Rule a just Authority and a due Appointment The Order must first be duely made and then carefully observed 1. For this cause left I thee in Crete saith St. Paul to Titus that thou shouldst set in order the things that are wanting The foundations were laid and the men instructed in all the Articles which concern'd the sum of Salvation what concern'd the Government the Order and Decorum of the Church These things were yet wanting and great care was to be taken lest these Cretians should forget the Truth they had been taught or suffer themselves to be drawn from it by perverse and wicked Teachers Therefore to supply what was requisite to the Conservation external Discipline and Ornament of the Church of Crete Titus was left there and impower'd by the Great Apostle Such Orders we find made among the Corinthians 1 Cor. 7. 11. 14. 16. and among the Colossians Col. 2. 5. And when such Orders were made the Apostle was very strict to have them observed 2 Thess. 3. 11 14. Let all things be done decently and according to order 1 Cor. 14. ult He had scattered some Notions about Rites aud Ceremonies in the former part of his Epistle but here he collects all into one short sum He does establish an Order to avoid Confusion and preserve a Decorum in God's publick Worship and Service and this Mr. Calvin makes the Rule Ad quam omnia quae ad externam politiam spectant exigere Convenit which is to measure all things that belong to the outward Polity and administration of the Church The Power to Decree and make such Orders is lodged in the hands of such as are in Authority The Bishops who are called Stewards and Rulers who have the Keys of Christ's Kingdom intrusted to them A power of Jurisdiction both Directive and Coercive This power we find exercised by single persons and persons Convened in Councils whose Authority is of greater extent and veneration The rest will I set in order when I come saith St. Paul 1 Cor. 11. ult from whence Grotius does very well infer that the Apostles had Right and Authority to appoint such things as served for Good Order the Liturgy of the Church and the Ministery about Holy things Haec est Origo Canonum qui dicuntur Apostolici Here saith he is the Original of those Canons which are called the Apostles which tho' not all written yet were brought into use by them And we see St. Paul invested Titus with the like Power For this cause left I thee in Crete that thou shouldst set in order the things that are wanting This charge the Apostle gives that no man might think Titus undertook any thing of his own head or the desire of vain glory but according to the mind and at the command of the Apostle saith Crocius But it may be objected That the Apostles and Apostolick men were inspired of the Holy Ghost and did act by Revelation To this I answer If they had done all by immediate Inspiration there had been no need of Ocular Inspection But St. Paul did not only receive Information touching the state of particular Churches but he comes to see their temper and observe their wants and what will be most convenient for their present Condition before he offers to establish Orders to regulate their practice 1 Cor. 11. the last The rest will I set in order when I come But if he had made Orders by Revelation he might have done it at a distance That the Apostles and Revelations is out of question And that they took pains to search the Scriptures and had been instructed in them by Christ himself cannot be denied 'T is certain also That after such instruction and search of Scriptures as wise men they knew how to use their Reason better than others of their quality Hereupon when they Taught being endued with more than a vulgar stock of Grace and Divine assistance they propounded not only those Revelations which they had received but also whatever they had attain'd to under the Discipline of Christ and by a continual search of Scripture and the Prudent use of Reason And so in a different respect they may be call'd Prophets and Divine Doctors That Title was due to them as they had their Prophetical Revelations This as they confirm'd their Doctrine after an infallible manner both by a Divine assistance above the vulgar rate and by holy Scripture and their own Reason But that St. Paul did not order all things by immediate Inspiration is evident from his own Text 1 Cor. 7. 25 And herein Mr. Calvin makes him an example of a faithful Teacher Fidelis hîc veracem Significat qui non tantum pio zelo agit quod agit sed etiam Scientiâ praeditus est purè fideliter doceat such a one as is a Man of Truth who acts not only out of a pious Zeal but out of a pure and stedfast Knowledge Neque enim in doctore sufficit bonus animus nisi adfit prudentia veri cognitio For a good meaning is not sufficient in a Teacher unless he be endued with Wisdom and the knowledge of the Truth It will be a very hard matter to prove that Titus who had Authority to make Orders in the Church did act by inspiration The whole Epistle which St. Paul wrote to him being a kind of Ritual or System of Canons for his direction in the management of his Episcopal Office speaks otherwise And yet if we speak of a more general assistance of the Holy Ghost I doubt not but the Bishops and Prelates of the Church when they weigh and establish their Decrees and Canons according to the Rule of God's Word have a fair Title to it from the Promise of our Saviour Mat. 28. 20 Loe I am with you always to the end of the world This Power is essential to the Church and inherent in the Governours thereof who did exercise the same when there was never a Christian Magistrate in the world 'T is true God was pleased to supply the want of such Civil Administrations by a miraculous assistance for such as were delivered up unto Satan by the Censures of the Church He had Power grievously to afflict them and many times did torment them bodily How long this miraculous assistance lasted or whether it be in any measure in the Greek Church now under Persecution as some affirm I shall not take upon me to determine But this I am sure of Christ did not intend to leave his Church always exposed and like an Orphan for he has promised her Thou shalt suck the breast of Kings Isa. 60. 16. that is v. 10. Kings shall minister unto thee And to the same purpose Isa. 49. 23. Kings shall be thy nursing Fathers and their Queens thy nursing Mothers which signifies saith Mr. Calvin their Ministery and obsequiousness to
protect and succour the Church of God Vnde observandum est c. Whence we may observe saith he That besides the common Profession of the Faith there is required of Princes something more because God gives them Power and Authority to Protect the Church and to advance God's Glory This indeed concerns all Men but for Kings the greater their Power is the more they are obliged to lay out themselves for the Interest of the Church and the more carefully to regard it Vnde Videmus saith He quà m alieni sunt à regno Christi c. Hence we may see how repugnant they are to the Kingdom of Christ who would take away the Authority and Power of Kings in Church affairs that they may transfer it upon themselves But here we are to observe that the Power of Kings in Ecclesiastical matters is not Privative but Cumulative not design'd or intended by Almighty God to infringe or weaken the Authority of the Church but to fortifie and assist it To this purpose the Professors of Leyden tell us it is the Duty of the Prince or Magistrate to settle the Worship of God according to his Ordinance by the Ecclesiastical Ministery and when it is setled to preserve it intire and pure per judicia Ecclesiastica and when corrupt or depraved to reform it by the advice and judgment of Ecclesiastical Officers and as much as in him lyes to prevent and suppress all Seducers and false Teachers that would hinder the practice and progress of true Religion In hoc enim reges sicut eis divinitùs praecipitur Deo serviunt in quantum reges sunt si in suo regno bona jubeant mala prohibeant non solum quae pertinent ad humanam Societatem verumetiam quae ad divinam Religionem Herein Kings serve God according to his Command when they enjoyn what is good and forbid what is evil not only in things relating to Humane Society but in Matters of Religion And this is all the accompt needful to be given to that inquiry what we mean by the Church in this Article That the Church hath a Power to decree and settle Rites and Ceremonies to support her own Government and Administrations and to promote the publick and solemn Worship of God may be proved irrefragably out of the premisses 1. What things are needful or expedient to be decreed appointed and settled in the Church to support her Government and Administrations and to promote God's publick and solemn Worship those things the Church hath a Power to appoint decree and settle otherwise Christ hath not been faithful in his House is deficient in things expedient and necessary and has not provided for the well-ordering of his Church and Kingdom But some Rites and Ceremonies are expedient and needful to be decreed and settled in the Church to support her Government and Administrations and to promote God's publick and solemn Worship This has been proved already by Reason and Authority in the former part of this Disquisition I shall add but one or two Authorities more the first shall be Mr. Calvin's who delivers himself fully in the point Hoc primum habeamus saith He Let us lay down this for a Rule That if in every Society of Men we see some government necessary to preserve the common Peace and Concord if in the performance of all Matters some rite or other is in force which it concerns the publick honesty and humanity it self not to reject that is more especially to be observed in the Churches of God which being best supported by the well-composed Constitution of all things therein administred when they are without Concord they fall to nothing wherefore if we regard the safety of the Church we must take care of St. Paul's Injunction that all things be done decently and according to order and appointment But seeing there is such diversity in mens manners so great variety in their Minds such opposition in their Wits and Judgments No Government can be firm and stedfast unless it be establisht by certain Laws Nec sine statâ quadam formâ servari ritus quispiam potest Nor can any Rite be preserved without some set Form Huc ergo quae conducunt leges tantum abest ut damnemus ut his ablatis dissolvi suis nervis Ecclesias totasque deformari ac dissipari contendamus Such Laws therefore and Decrees as tend to this effect we are so far saith he from condemning that if these be taken away we may avouch that the Nerves and Sinews of the Churches are dissolved and that they are all deform'd and shattered to pieces Thus Mr. Calvin and we find it by sad experience whereupon Whitaker does acknowledge Habuit Ecclesia semper authoritatem leges ecclesiasticas condendi sanciendi easque aliis imperandi ac eos puniendi qui non observarent The Church had always a Power and Authority to make Ecclesiastical Laws and to establish them to injoyn them to others and to punish such as would not observe them 2. That Power which hath peculiar Officers assigned and special Rules prescribed to direct the exercise of it in the Church That Power is invested in the Church otherwise that assignation of Persons and Prescription of Rules would be nugatory trifling and to no purpose But to direct the exercise of appointing and settling Rites and Ceremonies in the Church peculiar Officers are assigned and special rules prescribed Of the Officers assign'd to exercise this Power in the Church we have said enough already and of the Rules prescribed I shall add no more than what is said by one or two Protestant Writers upon that Text Let all things be done decently and according to order Hinc colligere promptum est saith Mr. Calvin from hence we may gather That those Ecclesiastical Laws which concern Discipline and Order are Pious and not to be accounted humane Traditions because they are grounded upon this General Command and have a clear approbation as out of the mouth of Christ himself My next Authority shall be out of David Dickson a Scotchman and a Presbyterian He reckons it the seventh Precept touching Good Order Vt decorum observetur in personis ad publicum Conventum Ecclesiae accedentibus in rebus ad publicum cultum necessariis ut omnia cum gravitate modestia sine Superstitione sordibus peragantur partes Cultus Divini inter se ita Ordinentur temporibus suis disponantur ut Dei gloriae aedificationi Ecclesiae inserviant Maximè That a Decorum be observed of all Persons that come to the Assemblies of the Church and in all things allyed to the Publick Worship that all things be performed with Modesty and Gravity without Superstition and a Clownish sordidness and that all the parts of Divine Worship be so ordered among themselves and so disposed to their proper times that they may be inservient as much as is possible to the Glory of God
47 and 48. and as I remember before the year 1650. They were quite out of request and laid in the dust And have not the Independents their peculiar Terms of Communion too And are not these new likewise The Synod of Charenton 1644. takes notice of their Error that they teach Vnamquamque Ecclesiam suis propriis Legibus ita gubernari debere c. That every Church ought so to be governed by its own Laws that in matters Eccclesiastical it be subject to no other nor depend upon any other nor is it bound to acknowledge the Authority of any Conference or Synods in reference to its own Government and Administration Of which Error that Synod of Charenton gives this Sentence Esse hanc Sectam tam Reipublicae quam Ecclesiae perniciosam absurdis quibuscunque insanisque Commentis viam aperire omnes iis medendi rationes tollere ac si illi sententiae locus esset Posse tot Religiones fingi quot Paraeciae privativè Conventus forent That is this Sect is pernicious both to Church and Common-wealth it opens a gap to all absurd and mad inventions whatsoever it takes away all the ways and means of healing them and if way should be given to that opinion there would be as many Religions as there are Parishes or private Meetings By this we see that the Protestants of France do not agree with the Independents of England about the Terms of Communion But in truth if the business be sifted to the very bottom the Question is not so much about the Power it self For these Dissenters suppose it in all their own expedients which they propose but really the question is What hands shall menage this Power The Laws of Christ and his Apostles of Church and State have placed the Power in few hands to make the Government the more Regular in it self the more safe to the King and the more easy to the Subject But these Dissenters would put it into every Parish Priest and so set up ten thousand Independent Jurisdictions in the Kingdom And such a Church as this is most Eligible in their Conceit The Dissenters Sixth Section THey say the World is pester'd with Disputes about Worship about Religion and therefore since all cannot be in the right they are willing to go the safest way and Worship God according to his word If the things disputed be lawful to be done let 'em be so they are sure it 's lawful to let 'em alone and they think there 's no great hazard in keeping to Scripture Rule nor can believe that Christ will send any to Hell because they did not worship God in an external Mode more neat and spruce than God Commanded Answer The World is pester'd with Disputes about Religion Hereupon some men resolve they 'le trouble themselves with none at all Wo be to them by whom this scandal is given I pray from whence come these Wars and Fightings amongst us The Reformation silenced them and setled Vniformity to establish Peace Some men are of restless Spirits and can never study to be quiet making it their business to disturbe the repose of Christendom And all the Disputes for these 40. years and we may say ever since the Reformation whether menaged by Pen or otherwise have been commenced and carried on against this Church of England by the Jesuits and Dissenters And upon what account this is done as to our Dissenting Brethren Mr. Baxter has told us long ago in these words Every one must needs reduce all others to his opinion as if his Judgment were the infallible Standard of Verity and so we have proved too proud and uncharitable while we would be Orthodox overmuch And a little after he gives good Advice if he had been stedfast enough to follow it I advise my Brethren to prepare their weapons against the Papists and Socinians and Antinomians above all other Sects and to associate speedily and carry on all their work in Vnity if ever they will succeed 2. 'T is sure all cannot be in the right 't is fit therefore we should take some pains to learn the safest way But self-conceit and the private Spirit are the worst Guides in the World He that is wise in his own eyes is very apt to put darkness for light and light for darkness Isai. 5. 20. The Holy Ghost has observ'd this to our hands and adviseth us therefore not to lean to our own understanding For as that devout man said He that is his own Scholar has a Fool to his Master The neerer the Fountain the clearer the Stream God calls upon us to tread the good Old way sends us to the Law and the Testimony But as he gave the word so he gave the Preachers too The Priests lips should preserve knowledge and they should seek the Law at his mouth In difficult matters God did refer earnest and cordial Inquirers to the sentence of such as were in Authority Deut. 1. 7 Our Saviour did not slight that Order wherein that Dispensation was on foot but lik'd it so well as he did many other of those Institutions that he transcribed it into his Gospel and adopted it into the practice of his Church They sit in Moses Chair c. Obey them that have the Rule over you and submit your selves Heb. 13. 7 17. And if a Dic Ecclesiae be of so great Authority in our Saviours account to decide our civil differences much more those of a Spiritual and Religious nature as Schism and Heresie which belong more properly to her Cognizance 3. Whereas they say there 's no great hazard I say there 's none at all in worshipping God according to his word and keeping to Scripture-rule provided we rightly understand it For Luther observes there are two sorts of Prophets hinted at by Moses that should rise up against sound Doctrine One should come in the name of the Lord and bring the word of God and holy Scripture with them Such should be the Jews in Christ's time who alledged the Scripture against the Gospel for the Righteousness of the Law and such should be Hereticks after them c. Men will wrest the Scriptures to serve their own Hypothesis Is any thing more clear than the Scripture-rule for Governors that they set all things in order where it is not done to their hands and then to see that in the worship and service of God all things be done decently according to that Order And that these are the Commandments of God And the Scripture-rule for such as are under Authority is as plain as words can make it Heb. 13. 7 17. and yet if there were no such Scripture-rule common Reason would infer the Duty Where some are impowered to give Orders others are under an obligation to observe them Else Authority is Nugatory and ridiculous as has been observed formerly 4. If the things disputed be lawful to be done we are not of these Dissenters opinion that 't is lawful
