receiue absolution at his hands which as the maine actions are religious must needes be religious adoration what is the adoring of your truely humane though called Diuine seruice-booke in and by which you worship God as the Papists doe by their Images If the Lord Iesus in his testament haue not commanded any such book it is accursed and abhominable if you thinke he haue shew vs the place where that we may know it with you or manyfest vnto vs that euer the Apostles vsed themselues or commended to the Churches after them any such seruice-booke Was not the Lord in the Apostles time and Apostolicke Churches purely and perfectly worshipped when the Officers of the Church in their ministration manifested the spririt of prayer which they had receiued according to the present necessities and occasions of the Church before the least parcell of this patchery came into the world And might not the Lord now be also purely and perfecty worshipped though this printed Image with the painted and carued Images were sent backe to Rome yea or cast to hell from whence both they and it came Speake in your selfe might not the Lord be intirely worshipped with pure holy worship thogh none other book but the holy Scriptures were brought into the Church If yea as who can deny it that knowes what the worship of God meaneth what then doth your seruice-booke there The word of God is perfect and admitteth of none addition Cursed be he that addeth to the word of the Lord and cursed be that which is added and so bee your great Idoll the Communion Booke though like Nabuchadnezzars Image some parte of the matter be gold and siluer which is also so much the more detestable by how much it is the more highly aduanced amongst you Paulus in vitae Ambros. Passag twixt clifton anâ— Smith AEgyptiâ— vbi lautè epulati sunt post caenam id faciunt Socr. l. 5. 21. Platia initio Caluin Ep. ad Protect Angl. Ep. 87. Answ. to the Minist Counterp 237. Counterp 236. Omnibus aricubus grâ—gis id est Apostolis suis dedit morem orandi dimitte nobâ—s c. Aug. Ep. 89. Apolog. p. 170. Accessimus c. H Bar. ag Gyff Sep. Multitudes of Sacraments The number of sacraments seemes greater amongst you by one at the least then Christ hath left in his Testament and that is Marriage which howsoeuer you doe not in expresse tearmes call a sacrament no more did Christ and the Apostles call Baptisme and the supper sacraments yet do you in truth create it a sacrament in the administration and vse of it There are the parties to be married and their marriage representing Christ and his Church and their spirituall Vnion to which mysterie saith the Oracle of your seruice-Booke expresly God hath consecrated them there is the Ring hallowed by the said sâ—ruice-Booke whereon it must be laid for the Element there are the wordes of consecration In the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost there is the place the Church the time vsually the Lords day the Minister the Parish-Priest And being made as it is a part of Gods worship and of the Ministers office what is it if it be not a sacrament It is no part of prayer or preaching and with a sacrament it hath the greatest consimilitude but an Idoll I am sure it is in the celebration of it being made a Ministeriall duty and part of Gods worshippe without warrant call it by what name you will Br. state of Christians 172. Sep. Power of Iudulgences Your Court of faculties from whence your dispensations and tolerations for non-residencie and plurality of Benefices are had together with your commuting of penances and absoluing one man for another Take away this power froÌ„ the Prelats you main the beast in a lim Sep. Necessity of Confessions In your high Commission Court very absolute wher by the Oath Ex Officio men are constrained to accuse themselues of such things as whereof no man will or can accuse theÌ„ what necessity is laid vpon men in this case let your prisons witnes D. Cosens his Apol. D. Andr. determ de Iure iurando 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Num. 5. 12. Iosh. 7. 19. 1. Sam. 14 43. G. Iohns M. Crud Trouble at Amsterd p. 132. Non potest quis in vna causa â—â—dem momento duas portare personas vt in eodem iudicio accusator sit iâ—dex Optat. Mileuit l. 7. Sep. Prosite of Pilgrâ—mages Though you haue lost the shrines of saints yet you reteine their daies and those holy as the Lords day and that with good profit to your spirituall carnall Courts from such as prophane them with the least most lawfull labour notwithstanding the libertie of the six daies labor which the Lord hath giueÌ„ as much would the Masters of these Courts be stirred at the casting of these saints daies out of the Calender as were the masters of the possessed maid wheÌ„ the spirit of diuinatioÌ„ was cast out of her Act. 16. 19. Socr. l. 5. c. 21. Est. 9. 17. Nehem. 12. 27. 1. Mac. 4 29. Ioh. 10 23. August Ep. 44. Scâ—as a Christianis Catholicis nâ—llum colâ— mortuorum nihil demque vt numen adorari quod sit factum conditum a Deo Quae toto orbe terrarum c. sicuti quoque Doâ—â—ini passio resurrectio in caelum ascensus aduentus spiritus sancti an niuersaria solemnitate celebrantur Aug. Ep. 118. Churches of Fr. Flanders in Harm confes Th. VVhites Discouer p. 19. Sep. Constrained and approued ignorance If an ignorant and vnpreaching Ministery be approued amongst you and the people constrained by all kinde of violence to submit vnto it therewith to rest as what is more vsuall throughout the whole Kingdome then let no modest man once open his mouth to deny that ignorance is constrained and approued amongst you Confer at Hampt English seruice Sep. Vnknowne deuotion If the seruice said or sung in the parish Church may be called deuotion then sure there is good store of vnknowne deuotion the greatest part in most parishes neither knowing nor regarding what is said nor wherfore Sep. What are your sheete-penances for Adulterie and all your purse-penances for all other sins then which though some worse in poperie yet none more coÌ„mon Sacco cineri incubare corpus fordibus obscurare presbyteris aduolui aris Dei adganiculari tert de pâ—â—it Can on Greg. Neocaesar 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Sep. Touching Purgatory though you deny the Doctrine of it and teach the contrary yet how wel your practise sutes with it let it be considered in these particulars Your absoluing of men dying excommunicate after they bee dead and before they may haue Christian buriall Aug. de Ciuitat l. 1. Athenienses decreuerunt ne siquis Se intersecisset sepeliretur in agro Attico c. Sep. Your Christian Buriall in holy ground if the party will bee at
