"Reasons taken out of God's Word and the best human Testimonies: Proving a necessity of Reforming our Churches in England. Framed and applied to Four Assertions wherein the aforesaid purpose is con

character, and is otherwise deserving of notice, we could not pass it over. "A Defence of A Treatise touching the Sufferings and Victory of Christ in the Work of our Redemption.' [1598.] Wherein is confirmed, 1. That Christ suffered for us, not only Bodily Grief, but also, in his Soul, an impression of the proper Wrath of God, which may be called, The pains of Hell. 2. That after his death on the Cross, he went not down into Hell. For Answer to the late writings of Mr. Bilson, L. Bishop of Winchester, which he intituleth The effect of certain Sermons, &c.': wherein he striveth mightily against the doctrine aforesaid. By Henry Jacob, Minister of the Word of God. 1600.." 4to. pp. 211. Jacob complains with much feeling, in the Dedication, of the Bishop's unseemly" abusive treatment towards him; he so strongly traduceth and accuseth me in his book as is almost incredible." He says, in the Preface, "It hath pleased Mr. Bilson, the now Lord Bishop of Winchester, to begin among us a new matter of Faith, never heard of before in England but only in the days of popery, touching the all-sufficiency of the mere Bodily Sufferings of Christ; and to maintain another, which was near worn out, of His going down into Hell in Soul. In both which, because my conscience assured me that he was much mistaken, and laboured hard that others should mistake also, I thought it not besides my duty, the Lord offering me opportunity, to maintain the truth, and that in all plainness and evidence of the Scripture, as God enabled me... Wonderful his Answer is, and altogether extraordinary, considering that such incomparable bitterness, disdain, scoffing, reproach, and furious rage, doth so abundantly come from him therein against my poor self, being yet by the mercy of God a true Christian; a minister of the Gospel; and one, I praise the Lord, which ever have been careful to be free from the scandals of the world... Verily this I have learned by his writing, better than ever I conceived before, namely, what great odds he maketh and desireth to be made between himself a Lord Bishop, and another, being but a Preacher of God's most holy Word." Alluding, p. 33, to those who with Bilson, "delight to vaunt of the Fathers," Jacob remarks, that such as urge them cannot but be absurd and strange teachers, who, having in our time, "so many helps and means to discern where the Fathers mistook, which they utterly wanted, and we abound withal, yet do so little profit by them, that even great 'Doctors' as they desire to be thought, see not so much in the truth of the Gospel as many younger men now perceive; and in the Fathers they make themselves so cunning, that commonly their sound doctrine they little regard, their faults only they admire." See back, p. 162. Jacob resumed this subject in 1604, in "A Survey of Christ's Sufferings for Man's Redemption: and of His descent to Hades, or Hell, for our deliverance."

Jacob is the person meant in the Preface to the Lords of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council, before "The Answer" of the Vice Chancellor, &c. to the millenary "Petition," 1603, (See back, p. 118.) where the Oxford divines speak of "H. I. a man that was of ordinary parts, and of as ordinary place, when he lived among us," and in continuation they say, he "is now, it seems, become principal agent, and special procurator of the public cause among the factious. He, much mistaking in his strong conceit, that to insinuate with a man of wisdom, would be sufficient to fetch him over to that side,-writes unto one of eminent sort among us, after this fashion: . . 'It is not intended that your Names shall be rashly showed, to any man's prejudice, but be reserved to a fit opportunity; if we shall perceive that they all together being brought forth will further our designs and suit. Of the good success whereof, we conceive good hope, thanks be to God... Wood-street, in London, the 30th of June, 1603. Yours to his power H. I.-Postscript. I could wish you to confer with, D. A. about this matter.'" See this alluded to again, in Oliver Ormerod's "Picture of a Puritan, &c." 1605. 4to. where he asks, P. (7,) " Was not the 'voice' of Jacob's own; and the hands, the "hands of Esau?"

tained. The Four Assertions are set down in the Page next following. Psal. cxvi. 10. Luke x. 42.-1604." 4to. pp. 83.

