committed the Oracles of God Therefore Epiphanius proves Epiph. de menâ— pond the Bookes of Wisedome and Ecclesiasticus not to be Canonicall because they were not kept in the Arke And S. Augustin calls the Iewes our Librarie-keepers who are so zealous of the Old Testament that they will rather loose their life then one line of it So carefull also hath the Christian Church beene of both Testaments that many Martyrs have chosen to give their Bodies rather then their Bibles to bee burnt Neither doth it onely belong to the Church to keepe the holy Bookes but also to discerne betweene true Scripture and false And so shee is the Defender of the Scripture to which purpose the Spirit of Christ is given unto her whereby she knoweth the voyce of the Bridegroome Here the Church of Rome hath abused her power and betrayed her trust inserting into the Canon diverse Apocryphall bookes which were not written by divine inspiration nor received by the Church in S. Ieromes dayes And as she is the keeper and maintainer of the holy Records So she is as a Herauld Common-cryer to publish notifie propound and commend these Records as the Word of God unto all men For this cause is the Church called the Pillar of Truth because shee beareth up the Truth by her publicke ministery and sheweth us the holy Bookes So that the Testimonie of the Church is an excellent meanes to know the Scripture to be from God even the first motive and occasion of our faith The Key which openeth the doore of entrance into the knowledge of the Scriptures The Watchman that holds out the light in open view and presents the shining beames thereof to all that have eyes to discerne it The guide that directs and assists us to finde out those Arguments in Scripture wherby the Divinitie of it is proved And so like the morning starre introduces that cleare light which shineth in the word it selfe But the testimony of the Church is not the onely nor the chiefe cause of our knowledge nor the formall object of our faith As the Samaritanes at first believed for the saying of the woman Ioh. IV. 39. but afterward because of his own word saying Now wee beleeve not because of thy saying for wee have heard him our selves And as Nathaneel was induced to come to Christ by the Testimony of Philip but was perswaded to beleeve that he was the Messias by what he heard from himselfe as may appeare by his confession Rabbi Ioh. I. 45 4â— thou art the sonne of God so men are first induced to beleeve that this Booke is the holy Scripture by the Testimony of the Church but after they receive greater assurance when their eyes are opened to see that light which shineth in the Scripture To use a more familiar similitude If a man bring you a letter from your father and tell you he received it out of his owne hand you beleeve him but are better assured when you consider the seale subscription forme of Characters and matter contayned in the Letters So are we perswaded of the divinity of the Scripture The Scripture is an epistle sent unto us from God our father The Church is the messenger and tells us that shee received it from him Wee give credite unto her Report but when we peruse it and consider the divinity of the matter the sublimity of the style the efficacy of the speach we are fully perswaded that the same is from God indeed In a word the Church commends the Scripture to be Gods word not by her owne authority but by the verity of the thing it selfe and arguments drawne out of Scripture which proveth it selfe to be divine even as the Sunne manifests it selfe to bee the Sunne a learned man proveth himselfe to be learned and as Wisedome is justified of her children for which cause the Scripture is called a fyre a hammer a word that is lively mighty in operation a light shining in a darke place All which sheweth that it hath a certayne in-bred power to prove manifest it selfe without any outward testimony And therefore the Authority of the Scripture in respect of us doth not depend vpon the voyce of the Church And yet is the Church bound to give testimony to the Scripture we are bound to heare her Testimony Further as the Church is to propound Sect. 16. so to expound the Scripture apply them by preaching and administration of the Sacraments Wee are all of us so blinde in heavenly mysteries that we may say with the Eunuch of Ethiopia Act. Vâ—ll â—â—4 How can I understand except I had a guide God hath appointed us guides to expound unto us the Scripture and to apply the same for doctrine for confutation for Correction for Instruction These bee the uses of Scripture II. Tim. III. 16. and it is The man of God that is the minister and Pastor who is to expound the Scripture and apply it unto these ends In the II. of Haggai vers 12. the Lord sayth Aske now the Priests