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<DATE>2012-11-08</DATE>
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<NAME>Olivia Bottum</NAME>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>THE CHURCHES and MINISTERY of ENGLAND, True Churches and true Mini&s;tery.</P>
<P>Cleared, and proved, In a SERMON preach'd the 4^t^h of <HI>May</HI> at <HI>Wivili&s;combe;</HI> before a numerous Congregation a&s;&s;embled together to hear the oppo&s;ition, which had been long threatned to be made that day, by M^r <HI>Collier</HI> and others of his party, who, with the greate&s;t &s;trength the We&s;t would afford them, were pre&s;ent at the Sermon.</P>
<P><HI>Wherein were the&s;e Five things undeniably proved:</HI></P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. That a mixture of prophane and &s;candalous per&s;ons with reall Saints, is not incon&s;i&s;tent with the Church of God, or a true Church.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. That then the Churches that are now in <HI>England,</HI> are Churches of God, and true Churches.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. That then, the Mini&s;try of tho&s;e Churches, is the Mini&s;try of God, and the true Mini&s;try.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. That then, there is a great and heavy &s;in lying at the door of all &s;uch, as do pre&s;ume to preach publikely among us, without a Call, who have true Churches, and a &s;etled Mini&s;try.</ITEM>
<ITEM>5. And then, they al&s;o mu&s;t needs be guilty, who for&s;ake true Churches and a lawfull Mini&s;try, to follow and hear un&s;ent preachers.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>By FRANCIS FULLWOOD Mini&s;ter of the Go&s;pel at <HI>Staple Fitzpane</HI> in the County of <HI>Somer&s;et.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Before it there is an Epi&s;tle and Preface, &s;hewing the</HI> Manner, <HI>and a</HI> Narrative <HI>[&s;ubjoyned] &s;hewing the</HI> Sub&s;tance <HI>of the</HI> Di&s;pute <HI>after the Sermon, (both which la&s;ted nine hours.) Set forth by the</HI> Mini&s;ters <HI>that were at the</HI> Di&s;pute, <HI>and Atte&s;ted under their Hands.</HI></P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed by <HI>A. M.</HI> for <HI>George Treagle</HI> at <HI>Taunton,</HI> and are to be &s;old at <HI>London</HI> by <HI>William Roybould</HI> at the Unicorn in <HI>Pauls</HI> Church-yard, 1652.</P>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="dedication">
<PB REF="2">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>TO HIS Honoured Friend, Collonel <HI>JOHN PINE,</HI> A Member of Parliament, and one of the Commi&s;&s;ioners for the <HI>Militia</HI> of the County of <HI>Somer&s;et.</HI></HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Honoured Sir,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_TRuth, though above this &s;ixteen hun|dred years of age, and hath learned long &s;ince to <HI>stand</HI> alone; yet experience hath found, it doth ever <HI>goe</HI> the better into the world, when imboldened with the care and gracious protection of a nur&s;ing Father: and I need not <HI>dawb with untempered mortar</HI> to tell the world (what the whole We&s;t of <HI>England</HI> well nigh knows) that the <HI>potent influence,</HI> and <HI>plea&s;ant &s;hade</HI> of
<PB REF="3"> &s;o noble a <HI>Tree,</HI> will better <HI>protect</HI> and &s;ecure <HI>tho&s;e truths</HI> again&s;t all the <HI>heat</HI> of pre&s;ent oppo&s;ition, then the&s;e poor contemptible following <HI>Leaves</HI> can do.</P>
<P>Now, <HI>Ble&s;sed be the God of Truth,</HI> that hath inclined your heart to own his truth, and (more particularly) to embrace an opportunity, wherein you may do his &s;haken Churches throughout the world &s;o great &s;er|vice; a bold expre&s;&s;ion, I mu&s;t needs confe&s;&s;e, yet, Worthily Honoured Sir, give me leave to be bold, and I &s;hall adde, That there is nothing more certain then this, that the&s;e mens principles we &s;peak again&s;t, would at once &s;trike down (I &s;ay, not the credit, but) being and truth of all the Churches, and Mini|&s;tery, and Ordinances of Chri&s;t, that are either <HI>now,</HI> or ever have been in the world &s;ince the <HI>Primi|tive times;</HI> and (who is not <HI>affrighted!</HI>) from <HI>horrid</HI> principles?</P>
<P>But &s;ince the <HI>de&s;igne</HI> lies &s;o deep, I be&s;eech you Noble Sir, to con&s;ider a little who they are that un|dertake it; and with what <HI>Engine</HI> they think to ef|fect it.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, Who, and what are the men of &s;o great an adventure? Methinks <HI>Fame</HI> &s;hould carry them to be mightily skil'd in the <HI>Originall tongus,</HI> or deeply read in the <HI>Hi&s;tory of the Church,</HI> whereby they had <HI>di&s;covered</HI> &s;omething there, that was never <HI>found</HI> out before: or &s;ome <HI>Saints</HI> or <HI>Angels,</HI> or <HI>Chri&s;ts</HI> &s;ent down from heaven to open &s;ome truths, that had been lockt up, and kept &s;ecret from the Church for &s;o many hun|dred years: but alas! they pretend not to be any &s;uch: but what are they? even <HI>men of like infir|mities</HI>
<PB REF="3"> <HI>with us,</HI> and in a word no betterthen the Apo|&s;tle de&s;cribes <HI>unlearned, un&s;table,</HI> wre&s;ting the Scri|ptures.</P>
<P>But &s;urely they have &s;ome weighty Arguments, though the men be weak, they would never under|take &s;o great a de&s;ign, as to overthrow all <HI>Churches, Mini&s;ters, Ordinances,</HI> and that ever &s;ince the Apo&s;tles times, unle&s;&s;e their Engine were &s;omewhat an&s;wera|ble: O yes, they have allowed <HI>Infant-bapti&s;m; Mini|&s;ters</HI> that <HI>baptize infants</HI> are <HI>Anti-christian: Members</HI> that were baptized Infants are <HI>Anti-chri&s;tian:</HI> and con&s;equently <HI>Churches</HI> and <HI>Ordinances</HI> are all <HI>Antichri|&s;tian:</HI> Ah poor &s;hift! and yet you have nothing el&s;e will hold an Argument but this: Let me now in the <HI>Name of God,</HI> and <HI>all the Churches,</HI> entreat the&s;e men to con&s;ider a few things, or an&s;wer a few brief que&s;ti|ons touching Infant-bapti&s;m; and then they will &s;ee how <HI>de&s;perate</HI> and unadvi&s;ed they have been in a mat|ter of &s;o great moment.</P>
<P N="1">1. Suppo&s;e we &s;hould grant the baptizing of In|fants an Errour: May not the true Church erre? may not the whole Church erre? may it not erre in judge|ment? and then, what doth hinder but it may erre in <HI>practice</HI> too, and yet be &s;till a <HI>true Church?</HI> to affirm the contrary is rank Popery.</P>
<P>Again, If the Church may erre, it may erre in <HI>cir|cum&s;tance,</HI> without di&s;pute; and what is the errour of Infant-bapti&s;m (if it be an errour) more then a <HI>cir|cum&s;tantiall errour?</HI> for have we not ever kept the <HI>&s;ub|&s;tance</HI> of it? the matter <HI>water,</HI> and the form, <HI>In the Name of the Father, Son, and holy Gho&s;t?</HI> how then I pray you can the errour of <HI>Infant-bapti&s;m</HI> de&s;troy our
<PB REF="4"> <HI>Churches,</HI> or nullifie our <HI>Mini&s;ters</HI> or <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">her <HI>Ordi|nances?</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. But alas! who told you that Infant-bapti&s;m was an errour, before the Anabapti&s;ts of <HI>Germany</HI> did? who told you when this errour <HI>came fir&s;t into the Church?</HI> What <HI>Precept or Precedent</HI> have you again&s;t it in all the Scripture? or what <HI>command</HI> have you to &s;hew for the baptizing <HI>beleevers only?</HI> alas poor men! who a|mong you dare an&s;wer to any one of the&s;e que&s;tions? and how then wilt thou be able to an&s;wer them all? and much le&s;&s;e can you warrant the de&s;perate conclu|&s;ions you have built upon &s;o weak, &s;o tottering a foun|dation.</P>
<P>But why do I trouble the&s;e poor men? alas! they are but the weapons and Organs of Je&s;uites, who play their <HI>game</HI> under the&s;e mens <HI>cloaks:</HI> Methinks I &s;ee them in&s;tilling their damnable doctrines into the&s;e mens <HI>ears,</HI> and venting them again at their <HI>mouths:</HI> how naturally do all the abominable errours of the&s;e our times (if you follow them a little) kinde|ly &s;aluting each other, and joyning in one &s;tream) tend and flow to the Sea of <HI>Rome!</HI> the <HI>Seminaries</HI> are <HI>&s;owing</HI> their <HI>Tares</HI> among us, which indeed <HI>&s;pring</HI> too fa&s;t all the Land over; and if they be not <HI>rooted</HI> up and &s;topt in time, the <HI>Pope</HI> it's to be feared will &s;hort|ly <HI>reap</HI> too large a harve&s;t among us in <HI>England,</HI> which <HI>Canterbury</HI> I remember warned us off (who know more of their plots and methods (perhaps) then he &s;hould, or we do) in <HI>his &s;peech upon the Scaf|fold.</HI> Honoured Sir, give me leave I be&s;eech you to point a little at the Je&s;uites drift, as I conceive a|mong us.</P>
<PB REF="4">
<P> His <HI>generall</HI> la&s;t <HI>end</HI> is to advance the <HI>Pope</HI> and bring in <HI>Popery,</HI> which hath been hatching many years. The <HI>means</HI> he makes u&s;e of for this great end, is to bring in a <HI>generall Toleration,</HI> and to <HI>put down the Mini&s;ters;</HI> in a generall Toleration (there being no hedge of Di&s;cipline to keep him out) he hopes to crowd in with the re&s;t, and then tru&s;ts to his <HI>learning</HI> and <HI>parts</HI> to do well enough; e&s;pecially can he but get his greate&s;t enemy, <HI>the able Mini&s;try,</HI> down: Which he attempts, by ren|dring it <HI>odious</HI> to the <HI>people</HI> becau&s;e of <HI>maintenance;</HI> and to the <HI>Parliament,</HI> by making them, what in them lies, to be <HI>enemies to the State:</HI> But doth not the <HI>Parliament</HI> very well know, that <HI>every Coun|ty</HI> of the Land can produce <HI>divers Mini&s;ters</HI> that have been true to their Cau&s;e, ever &s;ince <HI>they fir&s;t &s;ate,</HI> to this very day? but I need not blaze the friend&s;hip of <HI>Je&s;uits,</HI> or indeed of <HI>our adver&s;aries</HI> more immediate, to <HI>civill Authority,</HI> both in <HI>prin|ciple and practice:</HI> and in this I am &s;ure they agree, <HI>that the Chri&s;tian Magi&s;trate hath nothing to do with matter of Religion;</HI> which ca&s;ts a greater blur up|on Parliamentary proceedings of that nature, for the&s;e many years pa&s;t, then the wor&s;t of the a|ctions (I think I may &s;ay) that the Mini&s;try hath done.</P>
<P>Honoured S^r, I am too bold and tedious: take this I be&s;eech you as a <HI>pawn</HI> and pledg, of that <HI>honour</HI> and <HI>gratitude</HI> I owe to you: and the Lord in&s;pire you with the &s;pirit of di&s;cerning, to &s;earch into the&s;e things, more and more: di&s;couraging error, and owning <HI>his</HI> truth, who hath &s;aid, <HI>tho&s;e that honour me I will honour:</HI>
<PB REF="5"> to who&s;e grace and glory I am bold to commend both you and yours, and &s;ub&s;cribe my &s;elf, as indeed I am,</P>
<CLOSER><SALUTE>Mo&s;t Honoured Sir,</SALUTE> <SIGNED>Your very much obliged and mo&s;t humble &s;ervant <HI>FRAN: FULLWOOD.</HI></SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="preface">
<PB REF="5">
<HEAD>A Preface to the Reader.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>CHRISTIAN READER;</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_FOr &s;uch a one I &s;uppo&s;e my &s;elf &s;peaking un|to; one, who knowe&s;t thy &s;elf concerned in all the affairs of Chri&s;tianity: and upon that ground art the <HI>Lords Remembran|cer</HI> at the <HI>Throne of Grace,</HI> not only for thy &s;elf, but for all others al&s;o, who are <HI>partakers of like precious faith</HI> with thee; and hast powred out many a prayer and tear for the <HI>peace and pro&s;perity of Jeru&s;a|lem.</HI> Thou art, it may be, lately come out of thy clo&s;et, where thou had&s;t &s;weet communion with <HI>him whom thy &s;oul loveth:</HI> and thou &s;awest &s;o much of his <HI>comeline&s;&s;e</HI> and <HI>beauty,</HI> that thy heart was taken therewith more then ever: and then thou hadst many &s;uch holy breathings as the&s;e; <HI>Whom have I in Heaven but thee,</HI> &amp;c? I will &s;uppo&s;e <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>P&s;al.</HI> 73. 25.</NOTE> this to have been thy last exerci&s;e (as it is &s;ometimes if thou art a Chri&s;tian <HI> indeed.</HI>) Let me intreat thee then to retire to thy clo&s;et again, and after thy former raptures and exta&s;ies, let it not &s;eem un&s;ea&s;onable, to reflect a little with &s;ad thoughts and weeping eyes upon the great di&s;tra|ctions in the Church the &s;pou&s;e of Christ. Spirituall joy doth not u&s;e to &s;treighten the heart, but enlarge it, and make it the fitter and freer to mourn; nor doth it dry up the eyes, but rather open the fountain of tears. Beleeve me this would be a &s;ea&s;onable exerci&s;e, nay it is the <HI>mark</HI> of a Saint: The gracious &s;oul, as he grieves more, for that he hath &s;inned
<PB REF="6"> against his God, than for any Cro&s;&s;e, which reacheth his per&s;on or estate: &s;o al&s;o he is much more troubled for the &s;chi&s;mes and here&s;ies, wherewith the Church of God is rent and torn, than for his own private afflications. If thou ha&s;t a <HI>publike</HI> &s;pirit, and e&s;teeme&s;t the <HI>honour</HI> of Chri&s;t, and the <HI>promoting</HI> of Religion far more dear unto thee then thine own <HI>intere&s;t, credit or preferment;</HI> Tell me, Would it not be lamented, if po&s;sible, with tears of bloud, that the <HI>good Spirit of God</HI> &s;hould be <HI>grieved</HI> by rea&s;on of that <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Eph.</HI> 4. 30, 31. Ut excontextu patet.</NOTE> <HI>bi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">terne&s;&s;e,</HI> and <HI>wrath,</HI> and <HI>anger,</HI> which are &s;ecretly fo|mented, and too often break out into <HI>clamours</HI> and <HI>evil &s;peakings</HI> of Chri&s;tians one again&s;t another? Se<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">meth it unto thee a <HI>&s;mall</HI> matter, that the <HI>joy</HI> in the heart of Chri&s;t Je&s;us now in Heaven &s;hould be <HI>dimini&s;hed,</HI> by rea&s;on of the decay of <HI>love</HI> in tho&s;e who are his members? Certainly <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Joh</HI> 15. 10, 11, 12. Quondam e&s;t illud gaudium Chri&s;ti in nobis, ni&s;i qu&ograve;d ille di natur gau|dere de nobis? <HI>Aug.</HI> in loc.</NOTE> when Chri&s;tians are <HI>fruitfull in their lives,</HI> and <HI>abound in love</HI> one towards another, Chri&s;t <HI>rejoyceth</HI> over them even in Heaven. And I &s;ee no rea&s;on, why the contrary may not be implied, <HI>viz.</HI> That when the love of the bretheren &s;hall grow <HI>cold</HI> one towards another (as wofull experience &s;ufficiently &s;heweth, that difference of <HI>opinion</HI> doth, if not make a <HI>breach,</HI> yet &s;ecretly withdraw <HI>affection</HI>) the <HI>joy</HI> in Chri&s;ts heart over them is le&s;sened; which how great an evilit is, I leave to them to judge, who <HI>love the Lord Je|&s;us in &s;incerity.</HI> Again, Is it nothing to thee, that the <HI>Dia|monds</HI> of the Lord <HI>cut</HI> one another? That the &s;ervants of Chri&s;t &s;hould, as it were, &s;et the Spirit again&s;t it &s;e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">f mi&s;|imploying tho&s;e precious gifts, which they received from him for mutuall help and furtherance, in <HI>bitter</HI> invectives, <HI>un&s;avoury</HI> di&s;coveries of each others infirmities, fruit|le&s;&s;e and endle&s;se <HI>logomachies;</HI> &s;o that in&s;tead of <HI>com|po&s;ing,</HI> they <HI>widen</HI> the breach; and in&s;tead of <HI>terminating,</HI>
<PB REF="6"> rather <HI>perpetuate</HI> &s;trife and contention? Can&s;t thou with|out a &s;igh remember, how by this means our <HI>Religion &s;uf|fers</HI> in its reputation abroad, our <HI>profe&s;&s;ion</HI> is &s;candalized, our hopeful <HI>Reformation</HI> flouted; as if the holy endeavours of our <HI>Reverend A&s;&s;embly</HI> had all this while produced a &s;olemne Nothing; or (which is wor&s;e) had <HI>midwived</HI> on|ly to the <HI>birth,</HI> of that monstrous <HI>brood</HI> of errors, which now <HI>&s;warm</HI> and <HI>roar</HI> among us? Doth not thy heart <HI>bleed</HI> to con&s;ider how the common enemy <HI>danceth</HI> at our <HI>di&s;cord,</HI> which makes a plea&s;ing <HI>harmony</HI> to them? how the Je&s;uites triumph in our divi&s;ions, feeding them|&s;elves with a&s;&s;ured hopes of prevailing again&s;t us, accord|ing to their old principle, <HI>Divide &amp; impera?</HI> How much <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 5. 8. <GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> the Kingdom of Satan is hereby promoted? How many &s;ouls he hath <HI>drunk up?</HI> how the power of godline&s;s is al|mo&s;t <HI>laid a&s;ide,</HI> and <HI>working</HI> out our &s;alvation turned into <HI>talking, praying</HI> into <HI>di&s;puting,</HI> and <HI>preaching</HI> into <HI>railing?</HI> How much <HI>dirt</HI> hath been cast into the <HI>face</HI> of the mo&s;t glorious Mini&s;try that ever (next to the Apo&s;tles) the Church of Chri&s;t enjoyed? And how &s;ome of them, who at lea&s;t pretended to the Ministry, have cowardly &s;hrunk from their &s;tation, nay <HI>traiterou&s;ly</HI> run to the enemy, and (as it is &s;aid of the <HI>Janizaries,</HI> that they are the <HI>wor&s;e</HI> enemies to Chri&s;tianity, for having been <HI>once</HI> Chri&s;tians, &s;o) the&s;e are the mo&s;t <HI>eager</HI> and <HI>violent &s;ticklers</HI> again&s;t the Mini&s;tery. Reader, here are con&s;iderations, which if thou hast a tender and gracious &s;pirit, may well make thee cry out, <HI>My bowels!</HI></P>
<P>Con&s;ider further, how few <HI>faithfull labourers</HI> there are in the <HI>Lords harve&s;t:</HI> How many deceivers and im|postors are newly &s;tarted up? What hideous bla&s;phemies are now vented? What a multitude of errours and here|&s;ies
<PB REF="7"> are now broached, which are obtruded upon the &s;edu|ced people under the &s;pecious name of <HI>New-lights,</HI> where|as in truth they are but <HI>Old darkne&s;&s;e:</HI> There is &s;carce an errour, that ever had inventor or fautour amongst that great number which Antiquity hath left upon record, mar|ked with the black note of <HI>heretiques,</HI> but now it is pluckt out of the <HI>dunghill,</HI> and &s;ent abroad it may be with a new <HI>dre&s;&s;e</HI> put upon it to make it pa&s;&s;e. So that in this re|&s;pect we may truly &s;ay, that this our age is the very <HI>draught,</HI> into which all the <HI>&s;tinking</HI> opinions which ever have pa&s;&s;ed thorow the <HI>exulcerated bowels</HI> of all the he|retiques of &s;o many by-pa&s;t ages, are ca&s;t and de&s;cended. For the more &s;peedy <HI>di&s;&s;eminating</HI> of which errours (grief to behold!) the devil hath the pre&s;&s;e at command. Here|ticall books are printed by thou&s;ands, and di&s;per&s;ed into all parts of the Land. Nor are they contented to <HI>frame</HI> and <HI>devi&s;e</HI> new of their own, but they al&s;o <HI>tran&s;late</HI> out of other languages. Not to &s;peak of others, I have &s;een <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>He that is minded to &s;ee &s;ome of his Divinity, may plea&s;e to reade</HI> Wendeline <HI>in his Epi&s;tle Dedicatory his</HI> Theologia Chri&s;tiana. <HI>Gen.</HI> 43. 30.</NOTE> the works of <HI>Wrigelius</HI> printed in Engli&s;h. A more bla&s;phemous heretique the earth never bare. Thus they will traffique with any body, yea, with <HI>hell</HI> it &s;elf, &s;o they may have variety of <HI>baits</HI> and <HI>&s;nares</HI> to deceive the more, I hope I need not u&s;e motives to thee (Chri&s;tian Reader) to bewail before the Lord the <HI>&s;ins</HI> and <HI>bla&s;phemies</HI> of this Age; nor &s;et any <HI>&s;pur</HI> to thy &s;ide, to &s;tir thee to that to which thou ha&s;test already: Thou art by this time in <HI>Jo|&s;ephs</HI> ca&s;e, <HI>who &s;ought where to weep.</HI> So thou, to <HI>pour out</HI> thy heart as <HI>water,</HI> before the Lord. Yea, thou take&s;t up a re&s;olution to be the Lords <HI>Remembrancer,</HI> and never to <HI>&s;tand before</HI> him with any petition, but this &s;hall be the <HI>chiefe&s;t,</HI> That God would <HI>chain</HI> up <HI>Satan,</HI> that he <HI>deceive</HI> no more; That he would powerfully <HI>rebuke</HI> the
<PB REF="7"> &s;pirit of <HI>errour,</HI> that it diffu&s;e it &s;elf no further; Spee|dily <HI>di&s;cover,</HI> and <HI>&s;pread dung upon the faces</HI> of all <HI>de|ceivers;</HI> give unto this people a <HI>&s;pirit of di&s;cerning,</HI> that they <HI>may try them which &s;ay, they are Apo&s;tles, and</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Apo.</HI> 2. 2.</NOTE> <HI>ere not, and finde them lyars;</HI> Put it into the hearts of our <HI>learned, wi&s;e,</HI> and <HI>pious Governours</HI> to re&s;train the licentiou&s;ne&s;se of the&s;e Seducers, and put a &s;top to the <HI>growth</HI> of here&s;ies; <HI>Encourage</HI> his &s;ervants the Mini|&s;ters, and give them a <HI>mouth and wi&s;edom,</HI> that they may <HI>mightily convince</HI> and <HI>muzzle</HI> gain&s;ayers, <HI>reclaim</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">. <HI>Jer.</HI> 6. 16.</NOTE> every &s;educed brother, <HI>&s;ettle</HI> every &s;taggering &s;pirit, and <HI>confirm</HI> every one that loves the truth in the <HI>good old way,</HI> in which alone <HI>re&s;t</HI> is to be found to a <HI>weary &s;oul.</HI> And certainly never was there more need of <HI>prayers</HI> and <HI>tears</HI> then now; never did greater exigency call upon us to <HI>wre&s;tle</HI> with God by the <HI>omnipotency</HI> of prayer. I am <NOTE PLACE="marg">E&s;t quaedam precum omni|potenia. <HI>Luth.</HI></NOTE> per&s;waded this mercy <HI>is come to the birth:</HI> it wants but an <HI>E&s;ay,</HI> who with his <HI>effectuall fervent prayers</HI> might be in stead of a <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><HI>I&s;a.</HI> 37. 3.</NOTE> <HI>man-midwife to bring it forth.</HI> And oh that God would put into the hearts of all, e&s;pecially Mi|ni&s;ters, a a re&s;tle&s;&s;e importunity; &s;uch a <HI>&s;pirit of prayer</HI> as would be turned off with no deniall! There have been ma|ny de&s;ires breathed heaven-ward, many prayers and tears already <HI>trea&s;ured</HI> up for this very thing by the <HI>Samuels</HI> and <HI>E&s;ays</HI> of the&s;e and former times: But this mercy is &s;o great, that it calls for yet more prayers, yet more tears, more &s;truglings and wrestlings to fetch it down. Oh then when God is willing to give, and to this purpo&s;e hath the <HI>mercy already in his hand,</HI> let not us be backward in asking?</P>
<P>For mine own part it's true, I have not &s;o much as be|came me, laid to heart the&s;e &s;ad di&s;tractions in the Church;
<PB REF="8"> nor multiplied petitions, tears and groans at the Throne of grace, &s;o much as one of my place &s;hould have done; yet I have had &s;ome &s;ad and &s;erious thoughts about them. As who is there, who&s;e care and de&s;igns are not terminated wholly in him&s;elf, who hath not with good <HI>Nehemiah</HI> been <HI>&s;ad</HI> both in <HI>countenance</HI> and <HI>heart,</HI> to con&s;ider, what a glorious <HI>Sun-&s;hine</HI> of truth was <HI>breaking</HI> out upon us, which now is <HI>clouded</HI> with fogs of errours: To remember what a comfortable <HI>day</HI> of reformation <HI>dawned</HI> upon us, which now is <HI>clo&s;ed</HI> up again: (Surely we are not worthy of it, we are not fitted for it, nay, the mo&s;t di&s;tast it) To think how many <HI>Wolves</HI> are <HI>crept in</HI> among us in <HI>&s;heep-cloa|thing,</HI> which worry the <HI>flock:</HI> what a generall defection there is from <HI>obedience to the truth,</HI> even of tho&s;e who ran with the foremost heretofore, and e&s;teemed, at lea&s;t in &s;hew, <HI>the feet of them very beautiful that preached the Go&s;pell,</HI> the good and glad tidings of peace: what a phrentique wantonne&s;se hath po&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed thou&s;ands, who of loo&s;e ignorants became Sceptiques, Sci&s;maticks, Atheists? But that which may more trouble us, is, to ob&s;erve how many &s;ouls who had received &s;light common illumination, who&s;e hearts were become &s;omewhat pliable and tender, like wax, fit to receive any impre&s;&s;ion, the&s;e the devil, (<HI>who</HI> as one &s;aid, <HI>is a good Bi&s;hop in his Dioce&s;&s;e,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Latimer.</NOTE> <HI>carefull of loo&s;ing, watchfull to win &s;ouls</HI>) &s;trikes in with, and before any right <HI>&s;eeds</HI> of &s;aving knowledge were cast in, &s;ows <HI>tares</HI> in the <HI>ground</HI> of their hearts, which indeed was rather <HI>&s;cratched</HI> with the <HI>harrowing</HI> thoughts of death, hell and judgement, then <HI>broken</HI> up with the <HI>plough</HI> of &s;ound contrition? And which was yet a grea|ter grief, &s;ome, who dated them&s;elves <HI>Profe&s;&s;ors</HI> &s;ome years before, <HI>Old Di&s;ciples,</HI> were <HI>carried away with the</HI>
<PB REF="8"> <HI>errour of the wicked, and fell from their &s;tedfa&s;tne&s;&s;e.</HI></P>
<P>And yet in the mid&s;t of &s;o many &s;ad thoughts, which every of the&s;e occurrents did multiply in me, I was not without &s;ome comfortable con&s;iderations, which did both rai&s;e and confirm my dejected and &s;ometimes (I am not a|&s;hamed to confe&s;s my weakne&s;&s;e) <HI>&s;taggering</HI> &s;oul. To omit many, the chief were,</P>
<P>1. In that <HI>Satan</HI> raved and bestirr<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> him&s;elf &s;o much. it was a &s;ign that his Kingdom began to totter. When his <HI>time</HI> is but <HI>&s;hort,</HI> he <HI>roars</HI> to purpo&s;e. When he &s;aw &s;uch <HI>light</HI> breaking forth, maugre all his malice, and devices to <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">uppre&s;s it, which would &s;urely <HI>di&s;pell</HI> the <HI>darkne&s;&s;e</HI> wherein he beares &s;way, then he falls to his old &s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ft: if he cannot wholly extingui&s;h it, he will dim it. Hereupon he <HI>opens the bot<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">omle&s;&s;e pit,</HI> whereout comes <HI>&s;moak of errours, darkening the Sun of truth,</HI> and <HI>whol&s;ome</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Apo.</HI> 9. 2.</NOTE> <HI>ayr of found doctrine.</HI> Thus he did in <HI>Germany,</HI> when <HI>Luther</HI> had (I do not &s;ay <HI>lighted, but</HI>) brought the <HI>candle</HI> of truth out of the <HI>dark lanthorn,</HI> and <HI>&s;et it on a candle&s;tick:</HI> how did Satan &s;train his lungs to <HI>blow</HI> it out? When he failed of that, what endeavours did he u&s;e to cast a <HI>mi&s;t</HI> about it? Then al&s;o, and not till then, &s;warmed tho&s;e <HI>Anabapti&s;ticall locu&s;ts</HI> which did &s;o much mi&s;chief. So here, when Popery was not only <HI>lopt,</HI> but even taken away <HI>branch and root,</HI> and religion cea&s;ed to be in &s;hew only, and began to <HI>flouri&s;h</HI> in the power thereof, how hath Satan laboured to <HI>bla&s;t</HI> the bl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;ome of it with helli&s;h <HI>fum<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s,</HI> and to eat away the very leaf thereof with infer|nall <HI>locu&s;ts?</HI> Hence my &s;oul hath &s;trongly concluded, That as when the Sun in its ri&s;ing is darkened with mi&s;ts, it port<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nds the faire&s;t day: So, the Sun of the Go&s;pel pre&s;ent|ly after his extraordinary bright ri&s;ing in our <HI>Horizon,</HI>
<PB REF="9"> being clouded, puts us in an a&s;sured hope, that after he mi&s;ts are once di&s;pelled, it will break forth with a more <HI>dazeling</HI> lu&s;tre, <HI>&s;hining more and more unto the per|fect day.</HI></P>
<P>The &s;econd thing which refre&s;hed me was a clear di&s;co|very of much good already <HI>wrought</HI> and <HI>working</HI> by the&s;e unlikely means of divi&s;ions. How many <HI>&s;parks</HI> of truth have been beaten out by the colli&s;ion even of <HI>flints?</HI> How much precious <HI>flowre</HI> of whol&s;ome doctrine hath been clean <HI>purged</HI> from its bran by the &s;omewhat violent <HI>&s;haking</HI> thereof in the <HI>&s;carce</HI> of di&s;putations? It was ob&s;erved as one good effect of the cla&s;hings of ancient times, in that thereby the &s;pirits of &s;ome <HI>Worthies</HI> then living, were &s;tirred up more fully to clear the truth. The quarelling of the <HI>Anti-trinitarians</HI> quickned holy <HI>Augu&s;tines</HI> learned diligence, and produced his Book <HI>de Trinitate.</HI> And there hath not wanted an <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> in our times, who <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>D^r</HI> Channell.</NOTE> upon the &s;ame grounds hath done the like, who&s;e <HI>name</HI> is hereby made <HI>precious,</HI> and will doubtle&s;se be ever menti|oned with honour in the Churches. Above all that mo&s;t vexed que&s;tion of <HI>Infant bapti&s;m,</HI> upon what weak grounds hath it hitherto &s;tood: In oppo&s;ing whereof <HI>Satan</HI> and his In&s;truments have been mo&s;t forward and cunning; and have concluded their objections irrefragable. But how fully and unan&s;werably hath that truth been a&s;serted (as by o|thers, &s;o chiefly) by learned <HI>Baxter?</HI> That God, who <HI>com|manded light to &s;hine out of darkne&s;&s;e,</HI> doth often pro|duce the be&s;t effects out of the wor&s;t cau&s;es. Adde to this, that hereby many <HI>hypocrites,</HI> un&s;ound hollow-hearted pro|fe&s;sors, have been clearly di&s;covered, even by their falling off to errour. And tho&s;e who are <HI>faithfull</HI> unto the Lord, are made <HI>manife&s;t.</HI> Reade and compare 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 11. 19. <HI>and</HI> 1 <HI>Joh.</HI> 2. 19.</P>
<PB REF="9">
<P> It is notoriou&s;ly known to all that are not <HI>&s;trangers in our Engli&s;h I&s;rael,</HI> how far the <HI>gangrene</HI> of errour hath prevailed and &s;pread among us the&s;e &s;even years la&s;t past. I meddle not with what I have heard or read of in other <HI>Counties,</HI> (as doubtle&s;s all have had their &s;hare, the di&s;ea&s;e being <HI>Epidemicall</HI>) the&s;e <HI>We&s;tern</HI> parts &s;eem to have not the least <HI>infection.</HI> We confe&s;s to our grief, the &s;educers have had more advantages over us, then po&s;sibly they could have otherwhere. They found generally an ignorant and credulous people, and therefore apt to be deceived: and the rather, becau&s;e many flocks are without a <HI>&s;hepheard;</HI> or have <HI>a dumb dog, that cannot bark;</HI> or a <HI>blind watch|man</HI> that cannot &s;ee; or an <HI>hireling, that fleeth, when the wolf cometh.</HI> Hence they have &s;educed hundreds, un&s;etled thou&s;ands, distracted and grieved all. Their impu|dent audaciou&s;ne&s;s is &s;uch, that they have interrupted and di&s;turbed many Mini&s;ters in their publike exerci&s;e: and it is ordinary to come with a gang of &s;ouldiers, and <HI>prate</HI> on a tomb-&s;tone, while the Minister <HI>preacheth</HI> in a pulpit. Nay they are grown to that height of confidence, as to chal|lenge learned Mini&s;ters to publike di&s;putes; but with what &s;ucce&s;s, I pre&s;ume good Reader, thou art able to &s;ay, though I were &s;ilent.</P>
