a feeble Primacy the Pope had in those times besides his possibilities and actuality of erring euen in Catheà ra being so countermaunded reprooued and disobeyed by such incomparable Churches and teachers Secondly how dangerously the Papists put the iumpe of all their sempiternall expectations vppon the credit euen of the greatest clerkes which so vntruely falsly and corruptly relate the recordes of antiquity Next for the effect and abuse of these things in the people wee may easily see that if the fountaines bee troubled the streames cannot bee cleere as may appeare by that which followeth Many things commaunded in the holy Scriptures and of very holsome and good vse were lesse respected and cared for then many light matters whereof they ouerbouldly presumed August Epist 119. cap. 19. Many of them neglected and swallowed great things placing opinion of religion and shewing great diligence in following or practising such things as had in them small profit Hieronymus in Mattheum cap. 23. Many of them were obserued to bee troublesome to others by being caried on with a contentious obstinacy others by a superstitious timorousnesse about such trifles as neither were comfirmed by authority of the holy Scripture nor by the custome of the Church in generall neither serued for any profit to the amendment of life and manners August Epist 118. cap. 3. As for example they were very superstitious and precise in bearing about certaine little peeces of the Gospels and of the wood of the crosse istiusmodi rebus and in the like things and vsque bodié factitant doing it euen to that day hauing the zeale of God but not according to knowledge straining at a gnat and swallowing a Cammell Hieron in Matt. cap. 23. They were maruelous precise in their fastings for on their fasting dayes they would eate no oile nor bread but figges pepper nutts dates flower hony pistachia all herbes and fruits growing in the garden delicias and other delicates they would not drinke water but they would haue instead thereof sorbitiunculas delicatas delicate suppings and the Iuice of herbes pressed out and that not in a cup but in the shell of a Sea-fish they sought famam abstinentiae in delitijs commendation of their abstinence by vsing delicates Hierom. calleth these things ineptiae superstitiones Ieiunium superstitiosum in Epist ad Neapot They censured such as dined on the Sabbath soberly and did not fast as the manner of some places was that namely they were in the flesh and could not please God that they were wicked persons belly mongers and that they sauoured of the flesh and of death and their voice was this recedant a me iniqui viam eorum esse nolo and they separated from them Aug. Epist 86. ad Casulanum They would not serue God in a temple once abused to Idolatry neither eate any herbes growing in the garden nor drinke any water running from the fountaine of an Idoll-temple Idem Epist 154. Publicol They would more sharpely reprooue a man qui per octauas suas terram nudo pede tetigerit Who during the time of their octaues should touch the ground with his bare feete then a man which was with wine starke drunke Idem Epist 119. cap. 19. Some of them did absteine from eating flesh with such a mind as that they iudged those persons vncleane which did eat thereof This Augustine writeth out of the report of Ianuar. Epist 119. cap. 20. and giueth his censure thereof that namely apertissimé contra fidem sanamque doctrinam est In a word many of them out of their owne fancies or from the custome of other places did cause such litigious questions about these matters vngrounded in the Scripture and vnprofitable in their nature that they thought nothing right which they did not themselues August Epist 118. cap. 3. And thus in part we see a small glimse of the state of the Primatiue Church of Christ which we commonly account and is heere extended from the daies of the Apostles vntil the time of S. Augustine or there about For afterwards the same which then was clouded declined vnto darke night and we will descend no lower knowing that iust exception might be taken at it in this argument Now in the next place we will giue a taste of the doctrine and practise of the Fathers and the faithfull in the middest of these corruptions that we may see how the doctrine of suffering depriuation for inconuenient ceremonies farre more for number and worse for qualitie then ours are pretended hath by them beene proposed and practised Touching their doctrine of this point thus they taught That the Apostles driftin their writings was not to set downe Canons and Decrees concerning Feasts and Holidaies or such like Ceremonies of the Church but to set downe a president of pietie good life and godly conuersation Socrat. 5. 22. Seeing there is no man able to shew any president or record in writing of fasting daies or the like traditions it is euident that the Apostles did leaue free choice and libertie to euery Church at the discretion thereof without feare compulsion and constraint to vse that which seemeth good and commendable for it selfe ibid. the like doth Augustine Epist 86. speake of fasting They obserued three sorts of Traditions or Ceremonies in the Churches of their times First such as Christ left to his Church expresly set downe in the Canonicall Scriptures which Augustine calleth an easie yoke and light burthen very few for the number very easie for the obseruation very excellent for signification he mentioneth onely baptisme and the Lords Supper whereby hee hath knit together the society noui Populi of the new Church Secondly such Traditions or Ceremonies in the Churches of their times as are not written but deliuered and are obserued throughout the whole world supposed to proceed from the Apostles or from the prescription of generall Councells whose authority was wholesome quoth he to be esteemed of such as the dayes obserued yeerely to the memoriall of Christ his passion resurrection asension and descension of the holy Ghost commonly called Pentecost or Whitsontide Thirdly such as in diuers parts and places of the world are obserued diuersly as for example that some doe fast on the Sabboth others doe not so some doe daily receiue the Communion other receiue it on certaine dayes In some places it is celebrated on all dayes without exception other where onely on Saturne dayes and on the Lords day Et si quid aliud huiusmodi animaduerti potest totum hoc genus rerum liberas habet obseruationes August Epist 118. cap. 1. 2. Ianuar. That there ought of necessity one faith to be spread ouer the whole Church as the soule within the members albeit this vnitie of faith be celebrated and solemnized with diuers obseruations by which diuersity that which is true in the substance of faith nullo modo impeditur is no way hindred because all the beautie of the Kings daughter is within but the outward Ceremonies
seeing by the way these are the chiefest and maine arguments which the depriued Ministers haue brought against the Ceremonies to proue them simply and in their nature euil let it be cōsidered by the iudicial godly Reader whether they might not vpon these grounds except against the Apostles prescription and refuse the practise of those Iewish Ceremonies euen with the losse of ministry interruption of the Church as well as to suffer depriuatiō for refusing of the Ceremonies prescribed in the Church of England But from this point I argue thus Whatsoeuer Ceremonies are of humane inuention of no necessary vse abused to superstition of misticall and spirituall signification esteemed imposed and obserued as parts of Gods worship swaruing from the generall rules of Gods word not profitable for edification order or decencie of fensiue many wayes to the godly weake and wicked infringing Christian libertie strictly inioyned as necessary such Ceremonies by the doctrine of the Ministers refusing conformitie are simply and in nature euill and could not be practised by any persons no not the Apostles themselues and that through the direction of the holy Ghost without sinne But the Iewish Ceremonies prescribed and practised by the Apostles through direction of the holy Ghost were of this nature and qualitie in euery one of the points aboue named Therefore by the doctrine of the Ministers refusing conformitie in the case of depriuation the Iewish Ceremonies prescribed and practised by the Apostles through direction of the holy Ghost were simply and in nature euill and could not by them be practised without sinne Or thus Whatsoeuer doctrine and practise tendeth to accuse and condemne the inspired Apostles in their inspired practise and doctrine of teaching the practise and of practising Ceremonies in sundry maine respects as vnlawfull as ours are pretended to bee tendeth to accuse and condemne the Apostles in their inspired practise and doctrine for teaching and for practising things simply euill But this doeth the doctrine and practise of suffering depriuation for refusing to conforme to our prescribed Ceremonies Therefore the doctrine and practise of suffering depriuation for refusing to conforme to our Ceremonies doeth directly tend to accuse the inspired Apostles in their inspired practise for teaching and practising things simply euill Whereupon I thus conclude Whatsoeuer doctrine or practise doeth directly tend to accuse and condemne the inspired Apostles for practising teaching and prescribing things simply euill such doctrine and practise is erronious and sinnefull So doeth the practise and the doctrine of suffering depriuation for refusing to conforme vpon the grounds alleadged as hath beene prooued Therefore the doctrine and practise of suffering depriuation for refusing to conforme vnto our Ceremonies is erronious and sinnefull To this that hath beene here alleadged there are certaine obiections made by certaine godly graue and learned depriued Ministers which here I thinke fit to make answere vnto Obiection The Apostles might doe many things which wee may not doe in respect of their immediate authoritie from God Those cases were decreed by the holy Ghost ours not so they did it by the direction of the spirit there is no proportion betweene their case and ours they guided by the spirit we not so The Apostles could not erre we subiect to error It is no good consequent to say they vsed such and such things therefore we may they had warrant for what they did the holy Ghost gaue them warrant Answere First it is to bee noted that they who thus obiect against this reason must needes relinquish the excuses and accusation of the Apostles which others make for vsing the Iewish Ceremomnies vnlawfully For the one affirming their practise to be vnlawfull the other granting it to bee done by direction of the spirit doe mistically ouerthrow one another so that both cannot stand as true This being obserued I answere First if the Apostles were immediatly from God authorized and did those things by direction of the holy Ghost as vndoubtedly they did wee may be the bolder to immitate them in their practise and in their doctrine and in so doing wee shall not erre For in so doing wee may say wee doe no more about matters of Ceremonies then the Apostles haue done before vs. It is a point wee wish the Church of Rome could say Secondly though wee may not immitate the Apostles in things peculiar to their office persons and times yet we may follow them and are bound in conscience so to doe in matters of common equitie and generall reason For as the Apostles had warrant from the holy Ghost so wee haue warrant from the example of the Apostles and from the reasons for which the holy Ghost mooued them to do those things For the holy Ghost being euer the same teacheth and ruleth the Church by one and the same reason reuealed in his word as well now as then Now the Apostles in this case did vrge the practise of these Ceremonies not from their immediate authoritie from God nor from inspiration onely of the holy Ghost but by reasons and rules of common and perpetuall equitie namely expediencie It seemed good to the holy Ghost and vs Acts 15. 28. and necessitie these necessary things Acts 15. 28. also to winne more 1. Cor. 9. 19 20 21 22. to further and propagate the Gospel 1. Cor. 9. 23. By the which rules the holy Ghost doeth teach the Church in the like cases of the Church to follow the like example by the same generall rules namely to practise the same Ceremonies in the like case or other Ceremonies of like nature in other cases no lesse then he doeth teach the Church to pray and singin a language vnderstood from the generall rule of edification Let all things in the Church be done to edification 1. Cor. 14. 12 26. And for Prophets to speake one after another not many at once and for women to hold their peace in the Church to auoyd confusion from the generall rule of order and honesty Let all things bee done honestly and by order in the Church 1. Cor. 14. 27 30 31 34 35 40. Which may the rather appeare because they be all cases of one nature namely of order and Ceremonie in the Church and worship of God which I thinke a sufficient answere to this obiection Obiection There is a great difference betweene the Ceremonies of the Church of England and those prescribed by the Apostles Master Parker of the Crosse part 2. sect 13. fol. 69. and at first ordained of God and must haue honourable buriall for that our Ceremonies are farre worse in many respects and circumstances As being Antichristian more scandalous more hurtfull more dangerous more strictly inioyned then sometimes Gods commandements these the inuentions of men yea of Antichrist c. stubble and straw or rather straw when they are at the best Answere I know and grant there is a great difference in many circumstances betweene the Iewish Ceremonies and the Ceremonies of this our Church but
we haue expounded namely of Ceremonies significatiue ordained by the Church not superstitiously but purely vsed This argument also hath Zanch. de redempt cap. 16. fol. 445. a. There is a great question saith hee in these our dayes about Ministeriall garments surely we read not that Christ and his Apostles did appoint any thing of this matter neither that they changed their garments either when they baptised or when they administerd the Lords Supper but neither did they forbid that men might not take other garments Wherefore it is liberum perse a matter free in it selfe to vse or not to vse other garments in the administration of the Sacraments Because if true Christians hauing the pure doctrine of Christ discipline in their Churches should enioine some speciall garment though abused by the Papists for the commendation of the Ministery to the simple people there is no Scripture forbidding a man to leaue such Christians to their iudgement But there are sundry Scriptures clearely teaching a man why he should leaue them to this their practise as Rom. 14. 1. Cor. 8. and 9. and many other places namely wheresoeuer we are taught of the libertie and good vse of the creatures not of meates onely but of all creatures else Hee giueth instance of a white garment vsed on the Baptized or Communicants of the Lords Supper Bucer Script Anglican fol. 708. Hoopero Because they which defend these things may pretend some honest and iust signification not strange from the Scriptures As touching the Surplesse the Ministers of the Church are Angels Mal. 3. 1. and the Angels alwayes for the most part appeared as apparelled in White garments Pet. Martyr loc fol. 1085. Hoopero Bucer will haue them signifie Caelestē puritatem candorē omniumque virtutū ornatū heauenly puritie and sinceritie and the ornament of all vertues Script Angl. fol. 682. so also fol. 707. 709. Againe What should let but that the Churches may vse this white Vesture or more Vestures to monish vs precisely of that diuine benefit of the light and dignitie of the heauenly doctrine which he giueth vs by the holy Ministery and by the which the Ministers themselues may bee the more mindful of their office c. Bucer in his Epistle to Io. Alasco at the end of the examination This reason also hath Zanch. Albeit a garment be a free thing saith he and numbred vp among matters indifferent yet for signification a linnen garment were more decent then a woollen for a Minister to vse in administring the Sacramēts for that it is the Impresse or type of innocencie and holinesse Hence in the Apocalyps white garments are giuen to the Saints Zanch. de redempt cap. 16. fol. 445. a. Because these Ceremonies are ancient and haue some good vse it was an old custome in the Church that such as administred the Sacraments should weare a white linen garment Zanch. ibid. ex Hieron cont Pelag. li. 1. The signe of the Crosse is vetustissima very ancient Beza Epi. 8. fol. 75. There was therfore some vse therof thogh since it hath bin horribly abused and there be small profit thereof Bez. Ep. 12. fol. 99. Kneeling at the Communiō hath a shew indeed of godly Christian reuerence and therefore might heretofore haue been vsed cum fructu with some profit ibid. fol. 100. Because if we proceed to disswade from these indifferent things as from pernicious and euill things we shall thereby condemne very many Churches not disagreeing from the Gospel and shall taxe too bitterly innumerable Churches which haue euer and are of old celebrated as most commendable and approued P. Mart. loc fol. 1086. Hoopero If agreemēt in doctrine might be procured between the Saxon or Lutheran Churches and ours there would be no separation made for Surplesses or Ceremonies of the like nature ib fol. 1127. Bucer hath also this reason If there be no liberty granted to the Churches of ordeining Ceremonies about the Lords Supper whereof they haue not the expresse commandement of Christ By this meanes will all Churches be condemned impiae audaciae of impious boldnesse For all Churches doe obserue in the Supper of the Lord such a time place and habit or site of body and besides doe admit womē to the Cōmunion of all which things they haue not onely no commandement of the Lord but they haue also his contrary example For our Lord did celebrate his Supper at night not in the morning in a priuate house not in a publike leaning with his Apostles and after the receiuing of the Pascall lambe notwithstanding Also hee admitted not the women among whom he had sundry his most holy Disciples Bucer Scrip. Anglic. fol. 807. 809. To this reason Pet. Martyr moueth an obiection The Church authority present or past ought not to be of that force that the truth of Gods Word be thereby wronged which albeit the world do fall about our eares in peeces ought to be kept inviolable It is true sed propter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but for things indifrent I am resolute that by no meanes we may admit that either Churches should be condemned or that wee should lesse reuerently or honestly speake of them Ibid. fol. 1086. Because we must take heed lest these things which be of lesse importance through our contention may be the meanes or occasions that those things which should be esteemed of greater force and valew either cannot at all be brought vnto the Church or if they be once brought in they cannot be established with continuance Peter Martyr ibid. 1086. Because we must take heed of Satans accustomed sleights whereby he leadeth vs away from the care of necessary things to the immoderate carefulnesse of those things which may well be let passe and from searching out of the true doctrine of Christ to induce vs to those things wherein few can consent alike and finally by the which he kindleth in diuers men a zeale to purge those things which are without vs thereby to neglect our inward deformities Bucer Epist. ad Ioan. Alasco After at the ende of that Epistle This coulorable craft of Satan must be taken heed of by which often he effecteth this that wee reckon those things sinnes which are no sins and those that bee sinnes indeede wee seeme not to regard them in our selues or else against those sinnes which our consciences define to bee sinnes indeede we vse no such seuerity as we ought Because we should in this Realme take most godly heedfulnesse that wee further not vnawares the Diuels intents who throweth in among vs sundry questions and controuersies least wee should take in hand to handle the question of setting forward the doctrine of the Gospel and restoring of discipline and thereby to remoue all drones from Ecclesiasticall Ministeries Bucer in Ep. Io. Alascco Because things in themselues otherwise indifferent doe after a sort change or alter their nature when as by any command of lawfull authority they be either commanded or forbidden because they may not
would euer practise or command those things after that they were growne so bad after that hee had seene iust cause to inueigh against them and condemne them in that manner To this purpose also the Apostles resolution in not suffering Titus to be circumcised when hee saw what an abuse that Ceremonie was growen vnto and how dangerous an effect was like to follow it if hee had yeelded vnto it maketh very strongly notwithstanding any thing that hee would seeme to say to the contrary in his answere to the sixt obiction as shall further appeare in the discussing of the fourth point that hath bene obserued in the confirmation of this his assumption 3. If it were granted that the Ceremonies which the Apostles vsed and appointed had bin notoriously knowen to haue beene subiect to so great abuse of some and to haue had in them so euill effects euen before or at that time and in those places also where the Apostles inioyned them yet could not this haue proued them euery way as inconuenient and euill as ours are For ours are said and sufficiently proued also as they suppose who haue suffered depriuation or suspension for this cause to bee euill not onely because they haue beene grossely abused and very euill effects haue followed the vse of them for so much may be said also of some of Gods owne ordinances but for that they neuer were good nor can euer serue to any good vse Those as they were at the first the ordinances of God so they are here said by Maister Spr. to haue beene still inioyned to certaine Churches by the Apostles which if it be so then could no abuse that obstinate Iewes or other wicked men had put them vnto make the vse of them either vnlawfull or inconuenient vnto the faithfull that by Apostolicall that is diuine authoritie were required to vse them And here fitly commeth to bee examined whether that bee true which is affirmed by him in his second reason which he brings for the proofe of this point viz. that nothing in substance is obiected against our Ceremonies which might not haue been said aswell against those which the Apostles and Churches of their times did vse In handling of this point as he hath left out much of the force and substance of euery argument which in the Abridgement the booke which himselfe quoteth are set downe against our Ceremonies so hath hee affirmed much more against them which the Apostles then vsed then he is able to iustifie and make good The trueth is that though euery one of those foure arguments doth strike to the heart the ceremonies of our Church yet is there neuer a one of them that doth giue the least touch vnto those which the Apostles and Churches then did vse For first Ours are humane inuentions notoriously knowen to haue been of olde and still to bee abused to idolatry and superstition by the Papists and yet of no necessary vse in the Church Theirs as they were at first by diuine institution so were they not at that time when they vsed them notoriously knowen to haue been abused either to idolatrie or to the confirmation of false and pernicious doctrine and were at that time of necessary vse and though they had been neuer so much abused and had beene also in any other of no necessary vse yet because they were vsed by warrant of Apostolicall and diuine authoritie this first argument toucheth them not at all hee doth indeede denie all this and quoteth Scripture to proue that they were humane inuentions of no necessary vse and abused to superstition But it hath beene already shewed that all these Scriptures are misunderstood and applied by him no more shal need to be said for the conuincing of him in this point when that himselfe cleerely and strongly contradicting himselfe hath both elsewhere in this argument and euen in this very place affirmed For were they humane inuentions which himselfe here sayth were practised and taught by direction of the holy Ghost were they of no necessary vse which he in the proofe of his first proposition of his first argument Num. 8. affirmes to haue bin commanded by the Apostles as matters good and necessary in that case and brings for proofe thereof Act. 15. 