A Dissuasive from the Errors of the time, Title page – List of authors cited
A DISSVASIVE FROM THE ERROURS Of the TIME: Wherein the Tenets of the principall Sects, eſpecially of the Independents, are drawn together in one Map, for the moſt part, in the words of their own Authours, and their maine principles are examined by the Touch-ſtone of the Holy Scriptures.
By ROBERT BAYLIE Miniſter at Glaſgow.
JER. 9.3.
They are not valiant for the Truth upon the earth.
JUDE ver. 3.
It was needfull for me to write unto you and exhort you, that you ſhould earneſtly contend for the faith, which was once delivered unto the Saints; for there are certaine men crept in unawares, &c.
Publiſhed by Authority.
LONDON, Printed for SAMUEL GELLIBRAND at the Braſen Serpent in Pauls Church-yard, 1645.
FOR The Right Honourable the Earle of Lauderdaile Lord Metellane.
YOur Lordſhip, I truſt, will not bee diſpleaſed that your name is ſet before theſe Truths which your heart does love, and whereunto in the beſt companies of the whole Iſle you have given at many occaſions your chearfull countenance and zealous patrociny; in the ſtudy whereof I have been oft both encouraged and aſſiſted by your Lordſhips pious, wiſe, and learned informations.
It has been of a long time the wiſh of my heart to have had nothing to do with Polemick writings; the bodies of ſojours are no more ſubject to wounds and manifold hardſhips, then the minds and names of diſputant Divines do lie open to various vexations. The weary, ſtarved, bleeding ſould…er longs no more for a ſafe peace, then a ſpirit haraſſed in the toylſome labyrinth of thorny debates, pants for that quietneſſe which only the finall overthrow and full ſubjugation of errour can produce. How pleaſant will that day be to the ſonnes of peace, when the Lord ſhall make good that word which by the mouth of two of his ancient witneſſes he has eſtabliſhed, when according to the Teſtimony of Iſaiah, Iſa. 2.…ſyllabically repeated by Michah, Mic. 4.3.we ſhall beat our ſwords into plow-ſheares, and our ſpeares into pruning hooks, that we may walk together in the light of the Lord? But ſo long as Divine Diſpenſation beſets our habitations both ſpirituall and temporall, the Church no leſſe then the State, with great numbers of daring and dangerous adverſaries, we muſt be content, according to the call of the Prophet Ioel in another caſe,Ioel 3.… ▪ to prepare warre, to beat our plow ſhears into ſwords, and our pruning hooks into ſpeares; in this juncture of time the faint muſt take courage, and the weak ſay I am strong.
It ſeems that yet for ſome time the ſervants of God muſt earneſtly contend for many pretious truths, which erroneous ſpirits do mightily impugne: for the help and encouragement of others in that warfare, I, though among the weakeſt of Chriſts ſouldiers, doe offer theſe my endeavours. It was my purpoſe to have made a farther progreſſe, and to have handled all I mention in my Preface; but being cald away from my preſent ſtation by theſe who ſet me therein, upon the occaſion your Lordſhip knowes, my ſtudies in this kinde are broken off; ſo that this eſſay in Browniſme and Independency muſt go forth alone, or nothing at all.
My ay… in theſe two is, and was in all the reſt; Firſt, in an hiſtorick way to ſet down the originall and progreſſe of the errour; next its compleat parts together in one table, that at one view the whole face of the way may be repreſented; for I conceived it many wayes advantageous and very ſatisfactory in debating either a truth or an error, to be brought to ſee the fountain and originall whence it hath ſprung, the ſtreams and iſſues whither the Tenet tends of it ſelfe, or is drawn by its followers; to behold a way not in its pieces, but the whole together from the head to the feet, the begining, midſt, and end without any concealment or diſguiſe. Thirdly, my purpoſe was to have examined the principall parts of every errour in a ſhort, cleare, and popular method, conſidering the maine Scriptures that uſe to be alledged in the point either pro or contra.
I beleeve this my method will not be diſpleaſing to any. I know it was acceptable enough to many of the Congregationall way when lately I did uſe it againſt the Canterburian Faction; but poſſibly ſome of the matter of my hiſtorick part may fall out to be faſhions to the followers of the Tenets which I labour to lay open; for it is inavoydable to make a true and a full narration of any erroneous way, but ſuch things muſt be told which will be diſpleaſing to ſome; yet I hope I have given as little offence in this kinde, as any other could have done in ſuch a way of …reatiſing; for all the paſſages that may be pungent of the tendereſt skin, are ſuch, as not only I conceive to bee very true, but ſuch alſo which I ever make preſently good by ſufficient Teſtimonies ſet downe fully at the end of every Chapter in the expreſſe words of the Authors. Secondly, the opinions or practiſes I alledge, are ſuch as the parties themſelves to this day do openly avow, or elſe have beene objected to them by very honeſt men long ago in print, and to this day, ſo farre as I know, are not taken off by any tolerable anſwer; in all that is over and above, I will undertake to give ample ſatisfaction wherein ſoever I give the leaſt offence to any.