<P>Such a relation I am now to give thee of a di&s;pute, or ra|ther <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Here are the &s;igns and marks of an Apo&s;tle.</HI></NOTE> jangling, had at <HI>Wivili&s;combe</HI> in the <HI>County of Somer&s;et, May 4. 1652.</HI> between three or four young <HI>de|&s;pi&s;ed</HI> Mini&s;ters, and the whole &s;trength of the adver&s;ary. I was an eye and ear witne&s;s of all, or the mo&s;t, that pa&s;&s;ed: and becau&s;e I was pre&s;ent there, yet none of the number of the Lecturers, they de&s;ired me to write, what I have, to give thee &s;ome light in the following Sermon and Narrative. I remember what <HI>Thales</HI> an&s;wered to one demanding,
<PB REF="10"> <HI>How far Truth was di&s;tant from a lye; As much</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> (&s;aith he) <HI>as the eyes from the ears:</HI> Meaning that the eye was a <HI>faithfull</HI> &s;pectatour, and <HI>authentique</HI> witne&s;s of things; but the ear was open to <HI>lies,</HI> and by it fictions and untruths had their entrance into the mind: and there|fore we &s;hould credit their relations, who&s;e <HI>&s;eeing</HI> eyes had ob&s;erved all pa&s;&s;ages; but worthily &s;u&s;pect them, who were only able to give a <HI>blinde</HI> te&s;timony. And there|fore I challenge belief from all ingenious Readers. I am not ignorant of the lying practi&s;es of <HI>Sectaries,</HI> who cry <HI>Victoria</HI> among their injudicious <HI>pro&s;elytes,</HI> and it may be have prepo&s;&s;e&s;&s;ed thee with &s;ome un|true relation: and therefore my Di&s;cour&s;e &s;hall bring thee into the place, and (with the help of the en&s;u|ing Narrative) pre&s;ent to thy view the chief pa&s;&s;ages <HI>there.</HI></P>
<P>Fir&s;t I mu&s;t tell the occa&s;ion thereof. Thou must know, <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. <HI>Occa&s;ion.</HI></NOTE> good Reader, that there is a weekly Lecture at <HI>Wivili&s;|combe</HI> afore&s;aid: The Lecturers there unwilling that their meeting at the <HI>ordinary</HI> &s;hould be without fruit, agreed among them&s;elves, that at &s;et times they would, for their own better &s;atisfaction, di&s;cu&s;se &s;ome of the mo&s;t [at this day] vexed que&s;tions in Divinity. And becau&s;e here&s;ies grew apace, and many of tho&s;e parts fell away daily, they thought it meet to acquaint their hearers there|with, that all that would, might re&s;ort to the place, and hear them.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t Que&s;tion, propounded &s;ome weeks before, that the defendant might have &s;ome time to prepare him&s;elf, was, <HI>An ju&s;tificatio &s;it uno actu, &s;imul &amp; &s;emel?</HI> Whether a beleever be <HI>actually</HI> justified from <HI>all</HI> his &s;ins, <HI>pa&s;t, pre|&s;ent,</HI> and <HI>to come, at once,</HI> namely, upon the fir&s;t act of
<PB REF="10"> faith, which he puts forth. This M <HI>^r Fullwood,</HI> the Au|thor of the en&s;uing Sermon, held in the <HI>Negative:</HI> the re&s;t oppo&s;ed. In the clo&s;e they all profe&s;&s;ed their unanimous con&s;ent to what had been made appear to be truth. At the next meeting was the Que&s;tion about the lawfullne&s;s of <HI>Infant bapti&s;me</HI> to be di&s;cu&s;&s;ed; which M <HI>^r Wood,</HI> the Mini&s;ter of the place, held in the Affirmative. Their au|d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ence was now much increa&s;ed, even to a chamber-full. In <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">he end the <HI>major</HI> part &s;ignified their being fully &s;atisfi|ed about the lawfullne&s;s thereof. But all were not, or rather would not be &s;atisfied. And here were the fir&s;t <HI>&s;parks</HI> out of which aro&s;e the <HI>after flame:</HI> the <HI>fewel</HI> whereof was the intemperate <HI>heat</HI> and ind<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;cretion of &s;ome, who threatned to bring <HI>Collier</HI> to the next meeting, if he were within <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>An infamou|&s;ly famous Se|ctary.</HI></NOTE> many miles of the place; and the <HI>courage</HI> of others, who promi&s;ed to defend that, or any other Point, again&s;t him. The third Que&s;tion (which M <HI>^r Howe</HI> held in the Affir|mative) was, <HI>Whether the now Mini&s;ters of the Church of</HI> England, <HI>be the Mini&s;ters of Je&s;us Chri&s;t Exclu&s;ively?</HI> This was to be stated and di&s;cu&s;&s;ed <HI>May</HI> 4. It &s;eems that <HI>this a&s;&s;ertion</HI> had as much offended tho&s;e &s;educed and turbulent &s;pirits, as that of <HI>Infant bapti&s;me&punc;</HI> Hereupon &s;wift notice was gi|ven to all or the most part of the <HI>Sectarians of the We&s;t.</HI> In the mean time many threatn<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ng and in|&s;ulting &s;peeches were given out by that party; as <HI>that no Presbyterian Mini&s;ter dur&s;t &s;hew his head there,</HI> with much to that purpo&s;e. Nor was any thing more rife in every mans mouth, then the future di&s;pu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e at <HI>Wivili<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">|combe.</HI></P>
<P>The day being come, and a great Congregation a&s;&s;em|bl<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">d, the di&s;cour&s;e, which hereafter is pre&s;ented, was pub|likely
<PB REF="11"> delivered, yet as a Lecture-Sermon only: however thou mai&s;t ea&s;ily perceive by the <HI>drift</HI> thereof, that the Preacher intended it as an <HI>Antidote</HI> again&s;t Errour, and as a <HI>Muzzle</HI> for the mouthes of them that came to oppo&s;e. While he was praying before Sermon, <HI>Collier</HI> comes in, <HI>guarded</HI> as it were, with &s;ome &s;ouldiers, and a great company of his <HI>furious di&s;ciples.</HI> It was much wondred, that he &s;hould &s;o <HI>patiently</HI> hear out &s;o <HI>un|plea&s;ing</HI> a Di&s;cour&s;e; but we have cau&s;e to think, that the &s;trength of rea&s;on there urged and delivered, did &s;o <HI>daunt</HI> and <HI>confound</HI> him, that he durst not in|terrupt; his courage being much quailed, and his minde di&s;tracted through fear, lea&s;t he &s;hould not in all that daies di&s;pute, raze out that deep impre&s;sion, which that Sermon had made in the hearers. After Sermon ended, he &s;tood up and &s;ignified his not being &s;atisfied with what was &s;poken; and here began the di|&s;pute.</P>
<P>2. Thou expecte&s;t an account, how it was <HI>carried on;</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. <HI>Manner.</HI></NOTE> but this as to the <HI>matter</HI> thereof is <HI>exactly</HI> and <HI>faithfully</HI> &s;et down in the Narrative; thither therefore I &s;hall remit thee: but &s;ome pa&s;&s;ages ob&s;ervable in the manner of it, I &s;hall relate.</P>
<P>1. Ob&s;ervable: was the <HI>cunning craftine&s;s</HI> of the&s;e deceivers, which as it was di&s;cernable to an ob&s;ervant eye thorowout the whole action, &s;o it more plainly ap|peared,</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>In the beginning:</HI> For as if their <HI>hearts</HI> had been of stone, and their <HI>browes</HI> of &s;teel, they began the bu&s;ine&s;s with &s;uch an <HI>impudent maje&s;ty,</HI> as mu&s;t needs &s;trike a kinde of <HI>horrour</HI> into fools; yea and strangely amu&s;e even hone&s;t men of the &s;impler &s;ort, who had ne|ver
<PB REF="11"> been acquainted with the impudent <HI>boldne&s;s</HI> of hereticks.</P>
<P N="2">2. They would not &s;uffer M^r <HI>Howe</HI> to &s;tate the que|&s;tion intended to have been d<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;cu&s;&s;ed by the Mini&s;ters: they feared belike, that he was too well provided for them: but with eager importunity required M^r <HI>Full|wood</HI> to maintain what he had delivered. They hoped to have foyled him, who had been tyred with a two hours preaching, and came nothing prepared for the di&s;pute, which they intended. For</P>
<P N="3">3. <HI>Collier</HI> after &s;ome <HI>velita<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ions,</HI> like a crafty &s;oul|dier, drawes M^r <HI>Fullwood</HI> into the <HI>ambu&s;h</HI> of <HI>Infant-bapti&s;m,</HI> where they think them&s;elves <HI>invincible.</HI> But yet notwithstanding the di&s;advantage of the question, and the confidence of the adver&s;ary, they were <HI>charged</HI> &s;o home, that they were <HI>beaten</HI> out of their place of <HI>&s;trength,</HI> and <HI>utterly routed,</HI> as the Narrative will &s;hew.</P>
<P N="4">4. They would ever and anon appeal to the people, e&s;pecially when their arguing was plau&s;ible and &s;pecious, or if there had been &s;ome <HI>verbal</HI> faultrings in any of the defendants. For they well know, that a <HI>Stentorean</HI> voice, and plau&s;ible &s;peech, do much more prevail upon ignorant &s;ouls, then the &s;trongest rea&s;on or the most for|cible Argument. The Apostle hath given them this <HI>Character, Colo&s;.</HI> 2. 4. And <HI>Tertullian</HI> (cited by <HI>Davenant</HI> upon the place) &s;peaks of hereticks; that <HI>Pri&ugrave;s per&s;uadent, qu&aacute;m edo|cent: (veritas autem docendo &s;uadet, non &s;ua|dendo</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> <HI>docet.</HI>)It is the artifice of deceivers, fir&s;t to per&s;wade, and afterward to in&s;truct: but truth doth not &s;o.</P>
<PB REF="12">
<P> 2. Ob&s;ervable: was <HI>Colliers notorious hypocri&s;ie.</HI> When I had upon the de&s;ire of the defendant given in my <HI>Greek Te&s;tament,</HI> that the Original might be &s;earched about the true reading of a <HI>Scripture</HI> brought to prove the lawfullne&s;s of <HI>Poedobapti&s;me,</HI> the defendant gave it into <HI>Colliers</HI> hand to read the place; who <HI>takes the book, and looking thereon, moves his lips, as if he had indeed read it.</HI> Is it not likely, good Reader, that he is skilled in the <HI>Greek,</HI> who in&s;tead of <HI>Primum mobile,</HI> wrote <HI>Primum</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Collier <HI>in a Letter to M.</HI> Rob. Gorges <HI>of</HI> Oxford.</NOTE> <HI>obilum?</HI></P>
<P>I might fill much paper, and wa&s;t much time in reckon|ing up their <HI>non-&s;en&s;e, ab&s;urdities, poor and empty &s;hifts and eva&s;ions,</HI> to which they were driven; which were &s;ometimes &s;o <HI>palpable,</HI> that the whole A&s;&s;embly did more then once break forth into loud laughter. But I leave them to be conceived by the judicious Reader, who may, without fear of enlarging too much, gue&s;s at the re&s;t, by the enumeration of the&s;e few. But this I cannot omit, which I make</P>
<P>3. Ob&s;ervable: That <HI>Collier</HI> in my apprehen&s;ion <HI>(and I think that I have five &s;en&s;es)</HI> was put to &s;ilence more then once. But then, when the matter in que&s;tion was driven to an head, and he over-powred with &s;trength of Argument, and &s;o non-plu&s;t, break|ing all the laws of di&s;putation, he would begin again, run|ning back to his Argument. And here al&s;o his fellowes would he<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">p him at a <HI>dead-lift;</HI> when he knew not what to &s;ay, they would fill up that <HI>vacancy</HI> with clamours against one or other.</P>
<P>4. Mo&s;t ob&s;ervable was the good hand of God upon us, who there did cleerly own our Righteous cau&s;e: mightily <HI>&s;upporting</HI> the &s;pirit of <HI>M^r Fullwood,</HI> &s;o that though he
<PB REF="12"> had preached two hours, yet he held out &s;even hours di&s;pu|tation more, without moving from the place, <HI>powring contempt</HI> upon <HI>Collier</HI> and his adherents; oh how vile were they in the eyes of the mo&s;t! much ado to refrain hi&s;|&s;ing them out of the place; There was often breaking out into cachinnations, in&s;omuch that <HI>Collier</HI> him&s;elf &s;eemed much to be daunted! <HI>giving</HI> the Mini&s;ters favour in the eyes of the people, yea of their very adver&s;aries, &s;o that (which I look upon as no in&s;ignificant demon&s;tration of the goodne&s;s of our cau&s;e) <HI>Collier</HI> him&s;elf (what wre&s;ted it from him I know not,) &s;pake openly to <HI>M^r Fullwoods</HI> com|mendation. Report al&s;o &s;aith, that the adver&s;aries them|&s;elves have &s;ince confe&s;&s;ed, <HI>that they never met with &s;uch oppo&s;ition. Thanks be unto God, for his un&s;peakable guift.</HI></P>
<P>3. And what need I now &s;peak of the &s;ucce&s;s of this di|&s;pute? <NOTE PLACE="marg">3. <HI>Succe&s;&s;e.</HI></NOTE> The adver&s;aries them&s;elves know to their <HI>&s;orrow,</HI> and we to our <HI>comfort,</HI> that then and there the <HI>Lyons skin was pluckt off from the A&s;&s;e,</HI> which had made him for|midable before: And that, though there were their whole strength, yet, they received the greate&s;t foil that ever they did. And indeed what can any one conceive will be the &s;ucce&s;se of &s;uch a conte&s;t, when the <HI>father of lies</HI> &s;hall conte&s;t with the <HI>&s;pirit of truth?</HI> When ignorance &s;hall cope with learning, hypocri&s;ie with piety, errour with truth? When an ignorant <HI>caviller</HI> &s;hall di&s;pute with a prudent <HI>Logician?</HI> I confe&s;&s;e indeed their &s;trange cavils and &s;ophi&s;try, made me not a little to marvell: &s;o that I thought there had been a <GAP DESC="foreign"> or a tran&s;migration of the &s;ouls of &s;ome <HI>Je&s;uites</HI> into their bodies; or as if they had been principled by &s;ome Old <HI>Loyoli&s;t:</HI> Surely they never learned them at the Plough: But they were all &s;o
<PB REF="13"> &s;oundly elided, and their fal&s;ity &s;o plainly demonstrated, that the people profe&s;&s;ed them&s;elves to have received full &s;atisfaction. So that by the goodne&s;se of God that daies a|ction wan great credit to the truth, reputation to the Ministry, an encrea&s;e to that [formerly] thin and very di&s;couraging lecture, reclaimed &s;ome deceived &s;ouls, confirmed many; and is interpreted by &s;ome as a pledge of the fullfilling of that Promi&s;e, 2 <HI>Tim.</HI> 3. 9.</P>
<P>Some men may po&s;&s;sibly di&s;like the action it &s;elf, and que&s;tion the prudence and di&s;cretion of the Mini&s;ters, who would &s;o much undervalue them&s;elves as to conte&s;t with &s;uch ignorant wranglers. But the happy &s;ucce&s;&s;e thereof may alone &s;ufficiently an&s;wer what&s;oever may be objected again&s;t their &s;o doing; to &s;ay nothing of the great &s;uffer|ings of truth which were there likely to have been, had there wanted &s;trong oppo&s;ition.</P>
<P>As for the per&s;ons who with &s;uch courage undertook, and with &s;uch felicity managed this bu&s;ine&s;&s;e: thus much I dare &s;ay, in their behalf, that they aimed more <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t the maintenance of the truth, then at the prai&s;e of a Victory. And yet they aimed at victory al&s;o, but not to credit them&s;elves but the truth, I have cau&s;e to think, that there was no Mini&s;ter there, but is of my minde; who could be content and willing to be aba&s;ed, &s;corned, and &s;lighted, to lo&s;e all my comforts and hopes on earth, to wander about as a vagabond, being <HI>de&s;titute, afflicted, tormented;</HI> So that the name of Chri&s;t may be glorious, and his King|dom advanced; if it were plea&s;ing to God &s;o to have it, and my affliction might be more for his glory then my com|fort and pro&s;perity.</P>
<P>Nor let any &s;upercilious cen&s;urer di&s;ta&s;t the publi&s;hing
<PB REF="13"> hereof. No &s;uch thing was ever intended, till the de&s;ires of &s;ome godly Christians (who were willing that others might receive that benefit by reading of it, as them&s;elves had by hearing it) and the nece&s;&s;ity of vindicating them|&s;elves forced them to it. Some reports were &s;pread abroad, that the <HI>Mini&s;ters were not only &s;ilenced, but did al&s;o acknowledge their errour, and openly make recan|tation:</HI> So that they were nece&s;&s;itated to make the whole publique. And herein they have <HI>Augu&s;tine</HI> for their Pre|&s;ident, who having had frequent conflicts with the <HI>Do|nati&s;ts,</HI> was forced at la&s;t to commit all his di&s;putations to Writing, becau&s;e they alwaies proclaimed them&s;elves <HI>Victorious,</HI> though indeed (as the&s;e <HI>Donati&s;ts at Wi|vili&s;combe</HI>) they were mightily convinced and confound|ed. As for the&s;e, its true, they never left <HI>prating,</HI> but that was looked upon and e&s;teemed as no other then the <HI>wriggling</HI> of &s;ome <HI>In&s;ecta,</HI> when their heads are off.</P>
<P>Reader, Thou maist not expect any elaborate Di&s;cour&s;e here. The di&s;pute was &s;udden and unpremeditated; the Sermon &s;uch as was then delivered, when never intended to be publi&s;hed: and I hope, that the&s;e con&s;idera|tions will <HI>apologize</HI> with thee for the Authour, who was willing, though much to his own prejudice, to impart it to thee, without any manner of dre&s;se, more then it had when he uttered it.</P>
<P>I had thought, (Good Reader) to have &s;poken more by way of Exhortation both to the hone&s;t-hearted, and al&s;o to tho&s;e who are for the pre&s;ent gone a&s;tray; but that I have already detained thee too long from the reading of what follows: And I doubt not, but that, if thou reade with <HI>an humble heart,</HI> and <HI>a di&s;cern|ing</HI>
<PB REF="14"> <HI>Spirit,</HI> thou wilt finde much &s;atisfaction in the Points there handled. God in Mercy guide both thee and me into all truth. So prays,</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Thy Servant in the things of Chri&s;t, <HI>CHARLS DARBY.</HI></SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="sermon">
<PB N="1" REF="14">
<HEAD>THE CHURCHES &amp; MINISTERY of ENGLAND, True Churches, and true Mini&s;tery.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<BIBL>1 COR. 1. 2.</BIBL>
<Q>To the Church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are &s;anctified in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, called to be Saints, with all that in every place call upon the Name of Je&s;us Chri&s;t our Lord, both theirs and ours.</Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<DIV2 N="1" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CAP. I. <HI>The Text opened and expounded.</HI></HEAD>
<P>_THe&s;e words conteining the object of <HI>Pauls</HI> &s;a|lutation, &s;hew us to whom he &s;ends and dedi|cates this his Epi&s;tle, <HI>viz.</HI> in the fir&s;t and &s;tri|cter place, <HI>to the Church of God at Corinth;</HI> and then more at large and &s;econdarily, to the Churches of God all the world over; even as it is &s;ubjoined, <HI>with all that in every place call upon</HI> (that is, by a Senecdoche, wor&s;hip) <HI>the Name of Je&s;us Chri&s;t our Lord, both theirs and ours;</HI> that is, Je&s;us Chri&s;t, their Lord, as well as ours.</P>
<P>Now, to be the more particular and pertinent, we pitch upon the fir&s;t and &s;tricter object here of this &s;alutation and dedica|tion; touching which the text affords, Fir&s;t its appellation <HI>the Church;</HI> with, Secondly, its de&s;cription, and that three waies.
<PB N="2" REF="15"> 1. It is de&s;cribed in its &s;pecification, the Church of <HI>God.</HI> 2. Its &s;ituation, the Church of God <HI>at Corinth.</HI> 3. Its qualification, <HI>'Tis &s;anctified in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, and called to be holy;</HI> all which we &s;hall briefly run over again, and, clearing the &s;ame, make the way more plain for our following di&s;cour&s;e.</P>
<P>The word <GAP DESC="foreign"> (mo&s;t ea&s;ily derived from <GAP DESC="foreign">, <HI>evoco</HI>) here rendred <HI>the Church,</HI> is frequently u&s;ed for <HI>any</HI> company a&s;&s;embled together for <HI>any</HI> cau&s;e, both in <HI>prophane</HI> and <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Act. 19. 32.</NOTE> <HI>holy</HI> Scriptures. We may reduce all kinde of a&s;&s;emblies to the&s;e three, <HI>Sinfull, Civil,</HI> or <HI>Sacred,</HI> and finde this word expre&s;&s;ing them all. For fir&s;t, there is a &s;infull Church, <HI>the Congregation of evil doers.</HI> Secondly, There is a Civil Church, <HI>Acts</HI> 19. 36. <NOTE PLACE="marg">P&s;al. 26. 5.</NOTE> And la&s;tly, There is a &s;acred or a godly Church, as this the Church of <HI>Corinth</HI> was, which is here &s;o plainly di&s;tingui&s;hed from the two former, by this &s;peciall attribute, <HI>Of God:</HI> It is not the Church of the <HI>devil</HI> or <HI>men,</HI> but the Church of <HI>God</HI> at <HI>Corinth.</HI></P>
<P>But this &s;ame <HI>[Church of God]</HI> is of various u&s;e and meaning <NOTE PLACE="marg">Church of God.</NOTE> too, and a little inquiry made thereinto we &s;hall finde a help and furtherance to us in our way.</P>
<P N="1">1. The Scripture means &s;ometimes by the <HI>Church of God,</HI> the whole invi&s;ible, my&s;ticall body of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, <HI>viz.</HI> the whole number of the elect both in Heaven and earth that are or &s;hall be gathered into one under Chri&s;t the head, <HI>Ephe&s;.</HI> 5. 23. <HI>Col.</HI> 1. 24, 25.</P>
<P N="2">2. Sometimes again the Scrpture u&s;eth the Church of God for the univer&s;all vi&s;ible Church, which con&s;i&s;teth of all the particular Churches and per&s;ons) with their children) through|out the world that profe&s;s the true religion: So it is u&s;ed 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 12. 12.</P>
<P N="3">3. Sometimes al&s;o by a Metonimy, for the place it &s;elf where a certain number of the vi&s;ible Church u&s;e to a&s;&s;emble. So 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 11.</P>
<P N="4">4. Sometimes al&s;o by a Synecdoche, for any number of Church-members where ever they be. So in 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 16. 19. <HI>Col.</HI> 4. 5.</P>
<P N="5">5. And la&s;tly, Sometimes for a particular vi&s;ible Church, whether it con&s;i&s;ts of one Congregation or more, as the
<PB N="3" REF="15"> Church at <HI>Jeru&s;alem, Smyrna, Thyatira,</HI> &amp;c. and &s;o in the text, the Church of God at <HI>Corinth.</HI></P>
<P>So far then we are come, having found this Epi&s;tle &s;ent to a <HI>Church,</HI> and that a Church <HI>of God,</HI> and the Church of God <HI>at Corinth</HI> too.</P>
<P>There is now but one main thing behind (but that indeed is a main one) namely, the <HI>qualification</HI> of this Church of God at <HI>Corinth,</HI> which is blaz'd before us in the following words; <HI>to them that are &s;anctified in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, called to be Saints.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e words do plainly intend the matter or members of the Church at <HI>Corinth,</HI> becau&s;e all others are expre&s;&s;ed after|wards, <HI>with all that in every place,</HI> &amp;c. and al&s;o what the&s;e members are <HI>viz.</HI> of two &s;orts; Saints indeed <HI>(&s;uch as are &s;an|ctified in Chri&s;t Je&s;us,)</HI> and &s;uch as are <HI>called</HI> to be &s;o, though indeed they be not &s;o; for <HI>many are called and few cho&s;en:</HI> many are called to be members of the vi&s;ible, but few to be members of the invi&s;ible Church: <HI>for they are not all I&s;rael that are of I&s;rael.</HI> Or el&s;e, if you leave out tho&s;e two little <NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 9. 6.</NOTE> words <HI>[to be]</HI> which the Engli&s;h &s;upplies, it may &s;eem to be thus; the words <HI>[to all that are &s;anctified in Chri&s;t Je&s;us,]</HI> are expounded by the&s;e latter words, <HI>called Saints: q. a.</HI> to all that are &s;anctified, or &s;hould be &s;o; that bear the name, the form, though they want the thing and power of holine&s;s and &s;anctification: one of the&s;e two (choo&s;e which you will) mu&s;t needs be the meaning of the Apo&s;tle here; which will be mo&s;t cleer, if we but once think, to whom, and for what end he writes this Epi&s;tle: to the Church at <HI>Corinth,</HI> and on purpo&s;e to re|prove them too, and that for &s;uch gro&s;s and vile corruptions, as he knew (and we confe&s;s) are even incon&s;i&s;tent with true &s;anctity, faith and holine&s;s, though not incompetent to a true Church, (as is plentifully manife&s;t through his Epi&s;tles, <HI>&amp;c.</HI>) which I &s;hall reduce and &s;et before you under three heads.</P>
<P N="1">1. He reprooves them for the breach of the Laws of <HI>&s;ober|ne&s;s,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Sins of the Church of <HI>co|rinth.</HI></NOTE> in the two gro&s;s and known &s;ins, <HI>gluttony</HI> and <HI>drunken|ne&s;s,</HI> cap. 11. 21.</P>
<P N="2">2. Of <HI>righteou&s;ne&s;s,</HI> in their divi&s;ions, envyings, &s;trifes, <HI>cap.</HI> 3. 1, 2, 3, 5. and wor&s;e, in ince&s;t too <HI>cap.</HI> 5. 1.</P>
<P N="3">3. Of piety and <HI>holine&s;s&punc; (living neither godly, righteou&s;ly,</HI>
<PB N="4" REF="16"> <HI>nor &s;oberly:</HI>) And fir&s;t, in defect, I mean in di&s;cipline, which ap|pears by their mixt and di&s;orderly fellow&s;hip, not ca&s;ting out the lewd and &s;candalous rout, <HI>cap.</HI> 5. with 11. as al&s;o abun|dantly, in exce&s;s, by <HI>&s;chi&s;m:</HI> one de&s;pi&s;ing <HI>Paul,</HI> and another <HI>Apollo;</HI> cap. 3. 4. <HI>Here&s;ie,</HI> denying the re&s;urrection of the bo|dy, 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 15. <HI>Idolatry,</HI> 2 Cor. 6. with (to conclude) a mo&s;t egre|gious <HI>prophanation</HI> of the holy Table, through <HI>ignorance, glut|tony, drunkenne&s;s,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>cap.</HI> 11. 21, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
<P>Now doubtle&s;s all the&s;e great and gro&s;s corruptions, fore|known to <HI>Paul,</HI> and even ju&s;t now, with this very Epi&s;tle, about to be reproved by him, in thus Church; he could not &s;o gro&s;ly bewray his flattery, or &s;in &s;o deeply again&s;t his knowledge, as mean to call them <HI>reall</HI> Saints, all Saints, that were the mem|bers of it. Yea from what hath been &s;aid, we mu&s;t conclude; 1. That they were not all <HI>reall</HI> Saints. 2. Nor yet all <HI>vi&s;ible</HI> Saints, though indeed called to be both of the&s;e. Some true be|leevers there were among them, &s;ome vi&s;ible Saints, not true beleevers; tho&s;e are both likely; but this is certain, there were many vile and openly prophane and &s;candalous per&s;ons a|mong them; and as certain al&s;o (notwith&s;tanding them) <HI>Paul</HI> &s;alutes them as the Church of God. Notwith&s;tanding he fore-knew and intended by this his Epi&s;tle, to reprove all tho&s;e gro&s;&s;e and abominable &s;ins you have heard, yet here and behold his &s;alutation runs, <HI>To the Church of God at Corinth.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="2" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. II. <HI>That a mixture of prophane and &s;candalous per&s;ons with reall Saints, is not incon&s;i&s;tent with the Church of God.</HI></HEAD>
<P>FRom the Text thus opened, we de&s;cend to inferre &s;ome <HI>&s;ea&s;onable</HI> Points, which (like unto a chain) though eve|ry link be not fa&s;tned immediatly to the fir&s;t, we &s;hall finde have a plain and kindely dependance each upon other, and they are the&s;e.</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. <HI>That a mixture of prophane and &s;candalous per&s;ons with</HI>
<PB N="5" REF="16"> <HI>reall Saints, is not incon&s;i&s;tent with the Church of God. or a true Church.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>That then, the Churches that are now in England, are Churches of God, and true Churches.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. <HI>That then, the Mini&s;try of the&s;e Churches, is the Mini&s;try of God and the true Mini&s;try.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. <HI>That then, there is a great and heavy &s;in lying at the door of all &s;uchS, as do pre&s;ume to proach publikely among us without a call, who have true Churches, and a &s;etled Mini&s;try.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>5. <HI>And then</HI> (to conclude) <HI>they al&s;o mu&s;t needs be guilty, that for&s;ake true Churches, and a lawfull Mini&s;try, to follow and hear un&s;ent preachers.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>I &s;hall be as brief and plain as I may upon each of the&s;e in order.</P>
<P>1. The fir&s;t of the&s;e immediatly depends upon the text ex|plained; <NOTE PLACE="marg">Scandalous per&s;ons in a true Church.</NOTE> for if there were prophane and &s;candalous per&s;ons in the Church of <HI>Corinth,</HI> and yet notwith&s;tanding &s;he bore the name of the <HI>Church of God,</HI> it mu&s;t immediatly and naturally follows, that there may be prophane and &s;candalous per&s;ons in the Church of God: there may be, I &s;ay, but I mean <HI>de fa|cto,</HI> and not <HI>de jure;</HI> I confe&s;s they ought not to be there, but if they be, they do not unchurch the a&s;&s;embly wherein they are: they are the <HI>di&s;ea&s;e</HI> and trouble of the Church, but not its <HI>death:</HI> indeed, &s;uch gro&s;s and vile corruptions as we have found to have been in the Church of <HI>Corinth,</HI> are as incon&s;i|&s;tent with a pure Church, as boyls and lepro&s;ie with a pure bo|dy: but yet, for all, as the &s;oul doth not pre&s;ently leave and di&s;own the body, for any di&s;ea&s;e, except it be mortall; &s;o nei|ther doth Chri&s;t his body the Church. Both the naturall and mi&s;ticall body may be true, though very corrupt: and what I have before a&s;&s;erted, is undeniable, <HI>viz. That a mixture of pro|fane and &s;candalous per&s;ons, with reall Saints, is not incon&s;i&s;tent with a Church of God, or a true Church:</HI> for we &s;ee, in the pure&s;t times, in the very time of the <HI>Apo&s;tles</HI> them&s;elves, as &s;oon as ever the &s;eed was &s;own, tares are mixt: as &s;oon as ever the Churches are planted, they are thus di&s;ea&s;ed; many corrup|tions are known to abound in mo&s;t of them, and yet all of them are owned, none denied to be Churches of God, even by
<PB N="6" REF="17"> the Apo&s;tles. If this in&s;tance of <HI>Corinth</HI> be not &s;ufficient; con|&s;ider the Church of <HI>The&s;&s;alonica, Galatia, Ephe&s;us, Pergamus,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">2 The&s;. 2.</NOTE> <HI>Thyatyra;</HI> who had the <HI>my&s;tery of iniquity already working;</HI> who &s;uffered them&s;elves to be &s;oon carried away to <HI>another</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 2. 3.</NOTE> <HI>Go&s;pel,</HI> who had lo&s;t <HI>the fir&s;t love;</HI> who had tho&s;e that main|tained <HI>the doctrine of Baladm,</HI> with the here&s;ie of the Nicola|itans; <NOTE PLACE="marg">Revel. 2. 3. and 3. 14. 20.</NOTE> and who la&s;tly &s;uffered the Prophete&s;s <HI>Jezabel.</HI> to &s;e|duce the <HI>&s;ervants of Chri&s;t</HI> (as <HI>England</HI> too much) who yet notwith&s;tanding are called <HI>Churches,</HI> yea and Churches of Chri&s;t: and by the Apo&s;tles them&s;elves commending the good that was in them, even while, in the mean, they reprove the evil that they did, or &s;uffered to be done among them.</P>
<P>And therefore it was doubtle&s;s a very gro&s;s errour of <HI>Bar|roh</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Vi&s;ible <HI>Church</HI> not a company of true Saints. Mat. 13. 37. Mat. 3. 12.</NOTE> and tho&s;e of the old &s;eparation, to define the Church to be <HI>a company of faithfull people that truly wor&s;hip Chri&s;t and rea|dily obey him.</HI> Alas the <HI>Kingdom of God,</HI> that is, the Mini&s;try &s;ent to gather Churches, is a <HI>net</HI> that gathereth fi&s;h both <HI>good</HI> and <HI>bad:</HI> and the Church is a <HI>floor</HI> that hath <HI>chaff</HI> and <HI>wheat,</HI> and a through-&s;eparation &s;hall never be attained, till the great di&s;tingui&s;hing day comes. The ground of their errour is this, they confound the <HI>invi&s;ible</HI> and <HI>vi&s;ible</HI> Church. It is mo&s;t cer|tain, I fear, that if none may be &s;aid to be a true Church, but &s;he who&s;e members are all true beleevers, there is no true Church in the world this day, if there ever have been: Be&s;ides, how &s;en&s;ele&s;s it is to make true faith (an <HI>invi&s;ible</HI> thing) the mark of the <HI>vi&s;ible</HI> Church I</P>
