France in their Book of Discipline p. 391. have this rule Les livres de la Bible soit Canonique ou autres ne seront transformez en Comedies ou Tragedies i. e. the books of the Bible whether Canonical or others shall not be used in Plays in which Words they first call these Apocryphal books part of the Bible and then take care that they be not prophaned And thus it 's evident that all the Primitive and Purer Ages of the Church all the Eastern Western and African Churches all the Lutheran and Calvinistical Churches beyond Sea do either read these books publickly in their Churches or very expresly approve of it nor is there any one instance of any Reformed Church that since the Reformation read them publickly as we have done but still continues to do so and our English Dissenters are condemned by all the Churches in the World in leaving them out of their Bibles who were the first body of Christians as far as I can find that ever did so To make this the more evident I shall here give a Catalogue of the publick large Bibles of all the Countries I could meet with in all which upon examination I find the Apocryphal added for the same intent as in ours viz. For the Example of Life and the Instruction of Manners A Catalogue of Bibles Printed with the Apocrypha English with Archbishop Cranmer's Preface Lond. 1541. By Coverdale Lond. 1550. By Command of Q. Eliz. Lond. 1578. Welch Lond. 1588 Scotch Edenburgh 1596. English translated by Wicliff a M. S. with a Prologue in which are these words Holy Church readeth Judeth and Toby and the Books of Maccabees but receiveth not them among Holy Scriptures so the Church readeth the two Books Ecclesiastici and Sapience to edify the People not to confirm the Authority of Teaching Bohemian 1613. Danish at Copenhagen 1550. French at Geneva 1588 At Amsterdam 1669 German 1604 Of Luther's Translation Heidelberg 1617 Dutch at Frankfurt 1580 Armenian at Amsterdam 1666 Spanish by Protestants Amsterdam 1602. Hungarian by the Protestant Bishops of Hungary at Hannover and Oppenheim 1608 Muscovitish at Ostrogoth 1581 Italian by Deodate 1607 Latin by Castalion dedicated to King Edward the 6th Bas 1573 By Junius dedicated to William Prince of Orange 1592 By Robert Stephens Paris 1540 Critici Sacri 9 Tomis Lond. 1666 Hebrew Polyglott 〈◊〉 Lond. 1567 Septuagint Syrtach Vulgar Latin And indeed amongst all the Bibles which I have seen I find them only left out in the Spanish Bible examin'd by the Inquisitors printed at Ferara 1553 and that of New-England in the Virginian Tongue printed at Cambridge in New-England 1663. So that if to comply with our English Dissenters we must strike out these Apocryphal books I know no Bibles we shall follow but that of the Inquisitors of Spain and the Commissioners of New-England And to conclude this head I shall put down these five observations First That no Papist ever made use of this as an Argument that our Church own'd these Books as Canonical so that there could be no feal ground for this objection Secondly That there neither is nor ever was any one Christian Church in the whole World that had set Lessons appointed for every day in the year as we have but some of them were taken out of the Apocrypha Thirdly That no one foreign Church whatsoever did ever declare themselves offended with the Church of England in this matter but as I have shewed generally approve it Fourthly That these very persons who complain of our reading Apocryphal Chapters for Lessons make no complaint of having Hymns printed in their Bibles before and after Davids Psalms in meeter and being frequently used in the Church instead of them Which is agreeable to the practice of Holland where that Church before Sermon sings a Hymn composed by one John Wittenhaven as we do any one of our Psalms Fifthly That the great Promoters of this objection do not stop here but urge it to the laying aside Sermons and Homilies as not being within the Canon yea and the Scripture and Lessons themselves and as we have reason to fear laying aside all publick service whatsoever T. C. in his admonition p. 221. would have no Homilies read in the Church because nothing but the voice of God and holy Scriptures should sound in his Church and this will destroy Sermons and Preaching also The Author answered by Bishop Nicolson in his Apology p. 184. is angry with our Church for reading two Lessons and would have but one And that Lesson also is in danger by the Author of the Letter to the Convocation p. 21. where he proposeth the leaving out the first Lesson in the Afternoon upon short days and in Country Parishes to read Prayers without Lessons So that upon the whole however it seems to some a small to others a reasonable matter I do not say to leave out for then that should have been done at first but to reject the Apocryphal Lessons yet in this