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<DATE>2009-07-08</DATE>
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<NAME>Judith Siefring</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<BIBNO T="oclc">16963039</BIBNO>
<VID>105495</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>Catholick Schi&s;matology: OR, An ACCOUNT OF SCHISM AND SCHISMATICKS: IN The &s;everal Ages of the World. To which are prefixed &s;ome Remarks on Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI>'s Plea for Moderation.</P>
<Q><P><BIBL><HI>Eccl. 2.</HI></BIBL> Wo to them that have a double heart&mdash; and to the Sinner that goteh two manner of ways</P>
<P><BIBL><HI>Augu&s;tini Epi&s;t. 166.</HI></BIBL> <HI>Lett. G. Con&s;tantinus</HI> contra partem <HI>Donati</HI> &s;everi&s;&s;imam legem dedit, hunc imi|tati Filii ejus talia praeceperunt; Quibus &s;uccedens <HI>Julianus</HI> de&s;ertor Chri&s;ti &amp; inimicus &mdash; libertatem Parti <HI>Donati</HI> permi&s;it &amp; reddidit ba&s;ilicas&mdash; eo modo putans Chri&s;tianum nomen po&s;&s;e perire de terris.</P></Q>
<P><HI>J. B.</HI></P>
<P><HI>LONDON:</HI> Printed for <HI>Anthony Steevens,</HI> Book&s;eller in <HI>OXON</HI> 1685.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
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<HEAD>To the Wor&s;hipful ROBERT FOLEY <ABBR><HI>E&s;q</HI></ABBR> One of His MAJESTIES Ju|&s;tices of the Peace for the County of <HI>Wor|ce&s;ter.</HI></HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>May it plea&s;e your Wor&s;hip,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>'TIS not long, &s;ince thru&s;ting &s;uch Books as this in|to the Pre&s;s, was like thru&s;ting ones hand in|to a ne&s;t of Hornets; when
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neither Innocence, nor Maje|&s;ty, nor any thing that's &s;a|cred, could be &s;ufficient Fence again&s;t the pungent and veno|mous Detractions of a wa&s;pi&s;h &s;ort of Sectaries. And then indeed it was but needful, in behalf of &s;uch Books as this, to ask the Patronage of &s;ome &s;uch as your &s;elf; who&s;e &s;tanch Loyalty in the late di&s;tin|gui&s;hing and perilous times, tho&s;e days of Danger and Re|buke, was yet &s;o truly Heroick, as to dare to look Faction in the face, and oppo&s;e it even then, when mo&s;t In&s;olent and Domineering. A practice on grounds of Rea&s;on &s;o truly Generous; on grounds of Chri|&s;tianity &s;o Religious, as
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makes your late Promotion, a due Debt to your Merit, as your Merit is to your &s;elf. But now ble&s;&s;ed be God, that by wonted Miracle of Pre&s;er|vation, has <HI>made the King great in his Salvation;</HI> has in great mea&s;ure given him the Hearts of his Subjects, and <HI>the Necks of his Ene|mies;</HI> has <HI>turned our threat|ned Captivity back;</HI> and made our <HI>Engli&s;h Zion</HI> like to be <HI>the prai&s;e of the whole Earth.</HI></P>
<P>So that now the de&s;ign of this Dedication, is cheifly this, To publi&s;h to the World my grateful acknowledgment of your great Favours, pre&s;uming that the good de&s;ign of this
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little Book, will help to &s;a|tisfie for its great defects; e&s;pecially, if it be interpreted, as Divines interpret Parables, <HI>Quae non &s;unt argumenta|tive ultra &s;uum Scopum:</HI> The Scope or Intention of it, being no more than &s;uch an imperfect Schi&s;matology, as may in&s;truct but the vulgar Reader, in &s;ome little of that great agreement between the Modern Schi&s;maticks, and tho&s;e of Old; which I take to be a Novel expedient, whereby to endeavour (as every hone&s;t man ought) the expo&s;al of that pernicious Sin of Schi&s;m, the depluming of that Church mon|&s;ter of all &s;uch thievi&s;h Bra|very, and popular Decoy, as
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erroneous con&s;cienciou&s;ne&s;s, and &s;pecious Preten&s;ions to Sancti|ty beyond holier Per&s;ons than them&s;elves; to expo&s;e this vile Sin to the publik view (like <HI>Ae&s;ops</HI> Crow) to be reviled and hooted at, as the very pe&s;t of Societies, and bane of Chri&s;tianity, fatal to Churches and Kingdoms, dete&s;table and odious to God and Good Men; wor&s;e (&s;aid the Fathers) than<NOTE N="a" PLACE="marg">Diony&s;. ap. Eu&s;eb. <HI>l.</HI> 6.</NOTE> Idolatry,<NOTE N="b" PLACE="marg">Opt. l. 1.</NOTE> Sacriledg, or<NOTE N="c" PLACE="marg">Chry&s;o&s;t. ad. Eph. <HI>p.</HI> 823.</NOTE> Here&s;ie, and yet now a days &s;o little made Con&s;cience of. This is chiefly the de&s;ign of this little Book, and my ac|knowledgments to your Wor&s;hip is the de&s;ign of its Dedication; as al&s;o to beg the encourage|ment of your Wor&s;hips Appro|bation;
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and to contribute a wi&s;h to the long continuance of your happine&s;s here, and the compleatment of it here|after; which is, honoured Sir, the hearty prayer of</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Your Thankful and Obedient, as much Obliged Servant, <HI>J. B.</HI></SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="part">
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<HEAD><HI>Catholick Schi&s;matology: OR,</HI> An Account of Schi&s;m and Schi&s;maticks in the &s;e|veral Ages of the World.</HEAD>
<DIV2 TYPE="subpart">
<HEAD>The Introduction.</HEAD>
<P>THO the fir&s;t two thou&s;and years of the World, called the <HI>Patriarchal</HI> Ages, [<HI>which was from the Creation, to the giving of the Law to</HI> Mo&s;es] were called by the <HI>Jewi&s;h Rabbies,</HI> the two thou&s;and years of
<PB N="2" REF="6">
emptine&s;s; becau&s;e of that little that is recorded of the Tran&s;actions of tho&s;e times; yet is not the Holy Scripture &s;ilent in this matter, but &s;peaks of <HI>Schi&s;m</HI> and <HI>Schi&s;maticks,</HI> as coaeval with Sin and Satan: St. <HI>Jude</HI> &s;peaking of the Separati&s;ts of his time the <HI>Gno&s;tick-Schi&s;maticks,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jude 6.</NOTE> compares them fir&s;t to the fallen Angels, the fir&s;t that &s;inned; tho&s;e Schi&s;maticks from the Church tri|umphant, <HI>Jude</HI> 6. Where he plainly intimates, That as the Devil was the fir&s;t Sinner, &s;o was he the fir&s;t Schi&s;|matick: Saies the Apo&s;tle, <HI>The fir&s;t that left his first e&s;tate,</HI> which was Communion with the Church triumphant.</P>
<P>From this he de&s;cends to com|pare them to &s;ome of the fir&s;t Schi&s;maticks from the Church Mili|tant. He in&s;tances fir&s;t in <HI>Cain,</HI> Jude 11. <HI>They have gone in the way of Cain;</HI> or which is all one, they have followed the Principle and Practi&s;e of <HI>Cain, i. e.</HI> are <HI>Cainites.</HI> As tho&s;e that go in the way of, or
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follow the Principles and Practi&s;e of <HI>Aerius, Donatus, Novatus,</HI> are called <HI>Aerians, Donati&s;ts, Novatians.</HI> And thus do &s;ome of the mo&s;t learned Nonconformi&s;ts interpreat tho&s;e words, <HI>The way of</HI> Cain,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dr. <HI>Manton,</HI> and Mr <HI>Jen|kins</HI> Expo&s;iti|on on <HI>Jude.</HI></NOTE> <HI>i e.</HI> &s;ay they, the way of <HI>Cains</HI> Separation. Cain <HI>was the fir&s;t Separati&s;t (&s;aies Dr.</HI> Manton) <HI>He went out from the pre|&s;ence of the Lord, that is, from the Church</HI> (&s;aies he) <HI>where the pre&s;ence of Gods Grace is.</HI> And therefore <HI>Cains</HI> example is produced, becau&s;e <HI>(&s;aies that Expo&s;itor)</HI> he was the fir&s;t and chief of tho&s;e that departed from the true Church and pure Service of God.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="subpart">
<HEAD>KORAHITES.</HEAD>
<P>THus &s;aies the Apo&s;tle of the Separati&s;ts of his time, <HI>Jud.</HI> 11. <HI>They have peri&s;hed in the gain&s;aying of Korah.</HI> This <HI>Korah</HI> was one of the Sons of <HI>Levi,</HI> of great e&s;teem among the People, and great inter|e&s;t
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in many of the Princes; and (no doubt) was accounted an able and godly man; only thus, he was a factious <HI>Levite,</HI> di&s;&s;enting and mur|muring again&s;t <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Aaron,</HI> the King and the Prie&s;t, was his only fault. Whoever con&s;ults the Hi&s;tory of Schi&s;maticks from the times of the Apo&s;tles, to this pre&s;ent Age, and compares them with the Modern ones in their profe&s;&s;ed op|po&s;ition, as well to the Monarchical as Epi&s;copal Government, mu&s;t give them Extraction from this famous Triumvirate <HI>Korah, Dathan,</HI> and <HI>Abiram,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Aeri.</HI> Red. Preface.</NOTE> combined in an A&s;&s;ociation again&s;t <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Aaron,</HI> the Su|pream Prince, and the High Prie&s;t. <HI>Dathan</HI> and <HI>Abiram</HI> de&s;cending from the line of <HI>Reuben,</HI> the elde&s;t Son of <HI>Jacob,</HI> thought them&s;elves more worthy of the Sovereign Power than <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> who de&s;cended from the younger Hou&s;e; and <HI>Korah</HI> thought him&s;elf &s;o much neglected in &s;eeing <HI>Elizaphen,</HI> the Son of <HI>&V;zziel,</HI> made Prince of the <HI>Koha|thites,
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[The principal Family of the</HI> Levites <HI>next to that of</HI> Ger&s;on] when he him&s;elf de&s;cended of the elde&s;t Brother, and therefore thought that if there were not a Parity, but an <HI>Epi&s;copacy</HI> among the <HI>Jewi&s;h</HI> Mini&s;ters, that him&s;elf was as fit for the chief Prie&s;thood as <HI>Aaron.</HI> Hereupon having compared their grievances, they re&s;olved on a Con|&s;piracy, and that neither Sovereign Prince, nor chief Prie&s;t &s;hould Lord it over them, but rather that a <HI>Presbyterian</HI> Parity &s;hould be both in Sacred and Civil Matters: Upon this they pre&s;ently formed their party, drew into the Con&s;piracy no le&s;s than 250 of the chief men of the A&s;&s;embly, and with them boldly appear again&s;t <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Aaron;</HI> telling them to their faces, that they took too much upon them, that all the Lords people were holy; and that therefore they ought not to lift up them&s;elves above the Con|gregation. Now tho &s;ome of the chief Princes of the hou&s;e of <HI>Dan,</HI>
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did appear in the Con&s;piracy; yet it is plainly called in Scripture, the <HI>gain&s;aying of Korah,</HI> becau&s;e chief|ly carried on by the intere&s;t and credit that he had among the Peo|ple; particularly on the account of his pretended Zeal for the Wor&s;hip of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jo&s;eph. Antiq. <HI>lib.</HI> 4. <HI>c.</HI> 2.</NOTE> and his great pretence to the good of the Commonwealth. But a factious <HI>Levite</HI> he was; di&s;|&s;enting and murmuring again&s;t the King and the Clergy, was his great and only fault. In the head of a numerous Faction, he endea|vour'd to &s;tone <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and (as <HI>Jo|&s;ephus</HI> &s;aies) ran with great Noi&s;e and Uproar, crying before the Ta|bernacle of God, That the Tyrant <HI>(Mo&s;es)</HI> was to be cut off, and the People deliver'd from Bondage; and the like outcrys of Property and Priviledg again&s;t Prerogative and Arbitrary Government. <HI>By &s;uch Sedition</HI> (&s;aies Mr. <HI>Jenkins) to throw</HI> Aaron <HI>out of the Prie&s;thood, and gain it to him&s;elf, and with</HI> Dathan <HI>and</HI> Abiram, <HI>to depo&s;e</HI> Mo&s;es
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<HI>from the civil Government, and take it to them&s;elves. St.</HI> Jude<HI>'s purpo&s;e here is to &s;hew</HI> (&s;aies that great <HI>Nonconformi&s;t) that &s;uch &s;educing</HI> Separati&s;ts, <HI>as the&s;e</HI> Gno&s;ticks,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Expo&s;ition on the place.</NOTE> <HI>are Enemies not only to Eccle&s;ia&s;tical, but Civil Order and Superiority.</HI></P>
<P><HI>And this example of</HI> Korah <HI>is pro|duced</HI> (&s;aith Dr. <HI>Manton) as to note the factious Practices of Seducers,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Expo&s;ition on the place.</NOTE> <HI>&s;o al&s;o Gods vengeance on all &s;uch; they were factious again&s;t</HI> Mo&s;es <HI>and</HI> Aaron, <HI>and they peri&s;hed in their attempt, and &s;o will all they that ri&s;e up again&s;t Magi&s;tracy and Mini&s;try, as &s;ure</HI> (&s;aies he) <HI>as if it were al|ready accompli&s;hed.</HI> And the other Nonconformi&s;t-Expo&s;itor in his Ex|po&s;ition, <HI>How miraculou&s;ly did ven|geance overtake</HI> Korah <HI>and his com|pany</HI> [for their Schi&s;m and Sediti|on] <HI>the Earth clave and &s;wallowed them up for making a cleft (or Schi&s;m) in the Congregation: and after that two hundred and fifty of their Princes, Men of Renown, were con|&s;umed by a fire from the Lord; and
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after that, fourteen thou&s;and and &s;e|ven hundred were &s;lain by the Plague.</HI> And this St. <HI>Jude</HI> apply's to &s;uch Chri&s;tians as &s;eparate them&s;elves, as de&s;pi&s;e Dominion, and &s;peak evil of Dignities; that renounce the Authority and Communion of the Church; of &s;uch as the&s;e he &s;aies, they peri&s;h'd in the <HI>gain&s;aying of</HI> Korah.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="subpart">
<HEAD>PHARISEES.</HEAD>
<P><HI>THey were a mo&s;t zealous and &s;trict Sect above all others of the</HI> Jewi&s;h <HI>Religion; and were cal|led</HI> Phari&s;ees <HI>from their Separation&punc;</HI> From <GAP DESC="foreign"> &s;eparavit, &s;ecrevit, <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">i|vi&s;it; qua&s;i &s;eque&s;trato ab aliis vita religio&s;iri; <HI>becau&s;e &s;eparated from others to a more &s;trict way of pro|fe&s;&s;ing Religion.</HI> Pa&s;or <HI>cites</HI> He&s;y|chius,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lexi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">.</NOTE> <HI>for making</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, i. e. <HI>Phari&s;ee, a Divider, a Separati&s;t, a Puritan, all one; but the primary &s;ignifica|tion
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of the word</HI> Phari&s;ee <HI>is</HI> [one that &s;eparates.]</P>
<P>Jo&s;ephus, <HI>tho him&s;elf a</HI> Jew,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Antiq. Judaic.</HI> l. 17. l. 13. c. 23. <HI>&amp; pa&s;&s;im</HI></NOTE> <HI>and &s;ometime a</HI> Phari&s;ee, <HI>gives this ac|count of them,</HI> That they were a crafty and &s;ubtil Generation of men, that imployed their power mightily in oppo&s;ing Kings; that had in&s;inu|ated them&s;elves &s;o far into the affe|ctions and e&s;teem of the populacy, that their good or bad word was able to make or bla&s;t any one with the peo|ple; let their report be never &s;o fal&s;e and malicious. And therefore <HI>Alex|ander Jannaeus,</HI> when he lay a dying, advi&s;ed the Queen his wife, as ever &s;he regarded her &s;afety, by all means to comply with them, and to pretend to govern by their Councel and Di|rection; affirming that his offending that &s;ort of men, was that which derived the Odium of the Nation upon him, and was the greate&s;t cau&s;e of his fatal mi&s;carriage. Certain it is, that they were prodigiou&s;ly proud and &s;elf conceited, cen&s;orious and ill|natured; that they hated all mankind
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but them&s;elves; and whoever would not be of their way, they cen&s;ured as a Reprobate and a Villian; exceeding zealous they were to make Pro&s;elytes to their Party, confining all Religion and Kindne&s;s within the bounds of their own party. <HI>Like the</HI> Donati&s;ts <HI>their Followers, that were the mo&s;t grievous &s;ort of Per&s;ecutors, when|ever they got power, and yet cried out mo&s;t again&s;t Per&s;ecution, Matt. 23.4.</HI> They bound on mens &s;houlders heavy burdens, and grie|vous to be born; <HI>yet inveigh bitter|ly</HI> against it in others, <HI>ver&s;. 30.</HI> If we had lived in the days of our fore|fathers, we would not have been par|takers with them in the blood of the Prophets. <HI>On which very account Chri&s;t calls them Serpents,</HI> ver&s;. <HI>33. a &s;ubtil in&s;inuating Generation of men, full of Folds and Intreagues, that would put on the appearance of greate&s;t Mortification, and Self-denyal, and Holine&s;s; yet were (&s;aies Chri&s;t in that very ver&s;e) Vipers,</HI> A generation of Vipers, <HI>for
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their abominable cruelty: The fir&s;t Principles wherewith they in&s;pired their new Converts (as</HI> Jo&s;ephus <HI>re|lates) were,</HI> That none but they were the Godly party; and that all other Per&s;on were but Slaves and Sons of the Earth, and therefore endea|vour'd, e&s;pecially to in&s;pire them with a mighty Zeal and Fierce|ne&s;s again&s;t all that differ'd from them. To this end they were wont not only to &s;eparate, but di&s;criminate them&s;elves from the Community, by &s;ome peculiar Notes and Badges of Di&s;tinction, &s;uch as their long Robes, and broad Phylacteries, their large Fringes and Borders of their Gar|ments, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Their dogged and ill-natured principles, together with their Seditious and uncharitable Behaviour, they endeavoured to palliate and varni&s;h over, with a more than ordinary pretence and pro|fe&s;&s;ion of Religion: Such Duties e&s;pecially as did immediately refer to God and his Wor&s;hip; as frequent fa&s;ting and praying, which they did
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very oft, and very long, with demure and mortified looks, in a whining and affected tone, and this almo&s;t in every corner of the &s;treets: <HI>Thus</HI> Jo&s;ephus <HI>of the</HI> Phari&s;ees, Antiq. Judaic.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="subpart">
<HEAD>ZEALOTS.</HEAD>
<P>THE <HI>Zealots</HI> were a Sect or Branch of the <HI>Phari&s;ees,</HI> who looked upon them&s;elves as the Suc|ce&s;&s;ors of <HI>Elias, Samuel,</HI> and others of the <HI>Jewi&s;h</HI> Worthies, but e&s;peci|ally <HI>Phineas;</HI> which Worthies living under a perfect Theocracy, had the miraculous impul&s;e and guidance of Gods Spirit, immediate Direction and Commi&s;&s;ion from God for what they did; and particularly in &s;uch Acts as tho&s;e of <HI>Phineas [tho no Magi&s;trate]</HI> his killing <HI>Zimri</HI> and <HI>Cosbi; Samuel</HI>'s <HI>killing Agag,</HI> &amp;c. And in imitation of the&s;e, the
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<HI>Jewi&s;h Zealots</HI> mi&s;taking a Diaboli|cal Sugge&s;tion for &s;upernatural Re|velation; a boiling Pa&s;&s;ion for holy Zeal; and a wild Imagination for holy Divine motion, pretended a Commi&s;&s;ion from Heaven for the mo&s;t horrid and dete&s;table under|takings, &s;uch as rebelling again&s;t Princes, A&s;&s;a&s;&s;inating Nobles, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> in pretence for the Honour and Glory of God.</P>
<P>The account Dr. <HI>Hammond</HI> gives of them, is briefly thus,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Annotat. on</HI> 1 Pet. 4.15. <HI>Lett. G.</HI></NOTE> <HI>The</HI> Jewi&s;h Zealots <HI>pretending to a perpetual im|munity from all humane Power,</HI> [as being the only Children of God, and upon that account, to be &s;ub|ject to no men, e&s;pecially Heathens, but to enjoy an <GAP DESC="foreign">, or perfect immunity] <HI>would force all men to joyn with them again&s;t the</HI> Romans, <HI>i. e. The publick peace; calling them|&s;elves <GAP DESC="foreign">, the Bene|factors and Saviours of the Nation, and plundering all that would not be as Seditious as them&s;elves, under pretence of Zeal for the Law of
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God, and making all men perform their duty.</HI></P>
<P>Agreeable to this, is that of Dr. <HI>Cave [in the life of St.</HI> Simon <HI>the</HI> Zealot] from <HI>Maimonides, Jo&s;ephus,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>They were</HI> (&s;aies he) <HI>a Sect of the</HI> Phari&s;ees, <HI>mighty A&s;&s;ertors of the Law, and of the &s;trictne&s;s and puri|ty of the</HI> Jewi&s;h <HI>Religion, a&s;&s;uming a Liberty to them&s;elves to que&s;tion (and puni&s;h) notorious Offenders, without &s;taying for the formality of the Law; and (when they thought good) executing capital Vengeance on them. Thus</HI> (&s;aies my Author from <HI>Maimonides) when a Bla&s;phemer cur&s;ed God by the name of any Idol, the next</HI> Zealot <HI>that met him, had power to kill him, without bringing him before the</HI> Sanhedrim. <HI>Thus in imitation of</HI> Phineas (<HI>who in a great pa&s;&s;ion for the Honour of God, did immediate Execution on</HI> Zimri <HI>and</HI> Cosbi) <HI>they took upon them to execute Judgment in extraordinary Cau&s;es, and that (at fir&s;t) not only by the Connivence, but good leave of the
<PB N="15" REF="12">
Rulers and People, till in after-times under a pretence of this, their Zeal de|generated into all manner of Licenti|ou&s;ne&s;s and wild Extravagance, and they not only became the very pe&s;t of the Commonwealth at home, but open'd the door for the</HI> Romans <HI>to invade them to their final ruin. They were continually prompting the people &s;e|ditiou&s;ly to throw off the</HI> Roman <HI>Yoke, to vindicate them&s;elves into their na|tive Liberty</HI> [excelling the <HI>Phari|&s;ees</HI> in their outcrys for property and priviledg again&s;t their Rulers Prerogative] <HI>and when they had turned all things into hurry and con|fu&s;ion, them&s;elves in the mean time fi&s;hed in tho&s;e troubled Waters.</HI> Jo|&s;ephus <HI>frequently bewails them as the great Plague of the Nation. He tells us that they &s;crupled not to kill many of the Nobility under pretence of their holding corre&s;pondence with the</HI> Ro|mans,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib. 4.</HI> De bell. Judaico.</NOTE> <HI>and betraying the liberty of their Country, boa&s;ting that thereby they were the Benefactors and Savi|ours of the People: Joyning them&s;elves
<PB N="16" REF="13">
with the</HI> Idumeans, <HI>they &s;lew the High-Prie&s;t, profaned the mo&s;t Holy Places, and committed all manner of outrages, yet &s;tiled them&s;elves the</HI> Zealots <HI>(pretending greate&s;t Zeal for the Glory of God.)</HI></P>
<P>Nor has this Phanatick Zeal, this kind of <HI>Zealots,</HI> been wanting, wherever Schi&s;m has prevailed in the after Ages of the World. The <HI>Donati&s;ts</HI> had among them an Order of men called <HI>Circumcelliones,</HI> that were wholly de&s;igned and &s;et apart for the&s;e Zealotick exploits; they were as &s;o many Hectors to fight for the <HI>Donati&s;ts</HI> on all occa&s;ions, and were exactly among the <HI>Dona|ti&s;ts,</HI> as the <HI>P&s;eudo-Zealots</HI> were among the <HI>Phari&s;ees.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ep.</HI> 48.166.</NOTE> <HI>Quas caedes,</HI> &amp;c. (<HI>&s;aies St.</HI> Augu&s;tine) what Slaughters and Outrages did they not commit, when <HI>Julian</HI> re&s;tored the Churches to them, and gave them Power? and all this by belie|ving, that they were in&s;pired by God to do &s;uch extraordinary things, which they were ready to attempt,
<PB N="17" REF="13">
whenever their Brethren, or their own Lu&s;t did prompt them to it; the <HI>Donati&s;t</HI> Bi&s;hops in&s;tructing them &s;oundly in this, That they did certainly dye Martyrs, who &s;uffer'd Death for Religion &s;ake, as they called their Rebellious and mo&s;t Murderous undertakings. Nor hath this Zealotick temper been more di&s;cernable in any than in the Schi&s;|maticks of this latter Age. At the fir&s;t planting of Presbytery in <HI>Scotland;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hi&s;tory of the Reformation of the Church of <HI>Scotland, p. 387.</HI></NOTE> in Mr. <HI>Knox</HI>'s Di&s;puta|tion with Ld. Secretary <HI>Lethington,</HI> about the Power of Princes, i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> being asked whether the Subjects ought to &s;uppre&s;s the Queen, &s;up|po&s;ing her an Idolater <HI>[or Papi&s;t]?</HI> Mr. <HI>Knox</HI>'s An&s;wer was, <HI>That not only Idolatry ought to be &s;uppre&s;&s;ed, but the Idolater al&s;o ought to die: But by whom</HI> (&s;aid the Secretary <HI>Lethington?) by the People of God, &s;aid Mr.</HI> Knox; <HI>for the command|ment was to</HI> I&s;rael (&s;aies he) <HI>Hear O</HI> I&s;rael, <HI>the Statutes and the Ordi|nances of the Lord thy God; yet,
<PB N="18" REF="14">
commandment is given, That if Ido|latry be committed in any City, the whole body of the People ri&s;e and de|&s;troy the City, &s;paring neither Man, Woman, nor Child.</HI></P>
<P>Secretary. <HI>But there's no command given to de&s;troy their King.</HI></P>
<P>Knox. <HI>If he be an Idolater, (or Papi&s;t) I find no Priviledg</HI> [or Ex|emption] <HI>given to him more than to the People, to offend Gods Maje&s;ty.</HI></P>
<P>Secretary. <HI>I grant that; but Peo|ple may not be Judges to their King, to puni&s;h him, tho he be an Idolater.</HI></P>
<P>Knox. <HI>God is the &V;niver&s;al Judg to him, as well as to the People; &s;o that what his word commands to be puni&s;hed in one, is not to be ab&s;olved in the other &mdash; and that the People; yea, or a part of the Peo|ple may not execute Gods Judgments again&s;t their King being an Offender, you have no other warrant for, than your own Imagination.</HI> Whereupon the Lord Secretary <HI>Lethington,</HI> cal|ling for his Papers, produced the Authority of <HI>Luthor, Melancthon,
<PB N="19" REF="14">
Mu&s;culus,</HI> and <HI>Bucer,</HI> for the Do|ctrine of Non-re&s;i&s;tance in any ca&s;e: And in another place,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hi&s;tory of the Reformation of the Church of <HI>Scotland, p. 393.</HI></NOTE> Mr. <HI>Knox</HI> &s;aies, <HI>That God has armed Subjects again&s;t their natural King, and com|manded them to take Vengeance on him, according to Divine Law; and that accordingly Gods people have executed Gods Law again&s;t their King, having no further regard to him in that behalf, than if he had been the most &s;imple Subject in the Realm.</HI> And in a Sermon before a great part of the Nobility. <HI>Ask of the Queen</HI> (&s;aies he) <HI>that which by Gods word you may ju&s;tly require;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Page 358.</NOTE> <HI>and if &s;he will not agree with you in God, you are not bound to agree with her in the Devil.</HI> And when the Queen asked him, Whether he allowed that her Subjects &s;hould take her Sword into their hand? His An&s;wer was&mdash;<HI>They &s;in not that bridle Kings when they Tran&s;|gre&s;s.</HI> For which he in&s;tances in <HI>Elias</HI>'s not &s;paring <HI>Jezabel</HI>'s fal&s;e Prophets, and <HI>Baal</HI>'s Prie&s;ts, tho
<PB N="20" REF="15">