<P>Again, Though the errour be not &s;o gro&s;s, 'tis very dange|rous <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Nor alwaies of vi&s;ible Saints.</NOTE> to &s;ay, that there cannot be wicked and &s;candalous per|&s;ons in a true Church; for this doth immediatly tend to &s;chi&s;me, and if it ra&s;eth the foundation (as plainly appeareth) of tho&s;e fir&s;t Apo&s;tolicall Churches, well may it ours. Alas, a particular per&s;on may have many failings and gro&s;s corrup|tions powerfull in him, and yet all the while (I hope) be a childe of God: even &s;o a Church may be very much degenerate, ex|treamly corrupt, and all the while be a Church of God, as the <NOTE PLACE="marg">Rea&s;, Becau&s;e cor|ruptions &s;trike not the being of a Church.</NOTE> Church of <HI>Corinth</HI> was: And the Rea&s;on is plain.</P>
<P>The Rea&s;on is, Becau&s;e &s;uch corruptions (in <HI>manners</HI> or <HI>di&s;|cipline</HI>) &s;trike at a Churches <HI>ben&egrave; e&s;&s;e</HI> only, and not at the <HI>being</HI>
<PB N="7" REF="17"> or e&s;&s;ence of it: as a man with boiles and botches all over his body (like unto <HI>Job</HI>) is yet a <HI>true</HI> man, a man a live, though he be not &s;o pure and healthy as other men are: the&s;e, indeed, do &s;end him forward &s;o far as in them lies to death and the grave, however he may not be &s;aid to be <HI>dead,</HI> &s;o long as his &s;oul, <HI>his form</HI> abideth in him, which all the&s;e things cannot touch.</P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="Que&s;t."> But this doth invite that doubtfull query, <HI>viz.</HI> touching the form and di&s;tingui&s;hing note of a true Church: What it is, or where it lies?</P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="An&s;w."> To which, (though I confe&s;s I have met with few that write clearly of it) I briefly an&s;wer, That for ought I finde, all ancient <NOTE PLACE="marg">What and wherein is the form of a vi|&s;ible Church. Generally in Ordinances.</NOTE> Churches and Coun&s;els, before <HI>Rome</HI> was Antichri&s;t, and all the Churches reformed from her Antichri&s;tiani&s;m, together with all Judicious Papi&s;ts them&s;elves, do jointly conclude, that the formall difference of the true Church, I mean, <HI>as vi&s;ible,</HI> lies in communion in true Ordinances; and on occa&s;ion, farther enlarge and explain the meaning thus; that therefore the <HI>more or le&s;s pure</HI> the <HI>Ordinances</HI> are, the <HI>more or le&s;s pure</HI> the <HI>Church|es</HI> are, and though the Ordinances of Chri&s;t &s;hould &s;uffer cor|ruption, yet if they may be &s;aid, but to be true, and if there re|main but only &s;o much as will carry the Ordinances to be <HI>of Chri&s;t,</HI> even &s;o far are the Churches, the &s;ubjects thereof, the Churches of Chri&s;t.</P>
<P><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">When two or three are <HI>met</HI> together in <HI>my Name,</HI> defines a Church. Matth. 18.</NOTE> <HI>Communion,</HI> contains the <HI>form</HI> and e&s;&s;ence of a <HI>Church</HI> in generall: <HI>communion in Ordinances of God,</HI> contains the Form of <HI>a Church of God;</HI> and the purer the Ordinances are, the pu|rer the Churches: and the truer they are, the truer the Churches: but &s;o long as the Ordinances may be known to be Chri&s;ts, though the havers be very corrupt, we mu&s;t own the Church|es to be Chri&s;ts al&s;o.</P>
<P>But to be a little clearer, might I judge here, I &s;hould con|clude <NOTE PLACE="marg">Specially in Mini&s;ters of the Word.</NOTE> that <HI>the Mini&s;tery of the Word,</HI> rather then the Sacra|ments, contains the form of a particular vi&s;ible Church, for of &s;uch we &s;peake. 1. As for Bapti&s;m, that enters the partie bap|tiz'd, into the univer&s;al vi&s;ible; and we mu&s;t be con&s;titute a particular vi&s;ible Church, before we have right unto, much more the enjoyment of the Lords Supper: indeed, none can be
<PB N="8" REF="18"> member of a particular Church unles he be baptiz'd, &s;o bapti&s;m is a <HI>negative</HI> mark: and none can have a right to the Supper of the Lord, unle&s;s he be a member of a particular Church; &s;o that the Lords Supper, I mean the actuall admini&s;tration thereof, is a mark <HI>redundant.</HI> But, as for the mini&s;try of the word, that <NOTE PLACE="marg">Therefore the Sacraments are called by Reverend <HI>&V;&s;her,</HI> depen|dents on the <HI>Word.</HI></NOTE> hath in it not only a mark, but the form and difference of the vi&s;ible Church of which the Sacraments are but <HI>&s;eals,</HI> and &s;eem to alter and change the nature, as the <HI>doctrine</HI> doth; as the &s;ame <HI>&s;eal</HI> is of different value, according to the nature and value of the <HI>writing</HI> to which it is &s;et. So that when the <HI>doctrine</HI> becomes <HI>antichri&s;tian,</HI> the <HI>&s;eals</HI> thereof, can &s;carce be <HI>chri&s;tian,</HI> though they be <HI>counterfet</HI> and would be <HI>&s;o,</HI> this may not deny the <HI>bapti&s;m</HI> of <HI>Rome</HI> to be lawfull bapti&s;m; yet thus far it goes, that the <HI>bapti&s;m</HI> of <HI>Rome</HI> is no farther chri&s;tian, then their doctrine touching it is &s;o: for &s;hould they deny the <HI>holy T<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ini|ty,</HI> although they did bapti&s;e in the Name of the Father, Son and holy Gho&s;t, I hardly judg it to be lawfull bapti&s;me, though haply the old Rule might reach it, <HI>fieri non debuit, factum valet.</HI></P>
<P>However this is &s;afely concluded, that the chief e&s;&s;entiall mark or form of a true particular vi&s;ible Church, con&s;i&s;ts in a <HI>fixt and &s;etled vi&s;ible fellow&s;hip in the mini&s;try of the word of Chri&s;t.</HI> A Church is &s;o called from its gathering together, and where is this &s;o plainly &s;een as in its vi&s;ible communion in the mini&s;try of the word, e&s;pecially being &s;etled and con&s;tant? what <HI>advantage hath the Jew above the Gentile?</HI> the Church a|bove the world? much every way, but chiefly becau&s;e to them is <HI>committed</HI> the <HI>Oracles</HI> of God: this is the particular privi|ledge of the Church of God.</P>
<P>But a little more di&s;tinctly, I mean the mini&s;try here on both &s;ides: <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Docens, utens.</HI> The Papi&s;ts of late deny this: but <HI>Sta|pleton</HI> one of the chief a|mong them &s;aith, The preaching of the Go&s;pel is the proper and</NOTE> the <HI>teaching</HI> part: and the <HI>u&s;ing,</HI> hearing and receiving part. 1. The mini&s;teriall Churches have their mark, <HI>viz. true doctrine,</HI> and this e&s;pecially join'd with the other, is very po|tent to di&s;cover to us the <HI>true Church.</HI> For this &s;ee <HI>Matth.</HI> 23. 2, 3. As if Chri&s;t &s;hould &s;ay, join your &s;elves to them; though wicked and prophane, yet they are a <HI>true Church.</HI> But how is that known? why, their mini&s;try is true; they &s;it in <HI>Mo&s;es chair:</HI> But how doth that appear? becau&s;e their word and
<PB N="9" REF="18"> doctrine is true, though their lives be wicked; <HI>hear them, but do</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">a very cleer Note of the Catholick Church, pro|vided by law|full Mini&s;ters. <HI>Princ. dort.</HI> c. 22.</NOTE> <HI>what they &s;ay, not what they do.</HI> And an&s;werable to this, is our Saviours rule, for triall of Prophets, By their <HI>fruit,</HI> that is, by their doctrine ye <HI>&s;hall know</HI> what they be, whether true or fal&s;e: preachers of the &s;ound and orthodox truth, is both a <HI>means</HI> and a <HI>mark;</HI> a means of <HI>gathering,</HI> and &s;trengthening, or <HI>confirming,</HI> or keeping the Churches thereby together. Now as the preaching of the word is a means to gather and con&s;titute Churches at <HI>fir&s;t,</HI> &s;o it being u&s;ually occa&s;ionall only, it is not &s;aid to be a mark of the true Church: but being gathered by the word, and church'd by Bapti&s;m, the <HI>mini&s;tery &s;etled</HI> and fix'd (as was &s;aid) among them, becomes an e&s;&s;entiall mark of the true Church. Not only of the <HI>teaching</HI> (which it doth im|mediatly) but of the <HI>profe&s;&s;ing</HI> Church al&s;o, &s;ince who can &s;ay where the true Church is, but where the true <HI>doctrine</HI> and mi|ni&s;try is <HI>fix'd</HI> and &s;etled? and therefore we &s;hall never read that God did ever divorce any Church, though &s;he de&s;erv'd it long <NOTE PLACE="marg">Rev. 2. 5. <HI>Nulla po&s;&s;it <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;chi&s;matius fieri tanta corruptio,</HI> i. <HI>emendatio, quanta e&s;t &s;chi&s;|matis pernities,</HI> if the doctrine of faith be &s;ound, <HI>Tert. de prae&s;. cap.</HI> 6. <HI>Si confe&s;&s;io ejus convenit cum Scripturis verus e&s;t Chri&s;tianus, &s;in minus fal&s;us.</HI> Chry&s;o&s;t.</NOTE> before, untill he removes his <HI>candle&s;tick</HI> from them. Which is mo&s;t remarkable <HI>in the Jewi&s;h Church,</HI> who, while a Church, God did not <HI>deal &s;o with any Nation,</HI> neither had the heathen knowledge of his Laws; and the Apo&s;tles are charged to preach the Go&s;pel to none other; and who continued without all doubt to be a vi&s;ible Church of God, untill the cour&s;e or the mini&s;tery is turned from her to the Gentiles: then and not till then, God <HI>cut off the Jew</HI> and <HI>ingrafted the Gentile.</HI></P>
<P>2. There is another chief mark of the vi&s;ible Church, which lieth on the Receivers part, I mean, (as before the Preach|ers, &s;o here) the profe&s;&s;ours of the truth: <HI>My &s;heep hear my voice,</HI> &s;aith Chri&s;t, that is, my <HI>reall</HI> &s;heep hear my doctrine really and my vi&s;ible &s;heep, apparently and vi&s;ibly; &s;o that a <HI>people baptized, profe&s;&s;ing the true doctrine of Chri&s;t, and vi&s;i|bly united in the publike and con&s;tant hearing and receiving the doctrine of Chri&s;t, from the true Mini&s;try, are a true Church, and are hereby known to be &s;o.</HI> I &s;ay, this profe&s;&s;ion is vi&s;i|bly, when the company do openly and vi&s;ibly own and pro|fe&s;&s;e by frequenting the publike Ordinance of hearing, the true doctrine; and &s;ufficient to di&s;cover them a true Church, though very corrupt in other regards. Now each of the&s;e,
<PB N="10" REF="19"> the &s;etled Preaching, and con&s;tant receiving (by publike at|tending) the doctrine of Chri&s;t, are very good marks of a true particular vi&s;ible Church; and in both together I con|ceive con&s;i&s;ts the form of the &s;ame, <HI>viz. in a fixt and con|&s;tant vi&s;ible fellow&s;hip with God and each other in the &s;acred Ordinance of preaching and hearing the doctrine of Chri&s;t:</HI> and from this a Church may recede and die two waies: being &s;tarved to death through a Famine of the Word, with the Church of the Jews. 2. Or el&s;e being <HI>poy&s;oned</HI> to death by contagious doctrine, with the Church of <HI>Rome.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="Object."> 'Tis but weak to object, That the preaching or hearing of the Word may not be marks, or contain the e&s;&s;ence of a true Church, becau&s;e the&s;e are <HI>common to Infidels.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="An&s;w."> For the Preaching and hearing of the Word, as common with In&s;idels, is occa&s;ionall only, as it was with <HI>Athenians</HI> and <HI>Paul:</HI> but as it is an infallible mark of the vi&s;ible Church 'tis (as before) fixt and &s;etled: and in that as occa&s;ionall preaching and hearing of the Word is the only proper means of gathering Churches; &s;o where it hath &s;o far wrought and prevailed, as that it is become fixt and con&s;tant with any peo|ple, it is to me a certain mark of gathered Churches; provi|ded alwaies, &s;ubmi&s;&s;ion hath been made to the Ordinance of Bapti&s;m.</P>
<P>To which I &s;ubjoyn this argument: That which doth for|mally con&s;titute or make a member of a Church, doth con&s;ti|tute or make a whole Church: But <HI>profe&s;&s;ion of the faith</HI> doth formally con&s;titute a member of the vi&s;ible Church, and there|fore the whole vi&s;ible Church; &s;ince the whole here is made of parts of the &s;ame nature: vi&s;ibility denominateth the parts, and therefore the whole of the vi&s;ible Church: as true faith is e&s;&s;entiall to a member of the Church invi&s;ible, and pro|fe&s;&s;ion of that faith to a member of the vi&s;ible: &s;o truth of faith doth con&s;titute the invi&s;ible Church, and profe&s;&s;ion there|of a vi&s;ible Church, according to the rule, <HI>quae e&s;t ratio con|&s;titutiva partium, e&s;t etiam con&s;titutiva totius.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="Que&s;t."> But what &s;hall we think of tho&s;e Churches then, that in time of per&s;ecution lo&s;e their Mini&s;ters, &s;o that the publike means of vi&s;ible profe&s;&s;ion is gone?</P>
<PB N="11" REF="19">
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="An&s;w."> I an&s;wer, Such cea&s;e not pre&s;ently to be true Churches: for while they own, they profe&s;&s;e the truth and profe&s;&s;ion, we have &s;hew'd, is a good mark on the peoples part.</P>
<P>2. While they de&s;ire the &s;ame they have a right thereto, and enjoy this publike communion in its fir&s;t act, though they want the <HI>actuall administration</HI> and enjoyment of it.</P>
<P>3. But con&s;idering how much of the form of the Church <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ecclefia est uni|us co~gregationis cujus membra inter &s;e combi|nantur &amp;</HI> ordi|nari&egrave; <HI>conveni|unt uno in loco ad publicu~ Re|ligionis exerci|tium.</HI> Ame. Med. p. 215. 2. 2.</NOTE> con&s;i&s;ts in this publike communion together, I cannot com|pare &s;uch a people better then to a man in a &s;wound, in whom for a time the &s;oul, the form, cea&s;eth to perform its formall actions; though it be not yet &s;evered and gone from the body, yet if &s;uch a fit as this continue, Phy&s;icians tell us 'tis very dangerous, and experience reckons it a &s;ure infallible &s;ign of death: even &s;o, when <HI>Vi&s;ion fails, the People peri&s;h.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CHAP. III. <HI>That the Churches that are now in</HI> England <HI>are Churches of God.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THe next conclu&s;ion doth naturally follow, and clo&s;ely and immediatly depend upon the former, for &s;ince (as we have found) a mixture of prophane and &s;candalous per|&s;ons with reall Saints, is not incon&s;i&s;tent with the Church of God, or a true Church; <HI>Then our Churches that are now in England, are Churches of God and true Churches.</HI></P>
<P>I dare not &s;ay they are pure, and much le&s;&s;e perfect, yet I <NOTE PLACE="marg">Our Churches true Churches.</NOTE> doubt not to prove them <HI>true</HI> Churches.: but by Churches I mean not (though I highly commend that hand of wi&s;edom that made the parochiall difference) the Pari&s;hes here (or at lea&s;t not as under the notion of Pari&s;hes) but the fixt and &s;etled and u&s;uall a&s;&s;embling <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span"> con&s;i&s;ting of Pari&s;hes, or more or le&s;&s;e. The&s;e I affirm <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> Churches of God, and true Churches. In the proof whereof, though I might very &s;afely confine my &s;elf to what hath been &s;aid, touching the e&s;&s;ence and marks of a Church before, I &s;hall lay my line &s;omewhat larger, to make (if po&s;&s;ible) &s;urer work.</P>
<PB N="12" REF="20">
<P> Yet all &s;hall be reduced to two Arguments, and the fir&s;t is this.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="1" UNIT="Arg."> There is nothing in our Churches to make them fal&s;e, and nothing wanting in them to make them true Churches: and <NOTE PLACE="marg">Nothing in them to the contrary.</NOTE> what then can hinder them from being true? Fir&s;t, I &s;ay, there is nothing in our Churches to make them fal&s;e.</P>
<P N="1">1. Neither of <HI>manners,</HI> nor 2. of <HI>government.</HI> 1. For <HI>man|ners,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. If either, we in the&s;e later daies &s;hould have &s;ome al|lowance above the&s;e fir&s;t A|po&s;tolicall Churches, for the Church is compared to a &s;hip, the which the more it &s;ails upon the &s;ea the more it is &s;ubject to leakes: to a hou&s;e, that with oldne&s;s doth decay and grow to ruine, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> See <HI>Morney</HI> of the Church. p. 38.</NOTE> we confe&s;&s;e that the Lord hath much again&s;t us, both of &s;in and errour, di&s;order, prophane&s;&s;e, bla&s;phemy and here&s;ie: but con&s;ider, all this cannot unchurch us: this may <HI>de jure,</HI> pro|voking the Lord to remove his Candle&s;ticks away from us ex|cept we repent: but while we have the&s;e, I mean his <HI>can|dle&s;ticks,</HI> Word and Ordinances, our corruptions cannot <HI>de facto</HI> make us no Church, nor yet a fal&s;e: no more then it did the Church of <HI>Corinth:</HI> unle&s;&s;e there have been &s;ome|thing revealed from heaven &s;ince then, that hath placed the e&s;&s;ence of a vi&s;ible Church in the conditions and manners of the members thereof; which if, we pray, when, where, and how?</P>
<P N="2">2. For matter of <HI>government,</HI> indeed of late we were un|der Epi&s;copacy: all who&s;e appurtenances &s;avoured of Anti|chri&s;t: yet could they never denominate our Churches An|tichri&s;tian Churches: while our <HI>doctrine</HI> pure our <HI>heart</HI> was &s;ound though our <HI>heads</HI> did ake: for ju&s;t &s;o it was with the Church of the Jews in our Saviours time; the Rulers were re|bellious, the Prie&s;t corrupt, yet notwith&s;tanding (their do|ctrine pure) our Saviour accounts them a true Church, and accordingly advi&s;es his own Di&s;ciples to joyn unto them, as before we &s;hewed, the doctrine heretofore among us, is &s;till extant: and none can pick any materiall errours in it, our Epi&s;copall &s;ervice, Courts, tyranny, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> were very gro&s;&s;e, yet not incon&s;i&s;tent with true <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="4 letters">rine, and much le&s;&s;e doubtle&s;&s;e with true Churches; <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> were even then when &s;uch like abu&s;es were highe&s;t, ever acknowledged, &s;ometimes defend|ed by preaching and printing, again&s;t the Browni&s;ts, as is very well known by tho&s;e very men, that touching our corru|ptions were <HI>Non-conformi&s;ts.</HI> But &s;uppo&s;e we &s;hould give you what you beg for, that our Churches then under (I mean)
<PB N="13" REF="20"> the Epi&s;copall government were Antichri&s;tian thereby: what gain you? mu&s;t we be therefore Antichri&s;tian &s;till? God for|bid. Are we not reformed (at lea&s;t &s;o far) from that very thing for which you impleade us? Are not Bi&s;hops gone? their Courts and Service-book, and all their dependencies gone along with them? I hope then we are not Antichri&s;tian &s;till? becau&s;e you and your brethren were Heathens and In|fidels before you were dipt, are you &s;o &s;till? that you will &s;ay is but poor rea&s;oning: what then is there left to make us An|tichri&s;tian? You will not &s;ay Presbytery, for that will be vain, vainer then vain, &s;ince as it can never be proved Anti|chri&s;tian, &s;o neither are we yet governed by it.</P>
<P>And as there is nothing in our Churches in <HI>England</HI> to <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Nothing wanting in them.</NOTE> make them <HI>fal&s;e,</HI> &s;o is there nothing wanting in them to make them <HI>true;</HI> now we can be pretended to want but 3. things that are nece&s;&s;ary to a Church; <HI>Church-governours, Church-government,</HI> and <HI>Church-Covenant.</HI> Now as for <HI>Church-go|vernours</HI> we have &s;o many of them as the being of a Church (though not as the well-being of it) requires; &s;ince the form of a Church con&s;i&s;ts in Ordinances (not in Di&s;cipline) and we have &s;ufficient admini&s;trers of them, <HI>who rule over us by &s;peaking to us the word of God,</HI> Heb. 13. 7. 2. As for <HI>Church-government</HI> in &s;ome places, in &s;ome branches, <HI>viz.</HI> of di&s;ci|pline, 'tis wanting among us; but the want thereof cannot unchurch us, for the Church of <HI>Corinth</HI> wanted the &s;ame (<HI>Cap.</HI> 5.) and yet is &s;aluted as the Church of God. 3. And la&s;tly, We want not either a <HI>Church-covenant,</HI> &s;ince the word of God requires it not. 2. Since we have it implicitly, though not expre&s;ly: for we mu&s;t have &s;ome agreement or other who walk together in the &s;ame fellow&s;hip, for <HI>how can two walk together unle&s;&s;e they be agreed?</HI> 3. Be&s;ides our Brethren of the <HI>Congregationall way</HI> that are &s;o much for this Covenant, ac|count us true Churches, though we want it and &s;hould have it; What want we then? yea, what have we not? have we not the Sabbath, Word, Prayer, Sacraments, and Cen&s;ures too in many places with us? however what want we, e&s;&s;entiall to a Church, who have matter and form? <HI>matter,</HI> in that we have both reall Saints to gratifie you, and vi&s;ible profe&s;&s;ors to &s;a|tisfie
<PB N="14" REF="21"> us! Touching the qualification of Church-members in ge|nerall, and of our own in particular, &s;ufficient hath been &s;aid before: and for the fir&s;t <HI>con&s;titution</HI> of our Churches in <HI>Eng|land,</HI> though that be nothing to our pre&s;ent condition, we have largely cleared it in the <HI>debate</HI> related and printed after the Sermon.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2" UNIT="Arg."> <HI>The Churches that are now in England are the Churches of God, becau&s;e they are in Covenant with him.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Cau&s;e in Co|venant. P&s;al. 50. 5.</NOTE></P>
<P>Now the con&s;equence here will not be que&s;tioned, how|ever it is Analogicall, upon that Text, <HI>Gather my Saints to|gether unto me allye that have made a Covenant with me,</HI> &amp;c. implying hereby, by being in Covenant with God they are re|ally a Church, for that they have a right to be an <HI>Actuall Congregation.</HI></P>
<P>But the A&s;&s;umption hence, <HI>viz. That we are in Covenant with God,</HI> cals for proof, which is ea&s;ily performed by three Arguments, <HI>viz.</HI> becau&s;e we have the <HI>Seal</HI> of the Covenant, the <HI>word</HI> of the Covenant, and the <HI>ble&s;&s;ings</HI> of the Covenant; all which we &s;hall finde not only to prove us in Covenant with God, but immediatly to conclude us a Church of God too.</P>
<P>Then fir&s;t, We have the <HI>&s;eal</HI> of the Covenant, the <HI>Sacra|ment</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Having the Seal of the Covenant.</NOTE> <HI>of Bapti&s;m,</HI> which in its predece&s;&s;our, <HI>Circumci&s;ion,</HI> was called the <HI>token</HI> of the Covenant, or a token from God, where|by they &s;hould know them&s;elves to be in Covenant with God; and this token or &s;eal was called by God (and commanded by him to his people under the name of) the Covenant; inti|mating to us, that tho&s;e that denied the &s;eal denied the Co|venant, or exclude them&s;elves from any intere&s;t in it; as is the folly and weakne&s;&s;e of too many with us, in renouncing their <HI>bapti&s;m.</HI> Now as this is the <HI>&s;eal</HI> of the <HI>Covenant,</HI> &s;o is it al&s;o the <HI>door of the Church;</HI> for per&s;ons though really converted by the preaching of the Go&s;pel, and the Children of Belee|vers, born in the Church, are not (though virtuall) actuall members of the vi&s;ible Church, before <HI>Bapti&s;m,</HI> which &s;eems to be built upon the known Text, <HI>Go, di&s;ciple all Nations, bap|tizing them:</HI> that is, <HI>di&s;ciple,</HI> not by <HI>teaching</HI> only, not by tea|ching properly, but by <HI>bapti&s;m:</HI> the participle u&s;ing to &s;ignifie
<PB N="15" REF="21"> the manner of doing: <HI>Go, di&s;ciple,</HI> but how mu&s;t we di&s;ciple? why as before by <HI>circumei&s;ing,</HI> &s;o now by <HI>baptizing,</HI> and in this Commi&s;&s;ion in <HI>Matthew</HI> to the Apo&s;tles, the Commi&s;&s;ion given to our <HI>Father Abraham,</HI> is but enlarged: 'tis the &s;ame <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">The Sacra|ments of the Jewi&s;h Church in &s;ub&s;tance were one and the &s;ame with our Sacra|ments, Heb. 13. 8. 1 Cor. 10. 1, 2, 3. Joh. 8. 56. Joh. 6. 50, 51. Col. 1. 11, 12. 1 Cor. 5. 7. all &s;ay this except Papi&s;ts, Anabapti&s;ts, Arminians and Socinians.</NOTE> for &s;ub&s;tance though it differ in circum&s;tance: the <HI>work</HI> is the &s;ame to <HI>di&s;ciple,</HI> and make up Churches, though the matter is larger; <HI>Abraham</HI> chiefly, that <HI>one Nation</HI> to come out of his loines, together with all that would joyn as <HI>pro&s;elytes;</HI> and the <HI>Go&s;pel Mini&s;ters</HI> mu&s;t di&s;ciple all nations, <HI>(i.)</HI> &s;o far as they can, and <HI>the nation will &s;ubmit unto them. Abraham</HI> was com|manded to di&s;ciple, by that <HI>initiating</HI> ordinance of <HI>Circumci|&s;ion;</HI> and the Go&s;pel Mini&s;ters, by this of <HI>Bapti&s;m:</HI> indeed there is teaching prerequi&s;ite, to prepare and fit <HI>men out of the Church</HI> for the ordinance of Bapti&s;m; and &s;o much was re|qui&s;ite to make men pro&s;elytes, for Circumci&s;ion: which thing makes it cleer, that not only <HI>Abrahams</HI> naturall &s;eed had right to this Ordinance, or that his &s;eed were circumci&s;ed as his &s;eed, but, as they were capable of being members of the vi&s;ible Church: and therefore we finde, that when heathen people were willing to become members of the Church, they had the Ordinance of initiation, <HI>Circumci&s;ion,</HI> to enter <HI>them</HI> in, and not <HI>them</HI> only, but their <HI>children</HI> al&s;o: which is a cleer pattern for the Mini&s;ters of the Go&s;pel towards the Gentiles: How &s;hall we behave our &s;elves to them? why, we have commi&s;&s;ion to di&s;ciple them. But how? why as the Mini&s;ters of Law did pro|&s;elytes, Gentiles before us, by Circumci&s;ion; &s;o mu&s;t we now by Bapti&s;m: but whom among them? why, as they before us, the pro&s;ely to Gentiles, and their children too; &s;o mu&s;t we al&s;o di&s;ciple (by bapti&s;m) the nations of the Gentiles, and their children too, &s;o far as they &s;ubmit them&s;elves, and their chil|dren to the Ordinance of Chri&s;t. But I mu&s;t return; Bapti&s;m wee &s;ee is the door of the Church, which further appears by <HI>Joh.</HI> 3. 5. <HI>Except a man be born again of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God:</HI> this Kingdom of God, I conceive to be the Church (for Chri&s;t is telling <HI>Nico|demus</HI> here of earthly things,) and you may conceive the Church invi&s;ible or vi&s;ible: if <HI>invi&s;ible,</HI> here is a door to let you in, the bapti&s;m of the <HI>spirit</HI> and regeneration <HI>reall:</HI> if <HI>vi&s;ible,</HI>
<PB N="16" REF="22"> here is another door for that too, the bapti&s;m of <HI>water,</HI> a re|generation <HI>vi&s;ible:</HI> a man may be born again <HI>(i)</HI> become a new man, two waies, and accordingly may have place in the Church two waies: he may be born again <HI>indeed</HI> by a <HI>reall</HI> work of the &s;pirit within, and thus becomes a member of the <HI>invi&s;ible</HI> Church: or el&s;e a man may be born again <HI>in &s;hew</HI> only, from a <HI>vi&s;ible member of the world</HI> and the divel, <HI>di&s;cipled by bapti&s;m,</HI> and made thereby a vi&s;ible member of Chri&s;t, and entered into the <HI>vi&s;ible Kingdom of Heaven,</HI> the vi&s;ible Church: which in|deed is &s;ometimes fir&s;t, according to the order of the words, except a man be born again of <HI>water</HI> and of the &s;pirit, he can|not enter into (the vi&s;ible or invi&s;ible Church) the <HI>Kingdom of Heaven.</HI> Now to end with this, it cannot be denied upon a good ground, but we in <HI>England</HI> are a di&s;cipled nation, and are entered into the Kingdom of Heaven, the vi&s;ible Church, being <HI>born again by water.</HI></P>
<P>Neither have we the <HI>&s;eal</HI> only, for we have the <HI>writings</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. And word of it. Church is built upon the foundation of Apo&s;tles and Prophets.</NOTE> too: not only a <HI>pledg</HI> or token of the bargain, but the <HI>word</HI> of the Covenant al&s;o, <HI>the Scriptures in purity, and the Ordinances of them in power and fullne&s;s:</HI> which is undeniable, and there|fore we have the <HI>Covenant</HI> (Deut. 4. 13. Heb. 9. 4.) al&s;o; above all rea&s;onable contradiction; and therefore we are the Church|es of God for full &s;atisfaction. To <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Rom. 9. 4.</NOTE> the Jews belonged the <HI>Adoption, glory, and Covenants;</HI> but how does it appear? be|cau&s;e to them belonged <HI>the giving of the Law, and the &s;ervice of God.</HI> And what <HI>advantage</HI> had the <HI>Jew</HI> by being a Church above the Gentile, that was none? why, much every way, but chiefly, becau&s;e to them were committed <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Rom. 3. 1, 2. The walls of the Church have their foundation in the Names <HI>(i)</HI> doctrine of the twelve Apo|&s;tles; and is therefore the pillar and ground of truth. Rev. 21. 14.</NOTE> <HI>the Oracles of God:</HI> &s;hewing, that they were a peculiar priviledge to, and a di&s;tin|gui&s;hing character of the vi&s;ible Church: for <HI>God &s;heweth his word unto Jacob, his Statutes and judgements unto I&s;rael, and hath not dealt &s;o with any nation,</HI> that is; among the heathen that have no Church. <HI>P&s;al.</HI> 147. 19, 20. compared with <HI>Cant.</HI> 1. 7 other nations doubtle&s;s might have the <HI>Bible</HI> among them, as we at this day have the <HI>Turki&s;h Alcoron;</HI> but here lay the difference, God did not <HI>&s;hew,</HI> promulge or preach his word to them; it was not with them as the <HI>Oracles of God,</HI> the <HI>word of the Covenant</HI> to them.</P>
<PB N="17" REF="22">
<P> Go&s;pel Ordinances, are a great part of the outward admi|ni&s;tration <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ubi e&s;t fides il|lic e&s;t Eccle&s;ia, ubi non e&s;t fides, ibi non e&s;t eccle|&s;ia,</HI> Chry&s;o.</NOTE> of Go&s;pel Covenant, where God is plea&s;ed to hold a vi&s;ible communion with us, and we with him (as before,) and &s;o long as we have the&s;e we are no doubt in covenant with God, and then, a Church of God.</P>
