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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A53956	The good old way, or, A discourse offer'd to all true-hearted Protestants concerning the ancient way of the Church and the conformity of the Church of England thereunto, as to its government, manner of worship, rites, and customs / by Edward Pelling.	Pelling, Edward, d. 1718.	1680 (1680)	Wing P1082; ESTC R24452	117,268	146

went out into the Mount of Olives Matth. 26. 30. 2. Having thus cleared the first thing that set Forms of Divine Service were in use among the Ancient Jews I proceed to make good the second Position viz. that such Forms were likewise used by the Primitive Christians Here no man of learning can deny 1. That Prescript Forms of worship have been establisht in the Christian world for above these 1200 years last past For 't is now 1312 yeares since the Council at Laodicea Can. 18. and then it was Decreed that the Choristors should sing by Book and that the same Prayers should serve for Noon and for Evening-service 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Can. 15. Aristen in Epit canonis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Balsamon and for every Synaxis or Assembly nor should any Prayers be read but what were received and establisht having been delivered unto them by their fore-fathers Like unto this was that Canon of Can. 23. Balsam in Can. 18. Concil Laodic the Council at Carthage which was 1284 years ago that if any man did compose any Prayers he should not presume to use them till he had consulted the most knowing men in the Church The intent of which Decree was that none should have the liberty to use what forms of Prayer he pleased but that such onely should be said as had been ratified by due Authority and ancient custom Lastly t is 1277 years since the Can. 12. Council at Milevis and then it was provided that no manner of Prayers should be used in the Church but what had been approved of by a Synod and I cannot but observe the reason of this Canon ne forte aliquid contra fidem vel per ignorantiam vel per minus studium sit compositum said those wise Fathers lest new Prayers should containe that which was contrary to the true Faith either through the Ignorance or through the carelesness of the Composer It was one great Reason among many others why Publick Liturgies were compiled of old that they might be Repositories of sound Doctrine and Preservatives of the Catholick Faith and the Ancients were wont to dispute against Heriticks not only out of Scripture but out of the Churches Service-books too For these were Antidotes to keep Christians from being poisoned with Erroneous and rotten Principles as our English Liturgy is at this day an Excellent amulet against infection from Papists Sōcinians Pelagians and other modern seducers and perhaps this is the grand reason why the Bell-weathers of Faction hate our Common-Prayer Book because it stinteth their extravagant Spirits who can sow Heresie and Sedition by their Praying as well Preachments this I am certain of that many gross errors which now prevail especially in the Church of Rome have been greatly occasioned by the base Arts of men who have time after time altered and corrupted the Ancient service-Service-Books thereby insensibly insinuating into mens breasts such things as belong not to Christianity But I will not digress further To return to our purpose it cannot be denyed secondly that in the dayes of St. Basil and St. Chrysostom which was about 380 years after our Lords birth Liturgies were generally used in the Churches of Christ for at this hour there are Liturgies extant under the Names of those Great men and though we do not think that these are the very same which they used because latter ages have defaced them and foisted many Heterogeneous things into them yet 't is rediculous to imagine that St. Basil and St. Chrysostom did not compile any or that nothing of these was of their composing And yet what they did in this business was not a New thing they were not the first divisers of these Forms no they framed their Liturgies out of old Materials and did fit and suit them to their own times For it cannot be denyed thirdly that Liturgies were used before ever these men were born For the Ancients did conceive that St. James the first Bishop of Jerusalem and S. Mark the Evangelist did both of them frame Liturgies for the use of their respective Churches and though I dare not say that this conceit is undoubtedly true much less that the Liturgies which are now called by their Names and as we have them were composed by them yet this I will affirm that in the early days of Christianity set Forms of Divine Service were used in the Churches of Jerusalem and Alexandria Nay if we consider well of that Form of Service in the Constitutions of Clement which questionless is a most ancient one and then compare those Liturgies we find in the Bibliothcca Patrum called S. Peters for Rome S. Thomas's for the Indians S. Matthew's for the Aethiopians and the Mosarabe for the Spaniards though we confess that these as well as others have suffered many alterations yet in all of them we