which more hereafter Notice whereof being taken of those which were of most Authority in the Government of the Church it was thought necessary for the preventing of the mischief which might thence ensue that the Articles of Religion published in King Edwards time 1552. should be brought under a Review accommodated to the use of the Church and made to be the standing rule by which all persons were to regulate and confirm their Doctrines And to this end a Convocation was assembled on the 13. of January Ann. 1562. which continued till the 14th day of April the main business which was acted in it being the canvasing and debating of the Articles of King Edwards book and passing them in the form and manner in which now they stood which business as they took first into consideration on the 19th of January and diligently prosecuted from day to day by the Bishops and Clergy in their several houses they came to an agreement on the 29th of the same month on which the said Articles were publickly recited generally approved and subscribed by the greatest part of the Clergy which were then assembled And being so subscribed presented to the Queen and ratified by her Royal Authority were forthwith published to the same end for which they were made that is to say For the avoiding of diversities of opinions and for the stablishing of consent touching true Religion as in the title is declared In the composing of which book though a clause was added to the twentieth Article and another taken from the third though some Articles of King Edwards were totally omitted and some new made as that amongst the rest for confirmation of the second Book of Homilies which were not in the book before yet the five Articles touching the Doctrine of the Church in the points disputed as they stand in the eighth Chapter of this book were left in that same state in which they found them And being left in the same state in which they found them were to be taken in the same sense in which they had been understood at the first making of them according to such illustrations as occur in the book of Common Prayer such explanations as are found in the book of Homilies and the judgment of those Learned men and godly Martyrs which had a principal hand in the Reformation so that the Articles being the same as to these particulars the paraphrases of Erasmus state the same the publick Liturgy and the first book of Homilies in all points the same and the second book of Homilies agreeing exactly with the first in the present controversies as appears by the three first Sections of the seventh Chapter of this book and that which follows in the next there is no question to be made but that the doctrine was the same in the said five points which had been publickly allowed of in the time of King Edward But against this it may be said that one of the material Articles of King Edwards book in reference to the points disputed was totally left out of this and therefore that there was some alteration of the Churches judgment as to the sense and meaning of the present Articles which Article being the tenth in number as it stands in that book is there delivered in these words viz. Gratia Christi seu spiritus sanctus qui per eundem datur c. The grace of Christ or the Holy Ghost which is given by him doth take from man the heart of stone and giveth him a heart of flesh And though by the influences thereof it rendreth us willing to do those good works which before we were unwilling to do and unwilling to do those evil works which before we did voluntati tamen nullam violentiam infert yet is no violence offered by it to the will of man nor can any man when he hath sinned excuse himself quasi volens aut coactus peccaverit as if he had finned against his will or upon constraint and therefore that he ought not to be accused or condemned upon that account For answer whereunto it may first be said that the Composers of that Book thought ir not fit to clog it with any unnecessary points in which the peace and safety of the Church seemeth not much concerned and therefore as they left out the present Article so they omitted the sixteenth touching the blasphemy against the Holy Chost together with the four last of King Edwards Book touching the general Resurrection the state of means souls after death the Doctrine of the Millinaries and of a general salvation to be given to the wicked also after they had endured the pains of Hell for a certain time Secondly they considered that the doctrine of mans free Co-operation with the grace of God had been sufficiently expressed and provided for by the tenth Article of this Book and the ninth of which illustrated by divers passages in the publick Liturgy accommodated and applied to the most encrease of piety in the book of Homilies therefore that there was no great need to contend about it or to retain it in the Book And somewhat also must be done the point being so secured and provided for as before was said to content the Zuinglians or Calvinians by which last name they were afterwards more generally called who were grown strong and numerous in most parts of the Realm Insomuch that many of them did not refuse to subscribe the book and were complained of for that cause by the Prolocutor to the House of Bishops desiring that an order might be presently made to cause them to subscribe their names to the said Article either in their own house or before their Lordships which order being made on the fifth of February the Prolocutor signified to the Archbishop and Bishops in the name of the lower House of Convocation that some of the Refusers had subscribed and that others still persisted in their former obstinacy And thereupon the Bishops ordered the same day the tenth of February quod nomina eorum qui hactenus non subscripserant presententur coram iis in proxima sessione that is to say that the names of such who still refused to subscribe should be presented to their Lordships at the next Session which put an end to the dispute for after this I hear no more of their refusals the subscription of the book being universal as appears by this memorial in the journal of the Convocation viz. universus clerus eosdem etiam unanimiter recepit professus est ut ex manuum suarum subscriptionibus patet that is to say that all the Clergy did unanimously approve the said Articles and testified their consent therein as by the subscription of their hands doth and may appear so difficult a thing it was from the first beginning to bring that violent and head-strong faction unto any conformity In the next place it is objected that Mr. Alexander Nowel Dean of Saint Pauls who was Prolocutor in this Convocation
Examination of the mistakes falsities and defects in some modern Histories Lond. 1659. Certamen Epistolare or the Letter-Combat managed with Mr. Baxter Dr. Bernard Mr. Hickman 8. Lond. 1659. Historia Quinqu-Articularis 4. Lond. 1660. Respondet Petrus or the Answer of Peter Heylyn D. D. to Dr. Bernards book entituled The Judgment of the late Primate c. Lond. 4. 1658. Observations on Mr. Hammond L' Estranges History of the Life of King Charles I. 1658. Extraneus Vapulans or a Defence of those Observations Lond. 1658. A short History of King Charles the First from his Cradle to his Grave 1658. Thirteen Sermons some of which are an Exposition of the Parable of the Tares printed at London 1659 and again 1661. A help to English History containing a succession of all the Kings Dukes Marquesses Earls Bishops c. of England and Wales first written in the Year 1641 under the name of Robert Hall but now enlarged and in Dr. Heylyns name Ecclesia Vindicata or the Church of England Justified c. 4. 1657. Bibliotheca Regia or the Royal Library 8. Ecclesia Restaurata or the History of the Reformation Fol. Lond. 1661. Cyprianus Anglicus or the History of the Life and Death of William Laud Archbishop of Canterbury Fol. Aerius Redivivus or the History of the Presbyterians Fol. ECCLESIA VINDICATA OR THE Church of England JUSTIFIED I. In the Way and Manner of her Reformation II. In Officiating by a Publick Liturgy III. In prescribing a Set Form of Prayer to be used by Preachers before their Sermons IV. In her Right and Patrimony of Tithes V. In retaining the Episcopal Government And therewith VI. The Canonical Ordination of Priests and Deacons By PETER HEYLIN D. D. PSAL. CXXXVI 6 7. Si oblitus fuero tui O Jerusalem oblivioni detur dextra med Adhaereat lingua mea faucibus meis si non proposuero tui in principio laetitiae meae LONDON Printed by M. Clark for C. Harper 1681. A General Preface TO THE READER CONCERNING The Design and Method of the following WORK 1. The Authors Address to those of the same persuasion with him 2. As also to those of different Opinion 3. His humble application to all such as be in Authority 4. Persecution a true note of the Church verified in the Jews the primitive Christians and the Church of England 5. The several Quarrels of the Genevians and Papists against the way and manner of our Reformation 6. The Authors Method and Design in answering the Clamors and Objections of either party 7. The first Quarrels against the Liturgies of King Edward the sixth and the grounds thereof 8. The Liturgy of Queen Elizabeth approved by the Pope subscribed by the Scots and the Church frequented by the Papists for the first ten years of that Queens reign 9. The Puritans and Papists separate from the Church at the same time and the hot pursuance of this Quarrel by the Puritan party 10. The Quarrel after some repose revived by the Smectymnuans and their actings in it 11. The Author undertakes the Defence of Liturgies as also the Times and Places of Publick Worship against all Opponents unto each 12. The Prayer prescribed to be used by Preachers before their Sermons the reasons why it was prescribed and the Church justified for so doing in a Brief Discourse upon that subject of the Authors making 13. An Answer to the Objection touching the free exercise of the Gift of Prayer 14. Set Forms of Prayer condemned in Churches by the Devisers of the Directory and prescribed for Ships 15. The Liturgy cryed down by the Lay-Brethren in Order to the taking away of Tithes 16. The same Design renewed by some late Projectors the Author undertakes against them and his Reasons for it 17. The first Bishops of Queen Elizabeths time quarrelled by the Papists and the grounds thereof 18. Covetousness and Ambition in the Presbyterians the two main grounds of their Pursuit against Episcopacy 19. Set on by Calvin and Beza they break out into action their violent proceedings in it and cessation from it 20. The Quarrel reassumed by the Smectymnuans outwitted in the close thereof by the Lay-Brethren without obtaining their own ends in advancing Presbytery 21. The Author undertakes against Smectymnuus and proves Episcopacy to be agreeable to all Forms of Civil Government 22. His History of Episcopacy grounded on the Authority of the Ancient Fathers and what the Reader is desired in Relation to them 23. Ordination by the Imposition of Hands generally in use in all Churches and how the Ordinance of March 20. 1653. is to be understood as to that particular 24. No Ordination lawful but by Bishops and what the Author hath done in it 25. The close of all and the submission of the whole to the Readers judgment READER of what persuasion or condition soever thou art I here present and submit unto thee these ensuing Tracts If thou art of the same persuasion and opinion with me I doubt not but thou wilt interpret favourably of my Undertakings and find much comfort in thy Soul for thy Adhesion to a Church so rightly constituted so warrantably reformed so punctually modelled by the pattern of the purest and most happy times of Christianity A Church which for her Power and Polity her sacred Offices and Administrations hath not alone the grounds of Scripture the testimony of Antiquity and consent of Fathers but as good countenance and support as the Established Laws of the Land could give her which Laws if they be still in force as they seem to be thy sufferings for adhering to the Church in her Forms and Government may not improperly be said to have faln upon thee for thy obedience and conformity to the Laws themselves Smectym Answ 85. For though it may be supposed with the Smectymnians the Author of The True Cavalier c. and some other of our modern Politicks that Government and Forms of Worship are but matters of humane appointment and being such may lawfully abrogated by the same Authority by which at first they were Established yet then it must be still by the same Authority and not by any other which is less sufficient for that end and purpose And I presume it will not be affirmed by any that an Ordinance of the Lords and Commons occasionally made and fitted for some present exigent is of as good authority as an Act of Parliament made by the King with the consent and approbation of the three Estates in due form of Law Or if it be I would then very fain know the reason why the Ordinance of the third of January Anno 1644. should be in force as to the taking away of the Book of Common Prayer and yet be absolutely void or of no effect as to the establishing and imposing of the Directory thereby authorized which bears an equal share in the title of it or why the Ordinance of the ninth of October Anno 1646. for abolishing Arch-bishops and Bishops should be still in
Rituals The Papists of the two the more moderate Adversary and such whose edg was sooner taken off from the prosecution of the Quarrel than the others were For though the first Liturgy of King Edward the sixth compiled by many Learned and Religious persons was cryed up both by Act of Parliament 2.3 â—d 6. cap. 1. and by Fox himself as done by the especial aid of the holy Ghost yet it gave no small offence to some scrupulous Men who relished nothing that related to the Antient Forms And when by the Authority of Calvin the opposition in conformity of Bishop Hooper and the great power and policy of John Earl of Warwick after Duke of Northumberland it was brought under a Review and altered in such things as were thought offensive yet then it would not down neither with those tender stomachs Witness the troubles raised to the English Church at Francford in Queen Maries days by Knox Whittingham and their Associates at their returning from Geneva and the definitive sentence of Calvin in it to whom it was thought good to refer the Difference And he accordingly declares to content his followers In Liturgia Anglicana multas esse tolerabiles ineptias that he found in it very many tolerable follies Calv. Epist Anno 15 55. Reliquias Papisticae faecis the very dregs of Popery as he afterwards calls it Brought to a Review in Queen Elizabeths time and purged of a passage in the Letany which gave distast unto the Papists it grew into such general esteem and reputation as being fitted to the common Principles of Christianity in which all parties did agree that Pius the fourth Anno 1560. made offer by Parpatio Abbot of St. Saviours whom he sent with Letters to the Queen Liturgiam Anglicam Authoritate sua confirmaturum Cambd. in Annal Eliz. to ratifie and confirm the same by his Authority The Scots obliged themselves by a publick Subscription to observe the same Religionis cultui Ritibus cum Anglis communibus subscripserant as we read in Buchannan the fancy of Extemporary Prayer not being then taken up Histor Scot. lib. 19. as is affirmed by Knox himself in his Scottish History So grateful was it for a time to all sorts of people that the Papists for the first ten years of Queen Elizabeths Reign did diligently frequent the Church and attend the publick Services and performance of it as is affirmed by Sir Edward Coke in his charge given at the Assizes held at Norwich and in his Speech against Garnet and the other Traytors Anno 1605. And this not spoken on vulgar hear-say but on his own certain knowledg and observation he having noted Bedding field Cornwallis and divers others of that party to repair frequently to the Church without any scruple And though we may take this well enough on so good Authority yet may it possibly find more credit because averr'd by Queen Elizabeth herself in her Instructions to Sir Francis Walsingham bearing date August 11. Anno 1570. In which it is affirmed expresly of the Heads of that party and therefore we may judge the like of the Members also that they did ordinarily resort from the beginning of her Reign in all open places to the Churches and to divine services in the Church without contradiction or shew of misliking But in the year 1568. Sanders and others of the Popish Emissaries began to practise on that party under pretence of doing service to the Catholick Cause as Button Bellingham Compl. Embassad l. 4. and Benson sticklers for the Genevian Interesse did upon those who were inclinable to their Opinions And they so far prevailed on their several Partisans Cambd. Annal 1568. that about two years after upon the coming out of the Bull of Pope Pius Quintus against the Queen the Papists generally withdrew themselves from that conformity and came no longer to our Churches as before they had done And on the other side the Puritans as they then began to call them animated by Cartwright and the rest of their Leaders did separate themselves also from the Congregation declaming in their frequent Pamphlets against the Liturgy as superstitious and impure and altogether savouring of the Romish Missals Favoured underhand by Arch-bishop Grindal and openly countenanced by the Earl of Leicester they became so confident at the last that some of their Leaders being demanded by an Honourable Counsellor if the abolition of some Ceremonies would not serve their turn they answered with arrogancy enough Ne ungulam esse relinquendam that they would not leave so much as a Hoof behind But notwithstanding this strong vapour partly by the constancy and courage of Arch-bishop Whitgift who succeeded Grindal Anno 1583. the opportune death of the Earl their Patron Anno 1588. and the incomparable pains of judicious Hooker Anno 1595. but principally by the seasonable Execution of Copping and Hacker hanged at St. Edmondsbury in Suffolk for publishing the Pamphlets of Rob. Brown against the Book of Common Prayer pouer publier le liveres de Rob. Brown en countre le Livre de Commune Prayer as Compton doth report the Case in his Lawyers French they become so quiet Compton in his Office of Justices that the Church seemed to be restor'd to some hopes of peace No Libelling or Seditious preachings no great disturbance after this for some years together the Brethren turning their assaults into underminings and enterprising that by practice which they had found impossible to be gained by violence By which means having formed their party prepared their way by some new Libels back'd by the Scots and countenanced by some leading members in both Houses of Parliament Anno 1640. they brake out again the Smectymnuans openly appearing in the way of Argument while others of more Brains and Power managed the business for them in their several Houses The Liturgy by the one affirmed to have been intended by the first Reformers to be an help only to the want or weakness of a Minister and not to be imposed on any but such as would confess themselves unable to pray without it by some resembled unto Crutches and such like helps to insufficiency not to be made use of but by those only who otherwise could make no use of their legs reproached by their vulgar followers with the name of Pottage a dish to stay their stomachs till the meat came in all Offices of Piety reduced to Preaching and all Devotion to the Prayer of the Preachers making To this extremity were things brought when for the reasons elsewhere specified I took in hand the Answer to the Humble-Remonstrance Pref. to the Tract of Liturgies in which I found the whole building as to this particular to be laid on this foundation viz. that if by Liturgy we understand prescribed and stinted Forms of Administration composed by some and imposed upon all the rest Smectym Answ pag. 6. then they are sure that no such Liturgy had been used anciently by
the Jews or Christians Considering therefore they appeal'd to the ancient practice of the Jews and Christians I was resolved that to the ancient practice they should go for their justification and to that end drew down the Pedigree and Descent of Liturgies among the Jews from the time of Moses unto CHRIST carrying it on thorow the constant practice of the Greeks and Romans and finally thorow the whole state of the Christian Church from the time of CHRIST our Saviour till the death of Saint Augustin when Liturgies and Set Forms of Prayer were universally received in all parts of Christendom But hardly had I finished my Undertaking Plutarch in Mario when the War broke out and I knew well as Marius was once heard to say in another case That the voice of the Laws could not be heard for the noise of Weapons the Dispute being then like to be determin'd by stronger Arguments than could be urged on either side by pen and paper On which consideration the Work lay by me as it was till the Ordinance of the third of January 1644. did seem to put an end to the Disputation by abolishing the Book of Common Prayer and authorizing the Directory or New Form of Worship to be observed in the three Kingdoms But finding in that Directory that all set times of Publick Worship were reduced to One that one supposed to be commanded in the Scripture and that the Festival days vulgarly called Holy-days Direct pag. ult having no warrant in the Word of God were not to be continued longer I took that hint or opportunity to enlarge my self in laying down the ancient practice both of Jews and Christians in appointing Holy-days and recommending them to the pious practice of all men which did desire to live conformably to establisht Laws And finding afterwards that notwithstanding the Care taken by that Directory That Places of publick assembling for worship among us should be continued and employed to their former use Ibid. some Men began to threaten them with a speedy destruction and breathed out nothing but Down with them Down with them even unto the ground reproaching them in the mean time with the name of Steeple-houses I interserted also in convenient places the pious care of the Jewish Nation in erecting Synagogues and Oratories for Gods publick Worship and of the Primitive Christians not to say any thing of the like care in the ancient Gentiles in building consecrating and adorning Churches for the like employments And this I did to let the Reader understand that the accustomed times and places which were designed and set apart for Gods publick service had more authority to rest on than those Men gave out the Liturgy it self being apt enough to be beaten down without any such Ordinance if once those times and places should be discontinued By these degrees and on these several occasions the whole Work came to that perfection in which it is now presented to thee not to be now presented to thee neither if the necessity of doing my Duty unto God and the Church and offering something unto the consideration of the Higher Powers had not prevailed with me above all respects of my private interest Liturgies and Set Forms of Worship being thus asserted my next care was to vindicate the Church in that Form of Prayer which is prescribed to be used by Preachers before their Sermons Can. 55. For certainly the Church had not sufficiently provided for the Common peace if she had tied her Ministers to Set Forms in the Daily Office and left them to their own liberty in conceiving Prayers to be used by them in the Pulpit before their Sermons The inconvenience which that liberty hath brought upon us in these latter days being so apparent that it is very hard to say whether the Liberty of Prophesying or the Licenciousness in Praying what and how we list hath more conduced to these distractions which are now amongst us And if there were no such effect too visible of this licentiousness which I desire the present State to take notice of the scandal which is thereby given unto our Religion in speaking so irreverently with such vain repetitions and tautologies to Almighty God as in extemporary and unpremeditated Prayers is too frequently done seems a sufficient consideration to bring us back again to that ancient Form which the wisdom of the Church prescribed to prevent the Mischief Such was the care and providence of the elder times and happiest ages of the Church as to ordain that no unlearned person should make use of any of those Prayers which himself had framed nisi prius eas cum instructioribus fratribus contulerit Concil Carthag Can. 23. before he had conferred about them with more learned men The reason of which is thus given in the Council of Milevis Can. 12. Ne forte aliquid contra fidem vel per ignorantiam vel per minus studium sit compositum for fear lest any thing should escape them against faith and piety either through the ignorance of the Composer or carelesness in the Composition And if such care were taken of Mens private Prayers no question but a greater care is to be observed in ordering those publick Prayers which are to be offered unto God in the Congregation Never did Men so literally offer unto God the Calves of their lips as they have done of late since the extemporary way of Praying hath been taken up And if it were prohibited by the Law of Moses to offer any thing unto God in the way of the legal Sacrifices which was maim'd spotted or imperfect how can it rationally be conceived that God should be delighted with those Oblations or Spiritual Sacrifices which have nothing almost in them but maims spots and blemishes In which respect I have subjoyned to the Tract of Liturgies a brief Discourse about restraining Preachers to that Form of Prayer which is prescribed them by the Church and that not only in the Canon of 603. but in the Injunction of King Harry the 8th King Edward the 6th and Queen Elizabeth of famous memories till the predominating Humour of drawing all Gods publick Worship to the Pulpit-prayer carried all before it But here it is to be observed that one of the chief reasons for abolishing the publick Liturgy was that the Ministers might put forth themselves to exercise the Gift of Prayer with which our Lord Jesus Christ pleaseth to furnish all his servants whom he calls to that Office Pref. to the Direct p. 2 3. and that nothing was less effected than the end intended For first the Directory which prescribes not alone the Heads but the sense and scope which is the whole matter of the Prayers and other parts of publick Worship Ibid. p. 4. doth in effect leave nothing to the Ministers spirit but the wording of it which if it be not a restraining of the Gift of Prayer I am much to seek the Spirit being as much restrained and
any Church but by the leave of the King or of the Ordinary of the place nor privately by any Women Artificers Apprentices Journey-men Husband-men Labourers or by any of the Servants of Yeomen or under with several pains to those who should do the contrary This is the substance of the Statute of the 34 and 35 Hen. 8. c. 1. Which though it shews that there was somewhat done in Parliament in a matter which concern'd Religion which howsoever if you mark it was rather the adding of the penalties than giving any resolution or decision of the points in question yet I presume the Papists will not use this for an Argument that we have either a Parliament-Religion or a Parliament Gospel or that we stand indebted to the Parliament for the Use of the Scriptures in the English Tongue which is so principal a part of the Reformation Nor did the Parliament speed so prosperously in the undertaking which the wise King permitted them to have a hand in for the foresaid ends or found so general an obedience in it from the common people as would have been expected in these Times on the like occasion but that the King was fain to quicken and give life to the Acts thereof by his Proclamation Anno 1546. which you shall find in Fox his Book fo 1427. To drive this Nail a little further The terrour of this Statute dying with H. 8. or being repealed by that of K. Ed. 6. c. 22. the Bible was again made publique and not only suffered to be read by particular persons either privatly or in the Church but ordered to be read over yearly in the Congregation as a part of the Liturgie or Divine Service Which how far it relates to the Court of Parliament we shall see anon But for the publishing thereof in Print for the Use of the people for the comfort and edification of private persons that was done only by the King at least in his Name and by His Authority And so it also stood in Q. Elizabeth's time the translation of the Bible being again reviewed by some of the most learned Bishops appointed thereunto by the Queens Commission from whence it had the name of the Bishops Bible and upon that review Reprinted by her sole Commandement and by her sole Authority left free and open to the Use of her well-affected and religious subjects Nor did the Parliament do any thing in all Her Reign with reference to the Scriptures in the English Tongue otherwise than at the reading of them in that Tongue in the Congregation is to be reckoned for a part of the English Liturgy whereof more hereafter In the translation of them into Welch or British somewhat indeed was done which doth look this way It being ordered in the Parliament 5. Eliz. c. 28. That the B. B. of Hereford St. Davids Bangor Landaff and St. Asaph should take care amongst them for translating the whole Bible with the Book of Common Prayer into the Welch or Brittish Tongue on pain of forfeiting 40 l. a piece in default hereof And to incourage them thereunto it was Enacted that one Book of either sort being so translated and imprinted should be provided and bought for every Cathedral Church as also for all Parish-Churches and Chappels of Ease where the said tongue is commonly used the Ministers to pay the one half of the price and the Parishioners the other But then you must observe withal that it had been before determined in the Convocation of the self-same year Anno 2562. That the Common-Prayer of the Church ought to be celebrated in a tongue which was understood by the people as you may see in the Book of Articles of Religion Art 24. which came out that year and consequently as well in the Welch or Brittish as in any other Which care had it been taken for Ireland also as it was for Wales no question but that people had been more generally civiliz'd and made conformable in all points to the English Government long before this time And for the new Translation of K. James his time to shew that the Translation of Scripture is no work of Parliament as it was principally occasioned by some passages in the Conference at Hampton Court without recourse unto the Parliament so was it done only by such men as the King appointed and by His Authority alone imprinted published and imposed care being taken by the Canon of the year 1603. That one of them should be provided for each several Church at the charge of the Parish No flying in this case to an Act of Parliament either to Authorize the doing of it or to impose it being done 4. Of the Reformation of Religion in points of Doctrine NExt let us look upon the method used in former Times in the reforming of the Church whether in points of Doctrine or in forms of Worship and we shall find it still the same The Clergy did the work as to them seemed best never advising with the Parliament but upon the post-fact and in most cases not at all And first for Doctrinals there was but little done in K. Henries time but that which was acted by the Clergy only in their Convocation and so commended to the people by the Kings sole Authority the matter being never brought within the cognizance of the two Houses of Parliament For in the year 1536. being the year in which the Popes Authority was for ever banished there were some Articles agreed on in the Convocation and represented to the King under the hands of the Bishops Abbots Priors and inferior Clergy usually called unto those Meetings the Original whereof being in Sir Robert Cotton's Library I have often seen Which being approved of by the King were forthwith published under the Title of Articles devised by the Kings Highness to stable Christian quietness and unity amongst the people In which it is to be observed First that those Articles make mention of three Sacraments only that is to say of Baptisme Penance and the Sacrament of the Altar And secondly That in the Declaration of the Doctrine of Justication Images honouring of the Saints departed as also concerning many of the Ceremonies and the fire of Purgatory they differ'd very much from those Opinions which had been formerly received in the Church of Rome as you may partly see by that Extract of them which occurs in Fox his Acts and Monuments Vol. 2. fol. 1246. For the confirming of which Book and recommending it to the use of the people His Majesty was pleased in the Injunctions of the year 1536. to give command to all Deans Parsons Vicars and Curates so to open and declare in their Sermons and other Collations the said Articles unto them which be under their Cure that they might plainly know and discern which of them be necessary to be believed and observed for their salvation and which do only concern the decent and politique Order of the Church And this he did upon this ground that the said
them which is the moral part thereof A thing which God might please to leave unto the wisdom of his Church and the Rulers of it in that being moral duties and so by consequence imprinted in the minds of men by the stamp of nature there needed not so punctual and precise a prescription of them as of the outward ceremonies which were meerly legal Now that there were set forms of Prayers and Praises used in the celebratien of these legal Sacrifices even from the very times of Moses appeareth by a memorable passage in an old Samaritan Chronicle belonging once unto the Library of Joseph Scaliger now in the custody of the Learned Primate of Armagh In which Book after relation of the death of Adrian the Emperour whom the Jews curse with Conterat Deus ossa ejus as certainly he was a deadly enemy of theirs it followeth thus Quo tempore abstulit librum optimum qui penes illos fuit Clted by the L. B. of Exeter now B. of Norwich in his Answer to the Vindication jam inde à diebus illis tranquillis pacificis qui continebat cantiones preces sacrificiis praemissas Singulis enim Sacrificiis singulas praemiserunt cantiones jam tum diebus pacis usitatas quae omnia acourato conscripta in singulas transmissa subsequentes generationes à tempore Legati Mosis sc ad hunc usque diem per ministerium Pontificum Maximorum These are the words at large as I find them cited the substance of the which is this That after the decease of Adrian the High Priest then being took away that most excellent Book which had been kept amongst them ever since the calm and peaceable times of the Israelites which contained those Songs and Prayers which were ever used before their Sacrifices there being before every several Sacrifice some several Song or Hymn still used in those times of peace all which being accurately written had been transmitted to the subsequent generations from the time of Moses the Legat or Ambassador of God to that very time by the Ministry of the High Priests of the Jewish Nation A book to which the Chronicle aforesaid gives this ample testimony Eo libro historia nulla praeter Pentateuchum Mosis antiquior invenitur that there was not to be found a more antient piece except the Pentateuch of Moses And though some men no friends to Liturgy out of a mind and purpose to disgrace the evidence have told us that the most contained in the aforesaid book Smectymn Vindicat. p. 24. were only divine Hymns wherein there was always something of Prayer In saying so they have given up their verdict for us and confirmed our evidence For if there were set Hymns or Songs premised before every Sacrifice and if that every Hymn had somewhat in it of a Prayer there must be then set forms of Hymns and Prayers used at every Sacrifice which was the matter to be proved and by them denied But to descend unto particulars there was a Song composed and sung by Moses Exod. 15. on the defeat of Pharoah and the host of Egypt which is still extant in Gods book A song sung Quire-wise as it seemeth Moses as Chanter in that holy Anthem singing verse by verse and Mary the Prophetess Aaron's Sister and all the residue of the Women with Instruments of Musick in their hands saying or singing at each verses end CANTATE DOMINO Sing ye to the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously the horse and the rider hath he thrown into the Sea vers 21. Aynsworth doth so conceive it in his Notes on Exodus and Lyra on the place differs little from it Egressae sunt mulieres quibus Maria praecinebat sec quod oportebat fieri aliae respondebant sicut solet fieri in tympanis choris eodem modo fecit Moyses respecu virorum Cajetan though he differ from them both in the manner of it yet he agrees upon the matter that this Hymn or Anthem was sung Quire-wise or alternatim it being his opinion that the Women singing some spiritual song to the praise of God Cajetan in Exod. c. 15.21 Mary to every verse made answer CANTATE DOMINO Innuitur saith he quod tot choris mulierum tanquam ex una parte canentibus aliquid in divinam laudem Maria sola tanquam ex altera parte canebat initium supra scripti Cantici that viz. which was sung by Moses But whatsoever manner there was used in the singing of it it seems the Jews did afterwards make Use thereof in their publick Liturgy For thus saith Hooker in his Book of Ecclesiastical Polity Hook Eccl. Pol. lib. 5. n. 26. That very Hymn of Moses whereof now we speak grew afterwards to be a part of the ordinary Jewish Liturgie and not that only but sundry others since invented their Books of Common prayer containing partly Hymns taken out of the holy Scriptures partly Thanksgivings Benedictions and Supplications penned by such as were from time to time the Governors of that Synagogue All which were sorted into several times and places some to begin the Service of God withal and some to end some to go before and some to follow after and some to be interlaced between the divine readings of the Law and Prophets Nor is there any thing more probable than that unto their custom of finishing the Passeover with certain Psalms the holy Evangelist doth evidently allude saying That after the Cup delivered by our Saviour unto his Apostles they sung and so went forth to the Mount of Olives What ground that eminent and learned man had for the first part of his Assertion viz That the song of Moses grew afterwards to be a part of the Jewish Liturgy although he hath not pleased to let us know yet I am confident he had good ground for what he said But for the latter part thereof that the Evangelist doth allude unto certain Psalms used at the finishing of the Jewish Passeover I think there is not any thing more clear and evident For proof whereof and that we may the better see with what set form of Prayers and Praises the Passeover was celebrated by the Jews of old Joseph Scalig. de emend Temp. 1.6 we will make bold to use the words of Joseph Scaliger who describes it thus All things being readily prepared and the guests assembled Offam azymam in Embamma intingebat Paterfamilias c. The Father of the Family or Master of the House dipped the unleavened bread into the sawce which was forthwith eaten Another part thereof being carefully reserved under a napkin was broke into as many pieces as there were several guests in the Paschal Chamber each piece being of the bigness of an Olive and each delivered severally to the guests as they sate in order That done he takes the Cup and having drank thereof gives it to the next he to a second and so in order to the rest till they all had