will never edifie the Church but most certainly deform it Rome we say was not built in one day The Apostle left something unsettled till a further consideration 1 Cor. 11. last And when he departed from Crete he left Titus his Vicar saith Crocius to supply what the shortness of his stay would not allow him to accomplish and as St. Hierome observes to super-correct what he could not then bring to perfection Zanchy observes very well That it is the Duty of the Bishops to take care of the whole Church and whatsoever may conduce to the welfare of it whether it be in point of life and manners in the Ministery of the Word and Sacraments or in the Discipline of Pennance or in the wants of the Poor or in matters of Ceremonies and to give diligence that whatsoever has been constituted in such matters either by the Lord himself or by his Apostles or by the after-after-Church may be observed But if there be any thing that is not appointed and yet may concern the edification of the Church Let Laws be appointed concerning those things that they may be confirmed in the Name of the whole Church and by the Authority of Pious Princes and be observed of all respectively subject to their Jurisdiction 2. I Answer That according to the Common Prayer-Book in King Edward the Sixth's time the Church injoyn'd the Priest at the Consecration of the Eucharist to sign the Elements with the sign of the Cross and so if she did not declare her Power in her Articles yet she declared it sufficiently in her Practice In ordering the Priest to make the sign of the Cross upon the Symbol in the Patin and Chalice she did exercise her Power in decreeing and practising that Rite which has since been taken away tho' it has proved of very little consequence to avoid Scandal and consequently the Terms of Communion have been somewhat contracted since those times and not inlarged as is pretended However that Rule of St. Austin will certainly hold His enim causis id est aut propter fidem aut propter Mores vel emendari oportet quod perperam fiebat vel institui quod non fiebat For these Causes that is either for the Faith or for Manners sake that ought to be amended which was done amiss or appointed to be done which was not done at all But this is not all in this Section They object also against the Doctrine in the Rubrick That it is certain from the Word of God That Children baptized and dying before the commission of actual Sin are undoubtedly saved The Scripture the Protestant Churches nor any sound Reason have yet given them any tolerable satisfaction of the Truth of the Doctrine about the Opus Operatum of Sacraments That Doctrine laid down in the Catechism That Children do perform Faith and Repentance by their Sureties is also saith he as great a stumbling to our Faith and we cannot get over it How the Adult should believe and repent for Minors or Infants believe and repent by Proxy Thus the Dissenters The Answer 1. The silence of other Protestant Churches if they be all silent herein is but a Negative Argument from Authority and that 's of no validity But we are sure the most Learned amongst Protestant Writers do favour this Article The Form of a Sacrament they say is the Sacramental Conjunction of the signs and the things signified which Conjunction consists not only in the signification and obsignation but also in the exhibition of the things signified by the signs So Wendelin And he makes the effect and end of the Sacraments to be not only The Confirmation of our Faith in Christ but also the Obsignation of his gracious Promise touching our Communion with him and our participation of the benefits purchased by his death And particularly among the effects of Baptism Zanchy reckons these 1. Our admission into Covenant with God 2. Our ingraffing into his Church and the Communion of Saints which are the Faithful 3. The Remission of Sins and the Imputation of Christ's Righteousness And Calvin upon those words 1 Cor. 7. 14. else were your children unclean but now are they holy Comments after this manner This is a high point of Divinity For it teacheth that the Children of the Faithful are segregated from others by a special Prerogative and are accounted Saints in the Church And to reconcile this with those other words of the same Apostle Eph. 2. 3. We are all by nature children of wrath He saith thus Aequalis est igitur in omnibus naturae conditio The condition of nature is alike in all They are all obnoxious both to sin and death eternal But this privilege which the Apostle attributes to the Children of Believers that flows from the benefit of the Covenant upon the intervention whereof the malediction of Nature is blotted out and they are consecrated to God by Grace who are Prophane by Nature From which Testimonies we shall draw an Argument presently that Children baptized and dying before actual Sin are undoubtedly saved But first let us consult the holy Oracle The Scripture tells us That Christ tasted death for every man Hebr. 2. 9. for Children vers 14. And to what end did he do this to reconcile them vers 17. to sanctifie them v. 11. to free them from the bondage of the Devil v. 14 15. and to bring them unto glory v. 10. Can Christ fail of his end without any Obstacle in the Subject Has he done enough to save a drunken Noah an incestuous Lot an idolatrous Manasses and a perjur'd Peter and yet left a poor innocent Babe without a Remedy 'T is our Saviour's comfortable assertion with a gracious invitation thereupon Mat. 19. 14. Suffer little Children and forbid them not to come unto me for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven If these Dissenters be of a Cross opinion That of such is the Kingdom of Satan They should in modesty keep their faith to themselves till they can find a better proof than the Post-poning of Esau whose person notwithstanding Learned Men do think was saved In the Discourses of our Saviour little children are Candidates for Heaven and set forth as a pattern to such as shall undoubtedly inherit it Mat. 18. 3. and he tells his Disciples v. 14. It is not the will of your Father which is in Heaven that one of these little ones should perish which in all Reason must be understood of little Children literally according to the first intention of the words But 2. Baptism is the Laver of Regeneration Eph. 5. Tit. 3. Hereupon St. Peter makes his Exhortation to the People Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost For the promise is unto you and to your children Act. 2. 38 39. Whence I argue thus such as are admitted to the benefits of the Covenant remission
Divine Sacraments which she never did pretend a Power to institute They are unsatisfied at the use of Mystical Ceremonies in God's Worship But so was not St. Paul The Wife is subject to the Husband saith He Ergo gerat insigne subjectionis let her therefore wear her veil the badge of her subjection saith Mr. Calvin And he speaks of an external Rite in sacred Assemblies and we are taught that this is to be observed in such Rites that they be suitable to admonish us of our Duty ut Ceremoniae sint instar Concionum that Ceremomonies may be like Sermons which is then done when we have an account of their Mystical meaning saith Pet. Martyr But the great scandal they pretend to take is at the sign of the Cross in Baptism But God forbid saith the great Apostle that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ And I cannot persuade my self that he who worthily glories in the Meritorious Cause of his Redemption will abhor the sign of it as sinful or be offended at it If we inquire after the Antiquity of this Badge we shall find it in the Banner of our Militia from the time of the first Christian Emperor Church Story tells us That when Constantine had gathered an Army in France and Britain to repress the Tyrant Maxentius He was afraid of his Charms wherewith he was supposed to have vanquished Severus whom Gal. Maximinus had sent against him formerly And as he stood in doubt what to do He cast his Eyes often up to Heaven and saw a brightness therein about Sun-set in the likeness of a Cross with certain Stars of equal bigness which afforded this Symbol like an Inscription in Latin Letters In Hoc Vince that is In this shalt thou overcome After this Vision His Banner was made in the similitude of a Cross and carried before him in his Wars the Tyrant Maxentius was Conquered and Drowned And to ascend higher some think this was the Cognizance of Christians from the first Plantation of the Gospel being mention'd by the most ancient Writers of the Church Zanchy concludes from the Practice in Justin's time that the mingling Water with Wine in the Eucharist came from Christ and his Apostles The sign of the Cross is a Ceremony of as long a standing wherefore the use of it upon all occasions in all times over all parts of the Church is to be ascribed to the Apostles as a very Reverend and Learned Man observeth And St. Austin has given us a Rule that does assure it Quod Vniversa tenet ecclesia nec à Conciliis institutum sed semper retentum est non nisi authoritate Apostolicâ traditum rectissimè creditur That which is held or practised by the Universal Church and was never appointed by any Council but always held and maintain'd is most justly believed to have been delivered at first by Apostolical Authority For such an Vniversal Effect must have a Cause equally Vniversal The Apostle tells the Ephesians of their being seal'd to the day of Redemption Eph. 4. 30. Whether the Church took occasion from those words to appoint that Ceremony to be used in Baptizing I am not able to determine But the Prophet Ezekiel tells us of a man with an Ink-horn by his side who was commanded to set a Mark upon the foreheads of such as did sigh and cry for the Abominations that were done in Jerusalem Ezek. 9. 4. Now says Deodati that Learned Minister of Geneva because the word Mark in Hebrew is Thau and that the same word is the Name of the letter T. which letter in ancient Hebrew Characters is made in the figure of a Cross hence some Ancients saith he have believed That this Mark was a sign of the Cross which figured Christ's Blood the only Mark of Salvation to Believers If any Credit be to be given to this suggestion the sign of the Cross upon the forehead has been of longer use than is imagined 'T is true that Learned Professor says there is no certainty in it but he does not say 't was superstitious to be done or sinful to believe it Some Mark there was and 't was of some importance and so is this Ceremony now in question We read Jos. 22. That the Children of Reuben Gad and Manasseh built a great Alter upon the Borders of Jordan for which they had no Divine Warrant nor did they pretend to it Hereupon the Congregation of Israel took offence and leavyed War against them But before they entred into any act of Hostility they thought it reasonable to expostulate debate the matter fairly with them which they managed in these words What trespass is this which ye have committed against the God of Israel to turn away from following the Lord in that you have builded you an Altar that ye might rebel this day against the Lord To this heavy charge those Tribes return'd this Calm and sober Answer The Lord God of Gods He knoweth and Israel He shall know if it be in Rebellion or in Transgression against the Lord that we have built us an Altar to turn from following the Lord if to offer Sacrifice thereon save us not this day and let the Lord Himself require it And if we have not done it rather for fear your Children should say unto our Children in time to come Jordan is the border that divides between us and you ye have no part in the Lord no right or title to the benefits of his holy Altar Therefore we built this Altar not for burnt offering nor for Sacrifice but to be a Witness between us and you and our generations after us that we have an interest in the Lord as well as you a right to approach his Altar to perform our Service at it and receive the benefits thereof And they called the Altar Ed a Witness for it shall be a witness between us that the Lord is our God as well as yours By this Story we see that Altar was erected as a Monument not for a Remedy of what was but for a Caution against what might be hereafter And to apply this Matter of Fact to our present purpose was not the Cross the Altar upon which our Blessed Lord offer'd up Himself to God as a Sacrifice of a sweet smelling savour to expiate our Sins and make an attonement for the World Now we know very well there are a Generation of Men that say of us and will say 't of our Children after us that we are Out-casts to the Common-wealth of Israel Schismaticks and Separate from the Body of Christ and the Communion of the Catholick Church that we are Enemies to the Cross of Christ and have no interest in his Ordinances or right to the benefits of his Death and Passion In answer to which objection or Cavil we can alleadge that we have the Copy the Representation of that Altar upon which our B. Saviour suffered that shameful that painful that accursed
Death for us the sign of the Cross was made upon our Foreheads when we were dedicated to him at our Baptism not that we are drawn from our duty and allegeance to God by it or expect any supernatural Grace or Virtue from it or intend to pay any manner of devotion to it but to assert our own priviledge and relation to our Crucify'd Jesus to be a Symbolical Protestation of our faith and affiance in him a Memorial of the solemn Profession we have made to own and serve him This is our Ed our Witness to this purpose And as far as I am able to discern no less commendable in our practice than that was in those Tribes But these Dissenters tell us 't is impossible that any Church should institute a Divine Sacrament and they have good Authority to back them no less than the Suffrage of Trent to bear them out in this assertion which has denounced Anathema to all that shall say otherwise Si quis dixerit Sacramenta novae legis non fuisse omnia à Jesu Christo Domino nostro instituta Anathema sit If any one shall say That All the Sacraments of the Gospel which they call the new Law were not instituted by Jesus Christ our Lord let him be accursed But they say 't is possible Men may institute Humane Sacraments An outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual Grace and they may ascribe an effect to it also to excite and increase Devotion and yet because Christ is not the Author of it they say it is no lawful which is but a begging of the question for they should only say it is no Divine Sacrament tho' it be a Humane Sacrament Such an Institution they say is the sign of the Cross The Matter of a Sacrament without Divine Signature which is the thing they condemn it for Now the question is whether this Condemnation be just or no The other day as I remember I saw a Pack of Cards which according to this account may very well be call'd a Pack of Sacraments for each Card had the matter of a Sacrament that is an outward and visible sign of some inward and spiritual Grace in the Martyr whose barbarous Murder they were design'd to represent and sure the Ingenious Contrivers of those Cards intended some effect from them to excite to stir up to increase Grace and Devotion by the sight of them viz. an utter abhorrence of Treason and all Popish Principles which lead to it And must this poor Pack of Cards be condemned to the Flames for the ingenuity of the Author I am so far from being the Executioner of such a Sentence that I wish such another Pack to represent the horrid Mischiefs of Schism and Sedition to teach our Children for the time to come to have the Practice and Doctrines which lead to it in utter detestation That such mystical Ceremonies or symbolical Representations are not sinful I am fully convinced because they are good for the use of edifying For whatsoever is apt to inform me and put me in mind of my Duty and to excite me to perform it That is certainly for my Edification because to inform to admonish and excite is to edifie And that some Mystical Ceremonies are of this Nature is too notorious to be denyed Est homini Connaturale ut per sensibilia ad Cognitionem intelligibilium deveniat says a Person well verst in the Prince of Schoolmen T is Connatural to Man by the help of sensible things to arrive at the knowledge of such things as are intelligible This I learn from all the Prophets Amos has his Basket of Summer fruit Amos 8. 2. Jeremy his Seething-Pot and the Rod of an Almond Tree Jer. 1. 11 13. Ezekiel has his Roll his Seige his Chain his Fire his Wheel and his Razor All these Representations in Vision for the Service of God's People and the interest of Religion And the great Prophecy concerning the state of the Christian Church is displayed in Mystical and Symbolical Representations Shall I quarrel with the Book of the Apocalypse and the seven Golden Candlesticks because they are full of Mystical Ceremonies and some men may erroneously fancy they put them in mind of seven Sacraments I will not But to see how far the force of prejudice and a superstitious conceit will carry these men By their invention Daniel's Chamber-window is made a Sacrament The opening of it towards Jerusalem was the outward and visible sign The inward and spiritual Grace was his faith and affiance in God with his Zeal for God's Holy Temple and Worship Yea so unreasonable and extravagant is this their Act of Condemnation it will reach all the most Pious accomplishments of Holy Men the Practice of Piety the Whole Duty of Man the Saints everlasting Rest the Institutions of Mr. Calvin I confess I cannot say so of those many Books which these Dissenters have written and sent abroad to shake the People and unhinge the Government to foment Faction and disturb the Peace of Church and State I cannot say it of such that they are outward and visible signs of an inward and spiritual Grace but of every Pious and Learned Book I say it will fall under this their rash and unadvised Condemnation It is a Humane Sacrament that is it has the matter of a Sacrament which is an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual Grace and the Author whoever he be will hope for some good effect from it else he is ill advised to make it Publick to excite to stir up to increase Grace and Devotion by it and whatever Man can work by his Discourse and Ordinance and yet according to these Dissenters Notion and Logick because it wants the efficient Cause to make it a Divine Sacrament it must be unlawful it must be sinful for 't is upon this accompt they do here judge the sign of the Cross in Baptism to be so and so condemn it What he means by a Divine Signature is a matter of some question if some institution or promise to annex Grace to it we understand it not But if he understands by Signature some impression that discovers something of God's Attributes we say with the great Apostle That the Preaching of the Cross sets forth the Power of God and the Wisdom of God There is this Divine Signature upon all Creatures For the invisible things of God from the Creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made Rom. 1. 20. The Heavens declare the glory of God Psal. 19. And every Rational Creature should Echo to that Declaration and say When I consider thy Heavens Lord what is Man For a Sacrament properly so called that is a Divine Sacrament in the sense of the Church That is a thing of another Constitution For 1. It must have Christ for its Author all Ordinances of Divine Worship design'd to exhibit to seal and convey supernatural Grace are of
