An Apology for the Discipline of the Ancient Church, Part 3 · Reply – Preamble
A KEY to open the Debate about a Combinational Church, and the power of the KEYES. The Third Part.
HItherto you have held forth the doctrine in your Letter, now you come to the uſe and application, and that you may be the better underſtood, you have thought upon five heads, and upon every one of theſe faſtned either a bitter or a joculary Epithite; one is vile and virulent, another is violent, a third is haughty and horrible, the fourth is idle and addle, and the laſt an odde head. The Spaniard gives us this caution, that he, whoſe head is of glaſſe, ought to take heed how he caſts up ſtones into the aire, left by chance they fall upon his own pate and crack his crown. Before then you made your ſelf ſo merry with theſe heads, you ſhould have conſidered whether ſome ridiculum caput, could not have created to himſelf and others laughter at the invention of more heads in your Combinational Churches, than yet you could finde in the Catholick; and tell you, that you are a Monſter of many heads, that the Presbyter is a vile and virulent head, the Independent a violent, the Anabaptiſt a haughty and horrible, the Notioner an idle and addle, the Quaker an odde head. You perhaps will ask him, how it will be proved; I will anſwer for him; on the ſame day when you prove your words true of theſe Churches you jeſt at. 'Tis but the imagination of your own head it is ſo, and I know not anybody that is bound preſently to fall down and worſhip it. But I come to your Letter.
The words of the Letter.
MAy not any one, to whoſe inwards the knowledge of theſe particulars is come, ingenuouſly confeſſe that his very ſoul is clearly convinced of the mighty and wonderful corruptions which have crept into, are cheriſht within, and conteſted about by many, yea, by too too many Chriſtians, of too too many Churches?
The Reply.
Thoſe indeed who are convinced, that they are mighty and wonderful corruptions, in ingenuity can do no leſſe but confeſſe it. But it is not a bure relation or recital, without any proof (as you for the moſt part have done) that will convince any ingenuous man. You muſt ſet to work again, and fortifie your words with plain Scripture, or ſound domonſtration; yea, and remove thoſe blocks I have caſt in your way, before you ſhall convince any one who is not of a weak and ſervile judgment. If they crept in, you muſt ſhew when, and by whom? which you have not done, your bare affirmation being of no validity. That they were cheriſhed was well, becauſe no corruptions as I have ſhewed. That too too many Chriſtians, and too too many Churches conteſt about them, I am ſorry for it. Better it were we were at peace with our ſelves, and imploy'd our forces againſt the common enemy, to whoſe entrance by our diſſenſions we have opened too wide a gap. I fear me, we ſhall conteſt ſo long, that his words will be verified, who ſaid at his death, Venient Romani.
The words of the Letter.
ANd may not I (though a stranger to my neareſt friends, becauſe an Exile, newly arrived in the Land of my Nativity) ſafely appeal to any perſon either of conſcience or common ſenſe, whither Chriſt Jeſus our ſupreme Lord Protectour, upon whoſe ſhoulder the government of the Churches is laid, hath not of late years bo n a loud witneſſe againſt every one of thoſe five aforementioned kinds of deformed Churches, and that in theſe very Countries, which are counted and commonly call'd Christendome? If ſo, God forbid that there ſhould be any Christian man, and more eſpecially any Clergy man ſo carnal, or ſo careleſſe in all thoſe coasts, as not to be both able and willing to conceive and to conclude himſelf to be called upon for to conſider and lay to heart the great and grievous deſolations which his hand hath made, amongſt the most and mightieſt of the ſonnes of men.
The Reply.