King <HI>Ahab</HI> &s;tood by. And <HI>Samuel</HI>'s not &s;paring to &s;lay <HI>Agag</HI> King of <HI>Amalek,</HI> and <HI>Phineas</HI>'s killing <HI>Zim|ri</HI> and <HI>Cosbi,</HI> tho no Magi&s;trate; and in the People's con&s;piring again&s;t <HI>Amaziah</HI> King of <HI>Judah;</HI> their fol|lowing him to <HI>Lachi&s;h,</HI> and killing him. And &s;o throughout all Ages, among Hereticks and Schi&s;maticks, and none el&s;e, there have always been &s;uch rebellious <HI>P&s;eudo Zealots,</HI> acting quite contrary to the Go&s;pel-Religion, and to the Precepts of Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles, and to the practice of all the Catholick Mar|tyrs, and Orthodox Chri&s;tians of the Primitive time, and all in imi|tation of tho&s;e Jewi&s;h Worthies, <HI>Samuel, Elias, Phineas,</HI> &amp;c. who living under a perfect <HI>Theocra&s;ie,</HI> had that real and miraculous im|pul&s;e of Gods Spirit, and that im|mediate Guidance and Commi&s;&s;ion from Heaven, which the mo&s;t fer|vent and daring <HI>Zealot</HI> in the Chri|&s;tian World never could <HI>[without rank Phanatici&s;m]</HI> &s;o much as pretend to.</P>
<P><PB N="21" REF="15">And as their Principle, &s;o their Practice: At the fir&s;t &s;tarting of <HI>Presbytery</HI> in <HI>Geneva, Anno</HI> 1535. When the Bi&s;hop of <HI>Geneva</HI> would not admit of the <HI>Presbyterian</HI> In|novations, <HI>Viret</HI> and <HI>Farellus</HI> with their Followers, pre&s;ently turned <HI>Zealots,</HI> drove the Bi&s;hop out of Town, and &s;et up <HI>Calvin</HI> in his &s;tead, di&s;claiming all Allegiance to their Duke and Bi&s;hop. From <HI>Geneva</HI> the <HI>Presbyterian</HI> Di&s;cipline was &s;ent into <HI>France,</HI> where the Abettors of them [called <HI>Albigen&s;es</HI>] propaga|ted it at fir&s;t, by their Arch-Zealot the Earl of <HI>Tholou&s;e</HI>'s mur|dering <HI>Trincannel</HI> the Vi&s;count, and chief Governour of the City <HI>Bezi|ers,</HI> and da&s;hing out the Bi&s;hops teeth. In the Low Countries, <HI>Pre&s;|bytery</HI> was fir&s;t &s;et up at <HI>Embden</HI> in <HI>Friezeland,</HI> by renouncing all Alle|giance to their Prince, and taking up Arms again&s;t him, and &s;etting them&s;elves in form of a Common|wealth. In <HI>Scotland,</HI> the Earl of <HI>Bothwell</HI> and his Accomplices, ro&s;e
<PB N="22" REF="16">
Forces to Depo&s;e and Murder the King, under pretence of removing the Popi&s;h Lords, and promoting the <HI>Presbyterian</HI> Di&s;cipline. The <HI>Gowries</HI> Con&s;piracy to kill King <HI>James,</HI> was &s;o approved of by the <HI>Presbyterian</HI> Mini&s;ters of <HI>Edenburgh,</HI> that they refu&s;ed to give thanks for the Kings Deliverance, tho com|manded by the Kings Proclamation &s;o to do. And as the <HI>Circumcillian-Zealots</HI> (of whom hereafter) were taught the&s;e practices by their <HI>Dona|ti&s;t</HI> Bi&s;hops and Mini&s;ters, &s;o were the&s;e <HI>Presbyterian Zealots</HI> by their Mini&s;ters, as may be &s;een in the wri|tings of <HI>Knox, Buchanan, Willock,</HI> the <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><HI>The&s;.</HI> 358, 368, 147, 136, 151, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></NOTE> Holy Commonwealth: Of all which the Murder of King <HI>Charles</HI> the fir&s;t, the late Murder of the Archbi&s;hop of St. <HI>Andrews,</HI> and the late Con|&s;piracy of 83. again&s;t King <HI>Charles</HI> the &s;econd, are all mo&s;t barbarous and bloody Comments. In &s;hort that the <HI>Presbyterian</HI> Sectaries, now called <HI>Di&s;&s;enting Prote&s;tants,</HI> are perfect Zealots, Enthu&s;ia&s;tick Zea|lots,
<PB N="23" REF="16">
is evident from hence, That ever &s;ince the Reformation from Popery, there has not been in any Prote&s;tant Countrey, any Rebelli|on, Ma&s;&s;acre, Tumult, Trea&s;on, or Murders con&s;iderable, but what Papi&s;ts or Phanatick, or both, had a hand in, as a means of Propaga|ting their Religion, on the &s;ame grounds and principles as all former Zealots did.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="subpart">
<HEAD>GNOSTICKS.</HEAD>
<P>THe&s;e were the fir&s;t and wor&s;e Schi&s;maticks, fir&s;t and wor&s;t Rebels in the Chri&s;tian Church.<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Dr. <HI>Cave</HI> on the Life of St. <HI>Paul.</HI></NOTE> The fir&s;t Founder of them was <HI>Si|mon Magus,</HI> who not being able to attain his ends of the Apo&s;tles in getting power to confer miraculous gifts, re&s;olved in di&s;content and re|venge, to make Schi&s;ms in the Chri|&s;tian Church: So that as the fir&s;t Schi&s;matick in the World was a Devil, &s;o the fir&s;t Schi&s;matick in
<PB N="24" REF="17">
the Chri&s;tian World was a Witch. He began his Schi&s;matizing fir&s;t at <HI>Samaria,</HI> the fir&s;t place that embra|ced the Chri&s;tian Faith.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Dr.</HI> Hammon. <HI>Annot.</HI> Acts 8.12, 14.</NOTE> Tho their Schi&s;ms and Errors were broached in the Apo&s;tles times, yet they had not the name of <HI>Gno&s;ticks</HI> till after, when they a&s;&s;umed it to them&s;elves on pretence of greate&s;t Knowledg above other men, and particularly in my&s;tical Interpretations. They pretended to be well acquainted with the Holy Scriptures, to know all the My&s;teries of the <HI>Old Te&s;ta|ment,</HI> which pretended knowledg is that (&s;aies Dr. <HI>Hammond</HI>) which the Apo&s;tle charges <HI>Timothy</HI> to a|void,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Annot. on</HI> 2 Pet. 1.5.</NOTE> 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 6.20. calling it <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>i. e.</HI> knowledg fal&s;ly &s;o called, from whence they called <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>Gno&s;ticks, i. e.</HI> knowing Per&s;ons, or the knowing Party: And by a &s;trange Liberty, which they took in Interpreting the Scrip|tures, brought in (as the Apo&s;tle calls them) <HI>damnable Doctrines,</HI> &s;uch as re&s;i&s;ting Magi&s;trates, Liberty
<PB N="25" REF="17">
in the exerci&s;e of Uncleanne&s;s; for which they were called <HI>Borboritae,</HI> whereby they greatly &s;trengthened their Faction.</P>
<P>And as they pretended to greater Knowledg, &s;o to greater Piety and Holine&s;s than others, (as <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Dr. <HI>Ham.</HI> Annot. <HI>1</HI> Joh. <HI>1.10.</HI> Let. H.</NOTE> <HI>Irenaeus</HI> &s;aies) they called them&s;elves the Spi|ritual; this is the Character of the <HI>Gno&s;ticks</HI> (&s;aies he) to live in all Carnality and Uncharitablene&s;s, and yet pretend them&s;elves to be the mo&s;t perfect men. But the greate&s;t preten&s;ion was, that Chri|&s;tian Liberty which the Go&s;pel in|&s;tated them in, and on the&s;e ac|counts they &s;eparated them&s;elves, oppo&s;ed the Apo&s;tles and Governors of the Church, depo&s;ed the Orthodox Chri&s;tians, as Carnal, and not having the Spirit; and looking on all others (be&s;ide their own Party) as Ignorant, they pretended to know more than the Bi&s;hops (&s;aith <NOTE N="&Verbar;" PLACE="marg">Dr. <HI>Ham.</HI> Annot. Pre|face to <HI>2d</HI> Ep. of <HI>John.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Ignatius.</HI>) Yea, than the Apo&s;tles them&s;elves, &s;aies <HI>Epiphanius.</HI> Again&s;t the&s;e <HI>Gno&s;tick-Sectaries,</HI> St. <HI>Peter,</HI> St. <HI>Paul,</HI> St. <HI>James,</HI>
<PB N="26" REF="18">
and St. <HI>John,</HI> direct their Epi&s;tles chiefly; and St. <HI>Jude</HI> his Epi&s;tle whol|ly, where in le&s;s then &s;ix ver&s;es he gives more than &s;ixteen di&s;tinctive marks whereby they may be known.</P>
<P N="1"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mr. <HI>Jenkins</HI> on the place.</NOTE>1. The fir&s;t is their in&s;olence a|gain&s;t Government, ver. 8. <HI>They de&s;pi&s;e Dominion, and &s;peak evil of Dignities,</HI> i.e. were &s;awcy with the Government; of Antimagi&s;tratical and Tumultuous Carriage to'ards Governours; for which cau&s;e the Apo&s;tles pre&s;s no one Doctrine in all their Epi&s;tles more than Loyalty and Obedience, not only to the good and gentle, but to the froward and wicked; not to good Governors as good, but to Governors as Gover|nors, and the Ordinance of God.</P>
<P N="2">2. A &s;econd mark the Apo&s;tle gives of the <HI>Gno&s;tick-Sectaries,</HI> is their di&s;content and murmuring a|gain&s;t Governors,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mr. <HI>Jenkins</HI> on the place.</NOTE> ver. 16. <HI>They are Murmurers, Complainers,</HI> never content with any Government. <HI>The Greek word <GAP DESC="foreign">, imports a &s;ecret muttering and grumbling; <GAP DESC="foreign">
<PB N="27" REF="18">
from</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> Grunnio, <HI>to grunt like a Swine, importing a &s;peaking again&s;t another &s;ecretly with hatred and im|patience.</HI> Like &s;ome now-adays, who, if for committing a &s;poil in Gods Harve&s;t, Ju&s;tice takes them by the Ears, with hideous outcrys they call all the compa&s;&s;ionate Herd to condole their &s;uffering, and that they call Per&s;ecution, and the &s;uf|fering days of the Saints. Are any of them cut off by the hand of Ju|&s;tice for their Seditious Villanies; How doth their Party murmur a|gain&s;t the Magi&s;trate, that they &s;uf|fer wrongfully? <HI>&amp;c.</HI> As the Rebels <HI>Korah</HI> and his company did again&s;t <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>Aaron,</HI> Numb. 16.41. <HI>Ye have killed the people of the Lord, the people of the Lord,</HI> when God had declared from Heaven mo&s;t miracu|lou&s;ly, that they were Rebels, and that his Wrath was kindled again&s;t them on the account of their being &s;o.</P>
<P N="3">3. A third mark is Erratick Zeal, ver&s;e 13. <HI>Wandering Stars,</HI> &s;o called,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dr. <HI>Manton</HI> on the place.</NOTE> as for incon&s;tancy and un&s;etledne&s;s,
<PB N="28" REF="19">
pretending to be Stars and great lights, that a reindeed but fal&s;e lights, and wandering Stars that &s;educe and mi&s;lead into error; &s;o wandering Stars for the irregularity of their motion; they &s;eparate them&s;elves on the ac|count of greate&s;t purity, yet allow them&s;elves in greate&s;t Impieties; like tho&s;e who have a Con&s;cience &s;o tender, as to boggle at a Ceremony, and yet &s;o tough as to bear a Schi&s;m, and make light of the great Do|ctrine of the Go&s;pel, that great e&s;|&s;ential of true Religion, Subjection for Con&s;cience &s;ake.</P>
<P N="4"><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Dr.</HI> Manton.</NOTE>4. Their tumultuous Turbulence, ver&s;e 13. <HI>raging waves of the Sea;</HI> &s;o called for their boy&s;terous Vio|lence (&s;aies Dr. <HI>Manton</HI>) in en|raging mens minds again&s;t all Go|vernment and Rule in Church and State; putting all Places into Con|fu&s;ion and Combu&s;tion, by Schi&s;m and Sedition. Whenever the Winds of Power,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mr. <HI>Jenkins</HI> on the place.</NOTE> Eccle&s;ia&s;tical or Civil, Word or Sword, blow again&s;t the Tide of their Factious Errors, they
<PB N="29" REF="19">
pre&s;ently grow boi&s;terous, like raging Waves of the Sea.</P>
<P N="5">5. A fifth mark the Apo&s;tle gives of the <HI>Gno&s;tick Sectary,</HI> is their proud &s;corn and contempt of others, for which they are called <HI>mockers, ver&s;e</HI> 18. They having incircled their heads with their own Phan|ta&s;tick rays, and having &s;woln their imaginations into a &s;elf-conceit of their greater Spirituality, and more Knowledg than others, did hereup|on &s;eparate them&s;elves, and de&s;pi&s;e the true Church, and all &s;ober Members of it, as a People of low form, and unacquainted with the Heighths and Spiritualities of the Go&s;pel.</P>
<P N="6">6. A &s;ixth Character St. <HI>Jude</HI> gives the <HI>Gno&s;tick-Sectary,</HI> is their &s;pecious pretences, and &s;hew of Pie|ty and Knowledg above others, not|with&s;tand their emptine&s;s of it: For which they are called <HI>Clouds with|out water, ver&s;e</HI> 12. with the &s;pecious Title of the &s;piritual and knowing People, the only true Church and
<PB N="30" REF="20">
People of God, they reconciled Re|bellion, and all Licentiou&s;ne&s;s; were Religious without Religion, Godly without Goodne&s;s, Chri&s;tians without Chri&s;tianity, <HI>Clouds with|out Water.</HI> Clouds which tho &s;hi|ning with a counterfeit Light, which nothing exceeds but the Sun that lent it; yet when turned black, and grown numerous, di&s;charge them&s;elves of mo&s;t dangerous and terrible Principles of Thunder and Lightning, Storms and Tempe&s;ts on the places of Religion, the High-Towers of Government, and whatever is great and eminent.</P>
<P N="7">7. Another Character St. <HI>Jude</HI> gives of the&s;e Separati&s;ts of his time, is their &s;ucce&s;&s;e&s;ne&s;s in proje|cting again&s;t Governors and Go|vernment, v. 11. <HI>They peri&s;hed in the gain&s;aying of Korah.</HI></P>
<P N="8">8. Their Ignorant malice, ver. 10. <HI>They &s;peak evil of things they know not.</HI></P>
<P N="9">9. Ob&s;tinate in their per&s;wa&s;ion, v. 16. <HI>Walking after their own lu&s;ts.</HI></P>
<P N="10"><PB N="31" REF="20">10. Canting and My&s;teriou&s;ne&s;s of Phra&s;es, <HI>ver.</HI> 16. Their mouth &s;peaks great &s;welling words. With as many more di&s;tinctive Characters which the Apo&s;tle <HI>Jude</HI> gives in that one Chapter, whereby to know the <HI>Gno&s;ticks,</HI> the Schi&s;maticks of his time, who admired them&s;elves, and withdrew from the Communian of the be&s;t Chri&s;tians, under pretence of greater knowledg and holine&s;s than others.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="subpart">
<HEAD>NOVATIANS.</HEAD>
<P>THis Sect commenced when <HI>Decius</HI> was Emperor,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Danaeus</HI>'s com|ment on St. <HI>Aug.</HI> de <HI>Haere&s;.</HI> cap. <HI>38.</HI></NOTE> and <HI>Cornelius</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Rome</HI> in the year of Chri&s;t 220, which was 78 years before that of the <HI>Donati&s;ts.</HI> They had the Denomination from <HI>Nova|tus</HI> the fir&s;t Author of the Sect, who was a Presbyter of St. <HI>Cyprian</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Carthage,</HI> and afterwards by
<PB N="32" REF="21">
<HI>Cornelius</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Rome,</HI> was made a Presbyter of the Church. But (&s;aies <HI>Danaeus</HI> on St. <HI>Augu&s;tine) Ad Epi&s;copatum a&s;pirans, dolore repul&s;ae,</HI> &amp;c. A&s;piring at the Bi&s;hoprick of <HI>Rome, i. e.</HI> endeavouring to thru&s;t <HI>Cornelius</HI> out (for holding Com|munion (as they fal&s;ly accu&s;ed him) with <HI>Trophimus</HI> one of the <HI>Thuri|ficati</HI>) and to make him&s;elf Bi&s;hop in his &s;tead, was &s;adly di&s;appointed in the attempt; whereupon in grief and di&s;content at the di&s;appoint|ment, he joyns him&s;elf with <HI>Nova|tianus,</HI> once his Scholar, and after|ward his Fellow Presbyter, who having drawn many after them, <HI>Sece&s;&s;ionem ab Orthodoxis fecerant, &amp; &s;eor&s;im &s;uas Eccle&s;ias &amp; Ba&s;ilicas habebant:</HI> Refu&s;ed Communion with the Orthodox, and met in their Ba|&s;ilicae, which St. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> frequent|ly calls Conventicles. They made the Separation on the occa&s;ion of the Orthodox Bi&s;hops receiving lap&s;ed Penitents into Communion; in oppo&s;ition to which <HI>Novatus</HI> and
<PB N="33" REF="21">
his Adherents taught, that the Church of God was to con&s;i&s;t of none but Saints; and therefore, if through infirmity, or the rage of Per|&s;ecution, any lap&s;ed into Idolatry, or the like gro&s;s Sin after Bapti&s;m, they would never receive them more into Communion with them, but gave them up as damned Per&s;ons, and &s;uch as were never capable of Repentance, notwith&s;tanding the greate&s;t and mo&s;t infallible &s;igns of true repentance that could be &s;hewn. Upon this mo&s;t &s;trict and rigid, mo&s;t cen&s;orious and uncharitable Opinion, they &s;eparated from the Orthodox Chri&s;tians, becau&s;e they received the Penitents into Com|munion, upon &s;ufficient Evidence of their Repentance given. And this was &s;oon improved into &s;uch a Schi&s;m, that la&s;ted from the Reign of <HI>Decius,</HI> to the Reign of <HI>Archadius,</HI> which was a 148 years, and much longer. All that while di&s;turbing the Peace of Church and State, to the great prejudice of Chri&s;tianity,
<PB N="34" REF="22">
in mo&s;t places of the World, e&s;pe|cially <HI>Italy.</HI> The&s;e Sectaries were al&s;o called <HI>Cathari,</HI> i. e. <HI>Puritans,</HI> a name not given them by others, but arrogated to them&s;elves (&s;aith St. <HI>Augu&s;tine) Se ip&s;os i&s;to nomine qua&s;i propter munditiem &s;uperbi&s;&s;ime,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Lib. de <HI>Haere&s;.</HI></NOTE> <HI>&amp; odio&s;i&s;&s;im&egrave; nominant.</HI> They were &s;o called (&s;ays his Commentator) becau&s;e they &s;eparated from the Or|thodox, as more Pure and Holy, as the only true Church and People of God; accounting all the Church-A&s;&s;emblies of the Orthodox Chri|&s;tians polluted with the Communi|on of the lap&s;ed Penitents; on which very account <HI>Danaeus</HI> calls them <HI>Fanaticks.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Comment on <HI>Aug.</HI> de <HI>Hae|re&s;.</HI> c. <HI>38.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Haecuna ratio vel maxime Fanaticos i&s;tos impulit, ut &s;e</HI> Catharos <HI>appellarent.</HI> And on which very account the Orthodox Chri&s;tians were called <HI>Catholicks,</HI> in oppo&s;ition to that uncharitable Opinion of the <HI>Novatians, Dona|ti&s;ts,</HI> and other Sectaries of old (as the Papi&s;ts do of late) in confining the only true Church and People of
<PB N="35" REF="22">
God to their own party. The&s;e <HI>Novatians</HI> or <HI>Kathari</HI> looked upon the poor Orthodox Penitents, as &s;o many Reprobates, calling them in &s;corn <HI>Thurificati;</HI> but them&s;elves and their party <HI>Purificati;</HI> and as <HI>Danaus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> <HI>Sub &s;pecio&s;o illo</HI> Purificato|rum, <HI>&amp; &s;anctorum nomine &amp; fuco, turpi&s;&s;ima tum in Doctrina, tum in vita &s;celera tegebant.</HI> That under the &s;pecious name and di&s;gui&s;e of the <HI>Purificati,</HI> and the Saints, they did cloak the ba&s;e&s;t Villanies, both in Life and Doctrine. By Doctrine meaning chiefly that of their bar|barous rigor to'ards the lap&s;ed Pe|nitents. For they were at fir&s;t for the mo&s;t part &s;ound in the Faith. As St. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;aid of the <HI>Dona|ti&s;ts, De &s;ola communione infaeliciter litig&acirc;runt.</HI> They &s;eparated on the account of not receiving lap&s;ed Pe|nitents into Church-Communion, on the account of their conceited purity above all others; which is that <HI>Danaeus</HI> calls, <HI>Pernicio&s;i&s;&s;imum illud dogma quod in eccle&s;iae exitium
<PB N="36" REF="23">
cudit</HI> Novatus.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> A mo&s;t pernicious Principle framed by <HI>Novatus,</HI> on purpo&s;e to de&s;troy the Church; which Principle prevailed very much (<HI>floruit</HI> &s;aies <HI>Danaeus</HI>) in <HI>Arcadius</HI>'s Reign, which was 148 years after it's fir&s;t broaching, and was at la&s;t exploded by the Preaching and Di|&s;puting of St. <HI>Chry&s;o&s;tom</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Con&s;tantinople, Cyril</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>A|lexandria,</HI> and <HI>Innocent</HI> the fir&s;t Bi&s;hop of <HI>Rome;</HI> but e&s;pecially St. <HI>Cyprian</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Carthage.</HI> As al&s;o by the &s;evere Proceedings of the Or|thodox Bi&s;hops again&s;t them, parti|cularly in the Council held at <HI>Rome,</HI> in which were 60 Bi&s;hops be&s;ides Presbyters; where they were by the common Vote of the Church exclu|ded the Communion of the Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dr. <HI>Cave</HI> Life of St. <HI>Cyprian.</HI></NOTE> not &s;o much on the account of their different Sentiments about pardon of Sin, and Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Penance, as their in&s;olent and domineering Temper, their proud and &s;urly Carriage, their rigorous and impe|rious Impo&s;ing their way upon
<PB N="37" REF="23">
other Churches, their bold denying the Governors of the Church that great power lodged in them, and particularly in remitting Crimes up|on Repentance; which &s;eems to have been the very Soul and Spirit of <HI>Novatiani&s;m.</HI> The Schi&s;m was al&s;o vehemently oppo&s;ed by <HI>Diony&s;ius Alexandrinus,</HI> of which there is par|ticular in&s;tance in his Pathetical Epi&s;tle to <HI>Novatus,</HI> which in regard of its brevity, it may not be grie|vous here to &s;ubjoin.</P>
<LETTER>
<HEAD><HI>Diony&s;ius</HI> to <HI>Novatus</HI> our Brother, greeting.</HEAD>
<P>For as much as you your &s;elf con|fe&s;s, you were unwillingly drawn into this Schi&s;m, make it appear &s;o by your willing and ready return into the Church; for better it were to &s;uffer any thing, than that the Church of God &s;hould be rent a&s;&s;under: Nor is it le&s;s glorious to &s;uffer Martyrdom on this account, than in the ca&s;e of not &s;acrificing to Idols; yea, in my
<PB N="38" REF="24">
wind much more honourable: For in the one ca&s;e, a man &s;uffers only for his own Soul; but in this he undergoes Martyrdom for the whole Church of God; and if now thou &s;halt per&s;wade and reduce thy Brethren to Peace and Concord, thy merit will outweigh thy Crime: The one will not be charged to thy reproach, and the other will be mentioned to thy prai&s;e; and &s;uppo&s;e thou &s;halt not be able to per&s;uade them; yet however &s;ave thy own Soul: I pray that thou maye&s;t live peaceably, and farewell in the Lord. <HI>Diony&s;.</HI> Ep. p. <HI>247.</HI></P>
</LETTER>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="subpart">
<HEAD>MELETIANS.</HEAD>
<P>THE <HI>Meletian</HI> Schi&s;m began a|bout the year 286, when <HI>Con&s;tantine</HI> was Emperor, and <HI>Syl|ve&s;ter</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Rome:</HI> The <HI>Mele|tians</HI> were for the mo&s;t part the &s;ame with the <HI>Novatians;</HI> the whole
<PB N="39" REF="24">
difference between them, lies in the&s;e three particulars.</P>
<P N="1">1. The <HI>Novatians</HI> denied to the lap&s;ed any po&s;&s;ibility of Repentance;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Danaeus <HI>on St.</HI> Aug. <HI>de</HI> Hae|re&s;. <HI>cap.</HI> 48.</NOTE> the&s;e allowed them a po&s;&s;ibility of Repentance, but agreed with the <HI>Novatians</HI> in denying them Church-Communion, notwith&s;tanding the mo&s;t infallible marks of true Repen|tance that could be given.</P>
<P N="2">2. They differed in time, as <HI>Da|naeus, Hi plane &s;imiles &s;unt</HI> Novati|anis, <HI>a quibus &s;unt profecti, &s;ed tem|pore po&s;teriores:</HI> This Schi&s;m not commencing till 66 years after the <HI>Novatian.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. They differ'd in their Foun|ders, or fir&s;t Authors; their Origine, or fir&s;t ri&s;e. As the <HI>Novatian</HI> Schi&s;m was fir&s;t made, and promoted by <HI>Novatus,</HI> &s;o was the <HI>Meletian</HI> Schi&s;m by <HI>Meletius</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Lycus</HI> in <HI>Thebais</HI> in <HI>Aegypt,</HI> a Per&s;on of greate&s;t Authority and Power. And next to <HI>Peter</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Alexandria,</HI> was Director General of all the
<PB N="40" REF="25">
Affairs of the Church. The Schi&s;m aro&s;e in this manner: The &s;everity of the <HI>Diocle&s;ian</HI> Per&s;ecution tempt|ed many of all orders of men to re|nounce the Faith,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Epiph. <HI>adv.</HI> Haere&s;. Melet. 68. <HI>p.</HI> 306. <HI>ap D.</HI> Cave <HI>Life of</HI> Athan.</NOTE> and comply with the Gentile rites; who afterwards repenting of what they had done, applied them&s;elves to the Martyrs and Confe&s;&s;ors in pri&s;on for Ab&s;o|lution, that they may be re&s;tored to peace and Communion with the Church. This <HI>Meletius</HI> and others would by no means yield to. <HI>Peter</HI> acted with the Re&s;entments and Compa&s;&s;ion of a common Fa|ther, was for the more mild opini|on, That a time of penance being a&s;&s;igned, they might be re-admitted into the Church. But not being able to prevail, he hung up his Mantle cro&s;s the pri&s;on, crying out, They that are on my &s;ide, let them come hither; they that are for <HI>Me|letius</HI> let them go to him; where|upon &s;ome Bi&s;hops came over to him, the re&s;t remained with <HI>Mele|tius,</HI> which widened the difference
<PB N="41" REF="25">
into &s;uch a breach, that ever after they kept their &s;eparate A&s;&s;emblies, refu&s;ing to communicate with the Orthodox Bi&s;hops. But it was not long before <HI>Meletus</HI> him&s;elf &s;tood in need of that Mercy which he had &s;o uncharitably denied to others, being through the infirmity of his Faith betrayed to &s;acrifice to Idols:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Socr. <HI>l.</HI> 1. <HI>c.</HI> 6.</NOTE> For which, as al&s;o for his Schi&s;ma|tical proceedings, he was deprived of his Bi&s;hoprick by <HI>Peter,</HI> in a common meeting of Bi&s;hops. <HI>Me|letius</HI> having got out of Pri&s;on, &s;till bore up him&s;elf with the Reputation of a Bi&s;hop, gathering Churches of his own Party, ordaining Presby|ters and Deacons to his Schi&s;matical A&s;&s;emblies, and refu&s;ing to commu|nicate with the Orthodox Churches, on pretence of greater Zeal for the Glory of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Commen. c. <HI>48.</HI></NOTE> and &s;tricter Di&s;ci|pline to'awds the <GAP DESC="foreign">, as <HI>Epi|phanius</HI> calls the lap&s;ed: By which &s;pecious pretences, this Schi&s;m which <HI>Danaeus</HI> calls Poy&s;on, had infected mo&s;t parts of the Chri&s;tian World,
<PB N="42" REF="26">
and was a la&s;ting Plague,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lati&s;&s;im&igrave; &s;par&s;um &egrave;&s;t, &amp; a Monarchis pretextu &s;everio|ris in <GAP DESC="foreign"> di&s;ciplinae, &amp; Zeli in Deum majoris: Epba|tum, adeo ut omnes pene Chri|&s;tiani nominis regiones labife|cerit; Diuti&s;&s;ime etiam duravit venenum hoc in <HI>Aegypto,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>Arianis Haereticis</HI> &s;e&s;e <HI>Meleti|ani</HI> adjunxerunt, &amp;c. <HI>Dan.</HI> on St. <HI>Aug.</HI> de <HI>Haere&s;.</HI> c. <HI>48.</HI></NOTE> and of very long continuance in the Chri&s;tian Church. They &s;tiled them&s;elves <HI>the Church of the Mar|tyrs:</HI> Tho <HI>Meletius</HI> him&s;elf died a Schi&s;|matick and Apo&s;tate, when <HI>Peter</HI> the Or|thodox Bi&s;hop, that oppo&s;ed him, received the Crown of Mar|tyrdom, <HI>Athan. Apol.</HI> 11. As <HI>Arrius</HI> him&s;elf was at fir&s;t a <HI>Meletian,</HI> &s;o the <HI>Meletians</HI> were at la&s;t <HI>Arrians.</HI> As, Schi&s;m generally u&s;eth to ter|minate in Here&s;ie. They were at fir&s;t &s;ound in the Faith, <HI>Primum cum Orthodoxis in Doctrina fidei plane con&s;entiebant,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Danaeus;</HI> and when they differed from the Orthodox in nothing but Church-Communion; even then did they join with the <HI>Arrians</HI> again&s;t the Orthodox Bi&s;hops, Petitioning the <HI>Emperor</HI> again&s;t them, and &s;lander|ing them in mo&s;t Diabolical man|ner.
