then severity cohortation then commination charity then authority but they which seeke their own not Iesus Christs doe swarue from this Law which seek rather to rule then counsell their subiects for while honour pleaseth pride puffeth up that which was provided for a remedy to a malady Leo epist 82. distinct 45. 6. In the urging of subscription they forget Christian compassion stripping Ministers and some of them aged of their livings to the undoing of themselues their wiues and children Iosias shewed more compassion to the Chemarims that were idolatrous Priests who though they were not permitted to come up to the altar yet did not eate unleavened bread among their brethren 2. Reg. 23. 9. they had their maintenance from the temple The Popes Canons herein were more equall that pittied old age as Gregory thus decreeth sed quia simplicitatem tuam cum senectute novimus interim tacemus the penall sentence was ready to be inflicted but because wee know your simplicity ioyned with old age we hold our peace Caus 1. q. 7. can 11. 7. This forcing of subscription to Ceremonies not warranted by the word is contrary to the Scriptures and practise of the Church In Nehemiahs time Subscription was required and an oath of the chiefe of the people but it was onely to walk in Gods Law Neh. 10. 29. not to keepe any traditions not written VVhen Victor would haue forced the East Churches to keep Easter as the Latine Churches did and was resolved to excommunicate them certaine Christian Bishops and Irenaeus among Euseb lib. c. 22. the rest did reproue him tanquam inutiliter Ecclesiae commodis consulentem as unprofitably regarding the Churches good There arose in Gregory the first his time a Tolet. 4. c. 5 great difference in Spaine about the thrice dipping in baptisme some doing it but once Leander a Spanish Bishop sent to Gregory about it who determineth that the Infant was baptized sive trina sive simpla mersione whether with thrice or once dipped hee would haue no contention about that ceremony But his successours more rigorous then charitable one decreed that it was Evangelicum praeceptum Part. 3. dist 4. c. 82. an Evangelicall precept to dip thrice Another that hee was not a perfect Christian that was not thrice dipped Lastly Pelagius it was decreed in the 8. generall Councell at Constantinople that whereas Photius the Can. 8. 9. concil general Constantinop usurper of that sea did extorquere chyrographas c. extort from clergie handwritings promising thereby to cleaue unto him and he againe gaue them by his hand writing faculties to preach And certaine Catholicke Bishops had taken up the like custome to urge subscription The contrary was decreed by that Councell ut Episcopi nullus chyrographas c. that Bishops should no more exact such subscription sed tantummodo fierent solennitates de more but to be content with the old use they should enforce no new subscriptions but keepe the old customes solennities The Bishops then in urging new subscriptions to combine the Clergy to cleaue unto them not otherwise to grant them licenses to preach did reviue the corrupt use of Photius the pseudo-Patriark condemned in this Councell 8. To require absolute subscription to the booke is to make it almost equall to the Scripture as freed from all errour but this properly the holy writings onely haue viz. to bee perfect right pure Psal 19. 7. The Law of the Lord is perfect the statuts of the Lord are right VVhat could be required more then to subscribe absolutely to the word of God as pure perfect and without any errour Augustine well distinguisheth between divine and humane writing de Scripturis canonicis non licet dicere c. of the Canonicall Scriptures it is not lawfull to say the Author was deceived but in other books which are written by us not with authority of precept but exercise to profit though there be found the same verity yet are they not of the same authority which kind of writing must be read not with necessity of beleefe but liberty of iudgement Aug. cont Faust l. 11. 5. But there is now no liberty of iudgmēt left but necessity of beliefe imposed in this absolute subscriptiō 9. Beside this violent course of subscription hath bred a great scandale in the Church disturbed the peace thereof that whereas quietly before Ministers ioyned together in building the Lords house after the same began to be urged then suspensions imprisoning silencing depriving of many profitable ministers followed Saint Paul saith Would to God they were cut off that disquiet you Gal. 5. 12. They were disquieters of the Church that urged the ceremonies not they that refused them Conscience forced not the one to urge subscription for they themselues hold these Ceremonies not to bee necessary but conscience moved the other in not subscribing unto them VVho were then disturbers they which urged those things which with a good conscience might be left or they which refused those which with a good conscience they thought they could not use There is a rule in the law In rebus dubijs pars tutior sequenda In doubtfull matters the safer way is to be followed Not to use such rites and ceremonies is no sin but to yeeld unto them in him that is not resolved is sinne The law resolveth that the lesse doubted course should be taken not to use them at all Cyrillus thus writeth to Gemadius Sicut ij qui mare navigant c. As they which saile in the Sea when a tempest ariseth and the ship is in danger doe disburden it of some things to saue the rest so seeing it is not in our power to saue all despicimus ex ijs quaedam ne cunctorum patiamur dispendia Wee seeme to neglect or winke at some things lest wee should leese all So it had been better to haue cast out such burthenous ceremonies then to put the ship of the Church in hazard and disturbe the peace thereof 10. The forme of subscription is contrary Subscription contrary to law to the law of the land as may appeare by these reasons 1. The Law requireth subscription onely to the Articles of Religion in these words He shall declare Anno 13. Eliz. c. 12. his assent and subscribe to all the articles of Religion which onely concerne the confession of the true christian faith and the doctrine of the Sacraments But to subscribe to the booke of common praier doth not onely concerne the confession of true Christian faith Ergo by the lawe it is not to be subscribed unto 2. That which Ministers doe subscribe unto by law must appeare under the seal testimoniall of the Bishop and bee publikely declared in the Church within two moneths of induction but neither doth the testimoniall make mention of subscription to the booke neither is the Minister bound to declare his assent thereto in the Church Ergo it is not agreeable to the law 3. The
