20. the Ordinance If they had judged this a damnable heresie contrary to the manifest word of God overthrowing c. What reason can be given why they should be more favourable to it refusing to charge it with death then unto many others upon which the thought meet to lay this heavie sentence conceiving them to be opinions or Doctrines of that deep demerit and dangerous import Will these Anti-Querists charge this Honourable House with injustice or partiality between Doctrine and Doctrine Opinion and Opinion Howsoever Secondly It is evident from the tendernesse of this Honourable Sect. 20. House in not suffering the said Opinion to passe for a damnable heresie c. that if the makers of the Ordinance did certainly know that all the Opinions sentenced therein with death were damnable heresies contrary to the manifest word of God overthrowing c. that they knew more then all the said Honourable House besides Which considered I summon all Readers and persons under Heaven to consider and give sentence whether these sonnes of shame â—nd folly had not much more reason if they durst to have vented that outrage of senselesse choler and most unchristian passion against this Honourable Hoase it selfe then against me which they poure out pag. 5. of their Vindication or Revenge rather in these words First to the Querist Who are you sir that have dared to conceive in your heart such a wickednesse and blasphemy as this Querie containes in the bowells of it Looke againe upon the Opinions which the Ordinance threatneth with death or if you will not I summon all Readers in the Name of God and Christ to looke upon them and to stand amazed at your impudence that have been so audacious as to affirme or insinuate which yet I have not done in the least as hath been sufficiently proved though these sonnes of Levi be so impudent and audacious as to calumniate me with it that all those things OR EVEN ANY OF THEM may for all that the Parliament knowes or any that will not make himselfe infallible be the sacred Truths of God And presently after What are you that speake thus an Atheist or a Devill Behold oh England a mapp of thy misery Thy teachers imagine mischiefe in their heart they sharpen their tongues like a Serpent adders poyson is under their lips a Psal 140. 3. Are such lips meet to preserve knowledge But why doe they charge me and not the Parliament rather with wickednesse Blasphemie Impudence audaciousnesse Sect. 21. Why doe they not aske the respective Members thereof What are you that speake thus are you Atheists or are you Devills Yea why doe they not charge the Assembly as they regard the honour of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ c. to deliver them up unto Satan that they may learne not to blaspheme They are the persons against whom the pretended ground of all these brutish vociferations lieth not I. They are they who if the fore-mentioned intelligence be authenticke and true have affirmed or at least throughly insinuated that all the Doctrines and opinions threatned in the Ordinance with death are not CERTAINLY knowne to them either to be damnable heresies or contrary to the manifest word of God or overthrowing the foundations of Christian Religion They have declared their sense to the contrary and that upon a most weighty and Christian ground For in as much as the Scriptures or manifest word of God doth no where affirme that God is One in three Persons they had the greatest Reason in the world not to sentence the deniall thereof with death If once this dore be opened that the expositions or Interpretations of Scripture or deductions from Scripture made by men shall be made binding upon the Judgements and Consciences of others under civill mulcts and penalties in any kind where or when or in what cases shall it be shut Or who shall be found meet to separate the vile from the precious in this kind I meane to determine what expositions or deductions they are the deniall whereof shall deserve to be punished and againe what or which of either kind they are that may be refused without danger Reader give me leave to trie to cut the combe of these mens Sect. 21. confidence by propounding a Question to them I shall not aske them what they are whether they be Atheists or Devills they may possibly have learn'd by this how to answer these Questions But the Querie I shall put to them is this How or by what means or upon what grounds they themselves CERTAINLY know that this Opinion which is one of those which as hath oft been said the Ordinance threatneth with death viz. that God is not one in three Persons is either a damnable heresie or contrary to the manifest word of God or overthrowing the foundations of Christian Religion Certaine I am that the Scriptures which wee vulgar and unlearned ones call the word of God it may be the Seraphicall Doctors to Sect. 11. whom wee now addresse have some other word of God which we know not of no where affirmes or holds forth this that God is one in three Persons nor doth it any where use the terme or word person in reference unto God If it be replyed and said yea but it plainely affirmeth God to be One in Three and it as plainely ascribeth to every of these Three such things which plainly evince them to be so many Persons I answer First that my memory serves me as ill as the Consciences and reasons of these men served their masters in drawing up their Vindication that is quite faileth me if the Scripture any where plainly affirmeth that God is One in Three This certainly is a phrase or expression which the Scripture knoweth not It is indeed said concerning the Father the VVord and the Holy Ghost that these three are one a 1 Joh. 5. 8. But to say that God is one IN these or any other Three is the voyce of men not of God Therefore these Gentlemen cannot reasonably or with Truth say that they CERTAINLY know the deniall of this to be a damnable Heresie c. by the Scriptures at least not by the Scriptures alone without the mediation and interveening of their owne reasons and understandings to draw it forth by way of inference or deduction Now then if the knowledge which they have of any conclusion suppose it be a Truth depends though but in part upon the actings workings of their own reasons and understandings which are confessedly fallible and very obnoxious to mistakes especially in the things of God unpossible it is that this knowledge should be CERTAINE yea though the grounds or principles from whence they derive it be never so CERTAINE or infallible It is a knowne maxime in Logick that Conclusio sequitur deteriorem partem If either of the Premises be but probable or contingent the conclusion rais'd from them will never be a necessary or CERTAIN Truth I
thing more strange to suppose this then it is to suppose that all men are not Kings nor all Princes nor all Nobles nor all wise nor all rich with the like Surely these men through the abundance of their zeale will shortly vote it wickednesse blasphemie impudence Atheisme Devillisme an impiety calling for an Anathema a delivering up unto Satan c. for a man to suppose or intimate that light is not darknesse or that darknesse is not light that sweet is not bitter or that bitter is not sweet that a mans feet are not his hands or that his head is not his feet The most cleere and pregnant truth is that the intimation wherewith they charge the Querie now in Sanctuarie and this undeservedly too and against which they rise up in the might of their indignation is of no more demerit no more worthy censure then one of these yea and that the most innocent of them if any be suspected Deare English soules take heed of putting a Scepter into the hands of these men For they can be angry and become Lyons and call eares hornes when they please By the way before wee leave this point I desire by occasion of the ground lately mentioned as the common if not the generall Tenet of our best and most Orthodoxe Writers that it be taken into serious consideration whether or how farre it is meet to punish or censute poore miserable men for not holding or not asserting the Truth of those things which they cannot come without much labour and contention of mind yea not without some good degree of reason and understanding too to judge so much as probable nor at al to come to believe or know them CERTAINLY but onely by an immediate and supernaturall work of the Spirit of God Are men to be punished because God hath not imparted unto them his Spirit of Grace and supernaturall illumination Seventhly and lastly Neither is it true as hath been prov'd at Sect. 26. large that all the opinions threatned with death in the Ordinance are either contrary to the manifest word of God or overthrowing the foundations of Christian Religion Therefore no such 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or properties in them as these can be any reason to prove that the makers of the Ordinance must needs CERTAINLY know them to be damnable Sect. 27. heresies For non entis nulla est efficacia nulla operatiâ— That which is not cannot be a reason or cause of that which iâ— A mans person cannot be protected by a Castle in the aire By the way I suppose that by the manifest word of God the Answerers meane Texts or passages first of such Scriptures which are manifestly i. unquestionably and without all dispute the word of God And secondly which are capable of no other exposition sense or meaning but what as plainly and directly as in the very termes themselves exhibit and give out the opinion whether one or more asserted by them If they intend or meane any thing lesse then this by their manifest word of God they speake snares and ambiguities therefore in this sense I understand them and counter-argue with them thus First that all the Opinions sentenced with death in the Ordinance are not contrary to the manifest word of God is evident by what hath been already argued concerning this which is one of them viz. that God is not one in three Persons a Sec Sect. 19 20 21. This how untrue or erroneous soever in a sense it may be is not contrary to any manifest word of God Nor have the Syllogismers proved so much as one jot or title of this and yet I believe they have proved as much of it as ever they will doe or can doe So againe That Christ is not God coequall with the Father which is another of these Opinions neither is this contrary to any manifest word of God in the sense declared though I judge it contrary to the Truth Probatio incumbit affirmanti Let the assertors of it to be so prove their assertion but to say much and prove little is one of the principall pillars in their Schoole So againe that Christs death is not meritorious in the behalfe of believers is another of these Opinions I marvell what manifest word of God they will finde unto which this is contrary That the Scriptures are not the word of God is another taking the word Scriptures for all the bookes of the Old and New Testament divifim and conjunctim as they are now received and acknowledged amongst us which is the onely sense the Ordinance can reasonably meane if they can find me any manifest word of God whereunto this is contrary I will in recompence of such a favour abate them three absurdities and foure in the sequell of my examination of their Vindication Againe Sect. 27. Secondly neither are all the said Opinions sentenced in the Ordinance with death overthrowing the very foundations of Christian Religion Sect. 27. Taking the word Scriptures in the sense even now declared viz. for all and every the bookes of the Old and New Testament this Opinion that the Scriptures are not the word of God doth not overthrow the foundations of Christian Religion The book of the Revelation is Scripture or a parcell of the Scriptures yet was this booke for a long time together denyed to be the word of God by far the greater part of Christians in the world who yet remain'd unshaken in the foundations of their Religion Luther denyed the Epistle of James to be the word of God and yet was built as strongly upon the foundations of Christian Religion as these severe Taxe-Masters themselves no disparagement to their Faith Musculus himselfe so farre professeth himselfe to reverence the judgement of some of the Canonicalnesse of the latter Epistle of Peter the two latter Epistles of John the Epistle of Jude the Epistle to the Herbrewes and the Apocalyps yea and of some later writers also for he speakes in the plurall number who discanon the Epistle of Jude that he judgeth himselfe lesse tyed or bound up in his judgement by these Scriptures then by other a Inter libros Novi Testamenti sunt nonnulli dâ— quibus etiam veterum sententiae variant utpote Epistola posterior Petri duae posteriores Johannis Epistola Judae Epistola ad Hebraeos Apocalypsis Iohannis quae in Concilio Laodiceno cap. 39. ultimo inter Canonicas Scripturas non recitatur quibus etiam eam quae Iacobo inscribitur quidam reccenâ—iores connumerant Mâ—â— modestiae non est ut de his pronunciem sintneeorum sub quorum nominibus extant vel secus ludicia tamen veterum hoc efficiunt ut minùs simillis quam coeteris Scripturis astrictus lâ—cèt haud facilè quaevis damnanda censâ—am quae in illis leguntur Musculus Loc. De sacris Scripturis It were easie to adde more instances of like nature And though for my selfe I can and doe without scâ—uple subscribe to the