<P>And to make all &s;ure, we have the <HI>peculiar ble&s;&s;ings</HI> of the <NOTE PLACE="marg">3. And the ble&s;|&s;ings of it.</NOTE> covenant which God be&s;tows on none but &s;uch as are in co|venant with him, his own Churches. The&s;e are chiefly three: the ble&s;&s;ing of his <HI>spirit,</HI> of his <HI>providence,</HI> and of his <HI>people:</HI> the fir&s;t is inward, the two later outward, but all &s;pirituall and all &s;peciall and peculiar ble&s;&s;ings: but of them in order.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t and inward ble&s;&s;ing of the Covenant, is the ble&s;&s;ing <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Conver&s;ion.</NOTE> (I mean not only the common convictions, enlightenings with the knowledge of the Go&s;pel, which is indeed peculiar to the Church however, but the &s;peciall ble&s;&s;ings) of <HI>the Spirit of God,</HI> accompanying his word, for the work of conver&s;ion, in the hearts of our hearers. This I make an infallible Mark of the truth of our Churches, <HI>Conver&s;ion ordinarily wrought in our Churches.</HI> Conver&s;ion may be extraordinarily wrought by di&s;cour&s;e; what's that? we &s;peak of a u&s;uall and ordinary work: and 'tis vainer to &s;ay, we convert from &s;inne to duty and not to God: this is again&s;t charity, &s;en&s;e, and rea&s;on: fir&s;t, again&s;t <HI>charity,</HI> to damn all tho&s;e that have no other grace then what was received from the hand of our Mini&s;tery: a|gain&s;t <HI>&s;en&s;e,</HI> for bloudy experience hath proved that faith to be true that was wrought by our Mini&s;tery, in its &s;ubjects, <HI>martyrdome:</HI> and la&s;tly again&s;t <HI>rea&s;on,</HI> yea, I may &s;ay, all Scri|pture too, as if duty was not in &s;ubordination to God. How|ever you cannot over throw the Scriputre, which faith, <HI>Faith comes by hearing, and that by the Word of God preacht,</HI> by a &s;ent Mini&s;ter, which is u&s;ually fixt in a Church; whence hath been written, and &s;ealed by all ages, without contradiction, that good rule, <HI>Extra Eccle&s;iam nulla &s;alus,</HI> no ordinary &s;al|vation, and therefore no conver&s;ion, is u&s;ually had out of the Church: which clearly concludes tho&s;e Churches true where it is &s;o.</P>
<P>The &s;econd (outward) ble&s;&s;ing peculiar to a Church in <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Speciall Pro|vidence.</NOTE> Covenant with God is his <HI>&s;peciall Providence:</HI> for God hath
<PB N="18" REF="23"> doubtle&s;&s;e a different care and providence over his garden the Church, and the common wilderne&s;&s;e of the world: now all his dealings with us &s;ince reform'd and &s;eparate from the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> hath plainly manife&s;ted his &s;peciall garden|care and providence over us, who can deny it? not the Pa|pi&s;ts them&s;elves, who have &s;een and felt &s;uch &s;ignall te&s;timo|nies of it in 88. powder-Trea&s;on, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Hath God long agone ca&s;t us off as Antichri&s;tian Churches, and yet all the while &s;till &s;o remarkably kept us from the &s;lavery of Antichri&s;t? what an in&s;ufferable contradiction is this? nay more, con&s;ider his Providences towards us of late years: how long hath there been workings and &s;tirrings in the bowels of this Land for a further reformation and di&s;tance from <HI>Rome?</HI> and how much in order thereunto of late hath God wrought for us? and all the while that we have been clean&s;ing in the fire of affliction, what wonderfull power and goodne&s;&s;e hath he &s;hewn us? and is this the way that God u&s;eth to walk with a people divorc'd and ca&s;t away? who can lift up his face a|gain&s;t heaven and &s;ay it? no rather, &s;uch a manner of neglect|ing the Apo&s;tle &s;peaks of, <HI>if they be filthy, let them be filthy still;</HI> and if they be Antichri&s;tian, let them be &s;o &s;till; If not a giving them over to <HI>strong delu&s;ions</HI> to beleeve lyes.</P>
<P>The third and la&s;t ble&s;&s;ing of the Covenant, is outward <NOTE PLACE="marg">3. Salutation of all Churches.</NOTE> too, <HI>viz. the ble&s;&s;ing of the people, and Churches of God:</HI> this I take to be a peculiar Church-ble&s;&s;ing, and &s;ufficient to &s;ig|nifie a people in Covenant with, and a Church of God; which ble&s;&s;ed be God, we have in abundance, who have the &s;aluta|tion of all the Churches, which the Apo&s;tle &s;ets down as mat|ter of comfort for us, <HI>Rom.</HI> 16. 16. Con&s;ider now, Have not the Churches the keys of the Kingdom, and power on earth to loo&s;e us from all tho&s;e black a&s;per&s;ions you ca&s;t upon us? have &s;pirits judgement to try the &s;pirits; and not Churches judgement to try the Churches? Shall he be counted a Pub|lican and Heathen that &s;leights the judgement of a particular Church, and not he much more that &s;leights the commenda|tion of all the Churches? Con&s;ider what you do, beloved, and lift not up &s;o bold a face and voice again&s;t the verdict of
<PB N="19" REF="23"> all the reformed Churches in the world: but if you will, re|member what was &s;aid, You engage again&s;t the hand of re|markable Providence, and have ju&s;t cau&s;e to fear &s;ome &s;trange judgement will fall from heaven, to &s;top your mouths al&s;o, as it hath other of our enemies before you.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="3" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CAP. IIII. <HI>That the Mini&s;tery of the Churches of</HI> England, <HI>are the Mini&s;tery of Chri&s;t.</HI></HEAD>
<P>ARe our Churches Churches of God and true Churches? <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Conclu&s;.</HI> 3.</NOTE> then hence it further follows that we conclude, <HI>The Mi|ni&s;tery of our Churches is the Mini&s;tery of God and the true Mini&s;tery;</HI> for where can we think or imagin, the Mini&s;tery of God, the true Mini&s;tery &s;hould be, but where the Churches of God, the true Churches are? and now had we nothing el&s;e to commend us unto you (unle&s;s you recede from your own principles) you cannot deny us a lawfull Mini&s;tery, who have <HI>call</HI> and allowance from <HI>true</HI> Churches.</P>
<P>But I &s;hall a little enlarge my Argument (which &s;hall yet be but one, though of many parts,) and prove our Mini&s;tery thus unto you.</P>
<P><HI>The Mini&s;ters of our Churches in</HI> England <HI>mu&s;t needs be the</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">The Arg. in generall, to prove our Mi|ni&s;tery.</NOTE> <HI>lawful Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t, becau&s;e they have as much to make and manife&s;t them &s;o to be, as their very Adver&s;aries them&s;elves either have or allow and pretend unto; and over and above, what ever el&s;e their adver&s;aries want, and any other rea&s;onable men may require more: together la&s;tly with what the very Scripture it &s;elf doth require, or hath &s;et and left, as a canon or rule for the ma|king and di&s;covering the lawfull Gospel-Mini&s;tery by.</HI></P>
<P>For the making good hereof I am to clear three things, <NOTE PLACE="marg">The parts of the Argument.</NOTE> 1. That our Mini&s;ters have that to make, and manife&s;t them true Mini&s;ters, that is agreeable to the principles of their very <HI>adver&s;aries;</HI> and this being found will ea&s;ily carry us above <HI>contradiction.</HI> 2. To the principles of all other indifferent men. 3. To the principles and rules of the Word of God:
<PB N="20" REF="24"> which two la&s;t being cleared and proved, may &s;erve I think for full &s;atisfaction.</P>
<DIV3 N="1" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>SECT. I.</HEAD>
<P>Fir&s;t then, let us &s;ee what the&s;e bu&s;ie men have, or rather would have, that deny our Mini&s;tery, and proclaim them|&s;elves <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. From princi|ples of our ad|ver&s;aries.</NOTE> to our people as the only lawfull Mini&s;tery, in their pub|like preaching: let us examine the manner, and the&s;e men a little; and we &s;hall &s;ee their boa&s;ting vain, for they have no more in <HI>pretence</HI> then we have <HI>really:</HI> they acknowledge they have (and plead for) no more to give them a call, then them&s;elves acknowledge many of us have: there is doubtle&s;&s;e very much in this, let us &s;earch it a little.</P>
<P>There are but four things left (&s;ince the men for &s;hame have laid down their claim and pretence to a call immediate <NOTE PLACE="marg">Who lay claim to four things.</NOTE> and extraordinary) that all of their party together profe&s;&s;e to have any influence upon their call; and we &s;hall finde them all four agreeing with us, though &s;carce any of them lay claim to them all, onely &s;ome of them to one, and &s;ome to another. 2. Of them are inward, a &s;ecret impul&s;e and gifts. The other two are outward, and are the choice and de&s;ire of the people.</P>
<P>Some of them &s;ay, truth is like a fire in them; they cannot hold &s;ire in their brea&s;ts and not be burnt; it will have vent, <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. An inward impul&s;e.</NOTE> it burns in their bowels, inflames their tongues, they mu&s;t de|clare what things they have heard and &s;een: O brave, is this your plea for offering up of your &s;trange fire, that hath &s;o in|flam'd and almo&s;t con&s;umed the Churches of Chri&s;t? Is there no other way to vent the truth (if you know &s;uch a thing as truth) but from a pulpit? to &s;et up your fire as a Beacon on a hill, to make a greater combu&s;tion among us? however my friends, con&s;ider a little, doth this give you a call? how can you then deny ours? do you think that none of our Mini&s;ters can &s;ay from their hearts the love of <HI>Christ con&s;trains us:</HI> and woe is me <HI>if I preach not the Gospel?</HI> if &s;o, then let that fir&s;t plea fall to the ground, or el&s;e give us leave to be preachers as well as your &s;elves.</P>
<P>2. Some of them, and truly the chiefe&s;t of them pleade their <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Gifts.</NOTE> gifts for calling: they are not, they &s;ay, &s;ince God hath light|ned
<PB N="21" REF="24"> their candle for them, to put it under a bu&s;hell, but on the hou&s;e top (upon the mention of tho&s;e things I cannot but &s;ay a word unto them, though their an&s;wer is re&s;erved for their proper place) to &s;uch I &s;ay, Cannot the &s;tarres &s;hine and glitter, unle&s;&s;e they do manage the Chariot of the Sun? My Brethren, have you gifts, as you &s;ay? be humble and thankfull, have grace in your hearts, as well as gifts in your heads; tru&s;t me then you would know your &s;elves, your gifts, and places better; yea. and &s;hine more too, to the benefit of others: for we are not the better for the light of the &s;tars while the Sun &s;hines: be not angry though I call you &s;tarres, for your own hearts &s;mite you, &s;aying, Your greate&s;t light was borrowed from us; which may be my Apology if I boa&s;t not when urg'd of our own gifts: however &s;uffer me to beg this que&s;tion of you, what one gift have you wherein the Mini&s;tery you &s;o much blame excell you not? unle&s;&s;e it be in boldne&s;&s;e and out-braving confidence? there are two great gifts the Apo&s;tle re|quires in a Go&s;pel-Preacher, <HI>a being apt to teach, and able to convince gain-&s;ayers:</HI> the fir&s;t implying <HI>Rhetorick,</HI> the la&s;t <HI>Lo|gick;</HI> both which you call Antichri&s;tian, and di&s;claim as <HI>re|probate;</HI> certainly brethren, if you are apt to teach, then the old rule fails <HI>(qui ben&egrave; di&s;tinguit ben&egrave; docet;)</HI> for you are the wor&s;t at di&s;tingui&s;hing that ever I knew any (though indeed too cunning to divide) you cannot di&s;tingui&s;h between extraordinary and ordinary &s;ending; between invi&s;ible and vi&s;ible Churches: be|tween private and publike pteaching; &s;till apt to mi&s;take the one for the other, and errour for truth too often; how then are you apt to teach? the rule is, he that is good at di&s;tingui&s;hing is good at teaching; but you are not able to di&s;tingui&s;h well, and therefore not able to teach well, yea, you are not able to di&s;tin|gui&s;h at all, and therefore not fit to teach at all, nor is it indeed fit you &s;hould: the Apo&s;tle means by <HI>[apt to teach]</HI> an aptne&s;&s;e of habit, not of exerci&s;e; an ability and fitne&s;&s;e, and not a pro|pen&s;ity and pronene&s;&s;e to be teachers: now whether you allow the fir&s;t to us or no, the latter of the&s;e we cannot deny you, who are in this &s;en&s;e &s;o apt to teach, that truly you <HI>Run before you are &s;ent:</HI> and are you better able to convince gain&s;ayers? let your publike di&s;putes throughout the Land be a witne&s;&s;e
<PB N="22" REF="25"> between us: though we need not &s;o much &s;ince your own con|fe&s;&s;ions declare again&s;t you, while you openly declare you are enemies to, becau&s;e ignorant of the very rules of di&s;pute, which gain&s;ayers walk by, for how can you then convince them?</P>
<P>3. Others among them fly to the <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Election of the people.</NOTE> choice <HI>of true believers,</HI> for the proof of their call: they are, they &s;ay, elected to preach by precious, choice and holy people, who&s;e call they cannot but <NOTE PLACE="marg">3. <HI>Ames</HI> him&s;elf &s;aith thus, <HI>Po|pulus in judi|cando dirigi po|te&s;t, ac ordinari&egrave; debet a judicio aliorum pa&s;to|rum electionem vel praeeunte vel comitante.</HI> Cont. Bell. p. 96.</NOTE> hear and an&s;wer: but as this can never create a Mini&s;ter in a &s;etled Church, &s;o is it greate&s;t arrogance for you to claim it, with defect in charity or exce&s;&s;e in impudence to deny it us: yea we have this choice priviledge of you, in that we are elect|ed both by <HI>Mini&s;ter and people.</HI></P>
<P>La&s;tly, Others of them mention the de&s;ire of the people, as giving them a call; then the&s;e <HI>Itineraries</HI> mu&s;t have as ma|ny calls as Sermons almo&s;t; for if their call con&s;i&s;ts of the peoples de&s;ire, &s;o often as they move to another place where they were not before, they mu&s;t have a new call, or el&s;e preach there without a call, for the former people do not de&s;ire, can|not <NOTE PLACE="marg">4. The peoples de&s;ire.</NOTE> therefore call them to preach to others, but to them&s;elves; however, can you &s;ay, that you have this call, and dare you &s;ay, that we have it not? Alas! Every one knows, if you do, the publique proceedings of the pre&s;ent Authority, and &s;tate of things, will give you the lye; for none are inducted into a|ny place according to the Rule and Order of Parliament u&s;ually, but &s;uch as are cho&s;en, de&s;ired and petitioned for by their people, provided they be capable of &s;uch a priviledge; be&s;ides, that <HI>de&s;ire</HI> and invitation to be preachers they have from their <HI>friends</HI> and acquaintance, which is all for the mo&s;t part that any of you can plead or challenge.</P>
<P>Now con&s;ider, I be&s;eech you, is not this all that you can &s;ay <NOTE PLACE="marg">The conclu|&s;ion of the fir&s;t branch of the Argument.</NOTE> for your &s;elves, and can you deny us any part of it? nay, dare you &s;ay, that in tho&s;e very things we have not the advantage? How then, I pray you, is it, that you &s;peak &s;o boldly, that you rail &s;o frequently, publikely, bitterly again&s;t us? and tell the people with all confidence, <HI>That you are the men that are called and &s;ent by God him&s;elf to preach the Go&s;pel, and that we have no call at all;</HI> Have you one grain more? yea, have
<PB N="23" REF="25"> you not many grains le&s;s then we, in the&s;e very particulars your &s;elves boa&s;t of? I be&s;eech you, <HI>in the name of God,</HI> con&s;ider this, and let it for ever &s;top tho&s;e mouthes that preach &s;o much again&s;t our call; that they either preach no more who have no better call, then what they condemn; or el&s;e preach no more again&s;t our call to preach, who have the very &s;ame in every particular that them&s;elves either have, or allow, or pretend unto.</P>
<P>But here we mu&s;t part, you can go no further in the way of a call: We mu&s;t &s;tep further, for a&s;&s;ure your &s;elves, <HI>Had we no better call to preach then you pretend unto, we dur&s;t not pre|&s;ume thereupon, as you do, in a &s;etled Church:</HI> But I pa&s;s on, to &s;hew wherein we <HI>excel</HI> you, and what warrant we have above you; for we have yet behinde over and above what any other rea&s;onable indifferent men, and the word of God it &s;elf requires: To which we proceed for your further (and if po&s;&s;ible full) &s;atisfaction.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="2" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>SEC. II.</HEAD>
<P>Now there are four other things which may be required <NOTE PLACE="marg">The &s;econd part of the Argument. Four other things the Mi|ni&s;ters have which their adver&s;aries want.</NOTE> for the warrant of our preaching by other men; all which will be found to commend our Mini&s;tery to you, as the want of the &s;ame will very much di&s;parage, if not wholly condemn the preaching of others.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t particular of them, is, <HI>humane learning;</HI> this our adver&s;aries allow us to have, who do not &s;o much for the ge|nerall part of them as pretend unto it: and be not now un|willing, beloved, to &s;uffer <HI>that little</HI> we have of it to commend <NOTE PLACE="marg">Humane lear|ning.</NOTE> us &s;o far above them that want it. O but alas! you abu&s;e it, &s;ay they: &s;o beloved do you your gifts, and mu&s;t you therefore de&s;pi&s;e and reject them? I pray you, examine, doth not your knowledge puffe you up that lifts you &s;o high as the pulpit, and higher yet in your own conceit and vain-boa&s;ting? this I am certain of, that if we do abu&s;e learning, you abu&s;e both it and us much more: (I &s;peak not here of your undervaluing, but &s;landering both:) while you &s;ay of learning it is Antichri&s;tian, an Idoll, and I know not what: and while you deceive the hearts of the people, by a bold and more &s;landerous per&s;wa|ding
<PB N="24" REF="26"> of them that we &s;ay, None may preach, unle&s;&s;e he comes f<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">om the Univer&s;ity, that all our calling lies in our learning: which things you your &s;elves either do or might know we de|ny; we do not &s;ay, beloved, that humane learning doth im|power, but <HI>enable</HI> to preach: it doth not make us <HI>Mini&s;ters</HI> (for that I &s;hall &s;hew you anon, we have by Ordination ac|cording to the Word) but <HI>able Mini&s;ters.</HI> Beloved, do not think that humane learning is an enemy to God, which is in|deed the <HI>chiefe&s;t</HI> outward <HI>ble&s;&s;ing</HI> of this life, it being not ob|nox<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ous to the <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg"><HI>Omnia mea mecum porto.</HI></NOTE> <HI>worlds violence</HI> as all other outward ble&s;&s;ings are, and &s;o neerer to <HI>grace.</HI> Think not humane learning is con|trary to truth, which the God of truth him&s;elf hath made &s;o much, and &s;uch honourable u&s;e, in all ages, of, for the mani|fe&s;tation of his truth unto the world: Con&s;ider the penmen of holy Scripture, and to whom among them, if it be &s;afe to make &s;uch a compari&s;on, are we mo&s;t beholding? and con|&s;ider whether they had not the benefit of humane learning. As for <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> that publike Mini&s;ter and honourable penman of the very <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">The Pro|phets are but expounders of the Law. <HI>Calvin.</HI></NOTE> theme and ground of the old Te&s;tament, he was learned in all the learning of the Egyptians: as for <HI>Solomon, I&s;aiah</HI> and <HI>Paul</HI> (to mention no more) who&s;e <HI>Songs, Prophe|cies</HI> and <HI>Epi&s;tles,</HI> you value above all the re&s;t of the Bible; had not the&s;e, all of them, the gift and ble&s;&s;ing of humane learning? <HI>Solomon,</HI> the wi&s;e&s;t of men, the greate&s;t <HI>Philo&s;opher</HI> that ever was, who writ from the Cedar to the I&s;op that growes upon the wall: <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> bred up at the Court, and had by his own con|f<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;ion the <HI>tongue of the learned:</HI> and who know's not that <HI>Paul</HI> was <HI>bred up at the feet of Gamaliel?</HI></P>
<P>There are three parts of humane learning that are judg'd <NOTE PLACE="marg">Three parts of humane learn|ing judg'd ex|pedient for a Divine.</NOTE> expedient to make a Mini&s;ter &s;uch a workman as needs not be a&s;hamed; <HI>Hi&s;tory, Tongues,</HI> and <HI>Arts,</HI> and the&s;e only &s;o far as they are <HI>nece&s;&s;ary helps for true under&s;tanding</HI> and expounding the <HI>Scripture,</HI> which is our <HI>onely text</HI> to preach upon: I do not &s;ay we have all the&s;e &s;o far as we &s;hould, yet this I &s;ay, that &s;o far as we want them, &s;o far we are <HI>workmen that had need be a&s;hamed;</HI> and tho&s;e that have attained a ripene&s;s in them, are the more to be commended and honoured, by how much the more they are fitter for their work thereby. 1. For <HI>History,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Hi&s;tory.</NOTE>
<PB N="25" REF="26"> the <HI>&s;tory of the Bible</HI> commends that to us, and not only in it &s;elf but <HI>in other hi&s;tories,</HI> be&s;ides it &s;elf, without which truly the hi&s;tory of the Bible, nor Prophecies, nor Promi&s;es, belong|ing to our times, can well, if at all, be under&s;tood. 2. For <HI>Arts,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Arts.</NOTE> we require no more then may &s;erve to an&s;wer the Apo&s;tles <HI>precepts</HI> before named, that a man that de&s;ires the <HI>office of a Bi&s;hop</HI> be able to <HI>convince gain&s;ayers, and apt to teach;</HI> which cannot, indeed, as experience proves in the&s;e times of ordina|ry acquiring abilities be gained and had without competent acquaintance with <HI>Logick</HI> and <HI>Rhetorick.</HI> 3. And la&s;tly for <NOTE PLACE="marg">3. Tongues.</NOTE> <HI>Tongues,</HI> I only de&s;ire you to think with your &s;elves, how it had been po&s;&s;ible for Apo&s;tles them&s;elves to have <HI>kept</HI> their commi&s;&s;ion, and <HI>preacht to all nations,</HI> as in <HI>Acts</HI> 2. unles they had had <HI>the gift of languages:</HI> and whether the gift of tongues be &s;uch a contemptible thing as you make it, if acqui|red, which we &s;ee God made (when in&s;pir'd) the great <HI>gospel miracle,</HI> and means for the tran&s;planting his Church from the <HI>Jew to the Gentiles?</HI> withall, how your &s;elves (your &s;elves may con&s;ider) would ever have enjoy'd the <HI>Bible</HI> in <HI>Engli&s;h,</HI> or un|der&s;tood of it, &s;o much as you do, had you not been beholding to the <HI>humane learning</HI> of other men for it.</P>
<P>Yea, my brethren, if you recollect, you may ea&s;ily remember <NOTE PLACE="marg">All which three the ad|ver&s;e partee had occa&s;ion to u&s;e in their di&s;pute at <HI>Wi|vili&s;comb.</HI></NOTE> that &s;en&s;ible experience &s;hew'd you the <HI>good</HI> and <HI>need</HI> of all three, at that one [late] conference with us at <HI>Wivili&s;combe:</HI> where your &s;elves had occa&s;ion to quote the <HI>Original:</HI> to retire to the &s;tate of our Churches in <HI>England</HI> for <HI>many years agon:</HI> and al&s;o to di&s;pute in <HI>form and method;</HI> which if you remem|ber not, above a thou&s;and of people I &s;uppo&s;e will for you: and which, if you remember, me thinks, &s;hould po&s;&s;e&s;s you with better conceit of humane learning in all its parts, of <HI>Hi|&s;tory, Tongues</HI> and <HI>Arts.</HI></P>
<P>A &s;econd particular that the eyes of men may look upon, <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Allowance of all the reform|ed Churches in the world.</NOTE> and &s;ee in us, and not in you; is of great weight, and is this; that we are <HI>members</HI> of, and allowed lawfull <HI>Mini&s;ters</HI> by a <HI>true</HI> Church, yea, and by <HI>all</HI> the <HI>Reformed Churches</HI> in the world. Then how can your <HI>bla&s;t</HI> po&s;&s;ibly <HI>hurt,</HI> or your <HI>pretences reach</HI> or equall us; when alas poor men, you are neither <HI>members</HI> of, nor <HI>allowed</HI> lawfull Mini&s;ters, by any one <HI>true</HI> Church, but
<PB N="26" REF="27"> have been condemn'd, and &s;ilenc'd, by the verdict of all the <HI>Churches</HI> and <HI>Councils</HI> that ever were.</P>
<P>I &s;ay, you are no members of a true Church; becau&s;e you <NOTE PLACE="marg">They are not &s;o much as members of particular, Nor of the u|niver&s;all vi&s;i|ble Church.</NOTE> have rent your &s;elves, by dangerous <HI>&s;chi&s;m,</HI> from all the <HI>refor|med Churches</HI> in the world: Be&s;ides, you are not in the <HI>uni|ver&s;al vi&s;ible Church:</HI> for why? you were indeed, but by <HI>re|nouncing your Bapti&s;m,</HI> you are again gone out of the <HI>door</HI> of that Church al&s;o: poor &s;ouls, you little imagine, of what <HI>dan|gerous</HI> con&s;equence, the renouncing of the ordinance of Ba|pti&s;m is, which was in due time admini&s;ter'd to you in a true <NOTE PLACE="marg">Much le&s;&s;e Mini&s;ters.</NOTE> Church, by a lawfull Mini&s;ter; for the bare repeating of it, by one that is neither a Mini&s;ter nor member of the true Church. O which way, can you then become true Mini&s;ters? or be al|lowed &s;o to be by any lawful Church? out this &s;hould &s;eem to be according to your principles, which is &s;o agreeable to many of your practices; I mean, to be Preachers before you are Chri&s;tians: there are two fellows, within our knowledge here, within a few miles of this place, that were publike preachers, (and one of them to my knowledge hath taken a Church, a Pari&s;h, a Pulpit upon him, for a long time,) and yet were not rebaptiz'd (though long before again&s;t Infant-bapti&s;m) till about a moneth ago: I do not affect to relate &s;uch &s;tories, but the pa&s;&s;age was &s;o full to my pre&s;ent purpo&s;e, though &s;o gro&s;s and ridiculous, I could not han&s;omely leave it out.) Then no wonder if all Chri&s;tian Churches and Chri&s;tian Councils re|nounce and condemn &s;uch unworthy preachers as you are; while we have the commendation, allowance, and liking of all the reformed Churches in the world, and may commend our &s;elves to you and to all people el&s;e, without vainglory, as <HI>judged worthy by the spirits of the Prophets, whom all the Churches of Chri&s;t &s;alute,</HI> a thing not &s;leighted by mode&s;t men.</P>
<P>A third particular that men may ju&s;tly look for in the Mi|ni&s;ters <NOTE PLACE="marg">3. A being fixed and &s;etled in the Church. 1. In place.</NOTE> of the Go&s;pel is, that they be <HI>fixt and &s;etled:</HI> and this may commend the Mini&s;ters of <HI>England</HI> above their <HI>oppo&s;ers,</HI> who are not fixt either with regard to <HI>place or time.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. With regard to place; we are fixed &s;tars in the hand of Chri&s;t, having our &s;tation and place in the body of the Church; every one knowing his particular people and flock, over
<PB N="27" REF="27"> which <HI>he is made an over &s;eer:</HI> while &s;ince the Apo&s;tolicall times, &s;uch a <HI>&s;teering, Mini&s;tery</HI> was never known, in a &s;etled Church not under per&s;ecution that could make a lawfull pre|&s;ident, for our wandering Comets, the&s;e itinerary ubiquitarian oppo&s;ers of ours.</P>
<P>Indeed a &s;etled Church of Chri&s;t may &s;ometimes appoint <NOTE PLACE="marg">Note.</NOTE> &s;ome able men (whom with &s;afety and prudence they may) to preach the Go&s;pel among the <HI>heathens:</HI> or upon &s;ome no|table exigence, and want of Mini&s;ters, in a <HI>true Church;</HI> that might bear the name and perform the Office of Itinerary Mi|ni&s;ters: yet in &s;uch an extraordinary ca&s;e as this, the&s;e men &s;hould be <HI>&s;ent</HI> by the Church, and have their <HI>bounds</HI> and limits too. But <HI>our Itineraries</HI> are without all <HI>order, bounds and cal|ling,</HI> but what they allow to them&s;elves, and never remember them&s;elves to be in a <HI>con&s;tituted Church,</HI> wherein indeed though the labourers be <HI>few,</HI> yet is there no &s;uch extraordinary need of <HI>&s;uch</HI> preachers as <HI>they.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. We are fit in regard of time, while they (in all ages that <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Of time.</NOTE> have known &s;uch men) have ri&s;en and fallen, ri&s;en and fallen, ri&s;en and fallen, like the proud incon&s;tant waves of the &s;ea in a &s;torm, raving, raging, roaring and da&s;hing again&s;t the rock the Church (the fixt and abiding foundation of our hou&s;e) untill they da&s;hed them&s;elves to pieces, <HI>fiaming out their own &s;hame,</HI> and fretting and cha&s;ing them&s;elves away into ayr and nothing: while the Church of Chri&s;t, and the &s;etled Mini&s;tery hath <HI>&s;tood as mount Sion that cannot be moved</HI> throughout both <HI>&s;torms and ages.</HI> The Scripture doth more then allude to the difference in hand, de&s;cribing <HI>them</HI> thus; <HI>fal&s;e prophess &s;hall a|ri&s;e;</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 12. 28.</NOTE> but the lawfull Mini&s;ters of the Go&s;pel thus; <HI>He hath &s;et them in the Church.</HI> 1. Fal&s;e prophets &s;hall <HI>ari&s;e,</HI> (i.) <HI>actively a|ri&s;e,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 3. 1 Joh. 4. 1.</NOTE> of their own accord rai&s;ing up them&s;elves; while the true ones are <HI>pa&s;&s;ive, &s;uch as the Lord God &s;hall rai&s;e upto us.</HI> Like to this is that other expre&s;&s;ion, <HI>there are many fal&s;e prophets</HI> gone <HI>out,</HI> of their own accord, <HI>running</HI> before they are <HI>&s;ent:</HI> while the true ones &s;tay for Commi&s;&s;ion and mi&s;&s;ion, for how &s;hall they preach except they be &s;ent, yea and thru&s;t out too &s;ometimes? 2. Fal&s;e prophets &s;hall <HI>ari&s;e</HI> (i.) from <HI>beneath:</HI> while the true ones with <HI>Paul</HI> have their call <HI>from Heaven,</HI> and
<PB N="28" REF="28"> come down from above, as <HI>Eliah</HI>'s mantle, and the <HI>gifts</HI> and ble&s;&s;ings of Chri&s;ts <HI>A&s;cen&s;ion.</HI> 3. Fal&s;e prophets <HI>&s;hall ari&s;e</HI> (i.) of a <HI>&s;udden</HI> and unexpectedly, while the true ones God hath <HI>&s;et</HI> (i.) <HI>fixt, po&s;uit,</HI> hath placed in the Church, to the end they <NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 4. Mat. 28. 20.</NOTE> may abide by the ble&s;&s;ing of his pre&s;ence, and fellow&s;hip with them, <HI>to the end of the World.</HI></P>
<P>Now let it be &s;uppo&s;ed that the &s;cale is even in other re|&s;pects, yet doubtle&s;s there's &s;omething of weight in this in the balance of rea&s;on indifferently carried: for who doth not va|lue &s;taid con&s;tancy, before uncertainty? up&s;tart novelty may plea&s;e the vulgar, while the old and &s;tanding truth will onely &s;atisfie &s;olid men.</P>
<P>The fourth and la&s;t particular thing I &s;hall mention here, that men may expect in the Preachers of the Word in a <HI>Chri|&s;tian</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Allowance and order from a Chri&s;tian Ma|gi&s;trate.</NOTE> <HI>Common-wealth, is allowance and order from the Chri|&s;tian Magi&s;trate:</HI> Which we have, and you have not: you know well enough that the Laws of the Land, and two Or|dinances of Parliament <HI>never yet repealed,</HI> are again&s;t you; &s;o that the di&s;orderly practice of publick preaching by men un|&s;ent, is is a <HI>breach of the Laws</HI> of the Land, which is manife&s;t &s;in by the Word of God, unle&s;&s;e the &s;ame word doth com|mand you to do what the Magi&s;trate forbids, which I am &s;ure you cannot, and think you dare not offer to prove: but as for us, the &s;etled Mini&s;tery of Chri&s;t in <HI>England,</HI> 'tis known to the world, we are own'd and authoriz'd by the Chri&s;tian Magi&s;trate, which is more my brethren, for the clearing of our call in a Chri&s;tian Common-wealth then you imagine; yea, that &s;omething is nece&s;&s;arily to be done by the Chri&s;tian Ma|gi&s;trate for the full and regular Ordination of Mini&s;ters, is jointly agreed on, both by <HI>Calveni&s;ts</HI> and <HI>Lutherans, Prala|tians, Presbyterians;</HI> and <HI>Ames</HI> the head of the Congregati|onall way: and certainly &s;uch as deny it, are in this particular no good friends to Mini&s;ters or Magi&s;trates, to make &s;uch a di&s;tance betwixt them: <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Caution. The particu|lars of a Mini|&s;ters regular call.</NOTE> but take heed, I &s;ay, not the power of ordaining is held by them, or by us, to lie in the Magi|&s;trates hands, yet they and we &s;ay, that in a Chri&s;tian Com|mon-wealth, &s;omething belongs to the Magi&s;trate to do, in order thereunto: the Lutherans whom you applaud &s;o much
