A30189:239
An answer to two treatises of Mr. John Can, the leader of the English…An answer to two treatises of Mr. Iohn Can, the leader of the English…
An answer to two treatises of Mr. John Can, the leader of the English Brownists in Amsterdam the former called, A necessity of separation from the Church of England, proved by the Nonconformists principles : the other, A stay against straying : wherein in opposition to M. John Robinson, he undertakes to prove the unlawfulness of hearing the ministers of the Church of England ... / by the late learned, laborious and faithful servant of Jesus Christ, John Ball.An answer to two treatises of Mr. Iohn Can, the leader of the English Brownists in Amsterdam the former called, A necessitie of separation from the Church of England, proved by the Nonconformists principles : the other, A stay against straying : wherein in opposition to M. Iohn Robinson, he undertakes to prove the unlawfulnesse of hearing the ministers of the Church of England ... / by the late learned, laborious and faithfull servant of Jesus Christ, John Ball.
London: printed by R.B., 1642
Chapter 1 › Section 5 › Can. Stay. Sect. 5. Pag 37.38. › ANSWER.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
A devised constitution (you say) is an Idol, 1and all that comes from it is tainted with the idolatry of that constitution. You will say, it is a false Church constitution, if the Minister be not chosen and ordained by the congregation alone, where he is to administer; if a man be received into the society, who is not a visible Saint; if any idle, ignorant, careless, scandalous, corrupt, usurping Minister be chosen, ordained or suffered; if any notorious or scandalous person be admitted to the ordinances; if any stinted Liturgy, or form of Catechising, administration, or prayer be used: with sundry the like, which in your esteem, are arguments of false constitutions. Churches, Ministry, and Worship. Now tell us plainly, is every such Church-constitution an Idol, and that which is done in these Societies unholy and unclean? If so, then there was never any one age, wherein the Church-constitution was not an Idol, and the worship of God performed in that Society, leprous, unclean, poisoned with Idolatry. The Temple sanctified the Gold, and the Altar the offering: but the Temple, and Altar are not types and figures of external Church-constitution. Where do you read this, in the Law, or the Prophets? &c. And if you read it not, how dare you affirm it. Besides, 2the sanctification of the oblations depended upon one Temple, and Altar therein, yet so as both Temple and Altar were sanctified by the offering.
A devised constitution (you say) is an Idoll, 1and all that comes from it is tainted with the idolatry of that constitution. You will say, it is a false Church constitution, if the Minister bee not chosen and ordained by the congregation alone, where he is to administer; if a man be received into the societie, who is not a visible Saint; if any idle, ignorant, carelesse, scandalons, corrupt, usurping Minister be chosen, ordained or suffered; if any notorious or scandalous person bee admitted to the ordinances; if any stinted Liturgie, or forme of Catechising, administration, or prayer be used: with sundry the like, which in your esteem, are arguments of false constitutions. Churches, Ministerie, and Worship. Now tell us plainly, is every such Church-constitution an Idoll, and that which is done in these Societies unholy and uncleane? If so, then there was never any one age, wherein the Church-constitution was not an Idoll, and the worship of God performed in that Societie, leprous, uncleane, poysoned with Idolatry. The Temple sanctified the Gold, and the Altar the offering: but the Temple, and Altar are not types and figures of externall Church-constitution. Where doe you read this, in the Law, or the Prophets? &c. And if you read it not, how dare you affirme it. Besides,