which I had rather and should much sooner subscribe than declare my unfeigned assent and consent supposing the same Book of Common-Prayer to all and every thing contained in and prescribed by it For though I cannot prove such and such things to be absolutely contrary to or against Gods Word yet I cannot therefore presently affirm them to be according to Gods Word either as expresly revealed or positively commanded by the Sacred Canon which yet I must be able to do before I can declare my unfeigned assent and consent to the said particulars else I should strangely violate my Conscience and blindly rush forward at all adventures without all reason or judgment As for example though I cannot say concerning Children baptized and dying before actual sin that their undoubted Salvation is absolutely contrary to the Word of God yet never the more can I affirm that their undoubted Salvation is certain and express by the same Therefore though perhaps I might subscribe to the former yet I could not declare my unfeigned assent and consent to the latter One thing I take notice of in these Subscriptions and I wish you would also for your better information viz. That assent and consent relate unto the acknowledgment or avouching the truth and goodness of the things assented and consented to as well as to the use The Great Ends generally mentioned for these Declarations and Subscriptions are Unity and Uniformity in the matters of Religion and Worship whereas the contrary effects of animosity and difference have wofully followed hereupon time after time as we have seen by long and sad experience in continual breaches and dissentions There is and will be a judicium discretionis in every person who will be a Judge in his own concern contra Gentes his own mind and apprehension shall and will dictate to him what is right and what is wrong what is good and what evil both to be believed and practised by him the greatest Authority of his Superiours and the wisest Models of their devised forms for his devotion in any wise notwithstanding nothing shall be able further to subjugate his thoughts to any Idea or System of Service than to what may be truly said to be his own I mean according to his own understanding and therefore much less to an oneness and sameness of opinion and judgment of it with those that are above him though commending and commanding it to be received and observed meerly because they are so Wherefore as it is the wisdome of the Church to chuse such a Creed as all who stile themselves Christians do universally agree in so likewise it would be the highest prudence to pitch upon such a Declaration which all Ministers might securely and freely assent and consent unto without all scruple or hesitation as the Test of their Conformity I will not presume to mention the nature and quality of such an one but shall leave it wholly to my Superiours and Betters And let these in Gods Name enjoyn all Ministers both to declare and do whatsoever the Word of God requires of them to capacitate them for Church-work and no more then should I expect Unity and Uniformity in all things of moment with peaceable toleration and forbearance in the rest to the glory of God and the greatest edification of the Church and never before Then also I would be among the first who would humbly offer my self as a Candidate to that high and holy Function though in the meanest and poorest place of preferment But it is high time to come to particulars I cannot approve of the Order appointed for the reading of the Scriptures my reason was because many Books of Apocrypha are commanded to be read for the Lessons of the day as the fabulous Legends of Tobit and his Dog Bell and the Dragon c. while some Books of the Sacred Canon are wholly left out c. This I perceive touches you to the quick this is confidence and impudence this is matter of exclamation against our invenomed tongues and pens and against our persons as Pharisaical Schismaticks and what not I see your zeal for Apocrypha will cause you presently to fly on the faces of those who shall dare to speak a word in any diminution or derogation of it and this only too as it Rivals the Holy Canon Yet say what you can in the justification of Apocrypha how the stories therein were received by many of the Ancient Fathers for truth and reality and how supposing them fiction and fancy profitable they are for instruction comfort reproof as the Parables of Christ himself so many say they can profit as much at a Play as at a Sermon yet Apocrypha is Apocrypha still and those very Books appointed ro be read full of absurdities and impossibilities as I could easily demonstrate in several notorious circumstances but this would be actum agere since it hath been sufficiently manifested by many Protestant Pens against the Papists here therefore I shall leave you to be censured and chastised of all who are not of the red Letter or looking that way As for mine own part I ran over the Kalender and saw there one whole Month together viz. October filled with Apocryphal Books Forenoon and Afternoon appointed for the Lessons of the day the same likewise in November unto the twenty fourth day of it besides what went before in September of the same kind while some Books Canonical are wholly