thing 2. To bring in a new sacrament besyde those two which Iesus Christ hath ordayned is utterly vnlawfull But confirmation as it is prescribed by the booke is made a new sacrament beside those two which Iesus Christ ordained therefore confirmation as it is prescribed by the booke is utterlie unlawfull The assumption or second proposition is proued thus That which is made an outward signe and seale to assure of Gods loue and favour that is made a sacrament in most proper sense as both the scriptures shew and our own articles of religion defining Rom. 4. 11. Arti. relig 25. the sacraments to be sure witnesses and effectuall signes of grace and of Gods goodwill to us but the imposition of BB. hands is made a signe to assure us of Common booke c. of confirm Gods favour and gracious goodnesse to us so be the words of the book therefore it is made a sacrament in most proper sense But this is unlawfull and therefore this kind of confirmation is unlawfull yet the poore ministers of Christ were urged and enioyned under most greevous penalties to subscribe to all 3 That which is the generall duty of all the ministers of the Gospell ought not to be made the particular duty of some few of them But to confirme Christians in the faith of Christ is the generall duty of all the 2. Thess 3. 2 Ezek 34. 4 Eph. 4. 12. 13. Hier. ad luci ministers of the Gospell as appeareth by the Scriptures Therfore it ought not to be made the particular duty of some few of them Hierome saith plainly of confirmation by BB. disce hanc obseruationem potius ad honorem esse sacerdocij quam ad legis necessiatē Know that this order is rather for the honor of priesthood then necessity of Law Object 1. It can not be amisse that BB. pray over the children Answ 1. To thinke the BB. prayers be more holy then any other mans is superstitious the scriptures tell vs that if any man be a worshipper of God the Lord heareth Act. 9. 31 him be he BB. or preacher 2. they do not onely pray ouer them but impose hands upon them that by means therof they may com book c. of Confir receiue strength against all the tentations of sinne which is to take that power to them which the Lord neuer gaue them contrarie to that which is written No Io. 3. 27. man can receiue any thing unlesse it bee given him from aboue Obj. It is meete that such as bee baptized make open profession of their faith that it may appeare how they haue profited and that they may be further confirmed therein Ans All this may be done without any such ceremonie by diligent catechizing 1. Pet. 22. Act. 20. 32. and teaching in every congregation and if there needed any confirmation who are more fit to do it then the pastor of every congregation who best knoweth the profiting of his sheep 4. Against baptizing by women HEre we both agree in the doctrine that women ought not to baptize Our brethren say fieri non debuit women should not haue taken upon them Answ to the petition p. 11. s 2. to baptize but yet exception is taken to our speach Exception The book of common prayer doth not prescribe that baptisme should be administred Answ ibid. by women Answ Yea but if the booke permit it though it do not prescribe it it is more then true divinitie will warrant Now whether the booke seeme not to encline that way let it be considered by these reasons 1. By the booke the Priests and Curats are commanded to warne the people that without great necessity they baptize not children at home in their houses and when great need shall compell them so to doe that then they minister it on this fashion 2. This same they they that minister it is a relatiue therfore if they look back to to find the antecedent what will meete us but they whom the Priests and Curats warned not to baptize their children at home but they whom the Priests and Curats warned not to baptize their children at home were the people yea the vulgar people not ministers and therefore they that be permitted by the booke to baptize bee the people yea the vulgar people 3. If the chyld liue it is to be brought to the church by order of the booke and there the minister is to examine who baptized it which were a folly if the minister had done it himselfe and further with what words it was baptized which were as fond if it were baptized by an ordinary minister of our Church 4. The booke prescribeth no more but that they that be present call uppon God and use the right forme N. I baptize thee c. so that these two things bee observed by the midwife or whosoeuer present the minister is to certifie them by order of the booke that they haue done well and according to due order 5. The child is supposed by the booke to be baptized by such as happily knew not what they did in that great feare and trouble of mind but such as be so greatly feared and troubled at such times be not the ministers who haue nothing to do in those actions but the wiues and such as be present at such times therefore they bee not ministers but the people yea the very women that bee permitted to baptise in such times of necessity VVherefore most noble king Seeing the booke seemeth to carry this sense and Math. 28. 9. to warrant that which the word of Christ never approved VVe most humbly entreat that it may bee either quite remooved or better explained 5. Against the Cap and Surplice 1. THE Massing garments in poperie bee no fit garments for the ministers of the Gospell according to that charge of the Lord you shall pollute Is 30. 22. the coverings of the images and the rich ornaments c. and say unto it get thee hence and againe hate even the garment spotted by the Iude. 21. flesh Hence it was that Iacob when hee reformed the idolatrie of his houshould Gen. 35. 2 he made them also to change their garments But the surplice is one of the massing garments in poperie as both the Protestants Fox martir p. 501. 853 and popish writers shew M. Fox for the Protestants who declares that when a Popish Priest was to bee degraded they took away the surplice from him as one of his priestly garments For the Papists Innocentius and Durandus who bring in the popish Priest so apparelled to his Innoc. myst miss lib. 1. c. 10. Duran lib. 3. c. 1. in rationall Masse therefore it is no fit garment for the ministers of the Gospell Tertullian confirmes this reason shewing that Christians ought not in outward things to conforme themselues unto Idolaters no not in wearing a garland of flowres Nihil saith he dandum est Idolo sic nec sumendum ab
agnoscentes Angeli mysterium genu illi flectentes Ambros in ◠lim 3. the Angels do bow their knees 2. Neither doth the Apostle speake of a name consisting of letters and sillables but of the divine power given unto Iesus that shall be adored of all as the Prophet expoundeth every knee shall bow to him and every Esay 25. 23. tongue shall sweare by him This argument is urged by Ambrose nomen quod est super Ambr. in Ph. 1. 2. omne nomen c. this name aboue all names is the name of God if this name did not consist by nature it were not aboue every name appellativum enim nomen in solo vocabulo est non in natiuitate naturae a name appellatiue is onely in the word not in the naturall generation 3. Of the puklick reading of Apocrypha Obi. THEY are grossely ignorant if they know it not or wilfully malitious c. if knowing they impugne c. Answ 1. I hope our brethren will not Defens Apol p. 57◠account Reverend Bishop Iewell either grossely ignorant or wilfully malitious and turbulent though they so call vs at their pleasure who proueth out of the Laodicene and Hipponense Councell as also Laodicen cans 59. out of Chrisostome and the decrees of the French Kings liues and Charles that nothing should bee read in Christs congregation but the Canonicall Scriptures The words of the Laodicene Councell are these non oportet libros qui sunt extra canonem legere nisi solos canonicos veteris novi testamenti 2. Hierome himselfe who is here obiected giving way to those times seemeth sometime to tolerate the reading of the Apocriphall books for the stories sake yet wisheth the same to bee done cautelously Caveat omnia Apocrypha c. Take heed of the Apocrypha and if Hierom ad Laetam any will read them not for the worth of doctrine but reverence of the story know he that they are not theirs whose title they beare Multaque his admixta vitiosa grandis esse prudentiae aurum in lute quaerere And that many faulty things are mingled and it is a prudent part to seeke gold in the mire 3. But the Apocrypha giue light to the divine story Answ So doth Iosephus and Plinie with other foraine writers doth it follow therfore that they should bee read in the Church though they giue some light yet the Scripture giueth to it selfe a greater light which as his Maiesty saith is alwayes the best interpreter of it selfe And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 10 Meditat. in 20. Revel in another place his Maiesty excellently writeth We are taught onely to use Scripture for the interpretation of Scripture if we would be sure and never swarue from the analogie of faith in expounding 4. Our reasons against the publick reading of Apocripha are these 1. In the Church of the Iewes in the Apostles time onely Moyses and the Prophets were read Act. 13. 