prayer made by him at the Dedication of it The substance and effect whereof is no more than this that in what misery or distress soever the people of the Lord should fall into either by temporal plauges and punishments which assault without or on the apprehension of their sins which assails within If they poured forth their souls to God either in or towards his holy Temple the Lord would hear them and deliver them out of all their troubles And so much is summed up by Josephus briefly Joseph Judaic Antiq. l. 8. c. 2. briefly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. If it shall so fall out saith he that thy People go astray and that afterwards being punished by thee with death pestilence or any such chastisement wherewithal thou reclaimest those that offend against thee to the observance of thy Laws if then they have recourse unto this Temple beseeching and requiring thee of mercy that thou wouldest please to hear them and have mercy on them and deliver them from their Adversities Nor was it without special reason that God amongst so many Ministeries as were performed in and about his Temple should single out the exercise of prayer by which to give denomination to this holy place for by that name the House of Prayer he hath been pleased to call it twice in one verse of Esay Isa 56.7 Or that our Saviour Christ should be so scandalized at those which sold Doves in the verge thereof or at the Tables of the Money-changers Mat. 21. being so necessary or at least convenient for those who came from remote places that they might easily provide their offerings there and dispatch their business with the greater speed Why else was this but that our Saviour looked on it as a place for Sacrifice wherein his legal worship was to be performed in the Oblations of Bulls and Goats Turtles and Pidgeons and the like but as a place intended for his moral worship wherein his People were to offer the calves of their lips or at the least as on a place which was more grateful to him as an House for Prayer than as a Slaughter-house for Sacrifice His saying that he would have mercy and not sacrifice shews us how little he esteemed of the legal duties in respect of moral So then the Temple was an House of Prayer and built most chiefly for the Use Which being an action meerly moral was notwithstanding to be waited on with such rites and gestures wherewith the earnestness of their Petitions and the humility of the Petitioners might be at once presented to the Lord their God Not that these outward rites and gestures have in all times and places been the same alike for I know well they have been may be varied according unto times and seasons the customs and conditions of several Nations but that in many of them and those the principal there hath been an unanimous agreement over all the world The first of those which we shall speak of in this place is that which was first used in this holy Temple which was the kneeling on the knee and then the lifting up of the hands to God For so we find it of K. Solomon at the first Consecration of it and in the prayer of Consecration that he kneeled on his knees before the Altar and his hands spread up unto the Heavens 1 King 8.54 But behold a greater than Solomon is here for Christ our Saviour when he prayed to God that that Cup if it were possible might pass from him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he fell upon his knees and prayed as S. Luke procidit super terram He fell upon the ground and prayed Luk. 22.41 Mark 14.31 Mat. 26.35 Psalm 95. as S. Mark procidit super faciem suam He fell upon his face and prayed as S. Matthew hath it Our Saviour being both the Lord and the Son of David was not to seek in David's lesson where he doth call upon the people and invite them saying O come let us worship and fall down and kneel before the Lord our Maker He which is all in all did all this and more I know it is conceived that commonly the Jews did stand upon their feet in the act of Prayer and for the proof thereof is brought as well the instance of the Pharisee and the Publican of both whom it is said that they stood and prayed as also an old Saying used amongst that people Sine stationibus non subsisteret mundus Christ Synag l. 1. c. 6. § 5. But clearly this is to be understood of private Prayers whether made in the Temple as that of the Publican and the Pharisee before instanced in or in the fields the ways a mans secret closet which cannot but be much subservient unto the general subsistence of the Universe in which they were at liberty to stand or kneel and did stand most commonly not of the publick acts of worship in the Congregation Davids Venite adoremus makes this sure enough Yet we will make it somewhat surer if it may be possible by adding to this Text of David the Gloss or Commentary of the Jewish Rabbins and they t ell us this that in the place of David there are three several gestures of humiliation in the sight of God and that they all differed from one another The bending of the body spoken of in any place is towards the knees the bowing of all the joynts of the back-bone so that he makes his body as a bow the bending of the head is with the face or countenance downward the bowing of ones self or worshipping is the displaying of hands and feet till he be prostrate with his face on the earth And they conceived that every one of these had its several Use it being noted by them that the bending of the head with the face to the ground was to escape judgement the bowing of themselves or worshipping to obtain mercy and that the bending of the head was before the worshipping according to the mystery of the Sin-offering before the Burnt-offering This is observed by Maimony in his book of Prayer Cited by Aynsworth Exod. 4.31 and so most like to be the usual gestures in the Act of prayer In those particulars of kneeling and spreading of the hands to Heaven the Jews and Gentiles hold good correspondence with one another In other rites concerning Prayer they extreamly differed the Gentiles looking towards the East whereof more hereafter and the Jews praying towards the West if in the Temple because the Ark by Gods appointment was placed in the West end thereof Otherwise when they were abroad or in foreign Countreys they turned their faces toward Hierusalem from what Coast soever as appears evidently by Daniel's practice when he was a Prisoner in the Land of Babylon Dan. 6.10 It is reported also out of Drusius a man exceedingly well skilled in all the knowledge of the Hebrews that when they prayed their heads were covered
next It is meet and right so to do And then the Bishop It is meet right and our bounden duty above all things to praise thee the true God who wast from all eternity before the foundation of the world was laid Finally this being done let the Bishop give unto the people the blessing of peace Id. l. 2. c. 57. And as Moses did command the Priests to bless the people in these words The Lord bless thee and keep thee the Lord make his Face to shine upon thee and grant thee peace So shall the Bishop use this Form Conserva Domine populum tuum incolumen c. Preserve O Lord thy people in safety and bless thine inheritance which thou possessest and hast purchased with the Blood of Christ and callest a Royal Priesthood and holy Nation Afterwards let him go to the Consecration all the people standing and praying softly to themselves and the Oblation being made let every one severally receive the Body and Blood of our Lord and Saviour coming in order thereunto and with fear and reverence the Women being also veiled or covered as becomes their Sex And whilst that this is doing let the doors of the Church be shut that neither any Infidel or Vnbaptized person be present at it So far and to this purpose Clemens or whosoever was the Author of the Constitutions which how it doth agree with the publick Forms still extant on record in the works and monuments of such Ancient Writers of whom there is no question amongst Learned men we shall see anon One thing must first be taken into consideration and that is whether in the reading of the holy Scripture the Minister was left to his own Election although not for the number of the Sections or Chapters as we call them now yet to read what and where he would without appointment of the Church A point which hath already been resolved by the Church of England declaring The Preface to the Book of Common Prayer How it was so ordered by the ancient Fathers that all the whole Bible or the greatest part thereof should be read over once every year intending thereby that the Clergy and especially such as were Ministers of the Congregation should by often reading and meditation of Gods words be stirred up to godliness themselves and be more ale to exhort others by wholesome Doctrine and to confute them that were Adversaries to the truth And further that the people by daily hearing of holy Scripture read in the Church should copntinually profit more and more in the knowledge of God and be the more inflamed with the love of his true Religion And certainly it was a good and godly institution savouring most abundantly of the primitive wisdom though now I know not how it comes to pass it be made a matter of no moment sive biennio sive triennio absolvatur lectio sacrae Scripturae Altare Damasc c. 10. p. 633. whether the Scriptures be read over in two years or three so it be read at all in the Congregation So little thanks or commendations hath this unhappy Church of England for labouring to revive the ancient orders of the Primitive times and to bring the people of the Lord to be acquainted with his holy Word But it is said that in the Primitive times there was no such custom but all was left both for the choice and number of the Lessons arbitrio Ecclesiae * Id. Ibid. to the discretion of the Church that is to say for nothing else can be the meaning to the discretion of the Minister And this they prove from that of Justin Martyr produced before where it is said that they did read the writings of the Prophets and Apostle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. as they translate it quoad tempus fert as the time would bear But 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if translated rightly is indeed quantum licet as much as is lawful and permitted which quite destroyeth their meaning and confirms the Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 concedo admitto Hinc 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 impersonaliter exponitur licet locus est facultas est in the common Lexicon * v. Stephant Thesaurum And this appears further by the best classick Authors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non licebat manere in Xenophon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quam primum licuerit in Herodotus so in others also And that it was thus in the antient practice appeareth very plainly by that of Austin though of a later standing than the times we speak of where it is said that in the meeting or assembly for religious Worship scripturarum divinarum lecta sunt solennia †Augustin de civit Dei l. 22. cap. 8. the solemn and appointed Lessons out of holy Scripture were read unto the Congregation And if they were solennia then that is set out determined and appointed for times and seasons I cannot think thatthey were otherwise in these former days unless it were on extraordinary and great occasions in which that course might possibly be dispensed withal as in the times of persecution and the like extremities And so we come unto the third age of the Church and there we shall begin with Origen who grew into esteem and credit in the beginning of this Century and so continued till the midst By him it is observed and exceeding rightly in Ecclesiasticis observationibus nonnulla esse hujusmodi quae omnibus quidem facere necesse est nec tamen rationem eorum omnibus patere that in the usages of the Church there are many things which of necessary are to be done by every man although the reason of them be not known to all * Origen in Numer cap. 4. Homil 5. Which said in general he thus descends unto particulars Nam quod genua flectimus orantes quod ex omnibus coeli plagis ad solam Orientis partem conversi orationem fundimus non facile cuique puto ratione compertum Sed Eucharistiae sive percipiendae sive eo ritus quo geritur explicandae vel eorum quae geruntur in baptismo verborum gestorumque ordinum atuqe interrogationum ac responsionum quis facile explicet rationem Et tamen omnia haec operta relata portamus super humeros nostros cum ita implemus ea exequimur ut à magno Pontifice ab ejus filiis tradita commendata suscepimus For when we kneel saith he in the time of Prayer and that of all the points in Heaven we turn unto the East when we make our prayers I think the reason why we do so is not known to any Or who can readily assign a reason of those Rites and Ceremonies used both in the receiving of the Eucharist or at the consecrating of the same or of those many things which are done in baptism the words and gestures the order there observed the Interrogatories and the Answers And yet all these we undergo whether revealed
one to whom that charge or Office appertained began some other Psalm or Hymn and all sung together after him by which variety of singing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 some Prayers being interserted or mingled with it they past over the night and on the dawning of the day all of them joyned together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if they had but one heart and one mouth amongst them and sung unto God a Psalm of Confession most likely one of the seven penitential Psalms and after every one made in his own words a profession of his penitence and so all returned Where note that howsoever this Form of Service was fitted only for a company of private Men who had embraced the Monastick life and to be used only by them in their private Oratories yet the most part thereof was borrowed from the publick Forms at that time extant in the Church Of the which Rites or Forms retained amongst them were the beginning of their service with a confession of their sins then p rayers to God and then the singing of the Psalms That which was singular herein and needed the Apology was that they met together before day and spent more time upon the Psalmody than in reading or preaching of the Word or in Common-prayer or any of the other parts of publick Worship Basil could tell as well as any wherein the Form of Service used amongst his Monks agreed with that which was received and used in publick Churches and wherein it differed as having took the pains to compose a Liturgie or rather to compleat and polish and fit unto the publick use such as had formerly been extant And though that Copy of it which occurs in the Bibliotheca and in the writings of Cassander have some things in it which are found to be of a latter date yet we shall clear that doubt anon when we come to Chrysostom against whose Liturgy I find the like Objections Mean time take this of Basil for a pregnant Argument that in his time and long before it the Service of the Chruch was not only ordered by Rules and Rubricks but put into set Forms of Worship which we have noted in his Books De spiritu sancto and is this that followeth For speaking there touching those publick Usages which came into the Church from the tradition of the Apostles Easil de sancto spiritu c. 27. he instanceth in these particulars 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The signing with the sign of the Cross all those who place their hopes in Christ what writing teacheth that in our prayers we should turn towards the East where is it taught us in the Scripture And then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Those words of invocation wherewithal in the holy Eucharist we consecrate the Bread and Cup of Benediction which of those blessed Saints have left in writing For not content with those things which the Apostles or the Gospel have committed to us many things have been added since both in the way of preface and of conclusion which are derived from unwritten Tradition And not long after thus of Baptism having first spoke of consecrating the Water of the Chrism or Oyl and the three Dippings then in use Those other things saith he which are done in Baptism viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Abrenuntiation which is made to Satan and to all his Angels out of what Scripture is it brought Next for S. Cyrsostom the evidence we have from him is beyond exception 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Chrysost in 2. ad Corinth hom 18. It is no now saith he as in the old Testament wherein the Priests eat this and the people that it being unlawful for the people to eat those things which were permitted to the Priest It is now otherwise with us For unto all is the same Body and the same Cup presented And in our very prayers it is easily seen how much we attribute unto the people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. For both those who are possessed with the devil the Energumeni and those who yet are under penance both by the People and Priest 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 common Prayers are made and we say all one and the self same Prayer even that which is so full of mercy Where by the way though in the Greek it be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they say all one Prayer yet in the Latin it runs thus omnes unam eandemque precem concipiunt which would make well for unpremeditated and extemporary Prayers if it were possible that all the Congregation both Priest and people should fall upon the same conception But to go on 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Again saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 when we repell all such from the holy Rayls which cannot be partakers of the holy Table there is another Prayer to be said and we all lie alike upon the ground and all rise together Then when the Peace or sign of peace is mutually to be given and taken we do all equally salute or kiss each other Thus also in the celebration of the sacred Mysteries as the Priest prayeth for the people so do they for him these usual words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And with thy Spirit importing nothing else but this And finally Et cum spirtu tuo Gratlas agamus Deo that Prayer wherein we give thanks to the Lord our God is common unto both alike the Priest not only giving thanks to God but the whole Assembly For when he hath demanded their suffrage first and they acknowledg thereupon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dignum est justum that it is meet and right so to do then he begins the holy Eucharist Nor is it strange nor should it seem so unto any that the people should thus hold conference with the Priest o Minister considering that they sing those holy Hymns together with the Cherubins and the powers of Heaven So he And all this out of question Ideo cum Angelis Archangelis must needs be understood of prescribed Forms such as the people said by heart or could read in Books that either lay before them or were brought with them such as they were so throughly versed in as to make answer to the Minister upon all occasions For what else were those common Prayers those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which he speaks of what else that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that one self-same Prayer that Prayer so full of mercy in which all did joyn were they not so determinate the prescribed that all could say them with the Minister And were not those returns and Answers so prescribed and set that all the people knew their Q. and were not ignorant of their turn when they were to speak Several other passages of the antient Liturgies might here and there be gathered from this Fathers writings if one would take the pains to seek them But I shall save that pains at present and indeed well may For what
or exhorting but taking to themselves the liberty of their own expression for the phrase and stile according to the purpose and effect of the said Injunction And it is worth our noting too that presently upon the end of this exhortation or bidding of the Prayers used by Dr. Parker there followeth in the book these words Hic factae sunt tacitae preces By all which we may perceive most evidently that it was then the peoples practice and is now our duty immediately upon the bidding of the Prayers or on the Preachers moving of the people to joyn with them in Prayer as the Canon hath it to recollect the heads recommended to them and tacitly to represent them to the Lord in their devotions or otherwise to comprechend them in the Pater-noster with which the Preacher by the Canon is to close up all And now being come to the times of King Edward the sixth we will next look on Bishop Latimer the fourth of these five Prelates whom before I spake of who living in King Henry and King Edwards times and in their times using that Form of bidding Prayers which is prescribed both in the Canon and Injunctions shews plainly that the antient practice in this kind was every way conform to the present Canon and the old Injunctions And first to keep our selves to King Edwards Reign we have eight passages in his Sermons preached in that Kings time whereby we may perceive what the usage was six of them laid down in brief and two more at large the two last being as a comment on the former six of the six brief the first occurs in his 2d p. 33. Sermon before King Edward thus Hitherto goeth the Text That I may declare this the better to the edifying of your Souls and the glory of God I shall desire you to pray c. So in his third before the King p. 42. March the 22. Before I enter further into this matter I shall desire you to pray c. And in the fourth March 29. That I may have grace so to open the remnant of this Parable that it may be to the glory of God and edifying of your souls I shall desire you to pray in the which prayer c. And in the 5th Sermon before the King on the 6th of April p. 51. having entred on his matter he thus invites them to their Prayers And that I may have grace c. So in the sixth April the 13th This is the story and that I may declare this Text so as it may be to the honour of God and the edifying of your souls and mine both I shall desire you to help me with your prayers in the which c. The last is in a Sermon before that King p. 108. Preached at the Court in Westm An. 1550. where he doth it thus Here therefore I shall desire you to pray c. These instances compared with the other two make the matter plain whereof the first is in the seventh before King Edward April 19. 1549. Thus This day we have in memory Christs bitter passion and death the remedy of our Sin Therefore I intend to treat of a piece of the story of his passion I am not able to treat of all that I may do this the better and that it may be to the honour of God and the edification of your Souls and mine both I shall desire you to pray c. In this prayer I shall desire you to remember the Souls departed with laud and praise to Almighty God that he did vouchsafe to assist them at the hour of their death I shall desire you to pray c. And in the which c. What mean these caetera's That we shall see most manifestly in his Sermon Preached at Stamford p. 88. Octob. 9. 1550. which shews indeed most fully that the Form of bidding Prayers then used was every way conform to the Injunction of King Edward VI. and very near the same which was prescribed after by the Queens Injunction For having as before proposed his matter he thus bids the Prayers And that I may at this time so declare them as may be for Gods glory your edifying and my discharge I pray you to help me with your prayers in the which prayer c. For the Vniversal Church of Christ through the whole world c. for the preservation of our Sovereign Lord King Edward the Sixth sole Supreme Head under God and Christ of the Churches of England and Ireland c. Secondly for the Kings most honourable Council Thirdly I commend unto you the Souls departed this life in the Faith of Christ that ye remember to give laud praise and thanks to Almighty God for his great goodness and mercy shewed unto them in that great need and conflict against the Devil and Sin and that gave them in the hour of death faith in his Sons Death and Passion whereby they conquer and overcome and get the victory Give thanks I say for this adding prayers and supplications for your selves that it may please God to give you like faith and grace to trust only in the death of his dear Son as he gave unto them For as they be gone so must we and the Devil will be as ready to tempt us as he was them and our sins will light as heavy upon us as theirs did upon them and we were as weak and unable to resist as were they Pray therefore that we may have Grace to die in the same faith as they did and at the latter day to be raised with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and be partakers with Christ in the Kingdom of Heaven for this and all other graces let us say the Lords prayer Now unto Bishop Latimer we will joyn another of the same time and as high a calling which is Dr. Gardiner Bishop of Winchester of whom whatever may be said in other respects in this it cannot be objected but that he followed the Form and Order then prescribed for in a Sermon Preached before King Edward VI. Anno 1550. being the Fourth of that Kings Reign before the naming of his Text for ought appears he thus bids the Prayer Most honourable Audience I purpose by the grace of God to declare some part of the Gospel that is accustomably used to be read in the Church at this day and that because without the special grace of God neither I can speak any thing to your edifying nor ye receive the same accordingly I shall desire you all that we may joyntly pray all together for the assistance of his grace In which prayer I commend to Almighty God your most excellent Majesty our Sovereign Lord King of England France and Ireland and of the Church of England and Ireland next and immediately under God here on earth Supream Head Q. Katharine Dowager my L. Maries grace and my L. Elizabeths grace your Majesties most dear Sisters my L. Protectors grace with all others of your most honourable
used it or else between the Text and Sermon as others no less eminent than he have been accustomed to do Or if it must needs be interpreted to be before them both as the most would have it we must then think the Church was pleased to yield a little unto the current of the time in which that fashion generally had been taken up And that the Church regarded not so much the circumstance as the main and substance which was to lay before the people some heads of prayer and thereby to cut of those long and tedious prayers so much used of late under pretence whereof so many Widows houses had been devoured and all the publick service of the Church neglected Thirdly it may be pleaded that the old Form of Bidding prayers is more agreeable to the Law than their new Form of Invocation which is expresly and directly against the same For in the Statute 2. and 3. of King Edward VI. Cap. 1. as afterwards in the first of Queen Elizabeth Cap. 20. whereas afterwards in the first of Queen Elizabeth Cap. 20. wherein the common-prayer-Common-prayer-book now in use was confirmed and established It is enacted That if any manner of Parson Vicar or whatsoever Minister that ought or should sing or say Common prayers c. shall wilfully or obstinately standing on the same use any other Rite Cermony Order Form or manner of celebrating the Lords Supper openly or privily or Mattens Even-song administration of the Sacraments or other open prayer N. B. than is mentioned and set forth in the said Book He shall lose and forfeit to the Queens Highness her Heirs and Successours for his first offence the profits of all his spiritual Benefices and Promotions coming and arising in one whole year next after his conviction and also for the same offence shall suffer imprisonment by the space of nine Months without bayl or mainprise c. and so from one punishment unto another until at last they come on the third offence to Deprivation and imprisonment perpetual Now lest there should be any doubt what is here meant by Open prayer The said two Statutes thus expound it Open prayer in and throughout this Act is meant that prayer which is for others to come unto and hear either in common Churches or private Chappels and Oratories commonly called the service of the Church so as it seemeth by this Statute that whosoever useth in the Church any open prayer i. e. such prayer as is made for other Men to come unto or hear which is not mentioned or set forth in the Common-prayer book makes himself subject unto all the penalties in the same conteined which thing considered as it ought it is not to be thought that in the Convocation of 1603. the Church did order or permit by the aforesaid Canon any Form of prayer or Invocation which was repugnant to the Statutes standing still in force but only purposed to continue the usual Form of Bidding prayer or exhortation unto Prayers which was agreeable thereto In the 4th rank the very place it self comes to be considered in which this Prayer of theirs is made which of all places else is most improper for that action and least intended to it by the Church Pulpits were made of old for publick speeches to the people and not for Prayers unto the Gods the Pulpit for Orations being often mentioned in Heathen Writers call it Suggestum rostrum pulpitum or what else you will but never any mentioned in them as a place for Prayer And so in sacred matters also the Pulpit hath been used for publishing the Law in reference to Mount Sinai whence it first was published Neh. v. 4. Matth. 5.6 7. Deut. 27.13 and for the preaching of the Gospel in reference to the Mount where it was first preached and for the denouncing of Gods Judgments on the Disobedient in reference to Mount Ebal whence the Curse was threatned But that the Pulpit should be used as a place to pray in when there are other places destinate to that holy Use was never heard of as I think till these later Ages when all things seemed to tend to Innovation Sure I am in the Church of England there was no such meaning for in the 83. Canon it is ordained that the Parishioners shall provide a comely and decent Pulpit to be set in a convenient place and to be there seemly kept for the preaching of Gods Word Nothing else in the Canon is expressed but only preaching of Gods Word and therefore I may safely say nothing else was meant especially there being another seat appointed for the publick prayers Can. 82. For further proof of which let us but look unto the Rubrick before the Commination where is said as followeth After Morning prayer the people being called together by the tolling of a Bell and assembled in the Church the English Letany shall be said after the accustomed manner which ended the Priest shall go into the Pulpit and say thus Here seems to be another Use of the Pulpit besides that of preaching but indeed it is not The threatnings of Gods Judgments being many times as necessary to and for Gods people as the endearments of his mercies and both the preaching of his Word Now whereas after the said Commination there are some certain reconciliatory Psalms or Prayers that follow after those are not to be said within the Pulpit but where the Letany had been said before for so it is declared in the next Rubrick Then shall they all kneel upon their knees the Priest and Clerk kneeling where they are accustomed to say the Letany shall say this Psalm which plainly shews that in the intention of the Church the Pulpit was not made for a place for the Priest to pray in but rather for a place wherein to teach the people how they were to pray which is the Bidding prayers in the Canon meant The same may be concluded also even from the posture of the Preacher being in the Pulpit for Pulpits being made as before was said for Speeches Sermons and Orations unto the people the Speaker Orator or Preacher was of necessity or ordinary Course to turn himself unto the people that so they might the better both see and hear him as in such things is still accustomed whereas in times of Prayer the Priest or Minister ought to turn his face to the upper end of the Church looking towards the East and so his back to be towards the people I say that so he ought to do at least if he intend to follow either the prescript of this Church or most true antiquity The Christians of Tertullians time were generally accused for worshipping the Sun because that in their prayers they turned their faces to the East Inde suspicio quod innotuerit nos ad Orientis regionem precari Apol. p. 16. as he there informs us where nos no question was not meant of the people only but of Priest and people And for the Church of England
Judaic l. 12. as Josephus hath it which cometh to seventy two in all But both the seventy two Elders are generally called the Seventy as the Translators of the Bible are called the Septuagint both of them ad rotundationem numeri even as the Magistrates in Rome were called Centumviri though being three for every Tribe they came unto an hundred and five in all Calvin in harm Evang. ut supra And this is that which Calvin hath observed in the present business viz. that the Consistory of the Jewish Judges to which the number of the Disciples is by him proportioned consisted of no less than 72 though for the most part ut fieri solet in talibus numeris they are called the Seventy So then to reconcile the Latin with the Greek Original there were in all 72 Disciples according to the truth of the calculation and yet but seventy in account according to the estimation which was then in use And therefore possibly the Church of England the better to comply with both computations though it have seventy in the new Translations yet still retains the number of seventy two in the Gospel appointed for Saint Lukes day in the book of common-Common-prayer confirmed by Parliament This being the number of the Disciples it will then fall out that as there were six Elders for every Tribes so here will be six Presbyters or Elders for every one of the Apostles For those which have compared the Church of Christ which was first planted by the Apostles with that which was first founded by the Lord himself resemble the Bishops in the Church to the twelve Apostles the Presbyters or Priests unto the Seventy Which parallel how well it holdeth and whether it will hold or not we shall see hereafter Mean while it cannot be denied but that the Apostles were superiour to these Seventy both in place and power The Fathers have so generally affirmed the same that he must needs run cross unto all antiquity that makes question of it The Council of Neocaesarea which was convened some years before that of Nice Leo Ep. 88. declareth that the Chorepiscopi which were but Presbyters in fact though in Title Bishops 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concil Neocasar 1. Can. 13. were instituted according to the pattern of the Seventy Saint Hierom in his Tractate ad Fabiolam speaking of the twelve fountains of Elim and the seventy Psalms that grew thereby doth resolve it thus Nec dubium quin de duodeeim Apostolis sermo sit c. It is not to be doubted but that the Scripture speaketh here of the twelve Apostles the waters issuing from whose fountains have moistned the barren driness of the whole World and that the seventy Psalms that grew thereby are the Teachers of the second rank or order Luca testante duodecim fuisse Apostolos septuaginta Discipulos minoris gradus Saint Luke affirming that there were twelve Apostles and seventy Disciples of a lower order whom the Lord sent two and two before him In this conceit Saint Ambrose led the way before him likening unto those Psalms the Seventy qui secundo ab Apostolis gradu who in a second rank from the Apostles were by the Lord sent forth for the salvation of mankind Serm. 24. Damasus their co-temporary doth affirm as much viz. non amplius quam duos ordines Epist 5. that there were but two Orders amongst the Disciples of Christ viz. that of the twelve Apostles and the Seventy Theophylact concurrs with Hierom in his conceit about the twelve Fountains and the seventy Palm-trees and then concludes Theoph. in Luc. 10. that howsoever they were chosen by Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet were they inferiour to the twelve and afterwards their followers and Scholars Add hereunto the testimony and consent of Calvin who giving the preheminence unto the Apostles Calvin in Institut l. 4. c. 3. § 4. as the chief builders of the Church adds in the next place the Evangelists such as were Timothy and Titus fortassis etiam septuaginta Discipuli quos secundo ab Apostolis loco Dominus designavit and peradventure also the seventy Disciples whom Christ appointed in the second place after his Apostles Besides S. Hierom giveth it for a Maxim Qui provehitur Ep. ad Oceanum de minore ad majus provehitur that he which is promoted is promoted from a lower rank unto an higher Matthias therefore having been formerly of the Seventy and afterwards advanced into the rank and number of the Twelve in the place of Judas it must needs follow that the twelve Apostles shined in an higher sphere than these lesser luminaries Now that Matthias had before been one of the seventy appeareth by the concurrent testimonies of Euseb l. 1. Eccles Hist c. 12. l. 2. cap. 1. and of Epiphanius contr haeres 20. n. 4. to whom for brevity sake I refer the Reader And this the rather because the Scripture is so full and pregnant in it it being a condition or qualification if you will required by S. Peter in those that were the Candidates for so high a Dignity Acts 1. v. 21. that they accompanied the Apostles all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out amongst them And that we know none did but the Seventy only So then it is most clear and manifest both by authority of Scripture and consent of Fathers that our Saviour instituted in his Church two ranks of Ministers the one subordinate unto the other and consequently laid the first foundations of it in such a Fatherly and moderate imparity as bound all following times and ages that would not willingly oppose so Divine an Ordinance to observe the like And yet it is not to be thought that this superiority thus by him established doth contradict those other passages of holy Scripture wherein he doth prohibit all dominion over one another They much mistake the business who conceive it so The Jews in general and all the followers of Christ particularly expected that the promised Messiah should come with power restore again the lustre of the Jewish Kingdom and free them from that yoke and bondage which by the Romans had been laid upon them We thought said Cleophas that this had been he that should have delivered Israel Acts 24.21 And what he thought was solemnly expected by all the rest Acts 1.6 Domine si in tempore hoc restitues regnum Israel Lord say they even in the very moment of his Ascension wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom unto Israel Upon which fancy and imagination no marvail if they harboured some ambitious thought every one hoping for the nearest places both of power and trust about his person This was the greatness which they aimed at and this our Saviour laboured to divery them from by interdicting all such power and Empire as Princes and the favourites of Princes have upon their Vassals Ye know saith he that the Princes of the
especially appointed for the same are called Holy days Rot for the matter or the nature either of the time or day c. for to all days and times are of like holiness but for the nature and condition of such holy works c. whereunto such times and days are sanctified and hallowed that is to say separated from all prophane uses and dedicated not unto any Saint or Creature but only unto God and his true worship Neither is it to be thought that there is any certain time or definitive number of days prescribed in holy Scripture but the appointment both of the time and also of the number of days is left by the authority of Gods Word unto the liberty of Christs Church to be determined and assigned orderly in every Countrey by the discretion of the Rulers and Ministers thereof as they shall judg most expedient to the true setting forth of Gods glory and edification of their people Nor is it to be thought that all this Preamble was made in reference to the Holy days or Saints days only whose being left to the authority of the Church was never questioned but in relation to the Lords day also as by the Act it self doth at full appear for so it followeth in the Act Be it therefore enacted c. That all the days hereafter mentioned shall be kept and commanded to be kept Holy days and none other that is to say all Sundays in the Year the Feasts of the Circumcision of our Lord Jesus Christ of the Epiphanie of the Purification with all the rest now kept and there named particularly and that none other day shall be kept and commanded to be kept holy day and to abstain from lawful bodily labour Nay which is more there is a further Clause in the self-same Act which plainly shews that they had no such thought of the Lords day as that it was a Sabbath or so to be observed as the Sabbath was and therefore did provide it and enact by the Authority aforesaid a bat it shall be lawful to every Husbandman Labourer Fisherman and to all and every other person or persons of what estate degree or condition be or they he upon the holy days aforesaid in Harvest or at any other times in the year when necessity shall so require to labour ride fish or work any kind of work at their free-wills and pleasure any thing in this Act unto the contrary notwithstanding This is the total of this Act which if examined well as it ought to be will yield us all those propositions or conclusions before remembred which we collected from the writings of those three particular Martyrs Nor is it to be said that it is repealed and of no Authority Repealed indeed it was in the first year of Queen Mary and stood repealed in Law though otherwise in use and practice all the long Reign of Queen Elizabeth but in the first year of King James was revived again Note here that in the self-same Parliament the Common Prayer-Book now in use being reviewed by many godly Prelates was confirmed and authorized wherein so much of the said Act as doth concern the Names and Number of the Holy days is expressed and as it were incorporate into the same Which makes it manifest that in the purpose of the Church the Sunday was no otherwise esteemed of than another Holy day This Statute as before we said was made in Anno 5. 6. of Edward the sixth And in that very Parliament as before we said the Common-Prayer-Book was confirmed which still remains in use amongst us save that there was an alteration or addition of certain Lessons to be used on every Sunday of the Year 1 Eliz. cap. 2. the form of the Letany altered and corrected and two Sentences added in the delivery of the Sacrament unto the Communicants Now in this Common Prayer-Book thus confirmed in the fifth and sixth years of King Edward the sixth Cap. 1. it pleased those that had the altering and revising of it that the Commandments which were not in the former Liturgy allowed of in the second of the said Kings Reign should now be added and accounted as a part of this the people being willed to say after the end of each Commandment Lord have mercy upon us and incline our hearts to keep this Law Which being used accordingly as well upon the hearing of the fourth Commandment as of any others hath given some men a colour to persuade themselves that certainly it was the meaning of the Church that we should keep a Sabbath still though the day be changed and that we are obliged to do it by the fourth Commandment Assuredly they who so conclude conclude against the meaning of the Book and of them that made it Against the meaning of the Book for if the Book had so intended that that Ejaculation was to be understood in a literal sence according as the words are laid down in terminis it then must be the meaning of the Book that we should pray unto the Lord to keep the Sabbath of the Jews even the seventh day precisely from the Worlds Creation and keep it in the self-same manner as the Jews once did which no man I presume will say was the meaning of it For of the changing of the day there is nothing said nor nothing intimated but the whole Law laid down in terminis as the Lord delivered it Against the meaning also of them that made it for they that made the Book and reviewed it afterwards and caused these Passages and Prayers to be added to it Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury Ridley Bishop of London and certain others of the Prelates then and there assembled were the same men by whose advice and counsel the Act before remembred about keeping Holy days was in the self-same Parliament drawn up and perfected And is it possible we should conceive so ill of those reverend persons as that they would erect a Sabbath in the one Act and beat it down so totally in the other to tell us in the Service-Book that we are bound to keep a Sabbath and that the time and day of Gods publick Worship is either pointed out in the fourth Commandment or otherwise ordained by Divine Authority and in the self-same breath to tell us that there is neither certain time nor definite number of days prescribed in Scripture but all this left unto the liberty of the Church I say as formerly I said it is impossible we should think so ill of such Reverend persons nor do I think that any will so think hereafter when they have once considered the non sequitur of their own Conclusions As for the Prayer there used we may thus expound it according to the doctrine and the practice both of those very times viz. that their intent and meaning was to teach the people to pray unto the Lord to incline their hearts to keep that Law as far as it contained the Law of Nature and had been