negatiues outward force takes away both sinne and blame and alters them from the patient to the actor so that now you see your straight bonds if they were such loosed by obedience and ouer-ruling power SECTION XIX The bonds of Gods word vniustly pleaded by the Separ BVT what bonds were these straight ones Gods word and your owne necessity Both strong and indissoluble where God hath bidden God forbid that we should care for the forbiddance of men I reuerence from my soule so doth our Church their deare Sister those worthy forraine Churches which haue chosen and followed those formes of outward gouernment that are euery way fittest for their owne condition It is enough for your Sect to censure them I touch nothing common to them with you While the world standeth where will it euer be shewed out of the sacred booke of God that hee hath charged Let there be perpetuall Lay-Elders in euery Congregation Let euery Assembly haue a Pastor and Doctor distinct in their charge and offices Let all decisions excommunications ordinations be performed by the whole multitude Let priuate Christians aboue the first turne in extremity agree to set ouer themselues a Pastor chosen from amongst them and receiue him with prayer and vnlesse that ceremony be turned to pompe and superstition by imposition of hands Let there be Widdowers which you call relieuers appointed euery where to the Church-seruice Let certaine discreete and able men which are not Ministers be appointed to preach the Gospell and whole truth of God to the people All the learned Diuines of other Churches are in these left yea in the most of them censured by you Hath God spoken these things to you alone Pleade not Reuelations and wee feare you not Pardon so homely an example As soone and by the same illumination shal G. Iohns proue to your Consistory the lace of the Pastors wiues sleeue or rings or Whale-bones or other amongst you as your Pastor confesseth knit stockings or Cork-shooes forbidden flatly by Scriptures as these commanded We see the letter of the Scriptures with you you shall fetch blood of them with strayning ere you shal wring out this seÌ„se No no M. R. neuer make God your stale Many of your ordinances came from no â—ier then your own braine Others of them though God acknowledges yet he imposed not Pretend what you will These are but the cords of your owne conceit not bonds of Christian obedience SECTION XX. The necessity of their pretended Ordinances THE first of these then is easily vntwisted your second is necessity Then which what can bee stronger what law or what remedy is against necessity What we must haue we cannot want Oppose but the publique necessitie to yours your necessity of hauing to the publique necessity of withholding and let one of these necessities like two nailes driue out another So they haue done and your owne necessity as the stronger hath preuailed for that other necessity might bee eluded by flight you haue sought and found else-where what the necessity of our lawes denied and the necessity of your conscience required Beware lest vniustly Sinne is as strong bond to a good heart as impossibility Christians can not doe what they ought not Contrary to the lawes of your Prince and Countrie you haue fledde not onely from vs but from our Communion Either is disobedience no sinne or might you do this euil that good may come of it But what necessity is this simple and absolute or conditional Is there no remedy but you must needes haue such Elders Pastors Doctors Relieuers such Offices such executions Can there be no Church no Christians without them What shall we say of the families of the Patriarkes of the Iewish Congregations vnder the law yea of Christ and his Apostles Either denie them to haue beene visible Churches or shew vs your distinct Offices amongst them But as yet you say they were not Therefore God hath had a true Church thousands of yeares without them Therefore they are not of the essence of the Church You call me to the times since Christ I demand then was there not a worthy Church of God in Hierusalem from the time of Christs Ascension till the election of the seauen Deacons Those hundred and twentie Disciples Act. 1. 15. and three thousand Conuerts Act. 2. 41. Those continuall Troupes that flocked to the Apostles were they no true Church Let the Apostles and Euangelists bee Pastors and Doctors where were their Elders Deacons Relieuers Afterwards when Deacons were ordained yet what news is there of Elders till Act. 11 yet that of Hierusalem was more forward then the rest We will not as you are wont argue from scriptures negatiuely no proofe yet much probability is in Saint Paules silence Hee writes to Rome Corinth and other Churches those his Diuine letters in a sweet Christian ciuility salute euen Ordinary Christians And would hee haue vtterly passed by all mention of these Church-Officers amongst his so precise acknowledgment of lesser titles in others if they had beene ere this ordained yet all these more then true Churches famous some of them rich forward and exemplary Onely the Philippian Church is stiled with Bishops and Deacons but no Elders besides them The Churches of Christ since these if at least you will graunt that Christ had any Church till now haue continued in a recorded succession through many hundreds of yeares Search the Monuments of her Histories Shew vs where euer in particular Congregations all these your necessary Offices as you describe them were either found or required It was therefore a new-no-Necessity that bound you to this course or if you had rather a Necessity of Fallibility If with these God may be well serued he may be well serued without them This is not that Vnum necessarium that Christ commends in Mary you might haue sate still with lesse trouble and more thanks SECTION XXI The enormities of the Church in common BVt besides that we ought to haue had somewhat which we want we haue some what which wee should haue wanted Some yea many Antichristian enormities To say we are absolute and neither want nor abound were the voice of Laodicea or Tyrus in the Prophet Our Church as shee is true so humble and is as farre from arrogating perfection as acknowledging falshood If she haue enormities yet not so many or if many not Antichristian Your Cham hath espied ninety one nakednesses in this his Mother and glories to shewe them All his malice cannot shew one Fundamentall errour and when the foule mouth of your false Martyr hath said all they are but some spottes and blemishes not the old running issues and incurable botches of Egypt The particulars shall plead for themselues These you eschue as hell While you goe on thus vncharitably both alike Doe you hate these more then Master Smith and his faction hates yours His Character shall
worshipped if you were not Yet would you not seeme a superfluous creature speake in your selfe Might not God be intirely worshipped with pure and holy worship though there were no other bookes in the world but the Scripture If yea as who can denie it that knowes what the worshippe of God meaneth VVhat then doe the Fathers and Doctors and learned Interpreters To the fire with all those curious artes and volumes as your Predecessors called them Yea let me put you in minde that God was purely and perfectly worshipped by the Apostolicke Church before euer 〈…〉 Testament was written See therefore the idlenesse of your proofes God may be serued without a prescription of prayer but if all Reformed Churches in Christendome erre not better with it The word of God is perfect and admits no addition Cursed were we if we should add ought to it Cursed were that which should be added But cursed be they that take ought from it and dare say ye shall not pray thus OVR FATHER c. Doe we offer to make our prayers Canonicall do we obtrude them as parts of Gods word VVhy cauill you thus VVhy doth the same prayer written adde to the worde which spoken addeth not Because conceiued prayer is commanded not the other But first not your particular prayer Secondly without mention either of conception or memorie God commaunds vs to pray in spirit and with the heart These circumstances onely as they are deduced from his Generals so are ours But whence soeuer it please you to fetch our Booke of publique Prayer from Rome or Hell or to what Image soeuer you please to resemble it Let moderate spirits heare what the