to serue God in spirit and truth but he will affect some superstitious Ceremony to worship God therewith Whereas Christs Church in stead of many rites and signes of which the Iewish religion consisted A Christo acceperit paucam saith he eademque factu facillima intellectu augustissima observatione castissima The Church hath received of Christ but a few and those most easie to be done maiesticall for contemplation chast and vndefiled in observation Quid hac ad insulsas Caeremoniarum nugas Quid ad superstitionem plusquam Iudaicam Quid ad Philaricam tyrannidem quae extruciat miseras conscientias Quid ad tot Idololatriae portenta What are these to the trifles of vnsavoury Ceremonies To superstition more then Iudaicall To their divelish tyranny in tormenting wretched consciences Nay what are they to the prodigious monsters of Popish Idolatry Whereupon he concludeth Non esse Caeremoniarū multitudine onerandam Ecclesiam Christs Church may not be over whelmed with an Ocen Sea of Ceremonies It must fly the superfluous furniture of pompous rites and Papall Pageants devised onely to astonish simple people to ravish their eyes and mindes and to amaze them with admiration Now indeed the originall cause of most of our superstitious ceremonies is that Popish opinion that Christs Church hath yet Priests Sacrifices and Altars Whereas in truth Christ was sent of God to be the last priest which should offer the last Sacrifice vpon the last Altar that ever the world should haue He had saith Paul Hebr. 7. Aparabaton ierosunen a Priesthood which could not passe or be resigned to any ther He was not to haue any successour being a Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedick Having neither beginning of dayes nor end of life but made like vnto the Sonne of God abideth a Priest continually Not made as the sonnes of Aaron were after the law of a carnall commandement but after the power of an endlesse life saith he in the 16. verse For they being mortall men could not otherwise continue but by their lineall succeeding of their dying fathers one after another till the passion of Christ After whose sacrifice offered on the Crosse which was the conclusion and consummation of all sacrifices the whole Ceremoniall Law Mosaicall Sacrifices and Priesthood were to end with the beautifull Temple and Altar therein Onely the sacrifice of prayer of praise thanksgiving which every faithfull man and woman must offer to God vpon the most holy Altar Christ is left to the Church So Ireneus calls him lib. 4. Altare nostrum Christus Christ is our Altar And Epiphanius saith Christus est Victima Sacerdos Altare Deus homo omnia in omnibus pro nobis factus Christ is the Sacrifice the Priest the Altar both God and man made all in all for our sakes To revive therefore and raise vp againe Iewish types and figures long since dead and buried in bringing in Altars in stead of Tables Priests in stead of Ministers propitiatory sacrifices in stead of Sacraments Is it not Antichristian presumption and sacrilegious impiety robbing Christ of his honour and vs of our salvation What is it else but an apostacy a publike protestation to renounce the onely sacrifice and the onely sacrificer Christ Iesus It is the reiteration saith a learned writer of the expiatory sacrifice offered by Christ vpon the Altar of the Crosse and the surrogation of an vpstart Priest for Christ the eternall Sacrificer and Priest for ever after the order of Melchisedeke The ordinary Glosse saith well Externi ritus Ceremoniae Legis quia fuerunt vmbra Christi tum venturi et mysteriorum ideo adveniente veritate Evangelica illicita facta sunt evannerunt The externall rites and Ceremonies of the Law because they were shadowes of Christ to come and of his mysteries therefore the truth of the Gospell being once come they are made vnlawfull and haue vanished out of sight They ought not then to be patternes or presidents for Christians to follow since the comming of Christ who hath accomplished all And the renewing of them derogateth much from Christs soveraigne sacrifice for it implieth imperfection in the same As St. Paul proveth by the legall sacrifices offered so often because they were imperfect Origen writeth thus in his Treatise on Matthew veniente Principe Sacerdotum the Prince of Priests being come the Priest in figure ceased The Temple made of stones is destroyed to giue place to the Temple made of lively stones Effossum est Altare quod erat deorsum The Altar below on earth was broken downe because the heavenly Altar had appeared What haue we then to doe with them if they be past and gone Surely nothing True Christians ever since their Lords death haue left them both Priests and Altars to Iewes and Gentiles But the whore of Babylons bastardly brood doing vpon their Mothers beauty that painted Harlot the Church of Rome haue laboured to restore her all her robes and iewells againe especially her looking glasse the Masse in which she may behold all her bravery For they despising the plaine simplicity and modest attire of that graue matron Christs holy spouse haue turned her officers all out of dores with all hir houshold stuffe hir Tables hir Cupps hir bookes hir Communions the very names of hir Ministers and such like words vsed by the holy Ghost throughout the new Testament In stead whereof the words Priest and Altar are taken vp by