belike for the reasons aforesaid he saith flatly that there is no receiuing of one alone alowed in the booke But suppose the worst if it should be held to be contrarie to the word either to minister it in a priuat house or that the minister in any case should minister it to one alone we must then condemne all antiquity euen in Iustin Martyrs Tertullians and Cyprians times in whose times Maister Cartwright is inforced to confesse it was ministred in priuate houses in the foresaid page 525. in Serapians time who had it sent him lying sick on his death bed to be receiued alone as we read in Eusebius Lib. 6. Cap. 43. And though there be but two the minister and the sick yet in reference to them two it may be said take ye eat yee and wee know that Christ hath promised that when two or three are gathered togeather in his name hee will bee in the middest of them Math. 18. And wee know that Bucer and Peter Martyr allowed our communion booke euen in respect of the communion therein prescribed for the sick in their iudgments that they gaue thereof and likewise that Musculus de coena Domini confesses that it is retained in diuerse reformed Churches yea neither Beza nor Caluin but in some case they allowed it and Oecolampadius as it is written in his life denied it not the sicke but in this case we need none of these helps because this thing in question is so mentioned in the communion booke as rather yet it is disalowed thereby then allowed cannot iustly be said to be contained therein and is so shut out againe as we haue heard both by the drift of the same by the foresaid Canons explayning the meaning of the book touching the ministers duty in visiting of the sicke And further of the other neede not be said for it is so there permitted as with all streight as we 〈◊〉 haue heard the vse of that permission is preuented And yet if it shold be vrged as plainly yet permitted there I think wel may it be Prater verbū but hardly wil it be proued any more to be contrary to the word thē the former for wher hath the word so appropriated this to the minister and denyed it vnto others that it should be contrary to the word but 〈◊〉 to permit it to another 6 Further yet in that in a rubricke next the creed in that tract it is said if there be no sermon shall follow one of me homilies already set forth or to be set forth by common authority especially the 35 article in the booke of Articles adiudging both the former booke of Homilies set forth in King Edward the sixts time and the second booke the seuerall tytles wherof are there set downe to be read in the Churches by the ministers diligently distinctly as containing what doctrine is meete necessary for these times arise other obiections which they haue against this subscription for say they in these already extant some faults there are in certaine of them which cannot stand with the word and further what may be in the rest that shall bee see forth wee cannot tell and therfore hard it is to subscribe howsoeuer when that booke and rubrick was authorised first Eliza. I there were some to be set out yet since they that were intended then haue long agoe beene published so therefore in that respect as I said in the beginnig this obiection is void Touching those that then were extant notwithstanding the obiected faults against some of them very true it is that there is much wholsome needfull doctrine contained in them most of them they can not nor do touch with any faults at all and those which they obiect against any of them are not of any such momēt but either with a fauourable constructiō they may be made none at all or else as they knowe they are such as about which amongst the godly learned both of ancient time now also there is hath been great question whether they be to be counted any faults at all or no and the same may as iustly bee said of all that since haue beene authorised But touching those that by authority then should after be set out why ought not men then in charity aswell haue hoped that they in authority would haue a care that they should containe nothing contrary to the word as it seemeth they did of Sermons to be made In that therefore they made no exception euer yet against the Booke in that respect though then their Sermons be allowed to be made by preachers euery where which yet then they could not tell whether they would bee faultlesse or no 〈◊〉 But in very deed though subscribing to the Booke of Common Prayer and Articles we thus subscribe to the allowing of them to be read yet in that by the preface before the second Booke of Homilies which interprets the meaning of both these bookes herein it appeares the minister is not tied to read them all but directed there only out of them all prudently to chuse out such as be most fit for the time and for the instruction of the people our late Archbishop in his foresaid booke Pag. 715. and the next had iust cause and ground to write as he hath fully to remoue this obiection if any homily saith he shall be appointed hereafter wherein you mislike any thing you need not to read it for the book appoints you not to read this or that homily but some one which you shall like best and if you be disposed to preach you need read none at all and touching those which are to be set out if you feare any such thing as you pretend I thinke saith he in that case a modest protestation would not be refused Yea as we haue heard before Pag. 720. he refuseth in plaine and expresse words to defend any thing as appointed by the booke to be read which is not grounded vpon the word of God But in very deed I cannot see how iustly and truely the bookes can be said to containe all which they appoint or allow in any sort to be read such direction for the reading of them they may well be sayd to containe but yet not therfore the things themselues Howsoeuer in this case in my conscience there is great difference betwixt being bound only by the booke to read the Scriptures in a translation that hath faults the Apocrapha that hath faults or homilies that hath faults the iustifying of them to be faultlesse and plain it is suppose in this that we were strictly thereby tied to read all these that yet no where by the bookes or otherwise are we charged either by practise or subscription to aduouch that all or any of these containe no faults or that so doing to auer that they are no faults and therfore this obiection need trouble vs as litle as any CHAP. 14. Answering more obiections against subscription to the
had beene still but that it was so farre from mee that I found I coulde not do that good therein that otherwise I might and in conscience tooke my selfe bound to haue done Likewise hence it hath beene that neuer to this day was I so much as made priuie too or acquainted with any petition or supplication exhibited to Prince Parliament or Conuocation tending to any alteration of this present gouernement And lastly certaine it is that I neuer ministred the Communion but I receiued it kneeling and as for the surplesse I haue long agoe and verie often worne it neyther euer refused I the wearing of it where or when I had one to weare and when it was eyther by my people or by the Ordinarie of the place required at my hands or when I my selfe saw the vse of it would open vnto me any wider doore or procure me any more opportunitie to doe good with any and when I least vsed it yet euen then also I had a care when my Text gaue mee any occasion so to acquaint my people with the doctrine of Christian liberty and to teach them the free vse of such indifferent things that it should not any way be iustly offensiue to any of them when at any time for order sake vpon occasion they should see mee most formally vse them And touching subscription if I would or should denie it sure I am the Bishoppe of Lincolnes recordes would prooue it that twice or thrice I haue heretofore vpon occasion subscribed in effect euen as now it is required Finally I must needes say whatsoeuer other men haue fancied of mee though with Bucer in his opinion giuen of our Common Booke I haue thought certayne things therein so set downe as that Nisi candide intelligantur that is vnlesse they bee fauourably vnderderstood they seeme to carrie some shew of contrarietie to the word of God yet in verie deede I neuer thought any thing therein or within the compasse of the required subscription such but that the same by such a charitable and fauourable construction and that also but well standing with the professed and publikely established doctrine of our Church and with the best and true meaning of the Bookes themselues whence the obiections to the contrarie did seeme to arise might with a good conscience for the peace and good of the Church be quietly yealded vnto And in that best sense as I knew charitie did binde vs all to take euery thing so I coulde neuer be perswaded but that with a very good liking and allowance of the state wee freely might And therefore that is all that euer I desired if to them that were in authoritie in peaceable manner by conference with or before them when it should or did please themselues to call or admit men thereunto it could not be perswaded for the reasons and respects aforesaid that it were best to alter those things whereupon some tooke occasion to shunne the ministerie or to leaue it that otherwise were likely to be profitable for their gifts therein that yet they would be pleased as by law alreadie established I know they might to allow euery thing within any of the bookes whereunto that subscription reacheth to be construed and taken of euery one in the best sense they could for the better and more certaine direction thereunto to publish the same as therby allowed so to be taken And so to conclude my iudgement alwaies hath beene and is of this present Church gouernment and the orders thereof if they that be in place of gouernment therein euery one of them would do but that good in his place which by the lawes thereof alreadie made he both might an ought it would be so happie and blessed euery way as none should iustly haue cause eyther to complaine of the old or to seek to bring in a new And before the last conference before his maiestie at Hampton Court it is well knowne in the countrey where I dwell that in a publike meeting of the ministers before the commissarie and many ministers vpon occasion there giuen mee I made it publikely knowne that I was and euer had beene of this iudgement that I haue said and therefore then further I shewe as elsewhere sundrie times before others of greater place and namely to my owne Diocesan also before the said conference had how vnwilling I was eyther there or elsewhere to be drawne to stand in any opposition or contention with the reuerend fathers about any of these matters For my iudgement is that neuer that 〈◊〉 but dutifull ioyning with them is likely any way to be the meanes to procure the Churches good Being therfore thus perswaded and therefore so thinking of the lawfulnesse of my owne course as also taking the inconueniences of the other to bee so many and great sundrie waies as I doe the times now also considered wherein wee liue how can I but in Christian charitie in this manner doe the best that I can both thus to make my minde knowne in these things and also by this insuing Treatise to seeke to perswade others to be like minded as I am and for the reasons therein set downe to yealde to doe as I doe The best and most fauourable construction therein I haue giuen of the things that men vse to sticke at and yet with all I trust I haue made it appeare that the same stands verie well with the true meaning of the books themselues whence the doubts arise and with the publikely receiued doctrine of this our Church This Treatise therefore being seene and allowed thus to be printed and published according to the order in that case prouided may the rather I hope draw men to vniformitie and conformitie for that euen thereby they may see that thus both in their practise and subscription they are by publicke and sufficient authoritie allowed to take and construe euerie thing in the best sense that may bee And the rather that it might so doe because amongest brethren I thought that the likeliest way to perswade I haue studied to deliuer my mind in as louing brotherly a phrase and manner as I could Wherefore hoping that all reasonable men herewith will be satisfied and so be content and willing without any preiudice from my person to read and consider what I haue set downe in this Treatise following I bid thee Christian Reader heartily farewell in the Lord. 1606. Your louing brother vnfainedly Thomas Sparke The Contents of the Treatise following Chap. 1. The preamble or preface thereunto Chap. 2. The sum and diuision of the whole Chap. 3. The mayne proposition of the whole and seuen groundes thereof Chap. 4. Of kneeling in the receit of the Communion Chap. 5. Of conformitie in apparrell and namely touching the surplesse Chap. 6. Of the vse of the signe of the crosse in baptisme in general Chap. 7. Answers to obiectiōs against the same some old some new Chap. 8. Answers cōcerning some men specially touching these rites Chap.
