A Stay Against Straying, Part 2 · Section 4
SECT. 4.
THE Treatiſer frames our ſecond objection in this manner.
To heare ſuch a miniſter is to honour approve and vphold his office of ministery.Object.
In confutation of this, thus he ſaith.
If this hee ſimply true then when the heatheniſh Athenians heard Paul preach:Treat. or when an unbeleever comes into the Church aſſembly, an a heares the preacher he approues, honours and vphold the office of the ministery.
Anſvv: The virgins in Cypryans time granted, they walked with young men, talked with them, went led with them, but when they came to the act, they abſteyned.
The Treat. writings here, and in all the reſt of his Booke, is much to the ſame purpoſe: He grants, that men may walke to the Harlots Houſe *But the Word of God forbids it, Pro, 5, 7. Lyran expounds this place of the falſe Church, Tom. 2, p. 314., heare her told gueiſts, and yeeld to ſundry dallying geſtures (as bowing the knee, uncovering the head, &c.) but when they come to the act they muſt abſteane: What that learned manaNon eſt locus dondus Diabolo: Nemo diu tutus periculo proximus, l. 1, c. 11. then anſwered, ſo doe I: No place muſt be given to the Divell, no man is long ſafe, who is neere the point of daunger. To the matter.
That our argument may appeare ſtrong; Secundam legem oppoſitionis (as the Lawers terme is) we will put it downe in this forme.
To yeeld any approbation, liking, or reverence unto mens inſtitution in the exerciſe of Religion is a ſinne.
But in hearing Antichriſtian Ministers, there is approbation liking, aud reverence yeelded unto mens inſtitution in the exerciſe of Religion.
Therefore it is a ſinne to doe it.
The Major cannot be denyed; for the ScripturesbMat. 15, 19, Pſ. 16, 4 Coloſ. 2, 20, 21, Deu 5, 9, 10, 1 Cor. 6▪ 17, Hoſ. 2, 16, Ex. 23, 13 teach us the very thing. Beſides the moſt judicious Writers affirme ſo too.
God forbiddeth (ſaith Mr. IacobcExpoſition on Com. 2.) all approbation, liking or reverence, though never ſo ſmall ſhewed towards any inſtitution and inventions of men whatſoever in the exerciſe of Religion, yea all words either of tongue or pen, tending to defend or excuſe ſuch humane inventions in Gods ſervice.
I might alleadge. CalvindSerm. 52, on Deu., MolleruseIn pſ. 16, 4. p. 108., SmilerusfIn Exo. fol. 90., MacabeusgEnarrat. in Deu. 12, loc. 1. VrſinushExplic. Catech. p 759. VigrandusiSynopſ. Antichriſt, ZanchykDe redempt. fol.90., D. AndrewlOn the Com. 2., D. FulkmConfut. of Allen. 378., PerkingsnCatech. c. 16, p 96, Cartvvright, AinſvvorthpAnnot. on Ex. 20 45., and others, who in their writings affirm the ſame.
The minor is as cleare: for 1. Jt is not poſſible that men can come unto Antichriſtiā churches to worſhip God, but they muſt by their preſence there, ſhew reverence & honour to the publick falſe ſtate and miniſtery.
Note what an Engliſh Prelate qDeterminat. Quaeſt. 7, p. 40.ſaith, it appertaineth to the vertue of truth, that as a man ſheweth himſelfe by externall ſignes, ſo he is indeed to be eſteemed.
The DowayrAnnotat. in 2 King 5, 19, p. 771. tranſlaters of the Bible write thus, ſuch as frequent, or repaire unto unlawfull aſsemblies, for the publick ſervice of God, by their being there are to be reputed of the ſame religion, or elſe deſſemblers: as it were to have noe care of religion, knowing God and not glorifying him as God.
Cornelius a lapidesIn Epiſt. 2. p. 505.) in his commentary on Iohn, ſaith, falſe miniſters are favored and approved in their vnlawfull way, when they are heard.
Chytraeus tDe Euchariſtia, p. 317, 318.handeleth largely this point, & from 1. Cor. 10. 14. concludes, that all falſe Churches are to be left vtterly, becauſe (ſaith he) a mans preſence there is an approbation of them, Rivetus vComment. in Pſa. 16, p. 53.adds this: Etiam ſi nemo ad confeſſionem adigeretur: Yea though a man came not thether for confeſſion ſake.
If the fathers thought that the Chriſtians could not weare garlants of bay, xTertull. de corona milit.nor deck their houſes with leaves, and green bavves; Nor ſit after they had prayed, nor reſt from their labour thoſe dayes that Pagans did, nor keepe the firſt of every monethmonth as they did.yBrac. z Tom. Can. 73. But they ſhould countenance and honour heatheniſh ceremonies, and ſuperſtitions.
If theſe fathers (I ſay) conceived ſo, of theſe things, ſurely then vponupon the like, or better reaſon, may I conclude, that to goe unto falſe churches, and there heare unlawfull Miniſters is, to ſhew approbation, liking, and reverence vntounto mens inſtitutions in the exerciſe of religion.
The Prophet HoſeaaHoſ. 2. 13. reproves ſome, for kiſsing the Calues: But what was this ſinne. PareusbIn Hoſ. 13. 2. pag. 557. Tom. 1. ſaith it was, their bodily preſence at falſe worſhip, by which preſence they ſhewed aliking to it. So Calvin.cPraelect. in Hoſ. 13. 2. pag. 157.
