Preachers for Ceremonies when as if Gods Will and Word in Necessary things to mens Salvation had but been preferred to the will and word of the Bishops about things called Indifferent by themselves the case had been altered and they would rather have let the ignorant have been without a Ceremony then a Sermon It is the unhappy fate of almost all that are set upon unnecessary things that they cannot endure that others should have the liberty of differing from them It is not enough to them to enjoy the freedom of their own Consciences about meats or holydaies or gestures or vestures or other formalities unless all others be compelled to do as they do When they are but moved to comply with others though plain Scripture and the practice of the Primitive Cathilick Church be justly alledged for it yet it moveth them little or nothing But if others will not comply with them they cry out against them as enemies to Unity and Peace and say It is not fit to suffer men to be of so many minds and waies That is It is fit all should be compelled to do as they would have them 12. And another mischief that followeth the making unnecessary things to be Necessary is that it openeth a gap to so many more of the same kind that no man knows how to stop it nor when we have Ceremonies and inventions enough But upon the same ground that these are brought in to day the next Pope or Bishop thinks he may bring another tomorrow and so we can never tell when we have all nor when will be an end 13. And then in the multitude of things unnecessary we shall be in danger of losing the things that are necessary they will be so buryed or obscured in the crowd the substance will scarce be perceived for the ceremony 14. And me thinks it is such height of Pride for mortal men to arrogate such a power and to desire and endeavour such a thing that I wonder how they dare attempt it I mean to make universal or unnecessary Laws for the Church in the matters of faith or worship Can a man that hath one spark of humility left in him desire that his will may be a Law to all others in doubtful or indifferent things and proceed so far as to desire that none may have Liberty in the Church that are not of his opinion or will not be ruled by him in things indifferent or of no necessity Surely a man of any humility would think with himself Am not I also imperfect in knowledge and may I not be mistaken what is my judgement that it should be a Law to the Church and that I should be so highly conceited and confident of it as to turn out godly Ministers or people from the Church or worship of God for not conforming themselves to my opinion in things of such a low indifferent nature He that would be the Law-giver to the Church and suffer none but those of his own opinion in such points would be the Lord of the Church which can know the voice of none but Christ and owneth no other Lord but him 15. And the sin is the greater because they have so little Interest or pretence to lead them to these usurpations They must have their will though it get them nothing Who made them Law-givers to the Church of Christ Cannot they allow Christ this part of the Soveraignty to make Laws for his Church And cannot they be content with a Ministerial power to proclaim and promote the Laws of Christ and according to these to guide his Church 16. And hereby men are drawn to a humane kind of Religion And they do more properly believe obey and worship these Imposers then Jesus Christ when they must fetch the very matter of their Religion not from the Bible but the Canons or Decrees of men their conscience obedience and reward will be according thereunto 17. And hereby the adversaries of the Church have occasion to insult over us and think our Differences to be more then indeed they are When the Unity of the Church is laid upon things Indifferent or of smalest moment there will presently be disagreements and these will be the enemies matter of reproach It is this that makes the Papists tell us of our differences among our selves because we have made them seem something to them when they are next to nothing O say they where is your Church of England now why what 's the matter Is the Church of England dead Or is any thing taken down that was essential to the Church of England was a Prelacy ruling by a lay-Chancelor over many hundred Parishes chosen and Governing without the body of the Clergy Essential to the Church of England I am confident the most of the sober godly Ministers in England are for the Apostolical primitive Episcopacy still Was the Book of Canons or the Book of Common Prayer or the Ceremonies Essential to the Church of England Sure they were not And if so its living still But if any say that these were Essential to it we may thank them for the death of it that made it of such a humane mortal frame which any Prince might spurn down at his pleasure Surely the Church or Churches of Christ in England are of a more heavenly durable frame that may be persecuted but hardly destroyed while the men are living of whom it doth consist Hence also it is that the Papists tell us that we have changed all our worship And wherein why we have not the same Baptism that we had nor the same administration of the Lords Supper nor the same publick Prayer nor the same way of Marrying Churching Burying c. And what 's the difference Is it that we say not at every time the very same words why so you may as well say that Paul was mutable because he wrot not the same words in every one of his Epistles nor spoke not the same words in all his Prayers no not in publick And so both you and we are mutable because we preach not the same words every day in our Sermons God hath bid us Pray but he hath prescribed us no necessary form of words but the Lords Prayer If the difference be that we use not the Common Prayer Book doth that make a different sort of worship Is it not the same sort of worship if we say the same words or words to the same sence either on the Book or off it If once men lay the Nature of worship and the Unity of the Church upon things unnecessary then what changes will seem to be in our worship when indeed there 's none Then the Papists may tell us of our divisions in worship because one man sitteth at the singing of Psalms and another stands and one readeth with spectacles and another without and one weareth a cap and another weareth none and one preacheth on one Text and another upon another But be it known to all the Papists in
