thou hast sent Iesus Christ. Christ saith it is life Eternall to know the Father to be the onely true God and whom he hath sent Jesus Christ but it is not life Eternall to know Christ onely as man but as true God and man and so a perfect Mediator neither is Christ said only the Son of God in respect of his temporall generation as man but also in respect of his eternal generation as he is the second person in Trinity this answer therefore of yours is not sufficient nor pertinent M. Doctor the company is not satisfied with their Answers I pray resolve the doubt your selfe I will as soone as they have propounded their objections for I moved these Questions only to make it appeare to the auditors how unfit these men are to take upon them the office of Teachers who are so imperfect in the fundamentall poynts of Catechisme Now let them propound what questions they please What is the nature of a visible Church what is the matter and fâ—rme of it or what is the visible Church of Christ made up of by authority of the Scriptures Your Question is Quid constituit visibilem Ecclesiam what makes a Church Yes I answer according to the Scriptures and the joynt consent of of all protestant Churches in the world French Dutch c. in the harmony of confessions that the sincere preaching of the Word and the due administration of the Sacraments constitutes or makes a true visible Church The Papists make many notes of the Church as antiquity universality succession miracles and diverse other but the reformed Churches make but two onely namely those above mentioned What is a true particular visible church A particular companie of men professing the christian faith knowne by the two marks above mentioned the sincere preaching of the word and the due administration of the Sacraments Is the church of England such a church It is so How prove you that First I answer I need not to prove it but you are to disprove it For as Hooker teacheth in his Ecclesiasticall Politie they who are in possession are not bound to prove their right but they who goe about to thrust them out are to disprove their right aud bring a better title for themselves Secondly yet to give you further satisfaction thus I prove the church of England to be such a church Every church in which the word of God is sincerely preached the sacraments lawfully and rightly administred is such a church But in the church of England the word is sincerely preached and the sacraments lawfully administred Ergo the church of England is such a church I denie that in the church of England the word is sincerely preached or the sacraments rightly administred I have here two things to prove 1. That the doctrine of the church of England is agreeable to Gods word 2. The sacraments are rightly administred in it First the doctrine of the church of England is contained in the 39 Articles Secondly the due administration of the sacraments in the communion-communion-book But both the one the other are agreeable to Gods word Ergo the preaching of the word and administration of the sacraments in the church of England are agreeable to Gods word I denie that the 39 Articles and the book of common-prayer are agreeable to Gods word 1. I wil prove that the book of Articles is agreeable to Gods word In the book of Articles the first which concerneth the blessed Trinity the 2. 3. 4. which concern the incarnation of Christ Jesus his death and resurrection the 5. which concerneth the holy Ghost the 6. the perfection of scriptures and the 18. following which impugn popery are agreeable to Gods word and you cannot name any one of the rest which is not agreeable therefore they are all agreeable If you know any one that is not agreeable instance in it and I will presently shew how it is agreeable to scripture For the 39 Articles I know not what they are I never saw them that I remember Then for ought you know they are all conformable to scripture at least you can except against none of them Now for the book of common-prayer it consists partly of Psalms Epistls and Gospels partly of Prayers and the form and manner of administration of the sacraments But the former are taken out of scripture the latter are agreeable to it What doe you except against it I except against your administration of Baptism it is not rightly administred in your church for you baptize children and that is not agreeable to Gods word if you say it is how doe you prove it by scriptures This D. F. undertook to prove out of scriptures but before he alledged any text of scripture for it another Anabaptist interposed You say your church is a true church that cannot be for the true church compells none to come to church or punishes him for his conscience as the church of England doth Iosiah was supream governour of the true church in Iudah and Israel but Iosiah compelled all Israel to come to the house of God and worship him there 2 Chron. 34. 33. So Iosiah took away all the abominations out of all the countries that appertained to the children of Israel and compelled all that were found in Israel to serve the Lord their God Ergo men may be compelled by the civill magistrate to the true worship of God Josiah compelled them to come to Jerusalem but that law is not now in force There is a three-fold law of God delivered by Moses 1. Ceremoniall 2. Judiciall and 3. Morall The ceremoniall and judiciall are not now in force but the morall is and Iosiah did this by the command of the morall law For the text saith not that he compelled them to come to Ierusalem but to serve the Lord their God which is a dutie required by the morall law and the law of nature For though the place of Gods Service and the manner be changed yet the substantiall worship of God still remains and princes are now as much bound to compell their subjects to the true worship of God as Iosiah was And moreover it is to be noted that Iosiah did this by vertue of a covenant which he made before the Lord to walk after the Lord and keep his commandements with all his heart and all his soul 2 Chro. 34. 31. And the spirit of God sendeth this testimony after him 2 King 23. 15. Like unto him there was no King before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might according to the law of Moses which words have an apparent reference to that first and great commandement Deut. 6. 5. thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy might