<PB N="43" REF="26">
<HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Alexan|dria,</HI> whom<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><HI>Orat.</HI> 21. <HI>p.</HI> 378.</NOTE> <HI>Nazianzen</HI> after great commendation of his incomparable Learning, and &s;trict Piety, in con|&s;tant Watchings and Fa&s;tings, Pray|ers and Prai&s;es, calls <HI>A Comforter to the Mi&s;erable, a Staff to the Aged, a Tutor to the Youth, a Benefactor to the Poor, a Steward to the Rich, a Patron to the Widows, a Father to the Orphans, a Harbour to the Stranger, a Phy&s;ician to the Sick, a man of &s;uch Apo&s;tolick &s;anctity, and Angelick Di&s;po&s;ition, that his Doctrine was accounted the Rule of Orthodoxy, and his Life the very Standard of the Epi&s;copal Function: He was</HI> (&s;aies that <HI>Encomia&s;t) the mo&s;t holy Eye and Light of the World, a Pillar of the Faith, and a &s;econd</HI> John <HI>the Bapti&s;t;</HI> yet did the&s;e <HI>Meletian</HI> Schi&s;maticks (when they were otherwi&s;e &s;ound in the Faith) join with the <HI>Arrian</HI> Hereticks in loading this holy man with fal&s;e ac|cu&s;ations, and hell-bred Slanders, calling him <HI>Sathanius;</HI> accu&s;ing him
<PB N="44" REF="27">
as <HI>Ar&s;enius Euplus, Pachomius,</HI> and others of the <HI>Meletian</HI> Schi&s;m did, of Murder,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. <HI>on</HI> Aug. <HI>de</HI> Haere&s;. <HI>c.</HI> 48.</NOTE> and the like helli&s;h Crimes, as in the Council of <HI>Tyre,</HI> and other places; till at la&s;t by that black art of Slandering, they prevailed with the Emperor to bani&s;h him. Of the notoriou&s;ne&s;s of their Slandering, there is among many others, which a late Writer gives from <HI>Sozomen,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dr. <HI>Cave</HI> the Life of <HI>Athan.</HI> Sect. <HI>5.</HI> n. <HI>3.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Theodoret,</HI> and <HI>Ruffinus,</HI> this in|&s;tance. The <HI>Meletian</HI> Bi&s;hops in the Synod of <HI>Tyre,</HI> accu&s;ed <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> of ravi&s;hing a Woman, whom they had prevailed with to come into the Council, and to own and atte&s;t the Fact; who accordingly declared, that <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> in her own Hou&s;e, violently forced her into lewd Em|braces. <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> came into the Court, attended with <HI>Timotheus</HI> one of his Presbyters, who was by agreement with <HI>Athana&s;ius,</HI> to take his part upon him. The Judg cal|ling upon <HI>Athana&s;ius</HI> to An&s;wer to the matter of Fact, he &s;tood &s;ilent. But <HI>Timotheus</HI> turning to the Wo|man,
<PB N="45" REF="27">
<HI>Woman</HI> (&s;aies he) <HI>was I ever in your hou&s;e? did I ever, as you pre|tend, offer violence to you?</HI> Yes, yes, &s;aies the Woman, you are the man that forcibly pre&s;&s;ed upon me, and &s;tained my Cha&s;tity and Ho|nour. The cheat thus plainly di&s;|covering it &s;elf, put the Contrivers of it to the blu&s;h; but no end to their fal&s;e Accu&s;ations. They pro|ceed to accu&s;e him of Oppre&s;&s;ion, Murder, and <HI>[like the modern cry of popi&s;hly affected]</HI> of compliance with the <HI>Thurificati,</HI> till at la&s;t he was deprived of his Bi&s;hoprick, and Ba|ni&s;hed.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid. <HI>Sect.</HI> 4. <HI>n.</HI> 6.</NOTE> The like they did to <HI>Eu|&s;tathius</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Antioch,</HI> and o|thers of the Catholicks that oppo|&s;ed them, and endeavoured the Unity of the Church. And tho the <HI>Arrian</HI> Hereticks joyned with the <HI>Meletian</HI> Schi&s;maticks in the&s;e Diabolical practices again&s;t the Or|thodox Chri&s;tians, yet were the&s;e principal in it. <HI>&V;t</HI> Meletiani (&s;aies <HI>Danaeus) pene Soli divinum illum,</HI> A|thana&s;ium <HI>conarentur opprimere,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P><PB N="46" REF="28">In the fir&s;t General Council of <HI>Nice,</HI> in which were 318 <HI>Bi&s;hops,</HI> be&s;ides innumerable <HI>Presbyters, Deacons,</HI> and <HI>Acoluthi;</HI> an A&s;&s;embly of men &s;o venerable for their Age, their confe&s;&s;ions, and con&s;tancy in the Faith, for the Gravity of their Manners, the Wi&s;dom, Learning, and Rea&s;on of their Arguments and Di&s;cour&s;es, and meeting out of all parts of the Chri&s;tian World; was certainly the mo&s;t Augu&s;t and Vene|rable A&s;&s;embly that ever the World &s;aw, either before or &s;ince. In this Council the <HI>Arrian</HI> Here&s;ie being condemned, they proceeded to take into con&s;ideration the <HI>Meletian</HI> Schi&s;m;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ep. Synod <HI>Nice</HI> ap <HI>Socr.</HI> l. <HI>1.</HI> c. <HI>9.</HI> ap Dr. <HI>Cave</HI> the Life of <HI>Athan.</HI></NOTE> they deprived <HI>Meletius</HI> of all his Epi&s;copal Juri&s;diction and Power, le&s;t he &s;hould excite the &s;ame Troubles and Factions which he had formerly rai&s;ed in the Church of God. And tho the <HI>Meletians</HI> were at that time &s;ound in the Faith, yet on no other ac|count then the Separation did this venerable Council declare in their
<PB N="47" REF="28">
Letter to the Church of <HI>Alexandria, That in &s;trict Ju&s;tice they de&s;erved no Pity.</HI> The Council of <HI>Sardica</HI> did the like. Having depo&s;ed <HI>Gre|gory</HI> a <HI>Meletian</HI> Bi&s;hop, they de|creed in that Council, <HI>That all Or|dination made by him, &s;hould be null and void;</HI> which is in effect to de|cree, that a Schi&s;matick is <HI>ip&s;o facto</HI> dive&s;ted of his Mini&s;terial Function, and no true Mini&s;ter on the account of his Schi&s;m.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="subpart">
<HEAD>DONATISTS.</HEAD>
<P>THE light of the Go&s;pel had &s;carce been well fix'd and diffu&s;ed in the World, but the Devil &s;tired up the Pagan Emperors of <HI>Rome</HI> to extingui&s;h it, by per&s;e|cuting the Profe&s;&s;ors of it, with the mo&s;t grievous Torments and Tor|tures that the mo&s;t twi&s;ted Malice and Subtilty of Earth and Hell
<PB N="48" REF="29">
could devi&s;e; and that in &s;uch mea|&s;ure, that in the <HI>Diocle&s;ian</HI> Per&s;e|cution, which la&s;ted for ten years, there were put to Death Seventeen thou&s;and in a Month. And of the <HI>Decian</HI> Per&s;ecution, <HI>Nicephorus</HI> &s;aies, <HI>It was as ea&s;ie to number the Sands of the Sea, as to reckon up all that &s;uffer'd Martyrdom in that one Per&s;cution under</HI> Decius. This bloody work continued with its little Intermi&s;&s;ions for about 250 years <HI>(viz.)</HI> from the Reign of <HI>Nero, Anno Dom.</HI> 54. to the Reign of <HI>Con&s;tantius Clorus, Anno Dom.</HI> 304. The&s;e Flames of Per&s;ecution were &s;carcely extingui&s;hed, and peace and quiet re&s;tored to the Church, but new Heats and Lights were rai&s;ed by the pride and di&s;content of Schi&s;maticks, which infe&s;ted the Church of God, till <HI>Mahometani&s;m</HI> and <HI>Popery</HI> divided the greate&s;t part of the World, and were more per|nicious to Chri&s;tiany, than all the ten Per&s;ecutions. Among the&s;e Schi&s;maticks, the <HI>Donati&s;ts</HI> were
<PB N="49" REF="29">
chief; who were (as St. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;hews at large) &s;ound in the Faith; but as<NOTE N="&Verbar;" PLACE="marg">Ep. <HI>50.</HI> let. O. P.</NOTE> he &s;aies, <HI>De &s;ola communio|nae infaeliciter litigarunt, &amp; contra unitatem Chri&s;ti rebelles inimicitias perver&s;itate &s;ui erroris exercuerunt.</HI> They quarrelled only about Church-Communion [<HI>as the</HI> Novatians <HI>and</HI> Meletians <HI>in another part of the World did</HI>] and through the Per|ver&s;ne&s;s of their Error, exerci&s;ed (&s;aies he) Rebellious enmity again&s;t the Unity of the Church.</P>
<P>For the right under&s;tanding of the ri&s;e and progre&s;s of this Schi&s;m, we mu&s;t note, that <HI>Diocle&s;ian</HI> in the heat and heighth of his Per&s;ecu|tion, had put forth an Edict that Chri&s;tians &s;hould deliver up their Bibles, and the Writings of the Church, to be burnt; which Edict was pro&s;ecuted with &s;o much rage and vigor, that many Chri&s;tians to avoid the Storm, deliver'd up their Bibles, to the great Scorn of their Enemies, for which they were called <HI>Traditores.</HI> The Per&s;ecution being
<PB N="50" REF="30">
over, &s;ome of the Orthodox refu&s;ed to receive them into Communion, notwith&s;tanding the greate&s;t evi|dence that could be given of their true Repentance; the difference broke out into open Schi&s;m and Fa|ction, and gave Birth to that un|happy Sect of the <HI>Donati&s;ts</HI> in the year 298, which was about twelve years after the <HI>Meletian</HI> Schi&s;m was made, when <HI>Con&s;tantine</HI> the Great was Emperor, and <HI>Silve&s;ter</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Rome,</HI> in this wi&s;e:</P>
<P><HI>Botrus</HI> and <HI>Cele&s;ius,</HI> two Presby|ters, being in Competition with <HI>Ce|cilian,</HI> for the Bi&s;hoprick of <HI>Car|thage; Cecilian,</HI> a man of note for Learning and Integrity, was by the general Suffrage of that whole Church cho&s;en Bi&s;hop. <HI>Botrus</HI> and <HI>Cele&s;ius</HI> di&s;contented hereat,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Opt. <HI>p.</HI> 14. Danae <HI>on</HI> Aug. <HI>de</HI> Haere&s;. <HI>c.</HI> 69.</NOTE> with &s;ome others that had been proceeded again&s;t by <HI>Cecilian,</HI> refu&s;ed to hold Communion with him, and parti|cularly <HI>Lucilla</HI> a Spani&s;h Lady, rich and factious, thinking her &s;elf af|fronted by <HI>Cecilian</HI>'s &s;harp reproof
<PB N="51" REF="30">
of her Super&s;titious practice <HI>[in ki&s;&s;ing the Reliques of &s;ome Martyr, before her receiving the Sacrament]</HI> in Di&s;content and Anger joyns her &s;elf to <HI>Botrus</HI> and <HI>Celecius,</HI> and by the help of her money, calls in <HI>Donatus &agrave; ca&s;a nigra,</HI> with &s;ome others to &s;trengthen the Party: [<HI>much after the &s;ame manner as</HI> Vi|ret <HI>and</HI> Farellus <HI>did</HI> Calvin <HI>at</HI> Geneva.] This <HI>Donatus</HI> was pre|&s;ently made the head of the Faction; who tho him&s;elf, and mo&s;t of his Party had been <HI>Traditors</HI> [i.e. <HI>&s;uch as to evade the</HI> Diocle&s;ian <HI>Per|&s;ecution, had delivered up their Bibles to be burnt</HI>] yet accu&s;es <HI>Cecilian</HI> of being a <HI>Traditor,</HI> and on that ac|count not fit to be Bi&s;hop of <HI>Car|thage;</HI> whereupon they &s;et up <HI>Ma|jorinus</HI> a Presbyter and Mock-bi&s;hop in the &s;tead of <HI>[or rather again&s;t]</HI> the good Bi&s;hop <HI>Cecilian;</HI> and thus the Schi&s;m began by erecting Altar again&s;t Altar,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan <HI>on</HI> Aug. <HI>de</HI> Haere&s; <HI>c.</HI> 69.</NOTE> in &s;etting up <HI>Majo|rinus</HI> a P&s;eudo-Bi&s;hop again&s;t <HI>Ceci|lian,</HI> the lawful and good Bi&s;hop
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of <HI>Carthage:</HI> But this <HI>Majorinus</HI> died immediately upon the fir&s;t broach of the Schi&s;m, and was &s;uc|ceeded by <HI>Donatus &agrave; ca&s;is nigris,</HI> and he by <HI>Donatus Magnus,</HI> from whom they were called <HI>Donati&s;ts:</HI> priding them&s;elves much in this De|nomination, <HI>&egrave; parte Donati:</HI> The Schi&s;m increa&s;ed daily, and began by the Conduct of <HI>Donatus</HI> to &s;et up private meetings,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> which they called the only True and Holy Church of God, but which St. <HI>Au|gu&s;tine</HI> commonly calls Conventi|cles; and after a &s;hort time began to build for their Meetings, <HI>ba&s;ilicas non nece&s;&s;arias,</HI> as <HI>Optatus</HI> calls them: And this pernicious Schi&s;m being thus founded in proud and ambitious Di&s;content, it was propagated much after the &s;ame manner, and by the &s;ame means as well as all other Schi&s;ms u&s;ually are, as</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Preten&s;ions to greater purity and &s;tricter piety than others:</HI> Thus they taught, The Church is to con&s;i&s;t of none but &s;uch as be holy, and
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that &s;uch were not to be found in the Church of <HI>Carthage,</HI> but in the <HI>Donati&s;ts</HI> &s;eparate Congregations only; for which St. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> frequently reproves them, and particularly in that one<NOTE N="&tridot;" PLACE="marg">Ep. <HI>48</HI> lett. &amp;c. lett. p.</NOTE> Epi&s;tle to <HI>Vincentius,</HI> of boa&s;ting of them|&s;elves as the only Per&s;ons in whom the Son of Man &s;hould find Faith when he came; and in the &s;ame Epi&s;tle, compares them to the <HI>Phari&s;ees</HI> on this very account, For ju&s;tifying them&s;elves, and de&s;pi|&s;ing others, which he calls an e&s;ta|bli&s;hing of their own Righteou&s;|ne&s;s, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>That which was at-fir&s;t pretended by the <HI>Donati&s;ts</HI> as the ground of the Schi&s;m, was, that <HI>Cecilian</HI> the Orthodox Bi&s;hop of <HI>Carthage,</HI> was a <HI>Traditor;</HI> that he and the other Catholick Bi&s;hops had admitted lap&s;ed Per&s;ons into their Church-Communion, whereby all their Churches were defiled, and ought not to be communicated with, and therefore &s;eparated from them, on
<PB N="54" REF="32">
the account of greater purity:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hi&s;t. of the <HI>Donat.</HI></NOTE> In the Meeting which the Emperor <HI>Honorius</HI> appointed at the <HI>Gargilian</HI> Baths between the Catholicks and <HI>Donati&s;ts</HI> for the compo&s;ing of mat|ters between them, the <HI>Donatists</HI> refu&s;ed &s;o much as to &s;it in their Company: <HI>Primilianus</HI> the <HI>Dona|tist</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Carthage,</HI> his Words were, <HI>Indignum e&s;t ut filii Martyrum e&s;t progenies Traditorum in unum co|eant; i. e.</HI> It is not fit that the Sons of Martyrs <HI>[as they called them|&s;elves]</HI> and the Sons of <HI>Traditors [as they called the Orthodox]</HI> &s;hould &s;it together; and another of them, <HI>Odi Eccle&s;iam malignantium &amp; cum impiis non &s;edebo:</HI> I hate the Church of the <HI>Malignants [the very &s;ame Name that the Schi&s;matick-Rebels of</HI> 43 <HI>called the Orthodox and Loyal Engli&s;h by</HI>]: Such were their great preten&s;ions to &s;trict Purity and holy Ordinances, that they wa&s;hed the very Walls and Pavements of their Religious places where any of the Orthodox Chri&s;tians had been.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="55" REF="32">2. A &s;econd Expedient that they u&s;ed for the propagating of their Schi&s;m, was their proud and cen&s;o|rious &s;landering and traducing the Orthodox: This <HI>Donati&s;t</HI> Schi&s;m was fir&s;t of all founded in the di&s;|content that <HI>Donatus</HI> had took at his not being preferred to the <HI>Bi&s;hoprick</HI> of <HI>Carthage</HI> before <HI>Cecilian,</HI> where|upon he &s;eparated and propagated the Schi&s;m very much by this very means,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. <HI>on</HI> Aug. de Haere&s;. <HI>cap.</HI> 69.</NOTE> traducing <HI>Cecilian</HI> as a <HI>Tra|ditor,</HI> as no Mini&s;ter of Chri&s;t, nor the people that adhered to him true members of the Chri&s;tian Church; that they had no true Sacraments, nor &s;aving Ordinances; that all were corrupted by Idolatry and Super&s;ti|tion;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Opt. <HI>p.</HI> 47.</NOTE> and thus they generally called the Catholicks, Pagans and Idolaters. But more particularly the venerable St. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> having in publick Meetings &s;oundly baffled <HI>Petilian, Cre&s;conius,</HI> and others of their Ring-leaders, and many ways mauled their Schi&s;matick Cau&s;e <HI>[for which he has been always &s;tiled
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Donati&s;tarum mallaeus];</HI> him they traduced as a contentions Di&s;puter, a wrangling Sophi&s;ter, and a Per|verter of Souls, rather to be avoided than di&s;puted with, and to be dealt with as a Wolf, or any bea&s;t of Prey; and accordingly they employ|ed their <HI>Circumcellions</HI> to murder him, but that the Providence of God did &s;o miraculou&s;ly pre&s;erve him, once by mi&s;leading him out of his way, and at other times in miraculous manner; The Emperor they traduced as mi&s;led by <HI>Ho&s;ius</HI> the famous Bi&s;hop of <HI>Corduba,</HI> by <HI>Stilicho</HI> the great Staes-man, and others whom they &s;tiled Evil Coun|&s;ellors;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hi&s;t. of the <HI>Dona. 135.</HI></NOTE> of <HI>Men&s;urius, Cecilians</HI> Pre|dece&s;&s;or, they &s;aid, he was <HI>Tyranno crudelior, &amp; carnifice &s;evior;</HI> more raging than a Tyrant, and more cruel than a Hangman; again&s;t the Magi&s;tracy it &s;elf (&s;ays <HI>Danaeus</HI>) they did <HI>[multa emovere, &amp; impie blatterare,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>C.</HI> 69.</NOTE> <HI>tanquam eccle&s;iae lupi &amp; pe&s;tes magi&s;tratus e&s;&s;ent]</HI> lye mutter|ing and vomiting out wickedly, ac|counting
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the Magi&s;trates the very Wolfs and Plagues of the Church; and all this to promote the Schi&s;m, by keeping up prejudice in the minds of People, and to maintain in them an ill opinion of their law|ful Mini&s;ters and Magi&s;trates, who otherwi&s;e might have reduced them to Unity and Communion with the Orthodox Chri&s;tians.</P>
<P N="3">3. Ob&s;tinacy in their Per&s;wa&s;ion; they had been &s;o oft condemned in full Councils, and yet per&s;i&s;ted in their error,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ep. <HI>167.</HI> let. O.</NOTE> that made St. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> in indignation &s;ay, <HI>Puto quod &s;i ip&s;e diabolus autoritate judicis quem ultro elegerat toties vinceretur, non e&s;&s;et tam impudens ut in e&acirc; per&s;i&s;teret:</HI> I think that if the Devil him&s;elf had been &s;o oft condemned [as the&s;e Doti&s;ts have been by Judges of their own chu&s;ing] he would not have been &s;o impudent as to per&s;i&s;t in &s;uch a Cau&s;e.</P>
<P N="4">4. A fourth Expedient which they u&s;ed in propagating the Schi&s;m, was Phanatici&s;m, or Enthu&s;ia&s;m;
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When <HI>Donatus</HI> had a mind to engage the <HI>Circumcellians</HI> in any barbarous Enterprize, his Cu&s;tom was, to pre|tend that an Angel had appear'd to him, and a&s;&s;ured him of &s;ucce&s;s in an&s;wer to his Prayers, <HI>Oravit Dona|tus &amp; re&s;pondit ei Deus</HI> (&s;ays <HI>Opta|tus</HI>); and of all the <HI>Donati&s;ts,</HI> &s;aith <HI>Danaeus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>C.</HI> 69.</NOTE> <HI>Jactant Revelationes, &amp; Entheu&s;ia&s;mos ut &s;ua dogmata plau&s;i|bilius confirment, &amp; &s;e &s;anctos per|fecto&s;que &s;umo&s;ius glorientur;</HI> to the end, they may make their Opinons in Religion the more plau&s;ible, and may the more &s;peciou&s;ly boa&s;t of them&s;elves as the Saints and perfect ones, they pretended In&s;piration and Revelation from God; that their Cau&s;e was the Cau&s;e of God, and that who&s;oever died for it, received the Crown of Martyrdom; and by this very means did they encourage them&s;elves and their Party in their contempt of Magi&s;trates, and put the <HI>Circumcellions</HI> on Ma&s;&s;acres and the like mo&s;t barbarous Outrages.</P>
<P N="5"><PB N="59" REF="34">5. Their Seditious po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ing the people with Jealou&s;ies and Prejudi|ces again&s;t the good Emperor <HI>Con|&s;tantine:</HI> For in&s;tance,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hi&s;t of <HI>Don.</HI> p. <HI>67.</HI></NOTE> when he &s;ent <HI>Paulus</HI> and <HI>Macarius</HI> with his gifts and large&s;&s;es about <HI>Africa,</HI> and with them his own Effigies, in|tending nothing hereby, but &s;ome Expre&s;&s;ion of his good Affection to the people, and his endeavour of promoting that Peace and Unity in the Church, which he &s;o extream|ly de&s;ired: The&s;e <HI>Donati&s;ts</HI> here|upon, <HI>[as Schi&s;maticks always u&s;e to put the wor&s;t con&s;truction on their Princes be&s;t Actions]</HI> brute it all over <HI>Africa,</HI> that the Emperor had &s;ent Images to be &s;et upon the Al|tars, and that he was &s;etting up Idolatry and Super&s;tition in the Churches.</P>
<P N="6">6. That which conduced as much as any thing to the growth and con|tinuance of this Schi&s;m, was the great Toleration and Liberty that they enjoyed, and the want of Laws inflicted rigorou&s;ly upon them:
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Thus <HI>Danaeus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 69.</NOTE> <HI>Gregory</HI> the great, complains (&s;aies he) of the Bi&s;hops and Magi&s;trates of his time, that this grievous and pe&s;tilent Error of the <HI>Donati&s;ts</HI> did &s;o long prevail and infe&s;t the Church, through their fault and negligence; it being heavy Penalties laid upon them, that mu&s;t reduce them; this (he &s;aies) did effectually Suppre&s;s them formerly, when <HI>Arcadius</HI> and <HI>Theo|do&s;ius</HI> were Emperors.</P>
<P>To all this may be added innu|merable in&s;tances of &s;ecret Fraud, and open Violence, as the ordina|ry means of promoting the Schi&s;m, &s;uch as that of <HI>Ingentius</HI>'s forging Letters, containing the Te&s;timony of <HI>Alfius Cecilianus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hi&s;t. of <HI>Don.</HI></NOTE> concerning <HI>Faelix</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Aptung</HI>'s being a <HI>Traditor,</HI> and other the like in|&s;tances, which made the Emperor call this Sect, <HI>Officinam Diaboli,</HI> when they were convicted of Schi&s;m in the Council of <HI>Arles.</HI> So al&s;o their beating and kil|ling any that oppo&s;ed them; yea,
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or that were not of their wicked Party and Per&s;wa&s;ion, &s;aies <HI>Danae|us, Obvius &s;ibi quo&s;que in plateis &amp; agris homines &agrave; &s;uis erroribus alienos caedunt &amp; jugulant furios&egrave;,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cap. 69.</NOTE> <HI>maxim&egrave; ij qui inter eos Circumcelliones appel|lantur.</HI> In a word, notwith&s;tand|ing their greate&s;t Preten&s;ions to Pu|rity and Holine&s;s above all others, they &s;tuck at nothing (tho ever &s;o barbarous and flagitious) to &s;trengthen their Party, and pro|mote their Schi&s;matical intere&s;t; which they did &s;uccesfully, till the good Emperors <HI>Con&s;tantine, Theo|do&s;ius, Arcadius, &amp;c.</HI> put a &s;top to, and &s;uppre&s;&s;ed them by the &s;ame infallible means and method that Queen <HI>Elizabeth</HI> did the Schi&s;ma|ticks of her time, <HI>(viz.)</HI> by &s;trict Laws made again&s;t them, and executed &s;everely on them. So &s;aith the Hi|&s;torian,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Sozom. <HI>Hi&s;t. Eccl.</HI> l. 2. <HI>c.</HI> 30. <HI>Hi&s;t. trip.</HI> l. 3. c. 11,</NOTE> <HI>Con&s;tantine the first Chri|&s;trian Emperor, finding the Church di&s;turbed by Schi&s;ms, made a Law against all Conventicles, by which Law the Memory of Schi&s;maticks
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was de&s;troyed</HI> (&s;peaking of the <HI>Do|nati&s;ts</HI> only:) And St. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> in his Epi&s;tle to <HI>Vincentius,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ep.</HI> 48. <HI>Let.</HI> U.</NOTE> <HI>Mine own City</HI> (&s;aies he) <HI>which was wholly &s;chi&s;matical, of</HI> Donatus<HI>'s party, is now converted to the &V;nity of the Church, by the fear of the</HI> Imperial Laws, <HI>and do &s;o perfectly detest their former &s;tubborne&s;s, that you can &s;carce believe them ever to have been guilty. To &s;ome of the&s;e</HI> (Donati&s;ts) <HI>the terror of the</HI> Imperial Laws <HI>hath been &s;o profitable,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Let.</HI> X.</NOTE> <HI>that they have thanked God for it; &s;aying, God be thanked that hath quickened us by the Terror of the Laws, to &s;eek what formerly we did not care to find; others &s;ay, We were frighten'd by fal&s;e Rumors from coming into the Church, which we &s;hould never have known to be fal&s;e, if we had not come to Church; and we &s;hould never have come to Church, if we had not been compelled.</HI> Thus did the Execution of Penal Laws, <HI>[when all other means failed]</HI> effectually Suppre&s;s them.</P>
<P><PB N="63" REF="36">But when <HI>Julian</HI> the Apo&s;tate,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aug. <HI>Ep.</HI> 166.</NOTE> Emperor, de&s;igning thereby <HI>[among other expedients]</HI> to root out Chri|&s;tianity, gave them Toleration, the Schi&s;m revived, and the Schi&s;ma|ticks grew numerous. And as the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Schi&s;maticks in 48, when they got Liberty and full Power in their hands, were pre&s;ently di|vided into <HI>Independents, Anabap|ti&s;ts, Quakers, Seekers, High-at|tainers, &amp;c.</HI> So the&s;e <HI>Donati&s;ts</HI> had no &s;ooner got Liberty by the Emperors Indulgence, but they were pre&s;ently divided, and &s;ubdivided (as in St. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> Epi&s;tles <HI>pa&s;&s;im</HI>) into,</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Luciferians,</HI> &s;o called from their Ringleader, <HI>Lucifer Calarita|nus,</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Sardinia;</HI> the&s;e dif|fered from the re&s;t of the <HI>Dona|tists,</HI> on the account of rebap|tizing;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. <HI>on</HI> Aug. <HI>de</HI> Haere&s;. <HI>c.</HI> 69, 81.</NOTE> the other <HI>Donatists</HI> opini|oning that in the Catholick Churches there were no true Mi|ni&s;tes, and con&s;equently no true
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Sacraments, [<HI>The efficacy of the Sa|crament</HI> (&s;ay they) <HI>depending upon the dignity and &s;anctity of the Mi|nister</HI>] did rebaptize all that they received into Communion, and (which &s;hews from whence the <HI>Ana|baptists</HI> did ari&s;e) refu&s;ed to Baptize Children; <HI>Lucifer Calaritanus</HI> dif|fering from them in this, heads a party that &s;eparated from other <HI>Do|natists,</HI> called from their Ringleader <HI>Luciferians.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. Another Sect or Faction among the <HI>Donatists,</HI> were the <HI>Maximia|nists,</HI> who &s;eparated from the o|ther <HI>Donatists,</HI> as well as from the Catholicks, on pretence of greater Purity; they were &s;o called from <HI>Maximianus</HI> their Ringleader, who di&s;contented at <HI>Primitianas</HI>'s being preferred before him to the <HI>P&s;eudo</HI>-Bi&s;hoprick of <HI>Carthage,</HI> refu&s;ed to hold Communion with his Fellow-<HI>Donatists,</HI> as well as Catholicks, and drew many after him.</P>
<P N="3">3. From the&s;e &s;prang up &s;oon after, the <HI>Rogatians</HI> and <HI>Claudia|nists,</HI>
