magistrate invested with the same power Since then the magistrate takes no more upon himself then such an externall jurisdiction as ministers might well assume by the delegation or concession of the magistrate why should Mr. Gillespie hence inferre that this power in magistrates maketh not them supreme judges and governors whenas the same jurisdiction laid upon ministers neither maketh them supreme judges and governors in ecclesiasticall causes No hurt then to the magistrate by this inference only that it seemeth to acknowledge that some do hold the magistrate to be supreme judge and governour in ecclesiasticall causes giving him a prerogative which belongeth only to Jesus Christ I believe none of his opposites spoke in that crude manner Magistrates are not unerring judges they fail many times in their judgement both declarative and of discretion so do the ministers and therefore there is no supreme visible judge and governour in ecclesiasticalls to whose decisions determinations and commands a conscience is obliged to yield further then it is inlightened or convinced for there being a tribunall in every ones conscience usuall appeals are made to it from the magistrate yea from the sentences of synods and presbyteries This is the prerogative of Jesus Christ by a soveraign judgement and determination to resolve the intellect incline the will and convince the conscience The magistrate is not made by any of Mr. Gillespies opposites as far as I know otherwise supreme head or governour in ecclesiasticall causes then Martyr Zanchius Pareus c. make him head of the church He further saith that what he stated about the power of the magistrate in ecclesiasticall things doth not invest him with the subordinate ministeriall forinsecall judgement in ecclesiasticall things or causes I think if Scotus were living he would hardly understand what is the meaning of ministeriall forinsecall directive judgement for the word ministeriall is no way forinsecall for the stile of forinsecall maketh the minister sit in a court of judicature as the judges at Westminister Hall giving sentence which both parties must stand to except they can appeal or expect a redresse in a superiour court Again the word directive agreeth no better with forinsecall then the Papall title of servant of servants with God on earth and the spouse of Christ for whereas the word forinsecall giveth no leave to the plaintiff or defendant to interpret the judgement of the court to his own sense or apprehension on the contrary the word dâ—rective doth it and giveth those that attend the word and hearken to the directions of the minister a priviledge like that which St. Paul yieldeth to the people of Beroea who having heard St. Paul would be well satisfied ere they gave credit to him for they searched the Scriptures to know whether it was so as St. Paul would have them to do or as he said unto them and gave them directions CHAPTER X. Whether the Lord Iesus Christ hath appointed as the Rever Assembly saith officers in government distinct from the magistrate The strength of the place 2 Chron. 19. by them alledged examined That the elders in that place are not church-officers An answer to Mr. Gillespies arguments endeavouring to prove that Iosaphat appointed two courts one ecclesiasticall another civil IT remaineth in the examen of the first section of the 30. chapter of the confession we should speak a word of the church-officers in whose hands the Rever Assembly saith a government was appointed distinct from the civil magistrate God indeed hath appointed in the church officers distinct from the magistrate as he hath appointed in the law the magistracy of Moses to be distinct from the Priesthood of Aaron and the Priests and Levites to have a distinct function from that of the rulers elders captains judges c. But God never appointed the jurisdiction of Aaron and of the Priests and Levites to be distinct from that of Moses and of the supreme magistrate nor ever meant with the diversity of offices and officers to introduce a diversity and distinction of jurisdictions For were the jurisdiction exercised by church-officers of so distinct a nature from the magistrates jurisdiction as the paternall jurisdiction is distinct from the maritall and both from that of the magistrate one could not thence infer that they are not all three subordinate to one superiour jurisdiction Coordinate jurisdictions as of fathers husbands masters of families Majors of towns are all subordinate to one supreme jurisdiction But to prove that church-officers are not appointed by God in a government distinct from that of the magistrate but in subordination to it the reverend Assembly make use of one place of Scripture in their humble advice for government which though they quote in the behalf of a double jurisdiction yet it doth totally overthrow it their words are As there were in the Iewes Church elders of the people joyned with the priests and Levites in the government of the church as appeareth in 2 Chronic. 19. v. 8 9 10. c. so Christ who hath instituted a government and governours ecclesiasticall in the church hath furnished some in his church besides the ministers of the word with gifts for government and with commission to execute the same when called thereunto who are to joyn with the ministers in the government of the church Rom. 12. 7 8. 1 Cor. 12. v. 28. which officers reformed churches commonly call Elders One party or other is mightily mistaken and do wrest the Scripture against the sense of the holy Ghost so clearly manifested in the literall meaning I wish with all my heart that as the reverend Divines and Mr. Gillespie propound to the Christian church that of the Jewes for an example of jurisdiction distinct from that of the magistrate so they would take no other umpire and judge to make good that double jurisdiction then this text they have chosen for I am confident they will find their condemnation in it no place in the Scripture more evidently asserting the confusion of jurisdictions amongst the Jewes then this Me thinks the presbyterians anti-presbyterians both drawing this text to their advantage are like Salmasius and the ministers of Leyden about the question of wearing long or short hair the ministers making use of the same text 1 Cor. 11. against long hair that Salmasius doth against short But the whole context from the 8 verse to the end of the chapter is wholly for us 1. The text saith verse 8. that Iosaphat appointed for the judgement of the Lord and for controversies Levites Priests and chiefs of the families of Israel here then you have first no distinction of judicatories but rather of the heads either of families or so called for their wisedome from all the 12. tribes of Israel to one Iudicatory or Sanedrim as the Rabbins the best interpreters think 2. In setting them over affairs there is no distinction mentioned as that the Priests Levites should manage the ecclesiasticall the heads of families the civil
I humbly conceive that Gods work which is also your work in settling religion is half done to your hands For all jurisdiction now streaming from one jurisdiction even from that of the Soveraign Magistrate that religion cannot chuse but be well settled which retaining soundnesse in doctrine and holinesse in life is harboured under such a church-government as hath no clashing with that of the Magistrate Such as I humbly conceive may be established by setting up Overseers and Bishops over Ministers and Churches with whom if the right of private Churches can but stand be kept inviolable as no doubt but it may no government can be imagined more preserving conformity in doctrine and discipline besides banishing all jurisdiction which steps between magistracy the inward jurisdiction of the spirit of God in the word over mens minds hearts and thereby making all the church-judicatory power more naturally flowing from and depending upon the Magistrate and easing him by this compendious way of inspection by a few good mens eyes who may have a particular oversight of the affairs of the Church And thus by such a tempered government the four parties namely the Episcopall the Erastian the brethren of the Presbytery and of the Congregationall way will have a ground for reconciliation obtain with some condescension what every one of them desireth The Lord make you his instruments to make up all breaches among brethren and to bring to passe what hitherto hath been rather desired then effected 〈◊〉 settling the reformed Protestant religion in the purest way of reformation and commending your modell and labours therein to other Churches abroad that as the English Nation for purity of doctrine power of godliness hospitality and bowels of mercy toward strangers the persecuted members of Christ hath hitherto gone beyond all the world so you may be instruments to preserve those blessed priviledges by further promoting the interest of Iesus Christ particularly by clearing and removing the mistakes and misunderstandings from many of our brethren beyond the seas who by the suggestions and false informations of some enemies to the people of God in this Island or of friends to Popery superstition and formality are as ready to misapprehend the wayes of God amongst us as these are to slaunder them and to join with them in giving credit that with the English hierarchy and liturgy all religion and fear of God is banished out of this Nation where there is neither Episcopall nor Presbyteriall ordination no uniformity of discipline yea no discipline at all no catechizing enjoined or performed no Creed no Decalogue no Lords prayer rehearsed in Churches nor any Scripture publickly read to the people nor the Sacrament of the Eucharist constantly administred thus cloathing what truth there may be in all these with the cloak of rash and uncharitable construction as others do cloth it with the cloak of malice and lying I doubt not but that by your piety and wisdom as you will stop the mouth of slaunder so you will give no occasion to the Reformed and Godly to conceive amiss of your godly proceedings A TABLE Of the CONTENTS Chap. I. OF the nature of power authority That there are but two ways to bring men to yield obedience either by a coactive power or by perswading them by advice and counsell That there is no medium betwixt command and counsell which sheweth that