'T is sadly a Lamentation and God in mercy grant it may not be so any more that the same signs are commanded by one Church as Symbolically significant and in testimony of Odoration and by another Church declared to be insignificant Mat. 2.24 and without any adorable respect yet in both Churches those Rites are Constituted Conditions of Communion though never made so by Christ But Servants that dare to turn their Ministry into Dominion Acts 17.31 and beat and kill their fellow servants must expect their doom designed them by the Lord when he comes to Judge the World in Righteousness The Authority of the Church is pretended for this That Name is highly venerable therefore to abuse it is the greater crime 'T is an Article of Faith to believe a Holy Catholick Church but heinous is the offence to subborn the Name of the Church to destroy the next Article The Communion of Saints without which the Notion of a Church is empty and unprofitable The Holy Catholick Church is the Body of Christ Col. 1.18 the Spouse of Christ Eph. 5.2 Gal. 4.26 't is the Heavenly Jerusalem which is free Heb. 12.22 which is the only Mother of us all Out of this Church there is no Salvation for whoever is a Member of Christs Body Eph. 5.23 to such and only to such Christ is a Saviour Of this Body every vissible Christian Church is an integral Part or Member Visible Church Act. 19. The Articles of Religion describe a visible Church to be a Congregation of faithful Men in which the pure Word of God is Preached and the Sacraments duely Ministred according to Christs Ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisit to the same Wich such a Church Christ hath promised to be alway even to the end of the World Rom. 3.2 the Authority with which our Lord invested the Christian Church being the same as before to the Jewish that unto them are committed the Oracles of God Mat. 28.20 that is according to his express Commission the teaching to observe all things whatsoever our Lord commanded This is the great Charter of the Churches Liberties and Power Here is no pretence for any Jurisdiction to make other conditions of Communion then of constitution The conditions constitutive of a Church are sufficient for Salvation the End and Perfection of every true Church therefore they are sufficient for the Title of every Member to admission and continuance in the Church This was all was required by Christ and his Apostles Acts 19.31 whereby the Churches were ed fied walking in the fear of the Lord and the comfort of the Holy Ghost were multiplied The first trouble to the Church within it self was from the atempt to subvert the Foundation of Christianity by introducing other conditions of Church Communion then Christ appointed Acts 15.24 but that was remedied by the direction of the Holy Ghost in the first Council at Jerusalem The contrary Practice to which in after Ages hath been the great occasion of the confusion and ruine of most of the Christian Churches and still remains like the Womans bloody Issue that wasted all her substance an incurable disease So that it may be truely affirmed the impiety of the Nicolaitans and Gnosticks who reckoned and practised the grossest Immoralities as things indifferent proved less mischeivous to the Christian World then the rigorous exacting and imposing in different things as necessary Upon which account on one side sprang Separations and Schisms and on the other most bloody and inhumane Persecutions for it is convenient that commands not Authorised by right Reason should be enforced with rage and cruelty The conditions therefore and Articles of Peace as they are called in the Church ought not to be any other then such as as are necessary to Salvation Because the Belief and Practice of every Church most be as Homogeneal as are in all Beings Life and Operation According to this rule of Divine Truth the Church of England reformed it self from Popery and upon all occasions justifies the Reformation Because the Union of the Catholick Church depends upon the making the Foundaations of its Being and the grounds of its Communion adaequate So that only these things which ought to be owned by all Christian Societies as necessary to Salvation on which the Being of the Catholick Church depends ought to be the necessary conditions of Church Communion Consequently the proper cause of Schism lies in transgressing those Bounds which observed might through Divine goodness conciliat the universal Peace of Christendome That according to the same Evidence by which the Reformed