them because without Priest no Sacrifice can be offered without Priest and Sacrifice there is no vse of an Altar and without all 3. Priests Sacrifice and Altar there can be no Masse But the Masse comming in brings in with it an inundation of Ceremonies Crosses and Crucifixes and Challices and Images Copes and Candlesticks and Tapers and Basons and a thousand such Trinckets which attend vpon the Masse All which wee haue seene in this Church since the Communion table was turned to an Altar Yet indeed it is no Altar that 's but a nick-name it is wrongfully so called For if it be an Altar there must needes be a Sacrifice offered by a Priest to God but in the Communion nothing is offered to God but prayers but praise and thanksgiving which the hearts and lipps of all faithfull Communicants offer to God by their Mediator Christ They lay them not on a Table they lay not their thanks they lay not their prayers vpon an Altar either of wood or stone as the Aaronicall Priests laid their burnt offerings and incense We set indeed the bread and wine vpon the table besigning them to a Sacramentall vse by the consecration of Gods holy word we doe not offer them to God but God offereth them and giveth them to vs and with them his sonne Christ if we be faithfull and worthy receivers To such they are in deed and in truth spiritually and Sacramentally the very body and blood of Christ then which more holy things the whole world affordeth not But if it
the Deane and other Praebends that so they might not come into their seates Ninthly hee hath turned most of the Seruice into Piping and singing so that the people vnderstand it not no more then they doe Greeke or Hebrew He hath brought meere ballads and Jigs into the Church and commanded them to bee sung for Anthems and among many other the three Kings of Colen IASPER MELCHIOR and BALTHASER Hee will not suffer so much as the holy Communion to bee administred without an hideous noyse of vocall and instrumentall Musicke the tunes whereof are all taken out of the mass-Masse-booke whereby the peoples mindes are wholly withdrawne from the holy duty which they are about and from the meditation of Christs bitter death and passion On the fast day after Easter last he commanded the last prayer at the end of the Communion to be sung with the Organ as an Anthem so that no man could vnderstand one word in so much that the â—cople rising vp and sitting when it began to bee sung Mr. COSENS call'd to them that sate neare about them saying you must kneele you must kneele it is a prayer then all the congregation kneeled downe and prayed very deuoutly they knew not what It was tht fondest Fast that euer any man saw it being rather a Triumph then any Fast or Humiliation Tenthly he hath brought diuers old Copes which haue beene vsed in May-games heretofore one of them hauing the picture of the Trinitie embroydered vpon it and these Copes hee would enjoyne the Praebends constantly to weare Eleuenthly hee hath imployed diuers Recusant Papists and such onely in making of wax candles Crucifixes and glasse windowes in guilding and painting of Images and the Altar fit workemen for such Idolatrous workes and incite instruments to reuiue and set vp Poperie once againe Twelfely hee hath violently inforced the obseruation of those Ceremonies going about the Church like a mad man thrusting some out by the head and shoulders calling them Pagans when they stood quietly hearing Seruice and refusing to obserue his Popish Ceremonies Hee hath likewise gone about the Altar for so hee calls it before the Communion crossing the cushions kissing the Altar clothes and smacking them with his lippes in so much as some seeing him so ridiculously occupied sayd one to another looke looke is not the man mad looke I pray is hee not mad These and sundry other Popish Innouations hath Mr. COSENS brought into the Church of Durham and now see their fruits One Mr. FRANCIS BVRGONIE Parson of Wermoth following Mr. COSENS his practises hath taken away the Communion table out of his Parish Church and in stead thereof hath erected an Altar in the East end of the Chancell made of a graue-stone This stone he hath layd vpon a wall not on a frame he hath adorned it with guilded hangings round about it contrary to the Communion Booke this Altar hee worshippeth with the bowing of his knee vnto it and there both hee and his Curate read part of the Seruice so that most of the people on both sides can neyther heare nor see them This example of Mr. BVRGONIE many parish Churches else are reported to follow to the great offence of Religious people the great advancement of Popery and Superstition which are like to overflow the whole Byshoppricke of Durham if they are not in time suppressed In so much that the Papists of Durham say openly The Protestants need not labour to bring vs to them for they are comming apace to vs. Thus thus alas Grex totus in agris vnius scabie cadit Our prayer our desire therefore to this present assembly of Parliament is but this Pereat vnus ne pereamus omnes Let Mr. COSENS with all his great Abbetters and Disciples rather perish with theyr pardons which wee heare his potent Byshop patron who should haue rather procured them an helter then a pardon had hee any sparke of loue to your Religion in him hath of late procured then that both you and wee with both our States and Churches should perish by their Pardons which can neuer expiate nor disanull these great offences A SERMON PREACHED IN THE CATHEDRALL CHVRCH OF DVRHAM IVLY 7. 