left out which I did not approve of neither can I find any thing of better information from your self to change my mind and the rather because I am fully perswaded some parts of Scripture are omitted and shut out which contain in them more to the profit and edification of the Hearers than all the Books of Apocrypha put together yea it were little less than a Blasphemy to say and think otherwise Let us not presume to be wiser than God But you say Nothing of Apocrypha is appointed for Sundays whoever laid this to your charge Yet if you speak truth then some of your Ministers are not well skill'd in the order of reading who as I am told by Ear-witnesses do sometimes on Sundays read out of Apocrypha whether they then read according to the common Monthly Kalender and not according to the proper Lessons appointed for Sundays or whether they so read when an Holy-day whose proper Lesson is out of Apocrypha falls to be on a Sunday when there is proper against proper and the Minister left at discretion which of the propers he will chuse I shall not trouble my self about it but leave it in medio to the wise and learned in the case You say in our Conventicles we read little of Scripture indeed too little Pudet haec opprobria nobis and wish it were otherwise with all mine heart for I am as far from assenting and consenting to any such omission and neglect as I would be to all and every
I speak as much as can be spoken in words to express my love approbation and choice concerning all and every thing contained in and prescribed by the Book as most true and unquestionable to be believed as most eligible and desirable to be observed in every Office Service Rite Ceremony and Circumstance thereof but when I only submit to the use of the Liturgy I yield for peace and order's sake to my Superiours in things not simply sinful and unlawful though in themselves far from perfection and far from my desire in my own free choice and election And what I have now asserted with little less than a contradiction to your self you have acknowledged already in your foregoing discourse Paragraph 4. And in this very Paragraph you do it again when you say 'T is our Zeal too they are offended at that beyond what our preceding Governours did with reference to this Book of Common-Prayer we thus strictly enjoyn that Ministers do declare their unfeigned assent and consent but are not the men we have to deal with those that are gone off from all obedience to Church and State and is it not reason we take some pledge of them for their future integrity Is any man found guilty of a much less hainous Indictment and yet discharged without giving Sureties for his behaviour Shall men who have broken through Oaths of Allegiance shall such men be displeased if we cannot take the Viper into our Breast without pulling out the Sting That we dare not admit men of these Principles and Practices to come into the Church without giving such Caution of their being in good earnest as may justifie those in admitting them who have the care of the Publick Now what is the purport and meaning of all these words and many more of the same nature but plainly to tell us that an harder Yoke is now put upon our Necks than upon Ministers in former days and that our Governours had all reason to make our Bonds stronger as for the punishment of by-past miscarriages so for the prevention of future relapses Here therefore you forget your self But you say It is not necessary to the assent and consent here required that every particular person should take upon him expresly to determine in all these points 't is sufficient that nothing is sinful much less doth it become his humility to oppose the Opinion he hath of a thing 's being good and expedient to the sense and reason of his Governours 't is matter of obedience belongs unto him c. I answer Though this be your mind and judgment I am clearly of another Opinion I must determine in all points whether the things be right and good yea or not before I can assent and consent unto them I must be well ascertained what I affirm for a truth to be a truth indeed else I may be guilty of some degree of lying in speaking the very truth It is not contrary to humility but the just and due exercise of reason to search into the goodness and expediency of whatsoever I am called to assent and consent unto by whomsoever commanded yea and to oppose my private Opinion to the sense and reason of my Governours if what they stile sense and reason shall evidently appear to be without sense and reason and at the widest distance in a contrary way Every man is bound to see with his own eyes and to judge from his own understandings if he will act like a rational Creature it is not the part of Gospel-humility but of Sheepish stupidity to follow our Leaders not at all considering or judging of the way but by a blind Implicit Faith and submission yielding to be turned into every path meerly because it is their pleasure and appointment Thus far in general now in particular I excepted against the order and appointment for the reading of the holy Scriptures because many Books of Apocrypha are commanded to be read for the Lessons of the day as the Book of Tobit Bell and the Dragon c. while some of the Sacred Canon are wholly left out c. Now for the removing this Exception you say We desire that our Governours be not blamed if according to their best discretion they have chosen out such parts of Scripture to be read in the Congregation which are most intelligible and if they have omitted others which they thought would not be for the edification of a vulgar Auditory and if they have mixed some of Apocrypha as may be of wholesome instruction I answer Though you would not have your Governours blamed for this mixture yet some others will question their zeal and discretion herein and think they have just reason so to do For who shall presume to be wiser than Christ for the good nurture of his Church who shall take on them to determine which is most intelligible and most edifying to the people either the holy Scripture or any other writings I am sure he that knows it hath said All Scripture and therefore that part of Scripture also which is left out of the Kalendar is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for Doctrine for reproof for correction for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect throughly furnished to all good works There is no such testimony left on Record concerning any of the best parts of Apocrypha though some of those appointed to be read in the Congregation are far from the best to say no more Therefore this appointment by our Governours may well be scrupled but then the other appointment upon this appointment is most highly to be blamed I mean in their requiring all Ministers to declare an unfeigned assent and consent to this their appointment though in their own hearts at least many of them do not approve of this order but wish it were otherwise But is this a reason say you to break Communion with a Church let any man judge To this I have answered already for though I would read some Books of Apocrypha rather than break Communion with the Church as possibly not being in it self sinful and unlawful yet I would rather break Communion a thousand times over with the best Church in the world than be a wilful transgressor and such should I be in a notorious manner if a Lye be a transgression and I should lye most egregiously to declare my unfeigned assent and consent that is my will and desire to read the Apocrypha rather than Scripture in the hearing of the people for in the bottom of my Soul and in the truth of my Reins I am utterly against it I excepted against the order appointed for the Ministration of Baptism because of the strict requiring of Godfathers and Godmothers to stand as Sureties and Undertakers for the Child brought to his Christendom and this upon several accounts as First Because it is unscriptural Unto this you say It cannot be supposed that this order of Godfathers
yet it is not prescribed by the Book of Common-Prayer that is it is never to be used and we assent and consent only to the use of those things which are both contained in and prescribed by that Book This word both thrust in by your self as you imagine gives you your quietus est Hitherto I have taken you for a Divine but now one would think you some cunning subtil Lawyer with your Tricks and Quirks you have found out an unexpected Loop-hole to escape and baffle your Bond which hath lost all force and vertue of Obligation in sensu diviso because it only binds in sensu composito Yet pardon me Sir for I must assume the liberty to keep this Yoke still upon your Neck shake it off how you can But how Thus You dare not but acknowledge that the great and learned Sages of the Church who composed and worded this Declaration were compotes mentis and understood what they did better than your self or any such Expositor and therefore had as it hath been shewn already when they put in these words assent and consent into the said Declaration credenda as well as agenda in their thoughts and intentions they had equally an eye to both these in the time of the composing it Besides what is there spoken for the clearing of this truth I am now further confirmed in my Opinion by the two following Participles contained in and prescribed by which very naturally and almost necessarily answer the foregoing Substantives Assent and Consent to such an end and purpose as thus I declare my unfeigned assent to all and every thing as truth and right to be believed which is contained in the Book of Common-Prayer and I declare my unfeigned consent to all and every thing as good and eligible to be practised and observed which is prescribed by the Book of Common-Prayer Here is Grammar and sense and I suppose the very sense intended by the Law-makers Surely they well weighed every several and distinct word in such a set and solemn Protestation and therefore every several distinct word in it hath its several distinct weight and purpose for far be it from me to charge such considerate Composers as guilty of any Tautology much less of Battology unto which you will cause them to approach too near if assent and consent unfeigned assent and consent to all and every thing contained and prescribed in and by the Book c. do refer to and terminate upon use and practice only without any further aim then it had been fully enough to say I declare my unfeigned consent to all and every thing prescribed by the Book of Common-Prayer and no