concerning the Law And Malach. II. 7. The Priests lips should preserve knowledge and they should seeke the Law at his mouth To them it belongs to teach preach labour in the word divide the word exhort confute rebuke as the Apostle directs his two Sonnes Timothie Bishop of Ephesus and Titus Bishop of Creta When Christ was to remove his bodily presence he established his ministry upon earth when he ascended up on high he gave gifts unto men He gave some to be Apostles and some Prophets and some Evangelists and some Pastours and teachers Eph. IIII. 11. He sent forth his disciples with the like commission as he receaved from his father saying As my father sâ—â—t me even so I send you And agayne Goe teach all Nations baptizing them c. Matth. XXVIII 19.20 That this is the office of the Pastors is manifest and acknowledged by all but they must remember that they expound Scripture by Scripture and according to the meaning of the Law-giver comparing spirituall things with spirituall things and adding nothing of their owne Herein the Church of Rome hath abused her power assigning unto Scripture what sense she pleaseth even that which will make most for her owne turne This is ingenuously confessed by Cusanus Apud Illyâ— Clav. Script p. â— Tract 7. that the Church may expound the Scripture one way at one time another way at an other time still fitting the sense of the Scripture to the practise of the Church As they have done touching these words in the institution of the Sacrament Drinke yee all of this which by the auncient Church sayth he were so vnderstood that even the people were to receave the cup By the moderne Church in another sense But howsoever they have betrayed their trust let us not despise the Iudgement of the Catholick Church in expounding the Scripture For as the Scripture is the perfect rule of faith so the Iudgement of the Church
is a speciall meanes to direct us in applying this rule Every man doth challenge some trust in the Art he professeth And is there any that hath studyed the Scripture so well as the Bishops Pastors Doctors of the Church in all ages Besides they have a calling to expound the Scripture are therfore called Guides Rulers Lights Spirituall Fathers Teachers Ambassadors of Christ and disposers of the secrets of God Finally they have not onely a calling but a promise of the assistance of the spirit Matth. XXVIII 20. Loe I am with you unto the end of the world By vertue of which promise it is certaine that all the Pastors of the Catholick Church in all ages did never erre dangerously and therefore their Iudgment to be preferred before the opinion of any private man for God hath commaunded us to heare and obey them II. Sect. 17. The Church is to judge of the abilities of men and who are fit for the Ministery to conferre Orders appoint them their Stations and direct them in the exercise of their Function This power was committed unto Timothie and Titus and must continue in the Church untill the end of the world For as now we are not to expect new revelations so neither extraordinary missions And therefore hee that will take upon him the Office of a Minister not being called by the Church Ioh. X. is an Intruder a Thief that commeth not in by the doore but climbeth up another way What will you say then to some Dominees heere amongst you who having no Ordination to our calling have taken upon them to preach and preach I know not what even the foolish visions of their owne heart As they runne when none hath sent them 11 Sam. XVIII 23.29 and runne very swiftly because like Ahimaaz they runne by the way of the plaine So like Ahimaaz when they are come they have no tydings to tell but dolefull newes They think by their puff of preaching to blowe downe the goodly Orders of our Church as the walls of Iericho were beaten downe with sheepes hornes Good God! is not this the sinne of Vzziah who intruded himselfe into the Office of the Priest-hood And was there ever the like heard amongst Christians except the Anabaptists whom some amongst you have matcht in all manner of disorder and confusion III. sect 18 It belongs unto the Church to decide controversies in religion The Apostle sayth Oportet haereses esse There must bee heresies So there must be a meanes to discover reprove condemne those herisies and pronounce out of the word of God for truth against heresie Deut. XVII 8.9.10 Under the Law the Priests assembled together had authority to give sentence in matters of Controversie The same authority did our Saviour give unto the governors of his Church when he gave them the power of the Keyes and commaunded others to heare them for that their sentence is the sentence of God Titus is commanded to reject an hereticke and so hee had power to Iudge him Doe we therfore