Truth of this Doctrine yea and am ready God assisting to die for it that God is one in three Persons yet I know some who denie it who notwithstanding this denyall I know also in part by my owne experience and acquaintance but more fully by the testimony of others worthy credit in as great a matter as this to be of exemplary life fruitfull in good workes holy heavenly Christian in all their Conversation as farre as men are able to judge or discerne Shall wee say that such men as these hold not the foundations of Christian Religion But it is none of least or lowest of our Classick intrusions to umpire among the Starres I meane the Doctrines of Christian Religion and to determine positively and above all possibility of mistake which are of the first which of the second which of the third magnitude Sect. 28. and with all to call them all by their Names as if they knew them as exactly as he that made them Besides when the Ordinance sentenceth a denying of the Scriptures Sect. 28. to be the word of God with death I desire to know whether by the SCRIPTVRES it meaneth the English Scriptures or that book or rather volume of bookes called the Bible translated as is said and as I believe out of the originall Hebrew and Greek copies into the English tongue Or these Originall or Greek copies themselves or my third thing really differing from either of these I suppose it is no foundation of Christian Religion to believe that the SCRIPTVRES in the first sense are the word of God these Rabbies themselves doe not hold it for an Article of their Faith that God spake to his Prophets or Apostles in English no nor yet that our English Translation doth agree in all things with the true sense and meaning of the Originalls If they doe believe either of these I must thus farre professe my selfe an Anti-sidian to them If by the SCRIPTVRES the Ordinance meaneth the Originall Hebrew and Greek copies out of which the English Bible is said to be translated I desire to know upon what grounds either of Reason or Religion these men or any others can require of men under the paine of death yea under the paine of eternall death a The Vindicaters call the denying of the Scriptures to be the word of God a DAMN BLE heresie to believe such writings to be the word of God the matter or contents wherof they neither know nor are capable of knowing upon any better termes of assurance I meane in an ordinary way of providence then the testimony Common Report or Authority of men For what other or better assurance can plaine and unlearned men and such who are altogether ignorant of the originall Languages and not in any capacity of learning them which is the case of thousand thousands in the Land attaine or come unto that such and such things as the English Translation presenteth unto them are contained in those Originall Copies Yea in case they were expert in the Originall Languages themselves according to what is called expertnesse or skilfulnesse in them at this day what other or what better assurance can they have then the Testimony and Authority of those men from or by whom they have gained this knowledge that this skill or knowledge of theirs is according to the Truth or that those respective significations meanings importances of words and Sect. 29. phrases which they have learned from men are the very same with those which the Pen-men of their Originall Copies intended respectively in their writings It is well knowne amongst Scholars and men but of ordinary reading that words and phrases in other Languages by continuance of time and succession of generations lose their primitive and ancient force and significations and contract such which are very much differing from them Many instances might be given hereof both in the Latine tongue and our owne but I leave this for men the face of whose studies is set towards such observations And put the case there were no such mortality as wee speake of in the significations and importances of words but that they also were yesterday and to day and the same for ever yet the Scholler can have no better assurance then his Masters honesty or word that he is taught by him according to the best of his skill or knowledge except haply it be the concurrent testimony of other Teachers in the same Profession whose words and testimonies are but of the same line of fallibility with his So then the holding the Scriptures to be the word of God in either of these two senses or significations of the word can with no tolerable pretext or colour be called a foundation of Christian Religion unlesse their foundations be made of the credits Learnings and Authorities of men If the Ordinance intendeth any third sense of the word SCRIPTVRES when it threatneth the denyall of them to be the word of God with death these undertakers for the Innocencie of it shall doe well to declare and explain this sense and not to leave it as a Lyon hid in a thicker to break out upon and destroy those that passe by at unawares Thus have wee prov'd at large that the two legs on which Sect. 29. the Anti-Querists Answer to their second Argument stands to be but two sticks covered with rotten or proud flesh and this skin'd over onely with a superficiall or washie colour of Reason and consequently that the said Argument remaineth still in full force strength and vertue and so the Querie from whence it was drawne to be impregnable honest sober and harmelesse as well in the proposall as consideration of it no wayes unbecomming the wisdome gravity or zeale of a sound Christian As for that distinction which they subjoyne concerning a mans being infallible I cannot likely thinke but that they are self-condemned in it Sect. 30. For surely they could not imagine that the Querie speaks of any absolute or universall infallibility or that the Querist doth not partake so farre in common sense with the Anti-Querists themselves as to know that an infallibility in discerning some one thing from another doth not necessarily require an universall or infinite infallibility And thâ—fore to what purpose come they forth with this grave Aphorisme that â—â—â— may certainely know some things and yet not be infallible in all things Had it not been a saying of as much savour if they had said certainly men may be worth an hundred pound in estate though they be not worth a thousand a Sparrow may be as big as a Partrich though it be not as big as a Swan And yet notwithstanding though they build their Answers with such hey stubble as these they must needs glory over the work of their hands with this acclamatiâ—n Thus this second Querie is sufficiently answered c. Surely the word SVFFICIENTLY in these mens Dialect imports the manner of all actings and pleadings for the High-Presbyterian
cause so that whatsoever they shall say or argue in order unto this it receives this modification from betweene the efficient and the end it is SVFFICIENTLY argued and prov'd May they noâ— in a manner as well pretend and say when they have onely cited those first words in Genesis In the beginning God made Heaven and Earth that they have by this Scripture SVFFICIENTLY proved the Jus Divinum of Presbytery as make their boast that they have SVFFICIENTLY answered my second Querie with those impertinent weake reasonlesse truth-lesse allegations as hath been abundantly proved of which this Answer so called is made But as it was in that old saying amongst the Romans between their two Captaines that Odeâ—â—â—uâ— conquered but Gallienus triumphed so is it between the present Syllogisme and the Answer to it The Syllogisme conquers and the Answer triumpheth Oh England my heart is inlarged towards thee and I will open my mouth proportionably unto thee Take heed of the grand Imposture of this word SVFFICIENTLY in the writings and in the teachings of thy Teachers they have learned to call their chaffe wheat and to say of stones that they are bread But in what degree these men were straightned for want of reason Sect. 30. in answering their owne Argument they are inlarged in Sect. 30. passion against my Querie But what were they so super-superlatively incens'd against it because they were able to make no better worke of answering it Or diâ— thâ— spirit of it touch the apple of their eye and so through the extreamâ—ty of the paine their imaginations suffered yea and their Consciences also through a consent and sympathie with the part affected But whatsoever the true cause of the accident is I verily believe that never did there such a flood of prophane and senselesse passion breake out of the spirits of men that were called Christian from the first day of this Denomination in the world to this very houre as these men poure out upon a Querie whose innocencie I say not weight and worth hath been vindicated upon such grounds of evidence and Truth that the light of the Sunne is not more apparent at noone-day then it Were not the Fountaines of the great deep of Corruption within them all broken up when this Deluge of bitter waters issued from them And as Joshua that he and the people with him might be avenged of their enemies spake unto the Sunne and Moone to stand still Sunne stand thou still upon Gibeon and thou Moone in the valley of Ajalon a Josh 10. 