Againe, the point is further cleared, in that idols by this practice are honoured. Obſerveable it is, whereas on Evangiliſt aMa…. 4. 9. See Pareus on the place.(ſetting downe the Tempters words to Chriſt) ſaith, vvorſhip me: AnotherbLuk. 4. 7. hath it, vvorſhip before me: Shewing that it is all one to worſhip before the Devill, or to worſhip him; Now, he is worſhipped, when idolsc2 Chro. 11. 15. 1. Cor. 10. 20. Rev. 9. 20. 1 Tim. 4. 1. are worſhipped, or any falſe inſtitution are obſerved and practiſed: Yea (as Cartwright dHiſtor. Chriſt lib. 1. pag. 14.ſaith) ta…etſi ex amino, aut ſuperſtitione quadam deceptus hoc non faciant.
To apply this, the Treat grants, that a falſe Church is a real idol, apart of Antichriſtiſme, and of the apostaſie of the man of ſinne; If ſo; then hearing there, muſt needs be unlawfull, becauſe it is to worſhip before an idol, & ſuch an idol as that the worſhip there done, iſſues from it, as the ſtreame or river from the fountaine.
To the particulars of his reply. 1. For the Athenians hearing of Paul, it is as impertinent a ſpeech as was ever uſed by a man of learning▪ For we diſpute only of Church hearing, and not of what is occaſionall, and done out of publick-ſtate, or Church-vvay. Wee never held it unlawfull, to heare any man deliver the Word of God, as the circumſtances may be. But what of this: hence the Treat, will inferre, that we may heare any where, and in any way.
If another ſhould have framed ſuch an anſwer to him, he would have ſaid, that either he had not learn'd his Sopheſtry, or elſe thought he had to doe with fooles; For he reaſoneth, ab eo quod eſt ſecundum quid ad ſimpliciter. Makes a generall conſequence of that which is true in part.
2. To ſay, if I approve of the Office ſimply, becauſe I heare the Officer preach, then I much more approve of all the Doctrines which he delivers. This is not ſo, nor ſo; For the Office is an institution, by which the Officer hath power to adminiſter: And howſoever, we have our freedome to like or diſlike of the adminiſtrations, as we ſee juſt cauſe for it: Yet by our joyning and communion with them, we certainly approue of the ſtate it ſelfe, whether lawfull or unlawfull; For Example:
If I come where the Majeſtrates are ſitting, and have civill juſtice there adminiſtred to me; Albeit by this going of mine to their Court for judgement, I really approve of the ſtate that they are in: yet J am not therefore neceſſitated to approue of all the acts & concluſions they make, but may diſlike them, if I ſee they are not as they ought to be.
The Corinthians, for ought I can ſee, reſorted unto the Feaſts of idols, upon the ſame ground that the Treat. layes downe for hearing. They went not of ſuperſtition; for they were to well inſtructed; and Paul in their perſon brings forth an excuſe for them:*1. Cor. …. 4. We know that an idol is nothing. As if they ſhould ſay, we regard not what they have deviſed their publicke falſeſtate concernes us not, for we have left it: We are in no Churchcommunion with their Officers, our meaning is not to worſhip as they doe, they intend one thing, we another. But did this ſatisfie the Apoſtle? Not in the leaſt; For he knew their private differing intention, was▪ but a ſtrong fruit of the fleſh, monſtrous preſumpt on, and a meere deluſion; For their eating was not to be looked upon, and judged after their ſecret meaning. But according to that publicke ſtate where they were.
And here I deſire the Reader to note the difference betweene Paul and the Treat. Paul makes the ſinne of the Corinthians to be their reſorting to an idol-ſtate; Not ſimply their eating (for tha… they might have done elſe-where) but becauſe it was in, by, or from an inſtitution of the Devil.
The Treat. layes us downe a contrarie Doctrine, and tels us, a falſe Church-state, is nothing: And Antichriſtian Officer nothing; And that we may lawfully worſhip God in the one, and heare his Word preached by the other, provided we be not in Church-communion with the Officer, &c.
Truely the difference here is great: For the Treat. cleares the Corinthians of the thing for which the Apoſtle condemnes them. But I will not preſſe this further now; Only what Auguſtine * ſaid of the learned Fathers, I may ſpeake of the Treatiſ. in stead of him, or rather above him, Paul the Apostle commeth to my mind, to him I runne, to him I appeale, from all ſorts of writers that thinke otherwiſe.
For concluſion, if the falſe ſtate of a Church and Miniſterie defile only the members thereof: And as for other preſent worſhippers, they are blameles: Jf this (I ſay) be a true ſaying, thē hath he vainely confind himſelfe to the Miniſterie of the Church of England; For his Poſition will ſerve as well to juſtifie hearing among Papiſts, Arrians, Sorcinians, Iewes, Turkes, &c. Yea further, and to be preſent at any ſervice or worſhip they doe.
For what ſhould hinder, but according to this ground, a man may lawfully goe to the Temples of the Saracens, and he are their Preiſts: conſidering they doe deliver many materiall truths. As that God is true and righteous in all his wayes a:… In Alcho ran Azoara. 1.: The Creator of all things b: The giver of every good gyft cAzoar. 14.Ad that Ieſus Chriſt is the Sonne of Mary dAzoar. 11., the Meſſenger of God, and a true Prophet eAzoar. 7..
If any object, but they utter many lies and blaſphemies. I anſwer, the hearing ſimply of errours, corrupts not the Hearer: For ſo he conſents not to them in judgement, not practice, but teſtifieth againſt them, he delivers his owne ſoule.