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<DATE>2010-03-02</DATE>
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<NAME>Pip Willcox</NAME>
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<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y"><!-- PDF PAGE 73 -->
<P>THE Temples Foundation LAID: OR, A Way for SETLEMENT OF RELIGION. Humbly Pre&s;ented unto the PARLIAMENT.</P>
<P>By M. T.</P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed by <HI>G. D.</HI> for <HI>Giles Calvert</HI> at the Black Spread-Eagle near the We&s;t End of <HI>Pauls</HI> 1653.</P>
</DIV1>
</FRONT>
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="tract">
<PB REF="2"><!-- PDF PAGE 74 -->
<PB N="1" REF="2"><!-- PDF PAGE 74 -->
<HEAD>THE <HI>TEMPLES FOVNDATION LA</HI> OR, A Way for SETTLEMENT OF RELIGION.</HEAD>
<EPIGRAPH>
<Q><P>Let your Moderation be known unto all men, for the Lord is at hand.</P>
<BIBL><HI>Phil. 4. v. 5.</HI></BIBL></Q>
</EPIGRAPH>
<P>_IN Church di&s;cipline or the affaires of the Church, it was the great expectation of the people of God, and the grant of Authority they rejoyced in, that there &s;hould be a due regard had to tender Con&s;ciences: Yet Epi&s;copacy, Presbytery, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> having, as they conceived, the &s;word of authority in their hand, made &s;ome Saints groan, and their cry hath come up into the eares of the Almighty,
<PB N="2" REF="3"><!-- PDF PAGE 75 -->who hath &s;aid, <HI>Touch not mine annointed, and do my Pro|phets no harm:</HI> For, <HI>if ye touch them, ye touch the apple of mine eye.</HI> And having taken to him&s;elf his great power, and powring forth his Viols of wrath, mo&s;t have bla&s;|phemed and not repented, and in the confidence of their wayes, have not eyed, whether <HI>Moderation</HI> hath been found in them, and that Righteous Law, <HI>Quod tibi ne feceris, alteri ne facias,</HI> (the Per&s;pective Gla&s;&s;e into all Lawes) hath been by them neglected. And hence come Warres, Fightings, Back-bitings, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> and who knows how &s;oon the cryers of Ho&s;annah may cry, <HI>Crucifie, Cru|cifie?</HI></P>
<P>And the ground of this hath been Zeal, (but not ac|cording to knowledge. Therefore it is nece&s;&s;ary to con|&s;ider Zeal, Fir&s;t, As it hath been contrary to God and his People. Secondly, As it may, and ought to be, eve|ry Chri&s;tians practi&s;e.</P>
<P>Zeal then con&s;idered, as contrary to God and his People, will not need much labour to prove, as having been by mo&s;t of the people of God granted, and by their practi&s;e, in oppo&s;ition to the Lawes in force under Epi&s;copacy, and Presbyterie, made manife&s;t. For the &s;lying of &s;ome to <HI>New England,</HI> to <HI>Holland,</HI> and to &s;e|cret Coverts, to avoyd the High Commi&s;&s;ion, te&s;tifies clearly, the truth of their &s;ufferings, rather than to con|form to the Act of Uniformity. And the keeping up of the &s;ame Lawes in the time of Presbyterie, &s;hewes the &s;ame &s;pirit active then.</P>
<P>But it may be Octjected, <HI>That tho&s;e very Mini&s;ters, that cost many va&s;t e&s;tates, to carry and maintaine them be|yond the Seas, do come and enjoy the fatte&s;t livings in the land now, and performe every thing tho&s;e Mini&s;ters did a|gain&s;t whom they cryed,</HI> Seperate, and be ye &s;eperated, <HI>and therefore it will be nece&s;&s;ary to enquire, whether there were a true ground to &s;eperate, and whether tho&s;e things, &s;o zealou&s;ly impo&s;ed, were again&s;t God and his People.</HI></P>
<P>The Tracts are many and large again&s;t mixt Commu|nions, which to every under&s;tanding man (to whom
