sith God as you see himself is our Standard bearer the heavens weare our colours A new topick and a true kinde of preaching according to Anthonie à Coneigsten his method Per colores rhetoricos But the even answered not expectation the bow in the clouds did them no service at all in their warre neither did their prophet Muncer his robe serve as a target of steele to repell and dead all the bullets shot against them but as soone as ever this army of the Bores and that other of the Princes were engaged the people were miserably slaughtered with Veni Creator spiritus in their mouths expecting that God should fight for them from heaven according to Muncers promise Of Georgius and Melchior Hofman see before Sect. 1. After Muncer and his chiefe associates and Phifer who deluded the people as much with dreames as Muncer with visions had acted their parts Iohn Becold commonly known by the name of Iohn of Leiden and Iohn Tuscoverer came upon the stage and they so well acquitted themselves in the persons they took upon them that the one gained the reputation of a Prophet the other the title and for a time the power of a King First Iohn of Leiden in a fanaticall fury pretending a Propheticall spirit puts off his cloathes and runs naked through the City of Munster crying The King of Sion is come the King of Sion is come Then returning home falls into a deep sleep dreames for three dayes together and as soon as he awaked faines himselfe speechlesse and by signes demands Paper and Inke and sets down twelve men most of them mean tradesmen to bee governours of the City of Munster whereto he addes certaine conclusions that a man was not tyed to one wife but that he might marry as many as he pleased and such other hereticall positions Not long after this dumbe Prophet gaining his speech told the people that the spirit of prophesy was gone from him and now rested in one Iohn Tuscoverer a Gold-smith this new Prophet having called an Assembly declared before them that it was the will of the Heavenly Father that Iohn Leiden should bee King of the whole world As saith he God set Saul to bee King in Israel and after him David taken from the sheep-fold so hath he appointed Iohn Becold his Prophet to be King in Sion Suetonius writeth that after Caligula made himselfe a God he ordained his great horse after the Heathen rite to be a Priest Dignus profecto saith Bencius tali Deo Sacardos tali Sacerdote Deus like God like Priest in like manner we may say here most truly Like Prophet like King a Smith-forge Prophet and a Tayler-shop-board King Iohn Leiden consecrates Tuscoverer a Prophet Tuscoverer crownes him a King And as Iohn Leiden acted dumb Zacharie so Gastius reports of a woman who took upon her to act the part of Iudith about the middle of the siege of Munster This Prophetesse made the people believe that God had put into her the spirit of Iudith and that she would goe out of the City and never return till she had brought back the Bishops head having cut it off as Iudith did the head of Holofornes she was not so mad but diverse of the Citizens were as foolish for they put her in gorgeous apparell and drest her like Iudith and she premeditated a speech like to hers but shee could not keep her owne counsell For before she came into the presence of the Bishop her intent was discovered and instead of cutting off the Bishop head she lost her owne I shall trouble thee Christian Reader but with one influence more As Biddulph writeth in his travailes that the Darvises which are accounted Prophets among the Turks run round so long till they fall down as it were in a trance and after they have layen in a seeming dead sleep for the space of an houre or more rising up they deliver their dreames for divine Oracles so at Abbarella a certain sort of Anabaptists fell down on the suddain as if they swooned holding their breath as long as they could possibly till they swelled and looked black in the face insomuch that the standers by were affrighted at the sight in the end after they were out of their extasie and come to themselves they told the people what God spake to them in their Rapture namely that Zuinglius erred in his doctrine of Baptisme that the christening of children was unlawfull and that before two yeares came to an end the day of judgement should be and truly the former revelations were as true as the latter it is now full a hundred yeares since Gastio his book was printed at Basill namely in the yeare 1544. And he relateth this Prophecie of theirs as much more ancient then his book so farre were these Epileptick Prophets out in their reckoning OBSERVAT. III. That the Anabaptists are an impure and carnall Sect. In a foule and spotted glasse we cannot perfectly see our face neither in a foule and impure foule is there any cleare reflection of the Image of God God is a most pure and holy Spirit and none are capable of his divine irradiations and heavenly influences but pure minds and chast bodies on the contrary the Dâ—vill is tearmed in the Gospell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the uncleane spirit who as he once besought our Saviour to give him leave to enter into the herd of swine so wheresoever he now enters and whatsoever soule or body hee possesseth hee maketh it a Nasty Sty As the true Religion whereof God is the Author is undefiled before God so all false worship of God devised by Sathan and his instruments is both defiled it selfe with idolatry or superstition and defileth also the soules and consciences of all that practise it Hence it is that the Professours thereof are tearmed by Saint Iude spots and blots darke spots in regard of the errours of their understanding and foule blots in regard of the impurity of their lives and conversation Such were the false Prophets whom Saint Peter sets out in their colours having eyes full of adultery and that cannot cease from sinne who allure through the lusts of the flesh through much wantonnesse those who for a while escaped from them who live in errour to whom it is happened according to the Proverbe the dogge is turned to his owne vomit againe and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire Such were those ungodly men Saint Iude sets a marke upon that turned the grace of our God into lasciviousnesse vers 4. gave themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh ver 7. filthy dreamers defiling the flesh despising dominions and speaking evill of dignities ver 8. Such were the Nicolaitans and the Disciples of lezabell branded by the Spirit Apoc. 2. 6. 20. Who defiled the marriage bed and seduced the servants of God to commit fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto Idols
Circumcision was instituted as appears Rom. 4. 11. to be a seal of the righteousnesse of faith But for the same end also was baptisme instituted to be a seal of the covenant of grace and the free remission of our sins by faith And though children in the old law before eight dayes had not actuall faith nor could make profession thereof yet they received the sacrament thereof Therefore by the same reason children under the gospel though they have not actuall faith nor can make profession thereof yet may and ought to receive the sacrament of baptisme which is a seal of the covenat of grace and righteousnesse by faith Children ought not to be baptized because there is no command for it Mark I pray how uncertain they are in their grounds sometimes they say that children are not to be baptized because they have not actuall faith which I overthrew but even now sometimes because there is no commandement for it Which as the future arguments disprove so see a punctuall refutation of this answer Infra art 2. ob jâ Prove it by scripture that they ought to be baptized So I will first I will alledge you the text of scripture and then frame my argument from it the place of scripture is Ioh. 3. 5. Verily verily I say unto you except a man he born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God My argument from this place for the baptizing of infants is this If none can enter into the kingdom of God but those that are born of water and the spirit that is those that are baptized with water and regenerated by the spirit then is there a necessity of baptizing children or else they cannot enter into the kingdom of God that is ordinarily for we must not tye God to outward means But the former is true Ergo the latter By this your reason it would follow that all that are baptized are regenerated and none regenerated but those who are baptized what becomes then of those who dye without baptisme I conceive the same of them as of those among the Jews who dyed before they were circumcised we leave them to the mercy of God conceiving charitably of their salvation because the children of the faithfull are comprised in the covenant Gen. 17. 