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	fear_v	life_n	4,543	5	5.0312	4	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

was his dumb Asse and like Micha's Leuite for a little better reward swallow down theft and Idolatry together § Authority it self hath not so rigorous a sway over the souls of men as to obtrude disliked Religions universally it must perswade as well as compel and convince as well as command or else great alterations cannot easily and suddenly be perfected And in this respect Proclamations of Princes and commanding Edicts mostly prove more efficacious Sermons than those from out of the Pulpits look back on former times and it is evident that before Constantine favoured Religion the Gospel spread but slowly and that not without a wondeful confluence of Heavenly Signs and Miracles wrought by our Saviour and his Disciples all which we may probably conjecture had never been in such plentiful manner manifested to the World had it not been to countervail the enmity and opposition of secular Authority And it may be conjectured nay presumed that had the Caesars heartily by command and example joyned in the propagation of Christs Doctrine more might have been effected towards the propagation of the Gospel by their Cooperation than all Christs Apostles Bishops and other Presbyters did effect by their extraordinary gifts and supernatural endowments we see also that Constantines Conversion was of more moment and did more conduce to the prosperity and propagation of Christianity than all the labours and endeavours of thousands of Preachers and Confessors and Martyrs which before had attempted the same We see Ed. 6. though a Minor in a short time very much dispelled the mists of Popish errors and superstition and when no men were more averse to the truth than the Clergy yet he set up the banner thereof in all his Dominions and redeemed millions of souls from the thraldom of Hell and Rome So Queen Elizabeth though a single woman was a most admirable instrument in the same design and what she did in England other Princes did the like in their Dominions whatsoever was effected by the labour of Ministers after our Saviour the same if not greater matters were sooner expedited by the ordinary Power and Wisdome of Princes when Ministers were generally opposite thereunto And as we see the spiritual power of Princes how strangely prevalent it is for the truth so we see most woful effects thereof against the truth Religion was not sooner reformed by E. 6. than it was deformed again by Q. M. And although many godly Ministers were here then setled as appears by the numerous Martyrs yet all those Ministers could not uphold Religion with all their labours and hands so strongly as Q. M. could subvert it with the least of her Fingers one fierce King of Spain bound himself in a cursed Oath to maintain the Popish Religion and to extirpate all contrary Doctrines out of his confines which taking effect accordingly It demonstrates and confirms that one Kings Enmity or supineness towards Religion is more pernitious than a thousand Ministers zeal is or can be advantagious to the spreading of the Gospel which consequence alone ought to sway and prevail very much with Princes to act very vigorously and very circumspectly in matters of Religion as being most eminently to accompt for it and for that their countenance or discountenance of the true or false Religion of sin or piety is next unto or a kind of an establishing the one or the other by a Law according to that antient received Maxim Regis ad exemplum totus componitur Orbis Therefore the examples of Kings and chief Magistrates being of such wonderful avail and indeed of more consequence than 20000 Pulpits no doubt if they would put in practice and follow the example of King Davids resolution in the 101 Psal to walk in their Houses with a perfect heart to behave themselves wisely in a perfect way to set no wicked thing before their eyes to hate the work of them that turn aside not to know a wicked person to shew no favour to give no countenance no preferment to any wicked person but to let their eyes be upon the faithful of the Land and on them that excel in virtue that they may dwell with them and that they and only they that walk in a perfect way do serve them that they that work deceit should not dwell in their Houses nor they that tell lies tarry in their Sght. No doubt I say but such Princes by such pious practices and examples would by such discountenancing of Sin and Sinners quickly destroy the wicked of the Land and cut off all wicked doers from the City of the Lord and would conduce much even to the making of a high way of holiness throughout the Land that wayfaring Men though Fools might noterre therein For who knoweth not that example doth as certainly kill Souls as Fire and Fagot do bodies and that an exemplary life of Men in Authority doth incline and invite their Subjects and Servants to the same whether it be holy or unholy more much more than Pulpits or any verbal Rhetorick St. Peter did not Preach Judaism but only for fear of offending the Jews did forbear to eat with the Gentiles yet St. Paul reproveth him for it to his face and interpreteth that fact of his as an effective and almost compulsive seducement Cogis Judaizare 2. Gal. 14. Why compellest thou the Gentiles to Judaize so Nehemiah 13. c. v. 17. Contended with the Nobles of Judah saying What evil