<PB N="29" REF="28"> for the making of a full and regular ordination, Place &s;ome-what in the hands of all the three Orders, Cla&s;&s;es, or E&s;tates, (as they term them) <HI>viz.</HI> the Mini&s;tery, Magi&s;tracy, and peo|ple; <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Cura etiam us omuia</HI> (&s;peak|ing of the Mi|ni&s;ters call) <HI>rect&egrave; &s;iant, per|tinet ac Magi|&s;tratum,</HI> Ame&s;. <HI>de con&s;u. lib.</HI> 4. <HI>cap.</HI> 25. <HI>num.</HI> 27.</NOTE> and to the Mini&s;tery they give examination, ordination, and inauguration; to the Magi&s;trate nomination, pre&s;entati|on, confirmation; to the people con&s;ent, &s;uffrage, approving, or as circum&s;tances may require po&s;tulation: Not willing to give all to the Mini&s;ter with <HI>Papi&s;ts;</HI> to the Magi&s;trate with <HI>Era&s;tians;</HI> or to the people with <HI>Libertines, Anabapti&s;ts, Browni&s;ts,</HI> &amp;c. and to the purpo&s;e <HI>Ame&s;ius</HI> &s;peaks, who goes as far in this as we de&s;ire, for <HI>the care that all things</HI> (&s;aith he, touching ordination of Mini&s;ters he means) <HI>be done rightly, be|longs to the Magi&s;trate,</HI> who&s;e care and power doth contribute to us; and di&s;own you.</P>
<P>'Tis but vain to &s;ay, that this is to fetch our power from the earth, for we rather look on the favour of Magi&s;trates and their a&s;&s;i&s;tance, as a plain performance of that Go&s;pel-pro|mi&s;e, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 49. 23. <HI>And Kings &s;hall be thy nur&s;ing Fathers, and their Queens thy nur&s;ing Mothers;</HI> which I know not how can come better to pa&s;&s;e, then by their providing <HI>the &s;incere milk of the Word</HI> for us.</P>
<P>Now thus far we are come, having &s;tept beyond you four degrees into the approbation of indifferent men, we are found to have for our wartant in preaching what you have or allow, and over and above what may well be required by any other men: yet one thing remains of greater concernment then all the re&s;t: for further yet we excell you in this, that we have be&s;ides what the Word requires either to make or manife&s;t us true Mini&s;ters, the &s;um of the following Section.</P>
</DIV3>
<DIV3 N="3" TYPE="section">
<HEAD>SECT. III.</HEAD>
<P>And we are not allowed true Mini&s;ters only by our <HI>adver|&s;aries</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">We have what the Word re|quires.</NOTE> <HI>principles,</HI> by our own Congregations, by all the Re|formed Churches in the world, and by a Chri&s;tian Magi&s;tra|cy, as hath largely been &s;hewed, but by the <HI>Word of God</HI> be|&s;ides; we having whatever the Word requires to make us Mi|ni&s;ters, or to evidence us &s;uch. <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. To make us Mini&s;ters.</NOTE></P>
<P>We have fir&s;t, what&s;oever the Word requires to make us
<PB N="30" REF="29"> Mini&s;ters, <HI>viz. Ordination according to the Word of God:</HI> now <NOTE PLACE="marg">The nature of Ordination.</NOTE> that this may appear, I &s;hall briefly unfold the <HI>nature</HI> of Go|&s;pel-ordination of Mini&s;ters; and for that end, I pitch on, and de&s;ire you to turn to that of <HI>Act.</HI> 13. 1, 2, 3. where we &s;hall learn two things. 1. What the nature of Ordination is. 2. In who&s;e hands the power of ordaining lies.</P>
<P>2. <HI>Ordination</HI> is de&s;cribed here with re&s;pect to its &s;ub&s;tance; and &s;o it is a <HI>&s;eparating,</HI> v. 2. or a <HI>&s;ending,</HI> v. 3. as al&s;o, with re|&s;pect to its <HI>Ceremonies,</HI> v. 3. which are <HI>fa&s;ting and prayer, and laying on of hands:</HI> Now from both the&s;e we have this Rule.</P>
<P><HI>That ordinary Go&s;pel-ordaining of Mini&s;ters is a &s;acred &s;e|parating and &s;etting them apart for the work of the Mini&s;tery, which ought to be &s;olemniz'd, and di&s;tinctly &s;ignified by fa&s;ting and prayer, and laying on of hands.</HI> Concerning which I lay down the&s;e rules.</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>This Ordination is more or le&s;&s;e nece&s;&s;ary, the more or le&s;&s;e</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Rules touch|ing the nece&s;|&s;ity of Ordina|tion.</NOTE> <HI>the means thereof may be had.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>Therefore it is not &s;imply nece&s;&s;ary, or with a nece&s;&s;ity of means, as if in no ca&s;e a man might be made a Mini&s;ter with|out it.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. <HI>Yet it is nece&s;&s;ary,</HI> &s;ecundum quid, <HI>by Apo&s;tolicall in&s;tru|ction.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. <HI>Whole Ordination is of nece&s;&s;ity required in a con&s;tituted Church, on the Ordainers part, not on the part of the per&s;on or|dained,</HI> I mean, though God requires they ob&s;erve his rule in ordaining, yet the omi&s;&s;ion of &s;ome circum&s;tances doth not null the &s;ub&s;tance of any ordination had without them: upon this Rule, <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">M. <HI>Seaman In talibus non e&s;t aliquid ite|randum,</HI> &s;aith a Canon of the Papi&s;ts them&s;elves. Note. Becau&s;e <HI>Calvi|nists</HI> and <HI>Lu|therans</HI> place &s;o much in a Chri&s;tian Ma|gi&s;trate.</NOTE> the <HI>edification of the Church is &s;o nece&s;&s;ary that it mu&s;t be endeavoured as providence makes way:</HI> and I had rather have the &s;ub&s;tance only, <HI>viz. a &s;etting apart by law|full Mini&s;ters authoriz'd thereto by the Civill Magistrate, with|out the other convenient ceremonies; then to have full Ordination, both &s;ub&s;tance and ceremonies from men not allowed by publike Authority.</HI></P>
<P N="5">5. <HI>We mu&s;t then di&s;tingui&s;h betwixt the &s;ub&s;tance and cere|monies of Ordination; and then we &s;ay, that the &s;ub&s;tance which I take to be neer the &s;ame with vocation, is far more nece&s;&s;ary then</HI>
<PB N="31" REF="29"> <HI>the circum&s;tance of fasting, and prayer, and impo&s;ition of hands.</HI></P>
<P N="6">6. <HI>The &s;ub&s;tance of Ordination is ab&s;olutely nece&s;&s;ary to make a Mini&s;ter a lawfull Pa&s;tor to any particular flock; though not &s;o, to licence a mans teaching to heathens out of a Church:</HI> for &s;uppo&s;e the highe&s;t ca&s;e: a company of Chri&s;tians are ca&s;t upon the &s;hore among heathens, and there is no returning for them to the true Church again: one of the&s;e may be made Pa&s;tor and over&s;eer to the Church none doubt; but how? it mu&s;t be by the calling of the re&s;t, whereby they &s;eparate him for the work, which is the &s;ub&s;tance of <HI>Ordination;</HI> and without the &s;ame no man among them may <HI>take that honour unto him&s;elf.</HI></P>
<P><HI>All the&s;e ceremonies of Ordination are to be gladly received,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">The nece&s;&s;ity of impo&s;ition of hands in &s;ome re&s;pects, either for or|ders &s;ake or to avoid &s;candal, is acknowled|ged by the&s;e Prote&s;tant Di|vines who make lea&s;t ac|count of lay|ing on of hands. M. <HI>Sea|man,</HI> p. 74. Note. Our Ordination is &s;uch as the word holds out.</NOTE> <HI>when they may be had and readily &s;ubmitted to, not as the practice but the plain in&s;titution of the ble&s;&s;ed Apo&s;tles; and that that therefore will render a mans call into the Mini&s;tery mo&s;t clear from &s;candall or any touch of offence.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e Rules I doubt not, to lay before you as the <HI>conclu&s;ions of Prote&s;tant Divines,</HI> and very much favoured by holy Scrip|ture, which would ea&s;ily appear, &s;hould I not exceed the bounds of a Sermon.</P>
<P>Now as the&s;e do keep the middle way 'twixt Papi&s;ts (uphol|ding the ab&s;olute nece&s;&s;ity of Ordination in all ca&s;es) and <HI>So|cinians</HI> and <HI>Anabapti&s;ts,</HI> that deny it to be any way nece&s;&s;ary at all: &s;o do they allow and maintain the lawfullne&s;&s;e of out Or|dination and calling to the Word of the Mini&s;tery, both now and heretofore in the Church of <HI>England;</HI> being no other but what is mo&s;t clearly and evidently gathered from the Text be|fore us, this <HI>Act.</HI> 13. 2, 3. with many other places.</P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="Object."> But how &s;hall we know that the way of ordaining in the text is the ordinary way for the Churches of Chri&s;t to walk in, &s;ince the per&s;ons ordained &s;eem to us to be extraordinary men, <HI>Bar|nabas and Paul?</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="An&s;w."> That very thing proves it: for if both the&s;e men had a call <HI>extraordinary</HI> before: this their call then, mu&s;t needs be <HI>ordina|ry:</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">The Ordina|tion of <HI>Barna|bas</HI> and <HI>Paul</HI> was ordinary.</NOTE> which is more plain too, if we con&s;ider the work is the <HI>work</HI> of ordinary Mini&s;ters hereunto they are called, <HI>viz.</HI> to preach, <HI>ver.</HI> 5. and to ordain others, <HI>cap.</HI> 14. 23. they having an extra|ordinary
<PB N="32" REF="30"> call before, that need not be repeated; but they be|ing to be &s;ent about the work of ordinary Officers; they have therefore moreover an ordinary call and Ordination confer'd, as a Rule for the practice of &s;uceeding Churches to the end of the world.</P>
<P>2. If we doubt of the meaning of the Text, let us weigh and con&s;ider its interpretation in the practice of the Primitive Chur|ches afterwards, as al&s;o of all the Churches of Chri&s;t &s;ince tho&s;e daies; for the practice of both doth undoubtedly conclude that this was ordinary Ordination: but the doubt lies not touching the practice of future Churches; for that's without doubt, that all the Records of former Churches &s;ince the Apo&s;tles mention <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Nos enim</HI> (&s;ai. h <HI>Tarno.</HI> of the bu&s;ine&s;s in hand) <HI>nece&s;|&s;arium exi&s;ti|onamus &s;ecun|dum quid, nimi|rum quia citra &s;candalum omit|ti hodi&egrave; non po|te&s;t, qui tot annos in eccle&s;i&acirc; ufita|tus fuit.</HI></NOTE> no other Ordination but this: and though this hath much weight in it doubtle&s;&s;e, and nothing le&s;&s;e then pre&s;umption will offer to que&s;tion the uninterrupted practice of the Churches through|out all ages, &s;ince the primitive times yet let us con&s;ider, Was it not &s;o al&s;o from the beginning? do we reade of any other Or|dination in the Primitive Churches but this? Did not <HI>Paul</HI> and <HI>Barnabas</HI> ordain others in the &s;ame manner? <HI>Act.</HI> 14. 23. Did not <HI>Paul</HI> charge <HI>Timothy</HI> with the &s;ame order, (the negative command containing an affirmative) when he &s;aid, <HI>Lay hands &s;uddenly on no man,</HI> 1 Tim. 5, 22? and did not the Apo&s;tles take the &s;ame cour&s;e in <HI>Act.</HI> 6?</P>
<P>Indeed, the Scripture &s;peaks more carele&s;ly of the Ceremo|nies <NOTE PLACE="marg">Note.</NOTE> of it; in &s;ome places taking no notice of one, nor in &s;ome, of another, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> though we cannot thence argue they were o|mitted; and all that we can gather from &s;uch a non-mentioning of them, is this, that the Ceremonies &s;eem to be of weaker nece&s;|&s;ity then the &s;ub&s;tance of our call, which is &s;till mo&s;t carefully noted and expre&s;&s;ed by the holy Gho&s;t in every place, that men|tions any thing of Ordination; by the <HI>&s;ub&s;tance</HI> I mean here as before, <HI>a &s;olemn &s;eparating and &s;etting apart</HI> by the Church for the work of the Mini&s;tery: but however, unle&s;&s;e you can &s;hew us &s;ome place of Scripture where this way of Ordination by fa&s;ting and prayer, and laying on of hands, is forbidden, or where another way or cour&s;e is appointed and u&s;ed? we may not &s;afe|ly lay a&s;ide the old, much le&s;&s;e pre&s;ume to invent a new: alas! what harm or danger is there in fa&s;ting and praier? the mo&s;t hap|py
<PB N="33" REF="30"> Chri&s;tian means to &s;olemnize and &s;peed an important bu&s;i|ne&s;&s;e? or in laying on of hands; who&s;e three u&s;es in Scripture <NOTE PLACE="marg">Gen. 48 14, 20</NOTE> concurre and meet in ordaining Mini&s;ters, <HI>viz. ble&s;&s;ing,</HI> <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Num. 8. 12.</NOTE> <HI>con&s;e|crating, and &s;etting apart</HI> unto an office.</P>
<P>So much for the <HI>nature</HI> of Ordination it &s;elf, now follows the <NOTE PLACE="marg">Per&s;ons or|daining.</NOTE> con&s;ideration of the <HI>per&s;ons</HI> in who&s;e hands the power of ordai|ning lies.</P>
<P>Who are either <HI>principall</HI> (according to the Text) or <HI>mini&s;te|riall.</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. Principall, the holy Gho&s;t.</NOTE></P>
<P>The <HI>principall</HI> per&s;on <HI>ordaining</HI> here, is the <HI>holy Ghost:</HI> touch|ing who&s;e act in this bu&s;ine&s;&s;e, the Text affords two expre&s;&s;ions; the one before, the other after the <HI>mediate Ordination</HI> of the Church: the fir&s;t, we have in <HI>ver.</HI> 2. the <HI>holy Gho&s;t</HI> &s;aid, <HI>&s;eparate me Barnabas and Saul</HI> for the work, whereunto <HI>I have called them.</HI> Whence we note.</P>
<P><HI>That an inward or &s;ecret call by the holy Gho&s;t is not enough, ac|cording</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;erv.</HI> 1.</NOTE> <HI>to the order and rule of the Go&s;pel, but requires for the regular making a Mini&s;ter, the formall Ordination of the Church be&s;ides.</HI> Or,</P>
<P><HI>Whom the holy Ghost doth call to be Mini&s;ters, he doth hint to the Church to be ordained.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2"> The &s;econd expre&s;&s;ion that di&s;covers the finger of the holy Gho&s;t here, we have (immediately after the Churches Ordinati|on, <HI>ver.</HI> 3.) in ver. 4. &s;o they being &s;ent forth by the <HI>holy Gho&s;t,</HI> Whence,</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="3"> <HI>Tho&s;e that be ordained according to the Rule by the Church of Chri&s;t, may be &s;aid to be &s;ent by the holy Gho&s;t: And when they hed fa&s;ted and prayed, and laid their hands on them,</HI> they &s;ent them away; and the very next words, are <HI>v.</HI> 4. &s;o they <HI>being &s;ent by the holy Gho&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>2. The <HI>Ministeriall</HI> per&s;ons &s;ending or ordaining here, you <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Mini&s;te|riall ordinary teaching El|ders.</NOTE> have de&s;cribed in <HI>ver,</HI> 3. <HI>Such as mini&s;tred to the Lord,</HI> by office, <HI>Mini&s;ters:</HI> and <HI>nam'd,</HI> ver&s;. 1. 1. From their Offices, Certain Prophets and Teachers. 2. By their proper names, <HI>Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, and Saul.</HI> The&s;e were mini&s;tring, <HI>the&s;e</HI> were &s;poke to by the holy Gho&s;t, <HI>the re&s;t fa&s;ted and prayed, and laid on their hands on Barnabas and Saul, and &s;ent them away.</HI> So then, the <HI>per&s;ons ordaining</HI> here, were <HI>Prophets and Teach|ers;</HI>
<PB N="34" REF="31"> which names do &s;ignifie their offices, and are in this place <HI>&s;y<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">nimous,</HI> as <HI>Marlorat</HI> judgeth: mark then, they are not cal|led <HI>Apo&s;tles</HI> to confute the Papi&s;t: nor yet can they be the body of the people without any Officers, to &s;ilence the Anabapti&s;ts, Browni&s;ts, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> the power of ordaining lies then in the hands of <HI>Prophets and Teachers:</HI> of ordinary <HI>teachers</HI> as well as of extra|ordinary Prophets, el&s;e it would have been &s;aid, that the Prophets onely laid hands on them: yea, of Prophets, not as &s;uch, but as they were <HI>Teachers</HI> (the greater ever con|taining the le&s;&s;e) for as we never finde that it was proper to <HI>Prophets,</HI> as &s;o, to ordain; &s;o nor as extraordinary Officers onely, for then Ordination had cea&s;ed with extraordinary Officers, which would gratifie the Seeker too much. Therefore it is &s;aid both Prophets and Teachers, to intimate to us that Teachers and ordinary Officers have a &s;tewardly power of Or|dination, and Prophets, as <HI>&s;upplying the place, and doing the office of ordinary Teachers,</HI> that are to &s;ucceed to the end of the world, <HI>Eph.</HI> 4. Whence the note and Ob&s;ervation is,</P>
<P>That the power of &s;ending or ordaining Mini&s;ters lies in the <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Ob&s;erv.</HI></NOTE> <HI>hands of ordinary Officers, as &s;tewards of it:</HI> not in the hands of <NOTE PLACE="marg">Five Argu|ments to prove the power of Ordaining in the hands of ordinary Offi|cers.</NOTE> Apo&s;tles only; not in the hands of the people, ordinarily; for which I &s;hall but name five Arguments, two of which I hinted in the clearing of the Text.</P>
<P N="1">1. If the power of ordaining had lain in the hands of ex|trordinary Officers only, there had been no way left for the perpetuation of a Go&s;pel-Mini&s;tery, which Chri&s;t hath re&s;olv'd to continue in the world to the end thereof.</P>
<P N="2">2. If Teachers had power to ordain, then ordinary Offi|cers had power to ordain, for Teaches were ordinary Officers, <HI>Eph.</HI> 4.</P>
<P>But Teachers we &s;ee in the Text, had power to ordain: <HI>Erg&ograve;.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. If men, by vertue, and with and in their own Ordination, receive power to ordain; then ordinary Mini&s;ters have power to ordain, for they are ordain'd. But men by vertue, and in and with their own Ordination, receive power and au|thority to ordain others; as appears abundantly, <HI>As my Father &s;ent me, &s;o &s;end I you,</HI> &s;aith Chri&s;t, this &s;eems to be &s;po|ken
<PB N="35" REF="31"> in an&s;wer to &s;ecret Objections which the Apo&s;tles made again&s;t their call to preach the Go&s;pel: as if they had &s;aid by what authority do or may we preach? why, do not doubt &s;aies Chri&s;t, <HI>My Father &s;ent me, and in his &s;ending me he gave me Au|thority to &s;end others;</HI> As he &s;ent me, &s;o I &s;ay, or by that, I had power to &s;end you, and give you power to &s;end others: He &s;ent me to preach and ordain, I &s;end you to preach and ordain: and do you &s;end others to <HI>preach and ordain,</HI> &amp;c. therefore we finde the Apo&s;tles executing their Commi&s;&s;ion accordingly along, as occa&s;ion requires. <HI>Paul</HI> &s;ends <HI>Timothy, Titus,</HI> &amp;c. bid|ding them <HI>ordain:</HI> and &s;o &s;ucce&s;&s;ively to the end of the world: which thing is mo&s;t plain in the Text we are upon, with regard to the per&s;ons ordaining and ordained: Per&s;ons ordaining are <HI>Prophets</HI> and <HI>Teachers:</HI> and per&s;ons ordained in this <HI>ordinary</HI> &s;ending what power receive they? they are &s;ent 'tis mo&s;t ap|parent by an ordinary &s;ending, and what to do I pray you? why to preach <HI>ver.</HI> 5. and to <HI>ordain Elders</HI> in every Church, <HI>c.</HI> 13. 23. clearly intimating, that <HI>Ministers by their very Ordination have power to ordain as well as to preach.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. <HI>If a Presbytery have power to ordain, then ordinary Mini|&s;ters have power to ordain:</HI> for a Presbytery is nothing but a Colledge-combination or company of Presbyters or ordinary Mini&s;ters. But a Presbytery hath power to ordain, for <HI>Timo|thy</HI> was ordained by the laying on of the hands of the Presby|tery.</P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="Object."> But there were Apo&s;tles in the&s;e Presbyteries. </P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="An&s;w."> What if? this &s;trengthens the Argument if rightly con&s;ider|ed: for if it was counted an act of the Presbytery when Apo|&s;tles were there, it appears that the Apo&s;tles joyning with ordi|nary Elders, acted <HI>as Elders</HI> and not as <HI>Apostles</HI> or extraordi|nary Officers: there being Apo&s;tles in the Presbytery that doeth ordain, and yet Ordination is &s;aid to be done <HI>by the Presbytery,</HI> cleerly &s;hews, that Ordination is a <HI>proper act</HI> of an ordinary Presbytery, and not of Apo&s;tles as <HI>&s;o;</HI> and to make it out of doubt, Ordination is defin'd in that text to be <HI>the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery.</HI> But this hands me to another Argu|ment.</P>
<P N="5">5. If ordinary Officers had a hand in Ordination in <HI>Apo&s;tles</HI>
<PB N="36" REF="32"> <HI>times;</HI> much more and &s;afer may they ordain, now there are no extraordinary Officers among us. The <HI>minor</HI> implied is already proved: and for the con&s;equence, I &s;ay, <HI>much more:</HI> but how &s;o? why, becau&s;e <HI>(&agrave; pari) the people,</HI> where there are no Mini&s;ters to do their work, have <HI>power to Ordain,</HI> by the warrant of nece&s;&s;i|ty: then much more <HI>ordinary Mini&s;ters</HI> may: now there are none extraordinary left, if they <HI>as &s;o,</HI> had a hand in Ordination; by the like warrant and law of nece&s;&s;ity. And now that that con|firms me about all doubting touching the Ordination of ordi|nary Officers, is the <HI>practice of the primitive Churches,</HI> next the Apo&s;tles, and &s;o down along, through all ages and Churches to this day, without interruption or contradiction, unle&s;s by a few incon&s;iderable men as the <HI>Seekers</HI> are.</P>
<P>Thus we have &s;hew'd what Go&s;pel Ordination is, and in <NOTE PLACE="marg">Conclu&s;ion.</NOTE> who&s;e hands the power of ordaining lies; <HI>it is a &s;etting men a|part with fa&s;ting and prayer, and laying on of hands by preaching Elders:</HI> which is indeed in every jot and title of it, the very &s;ame with the Ordination allow'd and practic'd in the <HI>Church of England</HI> time out of mind. The <HI>additional Ceremonies, and har&s;h Oaths,</HI> are taken away, and we now have nothing left but <HI>pure Ordination according to the word:</HI> &s;o that the <HI>word doth allow</HI> us lawfull Mini&s;ters, becau&s;e we have what the <HI>word requires to make us &s;o.</HI></P>
<P><HI>Obj.</HI> To &s;ay we were ordained by Bi&s;hops, is not worth the while: for &s;till there were ordinary Presbyters joyned with them, and they them&s;elves were no more but ordinary Presby|ters, though they thought them&s;elves more: their <HI>thought could not add one cubit to their &s;tature,</HI> whom neither Church nor State did ever declare to be a &s;uperior Order to other Presby|ters. But for this I refer you to M^r <HI>Seaman,</HI> who hath given five An&s;wers to this very Objection; every one of which are &s;o &s;ound and &s;olid, that they are &s;ingle and apart from each other, abundantly &s;atisfying. See <GAP DESC="foreign">. p. 85.</P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="Object."> But the great Objection yet remains, <HI>viz.</HI> That we mu&s;t needs be Antichri&s;tian, becau&s;e by a <HI>line of &s;ucce&s;&s;ion</HI> we de&s;cended from Antichri&s;t: this indeed is all they have to &s;ay again&s;t our Mini&s;tery.</P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="An&s;w."> There are two <HI>knots</HI> in the <HI>line</HI> of <HI>&s;ucce&s;&s;ion</HI> of the Go&s;pel-Mini&s;tery
<PB N="37" REF="32"> to our times: The fir&s;t is, as it pa&s;&s;eth the <HI>bounds</HI> of the <HI>Apo&s;tles daies,</HI> and this the <HI>Seekers</HI> tie: but we have alrea|dy di&s;&s;olved it. The other is, in the pa&s;&s;age of it, from the <HI>Church of Rome</HI> to the reformed Churches, as it lies in this ob|jection, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Four Argu|ments to cleer the &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of Ordination.</NOTE> made by <HI>Browni&s;ts,</HI> Anabapti&s;ts, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> which I &s;hall now untie; I &s;hall touch but four <HI>Arguments</HI> (for I am in ha&s;t) every of which experience hath proved very effectuall.</P>
<P N="1">1. I judge it a truth, not to be que&s;tion'd, that there hath been certain Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t in the world, ever &s;ince there were any: and more certain it is, that there were <HI>true Mini&s;ters in the Church of Rome,</HI> when our fir&s;t Reformers began to think of breaking off from her: for <HI>there was conver&s;ion there,</HI> el&s;e God <HI>would not have had a people there;</HI> and conver&s;ion is the work of <HI>&s;ent</HI> Mini&s;ters, <HI>Rom.</HI> 10. 14, 15. now can any man in rea&s;on think, that tho&s;e that for&s;ook both <HI>Rome</HI> and her har|lotry, and obey'd that known command of God, and <HI>come out from Rome,</HI> were not the <HI>be&s;t</HI> of the Mini&s;ters there, and &s;o by con&s;equence the Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t, if there were <HI>any,</HI> which may not be doubted? Yea therefore remarkeable providence did &s;eal to their Mini&s;tery immediately, upon their leaving <HI>Rome,</HI> being u&s;ed by God to preach that doctrine and pre&s;&s;e that command, <HI>Come out of her my people:</HI> and to prevail with a great number to follow their &s;teps and leave the whore. And when God by them had drawn his people into the <HI>wilderne&s;&s;e,</HI> he did feed them there by the <HI>&s;ame Pa&s;tors, Rev.</HI> 12. 6, and 14. which helps me to conclude, that <HI>as the best of the members leaving Rome were owned by God for the true Church; &s;o the fir&s;t of the Mini&s;ters leaving Rome, were acknowledged by God for the true Ministery, every man abiding in that calling wherein he was cal|led,</HI> whether members or Mini&s;ters.</P>
<P N="2">2. Again, It is not &s;o much as que&s;tion'd, but that our fir&s;t re|formers had an <HI>inward</HI> Call; and if their <HI>outward</HI> call be que|&s;tion'd, it is no great matter, &s;ince both <HI>we</HI> and our <HI>adver&s;aries</HI> agree in this, that in &s;uch a &s;trait and a ca&s;e &s;o <HI>extraordinary</HI> as that was, the people are <HI>bound</HI> to <HI>chu&s;e and call</HI> a Mini&s;ter; and theirs is <HI>valid,</HI> no man doubts, in &s;uch a ca&s;e; and therefore the Call of our fir&s;t Reformers may not be que&s;tioned by our op|ponents any more, untill they leave their <HI>Principles,</HI> &s;ince it was <HI>confirmed</HI> by <HI>God</HI> and the Church.</P>
<PB N="38" REF="33">
<P> But as to their <HI>outward Call</HI> receiv'd in <HI>Rome,</HI> there may be <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Rome</HI> not An|tichri&s;t, before the Councel of <HI>Trent:</HI> though Antichri&s;tian, not wholly &s;o.</NOTE> more &s;aid than you can An&s;wer, and that is this, That <HI>Rome</HI> was not &s;o far <HI>Antichri&s;tian</HI> then, but that &s;he had &s;ome of the Ordinances of the <HI>true,</HI> though not <HI>pure;</HI> and that though &s;he had plaid the Harlot before, yet &s;he had not an expre&s;&s;e and ab|&s;olute divorce till the Councel of <HI>Trent.</HI> When &s;he by a pub|lick deliberate Councel di&s;-own'd and razed the fundamentals of Religion, which &s;he had not done before: that that makes me of this mind is, <HI>Rome</HI> we &s;ay, <HI>was not built in a day,</HI> <MILESTONE N="1" UNIT="Rea&s;."> The <HI>My&s;terie of iniquity,</HI> that <HI>di&s;ea&s;e</HI> of <HI>Rome</HI> had its <HI>ri&s;e</HI> and <HI>in|crea&s;e</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Becau&s;e <HI>Rome</HI> was not at her height of &s;in, till that Coun|cel.</NOTE> before its <HI>&s;tate:</HI> and &s;o far its certain, that &s;he was not at her <HI>height,</HI> before this deadly and de&s;perate <HI>fit</HI> of the Councel of <HI>Trent,</HI> as appears,</P>
<P>1. Becau&s;e tho&s;e gro&s;&s;e <HI>fundamentall errours</HI> that are now &s;o firmly laid in the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> by the Councell of <HI>Trent,</HI> and which carrieth &s;o great a &s;troak in the <HI>&s;eating</HI> of <NOTE PLACE="marg">Which appears becau&s;e there was never &s;o many and dan|gerous Here|&s;ies decreed be|fore the Coun|cel of <HI>Trent.</HI></NOTE> Antichri&s;t <HI>there;</HI> were not only complained of, declaimed a|gain&s;t by private &s;ingle Mini&s;ters, both in their Preaching and Printing, but di&s;owned by <HI>Decrees</HI> made again&s;t the mo&s;t dan|gerous of them by <HI>publick Coun&s;els:</HI> and we do hardly read of any former <HI>Coun&s;el,</HI> that did not onely not <HI>e&s;tabli&s;h</HI> all the Errors or the gro&s;&s;e&s;t of the Errors of the Coun&s;el of Trent; but that on the contrary did expre&s;&s;ely declare again&s;t &s;ome one or more of the very wor&s;t of them. There are &s;ix chief or <HI>Car|dinal</HI> Errors of the Church of <HI>Rome, The Popes &s;upremacie;</HI> the <HI>dividing of the Bread and Wine</HI> in the Sacrament; allowing the people no Wine: the <HI>Wor&s;hipping of Images,</HI> the <HI>denyall of the Bible</HI> to the common people, <HI>Ju&s;tification by works,</HI> and <HI>beleeving of Traditions.</HI> Now the&s;e <HI>&s;ix</HI> were never e&s;tabli|&s;hed together by any Councel, but the <HI>Councel of Trent.</HI> Ye<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">,</P>
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. The <HI>Popes Supremacie</HI> was decree'd <HI>again&s;t</HI> by the Coun|cels of <HI>Calcedon, Affrick, Milevi, Con&s;tantinople,</HI> and <HI>Ba&s;il.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>2. <HI>Communicating in both kinds</HI> was decreed by the <HI>Coun|cel of Ba&s;il,</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. The <HI>Divine Wor&s;hipping of Images</HI> was forbidden in the &s;econd <HI>Nicen Councel.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>4. The <HI>Councel of Nice</HI> decreed, that <HI>no Chri&s;tian &s;hould be without a Bible.</HI></ITEM>
<PB N="39" REF="33">
<ITEM> 5. And <HI>Thomas</HI> an acknowledged writer of the Roman faith in his time, denieth <HI>Ju&s;tification by works,</HI> Ceremoniall or Mo|rall.</ITEM>
<ITEM>6. And we were never bound or commanded to <HI>beleeve tra|dition</HI> untill the Councel of <HI>Trent</HI> decreed it.</ITEM>
</LIST>
<P>Now while <HI>Rome</HI> declared again&s;t, or had not by councel de|creed any one of the&s;e errours, &s;ure &s;he was not at &s;uch a pitch of here&s;ie, or &s;o deeply died with Antichri&s;tiani&s;m, as now &s;he is made by the councell of <HI>Trent;</HI> where they are all and ma|ny more ratified as firm as hell can make them: yea, very much of Antichri&s;tiani&s;m was brought to <HI>Rome</HI> with the la&s;t of the&s;e errours touching tradition, which &s;he had not before the coun|cell of <HI>Trent;</HI> for the Church is built upon the foundation of the Apo&s;tles and Prophets, the Scriptures: and what doth wea|ken the Scripture more, and con&s;equently the foundation of the Church more then making tradition (contrary to it) a compart|ner with it in the Churches faith? e&s;pecially, if we adde the a|bu&s;e of originals; (the <HI>Greek and Hebrew</HI> Text) preferring the latin corruption above them: which was with &s;uch &s;trictne&s;&s;e and weight impo&s;ed by the <HI>Councel of Trent,</HI> and never before, <NOTE PLACE="marg">The conclu&s;i|on of the fir&s;t Argument.</NOTE> with the deniall of the vulgar to reade it. Now Phy&s;icians do not count a di&s;ea&s;e in its &s;tate untill it have reigned to its full height: and therefore how to condemn the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> as wholly Antichri&s;tian before <HI>Trent</HI> councel, I cannot &s;ee; the di&s;ea&s;e was daily encrea&s;ing upon her, &s;he &s;eemed not however to be at the <HI>height,</HI> or <HI>mortally</HI> &s;ick before: for from what hath been &s;aid, the councell of <HI>Trent</HI> did de&s;perately wound the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> in three re&s;pects.</P>