who Christ is nor what it is to be a Christian are so much for kneeling at the taking of the Lords Supper that they dare not be so unreverent as to sit or stand but will raâ—her never receive at all nor are they fit till they change in a greater matter then the gesture And yet poor souls they think themselves to be very Religious and more Reverent then others and that here lyeth the difference between them It would grieve the heart of a considerate man to see a multitude of miserable sinners to live in wickedness in cursing swearing drunkenness filthiness neglect of God and a holy life drowned in worldly-mindedness and as regardless of the life to come as if they thought they should die like the beasts and even hating those that will not be ungodly as well as they and yet as hot for Ceremonies and Holy-days and kneeling at the Sacrament and the common-prayer-Common-prayer-Book as if they were more devout then others and it seems they have made themselves believe in good earnest that they are true Christians and Godly men because in the depth of their ungodliness they can make a stir against those that will not be of their mind and use these Ceremonies as well as they If any of you say that I am now speaking against your opinions or Ceremonies themselves as if I could not give you leave to use them you will but shew your selves mistaking hearers and false reporters No it is the laying too much stress on these matters and making Indifferent things seem Necessary as if Gods Worship or the Unity of the Church lay on them which I speak against And therefore I must needs say that both sides may be guilty of this sin Principally the Imposers of them that would have all men forc't to do as they do and next them there may be too much guilt in those that make indifferent things seem evil or lesser evils to be much greater then they are and so would make a Religion of avoiding what others make it their Religion to observe And whether your Religion lie in being for or against these points in question such as the Apostle speaks of in my Text is no great difference For the Religion of both will prove but a meer shadow yea an over hot opposing of such Middle things doth teach those that are for them to believe that they are matters of very great moment or else they think you would not make so great a matter of them And then when you have taught them by your fierce opposition to make a Great matter of them and custom and their party hath taught them to think their way is best both these set together do delude their souls and make them think that because of their Formalities they are godly men in the depths of their ignorance ungodliness and misery 20. Lastly observe how we sin against the sad experience of the Church in all Ages by laying our Religion or Unity upon these smaller or unnecessary things What hath distracted the Church so much as contendings about their Ceremonies and Orders and precedency and superiority Heresies I know have done their part especially the Arrians but smaller matters have had two great a hand in it what plentifull evidence could I give you of this The lamentable divisions of the Christian world about Easter day which the first General Council was fain to meet about and decide is too sad an Instance But alas the present Age it self hath given us too sad and plenteous proofs of it By a heap of Ceremonies and unnecessary things the Roman Church hath almost drownd both the Doctrine Worship and Discipline of Christ and miserably torn the Church in pieces and so continues to do And what work this mistake hath made in England I have no minde to tell you while our smart and sufferings tell you of it more plainly then is fit for me to do Indifferent things have shut out that which was better then Indifferent Consider well these twenty Reasons and then judge whether the Religion or Vnity of the Church should be placed in unnecessary things The imposing of them I shall speak of by it self Vse FRom the Text and Doctrine explained and confirmed we may see these following Consectaries arise 1. Hence we see the tender mercy of God to them that are sincere in the Faith though weak If their understandings be dark and their judgements in lesser things mistaken and their Consciences therein erroneous yet if they be but true Believers and right in the main and willing to know the mind of God and to obey it God would not have them excluded from the Communion of the Saints but rather received with charity and compassion and would have the stranger bear with their infirmities Rom. 15.1 He will not himself reject them and therefore he would not have them rejected or despised by his Servants Vse 2. Hence also we may see that God will bear more and so must his Church with smaller Errors then with the uncharitable or dividing management of those errors Though men should erre about meats or days or such like matters we must yet receive them and love them as Believers But yet if they will hereupon despise or censure one another to the breach of Charity and trouble of the Church for this they must be sharply rebuked as Paul here doth Vse 3. Hence also you may learn How far men should desire and enjoy a Liberty in matters of Religion and how far the Magistrate should interpose with force and how far not A liberty to live in sin or to subvert the Gospel and the souls of others the Magistrate should give to none But a Toleration in things of a lower nature that hazardeth not mens souls nor the Unity of the Church should be granted to the weak Can we be bound with Charity to receive them and yet to provoke the Magistrate to punish them and deal severelyer with them then we This may not be desired Vse 4. Hence also you may see what an enemy Popery is to the Unity of the Church and how impossible it is that the Church should have Unity upon their terms when they have composed a Religion of so many Ceremonies and unnecessary things and new devised Articles and Sacraments and none must be a Catholick Christian with them that will not be of thâ—s â—â—â—â—gion and vow or practise all their Novelties So far are they 〈◊〉 practising the Doctrine of my Texâ— that they set themselves in opâ—osition to it and place their Religâ—on and the Unity of their Church in such things as Paul here requireth us not so much as to judge one another in or in worse then these A Catholick Unity is impossible on their terms Vse 5. To conclude I advise all that are unfeigned friends to the Unity of the Church to practise the wholsom Doctrine of this Text. If you have Zeal there 's sin enough in your selves and oâ—hers to lay iâ— out upon Bear