<PB N="3" REF="3"><!-- PDF PAGE 75 -->the&s;e are intended) are &s;o clear, that I &s;hall forbear to to urge any more texts than, <HI>come out of her my people,</HI> and, <HI>what fellow&s;hip hath light with darkne&s;&s;e.</HI> And my opinion is, that who&s;oever &s;hall command any thing in the wor&s;hip and &s;ervice of God, &s;its in the Temple of God as God, and if he does command Tables to Altars, making of Churches and Mini&s;ters thereto, <HI>jure divino,</HI> He is Antichri&s;t in the height, and &s;its in the Temple of God, again&s;t God, an Enemy ready for de&s;truction: And who&s;oever obeyeth &s;uch commands is to be &s;epara|ted from, in it.</P>
<P>But it will be Objected, <HI>That there was never any thing impo&s;ed yet, but under colour of Scripture Authori|ty.</HI></P>
<P>To which I An&s;wer, Their works accordingly were burnt up and they &s;uffered lo&s;&s;e.</P>
<P>It will be Objected againe, <HI>That fear of flying to high may cau&s;e a flying to low, therefore if no cour&s;e be taken by Authority in Settlement of Religion, the con&s;equences appears already to be very dangerous.</HI></P>
<P>To the which I An&s;wer, That the mo&s;t di&s;putable points (mo&s;t commonly in&s;i&s;ted on for &s;etling Church Government) about the vi&s;ible Churches, the Mini&s;te|ry, and Sacraments, will not be found any wayes con|ducing to the ends propo&s;ed. For the great advan|tage to the civilizing of People to extirpate all viciou&s;|ne&s;&s;e, and to encrea&s;e knowledge in the Scriptures, hath been the Preaching of the World, or the Saints of God giving forth their apprehen&s;ions of the Scriptures, which are the Preachings of the Prophets and Apo&s;tles, and as they were &s;ent, &s;o by their writings do preach to the end of the world. And this pre&s;ent age hath been much puzled, labouring to find out, and &s;et up men as their &s;ucce&s;&s;ours, which pro&s;ecuted, <HI>vi &amp; armis,</HI> with their intere&s;ts, hath cau&s;ed the Judgements of God, who will vindicate his own way.</P>
<P>And therefore before I go to lay down that Order of Preaching or &s;earching the Scriptures nece&s;&s;ary for the
<PB N="4" REF="4"><!-- PDF PAGE 76 -->Nation, I &s;hall briefly &s;et forth the true and fal&s;e Mini|&s;tery.</P>
<P>The true Mini&s;tery &s;eems to be held forth to me, in <HI>Ephe&s;.</HI> 4. <HI>v.</HI> 11, 12. <HI>And he gave &s;ome Apo&s;tles, &s;ome Prophets, &s;ome Evangeli&s;ts, &s;ome Pa&s;tors, &s;ome Teachers, for the joynting or grafting in of the Saints into the work, of the Mini&s;tery.</HI> And the Lord accordingly hath own|ed the Mini&s;tery in this Land, <HI>qua</HI> Saints, and di&s;own|ed and puni&s;ht that which was &s;et up Authoritatively, as an Idoll, or as one having a gold ring, and as it &s;topt the mouthes of other Saints, met in the fear of the Lord. And as the Ob&s;ervator upon <HI>Clement, Pauls</HI> fellow-la|bourer, the be&s;t piece of Antiquity in the world &s;hewes, that in his time, when there was a vi&s;ible Church, a vi|&s;ible Mini&s;tery, &amp;c. That even then, as he writes, <HI>omnes Sancli &s;unt Cleri;</HI> And the word <HI>Laicus</HI> had not to this day obtained a place in our <HI>Lexicons.</HI> It would certainly be dangerous to &s;et up a Mini&s;tery of mans making. But as this is dangerous to a&s;&s;ert, in the&s;e times wherein we hope better things, I am bold to adventure the danger, not knowing that I erre from the mo&s;t Orthodox Wri|ters, Scriptures, or Councels.</P>
<P>As for Writers to the point of the vi&s;ible Church, never any of note, or worth noting, an&s;wer <HI>Bellarmin,</HI> and the Papi&s;ts, otherwi&s;e, than that it is not nece&s;&s;ary the Church &s;hould be Vi&s;ible: <HI>Willet</HI> in his <HI>Synop&s;is Papi&s;mi</HI> u&s;es it, and &s;o does <HI>Calvin,</HI> and all the chief Writers. Which &s;eems to me a weak an&s;wer, and this day it is the fir&s;t point, and onely one, a Je&s;uite in&s;i&s;teth on again&s;t us, and our unhand&s;ome dealing therein wil|ing to keep our Hierarchy, hath &s;ent thou&s;ands back to <HI>Rome.</HI></P>
<P>For in truth if a vi&s;ible Church (mo&s;t commonly by lovers of Truth) adjudged theirs for the Channel, la|boured to be cut by divers, &s;eems to have the impregna|ble Alps in the way. But if no vi&s;ible Church, no vi&s;ible Mini&s;tery, being as in&s;eperable as the &s;oul from a living man. And many of our late Orthodox Writers &s;ay ex|pre&s;ly,
