in the catalogue of all Popery: yet no good Christian will or can deny that the Honourable House of Commons did not at all intend to exclude whatever should be found to pertain to Popery' as a branch thereof. And therefore, we may boldly conclude, that if the forementioned things shall be found to be-and that, no small branches ofPopery,' the Protestation' hath an edge to cut them off all at one stroke! Fourthly; We are all in an erected hope of such a Reformation intended, by this noble Parliament, as cannot justly challenge the name of Reformation, unless all Popery' be made to be packing; which, of necessity, must carry with her all trinkets and baggage, with all her pompous equipage; among whose sumpters, the Hierarchy with all its pontificalibus of service, ceremonies, discipline, train, courts, may challenge to go in the foremost rank. Fifthly, and lastly; Suppose it could be supposed, by any rational man, that the House of Commons could have no such thought as implicitly to include the aforesaid particulars in the fardel of Popery; or, that they could not possibly intend the maintaining of those things still of which they expressly say that the 'words of the Protestation' are not to be extended to the maintaining of any Form of worship, discipline, etc. ;' or, that these things should not be removed; .. what then? Shall private and particular Christians, knowing these things to be Popery' and antichristian, being also bound by their solemn vow,.. never reform themselves until they see a general reformation over the whole land ? . . Will they, against their conscience, . . live and die votaries and communicants in that Service; schoolboys and punies under the ferula of that 'discipline;' vassals under that government;' conformists to those 'rites and ceremonies; all which are very Popery,' and 'popish Innovations'? "Ob.-But how doth it appear that the forementioned particulars are branches of Popery'?.. "An... Now most clear it is, by the Scripture, that the Liturgy, discipline, etc., of the Church of England, are all of them so many branches of Popery.'. . First, For the Liturgy: this is a branch.. in two general respects: first, in regard of the whole frame and matter of it, as being translated out of the Romish Latin Liturgy; as is confessed in the Book of Martyrs' see for this, the late 'Parallel between the English Liturgy and the Mass-book.' I omit to say anything here, of the many vicious particulars throughout the Service-book, which run, as the corrupt blood, through all the veins of it... The second general, is the Imposition of it, upon all men's consciences... Were the Liturgy, in itself, never so free from other faults, yet, being a service of men's devising, the Imposition, I say, makes it a branch of Popery ;'. . an opposing and overthrowing of Christ's kingly office: .. an office, incommunicable to any creature, or power, in heaven or earth. . . This is that 'will worship,'..expressly condemned, and branded as the highest tyranny; which to be subject unto,' is the spoiling and cheating men of their salvation, as we read at large, Colos. ii. 8-18; and a separating us from our Head' and King, Christ, ver. 19; and an evacuating of his death, ver. 20... Thus it is as plain as brief, that the Imposing of a Liturgy of man's devising, upon the conscience, is the pretended service of God:-.. it is rather, the service of man; and which God condemneth, as a vain' worship of Him, Matt. xv. 9... Secondly; For Ceremonies of man's devising, in the worship of God, and imposed upon the conscience; these.. are by the same reasons as before, proved to be Popery.' Thirdly; For Discipline,-which stands chiefly, in correction of manners, and inflicting of censures, as excommunication, such as is, and hath been, exercised in the Church of England ever since the pretended Reformation in this point;--that this is also another main branch of Popery,' do but compare it with that Discipline in the Church of Rome, and you shall find it, in all points, so jump and agree, as you must of necessity conclude, if Rome's Discipline be Popery then, certainly, our English Discipline is Popery' too!.. And so our Church wanting the true Discipline, which ought to be one of the three marks of a visible true Church-as it is noted in our Homilies,—the Church of England wants this mark at the least. And, if the Sacraments be not duly administered;' as being mixed and corrupted with a service of man's devising, and ministered pell-mell-as in the Lord's Supper-to ignorant and profane persons: then, for aught I see, it wants a second mark of a visible true Church. And if as lately, and in many places still-the Word of God, in the preaching of it, be generally corrupted; as when the full and free liberty of it, in sundry points of evangelical truth, is restrained and prohibited, by orders and edicts not yet called in: . . by this reckoning, it should want the third mark! and so much the more, in case the Calling of the ministry itself, should prove a piece of Popery' too. But this by the way, only it leads us the way to the next point... Fourthly, then; For the Government of the Church of England, by Archbishops, Bishops, Archdeacons, Deans, Commissaries, Officials, and the rest of that fraternity; if this be not Popery,' yea, and a top branch of it, I know not what is! Sure we are, not any one of all this rabble is found to be in the Scripture; and therefore, of Divine Institution, this Government