bring the note thereof to the Bishops as it is further testified Page 62. besides thē there it was alleadged by the author of the said booke D Barlow thē dean of Chester now Lord B. of Rochester when the obiection taken from the reading of the Apocrypha was in hand as a sufficient answere thereunto and not gainsaid of any that the preface prefixed to the second book of Homiles might haue made vs to see the needlesnesse thereof for that thereby the minister is permitted at his discretion for any chapter appointed by the Communion booke of the old testament to be red to read a chapter of the new which he thought more fit for the edification of his people And yet his Maiesty most wisely foreseeing that all these notwithstanding thus amended it was likely inough that some things in the book or within the compasse of the vrged subscription would still seeme vnto some so harshly to remaine set downe as that they would sticke and stay thereat his Highnesse most graciously signified vnto vs that as it was our duties so he wished euery one of vs to construe and take euerything in the best sense that we could and not in the hardest and worst for so only his intent and pleasure was that they should be vrged And so much in the foresayd booke of Conference also to this end is remembred as that Pag. 47. it is set downe that his maiestie would haue things indifferent rather interpreted and helpt by a glose then altered All which things considered if we could and would once learne to bend our wits as well to make the best construction of euerie thing hereafter as some haue heretofore to make the worst both the practise of the book the subscription therunto and to the rest would now be doubtlesse far easier then heretofore it hath or yet is vnto many Indeed the rites ceremonies prescribed by that booke by no meanes would either his Maiestie or the Bishops be drawne to alter howsoeuer it was agreed and then consented vnto that where they had in certaine places beene long disused and the men there otherwise were found peaceable painfull fruitfull Ministers a conuenient time should be graunted them which since accordingly hath beene both to satisfie themselues and their people in that time for the vsing of them againe And certainly his Maiesties answeres to the reasons that were then vsed to haue perswaded him to remoue them which in effect were all that either before or since by any haue beene vrged to that purpose were such as also his owne reasons for the continuance thereof being no otherwise vrged then they are as that I am fully perswaded what his Maiestie resolueth therein he doth it with an vpright and good conscience in the Lord. For his Highnesse answeres to the said obiections I must needs confesse then seemed vnto me not onely very apt acute and sufficient but also euen now in this treatise most of the ground of all my answeres to the same obiections or the like growes thence The reasons as I remember vrged by his Maiestie for his resolution of their continuance were these that he found them here established by such a state which the Lord had long and wonderfully blest that being vrged but as they were they were of that nature of things wherein both he lawfully might commaund and wee also were bound willingly to obey and that change vnlesse very necessary did as Augustine saith Epist 118 more hurt by the nouelty then otherwise profit and that they were vsed by the primatiue and purest churches in the ages next the Apostles and that by holy fathers and renowmed christians before popery began and so euer since haue beene continued and that therefore he would not giue the Church of Rome that aduantage as by his now reiecting of them to say that we were so giuen to nouelty as that no auncient thing could please vs but rather said he by our retaining stil of them they should wel vnderstand that neither in doctrine rite nor ceremonie we despise true antiquitie and that indeed they are they that in both these do so and not wee And doubtlesse it was euident that all that pains then his Maiestie tooke to knit vs altogether in vnitie that so being ioyned together in one in vniformity of Iudgment and practise in these things as wee were otherwise in doctrine we might all more strongly bend our forces together against our common aduersaries he be also thereby the stronger to draw them after to conformity of religion with vs. Giue me therfore leaue good brethren euen of vnfained loue also to you and of an harty desire of the peace and good of this our Church in the best manner that I can by this my brotherly perswasion to further his Highnes royall and holy desire herein Many haue written I confesse to this end both before I writ this and since and that in good sort and to very good purpose yet I trust there may be also good vse of this of mine but indeed euen therfore in most things I haue beene so briefe as I may referring you for the rest that might haue beene said to those others in print before this CHAP. 2. Containing the summe and diuision of the whole Treatise To enter therefore hereinto though I must needs confesse that so farre to iustifie by subscription as it is vrged as we are content by our practise to allow or at the least to tollerate seemeth vnto me in effect all one yet I cannot deny but that there is great difference betwixt a ministers yealding onely so farre forth as concerns him and his ministry to conformity and his yealding vniuersally and simplye to the subscription now vrged For by the former he yeelds onely a tolleration or an allowance at the most for the peace sake and good of the Church to so much of the booke of Common Prayer as by the rules thereof he himselfe is bound to vse and practise and by the other he not onely so farre also iustifies the same but all the rest thereof as namely the tract of confirmation the vse practise whereof onely belongs to Bishops as also the booke of ordination the execution whereof appertains likewise onely to them and the reading of Homilies then published and authorised or to be then after published and authorised which long since as I take it so haue bene in the second volume of homilies 1563 which being a preacher and preaching alwaies when they should be read by the order of the booke it selfe he needs neuer do As for the rest within the compasse of the said subscription namely touching his Maiesties supremacie the Articles concerning faith the sacraments I mentiō not because without gainsaying all of our religion are willing so farre to yeald it howbeit for asmuch as he that hath once learned with a good conscience for the Churches good and his owne to yeald to the former will also the
Paule though he could truly say he was free from all men 1. Cor. 9.19 yet withall euen there he glorieth in it not as in an infirmity of his but as a commendable course of his wherin hee was to bee imitated of others that he made him selfe seruant vnto all in such outwarde things that he might so win the more in conforming him selfe both to Iew and Gentile weak and strong as there he sets downe at large that so by all meanes of all sorts he might saue some yea thus he did when there was no positiue law of the Church to binde him so to doe how much rather would hee haue so done if there had beene any such to haue bound him thereunto vnder pain of ceasing else from preaching of the Gospell which to do he confesseth then such a necessity was laid vpon him that woe was vnto him if hee preacht it not None of all the Apostles more feruently and frequently taught and vrged the doctrine of christian liberty in such things then hee and namely from the rites and ceremonies of Moyses law Christ beeing come and hauing put an end therto and yet wee see euen hee many yeares after Christs ascension comming to Hierusalem there at the persawsion of Iames and the brethren to maintaine the peace of the Church and so to winne an opportunity to do the more good amongst them yeelded according to the ceremoniall law of Moises to bee purified the next day with foure men that had made a vow and entred into the temple with them declaring the daies of the purification vntill that an offering should bee offered for euery one of them Act. 21.23 And to the same end hee yeelded to the circumcision of Timothie before that Act. 16.3 And yet he could not nor was not ignorant what a supersticious opinion many of the Iewes then had of those things what a shew of a dangerous consequent the retaining of thē in vse so long after the coming of Christ might seem to haue Howbeit as long as he knew in his cōscience how rightly to vse them and he knew that Iames and the brethren vrged him to yeeld to the vse of them but to a good and lawfull end he thought it his duty to that end to yeeld as you haue heard Wherein though the successe answered not their good meaning therein yet that is no sufficient argument to condemne his so doing as vnlawfull for wee know that most lawfull and commendable actions through the frowardnesse of the vngodly haue often as hard euents as that had and we haue heard 1. Cor. 9. how he glories in his so doing and layes his example therein foorth at large to be imitated of others Indeed when these things and namely circumcision was vrged by the false Apostles as necessarie to saluation and as a thing to merit by and to tender vnto God any part of his proper and immediat worship then the same Apostle is most stoute in the refusall thereof and therefore in that case by no meanes as he writes Galathians 2.3.4 would he yeeld that Titus should be circumcised and hee most confidently assures the Galathians that whosoeuer meaning with that opinion thereof should be circumcised Chap. 5.2 Christ should profit them nothing at all Otherwise yet when it was vsed but as an indifferent thing without any such superstitious opinions tied thereunto euen in the same Epistle twice hee sayd thereof that neither circumcision nor vncircumcision was anie thing but a new creature or faith that wrought by loue Chapter 5.6 and 6.15 for as he sayd in another place the kingdome of God is not meate nor drinke but righteousnesse peace and ioy in the holy Ghost Romans 14.17 And God be thanked for it vnlesse we would wilfully offer the Church of England manifest wrong we cannot say that any such superstitious opinions are tied by the ordinance or meaning thereof to any of the rites and ceremonies that it prescribes vs but that they are imposed no otherwise then such things lawfully may bee and therefore I would thinke that this example of Saint Paule giues vs a plaine light how to carrie our selues therein and accordingly to say the wearing or not wearing of a Surplisse the making or not making the signe of the Crosse is not any thing For the best and most honourable defender thereof that hath beene and whose sayings thereof for his learning and place may worthily be taken for the true meaning of our Church therein hath of the Surplisse said in plaine words Pa. 258. of his foresaid book that he thought none that would communicate with vs in the vse of the Sacraments though either the better or the worse thereof for the externall habit of the minister and of the other as much as we haue heard before These things therefore duely and without partiall or preiudicate opinion weyed and pondered I hope will be sufficient to perswade that lawfully with a good conscience we are rather to conforme our selues to the order of our Church in these ceremonies then for refusing so to do to incurre the sentence of depriuation of ministery and all Hauing therfore thus sayd what I thought fit and I hoped might serue the turne for this let vs now proceed to the consideration of the other exceptions that are made against conformitie required taken from the things that by order ministers are enioyned by the booke to read or vse CHAP. 9. Touching the practise of the orders in the booke of reading of the Scriptures Canonicall THough by a rubricke in the tract of the Communion we be directed to read Homilies yet seeing that concernes onely such as cannot or will not then preach and none such for any thing that I heare refuse to yeeld the vrged conformitie we may whiles we are in hand only with this point omit saying any thing of them reseruing that which we haue to say thereof vntill we come to the other point touching subscription within the compasse whereof the allowance of the reading of them indeed comes not onely by meanes of that rubricke but also by vertue of the 35 article in the book of articles The things therefore that now only we haue to consider are the exceptions that the refusers of conformitie make against the order that the booke appoints first for the reading of the Scriptures Canonicall or Apocrypha and then against other things set downe in the same to be read in the formall vse and practise thereof in all which I will striue by how much I haue bene longer then I had thought I should in the former by so much to be the briefer In the order appointed by the booke touching the reading of the Canonicall Scripture three things are misliked namely that thereby a great part thereof is not appointed to be read at all that some portions therof are appointed to be read at such times as they are as namely the Epistles and Gospels the first day and Sonday of Lent the Epistle on Innocents
