prodigies of mischief whereunto our unhappy Service-Book hath been highly accessary we may be groundedly confident that they would never have found either heart or hand to lift up toward the promoting of it But in them is fulfilled the latter part of this old Distich 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Good Fruit on bad Intendments sometime grows And from good meanings sometimes Evil flows 5. And lastly upon the present account It is not unworthy his consideration whose heart is firmly set within him to please God in worshipping him that the Liturgy or Prayer-Book into which we are yet enquiring is like unto a Net which seldom encloseth any good Fish but multitudes and great sholes of those that are bad It is sufficiently known that the great body or bulk of those that go wondering after it and can savour no other kind or manner of Worship at least none comparatively but that which the tradition of this Book teacheth them are more generally men and women of one or more of these sad characters ignorant prophane superstitious time-servers fearful unbelieving haters of those that are good Drunkards Adulterers Extortioners Covetous c. And though the proportion of one of a City and two of a Tribe of persons of Conscience and truly fearing God at whose Judgements and Consciences the Convictions of the Unlawfulness of that Worship are not yet arrived may be found in that Crowd yet it is hardly credible that such as these should at any time partake in it with any great contentment or good apayment of Soul Persons of crazy and ill-aboding Consciences especially if they be as well outwardly as inwardly obnoxious are therefore in all likelihood so impotently devoted to the Book and Prayers we speak of because these take pity on them and intreat them gently according to the common saying Missa non mordet THE MASS BITES NOT It is not like unto the Spirit of God in the mouth of his able faithful and zealous Ministers of a searching expostulating convincing sharply-reproving nature the sound of it is not like that of Thunder to awaken or terrifie men but as the noise which a soft and gentle stream makes among Pebble Stones which disposeth unto sleep Now amongst many Arguments which war strongly against the said Book and Worship dictated therein this methinks should do thorow execution upon the Judgements and Consciences of those that are spiritually-minded and make treasure of the Love of God viz. That they that are so zealously addicted unto them even to the hatred and persecution of those that in the use of them cannot say Amen with them are more generally if not universally persons much estranged from the life of God and affectionate lovers of this present world For it is no light presumption of the Carnality of a Worship and that it is such as pleaseth not God when it so pleaseth his Enemies for such are all those that live not in subjection to his Laws Luk. 19.27 Rom. 8.7 and withal is of an uncouth and horrid taste unto those that love him and keep his Commandments It is a sign of the voice of a stranger and not of Christ when the Sheep of Christ do not hear it but slee from it John 10.4 5 27. And the reasoning of this Apostle 1 Joh. 4.5 about matter of Doctrine is as demonstrative in the case of Worship now before us They are of the World i. e. Teachers of whom I admonish you that you take heed are of the same genius with the generality of men in the world who love Ease Pleasure Riches Honour c. therefore speak they of the World or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of or from the world that is they enquire and observe how matters go in the world that so they may know how to promote their worldly Interest and accordingly they frame their Doctrines and Teachings And the World heareth them that is persons worldly-minded fall in readily and greedily with them their Doctrine so well suiting their Principles Dispositions and Desires So when a Form or Method of Worship for there is the same reason of Worship and Doctrine as to the consideration in hand as was lately hinted shall generally court and comport with the Humours Fancies and Consciences such as they are of loose ignorant superstitious and earthly-minded-men it is an argument concluding above all peradventure that the complexion frame and constitution of it answereth the genius temper and spirit of these men much like as in Solomon's resemblance face answereth to face in the water That manner or kind of Worship which God seeketh and delighteth in is not like to rellish with the corrupt taste of sensual and carnal men any whit better then Paul's preaching did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 amongst those that were lost or rather perishing that is in imminent danger of being lost to whom it was the savour of death unto death 2 Cor. 2.16 that is it filled their Consciences ever and anon with strong resentments of the wrath of God coming out against them like an armed man to destroy them for their sins It is recorded of Antisthenes that when the unworthy multitude contrary