is not; and, consequently, Christian it is not: it must needs then, be of Antichrist's Order, and Papal merely!.. If we look.. from Canterbury to Carlisle; and go through all their courts, their officers, their offices and administrations therein; we shall behold the perfect 'image' of the Papal beast' from horn to hoof. And if any will object, here, that the subordinate ministers bear a part in this Government, alas! that is but a mere mockery: for these are but the Prelates' Curates-a company of Priests, little differing from Rome's order of priesthood, in the estimate of our Prelates; saving that they are not shaven, and have, of late, been prevented of [from] being sacrificers:—but a part in the hierarchical government, they have none; unless a dumb Priest commonly, or some Doctor, now and then, be the mouth, to thunder out excommunication in their Courts; which the poor Curate, at the Commissary's beck, must publish in the congregation. And, to these Curates' consideration, I refer it, whether they be able, truly, out of good premises, to conclude themselves to be the ministers of Christ lawfully called? when all of them do immediately derive their ministry from the antichristian hierarchy, or Papal Prelacy... If here, it be objected, That the Government of Archbishops and Diocesan Bishops was before Popery came up; .. I answer, first, that the [that] Government. . was, anciently, much different from the Papal hierarchical government afterwards; whose courts, and sole prelatical jurisdiction, were not known in the Primitive Ages, long after the Apostles: secondly; the [that] Government.. at the very best, and when they first sprung up, was, even from the well-head, corrupted; as being a human device, and the first spring of the mystery of iniquity' which, the further it ran, the more corrupt it grew, till it had its full confluence in muddy Tiber-the See of Rome -by whose inundation Antichrist having hoisted up his mainsails, could easily compass-in the whole Eastern Christian world: thirdly, the Hierarchical Government in England, as a main arın of that sea, so it hath altered nothing of its former property when it was a limb of the Papacy; saving, that before the Reformation, they held immediately from the Pope, and now,-especially of later days,--they hold by the same false, pretended, title which the Pope himself holds by; namely, from Christ, and by Divine authority! Witness, Dr. Hall's sweaty [laboured] discourses. And Dr. Pocklington shows us a brief pedigree of the present titular Archbishop of Canterbury; saying, 'Miserable men were we, if he that now sitteth Archbishop of Canterbury could not derive his succession from St. Augustine, St. Augustine from St. Gregory, St. Gregory from St. Peter." So be only here he fails, and so becomes miserable,' that though he can prove Canterbury's succession from Rome, yet never Rome's from Peter. And so, a several misery follows upon it, That our Hierarchical Government being a limb of the Papal, and so a top branch, it is now, universally, of all good Christians in England PROTESTED against, as worthy to be cut off and cast out as a fruitless, withering, branch; and to be plucked up by the roots, as a tree twice dead, and as a plant not of God's planting! “Ob.—But if it be thus:.. [what shall be] instead thereof? "An.—I answer briefly, First; Understanding the Church of England to be none other than a National Church, it will be very difficult, if not rather impossible, to constitute it so as is agreeable, in all points, to a true and visible Congregation of Christ: for a Particular Church, or Congregation, rightly collected and constituted, consists of none but such as are visible living members of Christ the Head, and visible saints under Him, the one and only King of Saints; but so is it not with a National Church!.. In.. this, which hath been so universally overspread with profaneness and darkness; so long beslaved under the yoke of prelatical tyranny, . . formal service, will-worship, universal false and loose discipline, innumerable either false, or unprofitable, or idle teachers—non-residents, dumb dogs;'-so as whole counties for want of good ministers who have been, every where, cast out,..yea, the whole land in comparison,―are overgrown with.. those that know not what true religion means; where shall we begin to reform?.. Surely, in the new forming of a Church such as God requireth in his Word, Christ's voice must first be heard, to call forth his sheep and to gather them into their flocks and folds: for ikkλŋoía, the church, is properly a congregation of believers, called out from the rest of the world; for "Episcopacy by Divine Right Asserted. 1610." 4to. b Isa. lvi. 10. so saith the Lord, 2 Cor. vi. 17: a strange speech, and be ye separate!'.. In a corrupt Church,-as this is,.. by reason of the great apostacy, and especially the wickedness of the Prelates,—we should do as the Apostles did when they came to plant churches.. where the Gospel had not been formerly preached: first, they taught the people; and then, those which heard and believed were formed into a church or congregation. But here are, blessed be God! many people already fitted to make up holy assemblies or churches. Well then, let it be the first degree of Reformation, to begin and call forth all those into several congregations, who are fitted and who desire to draw near to Christ in a holy communion with Him in the purity of his ordinauces. And thus let God's Word run and have a free passage... Nor can we think, at the first especially, that every assembly of people collected in their several parishes, is fit to make up a Congregation, and so qualified as Christ requireth; for how many parishes in England will be found where scarce one is able to give a reason of the hope that is in him! "Ob.