Thousand Souls out of Hell because I have given away my freedom to the Church The Answer Tho' the Church does restrain our Liberty in part yet the whole is not in danger because she does declare That where there is no Sin in the imposition of things Indifferent as to the nature of the things yet Authority may be excessive as to the multiplicity and number of them If the Governours of the Church as the Pharisees of old should lay heavy burdens upon other mens shoulders and not so much as touch them with one of their own Fingers there might be some colour for this Objection But we know They are the first the most eminent and punctual in the practice of what is injoyn'd and to think they will ever incumber and overload themselves with Ceremonies is irrational And God be thanked we have a Prelacy so Moderate so Discreet and Learned there 's no ground to fear it This Author was convinced of this and therefore he sets up his Consequence for a Bug-bear and so perhaps when the sky falls we may have a quarry for his jealousie The mean while we acknowledge that Christ hath purchased a Liberty for His Church If the Son shall make you free then shall ye be free indeed Joh. 8. 36. This is Liberty from a yoak of bondage A yoak that had a heavy burden annext to it From the bondage of the Devil the Superstition Idolatry and Vncleanness with all the Pomps and Vanities wherewith He had inthrall'd the wicked world from the Captivity and Law of Sin in our Members from the Curse of the Moral Law and from the wrath of God the fear of Death and the bondage of Corruption upon that account From the Obligation of Moses Law of the Levitical Rites and Ceremonies with such Humane Traditions as had taken their rise from thence And altho by Analogy some Divines are wont to reduce unto this Head such Ceremonies as become matter of Superstition in their use or burdensom for their variety and number yet this does not impeach the Authority of the Church in commanding such as shall be deemed meet to adorn the Solemnity and procure Reverence and Devotion in God's House and Worship 'T was the design of our Redeemer to make us free from the bondage before mentioned but not to set us at liberty from a decent Habit from a Reverent gesture or from any innocent observance which the Authority of Prudent and Pious Governours shall appoint For the liberty which Christ hath purchased for us is consistent with Civil Servitude 1 Cor. 7. 21 22. Art thou called being a Servant care not for it For he that is called in the Lord being a Servant is Christs free-man Therefore when he saith in the next Verse Be not ye the Servants of Men His meaning is as Bruno hath very well exprest it it a quòd in vobis pereat servitus Christi be not the Servants of Men so as to abandon lessen or depretiate the Service of Christ. Tho' ye cannot serve God and Mammon Christ and Belial yet ye may Fear God and the King ye may serve them both and ye serve the Lord in your duty to your Relations Col. 3. 24. Christ came not to dissolve the Law betwixt any Relations but to tye their Mutual Obligations faster tho' with the silken strings of Love and Charity If we should instance in all Relations the matter of Fact is evident 1. Betwixt Masters and Servants Eph. 6. 5. Col. 3. 22. 4. 1. 2. Betwixt Parents and Children Eph. 6. 1. Col. 3. 20 21. 3. Betwixt Husband and Wife Eph. 5. 22 c. Col. 3. 18 19. 4. Betwixt Prince and People Rom. 13. 1 c. 1 Pet. 2. 13 c. 'T is not probable that He whose Laws do enforce the duty of all other Relations with stronger ties of obligation and endearment should leave his own House and Kingdom to be the only Stage for an unbridled licentiousness Things were never left so indifferent since the first Creation as to leave any man without restraint And did Christ purchase himself a Church with his own Blood did he Espouse her to himself in a Covenant of Peace and loving kindness and then abandon her to the Conduct of blind chance to the extravagant Caprichoes and wild whimseys of Fanaticks or to the Lust Humour or Ambition of Pretenders to Religion No He has establish'd a Regiment and Subordination And altho' the Government he has appointed be not Despotical but Ministerial not Lordly but Paternal and Fatherly yet hath he invested his Pastors and Bishops with a Power to Order and Command and has put his Flock and his Disciples under an Obligation to obey for Authority without Obedience would be trifling and to no effect Dic Ecclesiae has sometimes been the last resort in every difference And the Sentence of the Church like the Oath of God for Confirmation of the Truth has put an end to all strife For 't is God's solemn Promise to His Church Isa. 60. 12. The Nation and Kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish And here we must observe a great difference between the Church of Christ and some Civil Societies For these may have their being first and then frame their Government They are first free and have all Jurisdiction Originally in themselves and then they communicate the same to Kings or Magistrates But the Church did not make it self nor its own Government but Christ who is Prince and Head did first appoint Rules and Orders constitute Laws and Officers by which his Church should be governed and then did call and assemble it and wherein he hath determin'd any thing we are obliged to look upon it as necessary to the support and well-ordering of that Society Whether such Orders were made by himself or determined by his Apostles who were immediately sent by him to that purpose makes no difference For he spent Forty dayes with them after his Resurrection instructing them about the Constitution and Government of his Kingdom Act. 1. 2 3. and after his Ascension he sent down the Holy Ghost to establish and impower them that is not only to make them Prudent but Infallible Hereupon they did not only profess that they had the mind of Christ 1 Cor. 2. 16. Gal. 1. 12. but that they acted all in his Name that is by his Power Commission and Authority From hence it will undeniably follow that such as come under this Apostolical Government which is the Government of Christ's Kingdom have no Christian Liberty but what is restrain'd and limitted by the Laws of that Government because that very Charter by which they claim their Liberty had establish'd that Government before They were called to be Christians and admitted into that Society I say This Authority and Ecclesiastical Government being antecedent to the Incorporation of all particular Churches the Liberty of the Members being Subjects of Those Churches must needs de jure be restrained by the
he treats more mildly and gently in His Epistle to the Romans but more severely and sharply a great deal in his Epistles to the Galatians and Colossians Was it out of Condescention to their weakness at his first Writing which was not to be continued when success of time might have afforded them sufficient means of better Information So the Author of the Synopsis thinks but then the Epistle to the Romans should be more early written then the Learned do allow it was Soto is of Opinion That the Mystery of St. Peter's Vision which directed him to converse with Cornelius and other Gentiles Act. 10. 10 c. was not yet published to the Romans or at least that they did not understand the meaning of it and thence he Collects also that the Council mentioned Act. 15. was not then assembled In the Epistle to the Romans the Controversie chiefly lay between Grace and Nature but in that to the Galatians it was betwixt the Law and Faith saith Ambianus The Apostle was angry with the Galatians because tho' they were very well instructed yet they were easily seduced But he ought not to be angry with the Romans but to commend their Faith quia nulla virtutum videntes insignia susciperunt fidem Christi saith the Comment of St. Ambrose because they had embraced the Faith tho' they had seen no Miracles and tho' they mistook the sense it was because they had not yet been sufficiently instructed in the Mystery of Christ's Cross. The Epistle to the Galatians was written only to Gentiles that to the Romans was written both to Jews and Gentiles as S. Hierom has observed The Jewish Converts tho' they embraced the Faith yet they thought themselves still obliged to Moses Law to abstain from certain Meats and to observe certain days according to the Jewish Customs On the other side the Gentiles and such as were better instructed in the Truth of the Gospel they embraced the faith of Christ but would not be concern'd in those Mosaical Observances to which they had never been addicted Hereupon heats and animosities did arise which kindled into a despising and condemning of one another Now in this Epistle to the Romans it was the great Temper and Prudence of the Apostle to carry an even hand betwixt the two contending Parties and amicably to compromise the difference between them We must remember St. Paul had not yet been at Rome And altho' upon Information and Complaint from some other Churches He gave Orders at a distance for the redress of some particular Miscarriages yet some other things he thought fit to reserve till his own personal presence should give him an opportunity to inspect the Temper and Conditions of the People that he might be the better able to settle such Rules and Orders as should appear to be most convenient Thus he did in the Church of Corinth Many undecent Carriages he corrected by his Epistle Coetera autem quae ad aedificationem Ecclesiae pertinent praesentiâ suâ Ordinare se promisit saith St. Ambros. ad 1 Cor. 11. ult Other things which concern'd the Edification of the Church He promised to set in order by his presence And thus de did touching the Church of Rome Some Points of Doctrine he carefully stated as Justification by Grace through the Faith which is in Christ Jesus c. He Taught the Jew and Gentile-Converts likewise how they should carry themselves respectively to one another That the strong should not despise the weak nor the weak judge and condemn the strong But these were Directions for Common use among private Christians but for Decrees and Orders of publick use and practice he gave out none to this Church because as yet here was no Jurisdiction settled no Laws made no Governours appointed to put them in Execution This Grotius Collects from Rom. 16. 4 5 17. This makes me believe that there were then no Common Assemblies of Christians saith he or no Presbyterie at Rome Otherwise in stead of commanding to mark such as caused those Scandals or Schisms He would have had them Excommunicated For when the Church is without such Government single Persons can do no more than avoid familiar Conversation with such as live not according to the Rule of Christ. Thus Grotius Catharinus seems to Collect no less from the Apostles expostulation Rom. 14. 4. Who art thou that judgest another man's Servant Cùm non sis Pastor aut Dominus ejus seeing thou art neither his Pastour nor his Lord and therefore thou hast no right to pass Sentence on him And as much is to be concluded from the 22 Verse Hast thou faith have it to thy self before God Had there been a Bishop settled there it had been their Duty in any Matter of Hesitation to consult him to resolve their Doubts and settle their Persuasions But as yet there was no such Establishment hereupon he does advise them to be sincere in their Profession and to carry themselves uprightly between God and their own Conscience Catharinus to this purpose saith thus Thou hast Faith that is thou hast a clear knowledge of thy Liberty in matters indifferent But have this Faith to thy self before God that thou mayest not hurt thy weak Brother And this is always to be the Practice in such things as the Church does tolerate They are to be dissembled or concealed and we must yield to Infirmity for a time till the matter comes to be made more clear But then we ought to dissemble or conceal our persuasion no longer but freely to declare and boldly to follow what the Church hath established Thus Catharinus for then Obedientia praecepti est our Obedience is under Precept as Tolet hath observed The Apostle doth Predict and Promise them a happy Conquest over all adversary Power whether exercised by subtlety and imposture or otherwise Rom. 16. 20 The God of Peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly He means the false Apostles Deceivers and Disturbers of the Churches Peace the signal Instruments of Satan and their overthrow should be by his speedy comming to them to ordain what was wanting to their settlement The design of this Digression is to shew that the Apostle did never give colour to set up Christian Liberty against the Laws and Authority of the Church And 't is further evident that the Church did from time to time prescribe and limit the use of things indifferent as they judged it most expedient to avoid Scandal and promote Edification And to this purpose they did observe times and determine things and distinguish persons 1. They did observe times For the People of the Jews had been so long Wedded unto Moses had so great a veneration for all his Laws Rites and Ceremonies and these were so constantly inculcated into them every Sabbath Day as St. James observes Act. 15 21. That they could not suddenly be weaned from the Practice of them And they were a People so perverse
is evident he dissents not out of weakness but out of Pride Animosity and Stubbornness Ferus could say very truly and pertinently on Rom. 14. Non loquitur de his quae ex impudentia pertinatia aut destinatâ malitiâ committimus The Apostle speaks not of such things as we commit out of impudence obstinacy or prepensed Malice and Design For if he who takes offence does it out of Malice Nempe quòd vel nullâ offuscatur ignorantiâ vel illâ penitus cujus potest facile convinci sed aut per vafritiem aut per obstinationem Scà ndalizatur neutiquam tenemur morem gerere nequitioe ejus saith Soto if he be not clouded with ignorance or with such ignorance only as he may easily be convinced of and yet is scandalized either out of craftiness or through obstinacy we are by no means bound to satisfie his wickedness For otherwise as he says we should be bound to connive at Hereticks and for instance to abstain from flesh for fear the Jovinians should take offence at us And because the Dissenters take Sanctuary upon all occasions in the Fourteenth Chapter to the Romans we shall the more particularly consider it That the Doctrine therein delivered was peculiar to the Jews is the affirmation of the Learned Estius and he has it twice for failing and our Synopsis says the same after him De Ceremoniis Judaicis non Christianis Apostolus Loquitur The Apostle speaks of Jewish not of Christian Ceremonies saith Matthisius and Mr. Perkins is of the same judgment For he saith That Commandement Rom. 14. 22. was given by Paul for those times when men were not fully persuaded of the use of God's Creatures as Meats Drinks c. but to these times it is not Nor indeed can it directly be applied to us for this Reason The Apostle there gives Directions to accommodate the differences betwixt private persons But among us the contest is between Authority and Faction the Church and Private Dissenters from her Communion Now when from an indifferent action or the omission of it one of two Evils will necessarily follow right Reason dictates that I must so act or omit acting that I may avoid the greater evil But certainly being under her Jurisdiction 't is a greater evil to offend the Church than any private person or persons who are but Members of it And as when the competition is betwixt them I must obey God rather than Man So when the Competition is between the Church and private persons Common Reason will soon determine which is to be prefer'd The right stands presumptively for the Governing Party who are in Possession of their Authority and I am certainly obliged in Law and Conscience to adhere and submit to them because the Law concludes Melior est conditio possidentis They that are in Possession have the fairest Right Especially where the Possession began upon so good a Title and has been of so long continuance without interruption Give none offence saith the Apostle neither to the Jews nor to the Greeks nor to the Church of God 1 Cor. 10. 32. which we must interpret by that other Rule of the Apostle Gal. 6. 10. Let us do good unto all men especially to them who are of the houshold of Faith If I cannot please all I must be sure not to offend the Church to which I stand more strictly obliged than to any Conventicle or private Person whatsoever I would fain know also of these Dissenters under what Form they will place themselves If they be strong in the Faith then they are so well instructed in the Nature of Christian Liberty and things indifferent they cannot be offended at the use or forbearance of such things If they be weak that weakness proceeds from ignorance ' and a proneness to Superstition as was observed above and 't is their duty to seek for better information and acquiesce in the Sense and Resolution of Authority when they have it But they should do well to remember there is another sort of Men a Faction that is a sort of obstinate Men and how little value is to be set on such we have heard from Mr. Perkins 2. But it will be alleadged that the Apostle will have us to receive him that is weak in the Faith but not to doubtful Disputations Rom. 14. 1. We must use them gently as we do by sick persons the weakness of whose Constitution will not indure stronger Medicaments we must apply remedies that are more mild take care of their Diet and attend them with great Care and Diligence But we must not forget that this was only a Temporary provision to keep the Peace among private Christians Itaque suscipiendi erant ad tempus non spernandi saith Catharinus quoad usque securis ad radicem poneretur They were not to be despised but to be received for a time until the Axe was laid to the Root That is saith he until the Apostles had made a perfect Determination and by that means had cut off those Leaves of the Law which were without Fruit and the wholsom Sap of Truth We know it is the office of the Bishop not only to instruct in meekness but to reprove rebnke and by sound Doctrine both to exhort and convince Gainsayers And when Authority hath settled matters of difference The Subjects Rule is express and Positive Phil. 2. 14. Do all things without murmuring and disputing V. Act. 16. 4. 3. But it is objected as the charge of the Apostle That no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brothers way Rom. 14. 13. But this is to be understood of an Active Scandal design'd as a Mouse-trap set and ready baited on purpose to entice and catch the unwary Mouse as Tirinus notes from the word It is to be understood saith Cajetan of putting a stumbling block formally Secundum propriam rationem Scandali according to the proper account of Scandal to the Mortal ruine of another person This Scandal is in a matter that is in my own Choice and Power Rom. 15. 1. And it is to be understood in Cases wherein Authority has not interposed her Determination for that does Supersede my Choice 'T is very well observed therefore by G. Ambianas That Liberty is Promiscuous both to the strong and to the weak but with this Limitation Vbi nec Pietas violatur Conscientiae nec Ecclesiae temeratur Auctoritas where the Piety of Conscience is not violated nor the Authority of the Church infring'd But here we must observe some Rules to direct our Practice 1. I must not omit a Duty to avoid Scandal for that were to do evil that good may come which the Apostle says is damnable Rom. 3. 8. Nor 2. Can I properly be said to give Scandal by performing that which is my duty antecedently to that Scandal for then my duty should be my sin and I should be under a necessity of
But the Apostle himself seems to be much more tender in the point as appears not only by his general advice but also by his personal resolution It is good saith he neither to eat flesh nor to drink wine nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth or is offended or is made weak Rom. 14. 21. and 1 Cor. 8. 13. If meat make my brother to offend I will eat no flesh while the world standeth lest I make my brother to offend To this I answer That many Expositors do restrain the words of the Apostle to such Wine and Flesh as had been offer'd up in Sacrifice to Heathen Idols and so the sense is clear and easie and I know no good Christian but would observe the Rule if there were occasion for it For as S. Ambrose noteth upon 1 Cor. 8. 13. a measure is to be observed in those things which the Law allows us Vxorem certè licet habere sed si fornicata fuerit abjicienda est ita Carnem licet edere sed si idolis Oblata fuerit respuenda est It is lawful to have a Wife but if she commits Fornication she is to be put away so we may eat flesh but if it be offer'd up to Idols it is to be refused Thus St. Ambrose But this concerns not us at all For we have no such flesh sold in our Shambles no such wine in our Taverns no such Heathen Feasts no such Idols God be thank'd among us But I answer 2. The Apostle writes especially to the Corinthians as an Orator by way of Hyperbole exaggeration We have the like kind of Expression Mat 5. 29. as Grotius has observed There is apparently an Excess in it and 't is impossible that Rule should be observed to a general Satisfaction This we may learn from St. Austin For as he hath it Sicut quod ait Apostolus verum est Malum esse homini qui per offensionem Manducat ita malum est homini qui per offensionem jejunat As that of the Apostle is true 'T is evil to him that eateth with offence so it is no less true 'T is evil to him that fasteth with offence Hereupon De la Cerde doth very well observe that sometimes it may be necessary to eat flesh and drink wine to avoid Scandal lest by abstaining from such things as were Prohibited by their respective Laws a man should fall under a Suspition that he plays the Jew or observes the Law of the Saracens Wherefore in strict speaking this branch of the Apostles discourse is neither to be drawn into Practice or Argument For one man as he himself hath told us Rom. 14. 5. will observe a day another will not one man will eat Swines flesh another does abhor it I cannot satisfie them both for both are scrupulous and both respectively offended at one anothers practice To eat and not to eat to esteem a day and not to esteem it These are perfect Contradictions and 't is impossible for any Charity for the Charity of an Apostle to reconcile his Practice to both their Scruples St. Paul himself at last found this insuperable difficulty by Experience upon the congress of the Jew and Gentile Converts Therefore instead of a charitable and prudential expedient which in this Case was impossible to find out He withstood St. Peter to the face and with great integrity and stoutness asserted the truth of the Gospel and the extent of Christian Liberty Gal. 2. And herein He left us His own Practice an example to maintain our privilege and not to govern our selves by the timorous squeamishness or pretended scruples of superstitious men which may be contradictory and endless but by the solid Rules of Truth and the Prudent Resolutions of Pious Governours 7. It may be further alleadged that the Apostle would not have us make use of our Christian Liberty against Charity Rom. 14. 15. 'T is very true Charity should direct and moderate our Christian Liberty that our mutual content may not be disturbed by the abuse of that Liberty but rather that we may Worship and glorifie our God with unanimity Charity is a great Mistress within her own Jurisdiction and when positive Laws may be superseded the Law of Charity will oblige us But must the Church spend all her stock of Charity upon these Dissenters while they have no love no respect at all for the Church In reference to a private Neighbour there is Debitum Charitatis a debt of Charity but in reference to my Governours there is Debitum necessitatis in respect of their Authority over me a debt of Necessity The Apostle tells us That love is the fulfilling of the Law and certainly if it be an Ordinate love when it looks upon the Second Table it will begin with the Practice of the Fifth Commandment And it ought to be considered that St. Peter speaks with reference to Authority when he gives that injunction 1 Pet. 2. 16. As free and not using your Liberty as a cloak of maliciousness but as the Servants of God My Liberty is like my cloak in this that I may lay it down or put it on as occasion shall require And it shews very little respect to my Superiours if I will not lay aside my cloak to take an innocent walk with them into the House of God And if notwithstanding our Christian Liberty Gal. 5. 13 14. the Law of love does oblige us to serve all Men sure it can never allow us to dispise our Governours or their Commands Besides there are other ways to express our Charity Potest is qui infirmus est sufficienter instrui doceri Fratrem bene agere quodque ejus facto offendi non debeat The weak may be sufficiently instructed and taught that his Brother does well and that he has no reason to be offended at him so saith Estius and this will be the best instance of our Charity Whereas if I encourage him in his disobedience either by my Discourse or Example I do certainly give him Scandal and that we are sure is against Charity But what if my weak Brother will not lay aside his errour That Learned Man hath answer'd this question too Post quam sufficientem ac plenam instructionem si adhuc in Scandalo perseveret non erit illud scandalum datum sed acceptum After sufficient and full instruction if he still perseveres in his Scandal it will not then be a Scandal given but taken for then it will proceed not out of ignorance but out of malice Quale erat Scandalum Pharisaeorum quod Dominus in Evangelio docuit non esse Curandum Mat. 15. and such was the Scandal of the Pharisees which the Lord hath taught us in the Gospel is not to be regarded Thus the Learned Estius ibid. And now I suppose we shall not need to fear any objection from Christ's example in this Case tho' propound by the Apostle Rom. 15. 3. 5. For never