make the Church an absolute Infallible Iudge of fayth No Onely God is the supreme Iudge of absolute Authority because he is the Law-giver And in all Common-wealths the supreme power of Iudgement belongs to the Law-giver Inferiour magistrates are but Interpreters of the Law Therefore in Scripture these two are joyned together Esay XXXIII 22. The Lord is our Iudge the Lord is our Law-giver And Iames IV. 10. There is one Law-giver able to save and destroy His throne is established in heaven but in earth we may heare his voice in the holy Scripture revealing his will to the sonnes of men whereby he speaketh to us for God now speaketh to us and teacheth his Church not by any extraordinary voyce from heauen not by Anabaptisticall Enthusiasmes but by the mouth of his holy Prophets and Apostles whose sentence is contayned in the holy Scripture Lib. V. that wee may say with Optatus Milevitanus De coelo quaerendus Iudex Sed ut quid pulsamus ad coelum cùm habeamus hic in euangelio testamentum The Iudge is in heaven But we need not goe so farre to know his sentence when we have his will expressed in the Gospell So Moses Deut. XXX v. 11.12.13.14 This commaundement which I commaund thee this day is not hidden from thee neyther is it farre off It is not in heaven neyther is it beyond the sea But the word is very nigh unto thee in thy mouth and in thy heart that thou mayest doe it This word being lively and accompanied with the power of the Spirit doth illuminate the minds of men with the knowledge of the truth reprove convince and condemne error and therefore is said to accuse judge condemne Ioh. v. 45. VII 5. XII 4.8 by our Saviour himselfe And so though properlie the Scripture be not the Iudge but rule of faith yet we call it the Iudge by a Metonymie because God who is the Iudge speaketh in it and by it Poli◠lib. III. c. 16. So the Philosopher sayth The Law is the Vniversall Iudge that magistrates are but Ministers and Interpreters of the Law to apply it to particular causes and persons That which the Magistrates doe in Civill matters the chiefe Pastors of the Church are to doe in matter of Religion If a controversie arise they are to heare the reasons on both sides compare them try by the Touchstone of the word weigh them in the ballance of the Sanctuary And so that which the word hath defined in generall they are according to the rule of this word to apply unto the particular cause and controversie pronouncing for truth against error Yet so as they swarve not from the Rule whereunto God hath tyed them Esay VIII 20. To the Law to the Testimony if they speake not according to this word there is no light in them So that the Church doth Iudge and determine controversies not as an absolute infallible Iudge but as a publicke Minister and Interpreter by a subordinate power which yet is more to be esteemed then the Iudgement of any yea of a thousand private men Shee is not the Iudge but interpreter of Scripture Shee doth not Iudge of the verity of Gods Law but of the truth of private mens Iudgements And that especially if the matter in controversie bee of weight when the Bishops are assembled in Councell When there was a Controversie touching Circumcision the Apostles and Elders assembled at Ierusalem for composing the matter Act. XV. The godly Bishops in the primitive Church following their example did at all occasions assemble in Councells for determining Controversies condemning of hereticks and clearing the Truth by their joynt suffrages even in time of persecution under Pagan Emperours they did celebrate diverse Provinciall Synods as at Antioch at Casarea at Carthage And in that famous generall Councell of Nice wherein Arrius was condemned the Fathers saw such a necessitie of this Synodicall Iudgment
the enemies of God where of the land was full would rejoyce at it So your contentions are evill in themselves but the worse because the Papists are in the land who from your strifes take occasion to blaspheme our religion VI. Your opposition hinders the worke of the Gospell and the edification of Gods people for manie of them who admire you make these things wherein wee differ their greatest study and thinke they have Religion enough if they bee but upon your side if they can hate a Bishop and abhorre a Ceremonie Thus the weightier matters of the Law are neglected Matth. XXIII 23. while we contest about Mint and annise and Cummine matters meerely circumstantiall This indeed is Tragoedias agere in nugis I haue heard of a man who came to a Physitian to complaine of the whit-law in his finger and the Physitian looking upon him espyed death in his face for the man was in a deepe consumption whereof hee was nothing so sensible as of the paine in his finger So it is with you you complaine grievously of