be done c. with a thousand things more and these upon what Penalties the Law-maker pleases Spiritual or Pecuniary or Corporal Mulcts would not here come in such a Monster under the name of Secondary Worship that would fright away all Gods true Worshippers from Communion with it R. B. It was forbidden things which in Isa 29.13 Matth. 14 are reproved as being Precepts of Men or things feigned to be necessary acts of Obedience to God which are not so J. O. VVe say they were forbidden Precepts of men are humane Laws in Divine things their Traditions and Inventions which they make necessary by their Laws and enforcing of them and then they are feigned so by men It 's not to be found that all the Pharisees Superstitions were particularly mentioned and named in the Prohibitions in the old Testament nor a quarter of them by Christ in the New yet condemned by him as the Precepts of men i. â— They had nothing but humane Sanction they were forbid by Christs general Laws being excluded and a charge that no Laws of Divine VVorship should be added as primary or Secundary to his His Disciples were not to go beyond his Commission to teach any thing but what he had commanded or should Mâ—tth 28 20. To go beyond a Commission is to break and forfeit it in assuming that power that was never given in it by mens Law much more by Gods though the Particulars wherein the Forfeiture of Charter or Commission lies were not particularly mentioned when the Commission or Charter was drawn it 's enough that there is nothing therein contained to authorize such practices Manuscript But it s replied There is nothing accidental in the Worship of God every thing that belongs to it is part of it Some things are of more weight Vse and Importance than others Mat. 23.27 but all things duely belonging to it are parts of it or of its subsistence outward circumstances and occasional no accidental parts of Worship R. B. As to your Reply it 's the strangest that ever I read from so learned a man and is a great mistake Error XV. What is there in the World that is a Subject without Accidentals Gods Worship hath a multitude of Accidents as the Hour the Place the Pulpit Tables the Cups of Silver the Linnen and other Ornaments the Books Printed the Metre the Tunes Chapters Verses the Words of Translation the Building Gestures Vestures Treasures J. O. The prescribing these and their fellow natural circumstances by particular limiting Laws may make a Book as big as that of the Martyrs Are they not pretty things to be called part of Gods instituted Worship They are natural accidents of Worship but not limit d or instituted Is it not pretty to say the hour and place is part of the Worship the Pulpit of Preaching the Silver Cups and Cloth a part of the Saâ—ram nt But Bread and Wine is part though of less natural value in its self then the Plate it 's put in There is no instituted limitations of the use of these said particulars in Worship therefore not so much as proper adjuncts or integral parts which all Christs Ordinances are though of more or less use yet of equal Authority the least Pin in the Tabernacle with the greatest Beam all must be done by the Pattern as God commanded Moses R. B. You add another Mistake Error XVI That every thing belonging to it is a part of it J. O We say that every thing duely belonging to Divine Instituted Worship is a part of â—t because it cannot duely belong to it as a proper Adjunct but by Divine Institution You run upon a great mistake to talk so much of Physical Common Adjuncts that never did participate of the nature of the Subject all things duely belonging to a man as such is part of him all proper adjuncts are so all integral parts are so but Cloth Money a House c. are not so therefore you did not deal fairly in leaving out duely R. B. You say Outward Circumstances are natural and Occasional no accidental parts of Worship Answer Just now all accidents were parts or else accidents belong not to it and now it hath no accidental parts a mans name Relation Trade Cloathing Age House c. belong to him and no parts of him J. O. We contradict not our selves in the least we say there is no accidental part in the Worship of God no one part that can't be called Gods Worship there 's no common adjuncts belonging to it that can be called Instituted Worship or a part of it as Silver Cups in the Sacraments Tables c. these I say are natural occasional no parts though accidents they do not duely belong as integral parts therefore it hath no accidental parts of its subsistence the Accidents are common and separable as those of a man that you instance in and say are no parts so in a manner you have granted all Most of the things instanced in by you are not only no proper adjuncts of Instituted Worship but none of Worship in general for they are common to other things Manuscript Prayers and Praises absolutely considered are not an