Defense and Justification of Tithes and Infant Baptism, Argument and answer 35
Third ſandy pillar. The Anabaptiſts Anſwer.
This is Humane Learning: Take away that (ſay you) which you h…d at Cambridge and Oxford, and then you have no Miniſters, but Lay-men might preach as well as you.
Mr. Bourns Reply.
For Reply, 1. Do not you make uſe of Humane Learning your ſelves? Whence had you your words of Art, Scholaſtical, Logiſtical, Sophiſtical? Had you them by immediate revelation, or were taught them by ſome Apoſtate Phygellus, 2 Tim. 1.15.that went out from among us? Or did you learn them from Books? certain then this was humane Learning. How came you to ſo many Ergo's, ten or eleven one after another, was not this by Humane Learning? & do not you make uſe of humane Learning? How was the Bible tranſlated into our Engliſh Tongue? Was it not by men? and do not you read and write as you were taught? Now if you make uſe of Humane Learning your ſelves, why are we no Miniſters becauſe we make uſe of Humane Learning? Mat. 7.12.Do as you would be done by, and let us have the ſame liberty you practiſe your ſelves; this is fair dealing and Chriſtian-like.
2. Again, do ye find ſo much fault with us, becauſe we have been at Oxford or Cambridge, It ſeemeth (I fear) that Oxford and Cambridge are great beams in your eyes; you cannot but ſtumble at the glorious Univerſity-Libraries, and fair Colledges, and envy that poor Scholars ſhould by the charity and piety of ſo many Honourable and Honoured Founders and Benefactors receive maintenance to nouriſh them in the ſtudies of Humane Learning, as if Divine Learning were not by Gods bleſſing attained there as well as Humane. I hope you are not like thoſe wicked men, againſt whom the Palmiſt prayeth ſo earneſtly, Pſal 83.8, 9, 10, 11. which ſaid, Let us take to our ſelves the houſes of God in poſſeſſion, I would not have you nor any other to be of that mind, leaſt that dreadful curſe fall upon you or them, which is there mentioned; leſt God do unto you as unto the Midianites, to Siſera and Jabin, who periſhed at Endor, and became as dung for the earth. But I hope better things of ſome of you, and ſuch as accompany ſalvation, as the Apoſtle did of thoſe to whom he wrote, Heb. 6.9. though errour for a time hath deceived you. And let me tell you, I deny that humane Learning is a Popiſh Foundation, except you will make Popery to be as old as Moſes, who was brought up with humane learning; for he was learned in all the wiſdom of the Egyptians, Acts 7.22. and that many hundreds, I may ſay ſome thouſand of years before there was any antichriſtian Pope in the world. And bleſſed Paul the Apoſtle, was no doubt endowed with Humane Learning, as before we have ſhewed by his skill in the Greek Heathen Poets which he alledgeth; and brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, as himſelf confeſſeth, Acts 22.3. And this Six hundred years before that great antichriſt the Pope, who firſt took upon him the proud Title of Univerſal Biſhop did ariſe. Pope Boniface.Read the Hiſtory of the Church, and you may find it. But why are you ſo angry at Humane Learning, which as well as you can, you make ſo much uſe of your ſelves, as we have fully proved before.
Why do you charge us that our Church and Miniſtry are antichriſtian, and to be ſeparated from, becauſe we make ſome uſe of Humane Learning, becauſe we make uſe of ſome arguments and conſequences from holy Scripture to confirm the Truths we maintain; and the ancient Faith once delivered to the Saints we contend for, and to overthrow your errours? What! Is every Church and Miniſtry builded upon a ſandy Pillar and Popiſh Foundation, and to be ſeparated from as antichriſtian, which maketh uſe of Humane Learning? Will not this argument prove againſt your ſelves, pull away your ſandy pillars, and pull down your houſe and Caſtle of errours upon your own heads? If it be lawfull for you to uſe Ergo's and conſequences, let me give you one. Argum. Take it thus.
No Church or Teacher that ſtands upon, or maketh uſe of the ſandy pillar or popiſh foundation of humane learning to uphold their Doctrine and Church, are a true Church of Chirſt or true Teachers or members of any Church of Chriſt, but of antichriſt, and to be ſeparated from, as from antichriſt, and Babylon it ſelf.
But the Church of John D…rker and Toby Watſon, or at leaſt John and Toby yea many more of their Opinion, as Learned Mr. John Tombes, Mr. Benjamin Cox, Henry Haggar, and John Goſnold, and divers others, yea the thirty Congregations of your Society, no doubt make uſe of Humane Learning, as is evident in divers of their Books, as I have declared already you do, in your Paper ſent to me, witneſſe your Terms of art, Conſequence and Ergo's.
