<!DOCTYPE ETS PUBLIC "-//UMDLPS//DTD EEBOPROOF 2.0//EN">
<ETS>
<TEMPHEAD>
<REVDESCR>
<CHANGE>
<DATE>2010-10-12</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>Megan Marion</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
</RESPSTMT>
<ITEM>Checklist:
x Add TEMPHEAD, change DATE, validate
xAdd DIV TYPEs, validate
xReview structure, use FRONT,BODY, BACK or rarely GROUP
xCheck PB placement and completeness, ensure sequence of N=""
xProof title page(s)
xCheck HEAD TRAILER ARGUMENT EPIGRAPH OPENER CLOSER SIGNED SALUTE BYLINE
xCheck ^, oe, abq, italic I / J, _Initals, space between &amp;c.
xCheck # @ -- UNCLEAR LB FIGURE
xCheck q; startq endq Q
xCorrect illegibles from proofsheet
xCheck illegible page, para, line, span, word, dollar signs
Final validate

Corrected [ ] illegible groups out of [ ].
Converted [ ] illegible groups to GAP DESC="illegible".
DONE</ITEM>
</CHANGE>
</REVDESCR>
</TEMPHEAD>
<EEBO>
<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="A79569">
<STC T="W">C3995</STC>
<STC T="T">E561_5</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99865216</BIBNO>
<VID>117453</VID>
</IDG>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P><HI>Church-Levellers,</HI> OR, VANITY OF VANITIES AND Certainty of Delu&s;ion: <HI>DISCOVERED</HI> In the PAMPHLET, called <HI>The Vanity of the pre&s;ent Churches, AND Vncertainty of their Preaching.</HI></P>
<P>By a Friend to both true Churches and Preachers.</P>
<Q><BIBL>2 PETER 2.18.</BIBL>
<P>When they speak great &s;welling words of vanity, they allure through the lu&s;ts of the fle&s;h, through much wantonne&s;&s;e, the&s;e that were clean e&s;ca|ped from them who live in errour.</P></Q>
<Q><BIBL>2 <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">IMOTHY 3.9.</BIBL>
<P>But they &s;hall proceed no further, for their folly &s;hall be made manifest to all men.</P></Q>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed by <HI>A.M.</HI> for <HI>Tho. &V;nderhill</HI> at the Bible in Wood-&s;treet. 1649.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="to the reader">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>To the READER.</HEAD>
<P>_THe little ingenuous Licen&s;er, <HI>Theodore Jennings,</HI> profe&s;&s;ing his di&s;|&s;ent in &s;ome things (few things, it's thought) in the Treati&s;e men|tioned; and &s;ome other (few) things &s;eeming dark and doubtfull to him; yet, at a venture, pa&s;&s;es his <HI>Imprimatur</HI> upon it (twice for failing, once at the beginning, and once at the end) <Q>for the many, plain, clear, evident truths in it, of great u&s;e:</Q> I beleeve, to the pre&s;ent de&s;igns, to de&s;troy the <HI>Mini&s;try,</HI> and to ruine <HI>Religion.</HI> He &s;eems to me, to be neer allied to <HI>John Bacheler</HI> his brother <HI>Licen&s;er,</HI> who &s;ometime Licen&s;ed
<NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><HI>Licen&s;e to M.</HI> Tombes <HI>Treat again&s;t Infan. Bapt.</HI></NOTE> Hetere|dox Books, with &s;uch a caution as this. Ju&s;t (both of them) like <HI>Mountebanks,</HI> who give poy&s;on to &s;hew their skill to Antidote it; or rather, as tho&s;e that lay Rats-bane, to de&s;troy vermine, lay a little Sugar to allure them to eat their own bane: Had they been Phy&s;itians of any valu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"> or skill, they would have &s;eparated the poy&s;on from whole&s;ome ingredients, or have given &s;ome characters, a&s;terisks or spits, to di&s;tingui&s;h the one from the other: But to pa&s;&s;e all at a venture to the Pre&s;&s;e, without any notice what it is they <HI>di&s;like,</HI> what &s;eems <HI>dark</HI> or doubtfull, is (con&s;idering mens inclinations to &s;uck in poy&s;in &s;oone&s;t, as mo&s;t &s;ugarlike to nature) no better then spirituall murder of &s;ouls; and the i&s;&s;ue will be &s;o farre from <HI>making the Saints of one minde, and edifying the whole body in love,</HI> that the <HI>liberty</HI> here granted (not di&s;liked by this <HI>Quack|&s;alver</HI>) is like to make as many mindes, as men, and as many divi&s;ions in the body, as there are members. One thing I cannot but ob&s;erve, and that a main one, wherein he &s;eems to di&s;&s;ent from his Author: He speaks in his Licen&s;e <HI>of Churches of the Saints,</HI> and yet at the &s;ame time, pa&s;&s;es his Licence to a Book that is throw|ing down and de&s;troying all Churches; his very Title being, <HI>The Vanity of the pre&s;ent Churches:</HI> And as for <HI>uncertainty</HI> of <HI>preaching</HI> or <HI>Preachers</HI> (which is the other de&s;ign of his Author) he &s;eems at lea&s;t to comply with him; when he u&s;eth his very words, or at lea&s;t his &s;en&s;e; &s;aying, <Q>That (one nece&s;&s;ary thing) faith, which is in Je&s;us Chri&s;t, which is by the Gospel<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"> (the power of God to &s;alvation) preached unto us;</Q> &s;o his Author speaks, <HI>pag. 28.</HI> <Q>That new in our times we have no Preacher of the Go&s;pel but the Scriptures:</Q> Their meaning &s;eems to be the &s;ame, That the Go&s;pel (as the Licen&s;er) or the Scriptures (as the Author) are the only Preachers, and we have no other: and &s;ure if we have no other <HI>Preacher</HI> but the Scripture, we have no <HI>Churches</HI> at all; If then the <HI>Licen&s;er</HI> and the <HI>Author</HI> agree in the&s;e two (the main bu&s;ine&s;&s;e of the Book) I know not wherein they need to di&s;&s;ent. But &s;eeing he conceals his opinion, and jumbles truth and errour together, we &s;hall endeavour to &s;eparate them, that the credulous or unlearned Reader, may not be <HI>infected</HI> in&s;tead of being edified.</P>
<CLOSER><SALUTE>Farewell.</SALUTE></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="1" REF="2">
<HEAD>VANITY OF VANITIES AND Certainty of Delu&s;ion, DISCOVERED In the PAMPHLET, called <HI>The Vanity of the pre&s;ent Churches,</HI> &amp;c.</HEAD>