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who were otherwi&s;e called <HI>Monten&s;es Campitae</HI> and <HI>Rupitani,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. <HI>c.</HI> 69.</NOTE> from tho&s;e Fields and Caves where they kept their Conventicles; they were much what the &s;ame with our <HI>Engli&s;h Quakers. Optatus</HI> &s;peaks of them thus, <HI>Salutationis officium auferunt,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>&amp; ne ave dicunt cuique no&s;trum.</HI> They &s;alute none of the Orthodox when they meet them, nor &s;o much as bid them God &s;peed. Thus did Toleration and Liberty, make them divide and &s;ubdivide; every Schi&s;matick being ready to &s;et up for him&s;elf, as &s;oon as the Schi&s;m is made; <HI>Danaeus</HI> mentions two other Sects among the <HI>Donati&s;ts,</HI> the <HI>Permeniani&s;ts</HI> and the <HI>Cirten&s;es,</HI> be&s;ides the <HI>Circumcel|lians;</HI> &s;uch a &s;uperfetation there is in Schi&s;m, wherever it is tolerated: And as all Schi&s;maticks, when to|lerated and indulged, do u&s;ually commence Hereticks in the end; what St. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;aid of <HI>Donati&s;ts</HI> him&s;elf,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>De</HI> Haere&s;. <HI>c.</HI> 69.</NOTE> his Commentator &s;aid of his Followers: <HI>Arianis con&s;entiunt,</HI>
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as the <HI>Meletians</HI> did before them, they at la&s;t turned <HI>Arrians.</HI> Ano|ther effect of their Toleration or Liberty, was the many barbarous outrages that they committed upon the Orthodox, as oft as Toleration empowered them; for in&s;tance, <HI>Pre|textatus</HI> a <HI>Donati&s;t</HI> Bi&s;hop, being dead, <HI>Rogatus</HI> a man of note for his great Learning and good Life, was cho&s;e in his &s;tead; who, after the Election declared him&s;elf to be a Catholick, whereupon they per|&s;ecuted him grievou&s;ly, cau&s;ing the <HI>Circumcellians</HI> to pull out his Tongue, and to cut off his Hand: They dragged <HI>Re&s;titutus</HI> a Presby|ter,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Aug.</HI> de ge&s;tis cum. Emerit.</NOTE> through a Channel of Mud, and after twelve days cruel Tor|ment killed him: They murdered <HI>Maximianus</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Vaga</HI> in like manner for nothing, but demand|ing of them the Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ion of a Church, which they had took of him, and which he recovered of them at Law: They put out the Eyes of others, and poured Lime and
<PB N="67" REF="38">
Vinegar in the Holes:<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Aug.</HI> Concre&s;c. <HI>Po&s;&s;id.</HI> in vit. <HI>Aug.</HI> in Hi&s;t. of the <HI>Don.</HI></NOTE> They terri|fied with Fire and Sword all the Churches of <HI>Africa,</HI> in&s;omuch that the Catholicks were afraid to Tra|vel for fear of their <HI>Circumcellians:</HI> They not only &s;ilenced the Catho|licks, but proclaimed it by the com|mon Cryer, that whoever did Communicate with <HI>Maximianus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Aug. <HI>Ep.</HI> 166. <HI>lett.</HI> E.</NOTE> &s;hould have his hou&s;e burnt: They laid wait for <HI>Po&s;&s;idius</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Calame,</HI> with a de&s;ign to kill him; and becau&s;e he e&s;caped their Snares (as St. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> word is) they fired the hou&s;e twice in which he took Sanctuary: The like outrages did the&s;e <HI>P&s;eudo-Zealots</HI> commit upon <HI>Marcus</HI> a Presbyter of <HI>Ca&s;pa|lia,</HI> on <HI>Marcianus &V;rgen&s;is,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> and in|numerable others. In a word, &s;o long as they had Power, no good Catholick that lived among them, could be &s;ecure of his Po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ions or Life its &s;elf;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>C.</HI> 62.</NOTE> <HI>Obvios quo&s;que errori|bus &s;uis alienos</HI> (&s;aies <HI>Danaeus:</HI>) all that were not of their Party and Opinion, they made no Con&s;cience
<PB N="68" REF="39">
of Killing; and yet them&s;elve would cry out of Per&s;ecution up|on the lea&s;t touch of re&s;traint. A further account of the&s;e <HI>Donati&s;ts</HI> may be &s;een in the 48, 50, 68, 166, 167, 168, 170, 171, 172. and others of St. <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> Epi&s;tles, &s;hewing the great agreement of the modern Schi&s;maticks with tho&s;e of St <HI>Augu|&s;tines</HI> time.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="subpart">
<HEAD><HI>AERIANS</HI> AND <HI>PRESBYTERIANS.</HI></HEAD>
<P><HI>PRESBYTERIANS</HI> were &s;o called at fir&s;t, for the great &s;hare that they a&s;&s;igned to the Lay-Elders in the Government of the Church and State, as al&s;o for a Pa|rity that they would have among Mini&s;ters, or a Coaequality between
<PB N="69" REF="39">
Bi&s;hops and Presbyters: The <HI>Greek</HI> word <GAP DESC="foreign"> is be&s;t rendred an Order of Elders, an Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Senate or Cla&s;is, and &s;o the word <HI>Presbyterian</HI> &s;ignifies one that is for the Government of the Church by Lay-Elders: But cu&s;tom (which commands the propriety of words) has made it appropriate to &s;uch Prote&s;tants as are for a Parity among Mini&s;ters, in oppo&s;ition to Epi&s;copal Government.</P>
<P>Some perhaps may frame the De|nomination from <HI>Aerius,</HI> the fir&s;t of that Opinion; thus <GAP DESC="foreign">, old <HI>Aerius,</HI> or Presbyter <HI>Aerius,</HI> who was the fir&s;t of any Sect that &s;tood up for a Parity among Mini&s;ters in oppo&s;iti|on to Epi&s;copacy, which was on this occa&s;ion.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dan. <HI>on</HI> Aug. <HI>de</HI> Haere&s;. <HI>c.</HI> 53.</NOTE> <HI>Aerius</HI> being or|dained Presbyter by <HI>Eustathius</HI> Bi|&s;hop of <HI>Sebastia,</HI> was afterward by the Bi&s;hop made Ma&s;ter of an Ho&s;pi|tal, as I under&s;tand tho&s;e words of <HI>Danaeus [Ptochodocheio preficitur.]</HI> The Bi&s;hop controuling him in the
<PB N="70" REF="40">
managery of the Ho&s;pital. He fir&s;t quarrels the Bi&s;hop, and then &s;epa|rates from him, broaching this Error. <HI>Presbyterum ab Epi&s;copo</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ibid.</NOTE> <HI>ordine &amp; gradu non differre, &s;ed qui Presbyter est, Epi&s;|copum dici, &amp;c.</HI> that a Bi&s;hop and a Presbyter differ not, either in Order or Degree, but that a Pre&s;|byter is a Bi&s;hop, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> On which very account <HI>Danaeus</HI> him&s;elf, tho a &s;worn Enemy to Epi&s;copacy, con|fe&s;&s;es that <HI>Epiphanius, Augu&s;tine,</HI> and <HI>I&s;idore</HI> accounted him and his Fol|lowers, Hereticks, <HI>Aerianos Haere|ticorum albo a&s;crip&s;ere,</HI> Epiph. Aug. <HI>&amp;</HI> I&s;id. <HI>in eo quod Presbyteri &amp; Epi&s;copi parem dignitatem con&s;titue|runt;</HI> and <HI>Epiphanius</HI> [Adv. <HI>Aeri|um</HI>] calls the <HI>Aerians,</HI> the mo&s;t brain&s;ick Hereticks that ever were, for holding that Presbyters may ordain Presbyters, and that Bi|&s;hops and Presbyters were all one.</P>
<P>About the Year 1561. the <HI>Pre&s;|byterians</HI>
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began to be called <HI>Puri|tans,</HI> on this account; Queen <HI>Eliza|beth</HI> having publi&s;hed a Book of Orders, injoining &s;trict Conformity to the Orders and Di&s;cipline of the Church, in Oppo&s;ition to Po|pery and Presbytery both: Such as proceeded in Oppo&s;ition to the Queens Injunctions relating to Presbytery, or Nonconformity, were called <HI>Puritans</HI> (as the <HI>No|vatians</HI> were <HI>Catheri</HI>) as men pro|fe&s;&s;ing the greater purity in the Wor&s;hip of God, which they placed chiefly in a &s;hew of great Dete&s;tation of the Ceremonies and Corruptions of the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> above other men. But taking the word <HI>(Presby|terian)</HI> in its fir&s;t and mo&s;t pro|per Acceptation, for all &s;uch Prote&s;tants as are for a Parity among Mini&s;ters in Oppo&s;ition to Epi&s;copacy, and to &s;uch Church-Ceremonies as the Epi&s;copal Go|vernment requires, there is this following account given of them.</P>
<P><PB N="72" REF="41">Their fir&s;t ri&s;e was in <HI>Geneva,</HI> a City not above two miles compa&s;s, governed by a Duke,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Heyl. <HI>Hi&s;t. of Presb.</HI> l. 1. n. 2. n. 4.</NOTE> and a Bi&s;hop, chiefly a Bi&s;hop; who as Mr. <HI>Cal|vin</HI> confe&s;&s;es, had not only the Eccle&s;ia&s;tical, but Civil Juri&s;diction over it, till <HI>Viretus</HI> and <HI>Farellus,</HI> exceeding &s;tudious of a Reforma|tion in Religion, laboureth with the Bi&s;hop for &s;uch Alteration as had been made in the Church of <HI>Berne:</HI> But not able to pre|vail with the Bi&s;hop, they pra|cticed on the inferior &s;ort of People, and that &s;o effectually, that in a tumultuous manner they drove the Bi&s;hop and Clergy out of Town; and not only alter'd every thing that di&s;plea&s;ed them in the Church, but changed the Civil Government, di&s;claiming all Alle|giance to their Bi&s;hop or Duke ei|ther;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ibid.</HI> n. 4.</NOTE> for which rebellious At|chievement, <HI>Calvin</HI> calls <HI>Farellus,</HI> the Father of the publick Liber|ty.</P>
<P><PB N="73" REF="41">The Government of the City being thus put into the hands of the Common People by the endea|vours of <HI>Farellus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>N.</HI> 5:</NOTE> Mr. <HI>Calvin</HI> was cho&s;e one of the Preachers of <HI>Ge|neva,</HI> and &s;oon after Divinity-Rea|der; which done, he pre&s;ently ne|gotiates with them to abjure all O|bedience to their Bi&s;hop for the time to come,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Beza</HI> on the Life of <HI>Calvin.</HI></NOTE> and to admit of &s;uch a form of Di&s;cipline, as he and his Colleagues had devi&s;ed for them; And having prevailed herein, the &s;aid Di&s;cipline <HI>(viz.)</HI> the <HI>Presby|terian</HI> Di&s;cipline, was generally &s;worn and &s;ub&s;cribed to, on <HI>July</HI> 20. 1537, the very &s;ame Year (as I remember) that the Order of <HI>Je&s;uits</HI> was founded; and this was the fir&s;t Extract of Presbytery, as my Author &s;ays, begot in Rebel|lion, born in Sedition, and nur&s;ed up in Faction: No &s;ooner was it &s;etled in <HI>Geneva,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Hi&s;t. of Pre&s;. lib. <HI>1.</HI> n. <HI>6.</HI></NOTE> but <HI>Calvins</HI> next endeavours were to promote it in other places, which he did effectual|ly [notwith&s;tanding the Jars and Di&s;|cords
<PB N="74" REF="42">
that it occa&s;ioned] by the&s;e and the like means.</P>
<P N="1"><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>N.</HI> 11.</NOTE>1. By the great Reputation that <HI>Calvin</HI> had attained to, for his dili|gence in Preaching and Writing, whereby he became the Oracle of the Times.</P>
<P N="2">2. His impo&s;ing it on the People, on pain of Gods high di&s;plea&s;ure; and <HI>Beza</HI> after him, making it as unlawful to recede from the Pre&s;|byterian Di&s;cipline, as from the mo&s;t Material Points in the Chri&s;tian Faith.</P>
<P N="3">3. The Self-ends and Ambition of &s;ome Mini&s;ters, affecting the Parochial Epi&s;copacy, or Supreme Mini&s;terial Power in their own Pari&s;hes.</P>
<P N="4">4. The Covetou&s;ne&s;s of &s;ome Great Per&s;ons, who thought there|by to rai&s;e to them&s;elves great for|tunes by the Spoils of the Bi|&s;hopricks; and for the attainment of the&s;e Ends, they &s;tuck at nothing, whether the depo&s;ing of Kings, or &s;ubverting the Fundamental Con|&s;titutions,
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of all Civil States where|ever they came; and it's ob&s;ervable, that that very thing which the Engli&s;h Di&s;&s;enters at this day in&s;i&s;t on, as the <HI>Articulus Stantis vel ca|dentis Presbyter,</HI> the very <HI>ba&s;is</HI> on which their Nonconformity doth &s;tand, <HI>[as Popery doth on the infal|libility]</HI> was the main rule which <HI>Calvin</HI> went by in all his Reforma|tion work <HI>[viz.] That there ought to be nothing (and con&s;equently no ceremony) in the Wor&s;hip of God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 6. <HI>n.</HI> 3.</NOTE> <HI>which is not warranted and required in Gods Word, or which hath not par|ticular and expre&s;s command in Scrip|ture for its u&s;e:</HI> An Error which Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> him&s;elf hath &s;oundly confuted by many &s;ub&s;tantial Argu|ments in his <HI>Defence of the Princi|ples of Love,</HI> Part 1. p. 97, 98, 99, 100, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Calvin</HI> having compleated the &s;ettlement of his new Di&s;cipline in <HI>Geneva</HI> about the Year 1541. thought him&s;elf of &s;uch grand a&s;&s;u|rance, that no Church could be re|formed
<PB N="76" REF="43">
without his interpo&s;al; He offers his A&s;&s;i&s;tance to Arch-Bi&s;hop <HI>Cranmer,</HI> as &s;oon as he heard of the Reformation intended here in <HI>En|gland;</HI> but the Arch-Bi&s;hop know|ing the Man, refu&s;ed the offer; where|upon he took Order with <HI>Martin Bu|cer</HI> at his fir&s;t coming into <HI>England</HI> to give him &s;ome account of the Engli&s;h Liturgy; which was no &s;ooner done, but he pre&s;ently makes tho&s;e Excep|tions, which afterward became the main ground of tho&s;e many Trou|bles, tho&s;e horrible Di&s;orders and Confu&s;ions with which his Faction had involved the Church of <HI>En|gland</HI> from that Time to this.</P>
<P>Prevailing nothing with that Ho|ly Martyr, he tampers with the Lord Protector, with the King him&s;elf, and the Lords of his Coun|cil; had his Agents in the City and Country,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>N.</HI> 15, 16.</NOTE> the Univer&s;ities and Convocations; all of them Practi&s;ing in their Several Provinces to decry the u&s;e of Kneeling, the Cro&s;s at Bapti&s;m, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> and to bring the
<PB N="77" REF="43">
People to a di&s;like of the Common-Prayer-Book; which at its fir&s;t compo&s;ure was looked on by the People generally as a Heavenly Trea&s;ure (&s;ays Mr. <HI>Fox</HI> in his Acts and Monum. Preface) &s;ent down by God in great Mercy to the En|gli&s;h Nation; all moderate Men beyond Sea applauding the Happi|ne&s;s of the <HI>Englanders</HI> in having &s;uch an Excellent form of Gods Publick Wor&s;hip:<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 6. <HI>n.</HI> 3.</NOTE> And an Act of Parliament declared it compo&s;ed by the &s;pecial Aid and A&s;&s;i&s;tance of the Holy-Gho&s;t: But all Mr. <HI>Calvin</HI> could do, would avail nothing, nor could his Presbyterian Di&s;cipline get any footing in <HI>England,</HI> till</P>
<P N="1">1. Popery introduced it by <HI>Queen Mary's</HI> bani&s;hing mo&s;t of the mo&s;t Eminent of the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Prote|&s;tant Divines into <HI>Embden, Ba&s;il,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">The fir&s;t ri&s;e of Pre&s;. out of Popery.</NOTE> <HI>Strasburgh, Geneva, Frankford,</HI> and where the Presbyterian Di&s;ci|pline and Government was; from whence they returned into <HI>England</HI>
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tainted when the Per&s;ecution was over,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 6. <HI>n.</HI> 14.</NOTE> and had preferment gi|ven them in the Churches, whereby they got opportunity of preparing the minds of People for &s;uch inno|vations, as they hoped (when Time &s;erved) to bring into the Church; But the Fabrick of the State was joined together with &s;uch ligaments of Power and Wi&s;dom, that they were able to act but little, and to effect le&s;s.</P>
<P>About this Time died <HI>Calvin,</HI> having &s;at 28 Years in the Modera|tors Chair at <HI>Geneva,</HI> and was &s;uc|ceeded in the &s;ame Year, 1564. by <HI>Beza,</HI> who [tho at la&s;t he recanted very far] at fir&s;t endeavoured the &s;ettlement of the Presbytery in <HI>England</HI> with more Zeal and for|wardne&s;s than <HI>Calvin</HI> had done. He pre&s;ently brought it to an open Schi&s;m, and a re&s;ort to Conventicles, which him&s;elf takes notice of in a Letter to Bi&s;hop <HI>Grindal, Rem tan|dem in pertinax &s;chi&s;ma eva&s;i&s;&s;e &mdash; Nonnulli tam &s;eor&s;im &s;uos caetus ha|bent,</HI>
<PB N="79" REF="44">
&amp;c. Bez. Ep. 23.</P>
<P>Having by this means got &s;ome footing in <HI>England, [as al&s;o by the connivence of &s;ome Bi&s;hops, and by the Queens indulgence to'ards them, particularly in tolerating the French church in</HI> London, <HI>where the</HI> Geneva <HI>di&s;cipline was exerci&s;ed</HI>] they be|came &s;o in&s;olent, as to publi&s;h tho&s;e pe&s;tilent Pamphlets called the <HI>Admo|nitions,</HI> wherein they proceeded &s;o far, as to tell the Parliament, that it &s;hould be more tolerable for <HI>Sodom</HI> and <HI>Gomorrah,</HI> than for them; and that if they would not coun|tenance the <HI>Geneva</HI> Di&s;cipline, them&s;elves would be their own car|vers.<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 7. <HI>n.</HI> 23. 24.</NOTE> Whereupon the Queen i&s;&s;ued forth her Proclamation for the fur|ther &s;uppre&s;&s;ing of them; &s;o that by means of the Rigor of the Laws, the Government being too &s;trong for them, their next Expedient was,</P>
<P N="2">2. To di&s;&s;emble Conformity,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 7. <HI>n.</HI> 33, 34, 35.</NOTE> thinking thereby to breed up their Presbytery under the Wing of Epi&s;|copacy,
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till it &s;hould be &s;trong e|nough to &s;ub&s;i&s;t of it &s;elf.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 8. <HI>n.</HI> 24, 26</NOTE>Next they proceed to libel the Government with &s;uch ridiculing Pamphlets, as <HI>Mar-prelate, Ha' y' any work for the cooper; the Epi&s;tle to the Confocation hou&s;e,</HI> &amp;c. in which they far exceeded the railings of the <HI>Donati&s;ts</HI> again&s;t the Catholicks; calling the Arch-Bi&s;hop, <HI>Pope of Lambeth, and Belzeebub</HI> of <HI>Canter|bury;</HI> the re&s;t of the Bi&s;hops, <HI>petty Popes, and cogging Knaves,</HI> &amp;c. and the re&s;t of the Clergy, wor&s;e.</P>
<P>To &s;top the Mouths of the&s;e <HI>Rab&s;hakehs,</HI> there were &s;everal grave Refutals given, but all in vain, till <HI>Tom. Na&s;h</HI> the Ob&s;ervator of tho&s;e Times, a man of <HI>Sarca&s;tick</HI> Wit, by &s;ome Pamphlets written in the &s;ame loo&s;e way [&s;uch as the <HI>Pa&s;quil, the Counter&s;cuffle, Pap with the Hatchet,</HI> &amp;c. &s;topped their Mouths for ever medling more in that way.</P>
<P>About the Year 1592. they were bu&s;ie in petitioning the Queen.
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Their Petitions were &s;uch as gave the Queen a full a&s;&s;urance of what re&s;tle&s;s Spirits they were,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 9. <HI>N.</HI> 22.</NOTE> and that no quiet was to be expected, till they were utterly &s;uppre&s;&s;ed: In order thereto a Parliament was cal|led; at their fir&s;t Sitting, the Queen &s;ignified it to both Hou&s;es, that they &s;hould keep them&s;elves to the redre&s;s of popular Grievances, but that they &s;hould leave all matters of State to Her and Her Council, and all Eccle&s;ia&s;tcal matters to Her and Her Bi&s;hops: But contrary to her Command, Mr. <HI>Peter Wentworth,</HI> a Member of the Hou&s;e of Com|mons, and a great Zealot for the <HI>Presbyterian</HI> Di&s;cipline, with Mr. <HI>Bromley,</HI> and others of the Hou&s;e of Commons, deliver'd a Petition to the Lord Keeper <HI>Puckering,</HI> de|&s;iring that the Lords would joyn with them of the lower Hou&s;e, in becoming Suppliants to the Queen, for <HI>entailing the Succe&s;&s;ion of the Crown,</HI> according to a Bill which they had prepared: At this the
<PB N="82" REF="46">
Queen was &s;o di&s;plea&s;ed, that Mr. <HI>Wentworth</HI> was &s;ent to the Tower; Mr. <HI>Bromley</HI> and &s;ome others of the Commons, committed to the <HI>Fleet.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>N.</HI> 25.</NOTE>In this Parliament it was enacted, that, <HI>If any Per&s;on &s;hould come to, or be at any unlawful A&s;&s;emblies, Conventicles, or Meetings, under pretence of Religious exerci&s;e, contra|ry to the Laws and Statutes made in that behalf,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>that every Per&s;on &s;o offending &s;hould be committed to Pri|&s;on, without Bail or Mainpri&s;e, or depart the Realm at &s;uch time and place as was a&s;&s;igned, with this</HI> Pro|vi&s;o,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>N.</HI> 27.</NOTE> <HI>that if he departed not at the time appointed, or come back without leave fir&s;t granted, he &s;hould &s;uffer Death, as in the ca&s;e of</HI> Felony. And when all other means failed, the&s;e &s;harp Laws made again&s;t them, and &s;ome &s;evere Executions done upon them, humbled the Ringlea|ders of them, ruined the whole <HI>Machina</HI> of their devices, and effe|ctually
<PB N="83" REF="46">
promoted the Peace and Tranquillity of Church and State, and the happy Pre&s;ervation of Her Maje&s;ties Per&s;on, to a pro&s;perous and peaceable Reign.</P>
<P>And 'tis believed, that at King <HI>James</HI>'s fir&s;t coming to the Crown of <HI>England,</HI> about the year 1603, the <HI>Presbyterians</HI> in both Kingdoms, <HI>England</HI> and <HI>Scotland,</HI> were brought &s;o low,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lib.</HI> 11. <HI>N.</HI> 1.</NOTE> that they might have been &s;uppre&s;&s;ed for ever without any great danger, had that King held the Reins with a &s;teady hand, and not remitted &s;o much <HI>[as he did]</HI> in the cares and &s;everities of Go|vernment; particularly, in admit|ting the <HI>Presbyterian</HI>-petitioning, and e&s;pecially, in that called the Millenary-petition, becau&s;e &s;aid to be Sub&s;cribed by a thou&s;and hands, when indeed it wanted &s;ome hundreds of it: This Peti|tion was for Reformation of &s;un|dry Ceremonies and Abu&s;es, <HI>(viz.)</HI> Cro&s;s in Bapti&s;m, Church-Mu&s;ick,
<PB N="84" REF="47">
<HI>&amp;c.</HI> which occa&s;ioned the confe|rence at <HI>Hampton Court,</HI> where the King him&s;elf was pre&s;ent as Mode|rator,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>N.</HI> 6.</NOTE> between the Epi&s;copal and <HI>Presbyterian</HI> Divines; the re&s;ult of the conference was this &s;harp re|primand&punc; <HI>If this be all they have to &s;ay</HI> (&s;aies the King) <HI>I'le make them conform,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Conf. at</HI> Hamp. Court, <HI>p.</HI> 85.</NOTE> <HI>or I'le hurry them out of the Kingdom;</HI> or &s;omewhat wor&s;e, at the conclu&s;ion of the conference. The <HI>Presbyterian</HI> Di|vines, when they &s;aw that they could not obtain their de&s;ires in &s;uch Conce&s;&s;ions and Alterations, as they di&s;puted for; they were (notwith&s;tanding) not tran&s;ported with heat and pa&s;&s;ion, or any &s;uch bigottery, as the modern Di&s;&s;enters are, on &s;uch occa&s;ion; but ingenu|ou&s;ly promi&s;ed the Bi&s;hops, their Antagoni&s;ts, <HI>That they would never|thele&s;s reverence them as &s;piritual Fa|thers, and joyn with them again&s;t the common Enemy.</HI></P>
<P><PB N="85" REF="47">Upon this Conference,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>N.</HI> 8.</NOTE> the Kings Proclamation was i&s;&s;ued forth, commanding &s;trict Conformity, and admoni&s;hing all his Subjects of what &s;ort &s;oever, Never after to expect any Alteration in the pub|lick form of Gods Wor&s;hip; and things being accordingly put in Ex|ecution, and the Government hold|ing a hard hand upon them, incon|formity &s;oon grew out of fa&s;hion again,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>N.</HI> 10.</NOTE></P>
<P>Till the <HI>Gunpowder-Trea&s;on,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">N <HI>12.</HI> Presbytery out of Popery, the &s;econd time.</NOTE> from whence they took occa&s;ion to po&s;&s;e&s;s the People with fears and jealou&s;ies of new dangers from the <HI>Papi&s;ts;</HI> and by a &s;hew of greate&s;t Zeal for the Prote&s;tant Religion, they got a Party in the Hou&s;e of Commons, who by the &s;pecious pretences of &s;tanding for the Sub|jects Property, and the Pre&s;ervati|on of the Prote&s;tant Religion, weakened the Prerogative Royal, and advanced their own; and by degrees, got &s;o &s;trong in Parlia|ment,
<PB N="86" REF="48">
that at the beginning of the Reign of King <HI>Charles</HI> the fir&s;t, they were able to proceed from Coun|cil to Execution; beginning their Embroilments fir&s;t in <HI>Scotland,</HI> by &s;ending thither the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Liturgy, and Book of Canons;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Sir</HI> R. Bak. <HI>Anno</HI> 1638.</NOTE> whereupon the <HI>Scots</HI> took up Arms, declaring not to lay them down, till the <HI>Presbyterian</HI> Religion was &s;etled in both Nations; they being incou|raged &s;o to do, by &s;ome of the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Parliament;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ibid.</HI> 1640.</NOTE> which the King under&s;tanding, went to the Hou&s;e of Commons, to demand five of their Members, whom he accu&s;ed of &s;e|ditious Intercour&s;e had with the <HI>Scots</HI> in that In&s;urrection. And here began the fir&s;t Eruption.</P>
<P>The King wanting Money to ma|nage the War with <HI>Spain,</HI> was for|ced to have almo&s;t continual Parlia|ments, of which many Members be|ing Scotized, fell pre&s;ently on Vo|ting the Ship money unlawful, the Convocation of the Clergy Illegal,
<PB N="87" REF="48">
and their Canons void;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bak. <HI>Chron.</HI> 1641. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> pa&s;&s;ed a Bill for taking away the Bi&s;hops Votes in Parliament; [<HI>Which when the King con&s;ented to,</HI> he &s;aies, <HI>he never enjoyed comfortable day after</HI>] they pa&s;&s;ed a Bill for a Triennial Parliament, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> All which they forced from the King, by terror of the <HI>Scotti&s;h</HI> Army, which they kept in pay nine Months on pur|po&s;e: And tho the Lords and o|thers at <HI>York,</HI> in their Declaration,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Bak. <HI>Chron.</HI> 1642.</NOTE> prote&s;ted before God, and te&s;tified to all the World (as they had often done before) that they were fully per&s;waded that the King had no in|tention to make War upon the Par|liament, but that all his endeavours tended to a firm Settlement of the Prote&s;tant Religion, the ju&s;t Pri|viledges of Parliament, the Liber|ty of the Subject, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> yet they proceeded <HI>[chiefly on pretence of the fear of Popery]</HI> to wre&s;t the <HI>Mili|tia</HI> out of his hand, as al&s;o the <HI>Tower</HI> of <HI>London,</HI> the <HI>Navy Royal,</HI> and all his Revenues; u&s;ing all
<PB N="88" REF="49">