12. so did not these men their hearts being set to take revenge upon the Querist when they girded themselves to the worke commanded their reasons and consciensces to stand still and cease from their motions each of them respectively directing themselves to their own and saying Reason stand thou still over passion and thou Conscience in the valley of Indignation untill wee have avenged our selves in fire and brimstone upon our enemies that Arch-Enemy of our most beloved Designes But if in the day of their Answer I meane in the Rationall part of it we found nothing but night and darknesse can wee hope in the night thereof I meane the passionate part of it to find day or so much as the dawnings of reason truth or understanding I had once thoughts of speaking particularly to every straine and passage herein but upon more mature debate with my self about the undertaking I considered that in case I were an Engineere I should doe but childishly to load a Cannon only to batter a mushrome or a bubble which children raise with soape and spittle out of a nut-shell And thus our second Querie that great abomination of Classick soules hath fully recovered her selfe out of those fogges and Sect. 31. mists which partly by the ignorance partly by the ill will of her adversaries were spread round about her and shines in perfect beautie being onely troubled and full of sorrow for this that ever shee should be an occasion to men pretending to Religion of so much rebuke and shame as must needs fall upon those who have opposed her Sect. 31. Their third Argument rejoyceth against their Answer given to it because this also is built upon sandy foundations As 1. that to be called Rabbi is to require men to beleeve that which they teach them meerly because they teach it without any Authoritie from God in his Word This is a most strange and truthlesse saying and excuseth Scribes and Pharisees and who not from ever desiring to be called Rabbi For certainly none of these were ever so simple as to require men to beleeve that which they taught them MEERLY because they taught it without any Authoritie from God in his word There was none of them all but pretended Authoritie from God in his word for what they taught but especially it is the first-borne of incredibilities that they should require men to beleeve what they taught them upon this ground MEERLY because they taught it without any Authoritie from God in his word Can it enter into the heart of a man especially of any man that professeth the service of the true God and beliefe of the Scriptures to thinke honorably of his Teacher MEERLY and simply because he teacheth without any Authoritie from God in his word Certainly if the Scribes and Pharisees had fish'd with this baite especially amongst the Jewes for the acclamations of Rabbi they had caught nothing but contempt and shame in stead thereof Therefore for men to enjoyne or compell men to call them Rabbi is in the sence of the Querie in the Scripture import of the phrase either to enjoyne them especially under any penaltie as of their dis-favour or the dis-favour of God or otherwise to receive or beleeve any Doctrine as the Truth of God because they teach it for such viz. either as a true Interpretation of or deduction from the word of God whether they give any sufficient account that it is either the one or the other unto those on whom they impose upon such terms this tribute of beliefe or else to prohibit them on the like terms the holding and maintaining of such or such Doctrines because they judge them to be contrary to the word of God without giving any sufficient account or reason unto the prohibited Sect. 32. to prove them so Now I querie the Anti-Querists whether the makers of the Ordinance doe not in this sence compell men to call them Rabbi i. Whether they doe not prohibit men under penalties and those most grievous from holding forth such and such Doctrines as being contrary to the word of God without giving any sufficient account or indeed any at all that I say not without being able to give any that is sufficient unto the persons thus prohibited that they are indeed contrary to this word 2. The Answer now under correction is polluted with this uncleane Sect. 32. supposition viz. that the makers of
pluck up the wheat with it if they can be content to have a sober sense put upon their words a better I beleeve then their owne I willingly subscribe unto this also For they who by plucking up that which they call tares and perhaps is so in one part of the field shall or probably may occasion or provoke others to pluck up that which they also call tares and perhaps is not so but good wheat in another may very properly be said by the same act to be in danger of plucking up the wheat also with it And there is little question indeed to be made but that this was our Saviours expresse meaning in those words lest while you gather up the tares you pluck up also the wheat with them * Mat. 13. 29. i. e lest by your example in gathering out the tares in your part of the field or where you have to doe you occasion or excite others to pluck up the wheat in that part of the field where they have to doe which latter thing if it should be done may justly be imputed to that act of yours in gathering or plucking up the tares Our Saviour in this Parable expresseth himself to be so exceedingly tender of the lives and liberties of his Saints and faithfull ones signified by the Wheat that he prohibits the doing of such an act which otherwise even his servants themselves would judge most necessary to be done chiefly because he knew and foresaw that the doing of it would endanger these I mean the lives and liberties of many of his Saints He declareth himself willing and desirous that rather some unworthy men should be spared then that their suffering should occasion the causelesse sufferings of his Saints But Secondly When they say on That the tares cannot be meant in Sect. 70. that parable ONELY of Heretiques or false Teachers doe they not forget themselves exceedingly and give away the cause of high-Presbytery at once He that shall say that Abraham did not ONELY beget Isaac doth he not suppose and grant that Abraham howsoever did beget Isaac So he that shall say that Christ did not ONELY call Peter and Andrew to be Apostles doth he not cleerly imply that yet he called these as well as others to that dignity In like manner when our Counter-Querists say that the tares in the parable cannot be meant ONELY of Heretiques and false Teachers they plainly and fairely grant that yet they are meant of these as well as of any other sort of wicked men Sect. 71. If so then must not the Servants of Christ whether Magistrates or Ministers gather them out from amongst the wheat by death but suffer them to grow together in the field i. e. in the world untill the great harvest in the end of the world that is they are to leave them as for matter of corporall punishment to the proceeding of God himself against them at the great day Therefore Thirdly whereas they attempt to prove their said assertion by saying that by our Saviours own Interpretation they are ALL those that in the field where the good seed is sown are the children of the wicked one i. e. all those who being ungodly in heart doe manifest their ungodlinesse to the view of others they doe notoriously falsifie our Saviours Interpretation and substitute that in the stead of it which is not onely contrary to his meaning and word but unto reason it self yea and to the cleer sense and minde of the Scriptures elsewhere For First Our Saviour doth not say that the tares are ALL the Sect 71. children of the wicked one but indefinitely thus The tares are the children of the wicked one * Mat. 13. 38. Now indefinite propositions are not alwaies equipollent unto universals but are to be construed sometimes as particulars sometimes as universalls according to the nature of them together with direction of other circumstances and assertions of the same Authors in which they are found Secondly That our Saviour by the tares doth not mean universally ALL the children of the wicked one is evident because he onely speaks of such tares which were sown amongst the wheat i. e. the children of the Kingdome or of the Gospell and sprang up together with it * Ver. 25. 26. Now there were and are at this day ungodly ones and children of the wicked one in such parts or places of the field where no wheat was ever sown I mean in such parts of the world where the word of the Kingdom the Gospel was never preached Thirdly the tares of which the Parable speaketh are said to have been sown by the envious man some time after the wheat was sown Therefore they cannot be meant of ALL the children of the wicked one or of ALL that are manifestly ungodly because there were great numbers of these in the field the world even at the time when the wheat was sowne and the world first planted with the Children of the Kingdome yea and long before Sect. 72 Fourthly If by the tares should be meant ALL wicked and manifestly ungodly ones then ought not theeves murtherers nor the most desperate kinde of malefactors under Heaven be cut off from the world by the sword of the civill Magistrate but be let alone in their respective wayes and practises of mischiefe untill the judgement of the great day For our Saviour expresly orders and enjoyns that the tares of which he speakes in the parable be suffered to grow together with the wheat untill the harvest * Matth. 13. 30 If our Anti-Querists whoever they be thus charge the master of the house with the crime of Anti-Magistraticallisme it is no great matter if they charge those of his houshold with it much more Fiftly such wicked and ungodly ones and such onely are meant Sect. 72. by the tares in our Saviours parable the taking away of whose lives is like to endanger the lives of his Saints the children of the Kingdome and that more generally But he said nay lest whilst yee gather up the tares yee pluck up also the wheat with them * Ver. 29. Now the cutting of many manifestly ungodly and wicked ones by the sword of the Magistrate as viz. Murtherers Theeves Traytors c. doth no wayes endanger either the lives or liberties of the Saints but rather is a preservative and security and honour unto them The reason is because these the Saints are generally kept by the power of God thorough Faith as unto salvation so from the perpetration and breaking out into such horrid and vile practises as these Therefore when the actors of such impieties as these are punished by the Magistrate the innocency and unblameablenesse of their wayes are set of with the greater lustre and commendation So that Sixtly and lastly by the tares in the parable according to our Saviours interpretation is meant onely that veyne or sort of evill doers who serve the Kingdome of Sathan by sowing false Doctrines
And the truth is that without a reciprocall Toleration in such differences as these they would hardly ever cement or hang together or grow into the unitie of a bodie unlesse they agreed to cast lots amongst them whose judgement should be King to prescribe Doctrines and opinions for Lawes unto all his fellows Now considering that the maine Principles and fundamentall Doctrines of Christian Religion are much more difficult to be comprehended by reason or to be assented unto as Truths then such deductions or conclusions which in an ordinary way of discourse may be inferred from and resolved into their knowne or granted Principles it seemes repugnant to all grounds of reason and equitie that men should have favour in their dissentings about these and be judged worthy of death for dissenting in the other Penall Lawes are not wont to be enacted amongst men against any such miscarriages or deficiences in men which require an excellency in vertue wisedome or understanding to prevent but onely against such which the common and knowne principles of reason justice and honestie are sufficient to restraine It is proper indeed that Lawes of incouragement and of rewards be made to provoke and stirre men up to actions of honour and which are difficult to performe especially such which are like to be of publique benefit or service to the State but not to enact any penaltie against those who shall not performe such actions unlesse it be the losse or non receiving the reward promised by Law to those that shall performe them I have oft heard of an ancient Law in England by which there was a reward appointed for every man that should kill a Wolfe but I never heard of any which imposed a penaltie upon those who killed none And if men desire to insure all those to the way of High Presbyterie who do not religiously out of pure conscience dissent in judgement from it their only course is to procure some Law or Statute to be made wherein some considerable reward shall be appointed by way of incouragement to all those that shall adhere to this way onely with this proviso for righteousnesse and conscience sake that this reward be not assigned unto them out of the due rights and priviledges of those who notwithstanding shall dissent from them And now good Reader I have nothing more wherewith Sect. 18. to dâ—tain thee from the discourse it selfe The God of Heaven give thee a free cleere and dis-ingaged judgement to examine try and narrowly consider into what Opinions or Tenets in Religion thou sufferest thy soule and conscience to be Baptized The Holy Ghost speaking doubtlesse of these times prophecied long agoe that many should run to and fro and by this means knowledge shall be increased a Dan. 12. 