28. 2. Ours are humane Ceremonies appropriated to Gods seruice and ordained to teach spirituall duties by their mysticall signification Theirs as they were not appropriated to Gods seruice so neither were they vsed or appointed by the Apostles to bee vsed for mysticall signification or if they had yet seeing as hath before beene shewed they were not humane Ceremonies this argument doth not concerne them It is true indeed that they were in their first institution significatiue and mysticall and thus much the places quoted by him here viz. Col. 2. 16. 17 Heb. 8. 5. 9. 8 23 10. 1. do proue But that either the Apostles vsed them or ordained them that they might teach some spirituall dutie by their mysticall signification that hee hath not so much as indeauoured to proue And surely if Paul did vse circumcision as a Sacrament Acts 16. 3. then by the force of Master Spr. argument heere which maintaineth it lawfull for vs to doe now what the Apostles or Churches in their time did it may be concluded that it is lawfull for vs to vse in Gods seruice other Sacraments then those which God hath ordained 3. Ours being but humane Ceremonies are esteemed imposed and obserued as parts of Gods worship Theirs cannot be proued to be obserued by them much lesse imposed vpon them as parts of Gods worship and if they had yet because they were not humane Ceremonies this argument maketh nothing against them For what is this to the purpose that heere hee takes vpon him to prooue That the Iewes esteemed imposed and obserued them as necessarie to saluation Acts 15. 1. 5 That the zealous Iewes were violently offended with Paul for teaching that Christians ought not to circumcise their children and to liue after the legall customes Acts 21. 27 That the Apostles ordained them as good and necessary Act. 15. 28. 29 That the Apostle conformed himselfe vnto them for their sakes and in their presence that esteemed them as worships of God Acts 15. 1. 5. 16. 3. 21. 26 Seeing the question betweene vs is not heere whether the Iewes obserued and imposed Ceremonies as bad as ours but whether the Apostles or any Church by their appointment did so Did the Apostles or any of them whose conformity of Ceremonies is now in question betweene vs vse any Ceremony as imposed by those Iewes he speaketh of here And what though the Apostles called those things that by their decree was inioyned good and necessary will it follow from thence that they imposed them as parts of Gods worship or can nothing be good and necessary but that which is a part of Gods worship Though the superstitious estimation the people among whō they are vsed haue of them be
obiected by the ministers in the abridgement that iustly and materially against our ceremonies Yet doth not the maine forces of this third argument lye in that but in this rather that though they be but humane Ceremonies yet they that inioyne them doe esteeme and impose them as partes of the worshippe of God which puts a manifest difference betweene them and the Ceremonies that were vsed by the Apostles or any Church by their appointment 4 In the imposing and vsing of ours those rules that are prescribed in the Word for matters of direction in the Church concerning Ceremonies are not kept For they are no way needfull or profitable for the edification of the Church but are knowne to cause offence euery where and hinderance vnto edification and are obserued only for the will and pleasure of them that doe inioyne them Theirs though they were vsed and appointed by them who had more farre absolute authority and might lawfully haue commanded in the Church of God specially doing that they did by the inspiration of the holy Ghost yet were they also squared directed by the rules of the holy Scripture and were no way offensiue but tended greatly to the edification of Gods people And how often hath Master Spr. affirmed in the prosecuting of this argument that they were profitable and necessary and alleadged for proofe thereof Acts 15. 28. 29. though heere as forgetting himselfe hee doe deny it Yea this very Section heere wherein hee takes vpon him to prooue they were not needfull or profitable they serued rather to destroy then to edifie the Church he concludes with this clause Yet their vse and yeelding serued to edifie by making way to the Churches peace and furtherrnce of the Gospel And this vaine of contradicting himselfe he taketh such pleasure in as he continueth it to the end of his discourse wherein he laboreth to proue that the fourth argument against the Ceremonies in the abridgement maketh as strongly against the Apostles as against our Church They were not profitable for order saith he in the beginning of that Section and in the conclusion of it affirmes yet it was order to vse and practise them in that case And in the beginning of the next Section hauing said they were not profitable for decency for what was more vndecent then for a Christian to vse idle vnfruitfull needlesse and beggarly rudiments by and by he addes yet did this indecency vphold an higher decency Which last phrase of speech besides the contradiction is very hard to be vnderstood for how can indecency support decency or in what sense can the establishment of the faith and the dayly increase of the number of the Churches bee termed a higher decency or how could the indecency of these Ceremonies establish the faith and increase the Churches After this in going about to shew that they were offensiue many wayes in the fift Section hee saith that in the euent they did serue indeede as meanes to infringe the Christian liberty and immediately after yet the vse and practise of these things by the direction of the Apostles did procure the liberty of the Gospell So that if M. Spr. himselfe be to be beelieu'd euery indifferent and vnderstanding man will easily discerne that the 4. Argument which the Ministers haue vsed against our ceremonies in the abridgement doth not any way concerne those which the Apostles did vse And surely it would be altogether needlesse to insist longer vpō this part of this his Discourse but that there is one thing affirmed by him which may not be passed ouer For noting this to be the 4. way whereby those ceremonies were offensiue that the Apostles themselues were offended in imposing that they did hee addeth that they taught against the things which they inioyned that namely they ought not to be vsed by the Iewes or Gentiles It is strange any learned or Godly man should so farre forget himselfe as to charge the holy Apostles to haue inoyned the faithfull to vse those things which themselues did teach ought not to be vsed either by Iewes or Gentiles specially when the text expresly saith that what they inioyned they inioyned by the direction of the Holy Ghost The place he citeth to proue this that he saith viz. Act. 21. 21. doth not affirme that Paul had taught so indeed but that the Iewes had been so informed of him and by Iames his words vers 24. it appeares also that information was false And if this which he speaketh of the Apostles preaching this against that which they did so decree were to be belieued which God forbid what had hee gained by it surely that there could be no force in this example or decree to bind vs in conscience to vse those things which they in their doctrine did teach ought not to be vsed by any Christian And so this his first Argument wherein he hath laboured so much and with so great confidence is by himselfe vtterly ouerthrowen The third maine point in cōfirmation of the assumption of his first Argument is this That the Apostles by diuine inspiration and commandement from God required the Churches to vse so many Ceremonies and such as were as inconuenient and euill as ours are supposed to bee That whatsoeuer the Apostles did inioyne the Churches they did it by diuine inspiration commandement from God is so vndoubted a truth as he needed not at all to haue troubled himselfe in the confirmation of it it being so hard to find any scholler that would so much gainsay or call this in question as hee himselfe hath sometimes done in this Treatise All the question in this point is Whether euer the Apostles did inioyne vnto whole Churches so many Ceremonies as ours are and those also as inconuenient and euill as ours are This he goeth about to prooue after this manner They caused others to practise ceremonies for Paul circumcised Timothie Act. 16. 3. and tooke the men and was purified with them Act. 21. 26. They aduised one another to practise ceremonies for Iames and the Elders perswaded Paul thus to conforme Acts. 21. 23. 24. They inioyned or commanded the practise of Ceremonies for thus did the Councill at Ierusalem Act. 15. 28. 29. This constitution is called the decrees that were ordained by the Apostles and Elders Act. 16. 4. and the determination of the Apostles Act. 21. 25. and this commaundement they gaue to whole Churches of diuers and farre distant countreys and Nations namely to the Gentiles in Antiochia Siria and Cilicia Act. 15. 23. and afterwards he addes that the Ceremonies that they did thus cause others to practise aduise one another to practise inioyne whole Churches to practise were as inconuenient and euill as ours both for number nature and euill effects For answere vnto all this First it were sufficient to say That he hath not performed that which he hath vndertaken because hee prooues not that the Apostles inioyned so many Ceremonies as wee haue in our Church or that
