Light for Smoke, Title page – Dedication
LIGHT FOR SMOKE: OR, A CLEARE AND DISTINCT REPLY by IOHN LEY, One of the Aſſembly of Divines at WESTMINSTER, TO A DARKE AND CONFVSED Anſwer in a Booke made, and intituled The Smoke in the Temple, by Iohn Saltmarſh, late Preacher at Braſteed in Kent, now revolted both from his Paſtorall calling and charge.
Pſal. 37. verſ. 6.
He ſhall bring forth thy righteouſneſſe as the light, and thy iudgement as the noone day.
Whereto is added, Novello-maſtix, or a Scourge for a ſcurrilous News-monger.
LONDON, Printed by I. L. for Chriſtopher Meredith, at the ſigne of the Crane in Pauls Church-yard. 1646.
TO THE RIGHT VVORSHIPFVL, Sr. VVILLIAM STRICKLAND KNIGHT, and HERBOTTLE GRIMSTON Eſquire, two worthy Members of the Honourable Houſe of COMMONS.
Right worthy Sirs,
I Preſented you with a former Booke againſt Mr. Saltm. his Remora to the Reformation in hand, as I did other mine honoured and worthy friends; this I offer to your view as to Judges of the difference betwixt him and me, as it hath been a graduate by the preſſe from an Anſwer to Reply, from that to a Rejoynder, where for the preſent the period is fixed, and for my part it ſhall be to me as an Herculean pillar, (beyond which I will not ſayle) and this reſolution with my Reaſons I have imparted to Mr. Saltm. in a particular Epiſtle to himſelfe. But though I proceed no further with him in the reciprocation of Replyes, you may be pleaſed, having acquaintance with him, as he maketh his addreſſes to you, or as any opportunitie preſenteth him before you, to contribute ſome of your diſcreet counſels for better imployment of his parts and pen, then in crying downe that Diſcipline and Government, as terrible and tyrannicall, which the prudent Senators of both the Honourable Houſes of Parliament in part have ſet up, and further endeavour to advance; and in damning the maintenance of Miniſters as Antichriſtian and Iewiſh, which the ſame authoritie by many ancient Acts, and your ſelves with your Honourable Aſſociats by a late Ordinance have eſtabliſhed.
For the former, I profeſſe unto you, it is matter of wonder unto me, how any man can have the face to make ſuch out-cryes againſt the Government, as he and ſome others doe, as if it were more formidable then Prelaticall domination in the higheſt degree; when every Biſhop by his own power ſet out Articles in his Viſitation, concerning all aberrations from Eccleſiaſticall Canons, whether ſinnes or no ſinnes, and by a meere Arbitrary power made many times crimes of duties, as preaching in the afternoone of the Sabbath day; and duties of crimes, as Reading the Book for Recreations and ſports on that Day; and convented, and cenſured all ſorts of perſons, (by his ſole Juriſdiction) ſentencing whom he would to ſuſpenſion, and excommunication, impoſed Orders of Penance with ordinary Fees, and extraordinary Commutations, ſometimes at no leſſe then 100 or 200 pound price; beſides the additionall power of Juſtice-ſhip of Peace, and the High Commiſſion, whereby the two Archbiſhops, and as many as in either Province they made choice of, to be Aſſeſſors to them on that dreadfull Tribunall puniſhed, as they thought meet, with fine and impriſonment, with great fines, and long impriſonment, many times for ſmall faults, and ſometimes for none at all; whereby ſome of them carryed their concurrent authoritie with ſuch cunning, that moſt were overawed by it, knowing it was great and various, and not knowing, for the moſt part, when they did act by one power, when by another.
And can our Anti-presbyterian oppoſites ſay that any ſingle Presbyter, any Presbytery Parochiall, Claſſicall, or Provinciall, aſſume any ſuch juriſdiction, or power, either over mens perſons or eſtates? Is not ſuſpenſion from the Sacrament, and Excommunication from the Church the utmoſt authoritie they claime? and is this any more then they that both condemne, and contemne the Presbytery, of their own free-will, or ſelf-will doe unto themſelves?