<PB N="5" REF="4" MS="y"><!-- PDF PAGE 76 -->that <HI>the Church was invi&s;ible,</HI> as <HI>Brightman,</HI> and divers others. And the Scriptures are evident for it; for <HI>upon the opening of the &s;eventh Seale, the Sun was darkened, the Moon lo&s;t her light, and the Starres fell from heaven,</HI> which was doubtle&s;&s;e the cea&s;ing of the vi&s;ible Church, foretold by our Saviour in the Evange|li&s;ts, to follow immediately after that Generation was pa&s;t away.</P>
<P>And Scripture &s;eemes to hold forth clearly the Church to be invi&s;ible, if the Covenant of God be that <HI>formale e&s;&s;e</HI> of a Church, which gives the being, then as the Covenant is &s;piritual &s;o is the Hou&s;e; for the Covenant of Circumci&s;ion was vi&s;ible, if that &s;uch did &s;hew forth the death and re&s;urrection of Chri&s;t, they were legall, and being &s;hadowes mu&s;t pa&s;&s;e away, the Sub&s;tance being come. For &s;ayes the Apo&s;tle, <HI>The Law hath the &s;hadow of good things to come:</HI> by which we know, what was legall and ceremonious, which Lawes and Ceremonies, the Apo&s;tle writing of them, as they were under divine in&s;titution, termes them, beggerly and weak: and if we did truly know and weigh the new Covenant, and the enjoyment thereof, we &s;hould be &s;o farre from conte&s;ting about meats, and drinks, and dayes, and wa&s;hings, that if there were di|vine in&s;titution upon them, yet to be valued no fur|ther than as to fulfill all righteou&s;ne&s;&s;e, and not to be lookt upon as &s;erving to purifie the Con&s;cience, where|as the New Creature is All.</P>
<P>And if it appear then, that the Covenant is altoge|ther &s;pirituall, doubtle&s;&s;e the Hou&s;e is &s;pirituall; one Holy Catholique Church, as the fir&s;t, and all Councels, worthy the name, conclude. And doubtle&s;&s;e the Coun|cels of <HI>England,</HI> making tho&s;e new Di&s;tinctions of the Church of <HI>England,</HI> and Pari&s;h Churches, u&s;ed the word as Heathens did, or as &s;ome of our late Councels, to be &s;o <HI>jure humano,</HI> by which they were in a fair way to &s;ettle the Nation, but the violence of &s;ome &s;pirits, if not &s;elf intere&s;ts, that they might give law to them that
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<PB N="6" REF="6"><!-- PDF PAGE 78 -->made them, by a Law would be <HI>jure divino,</HI> till divine Ju&s;tice vindicated his own honour.</P>
<P>And if the Lords going through the red Sea, in de|&s;troying tho&s;e enemies, be worthy our ob&s;ervation, and if &s;o much can be &s;aid, as before, to &s;hew the invi|&s;ibility of Church and Mini&s;try, for <HI>quatenus</HI> a Saint, he is invi&s;ible from a hypocrite.</P>
<P>I &s;ay then, if that Mini&s;try of Saints under bondage, hath been &s;o beneficial to the Nation, and the onely meanes of good, to the ends before propo&s;ed, let true Zeal propagate it to freedome.</P>
<P>Zeal then truly con&s;idered, to propagate the Go|&s;pel to freedome, admits of a <HI>Quaere, Whether it &s;hould be Coercive or not Coercive.</HI></P>
<P>To which if I &s;hould po&s;itively an&s;wer, I know my doom, the judgements of men &s;tanding on each &s;ide like <HI>Scilla</HI> and <HI>Charibdis.</HI> And becau&s;e I intend to &s;hew the unnece&s;&s;arine&s;s of a <HI>Coercive</HI> power, I might well pa&s;&s;e it by.</P>
<P>But if I put in a word, it may not be altogether un|nece&s;&s;ary. I &s;hall &s;ay then, that if the Magi&s;trate may Coerce any civill a&s;&s;embling, why not this? why not a metting to read a Chapter? &amp;c. under the &s;ame &s;tamp of <HI>jure humano;</HI> and if upon any other account, as <HI>jure divino,</HI> to order any thing in Gods wor&s;hip, my opinion is, he &s;its in the Temple of God as God, and if he Coerce, God will grind him to pouder.</P>
