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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	administration_n	prayer_n	sacrament_n	2,563	5	7.2488	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A66579	The vanity of humane inventions held forth in a brief exercitation upon the controverted ceremonies, managed in certain queries : first drawn up for the satisfaction of some private friends, and now made publick for the good of others.	Wilson, Joseph, d. 1678.; Willson, John, d. ca. 1672.	1666 (1666)	Wing W2928; ESTC R2749	85,695	142

simply and in their own nature Now those things which these Servants of God did in cases of special necessity were not simply and in their own nature evil but only because they were forbidden Neither were they for bidden absolutely but only so far as the forbearing of them might consist with the avoiding of greater evil But the case is far otherwise with us for in order to the gaining of our Liberty we must not only do those things which are evil meetly because they are forbidden but because they are so likewise in their own nature as the declaring our unfeigned assent and consent to unwarrantable Observations fabulous Stories unsound Doctrine as also the scandalizing our Brethren fashioning our selves to Idolaters honouring of Images and Idols with many other things which would have been evil though God had never by any positive Law forbidden them 2. We must distinguish betwixt such necessity as God himself either by his positive Command or special Providence layes upon us and such as oppressive and unreasonable men bring us under The Instances alleaged were of Gods making and therefore nothing at all to us who are in the hands of men that forbid us that liberty that he hath not only allowed us to use but commanded us to maintain Now though God who hath power over his own Law be pleased to dispense with our non-performance of those works and duties which he himself either by his positive Command or special Providence doth disoblige us from yet we must not think that he will in like manner dispense with our omission of those works and duties which ungodly men out of their enmity to him and his truth do forbid us to perform and we out of timerousness or worldliness do thereupon neglect And therefore though the Priests David the Disciples and others did upon urgent necessity laid upon them by God himself act contrary to some positive Laws yet we must not think that they would have done it upon the bare command of men how great soever without such necessity This we may gather from the example of Daniel Dan. 1.8 who would rather adventure upon the offending of the King and incurring his displeasure than he would eat of his polluted meat and from the example of the Maccabees 2 Mace 7.2 who would rather endure the greatest torments than taste of Swines flesh Though the Kings meat and Swines flesh were both of them contrary to the Ceremonial Law yet no doubt if Providence had brought them into such a strait as David and the Disciples were in they would have eaten as well as they but being there was no necessity for it save what the command of man made they would not do it So as to our case though we should suppose the things required of us to be such as that in a case of special necessity layd upon us by God we might do them yet doth it not follow that we may do them out of such a necessity meerly upon the command of man Nay it appears by what I have here alleaged that in such a case only we might not do them And so much for Answer to the substance of what is alledged by this Authour Grand Case p 37 Others of the same Adiaphoristical spirit seeing that such shifts as these are too gross to serve their purpose endeavour to subtilize the matter by telling us that Authority doth not expect that we should declare our unfeigned assent and consent to all and every thing contained and prescribed in and by the Book of common-Common-Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church absolutely but comparatively Answ 1. How shall we be assured that Authority expects no more It s rather likely that they taking all so contained and prescribed to be sound and necessary look that we should do so too and declare as much in publick And therefore if we will declare we must declare in that sense otherwise we equivocate and deceive their expectations 2. The Letter of the Declaration leads to an absolute sence and therefore unless Authority put another upon it we must look upon that as being the only sense intended by them But 3. suppose Authority intended such a comparative sense yet might we not close with it for how can we lawfully declare our unfeigned assent and consent to the use of unlawful things which we stand bound unfeignedly to dislike and dissent from and endeavour the extirpation of As we may not declare our unfeigned dislike of and dissent from what we do unfeignedly assent and consent to and stand bound to maintain so neither may we declare our unfeigned assent and consent to what we unfeignedly dislike and dissent from and stand