may see such plain foot-steps of prime Antiquity that we may rationally conclude Liturgies were used in the very next ages to the Apostles over all parts of Christendom I know this will be looked upon as a very high and bold assertion and therefore I am bound to be the more punctual in this matter and for proof thereof I shall appeal to such Testimonies as are Authentick and which being compared with the Liturgies before-mentioned will satisfie any indifferent man that such and such Forms were used by Christians in the first Ages and so that in all probability they were directed by the Apostles or Apostolical Persons S. Cyprian speaks of solemn offices which cannot otherwise be understood then of customary Forms of Prayer especially considering that he elsewhere Solemnibus adimpletis Cypr. de lapsis De Orat. Dom. mentions a Preface used even then and still retained by us before the Commuion the Priest saying sursum corda lift up your hearts and the People answering Habemus ad Dominum we lift them up unto the Lord. When Demetrian the Proconsul of Asrick charged all the Wars Famines Plagues and Droughts upon the Christians S. Cyprian then Bishop of Charthage answered him to this purpose we pour out our Prayers and Supplications Ad Dem. for deliverance from enemies for rains and for the removal or the abatement of all evills and day and night we pray continually and earnestly for your Peace and safety Now what should he mean by these continual and constant Prayers Why no doubt those charitable Forms which they used in the ordinary course of their morning and evening-service For such we find in all the old Liturgies and particularly in that ascribed to S. Mark which Cyprian perhaps might refer to there is a Collect after the Reading of the Gospel where the Minister saith Be pleased O Lord to send wholesome showres upon every thirsty Land of thy Mercy give us fountains of waters increase and bless the fruits of the earth preserve the Kingdom of thy Servant whom thou hast thought fit to set over us in peace righteousness and tranquility and

still retained and defended in the Church of England is undoubtedly the old and the good way The truth is Aerius was the first man that ever durst affirm that a Bishop is not above a Presbyter in Power Order and Authority but he was counted a mad man for his pains and was ranked by the Church in the black Catalogue of Hereticks not onely for his Separation from the Catholick Bishops nor onely for his condemning of Catholick Customs nor onely for embracing the Heretical Sentiments of Arius but also for affirming that Presbyters were of equal power and authority with Bishops And yet I much question whether he spake his free opinion or onely said so out of envy and spight to Eustathius For Aerius would fain have been a Bishop himself but Eustathius stood in his way and for that reason he grew sullen dogged and envious and such men commonly vend some new opinion to be revenged for their disappointments and so did he this because he had not Merits enough to advance himself from a Presbyter to a Bishop he had it seems impudence enough to degrade a Bishop into a Presbyter I will not make any untoward Reflections upon those Disciples of Aerius who in these our days have greatly wounded Christianity by the same groundless and singular but confident Assertion Yet I think 't is no uncharitableness to wish for the Peace and Interest of Christendom that their tallons were well pared who are not content to scratch and deface the Walls of the Church unless they undermine the very pillars of it too those ancient and strong Pillars upon which the Church hath rested and by which Religion has been upheld even from the beginning 2. Having said thus much touching the Antiquity of our form of Government I proceed now to that which is another most material part of our Establishments that is the form of our Service-book or Liturgy Concerning which I will be bold to affirm and be bound to maintain against all parties whatsoever that whosoever doth either deprave or dis-esteem it must of necessity be either a very Ignorant or a very naughty person Very Ignorant if he doth not see that our Service is so correspondent to that of the Ancient Churches that no Church in Christendom this day can shew a more lively Monument of Antiquity than our Common-Prayer Book But a very naughty person if seeing and knowing this he doth presume yet to condemn it because he cannot in this respect condemn the Church of England but he must likewise condem all the Old Churches in the World which whether it be not an Argument of an Vnchristian and naughty Spirit I leave to all moderate men to Judge I am apt to hope that those calumnies and reproaches which our Liturgy hath been laden with have been occasioned by mens Ignorance of its excellencies And therefore to prevent those aspersions for the future if it be possible I shall endeavour to shew First the Antiquity of set forms of publick Prayer in general Secondly then the Antiquity of our English Liturgy in particular And when these two things be made to appear I hope the Church of England will be acquitted in this respect as following the Old way