it fitter and more to edification to read a chapter of the new for any that is appointed of the old then so to do And indeed this being euen so as any man may see it is in that place in that thereby he is so left to his discretion to change any chapter appointed to be read of the old and therefore thereby some times may so do with a canonicall chapter what reason hath any man to thinke but that hee may so do also with the Apocrypha or who can truly say that euer yet any minister was troubled for his quietly and peaceably taking and vsing his liberty herein you heard also before what the same reuerend man truly reported to haue been said by his Maiestie in the foresaide conference touching the omitting the reading of any apocrypha chapter that iustly might be charged with any fault crossing the canonicall Page 63. of his report thereof since in print Further certaine it is that Doctor Abbots Deane of VVinchester one called also to the foresaid conference and then vice chauncellor of Oxenford in his answere of late published against Doctor Hill Page 317 vrgeth againe the direction of the said preface to the second booke of Homilies published by authoritie 1563 whereas the booke was authorised some foure yeares before to proue that the minister by warrant from thence may lawfully in stead of any of the Apocryphall Chapters appointed to be read on sundaies and holy dayes and therefore much more as hee saith vpon the working dayes as he in his wisedome and iudgmēt shall think fit vsing prudence and discretion in that behalfe read other canonicall lessons and so likewise others in print haue answered this obiection since as it should seeme with the good liking and allowance of them that be in authority which being so all the branches of this obiection are euen thereby quite cut of as also all the hard consequents imputations by reason therof imposed vpon the booke or the order thereof so farr as conformity is vse and practise therunto reach are vtterly remoued especially seeing also in the preface of the booke it is said that nothing is therby appointed to bee read out eyther the pure word of god or that which is euidētly groūded thereupon and the late Archbishop as plainly refuses to defend any thing allowed thereby to be read not grounded vpon the word of God Page 720. of his foresaid booke But suppose the worst namly that it be not or were not so or if it had beene so that now yet by better view of the Callender for the order in this respect in August and by the canons it were taken away as some alleadge though looking thereinto and as seriously considering therof as I can I find nothing to lead any man iustly to think that in that regard the case is any thing altered or otherwise then it was before yet though by the booke we be tyed neuer so strictly to read them yet we are not therby bound to iustifie them to be faultlesse neither do we for likewise by the said booke by a certaine rubrick in the treatise of the communion wee allow sermons to be made and if we read not a homily wee should preach yet we therby do not iustifie all sermons made according to that order alwaies to bee without all faults but surely most if not all the supposed faults against them that by the book are appointed to be read by fauourable construction would bee much lessened if not quite remoued And in that by the very expresse order of our booke wee are both before after we read them to note out of what booke euery chapter thereby appointed to be read is taken and in the sixt article of the booke of articles published first concluded on in conuocation 1562 which was three yeares after the booke was first authorised all the Apocrypha bookes are apparently seuered from the canonicall there further it is said that as Hierom faith the Church doth read them for example of life instruction of manners yet it doth not apply them to establish therby any doctrine it is most euident howsoeuer they are appointed to be read and some canonicall omitted and on some solemne feast daies and holy daies and as chapters of the holy scriptures or of the old Testament that yet by none of these or all these together may wee or can wee gather without doing the Church of England manifest wrong that euer it was or is her meaning to equall them much lesse to make them in dignity or in edifiing superiour to any of the canonicall but rather indeed all these notwithstanding her meaning and desire is that euerie one should know that they are but Apocrypha chapters and therefore farre inferiour to any of the caconicall especially wee hauing acquainted our people as we should which bee canonicall bookes and which bee apocrypha teaching them euen by their names to know and discerne them In common charity therefore wee are bound whensoeuer either in the booke or in the Homilies they are said either to be Chapters of the old Testament or holy Scripture to conceiue whereas holy scriptures or old Testament are taken either according to the vulgar and common speech for all that commonly is wont to bee bound togither in Bibles with the holy scriptures of the old testament or more properly and strictly for those onely bookes therof that we are sure were written by such direction of the holy spirit that preserued the writers thereof from all erring therein which therefore onely wee count and call canonicall in so speaking of them that the said books speake and therefore are to be vnderstood so to do onely in the former sense And when therein there is comparison made betwixt chapters of the old testament of lesse and more edifying we can not for the foresaid manifest difference acknowledged to be by our Church betwixt all the canonicall bookes of the old Testament and all the Apocrypha euen in that respect vnderstand it to be betwixt any canonicall appointed to be read or not read and the Apocrypha set down to be read but only betwixt the canonicall appointed thereby to be read and those that are not And looking into the Kallender for proper lessons for sundaies and holy daies in that therby I find none but canonicall appointed for the sundaies and Apocrypha often for Saints daies I alwaies haue taken it that euen thereby our churches meaning was plainly to giue vs all to vnderstand that as shee in her regard and estimation preferres the Lords daie before all other holy daies so she would haue vs euen by this order to see that so she preferred the canonicall before the Apocrypha in worth credit and dignity but suppose the comparison shold by the booke be meant of certaine chapters of the Apocrypha it is so for that the same are wholy consonant with the canonicall and are more now to our edification then the canonicall either for
as one of the points agreed on amōgst our selues in this Church Act. 6.20 and 34 whereunto none refuse to subscribe and Caluin vpon the eleuenth of the first to the Corinthians Beza in his foresaid eight Epistle most plainly teach the same yea euen Cartwright himselfe as you may see in the 84 Page of the late Archbishops booke against him confesses that it is not necessary that euery rite and ceremony be expressed therein but that it is sufficient to make the orders of the Church therein lawfull if they be according to the generall rules set downe in the Scriptures concerning such things They therefore being so if any yet will be offended either at the commaunders or obeyers therein it is an offence taken not giuen and therefore at their owne perill onely for both reason and religion teach and therefore as an vndoubted truth it is held and alwayes hath bene and namely of Caluin 1. Cor. 11. Instit lib. 4. Chap. 10. Sect. 31.32 Chap. 16. of the harmonie of the confessions by August Epist 118.119 86. by Bucer to Alasco by Peter Marter to Hooper and by Bucer to Cranmer that the Churches of Christ haue freedome and libertie according to these generall rules to prescribe orders rites and ceremonies and then they hauing so done it is not for priuate men to refuse for the maintenance of good order and peace therein to conforme themselues thereunto for that the publicke iudgement of the Church in such matters is alwayes to be preferred before the priuate opinion of this man or that and the Church is not to stay from making any constitutions in such things vntill she can be assured that all will be pleased therewith for then hardly euer should she make any and so also there would neuer be any end of brawles iarres discords and dissentions thereabout He therefore that herein would neither giue offence nor take any is according to the councell of Ambrose in this case as Augustine hath reported in two of the former places modestly and quietly alwayes to conforme himselfe according to the order of the Church wherein he liueth 6. And yet though hee doe so let not any man thinke but for all that he may be fully in possession of his Christian libertie in such matters and so according to the rule of the Apostle stand fast in that libertie wherewith Christ hath made him free not suffering himselfe any whit to bee entangled againe with the yoke of bondage Galathians 5.1 For we may sufficiently to that end bee possest thereof within our consciences though for not offending of a weake brother much more for not offending the publicke estate of a famous Church wee neuer outwardly possesse our selues thereof For the same Apostle that giues vs that rule and as we haue heard of such things confidently sayd that all things were lawfull for him 1. Corinthians 10.23 yet sayth also if meate did offend his brother hee would eate no flesh whiles the world stood that hee might not offend his brother 1. Corinthians 8.13 For Christian libertie in respect of such outward things lies in our right iudgement thereof in that we are alwayes perswaded that extra casum scandali contemptus both of priuate persons and the publicke state wherein wee liue wee may without sinne and hurt to our consciences vse our libertie therein The ignorance or forgetfulnesse but of which point is the ground and cause of manie vnbrotherly quarrels and contentions in the Church about things of this kind let vs therefore take this for the sixt generall point needefull to bee resolued of for the better directing our selues and others how to behaue our selues in matters of this nature If any doubt whether extra casum scandali contemptus one may lawfully without sin or hurt of conscience in such commanded rites and ceremonies sometimes vpon due and iust consideration and circumstances omit or intermit the vsing of them let him consider that the decree of abstaining from things offered to idols strangled bloud mentioned Act. 15. notwithstanding after the Apostle Paul in his first Epistle to the Corinths though he vtterly disalow the breach of that ordinance by any of the church in the idols temple to the offence of any weake brother Chap. 8.10 c. yet when in respect of the circumstances there is no such danger of offence Chap 10.27 permits them freely to eat thereof without any scruple of conscience Neither ought this to seeme strange vnto any for as there is a precise keeping of such lawes and as flat a breaking thereof so is there also a middle or meane betwixt both which is to do prater legem and yet not contralegem because though then the letter of the law be not strictly obserued yet neither the true meaning nor end of the law is crossed by doing otherwise then it appoints