bound to extirpate If declaring our unfeigned assent and consent to the Ceremonies be a fit and proper means for the extirpating of them then we may do it otherwise not Q. 49. Whether since we cannot declare our unfeigned assent and consent to the Ceremonies or in the course of our Ministry make use of them without the guilt of sin may our Adversaries persecute us for refusing to do it Whether may they revile reproach us for it and represent us as persons Schismatical and Turbulent unworthy of the favour of Authority or imployment in the Church Whether may they throw us out of our places and silence us not only to the undoing us and our families but the rendring of us useless to the People whose necessities do cry so loud in our ears for help Whether do you think it is a good work and such as they may look back upon with comfort when they come to dye to set up a company of Ceremonies in their own judgments needless that we cannot close with and then persecute us for refusing Whether is not this to build the Sepulchres of their Fathers that persecuted the Martyrs in Queen Maries dayes and shake hands with the bloody Inquisitors Whether do you think it is agreeable to the nature of the Christian Religion for them to compel men by civil penalties to a complyance with them and persecute them if they do but in the least vary from them Plut vit Thes p. 5. Whether may they with Procrustes the Tyrant stretch out all they meet with to their own stature and wrack them into conviction and obedience DeImper c 3. s 9 p. 55. Right use of the Fathers l. 2. p. 171 173. See also Mr. Stillingf Iren pt 1 c. 2. s 11. p. 64. The Antients whom sometimes they seem to have in so much veneration if we may credit the quotations of Grotius or Daille thought and taught quite otherwise They were so far from approving the use of a Coercive power in the business of Faith and Religion or the exercising of force and violence upon dissenters that they looked upon it as unchristian irreligious unreasonable contrary to the example of God and Christ and contrary to the practice of the Saints Nay they

former times Cent. Magd. cent 3. c. 6. col 141. that of all other things they took care in this that they had nothing common with the Manners and Customs of the Heathens Nay such was their holy zeal and caution that let them be Heathens Jews Hereticks or what they would they would not have Communion with them no not in the smallest matters unless they would lay down their enmity come into Christ and close with his truth and wayes See Mr. Parker of the Cross part 1. c. 3 sect 16. p. 157 c. Ames fresh suit part 2. p. 438. They would not worship towards the East wear Garlands Fast on Fridays bring Wine and Cakes into the Church sing Songs of Hallelujah and joy on the Calends of January celebrate Birth-days set Lights at their doors because they would not symbolize with Heathens They would not observe Easter at the usual time look in Prayer towards Jerusalem use the word Priest or Sacrifice forbear decking their houses or dressing of meat on the Lords day or have a Lamb to represent Christ because they would not hold Fellowship with the Jews They would not Fast on the Lords day use Trin-immersion in Baptism abstain from Flesh have Lights in their Worship shave their Heads so as to leave long hair below and all because they would not do after the manner of the Hereticks And they who stood out in this zealous opposition against these enemies of the Truth were not a company of the Vulgar sort only who commonly have a zeal that is not according to knowledge but the eminentest Lights of the whole Church and the strongest defenders of the Christian interest Neither were they a few of those only acting singly and privately but whole Councils both Provincial and General and those too of the most Orthodox and Famous that ever were since the Apostles times Neither did they stand out in Religious matters only but also in such as were of a civil common nature nor in some weightier things only but also in such as in themselves were small and trivial as the wearing of a Garland celebrating a Birth-day and the like thereby declaring to the World their utter detestation of them and their wayes And if we come nearer our own times and consult the Writers of the Reformed Churches we shall find that they treading in the steps of the Ancients and imitating their godly zeal do unanimously cry down Communion with the enemies of the Truth whether Infidels Idolaters or Hereticks as not onely unlawfull but pernicious and dangerous Epist ad Reg. Eliz col 243. Zanchius tells Queen Elizabeth that we ought to have nothing at all to do with the Papists in the business of Religion save in those things which they have common with the Apostles And Gualter saith Com. in Luc. 11. fol. 309. that common sense admonisheth Christians to abstain from all the Rites and Ceremonies of Infidels and Hereticks To these I might add many more Ames fresh suit part 2. p. 456. speaking to the same purpose but it is done by others and therefore I forbear Besides