officers. They, peradventure, know not, or dare not tell you, that this is a denying of a part of the mediatorship of Christ; therefore, Sir, as long as you can, let them not know the Kingly office of Christ; nor what the Holy Ghost saith in Luke xix. 27! Let them know no other government for the church of Christ, but your Spiritual Courts! It will serve their turn well enough, until the Lord shall move their hearts better to consider and discern the Truth of his will revealed in his Word; which, in his good time, he will do, unto all those that earnestly desire, and with upright hearts seek and labour to worship and serve Him in spirit and in truth.'a "And now, I will labour to show the deceit of your vain-glory, in boasting of the Word and Sacraments, which, you say, are so soundly taught and administered, &c... If your Church be, as you would make us believe, then show it, that we may see and discern whether it be soundly and substantially built of choice trees, and of precious living stones, to the best of man's discerning,hewed and squared and fastened together according to the heavenly pattern; every stone living, elect, and precious; -I say still in the best of man's discerning,every stone having his beauty, his burden, and order. All of them, labouring to support one another, to edify one another, to exhort, to admonish, and reprove one another, that so they may be the habitation of God; as these Scriptures do show, Exod. xix. 5, 6; xxv. 8, 9, 40. 1 Chron. xxix. 2. Zech. xiv. 21, compared with Heb. viii. 1, 2, 5, 6, &c.; ix. 11, 14. 1 Pet. ii. 4, 5, 7-9. Acts ii. 37, 41, 42. Rev. i. 5, 6. Heb. iii. 13; x. 24, 25. Lev. xix. 17. Gal. vi. 1, 2; with many other... Of the incomparable beauty, and unutterable excellency of this spiritual temple, under the holy ministry and happy government of Christ; it must be such as none may grow or be planted there, until they be first cut off from their corrupt natural stock where they grew before; and then be grafted into the true olive tree, the true Vine. Yea, and being planted and ingrafted, that plant, that branch that bringeth not forth good fruit, but bringeth forth evil fruit, apparently, seen and known, must be cut off, and cast out. Now, show us your Church to be thus built, and thus ordered according to the Testament of Christ! I do not mean, thus built in perfect manner; but that every member of your Church in the planting thereof doth appear, in the best of man's discerning, according to godly judgment, in his or their measure hewn, fitted, and squared for the building, before he be fastened thereinto? For, as the apostle saith, We which live must no more live unto ourselves, but unto the will of Him that died for us, and rose again. We must be new creatures; for we are the workmanship of God, created anew into Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath ordained that we should walk in them... "I will demand of you, this one question,-When the prophet Haggai reproved the Jews for that God's house was not builded among a John iv. 24. b 1 Pet. ii. 5, 6, 9. c Rom. xi. 17-21. 1 Cor. vi. 11. Tit. iii. 3, &c. Rom. vi. 4, &c. Matt iii. 10; vii. 19; xv. 13. Luke xiii. 6. John xv. 6. Matt. xviii. 15-17. Rom. xvi. 17, 18. 1 Cor. v. 11-13. d Eph. iv. 22-24. 2 Cor. v. 15, 17. 1 Pet. iv. 3. Eph. ii. 10. them;a would it have been a sufficient answer for them, think you, Sir, to have said to the prophet thus, We have costly and fair, sound and substantial ceilings of the sweetest and purest wood; costly carved and curiously wrought, with many goodly and rich hangings, cushions, carpets, and curtains, with so many other costly and sumptuous ornaments and deckings; yea, all whatsoever, according to the appointment of the law for God's house; as, for the proportion, no country in the world can afford the like:' Nay, Sir, admit they should also have said thus, And behold also, we have the fonndation laid; and we have many expert and excellent builders, all of them sound and learned workmen; and for instruments, also, to hew and square the timber and stone, we have so good, as none can be better; of which timber and stones also, we have so great plenty, and so excellent good, with all other things necessary to finish the building; as, for proportion, no country in the world can afford the like;' therefore, although the stones be neither laid, nor squared; nor the timber hewed, fitted, nor framed; yet have we the house of God well builded!-What think you, Sir; would this have been a sufficient answer to have satisfied the prophet? If no; consider then, how little your vain boast will stand you in stead, in the day of your appearing. Search the Scriptures, and you shall find there that every true visible church of Christ must consist of a company of people, be they many or few, that are called out and separated from the froward generation of the world, by the Gospel, and joined, or built together into a holy communion and fellowship among themselves; all of them being, in their measure, Believers, pricked in their hearts' for their sins, and now labouring together to continue in the apostles' doctrine.'d Being thus coupled and knit together, they are called, in the Scripture,' The temple of God;'e the habitation of God ;'f 'the church of God;'s unto