<P>But I &s;hall proceed to &s;hew the unnece&s;&s;arine&s;s of a Coercive power, the <HI>Independent,</HI> and <HI>Anabapti&s;t,</HI> and all Church-fellow&s;hips of the &s;ame nature need it not. The lo&s;t &s;heep onely &s;tand in need; and what's their cry? <HI>When will the State &s;ettle Religion? we live like Heathen;</HI> and indeed their ca&s;e is &s;ad. And if the State would but appoint them a way for acquainting them with the Scriptures, and order a Di&s;cipline for ruling their lives and conver&s;ations, I am confident the fore named fellow&s;hips would not out&s;hine them, and thereby the Divi&s;ions in the Land, upon the account
<PB N="7" REF="6"><!-- PDF PAGE 78 -->of one more holy than his fellow taken away: and one|ly a holy emulation remain, as who &s;hould be mo&s;t ho|ly in truth. It will be nece&s;&s;ary then, to proceed par|ticularly in the appointment of a way for the acquaint|ing of the lo&s;t &s;heep of the Nation with the Scri|ptures.</P>
<P>The per&s;ons nece&s;&s;ary to be imployed in &s;uch a work, are worthy our con&s;ideration.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, If they be members of Congregations, it will break the Congregations.</P>
<P>Secondly, Such as are likely to extend the appoint|ments of Authority to a yoke, and heavily impo&s;e it, will overthrow the intended work.</P>
<P>Thirdly, If the lo&s;t &s;heep be prejudiced again&s;t &s;uch per&s;ons, the ends propo&s;ed will not be effected.</P>
<P>Fourthly, Conveniency of time and place &s;uites not with Church-Members.</P>
<P>Fifthly, The emulation to holine&s;&s;e is taken away betwixt them.</P>
<P>Sixthly, The enlargedne&s;&s;e of &s;pirit to each others good, appeares not in them.</P>
<P>Seventhly, It may be much feared, that the precious opportunities in &s;uch meetings, will be devoured in vain janglings, and que&s;tions, about Church-form, neglect|ing the &s;ub&s;tance.</P>
<P>Eighthly, If the lo&s;t &s;heep &s;hall not partake of the Sacraments, &amp;c. with tho&s;e &s;ent unto them, it will cau&s;e breach of love, &amp;c.</P>
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<P>Ninthly, In &s;ettlement of Religion, Peace and agree|ment is chiefly to be &s;ought, which cannot be betwixt per&s;ons &s;o different.</P>
<P>Tenthly, If per&s;ons of enlarged &s;pirits, as Mr. <HI>Sterry,</HI> Mr. <HI>William Sedgwick,</HI> Mr. <HI>Dell,</HI> Mr. <HI>Bacon,</HI> Mr. <HI>Sprigg,</HI> &amp;c. be appointed a Committee into &s;everall Counties, for putting in force the Order intended, as to time, place, per&s;ons, and the work to be done, <HI>quam facile e&s;t.</HI></P>
<P>The time mo&s;t &s;utable will be the fir&s;t day of the week.</P>
<P>The place would be mo&s;t convenient &s;utable to the per&s;ons.</P>
<P>The per&s;ons intended, are one, two, or more Pari&s;hes, as tho&s;e Commi&s;&s;ioners &s;hall &s;ee fit, wherein will be be found &s;ome 4, 6, or 8. fit for Moderators, to pre&s;erve the meeting from confu&s;ion, being wi&s;e, holy in life, knowing in the Scriptures, that what&s;oever is done may be for edification.</P>
<P>The Work intended, wherein the Nation would re|joyce, is the reading of the accu&s;tomed P&s;almes and Chapters in the Old and New Te&s;tament; and I &s;hould argue, if my child loved Hi&s;tory, as the Chronicles, &s;o he read in the Bible, I &s;hould like it, and not doubt to be able to &s;hew him &s;omething very profitable; and if he &s;hould inquire and &s;earch after the meaning, I &s;hould rejoyce in it, and think my &s;elf happy, and why not the meane&s;t in the Nation have the &s;ame priviledge, though it were good civill policy to di&s;own &s;uch children as live di&s;orderly. And commending the word of exhor|tation and in&s;truction to the Moderators, I &s;hall (in|tending brevity all along) forbear a more exact form in the Method, conceiving &s;uch per&s;ons named more fit.</P>