to their wonted manner of dealing by vertuous and worthy men commended him he expressed himself in this question 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Alas what evil have I done If the Common-Prayer-Book did no evil we may very reasonably judge that the great host of the present Proselytes and Admirers of it would leave it as solitary as a Beacon on an hill And it was the right saying of another Recti argumentum est pessimis displicere it is no light argument of the goodness whether of a person or thing when those that are very bad are displeased with either Nero's hatred of the Gospel was by ancient Christians construed as a testimony of the excellency and worth of it Certainly the right and approved Worship or way of worshiping God will never make glad the hearts of such a Generation of men as now rejoyce in and glory over the Book of common-Common-Prayer But 2. Though these general considerations relating onely to the matter and form or substance of this Book unto which many others of a more particular import and drawn from the unmeet expressions and passages in it which are very numerous might be added upon the same account are too considerable and weighty to be easily removed off the Judgements and Consciences of serious and considering-men yet the little finger of the imposition of it and of the Worship so called directed and held forth in it is by many degrees heavier then the loyns of a thousand such considerations and of a more tremend aspect in the eye of every Conscience that is enlightened duely and clearly to apprehend the nature and consequence of it For suppose the property of the Book should be so far altered that whereas it is now like the politick Body of the Jewish State in Isaiah's days The whole head is sick and
Note THIS Discourse was drawn up during the Regency and Authority of the Old Service-Book since which time the many Diseases cleaving to it have it seems occasioned the Death of it and this the raising up of another in its stead of a new Calculation So that I know not whether the Scrutinie here made into the former Book will in all Points touch with the latter I suppose the Herings in the one Barrel differ not much from those in the other common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book DEVOTIONS Episcopal Delusions OR THE SECOND DEATH OF The service-Service-Book WHEREIN The unlawfulness with advantage of the Imposition of Liturgies or stinted Forms of Prayer or of the Worship of God and more especially of the English Service-Book is clearly and plainly demonstrated from the Scriptures and grounds in Reason with Answers to the Arguments and Pleas insisted on in Defence of the said Impositions But they shall proceed no further for their folly shall be manifest unto all men as theirs also was 2 Tim. 3.9 His Spirit was stirred within him when he saw the City wholly given to Idolatry Acts 17.16 For this cause was I born and for this cause came I into the world that I should bear witness unto the Truth John 18.37 And so will I go in unto the King which is not according to the Law and if I perish I perish Hester 4.16 Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth Gal. 4.16 Adulterum est impium est sacrilegium est quicquid humano furore instituitur ut dispositio divina violetur Cypr. Lib. 1. Ep. 8. Veritati potest nemo prescribere non spacium temporum no patrocinia personarum Teitul de Veland Virg. Doctis in speciem sanctis hoc consuetum ut caeteris Christo obnixius resistant Mulculus in Mat. p. 423. Printed in the Year 1666. To the Conscientious Reader CHRISTIAN READER THIS ensuing Discourse needeth no Epistle to commend it nor humane Patron to protect it an Epistolary Porch can add no more to its worth than a well placed Beauty-Spot to a good Complection whose Brightness is set off by the contrary Blackness The Workman was a person as well furnished with Stuff Tools Skill for Temple-work as most this last learned Age hath produced the weighty Truth he so strenuously presseth in this ensuing Tract was not the exercise of his Skill and Parts but the genuine birth of his Heart and Conscience a Truth so dear to him that he chose rather to part with Liberty Livelyhood and dear Relations than to shake hands and bid farewel to so endeared a Companion a Truth for which he had been a Sufferer in former Persecutions and for adhering to which he ended his dayes in a kind of Exile in this present Storm a Truth that was so revived upon his Heart and so powerfully prest upon his Conscience when the Blossoms of the Grave were upon him and the welcome messengers of Death had summon'd him to his Rest that he could not Dye till he had Commended it nay Commanded it to all that fear the Lord. The subject matter being a Defence of Pure Primitive Worship needs no Patron but he that is our Lord and Law-giver who stands with his Sword drawn to beat off all Copemates in this his Prerogative and although FILII PERDITIONIS may tug hard to justle Jesus Christ out of his Throne and to sit Paramount in the Temple of God chopping and changing Divine Institutions for Humane Inventions yet the day is at hand when the Builder of the Gospel-Temple shall plead his right with fury poured out How light soever some Scepticks Latitudinarians and others homines omnium horarum may set by Instituted Worship yet in all Ages of the World the sincere Servants of God have chosen rather Banishment and Death than to embrace the Customs of the Heathens or the Institutes of Roman Babylon in their Divine Service as both the Scriptures and Ecclesiastical Writers fully demonstrate Come we to our late times even since the Witnesses in the Marian days Where were more Learned more Godly Men in the World than Cartwright Parker Reynolds Greenham Ames and who knoweth not that these and many more of the same heavenly stamp suffered extream Persecution Deprivations and Banishments rather than they would touch with the Graven Images the work of the Craftsmen that then were and now are the Snares and Nets upon Mispah and Tabor Holy Cotton Shepherd and many others eminent for Piety and ability chose rather to end their dayes in a howling Wilderness than to defile themselves with Idols Learned Cotton answering the greatest Prelate then living that Cultus non Institutus was Idolatry But because some who have been Professors have now their eyes opened with tasting the Hony of Preferment Gain and Security and therefore will not take the Persons before mentioned as competent Witnesses in the Case I might summon in a Jury of the ablest Conformists in former dayes to give in their Verdict for the Araignment Condemnation of Invented Worship In a word all out Protestant Writers who contend with the Papists do use the same Arguments against their numerous Holy-dayes their Oyl-Crisme their Holywater Mass c. as we do against Holy-dayes and other retained Services and Ceremonies But because I will not keep you too long from the Banquet this Book presents you with take only a most famous Prophet of their own the Learned Bishop of Winchester Dr. Andrews in his Exposition upon the Second Commandment his words are these This Commandment which concerns the manner of Worship contains a Precept set down by way of Prohibition in these words NON FACIES TIBI SCULPTILE The Sanction in these words EGO ENIM DEUS TUUS SUM ZELOTYPUS Shewing how they shall be corrected that will not be directed by this Law Concerning the Performance of this Worship two things are commanded first God will have MODUM A SE PRESCRIPTUM Our service must be done in that manner himself prescribes Non simulacrum non Imago damnatur sed non facies tibi thou shalt not make 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Invented and Will-Worship devised by Man is here forbidden Men would have Worship of their own whereas God hath told them whatsoever thing I command you observe to do it thou shalt not add thereto nor diminish from it Hoc tantum facere quod Deus precepit and he brings in a reason assigned by Chrisostom Qui honoratur is maxime eo honore delectatur quem ipse vult non quem nos volumus non est honor sed dedecus si vel contra vel preter mandatum fiat It is rather a disgrace than honour to God to Worship him either against or besides his own Rule Since therefore you have such a Cloud of Witnesses let us run with patience our present race follow them who through great Tribulation have adhered to Jesus Christ If you can stand before the wrath of a jealous God if you can drink the
dreggs of the Cup of his fury then adventure upon Worship of a humane Original and Generation But I leave you to the conscientious perusal of the ensuing Discourse which is full fraught with cogent Arguments for the Authority of Jesus Corist and against the frothy Impositions of defiling Inventions in the Worship of God The Lord grant that the living Words of this Dead Saint may be blessed to the purpose by him intended to the awakening of some who are now snoreing in the Lap of the * Nah. 3.4 well-favoured Harlot and to the establishment of others in the present Truth C. W. common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book Devotions Episcopal Delusions OR The second Death of the service-Service-Book THE Liturgy or common-Common-Prayer commonly used in our Parish Churches relateth unto the conscience of him that useth it and of him that desireth to be understandingly satisfied about the lawfulness or unlawfulness of the use of it both in the matter and form or substance but especially in the injunction or imposition of it by men I shall at present not say much unto it in the former relation only in case the imposition were taken off and Ministers and People left at full liberty the one whether they would read it the other whether they would attend upon it or no these amongst many other particulars would be very considerable 1. Whether God under the New Testament or since Christ ascended on high to give gifts unto men ever commanded or required or spake a word of such a thing or whether ever it came into his mind or heart Jer. 7.31 19.5 to be worshipped by his Saints in their Publick Assemblies by a stinted form of Liturgy and Prayers not to be altered or varied from from generation to generation upon any imergencies of Providence whatsoever unless the Powers and Potentates of the Earth shall interpose with their Swords and Scepters to command it and consequently whether they who draw near unto him in this Worship have not as much cause to fear the breaking-out of his Jealousie upon them as Nadab and Abihu had for offering strange fire before the Lord which he commanded them not Levit. 