we shall separate from the Primitive the Eastern Western and African Churches from most of the Reformed Churches we must alter the 39 Articles of Religion which have been so generally received and applauded for they declare that the Church doth read them We must alter our Apologies and Canons for there Canon 30. Juells Apol. p. 170. it 's declared that it was so far from the purpose of the Church of England to forsake and reject the Churches of Italy France Spain Germany and other Churches in all things which they hold and practis'd that as the Apology of the Church of England confesseth it only departed from them in those particular points wherein they were faln both from themselves in their ancient integrity and from the Apostolical Churches To this agreeth the Apology for Protestants by a French Divine and translated A. D. 1681. p. 23. As to the reproach cast upon our first Reformers it is one of the greatest injustices in the world for nothing can be clearer from their own writings than that it was never their intent to subvert the ancient Government of the Church nor to abolish those Religious Rites and Holy Ceremonies which the piety of the primitive Christians had introduced but only to take away the abuses of them So that in making unnecessary changes in these things we shall destroy the very foundation and principle of the Reformation And that this rule is properly applied to the matter in hand is evident from the declaration of our Church at the beginning of the Liturgy where the reading of the Lessons as is appointed is called a godly and decent order of the ancient Fathers agreeable to the mind and purpose of the old Fathers Upon all which accouuts it is evident that we ought not to consent to the taking away the Apocryphal Lessons and that the Reformed Churches do not desire it of us Secondly As to the Rules and Tables for finding Easter great objections have been raised against our Church
the Book of Tobit by which saith one of them we give too much countenance to the Church of Rome and supplant Canonical Scripture c. Now to see how very little reason is for this Objection let it be observed 1. That our Church always calls these Books Apocryphal and thereby sufficiently distinguisheth them from the Canonical and her self from Popery 2. In the Thirty Nine Articles of Religion she declares That she reads them for example of Life and instruction of Manners but yet doth not apply them to establish any Doctrine 3. All our Divines that have written upon this Subject especially Reynolds and Cosins have so Learnedly and unanswerably baffled the Papists that they have never thought good to reply to them 4. Our Church hath taken so great care in this matter to avoid giving offence that several of these Books are never Read in the Church at all as the Maccabees Books of Esdras Prayer of Manasseh and the famous Fifth Chapter of Tobit about him and his Dog which hath been left out of our Church from the beginning of King James the 1st almost an 100 Years the other Books that are ordered to be Read in the Church are never read on Sundays but only Week-days Now our Church in allowing of them sometimes to be Read doth much better agree with the Primitive Church than she would if they were shut quite out for 't is certain that they publickly Read them Athanasius or the Author of the Synopsis calls them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. not received into the Canon but read in the Church Ruffinus in Symb. Alii libri sunt qui non Canonici sed Ecclesiastici a majoribus appellati sunt Tobit Judeth c. quae omnia legi quidem in Ecclesia voluerunt non tamen Professi ad Authoritatem fidei confirmandam i. e. There are Books which are not Canonical but Ecclesiastical as Tobit Judeth c. all which are read in the Church but not produced to confirm any Article of Faith Which is exactly agreeable to the words of St. Hierom in his Preface to his Commentary upon Proverbs and which are quoted and approved of by our Church in the Thirty Nine Articles Gregorius Magnus in Moral l. 19. c. 13. Art 6 may speak for the succeeding Ages where he calls these Books though not Canonical yet published for the Edification of the Church That they were Read in the African Churches appears from one of the Carthaginian Councils at which St. Austine was present 3 Carthag Can. 47. That they have been all along read in the Western Churches appears from Isidore de Eccles Off. Rabanus de instit Cler. c. And lastly the Lectionarius published by Pamelius and which goeth under the name of St. Hierom and hath been of great Use and Authority in the Western Churches gives an account of particular days when particular places of the Apocryphal Books were appointed to be read in the Church As to the Greek Church besides the author of the Synopsis already mention'd