for some others may follow by degrees or in a Croud Let us not be wiser than God or trust our strength too much we give Papists advantage upon us and matter of bragging with cause of hardning themselves that we borrowed our Ceremonies from them and this string they hung upon amongst us or else one way or other they had been gone but by the same reason some Ceremonies were taken away all ought to have been We return to the Intention and say 't is not the Opinion that Men have that makes a true or false Worship but the nature of the thing as already said for thus a Man may go to Mass conceiving a private Opinion to himself different from that which Massmongers have so he may fancy he doth not sin when he commits a gross one Calderinus when he was about going to Mass used to say eamus ad communem errorem let us go to the vulgar Error but going to Mass that is doing all those outward actions which Massmongers use to perform is Idolatry which to avoid the three young Men would not fall down and Worship the Image of Nebuchadnezar Dan. 3.18 If the Intention had made the thing lawful or unlawful they might have fallen down before the Image but intentionally worship'd God but they would not going to Mass with what intention you please is to approve of and commit Idolatry God hath made Body and Soul and will be Worshipped in both the proper Nature of Worship consists in honouring of God so that all outward Ceremonies whose proper use is the honouring of God will be external Worship 'T is sad to see how to defend these Ceremonies retained in our Church they are put upon shifts they are resolved to keep and defend them let what will become of it In order to it they call upon Sophistry for help and to avoid coming to the point they make a Logomachy a Dispute about words coining Definitions Divisions Distinctions as Doctrinal and Ritual Ceremonies essential accessary accidental simple double and treble significant sacred by application mutable ambulatory arbitrary reductively sacramental moral Ceremonies immediate Worship in respect of means by vertue of something else in respect of the manner and reductively in respect of the utmost and Divine Worship and many more of the same stamp so 't is like to me when I hear such words to be with Lombard Durandus Occam and other Schoolmen to hear of entity quiddity ut qui ut quo and such other barbarous terms under which they confounded the Nature of Things Thus they will talk of Altars commanded and Altars permitted under the Law Deut. 4 2â— And when out of Scripture we press them against Additions to be made unto the Word and Worship of God then they will tell us of corrupting Additions but not preserving are there forbidden let them shew the least step in Scripture to ground that shameful and pitiful distinction upon as despicable as those I heard hissed out in Philosophy Schools ex creditis concedo ex credendis nego ut soepius concedo ut semper nego which yet considering the matters they were about and only to try Man's Wits were much more tolerable than this which concerneth things of so high a Nature But such distinctions can never put off the blow of these words Ye shall not add unto the Word which I Command neither shall ye diminish ought from it Besides that these preserving additions are an inlet for Superstition and incongruous Acts of Parliament are for preservation of Religion but they would not hear their Laws are an Addition to the Word and Worship of God All this while our Ceremonies go upon a wrong Principle which 't is necessary to beat them off and this is it they think the Church hath power to institute all such things but a preliminary question is who that Church is They will say 't is the Convocation out of which most Ministers and all the Laity a Chancellor excepted are excluded so this will be a National Church Thus if we ask Papists what they mean by their Church they will say Pope and Council or else Pope and Cardinals Well that 's for Papists For us the Convocation decides and then the whole Church as well Ministers that have right to sit there and give in their Opinions and all the Laity must submit But this Convocation never concludes any thing for the common good of the Church they generally are servile to those whom they depend upon and Tyrannical over those that are subject to them and though sometimes some good motions be made amongst them 't is nothing but what we may say of the Council of Trent and of other mercenary publick Assemblies But doth not this Convocation except they will be above St. Paul think that what Authority the Church hath is for edification 2 Cor. 10.8 and not for destruction 't is a bound power not Magisterial but Ministerial If they may institute Ceremonies then Circumcision if thought fit may be imposed as well as Cross in Baptism It may be as of the King who was not to multiply Horses Wives Deut. 17.16 17 Silver and Gold to himself which Solomon made a shift to go thorough So the Church or Convocation might in time happen to multiply Ceremonies that which is not grounded upon the Word may at last be upon ill Custom if it was thought fit to bring in that which hath been kept out not heeding what Paul saith if I build again things which I destroyed I make my self a transgressor Gal. 2.18 To see how in these matters they tread the steps of Popery they assert how some such Worship is good which is not taught in Scripture that many teaching Ceremonies which God never instituted may by Men be brought in to Worship Images themselves not excepted that Additions to God's Word so they be not contrary to it may and ought to be made The sum of their Doctrine in this point is by Hooker set down in his Book of Ecclesiastical Policy He hath these words much the Church of God shall always need that which the Scripture teaches not Page 125. Which argueth the Word of God of insufficiency contrary to what our Saviour and Sr. Paul say which no doubt must be supplied with Traditions These are rare Principles They further say Scripture is as perfect in giving general Rules as it should be in setting down of particular Instances this is only to make good to themselves the adding and enlarging Power But general Rules make only the proposition tending to particulars and particulars are not so fully inferred as if they were expresly set down General Rules for Civil Policy may be given in the New Testament yet not so fully and clearly taught as in the Old or as Religious Worship is now in the New the Rule of clean and unclean Beasts was general and easily discernable without Institution of Men as now for Bread and Wine in the Communion