pretious Iewell of England saith of it VVee haue come as neere as we could to the Church of the Apostles c. neither onely haue we framed our doctrine but also our Sacraments and the forme of publique prayers according to their Rites and Institutions Let no Iewe now obiect Swines-flesh to vs Hee is no iudicious man that I may omit the mention of Cranmer Bucâ—r Ridley Taylor c. some of whose handes were in it all whose voices were for it with whome one Iewell will not ouer-weigh tenne thousand Separatists SECTION XXXVIII Marriage not made a Sacrament by the Church of England HOw did confirmation escape this number how did Ordination it was your ouer-sight I feare not your charity some things seeme and are not such is this your number of our Sacraments you wil needes haue vs take in marriage into this ranke why so wee doe not you confesse call it a Sacrament as the vulgar mis-interpreting Pauls Mysterium Ep. 5. why should we not if we so esteemed it wherefore serue names but to denotate the nature of things If we were not ashamed of the opinion wee could not be ashamed of the worde No more say you did Christ and his Apostles call Baptisme and the Supper Sacraments but we doe and you with vs See now whether this clause doe not confute your last where hath Christ euer said There are two Sacraments Yet you dare say so what is this but in your sense an addition to the word yea we say flatly there are but two yet we doe you say in truth create it a Sacrament how oft and how resolutely hath our Church maintained against Rome that none but Christ immediatly can create Sacraments If they had this aduantage against vs how could wee stand How wrongfull is this force to fasten an opinion vpon our Church which shee hath condemned But wherein stands this our creation It is true the partyes to bee married and their marriage represent Christ and his Church and their spirituall vnion Beware least you strike God through our sides what hath Gods spirit said either lesse or other then this Ephe. 5. 25. 26. 27. 32. Doth he not make Christ the husband the Church his spouse Doth he not from that sweet coniunction and the effects of it argue the deere respects that should bee in marriage Or what doth the Apostle allude elesewhere vnto when he saies as Moses of Eue we are flesh of Christs flesh and bone of his bone And how famous amongst the ancient is that resemblance of Eue taken out of Adams side sleeping to the Church taken out of Christs side sleeping on the Crosse Since marriage therefore so clearely represents this mistery and this vse is holy and sacred what error is it to say that mariage is consecrated to this mistery But what is the Element the Ring These things agree not you had before made the two parties to be the matter of this Sacrament What is the matter of the Sacrament but the Element If they be the matter they are the Element and so not the Ring both cannot be if you will make the two parties to bee but the receiuers how doth all the mistery lie in their representation Or if the Ring bee the Element then all the mistery must be in the Ring not in the parties Labour to bee more perfect ere you make any more newe Sacraments but this Ring is laide vpon the seruice-booke why not For readinesse not for holinesse Nay but it is hallowed you say by the booke If it be a Sacramentall Element it rather hallowes the booke then the booke it you are not mindful enough for this trade But what exorcismes are vsed in this hallowing Or who euer held it any other then a ciuill pledge of fidelitie Then follow the wordes of consecration I pray you what difference is there betwixt hallowing and consecration The Ring was hallowed before by the booke now it must be consecrated How idlely by what wordes In the name of the Father c. These words you know are spoken after the Ring is put on was it euer heard of that a Sacramentall Element was consecrated after it was applyed see how ill your slaunders are digested by you The place is the Church the time the Lords day the minister is the actor and is it not thus in all other reformed Churches aswell as ours Behod we are not alone al Churches in the world if this wil do it are guilty of three Sacraments Tell me would you not haue marriage solemnized publiquely You cannot mislike though your founder seemes to require nothing here but notice giuen to witnesses and then to bed Well if publique you account it withall a graue and weighty businesse therefore such as must be sanctified by publike prayer What place is fitter for publicke prayer then the Church Who is fitter to offer vp the publike prayer then the Minister who should rather ioyne the parties in marriage then the publique deputie of that God who solemnly ioyned the first couple who rather then he which in the name of God may best blesse them The prayers which accompany this solemnity are parts of Gods worshippe not the contract it selfe This is a mixt action therefore compounded of Ecclesiasticall and ciuill imposed on the Minister not vpon
Preach Catechize Write and Lorde thou knowest how manie of vs would doe more if we knew what more could be done for the information of thy people and remedy of this ignorance which this aduersary reproues vs to approue We doubt not but the seruice said in our Parish-Churches is as good a seruice to God as the extemporarie deuotions in your Parlors But it is an vnknowne deuotion you say Through whose fault The Readers or the Hearers or the matter Distinct reading you cannot denie to the most Parishes the matter is easie Praiers and English Scriptures if the hearers be regardlesse or in some things dull of conceite lay the fault from the seruice to the men All yours are free from ignorance free from wandering conceits we annoy you not some knowledge is no better then some ignorance and carelesnesse is no worse then mis-regard SECTION XLIII Penanâ—es inioyned in the Church of England COmming now to the Vaults of Popery I aske for their Penances and Purgatorie those Popish penances which presumptuous Confessors inioyned as satisfactorie and meritorious vpon their bold absolutions You send me to Sheet-penances and Purse-penances the one ceremonious corrections of shame inioyned and adioyned to publique confessions of vncleannes for the abasing of the offender and hate of the sinne such like as the auncient Church thought good to vse for this purpose Hence they were appointed as Tertullian speaketh in sackcloth and ashes to craue the prayers of the Church to besmeare their body with filthynesse to throwe themselues downe before Gods minister and Altar not to mention other more harde and perhaps no lesse ancient Rites and hence were those fiue stations of the Penitent whereby hee was at last receiued into the body of his wonted Communion The other a pecuniarie mulct imposed vpon some not all you foulely slaunder vs lesse hainous offences as a penaltie not as a penance I hope you denie not Sodomy Murther Robberie and which you would not theft it selfe is more deepely auenged But did euer any of ours vrge either sheet or purse as the remedy of Purgatory or inioyne them to auoide those infernall paines vnlesse we doe so our penances are not Popish and our answerer is idle SECTION XLIIII The practises of the Church of England concerning the Funerals of the dead YOur next accusation is more ingeniously malicious our Doctrine you graunt contrarie to Purgatorie but you will fetch it out of our practise that we may build that which we destroy Let vs therefore purge our