7. and Acts. 2. 39. and the Apostle saith They are holy 1 Cor. 7. 14. All that I will conclude from this place is that no children enter into the kingdom of heaven by the ordinary way chalked out by Christ but those who are baptized or which comes all to one that the sacrament of baptisme ought to be administred to children as the ordinary means of their salvation This text speaks not of children but of men children are not men You might as well and better say that women are not men and doe you think that women ought not to be baptized this text speaks of children as well as those in riper years male or female for as the Apostle speaketh In Christ there is no difference of sex or age All that are to enter into the kingdom of God ought to be born of water and the spirit But children enter into the kingdom of God as well as men of ripers years Ergo children ought to be born again with water c. How prove you that children enter into the kingdom of God All those that are holy enter into the kingdom of God But the children of the faithfull are holy 1 Cor. 7. 14. Ergo they enter into the kingdom of God The Apostle meaneth that such are not bastards At which the company laughing as a ridiculous answer as if all that were not bastards were holy or that no children could be holy in the Apostles sense who were base-born Another Anabaptist came in and propounded a question concering Lay-mens preaching I will prove unto you M. Doctor that neither you nor such men as you are ought to preach but such only ought to perform that office of preaching as are appoynted by us How prove you that Those who are ordained ministers by ungodly men ought not to preach But you and others as you are be ordained by ungodly men Ergo you ought not to preach I denie both your propositions First because although we should suppose the bishops who ordained ministers to be ungodly men yet if they were themselves lawfully ordained and had power of imposition of hands the ministers ordained by them may and ought to discharge their function Iudas the Apostle and Nicholas the deacon were ungodly men yet the ministeriall acts they did either in preaching the word or administring the sacraments were never accounted void Secondly I denie that our bishops were ungodly men They that persecute good men are ungodly men But all your bishops persecute good men Ergo the bishops are ungodly men I answer first some of our bishops never persecuted any man as namely the Arch-bishop of Armagh and bishop Potter Secondly though some of our bishops by their places as they were high commissioners punished some men by Mulcts imprisonments or other censures yet they persecuted no godly man but executed justice upon delinquents namely factious schismaticks that disobey the Kings ecclesiasticall laws and disturb the peace of the church Yea but they are good men whom your bishops persecute and you cannot except the bishop of Armagh for when I was called in question before the high commission the Primate of Ireland sate there and by silence gave consent The Primate of Ireland was never a Judge in our high commission in England as it is well known sometimes he might sit with the rest but he had no power to give sentence in the high commission in England and if I might know truly for what cause you were brought into the high commission I doubt not but to prove the sentence given against you to be just for you are one who come not to church nor will hear our preachers but only some of your own sect and those no better then meer Lay-men We do no read of any such distinction in the word of God as Lay-men and Clergy-men these are popish distinctions the word Lay is not in all the scriptures No more is the word Trinity nor sacrament nor many others read in scripture yet the sense of them is there and so is the distinction of Clergy and Laitie for God commandeth that the people should learn the law from the Priests mouth the Priests were no other then the Clergy and the common people then the Laity Their Priest-hood was not the same with yours It was the same for substance but not for ceremony and manner of worship their Priest-hood was typicall ours evangelicall they by the figures of the ceremoniall law fore-shewed Christ to come we preach that Christ is come Can you prove any
given this power to the church yet some particular men in the church ought to execute this power of ordination The issue of the conference was first the Knights Ladies and Gentlemen gave the Doctor great thanks secondly three of the Anabaptists went away discontented the fourth seemed in part satisfied desired a second meeting but the next day conferring with the rest of that sect he altered his resolution and neither he nor any of that sect ever since that day troubled the Doctor or any other Minister in the Borough with any second chalenge Finis Additions to the former Conference IN the conference above mentioned D. F. promised to prove the baptisme of children 1. By scripture 2. By consent of the universall church And 3. by evident reason And the arguments drawn from the first head he prosecuted but was not permitted at that time to urge the arguments drawn from the second and third heads yet because they were desired by some persons of note it was thought fit they should be added to the former Next to the arguments drawn from expresse testimony of scripture for the baptisme of children we have a most forcible argument drawn from the consent of the universall church testified by their constant practise of admitting children to baptisme even from the Apostles dayes unto this present This argument if it be well weighed is of very great moment and may convince the conscience of any ingenuous Christian. For no Christian doubteth but that the Apostles were inspired by the holy Ghost and Christ promised his spirit to lead his church into all truth which promise he hath hitherto made good in such sort that it cannot be proved that ever the whole church of Christ unversally erred it is true particular churches have erred and may erre and generall councels which the schools tearm the representative church are subject to error and have sometimes decreed heresie and false-hood for truth but the formall church as they speak that is all the assemblies of Christians in the world cannot be impeached with error at any time whence I thus frame my argument That which the Apostles in their dayes began and the whole christian church scattered over the face of the whole earth hath continued in all ages and all countries where christianity hath been and is professed cannot be an erroneous practise But the catholike christian church in all places and ages even from the Apostles times hath admitted the children of faithfull parents to holy baptisme Ergo the practise of christening children cannot be erroneous or unwarrantable as the Anabaptists teach The major or first proposition is already sufficiently proved the minor or second proposition is proved by the testimony of Origen for the Greek church and S. Austin for the Latine and the Ecclesiasticall stories in all ages Origen in his Commentarie upon the sixt chapter of St. Paul to the Romans having alledged the words of the prophet David Psal. 51. 