nor be a Hinderance for Ministers to exercise the Gift of Prayer or to make them neglect it nor to justle out preaching neither must Men make the publick Worship of God consist only or chiefly in hearing Prayers read With these Cautions we approve well of a Liturgy wherefore let it be known we except not against Liturgies in general and as such but in particular against such as we think to have just Exceptions against either as to the matter or to the manner of using them As to those Liturgies fathered upon St. Peter St. James and Mark they are spurious and were obtruded upon the World by the Romanists Although I do not intend to insist upon those Places of the Common-prayer-book which we have just Cause to except against because others have done it before yet something must be said to it and we must come to some particlars I shall begin with the Rubrick concerning the Order how the rest of the holy Scripture besides the Psalter is appointed to be read in the first Paragraph is a Brand and a Slight put upon holy Canonical Scripture of the Old Testament for it is said It shall be read through once every Year except certain Books and Chapters which be least edifying and might be spared yet instead of these are read several of the Apocryphal Books as Ecclesiasticus the Wisdom 2d of Esdras Baruch Judith Tobith c. Whereby a visible Preference is given to those Humane Writings before the authentick Word of God for they are lookt upon as best edifying and least to be spared In the point this is worse than Papists who give the Apocryphas and their Traditions an equal Authority to Canonical Scripture which is the Word of God when the others are the Word of Man but this as I already observed giveth the Preference to some of the Apocrypha before some of the Canonical I hope this shall be no Question between us we all know the Reasons we have against Papists about the Authority of the Apocrypha First They were all written after the Time of Malachy the last of the Prophets Secondly None of the Apocrypha is written in Hebrew which is the Tongue used by the Prophets Thirdly Neither the Jews nor the primitive Apostolical Church ever received them as Canonical Fourthly they were never quoted in the New Testament by our Saviour or his Apostles tho there be Places quoted out of every Book of the Old Testament and our blessed Saviour mentioned the Old Testament under three Heads The Law of Moses the Prophets Luke 24.44 and the Psalms But the fifth and chief Reason because in every thing they do not agree with the Canonical Scripture nor with themselves as hath been shewed by some of our Divines as Whitaker Reynolds c. specially in Vsher's Body of Divinity and by Forreigners as Polanus Chamierus and so many more And this I press the more because the Authority of it in Scripture is one of the Fundamental Points of our Religion and one of the greatest Controversies between Papists and us In the last Paragraph of the same Rubrick 't is ordered thus as often as the first Chapter of St. Matthew is read either for Lesson or Gospel ye shall begin the same at Vers 18. and the third Chapter of St. Luke 's Gospel shall be read unto the middle of Verse the 23d Surely that which is ordered to be left out is Part of Scripture as that which is read the one as well as the other are written for our Instruction as well as Comfort That which is unread is of a high Concernment for though it consists only of proper Names yet contains a most important Matter every Degree of our blessed Saviour's Genealogy which God under the Old Testament took such Care to preserve clear that when the Messiah came to be born there should be no Doubt no Difficulty made of his being of the Seed of Abraham of the Family of David which St. Matthew proves on Joseph his supposed Father's side as St. Luke on Mary's the first divided into three Classes of 14 Generations every one of which makes undisputably a great Article of our Faith how Jesus Christ born of the Virgin Mary is the true Messiah promised to the World out of Abraham's Seed and then the mention amongst Christ's Ancestors made of Thamar of Rachab of Ruth of her that had been Vrias's Wife Bersheba whereby Christ owns for his Relations according to the Flesh some branded with notorious Faults others though Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and Strangers from the Covenants of Promise to shew how in his Spiritual Relations he would not disown the most notorious Sinners and never so much Gentiles This I say affords matter of Meditation and so is not to be unread Here followeth the Table of the proper Lessons to be read at the Head whereof we find the Word Mattens for Morning Prayer and to have matched things well there should have been the Word Vespers instead of Evening Song both Words in that Sence used in the Church of Rome from whom we borrow both Names and things as we shall have Occasion farther to speak of now these Words are derived from Latin and used in Italian Spanish French c. 'T is no wonder if having taken things out of their Latin Books we also retain some of their Names as Advent Epiphany Quinquagesima Sexagesima Septuagesima c. which are barbarous to every English Man unacquainted with the Latin Tongue or with the Customs of that Church so we do continue their Mass Names and Days as Christmas the Day when Mass is said for the Birth of Christ Candlemass the Day of the Mass of Candles for then Popish Churches are full of them Lammas Day the Day when here in Time of Popery they said Mass for the Preservation of Lambs Michaelmass the Day when Michael's Mass is said c. We say no Mass upon those Days but we have Collect Epistle and Gospel some of which Papists use upon those very Days Now if we look into the Kalender we shall there find the Names of many Saints which either were never in Nature or else are honoured upon Earth when may be their Souls are tormented in Hell Boniface Silvester Clement Dunstan George Martin Denis for there must be Champions to defend the rest specially the Ladies as Margaret Agnes Magdalene Katharine Agathe c. and to be merry Cicely the Patroness of Musitians with Nicolas Crispin Blasius Patrons of Seamen Shoemakers c. Hugh Valentine Edward Machal amongst other Inventions that of the Cross must be in too Remige and several other Popish Saints whose Names should not be in our Mouths much less in our Common-prayer-book we must not omit how there are five Holy Days for the blessed Virgin Purification Annunciation Visitation Nativity and Conception there should have been also her Assumption when she was as they pretend carried up to Heaven in Body and Soul then we could have