set forms of Prayer which are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Common Prayers and distinguished from that which he delivered alone by himself by way of preface to his Sermon or Homilie In the third age we meet with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 prescribed prayers and Tertullian in his apologetick gives us the moulds or heads of the publike prayer then constantly used saying our prayer for all our Emperors is that God would vouchsafe to grant them a long life a happy reign a safe Court valiant armies faithfull counsellors a good people a quiet world Yea but say the Anabaptists they said this prayer de pectore out of their brests and sine monitore without any guide or remembrancer or prompter and therefore by an ex tempore facultie This will not follow they mistake much the matter for this monitor Tertullian speaks of was a kind of Nomen-clator who kept a Catalogue of their numerous heathen deities to whom those Paynims prayed upon speciall occasions and directed them to whom and for what to pray left they should commit any absurditie in their prayers in praying to Ceres for wine and to Bacchus for corn Such monitors or prompters the Christians needed not who prayed to one God only and not a prayer suggested by others but premeditated by themselvs and first spoken in their heart before it was uttered by the mouth according to that of the Psalmist My heart is enditing a good matter my tongue is the pen of a readie writer To pray then de pectore in Tertullians sense is no more then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to say without book or pray by heart or from the heart whose feat is in the brest S. Cyprian flourished in this age about the year 250. in whose writings which S. Ierome affirmeth to have been sole clamora as illustrious and well known in the Christian church as the beams of the sun or as he speaketh hyperbolically brighter then they We find some short forms of prayer at this day in use both in the Roman Missall and our book of Common-Prayer as namely sursum corda habemus ad Dominum lift up your hearts and we lift them up unto to the Lord c. Upon which passages and the like the Centurle writers who have gathered all the harvest of antiquitie and have scarce left gleanings for any other truly infer that in this blessed Martyrs dayes out of all peradventure they had certain set forms of short prayers and responds In the fourth age Eusebius writeth that the most religious Emperour Constantine the great commanded all his subjects to keep holy the Lords day and on it to send up to God with heartie and unanimous devotion an elaborate or studied form of prayer penned as it seemeth for the purpose as to give God thanks for the great and miraculous victories he gave him over all the tyrants that persecuted the church so to pray to God to perfect the great work he had begun by him to propagate the Gospell through the whole world and reduce all that were subject to the Roman state to the obedience of faith Besides this prayer penned by some Bishop the same Historian writeth that the Emperour himself made a speciall prayer which he commanded the Souldiers to say every day in the Roman tongue In this age also the famous Councell at Laodicea was held which hath left us diverse Canons like so many golden rules both to regulate our devotion and rectifie our lives and among these for one that everie morning and evening the same service or form of prayer should be used and because some even in this verie age adventured to make use of their ex tempore gift of prayer at least read or said some private prayer conceived by themselvs in stead of the publike form the Milevitan Councell provideth against this abuse by a speciall Canon which carrieth this tenor it seemed good to the reverend fathers met in this Synod to appoynt that those prayers or orizons which were devised or at least allowed by that Councell should be used by all men and no other lest peradventure something through ignorance or want of care might be uttered in the church that might not well agree with the Catholike faith The occasion of this Canon was the over-weeâ—ing conceit that some Bishops had of some prayers devised by themselvs which they obtruded to the church in stead of the publike prescript form whereby it appears that in those dayes that libertie was not permitted to any reverend or ancient Bishop which now everie punie minister taketh to himself to adde or leave out or change what he thinketh good in the Book of Common-Prayer established by the church and ratified by Act of Parliament About the end of this age or the beginning of the next Basil Ambrose and Chrysostome framed Liturgies to be used in their Diocesses yet extant in their works and bibliotheca patrum though with some interpolation And S. Augustine in his seventh Tome consisting of many excellent treatises against the Pelagians produceth divers passages out of the Common-Prayer then used by the church to convince those hereticks of the noveltie as well as falshood of their tenets For notwithstanding that the Pelagians were furnished with many testimonies of the ancient Doctors especially of the Greek church qui ante exortum Pelagium securius locuti sunt who before that heresie sprang up spake more freely of the freedome of mans free will by nature in opposition to the Manichees who taught a fatall necessitie of sinning then could well stand with the free grace of Christ accurately defended by S. Austine and his scholars yet this learned and zealous father being most expert in the prayers appoynted to be read in the ancientest Christian churches out of them exceedingly confounded these upstart hereticks and proved a full consent of antiquitie for those Orthodox tenets he propugned against all the enemies of Christs free and saving grace and truly at this day a man may more certainly gather out of the Book of Common-Prayer and specially the Collects used in our Liturgie what is the judgement of the church of England in those points anciently questioned by the Pelagians and now by the Arminians then out of the Book of Articles or Homilies In the sixt age Gregorie the great and S. Isidore set forth offices or forms of church Service and partly out of them partly out of the Liturgies above mentioned of S. Basil Ambrose and Chrysostome partly some more ancient attributed to the Apostles and Evangelists themselvs all the famous and known churches of the Christian world have their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 misses officia services or Books of Common-Prayer compiled which they use at this day and as most of the reformed churches have so the most learned and judicious Calvin wisheth all might have Concerning a form of prayer and ecclesiasticall rites I very well
like that it be a certain and constant one from which the Pastors of the Church may in no wise depart or varie ARGUMENT V. Those prayers which all in the kingdome are perpetually bound to use ought to be approved by the whole church or kingdome for such prayers especially ought to be made in faith and care taken that nothing be in them repugnant to sound doctrine But such prayers cannot be ex tempore ejaculations or sudden conceptions of every private Pastors brain opinion or fansie Ergo they must be penned forms examined by Gods word and publiquely printed that all may know what they are and may confidently goe along with the Minister and without any scruple of conscience say Amen to the prayers which they cannot doe to such unwarranted immethodicall inconsequent nay hereticall schismaticall and seditious prayers as many of our ex tempore Enthusiasts deliver especially on fast-dayes with infinitie of tautologies and vain repetitions to the great scorn and scandall of our religion ARGUMENT VI. There ought to be publique prayers not only on the Lords day but on the week-dayes also upon speciall occasion in every church or congregation of the saints for prayer is the Christians dayly sacrifice from which those houses of God ought to take their denomination domus mea domus orationis vocabitur my house shall be called the house of prayer domus orationis non orationum not a house of sermons though such there to be made nor a house of sacraments though there to be administred nor a house of Psalmes though there to be sung but a house of prayer as the principall and chief and most necessarie dutie there to be performed prayer may be without the other the other cannot be without it But such prayers can be no other in most churches then set forms devised by the learned of the Clergie and approved by