Ceremonies and orders established and are not sensible of a dangerous consumption even the losse of Charitie which is the life of religion Finally consider unto what dangers you expose your selves and what shall become of you when ye are cut off from the Communion of the Church Ab arbore frange ramum De Unit. Ecclesiae fractus germinare non poterit saith Cyprian A fonte pracide rivam praecisus arescet As a branch cut off from the tree must needes wither and a streame divided from the fountaine must presently dry up so those that are cut off from the mysticall body of Christ must wither and dry up as wanting the vitall influence of Gods spirit and the watering of the dew of grace which is a fearefull judgement expressed elegantly by the Apostle by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. IX 1â— Hebâ— III. from the verb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth properly to dry up and wither It is said that when Cain was cast out from the presence of God that is from his Church and the place of his worship He went and dwelt in the land of Nod so you when you are cast out of the Church are preparing to goe and dwell in the land of Noddies and it is strange if the sides of one ship can contayne them who cannot be kept within the pale of the Church All these things deserve your consideration and may give you occasion to repent hereafter when it will be too late I thought it therefore my duty to warne you Gen. XLII â—â— as Reuben did his brethren beseeching you for gods sake if there bee any bowells of compassion in you towards the Church your mother your brethren your friends your flocke your selves that you would yet lay aside all prejudice and partialitie and the spirit of contradiction compose your selves to peace unitie and love Psal CXXVI 6â—7â— O pray for the peace of Ierusalem Let peace be within her walls and prosperitie within her pallaces Thinke not that you are wiser then the Church then all Churches 1. Coâ— XIIII 26. as if the word of God had come onely from you or to you and to none besides but remember that you are men and so may erre that better men have erred have thought no shame to acknowledge the same and retract their error In this life wee shall never bee resolved of all doubts therefore the Iewes had wont to say Elias cum venerit solvet dubia The safest course is where you doubt especially about matters of this kinde concerning Order and Church politie to submit your selves peaceably to the Iudgement of the Church and then Phil. III. 15. Rom. XV. 5. If ye be otherwise minded God shall reveale even the same unto you Now the God of peace and consolation give us that we may be like minded one towards another I. Cor. I. 10. That we may all speake one thing and that there be no dissentions amongst us Eph. IV. â— but that wee be knit together in one minde and in one Iudgement endevouring to keepe the unitie of the Spirit in the bond of Peace Amen AN ANSVVER TO CERTAINE OBIECTIONS MADE AGAINST THE ORDERS OF OVR CHVRCH ESPECIALLY KNEELING AT THE COMMUNION I Was at first somewhat perplexed and doubtfull whether it became me to tkae notice of a late Libell the foolishest that ever was spread abroad in writing praetending to set downe a relation of a certaine Conference betweene my selfe some unconforme Ministers of my Diocese or whether like a noysome snuffe to let it dye out of it selfe as unworthie the treading upon Herein I tooke counsell of the wisest of men even of Solomon but hee left me upon the matter as irresolute as hee found mee Proverb XXVI 4.5 Answer not sayeth he a foole according to his foolishnesse lest thou also be like him And yet immediatly thereafter Answer a foole according to his foolishnesse lest hee be wise in his owne conceipt The reasons are forcible on both sides but I have followed the later advice not because in Solomon secundae cogitationes were saniores but because it fitliest jumpeth both with the exigencie of the time and humor of the men whom I am to encounter lest the fooles grow more wise in their owne conceipt When I first met with this Libell I expected somewhat savouring of wit for I dare pronounce them not guiltie of much judgement but found it a meere fardle of lyes And so much hath beene confess'd by all men of qualitie who were present at the Conference Yea and by some too neither disaffected to their persons nor cause All the most materiall things which I spoke are left out many things fathered upon me which I never thought just as it pleased the Libeller to forge and frame them for his owne advantage and to serve his Reply Chimaeras sibi fingens quaâ— jugulet sed alijs Chiâ—aris oppositis Not unlike the fellow in Martial Quod tibi vis dici dicere Fusee foles Violating therein to omit his incivilitie