"The Four Assertions.-1. It is necessary to reform the Churches of England, their ministry, and ceremonies. 2. For the space of two hundred years after Christ, the Visible Churches using Government were not Diocesan Churches, but Particular Ordinary Congregations: and the Bishops, as they were peculiarly called after the Apostles, were only Parishional, not Diocesan, Bishops; differing from other Pastors only in priority of order, not in majority of rule. 3. The Scriptures of the New Testament do contain and set forth unto us,-besides the Government by extraordinary offices, apostles, prophets, evangelists, an ordinary Form of Church-government used therein. 4. The ordinary

a

Form of Church-government set forth unto us in the New Testament, ought necessarily to be kept still by us; it is not changeable by men, and therefore it only is lawful."

The work is dedicated to King James, whom, it 66 says, we acknowledge to be the noblest pillar of the Gospel, and the greatest hope for the propagation and establishing thereof, that is in all Christendom;"b and it is subscribed, "Your Majesty's humble, obedient, and faithful Subject, Henry Jacob, a Minister of God's Word."

In the seventeenth page, he has stated in form, that "Every Visible Church of Christ,-truly and properly so called,-ought by God's express Word, Matt. xviii. 17, to have and use the ecclesiastical government of itself: But every Particular Congregation of Christians is a Visible Church of Christ truly and properly: Therefore, every Particular Congregation of Christians, by God's express Word, ought to have and use the ecclesiastical government of itself; namely, according to the order set down for a Visible Church, in God's Word." He illustrates this; and in page twenty-two says, "Whence now it followeth, by a necessary and undeniable consequence, that these three conclusions ensuing are likewise certain and true: 1. Every Particular Ordinary Congregation of Faithful People, in England, is a true or proper Visible Church: Jure Divino; by right from God. 2. Every such Congregation here, and everywhere, is endued with power immediately from Christ, to govern itself ecclesiastically, or spiritually. 3. Every true and proper Visible Church, everywhere, is but one ordinary or constant Congregation only: And then, no one Church consisteth, neither can consist, of many ordinary distinct congregations."

Three pages onward, he writes, "I cannot forget, how some, thinking themselves deep politicians, do imagine that they see our grounds to be directly against a monarchy, or kingly state: For this ecclesiastical government being Popular,' say they, it will require the civil government also to become conformed to it.' Also, they think, 'it can never be managed, without trouble and tumult.'. . This is a most false conceit. The bounds of either government are distinct, and clearly severed the

a "Howbeit I will not stick to acknowledge Julianus to have been such a Diocesan Bishop as I said, namely, in some measure,'-near upon two hundred years after Christ." Jacob's "Attestation." p. 92. (Infra.)

b On this, Strype, Life of Whitgift, p. 566, remarks, “Thinking, perhaps, to move him much by these flattering compliments!"

one from the other; albeit each doth aid and succour the other... This their insimulation is against none other than Christ himself and his blessed Word... Shall we accuse Christ himself, and his Gospel, that herein he yieldeth us not the true, right, or best form of a church? And, therefore, we will, of our own heads, devise and constitute a better!"

On the point of his second "Assertion," Jacob remarks, "If any say, The troublesomeness of those times, or the young age of the churches who are not yet grown up to perfection, caused that there were no Diocesan Churches with government; nor Diocesan ruling Bishops then: and, 'We take advantage of the special state of those times; urging it to our purpose generally: I answer, We urge, from the state of the apostolic churches, nothing but what is genuine in them, and ought to be perpetual with us. So that neither the troublesomeness' of those times, nor the young age' of the churches then, do give us our advantage. For notwithstanding these special circumstances, the Visible Churches using government, and the Bishops, then, might have been very well Diocesan and Provincial, if Christ had so instituted, and the apostles had so framed and left them: Nothing in the world hindered, but they might easily have been such even in those times. But the world knew none such then, as I have said. And it is impiety to say Christ's Churches were imperfect then, as touching their Visible Form and Constitution, their Ministry, and the lawful order of worshipping God in them.' Or, that the times since, have made them more perfect than they were as the apostles left them! Wherefore, this advantage do we stand upon, and this do we urge, namely, The same Pattern and Form of Visible Churches using government, that was then universally practised and received from Christ and the apostles ;-which was Parishional, not Diocesan, as hath been declared." a