the State for there is not one Minister or Curate of a hundred especially in countrey villages or parochiall churches who hath any tolerable gift of conceived as they tearm them or ex tempore prayers Ergo there ought to be set forms of prayer used in publique congregations ARGUMENT VII No man prayeth as he ought who poureth not out his whole soul before God praying as well with an entire intention as affection But this a man cannot doe who maketh a prolix ex tempore prayer in a publique congregation by reason that he must at the same time both think upon what he speaketh and invent also what he is to speak in order and with good coherence unlesse he will pray absurdly and inconsequently Ergo no man prayeth as he ought who comes not with a set or premeditated form of prayer into a publique congregation ARGUMENT VIII Not to speak of sudden ejaculations which necessitie forceth or excuseth nor of prayers in extasies and raptures in which an elevated soul is rather passive then active In all ordinarie prayers which we are to offer to God in the usuall and constant course of our Ministerie we must be carefull to shun all temeritie and rashnesse and watch in prayer with all diligence The pure oyle Olive of the Sanctuarie was to be beaten by Gods appointment Exod. 27. 20. and the Virgins were to trim their lights Mat. 25. 7. before they went out to meet the Bride-groome and God himself rejected the blind and the lame for sacrifices None presumeth to put up a petition to the king which is not carefully perused before and shall we lesse reverence the King of heaven then an earthly prince But temeritie and rashnesse cannot be avoided by such who speak to God quicquid in buccam venerit and presume to deliver that in a publique assembly which they never thought on before Ergo all such ex tempore prayers ought to be forborn in publique and the set forms of the Church retained or some in stead of them composed with publique approbation Anabaptists Objections In excepting against all set or stinted â—orms of prayer aspis a vipera sumit venenum according to the Latin proverb the asp borroweth poyson from the viper that is the Anabaptists from the Brownists who may rightly be tearmed a generation of vipers because they after the manner of vipers make way to their separation or going out from the Body of their Mother the Church of England by eating and rearing her bowels Out of their own store the Anabaptists furnish themselves with arguments against all set forms of prayer in generall but they are beholding to the Brownists for all such objections as they make against the publique forms of prayer used in the Church of England in particular For the more distinct handling of the objections being somewhat of a different nature and for the ease of the reader that he may more readily find a particular and punctuall solution to any such speciall objections as most stick with him I will first propound their main arguments against set forms in generall and both answer them and retort them and then particularly scan what they seem materially to object against the service-Service-book established by law in the Church of England OBJECTIONS against set forms of Prayer in generall OBJECT 1. No worship devised by man is acceptable to God Set forms of prayer are a worship devised by man Ergo set forms of prayer are not acceptable to God ANSWER First a worship of God devised by man may be taken in a double sense either for a worship wholly devised by man without any precept or president in scripture and such a worship is not agreeable unto God but condemned in his word under the name of will-worship or for a worship in substance prescribed by God but in some circumstance manner or help thereunto devised or composed by man and such may be and is acceptable unto God as for example reading scripture is a religious act prescribed by God yet the translation of the originall into the mother-tongue divisions of the text into chapters and verses diverse readings interlinearie glosses together with the contents and fitting them to the times and seasons are from man Preaching is a worship of God yet the choyse of such a text dividing it into parts and handling the parts in such a method raysing doctrines and applying Uses from them are from man or acts wherein the Preacher maketh use of his invention art and judgement Catechizing is a dutie enjoyned by God yet to use such a form of words or method in Catechizing by questions and answers as also the dividing the Catechisme into 52. Sections answerable to the Sundayes in the year as we see in Calvins and other Catechismes is a device and invention of man In like manner prayer is a dutie enjoyned by God and a part of his substantiall worship but the set forms are devised by man yet according to generall rules prescribed in scripture Secondly not only prayer it self but even set forms of prayer have both precept and example in Gods
18. 10. Two men went up into the Temple to pray Acts 3. 1. Peter and Iohn went up together into the Temple at the houre of prayer 1 Thess. 5. 17. Pray without ceasing 1 Tim. 2. 1. Let prayers intercessions and supplications be made for all men 1 Thess. 1. 2. making mention of you in our prayers 2 Tim. 1. 3. remembrance of thee in my prayers EXCEPT II. Secondly they except against the Service-book that either all of it or the greater part is taken out of the Roman Missall and therefore is to be kickt out of the church with that superstitious piece of Romish devotion ANSWER But this exception is first insufficient secondly ignorant For if the prayers in our service-Service-book are holy and pithie if agreeable to the pattern of all prayer and favour of true pietie and devotion which they cannot denie they doe what skils it out of what book they were culled The Iews borrowed jewels of the Egyptians to adorn the Sanctuarie Solomon sent for timber and other materials for the Temple to Hyram king of Tyre S. Paul transcribed verses out of heaÌ„then Poets Virgil raked gold out of Enuius hic muck Christian Apothecaries gather simples to make sovereigne electuaries out of the gardens of Iews and Mahumetans the Lapidaries take out a precious stone called Bufomtes out of the head of a Toad Christ indeed forbids us to cast pearl before swine but no where to take a pearl out of a ring in a swines snowt if there be found any there Secondly this exception is guiltie of as much ignorance as weaknesse they who make it are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as cannot see afarre off of if they could they might have discerned the prayers in our Church-book to be farre more ancient then the Roman Missall The Bishops and learned Doctors who in the dayes of Edward the sixt compiled the Service-book at Windsor had farre more ancient Liturgies in their eye then the Roman Missall or Breviarie they drew not water out of that impure channell but out of a clearer fountain There are the same Epistles and Gospels in our book and theirs but they were not taken out of theirs but out of the Canonicall books of the old and new Testament there are the same Psalmes and Hymnes but they were not taken out of their Psalter but out of Davids and Saint Luke there are many of the same Collects and Orisons but they are not taken out of their Breviarie but out of the Liturgies of Saint Basil Saint Ambrose Saint Chrysostome and other more ancient attributed to the Apostles themselves Lastly if in regard of that little which may seem to be translated out