And here I ſhall with teares in my eyes Eccho back unto you, foreign, God forbid it ſhould be otherwiſe. Oh never let any Chriſtian of what rank ſoever, add that talent of lead to that ſinne which hath ſo highly provoked our good God to pour out the vials of his wrath againſt this our Church, and theſe three Nations, (that I mention not the other of Chriſtendome) as not to lay it to heart. Conceive not there can be ſo much carnality or careleſſeneſſe yet left in any perſon imbued with conſcience and common ſenſe, who hath not conſidered what God hath done unto us in the fiercneſſe of his wrath.Mic. 2.3. Lam. 2.17. Dan. 19.14.12 Pſal. 79.1.2, 3, 4. We do acknowledge that Gods Word hath taken hold of us, that the Lord hath deviſed a device againſt us, and hath done that which he deviſed; that he hath watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us; for under the whole heaven hath not been done, as hath been done upon Jeruſalem. O God the people are come into thine inheritance, thy holy Temple have they defiled, and made Jeruſalem an heap of ſtones; the dead bodies of thy ſervants have they given to be meat to the foules of the aire, and the fleſh of thy Saints unto the beasts of the earth; their blood have they ſhed like water round about Jeruſalem, and there was no man to bury them; we are become a reproach to our neighbours, a ſcorne and deriſion to them that are round about us. Gods ſinking the gates, his deſtroying the walls, his ſlighting the ſtrong holds of Zion, his polluting the Kingdome, his ſwallowing the Palaces, his cutting off the horne of Iſrael: Gods hating our Feaſts, his abominating our Sabbaths, his loathing our Solemnities;Iſa. 1. Gods forgetting his footſtoole, his abhorring his Sanctuary, his ſuffering men to break down all the carved work thereof with axes and hammers,Pſal. 74.6. Lam. 2.6. are all evidences to me, that in the indignation of his anger, he hath deſpiſed the King and the Prieſt.
Neither are we ſo carnal nor careleſſe neither, but to conſider why this is done; Juſtly, juſtly we ſuffer. For the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doth; for we obey'd not his voice. We have ſinned, Dan. 9.14. 5. 6.and have done wickedly, and have rebell'd, even by departing from his precepts, and from his judgements; neither have we hearkened to his ſervants the Prophets, which ſpake in his Name to our Kings, our Princes, and our Fathers, and to all the people of the Land. Yea further, that I enter no Apologies; no not for them I plead (for I ſet my ſelf now before Gods Tribunal, not yours.) I never read thoſe piercing Scriptures, 1. Sam. 2. & 3. Jer. 23. Ezek. 33. Hoſ. 4. Mal. 2. I never reflect upon the common converſation in the day of our proſperity, and behold Hophni and Phinehas with a fleſh-hook in their hand, ravening for their fees, and wallowing in their luſt at the door of the Tabernacle, but I find we were highly defective in every duty, and thence conclude that our ſufferings are not the ſufferings of pure Martyrs, but of grievous tranſgreſſours. There is no credit loſt by giving glory to God. And therefore we ſhall not ſtick to acknowledge as much as Cajetan did of the Romiſh prelates, when the Army under Charls the fifth 1527. took Rome. He was then upon the interpretation of the 5. chapter of St. Matthew. Ver. 13. Ye are the Salt. of the earth; if the ſalt have loſt his ſavour, what is it then good for but to be caſt out, &c. The Army had then entred the City, and had offer'd great abuſe to the Clergy in it, which he preſenting in a Chriſtian meditation, inſerts theſe words; We Prelates of the Church of Rome, do at this time find this truth verified on us in a ſpecial meaſure; we who were choſen to be the ſalt of the earth, Evanuimus, we are become light perſons and unſavoury; and therefore by the juſt judgment of God we are caſt out and become a ſpoile and a prey, and Captives; not to Infidels, but Chriſtians.
