nothing the world is gone after him Joh 12. 19. It is so in this case of the worship of Christ c. We shall prevail nothing c. To this we need not answer any thing to them the times we humbly praise God for it have answered for us this book which was so long cast off being now generally taken up again and used with reverence devotion and thankfulness to the Lord for it in the most principal places and most Cuurches of this Kingdom so that the saying they cite there of the Pharisees and Scribes may better be applyed to these people that cite in it then to those to 〈…〉 CHAP. IV. Of the Matter HEre they inveigh against the Common Prayer Book in respect of the matter of it telling us that The matter is partly false partly ridiculously frivolous yea and some part of it is not without a tincture of blasphemy The first of these charges they go about to prove three ways saying For the general we lay down these three instances In false or corrupt translations of the word additiâ—ns to the word and substractions all which the Service Book not onely allows but injoyns subscription to them To these things we answer first in general that it is no sufficient plea against the book to cry it down wholly for some particular defects in it but to desire rather to have those things amended then the whole book so excellent in several respects totally to be abolished for some imperfections in it Secondly to come to them more particularly to the first of false translations we answer 1. That if that be sufficient for a particular place to reject a whole book or volum what shâ—ll become of our English Bible in the last and best translation that we have for in that we shall find such a translation as no English man can make sense of namely Phil. 1. 21. which words there agree with the Latine which these men are so much against for it is there Vivere est mihi Christus to me to dye is Christ but neither that Latine nor the English can express either the Apostles meaning or can indeed be understood what they mean themselves They put the Greek verbatim into English which the idiome of our tongue cannot bear and herein they reject Calvin and Beza's and Junius and Tremilius translations and agree with the Vulgar Latine yet no man wholly rejects this our new translation as containing false matter but it is not unworthily esteemed as one of the best translations extant in any language Again that word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor. 11. 29 is in both our translations rendred Damnation which is neither according to the signification of the word in it self nor according to the Apostles meaning in that place for he proves that which he saith there in the words following directly mentioning temporal judgement as vers 30. But I will not strive to defame our translations as they do our Common Prayer Book by searching how many places are not so translated as they should be but were there more defects then there are who could hereupon reject totally our English Bibles as these do our Service Book upon that score of falsity in matter through some imperfections in the translation Secondly then I pass to the next particular which they call additions To add to the word of God in general as to propound any thing for Gods word which is not so indeed I grant to be abominable but to add to any particular part of Scripture some words taken out of some other part of Scripture is no addition to the word of God for it does not affirm any thing to be Gods word which is not indeed Now of this kind are the additions they speak In Psalm 14. the words in the end added are not onely taken out of Gods word in several places but also all collected together by Saint Paul and added to the precedent words in this Psalm as we see Rom. 3. 13 14 15 16 17 18. neither are thrust into the Psalm by the composers of the Common Prayer book but are in the old Latine Bibles whence those Psalms were translated and how reasonably and fitly they are there our Bibles do note after the end of Psal 14. where they shew why they are not put into our Bibles For the next addition mentioned in Psal 13. what is that but a concluding of that Psalm with the very words of Scripture also for the same expression we find in two other Psalms near adjoyning viz. Psal 7. 17. Psal 9. 3. For the third addition it is an addition of their own making not found in the book in that 24. Psalm Whereas therefore they say lastly That they will not reckon diverse additions more they do well in that point but they had done better if they had not reckoned this neither unless there had been more truth in it I also will add no more of this matter but come to their next accusation which is concerning substractions or omissions And therein first they accuse us for omitting the titles of diverse Psalms Secondly for omitting the words Praise ye the Lord Thirdly for omitting the conclusion in the Lords Prayer For which last First if we took the Lords Prayer out of Luke 11. we omit none of it and why may we not use it sometime as it is in one place sometime as it is in another so that the cavil is onely for want of a better for the two former omissions the book makes no omission but renders the Psalms as it found them in the translations whence they were taken Their last omission is Leaving out many Chapters and some whole books unread for the Lesson in the Kalender appointed But this is not taking away any thing from the word of God except the book did profess that it hath appointed the whole word of God to be read for the Lessons but this the book does not only it appoints such parts of the word of God to be read at such times and leaves the rest to be read of the people privately The next thing is the reading of the Apochrypha very immethodically brought in here for that should rather have come in among the additions then the omissions yet it is not any addition to the word of God for we read it not as a part of Scripture to build our faith upon or to establish any doctrine of divinity thereby but for moral instruction then if they ask What need of that the Scripture being sufficient for that also We answer that we do it not as supposing defect therein but because they are books written by holy men and have been continually read publikely by the Church of God in reverence thereto we thought not fit wholly to reject them or cast them out of our Church but whereas they tell us here That some things are appointed to be out of them which are utterly false We tell them that is more then they can prove to