was then so generally received and taught in the Reformed Church of England as not to be known to Artificers Tradesmen and Mechanicks and that they were so well instructed in the niceties of it as to believe that though Christ died effectually for all yet the benefit thereof should be effectually applied to none but those who do effectually repent Fourthly I consider that if the Popish Clergy of those times did believe no otherwise of Predestination than that men be elected in respect of good works and so long elected as they do them and no longer as Carelese hath reported of them the Doctrine of the Church hath been somewhat altered since those times there being now no such Doctrine taught in the Schools of Rome as that a man continues no longer in the state of Election than whilst he is exercised in good works And finally I consider the unfortunate estate of those who living under no certain rule of Doctrine or Discipline lie open to the practices of cunning and malicious men by whom they are many times drawn aside from the true Religion For witnesses whereof we have Trew and Carelese above mentioned the one being wrought on by the Papists the other endangered by the Gospellers or Zuinglian Sectaries For that Carelese had been tampered with by the Gospellers or Zuinglian Sectaries doth appear most clearly first by the confidence which he had of his own salvation and of the final perseverance of all others also which are the chosen members of the Church of Christ and secondly but more especially for giving the scornful title of a Free-will man to one of his fellow Prisoners who was it seems of different persuasion from him For which consult his Letter to Henry Adlington in the Act. and Mon. Fol. 1749. which happened unto him as to many others when that Doctrine of the Church wanted the countenance of Law and the Doctors of the Church here scattered and dispersed abroad not being able to assist them In which condition the affairs of the holy Church remained till the beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth and for some years after But no sooner had that gracious Lady attained the Crown when she took order for the reviewing of the publick Liturgy formerly Authorized by Act of Parliament in the fifth and sixth years of King Edward VI. The men appointed for which work were Dr. Parker after Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Grindal after Bishop of London Dr. Pilkington after Bishop of Durham Dr. Cox after Bishop of Elie Dr. May Dean of Pauls Dr. Bill Provost of Eaton after Dean of Westminster Mr. Whitehead sometimes Chaplain to Queen Anne Bullen designed to be the first Archbishp of this new Plantation and finally Sir Thomas Smith a man of great esteem with King Edw. VI. and the Queen now Reigning By thesE men was the Liturgy reviewed approved and passed without any sensible alteration in any of the Rubricks Prayers and Contents thereof but only the giving of some contentment to the Papists and all moderate Protestants in two particulars the first whereof was the taking away of a clause in the Letany in which the People had been taught to pray to Almighty God to deliver them from the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome and all his detestable enormities The second was the adding of the sentences in the distribution of the Sacrament viz. The Body of our Lord Jesus which was given for thee preserve thy body and soul to everlasting life The Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ which was shed for thee c. which sentences exclusive of the now following words of participation as they were only in the first so were they totally left out of the second Liturgy of King Edward VI. Other alterations I find none mentioned in the Act of Parliament 1 Eliz. c. 2. but the appointing of certain Lessons for every Sunday in the year which made no change at all in the publick Doctrine before contained in that book and that the People might be the better trained up in the same Religion which had been taught and preacht unto them in the time of King Edward VI. She gave command by her Injunctions published in the first year of her Reign Ann. 1559. that the Paraphrases of Erasmus should be diligently studied both by Priest and People And to that end it was required as formerly in the Injunctions of the said King Edward 1. That the Paraphrases of the said Erasmus Injunct 6. and on the Gospel in the English tongue should be provided at the joynt charges of the Parson and Parishioners and being so provided should be set up in some convenient place of every Church so as the Parishioners may most commodiously resort unto the same and read the same out of the time of common service And secondly Injunct 16. that every Parson Vicar Curate and Stipendary Priest shall provide and have of his own within the time therein limitted the New Testament in Latine and English with the Paraphrases on the same conferring the one with the other And the Bishops by themselves and other Ordinaries and their Officers in Synods and Visitations shall examine the said Ecclesiastical Priests how they have profited in the study of holy Scripture Evident Arguments that there was no intent of setling any other Doctrine in the Church of England than such as was agreeable to the Judgment of that Learned man The next care was for making and perfecting those Homilies of which we find mention at the end of King Edwards book for the necessary edifying of Christian People and the increase of godly living both books sufficiently provided for besides the confirmation of that first Article of the year 1552. in the Rubrick of the second Liturgy where it is said that after the Creed if there be no Sermon shall follow one of the Homilies already set forth or to be set forth by common authority which Rubrick being revised with the rest of the Liturgy put the said books of Homilies as well the second as first part of them into the service of the Church and thereby made them no small part of the publick doctrine But who they were which laboured in this second book whether they were the same that drew up the first or those who in Queen Elizabeths time reviewed the Liturgy or whether they were made by the one and reviewed by the other I have no where found though I have taken no small pains in the search thereof But those few doctrinals which were contained in the Book of Common Prayer or deducible from it not being much taken notice of and the Homilies not confirm'd by that common Authority which was required in the Rubrick the Zuinglians or Gospellers took the opportunity to disperse their doctrines before the door of utterance should be shut against them or any publick course be taken to suppress their practices And this they did with so much diligence and cunning that they encreased exceedingly both in power and numbers of
too much to our ancient Martyrs c. exemplified in the parity of Ministers and popular elections unto Benefices allowed by Mr. John Lambert Page 547 2. Nothing ascribed to Calvins judgment by our first Reformers but much to the Augustine Confession the Writings of Melancthon Page 548 3. And to the Authority of Erasmus his Paraphrases being commended to the use of the Church by King Edward VI. and the Reasons why ibid. 4. The Bishops Book in order to a Reformation called The institution of a Christian man commanded by King Henry VIII 1537. correcied afterwards with the Kings own hand examined and allowed by Cranmer approved by Parliament and finally published by the name of Necessary Doctrine c. An. 1543. ibid. 5. The Doctrine of the said two Books in the points disputed agreeable unto that which after was established by King Edward VI. Page 549 6. Of the two Liturgies made in the time of King Edward VI. and the manner of them the testimony given unto the first and the alterations in the second Page 550 7. The first Book of Homilies by whom made approved by Bucer and of the Argument that may be gathered from the method of it in the points disputed ibid. 8. The quality and condition of those men who principally concurred to the Book of Articles with the Harmony or consent in judgment between Archbishop Cranmer Bishop Ridley Bishop Hooper c. Page 551 9. The Doctrine delivered in the Book of Articles touching the five controverted points ibid. 10. An Answer to the Objection against these Articles for the supposed want of Authority in the making of them Page 552 11. An Objection against King Edwards Catechism mistaken for an Objection against the Articles refelled as that Catechism by John Philpot Martyr and of the delegating of some powers by that Convocation to a choice Committee Page 553 12. The Articles not drawn up in comprehensible or ambiguous terms to please all parties but to be understood in the respective literal and Grammatical sense and the Reasons why ibid. CHAP. IX Of the Doctrine of Predestination delivered in the Articles the Homilies the publique Liturgies and the Writings of some of the Reformers 1. The Articles differently understood by the Calvinian party and the true English Protestants with the best way to find out the true sense thereof Page 555 2. The definition of Predestination and the most considerable points contained in it ibid. 3. The meaning of those words in the definition viz. Whom he hath chosen in Christ according to the Exposition of S. Ambrose S. Chrysostom S. Jerom as also of Archbishop Cranmer Bishop Latimer and the Book of Homilies Page 556 4. The Absolute Decree condemned by Bishop Latimer as a means to Licentiousness and Carnal living ibid. 5. For which and making God to be the Author of sin condemned as much by Bishop Hooper ibid. 6. Our Election to be found in Christ not sought for in Gods secret Councils according to the judgment of Bishop Hatimer Page 557 7. The way to find out our Election delivered by the same godly Bishop and by Bishop Hooper with somewhat to the same purpose also from the Book of Homilies ibid. 8. The Doctrine of Predestination delivered by the holy Martyr John Bradford with Fox his gloss upon the same to corrupt the sense Page 558 9. No countenance to be had for any absolute personal and irrespective decree of Predestination in the publique Liturgie ibid. 10. An Answer to such passages out of the said Liturgie as seem to favour that opinion as also touching the number of Gods Elect. CHAP. X. The Doctrine of the Church concerning Reprobation and Universal Redemption 1. The absolute Decree of Reprobation not found in the Articles of this Church but against it in some passages of the publick Liturgie Page 560 2. The cause of Reprobation to be found in a mans self and not in Gods Decrees according to the judgment of Bishop Latimer and Bishop Hooper ibid. 3. The Absolute Decrees of Election and Reprobation how contrary to the last clause in the seventeenth Article Page 561 4. The inconsistency of the Absolute Decree of Reprobation with the Doctrine of Vniversal Redemption by the death of Christ ibid. 5. The Vniversal Redemption of man-kind by the death of Christ declared in many places of the publick Liturgie and affirmed also in one of the Homilies and the Book of Articles Page 502 6. A further proof of it from the Mission of the Apostles and the Prayer used in the Ordination of Priests ibid. 7. The same confirmed by the Writings of Archbishop Cranmer and the two other Bishops before mentioned Page 563 8. A Generality of the Promises and an Vniversality of Vocation maintained by the said two godly Bishops ibid. 9. The reasons why this benefit is not made effectual to all sorts of men to be found only in themselves ibid. CHAP. XI Of the Heavenly influences of Gods grace in the Conversion of a Sinner and a mans cooperation with those Heavenly influences 1. The Doctrine of Deserving Grace ex congruo maintained in the Roman Schools before the Council of Trent rejected by our ancient Martyrs and the Book of Articles Page 564 2. The judgment of Dr. Barns and Mr. Tyndal touching the necessary workings of Gods grace on the will of man not different from that of the Church of England Page 565 3. Vniversal grace maintained by Bishop Hooper and approved by some passages in the Liturgie and Book of Homilies ibid. 4. The offer of Vniversal grace made ineffectual to some for want of faith and to others for want of repentance according to the judgment of Bishop Hooper ibid. 5. The necessity of Grace Preventing and the free co-operation of mans will being so prevented maintained in the Articles in the Homilies and the publique Liturgie Page 566 6. The necessity of this co-operation on the part of man defended and applied to the exercise of a godly life by Bishop Hooper ibid. 7. The Doctrine of Irresistibility first broached by Calvin pertinaciously maintained by most of his followers and by Gomarus amongst others Page 567 8. Gainsaid by Bishop Hooper and Bishop Latimer ibid. 9. And their gain-sayings justified by the tenth Article of King Edwards Books Page 568 And 10. The Book of Homilies ibid. CHAP. XII The Doctrine of Free-will agreed upon by the Clergy in their Convocation An. 1543. 1. Of the Convocation holden in the year 1543. in order to the Reformation of Religion in points of Doctrine Page 569 2. The Article of Free-will in all the powers and workings of it agreed on by the Prelates and Clergie of that Convocation agreeable to the present Doctrine of the Church of England ibid. 3. An Answer to the first Objection concerning the Popishness of the Bishops and Clergie in that Convocation Page 571 4. The Article of Free-will approved by King Henry VIII and Archbishop Cranmer Page 572 5. An Answer to the last Objection concerning the Conformity of
of these as made him a most resolute Champion for them and was the reason that he was often heated with great Indignation against those that were so blind or obstinate to endeavour the interruption of such transcendent blessings And though some have thought his zeal too ardent yet they might consider that it was his fortune to live in such times as made the highest expressions of it not only just but necessary Of which he was so sensible that forgetting all his other diverting Studies he wholly set himself to endeavour the defence and support of a tottering Church and Grown which he laboured to that degree that his body though naturally a very strong one not being able to keep pace with his mind was often hurried into violent Fevers And at last his eyes of themselves brisk and sparkling through continual watchings and intensness lost their function and refused any longer to assist his Studies Yet could not all this abate the vigour of his mind which as tho it had lost no outward assistance or that it stood in need of none still continued its action and produced several excellent Books after their Author was neither capable of writing nor reading them Nor was any thing but death able so much as to slacken his industry for besides the discouragements I have named he had all those which an Usurped Authority under which he was forced to live and against which he could not forbear both to speak and write could threaten him with for he was thereby not only deprived of his Preferments but often put in hazard of his life But that merciful God who never faileth those that trust in him did preserve him that he might enjoy the fruits of his pains and prayers in the Restauration of that Religion and Government which he so truly loved and had so earnestly endeavoured in the publick enjoyment of which he lived three years And then having compleated the utmost of his wishes in the world God was pleased to call him to the eternal Reward of another and in so favourable a way as he might well look upon as a remarkable instance of the divine Goodness towards him For as we read in the Scriptures that God did frequently warn his Servants of their approaching deaths so he dealt with this good man For on the Saturday night before he fell sick he dreamed That he was in an extraordinary pleasant and delightful place where standing and admiring the Beauty and Glory of it he saw the late King his Master who said to him Peter I will have you buried under your Seat at Church for you are rarely seen but there or at your Study This Dream he related to his Wife next morning told her it was a significant one and charged her to let him be buried according to it On the Monday he bought an House in the Almonry Sealed the Writings and paid the Money the same day and at night told his Wife he had bought her an House to live in near the Abby that she might serve God in that Church as he had done And then renewing his Charge of burying him according to his dream went to bed very well but after his first sleep was taken with a violent Fever which deprived him of his understanding till a few hours before his death when seeing one of the Vergers of the Church in his Chamber he called him and said I know it is Church time with you and this is Ascension day I am ascending to the Church triumphant I go to my God and Saviour into joys Celestial and to Hallelujahs eternal After which and other like expressions he died the same day Anno Dom. 1663. in the 63 year of his Age. He had eleven Children four of which are still living He was buried under the Sub-Dean's Seat according to his dream and desire over against which on the North-side of the Abby stands his Monument with this Inscription composed by Dr. Earl then Dean of that Church Depositum Mortale Petri Heylyn S. Th. P. Hujus Ecclesiae Prebendarii Subdecani Viri planè memorabilis Egregiis dotibus instructissimi Ingenio acri foecundo Judicio subacto Memoria ad prodigium tenaci Cui adjunxit incredibilem in studiis patientiam Quae cessantibus oculis non cessarunt Scripsit varia plurima Que jam manibas hominum teruntur Et argumentis non vulgaribus Stylo non vulgari suffecit Constans ubiq Ecelesiae Et majestatis Regie assertor Nec florentis magis utriusque Quant afflictae Idemque perduellium Schismaticae Factionis Impugnator acerrimus Contemptor invidiae Et animo infracto Plura ejusmodi meditanti Mors indixit Silentium Vt sileatur Efficere non potest Obiit Anno Aetat 63. Posuit hoc illi Moestissima Conjux A Catalogue of such Books as were written by this Learned Doctor Spurius a Tragedy M.S. written A. D. 1616. Theomachia a Comedy M.S. 1619. Geography printed at Oxon twice A. D. 1621 and 1624. in 4. and afterwards in 1652. inlarged into a Folio under the Title of Cosmography An Essay called Augustus 1631 since inserted into his Cosmography The History of St. George Lon. 1631. reprinted 1633. The History of the Sabbath 1631 reprinted 1636. Answer to the B. of Lincolns Letter to the Vicar of Grantham 1636. twice reprinted Answer to Mr. Burtons two seditious Sermons 1637. A short Treatise concerning a Form of Prayer to be used according to what is enjoined in the 55 Canon written at the request of the Bishop of Winchester 1637. Antidotum Lincolniense or an Answer to the Bishop of Lincoln's Book entitled Holy Table Name and Thing 1637 reprinted 1638. An Uniform book of Articles fitted for Bishops Arch-Deacons in their Visitation 1640. De Jure paritatis Episcoporum or concerning the Peerage of Bishops 1740 M. S. A Reply to Dr. Hackwel concerning the Sacrifice of the Eucharist M. S. 1641. The History of Episcopacy first under the name of Theoph. Churchman afterwards in his own name reprinted 1657. The History of Liturgies written 1642. A Relation of the Lord Hoptons Victory at Bodmin A View of the proceedings in the West for a Pacification A Letter to a Gentleman in Lincolnshire about the Treaty A Relation of the proceedings of Sir John Gell. A Relation of the Queens return from Holland and the Siege of Newark The black Cross shewing that the Londoners were the cause of the Rebellion The Rebels Catechism All these printed at Oxon 1644. An Answer to the Papists groundless Clamor who Nick-name the Religion of the Church of England by the name of a Parliamentary Religion 1644. A Relation of the Death and sufferings of Will. Laud Archbishop of Canterbury 1644 The Stumbling-block of Disobedience removed written 1644. printed 1658. The Promised Seed in English Verse Theotogia Veterum or an Exposition of the Creed Fol. 1654. Survey of France with an account of the Isles of Guernsey and Jersey 1656. 4. Examen Historicum or a Discovery and
the Gift of Prayer as much kept in where the matter of the Prayer is prescribed unto us as when we are prescribed also in the form and words And secondly whereas it seems to be intended that Ministers should use no Form of Prayer before their Sermons or in any other part of worship but such as they call Conceived extemporary or unpremeditated Prayers though by the way all Conceived prayer require some premeditation Few of those Men who have conformed themselves to the Rules of the Directory have ventured on the Exercise of the Gift of Prayer most of them using certain and Set Forms of their own Composing and some not only using such Set Forms memoriter or without book as we use to say but reading them in their books or papers as they lie before them As great a stinting of the Spirit as contrary to the free Exercise of the Gift of Prayer as any publick Liturgy or Set Form of Worship can be thought to be But that which is most worth our noting is that those very Men who composed the Directory and laboured so industriously in abolishing all Set Forms of Worship by the Ordinance of the third of January should within a while after publish some Set Forms of Prayer to be used by such as were at Sea A supply of Prayer for the Ships Quo teneam nodo This is just fast and loose pretty sport for children For though it be pretended that these Set Forms are to be used only in the want of Ministers yet then it must be supposed withal that none but Ministers have the Gift of Prayer or if they have are not to be permitted the free exercise and use thereof as they see occasion which I conceive the Lay-brethren will not thank them for who think themselves as well Gifted as the Presbyters do Or if it be to be supposed it is to be supposed only in common Cases when no sense of extraordinary danger or approaching Ruine can quicken the dull spirits of Men to the free and voluntary acts of invocation to which the tempestuousness of the Sea and unavoidable fears of a sudden death give so many advantages that there cannot be a better Tutor to teach men to pray Insomuch that it grew into a proverb in the elder times Qui nescit orare discat navigare that he who knew not how to to pray should undertake some Voyage by Sea and there he would be sure to learn it Which shews that there was somewhat else which these good Men aimed at in crying down the publick Liturgie than the free exercise and use of the Gift of Prayer which few of them make use of now they have their ends in it and what that was it shall not be long before I tell you For if we look back into the busie times of Queen Elizabeths Reign we shall find there were some secret workings amongst those of the Puritan or Presbyterian party to draw all the power and Riches of the Church into their own hands And to this end the Ministers so bestirred themselves that as they had invaded the Government and Jurisdiction of the Church by setting up their Presbyters in several places so they resolved that the people should depend upon them alone as for prayer and preaching and all the other exercises of their Religion A thing which could not be effected if the Liturgy were not first abolish'd which of necessity must bring their own conceived prayers as they use to call them into estimation and make them the sole Rule and Rubrick of all publick Worship by means whereof they were sure to get that absolute Sovereignty in the peoples Consciences which in their practices and preachings they had so long aimed at But on the other side the Lay-brethren had their Ends in it also hoping that if they could destroy the Liturgy it would be no hard matter for them to ingross the Tithes unto themselves and to put their Ministers off with arbitrary Pensions as in other places Tithes being as they gave it out a Jewish imposition not to be laid upon free Subjects in the times of the Gospel never intended for the maintenance of a Preaching Ministery but of a Sacrificing Priesthood And so far they might seem to have the truth on their side that the first Tithes which were ever taken were not received with reverence to preaching to or instructing the people but with relation unto praying for them or offering up to God the daily and commanded Sacrifices in their behalf When Melchisedech took Tithes of Abraham it was not for any pains he had taken in preaching to him or instructing his little Army but for praying to God for his Blessings on them for the Text only tells us that he blessed Abraham praising God for his good success against his Enemies Gen. 14.19..20 and for performing that Office had the Tithes of all And when Tithes were paid by Gods appointment to the Priests and Levites it was not for their Teaching Preaching or Exhorting for we find not that any such Offices were either required of them or performed by them but for their service in the Temple the offering the appointed and occasional Sacrifices performed with several kinds of Prayer agreeable to the occasion and the Spiritual necessities of that people Tithes therefore being the reward and maintenance of a praying not a preaching Ministery the Liturgy being taken away and Preaching made the main if not the sole work of the Minister there could no reason be alledged why the people might not withold their Tithes or why the Tithes might not be otherwise imployed as the State thought fit This business being resumed and more hotly followed in these latter times and some proposals set on foot for depriving the Ministers of their Tithes drawing them into some Common Treasuries and out of them allotting such maintenance to the Ministers as the necessities and wants of the State could spare I publish'd a Discourse entituled The undeceiving of the people in the point of Tithes and to my Preface to that Treatise do refer the Reader both for the motives which induced me having no ends of my own in it to that Undertaking the whole Design and Method of it and finally the Reasons why I did so disguise my name that I might not appear for the Author of it At this time I shall only add that Tithes being now the only remaining Patrimony which is left the Church for the encouragement and reward of a learned Ministery should they be also taken from it and the poor Clergy forced to depend on uncertain Stipends I see not what can follow thereupon but a gross night of Ignorance and Egyptian darkness especially in those who now hold out the light to others For certainly that saying of Panormitan will be always true Ad tenuitatem Beneficiorum necessaria sequitur ignorantia sacerdotum And if ignorance once possess the Priests I hope it will not be offensive if I use that name
most eminent Divines of all the Kingdom to come before him whom he required freely and plainly to declare as well what their opinion was of the aforesaid Pamphlets as what they did think fit to be done concerning the Translation of the Bible into the English Tongue And they upon mature advice and deliberation unanimously condemned the aforesaid Books of Heresie and Blasphemy no smaller crime then for translating of the Scriptures into the English tongue they agreed all with one assent that it depended wholly on the will and pleasure of the Sovereign Prince who might do therein as he conceived to be most agreeable to his occasions but that with reference to the present estate of things it was more expedient to explain the Scripture to the people by the way of Sermons than to permit it to be read promiscuously by all sorts of men yet so that hopes were to be given unto the Laily that if they did renounce their errours and presently deliver to the hands of his Majesties Officers all such Books and Bibles which they conceived to be translated with great fraud and falshood and any of them had in keeping his Majesty would cause a true and catholike Translation of it to be published in convenient time for the use of his Subjects This was the sum and substance of the present Conference which you shall find laid down at large in the Registers of Arch-Bishop Warham And according to this advice the King sets out a Proclamation not only prohibiting the buying reading or translating of any the aforesaid Books but straitly charging all his Subjects which had any of the Books of Scripture either of the Old Testament or of the New in the English Tongue to bring them in without delay But for the other part of giving hopes unto the people of a true Translation if they delivered in the false or that at least which was pretended to be false I find no word at all in the Proclamation That was a work reserved unto better times or left to be solicited by the Bishops themselves and other Learned men who had given the counsel by whom indeed the people were kept up in hope that all should be accomplished unto their desires And so indeed it proved at last For in the Convocation of the year 1536. the Authority of the Pope being abrogated and Cranmer fully settled in the See of Canterbury the Clergy did agree upon a form of Petition to be presented to the King That he would graciously indulge unto his Subjects of the Laity the reading of the Bible in the English Tongue and that a new Translation of it might be forthwith made for that end and purpose According to which godly motion his Majesty did not only give Order for a new Translation which afterwards He authorized to be read both in publique and private but in the interim he permitted CROMWEL his Vicar General to set out an Injunction for providing the whole Bible both in Latine and English after the Translation then in Use which was called commonly by the name of Matthews Bible but was no other than that of Tindal somewhat altered to be kept in every Parish-Church throughout the Kingdom for every one that would repair thereunto and caused this mark or character of Authority to be set upon them in red Letters Set forth with the Kings most gracious Licence which you may see in Fox his Acts and Monuments p. 1248. and 1363. Afterwards when the new Translation so often promised and so long expected was compleat and finished Printed at London by the Kings Authority and countenanced by a grave and pious Preface of Arch-Bishop Cranmer the King sets out a Proclamation dated May 6. Anno 1541. Commanding all the Curates and Parishioners throughout the Kingdom who were not already furnished with Bibles so authorized and translated as is before said to provide themselves before All-hallowtide next following and to cause the Bible so provided to be placed conveniently in their several and respective Churches straitly requiring all his Bishops and other Ordinaries to take special care to see his said commands put in execution And therewithal came out Instructions from the King to be published by the Clergy in their several Parishes the better to possess the people with the Kings good affection towards them in suffering them to have the benefit of such Heavenly Treasure and to direct them in a course by which they might enjoy the same to their greater comfort the reformation of their lives and the peace and quiet of the Church Which Proclamation and Instructions are still preserved in that most admirable Treasury of Sir Robert Cotton And unto these Commands of so great a Prince both Bishops Priests and People did apply themselves with such chearful reverence that Bonner even that bloody Butcher as he after proved caused six of them to be chained in several places of St. Paul's Church in London for all that were so well inclined to resort unto for their edification and instruction the Book being very chargeable because very large and therefore called commonly for distinctions sake The Bible of the greater Volum Thus have we seen the Scriptures faithfully translated into the English Tongue the Bible publickly set up in all Parish-Churches that every one which would might peruse the same and leave permitted to all people to buy them for their private Uses and read them to themselves or before their Families and all this brought about by no other means than by the Kings Authority only grounded on the advice and judgment of the Convocation But long it was not I confess before the Parliament put in for a share and claimed some interest in the work but whether for the better or the worse I leave you to judge For in the year 1542. the King being then in agitation of a League with Charles the Emperour He caused a complaint to be made unto him in this Court of Parliament That the Liberty granted to the people in having in their hands the Books of the Old and New Testament had been much abused by many false glosses and interpretations which were made upon them tending to the seducing of the people especially of the younger sort and the raising of sedition within the Realm And thereupon it was enacted by the Authority of the Parliament on whom He was content to cast the envy of an Act so contrary to his former gracious Proclamations That all manner of Books of the Old and New Testament of the crafty false and untrue Translation of Tindal be forthwith abolished and forbidden to be used and kept As also that all other Bibles not being of Tindals Translation in which were found any Preambles or Annotations other than the Quotations or Summaries of the Chapters should be purged of the said Preambles and Annotations either by cutting them out or blotting them in such wise that they might not be perceived or read And finally That the Bible be not read openly in
and the lawful Rights Ceremonies and Observations of the same by his Majesties advice and confirmation under the great Seal of England shall be by all his Graces Subjects fully believed obeyed observed and performed to all purposes and intents upon the pains and penalties therein to be comprized as if the same had been in express words and sentences plainly and fully made set forth declared and contained in the said Act 32 H. 8. c. 26. where note That the two Houses of Parliament were so far from medling in the matter which was then in hand that they did not so much as require to see the Determinations and Decrees of those Learned men whom his Majesty had then Assembled before they passed the present Act to bind the Subject fully to believe observe and perform the same but left it wholly to the judgment and discretion of the King and Clergy and trusted them besides with the ordaining and inflicting of such pains and penalties on disobedient and unconformable persons as to them seemed meet This ground-work laid the work went forwards in good order and at last being brought unto as much perfection as the said Arch-Bishops Bishops and other Learned men would give it without the co-operation and concurrence of the Royal assent it was presented once again to the Kings consideration who very carefully perused it and altered many things with his own hand as appears by the Book it self still extant in the famous Library of Sir Robert Cotton and having so altered and corrected it in some passages returned it to the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury who bestowed some further pains upon it to the end that being to come forth in the King's Name and by his Authority there might be nothing in the same which might be justly reprehended The business being in this forwardness the King declares in Parliament Anno 1544. being the 34 year of his Reign his zeal and care not only to suppress all such Books and Writings as were noysome and pestilent and tended to the seducing of his Subjects but also to ordain and establish a certain Form of pure and sincere Teaching agreable to God's Word and the true Doctrine of the Catholick and Apostolick Church whereunto men may have recourse for the decision of some such controversies as have in Times past and yet do happen to arise And for a preparatory thereunto that so it might come forth with the greater credit he caused an Act to pass in Parliament for the abolishing of all Books and Writings comprizing any matters of Christian Religion contrary to that Doctrine which since the year 1540. is or any time during the King's life shall be set forth by his Highness and for the punishment of all such and that too with most grievous pains which should preach teach maintain or defend any matter or thing contrary to the Book of Doctrine which was then in readiness 34 35 H. 8. c. 1. Which done he caused the said Book to be Imprinted in the year next following under the Title of A necessary Doctrine for all sorts of People prefixing a Preface thereto in his Royal Name to all his faithful and loving Subjects that they might know the better in those dangerous Times what to believe in point of Doctrine and how they were to carry and behave themselves in points of Practice Which Statute as it is the greatest Evidence which those Times afford to shew that both or either of the Houses of Parliament had any thing to do in matters which concerned Religion so it entitles them to no more if at all to any thing then that they did make way to a Book of Doctrine which was before digested by the Clergy only revised after and corrected by the Kings own hand and finally perused and perfected by the Metropolitan And more then so besides that being but one Swallow it can make no Summer it is acknowledged and confessed in the Act it self if Poulton understand it rightly in his Abridgment That recourse must be had to the Catholick and Apostolick Church for the decision of Controversies Which as it gives the Clergy the decisive power so it left nothing to the Houses but to assist and aid them with the Temporal Sword when the Spiritual Word could not do the deed the point thereof being blunted and the edge abated Next let us look upon the time of K. Ed. 6. and we shall find the Articles and Doctrine of the Church excepting such as were contained in the Book of common-Common-Prayer to be composed confirmed and setled in no other way then by the Clergy only in their Convocation the Kings Authority co-operating and concurring with them For in the Synod held in London Anno 1552. the Clergy did compose and agree upon a Book of Articles containing the chief Heads of the Christian Faith especially with reference to such Points of Controversie as were in difference between the Reformators of the Church of England and the Church of Rome and other Opponents whatsoever which after were approved and published by the Kings Authority They were in number 41. and were published by this following Title that is to say Articuli de quibus in Synodo London Anno 1552. ad tollendum opinionum dissentionem consensum verae Religionis firmandum inter Episcopos alios Eruditis viros Convenerat Regia authoritate in lucem Editi And it is worth our observation that though the Parliament was held at the very time and that the Parliament passed several Acts which concerned Church-matters as viz. An Act for Vniformity of Divine Service and for the Confirmation of the Book of Ordination 5 and 6 Edw. 6. c. 1. An Act declaring which days only shall be kept for Holy days and which for Fasting days C. 3. against striking or drawing weapon either in the Church or Church-yard C. 4. And finally another Act for the legitimating of the Marriages of Priests and Ministers C. 12. Yet neither in this Parliament nor in that which followed is there so much as the least syllable which reflecteth this way or medleth any thing at all with the book of Articles Where by the way if you behold the lawfulness of Priests Marriages as a matter Doctrinal or think we owe that point of Doctrine and the indulgence granted to the Clergy in it to the care and goodness of the Parliament you may please to know that the point had been before determined in the Convocation and stands determined by and for the Clergy in the 31 of those Articles and that the Parliament looked not on it as a point of Doctrine but as it was a matter practical conducing to the benefit and improvement of the Common-wealth Or if it did yet was the Statute built on no other ground-work than the Resolution of the Clergy the Marriage of Priests being before determined to be most lawful I use the very words of the Act it self and according to the Word of God by the Learned Clergy of this realm