selues from your Purgatorie Wee absolue men dying Excommunicate A rare practise and which yet I haue not liued to see but if Law-makers contemne rare occurrents surely accusers do not Once is too much of an euill Marke then Doe we absolue his Soule after the departure No what hath the body to doe with Purgatorie Yet for the body doe we by any absolution seeke to quit it from sinne Nothing lesse reason it selfe giues vs that it is vncapable either of sinne or pardon To lye vnburied or to be buried vnseemely is so much a punishment that the Heathens obiected it though vpon the hauocke and furie of Warre to the Christians as an argument of Gods neglect All that authoritie can do to the dead Rebell is to put his carkasse to shame and denie him the honour of seemely sepulture Thus doth the Church to those which will die in wilfull contempt Those Grecian Virgines that feared not death were yet restrained with the feare of shame after death it was a reall not imaginarie curse of Iezabel The dogges shall eate Iezabel Now the absolution as you call it by an vnproper but malicious name is nothing else but a libertie giuen by the Church vpon repentance signified of the fault of the late offender of all those externall rites of decent Funerall Death it selfe is capable of inequalitie and vnseemelinesse Suppose a iust Excommunication What reason is it that he which in his life and death would be as a Pagan should be as a Christian in his buriall What is any or all this to Purgatorie The next intimation of our Purgatorie is our Christian buriall in the place in the maner The place Holy ground the Church Church-yard c. The manner Ringing Singing Praying ouer the Corps Thus therefore you argue we burie the body in the Church or Church-yard c. therefore we hold a Purgatorie of the Soule a proofe not lesse strange then the opinion We doe neither scorne the carkasses of our friends as the old Troglodites nor with the olde Egyptians respect them more then when they were informed with a liuing soule But we keepe a meane course betwixt both vsing them as the remainders of dead men yet as dead Christians and as those which we hope one day to see glorious Wee haue learned to call no place holy in it selfe since the Temple but some more holy in their vse then others The old 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the Christians wherein their bodies slept in peace were not lesse esteemed of them then they are scorned of you Galienus thought he did them a great fauour and so they tooke it when he gaue them the liberty not only of their Churches but of their former burying-places In the same booke Eusebius commends Astyrius a noble Senatour for his care and cost of Marinus his buriall Of all these Rites of Funerall and choice of place we professe to hold with Augustine that they are onely the comforts of the liuing not helpes of the dead yet as Origen also teacheth vs we haue learned to honour a reasonable much more a Christian soule and to commit the instrument or case of it honourably to the graue All this might haue taught our answerer that wee make account of an heauen of a resurrection not of a Purgatory But we ring hallowed belles for the soule Do not those belles hange in hallowed Steeples too and do we not ring them with hallowed ropes What fancie is this If Papists were so fond of olde their folly and their belles for the most part are both out of date we call them soule-bels for that they signifie the departure of the soule not for that they helpe the passage of the soule This is mere boyes-play But wee pray over or for the dead Doe wee not sing to him also Pardon me I must needs tell you here is much spight and little wit To pray for the consummation of the glorie of all Gods elect What is it but Thy Kingdome come How vainely doe you seeke a knot in a rush while you cauil at so holy a petition Goe and learne how much better it is to call them our Brothers which are not in an harmelesse ouerweening and ouer-hoping of charity then to call them no brothers which are in a proud and censorious vncharitablenesse you cannot be content to tel an vntruth but you
must face it out Let any Reader iudge how farre our practise in this hath dissented from our doctrine would to God in nothing more Yes saith this good friend in the most other things our wordes professe our deeds denie at once you make vs hypocrites and your selues Pharises Let all the world know that the English Church at Amsterdam professeth nothing which it practiseth not we may not be so holy or so happy Generality is a notable shelter of vntruth Manie moe you say Popish deuises yet name none No you cannot Aduanced aboue al that is called God surely this is a paradoxe of slaunders you meant at once to shame vs with falshoode and to appose vs with Riddles we say to the highest whom haue wee in heauen but thee and for earth your selfe haue granted we giue too much to Princes which are earthen Gods and may come vnder Pauls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Eyther name our Deity or craue mercy for your wrong certainely though you haue not remorse yet you shall haue shame SECTION XLV The Churches still retained in England THe Maiesty of the Romish Petty-gods I truely told you was long agone with Mythra and Serapis exposed to the laughter of the vulgar you straine the comparison too farre yet we follow you Their Priests were expelled for as your Doctor yeeldeth other Actors came vpon the same Stage others in religion else it had beene no change Their Ministery and Monuments exposed to vtter scorne Their Masses their oblations their adorations their inuocations their anoylings their exorcizings their shrift their absolutions their Images roode loftes and whatsoeuer else of this kind But the Temples of those olde Heathens were demolished and raced Here is the quarrell ours stand still in their proude Maiesty Can you see no difference betwixt our Churches and their Temples The very name it selfe if at least you haue vnderstood it Kirke or Church which is nothing but an abbreuiation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Lords house might haue taught you that ours were dedicated to God and theirs to the Diuel in their false gods Augustine answeres you as directly as if he were in my roome The Gentiles saith he to their Gods erected Temples we not Temples vnto our Martyrs as vnto Gods but memorials as vnto dead men whose spirits with God are still liuing These then if they were abused by Popish Idolatrie is there no way but downe with them downe with them to the ground Well fare the Donatists yet your olde friends they but washed the walles that were polluted by the Orthodoxe By the same token that Optatus askes them why they did not wash the bookes which ours touched and the heauens which they look't vpon What are the very stones sinfull what can be done with them The very earth where they should lie on heapes would be vncleane But not their pollution angers you more then their proud Maiesty What house can be too good for the maker of all Things As God is not affected with state so is he not delighted in basenesse If the pompe of the Temple were ceremoniall yet it leaues this morality behinde it that Gods house should be decent and what if goodly If we did put holines in the stones as you doe vncleanenesse it might be sinne to be costly Let mee tell you there may bee as much pride in a clay wall as in a carued Proude Maiestie is better then proud basenesse The stone or clay will offend in