10.1 and whether the patience and long-suffering of God exercised towards persons offending in this kind in these dayes be not to lead them to repentance Rom. 2.4 2. Whether in case it were or upon good grounds could be supposed that it may be pleasing enough unto God to be worshipped by his Saints in their holy Assemblies with set forms of Liturgies and Prayers being left free and not imposed namely if they be for matter and form irreprovable or such as they may be it could notwithstanding reasonably be supposed withall that Worship according to any model or draught of Liturgy or Prayers whatsoever would be thus pleasing unto him More particularly whether a Worship conform to the image of such a Liturgy as we shall now characterize or describe in part would be in any degree pleasing unto him as viz. 1. which shall be a rhapsody medley or confused heap of a multitude of ingredients heterogeneal and of opposit natures Mollia cum duris sine pondere habentia pondus Things soft and hard things weighty and things light as the Poet describes the constirution of the old Chaos no more meet to be moulded together into the same body of an Evangelical Worship than God under the Law judged an Ox or an Ass to be yoked together for service in the same plough as for instance Canonicals and Apocriphals the heavenly sayings of Christ and the fabulous reports of Tobit the Psalms of David and the Song of S. Ambrose Magnificat and Quicunque vult passages and expressions some grave and serious solid and distinct others ludicrous and light barbarous obscure and truthless 2. Wherein the Prayer-devotion prescribed is or shall be ordered with that strange unsutableness to the simplicity of the Gospel that 1. the Lord's Prayer which was delivered by him with a special intent to prevent battologies or vain repetitions in prayer Mat. 6.7 8 9. compared is it self injoyned to be repeated over and over and over and I know not how often without any reason given or easie to be taken for any one of these repetitions in their respective places this disposition of it can be resolved into no other reason or cause but the meer phansy and will of the Contriver who by it seems to have been acted by the spirit of this superstition condemned by Christ Mat. 6.7 that men shall be heard for their much speaking or for the tale and number of their prayers only said over and repeated Besides this Prayer is ordered to be at the same time audibly pronounced by all the Congregation and Minister together in some of the said places Again 2. the great body of this Prayer-devotion is so ill handled not to mention the unsound constitution in several veins and parts of it that it is divided in sunder and some parts of it severed from others in several places by Psalms and Songs by Chapters and broken pieces of Chapters under the false titles of Epistles and Gospels whereof they are but small snips or shreds by Creeds or Confessions of Faith thrust in between and besides it is in some places chopped or minced into small pieces or particles and a distribution of them made some to the Minister and some to the People as if the People were to be the mouth of the Minister unto God as well as he theirs in the publick Assemblies yea when Minister and People are acting their parts in these strains of Prayer interchangeably assigned unto them there is such a bandying and tossing of devotions to and again from one to the other in a gingling and mymmical manner that it much resembles the jolly scene of a set of Ale-inspired Companions chanting their drunken Catches upon a bench 3. Where this great body of praying-devotion is compounded and made up of many lesser bodies of prayers the greatest part of which are more intire and distinct bodies in this kind than the main body or bulk rather made up of them all being closed and sealed up respectively with so many Amens Which is a method or manner of praying no where recommended unto us in the Scriptures by the Holy Ghost 4. Where there are appropriate devotions as Prayers under the Apocryphal name of Collects Epistles Gospels select Chapters c. for several dayes forced by the unjust hand of humane powers out of that allowance of six dayes in the week which God himself was pleased to make unto men to provide themselves by their honest labour of things needful for this present life and dedicated by men to the honour and service of certain Saints long since dead and so these days though but of humane consecration are here made equal in all points with the Lord's days themselves 5. Where the Service prescribed and enjoyned under the specious pretext of being Divine consisting of short pieces or Sentences of Scriptures of
