A Dissuasive from the Errors of the time, Chapter 9
CHAP. IX. Whether the power of Eccleſiaſtick Iuriſdiction belongs to the People or to the Presbyterie.
THe next Queſtion concernes the power of Eccleſiaſtick Juriſdiction to whom it may be due:What is meant by Eccleſiaſtick Juriſdiction. by Eccleſiaſtick Juriſdiction is underſtood the admiſſion of Members into a Church, their caſting out againe by Excomunication, their reconciliation after repentance, the Ordination of Officers, their depoſition from their charge, the Determining of Queſtions,The ſtate of the Queſtion wont to be cleare, the Reformed Churches putting the power and exerciſe of Juriſdiction in the hand of the Presbytery alone; the Browniſts, & Independents in the hand of the people onelyonly; but Mr. Cotton & his followers the other yeare have perplexed the Queſtion with their many Schole diſtinctions. If they put the power of Juriſdiction onelyonly in a Church organized and Presbyterated, they fall from much of the Browniſts, and their own, both doctrine and practiſe. the deciding of Controverſies and ſuch other acts of Eccleſiaſtick authority.
Till of late the ſtate of the Queſtion here was very cleare and plaine: the Reformed Churches doe put both the power and the exerciſe of Juriſdiction into the hand of the Presbytery, that is, the company of Elders, and Colledge of Church Governours. The Browniſts, and after them the Independents did aſcribe all theſe acts to the Church, as well without, as with a Presbytery: but of late Maſter Cotton in his Booke of the Keyes and his Brethren in their Synodick meetings of New-England have ſo ſubtilized, and as to me it ſeemes, involved the Queſtion with a multitude of new diſtinctions, that it is very hard to apprehend with any certaintie and cleareneſſe their meaning, and more hard to reconcile any one with himſelfe, much leſſe one with another.
They would ſeeme to differ much from the Browniſts, they ſtand not to put them in the Category of Morellius, the firſt Patron of Democracie and popular government in the Church: they profeſſe a midway of government, well ballanced with a prudent mixture of the Officers power with the peoples, giving a part to both, and all to neither: They bring a multitude of diſtinctions rather to eſchew the dint of our former arguments in the darkeneſſe of theſe Thickets, then to give any light to this very great Queſtion. They inſiſt moſt on two diſtinctions, whereby they thinke to anſwer all we bring againſt them.
Firſt, they diſtinguiſh betwixt a Church Organized or Presbyterated, as they ſpeake, and a Church inorganized and unpresbyterated: the one is a body Heterogeneous, a covenanted people with their Officers framed in a Presbitery; the other a body Homogeneous a people in a Church Covenant without Officers, at leaſt without a Presbytery. They would ſeeme to plead, or elſe the diſtinction is for no purpoſe, for the power onelyonly of an Organized and a Presbyterated Church. If they would ſtand to this in earneſt, and firmely, we ſhould be glad; for ſo they ſhould openly deſert, not onelyonly the whole race of the Browniſts, but all their owne former Writings, practiſes, and enervate the beſt of theſe very arguments they ſtill adhere unto: for if ye will conſider what is written by Mr. Cotton either in his Catechiſme, or way, or anſwer to the thirty two Queſtions, or the Arguments that ſtill he inſiſts upon in the Keyes, or their generall practiſe in Holland and New-England to this day, you will ſee that they maintaine the Juriſdiction of a Church, as well unpresbyterated, without a Presbytery, without Officers, as of a Church Presbiterated; for the power of Ordination of Officers, and of their depoſition, the power of admitting and caſting out of Members, which are the higheſt acts of Juriſdiction, they aſcribe expreſſely to every Church, whether it have, or want Officers, as its proper and undeniable priviledge.
Their laſt and beſt beloved invention of the power of Authority, and power of Liberty, is for no purpoſe but to involve the Authors in new difficulties.Their other new diſtinction, wherein openly they applaud ſo much one another, as it were contending who ſhould have the glory of its invention, is of a double power, one of Authority, and another of Liberty: aſcribing unto a Presbyterated Church the whole power of Juriſdiction and every part of it, both to the Officers of their Presbytery, and to the people in their fraternity or brotherhood; but, ſo that the intereſt of the Officers in every act, is a power of authority which makes that their action only is valid and binding; but the intereſt of the people is a power of liberty to concurre in theſe acts of Juriſdiction by an obedientiall, yet a neceſſary and authoritative concurrence.