On his fourth" Assertion," he tells us, "The very Papists do see and acknowledge this that I say, namely, both that these grounds of the Scriptures' absolute perfection in all ecclesiastical matters, whereon we exactly do stand, are the true and right principles of the 'Protestants' Religion; and also, that the Diocesan Lord-Bishops do, and must, needs turn away from these principles, and deny them when they deal with us; and must join plainly with the Catholics in their answers, if they will maintain themselves. Thus, they say, when one objected that 'The Puritans,' as they foolishly and maliciously call us, would certainly be extinguished, if the queen should live any number of years.'b Tush,' saith another, 'You are deceived. Nay, much more possible and likely it is, that the Puritan shall overcome the Protestant, than the contrary. For that, the Puritan buildeth directly upon the Protestants' first grounds in Religion, and deduceth thereof clearly, and by ordinary consequence, all his conclusions: what the Protestant cannot deny by Divinity; but only by policy and human ordination, or by turning to Catholic answers, contrary to their own principles. And it is hard for any man sincerely to be a Protestant, but that he will easily pass also on, more or less, to be a Puritan. And only they, in effect, will be a P. 66. b "News from Spain and Holland." 1593., 12mo.

against them, who are interested in the other side; as archbishops, bishops, archdeacons, canons, notaries, registers, civil lawyers [civilians], and the like.' This do the very Papists discern and confess! Wherewithal they prophesy also, as it were, If the Protestants' Religion be not rooted out, that the Puritans' Profession will finally prevail against the commnon Protestants and the Catholics also."b

Jacob concludes his "Reasons" by saying, they had "long since persuaded me, in this cause. Wherefore, I was moved in conscience, to communicate them to God's people now in this seasonable and necessary time."c In the next page we find "An Exhortation to all the godly, learned, and faithful Pastors of the several Churches in England; Henry Jacob, Minister of God's Word, wisheth grace and peace to be multiplied in Christ Jesus." It is an affectionate and earnest appeal to them on the "due execution of the whole.. Pastoral office, sanctified or set by Christ himself in his Churches to this purpose." But fearing that they will raise objections, as he says, 'too many will," he adds, "Them I desire to be as willing, as we are, christianly to discuss these questions. Wherein humbly we desire that the King himself would judge; who is wise as an angel of God, to understand and determine this whole cause by the trial and evidence of God's written Word. Which is, and must be, among Christians, the end of all Religious Controversies.' "d

Though it does not appear, from the preceding production, that Jacob had arrived at all the consequences of his present perception of Truth, yet the darkness which had obstructed his progress was fast yielding to the beamings of the just and simple grounds and practice of church-government displayed in the New Testament. Hence he published, in the same year, "A Position against Vain-glorious, and that which is falsely called, Learned, Preaching." And, the "Offer of a Conference," e two years later, is said to have been drawn up by him. And that was followed, after a longer interval, if we be not in error, by a production of another kind.

We shall not hesitate, however, in attributing to Jacob's pen what constitutes the boast and glory of our denomination, as Independents,— the very first composition ever addressed to Authority restricted to the particularly interesting object expressed in its title, in these terms,— "To the Right High and Mighty Prince, James, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britannie, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c.-An Humble Supplication for Toleration, and Liberty to enjoy and observe the Ordinances of Jesus Christ in the administration of His Churches in lieu of human Constitutions. 1609." 4to. pp. 48. No imprint of place, or printer.f

c P. 78.

d P. 83.