Churches condemn the Romanists for imposing the Belief of things as necessary to Salvation which are not necessary to the Being of the Catholick Church There ought not be imposed conditions of Uniformity upon any Member of the Church which were not antecedently necessary for the Being and Unity of the Church the later Imposition being eventually Equivalent with the former because they exclude from the means of Salvation 'T is Murther to mix Poyson with the Diet of the Family and almost as cruel to constrain the Table to any Meat or Sauce against which there is Antipathy Must he starve that cannot Eat Champignons with his Capon Poyson and Famine determine alike How uncharitable then are they who abhor the Roman Poyson yet debar those of the same Houshold of Faith from the Bread of Life by the mixture of some unnecessary Rites their weakness suppose cannot digest They that like Champignons may Eat as they please but 't is inhospitable and barbarous to force them upon those that conceit them Toad-stools It is the Peace and Entertainment of every Civil Table to allow the indisputable Liberty of Tasts and Appetites and to require Uniformity in Eating and Drinking would be most slavish Imposition to disorder and confound Mankind How much worse may any presume to disturb the Table of the Lord the Freedom of which as well as the bounty is the Purchase of his own Blood Nor was there any such custome in the Church of God 1 Cor. 11.16 The Primitive Church continued stedfast in the Apostolical Doctrine and Practice according to which standing fast in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free only necessary things were commanded things indifferent in their Nature being as they ought left indifferent in use and Practice For it is only the Divine Prerogative and not in the power of any Creature to change the Nature of things to be practised in the Worship of God so as to require what is in it self indifferent to be used necessarily as condition of Church Communion The Divine Method to restore and preserve the Churches Peace is to command things necessary and to leave things indifferent to the Arbitrary description of every Christian to perform or not perform as shall seem conducible to present edification Thus Timothy was voluntarily Circumcised by St. Paul Acts 16.3
the Judaising Christians Crisost Ora. prima adv Judaeos that the most devout Severities if not commanded by God are no better then Debaucheries That only being pleasing and acceptable to God which is commanded by God And that which is most plausible and venerable according to Humane Opinion if not commanded by God is most vile and impious Lord Bishop of Hereford's Epist to a Friend concerning Popery Accordingly a Reverend Prelat Sums up all in this Conclusion I will in the worship of God do only that which his Will tells me is acceptable to his Divine goodness Therefore to say Though the Rites and Ceremonies be indifferent and insignificant yet when once commanded by Authority 't is hainous to disobey it is a real Conviction of Sacrilegious abuse of Authority to enforce Humane Constitutions Rival with the Divine Law in Matters of Religion which is to set Man's Post Ezok. 43.8 by God's Post against which Crime God denounces severe Judgment But from what Authority doth the Command proceed If from the the Church the Articles of our Religion teach that things ordained even by General Councels as necessary to Salvation Art 20.21 1572. have neither strength nor Authority unless it may be declared that they be taken out of Holy Scripture If it be replied these are not ordained as necessary to Salvation but to Uniformity The Answer is clear and certain because the Connexion between the means and the end is indissoluble therefore whatsoever is Ordained as necessary to Church-Communion the means of Salvation unless Salvation may be had out of the Church is Ordained as necessary to the End it self Salvation and the Command being not taken out of the Holy Scripture is no Law therefore there cannot be any Transgression But if urged as a Law Civil or Municipal it hath no more Obligation upon Conscience then the Statute forbiding to eat Flesh in Lent 5 Eliz. R. c. 5. which expresly provides whoever shall declare it to be the Service of God shall be punished as a spreader of False News that is as Guilty against the Law of Premunire The Civil Magistrate is Ordained of God and Invested with the high Prerogative to be Custos and vindex utriasque Tabule but not with any power to alter or abrogate any Command of God or any Ordinance of Divine Worship or to enjoy any other Condition of Church Communion then is expressed in the Gospel It is not in the power of any no not by the Universal consent of Mankind so to change the Nature and Signification of any Acts of Worship as either by applying to a Creature what is peculiar to God or by Instituting any Devotion to God not by him required Dr. Stillingfleet's def of discourse concerning Idolatry c. page 259. 