Therefore the Church of John Darker, and To…ya…atſon, of Mr. Tombes, Mr. Cox, Henry Haggar, John Goſnold, and your Thirty Congregations are no true Churches of Chriſt, nor John, nor To…y, nor any of the reſt true Teachers of Chriſt, but antichriſtian, and to be ſeparated from, as from antichriſt and Babylon it ſelf, This is a conſequence from your own premiſes. The firſt Propoſition is yours in ſubſtance in your Declaration ſent to me of your grounds of ſeparation. The ſecond is evident in your practiſe, in your paper you ſent me, making uſe of conſequences and Latine Ergo's to maintain the practiſe of your Church, and to oppoſe ours. And the concluſion neceſſarily followes far better than the conſequences you bring to prove Infant-children of believing Parents, no Diſciples of Chriſt, nor members of the Church. For the Univerſities, G. N. Orat. 3.the Learned tell us that it was the plot of that wicked Apoſtate Emperour Julian by a publick Edict to put down the Schools where the children of Chriſtians were to be educated, that he might more eaſily have put down Chriſtianity it ſelf, for which Gods juſt judgment overtook him, and dying, he cried out that Jeſus of Galilee had got the victory, as elſewhere we have noted. Certain it is the deſign of the ſubtil Jeſuite carried on by Quakers, ſome Anabaptiſts, and Familiſts to cry down Univerſities, Humane Learning and Miniſters, that they might more eaſily bring us back to the bondage of Popery, blind Superſtition, and antichriſtian Tyranny. And too many weak ſouls without queſtion are in this the ſervants of antichriſt ignorantly; Job 42.6which if they underſtood what they did, would bewail their ignorance, and repent in duſt and aſhes. But for Humane Learning, we do not make that to be the foundation either of our Church or Miniſtry, as you falſly accuſe us; but the Word of God, and the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apoſtles, Chriſt himſelf being the chief corner ſtone, upon which the Church is builded. Witneſſe Chriſt himſelf, Mat. 16.17, 18. and the bleſſed Apoſtle Paul, Eph. 2.20. Yet we may tell you it is lawful for us to make uſe of Humane Learning, and it is neceſſary for us, ſince by the confuſion of Tongues at Babels building, Gen. 11.we loſt thoſe Original Languages of Hebrew and Greek, in which it pleaſed the holy Ghoſt the holy Scriptures ſhould be written for our Learning, Rom. 15.4.that we through patience & comfort of them might have hope. And although God did miraculouſly beſtow the gift of Tongues to the Apoſtles and others in the Primitive times, as we read, Acts 2.4. yet that gift is not now obtained without mens teaching, and much labour and induſtry. And had it not been for humane learning, how could you have had the Holy Bible tranſlated into the Engliſh Tongue? or how could you ſpell, or read, or write Engliſh, or have gotten any meaſure of that knowledge you pretend to have. I will eaſily grant that if you had been trained up in the Univerſities, and had as much Learning Divine and Humane, and as much Grace and natural parts and gifts of God, as Gods faithful Miniſters have, you might preach as well as we, and as lawfully too, if you had as lawful a Call and Ordination to the miniſterial Office, and therefore whatſoever high thoughts you have of your ſelves, you are but meer intruders and furtherers of the Kingdom of antichriſt, & of errours, Mat. 13.25.in ſtead of Truths, which ſuch Teachers do ſow, as the envious man did tares amongſt the good wheat of Chriſt. The Lord open your eyes to ſee your preſumptuous ſin if it be his will.
Thus I have ſaid ſufficient for Reply to your third ſandy Pillar and Popiſh foundation of Humane Learning, which may much rather be charged upon your ſelves, as favourers of antichriſt, The Triumph of Learning by R. B. B. D. Fellow of Trin. Col. in Cam. 1653. Mr. Hall Pulpit guarded the 3 Edition.and many Popiſh errours broached amongſt you by divers of your Society. But if you would ſee more to convince you of your erroneous opinion of Humane Learning, and your unlawful practiſe of preaching at unfit times, and unfit places, to oppoſe and withdraw from the godly Sermons of Gods faithful Miniſters, Read thoſe Books of the Advancement and Triumph of Learning over Ignorance, and Truth over Falſhood, written by Mr. Boreman, and others. And the Pulpit guarded, written by Learned Mr. Hall, occaſioned by a diſpute with a Nayler, a Baker, a Plow-wright, and a Weaver, publick Preachers, nibled at, but yet not anſwered, nor can be, to juſtifie your practices, whatſoever you or any of your company pretend to the contrary.