Vpon which ground though the foresaid decree of the Apostles and brethren in the councell of Hierusalem was set downe as it appeares there without limitation of time or place how long and where it should binde the christian gentiles to the obseruation therof yet in due place time without sin or hurt of conscience they grew to the disuse thereof and now it is vniuersally held not to bind at all any when there is no danger of offence to any weake brother by doing otherwise Wherefore it is to be wished that the Church and they that are in authoritie therein would alwayes in the vrging the obseruation and execution of such their ordinances not onely haue a care as questionlesse this of ours hath had first that by all good meanes they whom the obseruation thereof concernes might be taught how with a good conscience they may and ought to yeeld thereunto for doubtlesse the rule of the Apostle whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne Rom. 14.23 holds not onely of things indifferent left at libertie but also limited by authoritie for their vse one onely way then also that they bee but vrged according to the nature of the things themselues that is neither as perpetuall and vnchangeable vppon any occasion nor as simply and absolutely alwayes to bind the conscience as the things commanded by God himselfe do Much lesse would they be vrged more earnestly then the ordinances and commandements of the Lord himselfe in his word least so the reprehension of the Scribes and Pharises should iustly be incurred yee tythe mint and annisse and leaue the greater things of the law vndone or ye make the commandements of God of none effect for the obseruing of your owne traditions Math. 23.22 and 15.3 for it is all that the verie lawes of God himselfe do or can do simply and absolutely to bind the conscience and therefore human lawes and ordinances doubtlesse bind not simply of themselues but so farre forth onely as they are made by lawfull authoritie whereunto the word of God requires subiection and obedience as long as the things commanded thereby are not contrarie
Canon so earnestly vrges the vse of this gesture of kneeling as also by vrging it so seuerely to put an ende to the offensiue diuersitie if it were possible in the receiuing of this sacrament of vnitie some sitting some standing some walking and but some keeeling for that of all these kinds of gestures these times considered this of kneeling is iudged the fittest For it was wisely foreseene that such multiplicitie and varietie of gestures tending so much as they do not onely to set the people forward in that whereunto they are too forward alreadie namely in thinking too too irreuerently of so high a mysterie but also to the no small occasioning of the Papists more and more to stumble both at our doctrine and doings would not nor could not bee reduced to a needefull vniformitie in this case without some moderate seueritie vsed to that end Wherefore otherwise to gather thereupon as though thereby our Church now meant to make it absolutely and simply necessarie to the complement of this sacrament is but directly contrarie to our last premised rule to make the worst construction of the Churches order therein that may be and therefore thus is their third argument founded vpon so bad a ground answered also Further yet to breed and continue in vs for the reasons aforesayd the better liking of the Churches order in this behalfe none can say of this gesture of kneeling as they say of the other that it is a meere humane inuention for we find it often practised with allowance and liking of the Scriptures of the godly in praying and thanksgiuing to God and therefore howsoeuer idolaters haue or do and will still abuse it in and about their idolatrie I hope for all that we purging it of all such abuse none will deny the vse thereof to be lawfull and very fit also for true Christians in humbling themselues before God in their prayers and thanksgiuing Sure I am that the consideration of these things hath alwayes so preuailed with me that without scruple of conscience I haue euer vsed it my self in the receipt of the Sacrament and rather am I incouraged to vse it still for that I find that not our Church alone but the reformed Church of Boeme as it appeares in the harmonie of confessions Sect. the 14. also alloweth and vseth it Let this therefore suffice touching this rite and now let vs go on to consider what is sayd against and what may be sayd for the prescribed apparell CHAP. 5. Of conformitie in the prescribed apparell ALl the rest of the prescribed apparell saue only the Surplisse for vs ordinarie Ministers as namely the Gowne Cloake Hood Cap. and Tippet are in all mens eyes rather ciuill scholasticall and academicall then meere Ecclesiasticall appointed rather only for a decent distinction and degree then otherwise neither are they imposed by law vpon any such penalty as the Surplisse and therefore they must needs be without the reach of most if not of all the obiections made against the Surplisse Yea the verie surplisse also in that it is by the order now appointed not to be worne of any minister that is a graduat without his hood answerable to his degree so farre forth must needs cease to be meere Ecclesiasticall Somewhat also to the same end it is that we see in Collegiate and Cathedrall Churches the wearing of it is not appropriate to ministers or deacons only for that many there weare it as well as these which neither are such nor neuer meane to be And as for the Coape appointed by the 24 Canon by the principall minister to be worne when he ministers the Communion in Collegiat and Cathedrall churches we need not here trouble our selues at all for there is none that I know or heare of in such places that refuse therein to conforme themselues The onely question therefore touching apparell prescribed vs ministers is in effect about the surplisse so that it being once proued that we may and ought it being vrged as it is conforme our selues therein I doubt not but with all it will be sufficiently cleared that we may without scruple yeeld to the vse of the other appointed vs for our ordinarie ciuill vse out of the time of our administration Many haue bin and yet are the obiections against it but they are also answered by the late reuerend Archbishop in his foresayd booke Pag. 256. c. that he that will take the paines but to read and marke what is there sayd therunto by him partialitie of affection laid aside cannot but be satisfied I would thinke And there further shall you find proued that distinction of apparell was appointed ministers and vsed by them before the Popes tyrannie and namely that this of wering a white linnen garment was in vse in Chrysostome and Hieromes time Pag. 291 259. and that he defends it not howsoeuer some other haue done for any signification it hath but for decencie order and comelinesse sake onely nor as most fit and necessarie but as tollerable and quietly to bee yeelded vnto and vsed for obedience sake to lawfull authority commaunding it for the peace and good of the Church so proouing agaÃnst all their said against it either by the admonition or by Maister Cartwright as it is vrged and vsed by our Church not to be contrary vnto any thing set downe in the word but rather to be consonant euery way to the rules thereof touching such matters And doubtles it is but either the ignorance or wilfull error of men to refuse and shun it as they doe for that either it was first deuised and brought in by the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome or for that it hath beene vsed or yet is idolatrously by the Romish Church For first it is recorded by Polidor dâ—â—inuent rerum Lib. 6. Cap. 12 and by Isidor writing de Stephano that the said Stephanus who was Bishop of Rome anno Chri. 256 which was long before euer popery was first decreed the white lynnen garment to be vsed of ministers in their ministration and for further proofe of this point let any man read Hieroms first booke against the Pelagians Cap. 9. and vpon the 44 of Ezechiell and Chrisost hom 6. ad populum Antiochaum as also concil 4. carthaginense Cap. 41. and he shall find a white linnen garment in those times also in vse amongst the ministers of the Church as a distinct apparrell to administer in yea that more is who so reads Theodorets 2 booke Cap. 27. shall finde that Constantine gaue vnto Macarius Bishop of Ierusalem a pretious garment wrought with gold to administer baptisme in all which was before popery that wee so much condemne And as for the other reason drawne from the abuse of it in popery not onely by the testimony of Augustine ad Publicolam Epist 154 but also by the most cleare testimony of sundry other writers both ancient and moderne and by sundry presidents and examples out of the scripture in the foresaid tract in
from the effect substance of it for doubtlesse the childe priuately baptised by the order of the booke without it though it immediately after die is therby by our church taken and held to be fully effectually baptised the very name of the crosse as it is said in the beginning of that canon we find indeed so honored by the pen of the Apostle S. Paule as that vnder that very word often in his epistles he comprehends the death of Christ with all the fruits effects thereof therfore the signe after a sort bringing the name of the crosse to remembrance and expressing it by all likelyhood euen thereupon grew as there it is further noted very early reuerently also to be vsed in the primitiue Church to make thereby outward and open shew to the astonishment both of Iew Gentile that Christians were not ashamed to belieue in Christ that dyed vpon a crosse For the vse thereof to that end is so ancient indeed as that the most diligent studier and searcher of ancient writers cannot shew the first originall and beginning there of he may shew when first hee reads it was vsed but that will not prooue that it was not vsed before but rather shewes the contrary Wherupon some thinke that it is so frequent with the ancient Fathers as namely with Basil Cap. 27. de spiritu sancto to tearme it an Apostolike tradition for that they thinke it came from them and their times for that other originall sense they cannot shew thereof For that indeed as Saint Augustines rule de baptismo contra donatistas Lib. 4. Cap. 24 namely that which is vniuersally obserued in the Church and whose originall wee cannot shew by councells and which hath alwaies therein beene vsed that wee are to thinke certainly to bee an Apostolike tradition I wonder therefore the author of the late booke published against the crosse allowing the vse practise hereof in the primitiue Church to the same ende and vse that is in vse amongst vs should dissallow it in vs he saith it was ciuill in them but it is ecclesiasticall amongst vs but what reason hath he to say so seeing it was vsed by them in baptisme at the first to the same end that it is amongst vs neither will that serue that some say it was then taken vpp and vsed because christians then liued intermingled with vnbeleeuing Iewes and Gentiles for let the testimonies of the Fathers bee examined where they mention the vse of it and it will appeare that they vsed it aswell when none such were by or neare as when they were and if their liuing amongst such was a warrant to them for the vse thereof why is not ours likewise liuing amongst so many profane Atheists as wee doe Wee vse it but as it is said in the foresaid canon as a lawfull outward ceremony and as an honorable badge of our Christian profession Whereunto Peter Martyr writeing vppon the second commandement hauing an eye saith if it bee lawfull for vs to weare the Cognizance of our owne house and family licet etiam signo crucis Christianam nostram religionem profiteri And this also was so cleare and manifest that euen Beza though elswhere no great friend or patron hereof in this answere to Baldwin speaking of such Churches that still thus to this end do vse it writeth plainly let such as it is meete vse their liberty therein Bucer also in his censure vpon the first communion booke doth most plainly allow it and wee know Cranmer and Ridley and sundry other learned and famous Martyrs liued and dyed in the liking and allowance of it It is not vrged nor vsed nor defended by vs as simply necessary or as immutable