Ecclesiasticall jurisdiction is a name without a thing not being exercised by either of them The division of power and of the subordination and coordination of powers Many errours and mistakes are discovered about subordination and coordination of powers That the power called Ecclesiasticall doth signifie nothing and such as it is is subordinate to that of the Magistrate Fol. 1 Chap. II. Of the nature and division of right divine and humane In vain do they call things of divine positive right which are acted by a naturall right such are many church acts Things that are of divine right may be said to be of humane right and on the contrary those things that are of humane right may be said to be of divine right which is an argument that by right power cannot be divided betwixt clergy and laity 25 Chap. III. The nature matter form and author of law The canons and sentences of Church-judicatories have no force of law except they receive it from the sanction of the magistrate The defects in the division of laws into Divine and humane into morall ceremoniall and politick and into Ecclesiasticall and civil 34 Chap. IV. Of the nature of judgement what judgement every private man hath what the magistrate and what ministers synods and church-judicatories They have no definitive judgement as Mr. Rutherfurd asserts but the magistrate hath the greatest share in definitive judgements which is proved by some passages of Mr. Rutherfurd and of Pareus and Rivetus Who is the judge of controversies 44 Chap. V. An examination of the 30. chapter of the confession of faith made by the Rever Assembly of Divines That in their Assembly they assumed no jurisdiction nor had any delegâ—…d to them from the magistrate and therefore were not to attribute it to their brethren That the ecclesiasticall jurisdiction is the same with the magistrates jurisdiction Mr. Gillespies reasons examined 53 Chap. VI. Whether Iesus Christ hath appointed a jurisdiction called ecclesiasticall as King and head of his Church Of the nature of the Kingdom of God In what sense the magistrate is head of the Church 65 Chap. VII The strength of Mr. Gillespies reasons to disprove that the magistrate is not chief governour of the church under Christ examined 76 Chap. VIII Mr. Gillespies manifest contradictions in stating the magistrates power in matters of Religion 83 Chap. IX The concessions of Mr. Gillespie which come to nothing by the multitude of his evasions and distinctions The vanity and nullity of his and other mens divisions and distinctions of power Martyr Musculus Gualterus alledged against the naming of a power ecclesiasticall when it is in truth the magistrates power The positions of Maccovius about the power of the magistrate in sacred things not hitherto answered by any 91 Chap. X. Whether the Lord Iesus Christ hath appointed as the Rever Assembly saith officers in government distinct from the magistrate The strength of the place 2 Chron. 19. by them alledged examined That the elders in that place are not church-officers An answer to Mr. Gillespies arguments endeavouring to prove that Iosaphat appointed two courts one ecclesiasticall another civil 108 Chap. XI A case propounded by Mr. Cesar Calandrin which he conceiveth to assert a double jurisdiction examined Of the two courts one of magistracy or externall the other of conscience or internall That ecclesiasticall jurisdiction must belong to one of them or to none 119 Chap. XII Of the nature of calling to the ministery Ministers are not called by men but by God by a succession not of ordination but providence The plea
magistrate thus the decalogue is as well a law of the magistrate as of God Yea I maintain that a command or law of God hath no force of law in the court of man or in any presbytery synod or assembly whatsoever binding to active or passive obedience except it hath the stamp of magistracy and be published anew by the soveraign magistrate and that no man can be punished legally for robbing and stealing yea not for killing much lesse can he be excommunicated except there be a law of man against robbers and murtherers and that some magistracy impowereth churches or synods to passe a sentence of excommunication 5. This also hath been a great mistake which made many deny a subordination of ecclesiasticall to civil because those that embrace the true religion and live under those that hate them or persecute them endeavour as to have a communion independent from the magistrate so also a jurisdiction 6. Another errour in making the church jurisdiction not subordinate but wholly independent from the magistrate is this assertion easily descending into the minds of those that affect rule and jurisdiction viz. that the end of magistracy is outward peace and quietnesse only and purchasing all means to the attaining of the preservation of temporall life wealth and prosperity having nothing to do with promoting the eternall good and happinesse of the soul But this errour is not only refuted by the very heathens but also by the most learned orthodox Divines both English and others Pareus on the 13. to the Romans dubio 5. saith the end of the magistrate is not only the civil good but also the spirituall good of the subjects that religion may flourish in the church according to the word of God and so Junius Meditat. on the 122. Psalm tom 1. col 721. saith that the magistrate is to procure by divine and humane right the good of the spirituall Kingdom of Christ But Antonius de Dominis lib. 5. de republica ecclesiastica cap. 5. § 1. is very prolix and nervous to prove that he that is invested from God with a power to purchase naturall felicity is also invested with a power to promote the spirituall 7. It is also a great errour to make a coordination of powers seated in the same persons For if it could be imagined that one part of the people were the Church and the other part the Commonwealth they might be also imagined independent one from another thus a society of merchants and a colledge of scholars may be well imagined to be corporations so independent one from the other that none of the society of merchants are part of the colledge and none of the colledge are part of the society But granting that the same persons are members of the society of merchants and of the colledge of scholars the command law discipline of those two corporations as long as they admit the same members must have either a perpetuall conflict and clashing or the command of one corporation must be subordinate to the command of the other or else if they be both coordinate they must also be both equally subordinate to a power set over them both This is the case between the Church and the Commonwealth Granting that the same persons are members of the Commonwealth and of the Church it is not possible to make these two jurisdictions coordinate and yet subsist together in peace love and amity and without one disturbs the other they must joyntly agree to have one power over them or the law injunction and commands of one must be subordinate to the lawes of the other 8. The grandest inconvenience in this coordination of powers and jurisdictions is that the same persons being members of societies under both these powers and submitting to the commands of both shall be in continuall perplexity which to obey if both do not command one thing There is such a communion in mens actions causes relations functions callings commands duties jurisdictions freedoms liberties among those that live under one soveraign power and within the precincts of one jurisdiction that it is impossible that any outward action can be performed in whatever relation a man be considered as husband master father pastor lawyer physitian merchant at home or in church in a synod or in a city or hall except they all are modified ruled and directed by one supreme jurisdiction otherwise the saying of Tacitus would prove true ubi plures imperant nemo obsequitur where there be many coordinate powers there is none found to obey When a magistrate doth command a subject to attend him in the wars this command doth exempt him from the commands and injunctions that may be made to him as he is a son member of a consistory or of a synod or of some other corporation therefore when the King of Scotland in the year 1582. commanded the magistrate of Edenburgh to entertain and feast a French Ambassadour on a set day and the presbytery of Edenburgh to crosse this command had enjoyned a fast upon the same day since both commands could not be obeyed at once by the magistrate of Edenburgh either the magistrates commands must be subordinate to those of the presbytery or the commands of the presbytery must be subordinate to those of the magistrate or else the different commands of both must be subordinate to a third power above both presbytery and magistrate I have brought in my Paraenesis a cloud of witnesses Martyr Musculus Gualterus Iunius Pareus Cassander Hooker Antonius de Dominis proving the necessity that the power called ecclesiasticall should be subordinate to that of the magistrate I will only alledge Musculus in whom we shall see the sense of all the rest loc com de magistratibus The way and nature of government cannot bear that in the same people there be two authentick powers two diverse legislations and dominations except it be by subordination as there is no place for two heads upon one body Learned Dr. Hammond who is neither for Geneva presbytery nor of Erastus opinion nor yet of Musculus Bullingerus Gualterus who made little account of excommunication yet he holds that ecclesiasticall power is subject to the civil magistrate who in all causes over all persons is acknowledged supreme under Christ These be his words in his tract of the power of the keyes p. 87. though by them he overthroweth all power in ministers and Bishops of excommunicating independently from the magistrate which yet he strives to assert against Erastus Mr. Rutherford and Mr. Gillespie think that if it were granted that the magistrate is Christs viceregent it would subvert wholly the grounds upon which ecclesiasticall presbyterian power is built I question whether this concession of Dr. Hammond that the magistrate is the governour of the Church under Christ would not equally unsettle his episcopall excommunication I should in this chapter as I intended at first shew the vanity and nullity of the multitude of divisions and subdivisions of ecclesiasticall