5. I was born in iniquity and in sin hath my mother conceived me addeth proper hoc ecclesia ab Apostolis traditionem accepit parvulis dare baptismum for this reason namely because all are conceived in sin the church hath received a tradition from the Apostles to administer baptisme to little infants And St. Austine l. 10. de genesi ad literam c. 23. Consuetudo matris ecclesie in baptizandis parvulis non spernenda est nec omnino credenda esset nisi Apostolica esset traditio the custome of our mother the church in baptizing infants is no way to be sleighted or rejected neither were it at all to be beleeved if it were not an Apostolicall tradition As for the continuance continuance of it the hystorie of all ages of the church confirms it neither can there be brought an instance in any Christian church in the world that denyed baptisme to children til this sect arose in Germany since the reformation began there in the dayes of Henry the eight After the testimonies of scriptures and the practise of the catholike church we have a third proof drawn from evidence of Reason against which if it be excepted that the eye of reason in matter of faith is but dim and therefore that such arguments are no way convincing I answer that it is true that such arguments drawn from reason as have no other ground but philosophicall axioms or sensible experiments are of little force in matter of faith which is above reason but such reasons as have ground and foundation in scripture and are firmly built upon those foundations are of exceeding great force and such are those I purpose to alledge First where the disease is there ought the remedy to be applied But the disease to wit originall sin is in children as well as men For all have sinned in Adam Rom. 5. 12. and are by nature the children of wrath Ephesi 2. 3. Ergo the remedy which is baptisme ought to be applied to children as well as men Secondly those who are comprised within the covenant of grace ought to be admitted into the church by baptisme For to them appertain both the promises of the new testament and the seal thereof which is baptisme But the children of the faithfull are comprised within the covenant of grace Gen. 17. 7. I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee for an everlasting covenant Ergo children ought to be admitted into the church by baptisme Thirdly no means of salvation ought to be denyed to the children of the faithfull whereof they are capable But baptisme is an outward means of salvation whereof children are capable under the gospel as well as the children of the Jews were capable of circumcision under the law Ergo baptisme ought not to be denied to children Fourthly all those who receive the thing signified by baptisme ought to receive the outward sign It is the argument of St. Peter Acts 10. 47. Can any man forbid water that these should not be baptized which have received the holy Ghost as well as we But the children of the faithfull receive the thing signified by baptisme to wit regeneration and remission of sins Ergo they ought to receive the sign to wit the baptisme of water The proposition or major is proved alreadie the assumption or minor is thus proved Christ bad children come to him and he blessed them and said of such is the kingdom of God Mar. 10. 16. and that their Angels continually behold his Fathers face in heaven Mat. 18. 10. and unlesse the Anabaptists will grant that children are regenerated and receive remission of sins they must needs hold that all children are damned which is a most uncharitable and damnable assertion The ANABAPTISTS Objection Yea but the Anabaptists object Mat. 28. 18. Go teach all nations baptizing them Whence they would infer that none are to be baptized but those to whom the gospel hath before bin preached consequently that children ought not to be
baptized before they can hear and understand the gospel preached to them ANSWER 1. The setting preaching before baptizing doth no more prove that preaching must alwaies go before baptisme then the naming repentance before faith Mar. 1. 15. Repent and beleeve the gospel proves that repentance goeth alwayes before faith which the Anabaptists themselves hold not 2. Christ setteth in that place preaching before baptizing for two reasons neither of which make any thing against the baptisme of children The first is because it is the more principall act of the ministeriall function for it is preaching which through the operation of the holy Spirit begetteth faith which the sacraments only confirme preaching draweth the instrument as it were of the covenant between God and us whereunto the sacrament is set as a seal Secondly because Christ there speaketh of converting whole nations to the Christian faith in which alwayes the preaching of the word goeth before the administration of the sacraments For first men beleeve and after are admitted to baptisme but after the parents are converted their children being comprised within the covenant are admitted to baptisme and whensoever any proselyte is to be made this course is likewise to be taken they must professe their faith before they be received into the church by baptisme but the case is different in children they have neither the use of reason to apprehend the gospel preached unto them nor use of their tongue to professe their faith and God requireth no more of them then he hath given them the like course God himself took in the old law before any men of riper years were circumcised the commandement of God was declared and his covenant made known unto them but children were circumcised the eight day before they were capable of any preaching unto them or such declaration Nothing remaineth but that the two objections concerning the doctrine of the Trinitie in the beginning propounded by D. F. for no other end but to try how well verst these ring-leaders of the Anabaptists were in the more necessary points of catechisme he answered The first was framed out of Ioh. 17. 3. This is life eternall to know thee to be the only true God and whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ. If the Father be the only true God how is the Son or the holy Ghost very God Hereunto the Anabaptists gave two answers the first blaspemous the second unsufficient and impertinent as appears in the beginning of the conference The true answer is that Christ Ioh. 17. prayeth to God and not to any of the three Persons particularly for though he useth the word Father v. 1. yet Father is not there taken for the first Person in Trinity but as a common attribute of the deity as it is also taken Mat. 6. 9. Our Father v. 14. your heavenly Father Gal. 1. 4. God and our Father Jam. 1. 27. Before God and the Father 1 Pet. 1. 17. If you call him Father who judgeth without respect of persons So then the meaning is O God Father of heaven and earth This is life eternall to know thee to be the only true God and whom thou hast sent Iesus Christ. According to which interpretation this text is parallel to that of the Apostle one God and one Mediator betwixt God and man the man Christ Iesus 1 Tim. 2. 5. The second objection was out of Ioh. 15. 26. The spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father If the spirit proceed from the Father only how do we say in the Nicen creed and that other of Athanasius and in the Letany which proceedeth from the Father and the Son To this none of the Anabaptists gave any answer at all yet the answer is very easie for the spirit is said to proceed from the Father in the place above alledged because he proceedeth from the Father originally not because he proceedeth from the Father only for he is elsewhere called the spirit of the Son as well as of the Father Gal. 4. 6. And in this very text Ioh. 15. 26. it is said the spirit whom I will send you from the Father which sheweth that the holy Spirit hath a dependance from both To whom three Persons and one only true God be ascribed all glory honour power and dominion for evermore FINIS A TRACTATE against the ANABAPTISTS CHAPTER I. Of the name and severall sorts of Anabaptists THe name Anabaptist is derived from the preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and signifieth are-baptizer or at least such an one who alloweth of and maintaineth re-baptizing they are called also Catabaptists from the preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying an abuser or prophaner of baptisme For indeed every Anabaptist is also a Catabaptist the reitteration of that sacrament of our entrance into the church and seal of our new birth in Christ is a violation and depravation of that holy ordinance Of these Anabaptists or Catabaptists who differ no more then Bavius and Maevius of whom the poet elegantly writeth Qui Bavium non odit amat tua carniua Maevi Alstedius maketh fourteen sorts first the Muncerians 2. the Apostolical 3. the Separatists 4 the Catharists 25 the Silents 6. the Enthusiasts 7. the Libertines 8. the Adamites 9. the Hutites 10. the Augustintans 11. the Buchedians 12. the Melchiorites 13. the Georgians 14. the Menonists But in this as in other things he is more to be commended for his diligence in collection then for his judgement in election For although