was only by the King's Authority by vertue of the Headship or Supremacy which by way of recognition was vested in him by the Clergy either co-operating and concurring with them in their Convocations or else directed and assisted by such learned Prelates with whom he did advise in matters which concerned the Church and did relate to Reformation By virtue of which Headship or Supremacy he ordained the first and to that end caused certain Articles or Injunctions to be published by the Lord Cromwel then his Viear General Anno 1536. And by the same did he give order for the second I mean for the saying of the Letany in the English Tongue by his own Royal Proclamation Anno 1545. For which consult the Acts and Monuments fol. 1248 1312. But these were only preparations to a greater work which was reserved unto the times of K. Edw. 6. In the beginning of whose Reign there passed a Statute for the administring the Sacrament in both kinds to any person that should devoutly and humbly desire the same 1 E. 6. c. 1. In which it is to be observed that though the Statute do declare that the ministring of the same in both kinds to the people was more agreeable to the first Institution of the said Sacrament and to the common usage of the primitive Times Yet Mr. Fox assures us and we may take his word that they did build that Declaration and consequently the Act which was raised upon it upon the judgment and opinion of the best learned men whose resolution and advice they followed in it fol. 1489. And for the Form by which the said most blessed Sacrament was to be delivered to the common people it was commended to the care of the most grave and learned Bishops and others assemby the King at His Castle of Windsor who upon long wise learned and deliberate advice did finally agree saith Fox upon one godly and uniform zOrder for receiving of the same according to the right rule of Scriptures and the first use of the primitive Church fol. 1491. Which Order as it was set forth in Print Anno 1548. with a Proclamation in the name of the King to give Authority thereunto amongst the people so was it recommended by special Letters writ unto every Bishop severally from the Lords of the Council to see the same put in execution A copy of which Letters you may find in Fox fol. 1491. as afore is said Hitherto nothing done by Parliament in the Forms of Worship but in the following year there was For the Protector and the rest of the Kings Council being fully bent for a Reformation thought it expedient that one uniform quiet and godly Order should be had throughout the Realm for Officiating God's divine Service And to that end I use the words of the Act it self appointed the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury and certain of the most learned and discreet Bishops and other learned men of the Realm to meet together requiring them that having as well eye and respect to the most pure and sincere Christian Religion taught in Scriptures as to the usages in the Primitive Church they should draw and make one convenient and meet Order Rite and fashion of Common Prayer and Administration of Sacraments to be had and used in this his Majesties Realm of England Well what did they being thus assembled that the Statute tells us Where it is said that by the aid of the Holy Ghost I pray you mark this well and with one uniform agreement they did conclude upon and set forth an Order which they delivered to the Kings Highness in a Book entituled The Book of common-Common-Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church after the use of the Church of England All this was done before the Parliament did any thing But what was done by them at at last Why first considering the most godly travel of the King's Highness and the Lord Protector and others of his Highness Council in gathering together the said B. and learned men Secondly The Godly Prayers Orders Rites and Ceremonies in the said Book mentioned Thirdly The motive and inducements which inclined the aforesaid learned men to alter those things which were altered and to retain those things which were retained And finally taking into consideration the honour of God and the great quietness which by the grace of God would ensue upon it they gave his Majesty most hearty and lowly thanks for the same and most humbly prayed him that it might be ordained by his Majesty with the assent of the Lords and Commons assembled in Parliament and by Authority of the same that the said Form of Common-Prayer and no other after the Feast of Pentecost next following should be used in all his Majesties Dominions with several penalties to such as either should deprave or neglect the same 2 and 3. E. 6. cap. 1. So far the very words of the Act it self By which it evidently appeareth that the two Houses of Parliament did nothing in the present business but impose that Form upon the people which by the learned and religious Clergy-men whom the K. appointed thereunto was agreed upon and made it penal unto such as either should deprave the same or neglect to use it And thus doth Poulton no mean Lawyer understand the Statute who therefore gives no other title to it in his Abridgement publish'd in the year 1612. than this The penalty for not using uniformity of Service and Ministration of the Sacrament So then the making of one uniform Order of celebrating divine Service was the work of the Clergy the making of the Penalties was the work of the Parliament Where let me tell yu by the way that the men who were employed in this weighty business whose names deserve to be continued in perpetual memory were Thomas Cranmer Arch-Bishop of Canterbury George Day Bishop of Chichester Thomas Goodrich B. of Ely and Lord Chancellour John Ship Bishop of Hereford Henry Holbeck Bishop of Lincoln Nicholas Ridley Bishop of Rochester translated afterwards to London Thomas Thirlby Bishop of Westminster Dr. May Dean of St. Pauls Dr. Taylor then Dean afterwards Bishop of Lincoln Dr. Hains Dean of Exeter Dr. Robertson afterwards Dean of Durham Dr. Redman Master of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge and Dr. Cox then Almoner to the King afterward Dean of Westminster and at last Bishop of Ely men famous in their generations and the honour of the Age they lived in And so much for the first Liturgy of King Edwards Reign in which you see how little was done by Authority or power of Parliament so little that if it had been less it had been just nothing But some exceptions being taken against the Liturgy by some of the preciser sort at home and by Calvin abroad the Book was brought under a review And though it had been framed at first if the Parliament which said so erred not by the ayd of the Holy Ghost himself yet to comply with
the curiosity of the Ministers and mistakes of the people rather than for any other weighty cause As the Statutes 5 and 6 Ed. 6. cap. 1. it was thought expedient by the King with the assent of the Lords and Commons in Parliament Assembled that the said Order of Common Service should be faithfully and godly perused explained and made fully perfect Perused and explained by whom Why questionless by those who made it or else by those if they were not the same men who were appointed by the King to draw up and compose a Form of Ordination for the Use of the Church And this Assent of theirs for it was no more was the only part that was ever acted by the Parliament in matter of this present nature save that a Statute passed in the former Parliament 3 and 4 Ed. 6. c. 12. unto this effect that such form and manner of making and consecrating Arch-Bishops Bishops Priests Deacons and other Ministers of the Church which before I spake of as by six Prelates and six other men of this Realm learned in Gods Laws by the King to be appointed and assigned shall be devised to that purpose and set forth under the great Seal shall be lawfully used and exercised and none other Where note that the King only was to nominate and appoint the men the Bishops and other learned men were to make the Book and that the Parliament in a blind obedience or at the least upon a charitable confidence in the integrity of the men so nominated did confirm that Book before any of their Members had ever seen it though afterwards indeed in the following Parliament this Book together with the Book of common-Common-prayer so Printed and explained obtained a more formal confirmation as to the use thereof throughout the Kingdom but in no other respect for which see the Statute 5 and 6 Ed. 6. c. 1. As for the time of Q. Elizabeth when the Common-prayer book now in use being the same almost with the last of King Edward was to be brought again into the Church from whence it was cast out in Queen Maries Reign it was committed to the care of some learned men that is to say to M. Whitehead once Chaplain to Q. Anne Bullen Dr. Parker after Arch-Bishop of Canterbury Dr. Grindal after Bishop of London Dr. Cox after Bishop of Ely Dr. Pilkington after Bishop of Durham Dr. May Dean of Saint Pauls Dr. Bill Provost of Eaton after Dean of Westminster and Sir Tho. Smith By whom being altered in some few passages which the Statute points to 1 Eliz. c. 21. it was presented to the Parliament and by the Parliament received and established without more ado or troubling any Committee of both or either Houses to consider of it for ought appears in their Records All that the Parliament did in it being to put it into the condition in which it stood before in Kings Edwards Reign partly by repealing the Repeal of King Edw. Statutes made in the first of Q. Mary c. 2. and partly by the adding of some farther penalties on such as did deprave the Book or neglect to use it or wilfully did absent themselves from their Parish-Churches And for the Alterations made in King James his time being small in the Rubrick only and for the additions of the Thanksgivings at the end of the Letany the Prayer for the Queen and the Royal Issue and the Doctrine of the Sacraments at the end of the Catechisme which were not in the Book before they were never referred unto the Parliament but were done only by Authority of the Kings Commission and stand in force by virtue only of His Proclamation which you may find before the Book the charge of buying the said Book so explained and altered being laid upon the several and respective Parishes by no other Authority than that of the eightieth Canon made in Convocation Anno 1603. The like may also be affirmed of the Forms of Prayer for the Inauguration-day of our Kings and Queens the Prayer-books for the fifth of November and the fifth of August and those which have been used in all publick Fasts All which without the help of Parliaments have been composed by the Bishops and imposed by the King Now unto this discourse of the Forms of Worship I shall subjoyn a word or two of the times of Worship that is to say the Holy-days observed in the Church of England and so observed that they do owe that observation chiefly to the Churches power For whereas it was found in the former times that the number of the Holy-days was grown so great that they became a burthen to the common people and a great hinderance to the thrift and manufactures of the Kingdom there was a Canon made in the Convocation An. 1536. For cutting off of many superstitious and superfluous Holy-days and the reducing them into the number in which they now stand save that St. George's day and Mary Magdalens day and all the Festivals of the blessed Virgin had their place amongst them according to which Canon there went out a Monitory from the Arch-Bishop of Canterbury to all the Suffragans of his Province respectively to see the same observed in their several Diocesses which is still extant on Record But being the Authority of the Church was then in the wane it was thought necessary to confirm their Acts and see execution done upon it by the Kings Injunction which did accordingly come forth with this Form or preamble That the abolishing of the said Holy-days was decreed ordained and established by the Kings Highness Authority as Supream Head in Earth of the Church of England with the common consent and assent of the Prelates and Clergy of this his Realm in Convocation lawfully Assembled and Congregate Of which see Fox his Acts and Monuments fol. 1246 1247. Afterwards in the year 1541. the King perceiving with what difficulty the people were induced to leave off those Holy-days to which they had been so long accustomed published his Proclamation of the twenty-third of July for the abolishing of such Holy-days amongst other things as were prohibited before by his Injunctions both built upon the same foundation namely the resolution of the Clergy in their Convocation And so it stood until the Reign of King E. 6. at which time the Reformation of the publick Liturgie drew after it by consequence an alteration in the present business no days being to be kept or accounted Holy but those for which the Church had set apart a peculiar office and not all those neither For whereas there are several and peculiar offices for the day of the Conversion of St. Paul and the day of St. Barnabas the Apostles neither of these are kept as Holy-days nor reckoned or esteemed as such in the Act of Parliament wherein the names and number of the Holy-days is precisely specified which makes some think the Act of Parliament to have had an over-ruling power on the Common-prayer-Book but it is not so
there being a specification of the Holy-days in the Book it self with this direction These to be observed for Holy-days and none other in which the Feasts of the Conversion of St. Paul and the Apostle Barnabas are omitted plainly and upon which specification the Stat. 5 6. Ed. 6. cap. 3. which concerns the Holy-days seems most expresly to be built And for the Offices on those days in the Common-prayer Book you may please to know that every Holy-day consisteth of two special parts that is to say rest or cessation from bodily labour and celebration of Divine or Religious duties and that the days before remembred are so far kept holy as to have still their proper and peculiar Offices which is observed in all the Cathedrals of this Kingdom and the Chappels Royal where the Service is read every day and in most Parish Churches also as oft as either of them falls upon a Sunday though the people be not in those days injoined to rest from bodily labour no more than on the Coronation-day or the Fifth of November which yet are reckoned by the people for a kind of Holy-days Put all which hath been said together and the sum is this That the proceedings of this Church in the Reformation were not meerly Regal as it is objected by some Puritans much less that they were Parliamentarian in so great a work as the Papists falsly charge upon us the Parliaments for the most part doing little in it but that they were directed in a justifiable way the work being done Synodically by the Clergy only according to the usage of the Primitive times the King concurring with them and corroborating what they had resolved on either by his own single Act in his letters Patent Proclamations and Injunctions or by some publick Act of State as in times and by Acts of Parliament 6. Of the power of making Canons for the well ordering of the Clergy and the directing of the People in the publick Duties of Religion WE are now come to the last part of this design unto the power of making Canons in which the Parliament of England have had less to do than in either of the other which are gone before Concerning which I must desire you to remember that the Clergy who had power before to make such Canons and Constitutions in their Convocation as to them seemed meet promised the King in verbo Sacerdotij not to Enact or Execute and new Canons but by his Majesties Royal Assent and by his Authority first obtained in that behalf which is thus briefly touched upon in the Ant. Brit. in the life of William Warham Arch Bishop of Canterbury Clerus in verbe Sacerdotij sidem Regi dedit ne ullas deinceps in Synodo ferrent Ecclesiasticas leges nisi Synodus authoritate Regia congregata constitutiones in Synodis publicatae eadem authoritate ratae essent Upon which ground I doubt not but I might securely raise this proposition That whatsoever the Clergy did or might do lawfully before the act of Submission in their Convocation of their own power without the Kings Authority and consent concurring the same they can and may do still since the act of their Submission the Kings Authority and consent co-operating with them in their Councils and giving confirmation to their Constitutions as was said before Further it doth appear by the asoresaid Act 25 H. 8. c. 19. That all such Canons Constitutions Ordinances and Synodals Provincial as were made before the said Submission which be not contrary or repugnant to the Laws Statutes and Customs of this Realm nor to the damage or hurt of the Kings Prerogative Royal were to be used and executed as in former times And by the Statute 26 H. 8. c. 1. of the Kings Supremacy that according to the Recognition made in Convocation our said Soveraign Lord his Heirs and Successors Kings of this Realm shall have full power and authority from time to time to visit repress reform order correct c. all such Errours Heresies Abuses Offences Contempts and Enormities whatsoever they be .c as may be most to the pleasure of Almighty God the increase of virtue in Christs Religion and for the peace unity and tranquillity of this Realm and the confirmation of the same So that you see these several ways of ordering matters for the publick weal and governance of the Church First by such ancient Canons and Constitutions as being made in former times are still in force Secondly by such new Canons as are or shall be made in Convocation with and by the Kings consent And thirdly By the Authority of the Sovereign Prince according to the Precedents laid down in the Book of God and the best ages of the Church concerning which you must remember what was said before viz. That the Statutes which concern the Kings Supremacy are Declaratory of an old power only not Introductory of a new which said we shall the better see whether the Parliament have had any thing to do either in making Canons or prescribing Orders for the regulating of Spiritual and Ecclesiastical matters and unto whom the same doth of right belong according to the Laws of the Realm of England And first King Henry being restored to his Headship of Supremacy call it which you will did not conceive himself so absolute in it though at the first much enamoured of it as not sometimes to take his Convocation with him but at all times to be advised by his Prelates when he had any thing to do that concerned the Church for which there had been no provision made by the ancient Canons grounding most times his Edicts and Injunctions Royal upon their advice and resolution For on this ground I mean the judgement and conclusions of his Convocation did he set out the Injunctions of the year 1536. for the abolishing of superstitious Holy-days the exterminating of the Popes Authority the publishing of the Book of Articles which before we spake of num 8. by all Parsons Vicars and Curates for preaching down the use of Images Reliques Pilgrimages and superstitious Miracles for rehearsing openly in the Church in the English tongue the Creed the Pater noster and the Ten Commandments for the due and reverend ministring of the Sacraments and Sacramentals for providing English Bibles to be set in every Church for the use of the people for the regular and sober life of Clergy-men and the relief of the poor And on the other side the King proceeded sometimes only by the advice of his Prelates as in the injunctions of the year 1538. for quarterly Sermons in each Parish for admitting none to Preach but men sufficiently Licenced for keeping a Register-book of Christnings Weddings and Burials for the due paying of Tythes as had been accustomed for the abolishing of the commemoration of St. Thomas Becket for singing a Parce nobis Domine instead of Ora pro nobis and the like to these And of this sort were the Injunctions which
their Authority and power in Spiritual matters from no other hands than those of Christ and his Apostles their Temporal honours and possessions from the bounty and affection only of our Kings and Princes their Ecclesiastical jurisdiction in causes Matrimonial Testamentary and the like for which no action lieth at the common Law from continual usage and prescription and ratified and continued unto them in the Magna Charta of this Realm and owe no more unto the Parliament than all sort of Subjects do besides whose Fortunes and Estates have been occasionally and collaterally confirmed in Parliament And as for the particular Statutes which are touched upon that of the 24 H. 8. doth only constitute and ordain a way by which they might be chose and consecrated without recourse to Tome for a confirmation which formerly had put the Prelates to great charge and trouble but for the form and manner of their Consecration the Statute leaves it to those Rites and Ceremonies wherewith before it was performed and therefore Sanders doth not stick to affirm that all the Bishops which were made in King Henries days were Lawfully and Canonically ordained and consecrated the Bishops of that time not only being acknowledged in Queen Maries days for lawful and Canonical Bishops but called on to assist at the Consecration of such other Bishops Cardinal Pool himself for one as were promoted in her Reign whereof see Masons Book de Minist Ang. l. c. Next for the Statute 1 E. 6. cap. 2. besides that it is satisfied in part by the former Answer as it relates to their Canonical Consecrations it was repealed in Terminis in the first of Queen Maries Reign and never stood in force nor practice to this day That of the Authorizing of the Book of Ordination in two several Parliaments of that King the one à parte ante and the other à parte post as before I told you might indeed seem somewhat to the purpose if any thing were wanting in it which had been used in the formula's of the Primitive times or if the Book had been composed in Parliament or by Parliament-men or otherwise received more Authority from them then that it might be lawfully used and exercised throughout the Kingdom But it is plain that none of these things were objected in Queen Maries days when the Papists stood most upon their points the Ordinal being not called in because it had too much of the Parliament but because it had too little of the Pope and relished too strongly of the Primitive piety And for the Statute of 8 of Q. Elizabeth which is chiefly stood on all that was done therein was no more than this and on this occasion A question had been made by captious and unquiet men and amongst the rest by Dr. Bonner sometimes Bishop of London whether the Bishops of those times were lawfully ordained or not the reason of the doubt being this which I marvel Mason did not see because the book of Ordination which was annulled and abrogated in the first of Queen Mary had not been yet restored and revived by any legal Act of Queen Elizabeths time which Cause being brought before the Parliament in the 8th year of her Reign the Parliament took notice first that their not restoring of that Book to the former power in terms significant and express was but Casus omissus and then declare that by the Statute 5 and 6 E. 6. it had been added to the Book of common-Common-prayer and Administration of the Sacraments as a member of it at least as an Appendant to it and therefore by the Statute 1 Eliz. c. 2. was restored again together with the said Book of common-Common-prayer intentionally at the least if not in Terminis But being the words in the said Statute were not clear enough to remove all doubts they therefore did revive now and did accordingly Enact That whatsoever had been done by virtue of that Ordination should be good in Law This is the total of the Statute and this shews rather in my judgment that the Bishops of the Queens first times had too little of the Parliament in them than that they were conceived to have had too much And so I come to your last Objection which concerns the Parliament whose entertaining all occasions to manisest their power in Ecclesiastical matters doth seem to you to make that groundless slander of the Papists the more fair and plausible 'T is true indeed that many Members of both Houses in these latter Times have been very ready to embrace all businesses which are offered to them out of a probable hope of drawing the managery of all Affairs as well Ecclesiastical as Civil into their own hands And some there are who being they cannot hope to have their sancies Authorized in a regular way do put them upon such designs as neither can consist with the nature of Parliaments nor the Authority of the King nor with the privileges of the Clergy nor to say truth with the esteem and reputation of the Church of Christ And this hath been a practice even as old as Wickliffe who in the time of K. R. 2. addressed his Petition to the Parliament as we read in Walsingham for the Reformation of the Clergy the rooting out of many false and erroneous Tenets and for establishing of his own Doctrines who though he had some Wheat had more Tears by odds in the Church of England And lest he might be thought to have gone a way as dangerous and unjustifiable as it was strange and new he laid it down for a position That the Parliament or Temporal Lords where by the way this ascribes no Authority or power at all to the House of Commons might lawfully examine and reform the Disorders and Corruptions of the Church and a discovery of the errors and corruptions of it devest her of all Tithes and Temporal endowments till she were reformed But for all this and more than this for all he was so strongly backed by the Duke of Lancaster neither his Petition nor his Position found any welcome in the Parliament further than that it made them cast many a longing eye on the Churches patrimony or produced any other effect towards the work of Reformation which he chiefly aimed at than that it hath since served for a precedent to Penry Pryn and such like troublesome and unquiet spirits to disturb the Church and set on foot those dreams and dotages which otherwise they durst not publish And to say truth as long as the Clergy were in power and had Authority in Convocation to do what they would in matters which concerned Religion those of the Parliament conceived it neither safe nor fitting to intermeddle in such business as concerned the Clergy for fear of being questioned for it at the Churches Bar. But when that Power was lessened though it were not lost by the submission of the Clergy to K. H. 8. and by the Act of the Supremacy which ensued upon it then did the Parliaments
begin to intrench upon the Churches Rights to offer at and entertain such businesses as formerly were held peculiar to the Clergy only next to dispute their Charters and reverse their privileges and finally to impose some hard Laws upon them And of these notable incroachments Matthew Parker thus complains in the life of Cranmer Qua Ecclesiasticarum legum potestate abdicata populus in Parliamento coepit de rebus divinis inconsulto Clero Sancire tum absentis Cleri privilegia sensim detrahere juraque duriora quibus Clerus invitus teneretur Constituere But these were only tentamenta offers and undertakings only and no more than so Neither the Parliaments of K. Edward or Q. Elizabeths time knew what it was to make Committees for Religion or thought it fit that Vzzah should support the Ark though he saw it tottering That was a work belonging to the Levites only none of the other Tribes were to meddle with it But as the Puritan Faction grew more strong and active so they applyed themselves more openly to the Houses of Parliament but specially to the House of Commons putting all power into their hands as well in Ecclesiastical and Spiritual Causes as in matters Temporal This amongst others confidently affirmed by Mr. Pryn in the Epistle to his Book called Anti-Arminianism where he avers That all our Bishops our Ministers our Sacraments our Consecration our Articles of Religion our Homilies common-Common-prayer Book yea and all the Religion of the Church is no other way publickly received supported or established amongst us but by Acts of Parliament And this not only since the time of the Reformation but That Religion and Church affairs were determined ratified declared and ordered by Act of Parliament and no ways else even then when Popery and Church men had the greatest sway Which strange assertion falling from the pen of so great a Scribe was forthwith chearfully received amongst our Pharisees who hoped to have the highest places not only in the Synagogue but the Court of Sanhedrim advancing the Authority of Parliaments to so high a pitch that by degrees they fastened on them both an infallibility of judgment and an omniotency of power Nor can it be denied to deal truly with you but that they met with many apt Scholars in that House who either out of a desire to bring all the grist to their own Mill or willing to enlarge the great power of Parliaments by making new precedents for Posterity or out of faction or affection or what else you please began to put their Rules in practice and draw all matters whatsoever within the cognizance of that Court In which their embracements were at last so general and that humour in the House so prevalent that one being once demanded what they did amongst them returned this answer That they were making a new Creed Another being heard to say That he could not be quiet in his Conscience till the holy Text should be confirmed by an Act of theirs Which passages if they be not true and real as I have them from an honest hand I assure you they are bitter jests But this although indeed it be the sickness and disease of the present Times and little to the honour of the Court of Parliament can be no prejudice at all to the way and means of the Reformation amongst sober and discerning men the Doctrine of the Church being settled the Liturgy published and confirmed the Canons authorized and executed when no such humour was predominant nor no such power pretended to by both or either of the Houses of Parliament But here perhaps it will be said that we are fallen into Charybdis by avoiding Scylla and that endeavouring to stop the mouth of this Popish Calumny we have set open a wide gap to another no less scandalous of the Presbyterians who being as professed Enemies of the Kings as the Popes Supremacy and noting that strong influence which the King hath had in Ecclesiastical affairs since the first attempts for Reformation have charg'd it as reproachfully on the Church of England and the Religion here established that it is Regal at the best if not Parliamentarian and may be called a Regal Faith and a Regal Gospel But the Answer unto this is easie For first the Kings intended by the Objectors did not act much in order to the Reformation as appears by that which hath been said but either by the advice and co-operation of the whole Clergy of the Realm in their Convocations or by the Counsel and consent of the Bishops and most eminent Church men in particular Conferences which made it properly the work of the Clergy only the Kings no otherwise than as it was propouned by him or finally confirmed by the Civil Sanction And secondly had they done more in it than they did they had been warranted so to do by the Word of God who hath committed unto Kings and Sovereign Princes a Supreme or Supereminent power not only in all matters of a Temporal or Secular nature but in such as do concern Religion and the Church of Christ And so St. Augustine hath resolved it in his third Book against Cresconius In hoc Reges sicut iis divinitus praecipitur pray you note that well Deo serviunt in quantum Reges sunt si in suo Regno bona jubeant mala prohibeant non solum quae pertinent ad humanum societatem verum etiam ad Divinam Religionem Which words of his seemed so significant and convincing unto Hart the Jesuite that being shewed the Tractate writ by Dr. Nowel against Dorman the Priest in the beginning of Q. Elizabeths time and finding how the case was stated by that Reverend person he did ingenously confess that there was no Authority ascribed to the Kings of england in Ecclesiastical affairs but what was warranted unto them by that place of Augustine The like affimed by him that calleth himself Franciscus de S. Clara though a Jesuite too that you mjay see how much more candid and ingenuous the Jesuits are in this point than the Presbyterians in his Examen of the Articles of the Church of England But hereof you may give me opportunity to speak more hereafter when you propose the Doubts which you say you have relating to the King the Pope and the Churches Protestant and therefore I shall say no more of it at the present time SECT II. The manner of the Reformation of the Church of England declared and justified HItherto I had gone in order to your satisfaction and communicated my conceptions in writing to you when I received your Letter of the 4th of January in which you signified the high contentment I had given you in condescending to your weakness as you pleased to call it and freeing you from those doubts which lay heaviest on you And therewithal you did request me to give you leave to propound those other scruples which were yet behind relating to the King the Pope and the Protestant-Churches either too little
ministration were accomplished he departed to his own House And in the Epistle to the Hebrews S. Paul alluding to the Ministeries of the Jewish Temple calleth our Saviour Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Minister of the Holies Heb. 8.2 or of the Sanctuary Thus also in allusion to the Ministeries of the Church of Jewry the Ministry of the Gospel is in the Scripture called by the self-same name Act. 13.2 Chrysost in Act. Apud Bezam in Annot. in Act. 13. the Holy Ghost affirming of the Prophets which were in Antioch 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they ministred unto the Lord i.e. as Chrysostom expounds the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they Preached the Gospel or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they made their Prayers unto the Lord as the Syriack Translation hath it Indeed both glosses on the word as well that of the Syriack Interpreters as of S. Chrysostom do yield a fuller meaning of it according as it is now used in the Church of Christ than either of them taken severally the publick Liturgies of the Church consisting both of Prayers and Preaching taking the word Preaching as before I did for the publick notifying of the will and pleasure of Almighty God touching mans salvation In which respect as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is taken many times by the Ancient Fathers for a Priest or Bishop to whom the executing or performance of divine Offices in publick did belong especially as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Ministers of God of the Holy Altar of the New Testament in Basil Nazianzen and others So that of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 came to be appropriated to the performance of those Offices which they were to execute or rather to the rule and order by which they were to be performed And so the word is used in the Law Imperial in which it is expresly ordered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Novel 131. de Eccles that no man should presume to execute the publick Liturgy or to officiate the divine Service of the Church in his private house In which acceptation of the word as it is to be taken and no otherwise in our present business we do define the same with the Learned Casaubon to be descriptio quaedam ordinis servandi in sacris celebrandis Casaubon Exercit 16. §. 41. a regulated form or order to be observed in the officiating of divine Service such as the Latines call sometimes Officium and sometimes Agenda and the Greek Writers many times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And to this definition I assent the rather because I find the same approved by the adverse party particularly by the Altar of Damascus Altare Damascen p. 612. the total sum of all that had been contributed in the former times to the disturbance of this Church This business being thus past over we will prepare our selves for the following search beginning with the Patriarchs before the Law though not within the compass of my undertaking Where if we find not any foot-steps of set forms of Prayer it was because the Sacrifices and devotions of Gods people in those elder times were for the most part occasional only there being neither place appointed nor set time prescribed for the performance of the same that we can meet with until the giving of the Law by Moses Of those the first we have upon Record is that of Cain and Abel in Gen. 4. where we are told how that in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the Lord and Abel also brought of the Firstlings of his Flock and of the fat thereof In which it is to be observed that this is said to have been done post multos dies as the Vulgar or in process of time as our English reads it Gen. 4.3 4. but as it is in others more near the Hebrew in fine dierum or at the end of days as Aynsworth hath it If we demand what time this was Musculus will inform you that it was post messem at the end of Harvest as being the most proper time to offer the fruits of the Earth which was Cain's Oblation And hereto Aynsworth doth agree Musculus in Gen. 4. a man well versed amongst the Rabbins affirming thus that at the years end men were wont in most solemn manner to Sacrifice unto God with thanks for his Blessings having gathered in their fruits which he observeth to be the custom of the Gentiles also Aynsw Anno. in Gen. 4. according to a place of Aristotle which is therein cited So that the Sacrifice of Cain and Abel was occasional meerly as unto the time And for the place although the Scriptures tell us nothing of it as a thing unnecessary to be spoken of Yet by the Rabbins we are told that it was there where after Abraham purposed to have offered Isaac For as they say It is a tradition by the hand of all that the place wherein David and Solomon built an Altar in the floor of Araunah Id. ibid. was the place where Abraham built an Altar and bound Isaac upon it and that was the place where Noah builded after he came out of the Ark and that was the Altar whereon Cain and Abel offered and on it Adam the first man offered an offering after he was created c. But this being of no greater certainty than the tradition of the Rabbins and such as hath no ground to stand on we may conclude that in these early days there was no set place put apart for Gods publick service no greater constat to be found of that than of a set and prescribed time for the doing of it Touching the Priest indeed by whom the Offering was presented to Almighty God there is more assurance that office being executed by their Father Adam to whom as to the Father of his Family it of right belonged Bilson perpetual Government cap. 1. Exod. 19.22 as it did afterwards under the First-born to those that had the priviledge of Primogeniture until the Priesthood was by God established in the Tribe of Levi. For howsoever it be said by Paraeus in illa hominum paucitate quisque ut spiritualis sacerdos offerebat that in those early times when there were so few men in the world Paraeus in Gen. cap. 4. every one as a spiritual Priest might tender and present his own oblation yet it is only said not proved and doth not only contradict most approved Writers but seemeth also to run cross to the holy Scripture And though we find not in Gods Book that in the celebration of this offering brought by Cain and Abel there were either Prayers or Praises intermingled with it Calvin in Gen. Yet I am very apt to think with Calvin non inanibus ceremoniis illusisse patres that the Oblations offered both by Cain and Abel as afterwards by other of
the Patriarchs were not meer dumb shews a bare and naked ceremony and no more than so But being their devotions were occasional as before was said we have no reason to presume that they had any prescript and set form of Prayer which of congruity was to change and vary according to the several occasions presented to them And yet it seems it was not long before besides the tendry of their Oblations Gods Book makes mention of a further duty that of Invocation the calling on the name of the Lord their God In the beginning of that Chapter we find Cain and Abel bringing their Offerings to the Lord and in the end thereof on the birth of Enos we find that men began to call on the Name of the Lord. Gen. 4.26 Which Text by reason of the different readings and no less differing expositions is not yet so clear but that a question may be made whether an holy and religious Invocation on the Name of God be there meant or not and if it be whether it were a private or a publick duty For howsoever we read it in the Text of our English Bibles Then began men to call on the Name of the Lord yet in the Margin it is otherwise Then began men to call themselves by the Name of the Lord And Aynsworth differing from them both Then began men to call profanely on the Name of Jehovah So also for the several Glosses made upon the Text not to insist upon the different readings either of the Greek or Latine Bibles the Chaldee Paraphrase had it thus Tunc in diebus ejus inceperunt filii hominum ut non orarent in nomine Domini Chald. Paraph. in Gen. Then in his days began the Sons of men not to invoke or call upon the Name of God which is directly contrary unto the English S. Hierome thus according to the tendries of the Jews as himself informs us Tunc primum in nomine Domini in similitudine ejus fabricata sunt idola then began men to set up Idols both in the Name and after the Similitude of God Hieronym Qu. Hebraic in Gen. Maymonides one of the Learnedest of the Rabbins as he is vouched by Aynsworth thus That in those days Idolatry took its first beginning and the People Worshipped the Stars and the Host of Heaven And as for those that do adhere unto the reading of the vulgar Latine Ap. Aynsw in his notes on Gen. 4. Iste coepit invocare nomen Domini which differs very little from the English Bible they are not very well agreed amongst themselves though most of them do agree in this that it is meant of publick Worship and which is more than so of set forms of worship Junius amongst the Protestants doth conceive it so Prius quidem invocavit Adam sed in familia nunc invocarunt multi sed in Ecclesiam recepti Junii Annot. in Gen. Adam saith he did in the first beginning call upon the Name of God but it was only as it were in his private Family Now began many men to do the like but such as were assembled to that purpose in a Church or body Paraeus is more plain and positive Sed an prius non fuit invocatum Had not the Name of God been called on in the former times Yes that it had saith he but privately and by a few But now the Family of Seth increasing the Church and the Religion in the same professed Paraeus in cap. 4. Gen. became much improved Et certa cultus forma fuit constituta and there was constituted and established a set form of Worship The like Pererius hath for the Pontificians who first expounding it of the Exemplary piety of Enos by preaching and instructing others in the fear of God then adds that Enos is first said to call upon the Name of the Lord Pererius in Gen. cap. 4. quia iste primus certas quasdam precationum formulas condidit because he was the first that did compose set forms of Prayer and devised several rites and ceremonies for the advancement of Gods Service Of the same mind also is Torniellus as to the gathering of Gods People into Congregations the setting out of certain forms of Prayer and Praises for the performance of Religious Worship and the appointing of set times and places for those pious duties Tunc primum institutos fuisse spirituales quosdam conventus quasdam devotas precationes puta Psalmos aut Hymnos in summi Dei laudem Torniell Annal sacri anno 236. certis temporibus locis pie cultis communiter recitandos as his words there are In which he saith no more in substance than did those before But where he adds Praecipuè diebus Sabbati that this was specially observed on the Sabbath day he hath not only found a reach beyond his fellows but plainly contradicted what he said before in another place where we are told that there had been no sanctifying of a Sabbath here on earth Id. Ibid. D. 7. till the time of Moses quando sub praecepto data est filiis Israel when as it was imposed by a Commandment on the House of Israel Thus have we found according to the Expositions of these Learned men a prescribed form of Common-prayer in the time of Enos even in the cradle of the World But being the Text hath different readings and no less different explications as before was shewn I dare not hold it a fit ground whereon to raise the building which I have in hand And if we find not here what we have in search there is but little hope to meet with it in any of the publick Acts of Noah or Abraham Gen. 8.20.12 7 13 4 c. Gen. 12.8.13.4 c. Gen. 26.25 Gen. 35.1 Gen. 33.20 of both which it is said that they built Altars and offered Sacrifice of Abraham that he called also on the Name of God Of Isaac it is also said that he built an Altar and called on the Name of the Lord and it is said of Jacob the Son of Isaac that he built two Altars the one at Bethel by the Lords appointment the other at El-Elohe-Israel of his own devotion But with what rites those Sacrifices were accompanied which were performed upon those Altars and in what solemn form of words or whether with any solemn form of words they did pour forth their prayers to Almighty God I am not able to determine Most like it is that their Devotions being occasional their Prayers and Hymns were fitted unto those occasions as before was said And that the several Actions of Religious worship which are recorded of the Patriarchs in the Book of God were occasional only without relation either to set times or places may be easily seen by looking over the particulars The Sacrifice of Noah as it was remarkable so it was occasional an Eucharistical oblation for that great deliverance which had befallen him and his Family by Gods grace