<P N="1">1. <HI>In that it did heighten and multiply her damnable er|rours.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>In that it did draw all the poy&s;on into one entire mon&s;ter</HI> and body of errour, and pre&s;ented it all to the world as the doctrine of the Church.</P>
<P N="3">3. In that the&s;e were more &s;olemnly, &s;eriou&s;ly, deliberately, publikely, by the pretended <HI>repre&s;entative of the whole Church,</HI> as the <HI>work of years</HI> delivered, ratified, as the <HI>perpetuall</HI> doctrine of the Church: which made the <HI>errors rather the errors of Rome,</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Note.</NOTE> <HI>though many particular per&s;ons were against, then if all the mem|bers
<PB N="40" REF="34"> of the Church of Rome had held the &s;ame apart,</HI> that is, <HI>without a councell.</HI></P>
<P>My &s;econd Argument to prove, that <HI>Rome</HI> was not at the <NOTE PLACE="marg">Becau&s;e there were &s;trange mottions to|wards Refor|mation in <HI>Rome</HI> before, and &s;omewhat effe|ctuall.</NOTE> &s;tate or height of this her di&s;ea&s;e, till the <HI>Councell of Trent</HI> is taken from her &s;trange motions all along after Reformation; every age almo&s;t complained of abu&s;es in <HI>doctrine</HI> and <HI>di&s;ci|pline,</HI> and were &s;o urgent and impetuous, that they prevail'd to have a councell cal'd; for to advi&s;e about a <HI>Reformation,</HI> and every councell before this la&s;t, for ought I can finde, did &s;ome good: and this very wicked councell, the councell of <HI>Trent</HI> it &s;elf was occa&s;ioned by <HI>univer&s;all and potent</HI> complaints of cor|ruption and errour: and &s;uch was the power of the better people, that the malignant party were forc'd to yeeld, to call a coun&s;ell, on which there lay great hopes, being called indeed upon faire&s;t pretences: this I would inferre from hence, that God had not wholly ca&s;t <HI>Rome</HI> off: who doth not leave <NOTE PLACE="marg">The conclu|&s;ion.</NOTE> while and where there is any the lea&s;t appearance of hope, of which it &s;eems there was not a little in the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> till the Councel of <HI>Trent.</HI></P>
<P>A &s;econd Argument to prove that there might be &s;omething <NOTE PLACE="marg">A &s;econd Ar|gument that <HI>Rome</HI> was a true Church till the Coun|cel of <HI>Trent</HI> at lea&s;t.</NOTE> of Chri&s;t in <HI>Rome,</HI> that &s;he was not wholly Antichri&s;tian, and no true Church, till the <HI>Councel of Trent;</HI> is taken from the con|ce&s;&s;ions of mo&s;t of our <HI>Adver&s;aries</HI> in this thing: the Brow|ni&s;ts mo&s;t of them acknowledge that the <HI>Church of Rome</HI> had true Bapti&s;m, and &s;ome of them (as <HI>John&s;on,</HI> &amp;c. held, they had true <HI>Ordination</HI> too: and &s;uch as broke off from <HI>Rome,</HI> had not any need of the Repetition of either: Now let us con&s;ider, could there be true and valid Ordinances in a Church, that was <HI>true in no respect?</HI> could there (do we think) be Ordinances of Chri&s;t, in a Church that was wholly Antichri&s;t? Suppo&s;e the Church of Turks &s;hould <HI>baptize, In the Name of the Father, Son, and holy Gho&s;t,</HI> were that true Bapti&s;m if not, then a difference mu&s;t be made betwixt the Bapti&s;m of <HI>Rome</HI> and that: and if &s;o, where lies the difference but in the Church? and what is the dif|ference, but that one is more, Chri&s;tian then another? and then there is granted &s;ome Chri&s;tiani&s;m, and not all Antichri&s;tiani&s;m in the Church of <HI>Rome:</HI> and &s;he was, at lea&s;t, before that wretched Councel of <HI>Trent,</HI> a Church of Chri&s;t.</P>
<PB N="41" REF="34">
<P> Now my conclu&s;ion hence is this, That if it be granted, that <NOTE PLACE="marg">Conclu&s;ion.</NOTE> <HI>Rome</HI> was a true (though wicked) Church, before the <HI>Coun|cel of Trent</HI> &s;ate, then our fir&s;t Reformers had a lawfull out|ward call, a lawfull Ordination unto the Mini&s;tery: for were not they ordained Mini&s;ters of the Church of <HI>Rome?</HI> and con|&s;equently of a true Church? were not they ordained Mini&s;ters <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Reformatio Ec|cle&s;iarum per</HI> Angliam, <HI>An. Dom.</HI> 1547. See more <HI>Sleid. de &s;tatu Relig.</HI> pag. 599. l. 19.</NOTE> by the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> before the Councell of <HI>Trent?</HI> none can deny it: and then we have a known <HI>vi&s;ible &s;ucce&s;&s;ion</HI> of per|&s;ons in the Office of the Mini&s;tery, from the Apo&s;tles times to this day.</P>
<P><HI>None may object, That this is nothing to the Mini&s;tery of Eng|land, for certain it is, that the Mini&s;tery of England (as may be remarkably ob&s;erved) had their Ordination (if from Rome) before the Councel of Trent &s;ate; for they with the Church of England broke off from Rome, even while that councell &s;ate.</HI></P>
<P>Con&s;ider therefore the&s;e things. <NOTE PLACE="marg">Seven Con&s;i|derables to clear the Ordi|nation of our fir&s;t Reformers in <HI>England.</HI> You may reade tho&s;e decrees in <HI>Sleidan.</HI> they were made <HI>An.</HI> 1539. as pag. 346. and abo|li&s;ht <HI>An.</HI> 1547. as pag. 399.</NOTE></P>
<P N="1">1. That <HI>Rome</HI> her &s;elf was a true Church, and her Mini&s;ters true Mini&s;ters before the Councell of <HI>Trent</HI> &s;ate, and therefore much more the Churches in <HI>England</HI> were <HI>true Churches,</HI> and the <HI>Mini&s;tery</HI> thereof true Mini&s;ters before that time.</P>
<P N="2">2. <HI>The Churches and Ministery of England,</HI> in the time of that councell broke off from <HI>Rome,</HI> aboli&s;ht her fatall <HI>decrees touching Religion,</HI> demoli&s;h't the images and &s;tatues in the <HI>Tem|ples,</HI> and thus began the ble&s;&s;ed Reformation in <HI>England,</HI> even then while <HI>Rome was declining towards Antichri&s;tiani&s;m.</HI></P>
<P N="3">3. Who then can choo&s;e but &s;ee and know that our <HI>fir&s;t Re|formers</HI> had (I mean the Mini&s;ters) their Ordination in a <HI>true Church,</HI> from <HI>true Mini&s;ters?</HI> and we from them, unto this ve|ry day, have had a &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of lawfull Mini&s;ters in our Chur|ches, and upwards from them ever &s;ince we bore the name of a Church, which may I &s;uppo&s;e be computed to be upwards of 1500. years.</P>
<P N="4">4. Moreover might <HI>Rome</HI> be &s;aid and acknowledged to be a true Church &s;till, though extreamly corrupted, yet could not this blame but commend our <HI>leaving of her;</HI> for we &s;eparate not from her as a Church, much le&s;&s;e as <HI>true:</HI> but as a corrupt and <HI>Apo&s;tate</HI> Church: that is, we &s;eparate from her corrupti|ons, and from her only, as we cannot joyn with her, but we
<PB N="42" REF="35"> mu&s;t partake of her &s;ins and plagues: Ju&s;t as the <HI>Non-confor|mi&s;ts</HI> who did not joyn in &s;ome acts of wor&s;hip heretofore, be|cau&s;e they could not &s;afely do it, without having communion with corruption in it; yet did not all the while di&s;own our Churches, or &s;eparate from them, but in them only, as <HI>Ruther|ford</HI> di&s;tingui&s;heth.</P>
<P N="5">5. But to cleer the matter a little further; con&s;ider the Church as one <HI>univer&s;all vi&s;ible Church of Chri&s;t,</HI> and <HI>Rome</HI> to be but a <HI>member</HI> of it; and &s;o far as the &s;tate of <HI>Rome</HI> is Antichri&s;t, <HI>but &s;itting in the Temple</HI> (or univer&s;all Church) <HI>of God;</HI> (for though &s;he would u&s;urp her &s;elf to be the whole vi&s;ible Church, yet God accounts not &s;o we &s;ee, for &s;he is but in the <HI>Temple</HI> of God, though &s;he would be as God there:) Now is it a &s;in for one par|ticular Church to deny communion with a <HI>&s;i&s;ter</HI> Church in tho&s;e things wherein &s;he offends, both God and other Churches? no, doubtle&s;&s;e; but a vertue rather, if one <HI>particular Church</HI> &s;hould deny communion with the <HI>whole vi&s;ible Church</HI> b<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ides her &s;elf in &s;uch a ca&s;e. Now <HI>Rome</HI> of right, and in Gods account, is <HI>but a &s;ister,</HI> no <HI>mother Church,</HI> to the Church of <HI>England</HI> (what authority &s;he had over it was u&s;urp'd on her part, and utterly unlawfull (if yeelded to) on ours; Now had the &s;i&s;ter (in the word) denied to commit that folly with her <HI>brother,</HI> and e&s;ca|ped his hands by flying from him, &s;he <HI>had done virtuou&s;ly;</HI> then al&s;o if <HI>England</HI> broke out of the hands of her &s;i&s;ter <HI>Rome,</HI> and would not commit that <HI>Adultery</HI> with her, &s;he hath prai&s;e of God for obeying his will and command, <HI>If a &s;inner entice, con|&s;ent thou not:</HI> One particular Church bears &s;ome Analogy to another, like that of a member of a particular Church to another member of the &s;ame: two <HI>particular</HI> Churches are members of one <HI>univer&s;all;</HI> as two particular members are of one particular Church: Now therefore if a member of a particular Church mu&s;t not partake of the &s;in of another member; no more mu&s;t one particular Church of the &s;inne of another: Again, &s;o a par|ticular Church may not joyn with the &s;innes and corruptions of the univer&s;all; no more, then one member may joyn with the Church of which he is, in any &s;inne or errour what&s;oever. In <NOTE PLACE="marg">We leave <HI>Rome</HI> in two things.</NOTE> two things the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> is for&s;aken by us. 1. In <HI>her cor|ruptions and &s;uperiority of us;</HI> in neither of which without
<PB N="43" REF="35"> &s;inne and lo&s;&s;e, could we joyn with her or yeeld unto her.</P>
<P>Now what hath been &s;aid upon this particular, as it &s;erves to pleade for o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r lawfull di&s;tance to the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> though &s;he &s;hould be found to be a true Church &s;till; &s;o al&s;o, to maintain the practice of <HI>Luther,</HI> &amp;c. who left the Romane Church before that wretched Councel &s;ate, we &s;o much &s;peak and complain of.</P>
<P N="6">6. Nor can there be any thing of moment urg'd, from any <HI>in|terruption</HI> of Popery &s;ince; again&s;t our <HI>Mini&s;tery,</HI> or Churches in <HI>England;</HI> could it be granted that the Councel of <HI>Trent</HI> did wholly and fully make <HI>Rome</HI> Antichri&s;t: for the Prote&s;tant Religion flouri&s;h'd from <HI>Henry the eighth's,</HI> through <HI>Edward the &s;ixth's</HI> to <HI>Queen Maries</HI> Reign: indeed &s;he made havock of the Churches: however, &s;he reign'd but four years and four moneths: and what of Popery &s;he brought among us, was by <HI>force,</HI> &s;o that by Q. <HI>Elizabeths</HI> gentle commands, we ea&s;ily <HI>redu|ced</HI> our &s;elves to our <HI>former profe&s;&s;ion</HI> of the Prote&s;tant truth: however what could this <HI>&s;hort &s;word</HI> effect, as to the <HI>cutting</HI> the line of &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of true Mini&s;ters? none can think that all were butchered, but that many of our Mini&s;ters and people too did <HI>temporize throughout her Reign,</HI> not daring to &s;uffer for the truth, &s;ecretly beleeved, though not openly profe&s;&s;ed by them as by others: <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">And as to this wor&s;t of the ca&s;es; <HI>John|&s;on</HI> the Separa|ti&s;t him&s;elf helps us: ob|&s;erving, that in ca&s;e of Ido|latry (in the time of the Law) the Le|vites and Prie&s;ts that had revolted, upon Repen|tance kept their fir&s;t fun|ctions without any new a|nointing or impo&s;ition of hands: and for this h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> quotes many Texts.</NOTE> Again, many other Mini&s;ters <HI>might be blin|ded</HI> and <HI>fall away in time of per&s;ecution for advantage &s;ake;</HI> who yet being ordained (before Queen <HI>Mary)</HI> lawfull Mini&s;ters, might out-live both her and Popery, and come over again to preach the truth, for which they were fir&s;t ordained. And la&s;t|ly and chiefly&punc; many that could not turn from the truth in judge|ment o<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> practice, were known to fly for &s;afety hence to other Churches beyond the Seas, where they remain'd in the day of our calamity, but when it was once over, they returned to us to reduce our Churches, to reform our Mini&s;tery; and did with the gracious a&s;&s;i&s;tance of God, and the Queen, bring us back into the former Channell of Prote&s;tant profe&s;&s;ion: where|in we have freely (though &s;ometimes fouly runne) to this day.</P>
<P N="7">7. But as for you, it may ju&s;tly be feared, you came by a later
<PB N="44" REF="36"> and neerer pa&s;&s;age from the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> though under ground. Fir&s;t, None can doubt but we are as Full of <HI>Je&s;uites</HI> Now, (who love rather to fi&s;h in <HI>pudled waters,</HI> where they, <NOTE PLACE="marg">Our Adver&s;a|ries may be feared to have to do too much with Je&s;uits.</NOTE> nor their baits may be &s;een) as before the&s;e di&s;tracted, un&s;et|led times, when they were capable of <HI>gaining le&s;&s;e;</HI> and more liable to be <HI>di&s;cerned</HI> by us. Secondly, and if the <HI>Ie&s;uites</HI> be bu&s;ie among us (as no doubt they are) where and with whom are they likelie&s;t to be, with you or us? They cannot be thought to be among the Mini&s;ters, for they are in a &s;etled way, and known by all to be the Je&s;uites &s;worn enemies. Thirdly, but your di&s;orders, aptnes to receive any opinions, indi&s;cretion, &amp;c. doe indeed invite them to clo&s;e in with you. Fourthly, ye take it for certain, (though poor &s;ouls you &s;ee it not) you have recei|ved of late, and been u&s;ed by Je&s;uites, to vent at lea&s;t <HI>twenty er|rors</HI> for the <HI>Popes Advantage:</HI> which with little time and place convenient I could reckon up, and one among the re&s;t to the purpo&s;e in hand, <HI>That we are Schi&s;maticks to the Church of</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Coll.</HI> Pulpit|guard Routed,</NOTE> <HI>Rome; and having unlawfully Rent our &s;elves from her, we ought to return again unto her.</HI> Which leads me on to the la&s;t An&s;wer to the old Objection again&s;t us; <HI>Becau&s;e we came by &s;ucce&s;&s;ion from Rome.</HI></P>
<P>La&s;tly, I An&s;wer; Suppo&s;e what you will, that when we left <HI>Rome,</HI> &s;he was a <HI>true</HI> or a <HI>fal&s;e</HI> Church, we have yet a defence invincible (though I &s;uppo&s;e each one of the former An&s;wers are &s;ufficient &s;atisfaction to men that will take it) it is this: I never heard or read of any that owned the name of a Chri&s;tian, (the Papi&s;t excepted) but did acknowledge, that <HI>Luther,</HI> and the re&s;t of our fir&s;t Reformers, were <HI>lawfull Mini&s;ters,</HI> whether their Call was an <HI>extraordinary,</HI> or an <HI>ordinarie</HI> Call. Now if &s;o, Had not they power to ordain others? The <HI>Apo&s;tles</HI> had no <HI>ordinary Call,</HI> yet they had power (as the greater) to ordain ordinarie Mini&s;ters, and to <HI>confer</HI> an <HI>ordinary</HI> Call: yet they <HI>ordained ordinarily,</HI> and &s;o did <HI>Luthrr,</HI> &amp;c. And from thence we have had a &s;ucce&s;&s;ion of a regular ordination to this day: and thus (though as it is frequently u&s;ed it wil not hold) the di|&s;tinction of <HI>ratione Principii &amp; medii</HI> touching Ordination, is of great u&s;e: for when our fir&s;t Reformers ordained others, <HI>they did not regard Ordination as the Channel of Rome had defiled</HI>
<PB N="45" REF="36"> <HI>and defaced it;</HI> but they fetch the manner of it from the Foun|tain, the <HI>Scripture, Apo&s;tolical Example, and In&s;titution;</HI> and the <HI>Doctrine of Ordination as in the Scripture was never toucht,</HI> though the <HI>practice</HI> of it in the <HI>Popes hands</HI> was very cor|rupt; and that their <HI>practice</HI> is now nothing to us, that have <HI>reformed</HI> from it: our <HI>Reformers</HI> they were lawful Mini&s;ters, and they reformed abu&s;es in Ordination too, according to Scrip|ture, and from them &s;ucce&s;&s;ively hath it pa&s;&s;ed true (not alto|gether pure &s;ometimes) to us: and what corruptions it received in Bi&s;hops days, it is reformed from, of late al&s;o, and <HI>our Ordi|nation</HI> is at this day, according to the <HI>Word</HI> in every thing: and therefore to conclude, we are, as I &s;aid, <HI>true Mi|ni&s;ters.</HI></P>
<P>Thus far then we have proceeded, namely, to prove the Mi|ni&s;tery of <HI>England</HI> to be of Chri&s;t, from our <HI>adver&s;aries own Principles,</HI> from the <HI>principles of any indifferent men;</HI> and la&s;tly from the grounds and principles of the <HI>Word:</HI> But from the Word we promi&s;ed <HI>two things:</HI> Fir&s;t, to make it appear that the Mini&s;ters in <HI>England</HI> have what&s;oever the <HI>Word</HI> re|quires to <HI>make</HI> them &s;o: And this we have largely handled, and what&s;oever the word requires to manife&s;t them &s;o: and this I &s;hall as briefly touch.</P>
<P>If the Mini&s;try be in que&s;tion, the Scripture gives us two <NOTE PLACE="marg">Our Mini&s;trie manife&s;ted:</NOTE> Rules to know it by: by which we are bound to try it, before we reject it.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t is its <HI>fruit: By their fruit ye &s;hall know them,</HI> &s;aith <NOTE PLACE="marg">1. From its Fruit.</NOTE> our Saviour <HI>of fal&s;e Teachers:</HI> By their fruit, that is, <HI>their Do|ctrine,</HI> you &s;hall know them; that is, whether <HI>they be of God:</HI> which makes it evident that though we cannot clear a &s;ucce&s;&s;i|on of per&s;ons, yet as all that Wright again&s;t the Papi&s;ts, hold a <HI>&s;ucce&s;&s;ion of Doctrine</HI> is enough to evidence the true Mini&s;trie: Suppo&s;e it be doubted where the Mini&s;trie of Chri&s;t is, if it be but granted that he hath a <HI>Mini&s;terie</HI> &s;omewhere in the world, it is ea&s;ily concluded to be, <HI>where the Doctrine of Christ is preach'd:</HI> where can it be el&s;e? This I make a mark when there is ju&s;t cau&s;e of &s;cruple touching the Call of a pre&s;ent Mini&s;trie: otherwi&s;e the very <HI>Ordination</HI> it &s;elf when known, to be lawful, is a readier way to prove and clear a lawfull Call. Now <HI>we</HI> that
<PB N="46" REF="37"> cannot be denyed to have <HI>both,</HI> have <HI>two &s;trings</HI> that the adver&s;e hand <HI>can never break.</HI></P>
<P>The other is taken from its <HI>effects;</HI> whereby God is plea&s;ed <NOTE PLACE="marg">2. Its effect.</NOTE> to own his &s;ervants, and doe his work by them: <HI>Who is Paul, Who Apollos, but Mini&s;ters by whom you believe?</HI> would you know who they are? ob&s;erve their work, by them you come to <HI>believe,</HI> and then doe not que&s;tion but they are <HI>Mini&s;ters:</HI> why &s;o? Becau&s;e <HI>Faith is the gift of God,</HI> which he doth not u&s;ually give but by his <HI>Mini&s;ters</HI> hands: Mini&s;ters by whom you be|leeve <HI>as God gave every man;</HI> for how &s;hall they beleeve on him of whom they have not heard; and how &s;hall they hear that is &s;o as to beleeve without a Preacher, a &s;ent Preacher? Whence we conclude, that ordinary Conver&s;ion wrought by our Mini&s;trie is an infallible mark of the truth of our Mini&s;te|rie, and that we are &s;ent by Chri&s;t, who do the work of Chri&s;t. I dare not &s;ay but a true and hone&s;t Mini&s;ter may have <HI>cau&s;e to</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Note.</NOTE> <HI>complain, That he hath &s;tretched forth his hands all the day long unto di&s;obedient and gain-&s;aying people.</HI> Yet this I &s;ay, that he that is &s;o happy in his labours as to convert &s;ome, and e&s;tabli&s;h more, is hereby declared from heaven, if que&s;tioned before to be both an able and lawful Mini&s;ter: And further, he that en|deavours to wa&s;h a Black-more, to reform a people that <HI>hate to be reformed,</HI> and reaps no vi&s;ible fruit of his labours, he wants an apparent <HI>Seal to his Commi&s;&s;ion,</HI> to make its <HI>authority</HI> known to &s;uch as que&s;tion it: but this is our comfort, that we can &s;ay without boa&s;ting (the Mini&s;tery of <HI>England</HI> in every age) can &s;ay to our Churches, to our Friends and Enemies, <HI>Ye are the Seal of our Apo&s;tle&s;hip,</HI> God hath Sealed our Commi&s;|&s;ion in your <HI>Conver&s;ion</HI> and <HI>Confirmation,</HI> in your <HI>increa&s;e</HI> in knowledge, grace and comfort: in your <HI>per&s;everance</HI> to the end, though through <HI>Fire</HI> and <HI>Sword,</HI> when occa&s;ion of <HI>Mar|tyrdome</HI> or <HI>Per&s;ecution</HI> hath called you to it: thanks be to God for &s;o good a <HI>Seal</HI> both of your <HI>Redemption</HI> and our <HI>Com|mi&s;&s;ion,</HI> which the Devil or his In&s;truments &s;hall never be able to <HI>Cancell.</HI></P>
<P>Now con&s;ider (in a word, and I have done with this) Can we (as I have &s;hew'd) have the Ordination of Chri&s;t, and yet be Antichri&s;tian? Can we preach and uphold the Doctrine of
<PB N="47" REF="37"> Chri&s;t, and be Antichri&s;tian? Can we (to conclude) doe the work of Chri&s;t, and yet be Antichri&s;tian? Truly, whom the&s;e things will not &s;atisfie, I mu&s;t leave un&s;atisfied.</P>
</DIV3>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="5" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CAP. V. <HI>That they are guilty of a great &s;in that pre&s;ume to preach without a Call.</HI></HEAD>
<P>THus we are come to the fourth Conclu&s;ion: for if our Churches, as (we have proved) are true Churches, and the Mini&s;tery of them, true Mini&s;ters (as our very adver&s;aries cannot but grant, if they will but acknowledge <HI>them&s;elves,</HI> or <HI>God;</HI> their own principles are Gods Word;) then <HI>there is a</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">The &s;in of un|&s;ent Preachers.</NOTE> <HI>great and heavy &s;in lying at the door of all &s;uch as doe offer to preach publickly without a Call.</HI> What! Preach without a Call, in <HI>true</HI> Churches, that are ble&s;t with a <HI>true</HI> and <HI>&s;etled Mini&s;tery!</HI> Was ever &s;uch a thing heard or read of, that was not pur&s;ued and overtaken by &s;ome horrid <HI>judgement?</HI> O who can think of the &s;ad effects that this one piece of mad di&s;order hath wrought upon this poor land of ours, without an amazed, blee|ding heart! it hath put the <HI>Foundations out of frame; and what can the righteous doe?</HI> But &s;hall not God be avenged on &s;uch a Nation as this? I wonder the <HI>earth</HI> doth not open <HI>again,</HI> and &s;wallow both <HI>them</HI> and <HI>us</HI> up quick. Was not the &s;in of <HI>Corah</HI> and his Company ju&s;t the very &s;ame with the &s;in of the&s;e men? viz. <HI>A contemning of Gods Mini&s;ters?</HI> and was not their plea the very &s;ame? <HI>viz. That all the Lords people are holy; the &s;ons of Levi, take too much upon them?</HI> Then, &ocirc; then, what pati|ence is it, that bears up the earth under the&s;e men? that holds the heavens from falling upon them, and da&s;hing them down into hell? that they yet <HI>peri&s;h not in the gain-&s;aying of Corah?</HI></P>
<P>But there are &s;piritual <HI>judgem<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nts</HI> &s;omewhat more &s;utable to <HI>&s;piritual times,</HI> which I fear are prepared for the&s;e men; to be ca&s;t into a Gulf, (though not of the <HI>earth</HI>) of <HI>error,</HI> which is wor&s;e, to be given over <HI>to a reprobate mind,</HI> and <HI>&s;trong delu&s;ions</HI> to believe lies. For I mu&s;t needs ob&s;erve, that they, &s;o &s;oon as
<PB N="48" REF="38"> they fall to this <HI>trade</HI> of Preaching, they pre&s;ently <HI>vent</HI> mo&s;t dangerous errors. Whence I conclude, that none dare pre&s;ume to preach un&s;ent; but men of &s;uch erroneous and <HI>desperate prin|ciples</HI> the&s;e men are of; or el&s;e God <HI>puni&s;heth</HI> this their di&s;or|derly &s;in, with <HI>delivering them up to &s;uch &s;trong delu&s;ions as they are in:</HI> which I am indeed inclined the rather to believe, be|cau&s;e &s;uch was the puni&s;hment of <HI>the Jewi&s;h Nation</HI> for the <HI>lik<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;inne:</HI> and what was <HI>that, but a killing the Prophets, and &s;toning them that were &s;ent unto them?</HI> A rejecting Chri&s;t in the Mini|&s;tery of the <HI>Gospel:</HI> And what was the <HI>judgement</HI> that fell upon them for this their &s;inne? even that that hath remained as a Plague to their hearts; for above this &s;ixteen hundred year. And what was that? Read <HI>Romans</HI> 11. 8. and &s;ee how like it is, to that which the&s;e men, though <HI>pa&s;t-feeling</HI> labour under: <HI>God hath</HI> (&s;aith the Text) <HI>given them the &s;pirit of &s;lum|ber; eyes that they &s;hould not &s;ee; ears that they &s;hould not hear. O heavy judgement, and &s;o much the more, that it is in|&s;en&s;ible!</HI></P>
<P>God hath given them the <HI>&s;pirit of &s;lumber,</HI> and now I won|der not why they pretend <HI>to dream dreams:</HI> but alas! <HI>they &s;lum|ber</HI> with their <HI>&s;ences lockt,</HI> their <HI>eyes are &s;hut,</HI> their <HI>ears are &s;topt,</HI> they are in a maze, not knowing <HI>where</HI> nor <HI>how</HI> they <HI>are,</HI> nor what they would have, po&s;&s;e&s;t and troubled with the re&s;tle&s;s &s;pirit of <HI>Giddy &s;lumber:</HI> They &s;trongly per&s;wade them&s;elves and others, that their eyes are open, and <HI>they &s;ee &s;uch</HI> things, as <HI>no men</HI> &s;ee, when alas! what they &s;ee, is but <HI>a vi&s;ion of the night,</HI> the work of <HI>inward phan&s;ie</HI> only, and their <HI>eyes are &s;hut</HI> all the while: and &s;uch is their mi&s;ery, though men cry to them, and in their very ears, to awake and rou&s;e them out of their dream, their ears are <HI>heavy, they cannot hear,</HI> or they cannot hear (at lea&s;t) of that ear.</P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="Object."> But may not any Preach that are able? </P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="An&s;w."> There is a known di&s;tinction or two that may end the con|trover&s;ie: 1. We mu&s;t di&s;tingui&s;h of the <HI>&s;tate of the place</HI> wherein we are: If it be that we are ca&s;t upon the <HI>Heathens, Turks,</HI> or the like, where there is no <HI>Church nor Mini&s;try,</HI> there every man is bound to make known the Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t, &s;o far as he may with prudence do: Or again, if Churches
<PB N="49" REF="38"> were not yet con&s;tituted, though the truth of the Go&s;pel was entertained by many; we may grant without danger, that then men without a formall &s;ending may exerci&s;e their gifts in &s;uch a way as is not lawfull in a &s;etled Church. But in &s;uch a Church as ours is, that is already <HI>constitute,</HI> and hath within her a &s;etled Mini&s;try, for private men to pre&s;ume to Preach, is &s;uch a notable &s;in in the Scripture, that it is there condemn|ed from heaven, in as great a remarkable <HI>vengeance</HI> from God, in <HI>Corah's company,</HI> and the <HI>Nation of the Jews,</HI> as any we reade of. <HI>We therefore knowing the terrour of the Lord, per&s;wade our brethren.</HI></P>
<P>2. We mu&s;t in a &s;etled Church di&s;tingui&s;h of <HI>Preaching publiquely,</HI> and <HI>Teaching privately;</HI> the later, which con&s;i&s;ts in private <HI>exhortation, reproof, comfort, coun&s;el,</HI> and the like, every member in private conference ought to perform from a principle of love, for the edification of the <HI>whole body:</HI> but for the fir&s;t particular of the di&s;tinction, the thing we are only upon, the <HI>publique preaching of the word,</HI> it being an act of <HI>Office,</HI> doth belong peculiarly to Church Officers, and may not be a&s;&s;umed by any other (let their parts and abilities be what they will) unle&s;s it be in order (as our Expectants) to ordination, and that by the <HI>leave</HI> and invitation of the <HI>Church</HI> wherein they are; I mean by publike preaching, a pre&s;u|ming to <HI>declare</HI> the minde of God by expounding and apply|ing the holy Scripture in the place of our A&s;&s;emblies before the Church in the &s;eat of the Mini&s;ter or any other. For any pri|vate man, or man uncall'd, to offer this, is great pre&s;umption, condemn'd by the Scripture throughout, and nothing war|rantable with God or man.</P>
<P>Two things I &s;hould undertake here, <HI>viz.</HI> to &s;hew you the ground of this di&s;tinction of publick Preaching and private teaching; and to clear and confirm my conclu&s;ion thereupon, <NOTE PLACE="marg"><HI>Rutherford, Hall, Collings, Ferriby,</HI> &amp;c.</NOTE> <HI>viz.</HI> That <HI>though private teaching be the duty of all, yet publick Preaching is the &s;in of any, but men in Office;</HI> which (having been done &s;o fully by others, to whom I refer you) I &s;hall di&s;|patch in a word.</P>
<P>For the ground and rea&s;on of this clear di&s;tinction one in|&s;tance (of many) &s;hall &s;erve the turn: and it is of <HI>women,</HI>
<PB N="50" REF="39"> whom we find in Scripture commended for <HI>private teaching,</HI> yet al&s;o forbidden there in <HI>publick Preaching,</HI> &s;ee <HI>Act.</HI> 18. 26. There <HI>Aquilla and Pri&s;cilla took Apollos unto them</HI> (it is &s;aid) <HI>and expounded the word:</HI> Mark, <HI>they took him to them,</HI> a&s;ide, in|to private, and there the <HI>woman,</HI> as well as the <HI>man,</HI> expoun|ded the way of God unto <HI>Apollos.</HI> Well then, here is an ex|ample of a womans teaching in a private way; but doth this allow a womans <HI>publick Preaching?</HI> no alas; that's clearly <HI>forbidden in another text,</HI> which tels us, we mu&s;t not <HI>&s;uffer a woman to &s;peak in the Church;</HI> neither to the end &s;he may <HI>teach</HI> or <HI>learn.</HI> And as women are forbidden to &s;peak at all, &s;o are men forbidden to <HI>preach in the Church</HI> without a call; <HI>For no man taketh this honour to him&s;elf, unle&s;&s;e he be called of God, as Aaron was:</HI> As if it had been &s;aid, in the times of the Go&s;|pel <NOTE PLACE="marg">Heb. 5. 4.</NOTE> a call is as nece&s;&s;ary to licence a Preacher, as it was in the time of the law: For <HI>how &s;hall they Preach except they be &s;ent?</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 10. 15.</NOTE> That is, none can perform the Office of a Preacher (as ju&s;t be|fore, <HI>How &s;hall they hear without a Preacher?)</HI> unle&s;s he be &s;ent, that is, as we largely explained before, ordained according to the order of the Go&s;pel, by the power of the Church.</P>