there are schismaticall and hereticall persons that have neer affinitie with Anabaptists known by all these names yet these are not so many distinct and severall sorts of Anabaptists For some of these differ only in respect of their doctors or teachers and not of their doctrines as the Muncerians Hutites Menonists others were hereticks more ancient then the Anabaptists properly so called as namely the Apostolicall the Catharists the Adamites and Enthusiasts though as I shall shew hereafter some of our present Anabaptists trench upon their heresies the Augustinians Melchiorites and Georgians are Anabaptists aliquid amplius though they agree with them in their main doctrine of re-baptizing yet they go beyond the ordinary Anabaptists holding far more damnable tenents then they For the Augustinians beleeve that none shall enter into paradise till the prince of their sect Austine the Bohemian shall open the way The Melchiorites expect Melchior Hofmannus to come with Elias to restore all things before the last day The Georgians blasphemously boast that their master David George was a holy person composed and made of the soul of Christ the third person in the Trinitie Lastly he omitteth one sort of Anabaptists called Hemerobaptists who in the summer time quotidiè baptizabātur were christened every day senserunt enim aliter non posse hominem vivere si non singulis diebus in aqua mergeretur ita ut abluatur sanctificetur ab omni
thing or spirituall act or grace signified by Baptisme may be sufficiently expressed without Dipping then is not Dipping necessary in Baptisme for the whole use of the signe in Baptisme in all other Sacraments is but to represent the thing signified and inwardly wrought upon the soul by the means of that ordinance of God But the thing signified to wit the cleansing of the soul from the guilt and filth of sin may be sufficiently expressed by washing or rubbing with water and so putting away the filth of the flesh 1 Pet. 3. 21. without any plunging or Dipping of the whole body or any part thereof Ergo Dipping is not necessary in Baptisme ARGUMENT IIII. Sprinkling may be done and is usually without any Dipping at all But the outward act of Baptisme representing the inward Ablution of the soul is expressed in holy Scripture by sprinkling Hebr. 9. 13. The blood of bulls and goats sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh Heb. 10. 22. Having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water 1 Pet. 1. 2. Through the sanctification of the spirit and sprinkling of the blood of Iesus Christ. Ergo The outward act of Baptisme may be rightly performed without any Dipping at all ARGUMENT V. Baptisme is a Sacrament though not of absolute necessity yet of very great as all confesse and it falleth out often that it ought to be administred to sick and infirm persons even sometimes lying upon their death bed they making profession of their Faith and earnestly desiring it But in such case these infirm persons cannot after the manner of the Anabaptists be carried to rivers or wells and there be Dipt and plunged in them without evident and apparent danger yet may they safely be Baptised by sprinkling or gentle rubbing with water Ergo Sprinkling or rubbing the flesh with water in the Name of the Trinity by those who have authority and commission from Christ is sufficient without any Dipping at all ARGUMENT VI. All the Sacraments of the church may and ought to be administred without giving any just scandall But the resort of great multitudes of men and women together in the evening and going naked into rivers there to be plunged and Dipt cannot be done without scandall especially where the State giveth no allowance to any such practise nor appointeth any order to prevent such fowl abuses as are like at such disorderly meetings to be committed Ergo The Sacrament of Baptisme ought not to be administred with such plunging or Dipping The Objections of the Anabaptists answered Now let us hear what they can say for their Dipping and with what weak bulrushes they fight against the truth Fist they object that the word Baptize is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifying to Dip or Die therefore say they washing or sprinkling with water is not Baptizing but plunging the body or the head at least in water But we answer First out of Aquinas and the schoolmen in verbis non tam spectandum ex quo quam ad quid sumantur in words we are not so much to respect from whence they are derived as how they are used as we see the branches of trees spread much further then the roots so the derivative words are often of a larger extent of signification then their primitives for instance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and signifieth originally and properly Catechizing or such a kinde of Teaching wherein the principles of Religion or of any Art or Science are often inculcated and by continuall sounding and resounding beat into the ears of children or novies but yet it is taken in holy Scripture in a larger sense not onely for catchizing of children but instructing men of riper yeers in the doctrine of salvation as Luke 1. 4. That thou mightest know the certainty of those things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherein thou hast been instructed and Acts 1825. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This man was instructed in the way of the Lord and Acts 21. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Whereof they informed concerning thee and Rom. 14. 19. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Follow the things wherewith one may edifie another and Gal. 6. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let him that as taught in the word communicate to him that teacheth him In like manner The word prophecie is derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth originally and properly to foretell things future yet it is taken in the new Testament especially in a larger sense for all such as reveale the will of God and declare his promises aswell past and already fulfilled as to be fulfilled hereafter as namely 1 Cor. 11. 4. every man praying or prophecying having his head covered dishonoureth his head 1 Cor. 14. 1. Desire spirituall gifts but rather that ye may prophesie and verse 3. He that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification to exhortation to comfort verse 31. Ye may all prophesâ—e one by one verse 32. The spirit of the prophets are subject to the prophets So the word Baptize though it be derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tingo to Dip or Plunge into the water and signifieth primarily such a kinde of washing as is used in bucks where linnen is Plunged and Dipt yet it is taken more largely for any kinde of washing rinsing or cleansing even where there is no Dipping at all as Matth. 3. 11. 20. 22. Mark 7. 4. 10. 38. Luke 3. 16. Acts 1. 5. 11. 16. 1 Cor. 10. 2. Secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from whence Baptize is derived signifieth as well to Die as to Dip and it may be the holy Ghost in the word Baptize hath some reference to that signification because by Baptisme we change our hiew for as Varro reporteth of a river in Baeotia that the water thereof turneth sheep of a dark or dun colour into white so the sheep of Christ which are washed in the Font of Baptisme by vertue of Christs promise though before they were of never so dark sad or dirtie colour yet in their souls become white and pure and are as it were new died therefore admitting that in the word Baptize there were something of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tingo to Dip or Die yet it will not follow That it necessarily signifieth Dipping for it may aswell imply this spirituall Die to which no Dipping is necessary Secondly they argue from the example of Christ and Iohn and of Philip and the Eunuch Iesus say they and Iohn went both into Iordan and there Iohn Baptized Iesus and likewise Philip and the Eunuch went both down into the water and there Philip Baptized the Eunuch therefore say they sprinkling or washing with water will not suffice but the parties that are to be baptized ought to go into the water and there be Dipt over head and ears But we answer First an example of Christ or his