Habes jam confitentes reos, and yet I ſee not what advantage you ever ſhall be able to make of it no more than Romaniſts. They tell us theſe miſeries are fallen upon us becauſe we departed from them; you, becauſe we oppoſe your forms; for this you intimate Chriſt of late years to have borne a loud witneſſe againſt every one of thoſe fire afore-mentioned kinds of deformed Churches. But both they and you are miſtaken, aſſigning Non cauſam pro cauſâ. For the cauſe was not becauſe the Church was either Parochial, Cathedral, Dioceſan, Provincial, National, or a true part of the Oecumenical; but that which I have ſaid, the abominations that were committed by us, our formality and coldneſſe in Gods ſervice, our ill adminiſtration of the keys, our not profiting and bringing forth fruits worthy of repentance. This hath provoked our God to jealouſie. This hath moved him to remove, for ought yet appears, our Candleſtick. This hath cauſed him to viſit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children. And for this there be yet thoſe that mourne in Zion, and melt in the threns of Jeremy, c… ing night and day unto him,Joel 2 17. Iſa. 18. Exod. 34.6, 7. ſaying; Spare thy people O Lord, and give not thy heritage to reproach; wherefore ſhould they ſay among the people, Where is their God. And who can tell if the irreverſible decree be not paſt? but the merciful Lord will be jealous for his Land, and pity his people. For he is a merciful and gracious God, long-ſuffering and abundant in goodneſſe and truth, keeping mercy for thouſands, forgiving iniquities, tranſgreſſion and ſinne. I will not deſpair when I ſhall ſee a ſincere national humiliation, for this national ſinne, or ſins rather, but God will return and have mercy on this National Church. He that would have ſpared Sodome upon Abrahams requeſt, could ten righteous men have been found in it, will yet I hope ſpare this Church,Jer. 14.20.21. Iſa. 5.30. Iſa. 1.25.26, 27. in which there be hundreds of tens who pour forth their hearts with Jeremy. We acknowledge O Lord, our wickedneſſe, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have ſinned againſt thee. Do not abhor us for the name ſake, do not diſgrace the throne of thy glory, remember, break not thy Covenant with us. And that though now, if one look unto the land, behold darkneſſe and ſorrow, and the light is darkned in the heavens thereof, yet theſe penitent ſighs and groans will be ſo effectual, that God will turn his hand upon us, and purely purge away our droſſe, and take away all our tinn, and will restore our Judges as at first, and our Councellours as at the beginning, and that afterward our Church ſhall be call'd the City of righteouſneſſe, the faithful City. Zion ſhall be redeemed with judgement, and her Converts with righteouſneſſe.
This was conſidered before you returned into the land of your Nativity, (from which I knew not that you were exil'd before, but thought you voluntarily departed) and ſhall be conſider'd after your return: For you appeal to men of conſcience and common ſenſe. And now alſo I ſhall make my appeal to you, whether or no it be not a bitter thing to help forward affliction when God is but a little diſpleaſed. Remember the inſultation of Edom, and what came of it. Men ſhould take ſmall content in being flagellum Dei. For Jeruſalem ſhall be a burdenſome ſtone, and a cup of trembling to all them that cry down with it.Zach. 12.2.3. Iſa. 10.5.6, 7. ver. 16.17. Aſſur was the rod of Gods anger, and the ſtaff in his hand was his indignation; ſent he was againſt an hypocritical nation, and againſt the people of Gods wrath to take the ſpoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down as the mire in the ſtreets; howbeit he means not ſo, neither doth his heart think ſo; but his heart is to deſtroy and to cut off nations not a few, &c. Therefore ſhall the Lord, the Lord of hoſts ſend among his fat ones, leanneſſe, and under his glory he ſhall kindle a burning like the burning of a fire; and the light of Iſrael ſhall be for a fire, and his holy One for a flame, and it ſhall burn and devour his thornes and his bryars in one day, &c. Compare this with the 14. Chapter, and tell me then what comfort any man can have in being the rod of Gods wrath againſt his people. An office which I muſt plainly tell you, I read not any of Gods ſervants ever imployed in. Howbeit we ſhall patiently ſubmit unto it, and kiſſe the rod: For thou Lord, haſt ordained him for our deſtruction, and eſtabliſhed him for correction, even for our correction, to purifie us ſons of Levi from our droſſe; and by his hand who puniſheth us for our ſins to put upon us Confeſſours Robes, by that contrivance both chaſtening and covering our ſins; as the Perſians uſed their Nobles, beating their cloaths, and ſparing their perſons. Though by it, qui foris eſt, the out-ſide be ſcorch't, yet qui intus est, the inward man is renewed day by day,2 Cor. 4.16. the faith, hope, obedience, charity, humility, and patience of many by this fiery trial hath been made more conſpicuous.