division of lawes into civil and ecclesiasticall and tells us how far lawes are to be called ecclesiasticall though they be in truth the magistrates lawes only because they are made by him for the good of the church for as properly saith he lawes may be called scholasticall and Academicall because they were made for the good and benefit of schools or Universities and so far and no further can it be allowed that lawes should be ecclesiasticall CHAPTER IV. Of the nature of judgement what judgement every private man hath what the magistrate and what ministers synods and church-judicatories They have no definitive judgement as Mr. Rutherfurd asserts but the magistrate hath the greatest share in de finitive judgements which is proved by some passages of Mr. Rutherfurd and of Pareus and Rivetus Who is the judge of controversies NOt to run over all the acceptions of judgement which I have handled in my Paraenesis I will mention but one that serveth to decide the whole controversie which lieth in a narrow room whether the magistrate or pastors assembled in a presbytery and synod or even private men be judges of controversies about faith and discipline Iudgement is an act by which every man endowed with reason or pretending to have any upon debating within himself and weighing things to be done or to be believed at length resolveth peremptorily what either he will do himself or will have others to do about things he conceiveth to be true just and usefull For to the nature of judgement it is not required that the thing that a man will do himself or will have others to do be true just and good it being enough that he apprehendeth them to be so I make two judgements one private the other publick The private I call judgement of discretion by which every one having weighed and debated within himself the truth equity goodnesse or â—sefulnesse of counsels advices commands doctrine and persons at length choseth and pitcheth rather upon this then that this judgement may be called judgement of knowledge and apprehension The publick judgement is the delivery of ones private judgement so far as concerneth others by which a man uttereth what he conceiveth fitting for others to do or believe This judgement in ministers presbyteries synods wise men counsellors physitians and others not invested with any jurisdiction and who have more authority then power is called advice counsell declaration when they deliver their sense meaning and opinion upon any debated subject concluding something which they conceive others are to embrace believe or practise In magistrates and men invested with jurisdiction both this publick judgement and the private have the same operation as in ministers synods counsellors and the like but over and above it causeth them to command what they conceived fitting to be received and practised By the publick judgement Pastors do what St. Austin saith Epist 48. to Vincentius pastoris est persuadere ad veritatem persuadendo pastors are to bring to truth by persuasion sed magistratus est cogendo but magistrates are to bring to it by constraint and by commanding From these publick judgements every private man is to appeal to his private judgement of discretion not yielding and giving his assent to the declarations canons sentences of ministers any further then by his judgement of discretion he conceiveth them to be true just and usefull not obeying actively the commands of the magistrate in case he conceiveth them by the same judgement of discretion to be against faith and good manners The staring thus and dividing of judgement decideth as I conceive all the questions and doubts arising about this subject and answereth all Mr. Râ—therfurds and Gillespies definitions and objections concerning judgement They make a fourfold judgement apprehensive discretive definitive and infallible which belongeth only to Jesus Christ The definitive they say is proper to ministers and church-judicatories But they forget the main judgement which giveth life and force to all the rest and is the magistrates when he bringeth to execution things well debated by the judgement of declaration and approved of by the judgement of discretion In that division of theirs they also commit two great errors 1. That they make of one judgement two for to the judgement of discretion they adde a judgement of apprehension which differs only in degrees from the other and were these judgements distinct yet they go alwaies together and are alwaies in the same person and do belong to the private judgement 2. They ascribe a definitive judgement to pastors and church-judicatories which they themselves had need to explain what they mean by for 1. must every private man stand to it and not appeal from it to his judgement of discretion 2. if they do not stand to it what inconvenience harm or danger or worse consequence can befall him then any one that despiseth good counsell or advice which put no obligation except they be reduced into lawes and commands by the magistrate 3. must the magistrate adhere to that definitive judgement and command them without debating within himself whether those definitions be agreable with his own publick or private judgement which indeed is to make of him an executioner If he must not stand to the definitions of pastors and synods but rather they must stand to what he conceiveth most fitting then it is evident that that judgement of pastors called by them definitive is of no validity and hath need to take another name since neither magistrate nor private men are obliged to stand to it except they be convinced that it is reasonable and that its definitions are true just and usefull The evidence of this truth about judgement is so clear that Mr. Rutherfurd and Gillespie are unwares carried sometimes to deliver the substance of what we said before I will alledge but two passages out of Mr. Rutherfurds book of the divine right of church-government for there he overthroweth his definitive judgement of pastors or church-judicatories and setteth above it not only the judgement of the magistrate but also that of every private man for sure that definitive judgement that may be reversed and rejected without any redresse by the ministers cannot be of any weight or validity The first passage is ch 25. quest 21. p. 668. The magistrate is not more tyed to the judgement of a synod or church then any private man is tyed to his practise The tye in discipline and in all synodicall acts and determinations is here as it is in preaching the word the tye is secondary conditionall with limitation so far forth as it agreeth with the word not absolutely obliging not Papal qua nor because commanded or because determined by the church and such as magistrates and all Christians may reject when contrary to or not warranted by the word of God If such words had faln from Grotius or Mr. Coleman they would have been branded for rank Erastianisme If all the presbyterians will but put their names with
by their practise for they assumed no jurisdiction but having perfected the Confession of Faith the Catechisme platform of government they presented them to the Parliament under the name of humble advice for they were not to determine any thing authoritatively albeit they pretend no lesse was due unto them as they speak in the 31. chapter sect 3. that ministers in synods may determine authoritatively matters of religion 3. But both the power which was delegated to the Assembly and the exercise of that power during their sitting at Westminster being a lively representation of the extent of power which all councels synods under an orthodox magistrate ever enjoyed or ought to have I wonder much they would ascribe judiciall authority to ministers in synods which they themselves had not never look't for were not to have and which they never saw practised before in any assemblies convocated by the magistrate 4. Had the Lord Jesus Christ instituted a jurisdiction distinct and independent from the magistrate they were to disclaim that ordinance which delegated a power which was none of their own but was derived immediatly from Christ not by the intervention and the chanell of the magistrate unto themselves as ministers of Christ and if any ordinance before their sitting was to be expected it was not to be directed to the ministers but to the people who were to be enjoyned to suffer the ministers to exercise that jurisdiction which they authoritatively challenge from Jesus Christ 5. Had the jurisdiction of the Assembly been acknowledged the magistrate as our brethren the Scots speak should have submitted to all resolutions of the Assembly being no longer humble advices but canons decrees and lawes made authoritatively by the Governours of churches under Iesus Christ But what sense can be given to these words when they say there is a government distinct from the magistrate Is it such a distinction as is betwixt subordinates or betwixt coordinates If the magistrates power and the presbyterian power are coordinates each must needs be independent one from the other which how inconsistent it is under one magistrate we have discussed in another place If these powers be subordinate it must be one of these three wayes 1. in coercive power 2. in judgement or judiciall determinations that are to passe for lawes obliging all sorts of people to obedience either active or passive 3. in the affinity of power in nature and definition which necessarily imports subordination betwixt them 1. For matter of coercive power the ecclesiasticall having none they must be beholden to another power which indeed makes it to be power all externall power and jurisdiction being but childrens play ens rationis a bubble a name without a thing without a power of coercion 2. For judgement if ecclesiasticall men cannot execute their power without the magistrate the question will be whether he shall execute their injunctions as a judge and interpreter or as a sergeant and executioner not interpreting the commands of the court but fulfilling them with a blind obedience and judgement for there is no medium betwixt these two If as a judge then he ought to judge of the judgements of ministers ere he doth command them to be observed and so in a manner all determinations of ministers will be but counsels and