not for every circumstance But the reason and equitie of the law of circumcising children still remaineth for nothing can be alledged why children then should be by circumcision admitted to the church not now as well by baptisme hic aqua adversariis semper haeret Thirdly if the children of Christian parents should be excluded from baptisme they should be in a worse condition then the children of the Jews were under the law for they by receiving the sacrament of circumcision were admitted into the visible congregation of Gods people and accounted partakers of his promises But it were absurd nay as Calvin further enforceth this argument execrable blasphemie to think that Christ should abridge those priviledges to the children of the faithfull under the Gospell which God granted to children under the law ARGUMENT V. All they who are comprised within the covenant and are no where prohibited to receive the seal thereof may and ought to receive it But children are comprised within the covenant of faith whereof circumcision was a seal Rom 4. 11. and now baptisme is Ergo children may and ought to receive baptisme Of the major or first proposition there can be no doubt for it is unjust to deprive a man of the confirmation of that to which he hath a true right and title And for the minor or assumption it is as clear for so are the words of the covenant Gen. 17. 7. I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee ANABAP ANSWER That promise there belongs only to the seed of Abraham according to the flesh and not to us REPLY First this answer is in effect refuted by the Apostle Rom. 4. 13. The promise that he should be the heir of the world was not given to Abraham or his seed through the law but through the righteousnesse of faith as he was the father of all the faithfull and in that notion we are as well his children as the beleeving Jews and we read expressely Act. 2. 39. that the promise is made unto you and to your children and to all that are afar off and even as many as the Lord our God shal call and Gal. 3. 7. Know ye therefore that they that are of faith are of the children of Abraham Secondly the covenant which God made with Abraham and his seed is said to be eternall the chief head whereof was that he would be their God but this is not verified of Abrahams seed according to the flesh for very few of them for these many hundred years have been Gods people being professed enemies to Christ and his church this promise therefore must necessarily be understood of his children according to promise among which all true beleevers and their children are to be reckoned and if they are comprised within the covenant why should they not receive the seal of their initiation and admittance thereunto which was circumcision but now is baptisme every way corresponding thereunto As is solidly proved and clearly illustrated by S. Cyprian l. 3. ep 8. Lactan. l. 4. divin justit c. 15. Augustinus ep ad Dardonuns 57. cont Iul. Pelag. l. 2. ARGUMENT VI. Such who were typically baptized under the law are capable of real and true baptisme under the Gospell for the argument holds good à typo ad veritatem from the type to the truth from the signs in the law to the things signified in the Gospell But children were typically baptized under the law for they with their fathers were under the cloud and passed through the red sea but their washing with rain from the cloud prefigured our washing in baptisme and by the spirit and the red sea in which Pharaoh and his host were drowned was an emblem of Christs blood in which all our ghostly enemies are drowned and destroyed Ergo children are capable of true and reall baptisme under the Gospell ANABAP ANSWER The cloud and the red sea and the rock that followed them were not types but only metaphors and allegories from which no firm arguments can be drawn in this kind REPLY First this answer whets a knife to cut their own throats For as Gastius affirmeth it is the doctrine of the Anabaptists that all sacraments are nothing else but allegories if then the cloud and the red sea were allegories signifying our spirituall washing according to their own tenets they are sacraments and if children were partakers of sacramentall ablutions under the law why not under the Gospell Secondly the Apostle saith expressely ver 6. that all these things were types or figures or lively patterns to us and ver 2. that all were baptized in the cloud and in the sea the cloud therefore and the sea were types of our baptisme and not meer tropes or allegories They may happily object that as we read in the canon law that a Pastor or Rector may have a Vicar endowed sed vicarius non habet vicarium that a Vicar cannot have a Vicar endowed under him and likewise in Philosophie that the voice may have an echo by the repercussion of the aire but that the echo hath no echo so that the promises of God have types or sacraments representing them but that the types and sacraments themselvs have no types and sacrament to prefigure them But the answer is easie for we may say with Nazianzen that either there may be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an obscure type of a clearer and a rude draught or imperfect modell of a more perfect such were the legall types of the Evangelicall sacraments or to speak more properly circumcision and the Pascall Lamb were not types of our baptisme and of the sacrament of the Eucharist but of the things represented by them viz. of the circumcision of the heart and our spirituall nourishment by feeding upon the Lamb of God that takes away the sinnes of the world ARGUMENT VII All they who belong to Christ and his kingdom ought to be received into the church by baptisme But children belong to Christ and his kingdom as Christ himselfe teacheth us Mar. 10. 14. and Luk. 18. 16. suffer little children to câ—me unto me and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of God verily I say unto you whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child he shall not enter therein vers 15. and he took them up in his arms and put his hands upon them and blessed them Ergo children ought to be admitted into the church by baptisme ANABAP ANSVVER This place is put in to be read at the sprinkling of children for the whore hath sweet words as sweet as oyle with these fair speeches she maketh the nations yeeld to her Prov. 7. 21. but the simple only beleeve her for this place maketh nothing for the baptisme of children the children mentioned in the Gospel were not sucklings for it is said they came to Christ neither did Christ christen any of them though he took them into
neither had they the gift of prophesie what then Was the promise there spoken of made to the Iews and their children and all the Gentiles whom God had vouchsafed to call namely the promise of salvation v. 21. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved and the gift of repentance and remission of sins by baptisme mentioned v. 38. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of the Lord Iesus for remission of sins Thirdly whereas they who are wel-affected to childrens baptisme draw an evidence thereof even from the cloud mentioned 1 Cor. 10. 2. after this manner This truth answereth the type but children were baptized in the type when they were baptized in the cloud and in the sea as Israel passed out of AEgypt into the wildernesse Ergo children ought now to be baptized in the truth This sworn enemie of childrens Christendom goeth about to blot and deface this evidence by scribling upon it that the baptizing in the sea and the cloud the Apostle speaketh of was an allegorie and an allusion not any type or figure from whence any substantiall argument might be drawn for childrens baptisme But if we scrape away his scribling we may read a clear evidence for the lawfulnesse of childrens baptisme REPLY For first it is confessed on all hands and may be collected from the sacred storie that the Israelites took all their children with them out of AEgypt and that they together with their parents passed through the red sed which was an embleme of Christs blood in which the spirituall Pharoah and all our ghostly enemies are destroyed and that they were washed and sprinkled as well as their parents with the water of the sea and that which dropt from the cloud and S. Paul addeth v. 6. that all those things were types 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that as the Apostle saith They and we ate the same spirituall bread v. 4. and drank of the same spirituall rock and the rock was Christ so he might have said that they were all baptized in the water of the cloud and in the sea and that water spiritually was Christs blood for so the ancient Fathers teach us to speak S. Hilarie in Psal. 67. They were all under the cloud and were drenched with Christ the rock giving them water And Leo likewise the sacraments were altered according to the diversitie of the times but the faith whereby we live in all ages was ever one And S. Austine yet more fully these things were sacraments in outward tokens diverse but in the things tokened all one with ours And the sacraments of the old law were promises of such things as should afterward be accomplished our sacraments of the new law are tokens that the same promises alreadie are accomplished Fourthly among many other arguments brought for the justification of the practice of the Christian church in the baptizing infants that passage of the Apostle 1 Cor. 7. 