of the Missall into our English Service-book it might be tearmed as Spalatensis when he was present at the Service in Canterburie church called it Breviarium optime reformatum a reformed Breviarie I cannot apprehend how that should be any derogation to it for what saith Solomon take away the drosse from the silver and there shall come forth a vessell for the refiner This was the noble work of the learned Doctors and Martyrs who reformed Religion in England they took away the drosse not only from the Missals but from all other Offices and Service-books then extant all superstitious Rites either heathenish or Iewish all Legendarie fables all invocation of saints prayers for the dead all Dirige's and Trentals and whatsoever was not warrantable by holy scripture and retaining the rest supplyed what was wanting thereunto and hence came forth this Vessell for the refiner this Liturgie of our church more compleat then any now extant in other reformed churches EXCEPT III. Thirdly they except at three Popish absolutious as they tearme them the first in the beginning of the Service after the publique confession the second before the Communion the third in the visitation of the sick But this exception hath in it more strength of passion then reason for none of these absolutions are absolute but conditionall nor in the name or by the authoritie of the Minister but of Christ. The first is nothing but a declaration of Gods mercie who freely pardoneth the penitent and of the Ministers dutie to declare and pronounce this absolution and remission to the people The second is a prayer of the Minister to God to have mercie upon the Communicants to pardon and deliver them from all their sinnes and to confirme and strengthen them in all goodnesse The third is the execution of that Ministeriall power wherewith Christ invested the Apostles and their successours Iohn 20. 23. As my father sent me so I send you whose sinnes ye remit they are remitted whose sinnes ye retaine they are retained Here is our expresse warrant and commission from Christ for what we doe in this kind to revive the spirit of the humble and cheat up the drooâ—ing conscience reaâ—lie to languish in a featefull conflict with despaire EXCEPT IV. Fourthly they except against the reading of the Psalmes Epistles and Gospels in a corrupt translation in which there are many grosse errours as Psal 105. 28. And they were not obedient to his word whereas it should be translated and they rebelled not against his word and Luke the first 36. This is the sixth moneth which was called barren for this is the sixth moneth with her who was called barren And Rom. 12. 11. Fervent in Spirit serving the time for serving the Lord. And Galat. 4. 25. Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia and bordereth upon the citie which is now called Ierusalem for and answereth to Ierusalem And Phil. 2. 8. He was found in his apparrell as a man for being found in fashion as a man And Ephes. 3. 15. Which is the father of all that is called father in heaven and earth for of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named But this exception is of little importance and may soon be philipp't away For first if no translation way be read in the church but that which is free from all errour then none at all ought to be read for there is none in which there are not some mistakes more or lesse with this ferula therefore they rap themselves over the thumbs Secondly those sores on which they fasten their nail have their salves they may see them if they please in Hooker Fisher and many others who have cleared those very passages Lastly neither is the Minister nor are the people tyed to that translation in the common-prayer-book but they may if they please in stead thereof read the Psalmes Epistles and Gospels according to the last and best translation neither were they to blame who in the first setting forth of the common-prayer-book appointed the scriptures to be read in that ancient translation for that was the best then extant neither is there any errour at all in it which concerneth faith or manners and other slips must be born withall in translations or else we must read none at all till we have a translation given
and State with such successe that this your meeting may be like to that in the 25. yeare of Edw. 3. which is known to posterity by the name of Benedictum Parliamentum the blessed Parliament Yours in the Lord Iesus DAN FEATLEY From Prison in the Lo Peters house in Aldersgate-street Ian. 10. 1644. TO MY REVEREND and much esteemed Friend Mr. JOHN DOWNAM Worthy Sir I Have now finished my Polemicall Tractate against the Anabaptists which had slept securely by me in a whole skin of Parchment had not the clamours of the Adversaries awaked it who cry downe Paedobaptisme and cry up Anabaptisme not onely in the Pulpit but also from the Presse to the great offence of godly minds and the scandall of the Church You will peradventure returne me an Answer in the words of the Poet Ole quid ad te What doth this concerne me whose Restraint is a necessary Supersedeas from proceeding agaâ—nst these presumptuous and daring Sectaries And the unfurnishing me of all Books and helps of mine owne Notes and Collections lately taken from me furnisheth me with too just an excuse for not writing I confesse to my griefe it doth but what will you have me doe Situ otio torpescere Such a rest would be most restlesse and tedious The lesse I doe the more I must needs suffer and the more I doe the lesse I suffer And beleeve me Sir it is not an ambition to be seene in the Presse but a desire for the time to forget my unsufferable pressures which hath now set me on worke As when we have the world at will and can give our Mind her vagaries at pleasure to fixe or thoughts on any certaine subject is a kind of incarceration of the spirit so when our Estate is sequestred and our person confined and no theame is given us daily to enlarge upon but the valuing of our unvaluable losses and the present supplying of our importunate wants to divert our minds from commenting upon our deplorate estate and forcibly confining our meditations to a more pleasant subject is a great ease and kind of liberty to immured thoughts But this is not all for as S. Jerome thought wheresoever he was whatsoever he did he heard the sound of the last Trumpet and the summons of the Archangel Surgite mortui venite ad judicium So me thinks wheresoever I am and whatsoever my businesse is I heare that Vae of the Apostle Woe be unto me if I preach not the Gospel And preach the Gospel I can now no otherwise then from the Presse for both my Pulpits are taken from me and possest by others and I cannot obtaine though by my selfe and friends I earnestly soughâ— it that liberty which S. Paul enjoyed when he was imprisoned at Rome to preach the Gospel to my fellow prisoners Now therefore sith I cannot lingua I must be content as I am able evangelizare calamo to preach with my Pen which I can hardly dip into any other liquor then the juice of Gall in regard of the malignity of the times and the insolencies of the enemies of the truth As Adders Efts and other venemous serpents breed in old broken walls so all sorts of Heretiques and Schismatiques breed and are exceedingly multiplyed by reason of the ruptuâ—es in State and distraction of the time Among all these the Papists and the Anabaptists are most dangerous and pestilent enemies the one to the Church the other to the State These above all others having