It is ſaid by ſome, that to ſet up Presbytery in ſtead of Prelacy is to multiplie Clergie maſters over the people, and for one Biſhop in a Dioceſſe to ſet up many, in ſome no fewer then a thouſand for one; But they ſhould conſider that all the Eccleſiaſticall authority of a Dioceſſe united in one Biſhop, as in an Epiſcopall Sea, was as the river*Cyrus Gynden late fuſum amnem vado tranſire tentavit: ibt unus ex equis qui trahere regium currum albi ſolcbant, abreptus, vehementer commovit regem. Juravit itaque amnem illum regiis equis meatum aufereutem, co ſe redacturum, ut tranſiri, calcarique etiam a foeminis poſſet. Huc deinde omnem tranſtulit belli apparatum, & tamdiu aſſedit operi, donec centum & octoginta cuniculis diviſum alveum in trecentos & ſexaginta rivos diſpergeret & fiecum relinqueret, in diverſum fluentibus aquis. Senec. de ita, lib. 3. cap. 21. pag. 448. Gyndes very deepe, and of a boyſterous ſtreame, as when it drowned the white Horſe that drew the Charet of Cyrus, but being divided among ſo many Miniſters, or Presbyters, it is as the ſame River, when Cyrus enraged at the loſſe, and meaning to be revenged of it, cauſed it to be divided into three hundred and ſixtie channels.
And yet is not every Presbyter (though a Biſhop) as a Prelate in his own Pariſh, that is, endowed with ſole power of cenſures, for others are to be joyned in adminiſtration of Government with him, in many places many for one, and in no place under a double number.
As for the right of Presbytery, whether it be Divine, or humane, I conceive, if the Queſtion were rightly ſtated, and the officers their power, dutie, qualifications? and adminiſtrations clearly diſtinguiſhed, thoſe that are in extremes for their Tenets, whether holding all of it, or none of it to be of Divine right, would be eafily convinced of an errour, and a Tenure would be found out, and made good, wherein Chriſt might have his due to the full, without any diminution of the Magiſtrates juſt Authoritie, or of any libertie which truly might be called Chriſtian.
For the latter concerning the unlawfulneſſe of Tythes, if his Tenet now be right, his taking of them before was wrong; and the ſame conſtitution of conſcience, which makes him now to renounce them, may make him at leaſt to doubt whether he be not bound to returne what he hath received of the Pariſhioners of Braſteed in that kinde into their hands againe, by vertue of that received Rule of*Non remittitur peccatum niſi reſtituatur ablatum. Auguſt. Epiſt. 54. ad Macedon. pag. 280. Auguſtine in his Epiſtle to Macedonius, The ſinne is not remitted, unleſſe the goods that are wrong fully taken be reſtored.
And if he appeare before you againe, you may doe well to put ſuch a caſe of conſcience to his conſideration. For my part I am ſorry to ſee him ſo unſetled in his judgement, ſo ſedulous in his endeavours (under pretence of Evangelicall calmeneſſe, and meekneſſe, and moderation of ſpirit) to prepare a Patronage for all wild and wicked fancies, that every man may beleeve what he liſt, and live as he beleeveth, and ſo may doe what is right in his own eyes, that is, whatſoever is wrong in the eyes of God and of all good men, as if there were no King in Iſrael, Iudges 17.6. that is, no Government (for then the Kingly power over that people was not ſet up.)
But the cure of this belongs to the care of your ſelves, and your Honourable Colleagues, for whom it is our parts, whom God hath placed under your power and protection, unceſſantly to ſupplicate to the throne of Grace, that as you have pulled down the remainders, and removed the rubbiſh of ruined Babel from among us, ſo you may in Gods good time (and the ſooner the better) ſet up in ſtead thereof ſuch a faire, and goodly frame of Church-government, from the foundation to the top-ſtone, as may be entertained with ſhouting, not of a party onelyonly, as at the laying of the foundation of the Temple, Ezra 3.11, 12, 13. but of all ſorts both old and young; and to this publique devotion (wherein you have your ſociable ſhare, as you have a part of the common care and providence for the welfare of three Kingdomes) I ſhall adde my private ſupplications for your proſperitie in particular, and to them my ſincere endeavours,
To be faithfully and affectionately yours in any acceptable ſervice, IOHN LEY.