any one of those Ceremonies which hee saith they did inioyne were as inconuenient and euill as ours are And for this point hee is to be referred to that which hath beene answered vnto the two former partes of his Assumption 2. Though he had proued that they did inioyne vnto some one or some few persons such Ceremonies as were both for number and for nature as bad as ours yet vnlesse hee had shewed that they had inioyned them vnto whole Churches hee hath not concluded that which he tooke in hand And therefore that which hee brings of Pauls circumcising of Timothy or Iames perswading Paul to purifie himselfe is nothing to the purpose 3. Hee hath not proued nor euer will bee able to doe that the Apostles did ioyne the practise of any one of those Ceremonies to any one Church or to any one person eitheir by inspiration of the Holy Ghost For as for circumcision of Timothy though it be true that Paul did it did it well yet it would be a harsh speach and vniustifieable to say that he compelled or inioyned or commanded Timothy to be circumcised And for that which Iames and the Elders said to Paul concerning his purifying besides that it cannot hastily bee called a commandement or iniunction because no Church or Apostle had so much authority ouer Paul as to command him any thing 2. Cor. 11. 5. Gal. 2. 6. 9. Maister Spr. knoweth well that some are ‖ Magdaburg Centurion 1. lib. 2. p. 603. Gualt in act 21. hom 139. Zanch. de red p. 491. b. great Diuines who haue plainely affirmed that Iames and the Elders did ill in pressing Paul so farre in this matter †Caluin in act 21. 22. 23. others stand in doubt whether they did well in it or no sure it is hee can neuer soundly proue either out of this or any other place of Scripture that they did it by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost or commandement of God The place which hee puts most confidence in for the proofe of this third point is Acts 15. for there we read indeed of a decree sent by the Apostles vnto sundry Churches and that decree was made by the inspiration or direction of the Holy Ghost But to this place it may bee answered that things mentioned in this decree were so farre from being so many Ceremonies or so bad as ours are which hee must still bee put in minde that hee should haue proued that in very deed they were no Ceremonies at all neither euer came into the minde or purpose of the Apostles when they made that decree to inioyne the vse of any Ceremonies to the Churches For to omit this that the meere abstaining and forbearing the vse of many things can with no good shew of reason bee called the vse or practise of a Ceremonie though the abstinence from bloud strangled were once a ceremoniall dutie while the law was in force yet it was now inioyned by the Apostles to the Gentiles not as a ceremoniall but as a morall dutie that they should absteine from their libertiy in the vse of these indifferent things when they saw the vse of them would offend their weake brother And surely seeing the reason and end of this abstinence was not any such misticall signification as it had vnder the law but onely to auoide the offence of the Iew it could no more bee called a Iewish Ceremony then if either out of a naturall loathing of those meates or respect had to their health or some such like consideration they had forborne the same Neither let Mr. Spr. thinke it strange that the same thing which being cōmanded in the law was a Ceremonie should now being commanded by the Apostles alter the nature and become no Ceremonie Let him consult with the best Diuines and Interpreters of the Scripture and he shall finde that though circumcision was a Sacrament vnder the Law yet Timothy his circumcision Caluin in Act. 16. 3. was no Sacrament and that all the Ceremonies of the law were so abrogated by the death of Christ as that though some vse of them did remaine for a time yet they did no longer belong to the worship of God nor were figures of spirituall things nor were obserued in conscience of obedience to the ceremoniall law In which things consisteth the very life and essence of a Iewish Ceremonie and without which nothing can in good propriety of speach bee called a Ceremonie But what neede any more bee said of this matter when the Apostles themselues speaking of this decree affirme that they that said the Gentiles ought to keepe the law did in saying so seeke to subuert their soules that they had written and concluded that the beleeuing Gentiles should obserue no such thing as vowing shauing of the head purifying c. saue only that they keepe themselues from things offered to idols and from blood and from strangled and from fornication By which wordes also they doe plainely intimate that this abstinence which they inioyne in this decree was no such thing but of another kinde and nature as vowing purifying shauing of the head offering c. and consequently was not inioyned by them as any Ceremony of Moses Law The fourth and last point in the confirmation of his assumption is this that the Apostles and Churches were moued thus to enioyne and practise such Ceremonies so many so inconuenient and euill vpon reasons of no greater weight then the auoiding of depriuation is with vs. This hee prooueth by specifying the causes and reasons that moued the Apostles to practise and enioyne those Ceremonies which hee sayth were these three First for the beleeuing Iewes that they might not bee offended nor occasioned to turne backe to Iudaisme Acts 16. 1 3. and 21. 20 21 24. Secondly for the vnbeleeuing Iewes that they might be wonne to the Gospel and saued 1 Cor. 9. 20 22. and 10. 32 33. Thirdly to auoyd the persecution of the malicious Iewes and so to redeeme the libertie of the ministerie which otherwise was like to be indangered Act. 21. 22 27 28 30 31 32. For answere vnto all this it may be said that if the Apostles had practised inioyned such as are euill Ceremonies as ours are they had farre greater reason so to doe then the auoiding of depriuation is with vs. For first as their ministery was of more great excellencie then ours whether we respect the extraordinary gifts wherewith they were indued or the wonderfull power of God which did accompany them and giue successe and fruit to their labours so the redeeming of the liberty of their ministery if that were any cause as he here supposeth it was was and ought to haue been of much more weight to moue them to doe as they did then the continuance of vs in our ministery can be to perswade vs to the vse of our Ceremonies What one Minister of the Gospel is there that dare to bee so presumptuous as to say that his preaching and
ministery can bee of that necessity and vse for the glory of God and good of his Church as was the ministery of any Apostle The worke whereunto the Lord hath called and separated the Apostles viz. the planting of the Church and preaching of the Gospel to all nations was such as could not haue beene performed by any other but the Apostles alone But in the depriuation of our Ministers that refuse conformitie there is no such danger and of their preaching there can bee no such necessitie imagined though they preach not the Gospel is preached stil and that soundly and fruitfully And how then can Master Spr. say that the auoiding of depriuation with vs is a reason either superior or aequiualent vnto that which mooued the Apostles to doe as they did if hee had said there is great similitude and analogie betweene these two cases he had spoken probably but to maintaine a paritie betweene them he hath no colour of reason at all 2. The Apostles in vsing and inioyning those Ceremonies might bee well assured that they should greatly further the successe of the Gospel thereby the beleeuing Iewes would bee preserued from Apostasie the vnbeleeuing many of them would be gained and that they should not onely obtaine libertie and freedome for their Ministerie by this meanes among the Iewes but that the very vsing of these things would edifie them Now our Ministers haue no reason that is either Superior or aequiualent vnto this to perswade them to the vse of our Ceremonies for they cannot be assured that the vsing of our Ceremonies would doe any good at all no they are well assured by many reasons long experience that they would doe much hurt euery way both vnto the belieuer and to him that is not yet called to the faith And should not he thinke you haue great cause to brag of this bargaine who after that he had purchased the liberty of his ministry by yeelding vnto conformity should finde euer after a wofull experience that he hath done much more hurt by his conformity then good by his ministry 3. The Apostles in vsing inioyning those Ceremonies if they had enioyned any and the Churches also in obseruing them by their appointment if any such thing had bin were well assured in their consciences they did that which was not onely lawfull but necessary for them to doe and that they had sinned if they had not done so for they had diuine authority to warrant command to do as they did Will Master Spr. say that the auoiding of depriuation with vs is a reason either superiour or equiuolent vnto this our Ministers can discerne no such warrant for the vse of our ceremonies but are fully assured they haue this commandement expresly to the contrary And will any man perswade them that for the auoiding of depriuation or a far greater penalty though indeede that be very great they may do a thing which they are assured is euil in the sight of the Lord. For a conclusion to this answere vnto his first maine argument it shall not be amisse to set downe and repeat sundry materiall differences betweene the case of the Apostles and Churches in their times and ours now 1. They vsed such Ceremonies only as both at the first were diuine ordinances and the vse whereof was warranted vnto them by diuine authority We are required to vse such as are inuentions not humane onely but Antichristian 2. They vsed them in this perswasion of their conscience that they might in that case and ought to be vsed neither did they euer inioyne them to any that held them vnlawfull ours are imposed vpon such as are perswaded in their conscience they cannot vse them without sinne 3. They vsed them but once or twice vpon extraordinary occasion we are required to vse ours constantly and continually in the ordinary exercise of our ministery 4. They neuer vsed them but when they saw euidently that the vse of them would preuent scandall and tend vnto edification we are required to vse ours though we see euidently the vse of them would hinder edification and giue offence many waies ¶ A Reply to the Answere of my first Reason for Conformitie in case of Depriuation LEst the answeres of my reasons should hold me void of charity which is not suspitious or to be carried on with euill surmising I will omit that sending an answere to me which am the second person from them they giue answere as to a third Neither will I insist vpon the Ironies which may seeme too palpable among godly minds needed not especially in disquisition of a truth of so great consequence Onely I put my brethren and my selfe in minde for our better prosecuting of this question that piety is meeke and gentle equalling her selfe to the lower sort it scorneth not such as are differing from it in iudgement it is not prouoked to anger but in euidence and demonstration of the truth approueth her selfe to euery mans conscience in the sight of God Now as there is none end of making many bookes so Gods wisedome should instruct vs by contention not to leingthen controuersies for which cause I haue purposed to be short in reply Touching the Preface or generall answere made before the Answere to particulars it might as I suppose haue been well spared as being to small purpose and quite besides the point in question For 1. The Answerers could not be ignorant and my Conclusion drift in handling matter manner whole course of prosecuting in euery Argument doe plainely stretch no farther then to enforce Conformity in case of Depriuation Therfore this caution is but a voluntary and studious wandring from the question Neither doe these arguments labour to make the world beleeue that all depriued Ministers haue sinned in suffring Depriuation but so many onely as for not conforming haue suffred depriuation Therefore this speech of theirs is either an vntrue surmise or a scornefull Ironie 2. Though the Answerers should bee ignorant that any Minister should suffer Depriuation for onely refusing to conforme yet all the faithfull Ministers of these our parts doe know the contrary of sundry my selfe doe know it of my selfe and others And who can be ignorant that diuers Ministers haue been depriued only for not conforming by inditements at Assise and Sessions as well as by the Bishops and doe perpetually stand liable to that censure and is a cause ouer-ruled as appeareth in the Lo. Cookes reports Againe it is well knowen that for these later 5. or 6. yeeres subscription hath not been vrged to Incumbents or setled Ministers but meere conformity And Bishops haue acknowledged being put in minde by men of learning in the Lawes that they could not vrge Subscription either by vertue of the Statute or the booke of Canons to such as were already placed and setled in their charges It was therefore vnaduisedly and vntruely affirmed to say no more that M. Sprint surely bestowed his time very ill and spent a