Ministers which are good workmen and bad workmen and no workmen are all hurt by the Common Prayer Book And first they instance in the last of these thus Where Ministers should be apt to teach c. this Book settles such blind fellows over people who can neither feed nor lead To this the answer is plain the Book appoints not at all what Ministers we shall have setled in Churches but what they shall do that are setled in them And if we have any such as they here speak of and call them dumb dogs saying Sir Johns c. These are not hurt nor the Churches that have them hurt but benefited by the Common Prayer-Book for hereby they that can do no other good yet are forced to do some by reading that Book duly to and among the people for by that reading the ignorant people are instructed by the Word of God read to them according to the Book They have also a Confession of Faith the Ten Commandments the Lords Prayer by frequent reading taught them with many other excellent and godly Prayers whereby they call upon God agreeably to his Word wherewith they praise God with Songs and Hymns in this Book which without it they could not tell how to do So then all the bad Ministers whether no Preachers or bad Preachers are all helped by this Book those that cannot preach at all if any such be now do good by reading these which are evil Preachers and could do nothing but hurt if any such there be by idle and senseless Prayers and erroneous Doctrine which they preach and make themselves which they would do onely shall by reading the Book do some good both to themselves and others Then for the good Ministers which they divide into two sorts some Conformists to whom the Book they say is a burthen some Non-Conformists which for this Book are sufferers I answer the first are not hurt by the Book but by their own erroneous Conscience which makes that a burthen to them which of it self is no such thing For the other which are sufferers for their disobedience it is either their weakness or their obstinacy which causes them to suffer and not the Common Prayer-Book which is at the most but a remote Causa sine qua non of their sufferings if they suffer onely for refusing that else it is not so much And I believe there are few sufferers if any at all which have had no fault but non-conformity to the Book laid to their charge this for the Ministers then is nothing Secondly they tell us the Ordinances suffer by this Book namely Preaching is hindred by it but this experience shews to be otherwise no Toleration being given to neglect preaching for reading the Book but where it is most punctually observed Sermons are as good though perhaps not so long as in those places where it is neglected and we know it is not the length of the Sermon that makes the people edifie but many times the untolerable tediousness thereof makes many even shun them rather then frequent them Neither do any of us esteem more of the Service-Book as they accuse us then of preaching in general but to esteem more of the set Prayers made by the most Judicious Fathers and by Law established and of the Word of God truly and plainly read then of such ex tempore Prayers and Sermons as many of the enemies of the Common Prayer-Book make sometimes no man that understands himself and the Word of God can possibly forbid without manifest impiety And that such Prayers and Sermons are not more properly Fardels of mens devices then the Liturgy which hath so much of the sincere Word of God in it no reasonable man can say Then for those words in the Canon which they alledge of Divine Service and Sermon they do not in the least sort make preaching no part of or a lesser part of Gods service then reading and praying but speaking in that Canon for the ordering of the people they speak in the peoples language wherein it is usual to say Service and Sermon So that had they said onely Divine Service and not added Sermon some would have excluded the Sermon from being understood in the Canon but the Canon to shew that we esteem of Sermons as well as of Service appoints the same reverence to be used in the one that is in the other This cavil therefore is most idle Thirdly They speak of evil effects of our Liturgy upon the people And herein first they tell us of an evil effect the Book hath upon the Law because some have been punished for not reading the Book contrary to Law Which I answer to thus If this were true it is meerly accidental to the Book and partly the fâ—ult of disobedient men and partly of unjust Judges But if the Act for the observing that Book be well looked into they shall quickly see that the offences in this kinde have not been punished beyond the rigor of the Law but have rather had more favor then the Law allows For the Statute is plain That whosoever shall preach or speak any thing in the derogation or depraving of the said Book or any thing therein contained or any part thereof and shall be convict