Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
soul_n	body_n	eternal_a	good_a	3,595	5	3.1999	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35696	Jus Cæsaris et ecclesiæ vere dictæ or, A treatise wherein independency, presbytery, the power of kings, and of the church, or of the brethren in ecclesiastical concerns, government and discipline of the church : and wherein also the use of liturgies, tolleration, connivence, conventicles or private assemblies, excomminication, election of popes, bishops, priests what and whom are meant by the term church, 18 Matthew are discoursed : and how I Cor. 14. 32. generally misunderstand is rightly expounded : wherein also the popes power over princes, and the liberty of the press, are discoursed / by William Denton ...	Denton, William, 1605-1691.	1681 (1681)	Wing D1066; ESTC R9164	326,898	268

them through their mutual Faith both theirs and his it is evident that one mans faith may by such assembling be helpful to another though not to justify yet to comfort and confirm when as they shall see their own experimental perswasions backed with the experiences and testimonies of others And though the experience of Gods Children together in the Word do sufficiently establish us in truths yet it is a confirmation not to be neglected that we have others of our Brethren from like experience with us to give testimony thereto And it were to be wished that such Christian Assemblies and Conferences were for this end more carefully used not forbidden No doubt the concent of Gods Children in the same truths would add unto us no small comfort and Confirmation Ferus in Math. 11. reports of a kind of conference in use among the Antient Heremites and Monks that they were wont to meet together and there freely to lay open each to other their several temptations means of resistance and gracious issue for counsel comfort confirmation c. An excellent example of the like we have in the worthy Preacher Mr. Richard Rogers of Essex in his 7 Treatises Treat 5. c. 13.14 If Paul that great Apostle hoped and expected to be somewhat holpen and comforted by the mutual faith of his own converts when they Assemble and meet together may not then the greatest of Gods Saints here be somewhat helped by the meanest of Gods People and who sees it not in experience that the People by such Assembling such conferences help their Pastors as well as themselves as Remembrancers as Incouragers as Provokers of their diligence and to emulation to Love and to good Works by being Whetstones and as it were Spurs unto them as men though generally of less knowledg yet sometimes of more feeling experience in the truth than many of their Ministers It will not then be unbeseeming our greatest Pastors or Prelates to encourage and to be seen in the Assemblies of Saints Let the Priests of Rome sit in the Assembly of Mockers and rejoyce But let Protestant Ministers count it their happiness and part of the performance of their Ministry to frequent the Company and Assembling together of such of his People as in whom he sees evidences of true faith and fear of God 10 Hebr. 24.25 not forgetting the Assembling of your selves together c. Nemo sibi soli nascitur No man whether of the Clergy or Laity Male or Female Literate or Illiterate hath Talents Gifts or Graces for himself only and to Napkin up but to dispence them for the good of others also To save Souls every man is or ought to be a Priest the Command is universal 19 Levit. 17. Thou shalt not hate thy Brother in thine heart thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy Brother and not suffer sin upon him so that in the Language of the Law not to Communicate what good we can to the Brethren is to hate them at the very heart doth not all the World Center in this Erranti monstrare viam to guide the blind and those that are out of the way to Communicate light to them that sit in darkness of mind knowledg to the ignorant Doth not every Parent teach his Children every Master his Servants and every Man his Friend and Neighbour in Arts and Sciences and shall less care be taken of the Eternal than of the Temporal condition of their Souls than of their Bodies To do good to all men and to help to save Souls is to Christians a Law moral never to be forgotten never to be omitted God being always pleased with such Sacrifice Besides it is not without great Example How many of the Laity in all Ages and Countries have by writing for the publick good propagated the Gospel of Christ as if some secret Instinct of Nature or some Illapse from Heaven had spirited them so to do To obviate here some usual Objections or calumnies It is frivolous to think that by the Laity thus ingaging that the Honour of the Clergy is thereby Ecclipsed or their profit diminished or that confusion in Government will ensue No no. But on the contrary their countenancing of such persons is their Honour demonstrating to all the World how unblameably they walk shewing joy of any helpers in the Lords Vineyard in gaining Souls to Heaven deeming it a pitiful muck-worm-spirit savouring too rankly of Earthly and too little of Heavenly-mindedness to ground their Honour and Veneration upon other Mens ignorance as the Papists do as if their more full and perfect knowledg should discover and judge of their defects and aberrations Our Protestant Clergy bids defiance to all such little durty Intrigues Let Rome appropriate that Glory that priviledge to her self and boast of their own Principle and Maxim that ignorance is the Mother of Devotion the Protestant Clergy scorn to be pettish and froward that the Laity contribute their Talents in participating of their charge their labour in the Lord. They know it is more agreeable to their calling to wish with Moses 11 Numb 29. that all the Lords people were Prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them and that every man did think himself bound in Conscience to discharge a part of the common good of all Christians and did believe that the care of other mens Souls did concern them as well as the care of their own and that they ought to love their Neighbours as themselves When the Apostle took order to Ordain some on whom the burthen of Preaching the Gospel should be more particularly incumbent as a more peculiar duty upon them they did not thereby impropriate and confine Preaching or Instructing so wholly to those Persons only as to stifle and suppress all other mens Talents that were not Ordained that had been to limit the Holy one of Israel and to contradict their other more general Precepts viz. of speaking and consequently of writing to Edifycation that they might administer Grace unto the hearers and readers But they prudently considering that every mans care was no mans care they in their most wise and Christian care did more especially Ordain some whose duty it should be to serve at the Altar and attend on the Gospel alone whose voyces we were to hear as sent by God himself the better to keep the Office and Ministry in great veneration to the end of the World and that they should teach as e Cathedra as persons set apart and ordained to the office by Christ himself according to the promise made I will give you Pastors which shall feed you with knowledg and understanding 3. Jer. 15. and all people commanded to hearken unto their voices 17. Deut. 10.11 Let private profession and practice of Christianity improve never so much yet the great honour of worthy publick Professors can never be impaired but advanced thereby while the Gospel lasteth but this their right and great honour impeacheth not the general right which all