of serving God 1. Touching the Ancient use of set Forms of publick Prayer in general three things are proveable for the satisfaction of all Modest and Ingenuous People 1. That set Forms of Divine Service were used among the Ancient Jews 2. That set Forms of Divine Service were used also among the Primitive Christians 3. That after our blessed Lords Ascention in that interval between the Burial of the Synagogue and the setling of the Christian Church set Forms of Divine Service were allowed also even by the Holy Apostles These three Heads I shall insist on the more largely and particularly because they may serve to inform and satisfie many even prejudiced persons who have not searched into the bottom of things but have contented themselves with many superficial not to say groundless and impertinent Notions 1. First then it is manifest that the whole Body of Divine Service among the Jews did consist of several Prescript and set Forms At their Temple though a great part of their Service was Ceremonial and Typical consisting of divers kinds of Sacrifices and offerings which in the fulness of time were to be done away yet this was attended with Moral and Spiritual Services consisting of Praises and Prayers which were to continue for ever For the Levites whose office it was to stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord and likewise at the Evening were wont to perform their parts as with a world of 1 Chron. 23. 30. solemnity so also with Hymns and Songs that were composed and set to their hands Most of these were Psalms endicted by David some were framed by Asaph and other Prophets and all were put together into a Book out of which the Levites were appointed in the Name of the Congregation to worship and praise God in one of the outward Courts of the Temple while the Sacrifices were offering by the Priest within Hence it is that we find many Psalms directed to the chief Musitian for Tunes to be set unto them that the Sons of Jeduthun Korah and other Levites in their courses might sing them in Consort with wind Instruments and stringed Instruments of which there were divers kinds as Flutes Cornets Trumpets Cymbals Harps Psalteries c. according to the commandment of the Lord by his Prophets 2 Chron. 29. 25. And hence it is too that we find some Psalms framed on purpose to be used on some special occasion as particularly the 92 Psalm entituled a Song for the Sabbath day which was intended questionless to be sung solemnly on the Sabbath in memory of Gods rest upon that day and to give him thanks for his wonderful works of Creation and Providence And Lastly hence it is that the fifteen Psalms immediately following the Hundred and Ninetenth are called Psalms of Degrees or steps because the Levites were wont to sing them upon the fifteen Stairs upon each Stair one which were between the womens and the mens Court. Briefly we find it said expresly of King Hezikiah that he commanded the Levites to sing praises unto the Lord with the words of David and of Asaph the Seer 2 Chron. 29. 30. So that it seemeth to be without question that all Acts of Divine Worship done by the Levites were performed in Prescript and set forms And let me add touching the People of Israel that when they presented their first fruits at the Sanctuary the offerer was to make an humble acknowledgement of Gods mercy to him and to the whole Nation in a set Form of words Deut. 26. 5. Thou shalt speak and say these words a Syrian ready to perish was my Father and so on to the Tenth Verse inclusively And at the end of their Tithing every man of them was to say these words before the Lord I have

of the Government and Liturgie of the Church and to take away nothing in the one or the other but what was evil and justly offensive or at least unnecessary and burthensome Let the world judge whether this was not a plain Equivocation But it seems what in a Jesuit is unlawful that in others hath been allowable and sanctified I have not made these Remarks as if I did believe that all our former Non-conformists were Jesuits God forbid but I fear that great numbers of them were Jesuited and they knew it not at least did not consider it And I do heartily wish that our present Non-conformists among whom I doubt not but there are many well-meaning persons would for the Protestant Religion sake at last consider by what base fellows they are abus'd influenced and made use of to weaken us by our sad Divisions I would not therefore be uncharitably and unjustly censured as if I designed to upbraid and render them odious No that was not my purpose or intention But what I have said hitherto was to shew how crafty and cunning the Jesuit has been for many years to take advantage of mens discontents and to infuse such Principles into them as are not very distant from their own and all this under a disguise and pretending to be Protestants when indeed they were utter Enemies to Protestancy and intended by degrees to extirpate it though according to Contzen's directions they dissembled Dissimulet propositum extirpandae Haeresis Contz Pol. l. 2. c. 18. § 6. their purpose and seemed to row a quite contrary way I think there is no reason to