till nine the sixth which began at nine and ended at twelve the ninth which held from twelve to three in the afternoon and the eleventh which was from three until six at night According to which distribution they had three several hours of Prayer viz. the third the sixth the ninth as before was said For thus saith David of himself Evening and Morning and at Noon-day will I pray unto thee Psal lv 17. And so the Scriptures say of Daniel that turning towards Hierusalem he kneeled upon his knees and prayed and gave thanks before his God three times a day as he had formerly been accustomed Dan. vi 10. David who had the opportunity to repair unto the Tabernacle or the House of God joyned with the Congregation in those Prayers which were appointed for those times But Daniel who lived an exile in a strange Land and at a time in which there was no Temple at Hierusalem only conceived himself obliged to observe the hours which had been antiently in Use with the Jewish Nation without being punctual in the forms for ought I can find It 's true the Jews used to repair unto the Tabernacle as afterwards unto the Temple and other places set apart for this pious duty of which more anon to offer up their private Prayers and Vowes to Almighty God For so we read of Hannah in the first of Samuel chap. 1. v. 10. c. and so in other places of Gods Book of divers others Of which none is more eminent because not any one so much objected as that of the Publican and the Pharisee of whom we find mention in the Gospel who going into the Temple to pray as who else did not are confidently said to use no prayer that was of regular prescription because the prayer which they are said to make in the Book of God Smectymn p. 8. was of a present conception But this if pondered as it ought can be no Argument I trow that therefore there was then no set form of publick worship to be performed in those holy places because Gods Servants used as occasion was to make therein their private Prayers to the Lord their God No better argument than if it should be proved that there is no set Liturgy in the Church of England because devout and godly men use oftentimes to have recourse unto the Church or Temple for their private prayers In those though poured forth in the Temple the proper and appointed place of publick worship the people were at liberty to make Use of their own conceptions But it was otherwise in those acts of worship so far forth as they do relate unto Invocation which were to be performed with the Congregation And so it is resolved by the best and learnedest of all the Rabbins by whom it is affirmed that in the publick Congregation a private or a voluntary prayer was not to have been offered to the Lord their God Quoniam nec Ecclesia seu caetus publicus offerebat ex lege sacrificium ultroneum because the Church or Congregation was not to offer any Sacrifice but such as was prescribed and ordered by the Law of God Maim ap Selden in Eutych Alex. p. 49 Which rule as it was constantly observed in all other days and at the several hours of prayer in each several day so most especially upon the Sabbaths and the other Festivals and that upon the self-same reason viz. Quoniam in eis non offerendum erat ultroneum quid because no voluntary oblation might thereon be offered as in some cases might be done on the other days but only such as were appointed in the Law Now that there were set forms of prayer for these several hours besides what is affirmed by a Learned Writer of our own as appeareth by that memorable passage of Peter and John's going up into the Temple Selden Comment in Eutych Alex. p. 46 47. sub horam orationis nonam at the ninth hour being an hour of prayer For if the prayer they went to make were rather of a sudden and extemporary Conception Smectymn p. 8. than of a regular Prescription what needed they to have made Use of such a time when as the Congregation was assembled for Gods publick worship And on the other side that the prayer which the two Apostles went up to make was such as was prescribed the Congregation is evident by that of Ludovicus Capellus the French Oracle of Hebrew Learning as one truly calls him who saith expresly B. Hall Answ to the Vindication Orationem eam cujus causa Petrus Johannes petebant templum fuisse eam quae à Judaeis dicitur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quae respondet oblationi vespertinae lege praescriptae The prayer saith he for which Peter and John went up into the Temple is that which the Jews called the lesser oblation answering to the evening Sacrifice prescribed by the Law And indeed Calvin intimates no less to my apprehension For when he askes the question An Apostoli in Templum ascenderint ut secundum legis ritum precarentur whether the Apostles went into the Temple to pray according to the rites prescribed in the Law Calv. in Act. although he thinks that they went thither at that time to have the better opportunity to promote the Gospel yet he confesseth by the question that at that time there were set prayers made in the Temple after the manner of the Jews But to go on from Moses unto David I find but little changed or added in things that did concern Gods publick worship and the forms thereof But in the time of David and by his Authority there was a signal alteration made much outward form and lustre added to the service of God For whereas formerly the Levites were appointed by the Law of Moses to bear about the Tabernacle as occasion was the Tabernacle being by David fixt and setled in Hierusalem there was no further Use of the attendance of the Levites in that kind or ministery He therefore thought it fit to set them to some new imployment some to assist the Priests in the publick offices of Gods holy worship some to be over-seers and Judges of the people some to be Porters also in the House of God and others finally to be Singers to praise the Lord with Instruments that he had made with Harps with Viols and with Cymbals 1 Chron. 23.4 5 c. Of these the most considerable were the first and last the first appointed to assist at the Daily Sacrifices as also at the offering of all Burnt-offerings unto the Lord in the Sabbaths the moneths and at the appointed times according to the number and according to their custom continually before the Lord. Ibid. ver 31. Id. ch 35.7 The other were instructed in the Songs of the Lord not only such as had been made before in the former times but such as he composed himself according to the influence of the holy Spirit Josephus tells us
the Law Levitical was given to Moses and all the Rites and ceremonies of the same prescribed and limited which plainly shews that Instrumental Musick in the celebrating of Gods publick worship is not derived at any hand from the Law of Moses or to be reckoned as a part of the Rites and Ceremonies of the Levitical Sacrifices And lest this intermixture of Songs and Musick in the officiating of the Moral worship of God might either be conceived to have been introduced by the Jews in the declining times of their zeal and piety or else ordained by David without good Authority and never practised in the purer times of the Jewish Church we will look into the Acts of Solomon Hezekiah Ezra Of Solomon and Ezra more anon Of Hezekiah this at present of whom it is recorded in the Book of Chronicles that in the restauration of Gods worship being much corrupted When the Burnt-offering began the Song of the Lord began also with Trumpets and with the Instruments ordained by David king of Israel And all the Congregation worshipped and the Singers sang and the Trumpeters sounded 2 Chron. 29.27 28. and all this continued till the Burnt-offering was finished Where note that this was some appointed and determinate song which had been formerly set out for the like occasions that which is here entituled the Song of the Lord or canticum Traditum as the word is rendred by Tremelius as also that the intermixture of Musical Instruments in Gods holy Service is referred to David And so 't is also in the Book of Nehemiah Neh. 12.46 where both the Singers and the songs are referred to him For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were chief of the Singers and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God saith the holy Scripture Of Solomon and Ezra next the greatest and most memorable action of whose times was the building of the first and second Temples immensae opulentiae Templum Tacit. hist l. 5. as the last is called by the Historian For that of Solomon as soon as it was fitted and prepared for the Service of God that godly and religious Prince to whom the Lord had given a large and understanding heart as the Scripture tells us did not think fit to put it unto publick Use till he had dedicated the same to the Lord his God by Prayer and Sacrifice The pomp and order of the Dedication we may see at large 1 King viii To which add this considerable passage from the Book of Chronicles where it is said 2 Chron. 5.12 13. with reverence unto Davids Institution that the Levites which were the Singers all of them of Asaph of Heman of Jeduthun with their Sons and their Brethren being arayed in white linen having Cymbals and Psalteries and Harps stood at the East end of the Altar and with them an hundred and twenty Priests sounding with Trumpets And that it came to pass as the Trumpeters and Singers were as one to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord that they lift vp their voice with the Trumpets and Cymbals and Instruments of Musick and praised the Lord saying For he is good for his mercy endureth for ever In which we may observe two things first that in Celebrating Gods publick worship and in that part thereof which was meerly moral the Levites were arayed in a white linnen Rayment such as the Surplice now in Use in the Church of England And secondly that they were prescribed what song or Psalm they were to sing being the 136. of Davids Psalms beginning with Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus quoniam in aeternum misericordia ejus And this we may the rather think to be a certain and prescribed Hymn not taken up at the discretion of the Priests and Levites because we find the same expresly in laying the foundation of the second Temple For we are told in the book of Ezra Ezr. 3.10 11. that when the Builders laid the foundation of the Temple of the Lord they set the Priests in their Apparel with Trumpets and the Levites the Sons of Asaph with Cymbals to praise the Lord after the Ordinance of David the King of Israel where not that still this Institution is referred to David And they sung together by course Quire-wise in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord because he is good for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel Lyra observes upon the place that the Psalm here sung ab ipso Davide factum ad hoc ordinatum was made by David for this very purpose Lyr. in Ezr. cap. 3. v. 1. 1 Chron. 28. who had not only left command to Solomon about the building of the Temple but gave him patterns of the work and much of the materials for the same Add finally that at the Dedication of each Temple there was a great and sumptuous Feast provided for the People of God whereof see 1 King viii 65. and Ezra vi 16. Which as it was the ground of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Feast of Dedication established after by the Maccabees so gave it no small hint unto the Christians to institute the like Feasts on the like occasions whereof more hereafter In the mean time to look a little back on Solomon if question should be made to what particular end he did erect that magnificent Structure I answer that it was most specially for an House of Prayer The legal Sacrifices were all of them performed in the outward Courts and there were all the utensils and vessels which did pertain unto the same The Priest that offered Sacrifice came not thither he had no place nor portion in it 'T is true there was an Altar in it but 't was the Altar of Incense not the Altar for Sacrifices That stood indeed within the Temple as at the first by Gods own Ordinance and appointment within the Tabernacle where it was placed before the Veil Exod. 30.6 7 8. And it was placed there to this end and purpose that Aaron might burn Incense on it every morning when he dressed the lamps and when he lighted them at even By this was figured the offering up of the Prayers of the Saints to the Lord their God We find it so expresly in the Revelation Apocal. 8.3 4. And another Angel saith the Text came and stood at the Altar having a golden Censer and there was given unto him much Incense that he should offer is with the Prayers of all Saints upon the golden Altar that was before the Throne and the smoak of the Incense which came with the Prayers of the Saints ascended up before God out of the Angels hand And hereto David doth allude in the book of Psalms Let my prayer saith he be set forth before thee as Incense and the lifting up of my hand as the Evening Sacrifice Psal 141.2 1 King 8. But that which makes the matter most clear and evident is the whole scope of Solomons
Christ Synag l. 6. c. 6. Which if it were so as I have no reason to suspect the Author it was not without good cause affirmed by the Historian if one should look no further than those outward circumstances Novos illic ritus caeteris mortalibus contrarios Tacit. hist l. 5. the very same with that which is affirmed of them in the book of Hester viz. their Laws are diverse from all people Finally Hester 3.8 at the ending of their prayers the people which were present used to say Amen which word from thence hath been derived and incorporated into all the Languages which make profession of the faith Only observe that they had several Amens amongst them Christ Synag l. 1. c. 6. § 5. The first of which they called Pupillum when one understandeth not what he answers the second Surreptum when he saith Amen before the prayer be fully ended the third is Otiosum when a man thinks of something else and so saith it idly the fourth Justorum of the just when a mans mind is set on his devotions and thinks upon no other thing And so much of the Rites and Gestures which they used in prayer But it is well observed by Aynsworth that as the Lamps mention whereof is made in the 30th of Exodus do signifie the light of Gods Word and Incense the Sacrifice of prayers Aynsw Annot. in Exod. 30. so the doing of both these at one time the Incense being to be offered when the Lamps were either dressed or lighted as before was said did signifie the joyning of the word with prayer We must look therefore in the next place what room there was or whether any room at all for reading of the Law in Gods holy Temples And first for that of Solomon taking the Temple in the largest and most ample sense not only for the House but the Courts and Out-works it was ordained by Moses in the book of Deuteronomy that there the Law should publickly be read at the end of every seven years to the Congregation At the end of every seven years saith he in the solemnity of the year of release at the feast of Tabernacles when all Israel is come to appear before the Lord their God in the place that he shall choose thou shalt read this Law before all Israel Deut. 31.11 in their hearing But then withal we must take notice that such a reading as is there commanded could not be taken as a part of the publick Liturgy For by the order and prescript of Moses the Law was to be read publickly before the people in the seventh year only in the year of release because then Servants being manumitted from their bondage and Debtors from the danger of their Creditors they might attend the hearing of the Law with the greater chearfulness And in the feast of Tabernacles because it lasted longer than the other Festivals and so it might be read with the greater leisure and then it was but this Law too the book of Deuteronomy This as it was to be performed in that place alone in which the Lord should choose to place his Tabernacle and afterwards to build his Temple so makes it little if at all unto the frequent reading of the Law in the House of God It 's true that Philo tells us in a book not extant that Moses did ordain the publick reading of the Law every Sabbath day Philo. ap Euseb de Praepar Evang. l. 8. c. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. What then did Moses order to be dene on the Sabbath day He did appoint saith he that we should meet all in some place together and there sit down with modesty and a general filence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to hear the Law that none plead ignorance thereof Which custom we continue still saith he breakning with wonderful silence to the Word of God unless perhaps we give some joyful acclamation on the bearing of it some of the Priests if any present or otherwise some of the Elders reading the Law and then expounding it till the night came on But hereof by the leave of Philo we must make some doubt This was indeed the custom in our Saviours time and when Philo lived and he was willing as it seems to setch the pedigree thereof as high as might be So Salianus tells him on the like occasion Videtur Philo Judaeorum morem in Synogogis disserendi antiquitate donare voluisse quem à Christe Apostolis observatum legimus Salian Annal. anno m. 25 46. n. 10. And we must make the same Answer to Josephus also who tells us of their Law-maker that he appointed not that they should only hear the Law once or twice a year no oftner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Joseph contr Apion l. 2. but that once every week we should come together to hear the Law that so we might become the more perfect in it Which thing saith he all other Law givers did omit And so did Moses too by Josephus's leave For besides that no such order or command is to be found in the books of Moses there were not then nor long time after any set places destinate to religious Uses but the holy Tabernacle And how the people being planted all about the Countrey could be assembled every week before the Tabernacle or afterwards unto the Temple weekly let Philo and Josephus judge And this appears more plainly by the Book of God where we are told that K. Jehosaphat sent abroad his Visitors who carried the Book of the Law of the Lord with them 2 Chron. 17.7 9. and went through all the Cities of Judaea and taught the people A needless Office had it been as those Authors tell us if all the people met together weekly to be taught the Law But that which follows of Josiah is more full than this Of whom it is recorded that when Hilkiah the High Priest in looking over the decays and ruins of the Temple had found a book of the Law which lay hidden there and brought the same unto the King how the good Prince upon the hearing of the words of the Law rent his Garments 2 King 22.11 23.1 2. and not so only but gathered together all the Elders of Judah and Hierusalem and read in their ears all the words of the Book and joyned together in a Covenant with the Lord their God Had it been formerly the custom to read the law each Sabbath every week once at least unto all the people neither had that religious Prince been so ignorant of it nor had the finding of the book been counted for so strange an accident nor could it be to any purpose to call the People altogether from their several dwellings only to hear the Law read to them and go home again if it were read amongst them weekly on the Sabbath days and that of ordinary course So that whatever Philo and Josephus say there was no weekly reading
and the proof are alike infirm For not to quarrel the Translation which is directly different from the Greek and Vulgar Latine and somewhat from the former English this Psalm if writ by David was not meant by him of any present misery which befel the Church There had been no such havock made thereof in all David's time as is there complained of And therefore Calvin rather thinks ad tempus Antiochi referri has querinonias that David as inspired with the spirit of Prophecy Calv. in Psal 74. reflected on those wretched and calamitous times wherein Antiochus made such havock of the Church of God Nor was there any Use of them in those former times because no reading of the Law of ordinary course in the Congregation as before was said But when the former course was changed and that the reading of the Law to the People of God was not licensed only but enjoyned then began the Jews to build them Synagogues which afterwards increased so strangely that there was no Town of any moment throughout all Judaea nor almost any City where they dwelt as Strangers in which they did not build some Synagogue God certainly had so disposed it in his holy Counsels that so his Word might be more generally known over all the world and a more easie way laid open for the receipt of the Messiah whom he meant to send that so Hierusalem and the Temple there might by degrees be lessened in their reputation and men might learn that neither of them was the only place where they ought to worship As for their Oratories which before I spake of although I find not their Original yet I can tell you of their Use For this saith Epiphanius of them Epiph. Haeres 80. n. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. There were saith he amongst the Jews without their Cities certain Oratories whither the people did sometimes resort to make their prayers unto the Lord. And this he proves out of the xvi of the Acts where it is said And on the Sabbath we went out of the City by a Rivers side where prayer was wont to be made vers 3. i.e. Vbi de more consuetudine haberi conventus consueverant as Beza notes upon the Text. The Latines called them from the Use they were put unto Proseuchas as in qua te quaero Proseucha in the Poet Juvenal Beza in Annot. in Act. 16.13 And although Beza take those Proseuchas to be the very same with the Jewish Synagogues Juvenal Sat. 5. Beza in Act. 16. yet sure there was a special difference between them For in those Proseuchas or Oratories they might only pray in the Synagogues they might not only make their prayers but also read the Law and Prophets and expound the same and in the Temple of the Lord besides those former duties they might offer Sacrifice which was not lawful to be done in other places And to these times when now the Jewish Church was settled and Synagogues erected in almost all places for reading and expounding the Law of God we must refer those passages from Philo and Josephus before remembred which cannot possibly be made good of the former times wherein this people wanted all conveniencies for those weekly meetings Thus have we seen what care the Rulers of that Church took for providing fit and convenient places for the performance of Gods publick worship and all the sacred Offices thereunto belonging Had they not think we equal power of adding days and times to the commemorating of Gods goodness and laying before him their afflictions s well as in appointing places Assuredly such power they had and made Use thereof according as they saw occasion Witness the feast of Purim ordained by Mordecai and Hester with the consent and approbation of the whole people of the Jews to be obsered on the 14 and 15 days of the moneth Adar yearly throughout their Generations for evermore Hest 9.17 c. that they should make them days of feasting and joy and of sending portions unto one another and gifts to the Poor Nor was this all to make them days of feasting and good fellowship and no more than so for this had been to make their belly their God and so by consequence their glory must have been their shame but in all probability there were ordained set forms of praise and prayer for so great a mercy and the continuance of the like Those who conceived themselves to have Authority of instituting a new Festival to the Lord their God could not but know they had Authority of instituting a new form of prayer and praise agreeable to the occasion And so much we may guess by that which remains thereof it being affirmed by one Antonius Margarita a converted Jew once one of the Professors for the tongue I take it in the University of Leipsich Fevardent in Hest cap. ult Hospinian de Origine Fest fol. 133. that to this day legunt diebus illis in Synagogis suis historiam istam they read upon the days of the said Feast of the book of Hester and anciently 't was not the custom of the Jewish Church to read the Scripture without set forms of Prayers and appointed Ceremonies The like may also be affirmed of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Feast of Dedication A Feast ordained by Judas Maccabeus and the Elders of the Jewish Nation who having cleansed the Temple and set up the Altar which had been impiously profaned by Antiochus did dedicate the same with Songs and Citternes 1 Maccab. 4.59 c. and with Harps and Cymbals and that being done ordained that the days of the Dedication should be kept in their season from year to year by the space of eight days c. with mirth and gladness Here we find mirth and gladness as before in the feast of Purim And doubt we not but there was in the Celebration of it as much spiritual mirth and gladness at least in the intention of the founders as there was of carnal although the forth and manner of it have not come unto us Our Saviour Christ had never honoured it with his blessed presence as we shall see he did hereafter if it had been otherwise Besides which annual Feasts recorded in the holy Scripture they had another which they called festivitatem legis or the feast of the Law ordained by the Rulers of the Church of Jewry for joy that they had finished the publick reading of the Law in their Congregations For as before I told you the Jews began the reading of the Law upon the Sabbath after the feast of Tabernacles and finished it at 5a readings against the feast of Tabernacles came about again Now 't is observed by Joseph Scaliger that the feast of Tabernacles beginning always on the 15th of the month Tisri and holding on until the 22d inclusively this Festival was always held on the morrow after being the three and twentieth of this month Which Feast
The Prayers saith he which after the Rites and manner of the Romans are made to the immortal Gods are all comprised in the Books belonging to the Priests of the people of Reme and in most ancient Prayers or Orations which still remain upon record And this I take to be an evidence above all exception as to the quod sit of the point that such Forms they had And these I take it were the Books which Lactantius calls Pontificum ipsorum scripta Lactant. de divin Institut l. 1. c. 21. and to the which he doth refer his reader to be more throughly informed de sacrificiis mysteriis deorum touching the mysteries or sacrifices of their several gods Their Rituals we may rightly call them For further proof whereof if more proof be needful I would fain know what else should be the meaning of those verba certa solennia which do occur so often in the ancient writers of that people in case they do not mean those set Forms or words which both the Priests and People were to use in Celebrating their accustomed Sacrifices or other parts of publick worship What else should be the meaning of these solennes preces which we find in Ovid. lib. 6. de Fastis of the solennem precem quindecim virorum mentioned in Statius Papinius lib. 4. Sylv. or of that of Seneca the Tragedian Senec. in Dedlpe Act. 2. Sect. 2. In vota superos voce solenni voca Arasque dono thuris Eoi extrue No question but in all those passages the solennes preces solennis vox are to be understood of those Forms of prayer which were prescribed unto the Priests and by him dictated unto the people In which regard as they were sometimes called verba certa so they are called other-whiles verba dictata For thus the Poet Juvenal Dictataque verba praetulit i. e. as the old Scholiast doth expound it Juvenal Sat. 6. dictata à Sacerdote vel haruspice such words as had been dictated by the Priest or Augur according to the publick Ritual Valer. Flaceus Argonautic l. 1. And to this purpose that of Valerius Flaceus Dictat pia vota sacerdos the Priest did dictate to the party the set words or Form in which the Vow was to be conceived And for the Verba certa which before we spake of they are no other than those words or Forms which were prescribed in the performance of these publick offices For thus saith Cicero speaking of some of the Ancients Generals who willingly had offered up their lives to preserve their Countrey he tells us of them that they did seipsos diis immortalibus velato capite VERBIS CERTIS pro Repub. devovere Cicero de aatur dcorum l. 2. Varro de lingu Latin l. 5. Festus Pompeius in Minora So Varro the most famous Antiquary of the Latines gives us this character or definition of their dies Fasti that they were such quibus certa verba legitima sine piaculo Praetoribus licet fari And thus the old Grammarian Pompeius Festus telling us what is meant by Minora Templa saith that they are loca aliqua ab Auguribus VERBIS CERTIS definita places laid out and limited by the Augurs under a certain Form of words as in another place he tells us that Temples are sometimes called Fana a Fando and gives this reason of the same quod dum Pontifex dedicat CERTA VERBA fatur The Temple being Consecrated and the Priest in readiness we must next go unto the Sacrifice to look upon the Rites and set Forms of that These we will borrow from Rosinus Rosinus Antiq. Rom. l. 3. c. 33. who doth at large describe them in this wise as followeth Cum sacerdos victimam ad aram adduxisset stans manu Aram prehendebat preces fundebat Principium precationis à Jano Vesta fieri oportehat quae in omnibus sacris praecipua numina erant in votis nuncupandis compellationem primam meruerant inde quod per eos aditus ad caeteros patere opinio erat Et observabatur in ea precatione nt Jupiter Pater Opt. Max. omnesque dii caeteri Patres advocarentur Ne quid vero verborum praeteriretur aut praepostere recitaretur descripto praeire aliquem ruisusque alium custodem dari qui attenderet sedulo alium qui favere linguis juberet tibicinem canere ne quid infaustum audiretur oportebat i. e. when the Priest had brought the Sacrifice unto the Altar he stood and held the Altar in his hand or his hand rather upon it and made the ordinary Prayers His Prayers were to begin with invocation of Janus and Vesta as having the chief place in all their Sacrifices and being usually first called upon in all their vows and supplications on an opinion that by them the way was made more facile to the other Gods And 't was observed that in that Prayer not only Father Jupiter the best and greatest was invoked or called upon but also all the residue of the greater Deities And that there might no word be pretermitted or spoke out of order the custom was that some did first repeat the solemn words as they were described in the Ritual which were said after him by the people present others were appointed for overseers to attend the office others there were who did command the people Silence and set the Musician to his singing lest any ominous or unlucky sound should be heard amongst them This in the way of preparation And all this as you see consisted in Prayers and Orizons unto the gods that they would graciously accept the intended Sacrifice and those not arbitrary at the discretion of the Priest but such as were prescribed and limited both for the method and the manner Which being written in a book or Ritual as before I call'd it the Priest did thence praeire verba pronounce the usual and accustomed words the people saying after him what he thence pronounced And whereas it is said by Resnus here that some of the attendants used to command the people silence saying favete linguis as we saw before even those were words prescribed and limited solemn and formal words in all publick Sacrifices For thus we find it in the Poet Horace Favete linguis Carmina non prius audita Musarum sacerdos virginibus puerisque canto Statius Papinius thus Lucanum canimus favete linguis Horat. Carm. l. 3. ode 1. Statius Sylv. l. 2. Servius in Virgil. Antid l. 5. And Servius on those words of Virgil Ore favete omnes cingite temporaramis makes this observation Apto sermone usus est in sacrificiis ludis Nam in sacris taciturnitas necessaria est quod etiam Praeco magistratu sacrificante dicebat Favete linguis The like we also have in Seneca in his Book de beata vita ad Gallionem But to proceed as they made way unto their Sacrifices with certain and determinate Prayers to those
Cujus rei erge agrum terram fundumque meum Suovetaurilia what they were we shall see hereafter circumagi jussi uti tu morbos visos invisosque viduertam vastitudinemque calamitates inteperiasque prohibisses defendas averruncesque uti in fruges frumenta vineta virgultaque grandire beneque evenire sinas passores pecuaque salva servasses duisque bonam salutem valetudinemque mihi domo fawiliaeque nostrae Harumce rerum ergo Cato de re Rustica c. 141. Tibullus Eltg. l. 2. eleg 1. Macte hisce Suovetaurilibus esto Which Prayer being very full and punctual as you see it is is thus contracted by Tibullus Dii Patrii purgamus agros purgamus agrestes Vos mala de nostris pellite limitibus And on the other side it is as much extended or drawn out in length by Ovid in his Book de Fastis Ovid. de Fastis lib. 4. where he describes the Feast which they called Palilia and thither I refer the Reader For other Prayers but of a different kind as of a different occasion from those before take this of Psyche unto Juno which though it be recorded in a fabulous story is yet according to the Forms which were then in use and is this now following Apuleius de Aurto Asine l. 6. Magni JOVIS germana conjuga sive tu SAMI quae querulo partu vagituque alimonia tua gloriatur tenes vetusta delubra sive celsae Carthaginis quae te virginem vectura Leonis coelo commeantem percolit beatas sedes frequentas sive prope ripas Inachi quite jam nuptam Tonantis Reginam dearum memoras inclytis Argivorum praesides moenibus quam cunctus Oriens Zygiam appellat sis meis extremis casibus JVNO sospita meque in tantis exantlatis laboribus defessam imminentis periculi metu libera quod sciam soles periclitantibus subvenire And finally take this for a close of all used at the Consecrating of a Grove for religious uses at which they sacrificed a Swine or Porker with this solemn Form Si deus si dea es quorum illud sacrum est uti tibi jus siet porco piaculo facere Coerare an old Latine word the same with curare in the modern Extat ap Caton de re Rust c. 139. illiusque sacri coerandi ergo sive Ego sive quis jussu meo fecerit uti id recte factum siet ejus rei ergo te hoc Porco piaculo immolando bonas preces precor uti sies volens propitius mihi domo familiaeque meae liberisque meis Harumce rerum ergo Macte hoc porco piaculo immolando esto More of these instances might be produced were not these sufficient to shew that even the Gentiles were no strangers to set Forms of Prayer whether we look upon them in their solemn Sacrifices or their occasional devotions Now as they used set Forms of Prayer when they applyed themselves unto the gods for the obtaining of their favours so did they tye themselves to prescribed Forms either of Invocation or of Adjuration when they intended to devote themselves to some sudden death for preservation of their Country or practised to entice the gods of other Nations to leave their former dwellings and repair to them This last a thing much used amongst them in those times of darkness on a conceit that there was little hope to subdue those people against whom they had waged wars or to be Masters of that City State or Country whose conquest they had undertaken till the said People City State or Countrey should be forsaken of their gods This made the Greeks endeavour with such care and cunning to get into their hands the Image of Pallas called the Palladium Virgil. Aentid l. 2. being well assured in their own opinion that Troy could never be surprized or forced till they were masters of that piece And to this Virgil doth allude where he complaineth that the gods had forsook their Altars and dwelt no longer in their Adyta the most retired and inward part of all their Temples as before was shewn Id. ibid. Excessere omnes Adytis arisque relictis Dii quibus imperium hoc steterat as the Poet hath it Upon which place it is observed by Servius briefly ante expugnationem evocari ab hostibus numina propter evitanda sacrilegia which is the same in substance with that before But for a larger and more full description both of the thing it self and the reason of it take this of Ludovicus Vives Cum oppugnabantur civitates eratque in animo Imperatoribus eas demoliri ne contra deos bellum geri videretur iique suis sedibus moveri inviti quod nefas erat evocabantur ex obsessa civitate ab Imperatore obsidente ut in urbem victricem volentes migrarent Ludov. Vives in August de Civita dei l. 2. c. 22. And this saith he did Camillus at the Siege of Veii Scipio at the subversion of Carthage and Numantia and Mummius at the destruction of Corinth Now for the Form or prescribed words of Evocation which were used herein they were these that follow as they were used by Scipio at the Siege of Carthage Si deus si dea est cui populus civitasque Carthaginiensis est tutela Teque maxime ille qui urbis bujus populique tutelam recepisti precor venerorque veniamque à vobis peto ut vos populum civitatem Carthaginiensem deseratis loca Templa sacra urbemque eorum relinquatis absque his abeatis eique populo civitati metum formidinem oblivionem injiciatis proditique Romam ad me meosque veniatis nostraeque urbis loca templa sacra urbs acceptior probatiorque sit mihique populoque Romano militibusque meis praepositi sitis ut sciamus intelligamusque Si ita feceritis Macrob. Saturnal lib. 3. c. 9. voveo vobis Templa ludosque facturum Shorter was this but to the same effect and purpose used by Camillus at the Siege of Veii when he enticed Queen Juno to desert the place Te simul JVNO Regina quae nunc Veios colis precor ut nos victores in nostram tuamque mox futuram urbem sequare ubi te dignum amplitudine tua Templum accipiat Iivius in hist R. Decad. 1. l. 5. It seems the Form increased both in words and circumstance according to the growth and puissance of the Roman State which was far greater in the time of Scipio than when Camillus governed the affairs of Rome Put all together and you will think the Tyrians had good reason for what they did the dotage of the times considered when having Apollo in suspicion that he meant to leave them or possibly might be thus inticed from them they fastned him unto their Altars with a massie chain as Plutarch doth relate the story Plut. in vit◠Alexà ndri Thus also when some zealous Patriot had a purpose to devote himself unto sudden and unavoidable destruction for preservation