<P>_THe Author begins well in words, That there ought to be a true <HI>corre&s;pondence</HI> between the heart, tongue and hands: An <HI>agreement</HI> between con&s;cience, profe&s;&s;ion and practice: But it's to be feared, the&s;e are at a great di&s;tance in him|&s;elf, if he be (as is not without probable grounds &s;uppo|&s;ed) a Je&s;uite di&s;gui&s;ed; for &s;uch mens hearts, tongues and hands, con|&s;ience, profe&s;&s;ion and practice, do &s;eldom agree in any thing that is good, to the peace of Church or State. But becau&s;e he adds: <Q>When the di&s;cord (of tho&s;e) is continued <HI>(as well as declared)</HI> to the reproach of Chri&s;tianity, or humane &s;ociety, then certainly a reproof is not only requi&s;ite, but the neglect thereof a &s;in of an high nature.</Q> There|fore I thought it good to di&s;cover a little this di&s;cord of his, from him|&s;elf, and from the truth it &s;elf, to the great reproach of both the parti|culars mentioned.</P>
<P N="1">1. The &s;cope and intention of his whole di&s;cour&s;e is evidently this; 1. To <HI>de&s;troy all Churches</HI> (except perhaps the Church of <HI>Rome.</HI>) 2. To decry all faithfull <HI>preachers</HI> of the Go&s;pel. 3. To cry up <HI>Liberty of con&s;cience</HI> for all &s;ects and here&s;ies; &s;o to bring all into confu&s;ion, to make them all at la&s;t concenter in the <HI>Sea</HI> of <HI>Rome.</HI> This &s;eems to be the de&s;ign; his only vertue &s;eems to be his impartiality; for he &s;pares neither Presbyterian nor Independent (by which we may &s;u&s;pect him to be a Je&s;uite or Je&s;uited; for all &s;ectaries are Independents, though all Independents be not properly &s;ectaries) and yet him&s;elf is holding out the large&s;t Independency that ever was heard of; that every man and
<PB N="2" REF="3">woman &s;hall have no <HI>dependence</HI> upon any Church (he cries down all <HI>Churches</HI>) but be his own <HI>Mini&s;ter, hearer, officer, all;</HI> as more hereafter.</P>
<P N="2">2. And now let us &s;ee what he blames them for: <HI>viz.</HI> <Q>For receding from their former judgements and declarations,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ag.</HI> 2, &amp;c.</NOTE> for a <HI>full,</HI> compleat and utmo&s;t liberty of con&s;cience, in the exerci&s;e of religion. This (&s;aith he) the Presbyterians, whil'&s;t per&s;ecuted by the Bi&s;hops, did clearly hold forth, but &s;ince practi&s;ed the contrary, for which the <HI>In|dependents</HI> did &s;harply reprove them; accounting nothing more ba&s;e and unbe&s;eeming a Chri&s;tian, then to que&s;tion or vex or reproach any man for his judgement and practice touching matters of religion: and yet the Independents them&s;elves have done the &s;ame thing, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></Q> This is the &s;umme of the charge, but this is a <HI>&s;lander,</HI> and de&s;erves a &s;harp re|proof. For as for the <HI>Pre&s;byterians,</HI> they never held out any &s;uch prin|ciples of an <HI>univer&s;all liberty of con&s;cience,</HI> in the exerci&s;e of religion? (the difference between them and the Prelates being, not in doctrinals, but ceremonials) they ever dete&s;ted it, nor have they ever <HI>per&s;ecuted</HI> any for his con&s;cience, as never having had power, if they had a minde to do it. And if the <HI>Independents</HI> did &s;o hold forth, or di&s;&s;embled &s;o far (as &s;ome think they did) <Q>to gain them&s;elves love and re&s;pect, and to multiply their Congregations, and get countenance from authority;</Q> they are old enough to an&s;wer for them&s;elves; they are ju&s;tly to be re|proved, and ju&s;tly <HI>rewarded,</HI> in that they have taught their <HI>party</HI> to de&s;ert them&s;elves, who <HI>de&s;erted</HI> their own pretended principles.</P>
<P N="3">3. He now comes to prove his fir&s;t propo&s;ition, <Q>The vanity of all the pre&s;ent Churches;
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters">g.</HI> 5.</NOTE> affirming it to be mo&s;t palpably evident, that they of the Independent Congregationall, or of any Church-way what&s;o|ever, have not that true e&s;&s;entiall mark of a true Church to be found among&s;t them, <HI>&amp;c. viz.</HI> A true Church, in the Scripture &s;en&s;e, being &s;uch only, as wherein the Scripture, the very word of God, is purely and infallibly preached; that's the mark.</Q> But let it be ob&s;erved fir&s;t, This man de&s;troies his own di&s;cour&s;e by a contradiction: For he is la|bouring to &s;hew the <HI>vanity</HI> of all and any Church way what&s;oever, which is to deny that there is any Church at all (but <HI>mock churches,</HI> as pag. 27.) and yet here he gives us the definition of a true Church, which yet is not to be found in this world: He would prove al&s;o the <HI>vanity of Preachers,</HI> and yet here he &s;peaks of the word of God, <HI>purely preached,</HI> as a mark of a true Church: If there be no Preachers then no preaching, if preach|ing, then Preachers: How &s;hall they hear without a Preacher? How preach, except they be &s;ent? How &s;ent, if no body, no Church to &s;end them to? to preach unto? Secondly, If any &s;hall &s;ay, he means it of the