the praescript of humanitie and common honestiet being formerly admonished to transmit unto my selfe their Arguments in writing and in like manner to receive my answers that thus by his or their good allowance I might have acted my owne part in my owne person not under the larve of such a puppet as out of their malice in generall and the particular fatuitie and ignorance of the Libeller they have thought fit to bestow upon me for albeit hee were indeed an Impartialist in his owne cause which no wise man will beleeve yet were it impossible for him either to remember my words or expresse my thoughts so fully as my selfe But he found that having an ill cause he stood in need of all helpes And this sort of men as is well knowne to the world though it bee but the signe of a profligate and
the gesture is mentioned And the gesture which he used in eating the Passeover is expressed by all the Evangelists and that at three severall times as at his first going to Supper Matth. XXVI 20. So when the even was come he sate downe with the twelve The like is Luke XXII 14. Then after washing his Disciples feete sitting downe againe to eate the second course of Sallets Ioh. XIII 12. Lastly upon occasion of Christ's fore-telling of Iudas treason Marke XIV 18. As they sate and did eate Iesus said Verily I say unto you one of you shall betray me and yet Christ's gesture in the last Supper is not so much as once mentioned by any of the Evangelists II. It is neither necessary nor so much as probable that the gesture which Christ used in the Pasch all Supper was continued in the Sacramentall Not necessary for the Scripture many times recording diverse actions of the same kinde together expresseth the gesture of the former yet will it not follow that the same gesture was used in the latter Paul with his companions sate downe beside a river and hee preached unto the women amongst whom was Lydia who was converted and baptized immediatly after Acts XVI 13.14.15 Now because it is said that they sate while Paul preached and the baptizing of Lydia followed immediatly after and no mention of any change of gesture will you therefore conclude that they sate still in the administration of Baptisme It is said that Ezra and all the people stood up at the reading of the Booke of the Law Nehem. VIII 4-5 7.8 and he continued reading for a whole weeke vers 18. will it follow that the people who stood up in the beginning did stand all that while No they made boothes and sate downe under them vers 17. So it will never follow from Christ's sitting at the Passeover that he sate at his last Supper Yea it is not so much as probable that the gesture used at the Passeover was continued in the ministration of the Sacrament which will evidently appeare if we consider that there was a good space between the two Suppers and that diverse acts intervened which might occasion the change of the gesture Matth. XXVI 26. for albeit S. Matthew sayes As they did eat Iesus tooke the bread yet this must be expounded After he had done eating Luk. XXII 20. 1. Cor. XI 25. so both S. Luke and S. Paul say expressely that he ministred the Sacrament after Supper And if after he had done eating why not also after he had done sitting We know that the Evangelists many times record diverse things which at the first view would seem to have fallen out together which yet upon exact examination wee finde to have beene severed in time And so were the two Suppers for diverse acts did intervene he rose from Supper to wash hisdisciples feete Ioh. XIII 4. and albeit it be said vers 12. that he sate downe again yet it was not to minister the Sacrament wherof S. Iohn makes no mention but to eat the second course of Sallets wherein the sop was dipped which was given unto Iudas vers 26. to preach that heavenly Sermon which is recorded in that Chapter and besides the washing of their feet and preaching of that Sermon which did require a good space of time there was as M. Calvin thinkes a solemne thankesgiving after the finishing of the Passeover albeit the same be not recorded for that being the last Passeover which ever they were to eate it is likely that our Saviour tooke a solemne farewell of it and so buryed that legall ordinance with honour And this thankesgiving might occasion the change of gesture After the finishing of the Passeover hee proceeded to the Institution of a new ordinance hee tooke bread hee brake it or gave thankes hee pronounced the Sacramentall words whereby these Elements were separated from a vulgar unto a sacred use admonishing his disciples of the end of that action which is the commemoration of his bitter death and passion These might well occasion a change of gesture and it is likely that this being a new action was performed with new