Institution of Christ they are a part of natural Worship common to all Mankind his Institution respects only the internal form of them and the manner of their performance But this is that which the Liturgy takes on it self namely to supply and determine the matter to prescribe the manner and to limit all the concerns of them to modes and forms of its own which is to take the work of Christ out of his hand R. B. Your second Answer is no better 1. If by Absolutely you mean not generally but as opposite to conditional it hath no sence here that I can find but if it be in genere that you mean they are no part of Worship at all natural nor instituted there is praying which is cursing and striving against God and goodness and praying to Idols J. O. Strange Logick and Divinity 1. You need not have put your first supposal of our meaning for we mean in genere that Religious Prayers and Praises generally considered meerly as such not specificated by any limitation are not an Institution of Christ You say they are no part of any Worship at all natural nor instituted it s as much sense as if you should say When I say the Leg absolutely considered i. e. â—ot relatively as it stands to the whole but in respect of the next Genus is no part of a man say you as such it 's no part of an Animal for it s neither part of Homo nor Brutum Now is this good reasoning Negatur for it must be part of one because absolutely i. e. generically considered i. e. as part of an Animal a Leg being a proper adjunct to an Animal but cann't be found but in Homo or Brutum you say Yes it may be the Leg of a joynt-stool fetching in a remote Genus falaciously And
is an untruth no doubt but Lyturgies were abused to cherish Ignorance and Negligence But that the neglect was total is not true whether you respect all the Churches or all the parts of Worship and Ordinances J. O. We say it hath been abused to a total neglect by many you call Churches and Ordinances it would be sad if it should be in all Churches and Ordinances but a total in not a few is sufficiently known We apply not total to the universal Church but to some Churches only neither hath the Universal Church in all Ages served God by Lyturgies nor in any one I believe Manuscript 2. When a Plea for the work of the Holy Ghost began to be revived it produced all the Enmity Hatred and contempt of and against the Spirit of God himself and his whole work in the Church which the whole world is now filled withal R. B. That word his whole work in the Church is another mis-report it is not his whole Work that is so contemned Error 28. J. O. The whole work of Christ in his Church is by his Institutions and the gifts and graces of his holy Spirit and if these be hated and contemned his whole work is hated and contemned R. B And it s a palpable mistake that the foresaid scorn of all done by the Spirit ariseth from hence alone a justification of their devised way of Worship it ariseth more from a malignant Enmity to serious Godliness c. Error 29. J. O. But what hath caused that in the case mentioned Hath not a justification of their devised Worship Causa causae est causa causati When we say the only Cause we mean the principal first moving causer causa procreans it s here Manuscript All the reproaches that are daily cast on the Spirit of Prayer all the contempt and scorn which all Duties of Religious Worship performed by his Aid and Assistance are entertained withal ariseth from hence alone namely a justification of their devised way of Worship as the only true way and means thereof Take this away and the wrath and anger of men against the Spirit of God and his work in the Worship of the Church will be abated yea the necessity of them will be Evident This me cann't comply with least we approve of the Original design of it and partake in the sins which proceed from it J. O. You charge no Error here do you R. B. No but seeing you and your dividing Separatists are branded with D. S. now my Irons are hot I 'll add R. too the first Letter of my own Name R. B. I will tell you a story how the Separatists were the Causes of all the Mischiefs in the late Mutations And amongst the rest you know Oliver comes to be made Protector the Fundamental Laws made among themselves by we know not whom Parliament Lords made by him Parliaments called and broken at his pleasure the Government of the Counties put into the hands of Major Generals After the Death of Oliver his Son set up and his Parliament first pull'd down in which you told me you were an Agent and next himself J. O. Let all this be granted it amounts to no more then this That I was an Agent in pulling down a Usurper I pray where lies the most Loyalty in being an Agent to aid and assist and maintain such a one or to contribute towards the pulling him down I know you were mightily displeased with me and the Army for it and I remember a remarkable passage