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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A29237	The XXIV cases concerning things indifferent in religious worship considered, or, The resolver better resolved by his own principles, and non-conformists more confirmed also, the grand case touching ministers conformity, with the double supplement thereunto annexed, briefly discussed.	Bagshaw, Edward, 1629-1671.; Bagshaw, Edward, 1629-1671. Great question concerning things indifferent in religious worship briefly stated.	1663 (1663)	Wing B427; ESTC R12512	53,178	68

are not able to bear as some of their Forefathers complained And to omit or shorten Preaching to enlarge the Church-Service they are ready to profess to be against their Consciences as a making voyd the Commandment of God by observing the Traditions of men 2. It is highly sinful to Assent and Consent unfeignedly to things Inexpedient purely Indifferent that is Idle or Useless Superstitious Doubtful or Significant Humane Ceremonies as against the Second and Third Commandments and because such things are sinful in Worship But to some such things yea many do they assent and consent who declare their assent and consent to all and every thing Contained in and Prescribed by that Book as hath clearly been proved ergo c. 3. It is highly Presumptuous Sacrilegious if not Blasphemous to make that Book equal to the Sacred Bible and the Powers Imposing it as infallible as those were that wrote the holy Scriptures as the Pope does the Apocrypha and the Traditions of the Church But this is done by all that in that manner make that Declaration For what can more be declared and asserted of the Holy Canonical Spirit inspired Scriptures then an unfeigned assent to the Truth and consent to the Goodness of all and every thing contained in those Books 4. To assent and consent to the Imposition of things unlawful in Worship is to make themselves twice guilty of sin once as they assent and consent to things unlawful and a second time as they confirm the Imposers in that sinful Imposition For when will they repent of or repeal these sinful Impositions when they are confirmed to be true and lawful by so many complying Ministers in so high a Declaration 5. To declare and profess so publickly before God and their People their unfeigned assent and consent to all and every thing in that Book believing that some things are Inconvenient and Inexpedient which they wish were removed is gross Dissimulation and desperate hypocrisie But many of the Complyers do believe and confess some such things to be contained in that Book either not true or not lawful and yet assent and consent to all and every thing contained in it Or suppose them so corrupted in their understanding and Judgments as to be perswaded of the Goodness and Truth of all and every thing therein it may easily be proved and hath been already that some things in it are not true as to matter of Doctrine and some things not lawful as to matter of Worship or Discipline if I might safely dispute against that Book having a Law to render it liable to a Premunire But Truth is Truth and to be acknowledged when we are called to give testimony to it This hath been done by many and not yet answered The Book containes the whole of English Religion in Doctrine Worship and Discipline and in every one of those Defects Imperfections and Corruptions manifested and yet without Reformation of many things imposed and pressed on us with more rigour then formerly See some Particulars 1. In Doctrine As 1. In the Articles of Religion Art 20. The Church hath power to decree Rites and Ceremonies which words being ambiguous taken either for meer Circumstances of Worship for Order Decency c. or for Sacred Rites and religious Ceremonies In the first sense they are true but doubtful To which no unfeigned assent can be given till the distinction be given In the last sense in which they are usually taken they are proved to be false above in this Discourse And some other principal points of Doctrine there are so doubtfully worded that as Papists and Arminians have glossed them to their Opinions so no tender Conscience can safely give so full assent to them as true till they be explained which was formerly denied and prohibited to be made by those that subscribed them 2. In the Liturgy some Doctrinals are delivered and prescribed to be assented to as first a false Translation of the Psalmes according to the errours of the Vulgar Latine still retained to be read not to speak of their leaving out of the Titles of many Psalmes which in Hebrew are Canonical Scripture And it is as unlawful to take from the word of God as to add to it unless they intend to make amends for their Substraction of some by Addition of other things and that is sufficiently done by addition of some Apocryphal Psalmes Te Deum Benedicite and a great many Chapters of the Bookes called Apocrypha to be read a most for two moneths together some whereof are false and as very lying Legends as those used in the Romish Churches and some newly added not in before as the History of Susanna Bell and the Dragon And what is this but as they at Rome a