pray against Lightning is as good as to pray against Rain Snow and the like by thine Agony too much like an Oath The Word gracious meaned of King or Queen is not proper in a Prayer to God who knoweth whom we mean without such Titles in Prayer the Attribute most gracious which is a superlative Degree is not well applied to Princes we can say no more to God and as good to call most holy King there ought to be a Difference in Titles given to God and those given to Princes specially in Church at the Worship of God In God's Sight they are but Men and the Lord is jealous of his Honour and Glory which he declared he will not communicate to any one Let Men keep flattering Titles when they speak to Princes though I think none but due ones were better but in Prayers to God let Names of Blasphemy be avoided which we all condemn in the Pope of Rome Farther it were well to forbear the often unnecessary Repetitions of the same thing which in this Litany and other Parts of the Book are frequent and those broken Parts of Scripture which have no relation one to another all might be made up into one Prayer and not be divided into so many Then in one of the Prayers 't is said Turn from us all those Evils that we most righteously have deserved We think the Word justly is more proper the other being ambiguous Justice and Righteousness do differ Now for the Collects there are many for several Sundays in Advent and so many after Epiphany and Trinity an odd Way of reckoning the Lord's Days by in that on St. Stephen's Day God is prayed to grant us to learn by the Example of St. Stephen The Name of the Lord Jesus is a strong Argument and sufficient to prevail with God if any can so that of any Man is not necessary but there is a Day appointed to be kept for that Martyr and upon it something of him must be said but we take a great deal of Pains more than the Believers in his Time who appointed no Day for him Who gave the Name of Innocents to the Children killed by Herod's Order They confessed not with speaking but with dying and because they were put to Death to satisfie Herod's Policy and State Jealousie it doth not follow they died either Confessors or Martyrs they did not lay down their Lives for the Testimony of the Lord Jesus for they were not able to know and discern Why to observe the Day of Christ's Circumcision and not of his Baptism No Man as I observed before can say for certain the Day of any such Feasts they keep why to keep Epiphany or Twelft Day so much turned to Excess in Popery and amongst us too None of these produceth Decency nor Edification I think amongst Christians in our publick Devotion book as the Liturgy is The Words Lord's Day or Sabbath were more proper than Sunday Rev. 1.10 having as we have a Warrant out of Scripture This is the Way of reckoning after Popery I pray God we be not called to an Account for too much following after them As to observing Days for the Apostles I know of no Warrant we have to believe God is pleased with it on the contrary nor of the Purification of the blessed Virgin which is but a Continuation of a Jewish Ceremony all which are or ought to be abolished under the Gospel As to the Collect wherein it is said thine only begotten Son was this Day presented in the Temple it containeth either a Lie which no Man can disapprove or at least an uncertain and doubtful thing there being no Certainty of the Day If by Michael the Archangel or Prince of Angels be meaned our Lord and Saviour for the Name Michael signifying who is like unto thee O strong God is appliable to him then he hath his Day called the Lord's Day if Michael be an Angel then he is a Creature so not to be joined with the Creator and no Days to be kept for Angels there being no Warrant for it in Scripture Honour the Angel would receive none Rev. 19.10 and Chap. 22 9. Psal 16.4 As for all Saints Days 't is a Shame a Day for all Popish Saints with David we should say I will not take up their Names into my Lips As for the Apostles whilst alive they never thought nor desired to have Days kept for them after their Death St. Paul the zealous Asserter of Mercy and sworn Enemy to any thing of Merit in Man would never have approved that a Day should be kept for his Conversion he sufficiently declares against observerving of Days Months and Times and Years which makes him say Gal. 4.10 11. 1 Cor. 1.12 and Chap. 3.5 2 Cor. 4.7 Rom. 9.21 I am afraid of you least I have bestowed upon you Labour in vain he would have said Who is Paul Who is Apollo Who is Cephas But Ministers or Servants Earthen Vessels And a Lump of Clay in the Potter's Hand whilest alive when Instruments in God's Hand but much less are they after their Death he would have said what are they that Days should be kept for them and for himself Which once was a Persecutor a Blasphemer and the chief of Sinners After this followeth the Order for the Administration of the Communion there in the Beginning of the Rubrick we read of the Curate and in other Places of Vicars and such inferior Limbs of Hierarchy whereof not the least Step in Scripture If Prayers be appointed to be read in the Chancel for Conveniency of Reader and Hearers it 's well but if upon any Opinion of Holiness or other Privilege of the Place then 't is ill for that Place is no better than any other in the Church but why the Minister should stand on the North Side of the Table except for Conveniency I see no Cause for the Temple of Jerusalem stood on the North Side of the City but now we ought not to stand upon such Points of the Compass The People saying after every Precept Lord have mercy upon us c. is superfluous specially with a loud Voice once after the last as we humbly conceive might be enough Matth. 6.7 Christ forbiddeth to use vain and unnecessary Repetitions for Men are not heard for their much speaking It may be observed that the two Prayers for the King are improper upon that Occasion it supposeth a Communion without a Sermon before instead of which an Homily to be read which is better than nothing but there ought to be a Preparatory Sermon except in Case of Accident or else the Ministers are encouraged to Laziness and Neglect and used to read rather than to preach After Sermon or Homily the Minister or Curate is to declare unto the People Popish Custom still whether there be any Holy-Days the Week following and if there be what To shut their Shops and give over working for the Day By a Moral Commandment of God the