15. 15. 22. 2. The Scriptures are sufficient both for doctrine and manners 2. Tim. 3. 16. 3. Because the Apocrypha books as Hierom saith contayne many falsities mixed with truth The contradictions between the Canonicall book of Esther and the Apocryphall are divers and not to be reconciled as the learned haue noted the story of Bell and the Dragon Hierom calleth fables and so doth Augustine in Tobie the Angell is Consule Whit. q. 1. de script c. 18. Praef. in Dan. Aug. de mirabilibus lib. 2. c. 32. broght in to tel a tale that he was of the stock of Azarias c. 5. 8. The devil is driven away with the smel of a broiled liver c. 8. 3. The story of Iudith commendeth such trickes and devises as became not the modesty of a woman professing vertue Ecclesiasticus telleth us that Samuell prophecied after hee was dead c. 46. 20. In the Macchabees Iudas is commended for offering sacrifice for the dead l. 2. c. 12. Razis extolled for killing himselfe l. 2. c. 14. v. 42. 4. Books that beare false titles are not to be read in the Church which the Canon calleth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can Apost 59. but such are the Apochriphall books Hierom saith non eorum esse quorum titulis praenotantur they are not theirs whose title they shew Augustine saith that the booke of wisdome is thought to bee Salomons propter non nullam eloquij similitudinem but for some likenesse of the style l. 17. de Civ Dei c. 20. 5. That which giveth occasion of error should not be admitted but the reading of Apochripha is occasion of errour to induce the people to thinke that they are Scripture And therefore the Laodicene Councell ioyneth both these together quae oportet legi in authoritatem recipi haec sunt these are the books which ought to be read and received into authority can 59. Ergo c. Lastly what other thing haue the petitioners here moved then his Maiesty hath first written As to the Apocripha books I omit them because I am no Papist and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 1◠indeed some of them are no wayes like the ditement of the Spirit of God I hope now our brethren will leaue for the urging of this point of those fierce termes of grossely ignorant wilfully malicious and turbulent lest wee say to them as Augustine to Iulian when hee had produced Hilarie against lib. 2. cont Iulian. pelag him nunc ergo ne tuis stomachi fellis indigesta maledictorum cruditate rumpatur in bunc evome si audes calumniosas tuas vanitates Now lest your stomacke burst with undigested rankor cast it upon him if you dare c. THE DEFENCE OF THE SECOND part of the Petition concerning Church Ministers 1. Of a learned Ministry FIRST in that we desire that none but Preachers from hence forth bee admitted to the ministrie what do our brethren meane to impugne so honest and reasonable a petition doe we herein request any more then his Maiesty hath in his princely Book approved thus writing see all your Churches within your Dominions planted with good pastors what 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 43. is there now so grosse in our Church which these men will not mayntayne taking vpon them to iustify an vnlearned ministery vnlesse they mistike this motion because it proceedeth of vs Hierome sayth in alijs probant quod in me reprobant quasi praefac in paralip virtus vitium non in rebus sit sed cum authoribus mutetur They like that in others which in me they mislike as though good and evell were not in the things but altered with their authors 2. what reason had they for the Lord day which terme the petitioners Of the name of Sunday vse to say Sunday Doth this name which was inuented of the heathen better like them then the name of that day found in scripturs Or did not the fathers much mislike those heathenish Apoc. 1. 10. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
ad verbum memoriter retenta prvnnntiant Till it appeare that the people understand that which is handled it must be opened with variety of phrase which they that repeat things word for word as they haue conned thē by hart cānot do Thus by such weak arguments as we haue seene the Confuters haue boulstered out as Mammets and men of straw the dumbe and Idoll Ministers VVee are right sorry that Oxford Doctors now under the Gospell should so much swerue in the iudgment of the truth from their predecessors in the time of Poperie who decreed much better concerning this mater then these men now write Presbyteris parochialibus districtè iniungimus c. we enioyne the presbyters of every parish to instruct the people commited to them with the word of God ne canes muti iudicentur Concil Oxoniens sub Stephan cum salubri latratu in caulis dominicis luporum spiritualium morsus non repellunt This Councell calleth them all dumbe dogges that do not instruct and preach unto their people and driue away by their wholesome doctrine the wolues VVherefore O most noble King 1. seing God refuseth them to be his ministers that The conclusion haue no knowledge 2. neither are such fit stewards over Gods house 3. they are infatuated salt 4. seing ignorāce is inexcusable in the people much more in the pastor 5. by the ignorāce of such faith decayeth 6. the destruction of many soules ensueth 7. seeing a Minister by S. Pauls description should bee apt to teach 8. and that it is a punishment sent of God to haue unskilfull shepheards 9. and all whom Christ sendeth he furnisheth with gifts 10. Seing by the canons and practise of the Church such unsufficient Ministers are condemned Seing nothing can be obiected in the contrary of any moment 1. Ob. that although there bee diverse gifts yet every pastor ought to haue them in some measure 2 Obj. neither were there any pastors in the Primitiue Church no preachers 3. neither is it a thing impossible to haue every where sufficient Pastors VVe are perswaded that your Christian Maiesty out of your Princely iudgment will in due time see the Church reformed in this point and therein follow the example of that noble Charles King of France who enacted thus providimus pro aedificatione omnium Ecclesiarum c. Wee haue provided for the edifying of all Churches that not onely in Citties but in all parishes the presbyters Synod Arelat sub Carolo caus 10 preach the word to the people that they may learne to liue well c. ARTIC 2. Of the removing or supplying of unlearned Ministers 1. Obiect HOW charitable are these men that would haue men removed out of the ministry c. Answ 1. How