I date appeale to your Lordſhips knowledge, and to many others who have beene acquainted with all my by-gone walking, how averſe I have ever been from cauſing griefe to any, eſpecially good men: ſo farre as I am conſcious to my moſt ſecret intentions, it is my hearts deſire that all our preſent controverſies might quickly either be ended or compoſed by calme, meek, and peaceable meanes, and theſe alone.
That lately renewed Committee for Accommodation, Oh if it might pleaſe the Lord to ſhine upon it, however I may not ſtay to ſee its ſucceſſe; yet wherever I am, my beſt wiſhes ſhall be poured upon it, eſpecially when I ſhall heare, as I have great reaſon to beleeve is only intended, that it abides circumſcribed within the bounds of that prudent Order whereby it is renewed.
For firſt, that Order is ſo farre from holding out an Accommodation for all the ſects of the Land, that it ſpeaks only of the differences that are among the members of the Aſſembly. Liberty of Conſcience, and Toleration of all or any Religion is ſo prodigious an impiety, that this religious Parliament cannot but abhorre the very nameing of it. Whatever may be the opinion of Io. Goodwin, of Mr Williams and ſome of their ſtamp, yet Mr Burrowes in his late Irenicon upon many unanſwerable arguments explodes that abomination. Likewiſe our Brethren who ſeek to be accommodate, will be willing I hope to profeſſe their going along with us, without any conſiderable d…ſſent, as in the Directory for all the parts of divine worſhip, ſo in the confeſſion of Faith and Catechiſm.
Secondly, the Order expreſſes only the differences in Church-government; what other opinions wee have mentioned in the following Treatiſe, I hope our Brethren will either diſavow and paſſe from them, or elſe be content to bury them in their owne breaſts, till time and better information make them die and vaniſh without more moyſe.
Thirdly, the intent of the Order is to bring up the diſſenting Brethren …o approve of the Government agreed upon in the Aſſembly and allowed by both Houſes of Parliament; or if that cannot be, to ſee how in ſome practiſes they may be forborn. This doth ſuppoſe that our Brethren ſhall not be permitted to print, preach, or publiſh any thing againſt the Goverment eſtabliſhed by Parliament; alſo that in the practice of this Government they ſhall be obliged to joyne ſo farre with their Brethren as their principles may ſuffer. This being, I doubt not but in many things they ſha…l be much forborn; for whatever be the unadviſed raſhneſſe of ſome in their way, yet if they may be pleaſed, according to their frequent offers (as I remember) to be conſtant members of our Presbyteries and Synods, and there to give were it but their conſultative voyce, I beleeve that few of them ſhall ever be preſſed to much more; for if they agree among themſelves, and governe well their owne Congregations, no controverſie that concerns them will ever come before any ſuperiour Aſſembly; and if any complaint of their male adminiſtration, or any matter of ordination or excommunication ſhould come from them to be cognoſced in a Presbytery or Synod, the reſult might ever be to them as a matter of advice to be executed in their owne Congregations by their owne Paſtors, if they did finde it right: or if it appeared wrong, the Generall Aſſembly, or at leaſt the Parliament, would give them ſo much ſatisfaction, as on earth can be expected.
Albeit I am in opinion, that no caſe meerly Eccleſiaſticall ſhall ever need to goe from a Generall Aſsembly to a Parliament; theſe two bodies are ſo friendly and neare of kin, that none who knowes their nature and conſtitution will ever feare their diſcord. I dare ſay, that all the jealouſies which are preſented to the Parliament of England of a Nationall Aſsembly, are meere Bugbeares and childiſh frightments, ariſing alone out of miſ-information and unacquaintance; for both reaſon and experience will demonſtrate that the Parliament of England cannot have on earth ſo ſtrong pillars and pregnant ſupporters of all their Priviledges, as free Proteſtant Aſsemblies eſtabliſhed by Law, and kept in their full freedom from the loweſt to the higheſt, from the Congregationall Elderſhip to the Generall Synod of the Nation. No ſuch Barres as theſe are imaginable either againſt Tyranny or Anarchy; they are the mightieſt impediments both to the exorbitancy of Monarchs, which has been and is our miſery; and to the extravagancy of the common multitude, attempting to correct and ſubject all Parliaments to their owne fooliſh deſires, which is like to be the matter of our next exerciſe and trouble.