neither we may in both If you loue Cottages the auncient Christians with vs loued to haue Gods house stately as appeares by the example of that worthie Bishoppe of Alexandria and that gratious Constantine in whose daies these sacred piles began to lift vp their heads vnto this enuyed height Take you your owne choice giue vs ours let vs neither repine nor scorne at each other SECTION XLVI The Founders and Furnitures of our Churches ALl this while I feared you had beene in Popish Idolatrie now I finde you in Heathenish These our Churches are still possessed by their Flamins and Arch-Flamins I had thought none of our Temples had beene so auncient Certainely I finde but one poore tuinous building reported to haue worne out this long tyranny of time For the most you might haue read their age and their Founders in open Records But these were deriued from those surely the Churches as much as the men It is true the Flamins and what euer other heathen Priests were put down Christian Bishoppes were set vp Are these therfore deriued from those Christianity came in the roome of Iudaisme was it therefore deriued from it Before you tolde vs that our Prelacy came from that Antichrist of Rome now from the Flamins of the Heathen Both no lesse then either If you cannot bee true yet learne to be constant But what meane you to charge our Churches with carued and painted Images It is wel you write to those that know them Why did you not say wee bow our knees to them and offer incense perhaps you haue espied some old dustie statue in an obscure corner couer'd ouer with Cob-webs with halfe a face and that miserably blemished or perhappes halfe a Crucifixe inuerted in a Church-window and these you surely noted for English Idols no lesse dangerous glasse you might haue seene at Geneua a Church that hates Idolatrie as much as you doe vs What more Massing copes and Surplices some copes if you will more Surplices no Massing Search your Bookes againe you shall finde Albes in the Masse no Surplices As for Organ-musicke you should not haue fetch 't it from Rome but from Ierusalem In the Reformed Church at Middleburgh you might haue found this skirt of the Harlot which yet you grant at least crept out of Babylon Iudge now Christian reader of the weight of these grand exceptions and see whether ten thousand such were able to make vs no Church and argue vs not only in Babilon but to be Babilon it selfe Thus Babilonish we are to you and thus Sion-like to God euerie true Church is Gods Sion euerie Church that holdes the foundation is true according to that golden rule Ephes. 2. 21. Euery building that is coupled together in this corner stone groweth vnto an holy Temple in the Lord No aduersarie either man or Diuell can confound vs either in our euidences or their owne Challenges wee may be faulty but we are true And if the darknes you finde in vs be light how great is our light SECTION XLVII On what ground separation or Ceremonies was obiected HE that leaues the whole Church in a grosse and wilfull error is an hereticke he that leaues a particular Church for appendances is a schismaticke such are you both in the action and cause The act is yeelded the cause hath beene in part scanned shall be more This I vainely pretended to be our consorting in ceremonies
yet they are twins and that so as eithers euill proues mutuall The sinnes of the Citie not reformed blemish the Church where the Church hath power and in a sort comprehends the State she cannot wash her hands of tollerated disorders in the CoÌ„mon-wealth hence is my comparison of the Church if you could haue seene it not the Kingdome of England with that of Amsterdam I doubt not but you could be content to sing the old song of vs Bona terra mala gens Our land you could like well if you might be Lordes alone Thankes be to God it likes not you and iustly thinkes the meanest corner too good for so mutinous a generation when it is weary of peace it will recall you you that neither in prison nor on the Seas nor in the Coasts of Virginea nor in your way nor in Netherland could liue in peace What shall we hope of your ease at home Where ye are all you thankful Tenants cannot in a powerful Christian state moue God to distinguish betwixt the knowen sinnes of the Citie and the Church How oft hath our gratious Soueraigne and how importunately beene solicited for a tolleration of Religions It is pittie that the Papists hyred not your aduocation who in this pointe are those true Cassanders which reuerend Caluin long since confuted Their wishes herein are yours To our shame and their excuse his Christian heart held that tolleration vnchristian and intollerable which you either neglect or magnifie Good Constantine wink 't at it in his beginning but as Dauid at the house of Zeruiah Succeeding times found these Canaanites to be prickes and thornes and therefore both by mulctes and banishments sought eyther their yeeldance or voydance If your Magistrates hauing once given their names to the Church indevour not to purge this Augean stable how can you preferre their Communion to ours But howsoeuer now least we should thinke your Land-lords haue too iust cause to pack you away for wranglers you turne ouer all the blame from the Church to the City yet your Pastor and Church haue so found the Citie in the Church and branded it with so blacke markes as that all your smooth extenuations cannot make it a lesse Babylon then the Church of England Beholde now by your owne Confessions either Amsterdam shall be or England shall not be Babylon These eleuen crimes you haue found and proclaimed in those Dutch and French Churches First That the assembles are so contriued that the whole Church comes not together in one So that the Ministers cannot together with the flock sanctifie the Lords day The presence of the members of the Church cannot be knowne and finally no publique action whether excommunication or any other can rightly be performed Could you say worse of vs Where neither Sabboth can be rightly sanctified nor presence or absence knowne nor any holy action rightly performed what can there be but mere confusion Secondly That they baptise the seede of them who are no members of any visible Church of whom moreouer they haue not care as of members neither admit their parents to the Lordes Supper Mere Babylonisme and sinne in constitution yea the same that makes vs no Church for what separation can there be in such admittance what other but a sinfull commixture How is the Church of Amsterdam now gathered from the world Thirdly That in the publique worshippe of God they haue deuised and vsed another forme of prayer besides that which Christ our Lord hath prescribed Mat. 6. reading out of a booke certain prayers inuented and imposed by man Beholde here our fellow Idolaters and as followes a daily Sacrifice of a set Seruice-booke which in stead of the sweete incense of spirituall prayers is offered to God very Swines-flesh a new Porâ—uise and an equal participation with vs of the curse of addition to the word Fourthly That rule and commandement of Christ Matth. 18. 