can the Petitioners bee counted uncharitable when they wish some charitable course to be taken for the reliefe of unsufficient Ministers Neither is it propounded simply but with a disjunction or else that they be forced to maintaine preachers according to the value of their livings c. And wee pray you how many are there to be now found that were entreated to take upon them the Ministry for want of sufficient men or that were in time past sufficient and are now decayed by age sicknesse c. are there not almost an hundred other unsufficient Ministers to one of this sort and they that are of that quality why should they not haue coadiutors as Augustine was to Valerius Eradius to Augustine Nazianzene to his Father Anysius to Acholius of Thessalonica Should the people perish for want of instruction because of their infirmitie But say it had been simply moved to haue all unsufficiēt ministers removed so they were provided for is this course uncharitable then count the Apostle uncharitable who willeth that he which laboureth not should 2. Thess 3. not eat or what think you of these ancient canons peregrini presbyteri si praedicatores sint veritatis suscipiantur sin minus ne necessaria subministrentur eis Can. apost 34. Episcopus vel presbyter c. si in pietate populum non erudit a communione segregetur si in ea socordia perseveraverit deponitur can 57. So was it also decreed in the Councell of Oxford si residere noluerint cum non nisi laborantibus panis dandus sit Ecclesijs per Episcopum spolientur Say also that they are uncharitable that thus decreed that unpreaching Ministers should not be releeved that they be put from the Communion and finally if they continue in theyr idlenes to bee deposed 2. Object How can they maintayne preachers that haue not where with to mayntayne themselues c. Answ Many vnsufficient and vnpreaching Ministers haue sufficient liuing and mayntenance and as many as wee thinke are of that sorte well provided for that wayes as are not inioying some an 100 markes some an 100. pound by the yeare some more and those might very well he charged to maintaine preachers the rest that are not able alone two or three should ioyne together to haue a preacher by course rather then the Churches shold be altogether unfurnished till better provision be made 3. Object How much better hath our Church deuised to supply the defects of some men c. by other meanes as by the frequent reading of scripture c. Answ Our brethren tell us of better supplies of these defects then by preachers To be otherwise supplied as by frequent reading of scripture by the forme of common prayer by the reading of homilies quarterly sermones for answere wherevnto wee say 1. if quarterly sermons make a good supply wee hope that weekely sermons euery Lords day afford a better how vnaduised then are our brethren to call the word seldome preached a better supply then the same diligently preached 2. Bishop Ridley is alledged to speake in commendation of the booke of common prayer neyther doe wee for the substance condemne it the times must bee considered wherin he wrote when the masse was restored in respect whereof our Leiturgy is much to be preferred His words further are these Howsoeuer in tyme past in certayn by matters and circumstances of religion your wisdome and my simplicity I grant hath a little iarred Fox Martyrol p. 1504. epist ad Hooper ex epist Rid ad Hooper Here the same Reverend Bishop giueth way to Bishop Hooper and modestly confesseth his too much stifnesse in mayntayning of some ceremonies But he was farre off from making the booke of common prayer a supply of preaching and therefore he is here very impertinently alledged 3. But what vnsauory words are these to say that the reading of homilies and of the booke of common prayer are ordinary and effectuall meanes to continue and increase the people in the true fayth 1. VVe had thought that as the word of God is the ordinary effectuall meanes to begette faith as the Apostle sheweth that faith commeth by hearing Rom 10 7. the word preached v. 14. So it had beene likewise
for these things to take away many a true Sheppard and to commit or leaue the flock unto many a Wolfe and blind guide which will either make havock of them or lead them into the ditch of destruction Thirdly to leaue the Papists cause wholy 1. by retaining their ceremonies 2. suppressing our best Ministers 3. by withdrawing or mis-spending the gifts of themselues and others to mutuall brawles and so to giue them rest to mischiefe the Church and increase their Synagogue 4. by opening their mouth to blaspheme the Gospell by these our mutuall brables Fourthly to driue many hereby on the rock of Schisme and lamentable Separation the plentifull experience whereof hath bred much griefe in the hearts of the well affected Fifthly to undoe so many Ministers and their families of very good desert of the meanes of their maintenance to their utter undoing being so fitted for the Ministerie and unfitted for any thing else Sixthly to cause the Sabboth a morall precept of God to bee prophaned for ceremonies of mens addition and that in so many places of the Nation Seventhly to punish the people for the fault of their Pastor if any be For it is the Minister that conformeth not but by his silencing the people are plagued Pro. 29. 18. Hosea 4. 6. This is iniustice to punish one man for the offence of another Eightly to do a thing cleane contrary to that themselues pray for at least which Christ commands to pray for For Christ commands his to pray to the LORD of the harvest that he would thrust forth labourers into his harvest which when he hath done they thrust them out Math. 9. 38. Ninthly it utterly undoeth the Minister a painfull labourer of Iesus Christ as also his wife and children and disableth them to liue which by Gods apoyntment should be maintained 1. Cor. 9. 14. yea well maintainded 1. Tim. 5. 17. This is opposite to the law of loue Iustice Whereby it doth manifestly appeare that the Authour is very grosly abused because his whole minde is not published but so much onely as best serveth the Prelates turne a trick not unusuall with them for their advantage Witnesse amongst others the English translation of Bucanus his Common places Whereout the Authours discourse touching Discipline translated by Doctor Hill yea imprinted is taken and a discourse of Bishops governement put into the roome thereof both without Doctor Hils knowledge Nay hath not this Index expurgatorius tampered with the holy Scriptures themselues Obserue for the present but two places Act. 14. 23. is thus translated not onely in the Geneva but also in the former Church translation And when they had ordained them Elders by election But the new translation with the Rhemists leaveth out these words by election Why It is not to be suffered that the people should haue any hand in chusing their ministers but papal Bishops must do all 1. Cor. 12. 