—But shall not good preachers be set up in every parish, that the people may be instructed; and so fitted to be members of a Congregation such as afore is mentioned ? "An.-No doubt of that; so far as is possible to provide preachers. "Ob.—But what shall the people do, in the mean time; .. have they not received baptism? are they not Christians? shall they not, then, be admitted in to the communion of the other sacrament? "An... The lame' or the 'blind,' is not to be offered up in 'sacrifice.' b "Ob.-But admit that such as are ordinary profane persons,.. be admitted to the Sacrament pell-mell; may not godly persons communicate with them and therein not sin? "An. For that, let such as are godly look to it... A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump:' the apostle applies it to a mixt communion. Let us keep the feast,' saith he,-to wit, in participating of 'Christ our passover' in the sacrament,-not with the old leaven;' and thereupon he tells them, 'I wrote unto you in an epistle, not to company with fornicators;' and [in another place], This ye know, that no whoremonger, &c., hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ... Be not ye therefore partakers with them.' "Ob.-But if congregations be so mixed as they cannot, or are not secured; shall godly men, for that cause, deprive themselves of the ordinance ? "An.-First; There is no necessity that men in using the ordinance, should sin by communicating with others in the profanation of holy things: secondly; it is not God's ordinance that his holy things should be profaned: Cast not your pearls before swine; nor your holy things to dogs.' Who required this at your hand, to tread my courts?' and yet, their oblations,' their 'sabbaths,' their solemn assemblies,' were God's ordinances: but because they were polluted and profaned by those that joined in them, therefore the Lord abhors them, 'Wash you, make you clean, &c.'f 1 Pet. iii. 15. Matt. vii. 6. b Deut. xv. 21. c 1 Cor. v. 6-9 d Eph. v. 5, 7. "Ob.-But what is this, to godly persons communicating with profane ? "An.-To communicate with known evil doers which, even in their presuming to communicate in the ordinances, do evil in their doing of evil, is to 'partake' of their evil deeds. Be 'not mingled with'a such, saith the apostle, that they may be ashamed:' and, 'We command you brethren, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, &c.'b "Ob.-But if it be so, where can a godly man communicate without gin; for where are not the congregations mixed? "An.—It is true that, if there be none other congregations allowed but such as are in parishes, this confusion cannot be avoided: therefore, of necessity there must be liberty granted of setting up Churches or Congregations where Christ's ordinances are administered in their purity; and so, where none are admitted members of the congregation but such as are approved of, by the whole assembly... "Ob. But would you have other Congregations than such as are limited to every parish? How will this stand with a National Church?.. This would make a division and separation. "An.—We must look, in the first place, [at] what Christ commandeth, etc. If a State will set up a National Church wherein many things, out of reason of State, are tolerated, and prescribed for 'order' sake, as they call it; and if there be such a necessity,-necessity hath no law! But let not this, exclude and bar out the free use of such Congregations as whereof the spiritual commonwealth of Israel consisteth; over which, Christ, as King, immediately reigneth by his Spirit and Word, in the beauty and purity of His ordinances. Let not the consciences of God's people be bound, where Christ hath purchased liberty and where Christ's Congregations are set up, however they are separate from the World in the corruptions thereof, yet they are not separate from the Civil State; but are peaceable members thereof, subject and obedient to all good and just laws thereof. Yea, where such Congregations are erected and allowed of by a Civil State, they are both a strength and beauty; and procure many blessings unto it. They are unto a Civil State as that fulminatrix legio, that thundering legion' in the emperor Antoninus's army-as he called it, which consisting wholly of Christians. . did, by their prayers, procure refreshing showers to the whole army when it was sore distressed with drought; and terrible storms on the other side, to the discomfiture of their enemy. And therefore, the Apostle exhorts Christians, to pray for Kings,' and such as are in authority;' that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.' And [so] Jeremiah; Pray unto the Lord for the City of your captivity for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace:' implying, [that] it is the duty of Civil Princes and States,-Heathen or Christian,-to protect, or tolerate, the true Christian religion in their kingdoms; as well as of the true Christians and professors, to pray for them: for Christ's Kingdom b 2 Thess. iii. 14, 6. * μὴ συναναμίγνυσθε. Euseb. Eccles. Hist. lib. v. cap. d1 Tim. ii. 2. 5. 6 Jer. xxix 7. |