Canonizing in part of the Apocrypha making it equal to the Scripture in Divine Service as part of their Doctrine I might add that Assertion That all Children Baptized are really regenerated and want nothing necessary to their Salvation which drawes after it all or most of the Arminian and Popish Tenents 3. The Homilies are part of the Doctrine of the Church ratified by the 35 Canon and prescribed to be read by every Minister and now with the Articles enjoyned to be assented to unfeignedly as true In these have been observed some false Doctrines as to justifie plurality of Wives by the old Fathers Hom. Of the time and place of Prayer pag. 147. That Almes purgeth away all sins delivereth from death Hom. 2. Of Almes pag. 16. For proof whereof is cited as good Scripture Tobit 4.10 the Son of Syrach Dare any Orthodox Minister declare his unfeigned assent to the Truth of these Doctrines yet this is done by too many 2. In Worship There are some things not good that is unlawful to which yet an unfeigned consent is to be given For the Ceremonies they are largely discovered to be sinful and unlawful above To which may be added the Apocryphal Psalmes and Books made not only equal with the Divine Scriptures but also parts of Divine Service as fully as any part of the Word of God Add to these the Responds of the Clerk and People Women Boyes and Wenches clearly against the Apostles Rules of Decency Order Edification as may be easily manifested And more might be said concerning the Ministers change of places postures ridiculous gesticulations as if Divine Service were some Play or Comedy to be acted which causes the Name of God to be taken in vain against the third Commandment Can any pious devout Minister give his unfaigned consent to these as good 3. In Discipline The Book of Ordination is the Epitome thereof now joyned and established with the Articles and Liturgy But there are some things in them proved to be false As 1. That there are three kinds or Orders of Church Officers Bishops Priests and Deacons when Scripture knowes but two It being proved and confessed by Episcopal men that in Scripture a Bishop and a Presbyter are one and

into Errour and Superstition without any delay and with great Authority they may be destroyed by Posterity But Superstition being not in the things used or required but in the persons that superstitiously require or use them grounded in the false Doctrine and Superstitious Opinion which persons have of them how shall we come to know when things are superstitiously abused And then how can we charge our Ceremonies with Superstition Our Rev. Casuist hath given us some rules to try them by pag. 130 c. which we shall apply to the case in hand as we go Only premising these two things 1. That we limit not our Discourse only to the 3 Ceremonies Surplice Cross and Kneeling but enlarge it to any other Rites and Ceremonies Imposed and used in the Publick Worship even to the Liturgy it self which being the Form of divine Service as it is called may be stiled a Grand Ceremony 2. That it must not be expected that all the Rules of Discovery should be applied to every particular Ceremony to prove it superstitious but any one may suffice if rightly applied And now I proceed 1. The first way of Discovery of Superstition is by the 4 Characters thereof given by Learned Divines An Opinion of Merit of Worship of Perfection of Necessity Any one of these found in our Ceremonies will testifie the persons that so use them to be Superstitious 1. Of Merit When to take his own words we think God is bound to reward our Inventions and that by our Purses or Labours we purchase his favour this is Superstition And does not a great Rabbi of our Church whose Learning and Books are not only applauded and admired as Oracles but approved as Orthodox by our Rulers profess openly and confidently It is his Doctrine that Will-worship his Free-will-Offerings are more commendable more acceptable and more rewardable with God then commanded Duties Amongst which Free will Oblations the Liturgy is one great one the only Form of Divine Service as it is called by some and do not the vulgar and many higher persons esteem it to be most commendable most acceptable and consequently most rewardable Service of God and if not with their Purses yet by the labour of their Lips in bearing a part in that Service to purchase his Favour And is not this Superstition If it be rewardable it must be either by some Promise but there is none such in Scripture Or of due Debt Rom. 4. but that is plain Merit there 's no third way to ground the Reward on 2. Of Worship When things are required as parts or of the Essence of Divine Worship or so used this is Superstition But the Liturgy it self is by the Rulers made and called the Form of Divine Worship not a part only but the whole Essence and Substance thereof 2. Ceremonies are esteemed by all Religions Rites of Worship Ceremonial worship and so parts of worship as was proved above 3. They are made by the Imposers Religious not civil Ceremonies and so parts of Religion that is of Worship and so used by many Certainly Kneeling at Sacrament is a part of external worship and so esteemed