This new diſtinction will not ſerve their turne, for firſt, its not applicable to the chiefe acts of Juriſdiction in queſtion: their Ordination of Officers, their admiſſion of Members, are done ordinarily by their people alone, without the concurrence of any Officers, who then are not in being. Secondly, their arguments for the peoples intereſt in Excommunication, Abſolution, and other acts of Juriſdiction, inferre either nothing at all, or much more then that which they call a power of Liberty, or of an authoritative concurrence. Thirdly, this diſtinction involves the Authors in new unextricable difficulties, it makes the Keyes & Sword of Chriſt altogether inſerviceable in common and ordinary caſes, wherein they have moſt neede and occaſion to be ſet on worke.
Not onelyonly according to their former principles, they make every Congregation uncenſurable for any poſſible crime:As they wont to make their ſmalleſt Congregations Independent & uncenſurable for any crime, ſo now by this diſtinction they divide all their Congregations in two parts, and make every one of theſe parts Independent alſo, and uncenſurable for any imaginable ſinne. For the negative, that the people have no power of Juriſdiction, we reaſon: Firſt, the Officers alone are Governors, and the people are to be governed. But by this new Doctrine they confeſſe, that every Presbytery in a Congregation becomes uncenſurable, and that every people of a Congregation becometh uncapable of any cenſure. Yea farther, if the moſt part of the Presbytery, ſuppoſe two ruling Elders joyne together in the greateſt hereſies and crimes, the whole people with the reſt of the Presbitery, ſuppoſe the Paſtor cannot cenſure theſe two Elders; alſo if the greateſt part of the people ſhould joyne in the greateſt wickedneſſe, yet the whole Presbytery, with the reſt of the people that remaine ſincere and gracious, cannot cenſure the wicked. In all theſe, and divers ſuch ordinary caſes, they have no remedy but Separation, and alwayes Separation upon Separation, till their Church be diſſolved into ſo ſmall portions that it cannot by more Separations be farther divided. But let us conſider the Arguments upon both ſides.
Firſt, we reaſon thus, The people are not the Governors of the Church, But the acts of Eccleſiaſtick Juriſdiction belong to the Governors of the Church; Ergo, The acts of Eccleſiaſtick Juriſdiction belong not to the people. The Minor is cleare from the nature of the very termes; for Juriſdiction is either all one with Government, or a chiefe part of it: now Government is eſſentially relative to Governors. The Major is proved by many Scriptures, which make the people ſo farre from being Governors, that they are obliged to be ſubject and obedient to their Officers, as to them by whom God will have them governed, Heb. 13.17. Obey them that have the rule over you, for they watch for your ſoules as they who muſt give an account. 1 Tim. 5.17. Let the Elders who rule well, be counted worthy of double honour. 1 Theſ. 5.12. Know them which are over you in the Lord, and eſteeme them very highly in love for their workes ſake. God hath made them Paſtors, and the people their flocke; them Builders, the people the ſtones laid by them in the building; them Fathers, the people children begotten by their Miniſtry; them Stewards, the people domeſticks under their conduct.
2. The people have not the Keys of Heaven to bind and looſe.Secondly, whoſoever hath the power of Eccleſiaſticke Juriſdiction, to them the Lord hath given the Keys of Heaven for the remitting and retaining of ſinnes. But to none of the people the Lord hath given theſe Keys. Ergo. The Major is not controverted. The Minor is thus proved. To whom Chriſt hath given the Keys of the Kingdome of Heaven to retaine and remitt ſinnes, they are in ſome Eccleſiaſticke Office, They are ſent out by Chriſt, as Chriſt was by his Father, they have ſome part of the Apoſtles ordinary charge; but theſe things are not true of the people. Ergo. The Major is proved, John. 20.21. As my Father hath ſent me, ſo ſend I you; and when he had ſaid this, he breathed upon them, and ſaid receive yee the Holy Ghoſt; whoſe ſinnes yee remitte they are remitted, and whoſe ſinnes yee retaine they are retained. What was promiſed to Peter, Mat. 16.19 is here performed to him and the reſt of the Apoſtles, and to their Succeſſours in their ordinary Office of Elders: for this was a power neceſſary for the Church to the end of the world. The Minor alſo is cleare; for theſe things were not given to all the Diſciples, but to the twelve, and to their Succeſſours. What was promiſed to Peter, was not promiſed to every faithfull perſon, and to every Orthodoxe Confeſſour; for ſo, all and every one ſhould be bearers of the Keys, and Eccleſiaſticke Officers, which is againſt the Scriptures of the firſt Argument.