1628. BY PETER SMART PSAL. 31. 6. v. I hate them that holde of superstitious vanities Imprinted 1628 Psalme 31. part of the 6. verse IN the common translation I haue hated them that hold of superstitious vanities In the new translation Them that regard lying vanities In the Geneva translation Them that giue themselues to deceitfull vanities whereupon they giue this good note This affection ought to be in all Gods children to hate whatsoever thing is not graunted vpon Gods word as deceitfull and vaine Such are all humane Traditions Ethelothreskiai superstitious will-worships the inventions of mans braine The vulgar Latine hath Odisti thou ô God hatest And Vatabâ—us hath Odi observantes vanitates frustra or vanitates mendacy vaine vanities or the vanities of alye That is saith he Odi observantes opera quae prae se ferunt vanitatem et mendacium id est eos qui superstitioni student ea observant quae à vero Dei cultu animos piorum avocant I hate them that obserue workes carrying a shew of or which vphold and countenance vanity and falshood That is hate the followers and favourers of superstition observing things which withdraw godly mindes from the true worship of God Wow whereas some haue Odi other Odisti God hateth or I hate they are all one to one effect for we must hate what God hateth we must loue what God loveth wee must apply our selues to Gods will and conforme our selues to the similitude of God after whose image we are made as much as we can Be you perfect saith our Saviour as your heavenly Father is perfect Therefore we must hate with a perfect hatred whatsoever God hateth as David did Psal 139. 21. ver Doe not I hate them ô Lord that hate thee Doe not I earnestly contend with those that rise vp against thee Yea I hate them with a perfect hatred or vnfeined hatred I count them mine enemies On which words one observeth well The Prophet teacheth vs boldly to contemne all the hatred of the wicked and friendship of the world when they would hinder vs from serving God sincerely God is good yea goodnesse it selfe Therefore it is not possible but God should loue best that which is most like himselfe and hate the contrary So must we doe not loue our selues or that which is like our selues for we are nought Omnis homo mendax every man is a lyer and the imaginations of mans heart are onely evill continually saith God Therefore we must not loue but hate our owne imaginations inventions and lyes and loue God who is good and Christ who is truth vnder whose lipps no vanity no guile no lye can lie As a Father saith expounding my text Recte veritas odit vanitatem quia vanitas in falsitate confistit odisse enim
be an Altar as Masse-priests and out priests vse to call it and the body and blood of Christ a sacrifice to God offered thereon then is the Altar better and more holy then the body of Christ for it sanctifieth it Marke this if the table whether wood or stone be an Altar it is better then the body of Christ and holier which to say or think is horrible blasphemy it is holier I say because it sanctifieth Christs body and blood if it be an Altar For without contradiction saith the Apostle Heb. 7. 7. v. the lesse is blessed of the better proving thereby that Melchisedecke was a better man then Abraham and we know that to blesse is to consecrate or sanctifie So saith our Saviour in the 23. of Matth. 3. v. reprooving the Pharisees who taught whosoever shall sweare by the Altar it is nothing but whosoever shall sweare by the gift that is the sacrifice vpon the Altar he is guilty Ye fooles and blinde whether is greater the gift or the Altar that sanctifieth the gift So say I to such fond and ignorant teachers who call themselues priests and the table an Altar Ye blinde popish priests vnderstand ye not that by erecting an Altar ye advance it aboue the body of Christ ye make it better then Christs body by making it a sacrifice sanctified by the Altar And I am verily persuaded that some there are who esteeme more of it then they doe of Christs body For I haue seene I haue seene I say the priest so will he needs be called take vp the body and blood after consecration and holding them in his hands make a low legg to the Altar and before he set them downe againe bow himselfe devoutly and worship the Altar He yeelded no reverence at all to Christs body neither when he held it in his owne nor when he had delivered it into the receivers hands What is it to preferre a stone or a peece of wood before the body of Christ if this be not to bow to his altar and not to his body to make many leggs to the Kings chaire and none to the King himself And this is evident by their daily practise for the altar is every day worshipped with ducking to it though there be no Communion nor any man there Christs body is not worshipped with ducking no not at the Communion Is it not worse then popery But the Fathers many times call it an Altar It is true for the mystery of iniquity began betime to worke by small beginnings lurking in words Sacerdotes Altaria Priests and Altars and reiecting them which Gods Spirit had taught and the Apostles ever vsed Ministros Mensas Ministers and Tables that way might be made for Antichrist and his abominable