their Salvation and be undoubtedly saved Nothing more Positive than this can be said upon a Matter In the two foregoing Heads something there was to this purpose to say it once should have been enough but twice is too much again to say as if by Baptism the Child had been infallibly adopted c. for our Lord Jesus doth not deny his Grace and Mercy to such Infants this is too positive how can he tell it One may charitably believe it yet not be true the same Caution must be observed in the Exhortation following doubt ye not therefore but do earnestly believe that c. If this was by way of prayer as we beseech thee to regenerate to receive into the Number of thy Children this Child c. or if it was said we charitably believe it would be well but to say so peremptorily that it is certain by the Word of God but no such thing in the Word of God on the contrary this sets up two Popish Errors first Necessity of Baptism to Salvation as if one could not be saved without it hence they exclude from Heaven Children that die without Baptism the second Errour that the visible Sign doth confer the invisible Grace so that whosoever is baptized opere operato is thereby regenerated Whosoever eats the Bread and drinks the Wine eats and drinks the Body and Blood of Christ There are good Rules set in the Rubrick about Matrimony as asking of the Banes three several Sundays c which well observed would prevent abundance of Mischief by unlawful Marriages in the Words and Form it may be well till the Ceremony of the Ring put upon the fourth Finger of the Woman by the Man after it had been laid upon the Book with the Money due to the Minister and Clark indeed amids the Celebration 't is very undecent to bring in Money which might better be done before or after the Blessing but they will make sure of their Fees Then the Words spoken when the Ring is put upon the Finger With this Ring I thee wed with my Body I thee Worship c. are unbecoming that holy and solemn Institution it seems the Ring is made essential to the Marriage then joyning together the right Hands why the right rather than the left called that of the Heart The Minister may pronounce the Words but plighting the Troth and joyning of Hands are idle Ceremonies too much like a Play whether or not they be significant though necessary for the Minister as the Ground of his declaring them Husband and Wife The saying or singing a Psalm when going to the Communion Table then the Answers after it even the Communion at that time is not very proper neither repeating the Prayer after what was said in the Beginning that Marriage signifieth unto us the mystical Union of Christ with his Church All Forms of that Nature must be short full and becoming the Gravity and Majesty of the Ordinance Concerning the Visitation of the sick those Answers at the Beginning do much smell of the Popish Priest who hardly goes about any Part of his Office but always hath with him his Clark to answer at Mass and elsewhere Surely upon this Occasion it should be left to the Prudence of the Minister to use his Gift of Prayer according to the Nature of the Disease to the Shortness or Length of it and the Temper and Condition he finds the Patient in by Discourse and Conversation first with Comfort and Exhortations suitable with that State he finds him in and after with Prayer 't is strange that upon such Occasions a Minister should be only doctus in libro and very sad he can or must not pray comfort a Patient nor hardly preach or execute any other Part of his Ministry without Book then 't is not possible to pen a Prayer that at all times and Places can reach every Patients Case The special Confession required of the Patient is too much like Popery but the following Absolution of the Priest is very strange amongst Protestants specially these Words and by the Authority committed to me I absolve thee from all thy Sins Upon Condition of Repentance a Minister may declare a Sinner absolved but not absolve him these are the very Words used by Popish Priests by Christ's Authority committed to me how hard is it to walk upon the burning Coales and not burn his Feet And though the following Prayer be very good and fit for the Occasion yet after a positive Absolution of all Sins it is preposterous and had been better placed before Now to see a Minister coming into a sick Man's Room with a Book in his Hand is the true Posture of a Popish Priest upon such an occasion stinted to it About the Burial of the Dead We ought upon this account to be very shy not to do any thing seeming to favour Popish Errors about the dead The Truth is what in that and some other things we do we have taken it from them A Sermon is what in such an Occasion may be allowed or a general Discourse about Mortality and Preparation for Death but we exceed and go too far as first for the Minister to meet the Body at 〈◊〉 certain Place then for him and his Clark perfectly after the Popish Way to sing either into the Church or towards the Grave the Words therein set down then when they are come to the Grave for Priest and Clark to sing another Tune The Word sing is expressed then a third one while the Earth is cast upon the Body afterwards a fourth Scene all too far and beyond the Modesty and Simplicity upon such an Occasion to be used Of churching of Women Upon this Occasion Thanks to God may be returned but not in that Formal Way which we retain from Popery and which they had from the Jewish Purification all which kind of Ceremonies ought to be abstained from That Law lasted until John and in the Time of the Apostles did wear off by degrees but an ill Circumstance is mentionen last of all still there is Money in the Case the Woman must offer accustomed Offerings not to God but to the Minister God must be satisfied with Thanks but the Priest must have Money this indeed is to make a House of Merchandise of the Church I should also have taken notice how in the foregoing Answers Repetitions ought to be avoided things follow one another with little Relation or hardly any Connexion All this was extracted out of a prayer-prayer-book printed in 1645 but in that now used which was published in Charles II's Days we find some Alterations yet something more than in the Former In the preface are contained some uncharitable and unjust Reflections against Nonconformists called Men given to Change who always discovered a greater Regard to their own private Fancies and Interests than to that Duty they owe to the publick and at the latter End they are called Men of factious peevish and perverse Spirits a very hard