could any Man be more tender of giving offence whether by word or deed than he was and that he would have us to be so too when the Party is to be treated with tenderness we may conclude from the severity of his Sentence upon such as do the contrary Mat. 18. 6. But for all that great Compassion which he had for his little ones His weak and infirm Disciples His Divine Wisdom was pleased to make a difference and he had his vae vobis His Let them alone His sharp reproofs and his dereliction for the Scribes and Pharisees Mat. 25. 12 13 14. And truely we do not desire much less dare we pretend to be wiser or more charitable than our Lord and Master Danda quidem opera est quoad licebit ne qua ex nostra dicendi ratione offensio nascatur sed extremae insaniae foret velle nobis prudentiùs Moderari quam edocti sumus à Coelesti Magistro saith Mr. Calvin Care must be taken as much as in us lyes that no osfence arise from the manner of our words or actions but it were a part of extreme madness to think we can carry our selves more Prudently than we are taught by our Heavenly Lord and Master Christ knew very well that the Pharisees were offended at his Doctrine saith the Learned Luc. Brugensis Sed non judicabat operae pretium ut placandis illis intenderet aut clariùs interpretaretur doctrinam contumacitèr rejecturis But he did not think it worth the while to endeavour to pacifie them or to give a clearer Interpretation of his Doctrine to them who would reject it with Contumacy and stubborness And a little after Significat hîc porro Christus Christ does signifie thus much to us that such men are not so much to be regarded as that their offence should greatly trouble us who take occasion of osfence from our Good when the cause of it is solely in themselves Yet there is some need of Judgment and Prudence that we may distinguish betwixt the weak who being offended out of ignorance Mox se reddunt sandbiles do quickly become Curable and the Malignant and Contumacious who study invite and pick up Scandals almost out of every word and action Thus Luc. Brugensis The Dissenters go on thus There are some things which God hath in the general left free and indifferent to do or not to do yet at some times and in some Cases it may be my great sin if I should do some of them as when it would wound the Conscience and destroy the Soul of a weak Christian. To this I Answer 1. That the Pleas of Christian liberty and weakness were never more abused than by such as have pretended to defend them The abuse hereof against Sobriety and Temperance have been taken notice of by the two great Apostles and Caveals entred by them both against it Gal. 5. 13. 2 Pet. 2. 10 18 9. See Soto ad Rom. 14. 16 17. p. 379. The abuse hereof against Authority St. Paul takes notice of Rom. 13. Vnde non dubia conjectura Colligimus fuisse tum quosdam inquietos qui libertatem Christianam stare non putarent nisi deturbata Civili Potestate From whence we undoubtedly Collect that there were unquiet Spirits in those times who thought Christian Liberty could not stand without the disturbance of the Civil Power saith Mr. Calvin Hence St. Peter As free and not using your Liberty as a Cloak of Maliciousness 1 Pet. 2. 16. freed by Christ from many yoaks but not from that of subjection to God or to Superiours and therefore not pretending to any such Liberty nor covering Sedition c. under colour of Christianity as the Gnosticks did who said they were free from all Publick Laws and despised Dominion as St. Jude hath it but as the Servants of God ac proinde etiam eorum servi quibus Deus nos servire jubet and therefore the Servants also of those whom God commands us to serve In short when Christian Liberty is set up against Order Decorum and common honesty 't is set up against Authority 1 Cor. 14. last when it is set up against the common Methods of Edification and Peace 't is set up against Charity Rom. 14. 19. when 't is set up against Temperance and Sobriety 't is made an occasion to the flesh Gal. 5. 13. when it is made use of to palliate the designs of factious and ambitious men 't is used as a cloak of malitiousness In all these Cases there is Apostolical Authority to restrain our Liberty And in Matters of Religion what Liberty can we justly claim more than what Christ hath obtain'd and his Grace conferr'd upon us A Liberty to serve God acceptably in all instances of the First and Second Table with reverence and Godly fear Hebr. 12. 28. To this purpose Mr. Calvin observes That St. Peter pronounceth them free who are the Servants of God Vnde colligere promptum est hanc esse finem libertatis nostrae ut promptiores magis expediti simus ad obsequium Dei Neque enim aliud est quam manumissio à peccato Atqui peccato dominium tollitur ut se in subjectionem justitiae homines addicant From whence saith He 't is easie to Collect that the end of our Liberty is that we may be the more prompt and ready for God's Service and obey him with the greater expedition Nor is this Liberty any thing else but a Manumission from Sin And the Dominion is taken from Sin that men may render themselves up to the Subjection of Righteousness Thus Calvin 2. I must tell my weak Brother that Christ hath establisht a Church and placed me under Governours and given them Authority to restrain and determine the use of my Liberty according to their Christian Prudence by such Rules and to such ends and purposes as he himself has prescribed And tho' he has left some things free and indifferent in the general yet it will certainly be my great Sin to do them unseasonably as when I despise Authority break good Order and destroy the Vnity and Peace of the Church for this will be an affront to Christ himself who establisht such a Constitution in his Church long before I came into the Communion of it and hath said He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me And every Soul which will not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the People Hereupon I take it for granted that I am justified in my Obedience to the Voice of the Church by the Concession of this Author which hath been mentioned already somewhere in the Margent of these Papers For saith He if my Brother will be offended at what God has made my duty there 's no Remedy but that he lay aside his unjust offence and not that I lay aside my necessary duty Mel. Inquir page 348. which Rule if well apply'd will very near determine the
whole Case betwixt us I may add for the further information of such a Brother That God expects a solemn Publick Worship should be settled in his Church and religiously perform'd to his Honour and Glory That there can be no such unless the use of our Liberty be retrench't for otherwise how shall we come to an agreement for Time Place Forme Gesture Language and all such other circumstances as are to be determined God hath therefore appointed Laws and Orders and establisht Authority and Governours to this effect That This Government and Authority is Divine and Sacred and not to be controul'd but by a Warrant and Commission from some Authority that is Higher That we must come to an agreement about time and place to celebrate and solemnize God's Publick Worship our Author is very positive For this Command saith He is so straitly bound upon the Consciences of all Churches that tho' none should determine for them nay tho' All should determine against them yet are they under its Authority and must come to an issue about it but by what means is unintelligible if there be none to determine for them nay if All determine against them yet to an Issue and Agreement about it come they must unless saith He they will draw the guilt of the neglect of worshipping God upon their Souls with that wrath which is due to so great contempt of the Divine Law Thus our Melius Inquirendum Besides I will tell this Brother I cannot go to Church and be at home at the same time no more than I can make both parts of a Contradiction true Wherefore that I may not continue pendulous and be ever in suspense and so make no use at all of my Liberty I must determine my self one way or other But if the Church which I take to be wiser than my self shall in some instances as she sees occasion determine for me I will dutifully submit my self to her Authority And he walks very uncharitably who takes upon him to censure my Practice or judge my Conscience for so doing For I know it is not this carnal liberty of the flesh to do or not to do that makes me a Christian But Righteousness and Peace Humility and other Virtues of Religion And upon a full examination of Particulars I am very well satisfied that the Rites and Ceremonies in use among us are not introductive to any false Religion or Worship but rather a Bar against it even against that of Rome which by the ignorant and by no man else it is most suspected to favour They gratifie neither the Opinion of the Jew nor of the Gentile They lead neither to Idolatry nor Superstition They are not ridiculous for any levity that is in them nor burdensome for their number and in short they are not sinful because against no Law for Sin is the Transgression of a Law and where no Law is there is no Transgression 3. 'T is the supposition of our Author that this Liberty must hold in utramque partem that we may Act or not Act Determine this or that way or it can be no Liberty pa. 339. From hence I infer that our Christian Liberty is more infringed by the Dogmatical Prohibitions of the Dissenting Teachers than by the Prudent and Regular Impositions of Ecclesiastical Governours For besides their want of Authority over me which makes their pretended Power an Vsurpation I am no more free under him that will not let me kneel for example then I am under him that will make me do it Nay he that tyes my hands behind me that I may not Act at all does restrain me more than he that does but take me by the hand to guide me in my Acting To this purpose we have the suffrage of David Rungius a Learned Lutheran who after a short Catalogue of some things indifferent in use amongst them tells us thus Haec similia qui simplicitèr necessariò retinenda vel necessariò abolenda docent utrinquevim Libertati Christianae faciunt tanquam Pseudo-doctores jugo traditionum humanarum nos captivare volentes fugiendi sunt These things and the like such as teach they are simply and necessarily to be reteined or necessarily to be abolished they do on both sides offer violence to our Christian Liberty and they ought to be avoided as false Teachers who would hold us Captive in the yoak of Humane Traditions He that forbids me the use of things indifferent does no less inthrall me then he who requires the practice of them And the Apostle as he inveighs against the superstitious use of things Gal. 4. 10. Ye observe days and months and times and years so he does likewise against the superstitious forbearance of them Col. 2. 21. Touch not taste not handle not They that are so fierce for these Negatives and have little besides their own Fancy to shew for it would draw us into the very same superstitions which St. Paul condemns in the Colossians And if they condemn the use of them as sinful they are never the less superstitious but much more intollerable 4. The restraint put upon our natural liberty by the Laws of the Church is no Impeachment of our Christian Liberty For Christian Liberty is a spiritual privilege peculiar to the Church and 't is seated in the Soul Vbi clanculò tibi licuerit fruere hoc jure saith Soto Peter Martyr De rebus adiaphoris in animo libertas est servanda The notice of our Liberty being matter of Faith has properly respect to God saith Mr. Calvin Ergo qui ejusmodi certitudine praeditus est eum conscientiae tranquilitate Coram Deo contentum esse oportet neque opus est venire in possessionem coram hominibus He therefore who enjoys a certainty hereof ought to be contented with his Peace of Conscience before God and needs not take possession of it before Men for as Soto to the same purpose Qui credit licitum esse Matrimonium non Protenùs tenetur vxorem ducere He that thinks the state of Matrimony very lawful is not obliged presently to take a Wife 2. Consistit libertas Conscientiae cum abstinentiâ non minùs quà m cum esu rei vice versa saith D. Dickson Liberty of Conscience consists no less in the use of things than in the forbearance nor a whit less in the forbearance than in the use of them But till I be determined I am in suspense and while I am in suspense I am in pain I must therefore come to a Determination for my own ease When I am determined I am not then at Liberty yet herein I do but exercise my Liberty not lose it What Man well in his wits did ever feel the loss of his Christian Liberty by putting a Gown upon his Cassock or a Surplice over both 5. I would desire such a Dissenting Brother to lay his hand upon his heart and examine himself betwixt God and his own Conscience
whether the aversion he has to the present Constitution and Orders of this Church does not proceed from some one or more of these grounds viz. either from want of Humility and Modesty in Himself or from want of Love and Reverence to the Governours or from want of a due examination of the nature ends and usefulness of the things establish't or from want of Candour and Ingenuity in putting a fair construction on them For the very same Rites and Ceremonies which we have in the Church of England are in use in all the Lutheran Churches with many others And although the Churches under Calvin's denomination have not all that are practised amongst us yet none are more strict than they in the Observation of such as they have establisht For Obedience to Authority is certainly the duty of God's Servants St. Peter calls it well-doing 1 Pet. 2. 13 15 16. and makes it as well a branch of God's Will as an exercise of our Christian Liberty For as Mr. Perkin's on Gal. 4. 28. has very well observed This is perfect Liberty when man's will is conformable to the Will of God Nor does any Church think her Liberty impeach't by such Impositions For the use and excellency of my Christian Liberty lyes in this that it teaches me to be just and dutiful without constraint and so 't is no burden to me I can comply with the Commands of my Superiors and carry my Liberty along with me And all the while I hold to the generous Resolution of the Apostle 1 Cor. 6. 12. All things are lawful for me but I will not be brought under the Power of any Knowing the Dominion I have over such indifferent things I will gratifie my weak Brother as far as I am able treat and instruct him with all ingenuity and freedom in the use of them And if my Superiours shall think fit to retrench the Practice of my freedom in some particular Instances that the world may see I am not under the sullen Spirit of fear and bondage but acted by a free Gospel-Spirit the Spirit of Power of Love and of a sound mind I will conform my self to their Commands with so much ease cheerfulness and satisfaction that it shall not look like a force or restraint upon me but as an exercise of my Liberty being very well assured for whose sake and upon what account and Principles I do it And 6. When I consider that things indifferent may be well or ill used as Mr. Perkins has observed and every Man's Experience can tell him I cannot but think my self happy in the Churches appointment for when she has determined my choice by her Injunctions to stand or kneel for example if I perform it with alacrity and reverence as I should do I find a satisfaction in my Humility and Obedience and I am the more obliged to my Superiours for the good use of my Liberty which I might have used amiss and for making that which was but indifferent of its own Nature to become of good advantage to me by her Authority And yet such is my Christian freedom even in the use of these things that while I practice them I am not at a loss either for my liberty or my duty I am not in bondage either to fear a Curse or to hope for Merit or to seek for ease of Conscience or Salvation in them The Dissenter goes on thus If I shall engage my self to the Church that I will never omit such an indifferent thing and the Soul of a weak Christian should call to me to omit it I have tied my hands by engagement I cannot help him though it would save his or a thousand Souls out of Hell because I have given away my freedom to the Church Answer That all Clergymen are engaged to the Churches in which they are appointed to Administer is no new thing no matter at all of wonder For how else can the Church be secure of their fidelity How can she trust them with the Sacred Office This therefore is the practice of every Church of any creditable Denomination But when Men get into a vain of Scrupling they can seldom or never find the way out of it One scruple begets another like circles in a troubled water Mr. Calvin has pursued this Observation rarely well in his Institutions to which I refer the Reader He concludes when some superstitious opinion has cast a scruple into our heads things that are pure in their own Nature become contaminated and unclean to us and we can make use of nothing that God allows us without perturbation and disquiet of mind When a man begins to scruple at the Cross soon after the Wedding Ring will pinch the Finger the Surplice will become an eye-sore or a burden and bowing the Knee to our Heavenly Father at the Sacrament will be thought so hard a task we shall not be willing to buckle to it Nay if we suffer our selves to be haunted with these fears a Religious Oath a Honorary Title a Civil Salutation will be a Bug-bear to our jealous minds 'T is the duty of a Ghostly Father or Spiritual Guid not to foment but to dissipate and expel such Scruples And though they have voluntarily tyed up their hands for the Satisfaction of the Church yet their tongues are let loose enough Do they therefore lay open the Nature of things indifferent Do they declare that they may be used or let alone without Sin till Authority does interpose about them Do they acquaint the People with the Power wherewith the Church is invested by the King of Saints and instruct them in their duty to that their Spiritual Mother as the Spouse of Christ Do they represent the excellency and reward of obedience to Superiors according to the Fifth Commandment and back their Discourses with their example to lead them unto Conformity These things they ought to have done whatever they have left undone Those Good Women of the Church of Corinth might have scrupled at St. Paul's injunction of the Vail and silence in the Church They might have objected that it went against the grain of a tender Conscience and their Christian Liberty to submit to such impositions which were nothing else but some of the old Traditions amongst the Jewish Rabbins They might have alleadged that Christ had made them free that they had Innocency as well as Confidence enough to lift up their faces before Angels and that for Sion's sake they could not hold their peace Whatever the Women did we know there was among them a sort of bold Men who thought they had good warrant to controul the Apostles Orders 1 Co. 14. And how does the Apostle encounter them but by an allegation of God's gentle Nature and the temperament of the Church according to it God is not the God of Confusion but of Peace as in all Churches and the impulse of his Spirit does not push men on to Contention but to love and unity and are