in your Epistle to them in the Preface of your Holy Common-wealth where you say For my part you see the worst that I designed by this Book which was written while the LORD PROTECTOR prudently piously faithfully to his Immortal Honour how ill soever you have used him did Exercise the Government R. B. Ay but this you could not be contented with to pull down the Protector but you must break the Army in pieces You were once Pastor to the Officers of the Army when they pull'd down and set up and again pull'd down till they had turned the Army Bulwarks into Atoms And when you saw what they had done said I wonder the People do not cast stones at us as we go along the Streets was not this a blaming of the flock J. O. Very Good Sir and was there any disloyalty in all this If all the simple things that we have said must be told and that you have writ I could tell tales too but there is so much Printed of it that I need not fill pages with it and I must tell you it 's that which is now much worse resented by the World then any thing you can report of me but I seek not Revenge though I could give you heap measure in these matters But if your hand be in at it once more you shall be sure to have that which you deserve in such cases That which is Sauce for a Goose is so for a Gander also I shall only add one thing that whereas you charge Separatists as you call them for the great Dividers in this Land Let me tell you there was never an hundred of Separatists this Hundred years living together that have made more dangerous divisions in matters of Religion both in Doctrine and Discipline then you have done And with such Errors that it may be the Church had hardly seen or at least been vexed with at this day had you not spawned them into her Bosom and given Credit and Life by your Authority to some Old and Exploded Ones by most Protestants Manuscript Argument 3. That in Religious Worship which derogates from the Kingly Office of Jesus Christ so far as it doth is false Worship Vnto the Office of Christ it inseparably belongs that he is the Sole Lawgiver of his Church in all the Worship of God The Rule of his Government herein is Teach men to do all and observe whatever I Command But the Worship treated about consists wholly in the Institutions Commands Prescriptions Orders and Rules of men and on the Authority of meâ— alone doth their Impositions on the practice of the Church depend What is this but to Renounce the Kingly Office of Christ in the Church R. B. To your Major of your Third Argument I answer First there is that in Worship as the badness of men c. which is no part of Worship and therefore no false Worship J. O. This is the Old Crambe ter Coctum tollere Subjectum and let the Predicatum go whistle we will draw out this kind of Argument at length and send it to the boys at Oxford to course with That in Religious Worship which is no part of Worship is no false Worship But there is that in Religious Worship as the badness of men which is no part of Worship Ergo there is that in Worship which is no false Worship And now you have proved that no Worship is no false Worship but let me tell you seeing you are so
in all their Solemn Worship R. B. This Answer is not only a mistake but of an ill aspect on your self It 's not true That the use of Gifts is excluded in all the Solemn Worship of the Church As if Prayer Praise Thanksgiving Confession Explication of the Scripture Reproof Benediction c. Error 37. J. O. I admire at your boldness in these things what Gifts of the Spirit are used for Edification of the the Church in all the Service of the Church Is it Reading and an Audible Voice There can be no other Are these all that Christ gave to men for Edification when he ascended on high R. B. Indeed some Super-Conformists have said so but I hoped you would not J. O. Whatever Super Conformists and Half-Conformists say the truth is truth Do you think the meaning of the Apostle is when he saith Christ gave Gifts to men that he gave Liturgies to them with prescribed forms of Prayer Praises Confessions Benedictions c. If that be the meaning produce Christs Liturgy that he dropt down from heaven with these gifts in it and we shall with all Alacrity yield to that way of worship but see you bring good evidence for it R. B. 2. It hath an ill aspect if that Preaching and Pulpit Praying be none of the Solemn Worship of the Churches then all Churches that have not Liturgies have no Solemn Worship at all J. O. Non sequitur we say Pulpit-Praying is not any of the Service-Book Church Solemn Worship they are in that respect called the Prayers of the Church and if the Liturgy makes them none of its Solemn Worship doth it follow that they are not so or that other Churches doth not make them so R. B. If it be otherwise Parish-Churches excel you c. J. O. We envy them not we desire to excel in following Christ and walking according to his