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<DATE>2012-05-14</DATE>
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<NAME>Mona Logarbo</NAME>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B120210.apex.</ITEM>
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<BIBNO T="umi">99860982</BIBNO>
<VID>113109</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>A SHORT DECLARATION OF THE A&s;&s;embly of Divines, By way of Dete&s;tation of this Abominable and Bla&s;phemous OPINION,</P>
<P>That God is, and hath an hand in, and is the Author of the Sinfulne&s;&s;es of his People;</P>
<P>Mentioned in a Book Intituled, <HI>Comfort for Believers, about their Sins and Troubles.</HI></P>
<P>Together with the Orders of both Hou&s;es of Parlia|ment for the Burning of the &s;aid Book by the hand of the common Hangman.</P>
<P>LONDON: Printed by <HI>Iohn Field</HI> for <HI>Ralph Smith,</HI> at the Signe of the Bible in Cornhill, neer the Royall Exchange, <HI>July</HI> 25. 1645.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="declaration to Parliament">
<PB N="2" REF="2">
<OPENER><DATELINE><DATE><HI>Die Sabbathi,</HI> 12^o. <HI>Julii,</HI> 1645.</DATE></DATELINE></OPENER>
<P>COmplaint being this day made to the Lords in Parliament by the A&s;&s;embly of Divines, That a certain bla&s;phemous and Hereticall Book, Intituled, <HI>Comfort for Believers, about their Sins and Troubles,</HI> is printed and publi&s;hed, being written by <HI>John Archer&punc;</HI> Mr. of <HI>Arts,</HI> &s;ometime Preacher at <HI>All-Hallowes Lumbard&s;treet London,</HI> decea&s;ed; which unle&s;&s;e &s;up|pre&s;&s;ed, will prove very mi&s;chievous and Deregatory to this Church and State: Their Lord&s;hips much abhorring the &s;aid Bla&s;phemies, do award and adjudge:
<LIST>
<ITEM>1. That the &s;aid Book &s;hall be burnt by the hand of the Common-Hangman, in the new Pallace <HI>We&s;tmin&s;ter,</HI> in the mid&s;t of <HI>Cheap&s;ide,</HI> and in the middle of <HI>Smithfield,</HI> in the County of <HI>Middl<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;ex,</HI> withall convenient &s;peed.</ITEM>
<ITEM>2. That the Printer &s;hall be found out, who is to declare to this hou&s;e by what Authority, and by who&s;e direction he printed and publi&s;hed the &s;aid Book.</ITEM>
<ITEM>3. That all the &s;aid Books &s;hall be called in, and no more to be &s;old, upon the Di&s;plea&s;ure of this Hou&s;e; And that all &s;uch who have any of the &s;aid Books in their hands, as well private per&s;ons as Book-&s;ellers, &s;hall bring them unto the She|riffs of <HI>London</HI> or one of them, as they will an&s;wer the con|trary at their perils unto this Hou&s;e.</ITEM>
<ITEM>4. That the A&s;&s;embly of Divines are de&s;ired to draw up a Dete&s;tation of the &s;aid Book, which is publiquely to be read by an Officer at the burning thereof; And that &s;ome of the &s;aid A&s;&s;embly be pre&s;ent at the &s;ame time.</ITEM>
</LIST></P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Io: Brown Cleric. Parliamentorum.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="Parliamentary order">
<PB N="3" REF="2">
<OPENER><DATELINE><DATE>Die Lunae, 14. Julii, 1645.</DATE></DATELINE></OPENER>
<P>ORdered by the Commons a&s;&s;embled in Parliament, That a Book Intituled, <HI>Com|fort for Believers about their Sins and Troubles,</HI> &s;hall be forthwith publiquely burnt by the hand of the common Hang-man; Some of them in the Pallace-yard, and other &s;ome in Cheap&s;ide, Smithfield, <HI>Pauls</HI> Church-yard, and the Exchange: And that the Ma&s;ter and Wardens of the Company of Stationers, and every other per&s;on in who&s;e hands any of them do now remain, do deliver the &s;ame to the Sheriffs of <HI>London</HI> and <HI>Middle&s;ex,</HI> who are hereby required to &s;ee this Order put in due execution.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>H: El&s;ynge, Cler. Parl. D. Com.</SIGNED>
<POSTSCRIPT>
<P><HI>Ordered, &amp;c.</HI> That the A&s;&s;embly of Di|vines do appoint &s;ome of their Members to be pre&s;ent at the burning of the&s;e <HI>Books,</HI> and to declare to the people, the Abominablene&s;&s;e of it; and if there be cau&s;e, to vindicate the Author.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>H: El&s;ynge, Cler. Parl. D. Com.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</POSTSCRIPT></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="declaration to Parliament">
<PB N="4" REF="3">
<HEAD>A &s;hort Declaration of the A&s;&s;embly OF DIVINES, Agreed upon <HI>Nemine contradicente.</HI></HEAD>