Origene in his Epistle to Affricanus saith that the history of Susannah was read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in every Church of Christ And again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Churches make use of the book of Tobit And as to their present practice besides their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 printed at Venice A. D. 1596. which contains their several lessons for the whole year and hath several taken out of the Apocrypha we have the express authority of one that lived amongst them Mr. Rycaut in his History of the Greek Church p. 372. In the Greek Church they receive the Apocryphal Books as we do in England In the Ethiopick Churches they read the Athcpocryphal Books as appears from Ludolfus's History of those Churches and lastly by the works of Hippolytus Origen St. Chrysostome St. Hierome Theodore◠Asterius Leo Magnus and others it appears that the Fathers not only wrote Comments upon these books but frequently preach'd upon them and took their Texts thence not to mention that Conradus Pellican Drusius and some other Reformed Divines have without any offence wrote comments upon them as upon other parts of the Bible If from this general agreement of all the Christian Churches in the World we consider in the last place the judgment of the Reformed Churches we shall find them also agree with us 1. For the Lutheran Churches they gerally use them as we do and Alsted in Theol. Pol. p. 287. gives this account of them that they are sacri secundum quid populare quadam ratione merito proxime a vere divinis locum obtinere possunt i. e. that they are in a sense sacred and deserve the next place to the Canonical Scriptures And Chemnitius in examen post 1. de ser can speaking of the Apocryphal Books saith A fidelibus in Ecclesiis leguntur i. e. they are read by the Orthodox in the Churches And then for the Churches of the Calvinists first hear Calvin himself in Psychopannichia Melius nos decent sacrae literae corpus quod corrumpitur aggravat animam i. e. the holy Writings teach us better that the corruptible body oppresseth the Soul And yet those Sacred Writings are the book called the Wisdom of Solomon from whence that sentence is taken Conradus Pelicanus in his preface to his Comments upon the Apocryphal Books saith of them that they are Ecclesiastici ac Biblici in Ecclesia Catholica ab Apostolorum temporibus fuerint cum reverentia lecti i. e. these books are read in the Church and bound up with our Bibles and have with reverence been read in all Christian Churches from the very time of the Apostles and he was a famous Professor at Zurich Lud. Capellus in Thes Salm. expresly approves of the Declaration of our Church in her 39 Articles and saith that profit may come to the Church by their being read publickly and so they were read in the Primitive times for the instruction of manners Episcopius Professor at Leyden in Tom. 2. Part. 2. p. 75. though the Apocryphal Books cannot serve to confirm an Article of Faith yet may profitably be read in ' the Church And indeed of the Dutch Churches we have their solemn judgment declared in the Synod of Dort Art 6. We make a difference betwixt the Canonical and Apocryphal Books which last are the 3d and 4th of Esdras Tobit Judeth c. which the Church may read and take instructions in them agreeable to Canonical Scripture The Bibles of Holland Geneva and other reformed Churches have these books printed Quere in Deodats Ju 〈…〉 Bibles and bound up with the Canonical as we have and in the Preface to the Apocryphal Books they commend the very sentences of Ruffinus and St. Hierom which declare for the publick reading of them in the Churches And the like is done by the Publishers of the Harmony of the Confessions of all the Reformed Churches Printed at Geneva and lastly the Reformed Churches of
Episcopal Government of England what is there in it that is dangerous or may alarm Mens Consciences and if this be capable to deprive us of Heaven who is there that entred there for the space of 1500 Years for all that time all the Churches in the World had no other Government c. 6th When the Presbyterians had in their Solemn League and Covenant condemned Episcopacy the Ministers at Charenton and of the other Reformed Churches in France the Professors Ministers and Consistory of Geneva and other Reformed Churches in those Part were so scandalized as that they feared it would bring an indelible Scandal upon the Reformed Churches c. King Charles's Large Declaration p. 75. 4. When any of the Eminent Men of other Reformed Churches censured the Church of England it was upon our being falsly represented to them What Calvin wrote against our Liturgy was only upon the sight of the first Edition of Edward the 6th's Common-Prayer Book and a Malicious Account he had received from some at Franck fort Beza in his Letter to Archbishop Whitgift March 8. 