of the Church and he says He tells those Hebrews that their ingratitude would bring those Governours grief and trouble ut significet to signifie that we cannot be troublesom or disobedient to our Pastours Sine propriae salutis jacturâ without the loss of our own Salvation And Gerhard is very full to the like purpose The word signifies to submit themselves by a most exact and obsequious Subjection And he adds for all the Protestants of their Party That there is none of them denys but Bishops are to be obeyed in their Office and not only when they Preach the Divine Law but when they press such Ecclesiastical Constitutions as are introduced for order and decency And altho' these do not immediately and of themselves bind the Conscience yet in the general they do bind by reason of that general Precept to obey such as have Rule over us And that this is not a whit against the Liberty of Conscience we have Mr. Calvin's Suffrage who thus sums up our Christian Liberty In summa est libera servitus serva libertas Our Christianity is a free service and a servile freedom Nam sicuti servos Dei esse nos Oportet ut hoc bono fruamur for as we ought to be God's Servants that we may enjoy this benefit so Moderation is required in the use of it After this manner saith he liberae quidem sunt conscientiae our Consciences indeed are free sed hoc non obstat quin Deo serviamus qui etiam nos hominibus subjicit but notwithstanding this we must serve God who hath also made us subject unto Men Thus Calvin Thus much of Christ's yoak which is not our bondage but our privilege and ought to be our choice as it is our duty The yoak of Bondage is two-fold 1. That of Moses's Law 2. That of Satan's Tyranny 1. Satan's yoak is a yoak of Tyranny for He is the Prince of the Power of the air the spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience Eph. 2. 2. This yoak is made up of the Pomps and Vanities of the wicked world the Superstition and Idolatry with all the unclean and filthy practices which did attend them wherewith the Devil had inthrall'd the Heathen world These Galathians for a long time had had their Necks under this yoak but were now set at liberty by the light of the Gospel yet were there a sort of false Apostles who for their own ease advantage made it their business to entangle them in another yoak which they had not been accustom'd to the yoak of Circumcision and the Law of Moses and therefore he saith be not entangled again in a yoak of bondage quia si vos fideles jam circumcidimini idem est quod ad Idola Converti quibus antea serviebatis saith Bruno for if you who are Believers should now be circumcised 't is the same thing as if you should be turned unto the Idols you served before To iterum non eandem servitutis speciem sed simpliciter generalitèr iteratam servitutem significat quasi dicat Nolite iterum servire ut pridem Idolis ita nunc umbris merosis Ceremoniis saith G. Calixtus This word Again does not signifie the same kind of bondage but simply and generally an iterated or repeated bondage as if he had said be not now again in bondage to shadows and burdensome Ceremonies as you had been formerly to dumb Idols You are actually freed from one heavy yoak be not intangled in another be not insnared and inthrall'd so as to seek your ease your pardon your salvation in another which is of no more validity to that effect than the former which Christ hath therefore equally freed you from But what is all this to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England He that will undertake from the Doctrine of St. Paul to impeach the Practice of the Church of England in commanding the observance of Rites and Ceremonies and thereby restraining the use of our Christian Liberty in things indifferent must make good these two Propositions 1. That St. Paul has set up Christian Liberty above the Authority of the Church For in all things wherein the Church hath not interposed her Authority to determine our Practice we have the use of our Christian Liberty as much and as fully as we can desire But that St. Paul hath set up Christian Liberty above the Authority of the Church can never be made good as long as the Epistles to the Corinthians to Timothy Titus are extant held Canonical 2. He must prove That in the use of those Rites and Ceremonies which the Dissenters impugn we do renounce our Christianity are faln from Grace That therein wé have fellowship with Devils and that Christ shall profit us nothing but we must eternally perish in our practice For those things which the Apostle inveighs against He forbids upon this account as is most evident from all those Texts of Scripture wherein he does professedly and peremptorily handle this Matter But I do challenge the Prudence and Justice as well as the Charity of him who dares say if you wear a Surplice if you sign with the Cross if ye kneel at the Sacrament ye renounce your Christianity and are faln from Grace ye have fellowship with Devils and Christ shall profit you nothing but ye must eternally perish in that Practice To conclude this Section I must put the Dissenting Brethren in mind That the charge or injunction they insist upon Gal. 5. 1. was not written against the Church but against a Superstitious Faction which opposed Apostolical Authority And if they look upon the Superstition and Tyranny of the Church of Rome as a yoak of bondage then by a Parity of Reason They are highly concern'd in the charge upon that account For they do oppose that very Authority by which Christ hath once made them free from that yoak Which Authority doth still with the like Zeal and Courage call upon them also to stand fast in that Liberty But if they will continue to give the Emissaries of that Church advantage by their unreasonable Separations to creep into their Conventicles and make Proselytes with them which I can see no way to be avoided but by their Cordial return to the Communion of the Church of England the Scandal and burden must lye at their doors if we be again entangled The Dissenters Fourth Section They plead that they ought not to hazard their Souls in one Congregation if they may more hopefully secure them in another for that their Souls are their greatest concernment in this World and the next Now say they there 's no question but men preach such as they print with publick allowance and therefore they ought to provide better for their Souls elsewhere Especially they say That the Doctrine of Justification is Articulus stantis vel cadentis Ecclesiae an Article with which the Church falls or stands This Article say they in
a damnable neglect or the fear of persecution or a perswasion of greater perfection falls soon into Schism and Apostacy and cannot perform that duty of Charity which he is obliged to by his Christianity Vult Deus adorari nos in verâ congregari charitate saith Oecolampadius God will be worshipped and will have us to be assembled in true charity Qui ab Ecclesia Dei se scindit non orat versus Hierusalem quando quidem illam non cupit reparatam a qua ipse seperatur He that cuts himself off from the Church does not pray with his face towards Jerusalem as the Prophet Daniel did because he does not desire that the Church should be repaired from which he is seperated Thus Oecolampadius These Dissenters may reform and purify the Church they are to advise about till they leave it naked not only of Rites and Ceremonies but also of useful Truth faederal Conditions and holy Duties as others have done and do still to this day Here Mr. Baxter shall vouch for me and I will instance in the great Article of Justification He charges not a small party with misunderstanding of the nature and use of Christ's Death and Obedience as he says thinking that Christ obeyed or satisfied by suffering or both as in our persons so that the Law takes it to all ends and uses as done by us our selves as when a man payeth his debt by his Delegate This opinion saith he if I understand it blots out Law and Gospel at one dash And he adds a little after That from that Doctrine this opinion follows That we are justified before we believe nay before we sin nay before we are born nay that it is an immanent Act in God and therefore eternal and that Infidels are justified as Infidels And a little after he says The beginning of these mens misery is usually pride of their supposed graces This leads them first to a seperation from their Brethren and contempt of their Guides next to Anabaptistry and at last they turn Antinomians and Libertines and are given up to a Spirit of Madness As Luther observ'd in his time eo feruntur Spiritu Satanae ut rideant doceri a nobis fidem charitatem They are carried with such a Spirit of Satan that they deride we should teach them Faith and Charity But to return to Mr. Baxter who goes on thus When men will so horribly abuse thSe on of God as to make him a friend to sin who hath done and suffered so much to destroy it and to make his blood the chiefest defensative of transgression and the price of a Lawless and Licentious life which was shed to demonstrate God's hatred of sin and to purge the Souls of men from its power and pollution c. It 's no wonder then as he concludes if God bears no longer but do appear against them from Heaven Excommunicate them and deliver them up to Satan the Spirit of Delusion It appears by the Confutation of that Physician that Mr. Baxter thought Dr. Lewis Moulin had taken too strong a Dose of that pernicious Doctrine And he tells us further that my Lord Brooks made this the Basis of all their Vanity Pride and Insolence They have the Spirit and so know more than all the Learned Pious Godly men in the World They have the Spirit they cannot sin they cannot err Adultery is but an Act of the Flesh but they are all Spirit and no Flesh. In this case if they be Traitors heady highminded c. Who will wonder What may they not be carried up to by the imagination of the Spirit That Lord as Mr. Baxter cites him goes on with their Character and concludes How can these things be spoken of Arminians Socinians or our Prelates These Dissenters should resolve the World whether these be the more eligible or only the tolerable party they communicate with in their separation from the Church of England But because they Appeal to the word to the word let them go That word tells us of Prelates and refers us to their Authority and sets forth their Faith and Practice for our Pattern Heb. 13. 7. 17. It tells us also of false Apostles deceitful workers transforming themselves into the Apostles of Christ 2 Cor. 11. 13 14 15. But it charges us not to follow their pernitious ways And so I leave them The Dissenters Fifth Section THey plead that ther 's no Obligation upon them to own the Churches Power to impose New Terms of Communion unless the Church can prove her Power from Christ It 's not for them to disprove it it lies upon her to prove it and to prove it substantially too or else it will be hard to prove it their duty to own it The Answer 1. That Power which the Church had from the Apostles she had from Christ for the Apostles as was proved above had the mind of Christ if they did not deliver what they had received they were unfaithful And if they were unfaithful in this they might be unfaithful in all the rest and so our whole Christianity will be call'd in question 2. The Church hath not only made her Claim to a Power but has bin in actual Possession of it for more than 1600. years without interruption That Plea is enough for her to keep possession and many Rules of Law will Justify her in it 1. Melior est conditio possidentis He that is in possession has the best Title and 2. Cum Partium Jura sunt obscura favendum est Reo When the Rights of the Parties Litigant or Contesting are obscure and doubtful we are to favour the Defendant that is the Party whom the Actor or Accuser desires and labours to thrust out of Possession or lay a Guilt upon And the Law says further in dubio favendum est Superiori imperanti in doubtful Cases we are to favour the Commands of our Superiors That the Church is not Bonae Fidei Possessor and comes not honestly by her Title and Possession of this Power cannot by the Rules of Law or Equity be determined by the Melius Inquirendum of an Adversary The Actor Aggressor or Plaintiff must bring his Writ of Ejectment to try the Title and if these Dissenters have not yet been sufficiently bafled in this attempt let them at last offer us substantial Proofs to this effect and I dare promise them we shall not follow the example of this Author we will not be scurrilous not droll or quibble upon him about a substantial proof of circumstantial matters 3. This Power is not pretended to be such a plenitude of Power as they claim in the Church of Rome not a Power to all intents and purposes No not a Power to make any new Articles of Faith or institute any new Sacraments or parts of Divine Worship But only to make Orders touching Circumstances Rites and Ceremonies in the publick performance of God's service and the Administration of Discipline amongst the Members
of the Church To me it is incredible that Almighty God should appoint an Order of men to be the Guides of Souls and the Stewards of his Divine Mysteries and the means to bring them to Eternal bliss and yet not intrust them with sufficient Power for the due and worthy Administration of that Office 'T is the great charge laid upon Bishops to feed the flock of Christ Act. 20. 28. And in Scripture-sense this is to be done not only by Preaching the Gospel but also by wholsome Laws and Discipline Some means they must have to accomplish this end which can be no other then a Legislative Power And this is evident from Matt. 16. 19. What ever ye bind on Earth c. Which is understood not only of Absolution but of Excommunication and inflicting Censures And in those words of the Synod Act. 15. 28. It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no other burden than these necessary things Hence it is manifest that the Apostles imposed a Law upon Believers which they were obliged to observe else they would never have called those things necessary and a burden And why did our blessed Lord establish Superiority and Subordination in his Church some Persons to Govern and others to Obey but to keep good Order and prevent Confusion and this is no less needful in ours then it was in the Apostles times This Power therefore is to be continued in the Church to the Worlds end Matthew 28. For a full and clear Demonstration hereof These several particulars have been proved in some other Papers 1. That Christ and his Apostles intended Vnity and to obtain and preserve that Vnity They enjoyn'd Order and Vniformity in Churches 2. That the Apostles at their first preaching of the Gospel did not presently establish that Order which the state of the Church did afterwards require 3. That the Apostles expected such a settlement should be made by such as were entrusted with the Government of the Church 4. That they gave certain general Rules or Canons to direct the Governours of the Church in making such establishmenrs 5. That they left it to the Judgment and prudence of Church-Governours to determine the particulars to be established in such cases Now let us lay these Principles together 1. That the solemn Worship and Service of God cannot be performed without some Rites and Ceremonies as was observed above from Zanchy Rungius and others 2. That these Rites and Ceremonies are to be observed according to the Rules of Decency and Order And 3. That these Rules are to be adjudged and determined by such as are invested with Authority to that effect From hence it will follow unavoidably that all Subjects and Members of the Church are obliged to obey such Laws and Establishments For 't is most certain where some are impower'd to Command others are injoyned to obey else the Power given to Superiors were Nugatory and given to no effect Whereas they mention New Terms of Communion I confess the word New to my self is somewhat scandalous I am no lover of Innovations in Religion tho the Addition of Collects and Forms of Prayer upon emergent occasions is both frequent and very usefull and alterations are allowable too when the change is of importance and does not argue Levity or give scandal As to Terms of Communion the expression may be equivocal For my part I would have nothing establisht in the Church of God but what has at least general Rules and Directions in Holy Scripture and a just Authority to warrant it And this has been very carefully observed in all the Rites and Ceremonies establisht in this Church of England For any man to imagine that these things make a new worship is a very great mistake Any thing added to Divine Institutions as essential or substantial and simply necessary does change the worship saith Zanchy and makes it another But what are added yet only as things indifferent Propter Ordinem Propter Decorum ad edificationem ea substantiam Sacramentorum eòque cultum non Mutârunt Such things added for Order for Decency and to edification they change not the substance of the Sacraments for example nor the nature of the worship Now if I understand what he means by his Terms of Communion I argue thus She that has a Power to appoint Rites and Ceremonies for edification Decency and Order she hath a Power to impose Terms of Communion But the Church has a Power to appoint Rites and Ceremonies for edification Decency and Order Therefore the Church hath Power to impose Terms of Communion Besides the Proofs already produced is not this evident in the Practice of all Churches Are the Terms of Communion numerically the same in the Greek and Latin Churches If we look into the constitution of the several Protestant Churches shall we not find variety of Customs Rites and Ceremonies among them This Discord we cannot but observe in the Harmony of Confessions whether we examine Cambridge Edition of 1586. or Geneva Edition 1654 and the Church of England declares her self in these words We think it conveient that every Countrey should use such Ceremonies as they shall think best to the setting forth of God's honour and glory and to the reducing of the People to a most perfect and godly living without Error or Superstition Are the Terms of Communion the same among the Lutherans and Calvinists The Lutherans reckon these things in the Catalogue of things indifferent 1. To place Historical Images or pictures in the Church for Ornament and Commonefaction 2. To use Stone-tables which they commonly call Altars in the Administration of the Lords Supper 3. To adapt a peculiar kind of Garment to the Minister in his publick administration of the holy Office 4. In the Administration of the Eucharist either to break and divide little Cakes or Wafers or else to make use of single small ones fit for distribution 5. In Baptism to use the Lessons of exorcismes and the sign of the Cross. 6. To sing the Sacred Hymns either in the German or Latin tongue with the voice or Musical Instruments Haec Similia c. These and such like things they who teach that they are simply necessary to be reteined or necessarily to be abolished they do offer violence to Christian liberty on both sides and are to be avoided as False-teachers desirous to inthrall us in the Yoake of humane Traditions Notwithstanding this their Declaration we cannot be admitted to their Communion unless we submit to the Terms of their establishment And is not the case the same among the Presbyterians Why were the Directory the Ordinance for Ordination of Ministers the form of Church-government for England and Ireland Their Confession of Faith and their advise for Catechisms were not all these designes to be imposed as Terms of Commmunion And I am sure they were new ones never heard of in the World till the years 1645.