<P>_AS it hath plea&s;ed the Honourable Hou&s;es of Parliament, out of their pious care for pre&s;erving Religion pure, from the leaven of pernicious and Bla&s;phemous Doctrine, to Order the burning of this mo&s;t &s;candalous Book; &s;o have they fur|ther appointed us to declare the abominablene&s;&s;e thereof unto the people. And we doubt not but every good Chri&s;tian, as &s;oon as he &s;hall hear the &s;cope and contents of it, will, together with us, dete&s;t the horrid Bla&s;phemie therein a&s;&s;erted, and acknowledge the godly zeal, wi&s;dom, and ju&s;tice of Authority, in Commanding it, as an execrable thing to be taken a|way, that it may not remain among&s;t us, to provoke Gods wrath, and to produce &s;uch perillous and per|nicious fruits, whereby the &s;ouls of many may be cor|rupted to their everla&s;ting de&s;truction.</P>
<P>For whereas, that mo&s;t vile and Bla&s;phemous A&s;|&s;ertion, whereby God is avowed to be the Author of &s;in, hath hitherto by the generall con&s;ent of Chri|&s;tian Teachers and writers, both Ancient, and Mo|dern, and the&s;e as well Papi&s;ts as Prote&s;tants, been not di&s;claimed only, but even dete&s;ted and abhorred: yet
<PB N="5" REF="3"> in this book it is, not clo&s;ely intimated, or occa&s;ional|ly hinted, or i<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter"> con&s;ideratly and through inadvertency &s;tumbled upon, but openly, in expre&s;&s;e Termes, and in a very foul manner propounded, maintained, and purpo&s;ely at large pro&s;ecuted, to wit,</P>
<P><NOTE N="a." PLACE="marg">Pag. 37.</NOTE> <Q><HI>That God</HI> is, <HI>and hath an</HI> hand in, <HI>and is the</HI> Author <HI>of the</HI> &s;infulne&s;&s;es <HI>of his people.</HI></Q></P>
<P><NOTE N="b." PLACE="marg">Pag. 36.</NOTE> <Q><HI>That he is the Author, not of tho&s;e actions alone, in and with which &s;in is, but of the very</HI> Pravity, Ataxy, Anomy, Irregularity <HI>and</HI> &s;infulne&s;&s;e <HI>it &s;elf which is in them.</HI></Q></P>
<P><NOTE N="c." PLACE="marg">Pag. 37.</NOTE> <Q><HI>That</HI> God <HI>hath more hand in mens &s;infulne&s;&s;e, then</HI> they <HI>them&s;elves.</HI></Q></P>
<P><NOTE N="d." PLACE="marg">Pag. 38, 39.</NOTE> <Q><HI>That the Creatures &s;in doth produce</HI> the great|e&s;t good, <HI>either in</HI> Gods glory, <HI>or in the</HI> creatures happine&s;&s;e, <HI>as the</HI> next cau&s;e <HI>thereof, and that all that good is onely brought about by</HI> &s;in.</Q></P>
<P><NOTE N="e." PLACE="marg">Pag. 39.</NOTE> <Q><HI>That it is as</HI> Incongruous <HI>and</HI> Inconve|nient <HI>to make</HI> God <HI>the</HI> Author <HI>of the</HI> Afflictions <HI>of the</HI> creature, <HI>as of the</HI> &s;ins.</Q></P>
<P><NOTE N="f." PLACE="marg">Pag. 48.</NOTE> <Q><HI>That by</HI> &s;ins <HI>Believers are as much nurtured and</HI> fitted for Heaven <HI>as by any thing el&s;e.</HI></Q></P>
<P><NOTE N="g." PLACE="marg">Pag. 48.</NOTE> <Q><HI>That God fits Believers for &s;ervice in this world, by leading them into &s;ins.</HI></Q></P>
<P><NOTE N="h." PLACE="marg">Pag. 52.</NOTE> <Q><HI>That no cour&s;e is &s;o full, to remove or prevent &s;infull or pernicious troubles for &s;in, as this looking on</HI> God <HI>the</HI> Author of it, <HI>and the</HI> good <HI>which he</HI>
<PB N="6" REF="4"> <HI>brings about by it; which, becau&s;e it is rarely done</HI> by Believers, <HI>and indeed</HI> hardly known, he there|fore profe&s;&s;eth to have <HI>inlarged him&s;elf upon it.</HI></Q></P>
<P>In the&s;e and many other like tearms hath he &s;et forth this bl<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;phemous Doctrine.</P>
<P>And further, hee condemneth our Orthodox Writers, for that they have only granted,</P>
<P><NOTE N="i." PLACE="marg">Pag 36, 37.</NOTE> <Q><HI>That God is willing &s;in &s;hould be, and that he per|mits it, and orders circum&s;tances about its production, and over-rules it, and hath an hand in, and is the Author of the phy&s;icall or morall act, in and with which &s;in is,</HI> &s;aying <HI>that they have herein erred on the other hand, and made &s;in more of the Creature, and it &s;elf, and le&s;&s;e from God then it is.</HI></Q></P>
<P>Be&s;ides, the main &s;cope of the Book is to per|&s;wade men,</P>
<P><NOTE N="k." PLACE="marg">Pag. 4.</NOTE> <Q><HI>Not to be oppre&s;&s;ed or perplexed in heart, for any thing what&s;oever befalls them either in &s;in or affliction:</HI> As if our Saviour when he &s;aith,</Q> <HI>Let not your hearts be troubled</HI> (for that is the ground upon which he builds) had intended to dehort his Di&s;ciples from being trou|bled for their &s;ins.</P>