<P>Now, we never read of any in Scripture that were <HI>&s;ent</HI> to preach, but they were thereby <HI>put into Office:</HI> yea this <HI>Prea|ching</HI> in the Text is expounded there, to be an exerci&s;e of one that <HI>is &s;ent</HI> and none other: and this <HI>[being &s;ent]</HI> doth expound it &s;elfe, to make <HI>a Preacher,</HI> as in the la&s;t words of the four|teenth <HI>ver&s;e;</HI> and this word Preacher is never given to any in Scripture <HI>but to men in Office.</HI></P>
<P>Then tho&s;e that to pre&s;ume to preach mu&s;t needs pretend to be &s;ent &s;ome way or other: and I know no other &s;ending but extraordinary or ordinary: now I wi&s;h our Adver&s;aries to take which they plea&s;e. Are they &s;ent extraordinarily? That, though &s;ome of them have pleaded heretofore, they are all a|&s;hamed of, and do not now &s;o much as pretend unto it: for in|deed it is great bla&s;phemy. Neither doe they pretend to be &s;ent in an ordinary way, according to the nature of the word <HI>&s;ending,</HI> or the Rule of the Go&s;pel, as we have this day declared to you. How? and yet dare to preach? upon what account I be&s;eech you?</P>
<PB N="51" REF="39">
<P> <HI>Object.</HI> There is a &s;ending of Duty as well as Office, &s;aith one of them.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> How many ab&s;urdities are couch't together in the&s;e few words?</P>
<P N="1">1. It would devide betwixt the <HI>Duty</HI> and <HI>Office</HI> of preach|ing, which differ no more than Gho&s;t and Spirit; the &s;ame thing in two words.</P>
<P N="2">2. It would devide betwixt a mans <HI>being &s;ent by God,</HI> and <HI>put into Office</HI> by him; &s;till one and the &s;ame thing.</P>
<P N="3">3. It is but the old di&s;tinction put into wor&s;e and harder words; which is, That <HI>private Chri&s;tians may exerci&s;e their gifts in a way of love,</HI> in a private way: but there is <HI>a preaching in Office that onely is lawfull for men that are &s;ent.</HI></P>
<P N="4">4. To &s;peak all in a word, this &s;ending in the very <HI>nature</HI> of the word, and <HI>&s;ence</HI> of Scripture doth plainly exclude what ever &s;uch men pretend unto; to authorize their &s;inful di&s;order|ly practice of publick preaching: even all the four things we nam'd before.</P>
<P N="1">1. It excludes the &s;ecret <HI>impul&s;e of their</HI> own &s;pirit: for no man that goes of his own accord, can be &s;aid to be &s;ent; the one is <HI>Active,</HI> the other <HI>Pa&s;&s;ive:</HI> and this is confirm'd by that known Text, <HI>No man taketh this honour to him&s;elf, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron,</HI> clearly expre&s;&s;ing that <HI>going</HI> and <HI>calling</HI> are two things.</P>
<P N="2">2. Sending excludes the <HI>call of gifts al&s;o;</HI> for we not ima|gine that every man that is fit <HI>(eo ip&s;o)</HI> a Ju&s;tice of Peace, <HI>abi|lity</HI> is one thing, <HI>commi&s;&s;ion</HI> another: as mo&s;t evidently appears by that clear Text, <HI>Mat.</HI> 10. 1, 5. In the fir&s;t ver&s;e they have their <HI>qualification,</HI> and in the fift they receive their <HI>Commi&s;&s;ion,</HI> and are bid <HI>goe:</HI> and therefore examination or <HI>proving of gifts</HI> is but the <HI>way</HI> to <HI>Ordination:</HI> as in the Epi&s;tles to <HI>Timothy</HI> and <HI>Titus</HI> doth plainly appear.</P>
<P N="3">3. Sending excludes <HI>Electing</HI> from the whole work: and therefore we finde <HI>&s;ending and electing</HI> two things, and even perform'd in a different way, and by different per&s;ons, in <HI>Acts</HI> 6. 5, 6. The people cho&s;e, and &s;et the men before the Apo&s;tles, but they are not <HI>&s;ent yet,</HI> and therefore the Apo&s;tles <HI>lay hands upon them.</HI></P>
<P N="4"><PB N="52" REF="40"> 4. Sending is more than <HI>de&s;iring</HI> (la&s;tly) for this is but an act of an equal: but <HI>&s;ending</HI> is ever an act of <HI>Superiors. De&s;iring</HI> doth leave the power in the partee <HI>de&s;ir'd:</HI> but <HI>&s;ending</HI> implyes the power to be in the <HI>partee &s;ending. De&s;iring</HI> doth not, while <HI>&s;ending</HI> doth &s;till put a man into Office: and a Mini&s;ter <HI>in &s;pe|cial,</HI> giving him authority to deliver his Me&s;&s;age intru&s;ted to him: <HI>for how &s;hall he preach except he be &s;ent?</HI> That is, perform the Office of a Preacher, except he hath receiv'd a <HI>Commi&s;&s;ion</HI> &s;o to do, <HI>except he be &s;ent?</HI> Which I conclude with this argu|ment as the &s;um of this matter.</P>
<P><HI>None may preach except he be &s;ent: But Self-will, Gifts, Ele|ction, De&s;ire or Invitations of the people are not &s;ending. There|fore tho&s;e that have no other Commi&s;&s;ion then the&s;e four, may not preach.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="Object."> But though we have not the Doctrine of Scripture we have many <HI>examples</HI> of Scripture that favour our <HI>preaching.</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="An&s;w."> 1. Suppo&s;e it, yet you mu&s;t know the&s;e two things. 1. That <HI>Example</HI> will never warrant the practice of any, unle&s;&s;e all <HI>cir|cumstances</HI> of <HI>time, place, per&s;on, &amp;c.</HI> that are materiall, meet together: if thou bee&s;t not in all re&s;pects in the &s;ame condition, with that man thou look&s;t at in Scripture, his action is no <HI>pat|tern</HI> to thee. 2. That <HI>Examples</HI> in Scripture are not further to be <HI>imitated</HI> by us, then they are <HI>agreeing</HI> with the <HI>Word</HI> of Scripture.</P>
<P><MILESTONE N="2"> But &s;econdly, as you have not one <HI>Word,</HI> &s;o neither one <HI>Ex|ample</HI> in the holy Scripture that will &s;tand you in &s;tead in the lea&s;t.</P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="Object."> Did not <HI>Apollos</HI> preach? </P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="An&s;w."> So may you in non-con&s;tituted Churches; e&s;pecially if you were known to be <HI>Mini&s;ters,</HI> as he is <HI>called,</HI> 1 <HI>Corinth.</HI> 3. 5.</P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="Object."> But did not <HI>Philip</HI> preach? </P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="An&s;w."> So may you, in the &s;ame &s;tate of the Church, e&s;pecially be|ing ordained as <HI>Philip</HI> was, <HI>Acts</HI> 6. and an <HI>Evangelist</HI> too, <HI>Acts</HI> 21. 8.</P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="Object."> But did not the Per&s;ecuted Saints goe <HI>Preaching the Word? Acts</HI> 8.</P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="An&s;w."> So might you, if you were <HI>&s;cattered by Per&s;ecution</HI> among
<PB N="53" REF="40"> <HI>Heathen and Infidels</HI> as they were; though you can never prove that any of them preached even in Per&s;ecution, but &s;uch as were <HI>Officers;</HI> for which we have two Rea&s;ons. Fir&s;t, from the word there &s;ignifying preaching, which is as Doctor <HI>Seaman</HI> ob&s;erves, never made u&s;e of in holy Scripture, but to expre&s;&s;e an act <HI>of Office</HI> and Officers: and indeed the very <NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="foreign">.</NOTE> word from whence this is immediately deriv'd, doth &s;ignifie the <HI>Gospel,</HI> or a <HI>good Me&s;&s;age,</HI> and is derived from another word, which &s;ignifies a Me&s;&s;enger, or one put <HI>into Office</HI> and &s;ent to declare this <HI>happy Me&s;&s;age</HI> to the &s;ons of men: inti|mating to us, that the word Go&s;pel doth <HI>carry a &s;trong and in|vincible Argument in it again&s;t all tho&s;e that offer to preach it, and are not &s;ent.</HI> Which indeed the Apo&s;tle &s;eemeth to laugh at, as a plain contradiction, in the words before mentioned, <HI>How &s;hall they preach, except they be &s;ent?</HI></P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="Object."> But all might <HI>prophe&s;ie</HI> one by one, in the Church of <HI>Corinth,</HI> why may not we?</P>
<P><MILESTONE UNIT="An&s;w."> You may, when you are Prophers as they were: for that is a mi&s;take to think that all in the Church might prophe&s;ie: for certainly none could <HI>Prophe&s;ie</HI> but <HI>Prophets:</HI> And are all Pro|phets? No &s;urely: Therefore expound the 31 <HI>ver&s;e</HI> with 29. and 32. and the matter is ended: <HI>All may prophe&s;ie;</HI> that is, <HI>All that are Prophets;</HI> let the <HI>Prophets &s;peak two or three,</HI> and let <HI>the other judge, and all tho&s;e that are Prophets may have time enough to &s;peak by turn.</HI></P>
<P>You have now no more to urge, but that <HI>of Paul;</HI> whom we made before to appear to be a Mini&s;ter, even as &s;oon as he was made a Chri&s;tian (though not before, as &s;ome of you were) as you read <HI>Acts</HI> 26. 16.</P>
<P>What now can you further urge for your &s;elves? No more? O that the Lord would open your eyes, to &s;ee the Error and Danger of your wayes: Alas! What can I do more than to pray for you? and to him that is able to re&s;tore your &s;ouls, to him to commend you, with him to leave you? Yet with you I de&s;ire to leave this advice, before I take leave, That though it &s;eem a hard matter, yet <HI>you would</HI> take the Apo&s;tles Coun|&s;ell,, and <HI>&s;tudy to be quiet;</HI> henceforth doing no longer ours, but <HI>your own Bu&s;ine&s;&s;e;</HI> or el&s;e, if that be too hard, and you
<PB N="54" REF="41"> will needs have the work that you would de&s;ire, &s;eek and en|deavour (by giving up your &s;elves to be prov'd and ordain'd) <HI>the Office of a Bi&s;hop;</HI> and be a&s;&s;ured by me, you &s;hall find the <NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim. 3. 1.</NOTE> Mini&s;ters very ready, upon the lea&s;t de&s;ert, to afford unto you <HI>the right hand of fellow&s;hip.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 N="6" TYPE="chapter">
<HEAD>CAP. VI. <HI>That the People who leave the true Mini&s;ters to follow &s;uch as have no Calling, are guilty of a very great &s;in.</HI></HEAD>
<P>WE are now attained to the la&s;t Conclu&s;ion, which is, That if for men to preach in a true Church, where there is a lawful Mini&s;trie &s;etled, be &s;o great a &s;inne; then doubt|le&s;&s;e, <HI>for any to for&s;ake a true Church and a lawfull Mini&s;terie, to follow and hear &s;uch &s;infull Teachers, is a very great &s;inne too;</HI> Though alas! poor ignorant deluded wretches think not &s;o; they that offer thus to preach, are deeply guilty, as I have told you, this very action of theirs bringing &s;o much di&s;order with it, and coming from &s;uch dangerous principles, endeavours the &s;ubver&s;ion, and utter over-throw of all the Churches of Chri&s;t in the world, and Chargeth Apo&s;tacy upon all the Churches that have been in the world &s;ince the dayes of the Apo&s;tles: of &s;o deep a nature is their &s;inne; and you by following of them, do plainly become <HI>partakers of their &s;inne;</HI> be it never &s;o great or dangerous: and when Judgement comes, 'tis &s;peciall Mer|cie, <HI>if the Congregation that joyned with them be &s;pared,</HI> while Corah <HI>and his company are &s;wallowed up.</HI></P>
<P>Many, in a &s;ort, that are not <HI>approvers</HI> of the men and ways <NOTE PLACE="marg">Hearers are partakers of the &s;in of un|&s;ent Preachers.</NOTE> we now &s;peak of, are yet <HI>partakers of the&s;e mens</HI> &s;innes, be|cau&s;e they do not what God requires and in them lies, to <HI>pre|vent</HI> the &s;ame: But how much more are they that <HI>approve of,</HI> and <HI>joyn with</HI> them! as many hundreds of ignorant Creatures doe.</P>
<P>Be&s;ides, you are not partakers with them in their &s;ins onely
<PB N="55" REF="41"> hereby; but you directly &s;inne your &s;elves <HI>many wayes.</HI> I <NOTE PLACE="marg">Sin in hearing of them direct|ly too.</NOTE> cannot tell you how many &s;innes you commit in this one, of following the&s;e un&s;ent Preachers, nor indeed how &s;ore <HI>judge|ments</HI> belong unto you for it. Sins of <HI>omi&s;&s;ion,</HI> in that you neglect to attend on the <HI>publick Ordinances</HI> to which you are called: in that you cea&s;e to own, re&s;pect and countenance the <HI>Over-&s;eers</HI> Chri&s;t hath given you: of <HI>Commi&s;&s;ion,</HI> in that you <HI>rent</HI> your &s;elves by unlawfull Schi&s;m from the <HI>Church</HI> of Chri&s;t, and his <HI>Mini&s;try:</HI> in that you doe thereby what in you lies to break and ruine all the Churches and Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t <HI>in the world:</HI> in that you again&s;t expre&s;&s;e command, hear <HI>tho&s;e Prophets that God never &s;ent;</HI> and have, to conclude, a very great &s;troak in <HI>all the&s;e Confu&s;ions, Errors and Here&s;ies, that now &s;warm within our Churches.</HI></P>
<P>Con&s;ider, O con&s;ider, I be&s;eech you dearly beloved, and lay <HI>the&s;e things to heart:</HI> I per&s;wade my &s;elf, that could you be &s;e|rious and patient in weighing the&s;e things a while, you would be at a &s;tand, if not face about.</P>
<P N="1">1. Con&s;ider, what good can you get (though you pro|mi&s;e much) while you lie under that heavy cur&s;e, <HI>They &s;hall</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 23. 32.</NOTE> <HI>not profit&mdash;you:</HI> That is, they doe you <HI>much hurt,</HI> and &s;piri|tuall damage. And doe you not find it by daily experi|ence? Whom among you, but at his very entrance upon the&s;e wayes, hath the foundation of his whole Religion &s;haken im|mediately? I have wondred often at the frequent truth of this Ob&s;ervation, untill I con&s;idered this Text and Cur&s;e, <HI>They &s;hall not profit this people at all.</HI> Oh that you would con&s;ider it al&s;o.</P>
<P N="2">2. Con&s;ider what good you may doe us too, by <HI>leaving them at la&s;t,</HI> and returning again <HI>to the Fold and Shepherds of Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</HI> For as your <HI>itching ears</HI> have heaped up &s;uch a <HI>multitude of Teachers;</HI> &s;o your eares well bored a|gain would throw them down as fa&s;t. Alas! what doth up|hold them but the plea&s;ant Aire of your Encouragement; would you withdraw, they fall immediately with &s;hame and &s;orrow: were there no <HI>Hearers, there would be no &s;uch Teachers.</HI> For as we <HI>cannot hear without Preachers,</HI> &s;o they <HI>will not preach without Hearers:</HI> and now will you not recom|pen&s;e
<PB N="56" REF="42"> your former prejudice to the <HI>Church</HI> and <HI>them,</HI> and <HI>your &s;elves</HI> be&s;ides, while &s;o fair an advantage remains in your hands? However, if love cannot win and prevail, let the terror and fear of the Lord per&s;wade, who&s;e &s;trict com|mand I reade unto you, and leave upon you; Thus <HI>&s;aith the Lord of Ho&s;ts, Hearken not unto the words of the Prophets that pro|phe&s;ie</HI> <NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 23. 16. with 21.</NOTE> <HI>to you, they make you vain.</HI> And why? <HI>I have not &s;ent the&s;e Prophets, yet they ran: I have not &s;poken to them, yet they prophe&s;ied.</HI></P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="discourse">
<PB N="57" REF="42">
<HEAD>A Brief Narration of the heads of that long (yet happy) Di&s;cour&s;e, betwixt M. <HI>Fullwood</HI> (a&s;&s;i&s;ted &s;ometimes with M. <HI>Wood,</HI> M. <HI>Howe,</HI> &amp;c.) and M. <HI>Collier</HI> with the &s;trength of his party in the <HI>We&s;t,</HI> upon <HI>May</HI> 4. 1652. at <HI>Wivili&s;|combe,</HI> commonly known by the name of <HI>Wil&s;come</HI> in <HI>Somer&s;et-&s;hire.</HI></HEAD>
<P>M. <HI>F&V;LLWOOD,</HI> who&s;e turn it was to preach there that day, having ended the Sermon, which precedes this <HI>Narrative:</HI> the <HI>Adver&s;o party</HI> flockt together as neer as they could to the Pulpit: and M. <HI>Collier</HI> in the Name of the re&s;t, declared him&s;elf un&s;atisfied touching what had been <HI>delivered.</HI></P>
<P>We de&s;ired them to have a little more patience, and to at|tend the <HI>&s;tating</HI> of the que&s;tion, touching the Mini&s;tery, which M. <HI>How</HI> had on purpo&s;e provided for our Di&s;cour&s;e that day, <HI>in private:</HI> they replied again, that there was more matter in the <HI>Sermon</HI> delivered, then we &s;hould be able to di&s;cu&s;&s;e that day: they would not yeeld to the motion of the &s;tating the que|&s;tion, but with a kinde of violent importunity urg'd, that the <HI>Mini&s;ter</HI> that had <HI>preacht,</HI> would maintain his doctrine: to which at length we yeelded, and bid them object: having cho|&s;en Moderators; M. <HI>Wood</HI> on ours, and a Captain on their part.</P>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Coll.</SPEAKER>
<P>M. <HI>Collier</HI> began to this purpo&s;e: I &s;hall go through the <HI>Ser|mon</HI> in order: the fir&s;t point was; <HI>That openly &s;candalous and prophane per&s;ons with true beleevers were not incon&s;istent with a true Church;</HI> but this I &s;hall not meddle with.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>I thank you for that Sir, yet if you have any thing again&s;t it, I pray you &s;ay on.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Coll.</SPEAKER>
<P>No, I will let that pa&s;&s;e; and come unto the &s;econd, which
<PB N="58" REF="43"> was, <HI>That the Churches of England are true Churches:</HI> which I have four things to except again&s;t; 1. That their <HI>con&s;titution</HI> was fal&s;e. 2. Their <HI>members</HI> are fal&s;e. 3. Their <HI>Ordinances</HI> are fal&s;e. 4. Their <HI>Mini&s;tery</HI> is fal&s;e.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>I deny them all: and fir&s;t I deny our con&s;titution to be fal&s;e; and would have you prove it.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>You were fal&s;ly con&s;tituted in Q. <HI>Eizabeths</HI> daies, for you were made true Churches by the <HI>civill power,</HI> the command of the Queen; and not by the Mini&s;try of the Word, as you &s;hould have been.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>That is denied: for we were not reclaim'd from Popery by the Queens command, without, but with the a&s;&s;i&s;tance of the <HI>godly Protestant Mini&s;tery</HI> (as Hi&s;tory makes to appear) and you cannot deny.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Coll.</SPEAKER>
<P>But did not the people turn for fear of the power of the Ma|gi&s;trate? and I hope you will not &s;ay that the Cavaliers are good Subjects, and truly converted to the Parliament, becau&s;e they out of fear &s;ub&s;cribe the Engagement.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>To &s;ay, that all did <HI>turn for fear</HI> is but a &s;lander, and cannot be proved; but however I had thought you had &s;poken all the while of a <HI>vi&s;ible Church,</HI> do you require <HI>reall faith,</HI> to con&s;titute a <HI>vi&s;ible Church?</HI> I &s;ay, that the outward &s;ubjection of the Ca|valiers is enough to make them <HI>vi&s;ible</HI> &s;ubjects; and the <HI>out|ward</HI> profe&s;&s;ion of Chri&s;t, is enough to render men externall members of the vi&s;ible Church.</P>
<P><NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">M. <HI>Thomas Gorges</HI> a very worthy, godly, and learned Gentleman, and Ju&s;tice of Peace in the County.</NOTE> Be&s;ides, the renoun<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ing of Popery, and embracing the Pro|te&s;tant Religion, was a voluntary act of the whole Land, in their Repre&s;entative the <HI>Parliament,</HI> that &s;ate in the fir&s;t year of Q. <HI>Elizabeths</HI> Reign.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>M. <HI>Collier</HI> hearken to the Gentleman, he is a <HI>State&s;-man,</HI> and knows what belongs to Hi&s;tory better then you or I.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Coll.</SPEAKER>
<P>But you &s;hould have been con&s;tituted by the Mini&s;tery of the Word.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>I have told you <HI>we were:</HI> there were three <HI>&s;pecial acts</HI> of grace &s;een in our conver&s;ion from Popery; the fir&s;t was upon the heart of the Queen, inclining her Maje&s;ty to propagate the true and Prote&s;tant Religion; the &s;econd was, in inclining the people to be &s;ome what wrought on, by the command and influence of the
<PB N="59" REF="43"> good Queen; the la&s;t now was &s;een, in <HI>making effectuall</HI> and per|fecting the former, by the Prote&s;tant Mini&s;try. <NOTE PLACE="marg"><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> Several Pro|te&s;tant Mini|&s;ters of <HI>Eng|land</HI> before Q. <HI>Maries</HI> daies, fled in the time of per&s;ecution, and returned in the begin|ning of <HI>Eliza|beths</HI> reign, and preaching all over <HI>England,</HI> reclaim'd the people from Popery.</NOTE></P>
</SP>
<P>With this they &s;eemed to acquie&s;ce, urging their great obje|ction no more at all, which may hint unto us, that the mo&s;t rea|dy and &s;ure&s;t way to foil &s;uch adver&s;aries, is by dealing with them in their own <HI>principles;</HI> which was M. <HI>Fullwoods</HI> effectu|all cour&s;e throughout: namely, to give them what they de&s;ire (by way of <HI>medium</HI>) and then to wre&s;t the <HI>weapon</HI> out of their hand, or to &s;oil them in their own play: thus it was here, &s;up|po&s;ing (as they would, though they can never prove) that our Churches were con&s;tituted in Q. <HI>Elizabeths</HI> time (who were indeed reclaimed then, but con&s;tituted Centuries of years be|fore) and that there was no other means to bring a people to outward profe&s;&s;ion (which fouly cro&s;&s;eth their own principles, as appeareth afterwards:) or that the Civill Magi&s;trate is to have no hand in the reformation of a Church, which though &s;uppo&s;ed may not be granted: or that, to conclude, that we cannot be a true Church unle&s;&s;e we know the means and man|ner of its con&s;titution, which is indeed ab&s;urd: if the e&s;&s;entiall marks of a true Church can be demon&s;trated; as was in our Churches in the morning: Yet with all the&s;e (one of which they cannot po&s;&s;ibly maintain) they could not wield their objecti|on: the very <HI>medium</HI> it &s;elf, <HI>viz.</HI> that we were not converted or reclaim'd by the Mini&s;tery of the Word, being flatly fal&s;e.</P>
<P>Then they broke off &s;omewhat abruptly from this to In|fant-Bapti&s;m; and being there was nothing objected by any of them afterwards, again&s;t the two next par|ticulars; (Our <HI>Members</HI> and <HI>Ordinances</HI>) we &s;uppo&s;e their Di&s;cour&s;e of Infant-Bapti&s;m was in &s;tead of them.</P>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Coll.</SPEAKER>
<P>Infant-Bapti&s;m is unlawfull.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>Why &s;hould we &s;tep &s;o large? What is Infant-Bapti&s;m to the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e in hand? however take your liberty, and prove Infant-Bapti&s;m if you can to be unlawfull, as you &s;ay it is.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Coll.</SPEAKER>
<P>That that hath neither <HI>precept</HI> nor <HI>pre&s;ident</HI> in the word is un|lawfull, but Infant-Bapti&s;m hath neither, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> therefore it is un|lawfull.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>I deny both your Propo&s;itions; For the fir&s;t, I &s;ay, it is not
<PB N="60" REF="44"> unlawfull to go to <HI>Taunton,</HI> and yet you cannot &s;hew me a <HI>pre|cept or pre&s;ident</HI> in the Word for it.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Hadridge.</SPEAKER>
<P>But M. <HI>Fullwood</HI> do not you know we &s;peak of Ordi|nances?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>However M. <HI>Hadridge</HI> the Propo&s;ition is fal&s;e, and de&s;erves correction: But (to come as near as you would have me) I pray tell me what you mean by Precept here, whether an expre&s;&s;e command, or &s;uch a command as fals from the Word by <HI>ju&s;t con&s;equence;</HI> if you require an expre&s;&s;e command in &s;o many words, (though I grant that requi&s;ite to the <HI>&s;ub&s;tance</HI> of an Or|dinance, as this of Bapti&s;m, yet) this is not <HI>ab&s;olutely requi&s;ite</HI> for every <HI>circum&s;tance</HI> that belongs to an Ordinance; not to the circum&s;tance of time, when the children of profe&s;&s;ors &s;hould be baptized; whether in <HI>Infancy</HI> or <HI>riper years,</HI> when we can prove it by <HI>ju&s;t con&s;equence;</HI> for though the Ordinance of inclination be changed, <HI>Circumci&s;ion</HI> into <HI>Bapti&s;m;</HI> yet that the <HI>time of ad|mini&s;tration</HI> is changed, you can never prove: &s;o that then, &s;up|po&s;e your propo&s;ition be <HI>touching Ordinances,</HI> it being onely touching a <HI>circum&s;tance</HI> and not the <HI>&s;ub&s;tance</HI> of an Ordinance, 'tis fal&s;e &s;till. <HI>Nothing of an&s;wer was made to this Reply;</HI> but M. <HI>Collier</HI> went from this to prove the <HI>minor,</HI> viz. <HI>That Infants had no command to be baptized.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>There's no command for baptizing <HI>Infants,</HI> for <HI>beleevers</HI> are commanded to be baptized.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>This doth not <HI>conclude</HI> at all: for though beleevers are, yet it doth not follow, That none but beleevers are to be <HI>baptized,</HI> which you are to prove: We &s;ay, <HI>actuall beleevers</HI> not yet bapti|zed, <HI>are to be baptized;</HI> but we &s;ay al&s;o, that they and <HI>their Chil|dren</HI> are to be baptized; it behooves you, if you can to produce a command, wherein beleevers onely are commanded to be ba|ptized.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Coll.</SPEAKER>
<P>The Text &s;aith, <HI>He that beleeveth and is baptized, &s;hall be &s;a|ved.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>Alas! this is no command at all, but a <HI>Propo&s;ition</HI> only: much le&s;&s;e that beleevers only are to be baptized; and the truth is the force of this Propo&s;ition is onely this, That none but beleevers &s;hall be &s;aved, not baptized, or rather, tho&s;e that beleeve, as well as receive the Ordinance of bapti&s;m, &s;hall a&s;&s;uredly be &s;a|ved;
<PB N="61" REF="44"> but as this excludes not children from <HI>&s;alvation,</HI> &s;o neither from bapti&s;m.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Coll.</SPEAKER>
<P>But we pray you then, if there be a command for <HI>baptizing of Infants,</HI> &s;hew it.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>This is indeed &s;omewhat unrea&s;onable M. <HI>Collier;</HI> e&s;pecially con&s;idering how <HI>weary</HI> you may ea&s;ily imagine me to be, who preacht, and &s;ince that <HI>di&s;puted</HI> &s;o long with you; however give me leave for a little re&s;pite to choo&s;e a &s;econd, that may &s;tead me a while, and you &s;hall have what liberty you can de|&s;ire.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>We agree, choo&s;e whom you will.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>I choo&s;e my <HI>Moderator,</HI> I pray you M. <HI>Wood</HI> give them a command for Infant-Bapti&s;m.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Wood.</SPEAKER>
<P>Choo&s;e you now, whether you will oppo&s;e or defend M. <HI>Col|lier,</HI> 'tis an indifferent thing to me.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>I de&s;ire you will &s;hew us a command for Infant-bapti&s;m.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Wood.</SPEAKER>
<P>You may reade a command for Infant-bapti&s;m, in <HI>Mat.</HI> 28. 19. <HI>Go teach all Nations, baptizing them,</HI> &amp;c. whence I argue thus.</P>
<P>Where we finde a generall command in the Word, we may not re&s;train or limit the &s;ame without warrant from the Word.</P>
<P>But here we have a generall command, <HI>Baptize all Nations.</HI></P>
<P>And therefore we may not re&s;train or limit it to beleevers onely, without we can &s;hew a warrant from the Word &s;o to do.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>'Tis re&s;train'd to Di&s;ciples: for in the Greek, it is <HI>di&s;ciple</HI> all Nations, baptizing them: fir&s;t they mu&s;t be made <HI>di&s;ciples,</HI> and then <HI>baptized.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Wood.</SPEAKER>
<P>You cannot conclude from the order of words in Scripture: for in <HI>Mark</HI> 'tis &s;aid <HI>baptize and teach;</HI> whence we may argue as well, that we mu&s;t baptize before we teach. 2. I am very glad that you &s;o tran&s;lat<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> the words; for <HI>children are capable of being di&s;cipled,</HI> and <HI>therefore baptiz'd.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>Children have no right at all to <HI>Bapti&s;m.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Wood.</SPEAKER>
<P>That I &s;hall prove unto you thus, Tho&s;e to whom <HI>the spirit of grace,</HI> the <HI>Kingdom of God,</HI> and <HI>the ble&s;&s;ing of Chri&s;t</HI> belongs; to tho&s;e the Ordinance of <HI>Bapti&s;m</HI> belongs; but to <HI>&s;ome children;</HI>
<PB N="62" REF="45"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">he &s;pirit of grace, the kingdom of God, and the ble&s;&s;ing of Chri&s;t belongs: therefore to them belongs the Ordinance of Bapti&s;m.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col,</SPEAKER>
<P>I deny your <HI>minor.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Woad.</SPEAKER>
<P>For the fir&s;t, <HI>John was &s;anctified from the womb.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>That is, he was &s;eparated to an Office.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Wood.</SPEAKER>
<P>No, for we reade of an inward work of the &s;pirit, <HI>the childe leaped for joy in the womb;</HI> but the two other are more clearly proved in that known Text: Chri&s;t took <HI>little children into his arms, and ble&s;&s;ed them, and &s;aid, for of &s;uch is the Kingdome of God.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Facy.</SPEAKER>
<P>That was meant of men like <HI>Children,</HI> in harmle&s;ne&s;&s;e, meek|ne&s;&s;e, <HI>&amp;c.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Wood.</SPEAKER>
<P>How, good Sir, do we think that they <HI>brought men</HI> to Chri&s;t in their <HI>arms?</HI> or that Chri&s;t took <HI>men into his arms, and ble&s;&s;ed them?</HI></P>
<P>2. If our Saviour &s;hould urge them to &s;uffer little children to come to him, becau&s;e <HI>of &s;uch is the kingdom of Heaven,</HI> and yet mean by <HI>&s;uch</HI> here, <HI>men like to children,</HI> the rea&s;on here were very improper, and would no way an&s;wer the <HI>com|mand.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>But what is this to Infant-bapti&s;m all this while?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Wood.</SPEAKER>
<P>Alas! I bring not this to prove the baptizing of Infants <HI>im|mediatly;</HI> but to prove the <HI>minor</HI> denied, <HI>viz.</HI> That Children are part of the Kingdom of God, and by <HI>con&s;equence</HI> onely, that they may be baptized.</P>
</SP>
<P>Here they &s;tuck untill they found out a way to get them&s;elves out of the mire, by de&s;iring to return to M. <HI>Fullwood</HI> again, who they pleaded had had &s;ome re&s;pite, which was accordingly yeelded unto.</P>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>You cry out for a <HI>Command for Infants-bapti&s;m,</HI> I will give you two.</P>
<P>The fir&s;t &s;hall be the &s;ame, my brother begun with, <HI>otherwi&s;e applied,</HI> it is <HI>Mat.</HI> 28. 19. <HI>Go di&s;ciple</HI> (as you intepret well) <HI>all Nations baptizing them:</HI> Here is a cleer and expre&s;&s;e com|mand