thereof c. shall forfeit all his Spiritual Promotions coming or arising in one whole year How would these fellows storm if this Act were put in execution against them But to proceed they tell us next That this Book affronts Religion and herein they spend many words in nothing but unchristian and unhumane railing telling us That many good people have suffered c. Which discourse how horribly fâ—lse soever it be yet is to no purpose if supposed true for whatsoever men have suffered for seditious and rebellious words and actions they would here make the ignorant people believe hath been wholly for not conforming to the Book just like the Papists who when a Jesuite or Priest is put to death for Treason say He is martyred here for his Religion They tell us next That many people have been destroyed by being brought in ignorance hereby Which is so false and impossible as nothing more the Common prayer-Prayer-Book if well observed and used hath enough in it to shew any man the way to everlasting life by the Scriptures read and such Confessions of Faith as are necessary to salvation and such Prayers aâ— if faithfully prayed and mercifully granted we shall be happy enough in this world for a time and perfectly happy in the world to come for ever and ever Whereas on the other side many of their magnified Sermons fill poor souls with Errors Heresies and Doctrines of Devils inciting and moving men to Rebellions Murders Treasons and the most damnable villainies that ever hath been committed in our Land as the murdering our late King and many other horrid acts in the late times committed Lastly For those three things which they propound to be considered from Queen Maries days Pag. 41.
A View of the Face Vnmasked OR AN ANSVVER TO A Scandalous Pamphlet published by divers Ministers and Entituled The Common Prayer-Book Vnmasked Wherein the lawfulness of using that Book is maintained by Answering their Five as they boast undeniable Arguments brought against it Whereunto are added also some Arguments for the retaining of that Book in our Church from the same heads whereby they plead against it namely From The Name of it The Original of it The Matter contained in it The Manner of using it The Effects of it upon the whole Land By Sam. Wotton D. D. sometime Fellow of Kings Colledge in Cambridge LONDON Printed by Tho. Newcomb 166â— TO THE Impartial Reader Christian Reader THough I have all my life time hitherto declined to shew my self any ways in this kind yet now in my last dayes I can no longer keep my self out of the over-burdened Press For having seen this Book not only publickly sold in Westminster-Hall but also reprinted without controll and no answer that I can hear of yet made to it I thought it better to make this brief Answer thereto then to let it seduce and abuse so many people as might be hurt by it if it should pass for such an unanswerable peice as it is pretended to be I have therefore set down all their arguments and given plain and direct answers to them their vain extravagancy and most uncivil railings I have either wholly passed over or very lightly sometime touched upon them that I might neither too much enlarge my Book nor write in a stile so contrary to my natural disposition and so unfitting my quality and profession First then in answer to their Epistle to the Reader they tell us there that Out of a respect to the glory of God which is a God that will be worshipped in spirit and truth as also with a desire of the Readers eternal good they present this Treatise To which I say also that out of a respect to the glory of God which is not a God of confusion but of peace and so 1 Cor. 14. 33. of order without which there is nothing but confusion and no true peace as also out of a tender care of the honour and glory of the Church of England and lastly out of a desire of thy good that thou mayest not be misled by faction ignorance and blind zeal I present unto thee this Answer to their book set forth in â—â—ew against the Common-Prayer-Book but in deed and truth against the Church of England as by this answer will appear Secondly they tell us That this Treatise was formerly penned by some eminent Orthodox Divines late Non-conformists wherein are solid arguments Concerning which vain glorious boast for eminency how much soever I fall short of them they being many and I but one yet for Orthodoxness let any man judge of their writing and my answer to whom that title doth best belong and for their last title of late Non-conformists I am more troubled to understand what they aim at by it then to answer it for if they be still Non-conformists why do they prefix that word late as implying that now they are not so and if they be no longer such why or how then do they own such a book now To that therefore I say no more but hope that my title of present conformity shall be as well accepted by the indifferent Reader as theirs of late or present difformity Thirdly they say That three sorts of Readers shall be helped by this Book the doubtful shall be fully resolved the users of the Common Prayer Book shall be brought off and the refusers of it encouraged not onely because Gods people but God himself mislikes it To this I rejoyn that those three sorts of people shall by my answer be more profited then by their accusation for the first sort the doubtful may be hereby resolved to use it the second sort which use it shall be confirmed in their conformity and obedience the third may be either changed or ashamed not onely because humane authority does directly but Divine authority also consequently command it by enjoyning us to obey the powers set over us Fourthly they press the Covenant as an unaswerable argument against the book To which