thing is this that ye do and profane the Sabbath day and yet the Rulers had not sinned by personal commission but by partial Connivence and toleration of the sins of others Besides it is not the Clergy only that is so immediately and so universally responsable for the publick discountenancing of Religion being chiefly responsable for their particular Flocks only for even the abuses of the very Clergy it self will one day be set on the Magistrates account and according to that vast spiritual Power which God hath put into the hands of Princes so will God certainly require at their hands § Preaching is not the only means of Salvation nor Ministers the only Preachers nor Sacraments only efficacious because the Clergy only may administer them Though Pope and Presbyter call themselves only spiritual persons the Church and Lot of Christ and put Princes into the number of Temporal and Laymen and limit them to secular things yet God will not be so mocked they ought to acknowledge the character of Divinity which is so much more fairly stamped on Princes than it is on them and let them not rob Princes of that influence in sacred things which they themselves can never enjoy For as Princes must answer for wilful or negligent permitting a wicked Clergy so must Pope Presbyter and Independent answer for endeavouring to cajol Princes out of their Supream Power on pretence that Gods Message is so delivered to them Let Ministers assist Princes in their Spiritual and Religious Offices as Aaron and Hur did Moses let them not contend

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

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

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

so but that they may all serve to one and the self-same general if not particular End and Effect and in our Case to the edification of the Church The Apostles indeed could not write with their Tongues but they did preach as well with their Pens when they writ as with their Tongues when they spake the Gospel of Christ and our usual publick reading of the Word of God with the rest of the Liturgy for the Peoples instruction by his good leave is Preaching Acts 15.21 22. Can any Man imagine or shew a Reason that reading it self is not one of the ordinary Means and Gifts which God hath appointed for the conveying of his Truths into the Hearts of Men which being received may be effectual for the saving of their Souls Belief in all Sorts doth come by hearing and attending to the Word of Life whether it be preached or read The Word it self whether read or heard some time convinceth the Judgment and perswadeth the Affections Sometime Truth is wrought in the Heart by private conference and instruction from private Persons so Apollos though an Eloquent Man and mighty in the Scriptures yet was taught the Way of God more perfectly by Aquila and Priscilla a Woman Acts 18.26 Some Truth is taught by those whom the Church hath publickly called to the publick reading or interpreting of the Word All these tend unto one and the same Glorious End viz. to the Knowledge of Jesus and him Crucified And as Preaching which is explaining by lively Voice and applied according to the Wisdom of the Speaker doth not in its own Nature justle out or prejudice the Efficacy of any other means or way of publick Instruction be it by Liturgy or otherwise or inforce the utter disability of any other means thought requisite in this Church for the saving of Souls So Liturgies in their own Nature are not exclusive of any other provision of Means that Christ hath ordained for the benefit and service of his Church as this Discourser avers For the saving Force of the Word is not restrained to any one certain kind of delivery but how ever the same shall come to be made known it hath its Force and Energy and doth ordinarily save by every Mean whether publick or private reading Liturgies or hearing Sermons or private Conference and Instruction whether they be premeditated or extemporary O! but though Liturgies are not in their own Natures exclusive of the use of other Talents yet the English Liturgy there is the grand Pique doth avowedly and expresly say That the Ministers of the Gospel shall not use or exercise any Spiritual Gift in the Administration of those Ordinances for which provision is made in the Book f. 67 68. And consequently the necessary and undispensable Use of Liturgies is directly exclusive of the Use of the Means provided by Christ and for the End for which the Liturgy is invented and imposed 63 67 68. And farther he saith That the Liberty which some say is granted for a Man to use his own Gifts and Abilities in Prayer before and after Sermon will he fears as things now stand upon due Considerations appear rather to be taken than given and is very questionable 42 43. And that however it concerns not our present Question because it is taken for granted by those that plead for the strict observation of a Book that the whole Gospel-worship of God in the Assembly of Christians may be carried on and performed without any such Preaching as is prefaced with that Liberty pretended 42 43. and for that many that are looked upon as skilled in that Law and Mystery of it do by their practise give another Interpretation of the intendment of its Imposition making it extend to all that is done in publick Worship the bare preaching or reading of a Sermon or Homily excepted 64. nor saith he is that