JUS CAESARIS ET Ecclesiae vere dictae OR A TREATISE WHEREIN Independency Presbytery the Power of Kings and of the Church or of the Brethren in Ecclesiastical Concerns Government and Discipline of the Church AND Wherein also the use of Liturgies Tolleration Connivence Conventicles or Private Assemblies Excommunication Election of Popes Bishops Priests what and whom are meant by the Term CHURCH 18 Mathew are discoursed AND How 1 Cor. 14.32 generally misunderstood is rightly expounded Wherein also the Popes Power over Princes and the Liberty of the Press are discoursed By William Denton M. D. M. q. R. LONDON Printed for the Author and are to be sold by John Kersey and Henry Faythorn at the Rose in St. Paul's Church-yard 1681. TO THE READER IT is impossible but that the pressing home of such truths of such nature as this Treatise is compiled of must necessarily traverse and thwart the Interests grandeur profit and affections of some Men who have or are apart of the body of Government in this and other Nations and therefore no Man can be fit for such an incounter who is not above all hopes and fears it being almost impossible to find a Person so espoused to publick good and publick truths in which there shall not be some that will hate and threaten and persecute him when they apprehend that he shall oppose the design of their private Profit Grandeur Domination or other Interests tho but by demonstration of plain truths how necessary and clear and just soever they be according to Amos 5.10 They hate him that rebuketh in the Gate and abhor him that speaketh uprightly for which reason I must confess my self Impar negotio not in any measure so qualified and yet have attempted it * Dedisti timentibus te vexillum quo utuntur propter veritatem potentissimè Psalm 60. as boldly as if I were and tho I have suffered in this kind before by the foul mouths and bitter pens of R. P. I. S. P. W. and others and by tongues sans Nombre in all places and companies and tho I expect the same fate again for that great inquiries have been made and great diligence used to trace me from my youth to find out the Irregularities and Aberrations thereof which have not been few they have now spit their Venom and done their worst and I am at a point such revenge being at best but savage justice and I have learnt from 51 Esay 7. Not to fear the reproach of Men nor to be afraid of their revilings which can reach the Body only not the Soul Besides I am confident that neither God nor yet common humanity or common justice will permit Truth and innocent plain dealing to have such ill hap nor Vertue such misfortune even in this World that Fame and Infamy should always depend and be at the disposition of the black tongues and pens of Malevolents tho Ecclesiasticks or great Persons It is not my Person but the Truths which always carry their own Shields and Bucklers I have published that hath already galled some I shall here only commit to their considerations that to Calumniate the Defenders of Apostolick Doctrines and of the just rights and powers of Princes and Civil Magistrates is obliquely to Calumniate Christ himself and Kings and Supream Magistrates Defenders of the Faith themselves Darts many times being as equally fatal by a glance as if darted in a direct line my comfort is that Truth is alwayes pleasing unto God and in some sence is the Eternal Word of God and ought so to be acknowledged by every individual and falshood and untruths displeasing unto Him and unto all good and pious Men and no Man can receive injury from the Truth that doth not ground himself upon falshoods Truth being always one and the same thing and falshood infinite Truths ought to be submitted unto not out of constraint only but out of willingness and love to embrace them not only for the Evidence but for the Author and goodness of them and it is our duty willingly to resign our judgments to be captivated unto all kinds of saving Truths even to the extirpating of those presumptions prepossessions and principles of corruption which use to smother and cloud and adulterate Divine Truths And to calumniate punish or discountenance defenders of Divine Truths seasonably spoken doth not become nor is it wont to be done by any pious just or prudent Majestrates but the contrary and it is no Gospel Principle for any Man how great and how Ecclesiastick soever to stir up envy against another but upon sure and true grounds Zorobabel obtained honour and favour of King Darius and all his Nobles above his Competitors for wisdom for that he preferred and declared Truth to bear away the Victory above all things 3 Esdras 3.12 All the Earth calleth upon Truth Heaven blesseth it all Works shake and tremble at it and with it is no unrighteous thing Wine Women Kings are wicked and such are all their wicked works and there is no Truth in them and they shall perish in their unrighteousness Truth endureth and is always strong it liveth and conquereth for ever with her there is no accepting of persons or rewards but she doth the things that are just and refraineth from all unjust and wicked things and all Men do well like of her Works neither in her judgment is there any unrighteousness and she is the Strength Kingdom Power and Majesty of all Ages Blessed be the God of Truth At which Declaration all the People shouted and said great is Truth and mighty above all things It is also alike impossible to please all Men. I never put pen to paper with any such presumption or hopes the best Men and the best Christians is my chiefest design to gratifie but even in that also I fear I shall miss much of my aim and desires divers Men tho good Men having divers judgments and divers interests and according to divers Lights have divers understandings and Ecclesiasticks as well as others are subject to the Inchantments of Passion Ends Interest and Parties Tho I am no Prophet nor yet Son of a Prophet yet I do foresee that there is a Generation of Men worthy and learned who tho of different perswasions among themselves in affairs of their own function that yet will all unite and center in censuring of me as if I leapt out of my own Province into theirs to visit their transactions but I have learnt of St. Austin that it is arrogance in no Man either to seek or assert truth it being an equal Crime of the same nature both to conceal truth and divulge untruths The Protestant Clergy I doubt not but will acknowledge that it is evers Man's duty and concern to be a good Christian and as Christians their undeniable right to try Spirits and to examine by the Scriptures whether the things our Priests do teach us are so in truth or no. The Apostles themselves did subject their Preachments