14. is much insisted upon For the unbeleeving husband is sanctified by the wife and the unbeleeving wife is sanctified by her husband else were you children unclean but now are they holy that for verie good reason For the Apostles argument concludes that some holinesse redounds to the children by the unbeleeving wives cohabition with her husband being a beleever or of the unbeleeving husband with a wife that is a Christian. Now the question is whether inward holinesse or outward that which some call federall holinesse the Apostle cannot mean inward holinesse for the beleefe of the father or mother cannot infuse or produce such holinesse in the infant and if the Apostle speak of this outward or federall holinesse and his meaning is that the unbeleeving wife is so farre sanctified to her husband as to bring forth a holy seed to him that is children belonging to the common-wealth of Israel and having a title to the covenant of grace then undoubtedly the children of beleevers ought to receive the seal of that covenant to wit baptisme To avoid this inference and defeat the whole argument this Anabaptist with his fellow Barbar coyneth a new holinesse never heard of in scripture and withall corrupteth the Apostles text with this absurd glosse ANSWER Because the unbeleeving wife is sanctified to her beleeving husband therefore her children are holy that is lawfully begotten not spurious not bastards REPLY A bastard exposition repugnant both to the text and the scope of the Apostle as I have declared before in-part Article 2. Argument 8. whereunto may be added these important considerations First holinesse in Scripture is no where taken for legitimation they may be holy whose birth was yet not legitimate and their birth legitmate who are far from holinesse Bastardie though it be a fruit of uncleanesse in the parents and a blemish to their children in their reputation yet it maketh not them unclean nor federally unholy that is such as belong not to the covenant of God for Pharez Zarah Iephthah and other base-born among the Iews were circumcised and reckoned among the people of God Secondly if the Apostle meant no more by holinesse but legitimation he had no way resolved the Corinthiant scruple which was whether according to the law of God and the example of the Israelites in the dayes of Ezra they were not to put away their unbeleeving wives and children the Apostle answereth no because their children begotten born by them should be no bastards as they expound the word holy This answer could give them no satisfaction at all for the children that were born or begotten by the Iews who had married strange wives in the days of Ezra were not bastards being born in wedlock yet they were commanded to put them away and their mothers Thirdly that cannot be the meaning of the Apostle which implies untruth for the Apostle wrote inspired by the Spirit of truth but it is not true that all those children are unclean that is as they interpret bastards that come of unbeleeving parents for though either or both the parents were infidels yet if the children were begotten born in lawfull wedlock they were no bastards noman doubteth but there may be lawful wedlock between infidels For marriage is de jure naturae and adulterie among the heathen was a crime but if the heathen marriages were no marriages then there could be no adulterie among them for adulterie is the defiling of the marriage bed Lastly the main scope of the Apostle in this place was to perswade the beleevers among the Corinthians to cohabit with their wives that were willing to live with them though they were yet unbleevers not only because they might conceive good hope of their conversion by their loving and Christian conversation with them but because thereby their children should acquire some holinesse But if the children of beleeving parents should not be admitted to the communion of Saints and congregation of the faithfull by baptisme their children should
also all the the reformed churches who conclude their prayers before their Sermon or after with this prayer conceive that it ought not only to beset before us as a pattern when we pray but also to be used as a prayer Neither are the reasons to the contrarie of any weight for though it be Scripture that doth not conclude it to be no prayer For the prayers of Moses Hannah Deborah Solomon David and Paul are set down in holy Scriptures and are part of the inspired oracles of God yet they cease not to be prayers and though in the Lords Prayer all the particular wants of Gods children are not expressed yet the main wants and principall graces are expressed to which the other may be with great facilitie added by our selvs and referred to the proper heads in the Lords Prayer Secondly hos suo jugulamus gladio we may give them a wound with their own dudgeon dagger for if they grant it to be the pattern of all Prayers it followeth that it is the perfectest of all prayers and certainly if we may use prayers of our own which are more imperfect much more may we use this which is a most absolute and perfect one If a Scrivener set a most perfect copie and therein comprise in certain sentences not only all the letters of the Alphabet but all the combinations and conjunctions of them none doubteth but that the schollers may both write other sentences according to that pattern and in the first place write those verie sentences in the copie endeavour to come as near as they can to the originall Such is the Lords Prayer a perfect copie to write by comprising in it all things needfull for a Christian to pray for first therefore we are to write it and then to write after it and correct our writing by it and though we speak with the tongue of men and Angells yet certainly our prayers cannot be so acceptable to God as when we tender them unto him in his Sons own words For this end saith that blessed Martyr S. Cyprian Christ vouchsafed to leave us this incomparable forme of prayer that whilst in prayer to the Father we read or say by heart what his Son taught us we may the sooner and easier be heard ARGUMENT IV. What the Christian church hath generally practised in all ages and places in the worship of God ought not to be thought as erroneous or swerving from the rule of Gods word But the Christian church generally in all ages and in all places hath made use of publike set and sanctified forms of prayer as appeareth by the Liturgies yet extant whereof some bear the names of the Apostles as S. Iames and S. Peter some of the Greek fathers as that of Chrysostome and S. Basil some of the Latine fathers as Ambrose Gregorie and Isidore c. Ergo set forms of prayers are not erroneous or swerving from the rule of Gods word ANABAP ANSWERS First that this is no better then a popish argument drawn from antiquitie and universalitie Secondly that these Liturgies are Apochryphall and though in latter times the use of Liturgies came in yet the purer and more ancient times used no such crutches to support their lame devotion for Justine Martyr in his second apologie affirmeth that the chief minister sent up prayers to God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is interpreted according to his abilitie or gift of ex tempore prayers and Tertullian in his apologie saith that the Christians needed no monitor in their prayers as it were to chalk the way before them in a set form because they prayed by heart REPLY First the Papists pretend to antiquitie and make their brags of universalitie but in