260. It being as was before Observed a Principle of Natural Religion to Worship God only according to his own appointment for Worship not at all Commanded by God is not Worship but Fancy Aug. De Conson Evang. L. 1. cap. 18. and can have no Obligation upon Conscience which in performances of Religion is the grossest Contradiction We must be taught by God what is due Honour to God For as it is Crimen laesae Majestatis Hibar De Trini Lib. 5. p. 54. not only to perform Allegiance to another Person then the King but to Make or Constitute ex proprio Motu a Law for the Acts or Circumstances of Allegiance to be tendred to the King because thereby is directly Invaded the Supreme Athority So to apply Acts of Divine Worship to a Creature and to address to God in Worship by any Rite or Ceremony of Humane Invention both include Blasphemy because thereby is taken away from God the Peculiarity of his Dominion and Excellence whereby he is God alone For as the Sovereign Prerogative of making Laws of Civil Government is not Transferable to any Subject much less may any Creature usurp the incomunicable Attribute of Divine Auchority to make Laws of Religious Worship This happy Priviledge belongs to the Magistrate that what is already a Divine Law Dr. Stillingfleet's Irenic Page 44. he may Enact to be a Law of the Land and require the Observance of what was before in Conscience Obligatory and Animadvert upon the Offenders The Princes of the Hethen World might well be allowed to make and unmake their Religious Rites because Invented and Authorised only by themselves and thence many of them proceeded to receive even the Flattery of their own Apotheosis But every sober Mind judges all such Assentation to be as a great Offence to the Divine Majesty who will not allow the giving his Honour to another so a real Contumely and mock Honour to any Prince to Invest him with Divine Authority 'T is no less sinful now by a new Mode of Deification to place the Magistrate in the Throne of Christ who only hath Supreme Right to make the Laws by which Kings Reign It is therefore worthy the Consideration of all Christian Princes that the very making Laws for Religious matters not commanded by God shakes the greatest Prop of Thrones Conscience of Duty which in such a Case hath no Obligation Dan. 6.22 Therefore Daniel when cast inro the Lyons Den for breaking the irreversisible Law of Darius tells the King that God had delivered him from the Lyons forasmuch as he was Innocent before God and had committed no offence against the King which could not be true if the Decree of the King had been Lawful Jer. 27.6.7.8 God gave to Nebuchadnezzar absolute Dominion over all the World threatning Destruction to whatsoever Nation would not Obey him Notwithstanding it was Holy and Pious not to Obey him when his Command was otherwise then the Command of God For pure and undefiled Religion which Obliges to Obey the Magistrate in all matters of Civil Policy forbids Obedience in Matters of Religion not warranted by God's Word and Commands to suffer rather then sin This from the Apostles days until now hath been the Epidemical Motive to persecute the Disciples of Christ because they do contrary to the Decrees of Caesar Acts 17.7 Gregi Nazi Ora Prima con Julian Upon which account Nasiansen objects against Julian the Apostate the Contrivance of this Pestilent Mischief against the Christians that whereas it was the general Custom and not refused by Christians to perform a Civil Reverence to the Statues and Images of the Emperors upon which also were usually Engraven Representations of some Triumph or Magnificence of the Emperor Julian instead thereof with his own Image caused to be Engraven the Idols he worshiped Thereby either to ensnare the Christians into Idolatry if they Reverenced his Image or if they refused to expose them for doing contrary to the Imperial Decrees generally observed by Christians The like Device hath been long Practised to enforce Humane Rites and Ceremonies and stablish Hierarchich Policy in the Church by procuring from Princes Laws