Proteſtant Aſsemblies examined to the bottom, will be found reall and cordiall friends to all the Iuſt, Legall and reaſonable Prerogatives of a Monarch, to all the equitable and profitable Liberties of the meaneſt ſubject; but above all to every due priviledge of a Chriſtian Parliament. Sometimes we laugh, ſometimes we grieve to ſee men afraid out of meere ignorance with that which we know is their great good. I am perſwaded that after a little experience, Congregationall Seſſions, Cl…ſſicall Presbyteries, Provinciall Synods, and Nationall Aſsemblies will be embraced and ſluck to by the Parliament of England as the greateſt and moſt uſefull priviledges of their great Charter.
My fourth remarke upon the Order in hand is, that it ſpeakes alone of the queſtions of Government, whereby the Aſſemblie was retarded, but nothing of the conſtitution of Congregations which never came to any conſiderable debate, much leſſe did ever retard the Aſſemblies proceedings: and albeit the words of the Order might be extended beyond the Government to the conſtitution, yet wee may not thinke that the Houſe doth intend to tolerate the gathering of ſeparate Congregations; in this point we hope that the deſired accommodation ſhall ſatisfie our Brethren, and all tolerations ſhall be needleſſe. Themſelves are witneſſes of our moſt earneſt Deſires, of our very reall indeavours, (and we wiſh, they had been much more our helper… and reall Aſſiſtants) for purging of all Congregations, ſo far as ever they have been in any time, in any place, for making them ſo void of ignorance and all ſcandalls as Scripture or any reaſon can require: In theſe our earneſt requeſts we truſt the Parliament at laſt will ſhew us favour. But when the Aſſembly and Parliament have done their uttermoſt, to have the Churches purified ſo farre as is poſſible, if notwithſtanding of all that can be done, our Brethren will yet ſeparate, and peremptorily refuſe to communicate as Members, in the beſt ruled Congregations, either of England, or of any other reformed Church; wee confeſſe, that by ſuch a Declaration, our Brethren would put us to a great deale of perplexity; for ſuch a ſeparation as this, were as we conceive, the moſt palpable and unreaſonable Schiſme that ever yet was heard of in the Chriſtian World, much contrary to the word of God, and evidently deſtructive of the neceſſary peace of all theſe Churches wherein it ſhould bee tolerated; beſide its cleare contradiction in termes, not onelyonly to the Order of the Houſe, but to the ſolemn League and Covenant of the three Kingdomes. Notwiihſtanding wee truſt that the grace and mercy of God, ſhall be ſo richly powred out upon this revived Committee, as ſhall enable them to expedit both us and our Brethren from theſe otherwiſe unextricable Labirynths.
Would to God that our Controverſies with them were brought to a happy period, that both they and we, with all our power might concurre to reduce the reſt of our poore Brethren, who this day are pitifully intangled in manifold hereſies and Errours▪ that ſo all the childr…n of God being delivered from the ſnares and chaines of darkneſſe, might make it their great taske and only contention, who ſhould honour moſt the name of their Father, by the fragrancy of their godly, charitable, humble, chaſte, and ſober converſation.
Your Lordſhip is conſcious to the firſt deſignes of the Noble Patriots of that your Nation, it was never their mind to have trifled ſo much time in jangling with their Brethren of this Iſle, about new and needleſſe queſtions, but expecting a facility of ſetling truth and Peace within theſe S…as, their hearts were farther abroad, their thoughts were large for the propagation not of ther owne but of Chriſts Kingdome, and that not ſo much in the Light as in the heate and life thereof. They have the more to anſwer who here and elſewhere have been the unhappy inſtruments, not only to fruſtrate theſe great and gracious enterpriſes for the Weale-publick of Chriſtendome, but alſo to bring the undertakers to ſo low a condition, that they be obliged this day to God alone for any tollerable ſubſiſtence and their very being: albeit we are hopefull the Lord is reſerving good things for them, who had ſo much Faith, charity, and Courage, as to venture all for the cauſe of God, and their Brethren, the more unkind men have proved unto them; The Lord who hath been witneſſe to all their intentions, actions and ſufferings, will in his owne time accordingly reward them, and will not let them be aſhamed of their firſt hopes and conſtant deſires, upon the which himſelfe for a long time did ſhine ſo evidently from the Heaven, as ever upon any enterpriſe on the Earth. Though now that brightneſſe be much ecclipſed, and overclouded, yet we are expecting with paſſionate deſires, and confident hopes, the diſſolution of theſe clouds, and the diſpelling of the preſent darkeneſſe by the ſtrength of the Beames of his ancient and undeſerved kindneſſe, towards that now ſuffering and much diſtreſſed Nation.