Terror imaginable, to affright his Subjects from Supplying or A&s;&s;i&s;ting him: In &s;hort, a rebellious and mo&s;t unnatural War being com|menced, which &s;hed the Blood of &s;o many thou&s;ands, they reduced the King to con&s;ent to the&s;e, and the like Propo&s;als;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Baker <HI>Chron. Anno</HI> 1648.</NOTE> <HI>That the</HI> Pre&s;|byterian <HI>Di&s;cipline &s;hould be &s;et up for three years</HI> [in the interim of which they would endeavour the Settlement of Peace in Church and State:] <HI>That the</HI> Militia <HI>&s;hould be lodged into their hands for twenty years: That the whole Government of</HI> Ireland, <HI>both Military and Civil, &s;hould be put into their hands: That they &s;hould confer all Officers, and all chief Magi&s;trates of the Kingdom of</HI> England <HI>for twenty years.</HI></P>
<P>And having thus got the whole Soveraignty to them&s;elves, they were willing on the&s;e mo&s;t unna|tural Conce&s;&s;ions, to comply with the King, and voted a full agree|ment
<PB N="89" REF="49">
with him: But alas, too late; they having by this time cut off his hands and feet, empowered the Inde|pendent Army to cut off his Head: And now when the <HI>Presbyterian</HI> Di&s;cipline was to be compleatly &s;etled, the Army <HI>[which them&s;elves had rai&s;ed]</HI> declare for the <HI>Inde|pendent</HI> Way, and &s;erve them, as they had &s;erved the King, turn them out of Doors, and re&s;olve upon nothing le&s;s then the Death of the King; which was at fir&s;t attempted by private Con&s;piracy, with Poy&s;on and Pi&s;tol, by Captain <HI>Rolph,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Baker</HI>'s Chron. Anno <HI>1648.</HI></NOTE> with the privity of Collo|nel <HI>Hammond,</HI> and &s;ome other chief Officers of the Army: But afterwards effected with &s;uch Hell|bred Solemnity, and in &s;uch barba|rous manner, as <HI>[to the everla&s;ting reproach of the Prote&s;tant Religion] Turks</HI> and <HI>Tartars</HI> have &s;tartled at: Thus did they wade through the Blood of men, the be&s;t of men, to de&s;troy the Peace of the Church, and to &s;et up that <HI>Presbyterian</HI> Di&s;|cipline,
<PB N="90" REF="50">
which was no &s;ooner up but down, as that which will no more comport with the Con&s;titu|tion of the <HI>Engli&s;h</HI> Government, than <HI>Popery</HI> or the <HI>Mus&s;leman</HI> Faith. And as this barbarous Regicidy, &s;o that which introduced it with &s;o much Murder, Perjury and Rapine, I mean the Civil War, which co&s;t &s;o many millions of Trea&s;ury, and &s;o many thou&s;ands of Mens lives, was undeniably the effect of the <HI>Presbyterian</HI> Schi&s;m; as is &s;ufficient|ly acknowledged by the mouth of a modern Di&s;&s;enter, which is Mr. <HI>Baxter,</HI> a dying man, and there|fore to be believed; &s;peaking to a Nonconformi&s;t (<HI>whom he doth &s;o orthodoxly and hone&s;tly write again&s;t.]</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Cathol. Com|munion doubly Defended, <HI>p. 31.</HI></NOTE>] <HI>If you know not</HI> (&s;aies he) <HI>I do, that the principles of Separation were the great cau&s;e of the Subver&s;ions and Confu&s;ions which brought us to what we have felt &mdash; in</HI> England, Scot|land, <HI>and</HI> Ireland, <HI>for the&s;e forty years; and if I may not have leave to &s;ay with</HI> Bradford, <HI>Repent O</HI> Eng|land;
<PB N="91" REF="50">
<HI>you &s;hould give me leave to repent my &s;elf, that ever I preach|ed one Sermon with any Bia&s;s of overmuch de&s;ire to plea&s;e Per&s;ons of the accu&s;ing &s;eparating humour.</HI> Thus Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> in that late, and la&s;t of all his Books. But to pro|ceed.</P>
<P>In conclu&s;ion of this War and Regicidy, the men in Buff fell to Reformation-work in Churches, which I cannot but take notice of in this place, it being &s;o exactly agreeable to the pattern of <HI>Julian</HI> the Apo&s;tate's reforming Chri&s;tiani|ty: In <HI>Winche&s;ter</HI> Church, Col|lonel <HI>Waller</HI> with &s;ome of his Re|giment,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Hi&s;t. of Presb.</HI> lib. 13. n. 23.</NOTE> threw down the Commu|nion Table, broke down the Rails, and burnt them in an Ale-hou&s;e, &s;trewed the pavement of the Quire, with the Leaves which they tore out of the Common-prayer Book; and whereas the remains of &s;everal <HI>Sax|on</HI> Kings and Bi&s;hops, had been [<HI>by the care of Bi&s;hop</HI> Fox] gathered
<PB N="92" REF="51">
into leaden Che&s;ts, they &s;cattered the Du&s;t of their Bodies before the Wind, and threw their Bones about the Church; The very &s;ame that <HI>Julian</HI> the Apo&s;tate did to the remains of <HI>John</HI> the Bapti&s;t [<HI>buried at</HI> Samaria] <HI>He cau&s;ed his Bones to be digged up, and being mixed with the Bones of Bea&s;ts, he burnt them to A&s;hes, and &s;cattered the A&s;hes before the Wind.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>N.</HI> 24, 25.</NOTE>In the Cathedral Church of <HI>Chi|che&s;ter,</HI> after they had picked out the Eyes of the portraitur'd King <HI>Edward</HI> the &s;ixth, &s;aying in &s;corn, <HI>That all the mi&s;chief came from him, in e&s;tabli&s;hing the Common-Prayer at fir&s;t;</HI> they fell to pillaging and plundering, like the <HI>Goths</HI> at the Sack of <HI>Rome;</HI> and when it was beg'd that they would leave but one Chalice for the u&s;e of the Sacrament, it was an&s;wered, <HI>A wooden Di&s;h may &s;erve turn:</HI> The &s;ame words almo&s;t, as of <HI>Faelix [Colleague to</HI> Julian, <HI>that renounced Chri&s;tianity in
<PB N="93" REF="51">
complement</HI> to Julian] who taking up the Communion-plate, which the Religious <HI>Con&s;tantine</HI> had in piety be&s;towed upon the Church, <HI>See here</HI> (&s;aies he in &s;corn) <HI>what brave Cups and Ve&s;&s;els the Son of</HI> Mary <HI>is &s;erved in.</HI></P>
<P>The Church of <HI>Exeter</HI> they turn|ed into a Jakes, leaving their filth on and about the Communion Table; whereas the Apo&s;tate <HI>Ju+lian</HI> did but pi&s;s again&s;t the Com|munion Table, in a Church at <HI>Antioch,</HI> and the Presbyter <HI>Euzoius</HI> reproved him (tho an Emperor) &s;harply to his face. And in all this they wrote, as after the Copy of the Apo&s;tate <HI>Julian,</HI> &s;o with the practice of the <HI>Donati&s;t</HI>-Di&s;&s;enters. As <HI>Optatus</HI> relates, that in <HI>Thipa&s;a,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Opt. 55. <HI>ap. Hi&s;t. of</HI> Don.</NOTE> a City of <HI>Mauritania,</HI> the barba|rous <HI>Donati&s;ts</HI> a&s;&s;aulted an A&s;&s;em|bly of the Orthodox Chri&s;tians, while they were at their Devotions, and driving them out of the Church, &s;lew a great many of
<PB N="94" REF="52">
them; the Bread of the con&s;ecra|ted Euchari&s;t, they threw to the Dogs, who having eaten it, by the ju&s;t Judgment of God, pre&s;ently grew mad, fell upon their Ma&s;ters that gave it them, and tore them to pieces.</P>
<P>But in the reforming the Church of <HI>Canterbury,</HI> they exceeded <HI>Ju|lian</HI> or the <HI>Donati&s;ts</HI> either;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>N.</HI> 25.</NOTE> for finding there &s;ome Figures of Chri&s;t in the <HI>Arras-hangings</HI> in the Quire, they did in the mo&s;t literal Sence, crucifie Chri&s;t <HI>in Effigie;</HI> &s;ome &s;wearing that they would &s;tab him, others that they would rip up his Bowels, which accordingly they did, &s;o far as the Figures of Chri&s;t in the Hangings were capable of it.</P>
<P>The principal In&s;trument in framing this Reformation, and Hammering out all that mi&s;chief of the War and Regicidy, was a Tool called the <HI>Solemn League
<PB N="95" REF="52">
and Covenant;</HI> as appears by the dying words of one of the chief contrivers of it, Sir <HI>Henry Vane,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Speech</HI> p. 3.</NOTE> at his Execution on <HI>Tower-Hill: That what the Hou&s;e of Commons did &s;ingly by them&s;elves (which was their Levying of War, Murdering the King, pro&s;cribing his Son, Voting down Monarchy) with much more which, he &s;aies, lay yet in the brea&s;t of the Hou&s;e, was but a more refined pur&s;uit of the Covenant:</HI> Thus Sir <HI>Henry Vane,</HI> who being &s;ent hence Commi&s;&s;ioner into <HI>Scot|land,</HI> was one of the fir&s;t Contrivers of it; and therefore mo&s;t likely to know the u&s;e and de&s;ign of it; and being then ready to die, was mo&s;t likely to &s;peak truth.</P>
<P>But thus much is demon&s;trably true, that the <HI>Covenant</HI> put them on altering the Government, and that Alteration on the afore&s;aid Reformation; as al&s;o upon War|ring again&s;t the King, and that
<PB N="96" REF="53">
War upon conquering, and that Conque&s;t upon Impri&s;oning, and that Impri&s;oning upon Impowering a rude Conquering Army to Mur|der him: So that their laying all on a rude conquering Army (as Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> doth) is no other Plea for the <HI>Presbyterians</HI> not kil|ling the King,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Plea for Peace.</NOTE> <HI>&amp;c.</HI> than <HI>Pilates</HI> was, for his Innocency in putting Chri&s;t to Death, becau&s;e he left the Execution of it to the Soldi|ers: But to &s;hew what an Engine this Covenant was again&s;t the Church; what a Solemn piece of Perjury, and what a &s;nare of Souls, what a my&s;tery of Iniquity, and what a bane of Monarchy, 'tis fit all Po&s;terity &s;hould be in&s;tru|cted in the&s;e three Articles of it:</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>That without re&s;pect of Per|&s;ons, they would endeavour to extir|pate Popery and Prelacy,</HI> i. e. <HI>Church-Government by Arch-Bi&s;hops, Bi&s;hops, Deans,</HI> &amp;c. and all this not only
<PB N="97" REF="53">
contrary to the Kings Proclama|tion, &s;trictly forbidding it; but contrary to an Oath previou&s;ly ta|ken by a great part of the <HI>Covenan|ters.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>That they would endeavour the di&s;covery of all &s;uch as had been, or &s;hould be Incendiaries, Malignants, evil In&s;truments,</HI> &amp;c. whereby they bound them&s;elves and others (as the event &s;hew'd) to bear fal&s;e again&s;t, to Condemn and Murder the Kings be&s;t Friends, as tho&s;e that &s;tood mo&s;t in their way, as the Earl of <HI>Strafford,</HI> Arch-Bi&s;hop <HI>Laud,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P N="3">3. <HI>That they would pre&s;erve the Kings Per&s;on in the pre&s;ervation of the true</HI> [i. e. Presbyterian Religion] <HI>and the Liberties of this Kingdom:</HI> Which was in effect a covenanting to Rebel again&s;t the King, if not to Murder him, in regard that the Covenanters had already declared from Pulpit and Pre&s;s, that the
<PB N="98" REF="54">
Religion and Wor&s;hip e&s;tabli&s;hed in the Church of <HI>England,</HI> and main|tained by the King, was Popi&s;h and Idolatrous; and that the <HI>Presbyte|rian</HI> was the only true Religion; and that the King had actually in|vaded the Liberties of the Subjects, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> and on this account, this Ar|ticle took in its limitations, did in effect empower them to ab&s;olve them&s;elves from their Allegiance, and to take up Arms again&s;t the King: So that if we con&s;ider this Covenant in the&s;e four circum&s;tan|ces, the Subject-matter of it, the De&s;ign and Occa&s;ion of it, the Per|&s;ons engaged in it, and the manner of Imploying it; it will appear to be,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Farewel Serm.</HI> p. 37.</NOTE> not only as Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> calls it, <HI>A dividing Engine, an impo&s;ing on the Providence of God,</HI> &amp;c. but as another Nonconformi&s;t called it, <HI>A very ne&s;t of Villany;</HI> and as ano|ther of them,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Nar. of the Covenant.</NOTE> <HI>Mr.</HI> Phil. Nye, <HI>Such a Covenant as was never heard, nor read of, nor ever the World &s;aw;</HI> and as yet this was made the Te&s;t of all
<PB N="99" REF="54">
&s;uch as were to be tru&s;ted or accept|ed: And of the &s;ame &s;tamp with the&s;e old Covenantiers are there great numbers at this day, <HI>The cer|tain men among us crept in unawares,</HI> of whom Dr. <HI>Hickes</HI> gives this em|phatical Mark,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Serm. at</HI> Wor|ce&s;t May 29. <HI>Preface.</HI></NOTE> <HI>That are for the King again&s;t his evil Councellors, and for the Prote&s;tant Religion again&s;t the Church:</HI> Of their barbarous Cru|elties to'ards the Orthodox Clergy, and others (wherein they exceeded the Cruelties of the <HI>Donatists</HI> to'ards the Orthodox Clergy of tho&s;e times) &s;ee <HI>Aerius Rediv.</HI> lib. 13. <HI>Mercurius Ru&s;ticus,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>No &s;ooner had they battered down Epi&s;copacy by their <HI>We&s;tmin|&s;ter</HI> Ordinances, and &s;et up Presby|tery in its &s;tead; but that beloved Di&s;cipline and Government [<HI>who&s;e &s;ettlement in</HI> England <HI>co&s;t &s;o many millions of Trea&s;ure, and &s;o many thou&s;ands of Lives</HI>] in the turn of a hand was made <HI>&s;ub</HI> to Independency, and that &s;oon dwindled into more Sects, than ever old <HI>Donati&s;m</HI> was;
<PB N="100" REF="55">
&s;uch as <HI>Anabaptists, Quakers, Seek|ers, High-Attainers,</HI> &amp;c. Some of which would in all probability have become the prevailing Religion of the Nation, had not the &s;ea&s;onable Re&s;toration of King <HI>Charles</HI> the 2d prevented it: By all which we are taught to look on it, as what God hath written to us in Characters of Blood, <HI>That no other than the Epi&s;|copal Government will comport with the Con&s;titution of the</HI> Engli&s;h <HI>Nati|on.</HI></P>
<P>And to &s;hew yet further, the a|greement of the&s;e men with the <HI>Donatists,</HI> and other Sectaries of old; I &s;hall conclude this Head with that Character which King <HI>James</HI> gave of them, <HI>That tho they refu&s;ed to be called</HI> Anabapti&s;ts;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> <HI>yet they partook too much of their humour; not only agreeing with them in that general Rule, the contempt of the Civil Magi&s;trate, and in leaning to their Dreams, Imaginations, and (pretended) Revelations; but par|ticularly
<PB N="101" REF="55">
in accounting all men pro|phane, that agree not to their Fancies, in making as much commotion for every particular que&s;tion of Church-polity, as if an Article of the Trinity were called in que&s;tion; in making the Scripture to be ruled by their Con|&s;cience, and not their Con&s;cience by the Scripture; in accounting every one as a</HI> Heathen <HI>and</HI> Publican, <HI>and not worthy to enjoy the benefit of breathing, much le&s;s to partake with them in the Sacraments, that denies the lea&s;t jot of their ground: And in &s;uffering the King, People, Law, and all to be trodden under foot, ra|ther than the lea&s;t of their Grounds be impugned: He stiles them the very Pests of the Commonwealth, whom no de&s;erts can oblige, breathing out nothing but Calumnies and Sedition; A&s;piring without Mea&s;ure, Railing without Rea&s;on, and making their own Imaginations the &s;quare of their Con&s;ciences.</HI> Thus doth King <HI>James</HI> Characterize the <HI>Presbyterians</HI> of his time, exactly agreeing in every
<PB N="102" REF="56">
clau&s;e of the Character, with the <HI>Donatists,</HI> and the re&s;t of the An|cient Schi&s;maticks. To all which he &s;ubjoins in the form of a Prote|&s;tation, <HI>That one &s;hall never find in any High-landers, or bordering Thieves, greater Ingratitude, more Lies and Perjuries, than among the&s;e Phanatick Spirits,</HI> (as he calls them:) And becau&s;e the <HI>Novatians,</HI> the <HI>Donatists,</HI> and other Schi&s;maticks of old, as well as of late, have had the Denomination (of Phanaticks) given them; and becau&s;e 'tis a no|tion, that I have ob&s;erved to be gro&s;ly mi&s;under&s;tood, even by ma|ny great pretenders to knowledg, e&s;pecially of the Di&s;&s;enters, I &s;hall &s;ubjoin this brief account of it.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="subpart">
<PB N="103" REF="56">
<HEAD>PHANATICISM.</HEAD>
<P>THE word is u&s;ed to &s;ignifie (fal&s;e) preten&s;ions to Divine motion,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> or In&s;piration from God; and is appropriate to tho&s;e, who in matters of Religion, inti|tle God to Enthu&s;ia&s;tick Fancies, a&s;cribe their whim&s;ical per&s;wa&s;ions, unaccountable Humours, and Phan|ta&s;tick Motions, to the Sugge&s;tion and Impul&s;e of the ble&s;&s;ed Spirit of God; that to defend an (other|wi&s;e indefen&s;en&s;ible Cau&s;e, pretend to the <HI>aliquid</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign">, &s;ome impul&s;e or motion from God: Thus <HI>Do|natus,</HI> when he had a mind to en|gage the <HI>Circumcellians</HI> in any barbarous de&s;ign, his cu&s;tom was to pretend that an Angel had ap|peared to him, and a&s;&s;ured him
<PB N="104" REF="57">
of immediate An&s;wer to his Prayers, for the Confirmation of his Party, <HI>Oravit Donatus, &amp; re&s;pondit ei deus</HI> (&s;aies <HI>Optatus.</HI>)</P>
<P N="1">1. The gro&s;&s;e&s;t &s;ort of Phana|tici&s;m is of tho&s;e, who pretend to the <HI>aliquid</HI> <GAP DESC="foreign"> the impul&s;e of Gods Spirit, for things in them|&s;elves &s;inful; when men do inti|tle God to &s;uch Villanies, as Fraud, Trea&s;on, Sedition, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> As that of <HI>Donatus,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Aug.</HI> Ep. <HI>165.</HI> &amp; pa&s;&s;im.</NOTE> who would pretend to conference with an An|gel, and Revelation from God, telling the <HI>Circumcellions,</HI> that he would &s;eek God, and give them Directions, when he had a mind to put them on any Ma&s;&s;acre, Rapine, or the like. Of this &s;ort was the <HI>Scotch</HI> Mrs. <HI>Mitchel&s;on,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Spirit of Po|pery out of the mouth of Phanat.</NOTE> whom the Presbyterians of <HI>Scotland</HI> &s;et up for a Prophete&s;s; She pretended to be in&s;pired, and that it was re|vealed to her by God, that the Solemn League and Covenant was
<PB N="105" REF="57">
approved of by him, and ratified in Heaven:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Speech at his Execution.</NOTE> So <HI>Kid [a Conventicle Preacher of</HI> Scotland, <HI>hanged for Sedition in the year</HI> 1680] his cal|ling the conceited &s;trength and number of the Rebels, <HI>the Lords power and pre&s;ence, and the &s;trong hand of the Lord,</HI> &amp;c. which is &s;o far forth Phanatici&s;m, as it is an intituling the Power and Provi|dence of God to Rebellion: So al|&s;o <HI>Coppinger</HI> in Queen <HI>Elizabeth's</HI> time, after a &s;trict Fa&s;t [<HI>held for freeing of</HI> Cartwright, Snape, <HI>&amp;c. out of Pri&s;on, and for &s;ucce&s;s in promoting the Presbyterian Di&s;|cipline</HI>] in his Journey to'ards <HI>Kent,</HI> he fancied,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Aeri. Red.</NOTE> <HI>That he was admitted to a familiar conference with God, that he received many Directions from him, and parti|cularly that God had &s;hewed him a way to bring the Queen and all her Nobles to Repentance, or to prove them Traytors to God,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P><PB N="106" REF="58"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Baker <HI>Chron. An.</HI> 1591.</NOTE>Of this <HI>Coppingers</HI> School of Hypocri&s;ie, was <HI>Hacket,</HI> a man of &s;uch de&s;perate Malice, that bear|ing an old Grudge to one that had been his Schoolma&s;ter, bit of his No&s;e; when the School|ma&s;ter begged that he may have it to &s;ow on again before it was cold,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Hi&s;t. of Pre&s;|byt.</HI> lib. 9. n. 6.</NOTE> he chewed it with his Teeth, and &s;wallowed it down: yet did this man attain to that e&s;teem among the People, and conceit of him&s;elf <HI>[by his counterfeit ho|line&s;s, and extemporate Prayers]</HI> that at la&s;t, his pride improved into &s;uch <HI>Phanatici&s;m,</HI> as has &s;carce been heard of; pretend|ing to extraordinary Zeal for the Reformation; he pretended al&s;o to extraordinary Revelations from God, for the accompli&s;h|ing of it: He pretended that God had revealed to him, that there &s;hould be no more Popes; that <HI>England</HI> would be that year, grie|vou&s;ly afflicted with Plague and
<PB N="107" REF="58">
Famine, unle&s;s the Reformation, and the Lords Di&s;cipline (mean|ing the <HI>Presbyterian</HI> Di&s;cipline) were admitted; he bruted abroad, that the Queen was an U&s;urper, and the like Seditious Speeches; for which he was Hang'd and Quartered; about the &s;ame time, 1593. <HI>Penry</HI> was Hanged for the like &s;editious Practices, for which <HI>[in a</HI><NOTE N="&Verbar;" PLACE="marg">The Hi&s;t. of <HI>Korah, Dath.</HI> and <HI>Abiram,</HI> Preface. Po&s;t|&s;cript.</NOTE> <HI>Book publi&s;hed &s;oon after his Execution]</HI> he was &s;tiled by the Di&s;&s;enters, <HI>A Martyr of Je|&s;us Chri&s;t, a godly Man, Religi|ous and Learned, Zealous, and of mo&s;t Chri&s;tian Carriage and Cou|rage, who &s;uffer'd for writing for the Truth of Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</HI> In the &s;ame year <HI>Barrow,</HI> who was Hang|ed for condemning the Church of <HI>England,</HI> as no true Church,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hi&s;t. of the Presbyt. <HI>l. 9.</HI></NOTE> and Derogating from the Queens Au|thority in matters Eccle&s;ia&s;tical, and the like &s;editious Practi&s;es; &s;peaking to Dr. <HI>Andrews,</HI> and Dr. <HI>Parry,</HI> after his Condemna|tion,
<PB N="108" REF="59">
<HI>'Tis true</HI> (&s;aid he) <HI>Arch-Bi|&s;hop</HI> Cranmer, <HI>Bi&s;hop</HI> Ridley, <HI>and others, were Martyrs in Queen</HI> Mary<HI>'s days; but the&s;e bonds of mine</HI> [&s;haking his Fetters] <HI>are much more glorious then any of theirs, becau&s;e they had the mark of An|tichri&s;t in their hands.</HI> And of the &s;ame &s;ort, are all who &s;uffer on the account of Sedition, Rebel|lion, and the like; and yet intitle God to tho&s;e Villanies, in calling their ju&s;t Puni&s;hment, Per&s;ecution, &s;uffering for Righteou&s;ne&s;s-&s;ake, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. There is a rank &s;match of Phanatici&s;m in that fundamental Article of the <HI>Presbyterian</HI> Faith, <HI>That it is unlawful to u&s;e any thing in the Wor&s;hip of God, which is not expre&s;ly commanded by &s;ome Divine Law.</HI> If the belief of this be a fathering of our Sins upon God, then is it rank Phanatici&s;m; but that the belief of this is a fa|thering
<PB N="109" REF="59">
of our Sins upon God, is &s;ufficiently proved by Mr. <HI>Bax|ter</HI> him&s;elf, in his <HI>Defence of the Principle of Love,</HI> Part 1. page 100.</P>
<P N="3">3. A third In&s;tance of Phana|tici&s;m, is fal&s;e preten&s;ion to the Spirit of God in Preaching, as among the Quakers, a Spawn of the Popi&s;h <HI>Franci&s;cans,</HI> who made unlearnedne&s;s a Profe&s;&s;ion, pri|ding them&s;elves in the Title of <HI>Fratres Ignorantiae;</HI> and among the Presbyterians,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Era&s;m. <HI>Ep.</HI> 59. <HI>ad frat.</HI> Ger|man.</NOTE> there is <HI>Pha|rellus</HI> of <HI>Geneva,</HI> the fir&s;t lay-Pa|tron of Presbytery, who in pre|ten&s;ion to the Spirit, called all humane learning, <HI>The invention of the Devil.</HI> Somewhat like Qua|kers in Preaching, are &s;ome others, who in Preaching, take boiling Pa&s;&s;ion for holy Zeal; and wild Imagination for Divine Motion; when a fiery Fancy mounting a|loft, flutters in my&s;tical Non&s;ence,
<PB N="110" REF="60">
and flows into the Tongue in extravagant Ramble, abu&s;ing the Name and Word of God, with &s;en&s;le&s;s Notions, phanta&s;tick Phra&s;es, and unintelligible Cant, and all this a&s;cribed to the ble&s;&s;ed Spirit of God, as the extraordi|nary Work of that adorable Spi|rit; and as Preaching by the Spi|rit, &s;o of writing by the Spirit, Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> in his Treati&s;e of Epi&s;copacy, <HI>P.</HI> 1. <HI>ch.</HI> 14. <HI>p.</HI> 169. gives this remarkable In&s;tance, <HI>That there are many poor men a|mong us, divers Weavers and Ploughmen of his own Church at</HI> Kid|dermin&s;ter,<NOTE PLACE="marg">To di&s;abu&s;e the Weavers of <HI>Kiddermin&s;ter</HI> in this matter, I mu&s;t In&s;ert in their behalf, that I know them to be for the mo&s;t part men of &s;uch Moderation and Sobriety in Judgment, as to di&s;dain &s;uch Flattery, and re&s;ent &s;uch a|bu&s;e as Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> here offers them.</NOTE> <HI>who are able, not only to Pray and Teach, as well as mo&s;t of tho&s;e (Bi&s;hops and Fathers of the Church) who are by</HI> Eu|&s;ebius <HI>extolled, as the famous Bi&s;hops of the &s;e|cond
<PB N="111" REF="60">
and third Age; but to write as methodical, weighty, pious Tractates, as any that were writ|ten by men, that neither con|ver&s;ed with the Apo&s;tles, nor had been bred up in Phlo&s;ophy; no, not excepting</HI> Clemens Romanus <HI>him&s;elf,</HI> Ignatius, Irenaeus, Cy|prian, Macarius, Ephrem Sy|rus, I&s;idor, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> And as of Preach|ing and Writing by the Spirit, &s;o</P>
<P N="4">4. Praying by the Spirit, I mean the extemporate faculty of pray|ing, to make this (as &s;ome do) the infallible Mark or Sign, Work or Effect, of Gods Spi|rit, is that many call Phanati|ci&s;m: God doth undoubtedly vouch&s;afe to devout and pious minds, the &s;pecial A&s;&s;i&s;tance of his Spirit, which perhaps may be properly enough called pray|ing by the Spirit: But then this mu&s;t be placed not in the ex|temporate
<PB N="110" REF="61">
<GAP DESC="duplicate" EXTENT="1 page">
<PB N="111" REF="61">
<GAP DESC="duplicate" EXTENT="1 page">
<PB N="112" REF="62">
Faculty, not in vo|lubility of Tongue, or quick|ne&s;s of Fancy, variety of Inven|tion, or readine&s;s of Expre&s;&s;ion; but in &s;uch devout affections, and &s;uch reverent Apprehen&s;ions of Gods Maje&s;ty, as do be&s;t be|come the mo&s;t &s;olemn acknow|ledgment of him, and as are apte&s;t to incite Faith, Re|pentance, and a Holy Fear and Love of God; this, if any thing, is Praying by the Spirit; and not the extem|porate Faculty, that is &s;o far from being the di&s;tingui&s;hing Work of Gods Spirit, that the vile&s;t Profligates may have it; and therefore to a&s;cribe it to the Spirit of God, as &s;uch a Work, is properly called Phanatici&s;m: And of this there is this remark|able In&s;tance to be gi|ven.</P>
<P><PB N="113" REF="62">At St. <HI>Ives,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Counterm.</HI> ch. 7. p. 49.</NOTE> in the Coun|ty of <HI>Huntington,</HI> in the memo|ry of many Per&s;ons now a|live, there was a Woman mo&s;t Zealou&s;ly devoted to the <HI>Presbyterian</HI> Party, then called <HI>Profe&s;&s;ors,</HI> or <HI>Puri|tans;</HI> a con&s;tant frequenter She was of Religious Meetings, whereby She became &s;o Emi|nent, e&s;pecially in this gift of Prayer, that &s;he was ge|nerally admired, and looked upon as a fir&s;t-rate Saint: The noi&s;e of her Fame, and the boa&s;ts of her Party, brought many Neighbouring Mini&s;ters of the Adjacent Counties of <HI>Cambridge</HI> and <HI>Huntington,</HI> to hear her Pray; which She did in that Ec&s;tatick manner, that they never parted from her with|out exce&s;s of Admiration. After &s;ome time, She went