4. In the times of Popery men generally stood still made no inquiries beyond the lips of their Teachers and knowledge then was at a stand and advanced not But since God hath been pleased to put it into the hearts of men to conceive and think that there may be Tracts or Regions of knowledge beyond the line of the travailes and discoveries of their Teachers and have made many studious expeditions themselves to find them out knowledge hath increased yea and will increase daily more more if we relapse not into the lethargie of Popish sloathfulnesse and servilitie and suffer our Teachers to exercise a Dominion over our Faith Some of the principall weapons by which a compulsive power over the judgements and consciences of men hath been defended are here by strength or argument and pregnâ—ncie of Scripture demonstration wrung out of the hand of those who have fought with them not the good fight of Faith but the bad fight of the flesh hitherto The good will of him that dwelt in the Bush be thy portion for ever Thine in the service of Truth and Peace JOHN GOODVVIN From my Study in Coleman-street Jan. 22. 1646. ERRATA PAg. 2. after Atheist r. I trust p. 9. l. 7. for suffer r. suffered p. 15. l. 26. for of r. out of p. 15. l. 14. for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 16. l. 24 for conscence r. conscience p. 20. l. 27. for Peteter r. Peter p. 22. l. 12. for n 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 r. ne 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 25. l. 14. for Authors r. Author p. 25. l. 17. for understanding r. undertaking p. 26. l. 21. for hoase r. house p. 30. l. 35. for conceid r. conceived p. 33. l. 27. for donee r. donee p. 36. l. 14. for of the Canonicallnesse r. of the Ancients who questioned the Canonicallnesse p. 40. l. 22. for commanded r. command p. 40. l. 27. for enemies r. enemie p. 60. l. 34. for coporation r. corporation p. 70. l. 36. for Trush r. truth p. 71. l. 27. for Parliament man r. Gentleman p. 88. l. ult for matters r. matter p. 95. l. 31. dele to p. 113. l. 10. for anh r. and p. 106. l. 15 for carriage r. carriage p. 119. l. 6. for either in r. either in p. 122. in the margent for reluet r. relucet ¶ The principall Contents as well of the Epistle as Discourse are the unfolding of these particulars 1. VVHat the Authors judgement is touching Civill Magistracy Ep. sect 10. 2. With what affection or intentions God both gave continues and at last will dissolve Civill Magistracie Ep. sect 7 8 9. 3. What the reason is why God will have creature-dispensations to precede his being All in All. Epist sect 6. 4. Who they are that have still been represented as enemies to Magistracy Ep. sect 12. 5. In what sense the Author takes the word Presbyterie and against what manner of persons he argueth in his discourse Ep. sect 13 14. 6. How unworthily that great self-admiresse Gangrena acquitteth her selfe in her stories and pamphlets Epist sect 15. 7. How unworthily a late Disputation in Christ-Church-parish about Tithes is reported by some Epist sect 16. 8. Whether differences in fundamentalls be not to be tolerated as well as if not rather then differences in such points which are farre more easily determined by reason Epist sect 17. 9. What most probably the Anti-querists designe is in their Antiquerisme Dissect 2. 10. What the designe of the Querist cleerly was in the Queres sect 3. How neere the zeale of High-Presbyterie hath eaten some men up sect 4. 11. Whether there be any touch or tincture of Blasphemie in the second Querie sect 5. 12. How the Prelaticall and High-Presbyterian proceedings comport sect 6. 13. Whether the Contra Querists Syllogismes be not too hard for their answers sect 8. 14. Why the Counter Querists answer by way of Syllogisme sect 7. 15. Whether the Querist reproacheth all punitive Justice c. sect 11. 16. Whether he maketh Christs Spirit now contrary to Gods Spirit in the old Testament sect 12. 17. Whether the story of Ananias and Sapphira's death doth any wayes justifie putting to death
sight of Medusa's head without being disnatur'd by it There is no soare but may have a plaister broad enough to cover it And is there any deportment of men at so deep a defiance with all principles of reason equity humanity Christianity but what by the mediation of productures may be reconciled Reader if the whirlewind of these mens ecstasie hath not ravished even thee also into the gyre or circle of it prepare thy selfe either for double astonishment or treble indignation against the discovery and discourse of that in the monstrousnesse whereof these men put their trust not onely for shelter and protection against all those that shall say unto them black is their eye for any miscariage of their pen but for applause Sect. 5. also for solemne and sacred acclamations as well over the light as the heat of their zeale over their profound Learning in confuting as well as over their Religious indignation in declaming with so much ardencie and raisednesse of soule against it as they have done I know no parallel worthy that deportment of the men in both unlesse it be that of the High Priest who upon some words spoken by our Saviour resented by him as of no good correspondencle with his ends though otherwise full of sobernesse and Truth the Text saith rent his clothes saying He hath BLASPHEMED what have we any more need of witnesse Behold now ye have heard his Blasphemie a Mat. 26. 65. The Blasphemie here charged upon Christ by the High Priest is of that kind of Blasphemy for which the Querist is arraigned by these high-spirited sons of Levi the supercilious and importune confidence in the High Priest that Christ was a Blasphemer had spoken Blasphemie ye have heard his Blasphemy what need wee any more witnesse c. exactly answers the rage and height of these mens plerophorie that the Querist is a Blasphemer at least all ambiguities and doubtfulnesses discounted in his second Querie Thirdly and lastly the exemplary Devotion and high-borne zeale of this High Priest in rending his cloathes because of the great dishonour which the Lord Christ had done unto God by his Blasphemie portraictureth to the life the stupendious elevation of these men in all ardencie of pious affections to render the Querist the supposed Blasphemer a man of all ignominy and reproch the hatred and abhorring of men a man worthy of no better quarter in the world then to be delivered up unto Satan that he may learne not to blaspheme i. not to querie any further the spirit or proceedings of High-Presbytery which it seemes is a duty much taught and urged in Satans Schoole These men may well style themselves the sonnes of Levi for they give a sufficient account that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 b Acts 4. 6. of the kindred of the High Priest Sic oculos sic ille manus sic ora ferebat Onely herein the patterne seemes to be more passible then the portraicture That which Christ spake though it was as farre from Blasphemie as any thing asserted or affirmed lightly could be yet it was an assertion or affirmation as Blasphemeis frequently Sect. 6. are but the Querie arrested for blasphemy by the angrie sonnes of High-Presbytery is a pure Querie or Question nothing is affirmed nothing denyed in it And though I will not deny but that possibly such questions may be invented and with studie thought upon which may in some sense of the word be blasphemous yet doe I not remember that ever I heard or read of any such nor can I readily conceive how any such can be framed But as the Philosophers maxime is Quicquid recipitur recipitâ—â— ad modum recipientis i. whatsoever is received is not necessarily received either according to the disposition or intention of the Agent or giver or according to the nature or proper tendencie of the thing it selfe received but alwayes according to the nature and disposition of the Receiver If the High Priest wee spake of had not waited for the halting of the Lord Christ yea had not his soule longed for somewhat against him wherewith â—oth to comfort his Conscience within him under those faint and feeble thoughts it had of his being a dissembler and wicked person and to render him obnoxious also and hatefull unto the people it is no wayes credible that ever he would have found blasphemie in the words now triumphed over as unquestionably guilty of that demerit there being another interpretation and constructure of them farre more obvious and neerer hand then that which found Blasphemy in them Nor doe I nor can I impute that construction of the Querie which makes blasphemie of it either to the persons or to the learning or to the Judgement or to the grace of the Anti-querists but unto the enemies of all these viz. their deep hatred against the person of the Querist the impatiencie and impotencie of their desires to represent him to the world as a stigmaticall infamous and irreligious man their sworne service and devotion to the cause of High-Presbytery with a non obstante c. Had not these evill spirits extremely wrong'd the men and strip'd them starke naked of the soft cloathing of their ingenuity the Querie had been as innocent and as farre from Blasphemy as the Antapology yea as the Vindication it selfe It was no impertinent or truth-lesse observation in him who so Sect. 6. farre minded the proceedings of the Anti-christian and Papall Clergie in the dayes of their Interests amongst us and likewise of the Pontificall and Episcopall Clergie In theirs as to be able to Sect. 6 see and say that as well the one as the other did still so state and represent unto the people all such practises and actions whether of their owne or other mens wherein their secular pompe and Interests were concern'd as to make God and Christ a party with them to intitle them to part and fellowship with themselves as well in whatsoever they did as in whatsoever they suffer The device was to perswade the world partly that whatsoever they did in order either to the support or inlargement of their owne Greatnesse they did it out of Conscience and as persons trusted by God with the affaires of his glory partly that whosoever cast honour upon them or yeilded subjection unto them did it not so much unto them as unto God himselfe and againe that whosoever opposed or neglected them opposed and neglected God himself much more How neere all things are now carried according to this patterne in the mount I shall not declare but leave unto men who have eyes to see to consider of a The Presbyters of the Assembly and others are so farre from the domineering humour of Diotrcphes that they could gladly and heartily have quitted all intermedling in Church-Government if Jesus Christ had not by office ingaged them thereunto Jus Divinum Regim Ecclesiast lately published in the Name of sundry Ministers of the City of