the which church' he 'daily' addeth those that he will save they are then called Saints; they are called 'Holy brethren ;'k they are called 'The body of Christ,' and 'members' for their part of the whole building of God. 6 "And now to your [ninth] Counter-Demand, which is, 'Whether any new laws can or ought to be made, or enacted; or any further Reformation made; without the Christian princes' or magistrates' consent, &c. . . And, whether, they have done well, to separate without the king's majesty's leave and license, and consent of the state.' . . I will demand of you these two questions,.. First, Whether Christ be not the only wise God and everlasting King, and perfect Lawgiver' to his church; and, whether all kings, potentates, princes, and people, be not bound to submit themselves as true and faithful subjects unto him, and to his laws given unto his church: or, whether any, or all of them, may, by their royal power, learning, or authority, alter, change, leave out, or add unto, any of those laws which Christ hath already set forth, in His last will and testament ?-Secondly, Whether every particular Chap. i. 2-7. m John xv. 19; xvii. 6, 9, 11, 14, &c. Acts ii. 40. 2 Cor. vi. 15, 18. 1 Cor. i. 2. 2 Cor. xi. k Heb. iii. 1. man, and consequently all men, be not bound by the Word of God, to separate themselves from every known sin and error,—whether in faith, or conversation of life,—that the Lord shall give him sight of: and, labour diligently, to reform themselves and their families according to the law and will of God, revealed in his Word, without the I consent' of the Christian prince and magistrates under whom he [or they] live: or, whether they be bound to go on and continue still in their sin or error, and not to 'separate' from the same until they have first sued for and obtained the princes' and magistrates' leave and license, and consent of the state;' that is, indeed and briefly, Whether God must be God or not, except men will give him leave? "Your tenth, and last Demand, is, Whether it were not the Separatists' best course, to return again to God's true church and people, from whom,' you say, upon some conceited hard dealing, they have made an unlawful rent; and there to confer with the best learned; and, if still their consciences be somewhat tender, to supplicate for some favour and liberty: or if,' say you, they will not take this course, whether it were not good for them, for the avoiding of scandal, and in expectance of some prosperous success by the permission of our noble King, and honourable Counsel, to remove to Virginia, and make a Plantation there, in hope to convert infidels to Christianity?' Although I can partly guess in what humour you propounded this your Demand, yet I will not answer you according to that your humour... I do once again, entreat you to show us the true form and fashion of your Church. And lay you apart all wrath and envious anger, that so we may together, in peace and love,—you with us, and we with you,—take a view and consider of your Church; and compare the form and fashion thereof with the form and fashion of the true visible church of Christ, as it is described unto you in the Scripture... And if this good and godly course may be accomplished, not only I myself, but all of us that now are separated from you, would much more willingly and gladly return again, and labour to plant ourselves again in the meanest part of England, to enjoy peace' with holiness,' and to follow the Truth in love, among our kindred and friends in our own native country, than either to continue where now many of us as yet live, or to plant ourselves in Virginia, or in any other country in the world, upon any conditions or hope of any thing in this life whatsoever! Yet even for Virginia, thus much,-When some of ours desired to have planted ourselves there, with his Majesty's leave, upon these three grounds; first, that they might be means of replanting the Gospel amongst the heathen; secondly, that they might live under the king's government; thirdly, that they might make way for and unite with others, what in them lieth, whose consciences are grieved with the state of the Church in England; the Bishops did, by all means, oppose them and their friends therein! .. "And thus much, for answer to your Ten Counter-Demands;' nothing doubting but we shall be able to bear the weight of your next blow with patience, when it comes forth... I confess, that at the first sight or view hereof, this my harsh, rude, and unlearned writing, may a Heb. xii. 14. seem unpleasant and offensive; yet, upon better and more serious considerations, you shall have less cause to find fault: .. consider, Sir, it is you that have drawn me to write, and therefore you have the less cause to be angry with me." This production, interesting in itself, is the more so from being intimately connected with that with which this chapter commences; evinced by being printed at the same foreign press; and, by the initial letters W. E., in the Preface to Robinson's work, being the same with those of Euring's; besides the reference to " Virginia," above, the application of which will appear hereafter; and being also, probably, an instance proving the " People's" fitness "for the Exercise of Prophecy." The Arminians