<PB N="3" REF="3"><HI>pre&s;ent Churches</HI> (as his Title imports) that none of them are true, but that there may be a <HI>true Church,</HI> according to his definition: I an&s;wer His &s;cope is to per&s;wade every man and woman privately to reade the Scriptures, and to be the <HI>&s;ole judge</HI> of the &s;en&s;e thereof, for them&s;elves, deeding neither <HI>Preacher</HI> to in&s;truct, nor <HI>officer</HI> to order them; and where is then his true Church? unle&s;&s;e every particular man and woman make his new Church, which is a <HI>Bull,</HI> and another contradiction; for a Church is <HI>caetus,</HI> a company called out and met together for the publick and common &s;ervice of God. Thirdly, If he mean, that in a true Church there is not one word preached (praying or Sacraments it &s;eems are no mark of his Church, no part of his new Church-&s;ervice) but <HI>purely and infallibly the very Word of God;</HI> that is, no interpretation u&s;ed, be&s;ides the very words of Scripture; to what purpo&s;e is that <HI>meeting</HI> of his Church, for <HI>debate and con&s;erence</HI> of the Saints (&s;poken of afterwards) for they may reade the word at home, the pure and infallible word of God, and &s;o be their own preachers; the &s;en&s;e whereof if they impart in any other words to others at their meeting and conference, they make his Church to be <HI>fal&s;e</HI> and none; becau&s;e the very word of God is not <HI>purely and infallibly preached</HI> there. Fourthly, But, Readers, what will you &s;ay, if the de&s;ign be (be&s;ides other de&s;perate con&s;equences, of which anon) to &s;et up <HI>reading</HI> in&s;tead of <HI>preaching,</HI> as the <HI>Prelaticall</HI> party of late cryed it up for preaching? They do ju&s;tifie their dumb idoll mini&s;ters, that could not for <HI>ignorance,</HI> or would not for <HI>negligence<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> preach the word: He perhaps, wholly to <HI>level</HI> (it &s;eems there are <HI>Church-levellers</HI> as well as State) the <HI>Mini&s;try</HI> in the Church, and to make all the people <HI>Preachers:</HI> Or what if the de&s;ign be in crying down all <HI>Churches</HI> and <HI>Preachers</HI> among&s;t us, to cry up the <HI>boly marker Church of Rome,</HI> where they will tell you, there is the <HI>only preaching of the very word of God, purely and infallibly read;</HI> where little or no <HI>preaching</HI> to be found? I leave you to con&s;ider it.</P>
<P N="4">4. He hath quickly done with the <HI>Churches;</HI> his next and greate&s;t work is, to declaim again&s;t <HI>preaching,</HI> and the <HI>Preachert:</HI>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Pag.</HI> 6, &amp;c.</NOTE> <Q>Who (&s;aith he) u&s;ually pray to God, that their word may be heard, as the word of the everliving God.</Q> This he cals, a gro&s;&s;e <HI>impo&s;ture, impiety, belying</HI> and <HI>despiting</HI> the Spirit of God, <Q>to pray that their erroneous, doubtfull, un|certain conceptions, the word of man, may be heard as the word of God, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></Q> 1. Here let it be ob&s;erved, that he doth not directly deny that there are &s;uch <HI>officers</HI> as <HI>Preachers</HI> in the Scriptures (he acknowledges &s;uch creatures found in the word, <HI>pag.</HI> 34.) but only que&s;tions the <HI>infalli|bility</HI> of our preaching: which none of us ever arrogated to our &s;elves,
<PB N="4" REF="4">further then we preach that <HI>pure, infallible word,</HI> in Scripture <HI>&s;en&s;e</HI> ever, though not alwaies in the very words. 2. Who ever (of ours) &s;aid, his <HI>Sermons</HI> were the <HI>very word of God,</HI> for words and &s;yllables? But having praied that God would clear up their under&s;tandings and judgements, in the <HI>&s;cope and &s;en&s;e</HI> of the holy Gho&s;t, then they pray, that people may hear it, as the <HI>word</HI> of the living God: And his reproach of &s;uch Sermonk, that they are erroneous, doubtfull, uncertain conceptions <Q>(for what other are your Sermons, &s;aith he)</Q> is little le&s;&s;e then <HI>bla&s;phemy,</HI> impo|&s;ture and impiety: Whereas, while they expound and apply the Scri|pture in its own native &s;en&s;e, according to the <HI>analogy</HI> of faith, it is, <HI>in|terpremtively,</HI> the word of God, Every true, proper con&s;equence from the word, is by all godly learned, and judicious men, counted as the word of God, and of divine authority, though not &s;o <HI>immediatly</HI> as the Scri|pture it &s;elf.</P>
<P N="5">5. But his meaning is, that as there are no true <HI>Churches,</HI> &s;o no true <HI>Preachers</HI> in the&s;e times, &s;o he &s;aith, expre&s;&s;ely, <HI>pag.</HI> 18. <Q>That now in our times, we have no Preachers of the Go&s;pel, but the Scri|ptures;</Q> which how ab&s;urd an a&s;&s;ertion it is, we &s;hall &s;hew hereafter: At pre&s;ent we hold to the point in hand, to vindicate our preaching; which he examines by the word we preach:
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">ag.</HI> 7.</NOTE> <Q>You &s;hall finde (&s;aith he) that neither they nor your &s;elves have any under&s;tanding at all of &s;uch divine or heavenly things, as bring peace of con&s;cience, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> but only and &s;olely by the Scriptures, and that neither they nor your &s;elves are taught by the &s;pirit, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></Q> What's this I hear? <Q>Taught only and &s;olely by the Scriptures, without the &s;pirit?</Q> What under&s;tanding is that, that is gotten by the Scripture only and &s;olely, more then <HI>hi&s;toricall?</HI> more or better then that which reprobates and devils have thereof? This he &s;peaks again, <HI>pag.</HI> 49. <Q>They mu&s;t acknowledge that they have no other infallible teacher of divine things, but the Scriptures; and that they partake no more of the &s;pirit, then what that ble&s;&s;ed word of the &s;pirit planteth in them.</Q> How comes this oppo&s;ition between things &s;weetly &s;ubordinated? the &s;pirit and the Scriptures? the Scriptures outwardly, the &s;pirit inwardly? &s;aith not the Scripture, They &s;hall be all taught of God? and that the &s;pirit reveals the my&s;teries of the Go&s;pel to his peo|ple, writing the law in their mindes and hearts? <HI>&amp;c.</HI> I had thought be had meant, there needed no other preachers to teach us, but the &s;pirit it &s;elf &s;peaking in the Scriptures, &s;o &s;ome fanatick &s;pirits &s;ay; and &s;ome are gotten above the Scripture, to the immediate teaching of the &s;pirit. But it &s;eems this <HI>Wildman</HI> is run as <HI>wilde</HI> to the other extream (the <HI>Socinions recta rati<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI>) that the &s;pirit is needle&s;&s;e, and that the Scriptures only and