3. The people are not the eyes, & eares in in Chriſts Body; for ſo, all the body ſhould be eyes and eares.Thirdly, to whom theſe acts of Juriſdiction doe belong, they are the eyes, eares, hands, and principall Members of the Body of Chriſt: for the eminent perſons and Officers of a Church, are compared to theſe Members, becauſe of theſe actions. But the people are not the eyes, eares, hands; are not the principall Members of the Body of Chriſt: for if ſo, there ſhould be none left in the Church to be the feete, or leſſe principall Members: all ſhould become eyes, and hands, and the Church ſhould be made a Body Homogeneous, contrary to the doctrine of the Apoſtle, 1. Cor. 12 19. If they were all one Member, where were the Body? but now are they many Members, and the eye cannot ſay to the hand I have no neede of thee, nor the head to the feete I have no neede of you.
4. The people have not any promiſe of gifts ſufficient for government.Fourthly, Who have a right from God to the acts of Juriſdiction, they have a promiſe of gifts needfull for the performance of theſe acts. For a divine right and calling to any worke is backed with a promiſe of Gods preſence, gifts and aſſiſtance in doing of that worke; but, the people have no promiſe of any ſuch gifts. For beſides that daily experience declares numbers among the people to be altogether deſtitute of ſuch knowledge, wiſedome and other gifts which are neceſſary for the performance of theſe acts of Juriſdiction: The Apoſtle himſelfe teaches that ſuch gifts are not given to all, but to ſome onelyonly.
Fifthly,5. The popular government bringeth in confuſion making the feete above the head. That is not to be given to the people that brings confuſion into the Church, for the Lord is the God of Order. But the putting of the power of Juriſdiction in the peoples hand, brings confuſion into the Church, for it makes the feete above the head, it puts the greateſt power into the hand of the meaneſt, it gives power to the Flocke to depoſe and excommunicate their Paſtour. Our Brethren were lately wont to digeſt with the Browniſts theſe abſurdities: but now they begin to diſlike them, and rather then to ſtand to their Prior Tenets, they will limit the Minor, aſſerting that the power of Juriſdiction belongs to the people not ſeverally, but joyntly with their Officers: ſo that neither they can excommunicate their Officers, nor their Officers can excommunicate them.
But it ſeemes this new Subtilty will not long pleaſe the Inventors of it, for as we have ſaide it makes the Keys of Heaven much more inſerviceable for opening and cloſing then needs muſt; when it hath taken the keys out of the hand of all others, and put them in the little weake fiſt of a particular Congregation; it will not permitt them to open or to cloſe the doore, neither to the people, nor yet to the Elderſhippe. The Elderſhippe cannot remitt, nor retaine the ſinnes of the Brotherhood, nor the Brotherhood, of the Elderſhippe: yea none of the Elderſhippe can be cenſured by all the people, without the conſentient vote of the Presbytery, nor any of the people can either be bound or looſed without the conſentient vote of the people. In theſe caſes which may be very frequent, The Keys of Chriſt muſt be layde aſide, and a new key of the Independents owne invention, their ſentence of Non-Communion, or that much beloved and a little elder key of ſeparation, forged by the Browniſts, muſt come in the place thereof, to be uſed againſt any or all other Churches, againſt their owne Church or its Elderſhippe, or its Brotherhood, or any Member of either.
6. The people have not the power of Ordination.Our ſixth argument concernes Ordination, a ſpeciall act of Juriſdiction, which all the Independents to this day put in the hands of the people alone, when ever a new Congregation is to be erected: which to them is no extraordinary nor rare caſe: or when in a Congregation already erected, there is no Presbytery, which among them is frequent. For a Presbytery muſt conſiſt of more Governours then one, and uſually their Presbiteryes exceede not the number of three or foure. At the death of their Miniſter, ſuppoſe one of their two ruling Elders be ſicke, or abſent, or the two differ betweene themſelves: in this caſe they make no difficulty to cauſe ſome of the people out of all office to ordaine a new choſen Paſtour; Againſt this very ordinary practice we reaſon.