for answere I say there is agreement betweene them in the most part of those many things whereby our Ceremonies are vrged and accused to be simply euill and vnlawfull as before appeareth so that this obiection is nothing to the pointin question or to giue direct answere to this argument For my allegation of these things doeth confirme thus much Namely that it is good and necessary to practise inconuenient scandalous and hurtfull Ceremonies in a case of superior reason namely of procuring the Churches peace and libertie of the Gospel and the like which no man will deny and I seeke no more For admit these Ceremonies with vs in controuersie to be inconuenient hurtfull and scandalous more or lesse it skilleth not so long as they bee of no other nature then those Iewish Ceremonies prescribed and practised by the Apostles as hath beene prooued they are not how will it be auoyded but that in case of superior reason as of auoyding depriuation of the Ministrie they may lawfully and needfully be practised and that according to the minde of the holy Ghost and the direction of the holy Scripture Obiection But the Church of England hath not the like causes and reasons to prescribe and enioyne the present Ceremonies as the Apostles had to prescribe the Iewish Answere First this obiection is nothing to the poynt in hand For the question is heere not whether our Church doth well to prescribe these Ceremonies But whether such Ceremonies being prescribed as the Church conformed to by the Apostles decree in a case of necessitie ought not to be conformed to by our depriued Ministers in a case of like or greater necessitie Secondly But the Church of England in prescribing Preface to the book of common Prayer tit Of Ceremonies these Ceremonies professeth a respect of winning and profiting two sorts First Some thinking it a matter of great conscience to depart from a piece of the least of their Ceremonies Secondly some new fangled would innouate all things and despise the old nothing liking them but that which is new therefore they thought it expedient to take away some such as were most apt to bee abused to superstition and to retaine others and in their practise they tooke away so many ceremonies as time would serue quietly to doe it the rest were reserued to keepe order and quiet decipline in the Church Which is further noted to King Edwards answere to the Deuonshire and Cornishe rebells who being Ans to 3. Artic. Act monument Papistes would haue the Masse in Lattine To whom the King replyeth that the good things in the Masse-bookes were onely translated into English for their sakes onely the superstition taken out Obiect The Apostles Acts 16. 3. and 18. 18. and 21. 26. Did vse the Iewish ceremonies voluntarily without compulsion of any superior authority or Law to stoppe a scandal with the weake brethren of the Iewes If therefore that be pressed for the vse of our ceremonies it will proue a necessitie of vsing them out of the case of depriuation aswell as in that extremity and that a man must practise them voluntarily without any compulsion or hazard of Ministry Ans First though the cases of the Apostles practise in Act. 16. 18. 23. were voluntarily performed that is without commaund of any superior authority yet the case of practise in Acts 15. 28. 29. Was inioyned decreed and commanded Acts 16 4. and 21. 25. And that by the rule of necessitie then which there can hardly be a greater argument of compulsion Act. 15. 28. Secondly and besides the very cases alleadged were done by compulsion also of preuenting the Iewes offence yea in a case of danger also of depriuation to the Apostles if they had not conformed as appeareth by the tumult made by the Iewes Acts. 21. 27 28 29 30. Vpon a supposition of those Iewes that Paul taught non-confirmitie vnto the Iewish ceremonies Verse 21. By the which tumult they raised it came to passe that Paul was indeed depriued from any free vse of his Apostleship in Iudea til he came to Rome as appeareth in the sequell of the history And if there were no Law for depriuation of Ministers yet if the execution of their office were in hazard I doubt not but they should conforme for compulsion may aswell be vsed without Law as with Law Obiect Those ceremonies were practised but once or twice vpon extraordinary occasions But ours are vrged for a perpetuity and vpon an ordinary and standing reason and are like to continue without euer remoouing them Answ Neither doeth this obiection come neere the poynt in hand which prooueth that such ceremonies as ours are in themselues not simply euill nor of noe other nature then those ceremonies enioyned and practised by the Apostles which therefore in a case of necessity may bee practised by vs yet I answere Touching the ceremonies practised by the Apostles First it is true they were not alwayes by them practised but vpon certaine occasions Howbeit they were alwayes practised by them when they met with the same occasion of necessity and would oftner haue practised them if by the like necessity they had beene driuen to it which shewes the necessity of conforming to inconuenient ceremonies in the case of depriuation Secondly when the Apostles decreed the abstaining from blood and strangled it was inioyned without limitation of time whereupon a man might haue made this obiection vnto their decree and say They are vrged for a perpetuitie and vpon an ordinary and standing reason namely of necessity and fitnesse and are not euer like to be remooued Thirdly also some of the prescribed Iewish ceremonies endured longer in the Church then on the sudden may be imagined For it is obserued that Christians abstayned from blood and strangled till the time of Tertullian Origen Whitaker de Ro. pon cont 4. quest 7. fol. 832. 833. Syrill Eusebius Councell of Ganga yea of Augustine 400. yeeres after Christ 2 Concerning our ceremonies it is vntrue that they are vrged for a perpetuity for the preface of the common prayer booke expresly saith of the ceremonies prescribed thus they are retained for a discipline and order which vpon iust causes may be altered and changed and therefore not to be esteemed equall to Gods Law And for the continuance of practise of our ceremonies I suppose noe sound Protestant will pleade for the necessity of their practise or continuance longer then the reason of necessity doeth hold Our case is rather to be matched with the time of Pauls refusing Obiect part M Parker 2. sect 14. fol. 71 to circumcise Titus and of his reproouing Peter for his dissimulation in cōforming to the Iewes Ga. 2. 3. 11. 13. Answ This can by noe meanes hold as appeareth because Paul in a case of hazard of his Ministry disquiet of the Church and interruption of preaching the Gospell which is our case did circumcise Timothy Acts 16. 3. But did vtterly refuse as also all the
Apoâ—tles at Ierusalem to circumcise Titus * Aretius in act 16. 3. fol. 75. Gualter in act 16. hom 106. fol. 149. Beza annotat in Gal. 2. 5. Because they were vrged as necessary to saluation Acts 15. 15. Because by them false brethren laboured to bring their Christian libertie into bondage Gal. 2. 3. 4. Because by that practise in that sense he should teach iustification by workes Gal. 2. 14. 15. 16. This case sorteth therefore to the Papists who teach that God is worshipped by them That a man is iustified by practising of them That a man is bound in conscience to vse them as hee is the precepts of God al which false doctrines are in so many words disclaimed both by oath doctrine and confession of the Church in the booke of the Articles of religion as also in Artic. 11. 20. 34. the preface to the booke of common Prayer where the superstitious vse of these Ceremonies is disclaimed as also the opinion of Gods worship by them and the reasons set downe of prescribing these namely the quiet and decent order in the Church And that the conueniency or agreement of our case with the Apostles conforming not with the Apostles refusing the Iewish Ceremonies may the better appeare I haue added these paralells which I desire may be considered The Apostles and the Church of Ierusalem The Church of England To auoid offence of weak and obstinate Iewes and to winne them To auoid offence of weak and obstinate Papists and to winne them Prescribed and inioyned Ceremonies abused superstitiously Prescribe and enioyne Ceremonies abused superstitiously Holden as the worships of God and needfull to saluation Holden as the worships of God and needefull to saluation By the vnbeleeuing and weake Iewes By the superstitious Papists popishly affected But not by the Apostles nor faithfull Christian But not by any sincere Protestant teachers or people The members therefore of eyther Church may and ought equally to conforme to either Ceremonies in a case of necessitie and of superiour reason Againe The Apostles The depriued Ministers In a case of superiour reason as to further the Gospel to preuent the hindering of their preaching In a case of superior reason as to further the Gospell to preuent their depriuation and suspension Conformed to Ceremonies many wayes inconuenient abused superstitiously and holden necessary by the Iewes Ought to conforme to ceremonies though many waies inconuenient in their opinioÌ„ abused to superstitioÌ„ holden necessary by the Papists Imposed by weakenesse and violence of the Iewes Imposed and vrged as they construe it by weak Christians authority threatning depriuation Obiect Others perceiuing more force in this argument then some haue done to presse them to the practise of our Ceremonies in the case of depriuation and yet remaining peremptory in their former iudgement doe answere it another way thus Answ That Saint Paul did euill in vowing shauing himselfe contributing offering sacrifice circumcising Timothy because they were Ceremonies of practise But the Apostles constitution Acts 15. 28 was onely of Ceremonies of omission of like nature with our abstaining from flesh on fasting daies not of the Crosse or Surplesse They who thus reply haue had I confesse a light of this their answer from some * Hier. apud August Epist 19. Hierom. Ep. 89. Gualt in act 23. hoÌ„ 138. fol. 248. Bullin in act 21. M. Parker of the Crosse part 2. sect 14 fol. 70. learned men which vsually haue their differences from others according to the reasons mouing them who thus did censure Saint Paul in these actions Yet Gaulter and Bulling doe onely doubt of the place Acts 21. not of the rest but to this I say We may probably see how these repliers if they had liued in these dayes would haue behaued themselues towards the holy Apostle at least they would haue reprooued him and condemned him for committing a sinne and would by all meanes haue disliked his doings yea they would haue cast off a thousand weake beleeuing and obstinate Iewes and suffered depriuation of a thousand ministries rather then to conforme to that which the inspired Apostle Paul did submit himselfe vnto But withall we may consider whether authoritie in practise were rather to bee esteemed theirs or Saint Pauls And indeed it is a miserable shift when no better answer can be framed to accuse the inspired Apostles in their doings because their practise will not stand with the reasons which themselues haue framed or vndertaken to maintaine the suffering of depriuation for refusing to conforme A very feeble answer as I suppose which will not stand but by heauing at the pillars of the Church of Christ Though they accuse the Apostles for this conformity yet the Scriptures doe not so and it may seeme to much boldnesse to speake especially in so dangerous a case of laying sin vnto the charge of such and so great persons where the Holy Ghost is silent But this practise of S. Paul may be easily and strongly iustified 1. Because he was aduised to this practise by Saint Iames and the Church of Ierusalem Acts 21. 