<PB N="5" REF="4">&s;olely, are &s;ufficient to teach us. Oh the wiles of Satan! How &s;ubtle is this old &s;erpent! One while the &s;pirit without the Scriptures, that &s;nare is di&s;covered as a meer delu&s;ion; another while the Scripture only and &s;olely, without the &s;pirit, and this is the la&s;t and newe&s;t device of Satan: Any thing, either <HI>vilifying,</HI> or over <HI>magnifying</HI> the Scripture, to <HI>&s;tupifie</HI> men into confu&s;ions, that &s;o he may both waies prey upon them. And I pray Sir, if your private per&s;ons may have this infallible teaching by the Scriptures, and partake of the &s;pirit, by the word of the &s;pirit (as you &s;eem to yield, <HI>pag.</HI> 49.) why may not our preachers, in reading and &s;tu|dying the Scriptures, have the like priviledge, and be as able to hold it out at the publick meetings, as your private men and women? and &s;o we &s;hall finde preachers infallible, either &s;ome in office, or all in common.</P>
<P N="6">6. But let us hear his rea&s;on, why our preachers have not the &s;pirit: <Q>Had they the &s;pirit of God, as they pretend, would the need,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Pag.</HI> 7.</NOTE> as they do, to go &s;it in their &s;tudies three or four daies together, turning over their Authors to finde out the meaning? <HI>&amp;c.</HI> no certainly, the &s;pirit could in an in&s;tant inform them the meaning of his own writings, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></Q> 1. May not this be as well applied to his di&s;ciples, in their readings, de|bates and conferences, to which he advi&s;es and exhorts &s;o often? Had they the &s;pirit at once reading, what need they &s;tudy the Scripture, de|bate or confer about it, to get or increa&s;e knowledge? The &s;pirit could <HI>in an in&s;tant</HI> inform them in the meaning of it: Nay, what need they the &s;pirit to that end, if the <HI>Scriptures only and &s;olely,</HI> and &s;o ea&s;ily and &s;pee|dily, can give them the under&s;tanding of them? &s;o that either he mu&s;t (as indeed he doth) deny the <HI>&s;pirit</HI> to be needfull for his di&s;ciples to under&s;tand the Scriptures: but then, it's hoped our <HI>preachers</HI> (having <HI>learning</HI> and <HI>tongues</HI> be&s;ides) may under&s;tand them as well as they; or if the <HI>&s;pirit</HI> be needfull for them, why may not the <HI>ble&s;&s;ed spirit</HI> be plea|&s;ed to give under&s;tanding to <HI>preachers</HI> as well as to them? 2. There is (which he conceals or confounds) a two fold <HI>admini&s;tration</HI> of the &s;pirit, the one <HI>immediate,</HI> without the Scripture; thus it was imparted to the Prophets and Apo&s;tles: The other <HI>mediate,</HI> by the Scriptures, or by illu|mination of the Scriptures upon the heart; and this is common to all Gods people. Again, there is a double under&s;tanding of the Scripture; one of the <HI>letter</HI> or hi&s;tory, common to reprobates; another &s;pirituall, of the <HI>my&s;tery</HI> and power of the Go&s;pel; and this is peculiar to Gods elect: <Q><HI>To you it is given to know the my&s;teries</HI> &amp;c. <HI>Paul</HI> bids <HI>Timothy</HI> (a preach|er) give attendance to reading, for to &s;ave him&s;elf and them that hear him.</Q> But <HI>Paul</HI> him&s;elf had his without reading, by <HI>immediate revela|tion;</HI> but the &s;ame &s;pirit.</P>
<PB N="6" REF="5">
<P N="7"><Q>7.
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2+ letters">g.</HI> 8.</NOTE> Ob&s;erve (&s;aies he) that when they have for &s;ome years, preacht up a doctrine, they are many times forced to preach it down again, as mo&s;t of them have done, and that in very materiall points, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></Q> We &s;ay to this reproachfull a&s;per&s;ion; fir&s;t, either it is not in <HI>materiall points,</HI> e&s;|pecially not in <HI>nece&s;&s;ary</HI> points, <Q>for they (he &s;aith) are clear and plain, not at all hard to be under&s;tood, nor require long time to learn them,</Q> <HI>pag.</HI> 21. and that to his <HI>unlearned</HI> ones, then much more to <HI>preachers:</HI> or el&s;e if in materiall things any are thus incon&s;tant, they are not <HI>our preach|ers</HI> which do &s;o, but his own giddy <HI>&s;ectaries,</HI> and &s;ome perhaps Inde|pendents: They indeed preach one while <HI>bapti&s;me</HI> of all infants; of infants of Beleevers only, another while; and at la&s;t, of no infants, or of any others of years, for want of a true Mini&s;try: And hither I beleeve him&s;elf is fallen, through all the&s;e opinions; for if there be no <HI>true Church</HI> nor true <HI>preachers,</HI> there is no <HI>Mini&s;ter</HI> of Bapti&s;me to be found, and &s;o no <HI>Bapti&s;me.</HI> Again, the <HI>&s;ectaries</HI> have their Pa&s;tors and Churches divided, in <HI>election</HI> and <HI>reprobation,</HI> in <HI>univer&s;all redemption,</HI> free-will, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> up and down, down and up: But &s;o do not the <HI>Pre&s;byterian Preachers:</HI> Befides, Who hath brought the&s;e <HI>planets</HI> to this uncertain motion? but only tho&s;e <HI>Cam<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">lian</HI>-like <HI>Je&s;uites,</HI> who in&s;inuate the&s;e delu&s;ions and fal&s;e doctrines into the <HI>unstable</HI> Pa&s;tors and Churches, and then make the&s;e outcries of <HI>divi&s;ions</HI> and <HI>incon&s;tancy,</HI> as he now doth. Oh the damnable <HI>&s;ubtilties</HI> of Je&s;uiticall &s;educers! They un&s;ettle people and Pa&s;tors, <Q>and &s;et them on building of Churches on the&s;e uncertain doctrines, and then cry out, How can they affirm their word to be the word of God? Is not a Church founded on &s;uch uncertainties,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 word"> 9.</NOTE> founded on the &s;ands?</Q></P>