For the late Archbishop euen when and whiles hee sought most and best to maintaine and defend the vse of it as it is with vs writes plainly of it Page 617 of his foresaid booke it was vsed of the primitiue Church and still may bee vsed and it may be left but wee choose rather to retaine it and to vse it as Paule did imposition of hands and thereby as by an admonitory token to put the child in minde of the duety as hereby the other moued Timothy to bee mindfull of his 1. Tim. 4.14 All which laide togither may make it euident that not onely it is a thing of the owne nature indifferent because it is so neither commaunded nor forbid in the word of God but also as it is vsed and vrged for that neither so any way is it contrary to faith or good manners but may well stand with the generall rules of the word left the Church for her direction in such matters Howbeit I know for all this many both godly and learned will hardly bee perswaded so of it let vs therefor consider the reasons they seeme to haue yet further against it CHAP. 7. Containing answeres to certaine obiections against the same some new and some olde generally stood vpon by the refusers to vse it FIrst some seeme now to mislike worse of it since by the said third canon the vse of it hath beene explained as it is there then they did before and that for two reasons for that it is there said to be retained for the remembrance of the crosse of Christ whereof the sacrament of the bodie and blood of Christ is a sufficient remembrance vntill his comming againe 1. Cor. 11.26 and for that therin also it is first said that the christians in the primitiue Church signed their children therewith when they were christned to dedicate them by that badge to his seruice whose benefits bestowed vpon them in baptisme the name of the crosse did represent and then afer that we now following therein the primitiue and apostolicall churches and accounting it a lawfull outward ceremonie thereby also as by an honorable badge dedicate our baptized infants to his seruice For this now say they must needs be taken for the sense and meaning of our Church in the vse thereof howsoeuer before we might haue taken it as I before haue set downe But if such would herein put in practise the last of the seuen rules layd downe for a preamble to this treatise neither these reasons would proue so strong as otherwise they seeme nor yet hereby would it follow that they are one whit enforced to take it in a worse or harder sense then they might before for first in reason and charitie we are all bound to thinke that whereas by that Canon as it euidently appeares thereby the reuerend Bishops and Prelates assembled seriously and carefully went about by their explaining the meaning of our Church in the vse thereof to draw men to like and allow thereof better then before that they were not so vnconsiderate as so directly to crosse their owne intent in making it harder and worse to be like of then it was before Then secondly it is certaine if these their words might be so hardly taken as thereupon now
day and the Epistles on Easter eue and Michaels day lastly that the portions of scripture inserted into the booke and the Psalter annexed thereunto are so prescribed thereby to be read as they are wherein yet there are many knowne faults that by no meanes can stand with the same Scriptures in the originall tongues wherein they were first written The first whereof is prooued to be a great fault for that it is a kinde or taking from the word and forbid Reuel 22. and a depriuing the people of one good meanes the better to enable them to search them and so is the second said to be for that by the precise appointing them at those times the people are occasioned to mistake and to misunderstand them and likewise is the third for that so there is false witnesse borne both against the scriptures and the spirit of God the authour thereof as to haue said and meant that there which they neuer did But to the first of these for any thing that I can gather out of the 14 Canon for by the statute made at the first Eliz. 1. to establish the booke aswell all addition detraction or alteration thereof in the vse and practise of it was forbid as it is now by that Canon it may as well now as before and indeed both before and now truely and iustly bee said that no such inconuenience neede arise by that order for that no minister eyther by the booke or by any other ordinance of our Church is 〈◊〉 forbid ouer and aboue those that are appointed being allowed to be a Preacher to read any or all of those that are not at such times as he shall thinke good with exposition thereof and sure I am I myselfe haue so done and in ful perswasion that therin I haue done nothing against order therin taken eyther before or now For doubt lesse any man may iustly think that by our Churches order they were onley so left out as they are in that they were not thought so lightsome and easie to be vnderstood as the other that are appointed to be read being but barely read without exposition and interpretation and in the meane time none that can are forbid to read and studie them priuately But if they were by the Kalender aswell appointed as the other orderly to bee read yet in that in parish Churches the people com not together but vpon few daies in the weeke they might misse the hearing of most of them aswell then as now And as for the second the inconuenience imagined to arise therby euery minister that makes scruple at conformity being a Preacher as commonly and generally he is that likewise he in reading of those Scriptures at those set times by soundly interpreting them and preaching thereupon which the booke no where nor any other Canon forbids him may preuent And touching the last I hope shortly all occasion of that obiection will be remoued when the new translation by his Maiesties most Christian and Princely order in hand shall be finished and authorised as the onely authenticall translation to be vsed in our Churches and in the meane time I am perswaded that no Bishop in this land will denie any minister that can and will in peace and quietnesse vse that his liberty to read all the foresaid Scriptures in the booke according to the great Bible by order alreadie from themselues appointed to be in Churches that we may read the Chapters out of it for though we may find that the Booke appointes Epistles Gospels Chapters and Psalmes to be read yet no where shall we finde there eyther that they are said to be any part of the Booke and therefore they were left out in the latine translation thereof or that it ties or bindes vs to any one certaine translation for the same But if it expressly did may we iustly thinke that it is contrarie to the word to read the Scriptures to the common people in a translation that hath such faults as the originalls thereof rightly vnderstood sometimes will not beare Doubtlesse then I feare in faith and assurance in our consciences that wee doe alwaies well therein we shall neuer allow them to read or to haue read vnto them the Scriptures in any translation at all for when can we be certaine that any translation is free from all such faults vnlesse therefore with the Papists we would debarre them from hauing and hearing the Scriptures at all in the vulgar tongues we must be contented that they read and haue them read vnto them in translations that happily when we haue all done may haue some such faults And this is it that both they and we must content our selues withall in this case first that the faultes be such which though they stand not full with the originall yet they import not any errour against any necessarie truth elsewhere taught in the scriptures of which kind for any thing that I can remember amongst all the faults noted in the foresaid inserted Scriptures in the booke there is not one and then that those faults are not so defended by our Church to be no faults but that alwaies it hath beene permitted the godly learned ministers in preaching of any of the said Scriptures in a wise and discreet manner notwithstanding to acquaint the people with the sense most agreeable with the original yea we see most of the same faults corrected and amended alreadie in the foresaid great Bible commonly called the Bishops Bible and now againe that that whole translation and others are to be examined and so all faults that haue past in any hertofore as far as the learning and diligence of man can reach vnto are to be reformed all which duely considered I hope may serue to answere these obiections CHAP. 10. Touching the reading of the Apocrypha NOw the next is touching the bookes appointing the Apocrypha to be read as it doth wherein many faults are found also as that they are appointed publikely to be read at all that they are appointed to be read as Chapters of the holy Scripture of the olde Testament and as more edifying then the Canonicall omitted to giue roome for thē and that often there is a speciall choyse of them for certaine solemne feast daies or holy daies All which obiections as I sayd before the Deane thē of Chester now L. Bishop of Rochester no man then or there finding any fault with that his answer in the conference before his Maiestie shewed was needlesse because by the preface set before the second volume of homilies which is by order of our Church allowed authorized aswell as the booke and indeed published since the bookes first authorising in the yeare 1563. and therefore euen by that circumstance more likely and fit to serue in this point to explane the meaning of the booke the minister is exhorted to wey and to read his Chapters priuatly before he come to read them publickly and thereupon if in his discretion he thinke
in the name of the child they professing and desiring what is it but in the true meaning of the booke in Christian charitie and hope so to do for that they are perswaded that if the child were of age it would euen so do professe desire therfore that they in the mean time do so in the name therof in full expectation that when it shall it will account that by them it selfe so did that so the Couenant betwixt God and it may in this Sacrament stand ratified therein And yet in some sence according to Christs saying Math. 18. it might well bee defended that such little ones beleeue in him as habitually they are reasonable not actually CHAP. 12. Answering diuerse obiections against the booke touching baptisme and other things there ordained ANd seeing by Christs baptisme and his ordaining of this sacrament water was alloted to be the outward part therein why may we not according to the booke both say and thinke that therby the water of the flood Iordan wherin he and others were baptised and all other water was indeed sanctified meaning as the outward element in a sacrament by the institution therof was and is thereby sanctified for that vse to the mysticall washing away of sin As for that which is further obiected against that which is set downe in the foresaid parte of the Catechisme touching two sacraments only generally necessary to saluation the meaning onely is that there are only 2 such taking a sacrament properly as thereafter it is defyned and that they two are necessary so to saluation as by no means without danger therof they may be contemned or neglected and that for all christians first or last yong or old and then what iust exception can there be made at all against that So also by the order that is now takē in the booke that the lawfull minister only shall priuately baptise the child the old obiection against the conditional baptising of it after in the case mentioned in the booke is sufficiently taken away for now that will neuer neede to be put in vse And as for the ring vsed in mariage the words with my bodie I the worship or the resēblance that it is said there to haue of the spirituall marriage betwixt Christ and his church I finde not that any seeme greatly to stand at any or at all of these And if they should surely they could not therin finde any iust cause for the ring is but giuen taken as a ciuill token betwixt the parties that are maried of the promise and couenant that therein they make one to the other and the word worship there vsed doth but import that worship or honor that growes vnto the woman by marriage in that thereby man is so made her head that she hath in the