<PB N="114" REF="63">
(with many others) into <HI>New England,</HI> for Liberty of Con&s;cience; where She lived for &s;ome time in greate&s;t e&s;teem; but the Devil ow|ed Her a Shame, and She owed him a Soul; She was at la&s;t Su&s;pected and Accu|&s;ed of being a Witch, was brought to her Tryal, con|fe&s;&s;ed her Guilt, and that her Contract with the Devil was, That in lieu of her Soul, which &s;he had con|&s;igned to him, he &s;hould a&s;&s;i&s;t her with the gift of <HI>Extempore</HI>-Prayer; after which Confe&s;&s;ion, Sentence pa&s;&s;ed upon her, and &s;he was ac|cordingly executed for an abominable Witch. Many the like In&s;tances of this, there are in a late Book, called <HI>Ravillack Redivivus.</HI> Now ei|ther we mu&s;t &s;ay, That the Devil has Power of di&s;po|&s;ing
<PB N="115" REF="63">
of the gifts of Gods Spirit (which is Bla&s;phemy) or that this Extemporate way of praying, is no infallible &s;ign of Gods Spirit; and therefore, that it is <HI>Phanati|ci&s;m</HI> to a&s;cribe it to him: In a word, as Miracles cea&s;|ed, &s;o did the gift of in&s;pi|red Prayer; and ever &s;ince, has the Church Wor&s;hip|ped God by allowed Forms, or Liturgies; not only in the <HI>Bohemian,</HI> and <HI>Lutheran</HI> Churches, but in the <HI>Presby|terian</HI> Churches of <HI>Geneva, France, Holland,</HI> &amp;c. and that not only allowed, but advi&s;ed by Mr. <HI>Calvin</HI> him|&s;elf; till of late, &s;ome Je|&s;uits in Ma&s;querade, fir&s;t &s;et up the way of Extemporary Prayer on purpo&s;e to break good Order in the <HI>Prote&s;tant</HI> Churches, and e&s;pecially, here in <HI>England;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Foxes and Firebrands.</NOTE> as is lately made
<PB N="116" REF="64">
evident beyond all reach of &s;cru|ple, by a good credible Au|thor.</P>
<P N="5">5. 'Tis rank Phanatici&s;m to re&s;i&s;t Lawful Authority on pretence of Religion; or to pretend Con&s;cience for Di&s;obedience to Magi&s;trates; hereby God has been in|tituled to as barbarous Ma&s;|&s;acres, and as horrid Re|bellions, as ever were com|mitted; and this &s;ort of men are &s;o far Phanatick, as they intitle God to &s;elf-incon&s;i&s;tency, in oppo&s;ing his Will to his Will, and his Word to his Word; by pretending his Authority for Di&s;obedience to his Com|mi&s;&s;ioners: For Con&s;cience is no le&s;s than a Divine Au|thority, and therefore not to be pretended without, much le&s;s again&s;t a Divine
<PB N="117" REF="64">
Law. The pretence of Con|&s;cience is, that we are afraid to di&s;plea&s;e God, and there|fore chu&s;e rather to di&s;plea&s;e men; but if we di&s;plea&s;e men to plea&s;e God, where God has forbid that Di&s;plea|&s;ing, or Di&s;obeying of men, <HI>[as in the ca&s;e of Di&s;obedence to Magi&s;trates in things not &s;inful]</HI> in that ca&s;e, the plea&s;ing of God is but pretended, and that pre|tence is but Fanatici&s;m; it being Di&s;obedience on the ac|count of Con&s;cience, or Duty to God, where there is no Word or Law of God commanding it.</P>
<P>'Tis eternally true, That a Con&s;cience informed, and go|verned by a Divine Law, ought not to &s;toop to the greate&s;t Prince; That the Au|thority of God is to be
<PB N="118" REF="65">
oppo&s;ed to the greate&s;t Pow|er upon Earth; And that all the Powers in the World, cannot deliver us from the Obligation of CONSCIENCE, that is, when it has Gods Law for its Rule: But where that is wanting, it is not properly Con&s;ci|ence, but Humour and Fan|cy; and pretending that Law, and that Divine Au|thority, when we have it not, is plain intituling Gods Maje&s;ty, not meerly to Hu|mour and Fancy, but to that damnable Sin of Di&s;obedience, which is properly called Phana|tici&s;m.</P>
<P>This Account have I given, not to ju&s;tifie that ill pra|ctice of giving odious Names to any Party; but meerly to in&s;truct the Vulgar Reader a little in that great evil of
<PB N="119" REF="65">
Schi&s;m and Faction, which is &s;o little di&s;cerned by &s;uch, and le&s;s made Con&s;cience of by mo&s;t.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="part">
<PB REF="66">
<PB N="1" REF="66">
<HEAD>Remarks on Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI>'s Plea for Moderation.</HEAD>
<P>THE Arch-Pagan <HI>Cel|&s;us</HI> having wrote a mo&s;t Pe&s;tilent Book again&s;t Chri&s;tianity, gave it this &s;pecious Title, <GAP DESC="foreign">. And in imita|tion of him, it was that<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Not <HI>Pytha|go</HI> Common|tat.</NOTE> <HI>Hiero|cles</HI> an <HI>Egyptian</HI> Governour, wrote two Books to prove the Scriptures guilty of Fal&s;hood and Contradi|ction: The Apo&s;tles to have been Cheats and Impo&s;tors: The Miracles of Chri&s;t to have been the Effect of Magick, and not comparable to tho&s;e of <HI>Apollonius Tyanaeus:</HI> Yet this helli&s;h Book, he did Intitle, <GAP DESC="foreign">. As tho
<PB N="2" REF="67">
its damnable Errors had been Divine Truths, and not again&s;t, but for the Chri&s;tians.</P>
<P>In like manner Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI> [a Con|formi&s;t Mini&s;ter, who declares him|&s;elf &s;atisfied in the lawfulne&s;s of eve|ry thing required in the Church of <HI>England</HI>] in imitation of Mr. <HI>Bax|ter</HI>'s <HI>Pleas for Peace,</HI> has pub|li&s;hed a Book which he calls, <HI>A Plea for Moderation to'ards Di&s;&s;enters,</HI> which is indeed &s;uch a Plea for Li|centiou&s;ne&s;s and Confu&s;ion, &s;uch a piece of Hypocri&s;ie and Church-Treachery, and &s;uch a perfect Satyr upon the Government, as de&s;erves a wor&s;e <HI>Shammatha</HI> than what is <HI>ip&s;o facto</HI> pronounced again&s;t him in the Sixth Canon, for impugning the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church: Or at lea&s;t, 'tis a Plea for &s;uch Moderation <HI>as (Dr.</HI> Taylor <NOTE N="&Verbar;" PLACE="marg">Ductor Du|bit. <HI>l.</HI> 3. <HI>c.</HI> 4.</NOTE> <HI>&s;ays) has &s;omething of Craft in it, but little of Ingenuity; that may &s;erve the ends of outward Charity, or Phanta&s;tick Concord, but not of Truth and Holine&s;s: Moderation</HI> (&s;aies
<PB N="3" REF="67">
Bi&s;hop <HI>Lany) cannot be but between two Extreams;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Sermon on</HI> 1 The&s;. 4.11.</NOTE> <HI>and what Extreams are there in a &s;etled Church (as in</HI> England) <HI>unle&s;s the Church be one Extream, and the Schi&s;matick the other</HI> (&s;aies the Bi&s;hop)? But to &s;hew further the vanity and empti|ne&s;s of his promi&s;ing Title, if you take the word <HI>Moderation</HI> in its foren&s;ick and primary Acceptation, for that <GAP DESC="foreign">, or gentlene&s;s which is placed in relaxing the Rigour of the Laws, when they pre&s;s too hard upon Criminals; I do undertake in the&s;e following Lines to make it evident, That the Moderation of our Church and Church-Rulers is &s;uch, that it is plain want of Mo|deration to que&s;tion their Modera|tion; and that they are utterly lo&s;t to all Moderation, who attempt &s;uch Pleas in that behalf.</P>
<P>If you take the word Moderati|on in its Scripture-Acceptation, it is no more than Meekne&s;s under Suf|ferings, Per&s;ecutions, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> as ap|pears by the Context of that one,
<PB N="4" REF="68">
and only place where it is u&s;ed in Scripture, <HI>Phil.</HI> 4.5. <HI>Let your Mo|deration,</HI> or (as the <HI>Geneva</HI> Tran|&s;lation] let your Patient mind <HI>be known unto all men, q. d.</HI> however immoderate your Per&s;ecutors are, let your Moderation, Meekne&s;s and Patience, be known to all men, not only Fellow-Sufferers, but your Enemies and Per&s;ecutors. Shewing plainly, that the word <HI>Moderation</HI> in Scripture-Acceptation, is accom|modable to none but a &s;uffering or per&s;ecuted Party. Which makes it <HI>a contradictio in adjecto,</HI> to call this Book <HI>a Plea for Moderation to'ards Di&s;&s;enters.</HI></P>
<P>And as the Title, &s;o the Book, <HI>Dignum patell&acirc; operculum:</HI> For there's &s;carce a Paragraph in it not fairly reducible to one of the&s;e Heads.</P>
<P N="1">1. Fraudulent Pleas for Compli|ance with Di&s;&s;enters in the Di&s;|u&s;ance or Non-impo&s;al of Church Ceremonies.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="5" REF="68">2. For Indulgence to'ards them in relaxing the Rigour of the Laws.</P>
<P N="3">3. Scandalous Reflections.</P>
<P N="4">4. Impertinent Jorgon.</P>
<DIV2 TYPE="subpart">
<HEAD>Remarks on Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI>'s Plea concerning Church-Ceremo|nies.</HEAD>
<P>TO &s;ee how in this he doth in <HI>limine impingere,</HI> He begins his Book with this Fraudulent In&s;i|nuation concerning them. <HI>&V;nnece&s;|&s;ary Rites and Ceremonies,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">P. 1. 4. 8. 18. 20.</NOTE> <HI>and Zeal about them; a Stratagem of the De|vils Invention, whereby to hinder the Progre&s;s of true Chri&s;tianity; hu|mane Devices, old Rites and Cere|monies, trifling and frivolous Things;</HI> with much more to the &s;ame pur|po&s;e.</P>
<P>How far he hath hereby incurr'd the Penalty annex'd to violation of
<PB N="6" REF="69">
the 6th Canon, which &s;aies of the Impugners of the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of <HI>England, Let them be excommu|nicated: And of the</HI> 10th <HI>Canon, which calls them maintainers of Schi&s;|maticks who &s;hall dare to publi&s;h that any &s;eparated Church has of long time groaned under the burden of certain grievances impo&s;ed upon it,</HI> [&s;peaking before of Gods Wor&s;hip in the Church of <HI>England,] and that who&s;oever &s;hall pre&s;ume &s;o to do, &s;hall be excommunicated, and not re&s;tored till they repent and publickly revoke &s;uch their wicked error.</HI></P>
<P>And of the Act for Uniformity, 1. Q <HI>Eliz.</HI> which &s;aies, <HI>If any de|clare or &s;peak any thing in deroga|tion of the Common-Prayer, or</HI> any thing therein contained &mdash; <HI>he &s;hall lo&s;e and forfeit for his fir&s;t Offence, the profit of all his &s;piritual Benefices or Promotions for one whole year, and &s;uffer Impri&s;onment for &s;ix Months without Bail or Main|pri&s;e; and for the &s;econd Offence &s;hall
<PB N="7" REF="69">
be impri&s;on'd one whole year, and de|prived of all his &s;piritual Promoti|ons:</HI> How far he has incurr'd this Penalty, let others judg; that which I remark is in the&s;e following par|ticulars.</P>
<P N="1">1. His in&s;inuateing concerning the Church Ceremonies,<NOTE PLACE="marg">P. 4. 20.</NOTE> as <HI>humane Devices, and humane Inventions.</HI></P>
<P>Whereas the Church of <HI>England</HI> has retain'd but one Ritual or Cere|mony, that is not of Divine Ordi|nance and Apo&s;tolick practice (as Bi&s;hop <HI>Taylor</HI> has ob&s;erved) and that is the Cro&s;s at Bapti&s;m,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ductor Dubit.</HI> lib. 3. c. 4.</NOTE> which is a compliance with the practice of all Ancient Churches: The Church has but this one Ceremony of its own appointment; for the Ring in Marriage is the Symbol of a Civil and religious Contract, a Pledge and Cu&s;tom of the Nation, not of the Religion. As for other Circum|&s;tances, they are but Determinati|ons of time, place, and manner of Duty, and &s;erve for no other pur|po&s;es then &s;ignifications for Order
<PB N="8" REF="70">
and Decency: For which (&s;aies he) there is an Apo&s;tolical precept, and a Natural rea&s;on, and an evident nece&s;&s;ity, or great convenience.</P>
<P>And notwith&s;tanding the u&s;e of this &s;ign in Bapti&s;m has ever been ac|companied with the greate&s;t Excep|tions, Care and Cautions again&s;t all Popi&s;h Super&s;tition and Error (as the 30th Canon &s;hews.) And not|with&s;tanding the reverend e&s;teem that the Primitive Church had of it, in &s;o much (&s;aies that Canon) <HI>That if any oppo&s;ed it, they would certainly have been cen&s;ured not only as Enemies of the name of the Cro&s;s, but of the Merits of Chri&s;t:</HI> And notwith&s;tanding the Conce&s;&s;ions of the mo&s;t Eminent Nonconformi&s;ts granting the lawfulne&s;s of its u&s;e:<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Mr.</HI> Baxter <HI>Chri&s;t. Direct.</HI> Q. 113.</NOTE> Yet doth this Pleader give it as ri|diculous and ab&s;ur'd a name as any could be thought of, calling it in plain <HI>Engli&s;h, contradictio in adjecto,</HI> and this on no other then this &s;illy account;<NOTE PLACE="marg">P. 12.</NOTE> <HI>The ill Opinions that it begets in the minds of the Ignorant,
<PB N="9" REF="70">
as tho it were indi&s;pen&s;ibly nece&s;&s;ary, and a part of the Ordinance of Bap|ti&s;m, and as tho private Bapti&s;m without the Cro&s;s is not true &s;ound Bapti&s;m.</HI></P>
<P>To this there is this &s;ufficient An|&s;wer in the 30th Canon.</P>
<P N="1">1. That the abu&s;e of a thing doth not take away the lawful u&s;e of it (or make the u&s;e of it unlaw|ful) which is the more regardable, becau&s;e &s;poken as the Church's &s;en&s;e in &s;pecial reference to the Cro&s;s in Bapti&s;m.</P>
<P N="2">2. The &s;ame Canon &s;aies, That the u&s;e of this &s;ign was ever accom|panied with &s;ufficient Cautions and Exceptions again&s;t Super&s;tition and Error:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Common-Prayer Book Preface of Church Cere|monies.</NOTE> And the Church has el&s;ewhere fully declared again&s;t re|taining of any &s;uch Ceremonies as are like to be abu&s;ed to Super&s;tition, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Tho this Propo&s;ition <HI>[private Bapti&s;m is no true &s;ound Bapti&s;m]</HI> &s;eem &s;omewhat contradictory, yet to &s;hew that it is nothing &s;o, to
<PB N="10" REF="71">
make it what Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI> calls it <HI>contradictio in adjecto;</HI> there mu&s;t be <HI>incompo&s;&s;ibilitas terminorum:</HI> The <HI>Adjecta</HI> or <HI>Termini</HI> here, are <HI>[pri|vate, &s;ound];</HI> and who can appre|hend any incompo&s;&s;ibility or re|pugnancy in tho&s;e terms, as they relate to Bapti&s;m? Be&s;ides, if by &s;ound Bapti&s;m may be meant com|pleat and perfect Bapti&s;m; then the Rubrick (and Directory al&s;o) doth &s;carce allow of private Bapti&s;m as &s;ound Bapti&s;m, except in the ca&s;e of dying Infants. And &s;ince he &s;peaks of the Ignorant only, why may not &s;uch take &s;ound Bapti&s;m in that Sen&s;e? So that in plain his hinting the Cro&s;s at Bapti&s;m by that odious name, is &s;uch a thick piece of Error as may be felt, and (in a Conformi&s;t) &s;uch a thin piece of Hypocri&s;ie, as the weake&s;t eye may &s;ee through; and ten times wor&s;e then Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI>'s whim&s;ey in que|&s;tioning whether we do not make the Cro&s;s at Bapti&s;m <HI>A new Sacra|ment of the Covenant of Grace,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Fir&s;t Plea for Peace.</NOTE> which
<PB N="11" REF="71">
no one part of the Definition of a Sacrament can be made to agree with. He proceeds again&s;t the im|po&s;ing of Ceremonies in general, thus.</P>
<P><HI>Our Saviour lays no &s;tre&s;s on any thing, but real practical Religion.</HI></P>
<P>Obedience to lawful Authority in things indifferent, is real practi|cal Religion, and Inconformity or Di&s;obedience to lawful Authority, is damnable Sin.</P>
<P>He adds,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Page 9.</NOTE> <HI>The Apo&s;tles upon mature Deliberation&mdash; would lay no more on the Di&s;ciples, then what was then nece&s;&s;ary.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. No more do the Apo&s;tles and Governours of our Church now. But to &s;hew how impertinently this is urged,</P>
<P N="2">2. 'Tis evident by the Context, that tho&s;e words of the Apo&s;tle <HI>James</HI> relate particularly to Circumci&s;ion,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Acts</HI> 15.</NOTE> which was not a <HI>Jewi&s;h</HI> ceremony, but a <HI>Jewi&s;h</HI> &s;acrament of divine in&s;tituti|on and alteration both, and therefore nothing to our purpo&s;e; and yet St.
<PB N="12" REF="72">
<HI>Paul</HI> circumci&s;ed <HI>Timothy,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Acts</HI> 16.3.</NOTE> meerly in conformity to the <HI>Jews:</HI> And at that &s;ame Council, <HI>Acts</HI> 15. when the Apo&s;tles had declared again&s;t Circumci&s;ion, at the &s;ame time (as in the next ver&s;e) they declared for the <HI>Gentiles</HI> ab&s;taining from things &s;trangled, and from Blood, which there was no Law of God for oblige|ing the <HI>Gentiles</HI> to, but what the Apo&s;tles enjoined them meerly on the account of Peace and Confor|mity to the Church National of the <HI>Jews</HI> they lived in, according to the grand Exemplar Chri&s;t his com|plying all along with the <HI>Jewi&s;h</HI> Church in their Rites and Cu&s;toms, ob&s;erving their Fea&s;ts, and making his own In&s;titutions of <HI>Bapti&s;m</HI> and the <HI>Lord Supper</HI> as agreeable to their Cu&s;toms as was po&s;&s;ible. And ac|cording to his example all a long, the Apo&s;tles not like inflexible &s;tarch't Phari&s;ees, but like humble com|plai&s;ant Chri&s;tians, <HI>became all things to all, to the</HI> Jews <HI>as</HI> Jews, <HI>and to tho&s;e without the Law, as without the Law.</HI></P>
<P><PB N="13" REF="72">In the next place he &s;tarts this Que&s;tion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Page 9.</NOTE> as that which he &s;aies &s;ome do much in&s;i&s;t upon; <HI>Whether the Apo&s;tles had not power to deter|mine indifferent Ceremonies, &s;o as to oblige the Church in her &s;everal Ad|mini&s;trations to the u&s;e of &s;ome, and to forbear the u&s;e of all others? He re&s;olves it thus, They never made u&s;e of their power, that we read of,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Page 10.</NOTE> <HI>about the&s;e indifferent and unnece&s;|&s;ary things.</HI></P>
<P>It was not nece&s;&s;ary they &s;hould; the general Rule and Rea&s;on being &s;ufficient to &s;ecure the Church a|gain&s;t any capital Mi&s;take. That the Apo&s;tles never obliged the Church to the u&s;e of &s;ome Ceremo|nies, or the difu&s;e of others, &s;o as to oblige all after-times to any particular form of Rituals, is certain; And al&s;o, that they gave only gene|ral Directions, but left it to the Power and Prudence of Church-Rulers to determine of Particulars, as the various Conditions of People, Time and Place &s;hould re&s;pectively
<PB N="14" REF="73">
require; This is evident from hence, that the Apo&s;tles in&s;tituted &s;everal things in the Primitive Churches, which were in after-times to be u&s;ed or di&s;u&s;ed, as Church-Rulers &s;hould think fit. For in&s;tance, the <HI>Agapae,</HI> or Love-fea&s;ts, the holy Ki&s;s, the order of <HI>Deaconne&s;&s;es,</HI> and &s;everal other things, which are now utterly di&s;u&s;ed and laid a&s;ide, tho of Apo|&s;tolical In&s;titution. Nor doth any man &s;cruple the Di&s;u&s;e or Abroga|tion of them; which is a palpable evidence, that the Apo&s;tles never de&s;igned a certain form of Rituals to all after-ages, but left it to the Prudence and Power of Church-Rulers to appoint as they &s;ee fit. And thus Mr. <HI>Calvin</HI> him&s;elf,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Calv. In&s;t. <HI>l.</HI> 4. <HI>c.</HI> 10.30.</NOTE> In externa di&s;ciplina &amp; Ceremoniis non voluit Chri&s;tus, <HI>&amp;c. Chri&s;t would not pre&s;cribe &s;ingularly and &s;pecially concerning external Di&s;cipline and Ceremonies, becau&s;e he fore&s;aw the&s;e things were to depend on the occa&s;ions and opportunities of times, and ought to be accommodated to the Edification
<PB N="15" REF="73">
of the Church, according to the different di&s;po&s;ition and cu&s;tom of Times and Countries.</HI></P>
<P>He adds,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Page 10.</NOTE> <HI>I think it will be very difficult for any man to make it appear, that for &s;ome hundreds of years after the Apo&s;tles, the Orthodox Chri&s;tian Church did ever require any more then common Chri&s;tianity, as a term or condition of Church Communion, or that any Ceremony was for &s;o long a time impo&s;ed on the Church.</HI></P>
<P>The Orthodox Chri&s;tian Church did require it as the term or conditi|on of Church-Communion, That the lap&s;ed Penitents &s;hould perform the five &s;everal Stages of Penance in &s;uch Po&s;ture and Ge&s;ture as the Church impo&s;ed, and no other; wherefore one &s;ort of Penitents were called <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>i. e.</HI> the <HI>Pro&s;trate,</HI> be|cau&s;e they were to perform their Penance in the Ge&s;ture of Pro&s;tra|tion, and no other. They wore cer|tain Marks of Penance about them, with &s;everal other Ceremonies that I could name, which were <HI>impo&s;ed</HI>
<PB N="16" REF="74">
on them as terms of Church-Com|munion.</P>
<P><HI>Ignatius</HI> Bi&s;hop of <HI>Antioch</HI> and Martyr, who lived in the Apo&s;tles times,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Socr. Hi&s;t.</HI> l. 6. c. 8.</NOTE> is reported by <HI>Socrates</HI> to have heard in a Vi&s;ion the Angels cele|brating the Prai&s;es of God in Alter|nate Hymns; and in Imitation there|of appointed the ceremonious way of <HI>Antiphones,</HI> or re&s;pon&s;al Hymns in the Church of <HI>Antioch,</HI> which was immediately appointed in (or impo&s;ed on) mo&s;t Chri&s;tian Churches in the World. The Ce|remony or Order of reading the two Le&s;&s;ons after the P&s;alms, is men|tioned in the Apo&s;tolick Canons,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ap. Can.</HI> lib. 2. can. 57.</NOTE> as a thing decreed or appointed (in|joined or impo&s;ed) which <HI>Ca&s;&s;ianus</HI> mentions as the Ancient cu&s;tom of all the <HI>Egyptian</HI> Churches,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ca&s;&s;ian.</HI> l. 2. c. 4.</NOTE> which he &s;aies was not taught by men, but by the Mini&s;try of Angels from Heaven.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Epipha. <HI>adv.</HI> Aerians.</NOTE> <HI>Epiphanius</HI> calls the <HI>Aeri|ans</HI> the mo&s;t Brain&s;ick Hereticks that ever were, for holding that Bi&s;hops and Presbyters were all one,
<PB N="17" REF="74">
and that they were not bound to keep Lent, and the Holy week, as the <HI>Laws of the Holy Church re|quired: Sozomen</HI> &s;peaks of &s;tanding up at the Go&s;pel,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Hi&s;tory</HI> lib. 7. <HI>c.</HI> 19.</NOTE> as a thing very anciently and univer&s;ally impo&s;ed: He &s;aies it was a new Fa&s;hion in <HI>Alexandria,</HI> that the Bi&s;hop did not ri&s;e up, when the Go&s;pel was read, and that he never heard of the like el&s;ewhere.</P>
<P>And the Council of <HI>Toleta</HI> or|dained,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Con.</HI> 11. <HI>c.</HI> 3.</NOTE> That all Governours of Churches, and their People, &s;hould ob&s;erve the &s;ame Rites and Order of Service, which they knew to be appointed in the Metropolitan See. In the early days of <HI>Tertullian,</HI> who lived near the Apo&s;tles times, there was di&s;tinction of Garments, bowing to'ard the <HI>Ea&s;t,</HI> and innu|merable other Ceremonies; and among the re&s;t, there's no que&s;tion to be made of what Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI> has &s;uch a &s;pight at, the Cro&s;s at Bap|ti&s;m, &s;ince the Church &s;aies (Canon 30.) that it was u&s;ed in the Pri|mitive
<PB N="18" REF="75">
and Apo&s;tolical Churches with one con&s;ent. All which Ce|remonies <HI>Tertullian</HI> calls<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Harum &amp; aliarum eju&s;|modi Di&s;ciplinarum &s;i legem expo&s;tules Scripturarum, in|venies nullam; &s;ed traditio e&s;t auctrix, con&s;uetudo con&s;er|vatrix, &amp; fides ob&s;erva|trix.</NOTE> <HI>Di&s;ciplines,</HI> which implies that they were impo&s;ed; yet there was then no &s;uch thing as &s;cru|pling of Ceremonies, but obedience active and pa&s;&s;ive, even to <HI>Pagan</HI> Governours; and conformity to Chri&s;tian Church-Orders, was a Characteri&s;tical mark of primitive Chri&s;tianity.</P>
<P><HI>Whatever the Pleaders name be, to &s;hew that his Temper is daring; he tells us,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>p.</HI> 11, 12.</NOTE> <HI>He dares affirm, That if the Rights and Ceremonies now in u&s;e, in the Church of</HI> England, <HI>&s;hould be alter'd, &s;ome changed, and &s;ome wholly laid a&s;ide, by the &s;ame Autho|rity that did at fir&s;t injoin them, the Church of</HI> England <HI>would &s;till be as impregnable a Bulwark again&s;t Po|pery, as now &s;he is; and I am fully &s;atisfied</HI> (&s;aies he) <HI>there is no man will deny this, unle&s;s he be either a
<PB N="19" REF="75">
real</HI> Papi&s;t, <HI>or an</HI> ignorant &s;uper&s;ti|tious Fool.</P>
<P>The King, Parliaments, and Con|vocations have denyed it; and I am fully &s;atisfied they mu&s;t and will deny it on the&s;e accounts following.</P>
<P N="1">1. On the account of the great danger that univer&s;al Ob&s;ervation and Experience have found to be in &s;uch Innovation as he pleads for, in altering the Con&s;titutions of a Church <HI>[that have heen com|po&s;ed and &s;etled by wi&s;e men and Chri&s;tian Martyrs, reverenced and admired by others, incorporated into the Laws of the Land, rivetted by Cu&s;tom and long Pre&s;cription]</HI> for the &s;ake of &s;uch novel Notions, and incon&s;i&s;tent Alterations, as no di&s;&s;enting Party could ever yet agree in, and &s;uch as is in&s;eparably twi&s;ted with &s;editious and penici|ous Alterations in the State. It being much more true of <HI>England,</HI> what <HI>Optatus</HI> &s;aid of <HI>Milevis, Res publica non e&s;t in eccle&s;ia, &s;ed eccle|&s;ia in republica;</HI> and therefore, that
<PB N="20" REF="76">
the Church being contained in a Civil Society, mu&s;t conform its &s;elf (in externals) to that which con|tains it, for Safety and Pre&s;ervation.</P>
<P>Which made King <HI>Charles</HI> the fir&s;t call &s;uch Alteration,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">. <HI>c.</HI> 11.</NOTE> <HI>The old leaven of Innovation, under the mask of Reformation, which in his two la&s;t Predece&s;&s;ors days, heaved at, and threatned both Prince and Parlia|ments.</HI> They fir&s;t de&s;ired Alterati|on of him, and then obtruded it on him with the point of their Swords; with &s;uch a tru&s;ting to their <HI>Moderation,</HI> which he there calls <HI>abandoning his own Di&s;cretion;</HI> and &s;hews throughout, that they who began with nothing el&s;e but &s;uch de&s;ires of <HI>Moderation</HI> and <HI>Al|teration</HI> (as Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI> Pleads for) cea&s;ed in nothing el&s;e but utter Subver&s;ion and Di&s;&s;olution: And Arch-Bi&s;hop <HI>Bramhall</HI> (whom Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> truly calls,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Lett. to</HI> Mr. Militier.</NOTE> that clear-headed Metropolitan) teaches, <HI>That it is a rule in prudence, not to alter (no not) an ill cu&s;tom, when it is well &s;etled.