I answer that the Covenant is nothing at all against our Common Prayer Book for we shall plainly shew when we come to the motive that neither they which for fear of present ruine did in some sort seem to joyn in that Covenant by Tyranuy imposed on them nor they which through ignorance or weakness of judgement did easily and willingly yeild to it are in any sort now bound thereby to reject the Common Prayer Book Lastly they tell us That their book will inform us of the truth and if the truth as the Scripture saith make us free we shall be free indeed To this I say that my answer truely performing that which they onely promise shall bring us out of the darkeness of error in this point into the light of truth that being in the light we mâ—y as the Scripture speaks walk as children of the light that is in obedience to God by obeying our Governors which are the Ministers of God for our wealth And this freedom of ours does in no sort come behind Rom. 13. 4. that of theirs for hereby we are the servants of God whose service as with our book in our daily Collect we confess is perfect freedom This freedom we shall ever pray for but freedom from government discipline order decency or whatsoever other freedom in that kind they mean we neither desire our selves nor as we hope shall they ever attain to that most of all desire it So desiring thee equal Reader to weigh their bare arguments with my plain answers and to let their railings revilings trouble thy head no more then they have done my pen I commit thee to Gods blessing in this and all thy Christian endeavors and rest Thine in the Lord S. Wotton A View of the Face Unmasked CHAP. I. To the Preface HEre they begin with a mentioning of Loyalty telling us That As Loyalty is the very Fortress of Policy so pure Religion is the Fountain and Root of Loyalty yea Equity Charity Sobriety and Loyalty are the Virgin-Daughters of unspotted Piety Had they as much Loyalty in their hearts as in their mouths never would they have presumed now especially in these days to reprint this Pamphlet so bitterly and sordidly inveighing against a Book by Law and Authority set forth so long ago and now allowed by His Royal Majesty and constantly read before Him in His Sacred Chappel But as the Lord said of the Jews so may the King of these They have Loyalty and Obedience in their Isai 29. 23. mouths but in their actions they are far from it And if as they tell us Pure and undefiled Religion be the Fountain of Loyalty and Equity Charity Sobriety and Loyalty be the Virgin-Daughters of unspotted
this more abundantly hereafter to which when we come we shall answer accordingly in the mean time to follow their immethodical manner of proceeding I answer for the present that first this accusation is false for where can they shew in the Mass book our thanksgivings for deliverance from the plague for victory over our enemies for rain for fair weather c Secondly If every word in ours were in the Mass book yet as long as all that is evil in the Mass book is left out in ours what is that which is good in ours the worse for being in the Mass book If that good thing in that book is so polluted by being there among the evil that it can be good nowhere else what will they say to all the texts of Scripture read in that book must they be expunged out of our Bibles because they are taken into the Mass book Let any man judge of this arguing But to return with them back again to the name they say Names are the very images of things and there being an unanimous agreement as in the names so in the things what reason is there that we should groan still under the burden of a Liturgy born in upon us under the name and nature of a Mass The assertion here is to no purpose except the names do truely set forth the nature of the things To the question we answer that we do not at all groan under such a burden for neither is the book any such burden as in my answer shall appear neither does our book own any such name Next then after a railing discourse they ask a company of questions which being truely answered the answer would be very unpleasant to them for they ask Who hath cast the State into this consumption of mony who hath made the heart to ake and the souls to groan of honest householders c Who have caused the Kings leige people for obeying the Laws of God and man to be carried to stifling prisons who caused some to be tortured c who have been the Incendiaries and firebrands to melt away the Kings love to his Subjects and their true loyalty to the King To all these questions of theirs they might have added one more Who have so horribly murdered their King and many thousands of his subjects To all these questions Whither the defenders of the Common Prayer book or the opposers of it must be answered let the whole world judge and let them like the answer as they please and deny it as they can I will appeal to others and be silent my self in this point The rest of this Chapter till they come to their Syllogism is nothing but railing which I pass by onely concerning one passage therein where they speaking of the Scots rising up in arms they conclude with this exhortation Vp in the name of the Lord and do the like Here I must needs ask them Whither this speech savour of loyalty or rebellion If this were not a direct incitement to rebellion let the world judge Here then we see Lady Loyalty the fourth of the Virgin daughters so notorious that we cannot but condemn the mother of impious treason instead of commending her for unspotted piety but that fire of rebellion through the infinite mercy of God being now quenched I will not rake into the ashes of it but come to their Syllogism We must not name an Idol but with detestation much less