expressions especially if we remember that the bodies of Christ and of his Disciples as they were fully satisfied with the Paschall Supper so they were sufficiently rested with lying upon their couches and that the sacrament of Bread and Wine as it was not ordayned for the feeding of their bodies so it did not require a formall sitting or an easie repose of the body the same being performed in so short a time III. Albeit I should graunt unto you that which can never be proved that the gesture which Christ used in eating of the Passeover was continued in the ministration of the Sacrament yet that would advantage your cause nothing for it is certaine that the gesture which Christ used at the Passeover was not sitting but eyther standing or as the word signifies lying upon beds some men of great authority as namely Chrysostome Chry Hom. 82. in Matt. Theo. in Matt. XXV Euthim. in Matt. XXVI Philo de sacrificijs Aâ—el c Cain Theophylact Euthimius Maldonat and Lucas Burgensis doe thinke that Christ and his disciples did eate the Passeover standing because that Philo Iudaeus who best knew the practise of the Iewes and is of great credite amongst Christians reports that to have beene the custome to stand at the Passeover And the law of the Passeover seemes to favour that opinion for albeit standing be not expressely mentioned yet the circumstances of the Text seeme to imply it for they were to eate it with their loynes girded their shooes on their feete their staves in their hand and to eate it in hast Exod. XII 11. And say they it is not likely that Christ who did many things which he needed not because he came to fulfill all righteousnesse would breake the Law of the Passeover in the least jot and therefore he did eate it standing I know you will cry out against this that all the Evangelists make mention of his sitting or rather lying at the Passeover You shall therefore understand that sitting and standing in the Scripture doe not alwayes expresse the particular gesture or certaine position of the body as it is contradistinguished from other gestures for I sind that sometimes two gestures are confounded together as standing and kneeling II. Chron. VI. 13. Solomon stood upon the scaffold and kneeled downe upon his knees where standing is expounded by kneeling sometimes I find that one gesture is put for another as Luke VII 38. It is sayd that Mary stood at Iesus his feete and yet that standing must be eyther kneeling or falling downe upon the ground else she could not have kissed his feete and washed them with her teares and wyped them with the haires of her head Luk. X. 38. Verbum sedendi significat prostratos humi jacere quod miseris ad luctum testandum convenit sicuti ex
our disobedience Finally amongst the Romanes some were offended at the eating of those meates but I doe not reade that any was offended at the not eating of them It is otherwayes with us where one is offended at our Ceremonies ten wiser then they would be offended if we did not use them And farre more if we did follow their fashion in the manner of Gods worship The case being cleere that the Orders which our Church injoynes are neyther contrary to Christian libertie nor to that care wee should have for to avoyd offence In the next place I will labour to finde out the cause of this grosse mistake in the brethren which certainely is this that they doe not rightly consider the nature of Christian liberty whilst they set it upon tenter-hookes and stretch it further then the nature thereof will beare seeking not only a liberty of minde and conscience in things indifferent but a freedome also in their outward actions which is not Christian libertie Calv. Inst lib. III. cap. 19. Sect. 10. but licentious immunity contrary to the doctrine of the Gospell for S. Peter exhorting all men to be obedient unto Magistrates I. Pet. II. 16. he warnes them not to use their libertie as a cloake of maliciousnesse Namely In casting off the bridle of governement It is proper to the libertie of the Creator alone to be unlimited but all lawfull libertie of the creature is and must be bounded not onely by the Law of charitie which these men will acknowledge but also by the law of loyaltie for if all restraint of the outward man were contrary to Christian liberty then were it not lawfull to obey the Magistrate in any thing Then if the King should be pleased to confirme the Orders or as they terme them the circumstances of worship which have beene used in their congregations They were bound to forsake them for the zeale of their Christian libertie And what is this else but to bring flat Anabaptisme and Anarchie into the Church to overthrow all Governement and dissolve the bonds of subjection and obedience to lawfull authority You shall