their Customs so we may say will ye overcome and convince Papists cast away their Ceremonies for let us not deceive our selves Ceremonies as well Popish Heathenish and Jewish we ought to part with As for instance if to avoid the Jews Worshipping towards the West our Altars or Communion-Tables are towards the East then we shall fall into the practice of the Idolatry of the Heathens who Worshipped towards the East whereof God takes notice Ezech. 8.16 the way to avoid these two or any other extream is to have no certain affected place but only that which is most convenient But before we come to particulars we must speak something more of Ceremonies in general there are such Circumstances and Ceremonies without which nothing can be done in any Society whether Ecclesiastical or Civil as Times Places and Persons but both these do not come within the question nor those of another kind as are derived from Scripture such are Kneeling in the solemn Duty of Prayer and breaking Bread in the Lord's Supper which be necessary and instituted nor those that are truly and only for Decency and Order which anon we shall have occasion to speak of but the Dispute is of Rites not commanded by God but devised by Man unnecessary in the Church yet are pressed as necessary though by them owned to be indifferent and are used as analogically Sacramental as well as properly Moral and in their signification they make them partake to the nature of Sacraments also in their significative teaching and stirring up of the Heart and being used in Worship as external Acts of God's Worship falsly appointed by Men and serve not for Order Decency nor Edification In the Preface of the Common Prayer Book discovering the intent of the Imposers are these words concerning Ceremonies Such are retained which are apt to stir the dull mind of Man to the remembrance of his Duty to God by some moral and special signification whereby he might be edified To this may be applied that complaint of God against the People of Israel Isa 29.13 Their fear towards me is taught by the Precepts of Men. They say they make not our Ceremonies necessary to Salvation no more do Papists theirs for say they 't is by the Church's Institution yet they make it sin to omit them out of the case of Scandal and Contempt and our Church Men say no less I am sure their practise saith so much for they punish Men for not practising them and they make them as necessary to Salvation as Men can make them when the ordinary means are absolutely denied to all those that refuse them Papists own many or most of their Ceremonies to be Humane because instituted by Men as their several Garments in the Church c. 'T is very strange indeed that when we press our Ceremonists to lay aside so many idle distinctions about Humane unnecessary insignificant Ceremonies that have been and are abused to Superstition and Idolatry and so may not lawfully be used and imposed upon Christ's Church and People they take up the Cudgels for Popery saying their Idolatry and the Pagan's considered in themselves not to be alike and we say though Popish Images be not the same as those of the Heathens yet they are as abominable Idols as theirs and the Worshipping of them as much to be abhorred by all true Christians as the Worshipping of the Images of the Gentiles The wisest sort of Heathens knew well there is but one true God Maker of all things but the ignorant and rudest sort of Papists Worship the Creature more devoutly as Divine Objects than those Heathens were used to do They who have conversed amongst them may speak of this according to their certain knowledge and this I must add how therein Papists sin against greater Light than the Heathens Besides is there among the Heathens any worse or so bad an Idolatry as that of the Mass Heathens Worshipped pretty Figures finely wrought by cunning Workmen but Papists worship a Wafer which any Dunce can make nothing commendable either for Matter or Workmanship Now the Ceremonies in question having undeniably been derived to us from Popery we ought to abhor them for surely Christ hath not left his chaste Spouse so bare and naked as to need borrowing Garments from the Whore of Babylon Our holy Religion is pure why then should it be defiled with the pollutions of the Roman Church For none can deny but that most if not all of them were invented in that Synagogue of Antichrist and were and are still by them used in a Superstitious and Idolatrous way Psal 4â— 13 The King's Daughter saith David is all glorious within The Beauty of Christ's Church is inward and spiritual Humility Chastity Sincerity Holiness Faith Charity c. are her proper and necessary Qualifications and Ornaments plain and modest Cloaths and Behaviour become an honest and virtuous Wife who proposeth to her self to please only her Husband but a Strumpet and a Harlot who would intice and draw Adulterers to her self puts on gaudy Cloaths She deckt her Bed with Coverings of Tapestry Prov. 7.16 17 with Carved Works with fine Linen of Egypt she perfumes her Bed with Myrrh Aloes and Cynamon She painteth and uses all imaginable Art to hide the rottenness stinking Breath and every thing else amiss in her to bring in Custom No Vertuous Woman will wear any Cloaths that she knows to have been used by a Whore so the true Church will hate to make use of the Trinkets of the Romish Harlot And if Men separate from Churches where Images are retained who is the cause and in fault they who dislike Images or those that retain them To this purpose 't is observable how although the name Baal God Lord Master may justly be used towards God yet in respect the same was given to Idols God both hated and forbad it Hos 2.16 17. Thou shalt call me no more Baal for I will take away the name of Baalim After he had said before ver 13. I will visit upon her the days of Baalim for God is very jealous in things relating to his Worship as he calls himself so in the second Commandment whereof the sum is that in his Worship or Ceremonies about it we are to devise nothing of our own Brains or borrow any thing of Heathenish or other Idolatrous Rites and the Equity of that Precept to avoid Idolatry is set down in Scripture 1. By the detestation which God beareth unto all Tokens and Instruments of Idolatry Deut. 7.25 26. 2. We cannot be said to have repented of Idolatry except we be ashamed of 2 Chron. 33 15 Isa 1.29 and chap. 2.20 and cast away the Instruments and Monuments of it else we shall be in continual danger to be corrupted Exo. 34.12 15. and there is more danger in Popish Ceremonies because we converse with them more than with other Idolaters Farther with retaining those Rites that have been and