28. is translated both by the Geneva and former Church translation Helpers Governors but the new translators herein worse then the Rhemists translate it Helpes in governments foisting into the Text this preposition in Why They cannot abide Elders to assist the minister in governing Christ his Church So that Curchwardens are but the Prelats promoters But we must passe by this as their natural weaknesse seeing it is sucked in with the milk of their mother scil the Church of Rome from whom they haue receiued their callings also these corruptions thus by them pleaded for together with this unscholler like nay dishonest means of upholding the same 2 The tearmes of the main conclusion of the whole Tractate are to be considesidered scil It is necessary for a Minister to conforme to the ceremonies prescribed in the Church of England rather then to suffer deprivation Where it is to be noted 1. that he speaketh not one word in defence of the subscription required and yet most if not all these that are debarred from the execution of the worke of the Ministery in our Churches whether they haue been heretofore silenced or not are debarred principally for refusall of the sayd subscription To very little purpose therefore are his foure inferences layd down in the third page of his book nay in truth to very little purpose were his whole book were he able to iustifie all he hath written which all wise men may easily perceiue that he is never able to performe 2. That he speaketh so saintly for those ceremonies that not daring to say the required conformity is necessary either in it self or in respect of the Magistrates command he sayth onely this That it is necessaty rather then to suffer deprivation So that as in the Paragraph gelded by the Prelats it is evident that extra casum deprivationis a Minister is not to bee blamed for not conforming to them in this Authors iudgement nay that the Prelats are rather utterly to be blamed for requiring Conformity thereto 3 Every of those three arguments whereby hee endevoureth to proue this conclusion falleth as much too short of proving the conclusion as the conclusion it selfe doth of condemning the silenced Ministers of sin for not conforming rather then to suffer deprivation which are not deprived for not conforming but for not subscribing which he himselfe amongst his religious friends hath often both of old and also of late professed he neither would nor could yeeld to do for any mans pleasure under heauen what losse or punishment soever he suffered therefore The first Argument drawne from the doctrine and practise of the Apostles who taught that the Iewish Ceremonies were beggerly rudiments Traditions Will-worships Doctrines of Men c. and yet did practise the same besides many other iust exceptions is guilty of the fallacy à bene divisis ad male coniuncta seeing it is altogether as false that the Apostle did so teach and yet so practise in the same Churches as it is true that they did so teach and yet so practise at all For among the Iewes and in their Churches onely did they so practise to whom those Mosaicall Ceremonies were even lately before the saving ordinances of God given by God himself for their edification training up in religion to eternall life And the Author hath utterly failed to proue that the Apostles did so teach as is abouesayd in any of those Churches but onely in the Gentile Churches to whom they were never given by God to any such end nor indeed at all and there the Apostle Paul would not by any meanes suffer the use and practise of those Ceremonies to bee brought in no not for the space of an houre Galath 2. 5. but rather sharply reproved Peter and Barnabas openly and to the face for giving way thereunto Gal. 2. 14. lest by building againe the things hee had destroyed he should make himselfe a transgresser Gal. 2. 18. And hereto agree the rest Acts 21. 25. And if hee would not giue way no not for an houre that the Mosaicall Ceremonies should
loue of the truth that they might be saved 2. Thes 2. 10. 11. Now the very God of peace sanctify thee throughout in thy person in all thy wayes works and I pray God that thy whole spirit soule and body may be kept blamelesse unto the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ even so Amen TO THE MOST CHRISTIAN and excellent Prince our gratious and Dread Soveraigne IAMES by the grace of God King of England Scotland France and Ireland c. Wee the Ministers and Preachers of the Church of England that desire Reformation wish a long prosperous and happy raigne over us in this life and in the next everlasting salvation MOst gratious and dread Soveraigne we little thought when first our humble Perition was exhibited to your excellent Maiesty it being both for the matter honest and for the manner peaceable should haue found so hard entertainment abroad as that this action of ours so Answ to the Petit. Epist. Ded. p. 4. l. 21. secretly orderly and lawfully enterprised should be by publick writing traduced as unduly and dishonestly attempted Our meaning was onely to intimate to your Majesty the state of our Church not to lay open the nakednes of our Mother to the scandall of the enemy nor to appeale to inferiour iudges to the preiudice of your Maiesty to whom the cognizance of this cause and deciding of this strife of right appertayneth We trust therefore that as Abraham composed the variance between Genes 13. Exod 2. his and Lots servants Moses between the Hebrewes Constantine among the Church Ministers so it will please your Majesty to be a iudge between us and to giue us leaue to defend iustifie our innocent cause As for us we say with the Apostles We cannot but speak the things which we haue seen and heard and approue that saying Act 4. 20. of Hierome Minoris peccati est sequi malum quod bonum putaris quam non audere defendere quod pro bono Dialog 1. advers Pelagian certo noveris Now then most noble King giue your faithfull subiects and unsained lovers of the trueth your princely leaue to iustify their honest and godly petition which hath been by some of our Brethren in their heate impugned In which their enterprise we humbly craue licence to propound certain generall observations which we referre to your Highnesse Christian consideration First whereas wee your Maiesties 1. Observation Opposition between the Kings iudgement the Censurers of Oxford humble Petitioners haue throughout conformed our desires and requests to your Maiesties iudgement who haue wished us to iudge of your future proiects according to your by-past actions and haue proportioned our suites after the rule prescribed in your Majesties book which you would Preface to Basil haue taken of all men as an image of your mind and a Discovery of that which may be looked for at your hands Yet our brethren to our understanding haue been bould in diverse points to oppose their indgement to your Maiesties 1. They count it an unsufferable Pag. 7. thing to permit any thing touching the government of the Church to be so much as questioned Whereas it hath pleased your Maiesty in your princely wisdome to permit and will a conference of the learned concerning such matters 2. They will not grant that these Pag. 10. articulated are the peccant humors of the Church and so consequently acknowledge none Your Majesty saith otherwise no kingdom lackes her own diseases and seemeth not to be ignorāt of corruptions stoln into the state 3 They justifie ceremonies traditions not warranted by the word as the crosse in baptisme the surplice interrogatories ministred to infants Confirmation But your Maiesty Basil p. 18. 