phrase and sense of the Apostle thereby also such a right of ouer and in his bodie that thenceforth it is not his owne as it was before which whiles by marying of her he intitles her vnto very truly hee may say in that sense that with his bodie he doth her worship and finding the holy ghost so oft hath taken delight vnder the shadow of marriage betwixt man and woman to set forth vnto vs the spirituall marriage betwixt Christ and his Church the speech in the booke beeing to bee vnderstood no otherwise but as hauing reference onely thereunto as indeed iustly it cannot no iust fault can be found thereat Now as for all the rest of the obiections alledged against precise conformity in the practise of the booke from certaine words phrases in sundry prayers and parts thereof which seeme hardly and harshly to be set downe yea so as without some alteration they cannot well be so vsed to helpe vs in that we are to call to mind againe his Maiesties pleasure as I noted in the beginning of this treatise most gratiously deliuered vs in the conclusion of the conference that hee would haue vs to take euery thing in the best sense we could for in that sense only he would haue vs to vnderstand that he vrged them to be vsed and yeelded vnto for in this case we but so doing there is nothing so hardly set downe but that taking it and explaining it as the very booke meanes it and as the publikly professed and authorised doctrine of our Church doth lead vs the offence thereat will be remoued 2 Then secondly howsoeuer some now so the better to countenance their refusall to yeeld this conformity though in some sort they haue seemed better to like thereof heretofore perswade themselues would also perswade others that now they are more strictly bound to follow in euery thing the precise letter of the Booke then before by the new Canons and the declared meaning therein of the Church in that respect we are to vnderstand that both contrarie to his Maiesties foresaid declared pleasure in that point and contrarie indeed both to the meaning of the booke and those Canons it is so conceiued for if that were so that now vpon no circumstance or due consideration the precise letter thereof might be altered at any time then we should neyther burie baptize nor visite any but males and though there be but one to be baptised we should yet alwaies vse the plurall number in speaking thereof for so onely runs the letter of our booke yea that more is if conformitie now vrged bound vs to such a precise and strict following the very letter of our booke in euery thing then thereby we should be bound to breed the Bishops and the whole state more trouble by our exact so doing then they breed any by the vrging of it For by the last rubricke in marriage euery married couple should receiue the Communion that day and by an other euen the last also in the tract of confirmation it is flatly set downe that none are to be admitted vnto the holy communion vntill such time as they can say that Cathechisme and bee confirmed for all wise men will and may easily conceiue that if our conformity bound vs so strictly to the letter of the book that by force of these two Canons no Papists or Brownists that refuse vtterly to communicate with vs nor any else that cannot both say the whole Catechisme and were not confirmed also might by any minister of this Church lawfully be married what inconueniences soeuer otherwise grew thereof and likewise that all vnconfirmed old and yong man and woman noble and ignoble should be held from the communion vntill they could all say the Catechisme and were also confirmed there being therefore so few in comparison of the rest that are thus qualified what a stirre would this breede Ministers in most places should haue far lesse to doe then they haue in marrying and in ministring of the Communion and the Bishops would be driuen to spend all their time and liuing in confirming of the vnconfirmed or the whole land would mightily be disquieted in running and seeking
vnto them for no small space The makers therefore of the Statute Eliz. 1. First to authorise the seruice Booke though thereby as strict order is taken for the vniforme practise thereof as euer was by any Canons since without any alteration thereof yet most wisely foreseeing as well the mischiefe and inconuenience that might growe in time vpon some circumstances in following too to precisely the letter thereof hath onely made penall the wilfull transgressing the order thereof and obstinate standing therein And therefore also in the second Article whereunto subscription is made touching the vse and practise of the Booke he that therevnto subscribeth promiseth onely to vse the forme in the said Booke prescribed in publicke prayer and administration of the Sacraments and none other Whereby it should seeme to mee that the edge and force both of the statute law and Canon is against Papists and Sectaries that will vse new formes or rites quite differing from this Booke or but little or none of this and not against such as are carefull to vse the whole form substance of this without any alteration thereof at all but vpon due circumstances iust consideration reason and occasion and that in peace and silence also answering yet alwaies by that their alteration or explanation the true end and sense therof as much as any way conueniently may be and therefore we may be sure that such alteration onely of some occurrents therein is lawfull and allowable As for example when reading the Collectes appointed to bee read on Christmasse daye or Whitsonday certaine daies follwing the minister quietly and in good discretion chuses rather to say as about this time then as the verie letter is this day because he knowes that Christ was borne but of one day and the holy Ghost likewise in that extraordinarie manner came downe but vpon one or when in the receit of the communion by himselfe or in his owne person he chaunges the words appointed to to be used in the deliuerie or receipt thereof namely the words giuen for thee into these words giuen for mee what Bishop or Ordinarie in the land can or will dislike him for so doing Likewise in the foresaid cases doubtlesse the meaning of those rubrickes onely is that they shall communicate that day if there be a Communion then they be fit that none are to be held to be fit to be admitted thereunto but they that are confirmed or which for knowledge age and discretion might well haue beene And so though the booke prescribing a common rule and order for the burying of all such as in such a Christian Church as this is shall die in Christian charity and hope that all would die like Christians appoints the minister to say in committing his body to the earth that he doth so in sure and certaine hope of resurrection to eternall life and therefore after also to pray that they together with that their brother may haue their perfect consummation and blisse in Gods eternall and euerlasting kingdome yet now without any breach of that order by the other Canon Persons dying excommunicated Maiore excommunicatione for some grieuous and notorious crime when no man is able to testifie of their repentance the minister is not to burie at all much lesse in the precise forme and with those words And otherwise it is well knowne that murderers of themselues and sundrie other notorious offenders dying in and for those their such crimes ministers are not by that order or by lawe at all bound to bury and therefore not in that very manner Wherefore then as the very reason giuen in the Canon in the foresaid case shewes when both the minister and most of the parish knoweth as the case in my knowledge both hath beene and therefore may be againe that one comes to be buried that liued and dyed most profanely more like a verie Atheist and a grosse infidell then like any Christian at all who doth not see that the discreet minister yet therein nothing crossing eyther the meaning of the booke or the intent of the authorisers thereof may in wisedome and discretion in such sort vse and alter those words as that neither he burie his bodie in sure and certaine hope of the resurrection thereof to eternall life as the body of one that died like a Christian indeed nor that he be inforced to say that he and the rest there present may haue their consummation with him in Gods euerlasting blisse kingdome For we may be sure that it was neither the meaning either of the book or of the authorisers therof first or last in those set and precise words and tearmes to bind the ministers to bury any but such whom with a good conscience they so might And yet who knoweth not that fit it is that for the maintenance of good order the rule should be so generally see downe because it is not fit many amongst such a multitude of ministers as be in this kingdome lacking due discretion to leaue all or any in such a case simply at their owne liberty And yet againe who is so simple but he vnderstands that hardly can any rule in such matters be so generally set downe but that euer the equity therof the true meaning of the prescribers therof will may admit of some instances to the contrary Howbei Gods mercy being so infinite as it is and we in Christian chariritie being bound but as we are to hope and to iudge the best of all that die amongst vs doubtles in this respect the instances wil be but few and very rare and yet euen then to preuent all inconueniences that might grow by the rashnes indiscretion of some ministers I would wish none to take liberty of thēselues to alter this form but by allowance of authority vpon due information of the particular occasion first obtaind which when there is or shall be iust cause I am fully perswaded would easily be obtaind and I wish it should For it cannot stand with the rule wherby the Church is bound in all her orders to haue especiall care that they tend to edification alwaies to tye her ministers in the buriall of the dead to equall such in and by such words with her best and liueliest members As for that which is misliked in the booke touching priuate absolution in the tract of visiting the sicke in my opinion there is no iust cause thereof for doubtlesse in the case there mentioned such priuate absolution is very necessary and comfortable and the meaning thereof is no more but that they so repenting and beleeuing as is there specified in the booke we as the ministers of God assure them that he doth absolue them of their sinnes so repented of And indeed there is no difference in the true sense and meaning betweene this and the generall absolution or pronouncing of the sins of the penitent to be forgigiuen with good allowance vsed after the generall confession of sins in the