Thus whilest with one Hand we are hugging and imbracing Papists and as it were courting them to own a Relation of our Bishops being by means of Ordination descended from theirs on the other Endeavours were used here to crush and destroy poor Brethren Some though Christians and Country men proved Wolves and Tygers against others Nonconformists as were and are submissive and obedient to Authority who are for Order and Ministry by way of Office in the Church not guilty in the least of any blasphemous Doctrine against the Person Offices or Grace of Christ nor of any Fundamental Errors yet meerly for Consciencce sake for nothing but Non-conformity was laid to their Charge they were vexed fined cast into Prison where some of them died and otherwise cruelly persecuted which ought to make those that have any thing of the Spirit of Christianity to blush and be ashamed Such Practices ought to be left for the Children of him who is a Murderer from the Beginning For cruel Tyrants and Heathen Emperors and for the Romish Anti-Christ who by any means goes about to compel Men to believe their Opinions to believe as they say as they and do as they do a thing never practised by the Lord Jesus nor by his Apostles nor by true Christians when they had the Power of the Sword For Christian Religion and the true Doctrines of the Gospel must not by Men be forced but perswaded nor promoted by any violent ways One Man may have a Power over the Body of another but no Right or Authority over the Souls one of another that 's God's own Right and Property and they are all Usurpers that do encroach upon it Reformation began first in Saxony under Luther but there they neither kept nor did set up any Bishops nor have any such Diocesian to this very Day but they have a Lay-man residing at the Elector's Court commonly a privy-Counsellor called the President of the Presbytery and in those Parts of Germany they have secularized several Bishopricks as Bremen Minden Halberstad c. Now to the third and last general Part about the Liturgy Of the Common-prayer-book ONE thing more I must speak of though already this Discourse be longer than at first I thought it would be and that is the Liturgy which I shall do as briefly as possibly I can In order to it 't will not be amiss to take notice how much that Space of Time namely Queen Mary's Reign between King Edward's and Queen Elizabeth's had altered that Spirit which appeared in the Reformation under that pious young Prince the Josiah of his time That bloody Persecution had destroyed the Lives of several of those Godly and Learned Instruments of Reformation under the former Reign who in that great and good Work proposed unto themselves no Humane By-Ends but only the Glory of God according to his Word and though in the Beginning of Queen Elizabeth's Days there were several worthy Instruments yet the Spirit they were acted by was somewhat altered if not in the whole yet in part as it will appear if we compare the Articles as they were set forth in King Edward's Days in the Year 1552 with the Edition which the Convocation under Queen Elizabeth in 1571 hath left us There are some considerable Alterations in the Articles as also in the Common-prayer-book what they are for Brevity sake I shall not set down yet I shall say they are about the Articles of Grace of Justification of Sacraments of the Lord's Supper and of Traditions The Expressions left out of them hath proved some Detriment to the Truth for they were strong against some Errors that appeared since and to confirm the Truths therein contained But this in general may be observed about the Prayer-Book how the Common-prayers are taken out of the Breviary the Administration of Sacraments Burial Marriage Visitation of the Sick out of the Ritual the Consecration of the Lord's Supper Collects Gospels and Epistles out of the Missal and for the Book of Ordination of Archbishops Bishops Ministers c. out of the Romish Pontifical Two Popes Pius 4th and Gregory 13th would have approved of it if Queen Elizabeth had been content to have taken it from their Hands and as to matter and manner they are such as that when the Devonshire Papists understood it was no other but the Mass-book in English they were pacified about it A ranck Papist Dr. Carrier said the Common-prayer-book and the Catechism contained in it hold no Point of Doctrine expresly contrary to Antiquity that is the Romish Service only it hath not enough in it Considerat pag. 45. sect 8 9. It is observable how Secretary Walsingham hearing there was a Bull of Excommunication to come out against Queen Elizabeth used a politick Trick to prevent it He caused two of the Pope's Intelligencers at the Pope's own Choice to be as it were in secret brought over and to them he appointed a Guide to shew them in Canterbury and London Service solemnly sung and said with all its Pomp which Order the Popish Intelligencers seeing and admiring they wondered their Master would be so unadvised as to interdict a Prince or State whose Service and Ceremonies did so well agree with his own so returning to the Pope they shewed him his Oversight affirming how they saw no Service or Ceremonies in England but what might very well have been performed in Rome whereupon the Bull was presently called in The Prayer-book is the Beads of our high Church-People for as Papists think all is well with them if they do but tell their Beads so many times a Day hence it is that they look upon it as their great Work when they go to their Churches where they mutter so many Pater Nosters or so many times the Lord's Prayer and Avemarias or the Angel's Salutation to the Virgin So we have amongst us those who think to have performed the whole Christian Duty if they do but go to the Service as they call it and hear the prayer-Prayer-book read Out of the common-prayer-Common-prayer-book in that Part of the Litany where it is said from Sedition and privy Conspiracy the following Words are left out From the Tyranny of the Bishop of Rome and from his detestable Enormities I think after the bloody Tragedy acted under Queen Mary we had no more reason to leave out that important Truth than they had before to have it in But to speak something more in general upon this Subject though within as narrow a Compass as I can because by others much hath been said to the Purpose We declare we are not against Liturgies other Reformed Churches have them and we own they are Help upon Occasion wherefore we be wronged when traduced for Enemies to Liturgies we love them full comprehensive and to the purpose but not clogged with superfluous Repetitions 'T is good to have a Form for Administration of Baptism of the Lord's Supper and blessing of Marriages but they must not be too long nor too many