are we to offer it as a worship of God But the Service book is an idol Therefore we are not to name it c. The Proposition in this syllogism which no man will deny they labor to prove by several texts of Scripture which I pass as brought to no purpose The assumption which should be throughtly proved they promise to prove in the next point where I promise also God willing to answer their proofs and to that which they brag to be already granted that our Service book is a Mass book I have already disproved CHAP. III. To the Original IN this Chapter they begin with a Syllogism and fall to their idle extravagancies afterward quite contrary to their course in the former Chapter That whose original and rise is naught must needs be naught in it self But such is our Service book Therefore it is naught The Proposition they seem to prove by saying thus Can there come clean water out of a corrupt fountain The assumption they would prove by proving our book to be taken wholly from the Mass book and other Popish peices This they endeavor to prove in this Chapter three several wayes 1. By comparing the books 2. By the mutual liking that our Liturgy Masters as they call them and the Mass book men have one of anothers piece 3. From the evidence given from the Kings Counsel of England most of his Chapter is spent in those three last proofs of the Assumption The Proposition they strive not to prove any further And yet if that be false the whole argument is nothing worth To that therefore I answer first and deny the truth of it simply and in it self for it is then onely to be granted as true when the original is wholly and absolutely evil without any good in it but if there be a mixture of good therein as well as evil that which ariseth from that part which is good may be good as well as that which ariseth from that evil is evil If then there be any good in the Mass book and that onely our book takes from thence wholly rejecting all the evil it cannot follow that our book must be evil though taken thence any more then a Pearl or precious stone must be naught if raked out of a dunghill For the objection against this that the Case is different because that Pearl or stone was not bred in the dunghill We answer that is nothing against us For first Those good things which we have in our book and are also in the Mass book were not bred there but taken out of the Scriptures Fathers or Ancient Liturgy of the Church and put in theirs Secondly A thing bred in that which is evil in that sense we speak that is not totally evil may be good coming from evil as the precious stone in the head of a Toade is not venemous though the Toad be But for their instance of the fountain it is very unsufficient and unfit in this case because though the fountain were not totally evil yet the evil and good in the water is so mixed that one cannot be severed from the other in the flowing out but in collecting good things out of a book where are also evil and more evil then good the case is very different and the work easie This their Proposition then being thus unsound what proof soever they make of that which follows their conclusion cannot hold yet I am content to take a view of the triple proof of their Assumption also The first whereof is from the comparing of
the Mass book and our Common Prayer Book together Between which they pretend there is such a consent that every piece and parcell of our Book is taken from thence but the falsity of this we shewed in the former Chapter in which they spake of this matter and named there what we have in our book which the Mass book hath not And we add now That if we had never a word but what is there yet we having none of the evil that is there it cannot follow that ours must be evil for having in it somewhat that is there Secondly For the mutual complacency they talk of I answer that to accuse all that like our Liturgy to be likers also of the Mass is so shameless and foul a slander as none can be more And of the other side for the Papists approving of our Liturgy it is more a commendation of it then otherwise it arguing our Service to be so good that our very adversaries which in all things else are so bitter against us yet can say nothing against that Whereas therefore they say That if the Papists like it it cannot be good because they are against all good I answer This is intolerable for thus they may as well condemn much of our Doctrine as well as our Liturgy as namely all Divine and necessary Truths which we hold and teach concerning the Unity of Essence and Trinity of persons in the Divine Nature all the Artributes of God and in a word all the first part of Divinity in Thomas wherein we and the Papists have hardly any difference So then this second argument makes more for our book then against it All those sound parts and doctrines in Divinity which we with them held joyntly not having their Original from them or their writings but from the Scriptures whence we and they also took them The rest of the words which they use in this Chapter concerning this second argument as having nothing in them but foul and shameful expressions of their rancorous and mâ—licious hearts against all those that are not of their strain I pass over as nothing to purpose for the business we have in hand And so I come to the last evidence they bring against us which they call The undeniable testimony of the King namely of King Edward the sixth and of his councel Where they bring in a piece of a letter telling us they have the rest by them which may be as true as all they say else but granting all they say if the King and State to draw the Papists back to us and win them to our Church did write to that purpose what is that to the prejudice of our