advices seeing before they have force of law and of rule they must receive the ultimate judgement and approbation from the magistrate 3. Subordination of powers implieth affinity of definition and nature betwixt the subordinates as Surgerie being subordinate to Medicine proveth the affinity betwixt Medicine and Surgery Yea if subordinate jurisdictions stand in pari gradu and in equall distance from the power they are subordinate unto it argueth an identity of jurisdictions among them as if the jurisdiction of a colledge of physitians and of a corporation of merchants be both subordinate to one magistrate it is manifest that the jurisdiction of that colledge and of that corporation are but one as springing from one head of jurisdiction thus if the jurisdictions of a church and of a corporation are of equall distance in subordination from one spring-head of jurisdiction no doubt the jurisdiction of that church and of that corporation are but one jurisdiction Now that the nature of the jurisdiction of pastors churches and synods is the same with that of magistracy needeth not to be coordinate with it it is evident by many proofs 1. There is the same use of judgement prudence and discretion as by the same yard one may measure cloth silk and thred so may the same wise politicall head and the same prudence and discretion govern a state a church and a family Dionysius the tyrant used to say he did employ the same art in governing his school at Corinth and his Kingdom of Sicily 2. There is the same nature of law in both jurisdictions for the nature of the law consisteth not in its being just equall and honest but in its being published by him or them that are invested with magistracy The better men that is not the wiser and the most rationall but the richer and the most potent give law to the rest The philosophers permit us to weigh and interpret their lawes but the magistrate enjoyneth blind obedience to his Seneca saith that the magistrates law doth not dispute but commandeth and Tullie in his thâ—…d book de natura Deorum saith I am to receive from thee O philosopher satisfaction from reason but I am to yield to the lawes that our ancestours have delivered us though they give no reason In like manner all presbyterian synods namely the generall assembly of Scotland do not give so much leave to inferiour ecclesiasticall judicatories or private persons to examine their decrees by a judgement of discretion as those of Beroea took to themselves when they examined St. Pauls doctrine and searched the Scripture to know whether it was so as he preached for their ecclesiasticall constitutions have force of law only because they have the sanction of an ecclesiasticall assembly and are not to be disputed by any inferiour judicatory whereas the nature of an ecclesiasticall law should be quite different from the civil viz. that it should not be the product of a jurisdiction compelling or requiring to assent or obey except the inward man be perswaded and convinced It may be our presbyterian brethren will say that for example excommunication hath no further validity of sentence then as it is just and done deservedly which indeed proves the nullity of all excommunications for all being done in the name of Christ all must needs be just and valid and every one excommunicating in the name of Christ should excommunicate infallibly and his excommunication should be an effect of an unerring judgement which till it be known to be infallible a man may justly question the validity of his excommunication 3. In this also there is a great affinity and agreement betwixt the jurisdiction they call ecclesiasticall
and the civil and therefore no need to make two of one that ecclesiasticall presbyterian jurisdiction is bounded by the same limits as is the civill jurisdiction which is against the nature of all other jurisdictions different from the magistrates power though subordinate to it as is the maritall and paternall powers none doubting but a father in England hath a power over his son in France and that a wife is subject to her husband however distant from him Now it is granted by all that the jurisdiction of churches combined and that of synods never went beyond the magistrates jurisdiction that the churches of Persia Aethiopia and India were not tyed to observe the deciees of the first councill of Nice nor the reformed churches of France those of the synod of Dordrecht neither the church of Barwick to submit to the orders of the generall assembly of Scotland and yet some do not stick to maintain that a man excommunicated in Scotland is also bound by the same sentence in France or Holland because if we may believe them it is reasonable that the sphear of activity within which excommunication acteth should as much spread down wards as upwards and that since a man bound by excommunication at Edenburgh is also tyed in heaven good reason he should be bound and fast in any part of the earth 4. This also which all churches classes and synods assume makes their jurisdiction wholly concurring in nature and property with the jurisdiction of the magistrate which is that as in all civil and politicall assemblies the major and the stronger part in votes not in reasons doth carry it so decrees and canons because the major part have voted them to be such are therefore receivable by inferiour ecclesiasticall judicatories as they call them whereas since they pretend that ecclesiasticall jurisdiction is of a quite different nature from that of the magistrate it were most convenient that it should not be like it in this main particular but that private men or churches should adhere to truth not to multitude not numbring the votes but weighing the reasons And indeed this was well considered by the Parliament in their ordinance for calling of the assembly for though they took upon themselves that power of legislation jurisdiction whose votes are not weighed but numbred and which cannot be otherwise exercised in this world yet they very prudently conceived that such a jurisdiction could not be assumed by churchmen as such in matters of religion for they never intended that whatsoever should be transacted or defined by the major part of the ministers of the Assembly should be received for a canon and an ecclesiasticall law that should stand in force since they expressely enjoyn in the rules which they prescribed to the assembly 1. that their decisions and definitions should be presented to the Parliament not under the name of law made to them but of humble advice 2. that no regard should be had to the number of the persons dissenting or assenting but that each party should subscribe their names to their opinion 5. Another argument to prove that the ecclesiasticall and the magistrates power are not coordinate but that the ecclesiasticall is subordinate to that of the magistrate and that they both are of the same nature is that both of them magistrate and ministers challenge not only the duty of messengers from God in delivering to the people the lawes of God but also as judges exercise power about making new lawes which do oblige to obedience for conscience sake for the assemblies presbyteries of Scotland do not only presse obedience to the lawes expressely set down in Scripture but also to their canons decrees and constitutions 6. Another argument to prove the identity of the powers ecclesiasticall and civil is that both are conversant about lawes and constitutions that are made by men such are most of the canons and constitutions of synods and ecclesiasticall assemblies which are no more expresse Scripture then the Instinian Code and therefore it is altogether needlesse to constitute two coordinate humane legislative powers 7. But suppose that all the decrees canons constitutions of presbyteries and church-assemblies were word of God and divine precepts this very thing that they are divine constitutions and that one jurisdiction or other must be conceived enjoyning by a sanction and commanding obedience to them argueth that ecclesiasticall and civil jurisdiction are but one For what can the ecclesiasticall jurisdiction do more then to give a sanction to the lawes of God which thing the magistrate is to do If he must give a sanction to the decalogue why not to all other precepts which are equally of divine institution 8. It is absurd to put under the Gospell a difference betwixt the jurisdiction or law of Christ and the law of God the universall Monarch as Mr. Gillespie speaketh p. 261. for there is no precept of the decalogue there is nothing good holy honest and of good report but is the law of Jesus Christ and therefore since the magistrate cannot be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a minister of God as St. Paul calls him but he must be a minister of Jesus Christ and that he cannot be keeper of the decalogue and of the law of God under Moses administration but he must be also the keeper of the law of Christ what need to constitute two coordinate judiciall powers each of them being pari gradu subordinate to Jesus Christ Lastly if the Kingdom of Jesus Christ is not of this world and that this Kingdom as our brethren tell us is the presbyterian government then this Kingdom must have a jurisdiction and lawes quite different from the Kingdom and jurisdiction of this world which yet doth not prove true by the parallels we have made of both jurisdictions Mr. Gillespie a member of that Assembly pag. 85. endeavoureth to shew what a wide difference there is betwixt these two jurisdictions in their nature causes objects adjuncts but I might upon the same grounds maintain the like wide difference betwixt martiall navall testamentall paternall maritall and civil power all differing and yet subordinate to that of the magistrate I might also attribute to each society its peculiar power placing in a colledge of physicians a medicall power subordinate to God the God of bodies health and outward safety as the civil is subordinate to the God of the Universe and the ecclesiasticall to Christ For if the God of nations hath instituted the civil power and the God of saints the ecclesiasticall as Mr. Gillespie speaketh what hinders but that the God of nature hath instituted the medicall power And if morall good be the object of the civil power and spirituall good of the spirituall power why may not bodily health be the object of the medicall power CHAPTER VI. Whether Iesus Christ hath appointed a jurisdiction called ecclesiasticall as King and head of his Church Of the nature of the Kingdom of God In what sense the magistrate is