and used by most 3. Of Perfection When we conceive the true Beauty of the Church and the Perfection of Christianity consisteth in things of humane Invention This is Superstition And do not some on this side Rome place the Perfection of Christianity and the beauty of Religion in Pompous Ceremonies Glorious Temples Sweet and melodious Musick Gawdy Priestly Garments a compleated Liturgy c. And do not many think the Service undecent without a Surplice the Baptism imperfect without the Cross the Sacrament irreverently received without Kneeling Is not this gross superstition 4. Of Necessity When such things are required and so used as simply necessary in their Nature being but things Indifferent This is also Superstition And I pray hath not a Learned Doctor a Late Bishop pleaded the Liturgy to be so necessary that without it there can be no Religion no honesty no Allegiance And do not the Late Commissioners plead a Precept of Scripture for their Ceremonies Not an Allowance only but a Command to institute Ceremonies And is not that necessary In a word does not the Late Act make them so necessary as far as they can that the commanded worship must rather be omitted then any of their humane divine Service omitted that men must not worship God without observation of their Ceremonies Wear a Surplice or pray not preach not Cross the Child or baptize not Kneel or receive not the other Sacrament And for the ordinary users of them it is observable that humane Inventions added to the Worship of God as they are more strictly observed then the prescribed Worship of God Micah 6. ult so after long continuance they are esteemed necessary as falsly supposed to be of Divine Original These are the ordinary Characters of Superstition which I could wish were not too visible spots in the face of our Church But I believe there are more and other waies to discover Superstition then these As 1. To put Holiness in things times places 2. To put vertue efficacy in things which they have not neither in their Natures nor by Divine Institution 3. To put significations upon Ceremonies in Divine Worship Of which more by and by 2. The next Rule is when upon evident and undeniable grounds of General Practise it appears to the sober and unbyassed sort of men that a thing is used superstitiously in any of the former Respects then no doubt there is an appearance of Superstition Now first the Cenerality of our Nation are proved afore to be superstitious in the use of our Liturgy and Ceremonies And for the Learned that conform to them some are known to be Popishly superstitious in Bowing Crossing c. Some are by assed by Profits or Preferments that are gotten or lost thereby Only some few Sober Learned and unbyassed persons are free from the guilt of Superstition sticking to the simplicity of Gospel-worship 3. A third Rule given and most undoubted is Look to the Doctrine of the Church whence the Grounds of Imposition and Practise are drawn If they be false and superstitious then there is an appearance of evil to be avoyded We joyn issue in this also and apply it to the Case in hand 1. The Doctrine of the Church though found in most of the 39 Articles hath yet been scrupled at by Nonconformists in the Institution of Ceremonies and the Doctrine and Power given questioned The Church hath power to Impose Ceremonies see the Article and this is asserted by that great Advocate of this Church cited above and more confidently by a Late Bishop Upon this Principle and bottom are all our Ceremonies and all those at Rome founded and is most certainly false as is proved elsewhere 2. They are held forth in practise as Moral means to excite Devotion and teach and provoke to Duty the Surplice to Purity the Cross to Constancy

the same Order and Office 2. That Ordination by Presbyters is null I add no more To all these either false or unlawful do they assent and consent which how they can do with a good Conscience I understand not but do admire 6. And Lastly besides the burdens they have laid upon their weak Brethren in a very considerable number and the hurt they have done to the Church in the loss of so many Able Ministers to the gratifying of Antichrist they have by their unfeigned assent and consent to all and every thing contained in and prescribed by that Book in Doctrine Worship and Discipline as precluded all future hopes of Reformation so also enslaved themselves and their Successors of the Clergy to the power and yoke of Episcopal Tyranny Just in the same manner if not measure as the Popish Clergy are enslaved to the Pope without all hope of freedom till either Antichrist be fallen or those strict Lawes for Conformity be repealed and broken This is one chief Character of Antichrist that he causeth all his Subject especially the Clergy to receive a Mark in their right hand and in their Forehead that none may buy or sell that want this Mark. How far this is appliable to our present condition any wise man will easily discern The Bishops have now obtained their long Desire and Design to subdue and enslave the Clergy to themselves and with them the People they having boared their Eares to their Door posts and received a mark in their