Light for Smoke, Section 20
SECT. XX. Whether Chriſt, if he would have a nationall comprehenſive Church, was bound to have begun the practiſe of it over whole Kingdomes, as Mr. Saltm. ſaith; and whether importeth more pride, to deſire a ſubordination of Aſſemblies, Parochiall, Claſſicall, &c. then to be adverſe to it.
Smoke. Pag. 50, 51. SVre if Chriſt would have had ſuch a nationall comprehenſive Church, he would have converted Kings and Princes firſt, and they ſhould have given up their Kingdomes to Ieſus Chriſt in the way of a Preſbyterian.
Light.To this I oppoſe your own words, both in youraNew Querie repeated in my Examination. Sect. 12. p. 38. Querie and in your Smoke, in both which places, you tell your Reader that the publication of the Goſpel and the propoſall of Church government were brought in at diſtance: hereſies, ſay you, might have growne from Iohns firſt Sermon to Pauls Epiſtles, and the ſending of the Spirit, but you ſee there was no government ſetled till afterwards upon the people of Gods and in your laſt you tell me, thatbSmoke. p. 54. you ſhewed me that no government began with the Goſpel manifeſtation, by which (ſay you) I made it appeare, that if government had been of ſuch morall neceſſitie, why was it not given out with the Goſpels firſt giving out?
Albeit then the Goſpel began not with the converſion of Kings and whole Kingdomes, yet the progreſſe of it hath been ſo proſperous as to prevaile ſo farre, and with the extent of it, may the government of the Goſpel be extended alſo, and it may be ſet up after it, by your own confeſſion rather then with it.
Smoke. Pag. 51. Nay it ought to have been ſo, Ieſus Chriſt was bound in the way of righteouſneſſe, to have begun the practice and modell to us over whole Kingdomes, having not left it in precept in the whole Goſpel; and we ought either to have practice or precept to order and command us in what we obey.
Light. What? ought Chriſt, or was he bound in the way of righteouſneſſe to begin the Goſpel with converſion of Kings, and whole Kingdomes, if he meant to have ſuch a Nationall and comprehenſive Church as the Presbyterians plead for? was he not free to begin the publication of it where he pleaſed, in the wilderneſſe of Iudea, rather then in the Citie Ieruſalem? and to whom he pleaſed, to Shepheards in the field, rather then to Auguſtus in the Court?
If it had begun there; Firſt, It might have been ſuſpected as a Politicke deviſe, like that whichcMachiav. disp. lib. 1. cap. 11. p. 63. Machiavel commends in Romulus and Numa, ſetting up religion by fained revelation.
Secondly, Then the Doctrine of the Goſpel, condemned as folly by ſupercilious and ſecular wiſe men, 1 Cor. 1.23. had not appeared ſo wiſe and powerfull as it was, verſ. 18, 19, 20. of the ſame Chapter; nor,
Thirdly, Had it had ſo many illuſtrious confirmations, both by miracles, and martyrdomes, as we find upon record both in the Scriptures, and Eccleſiaſticall Hiſtories.
And was it not in his own choice to make his own pace for the proceeding both of Goſpel and Government? If you will ſo confine Chriſt to your wayes of working, you make him Dependent, while you claime an Independent priviledge to your ſelfe.
And for that you ſay, for practice or precept, to order and command us in what we obey, we have both in the Goſpels of our Saviour, and Epiſtles of the Apoſtles, and the Hiſtory of their Acts, (according to which the Aſſembly have given up their advice to the Parliament) warrant for Church Government, and ſo we hope it will come down from them by a Parliamentary approbation, and conſtitution for the eſtabliſhment thereof throughout the whole Kingdome. And yet is not the Presbyteriall Government more ambitious, or domineering then the Independent; Nay, let the Indifferent Reader obſerve, and conſider the difference, and let him then reſolve, whether the Presbyterian or Independent be more affected to preeminence, or more willing to come under rule and government.
Firſt, The Presbyterians carneſtly deſire the union, whereto the Apoſtle emphatically exhorteth the Chriſtian Corinthians; Now I beſeech you brethren, by the Name of our Lord Ieſus Chriſt, that ye all ſpeake the ſame thing, and that there be no diviſions among you, but that ye be perfectly ioyned together in the ſame minde and in the ſame iudgement, 1 Cor. 1.10.
Secondly, This union cannot be without a rule of conſent; the rule of conſent cannot be of any force, unleſſe it have the power and obligation of a law; this law requireth, as well ſubordination, as union; and this ſubordination is agreeable not onelyonly to reaſon, but to Religion and Scripture, for the ſpirits of the Prophets are ſubiect to the Prophets, 1 Cor. 14.32.
Thirdly, The Presbyterians, who yeeld to this ſubordination, eſpecially to the Superiour Aſſemblies, not knowing, and the moſt of them not expecting to be members either of Provinciall, or Nationall Aſſemblies, doe all of them in their allowance of graduall appeales ſubmit themſelves to the conſures of others, which is an act not of dominion, but of ſubjection. But the Independents will be as diffuſive in their Church-way, and grow on from Cities to Countries, from Countries to Kingdomes, and will be like little Kings, or Free States in their own Congregations, and will admit of no ſubordination, or ſubmiſſion to any Eccleſiaſticall Aſſembly whatſoever, though there be many caſes which reach, beyond the limits of their covenanted meetings, to occaſions of common concernment to many Churches; yea ſome of them are ſo comprehenſive, as to belong to all the Churches of a Kingdome, which can neither be ſufficiently conſidered, nor ordered for the generall good, without a more generall convention and conſultation of Church governours.
The Pope, though hated and ſcorned by you as an Antichriſtian Caiaphas, is a great, and I may ſay the ſupreme Independent in the Chriſtian world; and his Independencie conſiſteth in this, that he will be judged of none; and herein truly Sr. you ſymbolize too much with the Papall ambition; in that as much as you can you free your ſelves from all Eccleſiaſticall ſubjection; and this being a chief part of his Antichriſtian exaltation, Independencie is rather Antichriſtian, then Presbyterie.
There is another part of the Papall pride, which is to require that all be ſubject unto him that he may cenſure and judge of all; and if I ſhould ſtraine your words, as you ſometimes doe mine. I ſhould ſay you are flown ſo high in your fancie, as to be got above the high pitch of the Popes Mitre; for he tooke not upon him to judge, or give lawes to Chriſt (though to all Chriſtians) as you doe, where you ſay that Chriſt ought, and was bound in the way of righteouſneſſe to have begun the practiſe and modell to us over whole Kingdomes, &c.