beginning of morning and euening praier but that there it is pronounced generally to all there present that are truly penitent and beleeue in Christ according to the Gospell and here particularly but to the sicke party likewise so professing both faith and repentance And why may we not in the Collect of Trinitie sonday pray as there the booke appoints to be deliuered from all aduersitie as well as in the Lords prayer to be deliuered from all euill For the Church and her members at the least some particular Churches sometime may haue rest therefrom but if not and she were sure thereof also why may she not yet so pray to shew her desire that she might as Christ did that the cup might passe from him which he knew should not These things duly considered I remember nothing of any moment in the booke to stay any man from yeelding to conformity in the vse and practise therof For as for the few supposed incommodious phrases in some other praiers they will and may be easily remooued but by taking them in the best and fairest sense most standing with the substance of sound doctrine otherwise publikly professed and authorised in this Church which vntil euident cause be giuen mē to the contrary euery one in duty is bound to do For what reason hath any man to think but that our professed authorised doctrine and our praiers and practise agree Our Church therfore disalowing praier for the dead as it doth and requiring alwaies stedfast faith in our praiers we may be sure therby we are only in the Letany so taught to pray that God would not remember the sinnes of our forefathers as therfore to take vengeance of vs and in the two collects the fift after the offertory the second after Trinity to feare and to distrust only in respect of our selues but not in respect of Gods mercy in Christ at all Wherfore hauing now thus said what I hope may be sufficient to moue my good brethren for the Churches peace good and also for their owne and to preuent greater inconueniences to stand forth no longer in their refusal to conforme themselues in their practise to the orders of our Church required at their hands let vs passe on to that which yet seemeth to be wanting to perswade thē also if and when need shal be in the same respects rather to yeeld to the vrged form of subscription then either therfore to shun to enter into the ministry when otherwise they are fit and might or for the refusal therof to be debarred of the vse of their gifts therin CHAP. 13. Touching the yeelding to the now vrged subscription and answering certaine obiections against the same BEing therefore now come to the question about this subscription howsoeuer heretofore it was doubted whether it had any express law or canon to warrant it or no now wee are put out of doubte thereof by these last cannons and namely by the 36 in that wee see and know them all to be so authorised by his Maiestie as they are who hath full and sufficient authority by his highnesse tytle prerogatiue confirmed vnto him by expresse law otherwise so to doe And therefore we cannot be now ignorant but that our reuerend fathers the Bishops haue thereby authority to vrge such ministers thereunto as bee vnder their iurisdictions at such times and in such cases and vpon such occasions and in such manner as are expressed in the said canons and also vnder the penalties to the refusers then specified in the same Wherefore as I said of the former so I must needs say of this so farre as there is nothing within the compasse therof either in the owne nature or as it is meant by the order of our Church and the gouernors thereof contrary either to sound faith or good manners taught in Gods word conscience in respect of them and this their authority which they haue now by law or canon though not in regard of the bare nature of euery thing within the reach of the same without all question doth bind vs for the Churches good and our owne to yeeld thereunto And this is certaine the first Article touching his Maiesties iust Title and supremacie therin set downe the last touching the booke of Articles so far forth as they concern faith the sacraments all mē of our religion profession that hold communion with vs haue alwaies since subscription hath beene first required beene willing and ready to yeeld the same acknowledging as by the lawes of the realme so also by the lawes of God for the plaine and manifest truth therin contained that they were bound in cōscience also euen for the matter therof so to do The question therfore concerning this point lies in this whether the rest contained in these thre articles mentioned in that 36 canon in the form there set down may be yeelded vnto with a safe good cōscience wherūto first I say that cōparing the Articles wher vnto now subscriptiō is required with the 3 that formerly were wont to be vrged touching either the whole or the rest now only in question I find no great difference some words are added in the first somewhat more fully to expresse his Maiesties title and supremacy wherof therefore I think euery one likes so much the better and as for the second it is word for word the same it was and that requires that by our subscription therunto we only aduouch that those twoe bookes therein named the booke of common prayer and the booke of ordering Bishops Priests and Deacons containe nothing contrary to the word of God and in the last as I finde these words added now to make it plaine how many articles the said booke of Articles containes being in number 39 besides the ratification so I obserue for the word beleeueth vsed before touching all the Articles therein contained as it there is expresly set downe a softer word put namely acknowledgeth so that herein euen in the construction of those that most mislike and write against the former it is most cleare that this now vrged is in respect of the matter therof the very same if not better and easier then it was before especially considering also the things amended explaned in the booke of common prayer of late as was noted in the beginning 2 If any say yet now it is worse then it was in respect of the forme because now is added ex animo where it was before but volens that is such a difference whereupon it will not follow that it is one iot worse then it was before for who can indeed say or write that he doth a thing volens and yet not ex animo it also appearing by that which I haue said already of the former point that our Church by these last canons hath in nothing made the sense of any thing harder then it was before it must neees follow that now to refuse thus to subscribe for any
book of comon prayer NOw touching baptisme the tract thereof in that priuate baptisme is so vrged as it is therby and by the 69. Canon especially seeing both it and the other sacrament are said in the Catechisme to be necessarie to saluation some thereupon gather that now it seemeth to be the meaning of the booke and of our church also to hold baptism so necessary to saluation as that none can now be saued without it But surely herein they wrong in my iudgement both the books and the meaning of our church For hereby doubtlesse they do not mean to tie God so to this ordinary meanes as that he neither can nor will exraordinarily saue any without it though neuer so much preuented by death before according to Gods ordinance they may haue it For then the booke neuer should haue beene so explained in that point as now it is that none but a lawfull minister should baptise the chld in what danger soeuer it be But onely hereby would the state take order as much as might be which was very necessary to preuent all contempt or neglect thereof if it could in time be had for as the one extreame is to be auoided so doubtles was and is the other and so for any thing our Church hath done in this point the ancient doctrine that alwaies hath in this case bene held and receiued of and in the Churches of Christ since the first institution of the sacraments namely not the want therof simply but the contempt or neglect therof to be damnable is held here still and therfore this of baptisme is to be counted so necessary to saluatiō as that by all means when wher as is aforesaid it may be had it is most carefully diligētly to be sought for 2 Now whereas I heare that some stumble at that that the child dying after baptisme before yet it can be confirmed it is said in the book immediatly before the Catechisme in a rubricke there that such a child hath all things necessary by the word of God to saluation and is vndoubtedly saued gathering thereupon that the meaning of our Church therin is absolutely and simply so to tie saluation to baptisme that whosoeuer once is outwardly baptised cannot be saued surely this is as hard a collection construction of this as may be For first it is euident that there the speach is of baptised children onely dying before they be confirmed and that of purpose it is there so set down to the cōfort of christian parents in that case plainly to teach vs all howsoeuer our Church thinks it fit to retain the vse of confirmation in sundry good respects yet it holds it not to be of the same nature with the sacraments of baptism the Lords Supper nor so necessary to saluation And what reason is there to the contrary but that we may and ought in Christiā charity so hope perswade our selues of al christiā children so baptised dying in their childhood as that book speaketh 3 For all this some yet draw an argument to stay them from thus subscribing as is required for that by the booke as they alleage so much is attributed to confirmation that it is therby made as a third sacrament contrary to the 25 article of the book of articles also subscribed vnto for that say they the Bishops imposition of his hands is in the tract of confirmation expresly termed a signe wherby they certify them whom they confirme of Gods gratious fauour and goodnes towads them whereas the article saith that neyther confirmation nor any of the other foure by the Papists held to be sacraments can be sacraments iindeed because they haue not any visible signe or ceremony ordayned of God But the contrariety that seemeth herein to be betwixt these bookes is easily to be remoued For though the communion booke make imposition of hands a signe drawne from the example of the Apostles yet it deriues it not from Gods ordinance and institution as the outward signes in Sacraments are and so that notwithanding the words of the article may well enough stand therwith which only denies it to haue any visible signe ordained by God Againe there is great ods betwixt materiall and substantial signes such as water bread and wine are in the sacraments this bare action of imposition of hands sacraments properly taken are not only signs of some spiritual grace but of sauing grace in Christ Iesus they are means also to offer to deliuer to seale the deliuery of the same to the right receiuers therof all which this is not hereby made But I maruell what reason men haue to allow of imposition of hands as a laudable rite and ceremonie euen drawne also from the Apostles example in the ordination of ministers thereby as it were by that solemne ceremony and prayer withall to set them apart from all others for the worke of the ministerie and yet so much to mislike of this here they thinke not that it makes ordination a sacrament why should they thinke then that it makes so confirmation it is vsed here with prayer wherunto especially the booke attributeth their confirmation appointing the other but withall to be vsed as there by externally to certifie them that to them particularly that strength is wished Hierom I am sure against the Luciferians acknowledges that it was in vse in churches in his time and before and that only to be ministred by Bishops as it is with vs propter honorem sacerdotii non legis necessitatem And Bucer vpon the fourth to the Eph. so allowes it and so many other learned writers both ancient and of these times as you may see at large Inst Cal. l. 4. c. 19. sect 4. no reason it is why they shold not because now with this imposiion of hands extraordinary gifts of the spirit are not giuen for those were but to follow therupon for a time and sufficient it is now that further strength doth folow And it is vsed hath bin thus by the bishops not by the ministers not as som hardly therupon gather therby to intimate as though it were a higher thing then either baptisme or the supper which they vse to minister but onely for order and in good pollicy thereby the better to draw both ministers and godfathers and godmothers the more carefully to see children so catechised as that being cald by the Bishops to this they may therewith their owne mouthes professe and promise that which others before did for them And verily being vsed to this end in the good Pollicy of the Church it would be a notable good meanes hereof and therefore I haue long wisht a more carefull and an vniuersall vse therof lament the neglect therof for euen from thence the great negligence that hath beene both in ministers to Catechise in the people in seking to haue their youth duly instructed hath very much proceeded I hope the contrary good fruits in