Liturgy as long as all the evil in the Mass book is left out in ours If ours be no new Service but the old and what is in ours be theirs to assure the Papists hereof must needs be an especial argument to move the Papists not to abhor our Churches but too frequent them and joyn with us in our Liturgy though perhaps they cannot rest satisfied with it but will privately have their own Mass besides it also Thus I have done with their third proof also Now their Syllogism made hereupon is this That which is word for word out of the Popish Mass book is not to be offered to God as a worship but to be abolished as abomination to him But the Liturgy in controversie is so as hath been abundantly proved Therefore is not to be offered c. To this we answer briefly That which they here brag to be proved to the full we have by our answer shewed to be utterly false For if there be any thing in the Mass not in ours as abundantly there is or any thing in ours not in theirs then is not ours word for word out of theirs But both these we have already shewed and so their argument is fully answered Vainely therefore do they spend so many words following by several places of Scripture to prove that which no man denies And as needless is their following Invective against the Mass which we defend not and to no purpose concerning this business is their answering two texts of Scripture used in defence of the Mass by the Papists all which words helping onely to fill up their book and nothing touching our Common Prayer Book I pass by One onely thing more have I to add concerning this Chapter that for the original of our Common Prayer book whereas in this whole discourse thereof they seem to suppose that we went to the Mass and no further to frame a Liturgy from thence this is a meer fancy of theirs we follow the old Liturgy before the Popish Mass but the truth is when we having been a long time with the Mass amongst us and other Idolatrous ceremonies very notoriously faulty in the worship of God did according to our duties begin to reform our selves we did onely cast off such things as were inevitably offensive and did retain the rest concerning which whereas they tell us It was great incogitancy to speak the least in our Reformers in King Edwards days to take a Monke from among the Canaanites c. We answer for those our holy Ancestors that they took the most advised pious and Christian course that could be taken in that kind For first hereby they took the most likely course that could be thought on to draw many of the Papists to our Religion wherein we departed no farther from them then they had first departed from the word of God all other things we still retained that they that would but reform notorious abuses might still retain fellowship with us Secondly they hereby declared sufficiently to all the world that this alteration made was neither out of hatred to them or love of novelty or singularity or any high conceit of any excellency in fancies or devices of our own brains above our forefathers but would be content with what we had from them as far as it was consonant to the word of God or not contrary to it Thirdly by this means they avoided combustion in Church and State making as little stir or noise as could be in the reformation which is always especially to be regarded by all quiet spirits and lovers of peace in any change whatsoever Fourthly by this dealing they followed the Apostles rule by shewing their meekness softness and gentleness to all men as is required So that retaining thus much of the Mass book when we Phil. 4. 5. cast off Popery was so far from incogitancy or any other scandal to be layed upon our forefathers that we may rather admire or at least must much commend their wisdom meekness love of peace and charitable desire of converting others thereby For the conclusion then of this Chapter wherein they brag so much of success telling us That It will fall out as it did with the Scribes and Pharises envying that the people should follow Christ Perceive ye not say they how ye prevail
be true but if any of them be to read any such Chapter at any time which he counteth not to be profitable to be read to the people he may read one out of the New Testament instead of it as Dr. Sparke shews concerning this matter in his brotherly perswasion to unity and uniformity Chap. 10. whether for brevity sake in this treatise I refer any reasonable man adding onely thus much that if those and such other objections seem to any man not to be sufficiently answered yet they cannot make the book wholly to be rejected but needfull in some particulars to be corrected and amended The next thing they come is the grand accusation against Epistles and Gospels which I presume belongs to their second head of frivolous things for though they began orderly with the first particular of false matters yet they proceed not so but I must be forced to follow them as they go up and down from one thing to another Concerning Epistles and Gospels then they have three weighty charges with which they begin thus We may subjoyn that profaning gross abuse of Epistles and Gospels in which there are three strange and remarkable occurrences for which there is no ground or reason but from the Mass-book First These three remarkable things are 1. That the Acts of the Apostles and some books of the old Testament are read for and called Epistles 2. That we read not whole Chapters but scraps and shreds as they disgracefully call them 3. That at the Epistles there is silence sitting c. at the Gospels standing scraping bowing and responds before and after To the first of these concerning the name of Epistles given to books not so called in Scripture What great matter is this to