of old Therefore behold saith he I will proceed to doe a marvellous worke amongst this people even a marvellous worke and a wonder for the wisdome of their wise men shall perish and the understanding of their prudent meâ— shall be hid a Esay 29. 14. These politick and prudent sonnes of High Presbytery thought they had spread a table for themselves of their Syllogismes but that God who taketh the wise in their owne craftinesse b 1 Cor. 3 19. hath turned this table into a snare unto them and hid their understanding out of the way when they lift up their hand to the Syllogismes For in the framing of these their answers considered they are like such Conjurers who being novices in their profession sometimes raise those spirits which their skill failing them they know not how to lay or conjure downe Though I owne not any one of the Syllogismes as intimated or asserted either Majors Minors or Conclusions by me in the Queries yet to let the Kingdome and whole world see upon how broken a reed they shall leane if they trust to the Learning or Judgement of these men in the great things of their peace I shall be willing to undertake for the Syllogismes at least for the most of them against their Answers For doubtlesse the Arguments doe by their Answers as Aarons rod did by the rods of the Egyptian Sorcerers c Exod. 7. 12. they swallow and eat them up In my Vindication of the Gentlemens Syllogismes against their Sect. 9. Answers to save as much as may be without detriment to the cause the labour of transcribing and so to contract the whole discourse into as narrow a compasse as the Subject of it will beare I shall not repeate the Syllogismes themselves but onely lay open the weaknesse and insufficiencie of the respective Answers and this by a manifest disabling and overturning the Principles reasons and grounds on which they are built I could wish the Reader who shall have the opportunity and please to peruse these papers had the Vindication it selfe or those Anti-papers by him to which these by way of opposition relate it is like he might apprehend the particularity and appositenesse of what is here insisted Sect. 10. upon for the dissolution of those Answers more fully and with some â—dvantage to his satisfaction yet by what he shall heâ—e finde he may be able even without that ayde competently to conceive and judge what is the strength and what is the weaknesse of the said Answers First then their Answer to their first Argument or Syllogisme Sect. 10. fram'd by occasion of my first Querie is built upon this distinction The making of snares of any of the Doctrines of Christ for the destruction of the lives of men may be taken two wayes first for a malitious intention and formall desire to take away mens lives Secondly for no more but the appointing of the punishment of death for such as shall WICKEDLY oppose any of the Doctrines of Christ In this latter sense they conclude it lawfull yea and necessary to make snares of the Doctrines of Christ for the destruction of the lives of men and denie it in the former But First the Ordinance doth not say who shall WICKEDLY preach teach publish any opinion contrary c. but that all such who shall VVILLINGLY preach teach c. shall without abjuring suffer the paines of death Therefore the said Distinction is impertinent and reacheth not the cause in hand For who with halfe an eye is not able to see a vast difference between preaching or publishing a point VVILLINGLY and VVICKEDLY when Presbyterian Ministers preach false Doctrine as that tithes or Presbyteriall Government are Jure Divino that it is unlawfull either to sell or buy Bishops Lands that the Parliament is bound to doe as the Assembly would have them that legall preparations are simply and absolutely necessary before Conversion that men are bound to believe that which they have no reason to believe that Repentance goeth before Faith that Christ suffered the torments of Hell with twenty and ten vaine speculations and visions of their owne hearts besides wherewith they corrupt and poyson the Judgements of their simple and credulous Auditories I presume they doe all this VVILLINGLY but whether they doe it VVICKEDLY or no let themselves judge and say But Secondly suppose the Ordinance had said VVICKEDLY as the Syllogismeâ—s speake I demand of them what they meane by the word VVICKEDLY and who shall judge and determine of this modification or aggravation of the offence Suppose a man Sect. 10. should preach very zealously and with fervency of Spirit against any of those Tenets which these men call the Doctrines of Christ as against the Jus Divinum or lawfulnesse of tithes or of Presbytery or the like will they call this a preaching VVICKEDLY If so then themselves preach VVICKEDLY as oft as zealously If by VVICKEDLY they meane obstinately or with obstinacie an expression which the paper called The Ordinance useth this is to give light by darknesse and I demand as before what they meane by obstinately For neither doth the Ordinance nor the Asserters of it who yet undertake too to be the Interpreters of it when and as they please a page 1 2. declare or determine any thing at all herein If by preaching or publishing a Doctrine obstinately they meane a preaching it after admonition or after meanes us'd yea or after sufficient meanes us'd I meane sufficient in the Judgement of those that use them yea or of those who are interressed in the same judgement with those that use them then themselves as oft as they preach the point of Infant-Baptisme preach obstinately and consequently VVICKEDLY For they have been admonished again and again by the Anti-poedo-baptists both by writing and otherwise who also have used meanes upon meanes and those by themselves and all of their party judged to be abundantly sufficient to convince them of the errour of this Doctrine for so they judge it to be So againe according to this interpretation of the word when they preach against the lawfulnesse of selling and buying the Bishops Lands they preach obstinately and so VVICKEDLY for by the late Ordinance of Parliament published in that behalfe they are admonished yea and in the Judgement of the Parliament sufficiently informed of the lawfulnesse of both Instance might be given in twenty points more of like consideration If they have any other sense or meaning in the word Obstinately which is more crypticall or mysterious it is but reasonable and equall that it be declared and made knowne before the lifes or liberties of the Saints or other men be endangered by it It is most un-christian and repugnant to the law and light of nature it selfe that any such Lawes or Statutes should be made wherein either the lifes or Liberties of men are touch'd and yet the sense and meaning of them by the ambiguity of the words wherein
they are conceived be of doubtfull interpretation unto those who are so Sect. 10. deeply concern'd in them Lawes and Statutes wherein the precious lives and Liberties of men are concern'd ought not to be like Aristotles acroamatiques concerning which he said when he had published them edidi non edidi i. I have published them and I have not published them meaning that as he had set them forth few were able to understand them but to be plaine and transparent in their sense and meaning that even persons of meanest capacity may without an Interpreter see to the bottome of them Or Thirdly and lastly if by VVICKEDLY in their distinction they meane maliciously which the word seemes most properly to import I desire to know of them whom they will constitute or make Judges of this inward and soule-misdemeanour or what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 what Symptomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or signes they will Authorize as infallibly demonstrative of this malignitie For it is no wayes Christian or equall that the Saints or indeed any other sort of men should be deprived of their lives or precious Liberties upon what Interpretation of the Law either the Jurie or the Judge shall please to make But the case and condition of the Saints would be most deplorable upon such terms as these in as much as there are very few either Juries or Judges but being strangers to the worke of Grace inwardly hate this generation of men according to that with many the like saying of the Scriptures Marvell not my Brethren if the world hate you a 1 Joh. 3. 13. whereunto that of our Saviour himselfe also agreeth Because ye are not of the world but I have chosen you of the world therefore the world hateth you b Joh. 15. 19. Now it being the genius or property of this affection of hatred to desire and seek the destruction of that which is hated Quem quisque odit periisse expetit it were most sad with the Saints if they that hate them should have the Liberty of interpreting not onely their actions and practises as they please but also of the Lawes themselves too by which these are to be judged Thus then it fully appeares that the Distinction upon which the Syllogizers build their Answer to their first Syllogisme is by reason of the ambiguity and doubtfulnesse in one of the most signall and important terms in it altogether insufficient and null and in exactnesse of truth no distinction at all no more then a dish with an hole in the bottome of it is a dish or a man without a soule a man Miserable is the condition of those whose Faith Sect. 11. 12. must be pinn'd upon such sleeves as these There are severall other importune reasonlesse and false assertions Sect. 11. and suppositions made to support the said Answer and Distinction As 1. That he that shall but insinuate a reproach upon the Ordinance in such a phrase as this of making a snare for the destruction of the lives of men doth with the same hand or tongue cast a reproach upon ALL the punitive Justice that ever was or will be in the world a page 3. Certainly these Gentlemens Logick stood at their left hand in stead of their right when they advanc'd such a consequence or saying as this Doth he that insinuates it as a thing unlawfull to put an Heathen to death for asserting the principles of his false Religion cast a reproch upon the Justice which shall punish him with death for murther rebellion or insurrection Or doth he that insinuates it as a thing unworthy a Christian Magistrate or Judge to put a man to death for professing or affirming that for truth which he verily beleeveth to be so though indeed it be false cast a reproch upon such Magistrates or their punitive Justice who shall punish murther perjury incest or any the like sinnes committed against the light of nature and the knowledge of the perpetrator with punishments suitable to the respective natures and demerits of them It seemes that to sinne out of ignorance and with knowledge with Conscence and against Conscience are of one and the â—ame consideration and demerit with these men Oh England if thou sufferest thy selfe to be led by such Guides as these take heed of falling into the ditch out of which there is no rising againe Secondly the said Answer leanes upon the broken reed of this Sect. 12. supposition that the Spirit of Christ now should be contrary to Gods Spirit in the Old Testament if it should not justifie and allow yea and require the punishment of death under the Gospel for the violation of such Doctrines and Lawes as well of the first as second Table for the violation whereof this punishment was expressely appointed by the Authority of God then If the pens of these men were not intoxicated with the new Wine or Must of Presbyterie they would never utter such Atheologicall stuffe as this Was the Spirit of Christ in the New Testament contrary to Gods Spirit in the Old because he discharg'd a woman taken in adultery onely with this admonition Goe and sinne no more permitting none but such to stone her who were Sect. 13. without sinne a Joh. 8. 3. 7. 11. whereas the Spirit of God in the Old Testament appointed that both the adulterer and the adulteresse should SVRELY be put to death b Levit. 20. 10. Deut. 22. 22. Or because Christ prohibited calling downe fire from Heaven to consume those who refused to receive him c Luk. 9. 55. was his Spirit contrary to the Spirit of God in the Prophet ELIIAH by which he called for fire from Heaven to doe that sad execution and that upon personâ— of an inferiour delinquencie in respect of them at least as the tenour of the Histories compared together seems to import Or what reason can these irrefragable Doctors give why the Spirit of God in the Old Testament which is but one and the same Spirit with the Spirit of Christ in the New should not be at as much liberty to alter the punishments or penalties as the Ordinances of worship appointed in the Old Testament under the New Are the former so much more sacred then the latter that though these be changed yet those must of necessity abide for ever Is there nothing in that great dispensation of God by which he shooke the Earth also as well as the Heavens d Heb. 12. 26. I meane the sending of his onely begotten Sonne Jesus Christ in the flesh into the world was there no occasion hereby ministred unto God to vary from his ancient oeconomie of governing his Church and people as much as an alteration or change of some externall penalties amount unto But wee shall have occasion once and againe to discourse Old Testament matters with our new Masters before they and I part therefore for the present we leave them under the shame of this supposition
