraculonsly manifested from Heaven that Elias his Religion was the true Religion and which God in his holy Word had established all Baals Priests were put to death and that by Elias his command who said Take the Prophets of Baal let none of them escape and they took them and Elias took them and brought them downe to the Brook Kishon and slew them there And so upon all reformations all other Religions were cast out but the true Religion as we may see through the whole Scripture as in the stories of the Kings and Chronicles and those of Nehemiah and Ezra and through all the Prophets and the Lord in the second of Ieremiah complaineth against his people that they had forsaken the fountaines of living water that is they had forsaken the true God and served other gods and forsaken their maker and had been more unconstant than the very Heathen who had not forsaken their idoll gods and therefore for this their rebellion and ingratitude the Prophet denounces all those plagues that were written in the law against them as all the other Prophets did for there is not any sinne in all the old Testament that the Lord more complaines of than that of idolatry and the toleration of many Religions amongst them as is most abundantly set downe both in Isaiah Ieremiah and Ezekiel Daniel and in all the other Prophets all which were written for our learning so that if the people of God shall imitate them in their sinnes they must look to partake with them in their plagues for the tolerating of all Religions would be a just provoking of the Lord our God to anger now as it was then And we have sad experience already what the tolerating of the idolatry of the Masse that Dagon of Ginger-bread hath brought upon us for God will not be mocked if God be God and the christian Religion of the reformed Churches and which we find in the holy Scriptures and which was confirmed by so many signes and wonders and miracles be the true religion than let that and that onely be set up amongst Christians and no other tolerated for if they be they will speedily bring the plagues of God upon the Kingdome and confusion upon us all as we may well perceive by the suffering of them but a few yeers what good effects they will produce for toleration of all Religions cannot be pleasing unto God no more in our times than it was amongst his ancient people the Jewes and in the primitive Churches and therefore all those that plead for a toleration of all Religions are no friends of Christ nor lovers of Religion pretend what they will for neither Abraham Isaac nor Iacob nor any of the Prophets nor holy men of God would suffer it neither would the Apostles ever endure it but in all their writings give especiall charge to all the people to take heed of all the false teachers of their time and forewarnes them to take heed of them in all succeeding ages ever describing them by their crafty dealings that they should come in sheeps cloathing and in all-seeming holinesse and fained simplicity and therefore that they are the more to be avoyded And Paul writing to the Galatians in the fifth chapter wisht and desired that the false Teachers were cut off so far were the holy Apostles from tolerating all Religions as in all their Epistles they invay against them and that continually as false Apostles and deceivers and command all christians to receive no other Religion but that which they had taught them Gal. 1. and bids the people come out of Babylon and tels them there is no fellowship with light and darknesse and surely if al the Prophets Apostles did command al the people of God to come out of Babylon they never gave leave to any Christians to set up Babylon amongst them and to tolerate the confusion and mingling together of all Religions for this would be a thing not onely against the Scripture and revealed will of God but against all solid reason and sound judgement Nay we see that Christ himselfe in writing to the seven Churches in Asia and in them to all Christians in the world he blames the Angel of the Church
the ordering of all mens hearts in his hands did so dispose of all things that by their owne principles they should give toleration of all Religions in their severall countryes and jurisdictions so that his people being scattered here and there through other nations by their sinnes yet found this favour that they also for the most part enjoyed the liberty of their Religion though they met sometimes with most hot persecutions but all this is ever to be ascribed to God alone as I said before and to his over-swaying providence and guidance who ever preserved those that trust in him and served him according to his revealed will though it be in Babylon it selfe and therefore it is not to be attributed to the good nature of the Heathen neither would that toleration now be tolerable in Christians who have learned Christ otherwise than to set up any Religion but that which he the King and Prophet of his Church hath taught them But now I will briefly answer to what they pretend out of Scripture and runne through the severall Objections drawne from thence And first to begin with that of Joshua 21. where he saith choose you this day whom you will serve c. In these words by their favour there is no toleration of many Religions