better claim to that or somewhat of this kind than the name and title By whom we are informed Ordinem Missae vel orationem quibus oblata Deo sacrificia consecrantur primum à sancto Petro institutum esse that the order of the Mass and the prayers thereof wherewith the Sacrament or Sacrifice is consecrate was Instituted first by S. Peter and is the very same saith he cujus celebrationem uno eodemque modo universus peragit orbis Isidor Hispal de offici is divin l. 1. c. 15. which is now universally received over all the world He means the Western world you must take him so That attributed to S. Mark if scanned and canvassed with a diligent eye will be discerned to be no other than the Liturgy of the Church of Alexandria of which he was the first Bishop as is elsewhere proved and will appear to be so on painful search by the agreement which it carrieth with that of Cyril one of S. Marks successors in that See and a prime pillar of the Church in the time he lived As also by comparing it with the Ethiopick Liturgy derived from Alexandria as the mother City and extant with it in the bibliotheca whither I refer you But that whereof there is the greatest evidence is that ascribed unto S. James which if not his is questionless the ancient Liturgy of the Church of Hierusalem of which he once was supream Pastor under Christ our Saviour The publisher hereof in Greek and Latine gives us this short note Biblioth patrum Gr. lat To. 2. p. 1. S. Cyrillum Hierosol Catechesi quinta Mystagogica plura ex illa mutuatum That Cyril Bishop of Hierusalem in the fifth of his Mystagogical Catechizings did borrow many things from hence And certainly the observation is exceeding true as will appear on the examination and comparison of the several passages which are still extant in them both Baron in Annal Eccles anno 35 1. Now Cyril B. of Hierusalem lived about the year 350 and was then at his height both for power and credit and if we grant the Liturgy ascribed to James to be but 60 years before him it must needs fall within the compass of the first three hundred This though it be enough we will venture further and ask what inconvenience would ensue if this Apostle be affirmed for the Author of it I mean as to the main and substance of it though not of all the intersertions and additions which are found therein That S. James did compose a Liturgy is proved by Sixtus Senensis out of Proclus sixtus Senes Biblioth Sanct. l. 2. Concil Trullan can 32. sometimes the Patriarch of constantinople a man of special eminence in the Ephesine Council The Fathers of the Synod surnamed of Trullo affirmed of James whom they avow for the first Bishop of Hierusalem 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he did leave a Liturgy behind in writing alledging the Authority thereof for proof that water was to be mingled with the wine in the blessed Sacrament Liturgia Jacobi in Bilioth p. 13. Cassand in Liturgicis which passageis still extannt in the Liturgy intituled to him And when we find in Hegesippus as he is cited by Eusebius Eum ab Apostolis primum constitutum fuisse Episcopum Liturgum as Cassander reads it Why may we not conceive that he had that adjunct as the first Author of a Liturgy for the publick use This may be said in the behalf thereof if one list to plead it And were there nothing else to persade me otherwise than that it is affirmed by Rivet has omnes profectas esse ab inimico homine Smectym vindicat p. 28. c. that this with those before remembred proceeded from that Enemy who sowed his Tares in the middle of the good Seed whilst the Servants slept I should not much be set against them Although I honour Rivet for his parts in learning I never held his words for Gospel no not although they come apparelled in the Gospel phrase That it is ancient yea and holy too they have not the courage to deny and yet have so much confidence which I wonder at as to ascribe them to the Devil to whom I hope no holy thing whatever is to be ascribed Neither Rivet nor any of the Moderns are so competent Judges in this point as the Fathers in Trullo nor of like credit with S. Austin who speaking of that noted passage of Sursum Corda used in the Liturgy of his time and long time before saith they were Verba ab ipsorum Apostolorum temporibus petita words borrowed from the times of the very Apostles This being said touching the Liturgies themselves we should proceed unto the course and order in the same observed and to the Forms of Prayer and Benediction contained therein But that would be too large a trouble the business of this Inquisition not being to transcribe whole Liturgies but to find them out besides that most of the material passages whereof such ancient writers as are of an unquestionable credit have left us any trace or memory will call us back to look upon them in convenient time On therefore to the next that followeth whom if we rank according to the place and time which is assigned him by the Pontificians will be the famous Areopagite even Dionysius one of S. Pauls first fruits in Athens I know the Books ascribed unto him have been much questioned in these searching days whether his or not Nor do I mean to meddle in so vexed a question And therefore though I rank him here according to the time and place assigned him by the learned men of the Roman party yet I desire no further credit should be given him than that which he affirms is made good by others who lived most near the time assigned unto him Now for the Celebration of the Sacrament of the blessed Eucharist he describes it thus Dionys Areopag de Eccl. Hierarchia p. 89. edit gr lat ' O 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. The Bishop having ended the Preparatory Prayers said usually at the holy Altar doth then and thence begin to cense the place till he hath compassed it about Returning back unto the Altar he begins the Psalms the Clergy which are present singing with him Then do the Ministers read the holy Scriptures 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their appointed and determinate order Which done the Catechumeni and such as are possessed with unclean spirits or are under penance are removed out of the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those only being left behind who were to be partakers of the holy Mysteries The Ministers some stand before the Church-doors to keep them shut others attend those Ministrations which appertain unto their Order Some of whom chosen for that purpose present the Bread and Cup of Benediction upon the Altar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a general Confession being first made by the whole Congreation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Apologet cap. 39. disciplinam nihilominus praeceptorum inculcationibus densamus We meet saith he in an Assembly or Congregation that we may besiege God in our prayers as with an Army Such violence is acceptable unto God We pray for Emperors and their Ministers and Potestates for the state of the whole world the quiet government of the affairs thereof and for the putting off of the last day We are assembled to commemorate or hear the holy Scriptures if the condition of our present state doth either need to be premonished or reviewed Assuredly by the repetition of those holy words our faith is nourished our hope assured our confidence confirmed yet so that the severity of discipline is strengthened by the frequent inculcating of Gods Commandments In which description of their meetings there is no mention of the Eucharist not that it was not Celebrated then in all publick Assemblies but because as Cassander well observeth ad Paganos nondum initiatos sermo haberetur he did address his whole discourse to Heathen-men such as were not yet initiated in the faith of Christ to whom the Christians of those times imparted not the knowledge of the holy Mysteries In other of his books especially in those entituled ad uxorem there 's enough of that Nor is it to be thought because Tertullian speaks not of the present place nor Justin Martyr in the passage produced before that they sung no Psalms nor gave that part of worship no convenient place in the performance of their Service We find that and the course of their publick worship thus pointed at unto us in another place Jam vero prout Scripturae leguntur aut Psalmi canuntur aut adlocutiones proferuntur Id. de Anima cap. 9. aut petitiones delegantur ita inde materae visionibus subministrantur Now saith he as the Scriptures are read or Psalms sung or Exhortations made or Prayers tendred so is matter ministred unto her visions Where we may see that singing of the Psalms was in use amongst them as well as any other part of publick worship of what sort soever Conceive by singing here as in other Books and Authors about this time such singing of the Psalms as is now in use in the Cathedrals of this Kingdom after a plain tune as it is directed in the Rubricks of the common-Common-prayer book and not the singing of the Psalms in Metre as hath been used and is still in Parochial Churches The singing in those times in use was little more than a melodious pronunciation though afterwards upon occasion of a Canon made in the Council of Laodicea it came to be more perfect and exact according to the rules of harmony and in St. Austins time was so full and absolute that he ascribes a great cause of his conversion to the powers thereof calling to mind those frequent tears quas fudi ad cantus Ecclesiae tuae which had been drawn from him by this sacred Musick by which his soul was humbled and his affections raised to the height of godliness But whatsoever was the Musick of these first times Musick assuredly they had in their publick service as Tertullian tells us whom we may credit in this point And if we please to look we may be also sure to find the same in that place of Pliny which before we touched at Which here take more at large in the Authors words The Christians on examination did acknowledge Plin. Ep. 97. l. 10. Euser hist Eccl. l. ◠c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quod soliti essent state die ante lucem convenire carmenque Christo tanquam Deo canere secum invicem seque sacramento non in scelus aliquod obstringere sed ne furta ne larocinia ne adulteria committerent ne fidem fallerent ne depositum appellati abnegarent His peractis morem sihi discedendi fuisse rursusque coeundi ad capiendum cibum promiscuum tamen innoxium They did confess saith he that they were accustomed to assemble on their appointed times before day-light and to sing Hymns or Songs of praise to Christ as to a god amongst themselves and to bind themselves by Oath or Sacrament not to the doing of any wickedness but not to commit Thefts Robberies or Adulteries demanded and this being done they used to depart and then meet again to eat together their meat being ordinary and the manner of their eating inoffensive Which last was added as I take it to clear them of the slander which was raised against them by their malicious Enemies who charged them with eating humane flesh and the blood of Infants as you may see in most of the Apologies which the Christians published in those times Note also that their meeting thus to eat together which is here last spoken of by Pliny was for their Love-feasts or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 described so fully by Tertullian in his Apologetick and by him also joyned to the description of their course or order at their publick meetings But here perhaps it will be said that the question is not at the present about a set order or Rubrick of Administrations but about set and imposed Forms of prayer Vindication of Smectymn p. 19 And that although Tertullian do describe a set course and order yet he is quite against a set From of prayer where he saith That the Christians of those times did in their publick Assemblies pray sine monitore quia de pectore without any prompter but their own hearts Smectym p. 7. And say they that it should be so the same Father as they call him proves in his Treatise de Oratione Sunt quae petuntur c. There are some things to be asked according to the occasions of every man the lawful and ordinary prayer that is the Lords prayer being laid as a foundation it is lawful to build upon that foundation other prayers according to every ones occasion So they and to them it may thus be answered that either those two passages of Tertullian are ill laid together or else they must be understood of private not of publick prayer For that the latter place is meant of those private prayers which every man may make for his own occasions is beyond all question And in their private Prayers it is not denied but men may use what words and what Forms they please so they consider as they ought what it is they ask and of whom they ask it And if this place be meant of private prayer as by the Authors drift and scope it appears to be then must the other passage be so understood or else they are ill laid together as before was said Now that the other place so insisted on is also meant of private not of publick Prayers will appear by this that there Tertullian speaks of the private carriage of the Christians and of their good affections to the Roman Emperors but medleth not with their behaviour as a publick body assembled and convened for a
publick end For if he should it must needs sound exceeding harshly that every Member in the Congregation should be left unto the liberty of his own expression and their Devotions if so ordered could be entituled nothing less than Common-prayers by which name Justin Martyr calls them as before was shewn But that we may the better understand Tertullians meaning we will first take the words at large Tertullian Apologet c. 30. and then conjecture at the sense The words are these Illuc suspicientes Christiani manibus expansis quia innocuis capite nudo quia non erubescimus sine monitore quia de pectore oramus precantes summs omnes semper pro omnibus Imperatoribus vitam illis prolixam imperium securum domum tutam exercitus fortes senatum fidelem populum probum orbem quietum quaecunque hominis vel Caesaris vota sunt We Christians looking towards Heaven pray with our hands stretched out to protest our innocence bare-headed because not ashamed without a Monitor because by heart an happy Reign a secure House valiant Souldiers faithful Counsellors an industrious People and whatsoever else the Prayers of a private man for it is hominis not hominum or those even of the Emperor himself can extend unto And this he sheweth to be the subject of those Prayers which he himself did use to make for the Roman Emperors in the words next following Haec ab alio orare non possum quam à quo me scio consecuturum I pray for all this to no other than to him alone of whom only I am certain to obtain the same And sure Tertullian was a private person nor de we find that he prayed thus with others in the Congregation or if he did yet being the heads are certain which are spoke of here the Form may also be prescribed for ought appears unto the contrary which was used there And for the Monitor 't is true the Gentiles had of old their Monitors not only to direct them in what words but to what God also they should make their Prayers Which thing the Christians needed not who knew they were to make their Prayers unto God alone and being accustomed to pray in the Congregation according to the Form prescribed for the Emperors safety and the prosperity of his affairs could without any Monitor or Prompter pray by heart for those things which concerned the weal and safety of the Emperors and those who were in Office and Authority by and under them What the Prayers were used by the Christians of those times it is hard to say there being so little of them extant in Authors of unquestioned credit but that they used set Forms of prayer is not hard to prove as we shall see in the next Century when we have looked into the works of Origen and spent a little time in S. Cyprians writings If in their Books one of which was cotemporary with Tertullian the other living very near him if not with him also we find prescribed Forms of prayer I hope it will be granted without great difficulty that in Tertullians time they had prescribed Forms although those Forms appear not upon good record But first before we come to that we will lay down the course and order of the ministration according as I find it in the Constitutions ascribed to Clemens The Author of the which whosoever he was lived about these times and may perhaps be credited in a matter of fact although of no Authority with the Learned in a point of Doctrine Now he describeth both the Churches and the service thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Constitut Clement l. 2. c. 57. c. When thou he speaks unto the Bishop doest call the Congregation to Assemble as being the Master of the Ship command thy Deacons as the Mariners that places be provided for the Brethren who are as passengers therein First let the Church be built in form of an Oblongum looking towards the East and let the Bishops Throne or Chair be placed in the midst thereof the Presbyters sitting on each side of him and the Deacons ready and prepared to attend the Ministry to whom it appertaineth to place the lay-people in their ranks and seats and set the Women by themselves Then let the Reader from the Desk or Pulpit placed in the middle of the people read the Books of Moss as also those of Josuah Judges Kings and Chronicles and that of Ezra touching the return from Babylon as also those of Job and Solomon and the sixteen Prophets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Two Chapters being read let one begin the Psalms of David and let the people answer the Acrosticks i. e. the closes or the burden of the song as we use to say Then let the Acts be read and the Epistles of S. Paul which he inscribed to several Churches by the suggestion of the Holy Ghost Afterwards let the Presbyter or Dacon read the Gospels which Matthew Mark Luke and John have left behind them And whilst they read the Gospel let the people stand and hearken to the same with silence For it is written Take heed and hearken O Israel and in another place Stand thou there and hearken Then let the Presbyters speak a word of Exhortation to the people not all at once but one by one and the Bishop last This done all of them rising up and turning towards the East the Catechumeni and those which are under Penance being first departed let them direct their Prayers to God after which some of the Deacons are to attend upon the Sacrifice of the holy Eucharist others to have an eye on the Congregation and to see that silence be well kept Then let the Deacon which assists the Bishops thus bespeak the people 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let no man here have malice against his Brother let no man harbour any dissimulation Which said the men salute the men the women those of their own Sex with an holy kiss After the Deacon saith the Prayer for the whole Church the universal World and the parts thereof as also for fertility for the Priests the Magistrates for the Bishop and King and the peace of all 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. This done Id. l. 8. c. 22. the Deacons are to bring the offerings to the Bishop laying the same upon the Altar the Priests assisting on each side as the Disciples do their Master Then the Bishop praying to himself together with the Priests or Presbyters and being arrayed in a white Vesture standing at the Altar and maing the sign of the Cross upon his forehead shall say The Grace of God Almighty and the love of our Lord Jesus Christ and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with you all and all the people shall return this Answer And with thy spirit Then shall the Bishop say Lift up your hearts and they reply We lift them up unto the Lord. The Bishop thus Let us give thanks unto the Lord the people
before out of the Constitutions ascribed to Clemens and will now further prove it by Tertullian also who thus brings it home Aquam ingressi Christianam fidem in suae legis verba profitemur Tertullian de spectaculis c. 1. renunciare nos Diabolo pompis ejus ejus ore nostro contestamur Entring saith he into the water we make profession of the Christian faith in the very words of his own law and with our own mouth do contest that we renounce the Devil and his pomps and Angels Compare these words with those of Clemens formerly delivered and tell me if you can where the difference lieth And there 's another passage in that book of Cyprians which points us to the hours of prayer at that time in use viz. The third the sixth the ninth Which having shewed to have been formerly in use with Daniel and other holy men of God he addeth that besides those hours observed of old Orandi spatia sacramenta creverunt Cyprian de orat Dominica the times and the occasions of prayer were both increased Nam mane orandum est ut resurrectio Domini matutina oratione celebretur recedente item sole ac die cessante necessario orandum est c. For in the morning we must pray that the Lords resurrection may be celebrated by our Morning prayer and when the Sun is down and the day determined we must needs pray also that praying for the returning of the light we may desire of God our Saviours coming who will conduct us all unto light eternal So great assurance have we of the point in hand both for the Form and hours of prayer from this book of Cyprians that any further search were almost unecessary Now lest it may be said as I know some say that this is none of Cyprians true and genuine writings but thrust upon him by some Sciolist of a later standing S. Austin shall come in for witness who very frequently doth attest unto it as viz. Epist 47. 107. lib. de gratia libero arbitrio cap. 13. lib. 1. contra Julianum de bono perseverantiae cap. 2. Finally to dismiss S. Cyprian the Magdeburgians though no great Friends unto the antient usages of the Church were so convinced or satisifed to say the least with this book of his that they resolve it for a certainty past all peradventure that anciently there were set Forms of publick prayer Histor Ecclesiast Cent. 3. cap. 6. Formulas denique precationum absque dubio habuernunt as they state it there and for the proof thereof refer us to this book of Cyprians This being thus proved IX we may affirm with grief as some do with scorn that great must be our loss who are so unhappily deprived of the best improvement the Church made of her peace and happiness Smectymn p. 9. during the first three hundred years No question but the Liturgies which were then composed did savour strongly both of the piety and affectionof those blessed times Whether the blessed Constantine was herein as unhappy as our selves or whether he needed not have composed a Form of Prayer for his Guard to be used by them on the Lords day but rather might and would have taken them out of the former Liturgies if there had been any will prove a very easie Quaere with whatsoever confidence it be made a difficulty For certainly there might be former Liturgies and yet no Form of prayer found in them for that use and purpose for whch that prayer was made by blessed Constantine For we have now a Liturgie in the Church of England and 't is my prayer we may long have it naugre the machinations of unquiet Men in which are many Forms of prayer for Gods publick worship yet not so many nor so sutable to all occasions but that some Men make bold to set forth their own Besides the Emperours Army did consist as the time then were Eusebius de vita constant l. 4. c. 18. partly of Christians and partly of the Gentiles and possibly it had not proved such an easie matter to bring the Gentiles to the use of a Form of prayer the Christian Souldiers being suffered to repair unto the Church upon Sundays and there to make their prayers to the Lord their God which had been wholly taken from the Liturgies of the Christian Church But for the prayer enjoyned by the blessed Constantine Ibid. cap. 20. it was as followeth Te solum Deum agnoscimus te Regem profitemur te adjutorem invocamus per te victorias consecuti sumus per te hostes superavimus à te praesentem felicitatem consecutos fatemur futuram adepturos speramus tui omnes supplices sumus à te petimus ut Constantinum Imperatorem nostrum una cum piis ejus liberis quam diutissime salvum victorem conserves In English thus We do acknowledg thee for the only God we confess thee to be the King we call upon thee as our helper and defender by thee alone it is that we have got the victory and subdued our Enemies to thee as we do refer all our present happiness so from thee also we expect our future Thee therefore we beseech that thou wouldst-keep in health and safety our noble Emperour Constantine with his hopeful progeny This was the very Form imposed And I believe the blessed Constantine would never have troubled himself to compose this Form had he not though that set and prescribed Forms of prayer had been very necessary and more to be considered of than the extemporary prayers of his ablest Ministers For doubtless in a CAmp wherein there were so many of the Gentiles there must be some Priests to offer sacrifice unto the Gods whom those Gentiles worshipped And it is told us by Eusebius Id. that he had always in his Camp for divine Offices divers Priest and Bishops Chaplains in ordinary to his Majesty and it were hard if none of them could have made a shift to vent some short extemporary prayers for the use of the Army The blessed Constantine had been most unhappy if it had been so and pity 't was that some of those who are so vehemently bent against all set Forms had not been Preachers to his Army Assuredly they would have eased him of that needless trouble Especially since we are told what liberty every Man might take unto himself in praying both what and how he listed For as they say this liberty in Prayer was not taken away nor set and imposed Forms introduced Smeclymn until the time that the Arian and Pelagian Heresies did invade the Church and then because those Hereticks did convey and spread their poyson in their Forms of Prayer and Hymns the Church thought it convenient to restrain the liberty of making and using publick forms A piece of Learning not more new than strange to us who never heard of the like before and such as in conclusion doth destroy it self
Council the Spiritualty and Temporalty And I shall desire you to commend unto God with your prayers the Souls departed unto God in Christs Faith and among those most especially our late Sovereign Lord King Henry VIII your most noble Father for these and for grace necessary I shall desire you to say a Pater-nosler and so forth Which Form of his agrees most exactly with that order in the Kings Injunction not altered then in that clause for the Saints departed which as it seems continued till the alteration of the publick Liturgy Anno 1552. and then was changed with the same In other things no difference between him and that other Form which was commanded and set forth by the Queens Injunction and between him and Bishop Latimer so little that it may seem to be in words more than meaning In both we have a clear and pregnant evidence that then they used no proper and direct address to God in a formal Prayer of their own devising but only laid before the people some certain heads they were to pray for which in the Language of that time was called Bidding of prayer We should now look upon the practice in King Henries days but that I think no question can or will be made in that particular considering the severe temper of that Prince in exacting full obedience unto all his Mandates or if there be that Form of Prayer which we find used by Bishop Latimer in his Sermon Preached before the Convocation in the 28th of that Kings Reign which before we spake of may serve once for all without further Instances which brings the precept and the practice to the like Antiquity Put all that hath been said together and the sum is this That if we do interpret the Canon of the year 1603. by the Queens Injunctions and construe both of them according to the Injunctions in King Edwards and King Henries days seconded by the constant practice in all times succeeding we shall see plainly that in the intention of the Church we are to use no Prayer before our Sermons by way of Invocation to God but somewhere in them or before them to use a Form of Bidding prayer by way of Exhortation to the Auditory This said we will declare in brief how the new Form of Prayer by way of Invocation and address to God which is now generally taken up came in use amongst us and afterwards lay down some reasons not so much to oppose that Form of Invocation lately taken up as to establish and confirm the other Form of Bidding prayers founded upon the Canon the Injunctions and the antient practice Now this new Form of Invocation to deal plainly in it was first contrived and set on foot by the Puritan faction who labouring with might and main 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the saying is to overthrow the publick service of this Church then by Law established endeavoured to advance in the place thereof an Arbitrary and Extemporary Form of Prayer of every ptivate mans devising and that not only before but after Sermon Calvin had so appointed in Geneva and Knex in Scotland and rather than not have it so in England also the Brethren were resolved to put all in hazard This when they could not compass with their noise and clamour they fell upon a way which came somewhat near it and was more likely far to effect their purpose Their Lecturers and Preachers yea and followers too not coming to the Church till the Service ended and their own Prayer was to begin The Book of dangerous practices and positions writ as was thought by Bishop Bancroft though not then a Bishop will give us some of those examples take one among them for a tryal and you shall find him boast himself that every Sabbath so he called it not medling with the Liturgy prescribed he used to Preach unto his people Ego singulis sabbatis si non alius adveniens locum suppleat cum praescriptâ liturgias formula nihil habens commercii in coetu concionem habeo What he professed for himself was then the practice of them all some of them as it is observed in the Conference at Hampton Court being content to walk in the Church-yard till Sermon time rather than to be present at publick prayer and is still I fear used by many Lecturers in and about the City of London Thus having limited all Gods Service unto Preaching and some Extemporary Prayer of their own devising they brought the people at last unto this persuasion that in the publick Liturgy there was nothing but a meer formality which the Law enjoyned Their Arbitrary and Extemporary Forms of Prayer savouring only of the Spirit and true devotion which when they could not bring about at the first attempt they practised with a counterfeit Devil to undertake it The seven of Lancashire when they were taught by Mr. Darrel to play the Demoniacks were also taught by him to promote the cause As often as any of those Ministers who were conformable to the Church and kept themselves unto the Forms of the publique Liturgy did come to visit them and in their hearing read some Prayers out of the Common-prayer Book the Devil was as quiet as any Lamb as if he were well pleased with that Form of Service or that there was not any thing in those Prayers or the men that used them to trouble him or disturb his peace But when as Mr. Darrel and other Brethren of the Non-conformity approached in sight who used to fall upon him with whole volleys of raw and indigested Prayers of their own devising such as they had prepared and fitted for the present occasion then were the wicked Spirits much more troubled and perplexed extreamly whereby you may perceive that even the Puritans also had a kind of Holy-water with which to fright away the Devil lest else the Papists should in any thing have the start before them And whereas the Injunction had restrained the Clergy to some certain heads by them to be commended to the Peoples prayers these men took neither care of the Form or matter of the said Injunction not of the Form for they directed their address to Almighty God in manner of a formal prayer as hath since been used against the Canon nor of the matter of the same for they began their Prayer with a long confession or a discourse rather of their own uncleanness and the corruption of mans nature fill'd it with praise and thanksgiving for particular blessings even for their Godly friends and acquaintance and ended it with a kind of a charm or transubstantiating as viz. That the words which they should speak might not be entertained as the words of a mortal man but as they were indeed the words of the immortal and living God For in that very stile I have heard it often nay they went so far in the end that the Visitation of the Sick prescribed by the Church was quite laid aside their weak estate being reduced unto
Rubr. after the Psal it is appointed in her Rubrick that at the reading of the Lessons the Minister which reads shall stand and turn him so as he may be best heard of all such as be present which shews plainly he was to look another way when he said the Prayers And lest it may be said that the other way was not directly from the people but askew upon them which yet would ill become the Preacher we find it among other things objected by the Puritan faction in Queen Elizabeths time not only that the Ministers did say some part of Divine Service within the Chancel where he must needs look askew upon them but that at other times his face was turned away from them altogether whereof see Hooker l. 5. Sect. 30. which makes me wonder by the way that all or most part of our Reading-pews should be of late so placed that contrary both to the Churches Order and the antient practice the Minister when he readeth the Prayers looks downwards towards the lower end of the Church and not unto the East as he ought to do so then the Preacher in the Pulpit turning himself unto the people and making himself the object of their Eyes as he of their attentions cannot be thought to pray to God but if he pray at all to the people rather and on the other side the Form of Bidding prayers being by way of Exhortation and so purposed doth fit as well the posture of the Preacher as it doth the place Lastly the Form of Bidding prayers stands more with the intention of the Church than that of Invocation because it doth avoid some inconveniences and absurdities which do arise upon the other For first whereas the Church prescribes a set Form of prayer in her publick Liturgy from which it is not lawful for any of her Ministers either to vary or recede she did it principally to avoid all unadvised effusions of gross and undigested prayers as little capable of piety as they are utterly void of Order and this she did upon the reason given in the Milevitan Council viz. lest else through ignorance or want of Care any thing should be uttered contrary to the Rule of Faith ne forte aliquid contra fidem vel per ignorantiam vel per minus studium sit compositum as the Canon hath it But were men suffered to enjoy a liberty of Praying and saying what they listed before their Sermons in vain had the Church bound us to set Forms of prayer in the common Liturgy upon several penalties when men might afterwards run riot how they pleased in their particular prayers before their Sermons without blame or censure And though perhaps in some Churches of the Reformation in which there is no publick Liturgy or set Form of Divine Service to which both Priest and people are obliged to conform themselves it may be lawful for the Preacher to use such prayers both before and after Sermon as the consideration of that great work and the necessities of the people may invite him to yet it is otherwise with us in the Church of England where all these points are carefully provided for in the Book of common-Common-prayers which in these other Churches are made the Subject of the Preachers Now where some men conceive they obey the Canon in case they pray in that Form or to that effect those who do so conceive it shew in their deeds that they as little care for the effect as for the Form we plainly see by the effects what that effect of theirs would tend to what is the issue of that liberty which most Men have taken too many of that sort who most stand upon it using such passages in their prayers before their Sermons that even their prayers in the Psalmists language are turned into Sin And for the brevity therein required as briefly as conveniently they may they neglect that also and study to spin out their prayers to a tedious length against all convenience Besides whereas the Church intendeth nothing more in her publick Canons than an uniformity in Devotion this leaving men to themselves in such a special part of Gods publick Service as that now is made would bring in a Confusion at the least a Dissonancie and so destroy that blessed Concord which the Church most aims at Both which absurdities or inconveniences call them what you will are happily avoided by that Order of Bidding prayers by the Church intended A third and greater inconvenience than the other two which would and doth arise from that Form of Prayer by way of Invocation is that it doth accuse the publick Liturgy as insufficient and defective For were it thought that the Confession in the service-Service-book and those particular Prayers Collects Hymns Thanksgivings and Ejaculations which are therein used were either perfect in themselves or acceptable unto God to what end should we add a prayer of our own devising that were to light a Candle before the Sun and therefore they that stand upon it do in effect as much as if a man should say my Friends and Brethren make no account of any thing which you hear from the Common-prayer-book in which is nothing to be found but the voice of Man but hearken unto me and by me what the Churches say to the Spirit or as a Puritan Tradesman once served my old Chamber-fellow Mr. L. D. meeting one time by chance at Dinner my Chamber-fellow being the only Scholar in the Company was requested to say Grace which he did accordingly and having done the Tradesman whom before I spake of lifting up both his hands and whites to Heaven calls upon them saying Dearly beloved Brethren let us praise God better And thereupon began a long Grace of his own conceiving The case is just the same in the present business Nor had those Men who first invented those new Forms of Prayer obtruded them so easily upon the Church but that withal they laboured to persuade weak Men and did persuade them at the last that questionless such prayers were better and more powerful far than any by the Church appointed Now all this fear of bringing down the reputation of the Liturgy and practising to advance our private prayers above the publick are easily avoided by that Bidding of prayers enjoyed by Queen Elizabeth and King Edward VI. and before that in use in the Church of England as doth appear most plainly in King Henries time and therefore questionless it was the meaning of the Canon that it should continue And being it was the meaning of the Canon of them that made it that the said Form of Bidding prayers for avoiding the inconveniences and mischiefs before recited should be still continued the Prelates of the present times have greater reason to see it carefully and duly put in execution by how much the mischiefs and inconveniences arising from neglect thereof and from the liberty which some Men take unto themselves of praying what and how they list in the
to make sure work of it I must send Doctor Ames to school to Calvin who tells us on this Text of Moses non contexuit Moses historiam suo ordine sed narratione 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 interposita melius confirmat c. Indeed it could not well be otherwise interpreted For how could Aaron lay up a pot of Mannah to be kept before the Testimony when as yet there was neither Ark nor Tabernacle and so no Testimony before which to keep it To bring this business to an end Moses hath told us in the place before remembred Verse 35 that the children of Israel did eat Mannah forty years which is not otherwise true in that place and time in which he tells it but by the help and figure of anticipation And this St. Austin noted in his questions upon Exodus Qu. 62. significat scriptura per Prolepsin i. e. hoc loco commemorando quod etiam postea factum est And lastly where Amesius sets it down for certain that no man ever thought of an anticipation in this place of Moses Verse supra qui praejudicio aliquo de observatione diei Dominicae non prius fuit prius anticipatus who was not first possessed with some manifest prejudice against the sanctifying of the Lords day this cannot possibly be said against Tostatus who had no Enemy to encounter nor no opinion to oppose and so no prejudice We conclude then that for this passage of the Scripture we find not any thing unto the contrary but that it was set down in that place and time by a plain and meer anticipation and doth relate unto the time wherein Moses wrote And therefore no sufficient warrant to setch the institution of the Sabbath from the first beginnings One only thing I have to add and that 's the reason which moved Moses to make this mention of the Sabbath even in the first beginning of the Book of God and so long time before the institution of the same Which doubtless was the better to excite the Jews to observe that day from which they seemed at first to be much averse and therefore were not only to be minded of it by a Memento in the front of the Commandment but by an intimation of the equity and reason of it even in the entrance of Gods Book derived from Gods first resting on that day after all his works Theodoret hath so resolved it in his Questions on the Book of Genesis Maxime autem Judaeis ista scribens necessario posuit hoc sanctificavit eum Qu. 21. ut majore cultu prosequantur Sabbatum Hoc enim in legibus sanciendis inquit sex diebus creavit Deus c. I say an intimation of the Equity and Reason of it for that 's as much as can be gathered from that place though some have laboured what they could to make the sanctifying of the seventh day therein mentioned a Precept given by God to our Father Adam touching the sanctifying of that day to his publick worship Of this I shall not now say much because the practice will disprove it Only I cannot but report the mind and judgment of Pererius a learned Jesuit Who amongst other reasons that he hath alledged to prove the observation of the Sabbath not to have taken beginning in the first infancy of the World makes this for one that generally the Fathers have agreed on this Deum non aliud imposuisse Adamo praeceptum omnino positivum nisi illud de non edendo fructu arboris scientiae c that God imposed no other Law on Adam than that of the forbidden fruit of the Tree of knowledg Of which since he hath instanced in none particularly I will make bold to lay before you some two or three that so out of the mouths of two or three witnesses the truth hereof may be established And first we have Tertullian who resolves it thus Adv. Judaeos Namque in principio mundi ipsi Adae Evae legem dedit c. In the beginning of the World the Lord commanded Adam and Eve that they should not eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midle of the Garden Which Law saith he had been sufficient for their justification had it been observed For in that Law all other Precepts were included which afterwards were given by Moses St. Basil next who tells us first De jejunio that abstinence or fasting was commanded by the Lord in Paradise And then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. the first Commandment given by God to Adam was that he should not eat of the Tree of knowledg The very same which is affirmed by St. Ambrose in another language Et ut sciamus non esse novum jejunium primam illic legem Lib. de Elia jejunio c. 3. i. e. in Paradise constituit de jejunio So perfectly agree in this the greatest lights both of African the Eastern and the Western Churches If so if that the law of abstinence had been alone sufficient for the justification of our Father Adam as Tertullian thinks or if it were the first Law given by God unto him as both St. Basil and St. Ambrose are of opinion then was there no such Law at all then made as that of sanctifying of the Sabbath or else not made according to that time and order wherein this passage of the Scripture is laid down by Moses And if not then there is no other ground for this Commandment in the Book of God before the wandring of Gods people in the Wilderness and the fall of Mannah A thing so clear that some of those who willingly would have the Sabbath to have been kept from the first Creation and have not the confidence to ascribe the keeping of it to any Ordinance of God but only to the voluntary imitation of his people And this is Torniellus way amongst many others Anno 236. who though he attribute to Enos both set Forms of Prayer and certain times by him selected for the performance of that Duty praecipue vero diebus Sabbati In die 7. especially upon the Sabbath yet he resolves it as before that such as sanctified that day if such there were non ex praecepto divino quod nullum tunc extabat sed ex pietate solum id egisse Of which opinion Mercer seems to be as before I noted So that in this particular point the Fathers and the Modern Writers the Papist and the Protestant agree most lovingly together Much less did any of the Fathers or other ancient Christian Writers conceive that sanctifying of the Sabbath or one day in seven was naturally ingrafted in the mind of man from his first creation It 's true they tell us of a Law which naturally was ingrafted in him So Chrysostom affirms that neither Adam In Rom. 7.12 hom 12. nor any other man did ever live without the guidance of this Law and that it was imprinted in the soul of man