a Confession of Sins of an Absolution of the Lords Prayer repeated and repeated and repeated and so of the Doxology so called in like manner repeated over and over and over of whole Chapters for Lessons of broken Chapteâ—s for Epistles and Gospels of pieces of Chapters as Magnificat Benedictus Nunc dimittis c. with the Song of Sâ— Ambrose to separate between Lesson and Lesson as if there were some danger or inconvenience at least if they should come too close together of the Ten Commandments with as many Lord have mercy upon us's of a long Letany so called of Versicles and Responds of Collects and Prayers in abundance some for all men some for Christs Church militant here on Earth some for Bishops Pastors and Curates as if these were Members of the Church triumphant and some for such other occasions as the Policy and Piety of the Compilers could agree upon and lastly of a pair of Creeds the repeating of one of which being required of the whole Congregation requireth the most ignorant and prophane wretch in it to profess and say that he believeth as much if not more as the most knowing and worthiest Christian yea and that he believeth that which I believe no man understandeth upon any good grounds what it meaneth I mean that Christ descended into Hell the other imposing upon all men such a Faith as of absolute necessity unto Salvation which the Scriptures no where require upon such terms of any man and which is not found in many sound Christians if in any Where I say the Service enjoyned consisting of all these Members and Parts now mentioned must needs be tedious and tiresome unto the People spending and wasting the best and freshest of their attention and so indisposing them to attend unto the preaching of the Gospel and the words by which they must be saved as if the project and design of it had been to intercept the great Duties of preaching and hearing the Gospel preached by rendring the wearied Minister less capable of the one and the wearied People less capable and desirous of the other Now then I repeat from afar and ask Is it not very considerable or rather indeed is it worth any consideration at all whether God will be pleased with a Worship presented unto him in the shape and form of such a prodigious Liturgy as that which hath now been described unless haply men think that a Worship made up of various pieces and these of different colours is as honourable and so as acceptable unto God as Jacob thought a particoloured Coat would be unto Joseph his Son Or doth not the Liturgy the lineaments and feature of which have been presented as perfectly resemble the Common-Prayer-Book as face answereth face in the water 3. It calls for some consideration likewise whether it be possible in an ordinary way or without a piece of a miracle for a man or a woman to keep up his heart so much as in a tolerable posture of devotion reverence and attention unto such prayers which having been fram'd by men and these not of any known excellency above their neighbours are in respect of their original less considerable and after long familiarity more obnoxious to contempt especially when he can well nigh say them by roat beforehand and of which he is able to say with him in the Comedy Plus millies jam audivi I have heard them more than a thousand times over already The common saying verified by experience more than enough is familiarity breeds contempt and neglect And God himself judgeth it necessary to consult his Glory I mean a religious awe reverence and esteem of his Counsels and Works from men by concealing the one and the other until the time of their bringing forth that so they may come fresh and new unto them It is the Glory of God to conceal a thing Pro. 25.2 And speaking of his Works Isa 48.7 They are created now and not of old and even before this thou heardest them not so the former Transtation lest thou should say Behold I knew them implying that men commonly at least less mind or regard the declaration of such things unto them which they knew before And upon this account doubtless our Saviour speaketh thus Mat. 13.52 Therefore every Scribe i.e. every Doctor or Teacher which is instructed unto or for the Kingdom of Heaven i.e. is worthily or meetly qualified for the work of the Ministry of the Gospel by which the Kingdom of Heaven is promoted in the world is like unto a man that is an housholder which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old Now an ability to pray being as necessary an endowment for a worthy Minister of the Gospel as a gift of preaching the Apostles themselves as it seems Act. 6.4 giving it the preheminence in the exercise of their Ministry that Minister who shall pray little but only reade a longsome beadroll of Prayers long and short if yet they may be called Prayers some of them being termed Collects the greater part or number of them being imbodied and this body sirnamed Letany a work the performance