of the lawfulnesse of a call hath likewise power to make the call null and void in case it be not valid enough in his apprehension and judgement Good Lord what need is there to trouble the world with a distinct power from the magistrate which is thus evacuated and made void by another power CHAPTER IX The concessions of Mr. Gillespie which come to nothing by the multitudâ— of his evasions and distinctions The vanity and nullity of his and other mens divisions distinctions of power Martyr Musculus Gualterus alledged against the naming of a power ecclesiasticall when it is in truth the magistrates power The positions of Maccovius about the power of the magistrate in sacred things not hitherto answered by any THus we see that even Erastus could say no more then Mr. Gillespie and the confession of Scotland But Mr. Gillespie hath many evasions of modalities causalities and distinctions of power by which he seems sometimes to make large concessions to the magistrate but which when he pleaseth and it serves his turn he can elude and bring to nothing throwing in the eyes distinctions in great store to confound the judgement which is a strong argument of weaknesse unsoundnesse as of a house so of a cause when they need so many supporters whereas those that plead for the magistrates power in sacred things have need but of one only rule to state and define the whole controversy about the magistrates power and the measure of obedience which all Christian churches synods and presbyteries are to yield to them and that rule is that all men either single or convened and met in a society under whatever name or title do submit to and obey the magistrate in all things that are not against faith and good manners And these two things 1. the internall power in the ministery 2. and the externall power of the magistrate nakedly understood make short work and rid us of that army of causes kinds and distinctions of power and operations which M. Gillespie opposeth to a single combatant who notwithstanding is much stronger with his one only weapon then Mr. Gilâ—espie with his thousands as the fable saith of the cat whose one only caveat and shift to avoid 〈◊〉 by climbing up the first tree or house did more avail for her preservation then the whole bag-full of wiles and policies of the fox It were an endlesse labour to bring into a body all the divisions distinctions causalities modalities forms and objects of powers dispersed in Mr. Gillespies book Pag. 191. he maketh two objects about which ecclesiasticall power is conversant first the object of the magistrates care of religion and the object of the operation of that care Thus he and others make a power which he calls a care of the religion and another a care about religion As for the power itself considered generally they make it double ecclesiasticall and civil this is wholly the magistrates in the other the magistrate hath also a share for they say this ecciesiasticall power is exercised either in a politick way or in an ecclesiasticall way thus they make an ecclesiasticall civil power residing in the magistrate Next they divide ecclesiasticall power into intrinsecall and extrinsecall into direct and indirect the extrinsecall and indirect they yield to the magistrate thus you have again an ecclesiasticall power belonging to the magistrate Again they have an objective and formall ecclesiasticall power which needeth a further subdivision to be understood for they make an objective ecclesiasticall power conversant about persons and things and this they say belongeth only to the magistrate and a formall ecclesiasticall power in which the magistrate hath his share with the ministers so that of these two ecclesiasticall powers objective and formall it will prove that the magistrate hath 3. parts and the ministers but one for this ecclesiasticall formall power is again divided by them into a power exercised ratione objecti objective-way about things and persons which kind of power say they belongs to the sole magistrate and into a power exercised in an ecclesiasticall way which they say is the ministers portion Pag. 261. he hath an ecclesiasticall power which he divides into perfect and imperfect which he calls pro tanto of this stamp is this division of ecclesiasticall power into the power of every way and the power more suo which distinctions are so subtile that they are beyond Scotus apprehension He hath also a division of ecclesiasticall power into imperative and elicitive this is proper to ministers that to magistrates and then an ecclesiasticall power and jurisdiction properly so called and another improperly so called The jurisdiction improperly so called he and all his brethren ascribe to the ministers but the jurisdiction properly so called to the magistrate Which thing no way agreeth with the division of ecclesiasticall power into perfect and imperfect above-mentioned for whereas they make the perfect ecclesiasticall power to belong to the ministers and the imperfect to the magistrate here they make the ecclesiasticall power properly so called to pertain to the magistrate and the power improperly so called to the ministers so that if we believe them the power properly so called shall be the imperfect power as on the contrary the power improperly so called shall be the perfect power which is against any mans common sense and logick By the help of these distinctions the Popes and their advocates have defended the power of excommunicating and deposing Kings yea of disposing of their temporaâ—ties saying that the Pope hath not a direct power over them but an indirect but yet causing to be seized or seizing directly of their dominions as Julius the II. the Kingdom of Navarre per indirectam potestatem in casu necessitatis in ordine ad spiritualia potest summus pontifex manum imponere regnis imperiis cum plenissima potestate I have not done yet ranking in files the severall ecclesiasticall powers They further divide it into elicitive and coercive into primary and secondary power into the power managed directly and ex consequenti into a power of reforming abuses under the notion of formality of scandall and a power under the notion of formality of crime And to draw to an end of dividing they have more divisions of ecclesiasticall powers as into directive and coercive cumulative and privative auxiliary and destructive declarative and executive authoritative constitutive the auxiliary they derive from Charles the great capitulari Car. mag Volumus vos scire voluntatem nostram quod nos parati sumus vos adjuvare ubicunque necesse est ut ministerium vestrum adimplere valeatis we will have you to know that we are ready to help you in the ministerie Now of all these divisions of ecclesiasticall powers the magistrate hath alwayes one half the ministers sometimes none except they take for themselves the destructive and privative powers which indeed signify just nothing and are â—ntâ—arationis except also they content
prescribed how far some rites of Moses were dispensable We have then three expositions of the words of Christ whatsoever ye shall bind c. none of which make for a presbyterian excommunication but contrarily they destroy it for all these three expositions are sutable to the literall and mysticall meaning which is absolute and without condition Christ promising to bind and loose in heaven whatsoever shall be bound and loosed on earth whereas those that expound that place of binding and loosing of excommunication are forced to put a condition to the absolute words of Christ telling us that they must be understood clave non errante in case there is no errour in him that excommunicates And therefore Beza against Erastus and some others fearing the many inconveniences and absurdities that follow upon the literall sense that Gods binding and loosing in heaven should steer according to the binding and loosing on earth by excommunication and absolution expounds the words of Christ as if he had said whatsoever shall be bound and loosed in heaven shall also be bound and loosed on earth that is the minister excommunicating on earth doth but declare what God hath already done in heaven which is the opinion of some schoolmen namely of Dominicus à Soto lib. 4. dist 14. qu. 1. art 3. saying that the words ego te ligo I excommunicate thee are equivalent to these I declare that God hath already excommunicated thee But I think this exposition is cumbered with more absurdities then the vulgar 1. Who knoweth the mind of God 2. and whether he hath excommunicated from the inward or from the outward communion surely not from the inward for then excommunication should not be a soul-saving ordinance as the Rever Assembly tell us nor from the outward this being an act of man not of God except one say that the minister outwardly acted what in his secret counsell he hath decreed but still the difficulty will be how the minister is acquainted with Gods secret and not revealed will and if he be acquainted with it how can an outward action in which the pastor may erre be a consequent of an unerring sentence of God But however the power of the keyes and of binding and loosing is to be understood the new Testament speaketh of governments in the church and of ruling and rulers and it enjoyneth the faithfull to obey those that rule over them and St. Paul biddeth Timothy not to receive lightly an accusation against an elder So farre then the word of God alloweth a government distinct from that of the magistrate and endoweth the ministers of the Gospell with a power of ruling and governing But this power is neither of the nature of the magistrates power nor of that they call ecclesiasticall which we have proved to be wholly the same with the magistrates power This power of the ministers ruling and governing is something like that power that Princes and masters of heathen schools had over their disciples scholars and auditors as Plato Zeno Aristotle who had a great power over their minds but no jurisdiction over their bodies estates and outward liberties it is true they kept them in awe respect and obedience but it was a voluntary submission to their precepts like that of Alexander the great to the commands of the Physitians This being the ministeriall power in a shadow it is more expressely set down in the Scripture and no doubt that power is the noblest power and greatest power in the universe next to that of creating and redeeming the world a power that the Son of God had and managed in this world none have such warrant of authority as to be Ambassadours from Christ none have such an errand there is no tye of obedience like that to their commands But still this ministeriall power commands and authority and the obedience due to them are not of the nature of the power and obedience observed in churches or magistrates judicatories For 1. The magistrates and churches judicatories do not only enjoyn the commands of God but also their own but the ministers of the Gospells power is only to deliver what they have received of the Lord 1 Cor. 11. even Moses Deut. 4. v. 5. acknowledgeth that he taught nothing but what God enjoyned him 2. Accordingly a member of a church doth not obey the word of his Pastor but of God Col. 2. v. 22. Marc. 7. v. 7. 