<PB N="21" REF="76">
Needle&s;s Alteration doth &s;o dimini&s;h the venerable e&s;teem of Religion, and le&s;&s;en the credit of ancient Truths; break Ice in one place</HI> (&s;aies he) <HI>and it will crack in another.</HI> And twen|ty years &s;mart Experience of the ill con&s;equences of giving way to &s;uch fraudulent Pleas for <HI>Moderation,</HI> and little Alterations, hath made it nece&s;&s;ary to <HI>deny</HI> [without being <HI>real Papi&s;t, or &s;uper&s;titious Fool</HI>] that &s;uch Alteration &s;hould be made in con&s;ideration of the Church of <HI>Englands</HI> being as great a Bulwark again&s;t Popery in the Alteration, as without it; e&s;pecially con&s;idering,</P>
<P N="2">2. The great advantage it would give the Papi&s;ts; the ill Reflection it would make on the Prote&s;tant Reformers; and the Scandal it would ca&s;t upon the Prote&s;tant Reforma|tion, to &s;ee men make no difference between intolerable Super&s;titions, and innocent Rites and Ceremonies; we have in&s;tance of this in Bi&s;hop <HI>Hooper</HI>'s &s;crupling the Epi&s;copal Ve&s;tments, of which &s;aid <HI>Peter
<PB N="22" REF="77">
Martyr, Such needle&s;s &s;crupulo&s;ity will be a great hinderance to the Re|formation; and 'tis certain, that there was &s;carce any thing gave &s;o great check to the Reformation, in</HI> France <HI>e&s;pecially, among moderate and learned men, as the putting no dif|ference between the Corruptions of Popery, and the innocent cu&s;toms of the Ancient Church: For when tho&s;e of</HI> France, <HI>that were inclined to the Reformation, &s;aw that the Reformers oppo&s;ed the undoubted Practices of Antiquity, equally with the Popi&s;h Corruptions; they ca&s;t them off, as men guilty of an unrea&s;onable humour of Innovation.</HI> And &s;o at this day, when men contend about things indifferent, as tho unlawful, and would have &s;uch Ceremonies as are of truly Primitive, and for the mo&s;t part<NOTE N="&Verbar;" PLACE="marg">Can. 30.</NOTE> Apo&s;tolical Practice, equally di&s;u&s;ed as things perfectly Super&s;titious, the vulgar Papi&s;ts (at lea&s;t) that cannot di&s;tingui&s;h, mu&s;t conclude, that we alter or aboli&s;h &s;uch innocent Ceremonies as
<PB N="23" REF="77">
Standing, Kneeling, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> on the &s;ame grounds as we do the re&s;t of their dete&s;table Corruptions; and &s;o by &s;eeing our unwarrantablene&s;s in reforming from tho&s;e innocent Ceremonies, are ea&s;ily (if not ne|ce&s;&s;arily) induced to believe the unwarrantablene&s;s of our departing from the whole Ma&s;s of Popery; e&s;pecially con&s;idering, that it is the bu&s;ine&s;s of their Teachers to in&s;truct them in this, That we reform from both, on the &s;ame grounds; and what can this tend to, but to harden Papi&s;ts, and &s;candalize Prote&s;tants, and &s;o endanger the Reformed Reli|gion?</P>
<P>And for the&s;e, and perhaps many more weighty Rea&s;ons than Mr. <HI>Bolde,</HI> or my &s;elf can apprehend, Our Rulers have thought fit, in point of Moderation, to retain the Ceremonies now in u&s;e, in oppo&s;i|tion to Enthu&s;ia&s;tick Innovation on the one hand, and Popi&s;h Super&s;ti|tion on the other hand. And therefore Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI> doth very ill
<PB N="24" REF="78">
in calling every one a <HI>real Papi&s;t, or &s;uper&s;titious Fool,</HI> that will not con|&s;ent to the Alteration or Abolition of our Church-Ceremonies, on the &s;uppo&s;al of the Church of <HI>England</HI>'s being as great a Bulwark again&s;t Po|pery in the Alteration, as without it; I &s;ay, he doth very ill to call every &s;uch one, by &s;uch odious Names; e&s;pecially con&s;idering, that the King and Parliaments are mo&s;t immedi|ately concerned in it.</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI> having told us in the following lines, of the fruit and effect of Impo&s;itions, and the want of making &s;ome Conce&s;&s;ions and A|batements for the &s;ake of tho&s;e that are yet un&s;atisfied; adds more particularly, that <HI>there are yet two dreadful events which have followed the&s;e Impo&s;itions.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>Many worthy, pious, and other|wi&s;e every way qualified Per&s;ons, have been hinder'd from either en|tering into, or continuing in the Lords Vineyard to labour and work there.</HI></P>
<P N="1"><PB N="25" REF="78">1. They hinder them&s;elves: All that the Law doth, is but to hold forth one common Rule, which Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI> cannot deny, but that they may conform to without Sin.</P>
<P N="2">2. There are as many worthy, and well qualified men of the Churches Communion, as there are Di&s;&s;enters, who are yet de&s;titute expectants of being called into the Vineyard: I heard a Reverend Pre|late but t'other day &s;peaking of an account which the Arch-Bi&s;hop &s;aid was lately given in to him, of above two thou&s;and &s;uch in <HI>England:</HI> And tho it cannot be denied, but among the Di&s;&s;enters, there are many who Preach well; yet take a great part of tho&s;e who are mo&s;t admired by the Vulgar, and you will find, that the excellen|cy of their Preaching lies chiefly in a faculty they have of moving a Pa&s;&s;ion; either by tran&s;porting or confounding the Imagination with &s;ome My&s;tical Repre&s;entations, or
<PB N="26" REF="79">
by thundering into mens ears the mo&s;t formidable or dreadful Expre&s;|&s;ions; or by &s;miling out now and then a &s;oft Similitude, or a chiming Cadency, a curled Metaphor, or &s;ome &s;uch <HI>P&s;eudotrope;</HI> and with in&s;inuating Harmony of voice and ge&s;ture, tickle the Soul up into the Ear of the weake&s;t Sex e&s;pecially, and tho&s;e of &s;hallow Judgment and warm Affection; but are more like to provoke the Scorn and Laughter of a &s;turdy Profligate, than to con|vince his Judgment, or work upon his heart.</P>
<P>But among the conforming Cler|gy, the bu&s;ine&s;s in preaching, is not to &s;tand fluttering in my&s;tical Non&s;ence, and <HI>Stentorian</HI> Noi&s;e; but to deliver them&s;elves gravely and con&s;iderately, rationally and judiciou&s;ly, calmly and mode&s;tly; to enlighten the Hearers minds with &s;uch &s;ub&s;tantial and nervous Di|&s;cour&s;e, as is fitted to &s;top the mouths of Gain&s;ayers, that they &s;hall not be able to re&s;i&s;t that <GAP DESC="foreign">,
<PB N="27" REF="79">
that Spirit and Power of Rea&s;on and Religon with which they &s;peak; And of the&s;e, &s;ince God has &s;poke the word, great is the company, more by &s;ome hundreds than the Vineyard will hold: And therefore 'tis not to be believed that the hindering Di&s;&s;enters on &s;uch dangerous and unrea&s;onable terms on which they would come into the Vineyard, is &s;uch a dreadful event or effect of Impo&s;itions, as Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI> &s;peaks of; e&s;pecially con&s;i|dering (as has been &s;hewn) that the hindrance is of them&s;elves.</P>
<P N="2">2. Another dreadful event or effect of Impo&s;ition, that he in&s;tan|ces in, is this,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 12.</NOTE> <HI>The con&s;tant impo&s;ed u&s;e of the&s;e things has almo&s;t una|voidably begot in the minds of Igno|rant People, a belief, that they are indi&s;pen&s;ably nece&s;&s;ary, and undoubted parts of tho&s;e Ordinances to which they are annexed,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>The 30 Canon yeilds &s;ufficient An&s;wer to this, in the&s;e two parti|culars.</P>
<P N="1"><PB N="28" REF="80">1. That the abu&s;e of a thing, doth not take away the u&s;e of it.</P>
<P N="2"><NOTE PLACE="marg">Comm. Prayer Preface, con|cerning Cere|monies.</NOTE>2. The Church has po&s;itively declared again&s;t the retaining any Ceremony in u&s;e, which may be a|bu&s;ed to Super&s;tition.</P>
<P N="3">3. Why may not the ignorant People, as well believe them indi|&s;pen&s;ably nece&s;&s;ary to be u&s;ed, as indi&s;pen&s;ably nece&s;&s;ary to be di&s;|u&s;ed? the Super&s;tition of the one is ju&s;t as much as the Super&s;tition of the other. But,</P>
<P N="4">4. I know no Error in the be|lief of <HI>Ceremonies being indi&s;pen&s;a|bly nece&s;&s;ary, and undoubted parts of the Ordinances they are annexed to.</HI> Mr. <HI>Calvin</HI> him&s;elf &s;eems to be of that belief; when he calls tho&s;e In&s;titutions, which are founded in Scripture,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>In&s;tit.</HI> lib. 4. c. 10.</NOTE> <HI>pror&s;us divinas,</HI> altoge|ther Divine; Divine, becau&s;e a part of that decency, the care and ob&s;ervation whereof is commend|ed to us in tho&s;e words, <HI>let all things be done decently and in order;</HI>
<PB N="29" REF="80">
but humane, &s;o far as they are ap|propriated by men to &s;ome circum|&s;tance of Per&s;on, Time, or Place.</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI> proceeds next to play the Emperick, in pre&s;cribing to the body-politick, Church and State: The di&s;ea&s;e is, <HI>falling out and quar|relling about old Rights and Ceremo|nies,</HI> p. 8. &amp; pa&s;&s;im; <HI>and he has no remedy for this; but the Churches yeilding</HI> [to its Enemies] <HI>in altering &s;ome, and wholly laying a&s;ide other of her Ceremonies,</HI> p. 11. <HI>That abatements might be made to Di&s;&s;enters,</HI> p. 12. <HI>who are to be Pro&s;elyted by the Churches conde&s;cending and yielding,</HI> p. 19. And the like throughout his Book, like a Vein through his Body; and thus he pre&s;cribes to Parliaments in chief, <HI>p.</HI> 25.</P>
<P>Can any thing be more <HI>Baxteri|ous,</HI> than &s;uch arrogant pre&s;cribing to Princes and Parliaments? Or is not this, as if he had &s;aid, that the makers of the Law mu&s;t concede to the Subjects of the Law? that Laws and Law-makers, both, mu&s;t con|form
<PB N="30" REF="81">
to Nonconformity? that Par|liaments and Synods, <HI>[tho&s;e mo&s;t augu&s;t and venerable A&s;&s;emblies in the World]</HI> mu&s;t &s;toop to Scepticks and Innovators? Authority and Anti|quity to Novelty and Bigotry? Primitive practice to innovating humour? and Maje&s;ty its &s;elf to peevi&s;h, and turbulent, and endle&s;s Scrupulo&s;ity? And all this, &s;aies Mr. <HI>Bolde, to &s;atisfie &s;ome that are un|&s;atisfied,</HI> i.e. (as &s;ome love to &s;peak) un&s;atisfied in Con&s;cience, profane|ly calling by that &s;acred Name of <HI>Con&s;cience,</HI> what men of greate&s;t Learning, &s;tricte&s;t Piety and Holi|ne&s;s, and mo&s;t comfortable Con&s;ci|ences, have called <HI>&s;turdine&s;s of Opini|on</HI> in &s;ome, weakne&s;s and un&s;etled|ne&s;s of Judgment in others, and in|deed a meer fear of doing what God commands, for fear of Sin: But pur|&s;uant to his Plea for the Churches yielding to its Enemies in the Al|teration and Abolition of Church-Ceremonies, He tells this dull Story from <HI>Beza,</HI> that was a &s;worn Enemy to Epi&s;copacy:</P>
<P><PB N="31" REF="81"><HI>A Noble-man having fini&s;h'd the building of his hou&s;e, &s;uffer'd a great Stone to lie before the hou&s;e, which he had no occa&s;ion for; the People &s;tumbling at it in the dark, com|plained; the Noble man would not &s;uffer the Stone to be took away, but order'd a Lanthorn to be hung out over it; this not &s;ecuring the People from the inconveniences of it, the Noble-man was at la&s;t intreated to remove the Stone and Lanthern both:</HI> But whether he did remove them or no, that Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI> keeps to him|&s;elf.</P>
<P>Without any remark on the im|pertinence of this dull Story,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Serious and compa&s;&s;ionate Enquiry, <HI>p. 10.</HI></NOTE> I &s;hall be &s;o civil to Mr. <HI>Bolde,</HI> as to return it from a more con&s;iderable Author than <HI>Beza,</HI> thus:</P>
<P><HI>Apelles</HI> to deride the conceited folly of the Age, expo&s;es to pub|lick view, a Ma&s;ter-piece of his Work, and as it u&s;ually happens (by the encouragement of the Pro|verb, <HI>Facile e&s;t inventis adhere</HI>) every body pretends to skill in re|forming;
<PB N="32" REF="82">
&s;carce any pa&s;&s;ed by, but pa&s;&s;ed their Verdict on the Picture, all generally commend it; yet to give &s;ome in&s;tance of their skill, every one finds &s;ome fault or o|ther; one would have had more &s;hade, another le&s;s; one commends the Eye, but blames the Lip, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> The cunning Arti&s;t ob&s;erves all, but &s;ays nothing; and &s;till as any Pa&s;&s;enger gave his Verdict, he al|ters the Picture accordingly; the re&s;ult was this, by its Alteration and Reformation, it became &s;uch Abomination of Deformation, &s;uch a horrid mon&s;trous Piece, that the very Reformers them&s;elves won|der'd at its Ugline&s;s. <HI>Apelles</HI> to right him&s;elf, produces another piece of the &s;ame Art and Beauty which he had hitherto kept up by him, and &s;o had e&s;caped their cen|&s;ure; with this he upbraids them thus, <HI>Hanc ego faci i&s;tam populus:</HI> This I made, the t'other is a Devil of your own making.</P>
<P><PB N="33" REF="82">Now not to be &s;o abrupt as Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI> was, as to run from my Story without any Application. Chri&s;tian Religion was by Wi&s;e and Holy men, our Reformers, dive&s;ted of tho&s;e meretricious and gaudy Accoutrements, that the Papi&s;ts had dre&s;t her up with, and habited her according to pri|mitive &s;implicity; but this (tho amiable of it &s;elf) would not plea&s;e every Body, every Sect or Party would have &s;omething alter'd, which if it were allowed (the Opi|nions of men are &s;o contrary to one another, as well as to truth) the true lineaments of Chri&s;tianity would be lo&s;t, and &s;o our Religion have the &s;ame fate, that the poor Picture of <HI>Apelles</HI> had.</P>
<P>But in pleading for Alteration of &s;ome Ceremonies, and laying others wholly a&s;ide, Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI> proceeds to &s;even Arguments.</P>
<P N="1">1. The fir&s;t is this, <HI>It is unque|&s;tionably certain, that the clo&s;er any
<PB N="34" REF="83">
Church doth keep, or the nearer &s;he approaches to the fir&s;t Churches, in their &s;implicity and freedom from hu|mane inventions, the more ju&s;tifiable &s;he will be;</HI> and &s;o on</P>
<P N="1">1. The Ceremonies we retain are &s;o few, that if compared with the va&s;t numbers u&s;ed in the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> or in the Or|thodox Chri&s;tian Churches in St. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI>'s time, they will appear to be <HI>vix quod Thebarum por|tae,</HI> next to none in the compari|&s;on.</P>
<P N="2">2. Tho&s;e few Ceremonies we do retain, are according to the Practice and Simplicity of the fir&s;t Churches. The 30th Canon &s;aies, we depart from the Churches of <HI>Italy, France, Spain,</HI> and the like Churches, in tho&s;e points only, wherein they are fallen from them|&s;elves in their ancient Integrity, and from the Apo&s;tolical Churches, which were their fir&s;t Founders. Thus the Church of <HI>England</HI> de|clares
<PB N="35" REF="83">
concerning Church Ceremo|nies in general; and of the Cro&s;s at Bapti&s;m in particular it &s;ays, we therein follow the primitive Apo|&s;tolic Churches. And</P>
<P N="3">3. It is on no account more then agreement with the Primi|tive Churches, that we retain the u&s;e of our few Ceremonies, and refu&s;e to yield to Di&s;&s;enters in altering &s;ome, and aboli&s;hing others; and therefore according to the Pleaders own Hypothe&s;is, our Church is mo&s;t ju&s;tifiable in &s;o doing.</P>
<P N="2">2. His Second Argument is this, <HI>That teaching that humane autho|rity has an unlimited power to im|po&s;e any thing on the Church, which is not expre&s;ly forbid in Scripture, may be of dangerous con&s;equence.</HI></P>
<P>The word <HI>(unlimited)</HI> is here impertinently foi&s;ted in; for if hu|mane authority has power to im|po&s;e on the Church what the Scripture doth not forbid, it mu&s;t
<PB N="36" REF="84">
in that ca&s;e have an unlimited power, becau&s;e nothing can limit it but the Scripture. If you take his a&s;&s;ertion without the word <HI>(&V;nlimited)</HI> then it is that which Dr. <HI>Sander&s;on</HI> called the very <HI>my&s;tery of Puritani&s;m,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Serm. Preface.</NOTE> and that which the very <HI>Prote&s;tant Reconciler</HI> doth contradict and confute;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 187.</NOTE> and which is not only the very characteri&s;tick doctrine of the Di&s;&s;enters, but their chief fundamental, the very ground and foundation of their out-cries again&s;t ceremonies, as uncomman|ded rites, humane inventions, Su|per&s;titions, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> And whereas he &s;ays, this may be of <HI>dangerous con|&s;equence,</HI> it's certain that the con|trary is &s;o; to teach that humane authority has not this power of impo&s;ing on the Church, things not forbid in Scripture, but to demand a Scripture prohibition or precept, for every thing that hu|mane authority impo&s;eth on the Church, is of mo&s;t dangerous
<PB N="37" REF="84">
con&s;equence, as Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> has &s;oundly proved, and &s;hewed wherein, by an induction of about Twenty particulars;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Defence of the Principles of Love; p. <HI>97, 98, 99, 100, 101.</HI> &amp;c.</NOTE> I &s;hall no more than name but &s;ome of them.</P>
<P N="1">1. It draws men into the dange|rous guilt of adding to the word of God, under pretence of defending its perfection. <HI>(He &s;hews how)</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. It &s;orely prepares men for infidelity. <HI>(He &s;hews how)</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. It alters the very definition of the Scripture, and makes it quite another thing, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. It tends to ca&s;t all-rational wor&s;hip out of the Church, <HI>&amp;c</HI></P>
<P N="5">5. It will bring in all confu&s;ion, in&s;tead of pure rea&s;onable wor|&s;hip, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P N="6">6. It will fright poor People from Scripture and Religion, and make us, our Doctrine, and Wor&s;hip, ridiculous in the &s;ight of all the world, <HI>(as he &s;hews at large.)</HI></P>
<P N="7">7. All po&s;&s;ibility of Union a|mong Chri&s;tians and Churches,
<PB N="38" REF="85">
mu&s;t peri&s;h, if this error prevail, and be practi&s;ed, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P N="8">8. It will have a confounding influence into all the affairs and bu&s;ine&s;s of our lives. The&s;e and as many more Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI> doth not barely name, (as I have done) but foundly proves to be the con&s;e|quence of making Scripture a particular rule of circum&s;tantials in wor&s;hip; or teaching, <HI>that humane authority has not power of impo&s;ing on the Church things not forbid in Scripture.</HI> To all which, I add, That Sedition and Rebellion is not &s;o apt to ari&s;e from any one Presbyte|rian Tenet what&s;oever, as from this; for when men deny humane authority, the power of impo&s;ing Church-ceremonies, for want of Scripture-precept or prohibition, they do on the &s;ame account call tho&s;e ceremonies <HI>Humane devices, uncommanded Rites, Popi&s;h and Super&s;titious, &amp;c.</HI> and therefore (mark the con&s;equence) to be re|formed; and if the Magi&s;trate will
<PB N="39" REF="85">
not reform it, the people mu&s;t; and on this very principle have commenced the mo&s;t barbarous and unnatural wars in <HI>England, Scotland,</HI> and other places: And therefore 'tis very di&s;ingenuous in Mr. <HI>Bolde,</HI> not only to a&s;&s;ert and vindicate this fundamental and mo&s;t di&s;tingui&s;hing principle of Di&s;&s;enters, but to accu&s;e its con|trary [a mo&s;t undoubted truth] of <HI>Dangerous con&s;equences;</HI> when 'tis &s;o apparent, that the dangerous con&s;equences are all on the other &s;ide.</P>
<P>He proceeds on this head thus;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">2.</NOTE> <HI>It is not demon&s;trably certain, that humane authority has power any further than to puni&s;h and re&s;train indecencies and di&s;orders in the Church.</HI></P>
<P>Not to &s;ay whether this be not that &s;peaking again&s;t the Kings Sovereign Authority in cau&s;es Ec|cle&s;ia&s;tical, which the 27th <HI>Can.</HI> cen&s;ures.</P>
<P N="1"><PB N="40" REF="86">1. It is demon&s;trably certain, that humane authority had power to appoint Church-ceremonies, and to determine the circum&s;tantials in Religion. <HI>David</HI> alter'd &s;ome things, and in&s;tituted others, even in the Temple-Service, upon no other authority than humane. <HI>He|zekiah</HI> on the &s;ame authority, and no other, broke the Brazen Serpent to pieces, though it was a &s;ym|bolical ceremony of Gods own in&s;titution. He appointed the Le|vites to kill the Pa&s;&s;over, which by Gods appointment was to have been performed by the people them&s;elves: He preferr'd the Le|vites to a&s;&s;i&s;t the Prie&s;ts in killing the other Sacrifices, which they were never before admitted to: So that it is demon&s;trably certain, <HI>That humane authority had once a power to determine the circum&s;tantials of Religion.</HI> Nor can Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI> tell when or how they came to be dive&s;ted of it. But on the con|trary, when Chri&s;t &s;aid, <HI>His King|dom
<PB N="41" REF="86">
was not of this world,</HI> he plainly intimated, that he never intended to dive&s;t Governours of the authority they were po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed of.</P>
<P N="2">2. It's demon&s;trably certain, that the Scriptures do no where re&s;train the power of humane au|thority to puni&s;hing of di&s;orders or indecencies in the Church; when the Scripture commands, <HI>obey every ordinance of man,</HI> it &s;uppo&s;eth in man, or humane au|thority, a power of making ordi|nances; Church-ordinances not ex|cepted; and <HI>ubi lex non di&s;tinguit, non e&s;t di&s;tinguendum.</HI></P>
<P>It has been all along the practi&s;e of humane authority in all the reformed Churches, to in&s;titute Church-di&s;cipline, and to impo&s;e it upon the people; and <HI>lex currit cum praxi:</HI> Thus <HI>Calvin</HI> him&s;elf writes to <HI>Farellus;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ep.</HI> 87.</NOTE> <HI>To prevent the de&s;ultory levity of tho&s;e who affect novelty, it always prevailed in the Church (which was decreed in ancient
<PB N="42" REF="87">
Councils) That tho&s;e who would not be &s;ubject to the laws of common di&s;cipline, &s;hould be di&s;mi&s;&s;ed from their function. And</HI> Beza (<HI>on the life of</HI> Calvin) <HI>that &s;ub&s;cription to their Church-di&s;cipline was enjoined, not only Mini&s;ters but people.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. That every Church National has power to in&s;titute or appoint its Church-ceremonies, was one principal argument that our Pro|te&s;tant Reformers made u&s;e of again&s;t the Papi&s;ts, in altering our Religion from Popi&s;h to Prote|&s;tant.</P>
<P N="3">3. Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI>'s 3d Argument runs thus; <HI>The things we contend about are of &s;uch a nature, they cannot bear &s;o much weight as &s;ome lay upon them,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P N="1">1. How much the le&s;s the mat|ters are we contend about, &s;o much the more is the &s;in and &s;hame of contentious di&s;obedience, and inconformity to them.</P>
<P N="2"><PB N="43" REF="87">2. The more fit they are to be made a &s;acrifice to peace; e&s;peci|ally when in obedience to that great Go&s;pel-precept of obedience to every <HI>humane</HI> ordinance, 1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 2.13. And &s;ince <HI>Mahomet</HI> mu&s;t to the Mountain, or the Mountain to <HI>Mahomet,</HI> (as he &s;peaks) for &s;hame let not Governours &s;toop to Sub|jects, antiquity to Novelty, and publick Authority, the highe&s;t on earth, to private fancy, the mo&s;t humour&s;ome and peevi&s;h: <HI>Since the&s;e things are not</HI> (&s;ays the Plea|der) <HI>matter of &s;uch moment,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 24.</NOTE> <HI>as moderate men &s;hould lay out much of their zeal about.</HI></P>
<P>He proceeds to &s;hew how much mi&s;chief men laying out too much zeal, and too much &s;tre&s;s upon the&s;e things has occa&s;ioned; he gives not &s;o much as one in|&s;tance of the mi&s;chief; but in&s;tead of all in&s;tances, he cites Mr. <HI>Burge&s;s</HI> in his Sermon before King <HI>James,</HI> for this Story.</P>
<P><PB N="44" REF="88"><HI>The Roman Emperour</HI> Augu&s;tus, <HI>in going to dine with a Senator of Rome, &s;aw &s;ome company dragging a man after them, that made a horrid out-cry: The Emperour demanding the Rea&s;on; it was an&s;wered, their Ma&s;ter had condemned him to the Fi&s;h-ponds for breaking a Gla&s;s of great value: The Emperour &s;topp'd the Execution; and when he came to the Senators hou&s;e, in expo&s;tula|ting the ca&s;e with him, he asked him whether he had Gla&s;&s;es worth a mans life: That I have, &s;ays the Senator, Gla&s;&s;es that I value at the price of a Province. Let's &s;ee them (&s;ays the Emperor;) the Senator brought them: The Emperour broke them; with the&s;e words,</HI> Better all the&s;e peri&s;h, than one man. My Author (&s;ays he) left it to his Maje&s;ty to apply, and &s;o do I to the Reader.</P>
<P>And the Reader applies it thus; The <HI>Gla&s;&s;es</HI> are Church-ceremonies, the <HI>Senator</HI> is the Impo&s;er of them, the <HI>Emperour</HI> is the Oppo&s;er of
<PB N="45" REF="88">
them; the <HI>breaking</HI> of the Gla&s;&s;es, is the aboli&s;hing of the Ceremo|nies; <HI>rather than one man &s;hould peri&s;h,</HI> is rather than a peevi&s;h Party of Di&s;&s;enters &s;hould be un&s;atisfied, who could never yet agree in the matter of their &s;atisfaction, or in what alteration, conde&s;cen&s;ion or conce&s;&s;ion would &s;atisfy them: But as in Queen <HI>Elizabeths</HI> time,<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Dr. Ham. view of the Liturgy.</NOTE> when to &s;atisfy the clamours of Di&s;&s;enters again&s;t the Liturgy and Ceremonies, upon the impetra|tion of the Lord <HI>Burleigh,</HI> it was granted them, That an altera|tion &s;hould be made, and a Cla&s;&s;is of their own Party was appointed on purpo&s;e: But what alteration the fir&s;t Cla&s;&s;is made, was repre|hended by a &s;econd Cla&s;&s;is of them, as more faulty than the old Liturgy; and that &s;econd was reprehended by a third Cla&s;&s;is, as mo&s;t faulty of all: Whereby the Queen plainly &s;aw that their cla|mours for alteration was for they knew not what, and that it was
<PB N="46" REF="89">
impo&s;&s;ible for them to agree in what they would have altered. The ca&s;e is the &s;ame at this day; &s;ome di&s;&s;ent on one account, others on another; &s;ome hold the whole Liturgy unlawful, others inexpe|dient only; &s;ome hold it inexpe|dient in &s;ome Offices, others in other; &s;ome &s;tick at &s;tanding or kneeling, others at nothing but the circum&s;tances of Bapti&s;m; &s;ome have accounted the <HI>Scotch</HI> Cove|nant the great Mountain in the way; others &s;cruple nothing but reordination:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Grand de<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">ate.</NOTE> So that as a great Author of their own &s;aid, 'Tis as ea&s;y to make a Coat for the Moon, as to reconcile them to one ano|ther, and make them agree in what alterations they would have. To what purpo&s;e then doth any Dogmati&s;t trouble him&s;elf with Pleas and Interpo&s;als in that be|half. But to return Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI>'s Story of the <HI>Emperour</HI> and <HI>Senator</HI> of <HI>Rome,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Serious and compa&s;&s;ionate Enquiry.</NOTE> I will tell him one, from as good an Author as Mr. <HI>Burge&s;s,</HI>
<PB N="47" REF="89">
of the Emperor and Senator of <HI>Capua.</HI></P>
<P>The People were all in a rage again&s;t the Senate, and would needs have them all depo&s;ed; the Emperour <HI>Pacuvius Calavius</HI> &s;huts up the Senators all together, and claps a Guard upon them, and then comes to the People and tells them, All was in their power now, advices them to determine their &s;everal fates, according to their demerits, one by one; this they readily hearkened to; and as they pa&s;s'd a doom upon any one, he approved the Sentence; but before the Execution, he per&s;wades them to bethink them&s;elves of another and a better man to be in his room, &s;ince a Senate they could not be without; but here the bu&s;ine&s;s &s;tuck, as he had fore&s;een it would; the People who agreed unanimou&s;|ly again&s;t the old Senator, could by no means agree who &s;hould &s;ucceed; one named this man, another that, but whoever was
<PB N="48" REF="90">
named by one Party, was &s;ure to be rejected by another; that in con|clu&s;ion as great a pique as they had received again&s;t the old Se|nate, for want of agreement in better men to come in their room, they unanimou&s;ly concluded it be&s;t to keep the old ones in. Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI> left his &s;tory to the Reader to ap|ply, and &s;o do I.</P>
<P N="4">4. Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI>'s Fourthly runs thus; <HI>I never yet met with any argument (that I can call to mind) for the ab&s;olute inforcing of &s;ome particular</HI> needle&s;s <HI>ceremonies to be ob&s;erved in the Church, by all who live under one Civil government, but what could be of the &s;ame force, if it were applyed to all the Churches in the world: There is as much rea&s;on (I think) that every Church and Congregation for the &s;ervice of God throughout the world, &s;hould ob&s;erve the &s;ame ceremonies, as that all the Congregations in one Nation &s;hould.</HI></P>
<P N="1"><PB N="49" REF="90">1. I &s;hall not here &s;tand to enquire how far this doth (<HI>in hy|pothe&s;i</HI> at lea&s;t) violate the 27th Canon, which forbids and cen&s;ures all &s;peaking again&s;t his Maje&s;ties Authority in maters Eccle&s;ia&s;tical; or whether this doth not (in the &s;ame manner) clap the brand of PERJURY, (&s;o far as he is able) upon all Parliaments, who in the Oath of Allegiance and Supremacy (which they are ob|liged to take before they can &s;it in Parliament) do a&s;&s;ert the Kings Authority in matters Eccle&s;ia&s;tical thus, <HI>That he is Supream Moderator and Governour in all cau&s;es, and over all per&s;ons, as well</HI> Eccle&s;ia&s;tical <HI>as Civil, in the&s;e his Maje&s;ties Do|minions</HI> [and no other.] Whereas if the King have no more power to inforce particular Ceremonies on all who live under the &s;ame Civil Government of <HI>England,</HI> than he has to enforce it on tho&s;e of <HI>Germany, France, Spain,</HI> and other Churches; he is &s;o far from being