to let 'em alone but we believe the contrary For if they do not dogmatize themselves and their followers into superstition which is highly probable yet by their pretermission and neglect of what is injoyned them they break the Law despise Authority and give scandal to the Church and whether Hell may not ly at the bottom of such disobedience I leave it between God and themselves to judge Does not God require and delight in Verity And can there be Vnity without Obedience Does he not require us to avoid Offences and follow Peace especially with his Church Is not Schism a work of the Flesh as well as Murder or Adultery Is not a wilful and groundless separation from the Mystical Body of Christ a separation from Communion with him And is there no peril in breaking our selves off from this Vine Do they think they can climbe up to Heaven by a Ladder of their own when they place the foot of it upon ground of their own devising No No. Graviter peccant saith the Learned Zanchy They sin grievously who for these indifferent Ceremonies disturb the Churches and damn all other Magistrates and Rulers because they use their liberty in these things Is this the Piety which is boasted of Is this the Charity which we ow to the Churches of God If they want Piety and Charit who contend with other Churches about Ceremonies how little of those Christian-virtues have they to pretend to who quarrel with their own because she will not prostrate her self to gratify their humors 5. If Christ will send none to Hell for performing his worship and service rudely and slovenly with a stiff and peremptory sawciness which I am sure is no where allowed certainly he will not send to Hell such as worship him in the beauty of holiness with a due Reverence and Solemnity which he hath commanded The Dissenters Seventh Section THey pretend that the things imposed are Parts of Worship which none can Create but God nor will God accept of any but such as are of his own Creating and whether they be integral or essential Parts they do not know but in the Worship of God they find them stand upon even ground with those that are certainly Divine or at least as high as man can lift them The Answer When the Apostle saith let all things be done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to Rule and Order he does imply that somethings are to be decreed and ordered and that must be done after such a manner as is decent and to such an end as edification Orders to this effect are not the essentials of Religion but the Appendages Circumstances and Modifications of it which in a general sense we call Rites and Ceremonies And of the Dissenting Brethren this their Advocate tells us They pretend that the things imposed are Parts of Worship This he says they pretend and 't is one of the modestest expressions I have observed fall from his Pen. But why do they pretend Why because they are resolved to object and Cavil But why do they but pretend Because they cannot prove and perhaps because some of them do not believe themselves in what they suggest against the Church viz. That the rites ceremonies imposed immediately by her Authority are Parts of Worship The Worship of God is twofold 1. Internal which consists of the internal actions of a pious Soul for example the act of Faith is to believe the act of hope is to hope the act of Charity to love God and our Neighbour with other internal exercises of Piety 2. There is an external worship of God and that consists in the external exercises of Piety and these are of two sorts Some are of themselves good and acceptable to God and necessary to Salvation Such are Confession of our Lord and Saviour the external works of Faith Beneficence or doing good to our Neighbour the external work of Charity These are such effects of Piety that Piety it self cannot be without them Whereupon they are more properly called works of Piety and no less pleasing to God than the internal works themselves There are other external exercises of Piety which are conversant in external Rites and Ceremonies of God's institution and opposed to the inventions Exercises and Offices of mans devising Such are Sacraments and Sacrifices which are Ordained not for their own sakes but to be inservient to internal Piety to bring that to light and protest it to exercise and promote it to God's glory the good of our Neighbour and the salvation of our own Souls Piety is the Soul of all our worship without which the Observation of these external Rites and Ceremonies are but as a dead Carcass which God will reject as a thing of an ill savour In this worship of God 't is doubtless the Duty of the Church to give direction and call upon us to perform it But this worship is of Gods appointment and imposition not the Churches If the Rites and Ceremonies imposed by this Church be part of worship How came they to be so It must be either by Divine Institution which we are so far from pretending to that we do stedfastly deny it or else by humane estimation If we did value them at so high a rate this must appear 1. Either by the necessity we lav upon them Or 2. By the Merit and Efficacy we ascribe to them Or 3. By the preference we give them 1. The Scribes and Pharises indeed set such a value upon their Traditions which had no competent Authority to establish them but were wicked and repugnant to Divine Authority that they prefer'd them so far before God's Law as to have force enough to rescinde it and make it of none effect Matt. 15. 6. But for Rites and Ceremonies establisht among us the Church has declar'd that upon just causes they may be altered and changed and therefore are not to be esteemed equal with God's Law * 2. That we should place any Merit in the use of them cannot well be imagined when we allow no such to the very best works we can perform at God's appointment And when Authority has injoyn'd or restrain'd the use of them so that upon such a supposition they become necessary according to such restraint or injunction Yet they remain indifferent still in their own nature and do not immediately bind mens Consciences as if they were immediate parts of God's worship or of absolute necessity to salvation for which the Church has tyed our Faith strictly to the holy writ and to nothing else Artic. 20. But to proceed They say none can Create parts of worship but God nor will God accept of any but of such as are of his own Creating Here we have two things which call for our consideration 1. The Creation of worship And 2. The acceptableness of such performances as have not that stamp of God's Creation on them 1. By Creation of worship or the parts of it we suppose
heard with meekness and good attention Quam hoc utile necessarium sit in Causâ Religionis hic locus apertè ostendit How profitable and necessary this is in the Cause of Religion saith he this place does plainly manifest And that moderate Divine adds a little after Si viri boni jure jurando vel aliis idoneis rationibus se legitimè excusent recipienda est eorum excusatio If good men can purge themselves by Oath or by other meet ways their excuse is to be received There are some that will stubbornly maintain what they have once propounded Such men saith he are Authors of great mischief in Church and State Let not the Reader wonder that I insist so much upon these Authorities For has not the Church of England purged her self sufficiently by Argument against these Dissenters and entred her Protestation too to satisfy their jealousies Let us hear the Learned Pious and Judicious Bishop Dr. Sanderson Our Church God bethanked saith he is far from any such impious presumption viz. as that of the Pharisees and the Church of Rome and hath sufficiently declared her self by solemn Protestation enough to satisfy any ingenuous impartial Judgment that by requiring obedience to these Ceremonial Constitutions she hath no other purpose then to reduce her Children to an orderly Uniformity in the outward worship of God so far is she from seeking to draw any opinion either of Divine necessity upon the Constitution or of effectual holiness upon the Ceremony Thus Dr. Sanderson Our Dissenting Brethren should have been so Charitable as to have followed the steps of those Ten Tribes They should have declared their satisfaction upon the Churches Protestation and have blessed God that she is so perfectly clear of their suspition They should have been highly pleased that matters are so well this they should have done rather then to revile and cavil as they have done rather then to condemn and forsake her Communion upon their own jealousy to set up a new Altar and Altar against Altar condemn'd by all the Orthodox among the Antients They have indeed the jealousy rashness of those Tribes but not their ingenuity and condour And to shew their uncharitableness they bear the World in hand that we set up these Rites and Ceremonies as Parts of God's worship matters of necessity and design'd to insnare the Conscience But to mollify the Objection and Censure they say at last if these Rites and Ceremonies do not stand upon even ground with those things which are certainly Divine yet at least they stand as high as man can lift them But by their good leave they are mistaken in this suggestion too for they stand not so high as they are set up in the Church of Rome Aquam sale conspersam populis benedicimus ut eâ cuncti aspersi Sanctificentur ac purificentur As Alexander the First has it in an Epistle We bless Water and Salt for the People that all who are sprinkled therewith may be Sanctifyed and Purified They attribute Spiritual effects to their Ceremonies not only a power to cure Diseases to expel and drive away the Devil but to procure Grace to remit venial sins to Sanctify their Persons And they use Spiritual Acts of Consecration and solemn Benedictions to Hallow them to these effects Do the Rites and Ceremonies of the Church of England stand thus high For shame in cool blood they will not say it I suppose therefore the meaning is only this That they stand as high as of due right and lawfully we can lift them If this be their meaning tho there may be a malitious insinuation that we do something more then we ought yet really to do what of due right and lawfully we may do is no sin in us but 't is sin in them to break Communion and seperate from us upon that account Here we may observe the method and progress of Discord First they fancy and pretend a fault then they take the confidence Calumniari fortiter to make the Calumny as black as may be and to stick it upon us with as great an Odium as they can and when they have shewn their spite they mince the matter they were mistaken in their exaggeration we have done nothing but our Duty or at least what is warrantable in exalting God's solemn worship and service by lifting up the Appendages thereof to their due and decent station For other Protestant Churches do lift up their establisht Rites and Discipline as high as we and this is evident from the severity they design and inflict upon such as are refractory to the use and practice of them When such Rites and Laws about them are established the Church does not account the Observation of them so mean and vile as to be violated through contempt and with the scandal of others but such transgressors she looks upon as undecent and disorderly walkers and exerciseth her Authority to note to admonish to reprove and rebuke them and endeavours by all wholsom means to reduce them to a sound mind This is the Duty of the Church when it may be performed seasonably saith a Protestant Divine of great Learning and an acute Judgment And does not Mr. Calvin say the same I am sure it was his Practice And upon those words 1 Cor. 11. 16. If any man seems to be contentious he writes thus Tales sunt omnes qui bonos ritus utiles Convellunt nulla necessitate c. Such are all they who without any necessity root out good and profitable Rites and Ceremonies such as make controversies about matters of no difficulty such as no reason can satisfy such as will not endure to be reduced to Order such also are they who are unsociable and are carried away with a foolish affectation of novelties Such as these St. Paul will not vouchsafe to answer Because contention is a pernicious thing and ought to be banisht out of the Church Hereby as Calvin goes on he teacheth that refractory and contentious Persons are to be bridled by Authority rather then refuted by disputations c. And Grynaeus upon these words Colos. 2. 5. Joyning and beholding your Order refers Order to the whole Liturgy and Discipline of the Church and of such as walk disorderly as those mentioned 2 Thes. 3. 6. he saith Quoad ejus fieri potest in ordinem Disciplinae Ecclesiasticae severitate adhibitâ redigendi sunt They must be reduced to Order by the severe use of Church Discipline Haec ille The Dissenters Eighth Section THey do not find that God ever Commanded the things imposed either in general in special or the singulars of them If God has commanded a Duty to be done the Church must find a place to do it in but tho the Church must find a place for the Duty a time for the Duty she may not find New Duty for the time and place The Answer 1. To this I Answer That the Church can never fix upon
by seducing their simple followers But they that are such St. Jude tells us there is a sad reserve of vengeance allotted for them Jud. Ep. v. 13. 2. They say they have read over all the Books c. But do they bring minds prepared to receive the truth and Patient of convictions Lavater as was observed above tells us of Zelots in his time that would write and publish Answers before they had well considered or so much as read the Discourses they did oppose And one would think that some of these Dissenters dealt so by their Adversaries for they call their Arguments weak many times when they cannot answer them and their Reasons Futilous when they find them too convinceing to be eluded What their performances have been when they menaged this Province before that Learned Prince King James at the Conference at Hampton Court his Majesty has told us in his Proclamation of March 5. in the first year of his Reign in these words we found mighty and vehement Informations supported with so weak and slender Proofs as it appeared to us and our Counsel that there was no Cause why any Change should have been at all in that which was most impugned the Book of Common Prayer containing the form of the publick service of God here established neither in the Doctrine which appeared to be sincere nor in the Forms and Rites which were justified out of the Practice of the Primitive Church Thus saith that Learned and Judicious Prince And whatever Partial men may think the Judicious and well discerning will conclude that our present Dissenters after all their great pains and study have made very little accession of advantage to their Cause by Argument and sound Reason whatever may accrew to it by Noise Tumult and importunity 3. For Rayling 't is so much our Authors own Talent I know no man will claim it from him especially finding that the Spirit which acts in him prompts him not only to Scoff and Rail but now and then to be Smutty and Obscene 4. This Author seems to be very kind in allowing his Adversaries to have Rhetorick And 't is a quality so ornamental and useful I shall not wish them to part with it but to make use of it still to better purposes then he does his Witt and Reading to advance Obedience Peace and Piety But for contradicting themselves by which we are not to understand any ingenuous Retraction upon second thoughts and better information 't is a new Observation of this Authors never before collected out of their Writings 'T is true we have read of Richard against Baxter in 80 Pages but never of Richard against Hooker or any the like in all my time If he has found him out let him name the party 5. But the main Quaere will be How these Dissenters come to be hardened in their Errour for tho he calls it a Going astray into the right way there is no less truth in this his Drollery than in their Conviction who are mentioned Wisd. 5. 6. They have erred from the way of Truth and how so Malunt perversis Vocibus veritati reluctari quà m confessis erroribus Paci restitui as St. Austin says of the Donatists They had rather perversly resist the Truth than Confess their Errours to be restored to the Peace of the Church Let Scripture and Antiquity let the best Authority and the highest Reason urge what they can they will not be convinced or perswaded the Reason is given by the Learned Davenant They are Inscitiâ occaecati or Malitiâ abrepti or Philautiâ fascinati Either blinded by Mistakes and Ignorance or hurried away by Envy and Malice or bewitch'd by Self-love and Vain-glory. They are pre-engaged and having embarqued themselves upon other Principles and drawn so many well-meaning Souls into Association with them they are resolv'd to keep possession for their own Reputation and Interest For this Reason they study not to be inform'd but to contradict They read what is Writ against them not with a preparation of mind to receive the Truth in the love of it but to contrive the better to justifie their Separation with the odd pranks which have been plaid upon that account This makes them to Gavil at little things and to rest in nothing nor will they ever be satisfied but in the use of Forms and Canons of their own devising For to such as have read them thorowly in the opinion of their own personal Infallibility they come not much short of the Pope himself and had they Power in their hands we have some reason to believe they would no less imperiously impose the effects of it I need go no further for Evidence than the Front of a Book written by Mr. B. which bears this Arrogant Title The true and only way of Concord of all Christian Churches which puts me in mind of what Bullinger observed of the like sort of Men which pesterd the Church of God in his time Invenias hodiè saith he Morosos quosdam qui tametsi non negare possint alios Paria docere unum cum ipsis Christum praedicare cupiunt tamen se Religionis Dominos appellari imò à se profectum esse Evangelium Christi You may find saith he at this day certain froward men who though they cannot deny but other men Preach the same Christ and the same Truth with themselves yet they ambitiously affect to be called the Masters of Religion yes and to have men believe they stand engaged to them for the light and purity of the Gospel To such Arrogant Pretenders we are taught what Reply to make by the expostulation of the Great Apostle to those deceitful Workers as he calls them among the Corinthians 1 Cor. 14. 36. What Came the Word of God from you or came it unto you only But of this place we have given some account already I shall conclude this Section with the Words of the Reverend and Learned Professour who was not then Bishop Prideux Haud scio an filios alat Magis degeneres quaevis Ecclesia quam Anti-Synodicos nonnullos Novatores qui seorsìm saperent à Majoribus aut Fratribus satis ducunt ad Contemptum si quis non statim se incurvet ad eorum vestigia Hisce plerunque familiare est Transmarina longè Petita admirare Domestica extenuare Ignotos deperire praepositis vero suis quibus debito tenentur obsequio quavis arreptâ occasione recalcitrare sua tantùm deosculari quae non pallam astruunt sed occultò disseminant Tantum abest ut tales Ecclesiam audiant ut indignantur plurimùm si ipsos non audiat Ecclesia saltet ad ipsorum fistulam etiamsi incertissimum edat Modulamen Hujusmodi Superstitiosi factiosi furiosi insidiosi destinandi vel debellandi sint à vobis Dilecti Filii si Benedictionis Coelestis Messem uberem pacatam optatam expectetis I know not saith he whether any Church can