for he was to follow the law of God and not to decline from it neither to the right hand nor to the left Joshua 1. and by that law he was forbid to suffer or tolerate any Religion but that which Moses had taught them and therefore those words were a meere scrutiny and to find out those that were idolaters to punish them as any wise governour may at any time make use of the like Query to find out men not well affected to Religion or to their Country that by this meanes they may be brought to condigne punishment As if now any Officer or Commander under the Parliament should say to a company of men that he were jealous of being desirous to discover them and find them out choose you this day who you will serve whether the King or the Parliament but for my selfe and my house we will serve the Parliament would not any by and by gather that he spake this onely to find out Malignants to punish them Even so Joshua a wise and religious governour did the same not that he over intended to give them a toleration of all religions for that had been against the law of God and against their owne example for in the 22. of Ioshua we read that because the people had built but an Altar on the other side of Iordan they intended forthwith to make war upon them a president to teach christians that they may fight for their religion and they had gone out to battell against them and had destroyed them had they not given a satisfactory answer that they had no intent to bring in any innovation in religion and therefore this is but a poor cavill Now for that they pretend out of Gamaliel's speech Acts 5. ver 38 39. where he sayth Refraine from these men speaking of the Apostles and let them alone for if this counsell or this work be of men it will come to nought but if it be of God ye cannot overthrow it least happly ye be found fighters against God Ergo all Religions are to be tolerated This Objection has sufficiently shewn that our brethren the Independents that thus argue may well be made fellowes of Gotham-Colledge as knowing not as yet their Primer in polititicks nor their Catechisme in divinity For who knowes not that it is as easie with God who is of infinite wisdome out of mens foolishnesse to procure safety for his owne people as it was for him out of Achitaphels wisdome to bring destruction upon himselfe and to turne his wisdome into foolishnesse for that which Gamaliel spake was neither as a wise man nor as a Christian for he would never be thought a wise man that hearing of any commotion in the Kingdome and had the power in his hands to suppres it should say if it be of men it will come to naught but if it be of God if we shal oppose it we shal be found fighters against God and therefore let us let them alone would not all the world think this man a Ninny that should thus speak and a man unworthy to sit in counsell in any State whereas a wise man if he hears of any insurrection he will forthwith use the weapons of his right hand and first seek God by prayer and in his Ordinances and then betake himselfe to the weapons of the left hand and use the sword to suppresse them and this man would be thought a wise man that should so doe and not he that with Gamaliel should say if it be of men it will come to nought and so let them goe on to doe mischife Neither did he answer as a christian for what christian that should heare of any new monstrous Religion newly printed newly come forth as there are many at this day to be sold about towne and Country for pence apiece and should understand that some of those ancient heresies were againe revived as that of the Arians Pelagians or Nestorians should say let them alone for if they be of men they will come to nought but if they be of God ye cannot overthrow them lest you will be found fighters against God and so let the seducers goe on without questioning them or suppressing their heresies would not every man that hath any feare of God in him say surely that man that should thus answer did not speak like a christian for a good christian like the good Bereans would say come let us sit downe and examine these new doctrines newly brought into the world by the holy Scriptures and let us follow the example of the Apostles Act. ch 15. in that assembly and search the Scriptures and if we find them not to be grounded on the Word of God nor to be of God let us forthwith as God himselfe hath commanded suppresse them and not say without examining of them as wise Gamaliel let them alone that was not God's method for God sent his people to the law and to the testimony Isa 8 and proclaimes that all that speak not according to them it is because there is no light in them and that all opinions not grounded on the Word are but darknesse and errour and therefore they are not to be tolerated or suffered so that for any man to gather a toleration of all Religions from Gamaliels speech is but to prove himselfe a meere groll and as little to the purpose is that they urge out of the words of our Saviour Matth. 22. where answering the Sadduces he saith Ye doc erre not knowing the Scripture nor the power of God v. 29. From whence the Independent brethren conclude a toleration of all Religions for our Saviour say they onely convinced them of their errour and yet tolerated