case the Parliament will please to undertake and settle a thorow and effectuall course that neither the simplicity of the Jury nor of the Judge nor yet the simplicity nor duplicity of any or all the Ministers of the Provinciall or Nationall Assembly shall be any prejudice to the lives or liberties of studious learned and conscientious Ministers or others it may very well be presumed that the Ordinance will have very little to doe in point of execution and that the principall use and service of it will be to put the Parliament upon the trouble of contriving and setling such a course In their 24 Answer p. 25. they bring forth strange children Sect. 82. As first That the fourth Commandement doth in the words of it require onely one day in seven to be kept holy as a Sabbath and doth not expressely command the observation of the Jewish Sabbath c. If so then were the Sabbaths which the Jews observed of their own chusing and how then doth God so frequently call them His Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep Exod. 31. 13. and Nehemiah in his prayer unto God expresseth himself thus And madest known unto them thy Holy Sabbath c. Neh. 9. 14. In which words he doth not onely appropriate the Jewish Sabbath unto God but likwise calls it his holy Sabbath i. a day which he hath sanctified Sect. 83. unto himself and his worship yea and expresly saith that God made it knowne unto them the Jewes i. revealed unto them on which day of the seven he would bee solemnly worshipped by them See also Levit. 19. 3. 30. Esa 56. 4. Ezek. 20 12 13. with other places many God is not wont to appropriate any thing unto himselfe which is of humane election in or any wayes appertaining unto his worship though sometimes he calls many of these things theirs to whom he hath given or appointed them And besides the reason of the Commandement for in six dayes the Lord made Heaven and Earth c. expresly characterizeth that very day as intended by God for a Sabbath unto them which they observed But the assertion is so empty and obnoxious that surely it will fall in the judgements of men without thrusting Secondly This Answer advanceth with this Divinity that within the generall scope of the Commandement which is the observing of those times and those onely as necessary to Religion which God himselfe appoints was included the Jewish Sabbath or Saturday before Christs Resurrection and the Christian Sabbath the Lords day is now since Christs Resurrection included also But First If the Jewish Sabbath was included in the Commandement or in the scope of the Commandement before Christs Resurrection how came it to be excluded after his Resurrection Hath the Resurrection of Christ any such influence upon the morall Law as to cause it to eject or cast out any thing formerly by way of duty contained or included in it Secondly If the scope of the Commandement be the observing of those times and of thâ—se onely c. which God himselfe appoints then how comes the observation of the Christian Sabbath or Lords day to be included therein considering that according to the Doctâ—ine of this Answer this day was no more appointed by God then any of the other six Or were all the six dayes besides as well included in it as this If so why are they not as well observed Thirdly If the Christian Sabbath or Lords day be now since Sect. 83. Christs resurrection included in the scope of the Commandement I would gladly know how or by what Authority or by whose act it hath beene brought within the verge of this scope so as to be included in it If Answer be made that it hath beene brought Sect. 83. in by the Authority or act of God then doth he not in this Commandement onely require one day in seven to be kept holy as a Sabbath but he requireth circumscriptively and particularly which of the seven he will have so kept If it be said that it hath beene brought in by the Church or by men then have men power to take it out againe and to put in any other of the six in the stead of it And how did the Resurrection of Christ contribute any thing towards the bringing of this day withinâ— the scope of the Commandement if it depended upon the will and pleasure of men But into the secret of these mens Divinity in this place my soule as yet cannot finde the way to enter And Thirdly and lastly doe these men substantially prove that the morall Law contained in the ten Commandements is the rule of a Christians life onely by saying that the Christian Sabbath is now included in the generall scope of the fourth Commandement and that the Sacraments of the New Testament Baptisme and the Lords Supper are included within the scope of the second Commandement now First they prove not so much as the least haire of their heads amount unto of either of their assertions and yet neither of them lyeth so neare any known principle either of Reason or Religion that they need have feared the proverbiall reproof of lighting up a candle to see the Sunne in case they had bestowed a slender argument or two upon the clearing of them But secondly if what they affirme in both were granted yet their conclusion is not hereby gained For onely such a Law can properly be called a rule of life to Christians which either particularly or at least sufficiently prescribes and regulates all things necessary to be done by a Christian as a Christian Now the generall scope of the two Commandements specified and much more the Commandements themselves are so farre either from prescribing or regulating either of the duties respectively affirmed to be included in them that without particular direction for the performance both of the one and the other otherwise neither of them had ever beene practised by men notwithstanding the generall scope of the said Commandements yea and Commandements themselves I trust the Anti-Querists themselves do not make any such Law the Rule of their lives which neither teacheth nor directeth them what to doe To the twenty fifth Query desiring to know in what sense the Sect. 84. Sect. 84. Ordinance maketh it an Error to hold that a man by nature hath free will to turne unto God they returne this sleeve-lesse and froward Answer That there are scarce any words but a Caviller may pretend of them that they are to be understood divers wayes But good Gentlemen doth the Querist pretend this of the words in hand doth he not particularly assigne and plainely explicate two distinct senses wherein the said words may be taken humbly craving to knowâ— which of the two was the sense intended by the Ordinance But I confesse that in High Presbytery where Authorativenesse hath her throne to desire a steady and distinct explication of things is constructively to cavill However it had been no such
meritorious straine of ingenuity in these men having two distinct senses of a clause ready formed stated and presented to their hand with a modest desire to know which of the two was to rule for them to have clearly answered either for the one or for the other or in case neither of them had comported with the intent of the Ordinance to have substituted a third in their stead But instead of this they disparage themselves with this tergiversation in the procedure of their answer But the Parliament hath so oft declared against Arminianâ—sme of which this I wonder which or what is a chiefe Article and so 〈…〉 our former Parliaments that no man hath any reason to imagine that they understand any other thing by that opinion they should have done well to have told us what opinion it is they speake of then the Arminian freewill which by the Reformed Churches is generally condemned as a pernicious Error But First I wonder how these men come to know or to presume what the Parliaments sense is about that Free-will which is sentenced with imprisonment in the Ordinance when as confident I am that they have never yet given an account of their sense therein either unto them or any other Secondly I would willingly ask these men what competent grounds they have to think especially with so much confidence as their words import that either the Parliament or especially the makers of the Ordinance mean the Arminian Free-will when as first it is probable that they never studied the state of the Controversie between the Arminians and their opposers about the point of Free-will and so cannot know at least otherwise Sect. 86. then by loose and common heare say what the Arminian Free-will is And secondly inasmuch as many and those Scholars and Students in Divinity by profession who have bestowed some time and study in the controversie are yet scarse able to give any sensible account of the difference or state of the Question between the combatants Thirdly I desire of them that they will please in their Rejoynder to relieve my darknesse in the point with their light and clearly informe me what themselves mean by the Arminian Free will I have bestowed some time and upon occasion inquired as narrowly as some others to finde out what was the sense and opinion of Arminius himself about the bondage and freedome of the will I have likewise consulted the writings of some that are generally reputed his followers upon the same occasion By comparing the Master with some of his Disciples I clearly finde that there is to the full as great a difference between the judgements of the one and of the other in the point now under consideration as there is between the judgement of the generality of learned Divines in England and Arminius himself Yea I professe that looking lately into Arminius on purpose to finde some passaâ—â— or expression one or more of some rank import upon the subject and I could meet with none but what with a faire and reasonable construction of the words was fully reconcileable with the judgements and expressions of some reformed Churches yea and of some of eminent note and desert both for piety and soundnesse of judgement amongst our selves Amongst some of Arminius followers I confesse I found it otherwise Now then this is the request which I make to these men and I trust they will not judge it unreasonable that they will plainly declare themselves what they