<P>Very great is both the danger and &s;candall which would from &s;o dete&s;table a Po&s;ition as this ari&s;e, if it &s;hould be &s;uffered without controule to be publi&s;hed and di&s;per&s;ed abroad, e&s;pecially in &s;uch a time as this, when on the one hand multitudes make u&s;e of the &s;pe|cious name of Liberty for a cloak of naughtine&s;&s;e, and of admitting, and profe&s;sing many perver&s;e and cor|rupt opinions, exceeding injurious to the Go&s;pel of
<PB N="7" REF="4"> Chri&s;t, and to the power of godline&s;&s;e: and on the o|ther hand, many watch for our halting, and glory in nothing more again&s;t us, then in tho&s;e advantages which the weakne&s;&s;e and in&s;tability of &s;uch as are car|ried about with every winde of Doctrine, and are not &s;etled and rooted in the truth, doth mo&s;t unhappily mini&s;ter unto them, to the un&s;peakable prejudice of the Church of Chri&s;t, and ob&s;tructing of that ble&s;&s;ed Reformation, which is by all good men &s;o earne&s;tly de&s;ired.</P>
<P>Exceeding dangerous it is unto the &s;ouls of men, both as a means to in&s;till into them bla&s;phemous and impure conceits of the Maje&s;ty of our mo&s;t holy God, as al&s;o by working them to a &s;lighting, and di&s;regar|ding of &s;in; and con&s;equently letting loo&s;e the rains to all corrupt and licentious living (for by how much the le&s;&s;e the trouble is after &s;in committed, by &s;o much the greater u&s;ually is the boldne&s;&s;e in the Commit|ting of it)</P>
<P>And the &s;candall hence ari&s;ing is every whit as great, both in regard of the offence, which is thereby given unto the Reformed Churches, who in their publick Confe&s;sions, make Satan, and man him&s;elf the only cau&s;es or Authors of &s;in, and &s;ome of them do in tho&s;e their Confe&s;sions by name damne this wicked Po&s;ition: And al&s;o in regard of the great advantage which it giveth to our Common adver&s;aries the Pa|pi&s;ts, who have hitherto only calumniou&s;ly charged the Doctrine of the Reformed Churches with &s;o odi|ous a crime (in the mean time confe&s;sing that we do in words deny it as well as they them&s;elves) whereas now &s;hould this bo<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">k be tolerated, they might ju&s;tly in&s;ult over us, and publi&s;h to the world, that now in
<PB N="8" REF="5"> the Church of England it was openly, and impunely maintained, That God is the Author of &s;in, Then which there is not any one point, whereby they la|bour in their Sermons and popular Orations, to ca&s;t a greater <HI>Odium</HI> (though mo&s;t injuriou&s;ly) upon the Reformed Churches.</P>
<P>And albeit the per&s;on mentioned to be the Author of this Book hath been of good e&s;timation, for Lear|ning and piety: yet &s;ince it hath &s;o deeply wounded the honour and truth of God, We ought not at all to be by any &s;uch ju&s;t con&s;ideratio~ withheld, from declaring but ju&s;t dete&s;tation of &s;o odious a Book: for if any man, yet if an Angel from Heaven Preach any thing contrary to the Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t, the Apo&s;tle is not afraid to pronounce him accur&s;ed: And indeed it is a very dan|gerous thing (and &s;o much the more dangerous, by how much the more ordinary and u&s;uall) to take up new and corrupt opinions upon tru&s;t, only on this in|ducement, a per&s;wa&s;ion which we have of the &s;anctity of tho&s;e per&s;ons, who are the Authors of them; for we ought to try the &s;pirits whether they be of God, and to &s;earch the Scriptures, whether the things taught us be &s;o or no; and having tried all things, to hold fa&s;t that which is good, and upon no pretence what&s;oever to depart from the form of &s;ound words in the Scrip|tures delivered unto us, or for the reverence or e&s;tima|tion of any mans per&s;on to entertain any &s;uch opinions as do in the very words of them a&s;per&s;e the honour and holine&s;&s;e of God, and are by all the Churches of Chri&s;t rejected. And therefore mo&s;t ju&s;tly hath Au|thority appointed execution in this manner to be done upon this Book.</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE><DATE>July 17. 1645.</DATE></DATELINE>
<SIGNED><LIST>
<ITEM><HI>Henry R<GAP DESC="illegible" EXTENT="1 letter">brough,</HI> Scriba.</ITEM>
<ITEM><HI>Adoniram Byfield,</HI> Scriba.</ITEM>
</LIST></SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
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