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<P>There remaines, in Order to a more excellent &s;hining of the Nation, a Di&s;cipline, which was never practi&s;ed but in the non-conformable Churches, which cau&s;es their &s;hining, but drawn forth into Que&s;tions of Church Mi|ni&s;tery and Sacraments, by the Church of England. And the &s;everity of that Di&s;cipline, for &s;uch que&s;tionable things, from their own mouthes, runs &s;o in their Di&s;ci|ples mouthes, that it would make a man tremble, e&s;peci|ally if they are in authority, that it &s;trikes like lightning. And under this Di&s;cipline, mo&s;t commonly a Heritique judgeth a Saint a Heretique: And therefore all judging for matter of Opinion I forbear, conceiving as the Apo|&s;tle, <HI>That if &s;uch a one comes in he will be judged of all,</HI> and, <HI>that Truth &s;eeks no &s;word for its Protector.</HI></P>
<TAILNOTE>
<P>The Copy of the Order to the Com|mi&s;&s;ioners, and the Act of Parliament intended hereunto nece&s;&s;ary al&s;o &s;et down.</P>
</TAILNOTE>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="Act of Parliament">
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<PB N="11" REF="8"><!-- PDF PAGE 80 -->
<HEAD>The Magi&s;trate, as Parents to Children, and Ma&s;ters to Servants, ought to ex|hort and correct evill doers and there|fore &s;ends Letters, and gives his autho|rity to &s;ome Deputies, <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> him&s;elf not being able to bear the burden him&s;elf.</HEAD>
<P>_TO <HI>A. B.</HI> and <HI>C. D.</HI> We de&s;ire and require you to go through &s;uch a County, appointing Pari&s;hes, as you think fit, to meet the fir&s;t day of the week at the mo&s;t con|venient place, or places, at accu&s;tom|ed houres, and to appoint &s;uch who&s;e lives, in your Iudgement, do render them to be Saints, to read the P&s;almes and Chapters, in the Old
<PB N="12" REF="9"><!-- PDF PAGE 81 -->and New Te&s;tament, as was ac|cu&s;tomed to be read, and that accor|ding to their be&s;t abilities they do fir&s;t of all inquire into a right under|&s;tanding and meaning of the words read: And to avoid confu&s;ion, there &s;hall be with your con&s;ent, four Mo|derators, or more, who may after|ward give forth &s;uch in&s;tructions and exhortations as are pertinent to the &s;aid Scriptures. And we re|quire you further to inquire into the lives and conver&s;ations of People, &s;harply reproving &s;uch as live di&s;or|derly, in a continued &s;candalous way of &s;inning again&s;t God: And that you leave order in writing for the Moderators of one hundred, to choo&s;e four from among&s;t them to go into the next hundred, every &s;ix moneths, <HI>Viz. <HI>June 24.</HI></HI> and <HI>December 25.</HI> and inquiring for, and &s;harply reproving &s;uch as live in a continu|ed &s;candalous way of &s;inning a|gain&s;t God. And if after &s;uch re|proofe they amend not, to give
<PB N="13" REF="9"><!-- PDF PAGE 81 -->notice of their names and crimes to the next Iu&s;tice.</P>
<DIV2 TYPE="authority">
<HEAD>Authoritate Parliamenti.</HEAD>
<P>And whereas it is a &s;hame that Chri&s;tians &s;hould come to be judged by Heathens,</P>
<P>Be it Enacted by Authority of this pre&s;ent Parliament, that no man within this Common-wealth, that is not adjudged a Saint, &s;hall be of any Iury. And that the Iu&s;tices of the Peace doe ap|point a Iury of the Neighbour|hood to fine any per&s;on being found guilty by them, upon the Oath of two &s;ufficient Witne&s;&s;es, of his live|ing in a continued &s;candalous way of &s;inning again&s;t God. And it &s;hall be lawfull for the &s;aid Iu&s;tices to mitigate the &s;aid fiue: Which &s;hall be to the onely u&s;e of the poor of
<PB N="14" REF="10" MS="y"><!-- PDF PAGE 82 -->the Pari&s;h where the Offender liv|eth. The fine not exceeding the fifti|eth part of any mans vi&s;ible E&s;tate, or the half of his yearly Revenue. And onely in default thereof a Cor|porall puni&s;hment.</P>
</DIV2>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
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</EEBO>
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