mean by their Arminian Freewill whether that which is held and taught by Arminius himselfe or which is maintained by some of his followers there being so materiall and considerable a difference between them Fourthly and lastly whereas they send us to the generality of Sect. 86. the Reformed Churches to informe our selves what Free-will it is which is made punishable by the Ordinance with imprisonment defining it to be that which by the Reformed Churches is generally condemned as a pernicious Errour First I cannot but judge it unreasonable Sect. 87 in the highest that the generality of men amongst us should be made obnoxious to imprisonment by such an expression in an Ordinance or Law the sense and meaning whereof they cannot come to understand but onely by consulting the writings and all the confessions of Faith set forth by all the Reformed Churches respectively Alas the farre greater number of men amongst us are wholy uncapable of this information not understanding the language wherein these Confessions of Faith are written Secondly To my knowledge the Reformed Churches themselves do not generally at least not universally agree in condemning the Arminian free-will as a pernicious Errour but some of them doe subscribe and publish that to the world upon this subject for truth which others of them condemne for an Errour So that the Anti-Querists have meerly baffled in their Answer instead of giving any satisfaction to the Querie demanding the sense of this clause in the Ordinance that a man by nature hath free-will to turne unto God In their 26 and 27 Answer pag. 29. though they quit themselves Sect. 87. with somewhat more fairnesse and ingenuity then they do in all the rest yet they do not speak distinctly enough to the minde of the Querie when by Blaspheming in the Ordinance they say are meant onely such horrible expressions against God as cannot with patience be heard by any Christian eare In this description there are sundry particulars of a very doubtfull interpretation As first when they define Blasphemy by horrible expessions against God whether they exclude Christ man or as being man from being an object capable of this Blasphemy Secondly what they mean by a Christian ear whether the ear of a person who is Christian indeed i. e. a true and sound Believer or of a Christian at large and by outward prâ—â—â—ssion onely We know there is a great difference between the eare of the one and of the other in respect of tasting Blasphemy If they meane the eare of a sound Christian a true Beleever it is a point of no easie decision to determine who amongst men are such If the eare of a Christian at large I suppose they cannot but know that there are many such eares who can heare any Blasphemy whatsoever with patience whatsoever is meant by it more then enough Thirdly and lastly what they Sect. 88. meane by being heard with patience whether by Patience they mean such a composednesse of minde and spirit which keepes men from all unseemly deportment or expression of themselves outwardly in cases of provocation which is the common signification of the word or else such a temper by which a man is indisposed to greeve or take sorrow upon such occasions which usually cause sorrow and griefe of heart unto men Stand we by either the one signification of the word Patience or the other the clause cannot be heard with patâ—â—nce will be found very inconvenient to be put into the definition or description
of Blasphemy If we stand by the former certaine it is that the more Christian the eare is the greater Blasphemy will be heard with patience The stronger and better built any Christian is the further he will be from any unseemly carrage upon any provocation whatsoever If by the latter the sense is altogether uncouth and no meat either for the eare or understanding Of like ambiguity and incumbred with the same difficulties is their explication of this clause in the Ordinance impugning the word of God this they say cannot reasonably â—e thought to signifie lesse then such reproaches against the Truth or divine Authority of the Scriptures as are not to be indured by those that beleeve them to be the word of God If this be all that is meant by the said clause then men may impugne the word of God I meane the Scriptures in a Scholastique way by arguments fram'd against the Divinity of them without comming under the dint or stroake of the Ordinance in case they râ—fraine reproachfull expressions But suppose these men should give us a cleer and a faire sense of these and all other expressions in the Ordinance that are dark and dubious yet this would not justifie the Ordinance unlesse the makers and contrivers of it will please to ratifie them with their subscriptions For as the maxime is Ejusdem â—st â—â—rprâ—tâ—ri cujus est condere They onely have power to interpret a Law viz. authoritatively and with such an interpretation on which a subject may safely repose who by a lawfull power made it Their Argument pretending to the 28 Querie is fram'd quite Sect. 88 besides it and their Answer as much besides the Argument In this Answer they first grant that to say and maintaine that God seeth no sin in the justified in a sense is justifiable and true and yet Sect. 8â— secondly they affirme that it may be made punishable notwithstanding The reason they give is onely this because in another sense which they call the literall and common it is a dangerous and pernicious error But will any man Christianly disposed judge it meet that the saying or publishing that Christ is a Vine or a doore should be made punishable unlesse they declare the particularity of that sense wherein they make it punishable But this light courtesie cannot it seemes be obtained in the case of Gods seeing no sin in the justified of those who yet would have the world beleeve that they have sufficiently Answered the Queries Before they come to Syllogize the twenty ninth Querie they Sect. 89. make a sad complaint of it that it is perplexed and the sense of it involved c. But I marvell why they should turne Querulists against the Querist upon occasion of this Query when as in their Answer to it setting aside a gentle evaporation of some folly towards the beginning of it and a little fit of frowardnesse in the end they are more distinct and speake more steadily to the heart of it then they doe to any of the rest in their respective Answers yea they have not quitted themselves so like men of judgement and understanding in all their discourse besides as they have done in the sober part of this Answer which for their credit I shall set downe in their owne words and improve a little for their benefit He say they that hath read the Socinian bookes whose proper opinion it is that a man must beleeve no more then by his reason he can comprehend will easily be satisfied that the Ordinance plainly requireth that a man should not refuse to beleeve those Doctrines which are clearly and certainly for the matter of them laid downe in the word of God as for example the Doctrine of the Trinity and the incarnation of the Son of God although for the manner of them he cannot by his reason comprehend them and NOT THAT A MAM MVST BELEEVE THAT WHICH HE HATH NO REASON OR GROVND FOR IN THE WORD OF GOD. So then they clearly and fairly grant that the Ordinance doth not require that a man must or ought in point of Religion beleeve any thing but what he hath reason and ground for in the word of God From hence then it follows First that Reason ought to be every mans leader Guide and Sect. 90 Sect. 90. Director in his Faith or about what he is or ought to beleeve and that no man ought to leap with his Faith till he hath looked with his Reason and discovered what is meet to be beleeved what not This is sound Divinity indeed and few more such principles as this well digested by these men and their friends would make them worthy of that title of honour which they so much affect I meane Orthodox Secondly From the said Grant it followeth also that Ministers ought not to require their people to beleeve any thing much lesse every thing which they teach unlesse they have a reason and ground for it and those sufficient for mortuus honâ—â— non est homo nor is an insufficient Reason any reason at all in this case from the word of God Thirdly it followeth yet further that neither ought men to receive or subscribe unto with the hand of their Faith the determinations or Decretalls of Synods Councils or Assemblies of persons of what capacity or worth soever in matters of Religion unlesse they have a sufficient Reason or ground from the word of God for what they doe receive in this kinde Fourthly and lastly it followeth yet once more from the foresaid grant that men ought to make use of yea and ingage to the uttermost their Reasons or their discursive abilities in all matters of Faith and Religion whatsoever and not to swallow any thing by a loose credulity but to look narrowly upon every thing with the eye of Reason before they receive it by the hand of Faith All these deductions are of a legitimate and cleere descent from the mentioned grant and are all of them pregnant noble and magnifique Truths Onely I cannot well understand why the Gentlemen should grant that a man must not or ought not to beleeve what he hath no reason or ground for in the Word of God and yet condemne this for an error that a man ought to beleeve no more then what by Reason he is able to comprehend For if a man cannot beleeve any thing but what he knows to have a being nor yet beleeve the parricular modus or manner of any thing unlesse he knows it to be such as he beleeves it to be and againe if he cannot know either being or manner of being unlesse he conceives or comprehends it in and by his Reason what either the one or the other is which is a Truth unquestionable it undeniably Sect. 91. follows that a man ought not to beleeve any thing either being or manner of being but what by reason he is able to comprehend i. e. able upon good ground to satisfie himself that either the