18 20 21 23 24. Which persons inioyning other Iewish Ceremonies in the like case were directed and inspired by the holy Ghost in so doing Acts 25. 28 29. 2. Because the Holy Ghost seemeth to iustifie the reason of Paul in circumcising Timothy not onely in not condemning him in his practises but in approuing of his reason in so doing Acts 16. 3. Paul circumcised him because of the Iewes of those quarters For saith the holy Ghost in the text they knew all that his Father was a Grecian 3. Because Paul iustifieth this practise of his in those Scriptures of his Epistles wherein vndoubtedly he did not erre as the 1. Cor. 9. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. and 10. 13. and giueth a maine reason thereof because by his practise hee would winne the more vnto the liking of the Gospel and be a meanes of their saluation 4 Because it cannot bee immagined that Paul was ignorant if it were a sinne for hee was at the Synod at Ierusalem Chap. 15. where circumcision other Ceremonies were denied in other cases and if he knew it to bee a sinne it were strange hee should so many times fall into a relapse Acts 16. 18. and 21. and obserue the Iewish Sabboth so continually Acts 17. 8. and 18. 4. and 13. 14. 44. 5 Aretius giueth another reason to iustifie this fact of Paul * Aretius in cap. act 21. fol. 95. Antiocheia ecclesia bona parte constabat ex gentibus itaque maior pars non erat offendenda in gratiam paucorum Hic vero Ierosolymis maior pars imo omnes Iudaei sunt quos Paulus debuit considerare And of his iudgement are the best interpreters namely Augustine Caluin Beza Aretius Piscator Gualter Zanchius Iunius Bucanus who with one consent doe hold these things indifferent which indifferent things should serue for the edification of the Church Touching the Apostles constituion
rerum nouarum inuentione cederet Some were deceiued by Heretickes who to couer their pernicious heresies did studiously broach traditions vnder the Apostles names and authoritie so did Artemon Basilides Valentius Marcion Eusebius 5. 25. Clemens Strom. lib. 7. And thus Tertullian is noted to haue been deceiued by Montanus his Paraclet and inspiration as appeareth in his booke de veland virgin Some are noted to haue ascribed too too much vnto traditions So did Papias Clemens Origen and they cite Apocryphall booke to countenance them and commend very sory matters both of doctrine and of practise to themselues and others So did Papias Clemens and Origen and Basil and Epiphanius of which point looke Chemnitius examp parte 1. de tradition fol. 85 86 87. and what they could not sound from any true originall sundry of them did vsually ascribe to the Apostles So Hierome Epiphanius and Ambrose doe affirme Lent to bee an Apostolicall tradition So Aug. Epi. 86. makes report of such as alleadged Iames Iohn and Peter the Apostles for fasting on the Sabbath the vrging of which kinde of ground or allegation hee saith is interminabilis contentio generans lites non finiens quaestiones So the Easterne Churches did referre their obseruations of Easter to Saint Iohn and the Churches of the Westerne parts vnto Saint Peter and Saint Paul But heereof sayeth Socrates 5. 22. Sozomen 7. 19. There is no euidence in writing and therefore hee noteth them most likely to arise from custome rather then from Canon Some of the ancient Bishops gouerning at seuerall times in diuers places did commend the traditions which they liked or fancied themselues to their posterities for lawes And this is Socrates obseruation ibid. a president whereof a man may see Dist. 12. cap. 5. Ridiculum and other places see Caluin instit 4. 10. 18. quia periculum c. And their posteritie were no lesse superstitiously obsequious in obseruing then they in prescribing for Sozomen saith that in those dayes in Cities and Villages very many customes which for reuerence of those which brought them in at first or of those which succeeded the bringers in they who had beene trained vp in them did by no meanes holde lawfull or tollerable to violate which very thing fell out vnto men in this very feast of Easter lib. 7. cap 19. Some of the Fathers did bring in the Ceremonies with no superstition or opinion of merit or necessitie but with a good intention namely to stirre vp the more reuerence and admiration towards the Sacraments and to stirre vp a kind of deuotion in the minds of men which going further and further and increasing tooke strength vntill at last they turned to that manifest impiety idolatry and superstitions as wee see in that supposed Church of Rome this day Zepperus de Politia eccl lib. 1. cap. 10. fol 55. Some were deriued from the Gentiles and though sometime they were vsed yet they were afterward abolished such as the yeerely offering for the birth day Sadeel Some of the Ceremonies were brought in vpon occasion such as the signing of a mans selfe with the Crosse which was vsed on occasion of the Pagans mocking of the Christians crucified God that they might testifie vnto them that they were Christians and not ashamed of the Crosse of Christ this Martyr Loc. class 2. cap. 5. § 20. noteth out of Augustine de verbis Apostoli ser 8. which after grew to superstition So the not fasting one the Sabbath was established on occasion that the Maniches did in ioyne fasting on that day to their disciples August Epist 86. so the gloria Patri and as some suppose the threefold dipping of children in Baptisme was brought in by way of opposition to the Arians and Antitrinitarians Sozom. 6. 26. All or the very most part of these their ceremonies were significatiue as before appeares many of them in the euent were holden opperatiue such as the imposition of hands signe of the crosse anointing with oyle Tertullian de resurrectione carnis Caro vngitur vt anima consecretur Caro signatur vt anima muniatur Caro manus impositione adumbratur vt et anima spiritu illuminetur looke more in Bellarm. Tom. de Imag lib. 2. cap. 29. They were in processe of time increase of superstitions as many little streames meeting in along tract doe end in an Ocean So multiplied for number and burthen that to the more sincere and prudent Fathers the estate of the Iewes seemed more tolerable and easie then the estate of the Christians of those times Augustine Epistle 119. cap. 19. Some of them were very eager and inexorable for the obseruation of them it was accounted nefat on the Lords day to kneele in prayer Tertull. cont Marcion lib. 1. de coron mil. and who hath not heard of thē foule coile which Victor the Romish Bishop kept or at least began to keepe against the Churches of the Easterne world whom onely for not obseruing the order of the Westerne Churches hee would haue excommunicated and giuen them all vnto the Diuell at a clap which audacious and frantike attempt of that turbulent and boisterous Prelat albeit it be cogingly blanched ouer by a Sanderus visib Monarch lib 7. num 22 23 24 25 fol. 246 247 248. Sanders b Bellarm de Rom pont l. 2. c. 19. Bellarmine c Baron Annal Tom. 1. anno 198. Baronius d Genebrard Chronol lib. 3 anno Christi 206 fol. 389. Genebrard fit dawbers of so tottring a wall as if it had beene by him as by the primacy of the Romish Sea yet it is farre otherwise reported in the records of antiquity for first it is plainely said by Irenaeus that this excommunication was flat against the minds and practise of the most reuerend Fathers such as Policarp the disciple of Saint Iohn and other Romish Bishops his predecessors such as Amicetus Pius Higynus Telesphorus Xistus who in the like difference gaue not the like example neither did they hold this odds of such trifles as Irenaeus calls them a matter of that quality to breake communion but held fast the band of loue and vnity Euseb 5. 24. Socrat. 5. 22. That this censure of the man was done in excessiue heate or in a pelting chafe on his part as Socrates affirmeth 5. 22. that Irenaeus Bishop of Lions did put Victor in remembrance of his duety Eusebius 5. 24 sharpely reprooued him ibidem and bitterly inueighed against him and contested with him by letters Socrates 5. 22. that all the Easterne Bishops still kept their old by as from the Romish Sea for all the threates of Victor euen vnto the time of the Nicaene Council when all agreed without any absolution at all from Victors thunder-clappe yea that Policrates the president of the Easterne Bishops and all the rest which were very many were not moued an haire at these rattles set vp to fright them Euseb 5. 23. Where by the way wee may vnderstand two points First what
of this heauy yoke would haue kept them in their Ministry vnlesse they could be content also to subscribe to the Booke of common prayer and those 39. Articles according to the Canon or at least forbeare to speake either publickly or priuately against any thing contained in them This being so M. Spr. should either first haue made it plaine that the only or at least chiefe cause why the Ministers haue been depriued vsually or suspended in England hath been their refusing to conforme or else hee should haue made this the state of his question Whether the suffring Depriuation rather then a man will conforme to the ceremonies in this case when besides conformity vpon the same penalty subscribing to the Booke of Common prayer and the 39. Articles or at least forbearing to speake against any thing contained in them is required be a sinne And this shall suffice to bee premised for a generall answere to his whole treatise Now the arguments whereby he laboureth to proue the lawfulnesse and necessitie of Conformity in the case of Depriuation are to be examined particularly His first maine argument is this The doctrine and practise of suffring depriuation specially vpon the reasons vrged against our ceremonies is contrary to the doctrine and practise of the Apostles The antecedent of this Argument for the consequent is strong and good hee laboureth to prooue first in this manner To refuse to do that which the Apostles with the whole Church at Ierusalem did by Diuine inspiration and commaundement doe themselues and both aduise and commaund others to doe is a sinne But to refuse conformity in the case of depriuation is to refuse to doe that which the Apostles and whole Church at Ierusalem did themselues and both aduised and commanded others to doe for they practised themselues and commanded others euen whole Churches to practise ceremonies as inconuenient and euill for number nature vse and euill effects as ours are supposed to be and that for reasons equiualent or inferiour to the auoyding of Depriuation Ergo to refuse to conforme in the case of depriuation is a sinne The proposition of this argument he neuer goeth about to proue which yet is most false and vnsound for the Apostles and whole Church a Ierusalem might by diuine inspiration and some speciall commandement of God both themselues vse and inioyne others to vse some Ceremonies in themselues as euill and inconuenient as ours yet it may be vnlawfull for a Minister now to vse ours except he did it by the same in spiration and had the like commandement from God as they had Abraham to manifest his faith was commanded by diuine vision to kil his sonne and if he had done it hee had in so doing done an excellent worke will this make it lawfull for all other belieuers for the manifestation of their faith to doe the like when they haue not the like speciall commandement from God to doe it The contrary would bee much better concluded by this argument viz. that the Apostles doctrine and practise doeth not so warrant a Minister now to conforme to such like Ceremonies because they that command them to doe so doe it not by diuine inspiration or commandement as the Apostles did That which he alleadgeth afterward for the confirmation of this proposition in his answere to the first obiect pag. makes it neuer a whit the stronger For first the answere he giues doeth but beginne the question and is the very same with the proposition it selfe whereof it should haue beene a proofe If the Apostles authoritie saith he were immediate from God and that they did was done by the direction of the Holy Ghost wee may bee the boulder to imitate them Secondly his second answere that though we may not imitate the Apostles in things peculiar to the office persons and times yet wee may in matter of common equitie and generall reason Insteed of confirming he doth directly ouerthrow his owne proposition for hee grants here that it is no sufficient warrant for vs to doe any thing for that the Apostles did so because they did many things by diuine direction that were peculiar to their office persons and time Thirdly he doeth expressely in this his second answere affirme that the Apostles did vrge the practise of these Ceremonies not from the immediate authoritie of God nor from the inspiration onely of the Holy Ghost but by reasons and rules of common equitie and perpetuall Wherein besides that he forgets what he had vrged before in the proofe of his assumption and expressely contradicts the text which affirmes that all the things they did write euen concerning matters of order in the Church were the commandements of the Lord 1. Cor. 14. 