VntoUnto whom the power of Ordination doth belong, they have a Commiſſion from God authoritatively to ſend Paſtours for preaching and celebration of the Sacraments,They have no Commiſſion to ſend Paſtours to themſelves, to impoſe hands to examine their Paſtours, to pray publickly and exhort. alſo to lay hands upon them for that effect; But people have no ſuch Commiſſion. Ergo. The Major, is the nature of Ordination; for the eſſence and inward forme of it is the authoritative ſending named: the outward Forme and Signe uſed in Scripture, is impoſition of hands. The Minor is proved from three grounds; firſt, that the people however they elect, yet they doe not ſend; for ſo they ſhould ſend to themſelves. The Senders and they to whom the Preachers are ſent, ſhould be one and the ſame. Secondly, an authoritative miſſion imports a Superiority in the Sender above the Sent; But, the Paſtours are over the people not under them. Thirdly, the examples of the New Teſtament make it evident, that the authoritative ſending, and impoſition of hands, the ſigne thereof, were never uſed by any of the people, but by the Elders onelyonly. 1 Tim. 4.14. With the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery: 1 Tim. 5.22. Lay hands ſuddenly upon no man. 2 Tim. 1.6. Stirre up the gift of God that is in thee by the putting on of my hands. So it was not onelyonly at the firſt ſending of men to preach, but in poſterior miſſions to any particular Service of the Miniſtery. Acts. 13.1. There was in the Church certaine Prophets and Teachers, and the Holy Ghoſt ſayd, Separate me Barnabas and Saul to the worke whereunto I have called them; and when they had faſted and prayed, and layd their hands on them, they ſent them away. Fourthly, None of the people ordinarily have the gifts requiſite for this action, as skill to examine the Miniſter in all things he muſt be tried in, a gift of publicke prayer, a faculty to inſtruct and exhort the Paſtour and people to mutuall duties.
Seventhly, That power belongeth not to the people which diſableth them both in their Chriſtian and Civill duties. But,7. This power in the people would diſable them in their callings. the power of Eccleſiaſtick Juriſdiction doth ſo. The Major is grounded on the nature of all power and all gifts which God doth give; for all are for edification, and none for the hurt of theſe to whom they are given. The Minor may be demonſtrated by this▪ That it layes a neceſſity upon all the people to attend in the Sabbath day upon the exerciſe of diſcipline, which by the very length will make the Sabbath-Service inſupportably burdenſome; and alſo will fill the mindes of the people with theſe purpoſes which naturally occurre in the agitation of Eccleſiaſticke cauſes, and cannot but caſt out of common weake mindes much of the fruite of the preceding worſhip.
Further, the peoples neceſſary attendance on all Eccleſiaſticke cauſes, will make the proceſſe in the moſt cauſes ſo prolix, as cannot but robbe the people of that time which they ought to imploy in their ſecular callings for getting of bread. For every one of the people being a Judge, muſt be ſo ſatisfyed in every circumſtance of every action, as to give their Suffrage upon certaine knowledge and with a good conſcience: now before this can be done in a few cauſes of the ſmalleſt, and beſt ordered Congregations much time will be ſpent: as the Church of Arneim found it in one cauſe alone, though but a light one; and betwixt two onelyonly, even of their cheife and beſt Members.
Eighthly, That power is not to be given to the people,8. This power of the people would bring in Morellius democracy and anarchy in the Church. which brings in the popular government of Morellius into the Church: but, the power in queſtion doth ſo. The Major is the common aſſertion of all the Brethren, that they are farre from democracy, and further from Morellius anarchy, and that they are ready to forſake their Tenet, if it can be demonſtrated to import any ſuch thing. The Minor thus we prove, That which puts the higheſt acts of Government in the hands of the multitude, brings in the popular government: for in the greateſt democracies that are or ever have beene, there were divers acts of great power in the hand of ſundry Magiſtrates; but the higheſt acts of power being in the hands of the people alone: ſuch as the making of Lawes, the creation of Magiſtrates, the cenſure of the greateſt Offendors, theſe were the ſure ſignes of Supremacy, that gave the denomination to the government. Now we aſſure that the Tenet in hand puts the higheſt acts of Eccleſiaſtick Authority in the hands of the people. For the Ordination and Depoſition of Officers, the binding and looſing of Offendours, are incomparably the higheſt acts of Eccleſiaſticke Juriſdiction: Theſe they put in the hand of the people.