Teachers and Fathers of the Church met together in the Name and Fear of God which is not without the Promise Mat. 18.20 of a Blessing with Prayers and Supplications inventing divising and ordaining for the Glory of God and real good of the Souls of Men have solemnly appointed to be gathered into an excellent Form and Method called a Liturgy to be solemnly read for Gods Glory and the Peoples Good when as Reading is as truly the Ordinance of God as preaching Deut. 31.11 12 13. Indeed if Liturgies did contain like stuff as that of the Alcoran or of the Romish Services or Credenda or Agenda Matters of Belief and Worship contrary unto Divine Worship Truths and Institutions then indeed they may justly be called Humane Inventions worthily to be condemned and demand who required these things And so to Worship and so to Sacrifice were no more acceptable to God than to slay a Man or to cut off a Dogs Neck or to offer Swines Blood Isa 66.3 or to bless an Idol And then indeed it might justly be said That they have chosen their own Ways their own Inventions and that they that delight in such Liturgies delight in their own abominations But for such like we contend not Ecclesiae non licet quis●●●● instituere qu●d Verbo D●i scripto ad●er setur nay against such our Church hath provided in terminis in the 20 21. Act made 1552. in the Innocent Time of King Edw. 6. viz. It is not lawful for the Church to ordain any thing ergo not Liturgies that is contrary to Gods Word written c. nor to enforce any thing beside the same to be believed for necessity of Salvation nay the very same Josiah-like-Prince in his Injunctions set forth in the second Year of his Reign 1547. commands his Bishops and other his Clergy at least four times in the Year to preach against Works devised by Mens Phantasies besides Scripture so far were our Pastoral Fathers of that time from countenancing Humane Inventions or putting any such thing into the Liturgy that they commanded that they should be preached against by all the Clergy and so did Queen Elizabeth in her Injunctions Anno 1559. which have been observed ever since § That Liturgies are a Provision of Means exclusive of that Provision of Means for the Accomplishing of those Ends in the Worship of God for which Jesus Christ hath made and doth continue to make Provision and therefore not allowable and are unlawful This Argument alone I must confess if true were enough of it self to confound and overthrow all Liturgies whatsoever there would need no other and therefore he labours hard to make it good alledging That the Administration of Gospel Ordinances in the Church consists in Prayer Thanksgiving Instructions and Exhortations sutably applied c. that he appointed Persons viz. Pastors and Teachers for the Regular Administration of them that the Furniture and Provision that Christ made for the performance of them is his bestowing of Gifts on such Persons called according to his mind to the Office of the Ministry enabling them unto and to be exercised in that Work But the Provision that Liturgies make is by a precise reading and pronouncing of the Words set down therein without Alteration Diminution or Addition and that toties quoties let so much go for currant and therefore exclusive the former unless it can be made appear that an Ability to read the prescribed words of the Liturgy be the Gifts promised by Christ for the discharge of the Work of that Ministry § This I conceive is no good Sequel and must be inquired into that those that composed our Liturgy or those that may compose a new one either were or may be Persons qualified and gifted for the Work of the Ministry and for edifying of the Body of Christ and consequently without exception and that the Subject and Matter of our Liturgy is or the Matter and Contents of another Liturgy may be either is or may be will make good my Assertion for Liturgies in general both for the Credenda and Agenda for Prayers Thanksgiving Instructions and Exhortations according to the Doctrine of the Gospel I think no sober Man will deny Now if the Persons and Matter be granted to be such then I conceive that it can be as little gain-said but that the composing of such Forms by such Persons is as truly a Gift and an Exercise of some parts of the Gifts of the Work of the Ministry as their composing of Prayers and Sermons and afterwards praying and preaching them without Book is by the several Ministers of the Gospel This or that Form of words and without Book or within Book cannot alter the Case For that which giveth the very Being to Sermons conceived Prayers c. is the Wit and Vnderstanding of Man and consequently they are many times corrupt and it is the like Wit and Understanding of Man that gives Being to Liturgies jam sumus ergo pares in this though happily they may have their reciprocal Excellencies and Preheminencies one over the other in this or that particular consideration I hope and am verily perswaded that this Author when he penned this Conclusion and Exception viz. And therefore exclusive the former unless that it can be made appear that an Ability to read the prescribed words of the Liturgy be the Gifts promised by Christ for the discharge of the Work of the Ministers did not intend to put tricks upon or abuse his Readers by equivocally wording of it For a Child or Heathen or Infidel or any other not called to the Ministry that hath newly learned his Horn-Book may have an Ability to read the prescribed Words c. And in such it cannot be expected that an Ability to read c. should be the Gifts promised And therefore he is not to be understood barely of an Ability to read which any Infidel or Child may do but of reading the publick Service of God by those whom God hath appointed and gifted to administer in his Temple and Church and by the Gifts that he doth not intend all the Gifts promised nor yet that reading is the Gift 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 above all other Gifts which are many and therefore cannot reasonably be intended that any one or if he mean all or more than one Gift should be instar omnium either instead or above all the other It 's enough for me if I can make it out that publick readings of the publick Service of God by the Pastors of the Church be one of his many Gifts or that it be an Ordinance appointed by God himself and that it is quodam sensu preaching or tant a monte I shall not in the least trouble my self to prove reading to be a Gift presuming that it will not be denied either by our Author or any other But I shall endeavour to make it appear that such reading such reading as we both do or should mean is an Ordinance

I abhor the thoughts of it as will appear hereafter there being a Vast difference between such a Tolleration of Idolatry Superstition crying sins and therefore absolutely unlawful and a Remission only of some few severities in some Acts Canons and Injunctions which relate only to Formalities that tho in construction of Law may be exacted yet may be dispensed withal without prejudice to sound Doctrine or good Conversation and without which the Worship of God would be as pure and sincere Indeed all Acts Canons and Injunctions whether they relate unto Uniformity or not ought according to their own Nature to be sincere and free from all Traps and Covert designs to exclude any that Profess the same Faith and Worship tho many cannot perhaps thro meer tenderness of Conscience submit to every thing therein enjoyned In Concerns of this Nature Scripture in a more especial manner ought to be the Rule of Resolutions and that abstractly and purely without mixing and bringing with them Interest Usurpation or Artifices of men else what were it but by Edicts to lay Snares in Mispah and spread Nets upon Tabor to use Laws Menaces and subtleties to keep Gods People from his Court and Sanctuary and Confine them to State-Religion and to Walk after the Mode of the Commands of men Those Non-conformists Non-assenters that have received Order which they could not have had but permissu superiorum by the Licence and under the Authority of the King in our Laws expressed For no Man hath Power to give himself either Orders to be a Priest or Institution to a Pastoral Charge but must depend upon another Power who by Acts Canons and Edicts long since published and extant hath directed the qualifications of the Persons to be Ordained the manner and Form how the Persons who ought to Ordain them c. and they could not be ignorant that the Liturgy and enjoyned Ceremonies were by the Imperative Constitutive Government of this Church and State to be Countenanced and used in publick Churches by the Bishops Presbyters and Pastors either they consulted their Consciences when they entered on the Ministery by taking Holy Orders whether they could Comply and Submit unto the whole Frame of Government and Polity of this Church Constituted by Act of Parliament from whom they were to receive Authority and Licence to Exercise their Function Gifts and Talents or they did not If they did not they are inexcusable for entring on so Sacred a Calling Stamped with an Indelible Character so rashly so unadvisedly without perspect or foresight of Consequences and yet if they were so pur-blind as not to see one step before them yet their neglect herein cannot be Pleaded in their Excuse it being their own Fault in Common Justice no Court will permit any man to take Advantage of his own misdemeanors or failings Besides hath not every Minister that hath receiv'd Pastoral Charge twice or thrice if not oftner witnessed his allowance of all and singular the 39 Articles of our Church once at his Ordination before the Bishop then at his Institution into his Benefice before his Ordinary and both these by Subscription under his own hand and afterwards upon his Induction before his own Flock and that by verbal Approbation he hath not only acknowledged in the Church the Power of Ordaining Rites and Ceremonies 20 Articles But he hath after a sort bound himself openly to rebuke such as willingly and purposely break the Traditions and Ceremonies of the Church as Offenders of the Common Order of the Church and Wounders of the Consciences of the weak Brethren and hurters of the Authority of the Magistrate Artic. 34. and is it not enacted 1º Eliz. c. 2. that they shall be punished pro ut in the Act that shall Preach declare or speak any thing in derogation or depraving our Liturgy c. Are not then such Dissenters obliged both in Conscience and by virtue of their own Voluntary Acts and Subscriptions to be constant to their own Hands and Tongues if they would be accounted Faithful in Gods House as was Moses And is it reasonable then to hearken unto such Pleading against their own Voluntary Acts and Subscriptions their own Hands and Tongues Besides quo jure with what Face or Conscience can they expect Temples maintenance protection and all things requisite for their Ministery from that Law and Government that they will not Protect Countenance nor submit unto § Indeed it seems to me an old piece of Conscientiousness if not Impiety to enter the Holy Ministerial Function to day when they are sure without Conformity to be silenced to morrow Besides it is Nicety and Indiscretion to exact an express Rule of Scripture or Faith for the Cross in Baptism for standing at the Creed Kneeling at the Lords Beard for Habits in Divine Service the usual sear-Crows of scrupulous men In these cases consent of the Church or Tradition may suffice so there be no express Law of Command to the contrary He that exacts in these Points as express Rules of Faith or Warrant of Scripture for his Obedience to Ecclesiastical Government as he would or as every man ought to do for adventuring upon Worshipping of Images Invocation of Saints c. doth make his Brain or Fancy the chief Seat of his Religion which should be seated in the Heart and Intitles God to the Fancies and Chymaeraes of their own Brains Thus to disobey the Church in these Cases wherein it hath Authority to Command Obedience is to disobey those Mandates of God which give the Body of the Church Authority to make Laws to Govern it self by in things indifferent neither expresly Forbidden nor expresly Commanded by the Law of God I know the Apostles Rule is let every man be fully pers●●ded in his own mind 14 Rom. 5. And this full perswasion or assurance of Faith is in the Cases there mentioned necessary because whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin v. 23. This last Maxim is undoubtedly true and the former Precept most exactly to be observed in such Causes as the Apostle there speaks of that is where the positive Practise unless our Warrant be Authentick in it self and evident to us is very dangerous or deadly whereas on the contrary the forbearance of such Practise is either safe or not prejudicial to our Souls but to our Bodies only or State temporal such Ceremonies as be neither against Faith nor adverse to good manners in the Judgment of St. Austin ep 11.8 go for indifferent and may be Born in Christian Unity without Offence or Confusion If God hath left things indifferent what Authority can make them necessary Let them be so still and their nature not changed by any Injunction and Unity will necessarily ensue Quodam modo it may be true that in Ordination there is something which they receive thereby from God Independent of the King or any Civil Power viz. Authority to T●●ch Baptize and Administer Sacraments by Virtue of Ordination And ●● is as true that