bestirred themselves since the waters were troubled and they boast in secret of their great draughts of fish the Papists of 20000. Proselytes the Anabaptists of 47. Churches Si natura negat facit indignatio versum As well Indignation as Zeale hath stirred up my drooping spirit and encouraged me though as I said before unarmed to fall upon both the former in my Answer to a Popish Challenge the latter in this my Catabaptistarum Catacrisis Jerom comforting a young Hermite bade him look up to heaven Paradisum mente deambulare assuring him that so long as he had Paradise in his mind and heaven in his thoughts tamdiu in eremo no eris so long he was not in the wildernesse So verily it seemes to me so long as I can draw the sword of the spirit and pursue freely the enemies of the doctrine and discipline of the Church of England and beat them out of their trenches so long me thinks I am not in bonds The Lord in mercy look upon the Convulâ—ions in the State and Distractions in the Church and turne our Baptisme of blood into a Baptisme of tears in which we may and ought all to be Anabaptists This is the hearty wish of him who loveth the truth for it selfe and you for the truths sake Dan Featley The Preface to the Reader IN nova fert animus mutatas discere formas Corpora I am to tel thee Christian Reader this New yeare of new changes never heard of in former Ages namely of Haras turned nito Aras Stables into Temples Stalls into Quires Shop-boards into Communion Tables Tubs into Pulpits Aprons into Linnen Ephods and Mechanicks of the lowest ranke into Priests of the high places Thou shalt heare in this Treatise not of a line drawne after Protogenes nor of an Iliad after Homer but of a Metamorphosis after Ovid not made by Poeticall license but by Propheticall liberty not of men into beasts but of S. Pauls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 evill beasts shall I say into men nay into men of God and Prophets of the New Law If ever Saint Ieroms Complaint were in season it is now Physitians keep within the bounds of their Science Smiths meddle with the Hammer and Anvill the Linnen Draper deales not in Woollen cloth nor the Woollen Draper in Linnen the Carpenter takes not the Ioyners work out of his hand nor the Ioyner the Carpenters the Shoomaker goes not beyond his Last nor the Tailor beyond his Measure onely the trade of expounding Scripture is a Mysterie which every Artizan arrogateth to himselfe The Physitian here wil be prescribing receipts the Lawyer will be demurring upon dubia Evangelica and every handy-crafts man will bâ— handling the pure Word of God with impure and unwashed hands This the pratling huswife this the old dotard this the wrangling sophister in a word this men of aâ—â— professions and men of no profâ—ssion take upon them to have skill in readily teaching that they never learned and abundantly pouring out that which was never infused into them The Apostle comparing the dignity of the ministerial function with the indignity and insufficiencie of most mens gifts for it cryes out Who is sufficient for these things But if we consider mens opinions of their owne gifts and their practice at this day we may say Who is not sufficient for these things Not the meanest Artizan not the illiteratest Day-labourâ—r but holds himselfe sufficient to be a Master-builder in Christs Church When the
lives to the law of God they are also purged from the guilt of their sinnes and Christs righteousnesse is imputed unto them though they have no sense or feeling thereof till God worketh powerfully upon their hearts by the preaching of the word and they apprehend Christs merits by an actuall faith As a flower in the winter lyes hid under ground in the root which at the spring shooteth forth the leaves thereof so in children that are baptized there remaines that root of sanctifying grace in their hearts which in riper yeares putteth forth the leaves thereof by a holy profession and bringeth forth fruit by a godly conversation They argue à pari if the sacrament of baptisme be to be administred to children then also the sacrament of the Lords supper for both are seales of the same covenant But the supper is not to be administred unto infants therefore neither is baptisme But we answer that the inference is not good for though both are seales of the covenant of grace yet there is a three-fold disparitie in them which looseneth the sinewes of the argument First baptisme is the seale of our new birth but the Lords supper of our growth in grace and ghostly strength baptisme is a sacrament of initiation the Lords supper of perfection Now it will not follow that because a punie or novice may or ought to be admitted to the lowest form in the school of Christ therefore he may and ought to be set in the highest the Lords supper is strong meat and not milk and therefore no fit meat for sucklings Secondly the sacrament of the Lords supper was instituted for the commemoration of Christs death As oft as ye eat of this bread and drink of this cup saith the Apostle ye shall declare the Lords death till he come But children neither can apprehend nor shew forth Christs death therefore that sacrament is not ordained for them Thirdly before the receiving the Lords Supper every one is required to examine himselfe which children cannot do But before baptisme there is no such examination required Though if any in riper years be converted to the Christian faith it is most requisite that he be examined by the minister who baptiseth him and that he be able to give a good account of his faith but every one who is fit to be baptized is not presently to be addmitted to the Lords Table without precedent preparation and a more strict examination of himself both concerning his growth in faith and sinceritie of repentance and unfained charitie with an earnest desire of that heavenly repast They argue from Christs example who was not baptized till he was thirtie years of age But we answer that Christs example alone without a precept doth not bind us For Christ neither instituted nor administred the holy Supper till the day before his death and then he both administred and received it after Supper and that with his Apostles only yet we are not bound either to defer our receiving to the day before our death or to administer the Eucharist after Supper or to participate only with such a number and those Priests or Ministers of the Gospell Secondly Christ in his infancie was circumcised circumcision then being in force neither was baptisme then instituted but now circumcision is abrogated and baptisme succeeds in the place thereof Thirdly though Christ were not baptized in his infancie for the reasons above alledged yet was he baptized if I may so speak in the infancie of baptisme it self For as soon as Iohn began to baptize Christ came unto him and required baptisme of him When the fulnesse of time was come in which God had appoynted to manifest him to the world and appoynt him our teacher by a voice from heaven This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear him According to whose example we ought not to defer our baptisme but upon the first opportunitie offered unto us receive that seal of our new-birth in Christ and admission into his church I conclude the answer to this argument with an observation of Gastius that Christ because he was Lord both of the people in the old testament and of them in the new therefore he would receive the sacraments of both and was both circumcised in his