19. hath shewed us to ground our conscience onely upon the expresse Scripture and to discerne between the expresse will Commandement of God in his word and the invention and ordinance of man 4. They count them turbulent p. 14. that would not haue the Apocrypha read in the Church But your Maiesties iudgement is otherwise as to the apocrypha books I omit them because Basil p. 1. I am no Papist and indeed some of them are no wayes like the ditement of the Spirit of God 5. Your Majesties princely resolution Basil p. 43. is to see all your Churches within your Dominions planted with good Pastors Our brethren say it is impossible and that the defects of some p. 15. Ans men may be better supplied by other meanes then by preaching as by reading of Scripture and of homilies p. 16. p. 14. and of the service boke and that all Ministers were not preachers in the primitiue Church 6. Your Maiestie most truly affirmeth Basil p. 4. according to the Apostle that faith commeth by hearing the word preached Our brethren say that the P. 16. Ans reading of Scriptuers of Sermons and Homilies are the ordinary effectuall meanes to increase faith 7. Your Maiesties Christian motion to the Vniversity is that leases of their tithes impropriate be so demised as Ecclesiastical persons onely may be maintained inabled to execute their functions the Collegdes being provided for But our Brethren do charge the p. 19. Petitioners for this motion with lack of conscience 8. Your Majesties care is that the Basil p. 43. doctrine be preserved in purity according to Gods word The Petitioners for moving to haue an uniformity of Doctrine and all popish opinions abolished are challenged for shamelesse p. 13. suggestions 9. Your Majesties will is that the Basil 13. discipline bee likewise preserved in puritie according to the word of God The Petitioners humbly desire accordingly that the discipline may be administred according to Christs institution for this motion they are reproved p. 20. 10. Your Maiesty most princelike Basil praef professeth equally to loue and honour the learned and graue men of either opinion that like better of the single forme of pollicy in the Church of Scotland or of the many ceremonies in the Church of England Our brethren Epist. p. 5. count the Petitioners Shismaticks Hypocrites dishonest persons for misliking of some ceremonies and other abuses and wish the land were cleane purged of them 11. Your Maiesty giveth this honorable Basil praef 11. testimony of the godly ministers of Scotland that there is presently a sufficient number of good men of them in that kingdom But the Confuters p. 30. say There are not many men brought up among them in this last reformed age worthy of that wonted honorable maintenance 12. Your Majesty specially provideth for keeping holy the Lords day so that alwayes the Sabboths be kept holy and no unlawfull pastime bee used But our brethren seeme to urge the Ans p. 13 rest upon other holy dayes as strictly as upon the Lords day Whatsoeuer opinion is conceiued of our brethren and howsoeuer they are men of credit and estimation in
tela divexi sed ad Russin meo tantum vulneri admovi manum Lastly wee note our brethrens oversight 4. observat in their manner of proceeding in publique impugning what was secretly intended and in proclaiming to the world that which only we presented to your Maiesty And whereas our brethren suggest that soone after this our petition and motion being made were sent forth Epist p. 3. into all quarters of the Realme store of the sayd pretended Petitions It is true may is please your Maiesty that no copies of the sayd petition were delivered to any beside our selues excepting that only which was exhibited to your Maiesty since which time no copies at all were dispersed into any quarters of the realme much lesse into all neyther before were any hands required to it but only consent So that notwithstanding these pretenses our brerhren are found to bee troublers of the state not the petitioners and to haue blowne the coales and kindled the flames which wee goe about to quench Wherefore wee humbly desyre your Maiestie that it bee not imputed to vs as a presumptuous part to answer for our selues being provoked neyther preiudiciall to the conference determined wee may verily say with Hierome si superbum Ad Theoph. sit respondisse multo sit superbius accusasse If it be a proud thing modestly to answer much more insolently to accuse Besyde as is our Brethrens cause such are theyr proofes they haue inmayntenāce The Censurers sparing in their proofs out of Scripture of theyr fāsies throughout theyr boke alledged but one text of scripture for any matter in question betweene vs which are about the number of thirty seueral points so that wee may say vnto them in Augustines words Qui divina testimonia non sequuntur pondus humani testimonij perdiderunt They which follow not the divine testimony haue lost the credit of their owne Now we humbly commend the innocency of our felues and the goodnesse of our cause to your Maiesties Christian iudgement we sue for nothing but wherein Gods word doth beare us out whereof your Maiesty hath given us hope and for the which we doubt not but to answer for our selues in the presence of God We trust that God hath raised your Maiesty up as another David to settle the pillars of the earth Psal 73. 3. that were shaken and as the Prophet sayth to take off the heavy burthens Esay 58. 6. burthenous ceremonies burthenous censures burthenous abuses which many haue a long time groned under Augustine to this purpose sayth well handling these words of the Psalme They haue ploughed upon my In Psa 128. back Ascende in dorsum meum portare te habeo c. Nunquid semper super dorsum meum eris veniet tandem qui te inde excutiet And he is now come wee trust which shall breake these yokes and God we are perswaded will inable your Maiesty to do that which shall bee acceptable to himselfe profitable to his Church comfortable to your own soule that we may all salute your Maiesty with the salutation of the Church of David Psa 20. 4. 5 the Lord grant thee according to thine heart and fulfill all thy purpose that we may reioyce in thy salvation set up our banner in the house of God when the Lord shall performe all thy petitions that we may all triumphātly say of your Maiesty as Ambrose of Ambr. Theodosij fides the good Emperour Theodosius Iacobi regis fides nostra victoria Your Maiesties most faithfull subiects The humble Petitioners the Ministers and Preachers that desire reformation according to the word of God THE ANATOMY OF THE CONTROVERSED CEREMONIES OF THE CHVRCH OF ENGLAND BEEING considered in their Nature and Circumstances By Iohn Sprint Minister of Thornby in GLOCESTERSHIRE 1 Beginning 1 Blinde zeale and superstition as the Fountaine 2 Tradition as the streame and Channell 3 Popish Masse-booke as the puddle 2 End 1 Of inventing 1 To please Iew and Gentile by a perverse imitation 2 To paint Gods Worship with a needlesse adornation 2 Of maintaining 1 To claw and curry favour vvith Papists Atheists c. 2 Vo uphold our Church corruptions 1 Lordly Prelacie 2 Non-residency 3 Dumbe Ministery 3 To snare the faithfull professor 4 To nourish the carnall Gospeller 5 To thrust out the faithfull Teacher 6 To keepe out Christs Discipline 3 Persons 1 For them 1 Ordaining 1 Sathan inspired them 2 Man invented them 3 Fathers by tradition delivered them 2 Commanding and enforcing them 1 The Beast 1 Antichrist 2 His Bishops 2 Man 1 The Magistrate abused 2 Lordly Prelates abusing 3 Defending 1 Popish Champions 2 Dignified Chaplins alias Chop-livings 3 Covetous Chancellors 4 Ambitious Pluralists 5 Symonaicall Patrons alias Latrons 4 Approving 1 Impious Atheists 2 Ignorant Papists 3 Dumbe Homilists 4 Temporizing Statists 5 Povvling Registers 6 Provvling Paritors 7 Prating Proctors 8 All prophane livers 2 Against them 1 Refusing