not with Infidelity Sensuality Impenitency or any ungodly course If men be not so much as weak Believers and seem not Saints at least of the lower form receive not these into your Communion but leave them under your common compassionate charity If you can prove that God receiveth them not then do not you Receive them But as you are Christians take heed of cutting off or despising the Members of Christ and of giving a Bill of divorce to any soul that is truly espoused to him You have Drunkards and Railers and notorious ungodly ones enough to exercise all your Zeal if you joyn both head and heart and hand against them And can you find in your hearts to fall upon one another for indifferent things or smaller matters which the Unity of the Church doth not consist in I speak to both sides impartially and I beseech you so understand me What if thy weak Brother pray upon a Book darest thou therefore despise him and what if thy Brother pray without Book darest thou therefore judge him Nay darest thou desire that none but such should have liberty to Preach or Worship in the Church What if thy weak Brother dare not receive the Sacrament unless he Kneel in the act of receiving it darest thou therefore despise him And what if thy Brother on the other side do rather take it in another gesture because he is sure that Christ and his Apostles sinned not in so doing and because he finds that our Kneeling is contrary to the practice of the ancient Church yea ad hominem I may say contrary to General Councils yea to the last Canon of the first General Council it self which even the Canonists say that no Provincial Council or Bishops can repeal with many other reasons dare you therefore judge him because he dare not imitate you rather then Christ and his Apostles and the Primitive Church for many hundred years If any imagine that I go against this necessary Toleration my self because all here receive the Sacrament sitting I answer Let them prove that ever I refused one person meerly because they would take it Kneeling if they can If you say Why then are not all admitted to take it Kneeling I answer Soft and fair There are greater matters then Kneeling in the way Do but first let go your vicious courses and agree with us in a holy life turn unfeignedly to God and live in the Church Order that he hath plainly commanded and then if I cannot give you satisfaction you shall have liberty to take it in the gesture that you desire so be it you will grant me my liberty as I grant you yours One instance more Tomorrow is the day called Christmass day and many days called Holy days do follow it If you will but Read and Mark this Chapter Rom. 14. I am perswaded it may prevent a great deal of sin that many of you on both sides may be guilty of Is it not a wonder that after so large and plain a decision by the Holy Ghost as here you find there should yet be any controversie among us about this Case Do you take the word of God for your Rule or not If you do why then doth it not Rule you and end the difference Do you not read the Apostlâ—s words ver 14. One man esteemeth one day above another another esteemeth every day alike Let every man be fully perswaded in his own mind If you were Papists that would say the Scripture is obscure and therefore you must have a General Council you could scarce devise how a Council should speak more plain then this But nothing will serve some men but their own wills Dare you on the one side despise your weak Brother now for esteeming â—hese days above the rest Why perhaps it is to God that he esteemeth it and the ancient custom of the Church and practice of many godly persons do perswade him that it is right And dare you on the other side condemn or reproach them that make not this difference of days as you do If we are contented that you have your Liberty which truly I would not deprive you of if it were in my power cannot you be contented that we have ours There are three opinions about these Holy days 1. Some think the observance of them a necessary Religious Duty 2. Some think the very outward observance to be an intolerable sin 3. Some know that both these extreams are erroneous and therefore they take the thing in it self to be indifferent but as circumstances or accidents may make it Good or Evil And these are in the right They that are in the Middle can bear with others but the other cannot bear with them nor with each other There is no proof that ever I saw that the Church observed any of these days of many hundred years after Christ. For the Clement the Dionysius the Cyprian that are cited for it are known to be spurious And it is unlikely that none of these would have been mentioned as well as the Lords day if they had been then observed when there was so much ado about the time of Easter day Yea it is certain that of divers hundred years after Christ it was not agreed on which was the day of Christs Nativity some thought it was on Ianuary 6. and therefore called it the Epiphany or Appearance And of old both the birth day and Circumcision of Christ were supposed to be on that same day that is on the sixth of Ianuary Caessianus witnesseth that the Egyptians were of that mind Collat. l. 10. c. 11. And Epiphanius witnesseth the same of the Greek and Asian and Syrian Churches Epiphanius himself and Nâ—zianzen and many others were of this mind that it was on Ianuary 6. and that thence it was called the Epiphanis And Chrysâ—stom in Hom. in Natal Dâ—m tells us that it was but ten years before he wrote it that the Romans had perswaded the Church of Constantinople to change the day to December 25. And yet the Countryes about Ierusalem held to the 6. of Ianuary as Causabon hath shewed Exercit. 2. cap. 4. p. 170 171. cap. 11. p. 186 187. Yea indeed the Day of Christs Nativity is yet unknown as if God had kept us ignorant of purpose Many very learned men as Broughton Helvicus Scaliger Beroaldus think that the day was about Autumn in the beginning of October Calvisius Paraeus and many more are for other times then December 25. and Iac. Cappellus and many others still go the old way for Ianuary 6. And Th. Lydiat out of Clem. Alexandr is for May 20. Scultetus Clopenburgius and many others do shew that indeed the time is utterly uncertain And no wonder if the day be uncertain when the very year is so uncertain that there is no probability of ever comeing to a full agreement about it among the Learned in Chronologie till the last comeing of Christ agree them Our late most Learned Chronologer Bishop Vsher was