and Calvinists in Holland, called there Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants, had been some time engaged in a hot controversy on subjects reduced, after much discussion, and agreed to be limited, to what are still terined in theology, "The five points;" election, redemption, original sin, effectual grace, and perseverance. The States-General convened, after some political manoeuvring, a Synod of Protestants from all the European States, to assemble at the city of Dort; for the purpose of bringing this dispute to a peaceable, but it should seem, preconcerted, termination. The Synod continued from Nov. 13th, 1618, to May 29th, 1619; having held a hundred and eighty sessions. James being, it is said, applied to, deputed, without consulting the Church of England, the doctors, Carleton, Davenport, Hall, Ward, and subsequently Goad, who were assisted by the "memorable Hales of Eton," then chaplain to the English ambassador; with instructions to the ministers of "those distracted churches," that they "do not deliver in the pulpit, to the people, those things for ordinary doctrines, which are the highest points of schools, and not fit for vulgar capacity." The whole Synod swore, at their twenty-third session, "not to make use of any kind of human writings, but only of the Word of God, as a sure and infallible Rule of Faith." Carleton, then bishop of Landaff, told some of the divines at the Synod, that "The cause of all their troubles was because they had no Bishops amongst them, who, by their authority, might repress turbulent spirits that broached novelty; every man having liberty to speak or write what they list." f How "deeply pregnated" James's agents were, to act agreeably to his wishes, may be imagined; they were received and treated, indeed, with distinguished respect, and their sentiments were listened to with marked deference. Nothing could, however—it has been observed— "be less edifying than to see a Protestant prince, who, not contented to a See back, p. 353. Heylyn's Hist. Presb. bk. xii. p. 396. e Harris's Life of James I. 1772. 8vo. p. 127. d Fuller's Church Hist. bk. xvii. p. 78. Art. 4. La Roche's Abridg. of Brandt's Hist. Reform. 8vo. vol. ii. p. 417. Heylyn, sup. p. 400.—So Richard Hooker, ycleped "Judicious," had said likewise; "Schism and disturbance in the Church, must needs grow, if all men might think what they list, and speak openly what they think." Answ. to Travers. 1591. p. 367. Vol. iii. of Hanbury's Edit. of Hooker's "Eccles. Polity, and other Works. 1830." persecute the heterodox in his own kingdom, exhorts the potentates of the same religion to imitate his conduct."a And another writer has derived this fair and valuable inference from the attendance of the British divines; that it was "an open acknowledgment of the validity of Ordination by mere presbyters; here being a Bishop of the Church of England sitting as a private member in a Synod of divines, of which a mere Presbyter was the president.' Heylyn had, indeed, previously, remarked the inconvenience of this act, where, speaking of Carleton, he describes him as "having too much debased himself beneath his calling, in being present in a Synod, or Synodical meeting, in which an ordinary Presbyter was to take the Chair, and have precedency before him." And reciting the bishop's protestation against the "strange conceit of the parity of ministers," Heylyn adds, strangely indeed, "But it was only he and his associates which conceived so of it!"c CHAP. XXI. ROBINSON'S APOLOGY. THE latter paragraphs of the chapter preceding, contain a suitable preparation for the principal subject comprised in this chapter on which we are now entered. The preliminary measures for holding the Synod of Dort could not but afford a fit opportunity for submitting to the most learned divines of the whole Protestant community, the principles and true condition of that little section of the church of Christ planted temporarily round about the locality within which the authoritative assembly was convoked; their real circumstances being little known or understood, and their characters having been to this time assiduously calumniated. That such were the inducements supplied by the occasion for composing a statement concerning themselves in the then common medium of communication among the learned, these titles seem to confirm : "Apologia justa et necessaria quorundam Christianorum, æque contumeliose ac communiter dictorum Brownistarum' ac' Barrowistarum.' 1619." 12mo. pp. 96. "A just and necessary Apology of certain Christians, no less contumeliously than commonly called 'Brownists' or 'Barrowists.' By Mr. John Robinson, Pastor of the English Church at Leyden. First published in Latin, in his and the Church's name over which he was set; after, translated into English by Himself; and now, republished for the special and common good of our own Countrymen.-Psal. xli. 1. O blessed is he that prudently attendeth to the poor weakling.'Printed in the year of our Lord 1625." 4to. pp. 72. This treatise consists of twelve chapters; but the edition of 1644,d La Roche's Abridg. of Brandt's Hist. Neal, Hist. Purit. vol. ii. ch. ii. d 24 mo. pp. 66. printed in very small some readers and to remind others, that Reform. 8vo. vol. i. p. 319: |