that we should thus decline communion with Infidels and Hereticks is a Truth so plain that several of the Papists themselves though the greatest users of forreign Rites do own and teach it Decret part 2. caus 26. q 7. c. 13. Annal. ad ann 184. Gratian speaks against the observing the Calends of January and adorning of houses with Laurel and green Boughs because the Pagans did so And Baronius would not have Christians to celebrate Play-dayes in the beginning of the Spring because the Heathens were wont to do the like in honour of the Mother of their Gods T. 2. l. 2. de Monac cap. 40. p 200. De Ador. l. 2. disp 4. c. 3. And Bellarmine tells us that shaving was forbidden the Jewish Priests lest they should be like to the Priests of the Gentiles And Vasquez saith that God forbad the Israelites the use of Images and the setting up of Stones and Monuments because he would not have them like the Canaanites and other Idolaters And as for Hereticks the Rhemists will not have us so much as use their words Annot. in 1 Tim. 6. sect 4. We shall say they keep the Faith of our Fathers if we keep their very words but avoid we the words of Hereticks although they seem to have no harm in them Now things being thus that the People of God must not do after the manner of such as are of a strange Religion nor hold communion with them how on the one hand will the Papists justifie their doing after the manner of Heathens Jews and Turks and holding communion with them and how on the other hand will our Adversaries justifie their doing after the manner of the Papists in the use of their Ceremonies and holding communion with them therein Qu. 41. Whether this their giving to the Papists the right-hand of fellowship and holding communion with them in their Ceremonies be not likely to beget in them a greater liking of their way and to confirm and settle them in it Whether instead of bringing them over to us is it not likely to beget in them hopes that we will return to them Hear what Zanchius saith Epist ad Reg. Eliz col 243. This recalling saith he of Popish Garments your gracious Majesty may believe me will be a greater evil than perhaps it may seem even to wise men at the first blush For methinks I see and hear the Monks crying out with very loud voices in the Pulpits both confirming their followers in their impious Religion by the example of your gracious Majesty and also saying What doth not even the Queen of England also a most learned and prudent Princess begin by little and little to come back to the Religion of the holy Church of Rome the most holy and sacred Vestments of the Clergy-men being taken on again We are to be in good hope that the day will come wherein they will at length though now they be thought to be dead recal also all the other Rites and Sacraments of the holy Church of Rome These and such-like words no doubt most prudent Queen the Moncks and Jesuites will use in the Pulpits For they take all occasions to confirm their Superstitions Therefore to recal these stinking Garments and other rubbish of the Popish Church into the Church of Christ at this time what is it but to give the Papists an occasion and the best that may be to confirm harden themselves and theirs in their Superstitions and also to help them in this business Thus he And it is well known that our using of their Rites and Customs doth furnish them with Arguments against us See Mr. Parker of the Cross part 1. c. 3. sect 6. p. 135. and supply them with somewhat to say in their own defence They do not onely argue for their mass-Mass-Book from our service-Service-Book and the necessity they

ascribe to the Sacrament from our private Baptism and their Absolution Auricular Confession and Sacrament of Penance from our Absolution of the Sick prescribed in the aforesaid Service-Book but they likewise argue for their Cross from ours and for other Rites used by them from those used amongst us And thus the Fathers of our Church who yet would be looked upon as the onely malls of Papists instead of refuting the Arguments they had before help them to new ones and instead of convincing them of their errors and evil ways and reducing them from them encourage and settle them in them And shall the Prophets of Jerusalem strengthen the hands of evil doers Jer. 23.14 c. that none return from his wickedness Let them know for this that if they repent not the Lord will be against them and that he will feed them with wornswood and make them drink the water of Gall and that his whirlwind shall go forth in fury against them even a grievous whirlwind and it shall fall grievously upon their heads Qu. 42. Whether this their zealous retaining the Ceremonies of the Papists and holding communion with them therein be not an argument that they have a secret design when the wind stands right to return to them again If they have not some purpose that way what 's the reason that notwithstanding all the sollicitations and intreaties of their Brethren to lay the Ceremonies aside and all the unhappy contests they have occasion'd amongst us they will not be