Rule we compare our selves no otherwise Manuscript Arg. 6. That which hath been and is obstructive of the Edification of the Church if it be in Religious Worship it is a false Worship for the end of all true Worship is Edification But such hath been and is the Liturgical Worship R. B. This is but the former repeated J. O. It is false it hath another Medium The Medium of the fifth Argument was A means humanely invented to exclude Christs means for the attaining his end viz. Edification This Medium is The bringing that which is obstructive i. e. apparently opposite and contrary to all pretences of Edification But the Major you grant R. B. To your Minor 1. Such is all your Errors all the disorder ill reflexions slovenly expressions which any weak Minister useth and the faults that all men have in some degree J. O. And that few go beyond you in instead of Reflexions you use Fractions by your Magisterial Club and of slovenly reviling Expressions if they be not slovenly they are as dirty as I have met with from a Minister of your Reputation but for your way of arguing the most illogical fallacious and full of pedantick Carping that ever was And all men that oppose you in your confidently asserted Errors must be stigmatiz'd with all reproachful names imginable If they be not for Justification by works then they are Antinomians if they be not for your Pye-bald Conformity then they are on one side Super Conformists and on the other Dividing Separatists and must have a sentence passed upon their Persons and Learning as Unstudied Divines Factious Schismatical Erroneous and this is all to promote love and Catholick Communion in the World Must you be the Infallible Dictator in all matters of Religion Is there no men living that have Reason Logick Theology but your self Are all the Divines and Schollars in England a company of pitiful Mushrooms to be treated so rudely by you if they dance not after your Pipe Yea it 's a sufficient Refutation of any Book if Mr. Baxter tells the world it 's a dangerous and Erroneous Book and why because it refutes his Errors And whereas you say You have answered Mr. Ralphson and slight Mr. Warner Dr. Sherlock c. Conformists and Nonconformists it 's neither your Principles nor way of Argument will refute either of them for it must be the Word of God and sound Arguments from it must take place with men of Conscience and Reason in these mattters not little shifting trifling Sophisms calling men Names condemning them for Unlearned and Unstudied Divines confounding clear words and truths with an hundred particulars divisions distinctions nothings till they are come to nothing calling Truth Error and Error Truth this is not the way to Peace nor Truth You are never like to die under the reputation of the Repairer of our breaches and the Restorer of our paths to dwell in unless you take another course for it then yet you have done Manuscript It puts an utter stop to the progress of Reformation in this Nation fixing bounds unto it that it could never pass 2. It hath kept Multitudes in ignorance c. 3. It hath countenanced and encouraged many in reviling and reproaching the holy Spirit and his work 4. It hath set up and warranted an Vngifted Ministry 5. It hath made great desolations in the Church first In the silencing of painful Ministers Secondly In the ruine of Families innumerable Thirdly In the destruction of Souls It is not lawful to be participant in these things yea the glory of our Profession lies in our Testimony against them J. O. Well what say you to these things Are they Truth or no R. B. I charge no Error here J. O. Truly the Church is much beholden to such a Champion R. B. But I have something to say to your Reasons J. O. Nay but I have nothing to say to you further in these particulars if you have no Error to charge them with I will leave them to defend themselves against others Manuscript Arg. 7. That practice whereby we condemn the suffering Saints of the present Age rendring them false Witnesses of God and the only blameable Cause of their own Sufferings is not to be approved but such is this Practice and where this is done on a pretence of Liberty without any Plea of necessary duty on our parts it is utterly unlawful R. B. The Major meaneth either Saints that suffer for well doing or ill-doing J. O. It doth so one of them besure who would have thought upon that fork But do you take the present Sufferers to suffer for ill-doing I 'll assure you you seem to insinuate your meaning pretty clearly by your Exposing in what you lay one that died in Prison as a blameable Cause of his own Sufferings and by many other Actions and Writings of the like Nature Take heed of adding affliction to the afflicted R. B. If the Anabaptists should be suffering Saints I would not be for Anabaptistry for fear of condemning them as the cause of their own Sufferings By that Rule I must own every