sacrifice of the Masse Yet the Fathers worshipped not their altars Tertullian saith Bellarmine was the first that mentioneth geniculation that is ducking to altars which he learned of his Master Montanus the first founder of crossings and duckings and many other Ceremoniall fooleries to which he annexed the gift of the holy Ghost For Tortullian saith Chemnitius was the authour omnium fere Ceremoniarum Papisticarum in a manner of all Popish Ceremonies Whereupon arose an opinion that Montanus the heretick was the holy Ghost that he claimed the name vertue and dignity of the holy Ghost which is not credible so learned a Doctour as Tertullian could belieue But hee ascribed as the papists doe such power and holinesse to the Ceremonies which Montanus had devised that without them none could bee partakers of the holy Ghost As if the holy Ghost were annexed to Ceremonies included in Ceremonies collated by Ceremonies Whereupon saith Bugenhagius a learned German The Church of Rome condemned Montanus for an heretick and yet neverthelesse retained his heresies Which saith he hereby is manifest in that the books which defend his heresies are preserved but the workes of those Fathers which confuted them are lost Montanus therefore was the first Altar worshipper and they that now imitate him in ducking to Altars are little better then hereticall Montanists But giue me leaue I pray you to aske this question why bow you not the knee to the font also it being Lavacrum regenerationis the laver of regeneration as honourable and a more necessary Sacrament For without Baptisme none can bee saved as some teach but many that are baptised dye before they come to the yeares of discretion and probation that they may be fit to receiue the Communion yet we see none make leggs to the Font. Why doe they not Christ is as much present there and as really and the Font is an Altar as well as the Table and so it was termed in the primitiue Church by Prudentius who lived 1300. yeares agoe Who speaking of a combate betweene Chastity and Lust after Chastity had killed Lust Abolens Baptismate labem Catholicoâ—â—n Templâ— divini Fontis ad Aram Consecrat gladium saith he Having washed away her spotts in Baptisme she consecrates her sword wherewith she slew her enemie to the Catholick Church and hangs it vp Fontis ad Aram at the Altar of the Font. Loe here the Font also is called an Aâ—tar Therefore honour ye the Font as well as the Table with one and the same worship of bowing the knee to it or else you are hereticks affording more holinesse and more dignity to one Altar and to one Sacrament then to the other For either your worship is religious or civill if it bee civill yee are absurd ideots in honouring stocks and stones more then any poore man who is the image of God for who will lowâ— too low to a begger as to sweep the ground with his beard if it be not very short If â—t be religious you are more absurd in preferring the memory of Christs body and blood before the whole Trinity Seeing you are baptised in the name of the Father and of the Sonne and of the holy Ghost and not in the name of Christ alone The Lords Table therefore and the Font they are Altars both alike as an apple and an egg are onions both alike that is neither of them properly and truly though they haue a kind of resemblance and being both alike and of equall worthinesse why are they so farr put asunder the whole length of the Church one at the head the other at the foote Why are they not set in the body of the Church or quire being the fittest place to receiue the greatest assemblies and most Communicants Why is the Altar lifted vp to the top of the Sanctuary or Chancell and the Font not admitted so much as to the bottome It is not suffered to stand in the wonted place behinde the quire dore why is one preferred as holier then the other being Sacraments of equall dignity In St. Peters Church at Zuricke the Lords Table and the Font or Baptistory stood both in one place as witnesseth Hospinian and so they stood here all the time of our former Bishops
till the proud Altar mounting aloft shouldered the poore Font out of the quire and tossing it from post to pillar thrust it almost quite out of dores Doe I say almost 't is out of the Church quite for one thing is Templum another thing Ecclesia Ecclesia is the Church where a congregation of people vseth to assemble to heare the word preached which in Latine is Concio and it signifieth not onely the Sermon but caetum the multitude meeting together to heare Gods word And the Preacher is called Ecclesiastes or Concionator derived from the same words Whereupon I conclude that where no congregation vseth to meete to heare Sermons that place is no Church and consequently the Font being set in no place of assembly it is not in the Church I confesse it is in Templo in part of this vast fabrike but there it is where the people never meet to hear Gods word preached no more then they doe in the steeple where the bells hang. For this cause St. Bernard reprehended in his time Templorum immensas altitudines et immoderatas longitudines the excessiue heights and immoderate lengths of Temples Why so because he misliked worldly magnificence in the spirituall service of God who dwells not in Temples made with hands Also because he would not haue the Minister and people sundred nor scattered abroad