doubt but that several Jesuits and other Romanists have been preaching and infecting unwary people in separate Meetings and especially those which are most properly called Fanatical as the Anabaptists Quakers Muggletonians and the rest And therefore I cease to wonder that of our vulgar sort of people who have lately been seduced to the Church of Rome most are such as were seduced from the Church of England before 'T was no hard matter for subtile Impostors to poyson those throughly whom they had infected already and of borderers to make them Proselytes and to draw them gradually out of one extream into another There is an honest man in the world whose name and book I shall purposely conceal who tells us of one Father Brown a Jesuit that he boasted on his death-bed at Ingeston-briggs in Scotland that he had preached as down-right Popery in the Field-Conventicles as ever he had preached at Rome Many Instances of that nature might be collected but that the thing is unquestionable Now why may we not believe that the same tricks have been played at House-Conventicles in England too Have not the Whitebreads and Fenwicks and Gawens been as industrious here as Brown and many others have been in Scotland How many are there who have known and conversed with Romish Priests abroad whom afterwards they have found here up and down in Conventicles preaching and scolding at Popery to wipe off all suspition from themselves and to curry favour with the silly people Alas some that call the Church of Rome Whore have been of the same Trade and 't is in this case as it was with that worthy Gentleman Sir Edmundbury Godfrey when he was murder'd two Papists scuffled together but 't was only a pretended skirmish designed to draw in the Protestant They followed each other with innocent Cuffs and hurtless Blows and the Justice was call'd in to end the Fray and as soon as he was come the Combatants having obtain'd their designe parted of themselves fell foul upon the Magistrate and strangled him 'T is too notorious that the Jesuits have play'd such Pranks at Conventicles in the Savoy in Moor fields and in a world of places more they cry out against Superstition and Popery and give the Papists gentle blows and dry drubs without any Arguments but all this while the Quarrel is but a counterfeit and the real designe is against the Church of England and if by any wiles they can but ensnare and ruine her which is their great and formidable Enemy the Combate will soon be at an end and the politick Antagonists will soon agree 'T is a main piece of Jesuitical Policy and we may count it their sole Master-piece to create Divisions among us and then to make every little Sect an Harbour and Covert for themselves This way they employ their utmost dexterity but were we all true to the Old Paths their designes would easily be defeated first to form and then to animate Factions by setting up such new Lights among us which serve not to illuminate but to inflame They skrew themselves into all even Mechanical Professions and by canting words and fair speeches insinuate themselves into all Parties and transform themselves into all shapes and dresses that what the Poets feigned of a Proteus and an Empusa is true of these Hobgoblins of darkness that they put on any colour form and likeness so that you have no way to discover the Serpent but by his poyson nor the Wolf but by his ravenous stomach But of all the Sects which are among us undoubtedly the Quakers have been and are most eminently serviceable to our common Adversary for their Principles are such as could not come out of any other Mint but the Jesuits 'T is not very long ago since one Father Talbot ingenuously told a Friend of mine That it had cost them Twenty years study at St. Omers before they could bring Quakerism to its perfection And truly no Opinions can more resemble theirs than those which are held by that crafty and perverse Sect. Do they not think themselves as infallible as any Romanist thinketh the Pope himself to be and do they not say that one reason why they divide from us is because we confess our selves to be men subject unto Errour Do they not lower the Magistrates Authority as the Jesuits do and by all imaginable methods endeavour to render him contemptible Do they not vilisie the Holy Scriptures as the Jesuits do and call the Bible a Dead Letter Do they not cry up the Light the Light just as the Jesuits cry up Tradition Tradition Do they not think themselves to be the onely people of God as the Jesuits think their Faction to be and count all others who are not of their Communion to be Reprobates and damned persons Do they not take it for granted that they are perfect and cannot sin Why do but turn the Tables and behold this is Jesuitism upon which they build the Doctrine of meritorious good Works for where there is no Perfection there can be no Merit But the most luckie and advantageous Principle that was ever infus'd into them is this That they must not by any means swear though called unto it by due Authority The Jesuit was no fool when he taught them this for hereby he keeps out of harms-way and shelters himself from a necessity of taking any Oaths of