15. they neither obserue nor suffer rightly to be obserued among them How oft haue you said that there can bee no sound Church without this course because no separation Beholde the maine blemish of England in the face of Amsterdam Fiftly That they worship God in the Idoll Temples of Antichrist so the Wine is mar'd with the vessell their seruice abhomination with ours neyther doe these Antichristian stones want all glorious ornaments of the Romish harlot yet more Sixtly That their Ministers haue their set maintenance after another manner then Christ hath ordained 1. Chr. 14. and that also such as by which any Ministery at all whether Popish or other might bee maintained Either tithes or as ill Beholde one of the maine Arguments wherby our Ministery is condemned as false and Antichristian falling heauie vppon our neighbours Seuenthly That their Elders change yearely and do not continue in their office according to the doctrine of the Apostles and practise of the Primitiue Church What can our Church haue worse then false Gouernours Both annuall and perpetual they cannot be VVhat is if not this a wrong in Constitution Eightly that they celebrate mariage in the Church as if it were a part of the Ecclesiasticall administration a foule shame and sinne and what better then our third Sacrament Ninthly That they vse a new censure of suspension which Christ hath not appointed no lesse then English presumption Tenthly That they obserue daies and times consecrating certaine daies in the yeare to the Natiuity Resurrection Ascension of Christ Beholde their Calender as truely possessed Two Commaundements solemnely broken at once and we not Idolaters alone Eleuenth which is last and worst that they receiue vnrepentant excommunicates to bee members of their Church which by this meanes becomes one one body with such as be deliuered vnto Sathan therefore none of Christs bodie England can be but a miscelline rabble of prophane men The Dutch and French Churches are belike no better who can be worse then an vnrepentant excommunicate Goe now and say It is the Apostasie of Antichrist to haue communion with the world in the holy things of God which are the peculiars of the Church and cannot without great Sacriledge be so prostituted and prophaned Goe say that the plaguy-spirituall-leprosie of sinne rising vp in the foreheads of many in that Church vnshut vp vncouered yea wilfully let loose infects all both persons and things amongst them Goe now and flie out of this Babylon also as the Hee-goates before the flocke or returne to ours But howeuer these errours bee grosse perhappes they are tractable Not the sinne vndoes the Church but obstinacy here is no euasion For behold you do no more accuse those Churches of corruption then of wilfulnesse for diuers times haue you dealt with them about these fearefull enormities yea you haue often deâ—ired that knowledge thereof might be by themselues giuen to the whole body of their Church or that at least they would take order that it might be done by you They haue refused both What
remaines but they be our fellow-Heathens and Publicanes And not they alone but all reformed Churches besides in Christendome which doe ioyntly partake in all these except one or two personall abhominations will you neuer leaue til you haue wrangled your selues out of the world But now I feare I haue drawne you to say that the hellish impieties both in the Citie and Church of Amsterdam are but frogges lyce flies moraine and other Egiptian plagues not preiudicing your Goshen Say so if you dare I feare they would soone make the Ocean your redde Sea and Virginia your Wildernesse The Church is Noahs Arke which gaue safetie to her Guests whereof ye are part but remember that it had vncleane beasts also and some sauage If the waues drowne you not yet me thinkes you should complaine of noysome society Sathans throne could not preiudice the Church of Pergamus but did not the Balaamites the Nicolaitanes Yet their heauenly communion stood and the Angell is sent away with but threates SECTION LIIII Conuersation with the world AS it were madnesse to denie that the Church should conuerse with the world in the affaires thereof So to denie her Communion in Gods holy things with any of those of the world which professe Christianity as yet vncensured is a point of Anabaptisticall Apostasie such of the world are still of the Church As my censure cannot eiect them so their sinne after my priuate endeuor of redresse cannot defile me I speake of priuate Communicants If an vnbidden Guest come with a ragged garment and vnwashen hands shall I forbeare Gods heauenly dainties The Master of the feast can say Friend how cam'st thou in hither not Friendes why came you hither with such a Guest God biddes me come he hath imposed this necessity neuer allowed this excuse My teeth shall not bee set on edge with the sower grapes of others If the Church cast not out the knowne vnworthy the sinne is hers If a man will come vnworthy the sinne is his But if I come not because he comes the sinne is mine I shall not answer for that others sinne I shall answere for mine owne neglect An other mans fault cannot dispence with my duetie SECTION LV. The impure mixtures of the Church of England AS there is no element which is not through many mixtures departed from the first simplicitie So no Church euer breathed in so pure an Ayre as that it might not iustly complaine of some thicke and vnwholsome euaporations of errour and sinne If you challenge an immunity you are herein the true broode of the auncient Puritanes But if too many sinnes in practise haue thickened the Ayre of our Church yet not one heresie that smoake of the bottomlesse pit hath neuer corrupted it and therefore iustly may I auerre that here you might drawe in the cleare Ayre of the Gospell No wherevpon earth more freely And if this be but the opinion of custome you whom absence hath helped with a more nice and dainty sent speake your worst Shew vs our heresies and shame vs you haue done it and behold foure maine infections of our English ayre The first the smoake of our Canons Wittily I feare the great Ordinances of the Church haue troubled you more with the blow then the smoake For you tell vs of their Plantation against the Kingdome of Christ What Kingdome The Visible Church Which is that Not the Reformedst peece of ours whole best are but Goats and Swine Not the close Nicodemians of your owne Sect amongst vs which would be loath to be visible Not forrainers to them they extend not None therefore in all the world but the English Parlour-full at Amsterdam Can there be any truer Donatisme Crie you still out of their poysoning the Ayre We hold it the best clensed by the batteries of your idle fancies by ridding you from our Ayre and by making this your Church inuisible to vs smart you thus till we complaine The second is the plague or Leprosie of sinne vnshut vp and vncouered Wee knowe that sinne is as ill as the Diuill can make it a most loathsome thing in the eies of God and his Angels and Saints and we grant to our griefe that among so many millions of men there may be found some thousands of Lepers Good lawes and censures meete with some others escape It is not so much our fault as our griefe But that this Leprosie infects all persons and things is shamefully ouer-reach't Plague and Leprosie haue their limits beyond which is no contagion If a man come not neare them if hee take the winde in an open ayre they infect not such is sinne It can infect none but the guiltie Those which acte or assent to or bear with it or detest it not are in this pollution But those which can mourne for it and cannot redresse it are free from infection How many foule Lepers spiritually did our Sauiour see in the publique Ayre of the Iewish Church wherewith yet he ioyned and his not fearing infection so much as gracing the remnants of their ruinous Church Were those seuen thousand Israelites