the exercise of that Right and Power in every Christian Common-wealth ought to depend upon the Authority of the Supream Civil Magistrate Wherefore that Learned and Ingenious S. P. in The Case of the Church of England p. 264 265. hath very well observed That the Bottom we build upon is this That the Church own'd by the Law of England is the very same that was establisht by the Law of Christ. For unless we suppose that the Church was Originally settled by our Saviour with Divine Authority we deny his Supremacy over his own Church and unless we suppose that the Supream Government of the Kingdom has power to abet and ratifie our Saviours establishment by Civil Laws we deny his Majesties Supremacy over his Christian Subjects and therefore both together must be taken into the right State and Constitution of the Church of England There are some Rites and Ceremonies whose Original cannot be trac'd out having bin in use in the Church of God at all times and places These are supposed with great Reason to have been derived from the Apostles themselves for such an Vniversal practice could not be introduced but by a Common and Vniversal Authority as an Vniversal effect must have a Cause of no less efficacy to produce it Now for any Particular Church to attempt a Change of such Rites and Ceremonies is as if a Quarter Sessions in a private Corporation should take upon them to dissolve or over-rule what has been regularly done and settled in a Full Parliament 3. We should consider whether there be any need of such Reformation as they endeavour There are some Rites and Ceremonies which no Person no Particular Church should presume to alter because the Vnity and Vniformity of the Catholick Church is preserved hereby and if we will possess our selves to continue in her Communion we must observe them upon the account of our Conformity to her practice But other particular Rites and Ceremonies are left to the prudence of Particular Churches to exercise their Power and Liberty with respect to the Manners and Temper of the People But That there is no Necessity of Reformation of the Publick Doctrine of the Church of England hath been made good against Doctor Burges by the Right Reverend Learned and Judicious Doctor Pearson now Lord Bishop of Chester And that there is no Need of such a Reformation of the Publick 1. Doctrine 2. Worship 3. Rites and Ceremonies 4. Church Government 5. Discipline as is pretended hath been proved by H. S. D. D. 1660. But we shall not take it for granted tho we know no Answer returned to these and several other Learned Men who have wrote in Justification of the Church of England to that effect but give our proof for it That Church which is already Reform'd and establisht according to the Word as far as a state of Frailty and Humane Prudence will admit That Church hath no need of further Reformation But such is the Church of England I would not be mistaken For I know there ought to be a proficiency in Grace and Holiness and the practice of all Christian Vertues till we arrive at such a Degree of Perfection as this Mortal condition is capable of But for a further Reformation of Doctrine or Government of Liturgy Rites and Ceremonies or of Laws and Canons if what are already enacted were duly inforced and executed we have no need of it It is duly observed by that Worthy Person even now mentioned That if every defect from Christs Institution should forfeit the Rights of a Christian Church there never was as we may find by the Apostles account of the Churches in their times nor ever will be such a thing as a Church in the World For in this life it is not to be expected that any thing should be absolutely perfect the very nature of Christianity supposes Imperfection and accepts of Integrity and as long as with sincere Affections men adhere to the Principles of the Church they are within the Promise of the Grace of God That the Church of England is not Reformed up to those Principles who can make good the Charge against her Where was the failure Did not our Reformers use sufficient Means 1 Did they not search the Scriptures according to the Rule of our Blessed Saviour Did they not understand the sense and latitude of the Scriptures Had they not an eye to the Rules of Decency and Order to God's Glory and the Edification of the Church 2 Did they not consult Antiquity according to Divine Direction Job 8. 8 10. Jer. 6. 16. 3 Did they not use a Moral Diligence to search into the nature of things for their full satisfaction 4 Did they not make this Inquiry after the Truth with a Christian Simplicity and Godly Sincerity We appeal to the Searcher of Hearts to witness this and to their own Learned and Judicious Writings to assert the other 5 Had they not as full Authority both Ecclesiastical and Civil as was needful to establish that Reformation And 6 and Lastly Have we not had God's Blessing while we Conform'd obediently to it to assure us he was well-pleased with that Establishment King James tells us in his Proclamation even now mentioned We had no reason to presume that things were so far amiss as was pretended because we had seen the Kingdom under that Form of Religion which by Law was established in the days of the late Queen of Famous Memory blessed with a Peace and Prosperity both extraordinary and of many years continuance a strong Evidence that God was therewith well-pleased But 't is an ill sign of a growing Reformation when the times afford us as they have done a long while so many Evil men and Seducers who wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived 2 Tim. 3. 13. A Reformation of Manners and Practice we acknowledge highly needful but for Ecclesiastical Orders and Constitutions about the Worship and Service of God there wants nothing but a hearty Observation to improve them 4. It is to be considered with great attention Whether such as are in Authority and are satisfied that there is no need of Reformation should alter Legal Constitutions to gratifie whether the Humor or Importunity of Dissenters In the management hereof I shall consult no Passion or Interest nor be swayed by any prejudice resolving only to give the sense of other Protestants and I shall begin with the Lutherans 'T is the Resolution of David Rungius After a faithful account given of the free use of things indifferent such as will not submit to a just Authority nothing is to be done in their favour but as Persons persisting in their purpose out of Hypocrisie or Stubborness out of a love of Contention or some other Mental distemper they are sharply to be reproved Brochmand another eminent Man of that Party saith Some respect is to be had of the Weak in order to their Information but to such as are obstinately Superstitious
maliciously Treacherous or falsé Brethren there ought not to be the least yielding His Reasons are these Lest hereby we should confirm the Superstitious in their Superstition or Minister Scandal and an occasion of Errour to such as are conformable or afford such false Brethren matter to glory in The Learned Meisner has muster'd up no less than Seven Arguments to the same purpose which I shall collect as briefly as is possible 1. The first is drawn from the Nature of things Indifferent which is such as that they may be freely used or freely disused or abrogated but when the disuse abrogation or practice is obtruded as of Necessity and Coaction the nature of such Indifferent things is violated 2. From the Nature of Christian Liberty This is a valuable Treasure and of Christs own purchasing but 't is endanger'd by a double Invasion 1. When things not commanded by God's Word are imposed as absolutely necessary to be observed 2. When things not forbidden by God's Word are restrain'd as sinful to be practised There is Errour and Superstition on either side and Christian Liberty is equally betrayed in them both which Authority therefore should neither abet nor tolerate 3. From the Duty of true Christians An ingenuous Profession of the Gospel to assert the whole Truth thereof with the Priviledges which accrue to us thereby especially when assaulted and opposed and such is our Christian Liberty with the free use or disuse of things Indifferent not determined by Authority whose Power the Gospel has established This is a Christians Duty A flat denial whereof is against that Profession which Christ requires Matt. 10. 33. and to dissemble it is unwarrantable and we ought to avoid the appearance of it as one of the unfruitful works of darkness that we betray not our Profession 4. From the general Command touching the lawful use of Ceremonies and things Indifferent Wherein three things are to be observed Order Decency and Edification Good Order is not kept in tumultuous Alterations All Change is dangerous in Church and State No man can foresee what disturbance will ensue upon an inconsiderate variation of indifferent and inoffensive Ceremonies especially in a time when such Christian Priviledges and Publick Authority ought to be own'd and preserved inviolable What Doubts may arise upon such a Change and what Confusion may follow it who will take upon him to determine Is not the Confusion great when things Indifferent are exposed for Necessary and things Absolutely necessary accounted but Indifferent Can it be inservient either to Order or Decency when there is no degree of Superiority and Subordination among the Ministers of the Church No distinction of Habits between the Laity and the Ministers of the Gospel observed Who can think the Church is Edified where all Genuflexion all Reverence all evidences of a Devout mind are out of practice When all the Proper Lessons that should inculcate the Great Mysteries which are to be represented for our Memory our Devotion and Gratitude on the Festivals of the Nativity the Resurrection and Pentecost c. are abrogated and perhaps the History of Lot's Incest and the like things most incongruous for such Sacred Solemnities shall be surrogated and read in their stead 5. A Fifth Argument is drawn Ab incommodo from the great Incommodiousness of it As the general Command requires in matters of Indifferency that all things be done to edification so the Law of Charity forbids us to do any thing that may either offend the Weak in the practice of their Conformity or confirm the Adversaries in their Errour the Example of the Great Apostle affording us signal Instances to these purposes The Mischiefs of such a Scandal are sufficiently collected from the Woe our Saviour has denounced against the Authors of them Matt. 18. 6 7. And the Mischiefs of such a Confirmation of obstinate Dissenters are too evident saith he by Experience The Peace of the Church is not hereby obtained but the safety thereof much endangered for the Adversaries do not acquiesce in such Concessions but take occasion from thence to proceed in defending their Errours and disturbing the Church an Example whereof has given us a late Experiment in the Dukedom of Anhalt If they can obtain to have things abrogated because they are pleased to load them with the reproach of Superstition and Sinfulness they cannot with a fairer occasion to traduce other Matters and by this specious Argument of yielding in such Cases among the weaker and worse sort of Men to render Them suspected in their Principles whom they had formerily treated with all respect and reverence as the Ministers of God Hereupon such as are not well Confirmed will be apt to fall away and others will be offended at their defection and so the Church saith he will not be edified but destroyed the Course of the Gospel not promoted but hindred and at last Truth it self not asserted but weakened and subverted 6. A Sixth Argument he draws from The Practice of the Primitive Church Circumcision being then but a thing indifferent as he observes St. Paul according to the Rule of Charity and Christian Liberty did sometime practice it but when false Brethren did fraudulently intrude to spy out and betray the Liberty of the Church and attempted to impose it as a matter of Necessity St. Paul did absolutely reject it and condemn it Simile ergo c. In like manner the Rites and Ceremonies used in the Lutheran Churches are Adiaphora things indifferent neither commanded nor forbidden either by any Divine Law or Prohibition God leaving them as a middle sort of things which the Church may either freely use or not use at her pleasure Now saith he seeing the Calvinists would put a necessary abstention and restraint upon us as to the use of these things 't is out of all question they would in effect betray our Liberty Wherefore such as are faithful Asserters of the Christian Liberty ought not to yield to them in the least that according to their duty the Truth and Priviledges of the Gospel may be preserved inviolable from all bondage and dissimulation Such as do otherwise by a tame and cowardly Cession do betray our Liberty give scandal to the weak and offer a manifest violence to Apostolical Practice 7. His last Argument is drawn from the insufficiency and weakness of the Adversaries Reasons to make good their pretensions which he does clearly evince as will appear to any man that shall take the pains to examine the Discourse it self to which I remit the Reader I have studied to be concise in the Abridgment of his Arguments which he concludes thus That the Calvinists may obtain what they desire 't is necessary that they urge their abrogation upon an honest Title and prove by evident Reasons that the Rites received in our Churches are not purged from the Superstitions and abuses of the Romanists but serve to nourish them Which since they never did attempt because Experience is a clear
Evidence to the contrary therefore according to the Liberty purchased for us saith he we do retain these Ceremonies which are indifferent in themselves and no where forbidden by the Word of God And that the Nature of things indifferent may remain entire Christian Liberty safe and the Truth unshaken we are resolved not to yield no not so much as for one moment to the intemperance of our Adversaries who under a pretence of Zeal do nothing in matters of Religion but with tumult and an immoderate Asperity Thus the Learned Meisner on behalf of the Lutherans Yet I cannot omit another pregnant Evidence of their strictness in adhering to their establishment which we find in an Extract out of the National Synod held by the Churches of France at Charenton in September 1631. In the Chapter which contains their General Acts their Answer made to an Address of some of the Lutheran Perswasion Translated into English either by Mr. Samuel Hartlip or Mr. John Dury Printed 1641. runs in these very words viz. Touching the request made by the Province of Burgoigne that such of the Faithful as embrace the Augustane Confession might be permitted to Contract Marriages and bring their Children to be baptized in our Churches without abjuring the former Opinions which they hold contrary to the Belief of these Churches The Synod doth declare that seeing the Churches of the Confession of Ausburg do agree with the other Reformed Churches in the Principles and Fundamental Points of true Religion and that in their Discipline and Form of Divine Worship there is neither Idolatry nor Superstition Such of the Faithful of that Confession as shall with the Spirit of Charity and in a truly Peaceable way joyn themselves unto the Publick Assemblies of the Churches in this Kingdom and desire to Communicate with them may without the Abjuration aforesaid be admitted to the Holy Table Contract Marriages with the Faithful of our Confession and present themselves in the quality of God-Fathers to the Children which shall be baptized Upon their Promise given to the Consistory that they will never solicite them to Contradict or do any thing directly or indirectly against the Doctrine believed and professed in our Churches but shall content themselves with giving them Instruction only in things wherein we all agree The Note in the Geneva Bible at 1 Cor. 14. 38. is worth our observation The Church ought not to care for such as be stubbornly ignorant and will not abide to be taught but to go forward notwithstanding in those things which are right Nay in their Books of Discipline as was observed above they Decree That such as will not acquiesce in the Decision of their National Synod and expresly cast of their Errours shall be cut off from the Communion of the Church And this we find practised in Genevah with great severity for Goulartius and the rest of the Consistory deprived Rotarius one of their Ministers and thrust him out of their City and which is more they hunted him by their Letters out of a Town not far from thence which had entertain'd him for their Pastour And all this was done because he gave the Cup in his own Church with his own hand not permitting a Lay-man to deliver it This Fact of his was not the breach of any Ancient Canon of the Church but consonant to our Saviour's own Practice at the Institution of the Sacrament yet being against the Custome of that place they did thus sharply punish it And Mr. Calvin does seem to justifie such rigour upon a Rule of the Apostle 1 Cor. 11. 16. which affords him this Observation Authoritate magìs compescendos esse pervicaces rixandi cupidos quà m refellendos longis disputationibus that is Such as are stubborn and addicted to dispute and wrangle and refuse to sit down quietly by the Publick Determinations and Practice of the Church are not to be treated with Disputations but to be bridled by Authority And there 's AN END AN ANSWER Sent to the Ecclesiastical Assembly at LONDON By the Reverend Noble and Learned Man JOHN DEODATE THE Famous professor of Divinity And most vigilant Pastor of GENEVAH With some Marginal Notes by the late King Printed at Newcastle by Stephen Bulkley 1647. The Translators Preface To the Simple Seduced Reader Reader MAy the Father of Lights open thine Eyes to see over this Strangers shoulders and by this Impartial perspective what thou whilst kept down thus low by the new Masters and through thy Seducers false Mediums hast not hitherto been suffered to perceive it being till now purposely hid from thine Eyes Behold a meer Stranger that notwithstanding his manifold Obligations and personal ingagements to a contrary Discipline in the Church and different form of Government in the State yet overruled by the manifest Truth and Honesty of the Kings Cause breaks through all those Restraints of his Liberty as far as he may to tell the thus much plain English Truth Behold here Geneva's veneration and full vindication too of thine own Mother the Church of England as it stood under Episcopacy traduced here at home by her own spurious Brood for Superstitious Popish Antichristian what not And this Apology directed to the Assemblymen in answer to their Letter what ever it was Behold here again a clear Justification of the King vilified by his own for that for which strangers do admire him his Clemency his Inclinations to Peace his Acts of Grace c. Behold here the Root of Gall that which hath brought forth all these National Mischiefs the Popular Tumults and Conspiracies pointed at there as the only Evident Cause of the Kings Divorce from the Parliament See here by whom poor Ireland was deserted one thing also thou mayst here take notice of from these standers by That the Clergy in their own proper Sphere may be as fit and as honest and perhaps in some respect more able for the good speed of a Treaty than those that do slight them with utter preterition Last of all behold here the Loyal and Religious Subjects only Militia or his own proper Magazine to witt the known Laws of the Land that and Prayer and Submission are the only defensive weapons allowed here by this Master of Fence I say no more to thee save only that I do heartily pity thee and therefore I do still pray for thee and for all thy fellow-bondmen That God will bring into the way of Truth all such as have erred and deceived Amen Reverend Godly and worthy Sirs our Dear Brethren and Companions in the work of the Lord. IF proportionably to the grief we have conceived at your Letters wherein you have expressed the most sad face of your Affaires we had but as much Ability either by our Consolations to asswage your sorrows or by our Counsels to ease your Burthens or by any our Co-operation to help your Extremity we should think our selves very happy in so well corresponding with your Honourable and most