met together for religious exercises Which their religious exercises when they were performed or if the times were such that their Assemblies were prohibited and so none were performed at all it was not held unlawful to apply themselves unto their ordinary labours as we shall see anon in the following Ages For whereas some have gathered from this Text of the Revelation from S. John's being in the spirit on the Lords day as the phrase there is that the Lords day is wholly to be spent in spiritual exercises that their conceit might probably have had some shew of likelihood had it been said by the Apostle that he had been in the spirit every Lords day But being as it is a particular case it can make no rule unless it be that every man on the Lords day should have Dreams and Visions and be inspired that day with the spirit of Prophecy no more than if it had been told us upon what day Saint Paul had been rapt up into the third Heaven every man should upon that day expect the like Celestial raptures Add here how it is thought by some â—â—omarus de â— abbat c. 6. that the Lords day here mentioned is not to be interpreted of the first day of the week as we use to take it but of the day of his last coming of the day of judgment wherein all flesh shall come together to receive their sentence which being called the Lords day too in holy Scripture that so the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord 1 Cor. 5.5 S. John might see it being rapt in spirit as if come already But touching this we will not meddle let them that own it look unto it the rather since S. John hath generally been expounded in the other sence by Aretas and Andreas Caesariensis upon the place by Bede de rat temp c. 6. and by the suffrage of the Church the best expositor of Gods Word wherein this day hath constantly since the time of that Apostle been honoured with that name above other days Which day how it was afterwards observed and how far different it was thought from a Sabbath day the prosecution of this story will make clear and evident CHAP. II. In what estate the Lords day stood from the death of the Apostles to the reign of Constantine 1. Touching the orders setled by the Apostles for the Congregation 2. The Lords day and the Saturday both Festivals and both alike observed in the East in Ignatius time 3. The Saturday not without great difficulty made a Fasting day 4. The Controversie about keeping Easter and how much it conduceth to the present business 5. The Feast of Easter not affixed to the Lords day without much opposition of the Eastern Churches 6. What Justin Martyr and Dionysius of Corinth have left us of the Lords day Clements of Alexandria his dislike thereof 7. Vpon what grounds the Christians of the former times used to pray standing on the Lords day and the time of Penteco st 8. What is recorded by Tertullian of the Lords day and the Assemblies of the Church 9. Origen as his Master Clemens had done before dislikes set days for the Assembly 10. S. Cyprian what he tells us of the Lords day and of the reading of the Scriptures in S. Cyprians time 11. Of other holy days established in these three first Ages and that they were observed as solemnly as the Lords day was 12. The name of Sunday often used for the Lords day by the primitive Christians but the Sabbath never WE she wed you in the former Chapter whatever doth occur in the Acts and Monuments of the Apostles touching the Lords day and the Sabbath how that the one of them was abrogated as a part of the Law of Moses the other rising by degrees from the ruins of it not by Authority divine for ought appears but by Authority of the Church As for the duties of that day they were most likely such as formerly had been used in the Jewish Synagogues reading the Law and Prophets openly to the Congregation and afterwards expounding part thereof as occasion was calling upon the Lord their God for the continuance of his mercies and singing Psalms and Hymns unto him as by way of thankfulness These the Apostles found in the Jewish Church and well approving of the same as they could not otherwise commended them unto the care of the Disciples by them to be observed as often as they met together on what day soever First for the reading of the Law In Jos hom 15. Origen saith expresly that it was ordered so by the Apostles Judaicarum historiarum libri traditi sunt ab Apostolis legendi in Ecclesiis as he there informs us To this was joyned in tract of time the reading of the holy Gospel and other Evangelical writings it being ordered by S. Peter that S. Marks Gospel should be read in the Congregation HIst l. 2.15 1 Thes ca. ult v. 17. as Eusebius tells us and by S. Paul that his Epistle to the Thessalonians should be read unto all the holy Brethren and also that to the Colossians to be read in the Church of the Laodiceans as that from Laodicea in the Church of the Colossians By which example Ca. ult v. 16. not only all the writings of the Apostles but many of the writings of Apostolical men were publickly read unto the People and for that purpose one appointed to exercise the ministry of a Reader in the Congregation So antient is the reading of the Scriptures in the Church of God To this by way of comment or application was added as we find by S. Paul's directions the use of Prophesie or Preaching 1 Cor. 14. v. 3. interpretation of the Scriptures to edifying and to exhortation and to comfort This exercise to be performed with the head uncovered as well the Preacher as the hearer 1 Cor. 11.4 Every man Praying or Prophesying with his head covered dishonoureth his head as the Apostle hath informed us Where we have publick Prayers also for the Congregation the Priest to offer to the Lord the prayers and supplications of the People and they to say Amen unto those prayers which the Priest made for them These to contein in them all things necessary for the Church of God which are the subject of all supplications prayers intercessions 1 Tim. 2. and giving of thanks and to extend to all men also especially unto Kings and such as be in Authority that under them we may be godly and quietly governed leading a peaceable life in all godliness and honesty For the performance of which last duties with the greater comfort it was disposed that Psalms and Hymns should be intermingled with the rest of the publick service which comprehending whatsoever is most excellent in the Book of God and being so many notable forms of praise and prayer were chearfully and unanimously to be sung amongst them 1 Cor. 14.26 And thereupon S. Paul reprehended
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in his own Language Catech. orat 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the morrow after the Lords day Cat. 14. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Catech. Mystag 2. The like is very frequent in Saint Ambrose also Hesterno die de fonte disputavimus De Sacram lib. 3. cap. 1. Hesternus noster sermo ad sancti altaris sacramentum deductus est lib. 5. cap. 1. and in other places The like in Chrysostom as in many other places too many to be pointed at in this place and time so in his 18. Hom. on the 3d of Gen. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. But this perhaps was only in respect of Lectures or Expositions of the Scriptures such as were often used in the greater Cities where there was much people and but little business for I conceive not that they met every day in these times to receive the Sacraments Epl. 289. Of Wednesday and of Friday it is plain they did not to say any thing of the Saturday till the next Section Saint Basil names them all together 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. It is saith he a profitable and pious thing every day to communicate and to participate of the blessed Body and Blood of Christ our Saviour he having told us in plain terms that Whosoever eateth his flesh and drinketh his blood hath eternal life We notwithstanding do communicate but four times weekly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. on the Lords day the Wednesday the Friday and the Saturday unless on any other days the memory of some Martyr be perhaps observed Expos fid Cath. 21.22 Epiphanius goeth a little farther andn he deriveth the Wednesdays and the Fridays Service even from the Apostles ranking them in the same Antiquity and grounding them upon the same Authority that he doth the Sunday 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Only it seems the difference was that whereas formerly it had been the custom not to administer the Sacrament on these two days being both of them fasting-days and so accounted long before until towards Evening It had been changed of late and they did celebrate in the Mornings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as on the Lords day was accustomed Whether the meeting on these days were of such Antiquity as Epiphanius saith they were I will not meddle Certain it is that they were very antient in the Church of God as may appear by that of Origen and Tertullian before remembred So that if we consider either the preaching of the Word the ministration of the Sacraments or the publick Prayers the Sunday in the Eastern Churches had no great prerogative above other days especially above the Wednesday and Friday save that the meetings were more solemn and the concourse of people greater than at other times as it is most likely The footsteps of this ancient custom are yet to be observed in this Church of England by which it is appointed that on Wednesdays and Fridays weekly Can. 15. though they be not holy days the Minister at the accustomed hours of Service shall resort to Church and say the Letany prescribed in the Book of common-Common-prayer As for the Saturday that retained its wonted credit in the Eastern Church little inferiour to the Lords day if not plainly equal not as a Sabbath think not so but as a day designed unto sacred meetings The Constitutions of the Apostles said to be writ by Clemens one of Saint Peters first successours in the Church of Rome appoint both days to be observed as solemn Festivals both of them to be days of rest that so the servant might have time to repair unto the Church Lib. 8. c. 33. for this Edification 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the Constitution Not that they should devote them wholly unto rest from labour but only those set times of both which were appointed for the meetings of the Congregation Yet this had an exception too the Saturday before Easter day Lib. 1. cap. 19. whereupon Christ rested in the Grave being exempt from these Assemblies and destinated only unto grief and fasting And though these Constitutions in all likelihood were not writ by Clemens there being many things therein which could not be in use of a long time after yet ancient sure they were as being mentioned in Epiphanius De Scrip. Ecc. in Clemente and as the Cardinal confesseth à Graecis veteribus magni factos much made of by the ancient Grecians though not of such authority in the Church of Rome How their authority in this point is countenanced by Ignatius we have seen already and we shall see the same more fully throughout all this Age. Can. 16. And first beginning with the Synod held in Laodicea a Town of Phrygia Anno 314. there passed a Canon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 touching the reading of the Gospels with the other Scriptures upon the Saturday or Sabbath Canon 49. that in the time of Lent there should be no oblation made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but on the Saturday and the Lords day only neither that any Festival should be then observed in memory of any Martyrs Canon 51. but that their names only should be commemorated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon the Lords day and the Sabbaths Nor was this only the particular will of those two and thirty Prelates that there assembled it was the practice too of the Alexandrians S. Athanasius Patriarch there affirms that they assembled on the Sabbath days not that they were infected any whit with Judaism which was far from them Homil de Semente but that they came together on the Sabbath day to worship Jesus Christ the Lord of the Sabbath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Father hath it So for the Church of Millain which as before I said in some certain things followed the Churches of the East it seems the Saturday was held in a fair esteem and joyned together with the Sunday Crastino die Sabbato De Sacrament Lib. 4. cap. 6. dominice de orationis ordine dicemus as S. Ambrose hath it And probably his often mention of hesternus dies remembred in the former Section may have relation to the joynt observance of these two days and so may that which is reported then out of S. Chrysostom and S. Cyril Eastern Doctors both Hist Eccles Lib. 6. cap. 8. Sure I am Socrates counts both days for weekly Festivals 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that on them both the Congregation used to be assembled and the whole Liturgy performed Which plainly shews that in the practice of those Churches they were both regarded both alike observed Gregory Nyssen speaks more home and unto the purpose Some of the People had neglected to come unto the Church upon the Saturday and on the Sunday he thus chides and rebukes them for it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. With what face saith the Father wilt thou look upon the lords day De Castigatione which hast dishonoured the
After the miserable fall of Adam August Confes cap. 2. all men which were to be begotten according to the common course of Nature were involved in the guilt of Original sin by which they are obnoxious to the wrath of God and everlasting damnation In which Estate they had remained but that God beholding all mankind in this wretched condition was pleased to make a general conditional Decree of Predestination Appel Eving cap. 4. under the condition of Faith and perseverance and a special absolute Decree of electing those to life whom he foresaw would believe and persevere under the means and aids of Grace Faith and Perseverance and a special absolute Decree of condemning them whom he foresaw to abide impenitent in their sins 2. Of the Merit and Efficacy of Christs Death The Son of God who is the Word assumed our humane Nature in the Womb of the Virgin and being very God and very Man he truly Suffered was Crucified Aug. Confess c. 3. Dead and Buried to reconcile his Father to us and to be the Sacrifice not only for Original sin but also for all the Actual sins of men A great part of St. Pauls Epistle to the Hebrews is spent in the proving of this Point that only the Sacrifice or Oblation made by Christ Id. cap. de Missa procured for others Reconciliation and Remission of sins inculcating that the Levitical Sacrifices were year by year to be reiterated and renewed because they could not take away sins but that satisfaction once for all was made by the Sacrifice of Christ for the sins of all men 3. Of Mans Will in the state of depraved Nature The Will of man retains a freedom in Actions of Civil Justice Ibid. cap. 18. and making Election of such things as are under the same pretension of natural Reason but hath no power without the special Assistance of the Holy Ghost to attain unto spiritual Righteousness according to the saying of the Apostle That the natural man perceiveth not the things which are of the spirit of God And that of Christ our Saviur Without me you can do nothing And therefore the Pelagians are to be condemned who teach that man is able by the meer strength of Nature not only to love God above all things but also to fulfill the Law according to the substance of the Acts thereof 4. Of Conversion and the manner of it The Righteousness which is effected in us by the operation and assistance of the Holy Ghost which we receive by yielding our assent to the Word of God Idem cap. 18. according to that of S. Augustin in the third Book of his Hypognosticks in which he grants a freedom of the Will to all which have the use of Reason not that they are thereby able either to begin or g o through with any thing in the things of God without Gods assistance but only in the Affairs of this present life whether good or evil 5. Of falling after Grace received Remission of sins is not to be denied in such who after Baptism fall into sins Idem cap. 11. at what time soever they were converted and the Church is bound to confer the benefit of Absolution upon all such as return unto it by Repentance And therefore as we condemn the Novatian Hereticks refusing the benefit of Absolution unto those who having after Baptism lashed into sin gave publick Signs of their Repentance so we condemn the Anabaptists who teach that a man once justified can by no means lose the Holy Ghost as also those who think that men man have so great a measure of perfection in this present life that they cannot fall again into sin Such is the Doctrine of the Lutheran Churches agreed on in the famous Augustin Confession so called because presented and avowed at the Diet of Auspurge Augusta Vindelicorum the Latins call it 1530. confirm'd after many struglings on the one side and oppositions on the other by Charles the fifth in a general Assembly of the Estates of the Empire holden at Passaw Anno 1552. and afterwards more fully in another Dyet held at Auspurge Anno 1555. A Confession generally ebtertained not only in the whole Kingdoms of Demnark Norway and Sweden but also in the Dukedom of Prussia and some parts of Poland and all the Protestant Churches of the High Germany neither the rigid Lutherans nor the Calvinians themselves being otherwise tolerated in the Empire than as they shrowd themselves under the Patronage and shelter of this Confession For besides the first breach betwixt Luther and Zuinglius which hapned at the beginning of the Reformation there afterwards grew a subdivision betwixt the Lutherans themselves occasioned by Flacius Illyricus and his Associates who having separated themselves from Melancthon and the rest of the Divines of Wittenberge and made themselves the Head of the rigid Lutherans did gladly entertain those Doctrines in which they were sure to find as good assistance as the Dominicans and their party could afford unto them The wisdom and success of which Council being observed by those of the Zuinglian or Calvinian Faction they gladly put in for a share being not meanly well approved that though their Doctrines were condemned by the Council of Trent yet they found countenance especially in the Sublapsarian way not only from the whole Sect of the Dominicans but the rigid Lutherans And that the Scales might be kept even between the Parties there started out another Faction amongst the Calvinists themselves who symbolized with the Melanctbonians or moderate Lutherans as they did with the Jesuit and Franciscan Fryers For the abetting of which their Quarrel this last side calling to their ayd all the Ancient Fathers both Greek and Latine who lived before the time of S. Augustine the others relying wholly on his single judgment not always constant to himself nor very well seconded by Prosper nor any other of great Note in the times succeeding Finally that Catarinus may not go alone in his middle way I will follow him with one of his own Order for he was afterwards made Bishop of Minori in Italy that is to say the right learned Doctor Overal publick Professor of Divinity in Cambridge Dean of S. Pauls and successively Bishop of Lichfield and Norwhich whose judgment in a middle way and though not the same that Catarinus went the Reader may find in Mr. Playferts notable Picce intituled Apello Evangelium to which I refer him at the present as being not within the compass of my present design which caries me to such difputes as have been raised between the Calvinians and their Opposites in these parts of the world since the conclusion and determination of the Council of Trent And for the better carrying on of my design I must go back again to Calvin whom I left under a suspition of making God to be the Author of sin from which though many have taken much pains none more than industrious Doctor Field to absolve and
determinations in a National Church no more than is of making Laws to bind the Subjects in an unsetled Commonwealth with an intent to leave them in their former liberty either of keeping or not keeping them as themselves best pleased Which said we shall enquire into the meaning of the Articles as before laid down whether they speak in favour of the Melancthonian or Calvinian way so far forth as the meaning of them can be gathered from the publick Liturgy and book of Homilies or from the Writings of those men who either had a hand in the making of them or died in the Religion here by Law established CHAP. IX Of the Doctrine of Predestination delivered in the Articles the Homilies the publick Liturgies and the Writings of some of the Reformers 1. The Articles indifferently understood by the Calvinian party and the true English Protestants with the best way to find out the true sense thereof 2. The definition of Predestination and the most considerable points contained in it 3. The meaning of those words in the Definition viz. whom he hath chosen in Christ according to the Exposition of St. Ambrose St. Chrysostom St. Jerom as also of Archbishop Cranmer Bishop Latimer and the Book of Homilies 4. The Absolute Decree condemned by Bishop Latimer as a means to Licentiousness and carnal living 5. For which and making God to be the Author of sin condemned as much by Bishop Hooper 6. Our Election to be found in Christ not sought for in Gods secret Counsels according to 〈◊〉 judgment of Bishop Latimer 7. The way to find out our Election delivered by the same godly Bishop and by Bishop Hooper with somewhat to the same purpose also from the Book of Homilies 8. The Doctrine of Predestination delivered by the holy Martyr John Bradford with Fox his gloss upon the same to corrupt the sense 9. No countenance to be had for any absolute personal and irrespective Decree of Predestination in the publick Liturgy 10. An Answer to such passages out of the said Liturgy as seem to favour that Opinion as also touching the number of Gods Elect. THUS have we seen the Doctrine of the Church of England in the five controverted Points according as it is delivered in the Book of Articles but in what sense we ought to understand it hath been made a Question Some take the Articles in the Literal and Grammatical sense which is the fairest and most approved way of Interpretation according to the saying of an ancient Writer Declar. before the Art 1628. That if the Literal sense of holy Scripture will stand with the Analogy of Faith and Piety it is to be preferred before any other Others they are of which his late Majesty complained who draw the Articles aside and put their own sense or Comment to be the meaning of the Articles fashioning them to their own fancies as they please themselves Each of the parties in those curious points in which the present differences do most consist conceive the Articles of the Church to speak for them exclusive wholly of the other but with a notable difference in the Application The Calvinists Our Divines commonly called Calvinists Yates in Ap Caesar cap. 5. p. 38. by which name they love to be called endeavour to captivate the sense of the Article and bring it to the bent of their own understanding but the true English Protestants whom for distinction sake we may call Confessionists accommodate though they do not captivate their own sense to the sense of the Church according to the plain and full meaning of the Articles in the points disputed But because possibly both parties may not be agreed on a Rule or Medium by which the proper sense and meaning of the Articles may be best discovered it will not be amiss to follow the directions of the Civil Laws in cases of like doubtful nature which is briefly this viz. Si de interpretatione Legis quaeritur imprimis inspiciendum est quo jure Civitas retro in hujusmodi casibus usa fuit And this we shall the better do if we enquire into the Doctrine of those Learned Religious and Godly men who either had a principal hand in the Reformation or were most conversant with them and beloved of them in their several stations taking along with us the Authority of the Homilies and publick Liturgy to which all parties have subscribed In order whereunto it will first be necessary to lay down the definition of Predestination as before we had it in the Article to sum up the particular points and contents thereof to shew the sense of one phrase in it and then to travel more exactly in this Enquiry whether the method of Predestination illustrated by the story of Agilmond and Amistus Kings of Lombardy cap. 7. num 4. agree not more hamoniously with the true sense and meaning of the Church of England than any other whatsoever First then Predestination unto life is defined in the seventeenth Article to be the everlasting purpose of God whereby and before the foundations of the World were laid he hath constantly decreed by his Council secret unto us to deliver from damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind and to bring them by Christ unto everlasting salvation In which definition there are these things to be observed First That Predestination doth presuppose a curse or state of damnation in which all mankind was represented to the sight of God which plainly crosseth the Opinion of the Supra-Lapfarians the Supra-Creaturians or Credibilitarians as some call them now Secondly That it is an act of his from Everlasting because from Everlasting he foresaw into what misery wretched man would fall by the abuse of that liberty in which first he stood Thirdly That he founded it and resolved for it in the Man and Mediator Christ Jesus both for the purpose and performance which crosseth as directly with the Sublapsatians who place the absolute decree of Predestination to life and of Reprobation unto death both of body and soul before the decree or consideration of sending his only beloved Son Jesus Christ into the World to be the common Propitiation for the sins of men Fourthly That it was of some special ones alone Elect called forth and reserved in Christ and not generally extended unto all mankind a General Election as they say being no Election Fifthly That being thus elected in Christ they shall be brought by Christ but not without their own consent and cooperation to everlasting salvation And finally That this Council is secret unto us for though there be revealed to us some hopeful signs of our Election and Predestination unto life yet the certainty thereof is a secret hidden in God and in this life unknown to us For who hath known the mind of the Lord or hath been his Counsellour or of his Secret Council saith the great Apostle Such is the definition of Predestination and the substance of it in which there is
Prescience by which he seeth all things past and all things to come as if present with him And therefore having past a general Decree of Predestination touching the saving of all those which believe in Christ and knowing most infallibly who and how many of all Nations will believe in Christ continue in the faith to the end of their lives and consequently attain salvation The number of the persons so Predestinated is as well known unto him in the universal comprehension of his Heavenly Prescience as if they had been personally elected unto life Eternal the accomplishing of which number that so his Kingdom may be hastned and the hastning of his Kingdom that we with all the rest which are departed in the true faith of his holy Name may have our perfect Consummation and bliss both in body and soul is the scope and purpose of that Prayer And being the sole scope and purpose of it cannot imply such a Personal and Eternal Election as some men imagine though it conclude both for a number and for a certain number of Gods Elect. CHAP. X. The Doctrine of the Church concerning Reprobatin and Universal Redemption 1. The absolute Decree of Reprobation not found in the Articles of this Church but against it in some passages of the publick Liturgy 2. The cause of Reprobation to be found in a mans self and not in Gods Decrees according to the judgment of Bishop Latimer and Bishop Hooper 3. The Absolute Decrees of Election and Reprobation how contrary to the last clause in the seventeenth Article 4. The inconsistency of the Absolute Decree of Reprobation with the Doctrine of Vniversal Redemption by the death of Christ 5. The Vniversal Redemption of man-kind by the death of Christ declared in many places of the publick Liturgy and affirmed also in one of the Homilies and the Book of Articles 6. A further proof of it from the Mission of the Apostles and the Prayer used in the Ordination of Priests 7. The same confirmed by the writings of Archbishop Cranmer and the two other Bishops before mentioned 8. A Generality of the Promises and an Vniversality of Vocation maintained by the said two godly Bishops 9. The reasons why this benefit is not made effectual to all sorts of men to be found only in themselves AS the speaking of Heaven doth many times beget the discovery of Hell so the foregoing discovery of Predestination to Eternal life conducts me to the speaking of a few words concerning the Doctrine of Reprobation Rejection Eternal death a point of which the Church of England is utterly silent leaving it to be gathered upon Logical inferences from that which is delivered by her in the point of Election for contrariorum contraria est ratio as Logicians say though that which is so gathered ought rather to be called a Dereliction than a Reprobation No such absolute irreversible and irrespective Decree of Reprobation taught or maintained in any publick Monument of Record of the Church of England by which the far greater part of man-kind are preordained and consequently pre-condemned to the pit of torments without any respect had unto their sins and incredulities as generally is maintained and taught in the Schools of Calvin Much I am sure may be said against it out of the passages in the Liturgy before remembred where it is said that God hath compassion upon all men and hateth nothing which he hath made but much more out of those which are to come in the second Article touching the Universal Reconciliation of man-kind unto God the Father by the death of Christ Take now to more than this one Collect being the last of those which are appointed for Good Friday on which we celebrate the memorial of Christ his death and passion and is this that followeth viz. Merciful God who hast made all men and hatest nothing that thou hast made nor wouldst the death of a sinner but rahter that he should be converted and live have mercy upon all Jews Turks Infidels and Hereticks and take from them all ignorance hardness of heart and contempt of thy Word and so fetch them home blessed Lord to thy flock that they may be saved amongst the remnant of the true Israelites and be made one fold under one Shepherd Jesus Christ our Lord. A Prayer as utterly inconsistent with the Calvinians Decree of Reprobation as the finding of an Hell in Heaven or any thing else which seems to be most abhorrent both from faith and piety More may be said against it out of the writings of Bishop Latimer and Bishop Hooper before remembred Latimer in his 4. Sermon third Sunday after Epiphany 4. Serm. in Lincoln Beginning first with Latimer he will tell us this viz. That if most be damned the fault is not in God but in themselves for Deus vult omnes homines salvos fieri God would that all men should be saved but they themselves procure their own damnation Thus also in another place That Christ only and no man else merited Remission Justification and Eternal Felicity for as many as believe the same that Christ shed as much blood for Judas as for Peter that Peter believed it and therefore was saved that Judas could not believe it therefore was condemned the fault being in him only and no body else More fully not more plainly the other Bishop in the said Preface to the Exposition on the Ten Commandments where it is said That Cain was no more excluded from the promise of Christ till he excluded himself than Abel Saul than David Judas than Peter Esau than Jacob concerning which two brethren he further added That in the sentence of God given unto Rebecca that there was no mention at all that Esau should be disinherited of Eternal life but that he should be inferiour to his brother Jacob in this world which Prophecy saith he was fulfilled in their Posterity and not the persons themselves the very same withat of Arminius and his followers have since declared in this case And this being said he proceedeth to this Declaration That God is said by the Prophet to have hated Esau not because he was disinherited of Eternal life but in laying his mountains and his heritage waste for the Dragons of the Wilderness Mal. 1.3 that the threatning of God against Esau if he had not of wilful malice excluded himself from the promise of grace should no more have hindred his salvation than Gods threatning against Nineve that the cause of Rejection or Damnation is sin in man which will not hear neither receive the promise of the Gospel And finally thus That by Gods grace we might do the good Exposit of the Command cap. of Ignor. and leave the evil if it were not through malice or accustomed doing of sin the which excuseth the mercy and goodness of God and maketh that no man shall be excused in the latter judgment how subtilly soever they now excuse the matter and put their evil doings from them and
from time to time though possibly a great part of them might be present and consenting also 1552. Nor stood this book nor the Article of Freewill therein contained upon the order and authority only of this Convocation but had as good countenance and encouragement to walk abroad as could be superadded to it by an Act of Parliament as appears plainly by the Kings Preface to that Book and the Act it self to which for brevity sake I refer the Reader But if it be replyed that there is no relying on the Acts of Parliament which were generally swayed changed and over-ruled by the power and passions of the King and that the Act of Parliament which approved this Book was repealed the first year of King Edward the sixth as indeed it was we might refer the Reader to a passage in the Kings Epistle before remembred in which the Doctrine of Freewill is affirmed to have been purged of all Popish Errors concerning which take here the words of the Epistle Epist Ded. viz. And for as much as the heads and senses of our people have been imbusied and in these days travelled with the understanding of Freewill Justification c. We have by the advice of our Clergy for the purgation of Erroneous Doctrine declared and set forth openly plainly and without ambiguity of speech the meer and certain truth of them so as we verily trust that to know God and how to live after his pleasure to the attaining of everlasting life in the end this Book containeth a perfect and sufficient Doctrine grounded and established in holy Scriptures And if it be rejoyned as perhaps it may that King Henry used to shift Opinion in matters which concerned Religion according unto interest and reason of State it must be answered that the whole Book and every Tract therein contained was carefully corrected by Archbishop Cranmer the most blessed instrument under God of the Reformation before it was committed to the Prolocutor and the rest of the Clergy For proof whereof I am to put the Reader in mind of a Letter of the said Archbishop relating to the eighth Chapter of this book in which he signified to an honourable Friend of his that he had taken the more pains in it because the Book being to be set forth by his Graces that is to say the Kings censure and judgment he could have nothing in it that Momus himself could reprehend as before was said And this I hope will be sufficient to free this Treatise of Freewill from the crime of Popery But finally if notwithstanding all these Reasons it shall be still pressed by those of the Calvinian party that the Doctrine of Freewill which is there delivered is in all points the same with that which was concluded and agreed on in the Council of Trent as appears Cap. de fructibus justificationis merito bonorum operum Can. 34. and therefore not to be accounted any part of the Protestant Doctrine which was defended and maintained by the Church of England according to the first Rules of her Reformation the answers will be many and every answer not without its weight and moment For first it was not the intent of the first Reformers to depart farther from the Rites and Doctrines of the Church of Rome than that Church had departed from the simplicity both of Doctrine and Ceremonies which had been publickly maintained and used in the Primitive times as appears plainly by the whole course of their proceedings so much commended by King James in the Conserence at Hampton Court Secondly this Doctrine must be granted also to be the same with that of the Melancthonian Divines or moderate Lutherans as was confessed by Andreas Vega one of the chief sticklers in the Council of Trent who on the agitating of the Point did confess ingenuously that there was no difference betwixt the Lutherans and the Church touching that particular And then it must be confessed also that it was the Doctrine of Saint Augustine according to that Divine saying of his Sine gratia Dei praeveniente ut velimus subsequente ne frustra velimus ad pietatis opera nil valemus which is the same of that of the tenth Article of the Church of England where it is said That without the grace of God preventing us that we may have a good will and working with us when we have that good will we can do nothing that is acceptable to him in the ways of piety So that if the Church of England must be Arminian and the Arminian must be Papist because they agree together in this particular the Melancthonian Divines amongst the Protestants yea and St. Augustine amongst the Ancients himself must be Papists also CHAP. XIII The Doctrine of the Church of England concerning the certainty or uncertainty of Perseverance 1. The certainty of Grace debated in the Council of Trent and maintained in the Affirmative by the Dominicans and some others 2. The contrary affirmed by Catarinus and his adherents 3. The doubtful resolution of the Council in it 4. The Calvinists not content with certainty of Grace quoad statum praesentem presume upon it also quoad statum suturum 5. The bounds and limits wherewith the judgment in this point ought rationally to be circumscribed 6. The Doctrine of the Church of England in the present Artìcle 7. Justified by the testimonies of Bishop Latimer Bishop Hooper and Master Tyndal 8. And proved by several arguments from the publick Liturgy 9. The Homily commends a probable and sted-fast hope But 10. Allows no certainty of Grace and perseverance in any ordinary way to the Sons of men OF all the Points which exercised the wits and patience of the School-men in the Council of Trent there was none followed with more heat between the parties than that of the certainty of Grace occasioned by some passages in the writings of Luther wherein such certainty was maintained as necessary unto justification and an essential part thereof In canvasing of which point the one part held that certainty of grace was presumption the other that one might have it meritoriously The ground of the first was Hist of the Coun of Trent fol. 205. c. that Saint Thomas Saint Bonaventure and generally the School-men thought so for which cause the major part of the Dominicans were of the same opinion besides the authority of the Doctors they alledged for reasons that God would not that man should be certain that be might not be lifted up in pride and esteem of themselves that he might not prefer himself before others as he that knoweth himself to be just would do before manifest sinners and a Christian would so become drowsie careless and negligent to do good Therefore they said that uncertainty was profitable yea and meritorious besides because it is a passion of the mind which doth afflict it and being supported is turned to merit They alledged many places of the Scripture also of Solomon that a man knoweth not
maxim in the Civil Laws which telleth us Non esse distinguendum ubi lex non distinguit that no distinctions must be made in the explicating or expounding of any Law which is not to be found in the Law it self And therefore for the clear understanding of the Churches meaning we must have recourse in this as in other Articles to the plain words of Bishop Latimer and Bishop Hooper so often mentioned in this work And first we find Bishop Latimer discoursing thus Let us not do saith he as the Jews did which were stiff-necked they would not leave their sins they had a pleasure in the same Bishop Latimer in his 8. Sermon in Linc. they would follow their old Traditions refusing the Word of God therefore their destruction came worthily upon them And therefore I say let us not follow them lest we receive such a reward as they had lest everlasting destruction come upon us and so we be cast out of the favour of God and finally lost world without end And in another place I say there be two manner of men Idem in Serm. Rom. 13.11 some there be that are not justified not regenerate not yet in the state of salvation that is to say not Gods servants they take the Renovation or Regeneration they be not come yet to Christ or if they were be fallen again from him and so lost their justification as there be many of us when we fall willingly into sin against Conscience we lose the favour of God and finally the Holy Ghost But you will say How shall I know that I am in the Book of Life See Ibid. I answer that we may be one time in the Book and another time come out of it again as appeareth by David who was written in the Book of Life but when he sinned foully at that time came out of the favour of God until he repented and was sorry for his faults so that we may be in the Book one time and afterards when we forget God and his Word and do wickedly we come out of the Book which is Christ The like we find in Bishop Hooper Pref. to the Expos on the ten Commandements first telling us that the causes of Rejection or Damnation is sin in man that will not hear neither receive the promise of the Gospel or else after he hath received it by accustomed doing of ill falleth either unto a contempt of the Gospel or will not study to live thereafter or else he hateth the Gospel because it condemneth his ungodly life After which he proceedeth to the Application Refuse not therefore the Grace offered nor once received banish it with ill conversation If we fall let us hear Almighty God that calleth us to repent and with his Word and return let us not continue in sin nor heap one sin upon another lest at last we come to a contempt of God and his Word In the beginning of his Paraphase or Exposition to the thirteenth Chapter of the Romans he speaks as plainly to this purpose which passage might here deserve place also but that I am called upon by Master Tyndal Collect. of his Works by J. Day p. 185. whose testimony I am sure will be worth the having and in the Prologue to his Exposition on the same Epistle he informs us thus None of us saith he can be received to Grace but upon a condition to keep the Law neither yet continue any longer in Grace than that promise lasteth And if we break the Law we must sue for a new pardon and have a new light against sin hell and desperation yet we can come to a quiet faith again and feel that sin is forgiven neither can there be in thee a stable and undoubted faith that thy sin is forgiven thee except there be also a lusty courage in thy heart and trust that thou wilt sin no more for on this condition that thou wilt sin no more is the promise of mercy and forgiveness made unto thee But against all this it is objected that Montague himself both in his Gag and his Appeal confesseth that the Church hath left this undecided Hick in his justi of the Fathers c. Pres Montag Gag cap. 20. p. 171. that is to say neither determining for finally or totally and much less for both And that he doth so in the Gag I shall easily grant where he relateth only to the words of the Article which speaks only of a possibility of falling without relating to the measure or duration of it But he must needs be carried with a very strange confidence which can report so of him in his book called Appello Caesarem in which he both expresly saith and proveth the contrary He saith it first in these words after a repetition of that which he had formerly said against the Gagger I determine nothing in the question that is to say nor totally nor finally Appell Caes cap. 4. p. 28. or totally not finally or totally and finally but leave them all to their Authors and Abetters resolving upon this not to go beyond my bounds the consented resolved and subscribed Articles of the Church of England in which nor yet in the Book of common-Common-Prayer and other divine Offices is thee any tye upon me to resolve in this much disputed question as these Novellers would have it not as these Novellers would have it there 's no doubt of that For if there be any it is for a possibility of total falling of which more anon He proves it next by several Arguments extracted from the book of Homilies and the publike Liturgy Out of which last he observeth theee passages the first out of the Form of Baptism in which it is declared that the Baptised Infant being born in original sin by the Laver of Regeneration in Baptism is received into the number of the Children of God Ibid. p. 3â— and Heirs of everlasting life the second out of the publick Catechism in which the Child is taught to say that by his Baptism he was made a Member of Christ the Child of God and an Inheritor of the Kingdom of Heaven The third out of the Rubrick before Confirmation in which it is affirmed for a truth that it is certain by Gods Word that Children being Baptized have all things necessary for their salvation and be undoubtedly saved And thereupon he doth observe that it is to be acknowledged for a Doctrine of this Church that Children duly Baptized are put into a state of Grace and salvation And secondly that it is seen by common experience that many Children so Baptized when they come to Age by a wicked and lewd life do fall away from God and from the state of Grace and salvation wherein he had set them to a worse state wherein they shall never be saved From which what else can be inferred but that the Church maintains a total and a final falling from the grace of God Add hereunto that the