heard For Faith without which it is impossible to please God Heb. 11.6 comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God which we cannot hear but by Preaching the great and standing Ordinance of the Church in all Ages and Dispensations In Paradise God Preached to Adam how he would be Obeyed particularly in keeping the Sabbath in not eating the Tree of Knowledge Jude 14. 2 Pet. 2.5 Enoch and Noah were Preachers to the Old World before the Flood And every Age since hath enjoyed wherever was a Church Isa 30.20 the blessed Promise that though God gave the bread of Adversity and the Water of Affliction yet their Eyes and Ears were not deprived of Teachers Deut. 8.3 For both the Law and the Gospel instruct this Fundamental Lesson Mat. 4.4 That by the word of God Man lives more necessarily then by Bread Obedience thereto giving the Warrant and Value to all Religious performances without it all Devotions though never so exactly observed Amos 5.25 being by God Contemned and Rejected Acts 7.2 As the Holy Ghost by Stephen testifies against the Jews Consequently in all Ages and Places as Preaching hath been either slighted or esteemed so hath Religion it self declined or flourished How famous were the Churches of Greece Asia and Afric when Chrisostome Austine and other such excellent Bishops were their Preachers But when due Preaching was neglected Ritual Idolatrous Superstition by degrees fretted and cankerd out the Truth and Power of Christian Religion at last after long Contempt of Divine long-suffering which should have led to Repentance sadly exposed those Churches to Ruine and desolation by the Miscreant Superstition of Mahometanism The Latine Churches have been as miserably shipwracked by the Idolatrous Superstition and Tyrany of the See of Rome For not content with the absolute Simplicity and Spirituality of Christian Religion Pompus Liturgies of Devotion were invented Upon which Foundation by degrees was reard the whole Tower of Antichristian Babel The Sacrifice of the Mass and all other Popish Idolatries to Saints and Angels sprang from this Original to wit The enjoyning and requiring a Superstitious Formulary of Words composed by Men as a necessary Liturgy of Divine Service This Usurpation upon the Divine Prerogative whose alone it is to give Laws of Worship first confers upon a set of imposed Words greater Interest and Efficasie of Devotion as more the Prayers of the Church then any other Supplications though composed of express Scripture Phrases uttered by the same Minister and offered up by the same Congregation at the same time This boldness once assumed Additions were facile and then without fear of the Lord of the Church or regard to the Peace of the Church under the plausible Name of Ecclesiastick Uniformity this Mechanick or Artificial Religion is enjoyned as the necessary Sum of Church Devotion Hence issued those Iliads of Mischief for so many Ages have Corrupted and Destroyed the Church And wherever such Opinion obtains there is a Gap opend for the Roman Idolatry and Tyranny to be re-established Jure post Liminij It is but suitable to irreligious profane Mouths to scoff at Praying by the Spirit alas poor Creatures they seldom name their Maker but to Blaspheme Him But any that call themselves the Tribe of Levi the Clergy of God they are Successors to Hophni and Phinehas who knew not God and have no part nor lot in Him if they reproach and persecute those that pray as did the Glorious Company of the Apostles the Noble Army of Martyrs the Holy Church through out all the World in Primirive Christianity Tertul. p. 6. sine monitore quia de pectore that is without Bead Book or Formulary from the Heart by the Spirit who helps our infirmities Rom 8.26 for we know not what we should pray for as we ought God alone as Tertullian saith can teach how he will be prayed unto and for that end gives us his Holy Spirit Tertul. Lib de Orat. c. 9. The Divine Form commonly called the Lords Prayer is Doctrinal Deus solus docere potuit ut se vellet Orari and the most excellent Summary of Prayer but not always necessary to be used Tertull. ibid Dominus Prospector humanarum necessitatum seorsum post tradictam orandi disciplinam Petite Inquit Jus est superstruendi Extrinsecus petitiones every Christian hath right to ask in the Name of Christ for whatsoever is according to the will of God and for Publick Worship in the Church 'T is the Ministerial Office in Preaching to speak as the Oracles of God and also to be the Mouth of the People to God in all Prayer