and Administration of Sacraments they have had from the largess and good graces of good and Pious Emperors tho now so grateful as to scorn to acknowledge them but to claim them by the most potent claim in the World Jure Divino and to fight against the Sons and Successors with the very Weapons which their Fore-Fathers and Predecessors had put into their hands In sum the Popish claim of such enormous and exorbitant Jurisdiction over all Kings and Bishops hath certainly been the grand cause of all the discords troubles and wars in all Countries of these latter Ages Both the Eastern and Western Churches lived in Brotherly Communion and Christian Charity for 900 years or more In which time the Pope of Rome was complemented both by the Greeks and Latins as the Successor of St. Peter and to be the first of the Eastern Catholick Bishops more out of respect of Rome being the Imperial City than of any Divine right he had above his fellow Bishops In the Persecution of Hereticks his help as also the help of the other Italian Bishops was implored and peace was easily preserved because the Supream power was in the Canons to which both Greeks and Latins professed to owe subjection the Ecclesiastical Discipline was exactly maintained in both Churches by their own proper Prelates as it seemed best unto them but absolutely according to the disposition and tenour of the Canons no intruding into one anothers Government but each mutually assisting other in the observation of the Canons In those dayes never any Pope of Rome pretended so much as to confer a Benefice within the Diocess of another Bishop nor had the Court of Rome as yet introduced the Custom of drawing Moneys from others by way of Bulls and Dispensations But immediately after the Court of Rome began to challenge a Freedom from being subject to the Canons and that at their pleasure they might change all Antient Constitutions of the Fathers Councels yea and of the Apostles themselves and endeavored in the room of the Antient Primacy of the See Apostolick to introduce an absolute Monarchy and Dominion not bounded or regulated by any Law or Canons the Division soon sprang up and tho 700 years past Peace and Re-union have been divers times attempted yet could it never be effected because disputes have ever been intended and promoted more than the taking away of that abuse which was the true Cause that brought Divisions in and made the Rupture and is the only Cause that still maintains them Whilst the Churches were united the Doctrine of St. Paul was held by both Churches and observed that in affairs of publick Government all men ought to pay subjection to the Prince because God commands it should be so whom he doth disobey who will not yield obedience to the secular power by him appointed for the Government of all Mankind never did any pretend that he might not be punished for misdeeds holding it for certain that exemption to do evil is a thing condemned both by God and Man the words of St. Paul in those dayes were held for good and sound Doctrine viz. wilt thou not be afraid of the Temporal Power Do that which is good and thou shalt have praise for the same but if thou dost evil be afraid for he beareth not the Sword in vain for he is the Minister of God a Revenger to execute wrath upon him that doth evil Rom. 13.1 2 3 4 5. After the Division of those Churches the same opinion still remained in the East and continues to this day The truth of these things being so undeniable methinks that it would not be unbeseeming him who accounts himself the Father of all Christendom to put off the Mask of Religion and abandon all his pretentions unto unlimited Powers which would in good earnest be for the good of all Christendom considering he hath but one Soul and that he ought to do any thing to save it and nothing to destroy it and that it is not made of any better or other mould or mettal than the Souls of his Brethren in both Capacities of Prince or Bishops and that Heaven and Hell must divide the whole World and therefore he should wave his own private sublunary Interests for the universal good of all Christendom If such considerations move not yet methinks they should consider that the World is now grown wiser and have made a full discovery of the Vanity of all his Excommunications Censures of his Bulls Interdicts c. nay they themselves have made them all Ridiculous in many particulars witness themselves at Rome who Annually with great formality and Solemnity Excommunicate their most Catholick King of Spain every Maunday Thursday for keeping away part of St. Peters Patrimony and with as great Formality and Solemnity absolve him again on Good Friday without giving any satisfaction witness also the Venetians who upon the close with Paul the Fifth so slighted all his Monitories Interdicts Excommunications and Censures that they did not only refuse Absolution and Apostolick Benediction offered by him but also refused to give him the Ordinary satisfaction of words and of all Pontilles Subtleties Ceremonies that might have the least Semblance or appearance of any such thing The Pope finding himself thus baffled and slighted did not desist but had recourse unto little pittiful tricks and Subterfuges and therefore suffered to go abroad and to be divulged Four Counterfeit Writings 1. A Breve to Cardinal Joyeuse which gave faculty to take away Censures 2. An Instrument of Absolution dated April 21 3. An Instrument of the Delivery of the Prisoners 4. A Decree of the Senate for the restitution of the Religious c. which tho they did not dare to divulge in formal Copies yet under-hand dispersed Breviates of them designing that after a while when they might not be so easily detected and discovered they might be produced and pretended to be true and so to be believed of necessity And this Policy hath often succeeded well to these men who have many times given colour to many such false Writings prejudicial to divers Princes So Gregory the Second served Alphonsus King of Spain about the Office of Mozarabes So Innocent the Third Anno Dom. 1 199. saith that the Interdict against France because King Philip Augustus had put away his Wife Isemberge was observed in the Kingdom when there was no such thing So Adrian the 20. Anno 870. sent a severe Monitor to Charles the Bald King of France which afterwards he was fain to recall with many submissive excuses Stories are full of such Artifices § What Pitty nay what shame is it that so great Princes as Popes esteeming themselves Gods on Earth and Vicars of Christ should by taking such wrong measures of their Authority and Jurisdiction be driven to such pittiful tricks to uphold Powers so exorbitant and which were never given unto them by any Law of God or Man Did they but seriously consider 1. That they like Gods