need at all either of the word assent or of the word contained in to be once mentioned or thought upon You therefore deserve a rebuke from your Superiours for your presumptuous intrusion who made you of their counsel why should you leave out or put in any thing without their Commission why should you insert the word use which they never inserted But then you go further for having inserted the word use you say confidently enough that assent and consent to all and every thing contained in and prescribed by centre wholly upon the word use and have no other matter to respect and then again from hence you think you have gained another point concesso uno absurdo c. of freeing your self from the difficulty and pressing force of the Exception against Christned Infants their certain and undoubted Salvation dying without actual sin by saying You are not bound to give assent and consent to this Rubrick because though it be contained in yet it is not prescribed by the Book of Common-Prayer that is it is never to be used and we assent and consent only to the use of those things which are both contained in and prescribed by that Book But this is a deep fetch and a fine subtilty of your own never to be allowed What think you of the Church Catechism wherein we have a Compendium of the Churches Faith what does not the Declaration bind you to believe it your self as well as to teach it the Children what think you of the Creed does the Declaration only bind you to rehearse the Articles of it before the Congregation and not believe them your self Surely to the latter as well as the former Every Collect every Prayer has in it a Credendum as well as an Orandum and without the first the last cannot be performed since Faith is of the very essence of Prayer properly so called But what do you imagine the Declaration binds the Minister only to say over those Prayers and not to pray them or pray in them that is not to believe what he prays for to be right and according to Gods holy will and pleasure This seems to me highly Paradox and of a most dangerous consequence Grant you this Postulate and you spoil the whole Declaration as to the great intents and purposes of it for who may not declare in these words I assent and consent to all and every thing c. if nothing of belief but only use and submission be intended by them I have heard of some Jews continuing such without any change of their Religion officiating as Priests among the Papists and Celebrating Mass now why may not such Jews yea Turks also thrust in among our Clergy if by declaring their unfeigned assent and consent to all and every thing contained and prescribed in and by the Book of Common Prayer they signifie no more than that they will read over those Prayers perform those Offices and Ceremonies and submit to the use and doing of every thing enjoyned but in the interim without being obliged at all to believe the things so contained in and prescribed by the Book and so said and done by them to be right good and justifiable They may act as upon a Stage for a livelihood and have no concern about the thing acted or whom they personate Therefore Sir I tell you again you cannot wave the dispute but are bound to believe as well as to do all and every thing contained in and prescribed by the Book of Common-Prayer and to believe this in particular concerning the undoubted Salvation of Children baptized and dying before actual sin and this too as a truth asserted plainly and evidently out of Gods Word past all cavil or gain saying Wherefore I humbly and earnestly entreat you as a most learned Textuary to quote the place and satisfie my scruple for until then I dare not declare my unfeigned assent and consent unto such a doubtful and questioned Proposition contained in the Book But you would know of me whether nothing be undoubtedly certain by Scripture but what we have an express Text for Yes many things are undoubtedly certain by Scripture not only in terminis expressâ—s but also by an undeniable consequence wherefore let what is asserted concerning the undoubted Salvation of such Infants be confirmed and
the while to go to any of our Cathedral-Churches next third day of October in the forenoon in the year one thousand Six hundred and eighty and so quotannis for the future and you will be satisfied Saint Paul's is not yet reedified therefore that of West-minster is nearest where if you will do your devotions in that grave and solemn assembly graced with the presence of a great and generous Bishop together with his Prebends Priests and Deacons besides a loud Chorus of singing men and singing boys alternatly responding you shall see the reverend reader in due time and place coming out of his seat first making his lowlie obeisance with his face to the earth towards the Holy Altar though without a sacrifice and therefore why he so bows is not a little Mysterious and then turning about to shew the same reverence to the presul of the quire and going into the Pew you shall hear him pronounce with a loud voice these or the like words The holy lesson appointed for this morning service is the Eleventh Chapter of the book of Tobit and then he proceeds to his work After these things Tobias went his ways praising God that had given him aprosperous journey