infancie and baptized also as soon as baptisme was in force Since the examination and confutation of this second Article of the Anabaptists there came to my hands a small pamphlet dedicated to the house of Commons intituled The vindicathâ—u of the royall commission of king Iesus wherein the author Francis Cornwell master of Arts and sometimes student of Emanuell Colledge in Cambridge frameth many arguments against the ordinance of the church in baptizing infants Of which I may truly say as Martiall doth of Caecilius who made disverse dishes of one and the self same kind of course root Atreus Caecilius cucurbitarum Sic illas quasi filias Thyestae In partes lacerat secatque mille Gustu protinus has edes in ipso Has prima feret alterave mensa Has coenae tibi tertia reponit Huicseras Epidipnidas parabit Hoc lautum vocat hoc putat venustum Unum poâ—ere ferculis tot assem Thou cheatest my stomack with varietie of dishes in all which there is but one sorie root drest after a diverse manner in all of them not a half-pennie worth of good and solid meat So this new Anabaptisticall Proselyte endeavours to cheat the judgement of the reader with varietie of syllogismes and enthymems in which there is but one or two arguments at most propounded in divers forms and in all of them not the weight of one solid reason the summe effect of his whole book is contained in the title-page wherein he affirmeth that the christening of children doth universally oppose the commission granted by king Iesus Mat. 28. 19. 20. Mark 16. 15. 16. and that paedobaptisme is a popish tradition brought into the church by Innocentius the third upon these two notes he runs in division through his whole book The first hath no colour of probabilitie and the latter is a grosse ignorant untruth if the baptisme of infants oppose the coÌ„mission granted by Christ Mat. 28. either it opposeth it in words or in sense not in words for there is no mention at all of children in either of those texts much lesse any prohibition of baptizing them neither doth it oppose it in sense For the meaning of our Saviour there apparently is that his Apostles and their Successors should go and convert all Nations and plant Christian churches in them first teaching them the Gospel and principles of Christian Religion and after administring the sacraments unto them which they have done accordingly first teaching the parents and baptizing them and after their children into their faith But the objection from these texts is fully answered and retorted in the end of the conference and in the solution of the first argument brought by
the Anabaptists in this section And therefore I come briefly to examine his second assertion or rather aspersion of the whole Christian world in these words in the frontis-peece of his book Against the anti-christian faction of pope Innocentius the third and all his favourites that enacted by a decree that the baptisme of the infants of beleevers should suâ—ceed circumcision These words vertually contain this proposition that the christening children is the practise of an Anti-christian faction which was brought first into the church by the decree of Pope Innocentius the third Of which enunciation I may say as Tertullian doth of the Chameleon quot colores tot dolores or rather quot dicta tot maledicta so many words as there are so many grosse errors and scandalous reproaches For the baptizing infants is not the practise of a faction nor a part but of the whole not Anti-christian but truely Christian church Neither was it introduced by Innocentius the third but is of far more ancient date and was derived even from the times of the Apostles themselvs First it is well known that the Greek and Latine churches or the Eastern or Western were the membra dividentia of the whole church and that the christening of infants was approved of and practised by the Greek church is evident by the testimonies of Gregorie Nazianzen orat 40. in bap Origen hom 8. upon Leviticus and 14. of Luke and that it was likewise approved and practised in the Latine church is clearly collected from Ambrose lib. de Abrahamo Patriarcha Ieron cont Pelag. l. 3. Augustin l. 10. de Gen. ad lit c. 23. Cyp. ep 59. ad Fidum Now if the Greek and Latine churches were Anti-christian where were there any Christians in the world Secondly Pope Innocentius the third as it is well known to all the learned lived in the twelfth age of the Church and flourished about the year 1215 in which year he called the great Councell at Lateran Before him Gregorie the great whom M. Cornwell himself alledgeth page 11. out of M. Fox in his book of Martyrs about the year of our Lord 599. above six hundred yeares before Innocentius the third resolved Austine the Monk that in case of necessitie infants might be baptized as soon as they were born and two hundred yeares before Gregorie S. Austine wrote a treatise de baptismo parvulorum and for the lawfulnesse thereof in his 28 epistle and in his third book de pec mer. remiss and by occasion elsewhere also alledgeth a testimonie out of S. Cyprian to that purpose who wrote in the year of our Lord 250. nay which is most considerable Origen in his Comment upon the epistle to the Romans c. 6. l. 5. quoted by M. Cornwell himself p. 10. affirmeth in expresse tearms that the church from the Apostles received a tradition to baptize children whence I thus frame my argument All Christians ought to hold the traditions which have been taught them by the Apostles either by word or epistle 2 Thess. 2. 15. But the baptizing of children is a tradition received from the Apostles as Origen affirmeth loc sup cit Austine l. 10. de Gen. ad lit c. 23. de bap cont Donatis l. 4. Ergo the baptizing of children ought to be retained in the Christian church Thus M. Cornwell hath spun a fair thred of which a strong cord may be made to strangle his own assertion Yea but M. Cornwell chargeth all ministers deeply to answer this his negative demonstration saying O that the learned English ministerie would informe me lest my bloud like Abels crie aloud from heaven for vengeance for not satisfying a troubled conscience how shall I admit or consent to the admittance of the infant of a beleever to be made a visible member of a particular congregation of Christs body and baptized before it be able to make confession of its faith and repentance lest I consent to separate what God hath joyned together That which God hath joyned together no man ought to separate But faith and baptisme God hath joyned together Mar. 16. 16. Acts 8. 37 38. 16. 33 34. Gal. 3. 27. Ephes. 4. 