England and letting John see the danger he was in advised him to become the Popes Foedatary John enforced by the present peril accepted the advice and made his Kingdom Tributary to the Pope to pay him yearly 1000 Marks of Gold Pandulphus hereupon returned into France and commanded Philip upon pain of Excommunication that he should molest John no longer as being now become the Foedatary of the Church but Philip refused to obey and the War continued whereupon in the year 1215. in the Council of Lateran Pope Innocent sent out an Excommunication against all those that molested John King of England And for that Cause in the year 1216. Another Legate called Guallo went to Paris who by vertue of that Sentence of Excommunication commanded Philip and Lewis his Son to forbear to pass with an Army into England which they were then prepared to do But notwithstanding all this Lewis desisted not but entred John's Kingdom with a great power altho the same Guallo was gone over into England and there ceased not dayly to thunder out his Excommunications This War continued unto the death of John after which Lewis had gotten many places of that Kingdom into his hands made Truce for five years with Henry the Son of John who succeeded his Father Thus you see how the very Holiness of Rome can Handy Dandy play fast and loose with Kings themselves § Concerning the desperate damnable Doctrines of this Chapter Novit little ought to be said for that they rather deserve a Spunge than an answer to be obliterated out of all Records minds and memories and because Gabriel Biel a man of their own Leaven hath taken great pains on that Can. Lec 75. to give some tollerable interpretation but can find none but this viz. that this Decretal and all other of the same tenor must be understood in foro poenitentiae A lame shift to help a lame Dog over a stile But Bellarmine will not be so consined he will extend it farther Frier Paolo and mark what follows even according to men of Rome that whoever will affirm as Bellarmine doth that they are to be understood in foro exteriori shall have much ado to avoid the absurdities and the utter overthrow of the Secular Power ordained of God and the confusion of the World which will arise out of these Doctrines For his purpose is to conclude that where Princes use their Power to the hurt of their own Souls or their Peoples and to the prejudice of Christian Religion the Pope may take the matter in hand to redress it If this must go for currant Doctrine mark what will follow viz. There is no action of man in Individuo but it is either a good work or it is a sin Now if it belongs to the Pope to exercise Jurisdiction over all Sins and withall to take upon him to determine what is sin and what not I say there is no longer any Prince but the Pope nay farther there is no place left for any private Government In sum the Pope may by this Doctrine examine all Laws all Edicts all Parliaments all Councils all Successions all Translation of Princes he may call in question and examine all Inheritances and Contracts of all private Men all Marriages all Treatises of Peace and War between Prince and Prince because it belongs to the Shepherd to have a care of his Sheep And this inference doth not only necessarily follow of this supposition but it is also allowed by the Canonists that write upon that Chapter Novit And yet nevertheless have the wisest men and of the most understanding noted and taxed it to be full of Absurdities which to avoid some have out of that Chapter Novit framed a distinction where there can be none viz. that it is one thing to judge of the matter or of the Action or of the contract and another to judge of the sin for if it be the Pope's right to judge of all things as they are sins and to forbid them and to enforce all men to obey his determinations therein what is there more left then for the Prince to do Not one of Democritus's Moats for Bellarmine hath taught us a very general Doctrine that to judge whether any Law contain in it sin or not it belongs to the Pope as it belongs to the Ecclesiastical Judge to determine whether a Civil Contract contain in it the sin of Vsury Hence it will necessarily follow Che il giudicare st una lege centient p●ccato è pregiudicio alla chi●●a tocca alt ' isteslo sommo Pontifice che è gindice supren o si come il giudlcare se un contratto civile contengo peccato di usura appertiene al medisimo Giudice Ecclesiallico quals appertient la cognitione de i p●ccati f. 330 331. that not only the Pope but every Ecclesiastical Judge shall have Power to determine all matters for it can belong no more to him to judge whether a Contract offend in Usury than whether it contain any other wrong or Injury to his neighbor for all that do so are sins as well as the other And by the same reason it will belong to the Ecclesiastical Judge to determine of all manner of sin And in brief because there is no Action or Affair either Publick or Private whereunto sin is not Incident if it shall be in the Power of the Ecclesiastical Judge to determine and judge of it and either to allow it or forbid it and to enforce obedience to his own determinations All transactions about Contracts all Courts of Justice and all private Families may well be transferred into the Bishops Palace good grist to that Mill But the true Christian Doctrine and the common practice all the World over avoids all these absurdities subjecting all Crimes and Offences unto the Temporal Jurisdiction according to the example of Christ and his Apostles who never pretended to have or exercise any Temporal coertion or coactive Authority over mens sins And if the Pope were Christ's true Vicar indeed he would never usurp more than ever Christ exercised himself or gave him Authority to do The main business of Peter and of the rest of the Apostles was to Teach and Preach dayly in the Temple and in every House Jesus Christ Acts 5.42 Thus you see that these very Doctrines contained in the Chapter Novit need little of our Confutation it is done to our hands by several of themselves and according to their own St. Thomas they are too general because there must be excepted all internal motions of the mind whereof the Pope hath no power at all to judge unless it be in foro Poenitentiae in which also every Priest hath equal power with himself no pleasing Doctrine at Rome and of this sort are the greatest number of sins And their own Divines and Canonists do generally agree that in the Excommunications granted against Hereticks those are not comprized which err mentally so that they which attempt to defend as