1921. Declared that in his Writings touching Church Government he ever opposed the Romish Hierarchy but never intended to impugne the Eccesiastical Polity of the Church of England nor to exact of them to frame themselves after the pattern of our Presbyterial Disciplene he wisheth that the holy College of our Bishops may for ever continue and maintain their Right and Title in the Churches Government c. And if Beza at any time wrote otherwise he was abused by slanderous reports which caused him to do it saith Bishop Bancroft in his Survey p. 141. And his Guess we have confirmed by a Letter from Gualter to the Bishop of Ely A. D. 1572. and Printed by Archbishop Whitgift We admonished your Adversaries not to move any Contention in the Church for matters of so small importance and we thought the matter had been Buryed when contrary to all Mens expectations there came Two English Men from Geneva and bring from Master Beza whose Ears they had before filled with forged Accusations Letters full of Complaints and desire that we would help the afflicted State of England and advised me to make a Journey to you to which was joyned the Report of these two who reported the same things to us that they had done at Geneva and set down in Writing many Superstitions which they said were now defended in England but afterwards Letters from D. A. a singular honest Man delivered you all from blame Since that time we have had nothing to do with those lying busy-bodies for not long after it plainly appeared that they went about and were the chief Authors of Disturbances in the Palatinate Churches and brought much trouble and disquiet to them Wherefore I beseech you that you would not have any ill opinion of Gualter who bears a singular affection to the English and is perswaded of our exact consent and agreement c. In our late Civil Wars Milton and Georgius Hornius under the Counterfeit Name of Honorius Reggius a Professour at Leyden and some others were hired to give a false and abusive account of the Church of England to the Foreign Churches and the very Assembly of Divines at Westminster wrote a Letter which was sent to the Belgick French Helvetian and other Reformed Churches to assure them that the King made it his business to root out the Protestant Religion and used all means possible to reduce the whole Nation to Popery Bibl. Regia p. 64. And of this we have as much reason to complain now as ever it being notoriously known that not long since a Gentleman of considerable quality made a Journey on purpose into France to represent the Bishops and Clergy of the Church of England as Popishly affected it being the lot of this Church to be misrepresented by Men of Designs and Malice for both Papists and Fanaticks as may best serve the turns of its Enemies in different Seasons 5. Let us see what opinion the Universal Church hath of such as in opposition to Bishops are ordained by Presbyters the 31st of those that are called Apostles Canons If any Presbyter despise his Bishop and set up separate Meetings let him be Deposed and the People Excommunicated The 5th Canon of the Council at Antioch decreed that if any Presbyter despising his Bishop separate himself from the Church and make Meetings of his own after the First and Second Admonition he ought to be condemned and not allowed to Preach and if he still go on to disturb the Church he ought to be punished by the Secular Power as a Seditious Person This Canon is received into the Code of the Canons of the Universal Church and was confirmed in the 4th general Council at Chalcedon Act 4. Athanasius in his 2d Apology tells us that Coluthus a Presbyter passing by the Bishop of Alexandria ordained several Persons all his Ordinations were declared void and all that he had ordained were reduced to the order of Laicks And I want an instance of any one Reformed Church in the World where Bishops are established that Ordination by Presbyters in opposition to them is allowed as valid and I think the Church of Rome is the only Church in the World that being governed by Bishops allows of Presbyterian Ordination not regularly and of course but by an extraordinary faculty from the Popes inexhaustible Power Of which see Willet in Synopsi Papis controv 16. q 2. Theol. Rhem. in 1 Tim. 4. 