all the Papists keep for her when alas I defie them all together to prove any of those Days to be the Day which they keep it for so then they are kept at a Venture What shall we say of the Names of Rogations Ember Week and so many more to be found in our Prayer-book which are the Quintessence of Popish Superstitious Holy Days What I say is not in Relation to the civil Part of those Names but as to the Spiritual as they are brought into the Church But they will say we keep not all such Dayes there is only a certain Number mentioned after the Kalender but I ask wherefore then do you set them down yet there are Mornings and Evenings first and second Lessons for the very Day which I make no doubt are read where Service is every Day In the same Kalender we find the fasts as well as Feasts and those Fasts are always upon the Eves of certain Holy Days which are many only I find St. Mark and St. Luke have none whilest All Saints have wherein a Partiality appeareth we have Good Friday Holy Thursday no better nor holier than another whole Lent c. But this matter of Feasts and Fasts I have spoken of before Upon the first of May is the Feast by Papists dedicated to Philip and James but we are so fond of the Latin Tongue that because Jacobus is the Latin for James in the Payer-book 't is called Jacob and not James I know no other Reason why it should be so only because it hath a greater Affinity to the Latin the Latin Church we still retain a Kindness for After the Kalender are certain Notes belonging to it whereof one is that the 13th Chapter of Daniel is to be read until such Words The Book of Daniel hath but 12. Chapters in all and must the History of Susanna against which as an Apocrypha are lawful Exceptions be fathered upon that holy Prophet and be inserted into his Book as a Chapter of it In the Morning and Evening Prayers when the general Confession is read by the Minister it were well for the People within themselves or with a very low Voice to follow him but so loud as usually it is is not pertinent but makes a Noise and Confusion for the same Reason the Answers that follow the Lord's Prayer which indeed have very little Relation if any at all with what goeth before or what followeth In Prayer the Minister is the Mouth of the People to God and the People with their Hearts are to joyn with the Minister in his Prayer as with Reverence and Attention they ought to hear when he is God's Mouth to them that is when he preacheth I might take notice of what is said there of singing the Lesson in plain Tune to sing the Collect Epistle and Gospel which are very improper things So of their Benedicite Magnificat Nunc dimittis which I suppose might admit of English Names of which I shall speak hereafter as for the Answers at the latter End they contain good Expressions but ill applied without a Connexion between themselves all after the Romish way which 't is to be wished we had not so much of as we have we could well enough be without it as without those Portions of Apocryphas when we are wanting something for Instruction Comfort and Edification which the Word of God may supply us with 'T is not enough to sing our Prayers but our Creed and Confession of Faith must also be sung as ordered in the Evening Prayer upon some certain great Days therein named We grant that 't is well to have those several things in Verses to use them however herein Men ought not to allow themselves oto much Liberty for the Word of God ought always to be handled with a great Respect and Reverence the Tone of our Voice ought to be adapted to the Matter and the Occasion according to that Rule of St. James Jam. 5.13 Is any among you afflicted Let him pray is any merry Let him sing Psalms Prayer and Singing are different Duties to be used upon several Occasions as are Affliction and Mirth Before I proceed farther one thing I must take notice of which to me seems unaccountable that is the using of the Word Priest in our Prayer-book In the two Places I quoted before Ephes 4.11 1 Cor. 12.28 whereunto we may joyn Rom 12 the Apostle mentioneth the several Offices belonging to the Church but there is no sign either of the Name or of the Office of a Priest under the Law there were some because Sacrifices were to be made but under the Gospel no Sacrifice but of Prayer and Praise we have the Eucharisty or Commemoration of our Lord and Saviour's Sacrifice upon the Cross but that 's good for Papists to have Priests who pretend daily to make an Expiatory Sacrifice for the Sins of the Living and of the Dead but we abhor such a thing at least pretend to do so We say we abolish the thing and yet retain the Name the Name of Minister is in Scripture known in this Sence 1 Cor. 44.1 Let a Man so account of us as of the Ministers of Christ and Stewards of the Mysteries of God The Names Bishop Pastor and Elder are known in Scripture but if they think the Word Minister below them which I charitably believe they do not because sometimes though seldom they use it then they may use the Word Elder or Presbyter which is the Greek for Elder 1 Pet. 5.1 Presbyter as St. Peter calls himself and Presbytery are Scripture Names signifying Office in the Church but there is a great Difference between 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Presbyter and a Priest which is the proper Signification of the last as Heb. 5.6 so then the Word Priest is fetched afar off and there is no such Office in the Christian Church As to the Litany the same may be said by the People at the same time with the Minister but with a low Voice and not not after and separately they do it after the manner of the Kirie Eleison used by Papists here the People not the Minister make the Prayer for they and not he say Spare us good Lord Good Lord deliver us We beseech thee to hear us good Lord. When 't is said from Fornication and all other deadly Sin the Word deadly doth favour the Popish erroneous Distinction of Mortal and Venial Sins They hold but seven Mortal Sins whereof Fornication is one but they hold there are Sins of their Nature not mortal and which do not deserve Death which is contrary to the whole Course of Scripture Ezech. 18.20 Rom. 6.23 which saith expresly the Soul that sinneth it shall die and the Wages of Sin is Death This may easily be mended with changing the Word deadly into any of these gross horrid enormeous or such like which to deny is certainly to refuse Peace upon easie Terms to
