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-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
with never an one of them they are now at last onely named in the end of the Chapter and follow in the Chapters now to come The first whereof they take from the example of others the second from the danger of not doint what they desire the third is from the covenant The two first we have in the next Chapter the last in Chapter ten To which I come in their order CHAP. IX Of the Pattern TO follow their disorderly proceedings still like themselves as in the former Chapter they intituled it of three Motives and yet medled with never a one so this Chapter they give the title of one motive onely namely of the Patterne and yet handle two the Pattern for doing and the danger of not doing what they would have done First then of the Pattern Wherein 1. They tell us that all the reformed Churches have done it 2. They press us with the example of the Scots To the first we answer That their Allegation is not true but they name some Churches that have done it yet many more might be named which have not done it 2. For the Scots we are neither bound to follow their examples nor any other further then they have done well nor so far if we shall not do well also in following for it will not always hold that what is or hath been done well by some in some places can be done well by all others in other places I have no mind to censure other men and their actions but will rather proceed to their next motive Onely I must touch one thing in a word which here they say namely They seem to hope for the bringing back of the King which through the infinite mercy of God blessed be his nâ—me for it for ever we see now effected if they desired the Kings return before or be glad of it now it is done let them express so much in suffering him to be a King now he is returned and not force or appoint him how to govern that Church which God as to a nursing father hath committed to his charge And so I come to the second motive the danger of not doing what they demand to be done Which danger they propound to be looked upon in a twofold respect a Priori and a Posteriori from what is past and what is like to ensue The former they say is to be looked upon in way of prophecy or in a way of performance Concerning the former they tell us How the servants of God have prophesied of the increase of Popery and the suffering of true Religion by many revolting in times of tryal Now the ground of all this if you will believe them is the Common prayer and the Bishops one upholding the other which later clause I have already refuted where they first mention it in their Preface whether I refer the Reader and for the former part faining the Bishops and book to be ground of the increase of Popery who sees not the quite contrary that rather rebels and schismaticks have done it Popery having got more strength and our Church more shame and slander in these late times they have born the sway then all the time since the reformation before So that as it was a godly Prayer set forth to be used upon the fifth of November by Act of Parliament to be used that upon that horrible treason of the Papists through the goodness of God so happily discovered God would strengthen the hands of our gracious King the Nobles and Magistrates of the Land with judgement and justice to cut off those workers of iniquity so we have as much cause to pray against these detestable Sects and murderers of King and all Subjects which most strangely opposed their damnable and devilish proceedings the cause of all which doings whether it were the Bishop and book as these men would have it or the rebellious minds of the enemies thereto it is needless now to say and whether the chief want of a through reformation be not suffering such spirits rather then suffering the Bishops and the book to remain these late times have shewed wherein the two later books and Bishops have been all the while in a total Ecclipse and the former rebels and Schismaticks shining in full and unlimited power and lustre Next for future dangers they alledge Zions plea again against which we must also again oppose the answer thereto In the rest of this Chapter after much vain and idle railing according to their custome they come to particular dangers to those to whom they write their book if they obey them in an extirpation of the true pretended enemies wherein they bring no new arguments but use a flourishing exhortation to perform the work they would have done all which exhortation being grounded onely upon the supposed unlawfulness of the book proved as they think by their undeniable arguments as they call them all those arguments having been sufficiently answered and so no proof of any unlawfulness in the use of the book remaining good this brave exhortation falls of it self so that the third Motive onely is left CHAP. X. Of the Covenant COncerning the Covenant in general we need say but this 1. As they moved men to break the Oath of Allegiance and Canonical obedience by saying though most wickedly and falsely That they were unlawful Oaths and so better brokâ—n then kept that may we truely say to them concerning the Covenant and so their mouthes ought to be stopped and for the unlawfulness of that so unjustly and tyrannically imposed Covenant that it was utterly unlawful may easily and clearly appear in these two respects 1. In that it was absolutely forbid by our Dread Soveraign Lord the King then being 2. By the matter of it in it self For the first it is a truth without any question or dispute that it is simply unlawful for any subjects though never so many and powerful to make any solemn League or Covenant concerning any innovation or alteration in government to be made by them without the Kings consent much more then when his Majesty hath not onely given no consent but also declared absolutely against it and peremptorily forbidden it as we all know the King did while the Covenant was in hand Secondly for the matter of it if any one particular in it were simply unlawful the Covenant is thereby unlawful Now the extirpation of the Church-government by Archbishops and Bishops in our Kingdom where the Gospel hath so long and so abundantly flourished under it the Kingdom with it and by it which Government also hath been even in the Church of Christ since the Primitive times and is most agreeable to the word of God the extirpation I say of this Government and the ruine of all the officers therein without any just cause or ground but upon distast taken against some of them which way it can be lawful is not in imagination possible Secondly the Covenant being one intire thing consisting of many branches