that behalfe will grow by the wise and orderly reuiuing thereof What more of any moment not formerly answered is now alleaged out of the communion booke to stay men from subscription I remember not saue that some say the vrging of all prescribed therby now to be read without leauing out any part therof in respect of a sermon or in any other regard as it appeares Canon 14 shuts out preaching much But my experience teacheth me the contrary for though I read fully all that is appointed and haue long vsed so to do yet I praise God beeing vpon the point now of 60 yeares of age yet I finde both strength and time conuenient euery Sabbath both forenoone and afternoone to do both And they that finde not themselues of strength so to doe they are not by any law forbid to get thē Curats and helpers which may ease them commonly if not of all yet of a great part of the burden of the tone and if their liuing bee so small and they are not able to haue that helpe otherwise beeing conformeable and doing what they can their weaknesse or sickly estate will easily with their ordinaries excuse them Sure any man may be that reads the booke and the canons there to find that the booke often directeth vs to pray that all ministers may be diligent preachers of the word and that by the canons better order is taken for often diligent preaching of the word then euer heretofore hath beene and therefore this may goe amongst other too hard collections and constructions of our Churches meaning well enough and therfore need not in truth stay any man from subscribing I am not ignorant that yet many things more in this booke are obiected but because I know onely a charitable construction will easily remooue them I passe thē ouer wishing euery man therby as he may is bound to satisfie him selfe therein CHAP. 15. Answering certaine obiections out of the booke of Ordination THus then we are come at the last to the other booke of ordinatiō of Bishops Priests Deacons against which as it is in vse with vs now long hath been I must cōfesse I see or find nothing euer alleaged of any moment to this purpose but I finde the same so fully answered by our late most reuerend Archbishop in his foresaid book against Cartwright so oft before named since by the right reuerend and learned now Bishop of Winchester in his booke written long since of the perpetuall gouernment of Christs Church as that I cannot but maruaile especially seeing I could neuer see the latter of these books by any once euer yet attempted to be answered that any for all this should set a foot againe any old obiections and new I finde none of any moment against the said booke whereunto there they haue beene and are and that also long ago so throughly answerd And therefore for this point Christian Reader both to spare thy further labour and mine thereunto I referre thee Onely this in the meane time I say for my owne part that there I finde all that hath beene said of any waight against the said booke in my iudgement so satisfied that in respect thereof onely whosoeuer refuseth to subscribe he doth so without any iust cause at all For concerning the distinction of degrees by that booke for the better ordering of the Church in her ecclesiasticall policy allowed to be amongst vs the ministers of the Gospell I must needs say and protest though as seriously and diligently as I could I haue read and considered all that hath beene written to or from with or against of that question for these thirtie yeares and more and also of purpose for the same haue searched all antient writers and all monuments of antiquity that I could come by yet I could neuer find any thing of any sound moment or force brought against the same yea that more is besides hatred to popery too great an admiration of some other Churches I neuer by all this could finde that the impugners thereof and the seekers in the steed thereof to bring in a gouernment of the Church by a parity of Ministers and their Presbiteries haue indeed and truth any thing of sound moment or of any waight at all to iustifie or to countenance their so doing In so much that before the late reformation of Geneua for all the fore said points and search that I haue vsed for this point I could thereby yet neuer finde any one Church of Christ so big as that of Geneua and the appurtenances thereof any where or at any time for the space of one ten yeares possest of that their kinde of gouernment whereas of the contrarie through the whole course of the Scriptures euer since Moses and through all Ecclesiastical stories and monuments of antiquitie I obserue it hath bin the lords pleasure in his good prouidence alwaies to haue his church since it had but outward visibility in one nation perpetually gouerned by distinct degrees of ministers proportionable to this of ours for through the old Testament from Moses to Christ it had by Gods ordinance an high priest Priests and Leuites to that end and Christ enlarging the bounds therof we find by the playne testimony of the new testament he left for the orderly gouernment therof vntill his second comming Ephes 4. some Apostles some Prophets some Euangelists some Pastors Teachers In that therfore in that golden age of the Apostles when the gifts of the spirit both vpon the ordinary Pastours christian people were as they were often extraordinary we yet find when particular Churches were furnished setled with all their ordinary necessary officers they stood need besides the helpe they then had of Synods the ouersight of euangelists the visitation againe and againe both by their letters personall presence of the apostles whiles they liued what reason can any man haue to thinke that in the times since far worse then those the churches of Christ should not likewise need some in the roome of those to haue a superintendency ouer the particular ministers to visit and to keepe them in order from time to time And therfore doubtlesse the Apostles Prophets Euangelists in that which they had extraordinaly ceasing euer since we find by the testimony of ecclesiasticall stories by light warrāt from these former proportions experience for the better ordering therof in peace and vnitie the church of Christ possest of Bishops ministers Deacons All which neither could nor would haue beene so if this other fancyed forme of Church gouernmēt had been so essentiall thereunto this of ours so bad vnfit for the same as the admirers of that other would beare the world in hand both this and the other hath been is for who can or wil be perswaded that God being of that powre that he is louing his church as he doth that euer he could or would suffer her for 15 or
16 hundred yeares to be destituted bereued of her proper and essentiall outward forme of church gouernment or that he would haue continued blessed the other as he hath both in the ancient churches since if it had beene or were so displeasing vnto him antichristian as they now charge it to be 2 As for the preaching by deacons ministring baptisme by such who can read the story of the Acts touching the Deacon Phillip and what after is storied there in both respects as done lawfully by him though we read there only of his calling to the office of a deacon or what to like purpose as the foresaid two learned fathers haue shewed out of the monuments of true antiquity such haue don in the primitiue Church but he will see he hath cause to cease froÌ„ obiecting that as a fault against that booke in that our Deacons are said to bee called to their office according to apostolike example 3 And as for the name Priest it answering with vs as it doth in respect of our office the word presbyter not the other Sacerdos what iust offence can any take thereat 4 And as long as we find Apostles directing and commaunding Euangelists as Paul did Timo. and Tytus witnesse the epistles he wrote to them they therby directed to ouersee direct pastors as therin by the storie of the Acts it appeares they did pastors charged to attend feed their flocks though we find not the precise names of Archbishops Metropolitans or primats at the first what should wee therfore striue Strife about words as long as wee find the matter and substance that in truth implyeth as much becomes not the Church of God but the ecclesiasticall stories and the records of the ancient councells make it most manifest to them that read them that it was not long after the age of the apostles ere these very names were taken vp and for order sake giuen to the Bishops ouer other 5 And as for that saying receiue the holy Ghost it beeing vnderstood either of the holy Ghost it selfe or of the gifts thereof fit for the ministry as some take it it doubtlesse is vsed and meant as a prayer that so they may not as a speech of one hauing power authority to giue it as when Christ vsed it but taking it as very wel also it may for the calling to the ministry wherof the holy Ghost is the author they as the ordinary means wherby he calleth them thereunto may say so wherfore to grow to an end I verily think no one thing more either hath bred or yet doth nourish more the ecclesiasticall controuersies of ours about rites and ceremonies and the outward pollicy of our Church as either not reading or negligent studying of sound antiquity therfore I would wish do with all my heart that all my good brethren of the in ministry as far as their ability will serue theÌ„ would get them the writings of the ancient fathers especially the ecclesiasticall stories of Eusebius his fellows the tomes of the ancient councels then next after the study of the sacred scripture that they would diligently read consider of theÌ„ For doubtles euen therby they would learn much to direct them how to cary themselues in their places in all occurreÌ„ts that otherwise for lack of so good presideÌ„ts to much troble many of theÌ„ are ofteÌ„ cause also why they are more troublesome vnto others for such matters theÌ„ otherwise they would be if they were throughly acquainted with the ancient practise of Christs Church in such cases There they should finde it in August Epist 86. to Casulan 118. to Ianuari Euseb lib. 5. cap. 23. Socrat. lib. 5. cap. 22. Zozom lib. 7. cap. 19. in Greg. ad Leandrum and that one Church is not bound in her outward rites fashions to anothers and therfore that no one Church is preiudiced by anothers different fashions in such things yea that nihil officit in eadem fide conspirantium EcclesiaruÌ„ consuetudo diuersa yea that rather that so being they holding notwithstanding vnity of faith they are the more commendable for the bonds of the Churches vnitie were alwaies held to be one God one faith one baptisme and not one rite or one ceremony and therefore there also shall they finde how peacably godly the learned in such times conformed themselues to the orders and fashions alwaies of the Church wherin they liued in such things and so neither gaue offence to any nor tooke any and how the different fashions or opinions in such things notwithstanding they thought it vnfit to breake vnity with others And to this end I wold euery one would but read the said 86. 118 epistles of S. Augustine and his next also the 119 for there they should find both excellent councell and examples to this purpose 7 Alas how can any ioyne with the brownists in holding rhis kinde of gouernment by Archbishops and Bishops to be antichristian and that of theirs to be Christs Churche perpetuall essentiall regiment but he must needs ioyne with them in their practise rent separation from vs 8 Or the premises considered what sound reason hath any man to thinke though one of late an enemie thereunto hath vrged it in print that the holding of this gouernment of ours to haue warrant from the scriptures should impeach the Kings supremacy as though that these degrees of ministers in this sort allowed by the booke of ordination of them could not both stand together wheras indeed therby it is coÌ„firmed strengthened as Solomons was in that though the high Priesthood was expresly from God he yet rightly deposed Abiather and placed Sadok in his roome 1. Kings 3.35 For though in respect of that which they haue froÌ„ PrÃnces they may be said to be theirs of humane constitution yet in respect of their ministry spiritual iurisdictioÌ„ in the church they wel may be said to be of Gods own ordinance 9 Wherfore to grow towards an end remember we my good brethren this one thing more that it standeth this our state and Church much vpon hauing made so many seuere lawes as it hath against Papists Schismaticks Barowists or Brownists cal theÌ„ as you wil hauing also so executed theÌ„ as they haue minding as it semeth so to do stil and we see it is most necessary for the peace of the church they should let none of vs that should ioyne with theÌ„ therin also euery way strengthen theÌ„ what we could they so multiplying as they do both on the right hand left by any means weaken eyther our ' selues or theÌ„ against them which once againe I caÌ„not but put you in mind we do so long as eyther for conformity or this subscribing by our refusal stil hereof we not only make distraction rent breach amongst our selues but also strengthen them with so many arguments as we stand vpon