the most faithfull painfull blessed 1 Pastors 2 Exiles 3 Martyrs 2 Disliking the most zealous and godly people of all sorts 3 Disproving the most sincere learned forraine English 1 Writers 2 Preachers 4 Rejecting the purest and best reformed Churches 4 Matter 1 Negatiue No ordinances or commandements of God 2 Affirmatiue 1 Mans 1 Inventions 2 Precepts 3 Traditions 2 Antichrists 1 Idols 2 Will-vvorships 3 Reliques 5. Manner of urging maintaining 1 Reasoning 1 Cavilling 2 Railing 3 Slandering 4 Stirring up the Magistrate 1 Against the Innocent 2 Against their Brethren 2 Censuring 1 Suspending 2 Excommunicating 1 For a trifle 2 For things good 3 Ipsofacto 3 Deposing depriving degrading of 1 Law 2 Living 3 Ministery 6 Qualitie 1 Needlesse and superfluous because 1 Added to Gods perfect Ordinances 2 Gods Church worship may be without them 3 Not required of God nor having any speciall or generall ground out of the Word 2 Vnprofitable because they 1 Edifie not Men. 2 Glorifie not God 3 Serue not in the Church 1 For Order 2 For decencie 3 Hurtfull unto the 1 Weake by offence 2 Ignorant by superstition 3 Popish by Idolatry 4 Brethren by dissention 5 Godly by 1 Inward griefe 2 Outward persecution 6 Schismatickes by separation Occasioned 4 Wicked against the 2d. commandement 1 In disgracing the Sacraments Worship of God 2 In being defiled with superstion and Idolatry 3 In being the monuments of Idolatry 4 In being Will-worships 5 In bringing into Gods Worship the manner of 1 Iewes 2 Gentiles 3 Hereticks 4 Papists 6 In being symbolicall or signifying holy signes of mans invention Effect 1 In the persons for them 1 Prescribers and maintainers 1 Privation or abolishing of good namely of 1 Of Christian liberty to bind the conscience 1 Where God hath not tied 2 Where Christ hath freed 3 Vnder the same censures are greater penalty and strictnes then the breach of Gods commandements 4 Not to do that 1 Which is agreeing to the Word 2 which
exceptions to the manner are found to be frivoulous we most humbly entreat your most excellent Maiesty that Pastors may be charged to examine their people before they come to the communion so to prepare them to come with comfort as the Leuits in the 2. Chr. 35. 6 Law sanctified prepared their brethren 7. For a Sermon before the Communion HErein also we both consent unlesse Answ to the petiT p. 11. sect 4. our brethren deceiue us with ambiguous words no body say they disliketh that it bee ministred with a sermon yet here also two exceptions are taken 1. Exc. It is absurd to think it should not be Answ ibid. ministred without a sermon and hath bred in many a vaine and false opinion as if not the word of Christs institution but rather the word of the ministers exposition were a necessary and essentiall part of the Communion Answ The ignorance of our people considered the shortnesse of mens memories especially in good matters the deadnes coldnesse of the greatest part unlesse they haue some good means to stir them up and even as it were to carrie and beare up their harts to God it is not only convenient but very expedient yea and necessary too if possibly it may be that at every communion there should bee a sermon there is not a better time to worke upon a people then when the ground is as we may say ready to eate up the seed from the hand of the sower this is that which S. Paul speakes of to preach in season 2. Tim. 4. 1 and that which our Lord commends to giue the portion of meate in fit time This was the practise of Iohn Baptist of Christ Mat. 24. 45 Mar. 14. Mat. 28. 19 Act. 2. 22. 20. 7. and the Apostles who continually ioyned the word and the Sacraments together It is true it may be a true sacrament without a sermon at the instant because the Sacraments doe not onely seale that which we learne then but all the mercifull and good promises of life and grace which we haue heard before yet because the Sacrament Rom. 4. 11. is more fruitfull and effectuall unto us when it hath the ministery of the word annexed to quicken it and to giue life to it by renewing the promises of God and stirring us up to lay hands upon them Therefore in consideration hereof it is earnestly to be wished that the word and the Sacraments may still go hand in hand together VVe hope nay we know Vniversity men bee not to learne to know That aliud est sacramentum aliud est vis sacramenti The sacrament is one thing and the vertue of the sacrament is another Or as Augustine speakes in another Aug. tract 26. in Ioan. lib. 4 de Bapt. c. 17. place Aliud est habere aliud est utiliter habere And therefore though it be a sacrament without a sermon yet the preaching of the word makes it a more profitable sacrament more fruitfull and more effectuall to the receivers Except He that readeth our Communion Answ to the petit p. 11. sect 4. booke shall see that therein the whole manner end and use of that holy institution is so excellently described as may be in stead of many sermons Answ That which was reached us with the right hand is here pulled away from us with the left The communion booke say they may be insteed of many sermons The learnedst divines in this Land and wee as they say haue the best in Christendome can preach but one sermon at once and therefore if this be so that the booke may be in stead of many sermons the dumb minister with his Communion booke shall bee better able to prepare a people for the Sacrament the the learnedst divine in all Christendom with his sermon And is not this goodly stuffe Our Reuerent Bishops as it seems were not so deeply conceited of the booke and therefore they decreed in their Synode si tempore sacrae communionis Synod Lond. anno 1571. nulla erit concio de scripto è pulpito pronuntiabit unam aliquam ex homilijs c. here there must bee a sermon or an homily to helpe out the booke a sermon if it may bee and therefore in the iudgement of these learned men the booke may not suffice in stead of many sermons Godly Bucer one of their owne authors would Bucer de reg Christ. l. 3. c. 7. p. 57. haue King Edward establish it as a Lawe in this Land that before the communion the Scripture be not onely read but also expounded to the people and sure as we take it there is reason for it for howsoever there be some good things in the booke yet they may not bee matched with preaching 1. because preaching is the most effectuall means whereby God worketh conversion in his people as the Apostle saith It pleased God through 1. Cor. 1. 21 the foolishnesse of preaching to saue the beleevers 2. The doctrine of the booke is alwayes one and the same but the doctrine Mat. 15. 39 of the preacher may bee varied The doctrine of the booke is generall but the doctrine of the preacher may bee fitted 2. Tim. 2. 15. in particular as hee sees occasion and therefore howsoeuer the booke may be good yet in the iudgement of any reasonable man preaching must needs be better VVherfore most noble king we trust your highnesse so well acquainted with the wayes of God and all the means of life and comfort will establish that which in the iudgement of any feeling Christian is the fittest 8 Against the name of Priests 1. THat distinction which the holy Ghost hath constantly retained in all the new Testament between the Priests of the law and the ministers of the Gospel that distinction must we retain if we will speak the language of Canaan and Esay 19. 18 Neh. 13. 24. not as the children did in Nehemias time halfe in the speech of Ashdod and halfe in the language of the Iewes But the holy Ghost hath constantly retained this distinction in all the new Testament between the Priests of the Law and the ministers of the Gospell Therefore if we will speake as the holy Ghost hath taught us we must retaine this distinction The assumption or second proposition hath all authoritie to confirme it 1. the Phil. 1. 1. Ex. 4. 11. Doct. Fulk answ to the hand c. 6. Scripture it selfe 2. the iudgement of our best divines Doctor Fulke because saith he the Scriptures calleth the ministers of the new Testament by divers other names of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Priests wee thought it necessary to observe that distinction which wee see the holy Ghost hath so precisely observed And again shewing why the ministers of the Gospell be neuer called Priests in any one translation of our Bibles It is reason saith he we should retaine that disserence of names of the ibid. ministers of both