<P N="8">8. And now he lets fly at all: <Q>The Pope and his Clergy, bely them|&s;elves and bla&s;pheme God, in &s;aying they have the true &s;pirit of God, whil&s;t by their lying miracles,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 word"> 10.</NOTE> art and &s;ophi&s;try, they lead the poor delu|ded people into greate&s;t errors, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> The Bi&s;hops di&s;cover their faults: The Presbyters they come, and cry out of &s;tudied Sermons, and common prayer, as &s;tinters and &s;uppre&s;&s;ors of the Spirit of God: Then comes the Independent and pretends to erect a pure, holy and undefiled wor|&s;hip, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></Q> and a great deal more of &s;uch &s;tuff: For our parts we &s;ay, <HI>Let Baal plead for him&s;elf:</HI> Only, if we mi&s;take not the man, we think he is too &s;aucy with his father the Pope; but any thing is tolerated for the <HI>Catholick</HI> cau&s;e: As for the <HI>Pre&s;byters,</HI> we mu&s;t tell him plainly, he <HI>flan|ders</HI> them: They never cryed out of <HI>&s;tudied Sermons</HI> or &s;et <HI>prayers,</HI> as &s;tinters and &s;uppre&s;&s;ors of the &s;pirit; nor do they differ at all in mate|rials, or minde their own honour and profit, and lea&s;t of all are they po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed with a <HI>per&s;ecuting</HI> &s;pirit. The Lord rebuke thee, thou fal&s;e
<PB N="7" REF="5">tongue? pro&s;ecution of or preaching again&s;t damnable here&s;ies, is no per&s;ecution, That is only for truth and the Go&s;pels &s;ake. But I pray Sir tell us, Is not the world full of Athei&s;ts, Anti&s;cripturi&s;ts (your &s;elf com|plain of &s;uch in this book) Antinomi&s;ts, Seekers, Anti&s;piriti&s;ts (<GAP DESC="foreign">, they were called of old) and may not we call a &s;pade a &s;pade? are not you your &s;elf an Anti&s;piriti&s;t, in part, denying the <HI>nece&s;&s;ity</HI> of the &s;pirit, in the under&s;tanding of the Scriptures? and will you complain of us for calling you &s;o? The&s;e, the&s;e are they that have brought tho&s;e infinite evils into the world which you cry out of,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Pag.</HI> 13.</NOTE> <Q>doubtings and &s;adnes in &s;ome, in others wrangling, envy, malice, wilde notions and opinions, not examining their opinions by the text, but interpreting the text by their opinions and experiences, and the re&s;t of that rabble mentioned, of <HI>here&s;ies, blasphemies,</HI> &amp;c.</Q> none of which, ble&s;&s;ed be God, are found among the <HI>Pre&s;byterians,</HI> but all preached again&s;t by them, &s;o far, that they are called <HI>per&s;ecuter:</HI> without a cau&s;e. And who are they, that &s;ay, <Q>the letter killeth, and call the Scripture a dead letter,</Q> but his &s;ectaries, who plead the <HI>immediate</HI> teaching of the &s;pirit, which the <HI>Pre&s;byterians</HI> renounce as a <HI>delu&s;ion</HI> of Satan: but is not he him&s;elf in the other extream, &s;aying as much of the word without the &s;pirit,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Pag.</HI> 19.</NOTE> <Q>that it forceth it &s;elf into our dead naturall under&s;tandings, plants it &s;elf there, makes us one with it, and forms us new, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></Q> If he &s;ay in the &s;ame place he cals it the &s;word of the &s;pirit; I an&s;wer, then it can do no more of it &s;elf, to tho&s;e effects &s;pecified, then a &s;word without an arm to wield it, which whether it be not a <HI>contradiction</HI> to what he &s;aid afore, <Q>that men have their under|&s;tanding only and &s;olely by the Scriptures,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Pag.</HI> 7.</NOTE> and are not taught by the &s;pirit, let him at lea&s;ure con&s;ider.</Q></P>
<P N="9">9. And now again, <HI>pag.</HI> 18. he a&s;&s;erts it peremptorily, <Q>that now in our times we have no preacher of the Go&s;pel, but the Scripture the in|fallible word of God, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></Q> This is another piece of non-&s;en&s;e: Is the Go&s;pel and the preacher of the Go&s;pel one and the &s;ame? When Chri&s;t &s;eat his Apo&s;tles and <HI>Paul,</HI> and they &s;ent others to preach the Go&s;pel; did they &s;end the <HI>Go&s;pel</HI> or the Scriptures to <HI>preach</HI> them&s;elves? Are not the Scripture<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"> and the preachers of the Go&s;pel &s;ubordinate helps of un|der&s;tanding to the people? Doth not the Apo&s;tle clearly di&s;tingui&s;h the Go&s;pel from the preachers of it, <HI>Rom.</HI> 10.14, &amp;c. <HI>How &s;hall they hear</HI> (the Go&s;pel of peace, <HI>ver&s;.</HI> 15.) <HI>without a preacher? And how &s;hall they preach except they be &s;ent? How beautifull are the flee of them</HI> (mark that, <HI>the feet of them</HI>) <HI>that preach the Gospel of peace</HI> (<GAP DESC="foreign">. twice, E|vangelizing, bringing glad tidings of good things) Hath the Go&s;pel any
<PB N="8" REF="6">feet, to be &s;ent to preach it &s;elf? and do the preachers make people <HI>fir&s;ake tho&s;e living fountains,</HI> &amp;c. when as they call them to them, and open tho&s;e <HI>Wels</HI> of &s;alvation for them, and draw <HI>Waters</HI> thence for them, which they cannot (&s;ome at lea&s;t) draw forth for them&s;elves? Suppo&s;e the people be &s;uch as cannot reade, mu&s;t they not have &s;ome to reade the the Scriptures for them? to expound them to them? The&s;e are <HI>preachers</HI> in this mans opinion, reading is preaching with him: If they have no Scripture but in <HI>Hebrew, Greek</HI> or <HI>Latine,</HI> though they can reade, how &s;hall they under&s;tand them, unle&s;&s;e there be &s;ome learned to <HI>interpret</HI> them? But is not that with <HI>the iniquity of learning</HI> (&s;o he cals it, <HI>pag.</HI> 19.) to make a gain of godline&s;&s;e?