whose knees bowed not to Baal infected with the Idolatrie of their neighbours yet continued they still partes of the same Church But this yet exceedes Not onely all persons but all thinges What Our Gospell Our heauen earth Sea Our Bookes Coyne Commodities Beholde you see the same heauen with vs you haue no Bibles but ours our Ayre in his circular motion comes to bee yours the water that washeth our Iland perhappes washeth your handes Our vncleane Siluer I feare maintaines you Our Commodities in parte inrich your Land-lords and yet all things amongst vs infected you are content to take some euil from your neighbors The third is our blasting Hierarchie which suffers no good thing that is no Brownist no singular fancy for what good things haue we but yours to grow or prosper amongst vs but withers all both budde and branch would to God the root also The last is the daily sacrifice of a seruice-booke an incense how euer vnsauorie to you yet such as all Churches in Christendome hold sweete and offer vp as fitte for the nostrils of the Almightie we are not alone thus tainted al Christian Churches that are or haue bin present the same Censers vnto God But ours smels strong of the Popes Portuise See whether this be any better then triuiall cauilling If either an ill man or a Diuill shall speake that which is good may not a good man vse it If a good Angell or man shall speake that which is euill is it euer the better for the Deliuerer If Sathan himselfe shall say of Christ Thou art the sonne of the liuing God shall I feare to repeate it Not the Authour but the matter in these things is worthie of regard As Ierome speakes of the poysoned workes of Origen and other dangerous
and them Thus we flatter thus wee deceiue if yet they will needs run to perdition Perditio tua ex te Israel Our Clergie is so Romish as our Baptisme If therefore Romish because they came thence wee haue disproued it If therefore Romish because they haue beene vsed there we graunt and iustifie it That auncient confession of their faith which was famous thorough the world we receiue with them If they hold one God one Baptisme one heauen one Christ shall we renounce it Why should wee not cast off our Christendome and humanitie because the Romanes had both How much Rome can either challenge or hope to gaine in our Clergie and Ministration is well witnessed by the blood of those Martyrs eminent in the Prelacie which in the fresh memories of many was shed for God against that Harlot and by the excellent labours of others both Bishops and Doctors whose learned pens haue pulled downe more of the wals of Rome then all the corner-creeping Brownists in the world shall euer be able to doe while Amsterdam standeth It is you that furnish these aduersaries with aduantages through your wilfull diuisions Take Scilurus his arrowes single out of the sheafe the least finger breakes them while the whole bundle feares no stresse wee know well where the blame is our deseruings can be no protection to you you went from vs not we from you Plead not our constraint you should not haue beene compelled to forsake vs while Christ is with vs But who compels you not to call vs brethren to denie vs Christians your zeale is so farre from iustifying the wicked that it condemnes the righteous SECTION LVIII The Brownists scornefull opinion of our people How scornefully doe you turne ouer our poore rude multitude as if they were beasts not men or if men not rude but sauage This contempt needed not These sonnes of the earth may goe before you to heauen Indeed as it was of old said that all Egyptians were Physitions so may it now of you All Brownists are diuines no Separatist cannot prophesie No sooner can they looke at the skirts of this hill but they are rapt from the ordinary pitch of men Either this change is perhaps by some strange illumination or else your learned paucitie got their skill amongst our rude and prophane multitude we haue still many in our rude multitude whom wee dare compare with your teachers neither is there any so lewd and prophane that cannot pretend a scandall from your separation Euen these soules must be regarded though not by you Such were some of you but ye are washed c. The wise hearted amongst vs doe more then suspect find out our weakenesses and bewaile them yet doe they not more discouer our imperfections then acknowledge our truth If they bee truely wise wee cannot suspect them they cannot forsake vs Their charitie will couer more then their wisdomes can discouer SECTION LIX The conclusion from the fearefull answere of Separation MY last threat of the easier aunsweres of whoredomes adulteries then Separation you think to skoffe out of countenance I feare your conscience will not alwayes allow this mirth Our Consistories haue spared you ynough let those which haue tryed say whether your corrupt Eldership be more safe iudges If ours imprison iustly yours excommunicate vniustly To be in Custodie is lesse grieuous then out of the Church at least if your censures were worth any thing but contempt As Hierom said of the like It is well that malice hath not so great power as will you shall one day I feare finde the Consistorie of heauen more rigorous if you wash not this wrong with your teares That tribunall shall find your confidence presumption your zeale furie you are bold surely more then wise To proclame we haue no need of such criers doubtlesse your head hath made Proclamations long now your hand begins What proclaime yee Separation from the Communion Gouernment Ministery and worship of the Church of England what needed it Your act might haue saued your voice what should our eyes and eares be troubled with one bad obiect But why separate you from these Because they rise vp rebelliously against the Scepter of Christ The Scepter of Christ is his word he holdes it out we touch and kisse it What one sentence of it doe we wilfully oppose away with these foolish impieties you thrust a Reed into your Sauiors hand say Haile King of the Iewes and will needes perswade vs none but this is his rodde of Iron Lastly vpon what warrant Of his will and Testament you may wrong vs But how dare you fasten your lies vpon your Redeemer and Iudge What clause of his hath bid you separate We haue the true Copies As we hope or desire to be saued we can find no sentence that soundeth toward the fauour of this your act Must God be accused of your wilfulnesse Before that God and his blessed Angels and Saints we feare not to protest that we are vndoubtedly perswaded that whosoeuer wilfully forsakes the Communion Gouernement Ministerie or worshippe of the Church of England are enemies to the Scepter of Christ and rebels against his Church and annointed neither doubt we to say that the Mastershippe of the Hospitall at Norwich or a lease from that Citie sued for with repulse might haue procured that this separation from the Communion Gouernement and worshippe of the Church of England should not haue beene made by Iohn Robinson FINIS A Table of all the Sections contained in this Booke THE entrance into the worke fol. 1. The answerers Preamble fol. 3. The parties written to and their crime fol. 6. The kindes of separation and which is iust fol. 8. The antiquitie and examples of separation fol. 12. What separation is to be made by Churches in their planting or restauration fol. 16. What separation the Church of England hath made fo 19 Constitution of a Church fol. 21 Order 2. Part of Constitution how farre requisite and whether hindred by Constraint fol. 23. Constraint requisite fol. 24 Constitution of the Church of England fol. 26. The Answerers title fol. 31. The Apostasie of the Church of England fol. 33. The Separatists acknowledgements of the graces of the Church of England fol. 39. The vnnaturalnes of some principall separatists fol. 42. What the Separatists thinke themselues beholden to the Church of England for fol. 44. The Motherhood of the Church of England how farre it obligeth vs. fol. 45. The want of pretended Ordinances of God whether sinfull to vs and whether they are to bee set vp without Princes fol. 48. The bonds of Gods word vniustly pleaded by the Separatists fol. 51. The necessity of their pretended Ordinances fol. 52. The enormities of the Church in common fol. 55. The Church of England is the Spouse of Christ. fol. 56. How the Church of England hath separated from Babylon fol. 57. The Separation made