therefore understand that the Magistrate by his Lawes may moderate or restraine the outward actions wherein the externall use of our liberty consisteth The inward liberty of conscience before God notwithstanding remayning intyre He may injoyne any action which in Gods worship may be used lawfully So that no opinion be put upon the conscience which taketh away the full respect of its indifferency And this is that which St Peter sayes We must obey the Magistrates as free that is as being perswaded that the thing commanded in it selfe and to God-ward as Calvin speakes is indifferent and whether we doe it or not doe it in it selfe it commends us not unto God otherwise then that by obeying of the Magistrate we doe also obey God who hath commanded us to be subject unto him Which will better appeare if we consider that Christian liberty is inward and spirituall which may stand with the outward servitude of slaves as the Apostle shewes I. Cor. VII 22. much more with the obedience of free subjects It is seated in the minde and conscience and respecteth nothing but what is betweene God and us It contenteth it selfe if there be no opinion put upon the conscience of the necessity of these things which God hath left indifferent if they be not obtruded as divine Lawes if no Religion be plac't in them nor they pressed as immediate parts of Gods worship It is only the subjecting of the conscience unto a thing indifferent I. Cor. VI. 12. which the Apostle calls The bringing us under the power of a thing which overthrowes our Christian liberty not the necessity of obedience unto lawfull authority but the doctrine or opinion of the absolute necessity of the thing it selfe In a word Christian libertie is not taken away by the necessity of doing a thing indifferent or not doing but only by that necessity which taketh away the opinion or perswasion of the indifferency of it As may appeare by this whensoever the Apostle condemnes the practise of Iewish Geremonies at that time when there was some dispensation and indulgence granted unto Christians till the Synagogue should be buried with honour It is manifest that he condemnes not so much the use as the doctrine and opinion which they had of them because they were urged and used not as things indifferent but as necessary unto salvation For we know that he himselfe many times did use them which he would not have done if they had beene then simplie evill he circumcised Timothie and many Christians who gave their lives for the Testimony of Iesus Christ were circumcised at that time even after their conversion unto the faith And yet when the false Apostles did urge the necessity of Circumcision he said If ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing Gal. V. 2 That is If you bee circumcised with an opinion of the necessity of that Ceremony as if it did avayle unto justification so he expounds himselfe ver 4. Whosoever are justified by the Law that is seeke for Iustification by the Law are fallen from Grace That it was only the doctrine opinion they had of Circumcision at that time which he condemnes may appeare further by this that those Ceremonies were not praescribed by a Civill Magistrate who hath power to commaund the outward man in the use of a thing indifferent but only by seducing teachers who had no power of bringing a necessity in the outward practise but by perswading and possessing mens mindes with an opinion of the necessity of these things After the like manner doth the Church of Rome at this day tyrannize over the consciences of men equalling her constitutions unto the Word of God Concil Trid. fess IV. placing Religion in them and ascribing unto them a divine necessity effectuall holynesse But our Church is farre from such an usurpation she doth place no Religion in them ascribe no holynesse unto them nor obtrude them upon the conscience as things necessary in themselves like Gods Commaundements but only requires obedience unto her constitutions thereby to reduce all her Children to an orderly Uniformity in the outward worship of God And to this purpose she hath sufficiently declared the innocencie of her meaning in the Articles of Religion Artic. XX. The Church ought not to enforce any thing besides the holy Writ to be beleeved of necessity for salvation And in the Pre face before the Booke of Common Prayer The Ceremonies that remaine are retayned for a discipline and order which upon just causes may bee altered and changed and therefore are not to bee esteemed equall with Gods Law So that I can not but wonder at the impudencie of the Libeller who changes our Church as Christ doth the Pharisees that she makes the commandements of God of none effect by her traditions Whereas the Pharisees did equall and preferre their owne traditions