37. and that when they decreed these things in question they sayd it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and vs Act. 15. 28. hee hath also weakned his owne proposition here and made it of no strength at all For if the Apostles had vsed or inioyned these things and not done it by diuine inspiration and immediate authority from God whatforce could there bee in their example or commandement to bind our conscience The Apostles we know were men and subiect to error as other men in all cases wherein they were not immediately directed by the spirit of God And if the reason why we are to conforme be not this because the Apostles did so or because they did so by immediate direction from God but because they did that which the rules of common and perpetuall equitie and generall reason did require then an argument drawne from the doctrine of the Scribes and Pharises as well as of the holy Apostles might haue serued the turne For we are bound to follow them also where they do or teach that which the rules of common and perpetuall equitie and generall reason doe require But let the reasons be examined whereby he is moued to iudge that the Apostles did vse and inioyne these Ceremonies not by immediate authority from God nor from inspiration onely of the Holy Ghost but by reasons and rules of common and perpetuall equitie They vsed enioyned these things saith he for expediencie and necessitie to win the more to Christ and to further propagate the Gospel which though it be granted to be true yet shall we be as farre to seeke as we were before for still the question will be whether there be the same reasons now to moue vs to the vse of our Ceremonies as mooued the Apostles then to vse those There might be such speciall causes as made it expedient and necessary for them to vse and inioyne such Ceremonies then as neuer did fall out before nor shall doe againe while the world doth stand It is indeed a rule of common and perpetual equity that things expedient and necessary that may make for the winning of more to Christ and furtherance of the Gospel be done but that may be expedient and necessary vnto these ends for some persons at sometimes
which yet would be neither necessary nor expedient for other persons at another time to doe without a speciall and immediat calling from God It was expedient and necessary that the Apostles should preach the Gospel to all nations and do sundry other things that were peculiar and proper vnto their function which yet none in these dayes may take vpon them to doe because they haue not the like immediat calling and authority from God neither is there any thing more euident to euery reasonable and vnderstanding man then this that the same things which in some places and times haue been both expedient and necessary to be done haue at other times and in other places proued farre otehrwise That which he alleadgeth in the same place viz. in his answere to the first obiection to confirme this that the reasons for which the holy Ghost moued the Apostles to do those things do warrant and binde vs to vse our ceremonies now because the holy Ghost being euer the same teacheth and ruleth the Church by one and the same reason reuealed in his Word as well now as then is not easie to be vnderstood For if this be his meaning as by his words it seemes to be that vpon what reason the holy Ghost at any time teacheth any person in the Church to doe a thing he teacheth all persons in the Church to do the same when they shall haue the same reason because hee is alwayes one and the same it would follow that whatsoeuer God hath by any speciall commandement for any speciall reason required of any should be done of all where there is the same reason though there be not the same speciall commandement of God And so forasmuch as God vpon this reason that Abraham might make knowen his faith commanded him to sacrifice his sonne all men shall bee bound to shew the like readinesse that he did to kill his owne children seeing the reason that mooued God to require this of him concerneth them as well as him all men being bound to manifest and make knowen their faith Where he addeth that by the same rules whereby the holy Ghost teacheth the Church to pray and sing in a knowen language Prophets to speake one after another and women to be silent in the Church hee teacheth that Conformitie which is in question because they bee all cases of one nature namely of order and Ceremonie in the Church and worship of God hee affirmeth that which seemeth to haue no colour of good reason in it For these things are of themselues and by the very light of nature at all times and in all places matters of order and decencie and such as if no precept had been giuen common and generall reason would say are fitting And the contrary in themselues and not in respect of circumstance onely vnseemely which hee will neuer surely say of any of these Ceremonies And what consequence there is in this reason the holy Ghost doth no lesse teach the one then the other because they are all cases of one nature namely of order and Ceremonie in the Church Are there not some impious and idolatrous orders or at least Ceremonies such as a man ought to die rather then to yeelde vnto them Are there not or may there not be some contrary to all these generall rules Doth not the damnablest idolatry that is lie in orders and Ceremonies how can it follow then that they are of the same nature and required by the same rules because they are matters of order and Ceremonie And so much shall suffice for answere to the proposition of his first maine argument and to that which in his answere to the first obiection hee hath brought for the fortifying of it now let vs come to consider how he proues the assumption of this argument All that hee hath said to this purpose though it bee by him spread into thirteene seuerall branches may well bee referred vnto these foure heads and yet nothing omitted that is worthy consideration or carrieth any weight in it at all viz. 1. That the Apostles and whole Churches in their times vsed as many Ceremonies as ours doth 2. That these many Ceremonies which they vsed were euery way as inconuenient and euill as ours are supposed 3. That the Apostles by diuine inspiration and commaundement from God required the Churches to vse so many Ceremonies of such sort 4. That the Apostles were moued to doe thus vpon reasons of no greater weight then the auoiding of depriuation and suspension with vs. These foure points if he can indeede make good as hee hath vndertaken to doe then will no man deny but that hee hath confirmed his assumption sufficiently The first of these points concerning the number though it be not set downe by him in so many words yet it is euidently collected from that which hee hath heere written without any wresting of his words or peruerting of his meaning For when he saith The holy Apostles with the whole Church at Ierusalem did practise themselues and inioyned whole Churches the practise of ceremonies in number equall vnto ours there is no doubt to bee made but that he intended to say as much as in this first point he is charged to say Let vs therefore obserue well how he proueth this The Ceremonies saith hee that they that is the Apostles and Church at Ierusalem and whole Churches of diuers and farre distant Countries and Nations namely the Gentiles in Antiochia Syria Cilicia did vse were diuers as namely circumcision shauing the head vowing purifying contributing offering sacrifices for the persons purified obseruation of the Iewish Sabboths abstaining from bloud abstaining from strangled Whereunto this answere may be giuen first that sundry of these 9. things which he hath here reckoned vp can with no good reason be called Ceremonies In the last clause of his answere to the first obiection when he had matched praying and singing in a knowne tongue the Prophets speaking one after another and womens keeping silence in the Church with our Ceremonies he makes this the reason of it Because saith he they be all cases of one nature namely of Order and Ceremony in the Church and worship of God Whereby hee seemeth to vnderstand that this is of a nature of a Ceremony to bee vsed in the Church and in the worship of God which if it bee so then surely can neither abstaining from blood nor abstaining from strangled be accounted Ceremonies And though it be granted that all these nine things he mentioneth were once commanded in the Ceremoniall Law yet that the Apostles or Churches he speaketh of did vse any of them as Ceremonies or as in obedience to that Law he wil neuer be able to proue If a man in these daies should abstaine from flesh in Lent in the presence of a Papist whom he is loth to offend and of whom he conceiueth hope that by condiscending to him in this hee may winne him to the Gospell or if a Minister coming to a