one or the other is so or such as he beleeveth them to be As to the two instances wherein they insist the Doctrine of the Sect. 91. Trinity and the Incarnation of the Son of God affirming that a man ought not to refuse to beleeve them although for the manner of them he cannot by his reason comprehend them I Answer First that as by my reason I can and doe comprehend and know them to be incomprehensible so I beleeve them accordingly to be Again Secondly as by my reason I neither doe nor can comprehend or conceive the particular modus or manner of either so neither doe I or ought I nor indeed can I without running an extreame hazzard of an erroneous belief beleeve any thing at all concerning them save onely their incomprehensiblenesse in the generall or that they are incomprehensible which as was said I am able by my reason to comprehend So then these two Assertions or Doctrines well understood First That a man ought to beleeve no more then what he hath reason and ground for in the Word of God And Secondly tâ—â—â— That a man ought to beleeve no more then what he is able by his reason to comprehend are but of an equipollent import and there is nothing more much more nothing more erroneous in the one then in the other That towards the beginning of this Answer yea there is a piece of a duplicate of it in the end of the Answer too is extreamely unreasonable and obnoxious wherein they suppose yea little lesse then in terminis affirme that they that will be satisfied what the Ordinance meaneth by making it an errour to hold That a man ought to beleeve no more then what by his reason he is able to comprehend must read the Socinian Books and there inform themselves what their proper opinion is For is it in any degree reasonable equall or just that such an Ordinance or Law should be made and that for the imprisonment which is by interpretation the utter undoing of men in case of delinquency the sense or meaning whereof they are in an utter incapacity to understand unlesse they read such books which first are onely extant in such a language which not one of an hundred is able to Sect. 92. understand and secondly are so rare and hard to be gotten that for the space of 13 yeers and upwards ever since my comming to the citie though I have from time to time made a narrow inquiry after them and laid out in severall places where I conceived I should be most likely to speed for some or other of them yet could I never to this day procure either for love or money as the saying is so much as any one of them Their groundlesse mistake about what the Querist as they say would imply to be the sense of the words in the Ordinance and their turning of the Querie with a wet finger as if there were nothing materiall in it but an heapâ— of words I passe by and pardon being content they should be numbred amongst their infirmities quotidianae incursionis In their Answer to the thirtieth Querie they maintaine that Sect. 92. the Ordinance doth expresse what it meaneth by obstinacie when it threateneth the publishing of such and such doctrines with obstinacy Their reason is because the Ordinance appoints admonition to go before punishment But is this an explication of what it meaneth by obstinacy Certainly these grand Assertors of the Ordinance had quitted themselves upon termes of more wisedome for the honour of it if they had plainly gâ—â—â—ted that it had not indeed made any sufficient explication of it selfe in that particular For is a man to be judged obstinate who shall do that though after admonition which his admonition notwithstanding he judgeth and that upon good grounds to be his duty to doe Were the Apostles obstinate for preaching in the naâ—â— of Jesus after that the High-Priest Rulers and Elders solemnly met in a Councill had admonished them yea and straitly charged and commanded them that they should in no wise speak or teach any more in that Name * Act. 4. 18. Oh England awake for I feare thou sleepest look about thee and consider how easily and when thou least thinkest of it thou maist be an obstinate offender if men of this spirit should be thy Judges In their 31 Answer they tell a mysticall or mistie story of Sect. 93. the sense or meaning whereof I am no wayes guilty yet I shall tell it after them because some possibly may understand it though I cannot As some perhaps say they of the Querists friends may be thanked for it they speake of that strong opposition insinuated in Sect. 93. the Querie between the government established by the Parliament and that so importunately desired by the Ministers who have endeavoured to binde heavy burthens upon others ever persecuting them for not yeelding to those things which even the consciences of those that presse them know they cannot and beleeve they may not yeeld unto so carefull and tender are they of their Brethrens consciences so is it neither of that kinde they would have it being no way in favour of there Indâ—pendency For First It is the strangest news to me that I have heard many a day that any of my friends should deserve thankes either 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the opposition they speake of between the two Governments I cannot believe that any person man or woman Congregationally inclined did ever either perswade any of the Ministers they speake of to oppose that Government by Presbytery which is established by the Parliament nor yet distill into them any of that spirit or those principles out of which they oppose it How then should they be accessary to the opposition Secondly whereas they charge the friends of the Querists yet further with endeavouring to binde heavy burthens upon others ever persecuting them for not yeelding to c. this is tidings yet seven degrees stranger then the other If it be true then is the scandall of Independency ceasâ—d from amongst us For if Independents also endeavour to binde heavy burthens upon others and to persecute men for not yeelding unto those things which in conscience they cannot yeeld unto then are we all of one minde and of one judgement and practice the same things But Thirdly I would faine know what heavy burthens they are which the independents since they must be so called endeavor to binde upon others Doe our Brethren of the Presbyterian interest call or judge this a heavy burthen to be restrained from or not to have their hand strengthened by the Parliament or Lawes unto the troubling or molesting of their Brethren who dissent in some particulars from them I know no other burthen but this any wayes endeavoured by any of that parswasion to be imposed or bound upon them If they call or count this a burthen better they hurthened with the peace of
confesse that any thing relating to the prejudice of such Sect. 97. men whom we have a desire to make Delinquents and bring under censure though never so doubtfull yet will easily appâ—â—â—â— to us in this posture It is the manner of Gangrena when she is challenged and charged face to face with her shamelesse and brazen-fac'd traducements of worthy and blamelesse men being not able to give any tolerable account of truth in one story of ten which she reports It is her manner I say tofling out her hand against those that come to her with a desire to make that streight which she hath made crook'd and tell them over and over that she hath received satisfaction she hath received satisfaction And this is all the account and satisfaction that in any way of fairnesse and love is to be had from her Certainly she is more beholding to the impotency of her owne desire to staine the honour of Indepency and her sons for that satisfaction she receiveth about the truth of farre the greatest part of her stories then to any steadinesse or worth of information that is brought unto her Dum sibi quisque placet credula turba sumus i. e. Faith is at hand for what we would beleeve And for the two 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or meanes of discovery mentioned in the Answer in hand to make it easily appeare when a man 's own understanding judgeth the words which he speaketh to be reproachfull against God or the Scriptures they are very ambiguous Oracles and hard is the condition of that man whose life or liberty shall be suspended upon their Answer especially as the consulters and judges of this Answer may be But Secondly Suppoâ—e we have a piece of a tolerable answer to the Query about what is meant by the word WITTINGLY yet I presume they will not say that we have any thing like an Answer concerning the intent of the word PRESVMPTVOVSLY For what will they vest the prerogative of God in the makers of the Ordinance and plead that because he commands without explaining therefore they may warrantably doe the like Besides though God did not explain many things of difficult interpretation in the letter of his Laws given unto the Jews yet was there â—ittle or no danger of committing any errour in judgement or doing any thing unjustly by reason of such difficulties because as was formerly said the minde of God in all doubtfull and difficult cases was ready to be communicated unto them without any danger of mistake by the standing Ordinance of his Oracle among them If the makers of the Ordinance and those that are to judge men upon occasion of the Ordinance had any such Ordinance as this any such Oracle to consult in difficult cases as that amongst the Jews well might we beare generalities and ambiguities of termes in their Laws But alasse their Oracles are flesh and not spirit and apâ— to put more affection then judgement into their Answers And besides all this there is little question to be made but that the sense and import of the word PRESVMPTVOVSLY was fixed and known to be determinately one amongst the Jews when the Law mentioned was given by God whereas now it is volatile amongst us and is sometimes here and sometimes there and sometimes no man knows where as appears by that passage cited from Mr. Prynns pen in the Query So that the Divine Paralell insisted upon doth no wayes relieve the Ordinance in that streight whereinto it is brought by the Querie about the word PRESVMPTVOVSLY But Thirdly and lastly we have a meer nullitie instead of satisfaction Sect. 98. about the person by whom the Admonition mentioned in the Ordinance is to be administred as likewise about those other materiall circumstances which the Querie toucheth upon I must crave leave to represent the words of the Querie that so the emptinesse of the Answer may more fully appeare Thus then the Querie modestly in as much as the said sins committed contrary to aâ—monition are so severely punishable by the Ordinance by whom is it intended that this admonition must be given to bring the said sins under the diâ—t and stroke of the Ordinance whether by a Magistrate onely or by a Minister and that either in his publique Ministery and in generall or in private and in personall addresse or by any man of what ranke or quality soever To all these particulars we have an Answer given which doth not so much as touch no nor yet so much as face any one of them Whether it be worth the transcribing or no we shall bestow the courtesie upon it This then is their Answer to a question not put to them And for the word Admonition it may be asked him the Querist whether he will object against the Apostle for bidding Titus reject an Heretique after a first and second Admonition without describing what he means by Admonition But good Gentlemen the Querist was not troublesome unto you with desiring to kvow what the Ordinance meaneth by the word Admonition but from whom and according to what manner of administration it must be received by him who by walking contrary to it shall become a Delinquent against the Ordinance Are not the Queries substantially answered and to admiration at least yea and to the utter downfall of Independency by such Answers as these But nunquam sera est ad bonos more 's via and it may be the reere of their Answers will be more masculine and make attonement for the front and maine body which have turned the backe and not the face upon their enemies Let us therefore passe on to Their 34 Answer In this they tell us that the Ordinance declines Sect. 99. not the punishment of Blasphemy as appointed in the New Testament whereof they annex this close demonstration for though excommunication be not setled by the Parliament in any case yet blasphemy is expresly by the Ordinance of Parliament punished with suspension which is in order to excommunication or delivering up unto Sathan and when excommunication comes to be setled there is no question but blasphemy shall be so punished But in the meane time the present question is not how Blaspemy is like to be punished when the Parliament shall come to settle excommunication but whether not any Ordinance of Parliament but the Paper Ordinance which occasioned the Queries doth Christianly or reasonably in declining the punishment of Blasphemy expresly appointed by God in the New Testament and to preferre a punishment mentioned onely in the Old c. It seemes by their Answer that they yeild the said Paper-Ordinance guilty of the crime queried by asserting the honour of the Parliament as having done in part and intending further to doe Christianly and reasonably in making Blasphe 〈…〉 punishable with Excommunication or delivering up unto Sathan which is the punishment exprâ—sly appointed by God for this sinne in the New Testament whereas the said Paper-Ordinance in opposition to the Châ—istian