But to think the Walls of the City are presently to be broken down to let in this Trojan Horse as a great Prelate exprest himself at Court is an attempt like to be fatal and a certain way to bring in ruine 5. That some should be obliged to obey the Laws and shew Conformity and others be dispensed with cannot stand with Equity Aequalitas prima pars aequitatis saith Seneca Equalitie is the first and chiefest part of Equite We are taught also by a dear experience that such a dispensation will breed division for a division in Laws makes division in Kingdoms a choosing of sides and a mustering into Parties whence strife infallibly with Envy Emulations Contentions and a Worldr of other mischiefs do arise And as Division in Laws causes division in Kingdoms so those divisions cause the subversion and overthrow of such Kingdoms For 't is Gospel that a Kingdom divided against it self cannot stand Satans Kingdom thus divided would come to desolation how then can a Kingdom of Flesh and Blood a Kingdom of Mortal Men subject to impetuous passions subsist under Agony and conflict of divisions If there were no such danger likely to ensue upon a Toleration or Connivance yet it cannot stand with Decency and Honour that one People within the same Land and under the same Government and especially Monarchical should be under divers Laws 'T is like an Oracle in Curtius Ejusdem Juris esse debent qui sub eodem Rege Victuri sunt Such as are under the Government of one and the same King within the same Land and Nation should be under one and the same Law especially as to publick Administrations 6. But the prevailing Argument is The Hellish Plots the Implacable Malice and the Secret Combinations of the Popish party to destroy us the consideration whereof is thought sufficient to induce us to take into Union and Association with us all sorts of Dissenters that have but Mettle and Edge enough to encounter and oppose the Chuch of Rome But has the matter been duly weighed in an equal Ballance Or has not the dreadful apprehension of a present attempt from the one party so far transported us as to make us forget the like tho perhaps a little more remote danger which threatens us from the other Queen Elizabeth in her time thought it a measuring cast which of the two Factions was the more pernitious to the Rights of the Crown and the establisht Government She knew the Principles of these Dissenters as well as those of the Popish Priests and Jesuites she observed their practices also and the Methods they took that altho they began with tender and meek Petitions yet they proceeded to Admonitions nay to sharp and Satyrical Remonstrances and at last having Calculated their numbers and Computed who was and who was not for their Cause they supposed themselves certain of so great a Party that they durst and began to threaten first the Bishops then the Queen and Parliament Hereupon the Queen having a strict Eye and Check upon them in a Parliament held the 28th of her Reign Commanded Serjeant Puckering who was then Her Mouth as well as the Speaker of the House of Commons to declare her Majesties sense and to caution her Subjects against them which was done in these expressions And especially you are Commanded by her Majesty saith he to take heed that no ear be given or time afforded to the wearysome Solicitations of those that commonly be called Puritans wherewith all the late Parliaments have been exceedingly importun'd Which sort of men whilst in the giddiness of their Spirits they labour and strive to advance a new Eldership they do nothing else but disturbe the good People of the Church and Commonwealth which is as well grounded for the Body of Religion it self and as well guided for the Discipline as any Realm that professeth the Truth And the same thing is already made good to the World by many the Writings of Godly and Learned Men neither answered nor answerable by any of these new fangled Refiners And as the present Case standeth it may be doubted whether they or the Jesuites do offer more danger or be more speedily to be repressed For albeit the Jesuites do impoyson the hearts of her Majesties Subjects under a pretence of Conscience to withdraw them from obedience due to her Majesty yet do they the same but closely and only in privy Corners But these men do both publish in their printed Books and teach in all their Conventicles sundry Opinions not only dangerous to the well setled Estate and Policy of this Realm by putting a Pyke between the Clergy and the Laity but also much derogatory to her Sacred Majesty and her Crown as well by the diminution of her antient and lawful Revenues and by denying her Highnesses Prerogative and Supremacy as by offering peril to her Majesties safety in her own Kingdom In all which things howsoever in many other points they pretend to be at War with the Popish-Jesuites yet by this Seperation of themselves from the Vnity of their fellow Subjects and by abasing the Sacred Authority and Majesty of their Prince they do but joyn and concur with the Jesuites in opening the door and preparing the way to the Spanish Invasion that is threatned against the Realm This was the sense of that Great Queen and her Great Council And hereupon such Laws were Inacted as were designed to strike equally at both Factions Now upon the premisses the Quere will be whether such as attempt to violate and dissolve those Laws which she made to secure the Church and Kingdom as then established do Cordially affect the Authority she had and the Government she exercised In all reason such as pretend so great a veneration for her Name should defer some thing to her Judgment and yield something to her Wisdom and Experience But if she were now alive might she not find just cause to expostulate with Subjects as our Saviour did some time with his Disciples Why call ye me Lord Lord and do not the things which I say You call me Renownd and Glorious a Queen of Blessed Memory and you honour me with a piece of Formal Pageantry but you have no Reverence for the Authority which I was invested with For have you not the same Crown the same Sword and the same Scepter still Have you not the same Government the same Reformation the same Religion which was publickly profest maintained and honoured in my Reign For where 's the difference No alteration no addition has been made but for the advantage of the Nation and the Protestant Cause in general yet what Elogies are given of her daies and how is the Protestant Religion cry'd up for the flourishing condition of it under her Government The Protestant Religion says Vox populi in which they and their Fathers have been so many years bred and under which they have seen so many happy Days freed from the
Laws and Orders which are inacted and appointed by That Authority What Those Laws and Orders are have been declared already we shall add these further Observations of them 1. They were occasional yet the occasions for their introduction were such as will perpetuate the force and obligation of them The Moral Law which prescribes the Substantial Worship of God teaches a double Duty 1. To Glorife our God And 2. To Edifie our Neighbour This gives the occasion and ground to the Rule of Significancy that in the Publick performance of Divine Worship and Service we do all things with understanding 1 Cor. 14. 15. I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with understanding also I will sing with the spirit and I will sing with the understanding also Orabo spiritu i. e. in demonstratione donorum spiritualium Orabo intelligentia i. e. ut intelligar ab aliis That is I will make such a demonstration of my spiritual Gifts as shall be intelligible Here is a single instance in point of Language For prescinding from the consideration of God's Glory in the Churches edification 't is indifferent what Language we use in our Prayers and Sermons And by a parity of reason not all Offices and Forms of Administration only but all Rites and Ceremonies should be significant 2. Under colour of Christian Liberty many let loose the rains to their lusts and sensual appetites were luxurious and libidinous even to a Proverb accounting Fornication amongst things indifferent as is generally observed by Learned Men. And this was a noted Vice among the Corinthians insomuch as Corinthiari Prisci vulgato joco dicebant eos qui voluptatibus Scortationibus indulgerent Lenocinium exercerunt saith Bullinger ad 1 Cor. 6 68. they were wont to say of such as did indulge their Lusts and lived in carnal Pleasures that they plaid the Corinthians Others again tho' they did not addict themselves to such leud and dishonest courses yet would take liberty to walk contrary to the Decorum of civil Modesty and common Custom whereof the Apostle has given several instances 1 Cor. 11. 4 16 21 22 34 35. and they would needs make Religion their pretence and the House of God their Sanctuary for this Prophaneness These unseemly and dishonest courses gave occasion for that Rule of Decency 3. Under pretence of extraordinary Gifts and sudden impulses of the spirit some would start up and possibly at the suggestion of the Tempter or the motion of Fancy to the interruption of more grave modest and solid Teachers and to the disturbance of the whole Congregation Vid. Grot. ad 1 Cor. 14. 27 34. Quando unus adversus alterum tumens illo adhuc loquente loqui tentabat dissentionem faciebat saith Haymo hoc Deo execrabile erat When one man swell'd against another and would attempt to speak before the words were out of the other man's mouth this made Dissention and was execrable to Almighty God This occasion'd that Rule 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let all things be done according to order 4. When the Gentiles had cast off the yoak of their Heathen Superstition and Idolatry and embraced the Faith of Christ there were false Apostles who made it their business to reconcile them to the Law of Moses And did tempt them to adopt the Foederal Rites of the Jews yea and of the Gentiles too into their practice with the Profession of Christianity This was plausible upon the account of Christian Liberty and the pretence that these things were now become indifferent but the Apostle observes the Practice not only to be hypocritical and unwarrantable for that reason but to be full of peril and hazard otherwise And this gave rise to his Rule of Expediency 2. These Laws and Rules as they were Occasional so they are General and there was some reason for it The same particular and special Rules would not suit with all Places Times and Tempers Several Nations have their several Manners Humours Customs and we see what is Veneration and Decency in one part of the World is not accounted so in another Hence we find variety of Rites Forms and Customs in several Churches and those Churches are not to be blam'd for it keeping to the General and Apostolick Rule Absit ambitio absit pervicacia absit fastus contemptus aliarum adsit è conversò studium aedificationis adsit moderatio prudentia tunc in rituum varietate nihil exit repraehensione dignum saith Mr. Calvin ad 1 Cor. 14. 36. Away with Ambition away with Obstinacy away with Pride and Contempt of others and on the other side take in Prudence take in Moderation take in a care of Edification and then in the variety of Rites and Customs there is nothing to be reprehended The Apostles Rule is general and the Prudence of Governours must deduce particulars as for decency so for significancy and intelligibleness as occasion serves suitable to the Circumstances of Times Places and Persons 3. We may observe also That these Laws and Rules and Orders being Apostolical are as to the Original the root and ground of them Divine as if they came from the very Spirit and Mouth of Christ himself So the Apostle They are the Commandments of the Lord 1 Cor. 14. 37. The Reader may reflect upon what was mentioned above from Calvin Hemmingius Dickson and Grotius in Confirmation hereof Calixtus glosses thus upon the words Divinoe voluntati Consentaneum esse Let him know that 't is consonant to the Divine Will that all things be performed which the Apostle has prescrib'd for Order and Edification For that good order be kept is a Divine Command But what order ought to be kept this or that is to be collected from the diverse Consideration of Persons Times and other Circumstances Thus Calixtus And Bullinger to the like purpose when the Apostle saith If any one seems to be a Prophet let him know that what I write unto you are the Commandements of God He does clearly confirm that all which he had written of Prophecy and the use of Tongues and of Ecclesiastical Assemblies in general non ex humana sed divina traditione scripsit He wrote it not upon any Humane but a Divine Tradition From hence it will follow in the last place 4. That Laws made according to such general Rules are necessary to be obeyed we must look upon them as having their approbation from the mouth of Christ saith Mr. Calvin and Jure divino says Hemmingius they do call for our obedience And we have the suffrage of a great Council with the assistance of the Holy Ghost for it Act. 15. 28. The things there injoyn'd are call'd necessary things and accordingly Hierome glosses upon those words of St. Paul even now mentioned 1 Cor. 14. 28 These things are the Commandements of the Lord that is God has by me Commanded quae factu sunt necessaria those things which are necessary
a time or place for publick worship without Order and Authority For when matters are left at random Quot homines tot sententiae So many men so many minds and the confusion of Tongues is not so destructive as that of Judgments One will be for the hour Nine another will not have his Devotion up and drest till at least Eleven One again will be for the Barn another for the Tabernacle And although this Gentleman tells us of a Church that will and must certainly agree about such things though all determine to the contrary as was observed above yet I have not been so happy as to converse in that Vtopia 2. Natural Circumstances are not Rites in the practice of Religion and God's worship upon that account but as they are capable of improvement in a Moral or Religious respect That all things be done decently according to Order and to Edification These Rules look a little higher then those Natural circumstances which adhere inseperably to all Actions for which there was no such need of a solemn charge or Apostolical direction Time being a Fluid thing and always in motion we can fix no respect upon it but as we seperate several portions of it to be the measure of our worship and service for point of duration and take care for the strict observance of them But the place is capable of more advantage to help devotion God therefore seems to distinguish them as to the respects we are to give them for he saith Levit. 19. 30. Ye shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my Sanctuary I am the Lord. And here I must repeat That Order requires the same time the same place the same gesture and Decency requires that the Rites and Vsages in God's worship be honest grave solemn suitable to the Majesty we adore and the Offices of Divine worship which we pay to him 3. We say New Rites do not make a New Duty not alter God's Law or change his Worship as was noted out of Zanchy 'T is the same Duty still whether performed at 9. or the 12th hour in a Church or Chappel Cathedral or a Parish Church in a Cloak or Cassok Gown or Surplice standing or Kneeling And because our Author is so good at illustrations I will make bold for once to borrow a familiar instance from him Suppose a Law promulgated by the Legislator That every Subject shall sweep his door once a week with a Beesom Now to sweep my Door with a Beesom of Birch or Broom cannot possibly be any Addition to that Law or say I the setting up of a New Duty because 't is necessarily required to the putting of the Law in practice that I do it with the one or the other and therefore they are both comprehended virtually in the Law by way of disjunction that is either with this or that or some other Again to sweep my Door on the Third day of the week and at the ninth hour of the day can be no addition to the Law because I am commanded to do it upon some day in the week and at some hour of the day and the Law not having defined the precise day and hour supposes it indifferent to the Lawgiver which I choose but one or other I must choose unless I will obstinately disobey the Law We shall make use of this illustration thus God makes a Law that we shall give him external worship Now to worship him by Bowing Kneeling or Prostration cannot possibly be any addition to that Law because 't is necessarily required to the putting of the Law in practice that I do it with the one or the other and therefore they are all three comprehended virtually in the Law by way of disjunction that is either after this or that or the other manner Again God commands me to confess the Faith of Christ Crucified and profess my self a Christian Now to make this Confession or Profession by word of mouth or by the subscription of my hand or by some Symbolical sign or significant gesture cannot possibly be any addition to that Law because 't is necessarily required to the putting of the Law in practice that I do it either the one way or the other and therefore they are all comprehended virtually in the Law by way of disjunction that is I must do it either this way or that or the other And the Law not having defined the precise way supposes it indifferent to the Lawgiver which I chuse but one or other I must chuse unless the Church has chosen for me or else I am an obstinate Transgressor 4. It is no derogation to the perfection of Scripture as a Rule that the Singulars or Particular instances of Worship are not specified in it For as our Author well observes 't is always supposed that every one in his private or more publick capacity be able to use and apply the Rule As the Square or Rule of the Architect however exact in it self yet presupposes him to have eyes to see and Brains to apply it to his work so the Scripture as a Law teaches Duty and whatever of well-pleasing Obedience we can perform to God yet supposes us at least to be Rational Creatures that can apply that Law to our own particular Actions whence these two things must necessarily follow 1. That it was not only needless but impossible that the Scripture should enumerate or determine upon the Particular Natural Circumstances of general Time Place Person When Where Who should worship God every day hour minute to the End of the World for so the whole World would not have afforded sufficient stowage for Rubricks nor have been able to contain the Volumns that must have been written for as the End and use of a Rule is not to teach the Artificer when he shall begin to work but how he may do it like a workman whenever he begins so neither was the Scripture design'd for a Clock to tell us at what hour of the day we should commence the publick Service of God but that whenever we begin or end we mannage it according to this Rule 2. That when the Scripture hath prescribed us all the Parts of worship instituted the Administrators of worship given Rules how to seperate them to that Office and laid down general Rules for the regulating those natural Circumstances which could not particularly be determin'd as that they be done to edification decently and in Order And has withal commanded us to attend to this Rule and no other which is true Sano sensu it has then discharged the Office of of a Rule and as a Rule is compleat and perfect Thus our Author has Architectonically erected his Hypothesis but the singulars are not yet determined And what must be done for them Jus Naturae docet esse Deum ip sique reddendum esse quod suum est nempe Cultum tum internum tum externum says our Synopsis The Law of Nature teaches there is a God and