bread wee kneele no more to the bread then to the Pulpit when we ioyne our prayers with the Ministers But our quarrell is not with them you that can approue their iudgments in dislike might learne to followe them in approbation and peaceable Communion with the Church if there be a galled place you will be sure to light vpon that Your charitie is good whatsoeuer your wisedome be SECTION XXXVII Whether our Ordinary and Seruice-Booke be made Idolles by vs. YET more Idolatry And which is more New and strange such I dare say as wil neuer be found in the two first Commandements Behold here two new Idols Our Ordinary and our Seruice-booke a speaking Idoll and a written Idoll Calecute hath one strange Deity the diuell Siberia many whose people worship euery day what they see first Rome hath many merry Saints but Saint Ordinary and Saint Seruice-booke were neuer heard of till your Canonization In earnest doe you thinke wee make our Ordinary an Idoll what else You kneele deuoutly to him when you receiue either the Oath or absolution This must needs be religious adoration is there no remedie You haue twise kneeled to our Vice-Chauncellour when you were admitted to your degree you haue oft kneeled to your parents and Godfathers to receiue a blessing did you make Idols of them the partie to be ordained kneeles vnder the hand of the presbitery dooth hee religiously adore them Of olde they were wont to kisse the handes of these Bishoppes so they did to Baal God and our Superiours haue had euer one and the same outward gesture Though here not the Agent is so much regarded as the action if your Ordinary would haue suffered you to haue done this peece of Idolatrie you had neuer separated But the true God-Bell and Dragon of England is the humane-Diuine-Seruice-Booke Let vs see what ashes or lumpes of pitch this Daniel brings Wee worship God in and by it as Papists doe by their Images In deed we worship God in and by the prayers contayned in it Why should we not Tell mee why is it more idolatry for a man to worship God in and by a praier read or got by hart then by a praier conceiued I vtter both they are both mine if the heart speake them both feelingly and deuoutly where lies the Idoll In a conceiued prayer is it not possible for a mans thought to stray from his tongue in a prayer learned by heart or read is it not possible for the heart to ioyne with the tongue If I pray therfore in spirit and hartely vtter my desires to God whether in mine owne wordes or borrowed and so made mine what is the offence But say you if the Lord Iesus in his Testament haue not commanded any such Booke it is accursed and abhominable But say I if the Lord Iesus hath not any where forbidden such a booke it is not accursed nor abhominable Shew vs the place where that we may know it with you Nay but I must shew you where the Apostles vsed any such seruice-booke shew you mee where the Apostles baptized in a Basen or where they receiued women to the Lords table for your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. Cor. II. will not serue shew me that the Bible was distinguish't into Chapters and verses in the Apostles time shewe mee that they euer celebrated the Sacrament of the Supper at any other time then euening as your Anabaptists now doe shew me that they vsed one prayer before their Sermons alwaies another after that they preached euer vpon a Text where they preached ouer a Table or lastly shewe me where the Apostles vsed that prayer which you made before your last prophecy and a thousand such circumstances What an idle plea is this from the Apostolike times And if I should tell you that Saint Peter celebrated with the Lords prayer you will not beleeue it yet you know the Historie But let the Reader know that your quarrell is not against the matter but against the booke not as they are prayers but as stinted or prescribed Wherein all the world besides your selues are Idolaters Behold all Churches that were or are are partners with vs in this crime Oh Idolatrous Geneua and all French Scottish Danish Dutch Churches All which both haue their set prayers with vs and approue them Quod ad formulam c. as concerning a forme of praâ—ers and rites Ecclesiastical saith reuerend Caluin I do greatly allow that it should bee set and certaine from which it should not bee lawfull for Pastors in their function to depart Iudge now of the spirit of these bold controllers that dare thus condemne all Gods Churches through the world as Idolatrous but since you call for Apostolike examples did not the Apostle Paul vse one set forme of apprecations of benedictions What were these but lesser prayers The quantitie varies not the kinde Will you haue yet auncienter precedents The Priest was appointed of olde to vse a set forme vnder the law Num. 6. 23. so the people Deut. 26. 3. 4 5. c. 15. Both of them a stinted Psalme for the Sabboth Ps. 92. What saith your Doctor to these Because the Lorde saith he gaue formes of prayers and Psalmes therefore the Prelates may Can we thinke that Ieroboam had so slender a reason for his Calues Marke good Reader the shifts of these men This aunswerer calles for examples and will abide no stinting of prayers because we shew no patternes from Scripture We do shew patternes from Scripture and now their Doctor saith God appointed it to them of olde must we therefore doe it So whether we bring examples or none we are condemned But Mast. Doctor whom I beseech you should we follow but God in his own seruices If God haue not appointed it you crie out vpon inuentions if God haue appointed it 〈…〉 we may not follow it shew then where 〈…〉 inioyned an ordinary seruice to himselfe that was not ceremoniall as this plainly is not which should not be a direction for vs But if stinting our prayers be a fault for as yet you meddle not with our blasphemous Collects it is well that the Lords prayer it selfe beareth vs company and is no small part of our Idolatrie VVhich though it were giuen principally as a rule to our prayers yet since the matter is so heauenly aâ—d most wisely framed to the necessity of all Christian hearts to denie that it may be vsed intirely in our Sauiours wordes is no better then a fanaticall curiousnesse yeelde one and all for if the matter be more diuine yet the stint is no lesse faulty This is not the lest part of our patcherie except you vnrip this the rest you cannot But might not God be purely and perfectly worshipped without it Tell mee Might not God bee purely and perfectly worshipped without Churches without houses without garments yea without handes or feete In a word could not God bee purely