be set out under those words of profane and gross abuse For first we know the old Testament is in the new sometime called the Law and the Prophets sometimes the Law Prophets and Psalms These several expressions shew that the word Prophets is sometimes largely taken for all the old Testament except the five books of Moses sometime more strictly for the other books onely but excluding the Psalms why then also may not the word Epistles be sometime taken generally for all the Scripture except the four Gospels and sometimes more strictly except the Acts Gospel and Revelation and sometime most strictly for those books which we commonly call the Canonical Epistles taking the word in the two former acceptions what hurt in calling all that we read for Epistles by the name of Epistles especially considering secondly that the whole Scripture is a letter or Epistle indited by the Holy Ghost and so sent from God by the holy writers thereof into the world or more especially to his Church and the fitness of this appellation they themselves confess and tell us The holy fathers spake so onely they tell us They spake so in a different sense from us which difference if they had shewed we had either answered them or yelded to them To their second accusation That our Epistle and Gospels are but scraps of Scripture and never a full passage in them If by full passage they mean a whole Chapter we desire to know why a whole Chapter must always be at once and neither more nor less but if by never a full passage they mean that we break off abruptly in respect of the matter read then any one may see they do us notorious wrong and the Book answers for it self without my help To avoid therefore the guilt of so foul a slander I am willing to take them in the former sense but must withal tell them that so they may as well accuse all our Preaching of this gross abuse and say we preach not upon the Word of God but upon scraps and shreds of it and that less shreds too then the other few Texts being half the length of the very shortest Epistles we have But why either our Texts or Epistles and Gospels should be thus taxed I see not the division of Chapters not being Canonical but made according to humane wisdom and discretion Of this therefore no more I come to the third charge which is concerning Silence Sitting Bowing c. To which I must first tell them That this comes in very unseasonably in this place this belongs rather to the ridiculous manner of our Service then to the matter of it but their want of method I must needs pass over many times lest my Book should grow too big Secondly I must tell them again that the Book appoints none of these things they here inveigh against therefore if those things were as bad indeed as they would make them all this were nothing to purpose against the Book which they pretend onely to write against Nevertheless being in many passages they labor to disgrace our Church what they can as well as the Book they write against I would if they would come to particulars assay to answer all and as far as I can by these general words guess at their meaning I will briefly answer them It hath been the custom long ago in many Churches to stand up at the Gospel and it was also usual at the naming of the Gospel to say Glory be to thee O Lord and after the end of the Gospel to say Thanks be unto God These I presume are the things they aim at for the bowing at the name of Jesus was and is as much used in all parts of Service and Sermon as of the Gospel To the other three therefore as proper to the Gospel I will onely speak And first to the standing up We know many men at the naming of the Text and many times in the Sermon will stand up not onely for their ease but to hearken the more attentively Why then is it not as lawful so to do at the Gospel We know standing up when we hear one beginning to speak to us does both shew respect to what is spoken and a readiness to receive what is spoken willingly and chearfully By standing up then at the reading of the Gospel we shew our gladness and readiness to receive it and what prophaneness or grand abuse can be in this Then for saying Glory be to thee O Lord. We know when the Angel first brought word of our Saviours birth the Author of the Gospel there were presently with him a multitude of Heavenly Angels saying Glory be to God on high If the Church then in memory Luke 2. 13 14. hereof do at the naming of the Gospel use part of that Angelical Hymn what grand abuse is this when our Saviour first came into the world this was the Angels praising God and when we hear mention made of the Gospel which declares and preacheth these glad tidings to us with the benefits coming to us thereby we do with like words give glory to God the Son and we are counted prophane for it Lastly when we have heard some of the Gospel read which publisheth these things
to us we presently give thanks to God for this Now what superstition or prophane abuse there is in this standing and respond as they call it before at and after the Gospel let any indifferent man judge Now upon these their grievous complaints they flee to the Parliament as supream Judges to vindicate this dishonor done to God Which how it can stand with the loyalty mentioned in their Preface or with the subscription which they have or should all have subscribed if they be rightly Ministers and Orthodox as they pretend to be let them say who acknowledge the King supream Judge in all Causes and over all Persons Lastly Whereas they say in the end of this Section That the discovery of some evil in the Apocrypha condemns our Common prayer-Prayer-Book for appointing it to be read I answer It follows not except it did appoint those Books to be read as parts of Canonical Scripture which we know it does not This for the grand abuses in general in Epistles and Gospels Now we must with them to particular untruths by them charged upon us bidding us to Look upon that egregiously abused place or Christ abused by our dealing with that place namely Revel 12. 