the matter enquired into whether Ministers may at any time or in any part of Gods Worship make use of their Gifs but whether they may do it in all those Administrations for whose performance to the edification of his Body they are bestowed on them by Jesus Christ which by the Rule of the Liturgy we have shewed that they may not and he doubts not but it will be granted by those who contend for the Imposition of the Liturgy that it extends to the Principal Parts if not to the Whole of the publick Worship of God in the Church 64. § If all were true that is here alledged the day might probably be his own but me thinks in thus arguing our Author is not so candid as his other very Learned and Ingenious Writings speak him to be when he deals with others in Points of difference of a far more dangerous concern and consequence For though he cannot but most assuredly and demonstratively know that here all Ministers of the Gospel have not only a liberty but are expresly commanded to use and improve their Talents even in publick as often as they are called either to implore Blessings or deprecate Sins and Judgments to render Thanks or to discourse and enlarge themselves on all or any part of the Worship of God or Christian Doctrine and that it is the daily practise of them so to do throughout all the Kings Dominions yet for him to say that it is a Liberty rather taken than given and is very questionable and that upon what this Man says and that Man thinks or practises is not to be ingenious according to his old wont but to avoid all Sophistry and to come to the demonstration of the Truth this is meer matter of Fact and we cannot erre in it the demonstration of which will and must clear this Point and we must stand and fall thereby and therefore sit liber Judex together with the constant practise of the Church from the very Birth and first Introduction of our Liturgy unto this very day for we must take both together for that the constant and uninterrupted Practise Use and Custom is of that very great Force and Vertue as sometimes to wear out and obliterate the very Force and Vertue of an Enacted Law to the contrary The Matter of Fact alledged on his part is That the Liturgy says expresly that the Ministers of the Gospel shall not use nor exercise any Spiritual Gift c. but how or where to find this in the Liturgy I know not for I have turned it over once and again and cannot find the least footsteps of any such Prohibition yet I will not affirm that it is not there It 's possible I may have over-look'd it but grant it be in terminis as he hath worded it yet if from the first Institution of Liturgies the Use and Practise hath been contrary as most certainly it hath been and no Man ever questioned for using his Talents nay all commanded by Injunctions and Acts of Parliament to improve them and strict Inquiry made accordingly at the Bishops Visitations according unto Articles of

this Life and in that which is to come meer Vassals they and their Subjects likewise in no better condition than the Sheep in Demosthenes where the Dogs were to be banished and the Wolves to be their Guardians for they endeavor to make the World believe that they have power over their Souls and Bodies at their pleasure both in this Life and after Death These have been the Collections and Observations of Fra. Paolo and other learned and faithful Writers and eye-witnesses The best is Ab initio non fuit sie there are no such Doctrines in Bibliis Sacris but the contrary And our Doctrines concerning these points and indeed our Religion is the same which is contained in the Scriptures in General Councils and in the Fathers of the First Three I might say Five Ages which have not been purified in their Purgatory their Indices expurg and agrees with the Articles of Faith and only differs in those which they have lately invented and added which he that examines them one by one shall find that none of them make for the Glory of God but all for the Increase of the Grandeur Wealth worldly Power and Jurisdiction of the Ecclesiastical Order so that in truth the true Roman Religion such as it was in the dayes of the Apostles and some Centuries next succeeding is insensibly but manifestly Bastardized and become spurious at Rome and all reduced to a new fashioned Religion which chiefly if not only makes for the pomp and Interest of the Court of Rome So that in truth these latter Popes are no more nor otherwise the true Possessors or Successors of St. Peter's Doctrines at Rome than the Grand Signior is of the Doctrines of St. James's at Jerusalem or of St. Paul's in those famous Churches of Asia In the dayes of Sixtus Quintus that Great Prince there lived in Italy that famous Alchymist and Impostor Nick-named Mamugna who was verily believed that he could make Gold not by the Vulgar only but by Cardinals Princes nay by the Pope himself One more wise and more merry than the rest habiting himself like this famous Alchymist went up and down the City of Venice in a Gondelo well fraught with a Cargo of fire Bellows Crucible Glasses c. crying Al Magmugna A tre lire il soldo del loro sino who buyes a shillings worth of pure Gold for nine pence which being told the Turkish Chiaus made this short answer Il gran signore dumque verra a servirlo if he can make Gold the Great Turk shall come to be his Servant I shall make no other Application or inference of this Mountebank Story than what is natural