5. Ergo faith and baptisme no man ought to separate ANSWER This argument is so far from a demonstration that it is not so much as a topicall syllogism but meerly sophisticall therin any who hath ever saluted the University and hath bin initiated in Logick may observe a double fallacy The first is fallacia homonymiae in the premises The second is ignoratio elenchi in the conclusion First the homonymia or ambiguity is in the tearm joyned together for the meaning may be either that faith and baptism are joyned together in praecepto in Christs precept and that no man denieth all that are commanded to be baptized are required to believe and all that believe to be baptized or joyned together in subjecto that is to say all who are baptized have true faith and that none have true faith but such as are baptized in this sense it is apparantly false and none of the texts alledged prove it for the thiefe on the crosse had faith yet not the baptism we speak of as also the Emperour whom S. Ambrose so highly extolleth in his funerall and many thousands besides again Iulian the Apostata and all other who after they came to years renounced their baptisme and Christian profession had baptisme yet no true faith which as M. Cornwell himself will confesse cannot be lost totally or finally Secondly in the former syllogisme there is ignorantio elenchi he concludes not the point in question they who most stand for the baptizing of children will not have faith and baptisme severed for they baptize children into their fathers faith and take sureties that when they come to yeares of discretion they shall make good the profession of the Christian faith which was made by others at the font in their name and for them nay so farre are they from excluding faith from infants that are baptized that they beleeve that all the children of the faithfull who are comprised in the covenant with their fathers and are ordained to eternall life at the very time of their baptisme receive some hidden grace of the Spirit and the seeds of faith and holinesse which afterwards beare fruit in some sooner in some later Neither is this any paradox or new opinion for S. Ierome advers Lucifer and Austin ep 57. ad Dard. and Zanchius de tribus Elohim affirm that the holy Spirit moveth upon the waters of baptisme and that as the Spirit in Genesis 1. 2. rested upon the waters incubabat aquis that he might cherish and prepare them for the producing of living creatures so the holy Ghost resteth upon the waters of baptisme and sits as is were abroad upon them and blesseth them and thereby doth cherish the regenerate and animate the elect S. Leo speaketh most elegantly and fully to this point in his sermons of the birth of
word as I proved heretofore and therefore are not to be accounted a meer humane invention although therein mans wit and invention be made use of Thirdly this argument may be retorted upon the Anabaptists Forms of prayers upon premeditation which Preachers use before their sermons are as well a worship of mans devising as the set forms devised and framed by the governours of the church But premeditated or studied prayers made by way of preface before sermons are acceptable to God and allowed by the Anabaptists themselves Ergo set forms of prayer cannot be disallowed OBJECT II. None who useth a set form of prayer prayeth by the Spirit Every good Christian ought to pray by the Spirit 1 Cor. 14. 15. Ergo no good Christian may use set forms of prayer ANSWER First the Apostle in the place alledged speaketh of an extraordinarie gift of the Spirit as appeareth by the verse immediately going before If I pray in a strange tongue my spirit prayeth but my understanding is without fruit Now sith those extraordinarie gifts of the Spirit are ceased Christians are not now bound to prophesie or pray by the Spirit in the Apostles sense This text therefore is impertinently alledged and maketh nothing against set forms of prayers now in use in the church Secondly the phrase to pray by the Spirit as it is used by Divines may admit of a double meaning either to pray by the immediate inspiration of the Spirit as the Prophets and Apostles and all the pen-men of the holy Ghost spake and wrote and in this sense they who use set forms of prayer devised by men pray not by the Spirit as neither doe they who pray ex tempore for then they could not be out which they are often nor commit any errour in their prayers which they doe very many nay then their prayers should be of equall authoritie with the Psalmes other prayers set down in scripture given by divine inspiration or by this phrase they mean to pray by the assistance of the Spirit and in this sense they who use premeditated and penned prayers more pray by the Spirit then they who use ex tempore prayers conceived and brought forth at the same instant for the Spirit assisteth the former both in their premeditation and their present deliverie but the latter only in their sudden expressions and I would fain know of them why they who preach studied and penned sermons preach by the Spirit and that far more accurately learnedly judiciously and powerfully then others and yet in their judgements they who utter studied and penned prayers pray not by the Spirit Thirdly this objection may also be retorted by the Apostles example we are as well to sing by the Spirit as to pray by the Spirit for so are his expresse words I will pray with the Spirit I will pray with understanding also I will sing with the Spirit I will sing with understanding also But a man may sing by the Spirit and yet sing prick-song and a written or printed dittie in meeter for such are the Psalmes of David which they themselves sing therefore a man may pray by the Spirit and yet use a set form and rehearse a penned or printed prayer OBJECT III. It is not lawfull to confine the spirit for that is a kind of quenching it forbidden by the Apostle 1 Thess. 5. 19. But the prescribing and using set forms of prayers is a confining or stinting the spirit Ergo the prescribing or using set forms of prayer is unlawfull First if the governours of the Church should simplie and absolutely forbid all suddainly conceived or ex tempore prayers in publike or private they should offend in some degree and be guiltie of the breach of that precept of the Apostle For to stifle all suddain motions of the Spirit and prohibit all piouâ— ejaculations is in some sense to quench the Spirit But albeit they command a set form of Liturgie to be read in the church yet they condemn not the use of conceived or premeditated prayers by preachers in their Sermons nor by private Christians in their closets but leave them to their Christian libertie Secondly I demand of them when they object against the use of set forms of prayer that they confine the spirit what Spirit they mean the Spirit of God or their own spirit the spirit of man If the Spirit of God their objection contains in it blasphemie for the Spirit of God cannot be confined by us whether we pray with premeditation or without use a set form or not the Spirit of God worketh in both as he pleaseth both by enlightning the understanding and warming our affections and powerfully assisting both in the conceiving and deliverie of prayer If they mean their own spirit or the spirit of him that prayeth in the congregation namely the minister or preacher I answer this is most necessarie that his spirit for the time be confined and his intention tied to that prayer he readeth or saith by heart neither is this forbidden by the Apostle nor is it any quenching of the spirit but rather a kindling it For in uttering zealous prayers with a fixt intention and devout affection we feel our hearts burn within us Thirdly this objection may also be retorted if a preacher may not use a set form of prayer because the spirit in him is thereby confined neither may he deliver a conceived or ex tempore prayer in the audience of the people because by it the spirit in them is confined though the prayer of the preacher be no set form to him but meer voluntarie and extemporarie yet is it a set form to the hearers and their spirit if they will not suffer their mind to wander is tied and confined to it so long as it lasteth being an home or two according to the length of our late fast prayers in which regard none more confine the spirit in men then these our upstart Enhusiasts OBJECT IV. Prayers of the Pastor or Minister ought to be fitted to the severall occasions of the faithfull Set forms of prayer cannot be so fitted Ergo they ought not to be used in churches First this is ignorantly objected by such who never read either our books of Common-Prayers or other helps to private devotion for in them there are not only generall prayers fit for all men to use at all times but also speciall applied to severall estates and conditions of men for men in sicknesse and in health in time of war or in peace and the like Secondly these severall occasions they speak of are either such as concern more in the congregation or some one only in partilar if they concern more and the preacher be acquainted therewith he may either chuse a penned prayer fitting for them or himself upon premeditation make one if they concern one only such are not fit to be mentioned in publike prayers but the Pastor is to repair to them and applie a salve in private to their peculiar sore Thirdly