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters">g.</HI> 19.</NOTE> <HI>&amp;c.</HI> And though he &s;eem to magnifie <Q>the word, the precious word tran&s;lated into Engli&s;h,</Q> yet what certainty will there be in &s;uch tran&s;lations, e&s;pecially if the Interpreters &s;hall (as the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> hath done) make u&s;e of the <HI>iniquity,</HI> not of learning, but of their own <HI>&s;edueing</HI> hearts and de&s;igns, to cheat and abu&s;e the people? And who, I pray, are the men, "arrived at &s;o much impudence, as to make a gain of godline&s;&s;e, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> and to become rich by pretended, not preaching, but reading the Scripture, and &s;aying of Ma&s;le in Latine; telling men they had the &s;pirit at <HI>Rome,</HI> and that the Scriptures were a dead letter, a no&s;e of wax, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> The&s;e bla&s;phemous a&s;per&s;ions, &s;ome di&s;gui&s;ed Je&s;uites, have ca&s;t upon the Scriptures again, and now cry out of the &s;ame.</P>
<P N="10">10. But that there are both <HI>Churches</HI> and <HI>Preachers</HI> now, according to the Scripture rules, might ea&s;ily be manife&s;ted from the Scripture it &s;elf: and by his own confe&s;&s;ions. Fir&s;t, The Scripture is mo&s;t clear, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 12.28. <Q>God hath &s;et in his Church not only Apo&s;tles and Prophets, ex|traordinary Mini&s;ters, but Pa&s;tors and Teachers:</Q> Where there are implied both <HI>Churches</HI> and <HI>Preachers,</HI> and le&s;t he &s;hould &s;ay, tho&s;e were in the Apo&s;tles times, <HI>Churches</HI> planted by Apo&s;tolicall men, and the <HI>Preachers</HI> extraordinarily in&s;pired: but we have none &s;uch now, let him then con&s;ider another Scripture, <HI>Ephe&s;.</HI> 4.1<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">, 22. <Q>He gave to his Church &s;ome Pa&s;tors and Teachers, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the Mini&s;try, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> How long to continue? Tell we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the &s;on of God, unto a perfect man, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></Q> That is, till the day of Chri&s;t to the worlds end. Now hence it follows, either that the&s;e <HI>Preachers</HI> and <HI>Churches</HI> were ordinary: or if extraordinary, that the <HI>Church</HI> of Chri&s;t hath failed, ever &s;ince the Apo&s;tles decea&s;e (for we have had no &s;uch extraordinary <HI>infallible Preachers,</HI> for many ages)
<PB N="9" REF="6">which is contrary to Chri&s;ts promi&s;e, and the intoution of this Scripture. Again, if there be Preachers continued (that there may be Churches) either they mu&s;t only <HI>reade</HI> the word written by the Prophets and Apo|&s;tles which is <HI>needle&s;&s;e,</HI> &s;eeing every man and woman may, yea, mu&s;t (by his way) reade it them&s;elves, and by <HI>reading only</HI> under&s;tand it, as he after &s;peaks: Or el&s;e they mu&s;t <HI>interpret</HI> the word, expound and apply it, according to the rules of Scripture; and that is nothing el&s;e but <HI>preach|ing,</HI> and &s;o we have found other <HI>preachers,</HI> be&s;ide the Scripture; I might adde many texts more, I name but one, <HI>Act.</HI> 20.28. where he &s;hall finde, both a Church, yea, &s;everall <HI>Churches</HI> and <HI>Preachers,</HI> many Elders &s;et o|ver tho&s;e Churches by the holy Gho&s;t to feed them, not &s;urely by extra|ordinary <HI>Revelations</HI> be&s;ides the Scripture: None &s;uch were found at that, or in after times: and him&s;elf di&s;claims the immediate <HI>tanching</HI> of the &s;pirit, in people or <HI>Preachers:</HI> Nor yet by bare reading of the word, the infallible word of God: there need no officers for &s;uch a work only, the people could do that them&s;elves: Therefore there was an office of <HI>Preachers</HI> to continue to the worlds end, according to Scripture. Second|ly, His own acknowledgements import as much, hear him &s;peak:
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Pag.</HI> 34.</NOTE> <Q>We reade of Apo&s;tles, Evangeli&s;ts, Prophets, Pa&s;tors and Teachers, and of the order and regulating of Churches, and of gifts given to all the&s;e from on high, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></Q> Where (&s;ay I) do we reade of the&s;e, but in tho&s;e and the like places to tho&s;e before named? And the rea&s;ons before are con&s;tringent to prove them to continue &s;till: extraordinary we finde none, Therefore it mu&s;t be meant of ordinary both Churches and Preachers, All he excepts to this is, either <Q>That the&s;e are not &s;o plainly expre&s;t, as to leave the con&s;ciencious without di&s;pute, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> or that the&s;e Churches and Pa&s;tors are &s;hort of, and not to be compared with tho&s;e we reade of:</Q> To which we an&s;wer fir&s;t, That there are Churches and Preachere to be continued, is clearly expre&s;t in the word: their order and qualifi|cations plainly delivered, 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 3. <HI>Tit.</HI> 1. 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 14. <HI>&amp;c.</HI> (where note, that there is not one word for &s;uch a qualification of a Preacher, that he mu&s;t have an infallible &s;pirit,) 2. That they are not to be compared with the Apo&s;tles and Prophers, we ea&s;ily grant, but that they are not to be compared with the Pa&s;tors and Teachers, is mi&s;erably begged: It's evin|ced then, that there are both Churches and Preachers now: and all he &s;aies again&s;t it is le&s;&s;e then vanitie.</P>
<P N="11">11. But he makes very &s;hort work of Religion:
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Pag.</HI> 21.</NOTE> <Q>How long a wo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters"> &s;oever pretended Preachers make of it to maintain them&s;elves and <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">a|milies in wealth, honour, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> nece&s;&s;ary doctrines are not at all hand,