That they doe conjoyne with the people the Officers to expound the Law, and declare what is right, and to give out the ſentence makes nothing againſt the peoples Supremacy: for in Rome and Athens at their moſt democraticke times, and this day in the States of Holland, in all the Provinces and every City, where the people are undoubted Soveraignes, they have their Magiſtrates and Officers in all their proceedings to goe before them, to declare the caſe, to take the Suffrages, and to pronounce the Sentence.
As for them who of late have begun to put the whole Authority in the Officers alone, and to give the people onelyonly a liberty of conſenting to what the Officers doe decree of their owne Authority, wee ſay they are but few that doe ſo, and theſe contradictory to themſelves. Alſo theſe ſame men give abſolute Authority to the people in divers caſes: further, that liberty of conſent they come to call an authoritative concurrence. Laſtly, the moſt of the arguments even of theſe men, doe conclude not onelyonly a liberty to conſent, and to concurre, but an authoritative agency in the higheſt acts of Juriſdiction.
9. This power of the people will draw upon them the power of the word and Sacrament.Ninthly, They who have the power of Juriſdiction, have alſo the power of preaching the word, and celebrating the Sacraments, unleſſe God in his word have given them a particular and expreſſe exemption from that imployment. But none of the people have power to preach the word, and celebrate the Sacraments. Ergo. The Major is built on theſe Scriptures which conjoyne the adminiſtration of the Word, Sacrament and Diſcipline in one and the ſame termes: and upon theſe Scriptures which lay a part of theſe adminiſtrations upon ſome men, with an expreſſe exception of another part of them. Math. 16.19. under the name of the Keys of the Kingdome of Heaven, is comprehended the whole Eccleſiaſticke power of the Word, Sacraments, and Diſcipline; what there is promiſed. Joh. 20. it is performed in theſe termes, as the Father hath ſent me, ſo I ſend you. But, 1 Tim. 5.17. where this power is ſeparated and diſtinguiſhed, the one part of Juriſdiction is aſcribed to the ruling Elders, with an expreſſe intimation of their freedome from preaching the Word, and by conſequence from celebration of the Sacraments. The Minor was that none of the people have power of the word and Sacraments. For the power of the Sacraments, it is confeſſed not to belong to the people. That the power of preaching the Word, belongeth no more to them, was proved in the former Chapter. None of our Brethren doe aſcribe the power of preaching to all the People, but onelyonly to a few of them who are able to propheſie: ſo the power of Juriſdiction according to the ground in hand, could be aſcribed to none of the people but theſe few Prophets alone.
For the other ſide, the Separatiſts and Maſter Parker, Mr Cottons contrary arguments anſwered.in this point as farre wrong as the other, bring many arguments: but I will meddle onelyonly with theſe which Maſter Cotton doth borrow from them in his way of the Churches, and anſwer to the 32. Queſtions.
Firſt, from Math. 16.19 he reaſons thus. The Power of the Keys is given unto Peter upon the confeſſion of his faith. Ergo, Firſt, Chriſt gave to Peter the Keys of H…aven as to a beleever: Anſ. not ſo, but as to an Apoſtle and Elder of the Church.every Beleever hath the Power of the Keys. Anſwer. I deny the conſequence, for however upon the occaſion of his confeſſion the Keys are promiſed to him: yet they are not promiſed to him becauſe of his confeſſing, nor under the relation of a beleever; for if ſo, then all and onelyonly beleevers ſhould have the full Power of the Keys; but our Brethren will be loth to avow this direct Aſſertion of Smith the Sebaptiſt; for they doe not aſcribe the Power of the Sacraments to any beleever out of Office, nor any power of the Keys to every beleever: for ſome beleevers are not Members of any Church, and the Keys are onelyonly for Domeſticks. Neither doe they put the Keys into the hands of beleevers alone; for ſo, Judas and many Paſtours for want of true fayth could not validly either preach or baptize. The Keys therefore are not promiſed to Peter under the notion of a beleever, but in the quality of an Apoſtle and Elder of the Church, as is cleared in the paralled places of Math & John, where the gift here promiſed is actually conferred upon all the Apoſtles, who all were Elders, and whoſe Office of opening and cloſing the doores of Heaven, was to remaine in the Church to the worlds end, not in the hand of every beleever, but of the Governours of the Church joyned in that Presbytery which other Scriptures doe mention.