1. Michael and his Angels fought c. Which words the Book appoints for the Collect they mean the Epistle for Michaels day where they make Christ by misapplying the place a created Angel Here they make much ado to prove Michael to be Christ which being granted them with such ado their accusation is never the truer nor our Cause or Book the worse The reading the Epistle on Michaelmas day in no sort makes Christ a created Angel but the keeping of Michaelmas day as we keep it is onely in memory of Michael or Christ if they please who is called an Angel Mal. 3. 1. Who with all his created holy Angels fought against the Devil and his Angels We call Christ an Angel so does the Scripture but it calls not a created Angel no more does our Book nor we but in memory of that victory of that Michael and his Angel we keep that day praising God for it and so read that part of Scripture which relates it Secondly They tax the words in the latter end of the Benedicite but to no purpose if that were the Song of the Three Children we do not know we do not now exhort them three to praise the Lord but sing their song in memory of them and their miraculous deliverance When we read Davids Psalms we do not in many of them pray for the things that he in those Psalms prayed for The third particular here is a clause or sentence in our Burial of the dead for which very particular I refer the Reader to Dr. Sparge in Chap. 12. pag. 62. where that mattâ—r is expresly handled and where I know another man hath answered any thing to avoid prolixity I say nothing Next then comes their Syllogism That which is mans device and hath been an Idol in Gods worship must of necessity be so still But the Ceremonies mentioned in the Service-Book have been Idols in Gods worship as Cross Surplice c. Ergo They must be Idols still in the worship of God To this I answer First The Proposition is false their proof is from some few particulars to a general which whosoever hath the least smatch of Logick in him knows to be nothing worth We may by this rule as well demolish our Churches and Châ—ppels nay somewhat more may be said against them then our Surplices for the very particular individual Churches which we now have have been abused to Idolatry which our particular Surplices have not And so the Minor also is faulty namely our Crosses Surplices and particular Ceremonies which we now use have never been Idols at all And so we deny and have proved their later Proposition also false which they tell us none can deny For the other supposed abuses in the Sacraments in the Churching the Confirmation c. I refer the Reader again to Dr. Sparge to satisfie all Next they tell us We would not have the Lent Fast forgotten which the Patrons of our Liturgy make a Religious Fast abusing places of Scripture by mis-application of Scriptures as Joel 2. 12. Matth. 6. 16. 4. 10. 2 Cor. 6. 2. This Lent Fast which they would not have forgotten no more would I. For the abusing the places of Scripture mentioned by them if they did particularly shew wherein the supposed abuses consist I would answer them more particularly but howsoever supposing they count the Scriptures which speak of Fasting to be abused by being read in Lent which is not a Religious but a Politick Fast as they seem to say I answer that the Lent is indeed by our Laws and the Kings late Proclamation a Politick Fast nevertheless if any man observing our Lent according to Law by abstinence from flesh totally do also by temperance and an abstemious and spare diet all that time and by absolute Fasting sometime in the Lent keep a Religious Fast by subduing the flesh by Mortification and Repentance more then ordinary humbling himself before God This man as he shews himself in that respect a Loyal Subject by the former so he does the duty of a good Christian by the later pleasing God by both for his better help and assistance then in the later the places of Scripture which he shall hear read in the time of Lent are useful and beneficial to him Neither do we incline to Popery in this Religious Fasting nor approve of their superstitious Fast nor Fast in imitation of them for they that do celebrate such a Religious Fast in the time of Lent take not the example of the Papists to follow therein but of the antient Christian Church which did so fast many years before Popery was hatched This Religious Fast therefore though we press not as by Law required yet may we safely and profitably perswade to and preach and read concerning it from the example of the Church in former times Lastly In this Chapter they come to that which they call Fopperies and fooleries in our Book Touching also again upon false Translations that they may be still like themselves observing no method or order in any thing But to the point having answered already I come with them to their fooleries What can be said for those Tautologies and Battologies used in the Service-Book as Lord have mercy upon us Christ have mercy c. condemned Matth. 6. 7. And by and by One foppery more that mutual salutation between Priest and People in these words The Lord be with you And with thy spirit Last of all they conclude thus Tritenhemius wrote a Book upon Dominus Vobiscum in which are many fruitless questions and so we are sure the thing it self is fruitless If it be a vain Tautology to repeat those words a few times in praying to God what will they say to the Prophet David for repeating the same words