and blessed Raguel and Edna his Wife and went on his way till he drew near to Ninive Then Rapahel said to Tobias thou knowest brother how thou didst leave thy father let us hast before thy wife and prepare the house and take in thine hand the Gaul of the Fish So they went their way and the Dog went after them I wonder there is no Asterisk or finger in the margent pointing to the place for it is Valde Notabile and then you could not have so easily over looked it Give me leave for I think it innocent and harmless and I am sure 't is opportune to impart unto you a merriment I once heard a young Lord now a great and grave Senator whose Tongue is excellently well hung who to exercise his faculty of speaking would needs take upon him to preach Extempore as he said but too loosly and what should be his Text but this very verse though not exactly repeated to a letter but in this manner So Tobit went out and his dog followed him I remember his first work was to make inquiry for he said it was of great importance What kind of Dog this might be whether a Spaniel Gray-hound Water-dog or some other for from hence said he we may very probably find out the temper and genious of his Master If this Dog were a Spaniel then young Tobit in all likelihood was a Gentleman and one who delighted in Hawking but why then do we not read of an Hawk on his fist as well as a dog at his heel If this dog were a Grayhound then young Tobit took his pleasure in Coursing if this dog were a water-Spaniel then young Tobit's recreation was Ducking But yet perhaps the dog was none of all these but rather a meer Pedlars-Cur for it is said the dog followed after him just like such a Cur for as for the forementioned they are seen to be more Aiery metalsom and sprightly than heavily to follow after but Range up and down the fields far from their Masters feet and hunt after prey and such a dog might well sute with his Masters mean condition for the present because his Mother was but a kind of Chair-woman as old Tobit the Father reports of her Chap. 2. v. 11. And my Wife Anna did take womans work to do by which she earned her livelihood v. 14. This and much more was his Oratory which I list not further to repeat and the rather because what I have said already is indeed more than sufficient to convince you of your mistake about Tobit and his dog But besides I have several doubts still remaining concerning old Tobit the Father and young Tobit the Son which how they can be solved and received by others as true and real do utterly mate and non plus my thoughts Concerning old Tobit the Father we read thus Chap. 2 v 9. The same night I returned from the burial and slept by the Wall of my Court-yard being polluted and my face was uncovered and I knew not that there were sparrows in the wall and mine eyes being open the sparrows muted warm dung into mine eyes and a whiteness came into mine eyes whereby he became blind If he slept how came it to pass that his eyes were open I have heard this to be the property of an hare but I suppose it a vulgar error and of nothing else living upon the earth But though the good man slept with his eyes open how could two sparrows joyn by a Conspiracy against him to make him blind One sparrow could not work him this mischief alone by its single muting what did they secretly whisper and soby consent in one and the same moment turn up their tailes and let fall this into one eye and that into the other and put them out together Oh hateful unhappy birds else though such a shrewd mischance had befallen one of his eyes yet the other might have been preserved surely he would have been more watchful for the future after he had understood the danger of it Concerning young Tobit the Son we read thus Chap. 6. 1 2 3. And as they went on their journey they came in the evening to the River Tigris and they lodged there and when the young man went down to wash himself a fish leaped out of the River and would have devoured him then the Angel his servant Raphael said unto him take the fish and the young man laid hold of the fish and drew it to land This was a strangebold fish to forsake its own Element to devour a man Forté Hippopotamus saith Grotius upon the place but it is forty to one that it was not since that kind of water-beast for so it may be called rather then a fish is reported to live only in the River Nile and not in Tigris and besides it is of greater bigness and fierceness than tamely to be laid hold on by the hand of any and brought to land only our young Tobit's excepted who had the strength and valour to atchive this great enterprize Well drawn this fish is upon the bank and by the appointment of the servant for here the man commands the Master it is gutted or rather unbowelled the heart liver and gaul being taken out and carefully preserved v. 4. And not without cause for in due time they will be found to be of an astonishing quality and vertue working wonders All the Tetragammatons Soleo-terrenos withall other the terrible hard names boasted of by your mountebanks are not to be named the same day with them as you shall hear v. 6. Then the young man said to the Angel to what use is the heart the liver and Gall of the fish And he said unto him Touching the heart and the liver if a Devil or