whereof requires not the best of the abilities of an ordinary Schoolboy of seven years of age and therefore very improper and uncomly for him to bestow so much time upon who should be yea and who pretends to be an Ambassador from Christ unto the World one of a thousand c. such a Minister I say that shall perform the praying part of his Ministry at such a despicable rate as this is not like to draw many into part and fellowship with him in his worship of God but such who know not that God whom they worship nor care much either to know him or how to worship him as they ought The ignorance the prophaneness the wickedness the licentious and debauched lives of the greatest part of that generation both men and women who are the zealous followers of the common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book Ministry in the Nation will seal the truth of these sayings fast and sure 4. Neither is this to be lightly passed over by those that stand in any awe or dread of the jealousie of God that the Liturgy or common-Common-Prayer we speak of smells rank of the Popish Mass-Book being indeed some slight interpolations or new surbushings with some accommodations to secular or civil ends and purposes amongst us only excepted little else but the substance matter contents of this Book This consideration alone is sufficient to render it the abhorring of their souls that understand any thing almost of the nature and dreadful severity of divine jealousie as that any little spark not only of right-down or broad-fac'd Idolatry but of any tiffling dalliance or wanton compliance with it will cause it to smoke against those that shall provoke it in this kind Husbands that are jealous are not able to bear not only the gross act of Adultery in their Wives but not so much as any familiarity or
or by the use of means may be capable of it as all Ministers of the Gospel generally are presumed to be By conceived Prayer I do not mean onely that kind of Prayer which is conceived and uttered ex tempore without study or premeditation or which is never used but once by him that uttereth it but that likewise which is or hath been conceived framed and digested by him that uttereth it although with deliberation and study and hath been frequently at several times especially if with any occasional variations used by him In the Scriptures especially in the New Testament where the light shines clearest for the discovery of the mind of God in all points concerning Prayer and VVorship we hardly find the same prayer used the second time by the same person For though Christ be said to have prayed the same words a second and a third time yet by comparing Mat. 20.39 with v. 42. 44. and Mark 14. v. 35. with 36. it appears that it is to be understood of the same words in sense matter and import or in effect not the same in sound letters or syllables words being put for matters or things frequently in the Scriptures yea all the Prayers here recorded to have been made either by Christ himself or by his Apostles or other holy persons and which found acceptance which God were framed by them with a special and particular reference unto the present occasions that were before them respectively and therefore cannot but be judged to have been conceived Prayers in the strictest sence of the VVords yea all the Exhortations unto the heavenly Exercise and Duty of Prayer delivered either by Christ or his Apostles intended onely that kind of Prayer which we commonly call conceived Prayer which the Saints were to conceive and indite by the help of the Spirit of God Rom. 8.27 which they who believed did receive John 7.39 Act. 5.32 Rom. 5.5 8.14 15 16. 2 Cor. 5.5 Gal. 3.2 Ephes 1.13 1 Thes 4.8 1 Joh. 2.27 3.24 4.13 which places at least the most of them cannot be understood either of the miraculous Gift of the Holy Ghost or of the giving of him to the Apostles onely and some particular Christians with them This will be evident unto those that shall please to take a little pains to peruse and ponder them Several others of like import might be added unto them Besides that the said Exhortations unto Prayer were meant of conceived Prayer and not of praying by any stinted form imposed at least by any Civil Authority least of all imposed with threatnings of Civil Mulcts and Penalties are all of them Truths so full of their own Light that to levy any further proof of them would be but as the lighting up of a Candle to help men to see the Light of the Sun Books and forms of Prayer of humane contrivance and imposition would we may very reasonably presume have been in the days of those Exhortations and for many days after them as prodigious and astonishing unto Christians as the turning of the Sun into darkness and the Moon into blood 2dly Whereas it was pleaded That a Prayer framed by the concurrent abilities and gifts of several pious and learned men and this upon mature consideration must needs in Reason be a more effectual Prayer and better accepted with God than a Prayer conceived and brought forth on the sudden by a particular