A30189:573
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 4 › Section 2 › ANSWER.Chapter 4 › Section 2 › ANSVVER.
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.
The iPapacy was not the church, but the church lay hid in the Papacy, until the time of separation, which being made according to Gods commandment, by the authority of the Lords Vicegerent, the church, which was before kobscured, doth now shine forth. Thus our Divines do soundly and truly answer to the Papists demanding, where our Church was before Luther, That it was where now it is, but unrefined, unstamped; that it lay lhid among them for the time, as some fit stones for the building, under a great heap of rubbish; and that we have not erected a new Church, but repaired and restored a ruinous mdecayed and corrupt Church. If any of our men deny the Churches wherein our Fathers lived to be the Churches of God, their meaning is limited in respect of the prevailing faction that was in the church, and including them and all the wicked impieties by any of them defended; in which sense, their negative is to be understood. These things standing thus, might not the christian Magistrate take away the Idol of the Mass, enjoin the reading of the Scriptures in a known tongue; appoint that prayer should be made to God only in the mediation of Jesus Christ, and take order that the Sacrament of the Supper might be administered in both kinds, *according to the institution? Might he not ⟨p. 65⟩ncommand all people throughout his Dominions professing the faith, to learn the grounds of Religion, to call upon the Name of the Lord, to hear his Word and to worship him truly and purely, according as the Lord himself hath appointed? And when the people could not, or were careless and negligent, might he not provide means for their instruction and edification in the faith of the Lord Jesus? This the Christian Magistrates did amongst us by authority from God. They provided that the Scriptures should be read in a known language in all Congregations, Ministers enjoined to catechise in the grounds of Christian Religion, the Gospel was preached in many places, disputation was proffered to the learned for satisfaction. If these things be advisedly considered, we shall hear no more from the Brethren of the Separation, that our Church was gathered without the Word, by mere Proclamation, not called but made up a Church in one day, at the commandment of the evil Magistrate: