nor be a Hinderance for Ministers to exercise the Gift of Prayer or to make them neglect it nor to justle out preaching neither must Men make the publick Worship of God consist only or chiefly in hearing Prayers read With these Cautions we approve well of a Liturgy wherefore let it be known we except not against Liturgies in general and as such but in particular against such as we think to have just Exceptions against either as to the matter or to the manner of using them As to those Liturgies fathered upon St. Peter St. James and Mark they are spurious and were obtruded upon the World by the Romanists Although I do not intend to insist upon those Places of the Common-prayer-book which we have just Cause to except against because others have done it before yet something must be said to it and we must come to some particlars I shall begin with the Rubrick concerning the Order how the rest of the holy Scripture besides the Psalter is appointed to be read in the first Paragraph is a Brand and a Slight put upon holy Canonical Scripture of the Old Testament for it is said It shall be read through once every Year except certain Books and Chapters which be least edifying and might be spared yet instead of these are read several of the Apocryphal Books as Ecclesiasticus the Wisdom 2d of Esdras Baruch Judith Tobith c. Whereby a visible Preference is given to those Humane Writings before the authentick Word of God for they are lookt upon as best edifying and least to be spared In the point this is worse than Papists who give the Apocryphas and their Traditions an equal Authority to Canonical Scripture which is the Word of God when the others are the Word of Man but this as I already observed giveth the Preference to some of the Apocrypha before some of the Canonical I hope this shall be no Question between us we all know the Reasons we have against Papists about the Authority of the Apocrypha First They were all written after the Time of Malachy the last of the Prophets Secondly None of the Apocrypha is written in Hebrew which is the Tongue used by the Prophets Thirdly Neither the Jews nor the primitive Apostolical Church ever received them as Canonical Fourthly they were never quoted in the New Testament by our Saviour or his Apostles tho there be Places quoted out of every Book of the Old Testament and our blessed Saviour mentioned the Old Testament under three Heads The Law of Moses the Prophets Luke 24.44 and the Psalms But the fifth and chief Reason because in every thing they do not agree with the Canonical Scripture nor with themselves as hath been shewed by some of our Divines as Whitaker Reynolds c. specially in Vsher's Body of Divinity and by Forreigners as Polanus Chamierus and so many more And this I press the more because the Authority of it in Scripture is one of the Fundamental Points of our Religion and one of the greatest Controversies between Papists and us In the last Paragraph of the same Rubrick 't is ordered thus as often as the first Chapter of St. Matthew is read either for Lesson or Gospel ye shall begin the same at Vers 18. and the third Chapter of St. Luke 's Gospel shall be read unto the middle of Verse the 23d Surely that which is ordered to be left out is Part of Scripture as that which is read the one as well as the other are written for our Instruction as well as Comfort That which is unread is of a high Concernment for though it consists only of proper Names yet contains a most important Matter every Degree of our blessed Saviour's Genealogy which God under the Old Testament took such Care to preserve clear that when the Messiah came to be born there should be no Doubt no Difficulty made of his being of the Seed of Abraham of the Family of David which St. Matthew proves on Joseph his supposed Father's side as St. Luke on Mary's the first divided into three Classes of 14 Generations every one of which makes undisputably a great Article of our Faith how Jesus Christ born of the Virgin Mary is the true Messiah promised to the World out of Abraham's Seed and then the mention amongst Christ's Ancestors made of Thamar of Rachab of Ruth of her that had been Vrias's Wife Bersheba whereby Christ owns for his Relations according to the Flesh some branded with notorious Faults others though Aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and Strangers from the Covenants of Promise to shew how in his Spiritual Relations he would not disown the most notorious Sinners and never so much Gentiles This I say affords matter of Meditation and so is not to be unread Here followeth the Table of the proper Lessons to be read at the Head whereof we find the Word Mattens for Morning Prayer and to have matched things well there should have been the Word Vespers instead of Evening Song both Words in that Sence used in the Church of Rome from whom we borrow both Names and things as we shall have Occasion farther to speak of now these Words are derived from Latin and used in Italian Spanish French c. 'T is no wonder if having taken things out of their Latin Books we also retain some of their Names as Advent Epiphany Quinquagesima Sexagesima Septuagesima c. which are barbarous to every English Man unacquainted with the Latin Tongue or with the Customs of that Church so we do continue their Mass Names and Days as Christmas the Day when Mass is said for the Birth of Christ Candlemass the Day of the Mass of Candles for then Popish Churches are full of them Lammas Day the Day when here in Time of Popery they said Mass for the Preservation of Lambs Michaelmass the Day when Michael's Mass is said c. We say no Mass upon those Days but we have Collect Epistle and Gospel some of which Papists use upon those very Days Now if we look into the Kalender we shall there find the Names of many Saints which either were never in Nature or else are honoured upon Earth when may be their Souls are tormented in Hell Boniface Silvester Clement Dunstan George Martin Denis for there must be Champions to defend the rest specially the Ladies as Margaret Agnes Magdalene Katharine Agathe c. and to be merry Cicely the Patroness of Musitians with Nicolas Crispin Blasius Patrons of Seamen Shoemakers c. Hugh Valentine Edward Machal amongst other Inventions that of the Cross must be in too Remige and several other Popish Saints whose Names should not be in our Mouths much less in our Common-prayer-book we must not omit how there are five Holy Days for the blessed Virgin Purification Annunciation Visitation Nativity and Conception there should have been also her Assumption when she was as they pretend carried up to Heaven in Body and Soul then we could have
Sacrament in effect as Papists do Confirmation by Baptism they bring the Infant into the Church and by Confirmation make it a Souldier of the Church so we do the same with Baptism and the Cross yet a high Place is given it in the Ordinances as the daily use of it the Canon for the use of it Can. 30. and the Testimony of some Writers do witness the Canon calls it an honourable Badg this gives it a Place of Honour De polit lib. 5. cap. 65. fol. 160. and Hooker calls it a sacred or holy Sign attributing great Vertue to it and affirming no means to be more powerful to preserve a Man from deserved Shame and to stir up Devotion than by this signing of the Forehead with the Sign of the Cross thus Mountebanks use to commend their Drugs as infallible and present Remedies for all manner of Diseases but the very Words in Baptism are very emphatical and give it the Vertue of a Sacrament thus they once having received it think themselves engaged to maintain and right or wrong to defend it and from Papists whom they had it from to borrow Arguments to do it Shall not at last such things arise up in Judgment against those who sin against so great Lights and also be Witnesses as well as Stones which are Witnesses and hear the Word of God Joshua said unto all the People Behold this Stone shall be a Witness unto us Josh 24.27 for it hath heard all the Words of the Lord which he spake unto us God hath given a sufficient Warning against such things Perkins hath a large Discourse upon this and Dr. Fulk shews how the Devil did sow the Seed of Idolatry by the Cross of Valentinus after him Montanus nursed it and got it Credit in religious and civil Uses which he collected from Irenaeus and Epiphanius but both Valentinus and Montanus were Hereticks As for England it had no Cross at all till Austin the Monk brought it in So have we not cause to think that there is the accursed thing amongst us as long as we retain such things as have been and are daily abused to Idolatry Wherefore let us put it away and give Glory to God or else we are in great danger of falling before our Enemies whether Temporal or Spiritual Psal 106.39 for whoring with other Mens or our own Inventions and if any one talketh of Peace and Happiness then Jehu's Answer to Joram is at hand What Peace so long as the whoredoms of thy Mother Jesabel and her Witchcrafts be so many 2 Kings 9.22 As long as we uphold the Spiritual Filthiness of Jesabel and Romish Babylon whom we brag to be allied unto Gen. 35.2 3. If like Jacob we have a mind to go to Bethel to build an Altar for God's Worship then as he did we must remove all Idols out of our House Josh 24.14 and as Joshua commanded the People to do put away the strange Gods and Ashtarod their beloved Idols 1 Sam. 7.3 4. from among you which they did accordingly Here was a People over Head and Ears in Calamity highly oppressed by the Philistines for the which in them was Humiliation but they wanted Reformation the Prophet Samuel bids them with Humiliation to joyn Reformation and they should have what they desired and the Event answered the Promise thus all Popish Idols and Superstition by a thorough Reformation ought utterly to be removed if we have a mind to please God and to be received under his Protection Something more I must say to this before I leave it The Cross amongst Christians is what the Brazen Serpent was amongst the Jews 't was good at first of Divine Institution and when it had ceased to produce those Miraculous Effects for the which it was erected was indifferent but when it came to be abused it became evil then a good King brake it in pieces so once amongst Christians the Cross was good Christ to save Mankind was appointed to suffer on it yet herein inferior to the Serpent that the Wood of the Cross never wrought any Miracle after the Passion it was indifferent I mean the very same upon the which our Lord was crucified to have it or not but the Multiplication or making others in Imitation was unnecessary but after Idolatrous Worship was rendered to it it became abominable and so must be destroyed as being an occasion of Idolatry They say this is an ancient Custom of the Church well let it be yet that doth not take away the Abuse nor make it a jot the better is the Devil the better for being a Liar and a Murtherer from the beginning though at first he was a most excellent Creature but to the Point of Baptism of old there hath been some gross Abuses as first the delaying of it which though it doth intimate they did not absolutely believe it necessary to Salvation yet it argues in them a Contempt or else a Neglect of that holy Sacrament we read in the Book of the Acts how assoon as Men were converted they were baptized as in the case of those that heard Peter's Sermon of the Eunuch and of the Centurion and his Houshould and Friends But some of the primitive Christians Acts 2.38 41. chap. 8.36 37 38. Chap. 10 47 48. I mean 300 Years after our Saviour delayed it as Constantine the great who was not baptized till he was 65 Years old which was the 31 of his Empire in Nicomedia by Eusebius his Son Constantius was baptized only at the point of his Death so Theodosius the great and the other Theodosius did put it off for a long time and Valentinian delayed it being willing to have been baptized by Ambrose but was prevented by Death Jerome and Ambrose were not baptized till they were 30 Years of age Austin was a Manichean till 31 and then and not before baptized by Ambrose so amongst the Greeks Chrysostom Gregory Nazianzenus and Nectarius Bishop of Constantinople entered into Orders before he was baptized This was an ancient Custom even amongst great Men yet I hope now none will commend them for it for certainly they might much sooner have made a Confession and given an account of their Faith as no doubt they were able to do We know some but I think none of those I named had a strange Reason for so long putting off their being baptized namely that they might be the more at liberty to indulge themselves in their Vices for they used to excuse their Failings with this that they were not yet baptized for they thought they were punctually to perform their baptismal Vow to be dead to evil Works and raised in Newness of Life one tells us Cyprian they had this false Notion that there was no Pardon for those who after Baptism relapsed into Sin which was the Error of Novatian In those Times there was a worse thing practised about Baptism On 1 Cor. chap. 15. for Chrysostome in one
hold a Communication with and in some kind own a Dependency upon the Church of Rome with using her Language nay we seem so fond of it that we use it also in Law a Bond and some other Deeds are in Latin which is a shameful Subjection as if they were our Masters whose Tongue we ought to speak When England was subject to the Roman Empire there was something to say for it but now nothing at all except we have a mind to go back to Rome all that can be pleaded for 't is an old Custom and an evil one too to be left off But much having by others been said upon the matter I shall no further enlarge upon it only as to the manner of using the prayer-Prayer-book This particular I shall add concerning the Word of God read sometimes standing and sometimes sitting But if to stand at the reading of God's Word be a more reverend Posture than to sit why do they sit when the Epistle is read and stand when the Gospel is Surely there is for this Difference not the least Shaddow in Scripture the Epistle is as much the Word of God as the Gospel but they not only make Epistle to differ from Gospel but also Gospel from Gospel for at the second Lesson they stand when some Part of a Chapter of the Gospel is read and yet they sit when a whole Chapter is read in the first Lesson what 's the meaning of all this One Part is read with more Reverence than the whole for when that very same Chapter out of which the Part is taken happeneth to be read at the first Lesson People doth sit and is a greater Respect to be shewed at the reading of the second Lesson than at the first To me this seems unaccountable But a thing there is which I must not omit taking notice of it being liable to a just Exception though not in the Common-prayer-book At the latter End of most of our old Bibles is a Form of Prayers for private Families in that for the Evening are these Expressions That all the World may know that at what time soever a Sinner doth repent of his Sins from the Bottom of his Heart thou wilt put all his Wickedness out of thy Remembrance as thou hast promised by thy holy Prophet But no Prophet saith so Ezech. 18.21 we know they ground it upon the Prophet who in God's Name declareth that a holy penitent Sinner shall live Three things are here to be observed first That turning and Repentance upon which Life is promised is not in the Power of Man but a special Gift of God The second That the turning therein mentioned is upon a legal Bottom for he saith If the wicked will turn from all his Sin that he hath committed and keep all my Statutes and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live To keep all God's Statutes is impossible for Men however there is nothing but what the Law says do this and thou shalt live thus our Saviour doth interpet it Matth. 19.17 if thou wilt enter into Life keep the Commandments The third thing here to be observed and upon which I ground what I said is That in the Place there is no such thing as at what time soever nor nothing equivalent nor in any other Prophet for out of such a Text if there was the wicked would take Encouragement to continue in Sin to the last now Scripture presses Sinners not to delay Repentance we know some say they can repent when they will but God never said so in his Word thus though this be not in the Prayer-book yet I bring it under that Head Now after this to shew we are not singular in our Judgment concerning these Points we will back our Reasons with the Evidence of some few eminent Instruments of Reformation pious and learned Men both abroad and at home Calvin Epist and Protect Calvin is the first Forreigner in his Letter to the Lord Protector in good King Edward's time he saith thus I come to the other Head about abolishing and plucking up by the very Roots Abuses and Corruptions which the Devil in Ages passed hath brought into God's Ordinances it is evident that the Christianity or Religion of Popery is Bastardy and false wherefore if we resolve to bring the People out of that Gulf we must follow the Apostle's Example 1 Cor. 11. from whence it is generally taught that when Men would reform as they ought to do and acceptably to God they must then betake themselves to the pure Word of God for see how many Mixtures which Man's Brain hath hatched do remain so many Pollutions are there which distract Men from the right Use of those things which he hath appointed for their Salvation Wherefore while such a Sink as that is but in the Part pumpt out things cannot be said to be as they should be specially when Religion appeared rather masked than sincere and with open Face which I therefore note because I perceive many now a-days are of another Judgment as if petty Abuses were to be let alone as long as grosser matters be removed whereas contrariwise Experience it self shews what a fertile Soil and faithful Seed-plot of Lies Man's Invention is that being but thin sowen as it were with lesser Grains groweth to such an Heap as if his Measure did intend nothing else Now the Scripture is far different from this when David speaketh of Idols he professeth their Name should not go in or out at the Door of his Lips to shew extream Detestation let us remove our Foot as far as we can from the Snares of Satan for what were all those Ceremonies but so many whorish Enticements to let silly Souls into Mischief yea even Snares to catch Men in But if we talk that the People may be warned least they stumble yet notwitstanding who doth not behold Men hardned by them So little doth that Warning avail to any purpose Therefore if any such thing be left untouched it will be but the Foment and Fewel of greater Mischief and very blind set up to hinder sincere Doctrine from all Entrance as were fit In his second Epistle he exhorteth the same Protector to help Hooper who stood against those Foppish Ceremonies this is all we shall for the present make use of out of him though abundance more might be produced Beza is the next he often speaks much to our Purpose specially in the Place mentioned before now quoted in the Margent not to be repeated here in his Annotations upon these Words 1 Cor. 7.23 Ye are bought with a Price be not ye the Servants of Men He condemneth those that contrary to that Part of Scripture do press superstitious Rites upon the Consciences of Men and from Colos 2.20 he demonstrates how Man's corrupt Nature is too much inclined to loose Liberty and submit to Superstition which with Seneca we may well call insanus Error a mad Error which Superstitious Ceremonies