man and he many times of no great parts or learning neither I answer 1. This plea of comparison between prayer and prayer be it admitted doth not make the face of our common-prayer-Common-Prayer-Book to shine at all For who can make affidavit that the prayers here are the issue of the abilities or gifts I do not say of many but of any pious or learned man There is little question to be made but that in Latine it first saw the light of the Sun when the gross darkness of Popery was spread over the face of the Earth in these parts of the world and when the mother of it the Church of Rome I mean was guilty but of little Learning and less Piety It is likest to have been the officious elucubration of some superstitious Monk or Friar calculated by the best of his art and skill for the meridian of the devotions of that Apostate Church in his dayes As for those worthy and good men in King Edward's dayes who with a much better intent than event took pains to fetch it out of Latine into English making account that they had left all the dregs and excrementitious matter behind them we were their compurgators formerly that they were not the Authors or Compilers of this unhappy Book nor guilty of the folly committed in the begetting of it 2. The goodness or excellency of a Prayer for matter phrase and structure is rather an argument why it should be left free for men to use when and as far as they see cause than why it should be imposed Because 1. The imposition of it is rather matter of prejudice and disparagement unto it than otherwise Imposers seldom dealing in such commodities which are choice sound and good but very frequently in those which are faulty and base 2. The imposition of it alters the property of the goodness of it makes it to become an Idol as we formerly argued the case and consequently exposeth it to the jealousie and high displeasure of God and hereby to an utter abolition and ruine as we concluded likewise from the Scriptures And therefore as it is better of the two to make an Idol of Dirt or Clay or some such vile material than of Silver or Gold or of any thing of value because it is better that that which is of little worth should perish and be lost than that which is more precious and useful so is it in this respect at least more to be wished that such prayers and such forms of Divine Service so called which are corrupt and not fit to be used by any good Christian upon any terms should be imposed than those which are more commendable and might be some wayes serviceable and helpful to the piety and devotions of good people otherwise 3. and lastly for this As Samuel in reproving Saul demandeth Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and Sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord Behold to obey is letter than jacrifice and to hearken than the fat of Lambs 1 Sam. 15.22 So is a Prayer conceived and brought forth in obedience unto the Counsel and Will of God though it be not so eloquent nor the matter of it so choice nor the method or frame of it so exact of better acceptance with God than a Prayer read out of a Book whether without or contrary unto the Command of God for it hath been proved from the Scriptures that these two in the case of Worship are but of one and the same consideration yea though this prayer for matter language and frame
livest and consequently to thine own He cannot lawfully nor without the manifest dishonour of the sacred Ordinance of Magistracy command thee to pill straws or throw stones against the wind which actions notwithstanding are more unquestionably innocent and lawful in the sence explained then the using of those indifferent things called Ceremonies in the Worship of God and of as much conducement to the Publick Good as they Therefore it is far beneath the sublime Dignity of the Divine Ordinance of Magistracy to interest it self in commanding either the one or the other 2ly The Minor Proposition was But the Worship of God performed by stinted Liturgies if these be consonant to the Scriptures is lawful This hath been alleady weighed in the Ballance and found light Yet to give measure heaped up we repeat and adde together 1. In that sence of the word lawful in which the same word must be taken in the former Proposition to make that passable as it was lately declared and distinguished this Proposition is to be denied For the Worship of God here described though it should be admitted lawful in some sence or with reference to some persons yet this proveth it not to be of that kind of things lawful which the Magistrate hath a lawful power to command especially by a general Command and which he intendeth shall obliege all men It hath been shewed and proved 1. That there are many things lawful to be performed and done by many which the Magistrate cannot lawfully command them to do And 2. That some things may be lawful for some men to do which are not lawful for all and consequently cannot lawfully be commanded unto all So that the Syllogism is fallacious and captious having four terms in it as Logicians