Foreheads by their so Publick Declaration and in their Right Hand by their Subscription without which no Minister may buy or sell that is deal in any thing that concernes his Ministerial Office or as a Schollar to get a Livelihood And whether this be not the slaying of the Witnesses Natural or Civil spoken of in the Revelation or the Forerunner of it I leave to prudent men to determine And here I rest The Grand Case considered as to the double Supplement annexed thereunto I. Touching Things Inexpedient I Begin with this though it stand last in the Grand Case partly because it is intended to be a Support to uphold his former Tract which I have throughly ventilated and partly because it must be the Foundation of the Main Case of Conformity to the Declarations required in the Late Act. For if the things in question be not only Inconvenient or burdensom but also Inexpedient that is according to his own Exposition of the word Sinful In vain is the Net spread before the eyes of any Fowl No man of any good Conscience can or dare be taken with such Chaffe as he hath here scattered in stead of good Corn to beguile and mislead his Readers Before I consider what fresh Supply he hath brought I shall premise some few Observations as grounds to shake and frustrate all this second Undertaking 1. He here again as was complained of and manifested on his former cases confounds Inexpedient with Inconvenient Sometimes we hear of Things simply inexpedient p. 144. which he expounds by things Inconvenient p. 147. No small Inconvenience p. 150. For some Inconveniences imposed on us we ought not to quit our Ministry Which we profess we would not do and other the like Passages when yet he told us Things not Expedient in Worship ought not to be Imposed or if Imposed to be Submitted to as anon we shall hear 2. Inexpedient may be taken either negatively for a thing not Expedient or positively for something hurtful For as Expedient is taken for useful helpful to the business we are about So a thing Inexpedient in a flat opposition as was said may be taken either way for not-useful or hurtful to it 3. A thing inexpediently evil or hurtful in Worship may be taken either for malum poenae as troublesom or burdensom or for malum culpae a thing sinful The Rev. Casuist does not clearly distinguish these two senses and which he meanes and therefore seemes secretly to pass a genere in genus from one kind to another 4. A thing may be sinful either in it self or in its use in Worship from some Circumstance of time or place c. This Distinction is given us by the Casuist p. 68. of the former Tract and we shall make use of it hereafter 5. A thing may be Inexpedient in two Respects 1. In matters of Civil and common Affairs or in matters of Religion and Worship Some Assertions of his are true and allowable in the first but not in the second respect I needed not to have noted this but that he seems to have forgotten what he first intended that he is tied to speak to things Inexpedient in Worship 6. Things evil and Inexpedient in both senses as penally or sinfully such may be considered or compared 3 waies 1. One evil of punishment with another a lesser with a greater and here the Rule is e malis minimum chuse the least 2. An evil of punishment with an evil of sin and here the Rule is The greatest evil of punishment must be chosen rather then the least evil of sin as Heb. 11.25 3. One evil of sin with another lesser equal or greater and here the Rule is e malis neatrum vel nullum And now we come to the Case propounded Whether or how far things inexpedient not imposed in Worship for that is peremptorily denied by the Rev. Casuist in the former Tract but may be submitted to if imposed by Authority That was the Case before What is to be done when things Inexpedient are imposed viz. in Worship Now an Objection it seemes is lately flarted and an Argument enforced from his own Principles for the Negative in this manner Nothing sinful in Worship may be submitted to though imposed by Authority which is now proved by Scripture we may not do evil that good may come thereby But Inexpedient things imposed in Worship are sinful ergo not to be submitted to The Major as it is obvious to any Religious Conscience so it is often asserted in the other Tract The Minor is also granted in the very terms All Indifferent things not expedient are not lawful but finful p. 36. And p. 34. Things not expedient to be done ought not to be done What saies he now to it Both the Propositions being his own he must either yield the Cause and own the Conclusion or distinguish of one or both the Propositions which latter he attempts to do as followeth Things are evil or unlawful either in specie or in genere only either in themselves as prohibited by some special Law Natural or Positive or in respect to some Circumstance or Accident To which I reply in this manner desiring to know to which Proposition he will apply this Distinction 1. If to the Major it must be thus Things sinful against a special Commandment may not be submitted to in Worship but things forbidden by a general Commandment may if imposed by Authority For so he saies Things of the second kind