truth they have neither An argument drawn from a shadow of truth vanisheth like a shadow but an argument drawn from a true bodie is substantiall Secondly the strength of the argument lieth not in bare antiquitie and the universalitie of this practice for we know many errors are ancient and some abuses verie far spreading but in the nature and condition of the Catholike Christian church to whom Christ hath promised his perpetuall presence and the guidance of his Spirit into all truth in which regard the Apostle stileth it the pillar and ground of truth For howsoever particular churches may erre in faith and manners and the representative Catholike church in the most generall Councells hath sometimes grossely mistaken error for truth and Idolatrie for true religion yet the universall church taken formally for the whole companie of beleevers hath ever been kept by vertue of Christs promise from falling into any dangerous errour especially for any long time Thirdly Because they except against the Liturgies found in the writings of the ancient fathers in which though I grant there are some prints of noveltie yet there are foot-steps also of true antiquitie I will wave them for the present and by other good testimonies prove the constant and perpetuall use of Service or Common-Prayer-Books To begin with the first age from the ascension of our Lord to a hundred years Victorius Sciaticus Maronita in his preface to those three Liturgies he put forth saith that the Bishops both of the Eastern and Western churches made some alteration upon good ground in those Liturgies which they received from the Apostlei If this mans credit cannot carrie so great a cause yet certainly Hegesippus his testimonie a most ancient writer bordering upon the Apostles time ought not to be slighted who writeth of S. Iames chosen Bishop of Ierusalem by the Apostles themselvs that in regard of a form of Service or Common-Prayer-Book made by him for the use of the church of Ierusalem he was stiled Iacobus Liturgus In the second age Iustine Martyr in his second apologie which he wrote to Antoninus the Emperour acquainteth us with the practice of the Christians in his time which was to meet everie Sunday and in their Assemblies to read select places of Scripture hear Sermons and sing Psalmes and after the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Priest or chief Minister had made an end of his conceived prayer to offer up make or say Common-Prayers unto God It is true as it is alledged that he prayed by himself 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with all his might that is in the best manner he could or with all fervencie of devotion as the Rabbins say that he that pronounceth Amen with all his might openeth the gates of Eden This expression in the Greek will not conclude that the chief Minister in those dayes prayed ex tempore for it may truly be said of them who in the Universitie and at Court pen their prayers most accurately that they pray 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with all their strength of wit memorie and affection Yet if it were granted that the Preacher in Iustine Martyrs time might make a short prayer before his Sermon ex tempore yet certainly he read other
much of their suffering for righteousnesse sake yet where they get any strength and can make head they resist the powers ordained of God and make war against their lawfull superiours as we may soe in Sleiden Gastius and Guy-de-bres Fiftly They inveigh against covetousnesse and to extirpate that root of all evill teach men to renounce all proprietie in their goods and to have all things in common Yet they rob Monasteries plunder townes and villages rifle houses and turne the wicked as they tearm them out of their possessions and hold them themselves and when they are upbraided with this their rapine they alleadge that text for themselves The meek shall possesse the earth presuming themselves to be those meeke ones though we shall prove them hereafter to be a most cruell and bloody sect Sixtly They teach that the office of a civill Magistrate cannot consist with Christian perfection yet they themselves in Munster and elsewhere had a Consul and Senatours and a Headsman of their own yea and a King also Iohn Leiden the Tayler who stitched up a Kingdome in one yeer and ravelled it out the next Seventhly They strip themselves stark naked not onely when they flocke in great multitudes men and women together to their Iordans to be dipt but also upon other occasions when the season permits and when they are questioned for it they shelter this their shamelesse act with the proverb Veritas nuda est the truth is naked and desires no vail masque or guise which reason if it were good would hinder them from holding private Conventicles as they do and when there is processe out against them running into corners to hide themselves for as the proverb is Veritas nuda est Truth is naked which warranteth them as they conceive to throw off their clothes so also there is a like proverb Veritas non quaerit angulos truth seekes no corners nor innocencie starting holes yet they doe Lastly in their Confession printed this yeer they finde themselves agrieved with the name of Anabaptist saying they are falstly so called yet it is well knowne they all of them either rebaptize or are rebaptized and consequently are properly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 actively or passively But as Corvinus in his elder age so quite lost his memory that he forgot his owne name so these are so ignorant that they know not their own proper name If these disclaime second Baptisme they are none of the sect if they practise it how can they truely say that they are falsly called Anabaptist If Anabaptists be their nicke name what is their right name whereby they may be distinguished from mother Christians Catholike or Hereticks They have hitherto been known in generall by no other names then of Anabaptists or Catabaptists and never a barrell better herring And Anabaptist deprives children of Baptisme and a Catabaptist depraves Baptisme A Catabaptist may sometimes be no Anabaptist such as was Leo Copronymus who defiled the Font at his Baptisme yet was he not Christened againe but every Anabaptist is necessarily a Catabaptist for the iteration of that Sacrament is an abuse and pollution thereof OBSERVAT. II. That the Anabaptists are a lying and blasphemous sect falsly pretending to divine Visions and Revelations All devisers of new Religions and spirituall impostures ascribe their new doctrine and worship to some divine Author either God himselfe or some Angel sent from him and this they doe not so much to amuse the vulgar as to secure their tenets from the hazard of disputes and exempt their persons and actions from the test of examination He that speaketh from the earth and beares himselfe upon humane authoritie and reason can gaine no more upon his hearers then the point of his sword or dint of his Arguments can inforce their assent thereunto but he that speaketh as from heaven captivateth our reason and easily perswades us to resigne our eyes to him who dwelleth in a light that none can approach unto In humane debates and consultations we are not to regard so much quis as quid who is he that speaketh as what it is that is spoken but contrariwise in celestriall mystries and disputes about Religion we are not so much to respect quid as quis what is that which our beliefe must embrace as who he is that commands our assent if it be he who endued us with reason all reason there is that our reason should vaile bonnet to him whence is that golden Aphorisme of Saint Gregorie Qui in factis dei rationem non invenit in infirmitate sua rationem invenit cur rationem non inveniat He who inquires into celestiall mysteries and is at a fault in his search and can finde no reason why such things should be so finds a sufficient reason in his owne infirmitie why he cannot dive into the reason thereof His meaning is the plummet of mans wit is too light and the line of his discourse too short to sound the bottome of these depths for this cause it is that the broachers of new and absurd tenets or rites in Religion which naturall reason abhorres to prevent all reasonings about them pretend to Divine Revelations for them Minos fained that he consulted with Iupiter in a deep vault and from him received his law Numa that he had private