2. Till the Church replies that the people have power of Excommunication. Anſer, The Church here to be told is the Presbytery, and not the people, according to our Brethrens own grounds.Secondly, they reaſon from Ma…. 18. who ever is the Church to whom ſcandalls muſt be told, and which muſt be heard under the pain of Excommunication, they have the power of Church Cenſures; But the people are that Church. Ergo. Anſ, we deny the Minor, with the good leave of our Brethren: for albeit they are wont to make the people alone without their Officers the Church in this place, proving hence the peoples power of Juriſdiction before they have any Officers, alſo their power to caſt out all their Officers when they have gotten them; yet now they have gone from the Separatiſts thus farre, as to ſay, that the people alone cannot be the Church here mentioned: but the Church muſt be the people with their Officers, whom now they will be loth as ſometimes to make meere accidents and adjuncts of this Church: for now they hold them for integrall Members, ſo neceſſary, that without them no cenſure at all can be performed upon any.
They goe here a little further, telling us that the Church in this place cannot be the people, though with their Officers; but muſt be taken for the Officers with the people: becauſe both the Power and the Execution of cenſures belongs to the Officers alone, though in the preſence of the people, and with their conſent, and concurrence. They tell us that the Right and Authority of cenſures is given onelyonly to the Presbytery of governours, in ſuch a manner that the Presbytery can be cenſured by no others, neither can any other be cenſured not onelyonly without their conſent, but not without their action.
We adde a third ſteppe, whether our former arguments muſt draw them, that the Church here meant, muſt be the Governours alone without the peoples concurrence: for if Excommunication the great act of government, did belong to the people, either by themſelves alone, or joyntly by way of concurrence with their Officers, it would follow that the people were either ſole governours above their Officers, or joynt governours with their Officers: which albeit our Brethren did hold lately with the Separatiſts, yet now they will not aſſert, ſo much the more as they declare it to be their judgement and practice that the Elders alone without the People, doe meete apart in their Presbytery to heare all offences and to prepare them for publicke Judgement, whence I thus argue.
They to whom offences are to be told immediatly after the two or three witneſſes are not heard, They are the Church to whom in this place the power of excommunication is given; but, the Elders alone without the People, being ſet apart in their Presbytery, are they to whom offences are to be told, &c. Ergo, The Major is cleare from the Text, for it ſpeaks but of one Church which muſt be told, and heard under the paine of cenſure. The Minor is their own confeſſion, and practice: and if that meeting of the Elders to whom they tell the offence, for preparation of the proceſſe to their peoples voice, be not the Church here mentioned, Then their ordinary practice of bringing ſcandalls firſt to the Presbytery, before they be heard in the Congregation, ſhall be found not onelyonly groundleſſe beſide the Scripture, but altogether contrary to the Scripture in hand: for the method here preſcribed is that the Church be told when the witneſſes are not heard: if therefore that company which is told after the witneſſes are contemned, be not the Church: Chriſts order is not kept, and the Church gets wrong.
Thirdly, they reaſon from 1 Cor. chap. 5. ver. 4.5.7.12.13.3. The people of Corinth did Judge and Excommunicate the inceſtuous man▪ Anſwer, Tbe Text will prove no ſuch matter. They who are gathered together with the Apoſtles Spirit, and the Power of Chriſt to deliver the inceſtuous man to Sathan; Who were to purge out the old Leaven, and to judge them that are within, and put away the wicked Perſon: they have power to excommunicate; but, the People doe all theſe things. Ergo. Anſwer, the Minor is denyed.
Firſt, that gathering together might well be of the Presbytery alone, which our Brethren grant moſt meete in divers preparatory acts to cenſure.
Secondly, if it were of the whole people which can not be ſuppoſed in Corinth, where the People and Officers were ſo many, that the Congregations, as in Jeruſalem, and elſe where, were more then one: yet, ſuppoſe that all the people did meete to the excommunication of that wicked man, this proves not that every one who did meete unto that cenſure, had either the power or the execution of it, more then of the Word and Sacraments to which they did more frequently meete.