qui vult decipi decipiatur if Princes will be content to let false and base Coin go for currant be it so But in truth all the Papalins were not of the same mind and opinions with those famous Cardinals and Jesuits the Popes Partisans nor with the Court of Rome but Books were Printed Pro and Con by Papalins themselves in great numbers For besides the Papalins within the State of Venice the Sorbonists were very Orthodox and maintained the Defence of the lawful Secular Power opposing themselves against the Usurpations of Rome and maintaining the Liberty of the Gallican Church for that Kingdom holds it for a matter most certain and apparent that Popes have no power over Princes and that they ought not to proceed by Censures against them or their Officers in things which concern the State And as soon as the King knew of the publication of the Monitory at Rome he complained greatly of the too hasty proceedings of the Pope and sent a dispatch to him with speed requesting him to accommodate the differences The King of Polonia absolutely denyed the publishing of the Popes Monitory for that it did not stand with reason to govern themselves after another fashion towards that Republick of Venice whose Cause was common with his own Kingdom The Catholick King of Spain on whom the Pope relyed for Succors for that he had sometime before made liberal offers unto His Holiness from which he retreated in time of necessity and advised him to neglect his own private Interests for the universal good of Christendom and said that it did not beseem the Father of all Christendom to ground a War so cruel and pernitious to Christian People upon a King so pious and that His Holiness would abase the Apostolick Dignity if he sustained by humane means the Authority which God had given him Quarrels of Paul the Fifth pag. 374 375 376. Thus you see Rome it self divided the Pope and Court of Rome differing in this their greatest point and Diana Jurisdiction both from the old and from the more Novel Church of Rome as well as from that of the Church of the Protestants And thus you may perceive the unquiet and uncertain State that all Princes are like to be in and their Condition never like to be better whilst such monstrous State-destroying-Principles are held for Gospel at Rome For it matters not whether these Doctrines are true or false or received and believed by others or no nor yet whether Protestants or Papists it is all a case so long as so believed at Rome You see the State of Venice a Popish Republick no more safe nor quiet than England a Protestant Kingdom Had the Popes Swords been keen and powerful enough no doubt but that they would have brought both those States in their respective differences and quarrels as once Frederick Barbarossa the Emperor to that Brute Alexander the Third creeping on their knees to obtain Absolution from their Sentences of Excommunication or as Henry the Fourth whom Hildebrand would not release from his Excommunication till he came bare-foot to Canusium in a bitter cold Winter waiting three dayes before the Popes Palace for his Absolution which he hardly obtained by the Intercession of the Dutchess Matilda The Pope besides that he is the Head of Romish Religion is also a Prince who hath for more than 600 years by past aspired to the Monarchy of all Italy at least I might say at an universal Monarchy Temporal and Spiritual which he hath been some time so near to obtain that it is a wonder that he hath misled of it seeing he leaves no stone unturned quacunque arte to enlarge his Jurisdiction He hath three great charges upon him 1. That of Religion 2. That of Ecclesiastical affairs 3. The Temporalty of his Estate The care of all which I shall not grudge him as of right belonging unto him in one or other of his Capacities so he kept within his own Dominions and Territories tho happily all of the Romish Religion will not allow him so much for that all Bishops ought to be governed by the Canons and in which both Pope and all Bishops antiently in the best and purest dayes did acknowledge the Supream power to be to which they all submitted and not by the Pope alone there being also three kinds of

Pyramids erected with Superscriptions for their perpetual infamy and Banishment not only demolished and solemn Laws ordained against them revoked but to prevail to be re-admitted nay so re-established and re-ingratiated as to become their Chief Preachers Confessors Favorites and fully so to possess themselves of their hearts and affections as they have been and still are in Popish Nations and Courts and Prime Ministers of all affairs I am half perswaded that tho the Four Evangelists should rise from the dead and become Competitors for the more special favors of those Kings and States with whom the Jesuits have got their Sure-sooting that they would yet keep themselves Chief Lords of their Ascendents and lead them Captive as they use to do Not to trouble you with many Stories Pierre Cotton Confessor to Henry the Fourth of France that great Prince may suffice whence grew that Proverb amongst them Les Oreilles du Roy sont Buschees de Cotton The Kings eares are stopt with Cotton And that Pasquill Le Roy ne scauroit fair un Pas Que le Pere Cotton l'accompane Mais le bon sire ne scait pas Que le sin Cotton vient de espagne The King no where can step a Foot But Father Cotton finds him out Yet the good King is not aware That fine Cotton is