conference with the Goddesse Aegeria and from her received his rituall Mahomet that he discoursed with the Angel Gabriel whose dictates are registred in the Alcharon the Helcesaites that they had a booke sent down from heaven in which all Divine mysteries were revealed which whosoever heard read should presently receive remission of sinnes In like manner Stock Muncer Melchior Georgius Tuscoverer and others by whose hands the envious man in these latter dayes sowed the tares of Anabaptisme have deluded the people with pretended inspirations visions dreames and Revelations Nicholas Stock gave it out that God spake to him by an Angel and revealed to him his will in dreames promising him the plaee of the Angel Gabriel Next to this Nicholas Stock Thomas Muncer was most famous in the Anabaptists chronicle who when the people that were discontented with their Magistrates and encouraged by their hereticall teachers to rebell in Franconia drew themselves into the body of an Armie this Muncer marched not in the place assigned for false prophets in the taile but in the head and there made an oration to the souldiers Advance brave spirits ride on with your honour and your right hand shall teach you terrible things For God hath revealed to me that the day shall be yours he promised me he who cannot lie nor deceive assured me that he will fight for you let not the Princes Artillery terrifie you for this robe of mine shall receive and dead all the bullets shot at you look up to the sky see you not there a rainbow in the clouds the colours whereof we beare in our Streamers and Ancients and can ye doubt of victorie
Such were most of the ancient Arch-hereticks who as themselves were caught so they caught others esca voluptatis with a fleshy bait their Minions are upon record Simon Magus had his Helena Apelles his Philumena Montanus his Maximilla Donatus his Lucilia Elpidius his Agape Priscilian his Galla and others their Mistresses Not to tell you of Sergius the Pope his Marozia Gregory the seventh his Matildis Alexander the sixt his Lucretia Leo the tenth his Magdalena and Paul the third his Constantia in which consideration I perswade my selfe that the degenerating See of Rome is tearmed in the Apocalypse the great whore not only because she commits spirituall fornication in her idolatrous worship of Saints Images and Reliques but because she permits corporall tolerating Stewes and setting an easie rate upon all the impure vents of luxury naturall and unnaturall And though the Familists Libertines and Anabaptists stand in opposition to Papists yet the great fowler of sâ—ules catcheth them all with the same foule birdlime of impure lusts Of the Libertines and Familists I need not speak they have discovered their filthinesse in the face of the Suâ— and for the Anabaptists all their often washing will neither cleanse their conscience from the guilt nor their reputation from the staine of carnall impurity For though they tolerate not Stewes as the Pope doth yet they allow of plurality of wives and most uncleane practices under the name of spirituall marriages nay some of them have not blushed to affirme that none of their Sect can commit adultery because adulterium according to the Etymologie ad alterum is folly committed with another mans wife and defiling anothers body but all that are of their society are so knit one to the other that they are all one body as well as one spirit They had no sooner instild this doctrine into the weaker Sex but two maids at Sanctogall immediately after their second Baptisme made ship-wrack of their virginity and a third dashing at the same rock and being called in question by the Magistrate for her incontinency professed that shee out of her pure conscience did it that is playd the Whore For the Ring-leaders of our Sect told me said she that it was the will of the heavenly Father that I should deny none the debt of Spirituall matrimony propterea fui adomnia obedientissima omnibus qui spiritualis matrimonii debita postulabant Iohn of Leiden their King and Prophet himselfe though he pretended to never so much holinesse yet was observed by a souldier in the night to steale from his wives bed and truckle with the maid which to colour he made her his wife and to justifie the marriage he fell into that Propheticall sleep I spake of before and after he had dreamed three dayes and three nights together proclaimed his dreame for a divine Oracle that no man was tyed to one wife after which his Proclamation all his Subjects ran to the handsomest women in the City striving who should bee served first and some with a forme of spirituall contract some without it so blasted the fairest flowers in all Munster that there was not a maid of fourteene yeares of age that was not viciated Of the like staine though not altogether of the same straine were the two false Prophets discovered in London 1642. Richard Farnham and Iohn Bull Whereof one of them Richard Farnham the Weaver to make a more sensible as he conceived demonstration of his extraordinary calling like to that of Hosea took to himselfe a wife of fornications a Sea-faring mans wife who returning home laid her in Newgate where she was arraigned and condemned for having two husbands yet through mercy obtained a Reprieve But I will touch no more upon this Pitch lest I defile my hands and the Readers eyes therewith OBSERVAT. IV. That the Anabaptists are a cruell and bloody Sect. Suetonius writeth that a Physiognomer being demanded what he thought concerning the naturall inclination and constitution of Tiberius the Emperour answered I see in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 dirt mingled with blood Thereby intimating that he would prove a most leud lascivious and cruell Emperour the dirt in his complexion representing filthinesse and the blood Cruelty Such is the temper of the Anabaptists filthy and impure as I have shewed before and which is far worse cruell and bloodie As it is the peculiar Attribute of God to be the Saviour and Preserver of Man-kind so the Devils proper name is in Hebrew Abaddon in Greek Apollyon that is The destroyer He was a murderer from the beginning as our Saviour teacheth us feducing our first parents and by his suggestion bringing in sinne and by sin death upon them and all their posterity He was accessarie to the first murder that ever was committed by Cain upon the body of his brother Abel Fraterno primum maduerunt sanguine terrae and since he hath been the ruine and destruction of many millions of men First under colour of Religion inducing them sacrificare humanas hostias to butcher men in sacrifices to him In some places their Parents as amongst the Tribali in others the children as in the valley of Hinnon among the Indians their Kings and Priests and in other Countries either the best of men or the nearest of blood Secondly by imbroiling single men in duels Famili â— in frayes and riots Kingdoms in wars both forraigne and domesticall Lastly by raising persecutions against the liue servants of God and maintainers of the Orthodoxe Faith In the first Ages of the Church by Heathen Emperours in the middle by the Arians and Antitrinitarians and in the later by the Antichrist of Rome and his Adherents As for the Heresie of the Anabaptists it is neither so ancient as some of the former neither was it ever so far dispersed neither had it power to doe so much mischiefe and make such havock of the true Church Yet since it first sprung up in Germany it hath caused and occasioned the effusion of very much blood as I declared before in the Introduction to this Treatise and by a few instances as it were ex fimbriâ de textu by the list and selvige you may judge how deeply the cloth is dyed in blood To passe by the horrible parricide committed in the field of the Sancto Galli by an Anabaptist upon his owne brother which Gastius relateth after this manner The elder brother by the instigation of the devill having his sword under his cloak calls his brother nothing aware of his bloody intent before his father mother sisters and the whole family commands him there to kneele downe before them and suddenly whips out his sword and cuts off his head and throwes it at the feet of his Parents whereat they were so affrighted that thay dyed mad The murderer himselfe defending the fact and saying Volunt as Dei impleta est At the first rising of the Anabaptists in Suevia and Franconia to