Thirdly, the purging out of the old Leaven, and the putting away the man, is commended indefinitely to theſe unto whom the Apoſtle wrote, which our Brethren grant cannot be expounded without ſundry exceptions. Firſt, none doubt of women and children; againe in the next chapter, it is written indefinitely, you are ſanctifyed, you are juſtifyed, your Bodyes are the Temples of the Holy Ghoſt; this muſt be reſtricted to the elect and regenerate, except we will turne Arminians.
Everywhere in Scripture indefinite propoſitions muſt be expounded according as other Scriptures declare the nature of the matter in hand; ſo here, the act of purging and putting away, aſcribed indefinitely to the Church, muſt be expounded not of all the Members, but only of the Officers of the Church. For the Browniſts themſelves make not every Member to be a ruler: nor doe our Brethren give the formall authority and power of cenſures to any other but Officers, aſcribing to the reſt of the Members onelyonly a Liberty of concurrence, ſo that the next word of Judging is expounded by them of a Judgement of diſcretion, not of any judiciall and authoritative Judgement, which alone is in queſtion.
4. The people of Coloſſe might cenſure Archippus their Miniſter. Anſwer. there is no Word in this Text of the peoples cenſure.Fourthly, from Coll. 4.17. they reaſon: the people of Coloſſe had power to admoniſh their Miniſter Archippus to fullfill his Miniſtery. Therefore the People of any Church have power if neede be to excommunicate their Miniſter. Anſwer. Firſt, That however our Brethren pretend to have come off from the extremity of the Browniſts, halfe way towards us: yet their arguments drive at the utmoſt of their old extremities, at no leſſe then a power for the people to excommunicate their Miniſters. Thus farre the moſt of their reaſons doe carry, if they have any force at all. Secondly, the Antecedent may well be denyed, all that the Apoſtle ſpeaks to the Colloſſians indefinitely, muſt not be expounded of every one of the people: This precept of ſpeaking to Archippus, could not be better performed then by the Presbytery, whereof Archippus was a Member. Thirdly, the conſequence is invalid, They might admoniſh, therefore excommunicate. Every admonition is not in order to cenſure; it is a morall duty incumbent to every one to admoniſh lovingly and zealouſly his Brother, when there is cauſe: it is a ſinne and diſobedience to God if we let ſinne lye upon any whom we by our counſell and admonition can helpe; but to conclude that we have power to Excommunicate every man, whom in duty wee ought to admoniſh, is an abſurdity which none of the Separatiſts will well digeſt.
Fifthly, From Revel. 2.14.20.5. The whole Church of Pergamus is rebuked for not cenſuring the Hereticks. Anſwer, The power of Cenſure was in the Angells, but the whole Church might be faulty in not incouraging the Angels to doe their duty. The whole Churches of Pergamus and T…yatira, are rebuked for ſuffering wicked Hereticks to live among them uncenſured. Ergo, it was the duty of all the Church to cenſure them. Anſwer. Firſt, the concluſion is for a power to the people to cenſure, which our Brethren now deny. Secondly, The Antecedent may be denied; for the fault of that impious Toleration is not laid upon the whole Church, but expreſly upon the Angell. Thirdly, the conſequence is not good. The whole Church might be reproved for a neglect of their duty, in not inciting and incouraging their Officers to cenſure theſe Hereticks; but a reproofe for this neglect, inferreth not that it was the peoples duty to execute theſe cenſures: Thus much our Brethren will not avow.
Sixthly, They reaſon from Revel. 4.4.6. The twenty foure Elders ſit on Thrones with Crownes on their heads. Anſwer, This will not prove a regall power of judging in every one of the people. The foure and twenty Elders ſate on Thrones in white Robes with Crownes on their heads. Ergo, Every one of the Church hath a power of judging, as Kings with Crownes ſitting on their Thrones. Anſwer, Firſt, the concluſion ever inferres the full Tenet of the Separatiſts. Secondly, the conſequence is very weake, except many things be ſuppoſed which will not be granted without ſtrong proofes: firſt, that this Type is argumentative for the matter in hand: ſecondly, that this place is relative to the Church on earth, rather then to that in heaven: thirdly, that theſe Elders doe typifie the people rather then the Officers: fourthly, that the Thrones and Crownes import a Kingly Office in every Chriſtian to be exerciſed in Church cenſures upon their brethren, more then the white robes doe inferre the Prieſtly Office of every Chriſtian to be exerciſed in Preaching the Word and celebrating the Sacraments.