1 John 3. v. 24. chap. 5. v. 3. When the pastor hath no command of the Lord as 1 Cor. 7. v. 25. then he delivers his own judgement and counsell and that counsell a church-member hath no command to obey though he ought to have discretion and condescension enough to follow it if he conceiveth it tends to mutuall edification Yet in a church constituted there being need of a power of magistracy either delegated or assumed by a confederate discipline and a magistrate-like jurisdiction being set up in his congregation he ought as every church-member even when he apprehendeth no tye to obey the pastors command as Gods command to obey by an obedience either active or passive the commands of that magistrate which himself hath elected when by a joint consent they all agreed upon a form of discipline 3. Church-judicatories if they make any lawes decrees or resolve upon a censure to be inflicted upon a church-member they require obedience and submission without arguing or disputing the case or having the liberty either to yield to them or to decline them if they list But the true pastorall power commandeth only understanding free and wise men that are able to judge 1 Cor. 10 v. 15. like those of Beroea who so hearkened to the voice of St. Paul that ere they obeyed it they consulted the Scripture to know whether it were so as he taught them 4. The ecclesiasticall presbyteriall power like that of the magistrate requireth obedience to its lawes ordinances and decrees not because they are good just and equitable but because it so pleased the law-givers for a man excommunicated never so unjustly is to submit to the validity of the sentence not to the equity which as our brethren and Mr. Gillespie teach us is not in the breast of the party judged but of the judge But the true ministeriall power requireth no obedience to its commands but of such as are perswaded or convinced of the goodnesse truth and equity of the law and sentence The Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth both to believe be perswaded to obey which intimateth that he truly performeth the pastorall commands who believeth in the name of the Lord Jesus for this is the main commandement of Christ as the next is that we should love one another Such commands are not obeyed by the motion of the body but by that of the heart and affections The power of magistracy commandeth the hand to give almes to the poor but the power of the minister commandeth to give them with a ready mind one
churches would there be even 33. for so many were overcome but should all these 33. Kings be subdued these 33. Churches would cease to be independent on each other and in stead of 33. churches depending each on their magistrate one nationall church should be moulded of the same extent of power as the magistrate that ruleth over them CHAPTER XXII That the greatest opposers of the dissenting brethren namely Salmasius Amyraldus and others have laid down the same grounds for the right and power of particular churches and so confuted rather their own fancies then invalidated the tenets of the brethren The question whether Rome be a true church briefly resolved That Amesius and Iohn Mestrezat late minister of Paris in their writings have held the power of private churches to be independent from any church-judicatory THe spirits of men are now a little more calm and not so eager either at home or abroad and the quarrell not so fierce with the independents as it bath been these 15. years I having my self been a poor instrument to disabuse some of my country-men who partly by their misunderstanding paitly by the false reports and ill will of the common enemy to all goodness good men were possessed of very harsh opinions and conceits of them passed a strange censure upon them as enemies to all order and discipline and men of dangerous and pernicious tenets to all humane societies The very children amongst them did question whether they were shaped like other men Amyraldus made a great book of Invectives against them and turned them into Sodomites franticks and enemies of all order and discipline Salmasiâ—s and Maiesius were no lesse bitter against them A nationall synod net at Charenton where Amyraldus had a standing but no vote condemned them But as this synod condemned them as the councill of Trent did the Lutherans before they heard them so did all these authouâ—s I have named fall upon them without mercy before they had any particular knowledge of them or any certain information of their supposed pernicious manners Yet for all that those very men that wrote so much against them as they refuted rather their own fancies then any thing those they call independents believed so they did handle this matter of the nature and power of the church and that of the magistrate over it much to the advantage of those that they made as black as they could namely Amyraldus in declaring both his own sense and that of the ancient church next to the Apostles hath laid the same ground-work for the parity and independency of churches as the reverend brethren dissenting from the assembly of Divines have done He alledgeth Vignier a French authour writing above 70. years agone highly valued as the truest historiographer that ever put pen to paper by the most learned and pious Prelat Dr. Usher in his ecclesiasticall history relating the opinion of Irenaeus Eusebius and Nicephorus concerning the state of the government of the church soon after the Apostles The form of the government in this age was almost democraticall for every church had equall power to teach the word of God to administer the sacraments to absolve and excommunicate hereticks and those that led a d'ssolute life to elect to call and to ordain ministers to depose them when occasion required to erect schools to call synods to ask the opinion of others upon doubts and controver sies I find the centuriators of Magdeburg cent â— cap 7. to have these or equivalent words with little difference but that they wrote in Latin and Vignier in French Here then we may see our brethrens sense 1. that every particular church is independent free to govern it self and to exercise all church acts not rejecting a consociation with other churches but such as equals have among themselves 2. for the power of synods they acknowledge none nor judiciall authority only a liberty to admonish advise and counsell In the 8. chapter he hath a long passage whereof the drift is 1. that particular churches are no lesse free asunder then provinces and towns before they join in a confederation 2. that all aggregation and consociation is as free for churches as for free towns or cities 3. that a particular church for example that of Saumur considered as not united by any voluntary confederacy to other churches oweth the same duty of respect to the orders and constitutions of the churches of Leyden Heydelberg and Basil as to to those of Paris or Rouen 4. that the power of synods over churches is of the same humane and civil right with the power of a judiciall senatover cities and towns Pag. 144. he hath these words The Church and the Commonwealth have some things that seem common and they may be almost alâ—ke managed both by ecclesiast call assemblâ—es and by the powâ—r of the magistrate How doth this agree with what we have heard him say that it were an horrible confusion for the church and state to be governed by the same men Pag. 198. and 199. he speaketh of the authority of synods in the language of our brethren It is true that the meer authority of councils ought not to move us to receive a point of religion the knowledge of the truth of the thing ought to be the chief motive and ground But we have him very expresly teaching his scholars and auditors at Saumur that the appellation of a true visible church doth properly belong to a particular church I shall cite his words Disp de ecclesiae nomine definitione thes 28. in English I know that a communion and as it were a confederation of many the like societies which are associated either by the same use of tongue or the same form of Commonwealth or else by the same government and discipline is called a particular church thus we speak of the French English and German churches as of particular churches to distinguish them from that universall society of Christians which comprehends all nations that bear the name of Christians but as we said before the word church is not proper to the society of all Christians as it is to the particular assemblies of Christians so that consequently we say that the word church is not to be said in the like manner of a consociation of many particular churches Let then that communion which is between the churches of France be said to be a church and that the church is a confederation of many churches for if taken according to the use of the holy Scripture St. Paul calleth the severall particular churches which were in Achaia not by the name of the church of Achaia or the Achaian church but of the churches of Achaia A passage very considerable which force of turth hath drawn from the mouth of the greatest enemy to the brethren for their greatest advocate could not say more in justification of what they have alwayes urged about the nature of the church but could never be heard till of late viz.