hold a Communication with and in some kind own a Dependency upon the Church of Rome with using her Language nay we seem so fond of it that we use it also in Law a Bond and some other Deeds are in Latin which is a shameful Subjection as if they were our Masters whose Tongue we ought to speak When England was subject to the Roman Empire there was something to say for it but now nothing at all except we have a mind to go back to Rome all that can be pleaded for 't is an old Custom and an evil one too to be left off But much having by others been said upon the matter I shall no further enlarge upon it only as to the manner of using the prayer-Prayer-book This particular I shall add concerning the Word of God read sometimes standing and sometimes sitting But if to stand at the reading of God's Word be a more reverend Posture than to sit why do they sit when the Epistle is read and stand when the Gospel is Surely there is for this Difference not the least Shaddow in Scripture the Epistle is as much the Word of God as the Gospel but they not only make Epistle to differ from Gospel but also Gospel from Gospel for at the second Lesson they stand when some Part of a Chapter of the Gospel is read and yet they sit when a whole Chapter is read in the first Lesson what 's the meaning of all this One Part is read with more Reverence than the whole for when that very same Chapter out of which the Part is taken happeneth to be read at the first Lesson People doth sit and is a greater Respect to be shewed at the reading of the second Lesson than at the first To me this seems unaccountable But a thing there is which I must not omit taking notice of it being liable to a just Exception though not in the Common-prayer-book At the latter End of most of our old Bibles is a Form of Prayers for private Families in that for the Evening are these Expressions That all the World may know that at what time soever a Sinner doth repent of his Sins from the Bottom of his Heart thou wilt put all his Wickedness out of thy Remembrance as thou hast promised by thy holy Prophet But no Prophet saith so Ezech. 18.21 we know they ground it upon the Prophet who in God's Name declareth that a holy penitent Sinner shall live Three things are here to be observed first That turning and Repentance upon which Life is promised is not in the Power of Man but a special Gift of God The second That the turning therein mentioned is upon a legal Bottom for he saith If the wicked will turn from all his Sin that he hath committed and keep all my Statutes and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live To keep all God's Statutes is impossible for Men however there is nothing but what the Law says do this and thou shalt live thus our Saviour doth interpet it Matth. 19.17 if thou wilt enter into Life keep the Commandments The third thing here to be observed and upon which I ground what I said is That in the Place there is no such thing as at what time soever nor nothing equivalent nor in any other Prophet for out of such a Text if there was the wicked would take Encouragement to continue in Sin to the last now Scripture presses Sinners not to delay Repentance we know some say they can repent when they will but God never said so in his Word thus though this be not in the Prayer-book yet I bring it under that Head Now after this to shew we are not singular in our Judgment concerning these Points we will back our Reasons with the Evidence of some few eminent Instruments of Reformation pious and learned Men both abroad and at home Calvin Epist and Protect Calvin is the first Forreigner in his Letter to the Lord Protector in good King Edward's time he saith thus I come to the other Head about abolishing and plucking up by the very Roots Abuses and Corruptions which the Devil in Ages passed hath brought into God's Ordinances it is evident that the Christianity or Religion of Popery is Bastardy and false wherefore if we resolve to bring the People out of that Gulf we must follow the Apostle's Example 1 Cor. 11. from whence it is generally taught that when Men would reform as they ought to do and acceptably to God they must then betake themselves to the pure Word of God for see how many Mixtures which Man's Brain hath hatched do remain so many Pollutions are there which distract Men from the right Use of those things which he hath appointed for their Salvation Wherefore while such a Sink as that is but in the Part pumpt out things cannot be said to be as they should be specially when Religion appeared rather masked than sincere and with open Face which I therefore note because I perceive many now a-days are of another Judgment as if petty Abuses were to be let alone as long as grosser matters be removed whereas contrariwise Experience it self shews what a fertile Soil and faithful Seed-plot of Lies Man's Invention is that being but thin sowen as it were with lesser Grains groweth to such an Heap as if his Measure did intend nothing else Now the Scripture is far different from this when David speaketh of Idols he professeth their Name should not go in or out at the Door of his Lips to shew extream Detestation let us remove our Foot as far as we can from the Snares of Satan for what were all those Ceremonies but so many whorish Enticements to let silly Souls into Mischief yea even Snares to catch Men in But if we talk that the People may be warned least they stumble yet notwitstanding who doth not behold Men hardned by them So little doth that Warning avail to any purpose Therefore if any such thing be left untouched it will be but the Foment and Fewel of greater Mischief and very blind set up to hinder sincere Doctrine from all Entrance as were fit In his second Epistle he exhorteth the same Protector to help Hooper who stood against those Foppish Ceremonies this is all we shall for the present make use of out of him though abundance more might be produced Beza is the next he often speaks much to our Purpose specially in the Place mentioned before now quoted in the Margent not to be repeated here in his Annotations upon these Words 1 Cor. 7.23 Ye are bought with a Price be not ye the Servants of Men He condemneth those that contrary to that Part of Scripture do press superstitious Rites upon the Consciences of Men and from Colos 2.20 he demonstrates how Man's corrupt Nature is too much inclined to loose Liberty and submit to Superstition which with Seneca we may well call insanus Error a mad Error which Superstitious Ceremonies