speak instead of three and so proveth nothing unless haply the intent of the Author to deceive 2. A Liturgy may be consonant to the Scriptures either in respect of the Matter of it or of the Form or in respect of both Nor can it in truth be said to be consonant unto them unless it accordeth with them in both Our great Liturgy-Masters in their Discourses upon this subject and pleadings for the Service-Book seem to estimate the consonancy we now speak of onely by the Matter of the Liturgy not bringing the Form to account in their reckoning this way And indeed in reference to the defence of their Service-Book they do very providentially and prudently to take no notice of any necessity of such or such a Form in a Liturgy to make it consonant to the Scriptures For the greatest part of the Matter of this Book is justifiable enough by the Scriptures and for those passages and expressions which are guilty by far-fetch'd and forc'd interpretations and by authoritative wranglings or some semblable phrases or sayings found in some counterfeit or suspected Antiquity they are able to qualifie in part the demerit of them But the Form of this Book and the disposition of the several parts of the matter contained in it is so strangely and daringly extravagant and exorbitant from all Patterns Methods and Carriages of Prayer or Worship recorded in the Scriptures that I know not what salve they are able to find out for the grievous sore of this so broad and monstrous a dissonancy of it from them And doubtless the Form of a Liturgy or Prayer is not a thing so inconsiderable but that though the matter of it be never so savoury and sound yea nothing but the very words and sayings of the Scripture it self yet may the wisdom of the flesh which is foolishness with God have so much to do and so ill acquit it self in the putting them together that the composition will not be meet to be exhibited or presented unto God So then if by a Liturgy consonant unto the Scriptures the Proposition meaneth consonant in Matter only whatever the Form be which seems to be the meaning of it it is manifestly untrue A Worship performed by a Liturgy consonant to the Scriptures onely in such a sense is not lawful 3. And lastly for this also The Worship performed by a Liturgy consonant to the Scriptures may be lawful namely if it be left free and uncommanded and yet be unlawful if imposed It was lawful for the People of Israel to use an Altar made of whole Stones to offer their Sacrifices upon but if any man had lift up a tool upon the same stones the Altar made of them had been polluted Exod. 20.25 Deut. 27.5 Josh 8.31 A lawful Worship or Form of Worship by the lifting up of an authoritative Command upon it by Men becomes hereby unlawful especially if performed upon the account or by vertue of this Command as hath been formerly signified because in such a case the Creature commanding hath Divine Honour done unto it and is admitted as an Umpire and as having Authority over the things of God For what can we imagine should be the things of God as contra-distinguished by our Saviour himself unto the things of Caesar if matters appertaining to his Worship and the disposal nereof be none of those things but must be inventoried amongst Caesars goods also He that shall give unto Caesar the things which are Gods and so dismember and cut shoâ—t his Patrimony in the World it is much to be feared that he will send him unto Cesar for his Reward But of these things at large already We see by what hath been argued upon both Propositions that in the whole Argument there is little but fraud and confusion Fourthly Some there are who count it a small thing to contend for the lawfulness onely of imposing Liturgies and Forms of Prayer they run for a higher prize attempting to evince and prove that there is a singular expediency and so a kind of necessity of such Impositions The Argument by which they hope to effect this great thing sheweth it self in these or the like Colours That which is a proper and effectual means to prevent many great and sad inconveniences and dangerous eruptions of spirit whereinto Ministers being left at liberty in their praying publickly are apt to fall is very expedient and necessary to be done But the imposition of limited and set Forms of Prayer by the Magistrate is a proper and effectual means for such a purpose Ergo. By the sad inconveniences and dangerous eruptions of spirit c. here mentioned the Argumentators mean confusedness of method tautologies or needless reiterations of the same things broken sentences and ill-accommodated with sense with such-like on the one hand and on the other Complaints unto God against Truths under the name of Errours ventings of dis-affection to the present Government or Governours Petitions and passages savouring of Sedition Treason Rebellion c. All these and the like say these men may be effectually prevented by a strict confinement of Ministers unto such Petitions and Forms of Praying which are sound and wholesome and free from all such strains of scandal and offence This