got to do it but choose to hazard Religion Peace Laws Liberties and all rather than they wil part with them What doth this hold forth but that they use them in a Sacramental sense indeed that is to signifie to the Papists that they have a secret respect for them and that as they came from them so they have a purpose to return to them Whether it be so or no I will not positively affirm but it is manifest the Papists hope it is so and we fear if opportunity serve it will prove so If they would have us to lay aside our jealousies let them lay aside the Ceremonies that do occasion them It hath been usual that when any Nation or People have set up such a Religion whether good or bad they have also set up the Ceremonies of that Religion When the Israelites fell to the worship of Baal they bowed the knee to Baal 1 K. 19.18 Hos 13.2 and when they fell to the worship of the Calves they kissed the Calves Beda hist Angl. l. 2. c. 2. fo 57 So when Gregory sent Augustine the Monck hither into England to reform things amongst us and when one of his Successors Agents swore Jerom of Prague to the Church of Rome Concil Constantiens sess 19. Genebr chron ad an 1549. and when the Emperour urged the Interim they each of them exacted assent to and complyance in the Ceremonies And so on the other hand it hath been usual that when any Nation or People have thrown out such a Religion they have with it thrown out the Ceremonies belonging to it When the Israelites threw aside the worship of Baal and the Calves they neither bowed to the former nor kissed the latter but as they despised them so they did their Ceremonies And when the Heathens forsook their Idols and turned Christians they also forsook their Ceremonies refusing as I have before shew'd to have any thing common with them or those that worshiped them So when the Churches beyond the Seas cast off Popery they likewise cast off the Ceremonies belonging to it not suffering so much as a dram thereof to remain As the morning ushers-in the day so the Ceremonies of any Religion tend to the introducing and bringing-in of that Religion And therefore saith Augustine If ye enquire how the Pagans may be convinced Tom. 10. de Verbis dom ser 6. fol. 5. how they may be enlightned how they may be called to Salvation forsake all their Solemnities forsake their trifles and if they will not consent to our Truth let them yet at the least be asham'd of their own pancity And upon this ground Pope Zechary proceeded Decret part 2. caus 26. q. 7. c. 14. and therefore when he saw some celebrate the Kalends of January and feast and dance after the manner of the Pagans he forbad them to do it for this reason lest Paganism should re-pullulate and spring up again And have not we cause to fear lest the retaining of Popish observations may occasion the springing up again of Popery as well as those men had cause to fear lest the retaining of Paganish observations might occasion the springing up again of Paganism I believe all those that are affected to the Protestant Interest as they should be judge we have I would saith Peter Martyr that those who think these things should be retained amongst us Ep cuidā Amico in Angl. p. 1125. saw that the continuing of them will indanger the removal of the Gospel But it was not he only that saw danger in it but others likewise who thereupon warn'd us to beware of it In Cyprian ep 56. not 31. Goulartius saw so much danger in the very Cross that he saith If we mean to maintain the Doctrine of Christ crucified we must abolish it Let not therefore our Adversaries think it strange that upon our observing their tenaciousness of the Ceremonies and lothness to part with them we become jealous that they have more respect for Popery than they would have the world to think they have and that if circumstances would fairly concur they would attempt the bringing of us back to our former state Qu. 43. Whether is it not probable all things considered that they retain the Ceremonies on purpose to serve them as instruments in the promoting of Popery Whether is it not to be feared that they retain them to keep up the memory of it for the present and to serve them as Engines to help them to wind it in amongst us when a fit opportunity presents it self They know very well that the Ceremonies of Rome may be of great use to them to prepare the people for the Doctrine of Rome and that if ever they can get Popery in amongst us it will be no small advantage to them to tell the people that the Ceremonies and Doctrine of Rome being like the Harlots attire and songs both of the same stamp they ought to go together and that therefore as they have hitherto used the former so it is fit they should now close with the latter As for the peoples fleeing to distinctions and telling them that though they used the Ceremonies of the Papists yet they used them not in that sense that they do not one in a thousand as they themselves know and confess is able to do it and if they could See Hooker Eccl. Pol. l. 5. sect 65. yet how soon can they take them off it How easily can they