the Testaments which the holy Ghost doth alwayes obserue Doctor D. Whit. against Reyn. c. 4. 199. Whitakers saith Christ committed his Church to be ruled by Pastors and Bishops for ever and not to Priests And after whereas their office is declared diversly in great variety of names yet is this name of Priests never once given them in any Gospell Epistle or booke of the new Testament D. Reynolds saith Seing our language doth D. Reynold cons Hart. p. 538. meane by priests sacrificers which in the Apostles language are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and they neuer gaue the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Pastors of the Christian Church it followeth that they gaue them not the name of Priests 3. The papists themselves confesse yea Ballar l. 3. de Rom. Pont. c. 18. Bellar. sayth Apostoli in scripturis nunquam vocant sacerdotes Christianos sacerdotes sed solū Episcopos presbyteros The Apostles in the scriptuers neuer call Christian Priests by the name of priests but onely by the name of bishops and Presbytrs or Eders And elswhere Lib. 3. de sanct invoc cap. 4 he giues the reason to be this to distinguish them from the Leviticall preists and therefore seing the holie ghost hath constantlie kept this distinction of names between the Priests of the Law and the ministers of the Gospel we may not confound them 2. The Royalties of our Lord Iesus Esay 42. 8. both in his offices and in his titles are to be preserved whole and intire to him upon which no man without the Lords own grant may presume to enter But it is one of the royalties of our Lord Iesus to bee the sole and the onely Priest of the new Testament and so to be termed according to that hee holdeth Heb. 7. 24. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. such priesthood as can not passe to another either for name or nature so that Augustine saith Aug. lib. de conf Evang. cap. 3. D. Whit. against Reyn. c. 4. p. 42. well Dominus Iesus Christus unus verus Rex unus verus sacerdos The Lord Iesus Christ is only true king and onely true Priest And D. Whitakers Christ hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. such a Priesthood as cannot passe to another but abideth onely with himselfe whereof it doth invincibly and necessarily ensue that the onely Priest of the new Testament is Iesus Christ Therefore this being one of the Royalties of our Lord Iesus ought to be preserned whole and entyre to him 3. VVhere there is a distinction in the things there must also bee a distinction in the names according to that of Tertul. fides nominum salus est proprietatum to keep De carn Chr. p. 19. the names right is a good means to keep the things right But there is a large and a wide distinction betweene the callings and the functions of the ministers of the Gosspell and the popish Priests Therefore there ought also to be a distinction in their names This reason Doctor Fulk presseth against the Papists seeing the holy Ghost had made such a broad difference betweene the D. Fulk ans to Hard. c. 6 names and offices of the Priests of the Law and the ministers of the Gospell those ancient Fathers that confounded those names which the spirit of God will haue to bee distinct cannot bee excused 4. The name of priest in our Language is appropriated to signifie no thing but a sacrificer so our best writers affirm Tindall Tynd. of the obed of Chr. Fulk loc cit D. Fulke the name of Priest is commonly taken to signifie a sacrificer which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in greeke and Sacerdos in Latine By which names the ministers of the Gospel are never called by the holy Ghost so Doctor Reynolds the custome of our English Reyn. loc cit speech hath made the name of Priests proper to a man appoynted to sacrifice But the ministers of the Gospell cannot truely be Heb. 10. 10 called sacrificers because they haue no body and outward sacrifice to offer Therefore they cannot in true sense bee called Priests 5. To call the ministers of the Gospell by such a name as is never read in the new Testament is to put a scruple into the peoples heads that our calling and office hath no ground nor warrant in the word of God But to call them by the name of Priests is to call them by such a name as is never read in the new Testament in this sense as hath been shewed Therefore to call them by this name is to put a scruple into the peoples heads that our calling and office hath no ground in the word of God But this we may not Ergo. 1. Obiect Es 66. 21. where the Geneva Answ to the petition p. 12. sect 5. note doth shew that the ministers of the new Testament are to be termed Priests Answ Wee had need make much of this Scripture it is the onely place that is alleadged in all the booke in any matter of question the very same prophet would haue taught them better ad legem testimonium c. But to the point Esay doth not say they shall be called Priests Esay 8. 20. but they shall be taken 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. into the place and into the roome of Priests i. to execute the same office and ministerie of teaching and preaching in the new Testament that the legall Priests did in the old for nothing is more usuall in the Prophets then figuratly under terms of the legal service Deut. 33. 10 to set out the service and worship that was to be used in the Gospel as ibid. there shal be an altar of the Lord in the midst of the land of Egipt yet we may not gather Esay 19. 19 thence as our brethrens logick will infer that therefore the Lords table must be called an Altar and not a Table there be infinite examples to this effect Now that Esay speakes not of the name of Priests 1. Cor. 10. 21. may appeare thus 1. Esay speaks of Luke and Timothy and Titus the first preachers of the Gentiles so saith the Geneva note which is alledged But they as we heard before were never called Priests Therefore Esay doth not here speake of the name of Priests 2. If our brethrens sence be good then the Ministers of the Gospell may well be called Sacerdotes Sacrificers D. Fulk ans to Hard. c. 5. for so is the Hebrew 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But thus they may not be called therefore this cannot be the sence 3. If by this place of Esay the preachers of the Gospell may be called Priests then by the same reason they may bee called Levits for the words be thus Of them I will take for Priests and Levits But this were too too Iewish and therefore as we said Esay onely meanes they shall haue the same place and