to the Ministers discretion at every particular time and occasion If any man think it most fit to begin with some short prayer he may to this end we have these sentences Turn thy face away from our sins O Lord and correct us O Lord and yet in thy judgement c. If it be thought more fit to move the people a little to humility in respect of their sins that they more earnestly mind this sacred duty they are met about we have to that purpose Rent your hearts and not your garments c. If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves c. I will go to my father and say c. If thirdly some think it more needful first to propound comfort and consolation that the people may with the more faith call upon God and serve him with the more heart and spirit we have to that end At what time soever a sinner doth repent c. So that beginning the service of God with the word of God in the house of God we have several sentences for several times and several occasions to be used as is most convenient at any time Then follows most fitly a brief but grave and serious exhortation to put the people in mind of and stir them to that duty which they are come together about After which immediately they make a most excellent short and pithy confession of their sins humbly kneeling upon their knees After confession we know follows absolution according to that of Solomon Prov. 28. 13. and of David So then proceeds our Liturgy to a Declaration of Gods pardoning the penitent by which we are Psal 32. 3. all the more heartned and encouraged with faith to pray to God for all things necessary to soul or body we do this therefore presently in that form of Prayer which our Saviour himself taught us Having thus faithfully prayed and not doubting but what we have faithfully asked shall effectually be obtained we are bound in the next place as reason as well as Religion will teach us to praise God for this his mercy toward us which we being not able to do without Gods assistance we do first desire him to open our lips that our mouth may shew forth his praise and through our earnest desire presently to perform this holy duty we desire God to make speed and haste to help us in this kind and then with a short doxology expressing our faith in and of the Trinity we proceed to Psalms of praise First we have one set Psalm every day being a Psalm of speciall note to stir up to this holy duty and then every day several Psalms in such order that the whole Psalter is read through once every moneth Having thus far proceeded in this excellent manner and order we must not yet leave thus but because he that goes not forward in Religion daily will quickly go backward we must endeavor daily to increase in the knowledge of God which will be by reading and hearing the word of God and that chiefly in the house of God therefore in the next place we have two Lessons read to us one out of the old Testament another out of the new and between those Lessons and after them excellent Hymns of praise and thanksgiving to God in sending our Saviour especially and also for all his mercies and favours spiritual or temporal to our souls or bodyes let any man of reason and judgement now say if our book do not orderly lead us all this way yet here I confess is not enough as we do diligently and daily learn somewhat out of the Word of God in the house of God so it is most fit we should there also shew what we have learned and make some profession and confession next therefore most fitly follows a solemn and publike confession of our Christian faith comprised in the Creed which we are all to say with the Minister and that standing which gesture is most convenient in these two respects First to declare our readiness and willingness to make that confession and that we do all joyn in it which if we sat still could not so easily be perceived it being an easie thing to observe who stand and who sit but hard to see who speaks and who do not Secondly to testifie by this gesture of standing up that this faith we are not afraid or ashamed publikely to stand to but that this we are ready to maintain and defend against all opposition whatsoever as that fâ—ith we will live and dye in Lastly after all this thus devoutly decently and reverently performed how can we better conclude this holy work then with prayer altogether unto God to confirm settle strengthen and establish us in that holy Faith which we do profess and have now made confession of and to 〈…〉 ase our knowledge and to grant us all mercies and favours 〈…〉 ful for souls and bodies and to keep us from evils to the one or to the other In which prayers first we begin with a mutual short prayer of the Minister and people each for other to testifie each to other their perfect love and charity one to another that so they may the more cheerfully and unanimously joyn as one in the ensuing prayers in which after a brief praying for Gods mercy in general we begin again First with the Lords prayer the most absolute and perfect pattern for all our prayers Then after some few short ejaculations of the Minister and the people answering which is an especial means to rouse and stir up the dull affections of the people subject to be weary and faint in holy duties we proceed to the set and solemn prayers ensuing The first of which is varied every day almost and upon the most solemn and great days fitted to the day as the present occasion requires and so on every particular holy day The other prayers for peace grace encrease of knowledge and protection against perills and dangers and so the prayers for the King c. being most necessary at all times are every day to be used and after all the blessing pronounced to all Thus I have briefly touched upon you see our excellent way and manner of serving God according to our Common Prayer book appointed daily It would be no difficult matter to run through all the other matters in that book as the administration of the Sacraments solemnization of Matrimony with all the other Rites and Ceremonies I desiring brevity this may suffice for this my fourth argument for the Liturgy the excellent order and manner of using it I come now to the fifth and last argument for it the blessed and happy effects of this our worshipping and serving God in this sort from the beginning of the Reign of that never enough praised and admired Queen Elizabeth of blessed and eternal memory How wonderfully did the Lord bless and preserve her with a long happy and prosperous Raign that did establish and settle this Liturgy in her Kingdoms