7. The Galatians muſt ſtand faſt to their Liberty. Anſer, By Liberty hereinothing leſſe is underſtood then a power of preſence and concurrence in judgement without all power of Authority.Seventhly, They reaſon from Galatian 5.1.13. the Galatians were called unto Liberty, whereto they behoved to ſtand faſt, as to a priviledge purchaſed by Chriſt his blood; Ergo, Every one of them had a power to cut off their Officers. Anſwer. This is the Scripture whereupon our Brethren have lately fallen, and make more of it then of any other. I confeſſe, their reaſoning from it ſeemes to me the moſt unreaſonable throwing of the holy Scripture that I have readily ſeene in any Diſputant. The whole ſcope of the place carrying evidentty a liberty from the burthen and ſervitude of the Law. Their fathering upon it a new and unheard of ſenſe, to wit, a priviledge of Church cenſures, without any authority or proper power therein, is very ſtrange: they cannot produce any Scripture where the word Liberty hath any ſuch ſenſe, and though they could, yet to give the word that ſenſe in this place where ſo clearely it is referred to a quite diverſe matter, it ſeemeth extremely unreaſonable.
8. The whole Congregation of Iſrael had power to puniſh malefactors. Anſwer. What the people under the Law did in the State, is not a warrant for the people under the Goſpell to doe the ſame in the Church.Eightly, Thus they reaſon, The whole Congregation of Iſrael had power to puniſh Malefactors, as in the caſe of Gibea ▪ & in the meſſage of Iſrael to the two Tribes & halfe; alſo the people had power to reſcue from the hands of the Magiſtrates, as in the caſe of Jonathan from Saul. Anſwer. The conſequence is null; for the practiſe of the Iſraelites in their civill ſtate, is no ſufficient rule for the proceedings of the Church of the New Teſtament. Our Brethren would beware of ſuch Arguments, leaſt by them they entertaine the jealouſie which ſome profeſſe they have of their way, fearing it be builded upon ſuch principles as will ſet up the common people, not onelyonly above their Officers in the Church, but alſo above their Magiſtrate in the State: That it draw in a popular government and Ochlocracie both in Church and State alike.
9. The people elects their Officers. Ergo. they may depoſe and Excommunicate them. Anſwer. Election is no act of power, or of Juriſdiction.Ninthly, They thus reaſon. Who ever doe elect the Officers, they have power to ordaine them, and upon juſt cauſe to depoſe and excommunicate them. But the people do elect their Officers; Ergo. Anſwer. The major is denied; for firſt, election is no act of power; ſuppoſe it to be a priviledge, yet there is no Juriſdiction in it at all▪ but Ordination is an act of Juriſdiction, it is an authoritative miſſion, and putting of a man into a ſpirituall Office. The people, though they have the right and poſſeſſion by Scripturall practiſe of the one, yet they never had either the right or the poſſeſſion of the other. Secondly, ſuppoſe the Maxime were true, whereof yet I much doubt, unleſſe it be well limited, Ejus eſt deſtituere cuius inſtituere, that they who give authority, have power to take it backe againe; yet we deny that the people who elect, give any authority or office at all, their election is at moſt but an Antecedent, Sine quo non; it is the Presbytery onelyonly who by their Ordination doe conferre the Office upon the elect perſon.
Finally, They argue,10. The people muſt be preſent and conſent to every act of Judgement. Anſwer, It is not ſo, and if it were, yet it inferres not their power of Juriſdiction. No act of Juriſdiction is v…lid without the peoples conſent; Ergo, to every act of Juriſdiction the peoples preſence and concurrence is neceſſary: Anſwer. The antecedent in many caſes is falſe; a gracious Orthodoxe Miniſter may be ordained a Paſtor to a Hereticall people againſt their conſent: an Hereticall Paſtor, who hath ſeduced all his flocke, may be removed from them againſt their paſſionate deſires to keepe him: but the Conſequent is more vitious; where ever conſent is requiſite, their preſence, much leſſe authoritative concurrence, is not neceſſary: all the ſouldiers are not preſent at the Counſell of War, and yet the decrees of that Counſell of War can not be executed without the conſent and action of the Souldiers: every member of the Church of Antioch was not preſent at the Synod of Jeruſalem: diverſe members of the Independent Congregations are abſent from many Church determinations, to the which upon their firſt knowledge they doe agree.