<PB N="63" REF="45"> to baptize all &s;uch as are made <HI>Di&s;ciples:</HI> according to your own interpretation of the place; but now children of profe&s;&s;ors are di&s;ciples (<HI>de jure</HI> before, <HI>de facto</HI> by bapti&s;m;) therefore here is a clear and expre&s;s command for <HI>baptizing the children of Profe&s;&s;ors.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Coll.</SPEAKER>
<P>I deny that children are di&s;cipled.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>Tho&s;e that are <HI>members</HI> of the vi&s;ible Church are <HI>di&s;|ciples:</HI> but children of profe&s;&s;ors are <HI>members</HI> of the <HI>vi|&s;ible Church:</HI> therefore children of profe&s;&s;ors are di&s;ciples.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Coll.</SPEAKER>
<P>I deny, that children of <HI>profe&s;&s;ors</HI> are <HI>members</HI> of the <HI>Church.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>If children of profe&s;&s;ors had the <HI>priviledge of being Church|members once;</HI> and that priviledge was <HI>never taken away from them,</HI> they have it &s;till; but children of profe&s;&s;ors had this pri|viledge of being Church-members once, and it was never yet taken away from them, therefore they have it &s;till.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Coll.</SPEAKER>
<P>That priviledge of there's is repealed.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>If this priviledge of <HI>children</HI> be repealed by <HI>God,</HI> it mu&s;t be re|pealed either <HI>in the Old or New Te&s;tament,</HI> but it was never repea|led in the Old or new Te&s;tament; therfore it is not repealed yet.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>'Tis repealed in the New Te&s;tament.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>If &s;o; It is repealed in the four Evangeli&s;ts, <HI>Acts of the A|postles, Epi&s;tles,</HI> or the <HI>Revelation;</HI> but in none of the&s;e, there|fore not at all.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Coll.</SPEAKER>
<P>It is repealed in <HI>Gal.</HI> 3. 16. <HI>Now to Abraham and his &s;eed are the promi&s;es made; he &s;aith not, and to &s;eeds, as of many, but as of one, and to thy &s;eed, that is Christ:</HI> Now therefore all the pro|mi&s;es are re&s;olv'd and center'd in Chri&s;t, and we have none but what we have from his hand.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>It is true, that all the promi&s;es are re&s;olv'd and center'd in Chri&s;t, but that is, in Chri&s;t con&s;idered <HI>in Aggregato,</HI> that is, Chri&s;t con&s;i&s;ting of <HI>head and members,</HI> and which cannot be de|nied, becau&s;e el&s;e, all the Covenant of grace and promi&s;es, be|ing <NOTE PLACE="marg">Compare the Text with 1 Cor. 12. 12.</NOTE> centered in the pe<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;on of Chri&s;t, as you would urge, there &s;hould be none le<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">t <HI>for the body of Chri&s;t, in the daies of the Go|spel,</HI> Now con&s;ider, what can you gain by this Text? the mea|ning is, that the former Covenant of grace, and promi&s;es made to <HI>Abraham,</HI> are all centred in Chri&s;t; that is, in Chri&s;t, both head and members, in the daies of the Go&s;pel, as is better expla<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">ed
<PB N="64" REF="46"> by the 14. <HI>ver.</HI> of the &s;ame Chapter; the ble&s;&s;ing of <HI>Abraham</HI> is come upon the Gentiles through Chri&s;t Je&s;us: that is, the promi&s;es and priviledges of our Father <HI>Abraham,</HI> the <HI>typicall</HI> head of the Jewi&s;h Church, is come upon the <HI>Churches</HI> of the <HI>Gentiles</HI> by <HI>Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> the <HI>my&s;tical</HI> head of the <HI>Gentile Church;</HI> and were not the promi&s;es made to <HI>Abraham</HI> and his &s;eed? and did not the priviledge of being <HI>Church-members,</HI> belong to <HI>A|braham</HI> and his &s;eed? and therefore the &s;ame promi&s;es and pri|viledges belong to profe&s;&s;ors of the Gentiles and <HI>their &s;eed</HI> al&s;o.</P>
<P>Again, were this Text for you at all, it would onely &s;erve to prove, that Chri&s;ts <HI>spirituall &s;eed</HI> have the priviledge of being <HI>Church-members</HI> alone: the contrary we have proved in the Sermon above, &s;hewing you that not only hypocrites but &s;can|dalous per&s;ons were <HI>members of the Church of God at Corinth,</HI> again&s;t which you have nothing to &s;ay, they being members of the vi&s;ible Church, are members of the <HI>vi&s;ible</HI> body of Chri&s;t, and by con&s;equence have vi&s;ible intere&s;t in the promi&s;es and pri|viledges, which you &s;ay are centred in Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>I de&s;ire you M. <HI>Collier</HI> to &s;hew us a better Text then this, therefore, for the <HI>repealing of Infants Church-member&s;hip.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Coll.</SPEAKER>
<P>But this is clear'd by the la&s;t ver&s;e of the &s;ame Chapter; if ye be Chri&s;ts, then are ye <HI>Abrahams</HI> &s;eed, and heirs according to the promi&s;e.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>This text is clearer again&s;t you then the former was: what doth it &s;ay? it &s;aith, that the Gentiles by becoming <HI>Chri&s;ts</HI> or <HI>Christians,</HI> they <HI>become thereby Abrahams &s;eed,</HI> that is, by being united to Chri&s;t <HI>really,</HI> they become <HI>Abrahams reall</HI> &s;eed: and by being <HI>united</HI> to Chri&s;t <HI>vi&s;ibly,</HI> we become <HI>Abrahams vi&s;ible</HI> &s;eed, and then accordingly we are intere&s;ted in the promi&s;es and priviledges of <HI>Abraham, being heirs according to the promi&s;e.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Hadridge.</SPEAKER>
<P>There is <HI>now neither Jew nor Gentile, bond nor free, male nor female: for ye are all one in Chri&s;t Je&s;us.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>I thank you for that M. <HI>Hadridge,</HI> a mo&s;t clear Text to prove the partition wall is broken down betwixt the Jews and Gen|tiles; and that the Gentile Churches being now made one with the Jewi&s;h (not as Jewi&s;h, but as a Church) have a right to all the priviledges of the Jewi&s;h Church: and among the re&s;t al|&s;o, <HI>to Church-member&s;hip for them&s;elves and children:</HI> if you
<PB N="65" REF="46"> have ever a better Text, I pray produce it, for the&s;e will not doe.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Coll.</SPEAKER>
<P>I pray then con&s;ider <HI>Rom.</HI> 2. 28, 29. <HI>He is not a Jew that is one outwardly, neither is that circumci&s;ion, which is outwardly in the fle&s;h, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>Alas this cannot be &s;trictly and properly under&s;tood, but by way of Compari&s;on; for a man cannot be a <HI>Jew</HI> and <HI>not</HI> a <HI>Jew:</HI> that would be har&s;h: the meaning is, that he is not a <HI>Jew in Gods account;</HI> that is, &s;uch a one as &s;hall <HI>have</HI> <NOTE N="*" PLACE="marg">Ver&s;. ult.</NOTE> <HI>prai&s;e of God,</HI> that is onely a member <HI>of the vi&s;ible Church:</HI> God looks chief|ly to the <HI>heart:</HI> or rather the Apo&s;tle is aboli&s;hing <HI>the Ordi|nance</HI> of Circumci&s;ion, and winding up their hearts to the truth of it, <HI>Circumci&s;ion that is of the heart:</HI> not that <HI>in the dayes of the Go&s;pel</HI> God doth &s;o much regard the <HI>heart,</HI> as that he ap|pointed no outward Ordinances, no vi&s;ible Church, nor vi&s;ible wor&s;hip; or not members of the vi&s;ible Church: but <HI>&s;uch as are Circumci&s;ed in heart:</HI> None of which you will offer to &s;ay; and yet the Text taken your way, offers to prove nothing el&s;e, which I pray you con&s;ider. But you mu&s;t look for another Text: this onely &s;hewes that Circumci&s;ion it &s;elf is aboli&s;h't, but the <HI>Covenant</HI> of Circumci&s;ion, that abides, as commanded <HI>upon Abraham and his &s;eed,</HI> both of <HI>Jewes</HI> and <HI>Gentiles</HI> for ever, <HI>Gen.</HI> 17. 9.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>But that <HI>Covenant</HI> was <HI>Circumci&s;ion,</HI> ver. 10.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>Give the holy Gho&s;t leave to interpret his own words; and we read ver&s;e 11. That Circumci&s;ion was onely a <HI>token</HI> of the Covenant: and though that <HI>&s;ign</HI> is vani&s;ht, the <HI>thing</HI> remains: unle&s;&s;e you will make the &s;ub&s;tance of the Covenant in the time of the Law one thing, and in the time of the <HI>Gospel</HI> another thing: and &s;o make two Covenants of Grace.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>I will not meddle with that now.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>But you mu&s;t give us another Text, or el&s;e, we &s;hall con|clude, <HI>That Children of Profe&s;&s;ors have the priviledge of being Church-members &s;till.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Hadridge.</SPEAKER>
<P>Matth. 3. <HI>Think not to &s;ay with your &s;elves, We have Abra|ham to our Father; the Ax is laid to the root of the Tree; which hath cut down all former priviledges.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<PB N="66" REF="47">
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>Alas, have not all the other Scriptures, which your &s;elves have brought, proved that we have <HI>Abraham to our Father &s;til?</HI> and that we have no Promi&s;es or Priviledges at all, but <HI>as</HI> we are <HI>Abrahams &s;eed?</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Had.</SPEAKER>
<P>But we mu&s;t doe the <HI>works of Abraham,</HI> that we may become <HI>Abrahams</HI> &s;eed.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>True; but as doing the works of <HI>Abraham indeed,</HI> we be|come his <HI>reall</HI> &s;eed, and have a reall right unto his priviledges: &s;o by doing the works of <HI>Abraham in &s;hew onely,</HI> we become his &s;eed <HI>in &s;hew.</HI> Which though it will not &s;atisfie God, who looks to the heart, yet it gives them a title to <HI>outward</HI> privi|ledges, from the hands of men, <HI>who judge according to appea|rance:</HI> The meaning of the place, with the extent of it, is plainly this; That God requires more exactne&s;&s;e and &s;trictne&s;s in the&s;e dayes of the Go&s;pel, then he did in the times of igno|rance under the Law: not that the Go&s;pel can any way po&s;&s;ible deprive the Church of any Priviledge, which <HI>made Grace to abound, and not to dimini&s;h in this regard;</HI> and therefore not this priviledge of <HI>having our Children Church-members with us.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>It is a <HI>Priviledge</HI> that our children are <HI>not Baptized;</HI> and that in many re&s;pects.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>What are they I pray you?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col,</SPEAKER>
<P N="1">1. It is a priviledge for our Children to be in that conditi|on <HI>that God would have them.</HI></P>
<P N="2">2. Again, Becau&s;e when your Children are once Baptized, you make it &s;erve to make them <HI>&s;ecure,</HI> telling them that now they are in a happy condition.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>Here are two priviledges for our Children not to be Bapti|zed. But to the fir&s;t, I &s;ay, is it not a goodly priviledge for the <HI>Damned Devils</HI> to be in <HI>Hell?</HI> yet that is the Condition God will have them in.</P>
<P>And for the <HI>&s;econd,</HI> 'tis a meer <HI>&s;lander:</HI> for as we beleeve, &s;o we <HI>tell</HI> our Children, that they are <HI>obliged</HI> by <HI>Bapti&s;m,</HI> to &s;erve <HI>God,</HI> own <HI>Chri&s;t,</HI> for&s;ake the <HI>World,</HI> re&s;i&s;t the <HI>Devil,</HI> mor|tifie their <HI>fle&s;h</HI> the more; which if they neglect, <HI>their</HI> condition is wor&s;e than the very <HI>Heathens.</HI></P>
<P>Thus we have made good the fir&s;t command of <HI>Matthew</HI> 28. 19.</P>
<PB N="67" REF="47">
<P> We &s;hall now proceed to the other; which you have in <HI>Acts</HI> 2. 38, 39. <HI>Repent and be baptized every one of you,</HI> &amp;c. <HI>For the promi&s;e is to you, and to your Children, &amp;c.</HI> Whence I argue:</P>
<P>The <HI>command</HI> of the <HI>Sign,</HI> is as large as the <HI>Promi&s;e</HI> of the thing <HI>&s;ignified;</HI> but <HI>the promi&s;e is to you and your children:</HI> therefore the command of Bapti&s;m reacheth to you and your children too, upon your repentance: as to <HI>Abraham,</HI> when he him&s;elf believed, God commands him to be <HI>circumci&s;ed</HI> him&s;elf and his <HI>Children:</HI> So here, when you repent, both you and your Chil|dren are taken into Covenant, and you are commanded to re|ceive <HI>Bapti&s;m</HI> for your &s;elves and <HI>Children. Repent ye</HI> parents, and <HI>be baptized</HI> every one of you, both Parents and <HI>Chil|dren</HI> (who have call'd for Judgement upon your &s;elves and Children) for the <HI>Promi&s;e,</HI> notwith&s;tanding, is <HI>to you,</HI> and to your <HI>Children.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>But this promi&s;e here is a promi&s;e of the <HI>Spirit.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Ful.</SPEAKER>
<P>And of the forgivene&s;&s;e of &s;ins too, <HI>ver.</HI> 38.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Coll.</SPEAKER>
<P>But that promi&s;e however is a <HI>&s;piritual</HI> promi&s;e.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Ful.</SPEAKER>
<P>Yet the <HI>promi&s;e</HI> which is &s;aid to be, to <HI>you and your Children</HI> there, is more then <HI>Spirituall:</HI> indeed, it is onely &s;piritually ap|plyed at this time: and why? Becau&s;e tho&s;e to whom it is ap|plyed are at this time onely &s;piritually wounded, <HI>pricked to the hears:</HI> yet the promi&s;e here, is indeed the Covenant which hath both <HI>temporall and &s;pirituall</HI> promi&s;es; which is very evident, if we turn to the <HI>&s;econd</HI> of <HI>Joel;</HI> out of which the Text is taken: which Chapter is almo&s;t made up of temporal and &s;piritual pro|mi&s;es, as if it were an Expo&s;ition of the Covenant. Which Chap|ter was openly <HI>read,</HI> and found to be <HI>&s;o.</HI></P>
<P>So this command was ended too: for they being urged to &s;ay what they could for them&s;elves, they refu&s;ed to &s;ay any more, but would leave what had been &s;aid to the judgement of the people; we being &s;omewhat imboldened by their parties &s;i|lence, <HI>referr'd it to the people,</HI> as they de&s;ired; and asked them whether they were not &s;atisfied with what had been &s;aid for in-Infant Bapti&s;m? In An&s;wer to which, &s;everall per&s;ons cryed out, They were; and not one of their partie &s;aid any thing to
<PB N="68" REF="48"> the contrarie; but one who call'd to the people, and asked them, <HI>Why they would &s;ay they were &s;atisfied, when they were not:</HI> Hereupon, as we remember, Ma&s;ter <HI>Hadridg</HI> &s;tood up and asked the&s;e two Sophi&s;ticall que&s;tions.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Had.</SPEAKER>
<P>I have three Children, which were never &s;prinkled, and I would fain know what Command I have omitted: I my &s;elf have been dipt; and I would fain know what Command I have broken.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Ful.</SPEAKER>
<P>As for your own being Dipt or <HI>Rebaptiz</HI>'d, you have broke the Command: that is ea&s;ily inferr'd from the words of <NOTE PLACE="marg">Suppo&s;e I &s;hould &s;ay, I have two chil|dren that have been both of them &s;prink|led, what com|mand have I broken? And for my own part I was ne|ver Dipt or Baptizd again, what com|mand have omitted? What An&s;wer can you make?</NOTE> the Apo&s;tle, there <HI>is but one Bapti&s;m;</HI> for you have had two. And for the neglecting the baptizing of your Children, you have plainly omitted the commands that have been pre&s;t for Infant Bapti&s;m, which &s;tand as yet un&s;haken, notwith&s;tanding what hath been moved again&s;t them.</P>
<P>Now we have given you the&s;e Commands; we &s;hall &s;hew you example al&s;o; which hath a probable Argument in it, that Children were baptized by the Apo&s;tles: It was, That we have many examples of whole hou&s;es that were Baptized; and &s;urely tho&s;e times were very barren, if there &s;hould happen to be &s;o many hou&s;holds without <HI>one</HI> child: and if it be <HI>probable,</HI> that there was but <HI>one</HI> Child, in all the&s;e Hou&s;es, as it is a very <HI>probable</HI> Argument for Infant Bapti&s;m, &s;ince the whole hou&s;e|holds (where ever they came) were Baptized, with the chief of their hou&s;es, none ever excepted again&s;t, or rejected. <HI>There was &s;ome jangling about &s;ome particular hou&s;es, but nothing of moment &s;aid to the Argument.</HI></P>
</SP>
<P>Then &s;ome indige&s;ted Objections were made again&s;t <HI>Sprinkling.</HI> The &s;um of the An&s;wer to them, was,
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. We do not exclude either <HI>Dipping</HI> or <HI>Sprinkling,</HI> though we conceive that <HI>Bapti&s;m</HI> is rather a <HI>wa&s;hing,</HI> then either Dip|ping or Sprinkling,</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. 'Tis out of Charitie, (as well as judgement) that we doe not <HI>Dip</HI> Infants; and we have Scripture-warrant for it; <HI>I will have mercy, and not &s;acrifice.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>3. The word <GAP DESC="foreign"> &s;ignifieth <HI>Sprinkling</HI> or <HI>Wa&s;hing,</HI> as
<PB N="69" REF="48"> well as <HI>Dipping:</HI> they <HI>Baptized Beds,</HI> and <HI>Cups</HI> and <HI>Tables,</HI> &amp;c. And when Beds and Tables were <HI>Ceremoniou&s;ly</HI> wa&s;h'd, or Baptiz'd; no man will &s;ay they Dipt them under Wa|ter.</ITEM>
</LIST> The Adver&s;aries unwilling to &s;ay any more again&s;t Infant-Bapti&s;m, were urg'd to return to their fir&s;t Di&s;cour&s;e, touching the <HI>Churches;</HI> and &s;ay what they could again&s;t our <HI>Mini&s;terie,</HI> the thing mainly intended: to which they agree<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&punc; but Ma&s;ter <HI>Fullwood</HI> being over-wearie de&s;i|red re&s;pit: it was urged that Ma&s;ter <HI>How,</HI> who had &s;ufficiently provided for it, who&s;e exerci&s;e was gladly and thankfully read and tran&s;cribed by &s;everal Godly Mini&s;ters about us, might &s;tate the Que&s;tion, <HI>touching the Mi|ni&s;terie;</HI> which was, Whether <HI>the pre&s;ent Mini&s;terie of the Churches now in England, be the true Mini&s;terie of Je&s;us Christ exclu|&s;ively.</HI> Which they refu&s;ed, pretending that would be too long; but gave way, that Ma|&s;ter <HI>How</HI> might bring an Argument or two for the <HI>Mini&s;terie</HI> of <HI>England:</HI> for which he engaged, and performed as followeth.</P>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>How.</SPEAKER>
<P>Tho&s;e that are In&s;truments in the hands of Chri&s;t for the work of Conver&s;ion, are the Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t, 1 <HI>Corinth.</HI> 9. 2. But the Mini&s;ters of <HI>England,</HI> are In&s;truments in the <HI>hands of Chri&s;t,</HI> for the <HI>work of Conver&s;ion,</HI> Rom. 10. 11. <HI>Ergo.</HI> A|gain, Tho&s;e that come in <HI>at the door of the Sheepfold,</HI> are the true Shepheards. But the pre&s;ent Mini&s;ters of <HI>England</HI> came in at the door of the Sheepfold; therefore they are true Shep|heards.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Coll.</SPEAKER>
<P>I deny the Minor.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>How.</SPEAKER>
<P>Tho&s;e that come in <HI>after the mind of Chri&s;t,</HI> come in at the door of the &s;heepfold. But we come in after the mind of Chri&s;t; therefore, &amp;c.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<PB N="70" REF="49">
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>I deny the Minor.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>How.</SPEAKER>
<P>Tho&s;e that come in an <HI>Apo&s;tolicall way,</HI> come in after the minde of Chri&s;t; but &s;o we come in.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>I deny the Minor.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>How.</SPEAKER>
<P>Tho&s;e who&s;e <HI>&s;ub&s;tantialls</HI> in point of Call, were &s;uch as the Apo&s;tles acted by <HI>in point of Ordination,</HI> came in the A|po&s;tolick way. But it was &s;o with us.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>I deny the Minor.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>How.</SPEAKER>
<P>Four things onely are required in Scripture &s;o far as I can <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">nd, to make a compleat <HI>Apo&s;tolicall Ordination.</HI> Fir&s;t, <HI>Exa|mination</HI> for Abilities, 2 <HI>Timoth.</HI> 2. 3. Secondly, The <HI>Savour</HI> of good report from the Church, <HI>Acts</HI> 16. 2. Thirdly, a time of <HI>&s;eeking</HI> to God, <HI>Acts</HI> 14. 23. Fourthly, <HI>Impo&s;ition</HI> of hands, 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 4. 14.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>You fail in the <HI>End.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>How.</SPEAKER>
<P><HI>Per&s;onall</HI> failings do not multiply the <HI>&s;ub&s;tance</HI> of the Act. And I pray you give me a better An&s;wer.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>You want a lawfull Authority, if you have all tho&s;e parti|culars. And be&s;ides, you are not the Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t, becau&s;e you <HI>doe not doe the work of Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
<STAGE><HI>Ma&s;ter</HI> Fulwood <HI>&s;tep'd up and &s;aid.</HI></STAGE>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Ful.</SPEAKER>
<P>Ma&s;ter <HI>How,</HI> I confe&s;&s;e I &s;hall doe you an unkindne&s;&s;e; however be plea&s;ed to let me &s;peak with Ma&s;ter <HI>Collier</HI> a lit|tle. Ma&s;ter <HI>How,</HI> having received no &s;atisfactory An&s;wer, gladly gave leave.</P>
<P>With your leave Ma&s;ter <HI>Collier;</HI> If I do not w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">th this ve|ry Argument of yours prove our Mini&s;terie to be of Chri&s;t, I'le be Baptized by you to Morrow. Thus; <HI>Tho&s;e that doe the work of Chri&s;t, they are the Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t.</HI> But the Mi|ni&s;tesr of <HI>England</HI> doe the work of Chri&s;t; therefore they are the Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>As for the Major, your own Argument grants that; and for the Minor, <HI>viz. That the Mini&s;ters of England doe the work, of Christ</HI> is ea&s;ily proved, if we con&s;ider what the work of the Mini&s;tery of Chri&s;t is; namely, to <HI>beget</HI> and <HI>increa&s;e</HI>
<PB N="71" REF="49"> Faith; to <HI>Convert</HI> and <HI>Edifie,</HI> as <HI>Romans</HI> 10. 14. <HI>Ephe&s;ians</HI> 41. 2. Which none can well <HI>deny</HI> the Mini&s;ters of <HI>England</HI> to doe.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Coll.</SPEAKER>
<P>Men may be converted many other wayes then by the Preaching of the word: The <HI>Woman of Samaria</HI> brought ma|ny to the Faith.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ull.</SPEAKER>
<P>You can never prove, that any per&s;on was truly Conver<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">+ed by that <HI>Womans Di&s;cour&s;e:</HI> Indeed &s;he prevailed upon them for a faint <HI>Hi&s;toricall</HI> faith, not a true <HI>ju&s;tifying</HI> Faith: for none can imagine, that their faith exceeded the womans report.</P>
<P>Again, the Ca&s;e is <HI>extraordinary,</HI> and no man can argue from thence to an <HI>ordinarie</HI> ca&s;e. We &s;ay that Conver&s;ion is not ordinarily wrought but by the &s;ent ordained Mini&s;tery; which that, <HI>Rom.</HI> 10. 14, 15. doth maintain for ever, without any colourable contradiction.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>I, but your Ordination came by <HI>&s;ucce&s;&s;ion</HI> from <HI>Rome.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>That Objection I fully an&s;wered (I thought) in my Ser|mon.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>You &s;ay the Church of <HI>Rome</HI> was a <HI>true</HI> Church, till the <HI>Councel of Trent.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>Suppo&s;e it; you cannot deny it: though the <HI>&s;tre&s;&s;e</HI> of the An|&s;wer lay not there.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Coll.</SPEAKER>
<P>How could <HI>Luther</HI> without blame, leave a true Church?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>Though the Church of <HI>Rome,</HI> was a true Church when <HI>Lu|ther</HI> came off, yet &s;he was a Church very corrupt. Fir&s;t, in <HI>Doctrine</HI> and <HI>Wor&s;hip;</HI> in which he could not joyn, but hee mu&s;t partake of her <HI>&s;ins.</HI> Secondly, in <HI>Di&s;cipline;</HI> if he would not embrace her corruptions, he mu&s;t venture his <HI>life</HI> to &s;tay there.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Coll.</SPEAKER>
<P>Could <HI>Rome</HI> be a true Church, and yet offer to kill &s;o good a man?</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Full.</SPEAKER>
<P>As well as the <HI>People of the Jewes,</HI> when they would Cruci|fie <HI>Chri&s;t.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>But were the <HI>Jewes</HI> a True Church, till Chri&s;t his <HI>Death?</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Ful.</SPEAKER>
<P>Yes, el&s;e there had been no true Church in the world
<PB N="72" REF="50"> at that time, which is an Article of our Creed, wherein we be|leeve the <HI>univer&s;al</HI> Church.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>True.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Wood.</SPEAKER>
<P>I &s;ee you can &s;ay nothing again&s;t our Call: I pray Ma&s;ter <HI>Collier</HI> now prove your own Call.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>I grant that none may preach, but <HI>&s;uch as are &s;ent;</HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 word"> I believe that many are <HI>&s;ent</HI> to Preach that are not in <HI>Of|fice.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Ful.</SPEAKER>
<P>I pray you look over the Scripture, and &s;ee whether you can find one Text for that, Ma&s;ter <HI>Collier.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>The Prophets were not in <HI>Office</HI> in the time of the Law, yet <HI>preacht.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Ful.</SPEAKER>
<P>The Prophets were in Office: the word <HI>Prophet</HI> is a name of <HI>Office,</HI> though <HI>extraordinary.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>But <HI>Paul</HI> preacht before he was called.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Ful.</SPEAKER>
<P>Not &s;o; he preacht indeed before he received an <HI>Ordinary</HI> Call, but not before he had an <HI>extraordinary</HI> Call: for Chri&s;t, when he came to call him to be a <HI>Chri&s;tian,</HI> he made him a <HI>Mini&s;ter;</HI> as is plainly expre&s;&s;ed by <HI>Paul</HI> him&s;elf, <HI>Acts</HI> 26.</P>
<P>They an&s;wered no more; and indeed it was now late: we did mu<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ually congratulate the happy meeting and di&s;cour&s;e of the day.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Col.</SPEAKER>
<P>I ble&s;&s;e God, that we have met with &s;o moderate a man as you Ma&s;ter <HI>Fulwood.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Ful.</SPEAKER>
<P>Truely, I did not expect to finde a man &s;o &s;ober and ratio|nall among you, as you have been Ma&s;ter <HI>Collier.</HI></P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Barb.</SPEAKER>
<P>Ma&s;ter <HI>Fulwood,</HI> I profe&s;&s;e &s;eriou&s;ly in the pre&s;ence of God, and all his people, that I love you as well as the deare&s;t friend I have in the world.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Ful.</SPEAKER>
<P>I thank you heartily Ma&s;ter <HI>Barber:</HI> but, truely, Ma&s;ter <HI>Templer</HI> I thought not to finde &s;uch <HI>incivilities</HI> from your hands.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Templ.</SPEAKER>
<P>Truely Ma&s;ter <HI>Fulwood,</HI> I little thought to have heard you di&s;pute &s;o well, when I heard your Sermon.</P>
</SP>
<SP>
<SPEAKER>Ful.</SPEAKER>
<P>Alas! then I preacht; and now I di&s;pute.</P>
</SP>
<PB N="73" REF="50">
<P> There were kinde Salutes on both parts, and a fair end. Onely &s;ome were urgent when we were parting, that they would prove their <HI>re-baptizing;</HI> For which they brought, <HI>Luke</HI> 19. To which Ma&s;ter <HI>Wood</HI> gave <HI>&s;everal</HI> An&s;wers, and nothing of moment was replyed. So the Company parted.</P>
<P>This we publi&s;h as a true, though &s;hort, &s;um of that large Di&s;pute.</P>
<LIST>
<HEAD>Mini&s;ters, &amp; Witne&s;&s;es.</HEAD>
<ITEM>M^r How.</ITEM>
<ITEM>M^r Wood.</ITEM>
<ITEM>M^r <HI>Bindon.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>M^r <HI>Wakely.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>M^r <HI>Ball.</HI></ITEM>
<ITEM>M^r <HI>Darby.</HI></ITEM>
</LIST>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="publisher's advertisement">
<PB REF="51">
<HEAD>Courteous Reader.</HEAD>
<P>THe&s;e new Books following are Printed and &s;old by <HI>W. Roybould</HI> at the Unicorn in <HI>Pauls</HI> Church-yard, near th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters">ttle North-Door.</P>
<P>THe Holy Arbour; containing a Body of Divinity; or the Sum and Sub&s;tance of Chri&s;tian Religion, in <HI>Folio.</HI> By <HI>John Godolphin,</HI> J. C. D. 1651.</P>
<P>The Hi&s;tory of the <HI>Bohemian</HI> Per&s;ecution, from the beginning of their Conver&s;ion to Chri&s;tianity, to the&s;e times, in 8^o.</P>
<P>The Ladies Vindication, or the Prai&s;e of worthy women in 12^o. 1651.</P>
<P>A further Di&s;covery of the My&s;tery of the la&s;t times, in 4^o. 1651.</P>
<P>The Life and Reign of King <HI>Charles,</HI> in 8^o. 1651.</P>
<P>The Antiquity of Common-wealths, in&s;tanced by that of <HI>Holland,</HI> in 8^o. 1652.</P>
<P>Church-ca&s;es cleared with a Pacificatory Preface to reconcile the diffe|rence between the Presbyterians, Independents, and Anabapti&s;ts: by D^r <HI>N. Homes,</HI> in 8^o. 1652.</P>
<P>A Sermon Preached the <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">^t^h. of <HI>Octob.</HI> 1650. before the L. Mayor, &amp;c. By D^r <HI>Homes.</HI></P>
<P>The Mi&s;chief of mixt Communions, in 4^o. By D^r <HI>Homes.</HI></P>
<P>A Plea for the Mini&s;trie in 4^o. By M^r <HI>VV. Wickins.</HI></P>
<P>A Sermon Preached <HI>Novemb.</HI> 5. 1651. By M^r <HI>Jenkins,</HI> being the fir&s;t he preach'd after his Relea&s;ement.</P>
<P>The Lawfull Preacher. Or, A Di&s;cour&s;e, proving that they only ought to preach that are ordained Mini&s;ters. Al&s;o, The Pulpit-Guard Relieved, in An&s;wer to <HI>Colliers</HI> Pulpit-Guard Routed, By M^r <HI>John Ferriby,</HI> in 4^o. 1652.</P>
<P>The Ordering and Setling of <HI>Ireland,</HI> in <HI>Folio.</HI> 1652.</P>
<P>Chri&s;t alone exalted, in 17 Sermons, by D^r <HI>Cri&s;p,</HI> in 8^o.</P>
<P>The A&s;&s;ertion of Grace, by <HI>R. Town,</HI> in 8^o.</P>
<P>A Sermon Preached at <HI>Taunton,</HI> by M^r <HI>Newton, May</HI> 12. 1652.</P>
<P>Poems with Additions. Al&s;o, The Mu&s;es Looking-gla&s;&s;e. <HI>Amyntas.</HI> Jea|lous Lovers; and <HI>Ari&s;tippus</HI> the jovial Philo&s;opher. By <HI>Tho. Randolph, M. A.</HI> in 8^o. 1652.</P>
<P>The Life of M^r <HI>Marriot</HI> the great Eater in 4^o. With all his merry Acti|ons and Travails.</P>
<P>A Cat may look upon a King. Or, A Character of the Lives and Actions of all the Kings, from <HI>William</HI> the Conquerour to King <HI>Charles,</HI> in 12^o. 1652.</P>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