Spanish ware To which I shall add the Quadrane to the Queen Regent If you desire your state continue may Then chase these evil Tygers far away Who cutting their Kings life Apart Are their own paymasters with his Heart This most excellent faculty of theirs puts me in mind of the man in the Parab●e ●●t of whom an unclean Spirit having been cast Mat. 12. Luke 11. and after long wa● 〈…〉 finding no rest took with him seven other Spirits more wicked than h●●s●●f of and returned into the same House from whence he came out and finding it swept and garnished entred and dwelt there whereby the last estate of that man became worse than the first § Si fas sit divinare may we not probably conjecture that Confession tho insignificant in it self yet by the most excellent management of those of the Church of Rome together with some apprehensions on one side and happily some Menaces on the other of being sent the same way after their Predecessors to be one of their chief Charmes For tho Confession practised as it ought may be both convenient and useful yet that it cannot be performed but by a Priest is besides all reason and common sense It is storied that if a man struck with a Scorpion Plin. lib. 28. c. 10. do immediately whisper it in the ear of an Ass he shall find sudden ease A story as credible as that without Confession to a Priest no Absolution can ensue The Common-law of Nature and Civil Law of Man kind teacheth that unto every man justly offended satisfaction is justly due Our neighbor is satisfied by Confession and Restitution of the wrong done to the offended without the help of a Priest And if a Priest do wrong to one of his Parishioners the Priest is obliged to Confess to him and not to his fellow-Priest and Absolution will follow accordingly If a Prince offend or wrong but one of his Black Guard and he confess and restore the wrong done to him he hath more Authority to forgive and absolve him V. p. 96 97. than all the Popes and Priests of Rome Confess and Absolve as they please I know they pretend Scripture to justifie their insignificant Sacramental Confession there being nothing of a Sacrament in it but their ill hap is such that there is not one plain Text in all the Bible that warrants it and therefore they fly unto conjectural consequences in which they have the same ill fate for that the Premises cannot possibly yield the Conclusions they draw from them Besides they would very much oblige us if they would but impart unto us any good intent they have or possibly can have to pry into other mens bosom-sins when they do no way concern them nor can they remedy or pardon them more than any other private man He that confesseth to God and forsaketh his sins they are forgiven whether a Priest be concerned therein or not and without forsaking confess or not confess no Pardon ensues Scire secreta domus cannot then be to any good intent and can only be designedly to make themselves Masters of the very souls and bodies lives and fortunes of the confessed that they may lead them Captive at their pleasure to accomplish their own wicked designs tho to Hell it self in pursuit of them And to make Confession yet a more compleat Instrument and Mystery of Iniquity they pin and hang upon it another Buckram Sacrament of Penance by which the worst and vilest sins that are may be pardoned on very easie terms and then who that can be perswaded to believe these Doctrines will not adventure to kill Kings or do any thing that is worse if worse can be When on a slight Confession and as slight a Penance they shall as easily be absolved by those that set them a work Sad and lamentable examples liereof were Henry the Third and Henry the Fourth of France brave Princes fearless and undaunted in War and in all Heroick Actions how difficult soever yet cow'd daunted and Butcher'd by these men notwithstanding their compliances with them changed the best Religion in the World in which they had been brought up and imbraced the worst even Romish Superstitions to gratifie them designing thereby to save their lives but in vain Whereas Elizabeth Queen of England professed the same Religion they were brought up in withstood the Papists to their faces and notwithstanding all their Dags and Daggers dyed in Peace and in her Bed full of dayes and full of Honour Besides Henry the Fourth did not only change his Religion but recalled the Jesuits solemnly banished by the first seat of Justice with the Erection of a Pillar with Inscriptions to their perpetual Infamy readmitted them into his very bosom gave them his House at Le Fleshe for a Colledge with indowments and all this contrary to the advice of the Duke of Sully giving no other reason than demanding then security for his life What got he by all these favors First a stab in the mouth by Chastel then a stab to his heart by Ravilliac plain demonstration that no obligations can secure against their Butcheries And which is yet more wonderful that after this dismal fatal blow that Pierre Cotton Confessor to the said Henry the Fourth his Declaratory Letter to the Queen Regent Apologizing for the Jesuits did more prevail with her for favoring of the Jesuits than the Refutation of that Letter and the Supplication of the University of Paris against them and the Discourse to the Lords of Parliament touching the very Murder of the said Henry the Great all demonstrably proving the Jesuits to have been the Plotters and Contrivers of