and Supplication in the Spirit 1 Pet. 4.11 Eph. 6.18 4.8.12 by which Christ gives gifts to Men for the work of the Ministry In contradiction to this reasonable Service in Spirit and Truth which only is acceptable to God the Church of Rome hath turned Prayer into a meer Rote or Charm of unintelligible Words No wonder then that they have also introduced a Ritual of Ceremonial Religion for the most part a medley of Judaism and Hetheanism Religious Ceremonies are Acts of Divine Worship Religious Ceremonies expresly Instituted by God and to be continued or altered enforced or abolished only by the command of God In Holy Scripture the same word is for Ceremonies Precepts Mandates Statutes Judgments Ordinances of Worship which appeareth by comparing Psal 19.9 Psal 119.15 16 Numb 9 3. Heb. 9.1.10 Luke 1.6 and many other Scriptures The Ceremonial Law began imediately upon the Promise of Mercy to lost Man by God's Institution of Sacrifice and other Ceremonial Rites vouchsafed as Subsidiary Reliefs and Assistances to the weakness and frailty of Faith in the Promise of a Saviour and Redeemer The Sacrifice Offered by Abel could not have been by Faith Heb. 11.4 consequently not acceptable had there not been an express word of Command and Promise from God to be the Object of Faith The difference of Meats clean and unclean was observed before the Flood Gen. 7.2 After the Flood at sundry times and in divers manners it pleased the Wisdom of God to give to his Church Ordinances of Divine Worship which were Types and Figures and shaddows of what was Spiritual and Heavenly respecting Christ who was the Substance being Carnal Ordinances imposed until the time of Gospel Reformation as the Apostle to the Hebrews at large declares Heb. 9.19 Abraham received the Sign of Circumcsion a Seal of the Righteousness of Faith through which the Promise was made Rom. 4.11.13 that he should be the Heir of the World Moses received the Institution of the Passeover and under his Ministry was compleated the Law of all Ceremonial Rites Sacrifices Priesthoods Times and Places of Worship But David and Solomon put the last Hand to finish and fix the Administration of all Typical Divine Service by appointing the Courses for the Priests and Levites and Building
in order to a present Service but the same Apostle would not permit Titus to be compelled to be circumcised Gal. 2.3.4 because it would have brought the Liberty of the Church into Bondage After the Decease of the Apostles many Rites and Ceremonies not commanded by God crept into the Church but they were Arbitrarily practised Tertul. Lib. de Cor. Militis c. 2. Nam si idco dicetur Coronari Licere quia non prohibeat Scriptura aeque retorquebitur ideo Coronari non Licere quia Scriptura non jubeat not at all enjoyned as Tertullian manifests and particularly instances among many others the signing the Forehead with a Cross upon several occasions of Civil Conversation These and others by him mentioned saith That Learned Father were only Customary Practises not warranted by Scripture But for things imposed the Rule saith he is before I believe for whatsoever is not of saith is sin I must know what Scripture it is that commands me to obey For Sed quod non prohibetur ultro est permission Imo prohibetur quod non ultro est permissum saith he this or that is not Lawfull because the Scripture doeth not forbid it but that is unlawful which the Scripture doth not command The Discourse is directed against the Imposition of any humane Rite upon the Conscienceofany Christian And the reason isenforced by him C. 11. Ter. de Cor. mil. Credimus ne humanum sacramantum Divino superduci Licere in alium Dominum respondere post Christum because it is not Lawful to superinduce any Humane Sacrament or Ordinance upon a Divine What havock in the Church did the breach of this Rule make One instance concerning Easter may serve for all The Christian Churches all under the Dominion of one Imperial Crown varied among themselves concerning the Observation of Easter Socra Eccles Hist. Lib. 5. c. 21. Euseb Lib. 5. c. 3. Nevertheless communicated without discord That variety as saith Irenaeus commending the Unity of Faith Every Sect had sundry and divers Rites and Ceremonies yet therefore conceived they no worse Opinion of others then of themselves To be short faith the History among the Customs and Observations of all Sects we shall not find two which follow and retain one and the same order of Service Notwithstanding the Customary and Arbitrary practice of so many various