"The Catholics' Supplication, an. 1604,' hath the like; p. 17." P. 73. e See back, p. 125. The work which followed next, on this subject, was "Religion's Peace; or a Plea for Liberty of Conscience," by Leonard Busher, a citizen of London, and a Baptist, 1614; reprinted, 1646, 4to. pp. 38, by H. B. doubtless Henry Burton. But another work appeared in 1615, under the title of "Persecution for Religion judged and condemned." It is anonymous, but the Dedication is subscribed, "By Christ's unworthy Witnesses, his Majesty's faithful Subjects, commonly, but falsely, called “ Anabaptists.""" On this it is that some modern

The grievances under which the parties interested were suffering are fearlessly stated, and at length the Supplicants, or rather Jacob for them, beseech his Majesty that he "would be pleased, that we, the said Ministers and others, may, for the considerations hereinafter mentioned, have allowed unto us, by way of Toleration,-First, The liberty of enjoying and practising the holy ordinances enacted and left by the Lord, for the perpetual direction and guiding of His churches: Secondly, An entire exemption from the jurisdiction of the said Prelates and their Officers: And, Lastly, This happiness, to live under the command and charge of any your subordinate Civil Magistrates; and so to be, for our actions and carriage in the Ministry, accountable unto them; and likewise liable unto all such duties and taxations as are by the Law and Custom of this Land, in any way, chargeable upon subjects of our calling and condition." a

"We acknowledge," they tell his Majesty, "no other power and authority for the overseeing, ruling, and censuring of Particular Churches, how many soever in number,-in the case of their misgovernment, than that which is originally invested in your Royal Person, and from it derived to such of your Laity, as you shall judge worthy to be deputed to the execution of the same under you.

So as

Baptists found their boast of priority on the subject of Toleration; attributing it to Helwisse, and his Church in London: See Crosby's Hist. of Bapt. 1738. vol. i. p. 269; and Supp. to Neal's Puritans, vol. v. p. 142, ed. 1822, 8vo., imputed to William Jones. And they are not a little pleased at the inadvertence of Mr. Charles Butler, where he writes, "It is observable, that this denomination of Christians, now truly respectable, but in their origin as little intellectual as any, first propagated the principles of religious liberty." Hist. Memoirs of the English Catholics, Ed. 1819, ch. xxix-3. p. 367. It was reserved for a later period still, when a member of the Episcopal Church of England! should put in a claim for the high honour of " the first public defence of the principles of Religious Toleration," on behalf of Bishop Jeremy Taylor's "Liberty of Prophesying: showing the Unreasonableness of prescribing to other men's Faith, and the Iniquity of persecuting differing Opinions. 1647." Life, by Bp. Heber, 1822. Pref. p. ii. We might leave facts to speak for themselves, but if there be any one subject on which it is commendable to strive for the preeminence of human glory, not to be relinquished to any rival, how honourable soever, it is surely this of priority in publicly advocating the full enjoyment of mutual Toleration among all Christians. Let the reader judge, then, of the equity of the claim reasserted by Dr. Thomas Price, author of the admirably digested "History of Protestant Nonconformity in England." 1836. 2 vols. 8vo. Treating of "Persecution for Religion judged, &c." he writes of it as "fully" intituling its authors "to be regarded as the first expounders and most enlightened advocates of this best inheritance of man. Other writers," he remarks, "of more distinguished name, succeeded, and robbed them of their honour." "It belonged," he adds, "to the members of a calumniated and despised sect, few in number and poor in circumstances, to bring forth to the public view, in their simplicity and omnipotence, those immortal principles which are now universally recognised as of Divine authority and universal obligation.” Vol. i. p. 522, 523, It is admitted by us that Jacob did not, on his side, dissert upon, or argue for Religious Liberty, in the entire breadth of it; the plea which he set up so courageously is, however, the ground on which all that has ever followed, is rested; and the limitation against the Papal Supremacy "over free countries and kingdoms," is but a consistent restraining of that sinful dominancy which would debar all else from the exercising of their privileges under the Gospel dispensation. Palmam qui meruit, ferat.

a P. 7.