<PB N="50" REF="91">
the Supream Head and Gover|nour, or having the &s;upream pow|er in all cau&s;es Eccle&s;ia&s;tical, that in all &s;uch cau&s;es within the&s;e his Dominions, he hath no power at all.</P>
<P>And as in the Church of <HI>Eng|land,</HI> &s;o in all other reformed Churches, there is the &s;ame power among them&s;elves, and no other: As the Churches of the <HI>Lutheran</HI> Confe&s;&s;ion,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Dure's vindi|ciae.</NOTE> give the Sacrament to none, but kneeling; the <HI>Geneva</HI> Churches, and the Prote&s;tant Churches of <HI>France,</HI> give it to none but tho&s;e that &s;tand in the act of receiving; and the like ceremonies there are inforced up|on all that live in tho&s;e Churches under one and the &s;ame Civil Go|vernment. But</P>
<P N="2">2. I think it &s;ufficient an&s;wer to this, to tell Mr. <HI>Bolde,</HI> that there would be the &s;ame rea&s;on for every Church throughout the world to ob&s;erve the &s;ame ceremonies, as
<PB N="51" REF="91">
for all the Congregations in one Nation, in ca&s;e they were all in|joined by the &s;ame or alike Au|thority.</P>
<P>'Tis true, Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI> doth &s;eem to bound and limit his afore&s;aid a&s;&s;ertion with this Parenthe&s;is, <HI>(if we re&s;pect only the ob&s;ervations and reflections that Heathens and the like will make, when they &s;ee that in one and the &s;ame Nation, people profe&s;&s;ing the &s;ame Religion, do ob|&s;erve different rites) as he &s;uppo&s;eth Heathens and the like enemies of Chri&s;tianity to do, on the account of Chri&s;tians of different Nations, ob&s;erving different rites:</HI> Which groundle&s;s &s;uppo&s;al is all he al|ledgeth to confirm and &s;trengthen his 4th bold a&s;&s;ertion: Now to &s;ee how impertinently this is al|ledged,</P>
<P N="1">1. No Church-ceremonies are inforced or not inforced among Chri&s;tians upon any &s;uch con&s;idera|tion, or in any &s;uch regard to
<PB N="52" REF="92">
Heathens, as his Rea&s;on doth &s;up|po&s;e.</P>
<P N="2">2. Heathens and the like ene|mies of Chri&s;tianity cannot rea&s;o|nably make any &s;uch ob&s;ervations, reflexions and exceptions on our holy faith, on the account of our ob&s;erving the &s;ame or different rites in Gods &s;ervice, as the Rea|&s;on he renders doth &s;uppo&s;e. And therefore is very frivolou&s;ly and impertinently render'd.</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI>'s Fifthly runs thus; <HI>Long and often experience hath made it undeniably evident, that putttng the paenal Laws rigorou&s;ly in execution again&s;t humble, mode&s;t, con&s;cientious Di&s;&s;enters (and I plead for none but &s;uch) has not an&s;wered the de&s;ign for which they were inten|ded &mdash; Severity (&s;ays he) is not a proper method for the &s;atisfying of mens judgements, or the removing of their &s;cruples;</HI> with much more to the &s;ame purpo&s;e.</P>
<P><PB N="53" REF="92">When <HI>Vincentius</HI> &s;eemed to argue thus in behalf of the Di&s;&s;enters of St. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI>'s time; St. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI>'s An&s;wer was, <HI>Nunquid ideo negli|genda e&s;t medicina, quia nonnullo|rum in&s;anabilis e&s;t pe&s;tilentia? what then (&s;ays he) is medicine therefore to be neglected, becau&s;e &s;ome mens plague is incurable?</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ep. <HI>48.</HI> Litt. I. K. L.</NOTE> <HI>It is better to love with &s;everity, than to deceive with lenity: Do you think</HI> (&s;ays that Father) <HI>that none are to be com|pelled when the master of the Family &s;aid,</HI> 14 Luke, Compel them to come in, that my hou&s;e may be full; <HI>and that he admired with great thankfulne&s;s, that they (the Donati&s;ts) who could by no other means be brought to think of a change for the better,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Lit. H.</NOTE> <HI>yet when once affrighted with the terrour of the Laws, &s;et their hearts &s;eriou&s;ly to con&s;ider the truth, le&s;t if they &s;hould &s;uffer puni&s;hment not for righ|teou&s;ne&s;s, but &s;tubbornne&s;s &s;ake, their patience would be fruitle&s;s and vain, and le&s;t they &s;hould afterwards find
<PB N="54" REF="93">
no other reward from God, than what was due to wickedne&s;s: And a tolerating of them, he there calls a rendering evil for evil,</HI> ver&egrave; ma|lum pro malo redderemus <HI>(&s;ays he)</HI> And in the &s;ame letter of the &s;ame Epi&s;tle, <HI>O that I could &s;hew</HI> (&s;ays he) <HI>how many of tho&s;e</HI> Circumcellians, [i. e. <HI>the wor&s;t &s;ort of Donati&s;ts,] are now become good Chri&s;tians, con|demning their former error, whereby they taught whatever they did through their unquiet ra&s;hne&s;s, was for the Church, (or glory) of God; who had never been brought to this pre|&s;ent &s;oundne&s;s of belief, unle&s;s they had been bound, like mad men, with the Cords of tho&s;e very laws which you find fault with:</HI> And here it is to be remarked of the Donati&s;t-Di&s;&s;enters of old, and of the Mo|dern Di&s;&s;enters of late,</P>
<P N="2">2. What ill u&s;e they always made of Toleration and Power, when|ever they attained it: While <HI>Con|&s;tantine</HI>
<PB N="55" REF="93">
was Emperor, none pe|titioned and pleaded more for Toleration than the <HI>Donati&s;ts,</HI> and declared them&s;elves utter enemies to any per&s;on or principle that was for di&s;turbing or puni&s;hing men for con&s;cience &s;ake: But as &s;oon as <HI>Julian</HI> was &s;etled in the Empire, and (with a de&s;ign of root|ing out Chri&s;tianity) countenan|ced the Donati&s;ts, gave them To|leration, and at la&s;t re&s;tored the Churches to them: that Apo&s;tate Emperor him&s;elf was not &s;o im|perious, &s;o tyrannical and &s;angui|nary as they. In like manner the Modern Di&s;&s;enters (as Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI> &s;ays of the contrary) <HI>long and often experience</HI> has made it evi|dent, that the toleration which they lately enjoyed, made them as imperious as ever the Laws would &s;uffer, e&s;pecially in 81, and 82; when a Conforming Mini&s;ter (as I am credibly informed) could &s;carce walk <HI>London</HI> Streets with|out
<PB N="56" REF="94">
&s;ome open affront offer'd him by that Party. But when they had the power in the U&s;urpation-times, let who will read <HI>Mercurius Ru&s;ticus,</HI> and the like Books, and he &s;hall find their barbarous cru|elty in Per&s;ecuting, &s;carce exceeded by the <HI>Mari<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">n</HI> Per&s;ecution. They inflicted cen&s;ures for a meer &s;u&s;|picion of covetou&s;ne&s;s, for dancing at a Wedding for a &s;uperfluity in Raiment, for fetching a little water on the Lords day to boil a Pot, or wa&s;h ones hands, though not twenty Yards di&s;tant from their Hou&s;es: Whereas the mild and whol&s;ome Laws again&s;t Di&s;&s;enters are executed on them for crimes of another nature, for Sedition in the State, which, <HI>as long and often experience has made undeniably evi|dent,</HI> has always accompanied Schi&s;m in the Church.</P>
<P N="3">3. But why doth Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI> call it &s;everity, and (as in his Sermon)
<PB N="57" REF="94">
<HI>Per&s;ecution?</HI> Did the King treat them as tho&s;e of their principle do in <HI>New England,</HI> &s;uch as di&s;&s;ent from them, with bani&s;hment and death. The Independents of <HI>New England</HI> impo&s;e a penalty of five &s;hillings a day on all that come not to hear their Sermons; they bani&s;h all the <HI>Antinomians,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Thornd.</HI> for|bearance of Penalties.</NOTE> and put the Quakers to death: Or were they treated by us, as we are by Papi&s;ts, with a <HI>go ye cur&s;ed, &s;ending them to Hell</HI> with <HI>Anathe|ma's,</HI> for meer inconformity and no more? then indeed one may talk of &s;everity or per&s;ecution ei|ther, and plead for Moderation towards Di&s;&s;enters. But in&s;tead of this, our Church calls them Bre|thren, and treats them like &s;uch. The King indulged to them as great a Toleration as many of them would de&s;ire, till the fruit of it appeared in a barbarous con|&s;piracy again&s;t his Life and Go|vernment. I &s;ay the <HI>Fruit</HI> of it;<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Anno</HI> 1683.</NOTE>
<PB N="58" REF="95">
for it's impo&s;&s;ible to apprehend how &s;uch a Con&s;piracy &s;hould be contrived and carryed on with any hopes of &s;ucce&s;s, without &s;trong pre&s;umption and confident expecta|tion of help and &s;trength from the Di&s;&s;enting Prote&s;tants; which makes it evident and certain, that though the generality of Di&s;&s;en|ters be acquitted from &s;o much as knowing any thing of the Tray|terous de&s;ign, yet it cannot be denied, but that it is eventually, and <HI>per accidens</HI> (at lea&s;t) the effect and product of the Non|conformity; and this will appear to be undeniably, true by this <HI>Dilemma.</HI> This Con&s;piracy in 83&punc; was contrived and carried on either with hopes of &s;ucce&s;s, or without hopes of &s;ucce&s;s; without hopes of &s;ucce&s;s, no &s;uch con&s;pi|racy ever was, (or can po&s;&s;ibly be imagined ever to be) contrived and carried on: With hopes of &s;ucce&s;s this could not be, with|out
<PB N="59" REF="95">
expectation (if not grand a&s;&s;u|rance of help and &s;trength from the Di&s;&s;enting Party; for no o|ther Party could afford them any help con&s;iderable. And to &s;ay, that any Church-of-<HI>England</HI> man were, or po&s;&s;ibly could be con|cerned in it, is that mo&s;t &s;encele&s;s of all ab&s;urdities [a contradiction in the terms]; for a Church-of-<HI>England</HI> man he cannot be, who is not well affected to the King, the Church, and the Govern|ment: Now is it not a contra|diction to &s;ay, that a Per&s;on or Party well affected to the King, &s;hould be in &s;uch a Helli&s;h con|&s;piracy again&s;t him? that one well affected to the Church and the Government, &s;hould be in con|&s;piracy again&s;t the Church and Government? If it be &s;aid the Con&s;pirators came to Church, re|ceived the Sacrament, ob&s;erved the Ceremonies and Orders of the Church; why this would argue
<PB N="60" REF="96">
their greater hypocri&s;y, and the more dangerou&s;ne&s;s of their Fa|ction, but would be conclu&s;ive of nothing again&s;t the <HI>Dilemma:</HI> Which makes it as clear and plain as any fir&s;t principle, That the late Phanatick Plot in 83, was e|ventually (at lea&s;t) the effect of Nonconformity: This I &s;ay can|not be denied, though it &s;hould be granted, that not one Non|conformi&s;t in <HI>England</HI> &s;o much as knew of it till the publick di&s;|covery.</P>
<P>So that whereas Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI> talks of the <HI>rigorous execution of penal Laws not an&s;wering the end and de&s;ign they were intended for;</HI> it's evident from hence, that &s;o far as not putting the Laws in &s;uch execution on Di&s;&s;enters doth mi|ni&s;ter to the increa&s;e of their Party; &s;o far it doth gratify and mini&s;ter to the de&s;igns of Phana|tick Con&s;pirators, though the Di&s;&s;enters were ever &s;o innocent,
<PB N="61" REF="96">
and as great haters of &s;uch con|&s;piracy as the mo&s;t loyal Confor|mi&s;ts whatever.</P>
<P>But the main thing that Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI> in&s;i&s;ts on in this place, is this, <HI>that the rigorous execution of the poenal Laws doth not an&s;wer the end it was intended for;</HI> (which is &s;uppre&s;&s;ing Nonconformity) but doth rather incourage the thing, and increa&s;e the Party: For this he appeals to <HI>long and often experience;</HI> and this he a&s;&s;erts at large, with the greate&s;t a&s;&s;u|rance imaginable. Whereas 1&s;t, <HI>in &s;tatu quo,</HI> the thing is yet <HI>&s;ub judice,</HI> the event &s;carcely yet di&s;|cernable, the effect yet &s;carcely known, becau&s;e &s;ince Queen <HI>Eli|zabeths</HI> reign, the Laws have not been put into rigorous execution till this la&s;t year. When Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI> wrote his Book, the rigorous exe|cution of the Law was much re|laxed, and it was the relaxation that &s;o increa&s;ed the Party: Our
<PB N="62" REF="97">
State-Phy&s;itians have found it &s;o, that that pe&s;tilent Lax, was the true morbifick cau&s;e of that dangerous &s;uperfaetation in the Body politick. And let <HI>Bolde</HI> Quacklings pretend what they will, <HI>Perilis in &s;ua cu|ju&s;que arte credendum e&s;t;</HI> and thus as to the pre&s;ent or late &s;tate of things.</P>
<P N="2">2. If we look back on former times, <HI>Long and often experience has made it undeniably evident, that putting the paenal Laws rigorou&s;ly in execution again&s;t Di&s;&s;enters, hath an&s;wered the end for which they were de&s;igned. i. e.</HI> Hath &s;uppre&s;&s;ed Di&s;&s;enters, and reformed Noncon|formity, when nothing el&s;e would do.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Hi&s;t. of Presb. lib. <HI>9.</HI> n. <HI>25, 27.</HI></NOTE> In Queen <HI>Elizabeth</HI>'s Reign, it was enacted in Parliament, <HI>That who&s;oever &s;hould be found at any Conventicle or private meeting on pretence of Religious exerci&s;e, were to &s;uffer impri&s;onment, or to depart the Realm, never to return without leave fir&s;t granted,</HI> and the
<PB N="63" REF="97">
failure herein was made Felony: And it was &s;uch &s;harp Laws made again&s;t them, and rigorou&s;ly exe|cuted on them, that utterly &s;up|pre&s;s'd them, and thereby effectu|ally promoted the peace and tran|quility of Church and State, when all other means failed; and that it was K. <HI>James</HI>'s relaxing this rigour that fir&s;t revived their faction, is undeniably evident to any that under&s;tands the Hi&s;tory of <HI>England</HI> for the&s;e Hundred and Thirty years la&s;t pa&s;t.</P>
<P>And of Old, the whole Hi&s;tory of the Donati&s;ts doth make evident, 1. That as the Emperours and their Councils became more zealous for the Chri&s;tian Religion, their Laws were made more and more &s;trict again&s;t Di&s;&s;enters, and executed with more and more rigour, ac|cording to the growth and pro|portion of their zeal for Chri&s;tia|nity. And 2dly, that putting the Laws rigorou&s;ly in execution, was
<PB N="64" REF="98">
the only thing that re&s;trained that dangerous faction, and re&s;tored peace and unity to the Church: <HI>Mine own City</HI> (&s;ays St. <HI>Augu&s;tine) which was once all</HI> Donati&s;ts,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Civitas mea cum tota e&s;&s;et in parte Donati ad unitatem Cathol. timore legum imperialium con|ver&s;a e&s;t. Ep. <HI>48.</HI> lit. &V;. X.</NOTE> <HI>is now converted to the &V;nity of the Church by [this very means]</HI> the terror of the Imperial Laws: <HI>The terror of the Laws was &s;o profitable to them,</HI> (&s;ays he) <HI>that they did ble&s;s God for them, &s;aying, God be thanked that hath quickened us,</HI> &s;timulo ter|roris, <HI>by the terror of the Laws, to &s;eek and to find the truth. Others</HI> (&s;ays he) <HI>&s;ay we were frigheed by fal&s;e rumours, from entering into the Church, which we &s;hould never have known to be fal&s;e, if we had not come to the Church; and we &s;hould never have come to it, if we had not been compelled:</HI> And in his 50th Epi&s;tle to <HI>Bonifacius,</HI> They who formerly had been on the Donati&s;ts Party, <HI>thanked God, that now by
<PB N="65" REF="98">
the correction of the Laws they are delivered from that</HI> fur<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">o&s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> perni|cies, <HI>as he calls their Nonconformity; and that they who did &s;o hate the Laws, do now love them, and rejoice in the cure that they had made on them, as formerly they did in their mad|ne&s;s dete&s;t the whol&s;ome Laws as trou|ble&s;ome to them.</HI> He el&s;ewhere calls them mad that divide the Church, and would have them like mad|men tyed and bound with the Chain of whol&s;ome Laws and Severities:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Contra hos Imperator <HI>(Con|&s;tan.)</HI> lege &s;ancivit, auferri eorum oratoria &amp; Eccle&s;iis ap|plicari &amp; neque in domiv<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">s privatorum eos Congregationes, neque publice celebrare, &s;ed in Eccle&s;ia Cathol communicare &amp; in eam cunctis convenire &s;<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="2 letters">|debat, propter quam legem haere&s;i on m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">mor am arb<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">tror fui&s;&s;e de&s;tructam. Hi&s;t. trip. lib. <HI>3</HI> c. <HI>11.</HI></NOTE> <HI>Con&s;tantine</HI> the fir&s;t Chri&s;tian Emperour finding the Church divided and di&s;tur|bed by Schi&s;matick Di&s;&s;enters, made a Law again&s;t them, forbidding and &s;up|pre&s;&s;ing all their Conventicles, by which very means (&s;ays <HI>Sozomen</HI>) the memory of Schi&s;maticks was utterly de&s;troy|ed. And whereas Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI> &s;ays,<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P.</HI> 28.</NOTE>
<PB N="66" REF="99">
<HI>that &s;everity is not a proper me hod for the &s;atisfying of mens judge|ments, or removing their &s;cruples.</HI> I an&s;wer, St. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> &s;ays, that he was once of that mind, and was not for having the Laws rigorou&s;ly executed again&s;t Di&s;&s;enters; but he acknowledges his error in it, and tells us that this opinion of his was conquered and changed <HI>non contradicentium verbis,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ep. <HI>48.</HI> lett. &V;.</NOTE> <HI>&s;ed de|mon&s;trantium exemplis; i e.</HI> as Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI> &s;peaks, by long and often experience. <HI>'Tis true, &s;ays St.</HI> Au|gu&s;tine,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Let. T.</NOTE> <HI>none can be made good a|gain&s;t his will, but the fear of &s;uf|fering may make him leave off his animo&s;ity again&s;t the truth; or make him willing to receive the truth which he formerly knew not, and per&s;i&s;t in it when he knows it. We know many</HI> (&s;ays he) <HI>not only &s;ingle per&s;ons, but whole Cities, that were Donati&s;ts</HI> (or Separati&s;ts) <HI>now be|come good Catholicks, heartily de|te&s;ted their devili&s;h &s;eparation, and
<PB N="67" REF="99">
fervently loving the unity (and Com|munion) of the Church; all which were made &s;uch Conv<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">r<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">s by the fear of tho&s;e Laws which</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Speaking to Vincentius a Donati&s;t.</NOTE> <HI>you &s;o di&s;l<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="2 letters">e: And the&s;e examples propounded to me by my Colleague, made me change my opinion: For &s;aith he, I was once of that opinion, that no m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">n ought to be comp<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">lled to the &V;n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">ty of the Church but that this was to be done only by force of</HI><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">V<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">rbo agendum di&s;putatione pugnandum ratione vincen|dum.</NOTE> <HI>argumen<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> and di&s;|putation, that they were to be convict by Rea|&s;on, not compelled by Law; for this I thought could do no<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">hing but make open Schi&s;maticks,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Litt. &V;.</NOTE> <HI>or counter|feit Catholicks; but this I was convinced to be an error</HI> non con|tradicentium verbis, &s;ed demon|&s;trantium exemplis, <HI>by long and often experience.</HI> And therefore the Holy Father in his Epi&s;tles to <HI>Bonifacius, Januarius, Fe&s;tus</HI> and others, doth mightily pre&s;s the ri|gorous execution of the Imperial
<PB N="68" REF="100">
Laws again&s;t Di&s;&s;enters, not only at that which is nece&s;&s;ary to the unity and &s;afety of the Church, but of &s;ufficient tendency <HI>to &s;atisfy m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">ns judgments, and remove their &s;cruples,</HI> by compelling them to the mo&s;t apt and proper means of that &s;atisfaction and removal: But &s;uppo&s;e that it were not as the venerable St. <HI>Augustine</HI> &s;ays, but as Mr <HI>Bold</HI> &s;ays, that &s;everity is not <HI>a proper means to &s;atisfy mens judgments, or remove their &s;cruples:</HI> Yet,</P>
<P N="2">2. It cannot be denyed, but that it is a proper means to pre&s;erve the Churches unity; and therefore <HI>Constantine</HI> the mo&s;t Religious Emperour, the fir&s;t that ever made Laws again&s;t Di&s;&s;enters, did not &s;eek to bring the Heathens to Chri&s;tianity by &s;everity and force; but by &s;everity and force he en|deavoured to keep the Chri&s;tians in unity, and to that end enacted
<PB N="69" REF="100">
many &s;evere Laws again&s;t the Di&s;&s;enters of tho&s;e times; &s;uch &s;ays <HI>Augustine</HI> as did <HI>in conventi|culis &s;uis &s;eparatim congregare.</HI> And 'tis remarkable, that though the Laws made again&s;t tho&s;e Donati&s;t-Di&s;&s;enters, were not only great pecuniary mulcts, but bani&s;hment, and &s;eizing their Goods for the Emperours u&s;e, as I under&s;tand tho&s;e words ut <HI>fi&s;co vin<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">icarentur;</HI> yet doth the holy Father account the&s;e laws &s;o favourable, as not to puni&s;h but admoni&s;h only;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lit. O.</NOTE> and having &s;poke of the Pagani&s;h Ido|laters being puni&s;hed with death for their Id<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">latry, as that &s;eve<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">ity which the Orthodox and Donati&s;ts both did approve of and rejoice in; he adds,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Lit. O. P.</NOTE> that the wickedne&s;s of Schi&s;m is wor&s;e than that of Idolatry; which is a broad intima|tion that that holy man thought Schi&s;m a Capital crime.</P>
<P>And here I cannot but take no|tice of his calling the whol&s;ome
<PB N="70" REF="101">
execution of the Poenal Laws, by the odious name of <HI>Per&s;ecution,</HI> and not only &s;o, but like the <HI>Dona|tists</HI> of old, and the <HI>Je&s;uits</HI> of late, doth wre&s;t and rack the holy Scripture, to make it &s;peak its &s;ence of it: Witne&s;s that very Text on which he preached his printed Sermon, <HI>Gal</HI> 4 29. <HI>As he that was born after the fle&s;h, per&s;ecuted him that was born after the Spirit, &s;o it is now,</HI> where the Apo&s;tle doth plainly make the party pro&s;ecuting, to be the party per&s;ecuted: It was <HI>I&s;aac</HI> and <HI>Sarah</HI> that corrected <HI>Hagar</HI> and <HI>I&s;hmael</HI> and yet (&s;ays the Apo|&s;tle) <HI>I&s;hmael</HI> he that was born after the fle&s;h, was the party per&s;ecuting, tho the party &s;uffering <HI>By which we may under&s;tand</HI> (&s;ays St. <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> upon the place) <HI>that the Church rather &s;uffers per&s;ecution by the pride and wickedne&s;s of carnal men,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ep <HI>48.</HI> Lit. L.</NOTE> [by their <HI>I&s;hmaeli<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter">i&s;h</HI> reproaches] <HI>when &s;he endeavours to amend them by temporal puni&s;hments and correcti|ons, than they by the Church; &s;o that
<PB N="71" REF="101">
whatever the true Mother doth in this ca&s;e, though it may &s;eem har&s;h and bitter, yet &s;he doth not render evil for evil, but endeavour by whol|&s;ome di&s;cipline to expel &s;in; not out of hatred or de&s;ire to hurt, but out of love to cure:</HI> Whereby it doth plainly appear, that the execution of the poenal Laws again&s;t Di&s;&s;en|ters (for of &s;uch he &s;peaks) is &s;o far from being Per&s;ecution, that in that ca&s;e, the party <HI>Pro&s;ecuting</HI> is the par|ty <HI>Per&s;ecuted</HI> [with <HI>I&s;hmaeliti&s;h</HI> re|proaches, as being <HI>Per&s;ecutors,</HI> &amp;c] But the be&s;t account of the true notion of <HI>Per&s;ecution,</HI> is in the learn|ed Dr <HI>Hick</HI>'s Sermon of Per&s;ecuti|and thither I refer the Reader.</P>
<P N="6">6. Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI>'s 6th Argument is no more than this; <HI>It was never known that any Indifferent Ceremo|nies were univer&s;ally impo&s;ed in a knowing age, and the opinions of all good men did agree to them</HI></P>
<P>Which is no more in effect, than if he had &s;aid, That becau&s;e &s;ome
<PB N="72" REF="102">
good men have not agreed to the u&s;e of &s;ome Ceremonies, therefore the Church mu&s;t pro&s;titute her authority to every Sceptick Inno|vator in altering her ancient Con|&s;titutions.</P>
<P N="7">7. H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="2 letters"> 7th and la&s;t is taken from <HI>our conde&s;centions to the Papists in a <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="2 letters">n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="OXF" EXTENT="1 letter"> our Rubrick, Publick Ser|vice, and Articles, in order to the bringing of the Papists to join with us in our wor&s;hip</HI> &amp;c. <HI>He in&s;tance in the Churches expunging that pa&s;&s;age in the Littany, where we prayed to be delivered from the tyranny and all the dete&s;table enor|mities of the Bi&s;hops of</HI> Rome, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>'Tis true, that for the fir&s;t Eighteen years of Queen <HI>Elizabeth,</HI> few of the Popi&s;h Recu&s;ants ab&s;ent|ed them&s;elves from our Churches, till Pope <HI>Pius</HI> the Fifth, by his interdictory Bull would have all communion with us renounced;
<PB REF="102">
and in meer hopes of uniting and bringing them over to the Reformed Religion, there was that con|de&s;cention and compliance made; and the like and greater conce&s;&s;i|ons were indulged (or offer'd at lea&s;t) to the Nonconformi&s;ts in Queen <HI>Elizabeths</HI> time, till it did appear that they would be &s;atisfied with no other conce&s;&s;ions, than what were judged incon&s;i&s;tent with the &s;afety of Church and State.</P>
<P>Mr. <HI>Bold</HI> having fini&s;hed his Se|ven Arguments again&s;t Impo&s;ition of Church-Ceremonies, and exe|cution of poenal Laws, has this one Story more, that <HI>when the Emperour took a Bi&s;hop in compleat Armour, he &s;ent the Armour to the Pope, with this word,</HI> haeccine &s;unt ve&s;tes Filii tui?</P>
<P>Whereby Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI> would in&s;i|nuate again (as the Precedent
<PB N="72" REF="103">
words &s;hew) that only Arguments and Rea&s;ons, and not coercive means, are to be u&s;ed with Di&s;&s;en|ters.</P>
<P>The error of this hath its refutal from &s;ome of my la&s;t Citations out of St. <HI>Augustine:</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ep. <HI>48.</HI> Litt. T.</NOTE> And therefore no more but to return the Story: <HI>Paulus Emilius,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Val. Max.</NOTE> a Noble General, when &s;everal of his Souldiers took on them to pre&s;cribe and &s;ugge&s;t to him their &s;everal models of ma|nagement and di&s;cipline, <HI>Acuite vos gladios</HI> (&s;ays the General) <HI>mind you your Swords, and your bu&s;ine&s;s, be ready to obey, and exe|cute what &s;hall be commanded you, but leave the di&s;cipline and manage|ment of affairs to me your General: q. d.</HI> let Governours and Govern|ment alone, keep you your &s;tation, and mind your bu&s;ine&s;s in oppo&s;ing the Enemy, and obeying your Com|manders, but do not dare to medle with controlling, directing or pre|&s;cribing
<PB N="75" REF="103">
to tho&s;e whom it is your bu&s;ine&s;s to obey. But if the&s;e bold Soldiers that pre&s;cribed thus &s;au|cily to their General, &s;hould have turn'd <HI>Runagadoes,</HI> and been caught by him [like this Pleader with his Militant Apologies for Di&s;|&s;enting Enemies,] going over into the Enemies Camp, no doubt but he would have given them the very edge of Martial Law.</P>
<P>Thus have I faithfully remarked all that I judge any thing argu|mentative in Mr. <HI>Bolde</HI>'s fraudu|lent Plea; which is indeed nothing el&s;e but arrogant dogmatizing and pre&s;cribing to Superiours [in&s;tead of <HI>Pleading</HI>] for licentious and di&s;|orderly Toleration [on pretence of <HI>Moderation</HI>] of the &s;worn ene|mies of the Church and Govern|ment, [under the name of Di&s;&s;en|ters] I &s;ee little el&s;e in his Book, but what is fairly reducible to one of the&s;e heads, Impertinency
<PB N="76" REF="104">
or Scandal; of the former &s;ort is his &s;pending &s;o many Pages in telling who they are he pleads for; <HI>they are</HI> (&s;ays he) <HI>more particu|larly, men of &s;uch Learning</HI> as Mr. <HI>Baxter,</HI> Mr. <HI>Hickman,</HI> &amp;c. Mr. <HI>Hickman</HI> I know not; Mr. <HI>Baxter</HI>'s Learning no hone&s;t man will envy: He mu&s;t be acknowledged a Learned man: If he had not skill in fencing, he could not be &s;o quarrel&s;om. <HI>Arrius</HI> was &s;tiled <GAP DESC="foreign">, was accounted the mo&s;t logical, and one of the mo&s;t learned in his time: But what of that? The Orthodox Bi&s;hops thought him never the more fit for Church-toleration or comprehen|&s;ion: But &s;peaking of Impertinen|cies, the very name forbids me in&s;i&s;ting on the thing.</P>
<P>And &s;o of his &s;candals al&s;o, which are &s;o dete&s;table and no|torious, that it were a &s;candal to publi&s;h but the rehear&s;al of them;
<PB N="77" REF="104">
witne&s;s the Story of the Regi&s;ter, <HI>p.</HI> 40, which for its &s;candalous reflections on the Eccle&s;ia&s;tical Government, there's nothing in <HI>Martin Mar-Prelate; H'ye any work for the Cooper, or the Cobler of</HI> Glouce&s;ter, can exceed. So of tho&s;e whom he charges with &s;it|ting [as the Reader mu&s;t compute it] Sixteen or Seventeen Hours together in a Tavern or an Ale-hou&s;e, <HI>p</HI> 19. His fraudulent &s;ug|ge&s;tions touching the great evil of impo&s;ing Church-ceremonies; with many the like, which run through his Book, like a vein through his Body; and which I cannot repeat without &s;in and &s;hame: Or if I could that, It would even tire an indefatiga|ble Reader to lead him through all the dark and dirty Labyrinth of his defamatory Libel.</P>
<P>I mu&s;t therefore be abrupt in this Appeal to the Reader; whe|ther
<PB N="78" REF="105">
it be not the part of a mo&s;t abominable <HI>Church-Traytor,</HI> to play the <HI>CHAM</HI> with the Church, in &s;uch a treacherous and deceitful manner.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
<PB REF="105">
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