obey them that have the Rule over you and submit your selves for they watch for your Souls c. Not considering that the word Rulers in St. Paul's dialect doth signifie Feeders and Leaders which be the two signs and duties of good Shepards And yet we do not deny but that the Messengers and dispencers of God's Mysteries by Preaching the word Administring the Sacraments and Rights useing the Keys have their Internal and Spiritual Regiment over the Souls as well of Princes as of others But be it that St. Paul saith so altho in truth there 's a great disserence between posuit vos Episcopos and posuit Episcopos between he hath made you Overseers and hath made Overseers And what are these Overseers or Bishops commissionated to do Nothing but to feed the Flock of Christ But be it as they would have it yet nothing can possibly be concluded out of this place that the Pope is above Princes or above the Church any otherwise than any other Bishop is which position is Heresie at Rome But from hence we may conclude that all Bishops have their Authority immediately from God which happily will be as little acceptable at Rome as the other § That place also of Hebr. 13.17 is not meant of the Pope in special but of Bishops in General yea and of all Pastors and Curates also so that it makes nothing for the Pope in particular so far forth as those that are set over our Souls and do truly watch for the good of our Souls by speaking unto us the word of God so far we are to submit to both Pope and Presbyter but no manner of colour to conclude from hence the Pope to be above all Temporal Princes The word here also signifies Leaders as well as Rulers and is to be understood so here for it follows v. 7. Remember them which have the Rule over you who have spoken unto you the word of God whose Faith follow considering the end of their Conversation If we must mark and imitate them then surely they must be Leaders to direct us and not Rulers to Tyrannize over us But whether the word signifies Leaders or Rulers it advantages the Pope and Cardinals n●●hing at all for that they are not thereby meant but all that be Christians and Godly Preachers And the obedience here required is no Corporal subjection to their persons but an inward likeing and embracing of their Doctrine And whom they call Rulers here St. Paul 2 Cor. 4.5 maketh Servants we Preach not our selves but Christ Jesus to be Lord and our selves your Servants And 2 Cor. 1.24 Not that we have Dominion or Rule over your Faith but we are helpers of your Joy And Christ's charge was Mark 10.42 43. and Luke 22.25 The Kings of the Gentiles exercise Lordship over them but so it shall not be among you c. And Christ himself was amongst them as he that doth serve Their very function then is to Serve not to Rule their Brethren to feed not to domineer or Tyrannize over the Flock of Christ say or write what or who can or will they will hold the conclusion with Bellarmine that the Pope as Supream Prince Spiritual may change Kingdoms take them from one and give them to another when he shall think it necessary for the Salvation of Souls § Should I dig and rake deeper into the Sink and Pit of Romish rubbish and Errors I should but find it bottomless full of Lyes and Errors backt with Impudency and Obstinacy maugre all that can be said against them and therefore will draw towards an end and conclude from what hath been already written and from what sollows viz. That the Popes of Rome together with their Principles and Doctrines Practices and Trinckets D● Row P●nt Lib. 5. ● 6.7 8 John 8.44 are the silthy spawn and product of their Father the Devil and the Lusts of their Father the Devil they do He was a Murderer from the beginning and so are they both in Practices Principles and Doctrines witness the Inquisition the Popes Slaughter-house their being often drunk with the blood of Saints not sparing Kings nor Emperors no nor yet men more righteous than themselves and that by Mariana his quacunque arte which could proceed from no one that was not Spirited by the Devil and abode not in the truth because there was no truth in him no more have they John 8.24 having erred from the Faith first delivered to the Saints and forsaken the right way and gone astray witness their whole Scheme of false Doctrines their Twelve new Articles of Faith and other false Doctrines of that packt Conventicle at Trent and those Twelve Blasphemous Articles of Jo. Baptista * Mat the end of the book Poza a Spanish Jesuit his Creed and the New-Politick-Gospel-Light of Cardinal Palavicini in his History of the Council of Trent Collected by one of their own Communion their Jesuits Morals c. when he speaketh a Lye he speaketh of his own he is a Lyar and the Father of it Rome a la mode they are his spawn and Children and do his works witness their cheating Auricular Confession foolishly called Sacramental there being nothing of a Sacrament in it the Pick-lock of all the secret Councils of all the Kingdoms of the World holding out that Regicides and the greatest sinners of the World shall go plum to Heaven if but Confest and Absolved tho but in Articulo Mortis by their Priests their own Complices and Confederates in the same Crimes witness also their lying Legends their * Vile Mr. 〈…〉 Forgeries Forgeries their false cheating Miracles their coyning contrary Creeds in the dayes of Constantine and Constantius their raking out the Bowels and intrails of Old Authors Fathers and Councils their Doctrines of Equivocation of Infallibility and Probability their Clementines Extravagants and Decretals for if they were of God they would hear his Word and therefore they hear them not because they are not of God v. 47. for it is impossible that such monstrous horrid Principles and Doctrines such abominable impostures should proceed from any other Spirits but from the Spirits of unclean Devils L●ke 4.33 for had they been born of God his Seed would have remained in them which would have preserved them from those Legions of Diabolical Principles and Practices they now stand indicted and are found guilty of To these great truths bears farther Testimony their own hand writing of Ordinances against themselves even their own Authors and Councils Witness not only their allowance for Fornication non obstante Gods own command to abstain from Fornication 1 Thes● 4.3 Acts 15.21 Ch. 21.4.25 nay not only barely to abstain but to Flee from it ● Cor. 6.8 non obsbante the Apostle imputed it as a great sin to the Corinthians that there was Fornication amongst them 1 Cor. 1.5 and non obstante it be expresly declared by the Apostles that the Body was not for Fornication 1 Cor. 6.18 but for the