14. Forbesii Iren. p. 176 177 178 179. where he largely proves it from the Canonists Schoolmen c. I am sure the Papists have often objected it to us that we have no Priests because we have no Bishops Bancroft's Survey p. 166 and have taken a great deal of Pains to set about the Nags-Head Fiction and destroy the order of our Bishops which shews how glad they would be to have them all destroyed Lastly such Eminent Divines of the Foreign Churches that have come into England and had only Ordination by Presbyters and received Preferment here have readily and willingly received Episcopal Ordination and now it hath pleased God to send over so many French Ministers into our Kingdom I do not find but that they readily and chearfully comply with our present Establishment in this particular also From all which it 's evident that the Presbyterians will not comply with Hypothetical Reordination that in most of the Protestant Churches they are not ordained but by Bishops or Superintendants that where they have neither they heartily wish for them and desire them and account Ordination by Presbyters in opposition to Bishops to be Schismatical and not allowed in any Protestant Church in the World and by consequence our doing it in England cannot be a likely way to promote the Peace and Vnion of the Protestant Churches A set Form of Prayer was seriously opposed by the Presbyterians at the Savoy who p. 23. tells us that serious Godliness is like to
our Liturgy which is also sung in our Cathedrals and Colleges and is much better than the other Psalterio Hieronymi ex Hebraicis pâ—propagato Ecclesia Romana locum non concessit quia veteri certis constricto numeris modulando assuetae Christianorum aures universeque adeo Ecclesiae alterius novitatem ferre nunquam potuerunt Huetius de interpret p. 109. Not to mention that in the year 1660 there was far greater reason to take the new Translation which only had been in use for 12 years together into the Liturgy than to do it now the old Edition hath been in constant use for thirty years together and yet that wise Convocation refused to do it then The Translation of the Bible made in the time of King James I. was upon the importunate complaints of the Puritans that they could not subscribe to the Common Prayer-Book since it maintain'd the Bible as it was there Translaed which was as they said a most corrupted Translation and yet they were some of the first that quarrelled at it as soon as it was made and few or none conform'd upon that account and the Papists presently clamour'd against us for altering our Translation so ost And the very Translators after they had examin'd all the old and made a new Translation declared That there was no need of a new Translation nor of a bad one to make a good one but only to make a good one better Next let us consider the project of leaving out the Athanasian Creed occasioned by 4 four questions proposed against it whereof the last is from the Council of Ephesus against all additions being made to the Creed and so strikes at the whole Creed as well as the condemning Sentences Letter from the Country p. 14 15. Must we always pronounce all damn'd that do not believe every tittle of Athanasius ' s Creed Letter to the Convecation p. 15. And both these give ample incouragement to that Heretical and virulent Book which at that very time was publish'd against that Creed and no less against the Trinity it self the Book sold openly many of them were given about and magnified by the party without any controul of that sort of men of Latitudinarian principles till at length it received a just censure from the honest Clergy of the lower House of Convocation tho at that very time to the admiration and scandal of all sober men that very censure was there also by great and leading men opposed It 's objected by the Author of the Letter from the Country p. 14. he finds a great dispute between the Greek and Latin Church about the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Son now the first question is whither of these two Churches be in the right Now the prosession of the Holy Ghost from the Son is in the Nice Creed also received in our Liturgy and confirm'd by the 39 Articles of our Religion and Art 5. expresly declares that the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the Son and so here is an Article of Faith call'd into question Not to mention the exact Harmony and Union of all the Protestant Churches of the World in this point I except only Arrians Socinians and such other Hereticks who ought not to be call'd Protestants And therefore the leaving out of the Athanasian Creed upon such a reason must needs give great offence to all the Protestant Churches in the World More particularly the Athanasian Creed is at this day approved of and Authoriz'd by the Confession of the Reformed Churches of France first Published A. D. 1561. We receive the three Creeds Apostles Nicene and Athanasian Creed because they are agreeable to the word of God By the Belgick Confession of the Synod of Dort Art 9. we willingly receive the three Creeds the Apostles Nicene and Athanasian Creeds By the Confession of the of the Churches of Saxony Art 1. we have always constantly embraced the three Creeds and their natural sense and by Gods help we will always imbrace them By