there is a prayer for the dead Remember not Lord the offences of our fore-fathers prayer against suddain death which may be a blessing prayer for all that travell by land or by water and so for theevs and Pirats for all women labouring of child and consequently for all queans and harlots there is rapping out of oaths and no better then exorcisms and conjurations by thy nativitie and circumcision by thy crosse and passion c. And therefore many who are in charitie with other prayers are frighted with the Letanie and as soon as the Minister beginneth it they run swifter out of the church then he over it But I may truly say with the prophet timuerunt ubi non erat timor they feared where there was no cause of fear like silly ducklings they were scared at the sight of the shadow of a Kite in the water For not to answer all their objections en passant they are not worth the stay or insisting upon any of them those words they first stumble at Remember not the offences of our fore-fathers are not a prayer for the dead but for the living that God would not so remember of offences of our fore-fathers as to visit them upon us according to that dreadfull menacie in the second commandement I am a jealous God and visit the sins of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate me The suddain death we pray against is not a quick riddance out of pain or a speedie taking us away from the evill that is to come for that indeed were to pray against our own good but by mors repentina or suddain death there is meant unexpected or unprepared death when we are summoned by death as by Gods messenger to bring in our bills and books to be examined at the great Audit before our accompts be readie it is true wee should be alwayes readie but who of a thousand is so And if any be tardie as thou and I are shall any blame us for desiring a day at least to make even reckonings and perfect our account As for those passionate strains By thine agonie and bloodie sweat they are no forms of oaths much lesse conjuration as these ignorant Sectaries blaspheme them but a compendious and verie usefull recapitulation of the storie of the Gospel and an acknowledgment of the chief means of our salvation and a vehement obtestation by the meritorious actions and passions of Christ like to that 1 Thess. 1. I beseech you brethren by the Lord Iesus Christ. Neither are such kind of earnest obtestations unusuall in our petitions to men per dextram tuam Caie Caesar saith Cicero per connubianostra saith Dido If they are true Christians they beleeve that God hath and doth deliver us from all punishment due to our sin and from eternall death by these very actions and passions of Christ recounted in the Letanie and if these be undoubted means of our salvation ought we not to pray to God to save us by these means from wrath and bring us to his everlasting kingdome The preposition By hath many significations sometimes it is the note and sign of an oath sometimes and that most usually it signifieth the instrumentall cause and so it is taken in the Letanie wherein we doe not affirm or swear any thing to be so or so by Christs nativitie or circumcision or death or passion but we pray to God to deliver us from all the evils both of sinne and punishment before specified by these meritorious actions and passions of our Redeemer as by the only effectuall means to procure us such a deliverance And for the extent of our charitie and generalitie of our prayers as we are commanded by the Apostle while we have time to doe good unto all men but especially to those of the houshold of faith so we are likewise to pray for all men because there is no man so wicked and in so damnable a condition to whom God for ought we know may not give repentance unto life and we are indebted unto Gods mercie and restraining grace that we run not into the like excesse of not as they nor are as wide from the way of salvation as the farthest wandering sheep And though we pray indefinitely for all that travell by land or by water yet those all in the churches account are no other then such as travell in the way of a lawfull calling And as for women labouring with child we pray nothing for them but that they may be safely delivered nor for any that are in present danger but that God would preserve them and have we not expresse warrant for such a prayer both in the words of Iob O thou preserver of all men and of the Apostle 1 Tim. 4. 10. God is the Saviour of all men especially of those that beleeve Upon which ground the Apostle himself inferreth a necessarie dutie of all Christians to pray for all men 1 Tim. 2. 3 4. I exhort you therefore that first of all supplications prayers and intercessions be made for all men for this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour who will have all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the Truth ARTIC 4. Concerning the calling of Pastours ANABAPTIST THat there ought to be no distinction by the Word of God between the Clergie and the Laitie but that all who are gifted may preach the Word and administer the Sacraments THE REFUTATION This prodigious errour which may be easily convinced not onely by the cleare light of Scripture and the practise of the Christian Church from the beginning to this day but also by the glimmering light of Reason and Custome of all Nations a mungrill sect of late betweene Brownists and Anabaptists have set abroach and thereby after a sort justified the scandall laid upon some in the Reformed Churches by Card Bellarmine that Protestants have no order at all among them but confusion that among them all sorts of Tradesmen and Artificers handle the Word and Sacraments with foul and unwashed hands to the great dishonour of God and prophanation of his holy Ordinances But let the Cardinall and all Papists know that we owne none of these russet Rabbies or Apron Levites but detest and abominate them as much as we doe that great Patriarch of the Anabaptists Cuiperdolin who in Munster at the Coronation of their Taylor King creeps upon all foure and passing through a great throng of people breathed into all their mouthes saying to every one in particular The Father hath sanctified thee receive the holy Ghost This Heresie may be felled downe at three blowes of the axe Saint Iohn Baptist speaks of laid to the root of the tree after this manner ARGUMENT I. No man may conjoyne or confound them whom God hath severad and distinguished But God in his Word hath severed the Clergie from the Laity distinguished the Priests from the people Nem.