and different Rites the Peace of the Church remained intire untill the Arrogance of Victor Bishop of Rome Imposed upon the Churches concerning Easter and broke the Unity of Communion Then as the same History Notes the Commandments of God were despised and Men established Canons of their own They made no account of the Law determined by the Apostles which only prescribed the Observation of things necessary and rashly urged the Practice of Decrees contrary to the Will of God contending about Festivals as it were for Life and Death It is too well known what blood and ruine this Usurpation in the Church occasioned in Brittain and other parts of Christendom In succeeding Ages the Latine Churches differed much in the practice of several Rites and Ceremonies Council Lat. 4. yet without breach of Communion So that when the Fourth Lateran Council made a New Cannon of Catholick Faith viz. The Doctrine of Transubstantiation another Cannon immediately Decreed That provided their Unity of Faith were professed If in the same Diocess or City several Persons Observed divers Rites The Bishop was enjoyned that the Offices of Divine Service should be Administred to every one according to their own various Rites In the English Church before the Reformation the Rites and Usages were various since the Reformation until the late Act of Uniformity the only condition of Communion enjoyned by Law was Subscription and Assent 13 Eliz. R. c. 12. not to a Uniformity in Rites and Ceremonies but to all the Articles of Religion which only concern the Confession of the True Christian Faith and the Doctrine of the Sacraments This was sufficient for any Minister though ordained in other Form then prescribed by the Rubrick The Ceremonies also retained in the Rubrick Dr. Stillingst Irenic P. 122. In composing our Liturgie those Holy Men who did seek by any means to draw in others at such a distance from their Principles as the Papists did never intend by what they did for that End to exclude any truly tender Consciences from their Communion seem not to be necessarily Commanded but rather Temporarily reserved and recommended for the Cross is not enjoyed in private Baptism the Reverence at the Name of Jesus is not determined how or when to be performed These and the like are declared in the Rubrick to be indifferent in their Nature and were so accounted in the first Practice after the Reformation during which time the Church of England flourished in great Peace The disturbance and breach of which being occasioned by the strict Imposition of Rites and Ceremonies in themselves indifferent the encrease of those severities still widening the breaches and heightning the disturbances How easie might the cure be accomplished if the Practice or Omission of all the Rites and Ceremonies in the Rubrick not commanded by the Word of God were left to that indifferent Freedom prescribed in the Seventh Cannon made 1640. Can. 7. 1640. concerning the Situation of the Communion Table and the approaches there unto and the doing Reverence and Obeysance coming in and going out of Churches c. viz. That the Rule of Charity prescribed by the Apostle be Observed which is that they which use this Rite despise not them who use it not and that they who use it not condemn not those that use it The Doctrine of the Church is owned and believed Art of Relig. 8.21 because it is taken out of Holy Scriptures for what is not so hath neither strength nor Authority though Constituted by any General Council whatsoever Accordingly in Divine Worship Human understanding ought not to Contrive or Impose but intirely Observe the absolute and simple perfection of the Gospel The departure from which Religionem Christianam absolutam simplice Arinesti superstitione confundens Am. Mar. as was long since Observed even by Amianus Marcellinus proved the Confusion of Christian Religion by vain Superstition It is the Command of Christ Joh. 10.4.5.8 therefore no Crime in Christians not to obey nor know the voice of any but Christ in matters of Religion Est in Vniversis servientibus non Dominium sed Ministerium Opt at Milevi Lib. 5. to whose Scepter only it belongs For all in the Church by what Names or Titles soever dignified are yet but Servants now the Universal Property of Servants is Ministry not Dominion They cannot make Laws they can only obey and require Obedience to the Laws of Christ our King and Lord Isa 25.9 for whose Salvation the Church waits The Divine Will is the only Rule and Measure of things Therefore Chrisostom declares to