the Confession of Wirtenberg Art 1. we believe one God and three Persons as they are explained in the three Creeds the Apostles Nicene and Athanasius ' s. By the Confession of the Palatine Churches Art 1. we believe all things contained in the Holy Scriptures as they are explain'd in the Apostles Creed Nicene and Athanasius ' s. By the Confession of the Bohemian Churches Art 3. particularly we receive the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds By the Confession of the Churches of Poland and Lithuania who A. D. 1645. expresly received the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds The Russian Churches receive and use these three Creeds after the Psalms for the day the Priest readeth the Ten Commandments and Athanasius ' s Creed out of the Service Book Pagiâ—t Christianogr p. 81. The very Directory drawn up by the Presbyterians at the Savoy A. D. 1661. p. 26. orders the Athanasian Creed to be read in the Church and lastly when some Arrians would have had Beza left it out at Geneva he returned this answer Epist 56. certe in tuam gratiam non mutabitur in Ecclesia Symbolum Athanasij nec Nicenum cum nemo adhuc inventus est qui se opponeret quem Deus borrendo judicio non per diderit i. e. certainly for your sake the Church will not change the Athanasian Creed or the Nicene since no one ever yet opposed them whom God did not destroy Now let all the World consider what a strange way here is proposed for the Union of all Protestant Churches to the Church of England viz. by laying aside or leaving indifferent the use of this Creed which all the Protestant Churches in the World even those of Geneva Holland and English Presbyterians do in their very Confessions of Faith and Devotions so heartily retain and magnifie Proceed we next to Baptism and against this Office two things are objected 1. The use of the Cross 2. Godfathers 1. Against the Cross it 's proposed by the Letter from the Country p. 8. to leave the case wholly indifferent to use or not use the Cross p 9 If the Minister scruples the use of it let another perform that Service if any of the Layety let the Minister baptize without it And the Letter to the Convocation p. 9. the Cross in Baptism is become not only useless but also mischievous occasions dissentions and schisms is an ensign of War to make us fight against each other a Cross of torment whereon to crucifie the Lord of Life in his body the Church and rent its bowels asunder by those lamentable divisions which it causeth amongst us the Church of England cannot be guiltless if she do not something herein c. It 's a sad thing that the Cross of Christ should produce all this difference amongst Christians Well then let us take away the use of the Cross in Baptism and see whether there is likely to be a greater Union amongst the Christians Ask all Churches of the World fâ—om Christs time
must be undeniably allowed that antiquity never used Kneeling at the Sacrament it having been the constant practise of all the Churches in the World to communicate standing If you ask how this appears they have nothing to say but that the Primitive Christians in memory of Christs Resurrection for some Ages after it stood at their Prayers on Sunday and betwixt Easter and Pentecost by which they suppose that the Sacrament was received in the same posture as they said their Prayers Their Prayers at other times were upon their Knees as indeed this very Order supposeth Tertull. ad Scap. Quando non geniculationibus nostris siccitates depulsae i. e. When did not our solemn Prayers upon our Knees bring down Rain Origen in Num. c. 4. Hom. 5. Nam quod flectimus orantes c. where he relates the custom of the Church to pray Kneeling And in his Book de Orat. p. 157. he saith that they generally kneel'd at Prayers except in case of Sickness Now the Primitive Christians received the Sacrament on other days than Sunday or that space betwixt Easter and Pentecost and that they received it daily is evident from St. Cyprian Tertullian St. Austin St. Hierom and many other Fathers and by consequence if they received the Sacrament in a posture of Prayer they received it Kneeling And that there might be a through Reformation and no part of the Liturgy left entire some have had the confidence to except against the Collects themselves as too short and not so pertinent I shall only remind such of what the Devout and Judicious Dr. Sanderson said of them viz. That the Collects were the most passionate proper and most elegant expressions that any language ever afforded and that there was in them such Piety and that so interwoven with Instructions that they taught us to know the Power the Wisdom the Majesty and Mercy of God and much of our duty both to him and our Neighbour And if some late Collects are intended as a Specimen by which the old are to be