But inſenſibly my pen hath runne beyond the bounds of a ſhort Epiſtle, albeit my experience of your Lordſhips readineſſe to diſpence with your friends indiſcretion, makes me ſecure of my pardon. I will detaine your Lordſhip no longer, I lay downe my Booke at your Lordſhips feet, to be given to the world by your Lordſhips hand. If it be received with ſo much candor and charity by every Reader, as I know it is offered, it may poſſibly prove ſerviceable. Thus wiſhing to your Lordſhip in theſe dayes of deepe and dangerous tryalls, and too great defection of many, conſtancy, and daily increaſe of affection to all truth, Piety, Iuſtice, and every Vertue, I remaine,
Your Lordſhips in all Chriſtian duty to be commanded. R. Baylie ▪ London, Novemb. 19. 1645.
The Principall Authors, whoſe Teſtimonies are cited in the caſe of the Browniſts.
1 THe Brownists confeſſion of Faith printed by themſelves. 160…
2 The Browniſts Apo…ogy printed. 1604
3 Robert Brownes Life, and manners of true Chriſtians printed. 1582
4 Henry Barrow his briefe diſcovery of the falſe Church. 1590
5 Henry Barrow his plaine refutation of Mr Gifford, 1590.
6 Francis Iohnſons enquiry and anſwer to Thomas Whites Diſcovery of Browniſm, 1606
7 Francis Iohnſons Chriſtian plea, 1617.
8 Iohn Cann his guide to Sion, 1638
9 Iohn Cann his neceſſity of Separation. 1638.
10 Apologia Iuſta quorundam Chriſtianorum, &c. per Iohannem Robinſorum. 1619
11 Robinſons juſtification againſt Bernard reprinted at London, 1640
12 Syons royall prerogative, 1641.
13 A Light for the Ignorant. 1638.
The Principall Authors whoſe Teſtimonies are cited in the caſe of the Independents.
1. An Apologeticall Narration by Thomas Goodwin, &c. 1643
2 Iohn Cottons Keyes publiſhed by Thom: Goodwin, and Philip Nye. 1644.
3 Iohn Cottons way of the Churches in New-England. 1645.
4 Iohn Cottons Sermons upon the ſeven Vialls. 1642.
5 Iohn Cottons Catechiſme, or the Doctrine of the Church. 1644.
6 An Anſwer to thirty two Queſtions, by the Elders of the Churches in New-England, publiſhed by Mr. Peters. 1643.
7 An Apology of the Churches in New-England for Church-Covenant, or a diſcourſe touching Church-Covenant. 1643.
8 A glimpſe of Syons glory in a Sermon at a generall Faſt-day in Holland, by T. G. printed at London. 1641.
9 Ieremy Burrowes Sermons upon Hoſea. 1644.
10 The perſonall raigne of Chriſt by Io: Archer, Paſtor of the Church at Arnheim. 164…
11 Io: Archers comfort for Beleevers. 1645.
12 Mr. Burtons vindication of the Independent Churches. 1645.
13 Iohn Goodwins Theo-machia. 1644.
14 A ſhort ſtory of the riſe, reigne and ruine, &c. publiſhed with Mr. Welds large Preface. 1644.
15 Mr Welds anſwer to Rathbans narration. 1644.
16 Mr Cottons Letter to Mr. Williams. 1643.
17 The Anatomiſt anatomiſed by Mr Simſon. 1644.
We cite alſo for ſome matters of fact, to which no ſatisfactory Anſwer hath been made hitherto by the Parties.
1 Mr Edwards Antapologie. 1644.
2 Mr Williams examination of Cottons Letter. 1644.
3 Mr Williams bloody Tenet. 1644.
4 Plaine-dealing, or Newes from New-England by Thomas Lechford. 1642.
5 The Anatomy of Independency, by a Learned Miniſter of Holland. 1644.
6 Doctor Baſtwicks Poſtſcript. 1645.
7 Mr. Prinns freſh diſcovery. 1645.