in spatious roomes but ioyned together as neere as might be Who standing in the midst vugli stante corona the people all about him round in a ring he may better be heard and they edified For all things in the Church ought to be done to edification saith Paul which then is best when the Minister abides with the people or they draw neere to him He may not runne away in a Cope as farre as he can get him from the congregation But what a tricke is this which our newfangled Ceremony-mongers have taken vp of late to goe in a Cope to the Altar to say two or three prayers after the Sermon why vse they this ceremony not mentioned in the Communion booke or Canons Why suffer they not the Preacher to dismisse the congregation with the blessing of Gods peace as was wont to be done and our last Bishop esteemed to be best How dare they put off and put on a Cope so often in one service not onely to pray but to reade the Epistle and Gospell and ten commandements at the Altar onely and no other place where the Letany and other service is read there being no such thing appointed in the Booke of Common praier And the Canons according to the advertisements published in the seventh yeare of Queene Elizabeth commanding no Copes to be vsed but Surplices when all other prayers are said at the Communion table saue onely at the administration of the holy Communion Why doe they these things contrary to law and never done in our Church before since the Masse was banished Is it because they are enamoured with Copes doe they dote vpon Copes Or are the Psalmes and Chapters read in the body of the Church not so good Gospel nor so worthy to be coped Or is there so neere affinity betweene Copes and Altars are they so married together that they can not be parted Or thinke they their prayers and other service more holy in such priestly vestiments in sancto sanctorum in that most holy place so devoutly duckt vnto by our foolish bewitched and besotted Galathians Againe why sing they the Nicen Creed in a Cope at the Altar the booke appointing it to be said as the Apostles Creed is said not sung Why make they the people to stand vp when it is sung that ceremony of standing being forbidden by law by which you that stand marke what I say you that stand are to be punished for obeying such vnlawfull commands as I mean to proue when time shall serue Lastly why forbid they singing of Psalmes in such a tune as all the people may sing with them and praise God together before and after Sermons as by authority is allowed and heretofore hath beene practised both here and in all reformed Churches How dare they in stead of Psalmes appoint Anthems little better then prophane Ballads some of them I say so many Anthems to be sung which none of the people vnderstand nor all the singers themselues which the preface to the Communion booke and the Queenes Iniunctions will haue cut off because the people is not edified by them It is for spite they beare to Geneva which all papists hate or for the loue of Rome which because they cannot imitate in having Latine service yet they will come as neer it as they can in having service in English so said and sung that few or none can vnderstand the same I blame not the singers most of which mislike these prophane innovations though they be forced to follow them Their guides are in fault blinde guides members of our Church rotten members I doubt of higher degree to whom all men and women are rank puritans and schismaticks to be thrust outand expeld if they refuse to dance after their fantasticall pipe in every idle ceremony These cry with the Iewes Templum Domini Templum Domini The Church of God the service of God when indeed their whole service is little else then superstitious vanity What is it but hypocriticall and Pharisaicall devotion vnder the colour of long prayer morning and evening and midday they devoure what devoure they not poore widowes houses but rich benefices whole townes and villages For seldome shall you see a stout ceremony-monger but the same will also be a notorious Non-resident a very Tot-Quot not content with one or two little ones but foure or fiue great preferments and dignities And still he aspireth and climeth higher never thinking himselfe sufficiently rewarded for his great learning and service of God in sitting at Church three times a day to heare men pipe and chaunt and chaunt himselfe where he listeth A base imployment prohibited by Pope Gregory himselfe who speaking de cantu Ecclesiastico hath these words Prohibitum est ne quit in Ecclesia cantet nisi inferiores ordines vtpote Subdiaconi Diaconi vero lectioni praedicationi incumbant It is forbidden saith the Pope that any chaunt in Churches but men of meane degree none aboue Subdeacons but Ministers or Deacons must apply themselues to reading and preaching for that makes most for the peoples edification to which all must be done And when we take orders of the Bishop charge is given to reade and preach Gods word not to sing any lewd Lay-man can doe that without laying on of a Bishops hands without consecration St. Paul saith I was not sent to baptise much lesse to sing in a quire but to preach And woe to me saith he if I preach not the Gospell he saith not woe to me if I obserue not the canonicall houres of devotion in singing This makes me call to remembrance a strange speech little better then