upon so plain a Revelation of Gods secret Will than take up Arms against the Queen depose her from her Throne expel her out of her native Kingdom and finally prosecute her to the very death The Ladder which Constantine the great commended to Assesius a Novatian Bishop for his safer climbing up to Heaven was never more made use of than by Knox and Calvin for mounting them to the sight of Gods secret Council which St. Paul calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or things unspeakable such as are neither possible nor lawful for a man to utter But of all Knox's followers none followed so close upon his heels as Ro. Crowly a fugitive for Religion in Q. Maries days and the Author of a Book called a Confutation of 13 Articles Ibid. p. 18. c. In which he lays the sin of Adam and consequently all mens sins from that time to this upon the Absolute Decree of Predestination for seeing saith he that Adam was so perfect a Creature that there was in him no lust to sin and yet withal so weak of himself that he was not able to withstand the assault of the subtile Serpent no remedy the only cause of his fall must needs be the Predestination of God In other places of this book he makes it to be a common saying of the Free-will men as in contempt and scorn he calls them that Cain was not Predestinate to slay his Brother Ibid. p. 2. ◠which makes it plain that he was otherwise persuaded in his own opinion That the most wicked persons that have been whereof God appointed to be even as wicked as they were that if God do predestinate a man to do things rashly and without any deliberation he shall not deliberate at all but run headlong upon it Ibid. p. 2. 6. be it good or evil That we are compelled by Gods predestination to do those things for which we are damned Ibid. 2.7 Ibid. 46. And finally finding this Doctrine to be charged with making God more cruel and unmerciful than the greatest Tyrant and pressed therewith by some of the contrary persuasion he returns his answer in this wise If God saith he were an inferiour to any superiour power to the which he ought to render an account of his doing or if any of us were not his Creatures but of another Creation besides his workmanship then might we charge him with Tyranny because he condemneth us and appointed us to be punished for the things we do by compulsion through the necessity of his Predestination For a Catholicon or general Antidote to which dangerous Doctrines a new distinction was devised Ibid. p. 4. 47. by which in all abominations God was expresly said to be the Author of the fact or deed but not of the crime which subtilty appeareth amongst many others in a brief Treatise of Election and Reprobation published by one John Veron in the English tongue Ibid. p. 32. about the beginning of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth which subtilty Campneys not unfitly calls a marvellous sophistication a strange Paradox and a cautelous Riddle and he seems to have good reason for it For by this Doctrine as he noteth it must follow that God is the Author of the very fact and deed of Adultery Theft Murder c. but not the Author of the sin Sin having as they say no positive entity but being a meer nothing as it were and therefore not to be ascribed to Almighty God And thereup on he doth infer that when a Malefactor is hanged for any of the facts before said he is hanged for nothing because the fact or deed is ascribed to God and the sin only charged on him which sin being nothing in it self it must be nothing that the Malefactor is condemned or hanged for By all the Books it doth appear what method of Predestination these new Gospellers drive at how close they followed at the heels of their Master Calvin in case they did not go beyond him Certain it is that they all speak more plainly than their Master doth as to the making of God to be the Author of sin though none of them speak any thing else than what may Logically be inferred from his ground and principles And by this book it appeareth also now contrary these Doctrins are to the establish'd by the first Reformers in the Church of England how contrary the whole method of Predestination out of which they flow is to that delivered in the Articles the Homilies and the publick Liturgy and witnessed too by so many learned men and godly Martyrs Which manifest deviation from the rules of the Church as it gave just offence to all moderate and sober men so amongst others unto Campneys before remembred who could not but express his dislike thereof and for so doing was traduced for a Pelagian and a Papist or a Popish Pelagian For which being charged by way of Letter he was necessitated to return an Answer to it which he published in the second or third year of Queen Elizabeth In which Answer he not only clears himself from favouring the Pelagian Errours in the Doctrine of Freewill Justification by Works c. but solidly and learnedly refuteth the Opinions of certain English Writers and Preachers whom he accuseth for teaching of false and scandalous Doctrine under the name of Predestination Ibid. p. 10. Rom. 5. for his preparation whereunto he states the point of Universal Redemption by the death of Christ out of the parallel which St. Paul hath made between Christ and Adam that by the comparison of condemnation in Adam and redemption in Christ it might more plainly be perceived that Christ was not inferiour to Adam nor grace to sin And that as all the generation of man is condemned in Adam so is all the generation of man redeemed in Christ and as general a Saviour is Christ by Redemption as Adam is a condemner by transgression Which ground so laid he shews how inconsistent their Opinions are to the truth of Scripture who found the Doctrine of Election and Reprobation on Gods absolute pleasure by which infinitely the greatest part of all mankind is precedaniously excluded from having any part or interess in this Redemption reprobated to eternal death both in body and soul as the examples of his vengeance and consequently preordained unto sin as the means unto it that so his vengeance might appear with the face of Justice Which preordaining unto sin as it doth necessarily infer the laying of a necessity upon all mens actions whether good or bad according to that predeterminate Counsel and Will of God so these good men the Authors of the books before remembred do expresly grant it acknowledging that God doth not only move men to sin but compel them to it by the inevitable rules of Predestination But against this it is thus discoursed by the said Campneys that if Gods Predestination be the only cause of Adams fall and filthy sin Ibid. p. 51. And
consequenty the only cause and worker of all evil yea even with compulsion and force as they shamefully and plainly affirm then will no man deny but that on the other side Gods Predestination worketh as violently in all things that are good so then if Gods Predestination work all without all exception both in evil and good then all other things whatsoever they be although they all appear to work and do some things yet do they indeed utterly nothing So that the Devil doth nothing Man doth nothing Laws do nothing Doctrine doth nothing Prayer doth nothing but Gods Predestination doth all together and is the efficient cause yea and the only cause of all things He further proves that according unto this position August Retrac l. a. c. 9. 11. they hold the Errour both of the Stoicks as also of the Manicheans that is to say Ibid. p. 26. as St. Augustine declareth that evil hath his original of Gods Ordinance and not of mans freewill for if Murtherers Adulterers Thieves Traitors and Rebels be of God predestinated and appointed to be wicked even as they are cannot chuse but of meer necessity by the Ordinance of God commit all such wickedness even as they do then what is our life but a meer destiny All our doing Gods Ordinances and all our imaginations branches of Gods Predestination And then we must have Thieves by Predestination Whoremasters and Adulterers by Predestination Murderers and Traitors by Predestination and indeed what not if all mens actions are necessitated by the Will of God and so necessitated that they can neither do less evil nor more good than they do though they should never so much endeavour it as some of our Calvinians teach us which Opinion as Campneys hath observed Ibid. p. 45. is condemned by Prosper of Aquitane in his defence of St. Augustine in these following words Predestinationem dei sive ad malum sive ad bonum c. Prosp 1. Resp ad Object Gal. 6. That the predestination of God saith he doth work in all men either into good or into evil is most foolishly said As though a certain necessity should drive men unto both seeing in good things the evil is not to be understood wthout grace and in evil things the evil is to be understood without grace And so much touching Campneys and his performance in the points against the Gospellers some passages having before been borrowed from him concerning Lambert Gynnel and his Adherents For which see Chap. 6. Numb 11. No sooner was this book come out but it gave a very strong alarum to those of the Calvinian party within this Realm which had been very much encreased by the retiring of so many of our learned men to the Zuinglian and Genevian Churches in Queen Maries days amongst which none more eager because more concerned than Veron Crowly above mentioned The first of these being reader of the Divinity Lecture in the Church of St. Pauls and one of the Chaplains to the Queen published his Answer shortly after called An Apology or Defence of the Doctrine of predestination and dedicated to the Queen in which Answer he gives his Adversary no better Titles than the blind guide of the free-will men p. 37. A very Pelagian and consequently a Rank Papist p. 40. Suffering the Devil by such sectaries as Campneys to sow his lyes abroad c. and 41. The Standard-bearer of the free-will men His book he calls a venomous and Railing book upbraids him with his bearing of a faggot in King Edwards days and challenging him that if he be able to maintain his own Doctrine and oppose that in the answer to it let him come forth and play the man Nor was it long before another Answer came out by the name of Crowly called an Apology or defence of the English Writers and Preachers with Cerberus the three headed dog of Hell Chargeth with false Doctrine under the name of Predestination printed at London in the year 1566. And by the Title of this Book as we may see with what a strange Genius the Gospellers or Calvinians were possessed from the first beginning we may well conjecture at the Gentle usage which the poor man was like to find in the whole Discourse But if it be objected in favour of these two books that they were published by Authority and according to Order when that of Campneys seems to have been published by stealth without the Name of Author or of Printer as is affirmed in Verons book before remembred It may be since answered that the Doctrine of the Church was then unsetled the Articles of King Edwards time being generally conceived to be out of force and no new established in their place when Veron first entred on the cause And secondly it may be answered that though Crowlyes Apology came not out till the year 1566 when the new Articles were agreed upon yet his Treatice called a Confutation of thirteen Articles which gave occasion to the Quarrel had been written many years before And he conceived himself obliged to defend his Doctrine and get as good countenance to it as he could within a time especially intent on suppressing Popery might be no hard matter for him to do And as to that part of the Objections which relate to Campneys and his suppessing of his Name I look upon it as a high part of wisdom in him in regard of the great sway which the Calvinians had at their first coming over the prejudice conceived against him for his slips and sufferings in the Reign of K. Edward and the Authority of the men against whom he writ Veron a Chaplain to the Queen Crowly of great esteem in London for his diligent preaching and Knox the great Directer of the Kirk of Scotland CHAP. XVII Of the Disputes among the Confessors in Prison in Queen Maries days and the Resetling of the Church on her former Principles under Queen Elizabeth 1. The Doctrine of Predestination disputed amongst the Confessors in Prison in Queen Maries days 2. The Examination of John Carelese before Dr. Martin in reference to the said Disputes 3. Considerations on some passages in the Conference betwixt Dr. Martin and the said John Carelese 4. Review made of the publick Liturgy by the command of Queen Elizabeth and the Paraphrases of Erasmus commended to the reading both of Priest and People 5. The second book of Homilies how provided for and of the liberty taken by the Gospellers and Zuinglian Sectaries before the reviewing and confirming of the Book of Articles by the Queens Authority 6. Of the reviewing and authority of the Book of Articles Anno 1562. and what may be from thence inferred 7. An answer from the Agreement drawn from the omitting the ninth Article of King Edwards Book the necessity of giving some content to the Zuinglian Gospellers and difficulty wherewith they were induced to subscribe the Book at the first passing of the same 8. The Argument taken from some passages in
great 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Philo de vita Mosis or Court of Sanhedrim And this is that which Casaubon doth also tell us from the most learned and expert of the Jewish Rabbins Non nisi nobilissimos è sacerdotibus Levitis caeteroque populo in lege peritissimos in Sanhedrim eligi Casaub Exercit in Baron 1. Sect. 3. that is to say that none but the most eminent of the Priests the Levites and the rest of the People and such as were most conversant in the Book of the Law were to be chosen into the Sanhedrim But to return again to the Book of God the power and reputation of this Court and Consistory having been much diminished in the times of the Kings of Judah was again revived by Jehosaphat Of whom we read that he not only did appoint Judges in the Land throughout all the fenced Cities of Judah 2 Chron. 19.5 but that he established at Hierusalem a standing Council consisting of the Levites and of the Priests and of the chief of the Fathers of Israel for the judgments of the Lord Ibid. r. 8. and for controversies according to the model formerly laid by God himself in the Book of Deuteronomy Which Court or Council thus revived continued in full force authority and power during the time of the captivity of Babilon as appears plainly by that passage in the Prophesie of Ezekiel where it is said of the Priests even by God himself Ezek. 44. v. 24. in controversie they shall stand in judgment compared with another place of the same Prophet where he makes mention of the Seventy of the Antients of the House of Israel Id. c. 8. v. 11. and Jaazaniah the Son of Shaphan standing in the midst as Prince of the Senate And after their return from that house of bondage they were confirmed in this authority by the Edict and Decree of Artaxerxes who gave Commission unto Ezra to set Magistrates and Judges over the People not after a new way of his own devising Ezra 6.7 v. 25. but after the wisdom of his God declared in the foregoing Ages by his Servant Moses In which estate they stood all the times succeeding until the final dissolution of that State and Nation with this addition to the power of the holy Priesthood that they had not only all that while their place and suffrage in the Court of Sanhedrim as will appear to any one who hath either read Josephus or the four Evangelists but for a great part of that time till the Reign of Herod the Supream Government of the State was in the hands of the Priests In which regard besides what was affirmed from Synesius formerly it is said by Justin Morem esse apud Judaeos ut eosdem Reges sacerdotes haberent that it was the custom of the Jews for the same men to be Kings and Priests Justin hist l. 36. and Tacitus gives this general note Judaeis Sacerdotu honorem firmamentum potentiae esse that the honour given unto the Priesthood amongst the Jews did most espeeially conduce to the establishment of their power and Empire And yet I cannot yield to Baronius neither Tacit. hist l. 3. where he affirms the better to establish a Supremacy in the Popes of Rome Summum Pont. arbitrio suo moderari magnum illud Concilium Baron Annal. An. 57. c. that the High Priest was always President of the Council or Court of Sanhedrim it being generally declared in the Jewish Writers that the High Priest could challenge no place at all therein in regard of his offence and descent but meerly in respect of such personal abilities as made himself to undergo such a weighty burden for which see Phagius in his notes on the 16 of Deuteronomy Thus have we seen of what authority and power the Priests were formerly as well amongst the Jews as amongst the Gentiles we must next see whether they have not been employed in the like affairs under the Gospel of Christ and that too in the best and happiest times of the Christian Church In search whereof it is not to be looked for by the ingenuous Reader that we should aim so high as the first 300 years after Christs Nativity The Prelates of the Church were suspected then to have their different aims and interesses from those who had the government of the Civil State and therefore thought uncapable of trust and imployment in it But after that according to that memorable maxim of Optatus Deschismat Donatist l. 3. Ecclesia erat in Republicâ the Church became a part of the Common-wealth and had their ends and aims united there followed these two things upon it first that the Supream Government of the Church depended much upon the will and pleasure of the Supream Magistrate Scorat Eccl. hist lib. 5. c. 1. insomuch as Socrates observeth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that the greatest Councils have been called by their authority and appointment And 2ly That the Governours and Rulers of the Church of God came to have place and power in disposing matter that appertained to the well ordering of the Civil State And this they did not our of any busie or pragmatical desire to draw the cognizance of secular causes into their own hands or to increase their power and reputation with the common People but meerly for the ease and benefit of those who did repair unto them for their help and counsel and to comply with the command of the Apostle who imposed it on them S. Austin tells us of S. Ambrose with how great difficulty he obtained an opportunity of conversing with him privately and at large as his case required Secludentibus eum ab ejus aure atque ore catervis negociosorum hominum August Confes l. 6. c. 3. the multitude of those who had business to him and suits to be determined by him debarring him from all advantages of access and conference Which took up so much of his time that he had little leisure to refresh his body with necessary food or his mind with the reading of good Authors And Posidonius tells us of S. Austin causas audisse diligenter pie that he diligently and religiously attended such businesses as were brought before him not only spending all the morning in that troublesome exercise Posidon in vita August c. 19. but sometimes fasting all day long the better to content the suitor and dispatch the business The like S. Austin tells us of himself and his fellow Prelates first that the Christians of those times pro secularibus causis suis nos non raro quaererent August in Psal 118. serm 74 Epist 147. did ordinarily apply themselves unto them for the determining of secular causes and chearfully submitted unto their decisions next that the Prelates did comply with their earnest solicitations and desires therein Tu multuosissimas eausarum alienarum perplexitates patiendo Id. de opere Monach. c. 29. by
c. convenit ut per consilium testimonium ejus omne legis scitum Burgi mensura omne pondus sit secundum dictionem ejus institutum that is to say it belongeth of right unto the Bishop to promote Justifice in matters which concern both the Church and State and unto him it appertaineth that by his counsel and award all Laws and Weights and Measures be ordained throughout the Kingdom 2. Next we will have recourse to the old Record entituled Modus tenendi Parliamentum In which it is affirmed ad Parliamentum summoneri venire debere Archiepiscopos Episcopos Abbates Priores alios majores cleri qui tenent per Comitatum aut Baroniam ratione hujusmodi tenurae Modus tenendi Parliament that all the Archbishops Bishops Abbats Priors and other Prelates of the Church who hold their Lands either by an Earls fee or a Barons fee were to be summoned and to come to Parliament in regard of their Tenure 3. Next look we on the chartularies of King Henry the first recognized in full Parliament at Clarendon under Henry the 2d where they are called avitas consuetudines which declare it thus Archiepiscopi Episcopi universae personae qui de Rege tenent in Capite habeant possessiones suas de Rege sicut Baroniam c. sicut caeteri Barones debent interesse juditiis Curiae Regis cum Baronibus quousque perveniatur ad diminutionem membrorum vel ad mortem Matth. Paris in Hen. 2. The meaning is in brief that Archbishops Bishops and all other Ecclesiastical persons which hold in Capite of the King are to have and hold their Lands in Barony and that they ought as Barons to be present in all Judgments with the other Barons in the Court of Parliament until the very sentence of death or mutilation which was very common in those times was to be pronounced And then they commonly did use to withdraw themselves not out of any incapacity supposed to be in them by the Law of England but out of a restraint imposed upon them by the Canons of the Church of Rome 4. In the great Charter made by King John in the last of his Reign we have the Form of summoning a Parliament and calling those together who have Votes therein thus expressed at large Ad habendum commune consilium Regni de auxilio assidendo c. de scutagiis assidendis faciemus summoneri Archiepiscopos Episcopos Abbates Comites Majores Barones Regni sigillatim per literas nostras Et praeterea summoneri faciemus in generali per Vice Comites Ballivos nostros omnes alios qui in Capite tenent ad certum diem Id. in Joh. sc ad terminum 40. dierum ad minus ad certum locum c. In which we have not only a most evident proof that the Bishops are of right to be called to Parliament for granting Subsidies and Escuago and treating of the great Affairs which concern the Kingdom but that they are to be summoned by particular Letters as well as the Earls and Barons or either of them A Form or copy of which summons issued in the time of the said King John is extant on Record and put in print of late in the Titles of Honour Pr. 2. c. 5. And we have here I note this only by the way a brief intimation touching the Form of summoning the Commons to attend in Parliament and the time of 40 days expresly specified to intervene between the summons and the beginning of the Parliament Which Commons being such as anciently did hold in Capite and either having a Knights fee or the degree of Knighthood did first promiscuously attend in these publick meetings and after were reduced to four quatuor discretos milites de Comitatu tuo Id. ibid. as the Writ ran unto the Sheriff and at last to two as they continue to this day 5. We have it thus in the Magna Charta of King Henry the 3d. the birth-right of the English Subject according as it stands translated in the book of Statutes First we have granted to God and by this our present charter have confirmed for us and our heirs for ever that the Church of England shall be free Magna Charta ca. 1. and shall enjoy all her whole Rights and Liberties inviolable But it was a known Right and Liberty of the Church of England that all the Bishops and many of the greater Clergy and peradventure also the inferiour Clergy whereof more anon had their Votes in Parliament and therefore is to be preserved inviolable by the Kings of England their heirs and Successors for ever Which Charter as it was confirmed by a solemn Curse denounced on all the Infringers of it by Boniface Archbishop of Canterbury Matth. Paris in Henr. 3. and ratified in no fewer than 30 succeeding Parliaments so was it enacted in the reign of Edward the first that it should be sent under the great Seal of England to all the Cathedral Churches of the Kingdom to be read twice a year before the people 25 Edw. 1. c. 2. 28 Edw. 1. c. 1. 25 Edw. 1. c. 3. that they should be read four times every year in a full County-Court and finally that all judgments given against it should be void 6. We have the Protestation of John Stratford Archbishop of Canterbury in the time of King Edward the 3d. who being in disfavour with the King and denied entrance into the House of Peers â—â—llenged his place and suffrage there as the first Peer of the Realm and one that ought to have the first Voice in Parliament in right of his See But hear him speak his own words which are these that follow Amici for he spake to those who took witness of it Rex me ad hoc Parliamentum scripto suo vocavit ego tanquam major Par Regni post Regem primam vocem habere debens in Parliamento jura Ecclesiae meae Cantuariensis vendico Antiqu. Britan. in Joh. Stratford ideo ingressum in Parliamentum peto which is full and plain 7. And lastly there is the Protestation on Record of all the Bishops in the reign of King Richard the 2d at what time William Courtney was Arch-bishop of Canterbury who being to withdraw themselves from the House of Peers at the pronouncing of the sentence of death on some guilty Lords first made their Procurators to supply their rooms and then put up their Protestation to preserve their Rights the sum whereof for as much as doth concern this business in their own words thus De jure consuetudine regni Angliae ad Archiepiscopum Cantuariensem qui pro tempore fuerit necnon caeteros Suffraganeos confratres compatres Abbates Priores aliosque Prelatos quoscunque per Baroniam de domino Rege tenentes pertinet in Parliamentis Regis quibuscunque ut Pares regni praedicti personaliter interesse ibidemque de
the Article to the present Established Doctrine in the Church of Rome ibid. CHAP. XIII The Doctrine of the Church of England concerning the certainty or uncertainty of Perseverance 1. The certainty of Grace debated in the Council of Trent and maintained in the Affirmative by the Dominicans and some others Page 573 2. The contrary affirmed by Catarinus and his adherents ibid. 3. The doubtful resolution of the Council in it Page 574 4. The Calvinists not content with certainty of Grace quoad statum praesentem presume upon it also quoad statum futurum ibid. 5. The bounds and limits wherewith the judgment in this point ought rationally to be circumscribed Page 575 6. The Doctrine of the Church of England in the present Article ibid. 7. Justified by the testimonies of Bishop Latimer Bishoop Hooper and Master Tyndal Page 576 8. And proved by several arguments from the publick Liturgie ibid. 9. The Homily commends a probable and stedfast hope Page 577 But 10. Allows no certainty of Grace and perseverance in any ordinary way to the Sons of men ibid. CHAP. XIV The Plain Song of the second Homily touching the falling from God and the Descants made upon it 1. More from some other Homilies touching the possibility of falling from the grace received Page 578 2. The second Homily or Sermon touching falling from God laid down verbatim Page 579 3. The sorry shifts of Mr. Yates to illude the true meaning of the Homily plainly discovered and consuted Page 581 4. An Answer unto his Objection touching the passage cited from the former Homily in Mr. Mountagues Appeal ibid. 5. The judgment of Mr. Ridley Arch-Deacon of Canterbury in the points of Election and Redemption Page 582 6. As also touching the reasons why the Word was not preached unto the Gentiles till the coming of Christ the influences of grace the co-workings of man and the possibility of falling from the truth of Christ ibid. CHAP. XV. Of the Author and Authority of King Edwards Chatechism as also of the judgment of Martin Bucer and Peter Martyr in the Points disputed 1. The Catechism published by the Authority of King Edward VI. Anno 1553. affirmed to have been Writ by Bishop Poinet and countenanced by the rest of the Bishops and Clergy Page 583 2. Several passages collected out of that Catechism to prove that the Calvinian Doctrins were the true genuine and ancient Doctrins of the Church of England Page 584 3. With a discovery of the weakness and impertinency of the Allegation Page 585 4. What may most probably be conceived to have been the judgment of Bishop Poinet in most of the Controverted Points Page 586 5. An Answer to another Objection derived from Mr. Bucer and Peter Martyr and the influence which their Auditors and Disciples are supposed to have had in the Reformation ibid. 6. That Bucer was a man of moderate Counsels approving the first Liturgy of King Edward VI. assenting to the Papists at the Dyet of Ratisbone in the possibility of falling from grace and that probably Peter Martyr had not so far espoused the Calvinian quarrels when he lived in Oxon as after his return to Zurick and Calvins Neighbourhood Page 587 7. The judgment of Erasmus according as it is delivered in his Paraphrases on the four Evangelists proposed first in the general view and after more particularly in every of the Points disputed Page 588 PART III. CHAP. XVI Of the first breakin gs out of the Predestinarians and their Proceedings in the same 1. The Predestinarians called at first by the name of Gospellers Page 589 2. Campney's a professed Enemy to the Predestinarians but neither Papist nor Pelagian Page 590 3. The common practices of the Calvinists to defame their Adversaries the name of Free-will men to whom given why ibid. 4. The Doctrine of John Knox in restraining all mens actions either good or evil to the determinate Will and Counsel of God Page 591 5. The like affirmed by the Author of the Table of Predestination in whom and the Genevian Notes we find Christ to be excluded from being the foundation of mans Election and made to be an inferiour cause of salvation only ibid. 6. God made to be the Author of sin by the Author of a Pamphlet entituled against a Privy Papist and his secret Counsels called in for the proof thereof both by him and Knox with the mischiefs which ensued upon it ibid. 7. The Doctrine of Robert Crowly imputing all mens sins to Predestination his silly defences for the same made good by a distinction of John Verons and the weakness of that distinction shewed by Campneys Page 592 8. The Errours of the former Authors opposed by Campneys his Book in answer to those Errours together with his Orthodoxie in the point of universal Redemption and what he builds upon the same ibid. 9. His solid Arguments against the imputing of all actions either good or evil to Predestination justified by a saying of Prosper of Aquitain Page 593 10. The virulent prosecutions of Veron and Crowly according to the Genius of the sect of Calvin Page 594 CHAP. XVII Of the disputes amongst the Confessors in Prison in Queen Maries days and the resetling of the Church on her former principles under Queen Elizabeth 1. The Doctrine of Predestination disputed amongst the Confessors in Prison in Queen Maries days Page 595 2. The Examination of John Carelese between Dr. Martin in reference to the said Disputes ibid. 3. Considerations on some passages in the conference betwixt Dr. Martin and the said John Carelesse Page 596 4. Review made of the publick Liturgie by the command of Queen Elizabeth and the â—araphrases of Erasmus commended to the reading both of Priest and People Page 597 5. The second Book of Homilies how provided for and of the liberty taken by the Gospellers and Zuinglian Sectaries before the reviewing and confirming of the Book of Articles by the Queens Authority ibid. 6. Of the reviewing and authority of the Book of Articles Anno 1562. and what may be from thence inferred Page 598 7. An Answer from the Agreement drawn from omitting the ninth Article of King Edwards Book the necessity of giving some content to the Zuinglian Gospellers and the difficulty wherewith they were induced to subscribe the Book at the first passing of the same ibid. 8. The Argument taken from some passages in the English Catechism set forth by Mr. Alexander Nowel and the strength thereof Page 599 9. Several considerations on the said Catechism and the rest of the Authors making and what his being Prolocutor in the Convocation might add to any of them in point of Orthodoxie ibid. 10. Nothing to be collected out of the first passage in Mr. Nowels Catechism in favour of the Calvinian doctrine of Predestination and the points depending thereupon and less than nothing in the second if it be understood according to the Authors meaning and the determination of the Church Page 600 CHAP. XVIII A Declaration of the
Doctrine in the Points disputed under the new establishment made by Queen Elizabeth 1. The Doctrine of the second Book of Homilies concerning the wilful fall of Adam the miserable estate of man the restitution of lost man in Jesus Christ and the universal redemption of all mankind by his death and passion Page 601 2. The doctrine of the said second Book concerning universal grace the possibility of a total and final falling and the co-operation of mans will with the grace of God Page 602 3. The judgment of Reverend Bishop Jewel touching the universal redemption of man-kind by the death of Christ Predestination grounded upon faith in Christ and reached out unto all them that believe in him by Mr. Alexander Nowel ibid. 4. Dr. Harsnet in his Sermon at St. Pauls Cross Anno 1584. sheweth that the absolute decree of Reprobation turneth the truth of God into a lie and makes him to the Author of sin Page 603 5. That it deprives man of the natural freedom of his will makes God himself to be double-minded to have two contrary wills and to delight in mocking his poor Creature Man ibid. 6. And finally that it makes God more cruel and unmerciful than the greatest Tyrant contrary to the truth of Scripture and the constant Doctrine of the Fathers Page 604 7. The rest of the said Sermon reduced unto certain other heads directly contrary to the Calvinian Doctrine in the points disputed ibid. 8. Certain considerations on the Sermon aforesaid with reference to the subject of it as also to the time place and persons in and before which it was first preached Page 605 9. An Answer to some Objections concerning a pretended Recantation falsly affirmed to have been made by the said Mr. Harsnet ibid. 10. That in the judgment of the Right Learned Dr. King after Bishop of London the alteration of Gods denounced judgments in some certain cases infers no alteration in his Councils the difference between the changing of the will and to will a change Page 606 11. That there is something in Gods decrees revealed to us and something concealed unto himself the difference between the inferiour and superiour causes and of the conditionality of Gods threats and promises ibid. 12. The accomodating of the former part of this discourse to the case of the Ninevites Page 607 13. And not the case of the Ninevites to the case disputed ibid. CHAP. XIX Of the first great breach which was made in the Doctrine of the Church by whom it was made and what was done towards the making of it up 1. Great alterations made in the face of the Church from the return of such Divines as had withdrawn themselves beyond Sea in the time of Queen Mary with the necessity of imploying them in the publick service if otherwise of known zeal against the Papists Page 609 2. Several examples of that kind in the places of greatest power and trust in the Church of England particularly of Mr. Fox the Martyrologist and the occasion which he took of publishing his opinion in the point of Predestination ibid. 3. His Notes on one of the Letters of John Bradford Martyr touching the matter of Election therein contained ibid. 4. The difference between the Comment and the Text and between the Author of the Comment and Bishop Hooper Page 612 5. Exceptions against some passages and observations upon others in the said Notes of Mr. Fox ibid. 6. The great breach made hereby in the Churches Doctrine made greater by the countenance which was given to the Book of Acts and Monuments by the Convocation Anno 1571. Page 613 7. No argument to be drawn from hence touching the approbation of his doctrine by that Convocation no more than for the Approbation of his Marginal Notes and some particular passages in it disgraceful to the Rites of the Church attire of the Bishops ibid. 8. A counterballance made in the Convocation against Fox his Doctrine and all other Novelisms of that kind Page 614 CHAP. XX. Of the great Invocation made by Perkins in the publick Doctrine the stirs arising thence in Cambridge and Mr. Barrets carriage in them 1. Of Mr. Perkins and his Doctrine of Predestination with his recital of the four opinions which were then maintained about the fame Page 614 2. The sum and substance of his Doctrine according to the Supralapsarian or Supra-creatarian way Page 615 3. The several censures past upon it both by Papists and Protestants by none more sharply than by Dr. Rob. Abbots after Bishop of Sarum Page 616 4. Of Dr. Baroe the Lady Margarets Professor in the Vniversity and his Doctrine touching the divine Decrees upon occasion of Gods denounced Judgment against the Ninivites ibid. 5. His constant opposition to the Predestinarians and the great increase of his Adherents Page 617 6. The Articles collected out of Barrets Sermon derogatory to the Doctrine and persons of the chief Calvinians ibid. 7. Barret convented for the same and the proceedings had against him at his first conventing Page 618 8. A Form of Recantation delivered to him but not the same which doth occur in the Anti-Arminianism to be found in the Records of the Vniversity ibid. 9. Several Arguments to prove that Barret never published the Recantation imposed upon him Page 619 10. The rest of Barrets story related in his own Letter to Dr. Goad being then Vice-Chancellor ibid. 11. The sentencing of Barret to a Recantation no argument that his Doctrine was repugnant to the Church of England and that the body of the same Vniversity differed from the heads in that particular Page 620 CHAP. XXI Of the proceedings against Baroe the Articles of Lambeth and the general calm which was in Oxon touching these Disputes 1. The differences between Baroe and Dr. Whitacres the address of Whitacres and others to Arch-bishop Whitgift which drew on the Articles of Lambeth Page 621 2. The Articles agreed on at Lambeth presented both in English and Latine Page 622 3. The Articles of no authority in themselves Archbishop Whitgift questioned for them together with the Queens command to have them utterly supprest ibid. 4. That Baroe neither was deprived of his Professorship nor compelled to leave it the Anti-Calvinian party being strong enough to have kept him in if he had desired it Page 623 5. A Copy of the Letter from the Heads in Cambridge to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh occasioned as they said by Barret and Baroe Page 624 6. Dr. Overalds encounters with the Calvinists in the point of falling from the grace received his own private judgment in the point neither for total nor for final and the concurrence of some other Learned men in the same opinion Page 625 7. The general calm which was at Oxon at that time touching these disputes and the Reasons of it ibid. 8. An Answer to that Objection out of the writings of judicious Hooker of the total and final falling Page 626 9. The disaffections of Dr. Bukeridge and Dr. Houson to Calvins