<PB N="10" REF="7">nor require long time to learn them, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> for the word of God having once planted this truth in the under&s;tanding, <HI>viz.</HI> That it is <HI>the blond of Christ which clean&s;eth us from all &s;ins:</HI> This Evangelicall truth of it's own nature would in&s;tantly &s;et man on work to do the will of him that &s;o loved him,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1+ letters">re p.</HI> 30.</NOTE> <HI>&amp;c.</HI></Q> I am forced once more to cry out, Oh the depths of Satan! Oh the &s;ubtlety of his elde&s;t &s;ons the Je&s;uites! Time was when they loaded the Scripture, as with uncertainties, &s;o with ob&s;curity, even in nece&s;&s;ary things: thereupon debarring people from medling with them, pleading the &s;implicity of beleeving, as the Church beleeved: And now they are inviting people to reade the Scriptures, and tell them, ne|ce&s;&s;ary doctrines are not at all hard, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Why this? but to cry down Preachers now, as they did the Scriptures before: that when the Preach|ers are gone,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 word"> 48.</NOTE> they may again cry up he ob&s;curity of Scriptures, and &s;o bring the people to hang upon the lips of the man in <HI>Peters</HI> infallible chair (as he cals the Pope) and to that ea&s;ie and &s;hort way to heaven, to beleeve as the Church beleeves, which is not at all hard, nor requires long time to learn it. The Cobler was able in one hours, yea minutes learning to confute the devil with this Argument. And 2. with this very &s;hort le&s;&s;on here pre&s;cribed by this Tutour, That it is the bloud of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> That Chri&s;t died for &s;inners, our common people are able to confute, that is, de&s;pi&s;e not only preachers but all preaching to: as know|ing as much as any of them all can teach them. But as for his work of this Evangelicall truth upon their hearts and lives, <Q>That of its own na|ture it in&s;tantly &s;ets them on work to doe the will of him that &s;o loved them:</Q> We &s;ee nothing le&s;&s;e, but the clean contrary, they &s;in the more becau&s;e grace abounds, And if this truth &s;o planted be &s;o powerfull, what's the rea&s;on, that not only &s;ome Sectaries of this mans way, but even &s;o many Romi&s;h Prie&s;ts live &s;o wickedly? Indeed if men come to learn <Q>That this &s;hort le&s;&s;on is &s;ufficient, what will they regard, either printed di&s;cour&s;es or Sermons?</Q> This is truly &s;poken: and this truth being known to all that profe&s;&s;e Chri&s;tianiny: what then need tho&s;e debates and conferences at meetings (of which anon) a way far more excellent then Preaching (as he &s;aies) when every one will be ready to &s;ay, as <HI>Eli&s;ha</HI> to the &s;ons of the Prophets, <HI>Knewest thou this,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>yea, I know it, hold you your peace,</HI> 2 Kin. 2 3. I have heard of an Antinomian Lady, that &s;aid, She would undertake to make all her maids Beleevers in half a year: This man will do it in half an hour, he will make true Chri&s;tians with this one &s;entence, <Q><HI>The bloud of Jo&s;us Chri&s;t clean&s;eth us from all &s;in:</HI></Q> This of it's own nature without the Spirit will do it: and
<PB N="11" REF="7">that in&s;tantly: I confe&s;&s;e, our Preachers cannot finde their work &s;o &s;hort or ea&s;ie: but if there be &s;ome Surgions that for gain prolong their cure: (I think there are no &s;uch Preachers among&s;t us) There are al&s;o &s;ome and more Mountebanks which doe their work too &s;oon to doe it well, and &s;uch I fear this Teacher is.</P>
<P N="12">12. But he is very carefull to make his Di&s;ciples as full of good works, as they are of knowledge:
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Pag.</HI> 23. &amp; 3<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter"></NOTE> whereas our preachers make men at be&s;t <Q>but phanta&s;tick Chri&s;tians: talking upon &s;ome hard texts, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> when they &s;hould be imploied to feed the hungry, cloath the naked, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></Q> But &s;orely our Preachers preach &s;o much for good works, that &s;ome of h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">s Sectaries, cry them down for legall Preachers: and tho&s;e works are very good, to adorn a Chri&s;tians profe&s;&s;ion: but who knows not that many blinde ignorant Papi&s;ts had abundance of the&s;e good works, but little to their comfort or advantage: &s;eeing without knowledge the minde is not good, and <HI>without faith it is impo&s;&s;ible to plea&s;e God:</HI> The Solifidi|ans and Antinomians preached up faith, an I cried down works: Papi&s;ts tried up good works, but cried out of knowledge and faith. To which of the&s;e this man mo&s;t inclines is not hard to conjecture.</P>
<P N="13">13. Having &s;aid thus much (to little purpo&s;e) again&s;t Churches and Preachers,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Pag.</HI> 28.</NOTE> he now comes to exhort his Di&s;ciples to reading the Scri|peures, and frequenting of meetings for debate and conference, &s;o they do but take heed of Preachers and preaching: And for the fir&s;t, to en|courage them to <Q>Reading and only reading,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Pag.</HI> 36.</NOTE> giving no ear to tho&s;e charmers, tho&s;e doubtfull expo&s;itors, tho&s;e mock preachers with their trumperie Sermons, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> he tels them, They may be certain of this, that they them&s;elves, may as &s;oon come to a good and right un|der&s;tanding therein, as their pretended Preachers.</Q> Yet he either for|gets or rather purpo&s;ely and Je&s;uitically hides from them divers &s;cruples which may ari&s;e: As</P>
<P N="1">1. The Scriptures are originally in Hebrew and greek, which his good people under&s;tand not, If they be not by learned men, Preachers or o|thers, tran&s;lated, how &s;hall they under&s;tand them?</P>
<P N="2">2. If they be tran&s;lated, how &s;hall they know they are truly tran&s;lated? He knows (if he be a Je&s;uite) how many gro&s;&s;e errours there are con|fe&s;&s;ed to be in his Vulgar Latine: But &s;uppo&s;e it truly done, are there not many things hard to be under&s;tood, which unlearned and un&s;table men wre&s;t to their own de&s;truction and others with them, 2 <HI>Pet.</HI> 3.16. And we have &s;ad experience of this at this day, when every man is &s;uf|fered not only to be a Reader of the Scripture (that we allow and re|quire
<PB N="12" REF="8">as well as he) but a Teacher of him&s;elf and others.</P>
<P N="3">3. How many of his good people cannot reade at all, mu&s;t not they nece&s;&s;arily take up their Religion on tru&s;t, from their as ignorant neigh|bours, to far greater danger of errour, then if they took it from learn|ed and godly Preachers?</P>
<P>Secondly,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Pag</HI> 36. &amp; 42.</NOTE> Forgetting him&s;elf what he had &s;aid before, <Q>More happy are they, who reade with hone&s;t and good hearts, and only reade and con&s;iderately lay to heart, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></Q> he gives another direction for frequent and full meetings:
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Pag.</HI> 45.</NOTE> and affirms as much or more of that: <Q>Doubtle&s;&s;e the be&s;t way to perfect knowledge, is and will be by endeavouring af|ter meetings of people, to conferre and di&s;cour&s;e together upon nece&s;|&s;ary points only (far excelling that of preaching, as it is called, <HI>pag.</HI> 22.)</Q> To this we &s;ay, 1. Are not the&s;e meetings of people &s;o fully, &s;o frequently, Churches? or may they not be &s;o called? and will he bring tho&s;e under the cen&s;ure of his Title, the Vanitie of the pre&s;ent Churches? 2. When the&s;e his good neighbours are met together, will there not be as many mindes as men? through many more, wor&s;e, uncertain, doubtfull, errone|ous conceptions and mi&s;takes at one meeting, upon one text of Scripture, then are to be found in many Sermons? Tho&s;e that have gone to &s;ome &s;uch meetings have told us what non-&s;en&s;e, what confu&s;ion, wranglings, bla&s;|phemies they have heard among&s;t them: and &s;ome that have been mem|bers of &s;uch meetings (Churches we mu&s;t not call them) have told us: That they meet and wrangle, and quarell, and rail, and revile one a|nother, about a &s;en&s;e of Scripture very &s;hamefully, and then a go&s;&s;ips meeting is appointed to make them friends: and &s;o they commonly do Sabbath after Sabbath: And this I fear is that which this Authour would have in all their meetings; that &s;o when they have wearied them&s;elves with wrangling, then a &s;ubtle Je&s;uite may &s;tart up and &s;ay, <Q>You &s;ee, good people, how dangerous a thing it is, for every one of you, unlearned ones, to take upon you to expound the Scriptures: The way to make you all of one minde is, for you all to return into the bo&s;ome of that unerring mother Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> which hath the Spirit infallibly tied to the man in <HI>Peters</HI> chair, <HI>pag.</HI> 48. <HI>&amp;c.</HI></Q> That this is his <HI>de&s;igne</HI> appears by that we have dropped out in <HI>pag.</HI> 33. Not|with&s;tanding his commending the Scripture as not hard for common people to under&s;tand, yet mark his words, <Q>When we have all do<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters"> we mu&s;t acknowledge, that very many things exceed our under&s;tand|ings: not &s;o plainly expre&s;t, as to leave the con&s;centious without di&s;pute and difference thereupon, <HI>pag.</HI> 34.</Q> Whereupon it will be
<PB N="13" REF="8">fairly con&s;equent, that we mu&s;t look out for &s;ome <HI>infallible Judge,</HI> to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters">pire all our differntes, or el&s;e we &s;hall wrangle eternally: who is that?
<NOTE PLACE="marg">So <HI>Pag.</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1+ letters">. No others <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters">|fallible Tea+cher but the Scriptures.</NOTE> <Q>The Scripture (he &s;aid before) the only Preacher of the Go|&s;pel, as being the infallible word of God, <HI>pag.</HI> 18.</Q> True (&s;aith our Je&s;uite) but they you &s;ee cannot be under&s;tood alike by all, but &s;eve|rall men take them &s;everall waies, even tho&s;e plaine&s;t nece&s;&s;ary doctrince are controverted; That Je&s;us Chri&s;t is God, That he is the propitia|tion for our &s;ins, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> therefore you &s;ee how expedient, yea, nece&s;&s;a|ry it is, for pre&s;ervation of love and unity, in all your meetings, that there be one infallible &s;pirit, in&s;pired Judge, who may determine the &s;en&s;e of Scripture, and that's the man in <HI>Peters</HI> chair: Such Agitators as the&s;e are abroad at every of the&s;e meetings,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Pag.</HI> 36.</NOTE> and the&s;e (I am confident are the men that pretend (as our Authour &s;aies) <Q>To expound Scripture, ever rai&s;ing and &s;tarting new que&s;tions, and new opinions, and darken the Scriptures; whereby men are ever learning, but never at re&s;t in knowledge, to&s;t too and fro with every winde of doctrine; till at la&s;t one winde carry them all to <HI>Rome.</HI></Q>
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Pag.</HI> 37.</NOTE> Nor need any man henceforth wonder whence &s;o many &s;everall and &s;trange opinions, &s;hould ari&s;e, by which our <HI>Engli&s;h world</HI> becomes even rent and torn in pieces: It is from this Je&s;uiticall preaching and fal&s;e expo&s;ition of the holy Scri|ptures, on purpo&s;e to put all into confu&s;ion, to prepare the way for Romi&s;h union. And he &s;aies mo&s;t truly, <HI>pag.</HI> 38.
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Pag.</HI> 39.</NOTE> <Q>In the ab&s;ence (of tho&s;e faithfull for&s;aken Preachers) are crept in &s;warms of locu&s;ts, fal&s;e teachers, men of corrupt mindes, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> by which the innocent Dove is become the game of the&s;e birds of prey, the&s;e Ravens, Vul|tures and Harpies.</Q> This witne&s;&s;e is true; therefore reprove them &s;harply.</P>
<P N="14">14. After all this, he draws to a conclu&s;ion thus:
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Pag.</HI> 42.</NOTE> <Q>It were much better for the Common-wealth, that all mens mindes were &s;et at li|berty from the&s;e entanglements, from this Church-bondage; for then men would by reading the Scriptures, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> &s;oon come to be able to under&s;tand the intent and &s;ub&s;tantiall &s;cope thereof, and become &s;ub&s;tantiall Chri&s;tians, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></Q> But, I pray Sir, if there were not this Church-bondage (as you call it) but that all men were &s;et at liberty from the publick Ordinances, the word read and preached, how many do you think would reade the Scripture at all, or hear it read? whenas we finde that mo&s;t common people make bold to take this liberty you grant them; never come into Church-bondage, never reade them from one end of the year to another: This is the way to bring in liberty of
<PB N="14" REF="9">con&s;cience (one main * thing intended in this di&s;cour&s;e) and liberty of errour,
<NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Pag.</HI> 48. <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">hat all men <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2+ letters">ing in their <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2+ letters">verall waies <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2+ letters">&s;erving God <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">hether pub|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="2 letters">ck or private, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></NOTE> here&s;ie, profane&s;&s;e: And if this be your de&s;ign in all your under|takings, I &s;hall &s;ay no more, but The Lord rebuke thee, even the Lord that hath cho&s;en <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> rebuke thee: Is not this a brand pluckt out of the fire of hell? If otherwi&s;e, you are mi&s;led and &s;educed by cheating Je&s;uites, my praier &s;hall be, The Lord would di&s;cover your errout to your &s;elf fir&s;t, and then to all &s;uch as by that your di&s;cour&s;e, or otherwi&s;e, you have &s;educed.</P>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