against the common enemy and for keeping communion as of saints so of churches that those church judicatories were set up not for conscience sake or in obedience to any prescript of Christ but for orders sake as the reverend man wrote to me but a few weeks before he died CHAPTER XXIII The consistency of the right and power of private churches with the magâ—strates power in ordering publick worship proved by the example of the Iewes that they had through all the land particular convocations synagogues or churches called also colledges or schools where the Prophets sons of the Prophets taught especially on the sabbath-day that they were independent from any church-judicatory How synagogues were altered from their first institution and that being converted into Christian churches they retained the same right power and way of government THe most convincing proof for the consistency of the right and power of particular churches with the magistrates power in ordering settling and commanding the publick Divine worship of the Nation is the example of the Commonwealth of the Jewes wherein we are informed of three main things which taken into consideration will clear all doubts about the right and power of particular churches and the magistrates jurisdiction in matters of religion and publick worship 1. That in the Commonwealth of Israel at their first institution there were particular churches throughout all the land near every families dwelling-place called synagogues 2. That these churches were independent both from any of their own of the Priests or Levites judicatories 3. That the while the magistrates power and jurisdiction remained whose entire and undivided over all persons and in all causes and matters particularly in ordering settling and commanding the publick nationall worship of God For the first that such churches were instituted in the land of Canaan we have a very expresse proof Leviticus 23. v. 1 2 and 3. Speak unto the children of Israel c. six dayes shall work be done but the seventh day is the sabbath of rest an holy convocation ye shall do no work therein it is the sabbath of the Lord in all your habitations 1. We have here a convocation and an holy one every sabbath 2. near every families dwelling place at that distance which is called in the Gospell a sabbath-days journey and to travell a sabbath-days journey was equivalent to go as far as the house of convocation which was esteemed a fulfilling of the command Exod. 16. v. 29. abide every man in his place let no man go out of his place on the seventh day For he that went no further then the place of convocation or meeting to attend on the ordinances where they use to tarry from morning to evening obeyed that command let no man go out of his place on the seventh day For how could they keep a sabbath-day holy without an holy convocation and how could that be frequented and they not stir from their own place except by not going out of his place be meant not going any whither but to the place of convocation For they could not keep the sabbath without a holy convocation kept near every ones dwelling Now that this convocation cannot be meant of nationall and festivall meetings is evident for those were appointed but thrice in the year and far from every ones dwelling-place and after the building of the Temple they were celebrated either before the Tabernacle or in the fore-court of the Temple Now had they been bound to repair to Jerusalem every sabbath-day it would have been against the command not to stir from their own places on that day These convocations or synagogues were particular churches assembled in a temple or house called also schools or colledges where Prophets and their sons or scholars dwelt and taught daily but on the sabbath-day they had a more solemn meeting of all those that dwelt near for prayer expounding of the law exhortations conferences the main action being performed by the Rabbies yet the disciples were not silent but sate at their feet asking questions and hearing their answers and resolutions sometimes a new comer in might interpose as we see in the example of Jesus Christ Luke the fourth who being unknown had the priviledge to expound the Scripture and to ask questions and give answers so had St. Paul as we read in the Acts of the Apostles chap. 13 v 15. But to speak more particularly of the place the teachers and the matter and form of worship in those places of meeting or synagogues I say first one may trace the place in the old and new Testament In the 26. Psalm David saith he will blesse the Lord in the congregations and Psal 68. v. 26. blesse ye God in the congregation which doubtlesse ought to be understood of those convocations in temples which are called synagogues Psal 74. v. 8. they have burnt up all the synagogues of God in the land Which texts make it good that such places for an holy convocation were erected through all the land Calvin upon the place saith that the people met in syngogues every sabbath-day to read and expound the Prophets and call upon God by prayer The 29. Psalme v. 9. doth not obscurely mention them for the Psalmist relates that while the works of God sounded by haile rain and thunder the faithfull not only under a shelter of stones and timber but of Gods gracious providence and protection did attend the service of God Of this House and Temple David also speaketh Psal 87. v. 2. The Lord loveth the gates of Sion more then all the dwellings or tents of Iacob The sense of which words paraphrastically I think to be this although God graced with his blessing and presence those convocations which at first were kept under tents in the wildernesse yet he is much more taken with that glorious manifestation of his between the cherubins whereby God setteth out the Lord Jesus Christ Also Salomon Ecclesiastes 5. v. 1. and 2. speaketh of these houses or meetings when he warneth men to be more ready to hear then to speak in the house of God intimating that there was a freedome for the faithfull in those convocations and synagogues more then one to speak and besides that there were no other sacrifices performed in them but those of preaching praying and thanksgiving This house of convocation was also a place to train up disciples called the sons of the Prophets which were indifferently of all tribes and therefore by the way the ministers of the Gospell that do not succeed the Priests and Levites but those Prophets who had neither ordination nor jurisdiction cannot pretend other call or power then such as these sons of the Prophets had So then these house or places for convocation were also colledges and schools and therefore Philo in the life of Moses calleth them both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 houses of prayer and of learning of which you have mention 2 Kings 6. v. 1. where
magistrate Since then an irreconcilable brother ought to be esteemed as an heathen is it any whit against Christian charity for the party offended to sue him before an heathen magistrate This exposition is very naturall having nothing strained but most like to be the sense of Jesus Christ As for the 18. verse concerning binding and loosing we have examined what strength can be in it for excommunication not discussing whether it may not be as well applyed as Chrysostome Austin Theophy lact thought to every private man as to the operation of the word in the ministry or whether this verse hath any coherence with the precedent discourse of Christ Neither will I enter into the controversy whether Iudas was partaker of the Eucharist for it is not much materiall to know it all agreeing he was not removed by any excommunication or casting out and that he did eat of the passeover which eating was equivalent to that of the Lords Supper Now lest more heads of objection of this Hydra of excommunication should arise if all should not be cut off we must examine what strength the example of the incestuous person 1 Cor. 5. hath for excommunication But this extract being already too much lengthened and the drift of it all along being to prove that the casting out of any member of a church being the same with the putting out of the synagogue is no act of ministry or of church members as such but an act of magistracy I need not to speak of it at all besides that these 3. or 4. observations will take off all hold for excommunication 1. It is granted by Calvin Beza Walaeus Apollonius Mr. Rutherfurd and Mr. Gillespie that St. Paul mentioneth but one censure inflicted upon the incestuous person viz. excommunication and that the delivering of him to Satan was the casting him out of the congregation 2. Now it being evident that this delivering to Satan was no excommunication but a judgement quite of another nature it is likewise equally evident that the putting away of the incestuous person being the same with delivering him to Satan was no excommunication 3. This casting out of the incestuous person makes nothing for that excommunication which is only a putting a man by from partaking of the Eucharist for though examples may be brought out of the Scriptures of men cast out or kept from the temple or synagogues yet there is no one example nor any reason for it that a man admitted to enter either into the temple or the synagogue should not be partaker of the same mystery or ordinances celebrated with the rest 4. Calvin thinks that St. Paul by these words put away the wicked from among you did not point particularly at the incestuous person but rather at the devil or the wicked one indefinitely as the plotter and contriver of all evil which St. Paul saith was put away from them by that delivery of the incestuous person to Satan 5. Wendelinus in his common places of excommunication saith that the putting away of the incestuous person from among the Cormthians was not only an exclusion from godly converse as praying hearing and receiving the â—ucharist with him but also from civil commerce in eating trading and talking with him Which exposition is the most naturall I know and proveth that this putting away was no act of ecclesiasticall power distinct from the civil for alwayes every court punisheth according to its