shall be accounted for a Law and hath confirmed it with an accursed Canon viz. that if any man shall say that by the Commandment of God or of necessity all and singular the Faithful of Christ ought to receive both kinds let him be Accursed They are not herewith content but they will impose upon us Five other Sacraments which God never ordained for Sacraments Baptism and the Eucharist Christ Instituted commanded and practised but for those other Five Supernumerary Additionals they are of Papal and not of Christs Institution Of the same Parentage is their leaving out of their ordinary Catechisms one Commandement of the Decalogue written with the Finger of God himself lest it should rise up in Judgment against them for their Idolatries and Superstition Non obstante Gods command Deut. 4.2 Ye shall not add unto the word that I command you neither shall ye diminish ought from it that you may keep the Commandment of the Lord your God which I command you and Non obstante Rev. 22.18 19. If any man shall add to these things God shall add unto him the Plagues that are written in this Book And if any man shall take away from the words of the Book of this Prophecy God shall take away his part out of the Book of Life and out of the Holy City and from the things which are written in this Book Which Devillish Arithmetick of adding and subtracting to and from Holy Writ being diametrically opposite to Gods Holy Word must proceed as the rest from their Father the Devil For had they acted and decreed by the Spirit of truth he would have led them into all saving truth But these are so far from that that they hold the Truth in unrighteousness and thange the Truth of God into Lies even as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the Faith 2 Tim. 3.8 And in as much as in them lies do make void and null the everlasting Gospel of Christ and set up a new one of their own as one of their own Communion hath collected out of Palavicim's History of the Council of Trent All which considered I cannot but wonder and stand amazed with what confidence the Papalins can preach and write so contrary to the Word of truth of both Testaments with any hope to be believed of others or to be saved themselves thereby being forewarned by the Apostles themselves that tho they themselves or an Angel from Heaven should preach any other Gospel than that which we have preached let him be accursed Gal. 1.8 Let these suffice for should I rake farther I should cloy the Reader usque ad naus●am to make scrutiny into their other Doctrines Services and Ceremonies all of the same Father the old Serpent the Devil their Idolatry Pargatory Pardons Indulgencies Merits Works of Supererogation Transubstantiation Incredible Miracles Reliques Prayers for Souls departed Sacrifices for the Dead Pilgrimages distributing their Worship in their publique Masses to so many Saints of their own making more Prayers by many to Mary than to Christ and those to make yet more ridiculous in an unknown tongue and not without ridiculous Gesticulations Consecrations Exorcisins Whisperings Sprinklings Censings c. all phantastical tricks and juglings more besitting the Stages of Piginello or Merry Andrew than the Temple and Service of God Almighty § Do they bely themselves Papists imitate the Heathen in their Worship or do they not in their Worship imitate the very Heathens or have they not borrowed many of their absurd Ceremonies from the Worshippers and Sacrificers of the Heathen Gods Carol. Patin Imperat. Roman Numismata Edit Argentine 1671. so 296. inter nummos Caracallae tells us that the fourth Picture or Medal represents the Poutifical Insigns or Emblems viz. the Lituus or Divining-Staff the Secespita or Sacrificing-Knife the Vrceolum or Flagon the Capedo or Vessel for holding of Incence and the Aspergillum or Sprinkling-bush or Asperforium a Vessel with small holes to sprinkle the Holy-water The Romans used these in the Ceremonies of their Sacrifices The Lituus the constant Sign Note or Embleme of the Augur furnished us with the form of our Pastoral and Episcopal-Staff The Secespita used by the Flamins of both sexes where by the way take notice there were Religious Orders both of Men and Virgins and by the very Pontiffs their Sacrifices or when the Popae Popes slew the Victims as an Instrument unused in the Christian Religion because our Sacrifice is unbloodied The Patera which used to hold the Praecordia of the Victim retaineth the name of Patera in our Religion and is employed for the holding the body of our Saviour Christ The Vrceolus when great was called Vrc●um and was appropriated for the holding of Oil Wine Milk and Honey Our Priests use Vessels like to these for the holding of wine and water whilst they celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass The Capedo or Capedunculus differs very little from the Simpulum so called from its holding the Incence was used by the Priest or Pontifex in their Offering The Aspergillum was used by that Age when the people purified with Holy-water then called Aqua lustralis and we in our time retain the same Thus Virgil hath it Aeneid lib. 6. Ossaque tecta Cado texit Chorineus alieno Idem ter socios purà * Verbum lustrale circumtulit undâ Spargens rora leni ramo foelicis Olivae Lustravitque viros dixitque novissima verba Chorineus did his bones in brass inclose And thrice about with Holy-water goes Purging his friends which sprinkingly he cast From happy Olive boughs then spake his last So Ovid 2. Fast Ah nimium faciles qui tristia crimina caedis Tolli stuminea posse putatis aquâ Ah silly souls that deem the guilt of murder Purified may be by Popes (a) Popes Holy-water Holy-water Lustration was nècessary to sacrifice without which they could not sacrifice nor exercise any Religious Rites So Juno returning from Hell was purged by Iris before she went to Heaven Ovid Met. lib. 4. In omnibus sacris Sacerdos quum diis immolat rem divinam facit prius corporis ablutione purgatur c. Alex. ab Alex. lib. 4. c. 17. § The Romish Ordinance of Hallowing and Consecrating Consecrations and Exorcisms and Exorcising relates and appertains to many things as it plainly appeareth Every seventh day which we call Sunday when there be many people in the Church assembled the Priest exorciseth as they term it first Salt after Water And when he hath mixed the Salt and the Water together he sprinkleth the People therewith which springling is believed to give health both to Body and (b) Haec Aqua benedicta deleat mihi mea delicta according to the Monkish Rhyme Soul and to drive away the deceits of the devil and purify not only Men but also things without life For it is cast upon the ground and on stones