807. moueth a question de veste linea of the Surplesse Si in aliqua Ecclesia Euangelica prorsus non possit omitti vsus vestis lineae seu superpelliceae absque metu Schismatis aut subreptionis haereticorum quid tum faciendum Hee answereth Praestat tum vti veste linea tanquam re adiaphorâ quà m obstinata eius reiectione excitare Schisma inter rumpere cursum veritatis doctrinae praebere occasionem haereticis occupandi Ecclesiam And of this his iudgement he giueth instance in the Apostles practise thus Exemplum est in Paulo qui circumcidit Timotheum propter Iudaeos sciebant enim omnes Patrem eius Graecum esse Act. 16. 3. Now to the answer of my first reason Which first reason of mine when my Brethren went about to answere if they would needes vnstrip out of his owne coat which I had framed and draw into a Syllogisme of their owne yet ought they not to make an argument or new reason of their owne and so to fight without an aduersary But their duetie was as they wel know faithfully to haue taken all the substance of that I set downe in the whole reason and that especially included in my Syllogisme which they haue not done pietie and sinceritie and faithfull dealing should goe together and thus they should haue laid it downe To refuse to practise such Ceremonies which the Apostles by direction of the holy Ghost and vpon reasons of common and perpetuall equity did practise themselues and caused others to practise yea aduised and enioyned as matters good and necessary to be done on others especially in a like case in sundry maine and materiall respects is a sin But to refuse conformitie with our Ceremonies in the case of depriuation is to refuse to practise such Ceremonies which the Apostles by direction of the holy Ghost and vpon reasons of common and perpetuall equitie did practise themselues and caused others to prctise yea aduised and inioyned as matters good and necessary to bee done on others and that in like case in diuers maine and material respects Ergo To refuse to conforme in the case of depriuation is a sinne The Proposition of this argument thus proposed is sufficiently confirmed in that which is included in the second member of mine answere to the first obiectiō in these words though we may not imitate the Apostles in things peculiar to their office persons and times yet we may follollow them and are bound in conscience so to doe in matter of common equitie and generall reason for as the Apostles had warrant from the holy Ghost so haue we warrant from the Apostles examples and from the reasons for which the holy Ghost moued them to doe these things Thus if my Brethren had proposed mine argument they needed not to haue spent so many words nor sounded such a triumph before the victory viz. 1. That the proposition is false and vnsound 2. That I neuer go about to proue it which assertion of theirs they streight confute themselues by setting down my proofes of the proposition 3. That I forgot my selfe what I had vrged before 4. That I weaken my proposition and make it of no strength But let vs see what materiall shew of exceptions they bring against the proposition of mine argument Whereas I said that the Apostles did vse and inioyne the Iewish Ceremonies not onely by immediat authority from God but by reasons also and rules of common and perpetuall equity and further did giue instance of the rule of expediency and necessity out of Act. 15. 28. The answere is that though it be granted to be true yet shall they be as farre to seeke as before they were For still the question will be whether there be the same reasons now to moue vs to the vse of our Ceremonies as moued the Apostles then because they suppose there might be some speciall causes might make those Ceremonies necessary which neuer fell out before nor shall doe so againe And to this I say that there needed no such further seeking as before and the questions demanded touching common reasons with the Apostles were set downe in the selfe same place where they read the other in the words immediately following which reasons are these namely 1. To winne the more 1. Cor. 9. 19. 20. 21. 22. Now all men know that this reason should moue euery godly minister in his place and according to his parts and calling to labour the winning of soules no lesse then it did moue the Apostles for all are required to be faithfull 2. Cor. 4. 1. 2. all are alike commanded of God in the Prou. all alike are to receiue reward Dan. 12. 3. 2. To further and propagate the Gospell 1. Cor. 9. 23. which also is a common care appertaing to vs now as to the Apostles then For the commandement giuen to the the Apostles doth stretch in respect of place to all Nations Matth. 28. 19. Luk. 24 47. and in regard of time to the end of the world Mat. 28. 19. 20. Reu. 14. 6. 7. Wherefore the following might be or supposall of causes might haue well beene spared vnlesse they had been named For my Brethren doe well know that A posse ad esse non val et argumentatio Howbeit they confesse at last that the two forenamed reasons be matters of common and perpetuall equity what need then was there to seeke for that they had or question that they grant at last and yet againe they ouerwhelme them with a new supply of vnwarranted supposalls that something may be expedient for some persons and times as are not for other without a speciall calling from God But heere againe the former rule cuts them off from arguing from a naked and vnproued supposal And indeede it is but petitio principij an encroaching on the point in question Besides it is a very feeble answere that is onely affirmed without proofe so might a man argue against the practise of euery part of discipline practised by the Apostles which may be said to be proper to their function time and place Therefore it followeth by this kinde of argumentation their practise may seeme to giue vs no stronger warrant then the practise of those Ceremonies in the case of necessity vnlesse we were inspired and had immediate authority from God The like might be argued from other sundry matters 2. To the exception of the next member or allegation that namely the holy Ghost teacheth ruleth the Church by the same reason reuealed in his Word as well now as then and therefore the reasons warranting the Apostles to conforme to the Iewish ceremonies may moue vs to conforme to these in the like case It seemeth to me a palpable cauill and it may seeme probable to others that my Brethren would heere studiously not vnderstand my meaning For what need was there for me as they could possibly suppose to proue a duty of common equity by an extraordinary case or by a sentence of extraordinary
of the Law not in the time of the Gospel in as much as being pressed by the blinde and wilfull Iewes they were called the commandements of men Col. 2. Tit. 1. I would know here of my Brethren what maine difference there is betweene the inuentions of men and the commandements of men Seconly because they were abused to superstition and false doctrine many wayes and had very many euill and pernicious effects as I haue proued in the first reason of my first argument Numb 11. 12. which cannot be denied with any shew of contradiction Thirdly because they were notoriously knowen to haue bin so abused euen whersoeuer the Christian faith was planted in Italy Graecia Asiaminor Syria Coelosyria Iudaea Creta and may wee thinke that the famous controuersie and Councel at Ierusalem for deciding thereof about the false opinion about Circumcision was not notoriously knowen vnto all the Christian Churches which also prescribed some Iewish Ceremonies on occasion of abuse of other as also the tumult made on Paul by the furious Iewes at Ierusalem In a word wheresoeuer the Iewes were as they were scattered almost in euery part and new Iewish conuerts there must needes be knowen their notorious abuses of the legall Ceremonies and I much admire that my Brethren should denie this Fourthly Because they are of no profitable vse because of no vse at all I meane in themselues and in their nature being considered being as shadowes without a body weak rudiments without signification shewes without substance types and similitudes without an antitype yea resemblances of nothing Though I denie not but they were of necessary and very profitable vse in the Apostles practise but that was not in respect of any power in themselues or of any vertue which the Apostles gaue them by their iniunction but as meanes and weapons of necessitie to defend the Church from mischiefe and the Gospel from interruption which by no meanes they would haue practised without such necessitie the like I say of our Ceremonies These things being so cleere and euident it must needs follow that these Ceremonies in their nature must bee tainted with that formal and inseparable euil which the arguments of the depriued Ministers doe fasten on our Ceremonies so farre forth as they agree in these Circumstances alleadged which my Brethren fearing are faine to runne into their old and onely refuge That though they had been neuer so much abused and had been also in any other respect of no necessary vse yet this aagument toucheth them not because they were vsed by warrant of Apostolicall and diuine authoritie But that I may driue my Brethren from this their vltimum refugium I say their answere is of no force at all which appeareth by these reasons 1. Because the answere of our Brethren is barely affirmed without all shew of proofe or reason which is sufficiently confuted with a bare deniall and matter of this nature Eâdem facilitate comtemnitur qua probatur as the olde saying of Hierome is yea the Holy Ghost is silent and giueth not the lest touch to intimate that this action was peculiar to the Apostles and how can my Brethren speake so confidently where the Holy Ghost is silent 2. Because of the equall necessity of the Church in all ages and like care which God hath of his Church in giuing equall remedy who doth not onely command and inioyne duties for the purity and comely order of the Church but also prouideth remedies against the diseases thereof Now is there not a necessity for other things aswel as for these Primitiue Churches to appease dissentions schismes tumults interruption of the Gospell depriuation of Ministers arising from inconuenient and abused Ceremonies Must all other Churches besides these for euery inconuenient Ceremony or other thing of like nature with the Iewish Ceremonies suffer the Church to bee ouerthrowne and the Gospell interrupted did God giue them onely priuiledge thus to conforme and not to others in other cases or did he giue remedy to their euills and take it from vs If it seemed good necessary to the Holy Ghost in one cause for the good of the Church to giue way to the practise of inconuenient Ceremonies of this nature by what reason should it not bee still as good and necessary for other Churches in the like case in the sight of the same blessed spirit to practise the like Ceremonies 3. Because Saint Paul rehearsing his practise of conforming to the Iewish Ceremonies doth draw his practise thereof out of a generall doctrine 1. Corinthians 9. 19. The generall doctrine is this That though hee were free from all men as euery faithfull Minister is yet he made himselfe the seruant of all men as in this sense euery faithfull Minister should doe to winne the more From this ground he deduceth his particular practise vers 20. of becomming a Iew vnto the Iewes that is of practising the Iewish Ceremonies for the Iewes sake to auoide their scandall and to winne them to the Gospel shewing and declaring that out of this generall doctrine any godly and sincere Minister of the Gospel might lawfully and ought needfully to conforme to the like Ceremonies of the Iewes in the like case to win them and to gaine liberty to the Gospell Therefore I conclude the Apostles practise of Iewish Ceremonies was not peculier to them as arising from meer Apostolical authority and that the practise of like inconuenient ceremonies in the like case is lawful needful 4. Because the same Apostle declaring his withstanding of the practise of Iewish Ceremonies in other cases doth specifie the reasons thereof namely 1. They would compell men vnto it Galat. 2. 2. and bondage their Christian liberty Galat. 2. 4. with Act. 15. 1. 5. 10. 19 3. And it was not the right way to the truth of the Gospel Galat. 2. 14. Therefore I conclude they practised the Iewish Ceremonies by a certaine and standing reason and not alone by Diuine or Apostolicall authority If they had not beene Apostles by these reasons they would haue practised them in these cases or the like 5. Because by this means any shifting disputant may shift off al necessity of the practise of any part of Apostolical discipline and order namely of excōmunication of obstinate offenders because a matter peculiar to the Apostles as Erastus Erast de excom in Thes fol. 46. Thes 58. others doe or of the Churches meeting on the First day of the weeke as many Libertines and Sabbatarians do things of like nature yea also of our particular assurance of true grace iustification remission of sinnes and saluation which we vsually ground from the example of the Apostles Rom. 8. 38. 39 Gal. 2. 20. 1. Tim. 1. 1. 15. which yet the Papists put off with this our Brethrens answer It was peculiar to the Apostles it was of speciall reuelation For Bellarm. de iustificat lib. 3. cap. 9 in resp ad 7. testimon Staplet de Iustific l. 8. c. 24. f.