kind a court of Exchequer doth not summon men for causes that are of the cognizance of a court-Martiall so neither should an ecclesiasticall court impose penalties that are to be inflicted by a civil court such as is the depriving of a man of civil liberty 6. Learned Mr. Lightfoot saith that all the power of the church of Corinth in delivering the incestuous person to Satan was by the strength of Paul's spirit that went along with them so that the people of Corinth acting by no power of their own no church ought to do as that church then did except they be sure of the assistance of the same spirit Next in order followeth the necessity of self-examination 1 Cor. 11. made an argument to prove that ministers must examine every communicant and judge of mens worthinesse For Beza Walaeus Mr. Rutherfurd and Mr. Gillespie thus argue If it be the duty of every man to examine himself much more is it the duty of a minister to examine him Never was an argument more inconsequent and lesse concludent by which the Papists may as well prove auricular confession If men must confesse their sins to God much more must ministers require every man to confesse their sins to them For quite on the contrary from this Text these or the like inferences should be drawn If all men must examine themselves much more ought ministers to examine themselves or this If every church-member ought to examine himself then ought the ministers to exhort them to that self-examination or this If every church-member ought to prepare himself for the word and Sacraments then ministers are not to prepare them otherwise then by shewing them and giving them directions for their due preparation leaving every one to do the work himself CHAPTER XXIX That excommunication is contrary to common sexse and reason THere being no Scripture for excommunication in the next place we shall see that there is no reason for it I do not deny but that a private church as well as any other society by vertue of a power of magistracy seated in them may expell a member out of their society but that this is done in obedience to a pâ—sitive command of Christ by a jurisdiction independent from the magistrate and by warrant from those words whatsoever ye shall bind on carth c. I conceive to be absurd impertinent a yoke laid upon Christians necks which is none of Christs as if whomsoever pastors do bind or excommunicate on earth Christ also doth bind or excommunicate in Heaven and whomsoever they absolve or loose on earth Christ also doth absolve and loose in Heaven 1. Since the words Matth. 16. and 18. be the very same words it is absurd to understand them in the 16. chapter absolutely but in the 18. conditionally Now they would have the words Matth. 16. whatsoever ye shall bind c. spoken to Peter to be without condition and absolute that God should approve of and ratify whatever opening loosing and binding should ensue upon Peters preaching and converting of souls for Calvin Pareus and most Divines will not have in that place any thing understood of church-censures but only of the operation of the word by the preaching of Peter But though it were granted that in the 18. chapter Christ spake of church censures by excommunication what reason is there why they should not be understood as absolute and without condition in one chapter as well as in the other For in the 18. chapter they put a condition to the absolute words of Christ saying that
all that is bound on earth by excommunication is not alwaies ratified and approved of in Heaven for were not as they say a modification put to the words of Christ all the judgements and sentences on earth had need be infallible It is true that parallel places of Scripture may admit various senses as it may be these very words of Christ or that something more may be implyed in one place then in the other But yet whether both places or either of them be meant of the operation of the word or of the miraculous power granted unto the Apostles and particularly as Mr. Lightfoot expoundeth them of a power to dispense with the Christian church in something that was to be retained or quitted of the Mosaicall laws and rites yet it must be acknowledged that both places are alike to be understood absolutely and without condition that whatever should be bound or loosed by them on earth should also infallibly be either bound or loosed in Heaven For to understand one place absolutely and the other conditionally and clave non errante when no errour can intervene I conceive ought not to be admitted in Divinity In short either the words Matth. 16. absolutely spoken must be false and admit some exception which cannot be said without blasphemy or the same words repeated in the 18. chapter must not be understood of excommunication nor of any church-censure 2. Since it is evident that the keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven and the power of binding and loosing are equivalent expressions and those both equally committed to ministers if by the keyes are not meant the power of excommunicating absolving neither can the power of binding and loosing mean excommunication For sure these keyes cannot be understood of an outward admission or exclusion but only of the conversion of a sinner by the preaching of the word But suppose that these keyes were also to admit into the visible church yet they can not be employed to put out of the church a key being an instrument either to let in or keep out but not to expell those that are in 3. Who can conceive that those words Matth. 18. whatsoever ye shall bind c. being uttered by the Lord Jesus Christ with such a prefatory asseveration verily I say unto you should not be true without a condition and an exception put to them and yet that the same words Matth. 16. without such a preface should be perpetually absolutely true And who would believe that the Lord Jesus Christ had pronounced in such an emphaticall way vertily I say unto you whatsoever ye shall bind c. only to signify an externall admission or exclusion in the doing of which acts ministers may erre out of ignorance either of right or of fact if not out of hatred or too much indulgence and favour 4. Since they say that a man by excommunication is delivered to Satan what an uncharitable act do they commit against any one be he never so wicked by putting him into such a condition as they know is worse then his former when they are not sure whether occasionally it may better him neither is it in their power to drive away Satan again from the man as it was in St. Paul Besides no man would punish a child a servant or a malefactour with a punishment that shall last to his lifes end as to torture him till death or to whip him as long as he liveth or put him in a prison that may prove perpetuall for still the earthly father or judge reserveth to himself the liberty to give over correcting when it pleaseth him But those that deliver a man to Satan by excommunication do inflict a penalty which it is not in their power to take off again being not able when they list to recover a man out of the Devils pawes 5. Most school-men and Divines hold that the sentence of excommunication is of a quite different nature from the lawes and sentences of men which have the force and validity of law be they never so unjust and must be obeyed either actively or passively for if no law were valid but that which is just and righteous then should no law be obeyed by any but those that could see equity and justice in it Which sheweth the nullity of excommunication for whosoever doubts whether such an excommunication was pronounced upon right grounds and good information or whether excommunication in it self is lawfull may well count the excommunication null and of no weight yea if the party excommunicated doth but say that he was wrongfully excommunicated and clave errante or that those that did it had no power so to do he may disannull as to himself and so to all others the excommunication For as long as the knowledge of a valid excommunication is grounded upon matter of fact which is known but to few most men may still question that which they are not concerned to believe and whereof they have no certain knowledge 6. Some to avoid that inconvenience that God should be made to ratify what the pastor acts in excommunicating say and it is the opinion of Beza that excommunication is rather a declaration of what God hath already done in Heaven then an act preceding Gods in approving or disapproving the ministers sentence But one and the same inconvenience followeth thereupon whether excommunication be taken for an act preceding the act of God or subsequent to it For if excommunication be a declaration of what God hath already done or decreed to be done it would follow that all the acts of pastors in excommunicating were infallible for if they were fallible it were not possible to know when excommunication ought to be received for a valid act untill the mind and counsell of God were revealed and it were known to be agreeable with the censure of excommunication And therefore Wicliff thought all excommunications void and null except he that excommunicateth were first informed that the party whom he was to excommunicate was excommunicated by God and this was held one of his errours in the councill of Constance Art 11. 7. Calvin in the 3. book of his Institutions chap. 4. § 14. saith that excommunication is no farther valid then as binding in heaven answereth to that on earth for he hath no stronger argument to make void the Romish excommunication then by retorting that many among them are either bound or loosed on earth unworthily which notwithstanding are not bound or loosed in Heaven If this exception against all Romish excommunication is good in Calvins mouth why should it loose its strength in my mouth for by the same argument I disannull all excommunication because all sentences of God in Heaven do not alwayes correspond to those that are pronounced upon earth 8. The same Calvin upon Matth. 18. pleading for the nullity of Romish excommunication useth this argument that the power of the keyes and of binding loosing belong only to those that have received the holy Ghost