mended I believe few will rejoice in the change Excommunication for contempt is complain'd of in both the Letters to the Convocation as a matter highly scandalous and that we thrust out of the Church the best of our People for some penny or two penny Cause in our Ecclesiastical Courts Now this Objection is proposed more peevishly than ever it was done by the Dissenters After T. C. in his Admonition p. 175. the Puritans Petition to Kings James I. A. D. 1603. That Men be Excommunicated for Trifles and Twelve-penny Matters So that from their Objection of Twelve-penny Matters this Author hath stretch'd it to Peny and Two-peny Matters But let us apply our Selves to the Protestant Divines of the Foreign Churches and see what they say to it The Dutch Divines in Sunops Pur. Theol. p. 710. say That the Penalty of Excommunication is chiefly incurr'd for neglecting and despising the Censures and publick Admonitions of the Church In the Ecclesiastical Laws of Geneva p. 44 45. They that do not obey the Orders of the Church after due Admonition are order'd to be Excommunicated If we look into Scotland and see Constit Eccles Scot. cap. de Offensis A small Offence or Calumny may justly deserve Excommunication if the Offender be stubborn and contumacious 1 Book of Discipl 9. Head All Families must appear once a Year before the Presbyter to be examined and if Children or Servants be suffered to continue in wilful Ignorance they must be Excommunicated c. And how severe their Excommunication is appears from the 7th Head No Person may have any converse with him that is Excommunicated not Eat nor Drink with him nor Buy nor Sell with him nor Salute nor Speak to him his Children born after the Sentence may not be admitted to Baptism c. And I must say the contempt is the greater when the occasion of it is so small Lay aside severe Penalties for Contempt and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction is lost and to what purpose should any Court have a Power to determine if there be no power given it to force the Execution of it If we look upon Foreign Churches we shall find that they are more strict in having their Canons and Constitutions observ'd than we are in England I will not mention the Severities of the Scotch-Kirk and New-Englands Discipline as not being reasonable nor suited to the Nature of the Thing but in so plain a Case let Calvin and Beza the two great Apostles of Geneva speak for all Calvins Instit l. 4. c. 5. sect 10. Let no one that despiseth the Authority of the Church go unpunished much less let any Body be permitted to break the Vnity of the Church Christ looks upon such as Deserters and Runnagado's a separation from a Church of God is a renouncing of Christ nor can there be any greater Crime Again in his Comment on 1 Cor. 14. It s easy to prove that Ecclesiastical Canons ought not to be accounted for Humane Traditions since they are founded in the Word of God and have a manifest approbation from the Mouth of Christ Beza in Epist 1. Shall we say that Men ought to have Liberty of Conscience In no wife as this Liberty is understood that every one should Worship God as he pleaseth for this is a meer Diabolical Opinion to let every one perish that will it s a Diabolical Liberty which hath filled Poland and Transylvania with so many Heresies And again the same Beza in his Epistle 24. to some Dissenters in England Things in their own Nature indifferent change their Nature when they are commanded or forbidden by any lawful Authority Laws about Things indifferent bind the Conscience so that no one can wilfully break them without Sin To him agree the Dutch Divines in Synops Pur. Theol. p. 453. No Body can wilfully disobey the Ecclesiastical Constitutions about indifferent Things without Sin But because this is a Matter so very evident I shall only add that in the Directory made by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster p. 9. its expresly declared That no Persons should absent themselves from the Publick Ordinances upon pretence of Private Meetings And the Words of Mr. Baxter in his Reasons of the Christian Religion p. 485. No Christian must pretend Holiness against Vnity and Peace And every tender Conscience should be as tender of Church-Divisions and Real Schism as of Drunkenness Whoredom or such other enormous Sins We come next to consider the great Point of Orders and which seems to have been principally aimed at viz. The allowing of Presbyterian Orders as valid the Author of the Letter from the Country p. 10 11. proposeth three Expedients The first is Bishop Bramballs The second is Hypothetical The third is that of the Bill of Vnion To the first I answer that Bishop Bramhall did never allow of Presbyterian Ordination but did actually and with all the Rites and Methods of our Church re-ordain such as had been only